860. A Kiss To Remember

860. A Kiss To Remember

It was over.

Nothing compared to the relief of this one small phrase. Its weight was a stern reminder of what was at stake. No one expected to lose, but at the same time, achieving victory felt like a dream.

Nav relayed everything that had happened during the war to Frost in detail. It was an overwhelming victory on all fronts, but it came at a cost. Battlefields were littered with the remains of friends and foes. Celebrations were held off until the first rays of sunlight finally peered over the horizon.

Headgears, vambraces, platemail; they were all taken off to pay homage to the fallen. The Golden Middle and Caldera Industries celebrated with powerful cheers and mechanical buzzing, whereas the likes of Inflow Direct were observant and focused on the aftermath rather than reveling in their victory.

Justica Arms and Time Reverberation on the other hand immediately recovered the bodies of the fallen and wrapped them in special cloth. The Branches of Justica Arms had a tradition of recovering the bodies of their personnel and sending them off to their final resting place; the Respite. It was a burial ground solely for Justica Arms members located across the sea in Spiritas.

Moons did not tend to care about the death of their own. But here, the Moons could not help but mourn the deaths of their own. They were no longer strangers to one another, but that didn’t mean they were close. Even so, they were aware of how deeply their deaths would affect those in the Floor of Amalgamation.

Healers knew the names of every Moon and Aspiring Moon.

Some were even close friends of the Healers.

Few were more than just that.

The thought of this was more painful than the rods that were pulled free from her back. Nothing could compare to the pain of loss. She didn’t allow it to take hold of her. Not yet. She still hadn’t finished from here. Brooding would have to come later, but still, she couldn’t hide her sadness.

Each rod that was wrenched out of her back by Dark Memoria and the Little Frosts gushed with blood as if crying in her stead. Her Coat of Prejudice was, once again, reduced to shreds. Her bare skin was exposed to the world, hidden only by leftover feathers.

“It’s never an easy thing, huh.” Frost murmured as her face was clasped by Jury’s gentle hands. “Weird. I didn’t know a lot of them. I probably don’t even know the names of those Moons and Aspiring Moons… and the Atelier personnel who died, but it feels like I’ve lost so much.”

She didn’t even have the strength to raise her head. Without Jury, her head would flop like the rest of her body.

“Are you blaming yourself again?”

“Not at all. I can’t blame myself for what I can’t control. I should be happy that we won. But it always feels so weird… when you reach this point, right? I don’t even have tears to spare. It hurst… so much. Aha… I really… wish I could cry right now.”

“Why?”

“Relief… I’m relieved, that’s why. It’s over. We made it… So I just want to lie down just bawl my eyes out.” Her breaths were ragged, and her emotions were so raw that they could have only come from the bottom of her heart.

Relief was usually accompanied by grief for Frost.

The last victories she had when she had broken down were because of the enormous weight that had been relinquished from her.

The first time it happened was after she returned from the Derma Layer.

The next occurred when she first entered the Floor of Amalgamation following her Corruption.

This was no different. The catharsis alone made her want to weep in Jury’s arms.

But this isn’t so bad either. Crying’s been my way to get rid of excess emotions, huh. How I come back down after harrowing through hell after hell. I wish I could cry right now…

Frost looked at Jury’s face. Tears tumbled onto her wrists. Her hair obscured her crying face, but Frost could see it so clearly.

“Jury…”

“*Sniff* If you won’t cry, then at least let me cry for you! I feel terrible too! Those Moons… they were mine. They trusted me. I let them die!  Why is it hitting me now!? I don’t understand it!”

“Neither do I. Are you going to blame yourself too?” Frost asked.

Jury shook her head. The flaps that camouflage with her long cowlicks flapped as she brought her eyes to Frost.

“I won’t. But I’ll do better.”

“Yeah. We’ll do better.” Nothing could make Frost happier than hearing this from Jury. That’s what makes us so different from them. It’s alright, Jury. Don’t cry. Hah…”

A pale growth burst from behind Frost’s lower back. It startled the Little Frosts who thought a worm had just burrowed out of her body, but quickly realized that it was a part of her. This white fuzzy growth had various pale-blue stripes decorating it.

It was a tail as white as snow that looked like it had pieces of ice sticking out.

The Tail of Warm Tears and A Heart of Ice

ORIGIN : Folklore

HP : 3,400,000

Warm tears and a heart of ice… I think I’m familiar with that tale. The Snow Queen.

Frost found it funny that her tail represented both good and evil. Despite how her tail appeared, it did not freeze people like the Snow Queen. Rather, it melted the ice around people’s hearts, just as she had brought many to catharsis.

She wrapped Jury’s tail with hers and wiped away her tears using the tip. It was weak, and it required immense focus to maintain. But it was worth it if it meant giving Jury a second of comfort. She couldn’t bear to see her cry, let alone for her sake.

“Forty rods and counting. Another dozen more and you’re free to walk.” Dark Memoria claimed. “Don’t fall asleep on us.”

“I’m trying not to. [Painkiller] isn’t doing its job right. You usually start to drift off after losing a lot of blood and enter a hypovolemic state. Enter shock… Can Moons experience shock in the first place?”

“Your blood is limitless. It’s thicker than it should be. I’m willing to wager another Black Forest Clock that it is related to that strip of red hair you have.” Dark Memoria said.

Frost couldn’t respond, so the Little Frosts turned their attention to Dark Memoria and nodded simultaneously.

