RoR3 -CH2- (Patreon)

Warner pulled at the front of his light-coat.

It felt weird on him.

Odd.

As if it just didn’t fit him anymore. That where it had felt quite comfortably only a week ago, it now felt like it sat differently. Especially in the neck and shoulders.

Then again… I died. This body isn’t… the same.

It’s one that Warin made for me and crammed me into.

I mean, it feels right. Looks right.

But it’s not the same meat and bone mech-suit I was piloting previously, is it? This one was made out of angelic power.

Though… uh… now that I think about it, it did feel stronger. Maybe bigger? I didn’t really inspect it. That’d require having a little time to myself and I haven’t had that.

Standing next to his car, Warner glanced down to his crotch.

He’d already used it with Bodil, Madison, and Aelia. None of the three of them had complained about anything nor said that anything was different.

Now he was curious and would have to really inspect it later though.

Shaking off the thoughts, Warner got to walking. Moving up on the sidewalk and heading toward the Winged Horn bar.

Dayine’s personal business and home.

Passing by the front door, and what sounded like a semi busy interior, he went into the alley beside it. Heading around toward the back his goal was to get to Dayine’s home.

Pulling his hand out of his pocket he knocked on the door twice.

Standing there he waited, feeling awkward, and looking this way and that.

Pulling his phone out of his pant pocket he looked to the screen.

He was admittedly seven minute early but he didn’t think that’d matter.

Slipping it back into his pocket he couldn’t help himself from his mind moving back to his conversation with Maya this morning. A conversation that was filled with a lot of anger, crying, and some firm accusations.

It ended with him promising to take far fewer risks in the future. Then a lot of hugging.

More hugging than he’d ever possibly expected.

Because Maya was right. I have a lot of people relying on me. A lot of people. More people than I can really count. From Valkyries all the way to Daria.

Warner reached up and tried the door-handle. It turned easily, the door swinging inward.

Of course she left it open for me. Up until yesterday I’d been tromping in and out like I owned the place.

Entering the back area, Warner turned and headed up the stairs. Reaching the door that led to her actual home he opened it and let himself in.

“Dayine?” Warner asked in a neutral tone, looking around. He didn’t see her, but what he did see was surprising. It was as if a different person had moved in since he’d been here last.

Things were cleaned up. Chairs pushed under the table. The sink clean and empty. Carpet showing vacuum trails.

Apparently her symbol fixed some things in her head.

There was a soft bump and thump like noise coming from the end of the hall. Back near Dayine’s room. It accompanied a lot like what sounded a small hand-held vacuum.

Looking down the hall, he saw a large standing vacuum just outside the door to her room.

Wow, she’s in full cleaning mode.

Grinning, Warner headed on back toward her bedroom.

Halfway there he realized he was wrong. Incredibly wrong.

“-stare at me. St-sta-stare at me. Look at me,” demanded Dayine in a low and breathy voice.

Oh. She’s… letting off steam.

Warner could now identify the noise he was hearing. It was the same whirring noise he’d often heard when she took care of her own needs.

Turning on his heel, while feeling his cheeks turn quite warm, Warner fled quickly. Exiting her home and putting himself at the door that led back in at the top of the stairs.

It hadn’t helped at all that his body had responded to her voice in a way that was somewhat embarrassing. He couldn’t deny he was physically attracted to Dayine and hearing her voice like that didn’t him no good.

Standing there, he waited for the time to reach six on the dot. Using his phone to confirm that and keep himself interested at the same time.

The second his phone ticked over to six, he lifted his hand, and knocked. As loudly and firmly as he could on the door.

“One second!” called Dayine from inside. Her voice sounded quite normal from what he could tell.

A few moments later and the door swung inward.

“Ah, Warner,” Dayine said, standing in the doorway.

Dayine looked like she was in her mid to late twenties, though she was incredibly lovely to look at. Her face bore a set of features that had clearly been put together by hand.

Normally her short brown hair was pinned above her ears, though today it was unbound. Hanging down on each side of her face and framing it. Hiding her ears and their piercings.

