"Violet…", his voice was barely a whisper. As much as he had tried to picture their reunion, he wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotions that flooded him when he saw her, smiling back at him.
She no longer was the skinny child soldier with cuts and bruises that had been under his care and orders for nearly five years. Standing in front of him was a young woman who in the three and a half years since the end of the war had truly blossomed into a person worthy of her name.
This is what he had wanted for her all along. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Major!".
He suddenly found himself pulling her into a hug, holding her head protectively as he had done the first time they met. He held her with desperation, feeling joy, relief, sadness and regret all at once.
She had grown as a person because she had led a life away from him. He felt selfish for bringing her back into his life, or rather, intruding on hers.
Sobs racked his body.
"Major". She was also crying. "You're alive". Her arms wrapped around him, and though she had lost the sense of touch with them, she could feel the pounding of his heart next to her cheek.
They held on to each other in a way that wordlessly expressed all the love and affection that they felt, slowly filling that inner void that their separation had created.
"Violet, I am so sorry".
His voice sounded broken. He was sorry for everything. For hurting her in so many ways. He blamed himself for failing her as a child, and then, after the war, by how much pain he had inflicted by keeping his survival a secret. And now, when she had finally moved on, by his inability to stay away.
She turned her gaze up to be able to look at his face. Tears still glistened on his remaining emerald eye. She didn't need or want an apology. At least not at in that moment.
"All that matters to me is that you are alive, Major".
The thought that she would become dependent on him again pained him.
Defeated, he pulled away at an arm's length to look into her blue eyes. Her features had matured since he had last seen her. With her outfit, her hair and her features, she really did look like a doll.
-"Violet, I ….All I wanted for you was to be free".
His arms dropped to the side and his fist clenched. He looked so remorseful.
Her work as an Auto-memories doll had slowly developed her ability to understand human emotions and their unspoken cues, and at that moment she recognized his pain and need for reassurance.
"Major, I am free. Through the new life that you made possible for me, I learned to be free... But, I never lost hope that I would see you someday, because…because I love you".
His breath hitched.
"I know that now", she continued, "I have always loved you".
Happiness swelled in his chest. He looked at her with such tenderness and awe and repeated what he thought had been his dying words. "Violet, from the bottom of my heart, I love you".