Clone Girls

“It’s been a while since we had time to chat like this.”

“It’s been a while indeed.”

The two women said to each other, tranquil smiles on their faces as they enjoyed a cup of tea. The room looked luxurious and had some elements that felt out of place, but this was no common room after all, this was a VIP cell. Both knew that, but neither seemed to care.

“How was your day?” The woman with white hair and grey eyes asked, drinking a gulp of tea before smiling bitterly. She did not like tea after all.

“Tiring. Recently they keep adding to my workload.” The woman in front of her, sighed after her reply. She was a complete opposite, having black hair and black eyes. 

“They're trying to keep you busy so that you won’t meddle into politics huh?”

“Probably.”

The one with white hair gritted her teeth, trying to reign in her anger. Her partner wouldn’t like it if she lashed out for something like that.

“By the way, that jerk hasn’t been bothering you, has he?” She said, trying to change the subject to something that mattered more to her.

“No. I haven’t met him for a while in fact, and you?” The other replied, raising an eyebrow. She knew how that person was a touchy subject for the white haired woman.

“Same. The further away he is from us, the better I feel.” The white haired woman replied, letting out a short hmph.

Her shifts of mood made the black haired woman chuckle a little.

“You really do hate your brother…” She said, a small wry smile on her face.

“No, like I said before, we’re not siblings…”

“It is the way I see it at least.”

The black haired woman took another sip at her cup of tea. This was her favorite tea and both knew that. It helped them forget the fact that their movements were restricted.

While the white haired woman was stuck in this room, the black haired woman was not. Their captors kept moving her around.

She was technically free, but her movements were restricted.

Knowing that, the white haired one asked a question.

“How much time do you have this time?”

“Not much.” The black haired woman replied immediately, looking at her partner straight in the eyes.

“I see… so you won’t be staying the night?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Aww, I was looking forward to it…” The white haired one said sadly, a bit of sulking in her voice. Of course she would feel like that, being forced to separate from the one she loves.

“...”

“What’s wrong?”

Noticing that the black haired woman did not reply to her sulk like she usually did, the white haired woman asked worriedly. She knew her partner so well she knew something was wrong.

After a small silence, the black haired woman, who seemed to be hesitating, finally spoke up.

“Say… Do you trust me?”

“What is it all of a sudden? Of course I do!” The white haired woman said, standing up abruptly. She closed in on the black haired woman and took her hands, showing her care and concern.

There was no doubt about her answer, and both knew it. They’ve been with each other for so long, there was no way the white haired one would ever doubt what the black haired one did. She was hers.

Yet despite that the black haired one insisted.

“How far are you willing to go for me?”

“To the end of the galaxy and beyond.”

Both were serious in their words as they stared at each other, ignoring the outside world. The silence lasted for a few seconds, if not more, before the black haired one’s face shifted to one of affection and relief.

“Really… Thanks, I needed these words.” She said, squeezing back her lover’s warm hands as she replied.

The white haired woman smiled, relieved. Her partner was now back to normal.

“It’s okay, but is everything really alright?”

“Yeah, there’s no problem at all.” The black haired one said, a determined look on her face.

Seeing that, the white haired woman could not help herself but flirt.

“...Looking at you right now makes me fall head over heels for you again.” She said, inviting herself to sit on her partner’s laps.

“Fufu, really? How so?” The other played along, seemingly enjoying it.

“Your look right now. It is so bright with determination it has a magnet effect on me.”

“Oh, stop it. Like you’re one to talk.”

““...””

They ended up kissing. The white haired one was feeling bliss, having the black haired one recognise her and show love to her was her happiness. She tried to make the kiss last longer, wanting to enjoy this temporary moment. The black haired woman obliged.

Until…

“!?!”

The white haired woman suddenly felt a strong sting on her left thigh. This was not some sort of affectionate pinching, but rather the pain of being stung by something.

Surprised, she got up. The black haired woman had a syringe in her hand!

