Well, exams are over, so I have time to write again! But before I get back to Graceful Degradation, I need to kill this plot bunny.

See, I was introduced to the magic that is Touhou. And after reading two good takes on Letty Whiterock and Cirno's relationship, I wondered what it would be like if things were a little different. Perhaps not a lot different, but different enough, I hope, to be interesting. This is actually quite different from how I had initially intended, but hopefully the change is for the better.

Regardless, this will get this idea out of my head.

Left Behind by Winter

Everything dies.

Well, perhaps not quite everything. Perhaps some things will never come to a final end. Primitive things like energy and matter, or perhaps fundamental things such as order and chaos might survive. Perhaps those who have drunk of the Hourai Elixir truly will never die – but then perhaps not. There are greater beings than Eirin Yagokoro has ever dreamed of, and it may well be that in the fullness of time even those immortals will die.

Immortality is a strange concept. Loose and poorly defined. Does it mean that a being cannot die? Or that they will not stay dead? Or that they will live forever until they are killed? One might say that a fairy is immortal for as long as their source exists, and one could also say that a god is immortal while they are believed in. Immortality is rarely, if ever, a promise for eternity.

Just a longer time in this world than many have.

Maybe some things really will last forever, but most things won't. Days die, seasons die, years die, eras die, worlds die… even stars die eventually. Even galaxies.

Even her.

It wasn't a bitter thought. She had known it was coming for a long time. She understood death, its necessity and its purpose. It wasn't something she could explain or share, really, even if she wanted to. Which she didn't. This was her last winter, and she wanted to spend it in quiet contemplation and appreciation. She had no ties to the world, no regrets. It was time for her to go.

"Letty!"

Hearing the childish cry of joy, Letty Whiterock sighed. She was momentarily annoyed, but amusement soon overtook it. This was Gensokyo – when had anyone's plan ever gone exactly as expected? In this way, if none other, this winter was no different from all of the rest. Yielding to the inevitable, she turned to see Cirno careening through the air towards her, six shards of ice gleaming in the winter sun behind her.

"What is it?" Letty asked tiredly.

"Play with me!" Cirno demanded. Letty sighed. The ice fairy seemed to operate under the principle that if she didn't ask, then Letty would not have the chance to refuse.

"Go away, Cirno. I have never played with you before, and I am certainly not going to start now of all times." Letty massaged her forehead, trying to force back the ache forming in her skull. Cirno probably would not be dissuaded so easily, but she held on to hope.

"Please, Letty!" The ice fairy begged. "It'll be fun! We can make snowmen, or we can freeze things, or we can…"

Letty tuned out Cirno's spiel with practiced ease. It was the same thing every winter. Cirno would, without fail, seek out the yuki-onna and try to get her to play with her. Letty would, without fail, refuse. It wasn't that she hated the ice fairy, it was just that she really, really didn't want to spend time with her, much less have fun with her. Cirno was so childish and flighty, and to be frank, annoying. Letty didn't even like being associated with her – Cirno was nothing more than stupid little ice fairy, while she was the youkai most closely associated with the winter.

Letty did not spend much time on the… traditional activities of a yuki-onna, preferring instead to cultivate the reputation she had developed as the youkai of Gensokyo's winter. She was proud of it: the crisp winter winds, the beautiful snowfalls, the delicate traceries of frost that were omnipresent this time of year. Much more satisfying than freezing people to death… or… well, the other thing yuki-onna tended to be known for.

She did not cause Gensokyo's winter. Her ability, manipulation of the cold, allowed her to manipulate winter, not to create it. Even without her, winter would arrive. But Letty felt that she could rightfully claim to be an important part of what made Gensokyo's winter great. Cirno had absolutely nothing in common with her except their shared connection to ice.

Letty was jerked from her introspection by Cirno shoving herself into the yuki-onna's personal space. "Hey, you're ignoring me again aren't you? Stop it! Do you have something against fun? Why won't you play with me?"

"Cirno, I don't even like you." Letty said, pushing the girl away. "I have never even hinted otherwise. I have never agreed to play with you, even once, in spite of more than a century of attempts on your part. Why you insist on this foolish endeavor is beyond me. Now, go away."

