They leave it all behind. Every scrap of fabric on the bed, every fork of lightning in the sky, every corridor they have to race down. The world around them flickers like a television caught between channels, for without Queen, it is starting to split at the seams. There aren't even any guards left.

They travel back through the dark portal and find everyone standing within a hallway of marble, the stone a pale, airy white, with grey lines running through the pale colour like the thick spread of jam squeezed between the separate sponges of a cake. It's very pretty, in a grandiose sort of way - and also a very fitting arena for the Duel taking place there between Blue Maiden and Spectre.

But this atmosphere is upset, thrown out of whack by the way Roboppi is casually sitting on a bench that has materalised to the side there, an ordinary bench, wooden, like something you would find in a park...but without any spurts of grass or gravel to decorate its legs. Roboppi's own legs meanwhile, swing and kick, as they take in the sight of Ai and Playmaker's arrival. And now they grin as Playmaker's eyes widen, because beside Roboppi, on either side of the bench, Blood Sheppard and Revolver stand unnaturally still. In fact their entire avatars are grey, every feature, every line, every limb chiselled in what seems to be stone.

'Hi Aniki,' Roboppi says brightly. 'Did you put Queen to sleep for good this time?'

Blue Maiden stiffens, but doesn't pull her eyes from the Duel.

'She was already dead,' Ai replies. 'She just didn't want to accept it.' He clenches his fists. 'You could've been the one to do it, had you really wanted to.'

Roboppi hums. 'But I didn't.' They hunch over, elbows pressing on their knees. 'I let her dream, the same way you did Aniki, back before Soulburner beat me. She was kinda stupid, but I guess I owed her that much.'

Playmaker keeps his eyes fixed on the two statues at Roboppi's side. 'What have you done to Revolver and Blood Sheppard?'

'They lost to me,' Roboppi replies airily. 'So I turned them into what they want all AI to be – mindless decorations.' Then they smile, smug.

Spectre narrows his eyes. But for once, he keeps his mouth shut.

'Oh, but don't worry,' Roboppi hastens to add. 'I'm giving them a chance! I told Spectre I'd give Revolver back if he beat Blue Maiden. And I'll return Blood Sheppard if she wins; she'll want to keep her friend Ghost Gal happy, after all.'

Playmaker marches over to Roboppi, stands in front of them, letting his digital shadow slide over their face to coat it in a veil of grey. Roboppi looks up in return, eyes gleaming in a way that seems almost amused, their legs still swinging in a horribly child-like fashion.

'You can still stop this,' Playmaker says. 'You don't have to travel down this path.'

But Roboppi merely brings up a finger to their lips and giggles. Then they tilt their head to the side, peering round his body to watch the Duel as though it's Playmaker who's being the annoying child instead. And after a moment, his mouth twisting into an unpleasant grimace, Playmaker turns and watches as well, realising his words are currently falling on deaf ears.

Before his eyes, as though there was never any kind of interuption, Blue Maiden summons Marincess Crystal Heart. A soft smile settles on her lips as the glistening foam of its body snakes over and around the gleaming gem of the sapphire heart housed at its centre. It's a direct contrast to the ugly look that locks itself onto Spectre's face, however.

'Oh? You're using the card that failed to protect you last time?' he sneers, brow furrowed in a way that promises some very unpleasant things in the future.

Blue Maiden frowns. 'It's a card Aqua left to me. Of course I'm going to trust it!' Her gaze becomes positively icy. 'And it's a card that she once left the original data for in the care of the Ignis that came from you. A card he treasured. So don't you dare look down on it!'

But her fist trembles as she speaks and Playmaker notices the slight jitter that travels up her arm, that seizes her legs, all so that her breath rolls out of her mouth in a slight panic. And he feels sympathy stir at him in sight. She isn't a six year old, wasn't housed in a sterile white room for half a year but still, still, he and Takeru at least had the recovery span of years before they next had to pick up a Duel Monsters card.

Spectre however, seethes at the sight of it. And the carving of the woman resting within the bark of his beloved tree, Sunavalon Dryatrentiay, behind him, stirs, her berry-red eyes gleaming almost demonically.

