Chapter 48: Asking the Right Questions
"Now, if everyone is well and rested, let's get back to work," Weiss said. "What do we intend to do now?"
Kainé crossed her arms, "Go to the Lost Shrine, I guess. You only said it to us about a hundred times."
"Hmph!" the Grimoire rose slightly higher into the air.
"It's probably our best bet at finding the androids," Nier agreed.
"I'm all for setting their asses on fire," Kainé said viciously. Despite the way she was treated by the villagers, she took the events in the Aerie personally.
The other Nier raised his hands, "Let's not jump to conclusions! We still don't know what role they played there, if any."
"Yeah? Who else could've done this shit?" Kainé challenged.
Nier shook his head, "No, you're right. This- this makes no sense. The androids know how dangerous possession is. Why would they ever allow this to happen?"
"The question isn't only who would allow this," Weiss interjected. "But also who has the capability to force possession on unwilling subjects. The only possible culprits are the overseers."
"What about the other Grimoires?" Emil asked.
"My less fortunate fellows are hardly capable of acting on their own accord."
Nier froze, "Grimoire Noir! We still have no idea what happened to him!"
Weiss dipped slightly in the air, "That is a possibility, and an unpleasant one for sure. If it was indeed him, I am not looking forward to this confrontation."
"Maybe he could help us?" Emil asked hopefully. "Or you could- um- eat him?"
Weiss rustled his pages, "Perhaps you are correct… Ultimately, Noir was a victim of circumstances, merely a tool for others to use. We can hardly blame the events of centuries past on him alone. And while he had killed Rubrum, we were all just trying to survive. Besides, since he was transformed while still alive just like I was, he should have kept his sanity and intelligence. He could be of great help to us."
"That doesn't mean he isn't dangerous," Nier countered. "Even his copies held a lot of power, so what will the real deal be like? And remember that project I told you about, the one to save Gestalts at the cost of Replicant lives? It was codenamed 'Noir'. Who knows what power it gave him?"
"Could this be what happened in the Aerie?" his Replicant asked.
"I don't think so. Project Noir was officially abandoned," Nier replied. "I've never managed to find a lot of information about it other than a few scattered notes, but it's not supposed to be like regular possession."
"…Oh, it isn't," Weiss whispered. "I remember now. I remember… almost everything."
Nier flared his wings. From the Grimoire's tone of voice, he got the feeling that whatever Weiss remembered, they weren't going to like it.
"When fully activated," Weiss continued. "Grimoire Noir can destroy the minds of every Replicant in existence simultaneously and force their respective Gestalts to possess them, whether they want to or not. However, in his current inactive state Noir can only force the possession in a very limited range with all the problems it entails."
"…So it was Noir," the other Nier said. "Is he an ally of the overseers then? And what the hell were they trying to do in the Aerie?"
"Who cares?" Kainé replied. "We just need to find him and rip out his pages before he is activated. Problem solved!"
"Or maybe just stop this activation?" Emil asked. "How does it work anyway?"
Weiss chuckled, "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"
He laughed quietly, his voice steadily growing in volume. For once his laughter lacked the usual arrogance and instead sounded closer to full-blown hysteria.
"Weiss!" the other Nier grabbed the Grimoire and slid his hand over the trembling silver cover. "…Are you alright?"
"…No. No, I'm most certainly not," Weiss replied. "In order to activate fully, Grimoire Noir requires a decoding system, codename 'Weiss'. Which in turn needs a set of keys to achieve its true potential. A double lock, if you will. Now, three guesses as to what those keys are."
"…Sealed Verses," the other Nier whispered.
"Correct. And with Noir resurfacing soon after I have unlocked all of them… Tell me this: how long have we been acting to achieve someone else's goals?"
The other Nier held his head in both hands, "Then this means- The overseers- Oh, god…"
"Sealed Verses, the Aerie, even my identity on the day we met… it all makes sense, doesn't it?" Weiss laughed.
The other Nier looked about to be sick.
"Do you intend to confront them?" Weiss asked.
"Confront who?" Kainé asked, looking worriedly between them. "What's the matter with you two?"
"I can't believe we never asked," the other Nier whispered. "There was always so much going on that it never really came up. And they seemed so far away, hidden behind the barrier we couldn't get through. Almost unreal…" He raised his head, "Shadowlord. What do the overseers look like?"
Nier forced his wings down, feeling more than a little unsettled, "…Like people? Just regular twenty-something women. Maybe thirty. Pale skin, red hair… I don't remember anything unusual about them. They felt different but right now I'm not even sure if there really was something my senses reacted to or if it was all just in my head. If I saw them, I'd recognize them, but I don't know what else to tell you."
"Both of them were like that?" Weiss asked.
He nodded, "They looked the same. They're androids, so maybe they're both the same model."
"…So it's really them," the Grimoire said. "And to think, the enemy was right in our midst, pulling our strings all this time, hidden so well, even I couldn't detect them."
"We can't," the other Nier rasped. "We can't confront them. Not here. Not with so many people around."
Weiss tilted his upper edge slightly, "The Lost Shrine then."
"…Okay, you are starting to freak me the fuck out!" Kainé snapped. "The hell is going on?"
"Oh, it is quite simple, really," Weiss said. "We have just figured out where and who the overseers are."
