"Blink!" Ryuu opens her eyes.

She sits up and looks around herself to find she is in an inn in Rivira.

Sting~

"!" Ryuu grabbed her head. "No…" The memories of the 27th floor flashed before her. She clenched her fists so tightly in anger that they dug into her palm. "Hic!! Hic!! Hic!!"

She began to cry once more as her memories of her Familia, her sisters, were played back in her mind.

By the room’s entrance, Ais leaves quietly.

 

The Guild has issued an emergency order for the Loki and Freya Familia to enter the dungeon as soon as possible.

When they arrived at the 27th floor, they only saw Ryuu collapsed on the ground with her Familia member’s weapons in hand. They checked the whole floor to find no traces of their bodies or that of Evilus.

They took Ryuu back to the 18th floor, and there they left her while they investigated.

News of this did not spread immediately. The Guild and the Familia's quickly put a lid on it with very few knowing what happened.

 

The following day,

"…" Ryuu kneels before the grave she made. Each of their weapons is impaled into the mound of earth. "…" She holds up a pair of short swords that were Kaguya’s spare weapons. "…Ais." Ryuu stands up, sheathing them at her side.

"Yes?" said the golden-haired child of the wind.

"Tell those of Rivira that should anyone even touch or disturb this grave, I will slaughter them."

Ais didn’t need to see her face to see or even know that a black flame had consumed her.

"Hm. I’ll tell them."

"Thank you." She then began to walk away.

"Where are you going? Finn and—"

"They do not need to know."

Ais watched as Ryuu stepped into the darkness of the forest, disappearing from the light.

 

Eight hours later, Ryuu returned to the surface. It was raining heavily on the surface. She returned to the Astraea Familia home quickly.

Walking into the home now felt empty, painful. She walked to the living room to see Astraea alone, gazing into the fireplace.

"…Lady Astraea." Ryuu said softly.

"!" Astraea turned her head to see her, but when she looked at Ryuu she had such a dark and pain-filled expression. She had thought it was another person standing before and she would be right. "Ryuu…" Astraea walked up to her and hugged her as tightly as she could.

Ryuu did the same.

For a brief moment, her child had come back, and at that moment, Astraea realized the others weren’t with her.

‘Maybe they are turning in their stuff?’ Astraea said this with fear of the worst possible scenario.

"Come and eat. We can wait for the others to come—"

"Update my status."

"W-wouldn’t you like some warm—"

"Lady Astraea, please update my status."

Astraea looked into her now dark eyes, but Ryuu couldn’t see her. She was seeing something beyond Astraea. She was seeing only vengeance.

It was a look in her eyes that she gave out. She felt it when she first met Kaguya, she saw it again in Cirrus, and now the moral compass of her Familia has lost her way.

"…Very well."

‘Please, please don’t let it be it.’

When a god updates their child’s Falna, they can see how they gain it and, from it, she learns what happened to her children through Ryuu.

 ‘Ah…’ Her heart broke right there and then. She felt as though a dagger had plunged right into her heart.

Sadly the Familia’s last expedition wasn’t enough for Ryuu to level up.

Immediately after the status was updated, she got up and left.

Astraea chased after her in the rain.

 

Pitter-patter!

Pitter-patter!

Pitter-patter!

"Lion…we can—"

"Lady Astraea... please leave," Ryuu said, holding back her anger. "…please…bring Cirrus back…" she clenches her fists tightly. "So we can kill those damn fucking fragments." Her words were laced with so much anger and malice that Astraea felt the Ryuu she knew was truly being taken—no, ripped from her.

Astraea slowly walked up behind her and hugged her daughter.

"Come inside. Eat and we can—"

"I can’t eat… I can’t sleep until they are… Grr!!"

Astraea could feel how much anger and pain Ryuu was feeling. She wanted to help her, but she was engulfed in pain and anger. What words could she have said to even try and calm her? Even she is heartbroken by this tragedy.

Astraea knew she was not going to stop.

"…Please don’t do anything rash…"

As Astraea left, Ryuu felt her heart sting, as did Astraea.

This was the only time Astraea, upon retrospection, regretted the most. The first time she listened to Ryuu as she stepped off the beaten path and into the darkness.

She wished she would have at least tried. Tried to at least be there, to be her rock for her in this very crucial moment but... Not even gods are perfect. This was Astraea's first time having lost her children.

"……Fuck…" Ryuu looks up at the raining cloud filled sky. "Fuck….FucK….FuCK, FUCK, FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!"

She shouted out her heart and soul to the crying heavens.