Welcome to Gaia! ::

Set immediately following this rp.

Mason hummed as he and Madeline pattered around Halia’s apartment, mostly doing nothing but also helping Halia get actually ready to take them to Aruna. As in, space. As in, take them off planet Earth. Mason knew that technically Blarney was ‘not on Earth’, because it was in its own little pocket bubble, but this was–fully actually off Earth. On a whole different, like, quadrant of space. Madeline was taking it remarkably well; Mason had had many more questions than she did when Halia first explained to him she could do this thing.

“How long are we going to be staying?” Madeline asked. “Should we swing by our place and pick up overnight clothes?”

Mason nodded, glancing back to Halia. “When I went back to Blarney, Mads packed me up with like, a whole boatload of stuff. I went camping!” He added with a bright smile. “Are we gonna go off-planet camping?”

Halia tilted her head thoughtfully. “....would you want to?” She chewed her lip lightly. “Aruna is….. do you both know what a Necropolis is?” Her cheeks colored and she fidgeted anxiously. A Necropolis might not be the funnest place to camp, but the planet did have its charm, she had found.

Madeline perked right up. “Well, it’s easy enough to determine from the word’s etymology, isn’t it?” Madeline asked, her ‘isn’t it obvious’ expression faltering when she looked to Mason, who looked absolutely clueless. “...Er. What I mean is - yes, it’s a city of the dead. An elaborate cemetary.”

Mason paled slightly. “...You have zombies on your planet?” He knew there was no life at Blarney, but where exactly did the undead fall under the rules of magic? For all he knew, it was 100% possible, and suddenly he knew there was something worse than regular zombies.

Space zombies.

Normally, Halia would be horrified. But somehow, the idea of “space zombies” cracked her up. Laughing hard, she waved her hands in dismissal. “No! They're not animated! There's just a lot of graves, that's all. Aruna was a burial ground for people of all walks of life, from all places. Everyone laid to rest there was equal, and given proper rites according to their customs and cultures. Aurelia, the previous Sailor Aruna, was sort of an Overseer, for lack of better explanation. She didn't do any of the embalming or any of that, but she performed and oversaw final rites and tended to the gardens within the Necropolis. Sort of like a head priestess.”

Some of the color returned to Mason’s face. “Oh. Like in Egypt. The pyramids. Except for everywhere. That’s…” he glanced at Madeline, who nodded, a little smile on her face.

“That’s very sweet,” Madeline finished for them both. “Was it just–for anyone who happened to die while on the planet, or was it like…” she paused, considering her words. The phrase ‘dumping ground’ came to mind, because she watched too many true crime shows, but she somehow didn’t think Halia would appreciate the moniker. “For people who didn’t want to or couldn’t, for whatever reason, bury their dead on their own planets?”

“The latter. The people of Aruna itself obviously were entombed there, but all sorts of others were there too.” She smiled softly as she spoke, having grown surprisingly fond of her little planet over time. “But I could see why that could be off-putting in regards to camping out, so I won't be offended if you'd rather not. There are, however, places that don't have graves within Aruna. Like Aurelia's inner chambers. It's completely up to both of you if you'd like to camp out.”

“I don’t care for space rain,” Madeline said with a playful toss of her hair. “But if there’s an inside option, I don’t mind an space sleepover,” she added with a grin, and Mason nodded eagerly beside her.

“Aren’t they your chambers now?” Mason asked, tilting his head slightly. “Maybe we can help you decorate. Put up some posters for your favorite bands or something?” Politely, he did not mention that her current, Earth-bound apartment was lacking in many of those kinds of touches. “As long as there’s like, a place to go to the bathroom without peeing on someone’s grave, I don’t see why we couldn’t stay a little while.”

…If there weren’t space zombies yet, peeing on the graves would definitely trigger some into existence, Mason was pretty sure.

“Was the whole–society built around caring for the dead?” Madeline asked, deeply curious. “What gods did they worship? Did they have their own language? I mean of course they did, they didn’t speak English, but–if, you said her name was Aurelia, if she was performing rites for all sorts of places, nationalities, that sort of thing, she must have had a wealth of interplanetary knowledge.” Madeline’s eyes were positively sparkling at the idea. “Have you found a library?”

Mason, for his part, stage-whispered: “She loves a library. She’d camp out at the one here in Destiny City if they let her, I think.” He flashed Halia a grin, even as Madeline elbowed him in the ribs.

