Story Reader / Main Story / 17 The Surviving Lucem / Story
The time it has taken to change her frame is longer than usual because she is filled with anticipation and uncertainty.
Liv closes her eyes as two sets of eyes watch, but she wakes up to a flock of whispering crowds.
With an intense migraine in her M.I.N.D., Liv struggles to open her eyes, looking forward through the haze and darkness.
The familiar leaders stand before her, offering care and words of comfort.
After they step back, faces strange or familiar begin to approach her.
Most of them are councilmen from the Parliament.
Apart from the administrators of Star of Life and Bianca, Liv can only just recognize which departments the others belong to from the badges they are wearing.
They are ecstatic, intrigued, ruminative... All kinds of emotions center on Liv, filtered through their gazes.
They are brimming with passion as if staring at a valuable piece of art, but there is a coldness, as they do not seem to see Liv amidst all her mechanical parts.
Among them is a woman from the Control Court, who walks toward Liv and hands her a golden brooch.
May it guide your way through the haze, Liv.
Thank you.
She can hear people cheering, and she hears the name of her new frame. Hiding the migraine she is feeling, she smiles at the title that illuminates the night.
By the time the crowd is gone, Asimov's laboratory reverts to its dark and cold self. Lit by the dim light from the monitors, Liv sees her Professor shaking her head, sighing.
Liv is not sure what she has done wrong. She is about to ask, only to find the Professor shedding a tear.
We're going to perform one last adaptation. It will take approximately two hours.
I will do my best to minimize the migraine in this adaptation.
Go and say goodbye to your commandant when we're still getting ready.
Don't leave behind any regrets... Liv.
...
But Liv does not know how to bid farewell.
All she knows is that her commandant has yet to wake up.
...
In her jumbled thoughts, she once again recalls what the kind stranger said.
I hope you would not regret this decision.
Gray Raven was invited to an event on the Nighter that day.
After they boarded, Liv ran into a woman who said she "wanted to chat." She talked to Liv about "a possibility," asking how Liv would choose.
After that, following the performance by the mechanoid puppets, Yazi mentioned Huaxu and Villier, who "merged" there.
Was that freedom?
"They made their choice," answered the commandant back then.
Even if it means they have to end up like this?
Yes.
The commandant's answer and the woman's words on possibilities and choices were simply casual chats.
Unintended as the speakers might be, Liv has found herself reflected in the words they said.
—If she encounters a similar situation one day, will she sacrifice everything?
She cannot be sure. She cannot bear to imagine a day when everything good she has witnessed is destroyed.
But she knows that an unspeakable resolve has been planted in her heart since then.
It has been growing uninhibitedly from the tragedies and calamities of the past days, like vines covering the fences and climbing over the walls.
This is my choice...
Liv has let go of her attachment after witnessing the countless deaths and goodbyes.
She is willing to become a disposable pawn on this chessboard of tragedies to fight for the lives who are still struggling forward.
Children without homes will always seek a place to settle.
People who have not experienced love will spend their lives looking for substitutes.
Liv has found a home in Gray Raven, and she has gained warmth there. But she has not treated it as her destination.
Just like how Lucia picks up her blade so that no one else has to suffer her pain, Liv has been fighting to this day so that everyone will have a home to return to.
An impulse imprinted in her mind, it forces her to step on the frontline, and eventually, it will witness her fall.
There is no need to hesitate anymore. She just has to keep moving forward, give it all she has to offer until the moment she no longer can stand.
Over and over, Liv confirms to herself her decision and the plan for the three-hour combat.
Once she reaches the surface, her life is on a three-hour timer. Every second counts.
I'm ready.
She makes sure, once again, that her resolve has not wavered. Her feelings have been forged into the strongest armor, building an unbreakable line in her heart.
In that case, where does that hint of unease come from?
...Do I still have regrets?
Looking at the pale and gaunt commandant on the hospital bed, Liv remains silent amidst the beeping noise of the vital signs monitor for a long while.
Finally, she lifts her hand and gently places it on the commandant's chest, the cold fingers of her new frame rising and falling rhythmically along with it.
She remembers that spot.
Even with it covered by the blanket and layers of bandages, Liv remembers it clearly.
