Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter22 (section)

===Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank===

“The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x3.”

My Excède Emblème is gone now.

I am so, so very tired. The dawn still has not arrived as I stand in the garden as a Lourd de Marionnette, which is what I was always meant to be.

<The mansion has not quite collapsed, but its wall is crumbling and part of the roof is missing.>

Is Lady Beretta okay? I climb the hill to find out.

And…

<My master and Lady Beretta emerge from behind the mansion. Lady Beretta is still only draping her clothing around herself, but she now has a white bandage around her left thigh.>

She looks up at me.

She does not know that I am an Attesor Project Belle de Marionnette. And she has thought a lot about what it means to be a Lourd de Écrivain. And I have-

<Lady Beretta scratches her head while looking up at me.

“Hey Rosetta, can you hear me? You made a mess of the mansion, so I can’t really use the communicator or anything else. Do you feel bad about that?”>

I can only nod since I have no voice device. I consider canceling my Recréa, but I do not know what I am supposed to say to her when I do.

<“Also, I’m not really sure how this happened, but you’ve Recréaed into that thing and…”

She briefly looks over at my master and then back at me.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”>

[[Image:City_v05b_371.jpg|thumb]]

My strength leaves me and I fall to my knees.

I recall that it was always like this. Even at the school festival’s closing ceremony. Whenever I would ask her something important, she would answer in the same way.

<“That’s just how it is, Rosetta.”>

I do not know if that was just my memory replaying or if she actually said it again.

But it makes me cry all the same.

I look up to the sky and cry. I have no voice and there are no actual tears, but I am crying. I do not have to consciously try to cry. I simply know the tears are flowing.

<Lady Beretta steps up on my thigh an climbs up my kneeling form.

She stands on my right collarbone, places a hand on the brim of my head, and gives me a serious look.

“Hey, Rosetta, can I ask you just one thing more? Earlier, I fell from the sky holding this happy old bomb called the Wort Bombe.”

She points toward the Boulogne forest. There is a large lake there.

“I left it over there. Stop it from detonating and you can liberate France, but a single person will be erased from the world. But if you let it detonate, then that person will remain and France will be liberated, but only if everyone across France – enemy and ally alike – want to be happy.”

She takes a breath.

“The thing is, if everyone in France still carries unease in their hearts when it detonates, France won’t be liberated. So what do you think?”>

What do I think?

<“Can you trust everyone? We only have about 5 minutes until it goes off, so it has to be a quick decision. So if you can’t trust everyone, then hurry into that forest to stop the Wort Bombe. But if you can trust them, let it go off while we leave from these gates to go meet everyone. So what do you think?”>

I know exactly how I should respond to her serious look, but am I really allowed to say this? When I carry the power of a weapon?

<nowiki><I</nowiki> suddenly notice something moving at my feet.

It is Mallette. She ran out into the garden with the bandage still around her stomach and she is looking up at me. And that is not all. Another Fantasmé Renard appears from the hill.

“Oh, it’s Beretta,” says Lady Beretta.

They both slowly, slowly run toward the main gate to leave the garden and they stop to look up at me once more.>

They almost seem to be waiting for me. Or inviting me outside.

I think about Lady Beretta who is right there next to me. And I sense just how calm my thoughts are. I think about my own body.

I pushed myself really hard, so can I really still move like normal?

<While I think about that, Mallette and Beretta begin to run again.

Toward the main gate.

I see several people on the main road beyond that gate. They are the people of Paris.

They must not have been able to bear staying indoors any longer, so they ran outside.

Men, women, the elderly, and children all raise their voices as they walk toward the center of the city.>

I can hear all their voices.

Yes. Yes, I understand. I know what they are thinking.

And I know how to respond to Lady Beretta as well.

<Some of the people walking or running along the road wave when they see me.

I hear them calling me an angel or Marianne. Some of them must have seen the previous battle and Lady Beretta’s Excède Emblème.>

I cannot speak right now, but I can provide a much clearer answer.

I stand up and my willpower moves my body.

<My vision rises up and I can look down on the city of Paris.

The morning sun has begun to rise beyond the city. It is so bright. That light is different from the moonlight that my mechanical parts as a Belle de Marionnette love so much.

The people on the road come to a stop, look to me, and cheer.

Down by my feet, my master nods once and begins walking toward them all with his cane.>

I will go too. There is nothing to fear now. The two Fantasmé Renards lead the way and Lady Beretta accompanies me. I am sure the man I fought just now will join us eventually. Always forevermore, we will fight to protect someone.

<On my swaying shoulder, Lady Beretta speaks someone’s name and smiles. Then she raises her voice while pointing toward Paris and not the forest.

“Okay, let’s head out, Rosetta! No point in sitting around here!!”

I hear more cheering.>

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