Chronology: Ultimate

The person that Sage was less waiting to get any sort of reply from had been Lucky; Who had been quick to justify exactly why that was. The whole time that the rabbit was talking, the pyromancer had a look of 'you didn't listen to anything I said, did you?' in his face; A mix of confusion and unamusement. Of course the psycho bunny would suggest giving in to anger and going on a rampage, of course. Luckily for him, ...Wise?, --he was getting closer, he could feel it!--, had come to the rescue and explained what the dilemma was with exceptional clarity.

"Y-yeah... That's basically it. I tried numbness, and even if it kinda helps it's, not really a nice option... And left me feeling like a kid again, which was... not good. And no, I'm never trying letting go fully because, that's just a disaster waiting to happen. Same thing if I were to listen to your 'advice'.", he took a deep breath, "Here, let me make it even clearer. There's two, like, umbrellas? Of emotions that are ones I should be avoiding... The first one is fear, because it tends to come together with self-preservation and flight instincts, it stacks into a mess very fast. The second is anger, because it's so volatile and uncontrollable that it spikes too suddenly, not to mention overshadowing of rationality. Literally every Take-Over has been prompted by these... Tent? Terror, straight terror. Toga fight? Fear, shock, self-preservation; I honestly thought that I was going to die there. Atlas? Rage, outrage; I'm thankful for Orbeck knocking me out. The last one? It was both."

"I did try to fight back Kagutsuchi at the start, once fear was slowly replaced with anger. At least until Megumin got in the way and was fooled into thinking Alexis was back. Then I had to take her into safety before she ended up in another hostage situation, or something of the sort. Anyway as you can see, that didn't help any.", this time it was a sigh, "In hindsight I, shouldn't have engaged at all. I should have just run, but I was so sick of being toyed with that I went for an assault that'd never have won. And worked myself up in the process."

"And I said learning not to be scared, not... whatever it is that you just said!", honestly, he didn't even get any of that, "I should just, think more like an adult and less like the child I never got the chance to be. That's all.", at least the lady was offering support, even if she had no solution. There were no easy or good options after all, "Thanks..!", there was an odd pause because he had forgotten her name, which then there had been an attempt to hide, "IIII'll make sure to remember that, if I need someone to talk to."

With all of the ranting and explaining, Sage had never had the chance to go back inside, merely clued-in over the door having been opened when Kyou had stepped outside to greet them. At the same time, Jason was already dictating the coordinates to the others, which gave him a sense of hurry, prompting him to both scrambling to input numbers and to finally get out from under Hestia's massive charcoal wings that once shielded him from sight.

"Huh? What talk? I just took some distance to-"

And their new location was, bright, full of machinery and unlike anywhere that he had ever been to.

"-vent safely... What in the Book of Creation am I even looking at??"

To say that the young man was baffled would be an understatement. He, wasn't even sure of which Pa Kua quadrant it was supposed to fit in! This had never happened before! As soon as the chilly air had hit him, his powers had reacted accordingly trying to keep the Descendant from freezing; The heat-aura picking up until about the cozy temperature of a gentle patch of sun. At least the destroyed jacket wouldn't be making too much absence... But still, what kind of place was this?
The pyromancer could only eye the odd room with caution from where he stood, a bit caught in apprehension as a huge number of objects felt rather unfamiliar to him. And then he realized, this was his first challenge already! A test, where he had to step into unknown territory without being scared! Thus, with a deep breath and a renewed resolve, he had attempted to take a step further and-


...Space... Space. They were now in Space. OH GODS, THEY WERE IN SPACE?!

"WHAT??!!", there went one of the ground lamps, he was suddenly terrified, the wings seemed to freeze open behind him, "Is that why it's so cold in here??? Oh Gods, why are we in Space?? How are we breathing in Space, this has to be breaking a bunch of rules... We're not supposed to be in Space! The existence of airplanes is already pushing it, Space-travel is taboo! Why are people visiting the Nursery of Lights? Are the Deities going to be angry at us??"

WAIT. Calm down, one thing at a time. Okay, this is Space... Ho boy, BUT, but! It's not Space from Saraiiho, so maybe it's fine? You know what, priorities. Catch up with Leo first, panic about possibly committing a heresy later. That made sense, right?

So, by having some odd and misplaced priorities, --but hey if it works...--, Sage had managed to get his mind out of panic-mode and instead searched the ample room filled with lights for his recently returned best friend. It hadn't been too hard to find Leo standing by a wall and seemingly just entranced with his ice-cream. It was... weird, finally seeing him after this long, after... well, never really stopping to see him. For a moment the young man was just, there. Watching from a distance, kinda blanky at first... And then it was as if the reality of everything was slowly coming back, his breath sped up, then tears rose to the corner of his eyes and finally an overwhelming income of pure joy had hit him so fast that a new lamp had exploded and he had lost all air in a heavy gasp.

And then he was off in a sprint.

"Leoooooooooooo!!!", except he had stopped just short of preparing to hug.

Uncertainty. So much time had passed since they had last talked, they had been separated for about a full hour! A very packed hour. Who knows how much things could have changed... He was still unsure over their last conversation too, well, one-sided conversation; That had left him more frustrated and confused than anything. That'd have also made him drop the ice-cream, which would have been rude... But, more than that, hugging was something that came from his broken child side, wasn't it? Maybe he shouldn't continue with it, If he was to truly grow up. He had said it himself, hadn't he? That using others as emotional anchors had backfired. Making distance was good...

"H-hey! I'm glad to have you back!", Sage had raised an arm in greeting, the wing constructs flapping gently behind him through the whole exchange. What sort of reaction was that? It was a new one, "It's really you this time, right? Sorry, it's just... I've been kinda seeing you in my mind a lot lately...", he had averted his gaze in embarrassment and scratched against his cheek, "Well, uhhhh... I'd ask how you're doing but, I'm sure we've both been through a lot, so that'd be kinda mean... And I doubt you'd like to talk about it. ...And you'd probably prefer some space, which is... perfectly understandable!"

When he said 'been through a lot', it really showed.
Leo was being met back with the pyromancer wearing what can only be described as the charred front of a jacket, the shoulders and back almost completely eaten away by flames, the right sleeve missing the lower arm portion; The damage on the left sleeve made one wonder how it was still attached, as it clearly wouldn't stay for long. And there were the wings on his back. Not only was this a rare sight, since they usually went away after landing, but the constructs were cracked from their very tips until about half of it. Even with the dancing flames inside it was rather noticeable, like breaking glass.

"So uhhh, I just came to say, hi, r-really. And if you ever do want to talk, I'm uhh cool with that. Or I can tell you what I've been through that works too.", cue some nervous laughter, "Or! Or, uhh you can let me know if I can do anything to make you feel better? I don't know a lot of things, but I'll do my best! So anyways, uhhh, 'Hi' and uh I'm gonna give you space now... In Space. Giving you space in Space, yep!", the young man shot the other some finger guns, still pretty nervous and took a step back, "Soooo you know where to find me if, you need me. And if you don't actually want space, I guess I can introduce you to the Goddess of Hearth! Oh right, uhhh Alexis is out, she took her nightmare? Pretty badly and it's still recovering... Anyway! Space, right. See ya... around. How do I end this?"

And if he wasn't stopped, Sage would then proceed to turn around and see what Kyou was up to...
Anything to keep him from thinking about Space.