I was keeping watch with Jenny, me looking down a pair of binoculars and her down a rifle scope.
"So… congrats on your folks having kids." She said.
I sighed. While I'm not surprised mom and dad are having another litter of siblings of mine, I am upset these new siblings are gonna be growing up here too. I hate that my kids are gonna grow up here.
I hate that any child has to grow up on this planet.
"While…yes, it is great…still sucks that their going to be raised in this horrible place…" I sighed.
"At least our new home here is safer than most… probably."
"Unless we magically get found by chaos guilds then it should be safe…hopefully." I said nervously.
"Yeah… hold up." She said, looking down the scope. I looked through my binoculars and spotted it. It was a Doom Marine. A bit shorter than you'd expect but that armor and those muscles aren't found on anyone else. "Is that Carver?"
"Unless he's wanted to get someone else involved from the guild, then that should be our resident marine." I said honestly.
We let him walk to the gate, the aura around him was… intense… "Heather, right?" He asked me.
"Yes, I am Heather." I said carefully. "And you must be Carver right?"
"Yes." He nodded. "So, this is your settlement?"
"Yep, this is our home." I said honestly. "Thanks to Nanny it's a complete safe zone."
"It's bare bones. Basic." He said. "Most demons can tunnel through this rock, while the barrier is useful it's only as strong as the physical defense of this wall."
"I mean, you're gonna have to take that complaint to Nanny who did this and a few miles worth of safe zone for being 'rusty'." I said carefully.
"I will." He said, almost shoving past me as he entered.
"Well, ain't he a ball of sunshine and rainbows." Jenny huffed.
"He's lived through this bullshit longer than us so…there's at least some explanation." I said carefully. "Still a bit rude though."
I followed Carver from a few feet behind. He managed to find the house and upon entering was greeted by Nanny.
"I sensed you the second you entered the barrier." She said.
"Is that what you planned on relying on when demons or the Chaos Guilds break through those rocks you piled up outside?" Carver asked.
"I had hoped a Doom Marine would be willing to lend fortifications. I know how much you slayers love setting up big fucking guns." She said with a smirk.
"You're a cheeky bitch. I can respect that." Carver replied, crossing his arms. "All my big fucking guns I keep in parts in caches. Gonna take a while to gather all the parts."
"Well, so far all we have is time." I said honestly.
"If you say so. Come on, let's go fetch the parts." Carver said, grabbing me by the tail then-
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
I screamed as we suddenly flew through air at speeds that felt like blades of wind slicing my skin.
The landing was like a sonic boom as I was suddenly back on the ground elsewhere.
I think I need a change of pants…
"Wh-what the fuck dude!?" I screeched as I panted heavily from that sudden bout of bullshit.
"Walking here would have taken seven years." He said, walking over to a large piece of rubble against a building.
"Fucking what!?" I asked in shock. "I…one jump in seven…" My right eye twitched at that. "How can I get that strong?"
"Train." He said, gripping the huge rubble slate and tossing it like a frisbee into the distance, revealing an armored door on the building.
"I don't think 'train' can help me get to how strong you are in a reasonable amount of time…."
"It won't." He said, punching straight through the armored door and tearing it off.
"Ri~ght…" I said slowly. "So, what's in this specific bunker?"
"The barrels for the big fucking guns." Carver said, walking into the building as I followed. There was a large hole he dropped into and I jumped in after him. We landed in a large metallic floor in a huge empty room.
"Whole lot of empty so far…" I hummed.
"You're standing on one of the barrels." Carver said.
I looked down at the metal floor that stretched from end to end of this massive room… these are big fucking guns if this is just one of the barrels…
"Well…when you said 'big fucking gun' I guess you weren't kidding." I said as I was honestly surprised at how huge this one barrel was.
"Why would I?" He asked, kneeling down and knocking open a panel, typing some things in a display as suddenly the huge barrel was stored in Carver's assistant and we dropped into another huge metal floor where he kicked open another panel… lot of barrels I guess…
"So how many barrels are here?"
"Four thousand and sixty two." Carver said, this barrel going into his assistant and making us drop to the next.
"Uh…huh…" I said slowly. "That's…that's a lot of barrels."
"I have a lot of guns. These ones have six barrels per gun. You're getting four to act as sentry turrets."
"Uh…huh…and are you sure we need more than one when these look like they can nuke a country with one shot?"
"Contantent and yes." He said. "Titan demons are a bitch and take a lot to take out. Better to take out your enemy and the land they stand on than risk them surviving the attack. Overkill is better than a clean kill."
"Well…true." I shrugged.
"These will be for long range and heavy hitters. After we get all these parts, we go after the mid range guns. Then the short range ones, then the defensive fortifications for your wall. Special metals and such to armor it, anti air/flyer drones and lastly some perimeter mines and such. Basic stuff."
"That's fair…" I said. "Basic my ass…" I added silently to myself.
"It's basic for the Slayers." Carver said, making me yelp.
"I didn't say anything…but fine."
