Welcome to Gaia! ::

Encke had been the slightest bit surprised by receiving a message from someone he hadn't given his contact information to, but when he discovered that his sister, transcendence, and someone he had previously helped were involved, he found himself giving an unsurprised laugh. The message from Aokigahara that they had similar goals and should perhaps try to work together was met with enthusiasm, and it hadn't taken long for Encke to respond with an, Oh, absolutely, and a suggestion of a place they could meet up. A park, of course, relatively nearby Encke's house in case Aokigahara decided he would want somewhere more private.

(Well. As private as the Bell Family tended to let anyone get, anyway.)

To know of someone else equally as determined to get other senshi and knights in touch with their homeworlds was exciting to Encke. It had been his primary goal for years, one he had eagerly helped and encouraged others toward. There was no magic formula for transcendence, necessarily, but he was starting to get an idea of what it usually required -- a bond to the homeworld or wonder, at least.

And the benefits it provided them on Earth as well as in their place in space were nearly impossible to pass up, especially now, considering what the Negaverse seemed capable of with the mass corruptions that had taken place a short time ago.

This would give him a chance to check up on how Aokigahara's wonder was doing after he and several others had assisted him in clearing out the angered spirit, too -- that reminded him, he hadn't been able to get a hold of the senshi he had helped during that battle, Mizuki, and he was worried about her--

He waited on a bench, quietly going back into his phone to see if any attempt to reach her would work.

Could messages on senshi phones bounce?

The thought left his mind as he caught the purple glow out of the side of his eye--not nearly as obvious and lurid as he tended to be, but still quite noticeable--and he tucked the phone away from whence it came and shot Aokigahara a wide grin in response to his name. "One and the same."

Encke gave a polite nod in response to Aokigahara's bow before patting the spot next to him as an invitation. "Nice to properly meet you, Aokigahara." And it was. Another transcendent person, another transcendent person who was hoping to encourage others in that direction-- "I was happy to help with your Wonder! Not a problem at all. Honestly, just a bonus your Wonder decided to reward you for your work and for calling us all there to help."

Another starseed was safe from Chaos. Another world would have another chance to thrive, to hold life--.

Encke would help again and again.

Speaking of life.

"How is your world doing now?" Encke couldn't help hoping that it wasn't just Encke's Comet.

Aokigahara's continued gratefulness was sweet, and Encke's smile softened when he stated once again how much his -- and everyone's who had come -- actions had meant to him. It was true: not a single person had left. Not even the one who stood with him so afraid left; they stayed, and they cleared out the threat together.

"And I'd do it again," Encke promised, easily, settling in his spot as Aokigahara sat next to him.

Oh, he saw the way Aokigahara's face lit up, and Encke couldn't help the way his heart soared when Aokigahara's breath caught. Tell him it wasn't just him. Tell him it wasn't just --

Encke's delight with the news was verbal and he bounced in place in his seat in his excitement before clearing his throat, offering a cleared throat of apology, before he offered the slightly more contained, "You're serious?!" Well, only slightly. "Fireflies, butterflies, and beetles -- dream come true, honestly, something I've been hoping to hear for years," he laughed, fondly, turning his gaze out toward the park for a moment. "Me, too. Caught some pollinators wandering around the garden that's been cultivated. Looked a bit like fireflies. Glowed. Lit up the dusk. Then I caught a beetle of some sort swooping by and," he cleared his throat, "eating one of them."

And at the thought, he laughed.

It was a joyful laugh.

"The circle of life on our worlds and wonders, can you believe that? Of all things?"

It had felt impossible. Encke had always hoped, always dreamed, always believed, but--

It had been what they were all working for, had been what he was working towards for years -- to believe, in one night, so much had changed. The soft sigh was met with one of Encke's own, an almost dreamy look on his face as he imagined being back there in the garden again, back there with perhaps a cacophony of noise surrounding him, and noise felt like something so new after the world had been so quiet for so long--

His eyes wandered to the scroll case that Aokigahara mentioned, taking a closer look at it as he explained its purpose. "Memorial garden," he repeated to himself, inspecting it and considering what that concept meant.

Gives me the name of those we've lost and magically engrave them on monuments.

It stuck, echoed to something Encke had wanted to do for a long time, something Encke had considered seeing if was possible on Earth -- but Barren Pines was a tragedy of the Negaverse, too, and those names deserved to be memorialized in a place where they would be seen by those in the war and understood by those in the war, too --

"Oh, I hope so." Encke let out a delighted laugh. "Could you imagine? Now that we've started seeing insect life, maybe we'll start seeing other life, too. Rodents maybe. Or lizards?" He grinned. "Or maybe dogs and cats, or things we could never imagine..."

The grin faded as he couldn't help but ask the question that burned in his mind, "The scroll. I," his mood felt like a pendulum swing, "know some people this war lost, early on. Over a decade ago."

"I'm one of the few people I know who was aware of these issues back then," he admitted, and there was a sadness behind that. It wasn't like he wanted more people to have been fighting as long as he and a few others had. It still would have been nice for more people to know it, understand it, especially because he felt like there would be more people who would share his opinion.

