As promised by Cadenza, the rest of the trip to New Meteli only takes the rest of the day. By the time we make it, it's dusk out. The colors of the sky perfectly shape the village and it's large structures, Old Meteli barely a shadow of what New Meteli stands as. It's actually beautiful, as opposed to the dumpster fire that was Old Meteli in terms of infrastructure and setup. Even as we ride through town, I find myself admiring the buildings as we pass. Maybe it's for the best that we caused the burning of Old Meteli, if it means we got the beautiful infrastructure of New Meteli as a result.

"Well, here we are!" Cadenza happily announces as she hops off her horse, happily turning to all of us as we gather around, "Welcome to New Meteli!"

"Did you guys make all of this from scratch?" Aphmau asks in wondered amazement, still looking around. I don't quite blame her, with how beautiful it all is.

"We sure did!" Cadenza proudly responds, becoming bashful after a bit, "Well... That's to say we did under my father's rule. Though two years ago, I had the houses remodeled to look more stylized."

"Heh... I can tell. They look- I-I can't get over it. It's come such a long way from the little... shibby shack- Sorry... um yeah..." Aphmau rambles through, trying to put her thoughts into words.

I, however, don't hesitate, "Wow, you've brought Meteli a veeeeery long way, Cadenza. It's a completely new village and it's soooo aesthetically pleasing now!"

I can feel Aphmau sweating at my statement as she quickly laughs me off, "I-IT'S still beautiful nonetheless!"

"Thank you, Lady Aphmau!" Cadenza says through gritted teeth, a somewhat strained smile on her face. She takes in a deep breath through her nose, her smile a little less forced and a little more tired after, "Now, it's getting late and quite frankly, I'd like to get you girls cleaned up before we head to bed."

"Huh?"

"Uh, wha...? C-C-Cleaned up...? What are you talking about exactly?" Cadenza's eyes give Aphmau a once-over with absolutely no shame, not hiding the grimace on her face as she takes in more of her very dirty appearance. I feel insecure for her.

"What am I talking about? Look at you, Aphmau! I'm sorry to say this, but you're a mess," She makes a big gesture at her with her hand, "Plus, you were around the Chicken Shaman, which-" Her nose upturns in slight disgust as she catches a whiff of what I assume to be chicken coop that radiates off of Aphmau. She backs away from us a bit and Aphmau sends an apologetic look her way. It doesn't help that a stray feather that stuck itself in Aphmau's hair finally made its way through her long strands of black hair and floats through the air to celebrate its recent freedom, "-...Didn't do anything good for your scent. Laurance, (Y/n), you're both guilty of this as well"

"Hey!"

"Let's keep the focus of roasting on Aphmau, please" Cadenza's gaze suddenly has me feeling small and I'm unable to ignore the way my cheeks warm from it. I've never wanted to bury myself in a hole more than I currently do.

"Uh... So I take it that we aren't having that meeting tonight, Cadenza, are we?" Aphmau asks with a humorous laugh in an attempt to hide her shame. Cadenza doesn't miss a beat as she shakes her head with a reassuring smile, similar to that of a mother trying to console her child.

"Heavens no! Not smelling and looking like that..." Cadenza's eyes are obvious as they take in Aphmau's form again, her smile dropping into a disapproving frown, "In those unfashionable clothes especially..."

That last statement has me doing a bit of a double take myself, my attention turning to the attire Aphmau currently has on. Just as I remember, the outfit Aphmau received a mere few weeks ago, that was all the rage and heavily in season at the time, adorned her body. Sure, worn and torn, but there.

"Unfashionable?! Just so you know, you made these clothes!" Aphmau points out what I was thinking, laughing while Cadenza disapprovingly tugs at the purple fabric. The disapproving look becomes reminiscent after a moment, a sigh leaving her lips as her pale blue eyes flick upwards.

"I sure did make them..." She responds lightly, her gaze going back to the fabric and rubbing it between her fingers. Her disapproving, and somewhat disgusted, stare returns as she lets it go and steps away a little, "And that style is just so 15 years ago! I, unfortunately, do not have the luxury of making you new clothes, but you can borrow mine for the meeting while I have some of my lovely maidens take care of yours."

"You don't mean all of us, right? Mostly Aphmau?"

Cadenza stares at me blankly for a moment before a small smirk comes to her lips, a maniacal laugh leaving her lips after a beat of silence. Her laughter continues for a good while, enough to make me a little uneasy, before she finally speaks up, "Of course not just Aphmau, (Y/n). You too, especially with you being Aphmau's personal guard and whatnot," She takes a deep breath as she turns to glance to our other party members, "YOU GIRLS TOO, EMMALYN AND KATELYN!"

Her statement would be sweet if it didn't come at the expense of practically insulting us too. Cadenza hasn't changed much these past 15 years and it's so reassuring.

