A Decision Must Be Made

She wondered if Apollo would follow her, she wasn't so sure she wanted him to though. IF he did, he would just ask her questions, maybe get what she hadn't wanted to tell him out of her and that wouldn't be good. Not for her at least. I just can't risk it. She didn't want to change anything, especially if he didn't feel the same way. But that was something that she wouldn't find out unless she told him how she felt.

Of course, she wasn't going to though. The feeling of rejection was just too scary for her and she didn't want to feel it. For a Gryffindor, she was a coward when it came to that. But then again, a lot of people were, Gryffindor or not. Rejection was just a scary thought, one she preferred not to think about if she could help it. That wasn't working right now though. And trying to forget about it wasn't helping how she was feeling.

After stepping out of the cafe and passing a woman who was about to enter, who she thought she was going to run into but didn't, Hitame continued running down the street trying to avoid anyone walking so she didn't hit them. Her mind was clouded by the thoughts that had begun to infiltrate it and she almost completely stopped watching where she was going.

The weird thing was that she wasn't too far away from the cafe when she came across a couple of people dueling. They were hidden, making sure no muggles could see them, and just as one of them cast a spell toward the other Hitame ran between their field and the spell made contact with her. She somehow took a couple of steps forward before her legs gave out under her and she collapsed face-first onto the ground, going limp.

By the time Apollo left the cafe, he heard shouting coming from down the street. As tempted as he was to just walk away, he knew full well that Hitame had walked in that direction when she took off. His brow furrowed in concern as he started towards her at a near-run. Glancing down an alleyway as he passed, Apollo skidded to a stop, back tracking to stare at a brunette as she stood over Hitame's unconscious form, wand pointed at two men in a show of both aggression and protecting a girl Apollo doubted the woman even knew.

"Back off. Now." The woman threatened, eyes narrowing at the men in question. Apollo wanted to approach and check on Hitame, but he wasn't interested in this clearly on-edge stranger turning and thinking him an attacker. "You know full well who I am," she added. "Do not make me talk to Clarence about this."

Lifting his eyebrows, Apollo was surprised to recognize the name. Clarence Montgomery was a well-known Death Eater, and had recently been in the prophet in regards to betraying his son. Who happened to be half-blooded, by the way. But regardless, the brunette didn't strike him as a Death Eater. Who was she to know Clarence or any others?

The men looked at each other before frowning and apparating away. The woman lowered her wand, shoulders relaxing momentarily before she sucked in a breath and spinning around to check on Hitame. "Be okay," she requested quietly, barely loud enough for Apollo to catch it.

When he decided that she wasn't going to curse him for coming near, Apollo cleared his throat. The woman looked up, blinking at him as he spoke, "She's my friend. Please... What happened?"

She considered him for a moment, apparently coming to the conclusion that he wasn't going to harm either herself or the girl in front of her. "She was hit by a curse while two men were dueling. I didn't hear which one. I'm taking her to St. Mungo's. You can come with, if you like-"

"No," he cut in immediately, kneeling down next to Hitame. "No, you can't take her there. She despises hospitals and doctors and things."

"Well, she's got to go somewhere!" The woman argued, giving him a frustrated look.

"Just not there." Apollo countered, clearly open to other options.

She looked conflicted for a moment before giving a firm nod and giving Apollo a serious look. "Alright. I've seen something like this before, so I may be able to handle this. If it makes you more comfortable, you can come with us. I intend to take her to my home and see what I can do."

She wanted to take Hitame... home with her? How bizarre. "I'm definitely coming with," he replied cooly, refusing to leave his friend with a stranger. "You'll forgive me for not outright trusting you. I mean, thank you for defending her and all, but I don't even know your name."

"Not like I know yours," she pointed out cheekily, but offered him a warm smile regardless. "Audriana Swan. I've got a number of so-called titles that might interest you, but as you pointed out, we don't know each other. So I'll keep those quiet for now. You?"

