User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater: Reverie for a Dying Star, chapter 27: The Truth, part 2


 * BEGIN RECORDING


 * 12/31/2182

Anyway, where was I… Oh, right. The metal Aragami.

It had the face of my mother. Somehow. I had no idea what was going on…  I had so many questions, so many questions with no answers.

But then it stirred… and opened its eyes.

Its face was not the twisted picture of rage and destruction from my memories of that day.

No, it was truly the face of my mother. She gazed at me with eyes full of kindness and warmth, like someone reunited with a loved one after a veritable eternity of solitude.

I… suppose I felt the same way, honestly.

“Mother…”  I spoke only that one word, before the Aragami before me replied by speaking directly into my head.

I’ll try and summarize her words here.


 * Willard… Oh, Willard…  My dear Will, you finally came.


 * What happened to your father… well, I suppose I should apologize.  I sincerely did not mean for that to happen.  I lost control of this form and went on a rampage, and your father tried to stop me.  I am truly… truly sorry, Willard.  


 * As for this form, well… this will take a while.  I  originally came to this world from the world of the distant past.  I was born at the end of the twenty-first century, but when a certain man tried to dominate the world, I was forced to travel back in time to fight him and the ripples caused by his actions in the past.  After that, I attempted to return to my own time, but somehow, I overshot and ended up in this future… where I met your father.


 * …Actually, “met” is a bit of a misnomer.  He was someone I worked with closely during my time in the past, and because I could no longer use my powers to move through time—well, that’s a story in and of itself—he stayed with me to help me survive and rally fellow survivors in this time.  But then…


 * With my powers failing, I realized that I’d need to get stronger—much, much stronger—if I wanted to protect everyone… and you, Willard.  At the time, I was pregnant with you, and the thought of having a son brought so much joy into my life.


 * But then… that Kyuubi mission.  I was caught off-guard when I tried to use my then-completely defunct powers out of force of habit, and the Aragami tore me apart.  But I wasn’t done there.  Your father knew what had to be done, and so he gathered what intact parts of me he could find and crafted this body for me out of salvaged God Arcs.  It moved like an extension of myself, and the battle power it granted me was superlative.


 * After that, I parted ways with your father, traveling across the world with my new body to kill as many Aragami as I could.  Like this, it was no problem… until that day, twelve years later.  My mental faculties had begun to fail me, and I was overcome by an overwhelming desire to return to my beloved and child.  Unfortunately, when I got there…  Well, you know the rest.  My grief cannot be overemphasized.  It was inexcusable.


 * When you took up your father’s God Arc to fight me, I knew that you had inherited his will to a complete degree.  I also knew… that the day would come when you would seek me out with the intention of avenging your father.  I still do not plan on denying you that, if that is what you wish.  But please…


 * Please, even if your desire for revenge has faded… please, end my suffering.  I have lived with the guilt and grief of my actions for the last ten years, the knowledge of the pain I caused you remaining in my heart above all else.  My body has failed, as you can see…  More than anything, I just want this life of mine to be over, after all this.  Please, Willard…

I didn’t really know what to say to that. Your mother shows up after being gone for your entire life, apologizes for the murder of your father, and begs you to kill her? How the hell are you supposed to feel?


 * Please, Willard.

I just…

Despite never truly having met her until now… I love her all the same nonetheless.

I love her too much to kill her… and yet, somehow, even more than that… I don’t want to see her suffer.

I knew… I knew what I had to do.

I knew from the moment I took up my father’s God Arc… my God Arc… and pledged myself to a life of battle… that it would eventually come to this.

“I’m sorry.”  I spoke only those words, those words that carried the weight of a lifetime of anguish, before I moved in, severing in one clean, quick, sorrowful strike the head of the being that called itself my mother as the rest of its body crumpled metallically to the ground along with the head.


 * Don’t be.  And please… know that your father and I love you very, very much.

And that was it. The last of my mother’s life flickered out of her as she ceased all movement.

And at last… my head was once again clear.


 * END RECORDING

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