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Themisto wasn't too happy tonight.

A recent rift with his then-girlfriend gave him plenty to think about - who he was in the world, who he wanted to be, how he wished to reconcile his civilian and powered lives. At first, Themisto simply thought this whole senshi business would be similar to Superman - don a costume at night and save people, then go back to your regular life during the day.

But what if regular life was boring and difficult and disappointing?

Maybe that's why his sister spent so much time as a senshi. If things didn't work out in normal life, why not live in the other? They were gifted with two lives, after all.

Was it a gift, or a curse? Knowing too much, could one still sleep?

Themisto was the Senshi of the Lost, not the Senshi of Weird s**t.

He shook his head, looking up from staring down at the heads of passersby. The super senshi was perched on a restaurant roof deep in downtown Destiny City, one leg swinging free over the lip of the roof. He'd hoped to find plenty of youma to pound into the dirt to rid himself of this unhappiness, but he'd had no such luck. A strange signature did dance on the edges of his vision, shiny, and yet... blackened. Kallichore had mentioned something like this a long time ago, but Themisto had never encountered such a thing.

It wasn't corrupted, no - he'd felt that before. It was an inky blackness, sticky... like tar. This was shiny, almost, but still dark, like a pool covered by clouds.

Whoever they were, they appeared in an instant, Themisto looking up from his position on the edge of the room to gaze up at... someone he'd never seen before.

Or rather, a type of someone he'd never seen before.

His sister had warned him about them - how they walked through mirrors and wore strange clothing that no other senshi wore. The senshi of the Negaverse had broken pieces and holes to themselves, but these guys? Themisto didn't know what to make of this... Ptolemy. His outfit was a strange contrast of color-on-black.

The White Moon senshi stood and brushed himself off, regarding Ptolemaeus with a wary eye. "I'm Themisto, Senshi of the Lost. The Dark Mirror... you're one of those... mirror-walking people, aren't you? ...how'd you get like that? You out for trouble tonight or somethin'?" He wasn't sure he was up for a fight, but if these mirror-folks were out for blood, it was his job to put a stop to it.

Themisto found it rather creepy that more than one type of Chaos-aligned senshi existed. He was already off-put enough by the corrupted senshi with broken skin and holes in their bodies...

Themisto regarded the Dark Mirror senshi curiously. Eyes narrowed and he set his jaw. "...how'd you get to be a mirror-walker? I know someone who was around before... you know, you guys were even a thing. She told me some stuff, that you guys are made into mirror-walkers. You don't start that way." He didn't get into the fact that his sister was witness to the birth of the Court. One thing at a time. Without the experience himself, Themisto had little literal experience with the Dark Mirror.

What's your magic like?

The super senshi shrugged, wondering what Ptolemy wanted from him. The nonchalant attitude was worrisome. The Negaverse were obviously evil assholes, and Themisto could handle the easy black-and-white of morals when it came to the Negaverse. The Negaverse was always evil. These guys? ...Themisto didn't know what to make of Ptolemy.

He didn't like being unable to accurately judge someone who wore black.

"Unless you're my date, no. Not waitin' for nobody. And uh... I shoot ghosts. Why, what's yours do?"

Themisto distinctly remembered Kallichore mentioning someone named Ares, and he only remembered that because he was a fan of God of War. Ares, he knew, wasn't a planet. It was confusing to hear that whoever Ares was, she was a senshi at one point. Ares gave birth to the mirror-walkers.

But the specifics were things Themisto didn't hang onto, thinking his sister was simply being creepy and crazy and referencing something from the books she always had her nose in.

The super senshi hesitated for a moment before divulging the name. Kallichore was an eternal, a rank above her brother. She could probably fight Ptolemy off. Right? "...her name's Kallichore. She uh... seems to know a lot about you guys. She told me about it. She's uh... been around a long time, I guess." The fact that Ptolemy knew senshi like himself were awakened meant the Dark Mirror knew a little about him, too. That was... creepy.

"Nah dude, you ain't a lady. But--- hey wait, what the hell are you doing?!"

Watching Ptolemy lean over the edge of the roof, Themisto felt his heart constrict. This guy wore black, and had a Chaotic signature. He was up to no good, but Themisto had no idea what it might be. He saw shadows? Something was flickering from his hand, but the senshi hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. "Dude. Ptolemy. What the f#ck did you just do."

He almost didn't say anything. Themisto considered biting his tongue and for a moment, he did. What good would come of this? Leading some mirror-walking weirdo right towards his sister... But, she did seem to know a lot about the mirror-walkers, and Themisto had a sinking suspicion she knew more than she let on.

"I can... take you to her. If you wanna know, that is. But... you're takin' energy from people? That's just what the f#kkin' Negaverse does, dude. You in bed with 'em too? Whaddyu need energy for, anyway? Why's everybody gotta take energy from people? Why's your energy not enough?!"

His stance was somewhat aggressive, knowing full well that he and Ptolemy were the same rank in terms of power, and that the Dark Mirror boy was partially right - the people down below didn't seem to notice the drain. But it was still stealing when you got right down to it.

The last time he demanded to know what was going on, Epidote up and stabbed him and threatened to kill people. At least Ptolemy hadn't threatened anyone ...yet. Kari had been donating energy in the hopes it would save someone else's life but sacrificing yourself to save other people... Themisto wanted to know what all the energy gathering was even for in the first place.

It was downright creepy, and Themisto hated creepy.

Themisto set his jaw and was concentrating very intensely as Ptolemaeus started to explain what he was up to.

Lesser of two evils seemed to spring to mind in multiple places during the explanation. We don't hurt anybody, he said. How could that be believed? Stealing was still stealing as far as Themisto was concerned. A pack of gum was a lot less harmful than stealing food from a family or money from a bank, but... was this some crazy moral slope the mirror-walkers were treading on? It made his head hurt.

