The moment that Lucy saw Erika, looking down at them from the window, she knew that they weren't going to be flying for much longer.
She tried to warn Laurence in time, but she didn't know if he had even heard anything before she felt a hand on her back and the familiar sensation that followed from being teleported.
She hadn't seen the interior before; a room that didn't have a ceiling, where if she looked up, she could see the roof.
The room itself had a table missing a leg, and a chair that looked like it would fall over the moment you sat in it.
It also had a window that showed more of the building; from that Lucy could tell that they were in an elevated position, a metal walkway surrounding the room she was in and just below it she could see a couple of caved in rooms and some flooding.
She was in the warehouse.
Of course, she gathered as much from the fact that a certain someone was also in that small, uncomfortable room.
"Hana."
"...Hello Lucy."
Hana was directly across the table from Lucy, seemingly trying to make a setting where Lucy and her would converse.
Lucy felt like she was hit the gut, even as nothing physically touched her; Hana still had enough faith to set up a place for them to talk, rather than strike first.
Of course, she didn't want to fight her either, but if Hana didn't stop trying to go with her absurd plan to kill the chosen, then Lucy didn't think she would have any choice but to physically try and prevent her.
The way Hana was acting was as though she didn't believe that Lucy would fight her at all.
That made Lucy feel even more guilty than before.
"If you're here to stop me, then it's pointless."
"But-"
"No 'buts'. You know that as long as they exist, things won't get any better."
Lucy gritted her teeth and swallowed her anxiety and frustration.
She knew that it was impossible for her to change her mind, or rather, she felt like there was no other option left to her.
She had to stop Hana, even if she hated her.
That was what Lucy was resolved to do.
"The chosen's base is directly underneath us. You and Erika are in danger."
Hana's expression betrayed some surprise for a moment, but she kept a stubborn, stern look about her.
"...And I assume Birdy's sister saw that?"
"Yes. Also... there isn't any easy way to say this...."
Lucy scratched her cheek and looked at the floor, trying to appear as downcast as possible.
"...Apparently someone had taken all of the spirits away. You were right."
A lie.
A blatant one at that.
Hana, however, seemed to not only buy it, but she also became much more lax in her posture, as though a great weight had been lifted from her.
She then smiled.
"I usually am. Do you remember what I told you when we last met?"
Lucy ignored the question and ran over to Hana, who didn't even bother avoiding the sudden rush.
This was because she understood Lucy's "intentions", although they were fake.
Lucy grabbed onto Hana and held her tightly.
"I'm sorry."
The tears that rolled down her cheek weren't fake, however.
She had something in her bag; a compound that was known to those before armageddon as chloroform.
She didn't know the name, but she could easily tell what it did with her powers.
Using this, she was about to betray her friends expectations once more, and that feeling was hurting her.
That's why those tears were real.
Hana was still under the misconception of Lucy's intentions being to come back to her side, so she embraced her as well.
Lucy slowly lowered her hands from the upper back to the waist, her hands becoming closer to the bag that was at her left hip.
She sobbed and made herself fall to the floor 'losing' her footing.
Hana was pulled down, but she made no move to get up.
Lucy then slowly released her hands from Hana, but leaned on her a bit more as her left hand reached into her bag.
Said bag was out of Hana's vision as Lucy's head was currently making it a blind spot.
The quiet rattling around of the bag was covered by Lucy crying, as she felt out for the small bottle and a rag.
She retrieved both with her left hand and 'hugged' Hana yet again, this time preparing the rag behind her.
She knew she had to move quickly once she resolved to open the bottle and soak the rag, as either the sound or smell would alert Hana, but she took her time, sobbing.
It hurt too much.
Hana trusted her, even though Lucy had betrayed her once, and now she was about to betray her once more.
She put her thumb under the lid of the bottle, and-
"What are you doing?"
Hana's cold voice soon entered her ear, sending a chill down her spine.
Lucy's mind went into a panic and she popped open the bottle, but she was slammed to the floor and her hand let go of the bottle, allowing it to roll and release its contents all over the floor.
Lucy gasped in pain as Hana looked down at her with furious eyes.
When did Hana know?