"No way! I'm not giving up that easily!" Cirno shook her head and waved her arms theatrically. "I challenge you to danmaku! When I win, you'll spend the rest of the day playing with me!"

"When you lose, you'll go away." Letty corrected, preparing herself.

"I won't lose!" Cirno scowled, which would have been much more intimidating if she didn't look like a small child. "I'm the strongest fairy in Gensokyo, you know! You shouldn't take me lightly!"

"Then prove it." Letty said simply, and took to the air.

"Fine!" Cirno pouted as she picked herself up off the ground. "But I'll be back tomorrow, so you'd better be ready to play with me then!"

Letty did not bother to respond, and simply walked away instead. When she had put enough distance between her and Cirno, she allowed herself to lean against a tree for support. She wheezed, lungs desperately grasping for air. Her lungs weren't up to the fast pace of danmaku anymore. Come to think of it, neither was the rest of her. Her whole body ached from just a few minutes of aerial acrobatics. Just last winter this would have been merely tiring; two years ago she would just have been short of breath. After centuries of life, her body's deterioration had taken only a handful of years.

"Quite tough for a little fairy, isn't she?" An amused voice commented from above her.

Letty staggered fully upright again, looking with bleary eyes at the highly unwelcome form of the black-white witch, Marisa Kirisame.

"What… what do you want… Kirisame?" Letty managed to gasp out.

"Nothing, really." Marisa shrugged, sitting blithely on her broomstick. "I heard your battle, so I came over to check it out. I like knowing what is happening in the Forest of Magic, seeing as I live here and all. Have to say, you were looking kind of lackluster up there. If you weren't using ice magic, Cirno would have beaten you easily. You're lucky that she can't freeze ice bullets."

"Get lost, Kirisame." Letty groaned, too sore to be polite. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

Marisa scrutinized the winter youkai. "Do you need help? You aren't looking so good."

Letty snorted. "I'm just old. There's nothing that can be done about it. Even we youkai die eventually, Kirisame. No one lasts forever."

Marisa looked like she'd been punched in the gut. "Wha- You're dying?"

"Everyone is dying. We just all do it at our own paces."

"I thought youkai lived pretty much forever." Marisa said questioningly.

"Forever is more literal for some youkai than for others. And there is a distinct difference between 'pretty much forever' and 'forever'. Why…" Letty's eyebrows rose as she realized. "You are considering becoming a youkai magician."

"Yeah." Marisa nodded. "I mean, I'm not actively researching it, but… well, it's on the list. Is it that obvious?"

"You are rather infamous in your tendency to not care about things that do not interest you, Kirisame." Letty remarked dryly. "I will be dead before the first spring flowers bloom. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

Marisa had the decency to look abashed. "…Sorry."

"Don't be. It is my time to go. I have no regrets."

"None?" Marisa said, genuinely surprised. "There isn't anything you want to do before you… you know? I mean, you only have a few months left."

"None."

Cirno wasn't an idiot. Sure, there were a lot of things she didn't understand, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand it, given the chance. And when she had broken two of Letty's spellcards – something she had never even come close to before – she had suspected something was going on that she didn't know about. So she had followed Letty.

Sure, she had promised to go away if she had lost, but this was important! Well, probably. Anyway, if Letty didn't see her, that was as good as not being there, right? Right.

But now Cirno floated despondently behind a tree, too stunned to follow as Letty and the black-white went their separate ways. Letty was dying? She wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to… not die. And play with Cirno, but that was definitely feeling like a distant second all of a sudden.

Cirno flew off blindly, not caring where she went as long as she was moving away from that awful realization. It was useless. She couldn't run away from her own thoughts. In desperation she buried herself in a snowdrift, hoping that being buried in her element could heal her. But while the aches and pains from being hit by Letty's danmaku soon faded, the throbbing in her chest did not.

The worst wound of all, the one that formed when Letty said "none", would not heal.

Komachi Onozuka was annoyed. She had just been sitting there, minding her own business, taking a well-deserved five hour nap after ferrying a soul across the Sanzu, when a screaming ice fairy had charged in and challenged her to danmaku.

