After months of staying in the place she had so desperately struggled to return to, it was finally time to leave it yet again. And what better place than the same Region where it all went downhill for Frost?

Grandis. An utterly lawless Region where even Blessed don’t dare to tread. It was where the old naive Frost died long ago inside of the Black Forest.

She was not going to make the same mistakes this time.

Preparations for her departure were just about finalized on the eve of the 3rd. She had personally asked Ber to make some alterations to her apparel since her Coat of Prejudice was far too alike of that of the 1st Justica Arms Branch.

Her Coat of Prejudice had two forms now. The first was its usual feathery form that exuded utter excellence. When tucked inside out as she demonstrated in front of the others in the atrium of her manor, it became a large, almost oversized black coat with golden streaks and zippers.

The golden feathers that used to line the interior of the Coat of Prejudice were made black for this purpose, allowing both sides to be black with the highlights and other usual feathers remaining gold.

The zippers and pockets were an important part of the attire. Blessed may as well be goods in Grandis, so it allowed her to blend in well. After all, Blessed did not require backpacks or the like. The Dimensional Storage took care of that.

Frost in a way looked far more like a mage in this new outfit than she did a fighter.

Imagine someone’s surprise when they find out that this short-statured mage in an oversized coat can literally punch holes into a person’s chest.

The coat went as far down to her knees, and she wore pants this time around instead of tights. They were still tighter than regular pants since any slack felt weird to her. At least when it came to her legs.

There was a coolness factor to her new outfit in her eyes. The Triplets didn’t think much of it since it went against what Blessed typically wore which was usually a random assortment of gear, and since it wasn’t a suit, she wouldn’t be mistaken as a member of some weird organization.

It was standard, gave off the wrong impression of what Frost was capable of, and most importantly – was cool.

“Frost. Is it necessary to hide yourself in Grandis?” Ignis was curious as she tugged on the hems of her new coat, approving of her new yet true to form look.

“Not really. But it’ll be problematic if I’m recognized immediately and news ends up spreading faster than I can move. I’m going there to chase the pillars of light and get some information before I’ll be heading into Emvita. At least one kingdom was mentioned in the list, so that’s where I’m going to go. Then there’s the whole Paradise are I want to get a closer look at.”

“Frost is right. It’s easy to fight the bad guys that are all brawn, but the real string-pullers are the ones that work in secret.” Cer agreed. “But that’s when you go BAM! And then a little bit of BANG! And WAAAAH! You get what I’m saying?”

“Basically, to find the termite queen you gotta destroy the termite nest.” Ber proved that she shared the same brain cells with Cer after translating for her. She did not seem to take pride in this anymore and seemed a bit ashamed in fact.

“Oh. Character development.” Nav’s eyes glowed at the sight.

There was no issue in going all out. But the problem in doing so was that it was akin to shining a beacon of light onto herself. People that had valuable information would be harder to find if they knew that a 1st Branch member was in the vicinity.

Especially since the 1st Branch has been confirmed to have departed from Grandis shortly after Iscario’s betrayal. There was not much news now of Grandis, and the information the Triplets had was thirty years outdated.

Frost was going to be the spearhead into Grandis to create a foothold and gather as much information as possible regarding the whereabouts of the Advents, as well as the reason why the Healers are so desperately needed.

Also, it was where she was likely to find the last Corrupted for the Book of the Price of Paradise.

“It feels surreal hearing that you’re going to go.” Res said, reaching towards one of Frost’s hands. “I want to say that I’ll miss you, but –”

She then tapped on the side of her head as her ears happily flapped.

“– We’ll always be in close contact.”

“Always.” Ignis also took one of Frost’s hands and plopped it onto her head. “Mm. Be safe Frost. Don’t get mad too much… and I hope you can find and help more people like me.”

“Isn’t that a given? Frost is Frost. She’ll die first before she turns a blind eye to something.” Ber also wanted a piece of Frost too as Jury then joined in, embracing Frost from behind.

“That’s why we have to always keep watching over her. Frost. I’m so sorry I couldn’t come along in the end. It’s more tiring keeping an Atelier afloat than I thought. To think we used to bash them for their obsession over Nex all the time.” Jury complained into her back, wishing she could accompany Frost but in the end, she needed to direct Time Reverberation.

“Make some time for our trip to Emvita then. Grandis is one thing, but I heard there’s some good sights to see in Emvita.” Frost leaned back into her lover’s embrace, looking up to stare into her eyes. “Besides, I can always return to the Nexus with the snap of my fingers.”

“We all have new responsibilities. Besides, we’re not that cut out to act like Adventurers in the first place.” Cer shrugged, joining the group huddle. “Leave the Nexus to us! We’re the Three Heads of Security! The best of the best! Worry? What’s that when you got us!”

“It’s because of you that I’m absolutely going to worry.” Frost jabbed right before patting Cer’s head. “But really, you’re about the only people I can trust. So I believe in you, Cer.”

“A- Huh!? Er… What the…?”

 Cer did not expect this kind of counterattack and was at a loss for words. Her last few brain cells short circuited as electricity sparked from the fluff of her ears. She didn’t even know were to look, her eyes darting away before falling back onto Frost with a sigh.

“What are you doing being all sentimental with me? You’re a human dammit… the best damned human that ever lived.” Cer punched Frost’s stomach lightly with a smirk. “We’ll take care of everything up here. We used to talk shit about the Nexus and the Ateliers all the time and we’re still going to! These rat bastards are hiding stuff beneath our noses, and we’re going to find it!”