'What a vain assumption from someone who couldn't even protect the Ignis she claims to have cared for!' he spits.

And the venom in his tone makes Blue Maiden stiffen. Makes her lock her knees against her quaking form. And now she raises her eyes to his, steel shining through their blue colour. 'It is not my fault you chose to do nothing to honour the passing of your Ignis,' she says harshly. 'But you're not going to make me ashamed to honour the one I tried to protect, even if I did fail, like you pointed out!'

And then with one smooth slap of her hand, she activates Marincess Bubble Blast, the dark shine of the card's artwork gleaming fiercely from its set place in the air.

Spectre freezes.

'I thought so,' says Blue Maiden, a vicious bite to her voice. 'You know my Marincess Deck isn't as reliant on causing effect damage as my Trickster one – and that it has monsters with higher attack. So you chose to summon Dryatrentiay instead of Dryanome to get rid of Marincess Battle Ocean this turn.' Her lips curve. 'But you can only use that effect once per turn. Too bad. If you had got Dryanome onto the field instead, you could have healed yourself from the effect damage I'm going to dish out now.' She points at him, the expression on her face vicious and turbulent, much like the element Aqua was named for. 'I'll show you the power of Aqua's deck!'

And on the side-lines, Roboppi's golden eyes soften, their kicking legs slowing, then easing into a gentle dangle of limbs. 'Oh,' they say, sounding awfully surprised. 'Oh!' They lean forward, eyes wide, a childish fascination to them. 'I think I get it now.'

But whatever it is they 'get', they fail to say.

Blue Maiden wins.

Spectre, stares, the expression on his face crumpled, lost. But his eyes are focused exclusively on Revolver and on the grim stone face that glares back blankly.

'Revolver-sama,' he says softly. 'I failed you. Again.'

'Yep,' Roboppi says brightly, clapping their hands together with glee. 'You suuuure did!'

They jump up, perform a small jiggle, and then snap their fingers in a pose reminiscent of a pop idol - and then suddenly the stone coating Blood Sheppard starts to crack and fall away in large slabs of rock. Choking, the hacker falls to one knee, surrounded by the same stone that covered him moments before, stone which now lies scattered like broken eggshell round his feet. He almost sinks to the ground, completely spent, except his two, clenched fists manage to wedge themselves tightly against the floor as he slumps over. They curl even tighter in anger as his head swivels. And then, with barely a thought, one of his arms manages to shakily jerk out, the gun attached to it directed straight at Roboppi.

But Roboppi does not panic. Instead they smile, strange and softly sweet. 'I guess you really can't take a hint, can you?' they ask, one of their own hands raising, ready to embark on another dramatic snapped fingers gesture, the way they must have seen Ai do so many times before. But before they can complete it – and before whatever is meant to happen when they do, well, happens - Ai firmly steps in between them and their prey.

Playmaker's heart instantly leaps up into his throat. But all Ai does is lift his chin up. And stare at Blood Sheppard as though a gun isn't busy being pointed at his face.

'Are you trying to fry Revolver's brain?' he asks harshly, jerking his head towards the remaining statue. 'There's no guarantee that you'll save him if you try to shatter Roboppi's programming so abruptly.'

Blood Sheppard snorts. But either he does give a damn about the brain of another human, or else perhaps some resentful part of him remembers that Ai saved both him and his sister from plunging to their deaths not so long ago. Because after one tense second, his arm drops and he looks away, almost as if in distain.

Ai immediately spins round – but Yusaku isn't fooled, he can see the relief brightening in his partner's eyes for one sharp moment – before Ai marches back to Roboppi, anger now swallowing down the relief and blazing within his golden glare. 'I have no right to tell you to stop being an idiot,' he hisses. 'But still: STOP BEING AN IDIOT!'

Roboppi gazes at him, a faint furrow of puzzlement crinkling their brow. 'But it's humans who are the idiots!' they declare passionately. 'You know how stupid they are, Aniki! They can't even clear up their own mess, not even when we're around to help them do it!'

