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The halls of the Academy are as they always have been, sterile white and cold, but the view from up here can be nice to some, he supposes. The inky black expanse of space littered with glowing dots, and Earth down below, spinning slowly in its axis. To Hapi, the sight is calming and her favorite hours are when she can relax between missions and appreciate the outside. 

Yuri finds it slightly maddening to stare at this vast, endless expanse day in and out, which is why he would rather be down on Earth, where the threats to his existence may be bigger, but the environment is certainly more appealing. 

He straightens up from where he’d been leaning against a wall at the sound of sharp footsteps, heels clicking on the floor and resonating loudly in the quiet hallway. Commander Rhea appears from down the hall, a smaller figure trailing just a step behind her, his new mission partner. 

“Yuri,” Rhea greets smoothly, waving a hand at the unit standing behind her. “This is our new Sniper unit, 4S. He will be accompanying you on your missions from now on.” 

He looks from her to the new unit that stands shorter than him, with grey hair in untamed curls, the soft chin of a young man, and freckles peppered on his face. 

The new Sniper type was repurposed from the old Scanner model, merged with some qualities from the Archer units and other models. Same benefits, only now they are better equipped for combat, especially long ranged. 

4S offers him a crisp salute, eyebrows pinched over bright green eyes, shining with determination. He looks like a stickler to the rules, Yuri thinks, and turns his gaze back to the commander. 

“Your first mission is to explore the ruins of Zanado and bring back as much information as you can,” she orders, and he clicks his heels together, places a hand over his heart and offers her the standard salute. 

In the background, 4S follows along smoothly and remains quiet until Commander Rhea’s footsteps fade as she turns around the corner. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.” 4S says before silence can settle over them too uncomfortably. “I must say I’m confused as to why I have been given a partner in a simple reconnaissance mission, but I look forward to working with you.” 

“Hah, aren’t you cute,” Yuri comments, to which 4S’s only reaction is to tilt his head to the side in confusion. “Come on, we have much to do.” 

Zanado, or the Red Canyon as Commander Rhea calls it, is not red at all. It’s all shades of yellow and brown stretched on a barren expanse of arid ground and scorching hot sun, speckled with stones, shrivelled shrubs and twisted tree trunks with thick bark.

Still better than the endless stretch of dark, empty space seen from the windows of the Academy, in his opinion. 

They find a group of machines deep within the canyon and easily take care of them, another small victory in this endless war of Nabateans against Agarthans. With the machines incapacitated, Yuri busies himself with looking around aimlessly as 4S kneels around some of the machines and hacks into their system, analyzing whatever information he can find. 

Yuri had never worked with any of the old Scanner units, but he’d heard from a couple of Operators and other knights that they were curious, maybe too curious for their own good. It came as no surprise when the announcement was made that the Scanner units would be replaced by a new model, one that hopefully wouldn’t be as nosy as its predecessors and less prone to get itself in trouble. 

He’s a strange one, 4S. One of the first Sniper units to be made by the head mechanics at the Academy, currently in field testing phase, and Commander Rhea had assigned Yuri as his supervisor long before the prototype had been perfected. Yuri had even gone through changes himself to be better suited for the job. 

4S is curious and easily excitable. He’d taken in the whole flight from space down to their landing with childlike wonder, gasping and aweing at every little thing that got his attention. More than a few times, Yuri had to slow down in their advance through Zanado, calling for 4S to stop looking at a random insect or animal that caught his attention so they could be done with their mission faster.

It was kind of cute when it came down to it, but despite all of his curiosity and naivety, 4S is still so formal sometimes that it makes Yuri’s teeth creak.

Other than that, he will learn how to be the perfect little SEiRoS knight for the Nabateans with time, and if his program doesn’t learn it by itself, chances are it will be drilled into him, quite literally. 

4S stands from the dusty ground, patting the dust away from his black outfit, and quickly finishes off the last machine. “All done here, sir.”

Yuri mimics him, standing from his crouch where he’d been looking at one of the fallen machines. Strange how such obsolete-looking things can be the cause of so many headaches. “Stop calling me sir,” he drawls, turning to 4S with a little smirk. “Unless we’re having fun, that word sounds a little weird.” 

4S pauses, tilting his head curiously. “What kind of fun?” He asks, and Yuri promptly throws his head back to cackle. 4S doesn’t look embarrassed in the least, only genuinely confused by his words. “In any case, how should I refer to you then? Would the use of your number and type be satisfactory?” 

“Sheesh, that's even worse,” Yuri mumbles and nudges away a hunk of metal with his foot. “Those numbers and letters are terribly impersonal, don’t you think?”

“They serve a purpose,” 4S rebukes, and Yuri can already predict that he’ll start reciting the whole protocol of rules implanted in them, written by Seteth himself, so he waves it off flippantly, making 4S press his lips together.

“Yes, even still, I don’t like them.” Yuri nods his head towards the path they need to take next. “Just call me Yuri.” 

“Yuri...” Ashe tests the word on his tongue, and Yuri rather likes how he says it with wonder. “Alright. Please, lead the way.” 

It’s another day now, in another week, and they’re investigating a dense forest northwest of a mountain chain called Oghma Mountains. There’s an old fortress at the top, their only terrestrial base, where the Nabateans resided before the war against the Agarthans took its toll and forced them out into orbit. 

4S’s attention flits about anywhere, and by now Yuri has learned to let him sate part of his curiosity before they delve into their mission, lest it be jeopardized. He’d thought the Commander would be displeased by such behavior, but it seems 4S has made their strongest units, the Enlightened Twins, rather fond of him, and whenever 1E and 2E are concerned, Commander Rhea is bound to turn a blind eye to it. 

Vice-commander Seteth is less likely to let it slide, hence why Yuri has to cut 4S’s exploration time short to avoid a lecture. 

They’re creeping over a rock formation to look into the valley below when 4S comments, “You move rather silently for an android, too.” 

“Yes,” he answers simply, narrowing his eyes at the group of unsuspecting machines down below. “That’s one of the few similarities between the Assassin unit and the new Sniper unit, but you knew that already.”

“I did,” 4S continues, facing Yuri rather than their targets.

“Pay attention to the target, 4S.” Yuri rolls his eyes lightly and inches forward. “Remember the mission.”

4S nods, setting his curiosity aside for the moment, and turns his gaze to the machines below before his pod reminds him of it, or his designed Operator brings a message from the Vice-commander himself to focus on the mission. It won’t be long until he goes around snooping for more information and finds things he should not.

Yuri steals a glimpse of him before looking down at the machines again. There’s a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“You seem to like birds a lot.”

It’s another forested area this time, up north and far less dense, but no less green. It’s a little colder up here, not that it matters much to them anyway. 

Greenery means a lot more birds to observe, and Yuri is just happy to sit back and enjoy a bit of bird sighting whilst 4S hacks into the incapacitated machines. And then it will be time to clean up, and then they will move on eastward where there are far less trees and birds to see. 

4S stands to his feet again and walks over to Yuri after finishing off the machine with his standard weapon, a gun. “How very observant of you,” Yuri praises, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Yes, I like birds. What about it?”

“Nothing wrong with liking birds,” 4S lowers himself to the patch of grass beside Yuri. Sunlight filters through the treetops, illuminating patches of the grass and their bodies. “I like plants.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” It’s not like 4S has been studying some herbs from the start and listing off the details of their physiology whenever he can. 

4S shifts on the grass, clearly displeased with his constant sarcasm, and Yuri decides to tone it down a bit. It’s not his fault that he’s stuck with Yuri as his partner. Commander Rhea should have picked another android that wouldn’t mind talking about themselves, seeing as 4S never stops asking about Yuri or the things he likes and dislikes. Yuri isn’t someone who likes sharing things about himself, now more than ever.