Lucy wasn't sure whether her nerves let anything on, or if she just hesitated too much.
Or maybe her actions behind her back were far too obvious?
Either way, she knew she had failed.
"So then, you truly believe that everything we've been through has all been a lie?"
Hana kicked Lucy as she tried to get up, the power behind it much more than a normal nine-year old would have.
Lucy herself was also strong for her age, but relied more on whatever was in her bag to carry her through a fight.
Hana had been limited to her power, which would only work on touch, so she trained herself to be able to close a gap quickly.
But all of their memories were fake, so for Hana to still be strong meant that she had been like that before the past month.
Hana thought her strength was just more proof that their memories were real.
"After everything we went through together, after Erika and I suffered, after seeing what horrors that Kenchi and his family is capable of, you're going to turn your eyes away and look for a more pleasant reality? Even though you're the one who gave me advice that says otherwise!?"
Lucy tried getting up again, but Hana was too fast and kicked her back down, the chair being knocked over from Lucy bumping into it.
Lucy did manage to cough out some words, however.
"...Kenchi? Who is that?"
Hana's face became red with anger and she kicked Lucy again.
"You would go so far as to blatantly play dumb!? You were the one who told me about him in the first place!"
Lucy felt sore around her gut, so much so that she was sick, but she was too focused on the odd things that Hana was saying.
That's right; Lucy had never heard of Kenchi.
So when Hana spoke so certainly, Lucy was completely lost with what she was talking about.
"I've never heard of Kenchi before in my life."
It would have been better for her to stay silent, but she spoke up anyways and Hana just rewarded her with another kick to the stomach.
"Why... After everything, are you lying!? Have you deluded yourself? Are me and Erika not important at all to you!? Did we mean so little to you that you can throw our time together away simply so that you can imagine a happy-go-lucky fantasy that everyone's good and all of what had happened before was just a big hoax!?"
Hana went for another kick, but Lucy grabbed hold of the foot.
"Are you stupid? Of course you two are important to me..."
"Then-!"
"That's why I'm going to stop both of you, before you make a mistake you end up regretting for the rest of your lives!"
Lucy got up and released Hana's leg, looking her dead in the eyes.
Hana seemed unfazed, however, and she had a regretful look in her eyes.
"The moment you tried to put me to sleep... I should have realized that there was no other way."
Lucy wasn't sure what Hana was talking about, but then Hana pulled something from underneath her poncho and Lucy stiffened; half in shock, half in fear.
What Hana was carrying was something that no normal nine-year old should have been carrying around carelessly, but there it was, in her hands, like a deus-ex-machina, only this one wouldn't be saving anyone.
It had a short, slender barrel attached to a handle, and a trigger curved for a finger to pull.
A gun.
For some reason, Hana had a gun.
Lucy knew what it's purpose was the moment she saw it, thanks to her powers, and she was in disbelief.
"Where-"
"It was just lying in that drawer over there."
Hana gestured to the table, and Lucy noticed that there was indeed a drawer attached to the table.
She hadn't noticed it because Hana had drawn most of her attention simply by being there.
"I wondered what it was and almost used it while looking at the hole..."
Hana smiled in self-mock, having almost killed herself with the weapon.
"I never expected to use it like this, however."
To Lucy, it felt unreal, like Hana was making a poor attempt at a joke, but as she slowly raised the barrel of the gun, she knew that she was deadly serious.
"I can't have anyone stop us from killing Kenchi and his family."
All of this time, Lucy had never heard of Kenchi.
She was also under the assumption that they were going to kill each and every one of the chosen.
That sentence muttered by Hana confused Lucy to no end, but she was more concerned with the weapon that Hana held.
Lucy raised her hands and backed away slowly, her mouth trembling.
"H-Hana... You can't be-"
*Bang*
A loud noise reverberated through Lucy's ears and she felt like her left leg had went numb, then she realized through the searing pain that shot up from her leg that she had been shot.
She wobbled and leaned against the wall for support, her mouth wide open, but making no sounds.
She was in complete and utter shock from the pain, as well as the danger that the weapon posed to her.
Hana was looking at her, no different from before.
She was hesitant to pull the trigger another time, however.