Sky-blue eyes regarded him with a great deal of warmth and some heat to them. Filled with an intent and focus that he didn’t know how to truly interpret.

As soon as their eyes met, bright-blue and quite solid wings blew out from her back and spread out. The feathers stretching out to each side of her to their fullest extent.

Warner felt no intimidation at the display. If anything he wanted to get closer for a better look.

On top of that, for only a moment, Warner felt a need to respond in kind to her display. That his wings wished to be unleashed and spread wide. Though he held it under control.

Barely.

“Well that’s just damn embarrassing,” muttered Dayine, glancing backward at her wings and breaking eye contact. Slowly, her wide blue feathered wings began to retract.

It was obvious to Warner that it was taking a great deal of effort on her part to make it happen and that she was focusing on it.

When they finally were about half-way down they suddenly slid into her without any more effort. Vanishing into her back.

Looking back to him, Dayine was blushing deeply and gave him a strange almost apologetic smile. Then she shrugged her shoulders at him.

“I was apparently wrong, alright? I’m now going to be shamed for all time and I doubt this’ll be the last time it happens,” she said with an angry grumble and a tilt of her head. “Fuck me, right?”

“Anyways,” Warner said, deciding to change the subject. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about or dwell on whatever it was that’d just happened. “Para world is exposed, Warin is dead, I died and became… Redemption, Retribution, and Vengeance at the same time, and… and I met the Architect.”

Dayine’s went wide at his words and her mouth opened. Whatever it was she had planned on saying didn’t make it’s way past her throat.

Instead, she closed her mouth, nodded her head slowly, then sighed.

Flicking her hand off to the right she gestured at the couch.

“We should sit and talk about this,” muttered Dayine. “We have to plan I guess. Since I’m part of this and all. Daria was certainly right about all that.”

Warner only grinned. Daria often operated in the peripheral of his life. Moving things, people, and situations around all to his benefit. All he ever had to do was just act like he wasn’t aware of it, and do what he normally would.

Following Dayine to the couch, he sat down with her.

“So, you got his icon, portfolio and rights, his plane, and truly became all he was,” said Dayine, leaning back up against the couch and it’s arm. Laying her head to the top of it she looked to him. “And then incredibly became a great deal more than him. Though I guess that makes sense.

“Have you managed to tap into his memories or anything from his past? Should be able to just access it I imagine but… I don’t know how. Or what that would even entail.”

Shifting around in the couch while listening to her speak, Warner wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

“I have no idea. I’ve tapped into some of it, but some of it just seems… out of reach?” said Warner, finally getting comfortable. “I know it’s all there but it’s also not.”

“To be fair, millions of years of memories would likely weigh you down in a flash,” Dayine said with a wide grin. “Come on, Warner… you’ve been on this speck of dust we call Earth for less time its taken me to wear down a few pairs of boots I don’t put on very often.

“Probably better that all those memories aren’t just… there. Just try asking it questions and see if it responds to that.”

Dayine accompanied her statement with a waggle of her fingers before crossing her arms across her middle. Unfortunately drawing Warner’s eyes to her chest for a split second.

“I mean… okay, yeah,” Warner said, looking away from her. “Asking it questions, hm?”

Why did Dayine get so flustered at her wings popping out like that?

No sooner than Warner finished thinking the question, than he had several responses from the memories of Warin answer him. As if he were calling up possibilities for what it could have been.

The chief primary one was intimidation.

Given Warner hadn’t felt anything of the sort, he dismissed it.

Secondary to that was a surprising response. Angels weren’t quite human and did have some animalistic tendencies. A lot like in the same way the Demons did.

In this case, the memory suggested that Dayine was spreading her feathers in a show of courtship. That it may have been a completely unconscious response to him now being what he was, instead of an Angelic human.

That she’d displayed a mating ritual to him, for him.

“Oh,” Warner said, realizing that actually might be true considering her response. What she’d said and done after it happened. Looking back to Dayine, he nodded his head. “Seems like that worked. Asking it questions gave me a response. Almost like Warin was making suggestions to me.”

