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Whenever she found something strange, Cybele's habit was to power up to see if it would give her any more information.

It did not always do much good. There were no auras in these puddles on the sidewalk. There was nothing that stood out to her more once she was wearing her ribbons and antlers. There was just the visions in the water of odd, lifeless buildings and plants that she did not recognize.

If anything, it reminded her of that village she'd been whisked off to soon after her corruption, the one with the monster that she'd been helpless against, even with her Eternal wings. The architecture was slightly different in these buildings, and she did not think that it was the same town, but the feeling of unease remained, as did the eyes on her back.

Although being watched could be attributed to the Chaos aura that was drawing closer.

Cybele turned, only to freeze in place when she came face to face with the one agent who she had considered something of a friend.

"Oh," she whispered.

A sad smile crept across Cybele's face.

"I'm not here to hurt you, either, Geo," she said, a softness in her voice that had not shown itself during her long months in the Negaverse. He was looking at her strangely, as if he did not quite know who she was, and it made her wonder if having a new identity affected her powered form at all. "It's me," she added, just in case. "Cybele."

His words confirmed a suspicion that she'd had since the second time they'd talked, back in the monster's prison. He'd never seemed to care much what the Negaverse thought about his words or actions, and since he'd been kind to her, Cybele had always sort of turned the other way.

Now, she did not have to. They could speak about it freely.

"I'd been wondering if you wanted to stay, since the last time we talked," she said, smile brightening a bit. "I should be able to tell you about it." She ran a hand across the fabric of her skirt, now white. "What is it that you want to know?"

Geocronite may have been apologizing for not telling her things sooner, but as Cybele listened, there was nothing but understanding in her eyes.

"It was probably for the best that you did not tell me in so many words. I still may have felt the need to turn you in at that point," she said. Her voice was steady, but she shook her head and clenched her jaw at the insidious nature of the Negaverse.

"Things were," she paused, exhaling a sharp breath through her nose, "Complicated. Then afterwards, so much happened all at once."

She'd gone into the last mission intending to prove herself to the Negaverse, not to end up prematurely labeled as a traitor and forced to flee, but that was how things had happened. At this point, she couldn't even be upset about it. She was thankful that she'd gotten out when she had.

She'd do whatever she could to make sure that Geocronite could leave, too. "It takes a Royal and their crystal to burn the Chaos out of your starseed," she said. "It's intense. I won't lie to you. It also may have an effect on your memories, but," her smile was warm. "After that, you're free."

"No," said Cybele, no emotion in her voice even as her head canted slightly. "You were right to distrust me. I might have had to kill you."

The task might have fallen on somebody else. The Negaverse knew enough of her past and her situation that they had never tried sending her after traitors, but she'd been combat oriented in her time there. She'd been the Negaverse's hands and feet. She could imagine what kind of orders she'd have been given had she come up to report someone about to leave.

She also knew she likely would have followed them, even though the the thought sent a lump to her throat as she looked over Geocronite now.

"I was desperate to prove myself to the Negaverse, right up to the point where I wasn't," she said quietly.

All that effort had been misplaced, and Geo had seen it from the start. Now, she'd do what she could to get him out.

The phone was in her hand in an instant. "Ganymede is the one who was at the last fight, and the one who helped me, after. I could get her here in a few minutes, if you wanted." She scrolled through her contacts until she found another name. "There's someone called Camelot in here, too. I don't remember him, but he's a Royal Knight, if you'd be more comfortable with that, since you'd be a Knight afterwards."

The tension that she always carried when talking about the Negaverse broke. She smiled at him. "No proving your worth. I think you have to want it, to some extent. It can't be forced on your starseed, the way that Chaos can."

Her fingers fluttered to her chest, a shadow of a memory coming through.

"I can't see it not working for you."

"I suppose I was in denial about some of it for a long time? I didn't question why I should serve this organization even after they'd taken me out of my old life. Chaos is like that, I suppose, and I got an Eternal's dose of it all at once," she said. Her lips pressed even thinner, and she exhaled sharply.

"You and some others started breaking through all that, which is good. Things are better, now."

He didn't need to know just how dark things had gotten, for a time.

She let the phone vanish again and squinted thoughtfully at a nearby building, instead. "We talked about going to that cabin once, didn't we? If we ended up going out there, I don't remember it, but-" she squinted harder, even the details of that conversation somehow feeling very blurry, "If I gave you my contact information then, you could use that number to get in touch with me. I got a new phone afterwards, but I still have that one around. I'll keep it charged."

Her expression softened, and she smiled at him. "But yes, you should sell the cabin. Save the money to get a new one, once you're free."

“Of course. It won’t be pretty if we end up caught like this,” she said, and stepped away from him. She didn’t fully want to. It would have been easier, she thought, if he would have let her call someone to come and free him right that night, but she knew it wasn’t so simple.

She hadn’t had much of a civilian life to leave behind when she’d purified. He did. There would be no ripping him away from those things without his consent.
He could have time to take care of those things, if he wanted it.

“I’ll feel better when I see you in knight’s clothes,” she said, her voice softer than usual. “I know the Negaverse hasn’t been good to you, so just-“ she took another step back and offered a smile, bittersweet as it was. “Keep in touch, all right? Even if you just have more questions.”