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 Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:53 pm
Takes place after Northpoint.
He exhaled through his nose, a quiet, resigned sound, and then glanced over at Yvoire. He felt like he was missing something but couldn't put his finger on what.
He glanced back ahead of them and scanned the darkened street where the old buildings looked more ominous than they probably should.
“Let’s start this way. We’ll cover as much ground as we can before the hour’s up,” he decided. He hesitated before taking a step forward. The silence between them lingered a little too long, and when he spoke again, his voice softened.
“Hey. You holding up okay?”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:55 pm
“I’m fine,” Yvoire said.
Which was technically true. He was as fine as he could be. He and Reims were on better terms than they had been a year ago. Friendly. Maybe not as close as they used to be; they didn’t hold hands, or touch more than they needed to, unless Yvoire made a point to do so, usually to get back at Reims for something that probably wasn’t even a big deal. There was a distance, still, which Yvoire considered crossing every time they went to Ganymede together. Somehow he always talked himself out of it.
The day had been a good one. They’d accomplished a lot on Ganymede. With Dering there as a buffer Yvoire hadn’t felt so awkward, so… anxious. Like he was waiting for something to happen even if he didn’t know what it was.
Sort of like how he felt now, only less in a creepy sense and more… tense. Like a rubber band about to snap.
He walked with brisk steps—not in an effort to avoid Reims, he told himself, but in an effort to cover as much ground as they could in the time allotted
“So… who’s Lyon?”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:57 pm
Reims blinked, surprised by the question. Not because it was out of line, but because it wasn’t a question he’d expected. He slowed his pace just enough to look over, studying Yvoire’s face like he might be able to decipher the real meaning between the words.
“Lyon?” he echoed, trying to determine what the tone meant. Jealousy? Curiosity? Suspicion? His stomach twisted with the faint, familiar sense that he’d already done something wrong.
“He’s, uh… A Page. Ganymede, like us,” he tried, but he seemed to realize that was the obvious answer. He let out a breath and tried again. “I ran into him a little while ago. He didn’t know anyone else except a Velencian, who’d helped him with an injury he got from a youma. I figured it’d suck to get pulled into this without anyone to help you out. We kinda had each other when we first started. Weird circumstances, but we were all already together. I told him he could come along tonight. Thought it’d be good for him to meet people.”
Reims wanted to say more. To explain that he wasn’t trying to replace anyone. He just didn’t like seeing someone on their own. He knew he benefited more from being with others than being alone. But the words got stuck somewhere in his throat. Instead, he crossed his arms awkwardly over his chest.
“You sure you’re fine? You seem… not fine.”
He didn’t sound accusing. Just tired. Worried. Like he wanted to fix something but wasn’t sure how to figure out where the break was.
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:57 pm
“I’m fine,” Yvoire reassured him. He looked ahead instead of at Reims, glancing over abandoned buildings, then dropping his gaze to the unkempt streets. “You just hadn’t mentioned him, but it seemed like you knew each other. The three of us are knights of Ganymede, so…”
Yvoire shrugged.
Reims sounded wary. Maybe because he expected Yvoire to get angry at him again. Maybe because he was hiding something. Yvoire couldn’t tell which. He almost asked. It would probably be easier to be straightforward, but he didn’t want to seem stupid, or irrational, or… jealous. Even if he felt like all three.
“You’re the only other knight of Ganymede I know,” Yvoire said. “The others are the Moon. Or Lysithea. Sometimes it feels a little… I don’t know. But I liked that you and I had something they don’t have. Even if it’s just a stupid symbol.”
Yvoire frowned into the dark, uncertain. He didn’t know what he was saying. He didn’t even really know why he felt the way he felt.
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:58 pm
Reims opened his mouth-- and then closed it again.
He wasn’t sure what to say to that. The knot in his chest tightened. It wasn’t quite guilt, but close enough to sting like it. He hadn’t thought of it that way. To him, it just made sense to invite Lyon. A new knight who didn’t have anyone to really lean on in this strange world of monsters and magic. But the way Yvoire said it made him realize that maybe… maybe it wasn’t just about that.
“...I didn’t mean to step on anything,” he said after a moment, his voice quiet. “I probably should have asked first.”
He hesitated, and then glanced over at Yvoire again. His tone wasn’t defensive -- it was more uncertain than anything. “Would you have rather I hadn’t?”
It was a genuine question, although the words came out carefully. Maybe too careful. Like he was trying not to make them sound like some kind of test.
