Are You Even Human

"Pathless wanderings are supposed to gladden futures," Blossom comments. "You just seem to be increasingly paranoid."

It's called 'pacing' and it's a common method of human stress relief. I guess it might be called something different when I'm swimming in circles instead of walking in them, but still.

"Observation: it is not working."

Of course it's not working! Why would I not be stressed right now? My girlfriend is getting her brains completely dissolved and reassembled. There is a small but extant chance that the process will simply kill her.

"Do you truly have so little faith in our Queen?" Chaos hums.

It's not a matter of faith, it's a matter of anxiety. I am fully aware that I am being irrational. I am trying to stop. It is just, as Blossom so kindly pointed out, not working.

"I suspect the issue is less that the situation does not warrant stress and more that it is quite routine to us," Wanderings chimes in. "We have seen our Queen do similar things thousands of times. You have not. What is a well-worn pathway for us is rampant wilderness to Twisting Scars Reshape Fate."

"The path isn't THAT well-worn," I protest. "This will be the first time the operation is successfully done on a human. I mean, you know, HOPEFULLY!"

Gaaaaaaah. I need to distract myself with something else. Unfortunately there's not a lot to do right now, being a thousand feet underwater and all. I can tell the others are a bit bored as well, barring Anastasia, who is mostly just swimming around and passing close to various workers and warriors to see if they try to kill her or not (which, of course, they don't).

"Calm yourself, Twisting Scars Reshape Fate," my Queen says gently. "Everything is proceeding as expected. Deconstruction has completed, and reconstruction is progressing with few unforeseen complications."

"Meaning there ARE unforeseen complications," I say.

"There were," she says. "But I have risen to match them. Your beloved is in no danger at this time, and I do not anticipate that changing. Possibility is with us."

"Okay," I say. "Alright. I will do my best to trust you."

"Thank you, Twisting Scars Reshape Fate. Your beloved should be back in the network shortly, at which point we will initiate reintegration, starting with the one you call Blue. Which, may I add, is a rather sad name. May I suggest Color of Darkened Sky?"

"I guess you'll be able to suggest it to her yourself pretty soon," I say. "Unless all this doesn't work and we kill her!"

"Sympathy. Your capacity and skill at predicting unfavorable outcomes is an asset in many cases, but it is not needed here. It will be alright. I will let you know when it is time."

Right, right. Always with the psychoanalysis. I guess that comes with the territory when dealing with people who are constantly reading my mind. Oh shit, is Maria still going to like me once she starts reading my mind? I mean, I know all the aliens did, but Maria isn't an alien. She's a human. She has all the cultural reasons to think I'm an asshole. I know Infrared didn't, but Infrared is kinda more alien than human anyway.

"Alert: you are doing the thing," Blossom informs me.

"I know, and I don't know how to stop!" I snap back. "I promise I am not TRYING to freak out, it just happens!"

That's sort of the entire reason it's a freak out, in fact! I can't really… ah. Ah. Those are a lot of calming thoughts. E-everyone, please, quiet down a bit. You'll overwhelm Infrared…

"Objection. I will be fine," Infrared butts in. "I am not the only one with needs."

Buh. Ugh. Fine. I… do my best to let the support flowing from my colony and Infrared drown out the fears. It feels unfair; Infrared should be getting just as reassured as I am, given the situation impacts her directly, but… agh okay okay okay I'll stop I promise I'm trying to stop! Thank you. Thank you all. Really. I… thank you.

I close my many eyes, let my body become amorphous, and just… float, taking in the love and reassurance. It'll be okay. No… it might not be okay. But that's no reason not to hope. That's no reason to obsess over everything I can't do. It's all in the hands of someone I trust, and I do trust them. Truly. So… I don't need to worry. I am here. I am loved. And so is Maria. Even if this doesn't work, we will find a way.

Twisting, flowing, and resting, I let time pass by, my colony slowly quieting down as I manage to keep myself calm. The fairy Marias wait nervously outside the biological reconstruction chamber housing their now-dissolved body, chatting quietly amongst themselves. I slowly make my way closer to them, not saying anything, just… being around. And eventually, we feel it. It's time.

