Lilith, Kali, and Levia entered one of the kitchens, only to find it already occupied. “Hi, Mom and Ma.” Aria said shyly, looking up from a sandwich. “Um…who’s with you?”

“This is Levia.” Kali said. “I don’t know if you remember Levi, but we had Jerry help us get Levi into a more useable state, since the old Levi was, uh…too big and clunky to help much.”

Levia took a knee in respect. “Princess, despite our troubled history, I will do my utmost to protect and serve you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“P-princess?” Aria said, taken aback. “And…have we met?”

“You are the daughter of the Administrator of this universe and its most influential figure; I believe princess is an appropriate title. As for our history, I was told that in our past lives the two of us did battle once. Or…Levi did battle with you, anyway. I am admittedly unsure how much I should consider myself to be him.”

“It’s an interesting question, and one highly dependent on how you were reincarnated. In your case, your soul was reincarnated in a way that you would eventually recall all of your memories.” Kali said. “And, since you were specifically chosen for your outstanding mental fortitude and sense of self, I maintain that you are only barely more Levi than I am.”

“Um…what about the dogs, then?” Aria asked. “You gave them souls, right? Are they still the dogs?”

“That’s different.” Kali said. “I gave them fresh souls, the type that would go into a newborn, and then sculpted them to fit the dogs’ personalities. I would say that they are the dogs through and through.”

“You gave dogs souls?” Levia asked confusedly. “Why?”

“It’s a long story, but they’re not actually dogs.” Kali explained. “They were a collection of this universe’s most renowned and feared monsters, given the form of dogs by Eve, and they were tamed and given to one of our close friends to help keep her safe. Due to their large presence in the culture of this world, the system was spending quite a relatively large portion of its processing power giving them full personalities and intelligence.

“And, as they would now be in constant contact with people who would notice the shortcomings of system-granted intelligence, I decided that granting them souls would serve to prevent that from happening and free up some of the system.”

“But…they’re being kept as pets.” Levia said weakly. “They’re people now, aren’t they? That’s what having a soul means.”

“Technically, yes, but they’d be the first ones to rebel against that classification.” Kali said. “They’re exceedingly happy with the life they have now, and they wouldn’t wish to change it for a perceived notion of freedom. They’re basically free to do whatever they want anyway, and we make sure they’re happy, so the situation works.

“The only mechanically weird part of the situation is that I had to spend a bit of Worship to let them continue being classified as monsters instead of people. Still, that was a one-time cost, and we haven’t had any problems with it yet, so it’s no big deal.”

“I…I see.” Levia said, turning back to Aria. “Regardless, I am at your service.”

“Um, thank you?” Aria said. “I, um, uh, yeah. Does, uh, Mai know about you yet?”

“Not yet, Princess.” Levia said. “We came to this kitchen so that I could eat before we introduced me to everyone.”

“I, um, see.” Aria said. “You, um, might not want to call her, or, um, me, Princess.”

“Why is that?” Levia asked.

“Um, Mai gets a little, um, excited about this sort of thing. She might, um, get weird about it.”

Lilith nodded in agreement. “I think she’s right, Levia. Mai has something of an easily-inflatable ego, and she’d probably start thinking she’s more important than everyone else and start ordering them around.”

“If you say so, then I will refrain from using the term ‘Princess’.” Levia said. “How would you like me to refer to them?”

“Just use their names.” Lilith said. “We don’t tend to do strict hierarchies around here outside of a couple specific cases.”

“Understood.” Levia replied. She paused for a moment, then spoke hesitantly. “Do you think it would be wise to introduce me to Mai now, since Aria already knows?”

Lilith shrugged. “If you want to, but Mai is rather energetic, and she’ll likely want your attention for quite some time. If it were me, I’d eat first, just in case.”

“In case of what?” Levia asked.

“In case Mai hogs your attention for the next hour. Like I said, she’ll probably want your attention for quite some time.”

“Um, I’m almost done eating, I can keep her distracted while you eat.” Aria volunteered.

“Thank you, Aria.” Kali said, patting Aria’s head affectionately. “That’d be a big help.”

“You’re welcome, Ma.” Aria said. She smiled shyly, then finished the last of her sandwich and left the room.

“She’s rather mature for her age, so she doesn’t show it much, but she’s got a lot of anxieties and is quite shy.” Kali said. “I’d advise being a little extra gentle with her, she’s much more delicate than Mai is. Mai…you’ll understand when you meet her, but you need to know when to set boundaries with her. If you’re not careful and just agree with everything she says, she’s liable to try and make you into her sister in some way.”

