Comfort

Mari was floating on a golden sea. Nothing hurt and she just floated and relaxed as waves carried her to and fro. She was wearing a thin garment, kind of like one of those old style bathing suits she had read about once. It covered her from mid thigh to neck. She tried to remember how she had gotten here, but it was too hard and she just relaxed. She wasn't wearing anything, but she wasn't afraid. She didn't feel anything at all. A voice she recognized as CCX-2 shouted at her from far away, but she couldn't make it out and it suddenly vanished. But that didn't matter.

"Hello Mari." The gentle voice that sounded in her ears was neither male nor female, but had aspects of both. She grunted a little, too relaxed to reply coherently. The voice chuckled. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

Suddenly, Mari was wasn't alone. A golden skinned figure sat in midair beside her. In form, it was human male. But it had an odd thing attached to its face, an array of golden hoops. There was no sense of threat or danger, just peace and comfort. A bit of sadness was also apparent.

"I will dial it back a bit so we can talk, Mari." Whatever was surrounding Mari and calming her eased a bit and she could think clearly again. "How do you feel?" The figure asked, it's tone compassionate.

"Tired." Mari said slowly. "So tired." Indeed, the lethargy that Mari felt seeped from every pore.

"You can rest for as long as you wish." The golden figure said with a nod. "While you rest, we are repairing your body."

"Wha-?" Mari asked, her eyes widening momentarily before she sank back into relaxation. "You can't." She said calmly.

"Yes, we can." The golden form contradicted her gently. "The Tenno have forgotten much of what Orokin was. The ability to regrow damaged or lost parts of a human's body was part and parcel to much of the medical technology that Orokin boasted. You want children and we will give you the ability to have them again."

"You..." Mari felt tears start to fall. "You would do that? For me?"

"Yes, Mari." The figure reached out to pat her shoulder and the hand...went elsewhere. "You deserve the chance to have a normal life."

"Please don't touch me like that." Mari said softly, fear starting to rise. Then it was gone along with her sadness. The hand brushed her tears away from her face and then withdrew.

"I am sorry, Mari." The golden figure said with great sadness. "I want to make you happy. And I will. You have wanted children ever since you saw your friends with theirs."

"Gone. All gone." Mari started crying again. "All dead. Dust and ashes."

"Oh Mari..." The figure patted her shoulder again but this time, the hand caressed her cheek. "Holis Colony was small, they had no chance when the Sentients came. But you were gone."

"Enslaved." Mari agreed. "Crazy Tenno..."

"They are all crazy." The figure said mildly as it withdrew its hand. "But they are what they are. They cannot help but be what they were bred and trained to be. They are weapons, no more, no less. Tenno have been problems since the very first ones. Give a weapon a soul and it starts contemplating what it is and why it fights."

"Some good people." Mari protested mildly.

"I am not denying that." The figure said quietly. "But they have been led astray. The Lotus..." Mari felt rage and struggled with it. "Easy, Mari..." The figure said gently. "Just relax."

"This is wrong." Mari said slowly. "I was... I was distraught. I spoke in haste. In anger and in haste."

"Yes, you were angry." The figure said calmly and Mari felt her anger rise again without her direction. "You were betrayed, just as Orokin was." Mari was gasping from the adrenaline release and the figure nodded to her. "We will aid you and then you will aid us. Isn't that good, Mari?"

"Aid me, how?" Mari asked slowly as the anger faded. The figure laid a hand on her belly and this time, she didn't protest. It was too much effort to protest. She was tired. So tired.

"More than anything in the universe, you want a child." The figure said softly, it's voice low and hypnotic. Mari found herself floating again. "And your friend CCX-2... More than anything in the universe, she wants to be your child. For you to be her mother."

"What?" Mari asked, confused. "But I can't bear children now. The Corpus took my ovaries. And my body rejects cloned transplants." She frowned, but then smiled and laughed a little. "Besides, she is a robot, silly dear that she is. We can't always get what we want." She said sadly.

"Ah, but there you are wrong, Mari." The figure said, his hand still on her belly. "Orokin was founded on the ideals that nothing is impossible. CCX-2's brain is organic. We can use that basis to make her a body. To grow it, within you."

"You..." Mari swallowed hard, tears starting to fall again. "You would do that? For me? For her?"

"Yes." The figure said gently. Mari broke down and cried and the figure rubbed her arm gently. "Don't cry, Mari. It's okay." The figure said in a whisper soft voice as he wiped her face again.

"How..." Mari asked through the hazer that was surrounding her now. "How would this work?"

"We are changing parts of your body, Mari." The figure said calmly as it traced her upper chest. There was nothing sensual about it though, it's touch was too clinical, too...alien. "Very shortly you will see and feel changes in your body as we stimulate various organs and release certain hormones into your system."

"How long?" Mari asked, her focus wavering. "Pregnancy takes nine months."

"A normal human pregnancy, yes." The figure replied evenly, his hand now rubbing her back. "But with the proper application of energy and a bit of know-how, it won't take nine months, Mari."

"What does CCX-2 think of this?" Mari asked softly.

