Path to the Apocalypse

“So you're the real me? But you lost your memory of being me… and then you remade me? Using a system?” OG Victoria summarized as she finished getting dressed.

“I wouldn't necessarily qualify myself as the ‘real’ Victoria, but yeah, essentially.” Victoria nodded. “I may have the original body, but you have the original mind and I'd say that's more important than keeping the original fleshy bits.”

“But… I don't have the original mind?” OG Victoria pointed out. “I'm a copy. That you made. With a system.”

Victoria paused. “Well when you put it that way… ugh, cloning is a mindfuck, and does it really matter? We both exist now, as our own individual selves.”

OG Victoria hesitated. “But- how do we determine which one of us inherits the original’s life? Who gets our room? Our possessions? Our- engagements?”

“Well, no offense, but I've kinda taken over the room, so I'm going to keep that. Most of your stuff is in storage anyway, so it doesn't really make sense to move me out and you in when you could just move in somewhere else. I also don't think there are any real possessions we need to divy up… our interests seem to be pretty divergent. But if there's anything you want, let me know and we can work something out. As for engagements…” Victoria grinned slightly. “What engagements?”

OG Victoria frowned. “With- with the Duke? Did- has that not happened yet?”

“I'm afraid the Duke isn't in a position to be engaged to anyone at the moment.” Victoria replied. “You can rest assured that we are well and truly done with him.”

OG Victoria's eyes widened slightly. “R-really? Then… What about the- the Hidden Blades?”

Victoria's expression twisted. “That- is a bit more complicated, but firmly a me issue, so you won't have to worry about that either. Unless you want to, I suppose, but they definitely aren't letting me go, so I guess we'd just be in it together.” She paused. “Now that I think about it, with the way things are going, there really isn't much point in not joining the Hidden Blades… but again, it's up to you. At the moment, you have no obligation to do anything. Hell, since no one but me even knows you exist yet, I could totally change your appearance and sneak you out of the castle. From there, you could do literally whatever you wanted. Though you wouldn't have any money… and honestly, I feel like our parents would really like to see you. Calvin too. AJ not so much, but we don't have to worry about him anymore either.”

OG Victoria sat on the bed, looking a bit overwhelmed. “I- I want-” Tears began to fill her eyes. “I want to see my mom.” She choked out with a sob.

Victoria nodded, smiling slightly as she sent a message to Beatrice, asking her to let her parents know she needed to see them in her quarters, promising to explain what was going on later. “We can do that.”

*

“Mom!” OG Victoria cried, rushing into Melissa's arms as she arrived.

Melissa frowned. “Victoria? What's-” She froze as she caught sight of Victoria.

“Hey Mom.” Victoria waved.

Albert groaned, quickly closing the door behind him before anyone could see inside. “Victoria, why are there two of you?!?”

“Well, I wanted another brain to help me with core strengthening, cause I was having a hard time keeping my energy compressed while I cultivated, and then I thought it might be nice to just have two of me period, because why wouldn't it be? So I decided to make another Victoria, and now… here she is. Didn't work out quite the way I thought it would.” Victoria explained.

“Of course it didn't.” Albert sighed, rubbing his temple.

Melissa looked between the two of them incredulously, absently rubbing OG Victoria's back. “Vict- Alb- How could you make another you?!?”

“I have access to a system from the other world which helps me with my cultivation and lets me do things like make clones of people.” Victoria replied. “It led to some bad things back there, so I've been keeping it a secret, but with her here, there's no real way to hide it anymore. Not from you at least.”

Melissa blinked, then turned to Albert. “Did you know about this?”

Albert shifted awkwardly. “I only learned about it recently, and I've had… other concerns.”

Melissa narrowed her eyes at him. “We will be talking about this later.” She warned, before turning back to Victoria. “Are you okay?”

Victoria cocked her head. “Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?”

Melissa glanced down at OG Victoria. “You're… clinging to me pretty tightly.”

“Oh, no, that's not me.” Victoria shook her head, realizing the confusion. “That's Victoria. I mean the original Victoria… one of us should change our name, huh? Go by Vicky… or Tori? I could be a Tori.”

