In a pause in the flow of images, it came to her that she'd been dreaming for a fathomless time and that she wished to stop. But when she tried to picture the scene that would greet her upon waking, her mind grabbed the question and ran with it, not so much drawing a blank as sketching a continuation of the dream, drawing out of the darkness answers that she was sure had long since ceased to be correct. She remembered the bunk bed she and her sister would sleep in, and that every morning they'd be woken by their older sister. She remembered protesting, and always grabbing at least another five minutes.
She'd hated mornings, hadn't she?
Her mind remained unruly, but eventually it came to her that she'd been thrown out of her rest, out of reality, sent tumbling into the blind eternities by the end of the world. Certainly, her sisters weren't still there.
Their room had been small, but immaculately cared for and very clean. She remembered that. The walls were painted a pale purple, and there were two bunk beds. Her sister's bed was on the northern side of the room, tucked into the corner, above hers.
She could see it clearly in her mind as she lay there, vaguely aware of cold air brushing across her skin and a sense that all was not as it should be. When did she take her clothes off?
Later, when she became a teenager, she'd got a room of her own. They'd hated that, and had spent weeks bugging their older sister to let them share a single one, but there wasn't space to have a single room large enough for two teens. Her and her sister had still snuck into each other's beds and slept cuddled up together, even if they weren't supposed to.
They'd been close. When they were little they used to play hide-and-seek and mischievous little games, until an older sister had introduced them to the wonderful world of video games and they went on to live interesting lives as gamers. It had been a ploy. Even then, they were close. No boyfriend had come between them, no friends or hobbies could ever surpass their love for one another. She was her sister's other half. The one person she could always count on, the one she loved more than anything. Nothing could ever change that.
And yet, here she was. Her memories shattered and buried under a sea of nothingness. What had happened? Why wasn't her sister by her side?
Where had Roz gone?
Her name was Liliya. She remembered that.
= = =
Rozaliya lounged on the grass, gently blowing a dandelion to send its seeds fluttering away. She hummed a quiet tune as she gazed up at the leaves overhead, basking in the sunlight. She tugged her dress - a pretty, floral one - down as she wiggled backwards a bit, keeping it in its rightful place.
Then, she looked blankly at the sky. It was blue. It was just blue. Nothing else, just... blue. No sun, not even a cloud in sight. She sat up and huffed in annoyance, crossing her legs as she tried to remember what was happening. She swished the grass around with her feet, staring at the sky once more with a sigh. There was a tree in the way of the sun.
Once upon a time there'd have been other girls here to play with. She missed them. All of them had moved away, or grown up, or something like that. It had been a long time since she'd played with any of them. She didn't want to hurt anyone.
She uncoiled, standing up. There were dandelions everywhere, and she crouched, plucking one as she stared at the sky once more. She knew it was pretty, but she couldn't see why. She knew the sky was pretty, but it was just the sky. It was supposed to be blue. That's what the books said, anyway.
A cool breeze ruffled her dress as she lifted her head to look at the sky once more. The blind eternities stared back at her.
Not dead. Discombobulated and mildly AI-less, but will continue this regardless. I suppose it'll also be instructive to see the difference between Baughn-plus-AI and just Baughn, but honestly I rather like the story. So...
Here's somewhere else. And someone else, whom I rather like. Making progress on the main story, but that's slower.
...as anyone who knows me will admit, if I like someone, I'll probably make their life hell somehow. Sometimes, though? Sometimes it just means they give you hints on what to look for.
Boring also sometimes made explosions, but those were rarely her fault.
One of the first things Bronie had learned, when she found her temporary home in the Sea, was that she wasn't the only Bronya Zaychik around. She wasn't the only one who'd visited the Hyperion, and she wasn't even the only one who'd spent time living here. She was just the one who happened to be around right now.
She wasn't the only Bronya. She was the only Bronie, though, and that was okay with her.
Similarly, Kongming wasn't the only Teriri around. She might be the only Kongming, but she acted a lot—a lot—like her li'l big sis. If 'Kongri' ever realised why she was so eager and able to poke at her weak spots, then she might explode…
Bronie was looking forward to that. Kongming was far too stuck-up– too high-and-mighty– too uptight for her own good. That was fixable. She was sure of it.
But all of this had made her think, and when she'd tried to raise the subject with Rose, she'd gotten only a secretive chuckle from the far-too-much-like-herself older woman. 'Think about it yourself, Bronie.' 'I'm sure you'll be reasonable about it, Bronie.' All while giggling, like she was making a private joke.
Sure, she guessed, that's what she was good at.
Would it have killed her to give her a hint, though?
So it was a thoughtful Bronie, hand stuck in the pockets of her favorite hoodie, who wandered the corridors of the Hyperion while thinking it over. The corridors, and… crawlspaces, admittedly, scaring the life out of at least one engineer in the process. She did her best thinking while moving.
The author has given up trying to control her.
Be that as it may…
The Sea of Quanta was large—no, a universe was a large place, and the Sea wasn't "larger than a universe" in the same sense a universe was "larger than a pinecone". It was the power set of a universe, which made it…
Bronie frowned, eyes scanning a map of the ship, but not really seeing.
Which made the Sea hard to understand for anyone who wasn't a set theoretician or a hacker, she supposed. Fortunately, she was at least one of those. Kongming wasn't, and neither was Delta, so she didn't object when they called it 'infinite'. Even though it wasn't.
She'd leave that to Tesla.
It made her giggle, every time.
But…
There should be a copy of her, yes. Somewhere. If you went far enough, there'd be a near infinite number. There should also be a vastly, vastly larger number of near-identical copies, and an even larger number of slightly more divergent ones, and so on until eventually the "copies" were actually, say, Teririn.
There should not be a copy who was "like her, except much younger, and also sort of evil, except really she was just in a really bad place."
Delta should not be living with two identical twin little sisters she had "picked up somewhere". Not when she was an only child herself. Not when the three were, on the rare occasions she'd successfully cheered Delta up, obviously basically the same person. With divergent colour schemes.
Kongming– Kongming should not be a carbon copy of her sister, except stuck-up and somehow a feudal lord. Bronie hadn't really paid attention, except to how adorable she made it sound. It was essentially nonsense, though. Physics didn't work that way.
All in all, this simply couldn't happen. And that–
If there was anything she wanted from life, 'Veliona' thought, it was her sister's happiness.
It's not as though they didn't get along. They were close, if she was allowed to say so. And the more time went by the closer they got. Ironic, that; getting her own body, instead of being stuck in Seele's, had shattered all of her carefully cultured aloofness. Maybe it was because she was part of the group, now, instead of being a voice in their head.
But... despite all that... her sister was a big, fat... dummy.
It was funny how you could love someone and hate them at the same time. It made her feel kind of bad, but that wasn't really fair. Seele was... Seele was just...
Veliona fell deeper into her sister's embrace, eyes burning as she tried not to cry. It was stupid. This was all stupid. Why couldn't she have been a cat or something? She'd be a lot happier!
"I'm sorry, Vel," said the girl holding her. "I really am."
And that, besides–
"You don't think my name's really 'Vel', do you?" she asked suddenly, twisting around to look at her sister. "You don't think that's a real name. Do you?"
Something bitter in her tone made the question sound almost accusatory. She didn't mean to. This was Seele, of *course* she'd believed her, she always believed her even when she was joking around. But–
"...it's not?"
