Chapter Text
“Yo Alexis, where you going?” Astra called as Alexis walked past the couch she was lounging on. Alexis turned to look at her,
“I'm going to visit the kids at TAHE.” She replied.
“Oh cool, who's going with you?” Astra put a bookmark in the book she was reading and turned her full attention to Alexis. Alexis scrunched up her face in thought,
“No one this time, why did someone say they wanted to?”
“No, I just thought it was a buddy system sort of thing,” Astra replied. She tried to look nonchalant, but Alexis could tell she was uncomfortable.
“Why would it be? No one at TAHE is going to hurt me.” Alexis said, trying to ease Astra's concern.
“Maybe not on purpose, but there are some pretty powerful people there. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think one of them might accidentally hurt you.” Astra looked away. She seemed like she was thinking of something specific. Astra looked back up at Alexis,
“Let me come with you,” she said more than asked.
“Would that make you feel better?” Alexis slightly rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, that and Anna is borrowing a book series from me and I wanna see if she wants the next book.” Astra grinned, seeming more like her usual self.
“Alright, let's go.” Alexis replied, waving her hand for Astra to follow. Astra stood up and did in fact follow. Alexis set her watch to go to H-333. Astra didn't bother, she just threw her arms around Alexis’ neck and let the light engulf her as well. They appeared in the Nexus Pyramid. They waited for Evangeline for a whole two seconds before Astra got bored.
“Is there a reason we're waiting orrr…”
“We're waiting for Evangeline to come get us.” Alexis replied confused.
“Yes, but why?” Astra asked dramatically,
“Are we not allowed in until she gets here? Is this a ‘I don't want people coming in and walking around the grounds willy nilly’ thing or what?”
“No, people are allowed to come and go, but we can't get in.” Alexis explained.
“Why not?” Astra asked, getting annoyed. Alexis just pointed to the instructions inscribed in the pyramid. Astra rolled her eyes,
“I know the rules Alexis! That doesn't answer why we can't get in.” she insisted. Alexis just stared at her in confusion for a minute. Astra glared right back. Then a look of realization came across her face.
“Wait … you can't resonate with the water, can you?” Astra asked.
“No. Can you?” Alexis asked somewhat incredulously. Instead of answering Astra dragged her foot through the water and kicked the water up. It splashed into the air and formed into a doorway. Alexis' jaw dropped open,
“How did you do that!?”
“I resonated with the water,” Astra explained hesitantly, pointing to the directions again.
“Well yeah, I know that part but how?” Alexis asked insistently. Astra bit the inside of her cheek thinking,
“It's hard to explain. I never actually had it explained to me, she just kinda said that it was easier to convince me it was possible since everything my world said was impossible my mother could do using the multiversal orb, then we banged in the magic water and I knew how to do it.” Alexis just blinked at her. She couldn't imagine Evangeline had done that, but she didn't really know Evangeline that well and she was taller than Astra so she would've been willing… wait,
“How long ago was this? Did you just sneak away to H-333 sometime between missions?” Alexis demanded.
“No no, this waaas 18-ish years ago. I don't really remember but it was long before I became an overseer and before the cult suicide.” Astra explained.
“I'm sorry, cult suicide?”
“I would like to know that as well,” a supernaturally calm voice said. They both turned to see Evangeline standing outside of the portal into TAHE. She smiled at them,
“I'm sorry to have startled you, but I wasn't aware of a cult suicide in this dimension. It sounds like you knew the celestials in this realm before they ascended, though I could not imagine them doing a cult suicide as such enlightened beings. Were there other beings that shared this dimension with them?” Astra smirked,
“And what did their ascending consist of?” She asked seemingly innocently. Alexis knew she was probing at something, but she didn't know what.
“Well, their souls shed their physical forms to live without them.” Evangeline enlightened.
“What then is the average way a soul leaves a body?” Astra probed further. A realization dawned on Evangeline,
“I suppose traditionally it's done by dying.” She replied. Astra nodded smugly,
“Right, and since it all happened on one day would you say it was likely voluntary?”
“Likely yes, though I always imagined it would be a painless transition.” Evangeline put a hand on her chin, or the place under her beak. She didn't really have a chin in the traditional sense.
“Oh it was, they used cyanide pills.” Astra illuminated. Alexis and Evangeline blinked at her again,
“And how do you know this exactly?” Alexis inquired.
