Lily's room was small.
Not a cell—she'd had enough of those to last several lifetimes. But small. A bed in one corner, neatly made. A bookshelf against the wall, filled with worn volumes she'd collected from destroyed labs, rescued from ruins, saved from the fire. A table with a single chair, a stack of blank paper, a pen that still had ink.
And a mirror.
Lily stood before it now, alone in the quiet, the door closed behind her. The candle on the table flickered, casting shadows that danced across her scarred face.
She pulled her clothing aside, just enough to expose the left side of her torso.
The skin there was wrong. Dark—not the dark of a bruise, but something deeper, something that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Veins spread outward from the center like cracks in ice, black against pale flesh, reaching toward her ribs, her shoulder, her heart. The edges were faintly luminous, pulsing with a rhythm that matched her heartbeat.
Four months. Maybe five.
She'd known. From the moment she'd injected herself, she'd known. But seeing it—watching the darkness spread, feeling it move beneath her skin—made it real in a way nothing else could.
Her eyes drifted from the mirror to the table.
To the photograph propped against the bookshelf.
Eva.
She was walking, caught mid-stride by someone's camera. Her hair was shorter then, her face less tired. She wasn't looking at the lens—she was looking at something off to the side, a small smile on her lips, her eyes bright in a way they rarely were anymore.
Lily had only spent a few months with Eva. Three years ago now, though it felt like longer. Eva probably didn't even remember this moment, this walk, this smile caught in time.
Lily had found the photograph in a lab she'd destroyed. Just one of many things she'd collected over the years—mementos from places where horrors had happened, reminders of why she kept fighting.
But this one... this one was different.
This one was her sister.
She moved to the table and sat down, the chair creaking beneath her. The paper was blank, waiting. The pen sat beside it, heavy with potential.
What do you say to someone you're about to leave behind?
---
For Eva
She wrote first to the sister she knew. The one who had held her, searched for her, never given up.
Eva,
If you're reading this, I'm probably dead. Or close to it. Either way, I won't be there to say this in person, so I'm writing it instead. That's what people do, right? Leave letters behind for the ones they love?
I don't know. I've never done this before.
There's so much I want to say, and I don't know how to say any of it. I've spent years being the Monster Queen, being the thing that people fear, being the girl who commands armies of kaiju and kills without hesitation. I forgot how to be Lily. I forgot how to be your sister.
But I remember.
I remember you singing to me when I had nightmares. That stupid song about stars—you were terrible at it, Eva. Absolutely terrible. But I loved it. I loved you.
I remember the way you looked at me when we found each other in that bunker. Like I was something precious. Like I mattered. Like I was worth saving.
I remember Theo. I remember the way he looked at me, the way he made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be something other than what they made me. And I remember watching him die, and I remember how that felt, and I remember that I couldn't save him.
I couldn't save anyone. Not Theo. Not you. Not myself.
So I decided to make them pay instead.
I know that's not what you would have wanted. I know you wanted me to come back, to be your sister again, to live some quiet life somewhere away from all of this. But I couldn't, Eva. I couldn't just... stop. Not when they were still out there. Not when they still had the power to hurt people like us.
So I kept fighting. Kept killing. Kept becoming more and more of a monster until I didn't know where Lily ended and the Monster Queen began.
I don't regret it. Not any of it. They deserved everything they got.
But I regret not being there for you.
I regret every moment I wasn't by your side. Every night you spent wondering where I was, whether I was alive, whether I still loved you. I did, Eva. I do. I always will.
If I could go back, I would. I'd be the sister you deserved. I'd hold you when you cried and laugh with you when you were happy and grow old with you in some world that didn't try to eat us alive.
But I can't. So I'm leaving this instead.
I'm leaving you my monsters. Dead, Shadow, Mary, all of them. They'll listen to you now. I've made sure of it. Use them however you need to. They're good creatures, Eva. They didn't ask to be made any more than we did.
And I'm leaving you this letter. So you know. So you remember.
I never hated you. Not for a single second. You were my light in this fucked world, and I held onto that light as long as I could.
I'm sorry I couldn't hold on longer.
Be happy, Eva. Find something worth living for. Love someone who loves you back. And when you think of me, don't think of the Monster Queen. Think of the little girl who sang off-key and believed in stars.
That was the real me. The rest was just survival.
I love you. Always have. Always will.
Your sister,
Lily
---
She set the pen down. Breathed. Picked up another sheet of paper.
---
For the Other Eva
To the one who shares my sister's face,
I don't know what to call you. Absolute 2 feels wrong—too cold, too Architect. The Original Eva feels wrong too—you're not original, you're just... different. A different version of the same person I loved.
I don't know if you'll ever read this. I don't know if you'll ever care. But I need to write it anyway. For me. For the chance that someday, somehow, you'll understand.
You were created in a lab. Made from someone else's DNA, given someone else's memories, forced to live someone else's life. I know what that feels like. Not exactly—I wasn't made in a lab—but I know what it feels like to not know who you are. To look in the mirror and see a stranger looking back.
I spent years hating you. Not you personally—the idea of you. The woman who wore my sister's face and served the people who hurt us. The woman who could have been anything but chose to be them.
But I don't hate you anymore.
I don't know when it changed. Maybe when I saw you in that corridor, holding the food you'd brought for me. Maybe when I heard the way your voice cracked when I screamed at you. Maybe when I realized that you're just as trapped as the rest of us—trapped in a role you didn't choose, a life you didn't ask for.
You're not the villain in this story. You're just another victim. Another person the Architects used and threw away.
I'm sorry I didn't see that sooner.
I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I blamed you for things that weren't your fault. I'm sorry I never gave you a chance.
