Translator
IX roleswap AU in which Mytyl has to take down a dictator iX.
She didn't know what to expect inside iX's secret bunker. Infiltrating it was not as hard as it should have been, and yet, just difficult enough that she didn't think the security forces had been scaled back. It might have been her own skill, or, perhaps, Sumeragi hadn't anticipated needing heightened security where their king was, intending the old legend himself to be their last line of defense.
As she entered a featureless room that reminded her all too much of the garden in which her life and septima were temporarily taken, unease rose inside her, and she closed her eyes at the realization that finally, at last, the final battle was upon her.
"Hello, Mytyl."
Mytyl turned, and suppressed a shiver when she saw what Copen had turned into. Warrior for justice turned genocidal tyrant, family turned foe, knight turned demon. Even his eyes had changed from a piercing crimson to a vengeful, blind white; terrifying to behold.
"iX," Mytyl said with a nod. Refusing to say his real name, she looked around, but contrary to her expectations, the White Steel Guardians weren't at iX's side. Mytyl wondered if they were still undergoing repairs; and yet, even if they were, shouldn't they have refused to be held back by anything but a debilitating injury? Surely by now the worst of their wounds had been repaired.
Perhaps iX, too, realized that this was their destiny, and refused to allow interference.
"It truly is nice to see you again," iX said with such sincerity that Mytyl almost felt guilty. "But I have a feeling you haven't come to reunite with me, have you?" He frowned as she shook her head affirmatively. "No… you've come because you've gone native."
That, Mytyl protested, shaking her head more vehemently this time. "No, iX, I'm not anything. I have no desire to harm humans- I just don't want innocent Adepts killed."
"But that's the problem, sister," iX said coolly. "Adepts present an inherent danger to humans. Supporting their continued existence at this point is, in and of itself, an act of sin."
Hearing it in such cold terms from iX was nothing short of horrifying. For the briefest of seconds, her eyes darted to the door, wishing she could flee, but knowing she couldn't run from any battle- let alone this one, with so many lives at stake, and so many people counting on her.
"iX," she said, voice wavering. "That isn't true and you know it. Adepts are just people, like you and me. Not all of them are violent any more than all humans are violent. And besides that- your Guardians, hell, even you use technology similar to those! What makes youbetter than them?"
"Ah, but we aren't Adepts at all, Mytyl. I've simply created the needed tools to prevent extinction. In fact, long ago I've allowed adepts to live alongside humans. It was a mercy I gave to honor your memory… and as they have proved themselves unworthy, I simply took it back." Pure hatred clouded iX's face. "If Adepts insist on slaughtering humans like lambs, the least I can do is be the hunter to ward off wolves. My Guardians will assist me, but when their time runs out as well… they know they might have to forfeit their lives in fighting Adepts, and they will understand when I tell them. Mytyl, I don't want to fight you when you've returned to me at last, but if you won't stand aside, I'll have to do it. And I will show you no mercy."
"But what happens after that?" Mytyl asked, gazing up at this… person who she could hardly believe was her older brother. This person who fought so hard and so long for her, who never left an ill little girl's side no matter how much she tried to push him away. How could this be the same person? "What happens after you kill the last Adept? You just live with the humans?"
"After that, I'll do what needs to be done," iX answered vaguely, sending another wave of unease through Mytyl. "But there's work that needs to be done first. I'll eliminate every beast that crosses my path… you included!"
"You're the beast!" Mytyl snapped, reaching a hand back to grab her muse staff. "You know you're doing wrong, but you're lying to yourself to make your revenge feel justified!" She snarled in anger, crimson and azure wings growing onto her back. "How many of our friends have you killed over the past century, Nori? Lola?!"
"Neither of them were slain by my hand… not that you believe me," iX said, and for just a moment, softness returned to his eyes. "Please, Mytyl. See reason. I'm not doing this out of malice. I'm doing this for everyone's good, human and Adept. I really don't want to end you like this… you can help me bring peace, just like we were supposed to. We can make a world without suffering…" Even as he said the words, dropping to a hushed whisper at the end, it was obvious that Mytyl wouldn't be persuaded. She saw iX resign himself, one hand pointed her way as if he's wielding a firearm. "So be it, Mytyl. I'll show you the true way to bring peace. I won't lose this time… I've never stopped fighting for the past 100 years. I'm stronger now than you could ever hope to be." His face was filled with resolve and regret. "Farewell again, Mytyl… forever this time."
"So be it," She echoed, summoning a Lumen echo. "I'll put a stop to you, iX. You promised me once that you would never lie or hurt me… I never thought such a promise would one day be broken, but I will fight you all the same. I won't let you continue acting like a madman."
And yet, Mytyl thought, wasn't that the problem? Even now, even when iX had fallen so far, even then, iX wasn't insane by the most technical definition. His state of mind was not disorderly. Even when he had been transformed into a merciless killer, iX still fought for humans; he didn't have it in him to harm one. IX's bloodlust was directed only at Adept, for a consistent amount of decades.
