"What do you do in case the victim suffers a third-degree burn?"

"If it's pretty severe you need to protect the burn area by covering it loosely with sterile gauze. To protect them from going into shock, have them lay on the ground, lift their legs and cover them with a blanket, until we can get them to the infirmary. It's always important to monitor the victim's pulse, breathing, and blood pressure."

"What's the meaning of triage?"

"Determining the priority of which patient has to be treated first during an emergency or disaster, by the severity of their condition. So for example, someone with a gunshot wound gets priority over a person with a small incision on their finger."

"What if the victim suffers from a heart attack?"

"You first check if the symptoms of a heart attack are there. Have them sit down, rest, and try to keep them calm, if they are unconscious and unresponsive begin administering CPR and immediately transport them to the infirmary - are you going to keep asking me First Aid questions, or are you going to play?"

"Even if you are my daughter, I am hoping you would pass the exam tomorrow if you are going to be a certified nurse at my hospital Mieko! Oh and - CHECKMATE!"

Sitting opposite each other Reo and Mieko sat in the cold hangar playing chess. They were on monitoring duty as part of an initiative where every citizen of the dome had to volunteer for service for different kinds of jobs around the sector. For this month it was Reo and Mieko's turn to be on duty at the hangar that was used to access the outside either through the large blast doors that leads to the outer layers or through the intricate elevator system that gave access to the layers underneath Besides the retrofitted old-era vehicles, there were also monitoring stations to observe the layers outside. Regardless, the sensors and the camera systems were down from the blizzard so they were sitting blind.

"Daaad, that's your 5th win in a row!" Mieko pouted before resting her head on the table "Arghhh...I'm never gonna win against you!"

"What do you expect, your dad is the dome champion 4 years in a row." Reo replied as he was placing back the pieces on the chessboard "And that was my personal best in 10 moves. You had your king out in the open with that last move, it was so easy to checkmate you with the rook and the horse."

"Oh! You'll see who will brag about beating the champion! I've been practicing with Kazuo almost every day and I am so close to beating him!" Mieko exclaimed still resting her head on her table.

"Who do you think taught Kazuo all this time?" Reo spoke with pride as he loved to brag about his chess skills every chance he had. "Ready for another round?"

"Naaaa... I don't want you to win 6 times in a row! We should play something I am good at, like buta no shippo." She sneered still resting her head on the table.

"Ughhh... guard duty is sooo boring! I will be more useful at the hospital, dad!" Mieko complained as she lay back on the chair, her gaze fixed upon the lights that lit up the large hangar.

"Be lucky you are not on sewage duty this month, and besides Midori's fever there were no other patients there these past few days," Reo said as he placed away the chessboard.

"Shoveling shit is more fun than this!" Mieko replied still pouting as she glanced around the cold hangar. "So when do you suppose they are going to fix the cameras and the sensors outside? They haven't been working for days now." Mieko asked and sighed as she looked at the blank monitor near them with just the words 'Lost Communication!' blinking on the screen.

"They should commission one of those useless apparatuses to go out and fix the grid. Besides, I don't think anyone from the engineering team will go out in this weather. The forecast station said that the storm will pass us in a few days. It's the biggest one of the season." Reo replied as he also glanced into the blank monitor.

"Yesterday was a nice day outside. Someone could have fixed the cameras then, what if someone is out there?"

"Who knows, the last time someone came from there was 8 years ago. If my memory serves me right it was a family with kids. I am glad people still manage to find this place after all this time." Reo replied before he grasped the metal mug sitting next to him, taking a sip of warm green tea. "You should drink your tea Mieko, you will feel warmer."

"Ugh.. it might just make me sick again like this morning!" Mieko replied placing away her mug aside as even the smell of green tea could send her back to the toilet.

"Do you still get morning sickness?" Reo asked her again after taking a few sips.

"Sometimes..." she replied. "I really want to murderize that useless boyfriend of mine for making me pregnant!"