Even with his constant prodding, it’s hard not to like 4S, though. He’s kind, genuine, and even funny sometimes. Yuri tried to keep his distance, knowing what is sure to happen in the future, but his walls have slowly chipped away in his presence against his better judgement.

He sighs quietly and leans back on his hands, stretching his legs out. “Where did you learn all those facts about plants anyway?”

“There’s a library in the Academy,” 4S says after a lengthy pause, plucking at the blades of grass. “I like to go there in between missions. Unit 31W also likes plants. I often find him in the small greenhouse at the base.” 

31W... A Warrior unit, a big one, that Yuri has seen before a couple of times. “The library, huh? I found a few books on birds there as well.” 

4S offers him a smile. “Can you teach me about birds?” 

Yuri laughs, because 4S could just go to the library and read the books himself like the bookworm he is, but he’s one of the highly sociable androids, so it makes sense he’d ask someone. “Your curiosity is insatiable, Ashe.”

“Ashe?” He repeats, and Yuri’s lips twitch at the pinch between grey brows.

“Yeah, that’s you. Calling you 4S all the time...” makes him seem lesser than Nabateans, all of them, actually. They were never given distinct, proper names upon production, but it doesn’t stop them from giving each other names or picking one of their own. “I’ve been thinking for a while now and I think it would suit you.”

“Why’s that?” 4S asks again, and not for the first time, Yuri finds it endearing the face he makes when curious. Yuri doesn’t appreciate the stream of questions, but his face makes it bearable. 

“Well, the number four does resemble the letter A, yeah? So I thought it’d make sense.” Yuri shrugs as best as he can in his current position, with his hands behind him to support his weight. “Anyway, many of us have unofficial names. For example, your Operator, 27O, we call her Mercedes. 1E and 2E, the Enlightened Twins, are called Beresu and Bereto respectively. And that Warrior unit from before, 31W, is Dedue.”

4S hums, cupping his chin in thought. “Alright, then. Thank you for the nickname.”

“It was no problem.” Yuri pushes himself up and Ashe soon follows, giddy to continue their exploration. “I’ll teach you about birds, but you better keep that nose of yours out of other people’s business from now on.”

Ashe frowns again. “But I was made for that.”

“Yes, and it’s not a problem when you’re gathering intel, but some units won’t appreciate it if you pry too much.” Yuri offers him a little smirk. “I like you, so I tolerate it.” 

“Oh, I see.” Ashe nods, then grins. “I like you too, Yuri.” 

Well, that’s not good. His stomach drops, an icy boulder settling in it, and Yuri tries to shake it off, turning his attention to a visible woodland warbler flitting on a branch and listing off a few of its peculiarities.

Not good at all.

When his pod beeps with an urgent summon from the Commander, Yuri knows the time of his true designation has arrived. 

It’s a good thing he’s so good at pretending, or else other units would have started questioning him as he walked to the designated meeting room, but there’s no concealing the buzz in his ears and the way his throat seems to tighten. 

Commander Rhea really should have picked someone else, anyone else. One of the Lord classes, 3L, would have been a better choice than him. She’s known for masking her feelings, taking things in stride, sacrificing anyone and anything for the sake of the mission.

Yuri isn’t any of that; he’s just good at pretending that he’s too far high to be touched by these things. 

And he immediately comes tumbling down when he enters the room and finds Ashe there, staring at him with wide, frightened green eyes. 

Ashe looks younger than the other units, his features too soft for a walking weapon. Manuela had even gone as far as giving him freckles, a small detail no other unit possesses. Yuri smiles, chest twisting up with pain, and he takes deliberate steps towards him, aware that both Commander and Vice-commander are watching from the other side of the window. 

“Hey,” he greets quietly, and Ashe stands from the lone chair he’d been occupying. “No need to look so concerned, everything is fine.”

“What are you going to do to me?” He asks- no, accuses, and Yuri swallows past the lump in his throat. He wishes the answer to that was a simple nothing .

But nothing is simple, not when two pairs of green eyes are watching and waiting. Yuri decides to do this quickly to spare the both of them. These past five months with Ashe were enough to make Yuri fond of him, and it hurts to do this. 

And this is only the first time.

“Oh Ashe,” he breathes out, reaching behind his back for the dagger concealed there. “I told you not to go snooping around.” 

Ashe’s eyes widen, a look of betrayal flashing as quick as the motion made to plunge the dagger into his chest, hitting his vitals. Yuri closes his eyes as Ashe crumbles in his arm, lowering himself to the ground with him. The Commander’s voice fills the room from the speakers, announcing that someone will come to retrieve the body, but he hardly hears anything past the ringing in his ears.

The red fluid pools on the floor and coats his hands. Yuri finds a blank notebook in the library and takes it to his room, writing down the date. 

1

This Sniper looks the same as Ashe, but he’s not. He forgot everything about plants, birds, the names of the other units in the Academy, the small details about Yuri that he shared both willingly or to get him to stay quiet. 

Unit 4S looks at him expectantly before they board their flight units to head down to the planet. Machine attacks have been detected more frequently by the satellites, and Command has a good reason to believe that it’s a sign the Agarthans are getting bolder with their strikes and readying for a bigger attack. 

A strange new machine has been sighted by other androids before meeting their demise at its hands, and bits of recovered data showed a tall, dark figure that was more humanoid in shape. Caspar nicknamed it the Death Knight, because it resembles too much an old armor that has been repurposed as a machine, or was at least modelled after one. 

Once the mission is done with, Yuri offers 4S the same name from before, who takes it with the same smile Ashe had given him once.

3

His levels are critically low, left arm rendered useless from a blow delivered by the machine, a Titanus Class that had caught them off guard somewhere on the west coast of this continent. Usually, Yuri is much faster than this, but he hadn’t been properly concentrated, too horrified instead as he watched Ashe being batted away like a fly or any other insignificant insect.

He’s neither to Yuri, not anymore.  

Yuri staggers, lowering his sword as the Titanus pulls back its arm and readies for another strike. Ashe is likely out of commission by now, and there isn’t much Yuri can do with only one arm and his pod against a machine this big.

So he turns and runs in Ashe’s direction. Fleeing the scene would mean death anyway, for the Commander would hunt them down and finish them off herself if their systems didn’t fail them first, so they might as well go out with a literal bang and wipe this thing off the face of the Earth. 

“Ashe!” Yuri drops to his knees beside him, turning him over on the sand. Ashe is missing one leg and part of his arm, but other than that he seems alive enough. “We need to detonate the Crest Stones.” 

“R-Right,” Ashe croaks and reaches beneath his shirt to retrieve his core from within his chest. Yuri does the same, pulling out a patterned glowing orb. “I-I’m uploading the data to the Academy now.”

Ocean water sloshes and the ground shakes as the Titanus approaches, the whirring of its limbs setting Yuri on edge. His pod continues to ramble on and on of its approach, offering them the approximate distance that shrinks much too fast. Though it’s slower than androids, Yuri and Ashe would never be able to outrun one unless they were in their flying units, not when it takes such wide steps. 

Soon enough, a large shadow falls upon them, and Ashe opens his eyes. It’s nice to see determination in his green irises instead of fear and betrayal, even if they’re both doomed. 

“It’s done,” he declares, and Yuri looks down as they bring their Stones close, touching them with a slight clink before white light bursts from the contact. 

He wakes up in his room in the Academy, in a new body with all limbs working properly. Yuri pushes himself out of bed and heads out the door to find Ashe just down the hall, walking away from that wing of the Academy, and calls out for him.

Ashe stops and glances around before turning to face Yuri, his smile slightly apologetic. “Hello, sir. Were you talking to me?” 

