Chapter Text
The wind howled down the darkened corridor, a sound like forgotten voices waking.
Then… silence.
And from that silence came a single, soft footfall.
A figure emerged, tall, draped in tattered robes of starlight and frost. Their face was hidden beneath a hood, but two pale eyes glowed like winter moons. Chains made of frozen time clinked at their wrists with every step.
“The Bell has rung…” the figure intoned, voice echoing as if from deep beneath ice. “After so long… one who remembers… one who dares.”
Noel stepped forward slightly—protective—but even she looked wary.
“This is beyond me,” she whispered to Alice. “That’s not a sinner… not a dreamer... This is something older.”
Alice didn’t flinch. She held the Echo Bell high, the light steady in her hand, and met those ancient eyes without fear.
“I am Alice,” she said, clear and strong. “And I remember enough.”
The hooded figure tilted their head… then slowly knelt on one knee.
"Then let it be known," the being whispered into the frost-laced air,
"The Guardian of Forgotten Holidays has found their heir."
Behind them, shadows began to stir, not with malice…
But reverence.
Something old had returned.
And Alice?
She was no longer just surviving.
She was chosen.
Krampus Prime nodded, his ancient eyes holding a glimmer of something long forgotten, hope.
“Then begin you shall,” he intoned, voice resonating like frost forming over stone. “But know this: the Echo Bell is not given, it chooses. And it has chosen you. That makes you neither student… nor outsider.”
He stepped back slightly, the air around him crackling with dormant power.
“It makes you an heir.”
Noel’s breath caught. "Heir? But that means—"
Krampus silenced her with a raised hand.
“The line of Winter Keepers was broken long ago,” he said solemnly. “Until now.”
Alice trembled, not from fear, but from the weight of what she was hearing.
“I… I don’t even know where to start,” she admitted softly.
Krampus tilted his head, and for the first time, a ghost of a smile touched his lips beneath the hood.
“You already have.”
With that, he turned and began to walk deeper into the frozen hall. Ice bloomed beneath his footsteps in intricate patterns, an old path awakening.
“Follow,” he called without looking back.
“And learn why only those who’ve lost themselves can ever truly ring an Echo Bell.”
Alice glanced at Noel, who gave her a small nod, pride shining through pain in her eyes, and then stepped forward onto the newly formed path...
Her journey as something far greater had only just begun.
★
Elara's eyes flicked to her Connexus, its screen flashing with a new alert,
[Connection Detected: Alice – Bond Forged]
A beat of silence.
Then, a faint smirk tugged at Elara’s lips, one that held no malice, just quiet awe.
"So... you found your strength," she murmured to no one in particular. "Good."
She closed the device and slipped it back into her pocket like she was tucking away a secret promise.
The familiar deadpan voice of the schoolgirl came from behind her.
"Why are you talking to yourself?”
Elara turned slowly, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.
“Because someone likes to sneak up like a ghost,” she shot back. “And for the record, talking to yourself is only crazy if you’re not expecting an answer.”
The schoolgirl tilted her head, black pigtails swaying. “You answered anyway.”
Elara rolled her eyes, but there was no real bite in it.
“I’ve just... got a lot on my mind,” she admitted, gaze drifting toward the distant horizon where storm clouds gathered. “Alice made a real connection. First one that wasn’t forced… or manipulated.” She paused. “Kinda makes you wonder what your first real one felt like.”
The girl didn’t flinch, but something in her stillness shifted. Subtle.
"...I don't remember," she said flatly.
But after a beat,
"...But I think it hurt."
Elara looked at her, really looked, and saw not just the eerie calm of someone too used to pain…
But the quiet echo of someone still searching for warmth in all the wrong places.
She reached out and ruffled the girl’s hair, gently, uncharacteristically tender.
"Then let's find one that doesn't," Elara said softly. "One that heals."
The schoolgirl blinked, once, as if surprised by touch that didn’t draw blood or demand anything in return.
"...Okay."
One syllable. Quiet.
Heavy with possibility.
The girl’s simple trust touched something in Elara she hadn’t felt in ages: a flicker of hope that maybe, maybe, some connections, once broken, could still be saved.
"Anywho…" she said wryly, trying to shake the emotion, "I never got your name."
"Ai," the schoolgirl replied flatly. "Akamatsu Ai.”
"Ai," Elara repeated, the word light on her tongue. "That kinda means 'love', right?"
Ai blinked, but there was a glint of surprise in her eyes. "How'd you know?”
"Because I'm not an idiot," Elara shot back with a smirk, brushing imaginary dust off her sleeve. "Also because I worked alongside a linguistics major who never shut up about the etymology of names."
She leaned back slightly, arms crossed again, cool as ever, but her tone softened just at the edge.
"Guess it’s... kinda fitting."
Ai narrowed her eyes slightly. “Fitting? You barely know me.”
Elara shrugged. “You don’t name a kid ‘love’ and expect them to grow up unburdened in this world.” She tilted her head, studying Ai like she was finally seeing more than just another tool in a war. “Especially if no one ever gave you any.”
Silence stretched between them, thin, fragile.
Then Ai looked away first, muttering under her breath:
"...I never thought about it like that."
Elara didn’t smile, not really, but something warm flickered behind her eyes.
“Now you will.”
Ai looked down at her feet for a moment , quiet, processing. Then she said, voice softer than before:
"...Do you think... I could be more than the name?"
Elara didn’t answer right away.
She studied Ai , really studied her , like she was seeing past the flat tone, the emotionless mask, the cold precision of someone trained to kill without flinching.
And then…
A small, knowing smirk curled on Elara’s lips.
"You already are," she said simply. "Names are just starting points. You don’t live in them… you grow out of them." She nudged Ai lightly with her elbow. "You're not just 'Ai' anymore."
"Then what am I?" Ai asked quietly, no sarcasm, no edge. Genuine.
Elara glanced toward the horizon again, where storm clouds swirled and distant magic pulsed in time with awakening powers.
"You're…" She paused, "the one who stands beside me when everything burns."
A beat.
"...I like that better," Ai murmured, almost too low to hear, as a single black feather drifted down from nowhere… and dissolved into shadow before it touched the ground.
The air changed, the moment held tight like a precious secret,
Until Elara cleared her throat, back fully to the horizon now, arms still crossed.
"And for the record…" she said, as casually as if they’d been talking about the weather. "...I like you better, too."
Ai's brow crinkled slightly. "You're being weird."
Elara shot her a sidelong glance and rolled her eyes. "I'm being... honest, for once."
Ai's eyebrow shot up. "You can do that?”
"Oh, wow," Elara deadpanned, throwing her hands up. "The tiny assassin has jokes now? What’s next, empathy?"
Ai didn’t smile.
But something in her eyes flickered , like a glitch in the system. A crack in the mask.
"...Maybe," she said flatly. Then added: "...Don't push it."
Elara smirked and turned away, hiding how much that tiny spark meant.
"Wouldn’t dream of it… partner."
And though neither said it,
They both felt it.
A quiet shift…
Like two shadows leaning toward the same light without realizing they’re stepping out of darkness together.
For a while, all was quiet.
Then Ai cleared her throat. "So... what now?"
Elara glanced at her, eyebrow arched. "What, need me to hold your hand?"
Ai rolled her eyes. "No, dumbass. I mean..." She tilted her head slightly, dark eyes searching. "...What now?"
Elara's usual smirk faded, replaced with something almost serious. She looked at the storm clouds gathering.
"Now…" she said softly, "we wait.”