Seele's tone was surprised. Then, after a moment:
"I'm sorry."
Seele held her even more tightly, hard enough that Vel thought she could hear her bones creaking.
"No," she whispered, unsure what to do next. "It's not."
"Sorry, sis..."
The two of them stood there a while longer. Finally Seele let up on her hold, gently, then stepped back. She looked away from her twin, at the diary table.
"You're right about one thing," she murmured. "It's scary. I'm terrified of what might happen to us here. What might happen to my family. But, Vel–" She gave a short laugh, more a bark than genuine laughter. "Sorry. Where did you get that name from anyway? If it's okay for me to ask."
Her sister was... really such an idiot. She took a moment to compose herself, then sighed.
"One of Liliya's books," she said. "I snuck out to read it one night, when we were around eleven. She had tons of books of fairy tales, and there were some really good ones with a goddess of death named Veliona. I liked the idea of being like her, you know? She sounded cool. So, I decided to make up a character that would be just like her.
"It was fun, but–"
She trailed off, pictures flying through her head.
"Nothing bad." She shook her head. "Chains, claws and darkness are a lot cooler when there isn't anyone around to comment on them. I'm imagining Roza's reaction. That's all.
"Anyway. I started thinking, if I was some sort of underworld goddess then I wouldn't care that I didn't have a body of my own. I'd be all aloof, and I could swoop in to help you at the last second, and..."
She was crying again, now.
"So... so I made myself a little bit like her."
That was a lie. It had never been a conscious decision, but there were a few things that had happened—a couple of events—that had driven it home. The way her sister had reacted, in retrospect, made her think it was a bad idea.
Like the day Seele was kidnapped by slavers. She couldn't remember, right now, if that had been before or after. She'd been so angry—so furious! —at her helplessness at the time, that she hadn't even noticed how much more vulnerable Seele had been than herself. How scared she'd been of her appearance. She'd realised afterwards, of course, and that killed any notion of introducing herself like a normal person. Not that she would likely have succeeded, but she hadn't even tried.
It had changed everything. When she was Veliona she felt... safe. More powerful. Stronger.
She didn't understand Seele. She hadn't known how to talk to her, then. And she still wasn't very good at it. But if she was just going to be a guardian, then it didn't matter.
"It worked," she said, sniffling. "Even when it started to feel wrong, it still worked. It's all because of you that–"
She stopped abruptly, and turned away. Seele was silent. She reached over, took her hand. Squeezed gently.
"Vel... no, I shouldn't call you that. Who do you want to be? What kind of a girl?"
There were lots of answers she could give. But, eventually:
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Just–"
She hesitated, then said, softly, "I guess I just want to be a little more like you. A little less alone."
Seele's eyes widened in surprise. Vel sighed; she didn't mean to say that, but it came out anyway. Seele squeezed her hand once, then let go.
"You're not alone," Seele whispered. "Not ever. You'll always have me. And Roza likes you, I can tell. Liliya…" She laughed. "Liliya would hug a Honkai beast right now, I think, but she likes you as well."
She smiled at the words, and saw Seele smile back.
"I'm sorry I was always so cold with you," Veliona said. Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. She struggled to keep her emotions under control. She wasn't used to having them, or feeling them... she wasn't used to a lot of things that had been happening lately.
"You deserved a friend who was nicer to you. A sister. Someone to love. I couldn't be that, and I was scared of trying."
Seele nodded slowly.
"Vel..." she began, then paused. "...you're my twin. And I wasn't always the nicest either. You have nothing to apologise for.
"...I'm sorry," she continued. "For lost time." She looked at her hands, and swallowed. "I didn't mean to hurt you, either. I was scared."
"That makes two of us, Seele," Vel replied. She smiled, weakly. "Sorry, I'm not very good at this."
"It's okay. Just... it was nice to hear you say that."
They stood there a while longer.
"Vel," Seele murmured, after another moment. "When you figure it out. I want to know what your name is; I really do." She hesitated. "If I can help you, you know I will. I promise I won't let you go, but I need you to tell me if there's anything else I should know about you. Anything at all. Please...?"
She was begging. It was so like Seele that Vel found herself smiling, despite everything. She stepped forward and hugged her. She'd never get tired of that sensation.
"With a cute little sister like this, how could I say no? Besides... it's good practice."
= = =
It didn't solve everything. Even as you held Vel in your arms—your strong, brave, capable big sister—she was still, blatantly, uncomfortable in her own skin.
None of that fear had been from physical danger, at least to herself.
Worrying she'd seen the future? You wished you could say for sure that that was impossible. But that wasn't really it, either. Your sister wasn't afraid because of what she thought might happen; she was afraid because, until now, she'd never had this much to lose.
She was scared that she wouldn't be able to protect everyone. That she would fail.
And...
What if she did? What if their opponents were too great, and she couldn't stop them? Would that make her a failure?
'No', you decided. It did not. Fail or succeed, at least you'd tried. You loved Vel and Roza, Liliya and Kiana, and Bronya... all of them, each in their own way. Whatever happened from now on, even though they'd failed, none of them were failures.
But there was one last thing you could do to help. You knew that, now. And you wanted her to be happy.
"One more thing, sis," you said, softly. "Something I've been thinking about. About this situation. What you said... 'Why did we think we can survive, when all of reality is dead?'"
You'd been wondering that yourself, but not in the same way. At first you'd been too busy, and then, well, 'all of reality'? That was just wrong.
Which was why you had an answer, finally. The truth.
"So reality is dead," you said. "So what? What does it matter if we're wandering a graveyard? You're here, I'm here, our family... We're all here. All of us are alive and together. Why would that change if the rest of it's gone?"
Vel was quiet for a long time before replying.
"Because," she said, slowly. "We're all alone."
You shook your head.
"I only cared about the world because all of us lived there. Bronya's here! She's still alive. Theresa's here. Kiana's here. Einstein's here. Everyone we cared about—everyone who mattered to me, everyone I loved, who was still alive... they're all here. If it was just me, or you, or even Lili... then maybe I couldn't have accepted being alone. But we're all here, and if the universe is dead, if we're all alive we can hope to make a new one. To rebuild what was lost."
"And you want to do that," she whispered. "It's absurd. Unreasonable. I can't believe you'd be so naive."
You shrugged.
"Wasn't I always? It doesn't matter, anyway. Maybe it's callous, but I've got everyone I care about, right here. What about you? Do you have anyone?"
She hesitated. Then she smiled. You could see the effort behind it, but you were glad to know that, at least, you'd made her smile.
"You, Bronya, Roza and Lili," she replied. "I... I don't know. My family, I suppose. I guess..."
She trailed off. You waited patiently. She took a deep breath.
"It's not fair," she muttered. "That I'm finally getting to live, just as everything else dies. There has to be something we can do. Something to fix it."
Better. You squeezed her again, eliciting a yelp.
"There is," you said firmly. "There are still bubble universes, stable ones even, and with Kiana, Bronya, and the two of us maybe we can find some way to build something new. I don't want to give up. And neither do you. So let's figure out how to do that."
She nodded. She'd stopped crying by now, but her eyes were wet. You hugged her tightly.
"It's going to be okay," you said, quietly. "This is just a bad patch. Things will get better."
"The entire universe is dead," she said, half-laughing. "Things could hardly get worse than this, could they?"
