Work Text:
B196
“What changed?”
Lev tilts their head.
“What made you change? What made you...decide to stop?”
They’re thinking, trying to find the words. Cif always had the impression that their sister would mumble a lot, if they spoke normally, but as is they’re a blank slate.
<…The way we fought.>
“What about it?”
<I hated you for being Add’s favorite.>
<For having something that I never could.>
<But I never knew what it was. What being their “artificial manusya” meant.>
<I tried to find every flaw in myself, to fix them. I tried to find every flaw in you, to tear you down.>
< Still I was never enough. And you were perfect. You got your workshop, and you got to fill every floor with your statues…>
<I didn’t realize it at the time.>
<But I hated both of you so much.>
Cif stays quiet. They’re used to being prosecutor, or being Bee’s minder, but they know they can’t say anything right now.
<And I was going to - I made it almost to the heart of DIS.>
A storm starts to brew behind their eyes. <I wanted to destroy all of you, just to not have to look at your->
“Lev…”
They’re shaking, unable to form coherent signals . Cif puts a hand on their shoulder.
<… B ut then we fought.>
<And I saw something. In you.>
< Your light.>
<You work so hard to hide it.>
< But I knew.>
<It was what they had been looking for.>
<It was what I had been looking for.>
<… Cif?>
It’s Cif’s turn to think, now. “…I know you mean it. But I still can’t see myself as anything but a fraud.”
<You->
“I hear you, but I think.”
“Is that ‘light’ what Add was looking for?”
“Is this what they wanted?”
“I’ll never know. Add is dead.”
“And even looking in the mirror...”
“Sometimes I can hardly see myself, let alone whatever you saw.”
A nd it becomes Lev’s turn to put an arm around their sister.
“They…” Memories blossom like flowers – the moment Cif realized what Add had done to themself – and tears start to well up in their eyes.
“Maybe they gave up on me too, in the end.”
They’re breaking down now, crying, and even that’s a conditioned reflex, an imitation, their real body can’t even shed tears-
< …Then we have something in common.>
Cif is stunned. They had never expected to hear that from Lev, a nd after a moment Lev is caught in a full body hug that they were not at all prepared for. They blink once, twice, then return the gesture awkwardly.
“…It hurts.”
< It does .>
“What do we do?”
<... I thought that you would know.>
And Lev is crying too, and they hug Cif harder.
B???
“Just a few finishing touches...there. How does it look?”
Cif steps back; they want to see how it looks, too. Lev looks down.
<…>
“…Lev? Is something wrong?”
Lev pokes at one of their breast forms with a finger. <…It’s perfect.>
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s still a rough draft, and the nerve integration-”
<Take the compliment, Cif.>
Cif shuts up, flustered.
Lev inspects their handiwork a bit more, then puts on their old robes. It’s tight around the chest, but...there’s symmetry. Lev looks in the mirror at their body, free of the spike that usually stood out in their robes.
<Cif…Thank you.>
“It’s nothing, really. If I had known that you also had problems with changing form-”
<Stop pretending that the work you’re doing is easy. It’s annoying.> There’s not much they can say to that, and they sit in silence, Lev thinking again.
<I never asked, and you were too young.>
<But...you’ve changed.>
<This light inside you. The thing that I saw. The thing that made you do this for me, despite everything.>
<I still don’t know what it is, or if it’s what they were looking for.>
<But it’s all we have left now.>
<And if you can do all this…then maybe there’s still hope for us yet.>