10/03/16

That RWBY 4 Character Short was ace. C'mon Volume 4. Come to me.

That aside, this idea came on it's own sometime after I wrote the other two fics. There is a lot about Mira, the world of Xenoblade Chronicles X that after the game's conclusion is left unknown. I can hope for a sequel and I will to answer all the questions but in the meantime this idea came from the fact that Mira is a very strange planet that can do very strange things...so here is one of the things I wanted to write about it doing.

So I guess, endgame spoilers, be warned all who read.

"…and that makes five. Well, that didn't take too long now did it?"

Kruse turned to Gwin who just handed him the last California Sunrise they needed. Gwin sighed "These things suck."

"Oh it wasn't so bad."

"Yeah well you found 4 of them, that's the only one I managed to pick up…I'm gonna go take a break."

Kruse chuckled "Okay, see you around!"

Gwin nodded and walked away as Kruse handed the flowers off to the Orphean they took the mission from. Turning he began walking down Division Drive and spotted Elma. With a big smile he walked over to her carefully to not let on that he was approaching and covered her eyes from behind.

"I'd say guess who but it's probably obvious."

"Huh?"

"C'mon Elma, humor me?"

He took his hands away and she turned to look at him "Uh…sorry about that."

"About what? I'm just being silly, no need to apologize. Anyway, what brings you here? I thought you were scheduled to be over in the Commercial District for the first half of the day. Did something happen?"

Kruse watched as Elma tried to gather her thoughts. He raised an eyebrow "Are you okay? You seem lost…did you get enough sleep last night? I didn't kick you did I?"

"What? No…I mean…maybe? I did wake up feeling funny…"

"Sorry. Guess I'm still no good at the whole…sleeping still thing. My bad. Feel free to kick me next time, y'know. Only fair."

She shook her head, a small smile gracing her face "It's fine…um…Kruse?"

"What?"

"Kruse. I'm…"

She fell silent again. After a short while Kruse snapped a finger in front of her, she looked at him as he chuckled. "I thought I was dealing with Phog here for a bit. Elma. What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything."

"Right. Right. I just…I don't feel so good today…"

"You comin' down with something?"

She nodded "Yeah…yeah…it just. It has me confused. Turned around. I just…I'm not sure what I should be doing right now."

Any joking manner from Kruse faded away "You were completely fine this morning." He crossed his arms "Our mims shouldn't be able to get sick like this…come on, we should stop by the Mimeosome Center to make sure you're okay."

Elma nodded "Sounds good. Thank-"

Kruse took her hand in his and began walking "Th-thank you."

As they walked across the Administrative District Kruse spoke "Did this just start today?"

"…yes…I'm not sure how to explain it. I…I actually feel much better now."

"You're not just saying that to avoid the check up?"

Seeing Elma smile brought a smile to Kruse's face. She shook her head "No. I really do feel better. All thanks to you Kruse."

Kruse brushed it off "I didn't do anything. So do you want to go to the Center or?"

Elma thought for a bit "I think it'd be better if I got checked out. Just in case."

Kruse nodded as the pair approached Solan "Hey Solan."

"Kruse. Elma. What can I do for you?"

"Elma wasn't feeling too good. She says she feels better now but you never know."

Solan crossed his arms "Hmm…there are a few mim related issues that manifest similar to sickness. No worries Kruse, Elma, this will be easy to figure out. Elma, if you wouldn't mind."

Solan entered the center as Elma looked at Kruse "Thank you."

Kruse leaned in and kissed Elma, he smiled as he pulled away "Don't mention it. Just feel better."

With that he turned and headed for the barracks as Elma brought a hand to her lips.

Once back in the barracks, Kruse crossed his arms and mulled over what happened.

"Elma hasn't been in her mim in a while…she gets back in and doesn't start feeling too good? Maybe she just got used to her real body."

He shook his head "Regardless, she'll be fine. She certainly did look much brighter…though maybe she should just get out of her mim for the rest of the day, just in case. Then again there is always the chance that maybe she herself is actually sick…"

Moving into the kitchen he noticed a note on the stove. "Ah right, Lin and Alexa had those big Skell tests today with Mika. And yet she still had the time to cook something and leave it behind. She's fantastic."

Kruse chuckled as he warmed up the food and whistled. He went over the rest of his schedule for the day. He was going to be meeting with Mia soon, one of their regular get togethers to go over her most recent missions. Then he'll be taking part in an operation in Noctilum with Phog and Frye.

Sitting down he began to eat "Lin…somehow you always outdo yourself."

The barracks door opened and someone sniffed the air "It smells fantastic in here. What'd she make today?"

