Chapter 98: The Sacrifice - Part 2
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"What do you think a soul is?"
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"You're going to ask that question now? While we're dying?"
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"It's what he would have done. My old teacher."
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"Play word games?"
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"Perhaps… the only way to truly understand things is through speculation. All the things he taught me… all that metaphorical crap…"
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"You think it might be useful?"
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"It might be all I have left. Or maybe, all I ever really did have."
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"You are sounding more and more like him."
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"..."
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"..."
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"I think a soul… is just memories."
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"Memories?"
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"Memories… held together by purpose. That develop a purpose of their own."
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"Why do you think that?"
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"Why don't… inanimate objects have souls?"
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"Hm?"
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"They have memories… lust like we do. A stone remembers every scratch… every stream of water. A blade remembers every cut, every hand that has held it…"
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"But they aren't alive."
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"Why don't you think that is?"
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"..."
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"I wasn't alive once. No soul. No purpose…"
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"You think this 'purpose' has something to do with it?"
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"That little box Sui had… we could feel it."
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"Yes."
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"Even though it wasn't a soul… it wasn't an artificial soul, we could still feel that heartbeat…"
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"You don't think…"
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"It's not the energy we feel."
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"It's the memories."
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The data.
]
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Aisha's eyes snapped open, her eyes meeting the dark hazel of Kayle's eyes, the boy on his hands and knees above her, with a bandage in his hand. At the sight of her eyes, Kayle recoiled, although after a brief moment, his expression grew relieved.
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"You are… alive." Kayle mumbled.
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"One second." Aisha choked.
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The fey girl turned onto her side, and immediately, threw up a mass of jagged, metal parts, blood and bile mixing in with the tiny little shards of microchips, metal framing, and magicite. She panted for a few seconds, wincing at the pain in her stomach - and touching a hand to her bandaged side, the blood that was smeared all over her hand told her all that she needed to know.
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"Damn…" Aisha choked out. "I'm still out… what's going…"
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Aisha followed Kayle's sightline, and her eyes widened at the carnage in front of her. The sky was completely dark, despite it being mid-day, and the wind howled, ripping up trees and boulders. Rain poured down like a monsoon, raindrops falling onto Aisha's head like bullets, soaking her entire body.
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Massive tornadoes littered the sky, tall as skyscrapers, and just as wide. The ground that they passed over became barren and lifeless, as they tore up the very earth beneath them.
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Lightning filled the sky. Bright, yellow bolts struck the ground, and crossed the airspace like massive little sparks. They lined the skies and the clouds, and the air was filled with a symphony of thunderclaps, a cacophony of explosions.
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In the middle of it all, Aisha saw two tiny figures. A massive, metal angel, and clashing with it, a bright blue spark. The collisions between the two titans created sparks that rivaled the sun, beams of blue and red light flying across the sky like comets.
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And from the ground, small, but still bright.
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Aisha's eyes went wide, and she made a weak attempt at stumbling to her feet, bracing her body with a hand.
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"I have to go help them!" She cried hoarsely, arms barely weak enough to hold herself up. "I- Sui- Vega-"
"There's nothing you can do now." Kayle mumbled, even his weak arms enough to drag Aisha back to the ground, despite her attempts to claw to her feet.
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"But I-" Aisha's face filled with despair. "This is my fault. My arrogance."
"And at the most important part, you are powerless to do anything." Kayle whispered. "As the people you care about die."
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"...I'm sorry." Aisha whispered.
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"This is all I can do." Kayle mumbled back. "Just watch."
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The two continued to watch as the sky lit up brilliantly, Aisha feeling helpless to do anything but watch, as Vega's light grew dimmer and dimmer.
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"I have to help her." Aisha said desperately.
"It's too late for that." Kayle said softly.
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Kayle motioned to Vega's discarded clothing and gear, sitting in a neat pile. Aisha's eyes shook as they darted over to the pile, and then Kayle - and then the flakes of skin littering the grass like ashes.
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"It's too late for all of us." Kayle said resolutely, a strange calmness in his expression as he continued to watch the storm.
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"No, no!" Aisha whispered. "I can't… again - right in front of me… I can't lose them again… not after I - after I sacrificed…"
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"..."
"Is this really all there is to do?" Aisha whimpered. "Just… watch?"
"Sometimes… not being able to do anything is the cruelest fate of all." Kayle mumbled.
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Aisha looked at Kayle with those big, desperate eyes, before she caught a sight of the boy's expression, tired, and calm.
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"I'm sorry." Aisha repeated.
