(Monday's Chapter)
"Wait a second!" Cagalli realised something, so she swiftly pulled back and floated away from her supposed father!
"Explain! What the hell is going on?" She asked with narrowed eyes.
Marcus sighed as he motioned for her to come with him.
"As I said before, come with me, Cagalli."
Her eyes widened as she trembled for a bit. This guy knows her name! Well, he could have known her before or read about her in the news. So it wasn't that surprising, but… well…
"...Fine… what about the people?" She turned around and looked at the sleeping citizens of Heliopolis.
"The beacon is active, and the rescue teams will find them." He motioned for her to relax.
"...I see…Then I will follow you." The black-haired girl sighed a bit. Her mind is telling her that this was crazy, but the rest? It's like her brain and consciousness itself already accepted that the guy before her was her father. It's like her very bones know.
'What the hell am I?'
"Good, then come over."
The pair floated back before Cagalli realised that gravity was a thing she nearly face planted into the metal floor!
Her father caught her effortlessly before letting her walk.
"...how can…"
"Fusion reactor of my ship generates gravity throughout the whole ship. Not having gravity in a spacefaring vessel is considered primitive from where I come from." He explained to her as the girl looked around. She noticed how… different the ship was from anything she had seen before!
"Though this is an old model, more than sixteen years old." He commented on the ship they were on at the moment.
"Oh… so who are you… I mean… I know you are my father, but what is your name? I think I've seen you before somewhere." Cagalli got flustered; she felt awkward and embarrassed!
"My name is Marcus Justinian Anaheim."
"...Anaheim…Anaheim…ANAHEIM!? Are you that eccentric billionaire who the Atlantic Federation walks around like on a tight rope!?" The girl looked at him with a slightly wide mouth.
"I guess? But that's just a cover." He shrugged.
"...Cover?" For a second, she stopped, confused. What does he mean?
"Haven't you noticed how different the spaceship you are on is from any other ship?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"...Yes… I guess it is strange…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Wait! Are you an Alien!?" She exclaimed before turning pale! Is she an alien too!?
"Technically, yes, I am." Marcus chuckled as he found her over-the-top expression amusing.
"..."
"..."
"...Technically?" She looked at him, curious, what does that even mean?
"I am a ruler of another Earth from a parallel reality. I arrived in this world twenty-one years ago. My goal was to gather data on genetics. You see, I am looking for ways to make an army.
Since people don't quite like being drafted into the army, I decided to look for alternatives.
So, I created a company and bought the world-leading company named G.A.R.M. This is the company where your mother worked.
She was a scientist working on genetics at a colony called Mendel, where G.A.R.M. was, where Blue Cosmos attacked in the year 55; at that time, I was not even in this world. I wasn't even aware that she was pregnant or that Blue Cosmos had any means to attack.
I was exterminating them for years, but they always come back like some cockroaches."
"..."
"..."
"You broke her. You should use a different method to explain." Lacus walked over and looked at Cagalli, who was spacing out.
"She is quite cute. Looks like a younger version of you, just a girl." The pinkette walked around inspecting Marcus' newest daughter.
"?"
At that moment, Cagalli snapped out and looked at the pinkette; she got defensive around her.
"...Who!?"
But then stopped and looked at her.
"...Are you… No, you look older… are you perhaps related to Lacus Clyne?" The black-haired girl looked confused; she couldn't make sense of what she was looking at.
"Fufufu, not quite, I am Lacus Anaheim, I am a creation of your father."
"..." Cagalli looked at her father. She was speechless to hear that! He can make… people?
"You look just like her." The black-haired girl pointed out the obvious.
"That's because we share the same genetics. Back in G.A.R.M., there was a scientist who designed a 'perfect' daughter for herself.
It was called Project Lacus. But you see, he took that data and added his own data and technology to create me.
Finally breached technologies of several worlds into one." Lacus explained as Cagalli tried to process it all. It was wild to her!
"...Crazy… why do you even do that?" Marcus's daughter asked him.
"To confirm all of the research, all of the years of development that were not in vain," Marcus explained to his daughter.
"...now that… actually makes sense…" The girl nodded before looking at Lacus.
"So there are two of you? But the one I saw is younger than you."
"I created her to be a full adult. I have far more technology to develop them like that; besides, I never envisioned her as a daughter." Marcus pointed that out!
"...fufufu, of course not. From what I recalled, you fancied the original so you thought of making me~." Lacus giggled as she looked at him.
"...Seriously, father?" Cagalli rolled her eyes.
"Wait until you hear how many siblings you have." Lacus smiled as she looked at her.
"..."
"...or mothers, after all, your father is Emperor of Humanity in his world."
"..."
At that moment, Cagalli's eyes rolled up as she passed out.
Marcus swiftly caught her before she hit the floor.
"..."
"It would seem it was you who should watch what you say." The Emperor commented with a sigh.
"...Well, she needed to learn the crucial thing as soon as possible," Lacus said with a strained smile.
"...I guess, for now, let's put her to rest."
As he said, he took her to the living quarters of the spaceship.
With the girl resting in a bed, Marcus returned to the cockpit and got in his seat.
"What now? You still have a wayward son~." Lacus commented as she watched his expression.
