"-ess of Ephedia, the portal will put you down near her. You know her name, don't you?" Morgaine's lecture has been going on for what felt like days. He shakes his head vaguely, even as he knows she's said it before.

"Iris. Her name is Iris." She huffs, and he rolls his eyes.

It'd taken two weeks to find the book they were using now, to make the portal. Now it was finally time to use it. After her lecture has dwindled down to just reminders, he flips the pages of the book to the spell they were using. Morgaine stops speaking to begin preparing the spell. There was chanting involved, and it was a good thing both of them don't have to.

Nathaniel had started sending Iris texts. Nothing malicious to an outside observer, but every pixel had been crafted to bite back at her for lying to him, for messing up, for not being the one to tell him the truth. All of it. There were pictures, selfies of him and Praxina with smoothies or bathing suits or curled in bed, shots of her with his family or in his house with stuff Iris had left there, all paired with little messages. 'Wish u were here xoxo' and 'aw, ur fave :)' and 'remember this?'. It was passive aggressive and cheap and fueled by whatever Praxina was feeding him, truth or lies or whatever. And honestly, Iris didn't blame him. Or even either of them! It was her fault Mephisto was dead, her fault that Nathaniel hadn't known, her fault that he'd ever been in danger in the first place. That didn't mean that she saw any way out of this, or that any ending but this one would have happened.

Iris feels numb after a particularly terrible message. A picture of Praxina, cuddled in Iris' favorite blanket that Nate's mom had bought her when they were kids, with Nate's favorite movie playing in the background. Praxina looked good, better than ever. Healthy! Smiling with a piece of pie halfway between the plate and her lips, darkened both by shadow and what Iris could only assume was bruises from kissing too hard.

'Miss me yet?'

It hurt.

She doesn't know what to do. Auriana and Talia still out for the weekend, her heart still aching in her chest, her phone still laying on the couch inside. She wandered out to the dock, the water looking gorgeous in the late afternoon. Iris could feel her throat getting scratchy and her eyes getting cottony, but there was nothing to do other than try to breathe and feel the breeze in her hair, the dirt stuck to her toes, the warm wood under her feet.

Once the portal swirled into life, and it was stable enough to cross through, Morgaine handed him a bag of her books- every dark and gray magic book she had, though he currently hadn't used an ounce of dark magic since he'd woken up in this dimension- and shoved him into the portal. He yelped, and stumbled onto a wooden dock jutting out into a small lake. There was a large house (for a peasant, it wasn't anything to sniff at were it a palace), just behind the land-side end of the dock. There was a girl with a mass of golden curls a few feet away from him. Morgaine had said he'd end up in front of the Princess, so this must be her, right? He'd been so focused on his new surroundings he missed the portal closing, but it wasn't like he needed it open.

"Iris?"

Iris had been staring so intently at the water that she missed the fact that there was apparently an entire person on her dock. She jumps and wipes her eyes, looking at him. "What?"

Seeing the girl's face makes that scene play in his head, but this time it actually slows down enough for him to follow it. He sees her face, and then another girl's, and there's this blinding whiteness that hurts. He stumbles backwards in fear and surprise, and ends up falling off the dock with a yelp.

Iris stuck her hand out immediately, nonverbally sending a spell to surround him in a ball of crystal. She pulls it up, him swirling in the lakewater helplessly, and dumps him back on the dock closer to her. The water splashes around her feet, totally soaking them, but that doesn't stop her from kneeling down next to him. "Oh, uh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"S-sorry, I don't know what c-came over me. I, um, I'm fine." He holds a hand to his chest, and sighs a little when he pulls the bag Morgaine had given him to hold the books closer.

"You're Princess Iris, right?"

Iris pushed his hair out of his face awkwardly, wincing. "Sorry about that... Uh, what do you mean Princess?" She laughed awkwardly. "But yeah, my name is Iris. What do you need? Why were you on my dock? I didn't notice you at first, I've been in my own world." It's hard to keep the tears at bay since she'd been so close to crying a minute ago... Like if a dam were about to break, and juuuuuuust before it did someone threw a piece of scotch tape up against the crack. It wasn't doing much.

"I was sent by Morgaine, you don't have to lie." He breathes out slowly in an attempt to calm down.

"I'm sorry for intruding, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

Iris' jaw dropped before she hastily swallowed and shut it. "What? How did she send you, what happened? And... it's fine, it's fine, you're not intruding. I was just lonely and coming out here for no reason but... whoa. Is she coming? What's going on?"

