Gwyn walked around the rest of her empty city. It's been a week since Silvia's death and it was still hard for the woman to accept it. She barely took care of herself and didn't have the will to explore anymore. All she did was walk around and wait for insanity to take over. However, she wasn't expecting to see any survivors, and yet she found some searching for food in a store. Her curiosity took over her as she approached the two people, not without suspicion. A man and a woman, both looked a few years younger than her. The man tried talking when he noticed Gywn coming toward them, but still stayed careful.
"Xizi yjiti?"
"What?"
Gwyn couldn't understand what they were saying, she had never even heard this language before. The two survivors looked at each other before the man tried talking again.
"Can you understand me?"
"Yes... Are you not from here? Other places of the world are safe?"
"No idea, we just came for food."
Gwyn felt even more confused now, he was acting like nothing happened. She quickly noticed how strange they looked too, the woman wore a mask and they both had old and thorned clothes.
"Where are you from?"
The man looked at his friend, they talked together for a few moments before he answered Gwyn.
"We come from another world. My friend and I are trying to find food and water, there are none where we live."
"No food nor water? You're lucky you didn't come earlier, a disease was killing everyone here."
"Really? So that's why there's no one... Does that mean you're alone here?"
Gwyn nodded at the man, he seemed to feel bad and talked with his friend again before turning back to the woman.
"Do you want to join us? It doesn't seem like it's fun to be there."
"Join you?" Gwyn paused upon hearing those words, some people from another world proposed to bring her along. Usually, she would have thought they were crazy, but she was starting to become crazy herself anyway "Why not, it's not like there's much happening there. My name is Gwyn."
"Neige!" The man said with a smile "And she's my friend, Polyetta. She doesn't speak your language though."
"It's okay, I'm sure I could learn your weird language in a few months."
"In a few months? That's... A lot I think? How long is a month?"
"You don't know? I guess your world doesn't have the same time units."
Gwyn walked toward the two friends, she had already given up but was curious to see what was lying beyond her world.
A few months passed, the three became decent friends and Gwyn even managed to learn the language of the two friends. For once, she was happy to live again, even if it was nothing compared to the times with her friend Silvia. One day, Polyetta asked to see Gwyn. The woman was concerned since it was rare for her to be with Polyetta alone in her room. The two women were standing in the room, waiting for Polyetta to talk.
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"So... How do you feel on the ship?"
"It's fine. It's still a bit weird."
"Understandably so... There's something I need to tell you, you remember when I explained to you that we used a book to travel to other dimensions?"
"Yes, I still don't fully understand."
"It's okay... It's just... The pages are changing. It's like something is altering the worlds. I don't want to worry Neige but... I don't have anyone to share my worries with."
Gwyn chuckled at herself, remembering her conversation with Silvia.
"Are you alright Gwyn?"
"Yes, it's just like if I was a therapist of some kind."
"It's true yes... I was thinking about saving others like us, without a world anymore. We could... All work together to fix other worlds and make sure everything is alright."
"That's a noble idea."
"It has nothing noble..." Polyetta let out a sigh before looking back at Gwyn "I don't want Neige to suffer, if this universe collapses, then so will Neige. I need to fix everything or else..."
Gwyn could feel the sorrow and worries on Polyetta's face, even despite her mask. It reminded her of the love she held for her own friend and prompted her to help the two friends not suffer the same Fate.
"I'll help. I took martial arts lessons on top of having medical knowledge."
"You... I just needed to talk about it, you don't need to-"
"I want to. I don't like being a doctor, but I can't stay here and do nothing."
"Gwyn... Thanks, I'm glad to know you'll help. Just having someone else on the ship helps incredibly."
"You helped me too, Polyetta... If others will join us, maybe we should find a name for the ship, what do you think?"
"I've... Never been good with names... The Polyetta Express? Maybe the Neige Express? Or the investigation team?"
"You do suck with name." Gwyn said with a soft smile "In my world, there was a mythology about a being that ruled over time. He was called Kronos, we could name the ship like that, as a reminder of how precious time is."
"Kronos? It sounds good to me! I'll talk about it with Neige."
"Good, now I'll need to do something if you don't mind."
"Of course, have a great day Gwyn."
A year passed and the ship still had no new members as it was difficult to locate survivors of empty worlds. Gwyn was enjoying a cup of coffee at the newly acquired coffee machine, where Polyetta quickly joined her.
"Gwyn! How is everything?"
"Just like usual, boring. I thought living on a spaceship in the middle of the universe would be more thrilling."
"Well... It means nothing bad is happening, right? But I'm getting scared, we still don't understand what is causing problems in worlds... Sometimes, I think about erasing everything and restarting everything."
"Didn't we agree on not using the book?"
"Yes but... It's just a side project, we can talk about it once it's finished. But can you imagine? A world where everything is peaceful, with no problems, no suffering. Everyone would be cleaned from all the trauma and sorrow in their hearts... Isn't it tempting?"
Gwyn thought about her friend Silvia and the pain her loss brought her. Maybe she would be happier if she never had to live through this ordeal.
"It is... But Neige won't agree."
"I know, that's why I didn't tell him."
"I see... I'll help you hide it from him, he doesn't have to know."
"You'd help me?" Polyetta asked, surprised.
"Yes, I doubt I can be happy in this state. I just hope it will work."
"Of course, the project Snowglobe is perfect!"
"Snow... Globe? That's the name of the possibly most important event in the universe?"
"Yeah! A perfect world for everyone to live in harmony! It will take some time but I'm still thinking about the idea... If you could have a perfect world, what would it be?"
"A perfect world... I'd want to be a pirate sailing the sea, always exploring without ever letting myself love someone."
"Exploring the sea, it does sound great!"
Silva and Neige stayed silent after hearing everything Gwyn had to say. She didn't even notice, but tears were flowing down her face as she was opening her heart to her friends.
"It's not great Polyetta... Even after losing my memories... Even in the middle of the sea... I still am cursed... I can't ever be free, I can't sail the sea forever, my heart is never satisfied... It's my fate..."