Only Human (Goddess of Victory NIKKE SI)

[Slamm-O]

I dropped off from posting my art for this outside of SB, but it was a crime to never post my greatest masterpiece...!

there's still like ten pics left unposted but that would basically fill up a page on its own lmao

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A the Majestic Red Goon in her Natural habitat as she eats her prize of floor pizza getting ready to share it with her desired partner.

 

[SynergeticVoices]

Is it bad that I think Dorothy genuinely has a good point in her rant at Rapi? I mean she genuinely makes a lot of sense, particularly in regard to just executing captured commanders and how EVERYONE in Eden is a soldier in at least some capacity.

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If you take her at full face value then yes, but Dorothy and Snow White are two extreme viewpoints on Eden.

Many(or most) of the captured commanders might be scum, but they are explicitly people who have surrendered and we don't know just how many of those Commanders were actually guilty of treating NIKKE terribly or those that were just incompetent and made bad calls. Eden seems to treat them all the same. They'll make the effort to convert indoctrinated NIKKE, but not the commanders. Which isn't damning by itself, but continually paints Edens 'social darwinism' as a view that they will kill those who they view would take more resources then they view as acceptable.

There is also the NIKKE. I have no doubt that there is no shortage of them that support Eden right away after their commanders deaths but this line in particular is interesting.

How almost every single Nikke we have ever captured in the field, has willingly joined us in some capacity afterwards

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If we take the viewpoint that Dorothy is viewing Eden in the best possible light/trying to make Rapi see it as good...then the part about NIKKE willingly joining afterwards could be simply be down to a combination of intimidation, the Nikke being isolated due to a dead commander, and the fact that those NIKKE can't return back to the Ark anymore, either of their own will due to the dead commander or because Eden will stop them.

 

[YoRHa_42s]

If we take the viewpoint that Dorothy is viewing Eden in the best possible light/trying to make Rapi see it as good...then the part about NIKKE willingly joining afterwards could be simply be down to a combination of intimidation, the Nikke being isolated due to a dead commander, and the fact that those NIKKE can't return back to the Ark anymore, either of their own will due to the dead commander or because Eden will stop them.

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A choice between submission/joining Eden, a death from rapture out in the world or complete mind wipe/disassembly back in the Ark... isn't really a choice at all.

 

[Crow22]

Wonder how dorothy will take joe wanting to destory the central government. Probably very well

 

[Dasneaky]

Bakasmurf any ideas on what you plan to write if at all when you finish this fic?

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 87 - The Fire in Her Heart
===

"Dorothy," Joe gasped in naked surprise. "You're lighter than I remember you being!"

By some providence which Joe probably didn't really deserve, despite the rest of the squad either facepalming or groaning at his dumbass self being his dumbass self, Dorothy didn't react to his comment on her weight. Rather, she instead continued to babble and cry incoherently, which stabbed at the Commander's heart and incentivised him to immediately lock it in.

Thus, the pinkette was lifted by her waist into a proper reciprocal hug—the kind Joe had never been able to give Dorothy before. That is to say, lifting her off the ground as he might Cinderella. It hadn't even really been that long for him, since the last time he'd met with Dorothy, yet a terrible weight was lifted off his shoulders by her presence nonetheless.

He could only imagine how it must have been for her, to have thought him dead for a century. The pitiful way in which she clung to him and openly cried into his chest did a decent job of giving him at least an impression of how hard it must have been.

After a few moments, the man shifted to scoop Dorothy up in a proper princess carry, drawing her in close. She was squeezing him so hard as to cause him a fair amount of discomfort, but unless she actually started to hurt him, he'd let her. Things had been difficult, and of all people in the world, Dorothy had been there from the very beginning. She'd loyally stuck by his side, and so he'd loyally hold and comfort her as she'd work to help him.

For however long as it may take.

It took a good twenty minutes, but, eventually, Dorothy did calm down. As much as she could be expected to given the circumstances, at least. Upon being set back upon her own feet, she withdrew just enough to reach up and cup Joe's cheeks with a gentleness which sharply contrasted with her previous bear hug—as though she was fearful that he would break or otherwise disappear if she handled him too roughly.