You laughed too.
= = =
You stepped out of the stigmata, and the world changed in an instant. The checkerboard floor of your soul gave way, replaced by... what? Nothingness, perhaps?
A vast ocean of pure, colourless nothingness, stretching into infinity. Shards of realities, ways of being that had been shattered and ground to dust too fine to be seen, littering its surface. Vast, temporarily coherent bubbles studded the sea like soap froth on water. Each one was unique, each one different from any other, each one containing...
A world.
They were always there, hanging in the void. Between reality and oblivion, between the imaginary tree and an abyss too deep for even quantum shadows to survive, falling forever. Inscrutable, inaccessible, but always visible. You hung in the middle of it all. A butterfly slowly flapping its wings.
A few more beats of that, a little harder, and you could fly away. If you didn't mind leaving everything behind.
"Seele?" Veliona whispered. "Get a grip."
You shook yourself. "Sorry," you said. "I was just..."
And then there was the dragon. No, the Dragon. No lesser word would do justice to the being that hovered before you.
It was massive, larger than the world it had wrapped itself around, and it had no real shape. Just a vague suggestion of where it should be, a faint outline, a shadow.
Vel had called it a 'snake', but you'd seen dragons like this when you were exploring the city around St. Freyja's with Kiana. Statues, of course. They were everywhere in the old capital, which was a little odd.
"I think they're supposed to bring luck, or something," Kiana had said.
They were also somewhat smaller.
"Vel," you asked, very carefully, so as to lessen the chance of being eaten. "Why is there a dragon this size here? Why wasn't this the first thing you mentioned?"
She blinked, then looked at the dragon. "Well... I mean..."
This was not going well.
"They wouldn't hurt us," Veliona said. She frowned. "I don't know how I know that. But it's true."
The dragon rumbled, starting to shift its weight now it had noticed your attention. Every one of its scales was the size of continents, and glittered in the darkness. It was beautiful. It—they, if you could believe your sister—was absolutely breathtaking, if also breathtakingly intimidating.
"We're safe," Vel repeated. "I'm sure of that. You don't need to worry. I know what I'm doing."
You exchanged a look with your twin. She nodded slightly, and turned back to the dragon.
'And what... are you doing, exactly?' you thought, but didn't say, as the dragon wrapped itself around you and Vel both. You felt a strange warmth, like being cocooned by a giant blanket of warmy, fluffy air.
"It'll be okay," she said, sounding much more confident than you felt. "Trust me."
You took a breath.
"Okay," you said. "I trust you, sis. I really do."
The dragon let out a rumble of agreement and shifted its position, wrapping you in a tighter embrace. You could feel its essence through your skin, such as it was; it tasted of lightning and thunder and the scent of a thousand worlds. You had never once in your life been this close to a quantum shadow, let alone one that could, you were certain, squash you like a grape. But it seemed to have no intent of doing so. Instead it—shifted, gently almost—and stroked your face with the tip of its tail.
"Um," Vel said slowly. "Well, that's... I'm not sure. I think they're happy I'm back."
She sounded uncertain. The dragon huffed, and you felt a wave of emotion wash over you, like the ocean on a hot day. Your senses swam, and your head spun.
"You okay?"
There was another rumble from the beast. A gentle nuzzle against your cheek, and then...
The world went black.
= = =
"Race you to the cinema!" Roz shouted, as she and her sister dashed across the yard.
You laughed, matching them stride for stride. The young girl was one of your brother's very best friends, but she was starting to grow on you. Like a fungus, or something similar.
"Don't push yourself too hard," Bronya admonished, watching you run. "We've got plenty of time."
She was right, of course. More importantly, you had to be careful. That's what the odd doctors had said… that, and how odd it was that you'd survived. That you'd been caught in an eruption zone, and lived to speak of it. You hadn't yet decided what to do about it.
(This isn't a good idea...)
"I'm fine," you assured them, waving off their concern. "Just a little tired."
It wasn't entirely true, but it would do for now.
(I want to go back.)
"Maybe we should slow down," Liliya said.
"I'm alright," you said again, more firmly. "No slowing down."
(But I think I'm going to be sick...!)
"Alright then," Roz said. "C'mon, Seele! Let's go see the movie already! Bron, race me."
The dream solidified, and you were suddenly heaving for breath with your hands on your knees. The two girls stood there, looking at you expectantly.
"Sorry," you gasped. "I... I think I need a moment..."
"Sure," Roz said, rumbling. "Bronya?"
"Oh, you're on," Bronya replied. They were both faster than you—you had to admit that. You couldn't keep up with either of them, and you weren't going to push it. Instead you smiled, watching Bronya's mischievous side flare to life as she grinned like a cat.
"On three," she said. "One. Two–"
And she was off, leaving Roz shouting about cheaters and running after her. You watched the two girls sprint away, laughing, before turning to Liliya. She was still standing there. Looking at you.
"What?" you asked.
"I'm just worried about you," the usually cheerful girl said quietly. "You haven't been yourself lately."
"I know," you sighed. "I'm sorry, Lils. I... I guess I needed to get my thoughts in order. What Fire Moth told me... what I saw..."
She looked concerned.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm... better. I'll tell you all about it later," you promised. "Let's just go see the movie. We have to be back by dinner, anyway."
You could see her relax a bit. She gave you a smile and nodded.
"Okay."
= = =
You did not bend in half, hyperventilating from the shock. You did not have a waist to bend, and you did not faint, though you felt your nonexistent heart pounding in your chest like it was going to burst out and explode into confetti. Your wings, normally the same, deep-sea blue as your eyes, faded to a dull grey from pure fright. What–
The Dragon. Of course.
Before there was time to do anything at all, said dragon reacted. It curled itself around you further, almost crushing you with its immense weight and warmth. You could feel every scale on your body, each one as soft as a feather. And then, before you could begin to think about this—or wonder why Vel was doing nothing—
It purred, like a cat desperate not to be left alone.
You tried to breathe, but the dragon held you in place, pressing itself against you.
"Seele," you heard. "You okay? What was that?"
The dragon rumbled softly. You could feel its thoughts, and they were confused. Disjointed, even. As if it couldn't quite remember how to be a dragon.
"I... I don't know," you replied. "It was..."
"A day at the cinema?" she asked.
"Yes!" you said. "That's it! That's what happened, because—"
You stopped, suddenly realizing the implications of your words.
"Wait," you whispered. "Vel... we both saw the same thing?"
She nodded.
"And those weren't our Roza and Liliya," you said. "And I don't have a little brother. I... I don't think I have a little brother. Because we were orphaned when I was, maybe, five. That wasn't…"
You frowned, as another aspect of the 'dream' came to mind.
"I was hurt," you said. "Subcritical honkai infection. Like Liliya had, except with far worse treatment. Only that's not possible, is it? My honkai resistance is the next best thing to infinite. It couldn't happen."
The dragon didn't respond.
It occurred to you that the resistance was the only reason you'd survived, when your parents hadn't.
"But... Bronya was worried about me. Liliya was worried about me." And in the dream she'd looked both healthier and taller. Tail-less and horn-less. She'd been more confident, too. In a quiet way, not the over-the-top Roza way, but still.
Vel absently petted the dragon, stroking it with her hand. You felt something inside you shift, like a rock had fallen somewhere deep down. The dream hadn't been about you—it couldn't be. But Vel's reactions, whether she knew it or not...
