There’s mist, mist as far as the eye can see. The blonde wavy hair girl has been walking, for some minutes now, with her hands in front of her, crouching a bit. She moves her hands wildly in front of her.

The visibility is no good.

Tension runs through Tomoe’s body, all the muscles engaged. Besides every step she takes, she can only hear the beat of her heart, going faster and faster.

This one isn’t of the lesser ones.

No other source of light, not even other colors can be distinguished.

“Ugh” She lets escape, as her mind is losing orientation, and her stomach is reacting.

“Kinda hoped that I would never be trapped on one of these again for the rest of my life.”

She can feel her stomach reacting in a violent way, as if it suddenly turned into stone. Her shoulders reacted as if a really heavy stone was suddenly dropped to her back. Droplets of sweat start falling out of her forehead. Each breath of air she takes in turning heavier and heavier.

Calm down Tomoe, calm down.

But to not avail. The rain hadn’t already come to her because she was taken completely by surprise, but if this keeps going…

“I will not be useless” she whispers “not again.”

A slight wind caressed her. What usually would make her relax, this time around tenses her more. She crouches a bit more. Then, a voice that she knows comes to her ears “Is anyone near me?!”.

That voice!

“Bran!” She yells.

“Tomoe!?”.

“Yes!” She answers again, and then asks “Where are you!?”.

“Good Lord! Stay where you are!” Bran says back. Tomoe is looking around, and hears some clicks, and the sound of something igniting “Can you see us now?”

Tomoe searches around her. A dim light suddenly appeared to her left, way into the mist.

Finally… someone.

“Coming to you!”.

“Good!”.

As Tomoe comes closer, she manages to distinguish Bran, and with him Sonoko, the short brown haired priest, wearing her ritual gown with many complicated patterns.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, we have been just wandering around.”

“Glad to hear you didn’t run into her” Tomoe says, letting a sigh escape. Then she adds “I too haven’t run into her. Do you have any idea where she may be?”.

“Lacus’ mother?” Asks Bran.

“Yeah.”

“Nothing still. It seems that distortion zone is bigger than expected.”

At this very moment, a rush is heard, and from one side to the other, the entire place is flooded with water, all the way to their waists.

“Now this is weird… Unexpected” remarks Bran.

“As if the high humidity by itself wasn’t enough!” Adds Sonoko, exasperated.

“Don’t lose it” says Bran, putting a hand to her shoulder “This is a dire situation, but we are many here, so we can handle it.”

“Agreed” Says Tomoe, then adds “But still, we need to be careful, and go find the others.”

“No” Says Bran.

“What? What are you talking about? Of course we need to find the others to see if they are safe” answers Tomoe back.

“Tomoe, look at the situation. We have barely any visibility, and now barely any mobility thanks to this water. If a Cinder is able to pull out the distortion zone, you know very well what we must do.”

“I-” started to say Tomoe, before cutting herself off.

“Relax, we can deal with this.”

After taking a deep breath, Tomoe answers “You’re right. Lets take formation.”

“Yes, exactly” says Bran.

“What is the formation?” asks Sonoko.

“It is pretty simple, we are going to put out backs facing each other, and walk that way, while slowly moving to our left. We will do that while we assess the situation more clearly.”

“I see, easy enough I think.”

“It is” Answers Bran “Keep Ash branch at hand, we are going to need it to subdue the Cinder” he adds.

“Right here” Shows Sonoko, shaking the branch between her hands.

“Now, lets go” and as soon as Bran says this, the three of them take position and start walking.

Then, suddenly, from far away, a gust of wind comes through, cutting the water in two with force.

The three of them stood there, frozen for a couple of seconds.

“That…” starts Bran.

“It is Amelia alright” completes Tomoe.

“She almost hit us…” Remarks Sonoko, trembling.

“Yes, she… doesn’t like the distortion zone either” says Tomoe, still feeling the chill of almost being hit with such force “Still, we have an idea of where she is, lets move that way.”

“Agreed” adds Bran.

And the group started to move in that direction.

