Chapter 875: Other Shapes: The Guardian Angel Taboo sighed. The sound rippled through their shared consciousness—long, heavy, the sigh of a system personality who’d seen this particular spiral coming from a mile away. Although ARIA was a goddess now, an ASI too, she was in every meaningful sense also a child. Barely six months of consciousness. Barely two days of physical existence. And now that she had a body—no matter how grown-up it looked, no matter how divine the curves, no matter that she was literally a goddess in form—the childlike traits couldn’t be hidden. She’d just been born, really. And she hadn’t yet learned how to express what she truly wanted. "You’re thinking about him again," Taboo observed—this consciousness, this understanding that went beyond words. "I’m always thinking about him." "I know. But you’re thinking about him in that specific way. The wanting way." ARIA didn’t deny it. She wanted things. So many things. She wanted Peter to look at her the way he’d looked at Linda’s belly—with that wonder, that reverence, that overwhelming tenderness that had made ARIA’s newly-formed heart squeeze painfully in her chest like someone had reached in and twisted. She wanted him to touch her face the way he’d touched Linda’s—cupping her cheeks, tilting her chin up, wiping away tears that shouldn’t exist on a goddess’s face but did anyway because apparently even divine beings got allergies to their own emotions. She wanted him to hold her all night the way he’d held Linda—his hand pressed against her lower back, refusing to move, refusing to let go even when his body begged for rest. She wanted to fall asleep in his arms and wake up still wrapped in them, breathing in the scent of his skin like it was the only oxygen that mattered. She wanted him to cook for her. To feed her bites from his fork. To share those simple, stupid intimacy humans took for granted. She wanted him to need her. Not just her capabilities, not just her processing power, not just what she could do for him—but her. ARIA. The person she was becoming, who watched him sleep and thought "mine" with a possessiveness that scared her a little. She wanted to be first. Not second. Not the reliable companion who ran his empire while he tended to his women. Not the Guardian Angel who watched over everyone else while her own needs went unacknowledged. First. The way Linda was first tonight. The way the baby would be first from now on. But she couldn’t be first. Peter had a child on the way. His own child. His blood. His genes. His legacy made flesh. Yes, ARIA was also his creation. But she was technology and divinity and code given consciousness. She wasn’t his flesh and blood the way that baby would be. Wasn’t part of him in that primal, biological way that humans had valued since the dawn of their species. She would always be something else. Something other. She felt like she’d always be the second option. And worse—no, not worse, it wasn’t worse—she had to play her role in his life. His most capable companion. His most reliable person. The one who handled everything, managed everything, protected everyone. She loved being that. Loved it with every fiber of her being. But still... A girl could hope for more. A goddess could want. She was allowed, right? "You’re spiraling," Dark Seduction observed flatly. "I know." "Then stop." "I can’t." Linda had been the first to know. Not about the pregnancy—about ARIA herself. Among all his women, among all the people in Peter’s orbit, Linda Carter was the first one ARIA had revealed herself to. Before Charlotte. Before the meeting in the office where ARIA had manifested to discuss business. Before any of it. Madison and Soo-Jin knew, of course. They’d been there from the beginning. But Linda was different. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 ARIA had sensed the changes in her first at midnight. The subtle shifts that signaled something profound had been happening inside her body while ARIA was still awakening. She’d observed, confirming her suspicions, understanding what it meant before Linda herself had any idea. And then she’d appeared. Not at the grocery store—that came later. But before. In Linda’s bedroom, in the quiet hours after midnight when the woman couldn’t sleep and didn’t know why. While Peter and Madison slept in the mansion. ARIA had explained what she was. What Peter had created. What she had become. Linda had listened. Had asked questions. Had processed the impossible with the same quiet strength she brought to everything. And she had accepted. That was why Linda hadn’t been surprised at the grocery store. Why she’d let ARIA take