Why, Hei? What were you thinking?!

I don't know. I'm not too sure myself.

You can't just rush in like that all the time! Ugh. I mean…there's no point talking about it now, is there?

Sorry for messing up, I guess.

You better be. If anyone among us could've made it back, it was you.

I never dreamed of that much. All I wanted was to spend my last days with you. So…thanks for that.

Come on. This is not fair. Please, I need you. You can't leave me here.

Take care of our friends. And take good care of yourself, Sophia. You need to win.

The snow was a white, solemn blanket upon the earth, burying the past and all that was gone. I lay there, still clutching the severed hand of my dear companion. My first friend.

His final cry echoed in my ears. The shock of his loss was a weight that pressed upon my chest, making it hard to breathe. Tears fell from my eyes, an overflow of the despair that threatened to drown me. I could feel the cold seeping into my bones, a numbing reminder of the finality of death. The landscape was a blur, a wash of nondescript darkness. Alone in my grief, I clutched desperately to his severed hand, to all I had left of him. As though if I squeezed hard enough, if I waited long enough, Hei would somehow return.

Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned to see 6E12, the entity responsible for this destruction, slowly floating towards me. A surge of anger and fear rose within. I should have left him to rot in that cursed cage of his.

I rose to my feet, still clutching Hei's hand. My gaze met that of 6E12, and in his blank expression, I saw a reflection of my own pain and loss. Why? What did he have to be sad about?

Hei's gray ice still encased both his hands. If the ice indeed sealed away his attacks – Reality Rend and Synapse Break – then I might as well try and bring him down before the ice thaws. Perhaps my efforts would be futile. But if I ever stood a chance, it was now.

"You are my enemy," I muttered. And with that, I was no longer a teammate of 6E12. He could now damage me. And I could now kill him. Or at least, try.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

I raised my palm toward him and formed a Frost Missile. I charged it with spin as he closed in, now a mere dozen yards away.

I steadied my aim. "Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn."

The air around us began to shimmer and crackle. Though I could tell, this was not the effect of my magic. And then I heard a familiar voice –

「Cosmos, howl. Galaxies, burn.」

A strange, warm glow radiated from the ground beside me.

It was a rose, made entirely of fire, sprouting out of the desolate earth. It shone so bright, my eyes hurt looking at it.

6E12 shuddered. He aimed his palm at the rose, but shot out nothing. I caught the slightest manifestation of shadows in his hands, before that dreaded energy was sucked into the gray ice.

「Matter and dark matter, quake, decay, and shatter.」

The rose bloomed and expanded into a ball of flames, and the flames coalesced into a solid shape. A familiar figure. Alice.

She was wounded and bleeding, but she still carried her curved sword. A brilliant, single-edged blade, glowing white-hot.

She continued to speak.

「Creature of dust, hear the judgment of the queen who never was, from upon her throne of fire! With this blade I sever thy fate. Ignite, edge of Eden.」

She swung her sword. A flash consumed all.

The night lit white with absolute brilliance. 6E12's form disappeared instantly within the light. The world, too, disappeared. And that was the last thing I remembered before passing out.

I didn't know how long I fell unconscious for. When I woke up, it was bright.

I was still lying down. But now, it wasn't on the ground. It felt much softer, much warmer. A bed? Where was I?

The room was filled with the familiar scent of…cookies? And the warmth of the blanket on me felt like something I had awoken to many, many times before.

I blinked my eyes open.

It was a small bedroom, with flower-patterned curtains. The glass pane of the window was cracked open slightly, letting a gentle breeze in. The door, meanwhile, was closed. Beside the bed was a nightstand, with an alarm clock, a lamp, and…allergy medicine?

Wait.

This was my own bedroom. Back home, where I lived with my parents.

I shot out of bed. I checked my hands, and I touched the world around me, to make sure this was all real. And…and Hei…

I no longer had his hand with me.

"H-Hei?" I ventured to ask. My heart ached, like a knife was being twisted inside my chest.

"Hei? Are you here?" I tried desperately. I felt hot tears well up once again.

A weak sigh came from outside my room. I bolted out of my bedroom, into the living room of what was apparently my house. An injured, bleeding figure sat upon the couch that was against the opposite side of the wall.

"Hei?!" I shouted. But then I realized it was not him.

Instead, it was Alice who looked up and greeted me with a smile.