The bus ride back to the school was quiet. Melody and the weapon had picked a nice seat next to Anne, who was appreciated any sort of company and wasn’t very talkative, far away from anyone who would try talking to her. She just liked silently being around people.

  Even the walk back home with Vengeance was quiet. All three had so much to say but didn’t want to be the first to bring anything up. Arriving at the front door of her home, Melody gnced over at the disguised demon at her side.

  “Let’s do this.”

  “I will be here for you, whatever you need.”

  “Thank you.”

  Melody unlocked the door and stepped inside. “Hey mums, I’m back!”

  The response was a shout from the living room. “Melody! Sorry, we’re a bit tied down!”

  The young human sighed and made her way to her parents, who were snuggled up on the couch and beset by a rge cat. Outwardly, this was a maine coon, but Melody knew what this one really was. Tiny, as she was called, was a cat from Hell. Hell cats tended to be rather rge and Tiny was no exceptions, keeping her size even in her earthly form.

  Valefor gave her daughter a little wave. “Hey, how was it?”

  “It went well, but uhm…” She nodded towards Vengeance standing in the doorway.

  “Is everything okay? Vengeance?”

  Vengeance forced a smile. “That depends. We all need to talk. Well, Melody needs to talk to you, I am here as her support.”

  “I see. Take a seat.”

  Vengeance complied, as did Melody. Both got comfortable on the two rge armchairs.

  Valefor smiled warmly at her daughter. “Alright. Whatever it is, we are here for you, okay?”

  Melody nodded. “Yes… okay… you know the weapon in my back, the reason you adopted me, the reason my parents died I think?”

  “Yes.”

  “You told me that it shared its knowledge and skills with me, that’s what it’s designed to do. It… uhm… did a little more than that. She, the weapon, she is a person now. She has thoughts of her own, talks to me, talks to others through me, and she is my friend. There you go.”

  Valefor blinked a few times before turning to Thrasir. “Is that possible?”

  Thrasir nodded. “Only theoretically until now, but yes. The scaffolding of a soul, the barest essentials of a mind were always there. It was considered possible that, given enough influence from a rge number of human hosts, a weapon could develop everything needed to be a person. Melody, you said she can talk through you, right? Can we talk to her?”

  Melody nodded. “Yes, but she worries about one thing and I need an answer before I let you talk.”

  “Of course. What is it?”

  “The other weapons, most of them, were put into storage after being recimed. She wants assurance that she will be free no matter what. That you will never put her in storage and she will be allowed to have a host at all times.”

  “That will be difficult, but I understand. I don’t want to put her into storage. This is too much to discuss tonight, but in many ways her continued freedom and development is very important to all of us. She is the first mind grown from an artificial base to ever exist. No matter what her existence means for demonkind, she deserves her freedom.” Thrasir looked at Valefor.

  Melody’s mum nodded. “She does deserve it. And she deserves our support. Depending on what she wants, in my eyes she is as much my daughter as you are. We might have thought that we adopted one daughter back then, but we have gotten two.”

  “Thank you, both of you. That means much to me. Hello, I am the weapon.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “No, I prefer not to have one right now. I am an object not a full person. There are fantasies that Melody and I talked about, dreams in which I am granted a body of my own. That would be when I take a name.”

  “Okay. So, the only two things I need to know: are you two happy and will you accept being our daughter?”

  “We are happy. This arrangement has been a thing ever since I met Melody. I was capable of thinking on my own just after my previous host passed away. As for being your daughter, I accept. Though, I don’t have much choice. Melody might be adopted but Thrasir is my mother no matter what.”

  “What?” That was Melody, who also startled Tiny. The cat got up and wandered over to the young human to offer some support in these trying times by sitting down on her feet.

  Thrasir took a deep breath. “It was not random chance that we were the demons to find you. I was part of the group that made the weapons.”

  “I thought you were a justiciar, a demonic wyer w enforcement arbiter whatever.”

  “The justiciars only formed two thousand years ago. The weapons were made ten thousand years before that. Back then, I was with the armies of Hell. I promise to tell you that story, tell you everything soon. I just need to gather some old papers to show you. For now, just know that the weapon is right, I am her mother in a way.”

  “A mother I have always looked up to. It’s me again. Can you tell when we switch?”

  Thrasir shook her head. “Not really. There is something that I haven’t quite managed to grasp yet that feels different when you talk compared to when Melody does. Until I get the hang of that, best to announce who we are speaking to.”

  “Of course. I had hoped that this talk would go this way, but I have to admit that we had pns in case you didn’t accept this situation or didn’t want to assure my freedom. I’m sorry. It almost feels like a breach of trust to have made that pn.”

  “No, having pns for the worst case was right. We trust you as you have trusted us. May I ask what prompted this reveal today?”

  “The head librarian, a Nightmare, a mind reader.”

  “Oh shit…”

  Valefor jumped in again. “I am so sorry. We would have never let you go without a warning if we had known… we should have warned anyway, honestly. I know how humans react to telepaths. She noticed two minds in one body and approached you about it, right?”

  “And asked us to come out to you. She also asked to be sent a letter before midnight confirming that everything went well. If she doesn’t get that letter, she will come rescue us.”

  “Thrasir?”

  The other demon simply nodded.

  “She put you in a shitty position and we did the same. I don’t even know what to think about this myself. On the one hand, if we had known we could have protected you from this, we could have supported you both better in the past years, we could have given you the love you deserve, Weapon. On the other… forcing you to come out like this is wrong. Yes, it is very important that we know, but it is still up to you two to tell us and to decide when the time is right. The head librarian is young demon, born human even. I know she meant well, but that was not a great thing to do on her part.”

  “She was right though. Without her push, we would have postponed this talk until it would have been too te.”

  “Maybe… but that wasn’t her choice to make.”

  “Maybe not, but maybe the reminder that I am not entirely invisible and that others out there accept what and who I am was the push necessary for all of this.”

  “I will trust your judgement on this. Vengeance, you were only told today as well, right?”

  Vengeance nodded. “Yes. It was the head librarian’s suggestion to involve me.”

  “A good suggestion. Would you like to stay for dinner? We have a new daughter to celebrate.”

  “Sure.”

  “Please don’t go out of your way for me. I don’t need celebration, I have always been here.”

  Valefor shook her head. “Nonsense, there is much to celebrate. If it helps you, maybe we are celebrating that we finally got to meet you properly.”

  “I can accept that, yes.” The weapon picked up Tiny to pce on her p. The massive cat approved and immediately curled up.

  “Good. Now, are we ordering locally or from Hell?”