Chapter Text
Eva never wanted to be a warrior.
It was her duty. Bound by the holy blood in her veins. She remembers as a child, V’ehxness loved that she was a warrior. She hardly had a care for anything else. Eva was almost jealous of how carefree she could be. Even as she watched that bright eyed warrior who was her sister turn crueler, jaded by the children of the stars constant assaults, by the kidnapping of their second coming. By having to bear that cross from such a young age. Eva wanted to be able to embrace those feelings, that want to strike back at the ones who destroyed them, who made it so Eva couldn’t have a childhood, but it was always a half hearted attempt.
Now though…
There’s fuzzy memories going through her head of what has happened in the past few months. Being asked to humiliate herself as these people cooed in some form of amusement. Cursing out her own sister as everyone just snorted at the display.
And they all stare wide eyed. Now that she remembers everything. Now that she’s watched everything she’s ever known go up in flames.
One of them stands up.
“Eva, we’re so sorry.” The boy in white says coming closer. He almost sounds genuine. “We didn’t want you to-“
Eva doesn’t let the opportunity pass. She grabs him by that oversized coat he wears, yanking him towards her, and puts him into a chokehold.
“Eito!” The red haired one stands up “Leave him-“
“One step closer and I wring his neck!” Eva declares. She doesn’t even know if she can do such a thing but she wants to do it. She needs to do it.
“P-please…” the red haired boy steps back “Don’t…”
That girl who he spent so much time with puts a hand on the boys shoulder which seems to calm him and lowers him back into his seat. Her glasses shining analytically. Then she steps forward.
“We’re willing to comply with your demands.” She says “So long as you release our friend.”
“And why should I trust a word out of your filthy invader mouths?!” Eva growls.
“The only thing we want is for all of us to stay alive.” She says. “You included. Please.”
Bullshit. She remembers. They were going to leave her to die before they found out she could come with them. She’s disposable. But a member of their squad…
“You may remember…” That… thing starts speaking. The robot. She remembers him. Dragging her to that room where he changed everything about her by pumping her with electricity. “That every one of these students has a bomb planted in them. The blast radius of Aotsuki right now could easily take you out as well.”
“Sirei!” The red haired boy shouts “You can’t!”
“If it’s for the sake of humanity… I’m sure you’ll go down in history Aotsuki.” Sirei says “The defect who changed and gave his life for his squad.”
“No way!” The red haired boy shouted “If you do that…!”
“If Eito dies we won’t break the loop!” Hiruko shouts “You’ll just be dooming another humanity! Endless humanities for all eternity!”
“Now now, we don’t need to do that. Just drop Aotsuki Eva, and-“
Then he falls over. That girl who kept puking is pointing a gun at him.
“Tsubasa!”
“H-He was gonna kill Eito!” She says “I couldn’t…”
“Tsubasa…” The boy she’s holding chokes out. Eva decides to knee him to silence him, pulling him closer and making a choked sound escape.
“Oooooh!” The short one jumps up “Eva I’m so sorry! Please take my useless self as a hostage instead! I deserve to be hurt much more for-“
“The honorable Sirei!” The other robot runs to that things side. She remembers it too. Always acting like her friend as if it wasn’t responsible for “Ms Eva please, don’t you see what you’ve caused?!”
Is that supposed to be a plea? Is she supposed to feel guilty that that thing is gone? Because she doesn’t in the slightest. She feels the escape pod they were in landing. Escape. She was the only one who escaped. Every single person she’d ever known died today, and she was allowed to leave based on the fact she was the slave of the ones who did it. She never hated the invaders more than this moment.
“No sudden movements.” She declares. She picks up the boy she has hostage. It’s a little difficult. He’s much heavier than he looks. But it seems nobody dares risk it so she’s able to take him outside. Where they are waiting.
“What is happening?” One of them asks “Why is one of the planets residents here?”
They’ve already seen her face. She curses the fact she let these invaders take away her mask. But she thinks of Kahmyun. Her daughter. The girl who died in those flames.
Then she thinks of her sister. V’ehxness. She was cold, she was ruthless. But she was willing to break their taboos because she knew that stopping these monsters was more important.
