Will was an idiot.

Moons, Will was an idiot.

Even more expletive curse that was currently escaping her but would probably pop up later when she was past that point in her little freak-out, Will was an idiot.

Did Cybele — know?

Did she know Will was a hibri?

Will took a deep breath, fighting to clear her head as the distant sounds of an approaching monorail grew closer. This was something to think about Not Now. Later. Later would be good. She could sense Cynth's impatience as the vehicle screeched to a slow halt in front of them and rain began to trickle down from above; the click of the doors springing open was accompanied by a snapped "Finally," from the blue-haired girl.

The trio boarded the monorail — Will's third ride in what couldn't have been more than, what, two weeks? — and Will tried to stray from the mental subject of the Somewhat Suspicious Dialogue and Very Fishy Eye Contact That Unfortunately Was Difficult To Interpret In A Romantic Sense; Believe Her, She Was Trying that had just occurred. This wasn't — nowhere had Cybele truly given any clues she knew Will's secret. She'd probably just been looking out for her. Trying to spare her Cynth's wrath. Will's heart could stop beating so fast now. It was okay. It was okay. How would Cybele even know? Will had been careful.

Without thinking about it, she brought her hand to the side of her neck — and froze.

That tide bringer anguis chasing her into the undergrowth.

The pain in her head, the rock he'd thrown clattering to the side as she crumpled to the ground, completely exposed.

Cybele's eyes, golden against the greenery for a half-instant before everything faded away.

Cybele.

And Will's moons-damned gills.

A swat of nausea overcame her as she shakily sat down, slowly pulling her hand away. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was connecting dots that weren't there.

Cynth was going to kill her. Will was going to die. Here, on this monorail. Will was going to die.

"Are you — okay?" Cybele questioned from beside the hibri, genuine concern tinting her (also shaky) voice.

Blinking her eyes into focus, Will realized she was sitting next to the Deceitfully Hot Entity in the seat closer to the middle aisle, Cynth one row ahead and on the other side. The velvet-lined compartment appeared to be empty but for a lone, middle-aged human man asleep in the back. Six tides.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh she was gonna die.

Except that why had Cybele been covering for her then?

Will dared a peek to her left, where the human was glancing at her. There was undeniable wariness on her face. Will wasn't making this up.

"Um," she managed to murmur, all too aware of Cynth's presence on the other side of her. "Meet you in? Another compartment?" Because, communication. That was good.

Cybele inhaled sharply, before giving a small nod. Great. Wonderful. Excellent.

Will rose to her feet and stumbled to the end of the car, mind still churning from the realization. "Uh, bathroom!" she called behind her, in case Cynth was suspicious. Which, in hindsight, would possibly make Cynth more suspicious. Oops.

She slipped into another monorail car, this one luckily devoid of anyone. It took hardly a moment for Cybele to enter as well, body held stiff and shadowed by trepidation. She gave a small, forced smile upon seeing Will, walking past her so that they were facing one another, then remained silent.

"What in the tides."

Will's held her voice flat, syllables longer than usual as she fought to think through her words. She was dimly aware that this was Cybele she was speaking to — Cybele, harmless Cybele, beautiful Cybele — but that hibri's face wouldn't wipe itself out of her mind. Dalia. This wasn't some little game. If Will wasn't careful right now — if she wasn't careful always — that would be it. She would be gone.

So much for Cybele checking her out, then.

"Will — " Cybele started, before she seemed to lose her words again. She hesitated, her eyes shifting away and then moving back. There was something new in her expression as she spoke, a sort of resigned decision. "I saw them," she said quietly, after a long moment of silence. She didn't need to specify what them meant. "When you were unconscious."

Will took a deep breath, panic crashing its way into her chest. Moons help her, she really was completely at the whim of Cybele.

Cybele, who she'd been pining for.

Cybele, who she barely knew.

"Please don't do it," Will said, voice soft against the distant sound of thunder.

The human's eyes widened ever so imperceptibly, and Will didn't have time to wonder what that meant. Because. The hot garden girl. The quiet girl who never quite said what she was thinking. The girl who was currently holding Will's life in her hands. That girl was leaning closer.

And the next thing she knew Cybele's lips were on hers.

The world tilted sideways, thoughts slowly slipping out of Will's head. Kissing her. Cybele was kissing her. This was not how she'd expected this conversation to go. Not that she was complaining. Because like. Cybele's lips were really soft. Maybe there was special human lip gloss. Also, she was an above-decent kisser. Cybele, not Will. Hopefully Will — she'd had practice, anyway, with that one girl from her swamp. Why was she thinking about her right now? Regardless, Cybele was an above-decent kisser and really moons-damned hot. (Much hotter than the swamp girl.) If this was some sort of distraction tactic it was working unnervingly well.