Of course, as a shinigami she was used to dealing with hotheaded idiots enraged at death, so she swiftly and brutally put a beatdown on the fairy. Okay, so she may have cheated a little with her powers, which weren't really supposed to be used in danmaku like that, but nobody would ever know, right?

"Look, kid, get out of here," Komachi scolded. "You're a fairy, you know, resurrective immortality and all that. This place is for the dead, not the living."

Surprisingly, the fairy started crying at that. "Hey, uh, don't cry." Komachi said desperately. "Look, you really aren't supposed to be here. I'm sure you have a long, full life ahead of you that you want to get back to, yes?"

"Letty doesn't!" Cirno bawled.

"Ah." Komachi winced. How was she supposed to explain that that was just how things worked? "Look, I can't really do anything about that. I'm a ferryman… well, ferrywoman, not a reaper. I don't bring people here, I just take them across to the other side. Even if it weren't completely the opposite of what a shinigami is supposed to do, I literally can't help you. Sorry."

"But I have to do something!" Cirno sniffled.

Komachi sighed and scratched her head. "Everyone crosses the river eventually." Or gets shoved in or stuck on the wrong side for all eternity, but she didn't want the fairy to start crying again. "I know it isn't what you want to hear right now, but the fact is that even if you do help whoever it is you are trying to help, you'll only be postponing the inevitable. If they're dying then I'm sure they would rather you spend time with them than waste your time trying to do the impossible." Well, not impossible, but there was no way she was going to advise someone to try to imitate the celestials.

"But Letty always says she doesn't like me and tells me to go away when I ask her to play with me!" Cirno complained. "How am I supposed to play with her if she doesn't want to play!"

"You could try doing something that she wants to do instead of something you want to do," Komachi pointed out. "I mean, she is dying. It can't hurt to do things her way for a change, can it?"

"Why don't you do things my way for a change?" A stern voice came from behind Komachi. "Stop slacking off and get to work. The spirits are piling up on this side of the Sanzu again thanks to your indolence."

"Ahahaha, sorry Shiki-sama," Komachi laughed nervously. "I'll just head over to my boat then…"

"Hey," Cirno called out. "I remember you! You're that mean lady who spouted all of that strange stuff about me dying because I'm too strong!"

Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu, raised an eyebrow at the sight of the fairy. "Ah, yes. Cirno. I do believe that what I actually said was that you were too strong and also that because you overestimate your strength you will probably get yourself killed. Do try to take my words to heart."

"What's wrong with being the strongest?" Cirno demanded.

"Fairies are not meant to grow so powerful, Cirno," Shiki admonished. "You are not meant to change or grow. You are supposed to embody a natural phenomenon. When that phenomenon changes or ends, that is the end of your life. You, however, insist on surpassing your boundaries. You strive to become the strongest, but you are not meant to become any stronger than you were born to be. You have learned to read, write, and even to do the basics of arithmetic, but you are not supposed to seek out knowledge. You consistently attempt to go against your very nature."

"So what!" Cirno retorted. "If I wanted to stay weak and dumb, I would have! I can get stronger and smarter if I want to! Why do you think you can tell me to stop?!"

Shiki sighed. "This is what I am talking about. Fairies are not supposed to think about things like that. But you are right, I cannot judge you. You are still alive; I judge the dead. But Cirno, as unfair as it may seem to you, you are doing yourself no favors by following your current path."

"I don't care about being a fairy!" Cirno snapped back. "I'm me! That's what matters!"

"Hmph. Well, if you have no regrets, I cannot really dissuade you. Just keep what I have said in mind."

Cirno stomped off, threw a glare at the judge, and flew into the distance.

"That was kind of unfair, boss," Komachi said. "Most of the time, you would be glad to see someone changing for the better."

"What is better for a fairy, is not necessarily the same as what is better for a human." Shiki sighed. "Fairness does not come into it. She was just unlucky enough to be born a fairy. Still, there are worse crimes that she could commit, and she does have a good heart, so even if she died today the judgment probably wouldn't be completely against her. And there is always the chance that she will take my words to heart." She threw a baleful glare at the shinigami. "And speaking of taking my words to heart, get to work. Your job is important. You can't keep slacking off whenever you feel like it."

