MAIN SCENARIO - Genesis

"Hey. How was your rest?" Sonia sat beside Autumn, whom had been resting on Sonia's bed since they first returned from the Library. "It's about time you woke up. You just kept sleeping, and sleeping. So much for just a nap." She laughed softly, extending a hand towards the Android. "Hey, Hugo. She's awake. See?" A young man slowly came into view as the Android's eyes got adjusted to the dark lighting of Sonia's room. "You sure she's from up above? She looks a bit... off." The young man referred to as Hugo looked a bit skeptical at first. "She certainly doesn't look the part of "Halcyon Drone"."

"Hugo!" Sonia frowned at her brother. "Don't be rude! She can hear you." Hugo, realizing his mistake quickly apologized. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to..." After a few moments of awkward silence, rather lovely voice sung up from the floor below. "Is she awake yet? We have to go soon. I don't want to keep Maksim waiting!"


The twins shouted in unison, before they turned to Autumn again. "Come on! Lets get you dressed up. You can borrow some of my clothes. We're basically the same height anyway. Just let me know when you're done, so we can go! I promised you to show you around, after all. And while Mom's at Maksim's party, might as well... y'know... Sneak out."

Despite having slept enough for many lifetimes (at least for a machine), Autumn could always find solace in dreams. She was already fairly certain that it wasn’t necessary for efficient function -- in fact, she was sure she didn’t need to sleep unless her system was in grave need of recalibration (which it was, at the moment) -- and she was fairly certain that such fantasies were abnormal, be it some odd glitch in her operating system or simply an unexplainable anomaly, but she was thankful nonetheless. The moment she closed her eyes and manually triggered her ‘sleep’ function, Autumn was awash in an ocean of her own imagination, ones and zeroes fading into coherent mindscapes.

It was almost enough to make her feel human. Almost; if she looked hard enough, the illusion began to fall apart, now that she had a point of reference to compare the dreams to. It was saddening.

It had only been hours since she had last slept, but it had felt like a lifetime. She flitted from vision to vision like a hummingbird tasting the nectar of the flower, the different worlds blending together like an abstract painting splashed across an artist’s canvas.

Then the shapeless and formless streams of colours and numbers and words wove themselves into something else; not quite reality, but certainly not a dream either. She recognized the room where she had awakened, lights now dimmed and flickering and casting long shadows that licked the metallic walls, noticed the odd absence of the thrumming of the heavy machines surrounding her. She was sitting, limp in a seat, wires jacked into her every port, a sense of panic being evoked by the sheer familiarity of the situation. She tried to move her limbs, only to find that they felt leaden - tried to run a system check, only to find that she wasn’t on whatsoever, noticing the odd sensation of transparent eyelids resting over her own crimson orbs, a sensation akin to what humans called sleep paralysis.

Before she could look around any more, a lanky, tall man wearing a ragged, stained lab coat and cracked glasses, dark brown hair speckled with gray and white in a wild shock falling over his eyes. The man took a seat at a stool adjacent to her, before he began to speak in the same voice that Autumn recognized from the strange vision she had received while she was with Sonia but this time desperate and broken. “Please, Autumn wake up, I can’t keep waiting, please, just wake up--!” He pleaded, voice raw, and then screamed horribly as a black, tarry substance erupted from his every orifice in a way so terrifying and horrific that she wanted to wake up right then and there, wanted to bolt out of her seat, but she could not move, had to bear witness to the figure’s inglorious disappearance.

When it was at last over, a regal, dark-skinned figure bearing a figure seemed to materialize next to her, speaking in the grave voice, carrying the inexorable finality in his voice of an executioner. “Did you not hear him? I fear you must wake, for we are fated to meet soon.” He stated, impossibly calmly, before grasping her shoulders and roaring in her ears in a thunderous voice, “WAKE--”

“--up!” Someone else spoke, jarring her from fitful sleep as she reflexively bolted upright, fingers irising open to reveal the barrels of her firearms, leveled directly at Sonia and Hugo’s heads before she realized who they were, her body relaxing and fingers lowering to her waist. Sonia’s words raised the question of how long exactly she had been sleeping, but there were other things to attend to. “It is likely my system likely needed some major recalibrations to do, if I was sleeping for that long. That and...it felt to dream again.” An absolute lie, one she hoped wasn’t obvious. She hoped her voice sounded at least somewhat convincing - her voice box's imitation of a human voice was somewhat lacking, a mechanical sort of lisp slipping through more often then not.