"I can't take your measurements for the dress if you keep moving, (Y/n)," Cadenza reprimands me as she sticks a small pin in her measuring strip, accidentally pricking me in the process due to me moving again. She sighs as she steps back to write the numbers down, turning me to face her a little better before she starts comparing her fabrics next to my (s/t) skin.

"I'm sorry, Cadenza," I manage to meekly respond again, this now being my fourth or fifth time getting scolded for my moving so much. It's hard for me to stay still when he's currently residing in the village, unashamedly watching me and staring me down. He has guards stuck to each hip and he walks as though he's untouchable. He plays coy and charming to the others, but the famished look in his icy blue eye tells me enough. He's fucking evil and I refuse to let him catch me by surprise again.

"Alright, what's on your mind? I can't get these right if you keep fidgeting around, (Y/n)," Cadenza's voice rings me back to reality, her concerned gaze meeting my (e/c) orbs with a worry I've never seen her exhibit before.

She releases me from her measurement tape, setting the roll on her table before sitting at her desk. She motions for me to sit across from her, carefully crossing her legs over one another.

"Cadenza, I'm fine. Just a little antsy-"

"A little? I'm surprised you're not pacing the floor with how jittery you are," She lightly takes hold of my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she maintains eye contact with me, "It's okay if you aren't ready to speak, but I'm here if you want to discuss your discomfort or get away from it for a moment. You've been on edge since High Priest Zane showed up"

I suddenly feel self conscious of how easily she picked up on it, but a small weight is lifted off my shoulders from her reassuring words, "Thank you, Cadenza"

"Of course, (Y/n)! I'd be on edge too if I had the attention from someone as charming as High Priest Zane too! You should totally ask him to dance with you after the ceremony or try to talk to him!" And then I feel my sandwich from earlier try to crawl his way back up from my stomach, a knot forming in my chest at the very disgusting idea of attempting anything romantic with Zane of all people.

I'm unable to fight the way my lips curl upwards at the ends, watching Cadenza act like a doting mother. It's so reassuring... So refreshing...

