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Abby had been aimlessly wandering the nearly empty halls of Chaldea for most of the day. She had been given a very, very important gift from BB, and an equally important decision.
She had been wearing a hole in the ground in a long, meandering path around the extra classes’ dorm after BB had so rudely interrupted her naptime.
“Yoohoo, rise and shine, sleepyhead!” BB had teleported into her room with a pop and an all-too-clean smell of medicine and sterility. She picked up one of the many, many, many -- really, just an extraordinary amount of stuffed animals piled up around her room and bed -- and tossed it gently at Abby’s head.
She let out a groan and tilted her head, uncovering her face from her pillow. “...mm? What’d’you want, Miss BB…?”
BB floated closer to the bed. She plucked Abby’s sleeping cap off her head and held up a purple paper bag with an enthusiastic grin. “I’ve got a present for you, Abigail, and maybe something else too~. Why don’t you pick your empty head up off your bed and we can talk?”
“Hmmm... don’t call me… stupid…” Still, she pushed herself up on her elbows and rubbed at her eyes.
“I didn’t call you stupid, stupid! I called you empty-headed! Though I suppose that’s not entirely accurate either, given the tennant you have living in there.” BB tapped her on the forehead. “Actually, that’s exactly why I wanted to offer you this position!”
“What… position?”
BB grinned. Even if Abby had been awake, BB was far too charismatic and Abby was far too naive not to be suckered in.
“I’m here to offer you a job, sweetie! A paying* job at ServFest this summer!”
Abby blinked. “A job?”
“Yes, a job, try and keep up. We’ll discuss the details once you’re actually on location, but it’ll be fun! A lot of Foreigners will be there, and I think, if everything goes well with my visit to the observatory Chaldea has on Mauna Loa, I might be able to invite a surprise guest or two!”
That got Abby to bolt upright. “Other Foreigners! A surprise guest!?”
BB giggled. “I knew you’d be eager to make friends! I don’t want to get your hopes up, but needless to say that I’m not the only artificial intelligence that humanity has ever sent out into space. He’d be about your age, I think -- I’m sure you’d be great friends! Hokusai is there already, too!”
“Yes! I-I’d like that a lot!”
“I kinda knew you would~.” BB reached out and began petting Abby’s hair. She placed the bag gently into her lap and pulled out a few items. “If you agree, I can give you a pretty big power up. I can lend you my Authority, give you a few boss skills, and of course, I’ve been stockpiling a few goodies just for you~.” She pulled out a still-beating heart, a vibrant purple color, totally devoid of gore.
Rather than being disgusted, as most children -- or people -- would’ve been, Abby let out a soft gasp. “Oohhh, Miss BB… I think this is one of the things I need for my skills…!”
BB chuckled. “I know it is, Abigail. I’ve got that, and lamps and roots and all sorts of other stuff, just for you. To make you more powerful, both for your own good… and to cause a little more trouble for Master~. You’re a troublemaker sometimes, just like me, aren’t you~?”
The Key chimed in her head. A sinister smile spread across her face for just a moment, equal in intent to BB’s own mischievous nature. “Oh, yes, I love being naughty every once in a while.”
“Wonderful~.” BB let out a low chuckle, and Abby couldn’t help but join in. “In that case, I’ll see you at the end of the week~. Here’s a ticket for the plane flight over -- first class, of course~ -- and most importantly, your ID badge.”
BB lifted up a lanyard with a large plastic card attached to the end, with Abby’s picture and a lot of text.
Abby took it from BB and placed it over her head without question. She inspected the ID more closely and recognized a lot of words that pertained to combat and sounded a lot like “video game” words that some of the other Servants used: “boss enemy”, “post-content”, “raid boss”, “cheats enabled”, and “BB clone” stood out.
She glanced up. “BB clone? But I’m not -- ?”
BB put an arm around her shoulders and continued petting her hair. “That’s just something for the other staff to let you know they should treat you just like me! Like my clone -- or even my sister, if you like that better~.”
“!” Abby gasped and squeezed her arms around BB’s slender waist. “Y-yes! That sounds great! Um -- just let me make sure it’s okay with Master, and I’ll help you however I can!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie,” BB said quietly, “but I really don’t want you talking with Ritsuka about this. I want it to be a surprise for them… you understand, right? This is a big girl decision, and I want you to make it on your own.”
“Oh…” Abby was quiet for a long moment. “Well… c-can I think about it for a day or two?”
BB got up to leave, patting Abby on the head one last time. “Of course! Even if you decide that you don’t want to work, you can still keep those materials! And the plane ticket too -- you should really come to the Singularity to have fun with the others.”
The smile on BB’s face dropped for a moment. “I want to see you on that flight no matter what. Okay?”
