Nestra pulled mana from her brand new, fully human, fully functional and ‘definitely here and not a figment of her imagination’ core. It was… difficult. Her experience pulling void mana helped, of course, but the human thing was different. This core was nebulous and immaterial like her true one used to be, a potential more than a real generator. It made the process slow and deliberate. First, she had to select one type out of two, which was already a headache because she’d awoken both at once. Her core pulsed, ready to fulfill its function but unfamiliar yet — like having a new limb. It was all functional but she just had to manually think about every step. Focusing, she went for it. Electricity was wild and fast — almost as fast as void. It was the thunderous path of least resistance, a tension released, a balance restored, and the destruction of everything in its path. It was also, on a more abstract level, speed and energy. She could understand it because the fake core imitated it well. By comparison, ice was slower though not that slow. It was weirdly mixed with something liquid — somehow, and pretty quiet otherwise. Like it had to act on something whereas electricity existed by itself. On an abstract level, it was still and very insidious. Her mom had mentioned something like that… Nestra grabbed for ice this time. Slowly, she coaxed the power out of the core and into her circuit, first through her chest and along her arm, and then to her palm. The mana dispersed harmlessly outward from her open hand. She opened her eyes. The bowl of water in front of her froze over, white tendrils visibly expanding from the center. She rubbed her fingers. Nothing. It wasn’t even cold. Another quirk of using one’s own mana. Nestra turned to Doctor Fehr, who tapped on a datapad with insane dexterity and speed. The datapad had to be a custom job to accept that kind of input. Aunt Claire was nearby, looking at the bowl with a smile that hadn’t left her lips for the past half an hour. Nestra took one last shaky breath. “Alright. Here goes.” The mask fell. Pain came immediately afterward. Nestra was slammed against the slab, throat compressed, arms melting into rock so saturated with Claire’s power that she felt it interfere with her wall jump, though she didn’t make an attempt. She was now looking into amber eyes brushed by a tornado, mouth a thin line. There was none of Claire’s usual mirth here, none of her love. There was just the cold focus of someone who had been killing the enemies of mankind for the past sixty years, one corpse at a time, and kept doing it because she was very good at it. Nestra wasn’t facing her Aunt. She was facing Claire Reid, an elite B-class raider of Threshold. The power in her fingers was oppressive to a level that drowned Nestra’s mind, constricting her windpipe and her hope. Nestra didn’t even want to free herself. Even the instincts that normally drove her to fight like hell were quiet under the avalanche of emotions collapsing on her. A malignant idea slithered in her mind. This. This was how most Aszhii whelps die. By forgetting a cuckoo’s mother’s love was a lie. When the cheated family found out, there were no miracles. Just… a balance. “One wrong move, one mana pull, and you die,” the slayer said. “I know,” Nestra rasped. “Fuck!” The fingers moved, but only for Nestra to gulp enough air not to panic too much. She belatedly realized she was gripping Claire’s arms while her legs danced in the air. Claire was shorter but the stone under Nestra’s feet had simply fallen away, taking a layer of ice with it. An ice her Aszhii self couldn’t feel or control, so at least she knew her human affinities had not transferred over. At least not yet. ‘What are you?” Claire asked. “It’s me! I told you, it’s me. I was from birth, ok? Well, not exactly. I didn’t know I had an extra shape. It only popped up shortly after the District Fifteen battle. The first one where I lost my squad.” “How many of you are there? Who else knows?” “As far as I understand I’m the only one. Believe it or not but Shinran knows.” “How did you end up here?” “Ok, so the males of my species, errr, can take the shape of male people from other races. One of them took dad’s shape and…” Nestra couldn’t bear to finish that sentence. Fortunately, Claire did it for her. “Your… gene donor was an alien? And he pulled a Zeus on us?” “Yeah. Essentially. That.” Claire blinked several times as she processed this information. her eyes roamed over Nestra’s face, either looking for signs of deception or taking in her appearance. “How do you even know all this?” The pressure increased more but Nestra shook her head. This was very unplanned and Sereth had variable rules on who could know things. She couldn’t have