I'd had Brian lead a team of synths and Legion members into Goodneighbor. They had been instructed to go to the newly established Memory Den and appropriate the memory loungers. Doctor Imari was invited to join the Ala Miraculorum, whole Irma was compensated for the time that we had the loungers so that the scientists of the Ala Miraculorum could replicate the memory viewing technology. It took five months to recreate the loungers and fine tune them. However, thanks to Dr. Imari, the improvements made in that time allowed us several options that the original mechanisms simply couldn't have handled.
The entire project from the trip to Goodneighor, to the research and development of our own memory viewers was kept secret. I didn't want anyone to know about it because I didn't want any other Enclave spies to get away. As far as everyone was concerned, things were business as usual while we established Legion law in the region. Serena was held in prison without being allowed to have any visitors, and the only people allowed to interact with her were members of the Legion who'd originally come with Malpaius. No one who could have been a possible Enclave spy would have anything remotely close to access to her until I had scoured our forces' minds for the truth.
When the memory viewers were finished, we began two different campaigns. First, we created several mobile memory stations. Half of the stations were also equipped with compact medical labs so that we could do health check-ups and bloodwork. These vehicles were sent north to begin testing every civilian registered with the Legion. They would have their health and blood checked while they rested in the memory chambers. The doctors would send the recorded memories to a special team in the Ala Miraculorum who would scour their memories for any mention of the Enclave.
The second half of the vehicles were set up as virtual training simulators. Legion forces were put on a schedule and were required to attend the simulations. We used the explanation that the simulations would allow us to train members in combat situations without putting them in danger. While they went through the sims, the trainers scanned through the soldier's memories and recorded them. These recordings were sent to the Ala Miraculorum for inspection.
The process to scan every citizen and every soldier took us nearly a year, which set us back on our time schedule. Neither Malpaius or I were pleased with the halt in forward progress, but the need to weed out any other Enclave agents was paramount to ensure that other assassination attempts could be prevented. Serena was given the medical version of the memory treatment so as not to arouse her suspicions.
Whenever a citizen or Legion soldier was discovered to have been compromised by the Enclave, we took measures to track them and integrate a loyal, original Legion soldier in their life. That soldier would watch and take note of their actions, who spoke to them, who they contacted, methods of contact, and benefits they might have received. We didn't imprison them since that would set off alarms with the Enclave. We wanted them comfortable, believing that Serena was the only person that was connected to them while we seemed to be fortifying our territory.
It was a year after Serena attempted to kill me before we finally worked things through and decided to visit her. T'Preea and Meirune followed behind me as a Legion guard led us down the hall to Serena's cell. The hall was empty save for Serena so we didn't have to worry about someone overhearing us. Serena was waiting on her cot as I sat down on a chair that had been brought for me.
"I'm glad you're alright," Serena smiled at me.
"I know," I sighed and smiled sadly. "Will you tell me what you remember?"
Serena groaned and crossed her arms, "I've already told the interrogators everything. I don't know what else you want me to say."
"I want you to tell me why," I said flatly. "I was hoping there was some mind control or maybe some form of coercion. I wanted to believe that there was something that forced you to betray us… But there wasn't. You did it willingly. Why?"
The look Serena gave me broke my heart. She didn't look at me like a friend, or even an ally. She looked at me the way Seven would look at me. She saw me like someone deserving of all of her hate and vitriol.
"Cailan," she hissed. She stood up and walked up to the bars of her cell to look down at me. "The day you murdered Cailan was the day you lost my loyalty. Instead of just going with my plan, you decided to make your own. You believed in me so little that you couldn't trust me to convince Maric to name Alistair and I to be his heirs."
I began to protest but she cut me off with a shout, "And to add insult to injury, you bought Gwaren and threatened me with Harvester attacks! And Why? Because God forbid you owe someone a favor! Because you always have to have the upper hand! As powerful as you are, as influential as you were, you still couldn't stand to owe me anything! I spent the rest of my life wondering if I was being good enough, being amenable enough so that you wouldn't simply kill me to get a better standing in any negotiation!"
"Why wouldn't I hate you?!" she screamed. She grabbed the bars and looked at me with disgust. "And then I heard you on the radio here in the Wasteland. Do you know what that did to me? I had hoped… HOPED… that you were like everyone else this time around. Just a normal human with a way with words. But no! You still have your magic. You still have your titan abilities. And now you can do even more! You're a monster! A freak! And no one should have to bow to you just because you want the world to work a certain way!"
