Almost forgot today, but 'almost' is the key word. It's been a moment, but I'd like to remind any readers of the content warnings in the first chapter.

Many thanks to Kokodoru for the beta-reading!

"Do we have everything?" Miku asked.

Luka looked at the list carefully as they walked. The city lights had started dimming, signaling the upcoming global night. On such an artificial planet, the days were manufactured, clocking at the perfect length of 30-hour rotations. While the festivities would continue throughout the night, for days on end, providing them ample cover, they needed to return to Ruko as soon as possible.

"I think so," Luka said. Her shoulder ached a bit and she was reaching the end of her fourth oxygen bottle. "We have my planet, all of our supplies, the most essential of the infrastructure..."

"We could build what is missing ourselves," Miku commented. "If there are materials for it, locally."

"Yeah. Trees. Weird kind of wood, kind of rubbery, but it should be suitable for building things. I think we're done."

"Wonderful."

Luka repeated her last sentence into her microphone, adding, "We're on our way back."

"A small caravan was delivered not too long ago," Ruko shared. "It is filled with purchased goods."

"That's ours."

"I will hitch it, then."

"Perfect. We'll be able to leave the moment we get back."

Miku smiled at the information, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. The heavy bags of food rations, medical supplies, and filters that weighed her down were hardly to blame.

Since their conversation on the marketplace street, they hadn't exchanged many words besides half-hearted conversation about their shopping. Miku shouldered the groceries while Luka pointed the way, haggled prices, and handed out the money out of her rapidly emptying briefcase.

Doing all that while knowing that the android loved? Easy. To think that she loved her? That was something else entirely.

Luka sighed: the walk back to the ship would be relatively long, but not quite long enough to warrant finding a taxi stop, since they'd sooner find the ship. By then, though, the streets had emptied substantially, the bulk of the crowds heading indoors to continue the party, leaving her almost alone with the android that loved her, and a stray blinding neon light.

Luka was no real stranger to love, nor to desire. Still, she felt like she had been thrown in the deep end.

It was strange to be loved and, dare she think, desired by Miku. It was Miku who had brought her the plush Dexterok and made her own presence infinitely more bearable for the long-term. Nobody had thought of that. Nobody had tried to think of that. Either nobody had been clever enough to, or had cared enough to.

Nobody had saved her life more than twice, either.

These weren't reasons, really, for Luka to fall in love with her in return. It was all chemical, after all. There was no real reasoning behind it. Love wasn't rational and explained into existence.

These things certainly didn't keep love at bay, though.

Being loved also didn't. It was nice, to be cared for. To know that someone held you dear. She was glad she could mend her relationship with Meiko, for instance. In a way, she was glad that Miku legitimately cared for her. It was nice, in a sugary way.

She breathed through clenched teeth, wondering if she ought to find another oxygen resupply point.

"Luka?"

Although she expected the android to talk, her voice still made her flinch.

"Yeah?" she asked, voice strained.

"Are you alright?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry for being so blunt, earlier."

"It's fine."

"I feel like we need to have this conversation," Luka managed to say. "It's one that has never gone well before, though. You know me."

"I do," Miku said gently. "Take the time you need."

"I don't love you," Luka managed. "Not the way you want me to."

"That's alright," the android said coolly, adding almost as an afterthought, "I'm not surprised."

"What?"

Miku nodded, her eyes sad. "You still experience so much fear when I approach you."

Luka felt like she had to catch her breath. "...Right."

"If only we could part ways," Miku said sadly. "It would have been the best for us both. It was true then, and it is still true today. Regardless of how I feel about you."

Luka clenched her hands, set her jaw, before looking the android right in the eye, no matter how much it made her shiver. "I need you, though."

"I know," the android said cooly. "I protect you."

The woman sighed. "Man. What do we do now?"

"We resume the status quo. There is nothing else to do."

"You... You aren't upset?"

"No. Why would I be? There is no obligation to reciprocate," the android assured her, voice gentle. "I will not punish you for one-sided affection: unlike manners, that is not something you can help."

Luka nodded. "Ok."

"If you need time to think about it some more, then take the time you need, by all means," Miku added. "I won't be angry."

"Thanks."

"You shouldn't have to thank me for this," the android said. "I meant it. My feelings do not exist as a contract or obligation."

Luka hummed, eyes stuck on the starry evening sky. With a dry, monotonous voice, she said, "You have no idea how many times I've had this conversation."

"I don't."

"Time and time again, I'd have to tell someone that no, I didn't love them, I didn't want anything more than a fling, there's no chance for a long-term relationship, I just don't work like that, and they'd insist and push and beg and after I put my foot down, they would get angry and...! You? You're the first person to go with it. You're the first person to accept my reply."

"I'm sorry."

