Alesia was starting to get used to the attention she was getting as an Imperial Princess, but she doubted that she'd ever get used to being babysat by some of her new brothers.
"Brother, let her nanny do her job!" Magnus scolded a petulant Lorgar, whom refused to let go of the three-month-old Alesia. "Our sister needs her rest and we as Primarchs have our own duties to attend to! Or do you want to hear another lecture from Uncle Malcador about being a responsible adult?"
Alesia let out a big yawn and turned away from her tattooed brother to reach out to her nanny. While she loved spending time with her new siblings, they quickly wore her out mentally with their constant bickering. While Magnus spent a good chunk of time with her, either to probe her with questions about her past lives or just take care of her when her 'baby instincts' took over, Lorgar, Perturabo and Nekona were the top offenders in giving the princess a headache.
"Come now, my Lord," the nanny, a bronze skinned woman with red hair tied in a neat bun, said with a gentle smile. "You will still be in the palace when she wakes up."
"Alright, I guess," Lorgar handed Alesia over with a pout. "I will see you when I am done, little sister."
She babbled in baby talk in response, making her brother smile at her adorable behavior.
You're rather good in putting up an act, sister. Magnus commented through their psychic link.
This ain't acting, big brother dearest. She mentally yawned, letting him feel her exhaustion. You guys wear me out!
"Come along, brother. Father awaits us." Magnus led Lorgar out of Alesia's nursery and all was silent once again.
"Ah, peace and quiet!" The nanny said while walking over to the bassinet and gently placing the baby down. "Now you can nap as much as you like while I get your bottle ready."
She had already passed out when that statement was made.
Magnus didn't know what to make of his new sister. As a Reincarnation, she was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for study, and a surprising well of knowledge about their current reality.
It may very well be why their father had searched for her in the Warp so relentlessly for twenty years, never mind the fact that Alesia was related to them by blood.
Magnus remembered vividly the day the Emperor suddenly collapsed without warning and slept for three days. Upon awakening, his father had begun to treat him and his siblings…differently than before. So much so that Magnus nearly had a heart attack when the man began to trust him more with arcane secrets and then the eventual reveal of his search for the child that he would later learn was the main reason for this change. When he joined his father in the search for Alesia and her eventual extraction, he had no idea just what he was about to step in to.
Once his sister had been successfully transferred to a gestation pod, Magnus, his father, Erda and Malcador kept a close eye on the child. During the months leading to her eventual birth, he got brief glimpses of her past lives. In her first incarnation, his sister was a talented artist with a gift for weaving stories into a form of entertainment, and the next she was a Commissar from a time far ahead of their current time period. However, her hobby surrounding a game from her first life called Warhammer 40K got his undivided attention, especially since the lore behind said game contained mostly accurate stories surrounding himself, his brothers, their Legions, and the entirety of the Imperium.
Then the day of her birth came, and her pysker powers nearly destroyed the barrier protecting Terra from their enemies in the Warp. It took all four powerful psykers working together to seal away her powers and to repair the damage done by that outburst. Once the danger was over, their father sealed away parts of the child's memories that could possibly trigger such outbursts in the future and swore him and the other two into secrecy about the incident and what he saw in her memories.
Alesia didn't fully become aware until days later, and Magnus was able to converse with her adult conscious. From their conversations, he learned that his sister retained her memories and could still use her weaker psyker abilities, but as she was just newly born again, her body needed time to catch up and develop properly. Occasionally, her adult conscious would be pushed back and she would revert to an infant state. During those times, he had to treat her as a normal baby and not prod her mind during it's most vulnerable state. He didn't mind looking after her during those times; it was a bit refreshing interacting with a sibling that wasn't actively judging him for being more studied in arcane knowledge than focusing on conquest. If anything, Alesia proved to be an excellent conversationalist when her 'baby instincts' didn't take over and had provided him a source of unexpected knowledge regarding the Warp.
His sister had all but confirmed what his father had warned him regarding the Warp and it's entities: no being that came from the Immaterium is to be trusted at all. She had witnessed one of her own fall prey to a Warp daemon and had their soul devoured before anyone could save them.
"Son? Magnus?" Magnus snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his father's voice, reminding him of the meeting he and Lorgar had been called in for regarding their military campaigns. "Thinking of your sister again?"
"My apologies, Father. I've been paranoid of her powers suddenly lashing out again." It wasn't the entire truth, but Lorgar was not one of the few individuals allowed to know of Alesia's history.
"I do not blame you at all for your worry, my son," his father continued. "I too worry about her and the possibility of such an event occurring again."
"Yet, she has two of the most powerful psykers in the galaxy ready to aid her should something happen again," Lorgar chimed in, not fully grasping the severity of the event that occurred and what danger awaited the Imperial Princess in the future. "I am certain Alesia will be well protected by you two and the rest of us Primarchs."
"Regardless, I called you two here regarding your recent military campaigns to bring worlds into compliance and expand the Imperium." Their father got to the point and Magnus fully expected to receive his father's ire for their lack of progress. "Magnus, while I do appreciate you looking after your sister, the Imperium needs you to lead your Legion again. There have been reports of new worlds heavy with psyker activity that require your expertise to tame."
"I understand, Father," Magnus bowed his head, all the while surprised he received no hint of disapproval from his father.