It took a bit but all twenty four barrels, then we left, Carver replacing the door and recovering it with more rubble.
He then- oh fuck not agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I was panting as that new jump landed us else… where?
I looked around and saw a torn out chunks of a huge metal fortress reduced to torn metal and debris. I looked at the ground and saw an imprint in the metal was a footprint…
"Uh…the hell happened here?" I asked carefully.
"Don't know. Wasn't born yet." Carver said as we walked through the… around me were hundreds of corpses of various species all still in their torn and smashed Slayer armor… this is the graveyard…
"W-wait…this…this is the place that Dexter wanted to be…" I said carefully.
"No one wants to be here." Carver stayed flatly. "Not even the monsters or chaos Guilds. Makes the perfect cache location."
"Then you'll be amazed to hear my kid feels like he should be around here due to something tugging at him." I said honestly. "But yes…it is a good place to hide shit in case whatever caused…this comes back."
"You're kid sounds weird." He said, kicking aside a large crushed Slayer torso armor piece, revealing an armored trap door he opened.
"I mean, it get's weirder when he had this tug when he was originally a prize pod person we accidentally fell on in Candlelight…and they have a Breeder attached to them…somehow."
"... He's lucky he's a child then." Carver said. "I have a zero tolerance policy towards anyone with a Breeder."
"That's fair, but what you should be more confused about is how a Breeder was wandering this entire planet, by themselves, looking for my kid that was on a planet billions of light years away that was in a prize pod." I said. "Even Nanny's best guess doesn't explain that level of 'how the fuck does this work?'."
"Breeders wander this planet all the time. Especially the first two generations of them. Their owners die, spawn elsewhere and they lose it. Run across the planet, swim across oceans, die, respawn, fight if they can, die and respawn again. They never find their owners. Few that do are just sold back to Lust and reset and sold again. Assuming Lust Hunters don't find them and do it quicker."
"True but still…" I sighed. "So what neat gun's are we finding here?"
"The loading the firing parts for the big fucking guns."
"Yeah that's fair." I nodded. "But mind if I ask what kind of training you normally go through to be…this stupid strong?"
"Slayer Training."
"Is…it really that rough?" I asked, knowing that while I can and have solo'd plenty of level 3 dungeons I was always with my hubby so I never bothered or wanted to really see how far I could go.
"If you're born to the Slayers Guild, once you turn three you're taught to fist fight imp demons, our bodies at that age are fragile, young, and we're more often than not torn apart limb from limb. When it's over we're healed and put back together, and it repeats the next day until we kill the imp. We then graduate to the next strongest demon type, and so forth."
I blinked. "Uh…huh…" I said slowly. "That's…" I stopped and closed my mouth, knowing this was Armageddon and this was par for the course but…children shouldn't go through this, they deserve to at least have some form of innocent joy in their life…
"After that's all done we're put back to it, but against a hundred with a basic knife to kill them with."
"Oh…" I muttered. "Right…"
"Usually by the time we're nine or ten we get our armor and are sent to a zone where demons inhabit."
I took a deep breath. "Jesus christ…"
"Outsiders are rarely brought in, if they are the training is twice as hard and twice as long."
"Ah…yeah…" I said carefully, knowing I'm probably not going to get into that Guild to be strong enough to support my family against whatever the hell might happen if that's the requirements. "Right then."
We entered another large chamber. This one with tall building like parts of the guns we needed.
"So question, wouldn't these big fucking guns stick out like a sore thumb to any Chaos Guilds?" I inquired, given that I'm following a guy that's gathering the parts to build continent busters in the shape of a mountain sized gun it does bring up some concerns about being 'subtle and hidden'.
"If they do, they'll get blasted."
"Well…at least it's a good deterrent…"
"No, it's a turret."
"Good to know." I nodded. "Hopefully it keeps 'undesirables' away…"
"These guns can even hurt Gods."
"Oh…okay, so this will keep us safe, cool." I nodded.
"You did want safety."
We gathered the parts and left. Another jump and I was a bit more accustomed to them…
I was looking up at the corpse of a giant cyber titan demon….
"Okay what the hell killed this thing?"
"I did." Carver said.
"Really?" I asked, a little surprised by that. "Quite a feat to do…"
"Is it?" He asked as we walked up it's leg and into a door built into it's flesh. Entering the insides of this thing we found a single box. Carver picked it up and stored it Into his assistant.
"Well, the strongest monster I fought was…oh boy, I think it was a Fusion Elemental as a secret boss for a dungeon…I'm pretty sure this thing is five times stronger than a Fusion Elemental."
"Maybe." He shrugged. "Well that was the power source, just need the ammo and support mounts."
"And where can we find those?"
"We're heading there. Then that's the big fucking guns done."
"Which will help keep us safe while we try and figure out a lot of other things."
Carver quickly took me a long time gather those remaining parts, and with those done we grabbed the various other guns, turrets, mines and supplies. With all that done he brought me home and he began setting up the defenses.
