A.N. Admittedly I wanted to wake up one of the patients and let a fight break out. Then I started writing and it just kept going and going and I realized...I can't wake them up now, it would be too much. So next chapter for sure. Take your bets who wakes up and don't forget to fave, follow and review.

"So why exactly are you planning to do once we're healed?" Cecilia questioned as Einstein did another check-up on her. The Doctor for the most part had poised the question to Cecilia, but given how the Herrschers viewed her, it was better to let the Valk ask them. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you've done…somewhat, but I still don't know what your intentions are?" She questioned.

"Did you question Otto's every order when you worked for him?" Void retorted, casting a glance at Cecilia before gesturing to Sirin. Cecilia knew what she was referring to, as did Einstein.

Cecilia sighed, "I never had reason to question it till now," she admitted. "It had always been so black and white,"

"We're helping you because we want to. Simple as that, no alternative motive, or anything else like that," HOV answered.

"Forgive us for being skeptics, but the nature of you and your friend and the current situation has us wary." Einstein voiced. People will tend to be distrusting if you hold them hostage. Even more so when you are apparently the herald of a power that has plagued the world for millennia.

"Alright then," HOV huffed. The Herrscher contemplated wondering what's the best she could say now. She couldn't tell them the whole truth, not yet, she wasn't mentally prepared for that. Oh God was she not prepared for that.

"We want to wreck Otto's plans, and end him, in the slowest and most painful way possible," HOV informed. Yeah, that was it, ruin Otto.

"You're targeting the leader of the most powerful force against the Honkai, while also being affiliated with the Honkai," Einstein pointed out. "If you want us to trust you then this is not what you should be saying,"

"My powers may be derived from it, but I have long since realized how the Honkai has manipulated me," HOV answered as a cube floated in the palm. "Both Otto and the Honkai have used me for their own ends, so now I plan on destroying both of them." She explained while crushing the cube.

"And healing us, helps you with that goal?" Cecilia questioned. There was a major logical flaw with the Herrscher's goal. She couldn't see any connection between healing them and destroying Otto and the Honkai.

"Yes,"

"How exactly?"

"That's for me to know and you to hopefully never find out," HOV added. "Besides, you're a mother of two now, you should retire to raise your family," HOV whispered softly. "That last fight would have been your final had I not stepped in,"

"Speaking of that fight," Cecilia growled. "You brought my daughter to a war zone," She scolded. The Herrscher didn't back down from her glare this time. Even though Einstein could see her waver, she held firm this time.

"Believe me, your daughter was much safer with me in a war zone, than by herself with Otto and his trash," HOV replied calmly. Her eyes glowed to emphasize just how convinced she was by this decision.

"And I'm supposed to believe that just because you said so," Cecilia argued. HOV seemed expecting that reply.

"A child born from the union of a Herrscher killer and a Kaslana who managed to overpower Sirin with brute force alone," HOV muttered. She then glanced at Theresa. "A clone made from combining Honkai beast DNA with human DNA." The Herrscher then pointed to Sirin. "A girl who was orphaned and had to watch everyone she loved die while being experimented on to serve humanity. A girl who called for God's help, but her prays were only answered by the Devil," HOV continued. "Do you expect that Kiana would have just been let go?"

"Her mother was dead and her father across the world injured," HOV growled inhumanely. "It would be easy to just kidnap her, clone her, and experiment and no one would be the wiser. It would be just like Sirin all over again." HOV elaborated the venom and hatred in her words were evident.

"By saving Kiana, I deprived Otto of another…child asset," HOV pointed out. "And one less thing to worry about when I finally decide to destroy him,"

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience," Einstein noted.

"Oh, believe me, I am," HOV answered. "Everything bad that ever happened to me can be linked-to Otto. Either it's my birth, becoming an orphan, or even becoming a Herrscher, it's all his fault and then some." She ranted.

The gears in Einstein's head began to turn she formed a hypothesis. Kiana would have supposedly been a valuable asset to Otto and his involvement with Herrscher seemed to imply she was something similar. If Otto did decide to make a test tube baby with Cecilia and Siegfied's DNA prior to Kiana's birth, then the Herrscher would have been a prime suspect. It would also explain her behavior towards Cecilia as well as physical and genetic similarity.

The only flaw in the theory however was the Herrscher's likeness to Sirin. The age was one thing, but the chances of their meeting were another. Perhaps Sirin was a clone of the Herrscher.