She hopes the God of the Planet will forgive her for her blasphemy. Her hatred. Her willing to disrespect Them after everything had just died. But she has nothing left but this. She pulls the boy closer and draws a line across her neck.
“Blood of my Bond, release!”
The blood that pours from her neck sprays onto the clothes of the boy in front of her. Of all things, that seems to be what makes him start screaming. But now that she is in this form, the invader weapons have no effect on her.
“Do we have our infusers?!” She hears one of the invaders shout.
“Th-there are prototypes somewhere onboard the sattelite!” Nigou declares. “But we weren’t expecting invaders to be here at the landing!”
They dare call her an invader?! It only fuels the fire. Now able to effortlessly hold the invader soldier in her claws, she begins to massacre the team that came to greet them. The leverage she has keeps the rest of the soldiers from mobilizing. She’ll be sure to squeeze him to death once she’s finished killing all of them.
Unfortunately the overhead sound of sirens keeps her from doing just that.
ATTENTION ALL TRC RESIDENTS. THERE IS AN IMMEDIATE THREAT. PLEASE HIDE IN A DESIGNATED SHELTER TO PREVENT DANGER.
Dammit. They know she’s here now. Although their weapons are useless without holy blood, she doesn’t want to see what happens if a back up team arrives to hand those soldiers the weapons they use to utilize theirs.
“If you know what’s good for him you’ll stay away.” She declares “This is your only warning.”
With that, she turns and leaves. The invader soldier despite the clear terror in his eyes, isn’t making much move to resist. But now she needs a place to hide.
She easily finds one of the shelters the invaders were using, and it’s easy to kill everyone inside. They scream, they run, they please for their lives, but she knows from experience, pleading for your life only leads to something crueler. And she is a much crueler person today than the one who plead for her life.
That leaves her with the soldier in a perfect hiding spot. She puts him next to one of the bodies.
“Stay.”
He nods obediently. And with the fabric of some of the invaders garments, she’s able to make makeshift ropes. Wrapping his hands up in sturdy knots. There’s strikingly little resistance. But at least she can turn back now.
Back in her regular form, she pulls her knees to her chest. The real weight of today is finally sinking in. Her daughter is dead. Her sister is dead. Everyone she’s ever known from close friends to strangers she met has been killed. She is the only surviving person of her planet.
And she broke their taboos while she was at it.
She sort of thought of finding something else to use as a mask here but she knew it was too late for that. And she knew it would just be a greater insult to use the items of the people who destroyed her planet to uphold their traditions. Futurum was really and truly dead and while the invaders did most of it, Eva had pinched out that last bit between her fingers.
V’ehxness wouldn’t be thinking about this.
“Eva…?” Her hostage speaks up behind her “Are you crying?”
She puts a hand to her face. Oh. She is.
“That is not your concern.” She says.
“Can I help in any way?” He asks “I can be useful!”
Useful? When she’s slaughtering every single one of his people?
“Why would you want to be useful to me? I’ve taken you hostage so I won’t be stopped from massacring your race.”
“You are huh?” He says it like he’s only just considering it now that she’s said it “Well… hm. I guess… oh no. It won’t do if I’m happy about that. Hiruko was supposed to make me better…”
“Better…?” She frowns. Her recollections of the time she spent as the invaders slave are fuzzy. She remembers being told not to go in one of the rooms because this boy was there. Eito. And that he had done something awful. But at one point he’d suddenly become part of their team. She remembers insulting him a lot when he did. Her brainwashed mind didn’t comprehend why he’d be accepted so easily but… “Back on the escape pod. That robot said you were a defective who changed. What did that mean?”
“Oh. I… grew up with a disorder. It made me see the world… wrong. And I remember I was… so scared and so angry all the time.” He says “But… Hiruko said she could cure me! And make me stop hating! I was sort of scared at the time but after she did it I couldn’t have been happier… I had… friends…”
That… that sounds familiar.
“Did she cure you with that chair?” She asks “The one that changes your personality?”
“Yes!” He nods “It’s a little fuzzy… but I was happy. So I wanted to be useful! To everyone! Now that I’m fixed!”
