Program Lovely

chapter fourteen; Restart

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"Dreams are something only humans experience," they had explained to her once, during a routine Human Life Data input session, "They are not something a machine would ever understand."

But she'd had one, once. Right before she "woke up". It had been so different from her experience in the training centres – cold, metallic, without character – instead filled with colors: emerald green grass, ruby red flowers, a sky as wide and blue as a tropical ocean. Everything was warm, welcoming, and fuzzy, somehow; lined with light. In the dream, she was perched on the edge of a riverbed, her ears filled with the happy babbling of the waters rushing by, her knees bare against the soft cushion of grass. The sun was bright overhead, projecting little rainbows on the sprays that skidded the rocks, and she could see in the smooth surface of the water the image of a small girl, eyes bright, smile wide.

Your reflection, a gentle voice beside her said, and she turned to smile at the speaker. His image was blurred, too, but it filled her heart with a calming lightness. She turned to the water again, to this mirror-image of herself, and plunged a hand in, disrupting the shape, splitting apart her own familiar features. A sound bubbled from her lips: a laugh, like singing with the birds. She felt warm hands on her shoulders and turned into their embrace, melting into the bright comfort they provided.

Program Start, a mechanical voice from inside interrupted, and the dream slipped away. But that strange warmth within her chest stayed, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the face of a puzzled young man, eyes the color of the water in that dream.

And every time she saw him since, that feeling of warmth came back, filling her with memories of a dream once had.

The light was bright, white, fiery; Ichigo hit the floor as quickly as she could, shielding her face from any oncoming debris. A hot burst of air whipped through the room like a mini-tornado, and then, for the briefest fraction of a moment, all was still. She dared, cautiously, to raise her gaze from where she lay face-down on floor up to where Mizuki and Henrietta stood – and they were still standing, both, but somewhat worse for the wear. Whole panels of Mizuki's "skin" had peeled back, and Henrietta had gashes of blood all along her face and shoulders – but hardly a moment passed before that seemingly endless electrical energy engulfed them both, patching everything over as if a small explosion had not just occurred.

"Has she always been able to do that?" Ichigo turned to see Lettuce crouched down nearby, looking just as aghast as she felt.

"I don't think so…" said Ichigo, who mulled it over for a moment before turning to shoot a sharp gaze at Ryou, who had taken cover behind a doorway and was just now peering out. What did you do to her? She mouthed.

He waved the question away, as if it didn't merit an answer. Ichigo frowned, but turned her eyes back to the two warrior women before them. It was apparent they were on near equal footing, and no one seemed sure how to proceed.

"Dirty thief," Usari spat from the other side of the room, "Can't come up with your own ideas?"

Ryou shrugged. "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."

Ichigo marvelled at his ability to make a joke when their lives were in pretty serious danger here.

"You use the word 'thief' as though you've never done the same," Mizuki's cool gaze sparked toward the youngest member of SQUAD, "I believe that is the definition of the term hypocrisy."

Henrietta rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the lesson, doc," and with that, she took off running at Mizuki with a ferocious roar.

Mizuki, in typical robot-lady fashion, was able to double back with her usual speed, expertly sparring against Henrietta's blows and hardly batting a lash. But, as she brought her leg up and around for a swipe at the SQUAD girl's head, Henrietta ducked and came up with an equally fast roundhouse. Again, the two blows collided midair, succeeding only in separating the two for a brief moment.

"They're totally equal," Zakuro marvelled, and Pudding nodded enthusiastically. Ryou had managed to slip out from behind the door in the fray, and had come to join their little low-ground huddle.

"You seem to have made a few improvements," Mint remarked, again, rather smartly, considering the situation.

"SQUAD hacked into Mizuki's mainframe in order to steal her programming," Ryou replied, eyes staying fixed on the battle before them, "And it seems they made some adjustments to suit their own purposes. I thought about discarding them, but it looks like they're working pretty well."

"Programming?" Zakuro looked befuddled. "How could they input programming? Aren't they human?"

"Honestly," he sounded exhausted, like he'd seen enough in a day to burn out a lifetime, "I have no idea."

This time, Henrietta went in for first blood, feinting for a dive at the stomach before at the last moment executing a perfect rebound off the side wall, coming down hard on Mizuki's shoulders. This succeeded in knocking the machine's body off balance, but not before she could pull Henrietta down with her, and the two of them were stuck in a stronghold, rolling across the floor as each tried to gain advantage on the other.

Just as it occurred to Ichigo maybe they shouldn't just be sitting here watching, a pair of shadows loomed overhead. Simultaneously, the group looked up to see Salv and Usari standing behind them. The mesmerizing spell of the New-Mizuki-Meets-New-Henrietta moment had worn off, it seemed, and here they were, looking pissed.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Salv growled, and Usari cracked his knuckles.

Pudding jumped in first, with an energetic somersault: "Ribbon Pudding Ring Inferno!" And the room was filled with blasts of light and the ringing of magical calls once more.

Mizuki and Henrietta bounded away from each other once more after another collision, not even looking battered yet: neither of them could land a blow. Blessed with seemingly infinite regeneration, they were both going all-out, fearless and reckless, and were indeed matched in strength.

"Who would have thought you'd take so well to Usari's programming," Henrietta spat, holding her arms out to gather electrical charge again, "If you'd let us in past those firewalls again – could you imagine what a team we would be?" She brought her arm down at a sharp angle, sending a wave of hard air at her opponent.

Mizuki gracefully swerved out of the way, ducking down and charging Henrietta, her tendrils of hair reaching out to grapple her. The smaller girl was able to hold it off with a conflicting wave, but in doing so missed Mizuki's hand grabbing her by the jaw and lifting her from the ground.

"Why would I ever work with a band of killers like you?" She raised the dangling Henrietta up a few more inches, who, strangely, didn't do much to fend her off. Instead, she let a bloody grin split her lips, eyes dancing.

"We're not so different, you know," said Henrietta, and Mizuki's puzzled pause was enough for her to swing her legs up over Mizuki's shoulders and throw her off balance, toppling to the ground with Henrietta pinning her from behind.

Ichigo blocked another charge from Usari with her Strawberry Bell, but barely: as she'd feared, her own body was beginning to fatigue, where the other two only got angrier and stronger each time they healed. As she tried to use the brief few seconds to catch her breath, she felt Ryou's hand on her arm.

She turned to see him assessing her condition worriedly. "It's fine," She said, with too much emphasis to even convince herself, "We just have to… we should…"

Run? They couldn't, not with the staircase blocked off like this. Defeat them? Unless they had some massive weakness, it didn't seem like they were making progress. Bargain?

