Azure Waters

**Azure Waters** refers to the events in its manga counterpart, *Azure Waters*, detailing the origins of Cocolia's and Bronya's encounter and the events leading up to the closing of the X-10 experiments done by Anti-Entropy.

## Characters

* Bronya Zaychik
* Cocolia
* Seele Vollerei
* "Seele"
* Sin Mal
* Raiden Mei (cameo)
* Kiana Kaslana (cameo)

## Summary

Starting in January 2012, the “Silver Wolf of the Urals” was out on a mission, staring down at Cocolia, who was standing amidst a bloodied snowfield with fallen bodies, from her sniper scope. That Silver Wolf was none other than Bronya, who had laid down in the snow, concealing herself with a white blanket. After putting a handful of snow in her mouth, Bronya prepares to take her shot, however, Cocolia then looks right at her scope and smiles. Before Bronya could move, Cocolia was already upon her, telling her off for her critical mistake in being a sniper: too slow. Realizing she was exposed, Bronya tosses her cover and rifle aside and lunges forward with a knife, screaming death upon her target. Unfortunately, Bronya has met her match as Cocolia knocks her out.

By the time Bronya wakes up, someone has reached over to help wipe her forehead, which causes her to react instinctively, seizing the person’s hands before they could touch her. It is here that she meets Seele Vollerei, one of the other orphans under Cocolia. Cocolia then appears and orders Bronya to release Seele, and the other does on instinct. It is then that she asks for Bronya’s name, in which the other gives. Addressing her by her name, Cocolia informs Bronya that her teammates that were sent after Cocolia had been killed, showing their dog tags. Hearing this, Bronya asks her why the other would take her alive then, if Cocolia could just kill her like the rest of her squadmates. Cocolia replies by saying that she had a strong code to not kill children, prompting Bronya to ask if the other was going to use her now and become her new master. Cocolia scolds the idea, remarking that she would like to have a chat with Bronya’s former “masters” as, in her eyes, they need to be “taught a lesson”. Brushing it all aside, Cocolia then assures Bronya that she was free now and that Cocolia will act as her matushka (formal Russian for "mother"). Since the word was unfamiliar to her, Bronya inquired what it meant and Cocolia explained that it was someone who “cares and loves the children” before introducing Bronya to Seele, who had been hiding behind her. With her prompt, Cocolia nods to the food on the table and tells Seele to guide Bronya to her new assigned room after the other was done. Before Cocolia leaves, she then reassures Bronya to let go of her fear as she would never be ordered on the cruel battlefields again.

A year later in August 2013, Cocolia has her orphans do little imagination tests on a blob of liquid metal. The first one was Seele, who, after a long strained expression, produced a half scythe before breaking focus and watching it return to its unshapely blob form. Disappointed, Seele apologizes but Cocolia says to not, assuring that it was just a small test as Sin steps up. Sin taunts Seele for struggling with the blob before she herself is able to shape it into a wrist watch, gaining the awe from their fellow peers. Bronya then volunteers to try next and successfully transforms the blob into a Homu doll, which gains her the awe from Seele who hugs and praises her for being the best. This, of course, doesn’t settle well with Sin, who is seen internally seething to herself. After the test, Bronya is heading down the stairs when she’s confronted by Sin from behind. The other asks her if she likes Seele, in which Bronya responds with yes and stating that she would always be with Seele. Sin scowls in disgust while Bronya heads down the stairs, waving the other off if she doesn't have anything else to say. It is then that Sin pushes Bronya down the stairs and begins stomping on Bronya’s legs, calling her an idiot and declaring that she would not allow Bronya to like Seele. Right around the corner, Seele is cowering as she overhears everything, but is unable to help. Meanwhile, deep in a hidden lab of Anti-Entropy, there is a briefing meeting, asking Cocolia how many of the children exhibited strong honkai resistance after they delivered the honkai serum. On the screen, Seele’s image is crossed out as both Sin and Bronya are on the eligible candidate list. Anti-Entropy assures Cocolia that their project, known as X-10 trials, would be done for the sake of humanity, while Cocolia hesitates and says that the only reason why she permitted this was to make sure her children can survive a world plagued by Honkai.