Grief for humans, and as Mytyl stared into X's eyes, she began to suspect that somehow, grief at losing all the family he had been behind iX's degradation as well. Indignant anger burst through Mytyl at the realization. How dare he? How dare he use their memory to do such a thing?
But… the anger was muted, dulled, by the other emotions she couldn't help but feel.
Somehow, Mytyl thought it would be easier to handle if iX had simply gone mad outright. It wasn't that she felt sympathetic to iX in his current state- the rage at so many slaughtered innocents prevented that- but… it was so hard for Mytyl to hate him for it. In fact, she was frighteningly close to pitying- not sympathizing, pitying- iX, for the more she thought about iX's current state, the more upset she felt.
How badly must iX's sanity have unraveled in the past century? How much must the war have broken iX to take away his devoted, loyal spirit and replace it with a soulless monster? For iX to lose the compassion that had always burned warm and soft inside him…
It must have been hell. Hell the likes of which not even Mytyl herself could grasp.
Mytyl had grown past hesitating to destroy a threat, and so it stayed even now, thanks to the days of combat she'd had to strengthen her will. Her cyber diva was trained on iX as she waited for him to make the first move. She wouldn't hesitate to eliminate any threat, not even her brother… but she knew she didn't want to kill iX, wished with her entire being that iX weren't so incorrigible. They should have been reconciling, iX telling Mytyl stories, embracing each other with all the joy and tenderness in the world. She could almost, if she closed her eyes, imagine iX's eyes, bright and soft and red, shouting Mytyl's name in utter delight.
But instead, they were here, and Mytyl was forced to open her eyes to see a demonic distortion of her best friend, eyes as white as the armor on his body, and as evil as the villains of old had been before him. A true fallen knight if there ever was one.
"Last chance, Mytyl," iX warned, fingertips starting to glow with a crimson lightning.
Oh, was Mytyl ever afraid. But just as she had as she faced the guardians, just as she had after facing the Lumen Tanks, she compartmentalized it. She relegated the fear to the back of her mind, trapped it there along with her fond memories of iX- all the fond emotions of the brother who, in another life, might have remembered that the void he was gazing into was gazing back, remembered to be careful not to become a monster whilst fighting those few.
"iX, I… I'm not going to change my position on genocide being wrong," Mytyl said quietly, almost laughing at the sheer absurdity of the statement. She stepped towards iX. "I know you're hurting… I know you are… but this isn't-"
She stopped herself. The contortion of iX's face was more than enough warning that she had crossed some sort of line. Letting out a tiny gasp as a rapid-fire barrage of thunder came at her, Mytyl flew to the side, hoping to delay iX long enough to regain her bearings.
"Hurting? HURTING?!" iX screamed as he re-aimed his left hand, anger- and energy- bursting from his body like a volcanic eruption. "Hurting? Let me tell you about hurting!" A half-charged ball of gravity shot out from his grasp.
Oh shit, Mytyl thought, and only barely managed to dodge the projectiles that came out of the main projectile, trying to hit her in the back. "iX, I-"
"SHUT UP!" iX roared, switching to a crystal ex-weapon that needs to be charged first. This had the advantage of giving Mytyl more time to dodge, but she also knew the attacks would damage her far more should she slip up.
"You. YOU! You come back after a hundred years and dare to- to pretend to know what I've gone through?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA, you- you!" iX's arm trembled, causing his next attack to miss badly. Still he smacked away the incoming muse laser like it meant absolutely nothing.
"You have no idea what I've been through!" iX's eyes were wild now, frenzied blasts peppering the walls behind Mytyl. "YOU LEFT ME! You all left me all alone, after promising we'd be together forever! All of you left me to fight this war alone!" He let out an agonized roar that pierced Mytyl's soul. "ONE HUNDRED YEARS, Mytyl!" Another ex-weapon, barely deflected by Mytyl in time. "You should be HAPPY! I did this… all of this… for YOU! I fought for YOU and YOUR memory! And this is the thanks I get?!"
"iX," Mytyl said, helpless, but iX either didn't hear, or simply ignored her. Even as she dashed in for a close range sp attack, iX dodged reflexively, no thought put into the motions. He didn't even attempt a counter-strike with the opening. What was left of his mind was clearly elsewhere.
"One hundred years I fought alone! It was ME who had to hear the screams of injured men and women, ME who was brought to the brink of death again and again, praying each time I could die so I could finally have some peace and see you again, but I was never allowed to, I always had to come and fight! Fight, and fight some more! I watched human children burn in front of me, I watched what 'innocent' Adept would do if given freedom… I tried everything to end the war… But the Adepts wouldn't have it. They don't want peace. So I'll give them DEATH instead!"
Mytyl felt something in that moment, like a vibration along a fault line. It was a small stirring at first, but it betrayed a much bigger crack, and within seconds the tiny rumblings grew into a proper earthquake, rupturing the fault, rupturing the very Earth.
And the fault line was iX's psyche.
