October 3rd

1:17 AM

Ripley

Lounging around in Elsa's apartment after my job, I lay down on her lap as my mind flowed between three different feeds of information. The first was all net discussion about The Dogwhistler. It was there if you knew where to look, but it wasn't exactly helpful. It was mostly rumors of rumors and conspiracy theories.

It was bogus, from her being a sentient MALware to her being an actual dog that sought to overtake humanity. She was only just a myth.

The second was a visual feed of my apartment's inside, a biomonitor reading my mom's life-signs as she cooked unsteadily. Most of my Shard Operating these last few weeks had been to make her life easier when I wasn't around and general repairs to my Dreadwire faculties after the Yuzhou heist. There were drones that I'd made which could cook for her now, but she insisted on adding her own human touch to the food.

The third was from my new Database Feature, as I scrolled through the Shandian schematics I'd stolen. Decrypting them, my mind worked through the various ciphers that were no doubt located in the heads of researchers whose Implants were long gone. Breaking through the Engrams' encryption was… nauseatingly difficult.

The Datashield I'd gotten a month ago allowed access to the raw data itself, but the personal key to forge that raw ore of data into a legible form wasn't part of it. The Defragmentation Protocol of my Feature helped, in that it segmented various repetitive patterns and aided me in finding common ground to decipher them, but it couldn't magically give me access to every single byte of information within the mountainous pile.

Even after a month, I'd only cracked through around 12% of what was encrypted, and it was the simplest of Shardware so far. These corporations were real stingy with their tech. I'd need to upgrade my Frame soon to be able to crunch these numbers.

Elsa pat my eyes, her hand passing through the visual screens in my vision. "You're not even watching, are you?"

"I am," I protested, mentally dismissing all screens except my mother's to refocus on this animated movie about lion patricide. Hell, we were rewatching it. "I was just… looking through other stuff at the same time."

She groaned. "Ripley-fucking-Donovick, what will it take for you to give yourself a break?"

"I am taking a break. I'm with you."

She smiled lightly. "That's cute, but also kind of insulting. Shouldn't you give your girlfriend more effort than that? I deserve some effort too."

"Oh what? Like this?" I jolted up to pull her close and kiss her, my hands running below her chin. "Or should I-"

"Stop right there." She scolded me, gripping my wrist. "Or we'll have to stop the movie."

"We barely finish half of these anyway." I pointed out.

Midnight's red glare led her to hiss at me. "And that's your fault."

"Nuh uh, it's cus you're too sexy." Before she could respond, I kissed her deeper, letting myself truly lose my thoughts to the comfort she gave me.

———

Lying down in bed, a warm tickle spread through my body as Elsa trailed her fingers across my chest. "You know you could have warned me the first time that your claws vibrated."

"Well…" My cheeks reddened. "We weren't exactly talking a lot that time, our mouths were busy."

"God, you're so fucking horny." Elsa nestled deeper into my body. "Not complaining."

"Now I'm the one telling you to stop. Unless you want my little flesh rod being turned to metal."

Daylight's blue eyes perked up into a mischievous smile. "Can you make it glow too? It would complete the set with your nipple!"

I playfully pushed her away from me, protecting my valuable asset. "I like Shardware, but even I draw my limits."

"Okay, okay…" Elsa laughed her way back into control as she nestled towards my neck. "But at least the other nipple."

I promptly put her back on the bed, my hands squarely placing my weight down on her shoulders. "Not you too. Whaaat, are you not happy with my body?"

"Oh, I'm plenty happy with all that you have, Ripley." She caressed my cheeks, before her face softened to a genuine but also sad smile. "I'm… really happy when I'm with you. Happier than I've been in a long time… all of me."

"I'm really happy when I'm with you too," I said with the same energy, letting the closeness between us speak more. "I- I don't know how I would have gotten through any of this without you. Without your Personas… I… Founder, you saved my life, El. All of you."

"We didn't do any of that." Red eyes slithered away from mine, but Midnight's hands found themselves in my hair, playing with it. "You know how fucked up we are."

I'd learned there wasn't much I could often say to help Midnight's dour mood, except for holding her and listening to her.

"We… you saved us too. For a long time, we never really had someone like us."

"Someone who altered their own mind by reprogramming it to deal with their trauma instead of therapy?" I laughed into her skin as Elsa's violet returned.