"...Well, he won't be coming with us. I can tell that he won't leave that warship." The Emperor looked at the darkness of the void.
Lacus followed his gaze; her senses were telling the same thing.
"Indeed, I can say the same thing."
But then she looked somewhere else, it was towards PLANTs.
'Hmm… what to do with you~.'
"For now, let's return to the base and decide what to do." With that said, Marcus grabbed the control sticks and moved the spaceship towards Earth.
~~~
"What a weird dream." Cagalli opened her eyes as she dreamed something wild! Her real father was an Interdimensional Emperor from another reality.
"Oh? What kind of dream?" A female voice asked, making the black-haired girl snap out as she looked to the side. She saw a girl with short red hair look at her with an amused smirk. This lady was wearing military clothes, with a sword at her hip and a… cape?
"...so it was real…" She looked around, realising that she was in an unfamiliar room with smooth walls made from an unknown material.
"Do apologise for a bland room. But having more kids was not on his Majesty's to-do list."
"...Majesty… you actually call him like that." Cagalli grimaced while saying that.
"We do, and why is it strange when people call you Princess of Orb?" The knight pointed out.
"...it's more on the symbolic side than a real title." Cagalli grimaced even more.
"I see, well, now you have the Imperial Princess title, being 4th Princess."
"...Fourth… I have three siblings?" The girl didn't know what to think about that.
"No, you have three official sisters and three official brothers." The Knight pointed that out.
"It would seem my father has quite the dynasty." The princess tried to sound as little offensive as possible.
"Not as Impressive as your Grandfather." The knight girl smiled even more when she mentioned her grandfather.
"..."
Cagalli decided that, for now, she needs to take it slowly because it would seem she has quite a history.
"...I-I see…"
"For now, come with me, your father is waiting for you, he does want to talk about the future."
"..."
"Of course." The black-haired girl slowly got up from the bed. Looking around for her shoes, once she found them and put them on, she got up and followed after the knight.
The first thing she noticed once in the corridor was that they were somewhere else. Not a spaceship. Her senses told her it was not void beyond these walls.
"...Are we…back on Earth?" She asked with a surprised look.
"Indeed."
"...That was quick…how long was I out?" Cagalli was a bit nervous, had she been knocked out unconscious for several days!?
"Around an hour."
"...an hour… but we were several million kilometres away! It takes several days to reach Heliopolis!"
"With the level of technology in this world, yes. But who said that we use that?"
"...You guys truly are from a different reality," Cagalli commented with a bit of awe.
"...Do you want to see it?"
"...See what?"
"The means we use to travel between realities?" The knight piqued her curiosity.
"If it won't take long. I don't want my father to think that I am a lazy person." The girl said with a small frown.
When the Emperor's knight heard that, the woman chuckled.
"You do realise that those gifts you have come from him? He can sense things even better than you can."
"...What are these gifts?" Cagalli asked curiously; now that she had mentioned the roots, the black-haired girl wanted to hear the truth!
"People of our Empire are evolved thanks to a special particle that our nation utilises. We are faster, stronger, smarter, and live far longer, and that's just mundane people.
Then there are the royalty of the Empire, of whom one is you. Your father harnesses power from a previous civilisation.
You should awaken another power at some point."
"...Are you serious? Power from a previous civilisation? Like the pyramids and stuff?" Cagalli was baffled; she had been dreaming of pyramids for a while.
"Oh, so you noticed then."
"No way, you are serious…" The girl shook her head in disbelief.
"You do realise that rulers in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt used to rule nations for thousands of years, so that's the same power." The knight smirked a bit as she looked at the girl's speechless expression.
"..."
"..."
"...I didn't expect that my roots are like that."
"Did that impress you? Your father achieved far more than that. At your age, he was waging war against his father and then uniting the world; he dragged humanity to the stars by its hair.
And he did that to two humanities, well, in the other one he saved from alien invasion." The knight shrugged when she mentioned that other time.
"..."
Now that was not what she expected to hear…
"...You are not lying…"
"Why should I lie? Any lie, I would say, would sound less impressive." The knight smirked.
When the knight put it like that…
"...By this point, that is true."
The pair walked a bit, and then they arrived in a spacious hall.
Cagalli's eyes widened when she saw the archway.
"... this is it?"
"Indeed, it looks basic, made from limestone, but it's far more advanced than most of the technologies in this world.
It utilises vibrations to shatter the very fabric of reality and create a pathway to another world."
"...That's… well, how does it even work?" As a bit of a science nerd, which she seems to have inherited from her father, she is curious about the mechanics behind it.
"You should ask your father."
"...I intend to do that." With that said, the pair began to walk towards the exit.
The black-haired girl realised that they were in some sort of secret underground bunker. Well, it should be obvious since these guys are literally from a different reality, aliens.
'Well, I am one as well.'
After walking through a wide walkway, big enough for mobile suits to walk through, they left the cavern.
What Cagalli saw was a desert environment and sea before her.
Though she was baffled to see a parasol and a table with several chairs next to the beach.
It was extremely out of place…
"Well, you are awake, come, join me, Cagalli, time for dinner." Marcus, who was waiting for his food, motioned for the girl to take a seat next to him.
Instead of saying anything, she walked over and took her seat.
"..."
Honestly, she has so many questions that she doesn't know where to start!