“I'm still learning a lot of that myself, actually. It's different for knights, but for Senshi, when we visit our planet, we can experience memories of our past self. I'm learning through what I see from Aurelia, mostly. From what I can tell though, Aurelia herself wasn't necessarily religious, nor were her people. They held deep respect for the Galaxy Cauldron, where Starseeds go when we die to be reborn into new senshi and knights, but they were welcoming and accepting of all walks of life.”

A brilliant smile graced Halia's face and she nodded. “I found it recently, actually. A library I mean. Beneath Aurelia's chambers, so it made me think it wasn't exactly public to the rest of the people. I can't read any of it yet, but there seems to be countless scrolls and books in there. I could definitely show you.”

Talking with the twins about her planet felt almost comforting, she realized. Murikabushi had been excited beyond belief when she took him there for the first time, though she had been terrified. Rowan had had a thirst for knowledge and was eager to help her clean and organized things, but she had still been apprehensive about the Necropolis at that time. Now that she embraced it, bodies and all, it was exciting to share it with people.

“A friend of mine said I’m supposed to have a ghost or past-life memories,” Mason put in, with a shrug. “So far I have neither,” he added, at Madeline’s sharply-raised eyebrows. “But I also don’t have a chamber, or dead bodies in any state of animation at all, or a library, so…maybe someday!”

“We can only hope,” Madeline answered, exchanging a bemused smile with Halia. “So what I’m hearing is that yes, we should head home and pack a bag or three. At least for the sake of snacks?”

“You can see our house,” Mason said, belatedly excited at this realization. He had never brought Halia (or anyone, actually) over. While it wasn’t a planet or an asteroid, or even his empty-field-that-would-be-a-castle-someday-maybe, it had been–for many years–his and his sister’s entire world, essentially, and he was suddenly both thrilled and very shy at the concept of someone outside his family seeing it. “Right, Mads?” Mason asked, looking over at his sister. “She doesn’t have to like, wait in the car or something.”

“Of course she can come in,” Madeline said with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she added, as if she herself wouldn’t have been hissing up a storm over the concept just earlier that day, before she knew why Halia mattered to Mason. “It’ll just be a quick stop, though. Just long enough to pack our bags and get some food. How long do you think we’ll be staying, really, Halia? Also, is there running water anywhere that’s safe to drink, or at least bathe in, if necessary?”

“I mean, I've got tomorrow off so we could probably stay overnight if you want? I've….worked on bringing blankets and stuff there too, so that's covered as well. I can also pack snacks from here too….probably.” She peered over towards the kitchen, frowning. When was the last time she went shopping anyway?

“But….going to get a change of clothes for you two probably wouldn't be awful. Madeline, you could probably fit into some of mine absolutely worst case but…” She glanced at Mason who stood nearly a foot taller than her. None of her anything would be any help for him. “Let's go then.”

Madeline always believed in being prepared, and usually that just covered going to the grocery store, so she thought she was being very reasonable with the amount of things she was bringing to an entire new planet.

Yes. Three oversized backpacks (one for herself, Mason, and a spare that she begged/voluntold Halia to lug for them), a duffle bag, and two oversized beach-bags. Very reasonable for space travel.

Mason, for his part, just took whatever Madeline handed him. He felt very shy, having Halia in his house (in his house!), and it was making him nervous, fidgety. And Madeline was taking forever.

He glanced around, looking with Halia's newcomer eyes at the living room/staging area for Madeline's packing. The walls and tables were covered with pictures of the twins throughout the years - conspicuously absent any adult-type people who could be parental figures. The fridge was covered with notes - either reminders for both of them, or notes for Mason from Madeline, or important upcoming dates or appointments. The kitchen was pristine; in fact, most of the house was surprisingly clean and organized, for the house being populated by, clearly, two teenagers entirely on their own.

“...do you want some water?” Mason asked, after hearing a thud from somewhere upstairs - heaven only knew what else there even was to bring, but nobody would ever accuse Madeline of underpacking. “Or a snack?”

Halia blinked at all of the things Madeline handed her but let the girl do as she pleased, setting the bags at her feet for now. She didn't wander, but her eyes did take in the environment, and the lack of parental presence was definitely noted. It was not, however, her place to judge. God only knew she herself didn't have the best upbringing.

