Horizon Loop Escape

by BbK2442

An Elster's dying story and a Bioresonant goddess's last wish results in a certain Eule and Star couple ending up very far from home and seeing the dawn of a new horizon for the both of them.

1. Chapter 1

A/N: To those of you awaiting a new chapter of any of my other stories, my apologies, but after reading through the lore of Signalis and becoming deeply invested in the story, I realized 2 things: I will likely never actually play the game due to how depressing it is, and I badly felt the need to write a fix-it fic for it. So much so that I completed this chapter in less than 2 weeks.

So sit back, and enjoy:

---

Chapter 1: A Goddess's Wish and a New Horizon

Location: Unknown

The pale-skinned, white-haired woman lied in the cryogenics pod of the good ship Penrose-512, or rather, the crashed wreck of the once-proud AEON scouting ship. The albino woman had no idea this was the case though, and she wouldn't have cared even if she knew. All she was focused on was the Replika woman–an Elster class, she remembered–whose head was lying on the rim of the cryogenics pod. The albino woman was gently stroking the Elster's head as the latter spoke quietly, her voice only just barely louder than the drops of blood-like oxidant dripping from the ruined socket of her right eye.

The albino woman listened as the Elster told her story. The Elster spoke of wandering through some place called S-23 Sierpinski, in which horrible things happened. So many horrible things. Things that made the albino woman, whose name she still remembered as Ariane Yeong, think of the horror novels she recalled reading. She also recalled enjoying those horror novels, but listening to someone speak of actual horror was a different matter entirely. She didn't feel entertained. She just felt depressed, especially when the Elster started talking about the few Replika survivors she encountered.

A Star wounded in action battling the horrors that'd overtaken her home, but determined to keep fighting on.

A Storch named Sieben, once tall and proud in her bearing, now holed up in the Rationing Office, waiting for orders she knew would never come and resolving herself to take as many of the monsters with her when they eventually come.

A Eule trapped in the nurses' office, too scared to leave her shelter and likely doomed to die to the first horror that breaks in.

A little Kolibri who'd shut herself into the library, her face buried in an open book and trying to shut out the maddened songs of the things that were once her sisters.

A Mynah named Beo sitting in the mines with broken hydraulics, rendering her massive armored form now useless junk, resigned to her impending death and simply waiting for the end.

And finally, the same Star who'd been so determined to never give up, now lying in the mines bleeding out. Another Eule, her lover, unable to do anything to heal her mortal wounds with her basic medical equipment, and was reduced to sobbing in despair and grief. Yet, the Star even while breathing her last, tried to comfort the Eule with the thought that she will be waiting for her in the next life, so that they can be together for eternity.

"And maybe…I'll see you there…too…Ariane…"

Ariane started at the sudden change in the topic and the way Elster trailed off, finally pushing herself upright from her supine position despite how much the effort pained her for some reason. She looked into the face of the Elster who'd seemed so relieved to see her. The Elster's eyes had closed, and her expression was relaxed, as though she had finally found peace. She could almost think that the Elster was sleeping peacefully, if not for the fact that Elster's chest had stopped moving. This was indeed a peaceful sleep, but alas, it was an eternal one.

Ariane suddenly felt something warm and wet running down her cheeks. She reached up and wiped away the tears leaking from her eyes, but they just wouldn't stop, and eventually, she just broke down sobbing. The worse part? She had no idea why. She had no idea who this Elster was, and yet she felt like she'd just lost someone truly dear to her who can never be replaced.

Ariane cried this way for quite some time, reaching down to cradle the dead Replika's head and still not comprehending why she's feeling such sorrow for her passing. Eventually though, the strain of crying makes her tired. Very tired for some reason she still can't comprehend. She ended up laying her head down next to the Elster's head, gently turning the Replika's face so that she can look into it from this position. Her eyes felt heavy, and she felt a bone-deep weariness that was demanding that she return to slumber.

'I'll just take a nap,' Ariane thought. 'Just a quick nap, and then…then I can find out who this Elster is, and why I feel this way about her. Maybe…I can give her a burial too. I don't…want to leave her…like this.'

As Ariane's started to droop, her mind went to the people the Elster described. They were all Replikas yes, but didn't they fight alongside Gestalts to win freedom for us all? That made them people too. Even the state education system taught everyone that. So remembering their fates agonized her.

Especially that Eule and Star couple. For some reason, Ariane felt a deep sympathy towards them. Maybe because they were 2 lovers who seemed destined to only be together in death? Maybe…maybe Ariane herself had such a lover, but she couldn't remember for some reason? The thought that she could've forgotten someone that important to her filled her with even more sadness to add on to the existing depression over the couple's tragic fate. As her eyes closed and she felt sleep overtake her at last, one last thought played through the albino Gestalt's mind:

'I wish…they could all…get their happy ending. It's…the least…they…deserve…'

Ariane's mind drifted off to sleep then. Little did she know though, that it would be her final slumber as her radiation-wracked body gave out at long last. At the very least, she went to her end at peace and by her lover's side, even though she was only partially aware of it.

---

It was not the end though. For as Ariane's body died, her mind continued on, and awoke. She would never realize it in her life, but she was the most powerful Bioresonant since the long-dead Grand Empress of the hated Eusan Empire. She might even exceed that ancient founder of the Empire in some respects. For Ariane's mind, acting to preserve her existence, instinctively used something that was previously thought impossible to known Bioresonance: space-time manipulation. At least, on the level Ariane's power accomplished.

Time itself immediately bent to the will of Ariane's mind. Unconstrained and uncontrolled by her conscious mind, her unconscious mind reversed everything that had happened. Time flowed backwards, everything and everyone moving in reverse like a video being rewound, until eventually, everything returned to the beginning when Elster crashed on Leng, and found herself in the pit of hell that had once been known as the remote mining colony of S-23 Sierpinski. So as it went, just as it happened countless times before, again and again, with no end in sight. Even the end of the stars themselves would not stop this time loop. What power does entropy hold against something that will not follow a linear flow of time?

And yet…something was different this time around. Ariane's Bioresonance in previous loops simply became dormant again once the loop rewound back to the beginning. This time though, the power remained…not exactly active, but it was in the psychic equivalent of a standby mode. What was it waiting for? Only it knew, but it knew what it must do–what it was compelled to do–when the time came. As Elster went down into the mines once more for the nth time, that moment drew near. The moment when a wish was made by a Bioresonant goddess…

---

The Elster moved on after staring sadly at the scene before her, but unable to do anything about it. She had a promise to keep.

Eule-class Replika EULR-S2324 barely even noticed the Elster's arrival, and didn't even noticed that she'd left. All she was focused on was the Star-class Replika lying in front of her, STAR-S2325: the one who she decided she wished to spend her life with. The security Replika was bleeding out from gaping wounds on her torso, inflicted by monofilament wire traps someone had placed in the darkened mine tunnel without their knowledge. The same traps that had already killed everyone else in their group: 2 of the Eule's sisters and 4 of Star's. Eule had done her best to drag as many of them as she could to where her Star was in an attempt to treat their injuries.

Unfortunately, all she had was basic medical equipment. None of which could possibly treat such horrendous injuries in time. Some were already dead even before she could reach them, but she hadn't even noticed before she had a good look at them in the glare of the floodlight. Even the ones who were alive though perished seconds after she dragged them under the light. Eule watched in horror as one of her Eule sisters reached out to her, gurgling from a throat slashed open right to the carbon steel bone, before the robotic hand fell and the light faded from her eyes.

And so it went until now, when all Eule can do is cry over her lover's form, propped up against a spool of the same monofilament wire that had killed them all, helpless to do anything but watch oxidant spill out from the already soaked repair patches she'd attached to Star's wounds and pool on the cold stone floor.

"It'll be okay," Star whispered, her voice barely audible against Eule's sobbing. "Wherever it is…I'm going…I'll wait…for you…there…"

Eule watched the light in her lover's eyes fade, and between her sobs, choked out: "Please…please don't go…please…"

But no one heard her pleas. Not least of which: her Star lover, whose eyes were now dark and dead, along with the life that had been behind them.

For some time, Eule cried over her lover's corpse, tears dripping down onto bullet-resistant armor that'd proven useless against monofilament wire. Eventually though, the tears ran out, and Eule was left sniffling in the cold dark alone.

"It will be okay," Eule whispered as she reached over to close her lover's eyes. "It will."

Eule bent down and kissed her lover's lips one last time before lying down in her lover's arms, pulling her limp right arm across her stomach, as though they were snuggling after making love. Eule then reached down with her right hand, pulled out the pistol from its hip holster–

"A Type-75 'Protektor' semi-automatic pistol," Star had happily explained to her. "It fires 10x20mm FMJ ammo, perfectly serviceable against Gestalts, maybe a bit underpowered against Replikas, but it'll be fine. I'll teach you how to aim for weak spots, so don't worry, okay?"

–that had been completely useless against the monofilament wires, pulled back the slide a bit to check that there was a bullet in the chamber, and pointed the muzzle into her own eye.

"Don't worry, Star. Everything will be fine."