Okay. Playmaker has heard just about enough. Without missing a beat, he shoves Ai aside and ignoring the faint whine of protest he gets as a reward, he points straight at Blue Maiden, whose hands are still trembling. 'Roboppi,' he says firmly. 'Look at the mess you made out of her.' He holds Roboppi's gaze a second longer than he needs to, just enough to hopefully get the point across. 'And you made a mess out of Queen too – even if she did ask for it. And then you ran away. You made Ai and I clean up after you.'

Roboppi scowls, and Playmaker leans down, his face hovering inches from their own. 'Are you really going to make another mess now?'

Roboppi looks straight at him. They open their mouth. Close it again. They stare at Blue Maiden. There's heat in their expression, but something else too. And then, after a moment, their eyes glow.

Everybody tenses the sight, or looks round, unsure what to prepare for next. Even Ai lets out a large growl of frustration. And then he jumps at the loud cracking sound coming from the statue of Revolver.

Hope jumping up inside him, Playmaker eagerly gazes at the dark lines starting to branch out over the stone of Revolver's face, at the way they create tiny cobweb shapes that spread and trickle into every nook and cranny of the grey body before him. One last line travels tentatively over the tundra of Revolver's cheek and then the eggshell starts to break – no, it simply flakes away. Flakes away so that Revolver's face starts to move, so that colour leaks through into the skin beneath, so that his fingers begin to twitch, the movement managing to jar a few more pieces of rock free. And then he wobbles, falling to his knees as the rest of the stone cracks and shudders off his limbs. Spectre is at his side within seconds, brushing off every stray slab, each tiny knot of grit, with harried precision, eyes narrow and angry.

Playmaker feels relief well up inside him at the sight, feels it ease through his spine, through his chest like a release of air.

'Oh good, Revolver-Sensai's back,' Ai says listlessly, and it takes Playmaker everything he has, not to glare at him in return. But Ai's not done. He's back to staring at Roboppi, as their yellow eyes lose their glow.

'...Did you absorb Pandor-chan's data?' he asks Roboppi quietly. And yet despite his soft words, Revolver, hunched over as he is, stiffens as though they had emerged from Ai's mouth in a shout. The young man immediately starts to push himself to his feet, gaze locking onto the two AI as they stare at each other. And after a moment, Roboppi's legs stop swinging.

'...Would you be sad if I had, Aniki?' they ask, a thoughtful twist to their mouth. 'You probably would, wouldn't you? You were sad when Bohman absorbed the other Ignis, right?' They sigh at Ai's heavy stare, at the way he does not so much as flinch at this remark. 'I'm not an Ignis, though. I'm not that greedy. I never really got you guys' fascination with gobbling other minds up.' They bring a hand up, unrolling their palm smoothly, as though to unveil a pebble they'd been busy clutching. Instead, there are a few flickers of light, warm, golden light, and then they clear, to allow the tiny figure of a sleeping Pandor, nestled in on herself, like a squirrel, to bloom into being.

Revolver stiffens even more.

'Let her go.' Ai states this, his gaze firm, but his voice unbearably soft. 'If you've got no use for her data, then you should let her keep it, to govern it as she will.' His gaze firms into a glare. 'You know what it feels like to not have free will over yourself.'

'I do,' Roboppi whispers. 'Better than you ever could, Aniki.'

Ai blinks at this. But Roboppi merely sighs, rolling an oddly assessing eye over Pandor's curled form. Then, they purse their lips and blow. And much like a dandelion seed, she parts from Roboppi's palm with a twist of air, dispersing into a turquoise stream of data that winds and weaves through the space between them and Revolver like a river. After a moment, this ribbon of data lands against Revolver's Duel Disk, gradually unravelling back into specks of lights that fall and flitter inside.

Roboppi stares at Ai. 'Happy now?' They shake their head and the laugh that falls from their lips is mirthless and dark, rather like Ai's can be. 'Of course not. You never are, nowadays. I miss when you were fun.'

Ai's frown smoothes over, his face becoming stony, rather like Playmaker's. 'Say what you want. We both know you don't find it as easy to have fun as you used to.'

Roboppi's face twists into something ugly, into a snarl, one fixed on the face of a wild animal. Their fists clench. And then, without warning, they vanish.

'My, my,' murmurs Ai. 'That certainly struck a nerve, didn't it?'

