{oOo}

Ruin tilted his head slightly, knocked on the door. Hard.

He knew for a fact that the Emperor wasn't with Terra at the moment, and wasn't… busy. This was one of the reasons why he'd scared a Custodes shitless, taken directions to the Emperor's personal quarters, and made his way over here.

He ignored the fact that he was gore-covered, tightened the grip of his golem's hand on the still breathing 'present' just to hear it mewl mindlessly, and adjusted his grin to be... both beatific and disturbing. There was a trail, a spattering, really, of blood droplets in his wake, and none of it was his. There was the furniture that the golem had to move out of its way. There was the ruin that used to be a carpet.

And there were the traumatized Custodes. And yet, Ruin was sure the Emperor would forgive him all of the collateral damage. Because he had a very nice gift indeed.

The Emperor looked up from what appeared to be sheets of paper covered in neat script. By now no one would be able to read it—a code he had used once, long ago. It had been quite ingenious back then and now, when nobody knew the language it was almost completely impossible to read.

He regarded Ruin, his golem, then looked at the floor and the bloody trail. His stare returned to scrutinizing Ruin.

"What is this?" he asked with a frown. The golem held in its grasp the body of what looked like a young woman to most eyes, but to the Emperor's eldritch sight, she held a very large amount of power. Enough to fuel a planet.

And yet she was not a psyker. The eyes were wide open, blank in their gaze, and she mewled pathetically whenever the golem of dark crystal shifted its grip; and yet her presence in the Warp was different, a steady pulse.

"It's a present." Ruin smiled, a cruel, terrible smile it had once favored the people of her planet with.

"You know Terra is not quite human, and until now, you have had none like her to experiment on, yes?" A flash of fang. "This, like Terra, is something called a Senshi."

The feral expression widered. "And unlike Terra, this one, I do not care if you break it." A reiteration seemed apt.

"You may.." Ruin savored the words. "consider this a present."

The Emperor watched the woman, his expression thoughtful. She had power, but he didn't think she could use it any longer. He rose and walked over to the golem. His fingers slid underneath the woman's chin and he turned her face to have a better look at her. "Why is she in such a state?"

"She caused the death of my mother." Ruin's eyes narrowed. "Mother was Senshi too. This stupid thing sent an assassin, just to take over mother's planet." He frowned. "The idiot tried to control me. I played along with it long enough to find out why I came home to a corpse, and then I broke the planet it was bound to. Tortured its people to death. Hunted down the remnants. Then I took it to break it."

A fanged, joyless grin. "It owed me. It will never be able to pay me back, but its ova and genes can be used to breed you better weapons." Ruin paused. "You are.. what is the term? Family. Now."

"I have to make sure you succeed and survive. So. This one can be used as fodder for your experiments. I can also change it to make it a battery, for you to use as an extra source of power. That is fair, is it not?"

The Emperor watched the woman silently. She appeared to be healthy... "How do you keep her healthy and clean?"

The gift would be quite welcome, though he wished to consult Terra.

The thought made him pause. He had never wished to consult decision with others. It was quite odd to suddenly think that there was somebody who needs to approve of his decisions.

Ruin shrugged. "Golems. I broke its mind beyond repair a long time ago and I prefer it broken. I do not want it to have sanity, or hope, because it deserves no such things. It tried to make me its dog." The grin resurfaced. "I am no one's dog. Now it relies on golems to keep it fed, clean, healthy."

"Kept it in the bowels of my 'home'." He tilted his head slightly, conflicted. "Kept my mother preserved, frozen between one moment and the next in the 'heart' of my 'home' because I wanted to resurrect her, but I never found her soul. I can bring her here, for you to extract samples, but I wish you to promise me no harm or disfigurement will happen to her."

The Emperor patted Ruin's head in silence. The gift was quite morbid, both of them, but Ruin for all its power was still a child in mind. Its gift was heartfelt in its own way.

"Will you promise?" Ruin asked him intently. It... no, he... needed to know the body of its precious mother (precious fragile mommy) would be safe here.

"I will," the Emperor replied.

"Good." Ruin said quietly, subdued, accepting the head pettings like a child would. A source of comfort though it didn't know why. "I will bring my mother to you tomorrow then."

"You will leave me the golems?" the Emperor asked, eyeing them thoughtfully. They would be interesting research material...

"Yes." Ruin said, tilting his head slightly. "Though I don't know why you'd want them, and Beryl can make them too. Though hers are... " he made the universal gesture for curves.

"Do you have any theories as to why?" The Emperor asked curiously.

"I think it is because she is a girl." Ruin said solemnly. "and I have never understood girls. Not even when I was gender changed as one."