"Lorgar, you have taken far too long building up Monarchia. Whilst your brothers have conquered and tamed thousands of worlds, you have barely brought a few hundred into compliance."
"Father—" Lorgar tried to defend himself, but their father held up one hand to silence him.
"Hold, son. I am giving you another chance to prove yourself as a Primarch. You must get back on track in bringing worlds into compliance. If you cannot do this, then you and your Legion will be relegated to assisting the Space Maid Legion until Nekona declares you are ready to return to the front lines."
Lorgar and Magnus both paled at this. While their older sister and her Legion were happy being a mostly support force for the other Legions, they were slave drivers to anyone that got sent to them as punishment or for 'reformation'. Magnus knew this was the better punishment as he remembered the other extreme humiliation his brother would have faced, at least according to Alesia's memories. While Nekona would work Lorgar to the bone, it was better than watching his beloved pet project burn with millions of people.
"Y-Yes, Father," the tattooed man stuttered out, clearly fearful and properly motivated to get his Legion back on track.
"Speaking of your older sister, she was supposed to meet with us as well," their father noted. "She has been spending far too much time here on Terra since Alesia was born."
"I believe she was overseeing the construction of her new Titan cafe," Magnus said. "Knowing the hair brain, she may have lost track of time again."
"At least she is being productive and not dragging her feet in her duties as a Primarch."
Hours later, the Emperor of Mankind was making his way to visit his youngest child when he heard a familiar "nyan" come from the nursery. He quietly opened the nursery door and saw his oldest daughter play with his youngest.
Somehow, Nekona had gotten Alesia in a frilly dress and was fawning over the poor baby.
"Oh! You're so adorable, little sister!" The cat woman nearly squealed. Alesia's nanny was standing off to the side, holding a camera and also enthusiastically agreeing with Nekona.
Neither of them noticed him creeping up until he had a firm grasp on one of Nekona's ears.
"So this is why you missed our meeting," he said with fake mirth that conveyed his annoyance with her. Both women paled while Alesia fussed, not at all liking the frilly abomination she was stuck in, and a quick psychic scan revealed she was in 'baby mode' again. "Sylla, get Alesia in more comfortable clothes."
"Yes, my Lord," the nanny quickly scooped up the baby and did as she was commanded.
"And Nekona," his older daughter began to shake in fear as he tugged her up to her feet and led her out of the nursery, "while your assistance these past three months have been of great help, your Legion needs you back. Magnus and Lorgar are about to launch a cooperative campaign upon several psyker heavy worlds and I need you there to make sure they stay on task and not dilly dally around."
"Can't Horus do tha—NYAAAAN!" He twisted her ear, still holding a fake smile.
"Nekona, while Horus would be excellent for this, he is busy with his own campaign, and should your younger brothers stray from their tasks, you have permission to encourage them with your brand of motivation."
He could see the gears turn in her head as he let go of her ear. They continue to walk, side by side, to the transport bay where one of her space crafts waited for her.
"Alesia will still be here when you have time to visit, daughter," he took up a more gentle tone with her. "And I'm sure your brothers will want to wrap up their tasks as quickly as possible as well. I am trusting you to keep a close eye on them as a fellow General and as their sister."
"I understand, Father."
He bid his oldest daughter farewell and watched her transport take off before making his way back into the palace.
The Emperor did not anticipate his oldest children to immediately accept his youngest, but it was among the most welcomed changes he had seen so far. When Alesia made her wish for the Horus Heresy to be prevented, since he had been psychically linked to her at the time, he was not expecting to get thrown back in time along with her. He thought his past self would find her on his own, but having his conscious thrown back into his prime body changed everything. He immediately began to right the wrongs he had committed against his children, starting with Angron.
The Master of Mankind had calculated that he had been sent back some years before Angron would be forced to bear the Butcher's Nails, and quickly located his son on Nuceria just in time to save him from that horrible fate. He even saved Angron's battle siblings and had them incorporated into the World Eaters Legion, but he still could not yet save the ones afflicted with the torturous device. Those afflicted with the Nails were placed in stasis until a solution could be devised.
He put more trust in Magnus and asked for his assistance in locating the yet-to-be-born Alesia. With the help of his son, they located the ship her mother was stationed on in a deserted part of the Warp. Her soul burned bright, yet no daemon dared to go near the vessel. At the time, he didn't think much of it; his attention was purely focused on his daughter and saving her life.
Only once she was safely transferred to gestation pod and safe behind the protective barriers surrounding Terra did he begin to worry. A psyker's soul was a massive, irresistible beacon to Warp entities, so why did none go after her? Why didn't any of the Warp Gods try to stop him from retrieving her? Or even attempt to take advantage of the disarray her emerging powers caused? What was he missing from this equation?
Before he realized it, he was back at the nursery door, hearing his infant daughter's cooing as he made his way inside. He saw Alesia, sitting on the floor, reaching out to the kneeling nanny shaking a rattle near the child's reach.
"Oh look, little Princess," the nanny picked up the child and stood up. "Your father has come to visit!"
Alesia turned to look in the direction her nanny was pointing, saw him and reached out with one hand.
"Hello, daughter," he greeted his tiny daughter as the woman passed her to him. She was still tiny in his arms, but she was able to sit up and latch on to his tunic with her tiny fists.
While he knew Alesia was mentally an adult, he wanted to give her a good childhood while he could. She would soon find out she was no longer a normal human as she grew.