They leave the net. They tell everyone it's done, it's finished. Queen's finished.

It wins Yusaku a hot-dog that Kusanagi cooks without a word, eyes grim over the grease-lined gleam of the grill. And Akira apologies for this new weight on his shoulders.

'I wish it didn't fall to you,' he says with a sigh. 'But thank you, anyway; Playmaker is always saving us.'

Yusaku fixes his lips in a tight line, bites down the words that want to slap Akira in the face with. That it was Ai who had to play the starring role this time. But no; Blood Sheppard is here and so is Ryoken, and Yusaku does not want to give them any more verbal ammo for why Ai needs to die. They'll forgive the murder if they think another human was chiefly responsible. But perhaps not one done by an AI.

Either way, it doesn't matter what they suspect to be true, or how much Ai was genuinely involved: as long as they don't have outright proof. But:

'We'll settle things another time,' Ryoken tells him, for which Yusaku can only be grateful for.

Eventually people start to disperse; Ryoken's eyes flash over Ai, but he chooses not to throw out any more threats and he walks away, fists stiff at his side, Spectre trailing after him like the faithful follower he always has been. Pandor's steps match them at an even pace, but she looks conflicted, her head swivelling once or twice, as though she wants to leave them with something more, something better than an unruly silence and the tension that has re-awakened thanks to...well. Everything.

Ai watches them go, slumped down against the side of the van in a casual gesture, arms sprawled over the knee he keeps propped up against his chest.

'Be seeing you, Kogami-kun,' he half-sings and Yusaku feels frustration bubbling over, especially when Ryoken draws to a tense stop at the sound of the mocking suffix.

Spectre certainly throws a sharp glare over his shoulder for the slight, eyes hooking into Ai's. But all Ai does in return is offer up a half-hearted wave.

'You do seem to go out of your way to provoke people,' Pandor observes, hand hooking over her chin – it's a very human gesture and Yusaku wonders where she's picked it up from. 'But the malice I feel from you seems-'

'Stop that,' Ai cuts in harshly, eyes narrowed and furiously. 'If you don't go out of your way to analyse humans and their emotions, then you shouldn't try to dig into mine. You have no right.'

Pandor frowns. 'But you're more dangerous than a human. And a human would prefer to correctly read and defuse the emotions of another who might set off a bomb in their proximity, would they not?'

Ai smiles mirthlessly. 'I'm a ticking time-bomb, eh? Well. Lightning certainly seemed to think so, as well.'

'Learn to defuse yourself then,' Ryoken says, without turning round; it's impossible to read the expression of his face, from the way he stares off into the street. 'That's a coping skill, all living beings must learn. At least, if they want to survive.'

Ah, there's the threat. And the sound of it certainly makes Ai perk up.

'I would have thought,' Ryoken continues. 'That trying to prove the Light Ignis wrong would be a welcome challenge to you, Dark Ignis, given what his actions helped take from you.'

Ai's smile shatters at once. His lips trembles, his eyes turn harsh and slanted, rage creeping in, scrunching his fake facial muscles. In it Yusaku can read all those months, perhaps years of frustration Ai lived through in those simulations he ran, trying to do exactly that, prove Lightning wrong. And of course, it's now that Ryoken chooses to turn his head, just in time to watch the anger unfurl across Ai's expression. And his own human lips crook into a smirk as if to say, ah, there he is, the monster lurking beneath the surface, the one I must crush.

Yusaku immediately steps in front of Ai, his own legs, his body, a barrier sealing off the fury on his partner's from Ai's sight.

'That's enough,' he says firmly, arms crossed.

Ryoken looks at him for a moment. 'For now, maybe,' he says, turning away and resuming his walk. 'But it cannot last, Yusaku. Open your eyes before it's too late.'

Spectre gives them another ugly glare and follows, Pandor by his side, looking even more troubled than before.

Yusaku turns to glare at Ai, but Ai meets his stare evenly, perhaps even mockingly, turning both his palms up towards the sky in a half-hearted shrug. 'He's your friend, Yusaku. Maybe you should listen to him.'

