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[ Ah, he forgot that too. Seeing as he never actually had the chance to go on the trip. He fidgets. Then clenches his fist. ]

I... Surely an aetherial tether is sufficient? They never said it must be a physical anchor.

[ He hates that he has to make it sound like a question to avoid the outright lie. He's certain Azem is sharp enough to pick up on it. ]

[ Azem supposes an aetherial tether would suffice but the way he says it is suspicious. ]

You don't sound so convinced of that.

[ He decides that a touch of annoyance is warranted here. ]

Aye, well... I'm not sure why you're making such a fuss over a lapse in memory, Azem. Why am I here, really?

[ They roll their head back and let out a breath before turning their attention to him once more. ]

Because this is more than a lapse in memory. For a while now I've had this feeling that I'm not being told everything. Things that aren't quite adding up. Like how you knew so much about Bahamut, a creature from Rhea'li's world. How that city in your dream was the future of our world but the people were so different. That everything should change so much...

I don't doubt that Rhea'li has been to Elpis but I don't believe that he traveled there with you.

[ He isn't sure what to say. Tellingly, his gaze averts. Ordinarily, it would be so easy to generate theatre and sell half-truths for fact. Facing Azem, however, makes it so much more difficult. With the way they had parted as their people faced the End of Days, who can blame him for not wanting to disturb what they currently have? ]

It is the future. Further than you may believe it to be...but 'tis the future indeed.

[ The way he looks away doesn't sit well with them. It's only confirming their suspicions. Though it's difficult to distrust him when he says that Garlemald is a part of the future. ]

And Bahamut?

...Bahamut is also an entity from the same distant future.

[ He says no more than that. He thinks it speaks for itself. ]

[ Azem is quiet for a moment, working out what that means in their head. ]

Then that means Rhea'li is from... [ They can feel a bit of anger well up in them, not enough to explode just yet. ] I don't understand the need to lie. He could have easily said it would be impossible to go with me because we are from the same star, just different times.

[ They let out a frustrated breath as they run their fingers through their hair. ]

[ He shrugs uncomfortably. He can sense Azem's frustration and the smouldering anger. ]

I don't know why he chose to lie about that, [ he says truthfully. ] Mayhap he thought you would not be able to accept how much the world had changed.

[ ...Which is certainly one way of putting it. ]

[ Azem shoots a narrow-eyed look at him. ]

He's not alone in this. [ They step forward, jabbing a finger at his chest. ] You went along with it.

[ A small flinch. He presses his lips together and stares at his feet, fists balled by his side. ]

I did.

[ He hopes Azem leaves it at that. ]

[ Unfortunately for him, Azem is not about to leave it at that. ]

Why? You seemed to have no problem telling me I would be returning to the star before either of my best friends. I took that in stride did I not?

[ Until the topic of children came up they'd be fine with that news. It stung but they could accept that. ]

I saw a little bit of the world in our future and I took that just fine.

It-- 'Tis more complicated than it simply being the distant future.

[ He doesn't want to explain. He desperately tries to think of something, anything, that can salvage this mess. Even as, with a sinking heart, he suspects that it may well be easier to dig out the bullet and let the wound bleed. ]

[And just like that, at a most inconvenient time, they both receive a call from familiar magic. Magic that ordinarily would come from Azem. But Azem isn't the one summoning them, you see.

Answering the summons will lead them to a park somewhere in Kyoto, where the nevermelting snow is starting to pile up. There are significantly fewer people there than what would be normal, but there is one miqo'te waiting for them, one hand clearly holding something in their clenched fist, a familiar sunburst on the ground.

He doesn't say anything initially, but he does raise his head to take in Azem's reaction, gaze steady.]

Then perhaps you should start ex--

[ They're cut short as magic that is all to familiar to them tugs at them. That's their magic. Their signature spell meant to summon their allies to their side in times of need.

How... No they know how. They know who.

They answer the call without a second thought, stepping out of the flash of light in a flurry toward their summoner. ]

You. [ There is no anger, surprisingly, there isn't even surprise. Just confirmation of who Rhea'li is. Though they still don't know the full truth. ]

[ He stares, wide-eyed, at the sunburst calling him. The timing could not have been worse. He had told Rhea'li not to try and find him! Hades almost rejects the summons, but he sees Azem vanishing with it and knows that there's way of escaping the inevitable conversation now.

