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"Mon amie! Commandant!" Mustang let out a wide grin as he spread his arms out to give me a hug. "What a plaisir to see you! And this little one, could it be? A little Commandant?!"
Indi's eyes sparkled as she stared at Mustang's outfit. "Sparkly...!"
Mustang laughed and twirled, showing off his glamorous golden outfit and his discoball. "Oui! A star must always shine, no? Eeeeeeeeentertainment!"
I laughed and said, "Thanks for taking the time to let us visit, Mustang."
"Non! It's mon plaisir! Moreover!" Mustang adjusted his glasses and said, "Your father wanted me to pass some important information to you. This saves the time."
We were at Tetra Line HQ.
As for the reason...
Well, I was mildly curious if Indi and I could trick-or-treat all the way up to Mustang.
But it seemed like he caught onto our bit ahead of time and just sent us straight up to his office.
But Indi seemed to be undeterred. After recovering from admiring Mustang's outfit, she held up her now stuffed pumpkin basket and said, "Trick-or-treat!"
"Oho?" Mustang's eyes twinkled. "And what if I want a trick, mon amie?"
Indi froze, the question throwing her off her game. She frantically glanced back at me, panic clear in her eyes.
But Mustang laughed and winked. "It's a joke, mon amie. Here." He reached behind him, causing a compartment to open on his discoball before pulling out a box of gourmet chocolates. Holding it out to Indi, he said, "A box of royale chocolates for a princess. Fitting, no?"
Indi gasped, almost dropping her bucket of candy. "MISTER! YOU'RE THE BEST!" She quickly snatched the box from Mustang's hands and stared at the shiny wrapped truffles with awe.
"And for you, Commandant." Mustang pulled out a leather-bound binder that was zipped shut. "I would suggest you read it in private. It has... sensitive information."
"Huh?" I took the binder, confused. "...Sure?"
'Sensitive information... Wonder what that could be?'
Indi looked back up at me and said, "Daddy! Can we go home now? I wanna eat my treats!"
I laughed and shifted the binder under my left arm before nodding. "Alright, Sweetie. Let's head back to the Outpost then. Daddy still has some work to do, but you can hang out with Rapi and Shifty."
"Yay!"
===
Back at the recycling center facility in the Outpost.
Syuen had just returned from her home after brainstorming various projects and theories while also fighting her intrusive thoughts.
She was successful.
Barely.
But since she had a set of things to test, she had walked over with her tablet to chat with Sophia about various fabrication tests.
Then, when she entered the facility, she saw the explicit female anatomy diagrams plastered on the wall. And the graphs charting various hormones and chemical balances. Then a table of pros and cons weighing Yuni and Mihara being a mother.
And finally, she saw Yuni happily hugging her belly while Mihara draped her arms around Yuni's neck, hugging her from behind and also placing her hands over Yuni's belly.
Maxwell paused in the middle of reading some data results and glanced over. "Oh, hey Syuen."
The casual tone snapped Syuen out of her stupor and she pointed at... everything. "DON'T HEY ME! WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL OF THIS?!"
"Language." Maxwell gave a blase response and said, "And it's research. Since Marian is pregnant, and since we had some willing volunteers, Sophia and I ran a second and third test case."
"SECOND AND- WHAT DO YOU MEAN TEST CASE!?!" Syuen ran her hands through her hair... or she tried. But then she remembered that it was just cosmetic and not actually strands of hair, so she settled for stomping on the ground instead. "EXPLAIN!"
Sophia walked in from a room in the back, carrying a tray of snacks. She noticed Syuen and said, "There is no need to shout. And we already had this discussion. It is the Womb Force 9000 you suggested, Syuen."
Syuen froze.
Maxwell nodded, looking amused. "Right. What's so surprising? You're the one who started this research. Didn't you say that Matis had the highest fidelity to human bodies that we could get pregnant?"
Syuen turned a bright red and she said, "I SAID THAT AS A JOKE TO LAPLACE! AND ONLY LAPLACE! IN CONFIDENCE!"
