From where C-Sha was standing, next to the newly pitched tents, the flame lights in the distance were almost indistinguishable from the stars above.

Her worries turned out to be right, after all; they couldn't finish clearing the valley before nightfall, despite the significant progress they made. The twins were hard at work again, and would working for a few more hours, before Asa and Rubis took over.

Not gonna be the most cordial partnership, that was for sure. Maybe that was why she couldn't find the former inside any of these tents.

Sighing, C-Sha made her way to the outlier of the camp. Guess it's one upside of having flame magic—the ability to sulk infinitely in freezing weather with no risks whatsoever.

Though, if Asa was sulking, she wasn't making a conscious attempt to hide herself. After a short walk, she spotted the glint of purple flames, above a large rock that was half-buried in the snow.

"Hey there!"

Immediately, the flames in her palms vanished in a puff of smoke, and Asa stood up from the rock. "My turn now?"

"No. Just stopping by and saying hello." Before she could reply, C-Sha made her way to the top of the rock, in one swift leap. "Mind if I stay?"

Asa nodded, without a word, and sat back down. She didn't even look annoyed, just...not being in the moment.

"So, Rammy's a lil' busy now, but she knows she wasn't being fair to you back there." After a long silence, C-Sha spoke up. "You just gotta' give her some time to find the right words. Stubborn, that kid."

"No." Asa shook her head, rather forcefully. "Seriously, don't make her say sorry. Just don't."

"Okaaay. Note taken," C-Sha replied. "What 'cha staring at, by the way?"

"Snow."

"Huh?"

"Just remembered something." Asa's tone sounded almost a little wistful. "I've never seen snow before, in my world. Unless you count giant magical ice hails."

"Aww. I'm a little jealous, really," C-Sha smiled. "Not the ice hail part. But, growing up in Lowee, snow just kinda becomes part of the background, and I missed all the fun of seeing it for the first time in my life! Man, it must seem magical, these little white flakes just pouring down on you."

If Asa agreed with her, she wasn't showing it. But her flames were back, little sparks dancing at her fingertips, melting off the thin layer of flakes that coated her gloves.

"So, the island you came from. Is it like, super warm? Warmer than Leanbox?"

"...Yes. Lots of alligators, too."

"Woo boy." C-Sha made a face. "I heard they are real tasty, though Lowee's too cold for most reptiles that can't breathe fire, so I never have the chance to hunt one down." A pause. "How's life like when you weren't defending your folks against giant hordes of alligators?"

"They don't bother you if you don't bother them." For a second, Asa's expression was a mix between weirded out and barely amused, before it abruptly darkened. "...Not something you'd want to hear."

"How do you know that when I haven't heard the whole story?" C-Sha raised an eyebrow. "Though, if you aren't comfortable talking, I'm a-okay with it. Let's just go stare at snow in a warmer place."

Another long interval of silence passed. Right when C-Sha thought she wouldn't be getting any more responses out of Asa, and was ready to jump off the rock, a single shaky word escaped her lips. "Terrified."

"Hmm?"

"Life. That's how it's like from day one. Never really goes away." Slowly, Asa turned to stare at her. "You like fighting, don't you."

"Like? I love it! Can't even imagine where I'd be at now, without these stylish tricks." Just to emphasize her point, C-Sha cracked her knuckles together. "Probably, I dunno, all angsty and edgy and not Blanny's best friend."

"When I was punchin' and kickin', I was no longer this puny little kid anyone could push around, but a kid who could kick some ass, and was a real bombshell to look at!" C-Sha let out a hearty laugh. "Got me banned from more arcades than I could count, and it only got more chaotic when Shinkyo joined in. Ah, the good ol' days."

"Fighting made me...not terrified. Or so I thought." Her flames didn't change, but the faint heat in the air suddenly grew a lot warmer. "What they taught me isn't fighting. Fighting is what you do in arcade games. With people you aren't planning to set on fire and smear all over a rock." A pause. "No, it's killing."

"Yeesh. You...you never asked for it, did you?"

"Oh, I asked for it." Asa narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, "I fucking asked for it, because I wanted to live and so did they, but above all, I loved it. You don't get good at anything without being into it, body and mind."

Her entire vibe had changed. Sure, Asa was always more jumpy and on-guard than necessary, but this...

If she could see herself, struggling against Kurome's influence, she'd probably look just as unnerving. Seething with a barely concealed desire to strike first, to dominate, to destroy these unworthy opponents.

"Everything you said about the joy of fighting? Killing is that, times a hundred. When I burnt the first Planeptune soldier onshore to a crisp, the second, the third, I felt good." The obsession in her eyes was burning so hot, it almost looked dreamy. "Because they were shooting at us, it's us or them, and, most importantly, my people were happy as fuck."

