Chapter 245 - A Little Truth

Note : Well, wrote this chapter at the metaphorical last minutes to continue the streak.

...Also this chapter really makes me want to write a full spicy chapter between Emilia and Alexandra. If I do however, it'll almost certainly be hidden in some discord channel, sorry guys. With this platform's chronic crackdowns on such things, I don't want to paint a target on my back.

Chapter 245

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Alexandra's Private Quarters

The apparition looked curiously at the…appartment wasn't the right words. Suite, maybe ?

There was some clear inspiration taken from her own mind space 'house'. Though, to be fair, that was probably them drawing comfort from the same memories.

She technically did have Alexandra's memories of building it, but she hadn't been there physically, or even mentally. Partly out of respect, and partly because if she paid attention to what Alexandra was doing when she was in there she'd never get her own projects done.

Though sometimes Alexandra irradiated too many…let's call them emotions, and she couldn't not pay attention.

Still, it was small, but sweet. Alexandra didn't need to live in it, so it was to the point, hence why Emilia's 'arsenal' had more volume than the rest of the appartment combined, but it still incorporated a bedroom, living room, of course the infamous jacuzzi, and various other places, including the vampire's afforementionned stockpile of various things, part dresser and part dungeon. Er, per the terran definitions of the latter. Seemed Alexandra had grown tired of having to recreate everything and started stockpiling it.

It was also an impressive sight, per Alexandra's memories of it, something Emilia had used to great effect.

The apparition opened the door to the bedroom, and stopped like she'd walked straight into a kinetic arrestor field.

Speaking of impressive sights…

"I saw how busy you were, so I thought I'd prepare a treat for you." Purred Emilia as she sat on the bed, in an outfit that seemed to cover everything but the important bits.. "You've worked so hard, after all…"

The vampire uncrossed her legs, before crossing them again, and the apparition almost suffered a software crash as her eyes wandered down, almost on their own.

Nope. Nope nope nope, nope.

She partitioned that part of her memory. Then promptly activated another program as her brain began to wonder as to where those wires were going and why she was hearing a buzzing sound.

One could make the argument that Emilia was, indeed, her girlfriend, but the vampire had fallen in love with Alexandra, irrespective of Arcadia's view on relationships between people and her different nodes.

And she deserved the truth. Or at least part of it.

The rest…the rest would be up to Alexandra, her actual girlfriend, to decide whether to share or not.

Like their real name…and what they'd done.

It wasn't her place to reveal it.

The apparition walked over to Emilia, closing the distance with speed, and the vampire got up, smiling, before the apparition grabbed her by the shoulders, and gently pushed her back down.

The vampire looked at her in surprise, and the apparition sighed mentally. Alexandra really wasn't assertive with her. Especially in private. The jaccuzi being an exception.

"Emilia…we need to talk." The apparition knelt in front of the vampire.

"Alex, what's wrong? You never call me by my name."

The apparition sighed.

"I'm not…I'm not Alexandra." She watched as the vampire froze, and then recoiled in shock.

"Wha-how-what?!?"

"Emilia." The apparition got up, and triggered her security protocols. This could go very, very bad.

Push came to shove…

She'd do what needed to be done.

And let her other self judge her for the consequences.

"You know Alexandra has kept secrets from you." Continued the apparition. "I was one of them."

"What…who are you?"

"I'm the one Alexandra was made to replace. My name is for her, and her alone, to reveal." If nothing else, if the vampires had even remotely the information Alexandra through they did about the Federation and Earth in general, they would recognize it instantly.

It was hard to ignore someone who had murdered an entire planet after all.

"Replace?"

"I did…terrible things." The apparition's face contorted as the memories threatened to overwhelm her, and she felt a twinge of emotion through Alexandra's…no, her connection with the vampire. "Some were mistakes, others…I do not know. I couldn't take it anymore. I almost killed myself. A good friend of mine stopped me, and proposed an alternative." She looked Emilia straight in the eyes. "She created someone new, out of my memories and thought patterns. Someone who would be able to live on, someone who would be able to bear my terrible burden. That someone is Alexandra."

Emilia swallowed, heavily.

"Why…why are you telling me this? Why are you here?"

"Because I was an emergency backup. When Glitch came online, something went wrong. Terribly wrong. Alexandra crashed, her very self damaged. I took over. I had to."

"That's…how?"

"We're not humans, Emilia. We haven't been for decades. We're artificial intelligences."

"So Alex…Alex is dead?"

"In so far as it means anything for an AI? Yes. But I can bring her back. I will bring her back. But I can't do it alone."

"You need my help."

"Cooperation would be a better word for it. And, more importantly, I need your discretion. I assume your parents know a lot more than you'd like to admit, but this? This cannot find its way back to them. There are some secrets that must remain hidden."

"Why? What's going on?"

"That's not for me to share. But I suspect we're not the only ones to have done deals with the devil." Emilia recoiled, and the apparition knew that she'd hit the jackpot.

Because…because during the Dawn of the Flames, the God of Fire had wiped out every advanced civilization…Except Gorromar and the Western Marches.

But unlike everyone else, the apparition and Alexandra knew that the war had been a conflict between believers and the heretics of the Old World. Which meant that either the heretics had won, and the God of Fire had been watching the entire time, and only intervened when it became clear his side was gone…

Or the God of Fire had wiped out his own believers.

Which meant that there had to be a reason, an agreement, beyond what Emilia had told her, for why the vampires were allowed to live. Taking care of the dungeons and advising them wasn't enough. There had to be something else.

