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Fu Hua sat with her hands clasped before her coffee, which was still miraculously lukewarm. She glanced to her watch again, having lost track of how many times she’d already done so, but knowing it certainly hadn’t been a full minute since the last time. It wasn’t a nervous habit, per se, but the person opposite her was difficult enough to make eye contact with in any situation, let alone one as casual as this. Going out for coffee was perfect for a date, Elysia had insisted once upon a time, and on the few occasions Fu Hua had been for a coffee with other people before — Himeko, Theresa, Kiana — she could see where she was coming from. But despite his insistence that this was a casual occasion, sitting opposite Kevin Kaslana in such close proximity felt more akin to an interrogation. His coffee was black, as hers used to be before Kiana’s preferences started rubbing off on her, and cold, not a lick of steam rising from its still surface. Perhaps, with the fall of Honkai, his aura had waned. No one else in the coffee shop was shivering, after all. He was a man of few words, and yet she waited for him to break the silence.
Mercifully, only a dozen or so watch checks later, he did.
“Celebrations are in order.” he said in his trademark monotone.
“You believe it’s truly over? That we’ve defeated Honkai once and for all?”
“Of course. It happened as MEI described. You saw it with your own eyes.”
“I know, but...” Fu Hua trailed off, not entirely sure where her hesitation was coming from. Kevin was the only person she knew from back then, and he was as careful, as foolproof as she was, and he believed it. So this doubt... could it be that she was afraid? Not of them misjudging the current situation, necessarily, but of what happened next. An eternal life, now without its purpose.
“There is one thing.” Kevin said, lowering his voice so the innocent people around them couldn’t overhear. “You know, don’t you?”
“I...” It was something she wanted to think about even less than her future. With the fall of Honkai, many of the Valkyries had left to find less dangerous work elsewhere, though some, like Durandal, had remained. Kiana and Bronya, having also stayed behind, along with Mei, had all relinquished their Gems and status as Herrschers, becoming normal girls once more. Which only left...
“Her.”
* * *
The Herrscher of Sentience was bored. Nothing was a challenge to her. She got bored of fighting basic opponents just from seeing their stance, and even when she conjured an illusion of herself to fight with, she could outsmart it. Well, it’s all the same brain, isn’t it?
It was twilight, and she watched the sun melt into the horizon while basking in its final rays, laid back upon a tree branch, tired after another day of being the undisputed best. And then the sky opened up, and the Cleaver of Shamash slammed into her, or would have done, if she were not the aforementioned best.
She leapt back off the branch and immediately readied herself for attack, then scoffed.
“Ha! Are you all bored out of your minds now that you’ve wiped out Honkai? Or are you just here to party?”
“I think you know why we’re here.” Kevin really never changed, huh? It seemed odd for him to bring backup though, and what a ragtag team — Fu Hua was there (not surprising, given the circumstances), what was left of the Valkyries (surprising, even more so now that Kiana and Bronya had given up their Gems) and a few stragglers, presumably from World Serpent (the only notable one being Mei — file under Valkyries).
“I knew I felt a chill in the air. Would it kill you to lighten up a little?” She retorted, his solemn manner miles from the confusion and acceptance he’d shown her the last time they’d met. He said nothing, just continued to glare at her, his stance composed but ready to pounce at any minute. She grinned.
“Well I was needing entertainment~”
They rushed her at once, surrounding her. She hadn’t fought a group of such impressive foes in a long time, and their slight disharmony due to never having trained together was the only opportunity she could exploit. And exploit she did. She turned their attacks against them, dodged one so it would connect with someone else, spun around and confused them. Kevin and Fu Hua could keep up no problem, as expected, but she noticed something interesting from the others. Most fought harder due to anger after she had tricked them, also to be expected, but three didn’t. Mei, Kiana, Bronya. Mei was relentless, but calm. She wasn’t angered by Senti’s tricks, she just kept her composure and continued her assault. But Kiana and Bronya were different. They fought, but... they held back. Stuck to the sidelines. Like they were only here for a participation credit.
But noticing so many things pulled her attention in too many directions. A slash on her upper arm, a gift from the Divine Key, brutally called her back to the most pressing issue.
“Hey, hey, isn’t that cheating? I thought Honkai was done, why are you still wielding this?”
“This is the last time I will wield it.” Kevin responded with such severity it set a strange emotion tumbling in her stomach. It wasn’t fear — it absolutely, definitely wasn’t fear!
The gash on her arm wasn’t deep, but it was cumbersome, and her attacks slowed more than she was comfortable with.
“Tch,” she said, disappointed in her body as Kevin’s flaming sword came way too close again, and she made up her mind.
Suddenly, Senti was everywhere. There were hundreds of her, all with her same cocky grin, all with a bloodied arm and stunted movement in it. She saw Fu Hua’s eyes widen — she actually looked impressed for once, and how tragic that it should be the one occasion she couldn’t milk the praise from her. Kevin was unfazed of course, and the rest took a moment to process, but were too well trained to let it delay them for long. Their barrage resumed: if they had to cut down a million Senti clones to reach the true Herrscher of Sentience, then they would do so. To be the target of such resolve wasn’t a particularly nice feeling.
She didn’t try to escape — come now, she’s not a coward — but like Kiana and Bronya she held back, fighting only the smaller fry in this party of incredibly big fry, assessing her condition and replanning her attack. A small wound like this would be nothing to her normally, but a Divine Key wound was an entirely different story. She couldn’t bandage it up either, or she’d have to make every clone do the same while also not dying. It was as she pondered this, her thoughts racing mid-battle that she felt a warm hand on her chest and a kiss on her cheek, and everything slowed.
