The past is never dead. It's not even past.
William Faulkner:
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Something wasn't right.
The warmth in the room, once comforting, now felt strange—almost alive. It pressed against Amel's skin, subtle yet unmistakable, like the presence of an unseen hand hovering too close for comfort.
The air carried a faint hum, a vibration too low to hear but impossible to ignore, resonating deep in his bones.
It was as though the room itself, the moment, and even the woman on the table were observing them, silent and waiting, their intentions unreadable.
Amel's expression tightened, his sharp gaze scanning the chamber.
He felt the weight of something unseen bearing down on him, heavy and suffocating.
Yet, he said nothing. Not yet. For now, he let the fragile peace linger, though his instincts screamed a clear warning: this was far from over.
Conversation Between Yuno and Ymir
Ymir stood with his arms crossed, his towering frame casting a shadow over the fluffy snow.
His piercing gaze flickered between the boy and his daughter. The fact that he hadn't demanded the boy's name by now was baffling even to him.
But if Yuno trusted him, perhaps he could swallow his pride. For now.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips as Yuno's voice broke the silence.
"Don't worry," she said, her tone steady yet firm. "He won't do anything to her. I trust him."
Ymir arched a skeptical eyebrow, his suspicion unmasked. "I'll take your word for it," he said, his deep voice rumbling like distant thunder.
His gaze darkened, and his tone dropped to something colder, heavier. "But before we go any further, you owe me an answer, Yuno."
Yuno blinked, her pink eyes briefly widening. "What do you mean?"
Ymir leaned closer, his imposing presence palpable as his voice thickened with the weight of memory. "How the hell are you still alive?"
The question hit like a blade. Yuno opened her mouth to respond, but Ymir's words came faster, pouring out like an unrelenting tide.
"The last thing I remember about you," he began, his voice hoarse with emotion, "you were trapped in the Labyrinth of Britannia. They were transferring you to the breeding grounds." His fists clenched, his knuckles white against his white skin. "But before the transfer was complete—poof—you vanished. Gone without a trace."
Yuno shifted uncomfortably, her pink hair catching the faint light as she struggled to meet his gaze.
Ymir's voice turned raw, tinged with both sorrow and fury. "That was millennia ago. Millennia, Yuno. Humans don't live that long. A century is a miracle—a thousand years? That's impossible."
Yuno smiled faintly but didn't answer right away. Her pink eyes seemed distant, as if reaching back into memories too painful to touch without caution.
Finally, she spoke, her voice quiet yet tinged with something raw. "That's the thing, Ymir. Even I don't know. The last thing I remember from that time was blacking out… and then waking up in Arlam's Atoll."
Ymir's expression darkened instantly.
His jaw tightened, and though in his human form, his towering frame seemed to grow heavier under the weight of her words. "Arlam's Atoll?" he repeated, his voice edged with disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. How the fuck did you survive in that cursed place?"
"I didn't survive," Yuno admitted, her tone calm, though a hint of vulnerability lingered beneath her composure. "I was dying. That's when I made a pact… with an elder god."
Ymir's eyes narrowed, and his instincts flared with unease.
The air around them seemed to chill, as though the mere mention of an elder god had tainted the atmosphere. "A pact with an elder god?" he echoed, his voice low and dangerous. "You don't have any of the usual marks of their corruption."
"That's because the marks were healed," Yuno replied, her gaze unwavering.
Ymir's expression tightened further, the storm in his blue eyes brewing darker and fiercer. "And who the hell healed you?" he asked, each word laced with suspicion.
"Amel."
The name struck Ymir like a thunderclap. He blinked, his composure fracturing under the sheer weight of disbelief.
For a moment, he could only stare at her, his mind scrambling to process the impossible. "Amel? That kid? How?"
Yuno's faint smile returned, this time carrying a flicker of amusement. "Because he can," she said simply, as if that answer explained everything.
Ymir dragged a hand through his wild hair, muttering curses under his breath as though trying to assemble the pieces of an incomprehensible puzzle. "What the fuck, woman…"
Yuno chuckled softly, the sound light but laced with a depth that hinted at countless untold stories. "Wait, wait," she said, holding up a hand to stop him. "We're skipping ahead. Let me start from the beginning so you'll actually understand."
Ymir exhaled heavily, the frustration on his face gradually giving way to reluctant curiosity. He motioned for her to continue, his voice gruff. "Fine. Start. I'm all ears."
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Yuno took a deep breath, steadying herself before beginning her tale. Her voice was calm, steady, but each word carried the burden of the horrors she had endured.
She recounted the nightmarish trials of Arlam's Atoll—the suffocating influence of the elder god, the way its power twisted the forest, warping reality itself.
