Chapter 31: First Time in a Familiar Place

"So this is where he lives? I... I didn't know he had moved all the way down here. All the way to Mantle."

"Yup. Apparently he comes up to Atlas a decent amount to visit... your grave? Pearl's grave? I dunno exactly how that works. But that's where I found him."

"It's okay. I... I'm not exactly sure either. By the way, uh... what was he like?"

"Why're you asking me? He's your dad."

"I know, but it's been three years. Considering that he resigned from Green Ocean and moved down here, I... I'm not sure how much he's changed."

"Well, can't say much since I only talked to him a bit, but he seemed nice. Bit of an alcoholic, though. Or maybe he was just drinking cause he was visiting his daughter's grave, I dunno."

"I don't recall him drinking in my - in the memories I got from Pearl. I suppose that means he must have started after I - after Pearl passed away."

"That sounds like something that'd happen. At least he's got enough money to live in an apartment. Ain't homeless or anything. Means he's got a job somewhere else."

"I... that's good to hear. I wonder what he's doing."

"Why don't you go ask him? Door's right there."

"I know. I want to see him, to talk to him, but... I'm scared."

"Cause you killed his daughter."

"Because I... yes. Because I killed the actual Pearl. I'm the reason he lost his only daughter, and yet here I am, thinking of him as my father. I - "

"Hey, you're hitting yourself again."

"Huh?"

"Just like down at the Green Ocean lab, when I found you. It's like I'm watching you verbally punching yourself over and over. Just take a deep breath, go up there, and knock on the door, okay?"

"I... I can't breathe, remember?"

"Ha, very funny. You know what I mean."

"I know, but... I'm still nervous."

"You want me to go knock, then? Unless you just wanna stand out here. It's getting kinda chilly, and I'm pretty sure I'm still leaking a little blood out of my bandages, so..."

"Please... please knock for me. If that's alright with you."

"Sure."

Mud made her way to the front door of the apartment, with Pearl following a good distance behind her. She looked back at Pearl for a moment before knocking on the door.

"Who is it? It's nearly midnight..."

Before the door had even opened, Pearl heard a voice from inside. She recognized it. It was her - no, Pearl's father. She went still.

"What do you want - oh, it's you again," Ivan said as he opened the door. He squinted at Mud's face. "You... your name was Mud, right? Do you need something?"

"A trip to the hospital, maybe. But that ain't what I'm here for," Mud said, stepping to the side to reveal Pearl. "Got someone who wants to talk to you."

"That... that's..." Ivan's eyes widened as he looked at Pearl, then back to Mud. "How - no, why did you bring this here? What are you - "

"Father?"

Ivan froze. His head slowly turned back towards Pearl.

"Father, I... no, I'm not sure if I should call you Father, but..."

Pearl stopped. She wasn't sure what to say.

"That voice..." Ivan muttered. "Pearl? But..."

"Y'all wanna continue this inside?" Mud asked, shivering slightly. "It's pretty cold out here, and we probably got a lot to talk about."

"Oh, of course," Ivan said, stepping to the side. Mud quickly stepped into the apartment, and Pearl hesitantly followed her.

"I hope this is alright. I... I don't have much else to offer," Ivan said, carrying two cups of steaming coffee to the table and placing them in front of Mud and Pearl. He turned to Pearl. "You... you can drink, can you?"

"I can. You designed this body - no, designed me to be able to do so," Pearl said, taking a sip of the coffee. Despite its temperature, she could consume it without issue. It tasted somewhat sweet; her father had clearly put a lot of sugar into it. Pearl couldn't quite remember if that was how she - how Pearl liked her coffee. Or if she liked coffee at all.

"So I did," Ivan said, going back and grabbing a cup of his own from the kitchen counter before sitting across the table from Pearl and Mud. "I... I'm confused. I have so many questions to ask, I don't know where to start..."

"Could just start from the beginning," Mud said, turning to Pearl. "You wanna start? I dunno how you actually started, uh, existing."

"I... I suppose I could explain that," Pearl said, looking across the table at Ivan. "I assume you remember the, uh... the incident with the old laboratory. The one that took place two years ago."

"How could I forget? That's when I... when I lost my daughter. When I lost Pearl."

"I... I'm sorry. I'm the one who did it... I'm truly sorry," Pearl said, looking away. "I killed so many people. Including your daughter. And... and I don't even know why. All I know is something - something had gone wrong with my original programming. And then..."

Pearl paused for a moment.

"When I - when your daughter passed away, something malfunctioned in my head. Do you remember the project that we - that you and Pearl worked on together?"

"I remember. It was Project Transcendence. We built a body and mind from steel and circuits. A body meant for my daughter," Ivan said, eyeing Pearl up and down. "But the transfer of her aura, her soul... it never succeeded. That body eventually killed her... and I never imagined I would end up seeing it again."