"I should get my shotgun and make that boy marry you!" Reo spoke jokingly with a grin on his face. He read somewhere about an old practice called "shotgun weddings" and has been fascinated with it ever since he found out his daughter was pregnant. He loved to tease her about any kind of predicament.

"You watch too many movies dad, I don't think anyone even in the 20th century got married, with their father pointing an actual shotgun at the groom." she chuckled.

"Well, this will be the first one in our century. I'll even suggest to the others here."

"DAD! I swear I'll kick your ass if you do that." She chuckled. "You are so obsessed with 20th-century movies these days, you do remember there are still stuff from 21st and 22nd century you can watch? I mean there was an actual movie filmed in space!"

"If you've been watching the '20th-century ones', you will know that one is just a remake of a classic movie called '2001: A Space Odyssey'." Reo replied as he started another movie discussion yet again "But still what I find fascinating about the other movie, is that they sent a film crew of about 25 people on a yearly expedition to the successor of the International Space Station after it was decommissioned and sent to crash in the Pacific Ocean. That movie was an exception and it seemed like in the 21st century they ran out of ideas and let AI make movies and stories for them."

Besides chess, filmography was another one of Reo's passions as he loved to ramble on for hours about all kinds of movies from the past centuries he's seen from the archive.

"But anyway! MARK MY WORDS YOUNGLING!" Reo spoke in a teasing tone again. "I am going to get my shotgun and you will marry that boy! I will not have my only daughter bring shame to our family!"

"Ugghhh daaaaad... you are only going to get me embarrassed on my wedding day! Do you think Kazuo's father will bring his shotgun as well?" Mieko asked "Maybe you two will go on a duel about which family name I should take. I will bring the popcorn!"

"He is my best friend, He would probably let me shoot first." Reo smiled again "You know I am just teasing you, I couldn't be happier about you and Kazuo starting your own family in your time."

"Thanks, dad, but you know we've been planning to get married for some time now. I am busy with my medical studies and Kazuo is still busy with his culinary studies and we never found the right time. He has a lot of hungry mouths to feed up here, also you keep forcing him to perfect grandma's curry recipe."

"That recipe has kinda a sentimental value, it reminds me of a lot of my family," Reo replied as he put away his empty mug to the side. "After all these years, I hope dad will make it up here before your wedding as well. He will be so happy to find out he is a grandfather and a great-grandfather at the same time."

"Yeah, I've really wanted to meet him for years now, and those two girls from his letters that he's been taking care of. I doubt he probably even knows he has a granddaughter." Mieko always enjoyed talking about her grandfather who was sadly left behind many years ago. She was fascinated with his life and his bravery and his life on the outside. "I'm sad that I don't remember grandma that much though."

"You were just a little kid when she..." Reo replied before he abruptly paused. Speaking about the tragic circumstances of his family always felt like a sharp needle stabbing him right in the heart.

"I know dad, it's really sad ... grandpa will be so heartbroken when he finds out," Mieko replied, "she was the love of his life."

"She was struggling a lot with post-traumatic stress disorder, even for years after Itsuki found her on the outside. She suffered a lot on the outside and even here on the inside after dad left. We tried to help her for years. I studied every kind of medication available from the archives and for a long time she was drinking 'synthesized paroxetine'. It helped the other patients that came from the outside with similar mental health issues like her. We even took a large portion of the hydroponics bay to grow cannabis that we found in the seed bank, to turn it into medication. At one point in her life her mood changed drastically, she had the most beautiful smile when you were born. She even went back to her painting and listened to the old-era music from the 'archives'. But I guess that's just what we saw on the outside. Inside her, she was battling all kinds of demons with her emotions and mental health. In reality, when Itsuki was left behind in the village, her heart shattered into millions of pieces and she couldn't go on without him" Reo spoke.

"But you know... the archive can be such a good thing to us at times. It gives us happiness and some kind of sanity up here in our own little isolated world. When she learned that the main bridge to the village collapsed and there was no way for our traders to reach them, her spirit broke again. We found out afterward that she used the archive to learn various skills to survive on the outside, and even how to drive. She was determined to go back for him and she told nobody when she stole a vehicle and a month worth of supplies and drove away. We searched for her for weeks before we found the vehicle. She seemed to have hit something and steered away into an empty hole. It was impossible to recover it so... sadly she is still down there up until this day. " Reo spoke as he brushed a tear from his face, he always felt down telling the story of his mother. "I don't think dad even knows that she passed away."

