Teddy: Spectre VII
Dark ink floods the space of her M.I.N.D., washing away every last construct until only a quiet, empty void remains.
In the stillness, countless bubbles—pure and translucent as frozen dew—float gently in the air. Beyond that dreamlike expanse, you finally see her: the Construct girl standing in the distance.
...
Her lashes tremble as she opens her eyes.
Before her eyes lies a field of crystalline spheres, each one gleaming like a kaleidoscope. Their transparent walls ripple with shifting rainbows, so pure that even nature could never have shaped them.
Inside each bubble, turning to a silent rhythm, flicker fragments of memory:
Pink hair flying in the wind, fingertips meeting above a swaying sunroof, a tired face resting under moonlight, rainbows, sunsets, a seaside walkway brushing against flowing waves...
Joyful memories that should have built a bridge to happiness now spin and collide, stacking into walls of rejection.
...Commandant? Am I... awake?
Her scattered memories slowly return.
...
(I'd rather believe I was just a simulation than admit my feelings went out of control...)
In the destiny Teddy built for herself, love was an unwanted variable—the only madness capable of breaking her fortress.
Love would make her incomplete, so the part that longed to be loved could only be a false entity, never her true self.
...It's stable now. They probably won't appear again.
This won't happen again.
When Teddy makes a promise, you believe her.
But you already know the truth. The virus, the wandering, the conflict between her personalities—they all came from the heart she refused to face.
Emotions dammed up in silence will one day break free. Only when she finds her own river that runs to the sea will she finally be free.
The quantum leap has already begun, even if it means shattering the order we've always known.
It means reinterpreting the world we thought we understood. It means a future that's no longer steady or certain.
Screw it. I'm going beyond the boundary.
Into the new world beyond the broken fortress.
—Christina
Teddy
That moment back then mirrors this one now.
Planck time marks the very start of the universe's evolution. At that scale, spacetime itself stops behaving as we know it. It's the very boundary of physics.
Within that boundary, the world can be known. Beyond it, it's unknowable, undefined, untouchable.
Christina said, "Screw it, I'm going beyond the boundary."
And so, Teddy becomes the first bear to break free from her cage.
I...
That moment back then mirrors this one now.
From the very moment doubt was born, the door had already opened. No one could stop what followed.
When something challenges the order inside your heart, that challenge itself is the answer.
(Love itself is the answer.)
The pink-haired Construct looks confused, but she still obeys and takes a small step back.
You check your weapon, lift it steadily, and tap a few quick commands. The crystalline bubbles burst in silence, vanishing like sighs, delicate and fleeting.
Countless fragments of color scatter through the air like stars and aurora shattering together, tracing brilliant arcs across the sky. The wall of bubbles breaks open, leaving a glowing path through its center.
Like a door thrown open, light spills across the ground, and at the end of that radiant path stands Teddy.
You walk through the opening and stop before her.
Because you told her to step back, the falling shards of starlight don't touch her.
...
She lets out a small laugh that sounds like a sigh.
Still, because of that half-step difference, a few traces of color land softly on her cheek.
The stardust that brushed her cheek turns beneath your touch into a bridge of light.
Love doesn't make us incomplete. Love simply makes us aware of our incompleteness, and that's why we...
I want to hold you.
Her forehead rests against your shoulder as a quiet, relieved laugh escapes her lips.
Like a fledgling that's finally found shelter from the storm. Now, at last, someone has heard her silent cry for help.
But now, someone remembers.
Reason has saved this world countless times.
But just as many times, emotion has moved people to impossible acts—the desperate, selfless choices that logic could never justify.
Humanity can never be measured by reason alone. We'll always give our lives to those irrational moments that make us human.
That girl... what did she ask you? I mean Chris, the other me.
Teddy falls into my embrace.
Her forehead rests against your shoulder as a quiet, relieved laugh escapes her lips.
Like a fledgling that's finally found shelter from the storm. Now, at last, someone has heard her silent cry for help.
But now, someone remembers.
Reason has saved this world countless times.
But just as many times, emotion has moved people to impossible acts—the desperate, selfless choices that logic could never justify.
Humanity can never be measured by reason alone. We'll always give our lives to those irrational moments that make us human.
That girl... what did she ask you? I mean Chris, the other me.
Can I just ask you one question, [player name]?
If someday I lose everything I'm proud of, and become fragile, blind, ordinary...
Would you still choose to walk beside me?
You'd never stand by and watch her lose everything. And Teddy... she'll always have the strength and courage to save herself.
No matter what happens, she's still the Teddy who's walked beside you until now—your one and only Teddy. That will never change.
You're not just allies who trust each other completely. You're comrades who fight side by side, bound by the same ideals. From the moment you stood shoulder to shoulder, it was already decided—you'd keep supporting each other until the very end.
