In the grim dark future, tears were a commodity she could hardly afford to shed. Today was a rare day where Alesia let the tears flow after she bid farewell to her nanny.
"My Lady, this isn't goodbye forever," Kithes soothed her in the privacy of her quarters. "You two will keep contact and can meet up when you have the time."
"I know, Kithes," she hiccuped and tried to compose herself. Her younger body didn't help in keeping her emotions in check; as a Commissar, she had no issues masking her feelings. "I'm just too emotional for my own good!"
"And that is why the Imperium loves you the most," her guard patted her head, earning a scowl from her. Then he went quiet, tilting his head to indicate he was receiving a message through his helmet's communications device. "Your father is calling for you, Princess. We are to meet him at the Inner Sanctum of the Elysian Gardens."
"Did he say why he's summoning me?" Being called to meet the Emperor twice in the same week; she didn't know if this was a good thing or if this was a sign she was meddling too much with the time line. At the very least, she knew the previous timeline was completely rewritten starting from when the Emperor merged with his past self.
"He has something to discuss with you."
Neoth didn't have to wait long to see his youngest child after he called for her. While he waited, he enjoyed sampling some of the strawberry species that were growing in abundance. He felt pride swell in his chest as he observed how much the gardens had grown and flourished under his daughter's and her dedicated team of scientists' care.
By the time Alesia and her Custodes guard approached the Inner Sanctum, the Emperor of Mankind knew his daughter was eager to assist the Imperium in improving the lives of it's denizens. He knew her well enough that she had been looking into building greenhouses in hive cities to help provide better nourishment for it's populace.
"Father, you called for me?" Alesia curtsied and Kithes stood off to the side.
"I did, Alesia," Neoth gestured to the opposite seat. "Sit, my child. I wanted to discuss your little project."
"Project?" She looked confused, not knowing what he was referring to as she sat opposite to him.
"You have been researching greenhouse construction lately, and I overheard you and one of your botanists discuss transporting cultivated plants to distant worlds. Am I right to assume you are seeking to aide the Imperium through establishing sources of food on distant worlds that need the assistance?"
"You…You don't think it's a far fetched idea?" She was genuinely surprised he had known about her project; Magnus didn't even know about this.
"It is a massive undertaking is what it is, my dear daughter. One I am sure you and Guilliman, maybe some of your other siblings as well, would be more than capable to handle."
"Wait, you're green lighting this? I haven't even come up with a solid plan to start a project on this scale!"
"That is why you will be collaborating with your siblings in this endeavor, but Guilliman will remain at your side and oversee your progress as well as advise you."
"But, aren't the Primarchs all busy with their own stuff? Is it really okay for them to take time out to help me?"
"You do realize we are talking of the same people that were constantly babysitting you when you were a baby, and some of them had to be forcefully removed from Terra to get them back to work? They are more than willing to help you with this project so long as they can spare the time and resources. If anything, you would only be worrying about keeping them from taking the majority of the work off your shoulders if not all of it."
Alesia looked as though she was having a hard time believing what she was hearing from him. Neoth had to admit to himself that he may have sprung too much on her too soon, yet he knew she was the right person for this task. He reached out to her psychically, intending to point out that she had experience in organizing large scale operations from her life as a Commissar, but found her mentally spiraling again. His daughter was mentally battling all of the insecurities her first life scarred her with, trying to believe the man before her thought her capable enough to handle such a massive undertaking. This was not the time to bring up her past life, so he shifted gears and did the next best thing by being the father she needed in that moment.
"Alesia, my daughter, I would not be entertaining this idea if I did not think you were capable of handling such a task. You have gone beyond my expectations with the care and expansions of the Elysian Gardens while also supplying the palace with a reliable additional food source. If anything, I am proud of the woman you are becoming."
She perked up when he told all of that to her and he could tell her spiral had slowed. He should have addressed this earlier in her current life; this oversight was coming back to haunt them, especially her as she had to constantly fight with herself with inner demons her first life had given her in spades. He never delved deep into the memories regarding her life in the second and third millennium, but he had an idea of how bad her first family treated her due to a disability she would be diagnosed with as an adult.
However, there were certain things from that life that brought her joy and a reason to continue living when all seemed bleak to her.
"I believe Guilliman has already made a list of potential hive cities to begin construction of the greenhouses and Perturabo has been drafting plans for these buildings, but they are still working out a few things. They will meet with you later to iron out the details. In the meantime, a Tecpriest has requested yours and Magnus's help in testing something."
"A Tecpriest? And they asked for me and Magnus? What could they need help with if they're asking for me and the Sorcerer Supreme of the Imperium?"
Neoth chuckled at her reference and mentally made a note to get some popcorn ready.
"I have so many questions. First, who introduced the Mechanicus to Yu-Gi-Oh? Second, why in all that is holy did they take the time to make a Duel Disk system?"
Alesia, after speaking with her father, had followed him to a spacious lab deep in the palace and was greeted by an over excited Tecpriest. Poor Magnus got roped into this test run earlier and got to watch his sister get outfitted with a highly decorative Duel Disk. The Emperor just stood off to the side with a giant bowl of popcorn and enjoying his children's discomfort.