Time lost all meaning as she became trapped in an endless loop, unable to escape the god's sinister grasp.
"The forest isn't cursed because of some old myth," she said softly. "It's the elder god's influence. That's why no one comes back once they're lost in that place."
"So that's why people disappear there," Ymir muttered, half to himself, his brow furrowed in thought.
Yuno nodded before continuing, her voice growing steadier.
She told him about Amel—how he had appeared in the forest seemingly out of nowhere, wielding strange, otherworldly abilities.
She described how he had defeated every monstrous creature she had sent against him without so much as breaking a sweat and how, somehow, the forest's curse seemed powerless against him.
"But…" Yuno hesitated, her words faltering for the first time.
"But what?" Ymir's voice sharpened, his piercing gaze locking onto hers. He leaned closer, his focus unyielding.
"That's where things get… complicated," Yuno admitted, her gaze dropping momentarily. "There was one fight—a place he reached far faster than he should have. The journey should've taken a month, but it only took him two days."
"Two days?" Ymir repeated, disbelief heavy in his tone.
She nodded slowly, her expression darkening. "Two days. And then… we fought. And…" She paused, her pink eyes flickering with a pain she couldn't hide. "He killed me."
Ymir's eyes widened, shock flashing across his face before anger overtook it. "He what?"
"I died," Yuno said quietly, her voice steady despite the weight of her words. "Or at least, I think I did. But when I came back…" Her voice faltered for the briefest moment, her pink eyes clouding as if caught in a memory too painful to revisit. "I didn't even remember dying. It was only because of Amel that I finally understood—the elder god was feeding off me. Not my death, but my despair. It twisted everything, turning my pain into its sustenance, trapping me in a prison I couldn't even see."
Ymir's frown deepened, the hard lines of his face softening as he processed her words.
For a long moment, he said nothing. The weight of her experience lingered in the air between them, heavy and unspoken.
Then, without warning, Ymir stepped closer. He reached out, his massive hand ruffling her hair the way he used to when she was younger.
The gesture was simple, almost clumsy, but it carried the unmistakable weight of comfort and familiarity—a rare moment of tenderness from someone who rarely showed it.
"You're okay now, though," he said quietly, his voice low but resolute. "Nobody should have to go through that. Not even once."
Yuno looked up, her gaze meeting his. Her voice was barely a whisper. "I'm okay now."
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Yuno continued her story, her voice steady yet tinged with emotion as she explained how Amel had shattered the cycle that had trapped her.
She described their second encounter—how, instead of striking her down again, Amel had done the unthinkable.
He had healed her. Purifying the elder god's corrupting influence from her body, he had severed its hold on her completely without demanding anything in return.
"For the first time in centuries," she said, her tone carrying a weight of profound relief, "I could breathe again."
Ymir leaned back, his massive arms crossed, his expression impossible to read as he absorbed her words.
If this boy could save Yuno from something so insidious, could he save his wife as well?
The thought ignited within him like a flame, burning brighter with every passing moment. Yet, he chose to remain silent, hiding the question that clawed at his throat.
Yuno, seemingly unaware of his inner turmoil, pressed on, lost in the tide of her memories.
She recounted how she had finally asked Amel for his name, how he had reluctantly shared it, and how the two of them had forged an unlikely partnership to escape the cursed forest.
She described Amel's strange, almost unearthly powers—the way he had obliterated everything in their path with ease and, finally, how he had confronted the elder god itself.
"He killed the god with one strike," Yuno said, her voice filled with awe as if even now she struggled to fully comprehend what she had witnessed.
Ymir's eyes widened, his disbelief plain. "One strike?" he repeated, the skepticism thick in his voice.
"One strike," Yuno confirmed. "That strange sword of his… it didn't just kill the god. It erased it. As if it never existed."
Ymir leaned forward, his brows furrowed in concentration as his mind raced. "And that's how you ended up here?"
Yuno smiled softly, her pink eyes reflecting a faint glimmer of nostalgia. "That's how we ended up here."
She tilted her head slightly, studying Ymir with a teasing expression. "But that's enough about me. Why don't you tell me what you've been up to? And while you're at it… how did you end up with a daughter?"
Ymir hesitated, the question seeming to drag something heavy to the surface. He let out a deep breath before answering. "That's… a long story."
Yuno grinned playfully. "Oh, don't worry. We've got plenty of time."
"I guess we—" Ymir's sentence cut off abruptly. His entire demeanor shifted in an instant, his body tense and his expression darkening. His sharp eyes darted to the distance, his senses on high alert.
