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At about 9:30 Eleonora powered up. It was neither out of need nor desire but a lack of anything else going on and, simply put, it was nice weather out and she was bored. The air outside was blessedly warm and the sky was clear with a smattering of stars and constellations that could be seen without the aid of a telescope. Light pollution was still a thing, sure, but she refused to allow it to take away from this near-perfect moment.

No blanket needed. She felt more than comfortable in her uniform as is and stretched both arms over her head in a relaxed fashion.

Only then did she realize that there was a letter there beside her. “Oh?” her head canted to the side curiously as she reached out to open the note. Once, maybe twice, she had received a message in a similar fashion. Always from a knight and never from someone she knew which is why Eleonora felt a wash of relief when she read Antisana’s name at the bottom.

Would be convenient if she could respond directly, or if they had thought to exchange phone numbers as civilians. But be it as it may, and knowing how dangerous it was for him to sit out in the open idly waiting, Eleonora wasted no time in hurting to the park he had described. Urgent or not, things could turn south quickly.

“Antisana. Hey-” she raised a hand and waved from a distance once she was, sure enough, he’d hear her if he didn’t sense her approach already.

When she saw him stand, Eleonora had to resist the urge to give Antisana a hug.

She held back out of consideration for him because it had been a while since they last parted ways. Currently, they were still somewhere in that weird phase between being an acquaintance and new friends. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to greet him as if they’d known each other for years.

Still, Ele was more than happy to have received his message.

Antisana’s reason for reaching out to her genuinely caught her off guard. She wasn’t mad about it, far from it actually. His admission was actually kind of precious in a way and was hands down the reason her face looked sunkissed even though it was nighttime.

GaHAhahah, thank god for dim lights her mind cried out.

“Honestly,” Eleonore waved her hands in front of her, “ it’s no intrusion at all. I’m actually glad you reached out. I was actually thinking about you a couple days ago and was kicking myself for forgetting to swap phone numbers.” Otherwise, she would have reached out to check on him much sooner to hang out, just as friends of course.

Eleonora stowed the piece of parchment away in her subspace pocket for the time being rather than fussing around with powering down to text him now. Granted, not taking care of it now left her open to the very real possibility that she might forget she put his number there until a few days later when she powered up next.

No- she wouldn’t let that happen because, like Liryn, she actually genuinely enjoyed Antisana’s company.

“I’m not in any rush. If you’d like to walk around we can, the weather is nice enough this evening that I don’t mind wandering for a while.” No direction is necessary; let the trailing lights from fireflies be their guide to places he might find peace.

“Honestly,” she laced her fingers behind her back and looked up at the blinking firefly lights around them. Her mood had noticeably reined itself in with the new knowledge that the place he used as his sanctuary had not yet improved. “Between your wonder and my sister’s world. I’m worried about what kind of disaster I’d be greeted with if I visited Eleonora right now.”

“I mentioned to Alcor what we saw on Antisana. It seems that something similar is going on with one of the entrances to a main city. She mentioned that there had been a Lieutenant there and thought his Chaos had corrupted part of her world but I doubt you’d have brought an agent here before me.” A youma by mistake, perhaps. If one of those pixies had been an unintentional tag-a-long maybe, but she doubted that was the case. They both would have sensed if they were not alone.

“My sister is the Senshi of Cold and her world is comprised of mostly ice. The surface was apparently unliveable in the past so cities were constructed beneath it.” She fell silent for a moment in contemplation. “I guess I’m just worried that mine will be nothing more than a ball of fire. At least on Alcor, we can wear layers; whereas on mine, I assume, when things heat up there’s only so much I can take off and that's assuming I don’t get cooked alive.”

She’d hoped that her world wasn’t to that extreme but it wasn’t a risk worth taking. Simply put, beyond the excuses, she was genuinely scared of her own world and while she’d like someone to go with her, Eleonora couldn’t bring herself to ask someone to tag along.

“Who knows,” she flashed Antisana a rueful smile. “It might be worse off than both of yours because I haven’t given it the attention I should have.” Or it might be fine since she hadn’t brought anything that didn’t belong to her homeworld that might possibly corrupt it.

To that, Eleonora looked up at him, her eyes searching his as if he either grew a second head or held within him a secret that he wasn’t ready to share. Had this happened to someone else already or was this just a hypothetical question? Surely, if someone’s world had collapsed there would have been a meeting on the Moon or someplace where everyone else could be warned.

But there had been no messages on her senshi phone as of late.

“I suppose-” her gaze fell away from his slate blue eyes that were a bit darker than her own. The intensity behind them and the weight of his question made her feel a bit uncomfortable; mostly because it was a thought she hadn’t considered and she felt ashamed for it.

For a short moment, she studied the row of gold pluto symbols that stood in stark contrast against the green fabric and his rich dark brown skin tone. It’d be inappropriate for her gaze to linger too long but the question he posed kind of demanded a level of consideration that left her searching for an honest reply.

Eleonora shifted beside him, troubled that she didn’t have an answer for him, and tilted her head back to look up at the blinking fireflies hovering around them. The evening night threatened to extinguish the fading lights completely only to have them return with renewed brilliance.

She drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“If my world collapses, I will cease being Eleonora.” That realization struck her hard and she couldn’t help but curl into herself a bit. “My power comes from my world, without it I’ll end up spending the rest of my life as a civilian knowing that this war is going on and know that there is nothing I can do to protect my loved ones from Chaos.”