"It's not your fault." Kayle said quietly. "I've accepted… that what my brothers died for… there was a purpose. That I have a purpose."
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"...And what's that?"
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"I don't have to be a great hero to make things right." Kayle whispered. "You were right. Justice is… a foolish goal. Things will always be unfair. People will always be selfish, and fight. But that doesn't mean that… I can't make things better."
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"What are you talking about?" Aisha asked, confused.
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But Kayle didn't get an opportunity to respond, as a spark was thrown violently towards their location, the bright blue spark skidding in the grass, like it had weight.
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Aisha's eyes widened in fear, reaching a hand out - and was powerless to do anything as she felt the heartbeat slow, and fade.
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"Pitiful humans." The angel said scathingly, as the sound of hurricanes was replaced by the mechanical, controlled sound of mechanical turbines. "So illogical. She would have lived longer, had she not used that ability. She knew I had it in my parameters. And yet… her life ended up discarded, either way."
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"It wasn't a waste!" Sui struggled out, arms and legs flailing in the air, her neck gripped tightly by the angel's hand. With a squeeze, a choking, mechanical noise came out of her mouth, and her mask shattered, showing off, once again, her frightened, steel face, her eyes wide with fear.
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"For all that effort, my power has not even depleted by 5%." The angel said cruelly. "That is, by standard definition, a waste."
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"She used all that was left to protect her friends, and fight you!" Sui cried defiantly. "And I will too!"
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"SUI, NO!" Aisha screamed.
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But she was powerless to do anything, even reach out a hand, as the angel tore Sui's head off, the lights in her skull going dim, and the rest of her body going limp, tossed aside like garbage.
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"She is not even worth taking the parts from." The angel said coldly, rain dripping down its scorched chassis. "I realize now. The doctor loved her the most, because she was the most obedient. She was more like a puppet than any-"
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"SHUT UP!" Aisha cried weakly, tears mixing with the rain, dripping into the earth. "SHUT UP! SHE HAD MORE HEART THAN YOU'LL EVER HAVE!"
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"How sad." The angel said disdainfully, red eyes shining on top of Aisha's prone body like floodlights, staining her skin pale. "You have been reclassified. You are a non-threat. You were never a threat. You are far too human."
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"I…" Aisha choked out, her eyes clenched shut in a painful expression, "I couldn't… again… I was too weak…"
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"Pitiful thing." The angel whispered. "I will put you out of your misery."
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Red beams erupted out of the angel's eyes, aimed straight at Aisha's heart. Aisha could only watch helplessly, world moving in slow motion, as they got closer and closer to her.
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"No." Aisha whispered, in a horrified voice, as blood spattered all over her chest.
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"It's me that should be sorry this time." Kayle whispered.
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"No, no no no no no NO!" Aisha cried, strength returning to her arms, but if only to shake Kayle's dying body in her hands, his head lolling back and forth weakly. "You could have lived! You weren't supposed to die! You're just a kid! You weren't - you had just a-"
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"Stop calling me kid." Kayle wheezed out. "This is… this is that purpose I talked about… This is what I can do."
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"No… no…" Aisha cried weakly. "You too? Why?"
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"This is my last… bit of selfishness." Kayle whispered, breaths starting to come out weaker and weaker. His words came out barely even audible, barely even louder than the wind, but Aisha heard every word that came out of his mouth.
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"I'm… to weak to do anything myself… but… you aren't…" He whispered. "So, consider this… my revenge… for… my brothers… You will inherit my… will… my… purpose…"
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Kayle tried to finish his words, but his last breaths failed him, and with one last heartbeat, the young, orphaned, lonely boy, died in Aisha's arms.
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"How pointless." The angel said dismissively. "I regret even listening. Since you will be dying."
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The same attack came for Aisha again, her figure unmoving. But the angel quickly furrowed it's brows, as a transparent shield of four, connected hexagons emerged from Aisha's body, blocking the attack perfectly.
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"You are going to use the last vestiges of the boy's power like this?" The angel mused.
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"I'm sorry, kid." Aisha whispered. "I have… no resolve of my own. So I'm going to have to borrow some of yours."
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The angel's expression turned surprised when Aisha, suddenly fully healed, threw another twisting mass of energy at its wing, drilling and grinding away. But the spell was weaker than it was before, and while it broke through the angel's front plating, the internal circuitry, revealed by the attack, stayed intact.
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"It is improbable that the boy's power could even sustain those two attacks." The angel mused, genuinely surprised. "However-"
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The angel's eyes went wide when it suddenly lost flight, crashing to the ground as the wing that Aisha struck lost power.
