As it turned out, getting the hibiscus set up right was, in fact, hard. So much harder than I gave it credit for. Thankfully, Mira took it off my hands and focused on getting everything done all by herself. She seemed happy to have something, so I left her to it and worked on some other things.

When night rolled around, she opted to sleep on the couch for the first time since I rescued her. I decided to take it as a sign that she was recovering. It was probably for the best to be honest. Becoming highly dependent on me wouldn't do either one of us any favors in the long run.

Without her lulling me to sleep, I ended up staying up much later than I had for the past couple days. I got caught up working on some designs and completely lost track of time. I only fell asleep when my phone died early in the morning.

She woke me up a few hours later with a bright smile. "Morning, Shiro!"

"Haah…" I yawned loudly and rubbed at my heavy eyes. Why was she so bright in the mornings? How… hateful. It was a relief to see some of her cheer return, though. "Ugh- what time is it?"

"Seven." She stretched out in the middle of the apartment and did a few pushups. "You stayed up late last night?"

"A bit." I forced myself upright before I could fall back asleep. "You know there's a gym downstairs, right?"

She paused mid push-up and looked up at me through her eyelashes. "Can I? It's for Crusaders, isn't it?"

"Just take my badge. If anyone asks… say you're my sister or something." I rifled around through my coat for the badge and tossed it over to her. "I doubt anyone will care though."

Mira caught the badge and stared down at it. "It's still hard to believe you're actually in the Blue Crusade."

"Yeah?" I unwillingly pushed myself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. The world wouldn't stop just because I was tired, unfortunately. "It's got its benefits. I'll never be able to look at them the same way though. They're effective, but…"

They were all meat heads. There was no other way of putting it. I was surprised any of their cases even got solved considering most of the Crusade's temperament. Sure, the Inquisitors were a bit better, but only by so much. If it was even rubbing off on me, then the Inquisitors were already too deep to save.

I went through my morning routine, listening to Mira from the other room. "Should I sign up? The Crusade is always hiring, aren't they?"

I brushed my teeth, idly staring at myself in the mirror. She'd probably fit in, to be honest. I could definitely see Mira running around in Crusade armor hacking at people with a sword, for better or worse. I didn't think she'd like it at the end of the day though. Although it had its moments, there was a lot more running around and not doing anything. Most Squires worked dreadfully boring beats. I had it easy considering the Inquisitors I had to serve under, but some of the others? Not much better than interns.

I finished up and leaned against the wall just outside of the bathroom, watching her workout for a moment. "What do you think?"

"About?" She pushed herself into one final crunch and held the position while leaning over her knees.

"Just- a-about anything?" I didn't know. It was just- well, it was what people asked, wasn't it? "Um- about life?"

"Been better." She sighed and reached up, tapping at the chrome halo. It pulsed, though stayed positioned right over her head. "This thing has EM shielding, right? I won't have to worry about being hit by an EMP and my brain being fried?"

"Chek. She did a good job." I needed to run back by the speakeasy and make sure the crystallization array was still working so I could transmute the gravitic to pay her. I had it set up with mechanical arms to automate the process, but it wouldn't hurt to go make sure it was fine.

"Yeah…" Mira got a far away look in her eyes like she was elsewhere.

I clapped my hands together, snapping her out of whatever reverie she fell into. "Breakfast?"

She forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and pushed herself off the ground. She wasn't quite back, but she was trying. "We going downstairs again?"

The BC Gym, as I guess could be expected, had a little bit of everything. Although it was called the gym, it really was a mega-complex. There was a whole host of food options on one of the floors. Crusaders ate half price at most of them. Not a bad way to start our day since I quit using the canteen with Mira around.

Speaking of, today was the day. I wasn't going to throw everything at her, but the canteen was definitely something I wanted to get out of the way. I was tired of having to drink disgusting tap water and I missed Jack's Sun Kicker starting my day. And it'd be cheaper to not have to keep spending money on food every day.

"Um… Mira…" I shifted from foot to foot and headed over to the couch, taking a seat. A jittery feeling spread throughout my body similar to before a heist. This was a big step for me. Secrets were safer in the dark. Safer where no one would see them… and yet here I was, sitting before Mira… it wasn't too late. I could still back out.

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Her expression turned serious, tipped off by my tone. She moved over and sat on the coffee table built into the apartment's floor. "Yes?"

"Um…" How did I even go about explaining this? Should I even explain it? "You know what Remnants and Revenants are, right?"

"I'm not a three year old." She smirked and shook her head. "Magic items, right? Our rings are definitely something like that."

"Close enough. Remnants are magic items. Revenants are items with will, usually hostile." They were part of what made exploring certain places, like the depths of the AEZ, potentially dangerous. Never knew when something like that voice-stealing creature from the box might pop out. If even a large group like the Leper-Khans could be wiped out by a single Revenant, there was no telling what'd happen to a lone person. "Thats beyond the point, though."

"You have more than one? I thought it was just the rings…" She got to the crux of the issue without any problem. She basically had five brains now thanks to the Halo Cortex, though, so I guess it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Chek." I reached out my hand, summoning the canteen with a thought. The canteen materialized from the shadows. The ornate rubies and decorations across the black canteen glittered in the light.

