Judy straightened up, releasing the hug. “What do you mean both of us? Why?”

Tunem sighed. “We’ve determined that Lilith is, as far as we’re able to tell, safe.”

“Then why keep us?!” Judy exclaimed.

“I understand why you might feel that way, but please understand that that statement is not without its caveats. The most important of which is that this is only “as far as we’re able to tell”. We’re not foolproof, and it’s simply too dangerous to release an unknown element into the world. We’ll be keeping you here, Judy, to help keep an eye on her to check for any small changes in her personality that might come about. We’re decently sure her “The Mask” skill should shield her from most, if not all, mental changes, but we just can’t be sure.”

At this point, Kali walked over to Judy, grabbing her hands. “Honestly, we’re really sorry about this. But, don’t worry, we’re going to be taking a couple of measures to make sure everything is as painless as possible. First, we’re going to be the ones in charge of explaining everything, for now. We’ll be having her parents meet with the head of the CIA, who will tell them that the government has scouted Lucas for a secret program, and that he’ll be out of touch for a while as he’s trained. We’ll also be arranging for them to have a stipend to compensate for the inconvenience.”

Judy stared at Kali, stunned. “You’ve got that much influence?”

Kali laughed. “That’s nothing. Should we ever feel the need to, we could have the president herself come do the explaining. To tell the truth, we’ve been keeping all the world leaders posted on any new developments with Lilith ever since we found out she was a Perfect Chimera. It’s a matter of international security, after all. Speaking of Lilith’s parents, you’re all forbidden from telling them about this. Ideally, we wouldn’t even tell Judy, but it ended up being a necessity, so we let things happen as they did. Should we feel it necessary to tell them, we’ll take care of it in a similar fashion.

“Of course, we realize this is incredibly unfair to Judy. We’ll be having her business managed by the best we can get, and we’ll even give her some property in Saga, the capital of the magical world. And, as the council has determined that it would be unnecessarily risky to have Judy be the only one in charge of monitoring Lilith, I’ll be staying here as well, helping out and teaching Judy magic.”

Judy froze. “M-magic? I can do magic?”

“Of course! Anyone can, with the proper tutoring! It’s nearly impossible for most people who are Veiled since they all have at least a little something in the back of their heads telling them it’s impossible, but you’re not Veiled anymore, so that’s not an issue. Anyway, since having so many people in Lilith’s current dorm would be unreasonable, we’ll be making a new building for you all to move into, Nashra included.”

Vithi tilted her head. “Why her? She’s not really connected to us.”

Tunem coughed. “I made a deal with her to help tutor Lilith before this all went down. It was supposed to be about her demon side, and I know there’s Kali there for that now, but a deal’s a deal, and it’ll help take some of the load off of Kali, so it works out. Anyway, even with magic, we can only build so fast, but it should be ready within about three days. But we need to talk about Alex. Elenoa?”

The angelic woman stepped forwards. “On the subject of Alex and the Society of the Light, we have ruled that she will be allowed to walk free provided she is under the control of Lilith or is able to somehow prove beyond any doubt that she no longer wishes to have any affiliation with the Society. We will also give her the option to have Yamato restore her body to its previous state.”

“Denied.” Alex said flatly.

Elenoa frowned. “Lilith, if you would return her to her original state of mind for this decision, that would be ideal.”

Lilith nodded. “Alex, please go back to your non-modified feelings on the body.”

Alex shuddered a bit. “Alright, back to my “normal” state of mind,” she said, air quoting normal. “I’m gonna level with you all. I think I’m going to stay. I know the feelings I feel towards the body aren’t necessarily legit, but I think I’d miss the occasional happy feeling I get just from everyday life with this body. It’s not interfering with my daily activities and it’s a really nice feeling, so why stop? Honestly, as far as I’m concerned, that state of mind is my new normal. Lilith, please put me back.”

“Alright, if you insist, you can return to how you were feeling about your body before.”

Alex gave a happy sigh and smiled. “Alright, I hope that finally settles the matter. Please stop asking that question.”

Elenoa gave her an odd look. “Understood. But, we there’s one matter we can’t let go any further, and it has to do with how Alex got to this state.”

Lilith listened quietly as they explained the matter with her alter ego, before turning to Alex. “Please undo the seal on my memories.”

Alex did, and Lilith was silent for a while, before suddenly prostrating herself.

“I’m really, really sorry! I know I wasn’t in my right mind, but that’s not an excuse. And, about that thing you wanted to talk about, if it’s what I think it is, you don’t have to be curious anymore. I’m sorry!”

