As the second day on the mysterious layer went by, the weather changed for the worse. Dark clouds engulfed the vast horizon bringing a heavy blizzard down on Chito and Yuuri, who were still trying with extreme difficulty to keep on their path to the last goal. In just a few moments the whole world seemed to have changed into white, as thick snow piled up taking every corner of the last layer. The snowflakes felt like sharp needles piercing their skin as the wind swept them across.

Hiking most of the day Chito and Yuuri with all their might kept pushing through. Starving and exhausted, hand in hand leading her unwell friend towards their new goal. They had to hold on for just a bit longer, the wall felt so close in the gloomy distance. Barely noticeable, the blue ninth light was still shimmering on the horizon.

"I won't give up for Yuu - I won't! I won't give up!" Chito kept repeating those words in her mind like a mantra holding Yuuri's grenade pin tightly in her free hand. She felt like she would lose Yuuri in the blizzard the second she let go of her. Chito made a promise not long ago that she would stay strong for Yuuri no matter what the circumstances were. In this situation, she had to give the best for her, as Yuuri got queasy from the extreme weather change and needed her help to keep pushing forward until they find shelter. Not even exhaustion and the harsh cold weather would bring her will to live down. She had to stay alive for Yuuri.

"Chii-chan - I am so sorry that I am dragging you behind.." exclaimed Yuuri, shivering and coughing as she kept covering herself with the blanket.

"It's not your fault Yuu, the fan stopped pumping out air and we were sweating all night. You must have caught a cold." Chito felt that they probably made a huge mistake the night before, allowing them to sweat from the warm exhaust of the fan. They had no premonition that the fans would eventually stop pumping out warm air while they were asleep, and the freezing cold just made everything worse.

"I am so cold Chii-chan..."

Yuuri snuggled closer to her, Chito could feel her shivering body pressed against hers and there was nothing else that she could do to keep her warm.

"Hold on - Chii-chan ... I want to eat some snow," Yuuri said stopping for a moment. "I am so thirsty and hungry!"

"Yuu - please don't eat the snow, you will only feel worse." reaching around her backpack, she pulled out the flask and handed it to Yuuri. "I hope it's still warm from earlier. Drink everything if you want Yuuri, don't worry about me."

With a few gulps, Yuuri finished the warm contents of the flask and that was all of the warm water they managed to boil earlier this morning. All they could rely upon was snow to keep hydrated, but eating snow in this cold weather could easily accelerate the process of hypothermia.

Chito was concerned for Yuuri, she read a survival book about the effects of hypothermia and was wondering if Yuuri was actually coming down with it since the morning. The signs were there, but she wanted to be in denial. "It's probably just a cold" She couldn't imagine that she only had little time left with Yuuri before she would pass away from this horrible condition. "I can't think about that now! We have to keep pushing forward and find a shelter"

They had lost track of time earlier in the day, the clouds were obstructing the sun above them. It could have been way late in the evening, but they had no way of knowing for sure.

"Chii-chan - I am so sleepy..." Yuuri said as they kept walking forward, snuggling into Chito for what little warmth they could share.

"Yuu, please hold on a bit longer. you can't fall asleep. It's really dangerous, We will be there soon, we will find shelter and I'll make fire from something to keep you warm, even if I have to burn all my clothes - Please just hold on a little longer."

Walking forwards huddled together in one brief second, the exhaustion was too much for Yuuri as she suddenly collapsed down on the cold snow.

Horrified from seeing her fall down on the ground, Chito yelped. "No! Yuu! Please get up." she reached down to help Yuuri get up on her feet. "We have to move, Yuu!"

"I can't Chii-chan! I can't go on...my leg... it hurts so much!" with tears in her eyes she sat down on the cold ground.

"Please Yuu, you must!" she helped Yuuri up and snuggled her closer for what little warmth she could share. "Please Yuu... we are so close... I can feel it... Please, just a little while... I'll lead you and carry you if I can. But - we can't stop now."

"I'll try Chii-chan - I'll try to carry on... for you..." Yuuri replied as she struggled to get up, and managed to start walking again toward their goal.

It took them grueling hours of hiking to reach something in the distance, the beacon that led them there on the final part of their journey was shining much brighter. The desolate layer suddenly was brimming with all new kinds of different new machines. Chito could recognize the design of one of the machines in one of the books she used to read a long time ago. It seemed like even up here the war caught on, but there was something really different about it. There were no signs of severe struggle or discarded weapons It seemed like even if wars were raging on up here, everything was swiped clean and repaired afterward. The layer no matter how desolate seemed to be droning with the lives of the machines underneath it, but for now, they couldn't see anyone or anything that might control them.

"Some of these look like - anti-aircraft guns..." Chito remarked as she noticed them through the thick snow, pointing their barrels upwards in the sky indefinitely waiting for the inevitable air raid.