Luka shrugged. "Emotions are funny like that. It makes people pushy. Desperate. It's just so weird to think that, of all people, you're... You're the first person to accept me despite everything. You've become the only person whose company I can bear. And now..."

"We are stuck together."

"It's cruel," the scavenger growled. "We're stuck together, and you love me and I don't love you and you're still willing to stick by me just because the coward I am needs and wants you to."

Miku gave her a small smile. "I care about your happiness."

"You do, don't you... Stars. You know you're following me to some faraway, middle-of-nowhere corner of the universe, right?"

"Yes."

"You won't have an audience there," the woman reminded her, her voice torn between anger and sadness. "I'll be keeping the whole universe from you."

Miku chuckled. "Even before, I told you that an audience of one would suffice."

Luka closed her eyes. "There won't be any kids running around."

"That's fine."

"It'll be just you and me..."

"I know."

The woman sighed. "Why don't you just go and find something better?"

"I suppose that I have the rest of time to find something better. Today, right here and now, I love you and wish to stay with you, for as long as I am welcome to. I wouldn't let the universe come between us until you tell me to leave."

Luka shook her head. "Love is so stupid."

"It is very human. Rather... It is a very living thing."

"It is." After a pause, she said, "If you change your mind, let me know. I can always bring you somewhere, drop you off."

"I will, but I doubt that will happen. I really do want to stay at your side for as long as you'll have me."

Luka thought about it for a while. "What if that's until the day I die?"

"Then I shall stay until you die."

"What if I never..."

"I love you," Miku reminded her. "That does not depend on whether you love me in return."

Luka slowed to a stop and turned to face her. It was a bit silly, in the night with their dark clothing, dyed hair, makeup, and masks, but the weight of the conversation was crushing all the same.

"That won't change," Miku went on, approaching her slowly. "I mean it: I'll stay for as long as you'll have me."

Miku put down a bag and raised a hand, slowly, to rest her hand on her shoulder. Luka bit down the flinch, barely wincing as the cool fingers found the base of her neck, yet she leaned into the touch and dared close her eyes once more.

"Thank you."

"Please, this really isn't something you should thank me for," the android said, picking up the bag again. "Let's get back to Ruko and off this planet to safety. We have already spent far too much time here."

Luka nodded, took in a deep breath, felt that she was reaching the bottom of the bottle. "Right. Let's go."

Together, they walked briskly through the winding silver streets, following the signs towards the local human spaceport. There, they entered at the opposite end of the port, waited for the atmosphere exchange to finalize, discarded their masks, then neared where Ruko was parked.

"Ruko, open up," Luka said into the microphone as they approached. Though she couldn't see the ship because of the opaque walls of the port, the numbers told her she was getting near.

Sure enough, the door hissed further up, though the AI didn't say anything in return.

"Ok, soon we'll be off this planet," Luka said, tone a bit lighter as she stepped into her ship, blindly throwing the nearly empty briefcase on the bed.

Behind her, Miku asked, "Where shall I put these?"

"Just on the floor, we'll sort that once we put a few lightyears between us and this hunk of metal. Hey Ruko, give us some light, will you? It's dark out—"

A sudden impact into her bad shoulder sent her tumbling to the floor, too seized by the pain to even scream.

"Hey! What—"

Miku's voice was cut off by a terrible, ear-splitting shriek. Luka couldn't even turn to look: a boot made contact with her face, sending her sprawling under the dashboard, her bad shoulder impacting with the base of the seat there. She saw stars. Before she could even groan or complain, hands grabbed her ankles, pulled her out, and she was kicked again.

This time, she yelped. The kick to her stomach, however, forced all the air out of her lungs, making her mute even when yet another boot got her right in the shoulder blade, exactly where it hurt the most.

She swore she passed out for half a second. The next moment she could even form a thought, it was silent in the ship. She groaned, reached around to see where she was, only to feel a heavy boot rest on her torso, pressing into the bullet wound. When she opened her mouth to speak, she swallowed a mouthful of blood instead, almost choking on it. After a desperate cough, she realized she couldn't breathe through her nose.

Broken.

"That's enough," a voice said, and the boot lifted.

Luka took the chance to roll on her good side, coughing out the blood that continued to seep into her mouth, inhaling as best as she could.

She could barely see.

"Lights, please."

She didn't know the voice. It was male, human, thick, and rich like whipped cream, with a mean little twist, lemon. The worst was how bored he sounded. So bored.

She pried open an eye: the other kept blinking away blood.

Through her tears, she saw that her ship was filled to the brim with people. Above her, a human woman loomed, the points of her boots bloodstained. Perched on her workbench was a scrawny Craypt, a tablet in his hands, which was plugged into the ship's wall. Across from him, another human, this one male, tall, gaunt, with hair the color of sand and eyes the color of blood. The faint light of implants pierced through the skin of his cheek. Behind that duo, one more was huddled next to the door, between the bed and the trash chute.

