Eva stared out of her new home, how utterly disgusting this place was. It was a butchery of some sorts before hand, considering the countless amount of rusted cutlery and other such things strewn about the dust covered stone counters. The only benefit was that it was small, and that meant hardly any Nightmare Creatures could live here. Eva felt cramped in it, she only had room for a bed and dresser, everything else she would have to store in the [Glutton's Sack]
"I suppose its for the best. Sunny gets to go to the cathedral, I get too steel my resolve, things like that."
The fact that she wasn't so preoccupied also helped with her Flaw... to a degree. She was already forgetting the faces of her family, not because she hadn't seen them in forever, but because her Flaw was eating away at her precious memories.
'Speaking of which...'
Eva summoned the [Proof of Cooperation] and selected a version marked {Eva}
Within were pictures of her family. Carmen had managed to salvage them from her phone when the both of them were transported.
Unfortunately, they couldn't get their hands on the remainder of the Shadow Slave story, it seemed that evidence of this world being a fabrication didn't sit well within its bounds. Regardless, Eva had this much to go by.
"I'll be fine."
Eva had her future sigh activated idly. Which is how she barely managed to dodge the [Midnight Shard] flying right at her arm. Unfortunately she was much too late. The blade pierced through her hand and embedded itself into the stone wall.
"Explain yourself."
"S-sunny? Why are you doing this?" Eva asked, her voice full of shock and surprise.
"Drop the act, I know you're faking... what exactly is your relationship with Milo. You told us before you guys had interacted, but he's claiming that you're from another world and he had some evidence that seemed convincing." Sunny's face was dark.
If the evidence Milo had shown was the [Metal Shell] then no wonder Sunny would be so pissed. He valued his freedom most in this part of the story after all. It really seemed like Eva would have no choice but to fight him.
'Or I could always...'
No, Eva shouldn't. That bond was integral to Sunny's growth and more importantly it's what drives him to the Tomb of Ariel. Stealing the bond could be the most valuable thing Eva could get her hands on. However, she needed Sunny to continue going forward.
While it wasn't part of her goal or even necessary for Eva to get home, changing the story too much could lead to dire consequences. Fate loved to get what it liked, and Eva was already a daring intruder for being here to begin with.
She quickly summoned her cobalt armor, along with the [Stone Blade]. Sunny's [Midnight Shard] returned to his hands.
"We don't have to do this, Sunny, just walk away and we can both forget about this." Eva pleaded, it wasn't like she was afraid of losing, but Eva saw nothing to gain out of fighting Sunny. Maybe his contempt could count as a benefit? He was sure to get quite handsome afterwards. Having a jade beauty chase after her constantly would be...
'No, wrong story Eva.'
"Funny, I find it very, very difficult to forget a grudge. I'm also curious on where you come from? Is it like one of those transmigration stories? Was I just words to you before?"
"You were more... so much more." Eva got the jump on Sunny. Her sword whistling through the air. Sunny met the swing with his tachi.
***
Weeks passed since Milo told Olivia about who Eva was. A lot had changed in the Slums, namely that Milo had developed the fix to his Aspect. Simply put, he created dormant Memory charms that really only acted as a vessel for part of his soul. They were permanent, meaning that he could replenish his soul shards pretty easily. He spent about ten of his own soul shards to create these memories, with the stockpile he had from the Forgotten Shores, and the amount he received from killing his captors, he had created twenty of these dormant Memories.
There was another way to keep the technology actually working, and that was his Dormant Aspect Ability. Streaming his consciousness into these keepsakes worked just as well as putting part of his soul in them... however the issue was the absolute burden it put onto his mind. His upper limit was ten streams of consciousness at a time before he began to feel devastating side effects that required outside healing.
Another thing was that Sunny, the scout, disappeared one day without warning. At the same time, rumors spread that there was a boy living in the Dark City. It didn't take Milo long to put two and two together, Sunny had likely gone looking for Eva, learned of something, then stayed with her or was forced into exile.
The thought was all the more dreadful regardless. One of the most powerful people on the Forgotten Shores was now in Eva's hands. Milo already knew that Nephis, Cassie, Caster and Effie had close relations to Eva, so he couldn't count on them.
Who he could count on was Olivia.
