Vulnerability power, part 5
~0~
Ciel woke up after... eight hours of sleep.
Eight hours lost when she could have used at least five of those trying to figure out what was wrong with Zero. But apparently, X didn't care enough for his boyfriend/lover/significant other's to let Ciel work and research for this long.
No, instead, he wanted to play house with her...
And, quite strangely, she didn't mind at all. Actually...
Actually, it made her feel better, to know that an older man was watching over her, fussing at her... caring about her health and entire well-being.
It made the scientist feel... loved! And not just for being useful, no. She felt love for the sake of being loved.
Still, she had plenty of work to do, Zero's state kept getting worse and worse...
or, it was strangely improving, since he was not puking his nonexistent guts out (Also, apparently, the 'gut lining' he had regurgitated was not, as previously stated, gut lining but the Curse that had afflicted the dark elf. Alright then.) then she considered this an improvement.
'But... why can't he charge?' Ciel wondered as she hopped out of bed and padded her way to the bathroom, she deserved the luxury of a morning shower with the temperature she liked. ' He was charging just fine back at the base, and the equipment we were using were practically scrap pieces cobbled together with hot glue and cheap lead compound. But here, in this high-end facility, Zero just can't charge... or, he can, but the electricity he received is not processed... or!"
"Or the Pod's broken..." Ciel whispered in Horror. It was the only feasible reason why Zero couldn't charge.
It was not the battery that had failed, it was the wall plug meant to recharge it.
Throwing away the bliss of a long shower, Ciel instead took it as fast as she could. Threw on some clothes (X had chosen for her something professional yet comfortable, and not pink. It was a pair of black leggings, a dark green skirt, a cream jumper that would go over a graphic tee with a cyan pony with a rainbow mane and her usual pink headset/helmet.) and rushed out to the transverse.
"Oh, Miss Ciel!" Cerveau exclaimed. " Why such a rush, did Zero-"
"Zero's perfectly fine." Ciel snapped as she hopped on the humming teleporter. "I need to inspect the Recovery bed he was in."
"The Hospital, then."
"Yes, Pico and Pixel are already waiting for me," Ciel informed her second favourite reploid Pantheons to hang out with. "Also, if you ever see a guardian, be kind to me and tell them a message." She growled.
"And what will that message contain?"
"If you touch Zero again, Ciel will personally pour Hydroxide chloride in your motherboard while you recharge." She hissed as she disappeared in a flash of light. Not seeing her father figure blanched at the graphic death.
When she reappeared at the Military hospital, Ciel hurried down to where Zero was resting, praying to whoever had an ear for an atheist that he still had enough charge left... or that Leviathan (Or Harpuia but the man was too righteous for that.) Hadn't done anything worse than tampered with the recovery pod.
When she found the room, the door sight read empty. 'Ok, Calm down, Ciel. Your UI just said empty, not dead, not deceased and not out of commission.' For all she knew, Crazy X had simply brought his ailing boyfriend to get some fresh air and sunshine.
Besides, inspecting the pod would require Zero to be out of it anyway.
As the genius leaned in front of the pod's control panel, she was met with a very peculiar sight.
A paper note.
And on it was written a note addressed to her in handwriting.
Hey Ciel, this is X.
So, we've met your aunt Varuni Devi Dasi Cossack, she managed to find out what was 'wrong' with my Zero.
Also, Leviathan is to be killed on sight, she's the one who tampered with Zero's pod.
I will handle it myself, don't worry Musume.
Also... Please come to the MRI room. Zero may have a surprise for us.
'A surprise?' Ciel thought as she ran a quick scan on the pod, finding that it had indeed been tampered with...
And since only the highest-ranked individuals could enter this room... and X and... her aunt (she had an aunt... OMG.) had confirmed that it had been Leviathan that had sabotaged the Savior of all reploids and Elf kind.
Well, the mystery is solved. The remaining guardians really had it out for him. (Thankfully, Fefnir was the most righteous of the group, since he would wait for Zero to be fully recovered before attacking him head-on.)
Ciel hopped to her feet, and after pulling up the mini-map and her electrical uni bike and zoomed to the location.
As she approached the room, the sound of X and Zero arguing met her ears.
"And I'm telling you that I would rather eat sludge than enter a giant magnet!" That was Zero, he didn't sound happy at all.
"Zee! It will be fine, I promise!" X giggled, and Ciel could her d- the blue bomber swaying on his chair. "I went in, and look and meeeee~! I'm doing fine~."
"Doing fine? I'm not sure, X. You kind of... turned off when you went inside."
"I didn't turn off, I was still talking to you!" X protested.
"Yes, you were... but you were also talking to Phantom and... him." Zero practically growled. " And how do you think an MRI will be able to see what's inside my body? And you can't promise that it won't mess something important."
"Like your Babies."
