2 bros chillin in a space station five feet apart cuz theres a new emotional distance between them

## Horizon Hope Colony Space Station

Epoch floats through the air staring out into the expanse of space through the viewport in the ceiling.

“Such endeavors are the peak of humanity. Struggling to embrace a void that rejects them so completely. Expanding because of some illusion of power. These first steps will resound through the cosmos bringing greater scrutiny than before.”

He flips over to look down at the others enjoying themselves on the space station. There’s a twinkle of recognition as a familiar face comes into view. A half smile crosses his lips as the clock hands on his irises spin faster for a moment before Epoch disappears from where he was and pops into being next to Mel.

“Melchior! How are you enjoying our time in space?”

Mel jumps, whirling around in a defensive position before relaxing when he sees who it is. "Jesus christ, dude," he wheezes, clapping a hand to his chest. "You scared the shit outta me. I am still not used to you being able to do that."

It takes him a second to rewind and process Tiago's actual question. "Space is… space is good! Never been, so it's a fun, novel experience for me. It's nice to spend time with Cassi, even if she wants to hang out with Cambria. Uh… how's space been for you? Not, uh, not as new and exciting, I bet." He laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes as he looks off into the distance through a viewport. The second hands of the clocks in his irises move disjointedly as he hums in thought. "No, not so novel, but always intriguing. I've seen us much further along than this, it's sort of like watching old home movies but in macro you know?"

Epoch looks back to Mel and cocks his head to the side. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself here, it is quite lovely. Though I don't understand your aversion to Cambria, she seems decent enough," He shrugs, "Though I suppose holding feelings of that nature isn't exactly what I do anymore so that might be why I don't understand."

Mel makes a face. "Yeah, she's super nice. Didn't stop her from joining the Black Magic Club. You know, the same Black Magic Club that orchestrated the prison break that released *Mirror* back into our lives." He shakes his head. "Whatever. But--what do you mean by 'feelings of that nature'? Like, rage?" His lips quirk up into a crooked smile. "It's hard to picture you without some rage, dude."

“Yeah, I suppose that was my near constant state before wasn’t it?” Epoch shakes his head. “Time gives perspective and I’ve had a lot of it.” He floats up to look at Mel upside down his long hair falling around his face. “So you’re still hung up on Mirror huh? Well you usually grow out of that from what I’ve seen. The negative actions of the BMC seem to all fall back to Vic so if he’s gone and they’re working to make up for their time working with him shouldn’t they have the benefit of the doubt?”

"*Yes* I'm still 'hung up' on Mirror!" Mel gestures wildly with one arm. "She's dangerous! She sells dangerous tech to supervillains! She abandoned Smoke to be killed by Rubicons! And she's the most personally infuriating person I've ever met!" He scowls. "I'm not gonna pick a fight with anyone on the Black Magic Club who doesn't pick a fight with me, but that doesn't mean I have to *like* them." He snorts. "Those other mes who 'grew out of it' are just quitters."

He looks sideways at Epoch, his curiosity threatening to overtake his bad mood. "How many other mes have you met, anyways?"

“Well some of them, hmm nevermind.” He smiles impishly, “I think maybe thirty-some at least. Some were good, some were bad, but it was always you. Felt weird though, could never stick around long in those places.” Epoch quirks his lips in thought. “You’ve grown a lot since I’ve been back. We haven’t spent as much time together. I don’t know how to feel about that.” He gets a pensive look on his face before he flips back to his feet and then kicks off the ground to float through the air once more.

Mel's eyebrows shoot upwards. "Damn, dude, that's a lot of mes. What, were you hunting them down?" He reaches out to punch Epoch's shoulder with a teasing smile. "Did you miss me that much?"

He falls silent for a moment, chewing his lip, then says, "Y'know I… actually wanted to talk to you about that. I… haven't seen much of you since you got back. And I know part of that's on me--I haven't been spending as much time at the base, for one, but…" He blows out a long breath. "I miss you, dude. You've changed a lot since you went into the FutureSite, but… you're my best friend, Tiago. Time-brain and all." He reaches out to flick Tiago on the side of the head.

The flick sends him into a slow rotation bringing him back upright. Epoch’s eyes glisten for a moment hearing what Mel says, “Wow. Hearing you say that seems to have affected me more than I would have expected.” He reaches up and wipes his eyes. “I probably missed you at one point. I was lost for so long it’s hard to remember all the details. Maybe the reason I kept running into you at first was because I was trying to find my way back.” Epoch locks eyes with Mel, curiosity shining in them. “You were my best friend too.” He frowns and his brows knit together in consternation. “Were?”

Mel misses a step and hastily rights himself before he loses his balance. He shoves his hands deep into the pocket of his hoodie. "Right," he says, forcing a smile before breaking eye contact and looking down. "Well. It was longer for you than me, I guess, so." He takes a deep breath and looks back at Tiago. "How much do you even remember? From before, I mean."

The question brings him out of his thoughts and he lands gently before answering. “You know that’s the funniest thing, I didn’t remember anything when I first got back but the longer I’ve stayed the more things seem to come back. Almost like someone else’s memories. I remember breaking into Bishop,” He smiles putting both hands behind his head, “A LOT. Gosh they are the worst right? And I suppose I can understand why Mirror annoys you so much from what I remember, though she was always more your nemesis than mine.” Epoch shrugs looking back over to Mel. “I remember, and I don’t. That doesn’t really answer your question but it’s the best I have. Like all of the memories but few of the emotions that were in them. I’m not sure that I belong anymore.”