Albert and Melissa froze. “What- what do you mean by original?” Albert asked nervously.

“I mean she has all the memories from before the Potion of Awakening.” Victoria explained. “You know, the ones I lost.”

Melissa held OG Victoria tighter. “She- She does?”

Victoria smiled, a hint of sadness creeping through. “Yeah. She's your real daughter.”

Melissa immediately scowled at her. “You are our real daughter.” She paused, glancing down at OG Victoria. “You both are.”

“How- how is this even possible?” Albert asked hesitantly.

“I- don't know.” Victoria admitted, frowning slightly. “I think… maybe when the system- connected to me, it copied my old self?”

“Then why didn't it let you keep those memories? Why replace them?” Albert grimaced.

“Because my old self didn't know about the system? If I didn't know what had gone wrong before, then it's possible I would have made the same mistakes here as what happened back there?” Victoria answered tentatively, wondering if that was what had actually happened. She didn't remember actually deciding to become Victoria… the points had just kind of done it. Then again, she was the points… She felt her sense of identity go fuzzy for a moment, before quickly shaking it off. No matter how it'd come to be, she was who she was, and there wasn't much point in questioning it. “I honestly don't know one way or the other, but that's my best guess.” Victoria sighed. “But you know how screwy the system can be mentally.”

Albert's expression twisted. “Right.”

Melissa rolled her eyes at the two of them, mentally chiding them both for always focusing on the wrong things as she pulled away from OG Victoria to get a good look at her. “How are you feeling about all this?” She asked softly.

OG Victoria sniffed. “I'm just- lost. I- I remember being so desperate, and then- then I died and now…” She trailed off, glancing back at Victoria with a slightly nervous expression.

“It's okay, be honest.” Melissa assured her. “She isn't going to hate you for simply expressing how you feel. Isn't that right?”

“Yeah, no, vent away.” Victoria confirmed, giving her a thumbs up. “I mean, I feel like an imposter most of the time, so I get if that's how you think of me too. Kinda hard not to, given the situation.”

OG Victoria bit her lip. “If- If you're an imposter, then what does that make me? You're confident, calm, collected, and I'm- I'm a mess! You're a better me than I'll ever be!”

Victoria blinked. “I- what? That's-”

“Completely ridiculous!” Melissa snapped. “The only person who can be a better you is you! Vic- She is just different. She has her own issues, just like we all do.”

Victoria nodded. “Right. I'm not calm and collected, I'm cold and distant. It's hard for me to get close to people. Well, no, it isn't hard, it's just- Hm, well, I don't really click with most people? Like there's this barrier that makes interacting… difficult, even when we're both trying, and I have no idea how to get through it.”

Melissa frowned. “You aren't cold and distant, you simply express warmth and closeness differently. Which, yes, does make interacting with you more challenging sometimes.”

Victoria shrugged. “However you want to put it, the facts are I don't get all huggy and crap and I'm not that big into sharing. Which sure, has its advantages, but it's pretty shitty for developing close relationships.”

Melissa gave her look, trying to decide whether she wanted to press the issue, before deciding it wasn't important at the moment. Though she'd definitely be talking with Victoria later. She refocused on OG Victoria. “My point is that you can't think of Vic- her as a better you, because she isn't you. The loss of her memories and the challenges she faced in the process changed her in ways that you will never know, because you didn't experience it. How can you compare yourself to someone you've never been, and never will be?”

OG Victoria hesitated for a moment, before nodding tentatively. “I- I'll try.”

Melissa smiled. “That's all I ask. Now, what are we going to do about your names? We can't call both of you Victoria, no matter how much I wish we could.”

“Just call me Tori.” Victoria, now Tori, commented. “I kinda like the name, and it'll help you distinguish between the two of us.”

“I- I think I should be Vicky then?” OG Victoria offered. “It- doesn't seem fair for only one of us to have to change our name.”

Tori raised an eyebrow at her. “Does it need to be fair? Whether you're Vicky or Victoria, it doesn't change the fact that I'm Tori now.”