Aunt Claire suffer. “I really, really, really can’t. I’m sorry. I’m telling you all the truth I have but some stuff I don’t know.” The pressure released again. Maybe a more experienced interrogator would have pulled on that thread until the end but Claire was obviously in shock, and more curious than anything else. “You’re claiming you’ve always been ?” “Yes. I didn’t replace a human Nestra if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s always been me from the start.” “Who’s my favorite hover race driver?” Claire asked. “You hate hover racing,” Nestra spat. Claire released her so Nestra fell heavily at her feet. She rubbed her throat, irrationally annoyed that Claire would be forceful even though she knew her aunt would be justified in killing her there and then. “But I’d say you hate Roland Jing the least since he makes other people crash,” Nestra added, still pissed. “You totally did. You also suggested they should add spikes to their repulsors.” Claire tilted her head to the side. Nestra hammered the nail home. “You said they should joust and wear cosplay.” “Alright. When’s my birthday?” “August the 18th and it would be nice if you could actually be in Threshold when it happens.” “I told you I was sorry I was late.” “I made a cake and everything. I had a reservation.” “Alright, alright. It’s been three years. Jeez.” “And for the record you got a mole on your lower left buttcheek. There. I’m the person you’ve always known. Satisfied? Now are you killing me for being an alien or what? I would very much like to know before total emotional collapse, thanks in advance.” “Don’t be silly. Even if… even if it’s all true, you obviously aren’t the guilty party here. And it sounds like you’re my Nestra. I just…” Claire shook her head as she took a few steps back. Her anger went from cold to hot. At least it wasn’t murderous anymore. “Why didn’t you tell me before? Why didn't you tell us, your family?” Aunt Claire asked. The hurt and disappointment in her voice was palpable. Nestra could have cared in other circumstances. “Are you kidding?” she hissed. “Did I miss the part where I was almost dead? You’re the cool aunt and you almost killed me! You move you die kind of deal? You pinned me to the wall like a fucking butterfly! Hello?” Aunt Claire had this expression of parental disappointment as she opened her mouth to reply, but then Nestra’s words registered and she revealed an emotion that cut like a knife, yet answered Nestra’s dark prayer: guilt. Nestra’s wounded love pounced on it. “Yeah great fucking idea let me just tell the other paranoid first gen gleams that I’m an alien with no concrete proof that I didn’t eat and replace myself, the original daughter. After this grand and pleasant revelation, I will proceed to explain to mom that I’m the product of a secret rape and then to dad that he’s not my real father. I can see no way this can ever go wrong.” “Alright, alright, let me think,” Claire conceded. “What is there to think?” Nestra screamed. “You could resurrect fucking Socrates and he wouldn’t find a way to argue it wasn’t anything but a horrible violation. I was horrified and disgusted and I’m the full beneficiary of this grand farce. Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you the part where my species’ children change the reproductive organs of their mothers so they can never have children normally again, so it is because of me that Helena has a weird affinity and health problems.” “Fuck, Helena. She should be told as well…” Aunt Claire whispered. “I already told her. She thought it was wired,” Nestra said, calming down a bit. Fuck, she didn’t remember that Aszhii could cry, but apparently this shape maintained functional tear ducts, and they kind were ticklish right now. She sniffed and held it back. Aunt Claire didn’t comment. She was lost in thought. For the second time in a row, Nestra felt compelled to fill the silence. “I’ve been trying to help her, partly by, errr, raiding with her.” “Illegally?” Claire asked, zeroing on the revelation. “Well, not anymore. I actually do legal raids and I can bring apprentices with me. Helena is cleared to raid by her school. She might have just… kinda omitted a few details during her application. Only D-class worlds I swear!” “How do you even raid looking ?” Claire was more curious than anything else at this point. “I wear a mask. Duh.” “Wait a minute… you’re Crescent! I heard about you. I was a bit curious too.” Claire’s voice immediately switched to scolding relative. “How dare you drag your sister into a portal without our consent?” “Oh get off it. I’m a freakishly strong C-rank raider. I only allow her to get a little hurt.” “So that recent scar on her leg was your doing?” Claire said, frowning mightily. The