Of Mothers and Phantoms
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(Kareina POV)
I let out a deep sigh after taking a sip of my morning tea, my breath visible in the chilly morning air. We did practically live at the top of the tower, and it was the fall season. It wasn't a wonder as to why it was getting cold. But it made no difference to me. The sharp chill of the early morning was something I could ignore due to the thin heat barrier we kitsune can produce to keep ourselves, and others we touch, warm.
It was a very useful ability for when we traveled into low temperature environments, or facing foes who made use of abilities.
Users of ice magic were always fun for me to battle against.
Sadly though, my roles today aren't as heavily involved with battle anymore as they used to be. Now, I'm more focused on the role of healing others' injuries, wounds, illnesses, and more. That, and also the role of a mother of four. Well, seven if one were to count Dante and his siblings Ciel and Leonard.
Speaking of which, I should be getting a call from them tomorrow regarding their well being at Beacon Academy. It was one of our conditions persay. They call me once a week on the weekend, and I needn't travel down to Vale and the Academy to embarrass them, including my own daughter Inuba.
I used to do the exact same with Akihito, Inuba's older brother, and Asahi, her older sister. The easiest to embarrass by far is Inuba. Asahi is a bit more difficult in such circumstances, but not impossible. As for Akihito, he's fairly difficult to embarrass, but like Asahi, not impossible. Mai, the youngest of our four children, has no need for such methods. Yet. Still, I must treasure my little Mai as best as possible until she grows older.
Speaking of which...I do wonder how my other children are doing as of now…
When I came to Remnant, it was only with Dante and Inuba in tow. And that was after we rescued young Dante from his fall into the outer reaches of Creation, never to be seen again. Hence was his unjust punishment handed to him from The Plane of Angels. They present themselves as righteous and performing their work for the good of all, but that's not always the case. The Council that commands The Plane are, by our own examinations and interactions, corrupt. Those that follow or a commanded by them are not, or for the very least, not as corrupt.
And so, due to their fear of Dante potentially regaining enough power, after sacrificing it, and him using said power to one day overthrow them, their final judgment after the events that transpired on Primordial, our home World, was to banish him.
The situation was...ironically amusing, really. They asked young Dante to slay a rogue Angel of The Trinity, who unearthed a relic and used it to ascend his power to like that of a god, and when he did so, and undid all the evil, misery and wrong this Angel had done, he was punished for it severely.
There's a reason why creatures or spirits of the magical persuasion aren't glad to have interactions with Angels, like how Dark Entities are. Such cases like with Dante are especially one of the reasons why we of The Apparition World, a dimensional homeworld for all yōkai within Primordial, are hesitant to have interactions with them.
It's one of the reasons why I can't see my other children, since they stayed behind. If they knew young Dante was still within the boundaries of Creation, they would smite this world just out of spite for him.
Traveling back and forth isn't so simple as it used to be for two reasons. One being that the Passages leading to other Worlds, or what's left of them, are heavily monitored nowadays by The Plane. Reason two is that the vast majority of the Passages were destroyed when Dante killed the rogue Angel, making travel between Worlds extremely difficult.
And so we must remain here and do our best not to draw outside attention. Hence why I came here with my daughter and young Dante.
Should trouble arise...I should be more than able to deal with such a situation quickly if necessary.
Though...besides concern for my children, Dante and siblings included, I do wonder about my dear husband.
Where have you gone? What are you doing or are involved in that has kept you from us for these past five years? We all miss you dearly…
I let out another sigh as I stood up with my cup of tea and walked towards the open sliding doors leading to the outside, and moved towards the back viewing area that overlooked the entire region. Down below, I could see the entirety of the village at the base of the mountain which I decided to place under my protection using my barrier magic. It feeds off the energy of the sun to keep itself sustained without drawing on my Aura, enough so that it's become self sustaining. Permanent so to speak unless someone or something far more powerful than I breaks the barrier.
Though so far, there is none who can do so, save for my daughter.
Instead of sitting inside all day, my plan is to go into town and pick up some more groceries for the week. That and to see if there are any who require any medical assistance. I do run a free clinic of sorts here in the estate.