“No, but- it- it just feels right for me to be Vicky now.” Vicky explained. “I just- I don't feel like Victoria anymore.”

Tori gave her a weird look, then shrugged. “If you say so.” She then turned to Melissa and Albert. “Does that work for you guys?”

Melissa nodded. “I'm happy to call you by whatever name you wish.”

Albert sighed. “The names are fine. The problem is how are we supposed to explain how our daughter suddenly became a pair of twins without letting the entire nation know about the system?!?”

Tori paused. “That's a good question… hide one of us? I can change my appearance. Or hers… Actually, I've been meaning to start hunting, so I wouldn't mind spending some time in town as a Hunter. I could actually make some progress on some of those projects I keep ignoring.”

Albert shook his head. “The Hidden Blades aren't going to let you slip away like that, and I doubt Horace is going to appreciate it if Vicky shows up to your lessons.”

Tori rolled her eyes. “I’ll talk to the Hidden Blades and I can come back for my lessons with Horace. Vicky will just need to stick to her room during that time.”

“Why are we dealing with the Hidden Blades?!?” Melissa hissed.

Albert froze. “I- I will explain later. It's- complicated.”

Melissa narrowed her eyes at him. “We are going to be discussing many things later.”

Albert grimaced slightly as he turned back to Tori. “I don't like the idea of you living outside the castle, particularly if you're acting as a Hunter. A Hunter's life is dangerous, and not only because of the beasts they face. I also don't think it's wise for Vicky to take your place. The servants and guards have grown used to your eccentricities, and if they suddenly change, people will grow suspicious. Not to mention those who might notice when your cultivation goes from the peak of Energy Gathering to zero. No, the wisest course of action is to have you remain and disguise Vicky in some way.”

“Okay, but the problem there is that Vicky wants to be treated like your daughter.” Tori pointed out. “You can't do that if she's disguised as a servant or something. On the other hand, my emotional needs can be met with a good chat every now and then. Very low maintenance. As for my eccentricities, we can just tell everyone I got my memories back, which is halfway true anyway. I have no idea what to do about the cultivation though… Maybe the Hidden Blades can help? And if not, all we need to do is get her Spirit and Essence Runes so she can form her cores and then we can pump her cultivation up to match mine. If we can get her Runes that match mine, that'd be best, but probably not likely. Unless…” Tori trailed off as a crazy idea occurred to her. “Can I give people Runes using the system?” Almost faster than she could think it, a Runes page formed, listing all the Runes she had, plus all the Runes everyone with the system had, which told her she could gain an Initial Rune for the low, low price of fifty points… and she could Assimilate it for five hundred. She glanced at Albert. “You wouldn't happen to have a few extra cores lying around, would you? If I get three thousand points, we can make her cultivation match mine in about a week.”

Albert just stared at her. “You- you can take a non-cultivator to the peak of Energy Gathering with two cores in a week!?!”

“With three thousand points, yes, probably.” Tori nodded. “But she'd need to spend literally that entire time cultivating to form her cores. No sleeping, no eating, no nothing until those cores are formed, subsisting entirely on points. So, you know, if you don't want to do that we could still do it in two. I can give her the Runes and energy, but I can't build a core for her.” She paused. “Actually…”

Albert shuddered. “Stop! Please, just- this is- if- if anyone found out about this- No, I don't care if the entire region learns of the system, no one can know you can do that! Vicky can cultivate on her own, you- you can go be a Hunter, and we- we will handle whatever happens. Just- never ever use that ability, do you understand? Not unless you can be absolutely sure no one will ever find out!” He insisted, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her dead in the eyes.

Tori gave him a weird look, glancing at Melissa and Vicky who were both staring at her in wide-eyed horror. “But- oh, wait, shit, I get it.” Tori muttered, finally processing what her now ability meant. She literally had the power to create tri-cores! It wasn't even expensive! Just slap an Awakening on some schmuck, up their Capacity a bit, and give them an Initial Rune for each type! Two hundred points, max! The only thing holding them back would be their own personal talent, which could be supplemented with even more points!

Albert let out a relieved sigh. “Good. Good. Now, let's figure out how we're going to make you a Hunter.”