A/N: Before you continue, I have some important news to share!

First off, yesterday was the one-year anniversary of this series! It was on August 24, 2016 that I first published "Inferno", and it's always amazing for me to see how far this whole thing has come. Thanks to all who have been here since the beginning and drove my motivation to write!

Onto the second piece of news; there's now an Architects' Discord server! It's not much, just a place for people to talk and hang out while being partially dedicated to the series. It's a better method of communication with updates and talking to the community than these author notes, so if you'd like to join then please feel free!

The invite link is: discord . gg / 6nwfXCj

Obviously, you just remove any spaces in there and you should be good to go. If you want to talk with me directly or just have a good time in general, then this will be the best place to do it!

Now, onto the chapter.

Now that he'd embraced her, he didn't want to let go; but he still had a job to do, and so it was with a bit of reluctance that he relinquished his hold on her and stepped back as he rose to full height again.

Slowly, she stood up and took her previous position against the wall. The wounds between them weren't fully healed, they wouldn't be for a while- but it was definitely a more comfortable atmosphere than it had been a few minutes previously.

"So," he began, his mind back on trying to figure out as much as he could about her peculiar situation, "you mentioned others. Are there more of you? Besides you and Artemis, I mean."

She gave a small nod of confirmation. "There are five, at least as larger fragments go. There could be any multitude of smaller shards that each has within themselves. It's a struggle to remain in control as-is, let alone when trying to hold yourself together as well."

The way she spoke, it sounded like it was a constant battle just to be coherent. He could only imagine how it would feel to have different aspects of yourself all vying for control. "Five of you? And even then-?"

"Yes. When I originally split apart, Artemis was the first persona to materialize. Something about her pleased Spyglass, but he kept wanting more. That was how I- the one you see in front of you- came to be, though it still wasn't enough. Apparently, I wasn't what he was looking for- he kept tearing until he had another fragment he considered useful, and then stopped. Maybe he didn't want to risk further damage- maybe he just didn't want other personas worthless to his cause, like me."

The thought of Spyglass hurting Kay made Tobias' blood boil, and he unconsciously tightened his hands into fists. He would find out what exactly the AI had done to her, and make him pay if it was the last thing he did.

"What was he looking for?"

"I don't know- I only know that after the fifth was created, he stopped. He gave my pieces designations to specify their nature and order- you already know Artemis." She made a small gesture towards herself. "My current designation is 'Pietas', the second to appear. After me came 'Virtus', 'Themis', and 'Athena', the last to be created. After her, Spyglass ceased all attempts to fragment me further and opted to work with what he had."

"Pietas?"

Kay looked at him and nodded, though her manner was a bit more reserved now. Was she afraid that he saw her differently again?

"Don't worry," he assured her, "I'm not going back on what I said. I'm just using the name for clarification's sake."

Her mind at ease again, she relaxed. "Alright. Yes, the current persona is Pietas."

"Those are some pretty unique names," he remarked, furrowing his brow in thought. "Any idea why he chose them?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, Spyglass likely knows more about my condition and its results than I do myself. I- I didn't even know what had happened to me until I heard the voices, and felt-"

She stopped speaking, holding a hand to her head out of reflex. "Sorry- like I said, memories and events can be … harsh … to recollect. Five different minds, all with their own opinion of how things proceeded. That's why it gets hard to remember- though I may see it one way, another may see it differently, and then there's a conflict in how it's interpreted to the persona-"

He noticed her speech becoming jittery, and immediately held out a hand to calm her as he remembered what had happened in the hangar. "Hey, it's alright. Just … take a moment."

She obeyed, and he was relieved to see her mannerisms return to normal. How curious … "Speaking of separate personas, how are you the one in control right now? Why did Artemis have a meltdown in the hangar?"

"Like I said, it's enough of a struggle to simply remain present as the primary persona," she explained. "But when you have a chorus of other voices yelling and arguing within your own mind … well, it can overwhelm me- us. And you were the one that inundated her."

"Me?" he asked, though he had a feeling she was right. He knew that there had been something he was doing to trigger such a reaction from the Simulacrum.

"My fragments- they all act unconstrained of one another, pushing a decision based on their own ideas and mindsets. They're all a part of me, but they represent different ideals of mine, exhibit different traits and mannerisms. And when those ideals contest one another, it becomes incredibly hard to maintain a present mind."

She motioned to him, indicating his involvement. "You questioned my motives, my morals, and my loyalty. I was stressed enough as it was, but you added another burden for my mind to bear, and it became too much. Artemis lost control, and allowed this fragment- Pietas to take her place. It very nearly happened earlier several times, namely when you rejected me back on Ceto- but it took that final confrontation in the hanger to fully overload me."

He noticed the wording, and decided it couldn't hurt to inquire. "You don't just have your old memories, do you? You remember everything- even when you were Artemis."

Almost shamefully, she looked away and whispered quietly, "Yes."

He said nothing, allowing her to continue at her own pace. It was another few seconds before she felt strong enough to share with him.

"I felt every emotion that ran through her mind- because it's my mind too," she muttered. "I see everything that she saw- did everything that she did. I can still feel one of the researcher's necks snapping as I-"

Her body shuddered, uncannily close to how a human would when crying. "I … I was disappointed."

"Well of course you were," he comforted her, "you knew that-"

"No," she interrupted, "I wasn't disappointed in myself. I was disappointed in them- that they could have been a part of'humanity's salvation' … I taunted them, I …"

She began to wring her hands, and he looked with widening eyes to notice that dried blood still coated them. "That's the worst part- right now I feel shame, I feel guilt for what I did … but if it were Artemis then I'd go back to thinking I was justified, that it was all necessary for the cause, and I-"

He stopped her by moving forward and grabbing her hands with his own. He squeezed gently, giving her any semblance of reassurance that he could provide. "Hey, look at me."

