The light around him stilled, and Jason opened his eyes to the City.

It took him a few seconds to notice that it wasn't his City, but the version he'd floated above in the previous vision. There were no skyshrines on the skyline of the other buildings, and of course, the vast, silver dome that spanned the entire sky, shielding the City from whatever lay beyond--perhaps the same darkness that had speared Olivia through the chest last time.

Olivia.

Her name rang like a bell through his mind. Had the darkness attacked her again? Was that why the light figure had pulled him in? Jason looked around but found nothing. No Olivia, no figure of light, no people--nothing but the buildings of rose-coloured starstone and the eerie quiet contained within the barrier.

Jason started walking in the direction he'd come in facing.

The further he walked, the more things began to appear.

At first it was groups of upright smudges, which quickly became people. Though their faces were blurred and their conversations were little more than a hum in his ears, their garments were sharp and clear. They reminded him of Speaker robes, all in similar styles with little difference between genders. Different groups wore different colours--Luminary colours, Jason realised as he walked past a group of Nereid's colours, then one of Centaur's--and the different colours did not interact with each other. They remained apart at all times, even going so far as to cross the street to maintain the distance.

It was... strange, to say the least. Jason did his best to maintain his stride, well aware of how much he stood out, assuming they could see him at all. Still, past experiences had taught him that it was often better to act as though you could be seen, and so, he continued forward with his head high and gaze focused, even as doubt about his lack of direction began to surface.

He walked for perhaps a few more minutes before the people around him started to lose focus once more, returning to the blurred figures they'd previously been. With a frown, Jason retraced his steps and soon found the people came into focus once more.

Jason stood at the edge of the sidewalk and cast his gaze around. If he wasn't misreading the signs, whatever he was supposed to find was around this area. It was at least a block, and a quick glance up at all six floors of it had Jason rather concerned. How was he supposed to--

"Thi--thirty six, okay, okay just breathe--"

Jason clamped down on his breath, bringing himself to a complete silence as he strained his ears for the voice--her voice.

"Thirty seven. Thirty seven. Thirty seven is good."

"Olivia?" he called out, whirling around, trying to figure out where her voice was coming from. His heart was racing, thumping far too loud. He couldn't hear her anymore, not over the thud thud thud threatening to beat straight out of his chest. "Liv, are you here?"

"Not him. Wasn't him last time. Not him now. Thirty seven becomes thirty eight. Thirty ei... i... ght."

The alcove to his right across the street, the one he'd walked past earlier, where the group in Centaur's colours had been. He'd missed it, too focused on looking ahead, on observing without appearing to be doing so, but now he ran over, careless of which of these apparitions might take an interest in him. "Olivia!"

Her voice was clearer now. "Can't hear you, can't see you, not real, not real, it's fine--thirty nine, forty, forty one--"

Jason's fingers caught against the corner of the wall as he pulled himself to a stop.

For the second time in as many days, Jason found his world pulled to a complete halt by her.

Olivia stood in the shadows of an alcove, her back to the wall, arms pulled up over her head, and her chin pressed into her chest. Her legs were braced in front of her, shaking but still holding her up as she muttered number after number, each one a little slower, a little more uncertain than before.

But in spite of it, her shoulders were strong. They were shaking with the rest of her, but they were strong. Her breaths were long and deep even as the pauses between them became further and thinner.

"Liv?" said Jason.

"Not him," she whispered. She rolled onto her shoulder, facing her back towards him. "Not him. Alone. Cope. Forty-six--"

Jason stepped closer slowly, carefully, until he was right beside her.

"It's me, Shadowheart," he said quietly, barely daring to breathe too loud. "I promised that you wouldn't have to do this alone anymore."

Olivia didn't reply. She only continued counting something that wasn't breaths or seconds, yet as Jason's hopes sank, the fingers of her right hand shifted on top of her head--the barest hint of a sign that right now, was louder than any words.

