Chapter Text
One shot fired, one limnus down. That was the lethal efficiency the adult Mavis as she shot through the horde of void manifestations trying to rip her apart. And even those who survived a single bullet from her Sirocco weren't so lucky either, as one single slash from either Sun or Moon made sure they went right back to the void matter from whence they came. And while the monstrous Void angel tried with all its might to butcher and impale the drifter, her many many cycles in Duviri taught Mavis to fight i a way beyond what even He could deliver through his abominations. And although she was beginning to sweat, she would not yield.
The Tenno Mavis choked back tears as she tried her best to counter her friend's frenzied assault. He tried through choked whispers to plead to Cole, to beg for him to stop whatever this sudden betrayal was. And yet, these cries fell on deaf ears as his Garuda continued to attempt to slash at her, all the while the Corrupted that had inexplicably come to his aid sang out in unison. Just as easy it was counter his attempts to rend her Baruuk's sword steel, what with the false muscle memory of a thousand different sparring sessions, it was just a hard to get any sort of an advantage when he too seemingly knew the depths of her style. And while she did try her best to stay calm despite her intense panic and anguish, something in her was beginning to loosen.
-"Cole, listen to me! Please! You don't have to-"
An uppercut of sharp talons cut her off, forcing her to just barely dodge them. The figure that had never/once been her friend remained silent, only eliciting a few pained grunts as they clashed. But as the violence continued, memories began to bubble in Mavis's head. This reminded of her of their many clashes back before the fall, how they would argue and bicker. She remembered back at fight for Lua how they couldn't agree on a plan. She remembered how he would taunt her for being 'little miss perfect' whenever she focused on minimizing losses rather than crushing the enemy. She remembered how he spat in front of her before going to his (narrowly avoided?) death.
And then, something snapped.
A barrage of Serene Storm waves hit both the Garuda and the accompanying corrupted, sending them reeling from the impact. Again and again she channeled her miraculous, newfound rage into her own offensive. "How could you turn on me like this?" Became a wave of energy sent from her frame's fists. "How can you care so little about our troops?!" became another. And of course, the strongest of them all: "You think my life is all perfect?!"
By the time the rage had subsided, Cole's frame was kneeling before her. Immediately, a chill ran up Mavis as she approached her friend, begging and crying for him to be okay, whispering sincere apologies under her breath.
With one final slash of Sun, the massive avian monster let out a piercing cry before collapsing to the Undercroft floor. Within the few moments it took for the older Mavis to approach its body, the angel had already metamorphosed back into the void-scarred mirror to her younger-self's paradoxical friend. She continued to step towards him, taking out her Sirocco to finally put an end to her own mistake. It was in that moment, however, that the man before her seemingly came to life, using his hands to shield his masked face from the void-powered pistol.
-"Y-you don't have to do this! Please!", his voice said, trembling.
-"Look, Cole, it's nothing personal. Just close your eyes and it'll all be-"
Before she could finish the thought, a new voice echoed in the maddened space around them. This time it was a sob, coming from a voice that sounded very, very familiar to Mavis. The voice of her Tenno counterpart.
-"Please....Don't leave me! I-I'm sorry, for everything! Please stay, Cole! Please...."
Mavis rolled her eyes. One moment she wanted her to fix this, and another she's crying over his undoubtedly unconscious body. With a sigh, she turned to face the masked man, before extending a hand towards him.
-"Come here, you", she grumbled as Cole grabbed her hand.
And just as she managed to pull him up, so too did he collapse right onto her shoulder, causing her to sigh once again. The things she did for herself.
Two eyes began blinking as the consciousness returned to Cole. The first and immediate thing he could remember was the bizarre dream he just had. From being in Tales of Duviri, to finding himself transformed into some weird bat thing, to getting strange visions of a younger version of himself fighting strange Grineer clones. Thankfully, he was back at the Zariman, and the vines overhead told him he fell asleep somewhere in-
-"Alright, Aurora, time to start the morning".
The voice combined with the adult feminine face peering down at him from above not only scared the living daylights out of him, but also reminded him of the girl in his dream.
-"You!", he called out, pointing to her, "You're-"
-"The name's Mavis. Now, come on, get up, I got a lot of things to explain".
It was in that moment that Cole realized he was not only currently lying down in a hammock, but that the crashed orbiter a few meters away was definitely not something that was supposed to be here.
-"Wait, this isn't Albrecht Park...", he let out, rubbing his head.
-"No duh, captain obvious, we're on Earth", Mavis responded from her Zariman dinning chair.
Immediately, Cole felt his eyes widen at that fact.
-"Earth?! But shouldn't we be on-"
-"What do you think happened with the Void Jump?", Mavis cut in.
Although it hurt to remember, Cole felt the memories slowly enter him like water. The jump, the catastrophe that followed...
-"We never made it...", he concluded.
-"Well done, genius. You want a nutrition cube for that one?", the girl chuckled, reaching over to ruffle his hair.
Squinting his eyes at her, he crossed his arms with a grumble.
-"Do we...know each other?", he asked.
-"Well, 'we' don't, but they probably do", she shrugged, pointing to a small landing craft hovering just above the downed ship.
-"Excuse me?"
-"Theres two of us. The us down here, and the us up there. If you ask me, the us up here have it way better. I mean, they can shoot laser beams from their hands!"
Cole found himself blankly blinking just to keep up.
-"I'll repeat...Excuse me?"
-"Turns out, the you rescued from the ship became a massive edge lord, and the me rescued from it is a bit more serious than me-me. Got that?"
In response, Cole simply shook his head dismissively.
-"Ah, don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough. Say...You down to join me in Duviri? Apparently both us-us and them-us cant occupy the same reality for a long time, and besides, Bombastine is currently wreaking havoc and I'd like to put that drama queen back in his place."
-"Uh...Sure, just-"
Immediately, he felt his hand being yanked from the hammock and onto the soft, terran grass.
-"Alright then! Thrax, here we come!" Though, as he was being dragged by his new friend, one image popped into Cole's mind for the
briefest of moments. His own, grinning face, speaking the words "Have fun, little guy".