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Encke glanced down at his phone, the wisp hanging over his shoulder for a moment as if also looking at his phone.

Another call. Again.

They had been endless. Over the last couple of days, almost every time he had powered up had been accompanied by some strange signal from his phone. Endless ringing that when he picked up, ended with nothing but dead air. Videos of static. Messages that were sent from unknown numbers or cryptic text that reminded him of those old wingdings fonts with content that couldn't be translated. He imagined this would be of no exception. There was a part of him that strongly considered letting the video call just keep ringing.

"Should I?"

Why the hell was he asking the wisp?

Could it even respond to him?

The most it did was get right up in his face and press itself near his nose before slipping underneath his collar and hiding as it seemed to like to. Encke let out a quiet sigh. Felt more like a petulant toddler than some strange thing that had come off a large monster.

No matter.

It rang again.

Perhaps he should just answer it. What harm could it be--

He squinted at the shadow he saw on the other side. Wasn't like it could be a transmission from the Negaverse, right? Maybe it was just some glitch he needed to tell Viatrix to get fixed. She was a Mauvian. Certainly, she could fix whatever was going on with his technology.

It rang again.

He sighed, settled on a bench nearby his house under some trees -- perhaps a risky maneuver to be so close to home, but he didn't feel any threatening auras in the vicinity -- and pressed the button to actually answer the call.

The face that slowly came into focus on his screen wasn't what he expected at all.

Silver-blue skin. Pointed ears. White hair.

Encke pitched forward, his eyes widening in surprise. His grip on his phone got a little tighter.

"Caedus?!"

Encke swore that if the connection just dropped again after this much hassle to even see a face on the other side, he might throw the phone into the ocean. Well. Perhaps not. Viatrix would be upset with him.

But that was Caedus. Caedus, who he hadn't seen in upwards of three years, who he hadn't seen since he thought he had finally gathered enough energy to return to his people out in space. In space. He looked well. Maybe not fully awake, but well. He didn't look nearly as sickly as he had when most of his sources of food were whatever those of Order decided to bring up to him in the woods.

His outfit looked nice. Crisp. The gold trim and the earrings caught Encke's eye. Had Caedus made it back?

"I think your last few attempts have been almost successful," offered Encke, trying to gather himself back from his breathless shock. Last thing he needed to do was sound like he was gasping over the phone or just start talking so much that Caedus wouldn't be able to decipher it over whatever shaky connection they had. "There were a few calls before this one. Mostly dead air. Sometimes static images."

The image jumped and Encke was worried that all of his attempts to connect them would be for naught before Caedus' image came in clear again.

"Earth's still just as it has been, I think. Still tormented by the Negaverse, but they haven't yet taken over the planet." Thankfully. "There's always some weird happenings around the holidays these days that not even those of Chaos seem able to explain, which are odd, but..."

He shook his head.

"Personally, I've been well! Actually, leveled up since I last saw you," he moved the camera a bit to display the small white wings sticking out of his lower back before bringing it back up to his face. "Got married, too." A goofy grin cracked across his face. "To a knight of Uranus? I don't think you got the chance to meet him," ... it had been that long, Caedus had already headed back to space before Richard became Basiluzzo, "but his family was the one that I brought you some of the food from. They almost always had leftovers.

"How are you?" asked Encke, before he dropped too much into babbling and they never got to exchange any other words. "Looks like you've set up pretty nicely."

Seeing the smile reach Caedus' eyes, sincere, excited, only brought more excitement to Encke's features. "Oh, you absolutely will!" Encke presumed if they made one connection, they could make more connections. "Next time an unknown call comes through, I'll drag Basi over here. I think he's very curious about the one who gave me the crystal I still keep safe in my room." Basi, the nickname that Encke had eventually adjusted to calling Richard Arra Bell when he was powered up. At least Encke wasn't usually cutting off an Arra anymore--

Energy here was not as strong. Caedus had to have made it back home, right? The energy and crystals they had gathered for him had actually helped and worked?

