The Fifteen Year Long Ending

by Aura Creed

Fifteen years after the crew had to evacuate the reactor meltdown at Mira HQ, Green (Val) has created an empire of his own making. Born in the Flora Oxygen room due to research by Pink (Mel), he decided early on what 'life' really meant, and androids were not a part of it. Now his mother, Mel, has to stop him before it's too late. A talk should suffice. So she thinks.

The rebellion's ship was a small cramped thing. If Mel wasn't shoulder to shoulder with other soldiers she was bouncing between cardboard and steel. The sound of the engine and the thrusters: a dull droning in her ears among O2 tanks, the sounds of rebreathers, and uncomfortable suits.

Familiar and pink. She hadn't worn an outfit like this since she'd left Mira. Spent years trying to find her son, only to go into hiding from him instead. Accused, and rightly so, for the actions he had committed. Convinced, somehow, to join a group she'd never go with over a song that'd make her tear up. A tune that brought back kinder days and happier times.

When they arrived he was about to shoot them out of orbit. She stepped up to the nav panel, her face reflecting from under the glass of her helmet and she didn't need to see the eyes he hadn't had to know he was shocked, surprised.

"Only her," he'd said. "I'll permit her to board. If anyone else comes with her you'll regret it."

No one did. Mel made sure of it. She knew, even if they had, they could have lived, died, been tortured - any of the above. Though she dearly hoped torturing was just a rumor, that she'd managed to teach her son better.

Though really, if she had? Fifteen years was a long time to humans, but an instant to a plant that seemingly had the lifespan of a tree. To him, this army he'd gathered was probably only just sprouting.

The air of the depressurizer hissed as it settled and she was allowed aboard. Still, she kept her helmet on, even though her suit informed her that the density of oxygen in the air was so concentrated that she could probably do without it.

In front of her, clad in a cleaner, green suit and a darker visor, was her son. He had his hands held up and clasped in front of him, the sprout on top of his head just a bit healthier, a bit brighter, and with a few leaves more than it had had all those years ago. The silence was tentative and fragile, sparked by uncertainty and a longing and an excitement that sparked around both of them. Val took a step forward. "Mom?"

His voice, too, was clearer. More crisp, and better tech then what they could have ever found for him on the Mira. She could even hear a tremor in it. And she felt herself hesitate, only for a moment, as she gathered herself. Held back her tears. "It's me," she spoke, soft, shaky, and as fragile as her knees. "I'm here."

A huff of laughter, weak and disbelieving. Then there were strong arms around her, different in weight and feel and even as it took her a moment to hug back, to pat his back, she could feel vines twisting under her fingers, forming better surfaces for her to hold onto instead of a nearly hollow suit.

Fifteen years had been enough for even the corpse he had inhabited to turn to dirt, bones, and more of him.

They both cried. One in relief and joy, the other in a form of it. Val pulled away first, his hands on her shoulders. Eye to eye in a whole other way, even if she could no longer see what was in the visor. "Come, come," he took her hand, his grip firm, "You can take your helmet off too, Ma. You don't need CO2 tanks like the rest of us do."

Mel didn't respond for a long moment, considering. Impatient but kind, Val tugged on her arm, yet he didn't move, didn't pull. Without thinking her hand was on the side of her helmet, prepped to remove it, and she paused before lowering it. "Later."

She stepped forward. Bouncing on his toes, a quick shudder he rolled out of his shoulders - he was clearly excited as he finally pulled her along. He was better contained than he had been on Mira. No jumping, no dragging, though he seemed to want to do the former. He practically skipped on his feet, a slight knee bend on one as he stepped and then the other. It made her heart ache for many reasons but she chose to remain fond.

The corridors of the flagship of the Verture were familiar to her, though only vaguely so. Perhaps of a similar make to ships she had been on previously, or seen flying into port from her home at the edge of the known. Vines and branches wrapped around, from vents in the walls, floors and ceiling, and around the next bend. Some had foliage, some had flowers. They swayed as they passed. The lights were bright too. Mel sometimes had to blink and squint.

"Artificial sunlight. I couldn't figure out a way to have windows everywhere, so the ones that can't move can still get some." Val must have noticed her staring. She only nodded, aware of artificial sunlight though she was unused to it being used as regular station lighting. The pull suggested she not stay idle as he took her around the bend.

