The Knight Celsus had been away from Destiny City for some time and Mag Mell had taken it upon himself to keep the other man up to date and in the loop in regards to their merry band-- along with their circle of friends and other mundane happenings in the ‘muggle’ side of their lives. At first, when he had received no immediate responses from the knight, or his civilian counterpart, he’d assumed that maybe he really did just need to get away from everything. He had pondered letting it deter him but, in the end, the updates continued.

Most of the updates were brief-- KoC, No disturbances in the Force. All is well. -MM and KoC, City’s quiet. Crow is too. Think she misses you. - MM, once even sending KoC, New game! Who said it: Chaos or Borg? “You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.” Awaiting your answer. - MM

Some, however, were a bit more deep and thoughtful, the Cosmos Knight using free evenings to write to Celsus about the exploration of his island Wonder and the bits and pieces of some of the things that he had unearthed about the knight he had once been. It was hardly the same as wandering the park with the more experienced Knight, however, and he was looking forward to the day the Knight Celsus decided to return home.

-------------------

It had been a long time.

He tried not to think about just how long it had been. Or how much he had missed Destiny City and its occupants - especially not its occupants. Fritz’s time back in England had been both pleasant and much needed, spending time with his parents and relatives away from the claustrophobic reminders of everything back in the city. It had been good. Necessary.

And painful.

It was still claustrophobic in ways, but he was back now, feeling a little more like he could breathe. And he was back to his duties as Celsus as well, letting himself get used to the feel of it once more, like slipping into a second skin, Celsus currently in one of his favorite places to patrol - the park.

He was sitting up in one of the trees, on a wide branch that allowed him a comfortable, only semi obstructed view of the goings on down below. Fall was the best time of year for perching in trees, when everything around was golden and sunset. In the summer, though, Celsus could blend in with the leaves while leaning with his head back against the tree trunk.

He’d sent a missive to Mag Mell to meet him, but he was early, Celsus’s eyes closed, body relaxed.

-------------------

He had enough time to finish dinner after receiving the message, using ‘Brigade things’ as an excuse to head out without Arsinoe that evening without mentioning Celsus by name. He didn’t want the Senshi of Lanterns alerting his cousin if it was a false alarm-- didn’t want to set the Chronos knight up for anything more than what he was ready for in his own time.

Besides, the beautiful thing about a brigade was that it consisted of more than just two people. He didn’t have to give names to anyone in order to make it true that he was spending time with one of them.

He arrived at the park in time to wander around on his own for a bit, finding a secluded area to power up after enjoying the outdoors. From there it was easy enough to track the ‘feel’ of the Order-aligned aura, just slightly different from others enough for him to believe it was that of a transcended person and hope that it was Celsus. There honestly had to be a better way of figuring out who was who without laying eyes on them-- something to discuss with Sumi and Eta, perhaps.

The sun had started to set, but the evening itself was still warm. In the distance small specks of light began to rise from the grass, glowing and fading as the bugs of summer were known to do. It was peaceful; a good night for a meeting with a friend, he thought to himself as he wandered along the path leading closer to the area he could feel the aura radiating from. His expression only shifted to show a trace of concern when he approached the spot he could sense the power at, but couldn’t see.

Hide and seek had never been a game Mag Mell was all that good at…

-------------------

He felt Mag Mell before he saw him, of course; the powered auras were always such a pleasing, warm thing to notice, like a ray of sunshine cast over someone. Celsus opened his eyes, shifting a little where he sat on the branch, which was wide enough that he had room to move, but not so wide that if he wasn’t careful, he wouldn’t fall off.

Celsus caught a glimpse of the other knight down below, looking confused. A small smile tugged at his lips.

“Up here,” he said lightly, peering through the branches at the slivers of white and blue he could see. The coins jingled with movement - he was never really good at anything involving stealth - Celsus pushing aside some leaves so that Mag Mell would be able to see his face among the rest of it.

“Good evening, Mag Mell.”

----------------

“Good evening, Celsus.” A broad grin lit his face as he looked up, finally spotting the Chronos knight in the branches above. He shifted on his feet before stepping back just enough to catch more than just a glimpse of the other man. From what he could tell, at least while standing on the ground beneath him, the other knight looked well enough. That was a good start.

