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Athene had gotten used to the fact that Ida wasn't coming back - or at least he thought he had.

Because after all it had been months.

Oh at first he had hoped and even when as Arian he had gone through the mess with the Police of having Orah formally declared missing he had hoped - had thought that if he searched a little harder, stayed out for just that little bit longer that he'd been able to find her.

He had pushed himself to exhaustion during that period after Ida disappeared as he tried trying (badly) to juggle both classes and hunting for his missing friend and team mate and had even deliberately missed another friend's wedding as he and Liryn had desperately tried to pool their resources and contact everyone who they thought may have seen Ida and that was not even counting the many, many messages that both of them had sent.

There had been nothing, just dead end after dead end, until finally Athene had accepted that the Orchid senshi was gone - that someone had killed her - with the most likely culprit someone in the Negaverse.

And whilst he had taken steps to keep the apartment that the two of them shared - it had been more for Liryn's sake than his own...

Because Athene was fully aware that Liryn had never accepted that Ida was dead - had in fact refused to accept it instead choosing to believe that she was out there somewhere, however he hadn't been able to hope the way that the small mauvian was.

Which had brought him to tonight and specifically to the flyer that he was holding clenched in one hand - one that until a few moments ago had been hanging up.

It had caught his eye as he had been walking on patrol with Liryn and he had absently walked over to get a better look.

The contents however had hit him like a metaphysical punch to the gut - because whilst the drawing had been crude and perhaps even a little childish he had very easily recognised the person.

Ida.

Distantly he could hear Liryn calling to him, although he didn't move to acknowledge the tabby bobtail - at least not at first.

Eventually however Athene was able to loosen his grip on the paper slightly - at least enough for the now somewhat crumpled flyer to slip from his grasp and flutter downwards.

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Whilst Athene had mostly recovered from the injuries that he had taken during their shared time in Nega space, Liryn hadn't wanted to let the dark-haired eternal patrol on him own.

Because whilst Athene was finally back at the apartment, the other often had a nasty tendency to push himself a little too hard.

Actually there was another, second reason why he had been so insistent on acting as the dark-haired eternal's patrol partner - at least on the evenings when the other was not out with a knight or fellow senshi - and that was because of Ida and because of Tsui.

Because he hadn't been able to help either of them - not Tsui with her demons that for the most part kept her holed up on Tsui and not Ida who was out there - somewhere...

Somewhere where he wasn't able to go - somewhere where he wasn't able to help her.

And so he kept an eye on Athene because Liryn refused - absolutely refused - to lose anyone else that he considered his. Because Ida and Tsui had been two people too many.

Which had brought him - them - to tonight and a patrol that had been largely uneventful.

Well at least right up until the point where Athene had seen the flyer.

He had called to the dark-haired eternal in concern as the other had stared at the piece of paper and paled. Athene hadn't answered however, although his hands had clenched around the paper until Liryn could have sworn that he heard the material crackle.

He had been contemplating taking his other form, for all that it would be a risk and a serious one at that, because at least then he would have hands and perhaps now was a hands time despite the risks surrounding it, however at that moment Athene's grip on the paper had finally loosened and it had slipped, fluttering downwards to the side walk.

He had padded over to look, curious about what had caused the dark-haired eternal's reaction, aware but not really focusing on the nearby super senshi's aura as he batted at the paper with his right front paw in order to better look at it...

And then the paper flipped and all he could do was stare - because the figure depicted in the drawing was unmistakably Ida.

Athene had missed the laugh.

But at the sound of excited chatter, he whipped around to look behind him as it dimly registered that there was someone else approaching them, the movement causing the beads braided into his hair to click-clack against them.

He had stared dumbly as the Super senshi, a girl with curly brown hair and a large red flower that looked suspiciously like a poinsettia, addressed him as Ida as she ran towards him and had still been staring when it finally registered - or at least seemed to register - that he very much wasn't Ida.

A touch against his boots had him looking away from the other senshi in order to give a startled look downwards, until it slowly registered that it was just Liryn - that at some point the tabby bobtail must have decided to move.

Athene did not look in the direction of the flyer, staying uncharacteristically silent as the Super senshi awkwardly introduced herself as Sailor Elvira.

It was Liryn speaking that finally prompted him to speak, his green-flecked grey eyes shifting to look up at her as he quietly said "I'm Athene" biting his lower lip awkwardly for a few moments before finally continuing "And it's okay" it wasn't because the other senshi had stirred up things that Athene thought that he had made peace with.

Not that he'd admit to it however as he forcibly tried to wrench his emotions down to neutral and - if the shakiness of his voice was any indicator - failed miserably "Ida was.." he hesitated before finally managing to get out "Ida was our friend."

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It was the laugh that registered first.

The laugh was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps and an excited sounding voice.

Liryn broke off from his perusal of the flyer, as he finally became aware of the approaching aura - could hear the sounds of beads click-clacking together as Athene whipped round to look behind him.