"Now, I'll have my head guard take the boys to cleaned up and housed elsewhere in the village," Then she returns to her original, calm demeanor, a small grin on her lips as she turns away from us to lead us further into New Meteli, "We're going to stay at my place tonight. Follow me, ladies"
~~~~~

The walk to Cadenza's isn't too bad, giving us a bit of time to get a small peak at New Meteli. We mostly passed homes and merchant setups along the way, the village feeling just oozing out at the sights. It's a long ways from Old Meteli and it's layout is relatively satisfying.

Cadenza's home fits the aesthetic nicely, reminiscent of her old home back in Phoenix Drop with more of a developed air to it.

At some point, we were all sent to take turns bathing, eventually left to nothing but our undergarments and our own devices. Katelyn was, and is still, very vocal about the loss of her armor. She keeps mentioning something about preferring her armor stained with the blood of her enemies, but I don't really recall there being much blood on her armor anyway and I know for a fact she was not very into the whole killing thing that a good few of the other Jury of Nine members had going on.
But that's none of my business soooo...

The atmosphere is relative chill, everyone comfortable and calm in a way that we haven't been able to for months. Even after getting out of the Irene Dimension, things have been nothing but overly complicated. Tired of being forced to acknowledge that it's been 15 years. Being allowed to relax and rest like times haven't changed at a sleepover at Cadenza's place feels like a blessing from Irene.

Aphmau turns in earlier than the rest of us for the night, very quickly getting comfortable in the very plush and soft beds Cadenza provided. They're clouds from the sky compared to the ones in the guard tower (which leave me wondering how the hell Garroth was content sleeping in them for a year? Boy's made of stone) and I can't stop myself from comfortably snuggling into the plush feeling.

The warm blankets suddenly feel cold when Cadenza starts wanting to have girl talk, which is a major turn off for Katelyn and Emmalyn too.

"Oh come on. There's got to be someone that's had your eye at some point? Emmalyn, you and Kenmur seem pretty close~" Cadenza's coy tone and teasing words are enough to have Emmalyn lighting up like a Christmas tree, the deep red in her face a contrast from the hot pink of her sleeping attire.

"K-Kenmur and I just have similar hobbies is all! W-We both r-really enjoy reading books..." Emmalyn attempts to defend the amount of time her and Kenmur spend together, heavily embarrassed from being put on the spot like that given her very shy demeanor. It's cute, in a cliche shy bookworm kind of way, "Plus... I don't Kenmur sees me in that way..."

It's hard to see why she would think that when Kenmur goes out of his way to try to talk to Emmalyn to get to know her better, she just tends to turn him down a bit, though it's very obviously unintentional. Then again, I'm reminded of her shyly pining after Brendan while he was obsessed with Kawaii~Chan and I would also be skeptical of any time I spent with people I was interested if I were in Emmalyn's shoes.

"Ah, I doubt that. As someone who grew up with Kenmur, I've never seen him so enthusiastic to talk to someone about anything. His eyes practically light up whenever he talks to you, which is coming a long way for him," Cadenza remarks with a wistful smile, said smile turning into a bit of a lovesick grin, "He's like a lovesick puppy around you. So romantic..."

"Cadenza, you're going to make me barf," Katelyn pipes up in the midst of Cadenza's lovelorn state, unable to hide the look of disgust very prevalent on her face. Her nose is scrunched up, a singular eyebrow raised as she sends Cadenza a very judging glare.

"Ohhh?~" There's a teasing glint in Cadenza's eyes that anyone that knows her would recognize from miles away, a tormenting force to many, "Does that mean we should move along to your love life then, Lady Katelyn? I'm sure there were a lot of indecencies among the Jury of Nine that you'd like to share with the class, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, hell no," The plausible notion as Katelyn visibly gagging. She rolls her eyes with a groan, bags now formed under her turquoise orbs and showing just how desperately she wants to depart from the conversation altogether. She turns over in her bed, covering her head with the oversized pillow provided, and groans out, lifting her hand with her middle finger raised high, "I'm going to bed. You all disgust me."

Her display has me laughing while I attempt to quietly set down some of my things, mostly to not disturb the sleeping Aphmau beside me. Unfortunately, Cadenza doesn't give up very easily, "And I certainly haven't forgotten about you, (Y/n)~"

My arrows clamor to the ground at her words, causing me to jump more from the surprise. Taking a glance at her only shows me the smug grin on her lips as she leans a little over her bed to catch a better look at me, the only thing really shielding me from her view being the very exhausted Aphmau. Almost wishing I had just went to sleep too instead of indulging in Cadenza's sleepover antics.

"You must be heartbroken to know that the charming High Priest Zane is such an evil man? And with Garroth stuck fighting him in the Irene Dimension? You're probably taking this whole predicament the hardest?" She reminds me that everyone thought Zane and me had a whole romance plot thing going on 15 years ago, a reminder that makes me more sick to my stomach than anything else. That only made everything else so much more confusing when I was so ready to cut that prick's head clean off.

Logan and Donna's wedding filled the town with laughter and cheers, the developing village square covered in bright lights and beautiful decorations. Aphmau had definitely outdone herself on planning it, especially with such short notice and even shorter amounts of supplies at her disposal. It was a sight to see everyone in the village having so much fun after the initial scare so many of them recently went through.

It's nice watching everyone dance and have the time of their lives during the after party, the energy contagious as it spreads from person to person. I'm content watching from the refreshments bar. It gives me the perfectly place to watch him from a distance.
Or it was, until Cadenza distracts me with conversation. I don't catch him leaving from his seat and it's too late for me to react when he makes a show of asking me to dance.

I'm unable to say no when Cadenza encouragingly pushes me to take his hand and he isn't shy to pull me close to him, one of his hands firmly gripping my hip while the other interlaces our fingers-

"Heartbroken isn't a word I'd ever use to describe my feelings on Zane," My words come out a little harsher than I intended and I find myself glaring at where my spilled arrows lay, "Zane is scum of the earth and I hope Garroth murders him"

There's a small beat of silence that follows my words as I reach down and begin to fix my mess of weaponry. I use it to calm my breathing, which ticked up some after my response.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry... I thought that..." Cadenza starts, unable to find the right words to say for a moment, "W-When you two were alone, I just assumed-"

"It's okay. Everyone assumed," I let out a sigh once all the arrows are properly set down, getting comfortable, "But I'm clearing it up now. There was nothing going on between me and Zane..."

"(Y/n)-"

"Nothing but two enemies waiting for the right time to kill each other"
~~~~~~
"What the hell..." Once a bright light flashes next to me, one that would have probably blinded me if my eyes were open, I'm quick to sit up and take in my surroundings, my bow loaded and ready to shoot at any intruders.

