While the Eden's Zero flew through the Sakura Cosmos in search of the final Black Moon Shard's location, Cynthia was getting acclimated to the ship like those before her. It had been a day or so since they left Seven. "How's it been going?" Geno asked Cynthia, who was relaxing in the lounge of the ship by this point.
"So good!" Cynthia sprang up from her seat with a wide grin. "This ship is so cool! A kitchen that cooks for you? I could never cook again."
"Right? It shocked me when I saw it too!" Geno laughed a little.
"And the bath? I've never felt anything more heavenly. I swear, I could've melted." Cynthia said with a blissful sigh, eyes closed. "I'm so jealous you've been able to experience this for a while now."
"I haven't been here that long." Geno admitted while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Omega and I have pretty much only been here for like...maybe over a week. But they've been treating us really well despite that."
"I bet they have. They're all really nice. Even Blair can be nice, despite the fact she's pretty scary..." Cynthia said with a sweat drop.
"Yeah, she's real scary..." Geno nodded in agreement.
"But you know..." Cynthia said while stepping closer, a teasing smile on her lips. "I can tell you've gotten pretty close to Hermit in the short time you've been here."
"K-Knock that off." Geno glanced elsewhere with a bashful grin. "It's just..."
"You liiiiike her!" Cynthia said loudly, but Geno quickly covered her mouth with his hand.
"Not so loud!" Geno said with a hushed whisper.
Cynthia removed Geno's hand from her mouth. "I saw you give her that flower from Seven. Do you know what that flower you picked means? Because I sure do~."
"...Uh." Geno blinked once. He wasn't sure if he was ready to hear that, So instead he shifted the topic. "Listen, don't get too starstruck while you're here. Rebecca and Couchpo are people first!"
"I know that!" Cynthia flailed her arms. "But they invited me to be on their channels for a video.. How could I say no!? I only hope I didn't tank their views or anything."
Success. Geno let out a quiet sigh of relief. "I'm sure you did fine. Anyway, Sister wanted me to fetch you so she could do a physical on you. After that, Shiki said we're supposed to meet on the bridge."
"Sister worries me." Cynthia said while nodding.
"Me too." Geno agreed with that.
.
.
"No health issues at all. You're in top shape!" Sister was giving Cynthia an examination, just as she had to Geno, Omega, and Blair before her when they joined the crew. Geno was boring, Omega was pointless, and Blair was unpleasant at the time.
"I keep myself healthy!" Cynthia said with a grin.
"Not bad measurements either." Sister said with a nefarious grin.
"Uh..." Cynthia was about to ask what Sister meant, only to be violated with a slap to her rear. She squeaked and her cheeks turned bright red. "U-Um?! Why...?!"
"Oh come on, I'm going easy on you." Sister said with one of her frightening grins. "You should see what I do to Rebecca and Homura on the regular."
"I don't think I want to see that." Cynthia shook her head and waved her hands. She was warned by Geno that Sister was a bit of a freak, but she now understood what he meant by it.
"You sure? I can show you!" Sister's eyes twinkled.
"I. I'm gonna go!" Cynthia hastily made her exit. She was not in the mood for whatever it was that Sister was cooking. She would just completely avoid that.
"As long as you're a girl, and on this ship, you're not escaping the crop rider." Sister shrugged. But it was about time for everyone to head over to the bridge anyway, so she waited a bit before heading over.
Cynthia rushed into the bridge where everyone was waiting and Sister joined her soon after. The Black Moon Shard they possessed was pointing in a particular direction, but faintly. "So, what's the news?"
"It's pointing somewhere deep in the Sakura Cosmos." Hermit reported. "But when I try to locate the exact location on the map, I can't get anything."
"So we just have to fly until we get somewhere?" Omega grunted. "What a pain in the ass. Was it like this before?"
"No." Shiki shook his head. "The first time we followed the Black Moon Star Shard's wavelength, it led us straight to Delta Ridge. We know full well the Eclipse Ark is out there with the other shard, and the Galactic Fleet with the other two. But we would've picked up on them by now."
"We were able to tell where the Eclipse Ark was before we came here to the Sakura Cosmos." Rebecca stroked her chin. "I wonder what changed..."
"Doesn't matter if we can't find them now, I'd say." Blair shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Kleene looked over at Blair.
"We're all heading towards the final shard. I'd be more surprised if we DIDN'T run into either party." Blair replied. "So I'm pretty sure this shit's gonna get messy."
"She's not wrong there." Weisz could agree with that. "I've been ready for a messy fight this whole time."
"This is just a fight we can't afford to lose." Jinn crossed his arms. "If we are able to obtain the Black Moon Star, we may very well be able to solve all of our problems. A path to Mother..."
"Let's keep our expectations grounded." Laguna said. There was no point getting ahead of themselves.
"We should figure out where we're going before anything else." Hermit said. "This is the first time we actually have something of a read on the location. If we keep heading in this direction, we should find it eventually."
"I'm a little nervous." Couchpo admitted. "What if it's a a scary place?"
"Then you can stay on the ship." Blair said simply.
"Sister and I will be staying on the ship this time." Hermit said. "Last time we were surprised by the tractor beam, but I've made sure nothing like that can never happen again."
