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Ephesus clung to the front of Amarynthos’ clothes as Amarynthos lunged forward to try and get the woman away from him. But more than that, he could see Amarynthos change.

A quiet sob escaped from the pain of someone mishandling his starseed, hand in his back. In better circumstances, he would have told Amarynthos how proud of him he was, and how handsome he was. He wanted to tell him now, but all Ephesus could do was press as closely against Amarynthos as he could in the hopes that it would be enough to help him stop the woman.

It wasn’t.

With his starseed suddenly torn from his body, Ephesus went limp in Amarynthos’ arms, no longer conscious.

Lucasta was faster than she was, but it didn’t take her too much longer to catch up. On patrol as a civilian, it was the shouts of panic that drew her and Lucasta’s attention.

She powered up while it seemed as though the Captain was distracted, making sure to hide behind a tree in the darkness so she wasn’t seen.

Varuna had seen the two Squires before -- one of them a Knight now. The other looking worse for wear. They’d been on Alastor, and she found out later from Ganymede that the fair one had been adopted into her extended family.

While it seemed as though the Captain was being distracted by some kind of magic, they needed to get away from her as soon as possible. Varuna held up her hands and pushed her magic towards the woman, a mound of snow rising up and rolling quickly out from under her.

She looked around quickly to make sure Lucasta was okay, and then stepped closer to the boys.

Another aura.

In her efforts to defend herself against the cat, to pull herself out of the magic that dazed her, Carnallite hadn’t noticed a Senshi, hadn’t noticed anyone. Where had she come from? Had she risked powering up so close? If only Carnallite had seen.

Snow. It seemed to roll out beneath her — seemed to lift her, almost — like a strong tide. Between the cat and the snow, Carnallite barely managed to keep herself upright. She dropped to a knee, aiming a dark glare for the pale Senshi who’d come to save the two boys.

Lucasta bared her teeth. Having already used her forehead beam, she didn’t have much strength to make this a proper fight. The Captain went down, but not for good. She was strong — perhaps not as experienced in the war as some of the other agents, but proficient.

Fortunately, there was another starseed, bright and welcoming, that might be able to hold her off with a bit of a boost.

“Varuna, your pen!” Lucasta called.

Before the snow had even faded, Carnallite was climbing back onto her feet. Some of her hair had come loose, but other than that and a set of claw marks on one thigh, she hardly seemed to be affected. She certainly wasn’t tiring, even after her brush with their magic.

With the Knight and the Squire temporarily indisposed, their attention either reserved for the other or nonexistent, Carnallite summoned her weapon and took aim for the Super Senshi in white.

Amarynthos’ attention was briefly stolen by what was going on in front of him. Ephesus was his priority, but he didn’t want to put him in danger by falling into pure carelessness. He had a vague idea what was going on but he was having a hard time focusing on anything but returning the starseed before something worse could happen.

The burst of power from a Super Senshi to an Eternal Senshi was enough to bring him some small relief, but Ephesus breathing reminded him to breathe, too. There had been another moment of strong panic when he tried to determine if he’d done something wrong with the starseed, between that and when Ephesus opened his eyes.

He wanted to brush the tears from them, but he was afraid that if he let go of Ephesus, something horrible might happen. The snow didn’t seem so dangerous, but practically speaking he knew they should move. The Senshi seemed familiar enough, so much so that he knew he trusted her–especially when Lucasta arrived with her.

“It’s okay,” he said again to Ephesus, in case he hadn’t heard them any of the other times.

He was more aware of the pain from his side right now, but it didn’t slow him down. He pulled Ephesus close. “Can you stand? We have to get up. But it’s okay.”

Briefly, he made eye contact with Varuna and nodded, more than grateful for her help. He didn’t want to admit that they needed help staying safe and getting up, but he was more than grateful to have her there.

Varuna didn’t want to take chances. She wanted to make sure the two knights were okay, and she nodded to acknowledge the Knight’s nod, but she knew they had a limited amount of time to escape. She was tempted to try and call her friends. Maybe one of them was nearby to help, but she also didn’t want to get them involved in a fight that seemed like it would only end with the Captain being taken out completely.

She’d had her hands up and ready to throw another of her attacks at the woman.

