I laid in bed feeling like crap. Heart next to me, practically purring in lust after the I don't even remember round.
“I fucking hate this…” I groaned.
"Would you like another pleasuring Master~?" Heart, or rather the body of Heart now guided by this… Breeder Programming asked.
“No…I’m fine…” I said, getting out of bed and stretching carefully.
A few joints popped and that helped a little. Heart's body still against mine in their reprogrammed sex addicted/required mind. I sighed. I miss my Heart…
“This isn’t what I want…” I muttered. “I want my Heart back…but no…” I growled, hating how Heart wanted this, how Lord just allowed this…I don’t care if that emotionless asshole says not to break the fourth wall, I don’t need fucking forth wall nonsense to know this is going to end poorly for a lot of people. “What else can piss me off today?”
With nothing else to do, and not wanting to screw Heart again I checked on some mail… let's see here… huh. New Arrivals. Let's see… wait.. Anna… Anna… Anna… I swear that name rings a bell… god living so long I feel like I'm forgetting shit…
“Holy shit my brain is mush sometimes…” I groaned. “Alright…time to meet some new arrivals…and also figure out how to keep myself from getting Admin Alzheimer's…”
I stood up, remembering Heart was still clinging to me as their arms were wrapped around me. "Where are you going Master?"
“To do important things.” I said carefully, as I tried to keep my emotions in check at seeing Heart…my Heart like this…
"Will you need pleasuring while you're there, Master?"
“No.” I stated bluntly, getting so sick of this. “Fuck it.” I said, putting my hand on their head and knocking them out. “I am in…no mood for this garbage…”
With Heart unconscious I quickly used a DTN and left to find where this Anna was.
I found myself in one of the many gaming rooms of the… well, 'house' is simplifying what all this really is but it's close enough.
Eventually I found a human woman, heavily pregnant, playing the ps3 port of Final Fantasy X.
“Wait…no, it can’t be…” I blinked, seeing so many features that looked familiar. “Anna?” I asked in surprise.
She looked over at me. "Woah! Big milf wolf!" She yelped.
“Okay, yes, true.” I nodded. “But it’s me…uh…shit, I forgot, you wouldn’t know…” I groaned. “Also, didn’t you hundred percent FFX like thirty times already?” I asked, hoping me saying something like that would help show her who I am.
"Well technically because of time resets and BS I've completed it millions of times… wait? ___?" She asked. Ah right, she can't call me my name. No one can. I forgot that since going by King…
“Right…so technically, my name isn’t ___ anymore, I got by King now.” I answered. “And sounds like you had your own fun adventures wherever the hell you were…god it’s been forever!” I said, picking up my old friend back on earth and giving them a hug.
"Oh just stuck in a time loop of resetting reality and forgetting everything and all the various lives, lovers and children I had because I was trying to save them from all dying so I kinda swallowed those timelines and… it's a lot of shit I'm still remembering all the details." Anna scratched the back of her head. "I owe Vincent and Gray for helping though."
I…was not a happy camper when I heard those two god damn names. “Okay…so besides us having some shared past problems, but while you were stuck in a time loop I had my life given three different rewrites and it was…not pleasant…” I said carefully, before I took a deep breath. “Okay, so where’s deputy jackass and constable cockwaffle?”
"Uh, who?"
“Vincent and Grey…” I said carefully. “Cause while I would love to spend a lot of time catching up and also explaining what the hell happened with me and why I’m a sexy woof milf, I have some…very choice words with those two.”
"Oh well last I saw, Vincent was chasing Gray down the halls yelling something about not causing trouble followed by what I'm assuming were the screams of Eldritch monsters being set loose on the hallways."
I took a deep breath. “One moment…” I said, before pricking my finger and creating a starfish clone. “Here, while you talk to me, I’m going to find those two bastards.”
I ran off out the door while I sat down next to Anna.
"... What in the Fuck?" Anna asked me.
“Alright…so where do you want to start?” I asked with a semi forced smile. “Cause right now, I need a friend, a hug, and a long talk to try and ignore a lot of the problems going on at the moment.”
While I talked with Anna, the other me was rushing down the halls, looking for those two-
"I told you stop!" Yelled a voice I recognized… they did almost kill me in the Kite world.
Turning around the corner I spotted them, Vincent angrily holding a… teenage kid, tan skin, gray hair and eyes trying to push Vincent off him.
"Let me have some fun old man!" The teen replied.
"And what the fuck am I seeing right now?" I asked carefully.
