Death is Inevitable (Higgs Monaghan X F! Reader) [UNDER EDITING]

Part 10: Journeying Without BB

~seventeen hours later~

[Name]'s POV

A bridges employee rolls a gurney out to the main floor of the distro center at Mountain Knot, and Sam places Mama's body on it.

"Målingen! No!" Lockne gasps while running over to her sister, grabbing one of her hands and looking down at her. She uses her other hand to lift Mama's head and leans down, resting their foreheads together for a few seconds before moving back and cupping her sister's face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Lockne leans down and lifts Mama's upper body slightly, pulling her into a hug. "I love you so much. I love you so much," she whispers.

"It's good to hear your voice again," Mama says weakly, and Lockne lays her twin's body back down on the gurney. "I shouldn't have kept you in the dark. I tried to save her, but I couldn't."

"You don't have to say anymore," Lockne tells her while holding her hand again.

"Lockne, you need to fix their Q-pids." Mama points at Sam and me before tilting her head towards her sister. "I couldn't save our child, but you can save our world. Only you. I love you, you hear me? Forever and always."

Sam and I remove our Q-pids and hand them to Mama, who gives them to her sister. Lockne takes a few shaky breaths as Mama's eyes start to close.

"Now, make the world whole, okay?" Mama whispers as tears run out of her eyes. "Just like you make me..."

Mama's body goes limp, and Lockne starts to cry while pulling her sister into a hug. 'Rest easy, Mama.' I bow my head slightly.

Lockne rests Mama's body into a peaceful position before walking off, then coming back a few minutes later and looking at us. "All that she went through. I had no idea. I thought... I thought she'd severed our bond on purpose. That...she stole our child and ran."

"She wanted to tell you," I whisper, and she nods before holding out mine and Sam's Q-pids to use.

"I've fixed your Q-pids like she asked. The limiter should be functioning properly by now," she tells us as we take the Q-pids and put them on. "There is one thing... Before I sat down to work, I took a long hard look at the code. I'm pretty sure someone's 'tweaked' it. Either that or my memory's going to pieces."

"You think someone rewrote your code?" I quirk an eyebrow with a frown as she stares down at her sister.

"'Rewrote' might be overstating it. Let's just say it wasn't the latest version I released. And yet, because of it, I was finally reunited with Målingen..." she trails off before looking at us. "Could be we've found our culprit already. She died beneath the rubble with our child still inside her. Her 'Ka' passed over to the other side, but her Ha' remained, bound to our dead daughter. She knew all this, of course. That's why she kept one cuff loose. Didn't want anyone seeing her vitals."

"I noticed it," I state, causing Lockne and Sam to look at me. "When we were in her lab, her breath didn't show in the air while mine and Sam's did."

Lockne nods before picking up the cuffs that Mama once wore. "Shame she couldn't use her favorite invention," she says while putting them on her own arm. "She did all that to keep me and our daughter safe."

I walk over to Lockne and hug her while Sam heads over to the terminal and connects the city to the network. "And she'll continue keeping your daughter safe," I whisper while Lockne hugs me back.

"I know she will," she chokes out while I rub her back. "Thank you, [Name]."

"There's no need to thank me," I tell her before pulling away.