"Thanks Carver…this means a lot for our little settlement." I said honestly.
"As long as you're in this zone I'm honor bound to the Slayers Guild to offer aid when you need it."
"Well, lucky then that we were forced to be here from 'Immigration'."
"If you say so."
With that he walked off to set everything up.
I went back home.
I sat down in the living room where Diane was sitting on the couch.
"Well…things will get better with the new turrets getting built." I said to Diane honestly.
"That is good. You can relax more now."
"Not…fully…" I sighed. "Cause even if the turrets were getting can take out Gods…Carver literally grabbed me and jumped to a spot that was technically seven years travel…I'm going to have to get stronger to protect my family cause I can't just rely on those turrets forever…"
"He's a Slayer. You can't compare yourself to those… muscle heads."
"I mean, while that's fair…he fought and killed demons since he was three years old…and just kept on doing it because that's what this world does to people…I don't want to get rusty or weak just because we're protected by the BFG turrets."
"You can train and such but Slayers are a different breed of fighters all together."
"I know…but to see the complete and total difference in power is…really shocking."
"Guess that's just how Armageddon is…" Diane said sadly.
"And I hate it a lot…." I sighed.
"You need to relax."
"I'm trying…" I sighed. "But seeing a child…forced to be that strong because of his environment…it's…very concerning…"
"True. Mother only knows how the kids will turn out as the years go by."
"Yeah…I really hope they can live safe enough in this hell hole…"
"Only time will tell."
Ten Years Later
Ugh, damn hangover- oof!
"Wake up mom, it's already one PM!" Hex declared as my pup jumped on my back.
"Yeah…only one PM…" I groaned. "That's enough Hex…can't really get up with you jumping on my back…"
"Liar! You've piggybacked me, Donna, Rose, Amy, Mickey and Jack all at once. My weight is nothing to you."
Ugh… smart kid…
"I'm too hungover for this…" I grumbled, trying to get up even as I felt like garbage.
"You should know better than challenging mamma Jenny to those drinking contests." He said, sliding off my back as I pushed myself up.
That woman… how can she drink a literal two gallons of whiskey and still wake up at nine AM?
"She cheats and she knows it…" I grumbled.
"No, you're just a lightweight." I looked up, seeing Casey handing me a large soup bowl sized coffee mug filled with coffee to to.
"You're supposed to be on my side…" I whined, taking the life saving liquid and gently sipping from it. "Oh~ that's good."
"I will be when you stop trying to beat the woman with an adamantium liver at drinking contests." Casey chuckled, giving me a peck on the head. "Besides, you'll want to be up for today."
"Momma didn't raise no quitter, and what's special about today again?" I inquired.
"Today Dexter turns eighteen. Meaning…"
Meaning… wait… oh fuck right that Breeder!
"Oh god…" I groaned. "While I'm happy for him turning eighteen…his breeder on the other hand…and Carver made it very clear he didn't like any of that shit…"
"We know. He's here."
Fuck!
"Ugh…" I put the mug down and shoved my head into my pillow. "I'm too hungover for this shit…" I grumbled, taking a deep breath and getting out of bed again.
I went to the bathroom, running cold water in my face before chugging the rest of my coffee and heading outside. I found Dexter, dressed in his favorite blue plaid button shirt and jeans… and Carver, sitting across from him on the couch with a shotgun on his lap.
"I don't remember this turning into a shotgun party." I said carefully, bringing out Ol Reliable and fight him if need be, cause even if he might be stronger than me I wasn't a slouch these ten years.
"We both know if you tried I'd shove that sword down your throat and you'd be shitting shards for years." Carver said. "You can put that toothpick away. I'm not here to kill him."
I frowned, but sighed as I put my sword away. "I've gotten stronger in these ten years ya know…but happy birthday Dexter."
"Thanks mom…" Dexter said awkwardly. "So… if you aren't going to kill me-"
"Escort." Carver said. "Once that Breeder is out and with you, out of respect to your parents I won't kill you, but my zero tolerance policy stands. There's a place a few zones east of here, it's run and protected by the New Foundation. They have more lenient rules regarding ownership of Breeders among its citizens. You can live there, and never come back to the Demonic Invasion Zone. Cause then I will kill you."
"And…how far away is that zone?" I asked carefully, cause I'd rather not lose my baby boy or having to move.
"Two million lightyears." Carver said. "New Foundation has communication equipment on par with Slayer Coms. Will take some work but he can contact you once he arrives. Should only take a few hours using my speed."
"Right…" I sighed. "Are you okay with this Dexter?"
"I… don't really have much of a choice…" He sighed. "I already packed my things in my Assistant so… I'll be sure to call when I get there. And regularly."
I sighed. "Well…we can still have a great birthday before you have to go."
"I guess…" Dexter sighed.
We celebrated the best we could. Demon meat steaks, a small cake, some ice cream and some light beers.
Eventually we had to go to the medbay where Brenda the Breeder was, still in that stasis pod.
"So, is she as bad as I remember from when I was a kid?" Dexter asked.