Turning to give him a small smile, she shook her head, then winced at the thud. “No, thank you though. Um….she knows it's just overnight and I've already brought a decent amount of stuff there, right? It isn't like we're all moving in….” Lowering her voice further, she spoke quietly to him. “I'm….sorry for not discussing it with you before telling her who I am. Or before extending an invitation to space to your sister. I should have asked first.”

“What? Hali, no. You don’t have to apologize for any of that stuff. It’s your identity, and your–you know, your entire planet. It’s your choice, I don’t care who or when you tell. I’m just glad you’re including her,” Mason shrugged. “She doesn’t–she’s really cool and fun. She just…gets in her own way, a lot, and…” he gestured at the pile of stuff, “this isn’t the best look for her, she’s just…she doesn’t have a lot of practice at being friends. And in her defense, we’ve never been to space before, so she’s overpacking out of anxiety,” he added with a chuckle. As he finished, a door slammed somewhere upstairs and Madison returned downstairs, breathless but smiling.

“Okay. Here’s a sentence I never ever thought I’d say: I’m ready to go to space!” Madeline laughed and then her eyes fell on the pile of stuff. Even she seemed surprised by the size of it. She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “...That’s a lot of stuff.” Mason joined her at the pile and through mostly silent communication, peppered with half-started sentences spoken aloud, the two pared the pile down into something slightly more reasonable, and certainly more carryable.

“Alright,” Mason said, sliding his backpack on and hefting his assigned duffle. “Where do we go to go to freakin space?” Mason asked, a big grin on his face. “Let’s goooo!”

Halia smiled softly as Mason spoke, bumping against him lightly. “I more was apologizing because I should have talked to you first regarding the whole space thing. I don't usually blindside people, or at least I try not to.” She shook her head again, still smiling. “I don't see anything wrong with how excited she is. I think it's sweet, honestly. It…..makes me happy that she's this excited to see Aruna.” She felt a tug at her heart, knowing full well how it felt to be bad at making friends. “It makes me wish I would have tried harder back when I was in school, that maybe I could have gotten to know both of you outside of just in passing. Making friends was…..never my strong suit either. It still isn't. But…..magical stuff makes it easier, in a weird way. It gives this weird common ground to start at.”

As Madeline came back down, Halia eyed the massive pile. “I hate to say it, but I don't think we can take all of this. Pick what you can carry, okay? I…. we'll wanna walk a bit away before I power up. Energy signatures can be felt and traced, especially Eternal auras. It would be like a giant beacon potentially putting a target on your house. It's why I never transform in my apartment.” She gave Mason a subtle look, referencing when he had come over to tell her about Blarney.

Picking up a few bags, she shouldered them and headed towards the door. “I think I spotted a suitable place not too far away that should be safe.”

Mason nodded obediently, watching Mads fuss over the last bit of decision-making, regarding the bags. Finally, they were all set and ready to go, the twins falling into line with Halia.

“How are they traced? Can we do that?” Mason asked. “I know the–you can like, tell,” he said, gesturing vaguely at his stomach-area, where he ‘felt’ his radar most keenly. Madison raised an eyebrow at him, and he continued, “when someone’s coming, or if they’re good or bad, but if you can track it, how does anyone have a secret identity at all around here?”

Madeline shook her head. “Presumably you don’t give off the radar thing when you’re like this. All someone would have to do is duck into a McDonald’s or a Macy’s and change back and you’d lose them in a second. Right, Halia?” Madeline looked back at the other girl, giving her a big, good-girl smile that clearly said look at me, I’ve been paying attention.

“Look who knows all the things,” Mason muttered, rolling his eyes goodnaturedly at his sister. “Someone’s an expert all of a sudden–” he laughed when she elbowed him hard enough to almost send him stumbling off the sidewalk.

“That’s correct. You don't give off a power signature as a civilian. As for tracking, it's the same way you and I can feel a youma or chaos. And the stronger the person or monster, the stronger that feeling is. So if you were on one end of the city and I was on the other, powered up, they'd feel me a lot more easily than they would feel you.”

Halia laughed softly and affectionately ruffled his hair. It was strange how comfortable and at ease she found herself with Mason, how she gravitated naturally towards him. Something stirred in the back of her mind, but she squashed it down quickly. This was neither the time nor the place. As they made their way into a covering of trees, Halia set the bags down and pulled a pen out from her pocket. It looked by all means to be ordinary, but she held it out to the twins to see.

