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Tonight was special, he could just feel it, despite not knowing exactly why.

The Knight of Cosmos, sleepy as we was, felt the need to patrol at least a little tonight before going to bed. To him, it was important to try and keep the city safe regardless of his weariness. Besides, he wasn't going to be out long, he thought.

He sat on a tall stone fence downtown, long legs dangling beneath him while finishing his evening snack of crackers and peanut butter. Having a subspace pocket was so nice sometimes, carrying his little lunchbox stuffed with snacks and a first aid kit for emergencies. Behind him was a restaurant and bistro closed for the night while a bar somewhere further than that was bustling with activity.

Gravina stifled a yawn, having dreamed of someone with ocean hair for the last few nights. He remembered her, and carried a necklace she had given him. She was real, wasn't she? Maybe... he had the necklace, after all. He couldn't have picked it up anywhere else, right? Brows furrowed. He remembered distinct shampoo and a tree. Yes, she was real! He wrote her a letter.

Hydra.

How he missed her.

Sometimes, fate had a strange way of weaving two tales together, unraveling them, then reuniting them again. From what Gravina could piece together of his memories of beloved Hydra, she was a very good friend. Shorter than he was, but most were. He had been freakishly tall. She had hugged him, and he had adored her in the best way a youma could. Yes, he remembered that, and the necklace she gave him.

Despite meandering through his vague memories of her, an incredibly powerful corrupted aura blazed on his peripherals. Being a Knight, it was his sworn duty to see that they weren't up to no good, and despite his reluctance, Gravina dropped from the wall on which he sat and followed the slow-moving aura. His outfit stood out like a sore thumb against darkened city streets, but it mattered not. He could move faster and with more confidence now than he could a year prior.

Whoever they were, they were walking at ground level. Gravina had no desire to drop down on someone like a gargoyle - that was something Bazzite used to do, and Bazzite was no more.

Rounding the corner, roughly half a block from the senshi signature, Gravina stopped dead in his tracks.

She was an eternal, that much was certain. Those wings were always distinctive. But... that hair. That braid, he knew that braid, didn't he? Unintentionally, he reached out to her, but found his thoughts and voice couldn't cooperate with one another. Was this... her? Maybe, maybe not.

"Um... Miss?"

Hardly intimidating, but that wasn't Gravina's goal tonight.

Gravina dawdled. Part of his mind, he thought, was playing tricks on him. Conjuring Hydra from his fragmented memories of her and presenting her to him like a ghost from the past. Part of him was relieved to find her still alive and still able to make her own decisions. She wasn't a slave to anyone. But...

But now she was an eternal, which meant she was even closer to Chaos than she had been before.

The Knight frowned, though not in disappointment. No, from what he remembered of Hydra, she was strong and kind. Surely she was only doing this because she thought it was right. He could recall a medal, and the pride that swelled in her chest from having received it. He remembered that she trained hard and hurt her ankle, so he carried her.

Part of him wanted to carry her now, but she didn't recognize him in this form.

And why should she? Humanity was just a long-forgotten dream at that time.

"Ah," the Knight's voice was shaky, unsure. "Well, you see... um..." With a sigh, Gravina knew that wouldn't do. She could attack him just because of his aura. And who could blame her? In most senses, they were enemies now, despite what Gravina felt in his heart for her. "...it's you, isn't it, Hydra? It has to be. I... I remember your hair."

Shaking his head, Gravina wrung his hands. "I... missed you. It's been a long time, hasn't it? You... we met, a long time ago, under that tree. Did... you happen to get my letter?"

She was angry and hurt. How could she not be?

Bowing his head, Gravina knew no amount of apologies would heal the hurt of the abandonment. Hydra was one of his two only friends back then, and it was highly likely she would not welcome him kindly now that his soul was back in flesh instead of carapace. He couldn't blame her, not one bit.

And so he didn't.

