#project aerthe

[heartofazalea]

oc afterlife deities

eric the collector, eris the inquisitor, and erin the judge

[the-era-of-shadow]

The Englishman With The Devil's Eyes

Written by Ash Rose

Cover Art by Ash Rose

THIS STORY CONTAINS: HEAVY themes of reincarnation, religious themes, mentions of vomit & vomiting blood, swearing, mild transphobia/transmisogyny, rather detailed romantic scenes

The name of the man this story follows is Kimera Chanté. But that is not the name that he is referred to as - for this is a tale of one of his many false lives that he has lived over the span of ten millennia.

The name of the man this story follows is Clark Clements.

Supposedly born on February 9th, 1899 M.E in Empire City, on the planet Aerth. But seemingly, he was not known by anyone until he was in his 20s - specifically, 25 years old in the year 1924. From those very first sightings, people came to know Clark as a very smart man, a prodigy of science, though seemingly without any sort of college degree to show for it. The story that he would tell to explain away all these strange quirks about his existence was that he grew up in a bad part of the city, a neighborhood marked by poverty and misfortune. That always got everyone's pity.

And then he was given a scholarship to go to Empire University. 

A lot of things in Clark’s life changed from that point, but at the same time, a lot of things stayed the same.

He was still universally admired for how smart he was, but for once in his life, he was finding opportunities to make a living from his knowledge - all offered to him before he even completed his doctorate.

Out of all of the offers, however, only one truly caught his eye.

A job offer from the Guardian Units of Nations - otherwise known as G.U.N, a massive organization that was basically considered its own world power. Clark figured that accepting the offer would mean that he'd get the chance to travel all across the world, getting to see sights he'd never seen before, and meet with like minded individuals from many different countries - which was something he had always wanted to do.

So, after graduating from Empire University, the newly Doctor Clark Clements took the job offer and joined G.U.N’s ranks right there and then.

The first ever assignment given to Clark seemed promising enough in terms of aligning with his own personal desires, as it required him to travel to the continent of Eurish. But once he arrived, landing in Châtelys, he was only then made aware of the fact that the assignment was not going to utilize his scientific prowess in any sort of way. Rather, Clark had been given the job of trying to recruit a fellow scientist that lived in the continent into G.U.N, with the promise that if Clark did so successfully, he would get to take on the fellow scientist as a work partner. The proposal didn't really impress Clark all that much, and despite its apparent notoriety, the name of the fellow scientist, apparently being “Gerald Robotnik”, didn't really mean all that much to him. But regardless of such facts, he did not complain outwardly about the task, not wanting to lose this job so soon after being hired.

Soon enough, Clark would indeed run into Gerald, having done so in Soleanna. After formally meeting the man, Clark learned for himself that Gerald was a biology professor at a very prestigious university in Spagonia - but what had gained him such notoriety was instead the passion projects that he would indulge in while off the clock. One of these passion projects, the one that he was currently working on, in fact, was a live-in spacecraft that he envisioned would orbit Aerth that he had given the name “Space Colony ARK”. 

Clark figured an idea of such magnitude must be why G.U.N was trying so hard to get him in their ranks.

It had taken a bit of persuasion, but in the end, Clark was able to convince Gerald to leave his teaching job behind and indulge completely in his dreams of space travel with the assistance of the Guardian Units of Nations.

And just as promised, once Gerald had been officially hired, he and Clark were assigned to be work partners. They still were, too, now both living in the very ARK that Gerald had told Clark about the first time they had met - the very ARK that they had built together. They were not the only two living within its walls, but they were the first.

And through all of this, Doctor Clark Clements was never truly a real person.

It was not as if he was just some collective illusion, no. He was still there.

But every action done by “Doctor Clark Clements” was actually done by Kimera Chanté. For Doctor Clements was, of course, nothing more than a false identity - one of many, in fact. This isn't even the first of these identities to have existed on Aerth.

Kimera Chanté was born on February 9th, 34 B.T in Riverbed Town, on the planet of PetalBloom. Or at least, he's pretty sure he was - it's been quite a while since then. Kimera grew up in a very religious household with his parents, maternal grandmother, and eventually little sister. Despite this, even back then Kimera had a knack for the sciences - much to his parents’ dismay. He never agreed with their assessment of the matter, as he always saw science as a compliment to religion rather than a counter. But they were incredibly rigid in their beliefs no matter what he would say, and at no point did that fact become ever more obvious to Kimera than after his sister was born.

Kimera considers her his sister, but not a lot of people ever did - and especially not their parents. This was because of the fact that despite her mind and soul’s insistence that she was a girl, she was born in a biologically male body - a fact that made her absolutely miserable. The rest of their family may have dismissed this part of her and told her that she was doomed to be a boy forever, but Kimera never did - always having wanted to find some way to alleviate his sister's pain and give her the life as a girl that she had always wanted deep down. 

Eventually, when Kimera was 25 and his sister was 10, he had decided that he would find a way to travel to the Pantheon's Plane as a mortal without dying and ask PetalBloom's matron goddess, Madam Moonshine, to change his sister's body to one of a girl.

The pilgrimage took quite the long effort, however, and when he finally did reach the Pantheon's Plane, the other gods simply told him that Madam Moonshine was already dead. He was incredibly confused by such news, wondering how a god even had the capacity to die. But quickly after being told such news, and with no explanation for his questions, he was roped into doing the gods’ bidding, creating for them a sentient yet eldritch attack force to fight against some sort of threat within the universe - though he was never given a clear answer on what it was exactly that they were fighting. From what Kimera knew from word of mouth, the project apparently ended up in catastrophic failure as the force had wiped out an innocent civilization instead of its proper target, but by the time that news had reached Kimera, he had other things to worry about. For when he had completed the project for the gods, he secretly slipped away back to the mortal realm to return home. 

But when he arrived back on PetalBloom, he was met with a deserted wasteland.

Everyone was gone, the only scraps left behind of what could have happened were torn scraps of newspapers, long dried blood splatters in many a building, and the massive hole that stood where the river that his hometown was named after once did - as if it was torn up from the ground.

After encountering such a horrifying sight, Kimera immediately returned to the Pantheon's Plane demanding answers from the gods. They refused to give him what he seeked, however, the most that he could get out of them was a confirmation that his sister was still alive - but under no circumstances was he allowed to ever see her again.

And thus began his multi-millennia journey to find his sister again, deciding to put his love for her over his loyalty to the gods.

That is the reason he has lived all of these false lives. He has continuously created them for himself even long after his original body died in order to either reunite with her or to figure out in full what happened to her if he is not able to find her.

That is why he continues to live as “Doctor Clark Clements”. He may have lived lives on Aerth before, but Aerth is a massive planet full of opportunity. So perhaps this time she may indeed be on the planet. It is with this hope in mind that he continues on, searching for signs of her presence even when dealing with the responsibilities of his false life.

But lately… Kimera has found himself a bit… distracted from this goal.

Recently, Professor Gerald has been working on a new project, a project he calls “Project Ultimate”. The apparent goal of the project is not just to create life through artificial means - but to create the “ultimate” life. A lifeform more powerful than any other while also being completely immune from any disease or ailment. The reason for power did not seem clear to Kimera, but he did understand that the immunity part - both in the sense of for the lifeform itself and the possibility of giving such to others - was for Gerald's granddaughter, Maria, who was born with a practically non existent immune system and who also lived aboard the ARK.

With this new project, there came a new face to the Space Colony ARK.

An Englishman named Dominic Barnett.

… It all began when Kimera and him first met.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 8th

“You called for me, Professor?” Kimera said to Gerald as he entered his office.

“Indeed I did. I have a new assistant, and I thought that it would be best for you two to meet.” Gerald explained, gesturing to the man that was standing beside him. The man was quite tall, most likely six foot at the very least. He wore an off-white button up dress shirt, a dark maroon jacket, a pale magenta tie, dark maroon pants that flared out at the ankles, and a good few pieces of jewelry. He was absolutely beautiful - especially upon a closer look as Kimera approached the man, as all these elements of him were complimented and yet simultaneously drowned out by his dazzlingly vibrant orangey-red eyes, their brightness akin to flames of a fire.

“My name is Dominic Barnett. You must be Doctor Clark Clements, hmm?” The man said, introducing himself. His voice was just as beautiful as his looks - dark, rough, and yet entrancingly melodic.

Try as he might to deny it, Kimera was completely head over heels for Mr Barnett at very first sight, and he had no success in hiding it from others, either.

“Y-yes…! I a-am! That's m-me, D-Doctor C-Clark C-Clements…!” He sputtered out rather pathetically, hiding his feverously blushing face.

“Doctor Clements, please act professional.” Gerald chastised Kimera in an unimpressed tone.

Before Kimera got the chance to apologize, Dominic casually pulled Kimera into a one-armed embrace which only made him more flustered.

“Be kind to him, Gerald! I certainly don't mind such captivated attention! ~” Dominic insisted playfully.

“Of course you don't…” Gerald sneered under his breath. The statement piqued Kimera’s fascination, wondering what things his long term colleague might know about Dominic that Kimera himself was not aware of yet. 

Call it curiosity, or call it love-sickness - either way, Kimera immediately wanted to know all there was to know about Dominic - and he knew just the perfect opportunity for doing such a thing.

“Do y-you, uh, w-want a tour around the ARK? Maybe?” Kimera suggested to Dominic, trying his best to fight against his own flustered state.

“I've already done that with him some time ago.” Gerald interjected. “Besides, we're quite busy already.”

“Unfortunately, the Professor is correct.” Dominic added, looking genuinely upset to not get the chance to talk more with Kimera - a feeling Kimera resonated with greatly.

“O-oh okay…! U-until next time then, I s-suppose…?” Kimera replied.

“Indeed.” Dominic said with a soft smile.

Dominic left the office first, while Gerald lingered behind. He looked towards Kimera, seemingly having something on his mind. Moments went by, Kimera wondering when the Professor was going to actually speak - as it seemed like he wanted to do so. But in the end, he left the office as well, leaving whatever it was that he was thinking about unspoken.

It came across as very odd to Kimera - as did the rest of Gerald's behavior during the short introduction. But he knew better than to try to pry into Professor Robotnik's secrets by asking him about them. Rather, he would just have to look for himself within Gerald's journal.

He could look in it now, given that he's all alone in Gerald's office - but he decided against it. Kimera had no idea of when Gerald would be returning to his office, and he'd rather wait until Gerald had written about the introductory meeting in the journal before having a peek. So instead he decided he'd wait until Gerald would go to bed, and left the office as well.

This would be far from the first time that Kimera's done that sort of thing - he's been secretly prying into Gerald's journal ever since the two had started working together. At first it had just been to see if Gerald had any information leading to the location of his sister, but once Kimera had verified that Gerald for certain had no information of that sort, he simply couldn't help but to continue to pry.

Gerald had always been a man of many secrets - much to Kimera's chagrin. There were many things that he would hide from Kimera over the years, with seemingly no clear reason for doing so, and Kimera always found it quite bothersome. Ever since he had started his scientific career back on PetalBloom, Kimera had personally believed that being open about his discoveries and communicating with his colleagues was the absolute best path to progress - so with that mindset, Kimera kept himself informed of Gerald's own findings through reading his journal.

Sure, Kimera was technically no better nowadays, as he himself kept a journal of his very own which he writes in his native language of Bloosiæne to prevent it from being understood by others if it was to be read through - but he never claimed to not be a hypocrite. Besides, it's just so his true identity isn't revealed so he may continue searching for his sister - so it's worth it in his mind.

