Quick disclaimer: I do not own any Warhammer 40K chapters, nor any other OC created by other writers. Nekona belongs to ChumiiCham (they're on Twitter, go check out their Legion). Further OCs that show up will likewise be credited to their creators in later chapters.
Nothing had ever gone right. Especially for the soldier lying at death's door, clutching a black rectangular box with the Imperial Seal, aiming her gun at the giant daemon that was once a man. The field around them was littered with the bodies of her battle brothers and sisters and the forces of corruption.
The soldier felt her life slip away, even as the corrupted being began to speak words that no longer registered fully in her fading mind. Her grip on the box tightened as her mind suddenly refocused.
"Tell me, little sister, what is your name?" The daemon asked with genuine curiosity. Now that she could focus, the soldier took note of the ornate armor that would be on par of a Primarch's armor. "It is not every day I meet a new sibling."
"I…don't know what you're saying…." The soldier said, struggling to speak at first. "I have no siblings aside my battle brothers and sisters. My name is Alesia Yarrick, adopted daughter of Sebastian Yarrick, Hero of Armageddon, and I will drag you to the pits of Hell with me!"
She dropped her gun and broke the seal. The daemon's countenance went from confident to worried as he realized what she was about to do.
"Wait! You do not know what you are doing!"
"I know I'll die protecting the Imperium!"
She pried open the container and the world went white. She felt no more pain, in fact she didn't feel anything at all. There was only her conscious and a feeling that she was truly dead.
You are not dead.
Startled, she tried to look around to find where the voice came from. "Who's there?"
A gold orb of light appeared and the voice said again, You are not dead, my child.
"Who are you? And how am I not dead?" Somehow, she knew she could trust this entity. This presence felt familiar, as though she were talking to her dead adoptive father.
The artifact you unleashed invoked a favor the Trickster owed you. Do you remember the maze you and your canine companion traversed?
She remembered that vividly. She had been eight years old when she and her pet canine, Roka, stumbled through an arch way and entered a maze. It had been filled with challenges that she and her pet passed, and the Chaos entity that had built the place granted her a boon for surviving the supposed impossible task. Now that she thought about it, there had been a voice in her head at the time guiding her to safety.
"I thought it was a crazy dream."
I don't blame you for believing it to be a dream. However, you have a unique situation on your hands. This boon grants you any wish you so desire.
"A wish? Really?" She thought for moment, trying to think of anything she may wish to assist humanity and the Imperium. "Would it be able to send a person's consciousness back in time?"
Like in those predictable romance comics you read almost religiously in your past life? She shot the orb a glare that clearly said 'Don't dis my guilty pleasures'. I do not know if it is possible, but you can try.
"Hold on. How do you know I'm a reincarnation?"
I have seen your memories, and I have watched over you since the moment you drew you first breath. You have the power to change things, and many covet that power, including the fallen Primarch you faced earlier.
"Seriously?! I….I killed them…My comrades died because of me…"
No, you had nothing to do with their deaths, but you can save them, Alesia. You hold the power to change the course of history. Just know that there may be consequences as well if you decide to alter events.
A moment passed. The soldier woman thought long and hard about her wish. In her previous life, she had just been a nerd with an animation job and an expensive hobby of painting Warhammer figurines. Hell, she'd read all of the novels multiple times and had written a fan fiction that had never seen the light of day.
More than anything, she wished that the Horus Heresy could have been stopped.
And the world went black.
The next time she became aware, Alesia was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling and was very disoriented.
"Oh? Are you finally awake, little princess?" A woman came into view. She was covered head-to-toe in midnight blue robes, matching her sparkling eyes. Alesia didn't recognize the woman and reached out with her hands instinctively. Her tiny hands.
She looked around as the woman bent down to gently pick her up, and the once soldier realized she had been reincarnated again as a baby. Yet something felt off this time. For one, she did not know of any human worlds with princes or princesses anymore. Second, the room she was in right now, while clearly a nursery for a noble child, had a lot of gold decorations and trim, and the ceiling was decorated with constellation motifs. As much as this woman exuded an air of ease and trust, Alesia knew better than to immediately trust anything or anyone.