"Joe…" The pinkette mewled, her violet eyes glistening with the same moisture which heavily stained her cheeks. "Joe…!"

"I'm here," the man repeated himself for the Nth time. Tiring as it was for Dorothy to just stare at him in abject disbelief as she was, it was also incredibly upsetting to see her so intensely frazzled. Her bangs were dishevelled, eyes reddened, lips trembling. It was all he could do to remain calm, continue to stroke her hair as he held her. "Come on, Dorothy, I'm here."

Closing her eyes, Dorothy took a deep, shuddering breath. Though she continued to tremble, when she opened her eyes again, there was a clarity in them which had not been present before. "My wings…" The tears redoubled, breath hitching and gaze remaining locked on him before she jumped on him once more, arms encircling his neck with far more consideration this time. "My wings…!"

It might yet take a while for Dorothy to fully gather herself.

---

Another fifteen minutes later, Joe found himself seated upon a log set before the fire Snow White had started, on which Scarlet and Cinderella had started to prepare a meal—which was to say, they were boiling a metric assload of Tetra Line ration packs in a big pot. Dorothy was stuck by his side, firmly locked in right next to him on the log, her gaze damn near never drifting from his face as she took forced, shallow breaths.

She almost seemed to be in shock, struggling to process the idea that Joe was there in addition to Rapi.

Rapi, who was sidled up on Joe's opposite side. She'd gone quiet upon the Commander revealing himself, and seemed stuck halfway between relieved and guilty at how the attention was off of her. She and Dorothy hadn't exactly been close, as it were. So the elegant Nikke's fixation on Joe—who literally every member of the squad had assumed to be her partner at first on account of their behaviour together—was entirely understandable.

"...How?" Dorothy finally managed to speak coherently, staring firmly up at Joe all the while. "Where- Joe, how are you alive? Where have you been? What happened when you descended into the Ark?"

Taking a very deep breath, the man braced himself. He wasn't entirely sure how this was going to go, but it was what it was. Rapi had gotten the ball rolling, now it was his turn to get it to the top of the hill. "The Central Government Council had dictated that Goddess were to be 'decommissioned' and 'dismantled' to reverse-engineer the technology that went into your creation, so that they could produce loyal attack dogs in their transition into authoritarianism."

Dorothy's brow furrowed, lips drawing into a fine line, she remained focused as she listened to Joe's explanation of what happened.

"They brought me down there with the expectation that I'd happily serve as their military figurehead. March you girls to your deaths as your reward for all you'd done, to be the sole beneficiary of all your efforts and sacrifices." The man began to speak through clenched teeth, eye beginning to twitch as the memory of that day was brought clearly back to mind. "I agreed to get them to lower their guard. On the way to the armoury… I ran into none other than Red Hood, who had been disarmed, but otherwise allowed to roam free until they decided to scoop her brain out of her skull and fling it into the nearest incinerator."

Reaching over, Joe took a hold of Rapi's hand, protective anger flaring up in his chest as he pondered what happened, how she was going to wind up being the first to be executed and treated like a piece of soulless technology to be broken down for parts.

With no small amount of hesitation, Rapi interlinked her fingers with Joe's, guilt redoubling considering how she'd treated him back then, but understanding both that he still cared, and that it was neither the time nor place for her to make this about her or her own feelings.

"I told Rapi exactly what I planned to do, on the elevator ride down. Climb into a Hoplon, make my way back to the Council chambers, and slaughter the Council to a man. Enikk, the Ark's central AI, heard our discussion, stopped the elevator… And walked us through the best way to complete our objective successfully, given that Council's plan would have given mankind ten years to survive, at the most, while her purpose is to ensure mankind's survival above all else."

"With Enikk's help, Rapi and I fought our way to the Central Government Council chambers, and executed them to a man… Where I screwed up, and left myself open. I took a Nikke-grade bullet to the gut, and very nearly died. Rapi experienced a Mind Switch, went berserk, and Enikk… Somehow sneaked me away to hide me in stasis, until the Ark's technology advanced enough to save my life. A century after the Ark was sealed, I woke up with amnesia, and on my first mission to the surface as a 'brand new Commander Corps graduate…'"

Joe turned to face Rapi.

