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Leaving Ignacio to be cared for by Arra that night, Melody had taken a walk and made a decision that would change her life. With Ignacio gone when she returned, she took the change to talk to her parents about leaving. About taking a step towards a better future for herself.

She had no plans to ever look back.

Melody couldn't bring herself to go futher then the next city over, she tried not to think too hard on why. Her goal was to attend college and do something for herself. To maybe, finally, major in music and start her path to becoming a famous cellist. It felt like the best decision she'd ever made.

Not long after she moved out, settling easily into dorm life, her mother called to let her know that Ignacio had moved out. She wanted to be upset by the new but wasn't, honestly. Instead there was relief at not being her "brother's" keeper anymore. Holiday trips were now going to be so much easier to deal with, the house wouldn't feel like a cage anymore. Even if there was a lingering feeling that she'd never see him again.

Getting back into the swing of school again was much easier then she had thought it would have been. Actually she was becoming aware of the fact she had missed being back in school. Memories of her time in Crystal Academy fond and enjoyable. Making friends seemed to hae come naturally this time around too, Many of the other students were really just as lost and awkward as she felt.

It was nice feeling like she belonged again, even if she was still struggling with nightmares from time to time. ANy more it seemed to be fringes of her time in "Barren Pines" though she'd been told it never really exsisted. Perhaps it was just being back in a dorm and school setting again that had caused them. But she'd never really know how much truth there was to that thought.

Being Lacrimosa, on the other hand, had been so easily pushed to the back of her mind. There wasn't much to worry about when the Negaverse and youma seemed to only be found in Destiny City. And even if they weren't, there definitely hadn't been any signs of them around her city. It hadn't stopped her from carrying her pen with her where she went though.

There may have been no danger but there was always a lingering "what if" in the back of her mind. What if the Negaverse weren't just in Destiny City? What if a youma actually managed to find her tucked away in her simple little college life?

What if she could never be Lacrimosa again?

The first time that thought crossed through her mind, Melody had stopped dead in her track while her friends continued walking. Immediately her hand sought the pen in her pocket and slender fingers wrapped around it. Just the weight of it had been enough of a comfort, had relaxed her enough to realize her friends had stopped walking and waited for her to catch up.

After that day, thought of her duty as a senshi seemed to come to mind often. Almost two years since she had left and now, when she was happy and had a normal life, did these thoughts come to her. Was she finally in a place where maybe she could deal with the dangers of living the senshi life?
She hesitated to transform at school, afraif the rush of power would draw the enemy to her like a moth to the flame. She didn't quite think it worked that was but the fear was enough to keep her from finding out. There was no way she could risk her friends' saftey just to satisfy curiosity. However she did find herself becoming more active.

It had started with a nightly run, then moved to a nightly run and hitting up the gym every other day. Then the beginning of her third year found her joining a class for Aikido. It was a decision that surprised her, she'd signed up at a college recruit event before she'd even realized what it was she was doing. It had led to a lot of introspection on the idea before she'd come to a conclusion.

It was time to take back up the mantle she had forsaken so many years ago.

Aikido had given her a way in which she could protect herself, a way she could fight with out fighting and had worked towards even resolving the one thing that had made it all the more difficult to be a senshi. The first full practice she'd gone through with only feeling a little queasy had been proof of that. For her next year of her associates, she all but threw herself into daily classes and nightly runs.

Graduation had come and gone, numbers and emails had been traded with friends, and the trip home had been filled with a contained excitement that hummed through her viens. It was almost like she could feel the difference when she returned back to Destiny City, though she was certain it was just the realization that she was home and she could become who she was supposed to be. Of course first came the task of settling back in to life in Destiny City, finding a place for her civilian self while she tried to find a way to slide back into being a senshi.

The only question she had now was, who could she find to get caught up in everything she'd missed?