"Sorry, sorry…"

Cirno was out of ideas. As much as she did try, she really did, to learn and to understand the world around her, death wasn't an easy thing to get a grasp on. She had 'died' before, but dying for a fairy was decidedly less permanent than it was for other beings. She knew that the mean lady and the scythe lady had something to do with death, and that it was supposed to be permanent. She was pretty sure that when Letty died, she would never see her again.

Cirno didn't want that to happen. But she couldn't stop it. And her chest ached from the inside at the thought. What could she do? She had to do something, right?

"You could try doing something that she wants to do instead of something that you want to do. I mean, she is dying. It can't hurt to do things her way for a change, can it?"

That was it! She could do something with Letty that Letty liked! But what did Letty do for fun? No, she was thinking about herself again. It didn't have to be fun, did it? It just had to be something that Letty wanted to do. But what?

Of course! Letty would know what Letty liked to do!

It took all of Cirno's willpower to not rush off to see Letty immediately. Tomorrow. She was supposed to go away, but by tomorrow it would be okay to visit Letty again, Cirno decided.

Letty was in the middle of brewing a snowstorm when Cirno approached her. She steadfastly ignored Cirno, which was actually harder than usual since Cirno was much quieter than she usually was. In fact, Cirno did not say anything until Letty was finished, which took about twenty minutes. It was quite disconcerting. When she was satisfied, she turned her full attention to the fairy. Who was… watching the snow? Cirno's brow was scrunched up in thought.

"What do you want, Cirno?" Letty asked cautiously. In her experience, Cirno being thoughtful was generally a prelude to some sort of trouble.

"Do you want to play with me?" Cirno asked carefully.

"No," Letty said. "Not particularly."

"Is there something you do want to do?" Cirno asked, feeling very nervous. She was in unknown waters here – come to think of it, had she ever really thought through anything she had done with Letty in the past?

Letty blinked. That was new. "I… don't really know. I sleep a lot more these days. I intend to find a quiet place to appreciate the winter and get some rest."

It sounded boring, but Cirno really wanted to spend time with Letty. So she took a deep breath and asked.

"Can I come with you?"

Letty hesitated. It was tempting to say no, but she also wanted to give Cirno the benefit of the doubt. The fairy was acting much better than she usually did, so she felt somewhat obliged to reciprocate.

"If you want," Letty answered. "But I doubt you will have much fun."

Cirno did not respond, but when Letty left, she followed.

It was boring, a little. But Cirno didn't care. Letty was important to her, and if that meant enduring a little boredom, so be it.

When Cirno thought about appreciating the winter (well, if she ever did think about it) things like snowball fights and snow cones and freezing things and making snow angels were what came to mind. Letty, however, preferred to 'take things at a slower pace' and 'find beauty in the natural world around her'.

Cirno wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but apparently it involved slowly walking along and looking carefully at things instead of zipping around above the treetops. Sometimes Letty would stop and look at something for a few minutes – a particularly nice set of icicles sparkling in the winter sun, or shimmering rainbows trapped in a frozen spider web, or a vista of pristine snow. It wasn't very exciting, but Cirno was surprised at how pretty some if it was. She wondered why she had never noticed it before.

Still, moving at such a slow pace was a strain. Cirno had trouble staying focused, and frequently flitted off to take a look at anything that caught her fancy. It was hard to avoid pestering Letty, but Cirno persevered. She had never spent this much time with Letty without Letty getting annoyed at her, and she intended to stretch it out for as long as she could.

Eventually, Letty came to a quiet grove full of snowdrops and lay down to rest. Normally, Cirno would have been trying to wake her up, but Cirno was all too aware of why Letty needed sleep. So she went to the other side of the clearing and went about the business of making a snowman.

It was afternoon by the time Letty woke up, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that Cirno had not buried her or frozen her to the ground or any of her usual tricks.

One possible explanation for this could be found across the clearing. Cirno had apparently fallen asleep in the middle of making a hat for her snowman – or, if one was rather generous, snowwoman. It looked like Cirno had tried to give the snowwoman the appropriate curves, but between her poor artistic skills and snow's limited structural strength the effect was rather laughable. Still, the sheer size of the snowwoman was impressive; Cirno had collected enough snow to produce a sculpture as high as the lowest branches on the nearby trees, which was quite a feat given the size of the trees in the Forest of Magic.