"Ask her yourself." The figure said with a nod as another form appeared nearby. CCX-s hull was whole. It's form gold over the violet now.

"Mari." The MOA's tone was slurred. It was lying on it's side, looking at her. It jerked in place, it's legs moving spasmodically for a moment before stilling. "You have got to break loose... You have got to resist..." Mari did not react to the words, indeed, her face was blank as the MOA pleaded with her. "You bastards...She can't hear me!"

"Now, now..." The golden figure said calmly and gently. "None of that. She can hear you, but it won't register in her consciousness until we choose. She said she wanted revenge. We can give it to her. Don't confuse her. Tell her what we told you to tell her, or suffer. Your choice." The figure threatened.

"Confuse her?" CCX-2 managed to snap before it gave a sigh and went still. "You are... brain... brainwashing... No..." It begged. "Don't... Mari! Please..." It pleased. "Listen to me. This isn't real. Mari..." The MOA jerked and then went still again, this time silent.

"Well Mari?" The golden figure asked her.

"I couldn't hear her." Mari complained, her tone slurring a bit. "But she looks and acts as if she is distressed."

"Of course she is distressed." The golden figure said calmly. "She wants you happy and you are not. She said to tell you she wants the best for you and she would love to be your child."

"I don't deserve her." Mari said, tears falling freely now. "I never did."

"A good friend." The golden form agreed. "Well, Mari? What say you?"

"What would you need from me, after?" Mari asked, her eyes closing as the waves lapped around her. "I want to raise my child in peace. This future is so bloody, so filled with wear... I... I want..." She gasped as painful emotions surged.

"Easy, Mari." The golden human form said gently. "Would you mind more than one child?"

"M...More than one?" Mari asked, confused. "CCX-2 wants to be my child, but who else?"

"It's a bit complicated." The golden form said with a sigh. "Essentially, you would be the mother to a whole host of beings."

"A host of beings?" Maria asked, mildly concerned. "I wouldn't have time to nurture them all."

"You wouldn't have to." The golden form laid a hand on her brow and nodded. "Almost ready, Mari dear."

"I don't understand." Mari was confused again. "A mother nurtures young. That is what she does."

"No, Mari." The golden form corrected her gently. "A mother bears young. Just relax Mari..." He laid a hand on Mari's belly and the other on the still MOA. Mari gasped as her belly suddenly began to swell. She stared as it grew, and grew and grew. Other parts of her body were growing a well. "Don't move, Mari. There may be some discomfort, but I can ease it if you don't move." The figure cautioned her.

"I... I'm..." Mari was crying tears of joy as her fondest wish suddenly became a reality.

"Yes, Mari." The golden figure said kindly. "You are pregnant."

"With CCX-2?" Mari asked, gasping. True to the golden form's word, nothing hurt but her belly was huge now.

"You should probably think of another name." The golden form said softly as it removed it's hand. "I will let you rest for a bit. Birth will be traumatic for both of you despite everything we can do."

"You are not human, are you?" Mari asked after a moment of rubbing her stomach. Nothing hurt, but it felt very odd. She looked to the side, but the MOA was gone. "Hey, where did CCX-2 go?"

"She is inside you, silly." The golden figure said with a small laugh. "Her old body is just a shell now. What do you think of the name Cici?"

"Cici?" Mari replied. "No..." She mused. "Doesn't quite work. I will ask her when she wakes. After..." She smiled fondly at her stomach.

"She will likely be very confused, Mari." The golden form warned Mari. "You need to rest for a bit, let your body acclimatize. Then we can help you on your way. Let me help you sleep." He started to sing. The words were alien to Mari, but the tune was soft and comforting. Kind of like that human lullaby that Gora had sung her on the Grineer ship actually. Mari paused. Actually, it was the exact same tune and words!

"Wait...I..." Mari said, struggling to stay awake.

"No, no, Mari..." The figure said, laying hand on her brow again. "Sleep. Tomorrow is a big day." The hand on her brow was suddenly glowing and Mari felt peace suffuse her. She was so relaxed she never felt herself nod off.

"Oh, Mari... I am sorry."

The distraught female voice sounded in Mari's ears. She jerked wake. She had dozed... Her belly was big and the rest of her body felt big too. What the-? She wasn't floating anymore! Now she was lying in the middle of a grassy field. She was looking up into the branches of an oak tree. She hadn't seen an oak tree since before the War. There had been one on Holis Colony, in a carefully preserved hydroponics garden. A relic from old Earth, one of few such relics. Mari shook her head a little and turned to see who had spoken. Mari saw and froze in place. The woman kneeling beside her was unfamiliar. From the bodysuit she wore, she was Tenno, but the mask she wore was odd to say the least. It was unlike anything that Mari had ever seen. It covered the woman's entire head, leaving only her lower face free.

"Do I know you?" Mari asked, confused.

"I am an aspect of the Lotus, Mari." The woman said sadly. "I knew you were hurting, I knew you were in pain. I didn't think before I spoke. I didn't mean to hurt you so badly. I didn't intend what happened."

"I beg forgiveness for what I said." Mari said, her tone abject. "I was angry. I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have..." She broke off as the strange woman laid a finger on her lips.

