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“Okay,” said Minyulite, pacing up and down a few feet of the sidewalk in this park where they were supposed to be meeting up with this Princess, Cybele. Pendour watched her, comparatively still.

Minnie had done everything she could think of. She had her photos saved, and a few scattered notes of people she’d met powered up. She had her stuff stashed in Michelangelo’s house, and Sadie’s room. She’d made friends who could help her, found a place to stay afterwards and even a magic cat that could probably get her set up with a new job.

She’d told her family. Sadie and Calvin had gotten the full story. Her parents just got told that she’d gotten in trouble and was going to need to lay low for a while, and how fast they accepted that probably said something about how her life was going in general.

It was done, though. She was here. The loose ends were tied up. Honestly, she was more prepared for this than she’d been when she’d decided on a whim to come back to Destiny City in the first place.

Her heart was still beating really fast, though. She could feel it.

“We’re doing this,” she said anyway.

“I’m okay,” Pendour replied, although they weren’t quite relaxed. They reached for his hand out of instinct. Earlier, they’d been the one to try to convince him that it would work out, that everything would be okay, but actually being out in the open like this with many of their loved ones, including her one reckless sister who was clearly still a Lieutenant, made things look a little different. They felt exposed, even with Viatrix helping with the auras. Vulnerable. They were hopeful, but they also knew that this was the kind of time when things so often went wrong. “Just a few more minutes, right?”

Minnie looked at Pendour. She managed to smile at them and then at Abzu, despite her own nerves not being in much better of a state. “Yeah, thanks for coming with me,” she said. “It feels like a lot now that it’s happening, right? So, having people helps.”

She smiled at Encke, too. She’d noticed that he seemed more reserved, but he’d shown up, and that meant a lot. He’d also brought the talking cat that was apparently protecting them.

“So when did this Princess say she was getting here?”

“It’s true. You haven’t led me on yet,” said Minnie, that smile ticking upwards for a second. Honestly, he had a knack for getting her mind off the nerves of all this with those little quips. He was also right. She trusted them. All of them.

Also, she was pretty sure that the feeling in the back of her head meant that someone else from their side was around here somewhere. Then she heard the sound of footsteps on the sidewalk. Then, a voice.

“Hello, partner,” the woman said to Abzu with a hint of a smile, and Minnie couldn’t help but stare, because damn, she was beautiful. The flowers and antlers against her pale skin and hair made her look like she was out of a fairy tale or something, and it was like there was power radiating off of her just from her vibes, even as she got close enough that her aura was covered. This had to be the Princess.

“Hello, everyone,” Cybele continued, looking around at the group. She raised a hand in greeting to Encke, specifically as she recognized him. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.” Her eyes then flicked to Minnie. “You’re Minyulite?”

“Yeah,” said Minnie, trying to keep it cool as she reached out for a handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

“My name is Cybele. Abzu mentioned that you needed some help.” Her eyes went back to the others. “I’d rather do this on my asteroid, though, if everyone wouldn’t mind circling up.”

“So pretty,” Minnie whispered back to Abzu, and as she looked at him her brows were scrunched together for reasons that had nothing to do with her current issues. “Abzu, why is everyone hot?”

Cybele didn’t seem to mind the whispers, or Viatrix’s questions. “You can look,” she said, stepping forwards even as she took Minnie’s hand in one of hers and Pendour’s in the other. “It’s just on my chest and forehead here, see? Proof that I’m protected.” Her smile was bright, if maybe a bit polite. This was work, after all. There were several people relying on her. “Encke helped a lot. You were right,” she told him. “It turns out I needed to shift my mindset a bit.”

“Yeah, it looks nice,” said Minnie. “I thought it was just, uh, part of the magic, though?”

After all, Pendour was glowing. Encke was glowing. Abzu’s skin was mostly covered in clothes, and Viatrix was a cat.

“Something like that,” said Pendour, softly, squeezing Encke’s hand back and glad to see that he’d had a part in this. “It happens when you spend time on your world. We can explain after.”

“We don’t have to rush things, but let’s get out of the park at least,” said Cybele. Then her dress began to glow and lengthen, and the wings unfurled behind her. Minnie audibly gasped, her mouth slightly open and her eyes shining.

“I knew she’d like her,” Pendour murmured to Encke. In this moment, though, that part didn’t seem that bad. They’d see what happened after.

Cybele took a moment to summon her phone without breaking contact with anyone, and then, as she pressed a button on it, the park around them gave way to a deep forest at twilight.

A cat person. An angel Princess. A magical forest. Minnie was getting more used to magic, but all that at once still got a “Bruh,” out of her. The forest was pretty, though. Cybele was obviously gorgeous, and Viatrix bouncing around on two legs was kind of cute and fun.

Abzu was joking around with her about the hotness situation. Everyone else was complimenting each other. Even Pendour looked mostly happy, especially now that she was holding Encke’s hand. Minnie happened to think that they were adorable.

The nerves that Minnie had been dealing with just a few minutes ago were gone now. “You guys are cool,” she told them. “If this is the kind of life that I’m getting into? Then I’m not even worried. I think we’re gonna have a good time.”

She stepped a little backwards so that she could look everyone in the eye. “And in case I forget what went down, I wanna say thank you one more time.” She was smiling. Even being here, it was still such a relief to know that she was going to be free, that she wasn’t gonna be stuck draining energy or worse for the rest of her life.

It was really good knowing she had friends, too.

