Jenny got out of the car, holding her new sibling's hand. The white-haired girl still felt a little odd, but seeing her grandparent's house was a welcoming sight.
Their mother, the insect woman Muriel, gave a little smile too. She always felt a bit nostalgic being near the old house she grew up in. She could remember all the games she used to play here. "Come along you two," she said helping them out. She noted how Jenny was holding Melanie's hand.. The other insect-girl was still having a little difficulty walking with her new legs. It was a little amusing to watch the child steady herself each time the incline of the ground changed- such as now as they walked up to the patio.
Muriel rang the door bell, and the door was opened by an elderly lady.
"Muriel!" Agnes said with a smile. "Come in- hm? Who's that?" Another child? Who was that?
"She's my new sister!" said Jenny filled with enthusiasm.
"S-Sister?" Agnes appraised the young insect girl then looked to her daughter. "Muriel honey, how did this happen?"
"I- don't think you would believe it," Said the police officer. How could she believe it? Even she barely believed it.
They entered into the house. Muriel took off her coat with Jenny doing the same. Melanie looked perplexed but she did the same as them for now. Mimicking them was strangely... satisfying? Was it something to do with her body? Or the thoughts and instincts guiding her? What was the driving purpose behind all this?
"This is Melanie. I guess you can say, I adopted her too." The insect woman seemed embarrassed to admit it.
"Oh honey, you're not going to have an entire house of foster children are you?" Agnes chuckled. Though in truth she was concerned. How were they going to afford another child?
"I'm sure Melanie will be the last. She's a special case." The insect woman placed a hand onto Melanie's dark hair with affection. The child just stared outward, almost.. unblinking.
"Well... It's nice to meet you Melanie," Said Agnes. Come, sit down..." They were brought into the living room.
Melanie followed glancing around the old house. Why did this place smell strange? Everything here was old. Settled. Quiet. Silent echoes of events that happened well before her time, to the age of this body. How strange that things happened 'before' a person was born. Before one existed. It felt disconnected. How could anyone understand how things would be, when they had no control of what was? Also these people were old.. did that mean they would die soon? That made her feel afraid of them for some reason.
The elder woman was looking at her. Melanie felt an instinct to hide behind Muriel.
"Don't be shy sweetie. I'm your grandmother." She observed the curious insect girl. She took after Muriel a great deal. The resemblance was uncanny. She had heard that sometimes a transformation shared familial lines, but Melanie was not related by blood... she had never heard anything to this extent.
"G-Grand.. mother." What a strange word. Did that mean she was the 'superior' to Muriel? A hierarchy of some kind? What was this strange world! She was still getting over the fact that things happened before they were born- and then they left, for others to continue. These were those before Muriel, who created the world she knew- and were themselves created in a world by another 'generation'... it all seemed hideously complicated. She retracted a little as the elder woman looked at her with those wizened eyes again.
"She's a little shy," Explained Muriel.
"Hm.. she's adorable," smiled Agnes. "I think I have a lollipop somewhere..." The elder woman went to the kitchen, and brought out the sugary sweet on a stick. She handed it to the insect girl, and another to Jenny.
Jenny gleefully suckled onto it. Melanie watched her, and quietly did the same after a brief hesitation. She blinked at the sensation of sweetness, and started licking it some more. She was consumed with the feeling on her tongue, not even taking a single bite. Just kept on licking it. The voices of the adults became distant as her entire world became sweetness.
"Where's Dad?" Asked Muriel.
"I think he's trying to sort things out in the attic. He was looking for something. He'll be down shortly, not to worry. I'm sure he'll be very happy to see Melanie too."
She wondered how Melanie would react to a fire-maned lion...
Lilly had finished playing in the forest their game of hide and seek. Playing like that was.. so odd. To be a child again, she had never felt anything quite so exhilarating as today. She was even okay with Bruce joining them.
She passed by the street in her green traditional uniform of her school. It drew a few looks from people, but most of them seemed so happy to see her. That was weird... it's not as if she knew any of these people. When she used to be B- she paused a bit. What was her old name again?
"My name used to be.. B..." she gasped. She couldn't say her old name any more! What happened?! Was she sick? She knew for a while it was starting to get a bit forgetful but... now it was like her other name was just not in there any more. She tried not to panic. Her old name would come back eventually, right? She only just temporarily forgot it. Easy to happen... people had been calling her Lilly for a while now.
The twin-tailed squirrel blinked as she saw a naked devil-girl walk past her. She felt a bit weird at the sight. It wasn't so much that she was naked, as that Lilly wasn't feeling- what she was supposed to be feeling? She was supposed to feel something right? A little anxious at this turn of events, and the fact that she couldn't quite remember her name, she followed the devil girl. She could see her red tail moving in rhythm to her walking..
The teenaged devil-girl didn't seem to pay any mind to the staring child or even acknowledge her, as she walked through a door in a side shop- at least that's what the squirrel girl thought it was. Lilly a little curious walked to where she was a moment before, but found there was no door there. She glanced around but couldn't figure out where the devil-girl had gone.
A little shakily she continued her walk home.
The devil priestess, Robert, took in the atmosphere that was "Hell's Kitchen". She didn't really like the name in truth. It sounded too... celebratory. Still she guessed it was more a name of irony that they could access this place. Even if they didn't know where it was. The food however was a delight to her. It was hard to really work out what it was about it. It was all very pleasant and it looked like the number of staff had increased in the last few days.
