The snow hadn't stopped for three weeks.

It fell endlessly.

Noah stood by the frost-crusted window of the command tent, watching the silhouettes of his soldiers struggling through the blizzard outside.

He'd sent Division Seven out two days ago to secure a supply route along the northern ridges leading to the frozen sea. They hadn't reported back. No messenger. No smoke signals. Nothing.

"They're gone," whispered a voice in the back of his mind.

Noah's hand trembled slightly over the parchment.

"They might still be alive."

He turned away from the light, pulling his heavy coat tighter.

The emblem of the Northern Alliance gleamed faintly against the frost.

Chrome Hearts' funds had nearly vanished. His false reports of "steady progress" were already starting to circulate among the troops.

Every lie he wrote was another shield against collapse.

He told himself it was mercy and it was necessary

---

When they found the half-buried wagon near the ridges, it was already frozen solid.

The snow had swallowed the tracks, and all that remained were broken rifles and frostbitten hands jutting out from the drifts like pale roots.

Lieutenant Arden knelt beside one of the corpses, brushing the snow from its face. His lips trembled.

"It's them, sir… Division Seven."

Noah didn't answer and just stared.

The bodies were positioned as if they'd been trying to shield one another from the cold, still huddled together even in death.

"Some of them froze to death before the enemy even reached them," Arden said quietly.

"No signs of struggle. No gunshot marks. Just…"

"Just the snow," Noah finished for him. His voice was hoarse.

He crouched beside one of the soldiers and reached out, brushing ice from the badge on their chest.

His fingers lingered for a moment, the cold biting through his gloves.

There was no one left to save.

But when Noah turned his gaze toward the far white horizon that bled into the sea—something inside him refused to stay still.

"Search the ridge," he ordered suddenly.

"If there's even one survivor—"

"Sir, the storm's worsening. We'll lose visibility in less than an hour," Arden protested.

And before anyone could stop him, Noah started forward, trudging into the white abyss.

---

At first, the storm was only a whisper. Then it screamed.

The wind howled like a living thing, tearing through the ridges with a voice full of ghosts. Snow lashed his face until he couldn't tell which way was north. His coat snapped in the gale, his boots sinking deeper with every step.

He couldn't see the others anymore. The world had turned into nothing but white and wind.

Then—

A whisper, soft but distinct, carried through the storm.

"Noah Ashbourne."

He froze.

The voice was calm. Familiar.

He turned slowly, eyes narrowing against the snow.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Only the wind.

Then another voice. Deeper this time.

"You should've died in the first route."

A figure stepped out from the blizzard—himself.

But not the man he was now.

This Noah wore the Ravenwood academy uniform ...bloodied, torn, the crest of Ravenwood still faintly visible through the stains.

"You remember, don't you?" the academy Noah said, tilting his head.

"When you killed them all. When you thought it was the only way to give this shitty world a good ending..."

Noah's breath hitched.

"You're not real."

"Oh, but I am," the other whispered, stepping closer.

"I'm the part of you that still thinks it was worth it."

The wind howled louder and snow churned as more figures appeared.

A soldier in modern military gear, his rifle slung over his shoulder...

...Kim Hajun.

His eyes were tired, his uniform soaked in blood and mud.

"You left us," Hajun said flatly.

"You promised you'd get us out of there. Out of Seoul and out of that hellhole.

But you didn't."

"I—"

"You always say that," Hajun interrupted, his tone eerily calm.

"Every time...You say it wasn't your fault. That you were trying to survive."

Then came another...himself again, but older, colder.

The Noah who'd played the villain under the system's control, the one bound by invisible strings at the academy.

This one smirked cruelly.

"And yet you enjoyed it, didn't you? Being the monster.

The villain everyone hated.

It gave you a reason to keep existing."

Noah stumbled backward, his boots slipping in the snow.

The storm screamed louder.

"Stop…" he muttered.

"You're not—"

"Not what?" the academy Noah sneered.

"Real?"

Hajun's voice joined in, low and unrelenting. "You killed your comrades."

The villain Noah stepped forward.

"You killed your friends."

Another shape materialized—taller, cloaked in black and red energy.

The hooded figure said nothing.

It simply looked at him.

Its voice didn't come from its mouth...it came from everywhere at once.

"You killed yourself."

Noah dropped to his knees, clutching his head.

His breaths came in ragged bursts, fogging the air in front of him.

"Stop it!"

The wind didn't stop.

"You lied to them."

"You lied to yourself."

"You should've stayed dead."

Their voices overlapped...echoing, fracturing, until the storm itself seemed to whisper his name.

"Noah. Noah. Noah.

NOAH!"

He crawled through the snow, desperate to escape the specters that walked beside him.

His gloves tore and his knees bled.

"Why…" His voice cracked.

"Why do I keep coming back?"

The cloaked figure stopped in front of him. Its shadow loomed impossibly tall over the white plain.

"Because the story hasn't ended yet..."

Noah looked up his face pale, his eyes trembling.

"Whose story?"

The figure tilted its head.

"Yours of course..."

It stretched out it's hand revealing it's face which was the same as his.

---

When the soldiers finally found him hours later, Noah was half-buried in snow, his skin ghostly pale and his lips blue.

He was muttering to himself.

"Lieutenant… check the left flank…" he whisperhim

Then, a moment later.

"Kim, cover me...don't move, the sniper's still—"

Arden knelt beside him, shaking his shoulder.

"Sir! General, it's me—Arden!"

Noah's gaze was glassy.

He looked past Arden as if seeing someone else.

"They didn't make it out," he murmured.

"All of them… gone…"

"Sir, you're safe now," Arden said, trying to steady his voice.

"We've got you. You're in the north, remember?"

Noah suddenly grabbed his arm. His grip was iron.

"Pull back the tanks! The south flank is compromised!"

"General—!"

Noah's head jerked as if hearing something else entirely. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Don't… don't let them burn the academy again…"

The soldiers exchanged uncertain glances. The storm raged on around them, howling like laughter.

For hours they carried him through the snow, his words shifting between past and present—between Noah Ashbourne and Kim Hajun.

By the time they reached the coastal ridge, Noah was barely conscious.

He collapsed into the snow, his cane slipping from his numb fingers. His breath was shallow.

The soldiers huddled around him, their faces streaked with frost and grief. None of them spoke.

Suddenly red butterflies began appearing from the snow.

"Butterflies?..."

One soldier uttered.

Then, above the roar of the wind, came the faint hum of engines.

They looked up.

A massive airship was descending through the blizzard...its hull bearing the mark of the Northern Fleet.

Searchlights cut through the storm, illuminating the frozen landscape like the hand of God.

A rope ladder dropped down.

And then someone jumped.

A woman, her black hair whipping in the wind, her coat snapping like a banner.

She landed softly beside Noah, her boots sinking into the snow.

"Iris…"

Arden breathed.

She didn't answer.

She just knelt beside Noah, pulling him into her arms.

His head rested against her shoulder, his breath faint and uneven.

"...You're late," Noah murmured weakly, a faint smile ghosting his lips.

Iris's voice trembled as she brushed the snow from his face.

"You idiot… You said you'd wait for me."

He didn't answer.

The storm howled again, as if mocking them.

But Iris held him tighter, her gloved hand pressed to his cheek.

"I'm here now...that's enough."

The soldiers watched in silence as the wind began to ease, the blizzard softening into quiet snow.