Tales From The Kronos

The group returned on board of the Kronos after a good night of sleep. They immediately went to do their report about their mission and its success, Silva also explained what happened there with Silv to everyone. The leader listened to everything her members had to say and took a deep breath before answering.

"I see. It is troubling. This Silv doesn't seem very friendly, we'll need to be careful about her from now on."

"Yes, but there's something we wanted to talk about with you." Polyetta was curious about Neige's words and tilted her head with curiosity.

"What is it?"

"Have you heard of someone named Peolyetta?"

"You mean me, right? Of course, I know myself haha, what a weird question."

"No, I mean Peolyetta."

Seeing Neige's seriousness and insistence, Polyetta looked away from the group. The room stayed silent for a moment as if the leader was hoping for Neige to forget his question. The woman quickly noticed that her friend wouldn't let this question without an answer, so, the leader answered with a shy voice.

"Can you... Come here? I'll tell you, but only you."

"But I'll tell Silva and Sepide anyway, can't they come?"

"No... I only want to tell you."

Sepide found the leader a bit weird, she acted like a child most of the time. She couldn't help but whisper at Silva and ask her.

"Was the leader always like that?"

"As far as I know yeah, she always acts a bit childish but she's reliable, don't worry. She's just... Extremely shy, I don't think I ever saw her outside of her room."

Neige was a bit sad he couldn't bring his two friends with him, mostly because it meant he would have to repeat everything to them

"Okay, I'll come then."

"Wait, before that, I have something to tell you." Remembered the leader "Emely has installed internet on the ship and she'll launch it tomorrow. She wants to throw a party for it!"

"What's internet?" Asked Sepide

"Beats me, probably something weird." Answered Neige.

"No, it's great!" The leader said, very excited "It means that we can communicate between worlds now! So missions will be easier since we can talk together, and it also means we can play video games online now!"

"Come on, you're the only one doing that here."

"Yeah, but... Anyway, I expect you soon Neige!"

The screen turned off, leaving the three friends alone.

"You'll tell us then, Neige. I need to go see Gwyn now, I'll see you later!" Silva bowed to them and left in a hurry, worrying her two friends who stood there, staring at her leaving.

"We'll probably see her later. Here, Sepide, you should take this." Neige handed the note that they received from Eve "You should add it to your memory box."

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea." Sepide looked at the note for a while, so much so that when she was about to thank Neige, he already left, probably to see their leader.

Neige entered his friend's room where Polyetta was, waiting on her bed. She was holding the diary close to her heart and seemed lost in her thoughts.

"Polyetta? Are you okay?"

"Oh, I didn't expect you so quick." The woman took a deep breath and looked at Neige directly in the eyes "It's a bit of a long story, but you remember what I told you about our world?"

"That it got destroyed, but you found the book and you managed to bring us into this world?"

"Yes, it's a bit more complicated than that. Actually, I kinda wrote some stuff in the book. It's why you don't remember much about the world."

"Did you erase my memories?" Neige didn't know how to feel about it, but it did explain why he didn't remember much about his own past, so he was inclined to believe it.

"Kinda, but you should have seen yourself! You barely could do anything, I don't know what happened to you, but you were so... Traumatized! If I didn't do anything, you maybe would have been dead by now!"

"Okay, I think I understand. It's a lot to take, but I don't blame you for it."

"Really? I'm glad then. But I did remove something else from you, I removed your memories of me. I was afraid they would remind you of the terrible things that happened."

"You... Removed every memory I had with you?"

"Not every memory, just my name, my face, and some embarrassing secrets you knew... Polyetta isn't my real name."

"What happened to not using the book for personal use?"

"You would have done the same. I couldn't handle seeing you like that, when we left our world, you seemed like an entirely different person, you barely reacted! I was alright as long as you were here, but it was like you died in our world too. I... I couldn't bear to live without you."

Seeing his friend in such a fragile light made Neige's heart hurt. He went to take Polyetta in his arms but she stepped back and shook her head.

"Wait, you don't even know my real name."

"Maybe, but you're still my friend. I trust you, even if I'm not sure all of that was necessary. I'll always be your friend, don't worry."

Neige smiled cheerily at his friend. Even despite the mask on her face, it was easy to see Polyetta's hesitation as she placed her hand on her mask.

"I truly hope so..."

Polyetta removed her mask and the veil that covered her hair. Long blonde hair slowly fell down while the woman gently opened her eyes, revealing their violet color. Neige instantly recognized her gentle face as he had seen it multiple times before, not on his friend, but on someone else.

"My name is Yada, and yes... I am the anomaly's other self. I wanted to keep it to myself until we fixed everything, but... I think you deserve the truth."

"I... Don't really know what to say, but it doesn't change anything for me, and I'm sure for the others too."

"I think they shouldn't know."

"Come on, have you seen how gorgeous is your hair? How your eyes beautifully shine? Everyone on the ship is saying that you look like a witch because you hide your face, I think they don't care if you're the anomaly's other self, or even that you never told your real name."