"Well, I don't know if this is worth anything to you, but I'm sorry for what you went through," Cecilia apologized. "I still don't agree with your actions, but I at least understand somewhat why you're doing this," She told the Herrscher.

"Don't apologize," HOV told her. "You never wronged me,"

"Still," Cecilia muttered. "No one should go through what you did,"

"If you want to make it up to her, why don't you adopt her?" Thunder announced as she entered with Kiana riding on her shoulders. The little girl was holding onto Thunder's horns. The discomfort was evident on the Herrscher's face but she was smiling through the pain for the child.

"THUNDER!" HOV shouted. "If you value having heart, I'd suggest you retract those words," She demanded.

Thunder merely ignored her fellow Herrscher instead turning to Cecilia as she handed Kiana over to her. "What do you say? You already adopted one. Why not adopt another? I'm sure Kiana would love having two big sisters now." Thunder told Cecilia before patting Kiana's head.

"What do you say little one?" Thunder asked. "Would you like Void to be your big sister? She questioned.

"Will you be my sister too?" Kiana asked Thunder. She liked both Void and Thunder. They were strange but they were nice. They played with her and gave her snacks. They even brought her to see momma.

"I suppose you can treat me like a sister," Thunder mused before noticing the dumbfounded expression on Cecilia's face. "But only if your mother says it's okay" She quickly reiterated.

"Hey, Kiana, look over there," Void pointed to behind the girl as she materialized a few cubes. Cecilia and Einstein watched as the girl diverted attention, giving the Herrscher of the Void enough time to grab the Herrscher of Thunder by her throat before teleporting away.

"Hey, where did my sisters go?" Kiana whimpered when she turned around and realized the two had disappeared once more.

"I think I'll let you explain or discuss the issue of her 'siblings'" Einstein announced. "I'm going to go and report to Tesla our current situation." She informed as she swiftly left, leaving Cecilia to try and explain why her daughter couldn't have more Herrscher sisters than the one Cecilia already tried to adopt.

Tesla did her best to hide her emotions as she saw the call from the base where Einstein was being held. Answering the call, her face lit up when she saw Einstein's face.

"What happened to check in every day mophead?" Tesla argued.

"I did check-in," Einstein deadpanned.

"You just sent me a text saying. I'm alive," Tesla shouted. "How is that supposed to be assuring?"

"Should I type I'm very much alive, next time?" Einstein questioned.

"Don't get smart with me mophead!" Tesla answered.

"Sorry," Einstein apologized. "I forgot how serious the situation would appear," The Doctor admitted.

"How do you FORGET being held hostage?" Tesla questioned. She knew Einstein could be dense, but this was ridiculous.

"When you're eating pizza and trying not to laugh as you watch a Herrscher get her hair pulled out by a two-year-old," Einstein chuckled. The dinner had been nice, though she would admit, the pizza didn't taste as good as Thunder's cooking.

"I'm sorry, what?" Tesla questioned. Einstein recounted the experience she had so far with the Herrschers; their treatment with Kiana, Cecilia, and herself. "Are you kidding me? I'm stuck here worrying for you and you're out getting dinner made or ordered by Herrschers." Tesla screamed. "What the hell?"

"Did you miss the part about being gutted and fed to a dragon?" Einstein wondered. Sure, the Herrschers weren't torturing her, but she wasn't ruling it out of the realm of possibility. The fact that one had no problem impaling and choking her ally in front of them assured her they could be cruel if needed.

"From the way it sounds, all you need to do is hide behind the girl and they'd let you live," Tesla argued.

"I don't think Siegfied and Cecilia would appreciate me using their daughter as a meat shield," Einstien answered. "Regardless, has there been any progress on Welt's core?"

"The good news is that it's his core alright," Tesla assured. "The bad news is that it's severely damaged." She informed. "It will take some time for him to heal….but,"

"But it won't be anytime in near the future," Einstein finished.

"afraid so," Tesla concluded.

"Any word from Otto?"

"Nothing of note, just propaganda saying Schicksal dealt the final blow and was a major player," Tesla gritted her teeth. "It's not like they were the ones who cause the whole second eruption or anything," Tesla groaned.

Einstein thought back to what Void had told them. Everything bad for her life had been sourced to Otto. It could be seen as an exaggeration, but it was very evident that the Herrscher's rage was justified. Sirin being the prime example is a girl used for experiments for the greater good of humanity, only to nearly bring the end.