How could you bargain with a bunch of tortured kids, thirsty for revenge?

Lost in this troubling thought, Ichigo missed the hand slip away from her as Ryou stepped forward, blocking her path.

"Sh-Shirogane—"

"Ha?" Usari rose from the other end of the room, his bruises already beginning to un-blossom, "Did Mister Creator get some powers too?"

Ryou said nothing, only standing his ground and raising his fists, as if in challenge. Ichigo squeaked in protest, but he didn't move.

The smaller boy let out a bark of a laugh. "Sure, sure. No one left to tamper with my coding, fine by me!" Throwing his shoulders back and leaning forward, he charged at Ryou with a horse's strength and speed, reeling back into a right hook.

It collided, effortlessly, with the side of Ryou's face, making Ichigo cry out.

Mizuki, struggling in Henrietta's grapple, paused, eyes zoning in on the scene. Henrietta took advantage of this by violently slamming her face into the floor.

"Pay attention!" Henrietta screamed, and Mizuki's hair reared up, tightening under the girl's arms and whipping her across the room.

Blood spattered from Ryou's mouth as he took the hit, staggering; but, he seemed to have braced himself for this, as his own fist came flying across to collide with Usari's jaw as well. No blood from this one, but the younger boy was jarred – and, Ichigo noticed, even if he hadn't broken skin, something golden and flecked had come off him.

She flashed back to the Café basement, and the metallic dust they had found scattered on the floor after Ryou's abduction.

What had Mizuki called it?

"Kinet," she answered her own question aloud, with a hint of wonderment.

Henrietta rolled across the floor from the throw and Mizuki, upon hearing this, rose to her feet in bewilderment.

"Why do you still have it?" She asked, like a child asking why a ghost was hidden in the closet. Henrietta adjusted herself so she was in a crouch, glancing sidelong towards the machine woman.

"Have what?"

"The kinet," Mizuki moved slowly towards her, as if wading through cement, "You left it as a clue after you abducted Shirogane Ryou… so why…"

Henrietta's eyebrows, creased in annoyance, conveyed her not understanding.

"Why would we leave you a clue? Is this some kid detective story?"

Mizuki's eyes dilated and she thrust her hands out, sending a metal chair sailing at Henrietta. The girl moved, but not quickly enough; it clipped her shoulder and sent a smatter of blood at the wall – which Mizuki, and everyone else, could see was flecked with copper.

Zakuro slapped Salv, and as she rapidly got out of the way, checked her hand to see a fine dust of the same thing.

"You didn't leave it," Ichigo's mind felt like it was going a mile an hour, "You're made of it."

"Is that why you were able to copy Mizuki's coding?" Mint dove under Usari's legs, coming up in a tuck-roll, "Because you're made of some of the same materials as her?"

Henrietta roared forward, sending chairs, tables and various other fixtures flying back in Mizuki's direction. Mizuki ducked, dodged, and ricocheted off every solid thing that came her way.

"But why.."

"Get with the fucking picture!" Henrietta leapt over an upturned table, latching on to a piping system running along the roof, "The monsters who did this to us are the ones who made you. You weren't some genius creation, you're the product of countless innocents being kidnapped and tortured!"

With a swing backwards, Henrietta let go and flew feet-first towards Mizuki, the air propelling around her as she went for a boot to the head.

Mizuki moved to sidestep, but stumbled, and got a boot to the chest instead. Henrietta pinned her to the ground once more in a low squat, holding Mizuki firmly down by the jaw.

Lettuce dodged another one of Salv's blows, fending him off with a blast of water, and moved to try and push Henrietta off – but not before Usari kicked her legs out from under her.

"But they learned. They must have learned," Mizuki, still clinging to logic, tried to push the small girl away from her exposed throat, even getting her hair to wrap around the offending limbs, but her grip was like iron, "They… stopped using human subjects…"

A small rumble warmed Henrietta's chest, and she leaned far, far forward to look Mizuki right in the eye, nearly nose to nose:

"No they didn't."

Making the ground shake beneath them, Henrietta twisted Mizuki's neck so her head bent sideways, far from the natural angle. A shower of sparks flared out.

Finally, Lettuce and Mint were able to get through, hooking behind Henrietta's arms to drag her off the machine – but, with that bomb dropped, she didn't seem as interested in physical damage. There was a gloat in her expression, Ichigo could see, and Mizuki – Mizuki looked momentarily stunned, her face contorted in what was no doubt a series of complex processing mechanisms, trying to puzzle out that cryptic statement. A white light engulfed her, repairing the damage, but her expression now looked… haunted, as she struggled upright.

"What did you just say?"

Henrietta sent her elbows back like a furious bird, knocking Mint and Lettuce away with a blast of air.

"They never stopped using human subjects," Henrietta's voice was even, but there was a flicker of enjoyment beneath – a secret she'd long waited to reveal, "Misohino Takako's reports would lead you to believe otherwise, but we've seen the data. You weren't built entirely from scratch, you see. Though, there's not much left in you…" She smiled, eyes locked on one of Mizuki's neck wires fusing itself back into place, "…you were once as flawed and mortal as us."

Ichigo turned to look at Ryou in shock, his face mirroring what she felt.

How could that be true?

Salv, with a burst of renewed energy, came charging at the girls, throwing Pudding easily over his shoulder and managing to knock Zakuro aside. Everyone was slightly more unsteady on their feet with this new bit of information revealed.

"Sure, you took to the programming a little better," Henrietta looked far too relaxed, standing above the robot woman as carnage went on all around them, "So they kept going. And going. But the human side and the animal sides never seem to want to get along for very long. So, they ripped out every rib, every vein, every muscle, until you were… perfect." She said that last word with an adoring ring that sent chills up Ichigo's spine.

Mizuki, meanwhile, had healed, but remained on the ground, eyes looking more dazed than any of them had ever seen.

"You are telling me," Her voice had its usual mechanics to it, but a new wobble, an uncertain quiver, "…I was a human?"

"Probably an orphan, if that makes any difference," The air seemed to ripple around Henrietta as a charge began to grow, "Rescued from some rubble and used as an active experiment… Of course, all records of your original identity have long been destroyed, so we'll never know for sure. For government purposes, the first 'you' never existed."

"I was human," Mizuki repeated, hollow and cold. The electric energy that had encased her like a halo was beginning to dim.

Ichigo was having just as difficult a time processing this. Mizuki, too, then, had been kidnapped, tampered with, pulled apart and put together without mercy. Denied a childhood, a life – even the awareness of her own mortality. Yet she had never seen the machine shed a drop of blood; there seemed to be not a piece of 'human' left in her.

So, then, what was she?

