Protecting Trinity [HIATUS]

XXII - Exposure Therapy (part 2)

A/N: I hope you'll forgive me for this horribly long hiatus. ♥

-

Waking up with Mina in her arms felt unreal. Momo really did open her eyes to an angel, asleep and peaceful and absolutely ethereal. This angel was in her arms, skin to skin, heart to heart. Mina was an angel. Were they really of the same world, when her every breath looked like the purest form of life? Were they of the same world, when Momo felt undeserving of having Mina so close to her, felt as if she wasn't worthy enough for her? Yet, Momo didn't really want to leave Mina there.

Mina wasn't her angel, but she was hers to protect - with her life and every last fiber of her being, was Momo going to protect her.

-

It wasn't an uncommon occurence for her to wake up in a cold sweat, unable to even remember the hell of her nightmare. At this point, sleep paralysis was almost as frequent as the usual nightmares. Sana had mentioned it once during dinner offhandedly, but she didn't say she'd been suffering from this on a frequent basis; everyone else was under the assumption that she'd only experienced the sleep paralysis thing one time. No. And with that news of going out again into the world she had come to see as terrifying beyond the mansion's premises, last night was significantly worse than the others. Calling someone for help or sneaking into a member's room would've helped, but Sana was starting to feel like a burden to herself and could barely turn to the others despite knowing how badly she needed someone to stay with her, through the night, at least.

Sana didn't allow herself to indulge in long soaks in the bathtub anymore. Even that simple pleasure had been taken away by some mild - or severe - form of post traumatic stress disorder. She only took cold showers now, afraid of the warmth drowning her like it seemed to have done more than once before. Though it could have been her thoughts. What drowned her, that is. She didn't like to think of it, didn't like the idea of spiralling down into something she knew she wouldn't be able to get out of.

Tzuyu greeted Sana with a smile as the girl descended the stairs, towelling her damp mane of greyish brown locks. The guard wished she could find some guts to tell her how beautiful that colour was on her, as if she'd seen any other colour up close, but still. It was just hard, because her stare, those eyes-

"Is there something on my face?" Sana asked softly as she plopped down on a stool in front of the guard, a hand reaching up to touch her lip.

"Oh, n-no, just. You look very pretty, Ms Minatozaki. Forgive me." Okay, so she did have some guts.

Though Sana felt her cheeks burn up at the innocent compliment, it seemed like Tzuyu would be easy to have a little fun teasing.

"What are you apologizing for? Having good taste?" she smirked, watching the guard's jaw go slack at what she had just implied.

"I-"

"Morning," Chaeyoung greeted sleepily, running a hand through her puffy hair with a lopsided grin as she caught sight of Tzuyu looking like she'd seen a ghost.

"Morning."

"Morning."

"Okay... That was some impeccable timing," she chuckled, headed for the fridge to figure out what breakfast would be.

Sana's cheeks, they were burning again, but seeing Tzuyu blush too was pretty worth it. Hey, no one knew they'd start talking at the same time. Shyly, she looked down, and realised that the past minutes had been the lightest she'd felt in.. Too long. Hell, if she could call it happiness, but she didn't want to jinx the precious feeling just yet. She looked up, meeting Tzuyu's eyes, and it all felt a little better.