“What did you-ugh!?” Before she knew it, she began to lose balance. Her legs had somehow gone weak and failed her…

The black haired woman caught her before she fell, a sorry look on her face.

“Sorry Emily, I need you to sleep for a while.”

“Claudia… What are you…”

As Emily looked at her lover’s apologizing face with a look full of questions, the latter put a finger on Emily's mouth.

“Shh, it’s gonna be alright.” She smiled reassuringly. “As much as you care for me, I care for you Emily. That’s why I don’t want you to be endangered by my selfishness. Sorry I couldn't hold our promise.” She said.

Emily saw how serious she looked, her eyes had a determined look she knew so well by now.

There was no turning back when she had that face.

Claudia then took other syringes and began taking numerous blood samples. When she was finished, she moved Emily to the cryogenic pod eerily standing in one side of the room.

That’s when Emily understood, she had been tricked. Claudia had planned something outrageous that would definitely put her in danger!

There was no way she could let her frail partner face danger alone!

“N-no… Don’t leave…” She said, raising an arm weakly

“I’m not leaving you. This isn’t a farewell.” Claudia said reassuringly with a soft little smile as she put Emmily into the pod with a bit of struggle. “I’ve made a deal with some people in the AI faction. If everything goes according to plan, they will take your pod and bring you back to me.”

Emily couldn’t help but notice how Claudia seemed in a bit of a hurry. Things were already into motion it seems…

Before closing the pod, she kissed Emily on the lips. There was a bit of reluctance and sadness on her face as it finished.

Emily once again tried to struggle as the lid closed, but the sedative was taking more and more effect, rendering her even more sluggish.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, but please understand. I-I just don’t want to lose you too.” She heard Claudia’s apology from the other side of the glass. She was holding back her tears, looking apologetic yet still determined to keep going. “Once this is all over, let’s have another long date. Just the two of us.”

Just then, the lights of the room turned red, and Emily’s fading hearing could hear the sirens. Claudia reacted abruptly to them, and after a longing reluctant look towards Emily, she darted out of the room.

That was the last thing Emily remembered before going into a deep, long sleep…

***

*Gasp*

Emily woke up gasping for air, her body covered in sweat. She immediately looked around, analyzing the situation she was in with a careful look, before sighing.

“Haaa… Again…” She said, putting her hands over her head.

This was not the first time this memory haunted her. Ever since boarding this ship, she had frequently experienced it.

She knew why she was such a mess. She missed Claudia.

She should have known Claudia would do something like this, and yet she had let her pride take over. Claudia was hers, and it had gone over to her head. She thought she could predict anything her loved one could do, she even made her promise to renounce something she heartfully desired, yet reality was as brutal as this wake up…

Despite acting all normal during her time in her cell, she had been as scared as Claudia was of losing her. The acts of the UFG and the rash clones had already brought most of their family to their doom and Claudia had grieved their death. Emily simply did not want to see Claudia sad. She did not want her to lose what she considered most precious.

In truth, she had been somewhat happy with the status quo. Even though her time with Claudia was limited, her imprisonment brought her a false sense of security. She thought Claudia wouldn’t do anything, too scared of losing her…

The result could be said to be quite devastating to her mental state.

Someone, or something, she did not know, had probably approached Claudia and whispered sweet things about aiding her in realizing her dreams, which caused Claudia to make a drastic move…

…Had she lost Claudia forever? She could not help but ask herself this silly question.

“...In times like these, I need to see her…” She mumbled, looking towards the door of the room she had been assigned. She got up and opened the door noisily in her hurry.

“Hyah!?”

A poor ECG passing by got scared out of her wits as a result, making Emily freeze. The ECG quickly got back on track, greeting her grandmother in a bit of a fluster and apologizing for raising her voice.

Seeing the new member of her family act like that, Emily could not help but smile wryly as she answered, her mood now slightly improved. 