“Rest,” was the only word that passed Fu Hua’s lips, and all of Senti’s strength slipped away. Before she could even form the accusation, Fu Hua continued “It’s not me, it’s your arm. You know Divine Key wounds aren’t like those from normal weapons.”
That checked out. But had she really pushed herself that hard already? Senti could stand on her own, but Fu Hua’s hand remained on her chest, as if to support her. She didn’t need it, but she didn’t move it away.
Assessing the situation, Senti saw Kevin watching, but the rest didn’t seem to have noticed that the real one had been found, and continued battling her clones. Keeping the clones present and physical was exhausting, but the chaotic battlefield was the only obstacle between them and Kevin, the only thing that could delay his arrival. Despite how much it drained her, she would keep them there. As she had learned before, denial was the easiest thing for her, but if she denied what was happening now, she’d lose it. This chance — the last chance she would have with Fu Hua. Her self, or her sister, or her mortal enemy? Regardless of the specifics, someone important to her. The most important person to her.
Swallowing her not-fear, she met Fu Hua’s eyes. She could tell Fu Hua didn’t want to meet hers, but forced herself to. She was always such a good girl.
“I’m not bored anymore.” Senti said, in an attempt to lighten the sorrow and regret in those eyes. It didn’t work.
“Oh... that’s good.”
“...”
“...”
“There’s not long left, is there?”
Fu Hua shook her head.
“Ahh, this is a new feeling,” Senti smiled, but a dozen conflicting emotions danced inside her. “I know why you’re here and I know what’s going to happen and yet I still want to ask-”
They stood in silence while Senti took a breath, her eyes falling to the floor. She hid how her face fell into a wretched mask, detached and desolate. She took Fu Hua’s free hand in her own, aware that the chaos around them was dwindling as her ability to maintain the clones waned, and that words could say almost nothing that she wanted to. She heard Fu Hua’s sharp intake of breath at her cold touch, and her realisation as she felt past Senti’s final illusion, the one hovering just barely above her skin, the one whose hands didn’t tremble and whose cheeks were dry. Finally, she asked the question she knew the answer to.
“Why?”
“Because it was a choice between you or all of humanity.”
Senti nodded. She bit her lip as Kevin neared, and continued to refuse to meet Fu Hua’s eyes. Quietly, softer than a whisper, she said,
“Kiana chose differently.”
*
“There you are.” Kevin interrupted.
“It was cheating. You shouldn’t bring a Divine Key to a sword, spear and chain blade fight.”
“You’re a Herrscher, I’m not. It’s completely fair.”
Senti laughed once.
“It really is the end if even you’re humouring me.”
Kevin said nothing. Fu Hua, instead, spoke.
“You know what our duty is. You were there.”
“Your duty was to protect humanity from Honkai. Honkai is gone, so your duty is to yourself now.” Senti said. “Ah—! I’m not begging though. I get it. I know. There’s nothing I could say that would stop this guy anyway.”
Fu Hua, whose hand she still held, was the only one who heard her voice waver.
“So you’ll comply?” Kevin said, his tone a little softer than usual, but his face a show of grim determination. She wondered if he still felt emotions these days, or if his heart had closed off long ago, back when she and Fu Hua were still one and the same. She glanced across the rest, who had formed something of a crowd around them, and their feelings too, were equally hidden. Well, hidden from their faces, at least. It wasn’t like anyone could hide things like that from the Herrscher of Sentience.
Kiana and Bronya, standing together at the front of the crowd, were the only ones who seemed to have missed the memo that told everyone else to put on their best bleak expressions. Kiana looked as though she was trying to hold it together, and Bronya like she was trying to hold Kiana together. Senti flashed them an easy-going smile. If only she could flaunt it, show this gathering of pathetic actors how to really hide their emotions! But for all she craved praise and recognition, she’d keep her superiority to herself this time. To be the centre of this kind of attention was way too embarrassing.
Finally, she turned back to Fu Hua, and with one last, calm smile that only she could see, dropped her hand.
“I know what I am,” was all she said.
* * *
“A eulogy?” Kevin asked. Fu Hua looked up from her writings.
“Is something wrong with that?”
“No. It’s just that millions of people died because of Honkai, especially because of Herrschers, and no one will remember them. They’re all gone forever, decimated in an instant. They have no eulogy, so isn’t this a little... insensitive?”
“No.”
“...”
“...”
“I feel like... you’re trying to act like me.”
“That’s not it. I’m... I just see it a little differently.” She took a deep breath and readied her argument. “Individual people may have no eulogy, but we will always remember those that lost their lives, the millions that were slaughtered by Honkai. Though it’s impossible to remember each and every specific person, we as a people can never forget, and we will honour them and sing songs of them for centuries, millennia to come. But no one will sing for a Herrscher.”
“No one except you?”
“She was born of Honkai, but she fought it as we did. Fighting the corruption must have been much harder for her, too. All she wanted was to protect humanity from Honkai... and in death, she did so.”
“Are you saying she’s a martyr?”
“I’m... not sure what I’m saying.”
“Then do you think we made a mistake?”
Fu Hua was silent for a while. It would be easy to say it didn’t matter, what’s done is done, but they both knew the flaw in that. Finally, she sighed.
“I don’t know what the right thing to do was. But, in my eyes, she did nothing wrong. She was just... born wrong.”
It was Kevin’s turn to say nothing. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, and left Fu Hua to her writing. Her mind wandered back to when she and the girl also calling herself “Hua” had met for the first time, “Hua” certain that she was nothing more than a mere feather. At that time, “Hua” had lamented over all the mistakes “she” had made in the past, wondering aloud why on earth “she” would have made such foolish decisions, failing and losing cherished friends time and again.
The letter that Fu Hua was writing became indecipherable in any known alphabet, as she wondered if, in her position, that girl would have done something different.