Zero wakes up and rolls their feet out of a bunk bed in the Forge, the instant transport always dropped you in a bed and Zero being tired from the last mission didn't mind too much. The sound of metal being shaped by heated blades and ether synthesizers whirling with life calmed them. The twins were gently floating on stasis tables all their prosthetics and augmentations had been removed to more easily replace them. The moving of tools immediately put Zero on alert, this Forge was unreachable by normal means.
The Forge itself was a middle zone created in an overly saturated Ether zone, in these zones, the rules of reality people normally engage in become unraveled and malleable. When the planet filled with Ether the first thing to change were plants, it slowly affected the food chain and once it ran its course of Mother natures splendor it turned on the laws of reality, severing and rearranging previously agreed on theories and facts.
The birth of the first Ether zone, before anyone knew how to fully utilize ambient Ether, devoured a small town everyone in it had disappeared like a biblical rapture. It's now a tourist attraction for Dreamland where a missing persons case is part of the fun.
Zero had worked hard to create and hide this place from all prying eyes, so if someone were here there was a fifty-fifty chance someone was going to die.
Zero initiated full stealth mode before making their way into the next room leaving the bunks, the clanging of tools and materials came from the Ether synthesis room, Zero snuck their way down the corridor with terrifying speed creeping up on the entrance to the origin of the noise. Peaking into the doorway Zero saw a man at a workbench manipulating the radiant purplish raw Ether from the tubes, the Ether swarmed a hammer the figure was holding that turned the Ether a crimson red before he slammed it down on a spear.
Zero entered the room and scaled the wall like a salamander towards the ceiling and their prey near the workbench. Finally reaching the spot above the intruder, they lowered themselves from the ceiling from a red thread right above the man's head. The intruder continued his work hammering the spear with red Ether forging strength into its tip and body.
"Hello, Loki!" Zero shouted startling the man from his concentration almost making him slam the hammer down on the workbench.
"By the gods! Red what's gotten into you." Zero chuckled twirling down from their spider-like thread to the floor.
"Sorry, Loki I couldn't resist." Zero lunges surprising him with a hug.
"You are the only person who gets this close to me Red." Zero releases him and crosses the room to a balcony, down below the three twins slept softy amongst the aqua beams of light.
Loki pushes the soft snow-white strands of hair, that escaped from his bun, from his augmented eye that shined with a crimson glow scanning Zero leaning over the balcony. Information flooded his vision arcane signs and sigils mixed with alchemic formulas forming cosmic equations that lead to a flurry of question marks that forced him to blink.
"I can't tell your age." Loki muttered as he shifted around Zero his eye changing into a purplish Ether-like glow. His vision seemed to show an X-ray-like view, but all he saw of Zero was the red fabric that covered their body. His vision shifted as he did around Zero his eye shifted to a light green as a thermal scan began, but again his eyes had to be lying to him, he just felt the incredible warmth from Zero moments ago, but his vision showed them as cold.
The leering caught Zeros' attention as they shifted their eyes to make contact with Lokis. This forced Loki to blink and shy away from the brightness illuminating from Zeros' eyes. He shifted again his eye glowing an aqua-like color followed by whispers in his ears. A few blinks of the augmented eye clears up his vision, his vision now showed what seemed to be wavelengths over fluttering threads, Zero and Loki stood transfixed on each other for a moment.
"You're cold, but warm to the touch." Loki stepped closer after finishing his declaration. He circled Zero watching the dancing threads until one began to glow brighter than the others and pull taught, as Loki focused the whisper grew louder and more clear, the word Human flooded his mind.
"And somehow you're just an average human." Loki stepped away from Zero watching from the middle of the room.
"Are you done with your examination?" Zero jarred mockingly at Loki.
"Last one." Loki even though unable to see Zero's face felt the eye roll sent at him ignored it and began focusing intently. His eye began to glow a goldish white, but his vision showed nothing...
"I give up." His shoulders slumped and his eye returned to normal.
"There's never an ounce of useful information about you and this eye of mine can damn near see the future." His thick Irish accent was underlined by disappointment.
"Why does it matter if you can scan me or not, every time you learn something new about that eye of yours you use it on me." Zero said making their way behind Loki and pushing him towards the balcony over the twins.