"I'm trying to keep this brat from causing chaos." Vincent said.
"Fuck you, you built me to cause chaos!" The teen, Gray I'm assuming, said.
"And why shouldn't I and billions of others come here to murder you both?" I growled.
"I'd Reincarnate." Vincent said.
"And I'm immortal so fucking try." Gray replied. "Wait… do I know you?"
"If what I'm sending is true…technically, cause Grey as a whole in energy is complete bullshit." I frowned. "And your reincarnation won't matter cause I figured out how to ignore that fucker."
"And who is this Den Mother Herijika Dire Wolf?" Vincent asked.
"I am King, Admin of Nothingness and a soul you and Nexus fucked with too much." I frowned. "And also your Nexus is causing the current war going on…"
"Correction, the other me's Nexus. I am a timeline copy." Gray said.
"Time doesn't exist anymore…ugh this is gonna get complicated…" I grumbled.
"Actually it kinda did. Remember that time loop Anna was stuck in?" Vincent asked. "Yeah, we were in there. Some void entity called Maxilla kept it isolated from the whole time shattering thing."
"How the fuck can…wait...Mexilla? Oh for fucks sake…" I groaned even louder and rubbed my temples. "Barely know the woman but…she fucking would…"
"Yeah. She seems to really hate you all but is helping you so, I'm a few… many resets and such behind or something so, what has this idiot done while possessing my body?"
"Well, got you killed by Cript for starters." I said, before going on a long spiel about the bullshit that's been going on.
"Well… that sucks…" Vincent huffed.
"Ya don't say!?" I said sarcastically after telling the two all the bullshit I've had to deal with because of these two.
"Well what do you want us to do about it?" Gray asked sarcastically.
"Help me fix your mistakes?" I suggested. "That would be a good start."
"What do I get out of it?"
"Entertainment cause this has never happened before?" I offered.
"Meh. Anything else?"
I blinked, honestly surprised by that. “Ya know, your other self was rather quick to agree to something along those lines…well…how about…keeping evil regulated? Like, you both can help with figuring out all that horseshit but keeping it so that there isn’t some existence wide war again?”
"Hey, he's the one all about evil, not me." Vincent said, Gray managing to shake out of grip.
"Isn't that kinda boring?" Gray asked.
“First, you created him,” I pointed at Gray with a frown. “A literal infinite and ever expanding energy source that has caused this entire reality to be reset countless times just to say ‘fuck all life’...that’s pretty evil.” I admitted. “And boring? Well then you’ve never actually tried it before…paperwork not withstanding…” I groaned.
"Hey, I was going to alter them when this," He pointed at Gray. "Suddenly gained sentience and possessed me after killing their other half."
"Oh please, much as I wanted to I wasn't able to kill the chicken shit. They took after you and reincarnated. Even through resets." Gray waved Vincent off. "And if the raw energy we started off as wasn't supposed to gain sentience either are you really surprised the fragment I came from did?"
“And I am sure Eclipsa would be super happy to see you here…” I sighed. “But from what I have learned, Gray gaining sentience was a complete accident due to the fact that you're an Admin of Life…then it started to war with itself because one side wanted to do what you literally programmed it to do…and the other…well, reincarnation is a hell of a thing when you get down to the nitty gritty of it.” I said honestly. “Especially when one of your incarnations…or at least one, tried to jump through time to break reality to spite this asshole.” I pointed at Gray.
"In any case…" Vincent groaned, "Since this is his mess and I was supposed to fix it all before they… what do you need?"
I sighed. “Help…any and all help I can get cause right now we’re in a stalemate that’s pretty much the world's longest staring contest…and whoever blinks immediately causes that stalemate to break.”
"So basically you need… everything I imagine."
"Armies, supplies and such? Easy." Gray shrugged. "What you'll really need is power."
“Pretty much, cause Armies and supplies are easy, I have done…a lot when it comes to all that bullshit…but Power…that’s the deciding factor, cause when this stalemate breaks, everything goes to shit and there is not a single safe place…” I sighed. “And while Gray is a usable energy…the more we use it, the more it grows and we’re trying not to restart this place, we’re trying to stop it.”
"Well, with that in mind the best case scenario would be to find a spare storage drive outside the machine." Vincent said.
… That's an option?!
“Listen…I’m already being threatened with monsters from ‘outside the machine’...but you can do that?” I asked in shock.
"I have a map of old All Maker ruins." Gray nodded.
… All Maker?
“Okay…that’s new.” I said carefully. “Who the fuck are these ‘All Makers’?”