"Apollo. Zabini heir," he replied, giving his typical introduction without realizing it would sound rather pretentious. She lifted an eyebrow, bemused, but nodded anyway. "What?"

"You're pretty proud of that, aren't you?" Audriana asked as she prepared Hitame for side-along appartition.

"Habit," Apollo shrugged in return. She offered an amused smile and reached a hand out for him to take. "Ready when you are," he offered uselessly, clasping hands with her and reaching out to grasp Hitame's as well.

She should have been watching, been aware.

But that was kind of hard when you were distracted by the fact that you had almost told your crush that you liked them. It was hard to focus on the things going on around you when you were so busy reprimanding yourself for being so stupid. Not that being unconscious stopped that. No, in fact, it gave more of an opportunity to reprimand yourself, considering there were no outside distractions to take you away from your thoughts.

Honestly, she had no idea what happened to her. Besides saying how stupid she was to herself, she couldn't figure out what had happened. Why was she all of a sudden alone in her mind with her conscience? Why wasn't she still running? She wasn't running right? No, she couldn't be, she couldn't feel herself moving - well not by herself - and she couldn't see anything but darkness. Something happened, something bad.

She started panicking inside her head. She wanted to wake up but some force was keeping her from doing so. How long would it take her to wake up? Who knows, but the more she realized that it might take a long time, the calmer she got and the more peaceful she felt in the darkness that had surrounded her so suddenly. Maybe she shouldn't leave it.. It was more comforting than the real world. She didn't have any problems in there, and she didn't have to do anything.

She wouldn't have to worry about Naomi and the hatred she had for her anymore, she wouldn't have to worry about Hogwarts.. Her friends would forget about her if she was gone long enough. The Apollo came into her thoughts. He'd probably be the most worried about her. If she didn't wake up, would he stay by her, hoping she'd wake eventually? Or would he eventually give up?

She mentally smacked herself. It wasn't like she was dead, was it? No, of course not, being dead was different. She was just unconscious, and hopefully she wouldn't be gone for more than a couple of hours.

She could feel her body moving, but she could tell that it wasn't of her own free will. Hitame knew that her body had gone limp, she had no control over anything, no matter how much she tried. If she was moving and she wasn't the one causing it, then it meant that someone was probably trying to help her because they saw whatever happened. Hopefully that was the case.

She wanted to wake up so badly, but whatever had happened to her had caught her by surprise and it seemed to have to do with magic, so it was probably a spell that hit her and it would be hard to wake up from it unless someone helped her out of it.

The trio landed, and though the girl was still unconscious, Audriana was pleased that the boy had agreed to come with her. Equally, she was glad that he had allowed her to take on the project of looking after the girl. It could perhaps be a chance at redemption for the brunette who had lost her previous shot. If she could help this stranger, maybe it would make her feel a little less guilty about Mairen. Or, maybe it would help her pluck up the courage to actually tell Mairen the truth about the accident.

The girl was moved to the couch, and Apollo settled himself on the floor by her head, watching her as if she would wake up very suddenly and just start talking to him. She didn’t, of course, as quickly as he wanted her to. Turning to look at Audriana, Apollo’s forehead creased with worry. “You said you’ve seen this before. How long will she be out?”

“I’ve seen something like this before,” she corrected him. “That girl lost her voice, though, so we’ll have to be really careful. Don’t frighten her, got it? She won’t know where she is, and won’t be totally sure what happened to her, most likely.”

Apollo frowned, but nodded nonetheless. When Audriana went off to find Sophia and make something to drink, Apollo turned back to Hitame and propped his chin on the couch cushion she was lying on, unsure what to do with himself. “Wake up, Hit… C’mon.”

Wake up Hit..

Who was talking to her? The voice sounded familiar, but it was too far away for her to be able to recognize who it was. It couldn't be anyone from her family, she hadn't seen Xem or Sora in a long time and Naomi hated her. It couldn't be Sophia.. She was sure it was a male voice she was hearing.

