"I don't mind you hitting me, Frank, but take it easy on the Bacardi."

- Lew Hayward

"Boo."

- Eric Draven

"Jack. I spent an hour last night in my bedroom talking to Fiorella La Guardia and he's been dead for 40 years."

- Mayor Lenny

"Goodbye, brother."

- Val Kilmer

"Ahhh eto… bleeh!"

- Yoriko Nikaidou

Akane was sitting in the dressing room by herself making the last-minute preparations for her coronation. As she fixed the tiny green jewels sewn into the collar of her pristine dress, she froze at the sight of her reflection in the tall oval mirror. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but she was staring at the face of a troubled young woman in an extravagant white and gold bridal gown who was almost about to burst into grieving tears.

Is this really what she was supposed to be doing? Wasn't there something more she could offer? After everything that had been lost, after all the people who'd died because she was too weak to act sooner, was this the glamorous ending she truly deserved?

All five Columns said so, and they wholeheartedly encouraged her. Chie and Rosalie said so. Fumi said this was the correct route through her vague digital taps. Everyone in Cardair said so—They pleaded for her to become their empress as soon as the reconstruction efforts began. Even Shiho's parents joked how their daughter would be throwing a temper tantrum if she was still alive, demanding Akane to marry so she could she could move back to Cardair and serve as her homeland's Meister. It felt like the only person who couldn't be convinced it was right was Akane herself.

Humble Sister Soir. Even after barely surviving extermination with her Master, she hesitated to accept any applause.

The bride's eyes started growing misty. The reflection in her vision slowly distorted, but it wasn't distorting in any natural ways that made sense.

Her bridal gown changed to vibrant red silk laced with metallic gold. The ruffles along her shoulders pointed into the shape of ornamental feathers. Her brunette Egyptian bob curled up into a pair of Asian dumplings nestled on the sides of her head with thick, straight bangs hanging over her ears. Her eyelids narrowed into elegant almond-shaped slits. Her irises stayed brown, but maybe they shimmered a couple shades brighter.

The woman in the red smiled cheerfully at the downtrodden woman in white. Her voice rippled through the glass in a gruff and teasing melody.

"Don't tell me you're about to chicken out at your own wedding, Kitten. Sheesh. You really will run away from anything."

Akane recognized that style of Konalan wedding gown from history photos. She recognized the face of the woman wearing the gown because it was the face of one of her closest friends before the war.

"Mia?" Akane gasped in surprise as her eyes instantly dried.

"In the flesh! Er… well, in a spiritual sense, at least." The reflection clumsily scratched the back of her head.

"But… you're…" Akane tried to speak with all the breath sucked out of her lungs.

"A ghost? A leftover signal from my nanomachines that accidentally got encoded with yours when you turned me into a Mia Shish-Kabob? Maybe I'm just a figment of your highly traumatized imagination. Who the Hell knows?"

Mirror-Mia giggled while she was stretching her elbow above her head and thrusting her chest forward to create a mildly alluring pose.

"I'm looking pretty good these days, don'tcha think? Or were you expecting me to have a giant hole in my guts and squirting blood everywhere?"

"Ple-please, no…" Akane shivered. "I tried to forget all that when I was counseling your Little Sister. But she kept asking about the battle…"

"Yep. That's my Yumi. Inquisitive to the point of being morbid." The Mia reflection rolled her eyes before quickly regaining her smile. She reached to her neck and tied the vermillion ribbon on her collar a bit tighter, just to make sure her head was secure.

"I was worried about that little critter, but you got her calmed down for me. Good call on getting her a real Meister Gem, too. All of us in Konala are proud of her for picking up your callsign. You may have murdered me in ritual combat, but where I'm from, that just means 'Malachite' is a name to be respected and feared."

The reflection winked.

"I couldn't let her keep suffering. Not after how I lost one of my Little Sisters back when I tried to run away with Kazu," Akane modestly shook her head. "I'm the one who took you away from her before you could even train her. She can't inherit the Cassiterite GEM she deserves, so I let her take the only thing I have left."