Maxwell shrugged. "Well, you weren't wrong." She pointed at Mihara and Yuni. "A few tweaks, some extra 'parts', and-"
"I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE DETAILS!" Syuen clamped her hands over her ears and crouched on the ground. "No, no, no... Don't tell me that my greatest accomplishment after leaving Missilis is going to be allowing Nikkes to get pregnant...!?"
Sophia tucked a strand of her silver hair behind her ear and said, "If it is any consolation... It IS quite the feat. For you to have developed such a granular frame that the female reproductive system can be tweaked to both generate synthetic eggs and-"
"I SAID I DON'T WANT THE DETAAAAILS!"
At that time, the facility doors slammed open as Laplace slid in, pointing her finger into the air. "I heard the distress! Never fear, Laplace, the greatest hero is... here." She trailed off when she saw all the diagrams and turned a beet red. Her blue eyes started to tremble and she looked at Syuen. "S-S-Syuen?! ARE WE BREEDING NIKKES?!"
"NO! YES! MAYBE?!" Syuen jumped to her feet and pulled at her nonexistent hair. "I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!"
Mihara looked over at Laplace and Syuen, amusement clear on her face. "'Breeding', Laplace? Oh my..."
Laplace turned a beet red and instinctively took a few steps back. "Th-That's not what I meant! I mean, not that I would know what breeding means. It's not like I've watched any- IT'S DRAKE'S FAULT!"
After that, she sprinted out of the recycling center, lighting trailing behind her as she did.
Syuen covered her face and mumbled, "This is my legacy. This is it. This is what history is going to remember me for..."
Maxwell shrugged. "Better than your dad, at least?"
"...That's barely any consolation, Maxwell."
"Well, I still think it's better than what you were going to be known for." Maxwell stared at Syuen. Then she softly said, "...And it's good. To see that you stopped being a monster, Pipsqueak."
Syuen froze. Then she slowly stood up and lowered her hands, staring at Maxwell. "...Maxwell?"
"Mm..." Maxwell tilted her head, tapping her thigh. "...Not exactly. It's complicated. We're still working it out."
Syuen's eyes widened. "...We? Who's we?"
Maxwell's eyes flashed violet for a split second before she answered, her voice sounding like it usually did. "Me and the human me obviously. Cutey suggested trying to wake her up, and it's kind of working. We're sharing headspace now though."
Her eyes flashed violet again before Maxwell sighed, her voice sounding tired and more empathetic. "I hate being wrong about things... but I guess I'm kind of glad I was wrong this time." She gave Syuen a soft smile and said, "Guess since we're both out of a job, we can make something new together, right, Pipsqueak?"
Syuen's eyes blurred and she frantically dashed forward. "MAXWELL!"
"Hey!" Maxwell laughed and hugged Syuen. "What's with all the tears?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry...!"
Maxwell let out a sad smile and patted Syuen's head. "It's okay, Pipsqueak. I get it. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"
Syuen sobbed and buried her face into Maxwell's chest.
Maxwell sighed and hugged Syuen. "I'm sorry too. I was wrong."
"No, I was wrong! I became a monster, I killed you, I-"
"Ahem." Sophia cleared her throat. "...Apologies for interrupting such a profound emotional moment. But I just received an interesting communication from Liberalio and Nihilister regarding a new substance they found. One that appears to devour energy... but for some reason will not affect those that Creator has influenced."
Syuen wiped her tears, feeling annoyed. But then she parsed what Sophia said and said, "...A new substance?"
===
After heading back to the Outpost with Indi, I had originally planned to drop Indi off with Rapi and Shifty.
But my dear adopted daughter was nodding off in the elevator. So instead, I just carried her to my office and tucked her in on the couch with a Commander Doll that I had laying around as something to hold onto instead of her candy bucket.
That done, I moved to my desk and unzipped the leather binder that Mustang handed me.
"Just what did Pops need me to get so urgently?"
The binder unzipped to a stack of papers. The first looked like a normal mission report and seemed to be about what to do with the Heretic-turned Exotic Squad.