"Of all the people to meet, it was a stern-faced, humourless little blonde with no patience for anything but the mission, who had yet to recognize me, just as I had yet to recognize her."

Even as Rapi's lips were drawn into a thin, sheepish grimace at the reminder of how… Detached she'd been at first, something in the air felt almost charged. There was a tense beat, in which the eyes of everyone else were clearly focused on Dorothy.

Joe and Rapi tracked their gazes, and immediately saw why.

Dorothy was smiling. A wide, ear-to-ear grin. Toothy, downright uncanny, it was unsettling. Then, the fact that she was trembling became readily apparent. Yet, the trembling was accompanied by a quiet, but gradually rising chuckle in the back of her throat. A chuckle which rapidly shifted into a low, strained chortle.

The violet-eyed woman grabbed Joe's arm, drew it heavily into her chest, and squeezed as she laughed like a mad woman. "I was right," Dorothy wheezed as she took a sniffling breath, tears budding in the corners of her eyes. "I was right, I was right, I was right."

Pioneer had gone still as statues, their expressions—save for a scowling Snow White—frozen in deeply wary discomfort.

"All this time," Dorothy all but mewled as she clung to Joe. "The Ark betrayed us, and you fought for us. The Ark would have seen us killed, and you put them down in turn. You both, both of you, you did what had to be done, you didn't make excuses, you didn't defend them, you didn't shield them and wax lyrical about your 'duty,' you didn't just stand up for us, you brought down the hammer on those who would have put to flame all we'd fought for. You did it right then and there, you wasted no time, you defended our honour above all else."

"I was right. All this time, all along, I was right. The Ark is our enemy, we-" Dorothy was cut off, by Joe rounding on her, his brow furrowed and face set in a stern expression.

"The Central Government is our enemy," Joe firmly corrected her. "The Ark is infested by the Central Government, and everyone in Pioneer agrees that we need to liberate the Ark from those authoritarian bastards. Those enemies of mankind who have forsaken the Surface in favour of securing their fetid rule at the expense of mankind's long-term survival, and the freedom of the common man."

Dorothy just stared up at Joe with an almost absent-minded glee, her uncomfortably wide and sharp smile not fading in the least. After a few seconds, she simply replied, "I see." Shifting her gaze about, she looked over the gathered members of Pioneer, a deep-seated vindication clear and present in her features which sat uncomfortably close to being twisted. "I'm glad you've all come to your senses, regardless."

Scarlet, Cinderella, and Rapunzel's brows furrowed lightly at that, the girls clearly not caring for the implications in her tone and words in the least. Snow White was still scowling outright, glowering openly at Dorothy as she, regardless, kept her lips sealed.

Refocusing on the Commander, Dorothy continued. "Joe. Let's go to Eden."

"No," the man flatly shut down her proposal, however. "I don't know that Eden is trustworthy yet. Doubly so when everybody but you unanimously decided they'd rather scrounge for resources in the wasteland day in and day out to fight the Rapture invasion, rather than serve as a part of Eden's military."

While Dorothy looked like she'd just bitten down on a lemon, Snow White's expression softened a fair amount in readily apparent relief.

Joe's jaw stiffened as he finished relaying his thoughts on the matter. "It is very telling that, regardless of Snow's exaggerated hostility towards you and Eden, all four of them agreed to break off and walk the path of hardship over reaping the support of a society that has technologically outpaced the Ark by centuries regardless. For all the counters you have to Pioneer's criticisms of Eden, they still left."

The Commander took a deep breath before he finished.

"I want Eden as an ally in the looming conflict with the Central Government, but I need to know that Eden is trustworthy before I take any risks regarding it. Risks including approaching a society which is openly murderous towards members of the Ark's Armed Forces, of which Rapi and I are active duty members."