“We’ve tried to get her to break that particular habit, but she’s been remarkably persistent; she wants a younger sibling, and she doesn’t quite get how consent works.” Lilith explained. “She can understand being told yes or no, but when circumstances get murkier she defaults to asking for forgiveness rather than permission.”

Lilith paused for a moment, then spoke hesitantly. “If she asks you that…respond however you want. If you want to be returned to childhood and raised as their younger sister, we’re more than happy to accommodate. Of course, there’s no pressure to do so, but we’ll respect your wishes, whatever they are. If you think that’d make you feel more comfortable, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Lilith and I discussed this possibility for a while.” Kali added. “And in the end, this is what we decided. We’ve been considering the possibility of having another kid for a while now, so you wouldn’t be putting us out or anything if you said yes. And know that everyone here will love you just as much as if you were ours biologically; one of Lilith’s abilities helps in the formation of family ties, and we genuinely would see no difference between you, the twins, or any kids Lilith and I will have in the future. If that’s what you want, let us know, and we’ll make it happen.”

Levia stared at the wall for a few moments. “I’ll…I’ll think on it.” She said. “The offer is…significantly more tempting than I thought it might be.”

“If you’re worried about training and being a protector for us, don’t be.” Lilith said. “You’ll keep all of your abilities, and you’d train as you grew, just like Aria and Mai. We don’t estimate anything drastic happening in the thirteen or fourteen years it would take you to grow back to adulthood, and if push came to shove…well, we could figure something out.”

Lilith stopped for a moment, observing Levia carefully. Deciding that Levia probably wanted to drop the topic for the moment so she could think, she changed the subject. “That aside, do feel free to browse the pantry and fridge as much as you want, the kitchen is completely open at all times.”

Levia nodded distractedly and opened the fridge. She rooted around in it for a while before pulling out what appeared to be a completely intact trout that, save for the fact it was motionless, looked for all the world like it had just come out of the water. “Do you…normally keep this sort of thing in the fridge?” Levia asked, tilting her head in bewilderment.

No, I put it in there for you. Nuwa said, causing Levia to jump in surprise. Oh, sorry, forgot you’re not used to me. I’m Nuwa, the Parallel in charge of the dungeon. I can see just about everywhere except for private spaces like your room or the bathroom, but I’m not paying attention to everywhere at once or anything. So, uh, don’t be too creeped out, I guess? Sorry, I can only help my nature so much. Anyway, yeah, I wasn’t sure how you liked your fish so I figured you’d know best what to do. If you want a specific dish, let me know, I can whip it up no problem.

“Nice to meet you?” Levia said hesitantly. “I’m…actually not sure what kind of meal I want with this. Part of me wants to just eat it whole but I think that’s just Levi not knowing how to cook?”

I could make some sushi. Nuwa suggested. It’s basically raw fish, might scratch that itch and it’s, you know, not just ripping into an intact animal. There are a whole bunch of toppings and sides that can help with the flavor, too.

“That would be…nice, I think.” Levia said. “If it’s not too much trouble, could you –” She was cut off by the fish disappearing from her hands, replaced with a plate of various types of sushi. “Oh. Thanks. I’ll…get started on this, I guess. Is there a specific way I’m supposed to eat it?”

She made her way to the table where Aria had been eating, and sat down at it. As she did, Nuwa filled her in on sushi culture, pointing out what sauces went well with what dishes, when she should use her hands and when she should use chopsticks, and anything else Nuwa thought it was necessary for Levia to know.

While Nuwa spoke, Lilith and Kali grabbed some food of their own. By the time they had gotten their food and sat down, Nuwa had finished talking, and they fell into a somewhat awkward silence. Things proceeded like that for about five minutes, and then the silence was broken by Levia suddenly speaking up. “How…how much of myself would remain?” She asked quietly.

“I can’t say for sure, but I’m optimistic that most, if not all, of you would remain.” Lilith admitted. “I’ve studied Mai’s work at length, and in terms of personality, it really just makes you more…moldable. Seeing as how you were picked specifically for your strength of will and sense of self, I think you would make it through and end up almost exactly like you are now.

“As for your memories of your life before this, I don’t believe it should interfere the process of regaining them; that seems to be a property of your soul, and this magic simply blocks memories from recollection so they can be drip-fed to you later. My assumption is that you would ‘regain’ your memories normally, but just be unable to remember them until you’re older.”

“I see.” Levia said, staring intently at her sushi. “I…I…”

“You shouldn’t decide now.” Kali said gently. “This is a very, very big decision, and emotions are running high. Give it a night or two to rest and for you to meet everyone else before you make a choice. It’ll be difficult to impossible to take this back, and it wouldn’t do to make a choice in the heat of the moment.”

“You’re probably right.” Levia sighed, pushing away her plate. “I’m just so…out of sorts right now.”