"For all intents and purposes, you died, years ago," Henrietta spoke in sharply soothing tones, a black widow singing a lullaby before the kill, "But you were denied your rest."

"I had a heart," Mizuki's mouth was moving, but her voice was thin and reedy. It was as if she had already left her body.

"I will give it to you now," A storm was gathering in their midst, swirling light and surge, Henrietta a benevolent priestess at the helm of their destruction, "I will be your saviour, Zeta program. I will give you back what they took away."

In Ichigo's mind, images of Mizuki flashed by: cold sideways glances, small lilting smiles, a hand on a teacup. An anger like ice burning in her eyes. A pained curling of the shoulders. Her small, powerful body, encased in a boy's embrace. A hand extended. A look of warmth and thanks.

"Mizuki! Get up!" Zakuro hollered, struggling to push past Salv, who had her pinned against the wall.

"You have to fight!" Lettuce and Pudding were cornered by Usari, who was circling and trapping them with frantic laughter.

"Don't let this be the end!"

Mizuki lifted her gaze to Henrietta. The wounds in her eyes were deeper than any on her skin. She closed them, accepting her fate.

"Good night, our kinetic princess," Henrietta crowed, and sent her arms up into the air, sending a wave of deadly electricity forth.

Ichigo felt her body move before she realized what was happening.

"Ribbon Stop Shine!" She dove in front of Mizuki, arms thrown out wide, a wave of pink shining light dropping like a steel curtain before her. Henrietta's storm attack charged angrily forth and melted benignly against Ichigo's unexpected shield. Unceremoniously, Salv dropped Pudding as he and Usari ran to try and assist – but it seemed impervious, even with their newfound might and power.

Ichigo couldn't quite understand it herself; whatever this power was felt as though it was coming from somewhere deep within, an echo inside, pouring forward from the back of her eyes – like crying, but lifted. Peeled up from a heap on the ground into a whirling tower of light. It terrified her, but Ichigo held on tight, knowing if she faltered for even a moment, it would be lost to her, and in her bones she somehow knew that this moment was more crucial than any other.

So Ichigo braced herself, pink light soaking up every thrash Henrietta could send her way.

"I've seen it," Ichigo called out, almost breathless,

"Mizuki: I've seen it."

Mizuki's eyes opened slowly, nearly all the light drained from them – but a small flicker. It was enough.

"Whatever she says," And Ichigo could see Henrietta know, howling with rage, red eyes flashing as she sent barrage after barrage forward: but as long as she held steady, Ichigo had faith she could hold her off. Just a few moments more, it was all she needed. "Whatever… whatever 'really happened'. Whatever they took from you,"

Mizuki's chest contracted and a hand, as if with a mind of its own, floated to the centre, where a heart might have been – had once been.

"Whatever they… told you you were, or supposed to do, or supposed to be," Ichigo was heaving for breath, but her legs would hold her: of this she was certain. She had to be. "It doesn't matter, because I've seen it! Whatever it's called, not a… not a hard drive or a program…"

A pair of cold eyes, looking up and registering a rival across the room.

"Not some training, or, code, or.."

A spine straightening when a certain boy came close – a sudden intake of breath.

"… instructions. What they did was monstrous, Mizuki, they took your life from you, and maybe your skin, and bones, and… inside-things…"

A chin resting on a shoulder, arms curled around a warm body, holding him close.

"But they didn't take it all. They couldn't. I know this because I've seen it, Mizuki!"

Her leaping forward towards her enemies, all powerful: a fighter, but more than that, a protector. A fire in the eyes that could not be contained.

"Your soul is still yours!"

Tears were streaming down Ichigo's face as she spoke, but she felt no pain, only pure euphoria as the power rushed through her. It was as if her body itself was becoming the light.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of here, but we will! You deserve to live your life! You deserve to be in this world, Mizuki!"

Mizuki's eyes were wide with wonder at the scene before her, hand clutched at the centre of her chest. She seemed caught between a world of great pain and amazement, as she stared at this pink-clad cat girl before her, holding off what should have been a death blow.

"She's right!" Mint's voice broke the silence, as she moved to position herself between Mizuki and the members of SQUAD. Arms outstretched, ready to continue the fight.

"We were brought here to protect you," Lettuce joined the line, battered but standing proud, "And that's what we're going to do."

"We'll find a way to get you out of here somehow," Zakuro faced the enemies with her usual staunch determination, chin high, and Pudding gleefully tumbled alongside her team.

Mizuki seemed to be struggling to process all this, as her eyes leapt from one girl, to another – and then, with amazement, to Ryou, by far in the roughest shape, who completed the protective ring around her with just a nod.

"Why?" Her voice left her, thin and wobbly, more uncertain than anyone had ever heard.

It was Pudding who turned back, a characteristic grin splitting her bruised and beaten face.

"Because you're part of Tokyo Mew Mew," She said cheerfully, "Because you're our friend!"

And in that moment, something happened, though no one could say exactly what. A change passed over Mizuki's features, a cloud before the sun; her gaze drifted from the girls, to Ryou, and then to Ichigo, putting forth all her might to capture this invaluable window of time. And in that instant, when no one was watching, immeasurable pain raked through Mizuki's expression, and she looked down at her hand.

Then, in an instant, her features settled: she made a decision.

"I know how to get out of here," Mizuki said, regaining her usual rooted stoicism, "I apologize. I just need one more minute of your protection." A calculation. "78 seconds."

Everyone glanced back in surprise.

"..you heard her," It was Zakuro who finally spoke, standing a little straighter. They all were, in fact, as if Mizuki's mysterious inspiration had reinvigorated them, given them the second wind they needed.

The band of warriors steadied themselves.

"Tokyo Mew Mew," Zakuro took natural command, staring down their enemies with fire, "The timer starts now!"

78.

Mizuki's fingers touched against the plate on her collarbone, and her mouth began to move, rapidly, her voice spilling technical commands under her breath: "control panel….access settings… program settings…" A gentle glare of light bloomed from beneath her fingertips, and her eyes half-lidded, flickering like small active screens. "…access program re-write…"

77.

Henrietta howled with rage, and with Salv and Usari beside her sent a rumbling crackle of energy forth. Again, it was deflected, but there was a flicker in the light, a faltering: Ichigo was running out of stamina. She sucked in a breath and tried to push the shield up again – but her knees buckled beneath her.

"Got you," She landed with surprise with her back against a body, warm and soft: Ichigo didn't need to turn her head to know it was Ryou, his arms wrapped around her in support. He tucked his chin against her shoulder, his cheek against hers, aquamarine eyes blazing boldly. His very presence steadied her, and she was able to refocus her energy to the wall. "I'm here. You and me - we've got this,"

Ichigo nodded, and sent another wave forward.

