Tales From The Kronos

Neige pointed his dagger at the shapeless anomaly. Ada looked around to see the faces of everyone against her, her silhouette became smaller, saddened to see this scenery.

"I... Just wanted to help everyone... Create a perfect world..."

"I know." Answered Neige with a voice full of understanding "You didn't deserve what happened... But it's our lives, and even if it's not perfect, we'll live it the way we want."

"But you'll be happier like that..."

Neige stayed silent for a moment. Once he saw that the anomaly wasn't being aggressive, he put his weapon down and continued talking.

"I want to be happy by myself, I won't ever feel satisfied if I have to live in a world that was made by someone else."

"You would be... Happier in an unperfect world?"

"Maybe not, but it's what I want."

Ada seemed to think for a moment. The heavy silence stayed until she finally broke it.

"I... I need to think. I'll come get you when I've taken time to think."

"Wait, don't tell me you want to kidnap me again!"

Ada suddenly vanished in the snowstorm, leaving only a silver necklace with a cross attached to it behind her. Neige took from the ground, wondering to himself whether the anomaly was still a menace. He turned toward his friends, who all jumped at him and took him in their arms tightly.

"Neige! You need to eat more, you're too small down there!" Silva yelled while squeezing him as hard as she could.

"What? It's the first time in months we see each other and that's what you say!?"

"Months?" Asked Polyetta confused "It's been a week at most."

"A week?" Neige thought about all he lived lately, despite it being a week, he felt like it was over the span of a year.

"Neige, never leave me again..." Sepide's voice was weak as tears filled her eyes.

"I'll do my best for that."

"Not you're best, just never leave..."

Neige stayed silent while taking Sepide back in his arms. The group was relieved to finally find their friend and stayed together for a few minutes in silence to enjoy the moment.

The sound of footsteps came closer to them. Everyone turned toward the source of the sound to see Kairo approaching. He threw two watches at them, which were caught by the leader.

"The tournament organizer told me to give your watches back. I thought she'd be mad about the way it went, but she seemed pretty satisfied with the tournament. She also said to not worry, she'll bring everyone into their worlds. I don't know how but it's not really important."

"Tournament?" Asked Neige "Why does crazy stuff happen when I'm away?"

"It's because crazy stuff always happens." Answered Kairo "I think Silv stole one of the watches. I think I'll lay low for a while."

The man left with a sour expression on his face, under the sight of his former friends. Neige stared at him going away and turned toward his friends with questions all over his mind.

"Why did he have an eyepatch? And why does Silva have sunglasses? What happened while I was away?"

"We should go back home and rest for now." Said the leader with a smile "I'm just glad you're here again."

Polyetta gave a kiss on Neige's cheek before blushing furiously. Once everyone was ready, they finally went back on their ship.

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The group finally made it back to the ship. Shiro, Ina, And Gwyn were all waiting for them. They seemed happy to see them all back, but also very uncomfortable for some reason.

"You're all here!" Ina said with a smile "I'll cook your favourite food!"

"I'll take care of your gears!" Cheerfully said Shiro.

"We lost Emely and Cinnamon in a virtual world."

Shiro and Ina looked at Gwyn with resentment, while the leader exclaimed her surprise.

"In a virtual world?"

Gwyn analyzed them for a moment, before answering.

"Let's talk about it in the med-bay. I think you need medical attention."

The doctor explained everything that happened while performing tests on them, while the group explained what happened in the snowy world. The surprise on their face was visible when Gwyn explained that Emely and Cinnamon both ended up trapped in the leader's video game.

"I never asked her to make a virtual world, I just asked her to fix the fan."

"We have to save them!" Silva stood up from her chair ready to go, while Gwyn showed her disagreement.

"You're not going anywhere, neither you nor Neige. Your body needs rest and energy, and after you told me what happened, I'm not letting Neige go anywhere."

"But I'm fine." Said Neige with a calm tone.

"Too fine, you should be traumatized from spending months alone in your mind, it's not normal."

"I guess I'm just used to it from my adventures. Come on, I'm not going to let Emely alone in this world."

Gwyn let out a sigh, conceding to Neige.

"Alright, but Silva is going nowhere."

"But I want to go! I can't sit here and do nothing!" Argued Silva.

"You can and you will."

Silva stayed silent for a moment. The group talked about their plan going in. They decided that Neige, Sepide, and the leader would go despite Silva's complaints. She reminisced about their last moments together, when she shared her worries.

"I think I understand Emely now." Silva said while staring at the ground "She was afraid that the last thing we say to each other was yet another insult, that the last moment we shared was an argument. I don't want to end it like that, I want to tell her that she's a great friend and a great engineer!"

"It's even worse than I thought." Said Gwyn coldly "She's lacking blood so much that she starts saying nonsense."

"It's not nonsense, I'm going to save her, say she's the dumbest person ever, and then I'll say she's a great person!"

Silva left the room in a hurry. Neige, Sepide, and the leader all tried to follow her before it was too late, while the others stayed in the med-bay in shock.

When they arrived in Emely's lab, no one was there. The group searched everywhere but couldn't find her until the leader looked at her console on the table, examining it closely.

"She probably went inside already."

"Should we go all together?" Asked Sepide.

"I don't think we should. I'll stay outside, I should be able to help you from outside since I know the game."

"I swear to the Goddess, there's really no time to rest..."

Neige and Sepide both prepared themselves to enter the virtual world.

"I'm really sorry I have to send you both on missions so soon."

"Don't worry Polyetta, I just hope for Emely she has a good reason to create weird stuff like that."

Once they were ready, Neige and Sepide pressed the button, sending them both into the game.

The two friends woke up in front of a castle. Silva was visibly waiting for them, as she was sitting on the ground until they arrived.

"Neige! Sepide! You're here!"

*Can you hear me?*

The three friends looked at the sky to search for the origin of the voice, they knew it was their leader but it was still jarring to hear the voice from nowhere.

"Yeah, I hope it's not a hard game."

*No, don't worry, it's Shadow 4! I finished that game a thousand times before, nothing can stop us! There shouldn't even be a boss anymore.*

"Shadow 4?" Asked Silva "Isn't the game we got you in that world with street races?"

*No, it was Shadow 4 Arena, a spin-off of this game. It's the sequel but I never considered it canon, some characters changed personalities and some plotholes made-*

"That's great Polyetta, where should we go now?"

The leader seemed annoyed by Neige's answer but quickly answered his question.

*Apparently Emely went into the castle. But be careful, you could be ambushed by an enemy.*

"Okay, let's end it quickly. I just want to sleep..."

Sepied and Silva followed Neige's lead, entering the giant castle to find Emely and Cinnamon.