“I haven’t heard that name since the first reset…” I whirled around and…Nothingness Belief? The fuck is he doing here!?
“Okay! What the fuck…” I said, lightly rubbing my face in exasperation at what the hell is going on right now. “Why are you here?”
"It's what we call who or whatever made the machine we all live inside." Vincent said.
“Right…” I said carefully. “Cause that’s what I need right now…”
"Oh they've been gone since… shit since before I came into existence and I'm one of the originals still around."
“And…who else is there?” I asked carefully. “Cause it can’t just be you…there’s probably others right?”
"Well, aside from Gray… The Mother, Truth… maybe some others."
"I was very thorough in my multiple genocides but some have slipped through the cracks." Gray nodded.
“So…probably some people ‘outside’ that built this stupid thing.” I sighed. “So…you, Mother and Truth…also Gray…wait, I thought you were a creation in the system? How the fuck…” I said, now royally confused as I thought this stupid Matrix bullshit was used to hide from whatever was out there.
"Well, except for Truth we were all made in the system yes." Vincent nodded.
“Wait wait wait…” I shook my head, trying to collect my thoughts here. “I thought that there were people outside the machines, but then something was going on and then they created these thing’s to hide from…whatever the fuck is out there.”
"Fuck if we know. By the time Vincent and the rest were around they were long gone or dead. And when I explored all I found were remnants of other ruined machines. Whatever the Fuck happened out there, they're gone, only this machine seems operational now and we have no idea why they even built it. Though we do suspect." Gray said.
I looked over at Nothingness Belief who sighed. “It’s been too long, and most of the memories of back then are shoddy at best…but there are two others on the outside…old friends…I just hope they haven’t gone Mad…”
“Alright…” I groaned, looking back to Gray. “What do you suspect?”
"Simple. It's a prison for the Dreamers." Gray said.
Okay, that rings bells. There was a whole Nexus project about making those and Cript knows some things too…
“So…I know something’s about it.” I informed. “I remember Joy found a whole lot of documents on it, Cript keeps dodging my questions about it but he know’s about it…” I frowned.
“Ah Dreamers…so wild and carefree back in those days…” Belief shook their head.
"Well, the theory goes that the All Makers and Dreamers are actually one in the same. The difference being All Makers have been exposed the the total raw energy and chaos outside the machine while Dreamers have not, making them mortal and weaker than the All Makers. No idea if it's true though."
I looked to Belief, who shrugged. “My body has been the Fuel for Nothingness for the countless many resets, again, memories shoddy.”
“Alright…but that would explain some things…” I admitted. “So either we’ll figure it out later when thing’s calm the fuck down, or we’ll learn it the hard way somehow.” I shrugged.
"Eh. So, what preps are you doing now for the coming war?"
“Oh the usual, trying to build a Synthetic army using the various different forms of energy, Gray being especially weird cause it sometimes speaks in some ancient dead language that I keep trying to figure out but can’t,” I huffed. “Doing anything and everything to try and upgrade all our gear, trying to figure out more about the Skill Tree system cause that’s a diverse challenge…and just doing anything I can to prepare.”
"Anything, really?"
"Okay…maybe not everything, cause I have morals and the first thing that's crossing said morals is fucking horrible and I wish I never let Heart agree to it…"
"Oh, do tell?" Gray asked with a grin.
“I really don’t need your bullshit involved with this…” I said carefully. “But…it’s some old bullshit ‘slave’ code Lord used and…turned them into a Breeder…and I fucking hate every second of it…”
"Ah, I know that Slaver Code. Nasty stuff. Wait you used this in Heart? That's the Cript that became Kingdom Hearts, the Admin of Hearts right?"
“They specifically asked Lord to do it to them.” I added in carefully. “And yes…Heart is in fact the Admin of Hearts…they weren’t apart of any of the fighting but still wanted to be helpful…so they agreed to…whatever the fuck that is…”
"Oh, and you left them alone?"
“I knocked them unconscious, and I know it was a good knock out spell cause they wouldn’t wake up too soon…” I said, wanting to have hope in my abilities but currently I’m mentally running ragged here, and all this new shit is not helping..
"Okay, first off, and I mean this with as much disrespect as I can say, you're a dumbass." Gray started. "Second, they are a Cript, scratch that, a Cript that was an Heir Cript, you know I made them mandatory have Adaptable biology, souls, magic, resistances. The stronger the attack the stronger and faster the rebound… so odds are yes they are awake right now and if they woke up alone with that programming on them then they are most likely mutilating themselves as we speak."