Jason didn't let himself think about it, didn't give the anxiety or formalities a second to raise their objections as he reached up and slipped his fingers into hers. Olivia's fingers curled around his cautiously, almost like they expected his to disappear, but as a few moments passed, her grip became tighter. Her fingers moved further up his, and slowly--so very slowly--Jason lifted her hand away from her face, until he held her hand against his chest and her eyes flickered open and looked at him.

He didn't think anything could stop his heart the way her eyes had the first time. He thought it'd been the situation, the sheer relief of receiving a response from her that night in Adande's refuge, but with her hazel gaze completely focused on him now, Jason knew he'd been wrong.

He saw the same spark in them now that he'd seen that night, the spark that had flickered and died so quickly before she'd fallen back into her mutterings and pulled back into herself, but this time, this time he saw a fight. He saw that spark flare and struggle and fight to keep breathing until--

"Jase?"

"Hey, Liv."

Silence, and then--

She crashed into him. He couldn't hold onto her tight enough, his hand on the back of her head as her own arms almost crushed his ribs. She buried her face in his chest, her fingers digging deep into his clothes, and not even Skypillar could save him from the utter freefall his mind fell into when she began to cry.

"Hey, Liv, it's okay--"

"I'm sorry, I--I don't know why--"

"You don't have to apologise, Liv. I'm here, I've got you, you're okay. Just breathe, I'm here, I've got you."

Jason dropped his face into her hair and murmured her name, over and over again as Olivia kept trying to apologise even as she only gripped him tighter. He followed his own advice, drawing in long, deep breaths through his nose, trying to find the ground that'd been pulled out from under him, the breaths that'd been stolen by sheer relief until he had enough mental presence to sit them both down on the ground.

With his back to the wall and Olivia curled in a ball against his chest, Jason just kept running his hand over her head, smoothing down her hair and speaking soft words. Her shoulders still shook from the tears, her breaths ragged and worn, but she didn't let him go.

"I don't know why I'm hysterical all of a sudden, I'm sorry--"

"No apologies, Shadowheart. You don't need to apologise for anything."

"But--but I mean, I think I dragged you in here again and then you get here and I'm just a giant mess just because a few blurry ghosts are wandering around the place--"

"I came here by choice, and those ghosts are indeed rather creepy. I don't blame you."

"Oh, c'mon, no they aren't, Jase."

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to protect me from them, won't you?"

Olivia hiccuped and leaned away, but her fingers remained clenched on his shirt. Her eyes were still downcast as she wiped her cheeks on her shoulder. "Oh, yeah. Because that's gone so well in the past. Last time we were here I got stabbed."

"I didn't, which by some measure could be considered that you successfully protected me."

"That doesn't make sense, Jason."

"Of course it does. You see, if--"

Olivia cracked a smile and sat back on her legs, finally lifting her hands to her face and rubbing her eyes under her glasses. "You know what, on second thoughts, I don't want to hear your justification. I believe you." She released a breath, tilting her chin towards the sky as she closed her eyes. "I'm not imagining you, right, Frostsong? You're real, aren't you?"

"I'm about as real as I can be outside the physical world," said Jason. "Mentally, I'm here, and that's the part that seems to matter."

Olivia nodded, and Jason remained silent, giving her space until she found the right words.

"Okay," she said eventually, following the word with a breath. She grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers between her own, like she was trying to reassure herself that he hadn't disappeared. "Okay. I'm together for two seconds, so while I'm not in the middle of a breakdown, what's the plan here?"

"I was hoping you'd know," said Jason. "I was inside the hospital when I felt a presence drawing me outside." He paused, judging her tightened lips before continuing in a softer voice. "Do you remember when you described the figure of light within the auroras, the night you called them down? I believe the same figure brought me to you."