A door opened and the woman turned to look at the newcomer. The man that entered—if he could be called a man—was garbed in elaborate clothes that she had only seen the Lords of Terra wear, but even they paled compared to this man that oozed charisma. He was bigger than the daemon Primarch she had faced before, had long raven hair with a gold laurel resting on his head and golden glowing eyes that were solely focused on her as he strode over.
"How is she, Erda?" he asked, gently stroking Alesia's now tiny head. Holy damn his hands were huge!
Erda? That name rang a bell in her head. She knew that name from her first life.
"Fully aware, and she's no longer plagued by nightmares," the woman, Erda, said with a gentle smile. "I'd let her rest for a few more days before introducing her to her siblings, Neoth."
Another name she recognized, but Alesia almost didn't believe what she was hearing. What kind of cheap ass isekai bull shit was this?! There was no way she just became the Emperor's kid. Last she checked, he'd been stuck on the Golden Throne as a skeleton and very much lacking the needed equipment for making babies. Come to think of it, Erda was killed during the Horus Heresy, so how was she here?
Neoth snorted and said, "Good luck getting some of them to wait. Perturabo and Rogal are already trying to come up with ways to improve her bassinet and play pen to better protect her, and Magnus…" His countenance changed, as if he were remembering something concerning this Magnus. "Magnus wants to confirm her health himself."
"I don't blame him. He got a glimpse of her past life before you stepped in to seal away her memories." Erda shifted Alesia around and handed her over to Neoth. "He will have many questions. What will you tell him?"
"What I should have done sooner, tell him the truth. At least he can keep a secret like this. The others however; I'll tell them their sister was born with access to her psyker abilities and Magnus helped to contain her powers." He looked melancholiac for a second, adjusting his hold on the tiny baby in his hands. "I had forgotten how tiny normal infants are!"
"She's not entirely normal, old friend," Erda chuckled and helped him better hold the baby. Alesia would be eternally grateful to the woman for saving her poor neck; the man had no idea how to hold a baby properly. "She looks like you, even as a newborn."
"Even her past life looked like me to an extent."
As much as she wanted to let them know she understood them and not to talk about her as if she weren't there, she had a more urgent need that needed to be addressed. She squirmed and began to fuss, getting their complete attention.
"It's her feeding time," Urda noted before the door opened again. "Speaking of, you're right on time."
"My Lady," the person out of Alesia's vision addressed Erda and then the Emperor. "My Lord, if I may?"
"Hand me the bottle." He said.
"My Lord?"
"I wish to feed my daughter." The servant didn't say anything more and handed a bottle to him. He adjusted his hold and held the nipple bottle to the baby's mouth, and she greedily suckled on the formula milk. "Whoa, little one! Slow down or you'll get sick."
"Oh, look at you, being a doting father!" Erda teased the man and the servant giggled.
This felt surreal to Alesia. The Emperor was feeding her, Erda was acting like an aunty, and she was now apparently the Imperial Princess in this life. At least it was these two Perpetuals that knew she was a reincarnation….Wait, another person knew too according to them. Magnus…as in Magnus the Red?!
Wait, didn't they also mention siblings? Perturabo? Dorn? Did she go back in time? To a point before the Horus Heresy? Her head spun from all the questions she had and didn't realize she was done feeding. Damn her spastic brain going in a million and one directions!
Yet, her knowledge from the second millennium was the sole reason why she knew so much about the universe of Warhammer. She'd been an avid lore whore for games she had loved, and the fortieth millennium had plenty of lore for her to devour in her first life….Well, the first life she could remember.
"Looks like she's done," the Emperor handed the bottle back to the servant Alesia still couldn't see, and then sat her up on his knee. When did he sit down? Was she that unfocused? One massive hand supported her front and the other was gently rubbing her back now.
"I'm surprised at how good you are with her," Erda said, reaching out to gently hold Alesia's tiny hand. Her baby hand instinctively closed around one of the woman's fingers. "She might need to go back to sleep soon."
