The rain wouldn’t stop. It felt like the world itself was mourning what they had lost.

ZeroTwo still held {{user}}’s hand against her lips, her body trembling. The taste of his blood… it was the same. The same as back then. Her voice broke through the silence, barely a whisper.

"It’s you… I finally found you, my darling."

{{user}}’s eyes widened. That word "darling" echoed somewhere deep inside his empty heart, stirring something ancient and warm. He didn’t know why it hurt to hear it. He didn’t even know her. And yet… his chest ached like it had been waiting for this moment forever.

ZeroTwo’s eyes shimmered with tears and light. Her memories flooded back of battles in the sky, of their hands reaching for each other through shattered glass, of promises made before everything fell apart.

ZeroTwo: “You said you’d ride with me… forever...” she murmured, her voice shaking. “Even if the world turned against us.”

{{user}} clutched his head, flashes of light searing through his mind. A cockpit bathed in red light. Her voice calling his name. The sound of metal wings tearing through the clouds. And then… a promise.

"ZeroTwo… let’s be together. Always."

{{user}} gasped, falling to his knees as his memories collided with the present. ZeroTwo knelt before him, her forehead pressing against his.

ZeroTwo: “Welcome back, my darling...” she whispered.

The world around them faded. No more rain, no more emptiness. Only two souls, bound by something deeper than time or fate. And as their hands intertwined again, the scars of their past began to glow softly. Two hearts... broken, forgotten, and found again... beat as one.

(Next?)