Chapter Text
BLADE Barracks, Mira
“Hey Al, you dog! Great party!”
Al turned around to see Doug approaching, beer in hand.
Al flashed a grin, saluting him with his opened beer. “Thanks Doug! Couldn't have done it without the Rook!”
They turned back to the party. Stacks of pizzas from Smile Pizza Kitchen towered across every counter in the BLADE Barracks’ kitchen and dining area.
“Remind me again, who’s paying for this?” Doug whispered.
“Ah, Vandham,” Al waved dismissively.
Doug raised a skeptical brow, but shrugged it off. “Man, this takes me back. Remember on weekends when we used to go to the bar? Beer in one hand, hot piping slice in the other.”
“HAHA! Almost took the words out of my mouth!” Al joyfully noted as he clinked beer bottles with Doug’s.
“Yeah…if only Lao was here.”
Al hesitated, then whispered. “I saw him, Doug. In the Rift.”
“What?!”
“Yeah. He was… ready…” Al continued softly. “...wanted to be with Chenxi and Charmaine. Who am I to deny that for him?”
“Damn,” Doug sighed, then paused before continuing. “That damn son of a bitch. After everything we’d been through…”
“He was…regretful. More than you know. You don’t have to forgive him, but… I think he forgave himself. And honestly? He helped me find my own way out. Mira really is a welcoming place. It’s what Lao said.”
Al gazed towards Elma - pale skin, crystalline lavender hair, purple soul piercing eyes and all - chatting away with Irina.
“Speaking of welcoming…I have noticed the different xenoforms around NLA,” Al noted. “Even Princess is walking around in her true form like it’s nothing.”
“Huh. Just realized something,” Doug said, brow furrowing. “You didn’t look surprised at all when we saw Elma like that...You’ve seen her in that form before, haven’t you?”
“Yeah… you could say that,” Al replied, his gaze distant.
Doug tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Well…aside from the high-level clearance I had with Nagi and Vandham during the ECP and Project Exodus…”
---
National Diet Building, Kasumigaseki district, Japan
“Wow… she was really passionate — adamant — about the mim tech,” Al murmured, watching Elma storm out of the high-stakes cabinet meeting.
“I can see that,” Nagi crossed his arms.
“Skells and Ark Ships, I get,” Vandham gruffly added. “But mimeosomes? That’s a leap. How do we even know they’ll work?”
Elma pushed through the doors and walked briskly into the hallway towards them, shoulders taught.
Oh no, Al thought. He frowned and quickly approached her.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Elma sharply said.
“You don’t have to…just—”
Elma immediately silenced him with a glare. Her eyes flashed with emotion and Al instinctively flinched.
“Colonel. We still have time…” Nagi gently reassured her.
“I don’t think we do, General,” Elma sharply cuts in. “How long until we know those alien forces are upon us? Answer me that question—if you would.”
Nagi, at a loss of words, hesitated.
“Exactly,” Elma scoffed, before storming away.
Worried, Al follows after. Vandham moved to follow — but Nagi placed a firm hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
By the other side of the hall, Al finally caught up to Elma’s brisk pace. She trembled slightly— not from the cold.
“Hey, are you ok?” Al asked with a worried look. “That wasn’t like you to snap like that.”
Elma slowly sank onto a bench, putting her face in her hands. A single tear slipped through her fingers. Al felt his breath catch.
“More proof the mimeosome works…” Elma muttered bitterly. “Even tears of frustration. Biology. Emotion. Pain. All accounted for. It works Al. Why can't they see it…what is it going to take? How long, Al? How long until death reaches upon us.”
Al knelt in front of her and gently wrapped his arms around her. After a moment, Elma returned the hug, tightly, clinging like she might come apart.
“I want to show you so bad,” Elma muffled. “I am living proof the technology works! I want to show...but I cant…I cant…I—”
“Hey…hey. It’s okay,” Al gently comforts.
“...Impermanence…”
“What?”
“What you told me…about the cherries,” Elma looked up. “…no more waiting…I need to show you...who I really am…”
“Elma…what are you talking about?” Al cautiously asked.
She glanced at Al, directly into his eyes. “When you look at me…what do you really see?”
Al blushed at the question. Before he could answer, Elma suddenly grabbed his hand— tightly —and yanked him forward down the hall, urgency radiating from her. He stumbled to keep up.