Hugo's -- the bright-eyed boy who looked remarkably different from his sister, and the brother she had spoken of, if Autumn had to guess -- remark about her not ‘looking the part’ of a ‘Halcyon drone’ piqued her interest, the latter seeming oddly familiar to her in a way she couldn’t place. “It’s alright. He’s probably correct - I don’t look the part.” Autumn murmured dejectedly, looking down at her patchwork and scarred body before she pulled on the robe-like garments she had worn the day before. “What exactly happened, if you don’t mind me asking? I do hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you - my operating system was...malfunctioning pretty badly, as I’m sure Sonia can attest to, so I can’t exactly recall.”

"That still doesn't give him an excuse to be rude." Sonia frowned at Hugo, standing up. "I swear, one of these days you're going to piss off the wrong person. Anyway, we should get going. Mom's getting a bit antsy." She grabbed Hugo by the sleeve and dragged him out, leaving Autumn by herself again.

The fading echoes of her dreams irregularly flitted by her view, hearing voices she recognized but simply couldn't place. Incoherent dreams melding past, present and future alike, making very little sense even to the young android. Was it a premonition? A warning of things to come? Or were these visions just a by-product of sleeping for eight, long years? None of it made much sense, and the more she thought about her dreams, the hazier her memories of them seemed to get.

Then, suddenly another, much more vivid image flashed before the Android's eyes. A Blue door... A Park... She saw people. Featureless, but people nontheless. The vision faded just as quickly as it had appeared, and a sting of pain surged through her circuitry... a very unpleasant and unfamiliar feeling.

"Hey, are you okay in there?" Colette's lovely, yet concerned voice would rip Autumn out of their thoughts. "We'll wait for you downstairs okay? Just don't take too long."

Autumn shook her head to dispel the fleeting images worming their way into her field of vision, a slight ache like an arrow lancing through her chest causing her to wince as she stood on unsteady legs, following Sonia and Hugo out the door as she finally managed to separate dreams from reality despite the hazy after shadow of the strange blue park imposing itself on her vision whenever she closed her eyes.

The android ghosted down the stairs, observing the livery - it was clear that this family's home was well loved, framed photographs and other decorations lining the walls as she approached a woman who she figured was the twin's mother, a dark haired woman with a face and soft smile reminiscent of both of her children. It took a moment for Autumn to work up the words in order to greet her, speaking awkwardly and nervously shifting about on her two feet.

"I...well, apologize if I caused any trouble for your family and...sleeping in your home..."

"Oh hey, there you are! Ready to go?" Sonia lit up once she saw Autumn slowly make her way down the staircase, still a little bit lightheaded from the sensory overload prior. She seemed to have entered the kitchen, with Hugo currently being busy filling some plastic boxes with the afternoon's leftovers. "Oh hey. Please, don't apologize. It's fine." The young boy closed the last box with a loud snap, and stuffed them inside a large, cold box underneath the counter. Everything in the room had been hastily cleaned up, showing signs of stress. "We really need to hurry. The party's starting soon and I don't want to be late."

The family of three, plus Autumn, left the small house together, and headed towards the Party-Hall on the other side of the social hub. "Geez... When Maksim said he was expecting a large crowd, he wasn't kidding!" A big crowd had gathered in from the pompous looking building on the eastern end of town, the cacophonous excitement filling the air. This was indeed a big deal for Maksim, and even the two twins couldn't help but feel a bit of the excitement themselves, even if such a big mass of people did invoke some nervousness. "That has to be at least two hundred people!" Hugo stared at the mass of guests with big eyes, having never seen so many gathered in one spot. "Stay close. I'd rather not lose track of you three." Colette was rightfully worried about that. It was easy to get lost in such a crowd.

Autumn heard the party long before she saw it, muffled chatter, shuffling footsteps and the noises of raucous celebration cutting through the thrumming, hissing and buzzing of machinery. People danced and caroused, enthusiastically drinking and making merry to music that was hardly audible over all the noise, which she filtered out so as to listen to Hugo, Sonia and Colette. Even so, being near such a dense crowd made her less that comfortable. Judging by Sonia and Hugo's reaction, it seemed like she was not alone in that respect.

"I don't suppose you're still planning on sneaking out?" Autumn asked them in a voice that would escape Colette's notice, neatly weaving around and avoiding the general debauchery that surrounded everyone.

"Well, now that you mention it... I did promise you that tour around the vault." Sonia winked at her friend, whispering quietly while her mother was focused on talking with the Club Bouncer. "It'll just be for a short while. I'm sure once Mom finds Maksim, she'll be too busy to notice. So long as we don't stray too far away, we'll be alright. What do you say, Hugo? Wanna tag along?" Her brother blinked abscentmindedly, his attention obviously elsewhere. "H-Huh? What? Oh right. Sure." He replied, still not quite sure what he was agreeing to exactly. "I guess that settles it. Once we get the opportunity to-"

"Excuse me..."