After all these years Reo couldn't help but feel that he could have done something more for his mother and father who sadly suffered so much in their life apart from each other. "Last night I had a dream that they were together with a large smile on their face... and he told me everything will be alright and that we should expect visitors soon. I don't know what he meant by that, but it was probably just a silly dream. I haven't had a dream of him in a long time..."

"Dad, do you think they are still alive down there?" Mieko asked him. "I know our traders gave up a long time ago trying to reach their village or any part of that layer anymore, but maybe they are still down there trying to live in that world outside?"

"I hope so Mieko. I really wanted to go with them and bring him and the girls back myself, I even had so many supplies and ration points collected to trade for his freedom but the people here need me." Reo replied laying back on the chair. "Those two sweet girls from his letter also deserve a happy life Mieko, and even though I feel selfish for wanting him here with us - I feel that he didn't deserve to have that kind of life on the outside. I am so happy that he saved two more lives. I hope the little girls know that he is a hero."

"Dad..." Mieko gently held out her hand to him. She loved her family more than anything else in the world and was happy that she was given this life in the dome. She hoped she would also share that love with her fiance and their newborn daughter or son. "I am sure they will come here in due time. No one would call you selfish you that you want grandpa back in your life after all those years on the outside." she looked at him and smiled gently holding his hand. "So! Want to play another round of chess?"

"Sure - I am about to destroy you again!" he smiled placing back the chessboard on the table.

° ° °

Waiting for their guard shift to end, Reo and Mieko continued playing a few more rounds of chess and spent the rest of the day discussing the old movies from the archive. The evening was already at a start when unexpectedly they heard a faint thump coming from the outside of the wall, slightly shaking the lights inside the hangar, and bits of mortar fell from the ceiling. The unusual alarm sounded blasting throughout the sector when they were in danger.

"Huh? What on earth was that?" Mieko stood up quickly from her chair, by instinct she turned to the monitors which still had the words 'Lost Communication!' blinking on them, they were still blind to the outside.

"I think that was an explosion!"

"An explosion?" Mieko asked him equally perplexed.

"Quick, go call the others we are going outside!" Reo ordered before he ran towards the weapon rack and pulled out an old 'Maschinenpistole 34' which he used on scouting missions outside.

"What in this weather?" Mieko asked him.

"We have to check out what that was Mieko. The safety of the dome depends on it."

Six people came running into the hangar, they were also on duty that day. Perplexed, they looked at Reo and one of the men asked him "What happened? What is that alarm?"

"I don't know, it sounded like an explosion! It came from outside. Gear up in your winter suits and bring your weapons, we have to check it out. Tell the rest of the dome to stay cautious..." Reo stated as he went putting on his winter uniform and a kevlar vest. Turning his head he saw his daughter who was doing the same.

"No young lady, you are staying here!" Reo spoke as he tried to stop her from dressing up. "You are pregnant and your mother is going to kill me."

"Dad... you know I am not a little girl anymore, I am coming with you in case anyone needs help. Besides, Kazuo didn't only teach me chess you know... I might be the best sniper in the squad thanks to him." she spoke before running up to the weapons rack and pulling out a modified Type 99 Arisaka rifle with a scope. The rifle was almost as big as her, but she knew how to handle it pretty well. Checking out her ammo she reloaded it before she turned to face her father.

He couldn't help but almost burst into laughter at the sight of his daughter holding an oversized sniper rifle in her arms, she stood ready for battle. "Well, those outsiders better be careful! Mieko is coming!" he replied smirking as Mieko punched his arm playfully.

"Oh shush!"