73.

"… program override… access interior mechanical settings… program override…"

72.

"Your stupid love magic can't last forever!" As Henrietta got angrier, her power only seemed to flare up; every time it bounced back, a rivulet seemed to bounce into the structure of the basement, causing it to quiver. And she only kept blasting on, unconcerned with the possibility of space crumbling around her.

"Henri," Usari nervously eyed the shaking foundations; even Salv looked a bit baffled at the limitless fire of her rage.

"Don't just fucking stand there!" She screamed, blowing Usari forward knocking him against the energy wall. He cried out and crumpled in pain, but quickly gathered himself to respond, sending flares of red energy up the wall: cracks beginning to form in Ichigo's shield.

67.

A small whimper escaped Ichigo's lips as she swayed, her surroundings beginning to blur again. Her breath came in heaves now, her entire body trembling, like she was sapping every reserve of strength in her being.

Ryou squeezed her tighter.

"Just a bit more, Ichigo-oneechan!"

Ichigo felt a small hand on her arm, and even with her attention fixed forward, she could feel Pudding's cheerful smile.

"We're with you," Then Lettuce and Mint's hands, each on a shoulder, steadying her and strengthening her.

And then Zakuro, her arm aligning to hers, wrist to wrist: "You can let go any time," she said in a low voice, "You've done enough. We can take it from here."

And though the earth felt as though it might fall out from beneath her, Ichigo felt the strength and courage of her friends flowing through her, and closed her eyes to focus. She gathered everything she had left and channelled it through her to send one mighty gust of light and force at the children of SQUAD. Henrietta, Salv and Usari were all knocked back several paces, a precious few more seconds away – and Ryou felt Ichigo go slack in his arms as she collapsed.

61.

"…open system map blueprint….scan mechanics… modify start-up system…"

60.

They were stunned, but not for long: Henrietta lifted herself away from the wall, flares of energy beginning to swirl all around her. Several chunks of wall peeled away with her, suspended in the air by unseen forces.

"Neat trick," her cuts and bruises were already visibly regenerating, "I don't suppose you have any more of those," Her blood-red eyes flickered up to the line of girls, doing their best to look tough, but betraying their own uncertainty as the pink shield dissolved into the air. Ichigo was slumped over in the blonde boy's arms, nearly if not completely unconscious. Henrietta's teeth gleamed into a grin. "Do you?"

Her arm swept forward and she sent two chunks of cement towards their heads.

56.

"Ribbon Mint Echo!"

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"

Blue and green waves of light surged forward, shattering the projectiles before they could hit anyone. The four girls quickly closed around Ryou and Ichigo, weapons at the ready.

Another rumble rocked the basement.

"Henri," Usari pleaded again, attempting to lock eyes with their leader, but she seemed somewhere else entirely. "We have to get out of here soon if we're going to-"

"Live?" The girl, so full of wildness and vigour, finally turned to look at him, and he was startled to see in her eyes: absolutely nothing. As if anger had burned up everything in her, and now she was only roaring flame – violent and destructive, but in the end, without substance of its own.

"For what?"

51.

"…program override… program override… program override…"

50.

Ryou lowered to his knees, cradling Ichigo as he went, resting her gingerly against him. She was still conscious, but barely, her eyelids kept flickering, her chest struggling for breath.

He clutched her hand in his. "Stay with me," The girl made a small sound in response, and he held her tighter. His eyes scanned across to Mizuki, who seemed zoned into her own world entirely, lips moving at an incomprehensible speed.

Whatever she was doing – he hoped it worked.

More and more, it seemed like the only chance they had.

45.

Taking advantage of their momentary standstill, Pudding charged forward at Henrietta with the intent of catching her off-guard – but the instant those sharp eyes darted in her direction, the small girl was swept off her feet, suspended by a rush of energy.

"I'm tired of you," Henrietta's exasperation, instead of dimming her power, only seemed to make it worse: bits of the ceiling were beginning to rain down on the floor.

"Let me go, na no da-!" Pudding's small legs kicked fiercely mid-air. Henrietta shrugged, and with a lift of her chin sent the small girl towards the rafters.

"Pudding!" Lettuce cried, but the monkey girl's reflexes kicked in and she clamped onto a foundation bar, swinging up and around to sail at Henrietta's head with both feet. Zakuro lunged forward with her whip, snapping around Henrietta and pinning her in place: the SQUAD girl glanced up, boredly, as a pair of shoes came within an inch of her nose, froze, and then were blasted backwards.

40.

"…access materials listing… reconfigure reactor sequence… select settings…"

39.

Mint caught Pudding, both girls staggering backwards. Another tremor ran through the foundation, a loud clang of metal alerting that the supports were now under being put under pressure.

"How much longer?" Mint cried impatiently, sending a leer back towards Mizuki, who still had barely moved. Lettuce set a hand on her arm.

"Look," she said under her breath, and Mint turned back to face SQUAD. While a fiery energy continued to emanate from Henrietta, the other two seemed more concerned with the disintegrating state of their surroundings; anxious looks to and from their ferocious leader betrayed a sense of doubt beginning to brew.

36.

"Mmn," Ichigo's eyelids flickered and she took in a quick breath, and Ryou leaned in closer. She shifted a bit uncomfortably and opened her eyes, taking a moment to focus on his.

"Was it..?" But she trailed off, seeing Henrietta going strong only a few meters away, her friends in battle stance.

"Almost," he reassured her, "just a little – hey, whoah," She immediately tried to extricate herself from his arms and sit up, but a wave of dizziness sent her crashing back against him.

"You've done enough, just – save your strength," he pleaded, a crack in his voice making Ichigo still for a moment. She looked at him, and her heart panged.

There was another rumble.

29.

"…reset factory default… re-select material progression… scan system composition…"

28.

Zakuro tried to retract her whip to at least destabilize Henrietta, but she was unmoveable; she was barely even looking at any of them now, almost as if she was outside of herself, losing her very last shred of whatever humanity remained.

A giant fissure in the wall behind them caused Salv and Usari to jump.

"Seriously, Henrietta!" Salv's voice rose in anger, but was clearly tinged with fear. "What was all this for if we're going to be buried alive?"

"What else were you hoping for?" Her words seethed, crackling with ice, "You think the world wants anything to do with us? To them we're anomalies, test subjects, ripe only for more poking and prodding. Our mission was to destroy what they created," She lifted a foot with slow deliberation, beginning to move forward,

"All of it."

23.