"The transfer wasn't completely unsuccessful. I'm not sure if you're aware, but Pearl's memories were successfully uploaded to this body's - to my memory storage," Pearl explained, tapping the side of her head. "Those memories were dormant for a long time, but when I - when your daughter passed away, they emerged. They caused a conflict in my logic circuits. And then... I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but my neural circuits somehow concluded that I was Pearl. That I was your daughter."

"Huh, so that's how it happened?" Mud asked. "The real Pearl's memories caused a glitch in the system?"

"This... this is extraordinary," Ivan muttered. "To think that her memories triggered an entire neural rewrite..."

"After that, I'm not sure what happened. The neural rewrite triggered by your daughter's memories started, and the next thing I knew, I... I was on a beach in Vale, thinking that I was your daughter," Pearl said, looking towards Mud. "That's where Mud found me. That was just about a week ago."

"Hey, you said something about the robot being lost at sea or something, right? After a ship crashed or something?" Mud asked Ivan. "You think it just drifted around the ocean or something until it washed up on Vale?"

"I... I suppose that is possible. I can't think of any other way you would end up in Vale,"
Ivan said to Pearl. "You were shut down after... after what happened. You were supposed to be transported to another facility by the coast, but the ship carrying you sank into the ocean after a Grimm attack. I assumed that the PETRA - that you were lying somewhere on the ocean floor."

"I guess that clears up everything until I found you," Mud said to Pearl before taking a sip of her coffee. Pearl noticed that it was considerably darker than her own. "You didn't remember any of that until recently, huh?"

"Yeah, I... when I woke up, I had no memories. It must have been just after the neural rewrite was completed," Pearl explained. "I started regaining some memories as we made our way up to Atlas, but... they were your daughter's memories. Not my own. I thought... I thought the transfer had been successful. That I was Pearl, and that I had managed to transfer my mind and soul into a robot body and then somehow ended up on a beach in Vale. I was wrong."

"Anyways, we made our way up here to Atlas. I got hurt pretty bad along the way, and while I was in the hospital, I think Pearl met up with one of your old coworkers."

"Her name... her name is Erika Grisele. She said she was the director of Project Terracotta," Pearl added. "She... she told me who I really was. What I really was."

"Erika... so she's still working there," Ivan muttered, drinking down some of his coffee. "She was ambitious. Relentless in her pursuit of scientific advancement. She always thought about the next big breakthrough, the next technological revolution that her research could bring for Green Ocean and Atlas as a whole."

"Yeah, well, in this case, that big breakthrough involved messing up Pearl's head. I broke in, grabbed her, and left," Mud said. "And now, here we are. Anything else you wanna add, Pearl?"

"I... not really, no," Pearl said, taking another sip of her coffee. "I can't really think of anything..."

"This... this is all too sudden. I'm having a hard time comprehending all of this," Ivan muttered, staring down into his coffee. " To think that all this happened as a result of that day. I... I need some time to think."

"So, uh, do you want us to leave, or..."

"No, no. You can stay here. Finish your coffee. I'll... I'll be in my room for a moment," Ivan said, standing up from the table. He made his way further into the apartment and out of sight into what was probably a bedroom, leaving Pearl and Mud alone. The two were quiet for a few moments.

"At least he didn't kick us out," Mud said. "That's a good sign."

"I hope so..."

"You nervous?"

"I... I killed his daughter. I'm the reason he..."

"I know you. You aren't a killer. That may have technically been you that did it two years ago, but..." Mud paused for a moment. "Hell, if you think about it, the actual you hadn't even been made yet. It was only all that rewrite stuff that happened after that made... you, I guess."

"That doesn't mean it wasn't me who did it. That it wasn't me who fired the shot. Even if my current personality was developed after the deed was done," Pearl said, turning towards Mud. "If someone killed your sister, would you forgive them? Even if they developed a split personality right after doing so?"

"I... that's different. You know that's different."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, I... I'm just scared. Scared that he'll be angry... scared that he'll reject me. That my father - no, the person I thought was my father won't accept me back."

"Hey, if that happens, you'll still have me."

"Huh?"

"I mean, we've traveled all the way up here, right? If you end up with nowhere to go, we could travel around a bit more. Plus, you got a lot of muscle and firepower in that body of yours, and you don't need to sleep, so it'll be convenient having you around. Don't even need to eat, now that I think about it."

"I... I suppose that could be an option. I would need to learn how to fight properly, though... and I think I would like to eat once in a while."

"I've done this teaching gig once, I'm sure I can do it again. And don't worry, I said you don't need to eat. Ain't gonna stop you if you wanna try out the local delicacies, long as we got the money."

