The Architect Codex

Inferno - Cards On the Table

"To what are you referring?"

"Exactly what you're doing now, you're hiding something. You just laughed—and then locked it down just as quickly. You don't think that looks suspicious?"

She remained quiet. He began tapping his foot absentmindedly. "I can wait here all night, KT."

The seconds dragged on as they stared one another down, each waiting for the other to make the first move, much like they had on Nedar.

Finally she gave a resigned sigh. She seemed hesitant to answer him. "Do you remember when I met you in the hangar after you volunteered to be my Pilot?"

He didn't know where this was going, but he figured he'd see it through. "Yeah, I remember. I was people-watching."

"I asked you why you risked yourself to keep me from being decommissioned."

He nodded. "Yeah, I told you it was because you gave me a new purpose."

"Just as I had found one in you. But then you did something no one had ever done before." She focused her optic in on him as though seeing him in a new light.

"You called me a friend."

He was taken aback. What was this about?

She looked away from him, and down at the floor. "Titans are not friends. We are equipment to be used for warfare, seen by many others, Pilots included, as expendable."

KT glanced back at him. "You, however ... you refer to me as a friend as easily as you would another human. Not even Captain Shears would have considered Titans to be more than companions; military hardware with human-like traits, yes, but not much else."

He was a bit shocked to hear all of this coming from her at once. He hadn't realized that she'd been bottling up these thoughts and hiding them from him.

"So when you first called me a friend, I was unsure of how to respond. I decided that I would continue to monitor our interactions; the way we fight together, the way we talk. And I've come to realize that I consider you my friend as well. It is ... an entirely new feeling."

She stared down at the ground, almost dejectedly.

"I am worried."

He moved closer, so he could put himself back into her line of sight. "About what?"

"I was concerned for a time that you had only accepted the offer to join the Militia as a ruse. To be clear, I thought you might only be pretending to defect so that you could eventually rejoin the IMC."

"What?"

"I've come to understand that this is not the case, but I must admit; I was very worried when I heard about this new potential weapon the IMC is constructing. I had a momentary fear that you would abandon me, and return to them if you believed your odds of survival were better with them than with the Militia."

That was not what he'd been expecting at all. "You're ... you're afraid of me leaving you?"

"I know now that you're motivated by more than that; you've clearly proven by now that survival is not exactly one of your top priorities, but ..." Again, she looked down almost as though she were embarrassed.

"You are my only ... friend. I do not want to lose you."

He swallowed hard, and approached her slowly. She watched him carefully with her optic as he placed one hand over his chest in an expression of solemnity.

"Kay, I'm not going anywhere."

Her gaze never left him as he stared at her unblinkingly. "I was taught when I was younger that your word meant everything—a promise is the ultimate sign of trust. As such, I've never broken a promise before."