I. Nexus

Louise stood, feet parted, trying to block out the noise around her before carrying on with the ritual. This was important, her day, and she didn´t need her classmates making her more nervous that she already was. She had see their mocking stares and heard their even more mocking words, but that seemed distant, somehow. Now, she just had to this one little thing, make her willpower flow like all those books told her it was supposed to flow, and everything would be all right. Eleanor would smile at her, Mother would finally accept her and she wouldn´t worry Cattleya anymore. None of them needed such a burden, and she was tired of it, too. She had be tired for a long time. Louise breathed, and drew her wand for the pocket of her uniform. She hesitated for a moment, thinking of the chant she had prepared and the new ways they could find to put her down even further, then shook those thoughts out. It didn´t matter. It didn´t matter, at all.

"My servant that exists somewhere in this universe!" She said. For the corner of her eye, she saw Professor Colbert watching over, with an expression that seemed encouraging. Better to concentrate of that, that the constant mutterings of her classmates, that it was a strange chant and that the Zero would blow them all away today if they were not careful. Yes, even if it was nothing more that his duty as an instructor, better to concentrate on it that everything else. Cold comfort, maybe, but better that not comfort at all. "My divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar! I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart, answer my guidance!"

She felt it, the willpower leaving her body, and maybe it was nothing but a wild disillusion, but it flowed, flowed like it was supposed to, like a person so fundamentally broken as her should incapable of. Then, she staggered, and fell to her knees. The world started blurring right before her eyes, fading into a sweet, sweet high. She felt a hand on her shoulders, and the sound of her name, far away. Louise gasped, back arching in such a short and sharp move as the cracking of a gun. Her eyes glazed over and, suddenly, she was flying.

A street, far and wide, nearly in darkness if not for strange objects. Streetlights, she thinks and the word escapes her mind as suddenly as it came. There are two boys there, trembling in the darkness, holding on to each other besides a massive, fallen (knocked out) bicycle. One is a tall, red headed boy, face full of freckles. The other is shorter, skinnier, something (glasses) framing is face, hiding behind the taller boy. The leader, she thinks, without even knowing why. There is a smell there, in the darkness, a smell that is almost like an animal.She heard scratching, and her mind draws a terrifying image of arms as big as herself ending in sharp talons. An open mouth, with teeth as sharas knifes, foam dripping from it. Eyes, wide and round, shining with an eerie light. It went away. Whatever it was, it went away. But it could never leave. Because that thing was this city. That was

(Derry)

everywhere, in this place.

The scenechanged, went away and now there was only darkness, stretching even beyond the horizon. A void. There was that boy again, the red headed one but he had changed. Is expression was more appropriate for an animal that a human. And, something else, too. A Shape.It. This, everything about this, made her heart churn painfully in her chest. An illusion, it had to be an illusion. Or...

"This is no illusion you foolish little boy-this is eternity, my eternity and you are lost in it, lost forever, never to find your way back; you are eternal now, and condemned to wander in the black... after you meet me face to face (the deathligths, all the way into the deathligths) that is."

That Voice came from the void, it was the void and it settled down on her like a physical weight. This...

(he)

was too much, far too much. She didn´t care about what was happening, or why or about what she left behind. She just wanted this to stop.

(thrusts)

But It couldn´t stop. She knew that, even thougth she didn´t knew what was It or where it came from. Because, It, most of all, desired suffering. It´s food was

(his fits against the posts)

pain. That made everything so much sweeter, full. Gave everything substance. So It couldn´t stop. The only way out, the only real way out, was

(and still insists he sees the ghosts)

death.