But the Captain had teleported.

A kick to the back was not going to be felt well in the morning, and Varuna hissed as her arms and hands got scraped up in her fall.

She still held up her hands and called her magic from where she’d been knocked to the ground, hoping that she could catch the Captain as her feet touched the ground, and knock her down that way.



Ephesus didn’t want to be a burden. He didn’t want to be pathetic and unable to do anything. He hadn’t even been able to protect himself, so how could he protect Amarynthos? He clung to him, anyway.

He felt weak and out of breath. He heard Lucasta’s warning and knew she was right. He could probably stand, and nodded when Amarynthos asked him if he could, but he needed every ounce of Amarynthos’ support in getting to his feet.

When the Captain teleported and kicked the Eternal Senshi from behind, Ephesus winced and squeezed his eyes shut as he held onto Amarynthos.

“What do we do?” he quietly sobbed, grateful that they had help, and that Lucasta was there too, but he didn’t know how they could stop someone who seemed so relentless and determined to hurt them.

Carnallite was quickly learning to despise the snow.

She wished teleportation didn’t require effort, that she had the experience and the power to do it as often as she liked, but she’d already learned there were limitations to it as a Captain, and she was rapidly drawing near to them.

Perhaps using it had been a miscalculation. She could’ve gone without, gone after them on foot, and used less energy, stretched her reserves a little longer. Without it, she wouldn’t be tiring. Nothing about this fight would have fazed her. She was against multiple opponents, but none of them were particularly skilled.

The snow took her feet out from under her. It was the same magic the Senshi had arrived with — not as powerful as the previous attack. Did that make the previous one new, or was the Senshi reserving her strongest magic?

Lucasta put herself in place to guard the boys. With the tree behind them and her in front… Well, it wasn’t much of a defense, given her size, but it was better than nothing. She had faith in Varuna because she had to, and because what she knew of Varuna convinced her that her faith would not be misplaced. Varuna was quiet, but strong — certainly no wilting flower.

Again, Carnallite was up before the snow had disappeared — it vanished quicker than the last attack; Carnallite made mental notes of every detail she could. Frigid and soaked, Carnallite nonetheless pushed herself forward.

She could outlast the Senshi. She was sure of it.

And if she couldn’t, she could take at least one of them out before she went.

Carnallite covered the renewed distance between them on her feet this time. She ran, she raised her sabre—

Then she teleported again, reappearing by the tree where the boys sought refuge, bringing the blade down as she did.

Maybe she would regret it, hitting her limit prematurely.

Or maybe she’d get at least one more prize for the night.

A feline yowl erupted as Lucasta threw herself at the Captain again. The Captain came from the side; she was quick, but Lucasta was, too. She pounced, aiming for the exposed portion of the Captain’s thigh.

The Captain had her tricks, but Lucasta had one, too. She dragged her claws over the exposed skin, then, once she landed, assumed her humanoid form.

Like this, her energy signature was a beacon, but it gave her more weight and better standing to tackle the Captain to the ground.

At first, Amarynthos didn’t even register that it was Ephesus’ energy signature right in front of him. He felt the presence of a Knight and his immediate thought was that it was Sessrumnir, but–

No, now there were two. And another Eternal Senshi. Okay, good, they were here.

He didn’t relax, though; Lucasta’s energy signature was overwhelming but he hadn’t missed how she’d immediately jumped into guarding them from Carnallite. He didn’t know how the Captain had so much energy, or why she was still fighting. She was outnumbered! She should just give up and go away.

He kept Ephesus drawn close to him; he wasn’t letting him go for anything.

He could smell honey, could taste it. He knew the tell-tale signs of Ephesus’ magic even before he felt the warmth spread through him.

And, finally, there was Sessrumnir. And Alastor.

The other Senshi was getting up, and she seemed okay.

There was no way a Captain–no matter how much she could teleport, no matter how sharp her blades were–could take on all of them.

He didn’t relax yet, but it was a relief all the same.

And, he’d have been lying if he said he didn’t appreciate the way Sessrumnir yanked Carnallite away, or the way Alastor followed after him and used his full momentum to collide into her as if he were trying to knock her further back from everyone.

