Lily ran.
She did not know why but her body moved on its own.
One moment the princess was waiting patiently outside of the church and then she burst into the building, not caring that she made a scene.
The princess did not know why but it felt like something was screaming at her.
Telling her that Gege was in danger.
So with just that feeling, Lily ran into the church at full speed.
She heard people trying to stop her, but they were quickly silenced. Her guard must have helped her.
That fact did not matter to her though.
Her brother needed her.
She remembered Gege telling her that his meeting was at a room, back of the Church. With that small information, she let her legs carry her.
Then she saw a door not far from her. Her instinct yelled, telling her to go there.
So she did.
By kicking the door down with all of her force.
Even if she was the weakest of the family, she was still stronger than most normal people. With how easily the door crashed down in front of her, it was enough to indicate that she was no pushover.
The princess of Yan glared at the room. They were people but their faces were all a blur to her. She searched around the room and her eyes finally landed on who she wanted to see.
It was just, the sight of him did not fill with relief like it used to.
No.
It was like her stomach dropped to the lowest part of the world.
On the floor, Lin Ye was lying on the floor. People were crowded around his body. And with how his chest did not even raise no matter how long she waited.
She was too late.
"Get away from him!"
Lily heard voices but all of them were turned off as she pushed everyone away. She grasped his hand and the pit in her stomach grew.
It was cold.
The hands that were always so warm were now so cold.
"... Gege?" Her call was just a whisper now.
But he must have heard her, right?
It was Gege, so he must have heard her.
"Gege, wake up," She placed his hand on her cheek, ignoring how cold it was, "You can stop pretending now."
"..."
No reply.
"Gege? Please wake up," Her eyes started to sting, but she ignored the feeling and lightly shook his shoulder, "You promised me to go look around together. You can't do that when you're sleeping."
"..."
Nothing changed. His eyes were still closed.
"Hey... Wake up." Placing her hand on his chest, Lily shocked him again.
Her voice started to crack when she noticed she did not feel a single heartbeat in him.
But even with that, the boy in front of her did not move.
This must be a nightmare.
This should be.
Lily just got her brother back. She had so much fun just being near him. For so long she missed him. When he came back to her life, it was like the world's colours finally came back with him.
But now?
Now, she was staring at his lifeless body.
Numbness that she was feeling as she stared at his unmoving body swiftly turned into something else.
Something ugly.
Tearing her gaze away from him, Lily looked around the room.
There were operators from Rhodes Island and her guards.
However, one person caught her attention.
A person that she knew was responsible for all of this.
"You..." She basically growled out the word as she made her way to the redhead, "You did this."
After being briefed by Nian on who this person was in front of her, Diana knew what she was about to say might affect the relationship between Yan and Laterano forever.
Trying her best to glare Diana to death was in fact the only princess of Yan.
The same person that considered the man lying down now as her brother.
"What. Did. You. Do." With each word, Diana could feel the flames of her anger.
"... We tried to save her—"
"By killing my brother?!" The princess spat out, interrupting anything the Lateran was about to say.
Just when the people in the room thought things were about to get heated, someone spoke in silence.
"He's not dead."
Like a hot knife, Nian's words cut the silence. Eyes were all drawn to her now.
Lily did not waste her time and rushed to her sister's side.
"What do you mean?" She asked, "He's alive?"
"Yes and no." Nian bent down and hovered her hand above Lin Ye's body, "He is neither dead nor alive now."
"Nian, please explain," Lily begged, gasping for any hope that she could get at the moment, "I don't understand."
Rather than answering, Nian pointed to something on the floor. Lily followed her hand and her eyes widened at what she saw.
"His earrings," Lily scoped the pieces into her hand as she muttered, "They broke."
"Not just that," Nian held a red sword towards her, "His sword changed as well. It's much redder now."
True to her words, Lily noticed how the sword was far more darker now in colour. It was like it was made of blood.
"It looked like I was not the only one that placed a protective charm on him as well," Nian said, "I expected nothing less from that woman."
Lily did not understand.
Who was Nian referring to just now?
But that thought instantly disappeared when Lily realized that fact was not important.
"Nian, I don't care about that," Lily grabbed her sister's arm and stared at her, "Is Gege okay?"
"... He's barely holding on." Nian's eyes narrowed back at Lin Ye's body, "Something... Is protecting him in a way that I never thought was possible."
"Time literally stopped around his body."
Lily was giving her full attention now.
"Time?" She repeated the word back to Nian.
"Yes. It's like his body is literally frozen in time the moment his heart stopped."
"... So, he's alive?" Lily hopefully asked her.
"... For now, at least," Nian put down Maple as she answered Lily, "We don't know how long his state will last. If his time started again, he might die."
Hearing this from her, Lily glared back at the lone Lateran in the room.
"You," She spat out the word to her way," You must know what is going on here. Tell me, what did you do to him?"
Diana's back was in the corner now. The most reasonable thing for her to do was to come out clean.
However, she couldn't.