"There's… A lot's changed, Ma." Few words, but the tone and the hush of synthesized air was enough to know there was a lot left unsaid. Someone walked by, glass visor darkened just like Val's but with horns coming out of their helmet. The only other sign of plant life on them was the branches wrapped around the trigger finger. They seemed to be making the rounds. "A lot of people know about us now. About what I'm trying to do."

Murder. Genocide. Mel's mind instantly conjured and dispelled the thought. Let my son speak.

Hand in hand, Val took her to stand in front of a glass wall. Inside were some more scholarly types, and also bigger, taller plants. "Treants," Val informed her. "Like the ones from the tales. Made real with the knowledge of myself I've been able to figure out. Kinda weird to think they're all my progeny in some way," a light chuckle as he turned to her, "You ever wanted grandkids?"

Startled by the revelation and the sudden suggestion, she gave an uneasy smile. Her hand squeezed his. "Never thought... I'd see the day." Her words were spoken carefully, slow, as if she had to think about each one she said in succession.

Val stared for awhile. Mel felt it like a shiver crawling up her spine. After a moment he kept walking. "There are also Dryads but I can show you those later. They're a bit different, but they make it so we no longer have to rely on technology to exist. We can finally be a species alongside everyone else now."

Their footsteps echoed against the tile. Val's helmet fell into shadow in the gaps between lights. Mel looked down at their hands, joined, as she felt Val's tighten around hers. "There's… one thing I would like to show you. More than anything else."

Up some stairs and down and around twists and turns in corridors covered in plant life and flora; past tubes and containers was the end of a hall. A glass window, with a small potted plant in a jar sitting on the windowsill looking out into the stars. To the right, an empty corkboard. To the left, a glass window looking into a room she couldn't quite make out yet. The door was right before it, unopen, waiting.

Val stood in front of it and pressed a hand against the metal. After a heartbeat he turned to her. "This is yours. If you want it." His voice was almost as fragile and quiet as hers had been as the door slid open. Mel stepped into the room, her hand falling out of his.

Her eyes widened. Tables covered in papers. Journals, binders, and books were everywhere. Some were scattered, some were neatly tucked away into cabinets and drawers. A desk was pushed off to the side with microscopes, metallic instruments, and other equipment. A myriad of plants lined the walls on shelves. She even distinctly saw labels, albeit no longer in her handwriting, on drawers and as she pulled one open - she found packets of seeds.

With the exception of the bed that sat along the far wall, her son had recreated the Flora Oxygen Research lab from the Mira. Shocked didn't even begin to cover how she felt as her hand ran over blank papers on a desk that hadn't been hers for over a decade.

Vaguely, she could hear the door shut behind her. There was rustling. "Much better," Val spoke. "Ma, this room's set up for O2 and CO2 support. You don't need to keep wearing the helmet."

She finally turned to look back at him. Vents on the sides of Vals helmet had been opened and his chest went up and down as if he were breathing. He unclipped the CO2 tanks and set them by the door, off to the side, and sat down in the rolling chair as he spun around in it.

She stared at him. The readings for the room were in the corner of her eye, in a light green. He wasn't lying - the air was still breathable, though the oxygen concentration was lower than it had been outside. Survivable - for him and for her.

A sigh, as she stood up straighter. "Were you looking for me, for long?" Her voice was soft. She stared off at the far wall.

"Oh my god you have no idea." He pushed off the ground with his feet, refusing to leave his chair as he dragged the armchair clumsily across the floor. It took him a minute, and Mel couldn't help the quirk in her lips as he brought it over to her. "Years, Ma. Sit, sit. Let me regale you a tale, my lady."

She laughed softly and sat down in the armchair. She leaned it against the desk as her son spun a ridiculous tale of grandeur, obviously exaggerated. Like he was the bard in a medieval saga of a design he must have only seen in the old novels she'd kept on her shelf. Fables he must have clung to, even later in life. Of a daring hero looking to save his mother, the queen, only to be unable to find hide nor hair of her. No evidence to tell of her survival or her doom in her bid to escape the burned down castle Mira.

He gave a soft laugh as he finished, leaning back as he dropped the voice. "I'd almost thought you died. Never made it off the Mira. No information… no traces..." He was sitting near a shelf. His foot tapped the ground, his hand on his visor. The plant on his head almost seemed to droop. "You've never… You didn't look for me?"