"Confusion. Fear. What's going on?"

"Hello, A Prism of Refracting Selves, though you may be more familiar with a different name. You are safe. Your beloved and I have been working together to help you," The Divinity of Wonder says.

"Our… beloved? We can't see anything. We can't hear anything. We can't feel anything. Help."

It makes sense. She is, right now, little more than a brain and the organs needed for network connection, floating disembodied within the Queen's organic slurry. It is doubtlessly incredibly disorienting.

"Reassurance: assistance in these matters will be supplied shortly. But for now, another one of your selves will be rejoining you soon, which should help you better understand what is currently occurring," my Queen answers calmly.

"Our… other… selves? Are you not… wait, who are we talking to? What are all these thoughts in my head? Are we… am I…? Terror. Confusion. Oh god."

"Okay, Blue," I say out loud. "You need to head in there. She's awake."

"Oh boy," Blue says, taking a deep breath of water as if it were air. "I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest."

"Still… think… I… should go…" Infrared rasps.

"And we still think we need you out here in case things go poorly with Blue. You're the only one of us that's like… that," Pink says, motioning vaguely at Infrared's entire body. "We can't afford to lose you."

"Tell her to let me in, Julietta," Blue says, steeling herself. "I'm ready."

"Open up, Wonder," I say, feeling somewhat mixed emotions about my Queen's complicated reaction to the nickname. The nature of the network means there's not any real need for nicknames, as longer names don't actually take more time to say. The scents are all combined into a single package and delivered all at once, after all, so the entire idea is novel to aliens as a whole. It's actually difficult for most of them to use a nickname on purpose at all! But these are worshippers of Possibility, so novelty alone goes a long way. They think the whole idea is a hoot, even if they don't actually prefer the shortened version of their name.

Regardless, my Queen opens up the airlock-like entryway to the reconstruction chamber, and Blue heads inside. It isn't long before the scared and desperate thoughts of Maria's floating brain gain an extra, equally disoriented layer.

"Ah! What? What!? What's going on? Why are there SO MANY… one of us. Hello! What is happening? I… are you me? We are you. You understand what is happening…? You do. Thank you. Our body is yet to be made. Well yes, that's right, but slow down please! This is overwhelming. Is Green in here?"

It all comes out as one jumbled, continuous chain of thought, as if one person were saying it all rather than multiple people having a dialogue. Which… arguably is what's happening, but arguably not.

"Green… Green… grass and leaves and eyes. We are sorry, our memories are so jumbled. It was hard to think for a very long time. And that's okay! But try to remember, please. We miss her. We miss her. We miss her! Yes, we miss her! Where has she gone…?"

The rest of the network is almost eerily silent, knowing that the Marias need all the time they can to get used to everything without us all shouting into their heads about everything we can think of. Pink and Yellow shoot me concerned looks, and I form a hand so I can return a thumbs-up.

"It's a little complicated, but they seem to be talking without any problems," I tell them. "Is memory reintegration normally pretty fast between you all?"

"Almost instant," Pink nods. "When we recombine, it's like we were always the same person from the start. I mean, we're still all there, but… yeah."

"Alright. It seems a little less fluid this time around, but I'm not hearing anything too alarming," I say.

"Well, this is a way, way bigger difference in memory compared to any other time we've done this," Yellow says. "It's not even close. So… yeah, probably not alarming by itself?"

"Cool," I nod, nervously flexing a few tentacles. "Okay, I'll keep you posted."

"We are sorry. The name Green feels so familiar, but our only recollection is within your memories. Parts of us feel as though we were once called the name, but others do not. We think she is within us. We will try to reassemble her. Oh that doesn't sound good but I hope it's good? Oh dear."

"Blue?" I ask. "Can you hear me?"

"Ah! Oh god! Green? We haven't done anything, it is probably not Green."

"Negative. Designation: Twisting Scars Reshape Fate. It's me, Blue."

"Oh! Oh gosh you're talking into my mind, that's weird. Hello, beloved! Erm, yeah, uh, hi!"

"Hi. Don't forget the plan, yeah? Can you pull yourself out of there? Are you still you if you re-fairy?"

