Memories Of Ice

The Wild Rose was getting closer to Disceath. Roisin was in the cockpit, flying the airship. She was taken by surprised when a smaller fighter sized airship began following them, she was about to try to shake them off, before they hailed The Wild Rose.

"Hmm" Roisin thought for a second, before opening a channel to the unknown airship.

"Hey! You're from Pyre, right?" A familiar female voice asked.

"I mean, not originally, but its where the airship came from" Roisin replied.

"Wait... Roisin Luna?" The voice asked cheerily.

"Uh, who is this?" Roisin asked, slightly confused.

"It's Lotte! The Hubun woman who took you to Pyre! Your Uncle's friend" Lotte replied.

"Oh... where did you go after dropping us off? I expected to see you around the Academy" Roisin wondered.

"That Skylar woman shoved me off basically, told me I wasn't welcome" Lotte replied.

"Probably didn't want you interrupting her plans" Roisin sighed.

"Hey, uh, your airship looks big enough to fit my fighter in the hold, mind if I come aboard?" Lotte asked.

"Yeah, ok, just give me a minute" Roisin replied. She muted the channel, and opened up the ship wide intercomm. "Uh, we've got a friend about to land in the hold, things might get bumpy, so, you should probably pick up any cups, glasses or plates and seal the cupboards" She announced.

She heard clattering and banging from below decks, before Ashe ran up the stairs to the cockpit.

"All done, Ros" Ashe smiled

"Okay" Roisin nodded, she clicked open the release for the hold door, and unmuted Lotte. "Ready to go, Lotte" Roisin said, before slowing the speed of the ship down.

Lotte's airship matched the speed of The Wild Rose, and flew into the hold, a robotic arm came down and grasped the fighter, and the hold door sealed shut. Roisin turned the autopilot on and headed to the hold.

Roisin was joined by Anya, Ashe and Ariel in the hold, as Lotte made her way out of the fighter, and climbed down to the ground.

"Uh, hi guys!" Lotte scratched her head.

"Good to see you again, Lotte, appreciated the lift you gave us to Pyre" Ariel thanked Lotte.

"I'm Anya Fyre, a 'Droid' and ex-student of Pyre Academy" Anya bowed in greeting.

"I'm Wesleye, also a former student of Pyre" Wes added.

"I see you've grown your team since we last met on the Steppe" Lotte chucked as she looked around. "Where's my other bunny pal?" She grinned. Roisin sighed and looked down.

"He didn't make it" Ashe said, sadly.

"Oh... what happened to Pyre was a tragedy, I'd say it was the work of Lumina, but the city never turned into a desert like Terrana and Mystallia" Lotte sighed. "Dex seemed like a good kid, it's a shame..." She added.

"Lumina was the one who killed Dex" Roisin said, as she tried to gather her emotions back together. "But she wasn't responsible for the fall of Raryst and Pyre" She added.

"Hmm? Then who was?" Lotte asked, curiously.

"Skylar Pyre" Roisin growled.

"Skylar!?" Lotte gasped.

"She imprisoned me and Ariel first, after we broke into the Crystech depot on the Academy grounds" Ashe explained.

"Then she kidnapped Roisin" Anya added. "Dex, Wes and me went to rescue Roisin, during the Battle of Tycairn Steppe" She added.

"When we got there, we found Skylar... infusing the Fire Crystal into Roisin" Wes nodded. "Dex flew into a rage, and killed Skylar, he ran to check on Roisin... then Abyssia and Lumina showed up" Wes sighed.

"Wait... both of them?" Lotte asked, looking shocked.

"Yeah, Lumina said some bullshit to Abyssia, then stabbed Dex, killing him. By that point it was too late and I had absorbed the whole crystal and the volcano began erupting" Roisin explained.

"I'm so sorry" Lotte sighed deeply, as she walked over and hugged Roisin. "I promised Atlas I'd protect you, and I failed..." She hugged Roisin tight.

"It's not your fault, Skylar played us like fools" Roisin hugged Lotte back. "You thought we'd be safe at Pyre, and we should have been" She added.

"Still..." Lotte shook her head, as she let go. "Anyway, where are we headed now?" She asked.

"Disceath, my father lives there, we should be safe there" Ashe smiled.

"Hmm, good choice, Disceath is isolated and excluded from most politics" Lotte smiled.

"That's not the only thing, this airship is our new home" Ariel gestured to the airship walls as she smiled.

"No more Academies, no more long journeys on foot" Ashe cheered.

"Yeah, I think I've had my fill of Academies" Roisin shrugged.

"Our Rozzer is a proper rebel" Ashe chuckled.

"A rebel with a cause!" Roisin posed.

"Hmm, if this place is your home, it needs a name..." Lotte smiled.

"We already got one, The Wild Rose" Anya smiled.

"Hmm, I like it! Given my history with airships, I could make a great engineer, if you'd have me, of course" Lotte smiled at Roisin.

"Welcome aboard, Auntie Lotte" Roisin smiled.

"Auntie?" Lotte scratched her long ears.

"Yeah, you feel like an Auntie, so now you are an Auntie!" Roisin grinned. Lotte felt a warm feeling in her chest and smiled.

"That settles it, I'm now Auntie Lotte Wynd!" Lotte chuckled.

"Wait what?" Ashe raised her eyebrow, as did the others.

"Wynd?" Roisin asked.

"Oh, right, yeah, I'm Deux Wynd's daughter. Technically the new Headmistress of Wynd Academy" Lotte explained.

"But... the ears" Roisin said as she gazed at Lotte's rabbit like ears.

"Oh, my mother was a Hubun, my father was Human, as you know" Lotte explained.

"That's so cool!" Roisin smiled.

"Glad you think so, I have gotten a lot of stick for it over the years" Lotte smiled at Roisin.

"Well, you won't here" Ashe said, as she took Lotte's hand and shook it.

"Now, do you guys have any booze on board?" Lotte chuckled.

"Uh, we might have in the fridge, we kinda... stole this airship, so, we don't really know" Ashe explained.

"Hah, I love it!" Lotte laughed. She and the others left the hold to go and chat in the lounge.