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.

Click to shrink...

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.

Click to shrink...

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,

Click to shrink...

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

 

[Janusspell777]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 88 - A Broken Goddess
===

"'My legacy?'" Joe mused on that point aloud, eyes narrowing and brow lightly furrowing at the statement. "I don't like hearing that given the context surrounding Eden, Dorothy," he noted grimly.

Though Dorothy absolutely detested hearing Joe say that, he was only saying it because Snow White had misled him and poisoned his opinion on the city before he'd so much as set eyes on it.

"Eden is mankind's last, best hope, Joe," the elegant pinkette started, doing her level best to ignore the tightening sensation in her chest. "It was built and developed in your honour and image. Every policy enacted to build upon your own method of leadership."

"Executing captured Commanders is your idea of 'building upon my methods?'" Joe inquired as his nose crinkled heavily with distaste.

"So you were lying about having immediately slaughtered your way through the Central Government Headquarters so that you could execute the Central Government Council to a man?" Dorothy pointedly asked in turn.

That caused Joe to recoil and avert his gaze, grimacing with no small amount of discomfort as he immediately understood the point she was making: a point he couldn't really refute. The Council had been rendered helpless, many had begged on their knees for mercy, mercy neither he nor Red Hood had granted them. It was necessary, had to be done. What choice did he have?

A deluge of explanations and excuses, all sorts of reasons that justified putting them down right then and there, neither wasting time nor resources on a trial, not even considering for a moment imprisonment. Joe took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner in that moment. He did so without hesitation. This, with the comparatively infinite resources of the Ark, right down to having Enikk's support at his back.

Dorothy hadn't known that he'd done that. But she knew him well enough to know that he would have. She knew him well enough to know that yes, he could, and would execute helpless foes under the right circumstances.

Eden had limited resources. Limited space. Limited food. Limited people. Limited time. Ark Commanders were… Generally zealots. Conditioned, brainwashed to act as mindless drones that did as commanded by the Central Government, believed all propaganda fed to them, and blindly died en masse to serve as the circus for the general populace of the Ark.

Dorothy was expected to always reason with these people, who held so little power in the grand scheme of things, to… What end? They were near-universally incompetent. Unfit for service against the Rapture threat. Hated by their own subordinates. Worthless. A millstone upon the neck of a society like Eden, which could not afford such moral decadence in their campaign to reclaim the entire surface of Earth from a seemingly-endless biomechanical flood.

This, while Joe and Red Hood received carte blanche to slaughter the leaders of the Ark like pigs? No trial, no jury. Just immediate judgment from the man that threw the spear into the heart of the Rapture horde, with little more than the knee-jerk support of a tempestuous firebrand of a woman, and an AI that operated on raw statistical probabilities rather than moral grounds.

"That is not the same!" Snow White forcefully asserted, immediately half-shouting as she bared her teeth at Joe's former second.

"It is just the same," Dorothy countered with a furrowed brow, shifting her gaze to glower at Snow White out of the corner of her eye. "The fact that you cannot- Or will not see that is little but evidence towards your gross naivety."

Snow White jumped to her feet with a rising snarl on her lips. "You have no idea what you're-!"

"Then Joe does not refute my word himself because?" Dorothy sharply cut her off, glaring daggers at a startled short Snow White.

The golden-eyed engineer balked for a moment, then shook her head and shifted her attention to Joe, fixing the Commander with an expectant stare. A stare which rapidly grew confused and uncertain as the man remained quiet. "...Joe," Snow White started. "Tell her she's wrong!" She demanded of him.

"She isn't," Joe stated flatly in response. Earning a wave of shocked looks from everyone, save for an immediately pleased Dorothy. "Rapi and I didn't take the Council prisoner, we didn't so much as attempt to capture them. Even as they begged for mercy." He looked up at an increasingly visibly dismayed Snow White. "How is that so different from what Dorothy does to defeated Commanders?"

"It's completely different!" Snow White asserted forcefully. "You did that to protect the Ark!"

"And Dorothy doesn't kill Commanders to protect Eden?" Joe asked simply.