“This is a Henshin Pen. Knights don't need them to transform, but senshi do. Think of it like….a disguised magic wand.” Taking a step back, she closed her eyes. “Aruna Eternal, Make Up!” A familiar all encompassing warmth surrounded her as the magic took hold, transforming her into Eternal Sailor Aruna. When she opened her eyes again, she grinned at the twins.

Identical stunned faces stared back at Aruna. When Mason transformed into Blarney, there was nothing more than a gust of wind and a few scattered-up leaves before there was Blarney where Mason had been. But Aruna? That was a whole–a whole thing.

“Woah,” said the twins in unison, looking slowly from Halia–Aruna–to each other, and then back to Halia.

“That was–” Mason started.

“--beautiful,” Madeline finished, breathlessly. There was something wishful about her face, something yearning in her eyes, but Mason had the good sense to pretend he didn’t see it. “Ha–Aruna,” she said, catching herself quickly, “thank you for letting us see that. That was incredible, really.”

Mason glanced at his sister; he could tell that if she had believed him about magic existing before, she believed in magic itself now, with all the ferocity of a little girl who was just told that unicorns were, in fact, real, and walking among us.

Mason nudged his sister lightly. “And she’s taking us to space. Isn’t all of this just–”

“It’s too much,” she said, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “It’s just–it’s just too much.” Madeline cast her eyes to the sky, scanning it. “Will the sky look different? On Aruna?”

The looks on their faces made Aruna's heart sing. It made her feel so much more than she usually thought of herself, made her feel like she was somebody. Smiling warmly at them, cheeks flushed slightly, she nodded. “A little probably. Most of Aruna is underground. The planet itself is….well really it's an asteroid and it's small. I think it may have once been something much larger, but they worked with what they had left.”

Grabbing the bags, she lifted them as if they were nothing and tucked them into her subspace, seemingly making them vanish. “Senshi and Knights have access to….sort of a pocket dimension? We call it ‘sub space’. It's quite handy, especially for things like this.” She gestured at them to hand over the various items they'd brought, and she quickly tucked them into her subspace as well before pulling her Senshi phone out.

Holding her hands out to both of them, she gave the twins a small grin. “Ready to go?”

“See, I told you I had a secret invisible magic plane for extra storage!” Mason crowed victoriously as Madeline stared, agog. “But I don’t think mine is that–big,” he added, raising his eyebrows at the space that it seemed Aruna had carved open. “Anyway,” he said, nudging his sister to bring her back to herself; he was glad she was finally appearing as stunned and baffled as he had been that first night. “Let’s go to space,”

“Space,” Madeline whispered as she took Mason’s hand, then Aruna’s, though she took the senshi’s hand more gingerly, like she was afraid it was too fragile to touch. “We’re…we’re for real going to an asteroid. Hoooolyyyyy–”

Aruna laughed softly, pressing a button on her phone as she took their hands, and then let the magic carry them. When they stopped, they found themselves in a room made of some sort of stone with high vaulted ceilings and almost gothic architecture. Little crystals glowed along the walls like dim sconces, and veins of the glowing crystals could be seen within the masonry of the room itself. Letting go of their hands, Aruna swept her arm out to gesture at the receiving chamber. “Welcome to Aruna. Or at least to the receptionist desk of sorts.”

Reaching into her subspace, she grabbed a lighter and began lighting the lanterns within the chamber to illuminate it more. The veins of crystal in the stone shimmered beautifully in the flickering light, and she picked up a lantern nearby before turning back to the twins. “Let's go set up camp, and then we can explore all you want. Sound good?”

Mason felt some sort of something, his eyes first falling on his sister, and the gobsmacked look on her face. Finally - he wasn’t the one who was at capacity for magical, beautiful, impossible things.

And then he followed her gaze, and his features softened to shock as well, then amazement, and finally wonder. Whatever he’d been expecting, it hadn’t been–this. It looked so…

Mason reached out and touched the nearest wall, fingers brushing across the stone like it was something holy. It was so…solid. It was so real. Blarney was barely more than a field, and this was a whole–

“Wow,” Mason said lamely. Madeline had moved to the nearest crystal vein and was brushing her fingers over it, watching the sparkle beneath her fingers.

“What?” Madeline said, turning with difficulty to look at Halia. “Camp? What?”

“C’mon, Mads,” Mason said, catching his sister’s hand to gently tug her along. “We’re going to get set up, and then you can look at all the sparkly things you want.” For once, Madeline didn’t argue with him, just let him lead her in Halia’s path, following where she took them.