In space, there's no such thing as day and night - just an endless sea of stars, planets, moons and rocks. But on the Space Colony ARK, there is still somewhat the concept of “night”. Night is when everyone goes to sleep.

Everyone except for Kimera.

Kimera's always been something a night owl - especially back on PetalBloom. Back in those days, he had a habit of getting so engrossed into his work that he would forget to maintain a reasonable sleep schedule. Some days he would even become completely nocturnal - sleeping in the day and working at night. Kimera would probably still be in this state if it weren't for the fact that Gerald had a much more stable sleep schedule than his - and Gerald expected Kimera to be awake in the morning just like him. Still, Kimera always tended to stay up late, especially on days like these.

Kimera was quickly able to find Gerald's office, as the halls of the ARK were nice and empty, leaving him a completely clean path towards it. But he managed to find Gerald's journal even quicker. It was in the bottom drawer of his desk, right next to his chair, just as it always was. Kimera knew that Gerald wasn't aware of him snooping around in his office - as if he was, Kimera would surely have gotten reprimanded by now, but couldn't the professor at the very least think to move his journal around a bit every so often? It was almost as if he was asking to be snooped on.

Knowing that Gerald was asleep and would not being coming into the office for a good few hours, Kimera made himself comfortable in Gerald's chair and started flipping through the professor’s journal.

As Kimera looked through the journal, he noticed an entry from a couple of months before that he must have either skipped over previously or had forgotten. It was about Gerald's latest project, Project Ultimate - specifically, it was about Gerald receiving some help on the project from a third party. The name of the third party in question was one that Kimera had seen and heard of many times before during his previous lives - a name that seemed to always be spoken with fear by anyone who would dare utter it.

The Black Arms.

From what Kimera could gather throughout the years about the Black Arms was that they were almost like some sort of force of nature - and a fierce one at that. They travel the universe with the goal of “spreading chaos”, assimilating many people from many planets into their theocratic army while killing and consuming those who decide to instead resist them. Kimera vaguely remembered running into a member of the Black Arms eons ago during one of his other lives on Aerth, actually. He had been living among the Guardlander tribe of Echidnas, or, more accurately, those of the tribe that had survived the then recent act of wrath from the water diety Chaos. One of the survivors turned out to be just like Kimera - in the sense that he had been disguised. The details are fuzzy to Kimera nowadays, seemingly locked away from his own self, but he remembers that it ended in the death of that life - and his original body alongside it. 

Ever since then, any mention of the Black Arms would catch Kimera's attention for reasons he could not parse out - especially now.

For some reason, again, it was rather unexplainable, Kimera immediately started to speculate that Mr Barnett was a Black Arms in disguise. Wanting some evidence for this out-of-the-blue hypothesis of his, Kimera flipped to the most recent entry in the journal - but it was about matters completely unrelated to Dominic or the Black Arms.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Kimera would have to just hold onto this hypothesis until he could either prove or disprove it at a later date. The fact made him rather upset, as for one, he didn't like to make such baseless theories as a scientist, but also… he seemed to find an odd enjoyment from the idea that Dominic might be a Black Arms. After all, that would mean that the both of them were in disguise - that was something they would have in common besides working with Gerald.

Kimera locked up Gerald's office and went back to his own to take note of his findings in his own journal, his face burning hot all throughout the process.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 9th

Despite his escapades the night prior, when “morning” did come, Kimera got up nice and early as he always did and got right to work.

Soon after Kimera started his work for the day, he had gotten a knock at his door. He hoped for it to be Dominic, but when he went to open it, it was revealed to be Gerald at the door instead.

For a brief moment, Kimera was a bit worried that Gerald had realized that he had been peeking into his journal, but what Gerald said after Kimera had opened the door quickly snuffed that fear right out.

“Doctor Clements, I have a task for you.”

“Oh? This early in the morning?” Kimera responded to Gerald.

“Yes.” Gerald said simply as he reached into a pocket located in the inside of his slightly off-white jacket. “I need you to consume a sample of this serum I've created.”

“What does it do?” Kimera immediately asked, eyeing the vial that Gerald had taken out of his jacket curiously.

“It… it…” Gerald began to answer, seemingly stumbling over his words a bit, which confused Kimera slightly. “It's meant to help you focus better. But I need a round of testers to make sure it actually works.” He finally concluded.

“Focus better, eh?” Kimera echoed, pretending to still be curious as he immediately began to suspect that the professor's answer to him was nothing more than a lie to cover up the serum’s true purpose.

“Indeed.” Gerald confirmed, already seeming to regain his confidence. “By the way, there is… one other thing I need of you as well.” He then added after a moment of silence.

“And what might that be?” Kimera inquired.

“Don't tell Dominic about this. Any of this.” Gerald instructed in a rather serious tone.

Kimera thought the request rather odd at first, and even a little suspicious with his own hypothesis about Dominic in consideration. But for now he figured that Dominic was meant to be the control group in this experiment Gerald was running, and agreed to the professor’s terms.

“Down the hatch, then!” Kimera remarked as he drank the vial's contents. It tasted oddly sweet as it touched his tongue, and Kimera told Gerald such.

“Odd… Everyone else has said that it was tasteless…” Gerald replied to Kimera's statement.

Despite its sweet taste, the serum started to disagree with Kimera's body immediately, the first sign of which being that he started to cough violently. The second sign, which followed the first quite quickly, was a sudden need to vomit - so Kimera excused himself and found a bathroom to throw up in.

But it seemed that it was not vomit that he had spewed out, for the recognizable awful taste in one's mouth that vomit would leave behind was not present at that moment. Rather, the taste that coated Kimera's mouth with no plans of leaving was the same sweet taste that the serum had. Furthermore, when Kimera looked into the bowl of the toilet that he had thrown up in, the water was a slightly diluted shade of lime green.

Immediately alarmed and confused, Kimera quickly got up and looked into the mirror just above the bathroom’s sink to get a look at his current condition.

Lime green liquid was dripping from both his mouth and his nose. Lime green liquid that Kimera immediately recognized as his blood.

Kimera's current body on the outside might be quite unremarkably human, but on the inside, he was still rather noticeably a Bloomian. The reason for this is because of the method in which he reincarnates into these false lives of his, a method referred to as “imperfect reincarnation”.

Regular reincarnation, or “perfect reincarnation” would be to start over from the very beginning, having to go through the process of growing up and relearning all you once knew, and having to lose the memories you had in your previous life.

Kimera, of course, does not have the time for such complications. He has to find his sister, and not a moment can be wasted in such an effort.

So instead he uses imperfect reincarnation, allowing him to reconstruct his body into a new form while still retaining his memories and starting off right from adulthood. That way, he's able to use all of his time searching for his sister, and if anyone asks about his “childhood”, he can just make it up.

But it does come with consequences - namely that the parts of his body, no matter how they are reconstructed, are still his own. A single bleeding cut, or in this case, a moment of puking up blood, would reveal his true identity if seen by anyone else.

In remembering that fact, Kimera started to panic in a moment of paranoia. What if Gerald has begun to suspect that Kimera isn't who he says he is, and has decided to poison him to find out if he's right??

But after wiping his nose and mouth and stepping outside to the rest of the ARK, Kimera watched other people who lived on the ARK take the serum - including Gerald himself, and realized that he was probably just overthinking things. Why would Gerald poison Kimera, anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to get a blood sample from him to test if he really did suspect that Kimera wasn't truly human? Of course it would be.

No, the real question Kimera should be asking is why isn't Dominic allowed to know?

But before he could possibly answer that question, Gerald approached him again.

“Doctor Clements, are you alright?” Gerald asked.

“Eh, I've dealt with worse.” Kimera responded. He wasn't exactly lying with that answer, though this was probably the worse that this life of his specifically has faced. “The serum seemed to cause me to vomit.” He added, once again speaking in half truths. Frankly, Kimera didn't care a single bit about possibly messing with the results of Gerald's experiment if it meant that he got to keep his true identity hidden.

“Well… That certainly isn't supposed to happen.” Gerald said.

“I would hope that it wasn't.” Kimera snarked, which annoyed Gerald slightly.

“... Guess you won't be having it again.” Gerald surmised with a heavy sigh. Kimera was about to ask Gerald why Dominic was being left in the dark about all this, the topic on his mind at the moment, but Gerald walked away before he could do so.

Well now he just has to tell Dominic about this, doesn't he? Maybe Dominic will have an idea of why he's being left out of all this. And so Kimera took off to go find him.

Searching all across the ARK, Kimera looked absolutely everywhere in the hopes of finding Dominic. But no matter where he searched, Kimera was just completely incapable of finding him. 

Towards the end of his search, Kimera ended up bumping into Gerald's granddaughter Maria, who was taking a stroll. Out of other options, Kimera decided to ask Maria if she knew where Mr Dominic Barnett was.

“Oh, Mister Barnett isn't on the ARK today, Doctor Clements.” Maria informed him.

“Really now?” Kimera wondered.

“Mhm! Mister Barnett has a lot to do! So he doesn't live on the ARK full time like the rest of us.” Maria revealed.

“I see. Thank you, Miss Maria!” Kimera said happily.

Just as Maria began to take off again, Kimera had a thought come to his mind.

“Did everything go alright with you when trying your grandfather's new serum? I know your body is rather fragile, so I figured I'd ask.” He inquired, figuring that Maria had taken a vial as well, as Gerald had not mentioned anything to the contrary.

“What serum?” Maria asked in response, seemingly completely unaware of what Kimera was talking about.

“Your grandfather has been having us all try this new serum that he concocted today - he said it was to help you focus better.” Kimera explained. “I suppose he didn't give any to you because of how your body might react to it.” He theorized.

“Oh yeah, grandfather tends to not include me in experiments that don't directly relate to trying to treat my illness.” Maria remarked.

“Fair enough. Besides, I bet he got even more worried about how you'd react to it after how my body reacted.” Kimera speculated.

“Did you react badly to the serum, Doctor Clements?” Maria inquired. Kimera nodded in response. “That's okay, my body can't handle certain things either.”

The way Maria looked up at him at that moment, comforting, but also with a twinge of happiness to have someone who could understand what she's going through, it reminded Kimera quite a lot of his sister back before he left home to reach the Pantheon's Plane. In fact, Maria reminded him so much of her at this moment that Kimera had to fight against his eyes in order to not cry.

“Well, I should probably get back to my room before grandfather or the nurses get worried about me. Talk to you later, Doctor Clements!” Maria said before taking off again, leaving Kimera to stand alone in the hallway.

With his search for Dominic made completely useless and his heart heavy with nostalgia, Kimera returned to his office to decompress and to document the day's events in his journal.

Once Kimera was calm again, the curiosity as to why Dominic was not allowed to know about the serum came to him once more. Kimera knew that the only way that he could find the answer to that was to peek into Gerald's journal again and see if he had written about it.

But he would have to wait for the perfect opportunity to do such, and he had no idea when that opportunity would arrive.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 16th

As the days went by, Kimera had kept looking for any sign of Dominic, or for any opportunity to sneak into Gerald's office to get a look at his journal. But neither of these were able to be found in the week that had passed.

But today was different.

“Doctor Clements.” One of Maria's nurses had called out to Kimera while he was walking through one of the ARK’s many hallways.

“Yes?” He reacted.

