Archive of Our Own

Michael had been destroyed yet never truly defeated. Even after having his physical form obliterated and his powers stripped away, he remained strong, even as strong as ever. All Michael needed was the memory of the fear he had caused to stay in control of the mind. With that, Michael could follow his victims beyond Starlight and back to their homes, where he crept into their daily life in subtle ways.

In the months after Starlight, everyone settled back into their lives as best as they could, slowly and carefully. The weather went from warm to cool and sunny to cloudy, then the leaves turned red, orange and yellow before falling and winter unravelled. One night, the snow fell slowly from the sky, covering the ground in a thin, white blanket. All the houses on the street stood quiet, left the same as how they had been before Starlight, with their long driveways and colourful roofs. Every car was parked in its place for the night and there was at least one light on in every house. The cold weather was a contrast to Starlight’s tropical weather. In that moment, everything was peaceful.

Laurance sat reclined on his bed, gazing out the window of his room and taking in the scenery. The post lamp illuminated the falling snow, casting a pale circle of light onto the street. Months ago, Zane had moved out of Laurance and Garroth’s house to live with KC, and ever since then, Laurance had taken the vacant room upstairs and made it his own. The walls were painted dark green, covered by grunge band and old movie posters, vinyl records and pictures of his friends and family. The room itself was cluttered yet organized. A salt lamp stood on the nightstand, staining the corner of the room in orange light. After a long day of work, it was nice to wind down and do nothing of importance. Laurance’s thoughts had wandered off, but he was reminded he had company when he felt a weight shift on his chest.

Garroth was resting on top of him. His head lay to the side on Laurance’s chest and his eyes were softly opened, unfocused, starting to drift off. Garroth’s arms were wrapped gently around Laurance, rubbing circles into his lower back every so often. The two of them had fallen into this familiar evening routine—eating dinner, watching TV either downstairs or in Laurance’s bedroom, (they were currently rewatching My Little Horsies, a comfort show for the winter), washing up, and then spending the rest of the night in bed together before they turned the lights off and called it a night.

Garroth's weight melted the tension off of Laurance’s body, yet still allowed Laurance to breathe unrestricted—perfectly balanced. It was so warm, and Laurance was grateful for the added heat that seemed to avoid him in the winter. His hands would get cold just from sitting in one place for too long, and he would go outside for a few moments just to return home shivering. It was nice that Laurance always had someone like Garroth he could go to, who practically emitted heat like a human radiator at all times and was happy to share, just like he was doing now. Laurance always looked for forward to moments like this, the two of them enjoying each other’s company in silence. The quiet was occasionally broken by Garroth’s tail swishing under the covers.

Laurance had one hand placed over Garroth’s werewolf ears—rubbing the fur, scratching the back of his ears and running his fingers through Garroth’s gently curled hair. His ears were so soft—seriously, the softest things Laurance had ever felt in his life. Also, when he scratched a certain spot behind Garroth’s ear, his tail began to wag faster under the sheets. Laurance couldn’t help but huff in amusement at the reaction.

His hand went up to the end of Garroth’s ear, where he rubbed the fur between his fingers, like he was still testing whether they were real or not. Sometimes, Laurance still found it hard to believe that Garroth had been turned into a werewolf. It was so out of the blue. Not to mention, as if turning on his TV one summer day a few months ago to find out all his friends were being hunted down by the Guardian Forces when they were supposed to be on their fancy trip wasn’t shocking enough.

Those few weeks watching the disaster unfold were painfully slow. The media provided minimal coverage on the incident for reasons unknown. All Laurance knew at the time was that Aaron was some kind of ‘Ultima’ werewolf that endangered the public and needed to be subdued by the Guardian Forces, lethal force included, that the Lycan’s, along with Laurance’s friends, were actively resisting arrest and hiding from the Guardian Forces, and that most parts of Starlight island had been evacuated. Laurance had no information on his friends’ wellbeing, whether they were injured, where they were, if they were dead or alive, even. Laurance searched everywhere for answers, from the internet to calling the Guardian Forces directly, but sadly kept turning up blank. All Laurance could do was sit at home and watch as everything went down, trying to go along his daily life as best as possible. A hard task.