Geared up for a confrontation, the squad led by Reo ran to one of the machines they used for extreme weather. It was a modified German snow-plower from the old era called a "PistenBully 600". The crane in the back was ripped apart to make way for an armored caravan filled with medical gear and ammo. A spotlight with a machine gun next to it was retrofitted on the top of the vehicle for defense and search and rescue missions. This vehicle got them through too much on outer layer explorations and it still worked for centuries after it was built.

Starting the engine they drove up to the tunnel up to the hidden blast door that leads to the outside just about 500 meters in front of the wall. Barely opening the blast doors as snow has accumulated on the top they could see how harsh the weather outside has turned with barely any visibility at all.

° ° °

"DO YOU SEE ANYONE?" Reo shouted from underneath the vehicle sitting on the passenger seat, as he aimed his weapon through the opening of the window. Some time passed as they reached the wall looking for anyone that might have set off the explosive device.

"NO... NO ONE!" Mieko shouted from the top of the vehicle as she stood ready with her sniper rifle scanning the horizon, two men from the group mounted the spotlight and the machine gun next to her.

"SCAN THE HORIZON AND BE CAREFUL, COULD BE ANYONE OUT HERE!" Reo shouted to her before he turned to the driver "Drive carefully along the wall, we need to see where the explosion came from."

Driving through the piles of snow that accumulated on the top layer, they reached the point of the wall where the explosive device was set up. While it was insignificant, there was still concrete and fragments laying around on the ground gradually gathering snow. The wall absorbed most of the shockwave, but they could still feel the pulse and the sound on the inside.

"I STILL DON'T SEE ANYONE OUT HERE DAD!"

"BE CAREFUL AND KEEP LOOKING!" Reo replied as he continued scanning the horizon. They were sure that someone could be out here, walls don't tend to just explode by themselves. "COULD IT BE A STRAY SHELL?" Mieko asked him, as she continued scanning the blank horizon with her scope.

"NO! NO ONE COULD FIRE UP HERE AND HIT THE WALL! IT'S TOO FAR AWAY FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE LAYER!" Reo replied, however as he looked into the distance he could see someone on the ground.

"WAIT..." turning to the driver he pointed at the distance. "Drive over there, I think I see something... Pulling out his head through the window he shouted back at Mieko "MIEKO! CAN YOU SEE WHAT'S THERE IN FRONT OF YOU?"

"SURE," she said scoping the horizon with her sniper rifle. Barely visible, she noticed two silhouettes laying still on the white ground. She could make out only two helmets and the rest was covered in snow.

"DAD! THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE ON THE GROUND! COVERED IN SNOW!" she shouted.

"Oh no..." Reo exclaimed as he faced the driver ..."QUICK! We need to get there!"

Driving as fast as they could through the heavy snow, they stopped just outside where they saw the two bodies. Reo opened the door and ran out of the vehicle with his weapon pointed. He trod carefully towards them and then lowered his weapon as he saw two little girls laying cuddled under a blanket next to each other.

"MIEKO... EVERYONE... COME QUICK!"

Reo shouted back facing the vehicle, as he placed the weapon back on his arm and leaned down to check on the girls. Mieko and two men from the group ran out of the vehicle with their weapons ready.

"IT'S JUST TWO LITTLE GIRLS... THEY ARE FROZEN!"

Reo quickly brushed off the snow from the two girls laying huddled next to each other underneath the blanket, he kept trying to wake them up to no response. They barely looked alive, and he could swear the two little girls fit the same description in his father's letter. "Oh.. no... no... could it be them?" he softly mumbled as he placed his finger on the bloodied hand of the dark-haired girl. Luckily she still had a pulse and was breathing, which wasn't the case with the blonde girl. She seemed to have stopped breathing and he couldn't feel her pulse.

Just behind them were Mieko and the two men from the group who were waiting for his instructions. "They are dying! We need to get them inside now!" Reo carefully grabbed the blond girl in his arms as she was still covered in the blanket and started running as fast as he could through the thick snow up to the back of the modified vehicle. Mieko and the two men from the group were just behind him carrying the other girl along with her backpack.

