Akane knew she was asking for so much, too much, from Phi and Sigma.
But, she told herself, it was worth it for the world. It had to be.
It didn't mean she had to be cruel, though.
"Is there...anything I can do for you, before you enter the cryogenic freeze?"
Phi was sitting across from her, and her eyes bore straight ahead as she said, "No, not really."
"Nothing?"
Phi's smile was small, and bitter. "Nemo sum; I am nobody. I need nothing."
Akane doubted that - she'd tried to convince herself of the same for years, and only succeeded in wedging a sharp splinter in her heart - but she would take Phi at her word.
Instead, she just grabbed Phi's hand across the table, holding it tightly, and Phi didn't pull it away. Their fingers tangled, and they sat in silence for the last time they'd be together before embarking on 45 years of solitude.
"Don't ruin this with something sappy, like, 'I'd spare you if I could,'" Phi said.
Akane smiled wryly. "I'd never."
A/n: Akane/Phi, secret weakness of my heart. I like the ambiguity of this.