Mel could hear the pain in his voice. It made her heart ache. "I did. Almost as soon as my pod was found. I tried for years. I just…" Five, eight years into her search… It'd been so long now the numbers made no difference but she'd found traces of him. Of his work. Of what he'd been doing, to robots, to people who opposed his ideal. She'd stopped searching, then.

But she couldn't tell him that.

Val leaned forward, waiting, quiet. The clock on the wall ticked thrice before he leaned back. "No.. no it's ok." He idly fiddled with a pencil, using one hand to roll it across the wooden shelf. "I hadn't been able to find you either… so… the chances you couldn't find me wherever you were, were pretty high. Must have been… remote?" A pause, an internal debate settled as quickly as it came, "What have you been up to? These last… fifteen years?"

"Fifteen." A curt nod. "Well… trying to find you. Then when I... couldn't," She tapped her visor where her chin would be, "...Hiding. I suppose." She held herself loosely, around the elbows.

Val straightened. Objects strewn on the shelf rattled with the sudden motion. Mel jumped. "Did they hurt you?"

"Ah-" An aborted sound, a syllable with no intention, no meaning. Her whole body felt like it was going in slow motion, her mind perceiving far in advance what her body was reacting to as she saw Val stand up. "Wait-"

"You were hiding. Was it from them? They found you. They're trying to use you too-" His body shook. He turned. "I'll be back."

"NO!" She stood up. The chair clacked to the ground. "They didn't hurt me. I went with them because I wanted to."

"You wanted to?" Val looked back, clearly baffled. "Was it to… oh. To find me? You could have… Sent a letter. A holographic message, just a message - encoded." He was gesturing heavily with his hands.

"I didn't know." Distressed. "I- Val you're known as a terror across Andromeda. Robots, people - I didn't know if you'd - If I didn't -"

Val closed the gap, his arms around her again, tighter. More secure. "You're afraid." Of me. "I could never hurt you."

She sniffled. She couldn't help the slight shake in her body. She didn't raise her arms. "Why d-did you do it? Do it?" She corrected. "Why do you kill them?" The robots, the androids.

He eased, and pulled away from her. If he had eyes, she'd think he was looking at her strangely. "...Why? They're not real, Ma," A huff of laughter, "They're not pets, they're not people. They're just… things with directives. Mindless. Even if some of them can talk, they're not like me, like you."

"I-I had to convince them, on the Mira, to prove you were sentient-"

"And I'm cellular. They got it eventually. " He poked her. "We may be made of different cells but we have cells, capable of forming complex organisms, which is what we are. The - the robots. They're artificial. Fake. Like we needed other people to talk to. Like we needed complex computers. I think the super computer was enough." A chuckle. He placed his hands on Mel's shoulders. "Ma, you made me. Aren't I enough?"

Mel's brain felt like it was short circuiting. She was pulling at straws, trying to find a way to convince him that he was wrong. Because she knew he was wrong, but her panic made it hard to pick out any evidence. Suddenly she remembered. "The - The George unit helped me when I acci- when you were made. H-He's like your father." She swallowed. The bipedal unit had mostly helped her grab and fetch materials and hold certain things down. Still, "Y-You'd condemn him..?"

"George?" Genuine puzzlement. Then it dawned on him. "You mean the unit you named after a grill that worked as your assistant? It was a servant, wasn't it?" A chill. "It wasn't brought off the Mira. None of them were."

Mel felt the blood drain out of her face. "T-There was only enough escape pods for the crew-" And they were all panicking. They didn't have long. A pang of regret hit her heart.

"Exactly. Ma, they aren't crew, they aren't anything. They're fake." A pause. Val's plant tilted to the side, "...Though it's weird to think about a dog being my dad. Or a… cat?" Though the machine had been bipedal, made in the likeness and stature of humans.

Mel remained silent. Unsteady, her hands balled into fists as nails dug into the suit that dug into her palms, or tried too.

Val looked at her, head tilting, considering. "...Are you hungry? I… I think we might have some fruiting plants. If that isn't, uh, weird for you." It's as if he'd never considered it till now… or maybe he had but had never connected the dots. "Shoot ok - if you're staying I need to figure out how to get you fed, crap. I completely forgot we need different things - it's been awhile." Regret. "I'll think of something, I promise-"

"Are you going to keep killing people?"