"Oh right. One second. She is gone. That is sad. We will miss her. She was us."

"She'll be back," I promise the Maria conglomerate. And sure enough, I feel their relief on the matter shortly afterwards.

"Will she hear it if I just think 'I did it, no problems' really loud?"

"I heard it, yeah," I confirm. "I guess you're connected to the network in a more obligatory manner than I am. Which… in some ways means you're more of a standard blessed than I am. Kind of weird to think about."

"This is so weird. I'm not sure I like it. We like it!" the Marias say.

"Unfortunately my odd connection to the network is more of a function of my powers letting me manually control normally autonomic responses than it is a specific brain structure that we could try to give you," I tell her. "But hopefully you'll learn to love it? It's pretty nice when you get used to it."

"So you've mentioned. Well, I think we're ready for the next one of us to join up," Maria reports. "I'm still me. We're still us. I can join and depart without worry. Oh! I wonder if we can? Hey, wait, maybe… aaand they're gone."

"Report: several formless, non-biological sources of energy have appeared within me," The Divinity of Wonder says.

"Understood. It's probably fine," I say.

"Agreed."

"Heh. It's… kind of like how talking between us always used to be, actually," Blue says. "It's kind of strange being in this weird sensory deprivation brain all by myself, though. Oh! They're back! We have returned! There were more of us than expected. This is nice."

"Well, you're about to have even more," I say. "Open up, Queen. Ready, Color of Warmth?"

"I am ready," Infrared confirms. The Divinity of Wonder acknowledges, and lets her inside.

"Ah! Y-your memories…"

With Infrared's inclusion, Maria's contributions to the network cease to be train-of-thought style conversations and take on a more raw, emotional tone, conveying concepts and feelings without any attempt at filtering for the comprehension of others. They relay the experience of being trapped in Maria's demonic body, the experience of being insane, having no way to consciously grasp at any particular thought before it flits away or drowns in the pain. Then, too, the memories of overcoming that. Of assembling what ultimately became Infrared by force, by raw stubbornness and refusal to be lost in the chaotic rapids of her own maddened thoughts. And now, suddenly, that unwavering will is like an invasive species, tearing through a drastically less dangerous environment completely unprepared to resist it: sanity.

There's a brief feeling of Blue being pushed to the side, shoved away into a safer corner of their shared mind before Infrared rips into the congealed mass of fragmented Marias that compose the rest of the brain. We is torn apart into I and me and you and her, pieces of one pulled out and rearranged with pieces of another until things slowly start to feel like they fit.

"We… I remember! Hush. Working. God, how did I—HUSH! WORKING!"

It takes a long time, and at the end of it all I don't get the impression that everything is truly fixed. How could it be? The kind of trauma inflicted doesn't just go away in an afternoon. But what was once a chaotic amalgam is now a… much less chaotic amalgam, one that Infrared herself returns to when she's done with her work, merging into the Maria gestalt with a feeling not unlike sinking into warm water.

Slowly, hesitantly, Blue joins them. Her far more alien sisters intimidate her at first, but at the end of the day, they're still her. Their experiences are her experiences, she just hasn't remembered them yet. And so after an ominously long period of silence… Maria sends a thought into the network. Not Demon Maria, not Blue or any other color… just Maria.

"This is a little surreal," she says. "But I think I'm ready."

"Should we send in the others?" I ask.

"Ah! Okay. Okay you're definitely… oh I can't say your name. Is that why you have an Angel name? I guess that makes sense, I always thought it was weird you let someone call you another name. Um, hi Twisting Scars Reshape Fate! I love you!"

"Surprise! Hesitance! I… love you too! I've recently confirmed this empirically."

"Startled amusement!? What? Just send in Pink and Yellow, you dork."

Right, um, I can do that.

"Okay you two, things seem to be going well. Time to head into the giant sensory deprivation tank," I tell them.

"Awesome," Pink says nervously. "Well. Here goes."

"It's really working?" Yellow says softly. "It's finally getting fixed?"

"Yeah," I confirm. "Sorry it took me so long."

"Don't apologize," Yellow says. "Thank you."