"I'm looking for someone Zero... And if I can't get this eye to tell me where she is then I don't think I'll ever find her." The dejected look on Loki's face pained Zero deeply, Zero had known Loki for a long time and on the very short list of friends they had, Loki was very important to Zero the forger of legendary Ether weapons and shatterer of any code in his way made him well known and often feared throughout Zathora and heavily sought as an ally.
As of now though he looked akin to an emotionally wounded puppy, sulking as he stares down at the finished spear.
"I have a compact for you, Loki." Zero held out their hand and three unorthodox Ether Materia orbs appeared
Floating above their palm.
Lokis' eyes fluttered with interest, he moved quickly over to Zero scanning the glowing orbs floating in their hand. He scans it with his endless eye the three orbs danced around each other slowly as they floated in Zero's palm. Loki could immediately tell that one Materia would give the user the ability to form an aspect of Space Ether manipulation.
The Space Ether Orb swirled with a light green galaxy-like Ether inside. The scan showed an aspect of movement by manipulating Space Ether, the second Materia that caught his eye was a Materia for an aspect of Law.
"This one, an aspect of Law in order for someone to obtain something like this they would have to have done in an elder Ether God." Lokis' eyes shot to Zero's face, no reaction to his words that he could tell so he turned his attention back to the Materias. The Law Materia was cause for excitement seeing as the individuals tend to obtain power equal to their potential, making this bright white Orb filled with a cosmic silver Ether a jack of all trades when it comes to Materias.
The Materia that drained all excitement from Loki was the last one, the Golden Glow invaded his eye as the scan came up with more and more useless information. Nothing could be gleaned by his eye, it frustrated him deeply, and it reminded him that he couldn't scan the owner of the Materias as well.
"Where'd you find these?" Loki prodded with a suspicious eyebrow arched in Zeros' direction.
"Bought them off a black market vendor..." Zero's gaze fell to the floor, then ceiling and every wall in the room which Loki tried to follow.
"Fine, what's your compact?" Loki being a trickster himself realized pushing the matter was less important than the fun he could have with these Materia.
"If you can install these Mods and Materia into those three down there in three days I'll help you find the person you're looking for." The words crossed Loki's ears, the ambient Ether came to life in the room as the anger seeped from Loki's body.
"You've never seen me mad Zero, but some jokes cross a line." Lokis' anger nipped at Zero, bloodlust heavily pressed upon their shoulders.
"No jokes, Ivy this can be a life compact if my information is bogus I'll die." The heat of anger slightly subsided.
"And why would I want your life!" The angry Irish-accented words spit like flames from his mouth the anger burning still in his eyes.
"You wouldn't I'm betting you want the information more." Zero tossed the Orbs over to Loki who although surprised caught them all as Zero turned to walk to the railing of the balcony.
"I need the best forger I know to put these girls back together. Using those Materia and creating Mods to handle them, these girls will help me and you get closer to what we both want." The air smoothed as Loki relaxed and walked over to the balcony next to Zero. He looked over the edge at the triplets below them, soundly sleeping in their stasis fields stripped of all their augmentation and prosthetics.
"What if they aren't compatible?" Loki said with a side glance.
"It won't be my fault if they die from their bodies rejecting or-
-They'll be compatible, any mishaps or unforeseeable events outside your purview won't hinder your reward in this compact." Loki looked over Zero pensively as if he was handed a cookie jar, but a skull and crossbones sat nicely on its side.
"I'll need the Ether from an elder Ether beast or Spirit." Even though it was impossible to see Zero's face underneath the fabric that covered their body, he felt the grin that Zero was sporting.
"So we have an agreement?" The devilish tone of Zeros' voice put Loki on alert.
"No. Those girls down there are going to need a lot of Ether for their new augmentations and not to mention creating brand new prosthetics that all will run on these Materias..." Loki gripped the railing tightly.
"Come on Zero tricking a trickster, these girls will die without the purest Ether you could find..." Zero jumps off the balcony and crosses the room to a keypad on the adjacent wall.
"What are you doing?" Delta's voice was quick and coarse, he appeared leaning against the wall next to the keypad, a look of distrust hardening on his face.
"I'm going to use that to rebuild the girls, I can't forge with it because it just turns into more parts for the Mothers Mold, and I want this red cloth off of me not more of it." Zero rubbed their arm even though they felt the sensation of skin on skin, the red fabric covered every inch of Zeros' body feeding information to them second-handedly.
