Archive of Our Own

Ever since waking up, I could barely recall a single day where Amiya or Kal'tsit wasn't giving me piles upon piles of work to do and papers to sort. It's like they consider me a machine running 24/7!

When I finally filed out the last of my reports, our glorious and benevolent CEO of Rhodes Island entered the room as if she heard me complaining inside my head from half a landship away.

"Thank you for your work again today, Doctor." Amiya said, with a gentle smile. "If you don't mind me asking, you seem a bit... tired?"

"Gee, I wonder who I have to thank for that!"

"No no, of course not, this is the least I can do for everyone at Rhodes Island." 

Thoughts and words tend to differ when you're under the tyrannical regime known as Rhodes Island.

"Is that so... well, even though it's pretty late into the afternoon, might I suggest you take a walk around the landship? Despite what you might think, there are a few facilities aboard that are still open later into the night. I know you've been working hard the past few months since you've woken up, so I think you should take a well-deserved break for tonight until tomorrow morning! I'll take care of the rest for you!"

I take back everything bad I've ever said about you, my dearest Amiya, you're a genuine angel and a blessing upon Terra.

After nodding and saying goodbye to Amiya for the night, I finally walked out a free man for the first time in months.

While thinking of things to do, a room and its sign caught the corner of my eye. 

"...Rhodes Hotel? But we're not a lodging company."

Curious about the situation, I walked inside the room itself. As I pushed the door open, the soft music played by the juke box hummed out a tune I couldn't quite put my finger on. The air faintly smelt of whiskey, with a tint of other types of wine layered in between. Underneath that, there's something heavier-polished leather, quite possibly coming from the set of sofas sat halfway across the room. I pause for a second, taking the atmosphere in, before landing my eye on the bar, the source of faint alcoholic smell earlier, sitting just around the corner.

As my eye wandered around that corner, I catch the appearance of a certain twin-tailed someone perched on a stool, face slammed on the table, seemingly just as tired as I am, with a lone half-drunk glass of wine and her open signature laptop.

"Closure? What're you up to now?" I approached Closure from behind, tapped on her shoulder and asked a simple question.

"Uwah!? Doctor, the hell are you doing here?" Closure seemed surprised by my appearance, as if I had caught her in the middle of doing something morally wrong... again.

"Mostly just walking around the landship to check out and discover the different rooms and such. I forgot where the rooms all are, after all..." I casually replied with a sigh at the end, indicating my exasperation at my own helplessness. 

"Well, not like your all-knowing-self from before would've been able to do anything but walk around like a lost puppy considering how much the landship has changed since 3 years ago." As if she found the perfect chance to push my buttons, Closure said, smugly.

I had almost busted a vein there. This bitch never fails to irritate me, in the shop with the type of things she puts up on the credit store, on the landship itself with every single one of her appearance being trying to scam me or other Operators on way or another. I had to get back her somehow. "So, dearest Miss Closure-" Before I finished my sentence, I quickly dashed over to take a quick glance at whatever it is Closure's trying to pull off this time. "Let's see what exactly are you doing alone here?"

"There's nothing there!" Caught off guard, she scrambled to quickly slam the laptop down, giving me a forced smile. 

"Proposals for... a new robot design?" Unfortunately for her, I had trained to be more photographic in my memory ever since I had awoken, and this time, it would seem she's planning on something within the Engineering Department itself.

"Ahhhh, you found out huh... Fineeeee, I'm sure it'll be okay if it's you." She sighed and sat back on the stool, yet again slouching over the table, which prompted me to take a seat myself as well.

"Recently, I've been reverse engineering Lancet-2 and Castle-3's technology and found out those pesky Columbians we imported the robots from might have implemented some back-door plug ins to sabotage them, and that's why I've been thinking of designing one of our own from scratch. I just can't seem to nail down the design and whether to go with a dynamic and slim design or a hunky and cubic one..."

"That's why I'm here drinking my troubles away while racking my brain with the thing." She took up what I now realize is her glass of wine. 

"That sounds like quite a lot of work, need a helping hand?" For once, I had felt sorry for Closure. She was genuinely thinking for the benefit of the entirety of everyone within Rhodes and was pulling off work late into the night for their sake, something I, a fellow wage slave, can 100% respect and relate to.