She was starting to not like the darkness that surrounded her. It was.. boring, and it was uncomfortable to be there alone. Even if she wasn't alone outside of her mind, inside she was completely alone and she didn't know if there was any way to get herself out of the loneliness that was all around her. She had to find a way, she had to wake up.

While in her mind all she did was look around, trying to find a way out, outside of it she twitched. It was only her hand, her index finger moving, but it showed she was actually able to move at least. All that was left was for her to wake up. "I have to wake up.. Come on.. It can't be that hard." She closed her eyes in her mind and squeezed them tight, hoping when she opened them in there, she would actually open her eyes. Sadly, it didn't work, but her squeezing her eyes showed on the outside.

She hoped Apollo was there. She remembered the voice she had heard moments ago and Hitame wished that it was Apollo who had called out to her. He had to be there, she wanted him to be there. She made a soft almost squeaking noise - a whimper, and a word escaped her mouth softly and weakly, "Apollo.."

Audriana had not been gone for long before Apollo started fidgeting. A part of him was convinced that Hitame was trying to break through the surface and come back to life, but there wasn't any real sign of it. At least, not until she shifted - if only slightly - and spoke. Apollo sat up in surprise, lifting himself onto his knees to stare at her. It was useless, though, for him to try and get her attention, when she apparently hadn't woken fully. He knew there was really no choice but to try, though, so he reached out and took up her hand.

"Apollo," a different voice called, this time from behind him. He hated to admit that his face fell, but he didn't try and hide it. Wouldn't Audriana understand?

Turning around to look at her, Apollo looked vaguely surprised to see an older lady following with a tray of tea. Audriana turned over her shoulder, thanking the woman kindly before looking down at the two students. "She's talking, then," the brunette offered quietly, a bit of a cloud coming over her face that Apollo couldn't understand. "That's different," she admitted gently, brow furrowing.

Apollo's expression became one of distress, hastening Audriana into action. Her wand was pulled from her inner robe pocket, frightening him all the more. "What are you doing?!" he cried, jumping up. She shot him an exasperated look, pausing in the middle of casting her spell.

"If I'd wanted to hurt either of you, I would have already. I'm simply trying to wake her. If it works, it should be instant. Perhaps a bit of gasping. But it's not out of pain, so calm yourself. If she doesn't wake, we just have to wait and give her time." Audriana explained, gesturing with her want and mumbling, "Rennervate."

She'd begun to feel at home in the darkness that had surrounded her. It gave her time to think, to relive things that had happened to her throughout her life - things that she remembered anyways. She thought about her parents, her adoptive parents, and her siblings. She'd always wanted a family, ever since she was little and her adoptive parents were taken away form her, she'd always wanted to get the back and be a happy family with them and Naomi.

But that obviously couldn't happen. After she had met her brothers, she had wanted to have a family with them included, but that hadn't been able to happen either. They didn't have parents, but then all of a sudden their biological parents had reappeared, saying that they had been in hiding their entire lives. Now.. She didn't want the family that those two could  offer her and her siblings. Naomi probably hated them more than she did anyways, more than she hated her.

"Why couldn't I keep everyone safe?"

Why hadn't she been able to keep her brothers and sister safe like she had always promised them? Why hadn't Xem been able to? They were children after all and adults were just too strong compared to their abilities. Hitame wondered where her brothers were, maybe they were still with Sophia. Maybe they were wondering where she was. She doubted it, they hadn't been speaking a lot lately and she doubted they even noticed she was gone.

She heard a soft voice, it sounded far away, but she could sort of make out what they were saying. It sounded like a spell. Why was a spell being cast, was it being cast on her? She suddenly saw a flash of light, and she gasped.

The Gryffindor's eyes threw themselves open and she gasped almost frantically, lifting herself up on the couch to a sitting position. She blinked a few times fast, holding her hand up against her chest as though she was trying to hold her heart. Her eyes began to look around, wondering where she was as she focused on her breathing, until they landed on Apollo. She tried to force a smile but couldn't and only said, "Apollo." in a soft voice.