"Almost like Russ after a—"
Urp! Alesia couldn't help the sigh of relief after letting out that big belch.
"Never mind, she is like Russ." The man chuckled, shifting her back to cradling her tiny body in his hands as the two women giggled.
"Her brothers will teach her everything they know," the servant commented. "She already has the Imperium wrapped around her finger at just three days old!"
"Oh? Has the news traveled to all of the Imperium already?"
"Yes, my Lord. Diplomats from all over are sending in congratulatory messages regarding your daughter's birth. I believe Lords Guilliman and Sanguinius are handling any inquiries regarding her official presentation as we speak."
Official presentation? Was it something like a royal christening from her first life? Normally a royal christening also doubled as an official presentation of the newest member of a royal family.
Her new father sighed, looking as though he hated the thought of dealing with any form of politics. He stood up, took one step towards the crib and gently laid Alesia down.
"Last time I checked, I was the Emperor of this empire and these diplomats answered to me." He said this as he slid a tiny blanket over her.
"Still, it wouldn't hurt to present Alesia to her people when she's a little older," Erda suggested. "She still needs time to recover, and I'm sure you will want to keep her away from prying eyes for as long as possible until she's ready."
As much as she wanted to continue to listen in on this conversation, Alesia's baby body was gradually forcing her to sleep. Before her eyes fully closed, she could have sworn she saw the Emperor smile at her and say, "Sleep well, little Alesia."
Four days had passed before she finally was brought out of the nursery. On the first night when she became fully aware, Alesia discovered that the stars in the ceiling of her nursery glowed in the dark like a very dim night light, which blew her mind when she finally grasped the craft work that went into making the ceiling look like the night sky. While the work of art enthralled her for a while, she was glad to be out of the room, even if the Emperor was the one carrying her around. She had no idea where they were going since she still couldn't sit up, but he had been walking for a long while now.
"My Lord, your sons have been gathered as requested," a male voice got her attention. She managed to turn her head enough to get a look at an Adeptus Custodes in full armor and armed with a spear that also doubled as a gun. Judging by the elaborate ornamentation of his armor, this was the Captain-General of the Custodes. If she remembered right, this might very well be Constantin Valdor. "I am genuinely surprised they all came when they got the message."
"I am as well," said the Emperor. "I suppose they are all curious about their new sister."
"Lord Curze has even showed curiosity towards the news, my Lord. He has even admitted that he cannot see her end."
Alesia felt the Emperor stiffen at that for a split second before relaxing his hold on her slightly. She remembered the warning that there would be consequences for going back in time, and she was certain he knew it too. Everyday he had visited her, he spoke to her of mundane things and occasionally held her as a caring father would to a child, and everyday her suspicions that he was the golden orb from before grew. He was showing a level of humanity he had lost by the time the Imperium was formed and had never been seen in the original lore of Warhammer. She had very little doubt that the Emperor had somehow hijacked her final wish and went back in time to a point before this current life of hers began, and she was certain he had dealt with one of the consequences at her birth.
The day after she had awoken, Alesia had accidentally pushed one of her plush dolls away a little too hard and sent it out of her reach. When she reached out to grab it, she made the discovery that she possessed psyker abilities when the doll flew back to her hand. She had never displayed such powers before as an adult in the past. Considering the conversation she heard between the Emperor and Erda, Alesia was certain that her new father and Magnus had sealed away more than chunks of her memory the day she was born. Most of her memories regarding war and bloodshed were firmly sealed away, but everything else was left alone.
The sound of two massive doors opening brought Alesia back to the present. Two ornate doors roughly twenty feet high swung open to reveal what she thought to be the throne room. She had never visited Holy Terra in her past life, but considering the sight of a golden throne atop a pyramid-shaped machine, this had to have been where the Emperor had been interred after the Horus Heresy.
And then she heard the most unexpected thing to come from a muscle bound man.