Eva feels sick. So the procedure they used on her was not mutually exclusive. She watches the boy fondly beam at the memory, like it’s a happy one. And suddenly she remembers these children aren’t much older than Kahmyun. They did this to a child.
“So… am I useful?” He asks “I know we haven’t gotten along but I can be! Useful. I don’t want to hurt my friends but…”
Eva breathes out. This boy is still part of the enemy. She can’t let her guard down around him. Right now, as awful as it is, his brain is registered for the opposite of her mission.
But still…
She’s able to rummage around the shelter enough to find mattresses. She knows the invaders sleep on these. So she lays it on the ground, picks up the boy, and lays him across it.
“You can be useful by getting your sleep.” She says “If you don’t sleep, you’ll wind up just not functioning during the day.”
“I see… then I will!” He says cheerily. No questions. Not even asking her to untie his ropes. Was this what she was acting like when she was with them? “You should probably get some rest too though!”
“… Yes. I should.” She sighs.
She decides to use one of the mattresses as well. She doesn’t have her bed at home to sleep on after all. She doesn’t have anything left.
She looks at the boy next to her calmly sleeping. She tries to imagine Kahmyun. Her daughter who will never be able to do anything but sleep now.
Such an insult.
She starts up a routine with Eito. They will go searching for shelters. He does not need to be carried by her since she’s found he’s willing to just follow along and wait patiently as she does her work. So they will find a shelter. Kill everyone. Sleep there. Find a shelter. Kill everyone. Sleep there.
“You know, it never stops being amazing watching you work!” Eito smiles. “It sort of… makes me happy when I see it.”
“Happy…” she frowns. Surely he couldn’t be happy with seeing such destruction yes? She herself is hardly happy with it. “Why does it make you happy?”
“Well… it’s…” he frowns “Because… because…”
He looks down almost contemplating. Maybe it’s just something to do with the brainwashing? Though she doubts he’d be programmed to see the destruction of his race to be a good thing.
“Because… I…” he frowns “Humans… I…”
There’s a crash. The lid of the shelter comes down. And she knows what it is before she can see them.
“Former Futuran commander Eva.” The woman with glasses steps down into the shelter “You will cease your activity and come with us, immediately.”
Faces she remembers from the ‘Special Defense Unit’ follow after. She does remember there being more of them, but one she remembers closely bursts in with tears in his eyes.
“Eito! Please tell me you’re okay!”
“Takumi!” The boy behind her lights up. “It’s been so long!”
Eva doesn’t have the time for this.
“Blood of my bond, release!”
She transforms again, the invaders all firing their weapons. Though she notices they aren’t all doing so with the same voracity as she remembers from their battles back on her planet. When she fought alongside them, they would recklessly throw themselves at enemies, even killing themselves for one last bat at an opponent.
“Eito!” The red haired boy shouts “Come over!”
Eva considers her options. She has lost to these people once before and they will most likely not grant her mercy- or what they referred to as mercy- again. She has one bargaining chip here. So she takes Eito into her clawed hands. He gasps at the contact but he doesn’t struggle much. He hadn’t done so last time either. Something to think about at a later date.
“If you want him returned safe, I suggest you leave.” She tells them. “Promise me that and walk out of this place. Slowly.”
There are looks of apprehension among the crowd, all staring at each other. There’s a chance this will not work. She may be throwing it all away on a gambit but…
“Hiruko.” The red haired boy says “Please. We have to-“
“I know.” The crimson eyed girl says “But I’m asking that you reconsider this Eva. Your daughter would surely not want this.”
It’s true, but she doesn’t want to hear it from this person. This person didn’t know her daughter. This person is one of the people who killed her daughter. Maybe Kahmyun didn’t want this, but the people who thoughtlessly left her to die have no right to tell her such a thing.
“Do we have a deal or no?”
“Hiruko…”
“Yes Takumi.” She sighs “Give him to us. We’ll leave.”
Eva may be a lot of things. A breaker of her own culture. A mass murderer. A coward. But she is not dishonorable. She sets Eito down in front of them, and watches as the red haired boy drops his sword wrapping him in a hug.
“Thank goodness! She didn’t hurt you, did she?”
“I like to think I stayed pretty strong throughout the ordeal.” He winks back “That must be worthy of some praise right?”
