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8:03 PM
HALIA

8:03 PM
HALIA

8:03 PM
HALIA

8:03 PM
HALIA

[MISSED CALL TO Halia Westfein (Mason's friend)]

[MISSED CALL TO Halia Westfein (Mason's friend)]

[MISSED CALL TO Halia Westfein (Mason's friend)]

8:06 PM
HALIA IS MASON WITH YOU

8:06 PM
HALIA I THINK MASON'S IN TROUBLE

8:07 PM
HALIA ANSWER THE PHOEN

8:07 PM
HALIA ARE YOU WITH MY BORTHER

8:08 PM
HALIA!!!! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY

8:08 PM
I'M AT OUR HOUSE WHERE ELSE WOULD I BE

8:08 PM
HURRY UP AND GET HERE IF HE'S NOT WITH YOU WHERE IS HE????

Madeline had jumped so hard upon receiving Mason's mental message - I'm sorry, I love you - that she had physically risen out of the big overstuffed armchair in which she had been sitting. She had not sat back down since, and had indeed been wearing a track throughout the house with her pacing. Mason wasn't answering his phone. She had no idea where he was or if he was okay. She'd finally texted Halia out of desperation and--

"Mason?" Madeline said as she flung the door open, it occurring to her betatedly that Mason probably wouldn't have knocked. "Oh. Hal--Aruna," Madeline caught herself and stepped aside for the Senshi. "Mason's not with you? He just--I just--I heard him, in my head. I mean I can always hear him a little bit, you know, a twin thing, but this was--this was different and--and if he's not with you--"

Madeline was shaking from head to toe as she shut the door behind her. "Where is he? Where is he? Can you do some--" she gestured vaguely and wiggled her fingers, implying 'magic', "something and find him?"

Madeline remained stiff in Aruna's arms, pacing away from her as she spoke. "Off-planet?" Madeline repeated, aghast, all the color draining from her face. Her brother being in danger in their city was one thing, but him dying - alone - in outer space - it was nearly unthinkable.

Madeline thought she might throw up, actually.

"He never tells me anything," Madeline snapped, unfairly, because this was not technically speaking true - but it felt like it, at the moment. "He's always going out and--doing things and--with people who--I--I can't--"

Madeline was about to put her head between her knees and try some breathing exercises when her brother's voice echoed in her mind again.

"Oh!" Madeline said, grabbing Halia's hand automatically. "He--he said he's okay. And--" Madeline blinked, a quizzical frown replacing the look of abject relief on her face. "Something about a chicken?" Madeline shook his head. "But--but I heard him! He's okay! That means he's okay, right?" Madeline couldn't help the desperation in her voice and on her face; maybe she was just losing her mind, imagining his voice.

(But she was pretty sure she wouldn't have imagined him talking about a chicken, in her current state.)

Madeline nodded absently - while she was instinctively resistant to the idea of anyone else in the McCaffrey bubble, if she had to be alone with her thoughts, she was going to lose her mind. Lose her mind even worse than she was already losing it, which was saying something, given that she was already at about a 9 on the 1-10 Madeline McCaffrey Freak Out Scale. Granted, it was coming down now that she had evidence of her idiot brother being alive, but still.

"You can't call him? Or some of the--others--he's with?"

Mason? MASON? WHERE ARE YOU? Madeline thought, as loudly as she could, and did not get an answer, no matter how loudly she repeated the thought. How did this stupid thing work? Could only one of them activate it? Or was her brother putting her on mute after nearly being dead?? She did not do well with waiting.

"I am going to kill him. I am going to kill him so dead. If you want to stick around and help me bury his stupid dead body, you're more than welcome."



Mason knew he was in Trouble. Capital T Trouble. He hadn't really thought about how it might feel, or what it might be like, for Mads to receive his little thought message; genuinely, he'd thought he wouldn't really be, y'know, around for the fallout. But he was, which was objectively a good thing, except for the part where now he had to go get the snot kicked out of him emotionally, in addition to the physical beating he'd received on Tempesti. He'd deserved it, sure, but man oh man was he not looking forward to this part.

He turned back from Blarney to Mason in the park near his house and made his way quickly to the McCaffrey house, unlocking the front door and creeping in, as if maybe being sneaky might somehow let him avoid the storm that was headed his way.

"Hello? Mads?"