With heavy resignation, he, too, lets Rhea'li's magic take him and steps out to see the pair staring each other down. ]

If you must be angry then be angry with me, Dionysos.

[He does not say, "am I interrupting?" though he is sorely tempted to. Instead, he unfurls his fingers and holds up Azem's crystal for them to see.]

As much as Hades wishes to claim full credit for the misdirection, I also have my reasons for it.

[His smile is a little wry as he closes his fingers over the crystal.]

The last time I spoke truth to one from so far in the past, no one knew the chain of events it would spark.

[ Azem pauses short of Rhea'li as they take in the stone. They're not familiar with it but they know the symbol, that is theirs. They look between Rhea'li and Hades and back again. ]

One of you better explain or I'll dive into your memories and rip it out myself.

[ Hades tenses and grits his teeth. Where to begin? How do you even begin to explain this? It makes him realise how difficult it must have been for Rhea'li to do the same for himself, Hythlodaeus, and Venat all those millennia ago. ]

...Our star... Our people, they're gone, Dionysos.

[Rhea'li nods, confirming, expression sombre.]

In my time, there are are none of you left. A great calamity came upon Etheirys, eventually leading to the star and its people being sundered into one and thirteen.

[There were MANY details between that, but... ultimately, that was the end result. His brow draws together slightly.]

The people of my time... we were born of the fragments from yours.

[ Azem turns back to Hades with an expression of both horror and confusion. ]

Wha-- [ Rhea'li's explanation only raises more questions. They stand in silence for a moment, trying to sort out their thoughts before speaking again. ]

A calamity that sunders Etheirys? What do you mean by that? [ A pause. ] No, no, I mean what sort of calamity?

[ They're truly thinking of following through with diving into memories just to make things simple. ]

At the time, we did not know how or why it happened. It began with a sound, 'twas said. On the heels of that sound, monstrous creatures would appear and slaughter or devour all around them. At first, 'twas isolated in small, far-flung corners of the star. But as the phenomenon spread and grew worse, we realised that it would occur where the aetherial currents of our star were weakest.

[ He pauses, still unable to look directly at Azem. There is helpless resignation in the slump of his shoulders. ]

When it finally came to Amaurot... 'Twas far worse than we could have imagined. The sky rained fire. The earth yawned wide. The winds stilled and the seas roiled red with blood. And as panic spread, our fears were made manifest in the forms of those hideous creatures we had thus far only heard about.

[Though he knows most of the details of what happened, it is not the same as having experienced it himself. By contrast, Rhea'li looks directly at Azem.]

And so the Convocation devised a plan. A plan to create a being named Zodiark that would strengthen the aetherial currents. But for such a being to exist, it would need an offering of lives. Though most were in accord to thus save the star, not all saw this as the answer. For half the lives of the star were sacrificed to create Zodiark, and then half again to restore that which was lost.

[And somewhere, Azem was not there. Gone, and whatever they had tried, it had not worked.]

But there was one who was armed with knowledge that none else of the time knew. And she knew because of a certain traveller from the future that the calamity was not truly over. And thus was another being created, Hydaelyn, who would sunder the star and enact a plan that would take twelve thousand years to come to fruition.

[Sometimes, he wonders what would have happened if he had not been sent hurtling into the past. What decisions would Venat have made instead? Would the situation with Hermes escalated so?]

[ Azem's heart sinks as the two of them explain what happened. A calamity that weakened the aether of the star? Created monsters that would slaughter and devour any in their path? What could possibly be the cause of something so horrific?

And then Rhea'li mentions Zodiark and Azem's expression hardens, turning to Hades once more. ]

Zodiark. [ Azem can't say if Hades lied about Zodiark or not but he certainly didn't tell Azem everything. ] Half of all lives on the star? That's... [ They hate how that makes them feel, the way their stomach turns as they look away from Hades. They feel too disgusted to look at him right now.

Their attention turns back to Rhea'li. ] And that traveler was you, was it not? The one pretended to be my familiar? The one I foresaw and told Themis to meet in Elpis?

[ Although he expects the rejection, it still hurts. And there's no justification he can offer other than it being an act of desperation to save what remained of their star.

Hades hasn't heard about Rhea'li's involvement with Themis yet however, and so he lifts his head to stare at the miqo'te as well. ]

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