Letty stood up and looked again. Cirno could only have accomplished this with her ability (though the thought of the fairy straining to lift the giant snowballs into place brought a brief smile to Letty's face), yet she had obviously done some parts by hand. The arms were sticks, so she had had no choice there, and the same with the face, but the hat, where Cirno had fallen asleep on the snowwoman's head, was clearly a work in progress. It looked vaguely familiar, but Letty couldn't place it. Regardless, it was an adorable sight.

Letty considered what she should do next. She didn't really have anything planned, so she didn't have a good reason to leave, but on the other hand she didn't have a burning desire to spend the rest of the day with Cirno.

The choice was made for her when Cirno rolled over and fell off the head of the snowwoman, waking up on impact with the ground. Letty only barely managed to restrain her laughter.

Cirno shook her head to clear it, and looked the snowwoman up and down. Brightening, she flew up to the chest area and slowly fused the snow in one area into solid ice. The pattern was some kind of trident or something- No, it was the alchemical symbol for silver, like Letty wore on her clothes.

And then it hit Letty: the snowwoman was supposed to be her.

The ice symbol slid off the snowwoman, much to Cirno's dismay, and cracked on the ground. Cirno pouted, but perked up at the sight of Letty.

"Letty! You're awake!"

Letty blinked. "Ah. Um. Yes, I'm awake now." She shook herself. "…The storm from this morning should be over the human village by now. Do you want to go over there?"

It was a spur-of-the-moment offer, but Cirno's eyes widened in shock on hearing it, then a smile grew slowly on her face.

"Yeah!" Cirno said joyfully. "Let's go!"

"You seem to have picked up a companion," Alice Margatroid said blandly.

Letty, standing next to her outside of Alice's house, nodded. "Yes, Cirno has been following me around for quite some time. She has been much less annoying than usual, so I haven't sent her away yet."

They both watched as Cirno and a team of Alice's Orleans dolls engaged in a snowball fight. Each side had a snow fort and a pile of snowballs, and a steady rain of snowballs flew back and forth across the yard.

"How long is 'quite some time'?" Alice asked knowingly.

Letty flushed. "A… month and a half."

Alice shot an incredulous look at her.

"She grows on you. Kind of like a fungus." Letty defended herself weakly.

"I'm more surprised by the fact that she has stuck with you this long." Alice said. "Fairies aren't known for their ability to stay focused on one thing for very long."

The Orleans dolls had obtained a doll-sized carpentry kit from somewhere and were constructing something that looked like a trebuchet.

"Have you asked her why?"

Letty shook her head.

Cirno, suspecting her enemies were weakening due to their reduced rate of fire, increased her attack rate, sending ten snowball's downrange in as many seconds.

"Thank you for agreeing to let your dolls play with her." Letty said, changing the subject.

"Oh, it is no trouble," Alice smirked. "I wanted to test out the modifications I made to the Orleans dolls last week. They do seem to be a bit more autonomous now."

The trebuchet complete, the dolls began loading the payload.

"Oh?" Letty asked, curious.

"Yes," Alice smiled widely. "I just told them to send as much snow at Cirno in one attack as they could. I didn't say anything about a trebuchet."

Cirno watched in stunned horror as the trebuchet's arm rose, launching fluffy doom in her direction at speed. It was a direct hit; Cirno went down.

Letty giggled. "Quite impressive. Are you sure they aren't already autonomous?"

Alice sighed fondly. "Not fully, I'm afraid. But I'm getting there."

They watched on in amusement for several minutes as Cirno attempted to counter the dolls' new weapon. Eventually, Alice spoke again.

"You seem to be warmer than usual."

"I am weakening," Letty said with a shrug.

"Hm, I suppose," Alice mused. "But that wasn't really what I meant. You seem kinder now. I never would have thought that you would go to the trouble of finding Cirno someone to play with, yet here you are."

"…"

"Well, never mind that. I do believe my latest modifications have been a success. This calls for some celebration. Would you like some tea?"

"…Sure."

