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Sky wakes up, staring into the ceiling of her room, panting.
She had that dream again. Holding Viktor's hands as she disappeared, the bitter feeling of truth that he never actually loved her. That he just couldn't.
She looks at her hands, feeling the weight of them as they moved, and unlike the dream it was solid and alive.
Bad dream. It's fine. She gets ready for the day and makes plans to talk to Viktor that night.
And the Hexcore disintegrates her body into nothing but ash.
But her soul— it's elsewhere, inside it, and Viktor comes to her. He flies to her and hugs her tightly, and Sky laughs before they figure out what to do now that they're healing people.
They talk. They explore. Viktor looks healthy, expressive, working hard to keep their people together, and Sky falls in love all over again. They get close. Not too close. He's slowly coming undone and it scares her.
It's so soon when she has to say goodbye to him. The shimmer works itself into the Hexcore, corrupting the form, Viktor's mind, his consciousness, their bodies. Sky is bitter because he knew how she felt, about them and their work together, that the way Viktor is becoming now means something is wrong.
"I'll miss our talks, Miss Young."
The mere realization that she only existed because of him makes her tremble. She holds onto Viktor, tightly.
"No, you won't." She bites back the sob. It won't matter. She won't exist anymore.
She wakes up, staring into the ceiling, panting.
She looks at her hands, feels the weight and mass in them, then dismisses the dream and leaves to get ready for work.
She dies that night. She wakes up in the Hexcore. She waits for Viktor, and Viktor embraces her when they meet again.
They heal people, and everybody is getting better. They talk. They explore. Viktor is healthy, happy, accomplishing his dream of helping their people, and Sky falls in love all over again. But something goes wrong. Viktor becomes obsessive. Viktor is not himself. It means goodbye, she can feel herself slowly dissipating into the dark even before the doctor plugs in the blood.
Did Viktor really care about her?
"I'll miss our talks, Miss Young."
Not like this. Not anything like this—
"No, you won't." She strains out. Bitter, because she knows better.
Her existence becomes a void.
She wakes up. Remembers what she did. Remembers that this happened before, and it'll happen again.
This is real. She's going to die tonight, and that time span will happen again.
She doesn't want to die. But she doesn't want Viktor to die, either. So she sees if she can visit Viktor early, and Viktor seems to be testing the Hexcore— he's dismissive, busy. But she tries until—
"Miss Young. Stop it." Cold. Obsessed with his work. Sky sags, leaves because that's what he wants.
But she comes back, tries to be early enough to save him, but it happens all the same.
Her body's reduced to ashes. She wakes up in the Hexcore. Viktor comes back to her, embraces her tightly like he's about to cry. She hears the beginnings of one as he pulls away, but Sky's too caught up with tears of her own.
The cycle continues. Viktor, once so pure in his intentions, Sky, so helpless and in love. Viktor, shifting from a hero to an obsessive monster. Sky, unable to do anything but watch.
She's a sacrifice, she realizes. Viktor held her up to the Hexcore and led her to her death by his hand.
"I'll miss our talks, Miss Young."
He used to call her Sky all these months.
Lies, lies, lies.
"No, you won't."
And she no longer exists.
She's getting used to the feeling of becoming nothing. But who in the universe is playing tricks on her like this? What was she fated to do except die?
Her body dies. A part of her mind dies, too, and she's there when Viktor flies to her, to hug her, but she forces the smile as it all plays out.
There's no saving herself. There's no saving Viktor. She falls in love, but her heart breaks, and it breaks again when Viktor pushes that distance between them.
"I'll miss our talks, Miss Young."
She says nothing this time.
She fell in love with Viktor that day at the fissures. She wanted to be friends with him, but neither ever spoke the right words to get it right. He wanted a friend, but nobody came to his side, not even her.
When they grew up, it was easier to talk. She found herself enamoured by his intelligence, his hard work, his fruitful endeavors in working to make the world a better place. She fell in love with what he did, fell in love with his brilliance, fell in love with him.
Now, she exists only because of him. Everything was about Viktor, nothing else. But at least she helps some people, at least they lead better lives, but she doesn't know if Viktor's obsession— a growing one, one that's been there this whole time, has become any better. She can't change it.
And if she was going to die and die again, she might as well let this cycle know that she wanted Viktor anyway. If she existed just for him, she'll let him do anything to her.
She kisses him. Doesn't expect for Viktor to kiss back, but he does. Their bodies are close to one another, in a threshold of euphoria and heat that Sky throws her head back while Viktor's mouth latches onto her neck.
They last for awhile. Sky doesn't count how long, why bother?
Because nothing changes Viktor's mind anyway. She disappears, but they don't hold hands anymore. Viktor tries to reach out, but she pulls away.
She wakes up. Time slows down.
She dies. Time speeds up.
She loves, loved, will love Viktor. Nobody knows her but him. She does not exist outside of him. She disappears, disappeared, will disappear.
If she knew better, and she does now, she would have never fallen in love. It would have lead her to places where she could have lived. It can't be helped if he had his own path, but their paths meet and they are one whether she liked it or not.
She understands it now.
She was a means to an end, after all.