destroyers(ptIV)yourt00000000000uch<OR>O000000000blivion

Fires crackled in whispers of concern as Ripley rose from within his binds. His fingers were still clasping the remote as Yuki stepped beside him. Miu and G.A.K.I. Yuki watched in horrified fascination as the humanesque replica of the boy they lost faced them with a body untouched by life’s cruelty.

“It’s good to see you, Miu. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you,” said the replica.

Its voice was nearly perfect. Tonal inflections matched what his had once sounded like. Tired eyes and a soft smile showed an exhausted yet gentle soul. His weight was shifted to his left side to compensate for the curvature of his spine. His hair drifted in the fire’s breeze. In so many ways, it was-

“Yuki… No… You’re not him. Y-You’re not him…” Miu gasped as she felt her heart raging.

Even G.A.K.I. Yuki found himself drawn to the figure. Seeing it before him was like seeing a divine display of what his life was supposed to be like. He had grown. He was taller than Miu now. His ironed shirt was tucked into his trousers with his sleeves rolled up, like he had just come from work or school. Gentleness was still there.

Light from the flames danced along his skin, but didn't break the surface dermal layer. Something was off, but it was so close to the real thing that both Miu and Yuki could almost overlook it. As G.A.K.I. Yuki approached, the replica smiled a kind smile that turned somber.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry all of this happened to us. It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” said humanoid Yuki as he looked out at the apocalyptic sky that was still ablaze.

Those words… how did it know those words?

UNIT PSYCHE RATING: 14.22%. CATASTROPHIC FAIL.

“W-Whaaaaaaat isssss th-th-this?” Yuki asked as he neared the humanoid.

Ripley lowered the remote.

“Our other redundancy test. If we couldn’t get souls to transfer into new shells, we were looking into transplanting memories into mimics. When I met Miu after she was captured, I knew I needed a version of you as a failsafe. And now, here you are.” Ripley responded in a neutral voice.

Miu landed beside them to observe the monstrosity that was filling her soul with such bittersweet memory. This was what it was supposed to be like. He was so handsome, and soft, and warm. This was all she and he had ever wanted. His pale eyes looked to hers and she felt a rush of familiarity. They had even gotten the slight unevenness of his eye socket.

“Your left eye was always slightly higher than the right…” Miu said as her voice began to quiver.

“Three-dimensional scans. Accurate down to the micron. Memory databanks full of every soul layer we could capture. Seventeen quintillion quantum processes running at once to give the most complex replication of a mind and soul possible. If we couldn’t truly live forever, we could pass ourselves into near-perfect copies. Eventually, those copies WOULD be perfect…”

Neither Miu nor G.A.K.I. Yuki could speak.

“And they will be perfect. We’ll get there. Miu, you could have Yuki back. Just like this. Yuki, you could have your body back. In fact, you could have it back and better…” Ripley purred.

As he spoke, humanoid Yuki stood fully upright and dropped his braces.

UNIT PSYCHE RATING: 16.55%. CATASTROPHIC FAIL.

G.A.K.I. Yuki let out a synthetic groan of a cry, and Miu gasped as humanoid Yuki stood on his own. For the first time, Yuki did not need support.

“That’s what you always wanted, right, Yuki? You signed up for the exoskeleton and implant because you wanted to walk again. You wanted to be independent and helpful. I can give you that. Miu, you could have Yuki back. We would leave you alone. You could go far away and live the life you always wanted. All you have to do is stop this…” Ripley said as green light shone from his eyes.

Miu couldn’t speak.

Humanoid Yuki held out his hand in offering.

UNIT PSYCHE RATING: 14.12%. CATASTROPHIC FAIL.

Every motor function began to fail for G.A.K.I. Yuki as he spasmed his way closer to the humanoid. Words became lost in the pathway from thought to vocalization. Memories glitched.

Rage whispered.

This thing. It wasn’t Yuki. It hadn’t experienced all that he had. It may have been implanted with his good memories, but good memories weren’t all that Yuki knew. Yuki knew suffering. That suffering, that horror from the last few years, that was what had broken him. That was what had broken Miu. Yet through it all, they had found their way back to one another.

This creature knew none of that.

UNIT PSYCHE RATING: 10.10%. CATASTROPHIC FAIL. WARNING.

For all of Yuki’s life, he had wanted a different body. He had wanted so many things to be not what they were. Disabilities and insecurities had made him quietly hate himself, and had led him down a path that blocked any form of self-acceptance or peace. Even worse, it had led him to the G.A.K.I. nightmare. Now, at the end of all things, he would not make that mistake again. Though he hated this metal prison and the collapse of his mind, he would not allow that grief to lead him astray anymore. He would die hating himself. But at least he would not allow that hate to lead him to any more grief.

Before Ripley or the humanoid Yuki or Miu could react, G.A.K.I. Yuki’s massive hands seized the humanoid at its neck and waist.

Humanoid Yuki tried to scream, but G.A.K.I. Yuki’s grip was already ripping it in half. Metal pulled synthetic skin apart to reveal digital glyphs and ArcanTech componentry beneath the facade.

“Fine!!” Ripley shouted as he threw the remote to the ground and raised his hands to the skies.

“Miiiiiuuuuu!! S-Stop him!!!” Yuki shouted.