"This stuff is for finding family members and rebuilding your past remember?" Zero winced at Delta's words, the vague weight of memories of their past swept them causing a slight headache.
"My concern isn't getting all my memories back... It's getting out of this suit. The requirement clearly states I must build or locate my family." Zero shaking off the weight shoots a glare in Delta's direction, from the balcony Loki watched intently, with his eye he could see Delta who hated that he couldn't hide from him, but still he couldn't hear Delta if he didn't choose to let him.
"These secrets are for the family you were born to, help rebuild and save the greatest lineage humanity has ever seen, not reconstitute rift raft." Delta turned to look the triplets over.
"Have you yet to stop and realize three orphans from the slums of Neon City may just die once you use it on them, it would waste what little we have on-
-enough..." Zero roared making Loki flench, he couldn't hear Delta but was sure now he was ranting at Zero about the triplets.
"When I fought them I felt every ounce of their will, they wanted nothing more than to protect Mia with everything they had. You told me my family line consisted of good people, who fought for good people. I was so sure dedication that strong would have to be programmed in, but now that my threads flow through Mia and Toshi I see all their memories, and feel their past emotion.
Despite how hard their fathers tried neither of them became cold or heartless, because of an accident when they were younger Toshi lost his mother and Mia suffered terrible Ether warping making her body inhospitable for life, a mother's dying wish will go unfulfilled. For Toshi loved Mia with all his heart even if they never could start a family of their own...
And out of the blue three orphaned triplets were found in a gutter surviving happily with each other, Ether rot had taken limbs or appendages amongst other things, but they still had fiery wills that caught Their eye. They had a family now, made one from all the best pieces and their parents sent me to tear it all down, so I'm going to use all the best pieces to put them back together." Zero looks over at Delta a beaming smile underneath the cloth, for a brief moment he was reminded of something, something old and forgotten.
"Fine, build or find as long as it's family." Delta said smiling down at Zero who begins to type in a six-digit passcode on the keypad. The wall comes to life sliding out of the way to reveal a large machine hidden in the wall.
The machine looked similar to the Ether tubes that had condensed purplish Ether swirling around in it, except this Ether was silver and gold swirling around each other.
Zero pulls three empty vials from a containment unit and hooks them to the Ether Tubes. Two vials were filled with Silver Ether and the third was filled with gold. By this time Loki made his way from the balcony over to Zero, his eyes wide at the amount of the purest Ether he had ever seen, if you could even call it Ether.
"What is this stuff?" Immediately after asking Loki began scanning with his eye, the eye reported back that it indeed was seeing Ether, but it was older than any of the ambient Ether on this planet. This made a frown grow on Lokis face, he was no child, and the possible age of this Ether made him feel infantile in comparison.
"Ether was discovered two thousand years ago give or take, but this stuff would have to be much, much older." Delta rolled his eyes at Loki, making him feel even more like a child before disappearing to another part of the forge.
"I forget how old are you Loki?" Zero asked while typing the six-digit series of numbers to make the wall slide back into place hiding the gold and silver Ether.
"Almost half a century why?" Zero shook their head in affirmation as if to say of course, while crossing the room to the three sleeping sisters.
"And what can you tell me about the history of Zanthora." Zero placed one vial into the stasis unit of the sisters, a partial amount of silver Ether seeped upward into the stasis field. The silver Ether swirled around all three until stopping on Sia enveloping her body.
"The history of Zanthora?" An eyebrow raised while the other furrowed, Loki by no means could be considered young his long life was filled with information acquisition, he dabbled in the secrets of the world, since death was almost meaningless secrets became as good as gold.
"It's been a while since primary school so bear with me, but Zanthora planet of the Red and Blue Suns. The planet's name itself originates from these two suns, the Red Sun Zan and the Blue Sun Thora. These were born after the death of Sol the lone giant, a star that in its death gave us our planets and moons we have today.
In the aftermath of Sols' death, Ether spread throughout the cosmos saturating the young unnamed planet in Prime Ether, this gave birth to the first inhabitants of this planet."
Zero put in another vial the silver Ether swarmed around like lightning bugs before settling on Nia, starting the repairs the body needed.
"And these first inhabitants were they human?" Came an unfamiliar voice to Loki, Delta had allowed him to hear him for the first time since Loki could remember.
