“oh.'' White said.

Andromeda started looking around frantically. She didn’t intend on coming to this mindscape, it was White who pulled her here. She had no idea how to leave on her own. From the way that White seemed to also be panicking, she also didn’t know how to get her out.

“Hold on, hold on… How did you get me in here to begin with?” Andromeda said.

“I-I don’t know, I just kind of- I don’t know!” White said. White gripped her head and started pacing around in a circle while trying to avoid hyperventilating.

Andromeda was also pacing around, also trying to catch her breath. The last thing she remembered doing was trying to mend her head, but she blacked out before she could. Was it that she let her guard down that White could pull her through?

If it was, she wasn’t sure what she should be doing to reverse that.

“Wait! I have an idea!” White said.

“What?!” Andromeda said.

“If I smack you over the head with a rock, you might pass out and wake up in the real world.” White said.

“What if that just kills me?” Andromeda said.

“I… didn’t think about that…” White said. They both ran around the forested area they imagined together for several minutes, eventually reaching the void outside and returning to the center. Neither could find anything specific that might send Andromeda back.

Then Andromeda has an idea.

“I’ll imagine a door back! I saw that work in a movie once!” Andromeda said.

“Good idea!” White said.

Andromeda pictured a door in her mind, which just so happened to appear right next to her. She reached over for the doorknob and threw the door open to see…

Nothing. She just saw White through it on the other side. Just to cover all her bases she stepped through and shut the door behind her, but nothing happened.

“No good?” White said. Andromeda shook her head. There was something they were both missing. Rapture had been here earlier it seemed, and White sent her away then, so what was it that made her break off the connection?

“White, what did-” Andromeda said.

“Yeah yeah, I heard you thinking it, give me a sec.” White said.

While she did, Andromeda came to a realization. White could hear her thoughts, but she couldn’t hear White’s. Or if she could it wasn’t obvious what she was supposed to be listening for.

“I don’t know, she made me really upset and I just…” White started, instead of finishing the thought, she flung her hands down at the ground like she was crushing something with a rock..

“I could try making you angry again, that might work.” Andromeda said.

“It could, or you’d probably just upset me and we would be arguing instead of solving the issue.” White said.

“What’s worse, someone’s feelings getting hurt, me starving to death, or me potentially dying to a rock.” Andromeda said.

“Feelings are literally all I have.” White said.

“Is that worth dying over?” Andromeda said.

“I mean…” White said.

“White, come on, that’s not a hard question.” Andromeda said.

“Maybe for you, I have a lot to think about.” White said. This was a strange thing for her to get hung up on now.

“What happened to making sure no one died. I could starve if I stay here too long.” Andromeda said.

“I know that! Do you really think I don’t get that, it doesn’t make the situation any better for me.” White said.

“What could possibly make you want to avoid our only chance of living to see next week?” Andromeda said. White sat down in her chair and put her head on her hands.

“I don’t want to go back to sleep.” White said quietly.

“Sleep?” Andromeda questioned.

“Before Rapture brought me out there was nothing. I don’t have any memories that aren’t yours. I never imagined anything, I never thought about anything, I never even realized that I could do those things. Now I have all this and you want me to go back to that cold dark place I used to be in.” White said.

Andromeda realized why she was conflicted.

She knew what White was talking about. When Rapture entered her mind she was pushed to the back, she only heard whispers of blurry figures. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breath, she couldn’t even think. All she could do was watch, it was brief for her but for White that’s all she ever knew. Then she was given the ability to think and act, she was afraid that she would lose herself to that darkness.From the way that White started crying as she thought about this, Andromeda could tell that she hit the nail on the head.

“Don’t leave me… Please… I’m scared.” White said. Andromeda sat down next to her and put her arm over White’s shoulder.

“White, look here.” Andromeda said, then she grabbed White’s hand and lifted it up so she could see clearly. White looked at her hand in-depth for the first time.Their hands matched perfectly. Andromeda’s finger’s were stark white, and White’s were a slightly tanned flesh color. It was like they were lifted from one another and replaced.

“Do you see your hands?” Andromeda continued.

“Y-Yeah.” White stuttered.

“I don’t know why our hands are like this, but I know that I have your hands. Just like you have mine. No matter what happens from now on, you will never be stuck in that dark place alone. You’ll have me right here with you. Like it or not we’re in this together. I won’t let go back forever..” Andromeda finished.

White looked down at her hands. She didn’t have time before now to look at them, but she knew that Andromeda was right.

“I think I can live with that.” White said. She chuckled in Andromeda’s arms.

“What’s so funny?” Andromeda asked.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that you have no idea how strange it is to get a pep talk from yourself.” White said.

“Actually, I think I have entirely the idea.” Andromeda said.

-----

Andromeda woke up sitting in her chair, her neck was killing her and there was a puddle of drool dripping on her shoulder. White did it! She got Andromeda back to the real world! There was a small poke in the back of her head, it was a small and timid one, she got the impression that White did it as a celebration. Or maybe it was just her instincts telling her that.

There weren’t any windows in this room but she could tell from the clock on the wall above her desk that it was just before noon. Beside the crink in her neck she wasn’t in any serious pain. She did some light practice with Refutei to ward off the pain that would cause but other than that she seemed fine.

She had a lot to process.

There was a small, scared, alternative version of herself literally living rent free in her head, there was an Arch Mage with a sister complex connected to that alternate self, and Ferdiand had lied to her about what he had gotten her into. From the way Rapture was talking, there is no way he didn’t know this wasn’t a possibility.

Andromeda pulled herself to her feet and got ready. The reverberations of last night were still ringing in her head. While Andromeda understood where she was coming from now, White really got herself carried away with the poking.. Andromeda felt a single provoking tap in her head which she was sure was White taking umbrage with her thoughts.