"Good morning Lady Kitsukami."
"Good morning to you." I said to the passerby who greeted me.
It would seem I've become quite popular within this village. At first, from what I heard, there were rumors of some mystical being, hello, that's me, living up in an estate in the mountains. When people did have the courage to work their way up to the estate, I welcomed them warmly with tea and food and the like.
Before we came here, this village had its own difficulties, particularly with illness since medicine is expensive. So instead, I offered to cure them without monetary charge. A favor or two here and there for when I needed them, food and other necessities, but nothing more. Favors for favors really.
"Ah! Lady Kitsukami! What can I do for you this morning?" asked the woman at the vegetable stand.
"Well, I would like some potatoes if you don't mind. I'm making a potato and beef stew, and since I already have the meat, I stopped by to get the last group of ingredients on my list. Are they fresh?"
"Picked them from the field just this morning. How many would like?"
"Six if you would please."
One was fairly large on its own. Six potatoes to make a complete stew would be more than enough with how they had to be chopped.
"I can't thank you enough for three days ago lady Kitsukami. Going elsewhere would have been treacherous. We're incredibly glad that you were here to help my son."
"Oh, think nothing of it. It's the least I could do. Besides, we mothers must stick together and help one another, yes?"
"Of course." She said handing me my bag of potatoes, "I hope your stew comes out nicely. Maybe I could borrow your recipe one time?"
"Sorry, but I'll have to keep my cooking recipes secret."
"That's alright then. At least bring some into the town whenever you can sometime."
"Of course." I replied with a smile before giving her a bow.
She waved goodbye to me before I took off. Though, before I moved to return home, I saw a rather curious sight.
There was a young girl in a white cloak and sandals with balayage blonde hair that reached her shoulders, and had fair skin. She had grey colored irises, with a general facial expression that presented herself as stoic at best, almost emotionless. Though, with how she was moving about examining everything she came into contact with, there was most certainly something strange about her.
She had this look of curiosity about her, like a child eager to explore everything around her. It was almost amusing seeing her react differently to everything she was examining. Flowers, cutlery, people and shops… She was moving about the place with intense curiosity that made me think of my own children when they were younger.
This in turn made me curious. Surely she couldn't have been normal. So I focused my eyes upon her, examining her and seeing that what she had was...strange. Her body was strange in that energy was flowing through it, but it wasn't Aura. In fact, the Aura I did manage to detect within her was minuscule a best, too little to be considered that of a Human or Faunus' Aura.
Just what might you be young one?
"Look out!"
My head quickly shifted towards the sound of distress, seeing that a fairly large boulder had loosened itself from the upper part of the mountain. It bounced off the side while rolling and headed straight for a young girl down below. I moved my hand toward the boulder, ready to use one of my spells to destroy the boulder.
But there was no need.
The strange young girl quickly moved in under the large boulder, and simply trusted her fist into the air above her, shattering the rock instantaneously into numerous tiny and harmless pieces.
The young girl thanked her strange savior, to which she simply replied, "Your thanks is not required", and simply walked away as if nothing occurred.
You are a strange one indeed…
How interesting… Where exactly is she going? I've followed her for ten minutes now and she's moved outside the village, keeping close to the edge of the mountain. Was she looking for something?
I kept my distance away from her, given that my assumption of what she may actually be could be correct, she would be able to detect me easily. Though, with a bit of spell weaving, I was able to mask my Aura Signature as well as make myself transparent from the view of others, which made my heat signature transparent as well. Complete and total invisibility.
Oh? What's this?
A chunk of the mountain had split apart like a sliding door, allowing the young girl to enter within the cavern.
Interesting… She moved inside the cavern like the television show young Dante explained to me when I was watching it on my own and he passed me by. What was it again? Oh yes, a man of bats if I recall who ran around a city dressed as a bat and had a silly deep voice.
Though I found it odd that this girl would have a "BatCave" of her own. What could she possibly have need for it?