As time passed, the media began covering less and less information on Starlight, until they went completely radio silent. The media claimed that the situation on the island had gotten too dangerous to cover, and that there was nothing that could be done except to wait. For a while, that was it. It was only a few weeks later that news coverage on Starlight returned. The Guardian Forces took the lead and announced that: “The situation has been taken care of. The Lycan’s have been dealt with and the danger has been cleared. There is no need to fret anymore.” Such a vague and obscure message had been of no comfort. In fact, it only made Laurance feel worse, and he couldn’t help but feel panic creep into his stomach. Luckily, a few days after the Guardian Forces’ statement, Laurance received a text message from an anonymous sender. The user claimed that his friends were all fine and that they would soon be coming home. Immediately, Laurance felt the ocean of lead that had been building up in his body lift.He didn’t even bother questioning the legitimacy of the message. All that mattered to him was that his friends were okay. They were coming home and Laurance would soon be reunited with everyone.

(It also meant that Garroth would be coming home soon. How was he doing after everything that happened on the island? Hopefully alright. The house felt so gloomy without him.)

So, when Laurance went to greet Garroth after their months of separation, he expected Garroth to be different. Sad and exhausted? Less enthusiastic than his normal self? Completely normal reactions that Laurance would do his best to support Garroth through.

What Laurance hadn’t seen coming, however, was Garroth becoming physically different. When he saw Garroth’s werewolf ears and the tail, Laurance had been so caught off guard that he didn’t know how to react. Questions immediately raced through his mind—how did this happen? Who did it? Was Garroth always a werewolf? No, that wasn’t it. Why hadn’t anyone told Laurance about this? He didn't even know going from human to werewolf was even possible.

However, once Garroth cleared the situation up to Laurance and he understood what had happened (Aaron had accidentally turned Garroth into a werewolf), he regained his calm. Laurance had just been concerned, was all. What mattered most though was that Garroth was back home, alive. Though the circumstances surrounding Garroth’s werewolf transformation were unfortunate, Garroth told Laurance that he had mostly come to terms with the change. If that was the case, then Laurance accepted it too.

Immediately, Laurance was impatient to learn about everything that happened on Starlight, especially the events that the media concealed. However, he quickly realized that it was a touchy subject for Garroth, seeing the way he stuttered and tensed up whenever their conversations went in that direction. So, Laurance decided it was better to just give Garroth some time. As a result, Laurance was fed bits and pieces of new information over the weeks, the more he and Garroth spent time together. By now, Laurance knew enough about the Demon Warlock and the Celestial Cannon, but still bet that there was some more information Garroth was holding back. Still, Laurance needed to be patient. He would wait as long as it took for Garroth to feel comfortable opening up about everything.

Laurance returned his focus to the present. After all those months of separation (even before Starlight, when Garroth and the others left for that lodge), it was nice to be back together again. It felt like things had steadied, even gone back to normal in a way, like back when Garroth and Laurance's biggest concern was going to work or figuring out what to watch in the evenings. Boring, yet peaceful.

The house was so quiet now, with just Laurance and Garroth living together. As much as Laurance enjoyed a lively atmosphere, like when they lived together with Travis, Dante, and Zane, the calm was something he could get used to.

Laurance sighed contentedly. Right now, he was exactly where he wanted to be.

He felt Garroth shift. “Laurance?” He said. His voice was soft and husky.

“Yeah?” Laurance said.

“Random question.”

“Sure.”

Garroth cast his gaze down. “Just checking. This is real... right?”

It was an unexpected question. Laurance shook off his drowsiness and squinted down at Garroth. “What makes you say that all of a sudden?” Was Garroth being serious? What a strange question to ask...

Garroth looked up in surprise and shook his head. “Oh, n-nothing. It’s nothing,” He threw in a nervous laugh. “Forget about it. Just a random thought, really, I was... just trying to be...” Garroth’s words trailed off, and he lowered his head again so that his face was turned away from Laurance.

Laurance frowned at Garroth, unimpressed. Right, the out-of-the-blue question from Garroth was definitely nothing. It wasn't like the way Garroth’s ears drooped or his hold around Laurance tightened ever-so-slightly were telltale signs that something was bothering him. Laurance knew better than that. Garroth was a terrible liar.

Laurance placed his hand under Garroth’s chin, then tilted his head up slowly so their gazes met. The light from the salt lamp reflected sullenness in his eyes. “Something’s bothering you.” Laurance said. It was a statement, not a question.

Garroth’s mouth hung open for a moment like he was about to deny it, but then he gave in. “Just the same old things again.”

“The same old things?”

“You’ve already heard it before.”