Letty didn't know why she was being kinder to Cirno. Perhaps it had something to do with how Cirno had changed. Cirno was, if not less excitable, less annoying in her exuberance. And perhaps, Letty had to admit, she was just getting used to the fairy. Perhaps she was just more tolerant these days. Letty did not usually consider herself whimsical, but there was certainly an element of whimsy in her decision to not send Cirno away. She didn't really have a reason as far as she was aware.

But then she did not really need a reason at this point. She could feel her time slipping away like sand in an hourglass. So when she came to a decision, it was less 'Why should I?' and more 'Why not?'. Cirno was not bad company, all things considered.

What was bothering her, however, was the question that Alice had voiced. Why was Cirno spending so much time with her? Just who was she to Cirno? The trouble was, she was not sure that she wanted to know the answer. It was obvious to her now that she was important to Cirno, but if she knew why then she would feel obligated to respond to that in some way. And she wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with that. She wasn't even sure she could deal with it if she wanted to at this point. With every passing day simple things such as walking and talking became more and more draining. Using her powers to any notable extent required her to rest for several days to recover her strength. To be in this state in the middle of winter… well, she had known intellectually that she would not survive the coming of spring, but now she felt it in the ache of her bones and the weakness of her muscles.

But even if she did not want to delve into that subject, she felt that she did have a responsibility to tell Cirno something. She just wasn't sure how to go about it.

Eventually, she just decided to spit it out.

"Cirno, I feel that you should know that I don't have long to live."

"…I know," Cirno admitted to Letty's surprise. "I heard when you told the black-white."

Letty stared at Cirno, not sure what to say to that. Cirno just continued to watch a snowflake that had landed on the end of her nose.

"Sorry, Letty." Cirno said when the snowflake was gone. "I tried to beat up the scythe lady with the boat, but I couldn't pull it off. I just got lectured by the mean lady again."

Letty tried to translate that. The scythe lady with the boat, that was probably the shinigami, which meant that…

"Cirno, did you attack the Shinigami and the Yama?"

"No!" Cirno denied. "I only attacked the boat lady with the scythe," she clarified proudly.

Letty winced. "Cirno, you really shouldn't mess with them."

Cirno just looked at the ground sullenly.

"I'm not sure why you are apologizing to me about attacking the Shinigami though." Letty shook her head. "You should apologize to her, not to me."

Cirno just looked confused. "I wasn't apologizing for attacking. That's stupid. I'm just sorry I lost."

Letty frowned. "But…" A horrible idea crept into her mind. "Cirno, why did you attack the Shinigami?"

"Because you said you were going to die!" Cirno said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And the boat lady has something to do with death, so I figured I could make you not die if I beat her up! She said that she can't, though."

Letty sat down on the ground hard. "What… Why…"

"Are you alright?" Cirno asked. "Do you need to sleep more now?"

"N-no, I'm fine," Letty stuttered. Except she wasn't. Cirno, who she had only grudgingly given the time of day, had attacked the Shinigami to try to save her life. It… just didn't make sense. "Cirno, why did you try to save my life?"

"Because you are dying, silly!" Cirno answered. "Are you sure you are okay? You keep asking strange questions."

Letty chuckled humorlessly. Of course. Whatever else might be said about Cirno, she always followed her heart. It isn't that she can't think through her actions… she just usually didn't. Letty tried again.

"Cirno, why do you care that I'm dying?"

"Because you're dying!" Cirno threw her arms up in the air. "Because you're Letty! I don't want you to go away!"

"Why do you even like me?" Letty choked out. "I've basically done nothing except ignore you and belittle you for the last century, Cirno."

"I need a reason?" Cirno asked, honestly confused.

Letty couldn't stop herself from crying at that.

"Letty! What's wrong! Was it something I did?" Cirno cried out as she rushed over to the yuki-onna. "P-please stop crying. Um… please?"

Cirno had no idea how to help, so she just dove right in and hugged Letty. Hugs made everything better.

"Are you feeling better?" Cirno asked earnestly, still hugging Letty.

"Yes, a bit." Letty said. "…Cirno, what am I to you?"

Cirno humphed and gave Letty a look. Not another silly question! "You're Letty!"

Letty chuckled. "Yes. I suppose I am."