"What does that mean?" you murmured.
You looked back at the endless expanse of infinite possibilities, and wondered how many of them could possibly be this absurd. How much of the multiverse was actually sane? In what fraction of worlds did your sister not—repeat, not—bring you a dragon-snake, claiming it had followed her home?
When was she ever this happy?
"You're smiling," you observed.
"I am?" she said, sounding surprised. "Oh. I guess I am."
You reached to touch the dragon. It rumbled at your presence, but otherwise ignored you. You took a deep breath.
"So," you said, "this is the part where you tell me what we're going to do next."
"Yeah," Vel replied, her voice soft.
"Sis..." you started.
"I know," she said, looking at the snake-dragon. "I couldn't make out what they were saying, when they said it. I don't know why. Now? It's perfectly clear. That dream? That was a happy memory."
She smiled, but there was something wistful in her expression.
"It feels like I'm dreaming, even now," she said. "Like I'll wake up, and they won't be there anymore. Do you think that's possible, Seele? Could we really lose each other?"
You shook your head. You could feel the world shifting around you, like the planet was tilting on its axis.
"No," you replied. "No, I don't think that's likely to happen. Not after all this."
You reached out again, and touched the dragon. Its scales felt like satin under your fingers, warm as a summer breeze. Like a cool winter's night, when you'd just stepped outside, and it was so cold, but there was nothing else in the whole wide world to be doing. Like cherries and pastries and mischief and, oh god, you thought you might have figured this thing out. You very much wished you hadn't, and you didn't understand the 'how', but some things stuck out.
Like Fire Moth, and... oh no.
"Vel," you said, looking your sister in the eye—as much as you could, in this place.
= = =
[ ] Do you know what your name is?
[ ] Do you know who's come to find you?
[ ] So this is the part where you tell me what you want to do next. Seriously.
[ ] Write-in
Long overdue, but here's a chapter. I'll be working on the Liliya/Rozaliya part of this while you cope with… well, with a dragon. Good luck with the dragon.
I'd say it's a pity that AI Dungeon died, and I suppose this would have been finished sooner if it hadn't, but since NovelAI outclasses it in just about every aspect (which I care about), I don't think I mind. Long-term viability not least among them. Here's hoping for stability from now on. And maybe a little higher writing quality? I'm not having to fight the AI on that front so much anymore.
So… you may have noticed I switched from a mixture of second person present / third person past tense, to 100% past tense. I never wanted to use present tense in the first place—that was because of a limitation in AI Dungeon—so that's staying. I'll go back and fix up the earlier chapters as soon as I can find some round tuits.
One of the in-development features of NovelAI is the ability to fine-tune a model based on player-supplied data. It goes without saying, once that's released, I'm going to experiment with doing so on Seele Quest, which should in principle provide proper long-term memory. However, GIGO still applies. I'll need to bring everything up to spec before I can try that.
Anyway…
No. There's no 'anyway'. This update was a long time coming, in multiple meanings of the term. Veliona's character arc is, at least for now, coming to an end. Let's make the best of it.
Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Jul 16, 2021 at 4:17 PM, finished with 31 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Step back from the precipice. This is new, and we're safe-ish now at the least. We don't have to rush this worrying about what might happen if we wait. So let's get to know this dragon of yours/ours and see where it takes us. I'll be right here for you, all the way to the end, and whatever we make afterwards.
-[X] Apologise to the snake properly. Like you meant to days ago.
[x] Do something about the giant snake threat by figuring out what it's trying to do, with a cautious approach, starting with an apology from Seele
- [x] Sort out thoughts on the dream
- [x] Have Vel try to nudge the snake not to destroy this world
I can't say that I'm well acquainted with quantum physics subjects or most of the terms used in this quest, so it does feel fairly foreign at times. The explanation definitely helps.
But I do have to question the nature of stigmatas and if all of them are functionally the same. The artificial ones from the current era seem to pale in comparison to whatever Dr MEI was working on in the previous era. Shicksal made artificial ones for their valkyries, but they're not the same as the "natural" ones that weren't implanted after. At least, what I got from it. In this universe, it's a bit different from canon, so im wondering at least this universe functions of stigmata.
Example:
CE Mei has a natural stigmata, but later fused with the herrscher personality, whatever that means. Also her father "sealed" the stigmata. Again, no clue what that entails.
Theresa has a stigmata she inherited , and Sakura is still within her.
Mira Rimmer, that sculptor from the theater of domination arc. Coming from someone who sculpts honkai beasts, it's really ominous. Maybe HoL's influence gave her some insight into the will of the honkai, aside from her continuous mental health decline into a hive-mind puppet.
The function of the stigmata isn't supposed to be different from canon. However, canon isn't explicit on this, so it ought to be fair for me to explain how I see it. There may be misunderstandings or inaccuracies, and there will probably be differences from canon once they get around to explaining it.
= = =
Dr. Mei was perhaps the foremost genius the world has ever seen. Over the few years of the Honkai War, she not only found ways to fight back against an extra-universal plague; she even discovered how it works, and learned to exploit it to their own ends.
At first this meant bulk hardware. Honkai reactors, Honkai lasers and so forth; exploits of the underlying physics which gave their civilization limitless power, anti-gravity, man-portable weapons capable of cracking a low-level Herrscher's defences, and so much more. This on its own would have cemented her place in history, had there been a history. It was enough to let them survive the start of the war, but not enough to handle its escalation, so Mei kept going.
So... Honkai reactors are relatively simple systems, which merely exploit the Honkai's tendency to grow, as a power source. It might not be exceptionally safe, but they don't require the ability to make or even control the Honkai.
Honkai Beasts themselves regenerate with no visible source of mass or energy. They're sturdier than any regular material object, and they can sometimes control the Honkai itself as a form of attack. It doesn't destroy them, as it destroys everything else; quite the opposite. Replicating this was clearly... useful.
Mei found a way to fake the control systems used by Honkai Beasts to steer the assemblage of quantum-level "cells" which they're made up of, and in the process she discovered that Honkai is, genuinely, alive. The Beasts don't "control" it so much as they're made of it, as multicellular forms of life, though the visible beasts are silicon-based puppets.
This led to MANTIS, once she'd found a way to steer the regeneration such that the constant Honkai radiation didn't kill the user. Later, the same technology was used to create Roza and Liliya—though the Grey Serpent lacked the ability to fully recreate the process, and was hobbled by Cocolia's demand that the twins had to survive.
Later yet, she gained an understanding of the physics underlying the Honkai—the fragmentary, broken shards of reality that make up the Quantum Sea, and which combine to form a new sort of meta-reality—and was able to design biotechnology which could bootstrap a form of machinery running directly on those physics, with no Honkai involved at all. Nanotechnology, to the Honkai's biology.
It was programmed to form a stable bubble in the quantum sea, construct computing machinery inside that bubble, and then snapshot the user's body to achieve full regeneration. Since this simply means restoring it to a previous state, brain included, by default it would cause full anterograde amnesia; to avoid this, one of the first actions the stigmata takes is to flash-upload the user's minfd onto the same computers running the rest of its functionality.
After this is done, you should then in principle have someone with near-absolute Honkai resistance, an indefinite lifespan, and even a degree of built-in weaponry. Which, combined with their ability to run away even from reality (if necessary), should have allowed humanity to survive despite what she saw as the probable destruction of that reality. She was right, though it took longer than expected.