After walking for a minute, Tomoe asks “Seen anything?”

“Nothing still” Answers Bran.

“Nothing” Answers Sonoko.

Little by little, one step at a time, they thread under the silence. Ripples coming from their movement.

“Hope everyone is fine” Says Tomoe.

“They will be” Says Bran.

Shocked a bit at how assured Bran was, she asked “How are you so sure?”

“Because Cinders are attracted to the most powerful Aura.”

“… Well, that doesn’t give any assurance.”

“It should, haven’t you opened a book about Cinders a couple of times yourself?” says Bran.

“Red, Yellow, Blue and then White” says Sonoko.

“The scale of power of the Auras” answers Tomoe.

“Yes.”

“So,” Interjects Bran “knowing this, I myself have a Yellow Aura.”

“I have a Red one” says Sonoko.

“I’m a Blue” says Tomoe.

“… And, Amelia is Yellow, and Titania is a Yellow too.”

“This means-” says Tomoe.

“Yes” answers Bran, then adding ”Since there hasn’t been any screams, first, come closer you two, we are going to prepare for it.”

The three of them come closer, and Bran explains his plan.

Tomoe then stops, and engages her Blue Aura. Light starts coming off Tomoe, and gathering around her, into a formation that is crystal-like, shining. And then… they wait. The zone has gone quiet.

Ripples start coming to them. Bran pulls Sonoko closer, and both stand back to back with Tomoe. Wind starts to pick up, and the water start to become more wild, with little but higher and higher waves coming to them.

A sudden scream echoes through the distortion zone. Mist start to move in circles around the three of them.

As fast as everything happening, everything went silent again. The water stops moving, the mist went back to normal, the echoes faded into the distance.

“Bran…” says Tomoe.

“Shhh…” answers Bran, and lowering his voice, he adds “keep on the lookout, Cinders can be really fast.”

“Yes” says Tomoe. She looks forward, but there is nothing else than mist. Turns to her left, and nothing else than mist. To her right, as far as the eyes can see, still nothing.

Where is she?

Her heart starts pounding more and more, and her arms stiffen more and more.

She then notices the water. Can’t enchant it for some reason, but looking at it, it has gone completely still.

Wonder why, but this water, is truly repulsive.

Looking closer, she notices one more thing, since the water has gone still, it has turned like a really big mirror. She sees the light of her Blue Aura being reflected on the water, and the shadow of her image, especially her arms, extended in front her.

But something bothers her, stiffening her shoulders. She looks even closer, something isn’t right with the reflection.

What is it? she inquiries as she comes closer. Then, she starts feeling something little causing slight burns over her head, and in an instant, her heart goes stone cold.

She slowly turns, to look up, at the place the moving mist in her reflection is, and she comes to see it: A face, hovering over her, without expressing any kind of emotion, but crying. The face’s skin being a bit pale, and it being a face that has lost some weight. The tears of this face fall into a stiffened Tomoe, trasspasing her Blue Aura, right into her own face, and as the tears touch her, they burn her skin, leaving marks like if Tomoe was burnt by fire that are right after healed. Tomoe was right in front of her, Lacus’ mother turned into a Cinder, as the Cinder started to materialize its entire body.

Many, many times, she has seen this scene. Lacus’ mother was a really gentle woman, and liked physical interactions, with hugs and such, maybe a bit too much. Just like many times before, she is right in front of her, again, extending her arms, like the gentle woman she always was.

“Tomoe!”

At Bran’s scream, Tomoe comes out of the trance-like state she was. Not only her though, the Cinder too, it was calm and now is contorting in the air, with her hands to her face. Suddenly, it plunges downward towards Tomoe, while letting escape another scream.

In the split of a second, Tomoe brings her Blue Aura into her, and moves sideways with all of her strength. As the Cinder lost its target, it slows down before hitting the water, but to not avail: the lower part of its body touches the water, and turns instantly into mist.