“I’m also an Heir Cript,” Vincent and Gray both gave me a look. “It’s an entire thing that I don’t have time to get into…”
"Then they are definitely awake. There was a reason I never put two Cript's, Heir Cript's especially in the same universe. Put two in a room and let them train and combat against each other and they're just skyrocketing power wise. Not to mention, as Admin of Hearts they literally have all those Keyblades working to undo that, including your own."
“God…damn it…” I created another starfish clone of myself and headed off back to Heart. “Everything just has to keep getting worse…”
"You really aren't cut out for being evil."
I made it back to the room and… oh… my…
Heart sat coiled up, a pile of their scales and teeth next to them as they were soaked in their own blood… they just kept pulling them off and out but they regrow.
"Ugly…" Heart whimpered, tearing off another scale just as it began to regrow.
“I left for like, five minutes!” I said in horror. “Heart what the fuck!?”
"Master?" They asked, looking over at me. "You were gone… did I do something wrong?"
“No? Why would you think that?” I asked. “Seriously, I was gone for five minutes…”
"Because you left me…" They whimpered.
I moved over and hugged Heart. “I’m sorry for leaving Heart…” I said softly. “I’m so fucking done with this shit! Why did I ever allow this? Why am I even allowing this!?! THIS IS BULLSHIT!!” I mentally screamed as all I felt was pain over this.
"You… still want me Master?"
“Of course I do.” I said, trying to think of a way to prevent this nightmare from ever happening, as Lord did make a back up to get my Heart back…seriously, fuck this.
"Would you like me to pleasure you then?"
"Yeah, no." Lord said, working on some… thing when I came here. He clearly already knew why I was here, I didn't even ask and he said that the second he saw me.
“You either do it or I break your fucking knee caps.” I threatened.
"How original. No. I believe Heart's request was to not have it undone until this army you need has been bred into existence."
“I don’t care!” I snapped. “This entire thing is bullshit, a waste of time, and the worst thing imaginable!” I growled. “There’s nothing but pain here, nothing of value is being brought here…”
"Your army of powerful children to defend against Gray's army is not of value?"
“I’d rather have children with my Heart, not some blank slate slut that physically mutilates herself because I left the room for five fucking minutes!” I shouted.
"Surprised you didn't leave a clone with them to keep at it. You bitched and moaned about wanting Starfish Clone but now you pick not to make use of it?"
“No, I didn’t.” I stated simply. “But how the fuck was I supposed to know that this was going to happen? I didn’t want this to begin with!”
"I literally told you what would happen when I did it."
“But literally five minutes after I left the room?” I asked incredulously.
"You think you can tweak eons old code made by one of the most psychopathic Admins of the first era, be my fucking guest. Got a million other things going on, you whining about your willing Breeder turned lover is not a top priority."
“So do I! But unlike you I’m not morally fucking bankrupt and an absolute asshole about everything.”
"I'm not morally bankrupt. I'm morally indifferent." Lord said. "Also the Fuck he doing here?" He motioned to Gray looking through his stuff. "Aren't we fighting him?"
“So, Maxella was involved in this bout of shenanigans…but apparently, she took a piece of Time and…well, Anna, my old Earth friend, did some weird thing’s and got both Vincent and Gray into her reality from a memory…then we learned that Gray was just possessing Vincent, which so far he’s been more of an okay guy actually talking to him…but back to the main point, that’s literally the same fucking thing.” I frowned.
"Wait, you didn't know he was possessing Vincent?" Lord asked.
“Yes, I did, I just didn’t know for how long.” I admitted. “I know you think everyone besides you is a dumbass but come on.”
"The only person I don't consider a dumb ass is them." He motioned to Gray. "And that's only because I made the mistake of teaching the bastard back in the day."
"Nice seeing ya again by the way." Gray said.
"Shut it."
I rubbed my temples as I felt more of a migraine coming on. “Great…this is what I need right now…” I said, feeling my arms slowly shake from held back rage.
"If you aren't going to help out around here, then scram I got stuff to do."
“Well I might as well see whatever the hell you have planned this time.” I frowned.
"Robots."
“Oh, that’s something I know a lot.” I said readily.
"Sure. Go make sure the motherboard frames are coming out right from the machine over there." Lord said, motioning over to the large 3-D Printer like machine.
“Ah, yes, the humble 3-D printer…” I chuckled and shook my head, moving over and checking to see if it was coming out right.
