Tales From The Kronos

Emely worked on her inventions like usual, but she didn't have the heart to do it this time. She still didn't have any news from Silva and the others and felt sick at the thought of something bad happening to them. She decided to sneak out of her room, without any reason. She wandered aimlessly for a moment, trying to get rid of this awful feeling she had in her chest. For a reason she couldn't understand, she decided to go to Silva's room. It was locked, but since she was the one taking care of the repairs, she had the keys to everything on the ship.

She stared at the different paintings like she was trying to find a hidden meaning behind them. Most of them looked like they were drawn by a five-year-old, but some were more precise. It amused her to see the progress Silva made despite her blindness, but one of them in particular caught her attention. It was the painting of a woman, the title 'my sister' was written on the side. Not only was this weird since Silva never mentioned a sister before, but it was also eerily well drawn. It was like she saw this person with her own eyes. Her long black hair and serious tone captivated Emely until her phone took her out of her reverie. It was a message from Gwyn, usually, she'd ignore it, but the text talked about a ghost. It was probably only a way to get her attention, but Emely's curiosity got the better of her, and she left Silva's room to see Gwyn.

Emely entered the med bay, where Shiro and Gwyn were arguing about something. When she noticed Emely's presence, Gwyn pointed at her nonchalantly while resuming her conversation.

"See, I found you someone to go play with. Now go act like Ghostbusters with her."

"And what is she going to do if I'm possessed by a ghost?" Argued Shiro.

Emely wasn't sure to fully understand what was happening, but she figured that helping them might be a good distraction.

"I don't have one yet, but I can make a tool for that if you want."

Shiro let out a sigh, he visibly wasn't going to give up so easily for some reason. Seeing the confused Emely, Gwyn decided to explain the situation to her.

"Shiro had a dream about a ghost or something. He wants my help because apparently, I can deal with spirits from other worlds."

"It's not what I said." Explained Shiro "I just said that if I'm attacked by a ghost, I prefer a doctor rather than nothing."

"But why would there be a ghost?" Asked Emely "The closest we got to a ghost was the time Silva put her phone in the vents as a prank..."

"Yeah, and she's not here!" Shiro looked disappointed that none of the two wanted to help him. He thought for a moment, trying to find a way to convince them "If you help me and that there are no ghosts, I'll do everything you want. I just don't want to go alone... Or rather without a doctor."

"Fine!" Said Gwyn with a more than annoyed tone "I guess you won't let me work until we find your ghost."

Gwyn and Shiro both looked at Emely, waiting to know if she would follow them or not. She nodded her head with a smile in agreement.

"I'll come too, should we bring Ina too?"

"Please no..." Gwyn looked desperate as she said those words, visibly reminiscing bad memories "Last time I saw her she asked me to work on healthy sugar, I said I'm working on it but I've been avoiding her ever since."

"Then it's just us three!" Said Emely cheerfully "I just need to get my anti-ghost laser in my lab. Come on, follow me!"

Emely left in a hurry, while her two friends stayed behind confused.

"Anti... Ghost laser? Does she really have that?"

Gwyn shrugged at Shiro's question, and the two followed her toward her lab.

The three searched around the messy lab to find what they were searching for. Emely and Shiro were really searching while Gwyn barely looked around, taking random items.

"SCG? What's that?" Asked Gwyn, with a pink revolver in her hand.

"Oh, that's the sexuality-changing gun! It's self-explanatory."

"Wait, so if we use it on Neige, will he... Be into men?" Shiro tried his best to look like he asked the question innocently, but it was clear what he had in mind with these words.

"I don't think so, and besides, the bullet would just kill him."

"Wait, it shoots real bullets?" Gwyn asked while gently putting the weapon down.

"Duh, it's a gun."

Gwyn continued looking around the lab, finding items stranger every time. She knew she shouldn't snoop around, but her curiosity forced her to.

"Glasses that see through matter? It seems useful." As she put them on, she noticed that it was completely black. It took her a moment before realizing that it was because it worked a bit too well "Love-inducing paint? Is that the kind of thing you do when you say that you're too busy to repair my computer?"

Emely dropped what she was doing and took the paint off her hand, visibly flustered.

"It's nothing, just a prototype!"

"Hey, I think I found your ghost laser!" The two women looked at Shiro when he said those words. Emely took the small laser pointer to make sure it was it and put it in her pocket.

"Yep, that's it. So, where's your ghost?"