From what she had learned the ECGs were not necessarily that emotional even outside of the job, so the fact that the ECG reacted like this clearly meant they were still shaken up by their last battle…

Emily would need to address that, but had not had the time yet. So many things had been going on ever since they boarded this ship…

As she walked in the hallway until her destination, she remembered the most recent event.

Some clone engineers had complained about the speed of the spaceship, saying it was too slow, which developed into an argument that nearly broke into a fight with the ship’s engineers.

Otto had asked both Ticia and her to intervene and with a not very happy Nathalia in tow, they had a long discussion with both camps. Turns out both sides had been exchanging their mechanical knowledge and that the clones were flabbergasted by the fact that technology had regressed this much. They said that, granted an entire day, they’d refit the engines and reduce travel time by more than a half! The engineers of the ship were, of course, completely opposed to this move. How could they let some foreigners tinker with their engine?

Nathalia was also of the opinion of not changing. Staying put in space for an entire day without anything close by was nothing more but asking for trouble. She was convinced otherwise by Ticia.

Ticia’s reason for siding with the clones was rather simple: She could get to see her daughters faster!

And so, after a bit of back and forth, they finally got the go ahead from Nathalia. Today was supposed to be the day where the clones began their work.

As Emily neared Ticia’s room, she heard another voice. She slowed down. The door to Ticia’s room was left open, and she could hear Ticia talking with someone else. She decided to eardrop a bit…

 “-So yeah, aside from Willia’s incident, nothing much happened.”

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

“Thank god our new allies are improving your ship’s performance. Nia’s been itching to have a talk with them. Nicia’s also happy to know you’ll be coming home faster, she wants to do a thorough check-up of everyone!”

“Haha, guess it’s unavoidable this time.” She heard Ticia laugh a little in a helpless yet happy tone. The other voice on the line was without a doubt one of her daughters, there was no way Emily would get this wrong. If she were to take a guess, the energetic and slightly childish voice on the other side of the call was Ticia’s eldest daughter, Licia.

Ticia had yet to present her to any of her daughters, only to Rika, so Emily was curious about them…

“By the way, Rika told me she’s been summoned to the president’s palace…” Ticia suddenly said as the conversation continued, changing tone a bit. The other voice also reciprocated.

“Yeah. It seems like the president wants to talk to her. Me and Ria plan to tag along with her, is it okay?”

“Sure, as long as you have her permission, then go ahead.”

“Thanks! Ah, I gotta go, I’ve got class. I’ll finish the call here!”

“Take care, I’ll be here very soon!”

And just like that, the call was over. Emily wanted to hear more of the voice on the other side, but maybe that was her being too greedy.

“...So? How long do you plan to stay hidden behind the door?” Ticia called out to her.

“...Hehe, I got caught.” Emily said bashfully, showing her head from behind the door frame. Ticia rolled her eyes at the gesture.

“Not like you were trying to be discreet, right?”

“Yeah. Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

After receiving Ticia’s authorization, Emily entered the room. Ticia was sitting on her bed, wearing her usual grey military uniform with no decorations. Emily did not recognise this uniform and its military code was not standardised, but she recognised the similarities with the ECG’s uniforms and felt a bit jealous she did not possess one. She sat right next to Ticia.

“When are you going to introduce me to your little darlings?” Emily said, pouting a little.

“When we meet in person. I don’t feel like it’s a good thing to do it though video calls.”

“I see, what a shame, that was the eldest, Licia right? I wanted to have a nice chat with her…”

“You’ll get the chance soon. So what brought you here?” Ticia asked.

“Just wanted to see you.”

“R-really?”

Ticia seemed slightly startled by the honest, direct answer. She looked away, slightly blushing. Emily did not miss the small smile forming on Ticia’s face, which of course made her smile too. Now she wanted to tease Ticia a bit.

“Yeah. I can’t help but feel you’ve been avoiding me lately though…”

“I-It’s not that I was trying to avoid you…”

“I know. Sorry, seeing you get along so well with Chloe, I guess I got a little jealous…”

“...You call kicking the butt out of Chloe at every sparring time being ‘a little jealous’?”

