Work Text:
Selene restriction protocol has been canceled. Order immediate firing at 200% power overload.
...
Repeat, Selene restriction protocol has been canceled. Ordering immediate firing at 200% power overload.
...
Repeat–
She saw everything with her peripheral vision. Blurred, due to Honkai energy. Not only vision, her consciousness too. A bright light, a loud sound, something heavy hitting the surface of the moon. A distinctive sound, an explosion. Nothing like that had been originally planned, as far as Mobius could remember. An explosion on the battlefield wasn't something unusual though, no matter what exploded. Focused on the most important fight of their lives, she tried her best not to think, there was no point in excessive brain activity. Herrscher's movements were unpredictable, the creature wishing to proceed with the destruction of humanity sooner rather than later. Something blinded them, Mobius almost missed the sight by squeezing her eyes shut, but came to her senses in time. An indistinctly colored and incomprehensible beam of energy pierced Herrsher's end. The giant creature recoiled, grabbed its head with one hand and the other clutched at the spot through which the beam, though fading, continued to pass. Mobius turned her head to the direction where Kevin was fighting, he was ready for something grandiose, everyone could see it. Just a second was all it took for him to prepare, a moment later his power was outwardly visible, twisted to something very close to maximum. A sound similar to the previous one. No light this time, though. Rather the opposite, its absorption was felt at the epicenter of events. It's not an explosion, it's him delivering a deafening blow to the target. In the same place that was pierced by the beam a few seconds ago. Herrscher was momentarily dazed, fell headlong onto the moon right in front of them, almost hitting, and froze. Suddenly it was unusually quiet.
Kevin returned to his normal form, Hua stopped trying to hit or at least distract the Herrscher and descended back to the surface of the moon. Others though, Mobius wasn't capable of seeing. When it was clear that the battle was on hold, she descended from her honkai beast form, and only then allowed herself to look around. The sight was not a pleasant one, two men, lifeless, on two sides of the lunar crater, in whom she recognized not the closest, but still her allies. Those with whom she had spent years fighting Honkai. She turned away, but the realization kept her still. Instantly she wanted to forget the sight. There would inevitably be casualties, and each of them had accepted it completely, but in the moment she wanted to not think about it nor know about it overall. Mobius surveyed the space above them and the surface of the moon once more. The scientist knew that she would go to her first. Footsteps were heard somewhere nearby, but she didn't turn in their direction. She recognized the measured, quiet tapping of heels against the moon. It wasn't her. Her bulky boots always made a lot more noise.
"Dr. Mobius... Why are you still here? Let's go back to base. We need to discuss the next course of action as soon as possible."
A familiar, calm and melodic voice. She nodded and turned toward the source. Eden was looking at her with a deeply saddened expression on her face. Normally, this would have slightly infuriated the scientist, but in this situation it was more than appropriate. More appropriate than any other reaction or condition. Mobius suddenly, sharply, remembered something. That explosion, and that beam. Abruptly she turned around and looked up, around the sides, eyes darkened due to sudden movements. The thoughts were not pleasant, and she suddenly became afraid to look for anything. Especially when you have to stay calm and cold.
"Where did Selene land? You were watching from the side, you should have seen it. I need to ask Vill about details of the preparations and..."
"Didn't you... Oh. Doctor, just lets go to the base, it's urgent now."
Mobius' eyes are empty, as if they were artificial. Staring, blankly, at the space. The last thing she wanted to do now is build assumptions. But she admitted the need to know the next course of action. On the way back she fell into thoughts several times and the mobility device controlled by her neural connections slowed and stopped. Eden had to pull the scientist out of this state herself. The bloody scenes, the opening of the portal, the bright lights, the unimaginably loud sounds of the giant creature, everything that happened. Compounding it all was the fact that to their left was the Earth. Full view of it. And Herrscher has a full view of it, too. Despite their years of training, they were both uncomfortable, the only difference between them at the moment was that one of them would never admit it. At the small base, technically just a meeting place, there was nothing at the base but some useless spare parts, either just in case or as a reference point. Kevin and Hua were already waiting for them there. Mobius was still looking around intermittently.
"This is all."
“Yeah.”
...
"There's no point in staying here anymore. We need to get back to Earth."
In that moment, it all became clear.
"I'm out of the loop. Don't see much in honkai beast form."
...
