Magnus was not looking forward to meeting with the Wolf King, even if it was for the sole purpose of helping their little sister. It was no secret the scholarly Primarch and his warrior brother did not get along at all. Russ constantly picked a fight with him over his use of magic or something trivial, and he responded in kind while not at all caring about the massive rift between them. And he was growing tired of the constant jabs from the feral wolf.
It was close to the three week mark since he had begun his mission, and he had finally met up with the second to last group of his siblings to get their pieces of the puzzle assembled. Lion, Corvus, Kahn and Russ had grouped up on Caliban and had waited the longest for him to show up.
"About damn time!" Russ said as soon as he materialized in the Dark Angels' stronghold. "What took you so long?"
"Doing my job," he responded, holding up the now mostly complete puzzle. "Dorn and Purturabo are the last two I need to meet up with."
Lion, Kahn and Corvus wasted no time in slotting their pieces in and Russ followed suit after letting out a huff.
"So, why did half of Alesia's mind materialize in the materium?" Russ asked, not starting a squabble with the Scarlet King for once.
"I…honestly don't know," Magnus admitted. "I can understand why it manifested as the Millennium Puzzle as Yu-Gi-Oh is one of her favorite anime shows, but I can't think of why it would manifest physically. Even Father is confused by this."
"Wow. Something has stumped the Emperor!" Corvus snorted in amusement. "However, this entire situation is concerning. Remember what occurred when the puzzle was completed in Yu-Gi-Oh? What will happen when the puzzle is assembled?"
"A valid concern, but we won't know what will happen until the puzzle is complete. As it is, the more the puzzle gets put together, the more stable our sister's condition becomes. All we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
As much as they didn't want to think of the worst case scenario, they knew it was a very likely possibility that their little sister might never wake up even if the puzzle was complete. After Magnus left them to retrieve the last bits of Alesia's mind, they came to a silent decision.
Malcador stroked one of the wolves laying next to the comatose Princess. The psychic walls were repaired, reconstruction was underway for the damaged parts of the Imperial Palace, and he was finally able to visit his honorary niece.
"Has there been any changes?" He asked Erda. Some of the tubes had been removed recently as more and more of the child's mind was reconstructed. Alesia's wolves were constantly by her side, only moving when Erda or the Apothecary tended to the Princess or to stretch their legs.
It had been twenty-three days since the Imperial Princess fell into a coma from their machinations, her mind shattered as a consequence. Magnus regularly reported in his progress, and with every piece assembled the child's health improved. Lorgar was a near constant presence around the Princess when he wasn't needed for the restoration efforts. Malcador couldn't help but feel melancholic every time he overheard the tattooed Primarch speak to the child, even if she might not hear his words fully.
"None that I can tell. She has half of her mind reassembled now…" Erda said, scratching the head of one of the female wolves.
"Yet she remains comatose." The Sigilite sighed. "Revelation will be by later. Where has Lorgar gone off to?"
"Checking in with his Legion. He has certainly stepped up to assist in the recovery work."
"Indeed, he has," the elderly man briefly smiled in pride over Lorgar's personal growth.
It was late into the night when the Emperor was finally free to visit his youngest child. Ever since the day his daughter's mind shattered, he had been focused mostly on the restoration of the Palace, repairing the Astronomicon, and organizing disaster relief for areas outside the Palace that were nearly devastated by the incident. Despite all the preparations, the containment room had not been enough to contain the psychic shockwave that followed severing Alesia's connection to the Warp. However, it could have been much, much worse, he knew.
He gently laid his hand on hers, noting the warmth her skin had gained since he'd last visited. Watching the Apothecary hook his daughter to machines at first had been heart breaking, but now, watching his son talking to his comatose sister, it fully registered to him that he truly saw Alesia as his daughter and that he had let himself grow attached to her. She wasn't like the Primarchs, the children he'd engineered to be the perfect tools to unite humanity; he had raised her, despite the fact that she had the mind of an adult.
"Father," Lorgar's voice brought him out of his musings. "It's so…odd not to hear her voice."
"I vividly remember the nights after she was born," he said. "After her powers were first sealed, she had been plagued by constant nightmares."
Lorgar stared, wide eyed. He had not told any of his older children of this. It wasn't something any parent would want to speak of.
"She couldn't rest for long before night terrors haunted her. We were constantly having to suppress the nightmares for the first two days of her life. Those two days…those two days were among the most difficult days to experience as a parent, but now this silence is so much worse."
His son remained silent, clearly unable to find any words to say to this revelation. The tattooed man just petted on of the wolves guarding the Princess. Then, all four wolves perked up and looked towards the doors.
Both men turned just as the doors opened and Magnus, Mortarion and Horus entered the room. The gold puzzle in Magnus's hands was nearly complete now.
"The moment of truth," said Magnus as he held out the puzzle to him.
Neoth took out his piece, the final piece to the puzzle, and slotted it in.