Though Dorothy was clearly displeased with his words, with some hesitation she smoothed out her features as she leaned back, releasing Joe's arm and straightening her back as she closed her eyes with a deep breath. "...Very well. What would it take to earn your trust, then?" She inquired with a degree of detached professionalism.

The weight upon his shoulders returned damn near in full, and it was all Joe could do to close his eyes and take a deep breath, trying to not get caught up in the fel sensation of his heart being placed in a vice. Much as the man detested the idea of holding Dorothy at arm's length, Pioneer had unanimously agreed to leave Eden for ethical reasons. Joe might have adored Dorothy, but he cherished all of his girls, and had to remember that it had been one-hundred years since they'd last met. So terribly much had happened in that time, he had to acknowledge that things weren't the same.

"We need to talk about Eden," Joe declared, keeping his tone even and resisting the urge to reach over and try pulling his once-unbending second into a tight embrace in a misplaced attempt to just hug it out, as though that would be enough to overcome the serious concerns had with humanity's only surface stronghold. "Address the reasons the squad decided to leave and fend for themselves. Eden's culture, the way it handles… Everything. Sort this shit out. Then, and only then, will I seriously consider setting foot in Eden."

For as terribly upset as Dorothy was by how Snow White had clearly poisoned Joe's thoughts on Eden—which was in all ways the perfect counter to the Rapture invasion, everything a bastion holding mankind's only parcel of land secure should be—this setback was only a temporary one. This, especially considering he had just demonstrated on no uncertain terms whether or not the rest of Goddess liked it, Joe and Rapi agreed with her.

All this time, for an entire century, Dorothy had fantasized about making her way into the Ark, running down those treacherous vipers that had betrayed Goddess and took their Commanders from them, and make them suffer for their betrayal. Ensure that by the end of it, they'd be begging for the sweet release of death. For an entire century, Dorothy had been longing for the dead to die.

Immediately. Joe and Rapi had immediately gone for them, and killed them all. The Council that Dorothy had been planning to put to the sword this entire time… Had not even been the same one which had turned on Goddess. Joe and Rapi had slaughtered them like pigs the instant their betrayal had been known.

It was such a sweet feeling. It made Dorothy want to spread her wings and fly, the vindication, the sweet, rapturous vindication. To know, to have it confirmed so truly and thoroughly, that all along, she'd been right. Joe was everything she knew he was. Even Rapi had truly been their sworn sister, ready to stand against the entire Ark if it meant avenging them. To the point that, like Joe, she did. Both of them did. Both of them had proven her right.

Snow White, for all of her assertions and proclamations of Joe's 'moral superiority,' that he would be 'above' Eden, that he would never 'degrade himself' by supporting a 'military junta…' Snow White had been wrong. Not just about Eden's inherent virtue, but about Joe's supposed tee-totalling naivety. Snow White had been so terribly bull-headed, so unbending and ruinously confident.

Yet, there they sat, Joe himself confirming that he and Rapi were just the same as her. Dorothy would only need to approach this with a gentle, deliberate guiding hand. Carefully ensure that Joe came to the same conclusions she knew he would have had he been sealed on the surface with them a hundred years ago. Had he been there at Eden's formation. Had he been the one to lay the foundations of mankind's last, greatest hope.

He was a right and proper goober much of the time, yes, but he was also intelligent, cunning, ruthless and calculating when necessary, and deeply results-oriented over being fixated on his 'public image.' Such was the reason they were able to retake London once. Such was the reason they made it to the Orbital Elevator.

Joe didn't stop to cry and bemoan necessary sacrifices as the way was cleared for Goddess. He and Lilith had told them back then: "Do not engage in unnecessary combat, do not divert your attention or focus to aid UFH forces on the way there! Every man and woman fighting today knows that they are putting their lives on the line to ensure that we reach the invasion point and put down the Queen! We are the tip of the spear, and the spear does not waver when thrown! Do not waste their sacrifices! Advance! Unceasingly, and without mercy!"

They were the spear. They did not have time to occupy themselves with considerations of anything more than the victory they had promised mankind. Snow White failed to see that, she had clouded the minds of the rest of Goddess, turned them away from the righteous path. Her childish immaturity had denied Eden the edge that would truly turn this war in their favour.