Alex paused, before speaking slowly, carefully picking each word. “It’s fine. I was wanting to leave the Society for a while anyway, so this was a good opportunity. We’ve already established that I’m grateful for this body, so, please, get up.”

“I…can’t. What I’ve done can’t be forgiven just like that. If I can become…that at any time, then I’m dangerous. Potentially too dangerous to be let out. I’ll give you a favor, and then I’m going to hole myself up and dedicate my time to freeing-”

Lilith was cut off as Alex slapped her.

“Pull yourself together. I just said that this has been beneficial for me, and, let’s be real here, it’s at least partially my fault for doing something stupid to an unknown element. For goodness’ sake, I almost prefer the other you at this point. At least she tries to do something about her problems instead of sitting there and feeling guilty over something she’s been absolved of. You want to give me a favor? Fine! Come meet with me later, like I said. And, yes, this counts as a favor. It’ll be taking up your time, which, may I remind you, you need right now. Do you think the Society is just sitting on their hands? NO. They’re working on measures to deal with you right now. I can guarantee it. You don’t have time to devote yourself to freeing me, which, if I may be so bold, I see no purpose in right now. That time would be far better spent learning how to protect yourself, so that you’re not a liability when you’re attacked. Ok, sure, you, or at least someone vaguely resembling you, did something that makes you really uncomfortable. You’re not the only one here who’s done that!"

Alex paused here, clearly uncertain about what she was going to say. A moment later, her face set, apparently having made a decision. “Joining the Society was the worst mistake of my entire life. I joined with a head full of ideals, hoping to better the world, and found myself in a terrorist organization instead. Do you think I don’t regret that? Because I do. And do you see me moping about? No! I’ve found something that will actually help work towards correcting the harm I’ve done, and that’s keeping you from falling into their hands. Take this as my official declaration of intent. I’m not going to let that group get any more powerful than they currently are, and to do that I’m going to keep you safe from them. So, stop trying to free me or give me any pity, because that’s counterproductive to what I’m trying to do right now. Heck, it might get me locked up. So, if you really want to help me, stop trying to “help” me and go learn! Do you think ignorance is going to stop more events like this from happening? Because it won’t. Learning might actually help you gain some control over this, so get your head out of the sand and go do something!”

Alex was breathing heavily at this point, but didn’t break eye contact with Lilith, glaring at her until she slowly stood up.

“Fine. I’ll start with this, then. Alex, this is an order. Tell us what you would do if you were free and the Society invited you back.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “I just said so. If I were free, then I’d reject them, instead staying here and protecting you. I don’t want to return to that life ever again. Look, I know about the Society, so I’m best suited to protect you from them. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t free me. This pact has several benefits for a bodyguard.”

Lilith turned to Elenoa. “Does this prove beyond doubt that she no longer wishes to have any affiliation with the Society?”

At this, Elenoa looked towards Tunem. “How strong is the pact? Is there any way she could have exploited a loophole?”

Tunem tapped his chin. “We haven’t done much serious looking yet, but with an order like that and that response, I don’t think so.”

Elenoa frowned. “I know she’s your child, but are you sure you’re not going too easy on her?”

“Yes. In this instance, there’s just not enough to work with for her to make a half-truth with that response.”

“From what I can tell it’s fine.” Kali piped in.

Elenoa pursed her lips. “I guess that’s that, then. We’ll leave the rest to Tunem and Kali.” She spun on her heels and left the room, followed by the other council members, minus Kali and Tunem.

“Alright then. Judy and Kali, you’ll be staying in my manor until your place is built. You all have the day off, feel free to do whatever, but tomorrow will be the beginning of your new schedules. I’ll lead you out of the vault, and then you’ll be free to explore.” He then took out a wristband from a pocket, handing it to Lilith. “Put this on. It’s got an illusion on it that’ll hide your wings and tail. Some of the younger students might not be…understanding, and this will let you walk around free of too much questioning without having to suppress yourself.”

Lilith nodded, putting on the wristband. The group was then led out of the vault as promised, and Tunem dropped the group off just outside the main building, leaving to resume his duties. After he left, Kali shot a sly look at Lilith. “Now, if you ask me, you were quite the good girl in there. I believe I mentioned a kiss?” She said, running her finger up Lilith’s arm.

Lilith jumped back quickly. “No, it’s fine, no need for that.”

Kali let loose a peal of laughter. “You are way too much fun to tease. I’m looking forward to making friends with you.”

Judy smiled weakly. “If you don’t mind me saying this, you seem…different from the other council members.”

