The mood around Rhodes Island was incredibly morose. Many around the landship were grieving for a comrade that they all thought they had lost. However, three people who were the closest to the individual were still dealing with the fact that they believed their loved one was lost. The doctor, Ch'en, and Amiya had taken the news of Yua's supposed passing the hardest out of anyone else in Rhodes Island. When the doctor and Ch'en had time to absorb the news from Gladiia that she believed Yua was dead, both of them asked to go where the mission of the abyssal hunters took place.
Gladiia didn't know what they expected to find, but the aegir complied with their request. Both parents of Yua, along with several other operators, searched everywhere alongside the abyssal hunters for any sign or chance that white-haired lung was still alive. They hoped that what they were told was wrong. They wanted to believe Gladiia was wrong. However, all the doctor and Ch'en managed to find was the bodies of the church of the deep cultists. Rhodes Island managed to find the river that Skadi said Yua was kicked into. When the doctor and Ch'en returned to Rhodes Island, they immediately ordered a search and rescue along the river they believed Yua was taken along, and neither wanted to give up until they found her.
That was a few weeks ago, and Rhodes Island could not find Yua no matter where they searched. For the doctor and Ch'en this caused the pair to lose all hope of ever finding Yua alive. They truly believed she was gone, washed out to sea. Amiya was inconsolable. The cautus had believed she had lost her beloved sister. For several days, Amiya had locked herself in her room. She refused to come out and talk to anybody. This got Kal'tsit concerned. She tried to get her to come out and talk, but the cautus didn't reply. The only noises that other operators reported from Amiya's room were whimpering and crying.
Amiya eventually came out after many failed attempts to get her to leave her room, but when the ancient feline saw the cautus, she looked terrible, almost looked ill. Now Amiya was currently on the roof of Rhodes Island, and the girl didn't know what to think. Yua, her sister was gone. And there wasn't even a body to bury. Amiya wanted to curse the whole of Terra for losing her sister, she wanted to know why this happened. Amiya was angry. She was sad, and she was a complete storm of emotions. But more than anything, Amiya just wanted her sister back.
Someone soon came up from behind Amiya and spoke to her, "There you are Amiya, I've been looking everywhere for you." Turning around to see who it was, Amiya could see Doctor Kal'tsit. The cautus didn't know what to say when she saw the ancient feline. Her emotions were still all over the place. Losing Yua had dealt her a massive emotional blow. Kal'tsit was glad that Amiya was no longer isolating herself in her room, but she could see the cautus was in very poor shape.
Amiya had lost weight and had bags under her eyes and pale skin, "Poor girl, I understand your pain, Amiya. No one wanted this. But you aren't alone, Amiya. Others are hurting, too." Kal'tsit sadly thought to herself. The ancient feline knew why Amiya was in the condition she was in now. Kal'tsit herself had been hurt by Yua's supposed passing too. She did grow to like the lung. Kal'tsit knew that if she was hurting this much right now, she didn't even want to imagine how Amiya, Ch'en, and the doctor were feeling. Yua was their family, and Kal'tsit knew from all her years of living that losing family was one of the most difficult experiences anyone could witness.
"I know Yua is gone, but I can still be here for Amiya. She needs everyone around her right now." With this thought in mind Kal'tsit walked up to Amiya and gently hugged her. This caught the cautus by surprise. Amiya didn't know what to do. The ancient feline then said, "It's okay Amiya, your not alone. I know you are in pain. But you don't have to deal with this by yourself." This sentence caused Amiya to cry in the arms of Kal'tsit. It's all Amiya could do, the pain she was feeling from losing her sister was too much. Kal'tsit understood, she wanted Amiya to let out all her pain and grief. Amiya did just that, she stayed in the arms of Kal'tsit and let the tears for her sister fall...
A bottle was currently in the hands of Ch'en, a bottle of very strong alcohol. The blue-haired lung was drinking with wild abandonment. But, the reason for Ch'en drinking so much was not because of a party or celebration. The lung was drinking to deal with the pain, the pain of losing her daughter. Losing Yua had been very difficult for her. Ch'en had been drinking hard for the past week or so.
The blue-haired lung didn't want to believe Yua was dead. When she led the search and rescue party alongside the doctor, she hoped to find the white-haired lung. She kept hoping and praying that Rhodes Island would find her. But Rhodes Island didn't find her, Yua was truly lost to the depths of the sea. Ch'en couldn't even say goodbye. She couldn't even give her daughter a burial as Ch'en couldn't even find her body.
That just made Ch'en feel worse, the fact that Yua's body wasn't recovered. Ch'en only had her memories of the relatively short time they spent together as mother and daughter. The blue-haired lung hated herself, while at first she wanted to blame the church of the deep or the abyssal hunters for her daughters death. The person who the lung placed most of the blame on was herself.
