It took me half a day to wake up after healing Melissa. I'd slept through the night, and entirely by chance, awoken at dawn.

...Why was my head sandwiched between two soft, warm...oh.

Slowly, I lifted my head up from Melissa's chest, taking care not to wake her. Once I was free, I stared at her for a moment, for the first time able to see what I assumed was her true form.

First off, she was just about as tall as I am. She also had hair similar to myself - platinum blonde, with the ends being orange, purple, and green. Her hair was also intermixed with feathers and fleshy tendrils. Growing around her neck was a second, floppy jaw, resembling a coelacanth of all things. Normally, I'd find it intimidating, but right now? It looked adorable.

There wasn't much else that I could not about her physical appearance, other than the fact that she was considerably more stacked than she had initially appeared to be, and also had feathery tail...which I really wanted to pet, but refrained from doing, partially because doing so was childish, but mostly because I wasn't sure whether doing so would wake her. Or make her get really weird, lewd dreams.

Unable to get anymore information on her, I forced myself to stand up, ignoring the aching in my body, and sent myself to the ships' mess. So far, rebuilding was going well, but I had more work to do.

XXXXXX

I don't really know how long I slept for, though when I finally started to awaken, my eyes refused to open..at least unitl a smell came to my nose: that of blackberry pancakes, mixed with maple syrup.

My favorite.

Instantly, my eyes shot open. Food, glorious food! I must have some.

I found the pancakes arrayed out on a small table in front of me, along with milk and better.

Nearby stood my pawn...my Commander, watching on intently.

"Good morning, beautiful."

"Oh, so you're happy to see me?"

"Always happy to see a friend doing fine."

And there goes my heart again. Having someone who both IS my friend and admits as much is weird.

"Thanks," I stammered out, not wanting to sound ungrateful. "So, where'd you get this?"

"I made it."

"You...made breakfast...for me?"

"Yes."

"...That's very kind."

"Least I could do...funny, didn't I wake up once to you watching me in a hospital?"

"Eh, seems we've come full circle."

"So it seems. So, what do you want now?"

"In order: get both of us up to tip top shape, get this ship mobile, then deal with the Grineer, Corpus, and Sentient's surrenders."

"You mean make them surrender?"

"No, I mean discuss the terms of their surrenders. They already formally made a surrender, and now they just want to decide the terms. What they'd sent into that last battle was all they had left. None of them are in an position to try and fight back."

"..Unusually smart of them. Oh, and why'd you make me blackberry pancakes?"

"Cassidy said they were your favorite."

"Oh. Well, the thought is appreciated, Melissa."

...I needed to correct him about that, didn't I?

"Vivienne."

"Say again?"

"My name is Vivienne...well, actually, it's a lot longer, but anything after Vivienne Veravenora Vitrimithios gets hard to fit on a business card or name tag, so just stick with Vivienne."

"...Okay, Vivienne...Can I call you Viv?"

"Only people I trust absolutely can call me that."

The Commander seemed to deflate at that remark.

"So yes. You can."

And then he perked right back up. Cute.

XXXXXXX

The repairs and refurbishment of the Extinction were going quite well, so I had plenty of time to spend with Melis...with Vivienne. It was nice, to say the least. She was quite a bit different from what I had initially believed her to be - friendly, kind, beautiful (well, more so) and, surprisingly, lonely. She'd already made it clear that she did miss her family, and was unhappy about not having friends, but from how she was acting right now, she had been hiding the full extent of that.

….A sympathetic ROB. What are the odds I'm the first commander to ever have one of those?

And what are the odds I would have refused the one thing most commanders desired because of that?

XXXXXXXX

"So, do you want to go home?"

"What?" questioned the Commander, perplexed by my question.

I sighed. Perhaps I should have worded that better. "Do you want to go back to your old life? Before you became a Commander? Because I'm willing to send you there."

He froze up at that. Unsurprising, really.

"Oh, and I would be sneidng you back to the moment you left, give or take a few seconds. It would be as if you never left."

His face hardened up somewhat. I suppose he was lost in thought.

I had to wait a minute for his reply.

"...No, actually."

….What?!

"I don't want to go back. As for why...well, first off, I don't want to leave Rory behind, and I don't want to explain him to my parents..."

Understandable.

"...I'd also need to leave behind my creations and their empire..."

Power is hard to give up, yes.

"...I'm really not sure if I'd fit in anymore..."

Maybe a mindwipe could fix that.

"...and lastly, I don't want to leave you."

…..

…

…

XXXXXXX

has crashed!

Rebooting...Reboot Sucessful!

XXXXXXX

"...You...don't want to leave me?"

"Yes," I answered. "I've honestly had a better friendship with you in these past few months than I've had with any of my other friends in several years...and you're also the only girl I really get along with often."

"...You did spend a lot more time playing videogames than being with friends."

Guilty as charged. "So, is it okay if I reject your offer?"

"...Yes."

I was about to ask more, when suddenly a letter, of all things, appeared in front of me. It was addressed to the both of us.

Sharing a glance, we tore it open.

Get the Commander ready, and bring it with you. I have need to discuss things with the both of you.

-Celm

….Well someone wants to get things done fast, it seems.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Standing next to the recently refurbished Xenosentry, we found ourselves being watched by Celm and his council.

"For what it is worth, we are sorry," intoned one of the Councilors. Said statement was clearly directed at Viv.

"Forgive me if I am not exactly forgiving."

"That is hardly surprising," intoned Queeneeria.

"You, however, are forgiven."

"Thank you," responded the female Councilor.

"...Do you want to check the Commander for hacks?" I inquired. "I'm still fixing some damages Hunhow inflicted on its coding."

"That won't be necessary," replied Celm, who then turned toward the Commander. "Alpha-Nu-Kepler-Rho-Chi-Ri-Qin-Niner-Seven-Tree-Four-Zulu-Fiver"

"Access Code Accepted. Returning to last uncorrupted system state."

….What?

"How did you know that?"

"I put it there. You don't examine a commander without figuring out a few things..."

"Okay..."

"Though I do believe I owe you some honesty now."

"Can you elaborate-"

I wasn't able to finish that statement before a portal suddenly opened up in front of us, which promptly spilled out Etran, Cyreesia, Asaru, and a couple of other people from the various empires I'd met, before closing. As the group got back to there feet, I heard Etran mutter something about needing to be more specific when asking Wally to send him somewhere.

It didn't take long for the new arrivals to realize we were in the middle of a meeting.

"On behalf of all of my companions, I apologize for interrupting this meeting," began Cyreesia. "My name-"

"Cyreesia, granddaughter of Executor Mytruthia," finished Celm. "How is you grandmother doing, but the way?"

"...I'm sorry, have we met?"

"Yes, actually, though I wore a different face and spoke a different voice. Would all of you be okay if I returned to that older form?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded, as did all of the others.

"Good. This might clear up some things for you."

With that, Celm changed. Flesh split, golden plates and feathers emerged from his skin, and bones stretched as Celm turned into an entirely different, inhuman, golden looking creature.

A very, very, very familiar looking golden creature.

As he finished taking his new form, I struggled for words, yet none.

Eventually, though, I did manage to choke out some words.

"Yo...you...you're a...Progenitor!"

"Indeed. I, Celempheros, am a Progenitor. And now, I believe I owe you the truth."

XXXXXXXX

AN: Read And Review! This Is Flameal15k, signing off!