"That's where my power came from." The flames made a sharp popping sound. "My people, cheering, as I made corpses out of other people. Good and well, all good and well..."

C-Sha was half-expecting her to burst into maniacal laughter at this point. Despite not wanting anything bad to happen, Asa's behavior was triggering all the mental alarms in her; she found herself slipping into the pre-fight preparation state—counting her breaths, tensing up her muscles—faster than she could recognize it.

But the killing intent and twisted joy was gone in a wisp of smoke, as the purple flames disappeared, and Asa lowered her head, back slumped.

"Until I finally calmed the fuck down, and remembered it could happen to me too. On the other side of the strait, more people were cheering for that Venus bitch. If I couldn't beat her, she'd have just as much fun killing me." Asa let out a bitter laugh. "I wish I was too fucking stupid to realize how similar CPUs were. How much our people enjoyed murdering the shit out of each other, and making someone else do all the dirty work for them."

"Well, I think the CPUs you've met are just terribad role models." C-Sha paused. "Maybe your people, too, if they really saw you as this...murder machine."

"That'd make it so fucking easy." Her hands were shaking now, and she was clearly trying to avoid eye contact. "But no. These idiots, they had to love me, during and after the battle. Treat me like their own, despite everything. Without them, I wouldn't be...me. I tried so damn hard to believe I was nothing but a tool, that I hated them, not what our world had made them into."

"But the Shares were still there. They loved me so much, gave me all the burning happiness they could muster, if I started killing everyone who wasn't them, I wouldn't be able to fucking stop. That's how good it felt. Terribly good." A smile crawled up her lips, before she squeezed her facial muscles back into a scowl.

"And I didn't want to feel good. If my transformation was gonna be more powerful than two CPUs combined, maybe she'd also be twice the bloodthirsty bitch I was. But I didn't know how. And oh, was she nothing like my expectation." Asa gritted her teeth together. "A bloody mockery, that's what it is."

"Wait a sec. If you don't wanna be a killer, shouldn't you be happy about Amber?" C-Sha held up a hand. "She's like, best girl material."

"Right. I couldn't keep my murderous urges under control, through my own efforts, so I had to hide behind her. Exactly what I asked for. She's so fucking clean and cheesy and will never be addicted to murder, no."

Asa's breathing was getting shallower and quicker, as her fingers dug into her palms, and the flames began snaking up her forearm.

"When she was pounding that power-hungry Venus bitch into the ground, she wasn't even angry, she wasn't thinking about killing her in the most painful ways once she couldn't fight back. She'd only kick Lowee's retired CPU into the sea, like she wasn't facing a cunning puppeteer, but some unruly brat who only needed a good dunk to clear her head. She's never been terrified."

"And when she was brought back to life by some random assholes and ran into the brat who killed her, who was crying her eyes out and saying she was sorry for everything," Asa took a deep breath, "She'd smile and spew out some awful food-based metaphors and listen to those teary apologies, maybe even offer her a place to stay."

"She wasn't on the verge of ripping that brat's head off her shoulders, tearing her limb from limb, because the voices of her long-dead people wouldn't stop screaming for blood!"

Without warning, her right fist slammed into the rock they were sitting on, sending tiny fragments and sparks flying into the cold night air. C-Sha winced—for a second, she was sure that the whole rock would crumble under the impact. It did seem to drain all the anger out of her, however, and there was a real sense of defeat in Asa's voice, when she started speaking again.

"Really, if I did kill her back there, none of this would've happened," she mumbled. "Guess that's where my cowardice gets me. Not brave enough to forgive, not angry enough to take revenge. Just a sullen bitch who can't accept what she's made for."

"...Geez, that's some heavy stuff. I'm not even gonna pretend I know how you feel, or what you should be feeling." C-Sha raised her index finger, "But you're wrong about one thing."

"What."

"Not being a killer, even when you could get away with it. That's not cowardice." A pause. "That's courage."

"Courage wouldn't lead to your friend being buried in a cave."

"And if Blanny was in your place, she'd have done the same thing." C-Sha reached towards her, but stopped at the last second. Only after a silent nod did she put her hand on Asa's shoulder. "You've been fighting a part of yourself for so long, because you know it isn't right. Plenty of people wouldn't have made an effort in the first place, or even realized how messed-up it is."

"See, I have a friend who doesn't enjoy killing at all, who was actually treated like a tool by her bosses and had no choice in the matter. Even so, she almost murdered her sweetheart's sister, under this evil CPU's manipulation. Because when you've been trained to deal with problems in a single way, it kinda becomes your go-to solution whenever things get desperate."

