Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For them the world was black, there was nothing to be felt, nothing to be heard and nothing to be seen. They didn’t know if there was anything to feel, hear or see, this was their world. It was nothingness, until one day when a ship crashed into their world giving them a reason to exist. However, when they accepted this reason they couldn’t remember what it was, or anything about themselves outside of their name, Chernobog.

“Attention: external access confirmed” They could hear a voice say, “Disengaging stasis in 10 seconds… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one…”
After that everything changed, their vision changed from darkness into seeing a blurry blue box in front of them, they could even move their head. Although the space was rather tight and they weren’t able to move much. “Releasing hatch. Please stand clear.”
After they heard that they were blinded with something they weren’t used to, light. When the light lowered it revealed a woman holding a flashlight. “Hey there. Looks like you’re all in one piece.” She said, Chernobog put their hands on the side of whatever they were in and tried to walk out of it. However, when they took their first step they collapsed falling into the woman’s arms, “Careful,” she said, “Just take it nice and slow, okay? It’ll take time for your senses to reactivate.”
Chernobog looked forward confused at the ground they looked at, everything felt so weird, yet so familiar. They could feel cold rain falling on themselves, they could hear thunder, they could see the world.
“Your pod is the only one around that landed intact.” The woman continued holding them steady, “Good thing I found you. My name’s Elma. You want to tell me yours?”. Chernobog tried to tell her but for some reason they couldn’t get their voice to work. They looked down confused, they felt like they should be able to speak but something stopped them. They looked really confused and just shook their head.
“You don’t even remember your own name?” She said, “It must be the stasis hangover… that’s not good. Just try to focus, all right?”
Chernobog closed their eyes and focused on their body before being able to actually be able to speak, “Chernobog.” They said the feeling was odd and the voice too was weird. They didn’t have the same tone as the woman in front of them, their accents seemed different.
“Good, there we go. What else do you remember?” the white haired woman asked.
Chernobog thought for a second and shook their head, “Nothing.” it wasn’t a lie, they couldn’t remember anything. It was like their brain was blank, all they could think back to was darkness.
“It’ll come.” Elma said to them. “In the meantime, I’ll get you up to speed here as best I can. How are your limbs? Can you move?”
Chernobog shook their head, “I’m a bit dizzy,” they said, having a hard time standing properly.
“We’ll take it easy, one step at a time all right.” The woman had a gentle look to her, “First thing’s first, you’ll be needing a weapon.” She took out a knife and gun and handed it to them. “There you go alright let’s get moving.”

The pair started walking through the area, there weren't many creatures around them. The odd bug and some small wildlife running around the field. If anything attacked them, the pair took them out with efficiency. Eventually they found some rubble and Elma gestured to go investigate it. The wreckage looked like the capsule that Chernobog was in but there was no way to open it because the damage was so bad.
“Most of the White Whale’s lifepods didn’t survive the crash… like this one.” Elma said, “You’re one of the lucky few…”
Chernobog looked at her confused, they didn’t know what she was talking about, “A white whale?”
“Huh, you don’t know… right you don’t even remember the White Whale, do you?” She asked, “You know, the L-002? The ship we escaped Earth on? You… remember Earth right?”
Chernobog tilted her head, “What’s Earth?” they asked, sounding very confused. “Is it a place?”
“Planet Earth… your homeworld.” She said looking mournful, “Or rather, it used to be, anyway. Unfortunately, it was caught in a battle between two alien forces… and destroyed.”
“Destroyed?” They weren’t sure if they were supposed to feel sad about that. It seemed as though Earth destruction should be a mournful thing but Chernobog didn’t feel anything about it.
“Ring any bells?” She said,
“Nope,” Chernobog replied, oddly upbeat.
“Huh,” Emla looked at her, not expecting that response. “It’s one memory I’d like to forget.”
During the conversations a bug creature ran up and attacked the pair, Elma drew her guns. “Are you ready to defend yourself,” she asked, causing Chernobog to smile and pull out their own gun.
The fight was easy but very fun to Chernobog, they couldn't help but laugh as they killed the enemies. The way the guts splattered on the ground, how the knife felt cutting into the hard shell of the bugs. It was pure ecstasy for Chernobog, they’ve never had this feeling before and wasn’t ready for the battle to end until the last enemy was defeated leaving them a bit disappointed.
“We need to keep moving,” Emla said to Chernobog, snapping them out of the state they were in.
“Okay~” Chernobog replied and skipped some following Elma up the path.