"Like my... Oh, Goddammit X!"
For her part, Ciel felt proud of herself that she didn't make a sound at the preposterous statement.
Reploids were not human, they were not even organic, meaning the act of procreation was impossible... right?
Right?
Suddenly, the door flew open, and X suddenly grabbed Ciel and pulled her in. "Hi Ciel, your aunt figured out what was wrong with Zero, He's pregnant but in denial and since his body is non-magnetic-"
"X, I was dragged forward by Aztec Falcon's ray gun. That thing was magnetic!"
"I thought it would be wise to cat-scan you."
"X, that's an MRI machine, not a cat-scan... don't you dare lie to me," Zero spoke tiredly as he grabbed a latex glove and began to absentmindedly nibble on it.
...
"Well," another voice spoke, a wizened one that held humour and understanding. "Now that's a pregnant woman's reflex."
This, of course, caused Zero to sputter and X to beam in triumph. "Ah! See? Another proof."
"Ah... wait, I don't get it," Ciel spoke as she took a gander at the whole situation.
On the waiting room chair was a woman swaddled in a white sari, he head was shaved and a...Ṷ shaped mark on her forehead. She had deep blue eyes shining with intelligence and brimming with tears.
Under her arm was a rather large tote bag and on her neck, a deep blue bag... much smaller than the one hanging on her shoulder. She was clutching the smaller bag as she tried to hold back her tears.
Beside her was a Reploid, a very old model if his chunky feet were any indication... and the nasty gash tearing one eye open. He was... dressed in a rather peculiar fashion.
Ciel awkwardly stood there for about two seconds before she bowed down as low as she could. This must be her aunt...
God, the girl didn't even know her birth mother, and now she was meeting her donor's sister as she just learned that something impossible happened.
She wordlessly turned to the bickering couple. Zero was still absentmindedly chewing on the latex glove (Sorry, Nithril. Since it was a better material and hypoallergenic and used only synthetic material.) while he gave reasons to X as to why it was impossible for him to build another unit since... Well, that was impossible.
"Have you checked?" Ciel asked as he discreetly examined Zero's lower mid-section, noting that, indeed, the wire-frame mesh was somewhat distended there.
"What do you mean by, Checking?" he asked, clearly annoyed.
"Well, every reploids has an integrated manual. Meaning you should have one too."
Zero stared... "Wait... I have?"
Ciel and X nodded, same as the other reploid that looked like a... more messed up version of X.
Already, the girl's fingers were itching to grab tools to repair the Nithril and whatever else that may be broken.
And by Mother Elf, he looked even older than X and Zero.
"Oh..." She heard Zero uttered in pure awe, his eyes unfocused as they moved back and forth and twitching down at high speed. "I... I can do that?!"
"Do what, my love?" X asked, at the great discomfort of their guests.
"I... I'm..."
"Pregnant?"
"Well... umm... yeah but... just look." Zero spoke with a blush as he casted his user's manual to the computer.
But what met them was a garbled mess of corrupted symbols trying to spell out something.
"Ah... Zero... I think you have a font problem." Ciel spoke as she tried to figure out what could possibly be wrong."
"Ah... Miss Cossack, if I may." The other reploids in white robes interjected as he made his way to the computer, already connecting with the machine and going in the parameters. "I don't think Zero's the problem... Ah, got it. You don't have the Devanagari font... let me just-" and after offloading the font...
The corrupted letters changed to a whole other language, its font's the furthest away from anything Ciel had known.
"That's... Hindi." X breathed out. "No, that's Sanskrit...Zee... No, that doesn't make any sense." X spoke without his usual madness.
" Why? X, what's going on?" The heroic blond asked his face back at a neutral blank. "There's something wrong with me, I just know it!"
"Yeah, well that's because your body's a copy." The one that had fixed the Problem spoke as he scanned the text.
Zero's eyes turned into pinpricks at those damning words. He felt his entire world shift on his axis.
"I'm... not... Not zero?" he stuttered as dreadful panic took him over.
He's not Zero... If he's not Zero, then who the hell is he?
And... X loves Zero, would it mean that... X would reject them?
Suddenly... he remembered that he remembered something of the past. Not much, but...
'But what if those were implanted memories? I'm a robot, and robots... our memories are... they can change and.'
He felt a hand grab his. "Zee, Zee. It's alright."
"I'm not Zero." the damning words exited his mouth, as was some laughter. "I... Ciel's wrong... I'm not Zero."
"Well, about that." The scared reploid interrupted. "You are Zero... like... Say, X, did Zero die in the last hundred years?" He asked as he turned to the couple. "Like, left his body behind?"
X blinked a few times as he looked to the sky, begging the stars for an answer. "I... Yes, Zero was sealed to make the Mother elf."
The stranger reploid stared a bit. "O-key... so, why did Zero seal himself to make mama elf?"
