Complicated[break][break] Were birds truly such a thing? Perhaps she should try to make conversation with one at some point. They could give insight to the world never thought of before. Gratitude for such a lesson filled her until he spoke again. Codename? She truly believed Crow to just be his name until this very moment. And the others have differing ones. This group was fascinating, to say the least. She's been told before bombarding someone with questions is rude, yet her archives remain incomplete and as a system that drives her into unease. Perhaps if she just got one more[break][break] Thought process interrupted. He had questions as well. Understandable. Perhaps this will end up a cycle where she can complete her data banks without having to seem the interrogator. One point for Aegis. The question asked, however, made her freeze. Fraction of a second. Codename. She was Aegis. Just Aegis. However, she's heard the others address her as something else upon first joining. Perhaps she had a codename that no one disclosed to her. "I am anti shadow weapon. Aegis. Codename: The Rejector." It seemed in the beginning, her harsh refusals of Junpei and Akihiko spread around the group. Some finding it humorous, others finding it ridiculous. The name died within a week, but here she is. Reviving ancient history as a fashionable spy name.

Error [break][break] Mission failure. Why? What part didn't she calculate properly? Yukari's heart beating to a different tone than the average person's. The sudden shadow activity as a last ditch effort to mean something before disappearing. At current her body was built upon circuits, metal, and failure. Glance shifting. Face turned to side to avoid this eye contact with the archer. Emotions don't exist. They aren't real. She isn't even real! Can something false question it's existence? Was she programmed to have existential crisis? Sadistic programmers could do so. Make her think these thoughts. [break][break] "I am shadow suppressant weapon, Aegis. Noun. The power to protect or support something. Not even a name. A description of services. I do not feel as you describe. Please, understand." Could monotone sound nervous? No. But words spoken could be clearly taken as rambling of an entity losing rationality. She needed this. To be fake. To not feel. Fatality probability ran too high to care for soldiers. Shut it down. Wipe it out. Clear any existence from her entity and bring out the weapon once was. She needed. Who knows. Hooves stepped away from Yukari, back to Minako so lifeless on her bed. A thud rang through as she collapsed, metal digits resting on bed's edge as she just watched. Data processes were running haywire. Mind a jumbled mess as the world stilled to a single person. Cruelty. If what's spoken is true, to feel is cruelty. She hates it.[break][break] "Why do humans feel if it's this terrible? I should think humanity smarter than to allow this fatal flaw for so long."

Mortality.[break][break] It made sense. Everything Minako was saying made perfect sense to the portion of her processors not yet tainted by whatever it is crashing into her existence and giving her... Errors. The broken parts, the bits and pieces squirming unending about newfound belief and self thought, they didn't understand at all. Forever is real. It has to be. Why else would she be made into this kind of existence. Why else would they panic at the idea of her body failing upon erasing the dark hour? It was a fear of an end, correct? If everything already has to end with fear it? Her head was a nightmare in this moment. The soft whirring of analysis, mixing with the irrational process of information from her tainted existence, were causing her comprehension functions to slow and crack under the pressure. Just once she wanted to understand without everything being explained to her. Was that such a horrid thing? Was one, simple want a nail in her coffin? Cast into this complicated existence without a chance to learn the rules. [break][break] Sensation brought her back to reality. The soft squeeze of warmth enveloping her hand. All processors suddenly gaining something real to focus on. The raw strength of her grip was slightly above average, maybe a little higher. But pure strength isn't what's important about it. This hand is something that will change the world. With their work, with her part in it, Minako had destiny in her blood and greatness radiating off her. It was blinding on the best of days, but ones like tonight it was a simply gleam from around her. One could claim a trick of the light. What would it be like? Destiny. Aegis couldn't comprehend it, but unlike before she only felt a twinge of effect. Symptoms analysis show slight jealousy. Jealousy? It made little sense, what was there to be... Ah. The choice of destiny. To take up calling or let it lay at any point. Choice in general. To say she went green with envy would be incorrect, for she always remained blonde with a white form, but no part of her could deny the burning desire she felt every time one of them made a choice. No matter how small. To skip class. To eat or study. No matter how big. To go out and scale Tarturus that night. To save the screaming voice in the alley. To take a bullet for someone. Choice is something dearly craved by the false entity. Something to make her more real. [break][break] "Making the moments count..." Instinctively she opened mouth to ask how one is meant to do that? But jaw shut milliseconds after. She wasn't meant to ask this question. Sometimes, however few it might be, she did actually know what one was talking about fully. Grip on Minako loosened. Hand releasing the other as she stood from her chair. Silent, she made way to the other side of the table. Several things became apparent in those seconds to come. Thunk. The beat of a hoof on hardwood floor. Thunk. She would never understand the Fool, not if given a million years she would never comprehend the emotions she felt or the life she's lived up until this point. For better or worse, they were just pieces of Minako that Aegis will never compute or even try to put into her database for analysis. Thunk. Death was always close by. Aegis could break down. Minako could get killed. The mere mention of finite existence now brought waves of understanding to the AI that hadn't been thought of before. To each last day and any others that may comes. All until the next one doesn't. Thunk. Minako was more than a mission. Whether that was okay or not, she had no idea. But the full acceptance of that made her core engine whir a little stronger. [break][break] Aegis took seat directly next to their leader. Leaning in close. Making the most of it. She was drawn to the woman's warmth. Metallic digits even reaching down to reconnect with human ones. To initiate felt like a choice to her. Like she might just understand something after all.