The silence that followed was heavy enough that the squelch under his boot almost came as a relief. Reims cringed with disgust, stepping back. The pavement was slick and dark, and he lifted his foot from what seemed like tar that coated the ground, and now the sole of his shoe.
“...What the hell?” he muttered. He crouched down, touching the edge of the sludge with a gloved hand, then immediately grimaced at the stickiness of it. It clung to his glove like oil and smelled faintly metallic. “It’s not just water. Look--”
He straightened and gestured toward a nearby drainage pipe, where the same thick substance leaked thick drops. “It’s coming from there. Or somewhere that funnels into that.”
He rubbed his fingers against his thigh to get the residue off, but without much success.
“Let’s follow it -- carefully. We can talk while we walk,” he said with a glance over at Yvoire.
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:58 pm
Yvoire didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to leave a Page alone to figure this out for himself, but he also didn’t know Lyon, and he wasn’t ready to let someone else into what had previously felt like a smaller, exclusive piece of a larger group. Among their friends, Knights of the Moon and Knights of Lysithea outnumbered Yvoire and Reims. Yvoire had liked that, especially when he and Reims had been on better terms. They shared something the others didn’t. Even now, when they couldn’t quite get rid of the awkward tension, they still shared secrets no one else knew.
Grateful for the momentary distraction, Yvoire swallowed his response and examined the sludge Reims had stepped in, following his eyes toward the pipes.
“What is it?” he wondered. “Tar?”
Yvoire had no idea what tar looked, smelled, or felt like. That it was in the street might make sense. Were tar and asphalt the same thing? Or similar? Either way, Yvoire didn’t think it should be coming out of the pipes like that.
“Do you think we should collect some?” he said. “Maybe the Mauvians have something they could use to figure out the composition. We can rule it out later. See if it’s naturally occurring. Or… I don’t know. Science is my worst subject.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:58 pm
Reims huffed a quiet breath. “You and me both,” he muttered. “If it’s chemistry, I’m out.”
He crouched again, bracing a hand on his knee as he squinted at the slick trail spreading out from the drainage line. He was glad he’d already removed his cape after getting overheated on Ganymede, and his jacket as well, but he was still cautious about getting too much of the gunk on him. The stuff had started to congeal, almost like it was alive. The metallic smell made his stomach turn uncomfortably.
“Yeah,” he said after a moment, straightening back up. “Let me see if I can get some without touching it. Maybe one of the cats can figure it out.”
He reached for a scrap of plastic nearby, a torn piece of packaging, maybe, and used it to pick up a little of the sludge. The wet sound it made as it was peeled up, sticking to the plastic, made him grimace. He didn’t like how it moved. It felt wrong.
Then, faintly, something wailed in the distance. It could have been a fox… Except the sound seemed too high and strange, echoing off the concrete and then vanishing as suddenly as it started.
Reims froze, instinctively shifting closer to Yvoire. The silence afterward pressed down around them. He looked back toward the drainage pipe where the sludge splattered against the pavement.
“Whatever this is… it’s not just runoff,” he muttered, voice low as he nodded towards the slime that seemed to be spreading. The faint trail of tar traced along the edge of the street, almost like veins.
“Let’s follow it. See where it’s coming from,” he nodded towards what looked like some kind of office building. He found a discarded plastic bag in the street and shook off the debris before placing the tar coated plastic inside, then placed it into his subspace.
He started forward, but glanced back over his shoulder. His tone softened, despite everything. “...For what it’s worth, I’m glad it’s still us doing this. Even if Lyon’s around too.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:59 pm
Yvoire stared through the dark, trying to find the source of the wail. It had to be some sort of animal. Maybe. It definitely didn’t sound human. Could it be a youma? Considering all the strange rumors and conspiracies about this place online, it would make sense to find something magical here, something not normally of this world, but… wouldn’t they sense it if that was the case? Wouldn’t they be able to track it?
He followed Reims, eyes cast down toward the ground less out of bashfulness and more to avoid stepping in anything gross.
“He just seems like your type,” Yvoire observed.
With his fear and apprehension focused almost exclusively on this dark, creepy, abandoned place, Yvoire’s bravery chose other topics in which to shine through.
“Lyon,” he clarified, in case that wasn’t obvious. Yvoire glanced briefly at Reims to watch for any changes in his expression. “You have a thing about… you know… hair. Specifically the color. So I thought maybe you’d met him and didn’t mention him because you were interested in him and didn’t want to say it.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:59 pm
Reims nearly tripped over his own feet. “My-- what?” he blurted out before he could stop himself. The word came out sharper than he’d meant, echoing a little too loudly down the empty street.