Unfortunately the stigmata project mostly failed to work. She was left with one unsolved problem at the end—she needed a functional AGI to run it, and that technology didn't exist. So…
Like she'd done to create Prometheus, a few months earlier, she used a human mind as the raw material. Specifically, that of the Herrscher of Death; an acceptable target, and one which should have fit the task.
It still didn't work, as Seele can be quite spiteful if pushed that far. Dr. Mei had to chop out so much of her mind that the resulting "AI" mostly failed to achieve its purpose.
That was, until it activated on this era's Seele Vollerei, and misidentified the two of them as being the same person. The damage that Dr. Mei did to her was, mostly, quietly undone. And the stigmata activated to its fullest extent.
The modern stigmata created by Shicksal are, on the face of it, similar to those built by Dr. Mei. They were designed by reference to her design, using information sourced from her database, and while comparing them to 'natural' stigmata in the development process.
All of that being said, they're still vastly inferior. In part that's sheer pragmatism—natural stigmata kill the majority of the people they activate on, and Shicksal wanted to improve the Honkai resistance and survivability of their own recruits. Killing them would be counter-productive. Kevin's plan would have 'worked', because Kevin wasn't aiming to create soldiers—he was aiming to create civilians who'd have a chance of survival if the soldiers failed. Applying the same procedure to Shicksal's recruits would merely have killed their recruitment efforts.
So, artificial stigmata don't attempt to upload the user; this is the step that most usually fails. They don't provide regeneration; without the upload step, the stigmatas' form of regeneration would be worse than useless. They don't provide an armory of previous-era weaponry, because... most likely, it fails to create the attached bubble universe at all. It seems like a process that, if it goes even slightly wrong, would definitely kill the host as well. Which would on the flip side imply there's nowhere near enough computing power left to run any of the more advanced systems, such as Seele the 'AI'.
What's left is, as @ShadowAngelBeta said, basic enhancements. Increased honkai resistance; increased strength and resilience. Contrasting this to the original design, it's probably just stage one of the stigmata's bootstrap procedure.
They've been improved over time, but they're still not very... well, they're useful, but the resemblance is superficial at best.
= = =
Seele, regardless of which one you think of, has spent a lot of time thinking this through. She was at one point asked by Raven to take a look at Sora, and found that the girl–
Quick digression. Sora (or Kuu; it's been translated two ways) is a girl whom Mei ran into while she was chasing after Kiana. She has a natural stigmata, but she's also got a bad case of retrograde amnesia and, at least at the time, looked somewhat like a zombie. She's not in very good shape. She is, regardless, one of the most capable kids in the story.
Not in a combative way, like Roza and Liliya were back then—she's about two years younger than our favourite twins. Raven has taken in a lot of children, all of whom are on the Hyperion at present, and Sora is the undisputed leader of the group. Mei found her pleasant company, if a little too brave for someone with no apparent ability to survive a conflict.
Sora, however, does not appear to be recognized by honkai beasts as an enemy.
Anyhow. Seele was asked to take a look at her, because Seele at this point had been studying under Dr. Einstein for the better part of two years, and everyone knows she has the most advanced stigmata in existence. She's made no secret of it, though she until recently attempted to hide Veliona's existence. This was not exceptionally workable, considering how obvious she can be.
What they found was that Sora's upload had gotten 'stuck'. Her body was suffering from high-level honkai infection, kept in check through continuous regeneration; her memory was poor because her brain kept getting partially reset to what it had been like when she was ten, when the stigmata activated. Since the process never completed, it was never able to shift modes to where it didn't matter.
Veliona was able to 'unstick' it. Seele encouraged her to do so, and Vel didn't bother to mention that she had to copy over a few bits and pieces of herself to make the "AI" in Sora's stigmata stop crashing. It subsequently finished bootstrapping.
Meanwhile, on the Hyperion, Sora was having a hard time.
She'd be the last to tell you so. Her entire life, as far back as she could remember, had always been a story of things getting better. She'd started as an amnesiac, crippled child in the ruins of Nagazora, and now...
Now, she was a healthy teenager. Now, people depended on her. Her siblings first and foremost, but even her mom. They needed her. Which was why she wasn't allowed to run away. Especially from the one that was inside her.
Which was probably why she was standing here, in a broken-down corridor on the port side of the Hyperion, lit by emergency lighting and staring at a 'glitch' in reality that would, if anyone were to touch it, probably turn them inside out. A glitch that was invisible to almost everyone else, that only she and Michael could even see, and… but there might be food on the other side. They needed that.
Maybe if she edged around it?
But she'd seen what happened when Ayesha threw a notebook at it. That notebook was not okay.
Michael was smaller, but… but he was only eight. And her little brother. He shouldn't have to—which was the one point mom and her agreed on, there. She'd had to sneak out herself.
"It's not like we have any choice," she said to the air, watching the rippling not-light. "I'm not gonna let them starve."
She gave it a second, waiting for the 'other her' to respond. She got nothing. Sora sighed, closing her eyes and leaning despondently against the wall. She'd have to chance it sometime, but not right now; right now there was someone else who needed her help a lot more. Someone who needed her put-together, not half-panicking and jumpy.
'Hey...' she said in her mind, her voice soft.
Nothing.
"Come on," she whispered, more to herself than anything else. "Just talk to me. Let me help you."
The silence was deafening. Sora thought for a second, drawing on her vast experience as the older sister of eight siblings, then made her way to one of the adjoining offices. There was bound to be some paper, and...
In passing she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. As always, the last few days, it took her by surprise. The clothes she wore were simple–a white blouse with red trim, black pants, and a dark jacket she'd scrounged up from Tesla's bedroom; the crazy lady wasn't around to complain about that. It was an ensemble she'd tried before, but it had never looked this good on her, and it wasn't the clothes that had changed.
Her eyes brightened, catching on her own reflection for a while.
Deep blue eyes; azure like the evening sky, not the pale purple of honkai infection. A healthy complexion. She was actually a little tanned, somehow, despite the utter impossibility of that. Her hair was probably the biggest change—shoulder-length, wavy, and so dark a red it seemed almost black. Even the shape of her face had changed a little. Only a little, but it made her look like a teenager for real.
Sora had no clue what she'd originally looked like, but she'd used to look like a half-dead zombie. Now? She was… she was pretty, and she had her other self to thank for that, though the superficial changes paled in comparison to her newfound energy. It was a good change.
Running in fright from that, coming from a young girl who only wanted to help, and to make it stop hurting, had not been her brightest of moments.
She turned her attention from the reflection back to the task at hand.
"I'm sorry," she told herself. "For what I said."
No response.
Sora continued on into the office. The desk was mostly empty, but there were papers stacked up and scattered around it. There were also two... no. Three corpses, neatly stacked side by side in a corner of the room. One was a woman who appeared to be about twenty, dressed in military fatigues and covered in blood.
The others weren't recognisable. One looked like he'd been chewed on.
She stared at them for a second, then looked away. Paper, paper...
There was a stack on top of a filing cabinet, so she pulled out a handful. She found a pen and started to work. It was rough at best, but she managed to draw a picture of her mom. Raven, herself standing next to her, and all of her siblings off to the side. Then she added a second girl; a slightly younger one, eleven or twelve, between her and her other siblings. She only had the voice to go by, but 'eleven' felt right. After a bit of thought, she gave her the same appearance as herself.