"Oh my stars! Is that her? She's adorable!" A flamboyant voice rose above the sound of someone getting shoved aside and crashing onto the floor.
"Fulgrim, son, calm yourself and you will get to hold her." The Emperor said calmly with a slight smile. "Are you alright, Angron?"
"Yes…Just got caught off guard…" a groan came from the poor Primarch that got tossed aside. "Where the hell did that strength come from, brother?"
Alesia turned her head to look, and saw a man with wavy white hair look sheepishly as another man with brown dreadlocks picked himself up off the floor. This was another deviation from the original lore. Angron no longer had the Butcher's Nails and was getting along with his brothers from the looks of things.
"Sorry, brother." Said Fulgrim.
"My sons," the Emperor got the attention of his eighteen sons. "Meet your little sister, the Imperial Princess, Alesia."
The child in question looked around and saw eighteen pairs of eyes on her. It was one thing to read about the Primarchs, imagine how they would each appear in life, but to actually meet these larger than life specimens was a whole different thing to experience, let alone be related to them.
"Why name her Alesia, Father?" Lion El'Johnson asked, his voice remaining neutral while his eyes betrayed his curiosity.
"I think it suits her just fine, brother," Vulkan spoke up, approaching the Emperor to get a better look at his new sister. Their shared father gently handed her over to her obsidian colored brother. The man's blazing eyes gazed into hers and he said, "She has an old soul, just as you said, Magnus."
Vulkan had turned around so their brothers were back in her field of view. Lorgar stepped forward then with a gentle smile. Alesia saw the naïve wonder in his eyes; this was the Lorgar she imagined him to be before the Burning of Monarchia. Loyal to the Emperor, even worshiping the Leader of Mankind as a god despite being told not to. The heavily tattooed man reached out to let the tiny baby grasp one of his fingers.
"She may show a timeless wisdom later in life," Lorgar said. "I am surprised she looks so much like Father."
"Her appearance surprised me too," she heard the Emperor agree with his least favored son—or at least that was her understanding of Lorgar as a character in the Warhammer lore. "Though I do hope she'll have more traits from her mother; she was an incredible woman in life."
That got her attention. Even in the first run of this life, she had no idea who her mother was and what she was like. The orphanage she was initially raised in didn't have any records of her parents, and to be fair she didn't make much of an effort to learn of her origins even after she was adopted by Sebastian.
"Oh? What was she like? Her mother that is?" Ferrus Mannus, the second least explored Primarch in lore, asked. Even the rest of the brothers were looking to their father, eager to learn more of the woman that carried their sister.
"Her mother was a brilliant scientist," their father began. "In fact, she is the reason why we are able to travel through the Warp successfully, thanks to the calculations she developed before she volunteered for the doomed expedition that took her life."
"So, the cub here is going to be another nerd?" This came from the feral looking man Alesia knew had to be Leman Russ. Magnus the Red and Robute Guilliman both reached over and smacked the back of the man's head. "Ow-OW! What was that for?"
"There is nothing wrong with our sister being a so-called nerd, brother," Guilliman chided him. "Besides, she might develop skills different from her mother's."
"Alesia is her own person," the Emperor said firmly, deescalating the situation before it turned into a full blown argument, "though, she will be raised to be a leader within the Imperium. She will be similar to you, my sons; an extension of the Imperium's rule."
During this exchange, Alesia was passed over to Lorgar, and then to Fulgrim as more of her new brothers each got a closer look at her. Mostly, they welcomed her warmly, and then there were a few that kept their distance. Corvus Corax looked unsure when he briefly held her, Konrad Curze refused to get near her, Jaghatai Kahn declined holding her but still greeted her, and Rogal Dorn gave a dry greeting before she was passed over to Perturabo. Sanguinius was more than happy to meet his tiny sister and held her the longest before Horus got his turn. Mortarion, Alpharius, and Lion declined to hold her, so she ended up in the hands of Magnus the Red.
"Hello, sister," the red Primarch greeted her, "do you remember me? We met the day you were born."
"That's right!" Said Sanguinius as though he remembered something. "Is she truly a psyker?"