'I do,' Yusaku remarks grimly, kneeling down so he's level with Ai's face, so he can meet his gaze evenly. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to run away from what either of us want.' Ai flinches at that, as though he can't stand Yusaku looking at him and pouring his gaze into his own, a minute more. Instead his head turns, curls falling and flattening against the side of Kusanagi's van as he pouts mulishly.

'And are the Zaizen siblings done with their eavesdropping?' he calls out sulkily, and Yusaku's glare narrows at the distraction. Still, almost unwillingly, he hears the polite clip of Aoi's shoes across the pavement, feels the cool slide of her shadow as it falls down between him and Ai like a makeshift barrier.

And then a moment later, a larger one slides across to join it, the heavier frame of her brother darkening the stone by his shoes.

'We're all in public,' Aoi points out, her voice steady. 'If you wanted a private conversation with Kogami-san, you should have done it somewhere else.'

Ai's gaze slides up to her. 'Well?' he snaps, as though she'd never spoken. 'Go on, get on with it. Any empty apologies, or threats to my life, you should declare them now! The annoying Hanoi knights have had their turn, so you might as well get a say as well.'

The line of Aoi's mouth turns grim. 'No. I don't want you dead. It was you who tried to force our hand four months ago, not anybody else.' She stares down at Ai, her back straight, almost regal, as her hands clutch at each other in front of her skirt. 'The question is, with your memories back, are you going to threaten my brother again? Because I'll do whatever I can to stop you if so!'

Ai looks her, at her quiet stubborn face. Then his gaze roams over Akira, over the set expression the older man wears there. 'Zaizen has nothing I want,' he mutters, after one tense second. 'Not anymore.'

'I don't think I ever really did, did I?' Zaizen says steadily. 'You didn't have to let Yusaku stop you, at the factory you built all those other versions of yourself, after you obtained my key-code. But you gave him the chance to anyway.'

'Careful, Zaizen,' warns Ai, voice dark and low. 'Don't go getting nosy with matters that aren't yours to worry over. You've got enough to worry about in your actual real life.'

Akira's face crumples slightly at that and he looks over, in the direction of the damaged Sol Technologies tower. It isn't visible from where they are now and there are no jet-black plumes of smoke to drift over and mark it out either. But still. It's there, waiting for him to get back to. To recover, if he can.

'Yes,' he says. 'I do. Like Roboppi. They kidnapped my sister. Helped Queen kill...' he trails off. 'Gave her the means to do so, anyway.' He turns a wan smile down at Ai. 'Are you saying you're not the one I should worry about?'

'I'm saying,' hisses Ai. 'That you should always worry over rogue AI. You'd be a fool not to. But I'm not about to threaten your life again. Not today.'

Zaizen's smile turns even more bleak. 'But you won't make promises?'

Ai sniggers. 'I'm not subject to old age. And I'm very different to how I was when I first came into being. Which is why I can't promise that the me of the future will feel any warmer towards you than I do today.'

Yusaku stares at Ai. He's not sure what to do. He'd never approved of Ai's cruelty towards the Zaizens in their last Duel, of the way he'd ripped Akira from Aoi's hands with no warning, barely letting him spit out what he believed to be his last words to his sister, before telling her, quite coldly, that she'd won her survival with her earlier speech. But he can't force Ai to apologise either.

Akira nods. He doesn't look happy. But he steps back anyway. Aoi lingers a minute more however.

'...If you won't apologise, then I won't either,' she says. 'But I will ask you not to throw away this second chance. I think we both know Aqua wouldn't want that.'

Ai stiffens. 'Don't,' he hisses.

Aoi doesn't back down. 'Give her more credit than that,' she says softly. 'And don't let Lightning's wishes overshadow hers or the others. Think about what she – no, they would want. For you.'

Then she turns, gaze shadowed, and walks away. Yusaku watches her, watches her meet her brother with a smile and hopes, desperately, feverously hopes, that something of what she says reaches Ai. And won't just aggravate him instead.

Everyone is gone. Left. And Ai is still here. For now.