"No idea, how is she doing Vega?" I asked the AI keeping her under and in stasis.
"Her physical health is optimal. Her mental health is unreadable due to her Breeder Programming, however monitoring her brainwaves have informed me she has been dreaming nonstop pleasant dreams." The AI said.
Dreams? But, no one can dream on Armageddon? At least… we can't…
"That…that should be impossible." I said. "Not a single one of us has dreamed since we got here, and it's been ten years…how is she dreaming? And what are her…dreams?"
"Breeders, Slaves and Serfs are the only ones capable of dreaming on Armageddon." Carver said. "No one knows how or why. One of those mysteries."
"Cause why not bring up even more questions with basically no answers?" I groaned. "Really hate how now all these questions actually need answers when we could just ignore it and go 'that's how shit works'..."
"Initializing Wake Up procedures." Vega said. The Pod began opening and Brenda began opening her eyes groggily.
"M… Master?" She asked, sleepy and confused.
"Yeah… that's me? Apparently?" Dexter said with an awkward confusion.
"Master!" Brenda said, suddenly wide awake and throwing herself on Dexter and… damn, his head vanished into her boobs! "You got bigger."
"It's his birthday today." I admitted to her. "And both you and Dexter are…going on a trip."
"Would my master like me to pleasure them all day for their birthday?"
Wow… that was… blunt.
Dexter is already really socially awkward and now he has to deal with Brenda and being alone… also, can he… breathe… in there?
"Uh…you okay there Dexter?" I asked nervously.
No response…
"I think he passed out?" Casey said.
"Makes sense." Jenny shrugged. "A busty bimbo of a woman just threw her breasts in his face, then offered to fuck him all day. Him being the socially awkward dork he is, and having zero experience or confidence with girls, it probably overloaded him."
"Maybe…" I said, while trying to carefully pry his head out of the mountain of boobage to see his face…dizzy looking anime eyes and a bloody nose, face redder than some demon's skin…yeah, that looks about right.
"Yikes…" Casey said with a wince.
"Well, hopefully she doesn't break him when the inevitable happens…" Jenny said.
"She's a Generation one Breeder." Carver said. "She can wait unlike the gen two and up Breeders."
There's types?!
"Uh…excuse me, there are types of breeders?" I asked worriedly.
"Yeah." Carver said with a sigh. "Generation one Breeders appeared back in the early years of Armageddon, way back in Era one. They are typically mute, incapable of speaking and know nothing other than to fuck and care for infants and children. Brenda here seems to have had information imprinted onto her mind to give her speech and such. A unique thing about her generation of Breeders is they actually lack the need to be fucked. While she will still see herself as Dexter's property and sex toy, she doesn't need to be fucked to be happy. Just around him. Gen two to modern Breeders require a regular… usage, otherwise they suffer mentally. The most current generation Breeders, Gen eleven, according to reports, don't even need food, water, sleep, just… usage, otherwise they degrade mentally and physically."
"That's…" Casey started.
"...Fucking horrible…" I finished in horror.
"Why would they do that to people?" Jenny asked.
"According to latest reports, most of generation nine and ten are actually synthetically created." Carver said. "Cloned from cells and such. Genetically modified and crafted to be the… perfect Breeder. So far reports say all of Generation eleven have been these synthetically made Breeders."
"They're… phasing out needing people?" Casey asked.
"Sort of. Lust, the Chaos Guilds that makes them, reports estimate that only twenty percent of Breeders on Armageddon are formerly people. The rest are offspring of Breeders Lust ages into adults with illegal Chrono-Accelerators then turns them into Breeders, and Cell Grown Synthetics."
"This is getting even worse…"
"I'll be taking these two over to the New Foundation settlement in the Dying Light Zone." He said. "Maybe once he gets there he'll wake up. Here." Carver said, giving me a communicator. "I'll give the other one to Dexter when he wakes up. There will be some lag given the distance but it won't be too bad."
"Alright, thank you." I nodded, holding the communicator close and protectively cause this'll be one of the only ways I can contact my son.
With a nod, Carver pushed Brenda, who was still holding/keeping Dexter's head between her boobs, outside where the familiar Boom of Carver's speed blasted through the air.
"Are you gonna be okay Heather?" Casey asked.
"No…" I shook my head. "We've raised Dexter for over ten years…" I teared up. "And…our baby's gone…to some random ass spot in this damnable place…"
"Maybe someday we can visit?" Jenny offered.
"Unless we can either set up a portal network there…I don't think we'll ever be able to build something or get strong enough to go several million light years in a reasonable amount of time." I said bitterly.
"Well… I guess we should wait for him to call." Casey said.
"Yeah…just have to wait for him to call." I sighed, holding the communicator close to my chest and hoping everything goes well.
I went back to the house and sat on the couch. The minutes felt like hours…
"Hey mom." I turned, seeing my Mickey. He grew up often being a real trouble maker. Pranks and such.
