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The evening so far had been a quiet one, with not even a youma to break up the monotony of the patrol and so when his phone had pinged with a notification of an incoming message, Athene had been happy to take a small break in order to read it.

The message had been from Hamal, the senshi that he had met by the city's Buddhist temple one evening while out with Liryn, asking if he would mind if they patrolled together.

Which was how he had found himself at the park, making his way towards the fountain where the two of them had agreed to meet up.

Athene had spotted a figure in white and purple as he started to emerge from the trees closest to the fountain and raised a hand in welcome as he closed the distance between them.

Well make that started to close the distance–

Only to find himself giving a startled yelp as he found himself being inexorably pulled into a mirror that someone had left propped against a tree trunk.

Athene found himself in what appeared to be a room of sorts and whilst there was no discernible light source that he could pick up on, there was at least enough light to see by–

Enough to make up the stark white walls that made up the four sides of the room.

Enough to show that there was no visible exits.

It didn't stop him from walking the four corners once and then again in an attempt to make sure, a slight frown on his face as he tried to puzzle out just what had happened...

And after his second walk around the 'room' Athene found that he was no longer alone, a familiar white and purple senshi also in the room.

He stepped closer, eyes concerned beneath his glasses, the same concern reflected in his voice as he asked quietly "Are you okay Hamal?"

"I'm not sure" Athene admitted as he reached out to offer Hamal a hand, although he had let it drop down by his side when she had picked herself up.

"The last thing I remember prior to finding myself here was being sucked through a mirror - and mirrors are kind of a Dark Mirror Court thing."

Well at least in so far as members of the Court all seemed to have the ability to travel through mirrors.

"But..." Athene absently fiddled with a bit of his hair as he spoke, the raven black strands slipping through his fingers as he continued with a thoughtful frown "But I've met the Court's Prince and this really doesn't strike me as his style."

Athene considered Hamal's question for a moment "I think that the Court is probably involved somehow" he said quietly because it was hard for him to see otherwise - not given the way how the strange mirror had sucked him in - had sucked them both in "But without more information I wouldn't be able to guess at the capacity."

He had been absently fiddling with a strand of his hair as he spoke, but he dropped it as he glanced over at Hamal "I'm sorry that you ended up being pulled into..." he tried to think of a word to describe the room that didn't begin with the letter p and ended up settling for "Into wherever here was" because he really had had no idea that their joint patrol would end up this way "But thank you for coming after me."

He frowned slightly at her next question, considering it thoughtfully for a couple of moments before admitting quietly "It's possible - in fact both are possible, although it would probably take someone with a lot of power if it's an individual behind it - I don't think a basic or a super dark mirror senshi could do it..."

He considered it and then admitted "I don't think an eternal would be able to do it either, but magic going wrong is definitely a possibility."

The frown faded and a rueful note slipped into his voice as he admitted "I actually ended up spending my first ever Thanksgiving in this country as a cat because of magic going wrong - and I wasn't the only one who got caught up in it."

Athene "I think we can try to find out" he agreed quietly "And trying someone from the Court is probably a good starting point for that."

He made a mental note to ask Remarque about it the next time their paths crossed, whenever that was - because their paths tended to cross infrequently.

And maybe the Dark Mirror Prince would tell him or maybe he wouldn't or maybe just maybe he was wrong and the other wouldn't what had been going on–

But he wouldn't know if he didn't ask and Athene had nothing to lose by the asking.

His lips quirked up in a small smile at her comment about them being friends and he nodded "I'd like to think that we're friends too" he said, the smile fading and his voice turning serious as he added "And I would have come after you too - if you had been the one that had been sucked in first."

He nodded at her question about him being a cat, lips quirking up into a rueful smile "Yes" and the ruefulness note was back in his quiet voice at the admission "To this day I'm not really sure what caused it, but I was out on patrol when it happened."

Another rueful smile "I eventually turned back to normal but I got into so much trouble with my cousin and getting grounded" because his cousin was completely unaware of his powered activities as Athene - something that was deliberate.

"I wish I knew" Athene said, the rueful note still in his voice at the admission "I've kind of put it down to magic being weird because no one's ever been able to tell me what happened..." He thought about it for a moment before adding "At least not amongst those who I've asked" because he assumed that someone out there had to know what had happened.

His lips quirked up in a smile that was as rueful as his voice as he added "And at least I'm too old to ground these days."

Not that he actually lived with his cousin, because he had moved out almost 3 years back precisely so that he wouldn't have to keep sneaking out at night–

But if they were trapped for too long then his cousin was going to notice and Anxo was going to notice too.. And so would Orah and Liryn - in fact the two of them would probably notice first because, unlike his cousin and his boyfriend, the two of them actually lived with him.

Although there was not much he or Hamal could really do at the moment except wait - wait and hope that some way out revealed itself–

And didn't take too long in doing so.