There was another pause as X dug deep in his erased memory, only to be interrupted by a moan from his ... lover.
"Zero?"
"I..." Zero pressed his fingers to his eyes as he clutched X's arm. "I... I was told that... My body held the virus... and this... Doctor he-he-he-he-."
X sucked a breath. "Oh no." He blanched as he helplessly watched his beloved glitch and crash...getting him out of the chair and on the ground as his body convulse violently.
And suddenly, a nurse-type elf flew in and activated her healing Aura.
Zero's body relaxed, his glitching ended and soon, he was once again blinking around the place, confused yet... relaxed.
"Huh..."
"Zero?" X asked as he put the blond's head in his lap. "Zero, What happened?"
"Virus... A virus... Not the same one as before, another one." Zero explained as he pressed his hand over his eyes. Wincing at the light. "Doctor Weil put it in when I..." Zero's eyes flew open, and the next thing the blue bomber knew, he had an armful of shaking hero.
X held his boyfriend as tears filled his eyes, whispering sweet comfort in the distraught blond's ear
"Give us a moment, please?" X asked. And Ciel felt herself being gently dragged away from the room by the woman who had to be her Aunt.
It was then that it hit the genius that she had a surviving family member and that she was not as orphaned as she thought.
~0~
Left, right, left, right, left, right... The cat-shaped clock's eyes kept going back and forth following the seconds, the pendulum was its tail, and it held Alouette enthralled with its movement and sound.
And the craziest part?
There were no fancy electronics. It genuinely was a mechanical clock powered by a battery. It kept time not by calculating the amount of light passed on an atom. But the teeth of gear moved by a rudimentary motor.
And it was fascinating.
"So, you like my vintage cat clock?" Fef... France asked from where she dusted her numerous trinkets in a glass curio.
It was so weird to see the most fearsome and overlay manly Fefnir sport a pretty dress, earrings and expertly styled hair... and the fact that his... Her house was painted in pink and peach with some beige and middle-eastern accent.
Since... you know. Apparently, her husband was very much into the whole Egyptian theme and all that.
Alouette shyly nodded as she hugged Tango closer.
Fefnir... France gave her an uncharacteristically sweet and indulgent smile. It was as if the woman was another person from the fire general. "Do you want it?" She asked.
Alouette's eyes grew big. "Ah umm... but... Isn't it yours?"
"Yes... but it doesn't mean I can't give it to you." She explained as she put her feather duster in her cleaning bucket. "Besides, you deserve to have something nice... consider it my poor way to make it up to you after I..."
"You killed me." She whispered, Alouette's mood doing a nosedive.
The silence was only broken by the clockwork, and incidentally, it told Alouette that it lasted wayyy too long...
Until she felt something being pushed in her hand... It was the cat clock.
Fefn... France held her shoulder, her smile gone and sorrow filled her eyes. "Alouette... I'm so sorry, there was no other way to evacuate you." She explained. " Neither I nor Anu knew this was the real X, and we had no idea that this would be the end of the era of hate. Should we have known... should I have known of Master's X's ultimate plan... I would have killed Harpuia and Leviathan as soon as I could."
"Why?!" Alouette asked, affronted to hear France's cold statement.
The elegant reploid sighed as she (With Alouette's consent.) lead her to a... banana printed couch. Once sitting on its plush cushion, and giving time to the elegant war machine to gather her wits and words, France took a vent and began to speak again.
"Alouette... you are made to resemble a girl... but can you understand the more adult concepts?"
"I do."
The reploid in red once again sight. "well, this will make it easier then." She cleared her throat. "You, me and Anu... you know we are traitors to the human council, don't you?"
Alouette nodded.
France sighed. "Yeah well... as we wrote on the wall, our duty as Fefnir and Anubis Necromancer was to... extract reploids, make them disappear and revive them later in one of our twelve safe houses." She explained. "It was what we could do to help the children of Neo-Arcadia, you know. It wasn't much, but we needed to be more numerous than the bad person's at the top." she chuckled. " It was super easy, I started this rumour that my Hubby could turn dead reploid in a pantheon, and no one batted an eye at me lugging truckloads of dead units to be revived by my sweet treat... since it was not that far from the truth. Not that my Anu would ever stoop so low, that's the other scientist who did that."
Alouette blanched.
"Yeah, I know, it's terrible and against so many laws. But those ancient laws had been erased and replaced after Copy-X replaced master X... but this was in the past, I don't think it will happen ever again, sweetheart." The elegant reploid She assured.
"Why? We won?" Alouette asked with renewed hope. Sure, the last thing she remembered of Zero was him... being very sick and X being stuck on the ceiling, but W was also a bit crazy, so chances were that he's managed to do something crazy to win the war.