Man, what's with love and its effectiveness at fueling murders? That aside, maybe K-Sha would find common ground with a fellow veteran. Wouldn't be a happy conversation, sure, but certainly a meaningful one.

"But she snapped out of it with the help of her sweetheart, and learned to handle problems without using bullets." C-Sha smiled. "The worst things she had to learn in order to survive are not all that she's capable of, and the same goes for you."

Before she could see Asa's reaction, a flash of pink light explosion lit up the sky, followed by a smaller blue one.

"What the—?" C-Sha blurted out, before she remembered. It was the twin's magic firework signal thing. They've modified their light magic on the spot, in case they needed help, quick, and not enough people were nearby.

And, since they've pretty much cleared out all the monsters in the area, this could only mean one thing.

"They found her! C'mon, let's—"

Asa leaped off the rock, before she finished her sentence. Right as C-Sha landed besides her, a shrill tearing sound came from above, followed by a scream.

Both of them dodged away from the fast-falling shadows, who slammed into the heap of snow below the rock, sending tiny flakes flying everywhere.

"Seriously! You. Suck. Ass. At this!"

Croire's loud complaint pierced right through the thick sludge of nausea, and dragged Rei back from the brink of blacking out. The burning sensation that came with her power continued to lick at her skin, as she shakily wrenched her arms out of the snow.

That, or the cold was starting to jam her senses from the inside out.

Soon, she found a very familiar and concerned face, staring down at her from a few feet away. Behind C-Sha stood Asa, in a fighting stance, purple flames blazing around her fists. She could see Lynka's red and white hair at the edge of her vision, but both of them only paid a cursory glance to the girl's limp form, before shifting their gaze towards the pair of legs, sticking out of a pile of snow and still kicking—

Rei scrambled up, slipped, and fell back down. When she finished groaning and opened her eyes again, C-Sha was already gripping Older Neptune by the ankles. In one impressively fluid movement, she yanked her out of the snow, and plopped her back down on the ground.

"Thanks for the help! Haven't seen you in a while, C-Sha!"

"You're welcome."

"Wooo. And I thought you like rough landings, Crostie." Older Neptune, after shaking off all the snow on her hair, let out a loud sneeze, and began squirming uncomfortably. "Ughhhh, snow in my collars...even my sturdy plot armor can't protect against elemental damage, it seems!"

"What a shame. That could've been a mile-long fall. Or she could've only teleported pieces of you, and leave the rest behind in one bloody mess." Croire said. "But nooooo. That kind of screwups would be fun, and this bitch's power is as boring as her personality now."

The realization of what happened prior to their rough landing, blocked out by the cold and dizziness, finally dawned on Rei. Immediately, she bolted up from the ground, screaming.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I-I got in way over my head! I shouldn't have used that power again!"

"Hey, relax, miss. Crostie's in no place to scold you." Older Neptune made a funny face. "She once dropped me on a pile of mating Dogoos. Which is like, super gross, and just thinking 'bout it is making me smell Dogoo slime! Compared to all the times Crostie messed with the warp on purpose, you are doing great for a trainee warper."

"...That's a real job?"

As if sensing the conversation was heading towards a bizarre direction, C-Sha chimed in before Older Neptune could make a reply. "Woah. Wait. How did you girls—?"

She stopped half-way, and looked towards Lynka again.

"Ohhh. That's why you ran off after sounding the alarm, Rei? You saw her, and decided to go after her?" C-Sha gave her a thumbs-up. "Not bad! Thank goodness y'all are okay. I've been a tad too occupied over here, and that Leanbox agent isn't answering our calls."

"Ummm, not really, I just panicked and—" Rei paused.

Lynka, check. Older Neptune, check. Croire, Rei really hoped she wasn't here, but...check.

There was no traces of 'Red Storm' and the other girl. Even if they landed further away, they should've heard the commotion by now, and would be pretty visible from here, with nothing but snow around them...

"Oh. Oh no. W-Where are they? Wheredidtheygo?!" Rei gasped. "I messed up, I really messed up, what am I gonna do now—！"

"Yep. Looks like your random passengers are in another castle." Croire laughed. "Or another dimension. Who knows. I sure hope it's the one special dimension your bitchy self didn't wanna take me to."

"Chill. Take a deep breath. We are here, Rei, and we'll help you out." She was hyperventilating so hard, she didn't realize when C-Sha had placed a hand on her shoulder. "But you gotta' stop freaking out, and tell us what's wrong first."

