Chapter Text
The climb was brutal. The higher they ascended, the more the snow thickened, the more the winds howled like a living beast. Stelle pressed forward with grim determination, March’s voice rang sharp against the cold as she tried to mask her fear with cheer, and Dan Heng marched in silence, spear at the ready.
But tonight, another figure walked beside them. Serval’s boots crunched in the frost, her electric guitar strapped against her back like a weapon and a memory both. She wasn’t supposed to be here thoigh, Gepard had begged her to stay in the city, to guard the front lines, but she couldn’t. Not when it was Cocolia at the heart of it all. The woman she had loved from beginning to end.
the woman who had once been her commander. Her Superior. But worst of all, the woman she had wanted to marry.
Everwinter Hill opened before them at last a frozen battlefield where snow met the sky, and the remnants of old Belobog towers jutted like broken teeth from the ice. And at the summit, framed by an impossible aurora of Stellaron light, stood Cocolia, not the cocolia serval remembered, a deep, pitch black woman, her skin almost like a faint galaxy, crowned with ice on her head, her usually shorter blonde hair grown. Blue tips at the end just like servals, every limb beheld some form of ice.
The Stellaron pulsed through her like iced chains, veins of sickly frost running across her form. Her voice, when it carried across the storm, was both hers, and something serval wished it would've never been.
Cocolia looked down at them, but her gaze specifically locked onto serval, even if she didn't technically have eyes. But.. still, whatever.
'outsiders, you have came.. along with you, Landau.'
Serval froze, every muscle locking at once. The wind hitting her bare torso like a blizzard... Cause it kinda was.
'Cocolia... this isn't you. Please.' she called out, voice trembling as if tears were bound to spill, 'what HAPPENED to you? This isn’t... this isn’t the Cocolia we knew. You swore you’d protect Belobog with your life. Cocolia.'
For a small, fraction of a second. Cocolia’s expression flickered. A shadow of the woman who had once smiled at her, once held her in her arms, who had listened to her every rant about rock music, surfaced. Then the Stellaron flared, and the ice around her body glowed for a brief moment.
'you do not understand, Dearest Landau. Belobog needs more than walls. More than it's current Preservation. The Stellaron offers salvation… a new future.'
March raised her bow, knuckles white. Stelle shifted her grip on her bat. Dan Heng narrowed his eyes, the air as tense as the string of a bow.
But Serval stepped forward. Just 5 words leaving her freezing lips.
'Wait. Please. Let me try.'
The Trailblazers didn’t move, not out of wanting serval to try talking her out, but mostly shock.
Serval’s voice trembled, but she pressed on, each word cracking against the blizzard they had found themselves in.
'You were the one who told me once that we endure the cold for those who come after us. That we fight for the next generation, so they'd never have to see this suffering. That was the Cocolia I followed. The one I admired. The one Belobog held onto with hope.'
The storm wavered. Cocolia’s grip on her weapon faltered for the briefest moment, not even enough for serval to notice.
'Don’t let this.. this THING bury that woman,' Serval pleaded, taking another step forward. 'don’t let it use you as a slave to destroy the very people you swore to protect.'
The Stellaron shrieked. The aurora overhead fractured into violent shards of light. Cocolia cried out, clutching at her head, torn between two voices.
And then—her gaze snapped back, colder than ever.
'Landau.. The Stellaron shows me clarity. And if you stand in its way… then you will fall alongside the intruders you protect.'
Her staff slammed into the ground. The hill shook. Ice burst forth, jagged and merciless.
Dan Heng’s voice cut through the storm: 'Serval! There’s no saving her. Ready yourself.'
Tears stung Serval’s eyes, freezing against her cheeks. Slowly, she reached for her guitar, the amplifier core glowing with raw voltage.
'Then I’ll fight you, Cocolia,.. or. Supreme guardian. Cause the cocolia I knew, would NEVER. Hurt her people like this.' she whispered. The cold air sinking into her lungs, coming out as fog.
The Trailblazers flanked her, weapons raised, their shadows long against the raging storm they had wished to fight in, the one serval had went on DATES with cocolia in.
as much as serval didn't want to, she watched the others charge forward. And with a deep breath, she followed.
So sorry for the short story I had no idea how to make it longer without adding very unnecessary details and didn't wanna make you guys suffer with that, I will definitely make a second chapter though cause why not.. oh boy sure hope the curse doesn't get me.