He winced immediately, and glanced over his shoulder as if making sure he hadn’t inadvertently drawn something out of the dark with the sound. When nothing happened, he exhaled a shaky breath, lowering his voice again.
“Sorry. Just-- uh… you caught me off guard.”
His brow furrowed as he walked, eyes fixed on the trail of sludge ahead like it might help keep his focus. “I don’t--... have a type,” he muttered, but even he didn’t sound convinced. “I mean, I didn’t think I did.”
He gestured vaguely, tone caught somewhere between defensive and embarrassed. “It’s not like I go around looking for-- blond hair and…” He trailed off and lifted the back of his hand to rub at his face, not wanting to touch his skin with any leftover sludge on his gloves.
“I don’t know, okay? Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Lyon’s nice, but I barely know him.”
He paused. Then, because it felt worse to just leave it there, he added quietly, “And if that’s my type, you might want to check a mirror, because you’d fit it better than he does.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Reims looked like he regretted them instantly. His shoulders tensed, and he ducked his head, pretending to study the nearest pipe.
“...I just meant-- uh… you know what I mean.”
He cleared his throat, desperate to redirect. “Anyway. Sludge. Pipes. That office building,” he said, pointing toward it unnecessarily. “Let’s just… keep moving before that noise decides to come back.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:59 pm
Yvoire did know what Reims meant.
He’d suspected it as soon as they’d begun talking again, when he’d noticed Julian on Riker’s phone background. He knew who Riker had been mean to. He knew the things Riker had said. He knew enough about Riker’s family to understand why he might have said them. He knew who Riker was sweet with now. (Sweet in his own way. Maybe not perfect, but changed from how he used to be.) He knew where Riker’s eyes tended to wander.
Yvoire didn’t know what to do with it. He knew what he would have wanted before. Now he wasn’t sure if he should still want the same thing, or if he would only be hurt again. Maybe it was stupid to think they could be that way.
Maybe he was afraid.
“Nice change of subject,” Yvoire muttered, but there was a teasing edge in his voice instead of bitterness.
He might have continued, might have made Reims explain what he meant even if he didn’t need him to, but something within his senses flared—a strange energy he couldn’t recognize or pinpoint. It flashed briefly through his awareness. Eerie. Sinister. Abnormal.
It flickered out again before he had the chance to scrutinize it.
“Did you feel that?”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:00 pm
Reims huffed, half in relief, half in exasperation. “Yeah, well… someone had to,” he muttered, hoping the dry humor would distract from the pink in his ears. “You’re welcome.”
He risked a glance over at the other Knight, just long enough to catch the way Yvoire’s mouth curved in the dim light before he looked away again. The corners of his own mouth twitched, small and fleeting, like he didn’t have the nerve to let it linger. He wanted to say something else, something to make the moment less awkward, but the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.
The air seemed to shift.
Reims froze mid-step. He didn’t see anything, but the sensation was unmistakable. It crawled down his spine like static before vanishing.
“...Yeah,” he said quietly, eye scanning the street. “Yeah, I felt it.”
He turned in a slow circle, checking for any sign of movement, anything else that might be off. He took a cautious step forward, watching the trail of tar where it seeped into the cracked pavement.
“Stay close,” he muttered. “If it happens again, I don’t want us getting separated.”
He paused, then softer now, a bit hesitant but honest. “And, uh… I didn’t mean to make things weird. Before.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:00 pm
Teal eyes gazed through the dark like Yvoire expected something to jump out at them. First it had been the noise, now that strange energy. His first assumption was, again, a youma, but could it be something else? They knew there were dangers out in space. The Calamitous Hollow proved that. Could some other creature have come without notice and sought shelter in this abandoned place where it was unlikely to be disturbed?
Yvoire considered the flashlight he kept in subspace. He hadn’t pulled it out, wary that the light might attract attention. Should they risk it?
Maybe they were paranoid. Maybe it was nothing.
Yvoire didn’t think it was nothing. For a moment, he focused on the other bright energies drifting along his senses. Everyone had scattered in different directions. If he blocked everything else out and concentrated enough, he could almost pick out some of the individual auras.
“Before?” he asked, shaking himself out of it to fall back into step at Reims’ side.