“Professor Gerald will be very busy working on Project Ultimate today, so I advise you to stay out of his hair.” The nurse informed him. “Or lack thereof….” She then joked under her breath.

“Will do!” Kimera exclaimed.

Perfect! This is perfect!

The chance to go snooping into Gerald's journal for answers to his questions regarding the serum had finally come! Kimera headed towards Gerald's office at a very quick pace, his walking almost a run. But at about the halfway point, Kimera had bumped into someone.

Looking up, Kimera realized that it was Dominic Barnett of all people that he had bumped into, causing his face to burn brightly.

“O-oh! Hello Mister Barnett, I h-hadn’t seen you there!” Kimera sputtered out, his intense feelings taking control of him again.

“Oh, it's quite alright.” Dominic assured him. “You may simply refer to me as “Dominic”, by the way.” He added with a soft smile.

“I-I see! Will do!” Kimera replied. “Heh, i-it’s kinda funny that I only run into you again now! I-I mean, I know the Space Colony ARK is huge, but not big enough to take a week to traverse!” He began to speak again, trying to pull himself together enough to have an actual conversation with Dominic.

“Well that's a relief. It really is quite… massive.” Dominic remarked, sounding almost annoyed by its size.

“W-well, that's the way Gerald had wanted it!” Kimera exclaimed in a light hearted tone.

“I see.” Dominic replied. “But if you were curious to know where I was, I was not on the ARK.” He added, moving the conversation along.

“Oh yeah! I-I remember Maria telling me that!” Kimera recollected.

“How much did she tell you?” Dominic inquired, his eyes shining more than usual - looking as if they were outright glowing.

“Not much, r-really!” Kimera responded. Dominic seemed pleased by that answer. He really is hiding something, isn't he?

“Could you show me a place to sit in here?” Dominic asked. “My legs are starting to give out.”

“Oh, of course! Though we really haven't been standing around for that long, y-you know.” Kimera responded, trying to be playful, though he immediately realized that he probably sounded kind of rude once the words left his mouth.

“I know, but that's just how my legs are… I suppose.” Dominic remarked. Kimera hoped he didn't offend him.

It didn't take very long for Kimera and Dominic to find a bench to sit on - there were benches placed all over the place in the ARK. Gerald originally had them installed for Maria's sake, as she dealt with a good bit of leg pain on top of her very poor immune system, but it was rather useful for everyone else on the ARK as well.

“I hope you don't mind me asking this,” Kimera began once they were both seated. “But why is it that you don't live on the ARK full time like the rest of us?” He asked Dominic.

“Oh! That's because…” Dominic started to respond, his voice trailing off as it seemed like he was thinking about something. “I'm in University.” He finally answered.

“Is that so? What are you studying?” Kimera inquired.

“Biology.” Dominic replied, much quicker this time.

“Oooh! ~ That's what Gerald taught as a professor before he was employed by G.U.N!” Kimera exclaimed.

“I'm aware of that.” Dominic stated. “My studies are the reason why I was brought aboard by Professor Gerald. I've been researching the innate chaos energy of various organisms and the effects that it has on them, both on its own and relative to the amount of chaos energy found within each organism. Gerald had found the information I have very useful for Project Ultimate.” Dominic explained. His story was quite detailed and believable, almost believable enough for Kimera to drop his hypothesis about Dominic being a Black Arms in disguise completely. But there was one last question he wanted to ask in regards to Dominic’s supposed background.

“My! That does sound quite useful! Say, what school do you go to, Dominic?” Kimera queried, awaiting Dominic’s answer with baited breath.

“Uh….” It seemed that Kimera caught Dominic at a part he didn't have an answer ready for. “University of Britannia.” He answered. Though the answer caught Kimera by surprise. Not the actual contents, no, but by how Dominic said it. He has pronounced “Britannia” as “Brit-ah-knee-ah”, the same way Kimera had the first few times he had said it before being corrected. The reason why Kimera had said it in such a way was that he was going off of the way things are pronounced in his native language of Bloosiæne.

So why would Dominic pronounce it like that?

“I see! Though for uh… F-Future reference, it's pronounced ‘bri-tan-ee-ah”.” Kimera responded, not knowing what else to say.

“It… It is? Th-thank you…” Dominic replied, sounding a bit embarrassed. “Gerald called me to the ARK today, so I bet he wants my help with something.” Dominic said, changing the subject.

“He's quite busy right now, maybe he should wait a while? … Talk some more…?” Kimera suggested, blushing excitedly.

“Heh… Perhaps we should, then.” Dominic agreed. Score! “Has there been anything eventful that I've missed?” He then inquired.

“Yes, actually!” Kimera exclaimed.

“Really?” Dominic reacted, seeming curious.

“Indeed. Back on the 9th, Gerald gave us each a sample vial of this serum that he had created. He said it was to help the person who took it focus better, but I suspect that the professor had something else in mind.” Kimera told Dominic. “He also told me not to tell you about it, but I've decided to disregard him on that.” He added.

“Did he now…?” Dominic wondered. He seemed to be thinking of something. In fact, it seemed that he was thinking quite intensely - Kimera could tell by how his eyes seemed to stare off beyond the current moment.

“You… You seem to be a bit lost in thought. M-Mind telling me what's o-on your mind…?” Kimera stumbled out, his confidence starting to fade as he realized just how equally attractive and intimidating Dominic looked when looking so serious.

“I agree that the ‘focus’ angle sounds rather fictitious.” Dominic stated.

“I wonder if the real reason for it has something to do with you? I know you were already here for a while before Gerald introduced us to each other, but it still seems a bit odd that he started handing the serums out so soon after you appeared!” Kimera speculated.

Although Dominic did not respond verbally, Kimera could see it on his face that the hypothesis seemed to worry him in some way. Watching his irises dart from corner to corner of his sclera as he seemed to try to rationalize his fears, Kimera considered asking once again for what was going on in Dominic’s mind, but Dominic seemed to pull himself together and changed the subject before he could.

“You know, Clark, you remind me quite a lot of my wife.” He remarked.

Kimera was completely thrown off guard by the comment. 

First of all, Dominic has a wife???

Second of all, that means Dominic isn't single!

Kimera felt his heart break a little from the realization, but he tried to not let it show.

“I-I… d-do...?” He uttered.

“Very much so! She reacted just as you had when we had met, actually! She was such an adorably flustered mess - and you were too!” Dominic explained. Wait, does Dominic know that Kimera has feelings for him???

Also, the fact that he basically called Kimera adorable didn't help in matters of trying to get over those feelings of his.

“Th… Thanks…?” Kimera tried to respond, barely able to speak amongst all his messy emotions.

“Honestly, I should try to arrange a date to bring it here! I bet everyone would love to meet her! Don't you think so?” Dominic continued on, seemingly oblivious to Kimera’s distress. 

“Sure.” But despite everything, the thought of Dominic’s wife coming to the ARK did make Kimera a bit excited. He didn't know why, but it did.

Kimera tried to keep his eyes off of Dominic, to be normal and to push aside the feelings he had for him, but he just couldn't help himself. He felt something special with Dominic, something he had never felt before, let alone be able to name. It was a connection of some kind, that was for sure.

Maybe it was just the crush.

But it felt like more than just that.

Maybe he should have something to eat.

“Mister Barnett, the professor has asked for you.” The same nurse from earlier called out to Dominic, entering the scene.

“Tell him I'll be right there.” Dominic responded. “I've had a lovely time talking to you, Clark. I hope we may get to do so again soon. ~” He then said to Kimera, giving him a kind smile that Kimera didn't know how to respond to before leaving.

Kimera stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then, suddenly, he remembered he had been heading to Gerald's office in order to look into his journal, and decided to continue on that path.

After all, even though Dominic is not available for love, why should that stop Kimera from knowing more about him? 

The journal was in the same place it had always been in, though Kimera was able to tell that the position of the journal was slightly different from when he had set it down after last reading it - that meant that Gerald must have written another entry since then. With that observation in mind, Kimera flipped right to the latest entry in Gerald's journal.

Immediately, the mention of the serum from last week in the entry jumped out at Kimera and made him rather excited, as he knew that the answer to his curiosities about the whole thing surrounding it would lay within. Reading the entry more closely, it was finally revealed to Kimera what the true purpose of the serum had been - an antidote to fight against Black Arms assimilation. It seemed like pretty definitive evidence towards his hypothesis of Dominic being a Black Arms in disguise, as Kimera knew from all that he had heard about the Black Arms in the past that the assimilation process begins from exposure to a Black Arms and their massive amounts of chaos energy that radiates from them - almost spore-like in nature, though Kimera only really thought of that comparison as a, well, comparison. Besides, Kimera didn't know of anyone else on the ARK who could secretly be a Black Arms, and this would also explain why Gerald didn't want Kimera telling Dominic about the serum - as well as Dominic’s uneasy reaction to Kimera telling him about the serum. Dominic must have at least considered this being its true purpose.

Oh well, whatever happens to Gerald isn't Kimera’s responsibility. His only responsibility in his mind is to find his sister, and also solving the mystery surrounding Dominic for now.

But Kimera was still left with one question unanswered, that being why exactly ingesting the serum had caused him to vomit blood. It was rather easy for Kimera to assume that the serum blocked the chaos energy from entering the body of someone who has taken it, or from spreading out into the whole body, and that because of that the serum had messed with Kimera's own high amounts of chaos energy in his body due to being a Bloomian, but how exactly does the serum do such a thing, anyways? What ingredient in the serum causes the antidote effect?

This entry did not hold any answers to that question, so Kimera flipped back through the journal’s previous entries until he saw any mention of the serum again. Once he had reached a few months back, he saw the serum be brought up again, and this time in a lot more detail.

From how the entry was worded, it seemed that this was back when Gerald had just started developing the serum, seemingly in preparation for when the disguised Black Arms - most likely Dominic, though the entry did not seem to say for certain - would start coming aboard the ARK.

Just as Kimera had suspected, the way the antidote is intended to work is by blocking out the chaos energy from seeping into the body’s bloodstream, and after doing extensive research on what would seemingly be most effective for doing this, Gerald had settled on the key ingredient that will be responsible for doing this. As Kimera continued to read the entry, the ingredient in question slowly but surely revealed itself to him, and it made him feel quite nauseous - especially when he saw it spelled out blatantly.

The active ingredient in the serum was DNA extracted from skeletal remains of Bloomians that had the hidden mouth trait in their genes.

Kimera had to admit, it was a smart choice. The ‘hidden mouth' trait that was present in some Bloomians was a genetic mutation that was seemingly formed to block the rampant chaos energy that had polluted PetalBloom for around a millennia - a mutation that seemingly helped prevent other mutations, as well as prevent the mental effects that chaos energy radiation caused. At least, in theory. Kimera and his colleagues had theorized that in another thousand years or so, that perhaps about 90% of all Bloomians would have the trait, compared to the 40% of Bloomians that had it in his time. But that prediction was never able to be proven either true or false, as in just a few short years, the planet of PetalBloom was completely deserted with every Bloomian except for Kimera seemingly disappearing into thin air, and with no explanation as to why. Not one that Kimera had, anyway.

But, still, the thought that he had consumed the remains of his own kin completely disgusted him - it made him feel such intense sickening guilt that he nearly instinctively prayed to Madam Moonshine for forgiveness, even though Kimera’s relationship with the gods nowadays was rather turbulent, and he was well aware that Moonshine had been dead for thousands of years by this point.