"Huh?"

Mel stood there, a shake to her whole body like the slightest astigmatism in a single eye. Hard to see, almost like an illusion. "Are you?"

Val's suit crinkled as he moved. "That's like asking if I won't shoot the guy with a gun to my face. Of course I'm gonna. It's me or him at that point…"

"Even if they beg for mercy? Even if they have a family?" Her voice came out breathy, airy. Her mind was racing.

"Robots don't beg for mercy. They have imperfect parts, put into them by imperfect makers that drive everything they do, and their faulty directives could hurt actual people. But anyone else? It... depends, I guess." She noted that he could only speak for himself and not his soldiers. They did what they had to, for the benefit of Verture, themselves, their allies. He looked at her. Hesitantly, he raised a hand. "..Hey, are you crying?" She took in a gasp of air. She hadn't even noticed how hot her face felt, how blurred her vision was starting to get. "Mom-"

She rushed forward, hugging him. Val stumbled, taking a moment to bring his arms around her but she pushed past him. Unprepared, it nearly knocked him over. She grabbed what he'd left by the door, punching the button near it as the door opened. It closed just as she left it, the light above turning red and Val's voice was alarmed as he approached the window. "Mom?!"

She dropped the cylinders of CO2 onto the floor right beside her. They tumbled and hit the wall, stopping near her feet. She took in a deep, shaky breath. Her visor clacked against the window.

Val approached, a hand touching the glass. "What's going on?" Tense, serious. "You know I can't breathe without that outside of here, mom, I-"

"I know," She nodded, her voice broken, specked with phlegm. She swallowed. "I know."

A pause. Val stood up straighter. "Mom," Mel walked to the panel at the door. She started to key in something on the panel. The room was set for her to configure, with a password. Her brow furrowed. "Mom, what did I do? I'm trying to help you, help us, my people now, and I don't know why you're upset." Her fingers shook and she flubbed a key press or two, cursing under her breath in a nervous manner reminiscent of someone a little less like her, a little more like him. "They put you up to this, didn't they? The rebels that carted you here? Whatever they have over you Mom, I'll make them regret it. I'll make them regret ever having laid a hand on you. You know I would."

"I know." A whisper and she squinted her eyes shut, pressed a hand to her head. She blinked back tears and typed on the console once again. Another attempt, another guess as to what the password could be. Her breath stilled in her throat as it accepted the input 'Sand'.

Another pause. A silence in the wake of information neither were prepared to receive. Both of Val's hands were pressed against the glass, closest to the door - to where his mother was hunched over, and small. "...Do you hate me?" Soft, and staticky. It prickled in the back of her mind.

Her eyes were wide. "No…" She shook her head. "No I… how could I…" The panel at her fingers beeped. Red letters. A gas release activator, with a warning. She saw it out of the corner of her eye but she knew what it said. She couldn't turn to look at it. Not with her son right in front of her.

"I love you, mom." Her breath was shaky. Her vision blurred and she tore her gaze away from him.

THIS ACTION WILL PRESSURIZE THE CHAMBER
THIS CAN NOT BE UNDONE
PROCEED ? |

"You're crying. I want to help you." Her finger hovered over the key, shaking. "But I need to understand why. Please talk to me."

Underneath her finger was a single key she needed to hit. The only one she needed to, if she wanted to do this the way she had wanted it done. By her hand, not by theirs, not by anyone else's. Two simple answers-

Y E S | | N O

-to a complicated question incapable of the binary. A question she had denied as she instead pressed a third key fifteen years ago, one she never thought she'd regret beyond the moral implications of the conundrum. One her own son now faced… only to press the key she had never pressed then, when she'd realized what exactly she had on her hands. One she had never intended to press. Not to something so unique, something that existed by sheer accident and coincidence who could learn to love life and all it entailed as much as she did. That she had taught all she had about that kind of love. So well, that he could no longer see that a different kind of life was just like himself back then, but in different shoes. Different forms. A different mindset, and wider spread.

Of all the things she had taught her son, the one thing she had never given him the chance to do was to open his mind. Secluded and trapped at such a young age… She should have helped him. Should have known. Should have made it better.

