Path to the Apocalypse

After making sure Beatrice was on the right path cultivation wise, Obanonos retreated into her Runescape to give them some privacy. He'd been slightly surprised that they already knew about Rune Advancement, though he was more excited about the fact that the system could increase Capacity, allowing Beatrice to start with Rune Advancement immediately. Usually they had to Assimilate a Rune first, to cultivate enough to increase their Capacity before they could pursue Rune Advancement. He also hadn't been excited to learn that Beatrice's first Rune was Clean, but Beatrice wouldn't budge in her determination to focus on Runes that would allow her to support Victoria. Obanonos was frustrated, but Beatrice seemed to be his weakness, and once she dug in her heels, he had to relent.

"So… you want to talk about it?" Victoria asked, wrapping an arm around Beatrice and pulling her close. She'd had a lot dumped on her today.

Beatrice sighed as she rested her head on Victoria's shoulder. "I just… I don't know. This whole thing is just so weird! I'm the reincarnation of some powerful Cultivator? It isn't that I don't trust Obanonos, it's just- what does that make me?"

"It doesn't make you anything." Victoria replied firmly. "You are who you are, and nothing is going to change that unless you want it to. This is just… a neat fact. Like the fact I used to be a guy named Thomas before all this."

Beatrice blinked. "Huh… wait, does this mean we've both been men before?!?"

"From the sound of it, it looks like everyone has been a lot of things before." Victoria commented, frowning slightly. "Freaking reincarnation… who'd have thought? Though… if you don't remember your past life, I'm not sure how much it actually counts… considering it has to have little to no effect on who you are now, you know? Like, I remember being a dude, so I can make decisions based on that, but you don't, so you really can't." Victoria paused. "Though… if you really wanted to try being a man, we could make that happen."

Beatrice flushed. "If- if you wanted to…"

Victoria pulled away slightly, giving Beatrice a surprised look. “Wait, really?”

Beatrice wiggled in embarrassment. "I- I wouldn't mind giving it a try? Just- for a night? Maybe- maybe tonight?”

Victoria's eyes widened as she got what Beatrice meant. “Oh, you mean- Oh…” She paused. “Are- are you sure? I- just kind of majority violated your privacy…”

Beatrice hesitated. “It- it was weird, but… I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Not on purpose… I- I don't mind if you look inside my mind every now and then.”

Victoria frowned. “Beatrice… you- you know you can be angry with me, right? You don't have to be okay with everything I do. I'm not going to leave just because you set some very appropriate boundaries, like staying outside your mind!”

Beatrice blinked. “I- okay? But I'm really okay with this. I trust you.”

Victoria eyed her suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “Do you want to look in my mind and see?”

Victoria sighed. “No. I trust you. I just- it's hard to believe you'd just be okay with it…”

“It- helps that you already know all my deepest, darkest secrets.” Beatrice muttered. “What more do I have to hide from you?”

“That's- fair.” Victoria agreed. “I suppose it doesn't particularly matter if you have nothing to hide… Damn, I almost wish I could let you into my head now, but I don't even know how I got in yours.”

Beatrice smiled, cuddling closer to her. “So… tonight?”

Victoria smiled back. “Yeah, tonight. Let's make a date out of it. Our first official one, huh?”

Beatrice flushed. “That- that sounds nice.”

Victoria grinned. “Then it's a date.”

*

"The Duke's men arrived this morning." Albert commented blandly as he and Victoria rested between spars.

Victoria paused. "Oh… is- is there anything I need to do or be aware of?"

Albert shook his head. "No, your part in all this is simply to focus on your cultivation."

Victoria nodded slowly. "Then… Do you want to talk about it?"

Albert sighed. "These are good men. Brave soldiers simply fighting to protect their land, their people… Their only crime is being too weak and having nothing to offer to save themselves. A position we would be in without you, without the strange twist of fate that connected you with this system during your Awakening…"

Victoria frowned. "I don't like it either, but what choice do we have? We're too weak to stop the Hidden Blades. Our choices are either to save ourselves or die with them."

"I know." Albert groaned. "I have come to terms with what needs to be done, but… it doesn't make it easy!"

"I don't think it should be easy." Victoria replied. "If it was… well, we'd be monsters."

Albert blinked. "That… is a good point." He paused for a moment, before shaking his head. "I just wish we had some other option."