Louise gasped, and fell her lugs fill with air, feeling like she had be drowning and perhaps that was it. Drowning in a sea of darkness. What see had see there, in that (void) place, was hazy now, like a half forgotten dream but she didn´t think it was a dream. Not now, at least. The experience was far too recent for that. She saw professor Colbert´s worried face above her, and it took her a moment longer to realize that she was on the ground, and her wand was no longer on her hand. And, for the corner of her eye, she saw a cloud of dust. An explosion, one of her explosions. It had to be. But, for a moment, she thought that it was nothing but a sign of the imminet appearance of that thing (that had seen her) she had see, in that deep darkness.

"Miss Valliere, Miss Valliere, can you heard me?"

"Mister Colbert..." She said, drowsily."Yes. I..."

She stared as the dust slowly dissipated, revealing that, yes, there was something there. But it was not a magical creature, or even a beast, but a man. Is face was white, tufts of red air on each side of his bald head and big, red smile painted over his mouth. He had a tie, and bright white gloves. On his left hand held a bunch of balloons of all colors, that stirred gently in the light breeze. And she saw that he had no shadow. She froze in fear, but then the shadow was there, and she chastised herself. Nothing but a hallucination because of the heat, the stress, her sudden fit or all of them. It took her a moment to realize why he was there: she had summoned him. A mere commoner, and one that dressed like some kind of jester.

"No way..." She said, her voice failing her. She... she had desired anything at all, as long as she succeeded. But this... this was worse that failure. At least, simply failing allowed her to preserve some semblance of dignity, as Wardes eventual wife. With this, she wouldn´t be surprised if her mother decided to disown her.

Laughter bumbled thorough the crowd, after they came to the same realization as her, and the mocking started, both to her and him. He seemed like he didn´t even heard it-and it was a possibility, all right, the man didn´t have to know how to speak Tristanian. He took two big steps, and extended his arm towards something. When he pulled his arm back, he saw that he had grabbed her wand. Calmly, without that big and red smile leaving his face, he walked towards her. Louise stood up, shakily, ignoring the mutterings of the crowd. Image. She had an image to maintain. If she couldn´t be a noble, then a least she would fail with her head held high. The man reached her, and presented her the hand with her wand, and opened it. Louise took the wand.

"Who... Who are you?"

"I, Louise, am Mr Bob Gray." Her blood froze. He knew her name. He... no, wait. Don´t over react. He heard it from the crowd and nothing more. Calm down. "Also know as Pennywise, the Dancing Clown."

"Why?" She said, before she could stop herself, and then grimaced. It couldn´t be more obvious.

"Because I am a clown, and I dance. Well, sometimes. Anyway, Pennywise, meet Louise Valliere. Louise, meet Pennywise. And now, we know each other. Ah, the joys of a proper greeting. You should remember things like that, you know. Is not good to let your manners slacken."

Louise flushed, and when some idiot from the crowd echoed his agreement and laughter broke out once again, she flushed even harder.

"Are... are you mocking me?"

"No, why would I do that? Come on, lets make peace. Want a balloon? They float."

"No, thank you." Louise said, and clenched her fits, gathering what courage she had. This had to be done. "Could you.. Could you get closer? Please."

Pennywise bended at the waist, until he was close enough for her too kiss him. Which was precisely what she was going to do. Ah, how embarrassing. How embarrassing.

"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere." She declared, twirling her wand about according to the gestures of the books. "Pentagon of The Five Elemental Powers, bless this humble being and make him my familiar."

Then, she put her hands on his cheeks, and kissed him, right in the lips. Pennywise didn´t even react, like he had be expecting it. That was ridiculous, of course, but he should have at least stiffened or try to move away or something, not just stand completely motionless. She maintained the kiss longer that necessary, to make sure she did it right. When she pulled away, she stared at Pennywise, waiting from the branding of the runes.

"Well, that was sudden." Pennywise said. Even thought he said something like that, his expression didn´t change in the slightest. "Thought, well, everybody loves the clown."