“Because I provided them.” Astra shrugged as if that was a normal thing to do.
“Ok, skimming over the fact that you know where to get those, why did you provide them?” Alexis asked, she was honestly trying to understand the madness in Astra's brain, but she was having a hard time.
“Well, they were gonna use knives in the general cult suicide fashion until I pointed out how painful that would be and the one I was hooking up with at the time asked if I had a less painful way for them to do it, so I got them the cyanide pills.” Astra explained nonchalantly. Alexis had a million other questions, well maybe not a million, more like twelve, but either way Evangeline spoke first,
“Hmm, well I'm not sure if I'm inclined to believe you, but it's a nice story all the same.” She smiled at them,
“Now if I remember correctly, you're here to discuss the search for the Archons correct?” Alexis nodded. She was somewhat taken aback by how blatantly Evangeline felt comfortable accusing Astra of lying. She hadn't said it unkindly, but it was still an unkind thing to say.
“Yeah that's right,” Alexis replied, deciding to ignore it. It wasn't entirely unfair as Astra had been known to lie before.
“Come in then,” Evangeline gestured them through the door Astra had opened. They went through and for some reason Astra gave Evangeline a wide berth. Alexis was going to just ignore it again, until, as Evangeline was leading then through the grounds, Evangeline said,
“I do have to ask that while you're here you don't speak to any of my students. You understand,” Alexis couldn't imagine Evangeline was talking to her as she was the emergency contact for two students there, so she must be talking to…
“Of course,” Astra replied,
“Wouldn't want them to know would you - ” Astra called her something in a language that Alexis didn't understand, but without having to ask her purple ring told her that it translated to ‘Little Miss Autopilot’. Alexis didn't know what that meant, but Evangeline certainly did. For the first time since Alexis met her, Evangeline seemed uncomfortable. Her posture became more rigid, and her movements seemed more robotic, as if her whole body tensed. It was only for a moment though.
“No, it's simply that I don't want you doing to them what you did to Ludum all those years ago.” Evangeline explained. Alexis scrunched up her face in thought, what had Astra done to Ludum? If it was something Evangeline didn't want to happen to the kids then maybe she deserved it. Alexis was just getting more and more confused as the conversation went on. What beef did they have? Whatever was happening, Alexis decided to just let it play out. Which was good because Astra had started laughing,
“What are you talking about? Do you think I just did that for shits and giggles? What possible use could I have for literal children?” Astra continued laughing for almost an uncomfortably long amount of time. Use? Astra had played Ludum before when she'd put the whole Sharp Gang in her arena to put a curse on her, but Alexis wasn't sure she'd classify that as ‘using’ Ludum. Was there something else that had happened? What was so bad that Evangeline didn't even want Astra talking to her students?
“I don't know and frankly I don't want to know, hence the request-” Evangeline used a nickname of her own that Alexis' ring translated to mean ‘Bloodbath’. Well, that explained something. Alexis wasn't sure what, but she was sure it explained something. It didn't explain the not talking to the students thing though. If Alexis knew sometime with that nickname, which she guessed now she did, she'd probably just try to keep them away from children entirely. If they hadn't proven to be good with kids like Astra had that is. Alexis was definitely missing a few pieces of this particular puzzle.
“Funny thing about that nickname is, that is what my Dad was going to name me before my mother vetoed it. If it was just his preferred name I wouldn't like it that much, but knowing how much it ticked off my mother made it very satisfying.” Astra explained smugly. She seemed smug about the fact that the nickname Evangeline called her genuinely didn't bother her. They were clearly trying to hurt, or at least annoy, each other with reminders of some nebulous bad thing they'd each done. The only difference seemed to be that Evangeline regretted what she did, and Astra didn't. Which if she'd done it to Eloise Ludum, made a lot of sense.
“We're here,” Evangeline announced, seeming to ignore the comment Astra had made. They walked inside, well inside was a strong term for a room with no walls. They sat down under the roof of the pavilion at a table that was much bigger than they needed.
“Are there more people coming to the meeting?” Alexis asked, somewhat bewildered.
“No, this is simply where I usually conduct meetings that tend to be larger than this one. In fact, could you leave us to discuss things?” Evangeline turned to Astra expectantly. Astra gave a little snort,
“Hmp, no. If you think there's any chance I'm leaving her alone with you, then you have less common sense than Ellie.”
