Tales From The Kronos

Neige arrived at Yada's home early, he knocked on the door like usual but was surprised to see his friend opening the door with such excitation.

"Hey, how are-"

"The book! It's real!"

Neige looked at his friend with some worry in his eyes, wondering if she slept enough.

"Yes Yada, books are real."

"No, I mean... Let me show you!" Yada wrote something in the book and closed it, looking at her friend with stars in her eyes "Look in your pocket!"

Neige obeyed without much thought and was surprised by a gold coin inside it.

"Oh, that's lucky, I didn't know I had money left."

"It's not luck!" Yada showed the book excited, with the sentence just written in it "I wrote that you would find a cold coin, and you did! I tried with other small stuff and it all worked!"

"Wait, really? You can make everything become reality?"

The woman nodded her head with a gaze full of hope.

"Imagine what we could do with it!"

"I think we shouldn't use it. I can't imagine it ending well."

"You think?" Yada looked at the book for a moment, lost in her thoughts. She thought about all the possibilities and realized all the bad things that could happen "Maybe you're right... It's just so exciting!"

"NO!"

Everyone turned toward Neige, who just interrupted his friend's story. He looked like he remembered something, his breathing was heavy and his body shaking. Gwyn approached him and did various basic tests, assuring his safety. After a few minutes, she shook her head and turned toward the group.

"We should go back to the ship, he's not well."

"No... I can hear the rest..."

"Neige, you're hurting yourself. The past won't change, you'll hear the rest another time."

The leader approached Gwyn, the worry on her face was obvious.

"Is he alright?"

"He's alive, I don't know what happened but it's rooted deeply inside him. Let's just return to the ship for now."

Everyone agreed, staring at Neige, barely able to even stand by himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours passed. Gwyn finally came out of the med bay with the leader and Sepide hurrying toward her, impatient to hear the news. The doctor let out a sigh and shared his state with them.

"He's alright, he needs rest. We need to make sure nothing troubles his mind for now, do you have any idea why he's like that?"

"I think, yes..." The leader said softly, almost inaudible "I wasn't awake when it happened but he saw the end of our world. I think he's starting to remember slowly."

"I see, I'll try to not mention it. I can't allow for visits for now, it was too much for him and he needs some rest. Whatever happened must have traumatized him."

Gwyn looked around, surprised to only see two persons here.

"Where are the others?"

"They're busy with Shiro, they're blaming him for what happened. After all, he's the reason Neige went into his home world and that I had to reveal the truth. But still, I think they're being a bit harsh with him."

"Yes, I understand. I hope no one will be injured, I have enough work like that."

Shiro was stuck in a cell, under the judgmental gaze of Ina, Emely, and Silva. The latter was interrogating him, trying her best to stay calm.

"Shiro, it's important. We need to know what you told Kairo. You're putting everyone's life in danger, even Neige's."

"He told me he's leave Neige alone! He'll leave you all alone! We just need to get rid of the leader, she's hiding something!"

"Shiro, you didn't answer me." Silva said with a tone as calm as she could.

"I'm helping you! Have you seen how Neige is? It's because of the leader, I swear! It was written in the journal! Yada died in this world! If she's dead, how can she be here? She's hiding something! She-"

Silva took her firearm and shot next to Shiro to intimidate him. When she pulled the trigger, the weapon exploded in her hand, slightly burning her.

"What happened!?"

"It's alright, you can take mine." Ina said with a cheerful smile before giving her firearm to Silva.

"Wait! It will explode again!"

"How do you know?" Silva asked the desperate Shiro.

"Because I thought he would help me! So I rigged all the weapons on the ship!"

"You did what!?" Silva said in a furious voice "You think he would spare us if he had the opportunity to kill us all? If he comes right now, we're all dead!"

"But I... I wanted to help... I can save you all! You just have to trust me..."

"I don't want to be rude, but I agree with Silva..." Emely explained with a saddened tone "You put us all in danger."

"You'd agree with anything your lovely painter says anyway..."

"Well, I don't have particular feelings for Silva, and yet I agree with them." Ina stared at Shiro, saddened by the state he was in.

"Thanks..." Answered Silva to Ina's words.

"And I'm not one to judge usually but... You were really about to kill the leader? It looks like treason."

"Not kill! Just take over the ship. Come on, don't tell me you never wished anyone else was leading the ship."

"I never did." Answered coldly Silva "She's not perfect, she made some mistakes, but she always did her best for us. She gave us a safe haven and we all contributed to it because we were grateful. Maybe she's hiding something from us but I'm ready to wait until she feels comfortable telling us."

"Is that... How you feel for me?"

The group turned around to see the leader, followed by Sepide and Gwyn next to her.

"Yeah, I think you're doing a good job. Nothing worth rebelling so far."

Gwyn walked toward Shiro and analyzed him for a moment, she turned toward Silva and asked with her usual calm voice.

"Can I ask him some questions?"

"Why do you ask me?"

"It looked like you were the one torturing him before."

"Torturing? Is that how you see me?" Silva asked with a slight smile on her face.

"Kinda." The doctor turned toward Shiro, ready to talk to him "Have you communicated with Kairo for a while now?"

"I swear I was trying to help!"

"Shiro, have you stopped taking your meds?"

"It's personal! You don't need to know!" Shiro yelled, visibly mad. Gwyn interpreted his answer as a yes and turned to the rest of the group.

"It's my fault, I should have been more careful."

"What do you mean?" Asked the leader with worry.

"I do mental stability tests for every new member. Shiro showed signs of a split personality, I managed to catch it early but couldn't keep an eye on him."

"Can we fix him?" Wondered Silva.

"He's not a robot, it's not something you can fix. He could be too far gone depending on the time he stopped taking them. From what I'm seeing, he lost grip on reality."

"That's horrible..." The leader looked at Shiro with a saddened gaze while everyone else listened to the doctor.

"By the way, Neige is alright. He needs rest but should be able to get better soon. In the meantime, no adventure for him, we need to make sure he's stable again. He's strong, don't worry about him it will be alright."

Gwyn left for her office, leaving the lost group to the care of the leader. Despite her sadness, she tried her best to keep her role and be a good leader.

"Apparently Kairo could come at any moment now, we need to prepare ourselves for it."

The group agreed, all ready to do their best to protect the home that this ship became.

When Gwyn entered her office, Neige was awake, playing with her spinning chair like nothing happened.

"Neige... Your friends were worried for you."

"Can I see them now? I feel better, I promise."

"Not yet." Seeing that she wouldn't get her chair back, Gwyn sat on the chair that her patient would usually use "You need to rest, even if you feel alright, it was hard for you."

"The reason she died... It was the anomaly. She..."

Neige's eyes weren't focused, roaming around the room in fear. Seeing his state, Gwyn decided to stop him before it went further.

"Neige, you need to rest."

"Huh? But I-"

"No but. Remembering isn't always the solution. For now, you need to rest. You'll tell everything when your friends are here and you'll feel better."

"Yes... You're right, I'm sorry for being such a burden."

"No, I'm sorry I let that happen. If I paid more attention, none of that would have happened..."

Neige and the doctor stayed silent in the room, lost in the abyss of their thoughts.