"Yes! X did win, and he overturned every ruling done after his death." The red guardian informed the little girl, her smile was also filled with hope and relief... before being replaced by a frown filled with grief and regret. "If I would have known of his plans, I would not have..."
"Killed us?"
"No... but I thought Harpuia was still in charge, and if I acted differently then for what he'd expected of me." she shuddered. " The last thing I wanted was to risk having my memory scanned..."
"It would've been the end of it." Alouette whispered, now understanding the angle from which Fefnir came from.
A shudder came over France as she practically collapsed back, holding her face as she sobbed.
On a whim, Alouette wrapped her little arms around France... this was not an unknown situation for her.
Many times, Ciel, Cerveau... anyone, really. Would have a meltdown when they stopped to think for a bit. Even Alouette had her moment where intense Paranoia and the reality of it all would shatter whatever illusion of safety and normality she would have.
Like now...
Both F-frames clung to one another as they processed years of fear and uncertainty, now gone...
The era of fear and lies was at the end... without a war, without much bloodshed... it only took Zero to Tongue kiss the Holy relic that was X to be there.
Eventually, France broke the silence. "I... I had eyes on you for the longest time, Alouette." she admitted without looking at the smaller unit. "I know it sounds extremely creepy... but please, bear with me." The red reploid spoke with a wavering voice.
Alouette only nodded, she was finally getting some answers... and getting to know France.
"We reploids... we can't reproduce like... like anything organic, really." She began. "But... since Anu became part of my life. We began... Well, I began to want a baby of my own."
"Reploids can't adopt, let alone a guardian and her Muto... and what to say of a trans reploid?" France gave out hollow laugh. "We could not even apply to have a Child model."
Alouette hugged the taller reploid.
"And one day... one day, Phantom went spying on the resistance... and he sent a picture of you, Menard and Pieroquet." France closed her eyes, and would she be like Master X, Alouette knew tears would flow from her eyes. "I... our heart broke, and your three stole those pieces."
"So... you wanted to Kidnap us."
"Well... Is it really Kidnapping if the child has no home and lives in a dangerous situation? And is it really bad if the only thing the kidnappers want is to raise them with love and care?"
"But... I won't grow up." And wasn't that a sore point for all child builds.
" Well, with Ciel now under the Protection of Neo-Arcadia... maybe you will." France spoke hopefully. "And if not, it's alright. We don't mind, we love you the way you are... we love you all the way you are, and we can help you grow in other ways." France spoke, not really looking at Alouette anymore, but still living the moment when she shot three children dead to save them...
not that they needed to be saved.
"... Did you have a family before Copy X's dictatorship?" The aesthetically pleasing reploid asks. "Oh, Goodness me, I really should have checked." She covered her mouth. "Oh... what have I done, you would probably be happier with Ciel than with us. Oh, what to do?"
"Umm... It's alright. I would... I think it is better if I called her to tell her everything alright, and that your not an evil flaming garbage pile of evil and hate." Once those words were spoken, Alouette regretted them immediately.
Sure, France didn't seem all that bad, but she was still Fefnir.
France (Fefnir) Stared at Alouette for long enough for her to finish her will... and burst into laughter.
When her gales abated, she whipped her eyes off their nonexistent tears and sighed. "Yes, this is also how I feel about Fefnir." She shook her head. "Now come, I'll get the phone ready and try to contact Master X if he will let me. I wouldn't want to keep you away from your big sister now."
Alouette felt a genuine smile stretching her lips. For the first time since she met Ciel... no, since her first activation and having to read her... rights. The little reploids let herself feel hope without any care.
Unknown to them, Anubis and the boys have also come to the same agreement.
It should have been worse.
But somehow... The two boys knew full well that those two reploids were telling the truth.
Well... they knew he had to since he had an epic breakdown when he realized that he didn't have to keep killing/reviving the reploids he wanted to save.
And he had a shrine Dedicated to Master X, a file full of concrete proof of why the recent Master X was a fake. (Red eyes! Why does no one notice them! Neo-Arcadia is invisible to him. He acts like a brat !) and plenty of other stuff only someone who would work against the status quo would have.
Menart and Pieroquet, unlike Alouette, had no one to return to, being truly discarded reploids.
They had been bought to fill a void caused by the death of one child, and the other being in a coma.
The only thing they remembered was going to recharge in bed and waking up with a nasty jolt in a holding area, awaiting their turn to be shorted.
Thankfully, there had been a raid by the resistance, and the two had been rescued and managed to survive the treacherous trek in the desert...
but then again, Fefnir and Anubis had been the ones in charge of hunting down escapees through the arid terrains... meaning...
Meaning that they had been protected by the couple since day one.
Menart and Pierro swore their life to the two saboteurs. For without them...
Without them, there would not even be there.
~0~
Back at the Hospital, X could hear Ciel talking on the phone, and while it would be easy for him to listen in, he chose not to...