Seeing Henrietta beginning her approach, Lettuce and Mint sprang into action, weapons out to try and block her: but the waves of energy flaring off her were so powerful, it was like a magnetic force was approaching, repelling them apart.

"You don't need to do this!" Resorting to reason, Lettuce leaned into the energy, holding her arms open and exposed as a plea, "We – we could give you protection! Like we did with Mizuki!"

Barely even a chuckle: an exhale, a barely detectable twitch of the lips. "Oh, yes. Now with your death in front of you, now you want to help. How courageous," Henrietta took another step, and Mint and Lettuce both had to shield their faces beneath their arms to withstand the pressure, "Well. It all went so well in the end, didn't it?"

19.

"… select variant destruct compound… confirm program change… downloading update…"

18.

Ichigo tore her eyes away from Ryou to see her friends, giving their all, but inevitably being overtaken by the sheer force of Henrietta. And even with Salv and Usari inactive, she was succeeding, the destruction of the building all around them totally imminent.

She felt Ryou clutching at her more tightly; his head was bowed, eyes blocked out by strands of golden hair. His body was vibrating—shaking. Scared.

She was, too. They were all scared. How could they not be?

How could they not be?

She sat up a little straighter, and her eyes turned, once again, to the small girl, just a few feet away, ripping the fabric of their existence to shreds—barely batting an eye.

14.

Another shriek oozed from the basement foundation, the sound of pipes and scaffolding bending and breaking. A shower of cement particles rained down.

"Henri, please!" Obviously at his wit's end, Usari threw his arms up, sending a sharp wave to knock her off course; with a flick of her wrist, she easily deflected it, halting momentarily to leer back at him.

"Ah," Her lips twisted into a sneer, lacking joy, "You, too?"

"With all this power, no one could control us!" A low gush of electrical energy bowed out from his palms, dashing towards her, "We could finally be free, like we always dreamed!"

Henrietta stared at him, expressionless, watching the thunderous wave zag towards her. Then, just by bowing her chin, she caught it, as if with a giant invisible hand.

"We could never be free. They were right about us,"

And, with a look of cold cruelty, Henrietta jerked her chin upwards, crashing the wave back to its creator, practically whipping Usari's body against the nearest wall with immeasurable force.

"We really are just monsters."

10.

"…update complete.."

Mizuki's eyes snapped open, alert and fully present.

All at once, she took in everything around her: the barricade of girls, defending her for the precious seconds she'd requested. Henrietta, just a few meters away, blasting even her own teammates out of her way. The foundation of the building, beginning to collapse all around them.

Ichigo, curled up helplessly on the ground, encased in Shirogane Ryou's tender embrace.

No, she felt a small contraction in her chest, and pushed it aside. The time for that has passed.

As she leaned forward, all fury and focus, the world around her slowed to a crawl, tunnel vision, pin point, perfect exactitude. No room for error.

"Initiate final password sequence:"

9.

With Usari out of the way, for good measure, Henrietta flipped her palm and sent the rest of the shockwave to Salv, who was immediately barrelled down. When she locked on to the girls again, it was as if a wound had been ripped open: her eyes, blood red, were roaring.

"No more."

"Pudding Ring—" Before the rest of the incantation could even leave her mouth, a blast of ice cold air knocked Pudding's weapon clear out of her hands, flattening her to the ground and pinning her there.

8.

An excited young girl, golden haired, leaning across the table to excitedly babble a story, twinkles in her eyes.

"…Fon Pudding…"

7.

As Lettuce rushed forward to try to help, Henrietta swept her up, flattening her against a wall. Under her power, thick wires burst from the electrical panelling, keeping her tied in place.

Her blue eyes lighting up as she revealed a dress, hidden behind her back, held out like a timid offering.

"…Midorikawa Lettuce…"

6.

Zakuro took off like a light, dodging fast left and right in an attempt to fake Henrietta out – but of course, she was on a completely different level. Easily, a cascade of cement hunks were plucked from the already crumbling ceiling, firing towards the girl like a line of cannonballs, knocking her down and out.

A born negotiator and leader, stepping forward with bravery and clarity to reason with criminals in an alley.

"…Fujiwara Zakuro…"

5.

"Onee-sama!" Mint screamed, and with fiery passion sent forth a blast of blue. Henrietta waited, boredly, until the energy halted inches away from her own nose. She lifted her head only a little to peer over it, and with a jerk of her chin sent it firing right back, blasting Mint to the ground alongside her prone beloved.

Then, with those distractions gone, Henrietta zoned her focus in on Mizuki.

A girl, delicate boned as a bird, stepping forward to defend her at her weakest moment.

"…Aizawa Mint…"

4.

Watching her friends picked off, one by one, as if they'd never been a threat at all – as inconsequential as insects, finally crushed under a palm after all the swatting – Ichigo felt a burning in her chest. A last flickering of flame, stirring her to action. Every muscle in her body screaming, she began to rise.

"Ichi—" Ryou lifted his head to protest, and was met with a pair of soft lips. Ichigo pulled back from the quick kiss and smiled.

"Be right back," She whispered, and disappeared.

3.

With nothing left in her way, Henrietta raised her arms, again as if invoking a great destructive storm. Her eyes were fixed on Mizuki, positively rabid. Everything was falling apart around them. It just needed one final push.

She paused, the smallest flicker edging at her eyes. Sadness? Regret? Whatever it was, she quashed it back down in an instant, taking in a final breath.

"Goodbye," she said, before Ichigo crashed into her side, sending them both to the ground.

A streak of red, as she leapt forward to help her. Kneeling down to try and treat an injury. That smile, unwavering optimism. "You're still you, Mizuki."

2.

"Wuh—"

"You too," Breathless, barely conscious, Ichigo held Henrietta down with what little strength she had, encasing the small girl in a crude, desperate embrace. "You… deserve to live, too."

"…Momomiya Ichigo…"

1.

Mizuki lifted her gaze, just a bit, and everything stopped around her. There he was.

A pair of blue eyes, the color of water, an unbroken reflection, looking down at her curiously.

A hand extended.

A presence by her side.

A friendly smile, tinged with uncertainty.

Warmth, all around her, as she buried her face in his chest. The feeling of being held.

A treasure.

Her hand shook as she spoke.

"…Shirogane Ryou…"

An affirmative flash in the ice of her eyes, and she tore her eyes away, straightened up. Brought her fingers, once more, to the pendant at her collarbone, and though she never had to, took in a breath.

0.

"Program Start."

It all happened at once, far too quickly, and each only caught a small fragment of the event itself. Zakuro and Mint, from the rubble, saw only the shadows it cast on the nearest wall, like a fire roaring up only to be quickly extinguished.