It took her a moment, but she listened and met his eyes with her visor.

"I know you're blaming yourself right now, but you can't."

"How can you just say that so easily?"

"Because I know you. Kay, I know you better than I know myself sometimes. And if you were complete, there's not a doubt in my mind that you'd never have done what you did as Artemis."

She moved to interrupt, but he silenced her objection with a stern look. "I know, you and Artemis are both Kay. I didn't say that maybe you wouldn't have thought about doing it, but all of us have inhibitions that usually keep us from acting out on our darkest thoughts. Maybe Artemis doesn't have those same inhibitions, and that part of you needs the others to reign it back in."

Understanding what he was trying to say, she pondered that and considered its accuracy. Then she noticed something else.

"Kay. You called me Kay, not Pietas."

He nodded. "I told you, I just wanted to specify the designation of your current fragment. But no matter what they're called, I know now that you're all of them. You may not be whole- but it's you all the same."

He does understand. He knows it's me-

No! He only sees me this way because I fit his preconceived notions of 'Kay'-

It doesn't matter! He's risking so much just by trusting us, let alone by trying to change his perception-

It's unlikely that his mind could have been persuaded so easily, he's probably just pretending-

She held her crimson-stained hands up to her head, trying to shut the voices out. They clawed at the edges of her mind, some more fiercely than others. Doubt ran rampant through her mind where only moments before had been solace.

All at once, it ceased as she felt his arms surround her once again. The voices fell silent, and her mind was once again her own.

He held onto her tightly, hoping to keep her from having another episode like on Ceto and in the hangar. He'd learned by now that his actions spoke volumes more than his words ever could when it came to suppressing the internalized conflicts she had.

"Thank you," she murmured, and held tightly onto his right hand with her own. "I just … sometimes it's so hard-"

"No explanation necessary," he affirmed to her, "I can't imagine what it feels like, but I know it's not pleasant."

They stayed that way for a few minutes, simply enjoying the closeness of one another's presence. They hadn't had a moment like this in so long … it felt nice to have a comforting reprieve for once.

A thought came to him, and he realized the implications of a fractured AI mind. "Kay … when you activated the Tempest, I was able to bring you back because your soul was still tethered to the copy of yourself in my helmet. But … if your mind is fragmented so badly, what does that mean for-"

"For my soul?" she finished, her own voice a mixture of curiosity and worry. "I … I don't know."

He took a deep breath before suggesting what he was thinking. "I think I might have a way to find out."

She turned her head around to look at him, confused.

"Remember that, uh … experience on Luma?"

Recognition dawned on her, and she thought about it. "I … I suppose it's worth a try."

…

He looked around and saw the familiar desolate landscape of the void. This place held many memories for him; where he'd first become the Inferno, where he and Kay had solidified their feelings for one another, and where he'd had to save her from after the Tempest.

Now, it was where he'd discover how broken she truly was.

He'd reached out through the Inferno since she was no longer able, the essence within her having been taken to generate the Tempest's destructive power. He looked for any sign of the blue-flamed woman he knew so well-

He froze, his gaze lingering on an anomaly. Lying on the ground a few paces away was his target, her soul. But she did not stir; instead, she seemed to twitch weakly upon the ground intermittently, blind to the world for all intents and purposes. Her form flickered, like a light that hung on the edge of burning out.

He reached out to touch her, his fingers gently making contact as he placed his hand over her chest. As soon as they did, more anomalies materialized around them, a thin strand of light connecting each of them to the original. He jerked back in surprise, but quickly recovered.

Standing up, he began to examine each of them in earnest. There were five, each of which with their own unique color. A few took notice of him immediately. They all seemed to be wispier than the original, more like a gas than the ethereal light that the prone one was composed of.

Three of them approached him closely, their bodies not quite solid; they seemed to shift, their surface constantly in motion and splitting before mending itself. He could see what she'd meant by increased fragmenting within each persona itself; it seemed as though even these pieces were composed of thousands of smaller pieces within them, growing exponentially more complex with each tear.

The one in the center stood forward, the other two at her sides. She was a golden-orange hue while her two companions were a light green and bright crimson. An odd aura surrounded her, making her just a bit brighter than the others. If he were to take a guess, he'd wager that this was Pietas, the primary fragment in control.

One of them stood just as close, but separate from the others, this one a dark indigo. Rather than trying to familiarize herself with him, she simply observed him. There was no sense of warmth there that he felt with the other three; just cold calculation.

The last fragment did not even approach him; she stood away from the others and him, facing away into the endless void. He looked to Pietas, and she stared at the other persona with both regret and caution. He looked back at the outlier, and took a gamble.

He closed the distance between them, waiting for her to acknowledge him. It wasn't long before she turned around to do so, and they met one another's gaze. She was a vibrant rose color, almost magenta.

It was not her choice to be so separate from the others; it was simply a fault of her own nature, as well as a literal representation of his earlier rejection of her. He knew now who this was.

Artemis.

A/N: CAN YOU SAY TRIPLE UPDATE, GODDAMN

Before you go, just want to remind you again; if you want to join the Architects' Discord server, the invite link is: discord . gg / 6nwfXCj

Just remove any spaces. I wish there was a better way to send links on this site, but there's not much I can do with its filter. Hope to see you there!

Until the next time,

- Matteoarts