No one would take the blame for the girl's condition. The history books would write her off as being nothing more than a monster corrupted by the Honkai instead of one being created by the darkest side of humanity. She would be the monster and Schicksal the heroes that slew her.

"Figured as much," Einstein muttered. Her thoughts drifted back to the Herrschers. "Tesla, I need you to do me a favor?"

"What do you need mophead?"

"See if you can dig up whatever you can on Schicksal's genetic division," Einstein informed. "Specifically, anything relating to artificial humans, cloning, Honkai, Cecilia or Siegfied." She told her.

"Any reason why I'm looking into this?" Tesla inquired.

"It's a theory, but I think Void is a clone that got away. She said her name was K423 which is more in line with being a specimen ID, she talks a lot of Otto being responsible for her birth and she shares genetics with Cecilia and Siegfied." Einstein informed.

"Damn, only two years into parenting and they already reached the emo teen phase," Tesla half-joked. "I don't envy them one bit."

"Neither do I,"

Cecilia sighed in relief as Kiana finally fell asleep in her bed. Thunder would get an earful for having to put her through that situation. She didn't know how it devolved from Kiana wanting Herrschers as sisters, to then asking Cecilia for a little sibling since she couldn't have older ones. Suffice to say Cecilia knew she was not ready to have that conversation with Kiana just yet. She hadn't even been ready for it herself till she was almost twenty.

"How did it reach to this?" Cecilia thought as she tucked Kiana in before turning her attention to the rest of her 'family'. She had always been thought the honkai were like monsters, a sentiment that had faded after meeting Theresea and learning just what she was.

She had thought it would have ended there. Little did she know it would only spiral further. Siegfied had surprised her with his transformation. He had pushed Sirin to the brink of death with his raw power alone and freed her. It made her shudder at the thought that Kiana could wield such power.

As a Valk, she knew the risks and what they fought for, but as a mother, it terrified her to see her baby like that. Glancing at Sirin, Cecilia felt another pang of guilt. She had made so many promises, but she hadn't been able to prepare to deliver on them yet. Kiana had been open-minded but what off Siegfied and Theresea? How would Sirin even react to them?

"Don't overthink it?" a voice called behind her. Cecilia turned around to see HOV or a girl that looked incredibly similar to HOV. "Relax, it's still me," The girl spoke with HOV's voice. Her eyes had turned pink, her clothes now dark as ash and her hair was frizzled where it almost looked like an afro. The clothes she wore, in Cecilia's mind, looked a lot like a valkyrie's battle suit.

HOV was also piggybacking someone who Cecilia assumed was Thunder, based on the hair. Her outfit had changed from crimson red to more vibrant pink, her horns disappearing with only a mask-like accessory resting on her head. Before Cecilia even commented, Void tossed Thunder's body onto an empty bed in a rather rough manner.

"That ought to teach to run your mouth," HOV huffed in triumph before wincing in pain. "Dammit," She cursed.

"What happened to you?" Cecilia asked.

"The wannabe cheated, that's what," HOV huffed. "She hid behind the dragon, like a coward,"

"She has a dragon?" Cecilia questioned. That didn't seem to be the right words to say to HOV.

"IT'S NOT HER DRAGON!" HOV yelled before Cecilia made a shushing noise before gesturing to sleeping, Kiana. "It's not her dragon. It's my dragon, she stole it from me," HOV grumbled.

"Okay," Cecilia answered, clearly this was a touchy subject for the Herrscher. "Can you explain why you both look so different now?" Cecilia questioned.

"Well as you know Thunder made some inappropriate comments early." HOV pointed out. "So, I decided to discipline her," HOV answered.

"So, you two got into a fight," Cecilia answered. HOV paused as she stared at Cecilia.

"Fine, we got into a fight, because she wouldn't take back what she said," HOV admitted. "She wasn't even supposed to come with me, but she insisted on tagging along, because, and I quote 'HOV's still got anger issues, someone needs to go and make sure she doesn't accidentally destroy a continent when no ones looking,'" HOV said making air quotes with her fingers. "I swear, you nearly destroy the world one time, and no one trusts you,"

"Okay," Cecilia sweated nervously. She wondered if HOV was so destructive, why hadn't she heard about her. As far as she knew the most recent world-ending herrscher had been Sirin and there hadn't been anything of note in years before. Cecilia was also sure if HOV had almost destroyed the World then everyone would have known about it.