"I don't know what exactly failed. Perhaps nothing did, perhaps we globally underestimated Herrscher's strength."
Eden took on the role of reteller, as the only one watching most of the battle, specifically Selene, she had to.
"What is known is that Selene's first shot didn't do any significant damage to the Herrscher. It seemed unfazed and stable."
Mobius' eyes now fixed on Eden, creating an even more uncomfortable atmosphere, especially for the singer herself.
"Then I heard a noise. I turned around, saw some shaking.... I tried to contact Vill-V through the radio station, but she was obviously busy piloting. I thought everything was under control. Then, everyone heard the explosion."
"I suspect she used too much of Selene's power... And the machine couldn't handle the overload."
Mobius was no longer looking at Eden. She was staring off into the distance, unfocused. Pushing an imaginary equanimity into her head. Casualties were inevitable, they were all prepared for that. Eden fell silent, having nothing more to say, and shifted her gaze to the Herrscher. The creature did not look defeated at all. Stunned, wounded. Not defeated. Only Kevin had a direct line to the base on the Earth now. He was silent. No one knew if he was putting on a mask of indifference or if he was really that prepared for defeat. Or was he no longer afraid of anything, after humanity lost Elysia? Suddenly, he exhaled heavily and struck a confident pose. Of course, a leader must remain cold. Now it was clear to all four of them that each of them was hopeless.
"We lost our only stable weapon we had in the fight against the Herrscher. Honkai energy can't be depleted by normal attacks. If it wakes now, we won't be able to fight back properly. We need to return to the Earth immediately."
Kevin spoke quietly, but strictly confident. The others were not so strictly confident. Especially Eden, who now had to transport them back to the Earth. She didn't look ready at all. Mobius's eyes, inhabitually blank, were now also aloof, out of this world. The other survivors understood, so no one said anything.
They couldn't stop the Herrscher, those sacrifices were not justified, such thoughts crept into her head. Some of them still were. Pardofelis' mission had been a success. Without a shot at Selene's full power, Herrscher wouldn't let it's guard down and Kevin wouldn't be able to stun it. They still had a chance of saving some of humanity, and more importantly, the surviving allies. Mobius tried to drive that thought into her head, somewhere near the idea that losses were inevitable, but it was difficult to think rationally. She could force herself to think, but there was no actual hope. The decision was made to return to Earth in 15 minutes. 15 minutes was an unreasonably long time in this situation. But everyone wanted to say goodbye.
Mobius wandered aimlessly around the surface of the moon, trying to distract herself. Thoughts of the future, of the past. She didn't want to think about the present. Everything was silent. It didn't help at all. Memories kept popping into her head. She stopped, unable to "walk", nausea and dizziness not something to argue with.
Not far from her was the same crater, this time not completely lifeless. Eden, sitting next to two of their fallen allies, held something in her hands. Glancing up, and back at the object, then out into space. Realizing something, obviously something philosophical. She looked decidedly calmer now. Very soon she noticed Mobius, hesitated briefly, seeing the scientist's condition. But still stood up and approached. The object still clutched in her palms.
“Are you ready, Doctor?”
"Unless they've come up with a new weapon against the Herrscher there on Earth in the few hours we've been gone, all I'm required to do is, presumably, prepare the cryopods, if Mei hasn't already done so. There's nothing to prepare for."
Despite usual tone, the scientist's voice was visibly shaking. She wasn't the type to give in easily to emotion.
"No, no... That's not what I mean. Are you ready for a new era, Doctor?"
...
Did she have a choice? An immortal ouroboros cannot die. Only degenerate, into a child, an infant, an embryo, soon a single-celled being. And then what happens? Get lost among atoms and molecules, become part of something. That didn't sound like a desirable outcome at all. Secretly, she had doubted her choice many times. Her abilities were indeed of little use to herself. The end would not come for her, the end would be the fading of her ability to think. A being that cannot be aware of itself cannot be considered alive.
"And you? Ready?"
A soft smile that didn't bode well appeared on Eden's face. Her facial expression always made everything clear. It was something that remained from years of performing. The ability to explain herself without words.
"You have some time to think... I hope you'll come to your senses, Eden."
