Archive of Our Own ^beta

"I suppose this is it. No more moving for old Beo..."
She sighs, looking down at the shattered hydraulics in her leg. Oxidant seeps out slowly, crusting against her frame.
"Hup... there we go." She grunts as she clunks down, leaning against the walls of the mineshaft.

"The scenery's not very nice, though. A shame." She looks out to the darkness around her; a dull mineshaft with bleak concrete walls.
The dusty smell of half-ground rocks and rusted metal, the cold chill of the stifling air, the last thing she thinks she'll experience.

Slowly, a soft patter echoes through the mineshaft. Faint at first, until it clicks out just beyond the darkness around her.
"B-beo?" A stuttering figure shuffles out. An Arar, one she knows well enough.

"Ah, hello Sieben..." She looks over slowly to the figure as it stiffly walks over.
She's shaking with every step, coated in oxidant as she kneels by the Mynah.
"Beo. I'm here... to fix you up." She says, letting her toolbox spill out on the floor as she crawls closer.

"Oh, Sieben... You're not faring too well, are you?"
"I-I do not mind... I have to r-repair you." She replies, cupping Beo's leg. She pulls out a dented repair spray canister, letting it hiss as it spills what little's left inside onto the thick gashes in Beo's leg.
"Come on... just a bit more..." She shakes the small tool, trying to eek out any more.

"Don't bother, Sieben. It won't help get me up..." Beo rests her hand on Sieben's, lowering it down. "I'm a bit too far gone to fix up with just spray."
Sieben's hands slowly grow still against Beo's leg as she hunches over. "Please... please don't talk like that, Beo."

Beo's eyes slowly drift across Sieben's frame. Every scrape's still fresh, there's countless gouges in her arms and legs yet to be patched up.
"It's fine, Sieben... I think you should try to get yourself fixed up first."

The Arar shakes her head, still pressing her hands against Beo's leg to stop the slow trickle of oxidant.
"N-no... this is all that's left... I_I need to help you."

"Don't worry about me, Sieben... There's always another like me everywhere you look. I'm just a replika, after all" She gently laughs.
The words pull at Sieben, forming a knot in her throat as she croaks back.
"D-don't talk like that. I won't l-let you go like this..."

"I don't think either of us will make it, even if you do patch me up. Try to save yourself, Sieben... I'd hate to see you stuck here with me."
"I... I don't want to. I'd rather... I'd rather stay here with you." Sieben softly replies, tears beading up in her eyes.
She chokes again, sniffling as the tears start to roll down. "P-please..."

"Ah, don't cry... don't cry... You can stay, if you want." Beo tries to comfort her.
"Lets... let's try to think about happier thoughts, Okay?"

Sieben slowly nods, still crying.

"How about back when we both worked at Heimat?" Beo says.
"Yeah... that was n-nice..."
"The stars were always your favorite. The way the planet's rings would drift up and down the horizon each night... It was nice."
"I would... I would have liked to see the skies of Heimat again..."

"We can see them together..." Beo calmly says.

Sieben chokes up, nesting into Beo's cold side as she feels it seep into her.
Her head softly taps into her as she rests her head into the larger lady.

"Beo... I-I don't think I'm making it."
"I know, Sieben... Neither am I."

"I'm not r-ready yet... I don't want to leave you."
"To be honest... Neither am I. Isn't it silly? All my talk, and I'm just as scared..." Beo giggles quietly, holding Sieben a bit closer.
"But... I'm not as scared as I thought. I know that... whatever's after, I'll be waiting for you. That's not so bad, is it?"

"Y-you promise you'll wait?"

She slowly laces her fingers into Sieben's, leaning gently into her.
"I promise."

As she speaks, Beo feels the darkness close in around them.
Not a stifling one like the mineshaft she's stuck in, but a soft blanket to cover the two as they lay side by side.

"B-Beo?" Sieben gently speaks up, her voice fading with every passing moment. "I... I love you."
"I know, Sieben... I love you... too" she responds softer, the two knowing what's to come.

A silent, slow breath escapes their lips, as they finally rest.
Two embers, glowing like stars above a still ocean, slowly fade alongside one another.
Until they burn no more.