Sora had no idea what her other self should look like, but... wait, that was an idea. This could work.
"Is red the right hair colour?" she asked, into the air. "I don't know if you're supposed to be a redhead like me, or a brunette..."
Finding some markers, she drew a few lines of different colours on her mother's head. The hint of a hood, like Raven usually wore.
"Okay," she said after a moment, making sure to stay upbeat. "And the eyes... is blue okay? Or grey? I'm not sure which you'd prefer. I want to make you as pretty as possible."
She waited, in hope of an answer. This time she got one. In her mind's eye, the 'other' Sora said a single word.
"Blue."
"So... blue, then? The same as mine?" Sora nodded to herself. "Thank you. Thank you for talking to me again. I'd hug you, but..." She pantomimed hugging the air. "Well, if you like hugs. If not, that's fine, but you're family now. I should have led with that, right? It doesn't hurt so much anymore... right? My body's fine now? I'm sorry. I was scared. And, um... yeah. I guess we need to figure out how to fix this."
"...doesn't hurt," the other her said. Her voice was the weak voice of a child, barely audible, but she spoke. So much better than the soft sobs that were all she'd gotten last night.
"That's good," Sora said. "I mean... not great, but it's better than it used to be. We'll get through this. Right? Together."
She hugged herself, pretending she was holding the other girl.
"Right?" she asked.
...
She felt the 'other' nod.
"And I should introduce you to mom, and Ayesha, and... everyone. I need to tell them we've got another sister. I wish there was some way they could see you. And... and, well, maybe... maybe I shouldn't say anything, but, uh... I think we have to tell Theresa. When we find her. Oh, I can't wait to introduce you to Mei. She's the nicest–"
She broke off abruptly.
"Am I overwhelming you?" Sora asked. "Because that's been kind of a problem. Since everything stopped hurting, actually... and I just realized, I haven't introduced myself to you yet. My name is—"
"Sora." The other girl's voice was a little stronger now, and a little less scared. "I'm... I'm... I don't remember. I'm sorry."
"No, no," she said quickly. "It's all right. You don't have to worry about it. But... I really am sorry. I know what it's like, not to remember. To hurt, and not even be able to talk. I'm going to do my best to help you feel better, and... hey, I know that sounds weird, but I promise to try."
She looked down at the paper in her hands. The picture was almost done. She'd add a few more details, then...
"Hey," she said softly. "You're still here, aren't you?"
The 'other' Sora nodded. She felt her curiosity as a warm glow, and smiled.
"I'm glad to hear that," she said. "I won't ever let you be alone again."
= = =
I was unsure if I wanted to post this at all. Sora, here, does not come across quite as how I see her; she's normally more confident, even when she has little reason for that. She's also, well, less like Seele. Though a lot of that is just circumstance.
I posted it anyway, because while this is just a side-story, in the end it's something that's happening. The above takes place at the same time as the current chapter, or a little before, and since Sora came up earlier I thought we might check in on her. Just take it as the side-story it is. If she comes up again, you'll get a more rounded look at her at that time.
Raven is doomed to always have rebellious children.
In a different reality, she had Bronie. An alternate version of Bronya, whose parenting by Raven, (and little sister-ing by a Teri,) caused her to become a far more confident, louder, and overall riskier person than the canon Bronya. They drove each other to madness.
In this one? She has a flock of orphans she's adopted, all of which are fairly self-sufficient, and all of which wouldn't think to break her commands. Right.
The one she's closest with is probably Sora, who not coincidentally is also the oldest. When she first showed up in canon it was as a half-dead eleven-or-so-year-old, who nevertheless was the undisputed leader of the group, Raven being away a lot. Sora suffered from end-stage, fatal levels of Honkai infection, which was held in check by—
Every single one of these children has a natural stigmata. None of them work quite correctly, but these are the "successes" Kevin was looking for. It goes without saying, perhaps, but if a process kills 99% of a group of people, then most of the remaining 1% won't be in much better health. Sora wasn't at risk of dying, but she was dependent on a continuous intravenous drip of… something. In this story, it was painkillers.
She also had total retrograde amnesia, triggered when the stigmata activated. Seele was wrong about why Vel might not remember her past, but if she'd said the same about Sora, she'd be perfectly correct.
Veliona got to her, and she feels much better now.
Sora was always a quiet child, but it's actually fairly unusual for children to be that quiet without there being some fixable reason behind it. In the year or so she's lived on the Hyperion, together with Raven, they've gotten closer—and so now Sora feels confident enough to not always follow her orders.
Raven is objectively a great mother. She's not just someone who can bring up a child to be a capable, confident person; she's someone who can do that with children who started out damaged. That is, as always, far harder. We don't need to look further than Cocolia for how that can go wrong.
She's a great mother… but she's also searching frantically for Sora right now.
Did there? Did there have to be a solution? There did, right?
Roza was now stuck in a room with thirteen dying people, her dearly beloved sister, and until thirty seconds ago the young boy who happened to be the son of one of those people, and was about to become an orphan. It said something horrible about her life, she guessed, that this wasn't even the first time she'd gone through this exact situation. She'd been somewhere very similar, in a similar situation, when she was thirteen. Then again at fourteen, trying to help with the evacuation of Hokkaido. Killing zombies, mostly. Then a few more times at fifteen, and more than once she'd gotten cursed at.
It blurred together, but every other field hospital had at least had modern technology. Not much to work with, but... there had been doctors, too, and people to explain why she did it. She hadn't needed to be the doctor!
She looked down at Linda, and wondered what to do.
The boy had been looking at his dying mother, eyes wide as he took the scene in. And it sucked that it wasn't the first time for that scene, either. He probably didn't understand how bad things had gotten, but Roza had seen women like this one before. Purple lines criss-crossing their faces, the veins bulging under the skin. Their lungs filling up with fluid, or turning into undifferentiated silicon—those were the lucky ones, the ones who didn't become zombies. The unlucky ones… well, that had been the reason she was there.
"Liliya," she said, her voice wavering. "We have to get her out of here. We need to take her..." She trailed off, because her twin looked at her.
No. Liliya shook her head. No. There was no way they could move this woman. They couldn't. They just couldn't. She'd die halfway through the door.
"There has to be–"
"Roza-idiotka." The words lacked any of their usual energy, and there was a distinct lack of anger in them; instead, she sounded tired.
"Vel–"
"You think she's a herrscher?"
She didn't. Roza shook her head; she didn't want to ask her new sister something like that. Vel somehow still felt like the one who could always fix things—that had been her role in their group, for years. It was hard to connect those memories to the barely functional girl she'd finally met just a few days ago.
"I don't know. I just–" She paused, and sighed softly. "This is our fault."
"Why? Seele's the one who said…"
Liliya didn't even try to finish that sentence, because Roza knew that Lili knew exactly what her sister was going to say. Seele might not have offered to help if it hadn't been for the two of them, and from a rational, cold-hearted perspective…
No, Rozaliya knew. Seele would have offered to help the children regardless. It was still partly their fault, though. She'd known it would be bad, but she hadn't known how bad, and that had led to all of this. And now…
Think, Roza. Think!
She felt Lili's cool, but strong and healthy fingers intertwine with hers, and as she'd done so many times before, she squeezed back.