“Waiting for a carriage to pass by so we can steal from the rich to give to the poor? Don’t get me wrong, I’m in, but I don’t know if there’s enough room up there for the two of us, my friend.” It would certainly be interesting to try, though. He was a bit better with tree climbing than he was with hide and seek games-- he had been as a child, at the very least. Supernatural strength had to help with it a little bit though, right?

“Good to see you again; what bits of you I can see up there. Welcome home.”

----------------

“Exactly,” said Celsus, with a broad grin. “Eventually I’ll be able to fulfil my childhood dreams of being Robin Hood and taking out the Sheriff of Nottingham. It’ll all be very grand and very daring and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

Which was easier said than done, but that was beside the point. Celsus glanced down at Mag Mell, then gave a small laugh, shifting on the branch so that he could slide his legs over to the side instead of having them stretched out along the branch. The dangled for a moment, and then, with a clatter of coins and pendants, Celsus dropped to the ground, landing with one knee bent and a hand braced against the grass to keep himself from falling over.

He looked up at the other knight, then slowly straightened, brushing leaves from his cape.

“Thank you,” said Celsus, offering Mag Mell a small smile. “I’m...glad to be home.”

It was mostly true, at least. He had missed Destiny City.

And more, even if he wasn’t thinking about that.

“How have you been?”

--------------------

“I suppose there are worse things in life than settling into the role of Little John-- unless you think I’d make a better Will Scarlett.” He left off mention of ‘Maid Marian’ for the time being, stepping back just a bit further to leave room for Celsus to land in proper superhero fashion. He made it look easy, for what it was worth, even with the jangling sound of metal that accompanied his landing.

Instead of offering the other man a hand up, if only because he seemed to have things well under control, Mag Mell applauded softly. He was still grinning, of course, the expression one that he wore often enough-- more so since things in his life had finally settled than he could ever remember doing in the rest of his years prior.

“It’s hard to fill your shoes when you aren’t around, Celsus. My landings aren’t nearly as graceful and I don’t feel as though I’m nearly as helpful to those who are new to knighthood. I’ve been well, though. Spending more time, as I’m able, on Mag Mell. Learning, exploring… It’s all a lot to take in, especially when you add relationships into the mix. It can be… Overwhelming, to say the least.” Despite his words he didn’t seem overwhelmed. If anything, the Knight of Cosmos seemed brighter; certainly more comfortable in his skin than he had been when they’d first met.

“Family’s well? Enjoyed your stay abroad?”

--------------------

“I think you’d make a fine Little John,” said Celsus, casting a fond glance over at Mag Mell. He was glad that he had made the other knight’s acquaintance; Celsus, in all honesty, did not have very many people that he trusted or that he was close enough to trust, rather, and it was fortunate that he had found someone that it was easy to be around.

There were others, of course, but he wasn’t thinking about the others. Specifically one other in particular that he was definitely not thinking of.

Celsus plucked a leaf out of his hair and grimaced a little. “I highly doubt that, my friend. You are entirely capable, and I won’t hear otherwise. I’m glad to learn that you’ve been helping where you can, though, you’re quite capable, even if you think otherwise.”

His arm dropped again, Celsus folding both across his chest. The coins jingled with the movement, as they always did, a gentle clinking sound that he had long grown used to. “My family is very well, thank you. It was nice to go back and see them for a while, it’s been too long. Next time I’ll have to bring Rhys with me.”

There was a pause, and then Celsus said, clearing his throat as casually as possible, “So, how are….everyone? People. How are people?”

Subtlety, thy name was not Celsus Knight of Chronos.

---------------------

“A loaded question if ever I’ve heard one.” Mag Mell laughed as he shook his head, eventually bringing one hand up to run fingers back through the layered locks of silver hair. “Do we want to know about people in general or People?” He asked the question, although he didn’t really give the other knight a chance to answer before he began to fill him in.

Mag Mell took the opportunity to talk and gave Celsus the chance to listen, hoping it would be a little bit easier for the Chronos knight that way at first. A few of his ‘stories’ included some of the information that he’d already passed on to the other knight through texts or messages passed between their signet rings while he had been abroad; reports that he’d put together, partially out of habit and partially to keep the other man informed.

