Futility is always better than apathy.

Jin Yurinhalt aimed her grenade launcher down the elevator shaft. She took one deep breath, and fired. The sound was a jumble of thunderbolts and cannon fire. A shock reverbed in her bones, but she couldn’t tell if it was the recoil of the gun or the building jolting. The flash of sunburst was bright enough that it left yellow stains in her vision. If she hadn’t turned off her night-vision beforehand, the light would have fried her optics.

She peered down the shaft, waving away the dust clouds. Everything was silent, save for the ringing echo of the explosion. There was no whine of pain or crinkle of movement. If the homunculus was down there, it gave no hint of it.

Jin turned back to Faust. “Are you sure it survived the fall?”

“Positive.” He gagged at the after-smell of gunpowder. “It’s not a glass cannon like the Marauder models. It’s bred for endurance.”

“So it can take a proton grenade?”

“What homunculus couldn’t?”

“Yeah, but to not make a single sound? Even the Queen model would’ve made some sort of noise. Maybe it really did die from the fall.”

“Welp, there’s only one way to tell for sure,” he shrugged. “Use your Axiom on it.”

Jin sighed, shifting her attention back to the shaft. She hoisted the gun up and fired again. When the ash settled and the building stopped shaking, she launched another. Then another. She stopped only when her gun clicked empty.

“That’s five proton grenades.” She reached for a second clip from her bandolier. “It’s not down there.”

“You reckon it could’ve gone through one of the lower doors?”

“Maybe, but tearing open those doors makes a lot of noise,” she explained. “One of us would’ve heard it.”

“What’s your guess then?”

“Maybe it’s got an invulnerability-type Axiom.” Jin stuck her head out further. “I don’t know, you’re the scientist here–”

A roar muffled her last syllable. Something sharp clasped around her neck, prying her out of the corridor. She caught one glimpse of the monster before she found herself hurling across the shaft, smashing into the steel. The homunculus was curled up, legs tucked into its chest, hanging from one arm. It was dangled just above the door where they had stood, an inch out of sight.

Check every corner. Stupid mistake. All the wind was knocked out of her, and she would have fallen if the force of her impact hadn’t hollowed out a pocket in the wall for her to sit.

“Jin!” She never heard Faust’s voice so ripe with panic. “Are you okay?!”

She had no time to reply. The homunculus leapt across at her. She lunged for another wall just in time, plunging a knife into it to hang from. Her free hand folded open over her arm, revealing the barrel of a cannon underneath. She blasted bolt after bolt at the creature, but every time it swung away, bouncing from wall to wall with ease.

It was bred for this, Jin realised. This was where it belonged. An ape in a metal jungle, king of its domain, and she was the intruder.

It continued to dodge every missile until she ran out. Without missing a beat, it went on the offensive and dived at her. It was too fast to evade, but to her shock, the homunculus missed, landing just next to her with a shrieking clang.

“Get the hell back here!” Faust yelled, pistol aimed. He had shot the creature mid-jump, and its slightest flinch sent it off-target. “Fuck are you waiting for, roses and chocolate?!”

Jin took the opening while he covered her. She swung off the knife, vaulting over the pit beneath. Faust leaned over and she caught his outstretched hand, firing as he pulled her up.

“What now?!” he shouted.

Jin reached into her bandolier for a phosphorus buck and loaded it into her arm cannon. It came out a black blur, hurtling at the beast. The creature dodged to one side, but the blur split, exploding outwards in two pieces. One hit the shaft with a harmless thud and bounced into the depth. The other struck the homunculus. It screamed, clawing at itself as orange flames spread over its torso and arms, then crashed from wall to wall, the flames still burning, their heat unbearable even at a distance.

“Run!” she yelled. They made a mad dash through the corridor, praying with fragile hope that the inferno bought them time.

“Where are we going?!”

“The cache!”

Faust cried out. Jin pivoted back. He was on the floor, his pistol dropped, a flaming arm hooked on his ankle. The homunculus squeezed itself into the corridor, too tall to fit without hunching over. Its size had made its attacks impossible to dodge. With a twitch of its lumbering arm, Faust was flung into the wall. He groaned in pain, clutching his sides. He must have broken a rib. Or several.

