< [Flowers of Repentance] >

A third wave of flowers emerged. It was even more plentiful than before. Frost reached over to touch the flower, imparting her most sincere feelings to Res. She didn’t shout or yell in emotional turmoil. Frost was more levelheaded than ever. Even though things seemed uncertain, she knew that if she felt afraid, then Res would too.

After all, a piece of a person was still within the Corrupted. Their memories of their rampage would be kept. Frost wanted to do everything she could for Res. Beginning with showing her that she truly was not a burden was the first step.

“BER!” Cer suddenly cried out. “Stella – she thinks the Red and Blue Dahlias are here!”

“Where!? I can’t see any of them!”

“The scent! Stella can smell them! Tch… Guess it’s my turn to come back into the fray! Or… Ugh… shit.” Cer grasped her head, shaking it like a wet dog. “Jury! She’s all yours!”

“Stella! Point me to where you can smell them!” Jury rushed to Cer, taking Stella into her arm as she hoisted her over her shoulder.

“I-I need to feel them to be sure!” Stella exclaimed, and Jury immediately charged into the flowers with Stella in hand before Frost spoke to Res again.

“Res. We’ll be waiting for you. Out here. Your guilt might not be able to disappear. I know that all too well.” Frost understood how Res felt from the bottom of her heart. “Thousands died because I was blinded by my own rage. To make a better world, I thought I had to burn it down. Back then, and even now I made that mistake. Res… It’s something I have to live with. But it’s not something I’m going allow to crush me!”

Frost unintentionally raised her voice. Dabbling back on those things caused an emotional turmoil to churn within her chest. But rather than losing herself to the tempest of her heart, she sailed through it.

“Because I have people around me that can help me carry the weight when things get too hard! I’ve set my pride aside and cried for hours because I know how much more it hurts to keep it all bottled in! Carpalis, a Beholder of all the miserable people in this world, told me this.”

< “Let me join them. When this shell breaks, I wonder what colors I’ll see before it’s too late. Will my flowers be the same color? Or… will it be just like the world? Colorless. Empty. Dark.” >

“That’s why, we’re going to be your pillars of support Res. Whether you like it or not… Flowers don’t just grow from corpses. They don’t just take bear the sins of people. Flowers…”

“That one!” Stella, who received kisses from Jury, was able to temporarily touch the flower without being harmed thanks to her Invulnerability. After rummaging through multiple flowers, Stella finally found a Red Dahlia.

And once she declared it as such, the false colors were shed away, revealing a beautiful shade of red.

“… Flowers can grow on greener pastures. They grow from what you give them like any damned plant, or any damned child!”

Frost resumed her carnage, her voice steadily picking up. It was almost humorous to her that she had previously committed herself to keeping a levelled head. As per Frost, her emotions broke all conventions.

But this has always been her way of getting her message across.

Soon, ten Red and Blue Dahlias were found. The Red Dahlias held nothing in their brambles. They were almost entirely normal flowers had they lacked the ability to shift along the earth. The Blue Dahlias on the other hand, carried a warmth known only to the Triplets, who stopped and stared with bated breaths, knowing precisely who it belonged to.

< “But I always wondered why I loved the color blue. It was the only thing I couldn’t associate with the evils of the world. There was no guilt or malice from that color.” >

< “I tried to feel its weight. But all it did was unravel the brambles around my neck. It was still constricting me… choking me. I don’t know myself.” >

“… Good for you, Res.” Ber smiled amongst the broken, pink petals.

“If all you can give those flowers is spite, then of course they’ll come out as you see them! Res! You’re the one who sowed them like that! That’s why you’re perceiving them as sins!” Before long, the number of flowers was insurmountable. Their stats entered a realm where Ber could no longer reliably damage them, leaving it on the backs of Jury and Frost.

Ber was moved by Frost’s thunderous roar. She remembered when she was stuck inside of her shell. The voice that called out to her, and the hand that reached into the void that consumed her – it caused her to collapse to her knees beside Cer as she shed silent tears.

“Is this going to happen to you too, Cer?” Ber asked in a muffled whisper.

“Over my dead body.” Cer groaned, giving her a toothy grin. “Just who the hell do you think I am? Res probably said the same thing, huh? It’s cruel, isn’t it? The shit we go through in this world just to live another day. Even living isn’t enough when your own sense of self is at risk…”

“It’s bleak like how Res says. But there’s places even people like us can return to now. Res…”

Cer had a flashback to a conversation she had with Res, moments after she called the red rose blue on the Floor of Amalgamation.

* * *

“So. What do you think of this place?” Cer suddenly asked, just as Ber had taken her leave.

“It’s cozy.”

“No, Sis. I mean… Do you think of this place as a home yet? It’s not easy getting cozy. But I feel like I could get used to it~! Heh.”

Res looked past Cer’s shoulders, taking in the sights of their newfound home. Her expression softened, and her smile was tender. But Cer could tell that Res was still holding back. Or rather, she was still being tethered down to a place where only she knew.

“No.” Res answered. “Not a home yet. But…” She then looked over at the manor where they were able to sleep on soft beds, eat warm food, and talk with people who understood them. “… It’s a place where I think I’ll always want to come back to. If that’s what a home is, then I guess it is. Frost said that she wanted this place to be what we remember if things go south.”

Res then walked over to the flower fields that surrounded the small town built by the Moons, where they and the Black Wings would live together.

“Why do you think that is?” Res questioned.

“I think this is the one time I can really call you an idiot.” Cer grinned mischievously, right as her eyes glistened. “Res. Listen. What’s a home without people living in it? I also hate being alone. Yeah, it obvious. I know. But what I mean is that… it’s sad when someone leaves. That void becomes noticeable, you know? Look, what I’m trying to say is that people are also looking forward to seeing you return. That’s the kind of place a home is. Now c’mon. Let’s go help with something. Res?”

Res had frozen in place. Cer at the time didn’t know what that look in Res’ eyes meant. A small smile formed on Res’ face before she put on her stubborn façade and followed.

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Was all that Res could reply with as she raised a hand to shield her eyes as a floral swarm of blue and red petals flew by.

* * *

< “Flowers belong to a place where people can return to in memorial. Flowers carry the scent of grief, and their roots, the weight of accumulated sins.” >

< “Do the flowers bloom for those sins to be absolved?” >

“… Res must have figured that out already. Maybe that’s why she’s like that. That dumb, quandary state. Just move already. Geez.” Cer finished, resting her head on her sister’s arm. “It’s all up to Frost now. To ‘Mom’!”

“Yeah. I… also want to believe in Res.” Ber rested her head onto Cer’s, knowing that there was nothing else they could do but sit, watch, and hope for the best now.