Maybe he was principled in how he fought, but it didn't mean he didn't believe the Negaverse needed to be obliterated as an organization.

He leaned forward, biting down on his lip lightly. "Do you know those ruins nearby town that the locals have taken to calling haunted? Seems like a hotspot for bad events? They called it an organ ring on the news when it was discovered because the reporters didn't really have a word for it."

Encke shifted in his seat. His mood had gone from bright and ecstatic to somber, but he noticed something different in it. It had taken months for Richard to get these explanations out of him. Weeks for the Bells when it had come out that the "monsters" weren't something that his trauma-induced hallucinations were making up. But this was coming out of his mouth without a second thought beyond the pain that was behind it.

"It was Barren Pines School for the Gifted. A new school a few of us transferred to when it was freshly opened, chosen for our talents and abilities." Us. "It was a place where the Negaverse tormented us until we became youma. Killed us one by one. Set the dorms on fire. Sent us after each other. A few of us were able to be saved and escape when the Princess of the Zodiac awoke. I'm one of those few."

Felt oddly freeing to say that.

"But I still keep track of all of the thirty-five names of those who didn't."

Encke couldn't help offering a small smile at the concept of Aokigahara lighting candles there. "I'd like that. I've thought a while about having an official memorial made. Being one of the survivors, I think I could reasonably make a project out of it without seeming suspicious if the Negaverse is still keeping an eye on things."

Encke's public name of Ignacio Araya had long since been taken over by references of his acting career, but if his name was matched up with Destiny City, it wasn't exactly an unknown that he was one of the still-living people who had lived through the organ ring tragedy.

Quietly, without question, he took the scroll case from Aokigahara.

A place to memorialize the thirty-five names where those of the war would understand the significance.

"Of course." He bit down at his lip, looking down at it. "Is there any place you'd like me to start on here?"

"I agree," his voice was a murmur as he contemplated the scroll. Encke found it reasonable to believe there might have truly been something lingering there. What had happened at Barren Pines was nothing short of evil, and the energy around the area seemed enough to continue to push people away. It was an area that still wasn't at peace.

Maybe they could do something to bring it peace.

"I suppose this is a good test of that, right?" He laughed, but the sound was hollow as he found a good spot on the page.

And one by one, he wrote the names, memorized as if he had once repeated them in a mantra, even those he hadn't met extensively, even those whom he had.

Alease Harlotton
Aracelia Croose
Arastoo Pymedegauso
Arianna Rutherford
Arlet Jahar
Avery Roth
Barney Derring
Benson Beldon

It was to himself, mostly, but he couldn't help a snort of, "That guy was a dweeb."

Cadenza De Luca
Cameron Bleaker
Constance Blair
Edmond Nihls
Euphemia Agyros
Evelyn Esther

"She was a sweetheart." A pause as he contemplated, writing more of the names. "Ran into her brother after. I hope he's still alright."

Ezekiel Martin
Jessalyn Bowe
Joanne Bard
Jonathan Sharp
Kimberly Bennett
Kimmie Harris
Leonette Delacroix
Lucas Hendricks

"Lucas and I were close back then. He was always chasing someone... Still not sure why I made it out and he didn't."

He buried down the survivor's guilt and worked through the rest of the names.

Lucy Mor
Macie Juniper
Malory Gerard
Marcel Delaney
Marit Bohmen
Mason Everheart
Nathan Scholz
Quinn Roswell

"Her talent was synthesia. Effie's was clay. Alease's was piano. Joanne was a tailor. Arastoo's was maths. Really did have us thinking it was a place for every passion."

In retrospect, he wondered if the diversity in abilities was for other reasons.

Samuel Smith
Sebastien Leblanc
Terrence Cornelius Jr.
Viridiana Lombardi

"Val was very proud. Felt like she and her rival were destined to run for mayor someday. Probably against each other."

Zachary Bates

With the last name, he swallowed and reverently passed the scroll back toward Aokigahara.

Talking helped.

He still looked like he might have been swallowing tears despite.

The breath Encke let out as Aokigahara set a hand on his shoulder was shaky at best, and he found himself shaking out his hands as if to expel some of the emotions that were welling up behind what he had just done.

It had been nearly thirteen years, and he often had to remind himself of that. Thirteen years since it happened, and yet there were times it still smacked him like it had happened yesterday, and it was hard to blink away the images of the people he had known out of his mind, so he let himself have it, letting out another slow breath as he closed his eyes and let the thoughts come in a rush for a moment before it became a bit easier to speak.

"It is." Encke opened his eyes with a hollow laugh. "I think about how I was never the same person after that, but even more than that I think about the lives the Negaverse has been taking and has been taking. I'm going on thirty now. This happened when I was a teenager, and so many of them were my age or younger at the time--"

He lifted his opposite hand and ran it through his hair, taking in and letting out another deep breath.

"But that feels good. Giving them a place where they'll be remembered." And it made him remember other things he had always pondered; making a memorial, finding a way to bring that site peace, maybe turning the site itself into a site of peace-- "Thank you for that. When you have that all transferred over, I think I'd like to see it in person, yeah?"

He cracked a smile. "And then I can see what kind of life is thriving on your wonder."