“What Cer said!” Ber was all fired up.

“Yeah! Leave it to us Frost!” Even Res was swept into their antics.

“I shall be doing what I have always been doing.” Nav said, moments before she was pounced on by everyone in the room. “… I didn’t want to join in the hug because I feared that I would be too cold.”

“When it’s like this that cold means nothing.” Frost said as a small smile formed on the constricted Nav’s face.

“I’ll keep working hard to develop my skills to continue helping people. It’s what papa would have wanted.” Ignis whispered, happy that she had finally found a place to settle in. “… I would come too, but I also… just want to do things I wasn’t allowed to.”

“Ignis~!” Jury moved to embrace her with all her might as Frost also moved down to speak with her eye to eye.

“It’s ok Ignis. There’s nothing I want more than for you to be as selfish as you want. You’re still a child. Your father also would have wanted that because your happiness is ours.”

“Mm.” Ignis embraced them back before tugging on Nav’s hand. “Let’s do our best Nav.”

Nav didn’t speak another word. Their farewells were brief, but it felt like hours had passed. Frost was bound to head alone into Grandis to uncover its secrets and to hopefully find hints of the Impuritas’ grand scheme.

If not, then it’s not like she’ll leave empty handed. After all, with her new powers and Jury’s tech – she’d be able to uncover the history of Paradise. Those desolate lands were bound to be rich with traumatic Nex.

 

* * *

 

Frost left them with high spirits. She watched over the Floor she had cultivated into a home for hundreds. The thought of leaving this place made her sentimental. This safe haven had kept her mind from corroding further from the horrors of the world outside.

And soon, she would be re-immersed in the depravities once again.

What’s this feeling welling up inside of me?

Frost wanted to stay, but she also had a duty to keep moving forward no matter what. One day she’ll be able to live in this Floor without a care in the world. But that day was not going to be served to her on a silver platter.

Grass scrunched from behind the moment her feet touched the bricked path leading towards the exit, which was a great golden archway. She did not need to turn to see Jury and Nav rapidly approached her to say their goodbyes privately.

“Frost. You’ll be back soon, won’t you? I really wish I could come too. Someone has to be there in case you lose your way.” Jury hugged Frost from behind again, nuzzling her head deeply against hers as she inhaled her scent like it was the last time. “If anything happens to you, then please kiss the ring. I’ll be there before anything can touch you. It will teleport me straight to you.”

Their rings were a one-of-a-kind Aspect of Technology that allowed the wearer to instantly teleport to the linked ring’s whereabouts so long as they were within the same Layer.

It was a tremendously powerful tool and was what Jury had been working towards with Galia since they set foot into the Nexus.

“I’ll keep it close to me. Thank you. I hope you won’t mind me calling you if I ever get too lonely.” Frost laughed, reaching up to clasp Jury’s face.

“I wouldn’t mind that. We’ll be going to Emvita together. Grandis is a place that I also want to forget. I hope you can find what you’re looking for. And Frost. Please stay safe and come back.”

“I will. That goes without saying.” They shared a kiss beneath the moonlit skies.

Their lips parted after what felt like hours. The sweet taste of apple lingered in Frost’s mouth as she wondered if it belonged to Jury or to herself. That thought was cut short when Nav suddenly spoke her heartfelt words of goodbye.

“It’s strange. We’ve been together for so long. I should be used to the physical separation as just a voice in your head.”

Nav began, her words beginning cold and confident but gradually degraded shakily like she was on the verge of tears.

“So why does it hurt? Inside of here?” A hand was brought to her chest, her brows furrowing in frustration for she did not know why she was hurting. “Why does being physically separated from you now pain me when I can still communicate with you? I don’t understand it. Is something wrong with me?”

“Nav… That’s how we all feel right now.” Frost said as she and Jury moved up to embrace both sides of Nav.

“Mhm. It’s not weird. It’s normal to feel that way. That means you consider Frost as someone very important to you.”

“So you must be hurting a lot then, Jury?”

Jury gave Nav a telling smile. As joyful as it was, there existed an underlaying sadness that did not come from loss – a sensation that Nav could only barely understand.

“Feeling like this isn’t a bad thing. It just means that you want to see them again. But for you Nav… It might stem from something deeper.” Frost whispered, trying to get Nav to realize her emotions. “I won’t disappear this time or reappear and forget about you all. I have an Ability that stops that from happening in the first place. Plus, I’m more than prepared this time. Besides, it’s not like I’ll be completely alone. The retrofitted Dawn Collection Team will be moving close by, and probably some other personnel. It’s ok to worry. It’s completely normal to thing about the bad endings. Because that means you consider us as people special to you.”

Nav’s eyes widened. Those words were taken to heart as her trembling voice faded away. Courage replaced the fear as she held onto both of their hands, thankful that they were the two people she met first when all she knew was the darkness of a void elsewhere.

“I once thought that all that mattered to me was to exist. I used to only want you to live because if you died, then I would disappear. That’s no longer the case now. Yet I want you to live more than I ever did. Emotions are strange, aren’t they? They can be so contradictory, but in your words… they just make sense to us. Come back soon. I shall learn how to make a strawberry cupcake in the meantime. Is that enough for you?”

Nav tilted her head innocently.

“Plenty!”

For a split second the uncanny veil that made her more machine than human disappeared as she showed a complex expression she had never shown before. It was no more than a smile in most eyes, but to Frost, it was something that could only be described as hope.

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