He touched a bit on the time he’d spent around the city with Sumi while Arsinoe had been away on work, telling the tale of how the two had found the Senshi, Erato, and the new Neptune page, Bermuda. Knowing that there were other lost pages out there somewhere made him wish that there was a way for them to find the unawakened, similar to the way that senshi had cats.

As he spoke he noticed the Chronos knight fiddling with one of his coins, taking from the other man’s action that maybe he hadn’t yet touched on the ‘people’ that Celsus had wanted to hear about.

“If you’re wondering about the crow, she’s--- she’s alright. She hasn’t been out on patrol with me, but Arsinoe said she’s been out with other senshi, and she’s taken him up to the castle with her once or twice over the past few weeks.” His lips pressed together as he pondered how much more he could say-- how much more he should say. When he finally spoke again his voice was soft, a trace of a smile replacing the contemplative look on his face. “They’ve signed up for a softball game coming up on the fourth-- Hosted by the Catfe. If you haven’t already looked into it, you should go. I’m sure she misses you.”

---------------------

He had, of course, been asking about People, but Celsus did not actually want to say the name, and they both knew it. In fact, Celsus wasn’t even sure how Mag Mell had deduced anything in the first place, but, well, he and People were friends. He was close, even if his feelings were still trying to claw their way up his throat and outside of his body; a painful, unfamiliar sensation he couldn’t seem to overcome.

He listened in silence, grateful for Mag Mell’s casual, calm voice, Celsus absently turning a coin on his uniform over and over again in his fingers. It relaxed him a little to just be a bystander now; to hear news of the city while he’d been gone, to learn of what had been going on and to see things through Mag Mell’s eyes. Wendell had been staying with Oberon while Celsus had been gone; he made a mental note to go pick up his cat.

If you’re wondering about the crow had Celsus’s face tinging red, even as he tried to maintain his usual composure. The night of the gala flashed in front of his face, flickering lights and quiet voices, the pressure of Cordelia’s hand against his own, a light touch -

No. No, he had left because he needed not to think of that. Or any of it.

Celsus almost missed the last part of what Mag Mell had said, head rising, brows furrowing together.

“By Quenton?” he asked, “I haven’t spoken to him since I last was here, but I’m well acquainted with him and the CatFe, I should...take a look into that.”

As casually as possible. And definitely not because of People.


---------------------

Mag Mell had made a point of not looking at Celsus as he spoke about their mutual friend, Corvus. If he didn’t look at the other man he couldn’t gauge reactions. He couldn’t try to figure out exactly what was going on between the two of them, if anything, based solely on the Chronos knight’s facial expressions. He could continue making the claim, truthfully, that he didn’t know and hadn’t heard anything in the event that Arsinoe asked (which, thankfully, he hadn’t).

By the time he did glance over to the other man it was after the flush had faded enough that he couldn’t make out much of it with the last traces of the sun setting below the horizon anyways, the two of them bathed in the last fading reds and purples of dusk as night began to blanket the sky. It was good to know that Celsus had at least tuned in to that part of the conversation. He’d tried to make it seem important.

“That’s the place,” he grinned, nodding his head. “I believe the two of them signed up to be Puffs… Sumi’s supposed to be one of the mascots and I think I’m going to enjoy the game from the stands.” If both of the Cardens were going to be out on the field then someone needed to be in the stands with a camera.

“What do you say? Should we do a lap around this place before calling it a night so we can say we actually went on patrol?”

---------------------

Celsus was still toying with the coins, as though by doing so he could focus on something else other than the one thing that he was trying not to think of. It ached inside of his chest; a permanent, painful thing that made his hands shake, made his mind feel as though there was a fog hovering over it.

He couldn’t.

He wasn’t.

The conversation was, at least, taking a different turn, for which Celsus was grateful. He lifted his head and gave Mag Mell a fleeting smile that was only half seen in the darkening twilight, Celsus’s hands finally dropping from the coins to rest at his sides.

“I’ll have to go take a look and see, then, I feel,” he said, and then gave a laugh.

“A patrol sounds a lovely day. Shall we?”

Celsus started forward, stopped, then said quietly, “Thank you, by the way.”


-----------

The Knight of Cosmos reached over, resting a hand lightly on his friend’s shoulder long enough to give it a gentle, reassuring squeeze but not so long as to make things awkward or uncomfortable. As his hand fell back down to his side he flashed Celsus a grin.

“Any time, Celsus. That’s what friends are for.”