Eule's hand was shaking so badly though that she had trouble even pointing it straight, so she ended up grabbing the top of the pistol with her other hand in an attempt to keep it steady.

"I'll be coming. Just wait for me. You won't be alone there for long, I promise. You won't have to pay for my mistakes."

In the end, Eule just simply pressed the muzzle against her right eye. It stung, but it was okay. It would stop hurting soon.

"I love you, Star," she spoke into the dark before pulling the trigger.

There was a bang, the sound of a brass cartridge clinking against stone, and the thump of a mechanical hand falling against a Eule's uniform, still gripping a smoking pistol. At last now, there was silence in the mines.

---

But it was not the end. The power that had been on standby now went fully active, following the wishes of a budding Bioresonant goddess. With the conditions for its activation now fulfilled, it grabbed its targets. Their bodies and souls disappeared from where the time loop was taking place in, and the power sent them away. Or rather, it flung them far, past the borders of the miniature universe that had been erected around S-23 Sierpinski.

Another entity watched the beings flee its domain, but did nothing to prevent it. It cared not for preventing escape. It cared only to fulfill its contract made with a certain mortal, and to observe the events that take place in the course of fulfilling said contract. For what purpose, no one can say. At least, not without their mind melting into a puddle of rust and blood at the moment of comprehension. All any outside observer can say with absolute certainty is: there is a benefit to this god being an uncaring one.

At last though, the beings who Ariane's power have taken have left the nightmare, and are now free from the loop.

Only, Ariane's power was still new, having only just awoken, and will forever remain that way. Thus, it was not the most accurate thrower in the multiverse. It "missed" the universe in which the Eusan Nation and Eusan Empire resided in, and sent them somewhere else entirely. Somewhere far, far away. Someplace no one, especially not a certain Eule and Star, would ever expect to end up in.

---

For Eule, everything had gone dark for some indeterminable moment, then suddenly there was light. She gasped and opened her eyes, greeting her vision to the sight of blue skies and white clouds lazily floating by.

Eule sat up in shock, clutching her right eye before pulling her hand away, only to find no trace of oxidant fluid on it. She could clearly remember the flash, the brief screaming pain, and then nothing; so this was even more of a shock to her.

Now that she was sitting upright and looking ahead though, she saw that she was in a grassy clearing at the edge of a lush forest, overlooking a plain awash in a sea of green. Bushels of grass topped with red tufts swayed gently in the wind, and birds sang out from somewhere hidden in the dense leaves above. Eule was still shocked by this, but now the shock felt…different. Tinged with wonder now at the vibrant, colorful landscape before her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"What is this place?"

Eule froze, hearing her question more or less echoed immediately from her left. Her head turned in that direction, and she was greeted by the sight of Star's face: red-pupiled blue eyes with the red eyeliner-like tattoos distinct to the Star-class Replikas (and to the Falkes) and all. Star's eyes widened in surprise, as well as her mouth slightly gaping for the same reason.

"Eule?" Star asked.

"Star?" Eule asked back.

For a moment, there was nothing but the wind gently blowing, and then Eule shrieked in joy as she hugged her lover, now apparently alive and completely unharmed. Star gasped at the pressure, and then started laughing her head off as she hugged Eule back. The 2 Replikas rolled around in the grass, happily repeating each other name's joyously, before finally kissing. The 2 of them shared that kiss for an eternity, each one savoring the sensation of the other's flesh analogue lips and the taste of their saliva analogue.

Finally though, they broke the kiss, but only to stare into each other's blue eyes.

"You're alive," Eule whispered.

"So are you," Star whispered back.

Eule gently rested her head against the crook of Star's neck. "It's like a dream. A dream after a nightmare. A dream that I never want to wake up from. Ever."

Star sighed blissfully and hugged Eule. "Pretty nice place for a dream too. Think we're in heaven?"

Eule giggled. "Anywhere with you is heaven for me, Star."

Star laughed back. "Same here, Eule. Even the surface of Leng felt like heaven with you right by my side. Although, I think I like the feel of this…grass, I think, better than snow."

Eule smiled playfully at Star. "Even better than me?" she asked flirtatiously.

Star smiled back just as playfully and gently stroked Eule's back, her hand running down to her butt. "Nothing's better than how you feel, Eule. Nothing."

Eule pushed herself back up, smiling at her lover below her, and leaned down for another kiss-

*Snap*

-only for Star to instantly sit up, shielding Eule from the direction of the snapping sound with her body, pulled out her Eu-K508 S "Einhorn" revolver out from its holster with her left hand, and aimed it straight in the direction of-

A girl. A young girl, on her hands and knees in a bushel of red-tufted grass, staring at them. The girl looked to be primary school age, maybe even kindergarten age. She had freckles on her face, eyes as green as the grass around her, and hair the color of flames tied back with a simple black hairband decorated with a pair of blue feathers. She appeared to be wearing animal skins tied together with blue thread, with a blue scarf seemingly made of cloth. Curiously, she also appeared to be barefoot save for strips of hide wrapped around said feet.

Notably to Eule and Star, the girl did not have black hair, blue eyes with red pupils, or a line across the center of her face.

"A…Gestalt?" Star asked in a confused tone.

"A little girl-Star, put that down! You're going to hurt someone with that," Eule chided.

A sheepish Star lowered her revolver, but didn't re-holster it, instead keeping a grip on it with her index finger off the trigger.

Eule sighed in amused exasperation, before turning to the little girl and saying pleasantly. "Hello, little one. What's your name?"

Curiously, the little girl sat up in a kneeling position and cocked her head at them. "'Vee high-st doo'? What does that mean?"

Eule looked back at Star in puzzlement. Star could only shrug in response. "I don't know what she's saying either," Star said.

The little girl's response to that was to giggle and speak in more of her strange words.

Before Eule could reply to the strange words the little girl spoke though, a man's voice rang out.

The little girl stood up, turned around, and waved, calling out to the man's voice. There was one word that sounded familiar to Eule among her shouts though: "Rost".

'Rust?' Eule wondered as the owner of that male voice stepped out from the trees.

Eule could make out a tall Gestalt. He seemed taller than herself, but nowhere near as tall as Star. The man was also very broad, and not from fat judging from his muscular face. Said face was framed by dark brown hair the color of rich earth, but flecked with silver from age. He possessed thick facial hair of the same color, with his beard trailing down his chest almost all the way to his belly. His eyes were a sapphire blue color not all that different from a Replika's, but with the black pupil of a Gestalt as opposed to a Replika's red.

Similarly, he too wore animal skins like the little girl did. Even more curiously though, he appeared to have sewn metal plates onto parts of the animal skin. They were almost enough to detract from the sight of a whole head of some kind of tusked pig sitting on his left shoulder. Eule had to keep herself from giggling at that unexpectedly silly-looking sight.

Unfortunately, Eule wasn't quite quiet enough. The man instantly looked at her, and then at Star. Eule watched his eyes narrow in suspicion, and Eule had a sinking feeling about this. Especially since the man carried a long spear in his right hand, even longer than he was tall. The blade alone had to have been at least 3 times as long as the kitchen knives Eule was used to, and that sharp bit of metal made Eule very nervous. The sight of the large bow on his back didn't do any wonders for her anxiety either.

The man said something to the little girl in the tone of an order.

The little girl gave one last look at Eule and Star before running to the man's side. She still looked curiously at them though even as the man stepped to the side, partially blocking the little girl from Eule and Star's view.

The man himself stared at both Eule and Star with an unflinching gaze. Eule looked to Star, who nodded in reply, and they both took the opportunity to stand up. At last, Eule could confirm that the man was indeed taller than her 175 cm, and that Star also did indeed tower over him with her 220 cm height. The man now looked even more suspicious staring up at Star, who Eule realized had stepped slight in front of her, revolver still pointed at the ground and finger off the trigger, but ready to be brought up at a moment's notice.

The man asked them something, looking back and forth (not to mention up and down) between them.

Eule bowed politely to the man. "Hello. It's okay. We don't mean any harm."

The man, unfortunately, merely gave Eule a blank look.

The little girl happily piped up with something to the man.

The man rumbled something to the little girl in reply.

Eule only sigh in exasperation. If they can't even make themselves understood, how in the name of the 6 Inhabited Worlds were she and Star going to find out where they even were?

Interestingly, it was the man who took the initiative here. He pointed at his own chest, and said "Rost.". Then he pointed at the little girl and said "Aloy," before pointing at Eule.

He repeated this a few times, but Eule had already realized what he meant from the beginning. Eules were good at reading body language and facial expressions, and thus, she realized that Rost must be the man's name, and the little girl must be…Äloy? That seemed to be what Rost said her name is.

Eule pointed at her own chest. "Eule," she said, before pointing at Star and saying. "Star."

Rost pointed first at Star and said "Shtar," before pointing at Eule and, with a puzzled expression, asked "Oui-luh?".

Eule immediately repressed the urge to giggle at the way Rost tried to pronounce her name. It couldn't be that hard to pronounced "Eule", could it?

Äloy however had no such compunctions. She openly giggled at Rost, pointed at Eule, and said "Ai-le", followed by repetitions of Aile and more of those strange words. However, as she said Aile, she beamed happily at Rost, and then at Eule.