Since he wanted to give all of his attention to his Zero.
The returned blue bomber smiled, Usually, his Zero would always try to appear strong and unfeeling at times. Hiding his wounds under the thin veneer of masculinity... the toxic one.
Apparently, he had been coded by a German man with no belief in men having feelings other than aggression and pride. Whatever else was too confusing for the old Zero to comprehend.
But not this Zero, the one who forgot that he was supposed to be the angsty robot master who killed his old girlfriend and who carried the guilt of causing the maverick plague, turning Sigma to evil, causing the earth to be turned into a wasteland. (X was still doubtful about that, the earth was super resilient, and it only took for the population to drop to a certain level to let her heal. Besides, Neo-Arcadia was built in Somalia, a desert. So, obliviously, it would be deserted.)
Nevertheless, something had happened to Zero in the past. and this event that had caused his now-boyfriend to commit suicide was basically Doctor Weil (if he could even be called that) gaslighting Zero into believing that he was the only cause of the maverick pandemic (that had actually been waning since the fall of Lumine, apparently this had been enough to remove the very first Cyber elf from the ethereal rig… yes, Sigma had been the very first Cyber elf, and the guy had been more then happy to move on and live in the bowels in cyberspace, away from all prying eyes.
X made sure of that.)
Where was he? right, So the Maverick Pandemic was winding up, and the two reploid only had to pick some of the most recalcitrant ones, reploid rights were getting more mainstream and accepted and soon, new Eden would be made, and only reploids would be able to live there as a fully emaciated race.
(X had learned his lessons. Humans would always find a forewarn to hate something. And since reploids appeared to be better than them.. well, do the math.)
Apparently, Doctor Weil didn't like that and thus had manipulated Zero into believing that, by the mere fact that he was still alive, the Virus was also alive, meaning that if they didn't want yet another war, then Zero had to perform the ultimate sacrifice for the good of everyone.
and, of course, his superheroic partners, his heart being gnawed by guilt and Weil's poisonous words had caved.
And… somehow, despite having been extracted from his previous body, he had a new one now.
One that was coded in Sanskrit and that was not made on earth, and whose maker was named Vishvakarma… and who could, under the right circumstances, make more reploids.
So, inside this brand new and even more advanced than X's own body, was Zero.
His Zero.
The Zero he had pined after for decades, not wanting to force him into anything he didn't want in fear of reawakening the hurt Iris had caused him.
But in the end, it had caused more harm than good, since Zero thought he had nothing else to live for… and he was tired of pining for the unattainable X, the father of all reploids and his best friend.
"What a mess." X sighed as he pressed a gentle kiss on his uncharacteristically cuddly Zero.
Not that X was complaining, at all.
Zero didn't say anything, simply holding his long overdue boyfriend as he let his emotional exhaustion take away whatever self-control he had.
"But hey! I can't say I regret what happened!"
Zero pushed away from his lover's neck and stared at him with clear betrayal.
"Wait, let me explain." X said hastily. "Sure, you and I were gone for a long time, war broke out and the thing with Weil and Omega happened BUT!"
"But." Zero repeated dangerously.
"But because you had amnesia, you didn't remember who I was or your heavy past. only that you cared about me enough to kill a madman… you kissed me back to life." the mad reploid spoke as he pressed his lips to Zero's own, then X turned to face the silently observing Elpizo. "Also, thank you for your attempt at freeing me. I may have been the one who used you to do it, and the baby elves."
Elpizo waved it off. "Oh, none of this. I had a few friend contacts here and there… but I'm sincerely happy I failed." he gave a genuine smile.
"X?"
"Sorry… So yeah, without this whole thing happening, you would have never kissed me. And without this kiss, I would be dead… both inside and out." He spoke those last words in a grim solemnity that, for the past few weeks, had been gone.
Not liking the heavy words of his lover, nor the dark look in his eyes. Zero kissed his boyfriend again.
"I… don't really get it but… I'm glad you're here, X. I…I missed you."
X's cold and dead eyes warmed up at his Boyfriends' addition. "I missed you too, Zero. every single day since you were gone."
Both embraced, relishing the fact that, despite the literal hell they had to traverse, the numerous deaths, madman's, and drama, they were still here, they were still alive.
"Also…" X began with laughter in his voice. "Your mysterious new frame can do something no other reploids can do."
"Which is?"
"Zero… you are the world's first pregnant reploid… and I'm the dad." He happily declared.
Zero had been about to deny it, but one scroll through his user's manual confirmed that, yes, there was a good chance that there was a tiny reploid growing inside him.
"Say… X."
"Yes, my dear?"
X could feel his beloved warming up, his usually pale cheeks gaining a charming pinkish tint. "You know… when I was drooling for you?"
X smirked. "Yes?" Was it bad that he felt proud to get this reaction out of his longtime sweetheart?