Something in Yuri goes cold, and he only barely manages to conceal his surprise, even if Ashe- no, 4S won’t be able to detect it anyway. Oh no, no . “Yes- I... Thank you for uploading my data to the Academy.”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember doing that. There must’ve been only time to upload yours.” His smile turns a little sad around the edges and he nods. “It was no problem, sir. I look forward to our next mission together.” 

At this point, Yuri can’t say he feels the same.

5

The land is covered in snow, thick enough that their feet sink into it with every step taken. Ruins of an old building wait for them at the end of the journey, but for the moment they stay in place, looking up at barren treetops.

Ashe points a gloved finger at a small figure hopping on the tree branches. “Is that a blue jay?” 

“Very good,” Yuri praises, smiling down at him. “They aren’t very friendly towards other birds, but they’re beautiful, aren’t they?” 

“They’re pretty noisy,” Ashe comments, the bird’s sounds being carried over to them by the wind. 

Laughing, Yuri turns down the road to resume their trip. “They are, just like a Grappler unit I know.” 

Ashe offers a laugh and rushes through the snow to catch up with him, his smile radiant and eyes sparkling. “I know a Paladin unit like that.” 

Red hair, brown eyes; Sylvain is a unit that’s hard to overlook with how loud he is. At least Balthus is easy to spot due to his size, but he’s just as noisy as Sylvain. Caspar too, though Yuri guesses he’s trying to make up for his short stature by being incredibly loud. If only more people were like Dedue; big, but quiet. Yuri enjoys the quiet (not that he gets much of it with Ashe around). 

Ashe hums under his breath as they travel through the snow, keeping his eyes to the sky to try and spot another bird to continue their little game. The last time, he’d managed to upload his data to the Academy, which brought Yuri some relief. 

It’s incredibly draining to befriend the same person over and over. 

And it hurts more than he’d thought, being forgotten.

8

Yuri doesn’t work with large groups often. As a former Assassin unit, he’d gone on many missions alone, though sometimes he was assigned to a small group of units that became his friends overtime.  

Larger groups are more appropriate for the Enlightened Siblings, who often lead other androids into bigger, far riskier missions, and usually are successful enough that no one gets completely lost forever. It isn’t uncommon for the Lord units to lead teams as well. A few rare times, Ashe had followed 2L, Dimitri, into battle, Yuri ever at his side as his handler in disguise. 

In one of the common rooms in the Academy, Yuri sits on a couch facing a large window, stars twinkling outside. The leather is cold and stiff, like everything about their orbital base. And perhaps like everything about their Commander. He knows Rhea isn’t all that unfeeling, not when she fawns over the Twins so often, but what was she thinking when she decided that every android who disobeyed should be executed? When she thought it was a good idea to assign someone else to always take them out?

They’re androids, but they’re still equipped with chips that allow them to feel emotions. They form bonds and befriend others, they feel anger, annoyance, sadness, happiness.

Grief.

Yuri rubs his thumb into the palm of his hand. His gloves have been discarded long ago, taken by Hanneman when he and Manuela came to retrieve the body to be disposed of properly.

He threw away his clothes as well, burned the red stained fabric in one of the engines that keeps the space station functional. 

It’s to the sight of him hunched forward and contemplating his hands that his usual team finds him, the three of them entering the room silently. The couch dips on each side of him, and a pale hand rests on his knee as a gesture of comfort. Yuri doesn’t have the energy to bat it off.

“We heard about Ashe,” Constance murmurs. He doesn’t look at her face. “We’re sorry.”

“Damn, I feel sorry for the little fella.” Balthus’s booming voice seems to resonate in the room, and Constance’s fingers flex around Yuri’s knee. “It’s almost like this happens every other month-”

Constance snaps, “Balthus!” and he shuts his mouth with an audible click. Yuri only closes his eyes tightly behind the fall of his hair.

“We heard the mission had gone well,” Hapi says after a lapse of silence. “What gives?

Oh it had gone well, perfectly so. Sneaking undetected into enemy territory, wiping out their forces, hacking their systems for valuable information. They’d performed spectacularly, as relayed to him by 12O, Bernadetta, as they fled the collapsing base. 

What the Vice-commander had failed to tell them is that the information they were sent to retrieve was stolen from the Academy prior, and was highly classified. Ashe hacked into the system and took it into himself before transferring it to Commander Rhea’s personal computers, meaning he was aware of the contents. 

And the code is very clear about what happens to androids who come across classified information. 

Again, Yuri found him in the same room as before (and before and before and), with Rhea and Seteth watching from outside, as per usual. He doesn’t know how they can stand it, to watch him kill a fellow android without feeling remorse or guilt, for sending them off into a mission in which they knew from the start that one of them would die upon return.

Like the first time (and after and after and), Yuri stabbed him with a dagger. Ashe had been crying. 

“He was infected with a virus,” he lies smoothly, the words nearly not finding their way past his lips. “He had to be taken down before it could infect everyone else.”

Yuri doesn’t know if they buy the excuse. Yuri doesn’t know if they think he is a terrible partner for not looking out for Ashe, for not keeping him out of danger, keeping him alive. 

They don’t know he’s the one who takes Ashe’s life most of the time. 

12

The purpose of the greenhouse in the orbital base Academy is to hold seeds and saplings of plants from Earth for the Nabateans living in the moon colony, and that’s where Yuri finds Ashe that day. 

He’s engrossed in his studies, comparing whatever data he found in the library to a potted sample of mint, rubbing the fragrant leaves between two gloved fingers. Yuri approaches and stops beside him by the shelf occupied with various other herbs and seasonings, their scents filling his chest and being processed by his sensors.

“Do you ever wonder how these taste?” Ashe asks, still looking at the plant. 

Mint? Not really, but whenever Yuri smells one of the sweeter plants and fruits, he feels tempted to put them in his mouth just for the sake of it. Still, “Tasting food would be pointless since we don’t actually need to eat to function.”

“Androids also don’t reproduce, and still some go and get genitalia for the fun of it,” Ashe replies, unfazed by Yuri’s reasoning. His flat tone makes Yuri sputter and snort.

“Did you get it?” He finds himself asking, and Ashe frowns, finally peeling his eyes away from the mint plant to look at him since his arrival. “The genitalia,” Yuri elaborates, keeping his face carefully neutral when Ashe presses his lips together in a thin line. What would he look like if he could blush? 

“That’s beside the point,” Ashe says finally, brushing it off completely. Yuri snickers quietly. “I’ll ask Manuela for something similar to taste buds. I bet mint tastes as good as it smells.”

Yuri hums noncommittally and tugs on a lock of grey hair, smiling when Ashe tries to wave him away. “Be sure to tell me how it tastes.”

14

Yuri has never seen a mission go south so quickly.

Commander Rhea sent a large group of androids to the old ruins of a village, set ablaze by the Agarthan machines rampaging the area. The rumors that the strange dark machine was in the perimeter turned out to be real, for it appeared at the top of a hill and effortlessly destroyed any android that got close. 

Yuri led his usual team to deal with other minor machines while the Lords and the Twins teamed up to face off against the one dubbed Dark Knight. True to the recordings, it resembles armor from millennia ago, with a horned skull helm that is just tacky, in Yuri’s opinion. 

And it was going well enough, with Snipers placed on higher points to cover them, when a shout came from where the five units were fighting the overpowered machine. “He’s trying to hack us!” 

Over the comms, Yuri hears 1S, Shamir, deliver orders to her team. “4S, go down there and offer support. The others, continue with the plan. I will cover them from here.” 

Yuri immediately knows it’s not going to end well. 

He wants to turn and deal with this Death Knight himself so Ashe won’t have to, but he can’t turn back on his team and friends. Still, the urge to protect him is strong, to be able to save him for once instead of being the reason why Ashe has always to be remade, reinstalled, reprogrammed. 

Yuri fights harder, a little more vicious, just so he can be done with his part of the mission faster. 