Victoria sighed. "Yeah, me too. But unless you know some way to get strong enough to defeat the Hidden Blades within the next few months, we're screwed."

"There's no solution your system could provide?" Albert asked, a hint of desperation in his tone.

Victoria shook her head. "The system can't make something from nothing. If we worked ourselves to the bone, we might be able to take all our guards to the first or second stage of Core Strengthening, but… I don't think that would help much."

Albert frowned. "No… that Elder could probably handle such a force on her own."

Victoria sighed. "So we're back to square one. Go through with the deal with the Hidden Blades, or die."

Albert's frown deepened. "Indeed."

*

"Victoria? Are you okay?" Beatrice asked hesitantly. The two of them were in Victoria's room, eating a small meal by candlelight. However, Victoria had just been picking absently at her food, not seeming very present.

"I'm fine, it's just… something I talked about with my father earlier." Victoria sighed. "This whole situation with the Hidden Blades… it just sucks." She paused, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be focusing on this right now. This is our first official date! I should be focusing on you."

"But… aren't dates for talking to each other? About what's going on in our lives?" Beatrice asked hesitantly. "This is what you're going through… I want to talk about it with you."

Victoria shook her head again. "There really isn't much to talk about… you know what the situation is, you know why it sucks, and you know there's nothing we can do about it. It's just… depressing. Not really good to talk about."

Beatrice's expression twisted. "I guess… maybe it'd be better to focus on the good? The fact that you're saving so many people?"

Victoria sighed. "I suppose… everyone who's dying would have died anyway. The only thing we did was make sure some people wouldn't die. Which… is good? Still, there's the fact that so many more are going to die…"

"Victoria…" Beatrice chided her.

"Sorry, sorry." Victoria shook her head. "Let's see… as long as we survive, we can continue to get stronger… which means, we can try to prevent things like this from happening again. Try to create something stable so that people don't need to claw for power just to make sure they can live their life the way they want to."

Beatrice nodded slowly. "Okay… but how?"

Victoria frowned. "Well… I think the foundation would be the system. If everyone had access to something that could ensure they stay in perfect health, eliminating the need for food and water, just by performing a few exercises, then a lot of problems would be solved. The skill page would help too, letting everyone pursue what they're passionate about… the issue would be Awakening. People would still Awaken naturally, which is fine, but if everyone Awakened, then the balance of the world might be broken, which would be bad. So… how do you decide who gets to Awaken?"

Beatrice considered the question for a moment. "You could give each noble an allotment based on rank?"

Victoria frowned. "I was thinking we wouldn't have nobles…"

"But then who would run the nation?" Beatrice asked hesitantly.

"The people. Or at least, their representatives. The people would choose who they want to be in charge by voting, and whoever they picked would deal with making sure the country runs smoothly. And then, if people think the guy they chose has been doing a bad job, in a few years they do it again, and they can pick someone else." Victoria explained.

Beatrice frowned. "That- that just sounds chaotic."

"No, it's really-" Victoria paused as she remembered the politics from Earth. "Okay, no, it is chaotic, but it's also the best way to make sure the most people's interests are considered. A noble only has to consider the people enough to make sure they won't rebel. A politician has to consider the interests of enough people to make sure he keeps getting elected. Ideally, at least… that process always seemed to get fucked up somewhere.”

Beatrice hesitated. "I- I guess…"

Victoria shook her head. "We can figure out the details of how the government is going to work later. It's definitely something that's going to take a lot of long, detailed talks with a bunch of people to get right, not something we're going to just 'solve' over a meal. I just don't think the nobility system is the one that's going to work the best." She paused. "As for Awakening… the question becomes, should we make people earn it, or do we do a lottery or something? The lottery is probably the most fair, but… should Awakening be fair? Randomly giving people power for no reason is kinda the system we already have and look how that's turned out. Just a bunch of assholes killing people for power. Then again… would earning it be any better? Shit, it might be worse. People who pursue power tend to do it for the wrong reasons…"

Victoria's expression twisted as her mind went in circles. The ultimate problem was that cultivation itself encouraged the production of powerful assholes. You had to work to be powerful, and who would put in that work for no reason? Who would spend all their time working to make other people's lives better? She knew they were out there, but they were rare. She wasn't even sure if she could count herself among them. She didn't want power to abuse other people, but she didn't want to serve them either. She just wanted to be able to protect herself and the things she cared about. Other than that… if it was easy, she'd do it, but she'd never been much for self-sacrifice. Not for people she didn't even know.

