It was silent in the morning as if nobody had woken up yet. You could hear a faint chirp of a bird that decided to come back to the snow wasteland. You could imagine a flock of geese migrating to where it is no longer cold.
Inside the cave, everyone was sleeping peacefully. No one woke up due to the immense cold that kept entering. It was like the temperature finally went to a degree where everyone was comfortable.
Soon, a brunette person with red eyes slowly woke up, feeling a bit dizzy, and had a small headache. Well, the headache wasn't too much of a problem, but that didn't mean they didn't feel it.
"Ohhh… If that was modern wine then I would have a more terrible headache. Although I did like the apple flavor."
Chara said as they felt the experience of drinking for the first time, even though this era of wine didn't match the one back in their world. But hey, at least they got to try the experience, and hopefully it would be the only time they would ever drink.
They look around as they see everyone still asleep and are a lot more cozy on anything comfy. Chara couldn't help but feel conflicted about seeing Barbatos having bottles of empty bottle wines pile up around him. It seems that it was more than five and was probably the remaining bottles the group had gathered up.
It made them wonder who on Ear—Teyvat gave him so many bottles. But they weren't going to get an answer right now.
"Guess I should go drink some water."
They slowly got up, only to feel that someone was dragging them down. They look at their left arm as they see Venerare tightly holding their left arm. A small blush was visible on Chara's face as they couldn't find the words to say anything.
They carefully removed their arm from Venerare's hold as it was quite difficult to do. But Chara was able to succeed as they were able to get up, stretch, and then begin to quietly find a water bottle.
"Don't… Leave again… Or I'll… Have vengeance for this."
Chara stops their movement as they look back to Venerare as they hear her say the words she mutters in her sleep. They couldn't help but smile at her as they quietly muttered.
"Why do I feel like that's going to be your motto?"
They search for the water bottle, Chara sees a similar position they were in, but it is Frisk and Gunnhildr. Chara can see Frisk's student sleep in pure comfort as if she found a comfortable position to sleep peacefully. Frisk, meanwhile, was hard to tell if they were actually asleep or not.
"...We only drank wine, right? That's all we did?"
They hoped it was just that as they couldn't help but be reminded of the position they woke up in. Chara couldn't help but sigh as they found the water bottle and drank the entire bottle. Now, feeling refreshed, they could somewhat start the day.
"Guess I should wake Frisk up to help make breakfast."
Unlike themselves, they violently woke Frisk up. Chara can see their eyebrows form an irritated expression as they move their head towards Chara.
"Ugh… Chara, let me sleep a bit longer."
"And let you sleep in? Nope! Besides, you'll be too comfortable to even be fully awake. And she is, too, by the looks of it."
"...Wha?"
Chara pointed as Frisk looked as they now saw Gunnhildr holding their right arm, as she looked so peacefully sleeping. A massive blush appears on Frisk's face as they stumble on words that they are trying to say. Chara let out the quietest chuckle they could muster.
"Try to carefully remove her arm and help me cook breakfast."
Chara walked away, still chuckling, as Frisk tried to do just that but nearly woke her up in the process. But eventually, Frisk was able to free their arm and went to Chara as they elbowed their arm.
"You could have helped me."
"And interrupt your mind processing what you just saw? Nah!"
Frisk let out a "tsk" sound as the two of them prepared breakfast. Starting a fire was now easy, and they had confirmed to still use fire magic. The ingredients the groups had with them lasted for about maybe another week.
"It sure is a good thing we're planning on going inside the city, we could perhaps get more supplies while we're there."
"Yeah, but right now, everyone needs energy for the morning. Let's see… Sweet flowers, mint, wheat, flour, sugar, salt, fowls, chilled meats, raw fish, carrots, cabbages, radishes, mushrooms, eggs, berries, I guess some of these will do."
Frisk couldn't help but wonder just what to cook with these ingredients. Sure, they could make a well-balanced breakfast, but will everyone enjoy it? Everyone has their own preferences, so it could be that someone would prepare more meat than vegetables or the other way around. Or would they prepare their meal to have more flavor or less?
Perhaps it was just them still thinking of the system back home. This was like the past of 1000 or something like that. So who knows what this world will be provided of its seemingly past.
"Okay, so it seems no one had met a cow so I doubt we'll get butter for the meat. There is always salt."
"Yeah, but I guess it will do for now. At least until there is confirmation that there are cows somewhere else. I would be surprised if there were cows in this wasteland."
Soon the sounds of sizzle meat were being heard throughout the cave. It managed to wake a few people as some were feeling dizzy like Chara. But some people are deep sleepers. But they will eventually wake up due to food being cooked, the fresh smell of delicious meat.
Soon everyone in the cave slowly woke up. Everyone felt their stomachs rumble as they wanted to eat right now. But when they noticed who was cooking, they all willingly decided to wait for the Dreemurrs to prepare breakfast for everyone.
"Just wait for a few minutes, everyone! We'll have breakfast ready."
Soon enough, breakfast was served, and everyone couldn't help but applaud the meal in front of them. Some even said thanks to the two Dreemurrs, even to the point where you can see them saying prayers to them.