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:00 pm
Reims hesitated, not because he didn’t know what Yvoire meant, but because answering meant admitting it mattered. He rubbed the back of his gloved hand against his forehead and let out a quiet breath.
“Yeah. Before,” he said. “The whole… saying something stupid part.”
His voice had lost any defensiveness, quieter but still a little rough. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I just… slipped out. Guess I’m not great at keeping my mouth shut when I should.”
He started walking again, slower this time. The street ahead was empty, but the quiet didn’t feel peaceful. It felt like the calm before the storm.
“Still…” he said after a few steps, his voice soft and maybe a little more honest than he intended. “I meant what I said.”
He glanced over at Yvoire, for a moment, catching the flash of teal before looking away again. “I’m glad you’re here. If it had been anyone else, I think I’d be twice as freaked out right now.”
He smiled faintly, just a crooked thing at the corner of his mouth, a little self-conscious.
“But with you… I don’t know. I can breathe. Feels like we’ll actually make it out of this mess in one piece.”
The smile faded a little as he scanned the dark again, tension returning to his shoulders. “Let’s check that building next,” he nodded toward where the sludge seemed to get thicker. “If whatever we felt came from anywhere, it’s probably in there. But… I also think we should wait for the others before going inside.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:00 pm
“When did you say something stupid?”
Yvoire didn’t think it was true, what Reims said about being freaked out with anyone else. Maybe if he was with Rose or Lyon, who weren’t as powerful and might not be able to defend themselves as well because of it. Maybe if he was with one or both of the twins, too, since something about them seemed to rile him up. (Yvoire didn’t get it. He chalked it up to Reims being Reims.) Maybe if he was with Stirling, who’d needed saving after having her starseed taken once before. Maybe if he was with Ephesus, who was a little more timid. But if he was with Amarynthos, Reims would’ve been fine; the two of them together could more than handle themselves. If he was with Dering, Reims still would’ve been safe; Dering’s shield had protected them all during the fight with the Calamitous Hollow.
“Do you mean back when you made fun of me?” Yvoire asked. Since their reconciliation, most of the hurt had bled from his voice.
He quickly decided on his own that couldn’t be what Reims had been referring to. I meant what I said. If Reims was to be believed, he hadn’t meant the things he’d said back then. Forgiveness was still such a complicated thing, but Yvoire did believe Reims hadn’t meant it.
“Or do you mean the part about your type and how I should check a mirror?” Yvoire ignored the heat in his cheeks. At least in the dark it wouldn’t be noticeable. “Maybe that’s why I pointed it out. I know I’m your type. I know that’s why you used to make fun of me. You were afraid. But you still liked me as Reims, and then you didn’t know what to do when you couldn’t pretend to be two different people anymore.”
Yvoire could talk about it now without judgment. Without pain. “Maybe I don’t mind if you look. Maybe I want you to.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:01 pm
Reims stopped like he’d forgotten how to walk. His first instinct was to try and brush it off. To say something flippant, make it a joke. But nothing that came to mind sounded right.
“...That’s--” he mumbled, shuffling his feet a bit. “That’s… not totally wrong.”
He looked at the ground, suddenly fascinated by the cracks in the pavement. “You weren’t exactly easy to ignore, you know. Back then. Or now,” he said, his voice dropping a little, quiet but honest. “It’s just… easier to run my mouth than deal with that kind of thing.” Back then, he was still coming to terms with what it meant to want to look at Énna. And he went and screwed it up, thinking maybe he was just a good target and not someone he just wanted to talk to.
The silence stretched, heavy but not entirely uncomfortable. And then he huffed out a breath that was half a laugh and half a sigh.
“You make it sound like I had some kind of plan with all of that. I didn’t. I was just… an idiot trying to look cool for the wrong people and not make it obvious that I thought you were--”
He caught himself, cleared his throat, and made a vague hand motion that could have meant any number of things. Attractive? Intimidating? All of the above?
“Anyway. You don’t have to say stuff like that just to make me feel better,” he said quickly, because it was easier to remind himself that he didn’t deserve another chance than believe that was what he was being given. “If you’re okay with me being here after all that, that’s already more than I deserve.”
He shifted on his feet again, glancing back toward the darkened windows of the nearby building.
“And… for what it’s worth, I don’t want to mess things up again. With you. Whatever this is,” he mumbled, his tone softened and a bit sheepish. “Guess that’s my way of saying I’m glad you want me to look. Not that I’m gonna--... uh… stare. I’m just--...” He winced and groaned under his breath. “...I’m really bad at this.”
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