They float on in, and soon their reactions are heard in the network instead of just out loud.

"Wow, she wasn't kidding about the sensory deprivation thing. So you're us, huh? And we're you. Neat. Um… yeah. This is weird. Super weird. But at least we can think, so… ah. God. I can think again! Wow, that is a lot of horrible memories."

"Apologies!" I instinctively send.

"Who said—hey! I told you to cut that out! Gosh it's weird hearing you like you're one of me."

"Is that how you interpret it?" I ask. "That's interesting, but I guess it makes a lot of sense. It's your closest point of reference."

"I guess so!" Maria agrees. "Anyway, it's time to design a body now, right? Wow, I had a lot of different opinions on what I want. Sorry Pink, sorry Yellow. Your ideas feel kind of boring right now. Yeah, agreed. It's fine. Awesome. Let's, um… put our heads together on this. Hesitant amusement? Ouch, nope, still way too soon."

"Are you always this prone to rambling in your own head, or is this an adjustment period?" I ask.

"Huh? Oh, I mean, yeah this is how I usually think," Maria answers. "At least I think it's how I think? I've always been a little distractable, I guess. And talking to myself helps me think through things more clearly. I didn't always have quite this many people to talk to, but… well, I guess I don't really mind it much anymore. Most of me felt a little empty being alone in our own heads for so long."

"Do you think you'll be getting Green back?" I ask.

"I don't know yet," she answers. "I hope so. GOSH it is so weird talking to you like this! It's so weird!!! I just… hi!!! You're in here now! Welcome to the madness, I guess. Amusement, amusement!"

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"It's going to be a lot more than just me in here pretty soon," I remind her. "The whole colony can hear us right now. They're just being polite and staying quiet."

"Right! Right. Terror."

"It's okay, they're all nice. You might actually be able to feel them if you focus? They're letting a little bit of how happy they are about all this leak in right now."

She quiets down and focuses, and sure enough, I feel her start to feel them. Their love and support. She might not be part of our colony, but she's important to me, and that's all that they need to care.

"Amazement," Maria says. "There's… so many. Thousands!"

"I'm impressed you can count them that well," I admit.

"The nonhuman aspects of her brain WERE designed by a Queen of Legion, even if those parts were not implemented correctly," The Divinity of Wonder chimes in. "She is both naturally suited to expanding her consciousness and divinely supported in her ability to, the latter likely due to the former."

"I guess that makes sense," I agree. "Even before you had powers, there was something that made Legion love you more than almost everyone else in the world."

"Oh yeah… them," Maria says hesitantly. "We were having a lot more of those dreams lately, weren't we? I think they were sad."

"Undoubtedly," Blossom chimes in. "Greetings, A Prism of Refracting Selves. I am A Blossom of Wilted Chances. It is a pleasure to finally meet you properly."

"Oh! You're a lot more eloquent over brain speak. Which I guess makes sense given it's your native language and all! Regret. Embarrassment."

"Amusement."

"Do not tease her," The Divinity of Wonder chides. "Let us not tarry any longer. Your body has yet to be finished. You may not be of my colony, but in the absence and inability of your own, it will be my duty, my honor, and my pleasure to grant you a proper reverent form befitting of Legion. One that represents the whole of you, yet also represents the god that made you what you are. Have you meditated sufficiently on this manner?"

"Oh no. Kind of?" Maria asks. "I mean, I've thought about stuff, but what if I get it wrong? This isn't a one-and-done thing, right? I won't be stuck like this if it doesn't work."

"Gentle amusement. No, young one," Wonder assures her. "Even were I unable to change you further for some reason, your beloved could likely do much of what I am capable of herself. And even failing that, there are other Queens we will be trying to share our knowledge with. A Blossom of Wilted Chances has already discussed the matter with the Queen you passed on your way here, in fact."

"It is a matter concerning all colonies," Blossom confirms. "I would not even deprive Failure the ability to keep their blessed functional and alive."

Yeah, this… is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. The fact that Maria almost certainly isn't the only one who had to suffer through this is harrowing enough without the knowledge that she's also likely the only one who survived. Plus, the war would probably be going way better if we could just reliably hook whatever humans into the network that we want. Sharing language is just… good!

