HOLA!

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REVELATIONS 2- THE DEALS

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At the top of the tower and after being told by Julius that the mercenary foreigner had 'left', Ace grabbed harshly the clock master by the wrist. His smile was strained and his eyes were closed, and the aura around him was threatening, worried, unstable and dark. All at the same time.

"What do you mean she left, Julius? How could our Ari simply go away after we had practically won her game and convinced her to be here with us and only us?" - The knight then opened his red eyes and quickly moved his other hand to grab Julius's jaw and force him to look at him in the eyes and respond.

"Let go."- Julius hissed while trying to pry off Ace's hard grip on his swollen jaw. However he wasn't resisting that much while Ace roughed him up. He was trapped within his thoughts and what he did. He hadn't meant to make Aria think he didn't want her or think there was something going on between him and Alice. It had been an impulse reaction. An impulse reaction that had managed to hurt the mercenary and that had push her away for real.

Ace made more pressure over Julius's jaw.-"She let go? Or did you let go of her?"- The knave wasn't even bothering with a fake smile anymore. - "How is it that you lost our foreigner, Julius? How bad was it for her if she dumped her mercenary word?" - Ace was well aware that she held her 'mercenary word' sacred. She ditching it and ditching them meant that whatever had happened had been horribly bad; but unlike the knight's normal reactions, he wasn't trilled at all about his foreigner getting lost. At least not without him.

"I did not lose her, Ace. She chose to leave." - Julius snapped back with anger before his eyes softened with sadness as he looked away.- " And I don't know if she'll come back… But I doubt it" - He admitted as his clock grew heavy in his chest.

Ace's grip on the clock master's wrist became almost crushing.-"Maybe I should just take your clock and Aria's heart to have all to myself so no one else can touch them." - The mortician's attitude was truly pissing him off.

The knave was so upset that not even Julius was sure how to calm him down, but he had to. -"You know you would not." Julius's frown and gaze was firm. He knew Ace would never hurt either him or Aria in that way, but even so, the mortician had never seen Ace get so angry, much less with him. But then again, Ace had never cared for anyone else besides him either.

Ace pulled Julius by the jaw so that their faces where almost touching - "Why wouldn't I? If you are only going to cause her heart to flee then I can prevent your clock from doing that and her heart from going away"- He could feel Julius's breath near his lips -"That way I keep both of you to myself"

Julius narrowed his eyes and once again tried pushing Ace away, and at least succeeded in removing Ace's hand from his jaw. -"We're both worried about Aria, Ace. But what is fighting going to do? She is gone."- This was another thing he had messed up. He had taken the foreigner away from the knight, the only other person besides himself that the demented knave truly liked, and with that also his chances in the game and little more of Ace's unstable mind.

The knave quickly took control of the situation again and by the captured wrist, he twisted Julius's arm behind his back in a painful grip and forced his head on the stone rail at the edge of the balcony.

The executioner then leaned down to lick Julius's jaw -"Now Julius, what exactly happened?"- He then pressed the mortician's head, directly over Julius's swollen jaw, harder on the stone. - "And who did this to your jaw? If it was anyone but Ari then I need be knightly and get some revenge. And if it was Ari... then we'll need to deal with whatever angered her so much so she forgives you and comes back."- He then pressed himself over Julius body to speak directly to the mortician's ear.-"What if you drove her into the arms of someone else?" - Ace asked, clearly enraged though his voice remained steady.

Julius's eyes widened before narrowing. He didn't answer. Now that he had remembered, things seemed somehow even more uncertain.

The brunette's words were a soft warning hiss.- "Have you forgotten we are not the only ones aiming to have her in the end?"- Before speaking again, Ace engulfed Julius body under his own and used all his weight to keep the mortician down.-"Isn't it obvious that's what we wanted since the beginning? Since she came back we wanted her with us, and I don't need to remember to know I've wanted her before that."- Ace then bit on Julius's ear.

Julius swiveled his head to the side to get away from the bite and glared over his shoulder at the other Role Holder. -"I haven't forgotten. In fact, I remembered." - He did remembered but...