Help him! She fought her instinct. No, I need to get to the cache.

The moment of indecision cost her. A white flash hit her, and the world flipped. She hit the ground, blood from her head blinding her left eye. Before she could get up, the homunculus dropped onto her stomach. She felt her synthetic organs crush, one of them even bursting. A scream tore its way out. The homunculus weighed like it was made of lead, despite how thin it looked.

The creature’s arm drew back, claws primed. The breadth of its birthright was sharper than any man-made blade. Even with her reinforced skin and palladium bones, it would pierce straight through her skull.

She twisted her neck just in time. The claws struck the ground beside her head with a thunderous crack.

The homunculus made a noise almost like cackling. Almost human, she thought as it drew its arm back again.

Jin twisted left. The creature left another crater in the corridor floor. Its face contorted into rage and it pinned her by the throat, readying a final strike.

She couldn’t tell if it was the head injury or her incoming demise; a thousand thoughts flooded her. Her father’s stench after a long smoke break. Her mother’s lemon pie. The golden locks of Maria’s hair. She even remembered Faust: the annoying way he would always fidget with his glasses, how familiar his expression was when he told her he wanted to die.

Faust.

Reality crashed back into her. She flailed her arms, desperate to reach something– anything that could save her. Her pistol was too far away. Her sword was buried under the monster’s leg. The only thing she could reach was her knife. Jin wrenched it out and with the last of her strength, threw it.

The blade left her fingers, spun through the air, and went over the homunculus’s shoulder. It barely needed to dodge.

The homunculus made a high-pitched cackle. Missed me, it seemed to taunt, raising its claws.

It’s not for you.

An invisible force pummelled the homunculus, swinging with the force of a thousand hammers and sending the creature tumbling down the corridor. With the weight gone, Jin gasped for air. She must have broken a few ribs too.

Faust had both arms up, cut free of their shackles. His eyes were a burning green that seemed to bleed into the air.

“Hurry up!” he snapped, teeth clenched. His hands were spasming. “It’s going to break free!”

“Seems like the files are wrong,” she spluttered as she staggered up. “They said you’d be stronger.”

“Just fucking kill it!”

Jin picked up her sword and began to hobble towards the homunculus, frozen by Faust’s telekinesis. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to move. She could feel the internal bleeding from one of her organs. Her steps were lopsided and sluggish, and she had to stumble the final length, but she made it. The homunculus was before her on its hands and knees, fighting tooth and nail to even lift its head.

Jin held back her vomit, raised her sword, and whispered, “you have your birthright, and this is mine.”

She shoved the blade down the homunculus’s head, past the skull and dura. It broke through both jaws, meeting air on the other side, and took its final rest in the ground. When Faust released his powers, for a moment, the homunculus still moved, clutching Jin. She never realised it before, but the monster was warm– pleasantly so. She looked it in the eye until it finally passed.

Jin collapsed backwards. “Finally.”

She could hear Faust’s footsteps but she was too tired to crane her neck to look. “Not bad for the Ashwalker,” he said. “But you know, you could’ve won a lot faster if you just used your Axiom.”

“Fuck you.” She closed her eyes. “You can go now if you want.”

“Sorry?”

“The prison’s empty. I’m half-dead. You’re not even chained up anymore. If you wanted to, you could escape right now.”

“Ah yes, escape. With my esper powers of swimming a hundred miles to shore.”

“Ambush the helicopter. We both know you could do it.”

“And we both know why I won’t.”

Jin sat up to look at Faust. He was battered, his clothes ripped and his glasses cracked, though he was still in better shape than she was. “Pledge the Lethe.”

His eyes flew to her.

“Pledge the Lethe,” she repeated. “Drink from the river. Join the Lethe unit.”

“Me? A Runner?” He laughed her off. “Are you forgetting who’s fault it is that the Runners exist in the first place?”

“We need more people. If you pledge the Lethe, the federation will waive your execution.”