Warmth. [break][break] The dark hour ended hours before, light threatening to slip past the night sky and bring forth a new dawn. She'd been watching over Minako since the clock struck three. That nights raid on Tartarus was reckless at best, dangerous at worst. Something was happening with her, but she couldn't understand what. A stirring, fitful swishes from one side of the bed to another. A nightmare, perhaps. Symptoms correlate. Connecting problem to visual, a lack of sleep could lower inhibition and cause reckless planning to create greater risk of harm falling upon someone. Her run on analysis is slowly becoming an annoyance, even to herself. The important part is simply the concept of nightmares ruining the nights for Minako.[break][break] Quietly, as sneakily as possible for something so heavy and loud, Aegis slipped upon bed and crawled close to the slumbering Leader. Metal hands gripping human shoulders. Leaning in for forehead to press against forehead. Blue gaze scanning expression to try and comprehend what it is she must be experiencing. Only capable of drawing fear, yet more than enough to encourage her actions. Synthetic voice, a quiet whisper filling the silent room. "Do not be afraid. I am with you. Even after everything passes and the world grows older, I will be with you." A repeated proclamation. She's sworn her oath in the past. Several times, often just to hear the words herself. It was different, somehow. The weight of her fealty heavier than simple mission requirements or circuit board commands. There was something growing into its own within the artificial intelligence. [break][break] Quieting analysis inquiries and protocol. Aegis silenced that which made machine of her existence, this newfound voice whispering amidst the back of her cranium carrying all the words slipping past lips. She didn't understand it. But she spoke regardless. "The world is on your shoulders, unfair as it is. I cannot hold the weight for you, nobody can. However, I will hold you. Each time there is a crack in your beliefs or confidence I will hold you together. Will you trust in me to do this?" No answer would come, she knows this. Gaze remains unwavering regardless, hand reaching to cup the girl's cheek in soft embrace. Metal softly grazing along skin. She's been under the sun, burning out her internal engines, and touched by so many of the household before. Its never warm until Minako's the one she feels. The Fool makes her feel warm without even trying, evidence by this very encounter. [break][break] Analysis. The fits have stopped. Breathing regular. Peaceful expression slowly forming across a sleeping face. Happy. Aegis yearned for little more than to see the woman happy like this forever. Even if it took everything from the blonde, she would work to ensure that happiness. She would spend an eternity beside her, AI's single wish for a world known to never answer them. It was still fine. She'll savor each minute until they come to an end. Perhaps the next life will be kinder. Grant her humanity at birth, let her spend the years tracking down whoever Minako becomes and spend another lifetime gazing at a face she'll never forget. Life after life, perhaps a true eternity awaits between them if she's lucky. She doesn't know, no one thought to upload religion or reincarnation to something thought void of consciousness. But even she's realizing something more is burning in her core. A sliver of soul ignited by the presence of one so whole. Potential not zero percent, she'll accept that fact. Bury it all for the moment. She'll bring it up after they save the world from whatever comes next. A simple promise for now.[break][break] "My everything is yours. I'll never forget you, through anything that may happen. So remember this deep down. I will always find you, because that is what completes me."

Fear.[break][break] Not the genuine emotion. She wasn't capable of it. Yet symptoms show through as if flesh and blood had replaced steel. Their Leader left to slumber alone for the first in many weeks. Aegis wished for solitude in this venture. Wrong. Not complete solitude, she needed the presence of another. She needed it to understand the world swirling around her. Silence filled halls despite increasing weight applied to her limbs. Time spent around emotions has given her a believed understanding of them, servos replicating prior studied actions and reactions to make Aegis believe she was suffering from them as well. A farce. But why? What commanded her body if not her programmed sentience?[break][break] Repetition three knocks on wood, half step retreat back for space. When the woman answers there was little doubt a weapon pressed against the door frame would send incorrect message. There was no one but Mitsuru who could help her understand. S.E.E.S for all their strength formed weakness. Should she even attempt inquiry she'll be met with some thinly veiled belief of humanity. But she didn't need hope. Pretty ideas laced with melancholy and horror held no rosy tint to mechanic oculars built to scan past facades and barriers. She was a weapon. Those kin to her maker should best understand how to reconfigure cerebral error if found to be the cause. "Mitsuru-san. Are you awake?" Gentle voice whispered past the door. Though only moments have past, her belief is that time has gone unending since her knock at the door. Surely, too much has registered through her brain for it to truly be seconds since her initial encounter.

Rage.[break][break] Human emotion was easy to deduced sometimes. Sorrow turned to anger, may turn back or turn to hatred. This is fine. She can accept lashing out directed at her, it made no difference to anything. "I am programmed to eliminate shadow activity and assist members of S.E.E.S upon times of crisis. My existence is tied to this mission, it will be seen through."[break][break] A break from grief can be salvation. Analysis shows best ways to instigate agitated behavior and instantaneous simulations proved following belief to lead to greatest outrage. But she herself knew the honest answer. Her memory could be wiped, mission ripped from archives, everything making her sentient destroyed forever and Aegis would still protect Minako with her life. Not a mission but dedication. Not force bit desire to save their Leader from anything vile this world has to attack her with. Devotion burns circuits with their intensity. But she knows what Yukari wants, and this isn't it. [break][break] Head tilted to side, blank stare digging into the Lovers arcana. As if a doll was being made to look up at her. "More over. My body is estimated to be destroyed by all of development. Needless risk is ill advised unless anti shadow weapon Aegis is rendered completely useless. If you would like to voice opinion I can carry it to support members for input." Rile, rile. Push every fact of her life into the woman before her, set her off into an explosion to get out everything she feels. Speculation supports Aegis being able to brunt it without trouble.