"Hey Mickey…" I said, trying to look okay for my son and not sad or hollow. "How are you doing today?"
"I'm kinda bummed about Dexter leaving." He frowned.
"Yeah…same…" I sighed. "But it had to happen sadly."
"Will Dexter ever visit?"
"No idea…I don't know when we'll be able to visit Dexter cause of how far away he'll be…but we'll be able to contact him thankfully."
"Okay… I wanted to ask him if I could have his room."
I laughed at that.
"Of course you would Mickey." I chuckled, lightly ruffling his hair with a warm smile.
"Better me than Donna. She just wants to turn it into a closet." He huffed.
"I'd rather his room not be turned into a Closet." I said honestly.
"I TOLD YOU DONNA!" Mickey yelled to the hall.
"But mom!" My daughter in question ran up to me, one of her many dresses in hand, she absolutely loves dresses. "It's the perfect space to have my own full body multi angle mirror to make sure I look good!"
"You never look good." Mickey groaned. "Ouch!" He yelped as Donna stomped his tail.
"Shut it!" Donna yelled.
"You know we can just make another room for all that right?" I asked. "And no hurting your brother…also, let's be real here…"
"I know but I wanted to also make it a workshop. I wanna learn how to sew and make clothes."
"And that is a nice thing to learn." I said with a weak smile. "But Dexter…just left…can we not talk about this?" I asked, and even though my mind went with how she could control fabric and threads if given enough time and skill points if she was forced to fight…but again, I'd rather not think of such bad things.
"Okay…" Donna said, she and Mickey sharing a look at seeing me so sad.
"I'm sorry for being sad kids…but your older brother left on his birthday all because of something outside our control…"
"Didn't you say everything on this planet is outside our control?" Mickey asked.
"This is one of those situations that was outside our control for a long time…" I sighed. "Due to Carver's rule on 'No Breeders', and Dexter…somehow having had a Breeder in some weird past life…" I rubbed my temples bitterly. "Just…a lot of things happened, and I'm getting really tired of things happening where I can't do much about it or being asked questions that now need answers but no one knows anyways because we took it all for granted for years…"
"How did Dexter get a Breeder anyway?" Donna asked.
"Think dad said she found him?" Mickey said. "Something about Reflections and… something." He shrugged.
"So either one of two thing's that I've come up with, either because he's literally so alike to whatever version of Dexter that the Breeder couldn't understand the difference…or we're talking about Reincarnation here on a scale that probably shouldn't happen cause normally Reincarnation would happen in a Safe Zone or you literally being 'reborn' where you last died…he was found in a Prize Pod which makes no sense…"
"So, what's gonna happen now?" Donna asked.
"Just our daily lives, mostly waiting for Dexter to wake up and try and contact us…" I sighed.
"Wake up?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, so when we woke up his…Breeder…you know how socially awkward he is, so he kind of passed out after having his face shoved in her big breasts."
The two were quiet for a while, then laughed.
"Yes, it was indeed funny in hindsight." I chuckled.
"That's Dex. Remember when that Centaur girl called him cute and he slipped and faceplanted in the pig pen?" Mickey chuckled.
"Or that slime lady that when he realized she was nude he covered his eyes right into that tree?" Donna added In laughter.
"I do remember both those times…geez, it's been years but it only feels like yesterday those silly events happened." I chuckled.
"You also notice a lot of girls tried to flirt with him and he either never noticed or made a fool of himself?" Mickey said.
Huh… that is true. Lot of those girls tried more than once to…
"Huh…yeah, that is correct and…oh boy, if he's going to an entire settlement…" My mind immediately went to some silly harem protagonist scenario…and then I started bursting out laughing. "I really wish I was there with a camera, Dexter's going to be so embarrassed."
"So, how long until you think Dexter calls?" Donna asked.
"Maybe in a few hours depending on if he isn't immediately flirted with by every woman in the place."
"Welp, I'm gonna go play video games." Mickey said. "Let me know when he calls."
"Guess I'll go get the boxes out of Dex's old room." Donna said, sprinting off.
I sighed, leaning back in the couch and feeling a little better. Feels kinda unfair. We live so long yet grow up so fast…
"Still can't believe how time just…flew by in this place…" I sighed. "But…at least we're all safe and thriving…that's the best I can hope for…"
I looked the communicator over and sighed. Ten years on Armageddon… moments of nite aside from birthdays and some new residents being born and a few raids from demons that the various wall defenses handled. Honestly, were it not for the fear of the Chaos Guilds, this place wouldn't be too bad to live in.
Life here almost feels normal.
"Still can't believe it's been ten years of…almost normalcy…"
I sighed as I laid along the couch, feeling… odd. Dexter might not have been my first child… but he's the first one to leave home… wonder if this is how mom and dad felt when I moved out?
"I don't like this feeling…" I sighed.
"Hey now." I looked up, seeing mom walk over to and sit next to me. "You still have a lot of kids in the nest, you already feeling that Empty Nest feeling?"
"I'm certainly feeling something based on Dexter leaving…and I don't like it." I huffed.