“This place is…incredible, Aruna,” Mason said, voice barely above a whisper. “It’s beautiful.”

The way Mason looked at everything made Aruna's heart stop for just a moment, and then start pounding. Her cheeks colored and she looked away. “I'm…..glad you like it. The first time I came here, I was terrified. I came with Murikabushi and he was so excited and all I could feel was fear and sadness. Now though…..now there's life here. Flowers have started growing…”

She smiled softly and led the way through the halls of the Necropolis, pushing open a large, ornate door at the end to reveal a room draped with sheer and shimmering fabrics. Pillows and blankets and cushions filled the room, giving it a cozy feeling. “Make yourselves comfortable.” She carefully removed everything from her subspace, setting it inside the door before powering down, becoming just plain Halia again.

Where Madeline was thunderstruck, Mason was more than a little jealous. This was a whole–a whole thing, with walls and doors and flowers and a bed and pillows. Would Blarney ever look this cool? He hoped so.

He helped Madeline unpack their bags - they had, of course, brought way too much stuff, but Madeline firmly followed the ‘better too much than too little’ methodology, so they dealt as best they could.

“Can we see the library later?” Madeline asked, after having assembled her sleeping bag into an absolute nest of pillows.

“I wanna see the flowers,” Mason said, not really all that interested in alien books he couldn't even read. “Don't you want to see space flowers?”

“...Flowers too,” Madeline amended with a grin, looking back at Halia. “Is the outside air safe to breathe?”

It warmed Halia's heart to see the awe on their faces. She helped them set everything up as best she could, pausing here and there to move things around or dust something off. Aurelia's chambers were a work in progress for her, making them into something of her own while still respecting the past

“We can definitely see the library and flowers both. Though there are flowers not too far from here if you'd like to see them first?” The question about the air made Halia pause and frown. “I….assume it's safe? We're all doing just fine right now aren't we?” She hadn't thought about it before, really. “I….assume the magic makes it safe?” She shrugged, deciding to ask Murikabushi later perhaps if he knew why it worked that way.

Grabbing a flashlight, she nodded back towards the door. “I'm eager to see if there's anything new since last time. You're both welcome to come if you'd like?” She left the invitation open ended to either of them, completely understanding if either or both would rather stay out as they wrapped their minds around it all.

“Flowers,” Mason said excitedly, helping his sister to her feet so they could both hurry after her.

“I was wondering if perhaps the chamber is sealed or protected in some way, or if there's some sort of purification system or…” Madeline trailed off, glancing from Mason to Halia to the door and back again.

“Have you been outside before? When you weren't…” Madeline made a gesture with her hand, indicating Halia's powered side. “Because if it's magic…I'm not magic. I'm not like you two. I don't want to suffocate and then freeze to death in less than a second.”

Halia shook her head, pausing to let them catch up. “It's alright. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise.” She gently squeezed Madeline's shoulder, wanting to reassure her. “It'll be alright.”

With a final reassuring smile, Halia turned and led the way back through the halls, pausing here and there to get her bearings every so often. Finally, they made their way down what felt like an endless set of stairs, deep beneath the surface, and emerged in a cavern full of bioluminescence. Glowing crystals adorned the walls and ground, and two different species of bioluminescent flowers seemed to grow among other foliage. One resembled almost a crystalline version of a cosmos flower, and another was a bell like flower, similar to a lily of the valley but with larger bells. Something new caught Halia's eye, however, and she gasped softly. Flitting among the flowers and crystals were glowing moths that would easily fit in the palm of her hand.

“Oh….”

She stepped forward, holding her hands out cupped in front of her as one flitted towards her and landed gently in her palms. “These are new…..” Her voice was soft, filled with a quiet awe as she marvelled at the little moth. Aruna was truly coming alive for her.

Madeline didn't really see how she would prevent physics from occurring, but–well, she was om an asteroid, and that had seemed impossible a few hours ago, so what did she know. As she followed Halia, she realized with something like relief that they were not in fact going into the outside air - instead they seemed to be going deeper into the asteroid itself, until they came to–

“Oh,” Madeline breathed, eyes going wide as golf balls. She drifted away from Mason and reached out toward the nearest clump of flowers, almost afraid to touch them, and started when a glowing moth flitted up and away, fluttering a lazy circle around Madeline's head before it beat its little impossible wings over to Mason and landed in his hair.

