Hello again everyone! It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? I hope you all are doing well today! I'm sorry this took me so long to write. Even knowing what I wanted to happen didn't make it any easier to write.

But, it is here at long last, even if it is short! And because I know I don't say this enough, thank you again so much to everyone who has taken the time to read this story! Genuinely, it means so much to me!

I think I've stalled long enough. Enjoy!

The image of that ring was still emblazoned on the back of Maria's eyes as she left Rosamie's Talent Room behind, returning to the ice and snow of the second floor. The cold seemed to ground her, giving her almost a sense of serenity as her heart slowed from the feelings seeing that ring had invoked.

It almost felt as if she were watching herself as she trudged further through the corridor, a hand tracing the wall as if to provide support so she didn't lose her balance. Her skin felt stretched tight and her fingers felt as if they were going to fall off at any moment.

None of it felt real…but what did 'real' even feel like?

"Maria?"

She heard the voice, but it sounded almost filled with static and far away, as if the speaker were talking to someone other than her.

"Hey, come on, just follow me, that's it."

Everything went a bit fuzzy after that…the next thing Maria knew, she was sitting on a metal seat and staring up at Akihito and Yoshi. She could just make out Fuwari and Chiasa behind the two of them.

"Maria? Are you with us?" Yoshi asked, his brow furrowed in concern. His hands were gently cupping her face, as if he were inspecting her for anything wrong.

"Y…yeah," Maria whispered. She still felt like her mind was a bit fuzzy, but she felt more present, which was a good thing. Her fingers flexed around her knees and the movement reassured her.

"Thank goodness," Akihito sighed as he collapsed on the bleacher beside her, tossing his arm over her shoulder. "When I found you all spaced out, I didn't know what to do."

"Not stealing my necklace would be appreciated," Maria stated, holding her hand up.

"Aw, nuts, you caught me," Akihito laughed. He placed her choker in her open palm and Maria only shook her head at him.

"You seem to be doing better," Chiasa commented. She stepped forward with her arms crossed, looking thoroughly unruffled until Fuwari charged past her and practically tackled Maria in a hug.

"We left you alone for a few minutes, I-I was so worried!" Fuwari cried, hugging Maria tightly. Her shoulders were shaking and her breaths sounded a bit off.

"Hey, hey, I'm okay, I promise," Maria whispered, returning the hug, her fingers running through Fuwari's hair. "Where are we, anyway?"

"My Talent Room, can't you tell?" Akihito grinned.

Maria looked around then and, yes, it really was very obvious.

The room was large, the largest Maria had seen so far except for perhaps the ballroom, with a desert aesthetic. There was a nearly full sized track in the center of the room, with a machine of some sort next to it. A timer was set near what Maria assumed was the starting line-up and next to the bleachers they were on was a huge cooler. There were also pole jumps that had almost deadly looking ends, shotput balls and a lot of training equipment that Maria didn't recognize but that certainly looked deadly if used in the right way.

There was also Monokuma cutouts that had 'inspirational' sayings lining the track, as if anything with the bear's face on it could be considered encouraging. Some of the cutouts were dressed like a coach while others were dressed in clothing from the Arabian Nights. Maria didn't even want to glance at the Princess Monokuma, thank you very much. And just like the other Talent Rooms, music twirled through the air that reminded Maria of the fairy tale theme.

"Pretty cool, isn't it? Well, 'cept for the heat," Akihito laughed, folding his arms behind his head.

"And just as dangerous as every other Talent Room in this godforsaken castle," Yoshi muttered, crossing his arms. He glared at the various pieces of equipment.

"Aw, c'mon, man, don't be so uptight, it'll be fine! I'm not gonna nail anyone in the head with a shotput ball. I'd rather steal something off them," Akihito declared with a bright smile. Yoshi sent him an unimpressed look but otherwise did not comment.

"It's curious," Chiasa commented, laying a finger against her lips as she observed the room. When the others turned to look at her, she shrugged. "The corridor is filled with snow and ice. And yet in here, it is a desert. How can these two exist at the same time?"

"Because it's magic!"

Monokuma's scream startled the five of them. Before Maria could blink, Chiasa had pushed all of them behind her, as if to shield them from the bear.

"What on Earth are you talking about, magic?" Yoshi scoffed, seemingly unperturbed to be facing the bear with only Chiasa in the way. "There is no such thing!"

"You say that after all the wonders of my palace I've shown you? For shame, Oedipus!" Monokuma declared, sticking his nose in the air like a snobbish rich man. "And I was going to offer you all a hint as to the source of magic in this place. Hmph! Not anymore!"

