[hider=Mood music][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQhyaBviiLwMood music[/youtube][/hider]

The snow was falling and the forest that has become the eastern quarter of Vale was at peace. The spiky glacier towering over the scenery a silent monument to the successor of Mountain glenn in the title of the world’s greatest tomb.

The silence was disturbed as two figures walked with some difficulty through the foot deep snow that never seemed to stop falling in this place. None of them spoke a word, until they arrived to a line of gravestones, weathered down by the winds and cold. They walked along the perimeter they created until they reached the one they were looking for.

[center][i][b]Diamond Frost[/b]
I was hoping for a pyramid…[/i][/center]
“Passive aggressive even beyond the grave.” he said, taking in the sight of the mountain of ice in front of him. “Well, kind of looks like one. At least you got your last wish. How many of us can claim that?” Wiping a tear of mixed mirth and sorrow, the older visitor laid a wreath at the foot of the tombstone, along with a pack of smokes and a lighter. Looking up to the sky, he smiled: “Don’t look at me like that, it’s Friday morning!”

The younger person - a twelve year old, with the same blond mane as the man next to her but with blue eyes followed, laying a bouquet of white flowers next to the other items and lighting a candle. “You never told me [i]how[/i] mom died.” It was not a question, but there was a burning need of an answer in the child’s tone.

The man pulled the girl into an embrace. “It’s not easy to talk about, Sky. Even after 10 years… but you deserve to know.” he sighed, looking back at the glacier, gathering his thoughts for a while.

“It was one of the worst winters I remember. The whole kingdom was short on just about everything. You could see it on the street, everyone looking under the weather, the pubs she liked deserted, and those unlucky to have been caught outside through the night freezing to death or just disappearing. But worst of all, it had the hunters weak, running on half a tank. And with everyone being angsty about the situation… [i]They[/i] could feel we were vulnerable.”

“It was late evening, seventh day of the twelfth cycle. You were asleep in your bed, and I was passed out on the floor next to you, having read you a fairy tale and ending up lulling myself to sleep as well. When Diamond woke me up, I knew something was horribly wrong. I didn’t see that look on her face since first year at Beacon. The concern, the… fear.”

“The grimm have arrived En masse. It was like a siege. The hunters on the walls were getting torn apart, and needed all the help they could get. So Mom told me to fetch my gear and get ready to head out.” he paused in thought, “I think she knew just how bad it was - that we might not return. She never parted with her hat, but that night, she gave it to you as she was kissing you goodbye while you slept.”

“When we arrived, I realized just how terrible things were going. There were hordes of grimm, even the big ones! We started fighting back alongside the others, but soon we were separated. The last message I got from her was that there was trouble on the east wall and that she was headed there.”

“Once I turned around and looked, the Goliaths have already breached the wall. That was it. With a hole in the wall, there was nothing to stop them from slaughtering all of us. I… I dropped everything, and I ran to get her. But the police had the area on the lockdown, evacuating everyone they could as the Grimm flooded in. I tried getting past them, but they were right, whoever was there was already lost. So I gone back to you. If I couldn’t help mom, I was going to make damn sure I got my daughter out of here.”

“When I had the necessities packed and you tucked safely in the harness, I was just about to head to the airport where the evacuation ships were, praying Diamond would make it there somehow, but then… then the strangest thing happened. The blasted snow that covered most of Vale up and vanished, flying eastwards. And suddenly, the sirens stopped whining. The snow turned into that glacier, sealing the hole in the wall and entombing hundreds of Grimm along with those that failed to make it out within it. I knew then - that she has met her end. It would take enough dust to last someone a lifetime to cast a spell like that… and only people that had it implanted usually carried that much on their persons. But, to summon such a spell would have left her body torn to shreds, even if she escaped its effect.”

The girl fell silent as the story unfolded, but she now looked like she would break, tears gathering in her eyes. “I… I can’t even remember her face!” she cried, burying her face in the crook of her father’s embrace. He reached up, gently running his hand through her hair, calming her down. “I don’t think she would be mad at you for that.” he smiled, looking the girl in the eyes, the same blue as her mother’s, “You were her everything. And she was like that - whenever someone she held dear was threatened, she would go to their defense, without any regard to the cost to herself. She had to fight in the middle of that Grimm Eclipse for half an hour, and I believe she never took a step back. She would slay the demons and hold her ground in her stubborn nobility, taunt them because she would never let them lay a claw on her baby. She would have held on, because you were here, and you were not safe, and she would look magnificent through it all. But in the end, even the greatest hunters can only last this long.”

Fishing a handkerchief from his pocket, he dried the girl’s tears. His own voice was starting to break, the glitter of tears present in the corners of his eyes. “It doesn’t matter that you can’t recall her - you were too young. But as long as you keep her in your heart, live your life and be happy, then I know her only regret would be that she couldn’t be here to watch you grow up.” she smiled as they pulled close again, just holding on looking for comfort in each other.

They whispered their goodbyes, and left their mother/lover resting in her icy tomb.