"We're not going to be caught by surprise a second time." Sister said firmly.
"Glad to know we'll be ready." Geno said. Nobody really wanted to relax since they were slowly encroaching upon the location of the final shard. They silently stood at the bridge as they travelled through space. But at some point, something strange happened. A strange mist slowly started to appear the further they travelled.
"Uh...what is this?" Omega asked. Everyone was surprised and didn't have an answer for this.
"Fog? In space?" Cynthia tilted her head. It wasn't so absurd to be impossible, but it was extremely unlikely. "Has anyone ever seen this in the Sakura Cosmos?"
"No." Rebecca shook her head. "I've been around the cosmos, even before meeting Shiki. I've never seen anything like this before."
"I can't see shit." Sister narrowed her eyes. Their vision was slowly being obscured by the fog, and soon it was just nothing but a white void around them. "This is really annoying."
Hermit was looking on the radar to see if there was anything nearby, but no. They were drifting through mysterious fog. "This doesn't make any sense. We're going to get lost at this rate..."
"Kleene, let's try something." Jinn suggested. Kleene and her brother were on the same page. They went into the ship's turrets and connected to it with their Ether Gear. With their wind powers, they were going to try and blow the fog away. Unfortunately for the two of them, this smart idea was ineffective.
"Our wind isn't working...?" Kleene furrowed her brows. Was this fog natural or unnatural?
Shiki narrowed his eyes momentarily. Although the fog was extremely thick and dense, he could sort of make out the beam of the Black Moon Star shard. It was a little difficult and he really had to focus. "I can see a little bit."
"You can?" Blair looked over at Shiki. "How? Gravity shit?"
"No, not like that." Shiki shook his head and pointed to his left eye. "I can see with this eye. It's artificial."
'Whoa, no shit?" Blair observed Shiki's eyes. "I had no idea. It looked like a normal eye to me."
"I lost it originally two years ago." Shiki explained. "Sister helped make me this new one. I guess that's why I can sort of see, if I squint really hard."
"That's pretty useful!" Cynthia beamed. "Maybe we can make our way through with Shiki's eye."
"It's also got an X-ray mode." Sister snickered. Considering this was the first time Blair and Cynthia were made aware of this, they immediately covered up.
"It has a WHAT!?" The two of them exclaimed in shock.
"You haven't been using that on us, have you!?" Blair narrowed her eyes, her Therion arm erupting to life as she threatened to eat Shiki there and then.
Shiki, not appreciative of the fact Sister threw him into the fire, quickly waved his hands with a fearful look. "N-No! I swear I haven't been! I wouldn't...!" He was having a strong sense of deja vu, while Sister was just snickering at the chaos she caused.
"Girl, you're the worst. I love it." Omega was just having a hearty laugh at it all.
"Can we focus..." Geno let out a heavy sigh. "Otherwise we're going to get lost and drift in space forever."
"Right, right..." Shiki closed his right eye and stepped forward, holding his hand out. The Eden's Zero was beginning to drift slightly. "I can see a little bit, and I'll use my gravity to guide us into the direction the Star Shard is pointing. When it's like this, we should be able to make it through without any difficulties."
"I hope you're right." Blair said.
"I have faith in Shiki." Rebecca commented. "You should too." But after she said that, Blair just let out an indifferent sigh. It wasn't really telling what her response was to it. There was silence as the Eden's Zero continued to drift through the Sakura Cosmos and through the fog. It felt like there would be no end to it, but at some point, the fog itself slowly started to clear.
"Hey, I think we're making it out!" Weisz said excitedly.
"About damn time." Sister huffed. Soon enough they cleared the fog entirely. When checking behind the ship, they could see just how large the fog cloud was.
"That was some fog..." Homura commented. "But we made it out. Is everyone alright?"
"No injuries here. Just fog in space." Couchpo replied. "But I wonder what that was all about..."
"The radar is working again!" Hermit exclaimed. Now the path was clear and the Eden's Zero could follow it. The Black Moon Star Shard was effectively pointing to a nearby planet in the distance. "We're finally approaching the final Black Moon Star Shard!"
"So it's time." Laguna crossed his arms. The planet in the distance was slowly coming to view, and as it was...
"...No..." Blair said quietly, but her shock was loud enough for everyone to look over at her. "That's not right...how...?"
"Blair?" Happy looked to Blair.
"Is something the matter?" Pino tilted her head. This was the first time she could recall seeing Blair look so visibly shaken. "Your expression has twisted..."
The planet was bright and vibrant at first glance. The Eden's Zero hovered above the planet and came to a stop. "What planet is this...?" Geno asked. "Is it on the map?"
"Strangely enough, I don't see anything." Hermit shook her head. On all maps of the Sakura Cosmos she could pull up, this planet's coordinates were empty.
"Of course you wouldn't. Because this planet isn't supposed to exist." Blair's tone was low. She clenched her therion arm into a fist, her arm shaking as she stared at the planet ahead of them.
"How do you know that...?" Couchpo looked over to Blair.
Blair was silent for a moment, eyes closing as the memories came flooding back. The day she would never forget. The day she couldn't forget. "...Because this is the first planet that was destroyed by the Therion's arrival. This was my home planet...Mercurius."