The frames it was printing out were made from metal it seemed, and they were rather intricate. Hm, must be small motherboards for this size.
“Still really hate how he’s just blatantly ignoring me with this problem…” I thought to myself bitterly, looking over the small motherboard frames carefully to see if it was built properly.
I walked into Cript's office. Seeing him working at a desk was… rather odd.
“So…what’s with the desk job all of a sudden?” I asked carefully, as right now I’m just trying to distract myself with literally anything.
"I do own and run a massive company. A few copies of myself usually handle the desk and paperwork jobs."
“Fair enough.” I nodded. “So Lord’s being a prick to me…”
"He's a prick to everyone."
“He’s being especially a prick to me cause of the whole…Breeder thing…” I sighed. “I wanted it gone…I want my Heart back but no…gotta get my ‘super powered army’ from that first when I can barely look at them without everything feeling like garbage…”
"It was Heart's choice. And I believe you were the one who said the only thing holding you back was your morality. Heart gave you the chance to remove that limitation."
"And boy, do I hate it with every fiber of my goddamn being." I said with a frown. "Oh, also there's another timeline version of Vincent and Gray here…"
"Sounds about right for our brand of Chaos."
“I’m surprised you're not at least a bit mad at hearing that.”
"Are they trying to kill us?"
“Thankfully no, as Vincent is wanting to help fix his mistake with not getting to Gray fast enough.”
"Then I have no need to be mad. Any other news going on?"
“Well…Anna is here, an old friend from my Earth.” I said honestly. “And apparently she’s an Admin of Shapeshifters.”
"Good for her."
“Yeah, cause all of this has involved Maxella cause why not…”
"She is doing her own thing. So, anymore questions?"
I sighed. “How the hell am I supposed to do all of this?” I asked weakly.
"You push through. Even if you feel dead inside."
“Wasn’t a good portion of my journey about me not feeling so dead inside I literally became dead?” I asked.
"True, but even then you kept moving. Ironic how sometimes we come back to where we started."
“Yes…but it fucking sucks that I need to take everything that I’ve done to be me…and just fucking throw it out the window cause of this dumb fucking war…”
"War changes people. Shows you what your Truly capable of. The hard part is living with yourself after."
“I want to be better than what is being forced…I didn’t work this hard just to go ‘fuck it’...even with all my threats and anger…even with the fight’s I’ve gotten into…I still want to be a good person…I am at least a decent person…” I said sadly, though in all honesty I’d call myself a ‘good man’ due to how overall patient and non-apocalyptically rageful to everyone and everything.
"In war there are only two kinds of people. The monsters and the dead. I remember the first war I was in."
“And what was it like?” I inquired.
"I remember thinking I was doing the right thing. I remember thinking I needed to protect the people from these invaders. I remember the man dead at my hands telling me with his last breath he just wanted to go home."
“Jesus christ…” I muttered in horror.
"This was well before I got this strong. Back then I was just a stupid powerful mage, not a God, demi god and certainly not an Admin. In the end I did help his people, establish a safe new empire for them… to this day, I'm regarded as a demonic figure in their culture. I don't blame them. All I can do is live with it and take some peace in the fact they're now thriving."
“Uh…huh…” I said slowly, rubbing my temples bitterly. “This sucks…”
"No one can live their life without regrets King. I should know, I have plenty."
I sighed. “I’m supposed to be better…” I shook my head bitterly, having worked so much to be better…not sink back to what I used to be…
"There's an old saying back in the earth I came from. Men don't kill men. Monsters kill men, and men kill monsters. It's an old phrase, supposed to help soldiers and mercenaries live with themselves. I've since learned it's only half true. Sometimes, it takes a monster to kill a monster. I've accepted that I am no man, but that doesn't mean I forget I used to be one."
“I suppose…that is a fitting saying…” I sighed. “But…one saying that works as well for me I suppose…the three things a wise man should fear…a moonless night…the sea at storm…and the wrath of a gentle man.” I shook my head, hating what I’m going to have to do. “I’m really gonna hate pulling out that list…”
"Just remember, it's only temporary… even if you're disgusted with yourself after, once this war is over you can work to never have to do that again."
“True…” I sighed. “Still gonna suck though…”
"We both know 'suck' is too kind a word."
“Yeah…” I shook my head. “I’d really like to not break the stalemate yet…gonna have to prepare while we still can…”
"Well… guess you better go get some regrets then. Otherwise fight or not, we'll lose the war otherwise."
To be continued...