Mira flinched when it first popped out, though leaned forward in interest. "What's it do?"

"Liquid duplication, basically." I stood up and headed for the kitchenette, fetching two cups. The canteen had four chambers now, so I easily swapped from the water chamber to the smoothie. The other two had Pervider venom just in case and AE3.

The smoothie poured out form the canteen into the two glasses. The quantity vastly outsized the canteen, though I was used to that bit of dissonance. Mira, on the other hand, was not. "Wicked… is it infinite?"

"No? It recharges slowly. Has a bunch of limitations too." I passed her one of the cups. This was going surprisingly well. "This is a smoothie from Oasis. Supposed to be good for a whole day with just one glass."

"Is it safe to drink?" She sniffed at the smoothie hesitantly. "Smells good."

Instead of answering, I just gulped down what I poured for myself. It hit as well as it usually did, filling me up and energizing the start of my day. She followed after me a few moments later. I went over how it all worked, at least as far as I figured it out. We hung around for a while after that, chatting and listening to the news.

Eventually she got up from the couch and picked up my badge. "I'm going down to check out the gym."

"Right." I suppressed a yawn and headed to go change out of my Crusade tank top and shorts. It was way too cold out there. "I'm headed back to the speakeasy to check some things…"

She waved her finger at me, drawing attention to the Packheart Ring. "I'll call you if I need you."

"Chek."

Mira stopped at the door to the apartment just before leaving. She looked back over her shoulder. "Hey, Shiro?"

The hesitation in her voice put me slightly on edge even if she wasn't meaning it to. Heh- she probably felt the same when I did this to her a few moments ago. "Yeah?"

"I know you've got stuff going on." She waved a hand. I wasn't sure if it was toward the apartment or just toward me in general. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."

"Is that… is that a bad thing?"

"No. It's good. It's definitely good. You look more alive than I've seen you in a long time." She had a small smile on her face, one that was completely genuine. It faded slightly and her eyebrows knit lower. "You don't have to share all your secrets with me. I get it."

"I want to though." And that was the truth. I never thought I'd talk to anyone about the interface and all the weirdness affecting me. The more I hung around Mira though, the more I found myself wanting to be honest about it all. To just trust someone. It'd been a really long time since I fully trusted anyone.

She nodded her head and cracked open the door, pausing one last time. She didn't look back. "Right… and- um- th-thanks for not treating me any different."

Before I could respond, my mikata vanished out the door. I stood there for a moment, playing over the conversation in my head one more time. There was a small smile on my face when I finished getting ready and headed out the door.

— — —

"Are you there?" I called out into my bunker a couple hours later.

[Fox: Is it time?! ⚞(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⚟]

A light laugh left me at seeing her emoticons. It felt like she always had a new one to show off. I looked around the bunker for a moment, trying to find the crystal she gave me. It was buried under a whole lot of junk items. I really needed to clean this place out sometime.

The crystal pulled on me slightly, like it wanted to take me away to someplace else. "I'll be able to return here, chek?"

[Fox: Of course! I definitely won't lock you away in my basement! へ(゜ω、°)へ]

That- that made me feel even worse, somehow. And I didn't say anything about being locked in a basement? That was oddly specific. Could I even really trust Fox? I mean, she'd been nothing but helpful for the most part.

I patted my bag, feeling reassured at the weight of a second Transporter. I already had another set of parts ready to go, but I just finished putting it all together. I was worried about my first one dying or something happening to it while I was in the Aether. Thee second was for some more security while I was in my bunker.

Worse case scenario, I could always just leave the Aether. Or call out to one of the other eidolons and ask for help. I had options now. I could even try to leave behind a Spectral Flock crow, but I had a feeling Fox's place was quite far from the void that my bunker sat in. Far enough that I'd be out of range, anyway. Did range limitations exist here? The Aether was weird.

I pushed all thoughts from my head and focused on the crystal again. Before I could second guess myself, I activated it. The crystal tugged and pulled on me. My senses faded under intense vertigo, and my surroundings shifted and swayed into something else entirely.

I arrived on top of a mountain. Dozens if not hundreds of other mountains sat scattered around the area. Faint moonlight illuminated the vast space. The terrain created a picturesque backdrop not all that far from the background of the pavilion, to be honest. Was this where it was inspired from?

Speaking of the pavilion, dozens of similar structures were set up all over the mountain. Paper lanterns dangled from the buildings, casting soft blue glows across the mountain. It looked like some ancient sect hidden away from the world. Foxes of all shapes and sizes moved around the place. Most of them froze up as soon as I arrived.

I stared out at the sea of fluff, taken aback. Their cute eyes stared, watching me with what looked like a stunned silence. And then the ocean of fur started moving once more with soft brays and light yips. The first of the foxes closest to me, a small kit, jumped with full force into my arms. I instinctively caught it, holding the wiggling mass of excitement.

It was just a taste of the wave that was about to wash over me. I braced myself for impact. There were worse ways to die.

— — —

AN: Crazy how this works out. I left a similar comment on the Patreon considering it also has a massive cliffhanger, but cliffs lining up with the weakened really aren't intentional. I promise. ^^

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