"Uhhh no... No, they were the first gods of this planet blessed by the Ether." Loki managed to stammer out what he could still reeling from the shock of hearing Delta speak. Delta looked over Loki for a moment before back to the terminal he was working at, waving his hand at Loki as if to say "Continue."
"Right... these two gods born on separate sides of the planet created their own domains as they grew in power. One focused on creating the Beast that stalk the Ether the other on the rules that govern inside the Ether. This continued until their domains finally met, history being imperfect in nature depicts this in two unsure ways.
Scholars are split between the belief that this encounter was catastrophic and the two Gods fought what seemed an endless battle, while the other half believes they created an Eden together. The Goddess Sun Sol was a lonesome Goddess, so most people favor believing that her first children would want to be unified so this is the most popular telling of the story.
Either way, it ends with the merging of their domains and in this harmony The planet Zanthora begins. Even though no longer lonely surrounded by their pets in their Eden a desire for more grew in Thora, child of the Blue sun, So she looked to Zan to satisfy this new need. This led to the birth of the Seven sinful Gods, Children of Zan and Thora."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Zero and Delta exchanged looks before Zero put the last vial into the machine the golden Ether immediately attached itself to Tia working on her body with great speed.
"So tell me about the Children of Zan and Thora." Zero leaned against the panel arms crossed, Loki rubbed the space between his brow unsure what this history lesson would prove.
"Their children hold the title of God Sins for the betrayal of their parents and enslavement of humanity. Sirius the God Sin of Pride commanded the land and all its materials the physical bent to his rule. Pistol held the God Sin of Gluttony the understanding of the universe gave her endless control on probability or a scary understanding of it, but an endless need to grow her knowledge.
Abell held the title of Greed as a blank slate until confronted by one of his siblings was truly a master of none, but often better than his siblings as a whole. He collected the rarest of things even sometimes eradicating something just to make sure he had the last of it.
The title of Dream Weaver and the Sin of Sloth was Venus, her reign would be referred to as more hellish than the nightmare zone that humanity has today.
Tomass and Carna Given the Title of Envy and Lust, being the eldest of the siblings played the biggest role in betraying their parents. Though their kingdom was spoken of as fair and prosperous, they too were apart of the fallen, after the deaths of their siblings..."
Loki paused for a moment partly distracted by the work the God level Ether was performing on the girls, limbs fully restored, missing organs replaced, and yet zero Ether scaring or discoloring.
"Is the Ether giving them new bodies?" Deltas ears perked pulling his attention from the computer where he was monitoring the girls.
"The Ether if low enough potency can replace and function in the place of almost anything, but Ether of this level of refinement gives back what was lost and maxes out the potential lost." The fondness in Deltas voice touched Loki, he had hardly ever had the pleasure to hear him speak so he was eager to keep him talking.
"Potential lost?" Loki asked slinking to Deltas side, Delta leered over his shoulder and sighed.
"As you know Ether permeates the world, and in certain places its found in more heavier doses. Depending on the area the Ether could be refined nicely as long as its being filtered through an ambient Ether Refiner or artificial one."
"Right, I've seen them around the high end places of Neon City, giant machines pulling in Ether and then spreading it over the city. In places like the wildlands the Ether beast would be considered ambient Ether Refiners Right?" Loki asked not wanting the conversation to end. "Yes Ether beast naturally refine Ether as they absorb and manipulate it, but these girls were born in the slums of Neon City, so they had none. Neon City boast its artificial life style, the birds arent even real. The only living organisms are humans there aren't even real bugs in that artificial dome leaving all the filtering done in the richer areas and none for the slums. Ether left in its most raw state isn't normally harmful, because all it naturally wants to do is enhance or change."
"So why did these girls lose limbs, I even saw before the Ether started its repairs that Tia had lost her eyes to Ether." Delta shot a look at Zero who's head hung in anger.
"Ether scaring refers to the burns someone receives from Ether burns, some healers and doctors refer to the discoloring much in the same way, but with these girls they were born as Pre-Augs..." Loki was shocked by what Zero was suggesting if these triplets were born with prosthetics or augmentations then that meant someone had to remove them at birth.
"Why would anyone do that to three little girls." The rage in Lokis voice was subtle.