"GREED SNATCHER!" iX screamed suddenly, and Mytyl could hardly believe her eyes as an array of dreaded balls of purple light formed in front of iX's outstretched arms.
"Oh shi-" Mytyl barely had time to say, barely managed to escape certain death bullet hell by a hair's width as she threw herself low to the ground, barrier shielding her just in case.
Furious now, Mytyl's eyes brightened, dashing closer to her target because she knows now that letting him throw out his weapons is a losing match. "iX! What is WRONG with you?!"
"Nothing's wrong with me!" iX replied, letting out a noise alarmingly close to a giggle. "You should be asking what was wrong with me before, when I thought it was possible for humans to coexist with Adepts! HAILSTORM BLADES!"
"Son of a-" This time Mytyl couldn't dodge in time, and she hissed in pain as the bitterly cold air blades ripped light cuts on her skin. She had Lumen hum a healing song to fill herself with warmth. "X! God damn it, iX-"
"Is this really what you want, Mytyl?" iX asked quietly, propping his hand but not attacking again for the moment. "You've finally come back to me. A miracle… perhaps fate is trying to tell us that we're supposed to fight together one last time… then we can be together forever…"
"I'm not helping you commit mass murder!" Mytyl snapped, shooting. She managed to blast iX's stomach, earning a pitiful cry of pain. Mytyl suspected, in her heart of hearts, that the pain iX felt had far less to do with the song bullets, and far more to do with her refusal. Catching her breath as iX spoke again, Mytyl moved in for another special attack.
"Father was right about one thing… Adepts are nothing but murderers. Perhaps I've caught their lust for blood then, didn't I? When I thought I was being righteous. Why not again?" iX asked, destroying her attack with a flurry of slashes and sending Mytyl flying back with a remarkably strong kick. "Look at us! Even right now, we're willing to kill each other, despite being bound by blood! If I can kill my last family member, then… I can kill anyone! VANTAGE RAID!"
"iX," Mytyl said, voice low and full of sadness as her own words sank in. "You've gone completely insane. I can't reason with you; I won't reason with you. I'm sorry it came to this, iX. I'm not fighting you because… because I'm an adept. I'm doing this as a final kindness to my brother."
"It feels better to lie to yourself, doesn't it?" iX's voice was filled with sadness as he nodded emphatically. "I did that for a while… got me through the darkest nights, but sometimes you can't keep the delusion going… then you hate yourself all the more… You keep telling yourself there's a reason you're fighting, that you're a force of good, but you know deep down the only reason for it is that you're a demon. And the sooner you embrace that, the sooner the pain stops. You stop feeling anything after a while, even, and it's… so freeing… Nothing matters anymore…" His eyes dulled as his voice faded away.
Mytyl winced. Laid before her so plainly, iX's pain felt to Mytyl like a distant ache. Like the ghost of a long-healed injury, climbing through his memories to remind Mytyl of what he had endured, iX's words cut at Mytyl's soul.
"I'm sorry, iX," Mytyl whispered, and meant it. "I'm so sorry… If I could take it all away, I would."
"Would you?" iX asked, sharpness returning to his eyes. "Or would you just make it worse, like you are now?" Mytyl saw iX's fury return, saw him rapidly descending back into the pit of whatever insanity had claimed him. "You ruined everything, Mytyl! Why couldn't you lived a peaceful life instead of doing all this? RARRGH!" Falling to his knees, iX's arms wrapped around his head, and Mytyl couldn't tell if iX's pain was internal or external.
Did it really matter, in the end?
Mytyl bit her lip. Her instincts, her battle forged warrior's instincts, were fighting against her heart. One half screamed to deal a finishing blow on the distracted opponent, while the other screamed at her for even considering inflicting such a dishonorable end on iX.
In the span of just a second, Mytyl could end iX's reign of terror, and iX's pain, whatever the cause of this acute attack was. iX might not even see it coming. It would be perfectly merciful.
So why couldn't she move?
"Nnngh…" iX gritted out, hands tightening against his head. "Mytyl, Mytyl- why- why do you keep- why do I have to watch you die again? Please don't make me, Mytyl, not again… Did… did you really rise from the dead just to make me kill you again? Is that how much you hate me?" He pulled his hands away, and if it weren't for the void in his eyes, Mytyl might have thought she was seeing the younger him again, back before the day Copen turned into iX, if only because of how lost and vulnerable and scared he looked.
Something was very, very wrong. How, if iX had deteriorated this badly, had the Guardians not stepped in already? Of course they wouldn't kill their creator, but surely they would have stripped him of his authority somehow.
Either the Guardians were even more evil than the demon they served, or iX had kept the truth hidden.
"I… I don't know why… I thought… but…" iX blinked slowly and raised his head, and something about the motion made Mytyl realize X's balance and vision were both rapidly declining. Something was wrong with iX, something that couldn't be explained by the relatively minor damage he'd taken during this fight. "You… I fought for you, Mytyl… was it really not enough? What did I do to make you hate me so?"
