As nearly everyone stepped back, Octavia held Vinyl close and let her cry herself out. When Vinyl finally started to calm down, Octavia pulled back to look her right in the eyes. “Tell me,” she coached softly. “Start at the beginning...but summarize.”
Vinyl chuckled softly. “I don’t think I can fit this story in 20 words or less.”
“You already did,” Octavia responded softly. “But you don’t need to keep it that short. It’s time for us to talk about who we’ve become, after all. Then we can talk about who we were...and who we want to be.”
Vinyl nodded, coughing a bit to clear the congestion her crying fit had left her with, wiping her eyes and face with the handkerchief Octavia had pulled out the instant she’d coughed. “Well, I woke up on Dad’s head.” She gestured to Albert. “He wanted to take over the world to enforce human/robot equality. I wanted to help, at first as a bonding activity and to make him proud of me, and later because I had come to believe in the cause. I mean, how could I not want organic/synthetic equality when my big brother is a robot?” She smiled towards Forte, who smiled back as he leaned against the pool Miyuki swam in. “But things went wrong. I made some mistakes, and I realized the struggle could cost me those I cared about...so I decided to stop. I decided if Earth wasn’t ready for robot/human equality on a global scale, the solution was to build such a world from scratch elsewhere, so I went to terraform Mars. But then someone else started trying to destabilize the world and paint me as the bad guy...so I successfully took over the world in an attempt to flush them out.” She hesitated, unsure how to explain the next part without getting too emotional.
“You hit a clog?” Octavia suggested blandly.
Vinyl stifled a snigger. “Yeah, something like that. Still, I ruled the world. I had robot/human equality. Everything was going to be perfect. I was about to perform the first human/robot wedding, joining my best friends - one who was like a sister to me - together...but...”
Seeing Vinyl struggling to shape words, Albert spoke up. “Suicide bomber,” he explained softly. “The perfect trap for Three Laws security...” Off to the side, Prometheus swore sulfurously under his breath until Armatige rested a hand on his shoulder, drawing him out of his self-recrimination.
“It all fell apart...” Vinyl murmured softly. “They were moves ahead. By the time I recovered, the world was already at war...” She took a breath, steeling herself. “So I decided...if they didn’t want the world technology led to, the world I was building...they could live without it. Everyone who just wanted out went to Mars, and...I released a virus that shut everything else down.”
“That’s about when I arrived, when you left,” Octavia spoke up. “Dr. Light put me in stasis with Dad...X. Dad became the basis of Reploids, and...” She turned to Zero. “You’d be best explaining the rest.”
“The AI based off you screwed up, Mom,” Zero explained. “It was so worried about Tavi that it added protocols to me and X to make sure she’d be safe and cared for...and that screwed up the timing circuits on my capsule, damaging my Ether Systems. The Evil Energy side joined with a Reploid Commander named Sigma, becoming a Virus to turn Reploids into Mavericks. It was only blind luck and things we still aren’t sure about that kept the resulting war from ending in mass casualties.”
Vinyl winced visibly. “Sorry...”
“It all worked out for the best,” Octavia assured her. “If not for the conflict, Gate wouldn’t have been able to contribute so much, and without that he wouldn’t have gotten the clearance to finish building Armatige...and that’s what erased the line between human and Reploid. That’s where Terrans came from...and that’s the world of Earth now.”
Vinyl closed her eyes, taking a few calming breaths. “I...guess I should look at the outcome of my own struggle the same way?” she asked somewhat bitterly. “That it all worked out for the best, so I shouldn’t be upset?”
“No,” Octavia countered firmly. “The pain is yours, and you’ll have to get through it at your own rate. All a happy ending can give you is comfort...that your efforts were not for nothing. You built Zero. You inspired Dr. Light to build X. You brought Rock and Kalinka together to build Axl. Because of you, they were who they are, and the world was saved because of that. It in no way lessens the tragedy and loss...but at least you can take comfort that your lost loved ones are surely happy with how it ended, and are smiling down at Earth as it is now.”
Vinyl shook her head in wonder as she chuckled softly. “When did you get so wise, Tavi?” she asked in awe, accepting the glass of water Miyuki floated over to her and taking a drink to rehydrate.
“Comes with being over 200 years old,” Octavia murmured dryly.
Vinyl promptly spat her water out all over Octavia, only for most of it to be deflected by energy shields. “What?”
“Didn’t I mention that?” Octavia asked mildly. “An error with the bio-stasis caused me to age very slowly, meaning I didn’t hit full maturity until my 200th birthday. It made things interesting...and awkward for Dad.”
Vinyl managed to get out a laugh. “So now I’m cougar bait...” she murmured under her breath, trying not to be heard by anyone else. “So,” she continued louder, “is this where we discuss who we used to be?”
“We were two close friends who were attracted to each other but were too afraid of skewing said friendship by acting on it, leaving us in the endless ‘will they or won’t they’ dance that sitcoms love so much,” Octavia offered calmly. “A mutual attraction that only really became obvious when we made music together.” She leaned forward with a soft smile. “So tell me, cougar bait, since Axl calls me Mom...where do you stand on MILFs?”
Vinyl swallowed as she felt her mouth and throat go dry. “Uh...on the bottom?”
“Good choice,” Octavia purred. “One other lesson I’ve learned...even when your lifespan is measured in centuries, it’s still too short to waste beating around the bush.” Reaching up, she cupped Vinyl’s face in her forehooves and pulled her into a deep kiss.
Vinyl’s eyes went wide in shock, only to close as she leaned into the kiss, wrapping her flesh and blood leg around Octavia as Varia disengaged.
As everyone watched with smiles, happy to see Vinyl finding something to be happy about, Axl rubbed the back of his head. “So...my Mom is dating my Aunt now?” he asked, deciding on that relation to Vinyl since she and Kalinka were apparently as close as sisters. “I’m not sure what to think about that.”
Silence greeted that statement for a time, until Forte shot Axl a wicked grin. “That you might be a redneck?” he offered teasingly, only for Miyuki to swat him in the back of his head with her tail fluke.