“Mase…” Madeline breathed, as another and another little moth joined their mothy brothers, until he was wearing almost a crown of the things, glowing faintly amid his dark wavy hair. Mason held very, very still, equal parts petrified (what if they had teeth!!!) and deeply honored–flattered somehow. Chosen.

“Hali?” Mason whispered, barely moving his lips. He didn't want to spook them. “What should I do?”

Watching with wide eyes, Halia couldn't help the giggle that left her. The moth in her hands crawled its way up to perch on her shoulder and she made her way over to Mason. Reaching up, she gently coaxed one of the moths from his hair into her hands and held it out for him with a warm smile. “They won't hurt you. They're just little moths.” There was unmistakable affection in the way she looked at him, though neither she nor him had the emotional intelligence to recognize it for themselves.

Cautiously, Mason took the moth from her, still very aware of the gently beating wings nestling into his hair. He looked closer at the one in his hands, absolutely bewitched by the thing - for the first time, maybe even moreso than when he'd met Arcalis, it struck him that this was real, honest to goodness alien life that he was holding in his very own hands.

“NASA is so jealous of us right now,” Mason whispered with a wet little laugh. He almost wanted to cry.

“Imagine the caterpillars and chrysalises these guys must come from,” Madeline agreed. She'd never cared much for bugs, but for these creatures, she could make an exception. She turned her attention back to the flowers, kneeling down to smell them - they were unlike anything she could place from home.

A new smell. How miraculous was that?

Gently, she brushed her fingers along the petals of the nearest flower. “I wonder how these grow,” Madeline murmured. “We're fully underground. No sunlight…I wonder what they use instead…”

“My best guess is the crystals. They're bioluminescent, so they provide at least some sort of light.” She couldn't quite take her eyes off of Mason as she answered Madeline. “That's my running theory. There's also just the idea of them not working like plants on earth.” Her voice was soft but easily heard in the quiet of the cavern.

“No one else has seen any of this. The….the life here, I mean. The first time, I came here with Murikabushi and it was all dead. The second time, I came with Faustite, and we didn't leave the receiving chambers. The third time, I came with Tempesti and while there were signs that life was happening, it was…..nothing like this.” She thought nothing of mentioning the General King, far too wrapped up in the moment to think better of it.

Madeline was just starting to become aware of the energy radiating off the two of them - or at least off Halia, when she couldn't even be bothered to look at Madeline when she answered her question - when the mood abruptly shifted. Mason flinching so hard the moths fluttered off his head and back to their usual perches.

“You brought Faustite? Here?” Mason gaped at her. “When?”

Madeline opened her mouth to ask a series of questions, but Mason held out a hand to her - wait. With a sigh, Madeline realized she wouldn't understand any answers they gave anyway, and moved on to look at the other breed of flowers, equally beautiful and mystifying. Maybe she could rent a microscope from the college and convince Halia to let her back up her sometime with it…

Oh. s**t. Halia flinched back, the moths taking flight from her as well. She at least had the sense to look guilty, glancing at Madeline and hoping she would understand that she would explain it all later. Looking back at Mason, she sighed. “I told you about the Calamitous Hollow right? And how….how we ended up having to work with Chaos somewhat? Interests aligned and all that….” She picked anxiously at her nails, chewing on her lip. “I…..brokered a deal. Of sorts. General King Faustite and myself agreed to share information regarding any findings that might aid in the fight against the Hollow. And…..in a show of good faith, I brought him here to talk it over. I trusted him not to hurt my planet, and he trusted me not to strand his flaming self here. It….didn't go much beyond that, but……please. Please don't tell anyone.” She knew at least that her cousins would be disappointed in her. “I just….I wanted to do whatever it took to save Earth from that thing. And if that meant a partnership with a General King, then so be it.”

“‘Had to work with Chaos somewhat’ does not equate to bringing the scariest guy they have to your special holy eternal asteroid by yourself, Halia.” Mason stared at her, stunned more than anything by the hypocrisy. “You–you give me so much grief about not being careful, not getting too chummy with those guys, and you brought Faustite. Here. By yourself.” Mason turned and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breath as he paced a few steps away.

“You could have died,” he finally said, looking back at her. “And we would have never found you. He could have crushed your starseed like a bug and there would never have been ever any way to get here to find your body.” Mason set his mouth in a thin line, hard. “Isn’t that what you told me? That the reason we have to be so careful is because they’ll not only kill us but kill us forever?” Mason gestured around them at the room. “This–I get it. I get that it was life or death. Like–for the whole planet. I get it. But if you’d been wrong? Or if he’d been cranky, or not in the mood to deal, then–then all of this would have died with you. And this was–if you’d died then, I never would’ve met you.” Mason paused, swallowed thickly. “I mean–we never would’ve. I probably would be dead.”

