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“So,” Uzi was roused to a gentle voice she’d come to admire in recent years. “We kinda screwed up, huh?”
Uzi turned to see she was pressed gently to the chest of her… Well, she wasn’t sure what to call him, but he was undeniably the one she cared most for in the world.N smiled down at her awkwardly as he held her close.
Uzi smiled for a moment, curling in closer to him.
Something did feel off, though… weren’t they just on the ship a second ago? They had gone up and found Cyn’s final vessel on the ship, and together, they had defeated her.
But now they were plummeting. Uzi felt her body tense up as she registered the cold wind whipping around her arms and legs, providing no structure. If N hadn’t been holding her, she would’ve flailed wildly out of the sudden shock and confusion. But his tight grip served as a needed pillar.
She curled up into his neck and smiled. “We won, N… we won.”
N smiled back at her and rested his chin on top of her head. “Yeah, Uzi… we won. I’m so happy.”
Uzi wrapped her arms fully around N’s back, tensing when something singed her hands, making her recoil back into a position where she was being held.
“What’s…” Uzi’s eyes widened as she fully took in the heat. “What’s going on?”
Uzi finally registered the smell of burning up metal.
N’s smile warmed Uzi’s heart as he kept her gaze, but it didn’t calm her.
“Cyn, she… she blew up the spaceship we were fighting on when she lost. I caught you, but fell too…” he pressed his forehead to Uzi’s. “And the sun’s out… so I think that,” he chuckled nervously. “I might be burning up a bit.”
N had positioned himself at an angle to shield Uzi from the majority of the sunlight.
“Oh…” Uzi’s eyes widened as the realization hit her like a wave. Her breathing suddenly picked up and she turned her head left and right - as if suddenly unsure where she was again. Her grip on N’s coat tightened. “Oh! Shit, we need to get you away from the sunlight!”
N shook his head sadly. “There’s nothing for us, Uzi. Your solver stopped working when we destroyed The Absolute Solver Program and Cyn started glitching out on the spaceship, and my wings aren’t healing fast enough compared to the burning and the initial damage Cyn did to them.”
Uzi’s purple eyes widened as her visor strained a bit. “What… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” N responded. “That I promise I’ll protect you,” his yellow eyes glowed with a comforting light.
“No!” Uzi tried to shove him away but N held her close. “Stop! Let me… let me burn!” Tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes. “Let me burn for you!”
N held her close and Uzi’s heart sank. How could he… how could he be so inconsiderate! How could he… her thoughts faltered and fell apart like a vase shattering against the ground, with it’s little glass pieces flying everywhere and fragmenting further and further. A choked sob had cut off her train of thought, and she glanced up to see his visor was showing concentration. Focus, trying to stay strong… to avoid cracking, for her.
She stopped pushing and shoving.
“Please,” N said, hugging Uzi a little harder, “I’ve already made up my mind to protect you.”
Uzi’s heart shattered into a million pieces, and she felt everything in her crack like the mirrors that she had shattered with Absolute Solver - a power she had so detested, and now desperately wished was still with her.
“I…” Uzi curled up into a ball against N, refusing to meet his eyes. “I don’t know why you’d do this for me.”
“I love you,” N said as the sun’s rays glimmered off of his metallic wings, painting the whole world with a steely light. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at Uzi. “And I will always love you.”
Uzi pressed her visor to N’s coat to avoid looking up at him. “Bite me!” She growled out, rage bubbling up. But her anger at their situation faded away as she tugged at his hat and pulled it over his eyes.
She reached up and pressed her lips to his. “I love you too, N.”
N smiled at Uzi and ran his fingers through her hair. Her beanie had gotten lost at some point during the fight against Cyn, and now he could touch her hair just once.
“Why…” Uzi choked out. “Why do I have to be without you?”
“Because that’s the only way,” N responded. “My exoskeleton has padding… and you’re durable. So survive the fall.”
Uzi wrapped her arms around N’s torso. She didn’t care that the sun began to singe her hands, because in her eyes, nothing could compare to the hell N had to have been going through to protect her.
“What do I do without you?” Her lips Uzi’s lip quivered as she spoke. It took everything she had to fight back tears as she held N all the tighter.
