Gift for the Future

I quickly ran through the ruined mall, passing by a bunch of people who moved out of the way for me. Upon stopping at the stature of La Senia, a stranger ran up to greet me.

"Where are the Calypsos?" I asked.

"The infirmary," she replied. "Loki... doesn't look too good."

I broke into a sprint yet again, out of breath and panting as I'd been for the past ten minutes.

Earlier, I received a call from Minerva on my phone. This happened while I was still in the Golden District, so I could only assume it was urgent. She told me that Loki was gravely injured and that she kept calling out my name. After hanging up, I traveled as fast as I could, running to the nearest train station and taking that train down to the undercity.

I stopped in front of a large tent. With a deep breath, I stepped in, and there, I met the Calypso squad all crowding around a bedridden Loki. I instinctively pulled my hand up to my mouth when I saw her.

With nothing but her undergarment on, I could see clearly the symmetrical red lines that were coursing through her body like veins. They glowed devilishly, and it seemed to be the source of her painful grunts and moans.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Yesterday, when you and I were together, I told you that Loki was going overdrive," Zephyr said. "You remember when you asked me what was going to happen to her?"

"Yeah."

"The aftermath is different for all of us. This... is what happens to Loki."

Suddenly, the lines that streaked across Loki's body brightened, causing a series of agonizing coughs and groans. As I kept my eyes on her, I couldn't help but feel sad and pained.

"Is there nothing we can do?" I asked.

"Not that we know of," Holiday muttered. "We've all gone overdrive before, and... let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight for any of us. The only thing we can do is wait."

"But... there has to be at least something, right? Like... painkillers or something to ease the pain."

"I don't remember anything working," Minerva said. "Trust me, we've tried everything."

"Well, there was one, but..." Zephyr neglected to finish that sentence.

Loki's eyes began twitching, and then, they opened ever so slightly.

"Sol...ly?" she whispered.

"I'm here, Loki," I said as I knelt down next to her.

"Hey. Haha... I look pretty... messed up, huh?"

I couldn't say anything. Even in a situation like this, she still manages to laugh. I bit my lips, angered that there was nothing I could do for her.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"Huh... What are you... apologizing for?" she scoffed.

"For being weak. For being so useless that you had to overdrive."

"Are you being for real? That wasn't your fault... sweetie. I just had some... personal matters... to take care of."

"Still..."

She slowly tilted her head and locked eyes with me. I know she's in so much pain, yet she's still smiling at me.

"Solly. You wanna... test something real quick?" she asked.

"Test what?" I said.

"Give me your hand."

Reluctant as I was, I lifted my hand and allowed her to hold it.

"What... in the world...?" Holiday gasped.

I was just as surprised as she was. The red lines on Loki's body began to pulsate before dimming to a faint glow. One of them even faded entirely.

"Hehe... So I wasn't... imagining it," Loki chuckled. "You really... do..."

With that, her eyes shut, and she fell asleep. However, this time, her breathing stabilized and she was no longer letting out painful grunts.

Gently, I let go of her hand.

"Whoa... Hah... Now that's really something, isn't it?" Minerva chuckled.

"W-what just happened?" I stuttered.

"Nanite reconstruction," Holiday said. "It was an innate ability of the late captain. Every time we got hurt, she could easily fix us up with a snap of her fingers. Solas... You have a piece of Nemesis's code within you."

"What? How is that even possible?"

Holiday pinched her chin as if thinking to herself. A piece of Nemesis's code? I don't recall her giving anything to me that might have something to do with this.

"Wait..." I gasped, which gathered their attention.

"Did something come to mind?" Zephyr asked.

"Vaguely. There were times when I got injured and she would always help me get better. I remember she waved her hand over a cut and it healed within hours. She said it was... m-magic..."

"Magic," Holiday repeated in disbelief. "And you believed her?"

"I was like, ten years old! I thought she... she..."

"... You thought that she... what? Unlocked magic?"

"S-something like that."

Now that I'm thinking about it, I remember it all too clearly. One time, Caelus and I were playing with tree branches that fell in our backyard. He accidentally swung too hard and cut me on my arm.

Nelia found us hiding in his room in an attempt to hide it from Mother and Father. When she saw that I was injured, she scolded Caelus of course, but she also said that she was gonna work some magic on me.

I saw a bright golden glow hover around the wound. Within a couple of hours, the cut had fully disappeared.

"I was young, so I passed it off as one of Nelia's little quirks," I said. "Mind you, she did a lot of goofy shit back then that it's hard to recount everything."