“At the cost of my memories.”

“And your guilt,” she added. “Or whatever you call it. All your pains and woes and sins. All gone.”

“Without those things, I won’t be Dimitri Faust.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” She reached for his hand. “You’ve spent years on the run. And the years before that in the war. Haven’t you suffered enough? You can be a normal person again.”

“I…” As much as he must have wanted to hide it, hope had a way of cracking any facade. She could imagine how he must’ve felt. He spent so long chasing death that he had forgotten what it was like to dream, and dreaming was a sweet, addictive thing.

A voice broke him out of his fantasy. It came from down the corridor, from a figure clad in a long black coat, contrasted against her snow-white hair. She was too young to warrant such a colour, yet too old to have dyed it. As she walked towards them in high heels, a handful of Runners behind her, Faust knew he had seen his reaper.

“Yurinhalt.” The woman’s voice was stern, and it filled the halls effortlessly. “Are you okay? I was worried when you sent the distress call.”

“Princep.” Jin tried to stand, but the woman guided her back, so she saluted instead. “Ma’am. I didn’t realise you’d be coming personally.”

“You’re important to us, Yurinhalt. Of course, we’d come. If you ever need help, we’re here.” The Princep glanced back at the dead homunculus. “Not that it appears you needed it.”

“It’s a new post-war model. High endurance and defence.”

“It’ll be a good opportunity to study it then.” She clicked her fingers at the Runners. “Take it up and send it to Doctor Cordis. Have her get a report ready.”

The Runners nodded and left the three of them alone out of earshot. The Princep turned back to Jin. “Now then. Onto the subject of the execution of Sir Dimitri Faust.”

“Ma’am, if I may… “

“The execution has been delayed by the attack of the new-model homunculus, though thankfully not by much. You’ve done your duty splendidly, Ms Yurinhalt, but seeing as you’re heavily injured, you’ll be taken to the medical pavilion back at the bureau. I will assign another Runner to Faust.”

“I understand, ma’am,” Jin nodded. “But before I go, I would like to make a case for Faust to pledge the Lethe. He is a powerful esper and he’s a distinguished scientist. He knows homunculi better than anyone. If we modify the parts of his memory to erase, we can keep those qualities. He’ll be an immeasurable–”

“Yurinhalt.” A single word. The scrape of jagged rocks on rusted metal. The Princep stepped forward, and her shadow seemed to widen to envelope them. The black of her eyes seemed to ooze into Jin, choking her of air and speech. “Why is Sir Dimitri Faust not chained?”

Faust covered up his arms instinctively. His wrists felt like they were burning, a pain greater than the tightest of shackles. He glanced at Jin, panicked. She was struggling to say anything herself.

“I was…” She took a deep breath. “The homunculus. I underestimated it. I gave Faust my knife to cut off his chains so he could help me fight the–”

A thud. Strangely enough, Jin heard the fall of his body before she heard the bang of the gunshot. It was such an unassuming sound, like someone dropping their phone or knocking on a door. That’s what she told herself when she turned around.

Jin saw Faust through the blur of her tears. From the way he looked at her, he didn’t realise what was happening either. Why his strength was suddenly sapped, why he felt so cold. Even the hole in his neck only seemed to fill him with a mild sense of wonder.

“Faust!” Jin pressed her hands on his neck. “Faust, look at me!”

“If the federation found out you purposefully released a criminal from his binds, you will be summarily executed.” The Princep withdrew her gun. “As much as it does not look that way, I am saving your life, Ms Yurinhalt.”

Jin ripped off a piece of her uniform and tightened the fabric around the wound. It made no difference in the end. Faust was still bleeding out and his pulse was still weakening, but she had to do something, regardless of how useless it was.

Futility is always better than apathy, her father had taught her. It was a lesson that defined her life. It was why she joined the war and why she became a Runner. She even taught it to Maria. Yet, as she sat there, hands smeared crimson, desperately doing chest compressions on a corpse, the words rang hollow.

Jin, the last daughter of the Yurinhalt family, guarded a good man to his execution.