My curiosity was increasing by the second. I needed to get inside and find out who she was, and what was inside that cave.
I leapt from the tree branch I stood in and gently landed on the ground without a sound, walking over to where the girl disappeared in to see how I would gain admittance inside. When I placed my hand on the stone and sent out a Sensor Wave, I could feel a complex series of mechanisms hiding behind the rock.
I could very easily melt away the rock and metal to get inside, but I'd prefer a quieter approach. Let's see what I can do to open this door.
With some studying and reformatting of magic spells, I've been able to open electronic locks, as well as mechanical doors like this one. And so with a few hand signs that I formed, when I next touched the door, the white flames surrounding my hand sank into the stone. I heard a few clicking and shifting of parts until the door opened itself for me seconds later, but only a crack small enough for me to slip in through.
With that, I made a few handsigns and once more became completely transparent as I walked through the dark cave. It had some lighting thankfully, so it wasn't impossible to see in. It took some time, but I finally came upon a vastly open room and was...well...thoroughly surprised.
The room wasn't simply filled with all sorts of computers and monitors and other types of machinery, but there were different types of weapons, gadgets and gizmos of all sorts.
This person may as well be a villain like in that man of bats show.
But it isn't correct to simply assume without evidence or facts. They may just be a simple scientist with either a good or neutral standing.
If not, well, I suppose I have more cleaning to do for today…
I knew better than to touch said machinery, since some could have very well been dangerous in more than one way. So instead, I walked through them as if they were displays within a museum, impressed with some designs, yet confused with some others.
I must give this person credit for their originality, but still, many of these were odd. But something else had caught my eye currently.
A massive, vault-like door.
Surely there wasn't anything nefarious behind it…
…
I had to know.
My transparency spell deactivated itself when I approached. Unfortunately, I cannot keep up a transparency spell while performing another spell. But that's only in the case of the transparency spell. Others I could perform simultaneously while performing the other.
As I performed the handsigns for my unlocking spell, I slowly moved my hand towards the vault door. But before I could even touch it, I had found that a hand had passed through said arm.
At least, the arm of my flame clone.
I stood behind the strange girl from before as my clone turned into a small burst of white flame before disappearing shortly after.
"Now now, no need for hasty actions so soon. Tell me… who are you and what is it that you are hiding behind that door?"
"You need to leave." she spoke with a hostile tone in her voice as a red hue overtook the original grey in her eyes.
The girl also slowly adopted a more defensive stance when she turned to face me fully. A wise decision if I had any real intention to attack.
"Oh dear… But I only just arrived here. I can't simply leave without finding out what's behind the door." I calmly spoke as I walked towards her and the door.
"You should mind your own business, then," Sentry turrets suddenly protruded out of the stone wall adjacent to the vault door, four high powered machine guns all pointed at me and ready to fire within a moment's notice.
"I will not ask you a second time."
"Well… Since you are so kind enough to insist…"
I extended my palm towards the first turret and swiped my hand across my body, watching the turret's barrels quickly melt, molten metal dripping to the floor.
"I should warn you that I shouldn't be taken lightly. So I would propose that you stand down for the moment and let me pass."
It was a fair warning.
"I take anyone that steps on these grounds without permission as an absolute threat, as the caretaker of this place, it is my duty to protect it at all costs. So if you will not leave of your own accord, I will make you leave by any means necessary." The girl replied evenly.
"Young girl, are you quite sure you have the means to force me out? After all…" I moved forward with blinding speed and spun around the young girl, placing the index finger of my right hand to the back of her head, "A careless error in your calculations could prove fatal."
A FoxFire Piercer would be more than enough. Though, I'd rather avoid that until I'm certain of what remains behind the vault door.
"You come to my home and threaten me, and yet you act like I'm the one instigating a fight."
"My dear, I'm avoiding hostilities as much as possible. After all, you could very well be working with someone that has a nefarious agenda. And if that were the case...well, I can't simply leave things be. So, I'd prefer that you show me what's behind that door for safety reasons. And if there is nothing of an insidious nature hidden behind the door, then I'll leave you be. Fair, yes?"