"Shut up!" T'Preea shouted from the side.
Serena and I both looked at her in surprise.
"You act like what Merida did was any different than what you did to Trianna or myself," T'Preea growled and marched up to the cell, pointing an accusatory finger. "Do you not remember saying that you weren't sure you could convince the King that the Alienage should be put under the leadership of an elf if I didn't agree to help you with Ostagar! Or that you couldn't guarantee that my restaurant could stay open if I didn't agree to teach my recipes to the King's chefs. You threatened my well being and the well being of the elves over some food and aid for Ostagar!"
"That was different!" Serena refuted.
"You're right!" T'Preea cut her off. "It was less important and more petty! You were willing to ruin lives over some stupid recipes! Merida elevated your life by killing someone you were more than willing to kill to get what you wanted anyway! Hell, she even sent the darkspawn down to Orlimar as a destruction while she hunted the old gods but you don't see me complaining. And who can blame her for holding the Harvesters over your head when you kept trying to reintegrate Ostagar, the Wildlands, and the Gwaren after Maric died!"
"If you had been more steadfast in your loyalty and less of an oathbreaker, you would never have had to worry!" T'Preea put her hands on her hips. "But your aspirations to take back the lands we rightfully gained after we had built them up for you were disgusting! You think Merida is a monster? Then what are you? You're no better! Neither am I! You can't rule without being some kind of monster! Only monsters can do what's necessary for the sake of their people! So don't go hating Merida just because she outmaneuvered you!"
"That's enough, both of you," I said quietly. I was staring up at Serena. "You're right. I should never have threatened you. I have always considered you a friend. And you're not wrong… I don't like anyone having an advantage over me. I don't like owing favors. But I would never have done anything to hurt you."
I stood and approached the cell, phasing through it by shifting into the magical realm. Serena stepped back, afraid of what I might do to her. I simply walked up to her and hugged her. She froze, not willing to react in fear of how I might respond.
I looked up at her, "I was so happy to see you again. And I hated what I did to Cailan. But I did it for you! I was hoping we could work together again to make the world a better place. I'm willing to try again… but the leadership requires some concessions from you."
Serena looked at me, trying to discern if I was being sincere or if I was trying to deceive her. She was hesitant and I couldn't blame her. She'd been in this cell for nearly a year now without anyone other than her jailers and doctors to talk to. I could understand her hesitancy.
"Before you answer," T'Preea said quickly, "there's something else we need to know about you."
"What's that?" Serena asked as I released her and phased back through the bars.
"What was your name in your first life?" T'Preea asked.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Serena said, clearly not understanding the question's relevance. "I'm not that person anymore. I haven't been that person for two lifetimes now."
"Because we've figured out that Merida, Faren, and I all knew each other in our first life," T'Preea explained. "The chances of that happening have to be almost impossible. So if we can figure out who you were, and if you had some connection to one of us, we might be able to start figuring out how all of this is happening to us."
Serena looked at T'Preea as if she wasn't sure if she was telling her the truth or not.
"Faren was my wife in our first life," I offered. "We were married in twenty twenty-two, and lived in Florida. We-"
"Well there goes your theory," Serena shook her head, not letting me finish. "I never lived in Florida."
"Didn't know anyone that lived in Florida or anything?" T'Preea asked, her tone insistent.
"Not really…" Serena said as she tried to dig through her memories. "I had half brothers who lived there but I only ever met one of them when I was maybe ten."
"What was his name?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
"David," Serena replied.
Before she could completely finish the response, T'Preea and I both began to laugh.
"What? What's going on? Why is that funny?" Serena demanded as she became confused.
"Let me guess," I said as I smiled up at her, "you lived in New Hampshire. Little one-light town in the middle of nothing."
"Y-yeah…" Serena stammered. "How did you-"
"And your brother was older than you and was named after your dad, right?" I pressed.
'Y-... How did you know that?" she asked, growing more surprised.
"Because I was the one who took you to your first movie in a movie theater," I smiled. "And! I taught you how to headbang!"
Serena stared at me wide-eyed, "How… Wait. You can't be serious…"
I grinned wide up at her, "Now you're in even more trouble for betraying your big brother, Erika!"
