In many ways, Arietta was like a replacement daughter to Largo. When he had first met her two years ago, she had been young and lost, and had often cried out to see Ion. The others, especially Sync, had thought it was pathetic and asked to be rid of her. Largo, on the other hand, had gone to the young girl and comforted her. Perhaps he had not been the kindest about it, but he had still felt that this was the way that he would talk to his own child to strengthen her up.
"Cheer up, little girl. You are stronger than this. Van has faith in you to be strong, and so does Ion, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Now is not the time to let your emotions flow."
Arietta had stared up at him with saddened eyes. She appeared to be broken; as Largo was sure all the God Generals had been in some point in their life. Her sniffling stopped though and she stood up silently, giving herself a better composure. Largo was unsure if she had taken the words to heart, or if she had been intimidated by him, but either way she focused her attention and from then on whenever she was around him she did her best to deal with the situation at hand. He had never thought that she would last though. She was too young, too much of a child.
When he found out that Arietta was truly only two years younger than what his own daughter would have been, it made the connection even harder to deny. He had always thought that she was twelve, perhaps younger, but to find out that she was sixteen was a bit of a surprise and the connections kept on appearing the more he saw of her.
While he did not often work with her on a regular basis, he did work with her more often than the other God Generals. Legretta was not fond of working with her, considering her to be more of a nuisance than an assistant, due to her inability to maintain her concentration around the Fon Master. Sync was banned from working alone with her, and Dist was often not even around. Hence Largo had fought alongside her often.
It was after the death of the Fon Master was when Largo saw the most of her though. Before, he had only seen her when they were paired up for missions, but once the death of the one she thought she loved occurred, she was by Largo's side voluntarily, more times than he could count. It seemed like she had moved her attachment from the Fon Master to him, though she would never say such a thing out loud. Instead she would just follow him along his journeys, aiding when possible, and in turn he would follow her when she had her own business.
Which is what led him to agree to be her mediator in her fight with another little girl, Anise. It was sad to see two children fighting, but then Largo reminded himself that these two were no longer children. They were two adults with the will to make their goals become reality, and he respected that decision.
He had never quite understood why he had felt this attachment to her. He had seen many an abandoned child in his lifetime, and never had he felt the need to look after one. Perhaps it was the situations they were in though. She had grown up with only a mother, if you could call the liger that, and her entire home had been taken away from her. He had lost his wife, and in turn lost the girl that he had once called his child. But now here he was with a girl his daughter's age, and together they were working towards a common goal. Wasn't that what having a family was like?
Perhaps it was due to this relationship with her that after she died he didn't just leave her body lying on the battlefield like so many other countless companions of his. Instead he carried her the way he would have liked to carry his own child.
In his arms, her lifeless body lost all warmth that he had imagined his daughter would have possessed, but he tried not to think about it too much. He had no daughter to think about, and he was better off keeping it that way. This was why you could never become too attached. Not when you had goals to reach for.
He walked for hours, until he reached a barren land covered only with the ashes of what was once a beautiful forest. He had seen this forest many times from afar before it had burned down, but he had never actually been into this part of it. It was the original den of the ligers, and he knew that Arietta would be grateful to finally be back to her childhood home.
Clearing away some of the burnt remains on the ground, he placed her down and quickly dug a shallow grave. He didn't have much time to waste, as this ceremony was a pointless tradition that would soon become unheard of, and she was lucky to even get this. Soon everyone would be a replica, and when they died, their bodies would dissipate, making no need for a grave. In the end, he covered where she was buried back up with burnt branches, leaving no marker. To mark her grave would be to doubt their ideals for the future.
After all, if the world were to be entirely replaced by replicas, then there would be no one left to remember her.
Largo stood up quietly, careful not to disturb any of the charred remains on the ground. He turned and walked away from the now-covered location of the girl's body. Not even he would be able to tell it apart from the rest of the ruins once he got far enough. That was how it should be. That girl, just like his memories of his own daughter, would from now on be only that. Memories that he would no longer willingly bring up.
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