"...I don't want to kill you Lucy. But... Just like with Gregory, I can't be sure if letting you live will mean that you'll keep your word. If I made you promise not to interfere, then you could very well lie, just like you did when you tried to subdue me..."
Hana spoke as though she were convincing herself as to why she should kill Lucy.
She probably needed to, since the first shot she made was half-assed and not fatal.
Lucy tried to respond, but only small squeaks came out of her mouth.
She was scared.
Hana was scaring her.
Was Lucy always such a scardy cat?
Lucy was sure that she was cunning and resolute, but right now, it was as if her entire body shut down and waited for her execution.
It was as if...
My personality was a lie to begin with...
Lucy felt like crying again, but she couldn't even manage the courage to bring forth a tear.
She just stood still and waited, hoping and praying that the danger would pass.
Hana slowly raised the gun, having resolved herself, and aimed directly for Lucy's head...
At that moment, Erika, her clothes and body drenched for some reason, appeared right behind Hana.
"He- ..."
Erika tried to say something in greeting, but she remained silent when she saw what was going on.
Hana turned her attention away from Lucy for a moment.
"What about Phoenix?"
"...I put him underwater, beneath the rubble."
"So dead then."
At those words, Lucy's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her mind raced.
D-dead...? Laurence is... dead?
Her heart raced and the voices of Erika and Hana seemed so far away from her at the time.
She barely knew Laurence, and yet she felt like the world was falling apart all around her.
No longer was she concerned with how she was in danger, but, rather, she was thinking about Laurence.
There's no way... absolutely no way...
She cared about him.
There was no reason, no memory she could recall, yet somewhere deep inside herself, she cared about him.
She cared about him so much, that when she heard that he died, she had forgotten everything that was currently happening.
She was all alone, in a dark part of her mind, thinking about how she would never see Laurence again.
But they barely knew each other... right?
She didn't feel like that was the case anymore; she felt like... she had known him for her entire life.
Her blood boiled as the facts sunk in.
Laurence died.
Her previously open mouth closed as she clenched her teeth.
Laurence died.
Her unmoving left hand reached into her bag.
Laurence died.
Her small, slender fingers felt out and grabbed hold of her knife and her eyes locked onto Erika.
YOU KILLED LAUR!
"Hey Erika, I'm still alive!"
Those muted words, yelled from the outside, blew away the darkness that had threatened to overtake Lucy.
Lucy blinked, unsure of what had just happened, and realized she was still clutching the knife within her bag before letting go.
Was I... about to kill them? For some person I barely know?
Lucy was even more confused than ever before, but she was strangely calm, almost serene.
It was as though she would have been fine if Hana and Erika had died at her hands.
This fact should have unsettled her, but she felt like her head was much clearer than before.
She was once again aware of the situation and her surroundings; she only had one good leg and was bleeding a lot from the bad one, Hana had a gun pointed at her head but was looking away, Erika had just teleported in response to Laurence's call, and she was currently leaning up against a wall for support, with a window right next to her.
Lucy wasn't confident in taking the gun away from Hana, despite her being distracted and only a short distance away, as Hana was physically more gifted.
There was only one thing to do, then.
She grabbed a smoke bomb out of the bag and threw it down as Hana turned her head.
Another loud bang could be heard, and the bullet just grazed Lucy's arm, but it was nowhere near fatal.
She could also hear Hana coughing from the smoke, perhaps the initial burst and surprise adding to Hana's poor shot at such close quarters.
Lucy could 'see' through the smoke by observing with her power, so she located Hana rather easily.
Lucy quietly moved, the 'shh' sounds of the smoke aiding her stealth, and she moved towards Hana, hoping to grab the gun while Hana wasn't prepared.
Hana, however, was well aware of Lucy's power, having 'supposedly' been with her all this time.
Knowing what her plan already was, Hana turned to the window, which she remember the general direction of, and shot it a couple of times, a loud crashing of glass soon following.
Lucy stared on in shock as Hana ran towards and threw herself out the window.
She almost wondered if Hana had gone completely mad, but then she recalled that part of the warehouse was submerged, and soon enough heard a loud splashing sound beneath her.