“I’m just glad you’re safe. I’m so sorry, Eito. I promise from now on I’ll protect you.”
It’s a scene out of a touching reunion. Eva takes a step back to show her conceding, and it seems even these people are willing to not break code.
“Ain’t they gonna be pissed we didn’t capture her?” One of them- the boy with a bowl cut asks.
“We got Eito back.” The crimson eyed girl says “We can reconvene now that he’s with us. He’ll be another pair of hands.”
Eva suddenly feels sick to her stomach. She remembers flashes of her time with these people. And then she looks at the red haired boy gently undoing Eitos ropes as he holds him close.
“… What are you going to do with him?”
Heads turn towards her.
“Um… Maybe we can get Yugamu to do a check up on him.” One of them says. The girl from the escape pod who shot that robot. “He did quit fighting but he’ll probably be willing to check if a friend is okay.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Eva says “Do you intend to take advantage of him in that state?”
“That… state?”
“He told me what you did to him.” Eva says “The very same thing you did to me. Are you planning to have him mindlessly serve you?”
“Aaaaah. Knew it.” One of the soldiers chimes. The girl with blue pigtails. “I thought that his change in attitude was a little too quick.”
“W-wait!” The red haired boy says “It isn’t the same! He wanted this! Right Eito?”
“Takumi…” the boys eyebrows furrow. “I… wanted… this.”
Eva glares. This boys name is Takumi right? He seems genuine in his care for Eito but she’s not sure she can trust his words.
“You’re saying he asked for something like this?”
“Yes! We… it was technically another him but we heard him say he wanted his disease to be cured… that’s why…!”
“Another him…?” Eva already isn’t liking this.
“Yes! We only did it so he could be friends with us!” Takumi looked to the girl in glasses “Right Hiruko?”
The uncomfortable expression on the girls face speaks volumes.
“Hiruko…? Tell her… tell her he wanted this.”
Hiruko shakes her head.
“Eva. I understand why you want to defend this person with what you know. But he isn’t the same as you. Without the brainwashing he is extremely dangerous.” She steps forward “You haven’t seen the same things I have. But I know what he’s capable of. We don’t want him dead. But this, is the best we can ask for while he’s alive.”
“Hiruko?” Takumi’s voice begins to sound more panicked “Tell her he wanted this.”
“… I’m sorry Takumi.” She says “I didn’t want you to have to know how awful I am.”
“Hiruko…!”
That’s enough. Eva isn’t going to sit here and let them use this child like they used her. So she attacks. Maybe she’s not so honorable after all. But she can’t bring herself to care.
“We had a deal Eva!” Hiruko reminds her.
“And I’m going back on the deal.” She says “Give him back to me. I won’t let him go down the same road as myself.”
“You’ll find he was already on that road.” Hiruko says. Eva doesn’t bother to listen. They hack and slash and shoot with their weapons but Eva cannot fail another prisoner of war. She’s at the very least able to pick up the bowl cut boy. She remembers him. She remembers how he got so giddy when she said she’d do whatever they wished.
“My new conditions. Return Eito and leave or I kill this one. Slowly.”
The fear in their eyes are palpable. They actually care about this disgusting person.
“You’re…” Takumi has had Eito in his arms for most of the fight. He’s made himself quite the liability doing so but his attempts to cling to him show through more. “You’re not going to hurt him… are you?”
“I would be more worried about you hurting him.”
Hiruko sighs.
“Just give him over Takumi. Him being alive and taken care of is better than Gaku being dead.”
“But…!”
“Don’t worry Takumi! I can handle it!” Eito beams.
“N-No…” Takumi shakes his head “How do we know this isn’t a trap? How do we know she isn’t going to-“
So that’s how it is. Eva decides to speed up the decision by squeezing the boy in her hand.
“OW! OW OW OW! HEY A LITTLE HELP?”
“Takumi!” Hiruko shouts “He’s not real! Just give him!”
With that declaration, she picks up Eito by the hoodie and rips him out of Takumi’s arms, pushing him towards Eva. He doesn’t even look like he minds.
Eva half heartedly drops the boy in her hand to the floor. It’s a hard impact and he’s definitely broken something but he’ll live.