“Is that so?” Evangeline raised her eyebrows. She always had an unnaturally calm expression, but this time it seemed more forced than usual.
“It is. She might've been crazy, but she's no fool.” It was almost impressive how much venom Astra could pack into her words while sounding so cheerful. It would've been truly impressive if it weren't so terrifying.
“Alright, you can stay. Though I doubt you'll find this interesting. There probably isn't enough subterfuge for your taste.” Evangeline explained.
“That's fair, I do love my subterfuge.” Astra boasted. Alexis felt a bit bad for Evangeline. She was trying so hard to make Astra as uncomfortable as Astra was making her, but Astra just didn't care. In fact, she almost seemed proud. Evangeline and Alexis sat down at the table. Astra however, sat on the floor next to Alexis' chair and rested her head on Alexis' leg. Alexis was half worried about what had happened with the two of them and half amused by it. She was more worried about the Archons and Tarsa though.
Alexis and Evangeline talked strategy for a while. It took them two hours, but they managed to make a solid plan for tracking what universes were being invaded and by who.
“Well, thank you Alexis for further informing me on this threat and allowing me to help.” Evangeline said, starting to get up.
“Evangeline wait,” Alexis sighed,
“This is going to eat away at me until I get an answer. What happened between you two?” Alexis gestured between Evangeline and Astra. Evangeline nodded,
“It makes sense that you would want to know. The things we were referencing today didn't happen between us, though we did meet once before.”
“Wa-wa-wait. All this animosity came from one meeting?” Alexis asked incredulously.
“Well I did not mean any animosity towards her, but she brought up a time in my past that I've had a hard time forgiving myself for. Thus I got defensive.” Evangeline admitted.
“So you brought up a time in her life you assumed she'd have negative emotions about.” Alexis realized.
“Yes.” Evangeline confirmed. Alexis winced,
“I hate to break it to you, but I don't think she cares.”
“Yes, that is evident to me now. I thought she would with how much damage she'd done.”
“Hey, you're the one who tried to kill her.” Astra piped up.
“And yet I hurt her less.” Evangeline shot back immediately. Alexis looked down at Astra,
“I thought you were asleep.”
“Nah, I'm just really good at pretending. It's quite useful for… certain situations.” Astra glanced away, then quickly back at Alexis,
“So, does that answer your question Rocky?”
“I guess, I mean now I want to know about the other stuff, but that's one question answered.” Alexis grumbled.
“That is not information that I am comfortable sharing at the moment. I assume you feel the same?” Evangeline asked Astra.
“Oh, Nah. I don't care. Actually I'm kinda interested in what you heard about my situation. Like did you hear it from Ellie? Did it come down through the grapevine from one of her steaming mad fans?” Astra seemed all too gleeful about this info.
“As I said, I'm not comfortable sharing that at this moment, and I would prefer if you didn't share my story either.” Evangeline asserted.
“Don't worry Ibis, lucky for you I think it's funnier if she doesn't know, so I won't tell her anything. But, I'm not going to keep it as some big secret either, so maybe one of the other members of our group will tell her.” Astra shrugged.
“I suppose that's better than nothing.” Evangeline conceded, getting up,
“Now if you don't mind,I have to get back to running my school.” Alexis nodded and got up. Astra followed her, spinning her overseer runes to open a portal out of there.
“Thank you for your help in our battle with the Archons,” Alexis sincerely thanked her.
“Of course, I'm happy to help.” Evangeline smiled back. Astra opened the portal and waited til Alexis walked through it to turn back to Evangeline and say,
“Oh and ‘Little Miss Autopilot,’ you should know I'm not leaving her alone with you ever. Not after what happened.” Evangeline sighed,
“I understand.” With that Astra walked through the portal and let it close.
“Well that was interesting,” Alexis stated.
“Yeah, sorry if I distracted you or her from anything important,” Astra said, her voice softer than before. Alexis turned to see Astra gripping her arm uncomfortably.
“Are you kidding? That was the most entertaining Evangeline has ever been!” Alexis grinned,
“I'm taking you with me next time I visit her.” Astra perked up,
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. Also, both you and Evangeline are important. You're not distracting me from important things.” Alexis assured her.
“Thanks Alexis,” Astra murmured. Alexis smiled at her,
“Anytime.”