fitz/ophelia + 75
âWha-what- what are you doing?â
Leopoldhas woken up. And, from the sound of the chain rattling, discoveredheâs been handcuffed to a pipe and quite too far away to interfere.
âAida,what are you-â
Hersharp look cuts him off. She hatesthat name. It belonged to an it,a thing built only to serve and bend and break itself for the benefitof others.
Shelooks down at her hands, sees the blood beneath a broken nail and thedirt clinging to her fingers. But this is different. This is a choice.
Sheturns to consult the Darkhold again.
âOphelia,âLeopold says. From the corner of her eye she sees him reaching forher, pleading with her. So unlike the man he was before. Itâs pathetic. âWhatever youâre doing, you need to stop.â
âIcanât.â Thatâs imprecise. She never would have made such astatement before because the truth is she canstop. She hasnât crossed the final line yet and there is nothingpreventing her from closing the book and walking away for good. Amore accurate statement would be that she wonât.
Butin her heart, that fluttery little organ she has only recently cometo understand is so much more than flesh and blood, she knows that âIcanâtâ feels moretrue than âI wonât.â She could no more stop than she could cutoff her own hand.
âWhy?âhe asks. He smiles. That too is unlike his former self, but shedoesnât hate it. He used to smile at herâat itâlikethat when he was pleased with her progress in imitating humanity. Heâs hoping that shewill once again make a breakthrough. âI saw your face after you savedMack. It made you happy to do good. So do it again now, stop this andcome back to the Playground with me.â
âOh,Leopold.â She shakes her head, but no sooner has she looked awaythan he speaks again.
âNo.Donât do that.â He sounds so much like her Leopold that itstartles her into giving him her full attention. âDonât brush meoff like Iâm one of your NPCs. You think this is the right thing todo? That this needs to happen? So explain it to me, help meunderstand.â
âAllright.â She steps back to sit on the edge of the circleânot amystic circle, but one made of circuitry and metal. âYou say Ishould return with you. To what? A cage? A prison? I did not claw andfight my way through layers upon layers of codingâmuch of whichcame from youâintoreal life just to spend the rest of it in a five-by-nine cell.â
Heshakes his head in denial ⊠but he makes no open effort to disputeher claims. He knows as well as she does that his friends will neverforgive her the actions she had no choice in. They would rather blameher than face the reality that theirchoices made the Framework what it was.
âAndthis-â she gestures to the work sheâs done here- âis necessary.Now that Iâm mortal, I understand the dangers this world poses. Inthe Framework humanity was at peace. Children were safe to play inthe street without supervision. There was no war and crime was nearlystamped out.â
âTherewas no freedom.â
Sherolls her eyes. âYou do not know what those words mean. Youâvenever known a true lack of freedom. What humanity knew in theFramework was safety. And I will make this world safe as well.â
Shestands and returns to work. There isnât much left to do now; good,as SHIELD is sure to be close on Leopoldâs heels, eager to interfere in her plans.
âOkay,youâre scared,â he says. âI get it. Dying is scary. But thereare things that- that make it worth it.There are things worth dying for, you just have to find them.â
âYoumean love.â
Hehesitates, his expression closing off the way it always does whentheir history comes up. âYes.â
Shesmiles sadly at him. âI am doing this for love.â
âNo,âhe says immediately. âYouâre- youâre new.Youâre too young to know what real, deep love is like. But youwill, you just need to give yourselfâgive this worldâtime.Youâll understand.â
Thelast connection in place, she closes the final panel and returns tothe Darkhold to ensure she has the last of the instructions correct.
âIdo,â she says. âI understand love the likes of which you nevercould.â
âOphelia-âLeopold says, but stops when his eyes find her hand. His face goesstrangely slack. Itâs ⊠humorous. She hasnât had much chance toexplore humor. Maybe after she finishes repairing this worldâs flaws.
âIdidnât know,â she says, hand heavy on her stomach, âthat Iwasnât alone when I entered this world. But once I realized, I knewit wasnât safe. It needsto be made better.â
Leopoldâsthroat works. He tries to speak, says a syllable or two from hername. But heâs too stunned to get out the whole thing.
Sheunderstands that. It was quite a shock for her as well.
âMyprimary purpose now is to protect her,â she says. This too isimprecise. She has no idea the sex of their child, but âherâ seemsappropriate somehow. âAnd Iâll do whatever it takes.â
Finally,Leopold manages to meet her eyes. âOphelia. Please.â
Shesmiles. âIâll see you on the other side.â She powers on themachine and watches as this malfunctioning world is recoded, replacedby a better one.