"To save them, from Tengu's Vanguard." At the immediate finishing of Zeros statement the room filled with the same Wrathful heat from earlier, the mark on Lokis face grew bright red, The seal of The God Sins, it was given to all the humans split between the Gods, giving them unique powers similar to the Gods they came from. Loki being born under the seal of Wrath has his rage fuel his power and ensnare the ambient Ether to his will.
"The Tennyo is a voluntary personal army of Raishin." The words were ice and heavy to the ear, but Loki knew deep down there was more.
"They are taken from the slums, especially when you have Pre-Augs being born, they sometimes even take the mothers... So to keep everyone safe the slums doctors are willing to take all the augmentations away, but that doesn't mean they can replace them." Zero pointed out plainly.
Loki being no fool couldn't argue the age of the scars they helplessly wore, the triplets had been operated on a year after birth removing any augmentations or enhanced organs.
"So what of Wrath?" The voice soothed Loki's hot rage, Delta done with his computation and was now waiting for Lokis' answer.
"The God Sin Wrath was locked away after they dealt the final blow to their parents because they're considered the worst of all the Sins their name has been struck from the history books, but as the stories told Wrath was sealed away by their siblings for fear that they were uncontrollable, their strength even affected Carnas ability to prophesize." A moment of silence passes as Delta exchanges looks with Zero.
"And the truth?" Loki smirked at the question, almost expecting it.
"Which one?" As if awoken by the question, an alert went off on the stasis beds.
"You're up, Loki time to stabilize them." Zero stepped aside, Loki stepped up to the stasis deck, and the three dreamers glowed with the aura of their respective Ethers.
Loki rolled up his sleeves and brushed his dreads out of his face. He placed his hands over the operating desk. Two circular holes opened to his call. He places a hand in each hole as they close around his forearms. The mark on his face emits a light glow as metallic tendrils form from the liquid blue stasis below.
Six individual arms envelope the triplets akin to chrome-like spider legs on prey, Loki closed his non-augmented eye while the other sprang to life with a reddish glow.
"Time for the fun part." The tendrils shoot a connecting strand of red light to the triplets and begin a sweeping scan of their bodies under Loki's control.
"First I'll introduce your peculiar Materia." Loki glanced over his shoulder for some kind of reaction from a Zero who was too preoccupied with the glistening metal legs to notice, instead, he was given a signature glare from Delta which prompted him to continue.
One leg from each group had a ball of light travel from the base to the tip, the tips then split and held each Materia. Slowly Loki chose the spots he thought would be cutest since Materia tended to leave some sort of mark or symbol. He then precisely moved the legs to, Nia's lower back, Tia's collar bone, and finally Sia's neck before slowly moving the orbs toward the bodies the green galaxy orb for Nia and Sia had the white while Tia was receiving the enigmatic golden Materia.
On contact with the glowing skin, the orbs shot inside away from the tendrils grip, Lokis eyebrows furrowed at this.
"Hmm... They don't normally do that." Loki muttered under his breath to himself.
"They don't normally do what?" The boom of the voice made Loki flinch.
"Th-The Materia its gone." Loki stammered frustratingly circling the bodies with tendrils.
"Find them." A demand etched in stone by its very decree came from inches behind Lokis' back, he didn't even sense Delta's movements.
"I didn't lose them! They were taken, your creepy twin body experiments took to them like they were missing pieces!" Loki clenched waiting to be erased by the Elder spirit.
"It's fine keep working." Zero was still watching the tendrils ignoring Lokis' impending doom, for the time being, Delta blinked away, leaving Loki unsure if he just couldn't see him or if he had left.
Shaking the moment off he went back to work the arms and threads of light scanning all over the floating twins.
"It doesn't seem the Prosthetics or Augments they were born with will be returning to them physically, as far as I can tell they have the bodies of young girls maybe late teens early twenties... And from their Circulatory and Nervous systems they should be able to harness ambient Ether, but being girls already gave them the chance of that..."
A few moments of silence passed as it seems that something has caught Lokis attention.
"You have some interesting science experiments Zero, it seems the augmentations they were born with desire to exist anyway." Loki seemed to clench and twist his arms, in response the legs jerked like puppets on strings. The red strands of light began pulling at the silver and gold Ether that was leftover in the bodies.
"I haven't seen this many weapons with such strong desire to be wielded by their partners, they may even be as picky as your Gula."