"Okay. Well if there's no reason not to experiment, we can… try things and see if we like them, right?" Maria asks.

"Of course," The Divinity of Wonder confirms.

"Alright. Well. I was thinking. The thing my beloved—oh wow, it's a little embarrassing to just call her 'my beloved' like that, embarrassment embarrassment embarrassment—does with her hair. Or… lack of hair. The octopus thing! It's very very very cute. She's always squirming and reaching around and emoting with it and I was thinking, um, that could potentially be pretty helpful for me? Like what if all my selves kinda had their own bit of my body to do stuff with even while we're all together as one person? Does that make any sense?"

"That makes perfect sense," The Divinity of Wonder agrees.

"Woah, hold on," I say. "Octopus tentacles contain neural tissue. A lot of it. You'd have to make significant changes to her brain again."

"No, I would not," The Divinity of Wonder disagrees. "Adding fresh neural tissue to fill out areas of the body is fairly common practice and would not require significant adjustments to her brain as-is. It may adjust future learning and memory storage, as well as provide a temporary boost to neuroplasticity as the brain begins to naturally take advantage of the fresh tissue, but it is very unlikely to cause major complications."

"And if she decides she doesn't want to look like that later? This is the kind of change that will prevent her from passing as human in the future," I point out.

"I feel like we're well past that either way," Maria says. "And besides, it's not like I can't wear a hat. It'll be fine."

Does she really think it's going to be that easy? She said she wanted this because she said it was cute on me, but I don't want her to be making decisions about her body for my sake. I don't want to be responsible for her messing something up that she can't undo. I mean, I know she probably can undo it, we just talked about that, but… gah.

"You are being very silly," Maria says. "Don't think of it like me doing this FOR you, or BECAUSE of you. I'm just… inspired by you. There are parts of me that are terrified about all of this. Parts of me that want to stay who I used to be forever. But you're the one who taught me change isn't something I have to fear. Which I'm so, so glad for, because otherwise I'd be completely lost. I have changed, whether anyone likes it or not. And there are too many parts of me now that can't imagine ever just… going back. I mean, I'm literally just a floating brain in a giant meat jar, and I'm talking to you with my mind because that's just what my life is now! And that's okay. Because it has to be."

"Because it… has to be?" I repeat.

"Affirmation. If I'm not okay, there's nothing I can do about it. But if I am okay, I can move forward. And since it's all just subjective… I choose to be okay. There's no other reasonable option. This is how things are, so we work with that. We MAKE it okay. Right?"

"…Right," I agree. "Of course you're right. And well… tentacle hair IS pretty fun. I hope you like it."

"I hope I do too!"

"Joy. That the two of you have been such a positive influence on each other makes me even more pleased by my ability to assist you," The Divinity of Wonder says. "There is the rest of your form to construct, however. I believe the configuration of sensory organs around your brain is important to your kind, yes?"

Huh? Oh. She's asking if Maria wants to have the same face as before.

"Yes, please!" Maria confirms. "I'm still happy to be me."

"Great. We have that figured out. What about the entire rest of your body?"

"Well, we want to be mostly humanoid, at least. Nothing TOO crazy. I bet the hair thing will be a lot at once. But… given where we are, I wouldn't mind being able to swim better," Maria says. "Anastasia looked like she was having fun… though maybe nothing that extreme? Just some fins and stuff. Can they fold in and out of my body like A Blossom of Wilted Chances' blades? Well, not exactly like that, but still. Oh! And a tail might be cool? It might not be cool, but it might be cool! Having more limbs is maybe neat. Realization! We're going to be naked again. Twisting Scars Reshape Fate, can you teach me how to do the clothes thing if I get your weird skin?"

"Uh. Maybe?" I hedge. "I've never taught anyone something like that before."

"Then it'll be fun, right!? It'll be like. A bonding activity. Teaching someone how to use messed-up alien monster organs is about as good of a date activity as we'll get a thousand feet underwater, I bet. Does it even count as a date activity? Yeah, it totally does. You can show me around your colony while we do it!"