On the floor, in the middle of them all, was Miku in a lifeless heap.

Luka shouted in protest, already scrambling towards the android, but the blonde man only went 'Ah!' in warning, and the woman above her sent her boot right up Luka's chin.

Her teeth clacked, her tongue felt like it was on fire.

The woman groaned, her mouth quickly filling with blood. The man paid her no mind, merely commanded 'Door'. Luka could hear the lizard tap on the tablet, the hiss as the door slid and sealed shut.

She panted, drooling blood all over the floor, the reality of the situation dawning on her.

The Shion had found her.

She was going to...

Miku was...

"Luka is your name?" the man asked, taking a single step forward. That was enough so he too loomed over the scavenger. "Answer me."

She nodded, feeling how the momentum of the tiny movement sent blood spattering from her nose and chin to the ground.

"Have you ever heard of theft prevention, Luka?" he asked, his tone still so bored, monotonous. "The Craypt here worked very hard on their masks and people often think they can take one as a souvenir. When one is taken and no breath is drawn, well, that signals the authorities."

Luka briefly froze, before letting her stunned surprise melt into a sob.

She had been so stupid.

"You did do a good job, otherwise," he conceded, though it barely sounded sincere. She could almost feel how disinterested he was in the whole situation. "Your IDs were solid, and your disguises slipped right past our watch. How fortunate for us, that your friend here doesn't breathe. And how fortunate that Earth tech is still so, so susceptible to tasers."

The scavenger panted.

Was Miku...?

"You know who we are, of course," he went on. "I don't suppose introductions are necessary."

She whimpered.

"Good. Now, see, I don't want much. However, my employer lost his scumbag of a son. He understands that death cannot be undone, even in our day and age. He merely asks that things are made right."

Luka waited, tense, itching to crawl away, to cower, to do anything, but she was petrified.

"We understand you made a considerable fortune during your stay at the Sapphire Shores. Got very, very wealthy. Galdyssian spice, was it?"

The scavenger nodded.

"How much?"

Her mind raced. "I..."

"How much?"

"I don't..."

He must have given an order, because the boot collided with her, aimed right for her shoulder blade again, and Luka sprawled, tried to crawl away, only to get kicked right in the gut.

"I don't know!" she cried, her sentence thick. "Different buying prices! I don't know!"

"Where is the money?"

Luka clenched her jaw, eyes firmly shut.

"The briefcase."

After some rustling, the man spoke again. "This is only a miserable fraction of your fortune. I know you spent much of it on all the toys you have in the caravan right outside. Even with that, however, I'd say you sold that spice for pretty cheap if that was all."

"That was all," she insisted.

"Hm. Are you sure?"

As if to punctuate his sentence, the boot impacted her cheekbone. Luka yelped, crawled and clawed at an escape, only for the assault to continue.

"It's all I swear!" she cried, barely even able to speak around the torrent of copper flooding her mouth. There was too much blood there. It felt too full.

Just like that, the kicking stopped.

"Hold her up."

She winced and squirmed, but two pairs of hands grasped her shoulders and forced her up on her knees. Her shoulder burned with such agony she would have rather seen it torn off.

One of the hands grasped at the hair at the top of her head, forcing her to look straight forward.

"Open your eyes," he ordered. "Do it."

She complied, the task nigh herculean. One of her brows felt broken, the other cheekbone did too. Tears were pouring from her eyes, distorting the image that did come through.

The heap in the middle of the ship was unmistakable though, even if her teal hair had been dyed. The bright muzzle of the gun all the more so.

"Clearly, you would rather die than let your hard work go to waste," the man droned. "It's so obvious you started from nothing. You made most of this ship yourself, didn't you?"

She whined, tried to gulp, only to choke again, coughing out blood with a whimper.

"However, would you let it die?"

She jumped forward, but the hands held her fast. "Don't—"

"You have ten seconds," he said, clicking off the safety of his pistol. "When I reach ten, I'll turn your dear little toy into scrap metal. One..."

"I hid it!" she cried, spraying blood as she spoke. It was impossible to speak; it felt like her tongue was missing. The pain of moving her jaw alone felt like a rod of white-hot metal had been inserted into both sides of her face. Nonetheless, she blubbered, "It's everywhere. My mattress. Undersides of drawers. In my linens. Under my tools. Dashboard. Fusebox. Everywhere."

"How much is it?"

She wracked her brain and settled on telling him what she had counted before she had set aside the two percent tax. He hummed.

"That sounds about right. Alright boys, you know what to do."

With that, the hands dropped her, and she fell unceremoniously to the floor. Her whole torso hurt too much to even squirm, to breathe out a single sob as she heard them tear her ship asunder. The carefully organized tools of her workbench were sent to the floor, her clothes scattered, her mattress torn apart. Drawers were tossed to and fro, fabric was ripped to shreds, panels were torn off.