Kimera quickly shut the journal and placed it back where it had been before.

“That's… that's enough reading for today.” He thought to himself.

As he got up from Gerald's chair and stumbled his way back to his own office room, Kimera tried everything he could think of to get his mind off of the serum. He eventually got himself to remember his side quest of figuring out Dominic’s true identity. What he had read today had all but confirmed to him that Dominic was indeed a Black Arms in disguise - but that wasn't enough for Kimera, no no. He wanted to know Dominic’s true name, and his motivation for being on the ARK and working with Gerald. 

That was his new current objective.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 17th - April 30th [condensed]

As time continued to march on, Kimera came to notice a pattern form before his very eyes. Each and every week, without fail, there would be one - and only one day out of the seven that Dominic would be aboard the ARK, with him being away the other six. Whether or it was really university that was keeping him away, or something else entirely, that seemed to be his schedule, and while the day of the week that he would visit would always be different each week, Kimera tried his best to plan around it, not wanting to miss a single opportunity to get to talk to Dominic and possibly get to know more about them. In that time, Kimera didn't exactly get that much information, at least not as far as furthering supporting or even possibly debunking his hypothesis goes. But he did get some general things that he somehow missed the first few times they had talked. For one, Dominic’s relationship with gender identity was rather non-existent, seemingly rolling with the fact that most of the ARK’s inhabitants clocked him as a man, but admitting to Kimera and Gerald that he prefers to stray towards a bit more of an androgynous presentation, and had asked the both of them to refer to them as not just “he”, but also the gender neutral pronoun of “they”. While Kimera had made a conscious effort to adhere to this request, Gerald, frustratingly, flat out scoffed at the idea when Dominic had brought it up.

But after the day of the conversation, Gerald, too, was occasionally throwing in some “they”s when he'd refer to Dominic. Kimera couldn't help but wonder if it was intimidation that made him change his tune.

The next week, Kimera ended up telling Dominic about his sister's own unconventional relationship with gender, though he did so without revealing his true identity. Dominic confided in him and revealed that his wife had a very similar experience to Kimera's sister.

Admittedly, Kimera did want to ask Dominic more about what it was like to identify differently from one’s birth sex, but he figured it would just distract him from his goal of furthering his hypothesis on Dominic. Besides, he didn't want to sound ignorant or to make Dominic uncomfortable.

As more time went by, Kimera finally felt himself become accustomed to Dominic’s rather chaotic schedule, and the week after that had occured…

Dominic had come to the ARK two days that week.

Kimera had asked him about it when it happened, and Dominic said that he had a free day, and was curious about the progress of Project Ultimate, and couldn't bear to wait until the next week.

And then the next week came, and Dominic was on the ARK for three days.

The week after that, he was on board for four days.

Then five the next.

Finally, one week, Dominic was on the ARK for the entire week, and that had become the standard.

At first, Kimera was incredibly excited, convinced that this would mean that he would get much more time to spend with Dominic, thus furthering his personal research. But he was quite dismayed when he quickly realized that Dominic was becoming far too busy working on Project Ultimate with Gerald to chit chat with Kimera. At first it seemed that these feelings stemmed from disappointment over it inhibiting his research, but as the realization set in more and more, Kimera started to wonder if his crush that he had had on Dominic ever truly went away?

The thought that he was still in love distressed him, as Kimera had no desire to be a homewrecker. But what ended up distressing Kimera even more was how Dominic interacted with Gerald while working in Project Ultimate. More and more as the days went by, Dominic seemingly acted more and more flirtatious with Gerald, which just didn't seem to make sense for them, given the fact that they're married. Kimera wanted to chalk it up to the part of himself that still loved Dominic being jealous of the amount of time Dominic would spend with Gerald and reading things the wrong way, but he couldn't bear to leave it up to assumption either way.

Even if it ended up revealing to Dominic that Kimera still had feelings for him, he had to ask them about this perceived interest in Gerald and bring the topic to rest in his mind.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > May 1st

Knock knock

The sound awoke Kimera from his slumber, which on this day was going on a bit longer than usual. He had been up rather late last night, but in his defense for this instance, nearly everyone on the ARK had been.

The night prior, a situation had occurred that was directly tied to Project Ultimate. 

The current result of the hopes of creating the “Ultimate Lifeform” had been in the form of a lizard that had been revived with chaos energy. After being revived, the lizard steadily kept growing bigger and bigger in size, which at first wasn't a huge concern. But yesterday as Gerald was running some calculations on the lizard, he had realized that it was on track to grow so big that the ARK could not hold it any longer, and alongside that discovery, Gerald realized that the lizard was quickly becoming violent.

In response to this, Gerald enlisted the help of many of the people working on the ARK, including Kimera, to safely transport the lizard out of the ARK and into a holding facility owned by G.U.N back on Aerth.

In the end, the mission was done successfully, but all the fuss and the heavy lifting had tired everyone out quite a lot, or at least it had tired Kimera out - with him assuming everyone else felt the same.

So who the hell could be knocking at his bedroom door so early in the morning??

At first, Kimera assumed it to be Gerald, and groggily greeted the professor as he opened the door. But instead, it was Dominic at his door - a sight that immediately snapped Kimera out of the half-asleep state he had been in.

“Oh, u-uh! Hi Dominic! What the hell are you doing here this early???” Kimera sputtered out, still a bit too tired to care about formality.

“I spent the night here, feeling too tired to go back home after the fuss last night.” Dominic responded, his story corroborated by the fact that they were wearing a short-sleeved black nightgown instead of their usual attire. They also had a bandaid on his left arm, but Kimera didn't really think much of it. “I apologize for most likely waking you, but Gerald and I both woke up rather early and have been trying to revitalize Project Ultimate since we did - and I believe you can help find the answer to our current predicament.” He elaborated as they entered Kimera’s room.

“M-Me??” Kimera reacted with confusion, his face immediately burning up despite his attempts to hide it.

“Indeed. You do not mind, do you?” Dominic replied sincerely.

“U-uhm… N-No…” Kimera uttered. “W… What's the problem?” He then inquired.

“Gerald and I have once again gotten a hold of the same chaos energy sample that we used in the original iteration of Project Ultimate, but…”

“You don't want another Biolizard situation?” Kimera guessed what Dominic was thinking.

“Indeed…” Dominic answered. “Wait, ‘Biolizard’?”

“Oh! That's uh, what some of my co-workers have been calling it, and I just kinda… adopted the name as well.” Kimera explained. “You know, because… You're involved… and you're studying biology… And… it's a lizard…” He continued, realizing how stupid the reasoning sounded out loud as he spoke.

“... I've heard worse names.” Dominic remarked.

“I guess after last night it's more like ‘bio’ for biohazard…!” Kimera jested.

“I prefer that reasoning.” Dominic said.

“You're a biohazard fan?” Kimera quipped without thinking.

“I've had people call me a biohazard, if that accounts for anything.” Dominic responded, making Kimera chuckle.

“That's an interesting insult!” Kimera said.

“Certainly, though not the worst that I have endured.” Dominic replied. “But regardless of that, I do believe we have strayed from the original topic of conversation, have we not?”

“Oh, yes!” Kimera exclaimed. “So, do you and Gerald have any theories as to how to prevent another Biolizard situation from occurring?” He then asked.

“Personally, I believe that what caused that error was the fact that the chaos energy was not stabilized.” Dominic explained.

“Stabilized?” Kimera echoed in both curiosity and confusion.

“The deceased body was without life, and thus, without a soul to bind the chaos energy to the body’s current form. This was what led to the… “Biolizard” to keep growing, seemingly forevermore. Chaos energy is not just within us living beings - it is everywhere, woven into the very fabric of the universe - it is the universe. The universe forever expands, and so does chaos energy right with it. But with the chaos energy within us living beings, its connection with the universe is interrupted by the soul, and kept in place.” Dominic very much elaborated.

“I see… So we just have to… get a soul?” Kimera asked. “Wait, where the hell would we-?”

“In theory, yes. But I am very certain that with the amount of chaos energy that Gerald wishes to use in our new iteration of the Ultimate Lifeform, that while a soul alone would fix that problem, it would in turn create another.” Dominic responded.

“Oh?”

“The more chaos energy there is in a body, the more powerful it is. This of course manifests outwardly as fantastical powers given to the body, such in the case of many a mobian. But, inwardly, if there is enough chaos energy - the desire to expand returns. The soul does indeed still restrict the body’s form, but in its protection of the body, it is unable to protect itself nor the mind from the chaos energy, and it expands into them, taking them over…” Dominic explained, oddly enough with a smile on his face. “But… Gerald does not want that to happen.” They then added, frowning.

“O-oh! That must have been what happened then during the chaos energy radiation pandemic of PetalBloom that happened back in the late BTs!” Kimera suddenly exclaimed, so immersed in the learning experience that he had basically forgotten all about his cover. Dominic looked at him - though not really with confusion. It was more with surprise than anything else. “Oh sorry, I have a passion for universal history.” He tried to explain away the sudden exclamation.

“You would be right in that! Especially considering what became of them.” Dominic replied, seemingly ignoring Kimera's apology.

“What… became of them?” Kimera inquired. He very obviously realized that this could completely reveal his true identity to Dominic, but he didn't care about that, not here, not now. Which was deeply out of character for him, but it didn't feel strange. Being with Dominic made him feel safe, regardless of the circumstances. Safe enough to divulge into this topic, despite the potential risk. Besides, he realized that the answer to that question could very well bring him closer than he ever had been before to the answer of what had happened to his dear sister.

“Oh, do you not know?” Dominic began, sending a shiver down Kimera’s spine as he began to speculate on whether or not this was a thinly veiled reference to them having figured out his true identity somehow. But he was able to keep himself together enough for Dominic to seemingly not notice, thankfully. “At the end of the millenia that the radiation had raged on throughout, a sort of civil war broke out in the dwarf planet, as a group of Bloomians who had chosen to defy the word of Madam Moonshine and embrace the chaos energy as their new self began to grow to an enormous size, striking down all of their peers who resisted their ways. Soon enough, there were only them left on PetalBloom, and the group chose to leave it behind in the hopes of having the entire universe learn to embrace chaos, distancing themselves entirely from the thought of being ‘Bloomians’, now completely referring to themselves by the name of the group itself, The Black Arms.”

Kimera was at a complete loss for words, as Dominic’s had hit him with such a fierce strength that it left him feeling paralyzed. All this time, he had heard of this extremely powerful and dangerous group that nearly everyone in the entire universe had come to fear, and it was made up of descendants of his own kind this entire time?! Is this the reason why the gods had been keeping him from getting to reunite with his sister?! As much as a part of him wanted to be terrified, whether that be of the information in general or the realization that his sister must then have been one of the Black Arms aligned Bloomians who took part in the slaughter of those who had resisted, all Kimera could feel at that moment was anger - and not anger at the Black Arms - but at the gods for hiding this from him for so long, for refusing to give him closure. And for what? The fear that Kimera might have gotten recruited into the Black Arms as well if he had known?? Kimera knew very well that the man that he had been back then would have been horrified by the news, and despite how much he had loved his sister back then, the Kimera back then would have most likely stood against the Black Arms if he had known. Kimera remembered that the him from a few thousand years ago had hesitated to denounce Madam Moonshine’s teachings when faced with an encounter with the Black Arms, and he had died for it.

But neither of those were the Kimera of today.

