Chapter Twenty One: A Bitter Welcome

Frost's POV
Battle day and already there's heavy conflict between Rift and another island. Everyone else is playing a defensive role in this game, so it's a great opportunity for us to head out to Leaf and team up with them. But one problem about this is that we're travelling by boat... And underneath the boat, is a five kilometre pit filled with nothing but water. I cowered at the centre mast, holding tightly onto the ropes with both my hands as the massive wooden, golden painted ship rocked left and right in an agonisingly terrifying manner that rattled my bones and stung me with adrenaline. Deep water has the same effect on me as heights because it feels like you're literally flying high above the air. To me at least. And slowly sinking down into an endless trench is more painful and scarier than falling at Mach speed from the ozone layer... It's not hydrophobia. It's still considered as acrophobia to ME.

"Haha Frost!", I heard Melody call out, trying to hold back an obvious laugh poorly. "It's just water!".

"It's not just 'Water'!", I cried out at the top of my lungs in pure utter fear and horror as the boat continued to rock left and right, inducing more and more fear with every slow, painful second... This was a bad idea... This was a fucking terrible idea! Why the fuck did I even agree to sail a ship?!

"Not 'just' water?", Melody asked, trying to make fun of my phobia which stirred me up real good. I'll kill her when this is over! "How is it not just water?".

"Because if you look at it in MY perspective, you can clearly tell that we're literally floating above a five kilometre deep crevasse!", I yelled in anger, holding onto the hard, tough, light brown rope even tighter. "Argh!". Dammit! I'm going to die!

Chaos's POV
Can he get any more troublesome? The moment White tried to calm him down he went unconscious because he thought that she was going to throw him overboard and later he mistook me for Frosty in her male form which REALLY stirred me up. This guy...

I sighed, releasing a light grey, transparent cloud of water vapour from my mouth which vanished into the thin air a second later. The afternoon sun shone down on us from high above as the gentle, crystal-like waves rocked our ship from side to side pleasantly. The water shone like gems, sparkling ever so beautifully, matching the colour of the spotless sky perfectly. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but water where I stared off to. Such an amazing scenery... I smiled warmly, resting my arms on the gold-painted, wooden safety railing on the left side of the ship as awe struck me harder than a boulder strapped with dynamite. If only Milk was here with me... It's so beautiful... I could stare until the sun sets! I blinked, taking in slow, deep breaths of the salty oxygen that filled my lungs with joy and happiness as the scent matched the scenery more than just perfectly... But... This kinda feels like the 'Calm Before The Storm'. It's been a while since I've felt like nothing's holding me back... It's so calming... The moment those thoughts crossed my mind, I heard one hell of a loud bang from underneath which literally ALMOST made me jump off the ship because of the immense amount of shock that struck my heart like a dagger. What the hell are they doing down there?!

"Ahahaha!", Melody laughed out at the top of her lungs at loud footsteps from underneath filled the once silent air annoyingly, distracting me from the beautiful scenery as I tried to imagine what was happening downstairs. "One more hit and we'll sink! Get ready!"... Melody... Don't tell me she's trying to-

"Frost?! Pull yourself together!", White cried in horror as Melody continued to laugh like a maniac on cocaine, echoing eternally which it her my body madly. I don't know if there'll ever be a day when Melody actually becomes sane. "Melody! Stop! Please! We'll do whatever you want so please don't scare him anymore!"... White... You just walked onto the spider's web... I can't believe she fell for it...

"Anything eh? Mhm! Deal!"... They're so screwed... I face palmed mentally, feeling sorry for those two as they were how under the mercy of Melody... It's going to be a long week for those two in Leaf...

"Is... Melody always like that?", I managed to hear Res.

"Always is an understatement...", Phase sighed. Bwahahaha!

Plantina's POV

Frost Richtofen huh. This is perfect. I'll make the ultimate deal with him and if he accepts, we'll be under the wing of Time. It should be easy for him, considering Frost is a GUY and not like almost everyone here on this island...

"I heard White and stuff are coming. It's unusual for them to make immediate moves", Frosty sighed from bellow me, making me smile as I looked down to see her standing on the very tip of a huge, thick, dark green branch on her toes. I sat on another branch which was thinner and shorter than the one she stood on situated a good five meters above her and a whopping fifty away from the ground. All around us, were floating pink petals that dropped from this tree's canopy, each petal glowing stunningly like fireflies as the sun's rays shone tore through the gaps in the canopy, giving the place a magical-like atmosphere that no other place has. "Frost still hasn't come back yet... Anymore and Ruby will burn down this island", She joked, making me chuckle as I took in a deep breath of air and exhale through my mouth.

"Don't worry. He's closer than you think", I assured her cheerfully, tilting my head towards the right, making my long, elegant light green hair dance for a brief moment. "No matter how far away he is, he's somehow always beside us in our hearts". Hehe, that sounded so cheesy. But it's true.

