Rosewater

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas pulled his leg back, simply focusing on moving forward still, as he shut his eyes, tears starting to run down his face. Tomas simply blinked them away, and moved forward.
I have to do this... I have to convince her... I have to, for her sake... Tomas thought, as continued to move through the vents quickly.

[The Truth]

Kaitlin reached for him again but missed as he reached the hall.

A door opened on the far end, and Kitten stumbled out, holding a large bat.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas shook his head, dismayed, as he turned and ran the other direction, not having wanted this to happen at all.
"Sally! Just listen to me...!" Tomas yelled out, as he tried to get outside, hoping that she might be there...

[The Truth]

Sally stood in the open doorway, holding a long sword, like one used for fencing.
She was crying, but the look on her face was one of dark determination.
Behind him, Kaitlin and Kitten were quickly catching up.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

"Sally... Just give me one chance..." Tomas said, a look of pain on his face as he realized that this might not work out after all. However, he walked forward regardless of the danger. Sometimes, you had to be reckless to get what you wanted...

[The Truth]

"I...I...I'm sorry, Tomas." She gritted her teeth and stabbed as hard as she could for his heart.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas breathed in, and twisted to the side quickly, feeling the steel slice the top layer of skin on his chest, but that only steeled his idea; however, he quickly gripped Sally's hand, and then stepped forward, as he looked into Sally's eyes, making one final silent plea, as he kissed her on the lips, in an attempt to realize this wasn't needed.

[The Truth]

She pushed him to the ground and pointed her sword at him, her hands shaking and tears streaming down her face. "I...I...I...I...don't...know...what to do...."

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas looked at Sally, as he carefully considered his words, for once in his life.
"It's okay to not know what to do." Tomas said, as he was scared. He was scared he might mess up. But yet, that gave him an odd confidence. A confidence for throwing the rules out the window.
"But I'm here for you. Don't throw it all away... Please; don't let your father's ghost run your life." Tomas said, looking into Sally's tear blurred eyes through his own tear blurred eyes; the cut on his chest a distant memory right now.
"You have too much going for you, to have fears of what others think rule your life. I know how that feels. I've been there." Tomas said, the pain in his voice genuine. The clouds overhead let out the first droplet of rain, which fell between the two of them, making Sally's pain and sorrow even more pronounced.
"You showed me that I don't have to be that person. That I can trust people, and that I have friends that care about me..." Tomas said, as he kept trying to show his sincerity through his eyes.
"I care about you... I don't want to see you throw your life away; so don't. Please; if not for me, then for you; and for all our other friends..." Tomas said, not even thinking about logic right now, as this wasn't logical.
"Put simply... Sally; I love you."

[The Truth]

Sally's entire body trembled. The rain began to fall heavier around them both as she slowly collapsed to her knees, dropping the sword off to her side. Her head dropped down to her chest as she shuddered silently, her tears mingling with the rain.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas slowly stood up, and walked over to Sally, as he knelt down, and wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down.
"It's alright..." Tomas said, supporting the back of Sally's head with one hand, as the rain began to soak him to the bone.
"I'm right here."

[The Truth]

The "Security Guard" watched through a crack in the gate, then spoke into his radio. "Negative. Veronica has been neutralized. Situation is under control." He slowly turned and walked off into the pouring rain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Two Weeks Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomas woke up and groggily rubbed his eyes. The phone was ringing. He glanced at the clock. Noon.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas groaned, as he slowly got up, wincing slightly at the still-healing sword wound on his chest.
Those dreams... Tomas frowned, as he answered the phone, still half asleep.

[The Truth]

"Good morning, Tomas. This is Dr. Amanda Fischer from the Adams Institute for Mental Health. Your friends are doing a bit better, so I thought you'd like to come visit."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Adams Institute looked nothing like a conventional "insane asylum". it was a beautiful building with a gorgeous lawn, with fountains, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and more. The building was made of varnished oak, and the inside was lovingly decorated to give the impression of being at home. Sally and Kaitlin were relaxing on a large couch playing Smash Brothers.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas grinned, as he hopped the couch with a wince, and stole the spot next to Sally, picking up a controller as he did so.
"Good to see you two." Tomas said with a wide smile; a total contrast from the times back in Rosewater.

[The Truth]

"Hey, didn't see you come in!" She grinned broadly.
Kaitlin chose to greet him by having her character hug his.
"How've you been?"

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

"Pretty good; though I feel like something was missing." Tomas said, genuinely happy for the first time in a long while.
"How about you?" Tomas asked, hoping that she had been enjoying herself at the least, as he glanced at the screen.
"I see you convinced them to let you handle the gaming arrangements, so that's a good thing at least." Tomas said with a chuckle, the smile never leaving his face.

[The Truth]

"Well, I'm probably gonna be in here a while. They say it could take years to undo dad's programming. But honestly? I'm pretty happy. Everyone here's really nice, I have a lot of fun, and I'm finally breaking past dad's screwed-up legacy."
She smiled happily.
"I'm doing pretty well too." Kaitlin said. "I'm probably gonna get out before Sally, but I'm still gonna be here a few more years. But it's fun here, all the doctors and nurses are nice, and most of the patients are actually pretty cool people. There's a famous novelist two rooms down from me!"

Kitten walked in, covered in sweat, and holding a tennis racket. Joshua entered shortly afterwards, also sweaty, and with his own racket. "Hey, Tomas! Thought you'd forgotten about us!"

[Magical Girl Mimi]

-==IC: Tomas==-

Tomas smiled back at Sally, happy that things were going well for her, and was about to reply and say that, when Kitten and Joshua walked in.
"Not a chance!" Tomas said, not mentioning the fact that he had been phoning every day for updates on all of them.
"Today was the first real chance I got to actually stop by, but you can expect that to change now." Tomas said with a mischievous smile.
"Probably gonna just stop in once a week... Maybe twice a week... okay, maybe once a day... Might just leave to sleep..." Tomas said, whistling innocently, as this was the definition of awesomeness for him, this moment, everyone alright, and he smiled once again.
"Glad to see and hear that everyone's doing great, though." Tomas said, finally getting a chance to reply to both Kaitlin and Sally.

[The Truth]

Kitten grinned. "I'd hug you, but you know...sweaty."
Joshua laughed. "Yeah, and...well, I'm a guy. I suck at hugging."
Sally laughed as well. "You're not a patient here. You don't get to live here. Which is a shame, because this place is a total resort!" She grinned and flipped a stray hair out of her face.
"Oh, also, I'm planning on actually legally changing my name to Sally."