Normally the mention of his name would have sent Dayine into a raging fit. One that required her to go break things or blow off steam.

Now she only shrugged her shoulders at him.

“At least it worked,” she offered. “That’s good, I guess. One thing solved. But that leaves a lot left to go over and work through. At least for my side of the story.

“The Silent One moves onward, Seville, Skipper, and Shirley remain. While we certainly helped to right the world by ridding it of Warin, it’s precious at best. Now… what’d the Architect tell you? Anything we can use?”

Warner was watching Dayine closely now. He couldn’t help but think to what she’d been up to when arrived and then her response to him.

What’d she said? Look at me?

Calling up his power, Warner felt the warmth of it flowing into him. Filling his extremities with a unshakable strength.

Except this time it didn’t have the feeling of justice and the pursuit of it by itself. It felt tempered now. To gauge the person before him and determine a course of action that’d clear the scales through redemption, regardless of their deeds.

That nearly anyone could find redemption.

Around Dayine lingered a faint hint of injustice, though it was dissipating even as he watched. Slowly fading away into nothing. It would only be a day or so before she was as neutral as distilled water.

Slowly, Dayine blushed, her eyes unable to look away from him. Her eyes were wide and almost unseeing as she looked back at him.

The bright-blue of her power dwelt within her pupils. Much in the same way that his own did with the Valkyries.

“Kn-knock it off,” Dayine muttered. “You’ll… you’ll make’em pop out again. You don’t have to rub my nose in it. I admit it, alright?”

Letting his powers fade away, Warner smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders.

“You did ask me to look at you,” he said then scratched at his jaw while Dayine’s eyes impossibly grew wider. At the same time her pupils contracted down to nearly pinpricks. “As to the architect… I’ve been thinking on that. For a while now. The answer I came up with isn’t actually very fun.”

Dayine lifted her chin fractionally, the muscles in her neck flexing. Her jaw tightened once, and then she let out a single noise.

“Mmm?” she hummed in a curious way.

Apparently she didn’t have the ability to speak at the moment.

“We’re in an unforseen future now,” Warner said slowly. “The architect spoke to me as if I was going to die. That I’d be ferried off to the other side of existence and wouldn’t be coming back.

“For someone to be so sure about everything else, but not know I wouldn’t be dying, really only leaves that conclusion. That whatever future we’re in now, wasn’t expected by the Architect. Whatever plans he laid down, aren’t on track anymore. We’re in a blind spot.

“He was expecting for me to move on, and Warin to remain among the living. Which means anything involving me, or him, is now… wrong.”

“And-and what’d Daria… say about all this,” Dayine asked in a tight voice. Her right hand was now up near her throat, her fingers grazing back and forth slowly.

“Much the same as always when it comes to our futures,” Warner said with a shrug of his shoulders. “She can see a lot of things ahead of us. Some of it’s dark, some of it’s not, some makes more sense than the last time.

“Realistically, while this was unforeseen by the architect, it’s not far off from where Daria felt we’d be. We’re running along a primary future path that she’d seen many times. We’re good. She wants you to come over tomorrow. Everyone is. We’re going to have a discussion about… everything, I guess. Figure out what we’re doing.”

Sitting on the couch, staring at one another, Warner wasn’t sure what else to add right now. He was hopping that Dayine would respond to his statement and they could keep the conversation going.

“Daria told me I’d eventually pursue you,” blurted out Dayine as the silence lingered. The hand on her middle was pressing quite hard into her stomach now. “I thought she was just taunting me. Teasing me. You know… girl-talk… stuff.”

Warner opened his mouth, froze, and contemplated what he’d just heard.

The absolute, very-last, not on this earth, thing he wanted, was yet another woman in his life. Nor had Daria made any mention of this in any way shape or form to him. In fact, it was practically the opposite.

He knew nothing of this at all.

Though it sounded like Daria was pre-empting everything by telling Dayine about it.

Warner closed his mouth and then sighed. With a shrug of his shoulders he gave up. Daria seemed intent to keep adding women into their relationship. Warner already felt quite distraught about the situation and being dragged in multiple directions.

