Tales From The Kronos

No one understood the reason behind his action but all were forced to acknowledge it. Shiro's body was on the ground, pierced both by Neige and Kairo's bullet. Reacting quickly, Silva used her own firearm to disarm Kairo, prompting him to run away. The leader and Silva chased him, leaving Neige with Shiro on the ground.

"Shiro! Are you alright?"

"I wish I was like him, none of that would have happened... He was helping everyone while I... Couldn't even save myself."

"I'll bring you to Gwyn, she-"

"Neige, listen to me!"

Neige stayed silent, listening to his friend's words.

"I don't deserve to live, three years ago, it should have been me instead... I know it's egoist of me but I want to ask you something..."

"What is it?"

"Please, remember Shiro... Don't let my actions taint his pure heart. Plea... se..." The moon reflected in the eyes of the man as he was extending his hand to get closer to it "Shiro... I love you..."

Neige wasn't sure he understood everything but was sure it was over now. The man he used to call Shiro closed his eyes, his hand fell as his heart stopped once and for all.

Silva and the leader arrived back and quickly understood what happened. Neige stood up and looked at them with eyes full of grief.

"We should bury him where we found him, next to his friend."

The two others agreed and proceeded to do so. They buried the body of their former friend along with his watch and stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Polyetta, don't blame yourself."

The leader flinched at Neige's words, it was like he could read her thoughts.

"If he didn't give up, maybe he could have survived. All we can do for now is work to make the universe safer. Did you manage to stop Kairo?"

"No, he ran away." Answered Silva "Emely said she knew where but that we should go back to the ship."

"Alright. You can go first, I want to stay for a bit."

The leader was hesitant but Silva convinced her to leave him alone. Neige stood in front of his friend's tomb, not letting a single tear out despite his profound sorrow.

"Shiro... I'll join you someday but for now, I have things to finish. I hope you're finally happy with your friend."

Neige looked at his firearm for a moment before leaving it on the ground.

"May you rest in peace, my old friend."

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Neige entered Emely's lab, where everyone was waiting for him. Ina was the first one to go to him, trying to cheer him up.

"Neige, I heard what happened. I'm deeply sorry for that, you tried your best."

"I know, I'll be alright. I just want to stop Kairo now, I don't want anyone else to perish. Do you know where he is, Emely?"

The young engineer looked at her computer to check the number of the world.

"17112004, he's there."

"Of course, in his home world." Sighed Neige.

"Be careful, Silv is here too."

"She is?" The leader asked in shock "I thought she was lost between worlds!"

"Apparently she can go there and go back whenever she wants. That's what the watch she has is telling me at least."

"Can we talk about it later?" Interrupted Neige.

"Yes, you're right." The leader thought for a moment, wondering what the best way to act was "Neige and Silva should go. Sepide will come with you."

Silva tilted her head in slight confusion, trying to understand the decision of her leader.

"You're not coming? I thought you would want to stop Kairo personally."

"No... I can't face him, I trust you for that."

Neige nodded his head, already prepared to leave.

"We'll come back safely, we promise."

"You better!" The leader tried to give a smile to her friend but was too worried to do so.

"Silva! Don't get hurt, alright? I can fix robots but not humans." Emely approached softly Silva and kissed her softly on her forehead, making the both of them blush.

"He's barely more experienced than me, I can take a fight against him easily."

While everyone was talking and cheering each other, Sepide stood alone, worried about their mission. She couldn't explain why but felt like this wasn't going to be any ordinary mission. She silently waited until Ina came to her with her usual bright smile.

"Sepide, you need to take care of yourself and your friend, okay? I packed some food for you all, you should keep it."

Ina handed her a bag, which she accepted with a smile.

"Thanks, Ina, I'll make you all proud!"

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, you're already doing great."

The three friends stood next to each other, ready to leave. Whether it was to protect their dear ones, avenge their fallen comrades, or even just find a reason to their lives, they were all ready for this mission to stop the former member of the Kronos, once and for all.

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

The three friends jumped into Kairo's destroyed world, or so they thought. It looked like a normal city once again, people walked around, the buildings were intact, and yet, Neige recognized it as being the world he found Kairo in.

"What the hell? What happened here?"

"Guess we'll need to find Kairo to get an answer."

Neige nodded to Silva's words and looked around for anywhere Kairo could be. It was hard for him to find his way in the now totally different world.

