Chapter Text
Everything was peaceful. Two scientists were sat in a corner of their lab, one reading a book while the other was asleep laying on her. During the past year these moments were few and far between. There had rarely been a moment a moment of calm, nor had they been back at the base for more than a day before leaving again. So much had happened, from several herrschers appearing, adopting several traumatized children, being reunited with their own traumatized son, and Otto putting everyone in danger for his own selfish desires, nobody had time to do anything else other than prepare for the upcoming war.
Tesla shifted a little, making a noise that sounded similar to that of a cat. Einstein looked down at her and smiled. Sitting the book aside, she grabbed her jacket that had gotten tangled around the mess laying on her. An annoyed noise came from the other girl before she gently covered her back up with it.
Grabbing her book she continued reading. There was a nagging fear in the back of her mind that things had only just begun. Several things didn’t add up. The connections between the past era and the present one were abundant. She’d gone through everything regarding the previous era, yet several questions remained. Little did she know that potential answers would be coming from an unexpected person.
—————
An hour passed before she sat it down again. She relaxed and closed her eyes. There wasn’t any point in worrying. For now everything was okay. No matter what the future holds they’d find a way to conquer it. They had to. She gently ran her fingers through Tesla's hair, debating whether or not to join her in napping.
Suddenly the silence was broken by air releasing as a door opened.
‘Absolutely wonderful, what problems have emerged this time.’
Clicking of feet against the tiled floor echoed throughout the lab as three people walked in, though one was floating and not exactly walking.
‘Perhaps if I don’t move they’ll leave.’
Joachim stood there looking around before spotting the two, and looked at them for a moment.
“Are they asleep? Maybe it’s better if we come later,” a soft whisper filled with slight anxiety came from one of the girls.
He shook his head, sighing. “Doctors, are we interrupting something?”
Einstein didn’t move.
“Dr. Einstein I know you’re awake.”
“…”
“Dr. Einstein I will tell ADA to cease all of her current functions and delete all her progress if you don't stop ignoring me.”
The girls looked at each other, confused.
Einstein finally gave in, grumbling and annoyed. “What can we do for you, Joachim?” She sat up and looked at the group. One of the first things she noticed was Bronya and Seele standing behind him, awkwardly looking around. “Good afternoon, Bronya-“ she looked at the other girl, “Seele.”
“Good afternoon Dr. Einstein,” they said in unison.
Tesla began moving, being awoken by the sudden chatter. “Mm.. what’s going on.”
Einstein used her free hand to fix the girls glasses and move hair out of her face. The red haired mess looked up at her for a moment before turning her gaze to the three people standing there.
There was a pause before she shot up nearly falling off the couch, her face bright red from embarrassment. “MOPHEAD-“
Einstein sighed, grabbing the jacket that nearly fell off. Turning her attention back to the girls, she spoke.
“Was there something you three needed help with?”
Seele watched the scene unfold, concern on her face. She was only slightly worried for the scientist who looked like she was about to spontaneously combust at any second.
“Bronya wanted to talk with you two,” Joachim began, not even acknowledging the scene unfolding, “Some of the memories held within the core interested her, and I believe you two will be able to explain better than I.”
Einstein nodded, “Very well. Dr. Tesla?”
She mumbled in response, still flustered with her head in her hands.
“We’ll take that as a yes,” looking towards the two girls she nodded and motioned for them to come forward. “What were you interested in?”
Bronya thought for a second. Tilting her head to the side, she stared at the doctors.
“Bronya has a question,” she spoke matter of factly, "What happened after 1955?"
Einstein and Tesla looked at each other, surprised.
"The Welt and Karls memories allowed me to piece together the time before, however the time beyond that is a blur."
Tesla sighed, not really knowing where to begin. "Bronya it's a very long and very boring story."
Joachim scoffed, "You call it boring, I'd call it traumatic."
"What.. what happened?" Seele finally spoke up.
"Nothing much," Einstein replied casually, "Just Otto trying to hunt us down to finish his pathetic excuse of a murder attempt. The usual."
"Wh- What??" Seele looked at them with wide eyes, absolutely horrified.
"Oh yeah, that fucking bastard did try that didn't he," the words carried lingering anger and rage, "That fucking bastard.."
The angry redhead went silent, remembering everything that happened as if it was yesterday. "We were on the run for years because of him," she gripped the couch with frustration, "We were so young and that fucking bastard.." Her voice trailed off.
Einstein gently put her hand on Tesla's shoulder, "To put this plainly, Otto spent an unnecessary amount of time trying to get rid of us." she paused for a second, thinking. "Other than that.. A large portion of our days were filled with paperwork and continuous developments. During this time Tesla actually developed one of the first nuclear missiles."
Tesla looked up, with a proud smile, "That I did do. It's still one of my proudest creations, other than our mechs and Arahat."
"It's unfortunate that we didn't get to test it on Schicksal."
"We can still change that!" Tesla beamed, looking at her wife hopeful.
"Ahem.." Joachim cleared his throat, "Doctors back on topic, I will not allow you to start a nuclear war."
"Has anyone ever mentioned how lame you are, Joachim?" Tesla huffed, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air, "You never want to do anything fun."
