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When 4B sees 2B descend the elevator into the Lunar Tear cave, she knows instantly what's happened.
Her visor is off. Her eyes are red, not in the way indicating an infection, but indicating that someone had been crying. Is it time yet? She holds more than one weapon in her hands. Dual wielders aren't– Oh. That's not a second Virtuous Contract in her left hand. That's Cruel Oath.
"Hey. Luna, what's that–"
"He's gone."
"Was it another–"
"Decommissioned." 2B slumps back against the cave's wall. She sobs. Her weapons clatter against the side, then fall dead against the ground.
"He's... And you're okay?"
"Commander said I'm fine as long as..." She trails off. Each heave wracks her body such that she cannot continue her sentence. 4B kneels beside her and cups her chin. She can't bear the thought of pushing a second partner away, and so she lets 4B take control. "as long as I don't speak of him anymore. They're going to edit my memories."
"No. They can't."
"You and I know the Commander can do whatever the fuck she wants!"
"Hey. Hey, Luna, no, it's not her–"
"It doesn't matter. He's gone either way." She pushes 4B aside. 2B staggers over to the centre of the field with only Cruel Oath in hand. 4B watches. She watches as she plants his sword directly into the ground. An apology. To him, to the flowers they had desecrated, to the victims of what YoRHa would call a necessary evil. It stands there with its tassel fluttering on nothing. It would have to be enough. Over by the decayed hut 2B collapses into 4B's arms. When the pair decide it time to leave they do so without another word spoken.
* * *
It would be four months before their next visit. 11945 had just moved into its fourth month yesterday and though the world and weather were no different, the tides of the war had shifted against them. But there was one small boon they were able to find.
One of their most notorious deserters had been eliminated.
4B wishes she could forget the method she'd devised. Her sister, 4S, had been squirrelled away in the forest's castle for who knows how long, but she had only presented as a woman for two days at the time. And upon learning of A2's history with A4, the plan had coalesced.
"Here. When you see A2, I need you to call out to her. She trusts you, right?"
"Implicitly. When I'm there I can't connect to the Bunker."
"Good. Next time you go down there, bring a sword. I'll teach you how to kill an android."
She left the Bunker with 4S on a flight unit that day. She piloted. 4S was too busy trying to remember the critical points. One in the head, one in the chest. Two for two. It could either be the easiest two or the worst four strikes. 4B's memories end here, and rare for a YoRHa, of her own accord. She would never be able to forget the look on poor Sylvia's face upon her return.
"Ivy. I got her."
"You did." 4B thought she would feel something. The woman she had been targeting all her career was dead. "Syl, did she..."
"I'll show you the memory. You know I hate explaining things I did."
It would be penance enough, she decided. I'm sorry, Freesia. She loads the memory into her own mind and plays it back.
* * *
"Hey! Freesia!" 4S calls from the library's third floor.
"I told you to keep your voice down." But A2 still climbs those ladders on the path laid out for her. Even though she can't see 4S anywhere she knows she's there. Her visit comes just in time. She can still tell that the woman awaiting her 4S by the way her visor covers only her left eye, though she cannot see the striking blue of the right.
"So, what do you need?"
"Colour vision's fucked."
"Mm. Yeah, that's bad. I'll have to knock you out for this, okay? Just take this, Jackass says you'll be down for an hour."
A2 gives it no more than a customary inspection before drinking the whole thing in one fell swoop. It hits fast. She feels her legs turn to jelly beneath her before in one swoop she is felled. 4S hadn't even let her fall unconscious before jamming a copy of Virtuous Treaty through her core.
"Syl...?" A2 is able to get out one last word, then a groan, then silence. As she stares into the frantic Scanner two feelings overlap into another terrible cocktail. Betrayal was one she had become accustomed to, but with acceptance creeping in it stings just as it did the first time she saw 4B.