"Christ."

Cybele broke away, and Will turned in somewhat dazed surprise to see Cynth, standing at the cusp of the compartment. Cynth. How long had she been there?

Cybele let out a light, embarrassed laugh. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here."

"Mm," Cynth drawled, unimpressed. "Well I wish I wasn't."

Will realized distantly that she'd forgotten how to breathe, and made her most valiant attempt at correcting this fact.

"Anyway," Cynth continued, wholly unperturbed by the general discomfort she'd helped invite into the room, "while you two were busy sucking each other's faces off, I finished plotting out our routes." She pulled one of those tourist maps out; Will could vaguely make out red markings on it. "Contrary to whatever the hell you may think, this is not the time for flirtation. So kindly take this moment to come back to your seats, where I will be lecturing you dumbasses on the actual shit you need to know." Before either had a chance to respond, she'd turned and left the car, door swinging behind her. Open, closed. Open, closed.

Will turned back to Cybele, whose face had flattened into its usual unreadability. Softly, glancing around so as to ensure no listeners, she replied, "I won't."

Please don't do it.

I won't.

And that's when Will knew.

Cynth, suspicious gaze following Will as she left the compartment.

The door, swinging open-closed behind her.

Cybele's eyes widening before she kissed Will.

Cybele's eyes widening.

What did she notice in that moment?

Who was behind the door?

Will took a huge gulp of air, heart pounding freely in her chest.

Cynth was probably listening right now.

"Are you feeling alright?" Cybele asked carefully. Will noticed her hands clenched into fists by her sides, maybe to stop them from shaking.

She hadn't kissed her because she wanted to.

She hadn't kissed her as a distraction.

Cybele kissed Will to save her life.

But why?

Almost as though in a dream, Will stumbled back into their compartment, sitting down in a seat she vaguely remembered having sat in before.

All this time, pining over Cybele. What was really going on in the girl's head?

Cynth began to speak, probably about the maps, but Will's mind blurred her words to nothing.

Why would a human girl let a hibri go free? Let a hibri pry her way into things she clearly didn't belong in?

"Will?" Her soft, familiar voice flooded Will's ears. "You're blocking my seat."

Who in all the tides was Cybele Valloma?

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By the time the monorail arrived at its destination, Will's mind had been spinning for hours. Her new-fledged theories ranged from those such as Cybele is an illegitimate hibri child sent here by Lusan's rebel group to keep an eye on and/or seduce me to Cybele is working undercover for Cynth and plans on using me to get to and demolish the patrias. She was also somewhat aware there was a chance she was utterly irrelevant in any scenario. But that seemed improbable.

In any case, Will had unfortunately come to the conclusion that she should probably stay away from Cybele. Even though she technically seemed to be helping her. It was just too — risky. Who was Cybele working for? Which side was she on? What did she plan to accomplish here? Will couldn't afford to screw up now.

The memory of their kiss twisted inside of her, but it wasn't real. Will had to stop thinking about it like it was real.

She should have been focusing on other things anyway. The monorail had stopped near the entrance to Monsum City, and the area's true level of crowded was now fully visible. Cynth had announced near the end of the ride, with the aid of some truly impressive curses, that she'd mistaken the dates — this was the last night before the festival, and the area was practically sweating people. Patrias streamed from every corner — though Will noticed a general distance was kept from the clearly human monorail — filling the outskirts of the dusk-laden city with color and chaos. As they got off of the monorail, Will saw Cynth tightening the hood around her hair, a fully thought-through action. If Cynth Leeyung was spotted at the Almoons Festival, surrounded by probably-drunk patrias — well, Will could see things turning pretty... violent.

Maybe Will should just do that. Pull Cynth's hood off. Reveal her to everyone. The clock was ticking down on time to stop their plan from succeeding; she might as well go drastic now.

However. Cynth did have a gun.

That she would hold no qualms on shooting Will with.

Also now that Will gave it more than a second's thought the daughter of a prominent human figure being murdered by patrias was maybe not a good thing to try and accomplish. Because like. That was the kind of thing that might maybe spur wars.

And stuff.

The evening air was a summery warm and sweet, the scents of pastries and liquor and after-rain carried on the breeze. Will could hear distant firecrackers, dulled by the ever-present clamor of general celebration. She wasn't particularly educated on the patria religions, but she knew they had something to do with the moons — hence Almoons, which came roughly every six years when all of the moons were out at once. There were still a few nights before the moons reached full, like, godliness, but four or five were plenty to see by.

Cynth hurried ahead, and Will on her heels — it would be ridiculously easy to lose someone in these crowds. "Where are we going?" she shouted.

