Chapter Text
A red planet burned beneath the drifting station, orbiting the star in silence.
In a flash of light, a silver train warped into view just before the space station. It ran on Akivili’s path before sliding onto the station’s rail. The train stopped just before the end of the station’s terminal.
“Arrival at Station 720.” A brief announcement preceded a soft chime.
A tall, white-haired man in a white trench coat stepped out of the automatic doors of the train and onto the metal platform. His gold and blue cape rustled behind him as he walked through the terminal.
He was the only passenger aboard.
“Welcome back, Phainon!” A white drone hovered before the man, its voice cheery but robotic. It drifted forward, familiar, as the black screen flickered with a red, smiling icon.
“Thanks.” Phainon smiled at the drone. “Do you know where Anaxa is?”
“I believe you’ll find Anaxa in the main lab,” it replied. “Would you like me to accompany you?”
“It’s alright, thank you.”
The drone gave an affirmative as the emote on its screen returned to normal. Phainon watched from the corner of his eye as it drifted towards the train that he had just gotten off of. It started scanning the train for any damage or malfunctions before the next travel.
His footsteps echoed through the metal halls, answered only by the faint whir of passing drones.
Only he and Anaxa lived here.
The station had been a gift from Madam Herta after Anaxa mentioned the Imaginary Tree. The drones came with it—paid for casually, like pocket change. Phainon hadn’t minded the drones because they completed the basic tasks of cleaning, cooking, and managing ordinary tasks that Anaxa rarely spared attention for.
He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.
As the elevator rose, his thoughts drifted back to the time before Amphoreus had become real. Phainon secluded himself at home for a few months after finally obtaining peace.
He had never been so relieved to see his family and friends back alive again in Aedes Elysiae. However, it had taken him a year to confront the feelings he had long since buried to save the world.
His heart ached when he remembered how it had taken several years after that to convince Anaxa to start over again.
The humming of the elevator reminded him of the wind drifting through the golden fields back home.
“… Phainon, you shouldn’t dwell so much on the past. We’ve only been together in the first cycle,” Anaxa said. “The world outside of Amphoreus is beyond our imagination. I’m sure you’ll find someone more suited for you than I…”
“—at least someone who didn’t choose to leave you every cycle for the truth.”
He lost count of how many times Anaxa had used this excuse.
“What makes you think I would find someone else?” Phainon said, narrowing his eyes. “Someone that’s not you. Someone who wouldn’t treat me as some hero.”
“You confuse longing with gratitude,” Anaxa said as he looked away. “Your role as the Deliverer is over. You’re no longer bound to a title that defined every choice you made.”
The wheat field around them swayed with the wind, and Anaxa glanced at the sunset, finally falling silent.
“Then…” Phainon reached out, cupping Anaxa’s jaw to bring his gaze back towards him. “Why do you keep coming back?”
“It was to make sure there were no lasting effects on your health.” Anaxa’s gaze sharpened. “Now remove yourself.”
Phainon didn’t. Instead, he brought him closer until their bodies were almost touching. The sage’s breath hitched at the hand on his waist. “Your actions say otherwise, Anaxa.”
Anaxa placed his hands between them as though to push him away. But Phainon could feel the hesitation.
“My feelings for you have never changed. Not once,” Phainon continued. “Do you honestly believe that I would find someone else?”
“… The world is vast, Phainon.”
“Then,” Phainon said, his voice almost pleading. “If you feel nothing, say it. I won’t ask again.”
Anaxa opened his mouth a few times, but then pursed his lips when no words came out. He tilted his head forward, his long bangs obscuring his face.
Phainon let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when he saw the quiver of emotion in the aqua eye. His body relaxed against Anaxa, who leaned in.
“… Let’s start over again.” Phainon held Anaxa in his arms.
“—as ourselves.”
The elevator doors slid open.
He stepped out into the corridor. Large windows lined the corridor, opening onto the vastness of space. The same red planet swirled with violent storms below.
Thirty-three million cycles, and he was tired.
That was why they left Amphoreus.
They still returned—for family, for obligation.
His lips tilted into a small smile. Never had he expected Anaxa to be nervous about meeting his parents. Without millions of cycles behind him, he might never have noticed how uncomfortable Anaxa was around his parents.
While he would never deny that he missed his friends and family, this station was a sanctuary.
The door before him opened automatically, and Phainon entered the main lab only to find it empty. The advanced lab equipment was being cleaned by the drones whirling around it. They waved at him as they continued their work—replacing the vials, placing the labeled bottles back on the shelf, and separating the trash accordingly. One of them, a robot with some gray parts, signaled the office next door with an exclamation icon.
Phainon gave a small wave and headed for the office next door. Sometimes, technology amazed him with its perception.
That had been the same drone he had broken a year ago.
“It’s from the constant observation of your behavior and pattern recognition,” Anaxa said as he tinkered with the drone on the bed. He sighed. “Meaning that every time you come back, you always come looking for me.”
Phainon hugged Anaxa from the back a little tighter.
“You shouldn’t worry so much,” Anaxa assured him. “They’re not lifeforms like the Intellitron.”
