"Let go of my sister." Absolute 2's voice was ice wrapped in steel.
Eva's grip on Lily tightened for just a moment before she pulled her closer, a protective gesture that spoke louder than any words. "She's mine. I found her. I saved her. I bled for her."
Absolute 2 took a step forward, her black mask catching the dim light. "You're just a clone. A copy. A replacement." The words were designed to wound, and they landed. "You don't deserve her."
Eva's laugh was bitter, broken. "And you do? Look at her. Look at her."
Lily stood between them, motionless. Her eyes were open but empty, fixed on some middle distance where nothing existed. Blood—Theo's blood—still stained her clothes, her hands, her face. She didn't wipe it off. Didn't seem to notice it.
"You left her," Eva continued, her voice rising. "You left her behind, and you let them experiment on her. Nine years, Absolute. Nine fucking years of pain and fear and white rooms. You did that."
Absolute 2 flinched—barely visible, but Eva caught it.
"I would never hurt Lily," she said, but the conviction was gone from her voice.
"Then why was she in that lab for nine years? Why was she strapped to tables and injected with things that burned? Why did I find her with nothing left inside her except terror?" Eva's grip on Lily tightened. "Tell me. Tell me why."
Absolute 2 was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was smaller than it had any right to be.
"I wanted her with me." The words came slowly, painfully. "I didn't want to be alone again. I thought—I thought if she was in the system, I could protect her. Watch over her. Keep her safe." A pause. "I didn't know they hurt her. I didn't know."
"Bullshit," Eva spat.
But Lily's lips moved.
"Theo..." The word was barely a breath. "No..."
Eva's head snapped toward her sister. "Lily? Lily, what's wrong? What happened?"
Lily's eyes, empty a moment before, suddenly focused. They filled with something worse than emptiness—with knowing. With grief.
"Theo." Her voice cracked. "He's... he's dead."
The world stopped.
Eva's eyes widened. Her mouth opened, but no words came. She knew Theo. The quiet boy who looked at Lily like she was the sun. The one who'd insisted on coming, who'd fought to be here, who'd promised—
"Who is Theo?" Absolute 2 asked.
The question was a match in a room full of gasoline.
Eva moved. She crossed the space between them in an instant, her hand closing around Absolute 2's collar, yanking her forward until their faces were inches apart.
"You want to know who Theo was?" Eva's voice was barely controlled, trembling with rage. "He was Lily's boyfriend. They were on a date when you had her kidnapped. A date. The first real happiness she'd had in nine years. And now he's dead."
Absolute 2 went still.
"Lily was on a date." The words seemed to hit her physically, a blow she hadn't seen coming.
Eva released her, stepping back. Her eyes were wet—she hated that, hated showing weakness in front of this woman, but she couldn't stop it.
Absolute 2 looked at Lily. At the blood. At the emptiness. At the girl who should have been hers.
"Lily," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
Lily's voice cut through the corridor like a blade.
She stepped forward, away from Eva, toward Absolute 2. Her eyes were blazing now—not with emptiness, but with a fury so pure it was almost beautiful.
"Do you think that will bring him back? Do you think 'sorry' fixes anything?" Her voice rose, cracking with grief and rage. "He's dead. He's FUCKING DEAD. All because of you. All because of your people."
She whirled on Eva, pointing a trembling finger.
"FUCK YOU." Then she spun back to Absolute 2. "AND FUCK YOU TOO. You two bitches can't even figure out whose sister I am, and yet you both stand here telling me you'd never hurt me? YOU ALREADY HAVE."
Both Evas stared at her, frozen, their faces mirrors of shock and pain.
"YOU think of her as a clone." Lily jabbed a finger at Eva. "And YOU think of her as an Architect." The finger moved to Absolute 2. "So how are either of you supposed to protect me? HOW?"
The silence that followed was absolute.
Lily stood between them, breathing hard, tears streaming down her face, her small frame trembling with the force of her rage.
"If you want to protect me," she said, her voice dropping to something cold and final, "then never come close to me again. That goes for both of you."
She turned and walked away.
Her footsteps echoed in the corridor, growing fainter, until she disappeared around a corner and was gone.
The two Evas stood alone in the silence.
Absolute 2 spoke first, her voice hollow. "Did you know she could rage like that?"
Eva didn't look at her. "I didn't spend a childhood with her. You did."
"You have my memories."
"My memories are fake, dipshit." Eva's voice was tired now, the rage drained out of her, leaving only exhaustion. "I remember things that never happened. A father who didn't exist. A childhood that belonged to someone else. I don't know Lily. Not really. Not like I should."
Absolute 2 was quiet for a long moment. Then she reached into her uniform and pulled out a small device—sleek, silver, shaped like an old phone.
"Here." She held it out. "If you ever want to talk. Just call."
Eva stared at it.
"Leave this place," Absolute 2 continued. "No one will even look at you. And be careful of Wolfen Welfric." Her voice hardened. "He may have helped you a lot, but he has a dark side. Don't forget that."
Eva took the device. Turned it over in her hands. Looked up at the woman who wore her face.
"I won't," she said.
Then she turned and walked away, following the path Lily had taken, leaving Absolute 2 alone in the corridor.
---
Absolute 2 stood there for a long time after Eva left.
She was on a date.
The words echoed in her mind, refusing to leave.
Her sister—her sister, the one she'd tried to protect, the one she'd wanted with her so desperately—had been on a date. Had found someone who looked at her like she mattered. Had been happy.
And now that someone was dead.
Because of her.
Because of the world she'd helped build.
She reached up and touched her mask—the black surface, the empty eye slits, the cold metal that had become her face.
For one brief moment, she wanted to take it off. To be just Eva again. To run after Lily and beg forgiveness and somehow, impossibly, make it right.
But she didn't.
She couldn't.
The mask stayed on.
She turned and walked away, her footsteps steady, her back straight, her heart a hollow echo of what it might have been.
Somewhere in the facility, fire was rising.
And Absolute 2 walked toward it, because walking toward fire was all she knew how to do.