The comms crackle again; it’s 3L. “He’s got Dimitri!”  

“Got it!” 1L quickly responds, and the communication is shut off as they dive into battle. Yuri destroys some more machines, watches as Balthus punches a hole clean through one of them. “Nice one, Ashe!” Claude praises, and Yuri exhales a bit in relief. 

“Watch out,” Bereto warns, his voice loud over the sound of the fight. “He’s readying himself again for another attack.”

“Yuri!” He jumps back at the sound of Constance’s voice, and she dives in front of him to send her fist colliding with a machine that had been too close. “Pay attention!” 

He breathes a quiet apology and a thanks, then readies his sword before propelling forward to slay a few more machines. Yuri tunes out the conversation over the comms, the instructions and the sounds of struggle coming from all over the battlefield. Machines fall around him, the Sniper team providing them with the necessary support. 

The number of enemies diminishes quickly now that he and his team are in tune with one another, but his focus quickly breaks when Ashe’s voice comes through the comms in ragged breaths. “I- I can try again.”

“No, Ashe,” Beresu orders, her voice firm. “You’ve done enough.” But Yuri knows Ashe is going to do whatever he wants anyway. 

Hapi pierces a machine with her lance as Dimitri belows, “Edelgard has been compromised!”

Yuri curses under his breath, thrusting his blade into the metal carcass of the enemy and opening a hole in its torso. If one of the Lords fell at the hands of this new machine, the other units barely stand a chance. The Lord and the Enlightened types are the strongest produced by the Academy.

Ashe , he thinks, swallowing dryly. His insides turn unpleasantly, a trickle of fear running down his spine, and Yuri forces himself to focus on his enemies, cutting them down one by one. Ashe will be fine; he has the other units with him, strong ones, and the best Sniper covering them. They’ll keep him safe.

“Clear the area,” Shamir orders. “She needs to be taken down.” 

They aren’t successful in taking down Edelgard. In the end, No. 3 Type L is taken away by the machine, now controlled to fight on the other side of this war. Claude is doing a good job in masking how he feels about it, but Dimitri isn’t as good an actor, clearly shaken up and swearing revenge. 

At least all the machines have been dealt with. Yuri sheaths his sword and turns to meet up with them. Bereto is trying to calm Dimitri whilst Beresu is kneeled beside Ashe. He slows down when he sees the look on her face.

“Shamir,” she begins, slow and watery. Yuri swallows, the Stone inside him clenching impossibly tight. “Ashe has been...”

“Step aside,” comes the monotone voice, and Byleth does as told with great reluctance. There’s a brief lapse of silence, then, “Yuri, you have one minute.”

 He should be embarrassed that he’d worn his emotions so openly like that, or maybe Shamir is just that good and read his body language, which is to be expected. She is 1S, after all, the first Sniper unit, the leader of her branch. Yuri ignores the  pitiful and sympathetic stares falling on him as he approaches the kneeling form of Ashe, mimicking the position as he lowers himself to the ground in front of him. He doesn’t have time to waste sneering at anyone giving him that look.

Ashe’s gloved fingers are digging into the ground, carving grooves in the dirt. Yuri gently wraps his fingers around his wrists, and Ashe’s fingers relax. If he were human and wearing no gloves, his nails would be chipped and bleeding. 

“I tried,” he begins, not meeting Yuri’s eyes. “I tried to save her-”

“Shh...” Yuri squeezes his wrists, soft and careful. “You did what you could, Ashe. We don’t know what that machine is fully capable of.” 

Ashe’s eyelashes flutter and he lifts his head to gaze at Yuri with red eyes through the gaps in his fringe. They don’t suit him at all, too evil, too corrupted for someone as sweet as him. “I wasn’t strong enough.” 

“You were plenty strong, Ashe,” Yuri retorts, stroking the inside of his wrist with his thumbs. 

“I couldn’t even protect myself.” Ashe laughs, derisive and reproachful, and Yuri wonders if it’s the virus or something Ashe has been hiding all along. 

Yuri shakes his head, horrified at the tears rolling down Ashe’s cheeks. “How’s the virus progression?” 

“67%,” Ashe replies dutifully. They can’t risk other Snipers trying to fight off the virus now. They can’t even upload his data to the Academy. “Yuri? Can you stay with me?” 

He feels threatening close to crying himself. He swallows around the lump in his throat. “Of course, Ashe.” Yuri shuffles closer, letting his companion wrap his arms around him in a hug, which he returns just as tight. He wishes, and wishes and wishes, that they had a backup of Ashe’s memories somewhere in the academy.

“Time’s up,” Shamir warns, and Yuri nods minutely. Then, in a private comm channel, she says, “I’ll take this burden off your shoulders this time.” 

Yuri shuts his eyes and holds his breath, squeezing his arms tighter around Ashe. He never hears the trigger, never hears the shot. He only feels when Ashe jolts and sags against him, eyes open and green once again. 

Commander Rhea and Vice-commander Seteth deem Edelgard a threat to the rest of their forces and order her immediate execution should anyone cross paths with her. “We cannot risk our goal,” she says in a network-wide stream. Edelgard was tainted with the Agarthan virus and thus needs to be destroyed so it won’t spread to other androids.

Yuri doesn’t personally care much about the fate of No. 3 Type L, but he has a bone to pick with the Agarthans’ new favorite machine. 

He’s in the labs when Manuela is done setting up the new 4S unit, tapping away on the holo-keyboard as a new version of Ashe stares unseeingly at the white ceiling. It’s a sight too similar to when he’s just been killed, Yuri thinks, the glow of his eyes gone when his systems stop working.

Manuela stands from her chair and approaches the table where 4S lies. “It’s so heartbreaking,” she says, not turning to face Yuri. “The Sniper units are doomed to be stuck in this cycle of death and rebirth more than anyone until this war is won.” 

Yuri gives no indication that he heard her, only fists his hands and sets his jaw. Manuela places the Crest Stone inside the cavity of 4S’s chest, powering him up.

17

“Look at this!”

In the small clearing of a forest, Yuri watches Ashe kneel near a patch of purple flowers, carefully touching its thin, delicate petals with the tips of his fingers. “What’s this one?” 

“Viola odorata,” Ashe supplies, lowering further down to catch traces of its scent. “It can also be called wood violet, or sweet violet. I read a lot about them in the books in the Academy. Did you know humans used them to treat different ailments, like insomnia?” 

“I didn’t know. You’re the resident plant expert, I’m just a guy who likes birds a lot.” Yuri crouches near him to take a closer look at the flowers. They’re small and fragile looking, like they could easily be trampled and ruined if one wasn’t looking where they were going, but they’re beautiful. The purple shade is vibrant, surrounding a bright yellowed middle.  

Ashe laughs, scratching his cheek with a finger. “Well, there was never sufficient evidence that it was effective, but they did it anyway. A long time ago, they used a lot of herbal plants for medicine.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Yuri fondly says, tugging on Ashe’s hair. “Do you like them?”

“Yeah, they’re my favorite flower.” Ashe pulls back his hand and they stand again, ready to continue. “Sadly, we don’t have any samples in the Academy.” 

“We can come back here before we return and take a sample with us.” It shouldn’t be hard to do so. The pods are equipped with compartments to hold samples of chemicals, electronics and other materials found so they can be studied by the scientists in the Academy. Making a violet fit in there should be easy.

Ashe’s eyes sparkle, as bright as his smile. “Thank you, Yuri!”

20

The Nabateans may have left Earth and fled into space, but their old place of residence still stands, having been repurposed into the only android base found on the planet. Commander Rhea appointed two of her most trustworthy units to oversee the base in her absence, Catherine and Alois. 

A few weeks after Edelgard was compromised and taken to the other side of the lines, Catherine and Alois registered an increase in the number of Agarthan machines headed their way, which in turn mobilized most of the Academy’s troops towards that location.

