Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reed finally jolted awake at the sound of the doorbell, it’s abrupt and punchy gonging finally reaching him at the top of the stairs, rousing from within the crowded space his room had become since going through the task of merging and un-merging households. All the changes he’d had to make after Sonia had left a literal space in his home — in his life. As all the team had grown; Actaea and Mizuki gaining ever more independence. Especially with Actaea seemingly seeking to actively live as far away as was possible, within reason, which was fine considering she suffered far less memory loss than Zuzu and Hylonome.

Everyone had grown so much—-

And yet, still? Sometimes people did forget their keys, or that there was a spare hidden in a very realistic looking bit of decorative mushroom themed pottery.

They were all human after all—

And if it was a solicitor? He had a sign worth pointing to. Of course it could’ve been a delivery, the more the thought about it—

It was with great muzziness and effort that he peeled a laminated rubric from where it’d become stuck to his sleeping cheek; it’s contents waiting to be filled in by a fresh from the pack sharpie and copied. He was prudently prepping for when the vast majority of students returned from spring break. Save of course those that were already housed in the ‘not barracks’ boarding portion of St. Romanos prestigious halls.

His trip downstairs was lazy, his limbs stiff, he groaned as things popped that hadn’t used to. Lamenting having blown off the gym or anything remotely like it within a hundred miles for so much of his life. All the ways his sins would haunt his yawning form in some distant future— things to ignore as he checked the silver-leaf framed peep-hole, and saw a so familiar as to be confusing at first sight waiting at his front door.

The boys name almost escaped him. It was Sonia’s little brother, for sure, but the name? And he surreptitiously checked his phone so he wouldn’t look like someone who was both callous and a fool— the way he had them all down within his contacts connected to the one source; as if Sonia was the head of the household in his phone, and everyone else a secondary note.

Anton, Anton, Anton— gods he must’ve been tired to be forgetting *that* so easily. Maybe it was that he’d promised Sonia he’d keep the boy at arms length from their side hustle of a secondary income source? That endless graveyard shift done in service of a greater calling. It was one of the many serious requests she’d made of him, one of the few that he’d bothered respecting whole-heartedly.

What could he possibly be here for?

He had no sense of it, no churning gut feelings to tip him off one way or another as he finally opened the door; greeting the young man somewhat apologetically for how long it’d taken him to get there.

It was, afterall, one of the few mandatory breaks from work he’d gotten all year.

“Anton? It’s—well, it’s always a pleasure, but it’s also a bit of a surprise?” his mouth neutrally thin, caught between a frown and a smile as he opened the door more fully. Not yet sure if he should politely invite the other man in or gather more intel first. It almost felt awkward, especially without Sonia there to guide him like his personal Sherpa through typical social interactions.

“Is there something I can help you with?” there, that felt close enough to right. If Anton was here then he must’ve needed something, surely? Even if it was something simple.

Unless something had happened—-

He couldn’t’ve begun to parse it, the guilty look that crept Anton’s features, however briefly. The way Sonia’s brother looked through him, beyond the space of his shoulder with something like a flare of hope in his eyes. There was a moment even, between still-shots of seconds, where Reed wondered if this was the point he was supposed to invite the young man in? If he was breaking the most foundational of social etiquette and being hopelessly rude by not ushering Anton into a chair and shoving a beverage into his hands immediately….

And then he was parsing the actual words—

And then? Through blinking fawnishness, a dumbfounded series of blinks, all sorts of realization dawned.

That Anton had been looking for his sister, not for hours, or minutes, but days — more than three? More than five? He shook that idea off, the two were close, it couldn’t have been too long, could it?!

“Not recently,” and he let the guilt crawl like small sinful worms across his mind, feeling himself swallow the worry that feeling dredged up — Because Anton didn’t know -- couldn’t know — that he and his sister had hobbies far more dangerous than ‘fencing’. Played cloak and dagger with a life lived doubly.

Anton had all the reason in the world to worry—

He didn’t. Shouldn’t.

Not surfacely at least, and so he choked that down and opened his door the rest of the way like the inviting and polite part of society he was supposed to be.

“But that’s mostly my fault, between work at the school — even more work at home — I can try her though?” Could, was, fumbled his pockets and sighed some rough relief for finding the infuriating device. Checking, just to make sure he’d not missed anything — an email — a text — a sign that he should power up long enough to check his nega-tablet for her instead. “I’m sure she’s fine, maybe she’s taking some well deserved ‘her’ time,” and the words felt bird-bone hollow and full of lies even as he said them, such easily broken things. The mere idea of Sonia taking time off from anything — of taking personal days to have a little TLC — and oh, he remembered how she had fought him on it even with a broken arm! How it’s been like penning in a bear. And it was one thing if she avoided him, yes, but her family? To be suddenly gone without telling them even a white lie?

That rung strangest of all—

And his text was a general one, a soft check in, a message so perfunctory and bland it could’ve been pre-written by ai— And then he was calling her immediately on the tail end of sending that out. Keeping it off of speaker for the sake of her privacy.

Better to be safe than sorry—-

Better to let the first unanswered ring go unheard — and the next — and —-

Damn, but Anton truly would make an invaluable agent.

Not the first time he’d had a thought that so roughly eschewed the singular promise he’d made Sonia upon meeting her, and not likely to be the last. For it was in his nature to acknowledge the passionate drive that existed in the man taking up his periphery. The caged tiger-like drive Anton exududed, how that reminded Reed so very much of Sonia herself. A fervent family of duelists and warriors. The power of familial binds and all the ways that could translate over a battlefield—

How interesting would it be if Anton could hold on the battlefield the swords his sister could only mimic with magic? What powerful dynamic would such a bond invoke? He hummed some sour note and snapped the phone away, rubbing at the back of his neck while musing that Sonia must be alive somewhere, surely. Especially if he could so easily feel her fictive glare burning holes in the back of his skull. He could almost hear her now—

‘No te atrevas!’