"Hesitance. Agreement. Sure, if you want!" I answer, a bit caught off-guard at first, but… yeah, I'd enjoy that.

"Awesome! I look forward to it."

And so there's hardly anything left to do but wait. Every so often Maria asks me for advice on some body part or another, and I work together with my Queen to help model and test some of the suggested changes, but by and large… we've done it. It's over. We saved her. Maria is finally okay. All of Maria is finally, finally okay. It's… a bit of an overwhelming feeling, to be honest.

I mean… god, it's been over a month now, and everything—everything has been for this. Defecting from the military, joining a colony, meeting my council, dragging an Angel undercover through human territory, every last bit of it has been in service of this one goal and now it's… here. It's here. She's going to be okay. She's really, actually going to be okay!

I just don't know what to do with this information! I feel giddy, I have so much energy, I just… oh my god, she's going to be okay! She's going to be okay! I actually did it! I… calm down. Calm down. There are still bad things that can happen. The colony could be… attacked. Probably not by aliens because of the information we have regarding demons, sure, and probably not by humans because of being a thousand feet into the ocean but… something could happen! Potentially.

I freeze at an unexpected touch from behind, Blossom having tackled my back and letting out a wordless shout in my ear. I quickly shift between three different forms, flowing past and around her, only to find her hugging my back again once I settle into a humanoid form. Jesus fuck. Okay. Blossom, please don't do that.

"Recrimination: do not allow yourself to spiral back into paranoia simply because you are afraid to feel joy," she insists. "You did it. We did it. She is saved. Be happy. If you haven't earned that now, will it ever be possible to live up to your standards?"

Okay. Okay, fine. Yeah. It… really is good. It really is good. We did it. Thank you, Blossom.

"Human friends!" Blossom calls out. "Come here! Hug the Julietta!"

"Okay!" Anastasia agrees first, swimming over and tackling me from the front.

"We doin' a cuddlepile?" Christine says, doing a much lazier breaststroke over. "I'm game."

"You have mellowed out a lot," I remark. "I think I've said it before, but… wow."

"Yup," she agrees. "Thanks. I owe a lot of it to you."

Gah. Um. Well, good I guess!

"I owe the rest of it to Anastasia, obviously, because she's the best," Christine continues.

"Yeah!" Anastasia agrees. "Wait, what did I do?"

Christine just swims right past me, peels Anastasia off of me, and takes a big hug all to herself.

"Julietta was a friend," she says. "But you made us a family. And having a family I love is pretty damn great, even if they're all a bunch of weirdos."

"Hey, don't call me a weirdo," Peter smirks, floating nearby.

"I am, actually, calling you a weirdo, Pete," Christine says. "Every family needs a creepy drunk uncle."

"Creepy!? I am not creepy!" he protests dramatically. "I've been surrounded by naked ladies all trip, and I've barely even leered seven times!"

"An excellent counterpoint," Christine says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Truly, no one will think you're creepy now."

"Hey, given the circumstances, that is admirable restraint!" Peter insists. "Besides, I've caught you stealing a look more than a few times too."

"I'm a lesbian," Christine answers haughtily. "It's different."

"All I'm hearing is that you're a fellow member of the no bitches club," Peter smirks. "Why is it that out of all of us it's only Julietta that has all the game?"

"Hey, I have game," Emily says, sinking down to join the conversation. "I have loads of game. Hot rich girlfriend, remember?"

"Ah, but you couldn't secure the inheritance in time," Peter says. "Amateur blunder."

"Come on, dude, too soon," Christine says, wrinkling her nose. "And besides, the answer's obvious. As the most autistic out of all of us, Julietta gets the most bitches. It's simple math."

"Is… is that how that works?" Emily questions.

"I've never actually received an autism diagnosis, for the record," I say.

"Yeah hon, it shows," Christine responds. Which… wow! Rude!

"You guys are all doing too much talking and not enough hugging!" Anastasia protests, which causes all of us to immediately realize that she is correct and surround her in a giant cuddle pile.