"Somewhere to stay the night!" Cynth yelled back, the required volume it took to speak swallowing up any intentional disdain held in her words. "It'd be too easy for someone to follow us if we tried to look now!"

"But the actual festival will be starting!" Will vaguely made out Cybele call from behind her. "We'll be more conspicuous in full daylight!"

"You're not here to question me, Valloma," — and here Cynth regained her threatening tone — "so shut the fuck up and follow my damn lead!"

Cybele did so. Will tried not to think about what the girl was conceivably there for.

They marched through crowds, Will's eyes sticking on a few vendors. Moon juice. Maybe she could get Cynth drunk. Irony. Or whatever. Mooncakes. Those were really good. Maybe she could like. Buy some.

And then her gaze settled briefly on what appeared to be a rain-soaked wanted poster — with a hastily-sketched drawing of Cynth herself on it. Beneath the image, written in a particularly illegible take on the rana language, Will managed to make out the words, Cynth Leeyung, two others, and unprovoked murder before she was forced to hurry past, mind aflutter. The rana village only the previous day, with that ugly old guy in the bar. Zair or whatever. What in the tides had Cynth done when Will was outside?

On further reflection, she didn't really want to know.

Will heard whooping off to the side, and turned just in time to see a fireworks display go off. Six crescent moons, different colors for the different species. (There was a never-ending debate on whether the sixth moon stood for hibri or humans or some other now-extinct species of myths and conspiracy theories.) She could smell smoke and a distant sticky sweetness that was probably moonijuana. Everyone seemed so — happy, celebrating whatever it was they were celebrating. What a terrible place to have a secret, Very Important agenda. It killed the mood.

"Excuse me," Will heard Cynth almost snap at a random caela unfortunate enough to pass by her, "do you know where my companions and I could stay tonight?"

The caela laughed. He sounded drunk. "The hotels are all full, lady. Haven't you been to one of these things before?"

Cynth slapped him across the face and continued on, not even pausing her stride. Slapping was probably a nice alternative considering this was Cynth, actually.

The crowd just got more... crowded... as they approached the actual entrance to the city. Will had seen what appeared to be to be a few human guards scattered throughout the fields they were currently in, but pretty much everyone was a patria. Or hibri, to be fair. It was sometimes hard to tell. She understood now why Cynth wanted to wait till the next day — the whole city seemed impossibly full, packed to the brim noise and color and stimulation for various other senses. There were only a few hours until Almoons began, and the excitement in the air was infectious. Moons-damned Cynth Leeyung. Well, the festival lasted six days — Will was sure she'd have time to celebrate once this whole quest thingie was done.

If she didn't lose her magic, that was.

Her magic.

For the first time since exiting the monorail, Will gave conscious thought to what exactly was amping her up so much. Their crazed, joyous surroundings? Probably.

But there was something else, something filling her whole body. This — this potential, almost. Raw energy.

Was this — was she —

The rana source. It was nearby.

And Will could feel it.

"Cynth, where are we going?" Cybele called. There was something in her tone, a sort of on-edge tinge that if Will thought about it she would realize probably had to do with whatever had occurred between the two earlier.

But Will wasn't thinking about it. Because the instant she realized what this was, her entire world went alight. The noise coming from every direction. Everywhere she glanced — impossibly bright. Sound waves. That was what the rana power connected to. And with the source so close — it was almost unlimited.

Will took a deep breath, fighting to keep her heart rate steady. All of a sudden, she had become a star — and she was so close to exploding. She needed to keep this in check. She needed to keep this in check.

"Will? Are you okay?" Cybele asked, and Will realized distantly that she was shaking, sudden exertion leaving her stunned.

"I'm — " Slowly she was aware of sinking to her knees, melting into the grass. "I don't feel good."

"Christ, Willa," she thought she heard Cynth shout, "now?"

And then the world filled with light, and somewhere people were screaming "HAPPY ALMOONS!" and cheering and countdown-ing, and it was all too much.

As Will sank into unconsciousness, she found herself thinking distantly, Tomorrow I save the world.

Right now, I sleep.

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Will is Vanya Hargreeves send tweet.

Aaaanywho, thank you! For reading! This chapter took food_is_my_jam two days to write (versus weeks for most others) and is her favorite Will chapter so yayy. ApPreCiaTe iT mFs -me, I am Ref.

Sooo, things are kinda e s c a l a t i n g. Any predictions, or just random ideas for stuff that could happen? As always, we are taking faN cOnTeNt. Literally any kind. Send it. We want.

And tell your friends to read Almoons we want appreciation >:(

With virtual hugs, purple Google kisses, and okay wait yeah so what are your thoughts on the Cybele/Will stuff that happened this chapter comment here,

Gay For Cybele

(W̶i̶l̶l̶ ) (G.F.C.)