The Kimera of today had been through so many lives, and with them, so many fights with the gods that came with each of their ends. The Kimera of today had spent so much time searching for his sister that his heart had grown cold to anything else aside from that goal, and his morals had been basically all sacrificed in her name. This Kimera was directly the making of his circumstances, the circumstances that the gods had forced him into.

And this Kimera was far more than just willing to join the Black Arms.

He at first had the thought to tell Dominic this, but on second thought, he realized that he still was not fully sure that he was even a disguised Black Arms in the first place, and feared what might happen if he were to tell them his thoughts only for Dominic to turn out to be human after all. So instead, Kimera kept his mouth shut for now.

“Anyways,” Dominic spoke. “Project Ultimate.”

“Right!” Kimera exclaimed with nervous laughter.

“In order to make Gerald happy on both ends of his desires, there has to be a way to completely contain the chaos energy to keep it from spreading throughout the body… But I am not sure of how to do that.” Dominic at last concluded his explanation of the problem at hand.

“What about the serum?” Kimera immediately suggested without even thinking first.

“The… serum? From January? How would that help matters? And besides, did you not tell me back then that I was not supposed to have known of its existence?” Dominic responded, confused.

“Oh, right. I guess that would make for a weird conversation with the Professor, huh?” Kimera admitted, remembering that the information he had read about the serum in Gerald’s journal was not universal knowledge.

“Heh. Most certainly.” Dominic replied.

“... What about something akin to the Chaos Emeralds?” Kimera made another suggestion, this time after thinking it over.

“Oh?” Dominic reacted, perking up. It seems that Kimera has picked a smarter response this time around.

“You study chaos energy, so I’m sure you’re aware of them, right?” Kimera said, Dominic nodding in response. “What if we made something like them, serving a very similar purpose as they do - to contain chaos energy? Of course, we as mere mortals can’t completely recreate the Chaos Emeralds themselves - so we will have to compromise and adapt to what we have access to.” 

“The Chaos Emeralds were made to keep chaos energy away from mortals, but this creation of ours will give chaos energy to a being best described as beyond mortal existence if made according to plan… How quaint! ~” Dominic remarked, letting out a chuckle.

“Almost like a battery!” Kimera added.

“Exactly!” Dominic exclaimed, clearly very excited.

“Hmm… ‘Chaos Battery’ doesn’t roll off the tongue very well, though…” Kimera stated, trying to think of a name for this idea of theirs.

“It certainly does not.” Dominic agreed.

“... Wait! I got it!” Kimera announced after the two spent a good few moments thinking. “What about ‘Chaos Drive’?”

“Chaos Drive… I love it! But where did you get the idea from, Clark?” Dominic responded.

“Well, the Chaos Drives would store chaos energy for the Ultimate Lifeform, much like a tape drive stores data for a computer! That’s where I got the name from!” Kimera explained.

“I see…! How interesting!” Dominic replied. “Well now, shall we go tell Gerald about this?”

“H-Hold on, I… I have something I’d like to ask you…!” Kimera admitted, remembering that he had wanted to inquire about his suspicions of Dominic having feelings for Gerald.

“Hmm?” Dominic reacted.

“Maybe I’ve been reading things incorrectly but… You seem rather… interested in Professor Gerald… But you’re married?” Kimera said to Dominic, trying his best to not sound accusatory.

“Oh! My wife and I have an agreement that we are allowed to have partners other than each other as long as both of us are aware of it!” Dominic answered.

“.... Does your wife… know of-?” Kimera eventually inquired, trying to keep his composure while he was equal parts fascinated by this agreement and swept up in falling in love with Dominic all over again as he realized that he could actually have a chance with him after all.

“Yes, she does!” Dominic exclaimed, cutting Kimera off. “... Have you not ever heard of such a thing?”

“O-oh, I don’t th-think it’s weird at all!!” Kimera sputtered out.

“That isn’t exactly what I asked, but I am glad to hear that.” Dominic responded.

“Cool! Cool!” Kimera replied sheepishly. “Just uh, be careful!”

“Hmm?” Dominic wondered.

“I-I’ve worked with Gerald for a long time, and he’s usually the cold type - very unresponsive to affection! And he also likes to keep secrets and acts in his own interests and stuff! So I wouldn't want you getting your heart broken or anything like that!” Kimera explained, his mouth running faster than his brain, being completely wrapped up in his returning feelings of love for Dominic.

Dominic didn't respond for a moment, which gave Kimera's mind the time to catch up, and realize what it was that he just said. Did he seriously just throw Gerald under the bus like that?? Is he seriously that jealous?? If Dominic is open to having multiple partners then there's no reason why he wouldn't get with both him and Gerald! What the hell was wrong with him?? Those were the thoughts that came to Kimera, even though some part of him knew that the words he sputtered out in a lovestruck frenzy were indeed true, especially with the added context that he didn't give away. If Dominic really is a Black Arms in disguise, then Gerald making a serum to prevent Black Arms assimilation is quite literally acting against him behind their back while he uses their expertise in chaos energy to create the Ultimate Lifeform. It's flat out manipulative, if true.

But Kimera didn't know if it was true - not in its entirety. So why did he say such things to Dominic??

“He seems quite well to me… But I will heed your warning…” Dominic finally responded, sounding conflicted. Dammit, he's mad at Kimera, isn't he? They’re mad at him for interfering in matters that do not pertain to him! They can tell Kimera is jealous, he just isn't saying it out loud to save face! But is Kimera truly jealous? Or is he just cautious about Dominic trying to pursue Gerald because of Gerald's past behavior? It doesn't matter, it wasn't Kimera's place to say it either way!

Dominic and Kimera walked over to where Project Ultimate was being developed in silence, Kimera's guilt eating him alive while Dominic seemed lost in thought. Kimera knew he should probably apologize to Dominic for what he said, but every time he tried, nothing would ever come out of his mouth - which of course made him feel even worse. Dominic probably hates him now, Kimera was sure of it.

By the time Kimera regained his ability to speak, the two of them were already in the laboratory, thus meaning that it was now too late to apologize.

“Finally, you're back.” Gerald remarked to Dominic, turning around from what he was working on to face him - and becoming a bit surprised to see Kimera present. “Doctor Clements, what are you doing here?” He immediately questioned.

“Dominic… Asked for my help with coming up with a way to stabilize the chaos energy sample you two got!” Kimera explained, regaining his composure so that Gerald wouldn't think anything was off.

“You went all that way and developed a solution… And you're still wearing that?” Gerald questioned Dominic.

“Yes. It is rather comfortable, and it has pockets.” Dominic answered, happily putting his hands in the pockets of their nightgown and spinning around slightly.

“You look like a woman.” Gerald pointed out in a negative tone, which angered Kimera, being reminded of similar remarks made towards his sister years ago.

“And?” Dominic replied.

“Go change!” Gerald ordered. Dominic rolled his eyes but left to go do as Gerald told.

“Doctor Clements.” Gerald then spoke again, gesturing to Kimera to come over to his side.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Mister Barnett to return before we discuss what we developed?” Kimera questioned as he walked over to Gerald's side.

“That isn't what I want to talk to you about.” Gerald said bluntly.

“... Then what do you want to talk about…?” Kimera asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can tell that you've been trying to get the attention of Mister Barnett quite a lot ever since you and him met.” Gerald revealed. “And I must ask that you cease such activity immediately.” He added, sounding incredibly serious.

“Oh, what, are you afraid of me looking ‘unprofessional’ to him? You know they don't care!” Kimera responded, feigning ignorance with his words as he pretended to not know what Gerald could be on about - but he did. Kimera immediately suspected from the seriousness of Gerald's tone that this was for all intents and purposes a confirmation of his theory that Dominic is a disguised Black Arms, and Gerald is trying to prevent Kimera from getting assimilated since he is unable to take the serum.

“No! You listen to me, and you listen to me well. I brought him here out of desperation, so I could achieve my ultimate goal and cure my granddaughter, but Mister Barnett is a very dangerous and cunning man! The more you try to pursue him, the more his charms will lure you in! He's been trying to do that exact thing with me, but I've built up the resilience to not be fooled!” Gerald informed Kimera, speaking just barely above a whisper so that no one else - most certainly especially Dominic, couldn't hear.

“I'm sure G.U.N would love to hear about that.” Kimera responded, not wanting to reveal that he already knew that, nor wanting the chance for that having to happen. That comment immediately shut down the conversation - just in time for Dominic to return, now wearing his usual attire.

“Did I miss anything while I was away?” Dominic asked.

“Nope.” Gerald answered, lying. Kimera decided to not say anything.

“Well then, let us get back on track, no?” Dominic proposed, to which both Gerald and Kimera agreed to.

Dominic and Kimera told Gerald all about their Chaos Drive concept, Dominic even throwing in a list of materials that he theorized they would need. Gerald instantly approved of the idea, and thus work on trying to make it a reality began - with Kimera being sent out to collect the supplies.

As it turned out, Kimera would have to do that quite often, as every prototype Chaos Drive that the three of them would make would result in failure as it seemed that no glass would be thick enough to keep the chaos energy from leaking out, no matter how tight the metal ends of the cylinder were screwed on. As the day went on, Kimera got a sense for where the glass and metal needed were as the amount of times he had to go out and get them reached beyond a dozen, making each trip shorter and shorter. Towards the end of the day, Kimera managed to get back to the lab quickly enough to overhear a conversation between Gerald and Dominic - or, more accurately, an argument.

“I do not understand what it is you want from me. Chaos energy has a mind of its own, it is not my fault that we are having such troubles.” Dominic said relatively calmly - though there was still a sharpness to his voice that Kimera could feel cut through him even from afar.

“You know how to control it, don't you??” Gerald yelled.

“That isn't what ‘Chaos Control’ means. Chaos Control is-” 

“I don't want to hear you explain your strange alien powers to me! I just want you to make the chaos energy stop breaking out of the Chaos Drives!” Gerald demanded.

“... I do have a theory. But…” Dominic began.

“But what??” Gerald questioned.

“I do not wish to have Doctor Clements question where this came from.” Dominic answered, summoning some sort of clear crystal that looked like a shard of a Chaos Emerald.

“What… is that??” Gerald wondered, looking at it with confusion.

“It's a crystal, raw and uncut, made of the same material used to create the Chaos Emeralds back in the day. It is empty, ready to be the container that the chaos energy will be put into.” Dominic explained, looking like a higher power of some kind in the way they had the crystal hover just above his hands as he stood, looking at it with thoughts in his mind that reflected in their eyes in tongues not understandable to mortal kind. The sight mesmerized Kimera, but it also made him uneasy, his fears of having angered Dominic earlier returning and being fueled by the certainty that Kimera now had that they were for certain a Black Arms in disguise, and a very powerful one at that. He decided to wait until the conversation was over to walk into the lab, lest he accidentally invoke Dominic’s wrath.

This time, the Chaos Drive was a success, the chaos energy being tightly held within the crystal while the crystal was kept in place by the glass cylinder. To both Dominic and Gerald's surprise, Kimera never asked about where the crystal had originated, having kept quiet the entire time that the successful Chaos Drive was being made.

“I believe that wraps things up for today, then!” Dominic remarked. With a nod of agreement, Kimera was about to leave the laboratory - but Dominic stopped him and offered to spend some time together. Kimera declined the offer, having completely shut down by this point, consumed by his own messy emotions.