Chapter Text

As they climbed over the hill, Elma looked up at the sky, “The rain’s just starting to let up. Just in time for sunrise. Follow me, I promise you’ll love this.”
The pair walked up and were able to look over the cliff, they could see everything. As the sun rose everything below became visible. Chernobog looked at a landscape that was oddly familiar, and a large creature flew over them. They felt like they could understand their cries, “fr… s…” is what they thought they heard from it but couldn’t make any sense.
“Pretty wild huh,” Emla turned to look at them. “They’re all indigenous, as far as we can tell. We’re gonna need to try and play nice with these guys if we’re going to coexist with them.”
Chernobog looked out again, this felt like home a hug from their mother. Which was odd, they don’t know why that’s the feeling they got from this world that they’re apparently not from.
“We call this planet Mira.You won’t find it on any starchart, but it’s our new home.” The name is oddly both familiar and wrong at the same time. They didn’t understand a recurring theme so far.
As they walked closer to the edge of the cliff Elma asked them, “recognize the habitat unit? That’s where we’re heading.”
“Do we jump from here~?” Chernobog asked with the excited voice one might hear from a kid wanting to ride a roller coaster.
Elma smiled, “We can, but the indigens down there are nasty. We can jump or go the high road.”
Chernobog thought, “We can go the high road.” they said, slightly disappointed.

The two of them walked the high roads. Chernobog would occasionally go off the path and pick up random objects. Emla assumed they were just curious of the world, but noticed them stopping while looking into a pond. Chernobog stared at their reflection confused, they put their hand forward and touched the water, “What is that?” they asked.
“It’s your reflection?” Elma grew even more confused by them. “Do you not recognize yourself?”
Chernobog shook their head. “What do you think I look like”
“I think you look like a nice girl,” Emla said.
“What’s a girl?”
“Do you not know what a girl is?” When Chernobog shook her head. “Well, a girl is a female child. I’m guessing you’re female but I might be wrong.”
“If you say I’m a girl then I am.” Chernobog said, smiling leaving Elma more dumbfounded.
“This can’t be mere memory lost, there is something wrong with the mim.” Emla muttered to herself before gesturing for the other woman to follow her. Chernobog looked at her reflection once again, she could see her reflection warp a bit showing something vaguely humanoid wrapped around her before disappearing. She stood back up and followed Elma.

When they got to the city Chernobog looked up at the walls, it looked a lot taller the closer they got.
“Looks a lot bigger up close doesn’t it.” Elma said to her, “And this was just the habitat unit, the White Whale was a hell of a ship. Until it all came crashing down at least. That’s the west gate” she pointed at the entrance. “We can enter through there.”
Elma led Chernobog through the entrance of the gate, as they got into the city area Chernobog was amazed by all the lights and buildings.
“Well here we are, not too shabby huh,” Elma said leaning on a railing over the city. “For a giant beached spaceship anyway. But like it or not this is our home now. We took the name from the city it was modeled after. Welcome to New Los Angeles.”