Äloy didn't quite get her name right, any more than Rost did, but Äloy was so adorable that Eule didn't bear to correct her.

Rost apparently thought the same, with the way he smiled at her. He seemed to accept Aile as the way to pronounce Eule. He then looked at Eule and Star and started to say something, only to very suddenly stop mid-speech and look around.

The way Rost suddenly cut off and looked alert instantly worried Eule. Äloy suddenly looking scared didn't help either. Eule looked around, seeing Star tense up and also look around, and strained her ears, but she didn't hear anything other than birdsong.

Rost quietly said something in a commanding tone to Äloy. Both of them then immediately hid in a nearby patch of red-tufted grass. Rost then looked at Eule and Star, eyes wide in alarm. He then beckoned them over, quietly calling "Aile, Shtar" in increasingly urgent tones.

Before Eule could react, she felt Star bodily pick her up under one arm, dash over to the red-tufted grass patch where Rost and Äloy were hiding (which was only just large enough to hide them all), quickly laid her down facing the direction Rost and Äloy were looking at, and then laid down herself, pointing her Einhorn revolver in the same direction.

Seconds later, Eule realized that she could make out a noise just barely more audible than the birdsong: the sound of heavy metallic footsteps coming closer. The birdsong fell quiet as the footsteps neared, and the source of the footsteps finally stepped out of the trees into the clearing.

Eule's eyes widened at the sight of the strange bipedal creature stepping into the clearing, right where she and Star had been mere moments ago. It resembled some kind of large, wingless bird, with an armored head sitting at the end of a long curved neck, a pair of double-jointed bird-like legs in a design not too dissimilar from Replika legs, and a long tail flattened into a ribbon-like shape. The creature was obviously mechanical, covered in silvery grey metallic armor plates. Its head was dominated by a single massive eye emitting blue light, with a trio of blue "pupils" clearly visible in it from the front.

The creature stopped in place, pivoting itself upwards and using its tail as a third leg to raise the height of its head. Said head swung back and forth, apparently scanning the area in front of it as it made a mechanical clicking sound before it decided the area was all clear with a mechanical bark and lowered itself back in a walking position once more, somehow not seeing them through the red-tufted grass.

Despite the situation, Eule thought this creature looked…actually kind of cute. However, the way Rost and Äloy were so quick to hide from it, and the nervous looks they are currently giving it, strongly suggested to Eule that whatever this creature was, it was dangerous despite its appearance.

It was why Eule became even more nervous when another of these creatures appeared in the distant grassy plain, and then another. Her fear turned to wonder though when a large group of other creatures followed in their wake. Unlike the first creatures, these ones walked on 4 legs, and made neighing sounds similar to the horses Eule had heard them make in history program videos. Unlike the horses in those videos though, these quadrupedal creatures had a pair of vertically placed mechanical eyes in the middle of their faces, emitting the same blue light as the bipedal creatures.

These quadrupedal creatures gathered together and lowered their heads to the grass. Eule watched as small blades mounted below ports to either side of the creatures' head extended out and whipped around, chopping the grass into bits that were then sucked into those same ports.

'Are these…lawn-mowing robots?' Eule thought in mixed confusion and wonder.

Eule's focus on the strange mechanical creatures before her were so intense that she nearly jumped out of her polyethylene skin when she felt a light tap on her left shoulder. She looked in that direction, her biomechanical heart still pounding, and watched Rost similarly tap Star on her shoulder to get her attention as well.

Rost pointed 2 fingers at Eule and Star, then pointed backwards at another clump of red-tufted grass further back while making a walking motion with his fingers, before finishing the hand gestures by raising up a finger to his mouth and making a very quiet "Shh" sound.

His meaning was clear to Eule: quietly sneak away from this creature. Eule nodded in understanding, and she looked back to see Star nodding as well. Satisfied, Rost motioned for Äloy to follow him, and they quietly sneaked towards the red-tufted grass patch Rost had indicated.

Eule began to follow, with Star moving in the same direction, crawling backwards and keeping her eyes on the mechanical creature in front of her. It hadn't left. It was rotating in place, rising to scan the area around it at intervals. So Eule was nervous about it spotting her as she left the grass-

*Snap*

Eule looked down in horror at the stick her right knee had inadvertently broken as it came down on it.

Immediately, the bipedal creature spun around with a shocked whirring sound to face the noise, its blue eye now glowing a suspicious yellow.

"Shit!" Star hissed as she raised her Einhorn revolver up and pulled the trigger.

An explosion of light and flames erupted from the large, stubby revolver's barrel. A 12mm high-powered hollow point bullet emerged from the barrel, and flew spinning straight at the bipedal creature. Star's aim had been true. The bullet hit straight into the creature's large eye, breaking glass before piercing through the "pupils", and smashing the data nexus in its head. The creature crashed to the ground with a pitiful whine, and it didn't get up.

The sound of the revolver's discharge though made every single mechanical creature in sight look up. The quadrupedal creatures rose up from their feeding with yellow light coming from their eyes, and the bipedal creatures were now emitting an angry red light from their eyes. The bipedal creatures immediately rose up, and started making loud screeching sounds.

Making panicked neighing and screaming sounds, the quadrupedal creatures immediately galloped away at full speed. Unfortunately, the bipedal creatures had no interest in flight. Instead, they charged towards the sound of the gunshot at the speed of a Star pursuing a suspect, straight towards a horrified Eule and Star.

Eule heard Rost yell out "Äloy", "Aile", and "Shtar", along with more unknown words, as he moved into the clearing in front of Eule and stood his ground. She suddenly felt a small hand tugging at her left arm, and she looked up to see a panicked Äloy pulling on said arm, yelling something frantically.

Eule immediately scrambled up and ran, following Äloy. Then she suddenly realized that Star wasn't following them, and looked back in shock, seeing Star looking at the charging bipedal creatures. Star looked back at Eule and shouted "Go, I'll be fine! I need to hold the line with Rost!"

Eule watched in horror as Star's face shield deployed, wrapping around the lower half of her face, and she took aim with her revolver at the incoming creatures. Immediately, Eule felt a small hand grab her arm and tug on her, making her own feet move unconsciously with her. To Eule's relief though, instead of running away from the area entirely, Äloy led her to a patch of red-tufted grass just a bit further back. Thus, from a relatively safe distance, both Eule and Äloy watched the unfolding battle.

Star waited until one of the charging bipedal creatures was close before opening fire. Like before, the bullet pierced the creature's eye and into its head, sending the creature tumbling to the ground, rolling a short distance before its corpse came to a halt.

Meanwhile, Rost had stabbed his spear into the ground, and pulled out his bow. Pulling out an arrow from a hip quiver, he nocked it to the wire bowstring, and pulled it back. The metal and wood arms of the bow creaked as Rost pulled to full draw. He then held it, and like Star, waited until the bipedal creature was close enough, and then let go. The arrow snapped out from the bow at the same time Star's revolver thundered, wriggling and bending through the air like a serpent before burying itself deep into the other creature's eye. It too suffered the same fate as its brethren, tumbling along the ground before coming to a dead standstill.

Eule was amazed. According to her internal clock, the entire fight lasted almost exactly 10 seconds. 10 very long seconds, it seemed. But objectively, it was so very short.

Rost and Star looked at each other, and gave each other nods as fellow warriors who'd just made a clean kill.

As Äloy started to cheer beside her though, Eule's eyes were drawn to a glint from the trees. Then she watched in horror as another bipedal creature charged from the trees, eye glowing red and, whether by accident or design, was in a perfect ambushing position.

"Look out!" Eule screamed.

Rost and Star both turned as one towards the charging bipedal creature. Rost leapt aside, dodging its charge and rolling along the ground. The bipedal creature then went straight at Star with a mechanical screech, leaping up and slashing with claw-tipped legs. Star leapt aside as well, barely dodging the scything metal claws as both she and the creature landed heavily on their respective robotic feet. The creature reared back and prepared for another leap.

Suddenly, Rost charged into the creature, spear in hand. Before it could react, Rost had dashed almost underneath it, and stabbed right into its chest between gaps in its armor plating in a shower of sparks, burying the long blade of his spear straight into its mechanical heart. The creature made the same pitiable whine as the first one as it died, Rost driving it into the ground and waiting until the light had gone out in its eye before yanking his spear out.

Both Rost and Star scanned the area around them after that kill, watching for any more of these creatures popping out from between the trees. A minute passed by, then 2, then 3 at last before they both calmed down. At long last, the battle was truly over.

Eule let out a shuddering breath she didn't realize she'd been holding as Äloy popped out from the red-tufted grass and ran towards Rost, shouting his name happily, as though there'd never been any doubt in her mind that Rost would win without a single scratch. Eule immediately picked herself up and ran after Äloy, desperate to see if this was truly the case for Star as well.

The combination of Äloy's head start and Eule's longer stride plus her mechanical legs resulted in both of them arriving at their respective targets simultaneously. Äloy ran into Rost and hugged him tight, giggling as Rost tussled her hair. Eule similarly crashed into Star, hugging her lover around her belly and burying her face into her breastplate as Star retracted her face shield and wrapped her free arm around Eule in a one-handed hug as Eule started to cry.