"Steak. Beans. Rice. I'm sure I don't need to tell you it's amazing…but it is."

"Mmm that sounds great."

Arms came around Kruse's neck as he felt someone rest their chin on his head. "How's your day been?"

"Good. Gwin and I-"

Kruse put down his fork and turned "Elma?"

Sure enough she stood before him, in her true form. She smiled and tilted her head "Yes?"

"Did Solan make you leave your mim? What happened?"

Elma gave him an odd look "Solan? My mim? What are you talking about?"

"I dropped you off at the Mimeosome Center a few minutes ago, you said you were feeling sick. Confused."

Kruse and Elma stared at each other in silence before she spoke "Kruse. I haven't use my mim in a week."

"I know, I just thought you were using it today because it's been a while…wait…then, that wasn't you?"

"No. I'm right here and my mim, she's on standby as always. Are you sure you aren't sick? Seeing things?"

Kruse stood up "No, I'm certain it was you. It was you."

Elma and Kruse stared at each other for a bit before Elma turned and began running through the barracks, Kruse following close behind. There was a spare room in the back where Elma set her mim to 'sleep' when she wasn't using her. The room was completely empty.

Panic filled Elma's voice "Someone took my mim. Kruse! Someone is using her!"

Kruse put a hand on Elma's shoulder "Elma, I'm sorry. I really, honestly thought that was you."

Elma shook her head "Its fine…I can't blame you. You saw me, why in the world would you think it wasn't me?"

"You were acting a little odd but…no, no excuses. I should've noticed something. Sorry."

Elma looked at Kruse as he continued "I left her at the Mimeosome Center with Solan, if we go now I'm sure we can find her and figure out what's going on."

Elma nodded and together with Kruse they headed for the Mimeosome Center.

Solan looked up from his work to see Kruse and Elma approaching. He put his pad away "Elma? Back again and I see you decided to get out of your mim. Honestly you seemed very uncomfortable last you were here. If-"

"She's not here?"

Solan looked at Kruse and raised an eyebrow "She? Elma? She's right there, Kruse."

"Not me. My mim. You were treating her, right?"

Solan gave them an odd look before Kruse stated "We think someone is using Elma's mim. Where did she go?"

Solan crossed his arms "That would explain it. I thought something was really wrong with you Elma…or her because of how she was acting. I mean everything was fine at first but then you…or she started panicking. Almost hyperventilating. She ran off so suddenly the only thing I can say for sure is that she went in the direction of Division Drive. Hopefully someone else spotted her."

Kruse and Elma nodded and thanked Solan before moving onward "This is so strange." Kruse stated.

"Could it be a Definian?"

Kruse shook his head "No, we freed them of their desire to do untoward things. Unless Sylvia is playing a prank with us…"

"Or Erio wanted so spend time with you."

Kruse looked at Elma who chuckled. "Is this the time for jokes?"

"Couldn't resist."

Before Kruse could retort they both heard Irina call out "Colonel!?"

The pair turned to Irina as she approached, Elma noting her "Yes Irina? Is something wrong?"

Irina looked at Elma oddly before touching her arm "It really is you…how did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You just came by. You seemed out of sorts. I asked if you were okay and you just told me you had to go somewhere, desperately. I showed you a map of Primordia when you couldn't remember what the place looked like. You pointed at it and ran off, I tried to call out to you but you just got into Red Shock and drove away. Yet here you are…"

"She took my Skell too!?" Elma brought a hand to her face and shook her head as Irina looked at her, still very confused.

Kruse decided to step in "Irina, where did…where did Elma point to? Where is she going?"

Irina brought up the map and showed them "Fallshorn Isle."

Kruse and Elma looked at the lit up hex then at each other. Something was definitely wrong with this whole thing.

"What's going on?" Irina asked as she put her comm device away.

"We're going to find out." Kruse stated. "Thanks Irina!"

Irina nodded to them as they ran over to Kruse's Skell, Absolution and drove off into Primordia.

"Fallshorn Isle. Of all places why would someone…."

Kruse shook his head as Elma thought out loud "Someone took my mim. My Skell. And is going to…to my place…why?"

"Maybe it's someone who has an unhealthy obsession with you?"

Elma narrowed her eyes "Maybe. But Solan and Irina both said that whoever this person is, they're not in the right mind. Panicking. Jumpy. Desperate. They're scared."

"Of what?"

Knowing they had no way of finding an answer, the pair remained silent until they reached Fallshorn Isle. Getting out of Absolution they spotted Red Shock parked in the distance.

Walking towards the edge of the land they came to a stop. Sure enough, standing several feet from them looking at New LA. Was Elma. Or rather, her mim.

