Chapter 29: Chapter 28

"Abby?" Etrius asked.

"Au…" Abby muttered, looking at it.

"Is something wrong?" Etrius asked.

"Au…" She muttered.

 

More than a little confused, Etrius simply looked at her. Her eyes were blank and distant, and her mouth was hanging wide open. Something about this looked familiar, and Etrius grew worried. Before it could call out to her once more, Abby started foaming at the mouth and her eyes started to turn red.

 

"Oh." Etrius said, covering her eyes.

"Ah… Ah…." Abby breathed.

 

Okay, so firstly, fuck. Secondly Etrius had to get started on fixing this before Abby was lost in her own mind. As her jaw was working by itself, Etrius put a hand in her mouth to prevent her from biting her interior mouth and in turn to prevent that mouth from biting her. Using another of its arms, Etrius then reached inside her skull and began to rearrange things. As it did so, it realized, through her memories, that Abby, whatever she was, was more sensitive to Etrius than humans were. Something like this disguise wouldn't be enough to hide from her. So, the only logical solution, aside from changing her in her entirety, was simply to change her just enough.

Luckily her biology was unique enough that meant that no large physical change would be required. Reacting to these changes, Abby shook violently and tried to push Etrius away. Given that she was an infant, this did nothing to impede Etrius. Although Etrius wanted to be gentle, this was not something that it could do. As Abby struggled Etrius kept a firm hold of her so that she wouldn’t fall. Her eyes were wide open, but given the distant look that she had, it was unlikely she was aware of anything that was happening. Her face contorted in pain, and her struggles grew more intense.

Eventually Abby tired herself out, and her struggles all but ceased. Shortly after, Etrius withdrew itself from her mind and she lay still in its arms. Slowly her eyes closed and she fell into a troubled sleep. Feeling sorry for her, Etrius let her sleep in its arms as she grabbed hold onto it. Wondering its house through the long night, Etrius restarted the fire and kept her warm.

Hours later, as the sun rose, Abby still had not stirred, but her breathing was steady. Though slightly worried, Etrius got started on breakfast, mostly for Abby’s sake. She really like meat, so when she woke up there would be plenty for her. Not only that, but it also made some porridge that was easy to eat just in case her condition wasn’t good. Also, should things go south and she for whatever reason died, Etrius had a copy of her memories that it could use to recreate her. It wouldn’t be Abby, only a replacement should Adriana wish for it. As for Etrius, it was ultimately inconsequential. If she had died on their first meeting, that would have been it. If she were to die now, that would be it. Nothing of value would be lost. Or at least that’s what it told itself.

As time passed and Abby lay unmoving, Etrius grew worried. It was sure that it hadn't messed anything up in her head to have caused this, but in the end, she was but flesh and blood. Though sturdier than humans, she was an ornament unmeant for play. Something that needed to be kept away from harm.

Though she had free will, and when with those like herself or humans, she would be fine. But those near Etrius and Adriana broke much too often. In order to prevent that, certain steps must be taken, steps that they had both been preparing for for some time. Though they did not know when it would come, they knew it eventually would.

Looking at its much limited form, Etrius knew that even this was too great for her, and even affected the humans around it. A lesser, more diminished form would be needed should it wish to continue to reside in this place. Though Etrius didn’t wish to leave, it knew that there was only one solution to keep Abby safe. It needed a vessel to stand in its place. It would take time to create, however it was the best for Abby. If Etrius could sigh, it would, knowing that it would eventually be unable to hold Abby like this in the future.

With plans already made, Etrius separated a portion of itself. As it did so, a great many voices left it. Contraptions hatched from its back, and with its main body shielded from them, they gathered into a shapeless form. Once sufficient mass was gathered, a light shone out as they traveled to the unseen for the necessary parts. It’s new form would be human shaped, and much like them, it would be weak. Etrius was worried, though it knew that it could always rely on Adriana if things got dangerous.

With breakfast almost finished, Etrius felt a familiar stirring in its arms. Already looking upon her, it saw her small body wriggling and her face pressing against it. Soon enough, she opened up her eyes.

 

“Mu…” She blinked several times, as if trying to understand her situation.

“Good morning sweetheart.” Etrius said, gently stroking what little hair she had.

“Dada…” She said, looking up at it.

