A couple sat on a rooftop’s edge, looking down on the buildings below. Ark City was full of people going about their daily life, but beneath their orderly movements, Gemini could sense fear and uncertainty in them. It was somewhat obvious, if one knew where to look. The Constellation could see the occasional jitter, or the extra-fast steps that everyone loved to take the moment they drew close to a building, as though they wanted to get to safety as soon as possible.

With a sandwich in one hand and a pizza floating behind him, Gemini rested his head on Lila, who was beside him. Ars-Lila, who was from a destroyed tribe, had sought refuge in Ark City to protect something…and in the course of doing so, became a refuge for Gemini’s heart too.

“How was the morning?” Lila asked.

“Lots of papers to read through. Now that we aren’t getting attacked at all, they’ve decided to put the brains of us Paragons through the wringer.” Gemini picked up the sandwich and eyed the finely-cut strips of meat. “The fact that thousands of people are sending their own proposals as to how to survive when the Great Divide falls isn’t helping us relax too.”

“Why? Shouldn’t having more ideas be a good thing?” Lila asked.

“Most of them are very good ideas,” Gemini replied. “As such, everyone in the team has their own favourites, and we spend lots of time arguing whether one idea is better or the other.”

“The power of the masses, mm.” Lila folded the piece of paper that had held a sandwich earlier, and then slipped the result into her pocket. “Telling the truth so early was always going to be a problem.”

Gemini eyed the small protest groups going around in the street. “Better to have a city-wide depression now. At least everyone’s chipping to offer some help after they got through it. And it’s not like we don’t have a ticket out.”

His mind wandered over to the Acheron. The city was well aware of its existence ever since the first trials began, since it was impossible to hide the din the prototypes made whenever it launched. Of course, once the first success came in, the other attempts were largely the same, and now, the experiments had shifted to the durability of the Mass Driver artefact.

But the success had brought hope to everyone.

“At the end of the Never-ending Ocean, an unsullied land awaits,” Lila murmured. It was a slogan that had been spreading around Ark City for some time to drum up support for the Mass Driver.

“Sometimes,” said Gemini, “I get the feeling that you’re reading my mind.”

“But you do the same to me, right?” Her eyes twinkled, and she swept her hair, which had been dyed bright pink, over her shoulder. Gemini had been somewhat worried to see her hair in such a conspicuous colour, but he was at least once Lila promised that she would dye it back to normal if it looked like war was about to happen.

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“Different context,” Gemini replied. “Very different context.”

She grinned wickedly, and the Constellation turned away to hide his blushing face.

“You’re embarrassed!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Gemini replied.

“But we’re alone here,” she said. “We could say or do anything we want here, and no one will know. Right?”

Gemini turned around, his face as blank as paper, and flicked her nose lightly. Within moments, the two were playing around, doing all sorts of things. Lila won after a few minutes, placing Gemini in a light arm lock, and after requesting a lap pillow as a reward, she looked out at the streets.

“Is it wrong for us to be this happy?” she wondered out loud. “Everyone else is so worried, so anxious.”

“If your feelings depend on other people, you’ll wear out eventually,” Gemini replied. “I remember that much. And it’s nothing wrong either. Why worry through these final years of peace?”

Lila looked up at him, from his lap, a gentle smile on her face. “You’ve changed, haven’t you?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve asked around about your past,” she said. “But to me, it looks that you’ve put down your guilt and exchanged it for responsibility. At some point, the people here…they stopped being your targets for atonement.”

“You asked about me…” Gemini smiled. “I’m sorry. I should have been more honest with you. I was just scared of what you’d think of a mass murderer like me. But since you knew…”

“Mm.” Lila reached out to his face and pulled his cheeks. “But you’ve gotten past that, in a way. And I’m glad I’m able to help you.”

Gemini himself wasn’t sure when his feelings to Ark City had changed. Was it in Heritage Basestation, when he spent time with people like Nelson, who had been scarred by war? Was it here, when he joined up with the understanding Paragons of Ark City? Or was it by Lila’s side, where he found a new purpose to live for?

He wasn’t sure.

But that silent urging in his heart, to throw himself in harm’s way over and over, was in the middle of fading. Lila was right, in a sense. He no longer had the desire to sacrifice himself, to seek death. All these was made possible with the person beside him, and now, he was beginning to fear the prospect of dying on the battlefield.

“I’m now a coward, it seems,” Gemini murmured.

“Living isn’t wrong,” Lila replied. “Everyone has so much to lose by dying. And if you were to fall in battle…I think I’ll charge out too.”

The Constellation grimaced. He’d somewhat forgotten, but Lila was essentially the last of her tribe in the Wildlands. She had no one, no family. Like him — although he hadn’t noticed his own similarity back then — she too was alone. In fact, she was made to flee, along with the refugee convoy back then.

Gemini half-suspected that her survivor’s guilt was the reason why she held on the Violet Regret Crystal, staying behind in a world without anyone she could rely on.

But he wasn’t going to voice that now. Running his fingers through her smooth hair, the couple closed their eyes and enjoyed the wind, whiling away the lunch period.

“Lila.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s go pay a visit to General Degurechaff and raid his wine cellar.”

“Sure!”