“I can hear it again.” Laurance wasn’t sure why Garroth insisted on keeping his problems to himself. It did nobody any good.

Garroth sighed deeply. “...Starlight.”

Ah. So that was it. “Wanna talk about it?”

Garroth nodded gently and lifted himself up slightly. “You know how... during the final fight with Michael, Katelyn and I were sent as decoys, and then I told you how Michael was able to mind-control me a second time?” Laurance nodded, familiar with the situation. “And because of that, I turned against Katelyn and we had to leave Aphmau and Kim to finish off Michael by themselves.”

Laurance’s brows furrowed. Every time Garroth mentioned Michael, Laurance felt the indescribable urge to punch the guy—otherworldly, all-powerful Demon Warlock be damned. Realistically, did Laurance think he stood a chance in a fight against Michael? No. Would he still try to punch him and wipe whatever smirk Michael had on his face if given the chance? Yes. Absolutely. “It’s not your fault.” Laurance said firmly.

“But the thing is, I didn’t tell you how it happened—how Michael was able to mind control me again.” Garroth looked at Laurance with intensity, then bit down on his lip. “It is partially my fault...”

Immediately, Laurance wanted to stop Garroth and tell him he was wrong, but he realized that probably wouldn’t be helpful. Instead, he stayed quiet, giving Garroth the space to continue.

“At some point during the fight, Michael used his powers to decieve me. He showed me an illusion to show me my mummy, which was something I wanted to see the most. She came up to me and told me that everything was going to be fine, that everything was a misunderstanding and that Michael was trying to do good. One moment I was in a life or death battle on the Celestial Cannon, and the next... it felt like I was back home with mummy, everything was fine and there was no danger. I let myself believe that,” Garroth looked down. “She felt so real. Her voice was the same, and I could actually feel her hands touch my skin. I really did think it was her. So... instead of taking a moment to question what was going on, I let my guard down, and that was how Michael took control of me again,” Garroth looked away, and Laurance felt a mass grow in his stomach. Garroth had never told him about the specifics of the final fight with Michael...and it made Laurance feel rage. That scum deserved whatever hell was in store for him after what he did to Garroth and the rest of their friends.

Garroth continued. “Ever since I was put under that illusion, I just get the feeling sometimes that I’m...”

It took a moment for Laurance to catch Garroth’s train of thought, but when he did, he found himself surprised at what he was saying: “...Still in an illusion? That all of this is fake and Michael is still messing with you somehow?”

Garroth laughed dryly. “It sounds silly, now that you say it out loud,” He lifted himself off of Laurance and sat next to his legs. “I guess what I’m trying to say is... that I’m really happy right now. Sometimes all of this feels too good to be true, being back here with you, y’know? So I just wanted to make sure this actually is real.”

Laurance smiled gently. “Yeah, I feel the same way,” He placed his hand on top of Garroth’s. “I promise you, this is real,” He paused. “But if you want, I can pinch your cheek for good measure.”

Garroth smiled and shook his head, but after a moment, his smile faded. “I just...wish I could have been more useful to our friends during the fight. Instead of helping everyone defeat Michael, I ended up back on his side. I could have hurt our friends even worse than I did, or even... ruined their chances of success, Irene forbid,” Garroth’s expression turned bitter. “All because I fell for Michael’s stupid trick...” He shook his head. “I feel like such a fool.”

Laurance narrowed his eyes. He would have none of Garroth’s self-deprecation tonight. “Careful now, that’s my partner you’re talking about. And I don’t take kindly to anyone who insults him—not even you,” At that, Garroth looked at him apologetically. Laurance’s expression softened, and he leaned forward to brush Garroth’s bangs out of his eyes, then pressed a kiss on his temple. “You’re not a fool,” Laurance said gently. “It was a mistake. Anyone could have gotten manipulated under the same power. You were up against a demon from another dimension, for Irene’s sake, but what matters most is that everyone is safe now.”

“Still...”

“You’re being too hard on yourself. I know you feel bad for what you did, and that’s fine, but ever since you got back, you’ve been working hard to support all our friends and being a good person. That matters too, you know,” The words seemed to lighten Garroth’s expression, and a playful smile crept up on Laurance’s face. “Besides—no broken doors since you got back either. That’s a win too.”

Garroth gave a fake pout. “You don’t like it when I move the doors out of the way for you?”