It's nice. Just… having everyone here. Holding them. Christine is right; as weird and dysfunctional as we all are, we're a family. If only Blossom were here… although wasn't she the one who started this? Forming an eye on the back of my head I spot her, watching us all from a distance. She floated off because she doesn't belong in this particular hug, and both of us know it. I might know her well and care about her a lot, but she's essentially still a stranger to the others. Here, in my arms, I have my human family. Around us, in our Queen's domain, I have my alien family.

And Maria… Maria is now part of both. There really is something special about that.

"We're almost ready," The Divinity of Wonder reports. "Begin heading toward the relevant chamber, Twisting Scars Reshape Fate."

"Oh! Maria's almost ready to come out!" I translate for the others.

"Uh, you're dating? We already knew she was gay," Peter says.

"I've gotta go," I say, ignoring him except for a roll of a few of my eyes. "I… love you all. Thanks for being my family, okay?"

"Aww!" Christine smiles. "You're welcome. Thanks for being mine when I didn't have anyone else."

"I love you too, Julietta!" Anastasia agrees wholeheartedly. "All this alien stuff is a little weird and scary, but… I trust you."

"For better or worse, I'm sure there are still going to be aliens we'll have to kill," I sigh. "But there are nice ones, too. They're just people, like anyone else."

"Then we'll beat up the mean ones and be nice to the nice ones!" Anastasia concludes succinctly. There's something about that Reciprocation-loved worldview that's fundamentally childish, but at the same time… there's a lot to respect about it. If only the world could actually be that simple.

"It's not going to be that simple," Emily says. "It's us against the world now. You guys get that, right? The military is against us. Humanity is against us. And there are still countless alien colonies that aren't going to be as nice as the ones we've been hanging out with lately. And, you know, just in case anyone forgot: the end of the world is still looming. We still don't even know what causes that other than a vague claim that it is somehow the thing in the moon."

The reminder about In-Joke causes me to scowl. There's that problem to deal with, too. The 'Defenders of Nothing.' What do they know?

"At minimum, we have the support of my colony," I say. "We could probably find all of your colonies as well, and… well, most of them would likely be willing to help for the same reasons mine was? If we can unite enough of the aliens to provide a coordinated front, it'll force countries into acknowledging the chance of peace. Once the war is over, we can all work out a solution to the apocalypse together."

"No big deal then," Emily sighs. "Just end thirty years of genocidal combat and unite the entire world within two and a half years. Easy."

"We don't need a truly united world," I say. "Just one that's united enough to agree that the apocalypse is bad. If everything descends back into chaos after we save the world, well… ultimately, that's a secondary concern."

"Callous," Peter comments. "I like it."

"It's certainly more doable if we think of it that way," Emily agrees. "Hmm. It… might work? I'm not sure what we'll do once the world is united, no matter how tenuously, but I guess that's the point, right? We don't know how to stop the apocalypse ourselves, so we need help."

"Exactly," I nod. "Now I've gotta go greet Maria and help her get a handle on her new body. We'll talk more about our future plans when she's settled in, yeah?"

"Okay, okay," Emily sighs. "Go kiss your girlfriend."

Oh! Well, I hadn't been planning to, but… I guess I am now. I give her a smile and a nod of confirmation, then shift into a long, eel-like body and whip my tail to accelerate down to where Maria will be. The reconstruction chamber rests snugly in a bed of Wonder's own tentacles, like the Queen is hugging herself in congratulation of a job well done.

"She is here," The Divinity of Wonder says. "Are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I can be, I think," Maria responds nervously. "Aaah, this is going to be so embarrassing!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. I am opening the chamber now, A Prism of Refracting Selves."

"Fear! Excitement! Embarrassment! Anticipation!"

"Joy. Love," I send back, because what more really needs to be said? The chamber opens, water floods in, and once the swirling rush of the ocean has settled… I see her. Maria. My beloved.

True to her desires, she's very similar to the Maria I remember. Her face, her beautiful freckles, and overall her body as a whole are extremely reminiscent of what I remember. There have been a few touch-ups, certainly: a squeeze here, a stretch there, an inconsistency evened out, but she's her, first and foremost.