"Okay, alright, not freaking out, not freaking out..." Rei repeated the three words, in a futile attempt at calming herself down, "After I ran out, I lost my way and fell into this dark blue vertex, then a bunch of...bad things happened, I blacked out after grabbing the power symbol, and couldn't move when I woke up. Lynka and 'Red Storm' was there, plus a ghost, a creepy woman, and this other girl I don't know—"

"Did they all walk into a bar or something?" Croire snickered.

"N-No, there was no bar, just a bunch of...floating rocks and a giant Sharecite crystal," Rei continued, "But then everything start to shake, and Lynka's sister came out of the crystal, she wanted to give her last bit of Shares to her, but then she yelled at Lynka and said she never wanted her to sacrifice—"

"Meh, family drama with no context whatsoever? On top of everything you suck at, you're a shitty storyteller too." Croire cut her off. "So get it over with!"

"I'm sorry! Her sister...did something, made her come back, and disappeared, then we all fell into the void, which is when I took control of—" The dark flames appeared on her fingertips without any conscious prompting, "—this power and warped us to safety. Right after that, Neptune fell on me, and she wanted to take us to Lowee's city, but her notebook's all out of power, so I used mine, and..."

Dizziness washed over Rei once again, as she forced the next sentence out of her mouth. "That girl and 'Red Storm'. I didn't t-take them along with us, or maybe I did and dropped them half way, I-I have no idea..."

"Good!" Croire said cheerfully. "Idiots who have no idea what they are doin' screw up in the funniest of ways. Maybe you just disintegrated them on the way here! Y'know, like what that other version of you did to people, but on a much less impressive scale!"

Rei opened her mouth. But the horror caught up to her before the scream could make its way out, and, right in the middle of collapsing onto the ground in a shivering mess, the merciful unconsciousness finally came.

"It burns! It's so cold it buuuuuuurns! My wings!"

Just as C-Sha carried Rei up from the ground, Older Neptune grabbed another handful of snow, and sprinkled it onto her open notebook.

"Using torture? That's low, man! I'm expecting that from the likes of Sadie, not you!"

"Hmmm, now that I've gone back home for a few times, and seen how...quirky our CPU can be," Older Neptune put a hand to her chin. "Yep, I'm sure she'd love to teach a bad book fairy some lessons! With candlewax and little lightning sparks! I know, that's pretty nasty, and I don't want burnt holes all over my notebook—"

Croire made a whimpering sound, before resuming her yelling. "You! Yes, the busty bimbo over there! Help! Help!"

"Eh, I'd love to. But I kinda have my hands full right now," C-Sha replied nonchalantly. "Thanks to you."

"Welp, Crostie, if it makes you feel better, I'm also cold and super bummed out over here," Older Neptune answered, with an oblivious cheerfulness that bordered on the unsettling. "Still, you are being such a meanie, scaring that poor lady on purpose and making her faint."

"That's clearly her problem, not mine—Eeek!" Croire squeaked again, as Older Neptune dumped the third clump of snow onto her notebook, followed by teeth clattering noise. "Okay! F-F-Fine! Sorry! There, I said it. Just s-stop taking it out on me like a total bitch, will ya'?"

"Relax! Imma stop now, 'cause I can't feel my fingers, and I gotta' help C-Sha out and carry the other girl back to camp." Older Neptune assure her. "Buuuut, one more thing. You know where these two missing people are, right, Crostie?"

"Actually, no?"

Older Neptune made a disapproving noise. "Really, Crostie. And you call yourself a professional warper."

"Only you think that's a real job! I know the feel of the Tari Goddess's power, but I can't track everything it does. If that idiot actually knows what she's doin', and isn't out cold now, then yeah, she can probably lead you to them," Croire said. "So how 'bout you go shove snow down her collars instead?"

"Nah. I'm like, totally done with snow right now." Older Neptune shook her head, before picking up a stick from the ground. "Welp, looks like this Nep has to resort to her tried-and-true method of finding lost people!"

The stick flew into the air and landed a few steps away, next to Asa, who had been staring at them with the expression of someone who wanted to point out how much sense everything didn't make at the moment, but feared that she would not be able to stop once she began.

"Hmm, that direction it is!" Older Neptune exclaimed. "Before you go, you sure you don't need a jacket or heat pack out there, miss? Oh wait, silly me, you have flame magic. How 'bout a snack from the camps? Hot drinks?"

Asa looked at the stick, looked back at Older Neptune, shook her head, then reached into her pocket.

"...No. Just a faith recharge. And some healing items." A stiff pause. "If you have any." Another pause. "Fuck. I can't believe I'm doing this."