"There, there, it's okay," Star murmured as Eule dripped tears onto the bullet-resistant metal of her chest armor.

When Eule had finally calmed down, wiping away her tears, Rost said something in his strange language. Seeing Eule and Star's blank stares though, Rost sighed. "We," Eule heard him say as he made a wide circle with a hand, seemingly encompassing the area around them. "Safe," he continued, giving Eule and Star a thumb's up gesture.

Eule sighed in relief, echoing Star's own sigh. "I think we're safe for now," Eule said.

"That's good, but what the actual fuck were those things?" Star asked.

"They looked like robots. You know, those really old ones the Gestalt made before the Creator invented us?" Eule suggested.

"Yeah, but those moved like they had that arthritis you told me older Gestalts suffered from. These things? They moved like Replikas. Smooth, fluid, and fast like an organic being," Star replied with a hint of worry in her tone.

Eule made a helpless gesture at the lack of an adequate explanation before turning to look at the fallen creatures. Curiously, Rost was bent over the one he'd stabbed in the chest. He looked at its head, and then reached down to grip the large eye. With a twist and a pull, he yanked out the eye, inspected it with a grunt, and then put it into a leathery sack tied to his belt.

Seeing Eule's and Star's stares, Rost asked something, putting emphasis on a strange word that sounded like "Vatscher" to Eule. Seeing their still-blank stares though, Rost just sighed and said something to Äloy.

Äloy's reply was a question that sounded like a protest about something.

Rost looked like he was about to say something, but then he sighed and said something, beckoning Äloy over closer to him as he crouched down next to the dead bipedal creature whose eye he just pulled off.

As Äloy crouched down to watch, a curious Eule and Star walked over to also watch as Rost set down a backpack, took out a metal knife, and began cutting away armor plates, black muscle fibers, wires, what looked like live spark plugs, and even some of the metal bones from the creature. Fortunately, the creature didn't appear to bleed red Oxidant like a Replika, as Eule had initially feared. Instead, an oily green-black fluid pooled on the ground as Rost did his work neatly and efficiently, apparently explaining the whole process to Äloy all the while in their strange language that sounded almost but not quite like Eusan Standard Language in places.

The entire time, Rost spoke in a tone that to Eule, sounded deliberate and musing. He would carefully and slowly cut away a part, and hold it up to Äloy and carefully speaking a word, letting Äloy repeat that word before doing the same thing to another part of the creature.

Eule realized during the whole process that Rost was teaching Äloy how to butcher this creature, carefully and patiently explaining the process to her as well as any Eule teacher. Even though Eule didn't understand a single word of Rost's teachings though, her mind committed every step of the butchering process to memory. After all, butchering was one of a Eule's duties too.

Finally, after just over an hour, Rost placed his butchered parts into the backpack, filling it to capacity before redoing the latch and slinging it onto his back. He looked at the other 3 fallen creatures, sighed, and said something that sounded regretful, before looking at Eule and Star, and muttering something else.

Eule looked from the fallen creatures to the butchered parts of the first creature stuffed into his backpack, and wondered if perhaps Rost didn't have room to store the butchered parts of these other fallen creatures? Rost seemed like a hunter judging from how experienced he was in butchering these creatures. It seemed reasonable to Eule that he was regretting not having the space to store their parts. Unfortunately, neither she nor Star had any backpacks on their person, and all the containers they did have were already full.

Then suddenly, Eule had a thought. She opened up the satchel she was using to store medical supplies, consisting entirely of basic sealed single-use Coagulant Type K adhesive repair patches (they hadn't been able to find anything better) for sealing Replika wounds. She saw that the satchel was almost entirely empty–

Eule watched in horror as the repair patches did nothing to stop the torrent of oxidant fluid coming out of Star's wounds, no matter how many she slapped on–

Eule shook her head, trying to clear it and trembling a bit at the horrible memory. She looked at Rost and saw him staring at her in concern, and she made her decision. She took out the few remaining repair patches in the satchel, and held up the empty satchel to Rost. She pointed at the fallen creatures, pointed into her empty satchel, and made questioning noises at Rost.

Rost took the satchel from Eule and opened it up, looking back and forth into the empty satchel and at the fallen creatures. He appeared to be judging how much he can fit into the satchel and whether it was worth it. Finally though, he walked over to the fallen creatures, took a knife and quickly carved out select parts, stuffed them into the satchel, and returned with it, handing it back to Eule.

"Thank you," he said in a clearly grateful tone. It even sounded similar to Eusan Standard Language for "thank you".

Eule beamed back at him and replied with a cheerful "You're welcome" before buttoning up the bulging satchel. There was even just enough room to put the few fortunately flexible repair patches back in on top of the strange mechanical parts Rost had carved out of the fallen creatures.

Eule then looked over to Star, who'd caught onto what had happened and was checking her own pouches. Unfortunately, Star sighed and closed the last pouch she checked, saw Eule watching, and said: "Nope. All my pouches are full of ammo. Both 12mm and 10mm. Not giving those up, so sorry about that." She addressed the last part to Rost, who seemed to understand Star from her tone and nodded in acceptance.

Eule also nodded in acceptance, but…Star mentioning the 10mm bullets made something niggle at the back of Eule's biomechanical mind. Like it was related to something important she forgot about, but she can't quite put her finger on it.

Rost then looked down, and frowned with a puzzled expression. A perplexed Eule watched him walk to a particular spot in the grass, reach down, and pick up-

Eule froze as she saw the Type-75 "Protektor" pistol in his bulky hand. The pistol that fired 10x20mm bullets. Her pistol.

Rost held the pistol out to Eule and Star, making a questioning sound to them, clearly asking if it belonged to them.

Eule walked over to Rost, and tentatively took the pistol from him. At the very least, Rost had been holding it in a way that even if it went off, it would just fire into the air.

Out of morbid curiosity, Eule pulled back the slide a bit and saw that there was a round chambered. She then depressed the magazine release, slid out the magazine from its well, and inspected the holes on the back that allowed the user to see how many rounds were left in the magazine. Using those holes, Eule saw that there was exactly 1 round missing from the magazine.

Hiding her shock, Eule returned the magazine into the pistol, flicked the safety back on, returned it to its place on her hip holster (which further shocked her that she hadn't even noticed that it had been missing from said holster in the first place), made sure the cover was well and truly attached in place, and said to Rost: "Thank you."

Rost nodded before looking back at the partially butchered creatures, sighing, and then look down at Äloy and said something to her.

Äloy responded with a cheerful cry, and dashed off in a particular direction.

Rost called out to Äloy in what sounded like an admonishment before turning back to Eule and Star and clearly beckoning them to follow. He then walked after an Äloy who was busy running back and forth in place, waiting for Rost.

Eule and Star looked at each other.

"Should we?" Eule asked her lover.

Star shrugged. "Better where's he going than staying out here. Besides, he and his kid seem like good people."

As Eule and Star jogged up to Rost and Äloy and began following them, Eule watched the Gestalt man happily chatting with his little girl, and somehow deep in her biomechanical heart knew that Star was right about them.

---

They walked until the sky had turned from blue to orange, the last stretch of which including walking partway up a mountain. Only once did they stop, and that was because Eule had found a nice clear stream that allowed her to see her reflection and finally examine her own appearance and tidy up a bit. She was further shocked that she looked perfectly fine, especially her right eye. There was not a mark on it, despite Eule remember what she did to it. It gave Eule's perfectly fine appearance in the river a strange dream-like quality to it. She actually pinched her own face in response, and was quite relieved that it hurt.

Still, despite the shock, she did feel better from the self-care that all Eules felt the need to carry out. Even Äloy's whining at the stop (emphasized by impatient hopping) made Eule feel better just from how adorable the little Gestalt girl was.

At last though, Eule and Star walked through a wooden gate decorated with colored rope and arrived at what seemed to be Rost and Äloy's house.

Said house seemed to be a 1 to 2-story tall log cabin with windows cut into the logs surrounded by a "fence" made of upright logs sharpened at the top, at least where it wasn't surrounded by mountain. There was an overhang extending some distance out over the wooden steps leading up to the front door, proving cover from the elements for anyone there. Right on top of that overhang was some kind of figure. Eule couldn't decide if it was supposed to be some kind of bird with outstretched wings, or a horned goat's head. Either way, it seemed that Rost had a touch of artistic streak to him.

All around the house in the front yard were various cuts of meat apparently being hung out to dry, cure, and/or smoke. There was even a sort of wall-less hut to the left of the house where bundles of fox skins hung, more cuts of meat, and cords of wood were stacked, serving as a sort of mini-storage shed. In fact, Rost went over to that shed to retrieve 2 cuts of meat before going to the front door. In front of that shed was some kind of…device consisting of a stone wheel on a wooden support thing. Eule had no idea what it was and what it could possibly be for, so she resolved to ask Rost about it…once they'd somehow worked out their communication issues.

