Chapter 257: Chapter 257

Ale woke up in the arms of Miriam Eversoul as she was moving in a hallway, she had almost attempted to jump away when she noticed her body was swaying and moving.

But as soon as the thought arrived, she got a data dump sent straight to her mind.

Morning sleeping beauty, it is I... Alexanders.

First of all, sorry not sorry.

I know you were having a moment, but there is only so long I can keep an artificial body alive and warm. And I do not want to deal with zombies and whatever would happen if your Mana starts to react weirdly with that corpse.

So... long story short. I walked in, moved Eversoul to the side gave(Distracted) her the paperwork needed for her to be your guardian and Alexa's new guardian...

And while she was reading and making sure the papers were legally binding (Big surprise, she knew about the fact that a contract can be fake even if it looks legit. Who would have known?)

So while she was doing that... I came in and got you out of the coffin and sent that one to disposal.

If you want the ashes or something we can arrange that, but first listen to the suggestions Eversoul cooked, she went as far as to suggest to use her family mausoleum.

Whatever you want to do with that it's up to you, I can give the one you slept with. But the original one? That I can't provide.

Sorry about that, but that is an actual hazard risk, both a mental and biological hazard. I can't even walk near the thing without having to fight off the influence from the crystal geode that was spawned from it.

Whatever you and your... companion did will need serious containment.

So on happier news...

Congrats on joining the list for new citizens for Aquila!

That's about it? Ask Eversoul for further explanations or something.

Yours truly, Alexanders Saintsworths.

Ale... was not sure if she wanted to pay for a hitman or send the man a thank-you letter. To think that she had actually fallen asleep... And didn't notice that someone had pulled her out of the...

Oh god, she had fallen asleep in a coffin, hugging the cloned body of Alexandra... And she had been comfortable.

"Are you okay?" Miriam Eversoul asked as the woman continued looking ahead, at least she wasn't looking down.

Ale suspected how she looked.

"[Blushed face, panicked eyes, elevated pulse.]"

Ale cursed at her own past self for being that careless, she hadn't set up any automated response to warn her, she hadn't... she hadn't even thought ahead when she decided to climb into the coffin.

Why had she even done that?

She had hated with all her being whenever Alexandra used her as a hug pillow, and yet... She had went ahead and done that herself. Why?

Was she... this needy?

And now she was being carried in a princess carry... Oh god, she was being carried in a princess carry...

"I'm fine, I can walk." Ale said, covering her face with both hands, she did not want Miriam Eversoul to notice how embarrassed she was about this.

"Are you sure? You seemed tired." Miriam Eversoul said, turning her eyes momentarily down, "I don't mind it, you aren't that heavy."

That couldn't be, she had multiple modifications within her body, actually. How was this woman even carrying her? She weighed...

"[Notice, current body is within the average weight range of a normal teenager.]"

....That wasn't possible, her self modifications made it so she weighed almost twice as much when in combat setting, and she was currently in such a setting, or should be.

"[Main Core, where are my modifications?]"

"[Modifications were discarded and disposed as needed till weight entered the normal range under the orders of an Administrator.]"

...what? Alexa had ordered for her modifications to be discarded? No, she wouldn't do that.

"Alexa is innocent!" Alexa chimed from the back as if to pick up on Ale's train of thought, "Alexa was eepy! So she went to sleep and just came around five minutes ago! Ale was cute sleeping while being carried like a princess! Alexa wants to experience that too!"

"[...Go back to sleep or to watch the stream Alexa.]" Ale sent back to Alexa at the back, "[I know that you didn't do that, you wouldn't tamper with my body without asking for permission first. It's okay Alexa, I believe in you.]"

Ale really did, Alexa had many privileges and authority over Ale, and they both knew it. But even so Alexa never abused that authority, and that was why Ale trusted and didn't mind the relationship they had.

But that made her question it... who else had this degree of authority?

"[Main Core, what administrator did this?]" Ale decided to ask the person in question, she doubted Main Core would answer, they weren't that useful as of late.

"[Alexanders Saintsworths.]" Even so, Main Core answered.

Ale should have seen that one coming, the blonde asshole was able to command and take control over some of the functions that she had, so the fact that he could control her body...