"It's supposed to be in the bathrooms, apparently if you say bloody Mary in a mirror three times, she appears!"

"Shiro... Are you sure you didn't spend too much time on the internet?" Emely asked with concern.

"I swear, she was in my dreams! Come on!"

Shiro left, followed by the two women. Emely in particular didn't believe it too much, but it was better than staying and feeling bad over nothing.

The three stared at the mirror. Emely and Shiro felt some fear in their heart, while Gwyn stared at the mirror with dead eyes. Shiro turned off the light, and all together, they started to talk to the mirror.

"Bloody Mary, bloody Mary, bloody Mary."

Everything was silent, no one dared to move. Suddenly, the sound of a bottle could be heard, scaring the two easily impressed members.

"What was that? Is that you bloody Mary?" Emely asked, with fear in his voice.

"What? No, it's me." Said Gwyn "I'm just drinking some vodka, you want some?"

"Isn't Emely too young for that?" Shiro asked with concern.

"I know I look young, but I'm 21... This whole plan was a failure I guess, so I might as well try the taste of alcohol..."

"Sure, take the bottle." Said Gwyn while handing her bottle to the nearest person.

"Isn't it a shitty reason to be an alcoholic?" Asked Shiro.

"It's just to taste, so, can I have the bottle?"

"I already gave it to you."

"What? No, you didn't, maybe you gave it to Shiro?"

"I swear, I don't have it."

The sound of someone gulping down a liquid was heard. The group understood that a fourth person was there, Shiro and Emely both panicked, trying their best to find the light.

"I don't wanna die! I'm too young for that!"

"Don't you have a laser for that?" Yelled Shiro with dread in his voice "Just use it!"

"It doesn't work! I don't even believe in ghosts, why would I make one?!"

Gwyn flipped the switch, revealing that the fourth person was none other than Ina, holding the bottle of alcohol in her hand.

"Why didn't you invite me? It seemed fun." Ina said with a sarcastic tone.

"Wait, so... You're not a ghost?" Asked Shiro.

"Of course, she's not." Said Gwyn with a cold voice "I think I'll go now, I have work to do."

"Wait-"

"I know Ina, I'm working on your sugar."

"No, not that. I actually was searching for you all. I think I made a mistake, and I'd like for you all to come help me find a solution."

The group was confused but followed Ina to understand what happened. Shiro still felt a bit disappointed there was no ghost, but also relieved at the same time.

Ina led the group toward Emely's lab. They were confused at first but Ina quickly explained what happened.

"So I was trying to know if Emely finished repairing my mixer since it was a month ago."

"I didn't." Emely said without even feeling a little bit bad about it.

"Yes... Anyway, you weren't here, and I figured you just forgot to give it back to me. So I searched around, and I found this... Weird black box."

"That?" Asked Emely while pointing at the thing on the table "That's the leader's video game thingy, she asked me to repair it. She can be really annoying with it."

"Yes... I don't know how to say it, but I got curious and pressed a button... Cinnamon was around... And then he disappeared."

"He disappeared?" Said Shiro in shock "Did your machine kill Cinnamon?"

"That's horrible..." Gwyn said with an unusually sad smile.

"He's not dead, relax. He's just in the video game. I was trying my new technology of virtual worlds, and it was a good opportunity."

"Why would you mix a video game with a virtual world?" Ina asked, still not believing what happened.

"Why are you touching my things? Good thing you didn't touch something more dangerous. At least I can get Cinnamon back."

"You think you can do it?" Asked Shiro "I'm more experienced with weapons, maybe I'm more suited for that."

"Come on, I created this world. Silva risks her life every day, the worst that will happen to me is that Cinnamon scratches me. I don't know what games the leader plays, but it's probably some romance stuff or something like that."

"Cinnamon is in the leader's game?" Gwyn asked with worry.

"Yeah." Emely thought for a moment before suddenly thinking about what kind of game it could be "Oh God, we need to get Cinnamon out of here."

"She probably plays games where death is at every corner!" Gwyn grabbed onto Emely's shoulder and shook her by reflex "You have to save Cinnamon! You can't let him in this twisted world!"

"Okay I will, geez, why is Cinnamon more important than my life for you?" Emely mentally prepared herself, looking at the console for a few minutes "Alright, so if you want to talk with me there's a microphone here, I should be able to answer too. If I don't, then I guess I died."

Before the others could ask any more questions, Emely pressed the button, entering the virtual world she created.