"She doesn't have to!" Snow White attempted to protest. "She could let them go-"

"Giving the Central Government the means to narrow down the location of Eden, which they are at war with?" Joe flatly countered.

"-She could capture them!" Snow White pressed, her body language betraying no small amount of her rising anger.

"And spend precious resources on keeping hostile, brainwashed zealots alive?" Joe asked.

"They could be convinced to work with Eden!" Snow White declared, clenching her hands into fists with audible force. "They could be turned to Eden's cause!"

Joe wasn't impressed. "So Eden should be trying to recruit Commanders that're actively 'trained' to be nothing more than self-fellatiating blowhards with no tactical or military capabilities to speak of at all, because their one and only actual purpose is to march onto the surface and die to maintain the illusion of the Central Government attempting to reclaim the surface?"

"Not all Ark Commanders are incompetent fools!" Snow White shouted back.

At that, Dorothy rolled her eyes and started to reply, "Oh please-"

"You shut up you liar!" Snow White snapped at Dorothy through grit teeth. "Your Commander is the ur example of the Ark being perfectly capable of producing exemplary Commanders that would have been worthy of serving alongside Goddess a hundred years ago!"

"That is a gross exaggeration-!" Dorothy began as she rose to her feet, only to be cut off.

"No, it isn't," Cinderella interjected, giving the pinkette a deeply unimpressed look from where she sat. "The Commander of Inherit is the pride of Eden, and he is an Ark turncoat. Eden is only as successful as it is because of him."

Snow White quickly turned aside to give Cinderella an appreciative glance.

In contrast, Dorothy's nose crinkled in open distaste. "Johan is little more than a pretender-!"

"Rapi," Scarlet interrupted. "Hast thou perhaps heard of 'The New Hope' in thy years spent in service to the Ark?"

Rapi blinked owlishly at being addressed, meeting Scarlet's gaze as she replied. "Commander Johnathan Cross. The Second Coming of the Legendary Commander, 'The New Hope,'" she answered. "He led the Second Surface Reclamation Campaign. We actually, however briefly, reclaimed sections of the surface owing to his command…" She trailed off, expression falling. "Then, when the entire campaign collapsed in on itself over a single operation, the blame for it was put entirely on him."

The red-bedecked blonde's brow knitted in open displeasure.

"Even though it was flagrantly the Central Government's fault everything fell apart. They ignored his directives, disregarded his warnings and pleas to listen to him, and did unbelievable damage to humanity's cause in doing so…"

She focused on a very keenly interested Joe.

"Commander Cross was severely injured attempting to salvage the operation the Central Government had doomed. He was charged with treason, and made to shoulder the burden of their failure. Mankind was forced to abandon all we had gained, retreating to the Ark once more. And Commander Cross… Was shot dead attempting to escape from the false charges laid upon him. His reward for all he'd done for mankind… One has to wonder just how many times that particular story has played out in the Ark, given that it's happened at least twice now."

Joe was infuriated, to say the least, grimacing heavily, scoffing and growling as he set his face in his hands. The Central Government absolutely, positively, had to go.

"Correct on all save the last, Rapi," Scarlet piped up again, catching Joe and the blonde's attention for obvious reasons. "Commander Cross did escape from the Ark. He fled to the surface, and wandered about in the wastelands until he had a deadly encounter with Raptures… Where he was saved by none other than our own Rapunzel," she glanced at the nun, who simply nodded once in affirmation.

"He recognized me," Rapunzel started. "He knew who I was, and started rambling about everything that had happened with the Second Surface Reclamation Campaign. Mostly because he thought I was a dying hallucination… But, still."

She continued.

"I rushed him to Eden as quickly as I could. He was recognized by the Nikkes that had recently defected to Eden at the time, and I vouched for his ability to fight, given that he had managed to destroy a few scout classes on his own—at the cost of his arms, yes, but…" She remarked with a small frown. "When last we were there, he was serving as Inherit, meaning Dorothy's Commander. He's an Epilektoi, one of the Chosen."

Joe's eyes went wide as he rose to his feet alongside Rapi. He started, "You-"

"The New Hope is still alive!?" Rapi interrupted Joe, however. Understandably more shocked by this information than Joe was, considering she evidently knew more about him and by the sounds of it, probably actually fought in the Second Surface Reclamation Campaign, at least indirectly with him. "And he's your Commander!?"