"Well… it was… you know?" The blush intensified and X chuckled proudly as he embraced his beloved and bearer of his children to his heart.
His actual children, not a race made from his illegally stolen blueprints. Seriously, he felt violated on a level no one could understand.
"This was worth everything."
~0~
Outside the door, Ciel had just finished bringing her Aunt, (Varoru Devi Dasi.) up to speed about how her life had been.
Needless to say, the older woman had quickly situated her niece on her lap, whispering prayers and oaths about how she was now under the Lord's protection, and that she was not alone anymore.
Varoru had explained that she and her sister freesia had drifted apart when Varoru (Valerian) had chosen the path of devotion instead of the numerous pleasures Neo-Arcadia was known for.
"And let me tell you something, Ciel, I've had more pleasure singing in the streets of the Maha-Mantra than doing anything cool these days with my generation."
"I see… but why didn't you try to stop them? Why didn't you try to save and-"
"because it was not my Duty, and, as you must suspect, I had no rights to you, and how could I take down a government?" Varoru asked with a chuckle. "Ciel, not everyone had the strength and power to destroy the government, even if you had to flee."
Ciel bit her lips as she averted her eyes.
"Still, what you did was valorous, and I'm proud of what you have achieved in five short years."
"Four years, Copy-X was a mistake," Ciel revealed with a tiny voice.
"That's not how I see it." Ciel's aunt spoke gently as she held her niece's scarred hands. "I don't know how much you believe in a higher power, let alone God, but in what I practice, we know that when things happen at such a large scale, then It's by the Lord's will. and no, he's not doing this to punish us, our misery is by our own doing, it's called Karma."
"Well, karma sucks b-bearings." Ciel stuttered, causing her aunts to burst into laughter.
"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice, Ciel. and this is another reason why I'm yeeting myself out of this material world."
Ciel turned to face Varoru, her eyes asking the question that currently ran in her head.
"Right…" She smiled. "My dear Ciel. I don't know how much you will understand but… I joined this movement, the Hare Krishna Movement Primarily to get out of this material world filled with misery and the four-fold suffering. As you must've worked out, there is something that exists outside of this universe, something that exists outside of time and place. Scientists and astrophysicists have tried to explore it, even to put a name on it and they failed."
"Yes, because we have yet to reach the end of the universe via shuttles and satellites."
Varoru chuckled. "Oh, sweet child. In our holy scriptures, the eldest of them all, the big bang is described in great detail, as what lies outside this universe," she said with a wink. "But… obviously, one needs to have faith, to believe them, even a little for them to start making sense."
"That's Illogical." Ciel rebuked, "Old scriptures were written by people living in ancient time, barely out of the caves. what they described, the gods, demons and other crazy things, we can't see them right now, it was all fake anyway." she dismissed without hiding the pride she felt.
Varoru raised an eyebrow. "Oh? and tell me, how did you manage to find Zero?"
"I did my research."
And where did you start?"
"Well, I started with…" Ciel's voice cut off as her brain caught up with what she was about to say.
"You looked at a legend."
"Yes… The Legend of Zero… but that was just a hundred years ago, so there was proof that he existed." she crossed her arms.
"What types of proof?" Varoru asked with a knowing smile.
"Well, first I've heard of Zero, it was hard not to since he's, you know, legendary."
"But you had no video proof that he'd ever existed, and you only knew of his prowess via words to mouth and very outdated school books. it was unverified knowledge."
"Yes, but in the end, I did find him!" Ciel jumped to her feet, looking triumphantly at the Aunt as if she had proven a point.
"Yes, you did… but at first, you had to put your faith in something that could have very well been faked. it's not that unusual when you talk about propaganda and all."
Ciel's face took a reddish hue.
"And thus, without knowing if your information about Zero was real or not, you went to look for him, you put faith in Zero based on something you heard, not something you experienced.
"He's not that old, only like… two hundred years, and…"
"And many of the files on him had been corrupted." Varoru ended. "Dear Ciel. You put your faith in Zero to be your saviour when you had nothing else but prayers, and I put my faith in God when I also had nothing but prayers. and Both of us found what we were looking for through sheer faith in something we never saw."
It seemed that Ciel still wanted to argue, but thought better of it.
"Ciel, it's not because you haven't experienced something with your senses that it doesn't exist. We, humans, have such a small sight of the universe, and our eyes can't see everything. we can't see the radio waves like the cyber-elves, we can't hear the insects singing to one another and the moment all light is somewhat down, then we have a hard time seeing. what to say about anything spiritual, or actual antimatter." Varoru spoke as she gave her niece a gentle side hug, feeling her touch starved girl lean in the embrace despite her pout.
"Spiritual things are not antimatter." Ciel groused.
"Oh, so what is antimatter?" Varoru challenged back.
