Let Her Go.

Stupid. He was so, so stupid. Useless. Short sighted. Childish, foolish, an imbecile to drag them all the way up north into the freezing hellscape before them. A paragon of stupidity and a waste of resources, and perhaps the origin of all things bad in this world.

These were all thoughts and feelings that might’ve run through 00’s head naturally, if not for the fact they were being loudly complained about every moment. 03 could be difficult to stand even at her best - she had a cold disposition and an even colder turn of phrase. Now, while she was freezing cold, hungry, and stuck in the mountains - Well, a bulette perhaps would’ve been easier to deal with.

00 withstood the barrage of abuse with their gaze set out towards the sun, tamping down the building feelings of frustration within them. They were just words. Just words.

But 03 had a way of getting under his skin in a way no one else could - and gods above, was she beginning to dig.

Exhaustion began to settle into his bones, cracking his disposition moment by moment. Like her, he was tired. Hope had never been their strong suit, and the small ember was hard to keep alive. The muscle to do so was sore and atrophied, and 03 was certainly no help.

“I mean, truly. What do you expect to happen on this?”

“...”

“We’re up here, trudging through this wasteland these people deign to call a country? Ugh, and now my shoelaces are frayed.” She crooned, finding any reason to complain. “One destroyed encampment surely leads to another, what is the plan here?”

“....”

Despite their lack of engagement, she continued.

“What is the grand idea, the best case scenario? You magically find your parents, people who obviously didn’t have the will nor strength to keep you here? They accept you, you, of all people, with open arms? Whisk you away? Even if there is anyone here - which I must say, there won’t be - what are you going to do? Defect?” She laughs unkindly. “You? Of all things?”

“Don’t make me laugh.” She said, despite the fact he had said nothing. “It’s the only funny thing anyone's thought of this entire trip. Perhaps that’s the reason we’re out here, hm? If it’s all for a laugh, your sense of humor, or rather lack thereof, is increasingly complicated and best left to the profession-”

Before she could finish, a cold sting exploded across her cheek. A rush of adrenaline was shown in the swift unsheathing of her dagger. Her head whipped around, eyes narrowed and predatory in preparation to end the ambusher. What stands is not an opportunistic assassin nor a Tzik agent, but 00. Snow coated their thick glove from where the snowball left their grasp, fist squeezing with the squeak of leather. The ever encompassing ruby of his eyes were narrowed in on her, jaw tense, teeth clenched. Her gaze swept across his stance cautiously, surprise bleeding into fury.

“What. The fuck. Was that?!”

“Do you. Ever let up?” It was the first they had spoken in hours. Their voice was hoarse, dry from altitude and lack of use.

“Excuse me?”

“I didn’t force you out here. I didn’t drag you out here.” His voice was firmer than he felt. “You wanted this. You want to know. Just as much as I do.”

“Did you just fucking hit me with a snowball?” She seemed fixated on that.

With his words doing little, 00 wasted no time in scooping up another snowball. “You just,” She dodged this one, but not without an offended gasp. “Don’t want to admit, that I could be right! That- that there could be something, worth finding! You’re- you’re scared!”

The assertion she was of all things, afraid, seemed to only further ignite her indignity into rage. “Scared? Scared? I am not scared, you fucking creitin!” She got close enough to send a fist into his shoulder. It lacked a great deal of strength, with the heavy padding of winter clothing - but the gesture itself alighted a Cain like instinct in the both of them. “Yes!” Raising his voice was an untrained muscle, and it emerged strange from his mouth.

00 let out an animalistic huff, fangs bared as he shoved her back. “You’re SCARED!” Her reflexes, even in the cold, were sharp. She caught the strap of his jacket as he shoved her, sending them both crashing down into the harsh sting of snow.

Clawed hands shoved into his face as the two scuffled, far from their usual exacting strikes. This in comparison was… childish. Their squadron leader would’ve been disappointed to see the squabble, its lack of precision. Instead the two scrambled about the snow, weak slaps and digging nails, pulling at hair and ears. 00 sent his foot into 03’s stomach, earning a screech of fury as her teeth sank into his cheek. His body reacted faster than his mind, a false sense of lethality felt in the attack.

His hand shot for her arm, launching her over his body as sticky blood trickled down his cheek. She tumbled through the snow, patches of slick ice sending her skidding towards the edge. “Zero- Zero!”

The urgency in her voice caught his attention, a desperation he’d never once heard. His head shot up just in time to watch her foot catch on her untied, frayed shoelace. With a yelp, she disappeared over the edge. And just like that, she was gone.

There was a terrible, terrible moment of silence. Shock and disbelief numbed his senses for only a moment before a voice that sounded vaguely like his own screamed out. It was hoarser, smaller than he remembered. “Three! Three!”

A voice, breathless and terrified, called back. “H-Help me, you- you fucking idiot!”

Relief flooded his senses, letting out a choked sigh as he scrambled to the edge. She had managed to catch herself on the side of the mountain before force became too much, a piton stabbed into a groove in the rock. She supported herself on an idle branch, but its strength was waning. His arms scrambled down to try grab her, wits too far gone to consider anchoring himself.

The desperation of her grabbing yanked him forward, sliding on the same patch of ice that had sent her over. He gasped at the sudden force, nearly half his body hanging off the cliff as he struggled to keep the both of them up. “Hey- stop, stop!”

Her breath was hot and seething against his ear, a tremble to her voice. Even if he could not feel it, he felt the force of her claws fray his shirt. “Y-You’ll hang for this.” She hissed lowly. “If-if, if they don’t, se-set you to rot in Redgrave.”

His turn towards her was slow, surprise settling into an incredulous furrow of his brow. It wasn’t hard to parse her implication, even through the rush of adrenaline. 03 had never been kind, but the two had always had an unspoken agreement of clemency. An acknowledgement that in the grand scheme of it all, no one better understood them than the other.

That seemed broken, now.

“We’re. Going. Home.” Her voice sounded firmer than she looked. Below her, the branch creaked. His muscles burned with the weight of her. “I’m- I’m not dying here because you- because y-you can’t accept that we’re nothing!” Her claws, her words dug deeper. His muscles, his fingers ached. And ached ,and ached, and ached. The world began to become this terrible, buzzing thing.

“Just be nothing!” It would be so easy. “It’s not so fucking hard!” To just let go. He was so tired. He ached. He ached. The buzzing became louder, and louder. She gripped him for purchase, and he slipped a bit further. “Just- b-be the fucking weapon, Zero!”

For the last time, his gaze met hers. His mouth set into a hard line, body moving before his mind. Something steeled. Something snapped.

“No.”

And with that, he did something that seemed far too easy. He released.

And she plunged down, down, down into the depths.