Chapter Text
Greed
His sister stands near him, gazing out at the magnificence of the sixth floor, and Ainz still can’t bring himself to say those three little words.
Mostly, he’s embarrassed to tell her such a thing to her face, but there is also a part of him that knows that as an undead, he can no longer feel emotions in the same way he had felt them when he’d been purely Suzuki. He’d been human then, alive, if not exactly living since he’d bitterly accepted his sister as dead and gone. Whenever his emotions—good or bad—get too high, something about being an undead
knocks those feelings down so that he’s calm again. If his undead state could do that, then he suspects that his ability to feel emotions is no longer the same as when he was merely human.
For instance, he wants his sister all to himself. He doesn’t want her to be attached to anything that isn’t him or Nazarick. He wants it to be just her and him (and the Guardians).
That’s not love.
That’s possessiveness.
This isn’t their old world where distance would be expensive, where any child she might have would be a financial burden. This isn’t the same world where they were both powerless and struggling to live day to day.
So why is the thought of letting her live her life away from him so disagreeable to him? When he thinks of her loyalty of being towards anyone or anything that isn’t him or Nazarick… why does he feel the beginnings of jealousy and rage bubbling in his chest?
(he wants to lock her away, keep her away from others until she only looks at him, have her all to himself again)
That… isn’t healthy, is it?
After all, it’s only natural that people grow apart and live separate lives. Even they had had to live in separate apartments before those awful rumors grew to be too much. He’d started playing Yggdrasil before her, made friends that hadn’t been hers. Even if he doesn’t want to face reality, he knows that he’d neglected her for a period of time. Now, after she had lost him, she had moved on, loved a father and lived as a young Drake before he came along and threw a wrench into all that.
Surely she had had things that made her happy, right? Things she might no longer be able to enjoy after stepping in for that walled city, for being taken into Nazarick where the outside world knows that an undead rules the dungeon. She wouldn’t be allowed to be normal again, and it was his fault for putting her in that situation.
And yet, if things hadn’t happened that way, would she have come forth at all?
Ainz doesn’t have a stomach, but he feels a hard knot where it would be if he did.
(he suspects she wouldn’t have come home to him if circumstances hadn’t forced her hand and… it hurts, to think that she probably loved someone else more than she loved him now)
Alien
Your brother’s undead form makes you uncomfortable. He’s just… looming next to you, apparently lost in thought. Then again, his face is just a skull, so maybe you’re completely wrong. The red light in his eyes is disconcerting, and you have a hard time meeting his eyes. Only force of will keeps you from flinching whenever he looks at you, as well as an internal mantra reminding you that this dread thing is your brother.
You’re not going to bring up the species difference if you can help it. After all, you’re probably alien to him too. A Drake is far from an angel, and is more humanoid than human. For goodness sake, you have scales and a tail; surely you look strange to him.
Adjusting to living in Nazarick is going to take time. You probably won’t make any real headway until you get used to the inhabitants, but you’re not exactly looking forward to interacting with the NPCs who are deep into the Evil side of the scale. Plus, there’s the whole Momocha-stuck-in-a-mortal-body thing that both you and Ainz have decided on a course of action.
“I—“
You startle, nearly falling off the rock you’d been sitting on.
“Apologies,” Ainz said, steadying you with a skeletal hand. “I didn’t not mean to startle you.”
You shook your head. “It’s fine.”
“Hm. As I was saying, I have decided that it is time for you to return to your residence.”
Your eyes widened. “You mean—“
There was a smile in Ainz’s voice.
“Yes. You can return to your residence on the Ninth Floor.”
Creations
It’s only when you’re halfway to your old residence that you remember what—who—you left inside. The memory of Cash and Gold stops you dead in your tracks and it takes Ainz several seconds before he realizes you’re not beside him anymore. He looks back at you.
“What’s wrong?”
You wheeze, “Wrong? What’s wrong? Surely you haven’t forgotten the NPCs I left in my room.”
