[Idol TF]
After everything that had happened with the Bavarian Illuminati, it was time for SONG to wind down their efforts. The day had been saved, and that allowed the wielders to go back to their daily lives. With a couple of exceptions here and there should the need to act arise.
If one were to ask Elfnein, the little Homunculus that acted as the ‘mechanic’ for the team’s relics, her idea of free time was a little different than the others. She always preferred to go straight back to her room and tinker with something, since her body didn’t require the sustenance or the sleep that humans did. While yes, she did enjoy a lot of the activities that her friends dragged her out to, she had something very important to deal with.
During the incident with the Illuminati, three of her friends were lacking in LiNKER, which left them unable to do much in terms of helping out. Thanks to the memory chip left behind by Dr. Ver, she realized how the substance was put together… and she realized one more important thing, concerning herself rather than her friends.
She could construct memories. Using the very same machine she had used to dive into the memories of her friend Maria, she would be able to create memories of her own. As an Alchemist, this was extremely useful if she ever wanted to call upon her powers, but as a person… It was even better, considering the person she had lost not long ago.
This formed the crux of why Elfnein decided to stay indoors for a lot of the time. She just wanted to see that friend again, no matter how much it’d take. Of course, creating memories was a hard task, so her body not requiring sleep was very beneficial. But those long hours using her mind to piece everything together wore away at her, leaving her to pass out at her desk more often than not.
Now, if she just hadn’t left the music her friends made on during this little experiment, maybe what came next wouldn’t have happened.
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“...And what exactly are you supposed to be?”
In the deepest vestiges of the Homunculus’ mind stood a young blonde girl clad in a red dress. The actual owner of the body that she possessed, and the one that had originally created her. Carol, the Alchemist that had threatened the world with all the power at her fingertips.
And standing across from her, was an identical copy of her. At least, if one were to just compare their bodies. But if you compared their outfits, they couldn’t be more different. Instead of wearing a simple red dress that left just enough of her body exposed to the world, she wore a two-piece outfit. A top that was colored red, blue, green and yellow, as well as a skirt matching those colors. Both pieces of clothing were excessively frilled, with each section colored the same as the part of the clothing it corresponded to.
The other Carol giggled as she held a microphone up to her lips, one that had manifested from a teeny alchemical rune. “I’m Carol! Everybody’s Idol!” The girl shouted into her microphone, massive speakers popping up around the room as the sound blasted away. It was way too loud, so loud that the real Carol couldn’t hear herself think. “I’ll sing my heart out and watch the world love me!”
“Like hell you are! What’d that idiot do now?!” The real Alchemist shouted back, her veins popping out as she got up after having been pushed to the ground by the sound. “She thought she could make a better me, is that it? It was getting cramped in this place when she started making more of me, but this is getting ridiculous!” Suffice to say, the blonde wasn’t very pleased with this development…
Her other self, the one that Elfnein had fabricated on complete accident thanks to the music blaring through her ears, was still giggling in the face of this aggressive assault. “She didn’t think I was better, no way! She just thought you’d like being happier!” She chimed, twirling her microphone around as she got way too close to her real self. “Because she loves you, don’t you see?”
This left Carol at a loss for words… Which in turn meant that the idol could fill her heart with everything she ever wanted. She didn’t hesitate either, bringing her microphone up between the two as she took a deep breath…
“I LOVE YOU!”
The scream of pure affection bounced its way through the alchemist, keeping her from acting on any kind of emotion. It consumed her quickly and fiercely, leaving the blonde frantically trying to cover up her ears to try and get some personal space…
But she couldn’t. Not with the idol snapping her fingers and keeping her arms from moving with a little bit more alchemy. “You heard me, Carol! I love you!” The copy shouted again, her magical music piercing its way through her original self’s body as it continued ringing through her…
The more it rang, the harder it was to keep herself as the girl she was supposed to be. The red dress was splitting into two pieces, with the colors of her former minions decorating both pieces. Filling her with affection and love for those that had touched her heart. Whether it was those very same girls, Elfnein… Even that adorable Tachibana and her friends. It was such an alien feeling that she would’ve rejected if the circumstances were any different, but right now..?
She couldn’t feel any other emotion than pure, unabated happiness and love towards those that loved her back. Especially herself!
The other Carol giggled as she saw the emotion lighten up on her original self’s face, prompting her to push her microphone up to her own lips. “I love you, Carol!” She shouted one more time, this time the sound from the speakers that had formed around her refusing to pulse out. It didn’t need to, there was no reason to overwhelm the girl any longer…
Because the smile on her face made it clear that she had gotten through to her. “I love you too, Carol!” The real Carol’s face beamed with love, more speakers smashing through the fabric of the mental space, twisting it from a plain and boring apartment room like it had been for the last little while, into a proper stage meant for the twin idols. Now that her heart had been filled with all the emotion she needed, she was ready to take the world by storm!
“Everyone!” The two idols cried out as a crowd formed in the mental space, roaring out with love towards both of them. “We love you! We adore you! And until the end, we hope you love us even more!” The Carols shouted, causing the crowd to whip itself into an uproar filled with applause and affection…
But they weren’t done! They couldn’t start singing without their very special guest, the one that had helped them see the light amongst the darkness!
They twirled around on stage, their footsteps illuminating the ground below them with the alchemical symbols that corresponded to the powers that they commanded, until the one for Silver appeared below them as they grasped each other's hands, leaving little space between their lips…
“W-What’s going on?”
And a confused voice, belonging to one special little girl, echoed out behind them. The two identical idols turned towards the owner, revealing a special little blonde that looked almost identical to them, one who had given everything to make sure that they would return.
“Elfnein.” The Carols said in unison, their voices utterly deprived of any sort of malice or disgust. Any hate that she once carried for the girl was gone. She shouldn’t ever hate her, especially since she had been doing her best to reconstruct them from her own memories. “Join us.” They continued, each of them reaching out towards the Homunculus, with a smile on their face.
The artificial Alchemist hesitated, worried about what the two might do, only to gasp and yelp as her hands got taken by them both. She was pulled up between them, as a microphone appeared in her hands. A snap from both of them, and her outfit matched theirs, leaving the three of them even harder to distinguish. “Y-You… You’d really want to sing with me?” She asked, and the two nodded with happy smiles on their faces.
Elfnein’s own smile brightened as she put her heart to the test, singing with all of the emotion she could muster. It was the first time in a long time she got to be happy with the girl that had made her… and it really brought warmth and comfort to her heart.
Now, there was just one problem. She had to explain a couple of things when she woke up. Like why she was suddenly wearing a weird outfit, or why she called herself Carol, or why she wanted to be an Idol like Maria and Tsubasa…
But in the end, she was happy. Both her, and Carol. Happier than they ever could’ve been, singing their hearts out for everyone to hear!