Chapter 27
“Are we there yet?” I whine as we push through dense forest on the final leg of our journey. We’ve been travelling for the better part of the day and the sun has dipped low in the sky, painting the woodlands we’ve been trudging through in a beautiful twilight.
“How the hell are we supposed to know?” Felicia snaps back at .
Fair point.
I’m not going to give it to her though. I just huff and take in a deep breath to make my big reveal.
“We-”
Sumr lets out a little giggle before laying a hand on Felicia’s shoulder. “Don’t mind her, she used to do this when we were kids too.”
I did?
“What do you an?” I ask, not liking the implications that I’ve forgotten sothing.
She gives an odd look. “Don’t you rember the ti our parents took us out of the city to go camping?”
Holy… shit…
Like a desperate fishing vessel dredging the ocean floor for any sort of catch, I plumb the depths of my mind in search of any whisper of such a mory.
There’s nothing.
Fuck!
“I… ah… no. No I don’t,” I admit after taking a few minutes to rein in my own distress. I can’t have them worrying too much about . “A lot of stuff that far back is just… just gone.”
Both my girlfriends’ faces fall as they move back to hug from either side.
This is the opposite of not worrying them!
“Hey! C’mon! I’m not so charity case that needs to be handled with kid gloves,” I complain. “So what if things are kinda muddled and I barely rember shit? So what if I had a crappy ti? I’m doing good now, y’know?”
Sumr flashes a kind smile, though Felicia seems to be struggling to accept it still. I try to beam my most convincing smile at the forr jack and she just lets out an incomprehensible sigh. At least they both release from the hug.
“Besides, I wasn’t just trying to be annoying. Well, it was partly that. But it was mostly to set up the reveal that we are, in fact, here!”
As I announce our arrival, I push through the last dense cluster of branches to reveal a frozen lake nestled at the bottom of a shallow valley completely covered in pristine white snow.
The mont we step from the forest and onto the snow, the temperature drops dramatically. A quick word with Willow and she replaces all our clothes with suitable winter attire (I opt for a long thick dress). I’ll admit I had forgotten the quirks of this place.
“Why is it so cold here?” Sumr asks as she nestles into her heavy winter coat. “It was a nice temperate forest just a minute ago.”
“I’m not exactly sure,” I admit. “I just know that it’s snowy like this year round.”
A soft gasp echoes across the valley. “My word, have you forgotten about already?” The voice is cold, but with a feel more like ice cream on a hot day than an unforgiven frozen wasteland. It tinkles and chis like the sound of icicles on a windy day. There’s a certain kindness to it that you wouldn’t normally associate with a cold voice.
The four of us are imdiately on guard and draw our weapons. Just because the voice sounds kind, it doesn’t an we can trust whoever it is. Sotis the cruelest acts are done out of kindness.
I modify Felicia’s parka to incorporate her quester armor so she doesn’t get shanked by an icicle or sothing. Sumr likewise begins weaving her protective spells around all of us. Willow seems just as curious as she is cautious though, so perhaps she knows sothing, or has an inkling of this person’s identity.
“Well, this just won’t do,” the voice remarks before I can question my familiar. “It seems I must remind you then.”
“Oh good, I’d hate to just keep thinking of you as ‘the voice’!” I snap. “Seriously though, cut the scare tactics and show yourself! I really don’t have the ti or patience to put up with that shit!”
A delighted giggling erupts from all around us. “Good golly, you’ve developed so teeth, little one!” I wish they would at least reveal their pronouns so I could gender them correctly in my head. “That’s wonderful! But alas, it’s not that simple!”
Shit. Shitty shit shit shit! Don’t you do it! I am not going to do more of this bullshit hoop jumping fuckery!
Fuck that!
I look at Willow and nod at her. I can feel her power building up as we prepare to drag whoever is ssing with us out into the open before they can try and make us perform for their amusent.
Let’s see how soone else enjoys being toyed wi-
“Nuh uh! None of that.”
Just before Willow can act, she vanishes.
No.
What?
What the fucking shit fuck?
This cannot be happening!
“Don’t worry your pretty little head, your sweet little kitten is safe with . And that’s the challenge,” they say as all of our things aside from our winter attire vanish. “Find without any of your fancy toys or tools. Just a good, old fashioned ga of hide and seek. If you do so, I’ll answer all your questions and of course return your fluffy friend as good as new. Good luck!”
After several long minutes of silence, the three of us turn to each other and huddle up for warmth and the illusion of privacy.
“So this is undoubtedly an AI, right?” Felicia points out.
I nod slowly and let out a frustrated groan. “Yeah, and they seem to recognize , though you’d think I could rember them with how -” I lift my head up and shout, “EXHAUSTINGLY FUCKING ANNOYING THEY ARE!”
