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Honestly, Babylon hated September. It was nothing personal. September hadn't broken into his house and, like, killed his father (he had General Avalon to thank for that), but it was still a flat-out terrible month. The -ber ending invoked cooler temperatures, but in practice, it was still hot and muggy.

September was a liar of a month, with highs in the upper eighties and no relief in sight, except for maybe thunderstorms in case you preferred being hot and wet to being hot and dry.

The clouds had turned threatening about half an hour ago, and there was thunder rolling in the distance. Babylon was on his way home, hoping to beat the rain - his chances seemed mixed. He was still fifteen minutes away, and that was if he booked it.... and he was about to run into a distraction.

He'd been preoccupied, so he hadn't noticed the other knight until he was practically right on top of his signature. (But fortunately, not literally on top of him. That would have been awkward.) Babylon slowed his pace.

The uniform gave it away.

"Val?" he asked. The Jovian knight had seemed a bit out of it when Babylon had last seen him. Maybe he'd recovered enough to be out on his own...? Or maybe it had been nothing, and Babylon had been imagining things.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, honestly.

Babylon hesitated over his answer. He and Valhalla had never been on the best terms, and the other night seemed unusually friendly. Maybe he was still suffering ill effects from Maia's planet? Except no, he'd seemed a bit odd before that... Then again, they hadn't seen each other in a while. Was it true that absence made the heart grow fonder?

"I'm doing okay," he replied, realizing that if he took any longer to answer it would start to get weird. "I should ask you the same thing. Maia's evil tree thingy seemed like it hit you pretty hard. You feeling better?"

He was trying very hard to resist asking Valhalla about any possible head injuries. Maybe the topic would come up organically. Hey, you know, you used to like, pop a major rage boner for me? Are we just letting bygones be bygones?

Or something like that.

Babylon gave Valhalla an odd look. "I know, um, a bit," he said, though the other knight's addition of not just the basics made him concerned that he was about to be out of his depth. Damaged starseeds? Well. He could try, but he wasn't sure Valhalla was going to like what he had to say.

"Well, my ancestor's starseed was damaged when I took it from my wonder," he said, and then realized that sentence was probably a little confusing. "I mean. It was already damaged. I didn't do it."

He paused. The next part of the story would almost certainly provoke a salty comment or two from Valhalla, even the newer, softer Valhalla that Babylon was apparently dealing with. "I put it into my own chest for safe keeping. Damaged starseeds... they're not stable outside a body. No starseed is, really, but damaged ones are especially bad for, um, obvious reasons."

All things considered, it was kind of a weird topic to bring up out of the blue, unless.... Babylon narrowed his eyes at Valhalla. "I gave my ancestor's starseed to Sailor Cosmos. She'll repair it, and he'll reincarnate in like a thousand years or something... but I get the feeling that's a bit too slow of a process for what you have in mind. What happened?"

Babylon couldn't help but smirk, his thoughts going to something along the lines of aww, you really do care. From what he recalled, Valhalla hadn't been especially impressed - or interested in knowing what had happened - at the time. "Well," said Babylon, "I nearly died, and then I didn't, and now I glow in the dark and Negaversers find it nigh impossible to stick their hands in me, so I'd say it worked out in my favor and I'm doing a lot better."

Valhalla hadn't answered his question, though, and Babylon made a note to come back around to it. "Hvergelmir did this thing," he explained, tapping his right hand against the palm of his left. "Princesses... they know when their knights are hurt and need their aid. Hver took me to her wonder and cut her hand open. Cosmos showed up pretty soon after that."

He leveled his glowing gaze at Valhalla. "Which brings me back to a variation on my earlier question - why do you need to find Cosmos? What did you do to your starseed?"

Valhalla was, like, seriously avoiding the question, which all but confirmed to Babylon that this was his starseed they were talking about being damaged (he'd only suspected before). "Yeah," he said, "I see her pretty regularly. She's fine."

Babylon had been lucky to miss the new years kidnappings by being out of town - but he hadn't realized how close he'd come to winding up on a negaverse wanted list. He smiled at Valhalla, hoping to show how grateful he was. "And, uh, thanks. For lying for my sake." That was surprisingly selfless of Valhalla, given their history.

"You, uh, still haven't told me what's going on," he added. "I've asked like twice, so I can tell you're trying to avoid the subject." People being cagey about stuff was always worrying. "Did something happen to your starseed?"

And boom went the dynamite, thought Babylon. If Valhalla was missing four years of civilian memories, that certainly explained his change in demeanor towards him. With all the civilian stuff filtered out, what did that leave? Babylon who gave questionable advice? Babylon who lost a tournament fight? Babylon who did his best to be everyone's friend?

It sure painted a more favorable picture than Finn who made bad art and ran off to Alaska rather than deal with his own s**t.

"Well," he said "That sounds painful. And awful. And I'm glad Laurelite didn't succeed because you're someone I'd rather be with than against. I mean. You've kicked my a** before and you would probably do it again. Um."

He paused, trying to get his runaway mouth under control. Then, he added, "I'm not gonna tell you it can't be repaired, because I know that they can be. I'm not even going to tell you it can't be repaired on a timetable that gets you back into the action this century, because s**t, I've seen and done plenty of stuff people thought was impossible. There aren't any real limits on what magic can do if you stick to what you want to accomplish."

He sighed. "What I'm trying to say is there's probably a favorable chance that you're going to live."

Babylon laughed nervously. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said. As much as Valhalla had ever annoyed him, he couldn't say he'd ever gone as far as envisioning killing him, and he didn't want to start now. Besides, Babylon had never taken a life before - and he didn't trust himself to be able to when things came down to the wire.

Valhalla seemed like he was trying to make peace with his mortality - and that was fine, but Babylon liked to think he knew a thing or two about how this system worked. "If you died here on earth," he said, "a damaged starseed wouldn't make it back to the cauldron by itself. So whether Cosmos can fix it now or she whisks you off for eventual reincarnation, I think it's best if you talk to her personally."

And... there it was, the million-dollar question. "You mean... as Chris and Finn?" Well, he wasn't going to lie. "Yeah. I... I think we got off on the wrong foot. I wasn't always the upstanding example of knighthood you see before you, if you can believe it."

He laughed nervously. "Which is to say I was a bit of a dipshit and I don't think you ever forgave me for it. But you did drag my a** back from Alaska once. Though I think that might have been mostly Paris's idea. She's... got a good heart."

Babylon nodded. "I'll let her know," he said. It probably wouldn't be that long until he saw her - and that was probably a good thing. Judging from his own experiences, the sooner - starseeds weren't something you messed around with, and Valhalla's lack of magical aptitude made him a sitting duck. "Is your ring still working? Or should I tell her to text you?"


He smiled. Though it was likely in poor taste, Babylon couldn't help but be relieved that he hadn't rung any bells. "You're not missing out on anything," he said. Who was to say Valhalla's memories wouldn't return with the restoration of his starseed? Best to enjoy this while it lasted and not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"So, um, I'll talk to Hver for you," he said. "That's all? We good?"