In the morning, Cocolia is by Bronya’s bedside as the other’s leg is in a cast. Asking Bronya what happened, the Zaychik only replied that she had slipped down the stairs, which Cocolia pinpoints as a lie. Tightening the cast firmly over Bronya’s leg, Cocolia murmurs in disapproval before daring at the truth, that Bronya had been attacked and for some reason she hadn’t killed her attacker. Bronya only insists on her lie, causing Cocolia to relent as she realized she wasn’t going to be able to get the name out of Bronya. Cocolia then chides Bronya to look after herself, since her trial was coming up and that having wounds would likely affect the test results. Bronya thanks her matushka and while Cocolia is leaving, she doesn’t forget to tell Bronya to inform Seele that she’ll be going away as the trial would likely take a while. Bronya agrees and soon appears in their shared room, hearing crying from inside a treasure chest along with miserable apologies. Once Bronya opens the chest, she finds Seele cowering inside with her hands over her ears, still shaken from the events and apologizing profusely to Bronya. Bronya then calms Seele down, allowing her to speak coherently again. Seele finally confesses to witnessing the assault and apologizing for being too terrified to help her. Again, Bronya assures her, saying that as long as Seele was with her, she didn’t feel pain. While being hugged, Seele still insists that part of it was to be blamed before Bronya denies her fault.

It is revealed here in March 2012 after Bronya’s adoption into the orphanage, why Bronya hadn’t killed Sin for the attack. Shortly after Bronya settled in, Seele was kidnapped while Cocolia was away. Bronya then infiltrates the base, forcing one of the front guards to lure the right hand mercenary from the room, before killing them both as well as the one who hired them. It was this bloodbath that allegedly terrified Seele, who then screamed “Demon!” once Bronya helped release her. Since then, Bronya had made a promise to Seele to never hurt another person for Seele’s sake.

Back in the present time, Seele was restless, unable to sleep as she thinks back on that day. It is then revealed that the “demon” that Seele had shouted at, wasn’t Bronya at all, but instead the manifestation of her other self, “Seele.” After being denied by the other of her acknowledgement, “Seele” then begins to goad Seele to go out and seek revenge on Sin Mal for breaking Bronya’s leg, as Bronya had promised to take her to the beach next week, but thanks to Sin, that was delayed. Seele gives in, under the desire to protect Bronya, and confronts Sin, who is mentally preparing herself for the trials as she holds the X-10 subject list. Hearing her name, Sin scoffs as she realizes it's Seele and tries to shoo the other off, but Seele persists, attempting to threaten Sin with telling Cocolia if the other didn’t stop hurting Bronya. Sin only gets irked at the two’s bond and reveals her annoyance at how weak Seele appeared, before attacking her. Once Sin touches Seele’s stigma mark however, “Seele”’s tolerance snapped and she soon assumed control of her host, catching Sin with dark long limbs. “Seele” then begins to get vengeance on her host’s behalf before dragging Sin into a mind realm and pushing her down the “Revenge Staircase Super Ride.” After dealing with Sin, “Seele” is sitting on a dark throne and holding a scythe when she notices the paper that slipped out of Sin’s hands. Once “Seele” reads it, their eyes slowly return to blue as Seele regains control and panics when she realizes what it was.

Seele confronts Cocolia in her office late at night and asks about the truth of X-10. Cocolia relents, believing that Bronya probably let it slip, and explains that X-10 was a project aimed at giving humans 100% honkai adaptability, since children, like them, already had some form of honkai resistance but not full immunity to its inevitable corruption. Seele then asks what happens if the experiment fails, causing Cocolia to sigh as she assures the girl that Bronya has incredibly high honkai resistance and even if it fails, Bronya’s death would at least teach humanity more about honkai. Cocolia also states that Bronya willingly chose too because the other believed that her sacrifice would be worth it if given a chance to better the lives of the other orphanage children. Seele remains silent throughout the assurance before revealing the stigma on her chest and insisting to take Bronya’s place in the experiment instead. Cocolia is completely taken aback as she identifies the mark as a “true stigma” and eventually agrees.