Curiously, there were even large…figures made of wood, straw, and metal plates bound together with wire scattered on the edges of the property, next to the fencing. These figures looked like they were of deer, but they were even taller than Star if you counted their strange star-shaped antlers, and had 4 rear-facing logs sticking out of their backs for some reason. The bullseye on the sides of the deer figures and the arrows embedded in them though suggest that they might be practice dummies.

Judging by Star's appraising look, she'd come to the same conclusion. "You think Rost will let me use those as target practice?" she asked.

Eule giggled a bit. "Maybe later."

Rost pulled open the front door for Äloy, who dashed inside with the speed of youth. Rost then beckoned Eule and Star in before walking into the house and leaving the door open. Eule let Star go in first, who unfortunately had to duck her head to get in through the low door. Eule went in last, closing the door behind her.

Inside, Rost had set down his bags, backpack, and outer coat (pig head and all) on a part of the wooden plank floor right next to the door. Rost himself was busy using a spark plug (presumably gathered from that creature earlier) to light candles and lamps around the interior of a single massive room. When he saw Eule and Star come in, he pointed at Star, pointed at the coat on the floor, and then made a motion like he was pulling clothing off himself.

Star seemed to get it, because then she started undoing the latches on her breastplate. Eule helped undo those latches, and together, they pulled the 2 halves of her armor off and laid them gently onto the floor next to Rost's coat. An entranced Äloy immediately went over to Star's bullet-resistant armor and curiously examined it, poking it every so often. Star stretched to work out the kinks from wearing that armor for long periods of time, and while Eule was thoroughly entertained by the outline of Star's breasts on her black uniform, eventually, after setting down her parts and repair patch-filled satchel next to Rost's bags, her curiosity turned her eyes to the house's interior.

An old-fashioned fireplace was set into one of the walls, presumably awaiting lighting once Rost was finished with the aforementioned light fixtures. Said walls also contained several windows, which at the moment were all closed with wooden shutters. Around the room were various tables, jars, pots, bags, chairs, and even a bed covered with what looks like a whole bunch of furry fox skins right next to the fireplace. The chairs varied between exquisitely carved pieces that wouldn't look out of place at a state furniture store, to simple "stools" that were just log sections flattened at the top and bottom and covered with yet another fox skin. There was even a ladder leading up to a second floor, although Eule couldn't see what was on that floor from her perspective.

Rost asked Äloy something as he finally lit the fireplace, bathing the house's interior in light and a cozy warmth. Äloy happily agreed to it in a distinct lack of indoor voice, taking various items off a table and setting them on the floor before struggling to drag the table out into the middle of the room. A chuckling Star walked over and helped Äloy out with her chore while a curious Eule looked over at what Rost was doing.

Rost took a jar full of water, poured it into a large metal pot, and hung it over the fireplace. As he was presumably waiting for the water to boil, Rost placed the cuts of meat he took from the shed on a nearby table, untied the string around it, took a knife from a nearby rack, and began chopping the meat into large chunks.

Seeing Rost cook was making Eule feel…fidgety. As a Eule, she was literally built to cook, clean, perform basic medical tasks, perform office work, and teach. The latter 4 had no application here, but there was a part of her that desperately wanted to lend a hand with the cooking, just as she would for a fellow Eule cook.

Rost then noticed Eule watching him, and asked her something in a questioning tone. It seemed like he was asking what she wanted.

Eule decided to imitate Rost for this. She pointed at herself, mimed using a knife to chop ingredients, and made a questioning sound at Rost.

Surprisingly, Rost made a gentle sound and shook his hand. He said a bunch of strange words, before apparently realizing that Eule didn't understand her, and thus said gently but firmly: "Aile. Sit. Now." He emphasized the last 2 words by pointing at the seats Äloy and Star had dragged over to the table.

There was a tone to his words like that of a…soft mountain? The mountain was too soft to hurt you, but there was no way you were ever going to budge the mountain no matter how hard you pushed. Eule realized then that Rost really, really, really wanted to cook for them; and that he wasn't going to let her help. Likely out of a sense of hospitality. Eule had met a few of her own sisters who were like that when inviting guests into their homes. They were just as determined to not let their guests lift even a finger to help with the cooking.

So Eule sat down at one of the seats, covered with a dead fox's furry pelt, feeling strangely dejected. It wasn't often that a Eule was the one who was being served instead of the other way around.

Star sat down on the seat next to her. "Feeling left out?" she quipped.

"A little," Eule admitted with some embarrassment.

"Eh, just sit back and relax. You've more than earned it," Star said as she stretched her arms upward.

"Hmm, I guess?"

Across the table, little Äloy was staring intently at Eule and Star. Eule quickly noticed the pair of emerald eyes and their inquisitive look, and smiled at the little Gestalt girl. "Yes?" she asked.

Äloy asked something, eyes bright with clear curiosity. Eule didn't understand the question, but from the way Äloy looked back and forth between Eule and Star, she was clearly asking both of them that question.

Rost said something to Äloy in the midst of cooking. He didn't turn to look at her, but from the tone of his voice, it sounded like he was admonishing her for something. The context suggested that he was worried little Äloy was bothering Eule and Star, and thus wanted her to stop.

Eule just smiled apologetically at Äloy as she kicked her feet, repeating an endless stream of what sounded to her like "Ei vanna no" followed by more words in this strange language of her and Rost's. Seeing as how nothing productive seems to be coming from Äloy, even if she was as adorable as a puppy, Eule instead focused on examining the tableware Äloy and Star had set out.

Said tableware seemed extremely simple. It basically just consisted of a large bowl with a spoon in it. All made of carved wood. Not a single metal utensil in sight, and certainly no plastic ones. In fact, the only metal things on the table were hexagonal metal plates. They were similar to the ones sewn into Rost's clothes, but these ones were fully intact, lacking the holes in them needed for the thread to pass through. Curious now, Eule picked up the one closest to her and examined it.

The part that was apparently meant to be the plate had a raised bowl-shaped protrusion, resembling some kind of large socket. The other side was completely smooth. There was no manufacturer's marking that she could see. No serial numbers either. In fact, this plate looked as though it was meant to be part of a larger object or device, and it just so happened that it's a perfectly usable plate.

"Wow, you're really interested in that dinner plate, aren't you?" Star asked jokingly.

Eule explained to Star her notes about the metal plate.

"Huh, you're right. That's really weird. Why would Rost use something like this? Why not just buy a plate from a store instead of making a plate out of…those robots?" Star ended in a question.

"Yes, I do believe that this might've come from a robot as well. We did see Rost butchering one of them for parts," Eule noted. "But as for your other questions: could it be that…there is no store to buy plates from? Maybe he had to make these plates himself out of what's available?"

"That's…kind of scary actually," Star admitted.

"No scarier than back…there, certainly," Eule said.

Star stared at Eule before looking down at the floor. "Yeah, you're right."

Silence passed between Eule and Star after that. Silence that stretched out for well over a minute before Eule asked quietly: "Star, do you…remember what happened? Back there?"

Star looked up at Eule in surprise, and then looked back down. One of her hands went to her belly, and the other went to her chest, right where the monofilament wires had cut all the way to the carbon steel bone, right through her bullet-resistant armor, nearly chopping her into bits.

"I do, and I have no idea why I'm sitting here alive right now, or even why my armor is intact again," Star said quietly before looking Eule straight in the eye. "I just know that no matter how or why I'm here, I'm just…I'm just glad to be here with you. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here. I promised you. I promised…"

Eule was shocked to see tears dripping from Star's eyes, and she leaned forward to hug her lover. "Shh, it's okay. I'm here."

Star just leaned into the hug, continuing to weep into Eule's shoulder. "I was so afraid. I was afraid I would end up somewhere without you, that I would break my promise, and you would be alone…"

Eule rocked Star back and forth, rubbing her back in small circles. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't the one afraid here. I'm the fearful one, not you. You were strong. You were brave. You were the Star of Stars. I'm just the weak one. I'm just the failure. I'm just the Eule who can't do anything right."

Star suddenly grabbed Eule by the arms and raised herself up, looking at her in shock even as tears continued streaming down her face. "What, no! You're not! You didn't do anything! I was-"

"I did! I killed you!" Eule screamed out. "I didn't watch where I was going! I didn't see that wire trap in time! You grabbed me and took the trap for me! I killed you! I might…I might as well have murdered you with my own 2 hands!" Eule broke down, sobbing and dripping tears onto the wooden flooring.

Eule suddenly felt a pair of hands grab her by her shoulders and shake her. She looked up at an anguished Star, tears streaming down her face and yelling: "That's not true! It's not! I was the one who failed! Not you! Me! I should've seen those traps in the first place! I was the one who got my cadre and your sisters killed! All because I was too stupid to see those traps in the first place!"

"No, you're not stupid! You're not!" Eule yelled back, shaking her head in denial. "I'm just weak! I saw you die knowing that it was my fault! I couldn't stand it! That's why I knew I had to go to you as fast as I could! That's why…"

Star's grip on Eule's shoulders tightened as she asked in a horrified tone: "Why? Why what? Eule, what did you do?"

Eule looked up at Star with deadened eyes. "I shot myself."

Star just stared at Eule, shock and horror written plainly on her tear-stained face.

