When Bronya received Pela's urgent transmission and raced toward the Supreme Guardian's office, a terrible premonition gnawed at her heart.
The heavy doors creaked open with a sound like a dying breath—and there, collapsed on the frozen floor, was Cocolia. Her regal figure, once the symbol of iron will and unshakable authority, was now slumped in despair, as though the weight of the heavens had finally crushed her.
Bronya's heart seized in panic. "Mother!" she cried, rushing forward, her boots clattering against the marble. She knelt beside the fallen woman, reaching out with trembling hands—only to flinch in horror.
The arm she touched was not flesh and blood. It was ice.
Not the kind born of cold weather, but the kind that whispered of death.
Her fingertips recoiled, a shiver crawling up her spine. Beneath Cocolia's long sleeves, the soft, pale skin that Bronya remembered from her childhood had been overtaken—encased in glittering frost, thick with jagged ice crystals that reflected the light like broken dreams.
"…The Stellaron… it's gone…"
The words spilled from Cocolia's lips like ash, hollow and broken. Her voice trembled, her violet eyes dazed, empty. She turned to Bronya, searching her face as if hoping for an answer that would never come.
Suddenly, as if struck by a revelation, Cocolia staggered to her feet. She lurched toward the towering window, eyes fixed on the sky.
But outside, snowflakes still danced across the horizon—light, delicate, and merciless.
"…It's all over…"
Her whisper was barely audible, yet it rang like a final verdict. Her second collapse in faith—first in her ideals, now in her hope—had shattered what little strength she had left.
A lifetime of burden crushed her spirit. All the sins she had committed, the choices she had made, the people she had sacrificed… all for a future that would never arrive.
She had discarded everything. Even her own humanity.
And only now, standing at the precipice of collapse, did she understand: the future she chased had always been an illusion.
"Mother, what are you saying?"
Bronya's voice trembled as she supported her mother, heedless of the bitter cold spreading from her body. She gently brought her back to the chair and lowered her down, worry clouding her face.
"I… Bronya… I've failed. Completely."
Tears welled at the corners of Cocolia's eyes as she sank down, her cheek resting against the ice-encrusted armrest. She didn't flinch from the cold. Her gaze was distant, unfocused.
"There was a time… I had conviction, Bronya. I believed, just as you do. But then something happened. A deviation in the plan. A possibility that offered an escape from the suffocating cycle—a chance to destroy the old path and embrace a new world."
Her voice quivered, yet each word cut deeper than the last.
"I know how it sounds. Madness. But compared to the fragile illusion of 'preservation'… it felt real. Tangible."
The ice crept higher, slowly swallowing her form. Half her body was already sealed in crystal.
"Mother…"
Bronya's palms began to glow with an emerald hue—the power of Felicity surging through her. She placed her hands against Cocolia's skin, trying desperately to draw out the Stellaron's curse.
The effect was immediate. The encroaching frost slowed, then halted. Some crystals even began to melt.
But—
Cocolia raised a trembling hand, gently pushing Bronya away.
"No, Bronya. Let me go."
She smiled faintly and closed her eyes.
"I feel like I've been dreaming… a long, long dream."
"In that dream, there was a world untouched by snowstorms… and a you who was whole. No sorrow. No death. Just peace."
Her eyes fluttered open, and her voice grew soft, wistful.
"But dreams must end, my daughter. And tonight… mine has."
Bronya opened her mouth to protest, to plead—but her voice failed her. It was as if an invisible hand had gripped her throat, silencing her with grief.
She could only watch—frozen, helpless—as the frost overtook Cocolia's lap, her shoulders, her chest.
"History always forks, Bronya," Cocolia whispered. "And I chose the wrong road. My path ends here… at the edge of a cliff. Yours, however, stretches far ahead… into the future."
"I should go now. This is your era. Not mine."
Bronya felt the warmth of her mother's fingers one last time. The touch, though laced with ice, carried a long-lost tenderness. In Cocolia's eyes—clear and bright—Bronya saw a glimmer of the woman she once knew. The one who had first stepped into Klippeburg with stars in her eyes.
She could have saved her. The power was in her hands.
But Bronya did not.
Because she understood.
Some sins cannot be forgiven. Not by death. Not by time. They cling like shadows, heavy and inescapable.
"…Bronya…"
Cocolia looked at her daughter one final time.
That gaze—soft, motherly—belonged not to the Supreme Guardian, but to the woman who had once held her child in trembling arms.
"Don't let the past chain you down, remember? Good people deserve to live happily."
Her hand slipped away.
"…go live a happy life."
The frost closed in.
In the next moment, Cocolia was encased in ice—still and silent, like a memory preserved in amber.
And yet… she smiled.
"…Mother."
Tears streamed down Bronya's cheeks. She slowly lowered her arms, her body trembling.
Bronya later declared that the former Supreme Guardian, Cocolia, had uncovered the truth behind the Eternal Freeze, and perished with the Stellaron—offering her will and her life in final sacrifice. Her body turned to ice and vanished, taking the last remnants of a bygone era with it.
And so, Bronya took up the mantle of Supreme Guardian.
Her first decree: the total lifting of all restrictions on the Lower District. At last, the people below would see the sky again.
"So… it's really over?" March 7th tilted her head, a milk tea in hand, warm and sweet.
The wanted posters bearing their names were gone, and at last, they could walk freely through the streets, unburdened.
"Looks like Felicity snuck out and handled things while we were asleep," Dan Heng murmured, arms folded.
"Tch… why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?" Stelle frowned, touching her chest in confusion.
"You must've lost your brain digging through trash again~" March 7th teased, tugging her cheek.
"Indeed."
Felicity, appearing without warning as always, nodded solemnly.
"Wah! Sister Felicity!" March 7th shrieked, nearly spilling her drink. "Stop popping out of nowhere like that!"
"You were too absorbed in your chat. Anyway—here."
Felicity tossed something casually through the air.
Stelle instinctively reached out—and caught it.
A spear.
Long. Elegant. Enchanted. Her eyes sparkled.
"This is…?"
Dan Heng's brow furrowed.
"Loot from the boss. Isn't that normal?" Felicity said, blinking innocently. "I've got no use for it, so I figured I'd pass it on."
She was lying.
The truth? Felicity had found it at the Stellaron's original resting place. Even then, it shimmered faintly, brimming with an overwhelming Preservation power.
"Ahh… I don't even know where to begin," March 7th sighed. How could Felicity talk about loot like she was in a game? But… the spear was cool.
"Can I have it? This is way cooler than a baseball bat!"
With a grin, Stelle swung the spear—and tapped it against her bat.
In that instant, a glowing flame flared from the spear's tip. Light surged.
And then—
The spear fused seamlessly into Stelle's baseball bat, transforming it completely.
"…No way."
Stelle stared.
Then her expression fell like a child who'd dropped her ice cream.
--+--
T/N: Mid term tmr, and I'm studying by putting all the keywords into chatgpt and telling it to write a yuri story using and defining the terms then rereading it everytime I finish a chapter... I lowkey might be a genius.