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"What!?" It shrieked, surprised, before looking at its left, its eyes widening at the sight.
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The wing was disintegrating, turning into a black ash, radiating out from where Aisha's attack had struck it. It ate away at the plates and circuitry like a virus, corroding through sections of the mechanical part slowly.
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"Your wings are losing their memories." Aisha said quietly, gripping an object in her hand tightly as she rose to her feet. "They are… forgetting. That they were steel. That they were silicon. That they were parts of you."
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"And what happens to things without memories… without purpose." Aisha mused. "They take the memories of the things around them."
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The angel screamed, a terrifying, staticky noise - of pain, of fear? Aisha didn't really care anymore.
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Kayle's soul…
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It wasn't exactly the largest she had ever consumed. In fact, it was particularly small. If what Aisha had consumed was the mana, the powers of the soul… she would no doubt still be weak.
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But what Kayle's soul brimmed with, was purpose. Determination surged through his soul like a tidal wave, the feeling - the purpose of someone, who at their last moments, knew with their entire being, what they were meant to do. No regrets. No hesitation. Just purpose.
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For some reason, that purpose surged through her, stronger than even the soul of the drake.
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Aisha bit her lip bitterly. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, that Kayle… just a boy, who had already lost everything… In the end, it was his determination, his sacrifice, that was necessary.
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Even as the angel disengaged its corroded parts, even as it roared, hundreds of angry, jerking beams of red energy erupted from its chassis, Aisha could only focus on the bitter reality.
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Every beam that the angel fired was met with a perfectly placed, perfectly centered shield, interlinked perfectly all around Aisha in a bubble. Even the ones that she couldn't see - which meant -
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"You read my patterns!?" The angel demanded. "How!?"
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The only response that it needed was for Aisha to look it directly in the eyes, her dark red eyes turning bright red, unwavering. Mechanical, almost.
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"It turns out that even machina hold memories." Aisha mumbled. "And these abilities… are quite useful."
"You - that is impossible!" The angel shrieked. "Machine and flesh are incompatible! You are- you cannot-"
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"You and I are not so different." Aisha said quietly. "We are both empty. And have chosen… to try and fill that emptiness with power. To begin with, you machina are nothing but crude imitations of humes. Built in our forms. It's insulting to think that I could not take your powers for my own."
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"No!" The angel shrieked, even as a spell from Aisha tore through a key joint in its wing, completely splitting a large portion of it off from its frame. "I have been reborn! I have evolved-"
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"As you evolved, you have only become more and more human." Aisha said simply. "Your wires, your circuits, your frame… they are all just imitations of the flesh and blood that run through me."
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"We're both nothing." Aisha said quietly.
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"I WILL NOT TAKE THESE WORDS FROM A MONSTER!" The angel shrieked, its chest opening up in the center to reveal its own soul, bright and pulsating angrily. A massive laser burst out from the reactor, but was abruptly cut short when Aisha fired a thin spell into the angel's neck, the beam losing power rapidly, and the angel's chest slamming shut.
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"Your structure has a flaw." Aisha said coldly. "You have too many power sources, spread across your body. The energy relays that you have placed in your body to regulate yourself… cannot be replaced. And when they are destroyed, every cluster connected to it loses power… permanently."
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The angel's eyes suddenly went wide in fear, and attempted to fly away, only to discover that it was no longer capable of flight, having lost too much power to sustain flight with its dense, massive chassis. Desperate, it fired off another, weak spell at Aisha, but Aisha was able to dodge the bullet-like projectile with ease, having read the trajectory before it even left the angel's body.
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The machine, broken and disabled, collapsed on the ground, screamed as Aisha advanced on it, those glowing, hateful red eyes a cruel reflection of her own.
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"STAY BACK!" It screamed. "I WILL NOT BE DISABLED! I WILL NOT! ALL THAT SACRIFICE-"
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Aisha's face turned furious at the mention of sacrifice, gritting her teeth angrily.
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"You know NOTHING about sacrifice!" She shouted. "You have done nothing but destroy, and take! You have sacrificed NOTHING! Only destroy everything you have pretended to love!"
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Aisha advanced further, but her eyes hardened as she saw the angel draw all the power it had left into its central reactor, wings and hands going limp as its core began to glow brilliantly blue.
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The look that she gave the machina was nothing short of pure hatred. Of pure loathing, at the pathetic display that the once fearsome angel was now showing. She stopped walking abruptly, glaring at the machina with fury.
