The road back to the City of Hearts would take two days on Snap’s back.

Farewells were made to Carpalis and Magus before they began the trip back to the 6th Branch. The woman was full of smiles regardless of what happened to her. Either that, or Carpalis was a master at hiding how she really felt.

It was unclear if she would ever recover from her injuries. No attempt was made by Carpalis to clarify. She left them with a polite goodbye, but not without giving Frost a few words of advice.

“You did a lot of wrong. As unwilling as it was, do not forget that what you do now is as important as what you did. That is the basis of redemption.”

Frost held those words closely as they followed the outer walls of the Nex Megalopolis.

Carpalis was entrusted to the care of her Underbosses in the City of Clubs where there was still much to do. Magus was there to supervise her, and he promised to return to the Nexus as soon as things died down.

Frost’s involvement was temporarily over. And in the first place, she wouldn’t know where to start with the reparations. Instead, Carpalis asked to leave it to the Beholders for now.

Their flawed security would force them all to act no matter how for or against they were. Additionally, it was likely that an Arbiter’s Council would be held after the initial cleanup. Frost was just glad that the Beholders were doing something now, at least according to Carpalis.

For short term recovery, it was great. But bigger efforts and plans needed to be put into place for the long-term recovery of the Nex Megalopolis. Frost could only speculate, as could the others. Nav’s brilliance couldn’t shine a proper light in this regard. Neither could Magus. None of them were experts in this field, and Frost deeply understood that it wasn’t just as simple as uttering: “Do this.”

Still, she looked forward to finally meeting with the Beholders. To return to the Nexus. To the elusive heavens. Nav, Jury and Ignis wishfully watched it through day and night. Nav didn’t need to sleep. Strangely enough, Nav functioned on Nex. Without it, Nav suspected that she would ‘sleep’ to generate it.

It was strange. Nav remained close to Jury and Frost. Ignis with Ber, and Res and Cer found themselves mixed with the Alter Frosts. In a bizarre twist of fate, the Hired Arm allowed Cer to stick close. She understood what they had been through and opened her arms to keep them comfortable until they returned to the Nexus.

Brandar’s expanse was spared from the Impuritas invasions during the night. It was like they were afraid to show themselves after their spectacular failure. Not only did they fail to have their wish granted, but they had invoked Frost’s wrath, and now, she possessed its power.

* * *

“I still can’t access anything.” Frost whispered to herself in the dead of night, trying to stimulate a response from her Blessing but to no avail.

And she wasn’t the only one. Beneath the stars, Jury, Ber and Ignis tried to access their status, but nothing appeared. Those that weren’t Blessed by Frost could still access theirs strangely enough.

“A mystery, but I speculate that I may be the root of the cause. Firstly, it was I who controlled what you call the ‘System’ for the most part.” Nav explained, laying between Frost and Jury as a tail coiled around them, forming a cozy nest.

It was the first time Nav had the pleasure to see the stars. Snap’s back had plenty of room for them to spread themselves out. The Star Child, who looked uncannily similar to Frost, watched them with warm eyes, communicating with the little Frost and the Archivist with magical symbols.

“I can’t even see if I gained anything new. I wonder if we can reinstate it once we’re back in the Nexus. It sort of makes sense that it’s affected by you becoming physical. We can’t hear you voice in our head anymore or see your prompts.” Frost added.

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“The Nexus should have an answer. Mmm~! I can’t wait!” Jury just barely managed to contain her excitement.

“Could there be another intelligence like me within the Nexus?” Nav wondered. “The Site Core implied that there are multiple instances of sapient machines. One may be in use for the Blessing of the Nexus.” She reasoned. “Will I have to go back to my dark world?”

“I’d rather we stay like this than to see you gone.” Jury assured, hugging Nav’s arm. “Cold! Here. Let’s warm you up!”

“You’re right. You’re freezing. I hope you don’t mind me as well.” Frost smiled, sharing her coat with Nav, inviting the jealous eyes of a certain wolf woman.

But at the same time, she couldn’t help but smile at them as she pointed her nose to the moon.

Nav then spoke with uncertain eyes.