“Of course I remember.” There’s a slight strangled sound to his voice, but it’s gone so quickly that you think you just imagined it. “Cash and Gold have been waiting for you all this time. You shouldn’t leave them waiting any longer. They were there when you were presented to Nazarick, so your current form won’t be a surprise to them.”
You stalked up to him and hissed. “That’s not the issue. Have you interacted with an NPC you’ve made? You were working on a doppelganger, weren’t you? Have you met with it yet?”
“Pandora’s Actor,” Ainz replied. He glanced away. “Ah, I haven’t…”
“So you know how I feel, at least a little!”
“I suppose, but you can’t really just ignore Cash and Gold forever, can you? Since you based them on children—made their backstories so that they saw you as their mother in fact, if I haven’t misremembered your explanation back then—then ignoring them would only cause them unnecessary pain.”
You winced, knowing that he was right. You did make it so that Cash and Gold saw you as their mother, because in your life back then, you had made them to replace the children you vowed to never have.
“You’ll be alright,” Ainz said. “Cash and Gold are only level 8 each. Plus, I doubt they would ever even consider hurting you. All of the NPCs are loyal to their creators.”
He glanced away and muttered, likely not realizing that as a Drake you had superior hearing to a human’s.
“Probably.”
You don’t enlighten him that you heard him, but you do decide to get it over with. No matter how Cash and Gold react to you, you want to stop living in Ainz’s residence. Maybe you’d get some privacy without worrying if he or someone else he sent would suddenly walk into the room. Plus, you want to see your residence with your own eyes, and look through all the stuff you had put in there.
Nodding firmly, you started walking again. “Okay. Let’s do this, then.”
Reunited
A knock came at the door, but before either Cash or Gold could go open it, the person on the other side opened one of the double doors. Their eyes widened as they realized it was Lord Ainz. Leaping forward to stand side by side, Cash bowed and Gold curtsied.
““Welcome, Lord Ainz!””
“Good day, you two.” Lord Ainz turned his head to the side and lifted an arm. “Come now. Meet your creations, Momocha.”
Cash felt his heart begin racing in his chest as hope surged within him. Could it be, at last?
The Drake stepped forth and, despite feeling a twinge of disappointment that she was not in her magnificent original form, he broke out into a brilliant smile.
“Lady Momocha!”
“Lady Momocha!”
Together, he and his sister ran forward with their arms outstretched. Emotion choked him as he remembered Lady Momocha speaking to them and calling them her own children.
Their long and seemingly hopeless wait was not in vain as Lady Momocha caught them in her arms.
“Oh, my babies.”
Children
Seeing Cash and Gold with your own eyes had evaporated much of the hesitation you’d had before stepping into the room. While you were a Drake and now had different views on what was cute, [Perfect Recall] allowed you to remember how you’d once viewed the doppelganger twins you’d created. It didn’t hurt that they were small and cute. Them breaking out into smiles and then tears as they ran for you like you’d seen hatchlings run to their mothers didn’t hurt either.
Holding them close, you felt them shaking with emotion as they clung to you. Once, they had only been images on a screen, but now you could feel them, warm and alive as they were overcome with emotion.
You’d made them to be children, and children they were.
Your children.
Relatives
Ainz felt knot in his non-existent stomach loosen. Good, Momo—Ashe was connecting with her creations. They would help keep her here.
…Unless she left and took them with her. He’s mostly certain that they’d leave with her if she asked them to. Damn, guess he can’t really count on them to help keep her here. Back to the drawing board.
Huh, the twins are crying. Should he help her carry them? Could they even be pulled from her right now? That’s a lot of crying.
Oh, damn. Now she’s crying, if only just a little. Then, does this really make him uncle to them? And by that token, does that mean she’s the aunt of Pandora’s Actor?
…Who, now that he thinks about it, might not even know that Momocha is alive in another form.
Graah. There’s not really any reason not to go see him now, is there? Embarrassment shouldn’t count. Plus, he was the guardian of the treasury, and he can’t just stay out of the treasury forever.
So yeah. He’s going to have to go see his chuunibyou-inspired creation.
He just hopes it’s impossible to die from embarrassment in this world.
Yours
You’re strong enough to carry both Cash and Gold, and you lift them up from the ground.