Yuri doesn’t get to fight alongside Ashe, or any of his usual team members for that matter, being assigned a large team of other Assassin and Swordmaster units, some of which are just terrible at teamwork. Felix is one of those, but as long as he’s getting the job done, Yuri won’t complain. 

True to the readings, a large number of machines head to the old fortress of Garreg Mach, including large, brand new models that resemble monsters from those ancient fiction novels Ashe likes to read so much. There are too many of them, both flight types and not, and in addition to these, there are the usual soldier-type machines that they are used to fighting on the daily.

That one machine is here, the Death Knight, standing immobile to the side like it’s too good to join the fray. Yuri’s hands itch to fight it, to pay back for what it did to Ashe that one time, but he can’t forget his objective. They have to defend this location and defeat all the machines. He has to protect Ashe and the other Sniper units inside, who are working to transfer all of the data acquired to the server of the Academy in case Garreg Mach does fall.

He tries not to think of the possible classified information Ashe will find and what it will mean for the both of them.

Yuri fights with all that he can, tearing through the machines that make it past the front line of defense and come too close to the gates. Catherine leads the group here while Alois stays at the front lines, and Shamir coordinates a small group Archer units to cover for them from the top of the fortress walls.

They receive a message from one of the Sniper units inside confirming that all the information has been transferred, and just in time. Despite the geography surrounding Garreg Mach, the uneven, uphill path the machines have to follow, they manage to reach the fortress in a number too great than they’d expected, forcing them to flee. 

His pod announces the arrival of a message from the Academy, and Yuri snarls as he finishes off one last machine with his sword, turning around with reluctance to try and find Ashe.

22

With the fall of Garreg Mach, the knights are deployed on more missions than they were before, if possible. 

Ashe and Yuri don’t work together as often, with Ashe being sent on far too many recon missions while Yuri is tasked with breaking into different enemy bases with his usual team. It’s rare when Yuri manages to catch even a glimpse of him, and rarer when they get the opportunity to talk, but there’s much work to be done.

Commander Rhea has been trying to pinpoint the location of Edelgard for the past weeks, while Vice-commander Seteth, Catherine, Shamir and Alois prepare a plan of assault to storm the enemy’s headquarters once it is found. It seems, though, that no matter how many missions they are sent to to gather information, they can never find any clue that leads to said base or Edelgard. At this rate, it feels like they will go through every base known on Earth and still return empty handed. 

Yuri doesn’t let it bother him. That Death Knight machine hasn’t been spotted since they had to abandon their only base on Earth, and he won’t stop until it's been found. 

24

This Ashe is a new one. Probably still too formal until Yuri convinces him that calling him sir is unnecessary, and that’s when Yuri offers the name again so he no longer has to be known as 4S.

This one still goes by that name and doesn’t recognize Yuri when they cross paths in the hallway. Once again, there had been no time to transfer his data to the Academy, and this time Yuri hadn’t even been there with him when Ashe had self-destructed. It had been another unit of sky blue eyes and hair. Caspar still has his memories.

When will Ashe stop prioritizing others above himself? As much as he hates this act of  selflessness,Yuri supposes it must be ingrained in his program. 

He wishes he could stop walking to the hangar, drop the mission and follow after Ashe, introduce himself and be the one to give him his name once again, but Constance is calling and Yuri isn’t known for leaving his teammates hanging. 

Ashe disappears around the corner, and Yuri continues onwards to his mission.

26

Commander Rhea eventually issues the order that all current types should be improved and updated to withstand more hacker attacks. The Enlightened Twins were the first in line, of course, and Yuri guesses that Manuela and Hanneman were feeling particularly creative when they designed the new models, given the new colors chosen for their hair and eyes. 

The others aren’t given such drastic changes, keeping the same color palette but changing one thing or two. Things like height, hair style and facial structure are altered, as if they have really aged over the years like the Nabateans do.

Yuri waits in a small sitting area while Hanneman gives the last finishing touches to Yuri’s new program. It’s strange to look at himself lying on a table, his hair longer, his features sharper. It feels like an out of body experience, or so he thinks given what he knows, to be standing at the foot of the bed and watching himself in perfect stillness as if asleep.

Or dead.

Manuela and Hanneman often bicker like a married couple that has been together for way too long , but they know how to work well together when needed. Manuela directs Yuri to the other bed whilst Hanneman checks the holo screens in preparation for the data transfer. She smiles at him and presses open the cavity of his chest, exposing the glowing Crest Stone within.

“I’m going to power you down now,” she says, taking the Stone into her gloved fingers. Yuri observes its patterns and pulsing veins, and thinks of how Ashe’s Stone is smoother, plain in comparison.

When he comes back to himself, Yuri is in his new body. It doesn’t feel any different, and he swings his legs over one side of the bed and hops down to the floor. His old body has already been taken away, and the two scientists run some tests before discharging him.

29

Androids barely feel the passage of time. Days, years, decades, centuries; they hardly matter in the long run. They won’t be growing older anyway, and they can always come back in case they lose their bodies.

It’s been five years since their base on Earth fell to the Agarthan machines, and the SEiRoS knights have been monitoring it from a distance. At first, the Agarthans had left their machines here to claim the fortress, but overtime seemingly lost interest in it and abandoned Garreg Mach, left it alone to be reclaimed by Commander Rhea. 

The place is in ruins with plants overgrown and rubble everywhere. Yuri distantly thinks that Ashe would enjoy taking note of all the species that have taken over the wide expanse of the courtyards, but Ashe had been assigned a different mission this time. 

It’s the longest that Yuri got to experience with Ashe, and he dreads the moment when he will have to silence him. Sometimes Yuri is just a stranger to him, and sometimes he’s an acquaintance. Other times, he’s a best friend, like he is now.

Ashe is always a dear friend to Yuri however, regardless of his opinions on him, and each time Ashe is finished by his hands, a part of Yuri dies as well. 

He turns away from the wild blooms to look at some birds nesting in the nook of the broken stone walls, grooming their feathers with their beaks and chirping every so often. Yuri hardly has time to appreciate them anymore, and it’s not as fun without Ashe around.

34

The enemy base is on fire, flames licking at the walls and causing them to collapse. Yuri runs through the hallways, dodging rubble and destroying the occasional machines as he heads into the heart of the building, the systems within him filtering the smoke in the air. 

He’d been contacted by Vice-commander Seteth to look for Ashe here, as he’d been sent alone on a recon mission and took too long to report back to the Academy. His status on the network shows he is alive, but his pod has been decommissioned, and Yuri soon finds its carcass left abandoned near a pile of machine parts.

A rescue mission. For a moment, he’d feared the worst. It’s been way too long since the last time Yuri spoke with Ashe, so long that he doesn’t even know which name he goes by.  

The main control room is on the second floor, located at the end of a long hallway covered with chunks of metal and concrete from where the ceiling collapsed. If it weren’t for the network, Yuri would have believed Ashe to be dead. As it is, he’s either holding his own in here, or he’s already left and is wandering with no means to return to the Academy until he’s found. 

Yuri enters the control room and finds several small workstations with their holo-screens blinking red, so bright that it lights up the whole room in periodic intervals. Corpses of machines are strewn about, oils and fluids oozing from puncture points and torn pieces, sparks sizzling at the tip of cut wires.

Ashe is hunched over the panel at the front, a sharp axe by his feet covered in shimmering fluid. His fingers fly over the holographic keyboard, inputting commands and words that are beyond Yuri’s grasp.

Relief floods him. “Ashe,” he calls, catching Ashe’s attention. He stiffens, turning his head slowly to look at Yuri through the fall of his hair.

Ashe has been remodelled too, now standing taller with longer fringe, no longer sporting the messy grey locks that made him look so boyish. His outfit is different too, but still is the standard black from the SEiRoS knights, torn in places from the fight.

