Virah stared at her hand in a daze.

What had she done?

She covered her face with her palm and inhaled, she had just realized that for the second time, her apathy towards killing was because her Aura decided to eat her guilt, and now that she's meditating again, it had come down on her at full force.

An avalanche of conflicted emotions stirred in Virah's head as the weight of knowing she willingly pumped an entire building with poison gas pressed down on her.

She heaved, her ragged breaths becoming sniffles at the continued chain of thought, she was guilty for what she did.

She knew that she had just committed a massacre and the worse part is, she wasn't even sure if her goal of keeping the people living on the slums safe had been achieved.

Were they safe from the ensuing gang war right now?

Virah got up from her bed and looked out the window, the night was still crisp and the stars were out in full force, their blinking forms more prominent thanks to the higher altitude of her room.

In the distance, far from where she is, columns of smoke rose to the sky, blanketing the darkness in thick grey fog, there was so many of them on the horizon that Virah expected the worse.

She closed her curtains and went back inside her room, she lay on her bed and closed her eyes, her breathing was the only thing on her mind for a while and it helped calm her down.

The feeling of being lost amidst all the chaos happening around her soon disappeared and got replaced by a gentle numbness that left her feeling forsaken.

Virah continued breathing, and she did nothing but rest her mind for the next hour or so.

She got up when loud she heard loud banging, the sound came from her door and after opening it, she saw Whitney and Grene standing on the other side, worry sketching their expressions.

Virah was about to open her mouth when she saw the serious look on Grene's face, she clamped her jaws shut and gestured for the two to come in.

"Did you hear the news?" Grene's calm question broke past the silence.

"No… yes," Virah double tracked as she closed the door, the sound of the lock clicking in place soothed her stressed mind and she faced her friends with a serious look.

"I'm…" she breathed, this, this was something that she has been wanting to do ever since she finished meditating- to find someone to rant to and tell them her problems…

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"… I'm the one who did it," Virah looked away in guilt.

She expected her friends to start asking questions, go out and tell the Jennies, anything to alleviate her guilt by bringing her to justice, those things would have given her a peace of mind because she knew that her actions were no longer mysterious and chaotic in the minds of her victims-

Virah flinched when Whitney suddenly hugged her, she… moved her arms to hug the pinkette back, when her finger brushed against the fabric of Whitney's cordigan, it was like they touched burning iron.

She quickly pulled away while feeling ashamed.

"I'm glad you're okay," Whitney's response shocked Virah and her face contorted into pure guilt.

"You don't get it!" Virah pushed Whitney away, desperation in her tone, she pointed at herself, her finger blurry within her teary vision, "I killed people!"

"Virah..?" The hand reaching out to her halted midway through, "what do you mean you killed people?"

"I'm sorry!" Virah felt her knees weaken and collapse, "I- I poisoned the air and-" she sniffled, "and-"

"Hey… it's okay," Whitney's soft tone broke through her words, a tiny leaf fighting against the storm, "we're here, right Grene?"

Whitney turned to Grene, who nodded.

"Mhmm." The martial artist said, "I'm sure there's a reason why you did it,"

"Right!" Whitney's upbeat personality came back with a vengeance and the pinkette pumped her fist, "how about we go inside and talk about it?"

Virah nodded, shuddering, "o-okay,"

With Whitney on the lead, all three of them sat down on Virah's bed, the pinkette placed a hand on top of Virah's once they were settled, "okay, tell me what you did,"

"I…" Virah looked away in shame, in retrospect, saying what she did just now might have been a bad idea…

She shouldn't have admitted to the murders in the heat of the moment, because things just went from bad, to worse. Virah swallowed the fear rising up her throat, she wasn't sure how Whitney would react after this.

Would her friends tell the Jennies about what she did? Would they start to push her away? Get her, a newly minted criminal with a high body count, off their backs to save themselves?

Virah- Virah wouldn't blame them honestly, she had just killed people-

Two warm hands cupped Virah's cheeks and forced her head to turn a certain way, she looked Whitney in the eyes, the pinkette's steely gaze somehow containing warmth.

"You're okay," Whitney smiled, it wasn't upbeat, soft, or even forced, instead it held all the care and understanding Whitney had for her at this moment, telling her that things were okay, that she wouldn't judge Virah even after what she did.

"I-I'm okay," Virah said with a shaky nod, she heaved, "I'm okay,"

"You are," Whitney's soft voice caressed her ears, "nothing bad is going to happen,"

"R-right," Virah inhaled, then exhaled, "I…" the crack in her voice started to expand despite her newfound, if not temporary, confidence, "I killed people,"

"How?" Grene asked.

Virah keeled and gagged, the memories of her experience while meditating resurfacing, she wiped her mouth but the phantom wetness didn't disappear, the heat stayed, dripping down her chin and making her feel meaningless worry about it staining Whitney's pants.

"Poison," Virah admitted with a whine, "I poisoned them,"

"How?" Grene repeated.

"The gas- I-" Virah got up and walked to her desk, her friends tailing behind her, she opened her bag and took out her… murder weapons.

She placed a smoke bomb on top of the desk, "I have bombs now- like a proper ninja should but- but-"

Virah stopped as the cracked tone present in her voice started to grow more prominent, influencing not just her words, but also clouding her mind.

She could think- she couldn't breath-

"Virah, you're breathing hard, maybe you should calm down," Grene's words echoed within Virah's ears, and in the corners of her hazy vision, she saw the martial artist turning to Whitney.

The pinkette bent down and hugged her, "hey?"

"Y-" a hiccup cut Virah's response, "-yeah?"

"You're okay," the pinkette said, "it wasn't your fault,"

To her those words and to realize how unbelievably false they were only broke the dam holding back Virah's tears and she started bawling, she designed those bombs, and she knew for a fact that in order to activate them, she needed to disturb the Water Stone hidden within with her aura.

Create pressure using poison, build it up using more, then, once the bomb was ready, throw it and release toxic mist into the air.

"You're okay? See? You're okay!" Whitney's own tone was starting to crack, she sounded like she was about to tear up.

The pinkette rubbed Virah's back as her lungs desperately asked for air, dry heaving and inhaling like a fish out of water.

"It wasn't your fault, okay?" Whitney repeated.

"Hmmm!" Virah nodded, she wanted to believe Whitney's words even if it was just for this moment.

"Are these enough to kill people?" Grene's sudden question made Virah look up.

She shook her head, "n-no, the mist is only strong enough to paralyze,"

"Then how did the grunts die?" Grene looked at her.

"I…" Virah paused, she frowned, how did they die?