That is where [player name] was fatally wounded the first time. Liv was right by the commandant that day, but she could not stop it from happening.
She moves her fingers, seeking until they reach the other side of the chest.
Liv also remembers that spot—a scar left behind when a loose rock hit the commandant in City 075. She wanted to follow the commandant that day, but she was stopped.
Then her hands stroke past the commandant's legs, which have gone frail from lying on the bed motionless for so long.
She caresses the commandant's delicate neck, cheek, and the faded scar on the commandant's forehead.
If [player name] wanted, all these scars could have been removed with the advancement in technology.
...
The girl in white leans downward, holding the hands that once gave everyone warmth.
But I remember, Commandant.
Whether the marks are there or not, I remember.
I remember every scar. I remember your pain. I remember your every thought... struggle, and moment of weakness.
The shape of your silhouette, the warmth in your hands, your dreams... our dreams.
All your sufferings... in exchange for a step toward the future.
Now, I'll walk on the same path for the countless people like you who are suffering in this apocalypse.
I have a chance to make a change. I'll finally stop feeling powerless.
I've done it... Please... be happy for me, Commandant...
But...
An unmistakable hint of pain still lingers in her.
Commandant... I don't know what I can offer to thank you for the days you stood with us.
I've never been an exceptional person. It is luck that I've been able to stay here, protected by you and Gray Raven.
...Like sunlight in the attic, night breeze through the ruins, as voiceless as shadows.
I have nothing but myself.
...What else is there to offer?
There is just my memories. Of you, of them.
When sunlight hugs the flowers, its ray carries their scent.
When the night breeze passes a crowd, it learns to hum their songs.
When a shadow spends its days attached, it draws the shape of light.
—This is all I am. All I can leave behind.
She places the paper boats she folded by the bed.
Each one of them is a page of her journal. Letters that she has been writing for the past three months.
They carry ashes and dust, blood and tears.
...Will you be disappointed by this parting gift, Commandant?
The girl who has nothing left takes the seven injection needles her Professor gave her. Collecting the paper boats together, she fixes them to the needles, forming the shape of a Queen of the Night.
A Queen of the Night, made from white paper boats. A life that flourishes for a moment before they expire.
But that boat carries her memories... at the end of its voyage.
Placing the flower by the bed, Liv holds those delicate hands once more and offers them a parting kiss.
Please don't be sad about the brevity of life.
As long as you remember it, even a Queen of the Night's three-hour blossom can last for an eternity.
Please forgive me... Commandant. [player name]...
She whispers the name, her grief irrepressible.
Even when I'm prepared to sacrifice myself... Even when, as a medic, I know it's futile to have these dreams...
But still... at this moment...
Please forgive me... I can't help but wish for an afterlife...
No longer able to control her sorrow, Liv cries, her face covered with tears like windowpane on a rainy day.
Commandant... [player name]...
Her tears fall onto the unresponsive hands, soaking a corner of the bandages.
I've been hoping for a day when Earth thrives again, when you can see flowers blooming in ruins and people laughing by their new homes, displaced no more...
I love this world so much... I love all your smiles...
Humans, Constructs, machines, plants, animals, insects, bacteria... Their existence is so beautiful.
It's because of the tiny sparks of lives coming together that the eternal nights will end.
But... our homes and our future have been taken by the Punishing Virus...
Someone must take the first step to find a way to eliminate them.
And even if that step costs me my life and our reunion... It's a price I'm willing to pay.
Only when the Punishing Virus is gone can humans like you, Commandant, live on.
So... this is my choice. I'm leaving even when there will be regrets.
It's okay... As long as you and everyone can live in this world safe and sound.
That will be the proof that I have fought until my very last moment as one of the Gray Ravens.
Liv tells the bedridden commandant everything she has to say, and she no longer holds back her tears.
All her pain will be lost in time, her last drop of sorrow carried away like tears in rain. She hears a knock on the door. Time to go.
...Time's up. One more adaptation, and I'll be gone.
She fiddles with the paper flower one last time before standing up.
With inseverable affection, she bows to the commandant.
It is my honor to learn from you all.
I'm sorry... but it's time for me to leave Gray Raven.
Thank you, Commandant... I'll take my leave now.
