Welcome to Gaia! ::

Two years he had been gone… and yet, it felt as if he never left Destiny City at all.

How can it be so familiar? He questioned. It was nothing like Japan where he had been studying abroad and yet it felt so much like he had been here all along. But what had he missed?

Yuri. The name he acquired in Japan. Should he use it here? Would it signify the time that’s passed?

The young man had not powered up to his knight form in those years. And yet, something — maybe it was the way the city air felt on his skin again — was begging him to. Did he still know how? Could he call that weapon again so easily?

As if knowing, it appeared in his hand. The bow was ready, but was he?

He had almost forgotten how the white robes felt, the golden tassels, the sheer fabric that sparkled in the light. And he had almost forgotten Her.

Would She answer if he called?

Why would he call? Why now? Shouldn’t he wait until he needed —

But before he could convince himself otherwise, he was calling out to with his heart — to her, Cosmos!

But She didn’t answer.

Instead, he found himself on the Moon next to a piece of the Code.

✪

At first, Erytheia thought he heard Yuki, his ancestor. Or, at least, that was exactly the kind of thing Yuki would say to him when he returned to his wonder after so long. But the voice wasn’t sarcastic, playing, teasing — no, the tone was quite unlike Yuki’s.

“I came back to Destiny City. I know I’ve been gone awhile. But I couldn’t power up where I was.” He thought for a moment and realized, even if he could explain it, college and his degree were not something the Code would understand, much less approve of.

He switched subjects.

“I heard rumor of a comet and a battle and…” He seemed worried, unsure. Tama had gone to try and find anyone who knew more, but the cat hadn’t returned.

✪

“Well…” He thought for a moment. He hadn’t planned on staying away forever, had he? Japan had been very nice and there he had a sense of freedom and peace he had never known here. It was a fair question.

“Here is home. Even when I was there, part of me was here. Part of me will always be here.”

✪

“I needed some time away from here — Destiny City. Where I could think.” He said clearly, knowing he could not hide his true intentions from the Code any more than he could hide it from himself. “Where I could connect with who I am and who I could have been.”

He did not know how he could describe Japan and why he went there in terms the Code — ancient as it was — would understand.

“My parents. I never knew either of them. They died before I ever came to know them. But I thought that, maybe, if I went to where they first met, I could connect with them again.” He looked at the Code, how it so looked like the fragment on his own world but larger, fuller. “Like I can go to Erytheia and Yuki, my ancestor, is there.”

✪

“Yes.” Erytheia said with a smile after the Code’s silence.

He was hoping that meant acceptance, but he knew, like dealing with Yuki, you never could be quite sure…

“I’m going to open a cat cafe. But, um…” Wasn’t he trying to explain it in ways the Code would get? “It shouldn’t interfere with my duties much. It will be good for Tama as well.”

✪

A balance to all things.

Erytheia found he could understand that too.

“Thank you.” He said sincerely. But then a question popped into his mind, one that had been there since he was brought to the theatre.

“If I could ask one more question: Why did I end up here when I was calling to Cosmos? And what is this place?”

✪

The Celestial Theatre.

No wonder the aesthetics were so familiar, the feeling so much like home. This place was for Cosmos, of Cosmos. Perhaps this was the closest he’s ever be to the Cauldron.

“I think I did find what I needed here. Thank you.” He took one last look at the place and left.

He’d come back, this time sooner rather than later.

✪