The rooftop of the church wasn’t doing it for her tonight. Chariklo made a face at the looming building in passing and decided that tonight, she was going to the park. She wanted to get lost among the trees and just sit in stunned amazement at herself. She’d deliberately broken her mirror shards. Done it in front of a Knight, even. Even a year ago, the thought would have been ridiculous. Almost blasphemous. Now though… now it simply felt right. She would never be anything other than a Dark Mirror senshi, but she could at least choose to stop bringing harm to the innocent. And for the not-so-innocent ones, well. That was what good old-fashioned ******** brawls were for.

As she reached the park and headed for the child’s play area that she knew would be deserted at this time of night, she felt like letting the icy breeze blow it around willy-nilly. Laughing as she reached the play area she swept the snow from one of the swings and sat down, kicking out her legs idly. Would Ava understand what she’d done? Chariklo suspected she might. And if she didn’t, there would be no cross words, only support.

Slowly, the swing rose higher into the air and cold as it was, the tall Dark Mirror couldn’t help but laugh a little giddily. She was… well, she wasn’t free. But she had made a choice and she would, by the gods, stick to it. And when she got home, she would have a good, long talk with Ava and explain what she’d learned from Babylon. She’d show her Bianca’s starseed and explain that too.

And then? Well, then she’d go looking for Hver and beg her friend to help. Though there was still the matter of the mirrorcoat. And Chariklo had to believe that Zirconia had known more about that particular area that Babylon ever would. Complications, complications.

No, she wasn’t going to overthink this. Not tonight. There was time enough to fret and worry herself into nervous exhaustion some other night. Tonight was for sucking in the icy air and laughing and pretending that with the swing she could take flight and reach the stars themselves. Her legs were kicking out with purpose now, driving the swing higher and higher. She let her eyes drift up to the cold, clear sky. Let herself wonder, once more, which tiny, shimmering pinpoint of light was her very own world. Wondered which one had belonged to Bianca.

“We’re going to get you fixed up soon, darling,” she whispered into the night. “I’ll get you into the Cauldron and then you’ll have another chance. A better chance. I promise you.”

Her legs were starting to tire and she could hear the slight creak in the chains that meant she was forcing them to serve beyond what they’d been intended for. So, on the next upswing, she let go and threw herself from the swing, enjoying the moment of weightlessness and flight before curling her body into a ball and falling back to the earth.