Stellar Tomorrow

Thyme Linden did not go to school that Monday, so she did not know Vale and Ciaran had been suspended. After first hour, she went to Ezzy, and frowned.

“You’re friends with Ciaran, right?” Ezzy nodded, raising an eyebrow at Thyme. “Is he sick today?”

“He got suspended. Vale too. The week for something involving that senior Travis, but that’s all I know.” Ezzy shrugged.

“Oh. I wanted to say sorry to him. Can you pass it on?” Thyme frowned, tapping her fingers on her legs.

“How about this, you come home with me today, he lives nearby. You can apologize to him them.” Ezzy suggested, and Thyme’s green eyes brightened.

“Really? Yay! Thank you!” She grabbed Ezzy and pulled her into a hug. “I’m in free period, but I know you have to go somewhere! See you!”

As Thyme let go and ran off, Ezzy shrugged and made her way to pottery.

- - - - - - - - -

After band, Ezzy and Alicia were putting their instruments into their lockers. Thyme was behind them, waiting.

“Are you done yet?” She asked, her fingers tapping on her legs as she bounced, eyes bright and excited.

“Yeah, give me a sec-” she paused as she heard not two but three Amphones beeping.

“An urgent mission?” Ezzy frowned, “Your Amphone is going off too, so they might have lumped you in with us for it.”

“Oh,”  Thyme sighed, “So no apology.”

“He’s still in our guild! You can apologize after the mission!” Alicia cheered her on. “Let’s do this!”

“Right.” Ezzy nodded.

The three pressed the button on their Amphone and were teleported to Tuphere.

“Let’s read the mission report while we wait for them,” Ezzy said, looking at her Amphone. She narrowed her green eyes as her eyes scanned the message, “It seems like a Nether Monster is around. It’s not like the one we fought when Anne was around, but it’s not like the packs either.”

“That’s easy enough,” Alicia giggled. “I wonder what’s taking Vale and Ciaran so long?”

"They probably didn’t get dressed. Last I heard about them was that Vale was super out of it when they were leaving.” Ezzy shrugged her shoulders.

As if on cue, Vale and Ciaran appeared beside them, visibly disheveled.

“Wow, took you two long enough,” Ezzy joked, before grabbing her Amphone. “Let’s test out these animal forms in actual combat.”

“Amphone, transform!”

While the guild mates had already seen each other transformed, the girls looked over to Thyme out of curiosity.

Her outfit had changed to a green dress with a leaf pattern going down her back. She now had koala ears and a tail and wore green mary-janes alongside grey stockings. Her sleeves were long, grey, and fluffy, with a leaf-shaped piece sewn onto each sleeve.

“Let’s go,” Vale declared, taking a breath.

It didn’t take them long to find the Nether Monster, since Alicia could fly with her butterfly wings. This one was a spider.

Vale visibly tensed up when he saw it, slowly backing away.

“You okay?” Ciaran grabbed Vale’s hand, “You’re afraid of spiders, huh?” Vale nodded

“Insects and things like them.” Vale muttered, grabbing his Amphone and summoning his weapon.

Thyme frowned at their interaction. She summoned her weapon, which looked to be a large, bladed yo-yo.

“Hyah!” She swung it at the monster tying it up. She pressed a button on it, and it came back to her. It sliced the spider’s body, leaving cuts all over.

“Night Claw!” Ciaran rushed up the spider has black claws extended from his fingertips. He slammed them into the ice and shattered the spider. It left an egg sac behind as it faded.

Vale’s response was to grab Ezzy's sniper and shoot at it.

“Here,” Vale handed the weapon back to Ezzy. “Let’s report to Elwin.”

“Thyme,” Ciaran said, turning to the brunette. “Thank you for helping,”

“You remember my name?” she asked, her eyes gleaming, before they lost their glow. “It doesn’t really matter anymore. Sorry for bothering you,”

“It’s okay. I didn’t realize it was you. I wanted to-” Ciaran began, before Thyme cut him off.

“You don’t need me anymore, so it’s okay. I won’t do it again.” She began to tap her fingers on her legs once again. “You have these guys, so I’ll be fine.”

‘Thyme-” Ciaran tired to speak once more, but Thyme shushed him.

“It’s okay! It’s really okay! I promise that it’s okay! You can just forget about me again! I won’t bother you anymore, not at all.” Her voice wavered and quieted down as she ended the sentence.

“You’re crying.” Ciaran said and he grabbed her arm. “I wanted to apologize for not remembering you. You were one of my closest friends, and I just forgot about you when I was having fun travelling.” He looked her straight in the eye as tears fell down her cheeks.

“Thyme, maybe I don’t exactly need you, but I want you. Because you need me.” he smiled at her. “I talked it over with Vale, and he said that you can join Stellar Tomorrow if you want.”

Thyme nodded and buried her face into Ciaran’s chest. He ruffled her hair and rubbed her back until she felt composed.

“Y’know, you’re a magnet for crying people who need comfort.” Vale smiled at Ciaran who nodded.

“I know.”

- - - - - - - -

“Alright. Vale, put your Amphone here, and Thyme, yours here,” Elwin said

The two followed Elwin’s directions. The machine was similar to the one that he had used to form Stellar Tomorrow, so Vale assumed it was used to add another Amphone to the link. 

After a moment, Elwin took them off and handed them back. “Congratulations Thyme, you’re now a member of Stellar Tomorrow.