It was strangely cold.

Granted she could have argued it was the weather–DC was having an unusually cold Spring, or at least she thought so–but it felt…different. It was a distant sort of cold, and one she could feel coming not from an external source, but from something seated deep within her. Where there was once a warmth she could reach out to, that she could call forth, take hold of, and wield as an extension of herself, for the past several hours since her visit to the Moon that warmth was nowhere to be found.

She had been warned; they all had, that they would be affected should they choose to lend their strength to the Crystal Tower. For Ekstrom it was hardly a choice. For the greater good, to quite literally save the world, it was a small price to pay. But even knowing that it would happen, she wasn’t quite prepared for it.

For all her recent struggles beyond just the storm and what was to follow–her acceptance of what honestly felt like being used by the Code, the entity that she had so far trusted wholeheartedly to guide her through her Knighthood, learning of her ancestor and what was potentially waiting for her somewhere in her Wonder, and the absolutely monumental task of endeavoring to repair and restore as much of her Wonder as possible–she found herself unsettled now that she had no access to her magic.

For all her fight training and knowledge of the city’s magical workings, she felt acutely helpless, unable to fend for herself all the while knowing what all was out there and possibly waiting for her. Or worse, her loved ones. A youma could threaten the people closest to her while she was in this state–and she had no idea how long it would take for her to get her magic back–and she wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.

Or at least, nothing effective, as far as she could tell.

Still, as she drifted through the day Mel couldn’t help but wonder if this might have been her life had she never awakened. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and she was just one of the fortunate ones–surrounded by family and friends, was in school studying in her field of choice, and had a job in said field that she already loved. Not to mention her family was well-off, meaning she was well provided for and living very comfortably despite being alone in a big city.

Would she have just coasted through her life like this, had she never been chosen?

And would it have been a bad thing if she had?

She had virtually nothing to complain about in her life, and whatever she did have complaints about she did her best to take in stride. At the end of the day, she always knew to acknowledge how lucky she was to have what she had.

The problem was that she had awakened.

She knew the warmth of her magic, the strength she was given, and the duty she was entrusted with. Ultimately it boiled down to wanting to do something good with what she was given, and she had taken that to heart and buried it deep, deep inside of herself. Whatever hypotheticals she was facing now that she was given a glimpse of what her life could have been…it was still just exactly that to her–hypotheticals.

Mel took comfort in knowing she would get her magic back. There was a proverbial light at the end of this particular tunnel.

And that kept her spirits buoyed for the remainder of her school and work day. Occasionally she would stop to try and see if she could feel that warmth again, and slowly but surely throughout the day she could feel it already starting to come back. Barely a whisper of it at first, but by the time she made it home it was almost completely back.

That familiar warmth she’d come to know and love…and, really, almost rely on, if she were being honest. The thought surprised her even as she focused on what bit of her magic she could reach as she started a yoga session at home to unwind from her day. How attached was she to her identity as a knight that she suddenly had the feeling that she relied on that part of her life?

Mel turned the thought over in her mind for only a few minutes before she suddenly felt it.

The tug to go home. The excitement at the sheer prospect of it, and the slightest bit of homesickness that came alongside that excitement.

Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath before considering her options.

Sort of.

Okay, not really.

With her magic back, there was really only one option, and she doubted she would ever hesitate to take it as long as she was able to.

820 (gdocs)
Backdated to 3/29/25.