"Dr. Tesla."
"You know, Joachim, she has a point." Einstein looked at him with the same mischievous grin on her face, "Every time we suggest a fun family bonding activity you tell us no."
"Dr. Einstein the last time we had a 'family bonding' experience we were wanted for the destruction of government property."
"That was just a small mishap, Joachim."
Bronya and Seele looked at each other, confused and concerned.
"A-Anyways.." Seele stammered, trying to change the subject. "Dr. Tesla, I was wondering something. What made you start writing the Arahato series?"
Einstein smiled softly, thinking 'oh god here we go again' to herself. Meanwhile Joachim sat down, knowing he'd be there for awhile.
"OH OH!"
Everyone could've sworn they saw stars in her eyes as she spoke.
"It was originally created in order to provide funding for our projects! More specifically, the real Arahat. Though I learned I actually enjoyed it and continued writing it after the fact!!!" Tesla looked towards Einstein, "Mophead actually helps me out with it sometimes when I'm running late on it."
"It's real?" Bronya tilted her head out of curiosity.
"Yup!" Tesla pulled her phone out, scrolling through her pictures for it, "See! Here it is. At least, that was before it got destroyed by Sirin."
"S-Sirin??"
"Oh, you two never learned about our involvement in that did you?" Tesla shrugged, sitting her phone back down. "You'd be surprised how often we were forced to work with that bastard over Schicksal and then got scrubbed from the story as if Otto was trying to forget we existed."
"Dr. Tesla to be fair would you like to be associated with the killing of an innocent girl," Joachim spoke, a hint of sadness and regret in his voice.
"... Good point Joachim."
"Wait, does that mean.." Seele started, unsure of if she should finish.
"Seele is asking if you knew the Sirin that idotka Kiana carries around."
The two shrugged.
"The Sirin that resides within Kiana isn't the same," Einstein turned sideways and leaned on the couches armrest, "Even then, I doubt she'd recognize Dr. Tesla or I."
"Why?" Seele said curiously.
"Well.." Einstein started looking at Tesla.
Joachim sighed, hand in his hands. "I'm going to bed. It's almost eleven," he stood up and looked at the two doctors on the couch. "Try not to blow the place up or get yourselves killed."
"No promises," they called out in unison as he left.
Einstein played with one of her curls, thinking for a moment. "Bronya, what made you interested in us in the first place?"
The grey haired girl sat there, thinking before responding. "Before the Bronya thought of you as nothing more than two strange doctors" she said shrugging, "Seeing the Welts and Mr. Yang's memories made me interested in knowing you."
"Honesty is the best policy, I guess." Tesla let out an awkward, yet offended, laugh.
"What all are you able to remember?" Eins asked, curiously.
"The Bronya..." she paused organizing her thoughts, "I have seen Dr. Tesla threaten the Welts manhood and her assaulting him around seven times."
Tesla stared at her, nervously laughing. "I didn't do that."
"Yes you did, Dr. Tesla."
"MOPHEAD YOU DID WORSE!"
Bronya nodded her head, "I have seen Dr. Einstein throw a dictionary directly at Dr. Tesla's head resulting in her being knocked out."
"...."
"MOPHEAD???"
".. Listen Tes I can explain-"
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID I FELL??" Tesla glared at her, clearly not happy.
Bronya and Seele pretty quickly figured out that Tesla was not aware of the dictionary incident.
Einstein coughed, "Dictionaries aside-" she glanced at Tesla who was now sending her death glares, "Anything else?"
"The Welt was cringe."
"WHAT?" The two of them stared at her, shocked and trying not to laugh at the abruptness of it.
"BRONYA??" Seele shouted, surprised to hear her saying it.
"'Girls are justice,' the Welt did not know basic human interactions."
The two lost it, laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
"He might've been cringe, but hey at least the bean pole tried his hardest. Sometimes." Tesla commented.
Einstein laughed, checking the time on her phone. "Hey Tes it's getting late, we should head back."
"Time's a social construct."
"Yes but it's a social construct that we are obligated to follow."
"Fine," Tesla yawned before looking at the two girls in front of them. "You two should go to bed as well. Seele are you still helping me tomorrow with the mechs?"
'Seele' smiled at her, "Of course, Dr. Tesla!"
Bronya sighed, realizing who just agreed to it.
"Great! Thank you Seele, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You're welcome, Dr. Tesla!" 'Seele' smiled gleefully, excited for the destruction she would cause.
"You guys head out now so we can lock the lab up, we'll see you two in the morning," Tesla stood up pulling Einstein with her.
"I can stand up myself, you know."
"Yes but you're slow."
"Goodnight, Dr. Tesla and Dr. Einstein!" the girls called out as they left.
"Did you notice something off with Seele?"
"Hm? What are you talking about Mophead?"
Einstein shook her head, "Never mind, don't worry about it," pausing, she tapped several keys on the screen to lock the entire lab, "In any case, we need to leave before we fall asleep in here again."
—————
The next morning went about as well as you'd expect, and Einstein was forced to help Tesla fix several Mechs that 'Seele' decided to 'help' with.
Tesla was far from amused and probably cried after she left. She can never catch a break.