“Dominic, I wish to speak with you.” Gerald called out just as Kimera was leaving.

“... Tomorrow.” Dominic replied simply, sounding displeased with the professor.

✏ ~ [Modern Era] > May 2nd, 1953 - July 17th, 1954 [condensed]

Ever since that day, Kimera had resigned himself to only observing Dominic from afar, having internalized his fears of having angered them. It caused information on Dominic to come his way much more slowly, yes, but it did still trickle its way towards him. Besides, this far more subtle method of gathering information came with the added benefit of no longer raising any suspicion from Gerald, as Kimera would be very particular in his choice of when to study Dominic or ask questions about him.

The one and only exception to this was with Gerald's journal, which Kimera actually started prying into far more often - almost daily on some weeks. This was because, to him, Gerald's journal was the easiest way to get information on Dominic in a way that they himself would never know of. Kimera knew in the back of his mind that this was a risky behavior to take up - that the more he went snooping into the journal, the more likely he was to get caught. But at some point he just stopped caring. He never really cared much about Gerald's opinions of him, but now he didn't care at all, not even a little - nor did he care about the opinions of anyone else on the ARK. He only cared about what Dominic would think about him and Dominic's wishes - or at least, the wishes that Kimera had come to believe were Dominic's.

Kimera was certain that this mindset of his was the Black Arms assimilation starting to take hold of him, but he didn't mind that in the slightest. In fact, the idea brought him joy, as Kimera hoped that maybe once he was assimilated, Dominic would forgive him of his transgressions and he could have a second chance to form some sort of relationship with them. At some point, Kimera's journal began to be filled up with notes of how his assimilation was seeming to progress, becoming just as fascinated by and for all intents and purposes obsessed with it as he had been with Dominic himself, as if it was an extension of Dominic - which it was, in a way. It was Dominic’s chaos energy that was infesting him, and it would be a part of them that Kimera would become. That result was something that Kimera came to crave, to anticipate greatly, but he knew he had to be patient. Dominic was a busy man, especially after Project Ultimate was revived after the creation of the Chaos Drives and eventually reworked into Project Shadow. He was almost always by Gerald's side, and if he knew that Kimera was going through the assimilation process, it would surely spell trouble. 

Regardless of all this, Kimera was able to eventually find all of the information on Dominic that he could find.

Firstly, “Dominic”, as Kimera had expected for quite a while, was not his real name. Their real name was Black Doom.

Secondly, Black Doom is the primary leader of the Black Arms, and is their patron god. That certainly explains the supernatural vibe Kimera got from him from time to time.

Thirdly, his wife that they would bring up from time to time is indeed real, and her name is Black Widow. From the little information Kimera could get on her, she reminds him a lot of his dear younger sister. Considering that the Black Arms are essentially the descendants and evolved forms of the Bloomians of which Kimera is, there may be a connection there.

Fourthly, Black Doom is apparently thousands of years old - in fact, he's nearly as old as Kimera is, if you put all his lives together as one. Whether or not this is the case for the other leaders of the Black Arms, such as Black Widow, is unknown.

Fifthly, despite how old Black Doom and possibly Black Widow are, they do not have any children of their own. They do help in the creation of many Black Arms, and apparently, Black Widow has a girlfriend who has an adopted daughter, but the two do not have their own child. This may be what motivated Doom to agree to help Gerald with Project Ultimate/Shadow.

Sixthly, and in addendum to the last point, after Shadow was completed and awakened, which was on the 19th of June, 1954 M.E, Doom very quickly assumed a fatherly role, which he's quite good at. It wasn't all that surprising, as they had been doing the same for Maria, as her parents were back on Aerth and never visited.

Seventhly, despite the blatant nature of Doom’s feelings for Gerald back in May 1953, there has been no noticeable progress in any sort of relationship with him. Maybe Kimera was right, after all…

But regardless, now Kimera has all of the information he had desired to have about Doom, and now he can get back to looking for his sister as he waits for the Black Arms assimilation to take him completely.

Or at least, that's what he thought. But then, one day, miraculously, after all this time, Kimera ran into Doom by complete accident like during the first few days they had known each other!

Or, more accurately, Doom ran into Kimera.

✏ ~ 1954 [Modern Era] > July 18th

It was bound to happen, and especially in the way that it did - as it had been in Gerald's office. Kimera had been once again looking around in Gerald's journal, now looking for if Gerald had documented anything about the Black Arms’ history - specifically, what had become of the Bloomians that had formed the group in the modern day, when he was caught off guard by that all too familiar dark voice.

“Gerald, I require your presence-” Doom had said as he entered the office, before cutting himself off when they saw Kimera. “Clark! What a pleasant surprise! ~”

It had been so long since Kimera had heard Doom's voice in a way that hadn't been from afar or in his dreams - and his face immediately began to burn up once again, as always. His feelings of love, with the added effect of his assimilation, began to cause Kimera to feel his reason and mind slip from him - but despite this, he did his best to pull himself together enough to be presentable.

“H-Hello!! Mister Barnett!!” Kimera stammered, his voice accidentally a bit louder than it needed to be as a sort of instinctual excitement tried to control him.

“Heh, has it really been so long since we last spoke that you have forgotten that we are on a first name basis? ~” Doom inquired, most certainly teasing Kimera on purpose as a smirk formed on their face. He knew, he had to know, didn't he? Kimera felt like he was once again the flustered mess he had been on the day that he had met Doom, but at the same time, he felt like the assimilation had already taken over the person he used to be. People had joked that Kimera was a “mad scientist” before, but now he truly was mad - and he couldn't possibly imagine a better feeling.

“Heheh… Hahaha- I guess s-so!!!” Kimera responded.

“Goodness me, since when were you so boisterous? Are you feeling alright, Clark?” Doom wondered. “Are you perhaps… sick?” 

“Why…. I think I am… ~” Kimera immediately answered, gazing into Doom’s beautifully vibrant eyes.

“Oh well isn't that just a shame?” Doom remarked, Kimera knowing innately that his usage of “shame” was not in the sense of what it usually meant. It was inverted in the code of chaos, made into its opposite meaning. “But anyways, what are you doing here, Clark? Are you too looking for Professor Gerald?” They then said, changing the subject now that he understood Kimera's current condition.

“Oh, no, I was just looking through his journal while he was gone!” Kimera replied without thought.

“Are you now? I wonder what sort of things you’ve read about in there!” Doom responded.

“Would you like me to tell you about it??” Kimera offered, the kindness of Doom’s voice beginning to set into his mind and make it clear to him that Doom was never angry at him in the first place, and had deeply missed his company - which only served to feed into Kimera’s ever growing maddened joy.

“I would simply adore that! But I am unfortunately a good bit busy today with Maria and Shadow on my hands…” Doom lamented. “Perhaps you can help me look for Gerald so that we may have some time together? ~”

“I-I would l-love th-that!! B-But G-Gerald i-is away, o-on Aerth!!” Kimera explained, being completely gutted that he couldn’t have the chance to spend time with Doom, but trying to hide it.

“Is that so? How unfortunate…” Doom sighed in disappointment. “Another day, then?”

“Yes!! Of course!!” Kimera exclaimed.

“Hmm… I forgot how much you in all the best ways remind me of my darling wife… ~” Doom stated, grasping Kimera’s hands. “You love so blatantly, it’s adorably charming. ~” Kimera felt his entire face feel like it went up in flames as the last of his sanity abandoned him, leaving him to be trapped in a lovestruck trance - though to say it was against his will would be to speak in falsehoods.

“If you say I remind you of her, then are you saying that you desire me in the same way you desire her? ~” Kimera muttered, sharing Doom’s tone of voice.

“My, I suppose that it does! ~ You’re very observant, Clark. ~” Doom replied, moving one of his hands away from holding Kimera’s so that they could cusp his cheek. “Maybe after you tell me about what you have been reading, we can discuss that matter as well? ~”

“If that is your wish, I will grant it. ~” Kimera answered.

“Of course you will. ~” Doom said, wrapping his hands around Kimera’s face entirely, appearing behind him now in a single moment. Being pulled into Doom’s chest by an embrace, Kimera leaned into the motion, and started fiddling with Doom’s tie.

“Maybe I can help you look after Shadow and Maria?” Kimera proposed.

“As much as I appreciate the help, I doubt Gerald would be too fond of you doing that while you’re so under the weather… I promise I will make it so that we meet again as soon as possible.” Doom answered, giving Kimera a peck on the cheek as they let him go from the embrace, and began to leave the office. “Until then, let us act as our own. ~” He instructed just as they were exiting through the door. A reminder to have patience, and for Kimera to not let the others on the ARK know of his assimilation, for his time to be made anew will come very, very soon.

Or so the both of them thought.

✏ ~ 1954 [Modern Era] > July 19th

Although he was still completely consumed by his love for Doom and his awaiting completion of assimilation, Kimera did his best to pull himself together enough to be presentable, as for he had been asked the night of when Kimera and Doom had ran into each other to join Gerald on Aerth the next morning to speak with some higher ups at G.U.N.

Nowadays, with how often Doom was on the ARK, he too has their own office room. It was not much, but it was enough for him. Kimera had never been inside of it, but he did know where on the ARK it was located - and thus, just before he had left the ARK, Kimera left a note in the mailbox next to the office letting Doom know that he wasn't going to be around until that night or even the next day depending on how things went. All throughout the day a part of Kimera would wonder if Doom had gotten the note and how they reacted to it.

But for the time that he was on Aerth, Kimera had to keep those feelings within him and to make sure that no word of them would ever spill out to Gerald nor the other G.U.N workers and agents that surrounded them as the two entered the headquarters of their West Eurish division.

Just before the meeting began, there was food made available to the workers to grab from and eat - that of which Kimera greatly enjoyed, as one of the more noticable effects of his assimilation was that his appetite seemed to grow massively - becoming near endless. Now, as much as Kimera tried to hide his ‘ailment’ from the others, his facade did slip just a little when it came to this specific metric. Without even thinking of it, Kimera grabbed a quite impressive amount of food, all of it including meat of some kind. The amount of food, and how quickly Kimera ate it all, was surprising enough to get a comment from Gerald, which at first made Kimera a bit nervous, becoming worried that he was failing to keep his cover. But nothing else was said about it or any other possible signs of assimilation afterwards.

Kimera wouldn't be able to recollect even a single bit of the meeting - not even the parts he contributed to, it was simply not where his mind resided. While everyone else had been talking about boring business stuff and speaking in buzzwords, all Kimera could think about was Black Doom, and the Black Arms in general.

As he thought more and more, Kimera began to wonder… What was next for him after all this? With the completion of his assimilation, Kimera was certain that he would also, finally, have closure as to what happened to his sister - whether that be reuniting with her, or getting to properly mourn her. So, what would he do after that? Looking for his sister had completely consumed his mind for thousands of years, it being his very reason for living. What other reason to live his new life as a Black Arms would he have? Eventually, he came to a conclusive answer. 

As the assimilation had ravaged through Kimera's mind and body, assimilation in and of itself had become intertwined with the vision of Doom that Kimera had in his mind, making it so that he had loved it just as much as he loved Doom. So why not show his love for it in the same way he showed his love for Doom? To research it, to know every part of it and how it works, to intricately document and study every step of the process - and to perhaps, with that understanding, even contribute to it and make it better, that would be Kimera's new purpose in life.