"So, she doesn't take back what she says, and I challenge her to a fight." HOV continues. "She agrees and I figured, okay, it's going to be just me and her, but nope, she immediately summons my dragon and hides behind her." HOV continues.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to not hit a 20 ft dragon at point-blank range?" HOV complained. She was not going to hurt Bella even if it killed her.

"It must be pretty difficult, I imagine," Cecilia consoled. She hadn't exactly had the pleasure of experiencing it herself, but she had seen Sirin's dragon cause quite the panic. If the Thunder…HOV's dragon was of similar size then she could see it being difficult to not hit.

"It was," HOV added. "And the coward hid and baited me out, taunting me. I'm ashamed to say that I fell for it…a few times," HOV huffed. Cecilia cast her glance knowing fully well that frustration wasn't from a 'few' strikes. "Okay, it was from a lot," HOV admitted. "And some of those strikes may or may not have poisoned, but I still won in the end," HOV cheered. "But we're both drained, so we're using these weaker forms to recover."

Normally Cecilia would have taken this as good news. Their captors were apparently incompetent enough to fight and weaken themselves while their hostages recovered. She wasn't sure if was carelessness or just overconfidence.

The Valk would admit though that given these particular captors' behavior she found herself drawing a little closer to them honestly. Maybe it was because she had yet to see any truly malicious intent from them? Maybe it was cause they were helping her and her family in a roundabout way? Regardless Cecilia was now overlooking her escape options cause the first thing to reach her mind was not any thoughts of escaping.

"She poisoned you!" Cecilia stared in half shocked.

"Relax, it is not actual poison in a traditional sense," HOV noted. "It's a special Honkai neutralizing serum." She explained. "If applied to a honkai beast, it kills it in seconds; apply it to a Valk and you can turn her back to a regular human, same goes for zombies; but apply it to a Herrscher and it can drain our powers including our pain tolerance," HOV admitted.

Her first experience with it had been a nightmare all on its own. It was by some miracle that she had managed to hold on as she felt her mind starting to tear apart. It had caused one massive headache, but she still lived…. much to everyone else's horror.

"Should you really be telling me this?" Cecilia questioned.

"It exists but you don't know the formulae or where to find it," HOV explained. "Besides…we were going to tell you about it later anyhow," She added.

"You were?"

"How else would we give Sirin a normal life?" HOV questioned. "If we remove her cores and give her a high enough dosage, her connection to the Honkai would be mostly severed,"

"She'd be a normal girl," HOV smiled. It wasn't like her smug grins. It was a genuinely warm, heartfelt smile. "You'd have a normal family and can finally have a normal life, just like you both dreamed."

"How do you know my dreams?" Cecilia questioned.

"You're a lot like my mom," Void answered. "A kind woman who's honestly tired of fighting. Her only wish was for her family to be happy and safe. I still remember her, telling me how much she loved me, when she shielded me from falling glass at a mall we were visiting, telling me it would be alright," Void said wistfully.

"Mom never got to live that wish, she died trying to comfort me," Void explained. "Now I see you and I see her. I want to give you the chance she never had. To give your daughters the chance, I never had."

"You want to know the reason I help you. It's as simple as this. I see you like my mother and I want my mother to be happy. There honestly isn't anything else." HOV said somberly. "Well…it's getting late, so I should probably leave you to rest," The Herrscher said. "Also, I'm starting to feel much better. I can feel the Honkai returning to me,"

Cecilia watched as the girl returned to her previous form. Her hair and clothes were restored to a vibrant white while her eyes regained the golden yellow glow. A stoic expression returned to her face. She was about to leave when Cecilia grabbed her hand.

"Void," Cecilia whispered. "You're a good person,"

"No…I'm not. I've done many bad things in my time," Void answered. "Things that can't be forgiven, and things that I refuse to seek forgiveness for,"

"Well regardless, if you do decide to seek forgiveness, whether from the people you wronged or from yourself, and you can curb those anger issues of yours…I wouldn't mind calling you my daughter," Cecilia whispered.

"Ich liebe dich" Void muttered. Cecilia didn't question it. It was not the time to do so. She just repeated the same words to Void. The same whispered to Kiana and to Sirin.

"Ich liebe dich" She whispered back.

"I love you,"