"Yeah, honestly, I suppose… by helping you, I realized I could also help myself. Or… let myself get helped." She wrapped her arms around me. "And you did a lot of that. I never told anyone about what happened with me and NeoCore. No one except…"

"Except who?" I perked up.

She stayed silent before admitting almost shamefully. "Skeleton. I never really told you about how or why I hacked into Little Requiem, it was about right when Midnight came about. She was… terrifying then…"

"Like she isn't now?"

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Her red glare returned, her hold on me turning sharper as a dark smile formed. "That so? Maybe I should show you how terrify-"

She shook her head suddenly as color shifted, Elsa scoffed. "Not now, Midnight! Punish him later… we were having a moment."

Not that I typically complained about the punishment.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Where was I? But… yeah, I'm serious, Ripley. It was the first time I ever used my Persona Protocol, and she went… well… berserk. Oh, come on… let's face the facts, Mid. We were really angry back then, feeding it all into her made her go crazy through the net. Got a lot of attention back at me, some good, some not. But… Skeleton managed to calm her down."

She took her gaze off me for a bit. "I… I didn't know at the time that he had history with Missy. I didn't even know Missy at the time, though I had actually worked against Diamante once. But, Skeleton offered me something I couldn't refuse. A direct upgrade to Silver if I managed to shut down part of Little Requiem's Intranet. It took months of preparing, months in which Skeleton was the only person I was in contact with, and then…"

History had already been written. "You took out Los Diablos' hold on LR…"

"Midnight is very effective at what she does when she puts her whole mind to a task… she's not only the most old, but the most dangerous of my Personas. She went further than I expected, tore through most of Little Requiem before I managed to pull her back in… but… she'd basically ripped herself apart during the process. It was the first time I needed to restore one of my Personas too."

"I couldn't imagine that it was easy for you." My knuckles rubbed her cheek.

"Maybe, but at the time… a lot of my negative emotions were gone and I had nothing but positive thoughts flowing through me. Made me careless after becoming a Silver and… well… Missy found me."

I stayed silent, trying to find what to say but Elsa continued. "She didn't hurt me, neither did Diamante but he wasn't exactly friendly. She just wanted me to stop and tell her what Skeleton was planning, but I never really bothered to get all of that. I think it was the fact that I was… happy, despite being kidnapped, that set her off about my issues. She's always been soft to those like us…"

"Yeah, I gathered that much."

"She helped me in ways that Skeleton didn't. Offered me guidance where I was receiving gratification, I'm not saying I was completely healthy. I'm still not. But… in the end, I was stable enough once…

Her limbs exploded into a hug as Daylight's cheerful voice grabbed me. "Once I was born!"

"Oh, ow! You still have Midnight's Claws!" I urgently patted Daylight. She apologised and gave back control to Elsa.

Elsa sighed. "How I am right now… flicking back and forth between Midnight and Daylight. Imagine it being a hundred times… more chaotic. No balance. Happy one moment, angry and depressed the next. They were simpler, pure beings of a singular spectrum of emotions, and I was catapulted one way or another."

"Until Twilight." I looked away this time. Her absence was… difficult.

She nodded. "A few years later, I created Twilight in order to be able to… reflect on my changes. Appreciate my growth and… have a Persona that doesn't really drain any emotion in particular. It regulated me over time. Then I met you. Honestly, if we met even a year before, I don't think we would have… been good together."

"Maybe I should thank The Dogwhistler for being so patient to deliver my MAL over to The Misfits."

She chuckled. "Maybe you should."

That actually resurfaced something in me. "Oh yeah… Dogwhistler, by the way, apparently is worshipped by Metal Heavens. Their Orthodox branch, I think."

Her eyes widened. "Oh… is that so? I've heard she's in league with most of the major gangs but…"

"Yeah, get this." I chuckled. "Called her a prophetic herald or something. So here's what I'm thinking, Metal Heaven's hold shtick is that they love The Allseeing. A MALtitan, and since we know that the MALtitans possess a Source-Shard then I'm betting that Dogwhistler has her Implant touched by a Fragment of The Allseeing's Source-Shard, The Future, and that's why Metal Heavens calls her their prophet or Oracle or whatever."

Elsa nodded along. "That… makes sense."