Excusing the comments of the annoying calls with a quiet, "Pfft," and a, "honestly, just glad you didn't give up" -- if they were all attempts for Caedus to get a hold of the people back on Earth, he'd let it go. He'd even let go another few days of calls of dead air if it meant he had something to look forward to.

Encke agreed with the worry of the Negaverse, nodding when he heard the hatred.

He felt it, understood it.

"A plan?" asked Encke, his voice rising in something that combined intrigue and excitement. The Negaverse had seemed like an impossible scourge on the planet; Ignacio had been stolen by the so-called school of Barren Pines twelve years ago, and the only thing that seemed to change in the interim were the faces of the people that fought each other. Faces of the Negaverse had changed, those of Order he had loved and or had been close to came and went, but the fight was the same. "Can I ask what it is-- Have you found something that can help end this?"

He remembered what Caedus had said, how he planned to go back to his planet and find a way to help here.

Encke loved seeing Caedus' face light up, especially when it came to things like this--

Were there others around him? Was he worried about being heard or was he worried about who was around-- Hey! Encke tapped the side of the phone as if it was a bad radio in an attempt to get it to reconnect; the image came back, but Encke wasn't exactly an expert lip-reader, and he found himself squinting in confusion as he attempted to figure out what exactly had just been said--

Oh, sound again.

Encke opened his mouth to say he didn't know what exactly there was to work out because apparently the connection decided to drop again, but Caedus was already talking about something else and Encke let it go. He was lamenting. He was worried. About them.

"I'd do it again," offered Encke, leaning back on the bench once more. "You gave us the best shot at striking back against the Negaverse." The mild confusion left his face, replaced with a gentle smile. "And you're a friend."

Whatever Caedus had been telling Encke about, Caedus didn't want to come back until everything was absolutely ready. Considering that it seemed like he might have been a beacon for the Negaverse before, he supposed that was understandable. To hear that Caedus missed him made his smile brighten before it was tempered by the concept that Caedus felt out of place.

"Did you make it back home?" asked Encke, worried. "Is it not what you remembered?"

Or had he made it somewhere else entirely?

Or had he been gone too long?

Encke's brows lifted in concern as Caedus took time to think. If the answer wasn't obvious, it couldn't be a good one, and the mixed response he received seemed to confirm that. The world moved on without him. Everything was different.

He had made it back, at least. That was a plus. His gamble had worked.

He was also stressed and perhaps teetering on unhappiness. Encke wanted to pull him into a hug -- well, if that was something he desired -- but likely light-years pulled them apart. Held onto memories others forgot -- he remembered a past that felt irrelevant to the people of today on his planet. It was concerning; had he truly managed to rally them? Did they want to be rid of the Negaverse like them? Would Caedus ever find his emotional home again?

Perhaps it was with them, on Earth--

His mood flipped like a switch and Encke's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly found Caedus' bright expression much closer to the telephone.

"Of course," he reaffirmed, edging a bit closer to the edge of the bench. "I'll be ready for you. Like I said when you left -- I don't think there's enough I can do. For you. That's still true."

He offered a small smile. "As a friend, too. I want you to be happy. And I look forward to seeing you again. And introducing you to my husband-- Maybe we can make Earth feel a bit more like home."

He paused. He couldn't help but wonder. Was asking a question of him even appropriate right now? Almadel was also an alien. Did Caedus know--

"Say, do you know what a Starstone is?"

The lessened lines on Caedus' face made Encke feel good. Made him all the more determined to be ready for Caedus' arrival.

He'd have to fill Basiluzzo in on a few details. Maybe make sure one of his brother's rooms was appropriately cleaned out if Caedus needed a place to crash when he got there - would he need a place to crash, or would his energy signature still be too strong or odd to dodge the notice of the Negaverse? Maybe they'd need to figure out something else for him - something to make that stay in the forest if it was still necessary more comfortable at least --

Caedus did know of starstones.

