Chapter Text
“7 years ago today, humanity was threatened by an orbital satellite cannon coded as Ragnarok. However, the events took a change in turn as a legendary hero known as Zero sacrificed himself and took down the weapon with him, saving the lives of millions and putting an end to the war known as Vile’s Incident. By the request of Dr Ciel, known as one of the Resistance survivors and a leading scientist in the Biometal program, we will once again be holding a memorial event for Zero and the other 20 million people that lost their lives in the war. Lastly, we will play an interview with Dr Ciel which was recorded 2 years after the incident.”
Ciel let out a tired sigh after listening to the newscaster finish her sequence. The interview - it was a painful memory of even more painful events which cost her the life of a dear friend. How many years had passed since then and how much the world had changed. The human race had abandoned their previous lifestyle once known as Utopia as they moved out of dome cities and began to live under the sun once more. Neo Arcadia, the place where Ciel was born and raised, was no more. Now she felt like she belonged here, in Area Zero, where nature flourished.
Following the end of the war, a new generation was born resulting in a baby boom. The young ones had never experienced the Utopia which the adults still longed for. Drastic changes were made for the governing body, resulting in complete equality between the human and reploid races. Ciel, although otherwise unwilling to take part in politics as of now, had been one the frontmen of the change. She and Neige had both wished to bring change to the world, hoping to bring closure to the loss of Zero and Craft alike. Neige ended up becoming a governor for the capital city of Area Zero, known as New Arcadia.
Ciel had strictly wished to resign from public work and wished to dedicate her remaining life by developing the biometals. She only agreed to be interviewed about the events of the Ragnarok attack once and turned down all the offers of writing a biography about her life. She would agree to speak on TV once a year, during the annual commemoration of the victims of Ragnarok. For her, it was necessary that the new generation would learn the very history about how their birthplace was founded and what kind of sacrifices it took for them all to live in peace. The reconstruction of the world was still incomplete but everything looked brighter every day.. Ciel was learning to live for herself again.
“I heard that when Ragnarok fell, he still continued to fight. From your eyes, as the one who was closest to him, was he able to be strong simply because he was a legendary Reploid?” a journalist asked on the TV screen. Ciel watched quietly as the image switched to a recording of her.
“When Zero woke up, he had no memory, he didn't even remember who he was,” she laughed insincerely to the camera which made the present Ciel let out a tiny sigh.
“Yet, he always looked only forward. Everyone in the Resistance was like family to me and I fought along with them because the bond I shared with them gave me special strength. Even when I lost everything, something remained, and that is the strength I had found within. I believe Zero always had that strength,” Ciel finished and the recording ended and the newscaster from before was back in view. Ciel’s quiet stare remained as she was recalling the events of the interview. Everyone had been questionably interested in her private life and the relationship she shared with Zero. We’re companions - co-workers, she had always told them. It was the truth, right?
“Ciel, the taxi, uh… they came to pick you up,” a young female reploid peeked from behind the door of Ciel’s room, noticing the scientist frozen in front of the TV. “Ciel? Did you hear me?” she continued and opened the door fully. The sound made Ciel snap out of her trance and she turned to look at the teenage-looking girl with a smile.
“Y-yeah… I’m coming. Thank you, Alouette,” she said and picked up her purse before exiting the apartment they shared. Yes, that’s right. Alouette was still living with Ciel, the human who had rescued her from Neo Arcadia. As time passed, Ciel modified her to look older by Alouette’s own wish. She was already attending high school like any normal teenager would, except she was still carrying the stuffed cat doll Ciel had given her. Seeing Alouette enjoying her life brought Ciel great joy and she smiled at the thought of when she first gave Alouette the same doll.
“Miss Ciel, I picked up your favourite coffee and a bagel on my way here. I’m pretty sure you haven’t eaten anything and we don’t want you fainting in front of the podium”, a human male greeted Ciel at the entrance of the tall building, offered her a paper bag with her lunch inside and then hurried to open a car door for her.
“Thanks, Luca. To be honest, I’m not sure if I will be able to eat anything before my speech. I’m afraid I’ll throw up on live TV,” she said, looking somewhat nervous. Luca was Ciel’s assistant at work, the one who reminded her to take breaks and eat once in a while. Needless to say, Ciel was certain Luca’s concern for her well-being was beyond his duties as her assistant. Sometimes she felt like he was a little too eager to help her. Perhaps that was just a personality trait or he was interested in her, she was not really sure nor did she even care.
“It’s your 7th time doing this, why are you acting like it’s your first?” he asked while positioning himself to sit next to her on the backseat. The driver took off.