"Hmmmmm, thanks, Doctor, but I suppose this really isn't your area of specialty. I do appreciate your gesture though!" Closure flashed me a thumbs up and continued. "That aside, I waaaaas gonna call it off for the night here, so would you care for a drink?" She took out the bottle of wine from the back, with its condition being nearly half full.

I raised my hands. "Oh no no no, I'm not one for drinking. At least, I don't think I am, considering I'm not too sure about my tastes yet."

Closure raised an eyebrow. "Why come to a bar of all places if you don't want a drink?"

"I already said I just wanted to walk around the landship, I just ended up here because I was curious of the billboard outside." I pointed at the door, explaining myself.

"That so? Right, it's Columbian Hotel-styled with Rhodes branding on top after all." Closure pondered. "Well... if you're already here, why not sit down for a talk and try it out for once? Even if you have a distaste for it, it gets less bitter with every sip, you know." She gave me a smile I could only describe as one of the most fake ones I have ever seen in my life.

I stared at her for a solid second. "...You're just trying to get me to split the tab with you, aren't you?"

"Damn it, how did you figure that out? That's the Doctor of Rhodes Island alright." She giggled a bit before waving her hands.

Even a toddler would've figured out what you were trying to get me to do.

"But the part about talking with you was sincere, I do wanna get to know you considering how much I've seen you changed since... last time you were around." Her eyes wandered over to the empty space besides us, as if she's reminiscing the past.

My interest immediately piqued, Kal'tsit was never gonna tell me about the past me, and Amiya simply re-assured me I was the same person she knew. 

They don't understand. Neither of them do.

They won't say it directly. It's not everyone, I know. But even though most of the people who was with Rhodes Island's predecessor Babel are greeting me with a smile, I can tell. They all think I'm some sort of monster, all the while putting up expectations on me for what I'm capable of. None of them understand the weight of expectations put on me. The pressure of chasing after the shadows of my own past, all the while being shunned for it. I could never understand what exactly I had done to deserve this, to be feared while simultaneously to be in awed of by everyone. 

I... I don't even understand what, or who I'm fighting for.

"I could make a selfish request. Go save Talulah. No. Go help her. Along with our countless fellow Infected...."

"Tell Amiya, Doctor.... In this world, a single person is worthless. But she's absolutely not alone. From now on, I am at your side. Both of you. I...... would like to join Rhodes Island."

"Frost... Nova..." I muttered.

"Doctor? You there?" Closure's voice brought me back to reality.

"H-Huh? Ah, sorry Closure, I blanked out for a moment there." I honestly replied to her.

She gave me a concerned look before taking out another glass of wine she seemingly poured while I was zoning out.

"You still seem to miss the Reunion lad- I mean, Miss FrostNova huh." Despite not knowing how much I had appreciated the short time we spent with FrostNova, Closure was not one so insensitive not to notice how my mood seemed to be down whenever the topic of her came up.

"...Yeah." I solemnly replied.

"...Look, it might not be in my place to say this, considering I've only ever read reports of the incident along with camera footage, but considering how deep of a bond you shared with her within less than a week, you really might have changed since back then. Or rather, you've finally let your emotions show on the surface more." She commented while fiddling around with her glass.

Right, my past self. I almost completely forgot amidst the retrospection earlier.

"How... how much did you know about the me back then? Was I... that unapproachable?" 

I was anxious. I didn't know how dissonant I might be from how I was before. I had heard of stories. Frankly, I thought of the individual everyone spoke of from the past as a completely seperate person, or rather...  a "thing". 

"How do I say this... when we first met, you were an enigma to me. I couldn't get a read on your general personality, though I suppose the covered hood may have helped in it. It felt like I was talking to a sort of a... being, someone with a greater level of intelligience, living on a completely seperate plane of existence to us all. But of course, the more we had interacted, the more I found out there was a funny side to you that you don't tend to show to anyone but the people closest around you. I myself had never extended my relationship with you past superior and occasional business partner, simply because you didn't seem too interested in it, after all." Closure shrugged while shaking her head.