The white robotic drone had malfunctioned when Phainon accidentally exposed it to his power. It had come too close while he was testing a theory Anaxa proposed.
Anaxa hadn’t expected how little power it would take to damage it.
Fortunately, the researcher had figured out how to fix it—it whirled back to life after replacing some parts.
The same drone had always told him where Anaxa was. Phainon had felt bad when it distanced itself from him after that incident.
He made sure not to activate his powers at home since then.
The office doors slid open, and Phainon heard a soft but familiar voice talking to the screen. He stopped just before the entrance to see Anaxa sitting with his back towards him.
Anaxa was in mid-conversation with his sister, Diotima.
Diotima’s aqua eyes lit up from the screen when she saw Phainon. Her shorter hair and eyes were of a darker green than Anaxa’s, and she wore glasses, but there was no denying the resemblance between the two siblings. “Phainon! I see you’re back. We were just talking about you.”
“Hey Diotima.” Phainon walked closer to the computer, leaning over with a hand on the metal table. He placed his other hand on Anaxa’s shoulder in greeting. His gaze softened when Anaxa’s fingers brushed his in return. He turned his attention back to the sister. “Haha. Good things, I hope.”
She giggled before speaking. “Yes, but sadly, it’s our little secret conversation. So I can’t tell you.”
Phainon blinked at the deflection and the suspicious wink she gave him. He stiffened and turned to Anaxa. “What were you two talking about?”
“Sister, I warned you against spending so much time with Calypso. You even picked up her teasing habits,” Anaxa said with a sigh, giving Phainon a momentary glance. “Now look at what you’ve done.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Diotima said, her voice still containing mirth. “We were actually talking about how we should all meet on Amphoreus. I’ve talked to your parents, Phainon, and it’s been a while since we all had dinner together.”
Oh, a family dinner. He thought as his muscles relaxed. “When?”
“Within a month, that way you two will have time before traveling here.”
“That sounds wonderful.” He smiled as Diotima laughed.
“Alright, I’ll leave you two lovebirds be for now. Bye and love you, Naxy!” The screen blinks black.
Anaxa sighed as he leaned back into his seat. He was still in his white lab coat and had just come out of an experiment. “How was your trip?”
Phainon had left for a week to answer an emergency call from the Astral Express.
“It was… eventful,” Phainon answered as he placed both hands on Anaxa’s shoulders. Chaotic, more like it. “My partner needed my help to talk to their government and get them out of a difficult situation.”
“Oh?” Anaxa’s long hair shifted as he leaned into the massage.
He chuckled. “I hadn’t known that there were places that required someone from another planet to represent them.”
“Lushaka, was it?” Anaxa suppressed a sound. “Wouldn’t Hysilens have been better suited?”
Hysilens, their siren friend, would have thrived on the planet made of mostly water.
“Perhaps.” Phainon casually slipped off Anaxa’s lab coat to provide a better touch. “But I don’t think she would have been suited for diplomatic intervention. And I’ve heard that she has a concert coming up on another planet soon.”
“At least… it’s been… resolved.”
Anaxa covered his mouth as Phainon worked the knots from his neck. The top buttons of his dress shirt had been unbuttoned and the collar askew to bare one of his slender shoulders. His skin heated under the touch as hands slipped past the fabric.
“—there, a little further… down…”
Phainon felt the pulse throb beneath his touch.
“Did you have anything else to do?” His voice took a notch deeper as he asked.
Anaxa shook his head. Phainon’s fingers changed their pressure on a particular spot, and his breath hitched as his back arched.
The rhythm was unhurried. Intentional. His breathing turned uneven.
The movement stopped.
“Phainon?” Anaxa swallowed. The heat beneath his skin lingered.
Still expecting Phainon’s touch, Anaxa looked up from underneath his hair to see the gold bleeding into the cyan eyes.
Oh.
Their gaze lasted a second longer.
Anaxa tensed, unable to look away.
He gasped. Arms lifted him out of the chair. Anaxa instinctively gripped Phainon’s collar.
Phainon didn’t slow as he carried Anaxa bridal style toward the bedroom.
“—Phainon! Stop, you just came bac—”
The door slid shut behind them with a muted hiss.
A soft chime rang.
Phainon blearily opened his eyes to the darkness of the bedroom. Anaxa slept heavily in his arms. He reached for his pants on the ground and pulled the telestate from the pocket, mindful not to wake Anaxa.
Another chime.
It was a message from the trailblazer twins.
Caelus: Yo. We found the thing that was confiscated back there. I gave it to Stelle for safekeeping.
Stelle: We’ll see you soon to give it back! And thanks for the help earlier!
A sigh of relief escaped him as he messaged back a thank you and turned his telestate off.
When he arrived, security had confiscated everything he had been carrying. After the trial, the officials returned everything—except one item.
It had been a little frustrating when it looked as though his own stay would have needed to be extended. Thankfully, the Astral Express assured him they would retrieve it and sent him home.
He buried his face in Anaxa’s long hair and breathed deeply.
For once, he hadn’t needed to become a weapon.