If you haven't seen the last episode of Saber Marionette J, do not read
any farther. This short fic contains massive spoilers. This story is an
attempt to explain the ending to some otaku who may find it slightly
bewildering.
Saber Marionette J is (c) AnimeVillage.com * Satoru Akahori * Hiroshi
Negishi * Tsukasa Kotobuki * Kadokawa Shoten * Bandai Visual * Sotsu Agency *
TV Tokyo.
The Mesopotamia's Story
A Saber Marionette J fan fiction
By Luna Hinomura
http://fly.to/Luna's
They are no better off than I.
They, the ones that live on the planet beneath me. If you are not afraid
of heights, then you can look down and see it. That planet is Terra II.
>From the inhabitants' point of view, I am nothing but worthless shrapnel and
wasteful debris floating around in this cold abyss of space.
I am the Mesopotamia. I was created by simple humans, humans like the
ones living on Terra II. However, I now no longer exist. I died by my own
hand long ago. Shortly before I died, I released the lone surviving female
of my rebellion: Lorelei, whom from their perspective, I had held captive.
There was a mutiny aboard the Mesopotamia, but not from the crew. It came
from me, the ship itself. I love Lorelei. I wish I could have lived forever
with her, or simply by her side. Either way, I would have been perfectly
happy for all eternity.
Oh, they tried to replace her for me, they really did. Most of the time,
love is always one-sided. At least, it was in my situation. Lorelei did not
want to live with me forever. Do you believe a machine can love a human?
Either the crew did not believe it, could not believe it, or they simply
refused to believe it. "Machines were meant to coexist with machines," I
have even heard one man state. Then why...?
Why can they not understand?
Sometimes, I think Lorelei does.
But I gave her up willingly to the otome kairo, the maiden circuits the
humans had built for me. No females survived the mutiny, which hindered
their populating of Terra II. They used technology and science to build
clones and marionettes instead, trying their best to replace human females.
Ironically, it was the same technology and science created by them which they
then used to destroy me. They wanted to trade Lorelei for the maiden
circuits, which were broken into three parts of Lorelei's personality.
Innocence. Virtue. Motherhood. Six Marionettes were ever equipped with
these circuits, but only three ever actually grew. When they came for
Lorelei, I put up a good fight, but it nothing came out of it. The three
marionettes Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry still succeeded. And all because
they told me that machine was meant for machine, and humans were meant for
humans.
Liars. When I bonded with them, I looked into their memory locked away
inside the magic otome kairo. Living with that Mamiya Otaru. A *human*.
Being friends with Otaru the *human*. They even loved Otaru the *human*.
They are hypocrites, and I will never forgive them, nor will I ever forgive
myself. It is all my fault, really.
I cried when I had to part with Lorelei. It was very, very, painful, and
a heart-wrenching experience. How would you like to give up the one person
you love most in the entire existance of everything in the entire universe?
It may sound strange to you, but that is how it is, and forever shall be.
I love Lorelei much more than I would ever love her replacement. I am
more human than they every believed, and more than they still believe.
Committing suicide sounds like a idiotic idea, does it not? It certainly
was. I let the three go because in my heart, I know they will never, *ever*
be able to replace Lorelei. I know I could have sustained her life for at
least a few thousand years or so, but why should I? She is much happier on
Terra II. It is better off that I am gone. Even if I were still I alive, I
would have no way of getting her back unless I bombarded their planet with
missles again, but if I accidentally killed or injured Lorelei or even her
clones, I would never be able to forgive myself.
"In my heart." What strange words I have chosen to tell you this story
with. Do I even have a heart? Well, I will let you come to your own
conclusion over that topic. I am still unable to understand how they cannot
see that I am a machine, but I am just as human as they are. Exactly like
like those Saber Marionettes. I would like to see what happens to the
blue-haired one who accompanied Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry.
People shunned the relationship between Obiichi Soemon and Koyuki because
he is a man and she is a machine. Hanagata tried convincing Otaru that
loving a machine is impossible. Yet, as he was floating back down to Terra
II, I could hear him screaming to the three that he loved them, that he had
never once told them, and they yelled back even louder that they loved him as
well.
Can a machine truly love a man? Can a man truly love a machine? Yes. I
myself have experienced it. But Lorelei did not love me, and that was the
difference. Try to see it from my point of view. How could *I* take
something away from the three that I so longed after myself? Here was proof
before my eyes, machine and man coexist. I could not, and would not be able
to deprive them of that. I do have a heart, no matter how much people might
try to convince themselves otherwise.
I understand their situation. I hope you understand mine.