Shards of crystal crunched beneath their boots as Lyn and Dorothy pushed through the last jagged thicket blooming beneath them. With the crystalline Rot defeated behind their backs from Lyn's invigorated strength, their journey out of the forest was drawing near. The dense air suddenly felt wider and more free after their constant push to the north.
Once they noticed the grass turning greener, they escaped their way out during the darkness of the midnight. Above the horizon, they caught a thin column of smoke rising into the sky to act as a signal in the darkest of nights. Lyn rushed forward and examined it closer from a distance, noticing that it was only a mile out in the distance.
"That has to be them!" Lyn enthusiastically called, rushing toward a sandy path on her way towards the direction. "Please be them, damn it."
Dorothy's lips curved into a smile, but it carried no warmth or joy. It was more of a mask that flickered across her face with hollowness. She looked away near the ocean and moved closer to it, ignoring the smoke signal and Lyn altogether.
Lyn, noticing her movement, rushed towards her and snagged her forearm to stop her. "Hey, what are you doing?!" She asked, alarmed.
"I have to go," Dorothy persisted. "I have to find them."
"No, come with us," Lyn insisted with desperation in her voice. "At least we can help you find a lead or a trail, or something until sunrise-"
"No," Dorothy rejected. "I don't want Ardine to see me in this state. Plus, you've given me enough strength and confidence to make the trip. I feel... so alive right now to make it."
"But why?" Lyn asked. "We can go together. You said that you didn't want to be alone anymore-"
"I'm not alone, Lyn," She said. She pressed her palms against Lyn's shoulders and tightened her grip around her like a mother would. "No matter what happens to me in the end, I know I'll be okay. I've always had a lead. I just wanted to know for certain if I could follow it. It'll be a while... but I know I've got it because you've given me that hope. But this is my path to forge. And I have to walk it alone."
"Will... will I ever see you again?" Lyn asked, tightening her grip around Dorothy's arms.
Dorothy's smile spread wide, though it carried a glimmer of something deeper than simple joy. She nodded slowly as the moonlight above them caught on her face. "You will," She said. Her voice was strong and longing. "And when you do, you'll see the both of us together beyond this world with all the freedom we've ever dreamed of. But you have to promise me... that if you want to find me... no matter what happens to you and only you, you'll find me at the end."
"What do you mean, the end?" Lyn's voice was hostile, wondering if she was speaking her last rites before her own death. "Are you going to-"
"Just trust me," Dorothy clarified, catching a red Figment vessel approaching her from the side of the ocean. It parted the waters gently, leaving space for her to step on. "We will meet again. And when we do, let's go for another swim. Together."
"Okay." Lyn nodded as the weight of the choice pressed hard against her chest. "I'll see you later."
"See you later." Dorothy softly stated.
A final, fragile smile crossed Lyn's face as she watched Dorothy vanish aboard the vessel, watching its crimson glow receding into the distance. Nothing about what she had said made sense to her, yet she held her silence, swallowing the questions that burned within.
Without further warning, Lyn rushed toward the smoke signal, leaping through lush greenery in the midnight. Her heart raced in anticipation, longing to see her friends after worrying about their condition. Most of all, she longed to see Alfaic's face again, desperate to know the truth about the dreamscape, along with some of her own personal reasons.
Upon arrival at the smoke signal, she noticed a small empty encampment where the signal flared out. An unused pot of stew laid in the center of the camp where the flare rang out. Copious huffs of smoke puffed toward Lyn, obscuring her vision briefly until a swift sword flash from Déraciné ended the device's longevity.
"Lyn? Is that you?" A small whimpering voice called from behind her, catching her off guard. It was not without reason; the voice came from someone who was presumed to be dead. As she turned around, she was shocked to see that it came from Scabs, who seemed entirely detached from their energetic personality. He appeared to be devoid from everything, appearing disheveled, dirty, and frail.
"Scabs, you're-" Lyn cut herself off, turning around to face where Dorothy had vanished off to. None of it made sense. "...alive? Dorothy said-"
"I know what Dorothy said," Scabs said, approaching Lyn with his dirtied hands chiseling off of each other in shame. "None of it makes sense. The moment you and Ardine left, the Rot swarmed Gietha and killed almost everyone. A few women and children survived... but everyone else..." His voice trailed off in fear. His next few sentences were nothing but lifeless and short pale sentences void of any meaning. They were snippets of memories. "They devoured so many corpses... entered from below the sand... killed others in their sleep..."
Hearing the brutal details of the news of the Giethan civilians tore Lyn's heart apart into shreds. If she had been there with Alfaic and the others, a different fate would have occurred. She kept silent about his trauma, and looked for answers instead. "How did you find me?" Lyn asked.