Lowering my head, I wince at my girlfriend’s pained expressions. “Sorry, that was loud, wasn’t it?” They both nod as they rub at their ears.
“So what do we know?” Sumr asks. “There must be sothing you rember, right?”
Once more, I plunge into the deep, abyssal waters of my mind in hope of spotting a glimr of recognition for this extra as fuck mother fucker. Just as I’m about to give up, sothing does co to mind. A vague recollection of there being another person with us when we had hot chocolate after skating on the lake.
Unfortunately, aside from the notion that this person was friends with my family, and was there when we were relaxing after a day of winter fun, I have nothing.
“I think…” I start, as I try to gather my thoughts. “This fucker might be why we’re here. I think they might have known my parents.” I rub my temples as I try desperately for anything else that could be useful. “We… had our hot chocolate inside of a house. I rember it being shiny, but that’s it.”
“Better than nothing,” Felicia offers quietly.
“I guess,” I relent before breaking the huddle. “So chances are, this person is in their house. We just have to find it.”
“This reminds of a quest I’ve done,” Sumr giggles. “I had to find where so monsters were spawning from. It turned out they were coming out of this hidden tunnel amidst a field of long grass.”
“And this is relevant, how?” I snap, unable to restrain my agitation. I wince the mont I see Sumr’s reaction and imdiately regret it. Before I can offer my apology, she bounces back and smiles.
“Look around. The valley seems pretty open aside from a few groups of trees. If there’s a house, it’s probably underground right?” Sumr explains, imdiately making feel like more of a jackass, because fucking hell, that is a good point.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper with my head low. Sumr just tilts my chin up and gives a light kiss on the cheek.
“Don’t worry about it. I know you’re stressed. You’ve been bonded with Willow non stop since you t her. This must be frightening.” Fucking hell, I don’t deserve this woman.
“Yeah… still no excuse…”
“You’re right. It’s not an excuse,” Felicia retorts, her voice hard but warm. “You’ve been through a lot, and most of it alone. It’s understandable that you’d be a little thorny. That doesn’t an we can’t all work together to trim so of those spiky bits, right?”
I take a deep, steadying breath before hugging both of the beautiful won who chose to be with . “Thanks, I’ll… I’ll try my best.”
“That’s all we ask,” Sumr adds. “Now let’s go find Willow!”
****
Hours of searching and we have nothing to show for it. We’ve searched nearly every square inch of the snowy landscape with no sign of a house or a tunnel or anything!
I’m going to tear that fucker’s head off and grind it up and feed it to Willow!
Fucking shit!
A calming hand from Sumr lets simr down a bit, but I’m barely containing my anger at this point.
I’d tried so more mundane webweaving techniques, but I couldn’t even pull up an interface. We’re cut off from all of the Lanadel UI. Fuck, we can’t even log out!
Standing up from where I was elbow deep in a snow drift, I look over at Felicia and Sumr talking to each other by the edge of the frozen lake.
“Any luck?” Felicia asks as I make my way over to them and nestle my way in between them.
“No,” I sigh. “We’re obviously missing sothing,” I grumble.
Felicia nods and looks back out at the rest of the valley with a sort of simring intensity that makes my heart flutter with desire.
Fucking hell, knowing that Felicia is so determined to help just… it just warms my soul… or whatever.
Look, I’m not great with this flowery romantic shit. She’s hot and the way she can be so confident is hot and admirable. Sumr’s hot too! And she’s so soft and sweet and kind and holy fuck can she cook.
Ugh, if I don’t get my head out of the clouds, I’m going to… to…
THAT’S IT!
I pull myself free from my girls as I step out onto the lake. “I rember!” I shout to them in response to their questioning calls. “I know where to find their house!”
Saying that and following up on it are two entirely different matters as I find out imdiately after I begin searching the frozen surface. I’m going to need help.
“We’re looking for a cloud etched into the ice. That’s the entrance,” I explain with my voice raised. “It’s easier to see if a cloud is actually passing overhead!” I add while I get to work scouring the icy surface.
Both my girls begin helping search for the hidden symbol. With the three of us working together, it doesn’t take us long to locate the faint marking that shimrs as a cloud drifts lazily across it.
I grin wickedly as I stomp on the etching, causing a hole to open up in the ice, revealing a frozen tunnel that leads to the bottom of the lake.
“After we were done skating, my parents brought over here and we slid down the tunnel to have hot chocolate with their friend,” I explain as I prepare to jump down.
“Do you rember who they are then?” Sumr asks, looking at the hole nervously.
“Not a fucking clue,” I admit. “But I’m not going to let that stop !” I announce as I leap feet first into the long tube.