Eden nodded and looked at the clenched object in her hand. Mobius showed no interest, her mind occupied with something else. The singer looked into Mobius' glassy eyes, without a hint of life in them, hesitated for a second, but made up her mind. She took the doctor's hand and handed the object. It was cold, metallic. Then nodded again and hurried away, they were almost to go. Mobius staggered back. A pocket watch, with the remnant of a torn chain, broken glass, and a broken dial. But the hands were in place, as was the gold gear with an engraved roman five on it. Eyes fixed on the contraption. Vision blurred. This time, not because of the dreaded hemoglobin. Hands began to shake, she had to get off the device and sit on the surface of the moon leaning on it. Breathing hitched, eyes burning, her throat dry. The state of the watch snapped her out of thinking about her life, made her think about someone else's. Mobius gripped the watch tightly in her hand and leaned it against her chest. She had designed it to be unbreakable, it had survived multiple attacks and its creator's admittances to the MOTH's medical ward, had even survived an explosion in the workshop. Everything she survived, it survived. Now, the watch hands were no longer moving. With her free hand, Mobius leaned against the device, trying to stand up. Her movements were artificial, too, automatically “walking” while keeping unusually blank expression on her face, only the watch clenched tightly in her hand gave away her state.
It's done. Everything's prepared.
Eden's honkai beast form is ethereal. She told her so. Said the transportation on it took the breath away, that they were lucky to witness such a miracle. Mobius tried in vain to shift her attention to it. And to the fact that they're done with this place. She's never going back to the moon again.
The monotonous, mechanical, and somewhat tedious preparation of the cryopods was thankfully not in silence. Not alone with intrusive thoughts and the growing pain in her. Under Prometheus' monologue about mission outcomes and S.A.V.E. projects. It barely distracted. The base reminded of her, she was creating the blueprints for the building, there are no more architects in the organization. Cryopods – the fifth Divine Key – The Great Hibernation, her invention. A brilliant inventor left so much behind, too many lies and innuendo, too many meaningless secrets. Prometheus' monologue the scientist didn't listen to anymore ended. Wasn't able to process the information, not even to perceive it somehow. Only to monotonously perform the task. All set.
“All set."
She turned, shifting her sight to Kevin and Hua, standing there, waiting, leaning against the wall. For some reason, refusing to sit down.
“I see.”
“Where's Eden?”
"Probably there. Outside."
"Got it. I'll go get her."
Mobius was the first one to get to the door. She knew Eden was outside. And she knew the reason why.
"No... I'll do it."
***
The atmosphere outside was ominously artificial, a half broken record player playing an old song often played in their bar and hall. Eden quietly hummed along to the familiar tune looking out into the radioactive wasteland. The radiation seemed to be affecting her mind, or it was the alcohol.
"Being out here is dangerous... You know that. Come with me. The cryopods are ready."
"Mobius... Something tells me you know what my decision is."
Of course. Deep down, they all knew. But Mobius knew and understood better than they did. There was nothing to say, no point in changing her mind. Mobius sat down next to her in the vacant chair.
"Doctor... You know what was one of the last things Elysia told me?"
...
"She told me that the people of this era grew up with my songs. That somewhere, at the end of the world, my song would be playing. I realized something important then. On the moon, I got convinced of it. The art of this era belongs to this era. I'm not doing this out of cowardice, I'm not abdicating responsibility. I believe that the people of the new world have the right to their own destiny, they will create their own stars, they will write their own songs... And the songs of this era, will die with it."
...
The departing silhouette of the singer epitomized the end of an era. Eden's calmness in the face of death affected Mobius' already screwed mind in the worst possible way.
The field of golden wheat swayed
Where can the wandering rider call home.
Oh, my love, may we never part ways
Oh, my love, may time stand still for us.
"The end of an era is just an excuse."
"Then I finally realized, ability of resurrection does not equal infinite life. I could still die. A real death. But when will that happen? After I die dozens, hundreds of times? After I degenerate to an infant, then to an embryo, and to a single-celled being? What happens after that? I don't know. I don't know anything."
"Mobius, the other me in this world. Say goodbye to me, alright?"
There was emptiness and nothing more in her mind, watching the old world collapse. The pocket watch clutched in her hand was the only thing that gave a sense of reality to the sight.
They would've build a new world on the wreckage of the old one, complete and without flaws.
Fate had dealt with them in the most despicable way.
Fear took a back seat.
Radiation gradually clouded the mind.
The Herrsher of the End turned it's gaze to the last conscious living creature on Earth.