Chapter Four.

Alantas carried Terra to the House of Healing, and several healers rushed up to assist her. They removed her from Alantas’s arms and hauled her into the room without another word. Solace-san went rushing into the room with the Healers. They waited for word on her condition as Alantas anxiously paced out side the House of Healing.

“Calm down, Alantas. You are acting like she’s your wife and about to bear you a child!” chuckled Kafir.

“I can not stop worrying. She has been in there for several hours.” Alantas said. “We also almost lost her. I can’t lose her again.” Alantas\'s head bowed. \"Gods, what horrors did that bastard do to my cousin?\"

\"She\'ll be able to sympathize with you more, Alantas, since he did something similar to you, when you two were growing up together. So would you tell us what happened?\" asked Ares. \"You don\'t have to tell us if you don\'t want to.\"

He rubbed the back of his neck. \"It’s blurry and jumbled. I remember him holding me down and hurting me...there.\" He looked embarrassed. But he continued, “It hurt so much and I bled red and there was white mixed in with the blood after he was done hurting me there with whatever he used. But he did that several times over a two week period. I tried to tell his parents about it but they refused to hear it. They didn\'t want to believe me over their precious son....\"

Kafir snarled, “And their precious son could do no f*cking wrong! He did do wrong! He raped his cousin, now he tortured his own sister, raped Usagi and beat her too! I’m lucky that I slew that f*cking bastard!”

Eros had a golden glow of rage around him. \"That sick bastard....\"

Ares\'s fists clenched, his eyes and royal emblem glowed. \"He\'s lucky he\'s dead already!\"

Alantas said, “The good thing is he’s dead and that’s where he’ll stay. Now all his evil deeds shall be revealed and conquered. I will not let him; even from the f*cking grave still have control over my life or that of my dear sweet cousin Terra! We are better than he ever was!”

The doors swung open, as one of the healers came out of the room. “You can go see her. But she’s resting. It took us many hours to bring her back from where she was at. Be grateful that you got her here in time. We might not have been able to save her.”

Alantas hurried past the healer and into the room to see Terra lying sound asleep under the white sheets. He looked relieved and yet concerned.

Solace was standing next to her. He turned to see Alantas walking hurriedly into the room. “Be quieter, Alantas. They just got her to sleep.”

“Is she…will she be…all right, Solace-san?” whispered Alantas, as he approached his sleeping cousin.

“Only time will tell, but with the help of her new found friends and cousin. I’m sure she’ll learn to trust people again.” Solace-san whispered. “She’ll need your attention for a few weeks, Alantas. She has been abused by her own sibling, someone who she cared for.”

“She’ll have my attention, Solace-san. If my parents were still here, they would adopt her as their own child to give her a home worthy of her,” Alantas whispered. “How close were we to losing her?”

“Very close. Thankfully, Kafir transferred some of his energy into her to keep her alive or by the time you got here…well, do not think about it as she’s alive and will be on her feet again soon.” Solace-san whispered, as the other Soldier Senshi walked into the room. Solace-san smiled towards Kafir as he entered the room.

Alantas immediately went to the bedside of his cousin and held her hand. “I’m glad we found you in time, Terra.” Alantas stroked his cousin\'s hand sympathetically, \"Don\'t worry, Terra, we\'ll help you recover.\"

Kafir knelt next to the bed and took hold of her other hand. \"You have many friends here, who will help you recover from the pain you have. You have your cousin here and many friends. You are no longer alone, Terra.\"

Alantas leaned close to his newfound cousin and whispered in her ear. \"When you are ready, we will listen.\"

It was just a few moments after he whispered that to her, did she start to stir. The way she stirred screamed nightmare to Kafir and Alantas. “Nightmare comes,” Alantas whispered, as he looked at Kafir, who nodded.

“No, get away from me, monster. You are not my brother, wolf!” she moaned softly, as she tried to move away from her nightmare image. She was thrashing in bed.

\"Shhh....\" Alantas made a soothing noise and his aura appeared around him, bringing forth the calming feeling of mother Earth to his distraught cousin.

Terra felt the calming feeling emanating from the one who was stroking her hand. She immediately searched for him and was cuddled by Alantas as he got onto the bed and held his cousin as she curled up against him. Soon, the thrashing and the moans faded as she drifted into a deep sleep.

Alantas and Kafir exchanged looks. She was already tapping into her Senshi abilities more and more as the seconds passed.

Eros spoke, “She felt the waves of calm coming from Alantas. She searched him out for comfort. Thankfully, it helped her calm down and fall asleep.”

Hermes smiled. \"The natural empathy the Senshi share allows her to feel the love and concern we have for her.\"

\"Hopefully, the healers will allow her to come out tomorrow morning.\" Alantas whispered, as he wrapped his arms around Terra as she slept comfortingly against his chest, hand gently curled around his hand.

Alantas cradled his cousin against him and vowed that together, they would overcome what Endymion had done to them. Alantas fell asleep cradling his cousin. Kafir whispered to the others. \"Come, if anything happens Alantas will alert us as will the healers. We all need sleep.\"

Ares and Eros nodded and they along with their comrades headed towards their respective quarters. Kafir was the last to leave the room. He was thankful that he was able to transfer some of his energy to Terra. He didn’t want to think what would happen if he was a few minutes late doing that. “Sweet dreams, Terra.” And he headed for his chambers where he fell asleep.

Ares turned to confront Eros about his earlier statement in the corridor, only to find the blonde Senshi had slipped into his quarters already. The Martian Senshi growled and went to his quarters, intent on getting the answers he wanted tomorrow.

TBC . . .