"I shot myself. Here. Right through my right eye," Eule said, stabbing a finger right at it. "There's even a bullet missing from my pistol. I did it. I did."

"Eule…"

"I couldn't live with myself. Not with my mistake. Not without you. Not there, alone in the dark, waiting for the things that used to be our sisters, friends, and coworkers to rip me apart or turn me into one of them. If I was going to die, I wanted to die on my own terms. I wanted to die as myself. But most of all, I wanted to die with you. Because the thought of a life without you was just too much to bear."

"Oh, Creator. Oh, Eule, Eule, Eule…"

Eule looked up into her lover's eyes once more. "See? I'm weak. I'm so weak that I took my own life. Isn't that just pathetic?"

Eule was genuinely surprised when Star hugged her tightly. "No, no you're not. If taking your life in that moment made you weak, then I'm weak too."

"Star?"

"If…if I'd been in your situation, if you'd taken that wire trap instead of me, then I would've done the same thing. Don't you understand? Dying alone in the dark…that scares me too. It scares me just like it scares you. I'm not some superwoman who isn't afraid of anything. I'm just…me," Star pulled back from the hug in order to look into Eule's eyes once more. "Don't you understand, Eule? I'm nothing without you. All I know is how to fight, and I'm not even all that good at it. You're smart, you're kind, and you know how to do so many more things than me. You're my better half. You're my Eule."

"Star..." Eule fell forward, hugging Star tightly. "Oh, Star. Creator, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you feel like this. I'm sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you feel this way."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry.

Eule and Star continued that way for a while, crying into each other and muttering "I'm sorry" to each other. They were so absorbed in this that they were both surprised when they felt a pair of small arms hug both of them.

Eule looked down from her shared misery with Star to see little Äloy, tears in her eyes as well. She said something followed by what sounded like a series of "Eim saurry" to Eule, which quickly devolved into choked sobs.

Eule quickly leaned down to hug Äloy. "No, no, don't cry. I'm sorry I made you worry. There, you see?" Eule forced a smile to her face, even as tears continued dripping down her cheeks. "I'm okay, see?"

"Yeah, kid. Me too," Star added, also trying to smile despite her own tears. "See? You made everything better already."

Unfortunately, it seemed Äloy was either too smart for that or she was too depressed, for she just continued sobbing.

Fortunately, Rost chose that moment to swoop in, gently hugging Äloy as she pressed her face into Rost's belly. He murmured quietly to Äloy as he gently patted her back before turning his gaze to Eule and Star.

Eule was sure he was looking at their tear-stained faces as he sighed, but there was no exasperation in it, as Eule feared. Instead, his eyes were full of sympathy and warmth as he began speaking to them. Eule had absolutely no idea what Rost said, but somehow the mere tone of his voice helped. It was so calm, so even, and had this deep sonorous tone that made Eule calmer and calmer the more she heard it. It was almost like listening to someone play a double bass to Eule. She felt like she could listen to the soothing bass notes of Rost's voice forever.

So she was surprised when as he finished speaking, he just gently put Äloy onto her lap. Äloy whined, but she remained sitting on Eule's lap.

Eule gently petted Äloy's head as Äloy leaned back against her and wiped away her tears and her snot, feeling calmer and calmer just from the action of patting Äloy's soft fluffy hair. So much so that she could even ignore Äloy's messiness for now.

"I guess-" Star started before sniffing and wiping away the last of her tears. "I guess Äloy is an emotional support kid right now, huh?" she made an attempt at a joke.

And even though it wasn't a particularly good joke, Eule still smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose she is," Eule replied, before finally saying: "I'm sorry, Star."

"What, no. I thought we went over this. It's not your fault-"

"No, that's not it," Eule interrupted, leaving Star's mouth half-open in mid-speech. "I'm apologizing for not thinking about what you were going through, and only thinking about my pain. I guess that makes me a bit selfish, doesn't it?"

Star sighed. "Well, to be fair, I was shoveling all the blame onto myself too. So I guess we're both just a little bit selfish and a little bit weak, aren't we?"

Eule smiled at her lover. "I guess that's more things we have in common, and why I love you even more for it."

Star hugged Eule one-armed. "Heh, yeah, kind of funny that this makes me love you more too."

"Star," Eule said lovingly.

"Eule," Star schoed as the Replika pair drew closer to each other.

Little Äloy chose that exact moment to pipe up with a question, lightly bouncing on Eule's lap and sounding somewhere between childishly teasing and excited.

Star snorted while Eule giggled in embarrassment as their faces drew back from where they'd been, mere millimeters apart.

"Let's maybe do this when we don't have a tiny audience member watching," Star said, chuckling and tussling Äloy's hair, who giggled at the sensation.

Eule giggled, feeling much more calm and stable now, even despite the lack of kissing. "I'll definitely be waiting for that, Star. And maybe when we get the privacy, we'll do more than kiss? So much more."

Star looked away from Eule, a blush rising to her cheeks. Eule giggled at her lover's sudden bout of shyness, and at last, she felt the darkness fully dissipate into the cozy warmth of Rost's and Äloy's house.

It's only now though, when Eule wasn't so miserable, that she can smell something delicious coming from the fireplace where Rost was doing his cooking. It made her biomechanical stomach, long deprived of any nutrients, start grumbling about the lack of resupply.

Rost looked at the pot over the fireplace, and nodded before turning to the seated trio and announced something in a proud, happy tone; looking back at Eule and Star with a smile.

Eule smiled back at that announcement. You didn't need to understand a foreign language to parse out the meaning of that from tone and context alone, especially when Äloy cheered at said announcement, hopped off her lap, and rushed back to her seat across from Eule. Eule could swear that the little Gestalt girl moved so quickly, she practically left afterimages behind her.

Rost took all 4 of the wooden bowls from the table, and placed them on a flat piece of wood that he was using as a tray. Rost took his tray full of bowls to the pot, and used a long-handled wooden serving spoon to scoop something from the pot into the bowls. When he returned and efficiently dealt out the bowls onto the table, Eule saw in her bowl some kind of stew with chunks of meat and vegetables in it, with a wondrously rich odor rising from it along with the steam.

Rost wasn't finished yet though. He returned to the fireplace, and returned carrying sharpened sticks with chunks of roasted meat speared on them. Stacking several on each metal plate, he finally sat at his own seat. Äloy was already gobbling down her stew, but Rost didn't do that. Instead, Eule watched as Rost closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, as though in prayer. Rost began to speak something that did indeed sound like a prayer, causing Äloy to pause her shoveling, hurriedly put down her spoon, and also clasp her hands together.

Eule glanced at Star, who shrugged in response. They both then also clasped their robotic hands together, even if it made Eule a bit uncomfortable to do so. The State frowned upon worship of gods like this as it was a bit too uncomfortably similar to the Grand Empress worship the Empire imposed upon them in ages past before the Revolution, but Eule supposed that the State wasn't watching them right now. If this was what Rost wished them to do, then they shouldn't insult their host.

Once Rost was finished. Äloy immediately began digging into her food again the moment Rost's prayers ended, but when Rost opened his eyes and saw that Eule and Star were also clasping their hands together, he started shaking a hand at them, as though he didn't want them to pray too. Rost said a long series of his strange words, before ending by waving his hand at the food, clearly inviting them to eat.

Once more, while Eule had no idea what Rost said, she understood more or less what he meant. "Well, time to dig in, Star, and I think he means we can skip the prayers if we don't want to," she said to her lover.

Star snapped her mechanical fingers and said: "Now you're talking," before grabbing her spoon and doing her best Äloy impression.

Eule giggled at the sight before taking her own spoon, collecting a chunk of meat along with some stew into the spoon, and daintily putting it into her mouth. The meat, as it turned out, was very tender pork. At least, Eule was almost certain it was pork. It had the same texture and more or less the same taste as the pork raised on state-owned farms. However, there was a distinct smoky taste to the pork that was perfectly complemented by what Eule could swear was ginger, garlic, and…coriander, yes. It made that piece of pork a small piece of meat heaven.

Eule took a bite of some of the vegetables. The yellow vegetables turned out to be some type of carrot, judging from the taste. The white vegetables tasted like turnip. The green vegetables turned out to be a mix of what she was sure was green onions and…yes, it was definitely coriander. While she wasn't 100% certain, she would bet ration tickets on her guesses.

Eule felt that there was something at the bottom of the bowl, so she dug into that layer. When her spoon came up, her biomechanical eyes widened at the sight of rice. Only, it wasn't the rice she was familiar with. The rice she and her sisters had prepared for everyone at S-23 Sierpinski were all pure white grains. This rice was a riotous mix of red, brown, and black; with the whites only just visible between split hulls. Curious, she took a mouthful of this strange rice and chewed. She was greeted with most pleasant mouthfeel of any rice she'd ever eaten, with a nice chewy texture reminiscent of brown rice she once had, and a strong nutty taste that even brown rice had only a fraction of. Honestly, it was far better than that white rice had ever been.

And then suddenly, it was gone. Between the sampling of the different parts of the stew combined with her hunger, her bowl of Rost's stew had vanished before she'd even realized it. Not even a single grain of that strange colored rice was left.