By the time that conclusion has come to him, the conclusion of the meeting followed shortly afterwards. Much to Kimera's pleasure, Gerald made it a point to get the two of them back to the ARK as soon as possible, as he felt terrible about leaving Maria and Shadow alone for two days in a row, despite the fact that it had been mandatory. Kimera did very much care about the two of them too, of course.

But his main priority was Doom.

According to the clocks on the ARK’s walls, it was already nighttime by the time that Gerald and Kimera got back aboard. While Gerald rushed right to Maria’s room to check up on her, Kimera decided that he would head back to his office to have a drink and settle down a bit before going to see Doom. That was his plan, anyway - which was a little thrown off when Kimera opened the door to his office and saw Doom inside.

But Doom wasn't just inside Kimera's office, doing nothing, no no.

Doom was reading Kimera's journal.

The sight startled Kimera, that's for certain. Even though his loyalty to Doom was unshakable by this point, and the slight bit of hivemind connection that had surely formed by this point in the assimilation process most likely already starting to drip-feed Doom some of the information in his journal anyway, Kimera certainly wasn't ready to be faced with the idea that Doom would know everything about him so soon.

“Hello Clark… or should I say Kimera. ~” The way Kimera's real name sounded in Doom’s beautifully dark voice sent a shiver through Kimera that reached into his brain and broke it into pieces, instantaneously putting him at ease - and at the mercy of Doom’s whims.

“I can't help but… wonder what sort of things you’ve read about in there… ~” Kimera muttered in response, echoing the words Doom had said to him yesterday.

“Heheh… ~ Would you like me to tell you? ~” Doom asked Kimera, also borrowing what had been said yesterday as he closed in on Kimera, one of their hands holding his while the other was cusping his face.

“I would simply adore that… ~” Kimera replied, taking advantage of the fact that one of his hands were still free, and used it to cusp Doom’s face as well, pulling the both of them closer to one another.

“Then that is what we will do… ~” Doom said. “But first… I can tell that there is a… hunger in your heart… ~” He added seductively, pulling Kimera’s face even closer to theirs. 

“There is… and I know that you hold the same craving, my Lord… ~” Kimera responded, just as seductively just before taking the initiative and locking lips with Doom.

“How… Wonderfully observant of you… ~” Doom’s voice echoed into Kimera's mind, a telepathic message of approval and pleasure.

And thus, the two became one in a way very much different from assimilation - and yet, at the same time, very similar. Their bodies, both incredibly warm, were pressed up against each other as their tastes melded together into a singularity within their interlinked mouths, and their minds both only having a single, shared thought within them - the thought of just how much they loved each other, with everything else fading into nothingness. 

After a few minutes, the two finally separated again, both of them attempting to put themselves back together again as their shared saliva still dropped slightly from the side of both of their mouths, and their faces were both burning with passion.

“Hah… Hahah… You… You even taste just like she does…!” Doom mumbled, sounding amazed.

“Y… Your wife…?” Kimera wondered.

“... Your sister…” Doom revealed. Kimera was completely stunned, and unsure of what to say. Doom knew his sister??? Doom has kissed his sister??? 

“My… s-sister…??” Kimera eventually sputtered out. “You know my sister???” He asked, his eyes beginning to be flooded by tears of joy.

“Of course I do…! Kimera, oh how I wish I had known your true self sooner…! Your sister… She is my wife, and she misses you so dearly…!” Doom told him, causing the tears of joy streaming down Kimera’s face to turn into full on waterfalls. The puzzle that Kimera had been trying to solve for so many years was finally complete, and at the end of it all, his darling sister is still alive and well, awaiting his return. Kimera wanted to push aside all of the other plans Doom and him had made, he wanted to beg Doom to take him to their home, he wanted to be able to run into his sister's arms and hug her like he once had, and get to see the adult woman she had grown into, living a dream she had always had.

But before Kimera got to voice any of that, he was suddenly blinded by a very bright light - a light he knew, and dreaded, all too well.

The gods had found him, and at the worst of times.

—

Because the gods had desired to keep the truth of what had become of his sister a secret to Kimera, whenever they would notice that he had left the Pantheon's Plane to search for her, they would force him back - bringing an end to that life. This has seemingly occurred again, and Kimera couldn't possibly be any angrier about it.

“No no no NO!!!! I WAS SO CLOSE!!!” He hollered out, refusing to open his eyes. He knew that not opening them wouldn't do anything to change his current situation, but he didn't want to see the Pantheon's Plane, or any of the gods that weren't Doom. He just wanted to be back on the ARK with Doom. But he knew he wasn't, and thus the tears that were still in his eyes from the joy that he had felt just moments ago became tears of sorrow.

“That is precisely the reason why you're here again.” Solaris’ voice bellowed out, much to Kimera's despair.

“U-uhm, sir…? A-are you sure this is a good i-idea?” And of course, Light Gaia’s stuttery voice followed soon after.

“What are you implying?” Solaris responded to Light Gaia, very clearly disapproving of his hesitation.

“L-look at his eyes, sir! Look at his soul! H-He’s already too far gone!!” Light Gaia sheepishly explained himself. 

Against Kimera's wishes, Solaris forced his eyes open - all four of them.

“Tch… I suppose you are right. But that only makes it more clear that we must make sure he never gets out again!” Solaris said.

“B-But-!” Light Gaia tried to protest, but Solaris stopped him.

“Can it! We may have failed to preserve his purity, but Moonshine would want us to make sure that devil doesn't get to have another mortal to puppet around!!” 

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF HIM IN SUCH A WAY?!” Kimera suddenly shouted, attacking Solaris in an outburst of uncontrollable rage. Solaris pushed him off of him rather easily, causing Kimera’s head to hit a wall, drastically cutting into his stamina.

“That does it! To the Master Emerald with you!” Solaris commanded, Light Gaia following as directed as he flew over to and grabbed Kimera.

“Nothing you do will ever undo what he has made of me…” Kimera spoke weakly, but despite his weakness, he had a wicked grin on his face. He knew the words he spoke were the truth, and he knew that Solaris couldn't do anything about it, and he took immense pleasure in that fact. “And even then, I will find a way out again. And when that happens… I will make sure you ALL regret this day. ~” He promised, cackling with the utmost madness as he was dragged away, knowing just how much it angered Solaris to hear.

✏ ~ 2008 [Modern Era] > February 21st

In the time since that day, Kimera had quickly become bored at best and tortured at worst by the day to day of being trapped in the Master Emerald, yearning for nothing more than to be with his brethren again - to be with the ones he loved. So, instead of being awake to endure such torture, Kimera resigned himself to being asleep the majority of the time, allowing himself to become lost in his dreams.

From time to time, especially recently, the Master Emerald would become damaged or broken, freeing Kimera from his prison - but he would be quickly taken to the Pantheon’s Plane by Light Gaia, Chaos - the goddess that lived in the Emerald, and Chaos’ attendant spirit Tikal, in order to make sure he wouldn't be going anywhere while the Master Emerald was being repaired.

One day, the Master Emerald was shattered once again, and Kimera anticipated the same thing to happen as all the times before. But as his spirit stood in the cross hairs of a conflict taking place in a part of Angel Island that he didn't recognize very much, nothing happened to it. No sign of Light Gaia, or Chaos, or even Tikal, it seemed.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Emphasis on it seemed. Tikal's voice suddenly rang out, and made Kimera jump slightly.

“The gods… Aren't they going to try to hold me back from running away? From reincarnating and locating my sister and our people?” Kimera asked, confused.

“Light Gaia… Has lost his memory, and is currently trying to resolve the Shattered World Crisis with the Chaotix. Chaos, on the other hand, left the Emerald when the world started splitting apart.” Tikal explained, at least half of the words she was saying being utterly meaningless to Kimera, as he had no idea what she was talking about. “... Look, what I am trying to say here is… Go. Go find her. Before it's too late to.”

“... ‘Before it's too late to’?” Kimera echoed.

“She's on this planet, and alive. But with how things are going, she might not stay that way for much longer. So please, just go.” Tikal answered vaguely before disappearing.

Kimera wished to heed her advice, but as he thought of just where to start looking, he became captivated by the scene going on in front of him.

“... And as for YOU. GET. OFF. MY. ISLAND. Before I do the same thing I did to the Master Emerald to you!!” The Master Emerald’s current guardian, Knuckles Guardlander demanded of an individual completely unknown to Kimera, gripping the chest area of their outfit - or at least until they forced his hand off of them.

“Oh, I will gladly do so, as soon as YOU get your hands off of my robe! It's been dirtied quite enough by the rest of you Aerthling scum, and I certainly don't need your filth on top of all that!” The individual sneered, motioning a group of four strange creatures to surround them as they all started to hobble their way to a G.U.N branded aircraft.

“Uhm?? Hello?? Are we really just going to let them have our ride home??” A bat mobian woman said incredulously to… SHADOW??? 

Kimera definitely recognized the purplish-black and red hedgehog by the woman's side as Shadow, though it looked a bit more alien-like than he had remembered. Either way, its presence definitely gave him some whiplash. Though, it seemed that the legacy carried on and now it was working for G.U.N like Gerald once had.

“I've had enough for today.” It said to the woman before teleporting away, leaving her to silently rage to herself.

Once Shadow was gone from the scene, Kimera couldn't help but to follow the individual that Knuckles had been yelling at, becoming fascinated with them - though in a bit of a different way than he had been fascinated by Doom all those years ago.

Looking at the individual, and getting a momentary glance into their vibrantly golden irises, their glow very noticeable with the backdrop of their pitch black sclera, separated by a marking of some kind on the bridge of their nose that resembled that of an eclipse, Kimera saw himself in the individual - though he didn't quite know why. Even though he didn't even know this person’s name, he could feel a sort of kinship with them. It was a shame that as a spirit, they were not able to see him. There was also a part of him that wondered why this person was seemingly fighting against G.U.N, but that thought wasn't as prominent in his mind.

Kimera would watch as the individual took flight with the G.U.N aircraft and flew away, considering in his mind if he wanted to follow where it went.

But remembering what Tikal had said to him, he decided to go the opposite way and begin to search for his sister once again, a new form already in mind for when he would reach the mainland - inspired by the kinship he had felt with that mysterious person, hoping one day that they would cross paths again.

[drrogerjou]

Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (CASY, ethnography project led by Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes) warmly welcomes special guest speaker from Australia, Angela Seran Blue Aerth. She will be sharing how her personal and professional experiences intertwined to form "Neurodiversity in Practice: Multi-Modality Holistic Therapies." Come join us online Thursday, April 17, 7-8pm EDT (4-5pm PDT). For participants in Australia, that's Friday, April 18, 9-10am AEST. There is no cost to attend, and international participants are welcome. For this and future events, RSVP by joining our free Meetup group online at https://tinyurl.com/583f64n6

MESAGE FROM OUR GUEST SPEAKER:

"Neurodiverse?

Who me?

But...I was ‘just like’ my friends and family.

The world was a bit of a weird place but my place in space was clearly stable.

After two of my teenage children and then one by one over time...EIGHT of my friends were all diagnosed as “Neurodiverse” either Autistic or ADHD or Au/ADHD...I did start to take notice.

Like a mouse suspiciously sniffing the cheese from a safe space I also eventually ventured out to ‘be tested.”

After me, several more friends also crept out curiously, eventually bringing the count up to 13 and rising.

Apparently, we run in packs.

Diagnosed with ADHD combined in mid-2024, I felt like my younger son when he commented after his diagnosis of Autism “I'm not broken! I’m just Autistic, now it all makes sense.”

