The sight of the white forest, with its never‑ending drift of false snow, always put his mind at ease.
No intricate mechanism lay behind it.
It was simply an accidental creation born from one of Argenta's "free times", during which they would significantly weaken the tuning of her inhibitor and allow her far more freedom than usual.
He couldn't count how many times he had taken a nap, or even spent the night in that forest before making it back to base. And this could have been one of those times, if not for the fact that his scarred hands were missing the bandages he needed to dull the pain that constantly shot through them.
"~Invert.~"
The Nebula's base had two different methods of entrance.
The first was the inversion mechanism, which transported any authorized individual from the white forest.
The second was an entrance now exclusive to Cosmo, who usually hated what the sudden shift in environment did to his senses.
That was, of course, the front door.
However, finding it from outside was nearly impossible.
The only reason Cosmo chose to invert instead was his exhaustion.
The entrance in the white forest was closer to headquarters, so he had no choice but to endure it.
And when he landed, he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his face.
"I guess they'll have to heat those up later?" he murmured when he saw Mama Maria covering several untouched dishes arranged across the long dining table.
"It won't be a bother to do it myself. I know how to make it taste fresh," she replied.
On the floor in the center of the living room, Red had not removed Yon's legs from his chest, only because he was just as deeply asleep.
Tyson was hunched over on a chair, apparently fighting sleep for a while before inevitably losing the battle.
On the long sofa, Blue lay on her side, her head resting on the armrest, while Rita dozed upright beside her.
Oliver's back was against the wall in the corner, his headphones rejecting any noise that might disturb him.
And the ever‑peaceful Clarisse rested her chin on her hand as she slept on another single seat.
On the screen mounted on the wall, a twenty‑four‑hour news channel played without a viewer.
"When I left this house knowing you children would be gone for a while, I never expected to see you make that face upon your return. If I had known, I wouldn't be so peeved you kids left me for a year."
"I'm not making any faces," he protested. "I just realized they never got to pick their rooms after all. I didn't expect to see everyone still here. Well…"
"I tucked her in a moment ago," Maria clarified Argenta's whereabouts as she cleaned her hands with a towel. Then she lowered the volume of the television through a small panel on the dining‑area wall. "Those two wayward boys fought for so long over what to play. In the end, they all settled on learning about current events."
"Figures. It has been a year, after all." Cosmo crossed the room toward her. "Speaking of, how have you been, Mama Maria?"
At his question, she suddenly frowned, leaving him puzzled.
"Well, it seems there's one thing that hasn't changed."
"Hm?" He tilted his head, only making her sigh.
She gently took his right arm and unfurled his sleeve.
"I see we need new ones on. I'll be right back, okay?"
When she left, he sat on the first few stairs and removed his uniform jacket, exposing his bare arms and the deep red scars that covered them once again.
He kept them raised to avoid touching anything, an action that might have seemed exaggerated, considering he had been roaming around effortlessly the entire day.
But it would only appear that way to someone who couldn't imagine how painful those scars were at all times.
Soon, Mama Maria returned with several items. Without letting them move, she knelt at the bottom of the stairs and got to work.
After cleaning and drying his arms, she applied a protective layer of cold solution over his skin and fingers. Then she began dressing them with a fresh white roll of bandages.
"You still won't tell me what kind of method you've been using. You know? To…"
She chuckled softly when he didn't finish.
She knew he wanted to ask how only her treatments were able to make the pain caused by those scars subside. But he always failed to utter that last part purely out of embarrassment.
"I always tell you, it's no secret art. It's just theeee…?"
"Please don't say the power of love." His eyes narrowed.
"Then I don't know what to tell you, sweetie. It's the honest truth. You're the one who won't believe me."
"I'm not saying it's entirely nonsense. Emotions can come into play with a lot of important things in this weird world," he clarified. "But for an issue I couldn't find anything on the Conmundia that remotely comes close to healing? I'll need a better explanation than that."
"Well, 'that' goes a long way. You don't know everything there is."
"Fine then, keep your secrets." He scoffed and pouted playfully, and she laughed in response.
After a long pause, he suddenly spoke.
"It's been postponed again. Apparently there's some recently obtained information to be reviewed before a final decision. Another trial will be held in the foreseeable future." He tried to keep his tone light, not wanting to sour the mood.
And it was clear she wanted to meet him there.
"Is that so? Those nitwits had better stop being a bother before I have to head over there myself."
"They wouldn't want that after what happened last time," he joked. "I'm sure it's just a bunch of nothing in the end, but if they start becoming a problem, they'll be easy to deal with."
She pinched his cheek and pulled his face closer.
"What did I tell you about saying scary things like that?"