Once inside the vehicle, Reo placed the girl on the makeshift table and started taking off her clothes to perform CPR. Trying to keep calm, he turned to the driver "As soon as Mieko and the others get inside, drive as fast as you can back home! We don't have time to check if there is anyone else out here!" placing his hands on the girl's chest he started pumping her heart...

"Shit, I am so sorry dad! I don't know if you are still out there - "

As soon as Mieko and the other two from the group went inside the vehicle, the PistenBully came to life driving back full speed to the hidden blast door before it was too late. Placing the other girl on the table, Mieko turned to her father who called her over for help as he was trying to resuscitate the girl and grabbed a CPR Mask.

"Cmon... CMON! Please be alive!" Counting up to 30 he faced Mieko and gave her a sign to use the bag on the CPR mask. She squeezed it two times, breathing in the air into the girl's lungs. Sadly she wasn't giving any signs of life yet. She still had no pulse, but that didn't stop Reo from continuing with his chest compressions.

"CMON! Fight little girl please!" he continued as sweat formed on his face... "FIGHT FOR ME PLEASE!" Counting again up to 30, Mieko was ready again with the CPR Mask and squeezed it two times. With no pulse, Reo was still not giving up.

"PLEASE, LITTLE GIRL! JUST, FIGHT FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

° ° °

A few days have passed since they found the girls from the cruel blizzard outside. Reo and Mieko both stayed at the dome's hospital day and night waiting for any signs of improvement. In the dead of night, Reo was sitting still awake in his office going through Itsuki's letters to see if he's missed anything. Itsuki consistently mentioned the two girls called Yuuri and Chito and described them in detail in his letters before he lost contact with them. However, Reo wasn't completely sure that it was them. In his father's letters, Itsuki explained that he planned to come with them on his last journey from the bottom layer. Something might have happened in the meantime and maybe Itsuki lost his life, or maybe it could have been two other girls that made this journey. That is why they never sealed off the entrances at the far corners of the layer because unfortunate people were still seeking refuge and life from the world beneath them. For days they sent out search parties to look for his father who might have been lost on the last climb, but they never found anyone else out there.

"If it's them ... then where is Itsuki?" he kept thinking to himself. Unable to eat and sleep for days, he was still pondering whether Itsuki was still out there, malnourished or even dead. But his priority was the life of the girls, he had to make a really hard decision for one of the girls on the day they arrived and it kept him awake almost every night with guilt studying the archives if he could have done anything else. Reo has been helping people in all kinds of emergencies, but this was completely different. He felt a fatherly obligation towards these two girls they found freezing out just the days before. He would never know what he would do if something similar happened to his daughter.

Reo must have drifted off to sleep in his chair as suddenly he was woken up by an alarm usually the nurses use in case of an emergency with one of their patients. Coming to his senses he got up and started running through the dark corridors toward the room where one of the girls was sleeping. His daughter was inside the room calling out to him.

Wearing a white doctor's robe he stopped just outside the room to compose himself "What happened Mieko?" Reo asked as he looked inside the room, suddenly his eyes fixed upon the terrified young girl crying on the bed. With a puzzled expression, the girl looked back at him and asked him, “What - Grandpa? How? Is that you?”

All of a sudden it occurred to him that this was indeed the girl from his father's letter, both of the girls called him grandpa and Reo strangely resembled his father's looks from the pictures that he sent. Deep in his thoughts, he wanted to run outside once again to look for him. He turned to Mieko with a panicked look on his face.

"Oh my goodness - it's her Mieko! It's her - the dark-haired girl from Itsuki's letters - but - we kept searching he wasn't out there - in the blizzard... That means he is still out there!"

The girl with a sudden puzzled expression on her face kept looking at both of them before she asked "Wait how? How do you know that name? How do you know grandpa?"

Reo trying to compose himself answered her calmly... "Itsuki ... he is my father"

Staring at her he resumed talking "He was supposed to help you come here, but we couldn't find him. Is he still out there?" he asked fearing the worst answer.

