Change

Maki felt Izumi die but didn’t dare let her go. Not even as the soldiers surrounded her on all sides, their bodies shaking as they took aim at her. She took a deep breath and bent down, setting down Izumi.

The swarming bots around her shot into the sky, awaiting her next orders.

She glanced up at Clay. He said nothing.

Clearing the tears from her eyes, she turned to the ruin behind her. What she’d done. The evidence of the monster she’d become. She felt the tears blossom again.

What am I, Ceres?

Truthfully? Ceres paused. A child. Bred from war, raised in pain.

“What are you all doing,” someone behind her shouted, causing Maki to turn.

It was the Commander. He stood pointing at her, an army at his back.

“Kill her!” he shouted. “End this!”

Maki rose to her feet. She would let them. She deserved it.

“Wait,” the stern voice of President Clay echoed across the silent streets.

The Commander frowned, beet-red, and started for the President. “Wait?” he snapped. “What do you mean, wait, John.”

President Clay stood, stepping towards the man. “Commander James, I am your leader, and you will address me as such. I say wait, and you better damn-well wait.”

The Commander blinked in surprise, grumbled a bit, glanced at Maki, then turned away. “Fine,” he said. “What are your orders, sir?”

“I want to talk to her. Draw your soldiers back.”

James spun around. “Are you mad, Clay? Leave you with that, that thing?”

“Commander,” Clay warned.

The man grew redder. “Whatever you say, sir,” he said, fumbling a quick salute. “Fall back men!”

Maki stared and waited as the soldiers hesitantly retreated, leaving her alone with Clay.

“So,” he said. “What now? Are you still going to kill me?”

Maki shook her head.

“I thought not,” Clay said, stepping towards her, towards Izumi’s body. “She was better than me, far better than me.”

He kneeled down, gently closing Izumi’s eyes. “So why did you choose me?”

“I didn’t,” Maki said. “Not really. I chose her. I made you one of the Revived because this country needed you and your promises.”

Clay sighed and looked away. “The promises I failed to keep.”

Maki nodded. “Yes.”

“What do we do now?”

“We move on,” Maki said. “Move forward, change. Better ourselves. You keep your promises. Reform this nation, this people.”

The President rose, standing just a little taller. “And what about you? What do I say about this?”

“Tell them the truth,” Maki said. “You’re connected to me. I’ll share my memories with you. But now, all this is going to end. No more Revived. No more Tez. It’s over.”

Clay gave her a weak smile. “Just like that?”

Maki stared blankly back. “Just keep your promises, Clay. I’ll be back now and then to check in.”

“Right,” he nodded.

Maki nodded, then turned, leaving the way she came, leaving what she hoped was a worse woman behind her and a better one ahead.

***

Watson looked out at the celebrations in disbelief. Her soldiers were gone. She was alone. They had failed. She sighed, stood, and turned to face the lake.

It wasn’t that they’d failed. It was that they were wrong.

She clicked her pistol, arming it, and fired, welcoming the lake’s cold, refreshing waves and relieving darkness.

***

Empty snow grazed the fields before them. It was just them now, Maki and Tez.

“How does it feel?” Maki asked Tez.

He looked out at the field, unsure how to express it. “A bit like this, I suppose.”

Maki smiled. “Was it worth it?”

“No,” Tez replied, thinking of his sister, Mia. “It never was.”

“What do you think of yourself, Tez? Of me? Are we monsters?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “We’re free.”

He took a step forward, and turned to face Maki. The girl was clean now, in renewed. In the form he’d first met her. Behind her stood a mound of stones where they’d buried the bodies of Ralis, Izumi, and Charlette.

“What now?” he asked.

“We go on,” Maki replied, stepping forward. “And we change.”