Apollo jumped as Hitame awoke, blinking in surprise and leaning away for a moment before seizing forward to reach for her hand. "Hey, kid," he teased, a stupidly giddy smile growing over his features. When they first met, he had always played up the fact that he was older, but now it was more of a nickname than anything else. A bad one, admittedly, but a friendly gesture nonetheless. "It's fine. You're okay now."

Audriana, at Apollo's right shoulder, sat herself on the low table, teacup in hand in case Hitame found herself in want of it. Sure that the girl wouldn't take kindly to strangers, she decided to keep quiet and let Apollo introduce her when he felt it necessary. Luckily, he didn't wait long to do so.

"Hit," he started, moving to sit on the arm of the couch, next to her head, "This is Audriana Swan. She stopped the guys who were fighting. We're at her house now, so you didn't have to go to the hospital. So it's all okay. But... are you okay, kid?"

Apollo didn't wait for a reply, though, before shifting closer to the back of the couch, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her against his side. "You tell me if anything feels wrong," he added, the warning clear in his tone. Glancing over at Audriana, a wary look passed between them as they gave her a moment to assess and catch up.

Hitame looked down at her and Apollo's hands when he took hers in his and she could feel herself blush. She cleared her throat and tried to cover her face enough so he wouldn't notice. It helped that her hair was untied and it fell into her face. "I'm okay.. now..?" Hitame blinked as she stared at Apollo, taken by surprise by his words. "W-what do you mean by that?" she asked, tilting her head a little awkwardly.

She glanced over at the woman who was seated near them and she quickly looked away afterwards. "Fighting? Who was fighting? I don't.." her voice faded and she looked down. She didn't remember what happened to her. Apollo kept asking if and saying she was okay but Hitame didn't understand why he kept doing that.

The Gryffindor didn't expect him to do what he did and pull her toward him and this time she couldn't hide the blush that appeared on her face. Her hair still in her face, the bright red on her cheeks was still visible and her body shook slightly. "N-nothing feels.. wrong.. but I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember anything about any fighting or anything like that.." she sighed softly.

Her gaze moved to the woman who Apollo introduced as Audriana Swan and she blinked. "Thank you, though, for saving me. Even though I don't know what you saved me from." she said, trying to smile but failing.

Apollo opened his mouth to explain, but Audriana held up a hand to silence him. She was right, of course. Hitame needed a few moments to gather her wits, and perhaps to start piecing together what had happened. Or to get her memory of it back. Not that he wanted her to, per se. But Apollo felt she might want to, and might benefit from it. So he nodded, comfortable doing so now that he had tucked Hitame into his side and he was gesturing from behind her, as well as a over her due to his perch on the arm of the couch.

"It was no trouble at all," Audriana assured the Gryffindor gently, holding out the cup of tea as a sort of greeting as well as a show of good will. If Hitame didn't want it, she would pass it to Apollo and it would work out. He probably needed to relax a bit, himself. "How about a explain what happened then, hmm?"

After receiving something indicating a positive response, Audriana gave a little smile of encouragement and started going over the story. "I came up after you, but there were two men fighting. I'm afraid I have to admit to knowing one of them - I've had to deal with him before. But as far as I could see, they both hit you with their spells at once. We haven't determined which yet, because you fell unconscious."

"I knew you wouldn't want to go to a hospital," Apollo cut in, giving her shoulder a squeeze as though he knew the very idea of going to St Mungo's could give Hitame a chill. "Ms Swan says she has seen someone get hit like that before, so we're with her instead. This is her place," he elaborated unnecessarily as he gestured to the high ceilings and surprisingly elegant decorations that adorned her walls. She was well off, which surprised him, considering his family seemed to know most everyone with money to their name. But she had kept off their radar, and seemed better off somehow. Perhaps that was the exact reason why she was.

"Are you totally sure you're okay?" Apollo asked again, leaning to the side so he could try to meet her gaze. "If you feel dizzy or weak or anything at all it could matter."