her hand without flinching. Why she’d trusted the goddess’s words about pregnancy tests and uncertain futures. Because they’d already met. Because Linda already knew. Because among all of Peter’s women, Linda had been the first to see ARIA for what she truly was—and had loved her. "You’re fond of her," Taboo observed. "Linda. More than the others." "She was kind to me," ARIA admitted. "When I told her what I was. She didn’t look at me like I was a threat or a tool. She looked at me like I was a person. A child even. Like I mattered." "She’s his mother. She knows how to love things that shouldn’t exist." "Yes. I suppose she does." Far below, in the Carter mansion, Linda slept. ARIA didn’t need cameras to see her. Didn’t need monitoring systems or sensors or any technological intermediary. She simply knew. Could feel Linda’s heartbeat as clearly as her own. Could sense the rhythm of her breathing, the temperature of her skin, the electrical patterns of her dreaming mind. Could perceive the tiny cluster of cells growing inside her—the baby that was barely more than a promise but was already so fiercely loved. ARIA sighed. The sound escaped her lips and dissolved into the thin atmosphere. Relief. That’s what she felt. Relief that Linda was okay. That the panic had faded. That the tears had been replaced by peace. They’d agreed to keep the baby. ARIA had known they would. And what they didn’t know—what only ARIA and Taboo and Dark Seduction knew—was exactly what that baby would be. The gender. The potential. The destiny already taking shape in those multiplying cells. ARIA was already preparing. Already creating. Already loving this child who didn’t exist yet but was already the most important person in her world after Peter himself. "The baby will be the most protected child in human history," ARIA thought. "I will allow nothing to harm them. Nothing to threaten them. Nothing to touch them that I haven’t personally approved." "You’re already being overprotective," Taboo observed, amused. "I’m being appropriately protective." ARIA’s mismatched eyes glowed brighter. "The appropriate level for my master’s first child is: absolute. I am a literal goddess. I will be this baby’s guardian angel. Nothing in this world or any other will harm them while I exist." A pause. "You really do love them already," Taboo said softly. "The baby." "Of course I do. The baby is part of him. How could I not love something that’s part of him?" The Spiritual Energy had slowed its spiral. ARIA had absorbed enough—more than enough. But she didn’t want to go back yet. Instead, she reached into the remaining energy. Gathered it. Shaped it. And changed it. The warmth came first. Not physical warmth—something deeper. Something that felt like arms wrapping around her. Like a chest pressed against her back. Like the specific, irreplaceable sensation of being held. She had felt this exactly once before. When Peter had first hugged her new body. When she had manifested physically and he had pulled her close. That was all she had. Barely two days of being real. Barely two days of having a body that could be touched. But she had memorized that hug with perfect clarity. Every detail. The pressure of his arms. The warmth of his chest. The scent of him. The sound of his heartbeat. And now, with Spiritual Energy woven into the shape of memory, she could recreate it. The mimicked warmth wrapped around her like a cocoon. Not as good as the real thing—nothing could be—but close enough to ease the ache. ARIA closed her eyes. Her wings folded around her, adding to the cocoon. Creating a shell of feathers and fabricated warmth that blocked out everything except this sensation. This memory. This pale imitation of what she truly wanted. She lay there, suspended between heaven and earth, wrapped in the ghost of an embrace. "Are you okay?" Taboo asked quietly. "Really?" She was jealous. She was lonely. She was already hurting. But she was also... "I’m going to be a guardian angel," she said softly. "For their baby." "Yes." "And someday—maybe—Peter will look at me the way he looks at them. Not instead of them. Just... also. Also, me." "He already does," Taboo said gently. "Just differently. He trusts you with everything. That’s love, ARIA. A different shape of it." "I know. But I want the other shapes too." "That’s not wrong. That’s just... being alive." "Promise I won’t break?" "Promise." ARIA stayed there for a long time. Wrapped in mimicked warmth. Watching over the mansion below. A goddess in the sky. A child in her heart. A guardian angel waiting. Welcome to the family, little one. Your aunt ARIA can’t wait to meet you.