It took ages. Luka felt the blood on her face harden into a crust, even the leaking of her wound slow to a crawl, the throbbing of her face, her tongue, her mouth.

And Miku was...

She couldn't even turn to look at her. No matter how hard she tried.

"There we have it," the blonde man said. "Excellent. Thank you for your cooperation."

Luka whined.

"You had a very productive day, haven't you," he started again, and Luka's gut twisted and turned as she heard him approach, in too much agony to look up. "So much shopping. We'll confiscate that, of course. Sell it for a profit. Get all of the money back."

She choked out a sob.

"Your title to your brand new planet, however," he hummed, the tone barely mocking. "Now, it is under an alias of yours, but it is yours."

"Please... Anything..."

"You spent a considerable amount of money on it, have you. I bet it's worth everything to you. It's everything you've been working towards, isn't it?"

"Anything...!"

"Sadly, it still represents a chunk of the wealth my boss wishes to reclaim. The planet is worthless to him, though. No strategic advantage whatsoever. And nobody else would want this place, not for what you paid for it. I suppose we need to get that money's worth from elsewhere."

Luka sobbed. "Please..."

"And I do suppose you deserve to walk away with something, after all. You did rid my boss of the pesky issue of what to actually do with his son. He didn't wish him dead, but now he isn't a problem any longer, that's for certain. That does warrant a little bit of a reward."

She waited, a cold pile of trembling agony on the floor, for his verdict.

"Here's my idea. I think you'll like it. Are you listening?"

She nodded, the movement sending pain down her spine, making it bloom through her whole body. Vertigo gripped her, swooped her up and down and up again. Without warning, she vomited, feeling the sick dribble over the crust on her chin.

If he saw, paid any attention at all, he didn't care. "This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you go. Keep your life, your ship. Your name will be cleared overnight. I may call an ambulance, get you patched up a bit. Best part: I'll even let you keep your dear planet, your prize."

The woman moaned, already hearing the terrible condition for such a merciful release.

"In exchange, I will be taking your money, your purchased goods. Actually... No, I'll let you keep the food and filters. I'm not a cruel man. Do you think I am?"

She shook her head, prompting another reflex to throw up, but she swallowed it down.

"Lovely. Then I will be taking your money, the bulk of your purchased goods, and I will take your fancy little toy here as well."

That alone sparked energy. She twitched, pushed herself forward, unable to rise from the floor.

"Please—!"

"The old store page advertised that it was a skilled musician," he said. "Smart, emotionally intelligent? Kaito, stars damn him, certainly had a plan for your little robot. A lovely little thing. I am sure my boss can sell it for a significant amount."

"Please, don't..."

"I am sure it is worth a pretty penny. More than enough to make up for the cost of the deed to your planet."

"I beg of you...!"

"Ah!" he went again, and Luka tensed, expecting the boot to meet her face once more, but this time he said, "Let her speak."

"Please don't sell her into slavery," she whined. Her words were missing half of their letters, every syllable making her jaw protest with white-hot pain, but she went on. "She's more than a bot. She loves music... Please, a buyer that loves her for her music..."

She could feel his stare bore into the back of her skull. Broken and bleeding on the floor, vulnerable to the strangers surrounding her, somehow that stare buried her in shame all the more.

"We will sell it to the highest bidder. Nothing more. Nothing less."

In that single moment, Luka realized, down to her core, what it was like to want to die.

She remained limp and unmoving as the men got their things together. Her money was packed amid the rattle and rustle of tools and clothes and metal on the floor. After a few taps on the tablet, she could hear the whirr when the caravan was unhitched from her ship. Finally, the door hissed as it unsealed, then slid open.

"I will leave your deed here on the dashboard," the man said, the voice right above her. "An ambulance will be here for you shortly."

"I beg of you..." She whimpered. "She—"

He merely stepped over her. "I suppose that it goes without saying that you are banned from the Sapphire Shores. If you so much as approach the system, you will be shot on sight."

"Please..."

"Somebody pick this thing up."

Through pure force of will, Luka managed to angle her head, pry open an eye to watch the vague, fuzzy form of Miku's silhouette lift up off the ground, then disappear out of view. A few snaps and clicks later, even the tablet was yanked out of the ship, and she was left alone in the night, inches away from the silver carpet of light cast by the port lamps.

"Rebooting," her ship stated, the voice Ruko's but the tone far too even.

Luka felt the cries tear at her from her gut up.

She wanted to throw up so hard she turned inside out.

She wanted the pain to swallow her whole, make her numb to it all.

She wanted nothing more than for the universe, cold and uncaring as it was, to consume her alive.

The lights evened out. The door slowly shut. Cutting the silence, Ruko whispered one small phrase.

"I am sorry."