“Okay, I ‘might’ be hugely jealous…”

“Geez… Well, it’s not like I don’t understand, but… try to keep it in check?”

“That depends on you, dear.”

“Ugh.”

“Fufu.”

Seeing Ticia grimace at her small teasing, Emily lightly laughed. This brought back some good memories to her.

“What is it?” Noticing the slight shift in Emily’s mood, Ticia asked.

“No, I just thought I had similar conversations with Claudia in the past.” Emily responded, a nostalgic smile on her face. She wasn’t lying, such talks had become a routine between her and Claudia before they became lovers.

“...Really?”

Noticing the curiosity Ticia was beginning to show towards her and Claudia’s past, Emily smiled warmly. There was nothing better than talking about her memories with Claudia to their child.

“Yes. Are you curious? About her.”

“...I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

“Curiosity isn’t something bad, as long as it’s kept in check.”

“I know that. But I can’t help but think about Mia when you talk about curiosity…”

“The timid one with hair antennas, right?” The conversations suddenly shifted towards Mia, the ninth Null CG.

“Well, you’ve told me she’s trying to tone it down right?” Emily said, a serious look on her face.

“Yes, but it’s not like it’s that easy to do. Honestly I’m worried.” Ticia replied, showing worry.

“There’s nothing to worry about. She’ll calm down once she reaches maturity.” Emily reassured her.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I talk from experience.”

“You were the timid kind too?”

“...Too?” Emily frowned. This meant that Ticia was the shy type? She had not expected that. “No, not at all. But I was curious. You could even say I was too curious for my own good but, thanks to it, I got to be in a relationship with your mother.”

“Eh?”

The subject was back on Claudia. Emily smiled as she looked away towards the artificial window. It displayed the dark void of space sprinkled with bright, colorful stars, a melancholic smile on her face.

“We first met when we were children. I was six and she was twelve.”

“...Age gap?”

“...”

…The melancholy stopped there.

“My aging was set to double the time of a regular human you see. By the time she was eighteen we were the same age.” Emily corrected, as if trying to defend herself, before continuing under Ticia's unemotional gaze. “There were some circumstances that happened, and I was put in her house. Back then, I was quite confused. They told me I’d be put under a new owner, someone who’d guide me and I was quite expectant, but who I met was a young girl.”

To be precise, her clone nanny had been silently eliminated for showing too much love towards her and Warmonger, something that got her labelled as ‘defective’. Finding it weird, Emily got into her first fight with Warmonger as a result. Just the thought of him left a bad taste in Emily’s mouth…

“So she was your ‘owner’ then.”

“If you say that to her face, she’d be angry you know? U-unless if it’s meant t-that way… Oh dear, what am I even saying in front of my daughter right now!?”

“...” 

The conversation sidetracked again and Ticia’s judgeful look became sharper, forcing Emily back on track once again.

“Ahem. The first thing Claudia did when we met was to completely ignore me.”

“Eh?”

“Exactly my reaction. As I was confused, Claudia just kept her daily routine, unbothered by me. At first, I stayed silent, but as it kept going for a few weeks, I grew impatient. Until one day I just exploded.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I kept yelling at her. At first in anger, but then in desperation. Claudia just stared at me all the way, baffled, but when I finished she smiled at me.”

“She… smiled?” Ticia seemed to not understand Claudia’s reaction, exactly like Emily back then, which made the latter smile. She continued her story with a hint of excitement.

“Then she told me: ‘so you’re not one of them!’ That was the first time I saw her make a happy face. After that, Claudia made sure I was close to her all the time, but she never gave me orders.”

Emily continued, explaining her daily life with Claudia as years went on and how the both of them weren’t on friendly terms at first and had many arguments.  

“Or rather, I just thought she was doing it on purpose to annoy me. I couldn’t understand her.” She admitted, before a warm smile appeared on her face.