"We don't have a lot of time, Mari." The Lotus said sadly. "I hurt you and I pointed the way for them to find you. I didn't plan that. It wasn't part of any probabilities that I envisioned."

"Hardly your fault." Mari said slowly. "I was the one who lost my temper."

"Mari, please listen to me." The Lotus begged. Mari stared, open mouthed. The Lotus? Begging? Suddenly fear erupted inside Mari and she nodded. "You and CCX-2 are in a great deal of trouble and so am I. Due in no small part to my arrogant Machiavellianism." She said with a small, sad smile. "I need your help."

"My help?" Mari asked slowly. Then she paused. "That... That sea... This..." She rubbed her belly. "Was it real? Is it real?" The Lotus shook her head and Mari swallowed hard. "What have they done to me?"

"They did the same thing the Corpus did, Mari. If a bit gentler." The Lotus said. Mari stared at her, anger rising, but not directed at the Lotus. "They used your dream of a normal life, of children, to break you. They have molded you to their design. Or so they think."

"CCX-2?" Mari asked, fear rising.

"She is still resisting, but she is losing ground." The Lotus said with a nod. "You need to get her to stop fighting."

"Stop fighting?" Mari exclaimed.

"Yes." The Lotus said calmly. "She can't win as she is but she doesn't care. Her love for you is driving her on. Goading her to the edge of her own sanity. They will destroy her utterly if she gets too close to releasing your mind from their shackles."

"No!" Mari exclaimed. "What can I do?" She asked.

"Once before I threw you into the maw without all the information, Mari." The Lotus said sadly. "Now I have to do it again. They will access your mind, see that I contacted you. I will make it so they will see that I tried to apologize and you hit me. No more than that. I can do that at least."

"I can't do that!" Mari snapped, jerking up on her elbows to crawl away. "I can't hit you! You are the Lotus!"

"You will have to." The Lotus said, calming. "And after I say what I need to say, you will want to." Mari felt her blood freeze and the Lotus nodded. "My miscalculations have doomed you."

"What are they going to do?" Mari asked, her tone flat.

"All but a few of the bastions of Orokin fell during the War, Mari." The Lotus said quietly. "Some to enemy action, some to internal strife. Very few of them have any residents still inside. The one you are in is one of those. One I had prayed was gone." Mari swallowed, but did not interrupt. "That particular Tower was a bio-tech research facility." Mari looked confused and the Lotus nodded. "Note I said bio-tech, no bio-medical. They made bio weapons, Mari." Mari gulped and the Lotus continued. "I thought they would be gone by now. I was wrong."

"Just tell me what I need to do to stop this." Mari said sternly. The Lotus looked at her sadly.

"You need to die."

Mari woke on the golden sea again, the golden figure beside her. She was shivering.

"Easy, Mari." The golden form said with a nod. "Your mind was invaded. We freed you, but we didn't really need to. You have a mean right hook." He said with a laugh.

"I hit someone?" Mari asked, her memory was a haze of tears. "I don't remember."

"Yeah." The golden form said with a shudder. "Remind me not to get you mad at me. The Lotus tried to apologize and you showed her but good. I don't think you broke her jaw, but you might have." Mari jerked as something happened and the man nodded. "Right on time. Relax Mari, let nature take its course."

"I... It doesn't hurt..." Mari said, disbelieving. "Shouldn't it hurt?"

"Do you want it to?" The man asked with another laugh as Mari shook her head quickly. "Just breath, Mari. Everything is happening as it should. Not long now." Without seeming to move, he was sitting between Mari's legs which were splayed wide. "Good girl...Not long at all."

"Until what?" Mari asked as something seemed to twist inside her. It didn't hurt, but she gasped from the strangeness of it.

"Until this is done." The figure said calmly as he reached up and pulled. Something slid from Mari's body with a wet sound followed by the most marvelous sound Mari had ever heard. The wail of a newborn child. But then it changed.

"Mari! Wake up!" CCX-2's voice screamed from the figure that was wiping a squirming mass in a towel that had appeared in his hands. "You have got to wake up!"

"Good lungs." Mari said, her tone disinterested. "Boy or girl?"

"You have a daughter, Mari." The golden form said gently. "Do you have a name for her?"

"Mari?" The voice begged. "Mari, please... Oh dear god, Mari please hear me..."

"I hear you." Mari said calmly. "But it's okay, your name is Cecelia. You are my daughter. You are okay. Everything is okay." She took the now still form from the golden figure and held it to her breast. "Everything is okay..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes went far away and she knew without seeing it that a hint of gold appeared in the irises.

No! Mari! The mental scream of her friend trailed off in incoherent cries of anguish. When she spoke again, it was terrified. No... They did it to you... I can't... I can't get through... No...

It will be all right. Eat. It will be all right. Mari promised. Her daughter wept, but put her mouth down and fed.

"Finally, she shut up." The golden figure said sourly. "Mari?"

"I am ready." Mari said, staring ahead into nothing.

"Good girl." The golden form said with a nod as the world around them vanished into pixels and then vanished completely, taking all three of them with it.