The Ghost

18. Where have you been

When they were alone without Rosie, Galaxy finally asks the girls, "How much did she see and hear?"

Ashley steps forward, she looks like she wants to hug her, but refrains because she knows Galaxy hates to be touched after that dream, "she heard the part where you yelled out, 'Don't you dare fucking touch them,' and we told her it was your initiation, but that is all she heard and saw other than us waking you up."

Galaxy nods her head before sinking further into the couch she was still sitting on. "Shit! She was never supposed to find out about any of this. I was supposed to protect her from the evil of this world." She cries out.

Ashley sits delicately next to her, "sweetie no one will ever be able to protect someone from all the bad in the world, but you have protected her a whole hell of a lot. She would have already been initiated, hell we all would have, but you protected us from that."

"Actually when I got back I found out they picked out one person from each generation that they thought I didn't have eyes on and initiated her, that's why the director is dead because he planned it and he took them first. Rosie was next on his list."

Paris and Ashley look at her sadly, but Jasmine smirks remembering how she had killed him with his own dick.

Ashley continues, "you also taught her how to stand up for herself without being afraid of anyone else."

"Yeah I guess." Galaxy weakly admits.

Ashley stands up seriously with her hands on her hips, "Galaxy! I absolutely refuse to let you go down this path. You have done the best you could with every situation ever thrown at you. No one could expect any more and no one could do any better than you have! Hell, do you know how many students have graduated from this school and not done a single thing about shutting down the initiation, the graduation, or the whole damn school. But you! You're so fucking close to ending it all and freeing countless people from the pain that is this school!"

Paris and Jasmine nod their heads along with Ashley's speech, but Galaxy is still stuck in her own head. Ashley looks at her carefully, "Alright what's really going through that head of yours?"

Galaxy doesn't even glance up, "nothing much, just memories."

"About..." Paris prompts her to continue.

"Every single time I've let them do what they want with the students that I've failed to protect including the older ones." Galaxy states, finally lifting her head to look at the others. As she sees their gloomy faces, she tries to change the subject, "Alright I've got nothing, so anyone got a plan so we all get out of this graduation alive?"

They all glance anxiously at each other, thinking that if Galaxy's brain couldn't find a way out of it, then there was no possible way to beat the graduation.

But then Paris decided to step in because she knew that Galaxy had been overworked lately with all the thinking she had been doing for her other plans inside the school, "Well let's start with the best sounding plan you have."

After they had talked through it for a couple of hours, some form of a decent plan was in their minds, so the girls went back to sleep to make use of the day off before classes start the next morning.

*Meanwhile*

"Rosie!" a whiny voice calls out. "Where have you been? I barely see you lately. Sometimes you don't even come back to the apartment to sleep!"

"Sorry Star! I've just been working on some stuff, so that you know I don't ever have to stand by again." Rosie replies seriously.

Star looks at her, analyzing everything from her face to voice pattern before nodding, "I know that's not all of it, but for now I guess that is an acceptable response. You know the other girls are going to push you so much harder about this than I am though right?"

Rosie nods her head before turning to walk down the next hallway.

Star keeps looking at her trying to figure out what is going on in her head, but even the analytical genius of Star can't figure it out despite the last 6 years training side by side. Star ends up running to catch up with Rosie, still trying to see more into her mind.

Rosie, noticing what she is trying to do, closes off her mind so that she can't get inside to see what's bothering her. Although she is still stuck in her own head. "How could I have never known what she was doing for me all along! She was allowing them to rape her, so that no one else had to be! She had been hiding her knowledge of me from them to protect me from being a target of the others. She has always made sure that no matter what, I was safe. It didn't matter what was happening to her, she was always thinking of me! And mother, mother abandoned her here so much earlier than she did me. I can't believe that I'm going to have to kill my friends. I can't believe Mother actually did kill her friends."

Star stares at Rosie when they reach their apartment because despite standing right in front of the doorway, she doesn't enter. She just stands there thinking deeply about whatever is going through her mind right at that moment. When Star realises she's never going to open the door, she enters the apartment to get the other two to see if they can snap her out of it. "Blue! Tiger! I need some help here."

The other two walk in from the kitchen, "Ugh what is it?"

Star glances back at Rosie to see she hasn't moved, "It's Killer Queen! Somethings wrong! I think someone got to her brain, but she won't let me in! I can't get through to her, I need your help!"

After glancing at the blank expression on her face Tiger turns to her urgently, "How long has she been like this?"

"I found her like this. I was able to break her out of it for a few seconds, but then she slipped back in, so at least 15 minutes." Star replies worriedly, staring at her friend.

Blue walks up to her, grabs her hand and pulls her back into the room, "this situation calls for real names and I can't do that if the door is open." After the room is secured enough for names, Blue walks closer to her, "Rosie, talk me through what you're thinking right now."

Star and Tiger glance at each other thinking "that won't work" but surprisingly Rosie starts to speak, although it sounds like utter gibberish to them.

When they've finally run out of any ideas of talking her out of her funk, Tiger walks up to her and slaps her in the face as hard as she can and then backhands her as well. This manages to jolt most of Rosie's mind away from what she learned, but there is still a small part of her stuck listening and thinking of all the times her older sister has been there for her. The group glances at each other before busting out in tears as she has finally returned to them, the women she chose to become her sisters.