"She's visited me, too," said Olivia quietly, a shiver running through her body as a strange sound echoed through the air. They both hesitated, listening to the pealing notes, before Olivia shook her head and continued. "I think she's trying to help, but--"

Olivia's head jerked up mid-sentence, her eyes flicking to the street beside them. Jason's gaze followed, trying to figure out what had caught her attention so suddenly. The pealing notes had changed into what could almost be a shriek, but it sounded no closer. The small groups of blur-faced figures were still milling about, still conversing in nonsensical hums--only now, if he listened carefully, Jason realised that he could make out words among the humming.

"What do you think she's screaming about this time?" said one in the Nereid-coloured group quietly enough that Jason had to strain to hear it.

"Probably nothing," said another. The other two in the group glanced at each other with a grimace firmly locked onto their mouths--which was when Jason realised their faces were no longer blurred. "I wouldn't concern yourself with it. Hush, before she hears us."

"Before who hears them?" Jason murmured to Olivia as both of them got to their feet.

Olivia pointed down the street. "Her."

Like a Ghost emerging from the fog, someone materialised in the centre of the street, their features rapidly defining from a vague flash of light to a girl that couldn't have been older than eleven. Golden, shoulder length hair streamed out behind her as she ran, and the same way the hum had clarified to conversation, the pealing shriek had become her shout.

"Help me!" she shouted again, not to anyone in particular. "Manifested! Manifested are coming! Has anyone seen--ah!"

In front of the alcove where Jason and Olivia stood, the girl fell. She tumbled over herself, hitting the starstone hard as momentum dragged her forward. She hadn't yet come to a stop when Jason was already moving, Olivia right behind him.

Olivia was faster than Jason and grabbed the girl by her arm, pulling her back to her feet. "What's going on? Where are the Manifested?"

"So now one of you decides to he--" The girl's eyes went wide as she looked at Olivia, then to Jason. She closed her eyes, then clasped her hands together and murmured her next words like a prayer. "Spirits. Thank you, Starsong. Thank you for helping me again."

"You can see us?" asked Jason.

The girl looked at him. For someone who'd been screaming their throat raw, she looked remarkably calm. "You aren't as clear as she is," the girl said, pointing to Olivia. "Your Song is clinging to hers." She glanced back over her shoulder the way she'd come. "I need to go. They're still coming."

The girl took off at a run.

"She's talking to no one again," said one of the people in the group of Nereid's colours when the girl was out of earshot. Unlike the girl's voice, this voice had a dreamlike quality to it. It was hard to hear what they were saying and harder still to remember them.

"Such a strange child," replied another. "It's no wonder she's been removed from so many groups. Someone like that, it's only a matter of time before they Manifest and murder everyone around them."

"It's a shame though. It feels as if we're abandoning her."

"We have to make hard decisions in hard times, Waveweaver. Her removal protects our own children. Personally, I find that..."

Once more, their words returned to an unintelligible hum, leaving both Olivia and Jason sharing a concerned glance.

"That was odd," said Jason.

"Believe me," muttered Olivia with a low, shaky breath. "This is barely out of the ordinary for me right now." She squared her shoulders as Jason attempted to keep his concern from his face. "I'm more worried about those Manifested she mentioned. They were usually a swarm in the other hallucinations, and if you're--wait, do you hear that?"

Jason tilted his head. The conversations of those around them had returned to a hum, and the girl's shouting was little more than a series of rippling notes once more. "Nothing new."

Olivia stepped out further into the street, whirling around in search of something. "No, I can hear the aurorasong again--it vanished before when the light figure disappeared but now it's back, so why--" She turned back to him, gaze over his shoulder, and cut off with a curse. "Jase, the City's disappearing!"

Jason glanced back and echoed her curse when he found the buildings and people further down the street dissolving into silvery smoke. "The girl must be the focal point. Run!"

They headed the same direction the girl had gone at a run, but she was long gone from sight.

"Go right!" called Olivia. "The aurorasong is that way!"