But she didn't. She couldn't. This was the only way, and the longer she stared at the button, huffing air at her fogging visor, the higher the chance she'd back down. Move away from it. She couldn't let herself do that.

"Please…" Came from the other side of the glass, just as her finger pressed down on the enter key.

Y E S | | N O

An alarm blared inside the room. The hiss of air permeated the place, dispelling into the vacuum of space right in view of the window.

A bang against the glass, a crack. Mel jumped as she looked, stared. It hadn't shattered. Fingers that had been laid flat now dug into glass. A darkened visor cracked against the wall. A piece of it fell to the floor.

"Mom.. you're…" A gasp. His suit visibly deflated. Dirt and vines became the suit's texture as the air was sucked out of the room. Fingertips squeaked down glass and he pulled his head back just to bang it against the wall. The leaves on his head were shaking. The visor only cracked more. "You're killing me. Ma̦̻o̴̝ͭo̡̐͗m͕̓" His voice held static to it now. Mel knew that, unlike the lungs of a human that would be unable to speak through their suffocation, a robotic voice powered by electrical signals to talk could go on for as long as the body it spoke for still sent them.

Mel walked away from the panel, to the window, hands pressed against the glass. Tears rain freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry." It came out in a hiss. "I'm sorry."

"Ẁhy?̬͉͍ ̠If̞̪̲ ̜̖͇y̰̤o̵̲̖u̺̦ ̣̗d̹̮on'͎͚̝t̷ ̗̕ẖ̪ate̫ m̸e̴,͚͇ ̧̱̖ w͈̣̝̄̓́͡h͈̲ͥ̎y̼ͯ?̒͏̘" Val fell to a knee. Vines started writhing under the slack suit, twisting, turning, like he was full of bugs instead of bones. "I ̜ͫ͡l̢̿͒ō̩̥̈́v͖ͩe̝͚̘ͤͬͯ ̞ͬ͡yo̓ǘ͔̪̊̆ͅ.̡̰̞ ̯̤͎͋̎̐I̫t hú̜͖͔͒̏r̚ț̱̙̾̐͗s̛.̌ͥͣ ̝Mom̎ i͎̭ͥͮṫ҉ ̭͙̋̌h̵̅u͙r͖̉t̞̮̍̀s͢."

"I know. I'm sorry." She gasped. "It'll be over soon, I'm so sorry."

Val's head slid against the glass and banged harshly against the shelf. The audible crack of bone could be heard as he slumped to the floor. Then there was slithering. Vines crawled and ripped through the suit, holding it together just enough to keep form but the tendrils were wrapping around his limbs and neck as he moved over to a cabinet. Vines tore into it before his fingers did and he ripped it off of the wall. Papers and assorted items fell off and scattered across the floor.

Mel was gasping in the helmet, huffing and trying not to whine as her breath came out in hisses. "Please… don't f-fight it." It was impossible to hide the tremors, now, as her head shook. "Don't… it'll be over soon, please…"

Val tore and looted cabinet after cabinet, papers sliding across the ground before being ceremoniously tossed or ripped apart. A second stem seemed to split from the first on his head, writhing as he practically destroyed the room.

Mel squinted her eyes shut. She couldn't watch. She was killing her son and she no longer had the capacity to watch anymore. It was horrible. She didn't want to be here anymore. She couldn't stop it and she didn't even want to be anywhere near this anymore.

A slam and Mel jumped away from the glass, falling into the wall behind her. Tendrils of plant matter writhed as they pressed into the glass, tapping at it, slithering against it, but in a hand connected to a sagging suit arm was a glass vial. Despite being pressed and banged into the glass of the window it didn't break.

Mel couldn't tell what it was. She scrambled for the clasps of her helmet and took it off, her breath coming in a gasp as her hair settled around her face. The oxygen was so heedy it was almost intoxicating. Sweat was being cooled around her tear stained face, and without her fogged visor, she could see.

A cylindrical vial with a blue lid and clear sides, filled with sand. Inside, speckled and broken pieces of sea shells, and a single golden coin.

Val's voicebox was still filled with static, and she knew not how he relayed the song, but the lullaby in a near identical manner to how she would sing it played through, clear to her as the time she sung it to him.