Chernobog was a nightmare in the city, she was so fascinated by everything and wanted to look at everything. To Elma’s confusion Chernobog didn’t seem to recognize anything at all, not just that she didn’t recognize the original LA.
“What’s this, Elma,” she asked with a very cheerful tone while pointing at an armored truck.
“It’s a truck, we use them to transport equipment and other goods.”
“What’s a truck?”
“It’s a large vehicle,” Emla replied, trying to understand Chernobog’s memory loss. She didn’t seem to have the type of memory lost people normally had. She completely forgot everything, not just knowledge of herself.
Chernobog had moved on to something else but when she saw a skell starting to crash she locked her eyes on it. And walked towards where it landed, when they got there they saw a group of people around the crashed robot. One of the people there was a girl who looked over and saw them, “hey Elma,” she said waving them over. “Who’s this you got?” She looked at Chernobog. The girl was about the same height as Chernobog but looked a lot younger.
“This is Chernobog,” Elma said, gesturing to the still distracted woman.
The girl walked over to where Chernobog was facing, “Hey, I’m Lin Lee Koo, but you can call me Lin.” she said smiling.
Chernobog looked at her, “I’m Chernobog,” she said.
“That’s an interesting name,” Lin said.
“It is?”
“I like it though, it’s unique.” She smiled brightly at the woman. “So she’s a new member of BLADE?”
“Not yet, I just found her in a lifepod,” Elma said.
“BLADE?” Chernobog asked, “What’s BLADE?”
“I’ll explain once we get to the barracks,” Elma smiled at Chernobog.
“I’ll come too,” Lin said, “I can’t have Commander Vandham bullying the new girl.” She smiled and took Chernobog’s hand. With that the group headed to the barracks.

Chapter Text

Elma was very curious about Chernobog since they found her. She seemed to not know or understand what was common human knowledge. Now it was a bit hypocritical for her to think someone wasn’t human considering who and what she is but this was something she hadn’t seen before. Chernobog had no memories of anything, Elma had asked her questions about almost everything she could reasonably think of and the only answer she got was varying levels of “I don’t know” or a confused look. But what made Elma’s confusion even stronger was the fact that as she observed Chernobog in the field she seemed oddly familiar and at ease on Mira. When they had gone out to install a probe Chernobog managed to get a collection of materials that hadn’t been found before. Many of them blended into the foliage so well that they were basically invisible. Her knowledge about how dangerous the wildlife is was also a shocking revelation, she was able to guide us away from an indigen that could have easily destroyed us in seconds. The oddest encounter though was when she stared at a powerful indigen and it fled scared. Chernobog wasn’t an intimidating figure, she was very short and wore basically no armor. She was a pretty soft target but a lot of the indigens in certain areas were actively terrified of her.
To get some answers Elma decided to look through the records and crew list to find out who she actually is. But it came up with no results for hours until she found one record on the crew list, a document with Chernobog’s photo, one that all crew members took, but instead of any information all she got was redacted boxes. The top of the document also read “Classified” on it. When Elma attempted to get more information on it she was confronted with a screen saying “This information is classified and redacted by the British Intelligence Agencies and the Royal Air Force, to access this information enter your identification number.”
Elma was rather shocked by this but at the same time not. She knew Chernobog was British from her accent and her having a connection to British Intelligence or the British air force was surprising but the level of classification was. And that it was still classified on the White Whale, an American ship was odd. Maybe her identity was top secret beforehand, but it was all useless now that her memory was gone. Just who is Chernobog and who was she before the destruction of Earth.

Chapter Text

Chernobog, Lin and Elma were on a mission to find some metals needed for skell repairs. This led the group of three into a cave infested with hostile indigens. Although they weren’t difficult, they were annoying. Chernobog, who enjoyed fighting things, was getting tired. They only needed three more pieces but they couldn’t find any anywhere.
Once they got an area cleared out they split up and searched, Lin managed to find a single piece but the other two couldn’t.
“I don’t think there’s anymore here,” Chernobog said. She was the one that found most of the needed metal, and the one who said there’d be a few pieces in the cave.
“Are you sure, we still need two more pieces?” Elma said, looking at the request.
“Yup yup, 100% sure that there are no more pieces here.”
“It’s not a good sign that we used up the deposit already,” Lin said, “We might need it again one day and not have access to any.”
“Oh, did BLADE already mine here?” Chernobog asked, she was able to sense some mining had been done in the cave but hadn’t assumed it was BLADE that did it.
“Oh no, this place hadn’t been discovered before you brought us here,” Lin said laughing.
“Then who mined it?” She thought for a bit, “Oh well, we can figure that later. I sense another area that has that metal we need.” Chernobog grinned and started walking to the cave entrance. Leaving Elma and Lin to just follow her.