Kruse and Elma looked at each other before she called out "Hello?"

Hearing the voice, the mim turned around to look at them. She first looked at Kruse then to Elma. There was something in her eyes…recognition, confusion.

Kruse and Elma walked closer with Kruse speaking first "Are you alright? It's dangerous out here alone."

The Mim Elma nodded "I'm fine…"

She looked between the two of them, warily as Elma spoke "Why did you take my mim?"

"Your mim? Is that short for Mimeosome?"

The pair nodded as she continued "What is a Mimeosome?"

After a short silence, Kruse started to speak only for Mim Elma to raise her hand "Wait. Wait. No…I…remember? A Mim is…a robot. Designed to replicate a human as closely as possible but…what is a human…what is…"

Mim Elma brought her hands to her head. "What is…Earth? What is…Mira? The White Whale? The Lifehold? What is this?"

"H-hey. Calm down." Kruse stated.

Mim Elma shook her head fiercely "I can't focus. They don't stop! Stop!"

"Stop what?" Elma asked.

Mim Elma fell to her knees and screamed "STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

Tears started falling from her eyes "STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE! LET ME THINK! I CAN'T FOCUS!"

She looked up at the two of them, tears streaming down her face "Help me…"

Elma kneeled down next to Mim Elma and held one hand out "Give me your arm."

Mim Elma did as she was told allowing Elma to bring up the mim controls. She went to enter a few commands but stopped.

"Should I…turn her off?"

"That would return her to her body right? Wherever it is?"

Elma nodded to Kruse before looking at the Mim, who was still crying and begging for help. "Whoever this is might be like the rest of the humans. They wouldn't have a real body…but if someone stole my mim then they had to do it with their own body or their original mim…but why?"

Elma tapped a few buttons, the mim stopped shaking. After a few moments, the mim wiped her face and sniffed before looking at Elma "What did you do? It's so quiet…so peaceful."

"Basically I turned off some of your brain functions…it sounded like your memories, things you were recalling were overwhelming you so I locked that all out. Do you feel better?"

Mim Elma nodded "Yes…thank you…Elma."

Elma looked over to Kruse "This is weird."

"You're telling me. All we've seen on Mira but THIS has got to be the strangest."

"Who are you?" Elma asked.

The mim shook its head "I don't…I'm…I'm Elma. I think I'm Elma. But you're Elma. Right?"

Kruse kneeled down in front of the mim "A mimeosome is controlled by the consciousness of a real person. You are inside Elma's Mimeosome, the question is, who are you and how did you get into it?"

The mim stared at Kruse a bit confused before placing a hand on her own chest "I'm…her mim?"

Kruse looked to Elma who brought a hand to her chin "Let's try this some other way. What's the first thing you remember?"

The Mim closed her eyes "Just darkness…I woke up in a room, on a bed…it was early. I went outside and a girl…Lin. She said hello and called me Elma. She gave me breakfast and asked if I had slept in. She just came in from a late night with…Alexa I think…and was set to head out again soon…"

Elma and Kruse looked at each other. The pair started their day very early. Neither of them saw Lin during her break, the last time they did was yesterday afternoon when she left to work with Alexa.

Kruse looked at Mim Elma "So you're saying the absolute earliest thing you can remember is waking up in the BLADE Barracks and talking to Lin? Nothing else?"

Mim Elma shook her head "No…I'm sorry…I'm trying but…I can't really remember much anymore."

Elma nodded "I did turn off most her memory functions…"

"Elma. Why didn't you just…turn her off?"

Kruse looked at Elma who gestured at the mim "You know why."

Kruse shook his head "There's no way…this is…you're telling me that this IS you're mim? That no one stole her, that this IS the mimeosome you've used for all these years. That she just got up and started-"

"Living."

Kruse looked at Mim Elma then back to the real one "How is this possible? A mim can only be active with the consciousness of a person loaded into it. You're mim was empty. Where did this consciousness come from?"

Mim Elma looked at her hands "I don't understand. Am I…real? Or not?"

Elma put a hand on her mim's shoulder. Their eyes met "You are real. You're here before us. Thinking for yourself. Acting for yourself. You're real."

Elma stood up and held her hand out. Mim Elma took it and allowed herself to be helped up. Kruse joined them as the Mim turned to look back over New LA.

After a short silence Kruse asked "Do you know why you wanted to come here?"

Mim Elma began speaking softly "After I exited the barracks. Everyone kept calling me Elma. They looked at me so fondly. I didn't understand why…I didn't know any of them…but then I did. I started to recall most of them. Parts of where I was but it all came back to me in a…it was a mess. I almost fell apart. Like I did now, I wanted to scream but then."

