Author's Note: Howdy y'all! Welcome to day six of Bayojeanne Week 2020! Hope you're all staying safe and healthy! Today's prompt is 'loneliness'. I've actually had this fic in the works since before this week was announced. Special thanks to my boyfriend for helping me out and giving feedback while I was writing this fic. Hope y'all enjoy! Also posted on AO3 and Tumblr. WARNING: This fic contains vomiting.
"I used to know love
'Cause I had a fire, passion and desire
Now all I require are circuits and wires
Inside was an ocean of soul and emotion
Then you cut me open, now all that I know is
I am a robot"
IRobot by Jon Bellion
Some part of Jeanne, underneath Balder's mental manipulations, had held out the faint hope that Cereza would remember her. She knew it wasn't likely, but having it be confirmed that morning on the highway...Well that was something else to her.
Cereza had only the faintest recognition in her eyes, and nothing she said even hinted that she knew who Jeanne was. Her mind was foggy, as it had been for the past 500 years, but there was still a prick of pain inside her chest. Literally, as well as figuratively, as the red roses in her lungs began to grow.
Bayonetta had no idea who the white-haired witch was. She was suspicious, of course. Ever since she had awoken at the bottom of a lake, she hadn't seen any others of her kind. Until now, that was.
The other woman knew something of her past, Bayonetta was sure of it. There was something there, an odd sense of warm familiarity. Comforting, almost. But that couldn't be, could it?
And her eyes...The longing in them...Longing for what?
It wasn't pretty when Balder discovered Jeanne vomiting up red roses after the fight on the plane.
He had looked briefly surprised, before turning his lips up in a cold smile. He had long suspected that Jeanne was in love with his daughter, but to have the confirmation that said love was unrequited due to Cereza's amnesia...That could be a boon to him, as far as controlling the Umbra heir.
"Oh, my dear Jeanne, are you suffering terribly? Knowing that she doesn't remember all those years the two of you spent together? All of the love? What a pity."
Jeanne was too busy hacking up crimson petals to reply, but his words stung all the same.
This is it. Somehow, in the midst of heated combat, blood and bruises on both of them, Bayonetta knows that this fight with the mysterious other witch will be the last. One way or another, this will end. At the realization, the dark-haired witch charges forward and manages to deal the final blow and Jeanne is sent flying backwards, landing on her back on the roof of the building.
She had beaten Jeanne, and all she wanted now was to know what it was for. Why were they fighting for some pitiful stone? Why had everyone had to die?
Bayonetta gripped Jeanne's hand tightly.
"In the innocence of our childhood, we used to play together as friends…But as time passed, perhaps, even my eyes were clouded by fear."
There was such a pain in the white-haired witch's eyes. Such longing to say something more. What could it be?!
"We were…?"
Bayonetta left the question hanging, unable to ask what she truly wanted to know now.
"Do not fear your fate. Stand, Cereza. Open your eyes. For with every truth, there is another to be seen," Jeanne forced out, before breaking into a fit of coughing, red flower petals leaving her mouth.
The dark-haired witch's eyes widened. That was the longing. It was love. It's been love.
Before she could reply, the building erupted into flames, and she was flung away by the force of the explosion, leaving Jeanne behind.
"Cereza, you aren't the person I sealed away 500 years ago. You have the strength to overcome this, and fight! Finish this!"
As Jeanne drifted away, hand outstretched, Bayonetta feared that she had lost her yet again. And she felt lilies bloom in her chest.
Riding on a piece of Jubileus, Bayonetta was ready to meet her fate. Never thought it would end like this. She coughed, bringing up a few lily petals into her mouth. I never even got to tell Jeanne how I feel.
Suddenly, a white boot landed next to her. She glanced up in shock.
"Unbelievable. We managed to stop this abomination, and it's still going to destroy the world!"
"Jeanne!" Bayonetta (Cereza now?) cried in pleasant surprise, at the other witch's sudden appearance.
"Come now. You're one of a kind. If you die here, who's going to save the world? I'll send you home, even if it kills me." Jeanne says, feeling the thorns of roses in her chest. "Now, let's finish this."
Unbeknownst to Jeanne, Bayonetta feels her throat itch from lily petals at the white-haired witch's words.
"You and I are going home together. Jeanne, we're both one of a kind!"
"Now those are the eyes I've been waiting to see!"
Their eyes meet, full of thoughts and emotions for another time, as they ride on the shards of a shattered god. Those spoken words, an unsaid I know, I love you too, for now, are confirmation enough, and they both feel their lungs clear.