Got it.
Of course not. You said it, and that's enough. Whatever you say, I'll believe.
No reasons, no logic required. Isn't that what "love" is?
A faint tickle at the corner of Teddy's eyes makes her think tears are forming. When she reaches up, she realizes it's your hand, gently wiping away the traces of her tears.
In your arms, Teddy finally lifts her head.
I get it...
But don't come to regret it.
The weightless soul slowly steadies itself. Outside, the sun has already tilted westward.
Hm? But the Constellia music festival's been cancelled... Is there anywhere else you want to go?
You glance up at the sun, check the date, time, and weather on your terminal, then take her hand and lead her toward the transport vehicle.
Ignoring the pre-set routes, you drive along roads untouched by the typhoon, leaving behind the heavy clouds and rain.
After hours of racing through wind and dust like fugitives, the transport vehicle leaves behind the monotonous roads and barren plains, finally stopping beside an abandoned observation deck perched alone on a high cliff.
You guide Teddy along the worn path. Rusted signs lean sideways, whispering of years of solitude.
When her gaze drifts past your shoulder toward the open sky, the clouds seem to cross the distance between reality and dream, wrapping her gently in their light.
The sky glows vast and magnificent, its purple and pink hues soft and deep, just like her eyes.
The sky that felt so distant at noon now draws close at dusk. The clouds fold inward like tired birds returning to their nests, embracing you both. The world feels like a dream spilled across the horizon—rich, tender, and a little unreal.
Across the gold-threaded sky, pink and purple blur like watercolor carried by the wind, flowing endlessly until they sink into the dark silhouettes of distant mountains.
It's caused by Rayleigh scattering under the influence of the northern updraft. The particles in the clouds here must be different. After Mie scattering... that's what creates this unique color.
As pink mingles with purple, emotion chases reason. When boundaries fade, both genius and ordinary souls find a brief rest in that twilight.
Leading Teddy to the railing of the viewing platform, you offer words of praise.
It's just basic knowledge retrieval. If you're going to praise me for that... you'll be doing it all the time.
Besides, I have high standards for compliments. You'll have to try harder next time.
Teddy looks at you, who are smiling.
Huh? Ugh...
Her odd behavior during the Cyber Counterpunch interference flashes vividly through her M.I.N.D.
Ugh... you saw that side of me. No choice now. I'll have to silence you!
If you want to live, you'll have to grant me one request. No, three requests.
Actually... ten thousand requests.
Because someone's going to be stuck with me for a very long time.
Without warning, she turns and leans back against the railing, her pink-purple eyes glowing like sunset clouds as she looks straight at you.
Commandant, thank you. It's beautiful.
She pauses, searching for the right words to describe everything before her.
In the end, she simply repeats herself, softer and more sincere this time.
It's really beautiful.
But it's not the sky that's beautiful, not the sea of clouds turned pink and purple. It's her gentle eyes.
Tap tap tap—
It's the sound of a military drum—a rhythm that exists in neither reality nor simulation. In her daze, Teddy sees that strange little plush figure drumming again.
Be kind to yourself, Teddy.
Bye.
The rules that once bound Deerbear are gone.
She might never appear again, yet she has never truly vanished.
Dopamine, hormones, oxytocin.
Science has tried to explain emotions a thousand times. The human body is just a mess of chemical reactions.
But what I feel now has nothing to do with that.
Love isn't a rush of hormones, or the haze of dopamine. It isn't dissection or analysis. It's not a broken heart begging to be healed, or a missing piece waiting to be filled.
In this moment, I may be incomplete, but you accept me as I am and let me stand by your side.
Love is the act of embracing the unmeasurable, the unknowable, and the unreachable within an otherwise ordered world.
Commandant, from now on... you're my Planck time.
I allow myself to fall, to lose control.
...What a shame.
It's a shame you'll never know about my tiny act of courage.
It's nothing. Ah... look at that cloud. Doesn't it look like a deer?
That one, right there. It looks just like...
...a love-struck friend of mine.
Just letting you feel what's in my heart. As your alter ego, I can't hide anything from you, and the same goes for you too.
(The deer... my heart... so that's it. I can't believe I'm only realizing this now.)
She gently places her hand over the place where her heart should be.
How strange. It's such a beautiful sight, but I still feel like crying.
Tears are the tides of the soul.
Thump...
Thump-thump—
She gazes at you, unable to look away, maybe never able to again.
A soft rhythm rises—thump, thump-thump—the steady beat of a heart finding its way back.
Commandant... that song. I finally know how to sing it.
The song that was never written, yet always echoed in her heart.
At this moment, she dedicates it to you.