“Just live,” N said. “Read a lot of books, I know you like to read. And maybe… maybe get a robotic doggy for me. I always wanted one.” His voice picked up in childish glee as he mentioned the dog. “And pet him lots for me…”
The light began to peek through N’s wings as holes burned through them. N smiled at Uzi even as her lips twitched downwards and her expression curled in on itself sadly.
“Get…” N choked up. “Get a nice big house. So you don’t feel cramped up like you did in the colony. But not too big, cause I know you won’t want to clean that much.”
Uzi purple hair was singed as holes opened up in N’s shoulders.
“Stay away from the sun… you might be cured, but it seems like it still hurts you.”
“I will,” Uzi promised. “I promise you, I will.”
N smiled. “Good. And… and don’t be too sad for me. Just remember me… that’s good enough.”
Uzi promised nothing as she curled up into N’s chest. And sobbed harder.
“If you’re going to make a funeral, don’t do it too big… I wasn’t that good friends with everyone yet, so don’t feel like you have to invite all the people you know. And please invite Rebecca, even though you don’t like her.”
Uzi giggled a little bit past the tears. “I promise… but I’m not talking to her.”
N rubbed her forehead as he ran his fingers delicately through her purple hair. It was soft and velvety… everything he imagined petting a dog would be like.
“That’s okay,” N said. “And get over me one day… find happiness one day. Happiness for me, cause I’ll be with you.”
“No!” Uzi yelled. She rubbed her tears off against N’s jacket and looked up at him. “You’re pissing me off, damn it! I love you. I don’t want anyone else.” Her hands locked with his, their fingers interlaced.
N smiled at her sadly. “It’s really selfish of me. But that makes me,” his voice faltered for a moment. “That makes me really happy, Uzi.”
“How are you holding up?” she asked concernedly as the wind whipped around their face.
N shook his head a little bit and Uzi caught sight of his disintegrating head.
“It’s becoming hard to see. Are we close to the ground yet?”
Uzi looked down. Still so far. Even falling all this time, they were still so far.
Which meant N’s exoskeleton would burn, too.
“Yeah,” Uzi lied as she buried her head into the crook of N’s neck. “We’re pretty close, N.”
N’s body opened up more holes. It heated up even more. The sun lit the world below brilliant colors as it continued to rise.
“Good,” N said. “I don’t think… It's hard to talk. But I want to say a few more things to you.”
Uzi nodded.
“I really had so, so much fun with you. You don’t understand how much you changed my life. It wasn’t the longest time, but I had a time beyond compare… I love you Uzi. You were my best friend ever,” their hands remained locked even as his hand began to turn to a metallic ash - a silicone powder. “And the girl I love. Thank you for being so much for me… thank you for being with me, my love.”
Uzi sobbed out openly. “I love you, N.”
“I…” N’s jaw began to split open as the light opened up holes in his neck. “I love you, Uzi.”
His body began to crumble into a metallic dust and Uzi cradled the burning pieces.
Uzi looked down as she spun out of control in the air. It howled around her as it claimed parts of N’s burning body.
Silicone dust drifted through her fingers as she clenched the destroyed corpse. She closed her eyes tightly and was silent for a moment, letting the howling wind around her be the only sound. She… she couldn’t understand…
But then it clicked. All her memories clicked! She was standing on a massive hill looking down at her life, and it was all gray - all one lump of colorless blurs. Except him… except the one she had let go, the one who burned up in her arms.
Uzi howled out in pain. “N!” She yelled. “N!” Dust got into her eyes as she shoved all of his burning essence, his shattered remains, against herself. “N…!” She sobbed out.
“…I love you,” Uzi said to the metallic corpse as they plummeted closer to the ground.
Uzi cradled the hot metal exoskeleton to her chest as they continued to plummet. She felt… so empty. So lifeless.
It had been so unfair of N to die before her. But she couldn’t be too mad. Because in her final moments, she had at least gotten to feel that…
That warmth.
Uzi hugged the warm steel to her flesh as she continued to approach the ground. The palms of her hands, her hair, her face - it all began to melt away.
Uzi cradled the ashes and smiled, even as her smile turned to metallic dust.
Love… love was warm like the sun and embraced her just like it did. Love burned at her skin and pricked and tingled and stung. Love kissed her cheek like the sun was doing now.
Love was the sun…
And the sun had taken her love.
And embraced in the ashes of the one she loved, Uzi burnt up and joined him.
In the end, the two were just ashes falling to the ground.