Mytyl couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Her entire body felt paralyzed by… something. It wasn't just fear, and yet she couldn't identify what the other thing was.
"It hurts, Mytyl, it all- it all hurts," iX groaned, clenching his eyes shut. "I- but that's you, isn't it, you're doing this! You! The only way it'll stop is to send you back- and then all the other Adepts! I- I hate you! I can't believe you would do this to me! But so be it!" He let out a wail of pain and anger before shouting, "LUMINOUS RUIN!"
Move, damn it, fucking move, Mytyl implored her body, and finally it listened- but a second too late. She saw the almost beautiful flash of light, the superheated air pushed back by iX's leading edges as he broke the sound barrier and crashed into Mytyl.
Mytyl fell, then, onto her back, gazing up at the ceiling. Then she looked at iX, who fell back to the ground and leaned beside her.
"I don't hate you," was all Mytyl's stunned body could manage. "At least- at least not like you say." Because when she thought about it, shouldn't she hate iX with a passion for all he had done? That was what she had felt before entering this room, before her already flimsy understanding of this world had been turned upside-down.
But the more she thought about it, the more she was forced to wonder just how much of this genocide iX had done while of a sound mind. When had what lines been crossed?
But what should it matter? The being before her, while possessing the same body, surely couldn't be called Copen anymore. And if it wasn't him, why should he be given the privilege of Mytyl's affection any longer?
As if in answer, an unwanted image appeared from the depths of her memory. Herself, newly possessed, sharing a strange body with someone she didn't understand, forced at the backseat by the cruel voice in her ear. Copen fighting her, but only hard enough to make her return to herself, never to actually destroy. And then, after it was all over, that look of elation on the other's face when Zonda's 'spell' was finally broken and her body became her own again…
Copen had never hated her for being so weak that day. He hadn't even hated Mytyl for forgetting everything about him despite his efforts and, as she would later learn, leave for her sake.
But that doesn't matter! Her mind screamed. He's killed all but a few hundred Adepts! What does motivation matter? What does the past matter? He's turned evil, and your job is to stop him!
Mytyl closed her eyes, listening to iX panting nearby.
I'll kill the evil that has taken Copen over. If that means taking iX down with it… perhaps his soul will understand once it's freed. Maybe it'll even thank me.
Nodding to herself, Mytyl grunted and pushed herself up to her knees. "Impressive, X… to think you've become the world's strongest with technology alone."
"It's mainly the benefits of living in a body made to never stop evolving." iX's voice was filled with bitterness. "A body designed for war, as surely as septima was. That's all Adepts are, Mytyl! They're all Death wearing metallic armor, riding on propulsion systems instead of pale horses!"
Unable to properly formulate a response, Mytyl just looked at iX for a long moment, not wanting to strike, but knowing if she didn't, iX would. She dashed forward, tagging iX's incoming arm. "Death, huh? Does that make Eden Pestilence?"
iX nodded once, landing in a half-charged shot as she got close. "And I'm War, of course. Famine… well, take a look outside and you'll see."
Mytyl bit her lip. Every little glimpse into iX's broken mind hurt, and made her job harder. If only there were someone else… but iX himself had seen to that already, eliminating any others strong enough to battle him.
"'s some world we live in, huh Mytyl?" iX asked, charging forward and punching Mytyl square in the chest. "They let you believe in things… but none of it's real. Peace, love, kindness.." He sighed, and as he started heating up the energy in his hand again, Mytyl saw the strange way iX looked both younger and older than she remembered. Older, from the weight of the world pushing down his shoulders; younger, from the loss, the vulnerability that iX had once seemed to grow out of.
"Really, if you think about it," iX mused, "I'm doing all those Adepts a favor, ending their pain. They should be thanking me… But then again, so should you… just another thankless job I've taken on…" He sighed again, longer and louder. "But if not me, who will do it?"
Every time Mytyl thought she'd steeled herself, iX had to go and say something that made the doubt return. How could Mytyl hate iX, how could she force herself to kill him, when she had failed iX so badly as to let him end up like this? The damage iX had caused was surely just as much Mytyl's fault. If only she had been stronger in life, not to so dependent on him to make him think he has to take on every burden all by himself. If she'd been his partner instead of a damsel in distress...
But what can I do? she asked herself.
iX leapt into the air, performing another dashing tag that Mytyl easily evaded. The more upset iX was, she realized, the more sloppy his attacks became.
There's nothing I can do, she told herself, full of sorrow. This is how it has to be.
"H-Hey M-mytyl!" iX called, landing ungracefully on the ground and stumbling badly. Stumbling. Mytyl couldn't remember iX ever stumbling before. "Y-You know what's funny? I, I just th-thought of something, s-see. G-gunvolt kept coming back from the dead cause of his muse. And Zonda's soldiers too. And now you! If I take your septima, I can become immortal!" iX let out an almost hysterical giggle. "Ah, if only Lola was here then you couldn't win against me no matter what! You can beat me but as long as she sings her song then I won't die at all!"