"I can't tell," Diana firmly told her, "This is Laterano's secret. Something I cannot tell."
That was the last straw for Lily.
Purple sparks flickered around her as she glared at the woman in front of her.
The woman that caused Gege to be like this now.
Suddenly, something flew toward Lily's hand.
It was a sword.
It was Zhan Lu without its scabbard.
With the said sword, Lily closed the distance between the two of them and pressed the blade onto her neck.
"You dare!" She shouted at her, "He's doing this because of you and your friend. This is how you repay his kindness?!!"
Diana stared into the princess' eyes and it was like she was staring at a Catastrophe in front of her. The room then was filled with the smell of ozone as sparks flew around the princess.
Just when people thought something would happen, a voice rang in the room.
"We need to send Doctor back to the Landship now," The owner of the voice was none other than Steward, "Miss Kal'tsit said that they might have something that could save him."
Hearing this, Lily quickly ignored the bird woman. Pulling Zhan Lu away from the woman's neck, Lily stared at the boy.
"How fast does he need to be there?" She did not want to waste time and immediately asked.
"Now, if possible," Steward said, "However, she did tell me to not make his state known to the people on the Landship."
"Now you say?" Nian hummed, "I can help with that."
Just as she was about to do something, a ring stopped her.
She looked back to Lin Ye and noticed something vibrating in his pocket.
She dug through it and pulled out something.
It was his phone.
On its screen was a name.
[Skadi]
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Snowflakes. Although made from the same thing and fell in the same place, no two of them were the same
That thought ran through Ye's mind as he watched a lone snowflake fall from the sky above.
Winter has arrived at his home. Like any time of this year, it was freezing now.
If he was his old self, he might die just by standing in this temperature for just a couple of minutes.
However, Mom did not want her little baby to be cold. That was why he had a simple grey scarf around his neck. A black coat that Dad gave him hugged his body. Although it should be freezing now, Ye was as warm as he ever was.
He was a teen now. A few more years and he would be done with school now. Lin Ye felt the time flying past him like the wind.
Ever changing.
But also, ever bright.
Ye smiled at the thought. However, his trance was short-lived as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh my? Ye's smiling? Is the end near?"
He looked to his side to find a familiar person beside him.
"Yue? Why're you here?" Ye asked curiosity filling his face. He pointed at the other side of the road, "Isn't your home on that side?"
Yue was a friend that he got to know now. He got to know her on the first day that Ye went to school. She was a bright girl. The energy that she had around herself was contagious as it made anyone around her smile just by being near her.
He did not mind being friends with her. The boys in his class said that he shouldn't be friends with her. When he asked why their reason was quite fitting for their age.
It was because she was a girl. Her long black hair was just a shade lighter than his. Although her eyes were much more beautiful, blue like the ocean.
Ye had a long talk with his new classmate about how to get friends and be a more respectable person.
He was quite surprised that she kept being his friend as the years passed by. He could say that about his whole class too. Even when he changed to a different class in the next years, they still kept in touch with him.
Maybe Ye was just blessed to have a friend group like his.
It seemed he did not pick the right choice of word as he was given a hash glare from the girl.
"I want to go to your house!" Yue suddenly replied with a bombshell.
"... Why?" He was genuinely confused about her reasoning.
"I want to see your Mom's garden!"
Ye's face brightened just by hearing this.
When he got better, his Mom quit her old job and got back into her old hobby and dream.
Being a florist.
He could still remember vividly how big her smile was when she planted her first flower.
Talking about changing careers, Dad also followed in her footsteps not long after he bought a whole damn store for her to start her new business as their anniversary.
Dad quit his job as a doctor and pursued something that he always wanted to do.
He became an artist. Although he could barely remember the last time he picked up a pen, Dad was not rusty. With a burning passion, he relearned everything.
Both of them are living their life to the fullest and Ye was glad that he could be in it as well.
Ye focused back on his childhood friend when he realised there was something off of what she just said.
"Yue, you know where my house is," He hummed, "Why do you need me to show it?"
Rather than answering him, the girl smiled and out of nowhere grasped at his hand. With that, Ye was dragged.
Before he could voice out anything, Yue answered his previous question.
"I just wanted to spend more time with you!" She admitted and smiled.
Ye was stunned by this. But he quickly recovered and chuckled as he was being dragged by the girl to his own home.
Not far from them, standing on top of a building was a man with a white hood. His eyes were focused on a pair of teens walking on the snowy road.
The two of them laughed and bantered with each other. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
He tore his gaze away from them and glanced at something that was not far from the both of them.
It was the body of a dead cat.
"If you just looked around, you might have seen it," The man hummed, "Sadly you now have a friend. He doesn't really need a Miracle now."
The man saw a snowflake falling down in front of him. Holding out his palm, it landed on his hand. Rather than melting, the snowflake stayed in its frosty form.
"No two snowflakes are alike," the man hummed.
Then he gripped his hand into the first, crushing the snowflake.
"The same goes with a person's life."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Discord
Edit: Jaq