Still confused Chito tried to calmly answer him back "No... he stayed back at the village and people started shooting each other... we don't know if he made it out," she said still terrified with a puzzled look on her face "Wait - how... Who are you?" she questioned him again.

"It's a long story but he is my father. We left the village many years ago and he had to stay behind, he planned to bring you both up here... to give you a proper life, both you and Yuuri... He sent so many letters to us through refugees and families... I am so sorry Chito..." he replied still trying to keep his composure as a doctor. "My name is Reo and this is my daughter Mieko..."

"You two have been through so much out there, whatever you both did outside with the explosive device saved your lives, we would never have known that you were outside... I am so sorry..." Mieko spoke.

Chito in the whole confusion again forgot about Yuuri as she was not in the same room as her... "Wait - Yuuri? Please tell me where she is?" Chito's heart started beating even faster waiting for the worst possible answer. She couldn't stop crying laying down on the bed, she was worried about the life of her partner.

"Chito... Please, you have to understand when we found you two you were in really bad shape. When we found Yuuri... she was dead..." he replied with tears in his eyes, looking back at Chito. "but we brought her to life, however - she is in a coma."

"What... what is a coma? She was dead?" Chito asked him, she was about to start crying again. "Wha-"

"Chito... you were also in a short coma from exhaustion and you woke up... Yuuri is alive but she is just in a deep sleep... but please you have to be strong for her!" Reo with tears in his eyes still tried to compose himself, In all his life doing this job, this was the hardest thing he had to do and he felt that Chito and Yuuri were his family. "I am so sorry Chito... But Yuuri, we tried everything, however - she lost her leg... you broke your hand and she lost her leg from frostbite. We tried everything and we had you both on a tissue regenerator machine... but... we had to eventually cut her leg to save her life."

Chito suddenly burst into tears as she wailed loudly..."Noooo! Yuuri!" she screamed trying to hit the bed with her hands... the pain from her broken hand pulsated throughout her body, but she continued crying... "What did I do!? It's all my fault! I pushed her through the snow!"

Mieko with tears in her eyes tried to console her as she gently placed her hand on her head "Chito, it's not your fault! You were really lucky - the weather is still really bad outside you did the right thing. Yuuri still has a chance at life but only time will tell when she will wake up... please, you have to be strong for her, you can't ever give up on her - you went through too much to make it up here for a better life, it's not the end for her..."

"No... my sweetheart... Yuu... what did I do?" she cried laying down on the bed, the medication that Mieko injected her was taking effect as she started calming down and closed her eyes "Why Yuu... What did I do..." from exhaustion she fell asleep again with tears in her eyes.

Even though Mieko learned all her life to deal with patients and to always have professional composure, she couldn't help but start weeping as she hugged her father tightly who was standing there still in shock. The sudden realization that her grandfather was never going to come back home was too much for them to bear.

"Dad... Itsuki..." Reo spoke to himself as he started crying as well, hugging Mieko even tighter. "No... - "

This was the day that he lost all hope of ever seeing his father back home. Deep in his heart, he wanted to believe that he was now finally together with his wife in heaven. Itsuki lost his life, but he gave life to two girls that never had the happiness of a happy, warm and safe home.

The storm outside raged on for days, completely covering the world in white. It seemed like it was the last storm of the season.

Itsuki used to say to himself that the world outside was beautiful in its own little ways, even from the mountains and piles of destruction that humanity left behind. Maybe anyone could find happiness and love out there, and they all shared a similar destiny to reach the top of the world together through life and death. In some way, Chito and Yuuri carried Yasuo and Itsuki home in their hearts.

They reached their new home, but it did cost them a price.

Reo has seen the same spark in Chito's eyes for Yuuri before. It was the same that he has seen so many times in his mother's eyes and the way she felt about Itsuki. Reo knew her little heart wouldn't be able to survive without Yuuri by her side, and he felt that he had to do something to help them, he had to give more than what he could have ever done for his mother and father.

"I won't let Chito go through what my mother did... I will help both of them get through this, even if it takes years..." Reo said to Mieko as he was hugging her tightly.