Loki began to sweat the legs had finally extracted the last bit of excess Gold and Silver Ether. Zero moved to his side amazed at the forging being done.
"Now the hard part..." The red lines focus on the spots the orbs disappeared and begin to pull, alerts and sirens ring warning of an imminent catastrophe, but soon the legs pool free half of the Materia orbs.
"Did you split my Materia!?" Zero screamed concern in their tone.
"No choice! These weapons demand life and energy to sustain them." Loki said placing the pieces in the perspective partners Ether.
"Rest in peace old friend..." Delta said giving concern and confusion to Loki.
"Will they have a will of their own?" Zero asked letting Gula form from their palm.
"They have the potential to grow one, but at first the triplets will only be able to wield them properly or maybe the only one who could touch them with this level of power, similar to you and Gula or my Fairy King here." He said pointing to the spear with his nose. Now that the excess Ether was taken the bodies no longer glowed with iridescence. With another turn and clench the legs began weaving above the slumbering twins.
Over Nia a pair of pistols began to form wrapped in silver threads, Sia had what seemed like Tonfa's form wrapped in silver threads, and Tia's weapon wrapped in gold took on the appearance of a scythe.
"These things are stubborn, they don't seem to want to stay like this." Loki seemed to be buckling under some pressure as sweat poured from his forehead.
"They can't pick on what they want to be." The shape of the weapons began to change and melt, Loki clenched and turned his eye blazing with a fiery red aura.
"They are fighting me on their final form." Loki shifted the legs and began weaving again as Zero watched in amazement.
The weapons formed again in their weavings Sias' tonfas switched to a pair of gauntlet, Nias' guns fuzed into a spear, and Tias' scythe became a long whip with a backward curved edge blade at the tip. It seemed like Loki was fighting with the weapons at every turn, but now they seemed appeased with their shape.
"So they'll have two forms?" Zero asked as Loki finished ejecting the last bit of Ether into the weapons.
"Three... They were fighting me so hard I would exhaust myself from forming their others, the first form was their final, but the triplets weren't ready for them that way. They have a second form, but this one their in now will be a good place for them to get to know their partners." Loki unclenched and rotated his arms until the machine disengaged.
"You talk about weapons like their people." Zero smiled it beamed through the living cloth covering their face.
"Well every weapon imbued by Ether has a soul, it even can speak if one is trained to listen." This answer made Zero even happier, which made Loki slide slightly away.
"Anyway they seem to be stable the weapons and the children, except for the missing half of the Materia we should be-"
An alert blared interrupting Lokis reassuring. The bodies began to convulse and jerk violently in their stasis field. Loki immediately shoved his hands back into the machine forming the spider-like legs.
*TUNING ERROR*
A robotic voice filled the room.
"Tuning error? What's there to tune to." Loki said in a panic scanning the bodies franticly.
*SIN SEALS DETECTED*
Three seals appeared one on each twin as they violently thrashed in pain.
"They're seal holders?" Loki spun the legs to read each seal, Sia carried the seal of Greed now it appeared where the Materia entered, checking Nias' collar the seal of gluttony was etched now, and Tia's neck bore the seal of Wrath.
"I can attune Tia, but unless we find two more seal holders who can forge now they are going to die!" Loki looked over to be surprised at how calm Zero looked watching the triplets slowly march to death.
"Did you hear me they'll die?!" Zero shoved Loki from the station and put their hands into the holsters.
"You can't possibly attune them, one seal to every human with the blood of the descendants under the God Sins. If we use an instant port I can think of three people who might help!" Zero ignored him, now standing behind them Loki could see in the center of Zeros' back the Mothers Mold unraveling revealing full etchings of each God Sin.
"Sin of Greed Abell." At the words, a seal came to life on Zeros' back with a dark green glow.
"Sin of Gluttony Pistol." Another etching on Zero's back lit up a light orange.
"And Sin of Wrath..." The name was inaudible to Loki similar to when Delta speaks, but the center seal surrounded by what Loki now believed was the six other sin seals was Wrath. It grew a deep red as three single white threads entered the stasis field and the alarms ceased.
"What are you doing?" Loki finally found his voice after overcoming all the new information in his head.
"I'm asking them to join my family." Zero replied as if just realizing Loki was still here.
