We spent the remainder of the night dancing, only taking a pause to try some of the refreshments provided. I do believe that was the first time I ever drank alcohol, and good grief, that had a big kick. Needed to get more acquainted with alcoholic beverages - I was probably going to be invited to more of these kinds of celebrations, and I would most certainly be embarrassed if I passed out after only a few glasses of wine. Or vodka. Or rum.

Eventually, the celebration came to an end, and we departed. I noted that my AI trio hadn't done anything noteworthy at the celebration, nor had Melissa's company. It appeared they'd chosen to stay beneath notice, if only to observe how the two of us acted.

Were they trying to ship me with my ROB?

Oh hell no to that idea - I might not hate her, but I was NOT interested in a relationship with her. Too annoying, and again, she'd taken me from all I had ever known and loved and dumped me into a cold unfeeling machine. No thank you to any for of camaraderie with that woman.

I was prepared to leave with just my group, but Melissa insisted on traveling back with us. She said she had her reasons, but even if she didn't, I was too tired to care and just let her join us. She insisted on standing next to me for the duration of the flight home. Her fellow attendees would not be joining us, though, and would instead travel home in her ship.

Ash flight home dragged on, my companions soon asleep, succumbing to he exhaustion the celebration had brought into them, until only Melissa and myself remained conscious.

For a moment, there was silence between us, but eventually, curiosity got the better of me.

"Hey, may I ask you something?"

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you meet Celm?"

"...What?"

"Well, how did you meet him? I mean, you really seem to look up to him, even if he scares you, so..."

Melissa stared at me for a moment, conflicting emotions crossing her face, before eventually seeming to decide on something. She promptly stood up, walked up until our faces were mere inches from each other, and put her right hand to my head.

Everything promptly went black, and stayed that way for some time.

Then, a new view took its place.

Before me were the remains of a city, blasted and torn up, with the bullet holes in the walls suggesting the cause of the damage to be a battle. Confirming this, several alien APCs surged across a road, firing at something in the ditstance. They didn't get far before some kind of tendrilled monstrosity used one of its arms to fsllten them, and the sickening crunches that followed told me there would be no survivors to climb out of these wrecks.

Suddenly, a beam of light fired at the tentacle, cleaving a portion of it off. Turning to see its source, I found myself staring at...the AGE Gundam?! The machine swiftly fire another volley of lasers at its target before retreating to avoid several explosive pods fired at it, while still getting in a few pot shots at its foe.

The tendril continued trying to attack the Gundam for some time, but when it became clear the machine could evade its attacks without the slightest effort, it retreated. Moments later, several car sized winged creatures flew toward the Gundam and pinned it down before it could react. Their victory was short lived, though, as before they could attack, a figure dashed between them and cut them to pieces, before coming to a halt on top of the Mobile Suit. Their choice to stand there finally gave me a chance to examine them in detail.

What I found surprised me: I recognized the figure's armor.

It was Melissa's.

"Severine, are you alright?" I toned the figure, confirming my thoughts as to who it was.

"Yes, madame, but we can't keep fighting forever. Our allies have been wiped out and if we do not pull out soon, so shall we. All civilians have evacuated the area, we have no reason to stay."

"Yet where can we go?" was Melissa's response. "I have no idea have to teleport us all back to the estate, the evacuation tunnels are all flooded, the city is surrounded, and we cannot attempt to evacuate by air so long as their are fliers in the sky."

"Perhaps we could use the nearby caves to escape?"

"Or you could just die."

Melissa and Severine (who appeared to be the Gundam pilot) instantly quieted and turned toward the source of that voice. There, they found themselves staring at the tendril from earlier, or rather, what it was attached to. What I saw truly terrified me: it could only be described as a tentacled, visceral abomination, covered in spines and feelers, eyes full of malice.

"You've fought well, but now all of you are going to die. Please, though, don't go quietly. It's more fun when you struggle."

"Shall I fight it, Madame?"

"No. You link up with the others and fall back. I'll buy you some time."

"What? I cannot allow you to do-"

"That's an order, dammit, and you will obey it. Am I clear?"

"...yes, 'mam. Retreating now. Good luck."

"Thanks."

A moment later, the Gundam blasted away, quickly dodging a tentacle that tried to skewer it.

"A shame that he got away, but not for long. It's only a matter of time before you fall, and after that, so shall he. The nearby cave system may be deep, but we know it well. Even if he does escape, he will die without guidance."

"That's assuming I can't kill you."

"That assumes that I can't kill you."

