Welcome to Gaia! ::

Since his two trips to the Moon – one very much impromptu, the other planned – Athene had found himself more and more thinking about the asteroid with which he shared his senshi name. Despite having an idea of how to make the trip from the big senshi and knight meeting, the dark-haired senshi had found himself putting off attempts to try doing so.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what to do, the mechanics had been brought up at the large senshi and knight meeting and Athene figured that he now kind of knew how it all worked. No, it hadn’t been knowing what to do that had put the dark-haired senshi from trying to make the trip. Rather, silly as it probably all was, it was the words spoken to him by Remarque that had put him off trying to attempt to make the trip. Athene hadn’t been able to forget the blond senshi’s words that he – well at least the Athene of the past – was apparently responsible for somehow tearing his home world apart and despite the fact that part of him now knew that he no reason to believe the taller dark senshi, especially given his own witnessed actions of the dark mirror court in action, it hadn’t stopped the niggling ‘but what if’ in his subconscious.

The dark-haired senshi was finally taking the plunge though, although he wasn’t going to do so alone. Not wanting to visit – no make that face – his home world alone, Athene had sent a message to the Shepherds to see if any of his fellow team mates would be interested in going with him. And now he was nervously standing in the quiet alley waiting for Polaris, his senshi phone in his right hand, a small opaque food bag with a few biscuits tied carefully to his sash and the long put off trip finally about to become a reality.

Nervousness about what he would find on the asteroid with which he shared a name, combined with a dose of wary curiosity had meant that Athene had ended turning up to the agreed meeting point early, so the dark-haired senshi had thought nothing of it when he had found himself the only one there.

But after the agreed meeting time came and went, Athene had started to think that perhaps Polaris wasn’t going to come after all. He had been contemplating checking his senshi phone to see if perhaps she had sent him a message when he picked up on the aura of an eternal, shortly before hearing the sound of footsteps approaching his location.

To his relief it turned out to be Polaris, he gave a quiet smile at the taller senshi’s flustered apologies “It’s okay, I haven’t been waiting too long” and actually come to think of it Polaris wasn’t really that late – it was probably Athene’s anxiety over the trip (well more what he would find on Athene) that made it seem like more time had passed than it had. “Thank you for agreeing to come along by the way” he gave her a quiet smile as he admitted “It… it means a lot.”

“I guess we’ll find out” Athene said quietly, the tight grip he had on the dark jade and bronze cellphone hinting at his nervousness. “I just have to concentrate right.”

The dark-haired senshi had never done this before, but from what little information he’d picked up he’d heard it was supposed to be like listening for a song.

Although trying to find it was easier said than done, Athene acknowledged to himself as he found himself distracted time and time again by the myriad of sounds making up the night time Destiny City scene.

He was about to give up when he finally thought he heard it, a wisp of melody winding through his mind, a sad soft melody out of place from the other night time sounds.

Holding out the hand not holding the phone to Polaris, Athene hoped he was doing the right thing as he pressed down on the phone’s centre button once the other senshi took his hand.

The place they ended up was… Not Destiny City that was sure. The night time sounds of the city fading away to silence, night being replaced with daylight. The two senshi would find themselves on a dusty path, a small building in the near distance and some sort of circular structure somewhat further away on the distant horizon.
[inspired by this pic – here]