Ch'en knew that she should have acted differently. She should never have told Yua that she was being removed from the field. The blue-haired lung knew Yua was much like herself. The white-haired lung was just as stubborn as herself. Yua had to finish her mission. That is what meant most to her. Yua wanted to stop her dark future from ever happening and was willing to do whatever it took to prevent it.
"If Yua can't finish it, then I'll do it! I promise you, Yua, your future will never happen again!" Ch'en thought to herself in her drunken haze. The blue-haired lung dropped her bottle of alcohol and staggered over to where her sword was. She picked up her sword and left her room. The blue-haired lung was going to look for some church of the deep cultists to fight.
Ch'en was staggering across the landship. She was on her way to the entrance to grab a vehicle and leave Rhodes Island. Many operators could see Ch'en stumbling around and tried to ask her what was wrong and help her. The lung however, in a drunken rage, told all of them to go away and that she didn't want anyone else's help. Seeing that the lung was going to do something dangerous if she carried on, one operator decided to look for either the doctor, Hoshiguma, or Swire. They knew that only one of those three people could stop Ch'en from what she was about to do and potentially get herself killed.
The blue-haired lung eventually arrived at the landship entrance and began searching for a vehicle to use. When Ch'en found one suitable enough, she staggered over to it and began trying to open the driver door. When she wasn't successful, in a fit of rage, the lung punched the window open of the driver door, and she then unlocked it from the inside.
Just as she was about to climb in a voice from across the entrance boomed at Ch'en which gave her pause, "Ch'en! What the hell do you think you are doing?! Are you nuts?!" Ch'en looked at whoever shouted at her and could see Hoshiguma with Swire standing right behind the oni. Ch'en could see the two starting to approach her position and decided it was best to begin driving before the pair stopped her. Ch'en tried starting the vehicle, but due to the amount of alcohol she had, the blue-haired was unable to start it. This gave a chance for Hoshiguma and Swire to stop Ch'en from leaving. Using her strength, the oni pulled Ch'en out of the vehicle and immediately began to admonish the lung, "Ch'en! Are you completely insane?! What on Terra were you planning to do driving away in this condition?! Are you looking to get yourself killed?!"
Ch'en however, wasn't interested in the oni's rant. She just wanted to fight some church of the deep cultists. She wanted revenge for them taking her daughters life. The lung tried to struggle to free herself from the grasp, but due to the state she was in and Hoshiguma's strength, the blue-haired lung had no such luck. Ch'en tried struggling again, but this time the green-haired oni pinned her up against the vehicle to stop Ch'en from going anywhere. Seeing her friend like this, Swire walked up to her to understand why her friend was behaving in such an erratic way, "Ch'en, please stop. Why are you doing this? Now is not the time for you to be acting like this. Please calm down and tell us what's wrong. Let us help." Swire calmly asked.
Ch'en however, didn't want to calm down, but she was more than willing to tell her friends what was wrong, "Calm down?! You expect me to calm down after everything that has happened?! Yua is dead! Those psychopaths from the church of the deep murdered her! They took my daughter from me! And you want me to just calm down?! No I'm not going to calm down, Swire! I want to find as many as I can and make them pay! They need to pay for what they did to Yua!" Ch'en bellowed out at the top of her voice.
Now understanding why the blue-haired lung was acting like this, both the oni and the feline felt very sympathetic towards their friend. But they couldn't let her do this, not now. Now certainly wasn't the time. They had already lost someone they cared about. They didn't want to lose a second person. Swire then tried to calmly explain to Ch'en why she didn't need to do this right now, "Ch'en, listen to me. I know you are hurting. Me and Hoshiguma are hurting as well. But if you do this now and die, think about what will happen. We will be devastated, Amiya will be devastated, and more importantly, the doctor will be devastated, and the Yua of this timeline will never exist. Think Ch'en, Amiya has just lost her sister, and the doctor has just lost his daughter. Losing you would crush the both of them. They need you Ch'en, just as you need them. I know you want revenge, but now isn't the time. Believe me Ch'en, the church of the deep will pay. No doubt the doctor will think of a plan to make them pay. But right now, both him and Amiya need you. So please, don't do this." Swire explained in a calm and comforting voice.
Ch'en looked at both of her friends and realised Swire was right. If she died now on a suicide mission, not only the two people in front of her would be crushed, but the doctor and Amiya would be absolutely destroyed. Also, the Yua of this timeline would never be born. All of this caused Ch'en to stop her struggling. The lung simply collapsed to the floor and started crying. Hoshiguma and Swire knew that right now Ch'en needed people around her to comfort her with her grief. Both Swire and Hoshiguma wanted revenge as well, but for now, that had to wait, helping Ch'en was the most important thing at the moment. Anything else could wait...