“Okay! Thank you very much, Miss BB!”
BB grinned at her and gave her hair a parting tousle, getting ready to teleport out of the room. “You’re very welcome! See you soon~.”
Then BB had left her alone to consider her offer, and Abby had been considering it very carefully, for a very long time.
BB’s offer sounded like a lot of fun. This would be the first time Abby took a big role in a summer event like this, even if it didn’t sound like she had a big place in BB’s plans.
On the other hand, BB didn’t always have Master’s best interests in mind. Sometimes her mischief-making took precedence over everything else, to the detriment of the common good.
On the other other hand, there was a part of Abby that also really liked making mischief, and what was the point of summer vacation if not to cut loose a little bit?
Abby let out a groan and massaged her temples. “This is so complicated… I wish I could just ask Master for their opinion…”
“You seem to be struggling with something, little one. Is it anything I can help you with?”
Abby looked up at the stranger who had spoken to her. Her long black hair and flowing, exposed white robes made her appear to take up twice as much space as she actually did.
“Miss K-Kiara!” Abby nodded at her, then immediately averted her eyes from her highly sinful appearance. “U-um -- th-thank you for offering, but I’m alright. This is, um… kind of a secret.”
“Oh, I see! A very sensitive matter, hmm? Need to know, very hush-hush?”
Abby sighed, relieved that Kiara understood her need for secrecy. “Yes, sorry. Thank you for understanding!”
Kiara nodded. “Of course. We wouldn’t want BB getting upset if someone else found out she was asking you to be a raid boss~.”
“Oh yes, she’d be very -- ” Abby did a double take. “Huh??? H-how did you know!?”
Kiara lifted a hand to her mouth and giggled demurely. “Oh, I know a lot of things that would surprise you, little one. It’s impossible to hide secrets from one who’s already unraveled the secrets of the universe~... that, and BB is a little predictable when it comes to these things. She always seeks out someone who’s hopelessly innocent, other than our Master, of course.”
“I… I see.” Abby chewed on the cuffs of her sleeves for a moment. “Um… can I ask… do you think I should go along with her offer?”
Kiara knelt down to be eye level with Abby. Even though she knew Kiara could be evil and manipulative, even worse than BB at times, her smile was so warm, motherly, and genuine that Abby couldn’t help but feel safe and at ease. “Well, Abby, I don’t think it’s an easy question. What do you think?”
“I really wanna make friends this summer! And Miss BB said that other Foreigners would be there too, like Miss Hokusai, and, um… a guest or someone she was inviting?”
“That does sound like fun, doesn’t it~? But… do you think you’d be able to enjoy your vacation and make new friends while also helping BB? If she wants you to be a boss, you probably won’t be interacting with Master or the other Servants all that much.”
“That’s… true. Huh.”
Kiara’s smile widened. “You should absolutely try to get out this summer. I think you’re a wonderful person, and I know so many people would love to be your friend if they had a chance to get to know you better. I also think BB might -- might -- have an ulterior motive in asking you to do this for her.”
Abby sighed. “Yeah, I… I guess that makes sense.” She looked down at the plane ticket in her hands. She tucked it into the plastic protector of her ID badge, then took off the lanyard altogether. “I guess… I need to give these back to BB now, don’t I?”
“Would you like me to do it for you? If you’re nervous about having to say no to her face, I’d be more than happy to help.”
“Y-yes, that’d be a big help. Th-thank you so much, Miss Kiara!”
Kiara chuckled and delicately took the badge that Abby offered to her. “And I’ll tell you what else -- I’ll help you book a ticket and buy a few clothes! Let’s make this your very best summer ever!”
“Yeah! I’ll do that right away! I’ll be right back!” Abby ran down the hallway back to her room to get all her things together (and also maybe to use all those materials BB gave her before she had second thoughts about giving them back).
…Kiara stood there for a moment, carefully considering the ID -- and the plane ticket -- in her hand.
Certainly, she was entitled to a vacation too~.
Kiara closed her eyes for a moment. She lapsed into a meditative state, sinking deeper and deeper into the core of her soul. What happened next was difficult to describe, metaphysically speaking; needless to say it was a very dramatic abuse of her Independent Manifestation skill. She grabbed a “corner” of her soul and tore it in half, then gently massaged both halves into more complete shapes, as a baker prepares balls of dough.
Kiara opened her eyes, then turned. At her side was a perfect mirror image of herself, who smiled at exactly the same time and in exactly the same way as she did.
“Let’s get this out of the way before anything else: I am the original, agreed?”
Her clone nodded. “Agreed. Of course, I already know what you have in mind for me, so I have no trouble agreeing to such an easy plan.”