It didn't seem *too* time-sensitive, so I set it aside for now.
But the next part...
"...Hm? A yearbook?" I frowned and noticed that there was a notepad stuck to it.
Confused, I flipped it open.
And then I saw it.
A picture.
There was me, standing in an open field and looking a bit grumpy. And next to me...
"Marian? Wait. That's not Marian. But-"
A sudden headache. At the same time, a flash of memories that were, but also weren't mine.
*What's your name? Jacobian? That's an unusual name. What are you doing here?*
It was a girl. One with a soft and sweet voice, but one whose features I couldn't remember. Only that she wore a bow and had long hair, carrying a teddybear with her.
*What's that? You're sick? Makes sense, considering this is a hospital. Well, I'm sick too. You could say I'm... insane in the membrane.*
A light-hearted and sassy response. A cheerful smile.
And after some more banter...
*...You want to be a Commander? Why would you want to be something like that? I heard they don't make much money, and it's really dangerous.*
...The conversation came to what we wanted to do when we got out of the hospital.
She thought it was silly. Even so...
*Well, I'll root for you anyway. And your dream.*
...She cheered 'me' on.
*If... And this is a big if. If I ever become a Nikke... I hope you'll be my Commander.*
My vision blurred as emotions that were and weren't mine mixed together.
'Oh. So that's...'
I remembered it. The words I said to Marian when I first woke up. Something that came naturally when I thought about the fact that I would lose her to corruption.
'You are not your body, you are not your mind. You are the will that chooses. So choose to be mine.'
I let out a helpless laugh. Relief, disbelief, and sorrow all mixed with joy.
I turned the page and saw a photo of a younger Marian. One with a fluffy blue bow and a tattered teddybear. Next to her was... me.
No. Not 'me.' But the Commander. Who I had become. Who was now me.
I held the photo and murmured, "So that's why the Commander was so shaken up in the game."
They never explained why the Commander was with Marian. They never explained why he always seemed to drop everything at a moment's notice when she was involved in things.
But now...
'The childhood friend. The one who was supposed to change the world together with him, only to die just off the first mission. No, more than that...'
I could see it. Memories that finally, finally clicked. The ones just before the transport mission.
I had just graduated from the academy. And because of that, I was assigned a Nikke.
Meeting her for the first time, she asked for my name.
But I didn't really have one. All they called me was No. 7.
*So should I call you No. 7? That feels weird.*
...Yeah. It did feel weird having her call me that.
So she called me Commander instead.
That was still a bit weird. But...
*So what? It's just the two of us. It should be fine, right?*
...As for what I called her...
*I'm... Mary An- Marian.*
I blinked. And as I did, the memories faded.
I was still me. But at the same time, I was also 'him.'
Because I understood now.
"Ah. That's how it is."
I stared at the next page. At the names written there, and at the autopsy reports.
Jacob Ian Andersen.
Mary Anne.
I let out a soft sigh and murmured, "Neither of us are the original. Are we?"
Neither the 'me' who was here right now as Commander Hoopa. Nor the woman I knew and loved as Marian.
Static filled my mind as things slowly fell into place. The reason why I was here as the commander in the first place. And the purpose for my name.
"You guys lost, huh?"
Indi's quiet breathing echoed from the side.
The peace in the Ark as well as the lively Outpost came to mind.
All of it, something that could never have occurred in the 'game' that I saw with the original Commander.
Because 'No. 7' wasn't me.
Or rather, because I wasn't No. 7.
I knew more and could do more.
And the result of it was this brief moment of respite with the Raptures on the backfoot. Momentum that would only grow more as time passed.
I quietly closed the binder and murmured, "This doesn't change anything."
It explained things. But at the end of the day, nothing was different.
The Rapture Queen still had to die. And we still needed to reclaim the surface.
What came after would come after.
But for now...
I picked up the first report again and flipped through the documents on the converted Exotic Squad. "Let's see... Rehabilitation, huh?"