A Dying Wish
???: I've found you at last, Grace!
Grace: Parker? Why are you here?
Parker: Because we are old, dear friends! You must have known I would come looking for you when you vanished.
Parker: Come, Grace. Let us go back together.
Grace: There is nothing for me in the Syndicate. Not without him. The only place I wish to go to is where he resides now.
Parker: Oh, my dear Grace...
Parker: But very well! I accept your terms. I will abandon the Syndicate with you.
Grace: What are you talking about, Parker? Surely you are aware of what happens to those who leave that organization.
Parker: I am aware—and it's a risk I accept.
Grace: ...H-huh?!
Parker: I love you, Grace.
Grace: !
Parker: I have loved you from the moment I first set eyes on you.
Grace: Parker, I...
Parker: I know you have lost someone you love and are trapped in the depths of grief.
Parker: We bear a similar pain, you and I, for I grieve at the loss of a dear friend.
Parker: Should we not join our lives in that case? A pain shared is a pain halved, after all.
Grace: I am sorry, Parker, but I cannot. I am simply not strong enough to bear the enormity of his loss.
Parker: You could if it was shared! With my help! Come with me, Grace, and I will show you how to leave that pain behind!
Grace: Ah, but I do not want to leave it behind. I wish to keep this pain inside me.
Grace: When I remember him, my heart aches. And yet, the only way to free myself from this torment is for his memories to fade.
Grace: I do not wish that. Instead, I seek to go to him while his memories are yet fresh.
Parker: What would he say on hearing such things? Do you think he wants this for you?
Grace: !
Parker: Do you think him the kind of man who hoped his love would blindly follow him off into oblivion?
Parker: The kind of man who would reject happiness for his beloved if it came in a world he no longer inhabited?
Grace: That's... I don't...
Parker: Do this for him, Grace. Come with me for him!
Andromeda: Graaaace! Where aaaare you?
Grace: Y-you must leave, Parker. Now!
Parker: Hmm? Why are you so flustered?
Grace: You are still with the Syndicate. If Aldred finds you, there will be great trouble.
Grace: Please, you must go.
Parker: Very well. But think about my proposal, won't you? I will come for an answer soon.
Aldred: Who was that guy?
Grace: A traveler asking directions. Nothing more.
Aldred: ......
Andromeda: Where are you going, Grace?
Grace: I wish to be alone for a while. You two should get some rest.
Aldred: Hey, you do you. But just so you know, we're crossing that mountain tomorrow. If you're worn out because you didn't sleep, I WILL leave you behind.
Andromeda: Be careful, okay? Who knows what kinds of things lurk around here at night.
Grace: I will. Thank you.
Grace: (...What would you have me do, my love? As Parker says, you would never have desired my death to join with yours.)
Grace: (And yet, I wonder if you know just how empty and shallow a world is once the person you love is no longer in it?)
Grace: (I cannot go on in such a state. And yet...)
Parker: ...Grace?
Grace: Parker. You followed me all the way here.
Parker: I told you I would come for your answer.
Grace: My answer, Parker, is no. I simply cannot do it.
Parker: Grace, I know what happened in his final moments.
Grace: What?
Parker: When Tf-997 and Tf-999 escaped, your husband was attacked by Tf-997.
Parker: I knew as soon as I saw him that his wounds were beyond healing.
Parker: Even so, I tried. As I set in to heal him, he said four words: "Take care of Grace."
Grace: !
Parker: While my love for you is true, I did not come here simply to sate my own desire.
Parker: His last wish was for us to be together, and I seek only to honor it!
Grace: He truly said that?
Parker: He did. So please, Grace, come with me. I cannot live with myself if I let you get killed at the hands of that failure!
Grace: By failure I take it you mean Aldred?! And Andromeda as well?!
Parker: Why are you upset? They ARE failures— everyone at the lab called them such.
Grace: ...You are a liar, Parker. And your claims of my love's last words are also a lie.
Parker: Grace, no! What are you saying?!
Grace: My love never used the word "failure." Not for them. Instead, he said that we were the failures.
Grace: He said that if we researchers had been better at our jobs, the test subjects would not have had to suffer as they did...
Grace: And I agree with him: We stole everything from them. Their bodies. Their souls. That is a sin WE must bear.
Parker: How can you say this about mere test subjects?
Grace: "Mere test subjects"? "Failures"? No. My husband would never have wanted me to be with a man who carried such thoughts as these.
Grace: And I, too, cannot love one such as you. That is one thing I can say with certainty.
Parker: Oh, Grace. Oh, my dear. If you will not walk beside me...
Parker: ...You will die by my hand.
Grace: Syndicate soldiers!
Parker: If you will not obey me, then you are a traitor who must be disposed of.
Grace: Urrgh!
Parker: You could have been with me, Grace, and instead you cast it all aside. You are a hopeless fool.
???: And you're a selfish piece of crap.
Parker: Tf-997! Why are you helping her?!
Aldred: Oh, I'm not. But one look at those masks, and I couldn't hold my arm back.
Andromeda: Are you okay, Grace?
Grace: What are you two doing here?
Parker: Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. My standing with the Syndicate will only rise if I also deal with you, Tf-997!
Aldred: Careful. Your mouth is making promises you can't possibly keep.
Parker: Oh, but I can. For you see, your own strength is about to devour you.
Parker: With the power of this crystal...
Grace: No... Aldred, RUN!
Aldred: The hell...?
Aldred: Nnngh! M-my body is... GRAAAAGH!
Grace: Aldred!
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