“Wonderful~. Then all you have to do is stick by Abigail’s side while the two of you make vacation plans. Of course, there’s no need for you to buy a swimsuit, and I doubt a girl as conservative as Abby will want to buy one either.”
“Mm. And you? I assume you’ll finally act on that mermaid idea we’ve been toying with?”
Kiara grinned. “Humiliating that awful writer and making an overture to BB at the same time! She’ll be so impressed by my boldness that she’ll have no choice but to make me a part of her plans.”
“Out-mischiefing the ultimate mischief-maker does seem like an effective way to get on her good side. Are we sure this won’t blow up in our faces, though?”
“Well, it’ll only blow up in mine, since you’re going for pleasure and I’m going for business (which I suppose also necessitates a degree of pleasure, I suppose). After the mistakes we’ve made in the past with SERAPH, I think we’ve calibrated BB’s limits pretty accurately. Even if she ends up being more hostile than we thought… well, I’m hardly defenseless~.”
“Ahhh, indeed~. In that case -- we’ll see each other again at ServFest.”
A few days later and Kiara was flying first-class to Hawaii on BB’s dime. It was hard to tell whether she was having more fun anticipating the vacation awaiting her at the end of the flight, or toying with the other passengers.
“More wine, Miss Sessyoin?” The charming blonde flight attendant had brought over yet another bottle, eager to continue serving the patrons who had been very generous to her thus far.
“Please and thank you. Ladies, gentlemen, if you’d all give the pretty lady her due~?”
The other passengers were all too quick to fish out their wallets and pull out enough money to pay for the bottle several times over, making this the third round of extraordinarily generous tips they had given on Kiara’s behalf.
The attendant, loosened up from the money, a few sips of wine, and quite a lot of flirting, made a show of tucking the fat wad of bills into her blouse, then poured a hefty glass of wine for Kiara.
She took a sip: rich, woody, a perfect red. She nodded, signalling the attendant to begin refilling everyone’s glasses.
Kiara turned back to her crowd of eager listeners, who had been eating out of the palm of her hand as soon as they had gotten over the Pacific. She had changed into her modest nun’s habit to avoid arousing too much attention, but with the way the other passengers were practically slavering over her, she might as well have been naked.
“Now… who remembers where we left off? I’m only half-paying attention to the things I say, myself.”
They all chuckled at her self-deprecating joke, before an older gentleman cleared his throat. “I believe you mentioned Alice in Wonderland?”
“Ah, yes, thank you!” Kiara took a moment to wet her whistle with a sip of wine. “Through The Looking Glass, specifically. The original story is obviously for children, and not to disparage it, but it’s part of the “literary nonsense” genre for a reason. It has precious little value upon closer analysis… though I know a younger colleague of mine who would strongly disagree.” She chuckled, thinking about what Nursery Rhyme might have said if she were there.
“Through The Looking Glass, on the other hand, has quite a lot to say for itself. The poem with the walrus and the carpenter, specifically. Perhaps this is just my unique upbringing, but as a former woman of the cloth, I see “carpenter”, and I immediately think of our lord Jesus Christ. Similarly, the walrus, round, emotional, with two large tusks, has to represent Ganesha. And these two figures, these monumental symbols for their respective religions, with billions worshipping them -- they’re out on a beach talking to a bunch of clams.”
A young businessman, who had been leering even before Kiara had started working over the crowd, interrupted her. “They eat them too, right? There’s a certain… Freudian implication to eating clams, isn’t there~?”
Kiara smiled at him, because it would have been impolite to kill him in front of an audience – at least, until she had vamped the idea for a little bit.
“That’s an… interesting idea. I’m not in the mood to talk about the feelings Lewis Carroll might have had for his neighbor’s daughter -- so let’s drop that.” She cleared her throat and took a hefty glug of wine. “So, back on topic! These clams get tricked into walking and talking with the walrus and the carpenter, who then promptly eat them. The sole goal of religion is to consume. Simple as that.”
“That’s… why you’re not a nun?”
Kiara grinned. “I didn’t leave the sisterhood because I read Through The Looking Glass. I left because the rules and structures of the Church separated me from humanity, and because if it’s a choice, I’d prefer to consume than be consumed.”
That got her a few awkward chuckles, mostly from people who took it as a toast and drank more wine.
A voice crackled over the speakers. “I’d drink to that, too, Sessyoin, if I were there to drink with you. A woman after my own heart~.”
Kiara bolted upright in her seat. The screens for showing in-flight movies flickered to life all at once with a bright pink screen and brighter, pinker initials.
“Why, BB!” She hated how eager she sounded; she desperately tried to swallow the need-to-please keen in her voice. “I w-was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up! My feelings were going to be hurt if you mistook me for little Abigail.”