Should they Awaken anyone then? If cultivation was a problem, then just get rid of it, right? Except… They needed Cultivators. Rune Beasts weren't going away, and without Cultivators, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Even without the Rune Beasts, people would still Awaken randomly, and if they just let them do whatever they wanted… things would probably just turn back into this mess. So they needed to Awaken people, but they needed to Awaken good people, who would be motivated to become stronger to protect others. Or at least, decent enough to not abuse people. The question was how to actually determine whether someone was good or not. Victoria sighed, shaking her head. Yet another thing she'd need to talk to people about before she decided anything. "Fucking… fixing the world is hard." Victoria grumbled.

Beatrice hesitated. "Why- why do you need to fix the world?"

Victoria blinked. "Because I can? Or at least, I think I can… the system has the potential to fix a lot of problems, you know? It just feels wrong to not when it's so easy to spread it around."

"I suppose… but… you can spread the system without worrying about what people do with it, right? You can't- you can't control what other people do… you can give them the tools to make their lives better, but you can't force them to actually do it. Putting that burden on yourself… I-I don't think it's healthy." Beatrice responded tentatively.

Victoria frowned, before shaking her head and sighing. "You're probably right, but… I don't know. It isn't so much about making people live better lives, I guess, it's just… I don't want to make things worse. I don't want to put the system out there for people to abuse. If things stay kinda crappy, that's- well, no, that would still kinda suck, but that's life, you know? But if somehow the system starts ruining people's lives because I didn't think about some unintended consequence… that's a problem. Like the Capacity thing for Rune Advancement… I don't want to get someone killed just because I didn't think of something."

Beatrice slowly nodded in understanding. "Then… Why not just stick to the things you know are beneficial? Like the recovery button. Just… leave it at that. I can't see how people would abuse being able to sustain themselves with just points…"

Victoria snorted. "Oh, there are ways. When you don't need to worry about feeding your army, it's a lot easier to go to war. That's essentially the premise of our deal with the Hidden Blades. Subsequently, that destabilizes the relationship between noble and commoner, since if the noble doesn't need food to feed their army, and the commoner doesn't need food to survive the winter, how much do the two actually need each other? I guess people would keep growing food for the taste… but it'd turn into more of a specialty thing. You wouldn't see people farming for a living, they'd only do it for fun. So many people who would simply no longer need to work… What would that do to society? To the economy? Would it be better? Or worse? I just… I don't know! On the surface it seems like a good thing, right? But who knows what hidden dangers lurk underneath?"

Beatrice frowned. "That- it would really affect that much? It- it's just food, isn't it?"

"Food is like half- ninety- eighty? percent of what we do. Three meals a day, deserts, snacks, farming, ranching, hunting, cooking… all food." Victoria shrugged.

Beatrice paused, thinking about how many things involved food, even just in the castle. How many people would be out of work if food suddenly wasn't a thing… "Oh… then… if anything you do will cause problems, why do it?"

"Because any time things change, there are going to be problems. Things will need to adjust, and the adjustment can leave people lost and confused, sometimes even hurt. However, that doesn't mean the change doesn't need to be made. If you never change, you never develop, and things will never get better… I'm just not sure if the change brought by the system will be better. It definitely could be, but… it could also not be. Like what if the people in power just decide to kill all the commoners because they no longer need them to make food?" Victoria replied. "I mean, I don't think it's likely, but it's possible. People can be crazy sometimes, and if they see the masses as dangerous for some reason… ugh, it's just so complicated." Victoria groaned, rubbing her temple.

"Then…" Beatrice began, before trailing off, clearly having no idea what to say next.

Victoria glanced at her, smiling lightly. "It's okay, you don't need to find a solution. I'm not sure there is a solution, not really… we kinda just have to try it and see what happens. Plus, once the system gets out… it's out. It spreads like a virus, and once it does… I kinda have to turn it all off or leave it all on. The sheer amount of people precludes making individual decisions for everyone." She shook her head. "Okay, enough about me. Talked to death and way too depressing. What's up with you? How was your day? Have you talked any more with Obanonos?"