---
Elma’s hotel room, Kasumigaseki district, Japan
Ignoring stares from locals and hotel staff, Elma ushered Al into the room and locked the door.
“Why are we back here?” Al asked, still not making sense of her urgency.
Elma hesitated, then she shook her head. She asked again, quietly but firmly: “When you look at me…what do you really see?”
He paused, then answered sincerely. “I…see someone…compassionate. Logical. Intelligent. Someone with a strong sense of duty. Humble…to a fault. Can be very Type-A and uptight. But that’s what makes you…you.”
“I asked you what, not who you see,” Elma scoffed.
Al sighed, before asking. “Where are you going with this?”
It was then and there that Elma finally decided.
She tapped the holographic control pad on her left wrist, materializing a human-sized capsule into the room.
“What the…?!” Al jumped in surprise.
Without hesitation, Elma deactivated her mimeosome — and collapsed.
“ELMA!” Al shouted, catching her just before her head hit the ground. I never thought I’d actually see this… He stared at her blank face. Soulless eyes met his gaze as he stroked her cheek.
“Elma…” he whispered.
“It’s okay, Al…”
His breath caught in his throat. A familiar voice — not speaking to him, but echoing inside him.
The holographic casing of the capsule vanished, revealing something he never thought possible.
“No way…you’re…you’re not human?”
Elma, as if floating in water, arched herself up inside the capsule, eyes closed. She stayed seated in the capsule, curled inward, head bowed. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes.
Al could only stare, mesmerized. Pale skin. Crystalline lavender hair — oh, so mesmerizing. And those eyes… her eyes…
She glanced at him — just for a second — then looked away, as if afraid of what she might see in his face.
“You're still you…” Al whispered, barely audible. “Always were.”
---
BLADE Barracks, Mira
“Wow… she just…showed you? Like that?” Doug stared, wide-eyed.
“Yeah,” Al whispered. “Me being surprised? Massive understatement.”
“Holy shit, man…she must’ve REALLY trusted you by that point.”
“You know what Nagi told me not long before that?” Al said, shaking his head with a wistful chuckle. “It was this old quote — from one of my favorite movies as a kid: ‘You don’t meet a girl like that every dynasty.’ Or in this case… every planet. ”
Doug let out a low whistle.
“Nagi knew,” Al went on. “He was trying to tell me — without actually telling me.”
He exhaled slowly, beer bottle in hand. “It took me a while to wrap my head around it… But after that? Convincing the Cabinet the tech worked? That was the easy part.”
Al’s eyes softened. “From that moment on, I swore I’d protect her secret — even if it cost me my life.
“Seeing her like that… her true self… It changed everything. It wasn’t just about the tech or the mission for humanity’s survival anymore — it was personal. Protecting her… meant protecting who we all could become.”
His gaze drifted toward Elma, who was deep in conversation with Irina, her pale skin and lavender hair catching the light.
Doug noticed.
“Hey,” he said, nudging Al with a grin. “Remember all those things Lao and I told you back in the day?”
“Huh?”
“You better make a move soon, man…” Doug raised a brow. “You’ve been gone a long time — and you came back to a lot of competition.”
“What?” Al blinked. “What competition?”
Doug gestured subtly across the room. “Guys and gals. Mira doesn’t care how many chromosomes you’ve got — it’s an open field out there.”
“...!”
“What was it L said before?” Doug added, scratching his chin. “‘All the more lovely for it’? You thought she was pretty before? Now?” He leaned in. “You’ve got better odds wrestling a Ghost than winning that race! HAHAHA!”
Al choked on his beer. “Ghost?! Hey—come on—!”
Doug grinned. “Al, you dog, you. Someone’s in love!”
“Shut up!” Al muttered, chugging the rest of his beer in defeat.
He glanced nervously at Elma and Irina. Irina? Seriously?!
“Oh no…”
He rubbed the back of his head, eyes darting, half-laughed in panic. "Okay. Okay. I… I gotta do something. Soon. Real soon."
It’s like Lao always said — wait too long, and someone else takes the last slice.
---
Later, at BLADE HQ
“Commander Vandham, a bill for you, sir. From Smile Pizza Kitchen,” one of the secretary staff called out.
Vandham blinked. “What?! What bill??”
The staffer tapped a few buttons and forwarded the invoice to his comm device.
A pause.
Then—
“WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS?!! AL!!!”