Some extra space was being set aside to create a small stage for Karaoke. Robert blushed at the idea of being on stage. It was certainly odd. She could do sermons, but she just didn't have the courage to sing. Besides she didn't know any of the songs. She sipped her drink quietly, as she looked around the other devilish or even, demonic changed. Most of them gave a very welcoming look in return, though she still wasn't sure how to interact with them. Even if her tail was doing a little dance on it's own, as if welcoming the attention.
She was so surprised at how many different kinds of devils there were. Some were naked- more so then before, others not.. she was a little glad to see Rachel come by though, even if her.. lack of clothes would take some getting used to.
"Hello child," said Robert. Another strange reaction. She said that word often as a make priest, but saying it as a female felt strangely... maternal."How was school?"
"It's going quite well. They are finally relenting to allowing me to wear what I want- or not want." She grinned. "You should give it a try. It's so liberating." The devil girl stretched her body to emphasise the point.
"I- I think I would pass on that," said Robert quickly. She felt ugly to look at anyway. She wasn't sure if she was at the exotic end of the scale, or the hideous side of it. She felt on the edge of that... and actually, that meant she didn't consider herself attractive. Not that she wanted to be- "God help me," she whispered shaking her head. Being a she-devil was hard.
"I want to know what you know, about this Enemy" Said Lucas. Her voice was anxious, desperate even.
Selena looked to the angel quietly. "They do not want you to know of them," She explained delicately.
"I don't care. You know of them! Just tell us what they are."
Selena sighed softly. This conversation could have so many dire consequences.. but apparently the time may have come to reveal a few things. She hoped she could explain them well enough. "Tell me, when did you start calling them 'the Enemy?'
Lucas paused. When.. did they start thinking that? She wasn't sure. It was just obvious they were an enemy. They were hurting them! She wanted to fight them. Everyone on Earth did who had heard of them. Everything they did indicated they wanted nothing more then to destroy them! "I- They are they enemy though! They want to kill two children!" It still felt sick to her heart when she thought of it. All she could picture in her mind were those two children. Her sword could cleave their destiny... but who could she pick? The powers that be already sentenced Lilly, without even a thought. A consideration. It just wasn't fair! She didn't know who the girl was, but every life had potential. She knew that... why didn't they?
Selena gave the distressed angel a warm embrace. God and mortal made contact, their touch as intimate as two making love. Lucas felt herself drifting in a sea of peace, sensing the sheer ancientness of a being. Aeons of time... passing before her eyes.
Selena looked into the Angel-changed girl's eyes. "The universe is... not quite how you see it. There are aspects to it that have a..." she paused. "I guess you could say, the universe 'thinks'."
"It thinks?" Lucas asked blinking.
Already, the moon goddess was regretting her choice of words. This was imprecise. But there were few ways to express this aspect of their existence. "Not in the way you do, or even the gods..." She sighed a moment wondering just how she could put something so complicated into words. "Humans are part of the universe. You are not distinct... discrete... you are made of star dust." She said a little... enviously?
Selena took a few steps back from Lucas, as they were pulled into the void of the barren moon surface. The surface was curiously still just as white as before, even though the sun itself sparkled like a rainbow above them.
The moon goddess gestured to the twinkling heavens, and the blue orb that was Earth. "Everything is connected... every piece of dust in the universe. From black hole, to the stars themselves... Everything." The goddess explained. "Humans have started to encroach upon some of the biggest 'secrets' of the universe. It... It doesn't really know how to exist, sometimes."
"Selena I'm sorry but you're speaking in riddles."
The moon goddess tilted her head. "I'm trying to explain this as best I can. There is.. certainty and uncertainty- your force of science is obsessed with creating certainty- but has reached a point where it realised it can't. So you started naming the uncertain forces you see around you. Count every atom in existence and you'll be off... try to work out gravity you'll always be a little bit off... try to count how many seconds between two events, and you'll still be off- but you are getting better, and better-" she paused. "This is not a bad thing.. it has happened... before."
"Before?" Lucas asked intrigued now.
"Each stage of... existence brings another meaningful universe. Everything changes. The universe changes. Each time the universe becomes a bit more certain, uncertainty creates something a little more mysterious. It has to be that way, or... the universe gets stagnant. It dies..." she cringed a bit at that thought. "What you have difined as "the enemy"- and indeed has acted as the enemy now, is a force that has become semi-sentient. Humans defined them with mathematics at first- so they take on a... numerical mindset. Numbers reveal them. Like- with dark energy, dark matter... things you can't see."
Lucas listened, but this abstract knowledge was very difficult to understand. "So these things... dark matter, its really something that's alive?"
"No- ugh- Lucas this is very complicated. You're only seeing subtle aspects of them. They are not made of dark matter... that is just... an aspect of them. They fear you for defining them."
"Well- what's supposed to happen?" Was this for some kind of plan?
The moon goddess sighed. "If you destroyed them utterly, the universe can never have uncertainty again. You would doom it to a slow death, as everything becomes defined once more. They- don't really understand sentience... they lash out. Every time you make contact with them, they become a little more like you. They fear experiencing existence as discrete entities- but Lucas, there is one thing you must realise..."
"What's that?"
"Someday, it is possible for them to become something similar to what humans were. Some of the changed, might decide to take on aspects of a new universe and become as gods- much as the path you have taken.. the gods of old may... move on or merge- whatever is appropriate... and a new cycle, will begin once more. A new rich universe, exploring reality... exploring itself.
Lucas gasped at the implications of that.