"But things are... different now. The landship has changed. Babel has changed. And maybe... you have changed too. Say, Doctor. who do you think you are?" She posed me a question that left me stunned for a solid second, a question I had pondered day and night myself.

"..."

"W-Well, what matters is that you're willing to open up to everyone around you now! Everyone will warm up to you sooner or later, as long as you keep up how you are now, after all!" As if she noticed my broody mood arising, she quickly rectified herself and tried closing up the topic.

"W-wait, you noticed it?" I puzzledly asked.

"Well... it isn't too difficult to piece out the fact that most old members of Rhodes right now isn't too warm with the idea of having you onboard again. But like I said, it's only a matter of time! Until then..." Closure raised her glass of wine.

"To Rhodes Island and the future?" She gave me another smile, but it seems... rather genuine this time around.

I smiled, and brought my own glass up.

"To Rhodes Island. To the future."

We clinked our glasses together and both took a sip. My eyes widened immediately, I stuck my tongue out at the bitterness, while Closure looked at me and giggled.

"You're like a little kid who can't stand the taste of medicine Doctor. Oh, and by the way, the future includes future business transactions if you didn't know~"

"Couldn't help but ruin the moment, huh? Well, regardless, it IS my first time drinking alcohol seriously since waking up after all, give me a break."

"Let's talk about something to lighten up the general mood, shall we? For starters, got any complaints you've had to Rhodes Island in general, and her in particular?" Closure quickly moved over and started trying to get some chit-chat out of me.

Lucky for her, hearing the word "complaints" was like a switch had turned on in my head, I immediately began ranting non-stop about the mistreatment I've had since the beginning of my stay here.

"And then she stared at me right in the eye and told Amiya: 'No, I have to say this: I do not intend to rebuild any sort of relationship with this person.', can you believe that???" I slammed the table after taking another sip. "Barely a week after waking up, I'm forced to lead the mission to stop Chernobog's crash and I'm expected to work with someone as bitchy as that!? The hell am I supposed to say to her?!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA" Closure made no intention to hold back her laughter.

"Is my suffering that funny???" I angrily asked.

Closure took another sip as well. "I'm sorry Doctor, but the situation between you two is genuinely too funny not to laugh. It reminds of how PRTS acts whenever I try to crack open classified information with it."

Before we had noticed it, it was already 11:30 PM, and we had already moved on to our 3rd bottle of wine.

I didn't think I'd enjoy my drink, much less with Closure of all people, but here I am, actually having fun chatting my troubles away with her while listening to hers. It's not everyday that I can complain to a semi-distant colleague about how hard is it to live life as the acting leader of Rhodes Island.

"Oh god, I think I'm about to-" Closure ran off to the nearby sink. "BLEHHHH!" 

She vomited. 

"Gack... cough cough might've had a little too much in too little time." 

"What seems to be the matter? Is the chief engineer's alcohol tolerance that bad?" I couldn't help but tease her a bit, despite being 4 shots away from vomiting myself.

"Listen, I've never gone past the 2nd glass before, much less the 3rd bottle like today, this is a first for me too." She denied vehemently, justifiying her indecent behavior just now.

"Maybe your Vampire ancestry is rejecting those impurities out." I joked.

"Now wait just a second, that's going a bit too far Doctor, I'm nothing like that dickhead Duq'arael up there with all his snobby looks and unbearable personality. I'm only a Vampire by name and nothing else." Suddenly, her eyes were casted downwards, her voice a bit sullen. "From the first place, I've strayed too far from how a Vampire should be..."

Sensing I had barked up the wrong tree regarding her emotions, I put down my own glass and continued. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm here to lend an ear if need be." 

"Well... growing up, I've always been unorthodox to my family, an outcast, if you will. I've never been into Vampire traditions, never been interested in Originium Arts, never had a good relationship with my parents. I've mostly always kept to myself with very few friends. I had to work quite a lot to gather up a group who was capable of assisting me with setting up a network over at Kazdel at the time, seeing as virtually nobody know how electronic devices worked and I was among the first to be able to get my hands on one. Afterwards I completely shut myself in, working on my things day and night. But then... on that day... someone opened up the door to my sealed attic room, told me that she'd be breaking the shackles of tradition binding the Sarkaz, and that she needed an engineer for it. Theresa, the monarch herself had came in to give me an offer." 

