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A few days after making the decision to invite Liryn and Orah on a trip to his asteroid, Arian had got in from classes only to find said mauvian lying in his usual spot in the topmost cradle of the cat tree and had impulsively said "Hey Liryn, fancy taking a trip to Athene?"

It was a pity that Orah wasn't back so he could ask her too, but Arian figured that it would be a shame to waste the opportunity posed by Liryn being here right in front of him - and there would be other opportunities to ask his friend and team mate along.



Liryn had heard the sound of the apartment door opening and closing, but hadn't really paid it much attention. Not even when he'd heard footsteps make their way into the space given over to the living room area, Arian's scent distinguishing him from the two others who shared the apartment - well the two other non feline members.

He hadn't even looked up when he heard Arian moving closer - well at least not until the dark-haired young man had spoken, at which point purplish eyes had stared at the other in startled surprise. "What? Now?" After all the offer was a little out of the blue.



Arian nodded as he went to drop his rucksack in his room and fetch the satchel that he tended to take along on his patrols when henshined up as his counterpart, bringing it to the the living area so that he could look at Liryn as he had a quick look through the contents.

There was the small first aid kit that he kept on hand for those 'just in case' times, a pair of simple grey gloves and a plastic bag with a cookie which he absently broke in half, keeping one half to munch one whilst offering the other one to Liryn and then munching on that half too when the small cat declined it.

"I was thinking that we could take a look at the city" he explained as he fetched a couple of small bottles of water from the kitchen and a few more cookies and dumped them into the satchel. Adding "Well at least some of it" as he looked at the remaining space thoughtfully, before fetching a small notepad, managing to squeeze it into the space that remained. "And I did promise I'd take you on another trip there."



Liryn watched as Arian packed up his little satchel - which seemed to translate into the dark-haired young man pretty much dumping everything in. Out of the blue or no, it seemed that Arian really was serious about making the offer and getting to see the city was kind of a tantalising lure as they hadn't managed to get further than the trio of arches on the outskirts.

And it seemed that he had thought things through given that he was deliberately taking a few things with him instead of winging it with whatever he had on hand.

It was curiosity mainly that had had Liryn voicing agreement in the form of a simple "Okay." Which was how he and Athene had ended up back on Athene and making the trek up towards the city ruins.



Athene had stopped by the arches to catch his breath and to look down at the city, look down towards the gate that had been in the vision that he'd had on that trip with Liryn. Could picture it there and open as wagons wound their way towards it - the gate see-able at even this distance - large and shining in the sunshine.

Except when the two of them made their way down towards the city Athene realised that there was no gate there - not anymore - although the arch that it had been set into remained, with carvings similar to the ones set into the trio on the rise above set into the stone.



It was by the arches that Athene had gone away on the trip just over a month ago. Liryn had gone on ahead, eager to see the city only to realise that the dark-haired eternal hadn't followed. It was on backtracking that he had found the other, with his hand resting against the stone of the first of the arches and his eyes beneath his glasses gazing at something that he'd neither been able to see or scent.

He'd called out to Athene and then called out to the dark-haired senshi again when the first time hadn't worked.

It had taken a while, but eventually the other had blinked at him owlishly and had spoken about the ruins being gone and had given the city a name, Varis-something.

Liryn had glanced at Athene wondering if the other was going to go away this time too, especially as for what felt like a long, long while the dark-haired eternal had just stared down at the city. But he had turned to him and asked him if he wanted a shoulder ride, a shoulder ride that he had turned down and then they were making their way down to the city.



Athene hadn't realised quite how big the walls of the city were until they were, quite literally, looming over them. Close up he could see that they were made of the same yellowish stone that he was starting to think was native to Athene, large blocks of stone curving away in either direction.

It had been unbroken in his vision, but here, now and up close Athene could see that although sections here and there were intact - sections that in parts were quite large sections - there were also where the wall had crumbled to reveal glimpses of the city within - glimpses that were reflected in the open arch of what had once been a gate.

Athene fiddled with his satchel before starting to walk forward. "Come on" he said "Lets see what we can see before we have to go back."



Although normally Liryn would have probably been the first through the arch, ready to explore every nook and cranny that he could get to on his paws. This time he didn't follow, instead staying where he was as he called out "Wait" waiting until Athene had turned round to look at him with a quizzical expression on his face before asking "Athene, why did you ask me here - to Athene?"

It hadn't been a question he had been planning to ask, more one that had just sort of come out, but the more that he thought on it was the more that Liryn wanted to know the answer - after all the dark-haired eternal had been hesitant in taking him last time to the point where he had dithered and dithered and even though the trip had been out of the blue like this one, even then the dark-haired eternal had been hesistant.

This time round however, Athene had straight out and taken him, with only a month passing since the last time - well okay more like just over a month, but Liryn wasn't counting - he did however wanted to know what had made Athene decide to take him now - wanted to know what was different.