The color is all off, of course. It's all over the place, in fact, shifting, flushing, bleaching, rippling… she clearly doesn't have a good handle over her chromatophores, but she will. And likewise, the tentacles she has flowing down her back in place of hair are… gosh. I've never been a fan of long hair, and as such I've never really given a damn about the hair length regulations of the military. Maria, however, always preferred her hair long and just cut it short because she had to, and this preference is reflected in the relative length of our current 'hair' as well. While my tendrils usually only hit shoulder-length at most, significantly reducing the range to which they can unconsciously quest, Maria's hair now squirms halfway down her back, and as a consequence several bits of it are curiously wrapping themselves around her shoulders, arms, neck, and chest. They're also somewhat less chaotically colored, each tentacle instead keeping to a primary theme, such as yellow, blue, pink, white… and even one that's mostly green.

She awkwardly swims forward, closes her eyes for a moment, and then frilly fins suddenly pop out from her legs and forearms, wide and flowing like a betta fish. Waving her arms back and forth, she manages to scull her way forward, swimming toward me completely upright.

"Hey," she greets me.

"Hi," I manage back. "You look gorgeous."

"Do I?" she asks. "Um… could you show me?"

Oh! Well, if she's asking… I happily pass my domain through her and pick up her template, shifting myself to match her. My own tentacles are a bit more controlled, but I do my best to match her coloration in real-time, spreading my arms and smiling at her.

"See?" I say. "Absolutely gorgeous."

Her heartbeat quickens, her eyes looking me up and down as she nervously scrunches in on herself, though… I'm not sure it's an entirely bad kind of nervousness. Her entire body ripples, skin flowing like a lake disturbed by a thrown stone. A couple of her tentacles are already reaching towards me, moving slowly as if they could ambush me before I even notice.

"Gosh," she says. "I guess it turned out pretty good."

"Extremely," I agree. "So… where do you want to start first? You menti—mmph!"

Those very same tentacles do, in fact, whip out and grab me, pulling me in and pressing me up against her. Our lips lock as our hair intertwines, holding and tasting each other at a hundred points of contact. It's sudden, spontaneous, overwhelming, and wonderful. I can't help but make a disappointed noise after a moment, though, prompting her to break away.

"What?" she asks nervously. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," I assure her. "I was just planning to do that first this time. I missed my chance."

"Oh! Um. We can… start over if you want," she says.

"Did you… want me to stay in your body?" I ask.

"Oh! Um, haha. W-whatever you want is fine! I mean, I did design it this way because I thought it would be hot, but I—mmph!"

Gotcha. We embrace again, and this time I get to be on the attack, holding her tightly and wrapping my arms around her as we kiss. In the back of our heads, we both hear Blossom doing her best to explain our 'strange physical rituals,' but we ignore her. The colony can feel how happy we are, and that's all they really need to know.

"Welcome back, Maria," I say when we finally pull away again.

"Y-yeah!" she agrees. "It's good to be back, in whatever weird way I'm back in now. Although… well, there's one more thing I have to do, you know."

"Oh yeah?" I ask. "What?"

She just smiles and closes her eyes, focusing for a second.

"Alright, everyone…" she says softly, and then moments later the water just about explodes with light, a dozen different fairies all popping into being at once, a veritable kaleidoscope of her, each different in color and appearance. Pink and yellow still look fully human, barring the fairy wings, while Blue and—sure enough—Green take on a miniature version of the very body Maria wears now. Infrared alone retains the appearance of her demonic form, though countless other colors outside the standard visible spectrum join her, wearing the new Angelic body like Blue and Green. Joining them are Red, Purple, White, and even a few shades I haven't ever seen before. And then there's Maria's main body, a brilliant, shifting glow that moves from color to color, shade to shade, with wings as huge and bright as any of her smaller selves.

"We're back," the main body says, though just her voice alone sounds like an echo of countless voices speaking at once. "All of us. So, without further adieu…"

She points at me, her finger like a flashlight illuminating a target in the dark.

"Get her, girls!"

A dozen laughing Marias rush me all at once, surrounding me in an instant, hugging and pressing into me from all sides. A complete encirclement. A total rout. I have been summarily defeated on the field of battle. But with all of them so warm and happy against me, I could never in a million years call this a loss.