Lucy avoided the sharp glass that was left in the window frame, and peaked down to see a drenched Hana staring back up at her with a hateful expression.
There would be no more hesitation on her part.
Hana raised the gun, but Lucy already moved her head back into the smoky room, and opened the door.
The metal walkway was gridded, and Lucy observed that she could still be shot from underneath, even though she also observed that it was sturdy enough to deflect the trajectory of the bullets.
The safest place for her, then, was the room she was in, but it was small and didn't leave much room for her to act.
If Hana made it back up to where she was, then, even with the added weight from her dampened clothes, Lucy still felt like the advantage went to Hana.
Lucy's left leg throbbed as a bitter reminder to her state, and she quickly reached for some gauze in her bag.
She rolled up the pant leg that was shot through and wrapped a good amount of layers tightly around her wound to stop the bleeding and held it with tape; a temporary solution, but one that was welcome nonetheless.
She then took inventory of what was in her bag, as though an idea of how to proceed would come to her from doing so.
Three more smoke bombs, her favorite knife, tape and gauze, disinfectant, scalpel, fishing wire and sewing needle for stitches, one more set of sticky cloth, a lighter and two homemade cherry bombs with the purpose of inflicting serious or fatal injury.
Lucy thought that using the smoke bombs would help her go along the walkway more safely, but they were limited.
She felt like going to the floor below would give her more mobility, as there appeared to be some areas that were not only not submerged, but provided cover via the piles of rubble.
So her goal now was to reach the bottom floor, but how?
She peered out of the door timidly, looking in the direction of where Hana recently was, and saw her making her way to the shallower waters where the rubble was.
Lucy looked closer at the walkway and saw that there was only one way leading down there, and Hana was nearing it.
She took a deep breath; she couldn't take the walkway to get to the rubble.
Lucy moved to the window and looked to see if there were any other areas that weren't submerged, and saw that there was rubble and shallow water directly opposite of where Hana currently was, at the other end of the warehouse.
She knew that she could jump into the water and swim over there before Hana reached her, giving her a better environment to avoid her weapon.
The only downside was that her bombs would get wet and probably lose some of their effectiveness, if not all, but she felt like she didn't have a choice.
She looked back at where Hana was; she was at the foot of the stairs leading up to the walkway.
Not like I have a choice now.
Lucy pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it in Hana's direction, who shot before the bomb reached her, but she was still unused to the weapon and missed Lucy.
The smoke bomb burst shortly after and Lucy didn't waste any time leaping out the window.
The next second, her body felt the cold, biting impact of the water, a sudden nausea coming over her.
She had all but forgotten the kicks she received from Hana in the heat of the moment, but that didn't change the fact that they happened.
Her body felt sluggish and stiff, and she also felt the need to throw up then and there.
She didn't, however, and managed to swim her way to the rubble she had seen.
She felt a shot whiz past her in the next moment and leapt for cover, landing hard on her gut.
She almost covered her mouth and held back, but realized it would have been inconvenient for her if she threw up in the middle of avoiding Hana, so she let it out, taking care not to put her hands in it.
Lucy took a couple deep breaths while her mouth had the lingering taste of burning vile, wishing that the water near her didn't look so unsafe for consumption, as she really wanted something cold to drink to ease the feeling.
She tried peeking out from her cover to see where Hana was, and saw that she was swimming towards her, gun at the ready.
Lucy ducked back into cover just in time as she heard the next shot.
She moved quietly farther back into the warehouse, making sure that her body wasn't visible from the body of water as she moved from cover to cover.
Soon, the sounds of something lifting itself up from the water could be heard, and also the sounds of something being removed.
Her poncho and some clothes, no doubt.
The soft crunch of the rubble being stepped on and the dripping of water that remained on whatever clothes Hana was wearing gave away her position all too well.
Meanwhile, Lucy had stopped moving altogether, waiting for an opportunity to catch Hana off guard to present itself.
That's when Hana's voice made itself known again.
"I trusted you, Lucy! Me and Erika both did!"
Lucy didn't feel as guilty as before, as though it had all but vanished once she thought Laurence had died.
Still, she listened to what Hana was saying.