"You know my name? Oh my God…" Merida groaned as she put her face in her palm. "You've got to be kidding me. So we are actually connected…"
"And it would seem Merida is that connection," T'Preea looked at me. "So is this all your fault somehow?"
"How could it be my fault? You died before I did!" I protested. "And she died after I did! And I didn't have any powers or anything in my first life, so this can't be my fault."
"You are the only one who got magic and powers in Thedas," Serena mused. "You kept them, and added to them when we reincarnated into this world. Something is going on with you more than the rest of us."
"Well, it's not like I have any control over it," I sighed. "Besides, that's not what we're here to discuss. We're here to try and save you."
Serena's expression saddened, "I doubt we can do that without arousing suspicion."
I sat back down and put myself into a more serious mindset, "Tell me this; was Seven your contact or was it someone else in the Enclave?"
"Seven," Serena said. "But he didn't say he was Seven. I didn't know that until you told me his name in this world."
"And what did he want you to do?" I asked.
"Originally he just wanted information," Serena explained. "I was supposed to keep track of you, troop movements, patrol schedules, that sort of stuff."
"And did you recruit for the Enclave?" I canted my head to the side.
"What? No!" Serena shook her head. "As far as I know, I'm the only person they have working for them."
"You are not," Meirune corrected her. "We've found dozens of others who have been compromised."
"I swear, I didn't know," Serena proclaimed.
"Oh, we know," I said as I crossed my arms. "We looked through your memories to make sure. I just wanted to see if you would tell me the truth."
"Wait," Serena said suspiciously, "how did you do that?"
"I'll tell you later," I dismissed the question. "What I need to know is whether or not you're willing to submit to the concessions that the leadership requires of you."
It was clear that Serena was wrestling with what she had done and with the idea that we could possibly forgive her. She clearly was wondering what she would have to do to earn that forgiveness. She walked back to her cot and sat down.
"I don't think I deserve the chance," she sighed.
"Why don't you listen to the requirements before you make a decision," T'Preea said.
She nodded quietly and waved for us to tell her.
"The Legate requires that you agree to allow someone to watch you until he feels comfortable with your loyalty again," Mierune began.
"So an escort to ensure I don't get out of line," Serena translated.
Mierune nodded, "That is the gist of it. I would require that one of my deathclaws also be there to watch you."
Serena let out a defeated laugh, "Why? So it can eat me if I try anything?"
"Not necessarily eat you…" Mierune replied.
"Just kill me," Serena said.
Mierune nodded.
Serena looked at me, "I'm not stupid enough to think that you don't have some kind of requirement. Let's hear it."
I chuckled, regardless of how defeated she sounded, "I do have a few requirements. First, you will connect with the others who have been contacted by the Enclave and convince them that you need to have their information passed to you so that you can coordinate their efforts."
"So you can find out what the Enclave is up to," Serena clarified.
"After that, you will feed faulty information to Seven and the others so that we can begin a misinformation campaign," I continued. "You will be allowed to retain your position in the Angeli de Steel, but overall command will be granted to Malpaius. You can make decisions, but if Malpaius disagrees, he can override them. At least until we're sure that Seven and the Enclave no longer have any influence over you, or we have taken care of them completely."
"It seems like you just want to keep me around so you can use me against Seven," Serena moaned.
"Believe me when I say that's not the only reason I want you to stay with us, but I can't ignore the strategic advantage you would give us," I admitted. "I have thousands of people under my command and thousands more under my rule that I have to think of. You can't even imagine the arguments I had with Malpaius to get him to give you another chance. If all I wanted was a pipeline to Seven, I could have used one of the others the Enclave contacted."
I stood up from my chair and approached the bars, "But I'm hoping you'll agree that having the few of us who know what it's like to be shunted from one world to another should stick together. We're at least the most consistent of friends so far… and since we all share some sort of link from our first life, we shouldn't throw away that link over misunderstandings a literal lifetime ago. So, please, say you'll agree to join us again and stand with me and T'Preea so that the Fated can change the world again."
Serena looked at me and I couldn't tell what was going through her mind. I could understand why she might have been upset about what I had done back in Thedas, but I didn't think it had affected her that much. I wanted her to choose the friendship we had fostered at Ostagar and cultivated over years as rules of our people. We had a chance to start over and build something that would change the course of the entire world. As we all waited for what she would say, I realized that her decision would shape how we would move forward from this point on.