"Well, you can try. But you'll have to catch me first."

A moment later, she vanished. The monster stared at where my ROB had been for a moment, dumbfounded, before promptly ramming several of its hands together where she had been. clearly enraged at losing its prey. A moment later, a blast of energy slammed into the side of its head. Turning toward the source of the blast, the monster caught a glimpse of Melissa before she vanished once more, though now it was clear that she was using some form of teleportation.

This pattern repeated for some time, with Melissa blasting at the monster, then teleporting away before it could retaliate. At first I assumed she was just using energy blasts, but eventually, I caught a glimpse of her before she launched an attack. At first, she appeared to make finger guns at her opponent, before, much to my surprise, actual guns formed out of light in her open hands. These weapons fired one shot before being obliterated, after which my ROB teleported away, unwilling to overextend herself.

Occasionally, the tendrilled being would manage to entrap her, only for Melissa to surprise me by using light to form other weapons - swords, spears, axes, even halberds, though she seemed to have a preference for staves. She would use these short lived weapons to destroy the offending appendages, occasionally replacing them with a shield to block any oncoming attacks. Bit by bit, she wore her foe down.

Yet it was able to do the same to her, slipping in an attack here and there, and it was clear that Melissa would tire long before this beast would. My ROB seemed to realize that, as eventually, after one teleport, she did not reappear. This time, though, my view moved to my ROB, who was running through the destroyed remains of the city, passing innumerable dead. She briefly paused at the sight of several corpses, who I could tell no doubt were those of children. Someone were human, other resembled the monstrosity Melissa had turned into. The sight unnerved both my ROB and myself, but she only dwelled on it for a moment before continuing her retreat.

Eventually, her strength gave out, and she was forced to take shelter behind some rubble. Much to my surprise, the rubble resembled a basic energy generator from Planetary Annihilation. There, in the shadows, she removed her helmet and took some deep breaths. I wasn't able to see just what she looked like underneath the armor, but I assumed this was deliberate - whatever form she was in right now was probably her true form, and she most definitely did not want me to see that. At least, not without her permission.

What was plainly visible, though, was the huge amount of blood flowing from her armor. Desperately, she tried to dress the wounds, covering them with bandages, but it wasn't long before she ran out. Exasperated, she punched some of the rubble, which crumbled beneath her strength.

Soon, I heard the distant sounds of something big approaching. Melissa began to go very still, but whether it was because she was scared or because she was losing consciousness was something I could not discern.

Slowly, the beast's shadow blotted out all the light around the rubble. A quick look confirmed it was looking right at Melissa's hiding spot.

"So, it seems that you were wrong. How very much expected this was."

To my surprise, my vision was starting to go dark. At first, I could not figure out why, but when the focus of the scene turned toward Melissa, I saw why: she had grown very, very still. Clearly, she was about to pass out.

The creature was saying some more things, but those were too distant and faded for me to hear. Apparently, my vision only allowed me to perceive what my ROB could perceive, and as she was falling unconscious, it was losing focus.

Then, just when it seemed like the creature was about to finish off my ROB, a golden light appeared. Instantly, the vision went back into focus as Melissa seemed to recover. Now, I could hear what monster was saying (which consisted of a stunned 'what' followed by some particularly vicious insults). Melissa turned to look at the monster and the golden light, which turned out to be coming from a humanoid figure. I didn't need to guess who that was. The being was wearing golden armor that covered all of their body, barring their head, which was instead hidden behind what appeared to be a stony helmet, with only a single vertical slit in the middle and four smaller dots on the sides to provide sight and sensory detail. At first, the these viewing pieces glowed gold, before turning blue. The monster seemed to recognize the light, as it tried to run, only to struck with a mighty slash that cut it in two. Amazingly, it was still alive after this and tried to continue retreating, only to be cut down again. As the golden figure prepared one last attack, the monster yelled something at its slayer, but it was so fast that I could not hear more than gibberish. A moment later, and the beast was dead.

The figure stared at its dead foe for a moment, before turning toward Melissa, being taken aback for a moment, likely surprised to see someone alive after all of this death. As that surprise passed, it ran toward my ROB, whose renewed strength finally failed. The last thing I saw was Melissa about to fall into her savior's arms.