"What's that... Chii-chan?" Yuuri asked shivering as she was still snuggled into Chito for warmth

"It seemed like these weapons were protecting the layer from something in the sky... they look almost 'new' unlike the machines we saw on the layers underneath them. Could someone or something have been taking care of them even after all these years?"

"Were they shooting down - aircraft just like the one... Ishii-san made?" Yuuri asked as they kept walking towards the beacon, coughing loudly with each sentence she made.

"Yes, but those aircraft were capable of causing so much death and destruction. Ishii-san believed her aircraft was her hope of escaping this city." Chito replied as she let out a sigh. "I am somewhat relieved Yuu... she would have been killed instantly if these still work."

"Maybe ... but she is smart ... she would have jumped with her parachute and survived at the right time..."

These machines even after all these years were ready to protect the layer from an air raid that was never going to be carried out. After all this time they were still outliving most of the humans in this world. They were ready to fire their rounds at the sky, shooting down anyone or anything that was a threat to whatever was there on the last layer. Maybe even if the last of the humans were completely wiped from existence, these machines would continue to guard the layer against nothing, indefinitely.

"Do you think they still work Chii-chan?" Yuuri asked looking up at her as they continued walking...

"I don't know Yuu, I really don't want to find out... so far it hasn't blown us up thankfully..."

° ° °

Continuing their hike onwards, Chito could make up the construction of the huge wall, going off endlessly in both directions. Riddled with bullets, holes, and cracks in the wall, it looked identically like the stone slab they saw at the beginning of their last journey. After all these years the wall still stood strong protecting with perfection whatever was behind it. The wall on some parts seemed to be stitched with metal sheets almost like the ones the whole layer was covered. Maybe they were trying to fix the holes and cracks from wars fought a long time ago but done in a crude almost like a faulty machine fashion. On top of the wall, Chito could make up the giant writing of the number 9 in blue paint.

"Yuu - we are here !" Chito happily exclaimed as she picked up the pace pulling Yuuri towards the outer layer of the wall. "We will be safe!"

With a hopeful smile, she kept her pace onwards but once they reached it, there was nothing there once again.

Chito wanted so badly to believe with blind hope, that she would have been able to find a gate or some kind of shelter where they could wait out the blizzard and get warm. But again nothing was indicating an entrance inside the wall. The giant wall scaled the far horizon and snow covered almost every inch of the ground, barely visible to see if anything or anyone was in the distance. Almost like this cruel life was toying with them once again, before they passed away from hypothermia.

"No... NO! There must be something here!" Chito placed her hands on the wall, trying to look for a hidden door, valve, button... anything she could open that hidden door. "Grandpa said - to come here, Why?"

The wall felt smooth to her touch and besides a few cracks and metal sheets fixed on this part of the wall, there was nothing else. They reached the ninth light, but for what reason?

"Yuu - there is nothing here!" Chito shouted from frustration and started crying her eyes out once again.

With substantial pain in her leg, Yuuri was unable to move any longer. She was sure that this was the end and sat down on the ground next to Chito, covering herself underneath the blanket. Shivering from the cold, with barely any energy she called out to Chito.

"Chii-chan..."

"There must be something, anything... why?" with all her might she started smashing her hands into the wall. The black core material that was behind the concrete could probably withstand the full blast of a rifle, it definitely wouldn't ever budge by Chito's hands no matter how much she hit.

"WHY GRANDPA? WHY DID YOU TELL US TO COME HERE?" screaming in frustration, she wanted to blame her grandfather for everything that has happened to them up to this point. "WHY DID YOU SEND US HERE? WHY DIDN'T YOU LET US DIE IN THE VILLAGE?"

"Chii-chan... it's not his fault..." Yuuri replied with what little energy she had left, coughing as loudly as she could. "You were dreaming about him and the lights... last night. It's nobody's fault... we wanted to come here on our own..."

"Yuu... please, get up... let's go back!" Chito turned to face Yuuri with panic in her eyes. Yuuri was laying down on the cold ground unable to move any longer from exhaustion. "We can go back to the staircase ... Let's go back and down the layers... there must be someplace warm... it's just a short hike Yuuri... please" with a pulsating pain in her hands she never noticed the blood pouring from her open wounds, she could barely even move her left hand as the pain was almost unbearable.

"Please... Yuu... Please!"

"Chii-chan..." Yuuri said looking up at her, coughing and shivering from the cold with a blank stare in her eyes. "Chii-chan - Let's just - rest for a bit ... I am so tired."

Unable to stop weeping, Chito held out her hands and started softly shaking Yuuri as to make her get up..."No Yuuri - no - no - you will die! don't fall asleep - Please!"