Ace raised an eyebrow. - "And what did you remembered? That Alice's game ended long way ago and Aria's game is on?"- At the moment he didn't care about what the mortician may have remembered. It didn't change the fact that Julius had let her go.

"Everything." Julius breathed, hardly seeming able to say another word. The knowledge of what had happened to her was heavy. It was no wonder she had been so edgy and skittish. She had been confused and rightfully scared.

Ace's red eyes glared back - "Everything? Was it so much that you had to push her away? Was it so little that it didn't matter? Or does it matters too much? - Ace then gave a couple small slaps to Julius jaw.- "You sent her away. What are you going to do now, Julius? What do you truly want to do? What do you truly want to do about Ari? What do you want Ari to do?

Julius used all his force to trow Ace off him -" It's not what I want, it's what Aria wants that matters," - Julius finalized, clenching his fists at the words spoken through clenched teeth. He knew she deserved the best after all that had happened to her. Even if the best was only some peace and that everyone left her alone.

Ace snorted as he stepped back.-"Since Aria apparently wants nothing to do with us now, I'll probably have to apologize on your behalf because you are forgetting that she is everyone's target and goal." - Ace stood firm in front of Julius and waited for the clock master's answer.

Julius matched the knave's stance.-"It's not up to us, Ace. Only Aria can choose who she wants to be with"- He clenched his first.-"And if said man, or men, do not turn out to be us then we have no right to interfere. It's the rules". - He growled and unclenched his first before looking away. - "Not even if she wants no one at all."

Ace's eyes narrowed at that response. - "We'll see about that." - Ace's ragged coat flared in a majestic arc when he turned around in evident anger,and left Julius there to go away in search of the game's most priced goal. He would not accept defeat.

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Meanwhile, in a secret location certain mercenary was having a small mental breakdown.

"What! ?How!? You are supposed to be a software and pieces of hardware." - She pointed her index finger at the feline creature and activated the different filters in her optic lenses that caused hernow glowing eyes to shift between different colors. She could not believe this, but she couldn't deny it either. She felt it. She knew this was true.

The ocelot yawned while, independently from it's physical actions, it's deep accented male voice answered calmly.-"A more defined query is required to process a proper answered response."

Aria gulped yet again. –"Start colloquial speech pattern. Explain situation regarding your current form, the situation with my shadow, and the situation with my embed connective lines." - She didn't know her suit's AI interactive capacities were this advanced, or how it was that it was a damn cat or ocelot or whatever at the moment, but she needed to determine it.

'Aegis' remained still except for the flicker of it's tail, but when it answered it's voice seemed to be slightly anxious.-"Request for information received. Colloquial speech patter initialized"- It closed it's green eyes and when it opened them again he locked gazes with it's master.- "Situation with your shadow and my current form shifting capacities correspond to the integration of the Jabberwocky's shadow into your own shadow through the tattoo enhancement on your back, and the integration of it into my own structure corresponds to occurrences during our time in the 'nightmare's realm' zone."

Aria's eyes widened for a second and moved her hand behind her back and below her shirt to touch her skin but it felt normal; however she now remembered that the tattoo on her back had looked different when she saw it in the mirror at the clock tower's bathroom. Due to all that had happened, she had totally forgotten about it.

The feline confidently put a paw over her leg. Aria twitched under the touch but didn't move away and let the critter speak.

"Situation with your connective lines corresponds to the integration of the 'Key of the way" into the structure of the embed metal on your flesh."- The ocelot's tail side swished as it put his other paw over her. This time and to his delight, she didn't shacked at all.

"What? The key of the way?" - At the mention of such itemAria's initial freak out turned into cautious curiosity. She remembered the small golden key that had opened the portal to Spades. A key that could open or close anything in this world.

The ocelot moved closer and softly slid his head under her palm.- "Da. The key was dispersed into particles and then mixed into the pre-existing metal paths on your skin, and thus integrated into you."- The feline began rubbing its head against her hand in the same way a pet would demand to be petted, but it was impossible to tell if it wanted to get attention or provide it.