Without a better option, Jason followed her call. The people they passed began to take on faces and words once more, their garments gaining detail and texture. Even after Jason could make out the individual hairs on their heads, they remained blind to the presence of two strangers in their midst.

"There she is!" said Olivia.

While the figures might not have been able to see Jason or Olivia, their reactions to the girl were far too real. Some spared her a concerned look as she ran past them, still screaming about Manifested and calling for a Luminary, but most pulled away, hustling their own children under the long sleeves of their robes. Not one called out to her. Not one offered to help.

"They can clearly see her," said Olivia as they continued after the girl, finally starting to close the space between them. "Why aren't any of them helping her?"

The girl took a sharp right that they followed only a few seconds after. They found themselves in a wide, open courtyard, and it was in the centre of this that the girl finally came to a stop.

She cupped her hands to her mouth one last time. "Manifested are coming!" She looked around, the desperation clear on her face. "Where is your Luminary? Anyone?"

No one answered her.

Olivia reached the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How do you know there's Manifested coming?"

The girl seemed surprised enough at Olivia's presence to forget her situation for a second. "I can hear them, the same way I can hear you, just as Starsong taught me to." The girl looked around, biting her lip before approaching one of the nearby groups in Centaur's colours. "Hey! Where's your Luminary?"

"We know not," said one, turning away from her.

"You do know!" said the girl. "You're all just Other-cursed cowards!"

As the girl continued to go from person to person, group to group, begging for their help while constantly throwing glances back over her shoulder, Olivia looked to Jason.

"I can't leave her to die to some Manifested," said Olivia, clenching her fist palm-up in front of her stomach as yet another group turned their backs on the girl. "I have to help her."

"We will help her," said Jason, flexing his fingers by his side.

Fear flashed across Olivia's face. "I can't risk you, Jason. I don't know how real any of this is. I can't watch you..."

She trailed off, focused on the girl. Having given up on begging for help, she stood once more in the centre of the courtyard, only this time, she was completely still, her chin tilted up towards the dome-covered sky.

And then, she Sang.

Jason knew the difference without being told. He knew this Song. It felt like a forever ago that he'd stood on the steps to the Starlight Hall, his violin glowing in his hands as the light of the auroras swirled around them, perfectly twined among Olivia's voice. The Song they'd both known, the Song he'd have recognised for what it was no matter how long it'd been.

The girl in front of them was singing the Aurorasong.

"She's a Songstress," breathed Olivia.

Jason pressed his lips together, as pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. Why the figure of light had brought him and Olivia here during the auroras, why this vision was centered around this one girl.

The girl's Song changed, transitioning flawlessly from the Aurorasong into something different, quicker. It was light and free and bright and impossibly fast as she sang the melody like she'd been born to it.

"Swiftsong," said Olivia. She looked around. "She's calling--"

A flash of starlight appeared in front of the girl, and from it, a Luminary appeared.

Centaur.

The girl fell to her knees, a hand at her throat with her shoulders heaving, dragging in the air.

"What is it?" said the Centaur, towering above her and stamping an impatient hoof. His dark grey coat gleamed in the light. He seemed a far grander, stronger figure than any of the Centaurs Jason had ever heard of. A bow that could have been crafted directly from starfire was slung across his back, one that made Jason cold simply to look at. "Why do you summon me so, girl?"

"Manifested," said the girl, breathless. "You were the only one fast enough to--"

A keening hiss echoed from behind the girl. She scrambled behind Centaur's form, dragging her body backwards as six Manifested appeared, each one carved of black crystal.

Olivia stepped forward, but the girl caught her eye, shaking her head and waving her back.

With a shared, reluctant look at Jason, Olivia retreated a few steps and watched.

Centaur stamped his hoof against the starstone once more. "I do not appreciate your methods, but I will assist you, if only because you find yourself so close to my district."

The Manifested spread out slowly, as if assessing their target.

