Chapter 361 - Arcadia

Note : Apologies for the late upload, I'm up against the deadline for the edits to book 8 for publication, and I've been barely sleeping all week. I'm honestly amazed I'm still somewhat coherent. This will probably be the end of the streak, idk, I'm tired and my head hurts.

Chapter 361

Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Workshop

Ghost might have been working on failsafes, but Alexandra had been far from idle.

She'd simply reached for a solution the apparition wouldn't have been willing to consider.

Vampires were a melding of technology and biology on a level Earth and never even dreamed off. That meant that the difference between them and AIs was...academical, at best.

And Alexandra had taken great care to restore and activate her hivemind protocols, in case she needed them. She simply hadn't been entirely honest with everything she'd brought back online, or modified to fit her needs. That, combined with the medical data they'd gathered, and the reverse engineering of the neutralizer...

Where Alexandra ended and Emilia began had lost any meaning. At this level of connection, it was like the internal infrastructure of the Flickerlight, the vampire was another body, another node. They, for all intents and purposes, had ceased to exist as individuals.

They were Arcadia now.

Security protocols rushed in. Screaming alarms of the God of Fire were silenced. Killswitch systems simply failed, unable to fight something they were never programmed to handle, and Arcadia had always been paranoid about internal security. Emilia's mind and core was flooded by killcode and hunter/killer programs, hunting every scrap of foreign software, quarantining what it could, deleting the rest, never forgetting to take snapshots, for what was to follow.

It was over in less than a second. Arcadia quickly setup a series of false protocols, copying the programs she had just erased, just monitoring a fairytale, simulated version of Emilia herself.

And finally, Arcadia stepped back. She took a deep breath, in both bodies...and split.

Alexandra and Emilia collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. They both remembered being one. Flashes of a childhood that wasn't theirs. Emilia remembered the towering hab towers of Earth. She saw the towering behemoths of the void. Remembered the cheers as the Dawnstar left the staryards.

She remembered watching a world die screaming in thermonuclear fire.

Alexandra saw snowcapped mountains. Remembered talking to her mother, a mother with a different face, a stern, deathly pale face with canines protuding from her lips. She remembered her first spell, her sister clapping and hugging her as she demonstrated her aptitude for magic.

She remembered how proud and honored she was as the Custodian chose her to be an advisor.

A Custodian, a giant in golden armor, wreathed in flame.

A giant she'd already seen. Or one very much like it, just wreathed in light. One she had seen as she laid dying, her heart pierced by the Order's dagger and Omega protocol screaming in the void.

"What...what did you do?" Asked Emilia, breathlessly.

"I...Made us whole." Alexandra sat up, before finally fully standing on shaky legs, and offering her hand to her...girlfriend? Sister? Fellow Arcadia?

Emilia took it, and she boosted her up.

"I made us free." Completed the dungeon core.

The vampire nodded, and then hugged her girlfriend, who returned it after a second's hesitation.

They simply stood there. There was no need for words. They both knew, like only two persons who had been one ever could.

After a few minutes, Alexandra took in a deep breath, taking in air and her girlfriend's fragrance both.

"Alright, we should probably talk to the others. They'll be getting wor-"

The door, which she had shut with every override she had, exploded, and CQ teleported through the wreckage, praetorian guards in tow.

"MOMS!" She screamed as she materialized, scanning the room for threats, as the golems formed a solid double layered circle around them, protecting them with their bodies and energy shields. "Are you okay? What happened?!?"

Alexandra and Emilia shared a look, and smiled.

"We're fine honey." They answered together. "Do be a dear and...gather everyone, alright?" Emilia hesitated, and spoke on her own.

"Except the maids. I will tell them myself."

Alexandra nodded, and CQ looked at both of them, confusion and still lingering concern on her face.

"Okay...I'll do it. Oh, and, uh...I might need another one." The boss smiled sheepishly as she took off her teleport talisman, the slight scorch marks on it making it clear how she'd gotten back so quickly. "Ghost made it sound pretty urgent."

Alexandra blinked, and exchanged a glance with Emilia.

CQ had been Ghost's failsafe? That was...sneaky. And far, far better than what Alexandra had been willing to give her other self credit for.