Aria moved her hand to touch the critter's neck and attest how firmly real it was while the dogtags hanging from the cat's neck tingled as it moved so she could touch his back to let her know it was really there. -"How?..."- The texture was of really soft fur but she couldn't sense any bones below it. This was incredible even for her, but the knowledge that there really was something under her touch was comforting enough.

Aegis took a pause and moved so that she could pass her hand over it's arching back and she half pet it, half examine it.-"New question in context recognized. Description of log of activities is estimated as months of successions of events. Shall I explain a compressed resume of results?"

That had been the Artificial Intelligence's version of "It's a long story. Want the resume?", and if anything, this actually scared her to the point that now her mind was practically out of it and in blanq shock. However,this also gave her something to focus on. A by Pythagoras! she needed it.

"First explain the advancement in your natural speech current capacities, and your Leopardus pardalis ,'Ocelot', form"- She took a deep breath while checking the dog-tags that currently adorned the feline's neck. These undoubtedly were 'his' dog-tags, the only tangible item she had left of the man that had been practically her lover as much as her partner.

With a nod, Aegis purred- "Da."

Despite the feline like body, a soft smile formed on the creature's face, and in her mind she could picture perfectly well the face of her dead partner smiling back at her. That stroke a chord in Aria, making her realize that she wanted to hear the AI talk more due to the voice it was using. Sure, she needed to test Aegis to know how advanced it was, but she reckoned that hearing that voice again was soothing.

She hushed the name from her world that was still dear to her into her next question.-"Why are you using 'Andrick Jeloudov's' voice?"

Aegis sat on the floor and looked intently at her.-"I'm completely capable of normal human speech".- It's ears perked and he, almost nervously, shifted its weight over its paws.-"I'm using a simulation of Andrick Jeloudov's voice because his brain was the first completely mapped and his data analyzed. Thus, I'm more fluent with his voice and mental processes."- Awaiting her reaction, the cat pressed it's body on the floor.

Aria remained quiet observing the critter and thinking on it's words but unable to process them yet. She wasn't ready for that.

Tentatively, Aegis crawled to curl besides her.– "For as long as I've been active under your ownership, I've been on recursive learning from your own patterns; all the information, inputs and outputs, interactions with other subjects, and all the data you have stored in my systems and attached devises. Andrick Jelouov's patterns complemented yours to form my own patterns.This allowed me to interpret human mental processing and to recreate interaction patterns."

Simply put, it had learned from Andrick's scanned brain as much as Aria's salvaged files and experiences.

She remembered the night when Andrick had asked her to perform that brain scan of his mind so she always had a reference in case she lost more of her own mind as the result of using her synchronization ability too often and too much. She never expected it to serve for anything.

Aegis stood and a platform of darkness formed below him to raise him so he was eye to eye with his master. -"The feline shape corresponds to the brain mapping and constant testing and data gathering of 'Bunsen' the kitten test subject you adopted as pet in this world." – The AI's voice sounded proud and thankful. The platform dissolved into nothing and the feline crawled on her lap.– "I chose this shape and voice pattern because of their appeal to you."- It moved over her so she could hug him. He knew she needed it.

Her eyes closed tightly and her heart ached as she remembered her kitten. -"Bunsen…"- Last time she had seen her beloved ball of fluff had been in Spades, which meant that by now, with no one to take care of it, the little fur ball was dead. Without knowing, her eyes watered enough for a couple lonely tears to fall down her cheek. This lost really hurt in a way she couldn't recall ever getting.

Aegis pawed her.

She leaned forward and hugged the ocelot. Her eyes closed tightly and she gritted her teeth. It was now just too much for her. She had lost her own world, she had almost lost this world too; she had lost her faction, her pet, her 'family' and everything that she achieved through work in this world. All memories of her had been lost and with them her prof of existence; she had even lost her own chance of death on various occasions.