"I find there is no significant difference between males and females," the Emperor replied. "Unless it is culturally enforced. Or related to breeding."

"...That doesn't explain a lot of things, to me." Ruin said uncomfortably. "They think differently." Clearly someone needed to take it in hand and explain things about life.

{oOo}

The next day, the Emperor was discussing something with Horus, their voices lowered. Horus appeared to be very glad about whatever it was. Fulgrim couldn't hear what they were saying—not that he was trying—it was just hard not to notice when he couldn't hear two people talking in the same room as him.

"And then we moved in-" Ferrus Manus continued. Fulgrim nodded, focusing on the mental picture of the battlefield again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mortarion talking with Konrad somewhat to his left. Occasionally, he would catch a word or too. They appeared to be discussing problems related to deploying with the Imperial Army.

The sound of a scuffle resonated here as it would not have, in any other place.

The doors swung open, and Ruin walked in, carrying a woman in his arms, in what had been termed bridal style.

Unlike the vicious way the other body had been handled, this one was carried with reverence. Adoration, bleak-bitter, tainted. Even in death, her body was handled lovingly. In fact, at first glance, one would have thought that she was alive, and was Ruin's bride, asleep with her head tucked slightly under his chin.

And she was beautiful, as all Senshi were. Small, slender, more delicately built than the other one, long, wavy hair a rich, reddish gold, skin pale as ivory, clad in palest blue, and with beautiful jewelry clasped around her neck, wrapped around her slim wrists, her graceful arms.

The only clue that she was dead was the horribly visible stain of blood, barely dried on her chest, between her breasts.

Ruin ignored the others. Met the Emperor's gaze defiantly, protectively as he made his way directly to him. "You had better take good care of her." he said, defensively. It was all too clear that he wasn't willing to give the body up, but was doing it anyway.

Because.

Because he could help with this. And he knew, knew she was dead anyway, and what would hoarding the body further do? At least this way.. she would've liked it. She would have been used to protect her son's children. Her grandchildren.

Horus stared at the body, his expresssion between confusion and horror. The body was fresh and... He looked at Ruin trying to form the question that was rattling through head, but he found his lips unable to form words.

Ferrus Manus stopped in mid sentence, as did Konrad Curze.

"He did not kill her," the Emperor said.

Ruin simply glared at them, daring them to comment on it. "She was my mother." he said, defensively. "And she was powerful, as I am. Her genes can be useful." The glance swung back to the Emperor. "You promised." He reminded the Emperor, firmly. "You'll give her back when you have what you need to make your new weapons."

"I shall," the Emperor replied solemly.

"T-that's sort of creepy," Fulgrim managed to say after a moment. Ferrus Manus nodded.

"Why is she so young?" Konrad asked, frowning. "She died only recently."

"Not recently." Ruin said, reluctantly giving the corpse over to the Emperor's ams. He was an Eldritch Horror. Everyone in the room knew it by now.

And yet, even though he was a monster, the grief and despair still twisted his face for the all too human moment it took for him to control it again, shove it down.

"She was murdered. I froze her between one moment and the next." A glance at Konrad. "I could not bear to have her body rot and turn to dust. I entombed her those many centuries ago, and only took her out now. Because she would have preferred this."

He frowned. "I avenged her then. She wouldn't have approved of it. But... She would approve of this now."

"St-" Fulgrim started to say, but Mortarion promptly nudged him in the ribs with his elbow. The Phoenician glared at his brother, but Mortarion did not appear phased.

"I think I prefer when you warn us about cosmic horrors," Horus said, sounding rather disturbed.

The Emperor calmly accepted the body. He was already working on halting the natural process of decay, which would otherwise start as soon as it was out of Ruin's hands.

Ruin's eyes flickered to Horus. A wan smile flickered across his face. "Well, cosmic horrors are easier to deal with?" he jested weakly. Clearly he still wasn't fully recovered. "And yes, I know it's... creepy. It might creep you out worse if I admitted I trapped her enemy in the basement and tortured her to repeated breakdowns and mental death."

A moment's pause. "Which I totally did. I'm an eldritch horror. Everything I learned of humanity, I learned from that woman." A jerk of the head, indicating the corpse in the Emperor's arms. "When she died, I went berserk. It wasn't pretty."

"That is usually classified as TMI," Mortarion said.

The other Primarchs nodded fervently. Konrad's expression twitched, before returning to focus. For a moment, he appeared to be on the verge of attacking Ruin, but seemed to reconsider.

"I think that's enough," the Emperor said.

"As you wish." Ruin managed to smile, eyes still on the corpse for a moment. "I will be back when you are done. You can contact me through Beryl."

He teleported out of there, fighting the impulse to take it back with him.

{oOo}