"Sorry! I'm sorry! Freesia!" 4S wails. She withdraws the sword with all of her strength. At least I hit her quick. But she can't bear to look at the body any longer. Though never known for being sure-footed she dashes away from the dying android and down three floors, then out of the castle, then into Pascal's village where she collapses in a heap upon arrival at the gate. She is safe. Safe from punishment for associating with the deserter. It could, and would, be explained away as her playing a two-year-long game. She shuts down. The memory ends.
All 4B could do was stand there in front of 4S. The latter holds out both weapons, the Virtuous Treaty to be returned and the Contract to be discarded. She quietly snapped both of them up and dismissed 4S with a nod. It was time to report to the Commander, and 2B, and everyone else who had lost a body to A2.
She hadn't been with 2B when it happened. 2B would always either be alone or with one of the Scanners, but by that day she hadn't had a partner in two months. That Contract and Treaty had been gathering dust in her storage for just as long. As the memory fills every empty space in her mind she plots a course for something, anything , to do with them. And another memory blinks back into existence. This time, her flight unit attracts no attention, nor does she let herself pilot it. On this descent she would be lucky not to be constantly weeping.
* * *
When she returns to the field of flowers she finds 2B already there. It is the 2nd of the month, and thus she stares down at the glittering petals and fireflies, looking for a sword that was never planted there.
"Luna."
2B doesn't acknowledge her at first. It takes a hand on her shoulder for her to say anything. "Hey, I'm here."
"I'm aware of that."
"I brought the swords. You're ready?"
"What was I spending all this time here for?" 2B gets up and takes care to crush as few flowers as possible on her way to the centre. She, and 4B, look into each other's eyes; their visors are wrapped around the copies of their respective swords. Thunk. In unison the blades are embedded in the flowers. And just as they are so, the hilts glow.
"What?" 2B's question is quickly answered. Light pools around them before it forms two figures. When one's body starts to come together 4B flinches and turns away. She must be infected and it must know her greatest weakness, because there is no other possible way A2's ghost could be staring back at her. It flickers. The maso, hard light made manifest by memories she could never access, reaches out to her. And then the other figure speaks.
"Hey, kid."
This woman is a copy of 4B. Not quite. Though the dress is different she cannot imagine who this might be. Wait. A4. "A4?"
"Amaryllis."
"What are you two..." 2B asks.
"My memories have been in the sword for years. Thank you for bringing us here. I always wanted to see it," A4 explains. "When I say that she and I are free now, I want you to believe us, alright?"
"Yeah." 4B chokes out.
"Anything to say, Freesia?" A4's ghost looks to A2's.
"Bye, Ivy. Tell the Commander she can go fuck herself. Tell Syl I forgive her. Luna..." she pauses. "I'm glad I could meet you on good terms. I wish I could stay. I've seen so much. It's all so... beautiful. You two keep going, okay? Command did so much shit to us, and there's always more coming. So live."
"I'm sorry, Freesia." 4B lets it spill. "I love you both."
"Yeah. You both too." For the first time in four years A2 smiles in front of 2B. All the latter can manage is a feeble whimper, but it's all A2 needs to be satisfied. She takes A4's hand. "Wish we could stay longer. I got people who miss us." 2B reaches out to grab A2's hand but hers passes right through the fading limb. The ghosts leave. They leave as a shower of the fireflies that flit about the cave. No need for either remaining Battler to question what they had just seen. Their visors are gone. The reprimands they would receive for this go forgotten. So live. The order passes and spreads.
"Should we go?"
2B sits back in the lean-to's bed and looks at the ever so slightly thicker cloud of fireflies around them. "No. Not yet."
"Fair enough."
She falls away into her partner's arms. War’s ending soon. I can feel it. One of her wars had already ended and left part of her an empty vessel. What would come after is a prospect 4B enjoys thinking of much less now. Perhaps a new target, more people to manage, or simply a long sleep below... Her hand brushes the Lunar Tear in 2B’s hair, given three times the meaning. And in return 2B plants a kiss on her crown. The recording of A4’s voice is saved. I could switch to it. I could give it to Syl. I could... She decides that the first stop would be to find two more flowers.