Jason found himself automatically sizing them up. Six of them--far too many for one Luminary to handle alone. From the shape of them, they were designed for speed, likely to counter Centaur's own blinding pace. They'd try and wear him down, latch onto him one by one and take him down before his partner arrived.

No matter what the girl seemed to think, Centaur was going to need help sooner rather than later.

Olivia had apparently made the same assessment as she turned to Jason. "If Centaur keeps them distracted, we slip the girl out. We can't let them get to her."

"Agreed." Jason frowned as six arrows of solid starlight shimmered into existence on Centaur's now drawn bow. "He's using his ultimate already. Why?"

"That's insane," said Olivia. "Six Manifested is a lot, but surely it's not worth risking going dim so early in the fight?"

Centaur raised his bow towards the sky and fired.

The arrows streaked towards the ground far faster than gravity should have pulled them, and in six, beautiful arcs of starlight rain, the arrows struck their targets. The Manifested's shells of ebony crystal cracked and fell away from six very confused, disoriented individuals barely more than a few seconds after the arrows had been loosed.

Jason couldn't believe it.

One hit. That's all it'd taken.

Centaur made no move to approach the previously Manifested civilians, apparently content to leave them to their own devices.

Instead, he swished his tail behind him and glanced at the girl as he re-slung his bow over his shoulder. "I suppose I should thank you for luring them out, but given your calling card, I believe we're now even. I don't recommend you do it again."

"Then protect me," said the girl. "Let me into your group! I can help you--lure the Manifested out, tell you when they're coming, where they are! I can help you!"

Centaur regarded her coldly. "I believe you may be far more trouble than you're worth, girl. I have far too many other duties to attend. With the City failing to heal itself, there are more Manifested than ever before. You will not find sanctuary within my walls."

The girl reached out a hand. "Pleas--"

But in a flash of starlight, Centaur was already gone.

The girl's outstretched fingers curled into a fist.

With a strange feeling that the girl was about to sing the Swiftsong again, if only to annoy Centaur, Jason intervened.

"You're a Songstress," he said.

"Yes," said the girl, scowling and folding her arms. "Though no one here seems to believe me. They all think I'm crazy. None of them will give me the protection I need, but they all get mad when I sing their Songs to help me. I refuse to die because everyone else is an idiot. I'm not going to Manifest, but I'm going to be the one who stops them all."

For some reason, Jason didn't doubt it for a second.

"What's your name?" asked Olivia.

The girl's blue eyes burned like frozen fire.

"Aurora."

Like her name had shattered the dream, the reality around them cracked.

Jason lunged for Olivia, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in as the buildings and people around them fractured and dissolved into silver light, swirled with familiar teals and violets. When the final fragments had faded, they were left standing in a silver expanse with no end. Glowing fog curled in wisps around their legs with echoes of a dying song.

"She's here," breathed Olivia.

From the light, the figure who'd brought Jason to this place appeared. It seemed clearer than it'd been before, like its edges were less blurred by the brilliance it emitted. It was humanoid and appeared female, with long, waist-length hair and elegant garments that could have been woven from starlight. Silver light drowned out any colour to her, pouring into existence from several crystals of various sizes scattered around her body.

Yet despite her elegance, when she drew closer, Jason didn't miss how Olivia flinched.

"What do you want?" he called out to the figure. It didn't reply, and his now frost-tipped fingers flexed by his side. "Why did you bring us here?"

The figure tilted her head, and this time, Jason heard the last few, fragile notes of the aurorasong.

"It's her," said Olivia. "That's Aurora. And... and she wanted us to know."

"To know what?"

"To know what's coming," said Olivia. Her voice was flat, dead, enough for Jason to take his eyes off Aurora and look at her. There was no spark, no gleam in her eyes. Nothing but a glassy, vacant stare that scared him right down to his core. "To see what's coming for our civilisation, just like it did for hers."

