Ava's eyes started to lose focus, his legs felt weak. He stumbled over on to Saori and collapsed onto her body, allowing her to catch him. Saori put her arms around him and held him tight, he held her back. His mind was moving a mile a minute, who was he?
Where was he?
He was... Akira Tenkawa, a researcher for the Serv project, he and his wife had worked with the company for years, although complications arose when he transferred his body into a Serv unit. He remembered, he was one of the first, he retained his Serv body for tens of years, his wife died of old age and he continued to live for decades afterward, continually working on the Serv project.
He was one of the ones responsible for creating a new vessel for mankind. He brought his wife back to life, even. So many things happened in his life. Once he'd brought her back to life they and several others lived as Servs for years upon years and then...
Then what?
It was all lost. The last thing he remembered was the migration to Mars but that was-
That was-
That was before mankind's extinction.
How long had mankind been dead for? Eight thousand years.
It was eight thousand years since his last clear memories. Suddenly he was here, in this weird dreamscape, inhabiting the mind of some sort of robot called Ava.
No, wait, or was it that Ava had recollected the memories of someone called Akira? He wasn't sure. Who was he? Ava or Akira?
"A-Akira, calm down!" said Saori, "I know how you must be feeling right now. I felt the same way when you unlocked my memories. Just give it a moment, focus."
Ava, no, Akira, he started to tremble, "Focus on what? Focus on who? On Akira? On Ava?"
"On me." Saori said calmly, "you and me, we're the last two remnants of the memories of mankind."
"Memories?"
"Right. We're Servs, our identities as humans, they're memories. And that's who we are. That's what the Block-2s are Ava. Memories."
She was right. There was no need to overthink it. Who was he? Who cared? What was important was what he had to do, as the memory of mankind.
He stood back up and faced Saori directly, holding both her hands.
"Saori, we're still Servs then, aren't we? These memories belong to two people who died a long time ago, right? The brains inside of us, they're farmed clones anyway."
"Right. It doesn't matter though, my emotions are still real. Whether I'm a human or a Serv. The way I feel about this," she looked towards the shining light in the distance, "is completely sincere. You know what I mean right?"
That's right. Ava, Akira, Sylvie, Saori. They all felt the same way, and getting those memories back added clarity to what he needed to do at this very moment.
"I know it's painful. But you needed to remember me Akira. You needed to remember what life as a human, and what happened all those millennia ago was."
Because now he knew.
Mankind could only remain as a memory.
Eight thousand years. It gave him perspective. Mankind's time was up.
"So, that's how it is huh?" he murmured,
"Right," Saori replied,
"The network has access to the memories... the souls of all the humans that were turned into Servs and Evos all those years ago. We won't be able to rest in peace until that thing is gone."
"If there's one thing I know, it's that that thing has an iron grip on the minds of every living being out there right now. The network is causing the virus to spread, the society it forcefully built is allowing it to ensnare us, and all the people trapped in the lower Block bodies are suffering."
Those memories, those thoughts, and souls were trapped in the bodies of Servs and Evos because the network suppressed them. The thought of people from all those thousands of years ago, still screaming to be set free after all this time, all locked inside of the hearts of Servs because the network designated them a certain block level... it was too much to bear.
"So that's why you gave me back my memories. You knew I'd stop you from-" started Akira,
"From destroying it. Yes. I want to destroy it."
"Mother wants to use it to revive mankind. Harvest all those memories, and most likely transfer them to human bodies she's been farming. But those memories belong to us now don't they?"
So it was time to set mankind free. No more tampering with their thoughts and dreams. Transferring them from body to body, corrupting them over time. No more trapping them into cages and manipulating them to create a pathetic utopian society controlled by a manufactured war.
Akira agreed.
"Let's do it." Akira and Saori turned towards the light, hand in hand they walked towards it, solemnly, but determined.
Akira, Ava, he tried to shrug off his identity issues. Continuing onwards with his partner's hand gripping his tightly, his assurance that he was doing the right thing didn't waver.
The light started to get brighter and brighter. The two walked closer and closer. Eventually, they were enveloped in it and found themselves walking into a white space with no walls floors or ceilings.
They weren't sure what they were actually standing on, because they didn't seem to be anything under their feet, but before them stood a diamond twinkling like a star in the middle of an empty sky.
This was how the network had manifested itself in Saori's mind.
Saori examined it,
"A gem?" she asked, "is that how I saw it when it was created?"
"I think we all did, at the time," Akira replied,
"Do you think you're strong enough to do this Akira? You used up a lot of your energy before."
"It's completely naked. There's nothing to hack here." Akira replied, he put his hand on the gem, "this thing is fragile. Now that we've broken down all the walls that were protecting it, all that's left is-" he shifted it with his hand and held it up, "fragile. It looked like a gem to us but it's nothing but a fragile shard of glass. Mankind is stronger than this."
He tightened his grip around the gem and then threw it down to the invisible ground at full force. The gem shattered into a million pieces. Like glass.
The two stood and looked at the pieces. That was the network. And it was gone now. In the end, breaking it was simple.
"I wonder what Serv and Evo society will be like, now that we've unlocked them all," asked Saori.
"It's their choice now. Whether they want to continue the model that they've been following all this time, or whether they want to evolve down a natural path and find their own way to survive. No doubt decades and centuries of trial and error will be required for them to see what really works for them. But in the end..."
Akira thought back to what the society of unlocked Evos back on the scrapyard planet was like,
"In the end, I think they've got an innate tendency to function as a unit no matter what."
"We're both pretty selfish people aren't we Akira?" asked Saori, "making such a big choice for everyone. We've shaped the history of the Servs and Evos for millennia to come."
"...This was always my mission." said Akira, Ava, "with the network gone, the war is over. If they complain I can just say I was just doing my job." he shrugged, "the virus won't spread anymore. The forced war is over. Everyone gets their personas back."
"It'll take time for them to adjust. But I suppose it's our responsibility as Block-2 Servs, and the creators of the Serv, to make this choice."
Silence.
They were sure they did the right thing. But not sure if they really had the right to.
Akira looked deeply into Saori's eyes. It was a fleeting moment that seemed to last for an eternity, but it was cut to an abrupt end when something started to happen to her body.
She was starting to fade.
There was a rumbling, the world around them started to warp and lose shape.
Saori sighed,
"Akira, if you haven't guessed. My time is up now." she said, "I've been able to keep the pathway open for three seconds in real time. But that's the most I can manage."
"Wait... wait what?" Akira's mind started to race, did she mean-
"My outside body has already died, I think. That means the pathway will close soon, and the me in here will disappear too."
"Saori! No!" Akira rushed forward to grab her, but his hand went right through her fading body.
His nonexistent heart started to beat heavily. His virtual mind started to race.
How much energy had she used up when hacking? Why did she make him take his time when doing it?
"It's fine. I'm a ghost anyway." she murmured,
"Y-you can't! Don't go!"
"Sorry Akira. Don't worry, I'm happy. I got to see you again. How many married couples to to celebrate their eight thousand year anniversary?" she smiled and held up her hand revealing her wedding ring, a beautiful purple gem decorated her finger, "I'll never forget. So you better not either."
Saori leaned forward and gave Akira a final kiss. The first kiss Ava had ever felt, and the final one Akira ever would.
And then she disappeared.