Miu raised her staff towards Ripley’s barrier as he closed his eyes and began to chant.

“May every detonation sound my glory! Unused fury, rise from your rest. Annihilate them all and begin my story!!!” Ripley shouted.

A new massive portal appeared over them, and Miu could hear launch alerts. Memories of their hometown rushed through her mind as she turned just in time to see the detonation from the bomb.

“YUKI!!!” Miu screamed as she raised her hands.

All the world began to rumble. Red clouds turned violently white as radiation and heat incinerated the atmosphere. The portal spread as Ripley laughed.

“YOU’RE TOO LATE, ACOLYTE!!!”

Miu’s eyes widened in horror.

“Thirteen thousand nuclear devices are alive now! They will rain down on every inch of this world and wipe it to nothingness! YOU MAY NEED A HEALTHY PLANET TO SURVIVE, BUT I WILL NOT!! AND WHEN YOU ARE GONE I WILL REMAKE EVERYTHING THE WAY I WANT IT!!!” Ripley laughed as the impact wave neared them.

Yuki turned to see Miu facing the blast head-on. Panic shook Miu’s hands as she braced for the assault. She had barely survived one blast all those years ago, and now the entirety of the world’s mass destruction arsenal was hurling through the sky towards the annihilation of the world.

“Yuki, help me!!!” Miu screamed as she dropped her staff and used both hands to raise a barrier.

UNIT PSYCHE RATING: 6.66%. CATASTROPHIC FAIL. WARNING. UNIT DESOLVING.

But Yuki’s mind was too far gone. He could not aid Miu, he only wanted to kill this monster.

Ripley wanted immortality. Yuki knew of a place where time did not exist. The bomb’s fury was upon them now. As Miu screamed in strain, Yuki picked up her staff and raised it like a spear. Aether’s blackness spiraled around the shard as Yuki reared back and hurled it into Ripley’s barrier. There was a shatter, and the world glitched away.

The Aether’s coldness enveloped them immediately, wiping the explosion away in an instant. Ripley’s expulsions ceased as Miu’s hexes wrapped across his eyes, mouth, wrists, and legs. The G.A.K.I. horde appeared behind them and leapt forward to place their rabid bodies before Miu to shield her. As she rolled over with a groan of agony, the G.A.K.I. were already crawling towards Ripley.

He couldn’t see them, but he could hear the wave of metallic beasts scraping their way across the void to reach him. Try as he did, none of his efforts could break the restraints. Now, the fear began to win. Now, the desperation settled in. Steel joints cracked along the surface of nothingness. Growls of synthetic hunger echoed all around him.

“Youuuuuuuu w-wanted immmmmmortality. W-We willllll give you t-that. Miu w-willlll destroy t-the Arcan s-s-shards, ending ev-everything you created. B-but you will not see thaaaaaat. B-Because you wiiiiiiillll n-n-never leave this realm. IIIIIIIII will make sure of t-t-tthat.”

A G.A.K.I. turned to Miu.

“M-make it so that he h-h-heals…”

The snares turned red with new glyphs.

“Done,” Miu said.

The G.A.K.I. nodded. One stayed beside Miu and helped her stand.

“I th-think thiiiiiis isssss goodbye. L-leave us here.”

“Yuki?” Miu asked in concern.

“IIIIIIII ammmmm stiiiilllllll h-human in the r-r-realllll wooorld. Let m-my G.A.K.I. body stay h-heeere. IIIIIIIIIII w-w-will die a h-human. Only h-hu-human.”

Miu paused but accepted Yuki’s request. This was not truly goodbye. His body was still waiting in the facility. Even if a part of his mind stayed trapped here for all time, it was the part of him that had been broken by the G.A.K.I. initiative, and maybe he wanted that separated from his soul when he finally died.

“Yooooou cannnn stop th-this Miu. Makemakemake it-it better.”

“How?” Miu sighed as she struggled to find any form of hope.

“Maybe weeeeeee aren’t s-s-s-s-supposed to fix thethethe w-world. Maybe we-we were only m-meant to d-destroy this ooooooone so otheeeerrssss could m-make something b-better…”

Miu closed her eyes and accepted the advice. She had destroyed entire militaries and governments. Maybe that was enough. She could stop the bombs. She could stop the Arcan shards’ influence. But it would likely kill her. No matter what, Yuki would finally be dead in a short while, and she wanted no world without him.

Maybe all she could do was give those who remained the help they needed to figure out something better.

“Goodbye, G.A.K.I. units,” Miu said as she inhaled and stepped through the portal.

As she vanished, the G.A.K.I. weapons returned to their waiting hands.

Ripley shivered as he felt hundreds of barrels press against his body.

“Left t-trigger in-in-incinerates…”

Flames exploded across the space and covered Ripley’s body as he screamed in absolute pain.

“Riiiiiiight trigggggger det-detonates…”

Booming concussions sounded out as his body was ripped into specs.

But then the specs pulled themselves back together, and Ripley was alive once more, panting in shock and screaming from terror.

“Leeeeeeeft triggereerererrr iiiiiiiinccccin0=nne-raaates….”

Fire.

Screams.

“Riiiiiiiiight ttttttttri-trigggggger d-det-d-detonates…”

Booms.

Silence.

A moment to be remade before the screaming began again.

“Leeefftttttttt t-trigggerrrrr….”