"That was Nemesis's code," Holiday said. "Nanite Manipulation. With just a snap of her fingers, she could heal all of our wounds and injuries. At some point in your life, she must've planted a piece of her code within you."

"Is that even possible?"

"Only in theory. I've never seen it happen before, but Nemesis's code dealt with nanotech. I'm sure it was rather easy for her to shape her nanites the way she wanted to."

So even in the afterlife, Nelia is still watching over me. I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"Wait, shouldn't we go see if this works on Astrid, too?" Minerva said.

I was so focused on Loki that I hadn't even noticed Astrid wasn't there.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Zephyr lifted her hand on a cubicle curtain next to Loki's bed and rolled it off to the side. There laid Astrid on her own bed with an apparent look of annoyance.

"You guys... are so fucking loud," she muttered.

"How're you feeling, Astrid?" Holiday asked.

"Heh, you're talking as if I wasn't here the whole time. Head hurts, eyes hurt, can't move a single muscle. Honestly, just your average Tuesday."

"Astrid... your eye..." I gasped.

Unlike her squad members, Astrid only has one diamond in her left eye while the right eye is completely normal. However, contrary to all the other times I've seen it, that single diamond was visibly cracked.

"Astrid's code is unique," Holiday said. "The All-Seeing Eye. It allows her to envision everything within the city in perfect detail. Think of it like... looking into a snow globe, and what lies within is the entirety of New Olympos."

"Whoa..." I said in awe.

"However, there is a catch," Zephyr added. "For us, going overdrive weakens us to the point of near-death. We experience excruciating pain unlike any other. There's even a chance that we'll die.

"Astrid, on the other hand..." Minerva muttered with a brief pause. "Every time she uses her code, it slowly shatters the connection between her brain and her eyes. She's basically going overdrive even when she uses it normally. Eventually, her code will completely dissipate, and she'll be blind forever. Not even my hands will be able to fix that."

My heart immediately sank. I turned back to Astrid, and it seemed she knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Don't look at me like that," she sighed. "I did what I had to."

"B-but... because of me, you..." I mumbled incoherently.

"Hey."

My head tilted back up to see Astrid wearing a beautiful smile filled with warmth, and the sadness within me faded.

"Does it look like I'm complaining or something?" she scoffed. "So what if I go blind someday? If using my code means that I can keep y'all alive, then I'll do it without question. Well? You're still here, right? That means I did my part, so quit getting all depressed for me. It'll make me depressed, too. Got it?"

As hesitant as I was, I nodded my head. "Yeah."

"Good. Now, let's see what the others were getting so worked up for."

She reached her hand out to me. After a deep breath, I took it.

Even though she refuses to admit it, Astrid is only like this because I am weak. I failed to pull my own weight yet again, and now she has to suffer because of it.

"Ah..." Astrid sighed contently. "Certainly haven't felt this... in a while..."

With that, she shut her eyes and began sleeping.

"To be honest, I only called you here because Loki said she wanted to see you," Minerva said. "The fact that you had this in you the entire time is... not so unbelievable, now that I think about it."

"Huh... You might be onto something," Zephyr muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Even I pride myself on being able to dodge a bullet, and I'm pretty fast."

As soon as she said that, it hit me. Ever since I was young, I've always had an abnormally fast reaction to the slightest movement. Whenever I got into a fight, I would always win without taking a single hit.

A little over two years ago, I began my silent crusade as 'Strider.' Of all the times when I've been pointed at by a gun, I've only been shot ten times at most. I never once questioned it because I thought it was normal for everyone.

"Even after death, Nelia is still watching over you," Holiday chuckled.

"It... would certainly seem like it," I said.

"Anyway, thank you for helping them, Solas."

"Huh? Uh... It was no big deal. I-I didn't even do that much."

"Nonsense!" Minerva grinned. "Even if you didn't know about it, you still helped out a ton."

"Indeed," Zephyr smiled. "Anyway, let's give these two some time to rest."

We left the infirmary. All the while, a thought kept appearing in my head. If I was any stronger, would I have been able to keep Loki and Astrid from going overboard? I don't want to see them get hurt anymore, nor do I want that for the others who were fortunate enough to come out unscathed.

Before, I never had to worry about anyone else but myself. However, it's different this time around. I know they're more than capable of fending for themselves, but I keep worrying, and it was proven that I had every reason to be worried. Even the strong can get hurt, and now I find myself wanting to do better so that I can protect them.

Suddenly, the thought of augmenting myself doesn't sound too bad.