“But that all changed. My annoyance and confusion over our differences gradually transformed into curiosity. I thought, ‘Why  does she think like that? Aren’t lower class clones just disposable pawns? Aren’t I supposed to be the superior being here? Was I thinking wrong this whole time?’ Such questions kept appearing in my mind. I became more and more curious about Claudia as a person.”

“Then you slowly fell in love with her.”

“You’re jumping ship way too fast, Ticia.” Emily couldn’t help but smile. Ticia might not have realized it, but she was completely hooked on her and Claudia’s love story!

“Honestly, I was quite dense when it came to romance. It took me so long to understand her feelings that it’s honestly surprising Claudia didn’t give up. And it’s not like Claudia loved me from day one either. We had to understand each other better before that, because despite how open Claudia seemed to be towards me, she was actually quite the loner, you know? Not that I was any different though.”

Emily then paused. She opened her mouth before closing it, clearly hesitating to say the next part out of care for Claudia. Seeing Ticia’s intense curious glare however, she could not resist.

“...One day, I noticed her mood being relatively downcast, then at night, she sneaked out of the mansion. I was too curious, so I sneakily followed after her.” She began, speaking slowly and in a sober tone. “There was a small garden I’d never seen before with a tombstone at the center. When she reached it, Claudia… She began talking about her daily life, addressing the tombstone as ‘mom & dad’.”

“Wait…” Ticia immediately caught on, which made Emily nod, a sad smile on her face.

“That's right, that’s when I finally realized it. She had lost her family. She was alone. Yes, there were clones all around us taking care of all daily necessities, but they were nearly unemotional, or rather, scared of her. As for the humans, they rarely came to see us, and when they did it was rather to check on me than on her…”

“...”

“There were some humans who cared and worried about her, like the old fa-, I mean, Stuart Derguer, but they were simply too busy- or kept busy.”

“I… I see… I think I… I sort of understand how she felt.”

Ticia’s words stung Emily’s heart and she felt guilty. She came closer to Ticia and gave her a small hug.

“...I cannot say I understand, but just like for Claudia, know that I’m here, the others are here, and of course, your daughters too.”

“Of course. Thanks.” Ticia simply said.  “So what happened after?”

“I was so surprised Claudia noticed me, she tried to act as if nothing happened but it scared me more than anything. It was as if she was building a wall, and I didn’t like it. I proudly declared I’d be her new family, that we'd create one together. She was surprised at first, but then she cried, saying she always wanted to have family members with her. Perhaps… this is where it all began.”

Emily remembered this moment. Despite the embarrassment of this scene and how much this was unlike her old self, she could not help but remember it fondly. She was pretty much sure Claudia had begun to develop feelings for her after this.

“...What about Warmonger?”

“That guy huh?” Ticia’s question broke Emily out of her reverie. She grimaced, remembering the guy she wanted nothing to do with. Still, since Ticia asked her she answered.

“In clone terms he is… my equal, my other part. It basically means we have the same genetic modifications. We were both created as the perfect war machines.”

“So in other words… siblings?”

“From a human perspective, this is how it looks, but from a clone perspective, it’s slightly different. It’s nothing like romantic feelings for one another or the regular link between clones and siblings of the same type. Rather, it’s more like an obsession? A continuous reminder that the other exists, that you are the same, the only ones of a kind and that it feels weird for you to be apart. Kinda like the King and Queen classes? Gosh, it’s hard to explain.”

Emily grunted in frustration, unable to correctly define her link to Warmonger.

“...So…you want to be with that guy?” Ticia frowned. Her comment made Emily want to vomit on the spot.

“Hell no. The one I wish to be with is Claudia.” She declared with strong intent in her voice. “At first I was conflicted, but when he tried to harm her I couldn’t forgive him. Well… it was kind of thanks to this incident that I DID end up together with Claudia, so it’s a good thing?”

“Thinking like that is bad.”

“Oh, you’re right, you’re right, my bad.”

Ticia slightly chided Emily’s way of thinking, but thanks to that, the atmosphere in the room lightened once again.