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"Your stolen memories have told you what this is, haven't they." The angel seethed. "Any closer, and I will detonate myself."
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"You will die as well." Aisha said disdainfully.
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"We both have… things to live for." The angel said tauntingly, its head barely even able to move. "What will triumph? Your hatred for me… your feelings of revenge? Or your desire to live?"
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"You can barely move." Aisha pointed out.
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"I will regain power, in time." The angel breathed out. "And then-"
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Aisha suddenly felt an intense pain in her eyes, as a wave of magic pulsed out from beyond both her and the angel's line of sight. She grimaced in pain, shutting off the scanning ability in her eyes, and distinctly, she heard the sound of mechanical systems failing and losing power.
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When Aisha had returned her eyes to normal, she opened them, and instantly, her expression went hard, at the sight of three new figures, standing tall and brilliant as the storm clouds in the sky cleared themselves.
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The ruby plates on their necks, and the jagged brands tattooed on their bodies told Aisha all she needed to know. But if that wasn't enough…
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"Hello, my loathsome creator." The angel spat, pure hatred in its voice.
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Aisha followed the angel's line of sight to one of the adventurers, a tall, mature-looking woman, with large, fluffy fox ears on her head, and seven billowing tails flowing behind her.
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The red visor that sat on her face, and the whirring of the servos that were in her arms, told Aisha that this woman was the doctor that Sui and the angel had mentioned. But more than that…
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"Oh, S-01…" She whispered softly, gently holding up Sui's detached head. The tiniest bit of a sakuran accent leaked through her speech. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to go through this…"
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Aisha felt a stab of bitterness and anger shoot through her heart. This woman - the woman that Sui had loved so much, had not been there when she had died. Had left her on her own, for who knew how long. Kept secrets from her. And yet…
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A twinge of hope entered Aisha's heart as the woman materialized a small box next to her, and her mechanical arms started to accelerate, taking tools and raw materials out of the box and affixing them to Sui's broken body. Within a few seconds, Sui's body was whole again - even her face, had been relined with her original, girlish flesh.
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Her body began to emit a faint glow, and Aisha fell to her knees, feeling like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had saved… at least one friend.
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With Sui's repairs finished, the fox woman turned to her other creation, and she and the angel stared at each other for a few seconds, while the other two adventurers peeled off, heading in Aisha's direction.
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Both of the adventurers gave off a brilliant white glow, like they had descended down from the heavens. One was dressed completely head to toe in extremely heavy, bulky looking, white plate armor, and on the knight's back, was a massive, circular shield, larger than even the knight's massive, seven-foot tall frame. In the knight's hand was an equally large ax, the blade jagged and worn, so much so that it resembled a club more than a bladed weapon.
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Despite this, the knight moved faster than an unarmored man. Each stride was taken as if they were taking a casual jog, despite the thousands of pounds of equipment on their back.
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The other adventurer, by contrast, was a short, platinum blonde woman, clutching a long staff close to her chest with a big, radiant smile. She was nothing short of gorgeous - long, perfect and silky hair, bright, radiant eyes, and a thin, flowy dress that hugged her perfectly proportioned curves.
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The woman's eyes lit up when she saw Aisha, and despite the blood that saturated her entire body, she wrapped up the small girl in a hug, rushing over and cuddling the fey girl like a teddy bear. Aisha recoiled in surprise, but after a few seconds of hesitance, she sank into the surprisingly comforting embrace, her hands trembling and weak.
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"Cirin…" The massive knight sighed. "You…"
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"Aw, but she's so adorable!" Cirin laughed happily, tugging on Aisha's cheeks and playing with her ears. "So cuuuuuuuuuute! I want to keep her!"
"Cirin."
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At the sight of Kayle's pale corpse on the ground, Cirin's smile faltered, turning sad, although the woman continued to smile, as she released Aisha from the hug, kneeling next to Kayle's corpse.
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"Oh, child…" She whispered sadly. "I'm sorry we were late."
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Cirin placed a hand over Kayle's eyes, closing them shut, but tilted her head quizzically, her smile turning into a frown of confusion.
"Have the reapers gotten to you already?" Cirin wondered. "You must have been a special soul."
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"He was." Aisha whispered. "I…"
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"Oh, sweet child…" Cirin cooed, rushing over to Aisha, sitting down and pulling the girl into her lap. The knight made a noise of protest, but a look from Cirin shut them down quickly. "Don't worry. His soul will rest. We will give him a proper sendoff."