"Of course you still belong here!" Mel bursts out. He immediately bites his tongue and takes a deep breath, mentally reminding himself to be cool. "Sure, you've changed a lot, but you're still *you*, Tiago. Anybody who sees you lecture strangers on chitter can see that. This is still your home. There are people here who care about you." He pauses. "You… say your memories are coming back, the longer you stick around. Maybe if you stay long enough, you'll remember the rest of it. And if you *don't*, we'll just have to make new ones. I can remember the old stuff well enough for both of us."

Epoch shakes his head, unconvinced. He mulls over Mel’s words. “I don’t think it’s so easy. It’s not just me feeling disconnected, it’s like there’s this call just incessantly playing. This desire to move forward or back or anywhere rather than just stay here. I was moving for so long I don’t remember what it’s like to stay somewhere!” He leans back letting his feet float up into the air and lays horizontal. “The fact that I’m still here now is honestly a shock, I haven’t stayed in one place this long since the rebellion. Why am I choosing to stay when every fibre of my being wants to go?”

"Maybe you remember more than you think," Mel says, privately hoping it's not just wishful thinking. "And at least part of you is still… attached here. To us."

He goes quiet for a long moment, then asks, "Did you ever go back? When you were traveling around, and you left a place, did you ever go back to it?"

Epoch rolls over to face Mel. “That could explain it. There have definitely been things that stand out to me as important that I haven’t considered in a while.” In the silence that follows he stares out the viewport once more his mind wandering, searching for something just beyond his reach.

He starts when Mel breaks the silence again, abruptly pulled back into the here and now. “If I did it would be centuries later. Not like I was intentionally avoiding them, there was just so much to see and do, going back to a time I had already visited just didn’t make sense to me.”

Mel leans one shoulder against the viewport and studies Epoch. He's changed so much it's hard to recognize him, sometimes. Not just his hair, or his eyes, or his height. He *acts* different. Moves different. Talks different. And then he'd… do or say something, or make some familiar expression, and he'd be forcibly reminded that this total stranger was also his best friend.

Could you miss someone only a few feet away?

"If you left *us*," he said quietly, "would you come back?"

Epoch glances over to Mel and shrugs. “I did once right? I wasn’t even gone for that long as far as you were concerned.” He frowns again as he struggles to find the right words. It feels like it should be obvious to him, either he would or he wouldn't, right? Looking through the viewport he feels drawn to the vast expanse, but then he looks over to Mel and it's as though the nebulous feeling that has propelled him forward begins to vanish.

“Would it matter if I didn’t?” The words come out as a whisper.

"Of *course* it would!" Mel turns his back on the viewport to face him properly. "Tiago, I have never been more scared in my *life* than when I watched you get thrown into the FutureSite, *except* for when we turned it off and you weren't there. I thought you were *dead*. Me and Hana both did."

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a second, composing himself. "Obviously… you going off to have space adventures isn't the same as you being dead. Obviously. But still, I…" He gestures helplessly. "Like I said. You're my best friend, dude. I don't want to lose you."

Tiago stands there stunned for a moment, Mel’s words hitting him like a truck. “I…” he trails off his brows drawn low as he looks to his friend in confusion. “I thought I was dead at first too. When the bubble collapsed on me it was like I was broken down to atoms. Then the next moment I was whole again and lost. I was so alone and every place I landed was so alien to me, like I could never belong anywhere.”

He turns away from Mel and crosses his arms. “I had changed but I couldn’t figure out how, for the longest time I didn’t have any control over my powers so for the longest time I was just constantly hopping through time lines and universes. By the time I gained any kind of control I could barely remember who I had been.”

"I'm sorry, Tiago." Mel hesitates, then reaches out to squeeze his shoulder. "I'm sorry all that happened to you, and that you were alone for it. You don't know how much I wish I could've stopped it." He takes another deep, grounding breath as the memory of Natalya Shelton hurling Tiago into the active FutureSite jumps, unbidden, to his mind's eye. He shakes his head and squeezes Tiago's shoulder again. "Or that I at least could've been there to help you."

“But you did help.” Tiago wipes his face before turning to look at Mel with puffy red eyes. “You and Hana, I felt it, like an echo or something reaching through time and space. I think that’s why I kept bumping into you at first, I kept missing the exits trying to follow it bringing me to all sorts of other you’s and her’s… Then after some time I got scared that I had been gone too long, so I stopped trying, started actively avoiding it, doing everything I could to stay away from that connection because losing it would be too much.”

Epoch reaches out and squeezes Mel’s shoulder. “But I’m here now, so I’m going to make the best of it!”

Mel takes a deep, shuddering breath, and despite the tears prickling the corner of his eyes a small, genuine smile finally spreads across his face. "Good," he says, wrapping an arm around Tiago's shoulders. "I'm… I'm really glad you found us again. However long it took, whatever path it took you to get here, I'm just *really happy* you made it. Everything else… we can work it out. We're a great team, remember?"

Epoch returns the smile nodding in agreement. “Whether it’s Team The Best Ones or our little Tech Gremlin crew, I have yet to find a finer partner.” Tiago puts his arm around Mel’s shoulders laughing brightly, “Or friend.” The clock faces in his eyes synchronize, ticking together with the natural flow of time for the first time since his return.

Mel's eyes light up. "Now we've never gone to space together, but if there's one thing we excel at, it's messing with Bishop." He grins impishly. "Wanna try to jog some memories?"

A mischievous light shines in Tiago’s eyes at the suggestion. “Now that is a plan I can get behind!” He claps Mel on the back matching his grin, “Race you to the labs!” And without waiting he fuzzes out and reappears ten feet ahead of where he was running towards the Bishop section of the space station.

"Cheater!" Mel calls after him and with a laugh his wings unfold from his back and he takes off after him.