Mytyl frowned. The thought process… well, it almost made sense. It wasn't as obviously deranged as some of the other things iX had said, but that was hardly an accomplishment.
"iX… just… just shut up," Mytyl said, fatigued. "Please, just stop." Somehow, the reality of facing iX was even worse than she'd anticipated. She'd expected to find a tyrant, not something so broken that fighting him felt like shooting Old Yeller.
"Why? Does talking make it harder for you to kill me?" iX asked with feigned innocence. "Makes you remember you're here to kill your big brother? Maybe it reminds you of when you sided with the Azure Striker instead of me, GREED SNATCHER!"
Mytyl cried out, hit at the same time by the purple bullet and iX's cruel words. Septima energy rapidly dropping, she only barely managed to stand, panting, world swaying around her.
Something inside Mytyl broke the moment she processed the words fully, the last bit of hesitancy she had gone. "I fight for him, too." she ground out. She wasn't only his sister after all, she was also someone Gunvolt cherished, who he fought Sumeragi for all so she could have her own taste of freedom. He'd left his own home just so he could take of her, from the goodness of his own heart and who is she to fail here and throw all those efforts away? "Gunvolt. Is. An. Adept. And if there are people even remotely like him in this world, then they're worth protecting!" And with that, Mytyl pushed away all the emotions that had fettered her. No more mercy, her mind screamed, former family or no. Mercy would get Mytyl- and all other Adepts- killed, for iX clearly had no mercy of his own left.
"This ends now," X said, preparing his body for another dash attack. "Farewell, Mytyl!"
"This ends now," Mytyl echoed, readying her energy for one last attack; one she had only relearned in the two days after defeating the last Guardian. "Farewell, iX… SWORD OF DIVA!"
As Mytyl anticipated, iX initially glided past the musical waves her summoned blades emitted. But as the waves hit the wall, so did iX, and with nowhere else to go, his evasion had to end, and with it, his state of invincibility.
iX fell to the ground, silent and completely limp. Mytyl's ears rang.
Was it over, just like that?
Mytyl took a step forward, and as she did, iX jolted as though shocked by a live wire, back arching before he launched himself to his feet.
"That- that hurt, Mytyl!" iX cried. "I'll get you for that, Mytyl! Some sister, some sister you are- did- God, you just keep doing this- did you ever care? Every time I turn around-"
"Enough babbling. You're starting to sound like an old man, and it is pissing me off," Mytyl snapped. In truth, anger was a completely inadequate word to describe her emotions, but an angry Mytyl was right now the scariest, and she hoped that would be enough to silence iX. She looked from her wounded body to oX's battered form, humming to herself with faked cheer. "Looks like the next attack'll decide this, huh?"
That was only a half-truth; the next attack would end the battle only if iX was the one hit. Secretly, Mytyl had one last Anthem in her. But iX didn't need to know he was at a disadvantage. That would make him desperate, and a desperate opponent was even more dangerous. Mytyl would keep it a secret, saving the revival skill until it was necessary.
"Looks like it. You… thought you were my friend… but you were Judas all along…" iX looked at him with an expression that was simultaneously wounded, hateful, and fearful.
"Talk about delusions of grandeur," Mytyl said slowly, drawing out the words. "You really have lost it, iX."
The words were cruel, but the cruelty served a purpose beyond merely twisting the knife, which Mytyl did not because he wanted to, but out of necessity. Any other time, Mytyl would have cursed herself to hell and back for using such an unethical strategy as this, but against such a powerful opponent, who himself was not constrained by morals anymore, Mytyl could no longer afford the luxury of honor. She is his weakness and so she has no choice but to abuse it.
Already, she was becoming more like the Guardians than she wanted to be.
Getting under iX's skin was little more than a battle strategy, just as viable as any strike with her septima, and she shot her words like a flash from iX's attacks. "Were you always this much of a lunatic, iX? Or was I just blinded by my feelings for you?"
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" iX cried, firing off three rapid-fire shots that missed Mytyl by meters; She didn't even have to dodge. "You dare to call me insane? I'm not the one foolish enough to think war machines can live side-by-side with defenseless humans! The Four Horsemen living peacefully when their very existence spells Armageddon- does that sound rational to you?"
"No, but that's because there's no way to make your demented babbling make sense," Mytyl replied, sneering.
Oh, how she'd hate herself for this later. In an ideal world, she'd be getting iX help right now, instead of taunting him. But this wasn't an ideal world, and a madman this far gone couldn't be helped.
"RARRGH!" iX cried, face contorted in rage. "You- you always- it's always you!" He aimed his hands at Mytyl, and fired ex-weapon after ex-weapon, all rapid fire with no aim whatsoever.
And Mytyl dodged the occasional two that came close to her.
"JUST GO BACK!" iX screamed, shooting his weapons as fast as he could in the hopes that one would hit. Mytyl walked towards iX, butterfly themed blade spinning in front of her to deflect every projectile. "I KNOW already, I know you hate me! I don't need you here reminding me!"