Beatrice's eyes widened. "Yes! I- he- he told me what he was! He's not- uh, he- hmmm… okay, basically, when you fully Advance your Rune, it gains an Avatar. Basic Rune Avatars are like tools, Dual Rune Avatars are like animals, and Tri Rune Avatars are actually sentient! Obanonos is the Avatar of the Tri Rune Reincarnation, which his original master comprehended, binding him to all their future lives. Oh, and also, Avatars are given form by energy, so as my cultivation increases, I can feed Obanonos more energy to help him get bigger, and the bigger he is, the more helpful he'll be. Once he's big enough, he'll even be able to fly while carrying me!"

Victoria's eyebrows rose appreciatively as Beatrice explained, nodding slowly. She had been wondering what the whole deal was with Obanonos being the Avatar of Reincarnation. Obviously he wasn't a god or anything, which is where her mind usually went when she thought of Avatars, so what did he mean by it? But Rune Avatars, huh? That was interesting. She was in the middle of wondering what kind of Avatars her Runes would produce, when Beatrice made her final comment and she froze, before smirking slightly. "So you're excited to ride the big snake, huh?"

Beatrice nodded excitedly. "Yeah! And once he gets even bigger he can take both of us! We could go anywhere!"

"You want me to ride your big snake?" Victoria asked, her smirk widening as she raised an eyebrow at Beatrice.

Beatrice hesitated, noticing that Victoria was acting sort of weird. "I- if- if you want to?"

Victoria snorted, shaking her head. "Man, I have got to teach you about innuendo."

"Innuend-" Beatrice began, before suddenly flushing brightly as she got what Victoria had been hinting at. "Oh."

Victoria nodded, not noticing Beatrice's shift as she focused on her food for a moment. "Innuendo, right. It's basically using euphemisms to hint at something more… sexual than it would appear on the surface. Like, for example, when talking about riding snakes, riding is a euphemism for sex, while snake is a euphemism for dick. So when you said you wanted me to ride your snake… well, you can probably connect the dots from there."

By this point, Beatrice's flush had spread all across her face and even a bit down her neck. What made it worse was that she knew what innuendo was! She just… hadn't thought of it. Suddenly, she had a thought, and her expression shifted as she smiled slightly. "Then… I didn't hear you say you didn't want to ride my big snake~" She murmured slowly.

Victoria froze, coughing slightly as she choked a bit on her food. "I- no, but…" She stammered, before pausing and narrowing her eyes at Beatrice. "Ah. Well, I suppose I didn't, did I?" She slowly smirked. "But didn't you say your snake still needs to grow?"

Beatrice bit her lip. "It does… but if you feed it energy… I think- I think it could be big enough to ride tonight?"

"How much energy do you think it needs?" Victoria asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"How much snake do you want?" Beatrice replied, flushing nervously.

Victoria hesitated at that, not actually sure how to answer. "Well… let's feed it just a little to start. Then… we can always give it more."

*

Victoria cuddled with Beatrice after a long night of experimentation. "I've come to a conclusion…" She muttered. "No matter how you do it, sex is just an enjoyable experience. Would recommend. That, or I'm just a freak."

"Yeah…" Beatrice agreed hesitantly.

Victoria frowned. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" She'd moved her points outside her body, but her cultivation still made her way stronger than normal. She'd tried to be careful, but… well, it was pretty easy to get a little too into things.

Beatrice shook her head. "No, you- you were great. I just- it's stupid, nevermind."

"Hey, no, don't do that. If it's bothering you, it's not stupid." Victoria replied, sitting up to look at Beatrice. “Don't make me get in your head for answers.”

Beatrice seemed to struggle with something internally, before letting out a sigh and beginning to talk in an almost hauntingly empty tone. "I- it's really- I just- I couldn't stop- stop thinking about- about- about him." She finished, shuddering slightly as Victoria froze. "I know I shouldn't. You're nothing like him. It's just- the way it felt- I- I'm sorry, I just- I can't get it out of my head."

"Beatrice…" Victoria began in a pained tone. "I'm so, so sorry, I- I should have realized- I didn't think-" She pulled Beatrice into her arms, holding her tight. "We don't ever have to do anything like that ever again!"

Beatrice's expression twisted. "But- but I want to be able to do that with you! I want to be able to do everything with you! I don't want to be held back by- by him!" She spat bitterly.

