Work Text:
The concept incinerator was incomplete. A child is saved that wasn’t, once.
Lucio stirs. He feels odd, much lighter than normal, and he flicks open his eyes, before quickly closing them again. A sterile, white room encases him, and lights shine blindingly above him as his vitals are being monitored, his right arm connected by several wires to machines. An ache spreads in his chest. His memory is so hazy, like there’s something he should be remembering— someone, or multiple someones, just barely out of his mind’s grasp. If he just tries harder, to cling to the faint thread of memory that binds him to the unknown…
…Ah. The fuzzy silhouettes of two familiar people emerge in his mind. Sora and Ren. A soft, stuttering voice, the rattling of chains and never-ending beeping bubble up in his mind’s subconscious. Then a detached, yet caring disposition, lingering affection behind wrapped bandages and sleepy downtime after spars. Why would he forget them, even if only temporary?
Footsteps echo in his ears. That wonder fades in his mind.
He sees an unfamiliarly somber expression on Kira’s face as she approaches him, cheeks ringed with sleep deprivation, purple eyes dull and red-rimmed, still spilling tears.
“Hey.” She sheepishly tries to wipe away the tears spilling down her face, scalding like fire upon her skin. “How… are you doing? The— The doc or whoever said you’d be stable in a little, but I didn’t expect you to be awake already.”
“...Where are we?” Is the only thing that he can bring himself to utter, voice hoarse. His vocal cords are painfully dry, and he coughs at the sensation. Kira hands him a glass of water, which he gratefully drinks, a cool sensation flowing down his throat. She sits down on the bed and relaxes slightly, finally knowing the tangibility of one of her friends, carefully avoiding his bruised legs under the blanket.
“The Limbus Company HQ. They said they’re gonna ‘ask’ us for info later and we might… be able to join or something. I… I really don’t know.” Hesitation creeps into her voice, muscles stiffening once more.
“Where is… everyone else?”
“They killed all of the Nursefathers, they smashed Bina’s brain in so she can’t be fixed, and…” Kira hesitates, unsure whether or not to continue.
“...What about Ren and Sora?” He naturally concludes.
She lets out a short sigh, but her face lifts slightly, as if glad for the acknowledgment. “They’ve been… erased to everyone except us, I think.”
“What do you mean by erased?” Confusion flashes across his face, puzzle pieces not fitting together properly.
“That clock face said it had something to do with that sword of hers.” She doesn’t elaborate further. Both of them know that only one person has the ability to do that. “Oh, before you ask, I dunno why it didn’t work on us. I just…”
Blood seeps through her new hoodie in small amounts, staining the once vibrant white cloth a crimson they’ve both seen far too much of.
“Ack, why did the wound reopen?! That’s so not…!” She huffs, before grabbing some new bandages to wrap around her abdomen. “Whatever, this is fine for now. And I liked this hoodie too! This material was actually comfy!”
He knows that what he is going to ask will likely shatter her facade, but she’ll explode if she keeps it bottled up for much longer. Kira has always been a ticking time bomb when it comes to repressed emotions. “What happened to cause that wound?”
As expected, her face darkens, and it appears that tears threaten to spill once more, a dam about to burst.
“Pa— No, Matthias… I helped him, so why would he— He… We were family, I thought…”
“Breathe, inhale… exhale. It’s alright…” He awkwardly tries to comfort her, feeling rather hollow, but even that feeble attempt at care seems to make her ever-so-slightly less sad, and that’s all he can hope for.
“...He sliced me in half while I— I attacked that Color, so that he could get a hit, but I didn't think that he’d also cut me down, too… He called me a little sacrifice… All of that, everything I did to hold his attention for even a moment, was all just a small thing to throw away… I thought that he was so much better than all of the other nursefathers, but in the end, I really was just too deluded, wasn’t I?”