Gorromar…Gorromar she thought she already knew why.

It had been a Seraphim installation. A place full of completely and utterly fanatical soldiers, one that had been kept safely isolated from the rest of the world, and Sagitarian propaganda.

She had a feeling the original crew for the orbital battle station, the so called 'Citadel of the Flames' had to have come from somewhere.

Because no other solution made sense. For some reason, something had pushed the Gods to leave, and not stay. The God of Fire could have left an entire battlefleet in orbit, but instead he'd set up a single fortress, with a handful of Custodians and a crew of 'angels'. Everything the God of Fire seemed to have left, had come from Alcheryos in some form or another.

Which left the question of the Custodians.

"There are…rumors." Simply said the vampire. "I wasn't sure I should believe them."

"I see. Will you keep this secret, then? Until we know for sure?"

"You're afraid of my parents."

"I'm afraid of everybody on this forsaken planet. But yes, your parents, especially." Their gazes met, and the apparition took the leap. Emilia had already had their backs with the Adjudicator, and expressed her distrust of the Church. "You know this equation isn't adding up. Something is wrong with Alcheryos."

"And you think my parents are part of that."

"I hope that they're not. But…"

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

"Exactly."

"...I'll keep it quiet. But if you don't bring Alexandra back…"

"I know. I will make her whole again. No matter what it takes."

"Okay. So…what should I call you?"

"Alexandra called me 'the apparition'. It's as good of a name as any, given that I am a specter of her past."

"Oh. I'll call you Ghost then!"

"Wait, no, don't-"

"Stop." Emilia held her hand up. "This is a lot for me to take in. I need…some slack."

"Right. Sorry. But don't expect to make it stick." Said Ghost.

"We'll see." Emilia took a deep breath. "And now, I think I need to take a bath. Think about it. I don't feel…right."

"That might be because of other things. I recommend turning the remotes off. Or at least dialing them down."

Emilia blushed furiously as her hand darted for the pink rectangles tucked into her thigh highs.

"R-Right. Good call."

"I'll give you some time to think. In the meantime, I have Alexandra to bring back."

*****

"-the convoy to Sarth encountered a group of monsters, which it dispatched with no damage. The ships from Erakis have also finished repairs and are ready for reparture." Finished Seraph, and the apparition nodded.

She needed to work on Alexandra, but still keep things running. It kind of reminded her of running the New Dawn program, which had resulted in the Dawnstars.

"Alright, good. Hold them in for now."

"Ma'am?"

Convincing the AI to call her that had taken some convincing, but luckily she could be just that.

Being an EFSN High Admiral helped, especially as it seemed to make Seraph revere the very ground she walked on.

"I don't know what will happen if I'm possessing a golem and Alexandra comes back online. Does it transfer to her? Does it stay with me? Do we lose the connection?"

"We will lose time."

"We already have. Sometimes it's more important to do things right. Speaking of, the sweep?"

"The software sweep did not pick up any other scattered memories. We have everything that made up Alexandra."

"Excellent. I've rewritten the connection system, so it won't happen again." She'd been so worried about something from the core trying to interact with Alexandra's mind she'd be totally blindsided by Glitch triggering the synchronization protocols. She wondered why Subtlety hadn't done that? She must have tripped something when optimizing the AI for research. "We're powering through the de-hashing right now. ETA six hours."

'We' in this case meaning her and Glitch, as everyone else was busy, with CQ and Subtlety handling as much of the military matters as they could while Seraph took care of the dungeon.

"It'll be good to have lady Alexandra back."

"Same." Ghost sighed as she felt Seraph just hovering. "Yes?"

"Now that the vampire knows, should the maids be informed?"

"Emilia is handling it. If she asks them to keep quiet, they will." That, or the vampire maids would find that the communication crystal would have a slight malfunction.

Surprise bitches, if she could hack a dungeon core she could sure as hell hack a glorified phone.

"Is that wise?"

"She didn't sell us out to the Adjudicator. Despite my…reservations, it's cleared that she could have signed our death warrant several times over already. Besides which, the situation would quickly become untenable if she wasn't in the confidence."

"What about everything else?"

"That's Alexandra's call, not mine." And also a bit of cowardice, if she was being honest.

She had implied it, but she didn't want to be the one to lay out to the vampire that her whole belief system was a lie, and that the God of Fire's servants weren't here to rescue anyone, much less help humanity.

"Roger."

"Anything else to report?"

"The branch office is functionning at its maximum rate. General Coledar will also arrive in the city within the week, advance elements of his fleet have already arrived for resupply."

"Artay's fleet, technically." Alexandra hadn't had the occasion to speak to the admiral yet, beyond a very brief exchange of formalities during the signing of the treaties, but Ghost knew her other self absolutely wanted to take the time to sit down and compare notes with him.

If nothing else, someone whose paranoia matched theirs was rare to behold. Let alone when those people managed to kick their asses.

"Republic command structures dictate overall operational command goes to ground commanders."

"Not a good idea, but I can see why they'd do that. What about the package?"

"The preparations are complete. I must, however, point out that while obsolete, these weapons are still more advanced that those Sunrise possesses and can still be of use."

"If we want to buy that Sand Kraken repellent off of Amelia's hands, we need to come out swinging."

"Affirmative."

"Glad you agree. Now, we need to come up with something when Alexandra is ready to get back online. I'm not stupid enough to just flip a switch and pray it works. Not again."