"Rossell!" Stella shouted as the tall blonde came rushing towards to defend her.
"We're no match for the Eidolon! Grab onto my hand!" Rossell commanded urgently.
Stella, utterly confused, did as she was told. As soon as she felt Rossell's sweaty palms, she felt a surge of wind circulating about the two of them in an unrealistic storm of energy. Before she realized what was going on, she was already in another place.
Rossell had transported the three of them to a desolate area to escape from Alexander. Stella suddenly felt the icy snow beneath her feet and she noticed her breath had now become a hot steam compared to the freezing chill around her.
Rossell helped the lifeless girl up. He then offered to carry her dead mother's body to the palace in gentle and kind suggestion. Stella didn't deny him in any way. All the energy of rebellion had now left Stella completely. The three of them tread their feet against the deep snow that arose to their knees. Sensing that Stella was nearing hypothermia due to the sudden change in temperature and climate, Rossell conjured up a fire spell by Stella's side to keep her warm. After what seemed like a kilometer of walking, they finally arrived at Rossell's palace. Stella's feet were red, sore and so frozen that they almost hurt at the sheer touch of ice.
"It follows me wherever I transport. It's very… neat to escape tough situations." Rossell murmured warmly.
Stella didn't reply.
No comment of admiration for such clever magic tricks followed on her lifeless lips.
She wasn't feeling anything in her heart right now. The only thing she was sure of was that she had nothing left to lose.
All that was precious in her life had simply abandoned her, leaving her with no reason or worth to go on living. She followed Rossell like a zombie inside the dark palace. Rossell took her downstairs to the dimly lit familiar bedroom in which she ran away from. He laid her mother's dead body on his heart shaped bed.
"Can you bring her back to life?" Stella knew that this was a foolish question.
But she couldn't help but hope for such impossible dreams…
"No magic in the universe can raise the dead to life… You know that... And besides... I can't even awake my own mother from her coma, remember…?" Rossell replied gloomily.
"I know… but… knowing you… and your unusual magic tricks… I at least hoped…" Stella mumbled back.
"I'm terribly sorry for your loss… I don't know what to say… I'm sorry… I wasn't quick enough to save your mother…" Rossell earnestly apologized in his low toned voice. He sat beside her on the bed, where Stella caressed her mother's blonde locks.
"No… It's not your fault. All this is my fault. I shouldn't have run away from the funeral in the first place… I killed her… I destroyed all that I had… I'm a murderer…" Stella started breaking down.
Her guilt now defined her very identity.
It was recklessness that killed an innocent and loving mother, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Her only remaining family had gone to join her father in the afterlife.
"No… Stella…" Rossell hesitated.
Even he found it difficult to find words of reassurance.
"I need time alone. Time alone with my mother." Stella declared stiffly.
"Alright… I'll be back here tomorrow. Although Stella… you can't keep her body forever. She needs a proper funeral. It's the least respect we need to pay her." said Rossell.
Stella nodded.
He was right.
She was the type of daughter who could only offer a proper burial for her own mother. That was the only tribute she could ever pay a mother that died at the cost of her own mistakes.
When morning came, Rossell came as he had promised. Stella didn't sleep at all last night.
She cried alongside her mother's cold body with constant hugs and kisses of apology and sorrow.
She hadn't eaten nor drunk anything.
She was utterly shattered in ruins, so that she gradually looked as dull as a zombie.
For the next few hours, Rossell prepared a funeral to the best of his ability with what limited resources he had available in his mansion.
Her mother's funeral was held on top of the snowy hills of the mountain not far off from where the palace was.
It was only then at the funeral that Stella knew of their current location.
They had transported all the way to the Tickimary Mountains located near the North Pole of Tenebrae grounds. The closest city was Altissia, which was miles and miles away.
They were far away from civilization.
That day, Stella had no tears left in her eye sacks to pour out. Rossell also had nothing to say to her that would bring her back to her normal state.
For the next few months, Stella ate very little; she only ate what was required of her body to barely stay alive.
She lost even more flesh from her already thin figure.
She did the house chores in automatic fashion and spoke only what was necessary.
The Tickimary Mountains were winter all throughout the year.
And just like the weather, Stella's heart grew colder and colder every day.
Stella had once been a happy and bright active girl full of smiles and laughter.
But all of those joyful qualities had escaped from Stella's identity the day her mother died.
She blamed herself for her mother's death.
And with that guilt, Stella had changed.
She was no longer the "Stella" that she once knew.
"Rossell." Stella whispered to him on one typical cold dinner.
"Yes Stella?" Rossell replied kindly.
"I want to change my name. I don't want to be called Stella Nox Fleuret anymore." Stella said gloomily over her green vegetable soup.
"Ok… what do you want to be called then…?" asked Rossell patiently.
"Lunafreya Nox Fleuret." The girl replied with certainty, as if she had no second thoughts about her new name, about her new identity.
"Alright Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. I will call you 'Luna' for short." Rossell smiled.
He liked the new name.
Luna.