“I hoped you slept well.” It said.

“Nu…” Understandably, she didn’t seem to have.

“Breakfast will be ready soon. After that we’ll get you washed up and we can go for a walk, maybe do some shopping too.” It told her.

“Mu…” She nodded sleepily.

 

Closing her eyes again, she snuggled against Etrius. Quickly checking her condition, she seemed to be in good health. She didn’t even have a headache from the procedure. More than a little relieved, Etrius took its time to finish making breakfast, making sure that it was to Abby’s taste. After feeding, and then bathing Abby, Etrius got her dressed in warm clothing and itself dressed in its old tattered robes as the effect they had on Abby seemed to be lessened. Abby, with her necklace firmly in place, pulled at Etrius’ clothing.

 

“Mu?” Abby asked.

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“We’re going to go out shopping today, or at least that's the plan.” Etrius said. “Are you not feeling up to it?”

“Mu!” She disagreed, enthusiastically.

“Good.” Etrius nodded. “Let’s get going.”

 

Opening the door, Etrius recreated the cold light that those earthlings used, and the two found themselves exiting a tall residential building. With many windows and balconies. Using the memories that it had gathered on its last trip to earth, Etrius headed down the road to the nearby shopping center. Looking around, Abby first looked confused, and then excited. Every person that walked by, Abby took a good long look at them.

The people in the city didn’t pay them much attention, with many of them talking on phones, with each other, or reading newspapers. Few cars passed by, and when they did, Abby turned away from them. Passing by a café, Etrius heard part of a radio broadcast about some distant conflict.

 

“It's the biggest territorial expansion since the Great Khan Temüjin himself. Now, back to the crisis of the EU. Is the end near? Our experts claim that is unlikely.”

 

Ignoring that, Etrius continued onto the shopping center in search of a gift for Adriana.

Alarms rang out despite already being silenced. Through their satellites, they spotted the anomaly in northeastern France, there was nothing they could do. Given the year-long informal state of war between the EU and the American Counsel, Illuminati agents were unable to move to apprehend it. Though inspecting it, this one was odd. Despite moving in the streets in daylight, none of the people around it seemed to be concerned about it. Another thing that was odd about it was what the sensors were able to read about it. It didn’t seem to classify it as alive, though it also gave off heat as if it was a living creature.

 

“What do we do about it?” The technician asked.

“There's nothing that we can do about it.” The site director said. “We have no agents nearby and there's too many people for an orbital strike.”

“Unless we want another Vienna event, we better do something about it.” His assistant said.

“Can we tell them?” Another technician asked. “At least to evacuate the civilians?”

“Since when did the EU listen to us?” The director asked.

“What about the Italians?” His assistant suggested. “We have a handful of agents there, so we may be able to have them pass a message along.”

“It’s possible, though the political situation there isn’t good.” He muttered. “Who knows if they’ll listen to them given the secessionist movements.”

“Why not hit it with a low powered payload? We can play it off as a terrorist attack.” The first technician said.

“That could work, but-” The director froze, looking at the screen.

 

It wasn’t just the director, the technicians also looked at the screens, with their mouths wide open. More than a little confused, the director's assistant looked at the screen. The anomaly, whatever it was, was looking at them. It’s face, which was previously covered, was now on the top of its head. Through a face plate were six amber lights looking at them. The creature wasn’t simply looking up, it was looking at both the director and one of the technicians. Both of whom entertained the idea of an attack.

Many of the screens showed the anomaly, however, one by one the screens cut from one satellite to another. Each of these new satellites were over cities that had large Illuminati presences in them, and one of them even showed their own location. Out of the seven screens, six showed friendly locations and the seventh remained on the anomaly who was just looking at them. It was as if it was daring them to launch a payload. After a moment of silence, it was us who blinked first.

 

“Keep watch over it. Tell the Italians and tell them not to antagonize it.” The director said. “As long as it doesn’t make any hostile moves, tell them that it seems to be safe.”

 

The creature, more than likely hearing this, faced the road once more and continued walking. The satellites that were once aimed at friendly locations, returned to their original orbits, and the cameras returned to watching the creature. The alarms that were once active, were silenced but not by their own doing. For now they would not act against it. Hopefully no one else would antagonize it, and it would leave on its own.

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