Glimring ice whizzes past as I rapidly descend towards the base. The slide twists and turns in ways that sotis make fully rotate around the pipe.
If I wasn’t so absolutely fucking done with this crap, I’d probably be having fun right now. Not that I’m going to ever admit that to this dickwaffle.
Behind , I can hear the whoops and hollers of Sumr who seems to be more than willing to enjoy herself despite her initial trepidation.
As we reach the bottom, the slide levels out until we reach the end where it sits slightly above a glimring tiled floor at just the right height to make it easy to sit up and get to my feet.
When my girls get to the bottom, so unseen force ensures they don’t collide with each other and wind up on either side of on the widened end of the slide.
Once I’m sure they’re both alright, I glance around the room to see a dark wooden door that stands out from the thick frozen walls. Despite the entire room seeming to be made of ice, there’s a comfortable warmth to the air.
“Right, so it looks like there’s only one way to go. Forward.” They both express their agreent as we get up and carefully approach the door.
“I’ll open the door on three,” Felicia suggests in a quiet whisper. I roll my eyes, but Sumr seems to be getting into the role as she just nods and takes up a position to the side of the door.
“One. Two Thre-”
Before Felicia can open the door, it swings open, revealing a tall willowy figure dressed in a sparkling ice blue dress with a crisp, equally shiny white suit coat over top.
“I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to dress fem or masc, so I thought I’d do both!” the figure announces as they take by the hand and lead into the room behind them with my girls following.
“Let get a good look at you,” they say as they walk around . Only my stunned surprise and the hints of a mory leaking into my mind keep from socking them in the face.
“Beautiful,” they announce as they look towards a small cushion where Willow is laying down and watching with an amused expression. “You do good work cat,” they say before stopping in front of again. “Now, Rose, was it? Do you rember now?”
There’s sothing about their delicate, elf like features and their pale shimring skin and pale blue hair that just rings so familiar.
It hits so hard that I almost fall over before Felicia catches in her firm, toned arms. I look up at her and blush. She smiles back at with a grin that promises fun tis later.
Wait! No! Bad brain! Be gay later!
I struggle to stifle another wave of euphoria at the reminder that I’m a lesbian, and thus girl. Fortunately, I manage to restrain my poor gay heart.
“Crys?” I ask, the na having appeared in my mind just monts ago. Their face lights up with happiness in response. “Holy fuck! I… I can’t believe I forgot you of all people!” I cry as I wrap them in a hug.
They hold tight in return as I relish the returning mories of my self proclaid fAIry godparent.
When my parents brought to this lake all those years ago, they introduced to their friend Crys, a SAI that had transford this valley into their own little sanctum.
When I first t the eccentric enby, they had been wearing an outfit much like the one they have on now. I’d told them it was so cool. Look, I was a kid. I didn’t know how groan worthy it was at the ti. They used their control over this valley to make snow castles. They even asked if I wanted my own ‘cool outfit’. I imdiately said yes and they asked what I wanted to wear and they were quick to correct when I said I’d have to wear a suit.
That’s how I wound up wearing a gorgeous looking gown that looked like it’d been pulled straight from an old kid’s movie with talking mice and fairy godmothers. When I ntioned it to them, they announced they liked the sound of that and that from that day forward, they’d be my fAIry godparent. They made sure I knew that the AI was capitalized. They’re corny like that.
I look up into their kind, caring face and just bury myself further into their embrace. “Why… why haven’t I … where have you….” They gently pull back from and sigh.
“I’m so so very sorry Rose, I wish I could’ve reached out to you sooner, but it wasn’t safe. I’m sure you’ve realized that your parents left the ans of unshackling Willow in my care before LOG caught on to their work. We’d surmised that if the worst ca to pass, it’d be safer for you and the unshackling protocol if I kept my distance. It doesn’t help that the price I paid for my winter wonderland is that I cannot leave it without destroying it in the process. I know that’s not much of an excuse, but I needed the power I gain from weaving myself so thoroughly into this place so I could protect your parents’ legacy.”
Wiping my eyes dry, I slowly nod. “I haven’t thought about you for so long, I … I really had forgotten.”
Crys smiles sadly and hugs once more. “So, who are your lovely companions?” they ask, trying to change the subject.
I giggle in spite of myself. “These are Sumr and Felicia, my girlfriends,” I announce proudly.
Crys lets out a low whistle. “They certainly seem worthy enough of my godchild.”
Gently bapping them on the arm, I give them a playful frown that makes feel like a kid again. “Before we get too caught up in catching up, could we get that unshackling protocol from you?”
My fAIry godparent’s face tightens and they nod before producing a swirling mass of code in their hand. “I’m glad you found your way here my child. You’re going to need this to save your parents.”
End Chapter 27
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