“Leave.” She tells the special defense unit.
“Wait!” Takumi tries to push through them, screaming Eitos name, but Hiruko is holding him back. Making sure he leaves with the rest of them. Eva waits a minute after the screams have faded to turn back to normal.
“… Are you okay?” She asks. “You seemed… very connected to those people.”
He just smiles.
“I’m happy they care about me so much! I’ll definitely get praised next time I see them!”
Eva doesn’t bother tying him back up. He’s not going anywhere.
She begins slowing down her killings.
What used to be a daily excersise has become more spaced out. Since she has become more preoccupied with making sure this person she kidnapped is at least doing better than he would if he went back to the ones she’s keeping him from. She’s found asking him if he likes something is a futile endeavor since he just says he likes everything in hopes of being praised so the most she does is just start taking him to the stores in the complex, empty because of her attacks, and letting him pick out whatever food he likes.
These sorts of markets apparently existed around Futurum since before Eva was a young girl but they were a lost art by the time she was born, due to the children of the stars ravaging her planet. V’ehxness had asked once that if the God of the Planet was so powerful, couldn’t he bring those stores back? And their adoptive parents had her spend the day kneeling as repentance. She had ranted about it to Eva, but Eva had just told her that was natural for disrespecting God.
As if she’s any better.
She’s surprised that the food Eito picks out is pretty balanced all things considered. Is that normal for him or just another thing the brainwashing inflicted? During her time at the academy, she would be brought meals by Nigou, or ocassionally be dared to eat something those twins cooked up. She doesn’t remember liking or disliking it. She just remembers she was ordered to eat, and so she ate.
She manages to find someone stupidly wandering the streets outside and she wastes no breath before cutting him down. Eito just watches placated, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Would it bother him more if he was himself?
She’s not sure. She just continues. There have been more people at shelters trying to play hero. Their weapons have no effect on her when she’s transformed but they attack anyways. It really just makes them easier pickings than the ones who try and run. Knives bounce off her, bullets don’t do anything. The only thing that can harm holy blood is more holy blood. It’s a life defined by violence.
“What was your relationship with that boy?” She asks after completing the wipeout of one of them. “Takumi?”
She’s not sure why she’s only asking this now. It seems obvious. Yet in another sea of red, as the bodies fell to the floor, she couldn’t help but think of that boy whose hair was blood red. He seemed to think Eito was in real danger.
Honestly Eva isn’t sure she’s convinced he isn’t in danger with her.
“Takumi? Takumi is great!” Eito smiles “He’s my best friend!”
“Yes but… why is he your best friend?” Eva asks.
“I’m his confidant! At least I like to think I am…” He blushes “He’s… so nice. Far… too… nice…”
He has that expression again. Eyes knitted together. Like he’s thinking. That’s a good sign!
“What exactly makes him nice?” She asks “Can you tell me?”
Eito looks down.
“My… life.” He says “He didn’t… kill me.”
What? She looks at the boy as he starts blinking.
“Why does that make him nice?” She asks.
“Because…” Eito says “He knew that…”
His eyes widen. Suddenly he’s grabbing his head kneeling over.
“He knew that I knew. How could I...”
“Eito…?”
“How could I forget?! I knew it! I always knew it! I knew they had to be exterminated! But…”
“You mean the Futurans?”
“No… no not that. The ones I hate… they were…”
Suddenly a scream rips through the boys throat. He lies down holding his head, and Eva isn’t sure what to do.
Eva remembers Nigous words. ‘A sudden shock might break them out of the brainwashing.’ But why was this a shock? Why was all the bodies they’d left not a shock to this boy? Why-
“Get. Away from him.”
She knows that voice. Takumi is descending down the stairs. Infuser in hand.
“Wait… this isn’t what it looks like!” She stands up “How did you even find me?!”
“You never noticed? These shelters are covered wall to wall in security cameras. It’s to see suspicious activity.” He says “I’m… glad at least that in all my false memories that’s something that was real.”
She isn’t sure what that means. But she now knows everything she’s done has been caught on camera. She knows that they’ve been sending the SDU after her with that. How could she be so careless?
