Tales From The Kronos

"Nice, it's all ready now. We just have to wait for the leader."

Silva and the others turned off the light and waited for their leader to come. They stayed like that for a while until they finally heard footsteps approaching. The leader, accompanied by Neige, Gwyn, and Shiro, arrived in the dark room. The woman looked around the room furious, trying to find Silva.

"I swear if it's one of Silva's pranks I'm going to eject her in space."

The leader turned on the light when suddenly confetti went flying into the room. Everyone grouped around the leader and yelled in unison.

"Surprise!"

The smell of delicious-looking food filled the room, as well as many balloons and colorful decorations hanging on the walls. The leader looked around in confusion until Emely took a step forward to explain everything.

"You've always worked so hard and we never got the chance to thank you. Since our last party was interrupted, we figured it was a great way to show our support to you."

The blushing face of the leader was obvious even despite her best attempts to hide it. She put her hands on her warm face and tried her best to talk through them.

"For me? You didn't have to..."

"I hope you won't send me into space for my attempts to keep you away." Silva joked with a smile.

"I... Didn't know that's what you were doing."

"That's the concept of a surprise, leader."

Polyetta and the other were relieved that everything went well in the end. Everyone enjoyed the food and the mood of the party without any worry. Aside from Kairo, the ship's crew was united once more. The warm room was filled with laughter and a welcoming aura where everyone felt comfortable.

Sepide was following Silva around, explaining to her what the meals were.

"You really cooked all of that?" Sepide nodded her head in answer to Silva's question, with a proud smile "You're very talented Sepide, last time I cooked I set the kitchen on fire."

Sepide suddenly understood why Ina was satisfied with her, she didn't set anything on fire at least.

"Was everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry. We just couldn't use a third of the ship for a month because of that but it was fine."

"A third of the ship? Didn't you just burn the kitchen?"

"Yeah, but then you don't pay attention and you burn the cat. Then the cat burns something else and so on."

Silva couldn't see the extreme worry on her friend's face and continued to serve herself like it was nothing. Sepide couldn't believe what she was hearing and just looked at her friend with horror, unable to say anything.

"Parties are cool and all, but I wish I could spend my day sleeping."

"You're still tired?" Asked Sepide with concern "You spent most of your time sleeping already."

"I was resting for all the days I couldn't, and also, we'll have to go back to Silv's world soon."

"Maybe you don't need to, we can bring the leader instead since-"

"No, I want to do it."

Sepide was taken aback by the conviction in her friend's voice, wondering the reason behind it.

"But... Why?"

"It's my other self, so it's kinda my fault. And I decided I wouldn't run away any longer. I want to be a strong person, for you and Neige." Silva patted Sepide's head with a bright smile.

"You're already strong for me."

"Not enough. By the way, it's crazy the amount of sharps items there was in my room. Knife, scissors, razors. It wasn't easy to get rid of everything and now I need to cut paper with my hands. It's not practical at all."

"You got rid of sharp things? But why?"

"Because I made the promise to a great friend that I wouldn't hurt myself anymore. The first step is to get rid of everything that could hurt me, that's what Gwyn said."

Sepide took Silva in her arm in relief, holding her tightly.

"Thanks, Silva."

The two stayed in this position for a moment, until Neige's voice interrupted them.

"The two lovebirds seem to have fun."

"Lovebirds?!" Emely, who was standing next to Neige, suddenly asked in a bewildered voice "Is something happening between them?!"

"No... It was a joke..." Neige explained with a slight disappointment.

"Oh. Haha, a joke!"

The group stared at Emely with a bit of worry for her mental health, until Sepide finally broke the silence.

"Silva said that she would officially stop harming herself!"

"You didn't have to say to everyone..." Silva said with a slight blush on her face "It's embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing, I'm glad that you're trying to get better. We'll be here all the way for you, you're not alone in this."

Silva nodded with a smile as a thank for Neige's and her friends' support.

"I wish I could create something to make you feel better." Emely said with a bit of a sad voice.

"Gwyn already did, it's called antidepressants. But I'd like to stop it too, it's going to be a long road, but not an impossible one."

"But I wish I was useful..."

"You change the lightbulbs, you're already useful."

Seeing Silva's cluelessness, Neige went next to her and whispered in her ear.

"... She means that she wants to help you directly..."

"Oh! You want to help me?"

Neige put his hand on his eyes after seeing Silva's lack of subtility. Emely on the other hand dodged Silva's gaze and talked in a very weak and shy voice.

"... Well... If I can..."

"Okay, now I see why you communicate in insults..." Neige said in an exasperated voice "Emely, just say yes."

"Eh!? I... So... If you want... Yes..."

"Yes? To what?" Asked Silva. Neige looked at her with a tired gaze and explained.

"You asked if she wanted to help you..."

"Oh right, but this oily-smelling dumbass takes too much time to answer!"

"I can't argue with that."

"About the oily part or the taking time to answer part?" Emely asked Neige with an offended tone.

"Why do you complain to me? Silva's the one that said it."

"But you agreed!"

Sepide laughed at the strange scene, looking at the three friends arguing together. Making them all stop in embarrassment.

"Even Sepide's mocking us now." Said Neige with an exhausted look "I don't even know why it ended up like that. We came because we're going to take a group picture."

"It's a great idea! Let's go!" Silva ran toward the middle of the room to prepare for the picture. Emely quickly followed her when she saw her go. Before Sepide could leave, Neige handed her a necklace with a cross on it.

"What is that?" Sepide asked while taking the necklace.

Neige took a necklace from under his shirt, it was almost the same necklace, except his was in a better state.

"It's Polyetta's necklace, she gave it to me for my 18th birthday."

"And what about this one?" Sepide showed the necklace in her hand, wondering about its origin.

"It was the anomaly's. I suppose all Polyetta and Ada's have one. Since Polyetta is kind of your mother, I figured you might keep it."

Sepide stared at the silver necklace, feeling a bit bad to steal the one from the anomaly.

"You can just keep it in your memories box if you want. It just feels wrong that I keep it... And I'm scared I swap the two without paying attention if I keep it."

Sepide accepted the necklace and put it in her pocket. The two went together toward the rest of the group, waiting for them to take the picture.

"You took your time, can we start?" The leader asked while setting up the camera.

"Yes, sorry."

Neige took place in the middle, taking Silva and Sepide in each of his arms. Taken by a moment of jealousy, Emely took Silva's arm and hugged it tightly against her. Gwyn smiled softly while holding Cinnamon in her hands. Ina smiled brightly while Shiro next to her stared at Neige. The leader pressed the button and ran to get in the picture, she stood behind Neige with her hand on his shoulder. The camera flashed on everyone's smiling and cheerful faces, they shared this precious moment without worrying about their future, just enjoying the innocent time they still had together.