From the far wall, Lettuce saw four bursts of light, heard a harmony of screams: pain, surprise, ecstasy. The wires around her wrists released and she slid to the floor.

Pudding saw both Salv and Usari, flung to opposite ends of the room, rise up again in a flare of energy, only to crumple back down, dark and no longer illuminated.

Ichigo, clutching Henrietta for dear life, felt everything: the body beneath her suddenly jerk and contort, the blood curdling shriek vibrating through her chest, a rocking spasm of pain followed by absolute stillness.

And Ryou, thinking he heard his name, turned his head in time to see Mizuki's body arcing up in the air, swan-like in elegance, a grotesque angel diving backwards, every inch of her crackling as if on fire: and then she, too, fell into a lifeless heap on the concrete floor.

Stunned silence hung overhead.

Instinctively, Ryou's eyes sought out Ichigo, panicked; but she seemed fine, pulling herself up to see Henrietta curled up beneath, whimpering in pain. Ichigo cautiously looked up and caught his gaze.

"Go," She said, and Ryou ran to the pile of violet hair and lace puddled on the floor.

"Mizuki," Breathless, aching, he called out, kneeling beside her and touching her arm. Almost immediately, he reeled back: the skin was puckered, covered in craters that looked like burns, pulled back in places to reveal frayed wiring underneath. She looked like she'd been fried, from the inside out.

Gathering himself, he reached down gingerly, searching for any movement as he gathered her in his arms.

"Mizuki, what have you done?"

As Ichigo peeled herself off the small girl below her, she saw what looked like a wounded animal. Henrietta, who had just moments before been a whirling force of anger, was now just a child, trembling and helpless. Curiously, Ichigo could see no blood, save for a small stream trickling from Henrietta's nose: and when she looked around, she could see the other two SQUAD members were the same – still breathing, struggling, but totally still. Deeply wounded, but all on the inside.

We're not so different, you know.

Very softly, Ichigo reached down with one hand, wiping a drop of blood from Henrietta's lip, and looked at it closely. Flecked with copper.

It would be fatal to you otherwise, wouldn't it?

Ryou very carefully turned Mizuki over so she was face up, cradling her limp body in his lap. Parts of her were still twitching, and sure enough, her eyes were open and her gaze found his. The rest of her face seemed completely inhuman now – scratched raw, bursting and collapsed – but in her icy eyes, he could still see that spark that let him know she was still there.

"I think it worked," Her voice was garbled, a mess of pitch and frequency, but beneath all that there was something softer than he'd ever heard from her. Like a laugh. His grip on her tightened.

"We'll fix you," He promised, muscles tensing as he lifted his head to search the room, "There has to be something in here—"

"No," Barely a whisper, another round of convulsions through the body, "Not this time. I was not meant to be broken… this way,"

He looked down at her, astonished.

"What happened?" Zakuro and Mint had risen, staring down at Salv and Usari with a mix of wariness and concern. "Why did they just…"

"She changed her programming," Ichigo said, feeling hot tears spill from her eyes. She turned her head to look back at the broken robot girl, held like a lover by a human boy, "She destructed on Kinet, what she was made of, what they were made of... so she could save us."

Helpless, Ryou's mouth opened and closed as his mind whizzed through possible solutions. Mizuki just watched him, quietly, her limbs still betraying the occasional twitch.

"I…" His breath hitched as he struggled with the inevitable: there was nothing he could do. "Why… why would you—"

"It's… not so bad," Mizuki's chest heaved uncertainly, mimicking a woman struggling for air, "You will all escape now. And some….one will be able to – help them,"

Lettuce, Zakuro, Mint and Pudding all slowly rose up to their feet, watching the sad scene from afar.

Mizuki's twitches seemed to be slowing down, and Ryou only held on tighter. Ichigo's hand crawled to cover her own heart, a reverberating ache sliding through her bones.

"I'm sorry, " Ryou said quietly, lowering his head in pain.

"Thank you," and he looked up in surprise to see the robot girl beneath him smiling, eyes brimming with light and life, "I—wish I remembered what it was – like to be human. I would… have liked to know,"

Tenderly, she raised her hand, a mangled looking thing with fingers bent at all the wrong angles, but somehow when it came to touch Ryou's cheek, he thought he'd never felt anything softer.

"You are," She said, her voice a thread of sunlight through the leaves, "so warm."

Something cracked behind her eyes, and what looked like an impossible tear trickled down her once porcelain cheek.

And then, Mizuki was still.

Ryou didn't move for a long time.

Finally, like breaking a spell, Ichigo walked over to kneel behind him, wrapping her arms around his shaking shoulders.

They stayed like that, focusing on the thrum of their own hearts, alive, together, here. There were words, decisions, sirens blaring; the past blurred into the present, minutes turned to hours, and then, as if it had never been, it was all behind them, over and done.

The water caught a shard of sunlight, glinting softly. Ichigo set the glass vase down on the ground, careful not to spill; filled with lilacs, bellflowers and larkspurs, cool-coloured flowers, she'd picked them out rather haphazardly, knowing nothing about flowers and their meanings. They all just reminded her of a particular shade, of a distinct aura, and anyway she was sure Mizuki would have scoffed at the sentimentality of something like "flower meanings".

The water, though, she wasn't quite sure about. The shopkeeper had informed her a bouquet was more typical, less likely to be vandalized or broken. Maybe it had been the colour of her eyes, or the slick graceful nature of her movements - but bringing water and a vase seemed important. It spoke to a kind of freedom that Mizuki, by whatever cruel stroke of fate, had been so long denied. Ichigo was unsure about her own feelings about the afterlife, but she liked to think it granted whatever one was lacking in life. Human, non-human, almost-human – anyone and everyone.

As she knelt down before the vase, contemplating life and water, she heard a slow crunching of leaves behind her and turned around to see Ryou.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she said back.

Neither of them seemed to know what else to say, so she turned her eyes back to the flowers.

They hadn't been alone together since that day in the lab basement. The past few weeks had been a blur, a chaotic re-assembling of normalcy: the media quickly caught wind of Tokyo Mew Mew being back in town and together again, but the story quickly became secondary to that of the Lost Mock Lab Children. After they'd escaped the crumbling basement and delivered Henrietta, Salv and Usari to the nearest hospital, reporters had swept in: what happened to these children? How had they survived? Were there more like them, hopelessly wandering the streets in search of home? Ryou and the others had carefully constructed a story that looked like more of a renegade rescue than an all-out technology war: they had heard the cries of three children while in a shabby area of town and banded together as a group to free them. The deaths of Misohino Takako and the others were attributed to a tragic chemical explosion, which of course helped explained the extensive property damage. Tokyo Mew Mew just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"Are you planning on re-uniting to protect the city from evil?"