"When I tried to stop them from raping Erika, you stopped me out of concern! When I was about to fall to my death, you grabbed onto my hand and took care of me! That was you! Do you mean to tell me that all of that was meaningless to you!? You can't possibly still think that everything's fake, can you!? I still have a scar under my nail from when it came off and you disinfected it! How can that be fake if there's a scar there!? How am I physically able for my age if none of what happened up to this point was real!? Why is Erika so afraid of men if she never was raped and held hostage!? Answer me!"
Hana was well and truly fed up with Lucy now, saying whatever came to mind out of pure frustration.
Lucy, however, found some things odd.
She had absolutely no idea what Hana was talking about when she said that Erika was raped, nor did she understand what she meant by her being saved before falling to her death.
Yet Hana spoke so certainly that it made her wonder.
If their memories were faked, then was it possible for such transparent contradictions between memories to exist?
She wanted to tell Hana that she had no idea about half the things that she was saying.
Considering that she was currently hunting her with a gun, however, she doubted that Hana would stop to listen.
Just because Hana asked Lucy to answer her, didn't mean she was truly going to hear her out.
There was something about the situation that provided a little comfort for Lucy, however.
She was also able to determine just how many times the gun would be able to fire when she looked at it with her power earlier.
She was unsure of whether Hana herself knew, but after firing six shots, only four bullets remained in the gun.
Of course, she doubted that Hana would miss if she happened upon her now, at such a close distance.
Like I said, a little comfort.
It wasn't much.
Hana's footsteps grew closer, but Lucy remained calm and Hana's footsteps passed her by.
Lucy thought of two ways to proceed; the first was to make Hana waste the remainder of her shots.
The second was to somehow make the gun no longer a factor in the fight.
She had half a mind to run and regroup, but she knew that if she did that, there was no telling where Hana and Erika would go next, and they might never have another opportunity to stop them.
This had to end right here and now, somehow someway.
Lucy didn't know what she would do after dealing with the gun, but she decided that she needed to live long enough to worry about that.
Hana's footsteps moved farther into the distance, so Lucy moved quietly in the opposite direction.
The sounds of rubble being stepped on and water dripping off her clothes was a little noisy, but Lucy couldn't do anything about that, so she just hoped that whatever noise Hana made from moving would mask it.
After reaching as far as she could in the other end, Lucy checked her bag to see if any of her bombs somehow managed to remain dry.
Unfortunately, the bag, and it's contents, were completely soaked.
Lucy cursed under her breath as she tried to think of what to do next; all she could do was run away from Hana at the moment, and with her smoke bombs worthless, she only had the rubble to rely on.
If the warehouse was lit by something electronic, she could have shut off the lights, but what was shedding light inside was the various window littered throughout the walls.
Of course, Lucy thought Hana would still hear her even if she was trying to sneak up on her in the dark.
Looking around, she didn't see anything of use to her; rocks and metal pieces of something, a little bit of puddles here and there, and the walls...
Lucy blinked, observing the object she made out that was on the discolored, chipped wall; it was a switch of some kind, painted red and there was wiring running upwards to the roof.
Lucy observed the wiring through the walls all the way up to where it lead, and made a relieved sigh once she saw what it's purpose was.
She couldn't turn off the lights, but she could at least make it harder for Hana to hear around her.
Lucy approached the switch and pulled it down, her efforts rewarded with a loud, ringing noise as torrents of water sprayed down from above.
Miraculously, a fire alarm was intact inside the warehouse.
Lucy could swear she heard Hana screaming out in anger as the water pelted her.
"Are you making fun of me!?"
And then, if finding the fire alarm wasn't lucky enough, Lucy heard shots ring out and hit the roof.
Hana was trying to shoot where the water was coming from; a foolish decision that would only make more water pour out if she hit her mark.
Not only that, but she used all four remaining bullets and when the last shot rang out, all that Lucy could hear was the deafening sound of the alarm and water.
Then, after that long pause, she heard Hana scream in rage.
This was Lucy's strength; she always knew what everything did, and what it's purpose was thanks to her power, but Hana had no such knowledge.