The next morning, Bronya wakes from a nightmare, yelling out Seele’s name, before noticing the empty bed next to hers. Grabbing her crutch, Bronya limps around the hallways, calling out for Seele and being met with only silence. She then notices the letter from Anti-Entropy explaining the X-10 experiments, laying on the floor. As Bronya continues to search for her roommate, memories flash through her, revealing that she had willingly chosen to participate in X-10 despite Cocolia warning her of the 7 previous casualties, all for the sake of Seele, where if Bronya failed, Seele’s chances of success when she takes it, would likely be higher. The promise to see the beach with Seele, was revealed as well, where Bronya also mentioned being trained to hold her breath underwater due to her time in the special forces and Seele asking if Bronya could teach her too, of which she answered yes. Finally coming up with nothing, Bronya pushes into Cocolia’s office and realizes the other is gone, too. Meanwhile, Cocolia and Seele were both standing on the beach with Seele asking where they were. Cocolia explains that the X-10 labs were built under the sea of Okhotsk to hide from Schicksal and contain honkai spills. Seele is reminded of Bronya’s promise to her and tears up, getting Cocolia’s concern which she brushes aside.

In the X-10 labs, Seele is in a test suit, hooked up inside a capsule, with her eyes closed as the scientists monitor her condition and continue to inject honkai energy into her. Eventually, Seele enters a hallucination as she sees Bronya walking away from her mental state. Seele chases after Bronya, but the other refuses to turn around, eventually opening the treasure chest from before and closing herself in it. Seele approaches the chest but is then stopped by “Seele” who warns her that if she opened the chest, it would be something that she won’t be able to control. Meanwhile, in the real world, the lab receives a multitude of warning messages as a honkai reaction spike crystallizes outside of Seele’s capsule, causing the scientists to panic and Cocolia to dread.

In the mindspace, “Seele” and Seele formally meet, with “Seele” explaining her own existence which is tied to the stigma that Seele has. “Seele” claims that she was forged from an unending hatred towards the honkai and whose sole purpose is to pass on superior knowledge and powers to the Current Era. The metaphorical box, “Seele” explains, holds those technologies and powers, but Seele wasn’t prepared, so opening it would only consume her. Seele, however, insists on opening the box because “Bronya” was inside, but “Seele” retaliates by stating that Seele would likewise die. “Seele” then takes on the form of Sin to try to cow Seele into giving up, but Seele throws her aside, declaring that she was no longer afraid of Sin. In response, “Seele” transforms into Cocolia, causing Seele to hesitate before reinstating her resolve. Finally, “Seele” takes the form of Bronya and hugs Seele, pleading with her to not go away and die. At that, Seele breaks down as the two collapse on the ground together. Seele then composes herself say that her failing would endanger Bronya as the next test subject before thanking Bronya for always being there for her and insisting that she would now be strong and not let her weakness hurt Bronya. “Seele” pauses for a bit, but eventually smiles as she relents, agreeing to Seele’s wish to open the box, but also adding that they would do it together. After opening the box, Seele returns to the real world as her condition stabilizes. The scientists all cheered - before her form collapsed. Cocolia flies into rage as she demands how Seele could simply vanish before one of the scientists explains that Seele’s physical integrity had collapsed and likely entered quantum state. In an unknown place, Seele is staring in disbelief as “Seele” comforts her, saying that they would leave the world soon as their body couldn’t handle the powers in the box. However, Seele asks one more thing from her other self, which she agrees, lending her strength.