"Trust me sister, I'm just as befuddled as you are," Magnus said from fifteen feet away, a similar Duel Disk latched onto his right arm that was decorated more to his personal taste. His took more inspiration of his home of Prospero, while hers was mostly gold and had motifs of unicorns. "But why does your Disk have unicorns?"
"It was recorded that the Imperial Princess is partial to this mythical creature," the Tecpriest that called for their assistance spoke. "Also, the Emperor agreed that she would like the design."
Alesia shot her massive father a glare that promised retribution later. At least she knew who was to blame for this. The bloody closeted otaku!
"Come now, let's see it in action!" The Emperor encouraged them, clearly enjoying the moment and eager to see things play out.
Alesia and Magnus activated their Duel Disks and drew their cards, and that's as far the duel went. Exodia the Forbidden One appeared on her side of the duel field and Obliterated Magnus's life points to zero.
"I don't think I've ever won at turn zero," she said, thoroughly surprised and with a sense of deja vu while Magnus reshuffled his deck for a rematch and the Tecpriest muttered to himself as he made notes. That's not entirely true…Exodia came out five times in a row when going up against a cheater, no matter how many times I reshuffled my deck.
She took out her deck…and realized this was her deck. The same deck she used in her first life to win three world tournaments in a row as a child. The deck she poured her heart into and kept with her until she died. The cards were newly printed, but they were the same monsters, traps and spells she had chosen back then to be her team.
Her vision blurred as she shifted the cards and tears streamed down her face as memories of dueling fellow duelists flooded her brain. All the smiling faces, the friendly handshakes after a duel, sharing strategies with others and encouraging each other on. She never expected to win any tournaments, she'd only ever played for the fun of the game and found herself winning while having the time of her life. It was one of the rare few times she had any real fun back then and no one could mercilessly degrade her for gaining a full ride scholarship through her wins.
"Little sister?" Magnus's hand gently gripped her shoulder. It was then that she noticed that she was on her knees and her brother was kneeling. She let him see her memories as a duelist. He understood and brought her into a tight hug.
Neoth didn't have to shoo away the Tecpriest as he had shuffled away some minutes ago to make a better Duel Disk design. He approached his children and rubbed Alesia's back as she finally let herself be vulnerable for a short while. This was the first time she'd exposed herself in this life, and if he played this right, this would be the perfect time for her to bond with Magnus and then later with the rest of her siblings.
He was not going to squander this second chance. Neoth knew he had ruined his chances of securing loyalty with several of his children before he gained the memories of his first life, but now his youngest presented an opportunity to rectify the situation and possibly prevent a scenario like the Horus Heresy. First though, his second daughter needed some much overdue parental love and care. If he could, he would have gone back in time and mercilessly slap her first parents for the mental hell they put her through.
"So, rematch?" Magnus asked after a long moment and Alesia began to calm down. "Maybe Exodia will let us duel for real this time?"
Alesia openly shared a memory with them. It was from a time when she was competing in a tournament, and Exodia came out on the first draw five times when she went up against a cheater that would later get banned during the event. She had wanted a proper duel, but her unstoppable monster had other ideas and set a record that by all means seemed impossible to even happen in the first place. Both men chuckled at her clear frustration at the time then bursted into laughter when the judge in her memory asked for someone in the audience to run the math on the likelihood for someone to draw the same monster five times in a row.
"You do have a knack for making the improbable happen," Magnus said between chuckles. "I think I remember seeing the vod for that not too long ago. Maybe Perturabo or Dorn can figure out the probability of that happening themselves."
"I think someone said it was 0.000000001% of happening at all," she finally calmed down enough to speak. "I…I'm sorry for breaking down like that."
"No, there is nothing for you to apologize for," Neoth reminded her. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing for springing this on you. Had I known the Mechanicus would give you your old deck, I would not have let this test commence."
"Can we all agree that this was just bad coincidence?" Asked Magnus. "Today's just been an emotionally charged day. You, sister, really need a break and some wolf therapy."
"After my meeting with the head botanist of the Gardens. We kinda have a strawberry problem," she stood back up with the help of her brother.
"A strawberry problem?" Neoth asked. This was the first he heard of this. "What kind of problem do you have with those?"
"You know they can propagate through sprouting runners right? We have over 500 viable runners that have taken root and we're about to run out of room for them."
He openly stared wide eyed at her. Magnus's jaw hung. That…was very unusual. It was very difficult to get runners to take root and thrive. What kind of fertilizer were they using in the Elysian Gardens?
"H…How?!" Magnus managed to get out once he processed what he was hearing. He, Dorn and Nekona had helped her research the best way to cultivate and grow all the fruit and vegetable plants in the Gardens. In Magnus's eyes, this shouldn't be this big of a problem.
"500 viable runners? What will you do with them?" Neoth asked his daughter.
"I was going to send a portion of them to Ultramar and the rest to worlds in need of assistance with food supplies. That's what I was discussing with the botanists earlier this week; we were ironing out the logistics with Guilliman and building greenhouses dedicated to cultivating these plants with Perturabo on the worlds receiving these specimens."
"Perturabo's building greenhouses?" Magnus sounded as though he didn't believe that part. "Since when?"