XXXXXXXXX

When things next came into focus, Melissa was in a hospital bed, head covered in bandages, as was her whole body. She took a moment to fully awaken, but when she did, the first thing she did was feel her head. When it was clear that bandages covered her skull and face, she seemed to relax for a moment, before the bandages promptly started to warp. It took me a moment to realize she was changing the appearance of her head. Given that the bandages only warped slightly, I doubted that she had changed it by much. Once the changes were finished, she slowly removed the bandages, stopping briefly to feel a rather large gash on her forehead before continuing. Eventually, all of the coverings on her head were removed, leaving her cranium fully exposed. Her new appearance was the one I was most familiar with - albeit a few years younger looking than I had ever seen. I'd put her around thirteen based on appearances.

Any other speculations I could have made were cut short when a figure pulled back the curtains around the hospital bed and sat down on an empty one adjacent to my ROB. A quick glimpse confirmed that the figure was the same one from earlier, meaning that he was most likely Celm - while his identity was rather obvious, given exactly why Melissa was showing me this memory, I wouldn't be positive who this figure was until I got confirmation either in this vision or from Melissa after it was over.

Speaking of which, my ROB had retreated under her bed sheets in surprise when the figure had appeared, shaking in fear, but only for a few seconds, before uncovering her head to look at him.

"It is alright," replied the figure in a voice that sounded like Celm's yet was...different. Perhaps he had shapeshifted to use this armor?

"...Who are you?" questioned Melissa.

"I...cannot say," noted the figure, though he struggled to say the words. Was something wrong? "And that is...not important...at the moment. What is important is that I will not hurt you. Now, who are you?"

"...I'm Melissa."

"I see. I must commend you for fighting off that monstrosity - few would have the courage and will to fight it, fewer still the strength to last that long against it. Though that is talk for another day. Tell me, did your family perish fighting that creature?"

"...no."

"I see, how fortunate."

"They weren't anywhere near its rampage."

"Oh. Well, can you tell me who they are?"

"...I'd rather not - we had a...falling out."

"...My apologies...do you...want me to take you back to your home? Maybe meet with them again, try to...mend what has been broken?"

"I would...but I don't even remember where home is. I fought that thing for three days, over so much land that I can even remember which was is home."

"oh...I see...Well, then, would you like to stay with me? At least until you regain your memory of where your home is?"

"...DId you find those who stood with me against that beast?"

"Yes. They were very worried about you."

"...Can they stay with you?"

"I see no reason they cannot."

"Then so long as they may stay with you, so shall I."

"Very well then. I shall tell them that."

"Let me do that-"

"You need to rest. Your wounds have not yet healed, and it will be some time before you can move without great pain. Please, allow yourself some time to rest. Perhaps your memory will come back during that time."

"...Fine."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With that, the vision came to an end. The scene around me dissolved until I was back in my starship, with Melissa still holding her hand to my head. A quick check of my internal clock revealed that only ten minutes had past since the vision began.

"...So, that was how you met him?"

"Yes, it was."

"...Did you ever remember where you came from?"

"I never forgot. I just didn't want to tell him that. I am royalty, and I wasn't sure that he wouldn't try to ransom me off to my parents, should he know who I was. By the time that I knew he would never have done that, though, I couldn't work up the nerve to tell him."

"Why?"

"...Because I liked living under his hospitality, and also because...well, I wasn't really sure that my family wanted to see me again."

"Really?"

""Yes. My parents and I had a falling out, and I wasn't sure how they would react. Part of me felt that they would welcome me back with open arms, bit another was worried that they would accuse me of faking my death to get their attention."

"...That's not necessarily a good reason not to tell him who your parents are...were."

"That's only two reasons. There is one other reason I never told him their names."

"And that is?"

"...I don't remember them anymore."

"...What?"

"By the time I worked up the nerve to tell him who my family was...who I was...I'd forgotten a lot about my family. Look, when he saved me, I was one hundred and sixty nine years old. It took me until I was two hundred to be absolutely sure he wouldn't exploit my family if he knew who I was. By that time, I forgotten a lot about who I was."

"Ouch."

"I know."

After that, silence reigned in my ship. Melissa decided to sit down after that and check up on things in her territories, as did I. My conscious soon drifted back to what Melissa had shown me. Part of me wondered if what she had sown me was a lie, but from how she had acted, I was almost certain she had shown me the truth. If it was true, than, well, I felt a lot of my resentment toward her disappear. I guess some of this cake from how similar we were - both of us were taken from all we knew and love, by beings far stronger than ourselves.

...Good grief, I was really sympathizing with a ROB. Had the multiverse gone mad?

...Maybe it had.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: Took a few days, but I got this out. Going to see a movie now, won't be able to answer questions for three hours.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!