She barely recalled what happened before she passed out the other night, but she knew that everyone was worried about her. Once she got her hood on straight and the gloves back on she did a few stretches and grabbed her things. It was probably wise to go let everyone know she was alright.

Andromeda poked her head out the door and made eye contact with one of the guards outside. He breathed a sigh of relief on seeing her and bowed his head.

“Good afternoon Ms. Noelle.” He said. Not long before Andromeda had made it clear that they could just call her by her name, and failing that her last name was alright as well. None of the grandiose titles that the others were getting. The guards were all too happy about this suggestion, but stuck with the more proper “Ms. Noelle”.

“So it is after noon.” Andromeda said under her breath. She must have been out like a light to sleep so long. Thanks White… Another poke.

“Seeing as how you’re up, Lady Evelin asked us to send you to the conference room once you got up.” The guard said.

“Oh? What for?” Andromeda said. Evelin has been avoiding her like the plague for weeks and suddenly wants to talk? Thinking about it, that wasn’t out of the question. Andromeda was just kidnapped from right under their notes. Even if Evelin didn’t want to talk, she still had a duty as Vice Principal.

That, and she probably didn’t want Andromeda running back to Ferdinand and complaining. It’s not like she had that option, but no one knew that besides herself. The guards offered to escort her, but Andromeda insisted that she was fine. She had gotten used to the internal layout enough to navigate alone.

She descended a few flights of stairs until she reached the main office floor. This was where the majority of the higher ranked mages worked.

Despite the name, Cylas was less a dedicated college of education and more the head office of magic in the country. Sure it did its fair share of education and teaching, but lately it seemed more like a field office. There seemed to be a lot more military types hanging around and interrupting things than seemed normal, especially with how some of the resident researchers in the college seemed to chaff around them. There was a war going on. She had heard about it slowly over the last few weeks. But it seemed strange that they would only start bothering the college in the last few days.

She rounded some corners with minimal direction asking and got to the conference hall she was looking for. When she stepped in she was met with several surprises.

The first was someone she didn’t recognize at all. A thin, gray haired man with a pencil mustache. He was sitting at the head of the table with the others flaking him on both sides so Andromeda guessed that he was at least more important than his appearance let on. He had an unreadable expression.

Sitting to his left was Evelin, just like usual she seemed to want to be anywhere that wasn’t the room Andromeda occupied, but she was holding herself down right now and trying to look reserved and confident. Andromeda could already tell that Evelin was losing her grip just laying eyes on her.

Next was the bigger surprise, Ferdinand. He was wearing less formal clothes than she had seen him wearing in Salsi, these looked more like traveling clothes than anything you would wear to a meeting. She suspected that he had to travel light to not arouse suspicion when he entered the college.

“Andromeda, take a seat. We wanted to talk with you.” Ferdinand said.

She sat down at the opposite end of the table and got ready for whatever she might hear.

“It has come to my attention that you were recently, hrm, abducted.” Ferdinand said. There was an audible annoyance to his speech that didn’t seem directed at her, it was more that he was speaking at the others through her.

“That is the case.” Andromeda said. Saying that made the thin man and Evelin cringe. She didn’t want to say too much until she got a full picture of where he was going.

“I see, I trust that you weren’t hurt.” Ferdinand said.

Andromeda paused, she was mostly fine. But there were lasting effects after what happened. She didn’t consider White to be a problem, but it was a pretty major thing to have happened.

“I don’t think I can talk about that right now.” Andromeda said, this drew a surprised look from Ferdinand, and a dreadful one from the others.

“If you believe so, I have no reason to press further.” Ferdinand said.She couldn’t openly speak about her and Ferdinand’s connection, that was a secret between them. She didn’t know how much the others knew.

“Can you tell us what happened from your perspective?” Ferdinand asked.

“I don’t think I can.” Andromeda said. This only further confused Ferdinand and visibly drained the life from everyone else. Evelin looked as though she was going to pass out at any moment and the other man looked ill.

“I’ll trust your judgment.” Ferdinand said. It was interesting that he wasn’t following up on her answers.

“Next question, do you have any way to identify the kidnapper?” Ferdinand said.

“Yes.” Andromeda said. This was something she could say without worry.

“Can you tell us what that is?” He asked. Ferdinand specifically stressed us when he said that. He was trying to see if it was relevant to them.

“No.” Andromeda said. She had to be very clear about what the situation was, If it was just herself and Ferdinand she would be a lot more talkative.

“Noted.” Ferdinand said. “You two, get out.”

He pointed toward the others in the room and promptly got up and left the room without a word. They had somehow managed to not speak a single word in the entire time they were in there. The door closed behind them and there was silence in the room for several moments.

“Andromeda, I know that-” Ferdinand said.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GET ME INTO!” Andromeda screamed. She stood up and threw her hands on the table.

Andromeda explained everything. The pains she has been experiencing since she left, the altercation with Grant, the kidnapping, the whole situation with White. Once the large things were out of the way, she started ranting about the stress of learning magic and how she felt like a fish out of water. It really turned into a stream of stress that she didn’t know had built up to such cataclysmic scale.

Ferdinand listened carefully to every word. Never interrupting her once, never asking for follow up questions, just let her get everything out of her system. She stopped minutes later and caught her breath. It felt good to get everything out, but she felt suddenly vulnerable and weak.

“Is that everything?” He said.

Andromeda huffed to catch her breath while she thought. She had covered everything she could think of. But it was hard to think at the moment.

“Yeah.” She said.

“I see. Allow me to fill you in on everything.” Ferdinand said.