Cirno nodded, glad that Letty understood. Letty was Letty, why complicate it more by adding unnecessary words?

"Do you want to do anything?" Letty asked.

Cirno didn't even have to think about it. "I want to stay with you!"

"How about we play a game?" Letty offered. "You can pick which one."

Cirno squealed happily.

"So I hear that you are dying."

"Good morning to you, too, miko." Letty snarked back. "Your tone of voice makes me feel like I'm inconveniencing you, which is strange since I told Kirisame I was dying more than two months back. You've had plenty of time to come visit, so don't complain now that you've put it off for so long."

Hakurei Reimu rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. You aren't dead yet, are you? Now, any significant change in Gensokyo seems to require me to look into it for some reason. So, no offense meant, but I have to ask: are you planning on causing an incident?"

"Why, of course," Letty said brightly, sarcasm oozing out of her words. "I'm planning to get right on that the moment I have accumulated enough power to make winter last forever. What with my vast increase in power due to my dying, I do believe I have been driven insane. Quick, kill me before it's too late!"

Reimu rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sorry. I know it's kind of ridiculous, but I am expected to head off incidents ahead of time if possible. I get enough flack about not doing my job properly as it is."

"Well, speaking of not doing my job properly, you'll have to excuse my failure to freeze you to death. I'm not very good at traditional yuki-onna activities at the best of times." Letty said with a self-deprecating smile. "I take it that this has been a quiet winter for you?"

"Hopefully it will stay that way, but I'm not holding my breath." Reimu grimaced. "Do you need anything from me?" She asked.

"What, is the shrine maiden offering to help a youkai?" Letty asked, amused.

"Hey, I do more than just youkai extermination," Reimu said, eye twitching. "Being the shrine maiden of paradise, I have a duty to all of Gensokyo's inhabitants, not just the human ones. It's just that the youkai cause all of the problems and don't usually need any help."

Letty shook her head. "Well, I'm fine. I'm hardly immobile, I just can't remain active for very long anymore. Besides," she smiled fondly, "I already have a helper."

As if on cue, Cirno came careening into the meadow. "Look, Letty! I- Gah! Red-white, what are you doing here?!"

Reimu gave Cirno and Letty a disbelieving look. "Wait, she's your helper? And you are still alive?"

"Hey, don't talk to Letty like that!" Cirno waved her arms angrily. "And I'm a fairy! I come back when I die!"

Reimu's face scrunched up as she worked through how Cirno had interpreted her comment. "Um, yeah, sure." She turned to Letty. "Does she do that on purpose, or is she just that stupid?"

Letty giggled. "Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I think."

Reimu rolled her eyes again. "Thanks. That's so very helpful. Look, I'm heading off now, but come by the shrine if you need me."

She flew off, swiftly becoming a speck on the horizon.

"What was it you wanted to show me, Cirno?" Letty asked.

"This!" Cirno said, giving the yuki-onna the object. It was sparkly and icy, and it looked rather similar to the alchemical sign for silver.

"Very pretty," Letty complimented Cirno. "Where is it from?"

"I found it by the river! See, there was this big tree, and…"

"I don't want you to go, Letty," Cirno sniffled.

Letty lay in the middle of the clearing with the snowdrops that she had spent her first day with Cirno in. To one side, the blurred remains of Cirno's snowwoman lay half-melted on the ground.

"I don't want to go either, but I don't really have a choice in the matter," Letty said sadly, reaching up to brush away a tear. "It's almost spring. Winter must end."

"Does it have to?" Cirno whined. "I could… go beat up Lily White or something. Would that help?"

Letty smiled and shook her head. "The seasons come and go, regardless of the affairs of youkai or fairies, Cirno. It is my time to go."

"Do you… have any regrets?" Cirno asked after a long moment.

"Hm… A few." Letty stared up at the sky. It was a clear, crisp blue. "But… even if I had the chance, I wouldn't change a thing. Because I have no regrets about these past few months."

Cirno smiled through her tears. "Me too, Letty."

A wind rose, wafting through the trees. When it reached Letty, it seemed to tug at her around the edges.