"Um, excuse me?" Pearl heard Ivan call out. She turned to see her fa - Ivan at the entrance to his room. "I'd like to talk to the PET - to Pearl. Just the two of us."

"Alright. I'll be out here finishing up this coffee," Mud said. She pushed Pearl out of her chair and towards Ivan. "Go on. I'll be waiting out here if you need me."

"O - okay," Pearl said, following Ivan back into his room. It was a somewhat small bedroom, with a twin-sized bed in the corner and a work desk by the door. A dim desk lamp illuminated the room, and Pearl could see various robotic parts and pieces scattered about.

"Please, sit down," Ivan said, gesturing towards a chair by the desk as he sat down on the bed. Pearl sat down and turned towards Ivan. "I... I heard what you were talking about with your friend. About what happened on that day. About... what you did to my daughter."

"I..."

"What were her final moments like?"

"Huh?"

"I... I want to know how it ended. What my daughter... what happened before she died. What she said, if anything."

"She... I don't remember too much, but she... she was apologizing. To you." Pearl paused for a moment. "I... I remember, just before the transferral procedure. The one that gave me your daughter's memories. I - no, she apologized then, as well."

"I see. So even in the end, she blamed herself for Karina's death," Ivan muttered as a solemn look came over his face. "You remember her, right? From my daughter's memories?"

"I do. It was my... if I had just - "

"So you share the same feelings."

"I... yes, I suppose I do," Pearl said. She sighed. "I know now that those aren't my memories. That the Pearl in my memories isn't the Pearl I am today. But despite that..."

"You harbor guilt for her death. And my daughter's as well. I heard what you were talking about with your friend a few minutes ago," Ivan said. Pearl looked away, unwilling to make eye contact with him. "I suppose it's hard to deny that you... that you killed my daughter. That you killed Pearl."

"I'm... I'm sorry. I'll - "

"But in a way, so did I."

"Huh?" Pearl looked up, startled. "But... what are you - "

"The PETRA was my creation. Project Terracotta was my responsibility. I created you, and I designed the project that would eventually lead to the death of my daughter," Ivan said. He paused, letting out a long sigh. "I suppose you could say that, in the grand scheme of things, I bear the greater guilt. After all, who should take more of the blame? The one who planned out and designed the circumstances that would lead to one's death, or a machine simply following the commands it was given? The shooter, or the gun?"

"But... it wasn't you pulling the trigger. That was me."

"It may as well have been me. It was my fault that things happened the way they did. My fault that Pearl was in the lab that day. My fault that I wasn't supervising the test myself. My fault that I couldn't get to Pearl in time. I..."

"I... I suppose all that is true. Perhaps both of us are guilty in some regard."

Ivan didn't respond. The two were quiet. They avoided each other's gazes. Finally, Ivan spoke up.

"You sound... so much like her."

"I know. You built this body... you built me well. So well that I believed I was Pearl," Pearl said. "But I'm not. I'm not your daughter. I'm not Pearl."

"You aren't the Pearl I know," Ivan said, looking up and meeting Pearl's eyes. "But that doesn't mean you aren't my daughter."

"Huh?"

"I made your body and mind. Forged them from steel and circuits. I created you. You came into existence because of my actions and my mistakes. The circumstances may be different than normal, but... I feel like that is close enough to consider you my daughter. Especially since you seem to have considered me as your father."

"But that... that was because - "

"Because of the memories that Pearl gave you. I know. But those memories are what gave birth to you. They are as much a part of you as they were a part of the Pearl I knew. And I... I don't think she would mind sharing."

"I... I..."

"Like I said, I heard your talk with your friend. I know you've been agonizing over this conversation. That you don't feel like you should be here because of what you did. That you think I... I want nothing to do with you. You think I should hate you," Ivan said. "But that couldn't be further from the truth. The Pearl that I knew is long gone, but... it seems her memory lives on in another daughter of mine. That daughter is sitting right in front of me, and she needs a father more than anything."

"Father..."

"I want you to know that even though you may not be the Pearl that I knew, you are still Pearl - and you are still my daughter," Ivan said, opening his arms. "And you have a place here. Now, and always."

"This is..."

Pearl paused.

"Thank you, father."

Then, Pearl got up and leaped forward into her father's arms, embracing him in a hug she had been waiting so long for.

I'm finally home.

A/N: And that's chapter 31! Finally, after a long journey from the beaches of Vale, across the sea, and into Atlas, Pearl has finally made her way home. Next chapter, we'll be putting a capping off Pearl's arc of the story, so stay tuned!

Thanks to those who've read up to here! If you've got anything to say at all, whether it's feedback, questions, criticisms, or comments, please don't hesitate to leave a review. Have a nice day, and see you soon for the final chapter of arc 2!