"I'm glad she still got to be friends with both of us, even if she never met us at the same time." Mia tiredly stretched back in the luxurious makeup chair on her side of the mirror. "The Garderobe Girls had us slotted to be the Twin Empresses of Terror. You were going to be the sweet one and I was going to be the spicy one. I'd bet a million Konalis they thought I was the closest working model for how they could swerve you back on track after you fell in love with Mr. Hunky Stuff and had your little graduation tizzy. Even after we stopped being Otomes and had our babies, we'd still be kicking major butt with our husbands at the treaty conference tables. That's how the Sisterhood's always worked. Saving the world with beauty and guts, although maybe not so much the guts part for me."

"And now you and Lord Kishuku will never be sitting beside me."

Akane's eyes started becoming damp again. Back when she first crossed paths with Mia on one of her earliest missions for Cardair, she thought the senior Meister acted too unabashed for someone in such a high rank, and maybe a little pushy. But as the weeks settled in and she got to know more about Mia's own humble beginnings as an Otome, she realized the empress was just trying to push her so she'd come out of her shell.

Akane had a devoted mentor with a contract mirroring hers when she was just starting from scratch as an Imperial Meister, and Mia had a delightful and inspiring future-empress she could share her experience with, all while fostering a strong alliance between Cardair and Konala that never would have been possible when Cardair was headed by that jingoist kook Argos XIV and that cold shrew Fiar. And for every sisterly bond Mia and Akane formed together, Kishuku and Kazuya traded knowledge between their thrones to form a progressive brotherly bond. In ancient terms, Kazuya brought the book smarts, while Kishuku brought the street smarts.

Everyone always knew Akane was going to be Kazuya's wife at some point. It was just a matter of waiting for the best moment to tie the knot. But now Akane wasn't sure if she could accomplish anything without Mia being there to offer her special blend of wisecracking and nurturing advice.

Mia instantly sunk in her chair and hung her head forward, looking almost as bummed out as her white doppelganger.

"I know how you feel. It sucks. We were setting up something great, but then all the world's messed up crap got ahead of us and we just ran out of time. You never wanted it to end like this. I never wanted it to end like this. Fumi definitely never wanted it to end like this. No one wanted it to end like this."

The Mia reflection counted a few seconds under her breath as she recovered from her heartbreak, then looked back at the other bride with renewed encouragement in her eyes.

"But you've got to make the best out what you have left, Akane. That's all any of us can do. We Otomes will never get anywhere if we're just feeling miserable for each other all the time. And it's not like you wanted to kill me. You fought to keep your love with Lord Kazuya alive just like I had to fight for Kishu."

"I messed up everything for you. You and Lord Kishuku were so happy together. Why should I be allowed be happy with Kazu?" The tears streamed freely down Akane's face as all of her misgivings spilled out in a single question. Mia's words of forgiveness didn't even faze her.

"Because now you're going to make it so much better for the rest of us," Mia's reflection leaned closer toward the glass. The friendly, casual tone in her voice took on a more authoritative quality. "Giving more power to the Otomes, taking power away from the grouchy old liege lords who keep getting us in trouble. You're doing exactly what I'd be doing if I was aligned with a country that had some decent political pull... and I was alive."

"You never got to have children with your Master, though. The succession…" Akane wiped her eyes as her voice faded.

"Isn't a problem at all." Mia casually blew air back at Akane while playfully swatting her fears away. "Kishu's got plenty of alternate options crawling around. It's nice that you have the whole 'Master's heart only belongs to me' thing going, and I'm glad all the patience and devotion have paid off for you two. Different country, different cultural values, different relationship. But I took the cautious route by letting my guy dance with the harem girls."

The former Beautiful Red Cassiterite crossed her arms in her elaborate gown as her smirk returned.

"We always teased you for being the fairy tale romantic. I was more of the political romantic."

"But now you'll just be a footnote that got wiped out in the war."

Akane could barely keep her eyes on the mirror when she spoke with guilt.

"Eh, I was never in it for the popularity, anyway. I just wanted to make Mom happy. I think it's more important you made history as The Sylvie Who Lived."

The red bride jokingly stuck out her tongue.

