♫ You are alone looking at the moonlight in front of the window
The young white moonlight is her smile ♫
-- 大籽 (Da Zi), 白月光与朱砂痣 (White Moonlight With a Cinnabar Mole)

Michael answered the call in a heartbeat.

"Cel, mate! Finally! You gotta get help me! The woman got hit hard in the back of the head by this psychopathic mafia dude! Can you fucking believe it?! Oh, and I'm pretty sure she's suffering from a concussion, definitely needs some medical help, aaaaand she clearly doesn't want any, just telling me to throw her off somewhere."

Celeste's expression was broody. "Where are--"

Michael cut off Celeste unknowingly, it was obvious he was going mad with panic.

"I can't just throw her out on the road like a bloody rag doll, mate! I'm not that heartless! And that mafia dude is trying to catch us now, we barely managed to escape him, damn it! Sending her to the precinct won't help either..."

Michael increased the speed of the auto pilot mode of the car, keying in some random address to get away from this place as fast as possible.

He kept glancing to the back from time to time, dreading of seeing a car behind them.

"The woman's totally quiet too, like really quiet--shit, she can't be dead, can't she? I've heard of people dying from concussions before. Oh fuck--hey, hey woman! Lady! Peach!"

"Where are you?" Celeste asked, his nonchalant voice colder than usual.

"Uh, uh. Shit, where the fuck is this? This is--Löne, GPS! Use your bloody GPS! No, what the hell am I doing, the cars are equipped with bloody GPS. Fuck--I'm dumb, this is dumb. Everything fucking sucks."

If the situation wasn't so alarming, Celeste would have raised his eyebrows at the amount of profanities has used in the past few sentences, as well as how scattered his mind was at this moment.

Celeste recieved a shared location on his Löne, zoning in on their location within record time.

"There, I shared it! I fucking shared it! And damnnit woman! Are you dead? Ya can't be dead, right? Lady! Hey! Peach!"

A groan was heard, and Celeste heard a female grumbling in the background.

"Shut up...! Or I'll just throw us out...both of us. Stop screaming..."

Peach just drifted off after that, and Celeste's heart skipped a beat, hearing her familiar high-pitched voice.

She's alright.

The sense of relief that coursed through him made Celeste baffled, but he didn't dwell on it.

"Oh thank god, you are okay--are you going to puke? Please don't puke in the fucking car."

"Stop shouting...just go away."

Celeste took off from his desk, garnering bewildered stares from various people and he reached the parking space of the precinct quickly.

"Stay there, and stay on the line." Celeste demanded.

"Stay here?! You insane, mate? I'm not gonna wait here like a drongo, waiting to be slaughtered! You wanna know who that bloody bloke was? Fucking Rui, the right-hand man of Lu Ruoyi!"

"Calm down. How did you escape?"

Celeste spotted the sleek motorcycle parked at the far end, its material smooth and reflective. It was his personal motorcycle, and a birthday gift from his parents and brother.

"Well, mate. I was getting strangled to death, yeah, near that darn shop. This bloody woman saved my life by distracting him with her wig, and sprayed some fucking...thing in his face. Multiple times too. And he got knocked out. Shit, my neck bloody hurts."

Celeste remembered getting sprayed by something that Peach possessed. His mind estimated the time he was knocked out, to the time he found himself in the hospital.

While he calculated the time, he climbed onto the motorcycle, and the engine revved to life. Wearing his helmet, he transferred his call to Löne before speeding off. The roar of the engine resounded across the carpark, his mind whirling with calculation as he opened another window on his lenses, which was a map of Neo.

Celeste's eyes lit up in relief as he completed the calculation.

The two of them would be safe.

There was enough time for them to escape from Rui.

"Cel, mate, ya there? Don't just go quiet. I'm going out of my fucking mind here, and the lady just went quiet again. I'm bloody terrified here."

"Calculating the time between the distance your location and "Pixy", it's been around ten minutes. You have another thirty minutes before he comes looking for you."

"Wha--how did you--"

"You have enough time, so stay there."

"That's now what I meant!"

"It could be twenty minutes, but it still doesn't make a difference."

"Okay, alright. How long are you gonna take to come here, mate?"

"Eight minutes."

Celeste hung up on the call, he knew that they would be safe now. Keeping them on the line might distract him, since he was accelerating.

On the other hand, Michael gaped openly as Celeste hung up on him. Michael couldn't understand Celeste, he didn't even know how Celeste calculated the time, he didn't even know if he trust Celeste.

...but Cel is never wrong in his words.

Michael sighed, deciding to trust Celeste, glancing at Peach. She was resting her head against the headrest, her eyes glazed over as she stared up at the roof of the car. It was his first time seeing Peach real apperance too, and even Michael had to admit.

She is gorgeous.

Michael mused to himself, her countenance reminding him of an innocent beauty.

Her milky peach doe-like eyes, firm lips and small, round face. Pastel peach hair that cascaded down to her shoulders, a lithe body.

Michael reached forward hesitantly, waving his hand in front of her.

"Hey." Michael muttered out softly.

Michael called out, and Peach winced, his voice was like a thunderous clap, as if her eardrums were going to burst. She shut her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Stop shouting, please."

"What? I'm not shouting though...nevermind. Sorry."