silly exaggeration dissipated much of the tension. They were at the scolding part. It was a significant step up from the execution part. “Look, she needs to learn. I swear she was never in danger. You should see her fight too. She’s like a lumberjack going to work, just cutting down stuff with brutal efficiency. Just like that. Swing swing. No class, all results.” “Oh I’ll get to see her work with her parents’ approval. No more secret raids, you absolute menaces. I should ground you two for a month and I’m the rebel.” Claire caught a smile before it could fully bloom. She sat down heavily on the ground. “The human one? Cannibalized by the true form so it could survive earth’s low mana concentration.” “So you were, in a way, attacked.” “No, it was unconsciously self-inflicted.” Aunt Claire looked outward. She was checking their surroundings. “How do you know all of this?” she eventually asked. “I already told you I can’t tell you and I beg, beg you not to push me on it. I am absolutely serious. This is a matter of life and death. Please don’t ask me.” “Are you being threatened?” “What? No, it’s just for safety and secrecy. Please!” “Right. Right. Fine.” Claire sort of deflated there. Nestra looked around at the seemingly peaceful mountains. It was such a nice view too, and it was such an important moment. She could have died here. The sobering realization gave her a sense of distance, like she was hot and cold, afraid and detached. “Ok,” Claire said after a while. “Well this is certainly a moment. I, errr, I believe you. It’s just…” “A lot to take in? Yeah, can’t blame you there.” Claire fell silent again. Night had fully fallen by now, but light from distant stars pierced through the clouds to reveal enough colors to tinge the black and white vista with touches of deep blues and green. The cold wind fluffed Nestra’s hair. She touched the snow, realizing she was on one of the peaks she’d wanted to climb back in the plane, two life-changing events before. The natural beauty of the region hadn’t even registered when she’d gone to the clinic because of the stress. Now though, she was in that deep emotional valley after a narrowly dodged catastrophe. Every sight was a striking one. Nestra stole a glance towards her aunt. She was rubbing her chin. “How does it work with clothes?” she asked. “So each body is in a sort of dimensional pocket and they swap alongside everything they have on them including weapons. I might even be able to use it as a sort of storage space after it grows further.” “Huh. That would be so damn convenient during raids. We usually just have to select what we want to take with us if it’s a high level one. I know space nerds are working on storage rings like in the books.” “Not that I want to pressure you or anything but we were just in a major terrorist attack with plenty of civilian fatalities.” “Yes, I wish I could have saved more of them… but I was very concerned. At first. Those assassin gleams ain’t shit.” “Right, but my point is, we ran away.” “We ran away from the site of a major terrorist attack,” Nestra insisted. “Oh. Ooooooooh yeah that might look bad.” “I think we need to either find the police pronto or, ya know, fly back to Threshold burning villages on the way, pursued by a team of plucky police rookies.” “Yeah yeah ok no need for sarcasm. I am so very sorry I ever doubted you were the same person, alright?” And so they returned to the train tunnel, which took longer than expected because Aunt Claire had kinda forgotten where they’d come from. The train wasn’t there, naturally, but they did come across a patrol of dragoons by following the tracks, Nestra having changed back to her human form. To her immense and continued surprise, they weren’t arrested on the spot. It turned out that there were plenty of witnesses to both of them helping so they were resolutely on the good guys side. Nestra did explain that they were targeted since she expected law enforcement might find out anyway, even though there had been no witnesses to that specific conversation. None that were still alive anyway. She got the feeling Claire might have been asked about the weird mana marks but it was bad etiquette to inquire about a powerful raider’s secret techniques, and even more so when they’d just saved several dozen citizens at a risk to themselves, and even more so when said raider had torn apart several B-class attackers with no weapon and no armor. She got the feeling some of the dragoons were not happy about them though. “Did you suspect there might be assassins after you?” a B-class in white armor asked her back in Zurich, in a rather comfy interrogation room. It was well past midnight by now and Nestra was working on caffeine and leftover excitement. The Zurich