It made her shudder, but why had he done that?

"[Did Alexanders leave a message about why he modified my body? Miriam Eversoul already knows how my body is on the inside thanks to the MRI they took of me.]" Ale asked confused, Miriam Eversoul had continued walking, taking Ale's silence to the statement that she wasn't heavy.

"[There are no records about any statement or explanation.]" Main Core answered, making Ale more confused about that, "[There are sensory data about when the administrator arrived.]"

And sure enough, Ale found the memory with the sensory data, some mumbling and distorted sound waves stored within that she was unable to parse as her brain wasn't parsing well or saving the data.

She, however, found sensory data that seemed to imply that Alexanders had moved her body. That is to say, there was sensory data of him attempting to move her. But that was the point where the weird parts of this started. The sensory data had a timestamp of a couple of seconds, no more than a minute of her body being moved.

Was he preparing to remove it from the coffin without bothering Alexandra?

Not possible, that blonde asshole wasn't that... well, he seemed to be somewhat understanding, as he had made no mention about how weird it was for Ale to sleep in the coffin...

So why had he only moved her body a couple of seconds, then used his administrator powers to modify her body, giving her evidence that he was able to do such a thing.

Surely it was not because he had been unable to lift her body... right?

Ale had seen him fight and move around, his physical prowess was almost as good as hers, surely... surely he should have been able to move her body... Surely he wasn't relying on exosuits and power armors to get his combat prowess...

Oh god, he hadn't been able to move her. Ale couldn't help but let out a giggle at that.

"Are we happy now?" Miriam Eversoul said with a smile on her face stopping near an elevator. "We are about to arrive too, do you want to go the rest of the way? No one should bother us at this point."

Ale nodded quickly and got down, the elevator... was mundane enough. But unlike the one at the apartment building in Ohio, this one didn't seem to be one step away from being a problem that needed to be fixed.

"So... Alexanders came around, said he found you sleeping near the coffin." Miriam Eversoul started speaking after the elevator doors closed, "Said you had been crying and to give you some space."

Ale quickly raised her hands to her eyes to scrub them and make sure about that statement; she didn't see any warning about her eyes being puffy or something.

"You are fine, I... should have probably not left you alone there." Miriam Eversoul said sighing, "But on the other hand, I know you needed time alone with Alexandra."

Ale... wasn't sure about that, she wouldn't have minded being with Miriam Eversoul, but... on the other hand, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to get as much closure as she got alone.

Not that crawling into the coffin and sleeping with the cloned body was closure.

"Grief is like that, it calls for solitude with our family... But also needs us to have connections during those moments," Miriam Eversoul continued after a sad sigh, "I am not your family, or wasn't your family. I don't know Alexandra or what kind of relationship you had with her. So I was not... someone you can connect at that moment."

Of that, Ale was thankful for the understanding at the very least.

"Don't get me wrong, I did not leave you alone in a bad spirit. As I said, if you had called for me at any moment I would have rushed in to hug you." Miriam Eversoul said placing a hand atop Ale's head, "But what you needed the most was family, and I am sorry for not thinking about calling Alexanders before he arrived. I don't know if you called him or not, I assume you did. No way that blonde asshole would have gone otherwise, he may be a shit person. But knowing he is a good brother means he still has some humanity within that rotten heart of his."

...How had he arrived if Miriam Eversoul hadn't called for him then? His letter seemed to imply that he couldn't keep the stability of the cloned body long, perhaps he noticed that Ale wasn't leaving the room and that was why he came?

It was an option. Ale would have rather he didn't show up though. But if the body collapsed later on because he didn't show up... that would have made people question it.

"He... is more understanding that one would think isn't he?" Ale said, turning to Miriam Eversoul, "Did he say anything else?"

"Nothing much, that you cried yourself to sleep, and that he had planned to let you grieve alone too. But that since you fell asleep he decided that it would be better for you to go to sleep in a normal bed instead." Miriam Eversoul said pulling a folder from within her coat, "He also gave me this, this... if you are okay with it, this will give me limited authority as your guardian."