Before another word could be said, Monokuma turned and marched away.

There was an almost awkward silence in the wake of the bear.

"Um…should we go after him?" Fuwari questioned, a bit meekly. She was grasping onto Maria's hand tightly, her face a bit gray.

"No," Yoshi stated, his voice firm. His eyes, however, looked shaken when Maria glanced at him. "No. That's simply what he wants. Instead, I suggest we head to the first floor as our investigation is complete."

"In that case, can we go check something out down there?" Fuwari asked. "Just…something I remembered from last time."

"Are you alright with that, Chiasa?" Yoshi questioned, glancing at the huntress.

"Whatever." Chiasa shrugged. There wasn't a hint of judgement in her eyes.

"Then we are off to investigate whatever has caught Fuwari's attention. We shall see both of you in our meeting when our investigation is complete," Yoshi stated, nodding firmly at both Akihito and Maria.

"Sure thing, boss man." Akihito winked. Yoshi rolled his eyes, causing Akihito to laugh brightly in response. Once the three left the Talent Room behind, the track and field star turned to Maria. "Feeling better?"

Maria blinked at him in surprise as her mind finally caught up with the past several minutes. She did, in fact, feel better. She wasn't simply tolerating being in her own skin at this moment, she felt comfortable and grounded in a way she hadn't been after seeing that ring. It was there, just on the periphery of her thoughts, but it wasn't as all consuming as it had been before.

"Yeah…yeah, I am," Maria whispered. She reached out and laid a hand on top of Akihito's, where it rested on her shoulder. "Thank you, Akihito."

"Anytime," he whispered in reply. His breath ghosted her cheek and for a single moment, Maria felt as if time were suspended as goosebumps raised on her skin.

She couldn't decide if the moment was a good one or not.

"I, um, have to go," Maria stuttered as she pushed herself back to her feet. Thankfully, she didn't sway once she was standing upright. "I still haven't finished exploring and all."

"Not a problem, I've been meaning to hunt down Ren anyway," Akihito smiled, graciously giving Maria the out she wanted. "Catch you later?"

Maria could only nod as she tightened her parka around her shoulders and left the Talent Room behind. The only other thing she paid attention to was the track shoe emblem on the door.

Being back out in the corridor was exactly what Maria needed, cooling down her skin and helping her to focus on what she had to do.

The beautiful frost clinging to the absolutely stunning windows in the corridor only contributed to that. There was almost a design in how the frost bloomed, like flowers and lace instead of plain old ice. And when Maria laid her palm against the window, it didn't melt from the warmth of her skin.

The beauty of the ice was perfectly preserved, almost scarily so.

Each snowflake falling was perfectly unique and preserved, as if the change in temperature from the various doors opening and closing didn't make a difference.

It was almost scary how perfect the winter wonderland was, with the evergreens dusted in enough snow and ice but not too much, the never melting ice and the snow that seemingly came from nowhere.

She could almost hear animals scurrying through the trees…but surely that was just her imagination.

Maria kept walking through the snowy floor until she found another room with an emblem on it, most definitely the final Talent Room on this floor.

With a shaky breath, Maria pushed open the door with a flame emblem emblazoned on the front.

The first thing that Maria thought when she stepped into the room was how warm it was.

Then she noticed the rest of it.

Mournful music curled through the air, dancing with the smoke of a flickering fire that stood near the doorway, almost resembling a bonfire where friends could sit and talk for hours. Using that light, she could see the room was made with warm oak, giving a safe haven feeling. There was a dance floor a small distance away from the fire pit that looked like it'd be amazing to dance on. A wardrobe and chest were set near the dance floor, probably containing costumes and jewelry. The room was lit up entirely with torches on the walls, not a single electric light to be seen anywhere. There was a theme of phoenixes to the room, alongside smoke and matches. It was a beautiful place that contrasted heavily with the mournful song suffused throughout it.

And in the center of the room stood Chia and Robin.

"Wow," Maria gasped as she made her way towards the two. As she did, she took the time to inspect every detail she could, because there were more than she had realized at first. She could see carvings in the torches and glittering phoenixes on the ceiling.

There was also a lot of weapons that were being modeled as being used for the fire pit. Pokers, lighters, an axe and what Maria hoped really wasn't dynamite.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Chia smiled. She was obviously in her element, standing in the middle of the dance floor and spinning around slowly. "I could probably spend hours in here, dancing away."