Athene had stopped when Liryn called his name, a part of him surprised that the little mauvian wasn't charging ahead like he was wont to do - well as he had been wont to do before the night of the shared nightmare, a part of him half wishing that he would if only because then it would be a sign that the little bobtail was acting as normal - well at least the normal that he had come to associate with the other.

He had been contemplating pulling out the notepad and taking some notes for BlackWatch purposes, given that Thraen had expressly asked all those gathered there at the BlackWatch founding meeting to take a trip to their home worlds and keep an eye out for remnants of civilisation and he had not done so yet, despite the meeting being back in July.

Liryn's question however had taken him by surprise and he had turned to face the small bobtail mauvian.

For a long few moments he had said nothing, feeling the silence stretch between them uncomfortably however finally he had admitted quietly "I wanted to do something that I thought you'd like."



It was Liryn's turn to feel surprise, surprise that was reflected in his voice as he blurted out "You wanted to do something for me?"



Athene looked at Liryn, feeling suddenly tired "Is it really that surprising?" He asked quietly. "After all you're as much part of the team as Ida, Tsui and Chaonis and although I wish that you wouldn't charge into trouble like you do I think you're super brave."

Because one thing that the little bobtail wasn't lacking in was bravery.



"You think me brave?" Liryn's voice was small. He didn't want it be, but it seemed to just come out that way, mayhaps because it was the first time that Athene was telling him these things. Unlike Ida and Tsui, Liryn found the dark-haired eternal hard to read at times - well at least when he didn't have that resigned look on his face like those times when his attempts to spiffy up the alarm clock hadn't gone quite as planned - which was mostly. Or at least had been mostly given that he hadn't felt up to clock tinkering lately - not since that night.

"Do you really think so?" He looked up at Athene with sad purplish eyes. "Even though I couldn't keep the team together, even though..."



Athene didn't let him finish, instead reaching down to scoop the small mauvian into an awkward cuddle that was heartfelt for all its awkwardness. "Listen Liryn I don't blame you for whatever happened in that future you saw" he said, his quiet voice firm as he wondered once again why he couldn't remember the events that had put such a haunted look into Orah's eyes and such a sad look into Liryn's purplish ones - events that he had apparently been there for. Wondered once again why them and not him. "Orah... I mean Ida's right - you did more than enough - more than anyone could expect." He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he knew enough for it to be true and he also knew that if anyone was to blame for the team breaking and falling apart in the shared nightmares then it was probably him - what little of what he could remember had told him that much and he was determined to do better by his team mates. All of them, including the little mauvian that had slotted himself into their lives.

He sighed and shook his head lightly, not really wanting to stir up memories of the what he'd seen in his own nightmares because little as it was he'd seen enough.

"Anyway shall we go explore now?" He was still holding on to Liryn as he asked the question, knowing as he was that he was deliberately changing the subject - or at least trying to.



Athene had changed the subject and Liryn had let him, not particularly wanting to go continue along the line of the current one for all the one that he had been the one to start it.

And so instead he had nodded and said "Okay" and let Athene keep carrying him as they stepped together into the city.

It hadn't taken long for him to realise that the city - and he had finally remembered that the name that Athene had given it before was Varϊsvaara - was much bigger than either of them had realised.

They had turned left after passing the arch, following the path round, past buildings in various stages of collapse. Some were mainly intact, a crumbled wall here and a roof missing there, others however were in worst condition such as the building that looked to have virtually collapse in on itself or another - to which Athene gave a wide berth - that was leaning drunkenly and perilously to one side.

They had ended up on a wide stretch with no buildings, no nothing - a long, large, clear patch like a strip - a long, large, clear and empty patch, although Liryn could see that the city ruins still continued and couldn't help but wonder just how big the city was - well make that had been.



Athene had stopped at the wide empty stretch, although perhaps calling it empty was a bit unfair given the bits of rubble here and there. It had seemed as good a place as any to break out both cookies and water, particularly as although they had seen building remains - some of which also had the remains of what looked similar to the carved patterns back by the gate, it hadn't much going for Athene to notice the absence of any water - neither pond, nor fountain, nor river it and he couldn't help but wonder why.

He had been planning to take a few notes, but had forgotten to bring a pen, but he had at least taken a few pictures of some of the carved patterns - well at least he had after Liryn had reminded him that his senshi phone had a camera and had made a mental note to maybe send them to Thraen for BlackWatch purposes as he munched on his share of the biscuits.

He had been a bit surprised when Liryn had suggested that they head back, but hadn't disagreed with the little mauvian, instead summoning his senshi phone and selecting the app that would take them back.

Then again he and Liryn had seen enough of the city ruins for one thing to be certain - exploring Varϊsvaara would take more than one snatched afternoon.