Madeline looked up at this, glancing between them. She cleared her throat and stood, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Excuse me for interrupting,” she began, voice soft. She put her hand on Mason’s arm, gently, getting his attention, though he didn’t look away from Halia. “But…she didn’t die. She trusted her instincts. Someone needed to liaise with the–these Chaos people, correct?” Mason grunted in response. “It sounds like Halia–Aruna, excuse me–was very brave. She took a risk, yes, but it was to save the whole world. Wasn’t it?” Madeline asked, looking back to Halia. “I’m sure if it was for anything less than nine billion lives, Halia wouldn’t do anything…reckless.”

Mason, jaw still clenched, gave a little robotic nod. “Did you–was it worth it, even? Did you even get good intel from him?”

Halia's heart twisted and ached. She hadn't expected Mason to be so upset, to react so strongly. Quietly, she spoke in her defense. “If he had killed me here, he would have been stranded too…. There would have been no way for him to get back home.” She stared at her feet, cheeks red. Even Keiran hadn't been upset when she told him, granted she was mid panic attack then, but still.

“It's why I want you to learn from my mistakes, Mason. I don't want you to do the same stupid things I did. I've been overconfident as Aruna for way too long, I think. Until recently, almost all of my powered friends have been third stage with tons of experience and powerful magic. I …..I just wanted to be able to do something to help themfor once. Instead of always having to be the one being protected. So when Faustite came looking for Murikabushi and Kerberos but found me instead, I….took a chance. Because Muri cares for him, in a very complicated way. Didn't save me from having my starseed yanked out a few days later by a different agent. But not by Faustite. Faustite didn't even try to harm me. All we did was…..talk.”

When Madeline interrupted, Halia slowly lifted her head to give her a tiny smile. Her face was red and there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you…. But Mason is right. It was beyond reckless. I should have at least told someone what I was doing. Not that Muri or Kerberos could have come to save me here, but at least someone would have known what happened if it went bad. Faustite is…..” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she took a seat on a large rock. “Faustite is incredibly volatile, both in terms of power and in stability. He's one of the most powerful people the opposing faction has, as a General King. Mason is….. very correct to react this way. Especially since I wasn't even an Eternal senshi yet. My power would have likely been little more than an annoyance to him if I hit him with it. So I was…..very lucky, and most likely only unscathed due to my connection with Murikabushi.”

She looked back up at Mason, expression sobering. “I don't make a habit of making reckless choices. But of the ones I have made, I want you to learn from them. I want you to not repeat them. I want you to be better than that. I don't want you to find yourself with a hand in your chest and your soul being ripped out, terrified and begging for your life…..” Because that was what had happened. When Nagyagite had taken hold of her starseed, all of her confidence had left her and she found herself begging with her last breath. She still didn't know why he changed his mind, why he returned her starseed to her and walked away, but she knew that she was, yet again, intensely lucky.

At her agreement, most of the fight went out of Mason, and his shoulders slumped. He let put a breath and rejoined her, sitting on the ground near her feet.

Madeline, for her part, merely studied them, eyes sharp and calculating.

“I don't know that I'm able to be ‘better’ than you,” Mason said, mostly addressing the ground as he fidgeted with some bits of loose stone he found. “But I know that I have to make my own mistakes, and figure out what kind of Knight I'm going to be.” He did look up at her then. “Danger is part of the game. We all know that. Just…” Mason sighed.

“Promise you won't use your new stage as an excuse to put yourself in harm's way because you feel like…like you owe it to anyone, or the universe, or karma, or whatever. Use it to protect people, sure, but…you're still not invincible or immortal. If you got hurt…” Mason trailed off, thinking of his conversation with Albite, and the things he'd learned about himself in that short amount of time.

“Just don't, okay? For my sake. Please.”

Sliding off the rock, she sat on her knees in front of him and gently took his hands. “It'll be okay. I promise. I know I'm not invincible. Having my starseed taken…..it put a lot into perspective for me. And then the Hollow….” She shook her head, squeezing his hands. “I want you to make better mistakes than I did, Mason. And for you to learn from my mistakes, to not repeat them.” She gave him a small, soft smile. “I know you're going to be amazing, no matter what sort of Knight you turn out to be. You have a good heart, and I think that counts for a lot in this.”