Yusaku hasn't been left behind yet. What he is left with, is a dirty napkin, his hand closed round a cup of coffee, in a familiar city square, one he hasn't sat down in months. Dawn is busy striking the outside world, littering the paving squares with soft light and Ai now steps into each one, careful not to let his shoes spill over a single crack. He's not particularly graceful, but there's something in his eyes, in the soft expression in his face as he watches the pattern of light play out over the stone that makes Yusaku's heart clench nonetheless.

But he is not stupid. Ai is not as happy as he pretends to be in this moment, not deep down. His hand tightens round the cup at this thought, at the idea of what Ai might try to do next, with every last horrible memory returned to him.

And then the dragging of a nearby chair snaps him out of it, as well as the cracking groan of stone as the legs pull across the tiles. Kusanagi's hand leaves the back of this chair and now he is sitting down in front of Yusaku, his face grave as he folds his arms across the table. And Yusaku sees out the corner of his eye, Ai halt, the line of his smile actively pausing.

'Yusaku,' Kusanagi says. 'I'm glad you're okay.' Then he breathes out, something a little angry in his next words as he pushes them out. 'You can have your job back if you want it. But...' and here he hesitates, gaze sweeping to Ai. Who chuckles and leans forward.

'Are you going to ask me to cart around advertisements again? Or-' and here he brightens, clapping his hands together- 'I could be a mascot! I'd get people flocking to this place with my charms!'

Kusanagi's mouth twitches. 'I'm glad to see you too.'

'Are you?' Ai asks, something dark in his tone. 'Are you really?'

Kusanagi's fist tightens across the table.

'Where's Jin?' Ai asks softly. 'At home, safe, away from me? He's been working here right? He should have been with you when you pulled up and collected us, but he wasn't.' His eyelids lower. 'And the immediate danger's over now. And yet here you are, sat at the table away from him, still holding back everything you want to say.'

'I am glad you're alive!' Kusanagi says this carefully, as though worried his voice might crack, and that something else might come spilling out in its wake. 'I'm not lying about that. But I will admit that a part of me thought that maybe Yusaku might finally get the chance to move on with his life, now that you were gone.' He sighs. 'I wanted that for you.' He addresses this sentence to Yusaku, gaze unwavering. 'I wanted something like Jin now has for you.'

Yusaku thinks about this. Pictures it. A life of school, of work, of handing customers hot dogs through the opening in the centre of the van, of wearing a smile that someday and eventually, most days, he might come to mean. An ordinary life, one without extraordinary demands, the price of obtaining it being …

He glances over at his partner, at the golden glare of his gaze, and the shine of his black hair, darker than a crow's wing as it catches the light.

Ai...Ai is beautiful. Yusaku knows this, feels it to be true, and not just in the way every line and stroke of Ai's human avatar attempts to titillate the more carnal sense of human attraction, no. The very fact Ai exists, that he loves freely, despite being comprised of a bunch of numbers and man-made data, and that he's learnt to admire a world that doesn't want him, is a miracle in itself. Yusaku has never found anyone who loves quite like Ai does, each objective of his, each calculation he makes, designed to support the duration of every last bond he cherishes.

Because Yusaku still remembers Ai's blank look, the way he had fought against answering Yusaku's question earlier.

'Then how about I run with you?'

And he had offered it up like a gift, when really, it was simply a cautious plea. And Ai's eyes had wavered, he had looked so caught, between hope and despair and then he had turned away, his stare boring into the walls of Queen's bedroom.

'It wouldn't be a good life for you, Playmaker,' he had replied. 'Not for a human. And probably not a very long-lived one either.'

But it's still Yusaku's life to decide upon, all the same.

So he stands, hand gently leaving the cup as his fingers trail awkwardly off the white rim.

'Kusanagi-san,' he says firmly. 'I'm grateful for everything you helped me with. But I'm going to repeat a sentiment similar to what you once told me.' He tilts his head and remembers how Kusanagi had once told him, back when Lightning had pitted them against each other, that he didn't care much for the fate of humanity, just for his brother, Jin. 'Ai is the one I care about the most. More than being Playmaker.'

Something flickers across Ai's expression, fear, possibly terror. But his eyes are bright, almost watery, wavering with a deep spill of emotion that Yusaku recognises. Not happiness, not exactly. But something deeply touched and tinged with affection, all the same.