"You got that right. Frost always thinks about us no matter where we are. He doesn't want any of us to leave his side or forget him. He even cares for you and your sisters", Frosty said to me in a calm, motherly tone of voice. Those words touched my hearts as if an angel came down from high above and gave me a warm, loving hug. "I can't wait to see Chaos again. He's like a brother to me", The moment those words left her mouth, I was immediately reminded that CHAOS was also a representative of Time which made the tree suddenly vibrate slightly, reacting to a dirty thought in my mind... Chaos, eh... I remember HER. My pet loved her juices! Hmm... Maybe I can ask Frost another favour... Hmhm! I think that's a great idea!

"Woah. I nearly fell off", Frosty said without any emotion whatsoever, sounding as dull as Phase the last time I spoke to her. "Let's head back. Ruby's cooking dinner tonight. Can't miss out on that", She sounded a little like herself.

"Sure!", I cried cheerfully and gave a childish yet firm nod that made my hair bounce and flick the air like whips.

I rocked my feet backwards and flung myself off the branch, free falling down from the high tree with Frosty right behind me, pulling out her scythe with emitted a sharp and intense metallic scrape. The air rushed against us like tiny brushes as my hair and light green attire were raised high above me. Far underneath us, was a large bed of giant red umbrella-like mushrooms that would cushion us from our fall... But suddenly, upon reaching the halfway mark of the tree, I heard a loud crash emit from the far right as the pink petals that hovered around us dropped as if they were made out of metal, all raining down around us like bullets... An electric sensation ran through my veins and zapped my brain with info of what was happening... The plants are telling me that the port is under attack by the Animals again and trying to take down a recently docked ship. Wait, is that their ship!? Ack! Another electric zap! The people from the ship are fighting them back!

Frost's POV

I grit my teeth like vices as I smiled upon raging battle that I took part in, sending multiple slashes at the arrows that tried to take me down but failed miserably, each arrow being split into two separate masses. A good ten meters away from me, were a large group of twenty half spider half centipede mutant that had a strange effect that encouraged me to keep this battle dragging on. To the right and left of me were the others fighting against the other groups of these strange mutations, wounding them mortally to keep them down. The set of creatures before me were the ones firing the arrows at me and strangely, from their fangs... The bottom half was a spider and where the head of it should be, was replaced with the half front of a centipede. If I remember correctly, they contain some paralysis poison for their preys, so an arrow wounding me would be troublesome... Haha! I continued to hack and slash away their arrows without breaking a single bead of sweat, standing my ground and an overly confident smile plastered across my face which intimidated them, showing them how much of a different level in combat we are. I have two options. A sane option and an insane option. Keep this up until they tire out and surrender, or end this right here right now and spill their insect-green blood all over the sandy beach... Of course, the sane option will have to do since... Erm... White is here and I can tell that she has her eyes on me.

But do insects tire? Or are they able to comprehend speech? Doesn't matter. As long as they can determine what's stronger than them, then it's fine. They have instincts like us... Haha. I took a step closer towards them, still slashing at their arrows which seemed to decline in abundance, getting my left, light red eye to glow a little. They're running low on their ammunition. But, it could also be a trap. They're probably trying to lure me in and barrage me from up close. Simple, yet effective against people who aren't experienced in combat.

I kept my game up, never showing a sign of fatigue as in the corner of my eyes I saw the others just finish off their foes with painful slashes that left huge wounds on the creature's bodies, all laying down on the ground half dead... Or half alive?

"Geez Frost! Nothing ever gets through you!", I heard Res state from the right, getting me to chuckle playfully. Haha. The only one who is able to land a bullet on me in a proper fight is White and White only!

"Take this!", Melody cried out as a bright spark shone brightly from the right, indicating that she was getting a shot ready for the creatures... Knowing Melody, she's probably going to use a piercing arrow to take them all out at once, fired from her 'never missing' bow which brought a flashback from the past... That one time she beat me in a fight and sent us into the Realm of Insanity...

I jumped to the left as fast as I could, sending one final slash at the last batch of arrows and turned my body to face them as they passed by me like a hurricane, causing my black attire and hair to flutter towards the right under the wind's influence... By the time I reached White's side, Melody had fired her arrow. Before our very eyes, a bright flash of green blinded everyone momentarily before subsiding, allowing us to see the world again... E...Eh?! I blinked, pulling my left hand up to my eyes and rubbed them to check if I was just seeing things... White sighed as I opened my eyes and viewed the patch of sand again to find that all of the spider-scorpion-like creatures had vanished into the very thin air... Then, I remembered something... Melody is the Maiden of Dimensions... Damn...

There were no specific nor noticable after effects to her attack, which left me wide-eyed to how much logic it defied. Ahaha... I'm still not used to how stupidly rule breaking magic can truly be.

Plantina's POV

They've just beaten the Animals no sweat and are heading towards a nearby village from the port... Oh, right! I should go pay him a visit! Hehe, I'll bring Frosty AND Ruby along with me...

White's POV

We walked for a brief fifteen minutes on a brown, narrow soil pathway that ran straight through the entirely green forest that didn't look that different from the ones back in Corozin which was kind of... Strange. Razor sharp, light green grass stuck up from the earth just outside of the pathway threateningly, and just on the edges of the pathway, the grass were more sharper and curved towards us like claws. For whatever reason, I believe that the plant life are more than just 'alive'... I can feel their piercing gazes take jabs at my heart and chill my blood to negative zero with every passing second...

