I ship Crelma too, guys, and it’s not because I have a huge crush on Elma. I actually use the default Cross, of all things, since I think of them as their own character. I’m doing this due to a theory of mine. There are bits and pieces throughout the story that hint at a number of things about Cross and Elma. While I can not say with 100% certainty that this theory is true, I love it so much I can’t help but believe in it. Let’s get started.

Part 1: What we know about Elma

In Elma’s first affinity mission, there are a lot of hints at Elma having hidden details in her past. We’re teased with these a number of times, including Elma herself saying she wants to get to know you better before she tells you her past.

Quite possibly the biggest detail is revealed in a talk between Doug and Elma. Back when the White Whale was being attacked, there was a lone skell that struck back before anyone else: Elma’s skell, the Ares.

Doug says to Elma, and this is important:

Elma was riding that skell WITH someone. Who is it? Well, we’ll get to that later, but right now let’s talk about who this person WAS to Elma.

Part 2: The Soundtrack

This soundtrack might sound like a bunch of silly, meaningless, engrish tracks, but the people writing the music actually have a lot of knowledge of the smaller details of the story. For example, Black Tar explicitly mentions ghosts twice, which are the other alien army that the Ganglion were fighting in the opening, and also the alien race that attacked the white wale and stranded its crew on Mira.

So let’s take a look at a song that coincidentally plays during Elma’s first affinity mission: The Way.

In this song, a girl sings about a person in her life who is now gone. This person was incredibly important to her. They filled her life with happiness. She thinks about them constantly, about how much she misses them. But most of all, she thinks about how she knows, deep down inside her, that they are still alive. So she lives waiting for the moment they reenter her life.

If this is from Elma’s point of view, it would make sense. It seems like her old partner is absent, so it would make sense for her to sing a song about how she misses them.

But just in case you weren’t convinced this was from Elma’s point of view, let’s take a look at another song, one that plays in some optional bosses: In the Forest.

This song, despite being in a male’s voice, makes sense to be about Elma/from her POV, since a lot of the lyrics seem to be in line with her philosophy. But the part we need to pay attention is at 2:50. It goes something like:

“She was standing there, in the hangar

Hatch was open then, there’s no one there

He was drifting along in the universe

That’s the last time I saw his face”

The way I see this part is like so:

“I (Elma) was entered the hangar

The hatch (?) opened, but there was no one there

He (Elma’s partner) was drifting along through outer space

That’s the last time I saw his face”

It sounds like after the battle in the opening where the two of them used the Ares, Her partner was either lost or ejected intentionally, and then began drifting off into outer space, apparently dying.

But why do I think this person is Cross? Well, here are a few reasons.

Part 3: What we know about Cross

No one knows Cross. Everyone on the White Whale is a crew member. Someone should have met him before. But no, Cross is a stranger to everyone. EVERYONE. This is a big detail. This implies he’s either:

A: Like Yelv (unlikely since Eleanora doesn’t treat you like she does Yelv)

B: Someone not on the crew (unlikely, no reason to be there)

C: Someone trying to infiltrate the White Wale who found their way into a mim (He’s too helpful to be an enemy)

D: A crew member whose mim was assumed to be destroyed in the battle that caused the crash. Such a person would be in the lifehold and unable to be retrieved until they recovered the lifehold. Instead, however, their consciousness somehow found its way into another Mim, either due to mim technology being crazy or Mira being crazy (Seems possible, if a bit weird)



D is the only one that seems remotely feasible, and GEE, THAT SURE DOES SOUND LIKE LITERALLY EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT ELMA’S FORMER PARTNER.

If crazy Mira shenanigans are at play, that also explains why they have memory loss. Amazing. Him being an awesome, stand up soldier who keeps up with/surpasses Elma also starts to make sense. I mean seriously, everyone starts pointing out how awesome you are and how there are stories about you. This isn’t just MC syndrome, Cross has always been one of the most prolific members of BLADE, it’s just that no one knows it. It also explains the lyrics in The Way, since if Elma thinks Cross is in the lifehold, of course she’d think they would meet again someday.





So, tl;dr, Cross used to be Elma’s partner in crime and possible lover on the White Whale, is a badass of legendary status, everyone thinks they’re dead but they aren’t, and Cross and Elma are drift compatible.