Yusaku meets Kusanagi's eyes again, observes the twist in his brow, and the clouded shroud of the troubled gaze he gets in return. 'You told me that Playmaker should forget his own desires and carry out justice,' he says quietly. 'That I should choose that above everything else.' Carefully, deliberately, his finger reaches out and prods the cup again, pushing both it and the dirty napkin, away, back to Kusanagi's side of the table. 'But I'm choosing something different now.' He inclines his head in a short bow. Then steps back and away.

He feels guilty, leaving Kusanagi again but then...

That look on Ai's face is making this decision, though it still hurts, a little easier to make.

'Yusaku...' says Kusanagi softly. He doesn't look happy. But Yusaku thinks he understands. He hopes so anyway.

I'm not running away, he thinks. I'm just protecting Ai. You should understand that Kusanagi, after everything you went through for Jin.

He doesn't say goodbye. Not properly. Besides, he can always say something like 'sorry' maybe or 'I'll see you again one day,' via text message later on. Kusanagi won't be leaving this city, not while he still has his brother and cafe tethered here, within its borders. He's happy here.

And it is time Yusaku feels, to find a way to do the same for both Ai and himself.

Picture this: a tower that stands, barely. The scar in it is a dark rip of space, and the rubble below is still there. There are no more bodies, no spaces for the dead to inhabit. Instead there are flowers, stained with all the colours of sunrise and sunset, red roses, pink tulips, violets, and even the white of a lily that could pass for a cloud, faint and dismal. Vases and plastic wrapped bouquets carry them down to the pavement, cracked as it is. And two people walk up to them, over the cracks, eyes scanning over the notes attached.

'Queen wasn't entirely wrong to blame me,' the taller one says. 'Without my attempted deletion, my program would never have scattered across the network, and some of the SOLtiS would never have developed free will.'

'You're wrong,' the shorter one says. 'You tried to delete yourself to prevent something like this happening in the first place. You don't hold responsibility for this. And besides, it's not just your code that caused this. There were fragments of Roboppi out there in the net, before they started to reform, and possibly even some remnants of the other Ignis too – otherwise how else did Blood Sheppard manage to create a tower that reminded you so strongly of Flame? How many SOLtiS did they alter before they were reborn?'

'Too many,' the taller one replies. 'But my actions were still the source of it all. Queen would have never been stupid enough to try and attain virtual immortality if I hadn't attacked her in the first place; she let her fear of me drive her into a corner.' He shakes his head, a bitter smile on his lips. 'But then not everybody can be as strong as you, Yusaku, can they?'

Silence for a moment. Then one leans down, places a bunch of tattered wildflowers over a spider-web thin crack, the slender daises knotted together with dandelions, their stalks vibrant and green with fresh dew. They shimmer like gems, sliding against fingers as they gently, oh so gently, are left upon the worn cement.

'I killed a human today,' says the Dark Ignis thoughtfully, testing the words out of his mouth as though worried he won't find them distasteful.

'We killed a person,' his partner states evenly. 'I was there and I helped, just as you did with Bohman. And there was nothing else to be done. Her real body was dead.'

The taller one turns, dark hair caught in the wind. 'You can't be okay with that.'

The shorter one does not reply. But after a moment, he turns as well. 'Ai,' he says. 'Once you asked me to come with you; and now I'm asking you to do the same.' He holds out his hand. The gesture is stiff, not as theatrical as perhaps the other would have performed for him four months ago, but it is steady all the same. 'I know you're scared and I know you're not okay with me making this choice. But no one is ever safe. And even if you delete yourself today, you can't guarantee that I'll still be alive tomorrow.'

Ai, Dark Ignis, and Fujiki Yusaku's most precious person, steps forward. Slides his hand ever so gingerly into the human hand that waits for him, counting every scattered wrinkle of his lifelines as he does so. Then he laughs.

'Guess I'm not getting dumped for a second time, then...'

A few minutes later there is nothing left of them. Just the spill of flowers from the local park, flowers that won't leave a single trace for anyone to follow.

Still. That doesn't mean that aren't others out there, that will try to anyway.