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Io's earliest memory was of longing, a powerful, unbearable longing that threatened to consume her. She was born of a feeling of guilt, of a forgotten sin, and still longed for something unknown. Even as she was crushed, impaled, decapitated, broken, strangled, her body torn apart, she never forgot that sense of longing.
In this makeshift sanctuary, she stepped onto the balcony, and night had fallen over the ruined city. A wind blew, and while it was probably a cold wind, her body felt little from the elements. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her shoulders felt too light without her tattered cloak. This was a shelter, she knew, a repose before the end.
Some said the world had already ended. Io knew nothing of the world before the Red Mist, before the mysterious "Horrors" and Thorns of Judgment. She had read many of Louis' books, seen photographs of the city alive, but it meant nothing to her. She was a being born of death, meant to forever observe a moment frozen in time.
An ache stirred in her chest. For so long, she had forgotten her own purpose, but although she finally remembered, that same uncertainty still haunted her. Revenants were immortal, always fighting against the undying Lost. Successors held pieces of the fallen Queen's body within themselves to prevent her revival, sealing themselves away in crypts, and Attendants of the Relics such as herself were meant to watch over them for eternity.
But how long was "eternity?" That Io still did not understand.
She stepped closer to the railing, and the stars were clear tonight. She did not mind solitude, having spent years, perhaps decades, traveling alone, with only that longing to guide her. She had never been human or mortal; the passage of time meant nothing to her. As each death and revival took yet another memory from her, Io kept searching.
She bit her lip. Perhaps she simply never had any memories to begin with. Only that longing, that single purpose of all Attendants.
"Io."
At the sound of her name, Io turned her head, and a tall woman approached her. The Successor of the Blood, the one Io was created to find and watch over, who called herself Scarlet, for her hair was a vibrant red, even more so than Yakumo's. She remembered nothing of her past before Operation Queenslayer, and even by then she had forgotten her own name. Yet her expression was unwavering, her eyes clear as she watched Io.
Underneath that gaze, Io shifted, and an unknown warmth crept to her cheeks.
Scarlet touched the railing of the balcony and smiled at Io. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she said gently.
Io touched the amber bead at her throat. "I have not seen the stars so clearly in a long time."
A soft sigh slipped from Scarlet's lips. "At least the Red Mist can't take that away from us," she muttered.
Io watched Scarlet out of the corner of her eye. With the Gaol of the Mist weakening, the group planned to head to the outskirts of the provisional government, where Gregorio Silva's crypt was located. Again Io felt a tightness in her chest; she knew better than anyone that if necessary, only Scarlet could take all those Relics into herself and take Silva's place and that as her Attendant, Io's duty was only to watch over her.
Yet she could not ignore the solitude she had felt in her fellow Attendants' vestiges, of the unknown sin they all carried.
Finally Io spoke again. "We will head out tomorrow, correct?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. Once, silence had not bothered her so.
"Yes," Scarlet replied with a nod, and then added, "I'm glad you're traveling with us now too."
With those words Scarlet also smiled, and Io couldn't help but turn her face away. Since she had seen Leda's memories from that labyrinthine Cathedral, she traveled with Scarlet and the others to save the remaining Successors, but even then Io still kept her distance, simply watching as Scarlet spoke with Louis, Yakumo, Mia, and later with Jack and Eva too. They shared memories and bonds of friendship and family with one another, a world Io could never be part of. An Attendant's role was to simply observe, after all.
Io closed her eyes and clasped her hand over her heart. Although each Attendant she had encountered outside their Successor's crypt had fulfilled their duty, regret still marked the vestiges they left behind, a regret much like that nameless longing. Her own longing should've been satisfied when she finally found her Successor, and yet…
"Io?" Scarlet was closer to Io now, her hand a hair's breadth from Io's cheek. "What's wrong?"
"You say you are glad of my company," Io said carefully, "but I only exist before your world was destroyed. If Cruz Silva had not frenzied, there would be no need for us Attendants."
When Scarlet spoke again, her voice was quiet. "I only know this ruined world too. We're alike in that sense."
Io glanced behind herself at the interior of the broken church that gave them all shelter. Books and clothes were scattered about on the mismatched furniture, and a gentle mistle stood watch near the entrance. Io's gaze fell upon her own bed, surrounded by candles, where often Scarlet approached her with vestiges found on their travels. "Memories are such fragile things," she found herself saying.
"Yeah, they really are." Scarlet folded her arms over the balcony railing and stared up at Io. "That you can restore those memories has to count for something."
"But what of your own memories?"
Scarlet smiled grimly. "Who I was before Operation Queenslayer - does it really matter? When Cruz revived me as her first Successor, I had a new purpose. This world is all I know, so I'll see her wishes through to the end."
Io drew closer to Scarlet, almost reaching for her shoulder but not quite. "Do you intend to take her father's place as the new Queen?"
Silent moments passed between Io and Scarlet, and then Scarlet touched Io's cheek, a warmth that was both unfamiliar and pleasant. "Io, after all that we've seen, the memories that we've restored, what do you think of this world?"
"It is a cruel, dying world," Io said as she pressed her hand against Scarlet's. Longing still filled her, a longing that had only grown stronger since she had finally found her Successor. No matter what violent deaths she suffered, nothing could take away that longing. "But it is also the world that brought me to you."
"I don't regret becoming a Successor, because it meant I could be with you." Scarlet lowered her forehead to Io's, her breath warm on Io's lips. "Will you come with me, to see all this through to the very end?"
Io tried to answer that was the duty of an Attendant, but the words died in her throat. She met Scarlet's gaze for a tense moment, and then embraced her, feeling another heartbeat against her own. "I will always be by your side," she whispered.
Scarlet threaded her fingers through Io's hair. "Thank you, Io."
This was a cruel, dying world, Io knew, but it was not without salvation.