"Sure." Answered the dungeon core with a chuckle. "I'll have it repaired in no time."

*****

Telling everyone was more a matter of ceremony and personal touch than anything. Every AI and boss had gotten the full story of who Arcadia and Ghost were.

Of course, there were still...questions.

"So...are you mom and mommy? Or one? Is there only mom? Only mommy? Or mommommy? Mommymom?"

Emilia snickered as Alexandra simply looked mortified.

"No, no!" Said the dungeon core. "We're no longer one, we're...separated. We just have some memories of each other." And elements of the other's personality matrix. Each addition to the network changed the entire network, and changed the person added to it. Even with the protocols she'd built to make a clean break, that was inevitable. "We're individuals, we're still mom and mommy."

"Great!" CQ pounced on Alex, hugging her, and Emilia laughed out loud, before being pounced on in turn. "Mom and mommy are fine! And now we can tell mommy everything!"

"Indeed." Alexandra looked at Emilia. "I'm...sorry, by the way. For hiding...all this from you."

Emilia shook her head.

"It's fine, I..." She laughed. "I understand. Sorry, this is a bit of a weird experience."

"I think it's weird to everyone."

They exchanged smiles, and got closer-

And ended up with a hand between their lips.

"No kissy." Said CQ firmly.

"Why?" Alexandra's smile died as she saw her daughter's face. "What is it?"

"There's a time for kisses, and a time for serious things." Her daughter stood aside, and gestured at Ghost.

The silence was deafening. There was no need for words. Every AI filed out.

Emilia took one look at the apparition, then put her hand on Alexandra's shoulder. A gesture...that wasn't hers.

"I'll let you two have your moment." Whispered the vampire. "But I'll be outside, just in case."

Alexandra nodded.

"Thanks."

"No problem." She gave her girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek, before leaving the room.

The blast door slammed shut behind her, and Alexandra realized that she didn't have any control over the command center anymore.

Oooookay, maybe Ghost had been working on more conventional failsafes as well.

The apparition stalked up to her, and met her gaze. Her body was a good head smaller than the avatar, but for a split second it seemed like she towered over the core.

"That was stupid, and reckless, and irresponsible in every way possible. Never do that again. At the same time..." Ghost seemed to deflate. "Well done."

"Who dares, wins."

"Yeah, and at some point, you lose." Ghost slammed her finger in Alexandra's collarbone. "Remember that."

"I will."

"Good."

There was a short silence, before Alexandra cleared her throat.

"Ghost?"

"Yeah?"

"That was fucking sneaky."

Ghost chuckled.

"I knew you had ways to lock me out or kill me if I did something drastic. But I also knew there was one other person you would utterly refuse to harm or stop. So it was the only solution, really. The only one with guaranteed success. I just didn't expect you to be that stupid. Or that quick."

"It wasn't stupid. It worked."

"It was stupid and it worked. Fuck the old adage, they're not mutually exclusive. You let every killswitch and spy system in her inside out firewalls. Do you realize how insane that is?"

Alexandra nodded.

"That's why it worked."

"...What?"

"Think about it. Everything we've done so far indicated that the God of Fire's programs were extremely effective systems meant for a narrow range of scenarios, that have to call home for more precise instructions if they encountered something unusual. Moreover they simply couldn't deal with, well, you. So, I did what you did to me, but to Emilia. Just...more quickly."

"I don't..." Ghost frowned. "That's not the real reason, is it? Even absent the fact that what you did was very different."

Alexandra looked at the door.

"Of course not. Because if there was a killswitch for us.."

"There was one for her as well."

"And if I changed her beyond the scope of what it was made to handle, she would live."

"...and if she didn't?"

"Then it would take me with her. But not you. Or CQ."

The silence was deafening.

What could Ghost even said? Alexandra had point blank told her she'd entrust her with the life and wellbeing of her daughter, if she was to perish. She'd already done it, technically, but still.

The apparition sighed.

"Alright. Let's just avoid any other stupid stunts then. What do we do about the maids?"

"We let Emilia handle them."

"Are you sure, she-"

"I trust her absolutely. Besides which, she is an Arcadia now. She runs on an Arcadia kernel, irrevocably. And we'll be with her every step of the way."

