Welcome to Gaia! ::

Joshua woke up at the Mirror Pools.

He had no idea how he'd wound up there, and to be quite honest, he didn't give a damn. The how seemed unimportant, disconnected, just as the why seemed to be.

He remembered falling asleep, really. He remembered smoke, for some reason, but not much else beyond that. And cake. He'd wanted cake. What happened to the cake ? No damn idea. Cake, smoke, and falling asleep. Then he woke up.

This was all fine and good. Really, he saw no reason to worry about anything. Going home ? Why would he want to do that, again ?

Fixing things ? Well, he'd done so much. Surely he could just laze about here, just a little longer... No one would notice, no one would mind.

On some level, Joshua was perfectly aware that something very drastic had happened, that he wasn't what he used to be and would never be again. He had a very brief moment of confusion when he'd wandered toward the pools proper and saw what had to be his reflection. Warm light, nothing more or less than this.

He stared – as much as a being made of only light could stare, though he did still very clearly see -

In retrospect, he had a much nicer death than most had, or perhaps would have. He had not been thorn to sheds, hadn't been rended limb to limb, hadn't panicked as he felt his last breath leave him, stolen away by a creature that should have never been there to begin with.

There was nothing to be upset with, really. Joshua launched himself at the water, laughing in his mind even through no one would have been able to hear him.

The water was nice, he decided, as he 'swam' through it. Perfect time for a swim. Everything was lovely.

Everything was fine.

If this was what death was like, then he had no idea why anyone feared it. This was wonderful, really. Everything was alright. Everything was perfect.

He started doing loops on the water surface, and kept on laughing in a way he hadn't ever since he'd been a child, ever since he'd been forced to 'grow up' by both time and adults who thought they knew better.

But none of that mattered now. Not anymore. There was only the blur of how things once were, the unknown of what things would be, and the vivid wonder that was the present, ever-lasing, never ending.

Suddently, the light stopped it's loop, as if something had caught it's attention – even though there was no one else here, even if all but it's own self was still and quiet.

Still, the light was gone in an instant, zipping it's way to the rainbow road, then into it.

Where would he show up next ? Not even Joshua himself knew, really.

And it was okay that way.

Concert At The Fountain [Chronos - REG16]

Lost In Mirrorspace [REG18]

It was a wonder his mother had let go of him long enough to let him sleep. Isabella had been overjoyed to see him, obviously, and he certainly couldn't blame her at all for it – but he was just so tired, so wary... She demanded, like everyone else, to know what happened. He still didn't want to talk about it.

And he didn't want to go back to Vancouver. They'd argued. Voices rose, until his mother deemed that he was tired, that he was likely still under the influence of whatever his captors had given him, that he would be able to think more clearly tomorrow.

He'd been taken to her hotel room to sleep. His first night back on earth soil had been... surprisingly, thankfully blank, free of nightmares and his mind questioning itself. Exhaustion, in the end, had won out everything else, his body getting the sleep it carved – the sleep it oh so needed, about all that he'd seen and felt.

The darkness was solace, if only a temporary one.

The next day was a tumble of questions, without even a second for him to think of a way to convey to his mother that, no, he wasn't going back to Vancouver, that he couldn't. First the police wanted his testimony, through for what, Joshua wasn't too sure. It seemed their minds had already been made long before he had stepped in that room, long before the first question came out. The police thought they'd all been in a room somewhere, drugged out of their damn minds.

Of course, who would believe they'd been in space ? Really. So he wasted his time, amused them, made up a story that strengthen their already established conclusions – he had no time to waste, and the sooner he got out of here, the better.

It still took a few hours before he was let out, and their fight wasn't until 3pm, so they ate at the airport.

“We missed you, baby.” His mother had told him, as he was busy staring into his plate of fettuccine alfredo. “We were so worried...”

“I know.” He said, but he couldn't look up. It did hurt, to be unable to tell his mother what happened. To say he had to stay, to have her ask why, but being unable to answer. Not because he didn't know, but because he couldn't.

“Baby, what's wrong ?” She'd finally asked him, when he'd barely eaten. Perhaps she knew him too well. Perhaps she knew that his mind was racing, analyzing, trying to find an escape route.

“Nothing, mom.” Beside the fact that she wasn't listening to him, didn't understand, couldn't understand. That he'd changed in a way she could never understand.

2:30pm, and his mother still hadn't let him out of her sight much. He doubted it was out of any fear that he might run off, but more out of worry, out of fear that something might happen to him.

He had to do something... And, suddenly, the idea came to him. “Mom, im going to the bathroom.”

“Alight, baby, but hurry, we're boarding soon.” Yeah, he had to hurry indeed. Just not in the way his mother intended.

He went in the men's restroom and locked the stail behind him, going through his pockets for that weird pen that had been in his pocket when he'd became Joshua again, the night before. He knew, instinctively, what it did – that it was the source of his power. The power he needed, now.

He waited until he was certain he was alone in the restroom, then...

“Deneb Kaitos power, make up.”

Then Joshua was gone, and Deneb Kaitos came out of the stall. There was a large, mirrored wall in the back. His exit point.

He just had to remember what he'd been told last night... How to make it work. One hand raised to touch the surface, but it was as hard as any mirror had ever been for him. No matter what he did, no matter how he tried, it couldn't get it to let him in.

“Joshua ? Baby, come on, we're boarding !”

s**t.

It was rare for him to settle into clear panic, but that was what happened. Damn, damn, damn ! He had to make this work, NOW.

“Joshua, im gonna come in if you don't come out.” His mother's voice was displeased, stern.

One step back, two, three... And Deneb Kaitos broke into a run. He hit the mirror, but whatever instinct he had deeply burried in him made it work, somehow – he splashed against the mirror like if it was water and then, was gone, through there was only one thought running though his mind, before the relief overcame him.

Im sorry...

He came out through the very mirror he'd been dropped out off by Leto the night before – and ran right in the brick wall, stumbling back and falling flat on his a**. Ugh...

But he'd done it. He'd gotten out. Back to the begining, so to speak. But he had to move quickly – there was a bank not too far from here, and so he powered down. He'd empty his bank account, just in case, before his parents could close it.

It was time to start life anew.

The Land Of The Living [REG20]

A Hunting We Go [REG22]

Recovery Sucks [REG24]