"More on that, she has history with Himiko. Guess the two don't like each other that much, but still work together under the agreement of Mr. R. However, Dogwhistler works under the same body snatching principle that Himiko uses, a Proxy Protocol, just an uber fancy one that can access any body at any time. Which means that Dogwhistler's somehow chronically online to be connected to the net, or she might even be an actual AI like Himiko. But what I'm thinking is… what if like Amaterasu, she can download her mind into her thralls and take control when she needs to? That would explain why she's so untraceable."

Elsa stopped nodding. "You… make a good point. Has this all been coming to you since you got to Tier II?"

"Not really." I scratched the back of my head. "I think it's from Database or even the gold DataShield, my memory's fuzzy, but ever since I got it… my mind's been kinda jumbled, but some of those jumping ideas smash together and form a not-so-crazy thought that grabs me. But I can't lie… It's kind of unnerving."

"Unnerving how?" Elsa looked at me with concern.

"Like a knot is unravelling in my head, I feel… weird. Some memories are twisted, lately I find myself remembering the color pink more and more. Or the club, even SynTec — the office where my dad used to work. Just blank faces, saying things I don't really get."

Elsa seemed to realize something. "The Datashield, it might be… interfering with your…"

"Personality Editor, yeah that's what I was thinking too." I sighed, thinking about the Information Seed inside of me. "But I'm not sure if that's such a bad thing. It's almost gentle, like it's naturally allowing me to adapt to the changes. Nothing's forced but…"

I found my courage to say what I wanted to today. "I think I'm going to take the offer from Diamante to see a therapist. And… I think you should, too."

Her face pulled back. "Ripley, I- she looks into your fucking memories. That's an invasion of privacy and… there are things about her that you can't… It's a bad idea. She's… dangerous."

"Yeah, Diamante said she knows probably everything there is to know about the criminal world with her clients. Still, it's hard to find someone to talk to in a job like this, one that won't report you to the police even for all the horrible things you do." I was reluctant to the idea at first, especially when Diamante said that she literally pulls your memories out to view them as a third-person, but the more I thought about it… I think I needed that.

A new perspective.

"Just… I don't want to talk about it, Ripley." Elsa nudged her arm into my shoulder. "I… it's not just my memories. It's Midnight, Daylight, and Twilight's too."

"I get you." I looked into her lavender eyes, then looking became gazing, and then my lips were on hers again.

———

Lying down, exhausted for the second time this night, our legs and bodies tangled into a knot as she rumbled her breath into my skin. "You feel so nice."

"You too." I pulled her close, but I couldn't lie about having other thoughts pull up inside my head from time to time.

"Hey Elsa, seems like the Bishop got the idea of me knowing Dogwhistler works with Metal Heavens from Missy and Di… you think they're still keeping things from us?"

"Definitely… but sshhhh, let's talk about your sexy, glowing nipple." She cooed drowsily into me.

"Yeah, just… I guess I thought I earned more of their trust after the Yuzhou raid."

"They're secretive people. People have a right to their thoughts."

"I know… but… yeah you're right."

…

"Hey Ripley?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm worried about what Himiko put in your head."

"So am I."

"Yeah, but I'm… it can't be good."

"I get where you're coming from."

"Will you let me look at it?"

"…Can you even do that? Is it safe?"

"It's not the first time I took a peek at The FIREWALL, was even burned by it, remember? And that was Platinum Grade. Besides, I've managed to extract some data from Twilight, I think I can handle it soon."

"Then… yeah."

"Thank you, Ripley."

…

"Ripley?"

"Yup?"

"What do you want to do when this is all over? When your mom's fine?"

"I mean… prepare for The Swarm, probably."

"Okay, but I mean… one month where you're not doing that. What would you want to do?"

I thought about it deeply and remembered holograms of golden sand and thunderous waves crashing on the windows of the place we used to live in a long time ago.

"I'd go to the beach, head to New Angeles. I've never seen the ocean other than through holograms… I've never even left the District."

"Now that I think about it, I've never seen it either. Can I come with you?"

"Of course."

"We could just run away from everything… this place, the responsibility, the pain." She held me tighter.

"I'd need to bring my mom along."

"Yeah, of course she can come… just make sure you book her a separate hotel room."

"Fucking pervert."

"That's rich coming from you."

"Oh please, should I remind you of when-"

"Shut the fuck up."

"I don't think I will. After all, you made a lot of noise when…"

Our conversation slowly ebbed to the twinkling starlight of shared dreams.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.