Mom chuckled. "I know that feeling." She said, petting my head. "Your eldest brother Dave. When he left to go and be an adventurer with his boyfriend, the house just felt… bigger, quieter, if barely, and I didn't want any of your older siblings to leave."
"Is that why you were also a tad weird when I wanted to move out with Casey?" I inquired.
"A little. By the time you were born I already had over forty kids and while I grew used to you all eventually leaving home, It never stopped hurting. Time went by too fast. One moment I'm changing your diapers and spoon feeding you fish paste baby food, the next, you have kids of your own."
"Yeah…" I sighed. "It still feels weird…one moment I'm helping Dexter clean up after his latest embarrassed induced blunder…now he's off to another city with a Breeder that's magically been looking for him for Mother knows how long…"
"Know what I think?" Mom said. "I think Dexter is gonna have a very interesting future in this new home of his."
"Yes, he's going to be a harem protagonist that's as dense as a brick and I find that funny…and a missed opportunity that I couldn't go with a camera to see it."
Mom chuckled. "Is it wrong I expected you to have more than one male lover?" I blushed. "Thought it would be funny given all those reverse harem dating Sims you played."
How did she know?!
"H-how!?" I asked quickly. "That is sacred and personal knowledge that you should not know."
"Sweetie, I'm your mother, scratch that, I'm your experienced mother. I know when you and Casey first slept together, I know all the dating sim games you've played, and I know when you had wet dreams and sneak washed your sheets, and I know every time Casey snuck over and spent the night with you."
"Mo~m!" I whined, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at her even as I felt my face heat up more than the damned sun did to me.
"Honey, if you have more kids you just learn and pick up on things." Mom laughed. "Plus, in terms of the dating Sims, you'd leave your PC on when you'd go to shower." Mom added.
"Cease your arcane words!" I whined louder, even though I could hear my dad laughing in the background. "Da~d! This isn't funny!"
"You're right." I heard dad say. "You thinking that hiding Casey under your bubble bath bubbles that one time, that was funny!"
Mom lost it as I melted into a pool of embarrassment.
"I forgot about that!" Mom yelled in laughter. "I was asking you for something and you were red as a tomato and the bathtub was overflowing with bubbles!"
"Mother…why must you forsake me like this?" I asked, shoving my face into a pillow and groaning loudly at how embarrassed I was at this entire thing.
"Oh sweetie, trust me, you'll accumulate many embarrassing stories about your kids and tell it to them when they're older to embarrass them too. I know for a fact you already have some about each of your kids right now."
"I mean…yes, I do but you're speaking forbidden knowledge, my kids are doing harmless stuff like the time Donna mistook condiments as coloring and tried to make tie dyed clothes…boy was that a mess." I chuckled.
"I know, but as they get older, these things will happen. I'm sure you have some about Dexter."
"I mean, when doesn't something silly happen with that poor boy when it comes to any female?" I chuckled.
"Do tell then. What did Dexter do?"
"I mean, besides being socially awkward…" I said, trying to think of one time that wasn't brought up by my kids. "One time Jenny was teaching Dexter how to fire a gun, still concerned about my baby with a gun, but he at least wanted to learn how to use one…literally walked by and what I see…" I chuckled at the memory. "Poor kid had Jenny behind him and was going to hold his hands to teach him how to hold properly, I'm pretty sure the moment she made physical contact he fired the gun."
"Euphemism!" Dad called out with a laugh.
"Oh my, even his own mother? Poor boy definitely needs a girl. Maybe this Brenda will be good for him." Mom said.
"Considering the moment she shoved his head into her breasts he had that 'unconscious anime face', I'm sure she'll do great for him…especially when I learned that she's a first gen Breeder which is…pretty much the 'best' kind of Breeder and I hate saying that…"
"What's the difference?"
"From what I'm told, first gen are capable of being 'people' without the incessant need to be used, where they can be satisfied by being with their 'master' even if it's just in the same room…so there's at least that…"
"Strange. Does make you wonder, if she's a first generation Breeders she was definitely a person before… wonder who she used to be? That would also make her quite old."
"Yeah, she's been wandering this world for a long time but sadly we might never know what happened…" I sighed. "But to go from 'basically a person' to 'vat grown sex dolls'...it's horrible…"
"True, but what about Diane?"
"Well, she's not a Breeder, sure she was built as a…sex bot by King themselves, but they're different…I know their different than the Breeders."
"The only difference is that Diane can't get pregnant." Mom said.
"And the fact that she's not dependant on being in my mere presence all day everyday without going into a deep depression, can make their own decisions, have more of a personality than 'let's plow', have been a great help around the house and with kids, want me to go on?"
"I'm just saying." Mom said, raising her hands defensively. "You already own one sex bot that had a makeshift Breeder Mod installed, Diane might be programmed differently, but she's built almost the same as these new Breeders you heard Carver talk about."