Mytyl inhaled slowly, forcing down the emotions that tried to weigh her down. "This isn't about hate, iX," she managed to say. "It never was. I'm sorry, but this… this is the only way."
In iX's near-delirium, he had failed to notice Mytyl backing him into a corner until it was far too late. With no way to parry, iX could only watch helplessly as Mytyl raised her blade. That fast, the tide had turned.
"I'm sorry, Copen," she said his name for once, allowing a fraction of her emotions back into her consciousness, because if this was to be the coup de grâce, she couldn't do it as cruelly as she'd just fought, the cruelty she knew she'd hate herself for until the day she died. "It never should have come to this. But wherever you end up… I hope you'll forgive me, and perhaps yourself."
"NOOOO! MYTYLLL!" iX screamed in utter terror, raising his arms defensively to cover his face. It was the exact wrong move, and Mytyl plunged her blade past iX's armor and into his chest.
The effect was immediate. iX's arms fell to his side. His breath stopped, though he didn't die, not yet.
"M… Mytyl?" X whispered, eyes filling with tears. "Is… is this the end, then?"
Mytyl could only nod, the weight of her grief already making talking difficult. "I'm sorry." she whispered, and set a hand on iX's cheek. iX didn't flinch, not even as Mytyl vanished her weapon from the wound- it had to hurt, she knew it had to be agony, but iX did nothing- and set her arms around iX, gently pulling him to lie on the ground. Red fluid was already soaking iX's front.
"M… M…" iX whispered, staring up at her. "Are… Are you mocking me?"
"No." Mytyl shook her head. "I… look. What you did… I can't forgive you. Never. But you were my brother. You were a warrior, you were a good person so I won't let you die alone or…" She bit her lip, preventing herself from saying anything more. Already regret was starting to eat at her like an acid, and already the question, could there have been another way? was starting to torment her. A question she would never stop asking herself, even though she knew the answer.
"So… it's just pity… for pity's sake…" iX said, and nodded, making peace with his fate. "I'm… gonna die then…" He looked at the ceiling. "I-it's really over? Just like that?" Suddenly, iX was smiling. "It's over… Oh, Mytyl… I… I feel so-! So much better…! I feel… happy. So happy… I-I'm free… Thank you, Mytyl…" His voice, broken as it was, already sounded lighter, more like the one Mytyl had known, and she found that in and of itself to be profoundly disturbing. "I, I don't have to… fight anymore… or be alone… I… I'm finally free…"
"Yeah, you are," Mytyl managed to say. Because what else could she say at a time like this? "You're free. No more war, no nothing." She looked at the dying cyborg, horror and pity growing by the second. "I'm sorry… I didn't want it to be like this. When I regained consciousness all I could think about was you." It wasn't a lie, technically. "But…" She trailed off.
"I… missed you… so much… it… was like… like… my heart… was gone… just a hole…" iX rasped. His vocal synthesizer was broken, an awful screeching, glitchy sound escaping it every time iX breathed and one of his eyes had shattered to reveal a camera underneath. "I… wanted to… end it… so many times… but I thought… about you… what you… wanted so I… could live… it… felt… like… a waste… I fought… was brave… for you… all… for you…"
Mytyl looked away, unable to meet iX's eyes. "Not all for me, Copen," she corrected with as much gentleness as she could. "You know this is nothing I ever would have wanted."
"They… created… the circ-circum-" iX let out a gasp, choking on something, struggling to cough whatever it was out. "-stances… that… let you…all... die… took them…from us…"
"They had to pay," Mytyl said flatly, torn between fury and, finally, a tiny ember of sympathy instead of pity. She felt for iX, truly, and all the more if iX's insanity really had started before his genocide of Adept, but… iX had killed, again and again. How could he…?
But as before, her outrage warred with the fondness she still had for the brother she remembered. Even now, she couldn't separate truly the two boys she had known. The Copen who had laughed with her, cried with her, who had once held her in his arms the way she was doing to him now. The iX who had never wanted to fight, but had done so for the sake of his family, and had given everything- including his sanity- for them. Even in his insane rampage, as he killed millions of innocents, he had done it in the twisted belief that he was keeping someone else safe.
Mytyl couldn't even bring herself to keep feeling the hatred she, by all rights, should be. She just felt sad. Sad for iX, sad for those he had killed, sad for the world she'd returned to.
"Every… time…" iX said, voice getting ever weaker, "Every time… I heard you… promising me things… I… saw you… sometimes… I asked you… why I… had to… keep… fighting…"
"What did I tell you?" Mytyl asked, choosing not to argue the possibility of her appearing to iX when she'd been dead.
"That… You wanted… me… to avenge… you… and… we'd… be… together… one… day… together… forever… like… we… both… wanted… like… a… family…"
Mytyl stared down at iX. That shouldn't change a thing but...
"Brother…" Mytyl still felt it deep inside, the emotions shifting inside, the warm struggling against the cold like the air that could create a turbulent thunderstorm.