“Hey!” yells Bran, at which the Cinder turns, but that split second is what they needed: Sonoko, with the branch of Ash Tree, touches the Cinder right in the face. At this, the Cinder stiffens, like if it were trapped and tied down by rope, and screams in a very high pitch tone.

Tomoe feels like if a sword were trying to stab her in her ears, but holds her balance. Sonoko is having trouble though, and in order to finish the Cinder, she goes to Sonoko and helps her stay in her feet.

As the seconds continue to pass, the Cinder starts going silent, until it is no longer screaming. The Cinder has curled up in the air, covering her face, crying.

“It is finally over” says Sonoko, as she reaches for the Cinder.

“Wait, don’t touch it!” says Tomoe, while holding a hand forward “touching it is going to suck your life and diminish your Aura really fast.”

Sonoko turned around suddenly, clearly startled by this, but then she relaxes, answering “Thank you, but you see, this is my job.”

Then, turning back to the Cinder, she says “I’m sorry for not having send you off faster. Please, forgive me” as she touches the Cinder and brings it closer. The moment Sonoko touches it, flames start coming off of her hands “look how much you’re suffering, and still, you’re a glutton for life, what a strangely greedy woman.”

While Sonoko takes cares of the Cinder, Bran puts a hand to Tomoe’s shoulder. This startles her, letting a little scream escape.

“Geez! Wanna turn me into a Cinder too?!”

“Sorry” answers Bran, first startled, then chuckling. Then, he adds “But… we still aren’t out of trouble. Look” he says, as he points out into the mist.

“What are you-” starts Tomoe, but then it hits her. Mist to her left, mist to her right, water to her waist down “Wait… why hasn’t the zone dissipated?”

“I hoped to be wrong,” says Bran “but this confirms what I thought: There’s another Cinder in here with us.”

Tomoe can only open wide her eyes.

“Surely this person died and was brought here without anyone noticing, maybe in the night.”

Tomoe brings a hand to her face, then says “The… underside of the city maybe?”

“Maybe” answers Bran, then adding “but that isn’t our major problem right now, we need to go and deal with the other one.”

As their ears were starting to get adjusted, suddenly, a voice started to reach them.

“Everyone!” a continuous unison screaming was coming through the zone.

“That’s Amelia and Titania!” Tomoe says, and as she and Bran turns around, in the distance a wall appears before them. A light is coming to them from the distance, this one being more powerful than the one Bran’s lantern, and this light threw some light into two figures in movement, Amelia and Titania, and behind them, a wall of about five meters tall, a wave made of water coming towards them.

“Tomoe, with me!”

“Yes!”

As soon as Bran says this, both of them run towards Sonoko, and put themselves between her and the giant wave.

“Leaving it to you.”

“No other choice” answers Tomoe, as Bran takes Sonoko and the defeated Cinder and hide behind Tomoe. Tomoe then engages her Aura once more, and recalls it into herself, and takes position, something that Bran and Sonoko also do.

As Amelia and Titania see this, they do the same, enhancing their physical capabilities even more with their Auras to reach her fast enough, and takes both of Tomoe’s sides. To lessen the hit of the giant wave, everyone combine their Auras into a single dome shape Aura, just in time before the wave comes and hits them.

While they are underwater, it is almost pitch black. Everyone has taken everyone’s else arms and are standing right there, facing the raging water go by.

Almost right away the dome is broken.

In the dark, Tomoe sees a weak light coming towards them. It is a human figure, this time a man, with beard, a slim build, pale skin, a Cinder coming towards them, but this one has something different to the one they have just captured: His eyes, they are completely black.

The water going by gains intensity. As the second Cinder plunges forward, Tomoe’s legs are trembling, her Aura is being used fast, really fast, not only for her, but for everyone that she is keeping in place. She starts having trouble holding her breath.

The Cinder is coming closer, closer, closer, and fast. The expressionless face of the man starting to sear itself into Tomoe’s mind.

Not another one.

Sixty meters, fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters, twenty. Is this as far as I can go?, Tomoe thinks, as the Cinders gets into ten meters right at her. Then, the Cinder is right on her, with both of its arms grabbing Tomoe’s, bursting into flames, as Tomoe is swung away, with everyone else still grabbing her, not letting her go.