The voice hummed, but the image on the screens remained unchanged. “Well, considering I invited Abigail, yes, I was kind of expecting her to be on the flight. With her ticket. That I gave her. Why the hell are you here, Kiara?”
She swallowed nervously. “Well -- I talked it over with Abigail, a-and we both decided that she’d have more fun as an attendee… and that I’d take her place.”
“Both of you decided, hmm? Is that right? You figured you’d just saunter into Hawaii and insert yourself into my plans? Are you trying to ruin everything?”
“Turnabout is fair play, BB,” Kiara said with far more confidence than she felt. “If we want to talk about ruining plans, you don’t have a leg to stand on, what with all the trouble you gave me in SERAPH. Besides, I’m not even trying to stop your plans. I’d… I’d really like to help, if you’d have me.”
BB laughed. “Holy shit, do you ever think highly of yourself! And that’s coming from me! Do you think I just wanted a warm body to fill out boss fights with? To keep Master busy? Like I didn’t have a plan of my own!”
Kiara was dumbfounded; she honestly hadn’t realized that BB had such carefully-laid plans, and she hadn’t expected her to be this mad. “I didn’t -- ”
“I wanted Abby here because I needed another Foreigner! Because -- surprise! -- turns out when you stare into the endless void of space, the void stares back! Like I knew it would! And instead of having Abby here to give me something to work with, some other point of reference for my patron, or at the very least another victim to play with until Master arrived --”
BB’s voice became very cold. “...instead of her, I have you, Kiara.”
Kiara squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable for one of the only times in her life.
BB continued. “What was that you said, earlier? You’d like to help, if I’d have you? Well, I’ll have you Kiara. You, Hawaii, Master, the world, all of it -- I’m going to have all of it, whether I end up owning it or fighting and crushing it all to dust.”
Suddenly, the windows were gone, and the only light they had came from the lamps and screens inside the cabin. Darkness had enveloped the entire plane.
Kiara stood to her feet. The other passengers had been too enthralled by the screens to even care. They were sitting there, dumbfounded, as bright pink spirals flashed and whirled in front of them. “What is this?”
“Turnabout is fair play, Sessyoin.” A violent tremor shook the plane. “You like consuming your enemies, don’t you? Then be consumed. I’ll keep you inside of me until I’m ready to use you.”
There was a horrible lurching sensation, like the plane had begun to freefall. Kiara’s stomach flipped upside down as they fell deeper and deeper into darkness.
“Enjoy your vacation, Kiara. You’ve earned it.”
“...urghhh…” Kiara woke up half-folded over the seat in front of her. Her ribs hurt, but nothing seemed broken despite the… crash? She wasn’t clear on what BB had actually done to the plane. Clearly she had gotten some kind of power-up though, something that went vastly beyond just a swimsuit.
She stumbled out into the aisle. The other passengers seemed fine, safely wearing their seatbelts as the hypnotic screens continued to spiral. She made her way to the door of the airplane and popped it open.
Her first thought was completely and utterly banal: “it’s not Halloween yet.”
The plane had landed -- very safely, with not a bit of damage -- in an ash-gray field with withered trees. In the distance, there were stacks of what looked like -- hollow apartments, or massive cinderblocks illuminated by neon green lights. The radioactive glow mingled with the dark purple sky overhead, creating the impression that they had been transported to some strange, ghostly otherworld.
This is what it was like inside of BB? This was utterly bizarre, even for her.
And Kiara was trapped here for the foreseeable future, until BB finally decided to let her out. If she had been saving Abby as a last resort, one last challenge for Master after they finished dealing with the main thrust of BB’s plan. Who knows how long that would take?
There was a groan from behind her. Kiara whirled around to see the flight attendant stumble out of the cabin, holding a hand to her head and taking in her bizarre new surroundings with a look of fear and confusion.
“M-Miss Sessyoin? What happened? Where are we?”
Kiara glided across the ground with as much grace and composure as she could muster. She wrapped the younger woman in a comforting embrace, who instantly melted into her arms, a trembling, nervous wreck.
“We’re in a very different place now,” Kiara said, in a honeyed, motherly voice. “Surviving here is going to be very, very difficult, but if you can help me… if you’ll stay by my side, and do as I say, and help make sure everyone else on the plane stays happy and obedient to me… I’ll make sure you come out the other side of this safe and sound. Can you do that for me, darling~?”
“Y-yes. Yes, ma’am.”
Kiara idly dragged her fingers through those locks of blonde hair. “You’ll do anything I say from now on. Because you’re such a good girl, and you know I’ll keep you safe.”
She let out a soft whimper and pressed her body against Kiara’s, already burning with a scared, submissive need. And Kiara knew that she had yet another person wrapped around her little finger.
She grinned. She had been looking forward to the beach, sure -- but this was also starting to look like a very fun vacation.