Life after the cycles was... rough. Aedes Elysiae was mostly rebuilt after the destruction of the Black Tide. But it would never be the same Aedes Elysiae Phainon grew up in. Everyone he'd known as a boy was gone, most of the homes still empty shells.

There were a few neighbors. But they weren't his neighbors. There were flowers again, but they weren't the flowers he planted with Cyrene. You made things easier, though. You'd helped him rebuild the farm home he'd grown up in. Phainon had bawled like a baby when you'd dug up and cleaned off the broken picture frames with photos of his family and Cyrene inside.

Phainon was eternally grateful for everything you'd done for him since arriving on Amphoreus. You'd saved his life, literally and emotionally. But that didn't stop the nightmares that woke him up every night. That didn't stop him from missing his lost friends or flinching when new people reached out to him.

After a week of screaming night terrors and barely getting him to eat, you knew something had to be done. Amphoreus and its cities and towns were safe, rebuilding and repopulating after the three million cycles. But Phainon was still hurting.

So one day, you brought home a surprise. Phainon had been curled up on the couch, enjoying the sunlight on his skin, when a white ball of fluff came barreling towards him. He jumped up with wide eyes. "What.. what is that..?"

You smiled, pleased with yourself. You settled the white shepherd, who was letting her tongue loll out contentedly. "This is Snowy. She's trained in PTSD and anxiety."

You watched as the full surprise really set in for Phainon. His throat convulsed as tears filled his cyan eyes. "Tribbie used to call me Snowy."