Make Peace

Jaka alighted on the hill before the dark-grey-robed advisor, Eny wailing in his arms. The advisor was on his knees, staring out across the battlefield with wide, hollow eyes.

Jaka held out the bawling girl, almost smiling with pride.
“I have completed my mission.”

The advisor did not respond. Jaka frowned, confused.
“I have completed my mission.”

Slowly, the advisor looked up at him. He stared for several long seconds… and then tears spilled down his face.
“It’s all over… it’s all over…”

He screamed, clutching at his hair.
“IT’S OVER! IT’S OVER!”

A manic laugh tore from his throat as he ripped out clumps of hair. Jaka frowned again. This was not how a superior was supposed to behave.

“What do you want me to do?”

The advisor’s laughter broke, turning into wrenching sobs.
“Kill me…”

Now Jaka was deeply concerned for the advisor’s mental stability - but he had been taught never to question commands like that, never to react outside the scope of orders. So he simply repeated, with mechanical patience:
“What should I do?”

The advisor shrugged weakly.
“Take her to the palace… someone there will know…”

Jaka’s brow furrowed.
“But the palace burned down-”

Before he could finish, the advisor slumped forward. Jaka scanned him quickly and identified the cause: he had fainted. But his last orders were clear.

He spread his wings, pulled the crying girl closer against his chest, and launched into the air, setting course for the capital city.

Miro lay on the ground, breathing heavily. She should’ve been in agony, but instead she felt calm. Her unnatural life was meeting its unnatural end. Her legs lay separated from her body. She couldn’t move. She was bleeding out. Her mind was growing duller with every passing second.

At least, she thought, she’d gotten to experience a lot. She’d killed her hundreds - maybe thousands. She’d seen large swaths of the world. And she’d even experienced a little love.
Not bad for an artificial experiment.
Not bad at all.

She held her precious knife in her hand, flipping it weakly between her fingers. She hadn’t seen Jaka. And she knew he hadn’t seen her - if he had, she would’ve been rescued already.

She found herself smiling. To be turned on by the very side she’d helped bring down… unexpected, yet thoroughly planned. There was no other way they could have taken her out before she teleported again. She’d been in shock for a while, but now she felt peaceful.

She couldn’t teleport to Jaka - she didn’t know where he was. She couldn’t do anything except toy with the knife.

It suddenly occurred to her that Jaka would likely be doing something bad without her there. He’d mentioned it before - his need for purpose. What would he do without one? She didn’t like the thought.

She twisted the knife again.

But was it fair to kill him just in case?
She decided quickly.
No. It wasn’t. She couldn’t force him to follow her into the afterlife.

But she could protect the world from the menace he could become.

She turned the knife over one last time and poured the last of her magic into it. Then she smiled as her fingers loosened around the hilt.

She smiled because there was nothing left to be sad about.
She was finally being allowed to move on.

Eny was crying.

Jaka longed to silence her - he understood why she was upset. She had been kidnapped again, and she had watched her mother die before her eyes. But he felt no pity. The girl was his key, and he was certain this was the correct path.

The battlefield shrank behind him as he climbed, ion engines wailing, doing little to drown out the child in his arms. He considered his options. He could use shock to stun her, but suspected it would do more harm than good. He could cover her mouth, but she would likely squirm and scream louder - if that was possible. Or he could simply filter the sound out.

In an instant her wailing vanished, the frequencies cut from his processors. Relief washed over him.

But only for a second.

The crying returned inside his head, louder than before. He winced. It hurt.

Please stop, he thought desperately, please stop.

And just like that, the crying ceased.

But before he could breathe, words filled the silence.

You killed Mama. You killed Mama.

He glanced down. The girl’s eyes were wide, terrifying, glowing with something ancient and wrong. It unsettled him as he attempted a reply.

She was in the way. I needed you.

Her pupils tightened, small gold dots blooming at their centers.

You killed Mama. You killed Mama. You killed Mama.

She repeated it again and again as a heavy pressure settled over his mind. He didn’t like it.

Stop…

You killed her. You killed her.

And then - something inside him switched.
A part of his mind simply shut off.
Everything he had done came crashing back with horrifying clarity.

What was he doing?
He had killed the wife of the one who had spared him - had stolen their daughter - for what?
For a life serving those who despised him?

What had he done?

Panic seized him… but then the child stopped speaking. She was smiling now - small, calm, knowing. Her voice echoed again, softer, the gold fading from her eyes.

You’re back.

He blinked.

I’m… what?

She continued smiling gently.

It wasn’t you who killed my Mama. It was the bad you.

He couldn’t comprehend. And then the truth hit him - his processors had fallen silent. They still handled his systems, still kept his body aloft, but they no longer touched his thoughts.

His heart thudded.

He’d had another fluctuation.

But unlike when Miro had fixed it, his processors weren’t merely dulled - they were completely cut out of his consciousness.

Eny smiled up at him, proud.

I told the bad you to go away. Now only the good you is in your head.

He stared at her, tears forming.

What… what have I done?

And then his critical processors failed - everything except the bare minimum required to live. The millions of calculations keeping him airborne winked out.

He pitched forward.

Fear crushed his breath as Eny clutched his arm.

What’s happening? What’s happening?

He knew instantly. Emotion surged in him - relief tangled with terror - as the ground rushed up to meet them.

Miro… Miro’s still alive.

Eny’s eyes widened.

Miro?

Jaka nodded as he began to spin, his wings useless without the computers guiding them.

He wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t even be injured.

But what about the girl?

Miro is my superior. She turned off my processors.

Eny didn’t understand, but she nodded anyway, refusing to look at the ground spiraling closer and closer.

Are we going to die?

Jaka didn’t know.

They plummeted, wind howling around them. He twisted, cradling the child against his chest. Her blonde hair whipped wildly in the slipstream. She looked down at him, eyes widening, before pressing herself tighter against him and squeezing her eyes shut.

And then they hit.

Jaka slammed into the earth, wings shattering the ground as dirt erupted around them. He didn’t feel the impact - but without his processors, he couldn’t soften it for Eny.

A faint crack - small, terrible - reached his fading awareness.

A neck breaking.

And then his world went dark.