If I could go back, I would. I'd sit with you. Talk to you. Try to understand. Because you're still my sister. Even if you came from a different place. Even if your memories aren't real. Even if everything about you was made in a lab.
You're still Eva. You're still family.
And family doesn't give up on each other.
So here's what I want you to know:
You deserve to be happy. You deserve to find your own path, your own life, your own self. You're not just a clone. You're not just a replacement. You're a person, with your own thoughts and feelings and dreams. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I hope you find peace. I hope you find love. I hope you find something worth living for.
And if you ever need help—if you ever need someone—look for my sister. Look for Eva. She'll be there. She's always there.
That's the kind of person she is.
That's the kind of person you could be too.
Take care of yourself. Take care of her. And when you think of me, don't think of the Monster Queen. Think of the little girl who just wanted her sisters to be happy.
That was always the real me.
Lily
---
She folded the second letter, placed it beside the first. Then she wrote a third. And a fourth. And a fifth.
For Maya. For Derek. For Leo. For Wolfen.
Each one different. Each one personal. Each one a piece of herself she was leaving behind.
When she was done, a small stack of paper sat on the table, waiting. Words she'd never get to say in person. Feelings she'd never get to express. A life she'd never get to live.
She picked up the photograph again. Eva walking. Eva smiling. Eva alive.
Her fingers traced the image gently, carefully, as if touching something sacred.
"Take care of them," she whispered. "When I'm gone. Take care of them for me."
She placed the photograph back on the shelf and stood.
At the door, she paused. Looked back at the letters, the photograph, the small room that held everything she'd ever loved.
"Goodbye," she said quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay."
She walked out, closing the door behind her, leaving her heart on the page and her future in the hands of people she trusted.
The letters waited in the drawer.
Waiting for someone to find them.
Waiting for someone to understand.
---
She set the pen down.
The words blurred in front of her. She blinked, and a tear fell—the first one in years, maybe decades—landing on the paper, smudging the ink.
She didn't wipe it away. Didn't hide it. Just sat there, letting it fall, letting herself feel for the first time in longer than she could remember.
When she was done, she folded the letter carefully, precisely, and placed it in the drawer beneath the blank paper.
Not hidden. Just... waiting.
For Eva to find it. For Eva to know.
She wiped her face, stood, and walked to the door. But before she left, her eyes caught the photograph again. Eva walking. Eva smiling. Eva alive.
Lily picked it up. Held it for a long moment. Then placed it back on the shelf, where she could see it from her bed.
A reminder.
Of what she was fighting for.
Of who she was fighting for.
She walked out, closing the door behind her, leaving the letter in the drawer and her heart on the page.
---
Elsewhere in the compound
Henry sat at a small table, a cigarette between his fingers, staring at nothing. Across from him, Kael watched with the patience of someone who had learned to wait.
Henry reached for another cigarette. Kael's hand shot out and grabbed the pack before he could.
"You tell me what Lily is planning," Kael said quietly, holding the pack just out of reach, "and you get these back."
Henry looked at the pack. Then at Kael. Then at the floor.
"I'm human," he said finally. "Born in one of the labs where the Architects kept us for experiments. Born, raised, educated to be one of them. To have maximum chances of survival, I had to kill. I did things I'm not proud of. Things that keep me awake at night."
Kael listened.
"One day, I was supposed to become an Architect. Full induction. No going back." Henry's voice was flat, empty. "That's the day Lily attacked."
He paused.
"She didn't just destroy the lab. She rescued us. Every scientist, every guard, every person who'd been trapped in that place—she got us out. Gave us a choice. Stay and fight, or go and live."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "And you stayed."
"We all stayed." Henry looked up. "Every person you see here—the scientists, the guards, everyone—we owe her our lives. She saved us from becoming monsters. The least we can do is help her fight the ones that already exist."
Kael was quiet for a long moment. Then, slowly, he pushed the cigarette pack across the table.
Henry took it. Lit another. Inhaled deep.
"Her plan," he continued, "is to stop the virus. Destroy as many labs as possible. She knows she can't kill every Architect—there are too many, too spread out. That's why she wanted Wolfen Welfric back. So he can do what he does best."
"Destroy."
"Destroy." Henry nodded. "But that's not all. She also wants to turn Shadow and Mary back into humans."
Kael blinked. "They were human?"
"Originally. The Architects twisted them. Turned them into monsters." Henry tapped ash from his cigarette. "I'm working on a way to reverse it. To give them back what was stolen."
Kael absorbed this. The weight of it. The impossibility.
"How close are you?"
"Not close enough." Henry's voice was tired. "But I'm trying. That's all any of us can do."
The door opened.
Lily walked in. Her face was composed again, the tears gone, the mask back in place. She looked at the cigarette in Henry's hand, then at the pack on the table.
Without a word, she reached down and took it.
Henry opened his mouth to protest.
"Henry," Lily said quietly, pocketing the pack, "I need you to do something for me."
He closed his mouth. Nodded.
"Do you have a camera?"
Henry blinked. "A camera? Yeah, I think there's one in storage. Why?"
Lily didn't answer at first. She just stood there, her scarred face unreadable, her empty eyes fixed on something only she could see.
"I need it," she said finally. "There's something I want to leave behind."
The words hung in the air, heavy with meaning.
Henry didn't ask what. Didn't ask why. He just nodded and stood.
"I'll find it."
Lily nodded once. Then she turned and walked out, leaving Kael and Henry alone with the weight of everything unsaid.
Kael watched her go.
"She's saying goodbye," he murmured.
Henry nodded slowly.
"She's been saying goodbye for a long time. We just didn't want to hear it."
The room was quiet.
Somewhere in the compound, a camera waited to capture the face of a girl who had already accepted her own death.