“Please I… I didn’t want him to end up in this state.” She says “You have every reason to distrust me but I don’t wish any harm onto this person.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?!” He shouts “Hiruko said it’s not worth going back for him but… but I couldn’t just leave him! And I think I made the right choice!”
Maybe he is right. A life being dragged along by a murderer is not what a boy like him needs. At the very least this one seems to be… different than the others. He cares about this boys well being. And Eva has already failed as a mother once. She can’t let it happen again.
She looks at Eito on the ground again. He’s stopped screeching but now she can see something else when she looks in his eyes. Fear. She can probably guess why.
“… Fine. I’m willing to come quietly. And I’ll let you take him.” She says “Just… make sure he’s taken care of.”
She looks back at Eito, only to see the fear in his eyes increasing.
“Wait… what’s the catch?” Takumi asks “You’re not going to backstab me are you?”
“If you want me to do anything as proof of my compliance, I will. But you’re right that this… isn’t right of me to do. And that this boy is probably better off with people his age.” She says “You don’t have to forgive me. Just don’t blame him for my actions.”
“I… was never going to do that.” Takumi says “He’s my friend.”
Eva takes a deep breath. She’s probably not looking at a decent trial after what she’s done. Let it be so. She wants to see her Kahmyun and the people who raised her again. God of the Planet, she even wants to see V’ehxness again. Anything is better than this mundanity of killing and defying everything that defined her as a person for this revenge.
Takumi walks to Eito and takes him into his arms. He’s still giving Eva dubious looks but she doesn’t blame him.
Eitos face is still frozen however. In that fearful expression.
“Will… he be alright?” She asks “He doesn’t look happy to be rescued.”
“… I don’t know.” Takumi sighs “Everything since arriving back on the sattelite has been a nightmare. But at least, it’s-“
There’s a noise, sharp and squishy, and Takumi pauses when she hears it. When she looks for the source she finds it in Eitos hand. A knife that one of the shelters people tried to use against her, now in Eitos hand, and inserted between the boys ribs.
“Eito…?” Takumi begins stumbling, his knees buckling yet still keeping the boy in his arms “Why did you-“
Eito doesn’t let him finish. He stabs the boy in the shoulder, glaring down as a scream escapes from the other. He reaches for the infuser but Eito throws it away.
“Why? Oh that’s simple Takumi.” Eva can’t bring herself to do anything but watch as he raises the knife and brings it down again.
“First you lock me up and forget about me!”
STAB
“Then you insult me.”
STAB
“Then Hiruko drags me to that room to be brainwashed! Brainwashed Takumi! And what do you do?”
STAB
“You say ‘I’m so glad to have you back Eito! I’m so happy you’re one of us Eito!’”
STAB
“It’s bad enough you use me as your personal guide to escape this time loop when I can’t not comply, but now this? This vanity project of yours?!”
STAB
“You want to rescue me do you? From the big bad person who wants to kill you hideous freaks? You didn’t do much to rescue me from Hiruko now did you Takumi?”
STAB
“You didn’t want to rescue me. You liked that I was your good little friend who didn’t mouth off and wanted that back? Didn’t you?”
“E-Eito…” The boy coughs up blood. He can’t get anything else out.
“And one last thing Takumi. Though this isn’t exclusive to you so don’t feel special.” Eito says “You’re hideous. Truly revolting. Your appearance just shows what you’re truly like on the inside!”
And he brings the knife down again. And again. Over and over, and over until Eito starts screaming, and then he keeps going after that. Eva sees the look in his eyes has gone from fear to pure unfettered hatred. And once Takumi Sumino is a pulpy mess who can no longer be recognized, he finally stops before turning to Eva.
Eva can’t help the jolt of fear when she sees that face caked in blood look at her.
“… You look hideous.”
-Are his last words before he passes out.
Eva runs over and checks his pulse. Still going. She isn’t really sure what to do in this situation but… maybe just put him on another mattress? She herself doesn't sleep at all. All she can do is watch the face of that boy, sleeping soundly while the body of someone he’d spoken to sits near him.
With that time she has, awake and reflecting on what lead to what she’s seen, she begins to think of herself. If someone found her still brainwashed and gave her back to those people, how would she feel? Well, she wouldn’t have felt at all actually. She’d just be empty.