"Then why in Mother's name would King create something like that? I don't know much about that horny dire wolf but one thing people always say is that they always do something for a purpose…even if that purpose is pure spite." I said, remembering an old legend where King themselves had a bet with someone that you couldn't manufacture Pure Element Gems from Crude Gems and they proved that you can in fact manufacture them like that.
"... I'm not going to claim to know what All Maker King does, for what reasons and why, all I know is they are smart, powerful, heavily marketed, and you owned a full sized plushy of them for years."
"...I'm not apologizing about that." I said a little defensively at my choice in buying a full sized plushy of King. "But I know mom…sorry…"
"It's alright. Whether just for more promotion or some other reason, Diane existing means King is well aware of the situation with Breeders here on Armageddon. So they are most likely doing something."
"Yeah…and Diane is…Diane is special and I'm happy to be with them."
"She is definitely something else." Mom nodded. "It is kinda cute though, your first crush before Casey was All Maker King. Heh, then again who didn't have a crush on some member of The Family at some point."
"That's fair." I said sheepishly. "Can't help myself…I like the floof."
"I've noticed." Mom laughed.
"Yeah yeah." I chuckled. "Just…so many things are changing…"
"Change is natural. For better or worse. Sometimes living so long, it makes things feel stagnant, but still the world and worlds around us are always changing. From the planets to the people."
"I know…just…at least we're experiencing some normalcy here."
"Even this is far better than most others on this planet have it." Mom said with a sigh. "Despite this zones dangers it's safer than most thanks to Carver."
"And Nanny, cause without her we wouldn't be able to have this amount of space to begin with." I brought up.
"True." Mom nodded.
"Yeah…just a lot to think about, and a lot to do still…" I sighed.
"Yeah. Guess I should get back to my house. Your new younger siblings are all pretty bummed out their older nephew is gone."
I chuckled. So weird hearing that, but that's just what happens when you live long enough.
"Yeah, I know…still can't believe you decided to have more kids mom."
"Heh. What can I say, I love being a mother. Besides, haven't had any real contraceptives since we came to this planet and honestly the non-pregnant risking sex was getting kinda dull." Mom chuckled.
Ewww… I mean, I get it, but ewww…
"I didn't need to know or hear that mom…" I whined. "Like, I get it…but ewww…"
"Oh shush." She said, giving me a light tap and push as she chuckled. "I'll see you later then Heather." With that, mom got up and left me alone with the communicator.
I sighed, wishing it would go off already. Come to think of it mom does have a point… haven't found a single condom, infertility potion, nothing for preventing pregnancies anywhere in any loot I've been through. Gotten lucky, especially given the… Infertile bots help to… satisfy that part for Casey and I, when we aren't just shooting it in different holes…
Weird…
"That…is weird…maybe Nanny knows?" I wondered as I got up out of my chair to look for the den mother.
I found the Den Mother in question in the bathroom taking a bath. "Hello Heather." She said with a smile.
"Hey Nanny, sorry for interrupting your bath." I said sheepishly, even after ten years seeing her naked it was still a whole lot of woman to look at.
"It's fine. So, what brings you here? Aside from wanting a peek at me?" She asked with a smirk at my blush.
"W-well, I wanted to ask about the lack of…protection as it were." I said carefully.
"Oh that? It's one of those odd things about Armageddon. Since it was created, a cheap condom is worth more than all the rem in the world on this planet. Contraceptives of any kind just dont spawn in loot here. You can make them but that takes some time and resources."
"That's…really weird, why would this place not have contraceptives in it's loot?" I asked.
"Nobody knows. Anyone capable of producing them can make a fortune in the markets in various settlements. Even the Chaos Guilds have a market for them."
"Well then…that's good to know." I hummed. "Still weird though…like the planet wants people to have kids or something."
"Heh, careful, say that around the wrong people and they might mistake you for a Nexus Cultist."
"Oh God, I'd rather not be mistook for one of those lunatics…they're the reason we're here to begin with…"
Nanny nodded, sinking more into the bath with a sigh. "So, any ideas how expansion is gonna work?"
"Just one bit at a time I suppose." I shrugged. "I try and clear out an area and you set up a safe zone where we can set up more guns."
"Guess that's as simple as we can make it. Gonna have to train someone in the spells though. Even I have my limits on how big I can cast the barrier spell."
"That's fair…gonna be rough but I'm sure we can make it all work." I said honestly.
"Hopefully." She sighed.
I left Nanny to her bath and sat on the bed. I just stared up at the ceiling waiting… been… three hours huh? Feels like days…
I got up, walked out of the bedroom and down to my trophy room. Haven't been in here that much. Not since the kids.
I opened the door, seeing my various weapons I've collected still resting where I placed them. The rooms automatic cleaning keeping them dust free for all these years. God's… I actually feel old…
"It's been…way too long since I've been in here…" I muttered.
I walked around the room, soaking in the memories, the emotions… the Amy eating cookies in- wait what?
I locked eyes with my daughter who was eating a whole pack of Oreos by herself on one of the benches I kept in here.