Milo didn't hold back when it came to creating her Memories. She knew the truth, she was an ally, and even a friend. A close one at that, one Milo wanted to keep alive. After observing her fighting style, Milo created her armor and weapons. Simply put, she was the best damn sniper Milo had ever seen.
Her Aspect Ability enabled her to look for weak points in people. She had exposed a weak point in the [Mobile Suit] which Milo then promptly fixed. As a result, her armor was light and meant to keep her mobile, which meant that made two lightweight fighters in Milo's cohort so far... they should probably find a tank sooner or later.
The two weapons were courtesy of her suggestion. A set of throwing daggers and an arming sword. The would be her main weapon, however Memories took time to be both unsummoned and resummoned. So the arming sword was there as a back up of sorts if necessary.
For the main hunters of the Slums, that being Effie, Nephis, and Caster, he had made them multiple different convenient tools. Such as retractable grappling hooks, plasma multi tools, and even a cooking station!
All of these while helpful, weren't Milo's goal, his true goal was to make a gun. A plasma pistol to be more specific, however...
'Nothing is working!'
Milo watched as another one of his prototypes collapsed as he once again failed to create the enchantment that made bullets from the soul battery keepsakes he had created. The enchantment just wouldn't work, it seemed impossible.
Milo had tried to build in the keepsakes into the weapon Memory itself, only for the material he was using to physically collapse because it couldn't handle the load. Trying to connect the two Memoires just led to weak bullets that could barely even scratch wood.
Simply put... the Forgotten Shores didn't have a strong enough material to handle the load of his soul battery combined with the power of the gun he was trying to create.
'My firing squad!'
Milo sat back in the wooden chair he made. The basement forgery was incredibly hot, and so he dismissed the top half of his under suit. Milo then looked down at his body... when had he gotten so toned? He used to be skinny, but now he had a solid amount of muscle.
Despite the obvious fact that he had been active the last few months, reaching the Dark City had given access to all his nutritional needs... maybe not all, but most.
Milo put on a loose cloth tunic and headed upstairs.
Olivia was idly carving a wooden statue of what seemed to be a tower. She glanced up briefly and noticed Milo's disheartened face. "Another failure?"
Milo nodded. "Another failure. No need to go down again, I'll call it for a day." Milo climbed upstairs and threw himself onto his new bed... how comfy it was.
'...'
So comfy, so very comfy, it was relaxing, he was relaxed.
'Can I really afford to be like this right now?'
Surely he could, he had just spent like... five hours? He lost track of time every time he went down into that forgery. What was an hour break...
'Eva's out there somewhere, Sunny is likely with her. That cant be good, there probably preparing your downfall while you idle around.'
Milo groaned, and got up from the bed. He summoned the entirety of his [Mobile Suit] and walked downstairs.
"I'm gonna go fetch some parts, the ones the hunters have been bringing in aren't good enough."
"Want me to come with?"
Olivia put down the now finished tower. She had also fully summoned her [Mobile Suit] as well. It was not to dissimilar from Milo's, the only difference being hers lacked plating in some areas such as the waist or the calves. General subtractions to keep her much more mobile.
"Please do."
The two walked out of the hut and prepared to go hunt in the Dark City.
***
Eva lazed around at the precipice of the Dark Cathedral's roof. She looked upon the Dark City with a curious eye. Milo was somewhere in there doing God knows what, and here Eva was, doing absolutely nothing.
Well, it wasn't her fault, Sunny had cut her hand off... and her healing Memory didn't have enough charge, so here she was, stuck without a hand until she learned how to fight without two properly again.
"This must've been how Milo felt. Even when he had only one arm I still couldn't land a finger on him."
Eva reminisced on the times where Milo wasn't trying to rip her throat out, what a duo they could've made. Him the brawn and she the brains, sword and hand type of stuff.
"Well, I suppose the sword I ended up with isn't half bad either."
As if on cue, Sunny landed by her side, his face was full of malice that didn't even try to be hidden. Unceremoniously, he handed over Eva a chest full of soul shards. His body was not spared from their battle that was months ago either. Blood Weave had certainly helped in repairing all the wounds that Eva had left, however he was missing a pinky on his left hand.
Eva was proud of the wound because it showed that she had managed to stand against the protagonist of the world in a fight. Even if it took nearly all of her get out of jail free card Memories, and even then, she was going to lose if she hadn't...
