Backdated to April 13, 2025. Takes place after At World's End.


Following the lights had returned them to Earth. They'd come back, the Calamitous Hollow locked away in a new prison--one far more likely to last with the higher quality of the spikes. But there were other Heralds of the Dark Star out there, more concerns, more fights to come, more research that needed to be done, more battle tactics that needed to be worked out, more considerations on how to deal with the Negaverse friend or foe or temporary 'lesser evil,' more--

Solaris saw those she cared for returned to Earth, but beyond some waves, smiles, she didn't say anything. They all needed to recollect themselves. Process. Celebrate. Be happy about life.

She pulled out her phone from subspace, brought up the Home app, and hit the button. There were things she needed to process and consider about her next moves on Earth.

But this wasn't the time to focus on that.

This wasn't even the time to celebrate Earth's survival.

Perhaps her priorities were a bit off on that, sure. But she couldn't quite care in that moment. As the magic pulled her through space, body and land solidifying once more and the gravity pulling on her less than it had back on Earth, Solaris breathed deep the air of her homeworld. She stood for a long moment, head tipped back, enjoying the lack of rain and rather calm winds for the moment, the metal of the hangar not creaking or groaning from the ever strain of the intense weather, and after a time felt the sun on her skin and wings--

Sun?

Her eyes opened, wide and bewildered, at the break in the clouds above her. It was small, tiny. But it was there. A break in the darkness. A gap in the gloom. A warmth and brightness she'd not… expected.

The pale peach sky peered through the hole in the clouds, the momentary parting as winds drifted the clumps around the sky. The haze of the atmosphere made the sun itself blurry, less intense on the eyes than on Earth. It still made her squint, unused to the brightness of this world. For a brief moment, the storms eased up, at least in that small section of the world. The sky blurred as her throat tightened, eyes burning and chest constricting till the tears finally spilled over.

< "I'm back," > she said to the world, voice hoarse despite herself. < "I'll fix things. I promise. I'll undo my mistakes and failures and… I'll fix this." >

No one answered, of course, except perhaps the small golden ball of energy that found her once more and hovered over her shoulder. The world was… quiet. Waves ebbed and flowed around the island, slow and steady, the winds were gentle as they tousled her hair and played amongst the translucent fabrics of her uniform. Blue and orange--the colors of the skies and oceans. Solaris closed her eyes again towards the sun, taking in the warmth and momentary peace.

No more storms raged in the skies beyond the atmosphere, no entity from outer space currently loomed above to swallow the world whole. Earth was safe, and so were all the countless lives there.

Her tears drifted in the slow winds, tiny droplets of glistening water that sent rainbows across her skin and dazzled the air. Fragments of a promise that sparkled as gemstones in the pale orange light. Eventually, they would drift away and join the waters of the ocean, or be absorbed into the soil at her feet. Return to the world as so, so many lives had already done centuries ago. Many that had never seen the guardian of their world at the height of her power. All that never would. She alone stood on that world, but in that moment, there was a sense of peace.

Her mission would end soon enough. At long last.

< "I'm back." >