Mason smiled at her, shy in spite of himself. He found he didn't have anything to say - he was just looking at her, illuminated by the crystals, the moths…

Madeline cleared her throat. Pointedly.

“Well, if we're all done carrying on,” she said dryly, watching as Mason jumped slightly and stood, quickly. “Why don't we head to the library? I would love to see some alien books, if the two of you don't mind.”

Mason grinned, sheepish without knowing why. “Right, yes, the library. Time to get us an…Arunian? Arunese? Arunish? A library card from Aruna.” Mason looked to Halia and chuckled faintly. “Ready when you are, Hali.”

Halia felt her cheeks warm with a blush and she cleared her throat, slowly letting go of his hands before standing up. “R-right. Books.” She gave Madeline a sheepish smile before gesturing upwards, leading the way back to the main hallways. A few twisting passages later and Halia was pushing open a very nondescript door, revealing books and scrolls that had been recently organized by her and Tempesti.

“Arunan, by the way. That's what the people called themselves. The Arunans. Fairly certain the language was called the same, but I haven't recovered enough memories to be fully sure yet. I still can't read it, but hopefully that will come in time too.” She lead the way into the room full of text, powering back up to Eternal Aruna before picking a spot, grabbing a book, and settling in as she tried to learn what she could. She knew it was likely that she would recover a memory while there, and she only hoped it wouldn't be alarming for the twins.

‘Recovered memories?’ Madeline mouthed at Mason, who just shrugged. He had no idea what that really meant, just that Knights were supposed to have ‘memories or a ghost’, per Auntie Joy, and so far he had neither.

Stepping into the library was breathtaking in a different way - it seemed incredibly…Well, human. People had read these books, written them. Built the shelves to hold them. Mason felt an unfamiliar pang as he brushed his fingers absently down the spines of unfamiliar books - would Blarney ever reveal its history to him like this?

Madeline had never touched a real honest to goodness scroll before, and she lifted the nearest one gingerly, examining the markings scrawled upon it. It was like getting to touch the exhibits at a museum, or making believe she was Indiana Jones or something. Unreal. She couldn't make heads or tails of the thing, but neither could Halia, which was comforting in a way.

Madeline carried the scroll with her to the nearest seat, then on impulse grabbed the nearest book off a shelf as well, attempting to compare the two against each other. If she could just figure out the most common combinations of letters, or symbols if they weren't letters as she thought of them…

Mason, for his part, was suddenly exhausted; it had been a very long day, he felt, and the idea of trying to learn an alien, dead language felt dangerously close to homework. But the girls were absorbed in it, and he wouldn't be the one to kill the vibe, so he hunted until he found what he thought might be a children's book–it was mostly pictures, anyway, and settled himself on the floor as he began slowly paging through the tome that was both impossibly old and incredibly human, all at the same time.

Catching the confused look out of the corner of her eye, she offered an explanation. “I don't know if knights are the same, but senshi can recover memories of their previous life while on their planet. It's….. complicated. Has to do with the starseed being reborn, I think.” She shrugged a shoulder as she turned the page, falling silent again.

She wasn't sure when it started, but after a moment, Aruna was acutely aware that the room was different. Looking up, she saw who she had come to understand was Aurelia, the previous Aruna before her. She was sitting in a chair across the room, frowning as she leafed through a book. Getting up from her seat, she slowly moved closer to the figure only she could see.

The woman in the memory looked sad and tired, and seemed to be looking for something specific within the pages of the tome in her lap. With a sigh, Aurelia shook her head and set the book aside before leaning her head back. A voice only Halia could hear met her ears. ”There isn't enough time….I can't fix it. What good is this power if I can do nothing to protect them with it? What I wouldn't give for just a bit more time….a bit more strength.” The memory faded, then, and left Aruna staring at a bookshelf, as if contemplating which one to grab next. Turning to look at the twins, she forced the swirl of emotions down and grabbed a book at random before going back to her seat. They didn't need to be burdened with this. Not yet.

The rest of the visit to Aruna was wholly uneventful, much to Halia's relief. Upon returning the three of them back to Earth, Halia bid them both goodbye and made her way back to her apartment. Once inside, she flopped face first into her crappy couch and proceeded to take the longest, deepest nap she had in recent history, nightmares be damned.