“Well, it isn’t the same speech I gave last year. I’m afraid I’ll mess up,” she sighed.
“Relax. You’re gonna be fine. Besides, I feel like it’s about time you stop dwelling in the past. Why not ask someone else to give the speech next year instead?” Luca said and took a sip of his own coffee while gazing out of the window. Ciel was unable to meet his eyes, but she gave him a concerned look.
“I don’t know, I’ve been doing this since the beginning, it would be weird to give up on the tradition,” Ciel responded and took a peek inside the paper bag. A chocolate bagel? They don’t sell these in the nearest bakery so he must have gone pretty far to get this, she thought by herself.
“Hmm, doesn’t mean you have to quit the tradition. I chatted with Alouette the other day and even she thought that you need to start living in the present. Maybe you should go out with someone, have a drink? I’ll volunteer if you’d like,” he laughed lightly and finished his coffee. Ciel was unable to respond as she noticed they had arrived at the Ragnarok memorial. Luca noticed and his smile vanished as if he had realized what he said was out of place. He hurried to open the door for Ciel.
There were journalists and cameras everywhere which made her even more nervous. She kept her head low as most of the crowd noticed her arrival and turned to her way. She walked past them to the podium which was positioned right in front of the key piece of the memorial, a statue of Zero wielding his famous Z-saber. Ciel had learned to notice that as she walked to the podium, she always avoided looking up at the statue. Even if it was just a sculpture, seeing Zero pained her.
She placed a tablet with notes on the top of the podium, gathering herself up before beginning the speech.
“As we all know, today is the 7th commemorial of the Ragnarok incident… I shall begin my speech by thanking the selfless actions of Zero, the hero who sacrificed himself so we could see the world as it is today,” she read out, moving her gaze through the crowd standing in front of her. She was doing her best keeping her voice calm. A few years ago, her voice would crack up as she held back tears, the first time she had to take a break because she broke down crying.
“Please take a better look at the statue depicting Zero. Remember him as I and everyone else in the Resistance knew him. We shall have a moment of silence for his and every other victim’s memory.”
Ciel raised her hand towards the tall statue behind her. She dared to turn her head towards it, surprised that she was not shedding any tears. Not this time, she thought and gave a tiny smile to the Zero made out of marble and alabaster. She felt like this was the starting point in her change. She was determined that she would be able to finish her healing process after today.
Elsewhere, somewhere far away from Area Zero, was an elderly man who hummed a lullaby in his sleep on a comfy-looking office chair. He had a grizzled brown hair and tangled beard. He lived in a structure which looked more like a big tent. It was located at the side of a huge desert and served as a shop.
Everywhere seemed to be some kind of spare parts of reploids, other broken machinery and all kinds of electric tools. Behind the cash register was a curtain which hid a rusty old capsule with a red light on it, the technology looked something out of the 21xx. Most traders and collectors would simply throw it away as it seemed unfixable. No one knew that the capsule protected something, or someone, which was more valuable than any other item the shop could offer.
As the elderly shopkeeper was finishing humming his song, a green light started piercing through the curtain, straight to his face on the other side of the room. He squinted his eyes more shut before letting out a displeased groan.
“Ann, what the heck are you doing?! Can’t you see I’m slee-,” he stopped and stared in front of him.
“It’s finished?!” he breathed out and stood up from the chair, simply staring at the light for a moment before brushing past the curtain next to the capsule.
He took out an old manual written on paper. None of the people of the new era used paper anymore, but the capsule was old technology and no modern manuals existed for it. It was most probably used for the reploids during the late 21xx, somewhere around the 2190s.
“Here! Enter the password you chose and pull the switch, got it,” the man mumbled by himself and followed the instructions.
Suddenly lots of steam streamed out of the capsule as it opened and a figure of a sleeping male was seen. He was not a human, a reploid, no, an android. He was one of the originals. His paint job seemed new, hardly any bruises or fractures could be seen. He seemed to have been built by the spare parts of some newer model, his helmet having a slightly different shape than it probably would have originally. The most notable trait that the artificial being possessed was his ridiculously long golden hair, something most individuals of the reploid race did not have.
Now, the whole sight was straight out of his dreams. He knew exactly what he was looking at, he was sure of it now although he had had doubts previously, back when he had first found and repaired this wounded individual.
He took a step forward as he watched the android regain consciousness, finally opening his deep black eyes and meeting his eyes. The shopkeeper let out a relieved laugh and offered his hand out for him.
“Welcome back, Zero.”