"I feel like Kazu is more like The Argos XII Who Barely Survived," Akane murmured with exhaustion.

"Well, I guess it's just a matter of perspective. And all the more reason you need to stick close to him. That gloomy old story has something each of us girls can relate to, and it's gotta sting extra hard for someone whose contract hopped around between Florince and Cardair." Mia said with a subtly depressed shrug that tried to appear carefree. Her demeanor brightened more as she coyly tilted her head. "Nice job defying fate this time, Monica. I never would have counted on your brain freaking out so much that your nanosignals glitched into Magic Super Founder Intellect Mode so you could solve a dozen different problems at once."

"I wasn't able to do it soon enough, though. Look at how you wound up." Akane glanced away from the mirror again as a surge of remorse flooded over her. She could hear Mia giggling to cheer her up.

"I was supposed to be the boot camp sergeant who squeezed all the potential out of you to get you to be everything you could be, and all that motivational stuff. That's exactly what I did for you in the end, even if it was messier than any of our bosses at Garderobe were hoping. Have you ever considered volunteering to become a Founder for real?"

"No. I've been too worried about the wedding to think about anything after that," Akane sadly shook her head.

"Right. You're back to Normal Healthy Akane Brain now." Mia's reflection nodded in sympathy. "You have to admit, though. I've got one advantage here thanks to you."

"What advantage?" Akane peered at the reflection with timid anxiety.

"I'll never have to worry about becoming a widow." Mia smiled affectionately.

For a second, even Akane snickered at that little quip of dark humor becoming light humor. The Mia reflection tucked her vermillion bridal gauntlet under her chin and leaned with her elbow against her side of the lavish dresser, lowering her voice in a supportive tone.

"This one hit us even worse than Maria's old Dragon War. Almost half of the current Meister lineup dead, along with the heads of every major country. The Pearl roster's cut back by a third from all those poor rookies getting tossed on the battle lines before they even officially graduated. New Coral enrollment's down because all the parents are terrified they're just going to be sending their little girls into the next bloodbath."

Even considering all the discouraging statistics, the number of Otomes in service still greatly outnumbered how many bitter, possessive kings were left. Which led to Mia's next point.

"Putting honest peace-loving shortcakes like you in charge of these superpowers is about the only hope we have to prevent another war that would kill all of us. You'll look out for the wellbeing of your Sisters just as much as the wellbeing of your subjects. Aries got it right when they voted in a President who was school friends with their Otome Secretary of Defense. That's why the bastards who wanted to start up their stupid monarchy feud again got the democracy out of the way first, so we'll just have to keep tying our Otomes into these different governments until we've knitted together one big global quilt of love and peace and Sisterly Comradery that can't be unwound no matter where you tug on it. It's going to be you and Kazuya and all of your little rugrats keeping Cardair in check from now on. Ahn Lu is inseparable from her dad over in An Nam, and I'm sure Arika and Mashiro would be working together every day to pull Windbloom out of its rut if they were still around. I know it's kind of my whole legacy, but there isn't a minute that goes by where I'm not questioning myself if I could have done something different to avoid that fight with Nina."

Mia's reflection paused to gather her thoughts. Akane could see the pity lingering in her eyes.

"I know you're thinking about this like you're being thrown into the middle of a disaster site with no one to back you up, you poor worry wart. But if I were in your place, I'd see it more like it's a chance to start over fresh. You and your Lord Kazu have a real chance to create a world where we can always look at our contracts as sources of power instead of terms of enslavement. Me and Kishu may have been the richest misers you'd ever come by, but we never would have become as influential as you in our little podunk island of a country. That's why I had to bust my butt extra hard as Konala's attacker, while you had the patience to be Cardair's defender. Now you'll have to figure out when to play both roles, but you're off to a strong start. You already did a pretty good job raising Yumi in my place."

Mia's solemn expression started turning back into an uplifting smile.

"Fumi was dead in the water for a while there because of all this war craziness. But now that you've put the wind back in the Column Girls' sails," she playfully nudged her elbow toward the glass to show she was making an awful pun, "I'm sure they're coming up with new ways to fix up Windbloom, Florince, and Artai. It was a tough sell, but they got the better deal out of the two of us. They're gonna need a strong and level-headed empress of Cardair a lot more than a ditzy old tribal queen from some little islands."