"The opposite of matter, meaning energy."
"And what is energy?"
"Energy is the rate at which atomic particles vibrate…" Ciel paused, it was clear she had caught onto this particular tangent.
"Yes, but this energy can only be calculated through the observation of matter. In other words, this is material energy… but what caused the first wave of particles?" The Vaishnavi asked.
"Physicists have yet to find a conclusive theory, the only thing they are mostly sure of is that it was some sort of sound. The more esoterically inclined and less respected say that it's the sound 'Aum' that started it all." It was clear Ciel was about to roll her eyes.
Varoru nodded. "Yes, Pranava, Aum, it's the sound those big scientist recorded when they aim their fancy recording gadget at the sun, it's even showing the corresponding Yantra, or sound-made machine meant to augment to powers of Mantras, and Yes, Ciel, it is a Science, an old science that was used eons ago by highly advanced humans… as reported in the Vedas and Puranas. and before you start telling me bout how there's no proof, well, there was proof, but since it didn't follow the old Brits church narration, then the old historians, the scientist and the politician and the conqueror of India… Basically, the old motherboard and Vimanas were all destroyed, and whatever was left, like the scriptures and old archaeological finds that are older than the saurian, yet more advanced than what we have now were scoffed at and ignored by the intelligentsia…" Varoru scoffed. "All because Britain wanted gold, jewels, spices, weed, tea, and Opium."
"oh…" Ciel murmured. "That's… umm."
"We have a section about that in our library if you ever find time to come and visit me." The elder spoke as she gave a card to Ciel, with the temple's address.
The girl took it and slipped it into her pocket. "Thanks… it's nice to read something other than books on engineering."
"I'll say." Varoru chuckled as she took her Japa, Vandanam had left them together, knowing that he was an outsider to this whole situation, and thus, Ciel was left with herself in a comfortable silence without any looming threat.
It was weird, you know, not to constantly watch over your shoulder for the next threat, and to be able to sleep at night with both eyes closed…
'Oh, how I wish Alouette could be alive…' She let out a huff of amusement as she pressed her palms together.
She remembered Praying to Zero as if he was the Christ reborn… 'But maybe I can… give up on whatever scientist credibility I have and just… Hey… God? Krishna? If you bring back Alouette, I swear I'll worship you… for the rest of my life.' She added.
Suddenly, her comm rang.
She felt Varoru's hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, I'll cover you." Her old aunt promised as she fished a dinosaur of a flip phone from her bag and opened it.
The amount of respect the teen had more than the old religious woman went up quite a few notches as she picked up the line at the third ring. "Yes, Ciel speaking?" She whispered as she covered her mouth.
The line was silent for some time, but she could hear Fighting Fefnir speaking with an uncharacteristically soft voice.
"Go on, dear. don't be shy now."
"Ciel? It's me Alouette."
The teen genius clamped her mouth as sobs ripped out of her like painful waves.
"Ciel? Ciel?"
Cold efficiency born of years of guerrilla warfare let her stomp on her emotions. "Alouette, where are you, are you, what's your status?" Ciel asked with urgency as she began to plan how to take down the fire general without Zero. 'It's fine, we have X, he can definitely get Alouette back.'
"Oh I'm in a secure location-" She paused as Fefnir whispered something to Alouette. "I'm at xxx. xxxx in Parc Extension."
'Parc ex… that's… not a cheap place to live in." And definitely not a place where she'd figured Fighting Fefnir would live, since the whole place was calm and quite… yuppy.
"I'm fully functional, nothing is broken or damaged and Pieroquet and Menart are also fully operational and untampered, just like me."
despite herself, Ciel released a breath she had been holding on to for too long.
"Oh, and Miss France…err… Missus Fefnir gave me an old cat clock with moving eyes and tail, and she's so nice and she's part of the other rebel group, the Children of Neo and-" And thus, Alouette spoke, and nothing in her voice indicated that she had been reprogrammed, or worst.
'She's alive… oh God… She's alive.' and at this point, Ciel could have easily forgotten her promises, since it was clear Anubis Necromancess the fourth had revived her…
but… the fact that Fefnir (France, her name was France.) had been on their side since the beginning, and that all of her (she was a she, not a he.) kills was extraction.
"Can I believe her, Alouette? is this all real?" Ciel asked, immediately knowing that this was no guarantee, Alouette could have been hacked and reprogrammed in a way that would make it undetectable until it would be too late.
Suddenly, Ciel felt a presence greater than anything she knew, and Neo-Arcadia manifested in the waiting room in all of her glowing glories.
"Miss Ciel, I can confirm with all confidence that France Necromancess and Anubis Necromancess have been serving under my guidance ever since they learned of the true nature of their assignment. and I will vouch for them as many times as you need before you truly feel safe." They bowed respectfully.