"It's…r-really warm," Robin commented. A sheen of sweat lined his brow. "I'm not used to it…but it suits you, Chia." His voice grew softer the more he spoke, as if he was embarrassed.

"Thanks, R-Robin," Chia said, turning to meet his eyes. A blush tinted her cheeks. "This is…the nicest place I've ever had to dance before."

"You mean you danced someplace worse before?" Maria asked, her voice gentle so as to not startle Chia.

Even still, the fire dancer jumped and fear flashed through her eyes.

"O-oh, um…I-I didn't say that…" Chia trailed off. She looked down, avoiding both Maria and Robin's gazes and biting her lip.

Maria shared a glance with Robin, unsure of what to say. The glaciologist didn't look much better, but he was the one who dared to break the silence.

"S-say Chia…I've never seen fire dancing before. Could you, maybe, show me? Or, uh, us?" Robin asked. His eyes were hopeful even as his cheeks blazed red. Maria had to stifle a giggle at how cute the two of them were acting.

"Really?" Chia asked, looking up with a new light in her eyes. A smile grew on her face and she started bouncing on her toes. "I-I'd love to! But we should all get to s-show off, since we have quite a few performers."

"Jordan mentioned he was going to work on some costumes since his room also opened, he seemed excited about it," Maria added with a smile.

"He is?! Oh, that means we can do our performance like we planned before, and we can all show our talents!" Chia cried, excitedly clapping her hands together. "Once we're done meeting with everyone, can we start planning? Please?"

"It sounds like a good idea to me," Maria smiled. "Robin?"

"M-me?" Robin asked, surprised. Both Maria and Chia nodded in his direction and he looked down shyly. "I…I'd like to see it, yeah. It sounds fun."

"We should head down right now!" Chia beamed, grasping on to Robin's hand. "We'll see you downstairs, Maria!"

Robin gave a small cry as he and Chia ran from her Talent Room, the excitement between them absolutely infectious.

Maria chuckled slightly as she followed after them.

She paused, however, when she reached the door.

There almost looked like there was a crack in the wall. Almost as if…

"You there!"

Irusu's yell startled Maria and she turned, finding an extremely bundled up Irusu glaring at her from the doorway. He looked almost like a puffed up snowman and Maria bit her tongue to keep herself from laughing.

"I was sent on this ridiculous errand to find you, the least you could do is pay me attention!" Irusu snapped, glaring at her with sharp eyes.

"Right, I'm sorry, how may I assist the esteemed Irusu?" Maria asked with a sarcastic edge to her voice. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

Irusu's glare, if possible, sharpened then.

"You can go to the stupid art gallery before that pompous jeweler decides to come and make your ignorance and obstinance my problem, which it most assuredly is not," he stated.

With his message delivered, Irusu turned and began to march back to the stairs, grumbling all the way.

He probably didn't intent for it to be such a comical sight, but it really was. As soon as he was out of earshot, Maria allowed herself to laugh and laugh until she was crying.

Once she felt like she was under control again, Maria slipped her parka back on and made her way to the art gallery.

What she saw in there took away all the joy she had been feeling up until that moment.

A new portrait was in the gallery.

It was of Tori, wearing what looked like her dress from the ball and the trial with its light purple corset top, laced with dark purple silk and sleeveless, but the skirt couldn't be seen. She was leaning on a windowsill with one elbow with her chin in her hand, staring out into the sky beyond. Her hair was loose and flowed down so that it fell outside the window, flowers decorating it. It was quite obvious she was in a tower, paint staining her hands and a paintbrush tucked behind her ear.

And littering the windowsill that Tori was leaning on was a bunch of playing cards, with the ace of hearts being the most obviously displaced, clutched in between Tori's free hand.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that Arisu was standing directly in front of the portrait, clutching onto Hibiki for dear life.

And there we are! Exploration complete, now we move on to the days before someone else dies. Wow, that's a morbid sentence I thought I'd never write ever.

Anyways! The music in this chapter. For Akihito's room, it's an orchestral version of One Jump Ahead from Aladdin while for Chia it's an orchestral performance of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, which really does fit the mournful ambience of the original fairy tale. I also spent some time listening to Narnia ambience music because yes, that is the inspiration behind this floor and I have no shame in admitting that.

And now, I have the pleasure of announcing that if you want your favorite to get a FTE in the next couple chapters, be sure to vote now! As soon as I start writing the next chapter, that's gonna close!

Hm, I think that's it for now. Feel free to let me know what you think! I hope to see you all again soon! Bye for now!