She opened her eyes, still looking dazed.

"Hey, lady!" Michael poked her, speaking very softly.

No response.

"Hello?"

No response.

Peach blinked, her eyes growing slightly clearer and Michael saw the recognition in her eyes. She turned, facing Michael, clutching her head.

"What?"

"You definitely need to go the hospital."

"..."

Peach couldn't process his words, and neither could she process the words on her lenses. Her vision was blurry, and she was even starting to see double images.

Suddenly, one word registered in her brain.

Hospital.

"Hospitals, no...no. There are...two of you? Doubles..."

Michael sighed yet again, "Rui hit you really hard with that gun."

"Who?"

Suddenly, a dizzy spell struck Peach and she felt nauseous more than ever. Michael saw her lurching over and he blanched, immediately pushing the car door open from her side, and making her face the outside.

She retched, proceeding to vomit out the contents from her stomach.

"Ugh." Michael recoiled back in disgust.

He had to deal with his older sister being drunk before, and it was the same exact situation. Except, she wasn't suffering from a concussion.

Michael held her hair up, and gripped her firmly when she dropped forward.

"It's like I'm babysitting my sis all over again." Michael pulled a face.

However, Michael didn't stop helping her. After all, she did save his life, big time.

"My head hurts..."

"Poor gal." Michael shook his head, gently guiding Peach back to her seat.

Peach was back to her disoriented state, but she could at least comprehend things slightly more now. All Peach wanted was ample rest at this moment.

"Where's the wet tissue I had somewhere back here--ah. Here."

Michael took a piece of wet tissue out, wiping the traces of vomit around Peach's mouth.

She showed no reaction.

Michael pinched the dirty tissue between his fingers, eyeing it in disgust. He tossed it into the makeshift trash bin in the car, before collapsing back into his seat, closing his eyes.

Just like that, seconds passed followed by minutes.

***

Michael heard the purr of an engine behind them, jolting awake. He became alert, his hand flying to his gun and he flung the car door open.

Where's that fucking bastard--

"Damn, it's just you." Michael relaxed his tense muscles, relieved.

Celeste stepped down from the motorcycle, removing his helmet as he marched towards Michael.

"How are you?"

Michael let out a short, breathy laugh. "I'm pretty much stuffed, and these bloody bruises around my neck will be a pain in the ass, no doubt."

Celeste nodded. "How is she?"

"Nope," Michael shook his head, glancing at Peach who was resting soundlessly. "She has a concussion for sure, but how serious is it? Can't tell."

"She can't go to the hospital. She's still a suspect, and Hebi is still out there." Celeste added and Michael nodded in agreement.

Celeste peeked his head in, observing Peach with a frown.

"I figured, so what in the bloody hells are we gonna do?"

"Head back to the precinct, locate Hebi no matter what. I'll take care of her."

"Take care of her? How?"

"Take my bike, I'll take the car."

Michael's eyes lit up at the mention of that, he had been gushing over the beauty of Celeste's motorcycle for a while now.

He never thought a day would come where he could ride it!

"Take good care of it." Celeste said, a hint of warning in his voice.

Michael grinned, patting Celeste on the back. "Definitely, mate! I'd rather die than let anything happen to that beauty!"

"Go."

The two men exchanged their places, Michael setting off first, not before admiring and stroking the motorcycle like it was an irresistibly adorable kitten.

Celeste decided to inspect Peach once again. That was when he noticed dried blood around the point where she was smacked by the gun, making him frown.

He took out his phone and dialling someone hurriedly.

"Mekhi."

"Little Ash! Why the random call?" Maddog greeted happily.

"Peach is hurt."

Celeste heard a sharp intake of breath from Maddog.

"How bad is it?"

"Concussion. No telling how serious it is."

"Concussion? Doesn't sound like the Peach I know, not at all."

"She was...hit, and in urgent need of medical help."

There was a few seconds of silence from the other side of the line. Celeste looked at Peach, growing impatient until Maddog sighed heavily.

"...Arwen. We need to bring her to Arwen. She's...she's the only one that can help now." Maddog's words were hesitant.

"Arwen?"

"Stop fucking screaming and shouting. Please." Peach implored, her face contorted in pain as she clutched her ears.

Everything felt amplified in her ears, and she couldn't bear it.

It was just too loud.

Celeste paused, glancing back at her. He was talking softer than usual, and the radio in the car wasn't even switched on.

Maddog could hear Peach clearly on the other end. Ending the call now was clearly the best choice.

"I'll send you an address. Don't let anyone else follow you, Celeste."

Celeste blinked, Maddog hardly called him by his name. He knew Maddog was completely serious, and he mumbled out a word of agreement, both of them ending the call quickly.

After ending the call, Celeste checked his surroundings to ensure no one was around them. He then glanced over to Peach.

Without thinking, he reached over, his hand closing in on her face.

At that moment, she turned to look at Celeste. Her peach eyes blinking at him, not a hint of recognition in them. His heart skipped a beat, his hand freezing in mid-air.

His eyes grew wide and he slowly moved the same hand to press on the GPS screen of the car.

The car began to move.

"..."

Celeste glanced away in an awkward manner, looking down at his hand that wanted to touch Peach's face.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.