For many moments she remained standing silently beside Antisana, her troubled expression deepening. “I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to lose this side of myself but-” She paused, hesitant to admit her concerns but eventually let him know “I’m too scared to go alone. But I’m also worried that if I brought my sister it would be too extreme for her as her world was to me.”

The passion Antisana felt for his wonder was full of hope. Inspiring and yet- Eleonora felt a pang of sadness because as much as she wanted to relate, that feeling wasn’t there. If anything, she held more desire to see other places instead of her own.

I must be broken. There was no other reason to explain why she felt so apprehensive about going to her own homeworld, why she didn’t feel that pull to visit as her sister often felt.

“We’ll see,” she responded quietly beside him.

His wonder may never heal, that black mark may turn into an eternal scar or it may spread into something more deadly. The door on Alcor hung by its hinges, threatening to break free from the spire. Should that happen, the large carved piece of ice would break through the surface and destroy the stairwell that lead to the city entrance beneath it.

Lost in thoughts about what if’s or worst-case scenarios, Eleonora absently brought her arms up and folded them beneath her chest. Without meaning to, she withdrew into herself a bit and hugged herself for a small amount of comfort.

“About four- maybe five years ago or so. I was a part of a larger group that essentially invaded the Dark Kingdom. We did so under Caedus’ instructions.” She wasn’t sure if Antisana knew who that Velecian was, but it was unimportant. “We were able to retrieve the Code and a handful of starseeds. But that achievement wasn’t without loss.”

“The room my sister and I were in had a massive scorpion youma and as everyone tried to fight it, the floor began to crack beneath our feet. Eventually, damage to the structure became so severe that the stones broke loose and the youma fell through first. Athene and I ran towards the door, but my sister ran the opposite way to save the Guardian Cat that awoke me, Liryn.” Eleonora’s gaze seemed far set into the distance as she recalled memories of that night.

“They barely made it back. Others were not so lucky…”

“In the end, Cosmos saved us. I don’t know how, but she did.” It was the first time she had been to the Moon Kingdom and honestly thought it would have been the last but last November proved otherwise. “I’ve always been under the assumption that the Code’s existence was for Knights like yourself. We’ve never found a piece on Alcor and Athene never mentioned having one on his world either.” It was something that only knights ever talked about.

“It might have answers,” Eleonora turned to look up at him but her expression remained full of doubt. “If Pluto were to die, or cease to exist, then that would impact your wonder.” It would impact him and even though a fair amount of time spanned between their last meeting and now, it would sadden her deeply if he suddenly lost this part of himself. It was his only line of defense against the youma that hunted him.

“When the full moon returns, we can ask.” Assuming they didn’t miss the window of opportunity again.

“I want you to go with me, Antisana. I do-” Her shoulders seemed to sag in defeat. “It’s wise to wait until we know that we’re not the carriers of this dead zone that’s infecting our worlds. But it would be damned foolish of me to take you without knowing what we’d be stepping into.”

Will you wait for me? the question froze in her throat. Would he stand by here and wait for her return if she could somehow find the courage to visit Eleonora. Would he be willing to take care of her if something horrible went wrong, rush her to the hospital if she came back injured? Was it too much to ask him to do such a thing? They’d only met a couple of times.

“Honestly,” Eleonora drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Just being able to share my concerns with you helps more than you realize. I feel like I can trust you more than most.” Which said a lot considering they’d only met once, and even that was more than a couple weeks ago. Perhaps it had something to do with what happened on his wonder, how he had carefully picked her up and carried her to the bed at least where the bed should have been if not for the dark mark that was corrupting his cave.

It was a sweet gesture that she thought on often, especially since if he were anyone else, they would have simply left her well alone until she woke up by herself or worse, probably.

“I also think you’re right about the Code; that it will have at least some kind of answer.” Even if it wasn’t something they wanted to hear. “But that’s something we can worry about later.” She leaned sideways towards him, and bumped her shoulder against his in an almost playful manner.

One of the fireflies floated close to her face and out of natural instinct, Eleonora moved to brush it away with the back of her hand. “Ahh!” Ele let out a startled yelp and rather quickly brought it to her mouth as if she’d suddenly been burned. “Zappy little b*****d.” Her lips pursed as she gave the bug a stare that promised death by her magic if it did that to her again.

“Anyway, I want to show you something.” She looked up, scanning the celestial heavens above them until she found Ursae Major. “So- right there is the Big Dipper” One of the most easily identifiable constellations in the night sky and yet she still pointed up. “The second star on the handle, if you look close enough, you’ll notice two stars instead of one. It’s a binary star system one is named Alcor and the other is Mizar.” Was it wrong that she wished her world was that one instead, rather than feeling like hers was just an inferior version of her twins?

“Alcor itself is a binary system as well. Our scientists have them named Alcor A, which is the one my sister is named after. The other is Alcor B, also known as Eleonora. Sometimes it feels like we are a cosmic irony; both us and our worlds are twins and yet opposites in almost every way.” Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing since it seemed there was sime history or reason behind this. According to the old records on Alcor the two were on amicable terms with one another.

“But I can see it, from here… from her world.” It just didn’t call to her in the way Alcor’s did. Perhaps she had done something wrong, committed an unforgivable sin in her past life and now it didn’t want her back.