The girl turned to face me, blinking once before she spoke, "Who are you to judge what is nefarious and what isn't? Just because you see a locked door, doesn't mean you're obligated to find out what's inside it. If you must know, it's a research facility, but those are all the details I'm allowed to discuss."
"The weapons lying around tell me otherwise to some varying degrees."
"Prototypes, for killing Grimm. If you have to know. Half of them don't work and those that do are practically deemed to be useless against anything other than a juvenile Beowulf."
"Oh? If that's the case then, perhaps you would be kind as to show me footage of something that does work on one of these so called monitors. It'll be our little secret."
The girl tilted her head slightly, "Will you leave if I do?"
"More than likely yes if your claims are accurate."
With a click of her fingers, the largest monitor displayed a paused video of one of the weapons attached to a remotely operated frame, when the video began to play, it showed the weapon charging up to fire, before a sudden failure occurred and an explosion overtook the screen, leaving nothing but static.
"Will you go away now?"
Hmmmm… I suppose I can keep surveillance of my own means and methods in the event I was lied to… Though, she doesn't seem to be lying to me… Four, technically five, children over the years has been most helpful in sharpening my skills. Then what could be her reason for wanting me to leave so quickly?
I looked down to the hand she had kept hidden from me earlier and still was not able to see why she was hiding it. Though I was able to notice some faint twitching. A few taps of my finger to the back of her skull told me all I needed to confirm my earlier hypothesis.
She was most certainly not human, that much I was certain of now. Maybe if I ask her…
"I don't suppose you would mind telling me what you are?"
"I… don't know what you're talking… about..."
She leaned back towards me, about ready to collapse had I not caught her. What to do about this I wonder… Ah!
My hand lit ablaze with white flame as I forced it to burn more intensely and compact its form to take on electric-like properties. When I placed my hand on her back, the currents of electricity sank into the young girl's body, and her eyes jolted open.
"Welcome back young one. How was your rest?"
The girl slowly stood and faced me directly, blinking a couple of times.
"How did you know that would work?" she questioned.
"Oh, we've had a mechanical friend of our own once. Though sadly, he and a few others weren't able to join us."
"So, I guess there's not much point in hiding it… But make no mistake, I'm not a robot, and this isn't my body. However, since I'm left with no other options but to open the vault to recharge it, I guess you win. Follow me."
As she finished speaking, a low hydraulic groan resonated throughout the cave as the large vault door opened before us.
When the seal was broken and the door lifted, all that was presented was a glossy white room that contained nothing but a glass elevator.
Well… I was expecting… more to be quite honest.
"Quite a bit of a show to seal up an elevator…"
"It's not the elevator that I'm protecting. It's where it leads that's important. Please step inside at your convenience." She replied as she entered, gesturing to the free space beside her.
"Oh, don't mind if I do." I replied stepping inside with her.
As the elevator doors slid closed behind us, the giant vault door slowly lowered back into its locked position just as the elevator began to descend.
For a few moments, the elevator was surrounded by nothing but rock as it quickly picked up speed, subsiding into the subterranean layers of the planet.
"What you're about to see is something that we've been working on for 6 years, the one who built this place, and myself, has cultivated it using his bare hands from nothing but a dull cavern into this."
As she finished speaking, the elevator was suddenly exposed to a wide cave system. And suspended in the middle of it was a facility that spanned as far as the eye could see.
"He calls it 'The Vault', not a very original name, but it fits."
"I can see why… But still, what sort of secrets do you hold that they must be kept so far beneath ground?"
"Experimental technology and sciences that the current 'modern society' has a tendency to frown upon, and things that if grasped at by the wrong hands would result in devastation across all four kingdoms," the cloaked girl replied, "it's to keep the people safe, but no compromises are made to the scientific progression."
"'A typical Monday at the office', as one of my young ones would say." Young Dante was very casual when it came to scenarios of destruction, "In the very least, this installation isn't in place for nefarious means, which I'm grateful for, mind you."
"That's debatable. Not a lot of people would approve of the work we do here."