Chernobog took them to another cave where she sensed the metal being at, this cave however was devoid of any life. No indigens, no small fauna, not even any plants. Although this was concerning to Elma and Lin, Chernobog wasn’t concerned by it in the least bit. She just walked through the cave finding the metal they needed.
“We should turn back once we get the rest of the material.” Elma said, “I don’t like this place.”
“Yeah, it’s really off putting.”
“It’ll be fine,” Chernobog smiled back at them, “There’s no living indigens here.” She put emphasis on the word living for a reason that was lost on Elma.
Chernobog just guided them through the cave, deeper into it.

The longer they stayed in the cave the more unsettled Lin and Elma became. There being nothing living in it couldn’t be a good thing. When they walked to the deepest area of the cave they saw a figure standing in the final open chamber of the cave. The figure looked humanoid with a masculine frame, as they got closer they could tell he had long white hair and pale skin. His clothing was a long white robe and he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
Chernobog stopped in her tracks when she saw the man. He turned around to look at the women that walked into the cave. “Hello,” he smiled at the three of them. The man had dark red eyes, the color of fresh blood. “I didn’t expect visitors,” he threw something at Chernobog that she caught. “But I was hoping you’d come here. You were looking for that metal right, Chernobog?”
“How do you know her name?” Lin asked on guard.
“Why wouldn’t I know her name?” His smile faded, as he tilted his head. “Huh, oh, I see, she doesn’t know huh.”
“Are you a native here?” Elma asked, she could tell he wasn’t human or a mim. Although at first glance people might think so upon a closer look he obviously wasn’t. Under the man’s hair he had ears that resembled a fennec fox’s ears, and his eyes looked like a cat’s.
“A native…” he paused, “Yes one could say so, I came from this planet.”
“Came from?” Lin asked, confused, “That’s an odd way to put it. Anyway, how do you know Chernobog’s name? Do you know all of our names.”
“No…, why would I know the name of newcomers?”
“But you know her name?”
“Of course I know her name.”
“I don’t know how to talk to you.” Lin gave up.
Chernobog finally broke her silence by saying. “Why are you here, you’re not meant to be here.” she was staring down at the metal, her tone of voice being somber, something neither Elma nor Lin had heard her speak in. “You were gone.”
The man walked over to Chernobog and brushed her hair out of her face, “Chernobog, there are things you’re not supposed to know yet, please be patient.” As he rubbed her forehead gently Chernobog collapsed with him catching her. He picked her up in a princess carry and handed her over to Elma. “I apologize but mother had told me to stay hidden from Chernobog, but I will tell you my name. It’s Belobog, please take her back to your base. She is not injured, I just put her to sleep momentarily. She will awake soon with no memory of this event.”
“What do you mean?” Lin said, shocked.
“She’s not meant to remember things just yet. Mother has plans for her, just be careful of the other visitors to Mira. Mother does not welcome them.” And with that Belobog disappeared with a flash of white leaving the trio by themselves.

Chapter Text

She was humming while sitting at a lake, in her hands were flowers that she was weaving into a crown. The day was peaceful, the local wildlife were wandering around eating. Her mother had told her that the peaceful days wouldn’t last forever so she should enjoy them. The girl didn’t understand what mother had meant by that but didn’t question it too much, mother knew better than her.
She wanted to make crowns for her younger siblings who had recently been created. She didn’t know their names yet but had been told both of them have them the ears and tails of a lava fox. The girl wished that she was allowed to meet them but her brother had told her she wasn’t.
She didn’t think it was fair that he was allowed but she wasn’t, she’s also their older sibling why can’t she meet them. As far as she could tell mother decided that she can’t meet them, or that’s what her brother had told her. Mother had recently stopped communicating with her for an unknown reason.
The girl had also noticed small creatures starting to travel and on a few occasions tried to sell things to her. She didn’t know what to give them so paid in shiny rocks she found to get something to tie her hair up. The creatures were cute and fluffy, she thinks they called themselves Nopons but she couldn’t really hear them. They were funny little creatures and seeing them traveling about brightened her day.
Next to the telethia, the Nopons are the first creature she’d interacted with that were intelligent. Although she has difficulty hearing them she can tell they can communicate. She’s always had difficulty hearing creatures that weren’t mother, or her brother (and she suspects she’ll be able to hear her new siblings). She isn’t sure why though, it’s always been this way for her and it never seemed to be an issue before she started interacting with the Nopons.
She smiled as she lifted up the finished flower crown, “It’s beautiful,” she said smiling. “I don’t understand why brother doesn’t like to wear them.”
“Because they’re too delicate,” A voice came into her head. It was the voice of her brother. “Why do you insist on making these sister?”
“Because they’re pretty,” She fumed at her brother. He was more violent than her, she’s seen him beat up local wildlife that got a bit rowdy. He said that his job is to keep things in check, but she knew he took joy in it. “You just have no taste.”
“These are for our new siblings, correct.” his feline-like ears twitched, “Mother hasn’t allowed you to interact with them yet but you’re still making them crowns.” he had a disapproving tone.
“BROTHER” she yelled angry, the water around her stirring from her anger.
Quicker than she could process he grabbed her and hoisted her over his shoulder, “Calm down,” he said, “Why are you so angry”
“You know why,” she hit his back, not wanting him to hold her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he laughed and walked away from the lake with her. Despite her protests they walked back to their home.