"I, ah, got shoved into her dimension of solitude on accident. I helped her make a portal, did you miss it? It was not subtle. She is not coming, she still has another 9 years of hopefully uninterrupted solitude before she'll come out again."

Iris sighed in relief. "Okay good, I don't think I'd be able to see her like this." She gestured at herself and combed her nails through her hair. "What now though? Um, what's your name again?"

"I don't really know, she didn't have a plan beyond getting me out of her dimension as fast as possible. Oh, um, my name is Mephisto." He barely repressed the urge to tack on an 'apparently' to the end of the sentence, it felt like that would sound bad.

Iris choked on nothing, and after a short few seconds of staring at him the tears welled up again. They started spilling down her cheeks, her hands rising to wipe them away. "Oh."

He leans forward and reaches towards her worriedly.
"Hey, hey, why are you crying? What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know." Iris swallowed, despite knowing honestly exactly why. "I just." She sucked in a breath and let it back out again as a sob. "I... I'm sorry."

Mephisto's eyebrows knit together, and he wiped some of her tears off of her cheeks. "It's okay to cry, you're okay. I'm just... confused? What happened? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no. I was coming out here to do it anyway." She shook her head, but pressed his hand to her cheek. It was awkward, but she needed it. "I'm sorry. I... Nate hates me and you died and I'm freaking out."

"I'm not dead." He answers immediately, even as he runs his fingers through her hair gently with his other hand. "What happened with this 'Nate'?"

"He... She told him what I did, and he was pissed and he left. He picked her, and I don't blame him, because I killed you."

"I'm not dead." He repeats, frowning. "You'd think I'd remember dying, at least. And who is 'she'? I'm not following."

"Praxina. She's pissed and I don't blame her either, she'd do anything to... to get back at me." Iris coughed and rubbed her cheeks. "And everyone else is gone, and it's just them and me and it's hard."

"Then that's why I'm here. So you're not alone." He decides, mostly because Iris is small and pathetic and he doesn't really care about anything else- he doesn't know anything or anyone else- enough. "I don't know them, and I'm kind of at a loss for what I'm supposed to do, but I don't really care."

"What do you mean you don't know them? Don't you remember, Praxina, your twin?"

"...No? I don't actually remember much of anything before waking up in Morgaine's dimension, actually." He frowns a little, trying to decide if Praxina was a person, a name, he cared about. He... didn't know.

Iris fanned her face as the tears start getting worse. "Really? I... Do you remember Gramorr, the explosion? None of that?"

"I remember your face, and then a girl's face, and then this... painful flash of white. And then I remember waking up to Morgaine demanding to know how I snuck into her dimension."

That definitely didn't help matters. Iris sucked in a breath and held it until the next sob came. "So... you came straight to me?"

"Yes. Morgaine said to, so I did." He wipes her tears away again. "Should I have not?"

Iris shook her head, leaning into him. "I don't know. I'm... I'm not sure I'm the one you should be seeing, and when you do remember everything you'll hate me."

"I think you need someone to help you. You're clearly overwhelmed with everything. And... I don't think I'd hate you, even if I get my memories back. Why would I?"

"Because I killed you. Because we're on different sides. Because Praxina does, because Nathaniel does, because you deserve better than this." Iris pressed her face into her hands and groaned. "Do... do you want to just come inside? We can figure something out."

"Still not dead." He felt the need to point out.

"And I don't really care about Nathaniel or Praxina..." he could say with confidence he definitely didn't care about this Nathaniel. Praxina was giving him a pang of something, but he didn't know what it was supposed to be, and so he didn't much like it. "And if you want, I'd be happy to. Though you should probably finish crying, it's not a very good idea to bottle up negative emotions."

Iris swallowed and wiped the tears away, shaking her head. "No, no, I need to stop crying. There's... no reason to cry. I'm fine. It'll be fine. Like you said, you're not dead." She offers a small smile, but it doesn't do much to boost confidence.

"You came out here to cry, and your reason didn't go away just because I showed up. Let yourself feel what you're feeling. Don't you know bottling things up is one of the fastest ways to go dark?"

"I'm not going to go dark, I'm the princess of Ephedia." Her tone got a bit exasperated during the title, but she couldn't entirely be blamed for that. Iris stood slowly and offered him a hand. "Besides, it's better to cry over hot chocolate than sopping wet wood."