“After that I just… didn’t feel anything about him? It felt as if the rope that was binding me to him had broken, which is a good thing. I don’t want to see his face.” Emily explained, pondering on her words as she searched for the correct terms.

“That’s not the case for him apparently.” Ticia remarked, to which Emily nodded, a serious look on her face.

“Exactly. That’s why we need to be careful Ticia. That scientist is the last rope restraining Warmonger, but even if that’s the case, he will come for me. He will also come to get rid of you and your daughters, so prepare yourself.”

 “I’ll do my best.” Ticia answered. Emily could see the determination in her eyes and how serious she was. Warmonger had clearly left a big impression on her. Emily wanted to reassure her a bit.

“You’re fighting to get a place where you and your daughters can be at peace, that’s respectable and I understand that, but sometimes some people just won’t leave you alone and you might not be able to deal with them by yourself.” She said, to which Ticia nodded.

“That’s why you made the other clones follow me.”

“Yes. Let them be your shield that protects both you and your family.”

“...I’ll think about it.”

“That’ll do for now.” Emily nodded, satisfied by Ticia’s reply. Ticia was not very keen on ‘using’ the clones, which could be understood from her own past when she was ‘used’.

Seeing her mother like that, Ticia groaned, putting a hand on her head.

“Ugh… I need a drink…”

Emily froze at Ticia’s nearly inaudible complaint.

“A drink? What do you mean by that?” She asked, getting closer to Ticia with a serious look.

“Erm, that was just a way of words but, alcohol?” Ticia explained, backing away a bit, but soon finding herself in a corner.

“Ticia, dear… Do you… drink a lot?” Emily asked, her face more a mix of slight distress and dread rather than worry.

“...”

“Y-you don’t drink a lot, do you?”

“...Depends on how much alcohol there is available…”

When Ticia answered while avoiding eye contact, alarm bells rang inside Emily’s head.

“No you can’t! That’s not allowed! Think of the kids!”

“Oh come on! I know my stuff! Besides, I’ve made sure to diminish the amount since they were here!”

This time, Ticia exploded back, surprising Emily.

“B-but still…”

“No but, Imma go drink. I have to go anyway since it’s also a meeting between me and Nath.” Ticia said, avoiding any conversation on the subject. She got up briskly and exited the room.

Emily was now left alone in Ticia’s room, still surprised by Ticia’s sudden outburst. After a while, she sighed.

“...And she left. Haaa…” She said as she sat back correctly on the bed. “I really hope she can cope with her alcohol. One drunk Claudia is already enough…”

Hearing Ticia talk about drinking had caused Emily some flashbacks to the times Claudia drank. Claudia had a very low resistance to alcohol and got drunk easily, which led to very chaotic moments. She really hoped Ticia was not the same…

Still, despite all the chaos it brought, those were good memories and Emily could not help but smile. She looked at the false windows, displaying the endless darkness of space, only interrupted by a humongous number of colorful sparkly lights…

She got up, putting one of her hands on the display. Now she could see her own reflection, but it did not matter, she was looking somewhere else…

“...I know you’re somewhere out there. You can’t be dead yet, can you?” She muttered, a wry smile on her face.

Her guts were telling her Claudia was still there, somewhere within this galaxy.

Emily had a lot of guesses about what happened after she was put into her cryopod, but these were only guesses, she had no way of knowing the truth until she met Claudia.

She had so many things she wanted to say to her and she couldn’t help but want to go straight to her, but…

She had other priorities right now, namely Ticia and her daughters. Obviously something wrong had happened in Claudia’s plan and Ticia was left alone, she couldn’t just abandon her just because she wanted to reunite with Claudia. Ticia was as precious as Claudia after all…

So, once again, Emily swore she would help Ticia, and become a good mother. That is what Claudia wanted after all, right?

Only, and only after she had ensured the safety of her family and the traces of Claudia were not too far away would she go searching for Claudia.

“You’ve left some precious things behind, Claudia. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. As for you… Wherever you are, I’ll find you.”