There are no intruders, just an Aphmau slowly fading out of our reality. Enough for me to go back to sleep. Irene powers be wack.
~~~~~

The next morning is... pretty eventful once all the girls are awake. And by all the girls, I mean only Cadenza, who has been freaking the fuck out since she woke up to Aphmau not sleeping between us.

We all attempt to reassure her, the others genuinely thinking it's possible she just went out on her own for a moment and me trying to save Aphmau some more time within whatever realm her newly unlocked powers pulled her to...
And maybe to also save my skin...

Cadenza distracts herself with dressing Katelyn, Emmalyn and me, tightening and loosening the clothes for us as she saw fit. I'm unable to complain, seeing as the attire is pretty nonrestrictive and the blue fabric is comfortable enough that I can stand it pressing against my skin with my quiver equipped.

Plus, I'm really fucking cute in it.

Eventually, the belief of the plausibility of Aphmau going out on her own begins to dwindle as more time passes. Cadenza, once Emmalyn and Katelyn begin worrying about, sends word to the guys, who are quick to come over with Laurence at the frontlines.
The plans are quickly sketched out as to how we're all going to find Aphmau, or attempt to find her, since none of us really have a clue as to where we're going or exactly how to get around New Meteli, except Lady Cadenza...

Maybe going separate ways to search for her isn't a good idea, but whatever gets the job done.

I decide to instead stay at Cadenza's place, which isn't opposed as someone should be there if Aphmau does return on her own. Unfortunately, we also decide that Emmalyn should also stay inside too, because Emmalyn isn't exactly capable of self defense like the rest of us and would definitely somehow also be captured if she were to run into Aphmau with her plausible captors.

Emmalyn isn't exactly a bad person. Sure, her people skills need some work and she tends to come off as a little... prudish, but we all have our downs. She's just very antisocial and the only thing she really understands is books after heavily analyzing them to death. She's also very anxious, which I can totally understand, and she's very squeamish, which I totally can't understand. I only worry Emmalyn will panic to a point I can't coax her to being calm.

She sticks to pacing around the room, mumbling to herself. I'm unable to catch most of it, only some words sticking out like 'Irene' and 'Aphmau' and 'kidnapped'. You know, things that only friends of Lady Aphmau of Phoenix Drop would understand. It eventually gets to where it's stressing me out, a small headache forming as she makes her hundredth round across the room.

"Uh... I'm going to grab a snack. Will you be okay up here for a moment, Emmalyn?" I can feel myself sweat as she brushes me off with a small nod, her pacing continuing like I'm not even there. I'm pretty positive the floor would've worn down by now if we were in Old Meteli...

Standing does not ease my forming headache, but I bare through it as I make my way downstairs. Cadenza's kitchen provides me with water and tea cakes, which I'm hoping is enough to ease the growing discomfort.

'You have the power to bring her back, (Y/n),' The voice that keeps appearing in various chapters pipes up, a sickeningly sweet tone to it. I attempt to ignore it again, taking a bite of one of the small delicacies before me.

"These are fucking delicious..."

'You can't just ignore me, (Y/n). Irene sometimes gets stuck in her own pocket dimensions if overwhelmed and your Irene is still... getting accustomed to her powers again. She may just be stuck where she is and needs a small tug in the right direction,' The voice attempts to coerce. It doesn't sound familiar to anyone I know, yet it hold a familiarity to it that I feel I should know.

"Who are you-"

'This isn't the time to be asking irrelevant questions when Irene could plausibly be in trouble!' A feeling of something similar to hands ghost over me, one bringing my head back and covering my eyes, forcing them closed, while the other lifts my free hand. During the process, I drop the tea cake on the table, a gasp leaving my lips as the disembodied voice directs my body as it wants.

"W-What the hell are you doing?!"

'We're bringing Aphmau out of her mind, little (Y/n). Just let me work~' Everything seems to fade for a moment, moving in a blur as I feel a warmth envelop my body. It's a comforting feeling for something so violating, 'It's tedious process, but I need you to focus on bringing Aphmau home.'

"Focus? I can't fucking focus with the splitting headache this all causes me!"

'Just try. Push through the pain and focus on bringing Aphmau back to her bed-'

"APHMAU! WHAT THE-" My movements freeze at Emmalyn's cry and I seem to be released from whatever hold was on me as my limbs drop to lay on the table. My breathing is heavy, chest heaving in a way that I haven't felt since the first time I ran away from home.

The feeling really fucking blows, but I don't have time to worry about that as my body leads me up the stairs to check on Aphmau.

And then I find out that Garroth fucking Ro'Meave kissed her-

A/n: Happy New Year!!! Here's a new chapter to commemorate the occasion! 🥳🥳🥳
It was so hard to find that picture of the original dress that was picked from the original chapter, but there it is!!! It's really grown on me and it's now become my favorite out of the original choices, so I'm glad that it was that one that was picked. I originally favored the purple one, but then I got older and this started getting rewritten,,, so...

Also, there should be another flashback chapter released soon, only this one will be more of a recap of some events from season one, mostly some involving Zane's presence and what exactly happened between him and the reader during the time leading up to preparation for Donna and Logan's wedding. This will also probably go into how the reader and Garroth's relationship is and how the two functioned during their time together in Phoenix Drop around the others (especially since the reader showed up around a day or two after Aphmau, but we'll get into that territory later,,,)

Anyway, I made this chapter a little longer than those before it, but I hope you enjoy it! Also, some events from the chapters after it will be a little different... I know I said I wasn't touching them, but I think I can add more to them, especially with the voice and having the reader have more interactions with the characters outside of things that happened in Aphmau's POV, similar to how I did here.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I'll catch you later!
MCI Out, Peace 😜