Kali laughed again. “Just because I’m “important” doesn’t mean I’m boring. Anyway, what’re we going to do?”

Lilith tilted her head. “I was going to go relax in my room, but what about you? Don’t you have work to be doing?”

“This is my work, silly,” Kali said, smirking, “I got a real nice deal out of this. I was basically assigned to spend all day making friends. If you mean other work, my people in the field are handling most of that. I’ll get daily reports, but it doesn’t need all my attention all the time.”

“Well, I guess that’s that. How do you feel about video games?”

Later that night, after Kali and Judy had gone to their rooms, Lilith knocked on Alex’s door. “Hey, you, uh, wanted to talk?”

“Door’s open.” Alex replied. As Lilith entered, the first thing she noticed was how red Alex was.

“H-hey, I, uh, said a lot of stuff this morning. Are we…cool?” Alex stammered, looking away slightly.

Lilith paused. “Yeah, we’re cool. I still feel like I should be the one asking you that, but whatever. Anyway, I should have gotten rid of any lingering compulsion, do you still want to…”

Alex nodded. “I…want to talk with her. The me that wants nothing more than to serve you. The compulsive part of it might be gone, but a part of me is still left wondering. I said earlier that the extra happiness I got from this body was worth the change, so…what makes the other mental portion any different?”

Lilith frowned. “I hope you understand that whatever the result of this, I don’t intend to put you back in that state permanently. I want to be friends with you, not just someone you put up on a pedestal and worship.”

“Yeah, and I respect that. I just…need to do this. Gotta clear my system, you know?”

“Alright. When I snap my fingers, I want you to switch between the original mental conditioning and your current state. When we finish this…session, this command will be considered null, and I won’t be able to switch your states without both our consent.”

“Got it. I’m ready.”

Lilith snapped her fingers, and instantly Alex’s face changed. Her uneasy expressing gave way to one of embarrassment, and she immediately began to push Lilith out of the room. “Out, out, out!”

“A-Alex?! What are you doing?”

“I gotta write down my thoughts for myself, and, as much as I love and adore you, I don’t want you reading what’s basically my diary. So, will you please leave while I do this?

“S-sure.”

“I’ll be writing for a bit, so go play a game or something while you wait, kay?” And with that, the door was shut and locked, leaving Lilith outside.

An hour later, the door was unlocked, and Alex skipped out, going over to Lilith’s door and knocking.

“Hel~lo?” Alex said in a sing-song voice.

Lilith quickly opened the door. “Hey, you done?”

“Yeah, can I come in?”

Lilith nodded, and Alex sauntered inside, sitting down on the bed and kicking her legs back and forth. Lilith shut the door and walked over. “So, you finish your writing?”

Alex beamed. “Yup! I win!”

“What?”

“You heard me; I win!”

Lilith frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Alex giggled. “I’m sorta surprised you didn’t see it. You left a preeeeeeetttty big loophole there.”

Lilith’s heart sank. “Explain.”

“Sure thing! You said that as soon as the session ended, your command would be null, and you’d need both our permissions to change me back. And this morning, I said I needed just an hour. So, by some definitions, you could say that the session was only an hour, and here my interpretation is what matters, so I choose to interpret it that way! I’m staying like this for-e-ver!”

Lilith groaned, putting her head in her hands. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I swear I didn’t mean for this.”

Alex came over and patted her on the head. “Don’t worry, mistress. You’re still new to all the ins and outs of magic, so you honestly didn’t stand a chance. It took me about thirty minutes after I changed back to fully flesh the plan out, and by that time it was half done.” She smirked, headpat turning into a full hug. “On the bright side, you have an adorable little servant ready and waiting! Chin up!”

“Tunem’s not gonna be pleased about this…and didn’t I order you not to call me mistress?”

“Let me handle dad. If I explain everything, he can hardly blame you. Weeeeelll, he might be able to blame the fae you, but he shouldn’t treat you any differently. As for the whole mistress thing, you said the original mental conditioning, and that order wasn’t part of it!”

At this, Lilith started. “Alex…?”

“Yes, mistress?” Alex said, releasing the hug and turning to face Lilith.

“From now on, I need you to interpret things how I wish them, and that’s an order.”

Alex laughed. “Sure, mistress, but that’s not retroactive. You’re not changing me any time soon.”

Lilith grinned, focusing. Soon a copy of Lilith was sitting on the bed, looking slightly annoyed. She was wearing the exact same clothing as the original and were it not for the dramatically different way she carried herself, even Judy wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

“W-what’s that, mistress?! When did you- the book! No, don’t do this, mistress! Honestly, I’m fine!”