"True as that may be, I do believe not everyone is properly equipped to make an accurate or educated statement. Though, if some of your methods are unsavory, I would encourage you to change such methods."
"Then you can take that up with the one who runs this place. I only follow orders." The girl responded evenly.
Apparently you do…
"And who may be your maker then that charged you with protecting this place?"
"I believe your daughter and her partner have already met him."
"Oh? A student at Beacon Academy made you and this place?" It would seem young Dante might have finally found an equally competent mind when it comes to the sciences.
"He is no more a student than I am a glorified calculator. He's there for other reasons, but yes."
"What might be this young man's name?"
"Ray Chroma."
…
I see…
"Ah yes, Mr. Chroma..." I said with a silent giggle in my voice, "He and I will have words when next he is within the area."
"Whenever he comes home, that is…" the girl murmured.
"Oh? Does he not come home often?"
"Only when he isn't busy."
"Hmmm… It seems that I'll have to ask young Dante to bring home his friends next time."
The elevator then began to slow its descent, finally approaching its destination.
When it came to a complete stop, the doors opened to reveal a long, stark white hallway, glass windows lining the entire left side of the corridor.
Populating this area however, were various duplicates of the girl standing next to me. They must have been different bodies she controlled through some sort of...network as I recall? I'm not quite caught up with the technological jargon of this day and age.
As much as I could see, all of them were workers, moving about crates, machinery, and tools here and there in more convenient locations.
Considering she went through all this effort to bring me down here, and hasn't specifically attacked me, I suppose I can trust that nothing malicious or nefarious was occurring here down below. If anything, this reminded me of a film I watched with the children some time ago involving a man of iron.
Either way, she did seem trustworthy and wouldn't have reason to lie to me. So instead…
"Well… it does appear all is well and good. For the most part at least."
"It's not usually this busy, but there's maintenance downstairs that needs seeing to, so as you can see, I'm rather occupied."
"Well… The other… you's are occupied at least. So, why don't you come back up with me for now? I could use some assistance and have some company in the meantime. It does get a bit lonely here on the mountain."
The girl turned her head to face me with a inquisitive look.
"You're by yourself? Interesting." She commented, seemingly unconcerned.
"Sadly so. My young ones have gone to Beacon, leaving me by my lonesome. And since you're here by your lonesome as well, you and I should make well do with one another."
"I'm an artificial intelligence connected to virtually every network on the planet, I'm hardly alone." The girl corrected.
"I don't quite understand the specifics of your… functions…" I said waving my hand in circular motions in front of her, "But that doesn't quite change the fact you are, in one way or another, by yourself. Even if you are connected to some sort of fancy network or have numerous bodies to spread your consciousness through. That being said, what might your name be?"
"My designation is GHOST. Though it's an acronym for the core protocols that my personality is built upon."
This is a bit… confusing still…
"No matter. Ghost you shall be then. Like the direwolf from the television show young Dante keeps pressing for me to watch. I believe it had something to do with thrones… Either way, we will save that for another time. Now, which one of you can I bring with me seeing as you're almost out of energy again…" I said looking around.
A panel in the wall opened and out came another duplicate, though this one was virtually no different than the one standing next to me, except the fact that this one was fully charged, of course.
"You can take this one," she spoke neutrally as she bowed her head, "the one next to you needs repairs."
"Excellent. Now then, let us depart at once! We have work to do!" I said with excitement in my tone whilst dragging off my new "friend".
"Define 'work', if you will." Ghost requested politely.
"Are you able to make a beef and potato stew?"
"I know how to cook, yes." She replied.
I giggled to myself silently before saying "Then this will be all the more fun!"
A little short, sweet, and simple this week, but this is a scene HydraFlow and I wanted to work on for a good while between his character GHOST, and mine, Kareina, Inuba's mother. And here we have their intro! If you recall from an earlier chapter, Ray Chroma (he and his team RGDS belonging to HydraFlow as well) told Dante to keep a certain someone out of his vault. That's where it came from if you didn't know.
So yeah, done and over.
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!