"Wipe that glare off your face, it doesn't suit you Lost From Light." Eva teased.
Sunny's glare disappeared, if only because it was replaced with perhaps the most dangerous smile on Sunny's face. "I'll kill you one day, one day you'll slip up, and one day I'll kill you."
Eva smiled softly. "I'll be gone before you do, and if you're lucky, you'll be stuck with an unkillable master who can't give you commands... tell me what I told you about my world again."
Sunny sighed. "It's a peaceful place, none of this Nightmare Spell bullshit. I've told you like fifty times already, you really are trying to get me to kill you, aren't you."
Eva nodded along. "Did I tell you any specifics?"
Sunny shook his head. "You said you couldn't remember them."
Eva stared at Sunny, a hint of surprise in her face. "Did I now?"
"You did." Sunny replied.
Eva turned away, and in the next moment she heard a blade slice through the air, stopping mere inches from her head.
"Tsk, worth a shot."
Eva couldn't help but laugh... it was either this or she dies, and God forbid if she dies.
"Sunny, do you want to be free from me?"
"Yes." The answer was instantaneous, and Eva expected no less.
"Then just bear with me a bit longer. This wasn't how things were supposed to go."
Eva wasn't saying that last part to Sunny but to herself. She had strayed so far from the plan to the point where she was surprised Fate hadn't tried to just drop a large boulder on her head while she slept at night.
"Bear with you? You forced me to get gutted from that damn knight below."
"It's character development. You'll appreciate when your older."
"The only thing I'll appreciate is hearing the Nightmare Spell announce your kill."
Eva let out another laugh. "That's seriously a good one, wow, so I guess it's been in you since you were young."
"What has? Also if you know the future, can't you just fix all of the stuff wrong here?"
Eva smirked. "Aura farming. Also if I could I would, but one, I have a god on my back that doesn't want me to do that. Two, I'm just a helpless little girl who doesn't have the strength to do so. Do you seriously think I can just storm the Crimson Spire and win against a Fallen Terror? I barely managed to survive a fight against you and I still lost a hand. It's why I resorted to y'know." Eva pointed back and forth between her and Sunny.
"To think I could've killed you if I was just a bit faster." Sunny grumbled to himself, disappointed at his own inability to kill his master.
"Enough dwelling on the past. Milo just entered the Dark City, go keep an eye on him please?"
"You say please as if that changes the result, if I say no you'll just order me to do it anyway."
"Would you rather I just order you right away?"
Sunny didn't respond, he simply glared at Eva and descended from the rooftop, his form disappearing into the narrow streets of the Dark City.
'Of course he doesn't... reminds me of someone else.'
Eva would be lying if she said she didn't feel bad for Milo. Only after seeing how far Sunny went for his freedom in person, could she come to see how messed up it was to tie Milo down and force a Divine Aspect down his throat.
The thing was, it wasn't a painless process, not just because the Metal Shell was really only created solely for the purpose of being able to access the soul. Meaning that when it drilled a hole through his chest, it also drilled a hole into his soul. But because he went through the pain of manifesting a Soul Core all at that same time while his soul was being forcibly expanded...
"Jesus, should I just go apologize? I mean it hurt like hell when I had my hand cut off I can only imagine what it feels like for my soul to be damaged."
In the end, Eva decided against it. There was no way a simple I'm sorry please forgive me would fix things. Besides, it was easier to change things by being a villain. As an ally, she would be suspicious for saying to do this or that, but as an enemy? You just make them chase after you and its as simple as that.
Milo will get stronger because he wants to kill Eva, he will be strong enough to exist without her help, and she can move on back to the real world then. The real world. That concept was eroding in her mind, her Flaw thought it was funny to eat at her most precious memories first huh?
Now she could hardly remember what her house looked like. Or if she even had siblings.
"Jeez, cant catch a break for shit on this Forgotten Shore... At least I'll get to meet Kai soon."
After all, the expedition was coming up, and she was going. Not only to make sure everything is in order, but also because she couldn't have Sunny leaking state secrets about her. She needed to keep this clean and simple. Clean and simple, in and out, she already made a mess, she couldn't leave even more disasters in this story.
Eva hung her head low. "..."
I'm exhausted.