Mim Elma looked at Kruse "You appeared. You calmed me down…when I was speaking with you I felt…happy…content…I didn't understand it. Things started to make more sense as I looked at you."

Kruse nodded as Elma spoke up "Kruse made you feel better?"

The mim nodded "The pain, the confusion it all went away. I was with him for such a short time but I was…so happy."

Kruse recalled that he had kissed the mim thinking it was Elma "Oh right…Elma…"

Elma seemed to understand what it was Kruse wanted to say "It's fine Kruse. I highly doubt you'd expect my mim to just start acting on her own."

"I still feel kind of bad about that."

Elma just chuckled before looking at her mim "Elma."

The mim turned to her "Y-yes."

"What happened next? After Kruse took you to the Mimeosome Center?"

"I was so happy that Kruse was there. When he went to leave I wanted to beg him to stay. But in my head, I just knew he had more work to do later in the day so I didn't want to sidetrack him any longer. I figured I was fine so I sat with Solan. But then it all started again…my head was filled with mathematical equations…the process of constructing mims and something called the White Whale began to flood my mind. I had to get out of there, and as I ran…more things kept assaulting me. Only one image was clear…then I saw Irina…I knew she went out into…"

Mim Elma gestured around them. Kruse spoke "Primordia."

"Primordia. Yes. So I asked her if she knew about a place. She showed me a map and instantly I needed to come here…"

The mim looked around the area they were in before facing Elma "Why did I want to come here?"

Elma smiled "This is where I landed. After everything, I stepped on Mira for the first time here."

A smile formed on Mim Elma's face. "I don't know why but…everything just became so clear."

She closed her eyes and let out a long breath. The three remained silent before Mim Elma opened her eyes again and held her arm out to Elma "Thank you. I think…I think I can go now."

Elma and Kruse looked at each other. "This is your mim…I'm sorry I took it. I don't know how I did but I did…just…turn me off."

"That'll kill you." Kruse stated.

Mim Elma looked at him "I'm…I'm not sure what I am…but I don't think I should be."

Elma took her Mim's arm and began tapping. Kruse took a step forward but Mim Elma put her other hand on his chest "Its fine. I want this."

"Elma-"

"Done."

The mim looked back at Elma "Done?" Elma stepped away from the mim as she looked at her hands. She clenched them "I'm still here."

"I turned off the linking system. I cut the mim off from me." Elma stated.

The Mim's eyes widened "What? Why? You can't do that!"

Kruse crossed his arms "I think she just did."

"B-but…but…why?"

"Kruse is right. If I turned you off, I'd be killing you. And I don't want that."

Mim Elma was at a loss for words as Elma continued "I said it before. You are alive. It may take everyone in New LA a while to get used to two Elmas…but they will adapt. And they'll accept you."

Kruse put a hand on the mim's shoulder. She looked at him "You were just born. How about giving this whole 'life' thing a try before deciding it's not for you."

Tears fell down the Mim's face as she embraced Kruse.

Kruse looked at Elma, he tried to speak but noticed Elma's gesture. Nodding he put his arms around the mim. "This is going to be weird."

After a short while the mim pulled away from him "I'm sorry…I…you and the real Elma are together. Not me."

"We're both real, Elma." The mim looked at her and nodded "Right…"

The next silence was interrupted by Kruse and Elma's comms going off. "Oh no! I forgot about my schedule! Shit I'm way behind, Mia is not going to let me hear the end of this!"

Elma laughed "Well we're both behind, might as well get started."

Kruse and Elma began walking back towards Absolution before turning to Mim Elma with Kruse calling out "Elma, you ready to head back to New LA with us?"

Mim Elma turned to look at the city then back at them "Yes…I will."

She joined them and as the three walked towards their Skells, she asked "We can't both be named Elma though right? It is your name. Not mine."

Elma smiled "It may get a little confusing, do you have another idea?"

Mim Elma shook her head "Not really…"

"Elmira."

The two Elmas looked at Kruse with the Mim raising an eyebrow as the other spoke "What?"

"She's you, Elma but born here on Mira. Elmira."

Kruse watched as a large smile formed on the Mim's face before she started laughing, it was such a hard laugh she teared up. Kruse and Elma couldn't help but join in.

Once they were settled the Mim nodded "Elmira…I like it. I really do."

"Very well. Elmira, my name is Elma."

Elma shook Elmira's hand as Kruse stepped forward "And I'm Kruse. Welcome to Planet Mira."

Elmira smiled "Thank you. Both of you. I'm happy to be here."

-Achievement Unlocked-

—-Elmira Immigration—-

There really is just something about this planet isn't there?