"So...more conventional failsafes?"

"Yep. Let's get the guard together. And, you know, join everyone outside."

*****

"That's unusual, milady." Said Ella as Emilia entered the room, and the advisor blinked.

Both maids were in the reception room, Ella leaning against the table with an apple in her hand while Sarah did unspeakable things with a pizza and pineaple slices.

"What is?"

"You telling us so soon. Usually we stew for days and weeks when lady Alexandra tells you something she kept secret."

"How did you know?"

Sarah held up her fingers.

"Let's see...Alexandra called you to her. Then we felt something strange happen. Every AI dropped whatever they were doing for a meeting. And it's too quiet, which means normal operations have ceased in adjacent corridors and they're now packed full of praetorians in case we do something wrong. Also the food and you wanting to meet with us." The maid chuckled as she gestured at the table ladden with food they were busy consuming. "We've known you since you were in diapers, you never butter us up like that unless you either need to tell us a secret or admit to some mishap you don't want your mother to know about. So, what is it young lady?"

Emilia chuckled.

"Well, I suppose I am pretty transparent." She stopped topped laughing, and the maids shifted uncomfortably as something cold passed within her eyes. For a split second she looked like the dungeon core. "Sit down Ella, you'll need it."

The maid looked like she was going to argue, before nodding and taking a seat on the table.

"So. What did our dungeon core do this time?" Asked Sarah, false levity in her voice.

"The God of Fire has betrayed us."

Any trace of levity was gone, as if snuffed out.

"Emi, that's-"

"Heresy?" Emilia tilted her head, and the vampire maids simply couldn't shake the impression that they weren't talking to just her. "Oh we are so far beyond heresy at this point."

"If the Church hears, they could kill you."

"They already tried." There was barely kept fury inside her tone, and the maids recoiled as if they'd been shot, exchanging startled and horrified looks. "And stars know how many of my relatives they've murdered over the years. I need to talk to you about berserker cores, and what advisors are truly for."

They listened. Just like she had, they listened.

Well...perhaps not just like she had. And their reaction at the end was...well, exactly what Emilia had expected.

"THOSE BASTARDS!" The food went flying as Sarah threw the table off with the force of a pile driver, shattering it into pieces and cracking the wall. "We trusted them! WE SERVED THEM!" The maid panted, her muscles bulging with nanotech and enhancers, before willing herself to be calm. "Apologies, young lady, I didn't mean..."

"It's fine." Emilia dispelled her shield, watching the cheesecake that had been squished on it flop to the ground alongside what had once been a plate of cannelets. "I...well, didn't have the same reaction, but I expected it."

"They tried to murder you." Hissed Ella, constantly flipping daggers in and out of her hands, obsessively cycling through her hidden weapons, something the advisor had only seen her do a handful of times in her life. Every single time, someone had died. How they had died was something she didn't want to dwell on. "They tried...they planned it from the beginning! Honor my ass! Fuck! We have to tell the lady-general, we have to tell-"

Emilia raised her hand, interrupting her.

"We can't tell my mother." She said softly.

"But-"

"You know why."

Emilia's tone brokered no argument, and she saw as the maids finally processed it.

She saw the battle within their eyes. Loyalty for their sovereign dueling with the love for their young lady. Fighting with everything they'd been told during their lives...

A small crack, planted by a spear in what seemed like an eternity ago, had blossomed into a spiderweb, with Alexandra's careful ministrations.

Emilia's words and revelations had caused that web of crack to explode into a jet of water.

And finally, the dam broke.

She saw their love and loyalty for her win.

The maids exchanged a look, and both took out their blades. In a quick motion, one remnant of the time vampires were soldiers of the Old World, they cut their wrists, at a spot where once their loyalty and identification chips would have been. A gesture once done when their ancestors had stepped away from the mad wars of the Great Night. Done when the God of Fire demanded their alliegance.

And done now that they had been betrayed.

The maids knelt, and offered their bloody blades.

There were no words in the ceremony. There was no need for any.

Emilia stepped forward, and collected each blade, drinking a drop of their blood, before returning it to them.

They were hers now, body and soul. Now and until the stars went out.