And then, as she'd also done so many times before, she asked herself—what would Lili do?
What would you do, Liliya? What would you do? If you didn't have me in the way?
"We can't move her," she said. "It'll kill her to try. We can't get her back to the ship, and if we could, there's no-one there who can help. Maybe Kiana?"
A fleeting thought of how quickly the other girl healed, and how that was probably some sort of herrscher power, and Sirin—Roza put the dots together, and she saw Lili make the same connection just as fast, so she didn't bother saying anything.
"But she's not at the gate-thingy," she continued. "We'd need big sis' help just to get to her. And even then…" She trailed off again, because she honestly wasn't sure. Kiana might not be able to help.
"You're right. We can't move her. But there has to be something else." She looked down at Linda, who was staring up into the ceiling, and shuddered.
"I've got an idea," Roza said slowly. "It's a bit risky, but it'll give her a final chance to speak with her children. And maybe, after doing that, we can try to save her."
Lili looked at Roza as she spoke, and nodded, slowly. Then, she turned to look down at the woman, who was still staring upwards.
"We will do our best," she said, in a soft voice. "I promise you this."
Then she leaned over, and kissed Linda on the forehead.
= = =
Ruby wasn't hard to find. She was in the middle of a crowd; a group of people working on the village's defences. Where she'd found this number of able-bodied men in a village on the brink of death from starvation, Roza wasn't sure she wanted to know. She was also shouting, gesticulating wildly, and generally making a lot of noise.
This was typical of her, as far as Roza could recall; the few times they'd met they'd gotten along like a house on fire, but it was the sort of 'getting along' that emerged from Ruby being, in Roza's learned opinion, a child. Roza, unlike Fu Hua, knew how to handle children. Except Ruby was currently being useful, which–
"Roza! Lili!" Ruby shouted, from in the middle of a crowd. "Help us lever this rock into place."
Which wasn't normal.
Ruby pointed at a giant boulder Carole and a group of boys were trying to move, with marginal success. Carole seemed to be doing most of the work, sweating profusely, but the others did their best. The white-haired girl was clearly exhausted, and Roza felt a pang of sympathy for her.
"I'm coming," she called back, and started walking towards them. "Liliya? Can you help?"
She looked to her right, but didn't get a response. Liliya was already there, looking at the stone.
Roza felt her heart skip a beat. Once again she found herself thinking how unreasonably nimble and eager to move her sister had gotten. Once again it took her a moment to remember that, yes, this was reality now. Lili wasn't sick anymore.
The rock moved slightly, and Roza stepped forward, ready to lend a hand. She reached out…
And stopped. Lili was handling it easily on her own, tail wedged into the ground for extra leverage. She smiled exuberantly, and looked back at Roza as she stood there with her hands held intertwined behind her neck.
"Hiya, Roza."
The animation in Liliya's voice made it sound just like her own. The broad smile… well, they were twins, but how long had it been since she'd seen this much of that expression?
"Hiya, Lili." Roza laughed, and gave her a hug. The same pose, from behind, that Lili usually used to greet her. "Can you take it from here?"
Lili nodded happily, pushing a little harder against the boulder. Roza, draped over her back, could feel her muscles pushing—but there was none of the tension or fatigue she'd usually have expected. Lili's body just seemed to flow through her motions, as if she'd done this hundreds of times before.
"Thanks," Lili said, when the rock had finally been levered into position.
Roza blinked. "You're welcome."
"For what?" Lili asked, innocently.
"Uh..." She desperately looked at Rubia for help, but the older woman was busy talking to someone else. Her twin's eyes sparkled mischievously; she was enjoying this way too much. "I don't know, I guess… um… being unhelpful?"
"Oh, that's so unfair!" Lili said, bursting into laughter. "Seele would have stuttered and made at least three false starts. You're not nearly as bad as she is."
"Um, uh, thanks," Roza said. "I mean—"
Lili looked up, and suddenly she was serious again. "No, thank you. This isn't your fault, but… the whole situation had me feeling helpless. And I was never good at letting people do things for me."
Roza's throat closed up. "Well, okay then," she said, awkwardly. "But, uh... don't let anyone tell you to change, all right?"
Lili's grin was wide and genuine. "Okay! I won't."
"Good." Roza grinned back.
Then they both turned to look at Ruby, who was staring at them with an odd expression on her face. It looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words.
"Ruby? What's wrong?" Roza asked.
"I'm trying to remember," she said, frowning. "Were you two always this similar?"
Roza looked at Lili, and was about to answer, when her sister spoke instead.
"Not really," she said. "Who wants to be confused for their twin sister, right?" She smiled. "It's a lot easier to play the straight man, anyway."
"Huh." Ruby was still looking at them. Roza frowned.
"What? Do we seem weird to you now?" she asked.
"I'm just trying to figure out how you did it," Ruby explained. "You guys are like one person, but at the same time... different? You feel doubled up. I've never felt anything like it."
Roza had no idea how to respond. She'd been worried that something like this might happen; 'something like', because she hadn't had any specific expectations. But hearing the Herrscher of Sentience sound puzzled made her worry that maybe, just maybe, they were in trouble.
"I think... I need a drink," Lili said quietly. "Is there a tavern here?" Ruby nodded. "Great. Do they serve twelve-year-olds?"
Roza swatted her sister.
"You kids…" Ruby sounded alarmed now. "Are you going to be alright?"
"We'll manage," Lili assured her. "We've got a plan."
She reached out and squeezed Roza's hand.
"It's a terrible plan." Roza laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. It was more of a nervous chuckle.
"That's why it will work," Lili said, firmly. "Sorry, Rubes. It's a biology thing, so I don't think there's much you can do. If it's any help, Seele and Theresa already know. We'll be okay for now."
Ruby looked at her, and sighed. Then she nodded. "All right. What's the other reason you came here?"
She didn't speak, not for a long moment.
"…Not a happy one," Ruby concluded. "You want something from me."
Lili's smile was sad. "Yes." She looked at Ruby. "I'm sorry, but we don't have much time. Can you come with us?"
"…The girl from Taixuan," Ruby murmured. "So that's where we're at."
Roza swallowed.
"Yeah." Lili looked up at Ruby. "I'm sorry. I know this is a bad situation. You don't deserve it, but..."
She shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant." She paused, and looked at Lili. "If anything… This is my village. I don't think you have to apologize."
Lili smiled. "Thank you."
"I'll help you see them off," Ruby said, softly. "But I'm afraid it won't change anything. I'm surprised, though. You've grown up."
"There's nothing I could do anyway," Roza muttered.
Ruby looked at her.
"I'm serious."
"I know you are," Ruby said. "I just wish... I wish you didn't always have to be the strong one."
Roza blinked, and Lili looked away quickly.
"We all need someone who's stronger than we are sometimes," Ruby continued. "It's hard to admit that, but you'd be amazed how often it happens. The world isn't fair. Sometimes…" She shrugged. "I'm happy to be that person, for now."
"I appreciate the sentiment," Roza said, quietly. "And it's nice to hear you say it. But... it's not so much a problem anymore."
"More of your biology thing?" Ruby asked, sounding worried again.
"Nothing bad," Lili said. "We just had a talk." She looked up. "Can we go, please?"
Ruby nodded.