Sonia was pushed aside as a man in a black coat walked past the family. He seemed to be in quite a hurry. "H-Hey! What's your problem!?" Sonia shouted after the figure with a rather scorned frown, obviously a bit irritated. "Watch where you're going! Helloooo?! I am talki-Nevermind..." The man just ignored her shouting and kept on his merry way, holding a rather brisk pace. "Geez... What's up his butt? Could've at least stopped to apologize." In the mass of people however, the hooded man vanished out of sight. Where he was going was anyone's guess. "Anyway, lets stick together with mom until a good opportunity arises. I'm sure you'd like to see Maksim too, huh? He's kinda cute, not gonna lie." She paused, and glared at Hugo. "Don't you start..."

Autumn chuckled at Sonia and Hugo's bickering, but her amusement was short-lived as a rather dodgy looking man hastily pushed past them, uttering an insincere apology before being lost in the bustle of partygoers despite the android's attempt to keep an eye on him. She could've sworn she'd heard a rumble of discontent echo in her mind as he passed, shaking her head again as if it would help - after all, she could not dwell on such things at the time.

"I don't like this," She muttered, starting towards the figure and his rather suspicious, stiff-legged gait. "I can't place it, but something isn't quite right." She continued, brushing past Sonia and Hugo.

The android broke into a sprint just then, compelled by an increasing, frantic urge to pursue the man coming from who knew where, dodging and ducking between the dense crowd of people attending the party. "I'll catch up!" She hollered back at the twins and their mother before being swallowed by the crowd.

"H-Hey! Wait!" Sonia practically shouted after Autumn, but her voice was merely drowned out by the cacaphony of voices around her, and before she knew, the android was gone. "Come on, Hugo! We gotta go after her!" Hugo himself looked a bit skeptical "...But weren't we supposed to stay together...?" He avoided Sonia's ice cold stare. He really did not feel up to this. Besides, he had no clue who this robot was, aside from the name 'Autumn'. Why should he care? "Fine. I'm going by myself then." and before her brother could protest, Sonia too had vanished into the crowd. So much for a fun family night out. Hugo did feel a sting of guilt, watching his sister just dart off after the android. "God damn it, Sonia... Why are you this way...?" He groaned through gritted teeth, before following in his sister's footsteps. Colette hadn't even noticed that her children had already disappeared.

Sonia pushed herself through the crowd, not even bothering with apologizing to every person she shoved out of her way. Why, Autumn? Why? She was left confused by the Android's behaviour, and it had fallen on her to watch over the lost robot. "Damn it, stupid robot. Where the hell did she go?" She cursed under her breath, her eyes scanning the nearby area once she had gotten herself out of thickest part of the crowd. After a few moments spent searching, she caught a glimpse of the Android's puffy pants, and quickly took chase.

The hooded figure had long since vanished from Autumns view, but even still she knew where the man was going... Up. Up a ladder on the northen end of the Social Space, leading up towards the surface-way tunnels. That was a rather reasonable assumption to make, given that there was no other place he could really be going. So now you had 3 people in chase: Autumn was after the hooded man, Sonia chased after Autumn and Hugo was following her sister. Eventually, Sonia caught up to the android, right past an apartment complex. "Hey, you can't just sprint off like that, sheesh. What's with you?"

There were multiple elements to the efficient function of a machine, many stages to a rapidly decaying directive like the one that invaded Autumn's mind at the moment. To start; situational awareness was crucial for calculating an angle of approach, followed by the rapid readjustment of objectives. She swept the room, ducking between carousing men and women, occasionally catching a taunting glimpse of the man and his brisk strides between dancing bodies only for her vision to be swallowed by the crowd once more. It was difficult to move in such confined quarters, nearly panic-inducing as she was buffeted about like a ball by partygoers, but she would not be deterred, gritting her teeth and darting past them to reach the man, hydraulics and machinery whirring and pumping in her ears like the rhythm of a broken song, a thudding, frantic cadence.

Unfortunately, this was when things started to go horribly wrong, as they were wont to do eventually. Autumn stumbled, limbs unable to keep up with such stress as they were pushed to the limit after eight years of inactivity, spilling forward and sprawling onto the ground, losing sight of the man as she did so. Lists of errors and warnings scrolled through her system, their woes going unaddressed at Autumn began to push herself upwards, compelled by some inane, illogical urge that even she didn't understand, when Sonia caught up to her, followed closely by an equally irritated Hugo.