Dorothy, at Rapi's reaction, scoffed. "Johan is competent, but he's hardly anything impressive-"

"Dorothy has been nothing but actively disrespectful towards Johan, purely because he isn't you, Joe," Snow White cut her off, giving Dorothy a deeply displeased look.

A look Dorothy responded to with a glower of her own. "He hasn't earned the right to be called Joe's 'Second Coming.' He failed-"

"And I didn't?" Joe forcefully shouted, staring at Dorothy like she'd gone insane. "You have who sounds like one of the best Commanders that has ever lived, and you've been shitting on the guy because he isn't me? What the fuck, Dorothy?"

The elegant lady recoiled as if struck, shooting a very hurt look Joe's way. One which didn't land at all, given that she'd done and said nothing to disabuse the notion that she wasn't apparently mistreating this guy for such a stupid reason.

"That all said," Scarlet demanded everyone's attention by harshly slamming the end cap of Fleetly Fading's scabbard into the ground at her feet, producing a very loud thump in doing so. "To refocus upon the quick: the Ark can and does produce worthy Commanders despite everything. Johan is but one of many Commanders whomst originated in the Ark, yet now serve Eden, and serve Eden to great effect. That fact alone ought be positive cause to capture hostile Ark Commanders and test them before dealing with them, should they prove themselves to be without merit."

"That would be a waste of time-!" Dorothy started, almost seeming as though she would cross her arms petulantly with a huff.

Snow White snarled, "It would get in the way of you revelling in murdering Ark Commanders that might not have needed to die, and could have even been beneficial additions to Eden! Something which other squads do understand, given how Inherit is conspicuously the only team that almost never brings in Commanders alive!"

"Well your precious Johan never protests us putting down those snakes!" Dorothy snapped back. "If he's so great and smart, then why does he never bring back Ark Commanders, even when I'm not there?"

Cinderella leaned forwards in her seat, her brow furrowing in frustration. "Nobody ever claimed that Johan is perfect! He's just as biased against the Ark and prone to needless cruelty against anyone from the Ark as you are! That doesn't make it right that both of you are so willing to kill anyone from there at the slightest excuse!"

The rising tension was broken by yet another shocking 'thump,' Scarlet once more using Fleetly Fading to call all attention to her. "To reiterate myself: his own shortcomings aside, Johan's presence in the Ark highlights the fact that thy wanton murder of Ark Commanders is done for cruelty's sake above all. The Ark can and has produced competent Commanders, given Eden's military which consists of no few former Ark Commanders aside from Johan himself."

"This is but one of many reasons we left Eden behind, Dorothy. For you present your wasteful cruelty as though it were cold efficiency, when such is but an excuse for you to placate the demons you categorically refuse to combat or otherwise acknowledge as the problem they oh-so-clearly are."

Dorothy's nostrils flared, her teeth audibly ground together, and she let out a long, shuddering breath as she did her best to calm herself.

"This, yet, is but one of many cancerous concerns which plague Eden as a whole," Scarlet continued. "Concerns thy art rather quick to dismiss out of hand, or otherwise diminish, lest you be forced to reckon with the simple fact that thy actions and influence are malignant. Cruel acts you enshroud in the assertion that such is done 'to honour Joe,' as though he would be so quick to kill out of sheer maliciousness.''

"Joe would have done the same in my position!" Dorothy asserted before she rounded on the man himself, eyes blazing with indignation . "Tell them, Joe! You've been in the Ark! You've seen how they behave and treat Nikkes!"

She, to an extent, did have a point. But, by the same token… "Rapi and I went after the Central Government Council because they were actively aiming to kill all of you girls," the Commander began, his expression grim. "They were acting on pure malicious intent, deliberately cashing out on mankind's chances of long term survival for their own short-term gain. They knew better. They were actively evil. They sought to enact an authoritarian regime at the end of the world. What we did, we did because they had to be stopped at all costs for the sake of every living human being, and those who might follow in our footsteps."