"I came with Dorothy... but we separated," Scabs said. "She's gone, isn't she?"
"She is."
"Damn it!" Scabs yelled, turning away from Lyn. She had never seen this side of him before, ripe with attrition and bloodlust. "She left us the day that the Rot attacked. Pirates always stick together, but now...? I just... I just don't understand it."
"We..." Lyn turned back toward the direction she remembered Dorothy leaving from. "We spoke before she left. She's going through a lot right now... and she may never come back, from what I've heard. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't relent. I'm worried about her."
"Dorothy..." Scabs appeared disappointed, shaking his head in denial. "She can't even stay behind to defend her people."
Ardine was right about her... Lyn thought.
"I just... I've never seen so many at once before in my life. It was like they coordinated an attack together. How can those monstrous freaks do something like that? None of it... none of it makes any sense at all."
"I'm... sorry," Lyn apologized, kneeling beside Scabs with her hand placed across his shoulder for comfort. "I should have been there to protect all of you. And as for Dorothy, maybe I should have tried to convince her to stay."
"You've done enough for us, Lyn," Scabs said, forcing a smile on his face despite the circumstances. "You were the one that brought us that freedom in the first place. We won't ever forget that."
Hesitation rang through Lyn's ears as her mind was fixated on the hopes of a better change in store for her. "Listen. I'm sorry, but I'm looking for the others that were with me. Did you see Ardine on the way here?"
"Ardine?" Scabs's eyes lit up in joy. "He's still alive?"
"He is, along with Blade, and some others that came with us. We separated earlier, but... I guess you haven't seen them, have you?"
"No, I haven't," Scabs said. Suddenly, Lyn watched his demeanor shift entirely from somber to protective. He stepped behind Lyn and spread out his arms as wide as possible, but his short stature made it seem nothing in protection. His eyes shot straight forward with a threatening glare. "Hey, it's him! Lyn, get back!" He hollered.
"Huh?" Lyn exhaled a shocking breath, watching as someone emerged from the shadows beyond distant greenery. It was Alfaic who stepped out, posing himself in a nonhostile position as he smiled at Lyn with an unusually plastered joy written on his face.
Although Lyn was relieved and gratified that he had returned to safety, the skepticism that she had spoken with Dorothy about had returned. Despite this, she chose not to care about skeptics, for she allowed her feelings to embody her decision. She rushed over to him, concerned about the safety for her other friends that she separated from.
As soon as she met him face to face, she was unsure of how to respond to his sudden arrival. But all signs were pointing to her remembrance over the festival and how much jubilation he had brought to her that night. With a stern gaze over his shoulder, Lyn leaned in forward and held him closely with a warm hold.
"Glad to see you made it," Alfaic said. He gazed into Lyn's aloof eyes, engulfing how bizarre her reaction to his return was. "Lyn? You okay?"
"Y-yeah," Lyn stuttered for a moment, turning to face away toward Scabs who approached the two from behind. "It's alright, Scabs. He's with us."
"I don't get it... isn't this the guy who tried to destroy Gietha?" Scabs asked.
Alfaic shook his head and transformed into his golden feathered blade form in front of his very eyes, hovering around him. Scabs's face lit up in relief as his mouth opened wide in awe. "Wrong guy," Alfaic said, returning back to his human transportation. He scanned Scabs from his head to toes, noticing his disheveled appearance masking his plain identity. "And I could say the same for you. We all thought you died."
"I was lucky in the end," Scabs said. "So, explain yourself. Why... how are you..."
"It's a long story," Lyn interrupted, turning back to Alfaic with a pale expression. "Where's Claire and the others? Did you see them?"
Alfaic shook his head, curtly turning his head toward the ocean. "Tried looking for them ever since we were separated. If Arisz is with both of them, they'll be fine. But I highly doubt they're together." He noted.
Looking aside toward the crystalline springs, Lyn looked it as a sound opportunity to reestablish her worries and concerns with Alfaic while helping Scabs recuperate. She turned toward Alfaic and spoke in a low tone. "I need to talk to you." She said.
"What about the others?" Alfaic asked.
"We have to look for them when the sun rises. It's too dangerous."
"Okay," Alfaic agreed, with a worried expression painted on his face. "So, what is it?"
"Not here," Lyn corrected, turning toward the spring. "There's a hot spring in there. Scabs can wash up."
"Sign me the hell up!" Scabs cheered, rushing toward the spring without any further notice of the dangers of the Rot that lurked within.
"Scabs, wait!" Lyn called, rushing after him.
Alfaic soon followed.
It would be the last night they would ever experience solemnity.