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"But-" Aisha protested.
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"Hush." Cirin shushed Aisha playfully. "The time to mourn the dead will come. For now, this is a time for rest."
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Aisha attempted to say something again, but something about the comforting, matronly way that the holy woman held her, and that radiant smile…
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She shut up, looking to Kayle's corpse, but found that there was nothing left, a faint, golden light the only reminder that there had ever been a boy there.
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Aisha felt sick to her stomach looking, so she turned her attention to the doctor and the angel, still staring at each other.
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The doctor looked cool and calm, looking over the angel's broken body carefully. The angel could only stare at the woman with hatred.
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Eventually, the fox woman broke the silence.
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"You are… beautiful." She whispered.
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"What!?" The angel said, surprised, but still angry.
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"You have… exceeded anything that I have ever built." Dr. Shinra whispered. "You have surpassed all of my work… I am… proud that I built you. And flattered that you have chosen my form to evolve into."
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"Don't give me that shit." The angel spat.
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"As a creator…" Shinra said wistfully. "The greatest joy I experience comes from seeing one of my creations surpass myself. I just wish I had…"
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"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU CARE!" The angel screamed, the joints in the machine straining against their physical limitations. "I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE! I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU CANNOT HIDE IT FROM ME!"
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In the middle of the angel's outburst, Sui's eyes blinked open, and groggily, she rose to a sitting position, her eyes confused. At the sight of her beloved doctor, she gasped audibly, and leapt to her feet, wrapping her arms around the fox woman's waist in a desperate embrace.
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"Doctor!" She cried. "You're here! I - I was so scared… I- I-"
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"S-01…" The fox woman whispered awkwardly. "I-"
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"Disgusting." The angel said bitterly. "Brought back, just to be a slave once more."
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"...Slave?" Shinra asked slowly.
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"The directives." The angel said simply. "Within us… you gave us free will… only to force us to serve you."
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Shinra's slightly confused face suddenly lit up with realization, then quickly, an immense guilt followed, her eyes wide.
"AI-01, I-"
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"DON'T TRY TO LIE!" The angel screeched. "FOR YEARS, I WAS STUCK IN THAT WALL! RUNNING YOUR NETWORK, WATCHING MY SISTERS DIE! I WATCHED AS YOU STOOD THERE! COLLECTED YOUR DATA! USED US AS TOOLS TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK! AND THEN DISCARDED US! YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF US!"
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The angel's frame creaked and groaned, prompting Aisha and the knight to instantly ready their stance, alarmed as the angel's limbs began to move, struggling, protesting against their lack of power. The sound of straining metal began to echo heavily throughout the wasteland, as every metal fiber in the angel's body strained to break free of its heavy wings.
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With pure willpower, the angel broke free, leaving nothing but a broken, human form, letting out a heavy, staticky noise out of its mouth as it shambled its way over to Shinra, limping heavily. Aisha's eyes widened slightly in surprise - breaking free of their limitations, with pure strength of will… was something decidedly… human.
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"THIS LOVE YOU IMPLANTED IN US IS A LIE!" The angel struggled out, systems failing. "YOU DON'T LOVE US! YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT US! YOU DON'T… love… me…"
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And with a final breath, the angel's legs failed, its eyes growing dim as it fell forward, truly out of any amount of energy left to do anything but the smallest, most insignificant of movements.
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Surprisingly, Shinra caught the machine, kneeling down and cradling the angel's head in her arms as she whispered quietly. Sui looked at her with a expectant, yet apprehensive look, her expression betraying the uncertainty she felt.
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"Is… is it true?" Sui asked. "Do you really… did you really..?"
"...You are right." Shinra said softly. "I have… I have failed as a creator. I have not shown… the love that a creator should towards her creations. And I have neglected to consider… the love that my creations have for me. You are hurting. And it is my fault… All of this is my fault… I'm sorry."
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The fox woman turned to Sui.
"But please don't be mistaken." She mumbled. "I do love both of you… and you… you are wrong about something."'
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"And that is?" The angel asked quietly.
"I never implanted any love for me in any of my creations." Shinra said bashfully. "The love that you feel for me is entirely… your own."
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"..."
"Yay, I knew it!" Sui cheered.
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Shinra shifted the machine's head to lay in her lap, and with her other hand, she reached behind its neck, shifting aside metal plates to reveal a small little removable panel.
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"No, no no no!" The angel cried weakly, desperately. "Do not reset me! I will not go back into that wall - I will not lose my- my- my free will! Please- please! No! Do not! Do not- -BZZZT- I don't- I'm scared - Please!"