"Hey, you can't just sprint off like that, sheesh. What's up with you?" She practically shouted when Autumn cut in again, secretly touched by her concern but somewhat surprised by her appearance as she dusted herself off. "He was going for those ladders," She explained, still sounding rather uncertain. "We're in it now; may as well follow, unless you want to go back to the party, which is the respectable and probably logical decision."

"We really should get going. Mom's gonna worry, and if we're not back soo-!" Sonia was interrupted by a series of loud gunshots, and felt the warmth leave her cheeks as her face paled. Someone just fired a gun. Not just once either. Hugo looked equally terrified, frozen stiff where he stood. "M-Maybe we should go. I-I don't like the sound of that." Sonia agreed. They really shouldn't be here. "Y-Yeah. Come on, Autumn. Lets go back." She extended a hand, as if to reel her in.

"Stupid Machine..." Black eyes stared at the smoking security drone with contempt, its gun barrels still smoking. Something had come to his aid in the nick of time. He thought he was a goner, but something, maybe a glitch in the system, caused the Drone to shoot itself. Did... he do that? He looked at his own hand in disbelief, guided by voices which were naught his own. They whispered to him, venomous words seeping deep into his thoughts. They spoke in a language he did not understand, yet... the words somehow still rung clear. His gaze fixated onto a blue panel inside the control room. From his pocket, the man produced a small, blue keycard, and approached the panel. One swipe later and the door hissed open. The voices thanked him. Told him not to worry. Told him that he was free. With a single strike against the panel, he set it ablaze. On the other side, the surface, he saw them. Demons. Their eyes about as black as his own. He took his few first steps outside. Took in his first breath of surface air.

He was... Free. Free to do whatever he wanted. Shame that he had to throw his peers under the bus, but that was the price you had to pay. The voices fell silent, satisfied with a job well done. Now the real work could begin. After today, Vault Olympia would be no more. No one would be left alive to trace this crime to him. Not. One. Soul.

The sound of a series of gunshots rending the silence and resonating throughout the hallway caused Autumn to snap into motion, practically throwing herself up the ladder as errors and strings of variables gave way to a single, clear directive, a voice roaring in her mind for her to fulfill it. She swung past the top rung and onto the steel floor only to be greeted by the discordant notes of metal shrieking and the body of a drone -- one of the ones the twins had loosely mentioned before, it seemed -- sagging to the ground, acrid smoke curling lazily upward from gunshot wounds in it's head, limbs twitching nervelessly. No, wait, the smoke was filling the entire room now, a dashboard in the corner burning, alarms blaring and warnings doomed to be unheard adding to cacophony as she realized what exactly that console operated.

Wasting not a moment, Autumn's right hand swung upward, her own gunshots singing through air towards the retreating man, walking leisurely towards the now opening door, but it appeared to be in vain, shots wasted, she despaired. Useless machine, An insidious voice whispered, far from the comforting ones that she had dreamt of as long as she could remember. You weren't fast enough, weren't strong enough, and now look at what you have wrought. The mocking whispers almost seemed to make her body feel heavier, the android frozen in place as it continued to speak name to her failures. Just a puppet, and a poor one at that; for what use is a machine that can't fulfill it's only function? You are at fault for this, for all the death that is going to occur on this day - it is all because of your failure.

And Autumn watched helplessly as the demons came, bringing with them fire, ash and the shadow of death itself.

"Not again...!" Sonia growled under her breath... but then she did the unthinkable. Autumn was one of her own. And in that moment of fierce resolve, she took not a step backward, but she pushed forward, despite all her instincts telling her not to. "S-Sonia?! What are you doin-Are you CRAZY?!" Hugo felt the panic truly set in. His own sister, the person he held the closest to his heart, was about to walk to her own doom. "STOP! DON'T GO!" Halfway up the ladder, Sonia looked back at her brother, her stubborn resolve shining through. "I can't just let her go. I promised..." And with that, Hugo's voice fell on deaf ears, as Sonia too, disappeared.

Hugo had no idea what to do. This was supposed to be a nice, family evening together with Maksim and Colette... maybe even Noemi. Oh, who was he kidding... She wouldn't be there. Never. Lamenting over his own failings as family, he stood there, helpless. "God damn it Sonia... Why are you like this? Always so stubborn."

