Neige and Sepide finally managed to find their two friends after a long search. To their surprise, a man was with them and ran toward Neige the moment he saw him.
"M-Magical Blue!? I can't believe it's you! You're even cuter than on TV!"
The man was talking so fast that Neige had trouble understanding him. Silva went next to them and talked with a dramatic tone.
"Poor survivor, he finally met his idol, let's hope he won't be disappointed."
"I won't!" Said the man "Magical Blue, you helped me so much! You're the reason I'm alive!"
Neige quickly understood that Silva was amused by the situation but still decided to play along and act like the man's hero.
"I'm glad I could help you! Me and my friends always try our best to bring hope to everyone!"
"You're so cool and adorable! I always loved you, could we get together and-"
"Hey, I'm not into love! I'm only doing that so everyone can be filled with hope and courage."
"Don't worry, Magical Red told me that you were shy about it but I'll treat you well, I promise!"
Neige looked at Silva, who tried her best to act innocent. Neige tried his best but couldn't keep going any longer without breaking the man's dream.
"I'm not the one you think, I'm actually a guy."
"A-Are you?"
"Yes, I didn't want anyone to know but-"
"You're not, don't listen to society, you can be whoever you want!"
"N-No! It's not that deep! I-"
"Don't worry Magical Blue! I'll take care of all of your needs!"
Silva started feeling bad for Neige and interfered with the conversation to help her friend.
"I was just kidding, Magical Blue is not interested in that."
"It's okay don't worry, I can convince her!"
The man was still trying to convince Neige despite the two friends arguing against him. Taking opportunity of this moment when everyone was busy, Sepide went toward Remiel, far from the noise of the argument.
"Hey... How many did you kill?"
"74,563"
"I'm... Far behind you. I think you win this time."
"But, it is not over yet?"
"I can accept defeat when it's I see it... I'm sorry for being mean to you."
"You were not, I can understand that you did not mean harm."
Sepide smiled softly and took Remiel in her arms before quickly getting away when she felt the blood all over her.
"You... Really killed a lot of zombies..."
"Indeed, I am surprised by your sudden signs of affection, you never tried that before."
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"I guess I did change... But it doesn't mean we're friends, we're still rivals! I'm not letting you prove your superiority!"
Sepide smiled at Remiel. She still had some trouble accepting her fully but felt much better since she understood where the problem came from.
"I shall do my best. Even if it takes years, I will win."
"Looks like you weren't built with modesty."
Sepide and Remiel continued teasing each other until Neige and Silva went to them. Sepide noticed the man behind them, lying on the ground and holding his crotch in pain.
"What happened?"
"He was annoying Neige too much, I'm the only one who can do that." Proudly announced Silva.
"We'll talk about it later, we need to go back on the ship." Neige said with a serious tone "The leader told us that Ina ran away."
"She ran away? Why?"
"I don't know, we'll ask Polyetta on the ship."
The group decided to continue their mission later and immediately returned to their base with the intent to find Ina as soon as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sepide and Remiel went away to clean themselves while Neige and Silva hurried toward their leader. She was in Emely's lab along with its owner, both looking at the screen of the computer. When she noticed Silva and Neige, she quickly walked toward them to explain the situation.
"You're finally here, Ina decided to go in her native world. We tried contacting her but she didn't answer and we have no signal from her watch."
"Did it break?" Asked Silva "She's careful usually..."
"Something probably happened to her, which is strange, since her world is completely empty by now."
Neige remembered his last conversation with her and figured it was probably because of it that she ran away to her old world.
"Silva and I will get Sepide once she's ready and go, we'll bring her safe, I promise."
Neige quickly left to get his friend, followed by Silva right behind him. The leader was scared about what could happen concerning Ina. Seeing the worries on her face, Emely approached her softly.
"Leader, is everything alright?"
The woman straightened her back and took a more confident stance before answering.
"Yes. I need to do something in my room, tell me if anything bad happens."
"Will do."
Polyetta left the room, hoping Neige and the others would be all fine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The three friends arrived in Ina's world. The buildings and roads were filled with ashes like the world itself burned. Without thinking, Neige headed toward the place where he met Ina for the first time, on top of a lighthouse.
After quickly making their way there, the group found Ina looking at the world below. The anomaly was also there on the ground, visibly in pain. Neige tried approaching Ina but was quickly stopped by her voice.
"If you come closer... I'll jump..."
No one dared to move, waiting for something to happen. Neige was the first one to talk, trying to understand what was happening.
"Ina... Why is Ada here? Did she attack you?"
"I... Don't know... I was just standing here and it all happened suddenly." Ina held her hand and placed it close to her chest. She turned toward her friends, a smile full of tears on her face "I... Need to go. It's better for everyone."
"You know it's not true, we can always try to deal with it. It's not because of your past lives that your current one is already decided."
Ina stopped smiling and turned back toward the sky, staring at her old world.
"Neige, Silva... Do you remember a year ago? I was standing at the exact same place and you were with Kairo... If he is no more... Maybe it's my fault. I only bring death around me, and now, I understand that it's my fate... It's only fitting that I inflict upon myself the misery I have brought on others."
"If you leave, who's going to cook for us?" Asked Silva "I'd do it, but then the ship would burn."
"Sepide can take care of it."
Ina stepped on the fence in front of her, getting dangerously close to the emptiness in front of her.
"Many volcanos erupted at the same time, causing the end of life like I knew it... In all of human history, no... History itself, it never happened... It only happened while I was alive, and I was the only survivor... All this time I thought I was unlucky, but now, I understand... Goddess of Death... I never asked for that, and I think the legacy of this Goddess should disappear once and for all."
"But wait! We're not dead so... It's alright, see?"
"Kairo, Shiro... It's only a matter of time before more fall. I can't allow myself to live any longer... You shouldn't have come... You're making this harder for yourselves."
"I don't care!" Yelled Neige "We're going to bring you on the ship, I already promised to everyone!"
"Neige... Don't make promises you can't hold. Please, don't blame yourselves for what is happening, I'm the only one at fault."
Everyone stayed silent. Neige approached slowly so she wouldn't notice him but stopped after seeing Ina suddenly holding her head in pain.
"It's... This voice again..."
The trio ran toward Ina to save her but was yelled out by the desperate voice of the woman.
"Leave! Take the nun with you... Forget about me..."
Neige and his friends had no intention of leaving, hell-bent on saving Ina from herself.
"Death... It's all I can remember..."