Akane started to open her mouth to say Mia was being too humble, but she was interrupted by the sound of cathedral bells ringing outside. She turned her head toward the window as Mia's reflection turned at the exact same time with her. The ceremony was almost about to start.

Akane glanced into the the mirror again as she nervously crossed her hands in her lap.

"Good luck, Kitten." Mia offered her surviving Sister a friendly salute.

"I still don't know if this is right," the Soon-To-Be Lady Krau-xeku whispered meekly.

"Akane, it's only an imperial wedding. My job started with one of those. Once you've got all the nuptials signed away and that Bishop blesses your head, you'll be retired in your pretty castle with your Prince Charming, and you've done everything you can to earn that. The political part of this might throw you through a ringer sometimes, but you didn't make it all the way to Trias Number One for nothing, and a place as big as Cardair needs our Top Girl calling the shots. Believe me, I'm an old Trias III who married into royalty just like you'll be in a couple hours. The rest of your life's gonna be like a dream come true. I just wish I could be the one hosting the huge party you guys are gonna have afterwards."

Akane glanced down at her silk gauntlets as she sighed. The longer she thought about it, the more she knew Mia was right. For the first time since her rushed graduation two years ago, she finally had something she could look forward to without any second guessing. She chuckled with relief under her breath.

"That's what Chie keeps telling me. But I really needed to hear it coming from you. I guess you and I really are…"

When she looked up at the mirror again, all she saw was her own innocent reflection dressed in white, gold, and malachite.

"…alike?"

Author's notes:

I have completed the Yamashiroing by creating the Mai Otome version of "Internal Briefing."

Why is there Monica fan art, but there's no Sylvie fan art? I found a couple of Monica drawings made by a dude/dudette named Yahiro. According to the machine translation of his/her Japanese blog, he/she likes Monica's design because it's invocative of the muted grey and lavender color scheme of the Zeta Plus. That's not a visual association I've ever made before, but now that I'm thinking about it, I can't unsee it.

The old Garderobe yearbook photo in the thumbnail for this fanfic was added when Chapter 2 was written as the "ending," because the whole last passage shifts away from Akane and strongly resonates with Natsuki's happier past. Now that this chapter is the new "ending," the thumbnail doesn't work as well. Oh well. At least it looks nice, and it still sorta resonates with this story route's more general themes of maturing through loss.

Is it considered a cheap Deus Ex Machina ending if the conflict is resolved through supernatural means no one was expecting to happen, but the supernatural stuff was triggered by other natural factors that were set up intentionally and foreshadowed over time? I was trying to avoid bad DEM writing. I wanted it to be more like... a sci-fi version of Miaka finally summoning Suzaku after a long and arduous journey with multiple points where it seemed like she'd never be able to summon Suzaku, until the sacrifices made by her beloved friends helped her reach a state in which she was physically and emotionally capable of summoning Suzaku. Yeah. That comparison actually makes a lot of sense. Huh.

People reading this are going to be like "This is a stupid waste of time and I don't care about your dumb OC named Mia." And that's fine. Nobody cares about Akane to begin with. That just adds to the idea of them being twin characters, lol.

Akane is still BFFs with Chie in this universe, but she was closer BFFs with Mia. She knew Mia for two years (the same amount of time she was hanging out with Chie in the Academy, since Chie is from Aries), but she met Mia after she was conscripted as the Meister for The Kazu-kun, because the Konala archipelago is right off the coast of Cardair. Which means she met Mia at the scariest, most vulnerable point of her entire life when she needed a perky motivational Elder Sister figure who could relate to all of her societal problems and guide her through things with personal experience. Akane and Chie work great together, but MiAkane just had that special Otome synchronicity you don't get with any other combination. A genuine one in a million power duet.