My ears perked up at the mention of "Theresa", the individual whose death I was supposedly responsible of, informed to me privately during the Chernobog incident by Kal'tsit. 

"All this without a word of explanation how she knew me or how she entered my completely tight shut room, mind you! But of course, I took up on her offer out of curiosity, and well, the rest was history." Closure continued.

"I see, that's how you came to be in Rhodes Island, or rather, Babel, at the time." 

"Yeah, and as a matter of fact, you were there too, you know?" Closure gave me a glance before continuing.

"Hm?"

"You were the one who picked me up along with my things onboard the landship."

"Did I now?" Right, my past self. I had honestly got too caught up in the atmosphere and the small talk earlier that I forgot that I was mostly trying to ask about how I was before. "How was he, or rather, me again?"

"Like I said, you were an enigma to me. After brief introductions, you immediately got to the point and introduced me to the servers aboard the landship, to PRTS. Didn't even bother a bit of chit-chat before getting straight to work. In fact, from then on, you were always throwing me against the most difficult engineering tasks ever!" Closure raised her voice a bit at the end.

"S-Sorry for that..." Not knowing how to respond to that, I gave a stuttered apology.

"Don't mind it, I managed to crack all of them because I was actually just that great after all." She flashed a grin. "But back then... it was like... you knew I was always gonna be able to do those tasks. You didn't assign me any assistants, you didn't offer to lend a hand, but I don't feel like it's out of negligence. It's almost like you always planned in advance that I was able to do the work you handed to me. Well, I suppose, that aspect hasn't been lost on you, seeing how you always calculate and command us to victory, Mr. Super Demonic Processor." Closure nudged my shoulder.

"Don't... don't call me that." I lowered my voice. "I'm not the perfect strategist you think I am."

Seeing this, Closure slowly backed off back to her seat, surprised I suddenly seemed so serious. 

"...Forty-one. There were... forty-one sacrifices in total, during the Chernobog incident. More than two thirds of that was simply to bring me back alive. People who I haven't even seen, don't even know a shred of their personality or their face outside of reports and obituaries. All of them sacrificed themselves for my sake. And I don't even know a single thing about them."

"Doctor..."

"Even after I came back, under my command, more of Amiya's squad still had to die. And from here on out..." I clenched my fist. "More might have to die. But the choices always lie on me. I might not be a perfect strategist, but I sure as hell am a monster willing to sacrifice our people's lives in order to achieve our goals. Even if I had tried minimalizing casualty... it was me who directed them to their deaths." I closed my eyes, remembering all the faces I had seen up until then. 

As I finished my sentence, however I suddenly felt someone's arms wrapped around my neck, pulling me in for a hug from the front.

"...You really have changed, Doctor. Before, you wouldn't even think to talk to someone about how you truly felt underneath. But now... now, I'm glad you consider me enough of a friend to tell me about this. And you don't have to suffer through it by yourself. Please remember that Kal'tsit, Amiya, and everyone on Rhodes Island shares your pain whenever we lose one of ours. It's not your burden alone. I'm sorry for all that's happened." Closure gently spoke, her arms wrapped tighter, her bodily warmth giving me comfort and solace.

I opened my eyes to find myself being on the verge of tears. For the first time ever since my awakening, someone was willing to listen to me. To share the burdens with me. To tell me that it was okay, that everybody is here for me. Even if it's something that I knew was true, I couldn't help but be insecure about. Almost by instinct, I hugged Closure back as if thanking her kind words.

"I really wish... it wasn't you of all people... who I spoke about this to though..." I started making a joke to try and hide my sniffling, to little success.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Closure retorted, luckily catching up on the fact I was merely messing with her while I'm being vulnerable.

2AM. After that (unfortunate) heartfelt moment, she and I continued drinking away to stop thinking about such troublesome matters. As a result...

"Hhhhhheeeeyyyy, don't yoooooouuuu seeeeem a littleeeee... off-baaaalance?" 

"Thaaat? Coming from someoooone who feeeeell over twiiice now?"

