Dissonance

Serene, Sara and Iriana all appeared at the same time in the mental room that Serene remembered. But something had changed. The other Serene -Two- and Amelia both lay on the ground. It was easy to see what had been happening from their shocked expressions. At least they both still had their clothes on.

"Mom!" Sara exclaimed, mortified. Serene just shook her head. Iriana was trying not to stare.

"What happens on the mission, stays on the mission, but... sheesh..." Serene said with a grin as Two and Amelia both jumped up to stand slightly apart, their faces red. "Iriana, this is Serene, um... Two and Amelia Priosa, Sara's mom. I doubt you met Amelia before." Sara stared from the Serene at her side to the Serene beside her mom and back, her face a mask of confusion. "Two, Amelia, this is Iriana, she has come to help."

"You said it was going to be weird, Serene..." Sara said in a dumbfounded voice. "But..." Serene patted her shoulder and Sara subsided a little, glaring at her mom. For her part, Iriana was studying the other Serene with open curiosity. Two still wore black robes instead of Serene's neutral color ones, but otherwise looked exactly like the Serene standing beside Iriana.

"I honestly wasn't sure you knew what you were talking about when you said a cognitive dissonance..." Irinia said quietly. "But you were right." Amelia perked up.

"Yes..." The human woman said sadly. "A massive dissonance that created a rip in the mental substrata. I caused it accidentally when I linked to Serene's mind. I didn't mean to. I didn't understand what I had done at first, then she started talking to me like two different people and I...well... I freaked." She said sadly. "I need to fix it."

"She thinks that she has to die to fix it." Serene clarified. Iriana stared from Amelia to the other Serene and then shook her head. "I hope you can figure out another way. One that does not involve either of these two vanishing."

"What -exactly- did you do?" Iriana asked, stepping away from the group and beckoning Amelia to her. Amelia sighed and moved to stand by the med tech. They began speaking in low tones.

"Uh,..." Sara stared from where her mom was speaking earnestly to the med tech to the black clad Serene and swallowed. "You...are Serene...too?"

"Yeah." Two said quietly. "For clarity's sake I am calling myself 'Two' to differentiate myself from Serene. I am sorry, Sara. I didn't mean to scare you on the Corpus ship. But that guy was hitting you and..." She broke off and slumped a bit. "I knew you were special, but I had no idea how special."

"She..." Sara waved at Serene who stood quietly. "She doesn't remember that. You..." Sara shook her head. "You were running her... um... Your body?" Sara laughed a little. "You were right, Serene. This is weird."

"Yes it is, and... I was." Two said sadly. "I have had time to think about it. I go did go berserk, Serene. I had to protect Sara, even if I didn't know exactly why."

"You were protecting a child. Our child." Serene said gently. "I don't think this is a standard situation, if there is such a thing." Two smiled a little forlornly at Serene and then stared at Sara, no, at the sword on Sara's back.

"You gave her a Skana?" Two asked carefully.

"Yes." Serene said with a nod. "She is kin. One of the docs hurt her, thinking she was just a Corpus experiment." Two's eyes flashed and her face went hard, but she relaxed as Serene smiled grimly. "I think Jasmina and I...um... 'dissuaded' him for a while."

"She nearly died." Sara said sadly, turning to Serene with a stricken look. "She was protecting me."

"What?" Two asked, concerned. "Things flickered in here... That was when Amelia and I embraced and...well..." She blushed again. "What happened?" She pressed when Serene sighed.

"They had her in the Orokin scanner." Serene said softly. Two froze and her face turned stricken. She stepped towards Sara, her hand coming up.

"Oh, Sara..." Two's heart shone in her words. "I... I didn't think they would do that to you..."

"Neither did I." Serene said with a snap. "He won't touch her again. I told him I would kill him if he did." Two nodded, her face savage.

"They warned me it was going to hurt. Iriana was nice, she tried to help me between sessions. But then Serene came. She covered me. Kept me from hurting any more." Sara said softly. "But... They said she had terminal life signs. Then.. she didn't..." Two froze, staring from Sara to Serene and her face was a mask of shock.

"Serene?" Two asked cautiously. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Serene said with a shrug. "I remember seeing Sara look at me. Then it hurt... Then I..." She paused and blinked. "I...was talking to someone?" She said slowly, confused. "But... there was no one there." She shook herself hard. "It doesn't make any sense. But then I woke up on Sara." She smiled at Sara who smiled back. "So I guess I didn't die."