One week prior to this, Bronya is sitting with Seele in their room as Seele reads the book “Daughter of the Sea,” which gets Seele to ask what the sea was like as she had never been to any place outside the orphanage. Bronya pauses to think before saying that the sea was like Seele’s eyes. In the present, “Seele” comments on how it’s summer already and thus a fine time for her to show Seele what the sea was truly like as they flew over the waves. Meanwhile, in the labs, the scientists discovered her reappearance and realized she was rushing towards the orphanage. Fearing for the safety of the rest of her kids and unsure what Seele’s current condition was, Cocolia orders the deployment of the mechs as they all line up along the beach, intercepting Seele’s trajectory. Back at the orphanage, Bronya checks the chest one more time and is disappointed to see that Seele’s last hiding spot didn’t contain her, while contemplating their past and comparing Seele to both the serenity and strength of the sea as the other is fighting through the mech lines by the shore. Seele finally manages to get to the orphanage, standing outside their bedroom window which Bronya was sitting under, huddled in defeat. As Seele attempts to get Bronya’s attention, her body begins to leave the physical realm once again, and Seele begs for just a few more seconds but fails, only managing to call out to Bronya one last time. Bronya turns to look outside the window when she hears the faint voice, but the other had already vanished, leaving behind only her headpiece. Picking it up, Bronya recognizes it and breaks down crying as she finally feels that loss.

Later, Cocolia enters the orphanage, looking deflated and somber as she approaches Bronya’s room. The other is already waiting for her and demands what happened to Seele. Cocolia then tells Bronya the truth, that Seele had taken her place and as a result, had her physical integrity collapse and vanish into quantum space. Hearing this, Bronya inquires if taking the experiment would allow her to enter quantum space too which Cocolia immediately shoots down as she states that Seele had higher honkai resistance and still failed, thus she’s ending X-10. Bronya quietly asks if Cocolia would just leave Seele in that quantum space, causing Cocolia to insist that Seele wouldn’t want her sacrifice to be in vain, so Cocolia’s shutting down X-10 in order to protect those she still has. Taking a knife up to herself, however, Bronya threatens that Cocolia would lose another child if  she didn’t allow her to take the test, which causes Cocolia to reluctantly give in.

At Lake Baikal, a backup facility for X-10, Bronya is in a test suit and hooked up inside a capsule. One of scientists then warns that Bronya’s leg injury might become infected if the test continues for more than 5 minutes - even capable of killing her. Nodding, Cocolia states that she’s giving Bronya no more than five minutes before ordering the test to stop. Bronya accepts those terms as the test initiates. There, in quantum space, Bronya reunites with Seele again, which surprises and terrifies the other. Seele then insists that Bronya has to leave, otherwise, she’ll vanish from the world as well. In response, Bronya reveals that she’s never returning while in the real world, the five minutes is up and the scientists aren’t able to sever the neural link because Bronya’s resisting them, causing Cocolia to realize it was all planned from the start. Back in the space, Bronya hugs Seele, refusing to abandon the other and promising to always be by her side. Though happy, Seele eventually objects, telling Bronya to return as the other would likewise die. Bronya insists on staying because she is afraid of returning to the world without Seele. Seele then confesses that Bronya had been her beacon, and she didn’t want Bronya to give up on hope or run away from her problems. Instead, she wanted Bronya to return one day and save them both because in her heart, she believed that Bronya would, no matter how long it took. The two then make a promise, with Bronya swearing to never give up on finding a way to return Seele to the world. Speaking of which, the scientists report that Bronya’s emotive circuits have been fried which causes Bronya to gasp in her quantumn state and realize she can no longer feel sad. Seele then gives Bronya the power of Rebuild which she found in the chest, before sharing a kiss as she bids Bronya one final farewell.

When Bronya wakes finally, though she may have loss the functionality of her legs and much of her emotions, there is a new entity that accompanies her: Project Bunny. As for her and Cocolia, they tried numerous attempts to retrieve Seele from quantum space, all ending in failure. Finally, they set their eyes on Raiden Mei, who held another natural stigmata. Cocolia artificially triggered a honkai outbreak which woke up Mei's dormant stigma while Bronya was deployed to detain her. Yet, curiously, none of them had expected a certain white haired girl to come and foil their plans.....