Platonic Topher and Adelle + "We need to talk about your life choices"
(Here, have some Pacific Rim AU!)
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"We need to talk about your life choices," she tells him, proud when her voice doesn't shake. The metal of the gun is cold in her hand, the weight of it more than its sum, but it does the trick: He puts his hands in the air, pausing his calculations.
"Okay. Sure thing, boss. Talk away." But any facade of fondness has fallen away (not needed, not anymore); the smirk he gives her is cold, his eyes empty. So different from the warm, lovely smiles he used to offer on even the darkest of days.
Her beautiful, beautiful boy. What have they done to him? "Topher, I know you're in there."
He rolls his eyes. "Look, we've been over this already: he can't fight me. None of you can. He's-"
"-not strong enough. Yes, you've mentioned." It feels like a betrayal to even say, but she will not fight that war when a far greater one is raging around them. "But he can still hear me, can he not? There are a few things I've like to say to him. Two, really."
Apparently satisfied that she isn't going to shoot him, he lowers his hands, turning back to his computer. "I mean, go for it. Not sure why he'd listen to you after you did this to him, but-"
"I didn't!" She protests before she can stop herself, but then forces herself to inhale. Focus; this isn't about them. "Very well. First of all, I want you to know that I forgive you. The things you're doing aren't your fault; they're forcing your hand."
Topher-or rather, the thing now using him-scoffs, continuing to push the buttons to usher in the apocalypse. "Wow, that is just... Super touching. Might even shed a tear about it when he kills you."
The image of that-of poor Topher having to live with that-is too dreadful to even contemplate, and she pushes it firmly aside. "And the second thing is that I love you. I always have, as dearly as if you were my own child."
He's too caught up in his laughter, in his mockery of pathetic human emotions, to catch the shift in her tone. She steps forward, gun long replaced by a thin syringe, and plunges it into the side of his neck.
As he collapses, she catches him, cradling him close as they both sink to the ground. Pressing her forehead to his, she murmurs, "And I promise you, I will find a way to save you. But I can't let them destroy us all."