Three days after Banshee and Cryo rescued nearly a hundred civilians from the Serpent's nest, the sound of thunder woke Olivia with a start.

Somewhat annoyed, she rolled over to face her window. The skies were dark with clouds that would later dump the rain across the city. After a few seconds of watching, Olivia caught a flash of lightning in the distance.

Great.

"Good morning!" said Viri, snuggled under the corner of a blanket.

"I disagree," said Olivia, rolling back over and stuffing her face into the pillow.

The day she'd been dreading was here, and it was already worse than any of the scenarios she'd managed to come up with in her worrying last night. It'd all been various ways she'd embarrass herself--she hadn't even considered the weather. There was no way she was going to be able to get to the Cevrael skyshrine before the storm hit but, then again, maybe it'd give her an excuse to miss out on her first day of temple work?

With her luck, probably not.

Olivia fingered the thin, silver chain that kept the amulet hanging at her chest, hidden under her pajama top. She was yet to take it off. It felt right wearing it, like leaving it would be just as bad as leaving an arm or a leg behind for the day.

She pulled it out of her top to look at it. From what she could tell, it was a single, carved piece of silver-white starstone. It caught the light in strange ways, ways that shouldn't have been possible from the light sources in the room. It was like another sky with a million more stars was trapped inside. More than once, Olivia had caught herself trying to figure out their song, only to have it slip away.

She still didn't know how she'd got it. All she knew was that she'd seen... something. She just couldn't remember what, sort of like she had a single thread of melody but couldn't remember how it was supposed to start.

Save Ella Spiritcaller before the festival--the exact six weeks she was stuck with temple work.

After another five or so minutes of laying in bed, Olivia tucked the amulet back in and reluctantly sat up.

She took a long moment to rub her eyes before she looked to Viri, offering the Ascended a hand. "Guess I'd better get my butt moving, hey?"

Viri jumped on her hand, and Olivia placed the Ascended on her shoulder. "Probably wouldn't be good to show up in your pajamas on the first day."

Olivia swung her legs out of bed and stood up. "That was one of the worst scenarios I came up with yesterday, right under the underwear one. So yes, let's avoid that one."

She went through her morning stretch carefully, ensuring the wound that the Shimmer had given her wouldn't be aggravated before she moved onto the slightly more difficult ones that freaked out Ericka. Olivia liked them because they were a challenge, and because they took care of both her strength and flexibility training for the day. She didn't have to--transforming into Banshee made her far stronger and agile than Olivia ever could be--but it made her feel prepared. Like she was putting in the work.

On her last sequence of stretches, Olivia eyed the drawer on her nightstand with a sense of dread.

Without opening it, she knew exactly how many days of medication she had left. Facing it each day wasn't getting any easier. As she finished the stretches and reluctantly put today's pill in her palm, she found herself staring at it for a long moment. Once, she'd told herself that she wouldn't ever take the freedom it gave her for granted, but she had. In the last two months, she'd forgotten to appreciate it. Now, it felt like karma was slapping her in the face.

Viri snuggled into her cheek. Olivia reached up to scratch the Ascended on the head before downing the pill with a gulp of water and pushing it out of her mind.

She went about the rest of her morning routine in relative silence, not particularly feeling like singing. Dressed and fed, Olivia put on an old pair of glasses that didn't quite fit right and stuffed her Liaiser in her bag.

"Welp, guess we're about as ready as we're ever going to be," said Olivia, holding the bag open to Viri. "Shall we?"

Viri zipped up to Olivia's face, hugging her nose. "You'll do fine today, Olivia. It won't be as bad as you think it will be. I promise!"

Olivia smiled. "Hopefully not, Viri. But if so, it's totally your fault."

Viri pulled away, and after giving Olivia a look that could have very well been considered cheeky, disappeared into the shadows of Olivia's bag.

"Don't you think you're out of the dark yet, Viri," said Olivia, poking the bag before heading downstairs. "This is still your fault."

She gave her mum a quick kiss on the cheek on her way down to the front door, promising to take care but managing to escape before the lecture about not walking home by herself happened.

With rollerblades on and an umbrella in hand, Olivia stepped outside and shivered as she closed the door. The wind was picking up and she could feel the moisture in the air. The clouds were dark, the occasional streaks of lightning closer and the thunder that chased them loud in her ears.

She briefly considered hiring a Gleamer carriage to take her to the skyshrine before hunching her shoulders and starting off on her own two rollerblades. They didn't have money for her to waste because she was afraid of getting wet. She'd stick to the streets where she knew she'd get a little cover if the clouds decided to finally break open over her head as she pushed her speed as fast as she dared.

Olivia didn't even make it halfway before the rain started.

It wasn't just rain, either. It was a downpour. The wind whipped her hair across her face and slowed her progress significantly, and the umbrella didn't do a whole lot. In the space of a few minutes, she was pretty much completely soaked through. The thunder was still a few seconds behind the lightning, which was something at least. It didn't look like the storm was going to miss them, but she might just make it to the skyshrine in time if she went a little faster.

Or... she could transform. Olivia glanced around her, trying to figure out how many people might notice if she suddenly went missing. Not many, most likely. Banshee could handle the rain, and Olivia would definitely get there a whole lot faster. After all, she'd promised Harpy she wouldn't respond to Manifested--not that she wouldn't transform at all, right?

Olivia was trying to work out her best exit strategy when Viri poked her head out of the bag, ringing Liaiser in hand.

Olivia stopped against a wall before she took it from Viri. She didn't even look at the name as she hit accept and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Olivia?" said Ariel's voice. It was hard to hear her over the wind. "Where are you? Introduction is starting soon!"

"Yea, well, the rain started about fifteen minutes ago," said Olivia. "I'm still coming, I promise. Be there soon!"