We were dead drunk. Both of us could barely stand and was wobbling around like an Invincible edit. When Closure held onto my arm for support, I couldn't even notice.

"Almoooost.... theeeeeere...." Surprisingly, even while drunk, Closure still somehow managed to stumble her way to her room, while I couldn't even tell heaven from earth.

"Y-y-y-you're good..." I told her.

She leaned her whole body against the keycard scanner, trying to get it to check the keycard she had in her pockets, which she can barely even see right now. Miraculously, the door somehow opened.

She grabbed against my arm again and dazedly said "Gggggggoooooooooo...... Heeeeellllppp me...."

I couldn't find the mind or strength to even sigh at this course of action, and just quickly threw her onto her bed, before turning my back away, prepared to leave.

But before I could take a step away, something grabbed my arm. Closure looked at me, and pressed her breasts against my arm.

"S-S-Stay. Please."

Our half-opened eyes met for a moment, as if exchanging thousands of words within a second, before she pulled me onto her bed alongside her.

What happened afterwards was a blur to the both of us.

I awoke the next morning to find an unfamiliar ceiling. 

"Ugh... my head hurts... so cold..." I had thought I caught a cold and tried covering myself with the blanket.

It was not after curling up that I realized I was completely naked from bottoms up.

"Woah!" I jolted up, confused what exactly had happened to me waking up. An unfamiliar room filled with mechanical gadgets, an unfamiliar bed with an odd decoration and a wardrobe with a large amount of oversized shirts and nothing else.

It wasn't until I looked over to the left did the memories of last night finally came back to me.

Closure was already sitting up and tried covering herself with another blanket, with little success, as I could still see glimpses of her creamy, almost pale skin. Her face, however, was making both a shocked and disgust expression at the same time, while her pointy ears seemed red as a tomato, surprisingly enough.. 

I covered both of my hands to my face, partially to hide my own blushes from seeing her bare body. 

"Great, now we've done it." I muffled from behind my palms.

"I was going for a record of 50 years staying a virgin, you know? It's not common for Vampires to live this long without having some sort of experience." 

I couldn't tell if she was joking or not when she said that.

"But... I can't deny Doctor... that felt really good..." She blushed and looked away from me when she said that. 

"Is that so... Ada? Do you like being called by your real name? Especially while you're... "doing it"?" I suddenly remembered what she had said the night before and couldn't resist teasing her as she often does I.

"S-Shut up! One of these days I'm gonna repurpose that Sarcophagus and completely wipe your memory of that! I'll go take a shower while you get dressed and quietly sneak out, alright? And do NOT let Kal'tsit of all people know about this, she WILL have my head on a pike if this were to ever come out."

I chuckled again. "Alright... Ada."

"I SAID STOP IT!"

"Good morning, Amiya!" Another day over at Rhodes Island cafeteria, without work for once.

"Hello, Doctor! I thought you'd be sleeping in considering this is a rare day of break for you, and yet here I find you so early in the morning!"

"Ahhh, right, early bird gets the worm, ay!" I could not tell Amiya I was trying to get hangover medicine early in the morning.

"Of course. I'm gonna go and check up on Rosmontis' breakfast, I'll be right back to have a meal with you, alright?"

"That sounds good to me." I gave her a reply.

"Oh, and uh, Doctor?" Amiya suddenly asked.

"Hm?"

"If you don't mind me asking... why do you have a bandage on your neck?" She pointed over at my nack, even through my large hood which I had tried hiding it with.

"Ahhh... I think I might've gotten a bit injured yesterday while being out on a stroll, it's nothing serious, really!" I waved my hands, trying to tell her it was perfectly fine.

"Uhm... right, in any case, if there's any bigger problems that come up, please let me know, your health is of my utmost concern!" Amiya was always way too worried for my wellbeing.

"Of course, of course."

After she left, I breathed a sigh of relief that Amiya hadn't found out about what was underneath the bandage.

This morning, when I went back to my room again to brush my teeth, as I looked in the mirror, I saw 2 bright red dots on my right jugular vein.

"Heh... I guess she wasn't as unorthodox a Vampire as she thought she was, huh?"