"Chii-chan... It's ok - I promised that I will be with you ... I just need - to rest for a bit -" she replied with a smile. Her life seemed to have been coming to an end, as her beautiful face started turning white from the cold, shivering she kept looking into the horizon with blank eyes "The snow is such a beautiful thing Chii-chan... you can even eat it - play in it - but now it hurts - "

"Yuuri... no - please don't close your eyes... please, Yuuri!" Chito wailed laying down and hugging her close, weeping loudly "Please... Yuuri... don't go, please - I made a promise to protect you... I made a promise to grandpa that I will protect you." shaking her softly in desperation to keep her from drifting off. "No Yuu - please"

"Chii-chan... I love you - so much. You kept your promise... you saved me... " Yuuri with difficulty managed to speak before she closed her beautiful blue eyes laying down on the ground. Yuuri was no longer shivering, she seemed to have lost consciousness from exhaustion into a deep slumber slowly breathing in and out.

"YUUURIII... NO... DON'T LEAVE ME... DON'T PLEASE...Yuuri, open your eyes... WAKE UP! PLEASE!" she kept screaming and weeping as loud as she could hugging her close and trying to wake her up "NO MY YUU... PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" she kept kissing her and trying to warm her up... "I promised you! To keep you safe! I never even gave you a ring... my sweetheart... don't leave me, PLEASE! WHY?"

"What... do I do... what will I do???" she shivered looking around the wall for anything she had missed. In a panic, she completely forgot about the heavy contents of her backpack. Weeping she reached around and placed her backpack down on the cold ground, unbuttoning it.

"I know what I have to do..."

Shivering she pulled out the package and with her knife, she opened the content. The bomb came with a slow burnable fuse that she could easily light up with the gas that was left in the stove. "I am so sorry Yuuri... please forgive me." with her knife she cut the rope that she used to tie herself to Yuuri during their last hike. Leaving her unconscious friend behind on the ground she went to look for an opening in the wall.

She found the best spot to stick her bomb into one of the deep cracks in the wall as she pulled out the fuse to the correct length. "I really hope this works... for Yuuri" taking out the stove from her backpack she kept trying to light what little of the gas was left. Every time she tried the wind blew out the flames. It was only for a brief moment that the wind quieted down and she managed to light up the fuse.

The fuse took its time burning slowly, nothing could have stopped it now, not even the snow or the wind - when it reached inside the charge, a loud ball of fire engulfed the wall, leaving out a massive fierce sound that could be heard in the distance echoing throughout the layer.

Ripping apart some of the outer coatings of the wall and concrete, fragments hovering in the air - a faint audible alarm started blaring behind the wall.

Once the flames appeared to have settled down, Chito hiding in the snow ran to the crack in the wall to see what happened. After the smoke cleared she could see clearly what kind of damage the explosion has done. Besides leaving a small blast radius around the dark stone, it was mostly left unscathed. Rubble of concrete and stone fragments lay around in the snow around the blast.

Falling down to her knees in the snow Chito looked in disbelief at the wall... It seemed the wall was able to withstand most kinds of destructive force that was thrown at it. It was almost unbreachable, maybe that is why it survived all of those years standing strong up here protecting whatever was behind it. She was way too distraught to notice the faint alarm behind the wall.

"Oh..." Chito uttered as she almost wanted to laugh hysterically, the huge explosion was so satisfying to watch. She always thought about the moment that she would use the bomb on themselves and go out with an explosion, but trying one last thing before she passed away with Yuuri was almost satisfying... they used all of their supplies and there was nothing she could do about that.

"I only wish Yuuri was conscious to witness this. She would have loved it."

All she could do next was go to Yuuri and go into the afterlife together with her. She got up and went back to Yuuri who was at a safe distance from the explosion. Chito was way too exhausted to search for anything up here or even carry Yuuri to safety. With little to no hope, she would never allow herself to leave Yuuri's side.

Yuuri was sleeping peacefully down on the ground covered in the blanket, barely breathing as her light was slowly going off. Chito gently cleaned out the snow that has accumulated on top of her sleeping partner with her shivering and bloody hand.

Looking down at her she smiled "You are so beautiful my love..." laying down next to her, she embraced her underneath the blanket. Chito leaned and kissed Yuu's lips, gently caressing her cheeks. "I will give you the most beautiful ring in the world when I meet you in our new home - my sweetheart."

Chito couldn't do anything but snuggle her dying lover, she wanted to go together in the afterlife with her. "Grandpa, I am so sorry ... I didn't mean to... I love you..." Chito closed her eyes laying in the arms of her lover.

"This life was beautiful indeed! Yuu, my dear..."

° ° °

Brief parts of consciousness were the only things Chito could remember from that point onwards. She could swear at some point she heard the voices of a man and a girl and opening her eyes for a brief moment, Chito saw the faint image of someone that oddly resembled someone she knew...

 

 

(Continued in Chapter 4)

(LATEST REVISION: 29th November 2022)