Sara paused when she realized she was going in circles. Her grip on her Zanpakutō tightened as her thumb almost but not quite hit the emergency call button. How was she going in circles? It didn’t make any sense. She wasn’t that new to Sagamiyama and she had been to Sakuhana Park a few times. She shouldn’t have gotten lost. Had she been so focused on not getting jumped that she had gotten lost? Except she didn’t even know where she was. She recognized the subtle signs she had been going in circles, but she didn’t know exactly where she was. Yes, she was going to be late, because she needed to find out how to get to the park. Just how mad would the Shinigami … actually … be?

Sara’s thoughts slowly trailed off as the familiar song started. She barely heard it, but its temptations were strangely alluring. Wasn’t she just thinking that she had only delayed her death, that this war would kill her? Wouldn’t it just be easy to give in to the sweetness of oblivion? No one would miss her. Slowly Sara walked towards the song and its promises. The Soul Pager slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground as she staggered forwards. Her grip on her Zanpakutō loosened as she gotten closer and closer. She was unaware of her heartbeat slowing and her breathing spacing out. The song was so beautiful, its words nothing but truth. Nothing else mattered.

[color=311815][i]“Sara! Sara! Sara move! Sara! Please!”[/i][/color]

The second voice snapped Sara out of the hypnotic trance and thankfully her instincts were strong enough to send her into a series of backflips to get her further away from the trap. She used just a touch of Reiatsu to and smoothness and speed to her flips to get even further away. She returned to a standing position with her grip on her Zanpakutō’s hilt tightened enough to make her knuckles white, but she didn’t draw the blade just yet. She looked to see the threat and her already skyrocketing heartbeat got faster as she saw the Hollow standing in front of her. Suddenly she realized why the song had been familiar. It was the Hollow that Hayasegawa had saved her from the night she had died. Her memories of that night were fuzzy, but somehow Sara knew that this was the same creature come to finish the job.

Sara had no illusions. She had no idea where she was. She couldn’t see the person belonging to the voice that had saved her. It wasn’t Hayasegawa or Tatsuha. She didn’t recognize it … except that she had. She didn’t know how, because she was entirely convinced that she had never heard it before. No! That wasn’t important right now. Right now, she needed to figure out a way away from the Hollow. She wasn’t beating it. She didn’t think she was strong enough. And getting way wasn’t likely either. Sara was starting to think that the world was just a little bit … fuzzy. She couldn’t claim to know Sagamiyama that well, but she had done a lot of wandering. Given how long it had been she couldn’t be that far from the places she knew, and this looked nothing like them. Was the Hollow doing something? If that was the case, Sara could cross getting away off the list, because the Hollow would be able to just circle her back around. She glanced at the Soul Pager on the ground. Yeah no, she had already proven she couldn’t scoop things off the ground while running, so calling for help wasn’t an option. She had no options. Maybe the song was right maybe she should just …

[color=311815][i]“Sara!”[/i][/color]

The same voice, but fainter, it still sounded desperate. Sara couldn’t give up. Not tonight at least. She was already late and didn’t need Hayasegawa and Tatsuha even angrier at her for giving Hollows more power. She needed a plan, and she needed a plan now. She did not have one. The best she thought she could do was distract the creature long enough to get away and hide. Maybe not distract. Maybe just blind. She had no way to blind. Wait! Hayasegawa could make Kido do some interesting things. Maybe she could try that. No guarantee that it would work, but it was a chance, and a chance was better than nothing.

Sara was surprised at how cold her voice sounded, [color=e4a683]“If you want me, you’ll have to come and get me.”[/color] She threw her hand out and called out, [color=e4a683]“Hado Shakkaho!”[/color]

Sara was hoping to create more of a bright light than a blast with any kind of power. She probably put more Reiatsu into the spell than she should have, but she did aim it at the Hollow. If she couldn’t create the blinding light and instead did a normal blast maybe it would do something. Sara didn’t stay to find out. She simply turned and used Graceful Slide to run off. She was definitely using too much Reiatsu, but she didn’t have any other plan. Maybe if she found a place to hide, she could lay a trap for the Hollow. The one thing she knew for sure was that she was alone with no way to call for help. She thought she was alone, there was still that strange voice she could barely hear and now could almost not remember. No! Investigation later. Hiding and trap now.

[@Sho Minazuki]