Victoria hesitated, not sure what to say to that. If doing that hurt Beatrice, she had no interest in doing it, but if Beatrice wanted to do it… "Beatrice… look, you don't have to force yourself to do more than you're comfortable with. What you went through… shit, I've been putting so much on you when you just went through this huge trauma!" Victoria groaned. "You shouldn't be dealing with any of my shit! I should be helping you with yours!" She'd just been trauma dumping on Beatrice, using her for comfort, when Beatrice had just been through something… well, not worse, though maybe more personal? But she had her own shit to deal with, and Victoria had been making it all about her! "Beatrice, I'm so sorry, I- I've been selfish."

"Victoria, no, you- you've been looking out for me this entire time! Pushing me to be better, to grow, to- to look out for myself, to see my own value… you've done so much for me!" Beatrice protested, pulling away and grabbing Victoria's hands.

"But- but whenever we talk, it's always about my issues! We never talk about what you went through!" Victoria retorted.

"I don't want to talk about what I went through!" Beatrice snapped. "It- it was horrible, and it was all my fault! If I'd been stronger, more determined, more- just better, I'd never have gone through it!"

Victoria's expression twisted. "What- no! Beatrice, that's so- so twisted! What happened to you was all because of AJ! He's the asshole who blackmailed you, who used you! You shouldn't need to take extreme actions to avoid something like that! Blaming yourself for someone else being an evil asshole- it's- it's just wrong."

"But if I'd-" Beatrice began.

"You can't be expected to live your life perfectly! No one can! You're human. You have faults. That doesn't give anyone the right to hurt you for them!" Victoria stopped her before she got into it. "Could you be better? Yes, obviously, we all could. We all should. But that doesn't mean we deserve to have bad things happen to us! We don't- we don't blame ourselves for being human. For having failings. We accept it, we try to be better, and then we move on. You can't hate yourself for something you can't change… it'll break you. I don't- I don't want you to break."

Tears streamed down Beatrice's face. "But- but how can I accept her? How can I not hate a person who was so focused on her own suffering, that she would have put you through the same thing! How can I not hate someone so- so- weak!"

Victoria reached up to hold Beatrice's cheek, wiping away a tear with her thumb. "Because it wasn't her fault. You couldn't have known AJ's plans. You had to think about your brother. You had to think about yourself! There's a saying from my old world, 'hindsight is twenty twenty'. It means, you always see the past more clearly than the present. You can look back and judge yourself for things you could have done better, but you're doing it with knowledge you didn't have at the time! You can't blame yourself for being ignorant."

Beatrice hesitated before shaking her head. "I still let myself be used! I should have- if I'd killed my-"

Beatrice suddenly cut off as Victoria grabbed her by the jaw. "Never, ever think that way!" She hissed fiercely as Beatrice's eyes widened in shock. "What do you think you would have changed by killing yourself?!? Do you really think AJ wouldn't have found some other way to go through with his plan!?! And even if you were the only way he could make his plan work, I am not your responsibility! Your brother is your responsibility! Your own safety is your responsibility! I am responsible for my own safety! As is my father, and many other people. You were not. You had to do what was best for you, and killing yourself would have only benefitted me, and most likely not even that! So never talk like you would have been better off dead, understand!?!" Beatrice nodded stiffly, and Victoria released her jaw. "Good." She nodded back, her expression softening. "I'm sorry, that- I got a little too hot there."

Beatrice shook her head. "No, that's- I- I think that's what I needed to hear… I- I put myself in that situation, but… I couldn't have stopped AJ from trying to hurt you. The part I played… it- it could have been played by anyone. I just- I hate that it was me."

"And that's okay." Victoria replied, pulling her close again and wrapping her arms around Beatrice's shoulders, resting her head against hers. "Regretting the mistakes we made is good. Just don't turn that hate on yourself. You aren't a bad person because you messed up. You're a bad person if you don't care that you messed up."

Beatrice snorted. "It certainly feels like I'm a bad person."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Do you think I would like you if you were really a bad person?"

Beatrice paused. "No, but-"

"What? You think you've hidden parts of yourself from me?" Victoria asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. "I've been in your head. You're a good person, with an amazing heart. It's just that sometimes- sometimes good people end up in bad situations, where there are no good options. But that's a problem with the world, not with you."

Beatrice hesitated, before letting out a sigh. "The world sucks."

Victoria nodded. "It does. And that's why it needs to change."

Beatrice nodded as well. There was only one thing that bothered her about what Victoria had said. She wasn't responsible for Victoria, but… she wanted to be. She just- she wasn't capable of it. Not yet. But- Beatrice's eyes hardened with determination- she would be.