"They say that?" The woman asked, a bit offended.

"Of course, you should come out more often. Tomorrow's party could be a good opportunity for that."

Yada's started to blush heavily, the thought of being around so many people at once was terrifying for her.

"N-No thanks! I'm good that way! I swear!"

Neige smiled softly at the sight of his friend. His hand gently caressed her cheek to wipe her tears. The man still couldn't believe that he could finally see what his friend looked like after all these years.

"It's fine, I'll find a way to make you come out. You should dress properly for tomorrow."

"I won't, because I won't come to the party."

Neige couldn't help but laugh at the face of his friend pouting. Neige's smile slowly disappeared as he asked another question he had on his mind.

"And what does that have to do with Peolyetta?"

"Well as you can see, our names are similar. I only learned later that she was a Goddess, I just saw her name on the book. And I... Kinda misread it. I just needed a false name to use, so I went with this one."

"So you have nothing to do with Peolyetta?"

"Not really, but... Do you think she exists?"

Neige never really thought about it, Kairo did talk about a God, and the book was right here, but was it enough? To imagine that the world could have been created by a little girl was a bit hard to believe for him.

"It doesn't really matter much in the end, does it?"

"I suppose not."

Neige caressed his friend's head and gave her a heartwarming smile. He was happy to finally be able to see his friend blush after all the time he saw her behind the mask.

"I'll have to go now, I wanted to talk about something with Silva." As he was about to leave, Yada grabbed him by his sleeve and looked at him with childish but frightened eyes.

"Neige, how do you smile? You lost Kairo, you learned that your past was removed from you by your friend, and you're constantly risking your life. How do you do to stay cheerful like that?"

"It's simple, I need to be strong for my friends!" Neige said with a smile.

"Neige, don't overexert yourself... I don't know what I'd do without you... I don't think I could face the future..."

"... Don't think about it Yada, it will be alright, nothing will happen."

"You're right... But can you call me Polyetta instead, I... Kinda like that name better, at least for now."

"Okay, I will Yada."

"Polyetta." The woman answered while pouting.

"Yada."

"I hate you Neige." Polyetta put her mask back on, while Neige left the room.

"I love you too Polyetta."

Neige remembered that Silva was supposed to see the doctor, so he decided that it would be best to search for her there. But once he arrived, Silva wasn't there. Instead, there was Sepide and Gwyn together. Seeing him, Sepide rushed toward him.

"Neige, have you seen Silva?"

Neige shook his head, he was a bit surprised, Sepide seemed out of breath and extremely worried. Gwyn let out a sigh before explaining the reasons behind his friend's worry.

"I just said that Silva felt bad, but that as her therapist, I can't tell anything about her personal problems. It's no big deal."

"Her therapist?" Asked Neige, even more confused "Since when you're a therapist?"

"Never really been, but at the same time, kind of always been. If you want to complain, just find another therapist."

"Can we talk about it later?" Sepide was on the verge of tears, but did her best to remain calm "I just want to make sure Silva's safe."

"It's okay, she's probably in her room. We should go check on her."

Sepide agreed with Neige, and together, they went to search for Silva in her room.

They tried to enter the room, but it was closed. Sepide knocked on the door without stopping for at least a few minutes, until the door was opened by Silva herself. She was covered in paint all over her body and greeted them with a smile.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you because I was too focused on painting, I hope you didn't wait too long outside."

Sepide felt better just seeing her friend. After everything she learned, she couldn't help but feel worried for Silva.

"No, it's okay. We just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well I'm doing fine, don't worry!" Said Silva before giving them a heartwarming smile. Sepide felt better, but Neige couldn't help but feel that something was wrong, it was like he could see behind her false smile.

"You were clumsy? You have paint everywhere, it doesn't look like you."

"Oh, I just fell in my painting supplies, but I'm fine, don't worry."

"Silva, you know that there are multiple kinds of red, right?"

Sepide was confused by Neige's behavior, she wanted to answer, but Silva did before her.

"Of course. But you know, I can't see it, so I don't really care too much. Red is red for me."

"Silva, red paint and blood are different kinds of red."

Silva put her hands behind her back and smiled innocently.

"Is it... really different? Maybe you should get glasses."

"I'm pretty confident I can see the difference between red paint and blood."

Sepide stared at Neige with a frown on her face. She didn't him to talk about this kind of stuff to Silva.

"Neige, what are you saying? Why are you telling her that? Is it supposed to be impressive?"

Ignoring Sepide, Neige silently took Silva in her arms and slowly started to talk.

"You put paint all over you so we wouldn't notice, but it wasn't red paint on your arm, right?"

Silva's smile disappeared, leaving place to a saddened face.

"It works usually, why did you notice this time..."

Sepide started shaking after understanding what it was about, was Silva hurt? She wasn't when they left the world, so... Did she hurt herself? It was hard for Sepide to see the reality. Was Silva in that bad of a state? She felt powerless, but instead of questioning her friend, she just took her in her arms too. The three of them stayed like that for a moment, with for only sound the echoes of Silva's cries.