“I cannot understand the reason why I need to be warmed up. I do not possess biological homeostatic functions. Hypothermia is not an issue for a machine. If anything, lower temperatures are optimal for my processes.” Her words were full of formal jargon. The kind that dehumanized her.

However, Nav didn’t refuse them.

“Pick me apart and I’m certain all you will find are circuits and bolts. But… I don’t mind. I don’t know if this is a desire or something similar. What would you call this sensation in my chest that holds no heart?”

“I’d call it a yearning. It’s ok Nav. We’ll slowly help you understand what those feelings are.” Jury hummed.

“Yeah. At every step of the way.” Frost agreed, causing Nav’s eyes to narrow slightly, still confused but thankful regardless.

“Nav is cute.” Ignis added from out of the blue, finding the contrast of her cold manner of speech and body language endearing.

“Sounds just like us when we got knee deep into our Moon business. Didn’t care about any other soul but our own. One day that cold shell’s going to break.” Ber hummed. “Frost does have that effect on people.”

“Maybe you can do the same to all the Moons up – I mean, down here. They flushed them out to get the Hyperwarp working. Won’t be long before they’re back in the Nexus again.” Cer pointed out.

Hyperwarps works very differently from Hyperlinks. While Hyperlinks could be used both ways, a Hyperwarp could only be used to bring things into the Nexus once. This was used to bring back weak Corrupted for Blessed to fight to free the duties of the Moons. But given what they now knew about ImpulseWorks, it was also likely used to capture Corrupted.

Hyperwarps could also be used from the Nexus to appear at any established one. However, they were prone to damage, and were known to claim limbs and maim individuals upon teleportation. Sometimes groups did not appear at the other end at all.

“Things are going to start changing soon.” Res whispered optimistically as she brushed her tail against Frost’s face unexpectedly. “Mission complete.”

“For them. But now? We’re under the Amalgam’s rule. Plenty more missions to go.” Cer grinned. “With the secret mission being to finally get chomped by you. That reminds me! You ate Ber! What’s up with that!?”

“You told her?” Frost sighed.

“To solidify my position as a New Moon. Who else can say they’ve been eaten by the Amalgam?” Ber puffed out her chest, proud of this fact as Cer’s eyes burned with envy.

“Me.” Jury swiftly rebutted.

Frost laughed a little, her spirits reinvigorated as the conversation derailed to blissful nonsense. It helped take her mind away from the Nex Megalopolis, and she was thankful that they chose to travel outside of its wall.

There was a lot going on in her mind, and restoration occupied a large chunk of her train of thoughts. Regardless, she didn’t allow herself to mope when so many smiles surrounded her. As Cer brushed her tail against Frost’s stomach, Frost decided to bring a certain topic into the conversation.

“You think of me as a mother, huh?” She teased, patting Cer’s tail knowing that the woman trusted her enough to allow her.

“Yeah, and so what? It takes a lot for dejected Demi-humans to start trusting someone. At this point you’re practically family to us.” Cer defended as Ber eagerly nodded in response.

“More than that.” Ber smiled. She didn’t elaborate any further.

“It’s not an exaggeration either. Demi-humans are notorious for being tough to handle. It takes more than just good intentions to get us to open up.” Res said, her tail wagging as her face turned a slight red. “I like to think of you as my late mom. Just without her bad qualities.”

Frost let their words occupy her mind as she watched the stars. She was pleased to hear how strongly they felt about her. Likewise, the triplets had become irreplaceable. After hearing them vent their frustrations of their lives, and unravel their sincerest selves, Frost wished to facilitate their happiness.

And she couldn’t think of a better place other than the Nexus.

Would the residential floors suffice?

Would something new change to allow them to create a place they can call home?

Or, would the Floor of Amalgamation accommodate them?

No one knew what the Nexus had in store, but if anything was certain, it was that the hard times were behind them.

They reached the 6th Branch the following day.

And through the guidance of the triplets and the 6th Apostle, they teleported into the pearly gates of the Nexus. Finally, after all this time, Frost had returned to the pale stretch of the Central Relay –

– The place where it all began.