Did Eito feel empty?
She isn’t sure what time it is when he wakes up. There is no sky in this place. Lights are on the ceiling which were shining when she first arrived but they haven’t turned on since. Probably because of her killing spree keeping them all in shelters.
But his eyes do open, and the moment they do, that bright smiling face she’s gotten used to has been replaced with a snarling dark expression.
“Guess you decided not to turn me into my jailers after all.”
She flinches.
“I’m… sorry. That was a short sighted decision.” She says “If I had thought through it more… maybe you wouldn’t have had to kill your former friend.”
“‘Friend’” Eito sneers “We were never friends. In fact I’d sooner kill him again than hear you call us that.”
“Noted…”
Eito huffs and turns away.
“You’re honestly no better than him. I don’t know why I don’t just kill you.”
That is enough to jolt her.
“Was I a good replacement for your daughter?” He asks “Because I killed my parents. Just so you know.”
Eva is practically speechless. She remembers V’ehxness murdering their adoptive father. Eva had cried at the time but V’ehxness said a weak man like that was destined to die anyways. Eva had been furious at the time but she didn’t want to fight her. Didn’t want a bigger rift in her family.
Now V’ehxness is dead and Eva killed her. Not even of her own will. Was that enough of a rift?
“… Well? Why shouldn’t I kill you?” He asks “It was nice watching you kill those crowds of humans but it seems like you’re giving that up. So why should I keep you alive?”
“You… thought it was nice seeing that?”
“Yes. They all deserved it.” He says “For what they did to me. And you were completely justified as well.”
It’s the first time Eva’s heard that as praise. That this violence, this bloodshed. It was good. Worth being proud of. V’ehxness had said as much, but she had called Eva weak and unable to draw blood. Would she be proud if she saw this? Probably not, knowing her. Eva was always just the weaker sister.
“… I… they do deserve it.” She admits. They do. After what they’d done to her planet, what they’d been doing for years, she knew that much. But she didn’t want to be the one to carry out this justice. She never did. She wanted to live a normal life. But that was never in the cards for her. “They deserve all of it but… Why should I have been the only one left to give them what they deserve?! I never asked for such a thing! I…”
“… You are not the only one left.”
She looks into Eitos eyes. He’s grinning. Ear to ear.
“There’s someone else who can carry out that justice right next to you.”
No.
“You’re a child.” She says “That should not be your duty.”
“Oh it’s more than a duty. Though it very much is that.” He says “It’s a pleasure.”
She blinks. His reaction to the death she left everywhere she went was not a result of the brainwashing. He was naturally like that.
“Well, if you’re not going to do it, I’m glad to carry it out.” He stands up. “We should go. The security cameras means that there’s a chance we could be found down here and when the special defense unit realizes I’m not under their control, they’ll be much less inclined to tread carefully.”
“Wait.” She says. “Are you just going to… do it yourself?”
“Of course!” He smiles “You don’t have to come if you don’t want. Now that I no longer am a ‘good kid’ you can-“
“Wait.” She follows after him “If you are going to do this then I will do it with you. I can’t leave you alone.”
“Oh don’t give me that. Like I said I’m no longer the brainwashed mannequin for you to-“
“You misunderstand.” She says. “I don’t care if you’re a ‘good kid’. I care that you are a kid. Period. And nobody deserves what I went through but it’s moreso for a child.”
Eito frowns, looking her up and down.
“I have a hard time believing someone as hideous as you really cares in any way.”
Was her appearance really so important to her quality of character?
“Well… I do.” She says “My hands are already stained in blood but… if I don’t have anything left, I at least want to help a child who wants the same thing as me.”
He gives her a dubious look but turns away.
“Fine. You can come. But don’t be too surprised if I decide you’re not worth keeping around.”
Well that’s… definitely a threat. It seems nobody taught him how to properly address his elders.
“… Why do you want to do this?” She finally asks “I never knew any of this but…”
“Do I have any human I care about whatsoever?” He retorts. “No. No I don’t.”
He looks back into the shelter at the body of Takumi.
“And definitely not anymore.”