Aegis felt the hug tighten-"I will proceed to imitate Bunsen's behavior pattern."- In a very kitty way, Aegis rubbed against her chest and began purring, doing it's best to be comforting as Aria's real pet would have done by cuddling.-"With due testing and training I'll be able to increase to options on an optimal level."

She responded by petting it in a hug until she gathered her words in a broken voice, knowing she needed to concentrate on this very moment in the present because there was nothing else to hold onto. -"So 'Aegis', you can pass the Turin test easily and never told, me?" – Her lips tugged up at the corner with the beginning of a smile while her hands finished the examination and petting of the feline mass of darkness and technology who return to lay on her lap.

Aegis closed it's eyes in a feline smile and chuckled before rubbing it's head against her cheek -"You never asked." – He twisting on its back and presenting his belly for her to scratch while pawing at the air. –"I can't communicate without being prompted to and you de-activated the verbal mode to avoid sound detection."

Aria opened her mouth and then face-palmed. She felt really dump. All that capacity wasted because she hadn't ask. She managed to laugh at how silly that was.

Aegis rolled again and stood to stretch its body out. - "Should I continue with the responses to your queries?"

"Alright, explain the short version of spades, my shadow, the key and whatever else is important. Especially any other capacities you have that I'm not aware off."- She felt dumper. The fact that it could choose and use a specific voice based by the choice that 'she liked it', spoke volumes about how intelligent Aegis was, and Aria was also curious about what it the AI could do now if it had gained a half existence from this world.

"Da." - It nodded and set his head over her belly. – " At the end of the battle in Diamond you were thrown into a portal to the country of Spades. The country that called you into this world since the beginning as signaled by your vial's cap."

The darkness in the room moved and from her small backpack it brought her the vial. It's cap indeed had the spades symbol unlike Alice's which was a heart.

"You faced the Bandersnatch and got a hold of the Vorpal sword. Then you headed for the Bastion, the last remaining building in Spades."- Aegis curled up in a ball over her lap before continuing. –"There you called forth the real Jabberwocky and made a deal with it."

"What was the exact deal?" – Aria remembered making the deal but not the details of how it came to that, what were the negotiations, or what were the specifics of the deal.

The feline's eyes lit in acknowledgement. Then it began reproducing the sounds it had recorded, starting with Aria's own greedy, vain and confident voice.

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"Look Jabby, I'm a mercenary and I want to negotiate this. And as I told you, it wont be for free."

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The mercenary recognized her own voice perfectly. The data on her memory was foggy, but it was there and she just needed a refreshment of it.

She had been in front of the Jabberwocky, ready to face him with the legendary Vorpal blade and the Winxy pistol readied in each of her hands. However, the real battle had been of wits.

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"You can take it or leave it. I'm offering you a chance to BE real, to exist as a person and to go on as a full role, but if you leave this chance pass, you know that you will never, EVER, get another opportunity. How many people before me had even tried speaking with you? Let alone be able to devise or accomplish this deal?"

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She had though of how drug dealers made deals in her world and had combined it with her youth ambassador experience. Her plan had been to con the ancient existing into accepting a deal with her somehow.

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"Besides, the country of Spades will eventually cease to exist, and you with it..."

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Her smile had been quite sadistic at that. It was an all or nothing gamble for her and for the dragon. Either they both win or everyone lost.

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"But as part of my deal, I want to use the energy you have accumulated to restore Spades, and create a way to make the flow of energy circulate properly into all countries."

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To her satisfaction, she remembered noticing the Jabberwocky's incredulity. Hadn't she known the science principles behind what she intended to do, she'd be incredulous too.

But why didn't she recall the Jabberwocky's form?

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"I am very serious about this deal"

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To show her true will to negotiate, while gazing at the Jabberwockywith unconquered pride and confidence she had let go of the Vorpal sword and the Winxy pistol, the only things capable of damaging the creature. Before the weapons hit the floor, she was grabbed around her arms and legs by tendrils of darkness that pulled her back, and smashed her into a wall. She barely let out a grunt at the force of the blow but she hadn't struggled at all when the ancient dragon approached her.

Aria remembered how passively amused she had tried to look despite her mind racing faster than her heart, but it wasn't fear what she had felt. It had been excitement. She understood the structure of Wonderland on scientific, physics level, and if she saw this world as a game, and considered that she had been a game designer as side job to the youth ambassador thing… Well, the Jabberwocky was not the only bug in the game called Wonderland that she could fix. Spades could also be restored and this world needed a way to make the energy circulate so that if a country ran out of 'mana', it could grab some from other countries without affecting them much. She just needed to act as a synchrotron to try it, even if it killed her. That would be interesting.

The Jabberwock, with a masculine voice full of baffled curiosity, questioned her crudely.

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" How?... Why would you ?"

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Her chuckled eager answer had baffled the ancient being.

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"Why? Why not. I merely want to. When you have nothing else to lose then you have everything to gain. Still, there is a price."

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The Jabberwocky had seemed to understand what mercenary meant. She would do anything to gain something.

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"What you offer. What you ask for?"

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Her voice sounded very smugly, as if she had already conned him.

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"Oh, just a couple things for your well, my well and this worlds well being.

My proposal toyou is this: You are a role without a holder. I will forge the Jabberwocky as a true role. I'll make you able to have a holder.

I desire for Spades to be restored and a way or place for letting mana flow properly though all wonderland and whatever else I deem necessary. For this I'll use my vial to strike a deal with Wonderland, and all the energy you have accumulated; and as payment I..."

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She remembered being grabbed by the throat, but she had countered with a wave of focused intent, her 'fake love'. The same trick she had used on Julius's clock before Alice came into the room. And it had worked.

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"I want one unbreakable, undeniable request from you, swore upon your role. And I want your friendship, for me and to the Bandersnatch role."

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The Jabberwok's grip had tightened on her throat but not in a crushing way and Aria had pondered on that unbreakable vow she had asked for. It was one like the one she had extracted from all holders at this side of the mirror. 1 single magical promise that the role would fulfill regardless of the holder. A promise practically as strong and enforcing as the rules.

But why had she included 'friendship'?That was too weird even for her. Besides her mind being foggy about the events at Spades, had she forgotten anything? And how had the Jabberwock grabbed her throat? She remembered the feeling of a hand but…

Her own recorded voice interrupted her trail of thought.

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"Everyone needs a friend, you know?

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Aria knot in her guts for some reason. What had truly happened in that place?

Her voice continued.

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"… So what do you say?"

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Silence followed for a few tense seconds in the recording while Aria remembered her throat getting released from his grip and the strange and ancient being uttering the word that, athough no one would else know about, would change his world.

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"Agreed"

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OoO Wow! Ace actually got angry at Julius and now he embarked on a quest to seek and bring back that troublesome foreigner. And Julius is surely not taking it nicely, but damn, he needs to stop sulking and do something, hadn't he decided that before? maybe he needs a little push to ;)

Meanwhile Aria is definitely not fine on the mental level. Buy hey, she can negotiate with an ancient dragon of darkness and destruction like boss (or drug dealer XD, BTW, if you wanna read the full extend of the deals, it's on the last chaps of the fic 'Wonderful Wonderful Science: Diamond Dust), she can take on setting off blowing up nuclear weapons in her world, understand how energy flows in Wonderland and why are foreigners really important... but she her mind flips when she discovers that the advanced artificial intelligence in her systems is really advanced and intelligent :P All because she didn't read the manual or asked XD but if Aegis is been learing from her she shouldn't trust him that much, at least not all it says. And what do you think was that other deal about the 'key of the way' or what her real prize for that deal was?

But aint it cute that she finally reach a limit to the emotional stuff that's been accumulating for her? Good thing Aegis doesn't have internal organs or she would have crushed him with that hug.

Oh Aria, I don't think you can keep pushing aside all that emotional stuff.

What do you think about this chap and how things are progressing?

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