She was under the notion that the gun wouldn't stop firing, as well as the notion that shooting where the water came from would stop it.
Both of these notions caused her to make a mistake that completely wasted the overwhelming advantage she had over Lucy.
Lucy didn't laugh at her, however, and instead felt somber.
They were both children, after all, and the mistake Hana made simply showed how ill-suited they were to act like they knew everything.
The only reason Lucy could get away with it was because her power didn't give her any chance to be ignorant of how things worked.
Now that Hana no longer had the gun, Lucy started to think of what to do next.
Hana still had the advantage in physical abilities, so Lucy still needed to rely on her surroundings.
Stealthily approaching her was now a more viable option thanks to the deafening sound of the water and alarm, but the same went the other way around; Hana could just as easily use the sound to her advantage as well.
Lucy hadn't heard anything other than the noise for a long while, so she timidly made her way back to the body of water, where she found that Hana had indeed left her poncho, socks and shoes.
Ugh, she's walking barefoot in all of this?
The metal pieces scattered amongst the rubble didn't look very pleasant to step on.
Lucy wondered if that meant that Hana's ability to close a distance would be weakened from the pain, but she didn't relax her guard.
Hana had a strong threshold for pain, so it wouldn't have surprised her if she was able to shrug it off like it was nothing.
Lucy still remembered when Hana had climbed up that building, after being raped...
.........
...Huh?
Like a deer in headlights, Lucy just stopped functioning, as though her brain couldn't process anything at the moment.
She had remembered what their time in the chosen was like, and it wasn't anything too complex.
They were disgusted by what they did to the normals so they left, end of story.
But a memory appeared in her head that contradicted that very notion, one of the chosen doing things to other chosen...
It was a memory that supported what Hana was saying earlier, but Lucy had no idea what it meant, for her to be remembering two different realities at the same time.
Then, her head felt like it was splitting apart and she clutched it, holding in a scream.
It was horrible timing, for her psyche to be messed with while facing a serious problem.
Of course, the problem of having two conflicting memories was serious too, but it was not the time nor the place to consider what it meant.
Lucy took deep breaths and waited for the throbbing pain in her head to stop, and when the pain finally subsided as she looked up, she noticed that Hana was almost upon her.
It was as if she appeared out of nowhere, running towards her with a fevered determination driven by anger.
Lucy tried to jump into the water, but it was too late and she was tackled to the ground.
"Guh-!"
The wind was completely knocked out of her already sore gut, and she was glad that she took the time to throw up earlier, as it would've no doubt been even more unpleasant had she done so here.
Still, that slight relief didn't protect her from the fist that slammed into her head, small but with force behind it.
Then, another.
And another, and another...
Lucy realized then.
Hana was going to kill her.
The determination she gained from her false memories guided her into the absurd act of killing someone that she considered family.
Lucy wanted to cry from how stupid it all was, but she didn't blame Hana.
However they ended up like this, it had to be because someone gave them false memories, and through those memories, it could essentially make someone act however the culprit pleased.
There was no helping it, Lucy thought, that Hana being as young as she is would be easily manipulated to such an extent.
The memories Lucy had were also powerful, but what made her and Laurence and the others special was that they also had an abnormal feeling deep inside of them that something was inherently wrong.
It probably wasn't the same for everyone, since things in the city remained relatively the same for the past month.
But, how could one prove that those memories were fake?
Ruri had done so through her powers.
Lucy and Laurence just trusted how they felt.
Hana obviously wouldn't realize they were fake from her own feelings, as that time had come and passed.
So, Lucy thought, there was only one option left.
"Judge me."
Lucy managed to sputter out those words before the next fist came down and Hana's fist stopped midway.
The way Hana looked at Lucy with such disgust meant that she knew exactly what Lucy was intending.
Through Hana's powers, she made others re-live the suffering they inflicted on another human being.
So, if Hana used her powers on Lucy and nothing happened...
"You would insist on your delusions to this extent?"
Hana closed her eyes, as though she couldn't bear the sight of her former friend, and Lucy smiled mockingly.
"You were going to kill me anyways, right?"
Hana's eyes snapped open and she slapped Lucy while giving her a glare.