"She is," Alpharius spoke up before Magnus could answer. "It's how Father discovered her in the Warp in the first place."
This was new information to Alesia. She was found in the Warp?
"Father noticed her psychic light in the Warp and that's how the twentieth millennium ship was discovered." Magnus explained. "Her pregnant mother was in a malfunctioning stasis pod. While her mother had died during extraction, we were able to save Alesia and seal her powers before it could lash out fully."
"Is that why we were not allowed to meet her until now?" Asked Guilliman. "I recall that all previous psykers displayed psychic powers later in life, not at birth."
"Her spark as a Perpetual ignited and caused her powers to manifest early."
Wait, what? What?!
Since when was I a Perpetual? Alesia's head spun as she tried to grasp this new revelation. Granted, she was a Reincarnation, so maybe he mistook her for a Perpetual because of that. And that was a big maybe.
Your soul has broken out of the cycle of reincarnation in the normal sense, Magnus's voice chimed in her mind. In this life, you are a Perpetual now.
Magnus? Alesia turned her head to look her brother in the eye. She projected an image of the adult version of her current life. Since you can read my mind, I'm guessing you know my full story starting from my life in the second millennium?
You've lived quite an interesting life, little sister. He quirked a small smile. A multi-talented individual in one life, and then a well respected Commissar in the next. Now, you're my sister.
I really didn't have many options in the second go-around, otherwise I'd have been happily crafting stuff again like my previous life. Alesia was sure he felt her…melancholy? She didn't know what to call the feeling she had concerning her old comfort hobbies. She missed painting figurines, crocheting and knitting various things to either sell or gift, and she missed reading webcomics. Being adopted by a legend and sub-sequentially becoming a Commissar was far from any good idea she'd be able to come up with.
"Are you satisfied with her condition, Magnus?" the Emperor's voice snapped them out of their mental conversation. At least he seemed pleased that his sons had accepted their new sister.
"Yes, Father," Magnus gently handed Alesia back to their father. "She shows no signs of any psychic duress, and she is getting hungry. Are infants supposed to eat so much in one day?"
"That's normal. Nekona should be here with her bottle soon."
….Wait….Wait a fucking minute! That's another person's character; not even cannon! What's next? Kitten from TTS showing up as her personal guard?
I've been isekai'd into another person's fan fiction!
"Hello~!" A singsong voice filled the air as the doors to the throne room opened again. The Emperor turned and Alesia got her first look at her cat-lady sister in the most pink and frilly chef get up she'd ever seen in both lives. Nekona was roughly the same height as Angron, sported cat ears and a tail, and exuded positive vibes in spades. "Sorry it took me so long! I had to call in more of one of the ingredients from one of my cafes."
"So long as it's safe for her to eat," the Emperor held out his hand, expecting his older daughter to hand over the bottle she'd prepared.
"Na-uh!" Nekona held the bottle back and wagged a finger at him. "Everyone else has gotten to hold her, so I get to feed her."
"Alright, alright," the massive man chuckled and handed Alesia over to Nekona. The woman surprisingly held her expertly and fed her with no issues. "That's surprising. She normally doesn't like anyone other than myself and her nanny feeding her."
"I practiced holding babies for the past week," Nekona shrugged with the biggest smile possible. "She's so cute! My legion will want her to be our official taste tester when she gets older!"
"As if, stupid cat!" Russ interjected with unwarranted anger.
"Russ, don't start," the Emperor shut down the impending squabble before it could start. However, Alesia's baby instincts kicked in at the tonal shift and she started to fuss in Nekona's hold, feeling herself on the brink of full on crying.
"Oh no! Please don't cry, little sister," Nekona tried to soothe the baby, but nothing could calm the poor child. The cat woman had to hand her back to their father after he shot their feral brother a glare.
"Sorry," Russ said sheepishly.
As Alesia continued to watch and listen her new family interact with each other and her to an extent, she began to feel at ease for the first time in a long time. Maybe this new start could lead to a better future.