° ° °

Sleeping peacefully in her bed, Yuuri was still in a coma after some time since they were rescued, however, she was doing much better since they found her. Yuuri didn't need the help of the machines to breathe anymore and it just showed how strong she really was. Even in a coma, she never lost her will to live as long as Chito was by her side. Every day next to her, Chito never left her bedside as she waited patiently for her to wake up. Itsuki, Mieko, and the staff from the dome's hospital couldn't find it in their heart to separate the two girls, and Chito was allowed to stay in her room and sleep next to her on the same bed. They only hoped that this room was only their temporary home for now.

Chito's strength and the strong spark in her eyes have also returned. With her medication and daily nourishment, she was able to function on her own, but she refused to leave Yuuri and always left half a portion of her food next to her bed in case Yuuri woke up hungry. She was always there taking care of Yuuri and snuggling close to her waiting for any reaction. Chito's hand was also getting much better since they removed her cast, however, she still had trouble making a fist. It would take a long time for her hand to completely heal.

It was late at night, Itsuki and Meiko checked on them before they went home for the day as Chito lay there on the bed re-reading all of Itsuki's letter that was addressed to Reo's family. Outside the window it started raining, everyone seemed to be at their homes as just the street lights illuminated this wonderful isolated world of the dome. Chito learned of Itsuki's heroics, his friends in the village, her father Yasuo, and mother Haruki, and how he came to be punished and never got a pass to the 'place in the sky' as the outsiders used to call it. She could never understand why Itsuki never told them about his family up here and this strange place that he yearned to go to so much. Maybe he was afraid of something or maybe in all those years on the outside he lost hope that he would ever meet his own family. It must have been painful for him to be away from them for that long on the outside surviving in the cold.

Placing Itsuki's letters aside, Chito turned the bedside lamp off and huddled close to Yuuri, careful as to not pull the IV off from her hand. Gently she stroked her hair and leaned close to her slowly whispering in her ear.

"Hey, Yuu... It's been a while since that day. So... I really miss you..." Chito said as she snuggled close to her underneath the blanket. "I really miss our talks, I miss your beautiful smile, and I miss how you talk about food almost all the time. I wouldn't want anything more in life than to see your beautiful blue eyes open again..." she smiled closing her eyes. She cried so much every day that she was left with no tears anymore, just red spots underneath her eyes. "Yuu, I hope you will wake up soon. You have to see our new home. It's so much different from the outside. They even have all kinds of food that we've never even dreamed of... we even have a family here, they are all beautiful and wonderful people and they will never hurt us." underneath the blanket she reached out her right hand and gently held Yuuri's hand. "Yuu... please if you can find it in your heart to forgive me about your leg and everything else ... I was a horrible person to you and just thinking how I hurt you, hurts me even more... I swear when you wake up I will help you with everything. Please, Yuu... please just wake up... My sweetheart, I can't go on without you..." closing her eyes she quickly fell asleep and cuddled next to her. She just wanted to sleep next to her and never wake up anymore, not without her.

Deep in her mind, Chito was in deep emotional turmoil, every night she would wake up screaming and it was the same dream as always. They were outside dying in each other's arms in the blizzard. The bomb was just sitting next to them with the fuse lit and just before it went off Yuuri always looked at her with disgust in her eyes, she never forgave her for losing her leg, it was Chito's fault all this time. Every night they kept dying in her dreams, over and over and over again... no matter how much she screamed, the bomb went off and it was... the end.

For days she felt she shouldn't be alive, she should still be there at that stone they found on that day cuddled dead next to each other. Maybe they were dead and this was some kind of purgatory or heaven where she had to wait for Yuuri to wake up for an eternity. It was yet again a miracle how they survived the night there and continued pressing on. It was all that time on the outside that gave them hope and the strength to survive in the cold.

For now, all she had to do was wait.

° ° °

Early in the morning just, Chito felt that someone was softly nudging her while she was still sleeping.

"Chii-chan - Chii-chan, wake up! Where are we?

 

 

(Continued in Chapter 7)
(Latest revision 5th December 2022)