Now, in the week she had returned home and received intensive care for an oodles of aliment she had collected during her stint as the leader of the resistance, Ciel and Neo-chan had spoken and learned plenty about each other, and Ciel realized that Neo-Chan had been instrumental at getting as many reploids and humans out as possible.
She had also been the one who broke Ciel out of her golden prison.
The teen breathed in and attempted to swallow her tears. "Alright… thanks… Thank you… Alouette… could I… Could I speak to Fef… to France."
"Yes, France speaking…" It was hard to reconcile the rough and loud general Fighting Fefnir when the soft-spoken France, but here she was. "Listen, Ciel, I know we have plenty to talk about, but I don't think you're in a state to do so, nothing wrong, dear, I just know how people get when they learn that those I've killed are still alive despite it all. Just take your time, and the next time we call, we can set a date and place and talk about everything."
"Ok… Ok…" Ciel whept as her aunt held her close, gently cooing words of love without being overwhelming.
This took skills. years of experience to pull this type of sensibility off.
Then Alouette spoke again to her sister. "Sis… is it… Can I stay with France and Anubis?" She asked sweetly. " I want to see you too but… I feel like I'm programmed to be like this."
"Right, you're a child unit, you're made to assist adults."
"Uh-hu."
"And you want to spy on them."
"Uh-uh."
"Alright, keep me posted on your secure wavelength."
"OK, Thank you, sis. Me and kitty will miss you, but we'll call you often." 'We'll keep you posted.'
"Thank you."
"Alright, take care… oh and Mrs. France wants to talk to you again."
"Oh… ok."
"Bye Ciel, see you soon."
Ciel felt the breath hitch. "See you soon, little bird."
some crunchy sound worked through the receiver.
"Miss Cossack." Fefnir began once again, his soft, sweet voice oh so different from the gruff and hyper firecracker Ciel was used to hearing. "I… First of all, I was to apologize for all the grief I gave you over the past four years. There was nothing I could've done without risking the entire endeavour, and no one wanted to contact your group in case we were spied on."
"I understand."
"... Milan is alive, so is Dove, Partridge and Epervier." France continued. "I know it's just a drop in an ocean of lost but."
"Fefnir…. Mrs. Necormances, it's alright… there was more to this war than two sides and one bad guy… it's not as easy as those novels and history books make it out to be."
"No, it isn't," France said. "Also, I think it would be in our best interest to trust one another, I promise full transparency from now on, and if what I do does not match what Alouette will report to you-"
"... You were listening in." Ciel accused.
"old habits, dear… still, I hope we can start things over. you truly are the hero of this story, Miss Cossack, half of what we did would not be possible without you."
"Please, I'm the one who started this whole mess."
"The one who started it all was Doctor Light and Doctor Wily, you were just another name in this long and arduous play," France spoke gently yet in a way that broke no argument. 'Now it's close to noon, why don't you go and eat something… oh, and … if it's not too private, how is his dear Zero? I hope he's not dying on us since he does owe me another fight."
'Oh, dear…' "Well… Zero's doing fine, same as X."
'Oh thank God, I was afraid to ask what had happened to him."
"Yes, well, I'm still under NDA, so I can't tell you much save that you won't be fighting Zero for about a year."
"... Oh no, please, don't tell me something broke."
"Oh no, not at all." 'quite the opposite, really.' " Zero is fine just… we've just discovered another feature of him…"
There, this should be safe enough.
"Like what? He can rebirth the dead? Can his kiss revive offed units?"
"I'll tell you later."
'Alright, dear. be safe… and take a break, you deserved it." And after that, as if to force Ciel to actually take the break, Fef… France hung up.
which… was actually a valid way to have Ciel off her phone since she would always find a way to stretch a small call into something long and meandering… as long as no life was in danger, of course.
When Ciel closed her calling app, she felt two different hands on her shoulders.
One was from her aunt… and the other from Neo-Arcadia themselves…
Herself?
"Ciel," The city began. "I can confirm that you are safe… the war is over. France is one of us… a freedom fighter, a double agent."
"Is it… is it really?" The false descendent of the Cossack asked with a wavering voice, unwilling to hope, yet still hoping.
"It is, dear… you may rest now," Varoru spoke gently. and Ciel broke down.
it was over, the nightmare was over…
and all of those she cared about were still here…
"A-Aunty… can you… can I go to the temple?" Ciel asked as her sobs subsided.
"Of course, sweetheart," Varoru assured her nicely, whose tears didn't seem to end. " And I do have a guest room we can convert into a room for you." She promised.
"Ok..." and with that... this confirmation of everything returning to normal, Ciel threw herself in her aunt's arms. Crying all the messy emotions she had gathered while on the run.
Being a teen was already hard, but being the leader of a rebel group trying to survive a genocide
All in all… it was a better outcome than Ciel had expected.