She hated what he had done. What he had become. But without knowing how much of it was truly iX's fault, how could she blame iX entirely? How could she know iX hadn't gone insane years ago and had only been pretending to be functional because Society depended on him? How could Mytyl be sure that any of this was done of iX's own free will?
Perhaps the tides of time made him go senile. That despite his genius, even he can't live forever before his mind starts to rot instead. If he did have some kind of mental damage, it could explain iX's unnerving white eyes, as well; they very well could be caused by the same neurological defect.
And yet, even as the explanations rushed through Mytyl's brain, she had to wonder if she was trying to convince herself of a rosier version of the truth. That she just didn't want to see what was plain in front of her, that she wanted her memory of Copen untarnished so badly that she was willing to rewrite history just to absolve him somewhat. Maybe her optimism was starting to go too far.
Mytyl didn't know the truth. She couldn't know, never would know.
So which reality should she believe?
Looking at the dying man below her, she decided that it didn't matter, not now. The truth was that the iX before her, the only one she could think about at this moment, was both a killer and a hero. A warrior and a monster. A demon and a knight. iX was all of those things at once. A true fallen angel.
Still, grief and love for the iX she had once known screamed inside her, while the hatred and disgust stepped to the side, willing to be silenced in this moment. And so, those were the emotions Mytyl expressed, a last mercy to the dying person in front of her. She cradled iX in her arms, whispering, "Rest, Copen… it's okay to go now… It's okay."
"My…tyl… I… can't… see… an…y…thing… Are… you… go…ing… to… die… too?" iX's words were barely audible.
"No, I… I have a healing skill." She hummed a tune and a small aura covered her to prove her words to iX. For just the briefest of moments, she considered offering to use it on iX, but she knew. Knew that even if she could save iX with it, he would refuse. Death was both iX's atonement and his reward. And so Mytyl continued to speak, removing said aura as easily as it came. "I'm safe… you're the only one that bad off. So, you can relax." She brushed her thumb over iX's forehead.
"Oh… so… I'm… still… go…ing… to be… a…lone…" iX sounded so small and heartbroken.
"Just-" Mytyl shook her head. God, this was so hard and she could barely stand it. She couldn't stand watching iX die, and all these things she'd never know- it was too much. "Just for a while. I'll come back to you again, but no fighting this time."
In truth, Mytyl suspected that she and iX were bound for different places… but she had to wonder. If iX hadn't been in control of his actions, surely he and Mytyl would wind up in the same afterlife, whether that be heaven or hell, after all? For Mytyl too had committed murder against people that were forced to fight her. Sure, it wasn't the same but that was exactly the problem.
It almost hurt too much to bear, the thought of iX going to hell, and yet Mytyl couldn't convince herself of any other outcome if iX had even for a moment been in control of himself during his reign of terror.
There was another thing iX had given to the endless war: his soul.
Still, Mytyl wasn't about to bring that up to the dying man in front of her. If iX was damned, he deserved a moment of peace, at least, before being thrown into the eternal fire.
"My…tyl… I… think… I… messed… up… I… think… I… I… think… I… did… some…thing… bad… I… did…n't… mean… to… I… I'm… scared… Mytyl… Please… don't… leave… me…" iX's systems finally reached their limit, trying to cope with insufficient energy, and he was close to entering terminal shutdown. Within a few minutes, iX would be gone.
"I'm not leaving." Mytyl looked skyward and closed her eyes painfully. How she wished she could turn back time to the day she'd been resurrected, or, really, to any day but this one. The day she knew she would revisit endlessly, in dreams and in wakefulness, until the day she died. "You… you did do bad things… but…" She bit her lip. "I know you. I know you never wanted- never meant to." She didn't know any of those things.
"I'm… so… sorr…y… Mytyl… I… nev…er… want…ed… this… I… brought… so… much… suff…er…ing.. I… please… for…give…"
Mytyl closed her eyes again, and for a second, just a second, it felt as though their souls linked. Mytyl felt pain, such horrific pain that she almost cried out, and she also felt fear and regret, but also a stream of love that anchored her. And in that moment, she realized- though how, she didn't know, how could she realize it with no facts to back it up?- that iX really had never been in control. His heart had almost strayed, but never, never, would he have taken an innocent life before whatever horrible, anti-Adept systems conflict he had put or was put inside of him.
Perhaps the person that has operated on him performed a sabotage. Perhaps iX had fallen victim to some sort of catastrophic syndrome never before seen in a Cyborg. But whatever it was… it had never been him.
Mytyl felt her spirit being enveloped by iX's, and she responded in kind, sharing an embrace far deeper than their bodies could have ever hoped for. She felt the weariness of iX's soul, and tried to pour her own warmth into iX, trying to bring back the one she had once known, if only for a moment.
Return it did, finally pushing away the evil as a giant shudder ran through iX. Mytyl felt the old Copen for the briefest of seconds, like beautiful fall leaves too quickly lost to winter. And then iX's soul let go. There was still a wisp of it left in iX's body, but that was getting ready to leave, too.