"Excuse me little lady." I frowned, crossing my arms. "What are you doing in here?*
"... I keep my sweets hidden in here from Jack…" She said.
"Alright, so how did you get in here when I'm sure I had this place locked?"
"Air vent…"
Oh… thought that was rats…
"Best not do that again, I thought we had rats in the house." I said. "Now, are you going to share some with me given you're using my treasure room?"
"Oh that's what this place is?" She asked, handing me a handful of Oreos as I sat next to her. "Where'd you even get all this stuff?"
"Dungeon runs, weapon shops…and eBay." I said sheepishly at the last part as I started ot eat some of the Oreos. "All of these are my pride and joys, as I have been trying to get every sword in Existence for my personal collection."
"... What's eBay?" Amy asked.
I sighed, pulling her close and against me. Maybe one day she can learn about the wonders of the Internet and online shopping.
"Something that we might never get to see because Internet service here is awful." I said honestly. "But which sword would you like to know about?"
"Uhh…" She looked around. "Where'd you get that one?" She asked, pointing at a blue blade. Brotherhood.
"Ah, that sword is Brotherhood." I said, walking over and gently picking up the blade, the blade moving and shimmering like pure clear water on an untouched beach. "I got this from fighting the secret boss of a two star dungeon in Besaid, it's a rare drop even then so I was super happy to have obtained this." I said as I lightly swung the blade as bubbles trailed around it to show that it was imbued with the Water element.
"Where's this Besaid place?"
"It was on a planet named 'Fantasy', where it was a collection of every Final Fantasy world put on it."
"What's Final Fantasy?" I clenched my heart and fell flat on my back. "Mom?" Amy asked as I reached a hand dramatically into the air.
"I…I see the light…the light comes for me in my old age…" I said weakly. "I can see the great beyond Amy…it's so bright…"
"I think that's just the lights…" She said, tossing an Oreo at my mouth.
I caught and ate the oreo that was thrown in my mouth. "You make me feel old when you said that Amy…"
"You are kinda old mom."
Oof! My fragile ego…
"Why must you betray me like this Amy?"
"Har har." She said, throwing me another Oreo I caught. "So, what is Final Fantasy then?"
I sat up… hmm… actually… those should all still be in storage around here somewhere…
"Hmm, how about I show you? Cause I'm sure we still have our old game consoles and games."
I began rooting through my old stuff. Damn these boxes are dusty. Okay where is it, where is it… ah! Here you are!
I pulled out my dust caked covered Playstation 400. Played the hell out of this thing when I was Amy's age… my gods I am old…
I shook my head. Whatever, it has all my games on here anyway including all the Final Fantasy games. From fifteen alternative reflection development studios.
"Alright, time to take you on a big adventure Amy."
I quickly dusted and wiped the console, wires and controller off and pushed the button… push again… push… oh crap…
"Is it broken?" Amy asked.
"No…no it can't be broken…" I muttered, gently opening it up and checking to see if it all worked. "Please don't tell me…"
Popping the case off I was greeted by… dust… so… much… dust… oh… yeah that explains it…
"How long has that been sitting there?!" Amy yelped in surprise.
"For…a while…" I said carefully. "But nothing like a quick dusting can't fix." I said, pulling out a can of air to start dusting this thing off.
The dust from the console might be in my lungs now but the thing is clean… can't say the same for the carpet. Now for the moment of truth.
I pushed the button.
Beep!
It turned on.
It took a bit but loaded up to- Oh shit I forgot that was my old profile picture!
"What is that guy sucking that ice pop like that?" Amy asked with her head tilted.
I immediately covered her eyes with my tail. "I need you to forget this and never talk about it." I said as I quickly changed my profile picture to the default one. "Why does this keep happening today!?" I mentally whined at the amount of embarrassing shit that happened to me today.
I entered my profi-aaaaaahhhh!
Why was this my wallpaper?!
Sweet Mother no wonder mom and dad have so many embarrassing stories about me, I made it easy!
I quickly reset my wallpaper and profile picture to default and booted up Final Fantasy X. With a sigh I uncovered Amy's eyes and gave her the controller.
"So, why was your wallpaper a bunch of shirtless buff guys?"
"You'll figure that out when your older and you will never speak of this again."
"But-"
"Never speak of this again." I answered bluntly. "Fuck me sideways…I have a problem…"
The game started up and I helped Amy through the first few fights and bosses then watched her play once she got ahold of it.
"What do you think of the game so far?" I asked with a smile, hoping she would have long forgotten about my apparent need for a reverse harem.
"It's okay. But…"
"But?" I asked carefully.
"I have no idea what's going on in this story."
"How so?" I inquired, thinking FFX's story is rather simple to follow to be honest, and while Amy is a kid, I know she's smart enough to follow along.
"Uh… for starters… which one is Tidus?"
My face hit the floor with an audible thud.
"Are…are you kidding me?" I asked, not believing that my kid was…"He's the main character, the one you've been controlling this entire time…"
"Oh…"