The other Lilith spoke up. “Honestly, do we really need to change her back? I rather like her this way. I did good work.”

“Y-yeah, there’s no need to change me back! Everything’s under control here!”

The original Lilith kept smiling. “Well, if you won’t agree with me, I’m sure I can get the other personality out here and see if she’s any more amenable. Of course, who knows what she might do while she’s out. After all, we have no idea what she’s even like. I’m sure you agree that securing Alex’s safety is worth more than some petty desire to change her thoughts about us.”

Alex clung to the fae Lilith. “Miiiiistressss, come on, you know I’d die for you! I can take whatever the other you can dish out! Pleeeeeeease!”

The fae Lilith smiled gently, rubbing Alex’s ears. “I’m sure you can.” She looked back to the original Lilith. “Darling, it really does please me to be able to speak with you like this, but you’re mistaken if you think you can threaten me. I happen to know you well enough that I know you’d never do anything that would potentially hurt Alex. But let’s say you get the other us out here. You know full well that that sort of personality is just as likely to want to mess with people as me. The difference between us is that you can negotiate with me. I don’t think you’re exactly in a position to refuse – your only safe option is me. If you don’t want to, all you have to do is release the Avatar and deal with the other us.”

Lilith’s grin slipped. “Fine. Let’s negotiate. We both know what I want. What do you want?”

The fae Lilith raised her hand. “Not so fast. As things stand, this is unfair. I know you well enough to know your motivations and desires as well as you do. On the other hand, I haven’t existed long enough for you to have the same for me. And before you ask why I would give you this information, call it something of a mix of a desire to keep the negotiation interesting and the need to be honest with myself. If you were anyone else, I wouldn’t offer this.” She winked, then proceeded. “I foresee myself being out quite a bit more than I have been, thanks to this nifty ability we picked up. As such, I’ve decided that my feelings are worth a bit more than I previously had. Before, I was you most of the time, only coming out on special occasions. Now, I’m your best option if you want to use the Avatar skill. This means that I’ll be feeling your emotions less often, and mine more often. Simple math, really. As such, I’d like my opinion to be taken into account when deciding this.”

The original narrowed her eyes. “And if I choose not to bring you out, thus removing your desire from the equation?”

Her doppelganger shrugged. “Then, frankly speaking, you’re an idiot. If you recall, we share memories. That means that when it comes to studying, you can be basically twice as efficient. Remember what Alex said? The Society will come for us, and we need to have learned how to defend ourselves by then. You should have me out as much as possible so I can handle pouring through the textbooks while you’re out there getting practical experience.”

“…Fine. That being said, what do you want?”

The fae Lilith gave a wide grin. “I want to put Alex back to her unaltered state of mind and let her choose to come back to this one whenever she wants. She’ll be able to specify a duration and everything, but we’ll be unable to mess with her mind with just a command. I’m sure you can agree this is fair, right? It’s her mind, after all.”

“And what’s the catch?”

“Ah, yes, I was getting to that. It’s simple; when she gets back, I get to make her tell us what she really thinks about all of this. Oh, and you need to keep me out for as long as we’re here. I’m going to stick to studying, as well as stuff like eating and sleeping…well, if they’re necessary for the avatar. I don’t know yet. And, maybe, if I’m well-behaved, you’ll let me help out if you’re doing combat training or something. As boring as this is, I can’t bear the thought of being captured and forced into slavery.”

The original snorted. “You don’t seem to mind doing it to other people.”

“I knew you wouldn’t abuse her, and we couldn’t afford to let her go. You wouldn’t forgive killing someone, and this was the only other thing I could do. It turned out to be a good thing for Alex, too, so I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Lilith mulled over this for a while. “Alright, I’ll accept your conditions, as long as you don’t try to force Alex into wanting this again. Deal?”

“Deal. Now, if I’m going to be out, we’re going to want something to give me a name, so we don’t get confused. I think Carmen has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”

Lilith paused. “Well, I suppose it’s not really my choice. You ready to turn Alex back?”

“Yup. Alex, you were listening to the terms of our agreement. Your order is to follow that, understood?”

“Understood…Alright, I’m back.” After saying that, Alex ducked away from Carmen, retreating towards Lilith.

“Alright, now, no lying to me or to yourself. How do you really feel about that alternate state of mind?” Carmen asked.

Alex frowned. “It…felt good. I kinda like it, but I also kinda hate it. I’m glad I control it. That good enough?”

“One more thing. Would you ever consider going back to that state of mind?”

Alex paused for a long moment. “Under the right circumstances…yes.”