By the end of 2024, empowered by my new identity, I resigned from a workplace which did not serve me well and took an enormous leap of faith – eyes closed out into the Abyss...to launch a new small business “Cloud House Therapies.”

People talk about ‘adapting’ therapy to suit Neurodiversity, but I'm just doing what I ‘know’ in my core is the way to approach the healing, growth and development of a being….through the whole self.

Body, Mind and Spirit.

Affect one, affect all.

Our Thoughts, Feelings and Actions interrelated and connected.

With a background of Psychology and Counselling, I am also a Fitness Professional and Massage therapist, I have completed a Diploma of Art Therapy and studied and practised mindfulness and meditation for many years."

ABOUT Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (CASY): An 'ethnography' is an exploration of how a group of people express themselves in a cultural way. Autistic people have a growing kind of culture, and each autistic experience is a vital part of it. Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes is an anthropologist, ethnographer, primatologist, and author who is autistic. Join her for an exploration of the importance of autistic self-expression and the culture that grows from it. Those who wish to share their content are free to do so on our private Facebook groups (see below), organically contributing to a growing autistic culture.

Links to online events will also be shared on these private Facebook groups: CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale http://tinyurl.com/4ckbyut7 (recommended for autistic adults) and SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY FOR AUTISM http://tinyurl.com/mrxnxmnc (recommended for allies, professionals, and family members).

CREDITS: The preparation of this material was financed under an agreement with the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities (CTCDD). CASY Sparks membership and events are free. CASY Sparks is sponsored in part by The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Adult Autism Research Fund, a generous gift from the Rosen family, and the research of Dr. Roger Jou https://www.youtube.com/c/DrRogerJou

[lonelyegoism]

thought id forgotten abt you, lemy abelard knockoff? think again

[the-era-of-shadow]

Love & Conflict

Written by Ash Rose Cover Art by Ash Rose

Original publish date:

(Amino & AO3) June 11th 2021

Tails rushed into the house they shared with Sonic and Amy with an excited grin on their face. 

"Excited to finally get some shut eye? I sure am…" Sonic said to Tails, yawning.

"I'll go to sleep soon! I just wanna tell Cosmo about everything that just happened first! I bet she'll think that it was as cool as I think it was!" Tails explained.

"Yeah… Mys. Shadow is pretty cool…" Amy added tiredly, rubbing her eyes as she spoke.

"Don't stay up too late now bud." Sonic advised Tails. Tails smiled and assured him that they would be asleep in 30 minutes as they rushed to their room.

Once Tails made it to their room, they shut the door behind them, hoping that it would block the noise from Sonic and Amy as they tried to sleep. Once that was done, Tails fished out their communication device that they use to talk to Cosmo, and dialed up her number.

Tails and Cosmo had met the year before when Cosmo's spacecraft had crashed into Aerth, right near the home Tails was in at this very moment. They looked outside and saw the large hole that still remained from that crash landing, and smiled, remembering the few months Cosmo stayed with them while they helped repair her spaceship. 

The two had bonded quickly, having a shared interest in mechanics. Tails had offered Cosmo a bit of a tour around what they knew of Aerth, hoping that one day, the two of them would be able to travel the entirety of the planet, and perhaps, even go beyond together. 

Tails remembered that Cosmo was especially interested in Amy and Shadow out of the friends that they introduced her to, and it was that memory that made Tails as excited as they were, predicting that Cosmo would be amazed by Shadow's heroism.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Cosmo picked up the call, seeming as if Tails calling her had awoken her.

"Hey Cosmo!!" 

"... Hey Tails. Why are you calling me at such an hour…?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"The coolest thing just happened!! It involves Shadow~!" The mention of Shadow caught Cosmo's attention.

"Is that so? What happened?" 

Tails began to excitedly explain to her the events of the day before, how Aerth had been invaded by the infamous Black Arms, and how a lot of property was destroyed, and a lot of people died. But, then Tails described how the Freedom Fighters fought against the Black Arms, including the fact that Tails helped stop them from assassinating the president of the United Nations, and how in the end, Shadow used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to kill the leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom. 

"... So yeah, I've had an interesting start to my week!" Tails said as they finished off their retelling. They looked back at the screen of their communicator, expecting a look of amazement on Cosmo's face, but instead, the look on her face was one of horror. 

At first, Tails took this as her being worried about their safety, to which they assured her that they were completely fine, but then Cosmo started to cry, and closed the call before Tails could ask her why. 

As Tails tried to call Cosmo again, they were interrupted by an incoming call from their father.

"Miles! I know I haven't been able to keep in contact with you for a while, but I heard that Aerth was just attacked--!" 

"You're a bit behind on things, aren't you? We were attacked by the Black Arms yesterday, but we managed to get rid of them thanks to Shadow and the Chaos Emeralds!" Tails explained. "Also, I don't really like going by Miles anymore, just call me Tails." 

"... I see. By the way, did you say "Shadow"? As in… Project Shadow? The project headed by Gerald Robotnik to create the ultimate life?" 

"Yeah. Shadow sure is something, aren't they?" 

"... I suppose they are." Tails' father sighed, just happy to hear that his child was safe and sound.

"Mmm… you know space things, right?" Tails asked.

"I do! Why do you ask?" Their father responded. 

"Ah… Last year I met this Seedrian girl named Cosmo, and we've been talking a lot ever since, I think we're dating now? Anyway, right before you called I told her about how we fought against those black aliens and how Shadow killed their leader but after I told her she got really upset and hung up on me! I bet she's just worried about me, but I did try to tell her that I'm not injured or anything--!" 

"Did she not tell you about the history of the Seedrians?" Tails' father asked them.

"No, not really. All she told me is that her home planet is called Green Gate, and that it was established about 100 or so years ago…" Tails admitted, causing their father to groan slightly.

"Then I'll tell you." 

Six years later….

As the sunlight of dawn began to show itself behind the clouds and distant trees, a soft breeze blew into the ajar windows of the Sky Patrol. The sunlight and breeze met at a tie in the room of Tails Prower, picking up speed to jolt them awake, but the sound of a call coming in on their communicator beat them to it.

Rubbing their eyes in confusion, Tails picked up to see who it was that was calling them. It was their girlfriend, Cosmo.

 

Over the six and a half years that the two had been together, Tails and Cosmo's love for each other always managed to stay strong despite the conflict the two of them would have from time to time. It all started that night, the night when Shadow killed Black Doom. Tails had learned of the Seedrian's history, which from the very beginning had quite the involvement with the Black Arms, they were angry that Cosmo hid this from them, but they also had hope for her. They had hoped that they could pull Cosmo out of the "Roots" of the Seedrians, and thus reveal her as the good person Tails knew she was deep down. 

But things have changed since then.

The people around Tails have changed.

Shadow the Hedgehog, held up by the public as just as much of a hero as Sonic, the proof to Tails that they could change Cosmo for the better, ended up falling back into the Black Arms hivemind, and became much more intertwined than ever before.

Because of this, Sonic has become cynical and distrustful of anyone associated with the Black Arms in any way.

But there still is one last hope, and that hope has come in the form of one Amy Rose. 

Two years younger than Tails, and completely unaware of being half Black Arms until just last week, Amy has already managed to blow Tails away with how steadfast she is on staying loyal to the friends she's made and to the world that she's lived in for nearly a decade. Amy's made it clear to everyone that she won't let her genetics define who she is, nor will she let her past identity of "Sonic's obsessive fangirl" define who she is either. Some are skeptical about Amy's loyalty in the fallout of Shadow's relapsing, but Tails believes in her. 

Tails had a feeling that Cosmo was calling about Amy, and that made them excited.

Excited that this may be what sets Cosmo free…

As weird as that may sound.

"Tailsy!! Hi!" Cosmo greeted them excitedly.

"Hey Cosmo..! Good morning." Tails responded. "I assume you're calling me to talk about the Amy situation?" They added, getting straight to the point.

"Ah Tailsy, you know me so well~!" Cosmo answered with a giggle. 

"I'm surprised that it took you as long as you did to do so…!" Tails admitted.

"Hmph! I'm a busy woman, you know! With the rebuilding of the damage the Metarex did finally out of the way--" 

"Wait, you JUST got finished with repairs?! Didn't the Metarex attack you guys like… really soon after we had met?" 

"I blame our lack of direction… We still don't have a new Prime Minister." Cosmo explained.

"Ah, I see." Tails said. "What did you wanna talk to me about as far as Amy goes, anyway?" 

"Well, I got word that she should be getting a letter from her half brother -- he wasn't sure if Amy would've been able to hear him through the hivemind. I wanted to ask you if any of you had checked the mailbox today-" Cosmo began to explain, before being interrupted by the creaking sound of Tails's bedroom door being opened.

"Are you talking about me to someone..?" Amy asked Tails in a tired, but concerned tone.

"Well -- Amy - You see -!" 

"Amy!! It's been so long since I've seen you!" Cosmo said excitedly, which caused Amy to get just as excited.

"Is that Cosmo?! Oh my Chaos! It's been so long since I've seen you too!! How are you??" Amy responded, getting next to Tails in order to see Cosmo.

"I'm well, and very busy… I've only really been able to keep in contact with Tails with everything that's been going on here…" Cosmo explained to Amy.

"I understand! I've been pretty busy myself, especially recently…" 

"Oh. Would you be too busy then to maybe check your mailbox? A friend of mine sent a letter your way, Amy." 

"Oh, not at all! I'd love to see what your friend wrote for me!" Amy then began to make her way out of Tails's room, before stopping herself as a thought came to mind. "You should visit us again sometime! Things have changed a lot since your last visit, but I think that everyone would appreciate seeing you again. Might raise their spirits, ya know?" 

"I'd love to visit Aerth again… This time intentionally. I'll think about it and see if I have the time." Cosmo responded sweetly, smiling to Amy. Amy smiled back and left the room.

"What's this letter even about, anyway?" Tails questioned.

"You'll find out soon~!" Cosmo answered vaguely, giving them a wink before suddenly ending the call.

"... She sure is a sneaky one, isn't she?" 

[lonelyegoism]

the deathgods of projectaerthe feat. the official deathgod uniform -skirt ver.-

[lonelyegoism]

the 3 main teachers of the academy, Pandora, Soleil and Selene

pandora is the peacekeeper of the trio, a badass 71 y/o who lost her arm and her life in a war that devastated most of the world. in her dying moments, she claimed to have heard the voice of a god who offered her a position in the ARK-A, and leads the shinigami in the unending war against the daemons

not much is known about soleil, even to the all-knowing Epica, but pandora took him under her wing after witnessing a ‘tragic miracle’ that took his life. soleil is forever at odds with selene due to her ‘string-cutter’ reaper, which he perceives as a threat to his fate-based reaper, ‘deus ex’

selene was a young girl brought up amidst war and bloodshed, and died protecting her mother from enemy soldiers. pandora picked her out from thousands of other child-war victims due to her ‘tragic eyes’. her ‘string-cutter’ reaper can slice through all strings, even the strings of fate

[lonelyegoism]

“Eeeee~ I wonder what today’s mission is going to be~”

resident airhead, three-nine! (or thirtynine, or sankyu, whatever) the other in-trainings don’t know much about him, except for reven. his human name was tori, and his reaper is a pair of hovering(?) bracelets that can transform into bladed pinwheels/knuckles