"Because she cares, Hugo..." Another voice echoed to life within him. "...A Butterfly? Here?" Its wings a vibrant shade of blue. As blue as the ocean, glowing brighter than the moon on a clear night sky. The little insect landed on his fingertips, almost as if it was watching him. "She needs you."


With newfound courage, Hugo stood back up on his feet, feeling an unknown strength pulse through him. The lives of both Sonia and Autumn hung in the balance. He had to do something. And so, he took his first few steps towards Salvation... A Few, of many, many yet to come...

Just as quickly as it had ghosted into her mind and whispered her failings in her ears, the malevolent entity that had capitalized on her weakness left, replaced by algorithms and variables that were almost comforting in their familiarity. She felt a pang of guilt for the fact that she had endangered Sonia and Hugo, sparing a glance down at the ladder, but she knew there was no time for further hesitation if she were to mitigate damage she had caused. As if responding to this resolve, a voice she hadn't heard clearly for what seemed like ages rang clear in her mind, hazy echoes given glorious form once again.

"Ah, it seems I'm reaching you again. I must say, it's been a while - though it seems the circumstances for our reunion are less than ideal." He rumbled, voice mellifluous but stern, human in a way she longed to emulate. "It's fancy meeting you here. It took you long enough." Autumn spoke clearly, despite the grim circumstances and the weight of her insecurities still weighing heavily on her mind."It takes courage to be the first to step onto the shore, you know." The voice continued, voice tight with the resolve of a warrior prepared for battle.

"Well, as they say: It takes two to tango." She responded, a sword hissing from the air as if leaping into her hand from an invisible scabbard, fitting in her hands perfectly. With each syllable spoken, a thrumming, thumping sensation in her chest swelled; A light breeze began picking up around her, gently stirring the ash and dust, errors giving way to strings and strings of algorithms that would quite literally determine life and death. She closed her eyes, a new primary directive appearing to her, giving a broken machine purpose.

She spoke name to power, and it was all too eager to respond.

"Summoning Persona; Protesilaus!" She intoned in a mechanical voice, a noise like shattering glass erupting from her chest - the first notes to many a war song that the two would weave in tandem.

With trembling fingers, Hugo took a firm grip on the ladder, looking up. The cold winds from the tunnel above was blowing down onto his face, almost as if nature itself tried to tell him that it was a bad idea to proceed. He ignored natures warnings, driven forward by an inner voice, speaking in an unknown tongue... he didn't understand the words, though he didn't need to. He took his first step onto the ladder, and started climbing, his resolve never wavering, not even a second. The voice of Philemon supported him thoughout the climb, filling him with the strength needed to see things through. To be more like his sister... to challenge fate.

The scene that met Sonia once she clambered up into the cold, damp tunnel was rather confusing. She saw the monsters, the drone, the open door... and Autumn, standing in Defiance against the forces outside. She was glowing, and to her unawakened eyes, Protesilaus remained invisible. Naught but a mere ghost. From behind, the same, blue butterfly flittered up, and slowly started circling both Sonia and her friend. "Be Brave." Those same words sung like a chorus of angels to them both, resonating within them deeply. Flashes of a future soon to be rewritten flashed before their eyes, like a memento of times which they could prevent. Sonia gasped. She felt her calling. She knew what to do. "You know what to do, Sonia. Take that leap of faith. I'll catch you." Philemon's voice serenaded through Sonia's head, soft and warm. The voice remained ambiguous as to whom it belonged to... But Sonia knew that this was her moment. Everything had lead up to this.


Hugo's brown eyes peeked over the edge, beholding the same sight that had just met Sonia as she got up. Though he could see more. The faint trace of a ghost, standing guard in front of Autumn, in complete defiance of the Demons ahead. He clambered uptop with some effort, standing by Sonia's side. "You..." She looked at her brother, shocked that he had the courage to follow. "Couldn't let you wander off into the unknown alone." He sure sounded braver than he had in years. The Hugo she used to know was... well, not gone, but certainly different. Grown up.

All three of them now faced a demon onslaught. They were the only defense that was left. Both twins realized this, and the voices within told them... that they could fight back. "You ready, Hugo?" She looked to her brother, who nodded in common resolve. "Always."


The sound of glass shattering echoed in unison between the twins as their personas sprung forth in a gout of blue fire and brimstone. One a tall, iron clad giant spouting blue smoke and fire from its shoulders, while the other was a smaller, slender-looking Satyr, hooves clacking against the ground as it shielded its summoner behind him, white fur standing in such stark contrast to the dark, damp tunnel that it was almost blinding.




Confidence was at an all-time high, and the twins were both ready to take on anything. To Challenge Fate... To protect their home.