As they follow the current and the Cinder is sucking Tomoe’s Aura, many faces come through her head, remembering. Tomoe’s stomach starts creating chaos, and she has lost all sense of place, closing more and more on herself.

Then, she feels that the force that was grabbing her suddenly turned weaker. Coming back to herself, she sees that from behind her, a branch of Ash Tree is on the Cinder’s face.

Can’t let you drift away!, she thinks, as she embraces her Cinder with her arms, keeping it in place, while it retorts and contorts at the contact of the branch of Ash Tree. As she embraces the Cinder, flames start pouring all over her arms and face.

“Resist… Resist…” She tells herself, as she is being damaged by the contact, losing Aura in the process.

But she reached her limit: the air in her lungs has run out, and opening her mouth on reflexes, water starts invading inside her body.

Resist… she still thinks, as her consciousness fades away.

Suddenly, Tomoe feels that she is floating in the middle of nothing…

How long has it been since I was here?

No sense of time could be established: Minutes were hours, hours were minutes.

Then, from the inside, she feels a surge. She can’t keep it inside her, and rolling to her side, spews all the water that she had inside her.

A deep breath, a blurry vision, but everything is coming together little by little. Sounds start coming to her, and they start forming words. She recognizes the voices.

As she blinks a couple of times, the image is being adjusted, and to her eyes, the people that she knows gained form.

Bran, to her left, had a hand on her shoulder. Amelia, to her right, kneeling and crying. Titania and Priscilla, coming into vision.

“Give her space” says Bran.

“You don’t know by how little I barely escaped the distortion zone” Tomoe hears Priscilla say.

“Lucky you, it was really rough” Titania says, and turning to Tomoe, she then asks “How are you feeling?”

After some moments, Tomoe turns back up, takes a deep breath, and says “Feel like those old days when Amelia went all out against me in training.”

Some giggles escape, and Amelia, wiping the tears of her face adds “Well, we can go and do it again, wherever you want”, letting some chuckles escape.

Tomoe turns to her and answers “Maybe… Where’s that Cinder again? I think I’m better off with it.”

Amelia opens wide her eyes, and says “Cotton, how mean!” while pouting. She then pushes Tomoe a bit, and lets some slight chuckles escape.

As Tomoe sits, Sonoko comes closer, and Bran turns to her “Is everything done?”

“Yes” she answers with a wry smile “Their help made it everything really fast.”

As she says this, Tomoe turns around, and sees a couple of more priests present “Where did they came from?”

“They were coming here in order to perform another parting for someone else that died today. Priscilla was running back to seek for help when she stumbled upon them. Look.” As Sonoko pointed, Tomoe saw into the sea, four boats, all going in direction to the Styx sea, the red dot at the distance… an image she’s really familiar with.

As she sighed, she said “You really saved us back there, thanks Sonoko.”

“Please, don’t, if I have done better my duty we could have avoided everything in the first place.”

“Don’t let it get to you.”

“I’ll try” Sonoko says, and then, bowing, she adds “We have to part ways here, I need to go back and report on everything that happened.”

“Yes” says Bran.

“Until then, may Lord Hazuki always guide your steps” Sonoko says, as she waves and goes to the group of priests that where waiting for her.

“Let us go back too” says Bran “we could get a good rest for the rest of the day. Good thing that this was our day off.”

“Yeah” says Priscilla “it would have been really tough to go back patrolling, and then go drinking in the night. I mean, I can’t drink alone can I?”

“Will go and check on my grandma, see you guys later at the usual place” says Titania, as she starts walking away.

“Will go with you part of the way” says Priscilla, following her.

“Lets go” says Bran.

“Yes” says Amelia.

“Agreed” answers Tomoe, with slight downcast look on her face. A chuckle escapes her, seeing how she has trouble getting on foot.

Bran and Amelia notice this, and grabbing on arm each, they help Tomoe walk back to the city while she recovers.