Yuri would love to take the time to observe this new Ashe, but he can do that later. First, they need to get out of here. “Come on, let’s go. This place will collapse at any moment.” 

Behind him, his pod announces a new transmission. Yuri feels inclined to ignore it, high command be damned, but he can guess what it is about when Ashe turns further and Yuri catches a glimpse of red in his eyes. 

A muffled curse comes from the speakers. “He’s been compromised!” Seteth exclaims at the same time Ashe draws his gun, pointing the barrel at Yuri. “It’s a trap! Take him out-”

Ashe’s lips curl upwards in a derisive smirk that is unlike him, and he flicks his wrist, the projectile missing Yuri by an inch, but still hitting the bull's eye. Yuri’s pod crumples to the ground, out of commission.

“That’s your real purpose, isn’t it, Yuri? Or should I say...” Ashe muses deliberately, the gun trained on Yuri again. “No. 1, Type T. Trickster.” 

Yuri sets his jaw and curls his hands into fists. “Lower your weapon, Ashe.” 

“It’s a fitting name, if you ask me,” he continues, as if Yuri never spoke at all. “Getting close to me, pretending to be my friend, stabbing me in the back. Wringing my neck. Piercing my heart. You’re a really good liar, aren’t you?” 

“Lower your weapon,” Yuri tries again, but Ashe doesn’t seem to be done.

“This isn’t the first time you do it, is it?” Ashe asks, flexing his fingers around the gun experimentally. Yuri keeps his weapon sheathed, tries to seem harmless. “How many times have you killed me until now?” 

Yuri doesn’t respond. It feels like the filters have stopped working and he’s suffocating, but it’s actually just the realization that, not only has Ashe been hacked, he’s also discovered the truth. Again, he found the classified information that forces Yuri to take his life time and again, and Command hadn’t noticed. He’s getting good, too good. The day might come when they will never realize he’s accessed the files until it’s too late. 

He observes Ashe again, his emotionless face, the coldness in his eyes, the determination in his shoulders. This Ashe never got to know Yuri, this Ashe probably doesn’t know it has a name beyond 4S.

All the times before, Ashe never fought Yuri when he uncovered the truth about his designation and- whatever else it is that Command is hiding. Either Yuri had struck without previous warning, or Ashe had said he understood and embraced his fate.

Is this him getting revenge? Is this what happens when he’s left alone and uncovers the truth?

Had Yuri’s friendship been the only thing that kept Ashe from fighting him?

“It’s fine if you don’t answer,” Ashe continues with an offhanded shrug. “I’ve seen it in the fi-”

“Thirty four,” Yuri finally answers. “Thirty four times.”

Ashe makes a mocking noise of wonder. “Amazing, you’ve actually been keeping track. I’m surprised.” 

He has; there’s a notebook in his room for that sole purpose. Thirty four dates, thirty four different descriptions of the ways Ashe had to die, of the things he did and said in his final moments.

“Drop the act, Ashe.” It’s disconcerting to see him acting like this. Ashe has always been sweet and polite; he was never what Yuri had been once, in his earlier days. “Don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”

“How hard can it be?” Ashe sneers, pointer finger flexing on the trigger. “After thirty four times, I’d think this has become quite easy for you, don’t you agree? Like a routine.” 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Yuri grits out and narrows his eyes at him, considering his options. “I like you, Ashe. Don’t be an idiot.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Another shot, one that had been taken involuntarily, and Yuri narrowly dodges it. He widens his eyes as the projectile embeds itself in the wall behind him, his gaze focused on Ashe’s unsteady hand.

Sniper units have perfect control of their motor skills, perfect aim, perfect stability. It’s rare when they aren’t functioning at peak performance. Like any other SEiRoS unit, Snipers are prone to displaying significant loss of skill when under heavy emotional distress. 

His words put his actions in another light, however. Ashe isn’t seeking revenge.

Ashe is hurting for being betrayed and killed by his best friend thirty four times, a friend he never got to meet this time until now. 

Yuri takes his sword out, gripping the hilt tight and pushing his own emotional distress aside to focus. He has to end this fast for both their sakes.

35

The confrontation with Ashe is the last push Yuri needed to look into the classified information himself. 

It’s much too risky and he knows the consequences if he’s caught, which is very likely, but Yuri doesn’t think he can go another day without knowing the reason why he has to kill Ashe and wipe his memory time and again. 

Androids may not require sleep, but the Academy still goes through a night cycle every twelve hours to simulate the passage of time on Earth. It isn’t uncommon for some units to go into standby during these hours to simulate sleep, and even Yuri did it a few times when he’d been feeling particularly stressed. 

Even with the night cycle, some androids are still operating their workstations and keeping communications with units down on Earth. It’s easy to slip past them; their senses aren’t as well developed as those who have to fight on the daily. It’s easier when Yuri’s Trickster programming is installed in the body of an Assassin unit, the combination making him faster and more silent. He crosses the back of the room towards the door to Commander Rhea’s private office, fiddling with the digital lock that requires a password or fingerprint. 

Rhea, like Seteth and Flayn, a girl Yuri barely sees around, always makes use of the night cycles to retire to her room. It’s strange how they take the opportunity to pretend to be resting every day, but it’s convenient right now, so he doesn’t complain. 

Yuri manages to override the code; he isn’t good at hacking like Ashe and other Sniper units, but he picked up a thing or two from watching Ashe work too many times. The door slides open soundlessly, and he enters the room after giving the Operators a brief glance, touching the light panel on the wall to illuminate the ofice once the door shuts again.

He isn’t alone. 

He hadn’t been worried about Rhea and the others, as he’d kept his eyes on them for most of the evening until they’d gone to their separate wing of the base. Finding the Twins here, however, is the equivalent of having Seteth here himself. 

Bereto stares at him impassively, his face an emotionless mask, while Beresu offers him a slight smile, as if he hadn’t just been trespassing into their Commander’s private office. 

For a moment, Yuri doesn’t know how to react. The instinct of asking why they’re here has the words pressing against the back of his teeth before he swallows them down. Briefly, he considers trying to charm his way out of this mess, but the Twins have always been immune to his looks and sweet words. Besides, the idea of flirting with any of them seems... Wrong, even if it’s just to get out of this unscathed. 

He has to wonder just how they knew he’d be here, though. Had he been obvious? 

Yuri takes a steadying breath, making peace with the fact that he will go through severe punishment for this before he’s even found out the truth. While Beresu is more lenient to letting things go, Bereto is just as uptight as Seteth and prone to following every rule strictly. They’re the third worst people he could’ve run into right now, and the chances of them letting him go are slim.

“Why are you here?” Bereto interrogates, making Yuri sigh internally.

“I wanted to know the reason why Ashe always needs his memory wiped clean,” he answers honestly, his chin held high. He’ll face whatever punishment walking tall as he’s always had. 

Bereto narrows his eyes, shifting in place, as if considering what course of action to take. Beresu wraps her fingers around his wrists, shaking her head slightly. It makes him pause, the composed mask of his face wavering for a moment in confusion. 

Beresu’s piercing green eyes find Yuri’s a beat later. “There’s no Nabatean alive in the moon colony.”

“Beresu!” The other twin hisses, and it’s one of the few times when Yuri has ever seen him show any kind of disapproval towards his sister. 

“He has the right to know,” she counters, matching his glare evenly. Yuri waits until the staring match ends with Beresu coming out victorious, her brother lowering his head with a slight shake and a sigh. 

They know, Yuri realizes when the shock of her words has worn out. Both of them know the truth that Command is hiding and they weren’t punished for it. Why?

