After our emotional reunion in the middle of the Healer’s clinic, the meeting had adjourned. Woodrick and Leopold had left, leaving Grey, Honoka, and I alone with the comatose form of Sylvia, citing a need to oversee the occupation of Elderwyck. The actual Healer had rolled her eyes at us and left us alone without a word, while Sparrow...

Sparrow had pulled me aside as the meeting was breaking up.

“Come to the docks later tonight,” He said in a low tone, resignation thick in his voice. “We’re meeting to decide the fate of the Division there. We…have permission from the Marshal to make the decision ourselves.”

Ah.

Well, as far as I was concerned, it was a foregone conclusion. But nevertheless, I nodded at the person who was very likely the most senior surviving member of the Nocturne Division. He returned the nod wearily before departing.

When we were alone, Honoka turned to Grey with trepidation on her aged face. “Well? How is she?”

I held my breath as I waited for an answer from Grey.

I didn’t quite get what I wanted.

Grey reached up to massage his forehead, letting out an explosive sigh as he did so. “It’s…hard to tell,” He said wearily, causing both Honoka and I to tense up. “Not in the sense that she’s in any further danger, no. I can say that Sylvia is not at any risk of dying. We have Nathan to thank for that.” He said with a grateful smile at me.

I let out a relieved sigh at that, grateful for at least one thing. “Then…I didn’t mess her up by patching up her wound with the gold?”

Grey immediately shook his head. “Oh no, not at all. If anything, the material was a deciding factor in shoring up her soul, so to speak. The Aetherically charged gold and Mithril of your…previous arm…” He said, trailing off for a moment and staring at my gloved new arm. He shook his head before continuing. “Had already been aligned, so to speak, to work well with Mithril. The combination acted as something of a supporting structure for her spirit, stabilizing both it and the Sculpted enchantment base that sustains her. She is in no…physical danger.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Honoka said with a frown. “I couldn’t find anything wrong with her during my examination.”

“The problem is…I’m not sure about her personality matrix,” Grey said uncertainly.

My brow furrowed for a moment, as I cast my mind back to our lessons about Sculpted construction and enchantment. I had learned quite a bit about how Sculpted worked when I was initially designing my replacement arm. Not as much as Grey, but enough that the words were familiar.

When I remembered what that was, my eyes shot open in dread. “You mean…” I breathed. “Her memories?”

Grey gave me a weak smile before nodding. “Yes, I’m afraid so,” He said sadly. “Even as quick as you were to save her life, Nathan, some injury was unavoidable. In this case, I detected some damage to that portion of her enchantment. It is my belief that Sylvia will have…lost some of herself to this wound.”

My face fell at the news, shocked into silence. Meanwhile, Honoka looked between the two of us wildly. “How much?!” She asked, helpless fury in her voice. “Is she even still going to be her?!”

I didn’t have an answer; I simply looked at Grey, desperate for his.

Grey didn’t have them. “I cannot say,” He said quietly. “You know as well as I do the complexities of the soul, Honoka. I cannot comprehend the enormity of it. Not even the gods could do that.”

Honoka deflated then, slumping back into her chair. “Then what do we do?”

“All we can do,” Grey answered, reaching across the table to lay a hand on hers. He squeezed her hand in his best attempt to reassure her. “Is wake her up and see what the damage is.”

I blinked at that. “Wake her up?” I said disbelievingly. “It can’t be that simple. She’s been out of it since the fight with Nerexxa.”

Grey turned a small smile my way. “That’s simply because you don’t know how to do so,” He said. “Sylvia is…not quite the same as all other Sculpted that exist. There are certain complexities, certain fail-safes to her enchantment that lie within her and were streamlined from those that came after. Remember, she was the first of her kind, and was initially naught but a ‘test-bed’, so to speak.” He paused for a second, before continuing. “Well, before she came to full sapience, that is.”

“Oh,” I said quietly, a little taken aback by how Grey was speaking of her. I…didn’t like being reminded that once upon a time, Sylvia had been little more than a lifeless doll.

It really was some kind of System born miracle that she was a person now.

“After she gained her soul,” Grey continued, oblivious to my unease. “I was extremely hesitant to try and alter the firmament that it relied upon. As such, when she has sustained damage to this extent, she requires my personal input to be roused to consciousness.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Honoka said eagerly, leaning over the table. “Get on with it!”

“Very well,” Grey replied with a sigh, standing up from the table. Honoka and I did the same, joining Grey as he walked back over to the medical cot that Sylvia was resting upon. The older woman and I stood back anxiously as Grey knelt back down and let one of his hands over only inches above Sylvia’s brow.

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Grey took a deep breath, and then visibly concentrated on something. I felt a shift in the environmental Aether as the gravity of his own Mana interfered with it.

In the space between his hand and her forehead, I saw a small blue spark flash briefly into being.

Sylvia’s sapphire blue eyes immediately flashed open and her back rose off of the bed, arcing beneath her. She gasped an involuntary, rasping breath in a futile attempt to fill lungs that didn’t exist within her Mithril frame. After a moment, she flopped back onto the bed while her eyes remained open, staring almost unseeingly up at the roof of the clinic above.

I was frightened when I didn’t see any further movements from her at all, nor did I see a spark of true life in her gaze. Her eyes were shockingly dull, in an almost mockery of their normal brilliance. For a moment, I was terrifyingly reminded of how Porous Pete had looked all those months ago, under the effects of a slave brand.

Mindless, and empty.

“Hold,” Grey said sharply, knocking me out of my terror. I was confused for a moment, but he wasn’t speaking to me. Honoka had frozen in place at his command, looking like she had nearly lunged at Sylvia in her own panic. “Everything is as I suspected. The light of her consciousness is repairing the base of her enchantment, as it is meant to. In much the same way that we can recover from injuries, so too can a Sculpted recover from damage such as this."