But now, with Joe back, with him right here, having already admitted that, as Dorothy knew in her heart, that she and their Commander were not as different as Snow White would like to believe, the remnants of Goddess would see that Eden's path was the right path. The path to victory, to the reclamation of their world. To the liberation of Earth. To humanity's promised victory, claimed upon the glorious wings of their Goddesses of Victory.

Joe would come around. She knew that she could convince him. Even if it took time, Dorothy knew that she would convince Joe, and her sisters who cherished their Commander so very much would return to the fold alongside him. Goddess would be whole again, humanity's victory assured beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt.

Joe would know, he would have his eyes unclouded, and he would know absolutely and certainly, because he had already come to the same conclusion as her. The Central Government was their enemy. The Central Government had to burn if mankind was to win.

The Ark and the Central Government were, to Dorothy's sensibilities, one and the same. Did Nikkes not suffer in the Ark? Were Nikkes not treated as tools to be used, abused, and discarded in the Ark? Did the slothful, greedy, ungrateful citizenry of the Ark not wilfully contribute to the suffering of the Nikkes they so relied upon for their very survival?

But Joe, it seemed, saw something she did not. A value in separating the two, in making a clear distinction between the Central Government, and the Ark that by all rights, was nothing more than an extension of their fetid, cancerously short-sighted will. Dorothy would see any that had contributed to the suffering of Nikkes made examples of. She would see that all who served as the will of the Central Government understand the perils of showing their Goddesses anything less than the utmost gratefulness and supplication.

Yet to Joe, the Ark was… Sick? A patient afflicted with cancer. A cancer which had to be excised. To save the body. To preserve what was left. Of course. Dorothy always wished to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. The Ark should have been the paradise they had earned. It should have been their Heaven. Joe would simply see those currently inhabiting it, rather than destroyed, be corrected.

Even now, she was learning from him. Yet even still, she was his greatest advocate and ally. She alone saw what he could truly be, what he should be. She saw the Legendary Commander in him, the Legendary Commander that Snow White would see suppressed and held back to satisfy her own maladapted conscience above what was best for mankind.

With Joe's return, Dorothy had been given back her wings. And with her wings, she would take Joe, and carry him heavenwards to be the beacon that led them all to greatness. To glory. To vengeance. To victory.

"Very well," Dorothy answered Joe's declaration, her expression shifting to a small, self-assured smile as she turned to face him again—amethyst eyes glinting with that keen intellect she oh-so-proudly wore as one might a medal. "Let us discuss Eden, your legacy, then."

Soon enough, he would joyously embrace her, and with a smile, allow her to uplift and carry him to his rightful place among the clouds upon gleaming white wings of victory.

Embers were kindled once more into a roaring, blinding, all-consuming flame foretelling mankind's unwavering ascension by the grace of Goddess.

Dorothy knew, together again, they would rise.

 

[Dsaeg]

Im very happy for Dorothy being happy although i know her only in your fic.(im sucker for proper tradegy, but im sucker even more for happy resolutions)

I also understand that this happiness will come crashing down some time later, but not all hope is lost becajse Joe can still correct her version of his legacy. Maybe tempering it or allowing it some ways to relax once fighting is over.
And its highly unlikely that Joe will placate Doro view of him.

Let Joe cook sir Bakasmurf and the finale will be delicious.

 

[YoRHa_42s]

And just like that, Doro got hit with vapaus-grade positivity.

Get Happy. Get Happy. Get Happy.

Still though, I wonder how badly Joe would react to Material H/Indivilia later on.

 

[LordAxel20]

For how wholesome and sad the start of this chapter was... The next chapter's going to be absolute hell for Dorothy isn't it?

 

[palacesound]

But now, with Joe back, with him right here, having already admitted that, as Dorothy knew in her heart, that she and their Commander were not as different as Snow White would like to believe,

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Manic Dorothy rambling aside... This is true. Even Scarlet knew and stated this was true.

Whether that's a good thing or not, though, well...

 

[NJesus]

Love me some sane not crazy doro