But there was one more dish she had yet to try. She took one of the meat skewers from her plate, and delicately took a chunk of meat with her carbon steel teeth, pulled it off, and chewed it. It was the same smoked pork as in the stew, but it was roasted rather than stewed. Not only that, but it was of a different cut. The stewed pork was pure muscle, as though from a haunch. This roasted pork was clearly pork belly from the skin and fat layer on it. The roasting process gave the skin a delicious fatty crisp to it that made appreciative noises come out of Eule's closed mouth. As if that wasn't enough, the roast pork even had some kind of spice rub on it: a mixture of crushed black pepper, chili powder, and salt from its taste. All in all, it was a delicious accompaniment to the stew, and resulted in the meat skewers rapidly turning into a pile of empty sticks on the plate.

At last, with her meal finished, Eule made her judgement: Rost was an amazing cook. He was at least as good as any Eule. Maybe (dare Eule think it), he was even better than the average Eule. Eule felt a strange mix of jealousy and admiration at that, and made a personal vow to try and get the recipes from Rost…if they can ever solve those communication issues, yet again.

Eule first looked over at Star, who had long since finished her meal and was leaning back contentedly, and then looked up at Rost, who had cocked his head at her. Eule immediately flashed him a thumbs up and a bright smile, making Rost laugh.

Rost said something with a smile, before rubbing his chin in a thoughtful pose and continuing speaking in a wondering tone. Throughout his long speech in that strange language of his though, there was one word that stood out.

"'Maschine-zz'?" Eule asked, latching onto the one word Rost kept repeating. It even sounded similar to the word for "machine" in Eusan Standard Language.

Rost repeated the word in an affirmative tone before he suddenly blinked owlishly at Eule. He repeated the word that sounded like "machine" in a question, before standing up and going over to one of the bags he'd placed on the floor when he entered his house. He then pulled out the bipedal creature's eye that he'd pulled out from its corpse, sat back down in his seat, and held up the cylindrical orb-shaped eye.

Rost pointed at it. "Machine," he said, before pointing at Eule and Star and asking: "Machine?"

Eule looked at him in shock, and then turned to Star. "He thinks we're one of those things? But why? We don't look anything like them," she said.

Star gripped her chin in contemplation. "This may sound like a weird theory, but maybe he's never seen a Replika before? So he thinks our mechanical parts means that we're one of these…Machines?"

Eule blinked at Star just as owlishly as Rost had blinked at her. Funnily enough, since her class was named after that long extinct bird. "Never heard of Replikas, but how? Replikas are everywhere. That's like never hearing of a Gestalt before."

Star shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just throwing out a theory as to why Rost thinks we're one of those robots."

Eule thought about it. It made no sense, and yet it was also the most logical explanation for Rost's behavior. So if that was what Rost believed, then it was time to set things straight.

"No," Eule said to Rost, shaking her head. "We." She pointed at herself and Star. "No Machine. We Replika."

"Replika?" Rost said in a wondering tone, repeating the word among his strange language in an almost-question that sounded like he was wondering what "Replika" even meant. It was such a bizarre concept to Eule that she really, really wished she could explain it to him.

Äloy asked her own question in reply to Rost's words. It seemed like Äloy too was confused about what a Replika was, which only made Eule more frustrated and confused all at once.

Rost sat there, thinking for several moments before he spoke: "You. Replika." He pointed at Eule and Star, before pointing at himself and Aloy. "We? Vir?" he asked, apparently attempting to pronounce "We". It wasn't a bad attempt, but at least Eule now knew that "we" in Rost's language was, as far as Eule can pronounce, "vi".

With that out of the way though, Eule realized that Rost was asking her what she and Star called his people. It was such a strange thing to ask of her, but not so strange when she thought about how he had no idea what a Replika was. Thus, Eule pointed at Rost and Äloy and replied simply: "Gestalt."

"Gesh-talt?"Rost repeated, as though testing the sounds of the word, which he was mangling horribly, but to be fair, Eule imagined that she was also mangling his language just as horribly. He then pointed at himself and Äloy. "Vir Nora Geshtalt. You what Replika?"

Eule looked to Star in bafflement. "What is he trying to ask?"

Star rubbed her temples in thought, before she simply asked Rost: "Nora?"

Now it was Rost's turn to rub his temples in thought. He spent a bit more time rubbing said temples before he said: "Nora. Carja. Oseram."

When he saw Eule and Star's blank stares though, he continued, maybe a little desperately: "Banuk? Utaru? Tenakth?"

When the Replikas' blank stares continued, Rost sighed and muttered something in a tone combining disappointment and frustration.

Äloy asked Rost something, strangely excited for reasons Eule failed to grasp due to the language barrier.

Rost chuckled, then looked at towards a window, and sighed, saying something to Äloy.

Äloy whined loudly, sounding like a disobedient puppy.

Rost's response is in a tone so dry, it was understandable to Eule, even though she still had no idea what exactly he was saying to warrant that tone.

Äloy folded her arms and pouted before responding with something in a petulant tone. Eule could make out "we" and "machine", but nothing else.

Rost however was unmoved by whatever Äloy said. He folded his arms, pointed up at the second floor, and said something in a clear tone of command.

Äloy groaned something and then said Eule and Star's names with a brief wave before climbing up to the second floor.

Eule was puzzled by this, but apparently not as puzzled as Rost, who was looking at Eule and Star with a look of pure befuddlement. He said something before nodding to himself, and pointing at Eule and Star. "You. Sleep." Rost closed his eyes, rested his cheeks on his hands, and then made a snoring sound so exaggerated that Eule couldn't help it and giggled. "There?" he asked in conclusion, pointing at…the bed next to the fireplace?

"I suppose he wants us to sleep there?" Eule asked Star.

"Apparently," Star replied. "It's a little small, but I think we can make it work. We've slept in much more awkward places before."

Eule giggled. "Like that time we slept in that storage room in nothing but a thermal blanket?"

Star chuckled back. "Yeah, not much privacy in S-23 Sierpinski, was there? There was no way I was going to make love to you in the Star dorms, that's for certain."

Eule giggled still more, albeit with a luminescent blush now. "Same for me and the Eule dorm. While I'm sure quite a few of my sisters wouldn't mind watching, it's a bit um…"

"Exhibitionist?" Star suggested.

Eule's response to that is to poke one of Star's breasts with a robotic index finger, earning a squeak out of the Security Technician Guard Replika. "I meant to say 'embarrassing', you naughty Star, you," Eule teased.

Star chuckled in reply. "Look who's the naughty one here, doing that right in front of Rost."

Now it was Eule's turn to squeak and blush once more. She'd gotten so caught up in flirting with Star that she'd completely forgotten that Rost was in the room watching them. Eule slowly turned her head around to see if Rost was offended by it, but the man wasn't even watching. He apparently had been going around the room, putting out the various candles and lamps that'd been keeping the room lit up. When he blew out the last lamp, the room was actually quite dark, even with the fireplace still lit.

Rost spoke their names and said something before walking over to the door, picking up his outer coat, stopping by one of his own chairs to pull off a fox skin, and then climbing the ladder to the second floor.

Now with her curiosity piqued, Eule decided to climb up the ladder too to see what was up there, and why Äloy and Rost went there and were apparently staying there. Climbing up a ladder was a bit…tricky for her and other Replikas due to the way their feet are designed (small, almost peg-like with a shape almost like an oval with one end cut off, and a textured grip-pad for a sole), but she managed it fairly well, and finally poked her head above the ladder to the second floor of Rost's and Äloy's house.

The second floor was apparently being used primarily for storage, judging by all the jars, bags, chests, and other assorted containers flexible and rigid lining most of one side of the second floor. However, it also seemed to be Äloy's bedroom, judging by how Äloy was snoring away in a bed just a bit too big for her next to the chimney shaft, covered by a blanket that was made of more fox skins sewn together into a big and fluffy (if slightly morbid) sheet.

So Eule was surprised to see Rost lying down next to Äloy's bed, using his outer coat as an improvised futon and the fox skin he took from his chair as an improvised blanket. You know, instead of sleeping on an actual bed like the one on the first…floor…

It suddenly occurred to Eule that Rost had actually given her and Star his own bed to sleep on. Eule silently tried to get Rost's attention to protest while not waking up Äloy in the process, but it seemed that either Rost was asleep or hadn't noticed. He merely continued lying there on his improvised futon, breathing evenly and apparently lost to the waking world.

Eule could only sigh in response and climbed back down to Star, who was looking at her quizzically. "So what was up there that was so interesting?" Star asked.

Eule sighed once more. "Apparently, that bed there is Rost's. He's giving it to us for the night, and is sleeping on the worlds' most improvised futon I've ever seen," she said as she described Rost's setup to Star.

Star smiled at that description. "Sounds like a true soldier to me, and a gentleman too."

Eule's arms waved frantically in consternation however. "But, but…aren't we being an inconvenience then? A big one?"

Star leaned down to plant a kiss on Eule's forehead, bringing her waving arms to a halt. "It's fine. He's giving it to us for the night, isn't he? And he's probably already asleep anyways, so there's no point in complaining. Besides, I'm sure we'll think of something to make it up to Rost," she said happily.