"My daughter is in danger," he said, his voice low and firm, each word laced with urgency.
Yuno's teasing smile vanished as she stiffened, recognizing the gravity of his tone. She didn't press him further, trusting his instincts implicitly.
Before Yuno could act, the ground beneath them erupted with a violent spray of snow, the sudden flurry chilling the air around them. When the snow cleared, the sight before them left Yuno momentarily stunned.
Amel and Uzrul stood frozen in what could only be described as a highly compromising position.
Uzrul's face was beet-red with embarrassment, her body hovering awkwardly above the ground. Amel's hand, however, was unmistakably and firmly planted on her backside.
Yuno's voice broke the stunned silence, sharp and incredulous. "Amel, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
At almost the same moment, Ymir roared, his booming voice shaking the room. "Uzrul, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"
Chaos erupted instantly. Voices overlapped, accusations flew, and the previously tense atmosphere dissolved into absolute bedlam.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
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The air was heavy with anticipation as Ymir and Uzrul stood before the stone table, staring at the woman who lay upon it.
Her golden hair spilled over the edges like liquid sunlight, and though her face was serene, the weight of her presence was suffocating.
Ymir shifted restlessly, the tension in his body radiating outward. He couldn't bear the silence anymore. "How much more time is this going to take?" he asked, his voice low and gruff, laced with frustration.
Uzrul glanced at him, her own nervous energy barely concealed. "You're not the only one waiting here," she muttered under her breath, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
Amel, standing a short distance away, remained calm, his gaze fixed on the unmoving figure. "It's not about how much time we need," he said, his tone cryptic. "It's about how much time she needs."
Ymir frowned, his patience fraying. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Amel let out a quiet sigh, as if explaining something obvious to a stubborn child. "What I mean is…" He began walking toward the stone table, his steps slow and deliberate. Uzrul and Ymir watched him closely, confusion etched across their faces.
Then, without hesitation, Amel raised a hand and slapped the woman's chest.
"Patak!" The sharp sound echoed through the clearing, shattering the tense silence.
Ymir froze, his eyes wide in disbelief. Uzrul's jaw dropped, her hand flying to her mouth as she stared at Amel in stunned silence.
"What… what are you doing?!" Uzrul finally managed to sputter, her voice rising in both shock and outrage.
Amel turned to her with an unbothered expression, his hand still hovering near the woman's chest. "This bitch was already awake," he said nonchalantly.
Ymir's temper boiled over. With a furious growl, he lunged forward and grabbed Amel by the collar, yanking him off his feet. "You little motherfucker," he snarled, his face inches from the boy's. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
And Yuno well she was astounded by something else. And that something else is…
"You're one naughty boy," a voice purred, smooth and playful.
All eyes snapped to the stone table. The woman with golden hair was sitting up now, her golden eyes gleaming with amusement.
She stretched languidly, as if waking from a long and satisfying nap, her movements unhurried and graceful.
Uzrul's breath caught in her throat. "Mother?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Ymir released Amel abruptly, his hands falling to his sides as he stared at the woman in disbelief. "You're awake," he said, his voice barely audible.
The woman's gaze shifted to Uzrul, a warm smile spreading across her face. "Uzrul, my dear," she said, her voice rich with affection. "You've grown so much."
"Mother…" Uzrul took a hesitant step forward, tears welling in her eyes.
Then the woman's attention turned to Ymir, her expression softening. "And you," she said, her tone quieter but no less warm. "Still as impatient as ever, aren't you, Ymir?"
Ymir's throat tightened, and for a moment, he couldn't speak. When he finally managed to find his voice, it was rough with emotion. "I… I thought I'd lost you."
The woman reached out a hand to him, her smile turning bittersweet. "You never truly did. I've always been here, waiting for the right moment to return."
Uzrul wiped at her eyes, a mix of relief and joy flooding her features. "But how… how are you awake now? After all this time?"
Amel, who had been watching the reunion with a faint smirk, decided to interject. "Because I woke her up," he said, earning sharp glares from both Ymir and Uzrul.
"And in the most ridiculous way possible," Uzrul snapped, her face reddening.
The woman chuckled again, the sound light and musical. "Oh, Uzrul, don't be so harsh on him. He may be a little… unorthodox," she said, glancing at Amel with a raised brow, "but he got the job done."
Ymir took a step closer, his eyes locked on hers. "You're really back," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
The woman nodded, her expression softening. "I'm back, Ymir. And it seems I have a lot to catch up on."
It was Amel who spoke this time, cutting through the fragile moment with his trademark bluntness. "Of course you do," he quipped, crossing his arms.
And then—bam.
Something shifted.
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