The white threads resembled the cloth attached to Zero, Loki watched as it bobbed and weaved through the stasis field like a snake, it spiraled itself around the twins who seemed to have calmed now. Moments passed in silence before the threads turned the matching color of the seals on their bodies before slowly slithering into the triplets' bodies each God Sin seal pulsating satisfied.
"Did they say yes?" Loki asked as Zero removed their arms from the machine.
"They said yes." Zero replied the sound of a smile carrying on their voice.
"So... Couple of questions." Loki was going to start his list of inquisition but was stopped by a Zero holding up a single finger as to pause something.
"I will explain it to him so that will be all Delta." Loki looked over his shoulder to see a ball of condensed energy strong enough to erase this room slowly be put out by Delta before blinking away again.
"Holy fuck! He was going to erase me?!" Loki stammered pulse sky rocketing. Zero slightly chuckled before answering.
"I stopped him, he can be very protective... For all your questions I'd like to ask a favor." Loki frowning and crossing his arms knew he couldn't refuse seeing the power he would face after.
"I'll tell you the true name of the Ether and Materia if you save all your questions till after the mission." Loki tapped an angry foot at Zeros request, before shaking his head in agreement.
"Good... Good, uhhh, the Ether is called Quintessence and it very well is older than the ambient Ether on this planet." The anger of almost dying slipped slowly away as Loki listened.
"And the Materia is considered the tears of God's."
"Bullshit, the Tears of Gods has been myth and legend since I was a boy, but there are no Materia in this world that could give you a Sin Seal." Even as Loki said it he couldn't ignore the memory of the girls gaining seals.
"It doesn't normally give you a seal since if the body isn't ready for it or made for it the host dies, but with Quintessence and the right Materia..." Zero sidestepped to show off the calm triplets still absorbing the threads behind them.
"Fine, I am not one to deny a truth in front of me, but is that how you have so many seals?" Zero looked to the floor quickly as if shamed by the question.
"Not exactly..." Zero replied bashfully.
"Then are you even human? Are you synthetic made to carry more seals?" Impatience grew in Lokis' voice.
"No, I'm human mostly..."
"Mostly? What's mostly? Because either you're lying about being human or you're part god." A shiver ran cold down Lokis' spine, the intense fear of mortal peril gripped his chest, Zero for a split second had let off an intense desire to kill.
"We are all part Gods Loki, but I am human and do not tolerate Gods and would prefer not to be accused of being one." At the sound of Zeros' voice, the feeling left, and Loki could stand easy again.
"Are you done with your questions for now?" Loki shook his head in affirmation not satisfied, but unwilling to fight.
"Good, 'cause I think our girls are ready to wake up." The triplets' eyes slowly began to open as Zero returned to their normal cheerful mood Loki was accustomed to.
Tia awakes to the soft touch of a blanket on her body and an unfamiliar ceiling immediately she checks for stumps where she was sure her hands used to be to see her favorite ten digits wiggling back at her.
"Yup, I checked for my arms and legs first thing when I woke up." She hears from her right, she looks to find Nia sitting on a bunk bed smiling at her sister. Tia lept from her bunk and into Nia tears streaming down her face.
"We thought you were a goner your vitals were low and you didn't return to the fight!" she let out through pained tears.
"Alright alright I get it you're happy we're alive, but could you cry on me with clothes on." Nia said jokingly as Tia accessed the situation realizing she stood in her birthday suit. Her face flushed red as she lept back into the bunk and underneath the covers.
"Thank the gods you two are awake." Sia says entering the room fully clothed in a red color schemed outfit that fits her perfectly. Instead of a yukata, she now wore combat boots that ran tall and a pair of short shorts revealing her ample thigh, she had a short crimson shirt that revealed her midriff and a short jacket that wouldn't zip over her bust even if she tried with long sleeves ending at fingerless gloves.
"Siaaaa why am I naked!" Tia cried through tears.
"Better question why instead of waking us up did you go and have a chat with the enemy." Nia said peering at the figure hiding behind Sia. Zero stepped from behind Sia giving a meek wave of hello. Which in return Nia flipped the bird and Tia hid shivering under the covers.
"Alright on that note ill let you take it from here." Zero said defeatedly hanging their head in shame.