Chapter Text

At the barracks Lin was examining Chernobog who was still unconscious, there was nothing wrong with the mim it wasn’t even shut down. Lin’s best guess of the issue was that the connection with the lifehold was severed or maybe it was just jammed. But how could that odd man that they met do that. Belobog seemed to know who Chernobog was somehow, but he didn’t know who Elma and Lin were saying, “Why would I know the name of newcomers”. Chernobog would also be a newcomer wouldn’t she, she’s from earth like the rest of them. Even though she couldn’t remember Earth that didn’t mean she wasn’t from there… right?
These thoughts circled in Lin’s head until Elma walked into the room.
“She’s still not awake,” Elma sat next to where Chernobog was sleeping.
“Yeah, I’m not sure what Belobog did to her but there aren't any issues with her mim.”
“That’s odd, is the single to the lifehold damaged?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Lin said, “But I can’t detect any connection to it.”
“Mmm,” Elma thought for a moment, “The way he spoke was weird,”
“What do you mean?”
“The way he knew Chernobog and spoke about her.” Elma said, “He mentioned a mother and that she had plans for Chernobog.”
“Yeah…” Lin looked down at the sleeping woman. She was noticing weird things about Chernobog and was starting to get concerned about her. Chernobog acted weirdly, she had an odd ability to find materials. Her being able to know that there was the metal they needed was in that cave. She’s also been able to navigate regions of Mira that they hadn’t explored before with the knowledge of someone who’s been there many times. Both her and Elma had started to notice this. Chernobog must have a connection to Mira in a way neither of them could ever guess.

After a day of sleep Chernobog woke up, and like Belobog said she had no memories of that interaction. When Elma had asked her about it she just stared blankly at her and tilted her head in confusion. So they left the issue there for now, but knew they’d have to research it again at a later date.
Time went on normal with the completing missions for BLADE. One mission to recover had them run into a group known as the Prone. After defeating the leader fortress they met a Nopon named Tatsu that they brought back to BLADE.
Chernobog had an odd look when she saw Tatsu for the first time, “A Nopon…” she said that after seeing Tatsu for the first time even before he told the group what he was. Nopons were natives of Mira apparently, and were nomadic people.

In the BLADE barracks Chernobog was sitting on the couch holding Tatsu infront of her, “You’re a Nopon… I didn’t know you would be so cute…” she was muttering looking at the potato shaped creature. “She didn’t mention how cute you’d be…” she said before catching herself. She put Tatsu on the couch and tried to think back, who she was talking about. Her memory was blank despite feeling like she should remember something. How did she know about Nopon before meeting Tatsu? Chernobog put her head in her hands wanting to scream.
“Does Bog’s head hurt?” Tatsu asked her, “Linly’s food would make Bog’s head stop hurting real quick.”
“That does sound good,” Chernobog lifted her head, completely forgetting about what she was thinking about earlier. “Maybe she’ll make some fried potatoes” she looked at Tatsu hungry.
“TATSU ISN’T FOOD BOG”