He turned in turn, his purplish eyes taking in the curly-haired girl approaching them, the wind pushing her hair back as she called excitedly to Athene with Ida's name.

Under other circumstances it would have been laughable - after all Athene stood a couple of inches shorter than Ida, his hair was black to her brown and that was without taking into account any other differences such as differences in senshi outfits and Ida's transcendance glow.

Under other circumstances it would have been laughable... But not now with Ida still missing as she had been for months.

Not now as Athene gave her a stricken look on his pale face, the smattering of freckles across his nose standing out in the evening light.

And not now as it finally seemed to register with the approaching senshi that this was not Ida and her footsteps started to falter.

She moved eventually, crossing the remaining distance the separated them her voice subdued when before it had sounded happy as she introduced herself as Sailor Elvira.

"Good evening Elvira" Liryn said his normally cheery voice gentle, as he finally padded away from the flyer and closer to Athene's booted feet, his purplish eyes solemn as he glanced first up at a silent Athene and then over towards the Super senshi. "I'm Liryn and that's..."

His voice trailed off as Athene finally spoke up and gave his name, his quiet voice hollow, however he couldn't help but pipe up as the dark-haired eternal continued that Ida had been their friend.

"Is our friend Athene. Ida is our friend." There was a touch of sternness to his voice as he corrected the Eternal because describing Ida in the past tense was wrong.

Ida absolutely was out there somewhere even though they couldn't help her - he couldn't help her.

She had to be because Liryn refused to believe otherwise - couldn't allow himself to believe otherwise.

"Is Ida hiding from you too?"

Athene couldn't help but give the other senshi a startled glance intermixed with disbelief from beneath his glasses at her question for a few moments as he managed to choke back the automatic answer on the tip of his tongue by sheer force of will.

Eventually however he shook his head in a quiet negation of the question "No Ida's not hiding," he said. "Sh.. she wouldn't, she's not the sort to do something like that" and if his voice was shaking a little as he spoke the words then he refused to openly admit to it.

It was because Ida wasn't the sort to just up and disappear however that Athene couldn't help but think the worst. After all it wasn't like it was a matter of a few days and it wasn't even a few weeks - it was months - months and months of silence. Months without a word...

And even now, even now when he thought that he had finally managed to accept it, it still hurt.

He half turned away at Elvira's question about whether he thought that Ida was dead, before forcing himself to turn around and look back at her "I... I don't want to believe it but it's been months!"

And heaven's help him once he started the words kept coming "Ida and I shared an apartment together but I haven't seen her since before Christmas. No messages, no phone calls - no anything" his voice sounded half choked.

"And so I looked for her - Liryn and I both looked for her and we contacted everybody we could think off trying to find her."

He turned away again and then back again in an abrupt agitated movement "And in between I dealt with her family and the Police and found a way to keep the apartment going so that it would still there for her when she came back - because back then I really thought that she would."

But she hadn't - she hadn't and she wasn't going to and...

"I'm sorry" he said" because he didn't think he could stay here after all - not with the poster and not with Elvira and her happy pendant.

"I'm sorry" he repeated on a choked sob before he turned and fled.

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Liryn had only been able to stand there stunned as the words tumbled out of Athene because truth be told he had never seen the dark-haired eternal like this.

Because whilst Athene was friendly enough, he was also quiet and a little on the reserved side.

However whilst he wasn't raising his voice there was nothing reserved about the eternal's voice as the words seemed to tumble out in a horrible trembling torrent.

And it hurt all the worse because he had had no idea that the other had been feeling that way - that this was what Athene had been keeping in all this time.

"Athene!"

And perhaps he should have have expected it when Athene had turned and fled, but it had taken him by surprise all the same.

"I'm sorry too" and his normally cheery voice was solemn. "Athene's not usually like this." In fact he had never in all his time with the dark-haired eternal like this "But I.. I can't leave him alone like this."

And whilst Liryn wasn't sure how he was going to find Athene especially when the other had eternal speed on his side, he also knew that he needed to try.

Even so he hesitated as his purplish eyes stared up at Elvira "I have to find Athene," and he would find Athene even if that meant spending the rest of his evening combing the city "But Elvira please.. Sailor Elvira please may I ask you to scan me into your phone" and now it was his turn to hesitate for one brief moment. "And if you hear anything about Ida - anything at all then please can you message me."

Liryn was not so caught up in his worry for Athene to miss Elvira's distress...

And it hurt.

It hurt to watch as she stood there watching as Athene fled, her fingers still clasped round the pendant that she had earlier held out in offering.

Hurt to watch how she forcibly pulled herself together for long enough to acquiesce with his request to scan him into her contacts before fleeing in the opposite direction that Athene had taken.

And he felt torn, Elvira's very visible distress enough to send his paws padding a few hesitant steps in the direction that she had taken before he stopped.

"You're not awful" he said sadly to the empty street.

"You're not awful."

But there was no one to hear - not Elvira and not Athene.

"Neither of you are awful" he said with one last forlorn murmur before finally turning and taking off in the direction that Athene had taken.