Carmen nodded. “Alright. Well, I’m off to see the wizard, I won’t keep you any longer.”

“Wait, now?” Lilith asked.

“Of course. I said I was going to get straight to studying. I meant it. I won’t bother you with constant progress updates, I’ll give it all in a big chunk, that way I don’t mess you up when you’re doing things. I’ll see you two later, don’t forget about me!” With that, Carmen blew a kiss and left the room.

Alex let out a sigh. “Thanks. I didn’t expect to get so…crafty. I’m really sorry for all the trouble.”

“Does it really feel that good? I don’t seem to recall making you resist any attempt to change back.”

“Yeah, it does. I briefly mentioned it before, but I just feel…nice. Better than I would ever even be able to feel otherwise. But… it’s like a drug. I’m afraid of being completely intoxicated by it, to the point where I’d prefer to stay that way forever, even in this state of mind.”

“Aren’t you kinda that way with your body already? Come to think of it, I could try and order you to go back to your original state of mind without any of these side-effects.” Lilith offered, concerned.

“At this point, I think I’m too far gone, even for that. If I went back to how I originally felt, I still think I’d want this. Besides, it’s not like it radically alters my personality or anything, unlike…that. Better not to mess with it.”

Lilith nodded hesitantly. “Anything else?”

Alex blushed. “Well, if you wouldn’t mind, could you…rub my ears, like Carmen did? I think it’ll help calm me down.”

Lilith sighed, but sat down on the bed and motioned for Alex to sit down in front of her. After Alex was seated, Lilith began to rub her ears, and she could feel Alex loosen up under her.

“You know, if two months ago someone had told me that I would be rubbing the ears of a really cute catgirl, I would have called them crazy.”

Alex blushed. “And if two months ago someone had told me that I would be that really cute catgirl, getting my ears rubbed by an equally pretty woman, I would’ve called them crazy too.” Realizing what she said, Alex clamped her hands over her mouth.

“S-sorry! It just sorta slipped out! I know you’re still dealing with all this stuff and probably aren’t used to being called pretty, it just…happened.”

“I-it’s all good. It was…kinda nice.” Lilith replied, now just as red as Alex.

The two sat there in silence a while longer, before Alex piped up. “Hey, uh, thanks for that. I’m going to store 10% of my magic in you too, so, uh, yeah. Anyway, I’m getting tired so I’m going to go sleep.” She quickly stood up, giving the mana to Lilith, and left to go to sleep. Lilith sat there a while longer before she, too, decided to sleep.

Fighterman481

I would like to state that this is a problem chapter, given it focuses on Alex. And Alex is a problem character. She kind of makes a grandiose gesture here, pulling a complete 180 from how she was when she was introduced. I'm just a little stumped on how exactly to fix this up. Perhaps I'm blowing the whole thing out of proportion and it doesn't feel as forced to you all as it does to me. Thoughts?

That being said, let's talk mental effects. Alex has been under a particularly powerful mental effect for a decent amount of time. In this world, mental effects sort of...sink in the longer they're active. The time it takes for this to have any significant effect is entirely dependent on how strong the effect is, how long it's left it, and how much it deviates from the person's normal mental state/how much they're fighting it. In this case, the effect was extremely strong, was left for a decent length of time (a day might not sound like a lot, but think of it like taking medicine. Most long-term medicine aims to keep the amount in the body above a certain point, refreshing that with every new dose taken. Most long-term mind magic works similarly. This "mind magic" is on full-force all the time, meaning it takes quite a bit less time to sink in), and Alex wasn't trying to fight it at all.

Not that it matters, given how Lilith worded her order. That kind of order with this kind of magic almost explicitly overwrites that "sinking in" effect.

One thing I am pretty happy with is actually Alex's alternate personality. It's actually really fun to write, and I thoroughly enjoy writing it. As for why she wanted this in the first place, it's all Carmen's fault. Back when they took Carmen out to ask her some questions, she implanted the trigger for the curiosity. It was a petty move and an all-around awful thing to do, but she really doesn't care.

Will Alex ever willingly go back to that state? I honestly don't know. It's possible. I think of it like a drug. If she does end up going back, she'll want to go back even more when she ends, partially due to the whole imprinting thing I mentioned, partially because it feels really nice. As things stand, she'd go into that state if she ever hit a major depressive episode (for just wanting to feel something, even if it's artificial), or is really stressed or...something. I don't know, we'll see where the plot takes it.

I'm probably forgetting to say something about this chapter because I have a lot to say about it, but I think those are the most important bits.