“It’s not your fault.” He says, startling himself with his frightening conviction. “You never asked to be neglected until you adopted all of his hobbies, just like how I never asked to be treated as nothing more than a tool to be abused until I wanted to kill the one that took me in, or how Sora never had a say in any of her life with the Prescripts, we were all just… naive children who wanted parentage.”
Kira smiles in spite of herself, trying to restrain herself from giggling, before bursting into laughter. He cocks his head, lost for a moment, before she regains the breath to speak. “Phew, I thought I was gonna break open that wound again… Y’know, I've never seen you speak with that much passion, Lucio! Never could’ve guessed that you could even manage such a thing! The only time you’ve ever shown the slightest bit of emotion before was when me and Bina were teasing you about Ren!”
He finds it in himself to smile back, glad that for once, in this cold are sterile hospital room, that they can finally relax, and pretend like this was one of those bonding activities that Sora’s Device, or as Kira would call it, ‘The Great Beeper of All-knowingness!’ would force them into something that started out so painfully awkwardly that bloomed into genuine friendship, and even if some of their dear friends could never reach them, they could always look back on the memories fondly.
“Hey, we should always remember them, right? As long as they stay in our minds, they’ll never truly be gone. Pinky swear!”
Two pinkies interlock, sealing the three that they have lost into memories eternal.
Omake:
“...I miss them.” Sora frowns slightly, nostalgia for any memories she may have had with the Apprentices still alive stirring in her mind. The white void does not respond to her silent plea. Moments pass by, and she sighs. Alone once more, abandoned and carved out of existence…
“It’s alright, we all have people, loved ones to miss, even if we are the ones being mourned down there.” An unfamiliar voice startles her, and she whips her head around, panicked.
“...W-who are you?” She stammers out, flustered by the sudden appearance of what seemed to be a rather well-off lady dressed entirely in deep shades of brown, with caramel hair to match.
“Oh, I keep forgetting to exercise proper manners! My name is Catherine, but please, call me Cathy!” She lightly bounces on her heels, continuing. “I know it’s a bad thing to wish for, but I’m so glad that I have another person to talk to! Staring at a chicken recipe and these inventions, fascinating as they are, will never match the fact that I can have an actual conversation now!”
“A-ah… You’re welcome?” Sora manages a smile at the woman, feeling very anxious in the current moment. Her eyes dart around the white void, almost as an instinctive response, but her eyes light up when she spots a familiar face with a sleepy expression. “R-Ren!”
His head lifts ever so slightly upon hearing her call, confirming that he was, in fact, not asleep, and walks over, accompanied by a child, who also looked like a teenager who also looked like the Pinky Nursefather?
“Hi! I’m Araya, nice to meet you two! I’m sorry, but it is genuinely PMO that the temporal entanglement is still happening RN! Ugh!”
Ren only smiles and shakes his head at Sora. “This is my humble self’s master, also Ryoshu’s daughter.”
“Oh, even more people! I am genuinely now super worried about what’s happening outside. Have any of you seen a man named Heathcliff? Is he doing alright?”
“You mean that guy with the metal bat? I mean, he didn’t go cuckoo bonkers off the rails like the bug guy… but he had to deal with the said bug guy, so…” Araya trails off, continuing to yap, eventually trailing off into silence.
A few moments pass before Cathy’s smile fades a little.
“...I’m glad that we could at least gain closure with our loved ones.” Cathy shuts her eyes, bittersweet. “Even though we spent such a massive, gaping chunk of time apart, our feelings don’t fray quite so easily.”
Araya smiles, eyes softening down from the excitement. “I know. Even if… I felt pain and betrayal from being alone for so long, even though I never got to and never will experience a true life, there was something so cathartic about finally making her recognize me… a part of me can always linger by her side in her odachi, even if she can only greet me in those flashes of rewinds.”
“Ren, do you think that Kira and Lucio would feel the s-same for us… as those people do for Cathy and Araya?” Sora whispers, the words barely drifting across Ren's ear.
“I’d… I like to think so.”