"You know the Ephedian Royal Family is known for its propensity to go dark. They're all very morally grey." He paused, and frowned a little.
"How did I..."

"They are?" She frowns with him. "I... whatever. Come on." She shakes her hand at him, trying to make it clear that she wanted to help him up.

He didn't know how he knew that, but he unquestionably did. He'd have spent more time worrying about it, but Iris was standing up and motioning at him impatiently, so he tucked his legs in a little and floated up until he could stand.

Iris sighed and reached out to take his hand, sending a nonverbal spell over him immediately to dry him off. Since, of course, it was her fault he'd fallen in.

He's surprised she grabbed his hand, but then the magical warmth spreads and chases the water off of him, and he understands. All the same, holding her hand is actually kind of nice, so he doesn't try to pull away once the spell ends, either.

"Question. What's hot chocolate?" He'd heard her mention it, but he'd focused on the first part of her sentence too much to address it, earlier.

"Hot chocolate is a drink, like milk but... thick. Sweet." She supplies. Did Ephedia have chocolate at all?

He nodded a little, and glances at her house.

"Sounds rather Xerin. I... think I like sweet? I haven't had it yet but I like the idea."

Iris nodded. "It's pretty good. Come on, it'll be nice." She can still feel the tears bubbling up and occasionally falling, but it isn't as bad now that she's forcing herself to focus. "Do you like whipped cream?"

"I... don't know. Can I try it?" He tilts his head a little, smiling.

"It sounds nice, but I haven't the foggiest idea what it is."

"It's... I can't explain it." She giggles and swallows, shaking her head. "Can't believe the words slipped my mind. I've only been eating it since forever." But she shakes her head and starts walking toward the house, him in tow. "Maybe just try it?"

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have some prepared already, or are you going to make it now? ...I assume you have to make it."
"I can just make some quick, it's easy." She offers a smile, weaving through the garden. "It'll be nice."

"Fair enough. I can't wait." He smiles a little and glances up at the blue dome he hadn't noticed before. The thing shimmers out of existence a few seconds later, but Mephisto doesn't really mind.

"Do you... have a small, blue cat?" He remembered the thing suddenly, unsure why it came to mind. Maybe the color of the shield jogged his memory.

Iris hummed. "A cat? No, I don't think I have a cat..." She paused at the steps to the porch. "I don't think I've ever been allowed to have a cat."

"Huh. Then why do I remember one?" He frowned a little, scratching the back of his neck distractedly. Sometimes he hated his memory. If he was going to get flashes, the least they could do was make sense for once.

"I mean, we have an Amaru. But he's not a cat." Iris pointed out.

"What's... an Amaru?" He frowned, slowly, and tilted his head.

"I have no idea what he is. But he isn't a cat! He's somewhere around here."

"...huh. I wonder what I was thinking of, then?" He shrugged, and motions at the door.
"Is there some spell you say to open it? Morgaine's doors opened with a thought."

Iris reached out and slowly opened it, letting the door swing and creak loudly. "Nope."

Mephisto stepped back a little in surprise at the creak, but shakes it off after a few seconds.

"Oh. That... works too. How do you stop intruders from getting in?" He tilted his head at her curiously.

"There's a locking thing that shoves a piece of metal into the door and holds it there. So you have to break the wood to get in, if that makes sense." Iris shrugged, sure she'd said some part of that wrong. She gestures for him to step inside. "Ready?"

He follows, glancing around curiously.
"I'm not following, but I'm sure I'll understand when I take the time to look into it."

Atleast he wouldn't ask her about it, Iris wasn't sure she could handle googling it and the subsequent questions about her phone and Google. But she ignores it and leads him to the kitchen, grabbing two mugs on her way.

"Sorry everything's kind of a mess..." She offers, glancing at the dishes on the tables and the leaning tower of unopened mail on the counter. "Hard to take care of yourself when you're alone."

"You clearly need the help. Why haven't you used magic to make these tasks easier?"

"I didn't grow up with magic so I guess I just never thought of it." Iris shrugged and starting pulling out the ingredients. Her face still hurt from crying, and she wasn't sure she wouldn't start crying again at the drop of a hat. "It's just... not the go-to."

Mephisto hummed, and moved to another counter to start at least making things look neat. He'd use magic to find out where it all went after he was sure Iris didn't need support right that moment.