"It's not the same!"
"...Are you retarded?"
Now Lucy was the one who was angry, and she looked back at Hana with a glare of her own, causing her to hesitate.
"It's exactly the same. You're killing me. The method doesn't matter, because no matter what, you're going to kill me. Or do you not believe that you're right? Do you have doubts that your memories are real, despite doing all of this? In that case, then you're simply having a tantrum right now."
Hana's cheeks puffed up and her chest swelled with air, cheeks turning crimson.
"You-!"
"Is it fun, pretending that you're an adult?"
To Lucy constant taunting, Hana reached out and grabbed Lucy's head, clutching it tightly.
Lucy didn't feel anything, however.
"So, is that it?"
"...I will seriously do it if you keep talking like that."
"Stop making excuses, Hana. You're just afraid to do it."
"No I'm not!"
"Then why hesitate? Do it."
"I... I will give you your last words-"
"Hana."
Lucy's voice seemed older as she spoke those next words.
"If you make anymore excuses like a brat, then I won't ever forgive you."
Despite the roles, Hana swallowed dryly, her earlier display of confidence and resolve replaced with nervousness and timidity.
Slowly, the grip around Lucy's head loosened and Hana's hand drifted off to the side.
"Not going through with it is just as bad, you know."
Hana didn't respond to Lucy's words, instead staring downcast at her.
"You were fine with killing me earlier, but when it involves testing whether or not what you believe in is right, you shy away? You know what that tells me? That you just wanted to be 'right'. You weren't concerned with what others thought, as long as you were right and nothing else."
"...Mm. I'm terrible, aren't I?"
Hana finally responded, seemingly on the verge of tears.
Lucy slapped her and shocked her out of the self deprecating smile she had started to form.
"Don't you dare wallow in self-pity. Maybe you have a right to, but I'm too angry to handle that, and I know that it's a certainty I have a right to that. You told me how I was making light of all our time together, but the moment you decided not to use your power on me, you were being nothing more than a giant hypocrite. Word's cannot describe just how much I hate you in this moment."
Lucy's words made Hana start crying, like a child.
Finally, then and there, Lucy relented and brought Hana's crying head to her chest.
"...But, even if you are incredibly selfish and stupid, you're still my friend."
Lucy never called Hana her sister, even in her fake memories, but that didn't mean she didn't feel close to her.
Fake or not, Hana was one of Lucy's very few relationships in this world, so she wanted to keep it no matter what.
It was because Hana was trying so hard to act above and beyond her age that Lucy felt the need to be so harsh with her.
She didn't want Hana to do something she would regret, nor do something that would get her killed.
Not because it was the right thing to do, but because regardless of the 'why' Lucy cared about Hana.
*Clap, clap, clap*
The loud, slow sounds of someone clapping could be heard despite the falling water.
Lucy turned her head while holding onto Hana and saw Erika there, with a smile on her face.
"How touching."
"...Um..."
Lucy felt like something was immediately wrong.
Erika seemed different from usual, and she spoke as though she were amused.
But it was still Erika, so Lucy was confused.
That's when she realized; if Erika was there, then what about Laurence?
Erika's smile grew even wider, as though she heard what Lucy was thinking.
"Oh don't worry, he's alive."
Despite herself, Lucy made a relieved sigh before confirming what the situation was.
Preempting this as well, however, Erika answered.
"Well, for as long as the chosen keep him alive, anyways."
At those words, even Hana looked up in bewilderment at Erika, still sniffling.
"Er-ika?"
"Well, I wasn't able to kill him, so I just teleported him to those that could. Ah, what's with that look? I'm one hundred percent the real Erika, so you can relax."
"You... did what!?"
Lucy yelled with shock but Erika waved her off.
"Why are you so upset? It was only natural that things ended up this way. Oh, it's too noisy to talk like this. Hang on."
Erika teleported to touch the two, then they were suddenly back at their old base.
The suddenness of the teleportation, combined with Erika's odd behaviour stunned them into silence.
Of course, the fact that there was another person there at the base only added to the confusion.
As though he was waiting for them to teleport back there, Lucy saw the man that saved Laurence earlier that day; Rucker.