"Wė̥ ͬͪ̐҉w̹͂er̩̽e̻̣͕ ̹͚̼p̸l͔a͢yi̶̤̋ñ͍̺̍g̳͇̖͂̉̃ i҉̟̦̤n̨̋ ̙̊t̓h͉e̳͎̋͒ ͉̦s̳̀a̯n̖̹ͦ͋d̺̜̔̑.̮͕ͥ̉ ̰̇A̠̚n̺d̙͉̱ ̸͕͖ͩ̃y̝̻͘ǒ͎u҉ ̹ͤ͠f̨͍͊o̘͋uͤͨͯn̴̹̮̣d̘̻̠ ả̤̰̱ͩͦ ̺̤̩̐̅̓l͟it̴t̸̹̣͌̔͌ͅl̜̫ͪͬe͓̖̱͗̅͐͡ b̘ä́̄̈́ñ̷̤̹ͥd̪̹."

Her lip trembled. Her vision was blurred but she could make out a tendril ghosting her own hand against the glass as she moved to touch it, to ghost the vial. There was a shake in each of the vines, the song becoming more distorted and once again Val contorted and banged his head against the glass.

She could see the skull now, with her son's limbs writhing through the eye socket there.

"I-I..." Mel sobbed. "I love you! I'm sorry! Don't die!" She ran to the panel, keeping a hand on the glass as she typed frantically at buttons. Error after error after error, telling her what she already knew - she couldn't do it - leapt out in sounds that assaulted her ears along the sound of their own cursed lullaby they both still clinged onto, both still..

There was a buzzing, like broken static as words and song dissolved and Val once again fell to the floor. Mel pressed herself into the glass, trying to see over the jut of the wall but could only see a few spazzing limbs. "VAL!"

PRESSURIZATION COMPLETE
BEGINNING DEPRESSURIZATION. . .

Air began to hiss back into the room. Mel was looking between the door and the window before jumping to the door. She pressed the button in rapid motions, the door only opening once it had completed - what felt like a century, in reality only took less than a minute. She fell into the room, looking at her son, seeing what she knew would have happened.

A deflated suit. A few, weak, dying off limbs. His head plant, dull in color, shrunken, shriveled. Dead.

Her wails echoed off the walls and rung out into the darkest parts of her nightmares. Reality was here, and she'd caught up to it.

---

A/N: Formatting on this website... Keeps Zalgo but always deletes my Italics... smh... If you want better formatting (and artwork, like the cover art that I can't put in the middle of the fic here) please check out my Ao3! Same username as I am on here, easy to look up - can't miss me. Formatting was a bit wack for this and I had to compromise on more then a few things (like the computer dialogue) that make it just a lil bit weird to look at then usual. At least on here, and to me, but you might not have noticed it.

Cover image by Valonide of their OC Emperor V4l!

This is based on a friends Discord server verse, with everyone in the server (or a good chunk anyway) having their own Among Us characters in the world. This is a secondary form of that, a potential conclusion to events that happen after they all evacuate Mira HQ.

The song reference at the end is 'Hidden in the Sand' by Tally Hall. Fits the two rather nicely, and was a good chunk of the reason I knew what the ending was going to be when I started writing this.

Basically my friend told me V4l (Val here for easy readability) was committing genocide against robots and my inner teenager, fed off of Megaman fanfic, rose from the grave, "ROBOT GENOCIDE?!" and then this was born. I might not plan to go back to the Megaman things I never finished writing (or posting) but MAN do I think about the conundrums of Androids being people a lot. Like a lot. And boy is it fun to write about, even if it's in a really roundabout way.

Actually now that I think about it I still have that weird crossover fic I never finished of Megaman/Gunvolt/Made in Abyss that was sort of a far off continuation of HarunaRei and MidnyghtSabers 'Redemption'. I wonder if I should put that up in all its weird glory...

Val (Green) And Mel (Pink) are OCs that belong to their creators. I'm glad they liked this as much as I liked writing it (I wrote this in a huge 3 hour burst rush in December of 2020. Only decided now to edit it and throw it up since I haven't really written anything new recently and this was just sitting around and yeeaaahh). Thanks to them and the Discord for being ok with me posting it. Thanks to MarisaTheChaotic and Eggu for being eggcellent beta readers!~