The doctor was sitting alone at his desk. The only sounds in his office were the sounds of a pen writing on paper. Since losing his daughter and being unable to find her remains, the man had thrown himself into work without rest. He had collapsed several times due to exhaustion, which caused many at Rhodes Island, including Kal'tsit to be worried about his physical and mental health. For the doctor, working as hard as he was right now was the only way to distract himself from the fact that his future daughter was dead. It was his only coping mechanism. The doctor still found it hard to believe that Yua was gone. He didn't want to believe it. However, the empty desk near him constantly reminded and taunted him of the fact that Yua was no longer among the living in Terra.
When the doctor first discovered the white-haired lung was his daughter, he thought he finally found someone who had some answers to his past. However, what he had gone on later to discover is that she was from the future. Yua didn't have the answers to his past but had the answers to what was going to be. To find out he would have a family with Ch'en gave the man incredible happiness, he thought it was a dream. Ch'en was an incredible woman. She was strong, beautiful, always tried to protect the innocent, was dedicated to what she did, and had a very strong moral compass.
The doctor could see many of those qualities in Yua and was proud of who she was. But now his daughter was gone, cruelly ripped away from him and Ch'en by a cult of madmen. Regarding his partner, the doctor knew he should be with her right now and his other daughter Amiya. But the man was currently writing a plan to destroy the church of the deep. Much like Ch'en the man wanted revenge, he wanted these cultists to pay for what they had taken from him. The church of the deep was now his number one enemy. He wanted the organisation to be wiped off the face of Terra.
The doctor was going to make sure that the organisation would no longer be a threat to anyone else. The man wanted to make sure that the church of the deep would not hurt another single living being on Terra. No one else would suffer because of them. Destroying the church of the deep was also connected to Yua's mission of preventing her future from happening again. At the very least, when the church was destroyed, the doctor would also complete her mission in his stead. That was the very least he could do to honour Yua's memory and make sure the Yua who would be would never have to deal with the suffering at their hands.
As the doctor was writing down his plan, he all of a sudden felt two hands on his shoulders. Looking around, he expected to see either Ch'en or Amiya. But the person who had their hands on his shoulders was neither of those people. Instead, it was Skadi. "What's wrong, Skadi? Why are you here?" the doctor asked. Skadi replied, "I can feel your pain, doctor. I know it must be difficult to lose your child. I am sorry for not being able to save her. I am here for you, doctor. You are not alone." Skadi told the doctor with completely false remorse.
In truth, the future aegir was happy she killed Yua, the white-haired lung was a huge thorn in her side. Now that one was out of the way, Skadi could focus on removing Ch'en from the doctors life. When Skadi saw Ch'en's face for the first time after Yua's supposed death, the future aegir took immense glee from it. She was happy the blue-haired lung was suffering. Skadi truly wanted Ch'en to suffer.
For now, however, the future aegir wanted to work her way into the heart of the doctor. The man was emotionally vulnerable at the moment, so it was the perfect time to take advantage. The future Skadi knew that if she managed to take Ch'en's place next to the doctor, it would drive another dagger into the lungs' heart. That would only add to the lungs' pain.
The doctor couldn't tell Skadi's remorse wasn't genuine, but he appreciated Skadi being here, "Thank you, Skadi. And with what happened to Yua, I know it's not your fault. I know without a shadow of a doubt you did what you could. If anything, it is the fault of the church of the deep. They are the one's who killed her. Not you. So please don't feel bad, Skadi. If anything I'm glad that Yua had comrades such as yourself. If Yua was here, she would tell you not to blame yourself." The doctor told the aegir.
In truth, the future aegir wanted to throw up when the doctor said that. Skadi hated Yua and Ch'en. She hated them both immensely. Skadi would never want Yua to tell her not to blame herself. If anything, she wanted the white-haired lung to hate her. Yua was one of Skadi's enemies. The future aegir decided to forget about everything else for the moment and enjoy her time with the doctor, Ch'en's demise could wait for the moment. And if anything, the longer the blue-haired lung was alive, the more she would get to suffer, was the reasoning of the future Skadi...
Many miles away in a distant land far away from Rhodes Island, a certain white-haired lung was waking up after many weeks. For all that time, Yua had been hovering close to death, but she had survived her encounter with the future Skadi. When Yua woke up, her mind was all over the place. The lung couldn't think a single coherent thought. It took a while for the lung to focus, but when Yua finally did, the first thing she noticed was an individual with blue hair sitting at the end of her bed. The individual could see that the white-haired lung was finally awake and decided to speak to her, "Well it is good to see you, Yua. It has been some time since we last spoke, Correct?" Yua couldn't believe her eyes. This individual was dead in her timeline. The lung was sure of it. Yua could only think of one name that belonged to this individual.
"Mostima!"