Laurance huffed a laugh. ‘Move the doors out of the way’—that was certainly a way to put it. “I don’t think our insurance company likes it when you ‘move our doors out of the way’, and I prefer to sit in the house without a draft.”

Garroth shrugged. “Well, It’s harder than it looks. A work in progress,” He leaned back against the pillows next to Laurance so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Garroth glanced out the window, and a look of unease flickered across his face, then he looked back at Laurance. “You don’t think Michael could come back, could he?”

Laurance frowned. Garroth was still thinking about that? From what he had told Laurance, Michael's body had been destroyed by the Celestial Cannon along with his powers, so he was practically out of commission. However, being an all-powerful demonic entity and all, he could never truly be killed. As long as someone from his bloodline existed—the Valkrum’s—Michael could come back. Still... “Those are some really low chances, Garroth.”

Garroth considered Laurance’s words, then sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t know why I’m thinking about it so much. I just don’t want him to bother us ever again.” Garroth raised his hand to look at it, and a shadow crossed his face. “I never thought I was capable of hurting other people, but then Starlight happened. My body just moved on it’s own, and then I almost killed our friends...I never want to be put in a position where I use my strength to hurt the people I love, not ever again,” He said harshly. Then, he looked over to Laurance again, and he suddenly looked... afraid. His lower lip began to tremble. “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever hurt you like that.”

Laurance’s breath hitched. He hadn’t expected that from Garroth—why would he say that? His actions on the island had been Michael's actions, not his. To Laurance, Garroth would never be the killer Michael tried to make him out to be. Garroth was the most caring and well-intentioned guy he knew. He always tried to look on the bright side and bring other’s into his happiness. He still talked to animals on the street and slept with a teddy bear, for Irene’s sake.

Still... Garroth had told Laurance about the Forever Potions, how it was the reason for Michael’s effortless mind control and Garroth’s above average strength. So long as Garroth was alive, there would always be that microscopic chance that he could be manipulated again through the Forever Potion. There was nothing he could do about it.

...Was Garroth worried that Michael would come back and take control of him again?

A shadow crossed over Laurance’s heart. Maybe that was what bothered him so much. Most of the time, Garroth continued being the upbeat, easygoing person he normally was, but there were moments when he acted on edge, like he was constantly waiting for something strike out of nowhere and attack. He slept lighter than usual, and would often get up to walk around at night. Not only that, but Garroth no longer greeted his friends as enthusiastically as before, with his typical, strong bear hugs. A light, cautious hug was the best he could offer now. Even a few moments ago, when Garroth had his arms wrapped around Laurance, his hold had been so gentle, like he no longer trusted himself to hug harder. Part of it must have been due to the werewolf transformation, but another part must have been from his actions during the disaster.

As always, Laurance’s first instinct was to comfort Garroth. ‘You wont hurt me, it won’t happen’, is what he wanted to say, but frankly, he wasn’t sure if he could make that promise in the first place. Laurance hated the feeling— of being unable to do anything to change the outcome of the situation. Instead, he rubbed Garroth’s arm reassuringly. “I know you would never willingly do anything to hurt me.”

At that, Garroth nodded weakly. He pulled the covers higher over Laurance so he was covered. A silence washed over the room. It felt thick in Laurance’s ears.

“Feeling any better?” Laurance asked after a moment.

“A bit.” Garroth said.

More silence. There was nothing left to do except turn the lights and go to sleep. However, Laurance still felt unsatisfied. ‘A bit’ better was not enough to call it a night. He wanted Garroth to sleep peacefully tonight. Laurance racked through information in his mind, trying to come up with some kind of solution to Garroth’s problem, but he kept turning up blank.

Eventually, Laurance’s gaze trailed to the side, to where his closet stood. The door was cracked open, revealing a sliver of darkness to the inside.

In a way, Garroth’s situation reminded Laurance of when he was little, when Cadenza had somehow managed to convince him that Slenderman was real. For months, Laurance struggled to fall asleep, afraid that if he lowered his guard at night, even for one second, the monster would come out of the darkness and kidnap him. Of course, no monster ever came to abduct Laurance. It was all a hoax. He had wasted a bunch of sleepless nights, anxious over nothing.

But the weird thing was, Laurance eventually realized Slenderman was fake at some point, and yet, for many more nights, he still felt anxious, as if the monster were still just as real as before. As long as Laurance was scared, then the monster existed, larger than reality.