"Certainly not," Zakuro, cool as a cucumber, had chuckled wistfully, comfortable as ever in the face in reporters, "It seems our powers were limited to our adolescence. Now we're just regular people, united by a strange experiment long past. And as the case of the Lost Children has shown, this type of work should remain in the past."

There were doubts, of course, the story being a bit too tidy, but the re-emergence of Tokyo Mew Mew was shadowed by the cause of publicly shunning and shutting down any remaining Mock Labs and rehabilitating survivors. Ichigo and the others quickly faded from public interest, and they found themselves surprised, but not unhappy, to have been so unceremoniously swatted from the spotlight.

Mizuki had been carefully omitted from the tale altogether.

With the lab destroyed and her creators dead, there was no record of her ever existing. And, according to Ryou's firm deciding, there never would be.

Except for this stone. Ichigo lifted her gaze from the flowers to the humble, under-stated slab of rock before her. After they'd escaped from the rubble, Keiichiro had covertly transported Mizuki back to the Café and they'd tried – but, as she had said in her final moments, there was nothing left to fix. Everything had broken, irreparably, from the inside out; no drive or circuit had been spared. They had her buried in the Shirogane family plot, next to Ryou's parents. Though it would have been safer to destroy her entirely, Ryou insisted she be returned to the earth. There was no funeral, just a quiet gathering of Tokyo Mew Mew at the Café, drinking tea in silence together.

"I'm glad we met Mizuki-oneechan," Pudding had said, in a cheerful tone that had been missing for weeks, "I wish she could have stayed with us longer, na no da."

Ichigo did, too. For all her talk about programming and back-ups, security measures and damage control, Ichigo was certain there was nothing in Mizuki's program that would have allowed her to destroy herself for the sake of others. Henrietta had been right, then; underneath it all, Mizuki had to have been human, even without any physical evidence of such. Ichigo wanted to imagine a future where she could have survived, stopped fighting, had a normal life.

Oh - hadn't that been what she'd once dreamed of, too?

The ground beside her rustled, and she knew Ryou had sat beside her. She didn't look directly at him, but she could feel his exhaustion as if it came off him in waves. She knew, being who he was, he had taken Mizuki's sacrifice especially hard. He had been burdened once more as a protector, but had been unable to fulfill his duties.

All of them had, really. The machine they were meant to protect ended up protecting them.

"They're nice," After a long silence, Ryou tipped his head in the direction of the flowers, "I think she would have liked them."

Ichigo tilted her head, picturing the flowers from different angles. "Actually, I don't know if she would."

"Yeah."

Not even a snort of laughter. He was in pain, Ichigo knew. She wasn't really sure where the two of them stood after all this. There had been so much going on, there had barely been a still moment, but he still seemed kind of like he was avoiding her.

"Have you heard anything about SQUAD – Henrietta, and them?" She curled her hands in her lap, daring to look at him sideways.

His eyes stayed focused straight ahead, a little hollowed out. "They're recovering," he said, "Apparently the Kinet destructing in their system really screwed things up, so there's been several rounds of surgery. They've likely lost most of their abilities, but they'll be basically normal human beings again once everything heals up."

"Did they find any of their families?"

"Not yet," Ryou shrugged, "They all insist there's no one left, but there's been some interest from the public in adoption, or at the very least community care. But, who knows what they actually want, or if anyone will listen."

"I hope so." Ichigo noticed the air fogged up a bit on her exhale, and she watched the crystallization of her own sigh, "I hope they find some peace and… normalcy. They've practically lost their whole childhood."

"Is that how you feel?" She realized he was staring at her now, and it sent a little shiver up her spine. Ichigo returned his gaze cautiously. "Your childhood, the Mew Project. Would you have wanted it back?"

She remembered, just a few weeks ago, yelling at him in the rain about this very thing. But she knew now what she had been reacting to at the time was embarrassment, anger at not having been let in on the secret. Sadness at being shut out from his experience; not invited back because he wanted her here, but because he found her useful.

Ah. So, even then, she had wanted to be more than just another member of the team. Ichigo wondered how she hadn't seen it before – this little fire in her heart that jumped up when he was around. It had been there, she realized, from almost the moment they had met.

"It wasn't so bad," she said finally, a little smile curling at her lips, "It brought me to you, so."

Something almost imperceptible shifted in his eyes, and he turned away before she could register what it was. But she didn't think it was revulsion, so, emboldened, Ichigo shifted a bit to the side, reaching out for his hand and seeking the spaces between his fingers with her own.

He was cold, and at first didn't move. But after a moment, she felt his fingers curl softly, his thumb brushing gently over the back of her hand. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until the moment it clouded between them, and when he turned to look at her again she saw heartbreaking warmth in those cerulean eyes.

"Same," he said, so softly it made her poor heart race.

Ichigo felt the heat rising to her cheeks and cleared her throat, quickly turning her eyes up to the sky. It seemed kind of inappropriate to start making out in the middle of a cemetery, so she pushed the thought aside. Even though she knew his lips felt so nice.

"Uhhhhh so," She swore she could see him laughing as her eyes darted nervously around, looking for some kind of distraction, "You, uh. You gave her your name?"

She pointed lamely to the gravestone, which said in simple, plain carving: Shirogane Mizuki.

"I don't know that we'll ever find exactly where she came from. Before." Ichigo could hear that sorrowful tide in his voice again. "I thought she deserved – something. I'll keep looking. Though, it'll be tricky, without access to the lab…"

Ichigo had almost forgotten: after their tea service memorial, Keiichiro and Ryou had gathered the girls together to announce they were shutting down Café Mew Mew for good. It hadn't been running as a restaurant for years, but given the events with SQUAD, they thought it was time – the building had served its time as a trusty headquarters. Now, with any luck, they wouldn't need it anymore.

It was the first strike to an unofficial disbanding – again. With their mission complete, Ryou had offered everyone flights home, but many were rain-checked. Lettuce had to get back to school at some point, but was arranging for some correspondence courses so she could spend time with her family. Zakuro was basically a free agent in high demand wherever she went, and Mint her close-by companion; the two of them would be sticking around, at least for a bit. And Pudding… well. She hadn't made a decision either way, but seemed to be enjoying the hotel life way too much to be leaving anytime soon.

"Everything's changing again, huh," Ichigo smiled a bit wistfully, "I wonder what will happen next."

"Who knows." A heavy silence sat between them for a moment, and Ichigo felt his hand slide away. When she looked over, he was sitting up straight, with a serious, no nonsense expression. She opened her mouth the ask what it was, when – "What about you? Have you decided what to do about your plane ticket?"