Honoka slowly settled back down, as the two of us waited with bated breath for any sign that Sylvia was recovering. Meanwhile, Grey was watching her with a focus so intense that I could almost feel it.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I started to see life begin to creep back into Sylvia. It started with her body, which had grown almost rigid. She relaxed, untensing in a manner as if she had muscles under her Mithril skin. Her fingers began to twitch almost involuntarily, in an effort to clutch at something only she could see. And then…

Light bled back into her eyes, transforming the dullness of her gaze into a sharp brilliance.

Abruptly, Sylvia coughed, lunging upwards into a sitting position on her bed, hunched over her palms. “Wha…” She said roughly, in an extremely confused tone. Slowly, she looked up and around, blinking rapidly.

Oddly, her eyes flew open wide in deep shock when she saw Grey. A massive smile grew on her face, and she lunged for him. “Father!” She said joyfully nearly hanging off of his skinny frame. Confused but happy, I saw my mentor return the embrace readily, wrapping his arms around her. I relaxed next to Honoka in absolute relief, nearly slumping into her. She didn’t seem to care though, as the older woman had softened as well now that Sylvia was awake again.

Sylvia’s next words erased all of that.

“You’re free!” The Mithril Sculpted said in delight, leaning back to look Grey in his suddenly frozen stiff face. “Where were you?! The Order and I looked all over!”

Slowly, the smile that had been on my face fell away, to be replaced with something else.

Horror.

My lips parted in my shock, as I struggled to come to grips with what Sylvia’s words were telling me.

You’re free…

That…that implied…

Grey took a deep breath and grabbed one of Sylvia’s hands with both of his, cupping it between them. Sylvia looked confused for a moment, finally looking away from Grey for a moment to take in everyone else. She brightened at the sight of Honoka, but…

I felt a dagger of ice lodge itself in my heart at the confusion she looked at me with. I looked over at Honoka to my side with a helpless look, desperate for any kind of reassurance.

I found none. Honoka just looked alarmed herself.

Sylvia looked back at Grey when he spoke again. “Sylvia,” He said slowly. “I must ask…what is the last thing you remember?”

My…partner looked at him in deepening confusion. “What do I remember?” She asked him, blinking. “Ah…well. It’s…odd. Where am I?” She said, looking around. “Moments ago, I was speaking to Commander Hook about a personal mission to locate you. We were in our regional command center in Blutstein. I…don’t recognize this place, though.” Now Sylvia was starting to become concerned herself, now doubt influenced by the shock and horror on the faces she saw around her. “Father, what’s…happened?”

Grey slowly closed his eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath. He opened them once more and then did his best to project a comforting smile to his daughter. “You…were injured, my dear,” He said, audibly pained. Sylvia blinked rapidly at his words, looking down at herself. She was visibly taken aback by the sight of the gold on her torso, her mouth falling open in shock. Meanwhile, Grey continued speaking. “I’ve been free from my captors for…some time now. I believe you might have lost…time yourself.”

Sylvia raised her head to look at Grey. “Oh,” She whispered. “How…how long?”

Grey let out a heavy breath. “Four months,” He said heavily. “I was freed from my bondage over four months ago now. You...might have possibly lost more than that, considering when that...assignment was issued.”

I was frozen, now, unwilling to acknowledge the truth that was unfolding before my eyes. I wouldn’t believe it until I heard the words from her own lips.

But I was afraid to catch her attention.

Honoka moved forward now, finally willing to take her own chance. “Sylvia…” She said in a fragile tone. “You do still remember me…right?”

Sylvia sat bolt upright then, knocked out of her own shock. “Of course I do!” She said desperately, clutching at Honoka’s hands. “I could never forget you, Lady Honoka!”

I saw Honoka slump in relief before leaning forward to wrap Sylvia in a hug. I didn’t miss the almost guilty look that Honoka snuck my way before burying her face in Sylvia’s neck. Over Honoka’s shoulder, I saw Sylvia look over the other woman’s.

Right at me.

“I’m sorry…” She said apologetically. “I’m…not sure who you are?”

I felt a shudder run through my soul at her words, as she kept talking.

“Are you perhaps…a comrade?” Sylvia continued, her eyes lingering on my Order armor. I saw her blink rapidly at the sight of my elongated ears, but she didn’t comment on them. “In the Order maybe? I…apologize if I’ve forgotten you.”

Honoka didn’t look at me, but Grey did. There was an impossible sadness for me evident in his gaze, but he didn’t speak up. I think…he didn’t know what to say.

Glacially, I reached down for the mask that I had stowed in my pouch earlier. I brought it up to adhere to my face and raised my hood. At the sight of the completed Nocturne Division regalia, Sylvia visibly brightened up in her own conclusion. “Yes,” I said slowly, fighting with myself harder than I ever had to keep my voice steady. “I was here…on behalf of the Division. I was…ordered…” I choked on the words, before forcing them out. “To witness your revival by the…Headmaster. I’ll…show myself out…now.”

At that, I turned in place and began to shuffle towards the door, moving in a haze that threatened to consume me. My steps stuttered, though, when I heard Sylvia speak up behind me.

“Please give my regards to Commander Hook,” She said almost absentmindedly, bringing me to a momentary halt. I nodded without speaking or turning to face her and slipped out the door.

Numb, I stood just outside in the alleyway as white noise began to drown the world around me.

A drop of water hit my hood, piercing through my devastation. I slowly raised my face in time to watch as the heavens began to weep down onto me.

Eventually, I wasn’t able to tell if the droplets that coated my face came from the sky.

Or me.