(And if you were wondering, Laurance did eventually get back at Cadenza for pranking him, but that was a story for another day).

Laurance struggled to remember how he had actually gotten over his fear of monsters at night. He must have accepted the fact that he had to let his guard down sometimes. That was the only way he could have peace of mind. Laurance returned his attention to Garroth. Maybe it would be the same with Garroth and Michael? But that acceptance would only come with time.

Laurance pressed his lips in a line. Still, there had to at least be something he could do to take Garroth’s mind off the worry right now, but what could it be?

Suddenly, something clicked into place in Laurance’s mind. Now that he remembered, Garroth had mentioned something useful about the mind control. Something that could be done to reverse it.

Laurance shifted on the bed so he sat facing Garroth. “Say, during your fight with Zane, you mentioned that he snapped you out of the mind control by reminding you of your loving memories with each other, right?”

Garroth nodded slowly, unsure of where Laurance was going with the question. “That’s right.”

“Then why don’t we do the same thing? Like Zane did. Do you follow?”

“No, I don’t.”

“We could go over our favourite memories together. That way, if everything stays the same after we’re done, that’ll prove that all of this is real. Michael won’t be able to regain control of you long either with the memories fresh in your mind. What do you think?”

Garroth squinted, but after a moment, his face lit up with realization. “Oh! Yes, I like that.”

Laurance smiled. “Perfect,” He reached for his lamp to turn off the light, then laid down in bed, making himself comfortable. Garroth did the same. “What will it be, then? Your pick.”

“Hm...you choose. I prefer if you do the talking.”

Laurance hummed, then looked up at the ceiling as his vision slowly adjusted to the darkness. His mind wandered before he found something valuable. “Do you remember how we first became friends?”

“Oh! We had final period together in our freshman year—algebra.”

“Yeah, but we never spoke to each other in that class. I’m pretty sure we avoided each other on purpose,” Back then, Laurance was still part of the Shadowknights, and Garroth was one of those ‘posh’ kids. Two opposite groups. Honestly, Laurance was convinced Garroth would be one of those people he never spoke to for all of highschool, merely passing him in the hallways until the day they graduated. And yet in the decade that followed, they had become best friends, and then more than that, to the point where they were sharing a bed. Life worked in funny ways.

Garroth shifted in place. “I just thought you were scary. You and the other Shadowknights wore studs and safety pins on your blazers, like a bunch of... emo porcupines, even though the school didn’t allow it. I thought I’d get into trouble if I looked at you the wrong way.”

Laurance huffed a laugh. ‘Emo porcupines’—Garroth sure had a way with words sometimes. “I only got into fights back then if people actually deserved them, or if they made me angry enough. Gene and Zenix were the ones who got into fights suddenly, and Sasha...” Laurance paused, struggling to remember. “Now that I think about it, she never got into fights at school.”

“...Huh.” Was all Garroth had to say.

Laurance placed his hands behind his head. “I used to think you were uptight. You were so by-the-books back then. Seemed like you looked down on people like us Shadowknights.” And Garroth probably had good reason for that. Still, it felt unpleasant for an outsider to look down on Laurance’s group back then.

“I never thought that,” Garroth said, turning to his side to face Laurance. “Well, maybe just a little, but I only acted that way because my fa—“ Garroth paused abruptly. “My... er... my mother? No...well, someone in my family wanted me to do well in school so that I could take over the family company later on. If I hung out with people like the Shadow Knights, they probably would’ve been disappointed in me,” A moment of silence passed. “No offence.” Garroth added.

Laurance shrugged. “None taken,” In a way, they were even, since Laurance had made a baseless assumption about Garroth too. “I got into a fight with the Shadowknights at the end of freshman year. When I first started highschool, I thought being in a gang was the coolest think you could do, so I hung out with Gene, Sasha and Zenix all the time. Later on though, I started to realize that causing trouble, skipping class and being mean to others wasn’t as cool as I thought, so I started avoiding the Shadowknights. Obviously, they didn’t like that, and we got into an argument, which led to me quitting the gang. On one hand, I was glad to finally be rid of them, but at the same time... they were my friends. I knew other people outside of them, but we weren’t really close. After that, I didn’t really know what to do with myself, so I spent my lunches in the stairwell, feeling frustrated. One day, I was sitting there, about to get up and head to my next period, when all of a sudden I looked up and caught you staring at me,” Laurance turned to Garroth, and a smile crept on his lips. “You should have seen the look on your face. Like you had caught an alien on camera.”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you there of all people.” Garroth countered.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting you either. You were wearing your baseball uniform and holding your bat, so I thought you were headed to practice or something. I was certain you were going to walk away and pretend like you didn’t see me, but to my surprise, you asked to join me.”