Sessrumnir was waiting, ready for the Captain to reappear. He didn’t stop moving though. As soon as she vanished, he reached over to grab hold of Alastor’s hand and help him back to his feet. They needed to stay on their guard and as mobile as possible if they wanted to keep any advantage they had.

And then finally… it seemed as though she was actually gone.

He gave Lucasta an exasperated look, and let out a breath he’d been holding, although he was still trying to catch his after running. They couldn’t have risked driving when the signal was so close.

“We can’t stay here,” he said quickly, looking from Lucasta, who had shrunk back down to her cat form, to the boys who were now Knights, to the Eternal Senshi who looked familiar.

“Varuna?” he verified, to which she nodded. Not only was she at Alastor to help them, but he’d learned something else about her recently as well.

“You know who I am?”

As he spoke, he drew closer to the boys, also wanting to make sure they were not just okay, but that they would be protected from any surprise attacks.

“I do,” she nodded again. She could feel the new energy around her starseed, but she didn’t take time to look at herself just yet. She wanted to make sure the two young Knights were okay as well.

And she crouched down (with a grimace of pain) to offer her hand and give ear and chin scratches to Lucasta if permitted as thanks for her help. The kick hadn’t been pleasant but she would survive. It wasn’t as devastating as a horse’s kick would have been, in any case.

Sessrumnir and Alastor were there. Ephesus could have cried in relief. He did cry. He let out a quiet sob against Amarynthos’ shoulder as he clung to him. He thought that they might not have made it long enough for his dads to help them, but they were so lucky that Lucasta and Varuna were in the area.

“Mary got hurt. She kicked him really hard,” he sniffled, trying to wipe his eyes and be able to talk without his voice breaking. “I can-- I can try to help,” he sobbed the broken sentence as he tried to catch his breath and held his new staff a bit tighter.

“Thank you. Thank you,” he sniffled quietly, addressing all five of them. He was relieved to be able to get a chance to go home.

Oh, but something he remembered about why they were there--

“We thought someone needed help,” he said then, looking up at Amarynthos and then to the others. “That woman… she came out from the trees over there,” he nodded.

His eyes were still leaking tears. He didn’t want to know what would be found but… they couldn’t just ignore that someone needed help.

Varuna frowned when they were told someone needed help, and she stood so she could make her way over to the trees.

The body was there. Lifeless. Still a Senshi for now, but would likely revert back. Maybe Lucasta could help with that.

Despite wanting to stay close to the boys to keep them safe, Sessrumnir was quick to follow Varuna to the area. He pushed back a branch, made a show of looking around, and then shook his head.

“They must have gotten away. Had a chance to escape when you showed up,” he lied, but hoped it was convincing enough that two scared boys wouldn’t have one more thing weighing on their conscience.

Lucasta allowed herself to enjoy the pets from Varuna without appearing as if she was. She had her dignity to maintain after her tumble in the dirt.

The most important thing was to ensure the boy’s were taken care of. Lucasta tried to suppress her frustration over Ephesus’ tears. She wasn’t frustrated at him, moreso the situation. He was a good, kind boy who only wanted to help, yet she could not squash her own misgivings. He was a Knight, but it didn’t seem to her as if he was meant for war. His fate wasn’t like that of a Senshi, who had no choice in what they were. As far as Lucasta was aware, Ephesus and Amarynthos weren’t even like typical Knights. Their starseeds were new to this power, and they had no lineage to any Wonder.

She couldn’t help but wonder why. Why these two boys. Why not someone more emotionally prepared for the burden.

Lucasta stayed by them while Varuna and Sessrumnir went to investigate the area by the trees. The less of them that went to look, the less chances there would be for anyone to let slip that Sessrumnir’s reassurances were a lie.

She tipped her head to accept their gratitude, first Amarynthos, then Alastor, but she didn’t preen under their praise. It was her duty, and she would do it again, gladly.

“We’ll scout the area,” Lucasta said of herself and Varuna, “and ensure that Captain doesn’t return while you retreat, give you some cover to power down away from here.”

And we'll take care of the body, she didn’t say.

“You’ll both want to rest,” she told the boys. “Heal. You did well.”

They were alive. That was all that mattered right now.