"Our body was engineered to be a weapon." Two mused. "I know the revive systems work sometimes."

"It wasn't that." Serene said with a shrug. "I wasn't in my warframe."

"She wasn't wearing anything at all." Sara said with a smirk. Serene smacked her gently and nodded at Two's dumbfounded expression.

"I was in a hurry." Serene said with aplomb. Sara made a 'naughty, naughty' gesture at Serene and Serene stuck her tongue out at Sara, causing the girl to giggle. Two looked like she had swallowed a bug as she fought to keep from laughing.

"You two are nuts." Two said with a smile. "What have I done introducing you?" Then she paused and turned serious."Sara... I... Me and your mom... We..." She broke off as Sara smiled gently.

"Mom taught me about relationships." Sara said softly. "It was all subjective. She certainly didn't want me falling for any of the Corpus goons. She said she had loved once. You?" Sara asked carefully. Two nodded slowly. Then Two froze as Sara stepped forward and threw her arms around the black clad Tenno. She gave Two a squeeze and then retreated. "If Mom loves you, how can I not at least try to?"

"Sara..." Two said huskily as she tried not to cry. "I may well be gone when Amelia and your new friend do whatever they do." All three looked to where Amelia was gesturing something to Iriana who was nodding. "If so, you need to be strong for your mom. Serene may be different too."

"We don't know that, Two." Serene said with a sigh as Sara looked scared. "No matter what, Sara, your place among our kin is secured. Even if I don't feel the same way I do now when they get done, you are one of us. Nothing will change that. And even if I do not act the same, know that I do love you."

"Thank you, Serene." Sara said as she embraced Two again. This time, the black clad Tenno slowly returned the embrace.

"Sara...One thing." Serena said after a moment. Sara looked at her but did not release Two who looked uncomfortable, but did not move. "Amelia said something about a Corpus who tricked her into helping." Serene paused as a new look crossed Sara's face. Rage. "Sara?"

"He said he was my dad. He said he owned me." Sara said with a snarl that Jasmina likely couldn't have improved. "He... He said..." She stammered, her face falling. "He said that they were going to use me when Mom was done. When Mom... When she..." Sara heaved, tears starting to fall.

"Oh Sara, I am sorry." Serene said sadly as she stepped up. Two released the girl into Serene's hands and stepped back. Serene held Sara as she sobbed. "I have seen what the Corpus do."

"They... They talked about it as if I wasn't there. They hurt me, they did things to me and then they talked." Sara sobbed into Serene's shoulder. "They were going to take out my brain, put it in something called a 'MOA Controller." Serene went stiff at that and so did Two. "Was so scared... They said it was going to be soon. Something about 'Phase 2' or...something."

"We need to report this." Two said slowly. Serene nodded, but Sara scowled.

"Who is going to believe me?" Sara asked. "You have no proof. Just the word of a scared girl."

"Sara." Serene said gently. "Where are we?"

"Oh." Sara said slowly. "We are in your mind. You could do this with me?" She asked, not all that sure about the idea.

"We can. We can go in and look at your memories. That was what we planned to do to your mom at first. Now? I don't know." Serene said quietly. "But we will wait until you have settled a bit. You have had far too many shocks recently. Do you remember anything else?"

"No." Sara said softly. "Just that I was being sent to surgery when the alarms went off. Mom told me to find her if that ever happened. So I jerked free of the guard and ran. I tried to find her. But the guard chased me down and..." She swallowed.

"Two interrupted him." Serene said with a nod. "So... Whatever Phase 2 is, it was ready." She mused. "Not good."

"We need to report this, Serene." Two prodded her.

"We need to get this fixed first." Serene cautioned her. "Then we can act."

"It needs to be soon." Iriana said from nearby. All three looked to where Iriana stood with Amelia. Amelia was downcast, her face sorrowful. "Amelia did the best she could."

"I was stupid." Amelia said sadly. "I thought you were just a variant of human, Serene. I didn't know what you were. Tenno are different."

"Mom?" Sara asked,. She looked at Serene and Serene let her go. Sara ran to her mom and hugged Amelia tight. Amelia returned it.

"The good news is..." Iriana said softly. "I know what happened and it will not require Amelia's death to fix."