Laurance still remembered the exact words Garroth said in that moment:

“I—uh, um, I was just admiring the stairs! Haha. Beautiful stairs. Yes. Haha," He rubbed his arm awkwardly. "Um...can I sit?”

“I couldn’t just stand there and pretend like nothing happened, that would have been awful," Garroth said. "Besides, I needed to catch a break from softball practice too.”

“Yeah... I wasn’t gonna argue with you, so we sat together and... I guess we just started talking about school and our different hobbies, and somewhere along the line I realized you weren’t as uptight as I thought. People tended to avoid me back when I was still a Shadowknight, so it was nice of you to approach me. I guess after that, I decided I was going to take school more seriously.”

Laurance heard Garroth’s tail thump against the mattress. “Aw... well, I enjoyed that moment too,” Garroth said. “But... I only had the courage to go up and talk to you because you stood up for me first.”

Laurance looked over to Garroth in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t remember?” Laurance remained silent, which prompted Garroth to continue. “I tried taking advanced classes in freshman year for my family, but I wasn’t keeping up. My grades started to drop, and my coach threatened to kick me off the baseball team. My teammates weren’t helpful either. They were weirdly competitive in freshman year. I heard them say once that they hoped I would get kicked off the team. I don’t know why. But then one day, I heard they were talking bad about me in the hallways when you of all people called them out on their insecurity. I couldn’t believe it.”

Laurance furrowed his brows. It took a moment to jog the memory, but when it did, he confirmed it was true. Despite his mixed feelings towards Garroth at the time, Laurance hated something even more, and it was people who talked bad about others out of jealousy. It had been a nuisance to hear Garroth’s teammates talking badly about him. “I never told you about that. How’d you find out?” Laurance said.

He heard Garroth shrug. “Don’t remember. But I’m glad we became friends after that. I remember a few days after we started talking, you showed up to school looking like a completely different person. I thought you were a transfer student.”

Laurance laughed. He would always savour the moment he decided to change his appearance, when he walked into school with his hair cut short, dyed to brown from orange, and the only trace of his past self being his ear piercings. Heads turned when he walked down the halls.

He had practically gone from invisible to popular overnight. But the best part? Seeing the look on the Shadowknight’s faces when they saw Laurance again after his drastic change. Absolutely priceless.

Laurance smiled with satisfaction. “What can I say? I aim to surprise.”

Garroth hummed softly. “Well, I’ve always liked that about you,” He shifted towards Laurance’s side of the bed and gently wrapped his arms around him, inviting Laurance into an embrace. Laurance happily accepted the pull. He sank into Garroth, finding the crook of Garroth’s neck to lay his head on, then he wrapped his arms around Garroth in return. Laurance sighed softly. He always felt safe around him.

“I had lots of fun that summer,” Garroth continued. “You took me to my first party, and I got to teach you how to play my favourite video games. Otherwise, I probably would’ve been stuck playing baseball and getting tutored, which would have been lame. But with you, I felt like I could actually do what I wanted to do instead of what my family wanted,” Garroth paused. “Although, I still can’t believe you convinced me to explore the library with you, during the school sleepover, to see if it was haunted. Never again please.”

Laurance barked a laugh. “It was only scary because you freaked out over a ‘ghost’ being there, so I did too.” The two of them nearly woke the whole school up with their yelling that night.

“There was a ghost. You didn’t see it, but I did. We were standing in front of the library window when all of sudden—”

They spent the rest of the night like that, getting lost in their favourite, at times foolish memories from highschool. Though some days had been filled with petty competition and poor decisions, they had always figured things out and understood each other like no other.

And for a moment, as the memories took up space in the mind, the threat of Michael shrank. He lost a fragment of his power. The room remained the same, just as Laurance had predicted. No ongoing battle with Michael took place outside of Garroth's consciousness, and none of his friends were getting hurt. It was safe.

There was no telling what the future would bring or how long it would take for the memories of Starlight to fully mend, but Laurance would be there to support Garroth through his struggles every step of the way. For tonight, finding comfort in each other, that was enough.

Sleep came easier that night.