Yeah, Ale had heard about it too, she would need to apologize to [Big Sister] about it later.

"I'm okay with it." Ale said nodding, "I know we will need a legal guardian, and since we lost Alexandra... We will be unable to keep the status quo we had before."

That would suck in more than one way.

"Alexanders apologized because he couldn't take care of you." Miriam Eversoul said pocketing the folder, "But his life... is not the safest of them, even if people don't realize it. Being near him would be too dangerous for you and Alexa."

"He didn't." Ale said shaking her head, "I know he didn't apologize for not taking care of us, he gave us the option and I refused it. If anything he probably didn't mention anything about it, did he?"

Miriam Eversoul groaned in defeat at that statement.

"You truly do know your brother don't you?" And said as much, "Yeah, he didn't mention anything about it. So you had already settled it with him? Would you answer if I asked why?"

"Why we didn't decide to live with him?" Ale asked to elaborate on the question. "Really?"

"Yeah," Miriam Eversoul said, the door of the elevator decided that was a good time to open, it gave way to another hallway, one that was similar to the one in the apartment building that they had lived before.

For a second Ale almost thought they had returned to one of the bases of [Haephestus' Forge].

"Why didn't you decide to live with your brother?" Miriam Eversoul continued asking as she walked out of the elevator.

"Because he isn't." Ale answered, "He is brother to Alexa, not to me. Or not really, you could argue that we are brother and sister. But the reality of it is that he is more Alexa's twin brother than my big brother."

Ale wasn't sure if she would even be able to explain it. Alexa was 100% sure of her relationship as sister to Alexanders, but Ale... didn't have that inclination. If anything, she felt that he was closer to a neighbor? Someone she liked to pester? Something like that.

"...I see..." Miriam Eversoul said after stopping for a few seconds and look up and down at Ale, "So... Alexanders is more of Alexa's brother than yours... Is that what you think? Or what he thinks?"

"That is the same, isn't it?" Ale said shrugging, "Alexa will say that he is also my brother if you ask her. And he himself will probably say something akin to me being more of a friend of Alexa than her sister."

Actually, he had said that. But Ale guessed from the tone that Miriam Eversoul was using that saying that would end badly. Both for Alexanders and for her.

"Well, you are also Alexa, so that means Alexanders is also your brother." Miriam Eversoul said shaking her head, "No matter what you or I think about it, that is a fact."

Ale wasn't really Alexa's sister after a----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attempting to execute a thought back reroll...

Host is within singularity area of effect.

Thought back unable to be executed...

Attempting to interfere with train of thought...

Ale wasn't really Alexanders sister after all, that was something only Alexa could say. Ale was someone who had arrived later, they didn't had that much of a relationship, unlike what Alexa and Alexanders had.

"... Well, we would need to speak more to decide about that." Ale decided to say, it was no secret that Alexanders and them didn't interact that much. "We don't know each other as much after all."

"...Yeah, I will do my best to get him to visit you here," Miriam Eversoul said as she resumed walking, "We are almost there."

There? They were in what looked to be an apartment building. Ale had assumed that whatever site they would be going would be a house, not another apartment. At least she assumed someone like Miriam Eversoul, a director of a facility under the Saintsworths umbrella would have a normal house.

"You expected a house? A mansion?" Miriam Eversoul seemed to have caught on Ale's train of thought, "Sorry, but housing is at a premium here, the residential housing will be among the last things that are scheduled to be constructed. Want to guess what was the first thing to be constructed?"

Ale closed her eyes for a second to think.

"Either the laboratories or the defense system." And answered as such, as she said that they resumed their walk. In no time they arrived at an inconspicuous door.

"The laboratories, then the food court and lastly the defense systems." Miriam Eversoul answered as she put a card atop a reader and the door unlocked, "This is the apartment Alexanders gave you, and in turn, the place were I will live with you two while you stay here in Aquila."

Wait, they wouldn't go to Miriam Eversoul's house? That... was what Ale had expected to happen to be honest, instead they arrived at another apartment...

One which was under Alexa and Ale's name if the virtual deed she had gotten as soon as she touched the door was to be believed. So... this was her new [Home]?

It was time to find out how good it was then.