The story continued on screen.
Kiana spoke up first.
"Let me help you."
Theresa looked at her, a flicker of something complicated passing through her eyes.
"You want to join the fight?"
"Yeah."
Kiana nodded. "I know you probably don't trust me much, but I want to help."
She paused, her voice dropping slightly.
"Even if this might be an illusion. Even if you're not the Theresa I know. When I see someone getting hurt, when I see someone who needs help, I can't just walk away."
Theresa was silent for a long moment. Finally, she let out a quiet sigh.
"Alright. Come with me."
In the stream, Elysia stared at the screen without blinking, as though she were burning every frame into her memory.
Kiana stood beside Theresa, listening quietly to the voice coming through the communicator.
It was an unfamiliar voice, a comms officer from the Second Valkyrie Squad.
"Lady Theresa, no trace of the Second Herrscher has been found in the current search area.
Bishop Otto's orders are to initiate the contingency plan if there is no progress within thirty minutes."
The color drained from Theresa's face instantly.
She slammed her hand down on the communicator. "Wait! Cecilia's condition right now makes her completely unfit for combat! Tell the Bishop we need more time!"
"Lady Theresa..."
The officer's voice was strained. "These are the Bishop's direct orders. We have no authority to..."
"I know!"
Theresa's jaw tightened. "But at least give us twenty more minutes!"
A beat of silence from the other end.
"I'll do what I can."
The line went dead.
Kiana stood behind Theresa and heard every word of that exchange.
Cecilia.
Something stirred in her memory. Those whispers that had drifted through her dreams.
That voice, the one that called itself Sirin, sweet and poisonous all at once, telling her word by word...
"Do you know how your mother died?"
"The Second Collapse."
"Giving her life for people who weren't worth saving."
"She died on a snowfield in Siberia."
Kiana had never told anyone. Because it was just a dream. Just that awful, inexplicable voice called Sirin talking nonsense.
But now she was standing on a Siberian snowfield in the year 2000.
Standing at the heart of the Second Collapse. Standing in the presence of her mother, Cecilia, the woman she had only ever known from photographs.
"Let's go."
Theresa composed herself and stood. "We find Siegfried first. He should be nearby."
"Siegfried?" Kiana blinked.
"Yes. Siegfried is part of this operation as well."
Her awful dad.
The one who always ruffled her hair with a grin. Who taught her to shoot, taught her to fight, taught her to protect the people who mattered.
How many years had it been since she'd seen him?
Two figures moved swiftly across the snowfield.
In the distance, a tall silhouette gradually took shape.
Silver-white hair, cut short. A straight-backed posture. And those eyes, the same shade of blue as Kiana's own.
Even through the blizzard, even across sixteen years, Kiana recognized him the moment she saw him.
Siegfried Kaslana.
Her father.
The comments exploded: "It's him!! The father-in-law!!"
"Holy crap, that presence!"
"He's so cool!"
Without thinking, Kiana's footsteps quickened.
She wanted to run to him.
Wanted to ask where he'd been all these years, why he never came back for her. Did he know how terrified she was, wandering alone? Did he know she dreamed about him every night, dreamed of him smiling and ruffling her hair?
But she held herself back.
She remembered what Theresa had told her.
At this point in time, she was a stranger with no known origin. She was barely-trusted temporary help. She couldn't behave strangely. She couldn't make things harder for Theresa.
So she buried every feeling she had, pushed it all down to the deepest place inside her.
What she showed on her face was a measured, composed smile.
Siegfried spotted them from a distance and strode over. His gaze swept over Theresa first, confirming she was unharmed, then landed on Kiana.
He leaned forward slightly, and with an inexplicably sincere look in his eye, winked at her.
"What a beautiful young lady. If we ever get the chance, I'd love to buy you a drink."
The comments erupted: "He's trying to flirt with his own daughter and she doesn't even know it, someone help her"
"Is this really her dad?? Feels more like a stepdad lmaooo"
Elysia took one look at the comments and burst out laughing. "Pfft, Mr. Siegfried is genuinely something else, isn't he?"
Back in the studio, Kiana's expression had gone completely dark.
"This awful man..."
She was practically grinding her teeth. "What is he doing?! Flirting right in front of me! Flirting with ME! Does he have any idea I'm his daughter?!"
Mei was right beside her, desperately biting back laughter, shoulders shaking.
Bronya delivered the finishing blow without a trace of expression. "He doesn't know. At this point in the timeline, he hasn't met you yet."
"That doesn't make it okay!" Kiana exploded.
On screen, the scene kept going.
"Siegfried!"
Theresa cut him off, completely done. "Stop wasting time. What's the situation?"
The moment she mentioned business, the grin vanished from Siegfried's face.
The carefree playboy was gone. In his place stood a soldier, someone forged by the battlefield.
"There's bad news, and then there's worse news."
Theresa's heart sank. "Talk."
"The bad news: Valkyrie units have been deployed to search for the Second Herrscher. But so far, no one has found any sign of her. The target has disappeared completely, as if she simply ceased to exist."
His gaze drifted toward the distant snowfield.
"And the worse news?"
"Because the mission has stalled, Bishop Otto has already ordered Cecilia to deploy."
Every trace of color left Theresa's face.
Siegfried's voice stayed even. "So all we need to do is find the Second Herrscher and eliminate her before that happens."
"Simple as that."