He continued without missing a beat.

"The Commanders you go out of your way to kill in the field, even when it isn't necessary, when there's even a chance that they could be brought to Eden's side as worthwhile soldiers… They think they're doing the right thing. They're morons, but they've been indoctrinated. They aren't contributing to mankind's reclamation of the surface… But they think they are."

Joe leaned in to meet the pinkette's violet eyes, probing as the real differences between the action taken by Rapi and himself, in contrast to Dorothy's rapidly crystallized in his mind. "What do you do to convince them that the Central Government is in the wrong, before resorting to killing them and just claiming the Nikkes they'd been commanding?"

Dorothy remained quiet. Meeting Joe's gaze, though hers was faltering. She didn't reply, for an extended period of time, she simply wordlessly stared back at the Commander.

"Almost nothing," Cinderella answered for Dorothy, who shot a dirty look the platinumette's way. "She just takes the opportunity to mock the Ark Commanders before killing them, where Johan rarely even bothers acknowledging them before shooting them. The only instances in which a meaningful effort is made to recruit them, is when they've been defeated and captured by other Eden Commanders that prioritize swelling Eden's forces over satisfying their petty sense of revenge-"

"Petty!? Petty!?" Dorothy sharply rounded on Cinderella, her expression twisting into aghast offence. "The Ark has taken everything from us! For an entire century we'd been led to believe that we'd let Joe walk to his death by the hands of shameless, remorseless betrayers for whom we sacrificed so much! For a century, we'd been cast aside like worthless trash to walk an uncaring Earth as our reward for all we had done for them! Every action I have taken, I have taken for righteous vengeance! To make them feel even a fraction of the pain we have carried for a hundred years! This anger, this hatred, you dare call petty!? You, who should know better than anyone, for as much as you claimed to love Joe as a wife loves her husband!?"

Ah. There it was. The admission made in the heat of passion. The disappointment on Joe's face was plain as day, given how Dorothy caught it from her peripheral vision. Her own features twisted in equal parts anger and dismay to see him look at her like that.

"...Don't," Dorothy started, her voice immediately breaking, tears threatening to bud in the corners of her eyes at Joe's wordless judgment. "Don't you… Not you. Not you."

"Hatred," Joe declared, staring at Dorothy as he made no attempt to mask or otherwise hide his dismay at her unintentional declaration. "That's the difference. I acted out of love for you girls. To do my duty to secure mankind's future and the freedom of the common man. You act out of hatred for those who wronged you. Out of a desire to inflict even more suffering than you experienced yourself, well and above all else by orders of magnitude."

Dorothy's lip began to quiver, feeling her heart break to hear Joe so openly vocalize his doubts held towards her, despite all she'd done for him, all she still did for him, so long after he'd been thought dead.

Joe shook his head slowly, taking a half-step back from Dorothy. "That's what I'd walk into, if I followed you into Eden. An army built on hatred for those who slighted you, the need to appease your own bruised egos at the expense of those deemed acceptable targets by yourselves. Not love for your fellow man and a wish to see our planet made ours again."

Dorothy remained quiet for a few moments, staring at Joe as she visibly fought to keep her calm. Eventually, she did reply with a shaky voice. "And the Nikkes we bring to Eden? Those Nikkes we have never forced to fight for us? Those Nikkes that knew only suffering in the Ark, and are treated as the heroes they are in Eden? We have never been anything but kind to them, we offer them a choice-"

"What choice?" Rapunzel cut her off, the nun's brow knitting in no small amount of anger as she too rose to her feet, at which point she towered over the other collective members of Goddess. "You know full well that Nikkes whose Commanders die cannot return to the Ark. Ark Nikkes are executed for failing to protect their Commander. Don't act like you're giving them a meaningful choice when that choice is between conscription to Eden, or wandering the surface as unsupported Pilgrims that do not have the strength and survival knowledge that we surface-born Grimms do!"

"Join Eden, or die in the Ark… Or die on the surface," Cinderella noted darkly. "The worst part is that it actually seems like you fail to see the problem here, Dorothy."

