Work Text:
The heels of Millie’s boots sunk thickly into the sand as she struggled up the mountainous dune, its fluid surface at constant risk of sending her and the load she dragged behind her back down to the bottom, erasing her entire morning’s work.
Or worse, swallowing her whole.
She felt a tug on the thick canvas sack she’d been pulling behind her, its heft more than thrice her own, and saw that a piece of long-forgotten skyscraper had worked its way through its granular prison to take hold of her precious burden. Millie heaved and pulled with all her might against the catch, her boots failing to find purchase again and again.
Finally, there was a crack, and whatever held them fast snapped off sending Millie and her cargo flying backward, ass-over-hat, until they conveniently settled to a stop at the apex of the massive crag.
“Look onii-chan,” Millie panted as she dusted herself off, “it’s Dallas! Or at least what used to be Dallas. Did you ever get to go there?” A pit formed in her throat as she looked over the landscape, remembering the time and people this place had once held; of a time when Fuchan had merely been on power-saving mode and not…gone.
Don't worry, I gotchu! I'm an immortal witch, so when you start to shut down I'll take you to wonderful places!! We can look for power supplies too!
But there were no wonderful places anymore. The wonderful places were in the past with all of them. How many were gone now, never to return? She had promised to bring him back. She had promised them all.
Please Fuchan, just ten more minutes…
Millie felt tears sting her eyes as she thought of the Comfydants, all long since gone, a tuft of one’s wool still strung at her side.
“I will bring you back,” Millie cursed, forcefully rubbing her sleeve across her eyes. “Even if I have to search a thousand timelines for a thousand years, I will bring you back!”
They weren’t meant to be apart. She stood, grabbing hold of the sack she used to transport the man she called brother with her, flinging them back over the side and leaping on top to ride down the titanic dune. The sand and wind tore at her cheeks, making her tears burn all the more.
They came to a stop and the bag slipped, revealing to Millie the face of her cyborg brother, lost in an endless sleep within the protective capsule Shu had suspended him in all those years ago. If only she could use her magic…
“Just one more shift,” she whispered as she stared at her brother’s still face. “Just one more timeline and this time I know we’ll find a power supply!”
Her body ached with the effort of making their journey. It had been so much easier when the others could help her carry the load, but she was the only one who could step between timelines so she had to do this alone.
Bring him back, bitch! Enna and Uki had called after her together when she’d made her first jump as if neither of them was terrified they’d never see her again. As if both of them weren’t torn apart at the loss of their precious friend.
She spotted the Calamity Rift shimmering in the distance ahead of her, its synergetic energy calling out to her own. She had lied to them; anyone could step through these portals between realities, but having your entire being torn apart at the molecular level hurt like hell and they didn’t need to experience that. She’d been burned alive and survived, she could survive this.
“One more time,” she whispered as she approached the fluctuating surface hanging in the air. “This time will be right!”
She stepped inside, heaving her brother along with her, and felt every part of her body rip and tear, coming apart and back together again a million times a second. She screamed in agony as her reality threatened to come apart. The only things holding her mind together were her demonic pact and the knowledge that if she gave in Fulgur would fail and he would be lost forever.
An eternity later she felt her body shift and collide hard with a stone wall, her cheek swelling immediately in protest of the rough landing. She didn’t have time to dwell on the pain as her head snapped up, daring to hope for one moment they had found a world that still existed - the world where he had been.
.
...
.....
It was a ruin.
Newer than so many of the structures she’d seen before but far from what she’d consider a thriving, or even surviving, civilization. The sand that covered so many of the realities was replaced by dry, lifeless dirt, and the sky was thick with acidic clouds and UV radiation.
“DAMN IT!” She screamed into the nothingness as she fell back on her heels. “Why can’t I find it?!” Her tears weren’t subtle now as a damn within her broke and she cursed the universe. What was the point of living forever if you had to watch all your friends die? What was the use if you couldn’t even save one person you loved??
What was the point when every future only led to more pain and death?
“Imouto…”
Millie cursed under her breath, hating that she could still hear his voice.
“Imouto.”
Had Fuchan ever sounded that gentle? Why was her brain tormenting her this way?
Millie stood once more, furious with herself for her weakness. How could she give up for even a second when all of the others were waiting back home for her in their time? She would find a way; she would bring him back!
“Imouto.” There was a slight tug on her robe this time and Millie spun around, arms raised, ready to fight.
What she saw brought her to her knees as tears began to run once more.
“Niichan...”
The cyborg was awake, his arm pushed through the pod and clinging to her; his eyes were exhausted but alert and fully there.
“Millie,” he whispered, “there’s an air-charge station here. I can feel it.” He reached his arm out further and gently grasped her hand. “Tadaima, imouto.”