As much as he was confused by all this gray morality, Themisto seemed somewhat satisfied by the explanation, and his shoulders relaxed. "The Negaverse ain't takin' the planet if I have anything to say about it. Those f#cks kill people. I can't tell you how many times I almost got stabbed to death or blown up or strangled by somebody from the Negaverse. Do they do that to you guys, too? Are the Negaverse at war with the mirror-walkers? I mean... you guys both feel like Chaos, but... different. Man, this is confusing."

Themisto scratched his head, frowning intensely. Kallichore had only given him a brief summary of the Dark Mirrors, but even that truncated story left Themisto feeling as though she was pulling his leg. Making it all up like some crazy bedtime story. Never having seen a mirror-walker until now, he'd thought they were simply a figment of her imagination.

Color him surprised.

"Look, Ptolemy," he started, turning back around to face his dark counterpart. "I dunno what mirrorspace is or whatever, but you said you gotta royal leadin' you? What's that mean? You gotta king or a queen or somethin'? Don't they know how the Mirror Dimension or whatever works? Man, this is some deep sh#t. I thought space was weird as hell, but you guys runnin' around in a mirror or whatever? Super trippy."

It was simply too much for him to parse, and too quickly. Themisto hadn't the slightest idea of Ptolemy was lying or not, but what would be the point in lying? He seemed truthful about the mirror shard and the energy-gathering. "...Maybe Kalli knows. I don't remember everything she said - I thought she was just sh#ttin' me, you know? Makin' up stories. But she said somethin' about Ares... and I remember that cuzza God of War, and somethin' about a parallel universe. I dunno, trippy as hell if you ask me, but..."

His voice softened for a bit. "...but you bein' here, maybe those crazy stories are real."

“Nah, not all of ‘em kill people. Just all the one’s I’ve met. Buncha assholes. Benitoite’s this little blonde dude with a spear, almost gutted me where I stood. Epidote’s stabbed me twice and this one douchenozzle with high heels? Kicked me where men shouldn’t kick each other. That sh#t’s some seriously bad karma. Benitoite said he kills people and takes their souls. How f#cked up is that? At least you mirror-walker guys don’t do that… right?”

They better not. That’s what Themisto thought, anyway. Just what the Negaverse wanted with people’s souls was something beyond Themisto’s paygrade. Maybe Kalli knew that one, too. Ptolemy was simply confirming that she was telling the truth, creepy as it was.

“Royal Dark Mirror Prince, huh? Sounds nifty.” He managed a shrug, thinking more that a Prince of the mirror-walkers would not be someone he wanted to tango with. Eternals and Generals had very powerful signatures to them, powers he could feel from a good distance away. How much more powerful was royalty, in comparison? “...Kalli mentioned a princess or two, I think, but I’ve never met ‘em. S’far as I know, we do whatever we want. You gotta report to your Prince guy, Ptolemy? Lotsa paperwork involved? Time card?”

Themisto chuckled then, and it was in good nature. Maybe Ptolemy wasn’t so bad, but the White Moon senshi couldn’t shake the feeling that Chaos was still wrong in some capacity. The moral ambiguity was confusing.

Scratching the back of his head, Themisto cast his gaze out over the city, squinting in memory. “...yeah, Ares. I thought it was weird too, that Ares was a chick and not a dude. I thought Ares… you know, badass god of war Ares, was a dude. Anyway, yeah, somethin’ about a parallel universe or… somethin’. To be honest, I thought she was makin’ this sh#t up so I didn’t really pay all that much attention, but… you’re kinda confirmin’ it for me.”

Swallowing for a moment, Themisto was silent, crossing his arms. Thinking. Finally, he shook his head and turned back to his Dark Mirror counterpart. “...yeah, I’ll take you to ‘er, if you promise not to pull any funny business. Don’t make me regret it, ya know?”

Themisto shivered at the thought. “A soul’s a soul, just the container is… different than what I imagined.”

Ptolemaeus was correct - moral ambiguity was the name of the game. Things weren’t as simple as Themisto might have liked. The necessity to kill was always weighing on the back of his mind whenever he engaged with someone from the other side - would he have to take a life to save another? How would he live with that thought and that blood on his hands? Cetus didn’t seem to have any qualms about murder - kill before they take over. Kill before they enslave the Earth. Kill before they kill you.

Was that right? What gave him the right to dictate who lives and who dies? Is this why his sister had her gaze affixed to the heavens?

With a deep sigh, Themisto acquiesced that point to the Dark Mirror Senshi. “....yeah, I suppose that means there would be a few murderers with us, too. I hope nothin’ ever comes to that. I don’t wanna kill anybody. Can’t stand that the Negaverse thinks it’s okay, though. Murder’s murder, you know? And with how batsh#t some of them Captains and Generals are, I bet there’s a lot more murder in this city than meets the eye.”

Ptolemy must’ve known a few things about contracts and loopholes, to say something like that. Themisto wouldn’t voice it, but the boy would probably make either the best or the worst lawyer. “Well, don’t go throwin’ any punches or callin’ in the cavalry. This’ll be for both our benefits. Just a friendly talk, nothin’ shady. We’ll…” Themisto stopped mid-sentence and blinked, turning around to point to one of the larger buildings nestled in downtown Destiny City.

“You see that? That’s the banking building. There’s that big#ss clock on the front. We’ll be there, 9 o’clock, Tuesday.” Themisto sincerely hoped this wouldn’t be a mistake, with Ptolemy bringing in the big guns at the last second. What a way to go.

With a curt nod, the super senshi began to walk away. He had planning to do, and an eternal to notify of the meeting he’d promised without her consent. “...see ya then, Ptolemy.”