Backdated to May 7th.

She wasn’t sure how to tell Colchis what had happened.

Like, obviously she needed to and every day she didn’t was one more day that her friend was very probably freaking out, but she felt like she’d sort of missed her window? Colchis would be upset that Teide hadn’t brought her along to her purification, she was certain of it. After all, she’d remembered to bring Hvergelmir and Aludra! Would it have been so hard to send one more letter?

Well, yes, she’d been very crunched for time and…

Even in her head, the excuse sounded lame. She’d tried to write letters since, but her fear that Colchis had no idea who Teide was had stopped her. No one, save those who’d been present at her purification, knew what had become of Astrophyllite, and a letter out of the blue would probably be unwelcome.

So, instead, she went to their usual meeting place and sat, patiently waiting for Colchis, her crystal ball balanced carefully on her knees.

(It reminded her of her Ouija board. Maybe, in time, she would learn how to divine with it.)

Shibrogane
Colchis hadn’t been sleeping well. Or eating well. Or doing her schoolwork. Astrophyllite had missed not one, not two, or even three, but a whole month of meetings. Four whole meetings! No amount of waiting made her friend surface, and Colchis was starting to be afraid. (Starting?) There was nothing so terrifying as being sixteen and realizing one of your friends was missing and having no way to find her. She didn’t even know Astrophyllite’s real name to try to get her dads to look for her. She just. There was nothing, and nothing, and nothing!

She still turned up on meeting nights, but she didn’t expect anyone to be there. Not anymore. It was just that she liked the stability of it. A quiet walk to the bus shelter, a quiet walk home. There should be laughing and jokes and hugs in the meantime. But there wasn’t. Not with Astrophyllite gone.

The possibilities were so many and so awful. Maybe being friends with Astrophyllite had gotten her in trouble. Maybe her nearness had corrupted Astrophyllite’s energy collection somehow! Maybe Astrophyllite had been hurt, or killed, and was gone forever!!

There was a Squire aura nearby. There was a Squire in the bus shelter, a girl that Colchis didn’t recognize. “Oh,” she said, backing away from the Cosmos squire. “I’m sorry. I was… I was looking for someone else. Have you seen a Negaverse Captain? All in red and gray and black, with pink hair?”


Teide had been so happy to sense Colchis’s approach - her brightness was beautiful now, no longer overly sweet but familiar and soothing. Like calling to like, she thought. The way Bischofite’s darkness had felt like home to her. Her flowers and her leather and her rust were the same as ever, but Teide was so, so glad to feel them nearby. But then Colchis didn’t recognize her, and her heart sank a little. Hvergelmir had recognized her. Avalon had remembered her. She thought that she and Colchis were better friends than that.

Well, she could always remind her.

Teide leapt to her feet, wrapping the shorter girl in a tight but abrupt hug. “It’s me, Collie!” she shouted. “Don’t you recognize me?”

She took a step back - maybe Colchis would make the connection if she looked at her for longer? “I - I meant to write to you sooner,” said Teide, fidgeting nervously with her crystal ball. “But I wasn’t sure you’d know who I was or if you’d be angry that you couldn’t come to my purification and then I was scared to write to you?”

She cringed. “My name’s Teide now,” she said softly. “I’m Good. Like I wanted to be.”

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The Squire spoke and it abruptly clicked. This was Astrophyllite!! This girl, here, in her arms!! "Astro," said Colchis, her eyes filling up with ugly tears. She could practically feel her nose getting all congested. "I was so scared! I thought they had hurt you or killed you or made you a monster!" It wasn't her way to lash out in anger. Colchis buried her face in Teide's cropped jacket and sniffled. She let go only unwillingly, but the change in her friend peaked her interest.

"You weren't ever bad," said Colchis firmly, reaching up to put her hands on Teide's shoulders. "Oh my god, I was so scared! Never ever do that again, okay? Next time I really will cry."

She was already crying. Surely Teide wouldn't call her out on it.


Colchis was already crying, but Teide got the sense that it wouldn’t be very nice of her to point that out. She’d forgotten her civilian memories, and with them, a lot of her social graces - but this didn’t seem too complicated. “No - I - no, no one hurt me,” she said. She’d been scared that they were going to, though, that they were going to sense her disloyalty any moment. It had been more likely that she would hurt herself.

“I don’t even know if they’ve realized I’m gone yet,” she said, running her hands over Colchis’s hair. “I mean. I’ve been gone for weeks but no one’s come looking for me and I guess they might just not know where to look?” She’d only recently started going out and exploring as Teide, after all. When she wasn’t powered up, she was invisible.

“Colchis,” she said, holding her friend tight. “You don’t need to cry. I’m here. I’m never going away again. I promise!”

She held up her pinky. “I have my ring now. We can write whenever we want to.”

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“If they try to get you, I’ll kick their asses,” said Colchis firmly, taking Teide’s hand to examine her ring. “That’s so pretty. Man, I wish mine was that pretty.” Hers was just gold. She twined their fingers together in an odd mockery of waltz pose, clinging to Teide like she was afraid her friend would vanish if she let go. Which she was! Teide had vanished so suddenly, with so little warning…

She put her cheek against Teide’s chest and huffed out an irritated little sigh. “Where have you been staying? Who’s looking after you? Have I met them? Are they good people? I’m so glad you’re okay.”


Teide continued to smooth her hands over Colchis’s hair. “Your ring is beautiful, too,” she cooed. They were both rather simple and elegant - they matched!

She took a tiny step back and took Colchis’s hands up in hers. “I’m staying with Hvergelmir. She hasn’t said if she knows you, but - she’s so nice! She’s like a big sister to me. I don’t think that Gemma had an older sister? I don’t remember if she had any siblings at all, really. You didn’t know her, right? Gemma Kit Hudson? She wrote some letters for me and I know a little bit but I forgot so much stuff…”

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“I don’t know any Hvergelmir,” she said, frowning. “But I bet she’s nice, if you like her.” She smiled then, swinging their hands between them. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I’m sorry I don’t know anything about past you. We were only friends like this, remember?”


Teide nodded. She should have remembered that, she thought, but Gemma had known Laney and everything had gotten kind of confusing after they realized that. “No,” she said truthfully, “But I wouldn’t have known that your civilian self and you were the same person, anyway.”

Her face lit up with a sudden realization. “But we can be friends like that now!” exclaimed Teide. “Here - I want to show you!”

She dropped her glamour, her uniform shedding like spent glitter to reveal the spoils of a thrift store trip beneath. “My name’s Jenna now. Can we be friends? Can we do something not patrolling?”

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Colchis considered that, and then dropped her transformation. She was still in her school uniform, the powdery blues setting off her red eyes quite nicely. “I’m Islay. You can call me Izzy. Everyone does. Let’s go bowling,” she said, “it’s not too late. They’ll still be letting people start games for, like, an hour! And it’ll be fun! If you don’t remember, I’ll show you how.”

She would take such good care of Jenna. Everyone else could deal.