It had been a little while since he had last been to his asteroid, but for some reason it had seemed apt to make the trip tonight.

Mayhaps it was the sudden realisation that he had somehow been a senshi for just over a decade that had seemingly struck from virtually out of no where, or the way that the memories that had followed in the wake of that realisation had seemed to ride him particularly hard.

Or mayhaps it was way that the chill from the February evening had seemed to sink into his bones.

Mayhaps...

But for whatever the reason Athene had found himself summoning his senshi phone from his subspace pocket and using the star app–

However whilst the shift from Destiny City at night to muted light and yellowish skies was no longer the strange thing that it had seemed back when he had made that first trip with Polaris as a 17 year old, a year on from when he had first met ********* during his first and last summer camp trip, it seemed like his asteroid could still surprise him.

Actually no, that was a little unfair, given that Athene knew that he didn't visit his asteroid quite as much as he perhaps should - and had not connected to it in the same way as his friend Ida had connected to her own home world–

But he was used to appearing close to the stone arches that looked down on the approach to what had once been Athene's main city - Varϊsvaara - and this was very much not there.

It was, however, very much Athene - or at the very least it seemed like Athene.

No it was Athene, albeit a part of Athene that he wasn't familiar with - and whilst Athene wasn't sure how or why he was so sure and so certain, it was almost as if his heart knew that this place was part of his asteroid.

So he had walked, and as he walked he had found himself thinking.

About the henshin pen that he probably wouldn't have picked up if he'd had known in advance what it would lead to, but which had changed his life.

About the way that he had stumbled through being a basic senshi, or the way that he had been little better as a super senshi.

About his first encounter with a Negaverse agent - one who had tried to poke him with a paint brush.

About lying to his cousin and feeling bad when she had kept stomping down to Meadowview to demand that they do something about the 'bullies', when he had had injuries that he hadn't been able to hide.

About randomly taking part in the' 'Duels of Destiny' event that seemed to have been run or at the very least organised by Polaris and his first opponent who had seemed so very happy to be there unlike his own trepidation - and how he had accidentally managed to break his own ornament after tripping over his feet when he had frantically tried to avoid her.

He had found out later that she was called Juno, when the two of them had inexplicably ended up being turned into cats, but at the time he had been terrified of her and so very relieved when Polaris had stepped in after she had launched herself at him–

And then he found himself thinking on Polaris and how very kind she had been.

It was to Polaris that he had admitted that his magic didn't always seem to work, even if he couldn't bring himself to admit to the fact that it seemed to have a mind of his own - something that still seemed to hold true, even after all this time, and–

Athene paused with a slight frown as he realised that he had just been walking without really thinking, letting his feet take him where they would, because it seemed like they had taken him to some sort of..

Of settlement maybe?

Well at least the patterns carved into yellowish stone of what appeared to be buildings seemed similar to those that he had seen on the (very) few occasions that he had gone to Varϊsvaara, although they seemed for the most part to be in somewhat better condition.

Somewhat - but not actually by that much he realised as he walked closer.

A glint from the ground of something half buried caught his attention, Athene's lips tilting up in a slight frown as he walked closer to investigate, before kneeling down and reaching out with a hand to half brush and half dig the dusty earth away.

It turned to be some sort of medallion, and old with it as his hand brushed against the symbols that had been revealed as bits of earth fell away. Unfamiliar symbols - or at the very least symbols that he hadn't been able to recognise, that someone or something had engraved on the back.

Athene carefully tucked it into his subspace pocket, as he made a mental note to make sure to show it to Liryn later–

Even though by doing so he knew that it would mean admitting to the small mauvian that he had gone to Athene without him.

Athene found his lips quirking up in a small smile at the thought of the tabby bobtailed mauvian, that was the form that his friend spent the majority of his time in.

Because whilst Liryn was brave and far too reckless, he also had a heart of gold–

And whilst the PSSG no longer existed in the way that it had once had, the bonds he had made with Liryn and Ida and Tsui were things that were very important to him - even if it had been years since he had last seen Tsui.

His smile turned wistful as he thought of the senshi of tigers, of the way how they had met as civilians with no idea that the other was powered.

He had been running late for his Meadowview maths class and had almost bumped into her - and then he had ended up being beyond late as a youma had decided that that particular day was the best time to cause trouble–

And she'd been friendly and so much more outgoing than he was - and strong too - in fact she was a little too much like Liryn or maybe Liryn was a little too much like Tsui.

Athene shook his head at the thought, lost in the memories for the moment.

Tsui had been the one who had introduced him to Ida, after the train wreck that had been his upgrade to eternal, and was the one who had worked out that the General that almost killed him had been the same one to hurt her and Ida.

And she had been the second person who he'd talked to after he'd stopped burying his head in the sand and stopped trying to run away from being a senshi - and whilst he'd promised himself that he would no longer try run away again, and knew that running away didn't work, it didn't stop him from missing her–

But Tsui had her path and Athene would never try to dissuade her from it, could only do his best to try and be there if she ever needed him - just like she had been there for him so many times in the past.

And he also had his own senshi path to walk, was doing his best with it, despite not being fancy or brave or a great speaker or any of the things that some of the other senshi that he'd come across were.

Then again all he could do, as always, was to continue to do what he thought right.

All he could do was be himself–

And whilst he was a senshi, he was also Arian and there were people in both sides of his life that he wanted to protect and keep safe...

In fact some - like Ida, Liryn, Subamara and the twins Alcor and Eleonora even straddled both sides of his life. Even his cousin was part of both sides of his life now, even if the two of them went to great and often awkward pains to avoid talking about anything powered.

Mayhaps that would change - a part of him certainly hoped so, although at least Liryn had taken it upon himself to keep an eye out for her which was something that Athene was grateful for.

It was something of a surprise when Athene realised just how late it was getting, at the way that purples and pinks had started to creep into the yellowish skies.

Perhaps it was time to head back to Destiny City, was probably best to return before the skies turned completely purple and dark fell because Athene had found that evenings on his asteroid could get surprisingly cold and he hadn't exactly planned for an overnight stay–

But as he once again summoned his senshi phone from his subspace pocket, one thought stuck in his mind.

Somehow despite everything he had managed to survive, had even managed to somehow manage to live to see past his 25th birthday despite the period where he had been so sure for some inexplicable reason that he wouldn't–

And he was going to do his best to keep surviving and to keep walking the senshi path that he had chosen - was going to do his best to keep being him and to do what he thought right.

Athene used the star app on his senshi phone and vanished - back to Destiny City.

-- 1620 words --