"Because there is no problem!" Dorothy asserted with a heavy scowl. "Joining Eden is what's best for them anyways! They're better off coming to fight with us, then they are suffering in the Ark!"

Joe side-eyed Dorothy, his expression becoming truly grave. "...So that gives you the right to make decisions for them, since you know better than they do?"

"Yes!" Dorothy cried out forcefully. "Clearly! I want what is best for them, why would I let them walk back into Hell if I can direct them to Heaven even if against their own flawed instincts instead!? When such is necessary to reclaim what is rightfully ours!? They would choose the Devil they know, over taking a risk that I know will lead to their own happiness and fulfillment, and the empowerment of our cause!"

The camp became very quiet, as everyone knew Joe well enough to know well that Dorothy had just pole-vaulted over the line.

The Commander's face had fallen entirely expressionless, and it was immediately apparent that his disappointment had risen to heretofore unforeseen levels. "The illusion of free choice," he started in a completely flat intone. "Just enough, to make the many believe they have free will as they are corralled like cattle, directed like lemmings, because the great leader knows better, and puppeteers them by chains far more apparent than the elite delude themselves into thinking they are. Using the people below them to benefit themselves above all else, masking their intent behind pretty words and shallow placation… Until the moment the mask slips, revealing their true intent."

Though Dorothy's expression too fell flat, to those who knew the woman, her body language betrayed her sudden, intense panic as her pupils began to practically vibrate as her mind kicked into overdrive and she attempted to devise an out of the current situation, an excuse that would make it all okay.

"Authoritarianism is cancer in all its forms," Joe declared as he stepped away from Dorothy. "The Ark is an authoritarian hellhole. You've revealed that Eden is just another flavour of the same. I destroyed the Council to oppose the rise of an even worse regime from taking hold there. If this is what Eden is, then I will have nothing to do with it."

Pioneer let out a collective sigh, while Snow White looked vindicated in the extreme. Dorothy, in contrast had started to nearly violently tremble. Tears began to flow, even as she didn't make a sound. Her heart may have been broken, but the look in Joe's eyes, the expression on his face painted so very clear a picture: Dorothy had broken his heart first.

Dorothy swayed in place before she took a stumbling step backwards, then sloppily about-faced, and started off on shaky feet.

She took a few steps before Joe spoke up again: "I want Goddess to be made whole again. I want you by my side again. But that cannot happen if you remain committed to this path we cannot follow. Goddess cannot be again, unless you open your eyes and realize that you and Eden must change. Our arms are always open, our door is always open… Please, come home Dorothy."

"Please, come back to us… My Goddess of Victory."

Silence reigned as Dorothy kept her back to Pioneer, Joe, and Rapi. Without a word uttered, her valkyric armour flashed back to life around her figure, and she took to the air, rapidly soaring away, into a random direction, not even towards Eden.

Times like these, Joe wished so desperately that he was less of a principled man. Were he not, he might not have had to watch a woman he cherished so dearly walk away because she did the wrong thing, and hated hearing it.

But Joe knew how brightly Dorothy could shine. This tarnished, hollow manipulator… This wasn't the woman he entrusted the command of Goddess to. But she could be. He knew, if she just set her stubborn pride aside, Joe could have the first of his most trusted companions back.

As the girls all rounded on Joe, surrounded him with words of support and solidarity, hugging and demonstrating how much they trusted him to lead them to their promised victory, despite all that was going wrong… The Commander was sure that some day, Goddess would be whole again.

He trusted that Dorothy would see the light, and his Goddess of Victory would come home.

 

[AmethystEspeon]

Its finally back!

Love the chapter

 

[Dsaeg]

Well, that escalated quickly.
Wanted more happy doro but this is fine too.

 

[JKD_666]

Honestly, this was the best way this could go.

 

[Nehef]

"Please, come back to us… My Goddess of Victory."

Click to shrink...

C I N E M A

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

A heart for a heart leaves the whole world heartbroken.
Right now, we finally understand, how far a Goddess can fall. From the light of hope, to the darkness of hate and oppression. No better than the Central Government she claims to abhor so much.
May she return, a Goddess of Victory once more. She has already suffered a Mind Switch. Pray that she doesn't have a second one.