= = =
As the Herrscher of Sentience, Ruby had comprehensive control over thoughts. If she'd been less of a sweetheart, it could have been a problem; as it was, it let her pull people into dreamscapes that followed her exact specifics. In combat, that made her a nightmare.
In this case, though...
The girl from Taixuan had been a young child, ten or so years old, whom Ruby had run into while fleeing from herself at the start of her life. She'd told Roza about her late one night, after Fu Hua had failed to stop her getting at the vodka. She'd said Lili reminded her of the girl, which Rozaliya doubted could be true—but the point was, Ruby had shown her one last beautiful dream while she lay dying from Honkai infection.
The reason for that infection had been Ruby herself, and that was why she'd spent the night tearfully berating herself to a fifteen year old girl, outrageously drunk. Roza had listened, silently, until the end.
And that was how she knew to ask Ruby for help.
Roza and Liliya stood, or maybe 'stood' was a better term, in the center of the village square. It was early morning; the dawn sun wasn't yet high enough for anyone to be awake. There were a few wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys on either side. Linda was there, too, sitting beside Ruby a short distance away. She looked up at Roza, then turned her gaze back to the ground.
The young mother looked perfectly healthy, though this was only true in the illusion. She'd lost consciousness not long before Ruby left with Lili and Roza, and hadn't regained it outside this dreamscape.
"Hey," Ruby said softly. "I'm sorry."
Linda looked up at Ruby. For a moment, it seemed like she might cry. Then she nodded.
"You have nothing to apologise for," she said. "Did you find what you were looking for? You and Einstein?" She glanced at the twins. "Your friends are a little stranger than we'd thought, though I don't know why I should be surprised."
Lili smiled sadly.
Ruby sighed. "We did, maybe. It doesn't matter. Einstein's kid came to find us instead." She reached out and took Linda's hand. "There's someone here to see you."
From Linda's perspective, Pip and Annie stepped out from behind Ruby. From Rozaliya's, she could see they hadn't been there at all until just now. They both looked tired but otherwise fine. Annie was holding her brother's hand, staring wide-eyed at the scene.
"Mom!" she said excitedly. "Are you okay?"
Roza looked down. Lili squeezed her hand.
"Dearest heart..." Linda kneeled in front of them, a heartbreaking smile spreading across her face.
She hugged the children tightly.
"I love you so much," she whispered. "Thank the heavens you're safe. I didn't think... but you know how it is. You have to go when you have to go."
Ruby watched, tears streaming down her cheeks now. She was still smiling, though.
The scene wavered, like they were underwater and the water was rippling. Roza blinked, surprised.
"Do you have anything to tell them?" Ruby asked gently.
And the young mother looked at them, and said, "Yes. Thank you. I'm glad you were there. And goodbye... and thank you."
"I'll catch the two of you later," Ruby said.
The dreamscape disappeared from existence.
= = =
They made it halfway out of the village before Linda died in her arms. They might have made it halfway to the portal, had they started earlier.
It could have gone much worse.
Roza told herself that, over and over again, as she helped Lili carry the body. She'd been so sure it would go wrong; Ruby had been a glimpse of hope, but only for a less painful ending.
But she couldn't help thinking about how Ruby had spoken to Linda... and how Ruby herself must have felt, watching the woman die.
How many times had she dreamt of watching Mother die? How often had she wished she'd done something, or changed things somehow? Was there really no way they could have had a happy life, the ten of them?
Would she ever get that chance? Or was it too late?
She shuddered, and Lili gripped her wrist like a vice.
"Don't," she said softly. "You can't take that on."
Roza shook her head.
The sun was rising, and the sky was beginning to lighten. The shadows of the trees stretched long and dark against the ground, and Roza knew that the Honkai horde wasn't far off. She could smell them; they smelled sweet, like Lili and herself.
She wanted to say something else, but she didn't know what to say.
Lili let go of her wrist, and Roza slowly turned around.
Ruby was sitting on the grass, her legs crossed. She was holding a small box in her lap, and Roza saw the faintest hint of a smile at the edges of her lips.
"What's going on?" Roza said.
"Linda," Ruby said. "It worked. I didn't expect it would, but..." Her voice trailed away, then she looked up. "You were right."
"I wasn't," Lili said. She took a breath and stared at the ground. "I didn't think it'd work either."
"…what are you two talking about?" Roza asked.
Ruby shrugged, and stood. She walked over to the two of them.
"I've trapped her mind," she said, tapping the box. It was pitch black, and now that Roza was looking closely at it, faintly humming with Honkai energy. "I don't think I could do it again, but... for now, she won't be able to escape the dreamscape. She won't live, but she can't die. We'll find a solution…" She looked at Lili. "Eventually."
Liliya nodded silently. She wiped her eyes, and looked up. "I'm sorry."
"No," Ruby said. "One is better than none. We should have... I didn't think. Carole wasn't ready for that sort of responsibility. She's done well enough, all things considered. Better than I might have." She winked. "Don't tell her I said so."
Roza didn't know how to respond to that, and Ruby seemed to sense that. She reached out, and put a hand on Roza's shoulder.
"Hey," she said. "Things don't always end badly. After all, I'm here now."
Roza looked at her, surprised. Then she laughed.
"I guess we'll see," Ruby said. "But I promise you this: it will get better."
= = =
Ruby always had this capability, but lacked the idea. If you hadn't voted to try, even if not this, then Lili wouldn't have been in a mental state for thinking of it. Since the dice nearly went your way…
It's not a very fair outcome. Why Linda, and not any of the others? The answer is mostly nepotism. Partly chance. Ruby would argue that Linda had young children, but she wasn't alone in that. Weighing lives in this manner isn't something you want to try.
Better one, than none.
= = =
"Soo…" Rubia said, dragging the word. "Should I drag your sister back?"
= = =
There is an incoming Honkai horde. You've voted against Roza getting involved with the defense planning—there wasn't time for that and Linda, as it turns out. This does not mean they'll have no input at all. Roza and Liliya are major combatants, experienced combatants, and Ruby will at a minimum ask their opinion.
Not that this is especially relevant to the way I've tried to run this quest.
[ ] [Strategy] Draw the horde away from the village
Roza: I guess we'd be on our own? I like that idea.
Lili: Roza…
Roza: Normal people can't help anyway.
[ ] [Strategy] Establish a perimeter around the village
Roza: Lots of ways this can go wrong, but we'd have the option of asking Ruby for help.
Lili: Lots of ways this can go right, too. They might not even come here.
[ ] [Strategy] Make use of the impromptu walls
Roza: I could cut those rocks without effort. They're hardly walls.
Lili: Most honkai beasts can't, idiotka.
Roza: And we'd be stuck with our backs to a wall. No room for maneuver.
Lili: You just said they weren't a wall!
[ ] [Strategy] Write-in
Ruby: I think I'll just ask my sister for help.
[ ] [Seele] Leave the two of them alone
Lili: …
Lili: I think what she's doing must be important.
Roza: *hugs*
[ ] [Seele] Ask Rubia to check on them
Lili: She will absolutely interrupt something.
Roza: We don't know if there's anything to interrupt?
Lili: It's Rubia. She'll interrupt something. Might be good though.
[ ] [Seele] Write-in
Lili: Huh? You want to do what?
[ ] [Narrative] Summarize the combat
[ ] [Narrative] Focus on specific interesting events
[ ] [Narrative] Go RTS for the duration