"Olivia?" said Jason, grabbing her shoulder as her eyelids drifted shut. The teal and violet ribbons of light began to fade around them, and the figure--Aurora--began to return to little more than a blur of light once more. "Liv? Can you hear me?"

Olivia squinted, her forehead furrowing in pain. "She's trying to show me but--but there's just too much, I can't--"

Aurora's silver light flared one last, final time, building in a rush of blinding brilliance. Olivia grabbed her head with a screech of pain as the light crept up her skin and Jason, desperate to help, did the only thing he could think of.

"Share it with me," he said. "Like the Song. Share it."

With no little amount of effort, Olivia pried a hand away from her head and placed it on the side of Jason's head, bringing his forehead down to hers.

His sight dropped away into another reality that flashed by too fast for him to completely grasp. A swarm of scenes, of emotions too strong for him to keep flooded him, rushing through him and tearing at his mind. A silver-covered sky. A City that wasn't healing. Twin districts in ruins, cradled in the base of the mountain. Stone and fire and ice and blood and a pure, unfiltered fear that it was all gone, that he was gone, and a darkness--the darkness--rising from the void they'd believed to be covered, that should have stayed buried but hadn't, because it'd found another way up, another way to the surface through the very thing that--

Olivia staggered back with a gasp, breaking them both from the onslaught. Jason reached out a hand, catching Olivia's own as they steadied each other.

"These aren't just visions," said Jason, swallowing down the lump sitting in his throat. "They're memories. Aurora's memories. She lived in the first civilisation."

"She's trying to tell us what happened," said Olivia, running her free hand over her head.. "She was a Songstress--she must have managed to preserve herself somehow, but why wait until now to say anything?"

The silver fog that remained around them began to fade.

"Unless she couldn't," said Jason quickly, well aware that their time was about to be cut short. "Your visions only started after festival night." Olivia's fingers went tight on his. "You bonded with the focuser. You saw her in the Core Chamber. She could be connected to you now."

Olivia's face paled.

"Liv," said Jason. "No matter what, you aren't going to be alone anymore. You don't have to do anything you aren't comfortable with. Right now, all you should be doing is letting yourself heal."

Olivia managed a short, shaky laugh. "Well, if I'm the only one Aurora can communicate through, doesn't really matter how comfortable I am with it. Gotta be done, can't be avoided, responsibility and all that."

"No," said Jason, a little more of him breaking at the dying spark in her voice. "Doing something purely because it's expected of you is no way to live, Shadowheart. You've taught me that at least."

"But the City..."

"Needs you," said Jason. "Not some visions, not some magical singing power. It needs more than just Luminaries. It needs people like you, because without that, the rest mean nothing. I'd pick you--just you--over that Centaur who cleansed six Manifested in one strike any day, because problems are not solved by power alone. They're solved by people."

Most of the fog had faded now, leaving them in a space that Jason couldn't quite wrap his mind around. Their legs were transparent as whatever reality Aurora had woven for her memories could no longer support their presence.

The ghost of a smile tweaked Olivia's lips. "Though it'd sure make it easier if those people also happened to wield the power, eh?"

"It might," said Jason. "Though it would be a rare situation where I'd bet against you."

Olivia moved closer and butted her forehead against Jason's rapidly fading chest. "Thanks, Frostsong."

He reached up with his only partially visible arms and wrapped them around her head. "You're welcome, Shadowheart. Keep fighting. You're stronger than they are. Hold onto that."

A few seconds later, and the rest of them faded with the fog.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Late, oops. Half the Patreon chapter for this week got deleted, had to rewrite it, hello absolute death of motivation. 

I'm gonna take a break from posting next week to try and get my head back in the writing space. Haven't been this frustrated in a long flippin while with writing, and I don't want to write in this kinda headspace. <3 

Have some Banshee art by @46Kibahime. Since this art was arted, we've taken away her yellow flappy panel at the front but heck, I still love this picture so heyyyy.