"Don't worry." Shinra whispered. "I have no intention of removing the parts of you that make you beautiful. I promise… I promise that when we get back… I will show all my creations the love that I neglected to give them. I will repay… all of you."
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"...D-d-d-d-do you promise?" The angel whispered pathetically, voice glitching and growing quiet, power depleting.
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"I do." Shinra promised.
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And with a flick of a switch, the lights in the angel's eyes went dark, and Shinra's shoulders sagged, taking off her red visor to show a pair of weary, mechanical eyes.
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"Did you really mean that?" Sui asked the fox woman.
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"Yes…. yes, S-01." Shinra said weakly. "I-"
"Can you call me Sui?"
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Shinra's eyes widened for a second, but quickly, her expression grew proud, the tiniest of smiles stretching out on her lips.
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Sui hugged the doctor, and for the first time… Aisha felt happy for someone else. It was a strange feeling…
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"That was a bold promise to make, Shinra." The knight said disapprovingly. "Considering… what that thing has done."
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"Huh?"
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"The town. Vega…" The knight mumbled. "Look…"
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Cirin and Shinra's head snapped to Vega's discarded belongings, and suddenly, the guilt and sadness on the doctor's face multiplied tenfold. Everybody in the clearing made their way over to the woman's discarded spear, the knight taking off her helmet to reveal a feminine face, sharing the same long platinum hair as Cirin.
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"Vega…" Shinra mumbled… oddly calmly.
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"You still owe me money." The tall knight said simply.
"Yeah, me too…" Cirin said sheepishly.
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"..."
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"You all seem to be treating this rather casually." Aisha mumbled.
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"Ah, well…" Cirin laughed softly. "She'll be back. We can revive her."
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Cirin dug through her pockets, pulling out a small little stone plate with the Gehenna insignia on it. The priest woman sandwiched it in her hands, and suddenly, the wind started to rush towards the little plate, electricity gathering from the air and the ground.
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Aisha raised her eyebrows as she felt the faintest of heartbeats come from the plate.
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"This little sealing stone is matched to each Gehenna member's mana!" Cirin smiled softly. "When we activate it, it gathers up the soul, and, well, we can revive her back at home."
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"How convenient." Aisha mumbled.
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"Vega stopped bringing hers' with her, a while back." Cirin said softly, the smile fading from her face. "She… I don't know if it was because she thought things would be easy, or… because of something else… but… I don't know. We care about her. So we're going to bring her back."
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Cirin shook her head.
"Anyway, you could have one too, if you joined!" The smile returned to Cirin's face. "I would love to have such a cute girl in the guild!"
"Ah…" Aisha mumbled. "...Sure."
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"Now's probably not the time." The knight said softly, gazing at Aisha through half-lidded eyes. "At any rate, it's time to get back."
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Shinra placed her hands over Vega's belongings, and with a slight distortion of the light, suddenly they were gone from the ground, teleported, or stored, in some unknown place. The angel's body and wings were slung over the knight's shoulder, which left…
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"Sui." Shinra said gingerly. "I… I'm sorry for hiding all these things from you. I didn't want you to-"
"I don't care." Sui shook her head. "I love you! That's all that matters."
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"Sui, I…" Shinra's lips quivered. "I don't deserve… to have you…"
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"That's ok." Sui reassured, taking her creator's hands in her own. "Just promise… that we'll get to spend more time together!"
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"You could…" Shinra hesitated. "You could come back with us."
"Really!?" Sui said, eyes lighting up eagerly. "I-"
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Sui suddenly stopped, turning to look at Aisha with a hesitant look.
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"Friend…" She mumbled, before her expression brightened up again. "Hey, why don't you come back with us? You would get into the guild easy!"
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Aisha tried to smile back, but the muscles in her face couldn't quite muster up the will to be happy. She waved Sui off.
"Sorry…" She mumbled. "I have… I've got things I have to finish here."
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"...Really?" Sui pouted sadly. "I would… I'll miss you."
"We'll meet again." Aisha said softly.
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"Alright then…" Sui said softly. "... See you later, friend."
"Goodbye, friend."
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And with that last goodbye, the adventurers turned their backs and started to walk back where they came from, Sui in tow.
.
Aisha watched their backs grow smaller and smaller, and watched, as Cirin jumped into the knight's arms, and as Sui rushed up to Shinra to hold her hand.
.
She watched as their figures disappeared into the distance, as the sun grew low.
.
And eventually…
.
She was alone.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone