July 6th 2005, Siberia:
Cecilia found herself lost in thought as she say by the fireplace with her six year old daughter fast asleep on her lap. Her thoughts were to her husband, who had been given a mission by the scientists of Anti-Entropy, Dr.Tesla and Dr.Einstein. She knew Ziggy was more than capable of taking care of himself, but the mission he had been assigned to this time left a rather uncomfortable pit in the Schariacs stomach.
Ziggy had been sent on a mission to Schicksals former HQ in Kolosten. The AE scientists had informed the Kaslana couple just a few days ago that they had discovered that the Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, had been running a cloning project using their daughters DNA, most likely before the Kaslana couple had infiltrated HQ and retrieved their daughter. The news had angered her husband greatly, not that she herself wasn't upset she was absolutely livid, but she had greater control over her emotions as a result of ther training.
Cecilia and Siegfried had both noticed the signs when they rescued Kiana two years ago, bandages that covered her fingers, arms and legs, and the short length of haired she had at the time. Einstein had explained to them that none of her injuries would scar, and that it was most likely the collection of DNA samples done by Otto. They hadnt understood the reason Otto did this until recently.
When Siegfried found out about the cloning experiment on their daughter he immediately wanted to take part in the investigation, with Cecilia wanting to also help, but eventually decided against it. She didn't want to see what horrible things the Overseer had done using the blood of her daughter. And so she'd wait for Ziggy.
"Mommy." Kiana said drowsily as her eyes half opened.
"Yes darling?" Cecilia responded softly ss she caressed her daughters hair.
"When is daddy coming home?" Kiana asked causing Cecilia to smile at the drowsy child. She often forgot just how much if a daddy's girl her daughter was sometimes.
"Soon." He was supposed to have been back today, but it was already late into the night. Cecilia couldn't help but wonder if something gad gone wrong. She knew her husband could take care of himself, but Kolosten was a former HQ of Schicksal and was likely to be guarded to an extent. Still, she couldn't worry her daughter like that and so she simply smiled before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss against the child's forehead. "How about I take you up to bed so you can sleep."
"Okay." Kiana said sleepily as she stood up, rubbing her eyes with her left hand while clutching a Homu doll with her right.
The mother daughtwr pair then made their way upstairs to Kiana's bedroom. Cecilia tucked her daughter in, watchjng as she once more began to fall asleep. Seejng her daughter thus peaceful made her worry about what Ziggy was seeing at the hidden labs of Kolosten. Dozens, if not hundreds, of lifeless clones that were similar to their baby doll, she didn't think she'd have had the strength to walk if she saw such a sight.
"Mommy." Kiana called out catching Cecilia's attention and pulling her out of her thoughts, "Will daddy be back when I wake up?" Cecilia couldn't help but smile a little as she got into the bed beside her daughter.
"I'm sure he will." Cecilia said lovingly as she rubbed Kiana's back in circular motions. The only response she got was a soft hum before she heard Kiana softly snoring next to her.
Cecilia found herself starting to fall asleep as well, she had that Siegfried would arrive on time, and she sincerely hoped that nothing had gone wrong, for both for her sake and Kiana's.
*03:31*
Cecilia's sharper than average hearing caused her to wake up when she heard some noise coming from downstairs. Her first thought after looking at the Homu clock on Kiana's bedroom wall was that someone had broken into the house, but that thought was diacarded when she remembered that her husband was supposed to come back earlier into the night, but she couldn't be sure.
With that Cecilia slowly got out of bed as to not wake her sleeping daughter and not make any noise as she walked out the room.
"Ziggy?" She called out softly aa she slowly closed the door behind her and began to make her way down stairs.
"Yeah, its me." Siegfried called out as he came into view. Cecilia instantly relaxed as sbe walked towards him. As soon as she was within arms reach Suegfured took hold of one of her arms and pulled Cecilia into a tight embrace.
She had seen it in his eyes the moment she saw him. It was obvious that something had happened, and to some extent she was afraid to find out what it was, but her husband needed her, so she would be the rock that he needed her to be right now.
"What happened?" Cecilia asked gently as she wrapped her own arms around him. She wouldn't pressure him into saying anything if he wasn't ready to talk about it just yet, but she wanted to make sure that he knew she was ready to listen to her whenever he was willing to talk.
For a moment neither of them said anything as they remained in each other's embrace. After a minute Siegfried's arms began to loosen their hold on Cecilia. Allowing her to take a small step back, while making sure she was still within his arms, to be able to look up and meet his gaze.
Just from looking into his eyes she could see the many emotions that he was burying within himself. Hatred, rage, grief self-loathing, regret and most of all, guilt. She didn't know what happened at Kolosten, but she could tell that it deeply hurt him psychologically.
"They were lots of them..." Siegfried started as he turned his gaze away from his wife. He knew didn't need to elaborate on what he was talking about when he felt Cecilia grab his hands tightly, "...and they all looked just like her. Hair, body, face, they were identical in everyway. The only difference being that they didn't have souls or any other form of sentience, they were just living corpses. They called theses clones defective projects."
The last word was said with so much venom that Cecilia flinched slightly. Not that she didnt understand his anger, the mental image alone was like taking a knife to the heart and having it twisted multiple times, she couldn't imagine having had to see it first hand.
"They just rolled them one by one into this large furnace like disposable trash." Siegfried said as his voice began break, Cecilia immediately embraced him once more, both to comfort him and to hide her own pain. She didn't want to visualize such a scene.
"I should have gone with you." Cecilia muttered softly, at least then he wouldn't have had to carry this burden alone. What kind of wife did that make her?!
"No, it's better that you didn't. Kiana doesn't need two traumatized parents." Siegfried said, Cecilia couldn't help but agree with that. What he had seen and obviously shaken him like it would have any sane father.
"What happened next?" Cecilia asked as she rubbed his back. She knew her husband was the type of person to sacrifice himself for the sake of his family, to carry the burden so that she wouldn't have to. And while that was something she loved about him, sometimes she just wished he wouldn't.
"I decided to put an end to their suffering. They were already dead, and Schicksal was more or less just defiling their bodies. So I...I cut them down." Siegfried said as he turned his gaze away from his wife in both shame and guilt, he wouldn't lie to her, but he also didn't know how she would react to finding out he had destroyed hundred of clones that more or less looked like their daughter, the gasp she made did not sound well.
That's no to say the deed had been easy for him. He had found himself frozen in shock when he burned the first batch of clones to ash with the Cleaver of Shamash, and even though he became numb to the feeling as he moved from lab to lab destroying clone after clone, that didn't take away the pain and guilt that kept piling up in his heart as a result of his actions. Feelings which he still carried with him even now. He knew he would carry that burden for the rest of his life, and that it would haunt him for years to come. And for that reason he was glad that his wife had not come along with him, she didn't need that on her consciousness, but he was willing to bare it for the sake of his family.
"Y-you killed them all?!" Cecilia asked as she stepped back from her husband with wide eyes and a horrified expression on her face. She didn't think that her husband would be forced to make such a choice. She knew the mission parameters had demanded that he search the lab for all info pertaining the K-series experiments, and that he was to transfer said data to AE before destroying the base, but what he had done was on a more personal level. Going out of his way to destroy all the K-series clones himself, she couldn't imagine being able to do the same had she been his shoes.
"All except one, she the only successful clone of them all. It was the only way I could think of to end whatever torture they were being put through. Whether they were mentally alive to be aware of it or not." Siegfried said, he didn't regret what he did, painful as it was. He knew he would have regretted it more if he had simply left them to die at the hands of the explosion that destroyed the Kolosten Labs, it would be more like he was objectifying them. "Regardless of their origins, they were still our flesh and blood. Our daughters. I just wanted to give them a send off worthy of a Kaslana." Siegfried added as he leaned back against the wall from the fatigue and mental strain of it all. The last phrase of the Kaslana Oath ringing in his head.
By the blade of Shamash, Kaslana's die but never yield.
"I agree." Cecilia said as she gently placed her left hand against his arm. She knew that Siegfried very passionate about family, maybe even more so than she was. He was emotionally torturing himself over something that was beyond his control. "I can't imagine how strong you had to be to follow through with that choice, I don't think I would have had the strength to do the same. I just wish I had been there to help lift that burden, if only emotionally."
"It's probably best that you weren't." Siegfried said as an offended expression swiftly made it's way onto Cecilia's face, Siegfried quickly explained himself, "And I don't mean that in a bad way or anything, it's just I don't think it would do Kiana any good to have two traumatized parents. Besides I wouldn't want you carrying this kind of burden." At this Cecilia's features softened as she allowed her self to smile. She reached up with her left hand and cupped his cheek, caressing it with her thumb.
"I get what you're trying to say, but I don't like the fact you have to carry this on your own. I guess I just feel guilty." Cecilia said, that was a lot more she wanted to say. Such as how he didn't have to suffer for their happiness, that neither her nor Kiana would be happy if he wasn't. But she knew better than to bring up such a topic, he was a Kaslana after all.
"I'll be fine, being here with you and Kiana is all the comfort I need." Siegfried said as he pulled his wife into another embrace, she didn't resist and instead hummed in agreement against him. She didn't doubt that, but that didn't mean she wouldn't worry. Still there was one more matter to be addressed.
"You mentioned earlier that Schicksal had been successful in one of the clones?" Cecilia questioned, she felt her husband stiffen slightly.
"Yeah, I was still sweeping the place when I found her. She was in a containment tube filled with water, floating in the middle of it. I almost cut her down like I did the rest, but when I raised my sword to do it she opened her eyes, and in them I saw something that I hadn't seen in the other clones." Siegfried said as he pulled away from his wife to look her in the eyes, "I saw life, eyes that were so bright and blue, with the curiosity and innocence that only a child could have. I was frozen solid for a minute. Maybe the shock of what I did still numbing me to an extent."
"What did you do?"
"The natural thing of course. I couldn't kill her, and I wasn't going to leave her there. So I took her with me when I escaped Kolosten, and...well, I brought her here." Siegfried said sheepishly, having the decency to look away from his now shocked wife.
"You brought her here?!" Cecilia nearly shouted, but managed to whisper harshly. Personally she didn't really have a problem with this, but she really wished her husband had talked to her before doing something like this.
"To be honest I didn't really have much of a choice. I tried calling Tesla about two hours ago, and she chewed my ear off for half an hour about waking her up at this time. Einstein took the phone and said they'd come by and pick her up first thing in the morning before hanging up." Siegfried said as he laughed nervously, he had made sure to mentally note not to disrupt Tesla's sleep ever again, she was clearly not a morning person.
"That's...very unprofessional." Cecilia said with a sigh as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. She couldn't blame her husband if he had not been left with any alternatives, but again she wasn't angry with him, so there was no blame to cast. She was just surprised. "Where is she?" She then went on to ask, her curiosity taking over her.
"In the living room sleeping on the couch. She was out cold long before we arrived I just settled her there." Siegfried explained as he rubbed the back of neck, nervously considering his next words, "Do you...want to see her?"
Cecilia didn't know how to verbally respond to this question. She held nothing against the child but she also wasn't sure how she see the child once she saw her. To see someone of her own flesh and blood, who looked identical To her own daughter. But compared to what Siegfried has to do this was nothing, she could at least do this much. And so she simply nodded her head, not trusting her voice in that moment.
Siegfried taking a hint nodded his head as well as he softly tightened his grip on the hand she had been holding in reassurance before leading her along into the living room.
Just as he'd said on the long couch to the left of the entrance was a young girl asleep covered from shoulders going down by a blanket. Siegfried heard his wife gasp before walking past him towards the sleeping child before crouching down so she was directly beside her. Siegfried watched as a number of emotions passed through his wife's eyes.
Rage, sympathy and Love.
These were the most prominent of the many emotions that he could see, and he understood them all perfectly to some degree, after all he felt the same way.
Rage, at the fact that Otto, someone she trusted would do something like this, to her daughter. Though Cecilia held reservations against his methods and choices, a part of her was still grateful to Otto, and Siegfried knew this. The two of them had talked about it before. The sympathy he saw was extended to the sleeping clone of their daughter sleeping on the couch. Cecilia was obviously concerned for the child and what kind of life she would lead. If Otto was willing to go this far, then there was no doubt that she was of value to him, he would without doubt send valkyrie after her, and if Siegfried was being honest that pissed him off to no end.
And lastly, Love. He could tell from the moment his wife laid eyes on the child that she had fallen in love with this child. He could tell because he remembered feeling the exact same way when their eyes met for the first time back in Kolosten when she was in the pod. Her bright blue eyes and curious, yet cautious, expression filled the Kaslana patriarch with the desire to protect her from the dangers of the world. To shield her as if she were his own daughter. He wasn't sure if it was because of hiw identical she looked to Kiana, but ge could tell that his wife was feeling the exact same way. Even without making direct eye contact with her.
"She's beautiful." Cecilia whispered gently as she moved a strand of hair that had been covering the child's face, careful not to wake her in the process, giving her a clear view of the child that looked so much like her own daughter. "She looks so much like Kiana that it's almost frightening." She said as she found her self admiring her husband's resolve to cut down hundreds of clones that shared their daughters face, body and blood. She doubted she would have had the strength to follow through with those very same actions, the pain alone would have been too much for her to bare. But that only made her worry about her husband's mental condition even more, she doubted she could get him to talk about it tonight, but she hoped in the near future he would be more willing to open up.
"She does, doesn't she." Siegfried said as he paced a hand upon his wife's shoulder, "If one didn't know any better they might assume that she and Kiana were twin sisters, or at the very least closely related." It wasn't until the words had already left his mouth, and he felt his wife stiffen, that he realised the implications of his own words. He had more or less confessed to feeling parental towards K-423, which was the equivalent of confessing to wanting to take her in a his own child. He didn't regret what he said mind you, because that was exactly how he felt. And if it were solely up to him he would take the child in in a heartbeat. However his wife's opinion is important to him, and he would never make such a decision without her, he also had to consider the AE doctors which would be visiting later on this morning.
"I'm glad." Cecilia slow up softly, pulling Siegfried out of his thoughts. He felt her body relax, through the hand on her shoulder, as she let out a breath of air. She then went on to place her right hand atop his own comfortingly, "I thought I was the only one that felt that way. Is it strange that I've already fallen in love with her, despite only see her like this and not even speaking to her." She asked as she turned to face him, allowing Siegfried to see the tears that were gathering in the corner of her eyes.
"It's not, if it was then that would make me hundreds of times stranger than you are. I fell in love with every one of those clones, but it was out of that love that I did what I did. It's like I said before, regardless of their origin their still our daughters, our flesh and blood. It's only natural that you'd feel the way you do, that connection only a mother could have with their child." Siegfried reassured his wife as he gently tightened his grip on her shoulder, "For me she was quite literally the light at the end of the tunnel. After everything that had happened, everything I'd been forced to do, seeing her alive filled me with a sense of live and a desire to protect her that I didn't know was possible for anyone outside if you and Kiana."
"What is she like?" Cecilia asked more curious to learn about the child in front of her, her child.
"To be honest there's not much I can tell. Things were pretty hectic after I got her out if that pod, and most of my efforts were focussed on us escaping." Siegfried said as he rubbed the back of his head, "From what I've seen though, she's very quiet, hardly spoke a word the entire time we were fleeing, only speak in when spoken to. She seems to be a bit timid and shy, though that could be from the fact that she just came into the world and was still adjusting to her surroundings. I guess it didn't help that we were being shot at and running for our lives." He wished he could have told her more, but that we all he knew of the girl himself.
"It's more than enough. You already had a lot on your plate at the moment." Cecilia said with a reassuring smile. She then turned back towards the sleeping clone as the smile in her face was slowly replaced by one of concern. "What do you think will happen to her after the doctors take her away?" she asked, the tone in her voice causing a frown to appear on Siegfried's face. He knew that his wife had grown up within the sheltered confines of Schicksal, under strict training and discipline, naturally she wouldn't want the same kind of life for this child. Siegfried knew the heads of AE were good people, but there was only so much they could do for the child personally when they had their own responsibilities to tend to. The best they could do would be to place the child in one of the many orphanages owned by the organisation and keep an eye on her from the distance. But that didn't sit well with Siegfried, and knew his wife would never be able to forgive herself as a mother if this child was sent to an orphanage while they were more than willing to take her in.
"I don't know, but In sure the doctors will find a good...a good home for her." Siegfried spoke hesitantly as a frown instinctively made its way onto his face, his own words causing his chest to tighten painfully. He didn't doubt that AE would do a decent job look In out for the child, and that she would turn out into a great individual under their care, but he didn't want to let her go. He felt as though it was his responsibility to raise his daughter, and he wouldn't shirk that responsibility of to someone else, "But a part of me doesn't want them to take her away. As selfish as it sounds I feel as though her home is here, with us, with Kiana, this is her family." He wouldn't press the issue anymore than that, he'd made his thoughts clear to his wife.
"Then we shouldn't let her go." Cecilia stated firmly as she once again stood up and turned to face her husband. "Clone or not she is still our daughter, our flesh and blood. How could I call myself a mother if I allowed her to be taken away only to be placed in an orphanage. We'll just tell the doctors that we're willing o tske her in and not take no for an answer." Honestly Siegfried couldn't help but be a little turned on from the fire he saw burning within his wife's eyes. Most of the time his wife was like a beautiful rose, but most people tend to forget that roses have thorns. And though her wife hadn't been as active since the Second Eruption, she still hadn't lost her touch as a warrior, the fact that she still beat him four out of five times in their spars was a testament to that. His wife was beautiful and yet deadly.
"Then that's that, we'll talk to the doctors and she'll stay here with us." Siegfried said as he pulled his wife into an affectionate hug. He knew that it wouldn't be that easy, but he had a feeling that it would all work out. And once all was said and done he had no doubt that the clone would settle well into their family in the near future. She would fit in perfectly with the rest of them, especially with Kiana as her sister. "We should get some sleep, he doctors will be here within a few hours." He added with a yawn, as the fatigue of the day finally started to show on him.
"Do you think that Kiana will like her?" Cecilia asked as they switched if the living room lights and to make their way upstairs. It was only then that Siegfried realise that he hadn't truly considered how Kiana would react to suddenly having a little sister. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that hey had no reason to be concerned, Kiana was a lot like the two of them when it came to how compassionate she was, with the size of her heart he had no doubt that Kiana love her new little sister.
"I think she'll be even more excited about being a big sister the we are about having a second child in the house." Siegfried said with a grin, causing Cecilia to laugh as she could already see Kiana's reaction in her imagination, "Once she gets out of her shell, I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them grow close pretty fast." He has no doubt that his daughters would grow close, to the point of being near inseparable.
"I hope so. Although she doesn't complain much, I can tell that Kiana gets a bit lonely playing alone. Having someone to play with would do wonders for her." Cecilia said with a sad smile. Becoming fugitives and traitors in the eyes of Schicksal had changed their lives significantly. As a result of staying hidden from Schicksal the Kaslana family could not settle within any public cities without risk of Schicksal finding them. As a result fheyblived in a cabin in Siberia, a ways from the nearest town. As a result Kiana was being home schooled and was unable to interact with other kids her own age, something that Cecilia always felt guilt over.
The two of them made it to their room in silence, Siegfried closing the door behind them. There wasn't much more to be said, they both wished they could give Kiana a better life than that of a fugitive, but that was out of their hands now. Besides, Kiana with her Schariac and Kaslana bloodlines was bound to become just another target for Otto who'd long since made clear his intentions to unify the powerful blood of the two houses. Until both Kiana and her sister were more than capable of protecting themselves, and each other, they couldn't be discovered by Schicksal. That meant hiding the two of them from the world as they were eyes and ears everywhere. It wasn't the ideal situation but it was one would face together as a family.
In the end, being together with their kids was all that mattered to the Kaslana couple.