Along with a slew of curses would be sure to follow while threatening every green thing he held far more dear and close than his own actual life.

And now he was missing her too, far differently than Anton, for he could hear it. Feel it. The distinct lack of her presence — the memory of late night conversations — fiery arguments — the necessity that he learn to pick apart some of her milk-tongue lest he look like an absolute ‘gringo’ in front of her parents. Reed found himself grinding his teeth softly as he chewed over what it all could mean, biting back the near reflexive utterance of ‘no’ at the mention of police intervention. Not that they wouldn’t be helpful if it came down to the wire of it? But to run Anton through the stress of putting his sister's visage on printouts that would end up slathered across any number of convenience stores and digital notice boards.

It felt better to avoid that course of action for as long as possible. The same way it felt like an absolute failure on his part to have not checked in on Sonia more regularly. The facade of silence meaning ‘all is well’ rather than being a sign of ‘danger’ he should’ve well come to recognize at this point.

Don’t I know her better than this?

And yet he’d not even bothered to recently summon her and—

And….

The tragedy of being unable to actually tell Anton that he need not tear himself apart at the seams over a situation that could, theoretically, have such an easy remedy.

Oh, when I do find her I’m going to rub this in.

Because she deserved a bit of soreness over this, didn’t she? A bit of well seasoned guilt for making him feel guilty! No, for making them all *worry* needlessly.

And it had better be *needlessly* that I’m worrying over all this…

“But I was— and it is…” briefly terse, his features pinched in thought. There had to be a reason for the absence — a logic in sending him to voicemail — for keeping the phone on at all?

“Let’s put a pin in sicking DC’s least brilliant brigade on this just yet…Their track record for finding missing people is.. ah — well — I don’t plan on putting your sister on a milk carton until we’ve exhausted all other options first, yes?” and Reed felt Anton’s barely-leashed energy like some tangible thing, that youthful wash of unfocused frustration seeking an outlet.

Any outlet at all.

“You said you went *by* her place, the studio, but did you go in? Did they seem abandoned? What about the students—her employer? Surely if she was missing work without notice…” a soft focal point of quisative sound, speaking his wandering thoughts aloud for Anton’s sake more than his own. Seeking with his gaze some affirmation or denial from the boy, hoping to catch him mid spiral. “Let me tell you? A’ no call no show’ at the School is the fastest path to a wellness check. You would’ve had the cops calling *you*.”

He said the words with confidence, shoulders pressed across the oaken planes of his simple front door, trying to project self-assurance in part to reassure himself that Sonia was *fine*. As if he could speak such things into reality by shooting down all other possibilities verbally. As if anything could ever be that easy.

His facade of confidence crumpled with the stark realization that he was missing vital pieces of information; like a house of wet leaves mushing beneath the slightest weight. There was a spark of anger he so badly wanted to feel for being left entirely out of the loop — a sputtering ember that died in the face of the sopping, sad, self-pitiable reality of the situation.

A hard truth to swallow.

That maybe he wasn’t as much a friend as he’d believed himself to be? As even Anton had believed him to be. That all the progress he’d thought they’d made with each other — bridges of closeness burned and rebuilt over time — embers of trust he’d tried to keep kindled after botching things with her so often, time and again — and yet? Here, still, there would always be one more piece of herself he didn’t deserve to know. That he somehow hadn’t earned. That she must have believed she was sparing him from — or maybe she was only sparing herself?

And it shouldn’t have twinged his heart the way it did. Not when he knew exactly how terribly he handled deaths of any kind; people, pets, loved ones and strangers alike. He often thought himself the last person on Earth anyone should go to for the kind of solace and comfort Sonia likely needed right now.

He had, after all, never claimed to be good with people, or feelings, or any number of human-centric needs.

And yet it still hurt that she hadn’t — Why? Why does it hurt so much that she didn’t tell me!

Not that it mattered now. His clamoring queries, the frown that pulled his features right. No. He could be upset about being some internally gauged measure of ‘unworthy’ later, he could b***h about it to non-sentient entities in the privacy of the as of yet unfinished walls of the Solarium.

Somewhere neither Anton nor Sonia could see….

After.

“I….“ Swallowing as his posture firmed and he straightened his frown into something less severe. “No. No, I didn’t realize. I’m sorry for your loss….” His surprise to find he meant it, more for Sonia than Anton, and of course her little brother had been a former fencer, it explained so much. Made it even more clear to him why she wanted the boy kept clear of any of her night-shift activities. He would’ve been almost too perfect under Metallias heel; disciplined, driven, already partially trained.

He’d even done most of the legwork for them, knocked tabs off the list of places they would’ve otherwise needed to check.

“I do, however? Know where there might be a spare key for the dojo…it’s rather well hidden…she mentioned it once. Ah— when I had to help her clean up a rather nasty graffiti incident.” And the best lies were woven together with threads of truth. If there was no hidden key? If he planned to beat Anton there by breaking his own strict rules about powering up in shared spaces this one time, rather than simply meet him. We’ll…what Anton didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him— “In fact? If you could meet me over there? I’m sure it’d be best if we checked it together..I simply need to grab some things and lock up first.” He said with promise in his voice, with a sad sounding hope, urging Anton to continue to take the lead as he had been.

Hoping the youth would take the bait and go —