"Good." Serene and Two chorused. "And the bad news?" They said in unison, stared at each other and laughed in unison. "That is creepy." They said at the same time and winced.

"The bad news, Serene... Two..." Iriana said slowly. "...is that the dissonance is too great. The two of you cannot be merged. The only fix as it were, is a wipe to before the dissonance began." Everything seemed to stop. "Anything else I could try would drive you mad."

"Oh." Serene said softly. "I see." Two looked poleaxed. They looked at each other and nodded. Serene spoke. "Iriana... I ask this formally, under recording from the brainwave scanners you have hooked us to. You are a mother. Will you take Sara in? Protect her, guide her and help her face her future?" Sara stared at Serene, her face slowly paling.

"Serene..." Sara stammered. "No..."

"Sara, you are strong." Serene said gently. "Stronger than me. Iriana?" She asked. The tech bowed her head.

"I do not want this, Serene." Iriana said sadly. "But I accept this charge."

"No!" Sara screamed, running towards Serene. "Serene! No!"

"Sara. Stop." Serene commanded. The girl slithered to a halt a few paces away. "Sara..." Serene said, her tone sick. "Iriana is a professional. She knows what she is talking about. Two..." She waved to her twin who stepped to Amelia who was crying. The pair embraced. "Sara, I am sorry. But if I go mad...You saw it, on the ship. I cannot do that kind of thing among my kin, Sara. I cannot."

"But..." Sara was crying hard. "Serene... No... I have to... I can..."

"Sara..." Serene said sadly. "Come here." She opened her arms and Sara swarmed into them. The girl hugged her tight enough to hurt, but Serene just hugged her back. She leaned close and inhaled the scent of the girl's hair. It smelled...heavenly. "I was afraid of this from the very beginning, Sara. I have walked too long in dark places."

"No..." Sara cried as she hugged Serene. "Don't go, Serene."

"It will take time to set up." Iriana said slowly from where she stood. "And I need authorization to do what must be done."

"Then we go face the Elders. As soon as possible." Serene said softly. "Iriana, take Sara and wake Amelia." Iriana nodded. "Take care of them, please." She asked as she gently extricated herself from Sara who was sobbing and clutching her.

She held out the struggling form to Iriana who stepped forward to take Sara in her arms, hugging the now howling girl tight. Two kissed Amelia and then stepped away from her. Iriana stepped to where Amelia was standing, looking lost, then all three of them vanished.

"Well..." Serene said with a sigh. "This is another fine mess, huh?"

"This is going to go over with the Elders like a MOA trying to swim." Two said crossly. Serene bit back a laugh at that and Two sighed. "Tell me I lie, Serene."

"You don't." Serene said with a sigh. "Well, now we can set it so you can testify too."

"Thanks." Two said sourly. "Serene... I..."

"I know." Serene said sadly. "I wish it could be different too. But... The risks are too great. I do not want to wake up surrounded by dead kin." Two hugged her and she returned it.

"Me neither." Two agreed. "So... No time like the present?" Serene nodded and willed herself to return to consciousness.

But what greeted her on waking was not the scene she had left. Jasmina lay in a heap, her armor smoldering. Iriana lay on her side and Sara was nowhere to be seen! Serene jerked to her feet, checking Iriana first. The tech lived, her headband showing her mind was still elsewhere. Jasmina jerked, seeing Serene moving.

"Jasmina!" Serene snapped, running to her stricken sister's side. "What happened?"

"Ambush." Jasmina gasped. "Doc came in, told me to move. Told him to 'Fuck off'. He had a Rhino with him, blindsided me. Took Sara." Serene's scream was piercing, but then her eyes turned cold and hard and her scream changed. Jasmina tensed as the hunting cry of a banshee sounded from Serene's throat. It sounded different than she did in her warframe, but recognizable. "Serene..." She begged as Serene checked her, setting auto-repair systems in action.

"Where is my warframe?" Serene asked coldly.

"Diagnostic bay three..." Jasmina said slowly. "Serene... Don't... He won't be alone... My systems will be back up shortly. Other clanmates are coming. I sent out an SOS."

"Every moment I wait, he will hurt Sara." Serene said calmly. "This ends now." She bowed her head to the fallen Ember and then it came up with a snap. Then, fast as a clap of thunder, she was gone.