The ground under her knees, wet. The light overwhelming her eyes. Her right hand is up, covering her eyes from the strong shine of the Grand Castle.

Right in front of her, a big area, empty of anything, anything except a blood trail reaching her knees, and following the blood into this white empty space, there’s a body surrounded by a crimson puddle. Her hair, white, and her skin following suit turning paler and paler.

Focusing her sight, Tomoe sees a slight movement of the stomach, the same area that has a noticeable wound, a gash from where blood continues to pour from.

Startled by this movement, she sees again around the white, ivory-like space. There’s no one around, although it is not like she can see that much anyway.

Don’t worry, I’m here now.

Putting her hands on Titania’s blood, Tomoe engages her Aura, infusing the blood all the way to her. The blood surrounding Titania starts to form bubbles, her body starts to react, and in one move, the blood rises, forms a wave-like form, and moves Titania, slowly, little by little, all the way to Tomoe.

With Titania now between her hands, under the shade of a Starlight Tree, she pours even more Aura, not even thinking about the amount she has left. Tears start rolling her face, as Tomoe struggles to stop the sobbing, as her Aura surrounds and fills the gash. Blood stains Tomoe’s hands.

“You will be ok, I swear…” Tomoe whispers.

Silence reigns the place. Only Tomoe’s sobs break the otherwise deafening silence that is crushing her ears. The scenery is like if it were a dream, even though Tomoe was living a nightmare.

Titania’s breathing comes back a bit stronger. Her shoulders jolt, and her eyes which were cold, looking nowhere, started moving again.

“… T-Tomoe?”

While Tomoe is happy for this development, her expression still is stiff in sadness and concentration. Titania isn’t out of this yet.

“My throat… so sore.”

“Sorry. I don’t carry any jellies left.”

A slight smile appears on Titania’s face.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Silence.

“To-”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“I know what you are going to say. Don’t.”

Titania’s expression softened a bit letting see a tinge of sadness.

“What happened to you?”

“I… I don’t know. Can barely think straight. We were taken by surprise, I took the hit.”

Titania looks Tomoe directly at the eyes, opens her mouth, but instead of words, a coughing fit came out in its place, together with more blood.

“Please, just stay put, don’t talk.”

Having the fit stopped, Titania takes a deep breath, and looks at Tomoe again “Tomoe, I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

“My Aura is completely gone. Can barely regenerate.”

“That doesn’t mean that you will die!” Tomoe whispers.

“It does if it means that there are more important things you should be doing…” Titania takes another deep breath, droplets of sweat start falling of her forehead “Than wasting the little Aura you have left on me.”

Tomoe doesn’t reply.

“Tomoe… You know that even if you heal me completely, I won’t be able to engage in a fight.”

No reply.

“That little Aura you have, you need to keep it to yourself, you may need it!” Titania says, elevating her voice and sending her into another coughing fit. She then takes another deep breath, followed by some moans. She has regained her ability to sense pain.

“Can’t leave you here…” Tomoe says, sobbing.

“You must…”

“But…”

“Please, think on the larger picture. If you aren’t there, someone else may meet my end too.”

Silence. Tomoe continues to pour her Aura on Titania’s gash.

Titania raises her arm and puts her hand over Tomoe’s. Whispering, she says “Please… My mom… my lil bro. I can’t go to help them, but you can.”

A knot is tied in Tomoe’s throat, at the same time she starts to bite her lip. Her relationship with Titania was never a close one, but even after working together a couple of times, Tomoe felt that there’s was something more keeping them apart, something beyond her control that she couldn’t clearly grasp, and their relationship was a bit of a rough one. Now she understood why… She and Titania are more alike than she thought… or would liked or dared to admit just two days before.

Whispering, she asks “Do you know where are the others?”

Titania smiles. Using her hand, she points towards the entrance of the Grand Castle, right in front of them.

“Of course” Tomoe chuckles.

Closing her eyes, Tomoe engages more of her Aura and thrusts it into Titania’s gash, making her scream and recoil in pain. Standing up looking at Titania’s eyes, Tomoe says “Years ago… I lost the first friends I had in my life, for a mistake I… contributed to, and being so weak that I couldn’t do anything to save them. I don’t want to lose more people I care about. I’ll go, but you gotta get out of this alive, you hear me?”

Titania chuckles “Go already” she answers.

“I already closed the gash by the way. The rest is up to you…” Tomoe looks towards the Grand Castle entrance, and then adds “If you die, I’ll personally take care of your Cinders… after using her as a punching bag, that is.”

This frustrates her, but she knows Titania is correct. Spreading herself thin will only end up in her being unable to offer any meaningful, significant help. She can’t have that. How that would be different from that terrible night from long ago? It is not different to her not doing anything and being unable to do something important because she lacked strength.

Even so, the mere thought of not knowing if Titania could make it completely stiffened her body. The only reason why she can still move though is that that same unknown can be applied to everyone else she knows, inside the Grand Castle. From the bottom of her heart a prayer raised, one that she directed to Lord Hazuki, as she remembered for a moment her days of training under Daisy to become a Priest.

Please, please Lord Hazuki… Save her life. Don’t let her… go away. Please…

Tomoe strengthens her body with Aura, and runs across the empty white plane, covering the ground in four large steps, reaching the entrance of the Grand Castle.

Just passing the entrance, Tomoe notices something right away: The large room she just entered, is, by itself, larger than the entire city the old citadel is. Ornaments, giant columns, furniture from tapestries to tables, chairs, two giant trees with many, many green leaves. The interior itself is a combination of ivory white, with crimsons and gold and silver. The walls are too far away to make up any detail, the columns stretch so high into the sky that there are some clouds.

At the mere sight of this, Tomoe loses her footing, trying to adjust. Turning back, she sees the entrance, still just as small as she saw it when she passed through. While looking at the entrance, a breeze comes through, caressing her face.

Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object falling startles her. Looking back and in front of her, she sees the ground: Bodies. She recognizes the clothing, there is no mistaking it: these are Aquamarines. Weapons, arrows, shields, burnt marks. White and black skins, men and women and children and old people. Blonde, redheads, black haired and Weiss, even Weiss. And right in front of her, the ground has been pushed down, and tons of rubble are piled over it, together with a short but thick branch of one of the giant trees in place.

So many Aquamarines. A feeling of being stabbed right in the stomach overwhelmed Tomoe, while she loses her footing, landing on her butt, and looks around again. Columns, trees, furniture, so much furniture, the clouds, and its many shapes, the light that comes from everywhere. Then, her sight falls again over the bodies, and finally the pile of rubble that is in front of her.

The rubble starts to vibrate. Tomoe is jolted by this, stands up and takes a step back. A strong force pushes the rubble upward, but to no avail, the giant branch of one of the trees doesn’t move. Then again, then again, then again. The next time, the force isn’t alone, it is accompanied by a yell of a voice she is really familiar with.

In one fell swoop, the force pushes really hard, and moves the giant branch to the sides, while finally coming under all that rubble that was on top of her. Tomoe jolted, but her heart jumped of a little joy in the middle of all this misery, and her face drew a big, smile at the sight of a petite girl, coming out of the rubble around her.

“That bastard… Wait until I get my hands on him!”

“Lia?”

“Uh?” Amelia rises her eyes, meeting with Tomoe’s “Cotton?”