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Maria stretched in her room. She had woken up not long ago, much later than she would usually sleep. It was one of her rare days off, and she felt no urgency to figure out what she was going to do.
Her phone buzzed, and she checked her incoming message.
Hibiki: "Could you check on Miku for me?"
Unlike Maria, Hibiki did not have the day off. She was somewhere overseas completing a mission for S.O.N.G. and she would be staying there for a while longer.
Maria: "Is everything okay?"
Hibiki: "I don't know; I haven't heard from her in a while..."
Maria felt a twinge of concern.
Maria: "I'll go over right now."
She grabbed her keys and rushed out the door, not bothering to change.
Maria knocked loudly on the door of Miku and Hibiki's shared apartment. The door opened to reveal a groggy-looking Miku, staring confusedly at the pink-haired woman. Maria couldn't help but think she looked adorable, even in this state.
"Maria?" Miku asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Maria was relieved to see that the girl appeared to be fine.
"No, it's fine! Please come in." Miku opened the door to let Maria enter.
"That's okay. Hibiki just wanted me to make sure you were okay."
"Oh." Maria was hit with guilt at the disappointment in Miku's voice.
"Well, maybe for a little while." Maria conceded.
Miku prepared them tea, smiling happily. "It's really nice to see you; sometimes it gets lonely when Hibiki is away."
"I can imagine." Maria knew Hibiki and Miku were very close. Everyone knew that; it was strange to see Miku without her. It almost felt like she was looking at a different person.
"Hibiki worries too much when we're separated, though normally she has Chris check on me." Miku placed a cup in front of Maria. "I think this is the first time we've been together, just the two of us."
"It's not..." Maria said quietly.
Maria leaned against the wall, humming the song that reminded her of her sister. What would Serena think of her if she could see her now? she wondered.
In the center of the room, a girl sat in a cage, looking tired and scared. Maria felt a twinge in her heart but she couldn't let herself be swayed by sympathy. She told herself that she wouldn't be afraid to stain her hands.
Still, there was no reason to be needlessly cruel.
"Are you hurt?" Maria asked without looking in the girl's direction.
There was a long silence in response. That was fine. She wasn't going to push any more than that. If that girl wanted help, she could ask for it.
"Maria-san." The girl spoke; her voice was soft and a bit raspy. She had been screaming before Maria found her, so it was no surprise, but still she thought there was something soothing about it.
"What?" Maria gave a curt reply. She had to remain firm; it was too late to waver now.
"Why are you doing this?"
Maria turned towards her while answering and immediately regretted it. The girl before her was disheveled and broken. She looked at her with such sadness that it made her heartache, though Maria suspected not all of that sadness was caused by her.
"It's to protect the world." Maria quickly turned away again. She gritted her teeth and tried to put those watery, green eyes out of her mind.
"Then why can't you work with Hibiki and the others?" She crawled closer to the edge of the cage closest to Maria.
If only it was that easy, but this was something she had to do. She couldn't ask anyone else to take on these burdens or these sins. Besides, how could they possibly understand?
"Maria-san." Maria must have taken too long to answer. Miku's eyes now shone with concern over sadness. "No matter what it is, Hibiki will help you. Why can't you talk to her?"
Maria punched the wall in frustration, causing the girl to jump. "I can't..." even though I don't know why.
Dr. Ver slunk into the room before Maria could finish her sentence. Not that she knew if she even would have.
"I saved her, and you had me bring her here; what exactly are you planning?"
Dr. Ver laughed in a way that made Maria want to wipe her skin off. She knew already. She knew that whatever he was about to do would be something terrible. And she was going to let it happen.
"Maria." Miku placed her hand on the older woman's cheek. "It's alright."
"It isn't." She felt years of guilt bubbling to the surface, not just from what she did to Miku but from all the things she did during that time in her life all those years ago. "I'm so sorry." Tears stung her eyes, and she buried her face in her hands.
"You've saved me many more times than you've hurt me." Miku spoke soothingly as she pet her head. "If anything, I should be thanking you."
"Good deeds don't cancel out the bad things I've done."
"Nothing you do will ever cancel out the things you've done, but that's true for the good and the bad. All the good things you've done aren't negated by the mistakes you've made in the past." Miku knelt down in front of Maria and pulled her hands away from her face. "The Maria that I see is the one who has helped save the world many times; even back then, that was what you were trying to do. I see the Maria who cares about her friends and who will make special trips on her day off to check on me to make sure I'm safe." Miku touched their foreheads together and smiled. "You're an amazing person."
Maria grabbed Miku in a tight hug. It felt like, for the first time, the weight of her sins had lightened, even if just a bit. "You're the one who's amazing."
Miku laughed lightly. "To tell you the truth, when I was there with you back then, I couldn't help thinking you seemed so beautiful. That sadness that you carried made you look like a painting."
"I thought the same thin-" Maria cleared her throat, embarrassed. "I mean, thank you."
Miku smiled sweetly and held Maria. "Would you come visit me again? It would be nice to have many more happy memories like this for us."
"I think I would like that." Maria tightened her hug around the black-haired woman.