"You're out in this rain?" said Ariel. "Liv, Wh--"

Whatever she said was interrupted by a gigantic crack of thunder that made Olivia cringe. "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?"

"Where are you?"

Olivia glanced around. Through the sheets of water, she really had no idea, but if she was going to enlist Banshee's assistance, it didn't really matter. She could cross a central district in three minutes, give or take thirty seconds. "I crossed the inner-central Cevinari canal before. I'm not far away."

"Just wait where you are. I'm gonna--" Another crack of thunder. "--will come get you. Don't move."

"There's no point both of us getting soaked, you'll just--"

"I can't hear you, Liv. The wind's too loud. Just stay put!"

"Ariel, wait, you don't--" Olivia began, but Ariel ended the call. With a huff, Olivia stuffed her Liaiser back into her bag. "Well, I guess there's no transforming now without raising a few questions."

When Olivia kept moving, Viri poked her head out of the bag again, her voice surprisingly clear despite the thunder and wind around them. "Aren't we waiting?"

Olivia wiped the water off her glasses. "If Ariel's going to come babysit me, then I'm going to at least get as far as I can before she--"

A flash of white lit the streets like brilliant daylight was immediately followed by a boom that vibrated in her chest and split the air. Olivia jumped in spite of herself and dropped her umbrella. It was quickly picked up by the wind and sent spiralling back down the street and instinctively, Olivia tried to chase it but on the wet ground, her rollerblade slipped.

She couldn't recover her balance in time as the wind sealed her fate. She crashed into the starstone pavement. Pain lanced up her side from the Shimmer's wound, feeling like she'd been stabbed all over again. It wiped out her thoughts, and automatically, Olivia went into recovery mode.

She forced deep, even breaths and counted them inside her head, focusing on the numbers, the sounds around her. Little by little, the pain's grip on her thoughts grew looser. She could uncurl herself from the ball on the ground and somewhat pull herself together again.

"Are you okay?" asked Viri, zipping out from the shadows of the bag.

"Fine," said Olivia, righting herself as she bit down on the nausea the wound was causing her. "Didn't even have a seizure. Super proud of you right now brain, good job." She glanced at Viri. "Are you okay?"

Viri's eyes were iridescent through the rain. "I'm okay, Olivia. I've healed. Maybe we should transform so we can split the wound again and--"

She cut off, disappearing back inside the bag as bright yellow light made its way down the street. Olivia squinted through the rain, trying to find the source when she saw a lone Gleamerbike trawling its way down the street.

Not wanting to cause a scene, Olivia tried to scramble to her feet before the rider noticed her and failed. The aggravated wound swayed the world as it ripped agony up her side and knocked her down again. She was just catching her breath when the Gleamerbike stopped, its rider's helmeted head turning towards her.

Sure enough, they pulled over. Olivia tried again to right herself, and mid-way through her attempt, the Gleamer's rider was in front of her. He pulled Olivia to her feet with ease and continued to hold her under an arm, ensuring she was steady.

"Thanks," said Olivia, more than a little embarrassed as she straightened and winced.

The rider flipped up the visor on his helmet, his gaze on her side. "Are you hurt?"

His voice sparked something in Olivia's memory that disappeared in the same instant. "No, I'm fine, I just..." The rider's gaze flicked up to hers, and recognition struck her. "Jason?"

For a heartbeat, their eyes locked. The storm around them became the furthest thing from reality as... something passed between them. Olivia had heard Ericka go on about his eyes more than once, but she'd never particularly cared. Now, the mismatched eyes, one green, the other almost black, seemed ridiculously important and for the life of her, Olivia couldn't work out why.

Jason's brow creased as Olivia opened her mouth to ask a question she couldn't quite remember when Viri stirred
inside her bag, knocking against her hip through the fabric and breaking the trance.

He was still watching her. Waiting for her to say something.

She went with the first thing that came to mind. "What--what are you doing out here?"

"Ariel asked me to find you," he said, glancing towards the sky. "As it seems, I may have found you just in ti--" A crack of thunder cut him off. Olivia could have sworn she'd heard some questionable words come out of his mouth. "Are you injured?"

"I think I hurt something when I fell," Olivia lied. "I'll survive, though."

Jason considered it for a brief moment. "Could you hold on if I put you behind me on the Gleamer, or would you prefer if we were to wait out the storm?"

"Isn't it going to look bad if we're late?"

"I would prefer us late than one of us with several broken bones if she were to fall again," he said, and Olivia was surprised to find that the words were almost... gentle. It caught her completely off guard and after a few moments of her silence, he added, almost uncertainly, "This decision is yours."

Olivia pushed a piece of hair that'd become plastered to her face aside. This didn't feel like the same Jason as before. Maybe... maybe she'd misjudged him before, or caught him on a bad night. "I can hang on."

"Are you certain?"

She nodded. "Positive."

He led her over to the Gleamerbike. "Then I suggest we hurry before this storm truly hits us."

Jason straddled the Gleamer first, and with no little amount of expertise, he helped her on behind him. He quickly showed her where to put her feet and where to hang on.

"Ready?" he yelled over the wind howling around them.

Olivia wriggled closer, burying her head into his back and tightening her arms around his. She was all too aware of how similar this situation was to the other day, clinging to Cryo's back. "Yep!"

Jason flipped his visor down and they were off, the thunder and lightning chasing them the whole way back to the skyshrine.

*+*+*+*  

A/N - I'm super late from Wednesday. I'm so, so sorry. Had a really crappy week, got SUPER stuck with this damned chapter and rewrote it like 4 times and bleh. 

Also, sorry in advance if I miss next week's upload. I'm also behind on my Indigo editing, and that has to take priority, but I'll try I promise <3 

Show the chapter some love, even if it sucks? ^_^' I could kinda use it right now