"Cirno, I want you to have this," Letty said, removing the alchemical symbol from her clothing. It felt heavy in Cirno's hands. "I found it when I was younger. It is gold, but it is the alchemical symbol for silver. Keep it as a memento of this winter, and as an apology for not spending time with you all of those other winters."

Cirno clutched it to her chest. "Thank you, Letty."

"No," Letty smiled. "Thank you, Cirno."

And then a gust of wind roared into the clearing. The yuki-onna, like the snow she commanded, scattered into snowflakes and was whisked away.

Cirno reached out sadly to touch the place where Letty had lain not moments before. Only when her hand touched the grass did she accept that Letty was gone. She clutched Letty's gift harder, and quiet sobs soon filled the clearing.

"I'd like to apologize for Cirno's behavior towards you, Shinigami-san."

"No apology necessary," Komachi waved Letty's worry away. "And call me Komachi, 'Shinigami-san' is much too stuffy for me."

"…So are you going to take me across?" Letty asked, a bit put-off by Komachi's lax attitude.

"Don't be silly," Komachi waved her off. "We have done away with a lot of things and changed up a whole bunch of others, but we still do the traditional timing. People cross, or attempt to cross, the Sanzu on the seventh day after their deaths. It's symbolic, or something."

"…"

"…Don't look at me like that," Komachi said defensively. "I don't make the rules, so I don't need to understand them fully."

"…"

"…Anyway," Komachi said, changing the subject. "I've been wondering, were you that nice to Cirno because you felt guilty, or do you actually like her?"

"…Have you been spying on us?" Letty asked incredulously. "What kind of Shinigami are you?"

"I don't consider it spying," Komachi rationalized. "I just… practice my ability to manipulate distance in such a way that allows me to hear and see things that other people… might not want me to. The better I am at it, the better I can do my job, plus I can find out all kinds of entertaining things without having to go anywhere. Everyone wins."

Letty gave Komachi a look that could peel paint off walls. "If you must know, both. I do feel guilty for never giving her the chance previously, but I was also pleasantly surprised by her. So, yes, I 'actually like her.'"

"So is she like your daughter or something?"

Letty barely restrained herself from caving Komachi's face in. "No, I actually have a relationship with Cirno. And if you bring up my biological descendants one more time, I can't be held responsible for what might happen to you."

Komachi looked puzzled, then realization struck. "Oh, so you're one of those yuki-onnas that- Ow, whab da hell? I tink you bwoke by nose!"

"I did warn you," Letty said as she cradled her hand. Komachi had a hard head. Still, worth it.

-linebreak-

"So is Letty…?" Alice asked, but Cirno's sniffles answered the question for her. "Ah. I'm sorry. Do you want to come in? I can make tea." She did not normally invite people into her home, but she felt that she could make an exception today.

Alice's dolls busied themselves as Alice did her best to calm down the desolate fairy.

"She was smiling," Cirno choked out. "She was happy. So why does it hurt?"

Oh dear. Alice looked around frantically in the desperate hope that there was someone else, anyone else, that Cirno's question might be addressed to. She was socially incompetent! She had no idea how to answer that! Lacking other options, Alice went for honesty.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you. I've never lost someone close to me like that. My… mother… is still alive."

"What's a mother?" Cirno asked.

Oh, right. Cirno was a fairy – she had literally just popped into existence one day. Alice opened her mouth to try and explain, but stopped. She couldn't actually think of a proper definition beyond the biological one, which wasn't helpful at all in Cirno's case. And her own relationship with Shinki was… complicated.

"Don't worry about it," Alice finally said. "…I've heard that it hurts less as time passes," she offered. "Sorry, Cirno. I don't think there's an easy answer to those sorts of questions."

"There never is," Cirno sulked, but she did seem a bit less weepy.

An interloper burst into the conversation. Wings whirring, smile gleaming, Lily White, fairy herald of spring, came to a stop outside the house, took a deep breath, and let loose a cry that could be clearly heard from inside.

"IT'S SPRING!"

Cirno twitched. Of all of the beings in Gensokyo, Lily White was the one she least wanted to hear right now. She gripped Letty's gift tightly as she stalked outside. This one was for Letty.

"Winter Sign: Crystallized Silver!"

Because even if it wouldn't bring Letty back, it still made Cirno feel a whole lot better.