“Daria warned me not to… to tell you about this,” mumbled Dayine after it was obvious to her Warner had no idea what to say. “That it’d just make it worse for me. That I was better off letting things handle themselves in whatever way they went.”

“Well, at least I’m not the only one who fucks these things up,” Warner said with a laugh. “She often tells me exactly that. To not act on the information she’s given me.

“The results of those warned upon actions most recently got me in a bed with Bodil. So if Daria tells you not to do something, you probably shouldn’t. I’ve learned from experience and trust to her now.”

If Daria wanted him to be bedding Dayine, he’d bed her. He was done struggling against Daria’s prescribed fate for him.

Considering how lovely the Swordsinger was, Warner wasn’t opposed to taking things there. He’d fought against Bodil for so long and so hard, only to realize that he’d only been penalizing himself.

Bodil was an incredible woman.

I just need to make sure I return the favor to her when I can. Random things that break her future sight and keep it weird and fun for her.

“Anyways,” continued Warner, deciding to shift gears. “How goes with you? The Para world becoming ‘visible’ really will shake things up I imagine.

“The news and the government are doing their best to make it seem like this was so ‘boringly expected’ that it almost feels badly executed.”

Dayine’s lips were pressed together right now. Staring at him as if what he’d just said wasn’t just stupid, but not worthy of responding to.

“Okay then,” said Warner. Reaching out he patted Dayine on the knee, causing the woman to twitch violently.

If I didn’t know what the wing-spread was about, I’d be offended. Ha.

Getting to his feet, Warner nodded his head to her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, around seven,” Warner said. “If you want a chance to be included in whatever we’re ordering, come over at five instead. Otherwise you’ll just get whatever we decide on.”

Not waiting around, Warner turned, waved a hand at Dayine, and left. Leaving her alone in her home.

Heading into the alley he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Looking to the screen, he was expecting a message from Daria.

Chances are she’d already be aware of what happened, what Dayine said, and that he’d like to talk to her about it.

As soon as his eyes settled on the screen, a message bumped through.

Flicking it open, he read what was sent.

I know. I’m sorry. I was afraid if I told you about it, you’d just react the same way you did to Bodil.

Dayine is an important member of our family. A very important one!

And I couldn’t risk you doing to her, what you did to Bodil.

There were several points in time that you could have easily screwed it up. Sometimes on purpose when I told you about it in advance.

I couldn’t take the risk at all. I’m sorry, but I’m also not sorry.

This worked out really well.

Really well!

Rolling his eyes, Warner couldn’t actually blame her. Given his reaction to Bodil, Madison, and even Aelia, he’d drug his feet through it all.

“Fine,” Warner said aloud, nodding his head. “I won’t fight Dayine joining our little… cult… or whatever. Nor will I fight the Valkyries.

“But unless you tell me right now about anyone else that might be joining, I’ll fight them tooth and nail later. Do you understand?”

There was a blip from Warner’s phone just as he turned the corner onto the sidewalk. A new message had come through for him.

I promise she’s the last!

After Dayine and Laurel, we don’t have anyone else join us!

Well, other than Ylva, Inger, and Kari. But they only make any headway on you in a few years after things settle down. Especially Inger.

She ends up becoming more like Maya’s mom long before she makes any progress with you romantically. Maya really likes going out with her in the future since they share enough features to look related.

Maya loves being with Bodil and myself but… we don’t -look- like her mother.

Anyways, yes, after them, thats it! No one else.

I promise!

Harem building complete. I’m all done.

We have all the people we need to fight.

Oh, and Gus is fine. He’s in hiding and recovering. Dayine didn’t know where he was so she didn’t bring him up. I’m going to end up talking to him in an hour or two and see what we can plan out. Especially with his friend and the Fed.

Warner only chuckled at that then pushed his phone back into his pocket.

“Harem building huh,” he muttered, putting his hands in his pockets now. Walking toward his car he couldn’t help but feel rather hopeful.

Things were moving in the right direction.

Well… the return of “Yellow-Eyes” through Gus’ friend.

This should be interesting.