Ichigo could barely hide her astonishment. And then, to her own surprise, she burst out laughing. "Oh, I dunno," If she was being honest, she hadn't thought about it at all. It tickled her, that he thought there was even a decision to be made. "Honestly, I'm a little sick of gelato. And pasta. Even though it really is-"

Before she could finish that gluten-related sentiment, Ryou leaned over and kissed her.

She reeled back a bit in surprise, and he grinned at her in that rakish, unapologetic way. "You're staying."

"Of course I'm staying," she answered with a baffled expression, and before she could marvel at his concern, they were kissing again. He pulled her closer by the shoulders, one hand gently cupping her cheek, and she felt a bit like she could evaporate into a puff of smoke. Mist. Whatever. But just as her own hands were reaching up to tangle in his golden hair, she caught herself and pulled away.

"Y-y-you know, it's probably rude to kiss another girl at your wife's gravesite," she said, trying not to make it too obvious she was catching her breath.

"Wife?" He tilted his head innocently at her, eyes flickering back to the gravestone. "I was thinking long-lost sister." She tried not to shiver as he traced a finger along the inside of her arm.

"Oh, that's nice," Ichigo, trying hard not to be too distracted.

"Mmhm," he grinned, quite devilishly, "I'm saving that – other title, for somebody else."

"Oh, are you?" Her ears were burning and she was finding it hard to even look at him.

"I am," She could feel the vibration of a laugh against her cheek as he leaned in, "She just doesn't know it yet."

And playfully bit the corner of her ear.

A shockwave shimmied all the way up her spine and – out her head?

"Uwaah!" Ichigo's hands flew up to find two familiar, furry cat ears poking up from her hair. Ryou jerked back, as surprised as she was. "L-l-l-look what you've done! This hasn't happened to me since I was a kid!"

Ryou's expression of astonishment quickly melted into wicked amusement, and he practically fell over laughing.

"Quit that!" Ichigo's face was red as a tomato as she kept trying, without avail, to push the protrusions back into her skull. "You don't know how embarrassing this is! I can't believe this, Shirogane you're such a jerk!"

He had to wipe a tear away as he tried to collect himself, barely concealing a face-splitting grin. "Some things never change," He said softly, tenderly cradling her flustered head with his hand.

They were quiet for a while, after that. For softer reasons.

White walls, again. Always with the white walls. Although, by her eye, maybe there was a hint of warmth – eggshell? Is that what those suburban moms called it? They seemed at once too familiar and walls from another life, another world. A room she only would have been in to destroy.

And there was a window. She wasn't sure she even remembered the last time she'd seen a window. Grass, sky, clouds. A pond. Sunshine, even, glinting on the water.

She kept staring out the window, even when the click of the door signalled that someone had entered.

"Good morning," the voice said in its routine rhythm, a squeak of a chair as the newcomer settled in. Still, she didn't pull her gaze. Like if she looked away, even for a second, that window might disappear, and all the beauty outside with it. "How are you feeling today?"

Her good shoulder pulled itself up in a shrug. Honestly, everything hurt. It hurt all over. And it was more than the wounds – it was the absence of that she had once been. That thrum and pulse she had become used to, and then in those final hours, the absolute bright shining that had filled her every vein, her every pore. Even if all the pain went away, there was still none of that. Like a ghost limb, but with no precise location or function.

"Well, I've got some good news and bad news," The voice carried on, chipper, accompanied by a methodical turning of pages, "The good news, your new hip seems to be adjusting nicely. You should have full range of mobility in a matter of weeks." A customary pause for any response, which she seemed to know she wouldn't get, "Bad news – we're still coming up short on a search for any of your relatives. I thought you might like to know your youngest friend has found a home, though, and has extended the invitation for you to join, if you so choose."

This was the other thing that was hard to adjust to: choose. The idea of having any choice, over something as simple as a home, had been laughable. There was no future that wasn't drenched in blood. It wasn't that she didn't want it – she just couldn't wrap her mind around it. It was like being told all the stories you thought were silly fairy tales were actually historically accurate, down to the very last dwarf.

She said nothing, and kept staring out the window. A small blue bird landed on the sill, peeked inside.

Again, the voice continued with their routine, not yet exhausted by her non-responsiveness: "So the plan is to continue on as usual, if that's all right. Physio in the morning, check-ups in the afternoon, leisure in the evening. There's a book club starting on the fifth floor, I think. Are you a books person?"

Was she a book person? Did she have hobbies? Aspects of her personality that had long faded away, echoing like a dream. Surviving had been her only goal. Revenge had been her hobby. Was there a revenge club, she wanted to ask, but it felt too tiring. Even that.

"Well, we'll find something, I'm sure. And of course, I have to ask again if you have a name you'd like to go by? Number Twenty Six doesn't suit you as well when you're conscious, I'm afraid,"

A pause, though they should have known by now she didn't respond even to jokes. The bird looked her right in the eyes, as if to say, well? Who are you? Who will you be?

Shiny and new, she thought, intrigued. A fresh start, rather than an interrupted one. Was there a little bit of lilac in that blue?

The bird cocked its head, waiting.

One last page turn. A patient sigh. "Looks like that's all for today. As always, if you need anything, just give the buzzer a little—"

"Mizuki," the girl once called Henrietta said, voice as rusty as her new joints, turning her crystal blue eyes away from the window at last. A puff of blue flitted away from the sill and into the endless sky. "I would like my name to be Mizuki."

saving data... closing applications... system shut down.

xuri: UH WOW OKAY WHO NEEDS TWELVE YEARS TO FINISH A FANFIC? *this guy* Yowza. I started this thing when I was 14 and now I'm, uh, much older than that, have long since moved past this fandom and fanfiction writing in general, but this lil story stayed in my head like a pesky bug and I needed to finish it. So HERE SHE IS. I really doubt anyone from the beginning has stuck around, but man, if you have, let's be friends? And to anyone else who ever even clicked on it, and especially anyone who stuck right to the end: THANK YOU. This story has all kinds of small pieces of me as I've grown, and you can probably see it in the writing change, and also in any glaring plot holes? Feel free to message me with those and I can try to fix them. Ha. But seriously, anyone reading this, I love you. Writing has been such a big part of my identity, even as I've moved on to other things, and sending stories out into the void isn't nearly as fun as knowing someone is coming along on the ride with you. Kisses. Hugs. Follow your dreams and all that. I won't be writing any more on here, but will pop in every now and then if anyone wants to chat about it. Fire me a message and let's get excited about stories.

3

Thank you.