Beresu’s gaze lingers on her brother for a while longer before meeting with Yuri’s again. “In the war with the Agarthans, most of the Nabateans were killed, leaving only five survivors. Commander Rhea is one of them and she fled into space to plan a counter attack, where they created the first SEiRoS knights. The only thing in the moon colony is a small bit of data relating to the Nabatean genome.”

Five survivors... Two of them must be Seteth and Flayn, but what of the remaining ones? “No one alive?” He asks instead. “What of the leader, Sothis?”

“She’s been dead all along. Her death led to the war.” Beresu reveals, and it’s no wonder Ashe has to have his memories deleted every time. Everything they know, the reason they fight for, is all a lie. “The only remnants of the Nabateans are Command, the genome, and the original Crest Stones. Those were like their hearts, and a few of our black boxes are powered with their fragments.” 

Even their black boxes were named after an almost dead civilization. “And those who aren’t?” He inquires, thinking of the differences between his own Crest Stone and Ashe’s. 

“They use artificial Crest Stones created in the laboratory by Manuela and Hanneman. Our Crest Stones in general are mere black boxes with a fancy name and a new design. The black boxes powered by actual Crest Stones have some added benefits to them, more power.” 

Yuri takes a moment to try and wrap his head around all that she’s said, but there’s a lot to unpack and analyze. “If they’re nearly all gone and Sothis is dead, then why lie to us?”

“Androids need something to believe in,” Bereto answers, his voice toneless, the delivery of the words automatic as if he’s said them countless times before. Maybe he’s had. Maybe he and Beresu carry a different kind of weight for knowing the truth. “We need a reason to fight for. Androids were created to reclaim Earth, to protect and restore the Nabatean race, that’s our purpose. If others were to find that our reason for existing is a lie, it could lead to the collapse of Project SEiRoS.” 

Beresu steps closer to her brother, entwining their fingers together and squeezing his hand. He looks down at her briefly before glancing away. “That is why Sniper units are often eliminated and remade,” she continues, looking down at their joined hands. “No one can know about this, Yuri.” 

“Are you letting me go? Just like that?” He asks with a frown, observing the two.

“Carrying this burden alone can get very tiring.” Beresu laughs quietly, lifting a hand to rub over her chest. Yuri wonders what fragment of Crest Stone they carry, but given how Rhea dotes on them, it isn’t hard to guess. “And now you know.”

“One life for the sake of hundreds,” Bereto muses, staring at nothing in particular. “Sounds good in theory, but never in practice.” 

Manuela is in the labs when Yuri arrives, a new 4S unit lying on the bed, staring unseeingly at the ceiling She gives him another rueful smile, a common sight by now, and gestures for him to wait while she checks on Ashe’s vitals to make sure he’s ready to be deployed. 

She steps away from the table as Ashe’s system is updated and calibrated, then joins Yuri near the entrance of the laboratory. “Can I help you with anything?” 

It takes effort to look away from Ashe’s form lying in perfect stillness on the table, but he forces himself to meet with her warm honey gaze. “I need you to make backups of his memories.” 

“That’s-” she sputters, and he shakes his head. Against the rules, forbidden, he’s heard all of that. But he’s also broken many rules tonight, he’s holding on to secrets no one should know, secrets that get his best friend killed by his own hands far too many times.

It’s the least Ashe deserves, Yuri thinks, to know his own name, to remember his friends, the laughs, the close calls, all the little facts about plants and birds he’s learned. 

Manuela hesitates, but she caves in. She’s too good, too compassionate. Yuri is grateful for it. 

36

“This is beautiful,” Ashe breathes out, and Yuri agrees. He’s not looking at the view, though.

They’re by the ruins of a seaside city with crumbling buildings, collapsed elevated walkways and flooded canals. The destruction itself isn’t what makes Ashe sigh as they stop on top of a cliff, but rather the way the ocean water glints under the dying sunlight like jewels as the sun dips below the horizon, casting many colors on the sky and painting them golden.

Ashe looks beautiful, face highlighted by the sun, eyes sparkling with wonder and lips parted in awe. He’s a stunning sight, far more captivating than what holds his attention in this moment. Yuri never wants to forget this.

He turns to face him, ducking his head down in embarrassment when he catches Yuri staring. Ashe doesn’t blush, they can’t, but he tries to hide his face anyway, his fringe concealing his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing,” Yuri says. He could say that he’s appreciating the view, but that leads to many doors he doesn’t know if he’s ready to open yet. Not while there’s still the possibility of him needing to silence Ashe again. “Do you want to look at it some more?”

Ashe hesitates, but ends up shaking his head. “No, we have a mission to complete.” 

Yuri nods, and together they walk away from the ruins, twilight fast approaching to blanket the land. He’ll make sure to ask Manuela to make a backup of this memory so that Ashe will remember this in the future.

37

After years of searching, they find Edelgard in the ruins of an old imperial palace.

She doesn’t look like what they remember.

Gone is the small girl with platinum hair and lilac eyes, replaced by a grotesque creature with long limbs and thin, needle-like fingers. A pair of wings sprout from her back, curved and pointed, so unlike the wings of birds he’s seen over the years. Her eyes are pure black, irises and pupils reduced to a glowing red dot. 

It’s horrifying what the Agarthans have done to her, but there isn’t much time to think about it. The remaining Lords and the Enlightened Twins are tasked with defeating what she’s become, but first they have to cut a path through the machines occupying the streets of the abandoned city and the palace. 

The Death Knight is here and Yuri isn’t going to let this opportunity pass. He doesn’t think as he breaks away from his team and rushes headfirst into a battle with this mysterious unit. Usually, Yuri isn’t vengeful or stupid enough to act on whims and stray from the plan, but he wants this machine dead to pay for what he’s done to Ashe, to his friends, to every other unit that’s fallen by its hands in the past years.

Him straying from the plan opens a path for another unit to do the same, namely Felix. He’d been eager to fight this one since the first encounter, and while Yuri would rather take this Death Knight one on one, he has to admit that some help is needed.

“Yuri!” It’s Ashe, he realizes. His own group is close by, and he ditches his team, too, in favor of covering for both him and Felix as they slash away at the machine. 

There are many humanoid figures in here, covered in long black robes and casting... Magic? Yuri trusts someone else to deal with them, busy as he is with the Death Knight. The machine wields a scythe with skill and precision, each strike and slash becoming harder to avoid. Felix and Yuri step back after it swings the weapon in a large arc, giving Ashe the opportunity he needed to fire a bullet at it.

The Death Knight hadn’t been aware of his presence, so the projectile hits the mark, though it doesn’t do much damage. It’s enough to attract the machine’s attention, though, and as it moves to advance towards Ashe, Yuri and Felix spring forward with swords drawn.

It goes down, but not before injuring them as well.

Ashe rushes to his side, kneeling down and tearing a piece of his clothes to wrap around the deep gash in Yuri’s arm. It hurts like hell - who thought that giving androids nerve endings and the ability to feel pain was a good idea? - but it can get easily repaired or replaced once they’re back in the Academy. 

“Are you crazy?” Ashe chides, pressing down on the cut to stanch the flow of fluids leaving his body. Anette comes over once more enemies are down in this area to check on Felix. “That was dangerous! Why would you do that?” 

“He- hacked you once,” he says through gritted teeth, trying to bear the pain. “You had to be taken out.” 

The angry frown on Ashe’s face softens to a look of surprise, and he shakes his head disapprovingly. “Don’t do that again. You could’ve died.” 

“It would be worth it,” Yuri argues, and Ashe ducks his head again, embarrassed. He would be happy to die if it meant keeping Ashe safe. He would do it as many times as needed. 

“No, it wouldn’t.” Ashe is frowning again, and there’s the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Don’t put yourself at risk for my sake, it’s not worth it.”