"When I found Kairo, it was on top of a tall building. I don't know what he's planning to do but there's a chance he's there."

The group located the tallest building they could find and headed toward it, hoping to find Kairo there.

Neige knew it was this building the moment he stepped foot in it. The red color of the floor was the same, along with the paintings on the walls. The only difference was that everything was in order as if nothing happened.

"It's so cursed to see this world in that state. It was only Gwyn, Polyetta, and me at the time. I didn't think I'd see this world again, especially not like that."

While Neige was lost in his thoughts, a butler came to them with elegant clothes, judging them with his gaze.

"Welcome to the Aspro, may I help you?"

"The Aspro?" Neige muttered to himself, he heard that name before but couldn't remember why "We're searching for a man named Kairo, is he here?"

"Kairo?" The butler looked at them with disdain and continued with an arrogant voice "What makes you think that low-class people are allowed to see sir Kairo?"

"Low class?" Silva pushed Neige aside, putting herself right in front of the man "I helped him with the most random things, I listened to all his lunatic questions, and I saved his ass more times than I can count. It's not so his butler calls me low-class. And just so you know mister Idon'tcareaboutyourname, I served as a lawyer in a court of law, I'm neither a stranger nor a low-class person!"

"Miss, please be more silent, you're scaring our clients." The man looked at Silva closer and suddenly stepped back. He bowed and apologized profusely, his arrogant voice completely gone "Lord Silv! I'm deeply sorry, I didn't recognize you. Let me give you the access card!"

Silva took the card from the butler's hand and tried her best to impersonate her other self.

"Such peasants shouldn't make me lose so much time."

"Yes, I deeply apologize. Is there any way I can show how deeply hurt I am for treating you like that?"

"So you're the kinda guy that will treat those under him like shit, huh? Then I want you to-"

Neige covered her mouth before she could say anything else, knowing his friend very well.

"Excuse her, you know how she is. We'll go now, thanks."

The group left under the confused eyes of the man. Once they found a place without anyone Neige looked at Silva with scolding eyes.

"What were you thinking?"

"Come on, Silv would have totally asked him to beg on his knees. I was just acting in character!"

"I'm feeling bad for Emely if you end up together..."

Before Silva could argue, their watches received a call from the Kronos. The familiar voice of the young engineer answered, with chatters from the other members in the background.

*Can you hear me? Something weird happened.*

"Yes, we can." Answered Neige "Is it about the world being completely devoid of any damage?"

*Indeed. The leader doesn't understand either but we can guide you. To summarize, this building belongs to Kairo's father. Kairo himself seems to be on the higher floors.*

"We got a card key from my other self!" Proudly announced Silva "Can we go to the top with it?"

*Sadly not, only the most trusted and influential people can. There are five different ranks. The first one is commoners and the second one is guests. Silv had this position so you should be able to go in the rooms and the bar.*

"So we need to get the best card key to get to Kairo?"

*Yes but it's going to be hard. There are only three persons that have access to the roof and Kairo isn't even one of them. For now, you should be searching for the third rank of card keys, the business partners. The simplest target we have is a certain Lucien but we have no information other than the fact that he is the only one available.*

"We should probably head to the bar then, he's probably there. We'll need to not put any unwanted attention on us too." Neige took a deep breath, still shaken up from the event that occurred earlier today "By the way, what's this place? Kairo always told me he was nothing special and now I'm learning that his father owns a kind of luxury place."

*Kairo's father is the funder of Aspro Corp. A kind of business that is focused on progress and technology, even if they're nothing special compared to me!*

"Of course! You're the best dumbest engineer in the universe!"

Sepide looked at Silva with confusion, unsure about the meaning of the sentence.

"I'm... Not sure I understood. Is she dumb or smart?"

Neige gestured at Sepide to give up and stop trying to understand everything Silva said.

*Anyway, you're basically at the headquarters of Astro Corp. Kairo is your main priority but could you steal some food? I want to try rich people's stuff.*

"So for now we have to find this Lucien and get his card. I hope we won't get caught, it would be unfortunate..."

The group was ready to go and climb to the top of this building to stop their former friend. This place was shrouded in mysteries, both from its existence to its relation to Kairo's past. Neige was determined to find the answer to all of his questions, for the sake of his friends and his future.