Well, at the very least, Almadel definitely wasn't bullshitting him. What Caedus said backed up what Almadel said, too. Dangerous. Hard to make. Power of the heart of a star. Tracked that they could explode.

"Personally found? No. But one has shown up on Earth," he glanced to the side, before bringing the phone just a bit closer to his face. "There's a merchant that's made his way here a few times. Alien, not like you," although maybe? he wasn't really an alien biologist, "but an alien. Goes by Almadel - Alma. Says he uses a starstone to travel through space. Including on our long-dead worlds. Gave me something from my comet, even," he traded the hand he was holding his phone with to show the still-present Enckean ring on his finger.

He idly ran his finger over it.

He heard the concern in Caedus' voice. He wondered if the Starstone was moreso a problematic element than something that could actually help them.

"Says he hasn't found a creator in a long time, though he said he'd give me more information if he did. Also implied they'd explode without being tended to."

If Encke could describe Caedus' expression as anything, he'd describe it as concerned. And Encke appreciated that. He instinctually latched onto the idea of Starstones, as dangerous as they were, as a way to get the senshi back into space where they belonged. As a way to maybe help them actually rebuild their homes and their societies by giving them an easy ability to not only get into space but get to other places in space.

The part of him that had learned so much of Ignatius of the First House liked the idea of that.

But Caedus was the first one of space he had met. Encke absolutely noted his concern.

"I will," he promised, nodding affirmatively. "A piece of ancient art requiring expert-level skill. Can't go into that haphazardly." He wondered why Caedus chose the description of primitive. Were there better methods? Was it just the energy-gathering that had gotten Caedus back home, or was it something else?

"I think he's trustworthy," Encke's brows knit, "but he's a merchant. Most salespeople are good at making themselves seem trustworthy." Encke didn't have the impression that he couldn't trust Almadel. It had felt like Almadel had actually opened up during their conversation. Encke doubted Almadel would have shared that he used something so powerful and dangerous otherwise. And yet-- "I'm eager to learn everything you've learned."

His eyes lit up at the mention of his world.

"Well, not animal life. But plant life, yes! Beyond what I was able to get going before. I've recultivated quite a few of the plants of Encke's Comet -- the ones I see in my memories. Glowing bulbous things, small berries, some edible things -- even have adapted a few things from Earth and got them growing. Pendour of Neptune helped me a bit with that." His smile was fond. "Got some ingredients to make some space salsa if I want."

"Thank you," replied Encke, earnestly, because he was proud of it. To hear the compliments from Caedus, even mixed with envy, warmed his heart--

Until that suddenly cut when Caedus mentioned the concept of his true home.

So he hadn't made it back. Not quite. Caedus shrugged it off and Encke wouldn't drill into it if he didn't wish to speak of it right at that moment, but he couldn't help the worry that crossed onto his features even as Caedus kept talking. He did his best to bury it. Wasn't worth putting a damper on their moods after so long of not being able to connect to each other if Caedus wanted to leave it for another time, but Encke did want to see Caedus make it home. His true home.

He'd also love to show Caedus his home, admittedly.

Caedus barely got to finish his sentence before Encke responded.

"Absolutely! I'd love to show you Encke's Comet. Maybe I can make up some space salsa before we go. Or while we're there. Not too hard to make. Hope it passes the food snobbery muster." The worry melted from his face as he thought of a future with no Negaverse, a future where they could travel freely in space, a future where they could go back to the places they had originally come from before whatever calamity must have taken them all out so long ago.

Thought of just getting to be with his friends without the worries that they might permanently die in a way so horrid without any way to fight back.

The wisp that had hidden under his collar emerged to watch over his shoulder as if curious. Encke absent-mindedly swatted in its direction.

"Maybe you'll get to show me your true home, too," Encke's expression softened out of the brightness into something warmer. "Because we're friends. And I'd like to help you restore your world, too."