“It is.” Yuri will insist on it until Ashe understands. “For you, I-”

“Hi, sorry to interrupt,” Annette cuts in, giving them an embarrassed smile. Shit, Yuri had forgotten there were people close by. “We need to advance. Can you still fight, Yuri?”

Yuri flexes his arm experimentally. “I can manage.”

“Great! We’re close to Edelgard now. Soon, this will be over,” she says the last bit wistfully, standing to her feet with Felix’s help.

He hopes so too, Yuri thinks, holding Ashe’s stare for a few moments before they continue.

Something stood out in the battle at the imperial palace: the humanoid figures in long robes. Humans among the machines.

Agarthans. 

Edelgard was destroyed, the virus ingrained in her for so long that there had been nothing left to salvage. A third Lord unit might be remade in the future now that the previous one is finally dead. Dimitri seems to be at peace now that she was laid to rest, no longer corrupted by the Agarthans, free from their clutches. 

It doesn’t take much to get the location of their headquarters from the one Agarthan they spared in the attack. Androids feel pain, but they can withstand more than humans can, and the threat of it had this one breaking much too fast.

Shambala is an underground city. It’s no wonder they never found their main base with it being underground all along. More of the Titanus Class machines are patrolling the walls of the city, but the units present in the final attack don’t let the machines deter them from reaching their goal. 

It’s a long, taxing battle. There are more Agarthans than there are Nabateans left, but there are just as many androids here too. It feels strange to be cutting up humans and not machines, but destroying the Agarthans is what they were made for.

What will they do once this is over? With no more machines to fight, the androids will lose their purpose. 

Yuri doesn’t know how to feel about it. He’s always had something to keep him moving forward, orders to follow, enemies to take care of. A life of peace seems so out of his reach, so intangible. 

Or maybe, all he needs to do is focus hard enough that he can imagine it, endless days of travel, studying plants and bird sighting.

It sounds like a lovely life to lead, to be honest. 

A cry comes from the heart of the city where the Twins have been fighting the Agarthan leader. Blood oozes from a deep wound in his arm, and the sight of it has the other Agarthans faltering. Hesitation on the battlefield means certain death, and they are quick to finish them off, completing the purpose of their existence.

There’s a moment of stillness, of heavy silence, after the last Agarthan falls and the androids straighten up. “We did it,” Constance murmurs to his right, and Yuri can hardly believe it himself. 

The war is won.

Quickly, he looks around, trying to find Ashe amidst all the androids present. He spots him standing with some Archer units, Leonie and Ignatz, high fiving them as they celebrate the fight. Yuri takes a step forward, intent on going to him,on doing everything he’s thought of doing these past years, but a purple glow lights up from the center of Shambala.

The leader is kneeling on the ground, shrouded in the purple glow. He must have activated something, they realize with a jolt of panic. Bereto finishes him off quickly, but it’s too late; the Agarthans’ last plan is set in motion. The ground shakes as the ceiling of the city shakes and crumbles, debris raining down on them. Some narrowly avoid the rubble, while others aren’t as lucky. 

The hole in the ceiling reveals grey clouds, which part and uncover the sunset sky as another large projectile is headed their way. Walls and pillars begin to collapse, and there’s an increasing wave of panic as the androids try to flee and rescue those who are down. Yuri finally breaks into a run to reunite with Ashe, shouting over his shoulder that his friends need to find a way to get out. He can take care of himself. He will be fine as long as Ashe is fine.

Ashe seems to be thinking along the same lines, running against the flow of people to reach him. The city continues to take more hits, more and more of it crumbling around them. Bereto and Beresu try to evacuate the area, guiding others towards the entrances and routes they took to reach Shambala, but most of them have been blocked by the fallen structure.

They’re all going to die, Yuri realizes. The Agarthans would never accept defeat without taking them down, too. 

The ground beneath their feet splits, ejecting chunks of stone into the air, creating an uneven terrain that is hard to navigate. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Death is imminent. 

They can always be brought back, he thinks, focused on keeping his feet from tripping so he will get to Ashe faster. They always come back; in a different body and with their memories resetted if there’s no backup, sure, but they always come back.

Except... Do they even need to be brought back now that the war is won? They serve no purpose. Why would Commander Rhea have so many androids remade?

Yuri reaches Ashe just as another part of the city blows up in flames, wrapping his arms around him tightly and bringing their mouths together in a hurried, frenzied kiss. They break away when the ground shakes again, hard enough that they nearly lose their footing, hands gripping at each other tight so they won’t be separated. There isn’t panic in Ashe’s eyes despite the chaos breaking out around them, his eyes curved as he smiles widely at Yuri. 

He pulls him in again, holding him close as Yuri pours himself into this kiss. This is it. The next time they meet they might be strangers, if they meet at all.

The world fades into light.

38

When Yuri opens his eyes again, he’s in the laboratory in the Academy. 

“You’re awake,” Manuela notes, and for an android, she looks exhausted. “You’re all lucky ones, you know that?” 

He pushes himself up to a sitting position, looking around him in confusion. “What...?” Strange; his head feels heavy, and it’s like he can feel the heat of explosions nearby. He shudders, vivid memories of clouds of dust, collapsing walls, explosions, rumbling ground under his feet, androids trapped beneath boulders.

Yuri thinks, I should be dead .

“You should,” Manuela agrees, a tired smile on her face. “But you’re not. That little boyfriend of yours is a genius.” 

“Boyfriend?” He echoes, immensely confused. “What are you talking about?” 

She pats his shoulder gently with an understanding nod. “The servers of the Academy nearly crashed with the amount of data that was being backed up. Turns out he rallied the Snipers down there to upload as much data as they could while the city collapsed on you. Some weren’t lucky, but many managed to keep their memories.”

Yuri sucks a breath through his teeth. Ashe... “Did he upload his own data?”

“He did. Right after yours.” 

Yuri doesn’t need to hear more. He is out of the labs as fast as his legs can carry him, running through the cold, sterile white hallways of the Academy, looking into the most likely places where he will find Ashe.

He is in the greenhouse, surrounded by verdant plants. The violets they brought from Earth that one time are in bloom, and he’s observing their beauty when Yuri enters the room. 

“Ashe?” He calls, never ceasing the steps that take him closer. Ashe turns around, already smiling, and runs into Yuri’s open arms, wrapping his own around him tightly. “Ashe,” he breathes out, tucking a lock of grey hair behind an ear and tilting his head up for a kiss. “You’re amazing.” 

“Just doing my job,” he says quietly, whispering the words against Yuri’s lips. Yuri shakes his head and kisses him again.

With the Agarthans defeated, there’s no more purpose to keep Project SEiRoS active. Commander Rhea had been planning on shutting it down once her goal had been met, but she decides not to. 

Yuri can’t say he understands her reasons. Perhaps she’s grown attached to the Twins, perhaps it’s something else entirely. Either way, he’s glad to know he will be able to continue existing and try a hand at living that peaceful life he’d so briefly envisioned. 

The androids are sent down to Earth, and Rhea returns to Garreg Mach, deactivating the Academy. The small data relating to the Nabatean Genome is retrieved from the moon colony, and now living in times of peace, she plans on trying to restore her civilization. Some androids choose to stay with her, like Catherine, Hanneman and Manuela, but most are more interested in exploring the world they fought so hard to reclaim. 

Yuri is one of those, setting foot on the road now that he finally has the chance to slow down and appreciate the scenery. Ashe is with him every step of the way, their hands entwined together tightly. 

“Where do you want to go first?” He asks, smiling at the flower he tucked behind Ashe’s ear. Violets, his favorite.

“Hmm... Oh, how about the beach?” Ashe suggests, tapping his chin. “We haven’t been there in a while.”

“Of course.” Yuri pulls him along under the shade of the trees, birdsong fluttering among the leaves that sway in the breeze. “We have all the time in the world to appreciate it, now.”

∞