Pendour broke away from Encke and threw their arms around their sister. “I love you,” they murmured, leaning down to bury their face in Minnie’s hair. “I love you so much, okay?” They stayed like that for a few long seconds, Pendour tracing soft circles on Minnie’s back with her fingertips. Then Minnie patted her hard on the back a few times and stepped away. “Love you too, Sadie.”

Then she stepped towards the Princess. “Okay,” she said. “Whatever you have to do, I’m ready.”

Cybele smiled warmly at the Lieutenant in front of her, summoning her crystal to her hands. “I’ve been in your position before,” she told her. Minnie blinked and nodded and added that fact to her pile of unexpected lore about this Princess, over with the part that there was apparently some past version of her who had been married to Abzu. It was a nice thought, though, that you could start out like she had and end up like that.

“It hurts a bit, but you’ll be all right.” She smiled at the rest of the group, their energy palpable. “You’ve got a lot of good people waiting for you on the other side.”

Minnie took half a step forwards and squared her shoulders. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

“Let’s go,” agreed Cybele, and her crystal began to glow.

Pendour took a step back towards Encke, and squeezed his hand as hard as she’d ever squeezed it before

Minnie grunted at the sudden light and heat, and pain that was a brighter, sharper version of what she’d felt when she was corrupted into the Negaverse in the first place. She wasn’t scared of pain, though. She was used to pushing herself to the limits to get what she wanted, and she wanted this.

She wanted this.

---

When it was over, when the light faded and Cybele stepped back, breathing heavily, she stood there changed. The Chaos was gone, and so was her dark uniform. She wore a pink fur-lined vest, and green trousers, and tall boots. The symbols on her were Jupiter.

She coughed, and rubbed at her chest, then opened one eye to glance at the people around her. “What?” she muttered. She remembered talking in Sadie’s house, but now she was somewhere else, with a different group of people. “Uh.”

It was like her brain stopped working for a second, until the person dressed like a mermaid turned into Sadie and sprinted over to her, squeezing her tight in a hug. Really tight. Mystras gasped, but she also patted her sibling on the back just once and then held her tight right back.

A few pieces half clicked into place. “The bad thing,” she said. “The cult. Am I-”

“Out,” said Sadie, reaching up with one hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. “You’re free.”

“Oh, good,” Mystras said to Sadie, who was not showing any signs of letting go and who was now getting tears on her new vest. She patted them on the back a couple of times, but didn’t try to pry them off or anything.

Of the surrounding people, it was the one with cat ears that was talking about who she was now. “Yeah, Jupiter,” she said, looking over Sadie’s shoulder at her. “There are definitely some things I don’t know about what’s going on, but I know that one. I’m Mystras, Page of Jupiter,” She gave a little two finger salute best she could from the position.

Sadie finally pulled away a little. “Oh,” she breathed. “I should have guessed that.” Her hands were on the collar of her vest, exploring the fluff there. “It suits you.” She was brave, and kind. A little stormy, maybe. The same planet as Sessrumnir. Now she got to wear her true colors, the colors that showed those things about her, and not be swallowed up by the dark colors of the Negaverse.

Cybele, for her part, sat down heavily on a fallen tree once it seemed like the new Page was in good hands. “Thank you,” she told Abzu as he came over with the water. She twisted the top off and gulped about a fourth of it at once.

“This is actually only the second time I’ve done something like this,” she told him. “It takes more out of you than you’d think.” She glanced over at the siblings, and Encke, and the energetic Mauvian, a tired smile coming over her face. “But you get to directly destroy Chaos, so that’s a bit fun. Then, of course the happy endings make it all worth it.”

Viatrix’s antics got an eyebrow raise out of Mystras, but also a giggle. “Okay, bro,” she said. “I know I’m short but I’m not quite that young.” That was the kind of thing she heard from the middle schoolers who came into the gym to mess around.

She would take it, though. A compliment was a compliment.

“Agent?” she asked, puffing out her cheeks.

“The people in the Negaverse,” said Sadie.

“Yeah, I don’t remember much about that, but I think I remember pretty much everything else,” said Mystras. “Sadie, obviously, but also her friends and talking about getting away from something bad. I remember Michelangelo’s big house and his sad roommate with plant hair.”

Sadie finally let her go, since she seemed fine talking to Viatrix.

“Unless I’m missing something. It’s August 15, right?” She’d known there was a chance that she would lose a lot of memories. What if she was missing years or something? That thought had her briefly worried.

“But anyway, I guess I’m just going to have to prove to you that Jupiter knights are cool.”

Cybele reached up to take a bar from Encke. She put the water down for a moment so that she could peel it and take a bite. “Thank you,” she murmured. It was good. It reminded her of the kinds of things she tended to eat when she was out hunting or hiking. “How have you been doing, anyway?” she asked him. “It’s been a while since we’ve actually gotten to talk, hasn’t it?”

She thought she’d spotted him in the crowd back when she’d had her games, but that had been months ago now, and it had been longer since they’d actually had a conversation. It had been back before she was a Princess, back when every trip up to her asteroid had ended up with her yelling at trees.

“Not that I can say I’m much of a socialite right now. I believe I’m going to eat this and then take us back so that I can go to bed.”

Food and water was good, but really this was one of those things she just needed to sleep off.

Sadie appeared next to Encke, putting a hand on his shoulder and glancing at his face to see if he was doing okay, now that she knew Mystras was doing well.

Then she turned to Cybele. “Thank you,” she said, this moment overriding any awkward feelings she might have held towards Cybele over the years. Her smile was soft as soft, her eyes still bright with happy tears.

“That is my sister. It means so much to me that you were able to help her.”