I walked closely beside Frost to his left, holding onto his warm, strong hand with my right. He squeezed gently every so often to make me feel safe and secure which fought back the dreaded feelings that the plants gave to me. Hehe... Whenever I'm with him, I feel so... Loved...

"If only Milk was here", Chaos complained in a sigh, making me smile childishly. Hehe.

"Want me to hold your hand?", Melody asked, emphasising on 'me' which greatly intimidated Chaos as he immediately declined.

"In your dreams. Holding onto your hand will destroy the world", He said bluntly, making Frost vibrate as he held back a laugh.

"Want to test out that theory?", Melody snickered as Chaos was ready to open his mouth to decline but, by the time his upper jaw was visible to the outside world, Melody g
rasped onto his right hand and just like that, they vanished without a trace...

"They'll come back after half an hour", Res stated as we kept walking like nothing happened.

"That's plenty of time. Let's wait for them in that village up ahead", Frost said as he lifted his right arm straight and pointed with his index finger into the unknown up ahead... "Let's go".

Frost's POV

It's so lively here... Young children of all ages running around and playing together, people laughing and smiling and the ecstatic scent of berries lingering in the air as if they were chemical bounded with the air molecules. Heck, even the carbon we breathed out smelt of berries. White held onto my left arm tightly with both of hers, holding it close to her soft, warm body which made me blush a little and smile as me, her, Res, Black and Phase walked in the midst of the magical, atmospheric village that was made entirely out of plants. Tall, towering trees rose up to as high as fifteen meters, their canopies filled with gentle green leaves blocked out most of the sun, only allowing some faint rays of sunlight to illuminate the place, giving the impression of 'magical'. Wherever I looked, there was a plant that served either as a house, a long, light green vine bridge that reached to the other trees and fruit dispensers which was completely mind boggling... I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful place in my entire life! On my number one, is White's body- I mean... Ahaha! I still can't get that image out of my head...

Soft, harmonic music played in the background, sounding like it originated from underneath us which was really bizarre, but I didn't want to question logic. I've broken logic countless of times and seen it been broken more times than I've blinked in my entire life. Everyone in the town smiled at us in a friendly manner as we walked up towards a ridiculously large and wide tree that had holes for windows and a bright light emitting from inside... From where we were, which was about a good thirty meters away, I could barely make what was inside with my left eye. However, with my right, I could see countless of wooden roots sticking out from the floor, acting as tables and chairs which really made my blood curl in excitement... The music playing reminded me dearly about Melody... If I remember correctly, she... Used music as a weapon. Oh, that's right! She has a flute passed down to her from her... Er... Grandfather? I can't remember but she mentioned that someone once used it to stop a tsunami from consuming the entire western side of Corozin.

"This song... Is it Bios?", White asked me curiously, making me look down at her from my left with a smile as she looked up at me with ruby-red, glowing eyes that melted my heart and soul. She's so lovable!

"Bios?", I asked her with curiosity, getting her to laugh quietly to herself as her long, elegant, pale hair bounced behind her twice, whipping the air with minimum resistance.

"It's a song that I listened to back in the Colour Plane before I met Black", She looked over at Black who walked to the left of her before looking back up at me. "It has a deep meaning of life and two lovers who parted away. But their connection never parted... I can sing it to you, if you want", She said, sounding excited like she really wanted to. How could I say no to those light red eyes?

"Mhm. But just don't sing too loudly... It'll be embarrassing", I said to her, making her smile ever so brightly and lovingly which clenched my heart...

She took in a deep breath and drilled her black pupils into mine deeply, reaching straight into my very soul which locked me inside of an everlasting trance that failed to break... With an exhale, she sang...

"The ruined city is still beau-ti-ful.

I've waited a long time for your re-turn, In my hand, a forget-me-not flow-er".

She sang ever so beautifully... Eh... Her voice is so... Angelic...

"Raindrops are my tears~.

Wind is my breath and my story~.

Branch-es and leaves are my hands, because my body is wrapped in roots~.

When comes the season of a thaw, I'm awake and sing a song.

The Forget-me-not that you gave to me is here.

Do you still re-member?

Do you still re-member your word that you gave to me?

Do you still re-member?

Do you still re-member the day when you...?

She suddenly paused, stopping in her immediate tracks which caused me to come to an unexpected halt and blink blankly, wanting to know what was wrong with her... I didn't say anything. Neither did she... Her eyes were focused at something up ahead... I gulped, straining my eyes a little as I lifted my head up and stared up ahead to see a figure in red standing in the midst beside another two figures... One in black and blue, the other a light green... My eyes widened a tenfold as I felt tears suddenly want to explode from my eyes... Right there, right in front of us... Was... Her...

If you guys are wondering what song this is, it's called Bios. There are different variations to the song/OST, however, it's sung in German. White merely sung the translation of the German lyrics. Here's the link: watch?v=ZCotH2pcmtE.

Many thanks to you all for supporting me and keeping me motivated to write! I can't thank you guys enough! See you guys next time!