The grief was like a tempest inside Mytyl, and the waves of it crashed over her. The knowledge that she would never see Copen again, and that she had been the one to bring about his demise, that she had felt his true soul for only that brief second before he had to leave forever, all sent an ache through Mytyl, and all she could do was hold that broken body close to herself. She wanted to scream, to cry, something- but nothing came to her.
Could Copen still hear her? she wondered, but didn't care, for even if he couldn't hear, Mytyl had to speak freely now, for her own sake if not his. Slowly, gently, she set about removing iX's armor, the thing that made him look so inhuman. iX looked more like himself without it, Mytyl thought, looked freer and happier, even if he wasn't conscious to feel such emotions. Once that was done, Mytyl sat back down, pulling iX into her arms.
She told him stories, several, any she could remember about the time they had spent together. Desperately trying to ignore the sensation of warmth leaving iX's body the further she went on, once she was finally down. The hand she held onto was cold and lifeless as metal.
A drop of fluid rolled down Mytyl face.
It wasn't rain.
It was a tear.
One tear fell, and then another, and then another. It felt to Mytyl like she was creating her own rainstorm.
It hurt, and yet it felt good. It felt like a salve. It felt the release of a coiled rope.
She was crying, and every bitter tear reminded her of what her reunion with iX should have been, what the universe had so callously done to both of them.
"Please don't go, brother. Please." The tears blurred her vision. "I know I have no right to ask you this. Not when- when you're finally at peace-" Her voice cracked. "But I have to. I have to be selfish again. Please?"
The universe didn't give him a second miracle, and Mytyl slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Copen, I… I… I'm sorry… It… It never should have ended this way… You and Gunvolt, you both… Is it me?" The thought suddenly occurred to her, and she shook her head, horrified. "Is it something wrong with me? Did I curse you both with a tragic fate?" The thought was even harder to bear, and Mytyl''s sobs intensified, pleas going beyond what was rational, for grief could wipe away logic and reason from any being. "It was my fault! All my fault! Copen! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please come back! Let me undo this! Please!"
How selfish was she, that she was asking for iX back? She didn't care. The ache inside blinded her. Even as she realized that iX would hate her for it if she somehow brought him back, even then, Mytyl wished for it with all her heart.
"Brother, please… please…" Mytyl cried. "Please, stay with me…"
The broken pile of metal stayed hopelessly silent, inert.
iX was gone.
Mytyl was alone.
She had killed her own brother.
The tears came harder and faster. Mytyl had no choice but to ride them out, waiting until the tide evened again, the flow stopping and taking her strength with it.
"I'm sorry… I-I should have saved you… but…" Mytyl bit her lip and shook her head, trying to stop the tears from coming back. Her voice was rough, dry throat exhausted from the strain she'd put it under. "I have to go now… I'm sorry… I can't- I can't look anymore… I'm sorry… I hope, wherever you are… I hope you're happy and at peace, at last… you deserve that much."
Mytyl wiped her tears. Slowly, painfully, like she was wiping away something nasty, she lowered iX to the ground. iX, the fallen angel of white steel, from loyal brother turned… turned into what?
Turned demon-possessed, she decided, for a demon had surely controlled iX's actions, but that demon had never been iX himself, not like a proper fallen angel.
iX, the white steel demon.
A demon-possessed angel whose body Mytyl had to let go of, somehow.
After some time- how long? Minutes? Hours?- she finally removed her arms from iX, painfully, and stood.
One step, two, three. She arrived back at the door she'd came through, and opened it.
Once the door closed, Mytyl wouldn't be able to open it again, not without another key, which she would never get from the Sumeragi government. She would have to leave it to the Guardians to retrieve his body and armor- one last act of cowardice and selfishness for Mytyl to inflict on iX.
"You're free, brother… I gave you that, if nothing else," Mytyl whispered, biting her lip again. "Whatever was hurting you, it's gone now…" That had to count for something, didn't it?
She turned back to look at iX, needing to fill her eyes with the sight one last time, so the memory could embed itself. She was terrified of losing iX's face to the ravages of time, and so she took in as much detail of iX as she could. The more of iX she had, the more she could be certain she'd never lose this last part of him.
Staring for an indeterminate length of time at the fallen angel, Mytyl made a decision. A decision she knew she'd hate herself for. But then again, wouldn't she hate herself for this no matter what the outcome was?
It was all the same, Mytyl decided, both outcomes as bad as the other. And that meant… that meant she could be selfish yet again, because it wasn't changing anything, not really.
Mytyl returned to iX's side, staring into the half-closed eyes of the one she loved, and felt the last tiny wisp of iX's soul starting to break free. Just as it was about to do so, Mytyl finally acted…
And sang an anthem just for him.
And that's the fanfic.
I was going to include a phase 2 in which iX either pulls out a Mother or a darkness trigger of his own, but his sanity going down the drain was deemed to be more tragic in the end so nah to that.
Hope you enjoyed reading and all that.
Whether she succeeds in reviving iX or not and what the consequences of that will be, I'll leave up to your interpretation for now.