"MASON LARCH MCCAFFREY--"

The sound that exploded out of Madeline's tiny body was enormous; Mason had asked her once where she kept it all, when she wasn't using it to scream at him, and Madeline had answered honestly: she didn't know, she just knew she had it when she needed it.

And right now, she needed it.

"What were you thinking--and sending me that--that thought-message or whatever--like you're about to die?! Are you out of your MIND? What were you thinking, even doing something like that that could get you killed? I know you don't listen to me about anything anymore, with your fancy new friends and your fancy new magic powers," Madeline gestured overdramatically, "but if you ever, ever have a choice between doing something where you could die and not doing something where you could die? You CHOOSE THE ONE WHERE YOU DON'T DIE, you addle-brained, forgetful, hyperactive--"

And then Madeline was sobbing into Mason's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Her hands were balled into fists in his shirt, and she was trembling, even as he started to make soothing shushing noises.



Mason took every syllable she said as gracefully as he could, wincing whenever she hit a new decibel. He edged closer to her as she yelled, until he was finally close enough to catch her in a bearhug. He knew that she was more scared than actually angry - well, okay, no, she was actually angry, but now she was crying and he could handle a crying sister. He'd been doing that since they were in utero, basically.

And then he glanced at Halia, an apology written on his face as he comforted Madeline.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, to both of them. "I'm really, really sorry. You guys were--are--right. I shouldn't have--I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"I didn't even know what it was," Mason said, pouting slightly, anxious for her to believe him. "I just felt--like, the thing, being like 'hey come on' so I comed on and next thing I know I'm on a whole other planet," Mason said, giving both of them a sheepish smile.

"And it was--there were so many other people there, Hals, it was--it was awesome. I even knew some of them! And they all fought so hard, it was--it was incredible, and I just felt..." Mason's eyes dropped to the floor, swallowed, skipped past the darker thoughts that threatened to bubble up over his lips and into the open, which would embarrass him terribly and also make the girls feel awkward and bad for him, and just - he was supposed to be the happy one, so nobody wanted to hear that.

So he skipped it.

"...After, once we were--y'know, in it, I got an idea and I thought maybe it--like, if I could help my friends, all these people who were fighting so hard, it would be worth it--and I didn't really think I'd like, die-die, but--it, you know, potentially crossed my mind so I had to say goodbye because I knew if I didn't you'd bring me back just to kill me again so I thought I should cover my bases and I--and then I didn't even get into the thing and Bacchus had to drag me away like a whole idiot and I--I'm just--I'm sorry," he finished lamely, looking from his sister to his best friend. She didn't even look angry, just disappointed.

Everyone knew that was so much worse.

"I didn't mean to do something dumb. I just--all I have is a stick and I thought--I thought maybe I could...help..." Mason sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair. "But--I learned my lesson. I promise. I won't do anything like that again. If--if I feel like I have to say goodbye over something, I won't do it." Mason paused. "Unless it's really life or death for someone else. Then--then I might have to. But--but I don't think that'll happen! I won't--like, do it on purpose! I promise." His face still hurt from where he'd slammed into the twisting arms of the gyroscope; he was in no hurry to repeat the epic failure that had been his rash attempt at heroism.



Madeline narrowed her eyes at him, opened her mouth to let him have it again, then paused and looked at Halia. It was her turn to lay into him, by rights. Madeline gave a slight nod to the other girl, telling her it was okay to say whatever she felt.

"You don't need to go," she added, just to make it clear, "unless you want to, of course. Believe me when I say I would understand if you're so upset you can't even be here right now." This was, strictly speaking, a bit of an overstatement - it was meant as a dig at Mason, and it landed, with Mason's gaze dropping to the floor once more.

"Thank you for coming," Madeline said, sincerely, as she led Halia back to the backdoor. "We should--get lunch sometime. Actual lunch," she added with a faint chuckle. "Thank you."

"Bye, Hals," Mason said glumly, still mostly addressing the floor. He felt awful. He hadn't meant to terrify anyone, especially not his two favorite people. "Thanks for helping Mads. I'll--I'll see you around."

After Halia was gone, Madeline turned back to Mason, cocked one eyebrow, crossed her arms and pressed her lips into a thin line. The expression said everything:

Mason was so not done being in trouble, and he wasn't going to be, for a long, long time.