office for the dragoons was on the Uetliberg — which sounded cool but was actually just a small hill. It would have been a very pleasant spot were it not for the whole ‘I have been arrested yet again’ thing. Seriously Nestra had spent more time in an interrogation chair than the average career criminal by now. “No sorry it didn’t even remotely register. We were really just here for the medical procedure. Which succeeded!” The guy hadn’t taken his dragoon hamlet off which she found particularly a little concerning. It was really like a high-tech knight helm, quaint unless it was glaring at her. The interrogator was also very tall in a way that made true Nestra want to come out and play to see what sort of pleasant reaction she could get from the overconfident fucker. “I can tell, since you are now an unregistered user on the canton’s territory. A brief exchange with your hierarchy also revealed a peculiar specificity: you are apparently considered a D-class threat back home?” “Ah, errrr, hmmm. Fuck.” The dragoon chuckled. Nestra wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. “By the way, the guy those augs neutralized? Your colleague? Is he ok?” “He took a few bullets.” “Oh, yes. He made it. You carried him, yes? Obviously he will be disciplined for rushing ahead like an idiot instead of following protocol. Hmmm.” He made a show of checking the time. “That is quite enough bothering you for tonight. I apologize for holding you for so long but we had to double check a few things. I will ask that you do not leave Zurich during the next few days for your own safety, although your Aunt has declined high protection. I will have one of our cars drive you back, Fraulein.” Unfortunately, Nestra’s special day ended with her crashing on her hotel bed. “We’re so happy for you, but obviously very worried as well,” mom said at the ass crack of dawn. “I should have been there,” her dad said, obviously anxious. “It’s ok. It was just very unexpected. We will be extra careful and I will be there soon, promise,” Nestra replied. Her mom grew teary-eyed watching her. Nestra approached the camera so it could zoom on her brand new irises. “One of us! One of us!” her mom exulted. “Aaaah I supposed your mom can have her minion while I teach Ulysses,” Dad joked. “She was getting desperate with no one to inherit her evil freezing ways.” “Don’t worry love, she can always electrocute people by blade contact. You’ll get your share too!” Nestra smiled when Helena entered the room in a whirlwind of exclamations and comments, still in her uniform. It was early afternoon in Threshold so she was probably missing classes if her parents’ half-hearted complaints were any indication. A pang of guilt made her joy brittle. Ulysses was not here. He was not here because he thought she was a parasite, and fuck, he was right. They were already planning how they could best help her. Would they still do it if they knew she was a fraud? A parasite, in a way? Would they still love her? Aunt Claire was acting silly but she was still… cooler than yesterday. It hurt. More than Nestra was willing to admit. After a couple of minutes, Nestra hung up. “Are you alright darling? Were you wounded? I didn’t check,” Aunt Claire said, coffee cooling on the table. They were in the hotel’s lobby. It was luxurious as hell and the buffet was grandiose, to the extent Nestra was on her third plate. Actually, maybe she could gain weight again here. Had to be a little careful. She poked a half-finished pastry. “No, no, it’s just… what happened yesterday.” “Don’t worry, I’m being vigilant. Fuck those guys; we’re going to visit Zurich and enjoy it.” “Not the assassination attempt. The discussion.” Claire didn’t even mark a pause. “Yeah, sorry, I was caught off guard.” But she was still cool, Nestra thought. “No it’s nothing. Obviously it would take time for you to accept…” “I already accepted, darling. Even if I’ll have many more questions once we’re back home. I'm just keeping track of our surroundings and preparing for sniper attacks. Just in case. There is a fucker with a rifle in the opposite building but he’s wearing a police uniform I just want to throw a stone at him anyway. What, you thought I was angry? It’s just difficult to be ready for anything but I kind of even want them to try. I can’t believe they baited me and it worked. So pissed at myself, in retrospect. I believe you by the way.” She was talking very fast. It was barely understandable. “Err. More like you did not trust me?” “I know it’s you, Nestra. And despite what you’re thinking, you really are your parent’s kid. Face. Mannerisms. Annoying tendency to steal my kills. I hope one day you’ll extend the same trust to them that you extended to me. Why is my coffee cold?”