"Okay, okay…" he pleaded. "I was just kidding anyway."
She released him, and when he rubbed his cheek, he realized she had finished securing his wrappings–fingers and all.
"Yeah… it still feels like magic," he murmured as he shook his hands.
Then he let out a heavy exhale and leaned back against the stairs.
"Thank you, Mama Maria," he muttered.
"Of course, honey." She smiled gently. "But, you know… there's still something else I'd rather hear from you than just asking how I've been." She complained softly.
But when she turned her eyes to him, she realized her words had fallen on deaf ears.
She sighed and draped his jacket over him.
"I'll let it slide this time," she whispered. "Though I wouldn't mind hearing it just once more."
***
She had always been the sole helper in that hidden house.
And even though she would sometimes grow lonely for long stretches of time, the rowdy days that followed always made her feel she wouldn't want to spend her retirement any other way.
That day was another one of those lonely days, and she hadn't been expecting the man and the woman who dropped from the ceiling after appearing out of thin air.
"Mama Maria… Please help."
The woman who begged her was someone Maria had always seen soon after returning from the most perilous missions imaginable. Yet this was the most exhausted Maria had ever seen her.
In her hand was something she held like a ticking bomb.
Something that looked quite comfortable–amused, even–being held by the back of a shirt without any proper support.
It was a child.
An infant who looked no older than six months.
"Glory, my goodness! Do not hold him like that!"
She hurriedly took the child, and Gloriosa looked no less than relieved to have her troubles willingly relinquished.
"Whose child is it?"
"We don't actually know. Just be careful with that thing. It bit me more times than I can count," the man warned while she held the child in front of her.
"You should know better than to call him that, Tom. Shame on you," Maria scolded. "Besides, he's just a child. How much could he hurt you?"
"You'd think. But he is actually an Eminent."
She quickly noticed the child seemed more cheerful whenever he was raised high, which meant the two had already begun playing as if it were the most natural outcome.
His laughter became the loudest sound in the house, and the other two looked satisfied with their choice to bring him to her.
"We found him in the middle of a rainforest, believe it or not. But despite how much we looked, there was no traceable bloodline that matches his."
"Really now? And you couldn't leave him with the Branch of Restoration?"
"Well, we tried. But it turns out this child is very destructive."
"The gremlin turned the lab to sh–trash, and we got kicked out. Cherry's a bit pissed, so we'll have to take him back when she calms down again."
"Maybe that's for the best. If he's so troublesome, then I'd rather someone more patient handles him. Strangely, he looks a bit like you, Tom."
"Eh? Really?"
"Really…"
"Wait! Don't look at me like that, Gloriosa! My days of frolicking with the ladies are far behind me, I swear!"
"Why are you telling me? It's none of my business whom you hook up with."
"Ah! So harsh!"
Before adult problems could take center stage, the child suddenly sneezed.
This one came with an uncontrolled burst of his Authority, sending him flying out of Maria's hands.
Then, before reaching the ceiling, he descended headfirst toward the floor.
THUD!
THUMP!
"That scared… the hell out of me."
"We have to do something about these random releases."
As Maria watched two of the most powerful officers in the 56th sigh in relief while sprawled on the floor after trying, at the same time, to catch a falling infant, she began to wonder if something so precious could truly be let out of their lives so easily.
Especially as she noticed the two smile at the child giggling at their expense.
Gloriosa, who ended up catching the child, subsequently locked eyes with him and couldn't look away.
And when she touched his puffy cheek with a finger, he held it with such tiny hands.
Her breath was taken away in an instant, and no further words came from her.
The other two sensed a reckless suggestion approaching, very much unlike Gloriosa.
"This kid only seems to fancy women. He only gets cranky whenever I touch him. Maybe he really could be my kid after all, haha!"
"That's quite the theory," Maria replied to Tom's joke. "But some people believe children can read the nature of others before they can even speak."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mama Maria, but you basically just called me human trash."
"Oh, not at all, sweetie. I mean it might be a mismatch. I wouldn't call you the type to nurture a child."
"Well then, I guess it's out of the question to keep him, then?" Tom said, glancing toward Gloriosa.
"That's not at all what I'm saying. I'll be here, after all. But besides all that, aren't you two forgetting something?"
"Oh…"
"Um…"
"I haven't seen the two of you for two years, and you still treat me this way?" she huffed, beginning to sulk.
They both quickly embraced her on either side, almost like children would.
"We're home!"
Maria was about to respond until a noise came from the child Gloriosa had left sitting on the floor.
"Weeerr–hoooo!!!"
"""…"""
After a long moment, they chuckled at the same time at his very early attempt to mimic their words.
Then Maria took him into her arms with a warm smile.
"Welcome home, my darlings."