“I totally understand.” Kali soothed. “You’ve had a very long day.”

“It’s only been a few hours.” Levia replied, smiling wryly. “I don’t know if you can even call it a day at that point.”

“That may be, but I’m sure it’s felt like much longer.” Lilith said. “You’ve had more stuff happen to you in those few hours than some people have in their entire lives. Being reincarnated, moving between universes, getting a crash course on the politics of Administrators and the eldritch…almost everyone would be tired and overwhelmed at that point. I know I would be; I was overwhelmed just learning that magic existed, much less all of that.”

“You were unaware of magic’s existence at some point?” Levia asked curiously. “How did that happen? Magic isn’t exactly something subtle, and you’re so…adept with it now.”

“It’s a very long story, but I made some poor choices when my planes were facing a crisis that threatened to devastate society, and made an entire plane where the people didn’t know about magic. Lilith was reincarnated into that plane for reasons I’ll explain when we have more time, but she’s not new to magic in the same way most people from that plane are. She just thought she was.” Kali explained.

“Unfortunately, not everyone is quite as adept as Lia in reincarnating people.” Kali continued, smiling sadly. “I wasn’t able to preserve her memories like Lia can. Still, all the important bits of her are there, so it worked out in the end.”

“How does that feel?” Levia asked. “To know you were someone else, but not have any of the memories that people would expect? Do you ever…do you ever feel like an imposter? Someone wearing the façade of someone else? Because I already kind of feel like that and I do have those memories.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly forward question. “At first, yes. I got over that pretty quickly, though; for all intents and purposes, I am her. I have her looks, her soul, her personality, even some of her feelings about people…I’m just missing her memories. It’s no different from being an amnesiac.

“And, for your situation…well, I understand where you’re coming from. Levi was this big presence, and, if I’m not reading you wrong, you feel like you won’t be able to measure up, right?”

Levia stared at Lilith in shock. “How did you know?” She asked.

“Well, the biggest clue was how you kept comparing yourself to him.” Lilith replied. “It was mostly a hunch after that. But I want to make one thing absolutely clear: we don’t want Levi. If what we wanted was Levi, then we would have had no need for all of this, we would have just kept Levi as he was.

“And, we may have said this before but I really want to emphasize it, we want you, Levia. It doesn’t matter if you have even one tenth of the strength that Levi had; just by existing you provide more benefit to us than Levi ever did. At times Levi was a burden, something we had to monitor and worry over, but we don’t really have to worry about that with you. We trust Jerry’s estimation of your character, and from what I’ve seen of you so far you seem like an absolutely lovely young woman.”

Levia stared down at the plate of sushi for a few moments, then looked up at Lilith, a determined expression on her face. “Do it.” She said.

“What?” Lilith asked, taken aback.

“Do whatever it is you need to do to make me your kid.” Levia explained. “I know you said to wait, but I’m sure. I get the feeling I’ve always wanted to know what a family is like, and you already seem like the kind of people I would want in mine.”

There was as a silence as Kali and Lilith processed that. “Very well.” Lilith said. “But I won’t do it until the morning. If you feel the same way,” Lilith held up a hand, forestalling Levia’s comment, “and I’m not saying you won’t, your face is telling me you’ve made up your mind, but if you feel the same then we’ll go through with it.”

“I’ll feel the same.” Levia said determinedly. “I’m not the type to change my mind so easily.”

“Then I’m sure that, in the morning, we’ll be ecstatic to welcome a new member of the family.” Kali said, smiling gently. “In that case, let’s finish off your dinner, and we’ll put you up in a guest room for the night. In the morning, when your decision is made, we’ll move you into more permanent housing. If you’re going to be part of the family, we’ll move you to a room in our wing, next to the twins. If not, then we’ll move you wherever you want.”

Levia nodded. “I think I’m done eating for now. I’m not really tired, though, could you perhaps give me some books on the history and culture of this universe? I’d like to study up on what I can. I don’t know how much help it will be given…what we’re planning on doing, but it’s better than nothing.”

I’ll leave some in your room. Nuwa said.

“Thank you, Nuwa.” Levia said. “I really do appreciate it. Um…if it’s not too much trouble, could you show me the way now?”

“Of course.” Lilith said gently. “Follow me.”

Fighterman481

So, this chapter took a very sharp left turn, one I really wasn't expecting it to. This was never even remotely close to the plan, but one thing led to another and an offhanded line I wrote ended up changing things massively.

It also meant that we didn't get to what I was planning to this chapter, eldritch stuff. I suppose we'll just have to wait till next chapter though, it'll be there this time, I promise. So, uh, look forward to it, I guess?

And, as always, thanks for reading!