"Guys you need to hear them out, yes they were hired to kill Lady Mia and Master Toshi, but that's just it a job. Now they have a new job and if we don't help it'll cost our family their lives." Sia said trying her hardest to advocate for her used to be enemy. Nia exchanged a look with Tia who was peeking from under the blanket.
"Alright spill it why are we here and why are we naked? The short version." Nia demanded a gleam of hatred in her tone and eyes.
"Uh well, you are naked because I destroyed your clothing in the fight and you had to undergo surgery, and why you're here well um I guess..." Zero started to stammer uncomfortably with the daggers Nia was staring at her.
"We're here because Lady Mia joined a PDC with this reaper and if she doesn't make good we all will belong to the guild and most likely be killed and used for parts research." Sia stated plainly causing Nias' fiery to dim.
"So what? The Ladys life is even more so in danger and it makes it twice this little red devil's fault? Well, I'm naked and don't see any prosthetics making me worthless!" The ambient Ether took to her emotions and started to swirl and take a cerulean form around Nia. When she noticed she panicked losing the anger and control releasing the Ether causing it to disperse.
"First I'm going to train you three on being Ether users and then you'll join my assassins guild and help me save your Mother and Father." Zero said with more confidence in their tone.
"A-assassins? We don't want to be assassins!? We're bodyguards..." Tia said from underneath her protection.
"Not much Difference... And I want to save Mia and Toshi don't you?" Sia asked Tia who was now less afraid and more resolute in her agreement.
"Alright so how do we get a pair of clothes or are we supposed to fight in our birthday suits?" Nia said standing and placing both hands on her hips she had a similar build to Sia, but with a more slender frame and about an inch shorter.
"You all got a piece of Mothers Mold in you, it'll allow you to make any clothing you can think of." They hear from a voice in the hall.
"Show yourself!" Nia demands. An older man comes into the room with his one good eye tightly shut.
"Loki at your service." He introduces himself with a modest bow.
"The Loki!" a gasp and awe from Tia underneath the covers before she shot up and out of the bunk.
"You are the universe's greatest weapons smith you made all the weapons for the original valkyries!" Tia said still awestruck by the star power in the room the other two on the other hand just rolled their eyes not interested in the old weapons smith.
"Ah too kind too kind I'm glad I could make a weapon for a fan." He says raising his head and keeping his eye shut. You could practically see the steam roll from Tia's ears.
"Weapons?" As she said this her whip formed in her hand.
"Weapons!?" She screamed twirling around the room with her new toy. Nia follows suit summoning her spear she felt out its weight while spinning it in her hand.
"I'm going to train you three to be the best assassins alive and then you'll help me fight the Shogun and his Samurai for the survival of your family." Zero said enjoying everyone's mood lightening.
"Don't know anything about being the world's greatest assassins but ill take a rematch." Nia says pointing the tip of the spear at Zero as she did threads formed around her body taking shape as clothing. A baggy shirt with a smiley face that had X's for eyes in the middle formed on her upper body, suspenders formed clipping themselves to a pair of tight pants that held a wavy aqua pattern a jacket began to form that zipped in the front, and back with sleeves that went long and formed around her hands with a hole she could stick her thumb through, lastly were the cerulean short combat boots forming to her feet.
"Yeah! The inseparable three are gonna kick your ass!" Tia said holding her whip taut and forming her own clothes now, she dauned a green romper with a slowly green lace robe tied tightly together around her waist with a chartreuse ribbon and finally a pair of green sneakers.
"Well, my little Norns I'll be training the spear holder and Zero will take the other two." Loki said still standing with his eye shut.
"What!? No fair you at least have to teach me some of your forging techniques Loki senpai!" Zero laughs at Tia calling Loki "senpai" and chuckled even harder watching him grow uncomfy.
*Ahem*
"If there is time." Loki says shakily he senses a presence grow closer to him.
"Can't that all-seeing eye see through that lid of yours Loki senpai?" Zero mentions jokingly.
"Of course not how would I sleep!?" He says defensively causing everyone to laugh.
"Alright, now that's all out of the way it's time for your team name... How about the Sisters of Fate?" Zero proposes to the group the triplets share a look for a moment that set unease in Zeros' stomach.
"Alright, we the Sisters Of Fate will help you save our family," Tia said with a warm smile sitting on her face.
"Great! Welcome to the Threads Of Fate." Zero said glad their family was slowly growing.
~End of Chapter 2 Sister Of Fate