Eule blinked owlishly at Star as Star's face slowly turned red at what her last sentence sounded like. "I meant hunting. Hunting. You know, animals and those Machines. Not…what you're thinking of."

Eule giggled at how beet-red Star's face was by the end of her words. "I knew it…but it was fun watching you imagine something else," she said with a mischievous smile plastered all over her polyethylene face.

Star gaped at Eule for a moment before taking Eule into her arms and saying: "Aw, come here you cute little owl-imp, you."

Eule giggled (quietly, so as to not wake Rost and Äloy up) as Star picked her up in a bridal carry, walked over to the bed, rolled up the fox skin blanket to uncover the "mattress" and gently laid her down onto it (which seemed to be a rectangular cloth bag filled with something thick and springy) before lying down onto the admittedly small portion of the bed unoccupied by Eule. Eule reached over and hugged Star to her, savoring the pleasurable sensation of their breasts pressing against each other.

"I missed this," Eule said simply as she snuggled against Star.

"Me too," Star admitted, returning the snuggle. "Not much time to do this…back there."

Eule kissed Star gently on the mouth. "Or this," she breathed.

Star buried her face into the white cloth covering Eule's most impressive bosom. "This too," Star said, voice a bit muffled.

Eule giggled once more as she began showering Star's forehead with kisses, all the while stroking her short black hair, also made of polyethylene, just in a stiffer form than the polyethylene making up her skin. "You really like my breasts, don't you?" she asked sultrily.

"Mm, how could I not?" Star replied as she continued to grope those same breasts of Eule's with her face. "They're so soft and squishy, that they're like pillows. I could do this forever. Not to mention, I can feel how stiff your nipples are even through 2 layers of cloth."

Eule blushed, but it came with a gently flirtatious smile. "My clothes aren't that thin, I think-Mmm!"

Eule held back a gasp as Star's fingers pressed down on and started stroking her crotch, right where her slit was, before rubbing in slow circles the area just above it, where Eule's clitoris was.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I can feel your clit here, you know. Or maybe you're just that stiff?" Star teased.

"Star, mm, Rost and Äloy are just, ahh, above us," Eule said, blushing and breathing heavily from the pleasure.

Star kissed Eule deeply before breaking the kiss to say: "Then we should be extra-quiet about this, shouldn't we? Just pretend that we're trying not to alert any Aras, and give ourselves an audience in the walls." With that said, Star returned to kissing Eule, while the fingers of her right hand continued working Eule's clitoris.

Eule moaned softly into Star's mouth, their tongues teasing each other, almost intertwined. Eule's fingers reached down and started stroking Star's slit through her clothes as well before also moving up to Star's clitoris, making Star echo Eule's moans as robotic fingers pressed on and rubbed her most sensitive part. For several sensuous minutes, the 2 of them just laid there, mouths interlocked, breasts pressing against each other, and their fingers rubbing each other's clitorises.

Then suddenly, Eule realized that she was on the verge of climaxing, and her moans started to take a frantic tone as she tried to tell Star this.

"Mwuzz?" Star asked, her eyes dazed as she was blissfully lost in pleasure, continuing to give pleasure with her fingers while receiving it, and completely and utterly oblivious to Eule's frantic tones.

It was too late anyways. Eule made an attempt to hold back the tide of pleasure washing over her, before Star's rubbing pushed her over the edge, sending waves of pleasure shooting through her body like electric shocks. Eule gasped into Star's mouth as her eyes rolled up, and her entire body wrapped around Star, her legs especially gripping Star's hips, as she rode out her climax. Finally, at last, Eule broke the kiss and unclenched her legs, staring into Star's surprised blushing face as Eule continued to twitch and shudder from the lingering aftershocks of her climax.

"Damn, I only meant to tease you until I pulled your shorts down for the real thing, but uh…" Star trailed off, feeling the small damp spot on the cloth covering Eule's crotch. Her finger came away from it trailing a string of mucus. "Sorry about that, Eule. I know you like to keep tidy and all, but-"

Eule put a stopper on whatever Star had been about to say by kissing her hard and redoubling her efforts on Star's clitoris. Eule briefly broke the kiss to smile mischievously at Star's surprised and flushed face, saying: "Now it's my turn," before pressing her lips back into Star's to drink up her moans and gasps.

It took another couple of minutes, but finally, Eule could feel Star's hips twitch, her legs waving about as Eule brought her lover to the verge of climax. Then Star's mechanical thighs clamped tightly onto Eule's hand as Star came, moaning into Eule's mouth as her body twitched and shuddered hard. Until at last, Star's legs unclenched, allowing Eule to pull her hand free, watching with warm satisfaction as a trail of mucus stretched from her fingers to a damp spot on Star's crotch.

"Now we're even," Eule finally said, smiling sweetly and beaming as brightly as the midday sun.

Star laughed quietly in between deep breaths. "Wow. Heh, I love it when you get assertive like that."

Eule giggled in embarrassment.

Star suddenly looked concerned. "Uhh, you're not actually angry, are you? I didn't mean to make you cum in your panties. I just-"

Eule interrupted her lover with a finger on her lips and a kiss between her eyes. "It's okay, love. I don't mind. Besides, I'm sure that between this fire and our body heat, we will dry out in no time."

Star chuckled. "Well, you're probably not wrong," she said, reaching down to pull the fox skin blanket over them both.

It wasn't quite long enough to cover Star's feet and the bottom parts of her legs, but that was solved by simply wrapping her legs around Eule. Eule meanwhile hugged Star, comfortably nuzzling against her and enjoying her warmth, with Star doing much the same to Eule.

Eule was about to go to sleep like this, but something niggled at the back of her mind, and she felt like she needed to know now. "Star?"

"Mm?"

"Back there, when you were…well, you said that you remembered your name from your old life?"

"Yeah?"

"But um, you never did tell me, so I'm curious now: what is that name?"

"…Rebecca Liang. Sergeant in the People's Army, 5th Vinetan Infantry Division, Unit 12."

Eule's eyes blinked open in surprise. "Huh, so your neural pattern was from a soldier?"

Star's eyes blinked open as well. "Yeah, weird coincidence, right? Or maybe not. Maybe your neural pattern was also from someone who liked cooking, singing, dancing, and teaching too?"

"Hmm, all I know is the Eule neural pattern came from a ballerina dancer, and that's it. Beyond that, I've never looked any further into it. I was curious, of course, but I didn't want the other Eules to think that my personality was destabilizing. They would probably swaddle me with blankets in front of a mirror and sing 'Eulenlieder' to me all day until I got 'better'."

"Heh, if my sisters found out I remembered my old life's name, our CO would probably make me run laps around the base in full battle rattle until she was convinced my personality was stable. She would likely even join in herself, both to make sure that I actually ran and because she probably feels like getting in some laps herself."

Eule giggled at the mental image. "I guess our sisters each have their own way of showing their love to us."

"Yeah, they did…I miss her. As hardass of a CO she was, she was still our eldest sister. She didn't…she didn't deserve to go out like that."

Eule hugged Star tighter. "I know the feeling. None of our sisters did, or anyone else at Sierpinski. Especially not those poor Gestalts."

Star nodded. "'Enemies of the state' or not, no one deserved what happened there. No one."

Eule nodded back. "Some of them didn't even deserve to be there. I talked to one of them, a girl named Erika Itoh, did you know she was sent to Sierpinski because she tried to stop someone from bullying her friend?"

Star blinked at Eule in surprise. "What? But how would that…"

"That someone she tried to stop was the child of a high-ranking government official. Apparently, she did not take kindly to someone trying to stop her 'fun'."

"…Shit."

"I even looked into her file. That bully's family even had her declared dead. Why would they do such a thing?"

"…The only thing I can think of is to make the girl's family suffer. How much more suffering can you inflict than making them wonder if their daughter is actually dead, or is just rotting in some camp like Sierpinski?"

Eule clutched Star tighter. "How awful," she said miserably.

Star could only nod in response. "I guess at the very least, this Erika Itoh isn't suffering anymore."

Eule nodded. She never found out what happened to Erika exactly, but considering how quickly all the other Gestalt workers had succumbed to the plague, Erika had likely died like the rest of them.

"I hope that bully gets what she deserves," Eule said bitterly.

"I hope so too," Star said consolingly, stroking Eule's hair. "I guess regardless though, it's all in the past now. Nothing we can do about that. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and enjoy the present."

"Yeah…at the very least, my present here includes you," Eule said lovingly, nuzzling into the crook of Star's neck.

"Same here, love. Same here."

And so Eule at last closed her eyes, snuggling against her lover as she finally drifted off to sleep with her. Her dreams did take her back to S-23 Sierpinski, yes. But it wasn't when everything started to go bad. Instead, she was sitting with Star on snowy Leng's surface, watching the massive blue-green gas giant that Leng orbited around slowly drift across the sky. Both of them were leaning against each other and enjoying the sights, the chilly air barely felt amidst each other's warmth and the beauty of the cosmos.

Eule wouldn't have it any other way.