Still, everyone soon began to eat as everyone talked to each other, planning on what Frisk had said last night. While Frisk and Ventus were talking, Chara noticed someone was missing.
"Wait… Has anyone seen Leonard?"
They recall the person Venerare mentioned and met during their time here. From what Chara knew of him, his lifelong dream was to reach the summit of a mountain called Pilos Peak. A tall mountain that was said by Leonard to be difficult to climb with the snow and cold. It was quite far from where they were.
Venerare said to them that she supported his dream to be achieved someday. She even tried to help him before she met them, but the mountain proved to be difficult and dangerous to climb. She did want to continue helping but her group came first.
Chara respects him; heck, they hoped that he could achieve his dream. They even got to meet the man during the week on one of his trips to the mountain in an attempt to climb Pilos Peak when Venerare asked them to accompany her to help Leonard. They even welcomed him into the group as their base was close, as his home was at Mondstadt.
He would normally return after one or two hours if he failed to reach the top and return to the cave to rest up before either going back for a second time or thinking of a way to reach the top.
But they couldn't help but notice right now that he wasn't among the people who were eating. And now that they had thought about it, they hadn't seen him yesterday either. It began to worry them.
Everyone began to look around, noticing that they hadn't seen or noticed Leonard wasn't among them. Everyone pretty much knows him at this point, a man in his 40s who is an adventurer from a small guild called the Adventures' Guild.
"Oh! He mentioned that he was going to get something for his other attempt to conquer Pilos Peak again; he said this while you both were out to talk with the God of Blizzard. Some of us offered to come with him back to Mondstadt, but he declined any help as he left on his own; it was yesterday early morning. And we…"
A woman from Venerare's group spoke as she realized that she forgot to tell everyone else she fell silent. The others who last saw him also realized that they didn't tell anyone as they all felt guilty for not saying anything.
"Well, the snowstorm did stop yesterday so of course everyone would be focused on that, and… Actually, he might have said that as an excuse to go to Pilos Peak."
It does sound like Leonard would do something like that with or without help and would go without anyone knowing. Still, it could be bad if he somehow was still up in the mountain and hadn't gone down at all.
"We can go search for him. We can postpone the trip to Mondstadt City for another day."
Frisk suggested as Chara simply looked at them, fully knowing why Frisk had said that.
"And give you an excuse to find a way to go on your own, and drag me with you? Yeah, not a chance."
Frisk sighs in defeat while feeling a slight glare from Gunnhildr. As if the teacher and student had already formed a great relationship, she knew she had to do something to prevent her instructor from doing the same thing as yesterday.
"How about we split into groups? Frisk, Scharlach, and I can go to Mondstadt to find more people willing to join the rebellion, while Chara, Venerare, and Ventus go find Leonard. We can take a few people with us if it means to cover more ground on both sides."
Everyone thought of the suggestion Gunnhildr made; everyone agreed with this idea as two groups could do their own task. One group will journey to Mondstadt to find more people to recruit, while the other group will go find Leonard and bring him back.
So, after an hour of preparation and wishing each other luck on their mission, the two groups parted in different directions. Chara, moving next to Venerare, spoke as if they were possibly the only few who knew how tall the mountain was. Even go as far as to try to climb, only for Chara to nearly die due to nearly slipping off the cliff had it not been for Venerare.
"Do you think he might have gone the same route he took last time?"
"It could be a possibility, but he did tell me that he had other routes he could take if it meant getting closer to reaching the top."
"So he could be anywhere up there. Great, just great! Even though the blizzard is clear, that doesn't mean the snow will go away all at once, at least for a few days."
Chara sighed as Venerare could only frown at the situation. Ventus couldn't help but speak.
"Perhaps we can find traces of footprints on the… Actually, it was still snowing yesterday when he left, so there was a chance the footprints were already covered up. Plus the snow could have already melted."
"...Well, it wasn't a bad suggestion. Wait… Could Barbatos sense anyone who has his blessing?"
Chara asks their friend as they wonder if the suggestion is possible for the wind spirit to do. Barbatos looked conflicted as if Chara asked a stupid question. And that he just went to head bonk Chara as they looked a bit annoyed.
"Hey, I'm still getting used to this—place; cut me some slack, Barsibatos."
Chara smirked as Barbatos continued his attack with a more irritated expression. Ventus had to step in to stop the two from bickering even further.
"Alright, alright, calm down you two. For your question, yes, Barbatos can sense anyone who has his blessing. So if you're suggesting this to find Leonard then yes, he can be able to find him."
Chara nodded as they glanced at Barbatos who just floated around Ventus. They sigh as they continue to the mountain which took an hour to get to on foot.
Soon, everyone was at the bottom of the mountain, and anyone who hadn't been there was astonished and a bit concerned about how high the mountain was. Especially since the blizzard no longer clouded anything for anyone unless they got too close to see.
"Wow! Leonard is trying to reach the top of this kind of mountain?"
Ventus couldn't help but ask as Venerare chuckled at his question.
"More like he's determined to reach the summit "
"Too determined, why couldn't he have waited after we came back? It could have been a more safe attempt had he waited."