“As expected, the tarnish over the gold has introduced anomalous powers. I was under the impression that your hair would turn completely gold one day. You were starting to look like an irresistible golden apple.” Dark Memoria couldn’t explain why it had occurred, but Frost knew that it was closely linked with the 5th State and the Nexus itself.

Otherwise it would not have also turned red.

“It’s my war stripe to tell them to fuck off.” Frost crudely said before adding: “Ascensio Lux Per Viam Flammarum… ‘The Ascension of Light Through the Path of Flames’. Tribulations… accumulation of Light… I guess that’s why my hair is like this. There’s more gold than last time. I don’t dig having completely gold hair myself.”

She winced and held back a pained laugh.

“Ngh… Ascension… I wonder if the order of the Nexus and the Floors have anything to do with it. We’ll have time to theorize soon. Ugh. Ouch… Haaaah. Will I at least be able to remove this lance?”

The Lance of Longinus remained embedded into her chest. Moving it was far too risky. However, Jury had an idea.

“There’s always a way to fix things. I learned from the best.” Jury assured.

“Aha…”

When the last rod was removed from Frost’s body, Jury’s tail wrapped her body and kept her standing upright. She held her at an angle so that she would not crumple into herself, but instead be leaning against her tail.

She tilted her forward and looked at Dark Memoria for permission as she said:

“My kisses can make Frost immune for exactly one second. It’s what stopped the lance from killing her the first time.”

“Be careful… I don’t know if you can touch it.” Frost warned.

However, Dark Memoria nodded assuredly at Jury.

“You have more in common with the Light than with Michaela. You should have no problem wielding it unless you touch it with your left hand. Unfortunately, we will not be able to keep it. It expires shortly after embedding itself into its target.”

“It should be possible to remove it safely! Do you…” Jury’s eyes wandered away from Frosts, but after a moment of mentally gathering herself, she stared back into her eyes, determined to save her. “Do you trust me?”

Frost didn’t need to say a word.

She just smiled and returned Jury’s smoldering gaze.

“Frost… When we return… let’s get married. For real.”

And without another word shared, Jury planted her lips on Frosts. The warmth of her lips, and the sensation of her invading tongue override the pain of the soul-rending pain of the lance. One heavy tug was all that was required, and Frost’s face remained blissful unaware of its removal.

Jury’s tongue explored further in as if to desperately buy her some more time. The kiss was longer than several seconds, the Little Frosts were closing the eyes of one another, whilst some fake-closed theirs and peered through the gaps between their fingers.

“Mwah… I hope… you feel better now.” Jury furiously blushed when she realized they had an audience of a few hundred Little Frosts.

“Do you have to ask?” Frost beamed, feeling refreshed already. “I still can’t walk though. Or move my fingers the way I want them to. I can’t even wiggle my toes… We should head over there, huh. The Blue Dahlia must be waiting for us.”

All eyes fell onto the blue glow of the Genesis Stone. A faint presence could be felt there as blue petals fell from the tree. It was disappearing, and soon, all that would remain was a dead tree.

“Are you sure about that? Isn’t she an enemy?”

“Don’t worry. She helped me fight Iscario. Her Ego’s intact. It’ll be similar to when I first met Ilya.”

Dark Memoria silently agreed with a firm nod.

“Haaah. Who would have thought that we’d be meeting with the triplet’s mom. I wonder what she’ll think of me being their pseudo mother.”

It was impossible to tell what the Blue Dahlia was thinking. What would Frost even say to her? The Blue Dahlia was objectively a terrible mother. What she did to the triplets was unforgivable.

But…

Calfasio ended up becoming a monster that forgot about his own daughter. He didn’t mean to. It was against his will. I’ve seen this tragedy happen before. It’s easy to blame her for what she did. No one can forgive her. Not even me. But I can see how it can happen.

Blue Dahlia… just what are you feeling right now?

The voice of the Blue Dahlia seemed to be able to read her mind. But Frost figured she had been projecting her inner voice towards her. With a small smile and a heavy heart, she accepted the Blue Dahlia’s invitation.

Suddenly, as Jury was carrying Frost towards the monolithic Genesis Stone, Frost’s body was taken by a swarm of blue petals.

“F-Frost –!”

“I’ll be back soon.” Frost whispered before she disappeared.

“Leave them be.” Dark Memoria stopped Jury from attempting to reclaim Frost. “It’ll be a necessary step to uproot the Genesis Stone. For now, I’d like you help me with its removal.”

“You know I can’t help but worry!” Jury hissed.

“You and I both.” Dark Memoria shrugged. “Fuel will always be memories whether we like it or not. Let me tell of a story of a River called Lethe.”

“Lethe?”

“Five Rivers make up a collective stream called the Underflow. The waters that run beneath Grandis are diluted by the constant ocean current. If you were to follow these streams far enough into the deepest, most treacherous crevices, then you will eventually come across one of five divine caverns holding water from those mystical Rivers.

Styx, the River of Hatred. Lethe, the River of Erasure. Acheron, the River of Misery. Phlegethon, the River of Fire. And lastly, Cocytus, the River of Lamentation. You will find that some of them extend past Grandis, but I don’t know where they are exactly.”

Dark Memoria explained before concluding with:

“What is known is that Lethe no longer exists because of the Blue Dahlia’s involvement. She foolishly drunk from the River hoping it would strengthen her powers. Tragically, those powers came at the cost of losing the few memories she tried to preserve with Lethe.”