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 Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:19 pm
Ava’s decision was made.
It broke her heart to do it - her chest ached from the guilt of it. She loved her family in the Dark Mirror Court, but she couldn’t stay. She needed to be by Chariklo’s side.
More than that, she needed to escape the fear that dogged her at every step. She needed to be away from the Negaverse, away from being in their power and at risk from them at every turn. It was a constant risk, they had shown her that all too well. And the Negaverse clearly despised and distrusted the Mirror. She wasn’t sure what kept them from true open conflict, but for the sake of her friends, she was grateful.
For the sake of herself, she had to get out.
Navi had explained the way - not in too much detail, but that was alright. She just had to go to Mirrorspace, and Mirrorspace would help her find the way. She might not like being Chaos, being Dark Mirror - her feelings for the people involved aside - but she could still trust Mirrorspace. It was safe, as Alistair had insisted, and she trusted him completely. He wouldn’t lie to her. Had even wished her well, even though grief was written all over his face. He had tried, tried to set aside his own pain, and it was a guilty reminder that these people were good people who cared about her.
She had broken Alistair’s heart when she told him she was leaving - not the same way Chariklo’s leaving had broken hers, but still heartbreak. But she had to do it. She had to do something for herself.
(She couldn’t be sad and alone and heartbroken anymore.)
Her family would miss her, she knew - and she had written a letter to her mother, asking her to understand, but that she had run away, left the city. There was too much tragedy and loss, here, and she needed to make a new start for herself, far away. She knew it would break her family’s hearts, too.
She had carefully packed her things into a duffel bag - there wasn’t much, here, but she didn’t want to leave things behind for her friends to have to pick up after. That would be far, far too cruel to them. She couldn’t ask that. Not when she was betraying them like this.
A single bag was plenty, for what she had, anyway. It was sitting on the bed, waiting for her to pick it up once she powered up and carry it with her on her journey into the mirror. That way she could be sure she still had it with her, and while it was heavy for Avacyn, it would be no problem for Amytis.
She did dearly love the strength boost that came with being magical. It was one of the better things about it, certainly.
“Amytis asteroid power, make up.” She declared, and in an elegant dance of ribbons and lights and lotus petals, she became her Senshi self.
She picked up the bag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked to the mirror.
It opened like water under her fingers, and she disappeared into Mirrorspace.
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:08 pm
Mirrorspace felt no more welcoming than usual, but that was fine. Amytis had a purpose, and Navi had told her that if she had a purpose, Mirrorpsace would guide her to her ends. So she strode forward confidently, and she found a path forming under her feet. She kept walking, ignoring the swirling space around her, certain that if she kept pressing, she would find what she needed.
The path wound and branched, but she kept steady, following something inside her that told her the way to go.
She felt a strange pulsing in her chest, in her starseed - her very soul - and she knew she was close. Amytis began to run, bag bouncing on her shoulder, feeling a strange excitement in her veins. This was it, she was here - she was finally going to be able to be free.
Something weighed on her, as she ran, though. She pictured her friends in the Court, and she felt a crawling sense of guilt. Did she really want to leave them? That would be what she was doing.
She hesitated, briefly.
Took a breath.
Pressed on.
And finally, there before her eyes, was a small starseed-like shape formed of mirrors.
“Oh,” she took a few steps forward, reaching for it.
“Are you sure you want that?”
The voice startled her, and she spun around, coming face to face with - well, with herself. A bit taller, a bit older, with black wings resting at her hips and a confident smile on her face, but herself.
“Yes,” Amytis said, and the strange not-her walked forward until she could reach out and take Amytis’s chin in her hand and tilt her face up.
“No, you’re not,” the replica-her said, and Amytis swallowed. “You don’t really want to leave, do you? You still care about them - Tantalus and Damocles, Mintaka, Remarque. You want that future Remarque promised. The one you could build for yourself, without the Negaverse looming over you.”
“And - and the only way I can have that is if I purify! I need Chari, I need the twins, I…” Amytis began.
“Do you?” The replica stepped away, walked around, and before Amyts knew it, she was between her and the MirrorSeal. “Chariklo certainly doesn’t need you,” she said, idly, and she examined her fingernails. “And why does your future have to be with Order? Why can’t you become the best you here?”
“Because the Negaverse is --” Amytis began. Other-Her sighed heavily.
“The Negaverse. Bah. You’re afraid of them because you’re afraid of everything. Imagine, Amytis, sweetie, what you could do if you stopped being afraid. And you can stop being afraid by embracing what you are. By becoming stronger as what you are.”
Amytis started stepping back, eyes wide. Her mirror-self was right.
“I can’t.” She said, softly. Her double smiled, and it actually felt warm, instead of condescending.
“Yes, you can.” The figure said, “you can be so much more than you think you are.”
And then the ground beneath Amytis began to crack.
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:10 pm
Amytis fell.
And fell.
And fell.
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:57 pm
She was not sure how long she had been falling for, or how far she had fallen, but her landing was surprisingly soft. Mirrorspace providing, she supposed.
But she felt a sense of panic. This was nowhere she had seen before - a strange corridor, that shifted even as she watched, hallways forming and vanishing right in front of her eyes. And worse - she didn’t see any mirrors, any surfaces she could use to exit.
In a panic, she raced forward, slipping into a formed hallway just before it vanished. When she turned around, there was no way back.
No way except forward.
She kept walking.
Amytis did not know how long she walked for, alone with nothing but her thoughts.
Sometimes, she thought she saw glimpses of her friends, but they were fleeting, likely only in her head. And yet she couldn’t help but think of them.
Tantalus.
Tantalus who had taken to her almost immediately, who had been there for her almost from the beginning, or at least from the beginning of her actively being a Senshi. Tantalus - Alistair - who had opened his home and gladly welcomed her, who had been so sweet and kind, almost like a brother.
Damocles.
Damocles, always at Tantalus’s side, who she had run off to rescue without a thought once upon a time. Damocles who was like a warm hug, always safe and secure and good and kind. Damocles who was another sibling, who she couldn’t even imagine losing.
Mintaka.
So gentle and kind, a third mother to the twins - and a dear, dear friend to Amytis. In this, the real future, she was a member of the Court, and devastated by Chariklo’s loss. She belonged with them, always had, and it made Amytis heartsick to think of losing her when they were finally on the same side.
Remarque.
Remarque, her Prince and her friend, who had assuaged her doubts and fears. Who had promised her a new world that they could build together, and damn the Negaverse and what they wanted.
And most of all, she thought of Chariklo.
Chariklo, who she loved - there was no question of that. But she had to accept, she realized, that Chariklo was gone. Had fled for Order without a word, left her behind.
Broken her heart, if she was being honest.
She couldn’t chase Chariklo, when it would take her away from her family - both her blood one, her mother and sister, who would be so lost without her, and the one she had found and built in the Court.
Her double was right.
She didn’t need to be Order to make her own future.
It was like her eyes opened for the first time,a dn the path out was finally clear.
She ran, and ran, until she came to a vast room with a single mirror in the center of it. Hovering in front of the mirror was a delicate glass orb, with a white lotus inside. Amytis stepped forward, and watched it glow a gentle white. It descended into her hands, and she felt a pleasant, gentle warmth.
She smiled, faintly, and took a few steps forward, stepping through the mirror.
When she came out the other side, she was in Alistar and Lance’s living room, and she was changed.
She heard Alistair’s voice, distantly, and she powered down, because all at once, hunger and thirst and exhaustion, which had held no meaning for her in Mirrorspace, hit all at once.
But she was home. Where she belonged.
Where she was going to stay.
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