Chara now couldn't help but nag as they could understand Leonard's dream but it was still dangerous to go alone, especially yesterday.
Ventus simply looks at Chara and then at his wind spirit friend as it stops floating and does something. A faint glow appeared all over him as if he was using his small, yet strong power. After a moment, Barbatos' expression falters, as if he couldn't find him.
"Hmm, could it mean that he couldn't find Leonard?"
"...Unless, Barbatos, try that again but do it a few more times, and follow me."
Chara said fearing for the worse as they decided to go up the mountain. Barbatos could feel Chara's expression as he listened to them as he did the same thing again while following them.
Ventus immediately knew what Chara was doing as he accompanied them along with Venerare and everyone else. There were some remnants of snow in the mountain which was bad as it was possible to slip from either water or ice. And thanks to Chara and Venerare's experience everyone was able to get a bit far up the mountain.
"Anything Barbatos?"
The wind spirit let out an unsure hum as if he wasn't sure if he felt something or not; it was weak and barely presentable. This causes Chara to look around as their eyes catch something. There was something stuck in the snow and maybe in the nearly visible dirt.
"Hey, everyone, I think I found something. I need help to get it out."
They managed to get whatever was stuck on the ground as it looked like it was damaged by impact. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be some kind of… feather-wing glider. Chara gasps as they recognize the item.
"Wait! Isn't this the prototype Wind Glider?"
Chara immediately recalled a gadget that Leonard had shown them after his latest failure of climbing the mountain, along with a sketch of the Wind Glider. Leonard expresses the gadget as a way to finally be able to reach the top as the wind could help him ascend to the summit.
Both they and Frisk were very interested in a gadget that could make them glide through the wind. And possibly use Barbatos' blessing to see if they could fly without running out of wind in the air. Leonard admired their curiosity as he had promised the Dreemurrs that he'd make two for them once he finished the prototype.
And that exact prototype was damaged and maybe on the verge of splitting apart. But it could be possible to repair it if Chara had the sketch design and the materials used to make the glider.
"The damage looks like a day old. Which confirms Leonard did come here."
"So which means it either was damaged because he fell or the blizzard was still strong enough that it couldn't take the pressure."
"Either way, he still decided to… Wait, I see footprints!"
Chara noticed a small trail of footprints on the snow that hadn't melted yet. It was small and barely visible but there were still footprints. It was next to where the Wind Glider was.
"..."
Barbatos knew why Chara; they slowly looked towards him; they were quiet, yet understandable. Barbatos did his thing again, but this time, after another moment, he hummed in worry. He floated in a direction, urging everyone to quickly follow him.
"He must have found him!"
Chara declared as they rushed to follow Barbatos, and everyone quickly followed suit. Nobody realized that they were climbing higher and higher, yet the top still seemed too far if they looked up. But everyone had one thing on their minds, finding Leonard.
But soon Barbatos stopped floating, as if it just saw something. Chara, who was the closest stop next to him, saw a pile of snow that hadn't melted yet. But for Chara, it reminds them of something Asriel told them, the second (third) human who fell, died before reaching Snowdin.
Their body was found covered in snow as there was red snow surrounding the spot where the Bravery SOUL was found. Horror was shown on their faces as they rushed to the pile as they dug through the snow, they dug and dug until they stopped, frozen in place.
Within the snow lay a cold, unmoving body, a body that was no doubt, Leonard. Chara immediately checks their pulse, only to feel nothing, not a pulse to be felt. They removed the now corpse out of the snow as they saw signs of frostbite on their hands.
That was when Chara could only watch a dead body lay unmoving. A disturbing feeling was felt within their body, something they couldn't feel during and witnessing the number of times Frisk died, whether it was intentional or not.
The sight reminds them of poisoning themselves just for a plan that causes not only the loss of their SOUL but also the loss of their adopted brother. But unlike them, their death was suicide, Leonard died due to the exposure of the cold. They went through the pain of being poisoned, and Leonard had to deal with the freezing cold.
Their reason was to see the extinction of humanity; Leonard's reason was just to reach the top of Pilos Peak. They wanted death, destruction, and pain for every human. Leonard just wanted to achieve his dream through determination, perseverance, and hope.
Chara admits to themselves they are a bad person; they see Leonard as a good man who has a big ambition. An ambition that he won't ever achieve, now not, not ever again.
Chara felt a hand on their shoulder; they didn't turn around; they didn't know if it was Ventus or Venerare. Their eyes only lock on Leonard. But suddenly, they slowly looked up towards the top; the sight just seemed far, but for some reason, it felt close.
For Leonard to climb this high up was achieving enough, but it didn't fully feel accomplished. They slowly look back at the dead body, carefully pull it up, and place it on their back. They carefully got up while steading the body and slowly began to move. The weight did feel heavy, but honestly, to them, it was nothing.
Chara was filled with Determination, determined to ensure the man who wants to achieve a dream that seems so dangerous. To ensure his body would reach the top, to ensure whatever plan he thought of wouldn't be in vain, whenever with or without the Wind Glider. If their plan wouldn't be achieved, they would be damned if Leonard wouldn't have his dream be achieved.