His anxiety was apparent in his body language, pulling at the hems of his much brighter outfit. "...yes, I did... and I'm so sorry, Hydra." Swallowing thickly, Gravina struggled to find the right words to convey the sorrow he felt, not for himself, but for Hydra. Tears pricked at the corners of his still-blue eyes. "I missed you but I couldn't walk... couldn't really talk much, either. It wasn't until much later that I could think clearly enough to write to you. I remembered you, and I still have that necklace you gave me..."

The knight could produce the pendant, no problem. It was a very sentimental keepsake he kept hidden for safekeeping. But he worried that such a thing might upset her further.

"Are... you still training with the man that hurt your ankle? I remember that. I enjoyed helping you, Hydra. I would still... if you still want to be my friend."

Never mind the miracle that brought Gravina back to humanity. It would likely take a miracle for Hydra to forgive him this trespass.

You're not my friend. My friend is dead.

Gravina stepped back, eyes wide in shock and painful understanding.

Hydra was right - Bazzite was dead, permanently. No matter how much Gravina might have tried to convince the eternal that the starseed was the same, the soul was reformed through nothing short of a miracle... It wouldn't have mattered to Hydra, because she was right. She was in incredible, indescribably pain, and perhaps...

Perhaps Gravina finding her again only served to make that pain worse.

The Knight's voice dropped to a shaky whisper, his shoulder drooping in shame. "I... I'm sorry, Hydra. You're right... you're right, he... I... I'm not the same, anymore. I still have my hair?" No, that wouldn't do. He couldn't make her smile, not like this. Gravina shook his head and took a step back, as if his mere blasphemous presence scalded her.

He wanted to tell her how much hope he had for the other people trapped in the Rift that she may not know of. All those people, trapped inside warped, monstrous bodies, completely unaware of who and what they were. There was hope out there, a miracle with their name on it, if only they knew. But that knowledge might only serve to harm Hydra further, and that was something the Knight of Cosmos didn't wish to do. Seeing her cry broke his now human heart.

"I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, but... thank you, for being my friend. My only friend, really, back then. You treated me like I meant something, like I wasn't just a shock troop that was forced to obey and be reformed in the dark before having to serve again. Thank you... Thank you, for everything."

I still love you, even if you hate me now.

It broke his heart to see her in such pain. His brows knitted and soon enough, tears of his own pricked at the corners of his eyes. Gravina shook his head. "...I can't." His voice trembled and his curled his fingers together to keep from pulling his sleeves apart with anxiety. "...You deserve to be treated nicely, Hydra. Especially... after everything that happened."

After I left, and you didn't get to say goodbye.

Would it have been better, if he had stuck around longer, lumbering his disgusting, Chaos-filled carapace to have seen her one more time? No, Gravina was convinced that such a blatant disregard for her safety would have put Hydra in serious jeopardy. If the General who hurt her ankle were to have found that she had known of the youma's eventual betrayal and did nothing to stop it? Surely she would have been killed... or worse.

She could have been turned into a youma for insubordination, or fed to them as an example of what would happen to those foolish enough to disobey. Gravina remembered how it all worked, and he was one of the luckier ones.

"I'm sorry, Hydra." he said quietly, eyes drifting down to the space before her feet. Shame. "...I'm sorry I had to go like that. But... thank you for treating me like I meant something. I'll always remember that, even if you never want to see me like this again. I'd understand."

"...yes, I was your friend, and I left."

What else was there to say? She had every right to be incredibly upset. From what he remembered, Hydra lived a very lonely existence.

And he made it lonelier by leaving.

Now that he'd built an entire life on the other side - with incredible help from everyone around him - it felt entirely selfish to have left Hydra in the first place. As much as Gravina wanted desperately for her to join him and be free of Chaos, she had her cat. Her orange, talking cat whose name still didn't bubble to the surface, but he remembered a tie. Hydra had a family, Hydra had school, probably, and other things she loved to do.

It would be undeniably selfish to ask Hydra to walk away from all that.

Fidgeting, Gravina wasn't sure how to stop from making her more upset. His brows furrowed and small tears started slipping down his cheeks in small streams. "...I'd... I'd hug you, if you... didn't mind, but... I don't mind if you don't. I just... I missed you, Hydra."