The thing about Shiho wanting Akane to marry The Kazu-kun ASAP so she can move back to Cardair (because Shiho hates sharing the Meister spot with Rosalie in Florince) comes straight from their canon relationship/rivalry in Zwei episode 3, although in that context it's presented more as lighthearted comedy banter (a. k. a. the only scene in Zwei where they got all the supporting voice actresses and Kazu-kun's actor into the same room so characters who aren't Arika, Nina, or one of the Garderobe admins can have speaking lines.)

No, it's absolutely not a coincidence Spooky Mia is saying a lot of the same stuff Akane would already be hearing from Chie. But on the other hand, earlier chapters hint at Mia being school friends with Haruka, so it's natural all the Aries-related Otomes are going to talk alike and be super-sensitive around Haruka and Yukino's deaths. Does this mean Akane is just repeating info in her head and imagining Spooky Mia talking to her as a coping mechanism? Or could it be something deeper… ? (Regardless of how you interpret it, I hope I made it clear with the way this fanfic ends that Akane will never see nor require the assistance of Spooky Mia again. It's a bittersweet reality, but that's what "moving on" is all about.)

Just a reminder, Akane has never heard Mia use her "Good luck, Kitten" catchphrase. The only times Mia said it were in her private internal dialogue… that we know of.

My original idea for how to continue the S&S Chapter 4 route (and this was MONTHS before I started getting ideas for Tetris Maintenance) was a Twilight Zone Passersby-type epilogue scene where Mia and her husband Tamarufiohameha are waiting on the Road of Dead Otomes (whatever that means) angsting in misery and apologizing to each other. Several more Dead Otomes (the girls killed in the dance battles after Mia vs. Akane) walk along with their ghost Masters coming along. And then two recognizable characters come along... and it's Akane and The Kazu-kun. Mia's ghost gets ultra-sad because Akane died a lot sooner than she was hoping. Akane's ghost bursts into tears with more angsting and apologizing, but Mia's ghost tries to cheer her up by reminding her they both Died As Honorable Heroines. Then Mia asks Akane HOW she died, because she's worried Yumi did a nasty little number on her. But Akane just says something like "It was Shiho. (She twisted my neck / sniped me / slashed me / something relatively quick.)" And Mia's like "Oh... that's sad, but at least you didn't have to deal with Yumi." And then all four friends walk up the dead Otome road in bittersweet reunion and enter the next stage of the Great Unknown together (whatever that is). Also keep in mind, there's a strong implication the kingdom-mandated Otome Civil War just continues raging in the background, because The Kazu-kun is in NO way some kind of poignant Abe Lincoln-type figure whose death represents the last casualty of the war. He's a 100% expendable dweeb with a grunt-level Otome if he doesn't live long enough to take over Cardair. I'm glad I never wrote that version of the ending, though. Tetris Maintenance is probably the much better option.

James McCaffrey is my favorite character from Viper. And also Rescue Me.

Mia is cosplaying the Sinanju. Akane is cosplaying the Sinanju Stein (even tho chronologlically Akane is the Sinanju and Mia is the Stein). They're also kind of doing a thing where the bratty Suzaku no Miko who likes food is giving a pep talk to the brainy and gentle Byakko no Miko, but the relationship is all weird and reversed.

In terms of live action models, I picture Akane Soir as Amanda Seyfried from In Time, and I picture Mia Sou as Zhang Ziyi from Flying Curse of the Hidden Tiger Memoirs with her hair dyed brown. Don't ask me why I associate Akane as a white girl with a Japanese first name, a French last name after she was born in Anime France where a previous ruler was named the French form of Marcus Antonius, and she thinks she's Egyptian. That just means she's Ramirez from Highlander. But… wait. Mia is really the Ramirez here because she's the older red-wearing mentor character who dies in battle so the rising hero can learn a valuable lesson. Oh man everything about this is so bizarre.

Maybe they're Pyra and Mythra? The color schemes match up. But Pyra is always depicted as the younger idealist one and Mythra is the more confident and outgoing one. Damn. The dynamic still gets all wonky. Uh… maybe Akane is Danny DeVito from Twins? Kind of a loser with a legally sketchy past. Meets her missing twin sibling who was raised in the tropics. Yeah. That one might actually work.

Did u ever notice how Yuu Watase gives all of her female characters really pretty amber-textured eyes?