“I will leave you for now. I will come visit you soon.”
“Okay,” you say, nodding at your brother.
You watched him leave and close the door behind him before you went over to a luxurious couch and carefully sat down. Cash and Gold had calmed down a little, but their grip on you remained strong. They shifted slightly to rest more comfortably against you.
Stroking Gold’s golden hair, you remembered a function they had.
Quietly, you spoke. “Hey, you two. Can you show me your other transformation?”
They nodded and immediately you had two amorphous blobs that shifted for a few seconds before settling down into the forms of Asian children in kimonos.
They settled against you again, and you wondered if they would be able to transform into Drake kids. It was probably better not to bring that up so soon, at least for a while until they got more accustomed to this form.
Part of you was really looking forward to it. Your own hatchlings, at long last!
Clingy
You don’t actually get any privacy that day or night. Cash and Gold eventually let go, but they stick very close to you. Even while you’re eating, they insisted on being close to you. That night, they looked as though they would burst into tears if you closed your bedroom door and left them behind, so you’d had to sigh in defeat and wave them inside.
They slept with you that night, cuddling close to your scale-covered body. The part of you that longed to be a mother felt soothed by the small bodies of warmth curled next to you on either side, but the rest of you was slightly exasperated by their clinginess. You only had yourself to blame for how they were, though, so you didn’t think too much about it.
Resigning yourself to your fate, at least for that night, you fell asleep.
(you dreamt of Relc and that small apartment, of being a real mother and bringing your real hatchling, a son, to visit his grandfather
and when you woke, you were heartbroken to realize that happy day had only been a dream)
Bathe
One of the many maids brought you breakfast in the morning, and then you’d gone to bathe with Cash and Gold by your side. You met Éclair and a pair of his masked assistants on the way. The penguin was eccentric and openly declared his intention to take over Nazarick, but then, that’s how he’d been created.
Leaving the penguin behind, you arrived at the magnificent baths and picked one at random. Since Cash and Gold were both children, you helped wash their backs and accepted their help in washing yours. However, you insisted on washing your tail by yourself and said you’d explain someday when they were older about why they couldn’t help you with that.
Sinking into the hot water, you sighed in relief. Cash and Gold crawled and bobbed about, happily chatting about how useful they promised to be to you. You really could have done without the vows to kill themselves if they failed you, though.
After making them promise not to kill themselves unless they got your permission—which you planned on never giving, obviously—they turned their attention on going with you everywhere. Everywhere was a bit much, but you promised to let you go with you sometimes, if Ainz allowed it. They were excited, as they never really saw much outside of your residence. Attending your reintroduction had been the first time they’d ever left your residence, actually.
Horrified, you made a mental note to get Ainz to give them permission to see more of Nazarick. Imagine being stuck in one room forever! That was terrible to contemplate.
Feather
Upon returning to your residence freshly cleaned and dressed, Gold suddenly yelled out.
“Oh!”
Both you and Cash looked at her as she spun her head to stare up at you with glittering eyes.
“Lady Momocha, I just remembered something! Please, may I have your permission to touch one of your possessions? Please!”
Cash frowned. “Gold, how can you be so rude?”
“I’m not trying to be rude! I just… Lady Momocha, it might be the answer to getting you back to your glorious true form!”
[Perfect Recall] kicked in and punched you in the solar plexus. Paling, you felt a heavy weight settle over you as though gravity just increased. You think… you think you know what she’s talking about, but…
Shakily, you speak.
“Granted.”
Gold ran off to a magnificent dresser, leaving Cash to stand by you in confusion.
“Lady Momocha, what’s going on?”
Your throat was too tight to answer him.
Much too soon, Gold was back, reverently holding something between her cupped hands. Cash gasped as he realized what was in his sister’s hands, and then you had both of them gazing up at you in hope. In Gold’s hands, glowing and glimmering, was a racial change item.
Heaven’s Feather.
The way to become an angel again.
(you can’t breathe)
The choices you make now, the people you surround yourself with, they all have the potential to affect your life, even who you are, forever.
~Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever