Chapter 6

Hope

Ragna looked out upon the wasteland of white snow. It had only been minutes since the Portal Gear had warped him, Ethel and Blackwall to IceCap in search of the white Chaos Emerald, but the other two had mysteriously been booted back to Garreg Mach, leaving him behind. He walked into the blizzard, knowing that the emerald wouldn't find itself after all. Noticing several grey mechanical soldiers unlike the soldiers that had appeared at Colony 4, he rushed forward, drawing his axe. The soldiers shot forward several crimson and purple lasers which Ragna easily deflected. Not wanting to waste time fighting when he could be searching for the emerald, Ragna then unleashed a black and dark purple monstrous head which destroyed all the metal soldiers there.

As he ventured through IceCap, Ragna caught sight of a black-robed figure wearing a crow mask talking to a strange masked figure in red and purple armour. Ragna hid behind a wall of ice so they wouldn't notice him. "So, E, L, M, N, S and T have met with B and R and are currently hiding at Garreg Mach?", the red armoured figure asked. "Yes, Consul.", the black-robed figure replied. "I see. Anyway, tell them to be prudent and to flee if necessary.", the red armoured figure said before the two teleported away. "Wonder what they were talking about. Anyway, that's of no concern to me.", Ragna thought before continuing his search.

Arriving at a frozen temple, Ragna walked in to the unmistakable sight of the white emerald. "Bingo. Come to daddy.", Ragna said, walking to the pedestal. Taking the white emerald, Ragna then watched as the gem then disappeared. Two people then rushed into the temple- one of them with short blonde hair and green eyes wearing a blue coat, a white kimono, white gloves and white boots holding a blue katana and another with long blonde hair and green eyes wearing another blue coat with a white half shirt and a blue miniskirt alongside long black boots holding two white pistols connected to each other by a red chain. "Never thought I'd find you two here.", Ragna said turning to face them. "That makes two of us, Brother.", the man with the katana said. "Anyway, Ragna, what brings you here to IceCap?", the woman with the pistols asked. "Well, Noel, I was originally searching for the white Chaos Emerald to help create a portal to break us out of Cyber Space, but it seems to have disappeared.", Ragna said to the woman. "Oh, you mean the emerald that just arrived at Garreg Mach?", the man with the katana asked. "Yeah, Jin.", Ragna said to the man with the katana.

Whilst Ragna, Jin and Noel exited the frozen temple, Rachel observed them from within her castle. Beside her was a woman with pale skin, shoulder-length raven hair and golden eyes wearing a dark pink bikini. Rachel turned to the woman, saying, "OK, Velvet, what do you know about where the green emerald is?". "I don't know its exact location within Cyber Space, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's in the Chaos Shrine.", Velvet said, sipping a cup of tea. "Well, either there or on the Somniel.", Velvet continued. Rachel looked into her blank eyes, noticing a strange crimson darkness within her. All of a sudden, Ragna, Jin and Noel arrived in Rachel's castle. "Rabbit?", Ragna asked. "Nice to see you too.", Rachel replied. Ragna then approached Velvet, the two tenderly embracing. "Welcome home, my love.", Velvet said, kissing Ragna on the lips. "Still, you could have invited me and Major Kisaragi to your wedding. Would've saved us a lot of time.", Noel said. "Sorry about that. There were…matters we needed to attend to urgently.", Ragna said.

Meanwhile at Garreg Mach, Ethel looked at the white emerald mournfully. "Why so sad, Ethel?", Rinwell asked. "Oh, just thinking of someone I could have married and spent my time with, away from this cosmic war.", Ethel replied. "Still though, things don't always go the way we want. We just need to face them as they come.", Eunie chimed in. "I guess you're right.", Ethel replied in turn.

Approaching the monastery's garden, Neptune approached Noire candidly. "Noire, I have a really bad feeling about Blanc. It's almost like she's no longer alive but still in this world. It's like she's…undead.", Neptune said. "I hear you, Neptune. Still, what could have caused her to change?", Noire said. Suddenly, Sumia barged into the garden. "What brings you here, Sumia?", Hanabi asked. "I think I might have found where Blackwall is now.", Sumia said.

The story continues in the next chapter.