( @yourdearhart Continued from here. ) There were no words for the depth of hatred Lex had felt towards her mother ever since discovering what had transpired while she was called back to fulfill her obligations with the Waraigumi. It didn’t matter that Madam Hatsune had no possibly way of knowing what would happen ... it didn’t matter that it was true that the gang still needed her, as Second-and-Command. All that did matter was that in doing so, she had utterly and completely failed to be at Louis’ side when he would have needed her the most. How much of this could have been prevented if she had just brushed her mother off? Would Ibuki still be alive? Would Louis be uninjured? Logically, she knew that she was being irrational, and that all of this was coming from a place of hurt, but ... anger was easier than confronting the pain and fear. At least for now. She wasn’t sure how long that would hold once she laid eyes on him for the first time since before this all happened. It had been no small task tracking down what hospital he ended up in, but after hours of driving around, she had finally found the right one. One visitor’s pass obtained later and she was on the floor of his hospital room, steeling herself as she drew nearer and nearer to his door. Standing in front of it for several uncertain moments, she rested her palm on its cold surface before finally mustering the courage to push it open and step inside. And sure enough, there he was. And he was ... studying? In his condition? God, even after something like this, he was still as stubborn as ever. He hadn’t yet looked up from his books and notes, which afforded her a few seconds more to compose herself before speaking up. Something about seeing him like that already made her throat feel like it was closing up and her eyes sting. She swallowed hard. “...I take my eyes off you for just a few days, and look what happens.” Even this weak attempt at humor felt hollow. Everything just felt ... wrong. And no amount of attempted normalcy could set it right again. She stood there, frozen, with a paper gift bag held between her hands.