Louise blushed, once again, but didn´t make another move. There. The hand of Pennywise was glowing red, and, even through the gloves, she saw the runes being slowly engraved. When the ligth died down, she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. That´s it. Whatever happened from now on, she at least at succeeded in this. Wait... she looked up at Pennywise, suddenly worrying that he had be hurt, but he was not grimacing or anything, just staring at his gloved right hand in amused curiosity. That was strange. Too strange. Even Tabitha's dragon had looked uncomfortable, when it had branded with the runes. Or, maybe, she had just missed Pennywise reaction, distracted as she was. Could be that, yes.

"Very well, Miss Valliere. You have managed both Summon Servant and Contract Servant in one try."

"Of course she did!" Someone shouted. "He is a strangely dressed and probably crazy jester, not a magical beast! Otherwise, she wouldn´t even have managed to summon anything, much less make the contract!"

Louise clenched her fits, but she showed no other reaction. It was to be expected. She was taunted, reviled, since she came here and this was almost soft compared to everything else, and, really, what else could be expected if not mocking, when she had summoned a clown? So there was no reason to cry. At all. She was strong.

"So, it is done?" Pennywise said, and she lifted her head. Colbert was besides h-h-her familiar´s side, with one of his white gloves in his hand, examining the runes. "Can we go now?"

"Eh, yes." Colbert responded. "You can go. Just follow Miss Valliere."

"Ooookay." He said, put the glove back on and approached her, still holding on to those balloons. Louise nodded, turned and walked away without saying anything, hoping that he could follow her and be spared of further embarrassment. He did. She ignored her classmates flying away, like she couldn´t never be able too, insulting her on their way and walked towards the academy, her familiar just right behind her.

Louise closed the door behind them, locked it and took a step forward. She signed heavily, looked upwards and closed her eyes, trying to figth back tears. She had so looked forward to this day, the chance to prove herself and now everything was over. In the end, she was just Louise The Zero. She should have expected it.

"What´s wrong?" Pennywise said. Or Bob; maybe she should call him Bob. Whatever.

"Nothing." She answered, somehow managing to make her voice not tremble and started undoing the buttons of her shirt, trying to ignore that there was another person in the room. He was just a familiar, so this was normal. Even thought she couldn´t even get a proper familiar, she at least had do this right. Wait... She turned around towards him, hands on her hips. Pennywise stared at her nonchalantly, his damn big smile still fixed on his face. It annoyed her, somewhat. She breathed in, trying to remind herself that this was normal, because he was her servant now and servants did this kind of thing. "Familiar, dress me."

"Okay." He simply said, and nodded.

"W-what..:" She said, flushed and backed away a step. Okay? Just okay? Should he not have at least some hesitation? He had be a clown before, not a servant; he shouldn´t take his sudden change of roles in stride. For a moment, she worried. They were alone, she was pretty much topless and she was not sure she could reach her wand in time, if he wanted to do... something unpleasant to her. No, no, she was getting all worked up over nothing. Besides that she should be happy he didn´t put up any resistance. He knew his place, knew it damn well and that was that. Nothing more.

"I said okay." He repeated, took a step forward and started undoing the remain buttons of her shirt. She fidgeted in place, but still let him do it without complaining. Such a thing wouldn´t be beffiting of a noble. When all the button were undone, he took off her coat, hanged it on the bed then off her shirt. The window was closed, but Louise still fell a chill that made her body tremble. Pennywise bend down, and unzipped her skirt, making it slid off her legs down to the floor. Then, he extended his hands to pull down her panties, and she almost jumped back.

"No, no, that´s fine." She didn´t like sleeping with her panties, it was really uncomfortable, but she liked the idea of being completely naked in front of him even less. Despite that she was practically naked so, really, such a thing didn´t really matter. "I-I have... My nightclothes are in the closet, familiar."

Pennywise merely nodded, like nothing had happen, went to the closet and opened it. He grabbed one of her nightgowns, and he helped her put it on. For the first time, she wished that she had brought a different one, one that was not semi-transparent. She coughed, got into the bed and carefully covered herself with the sheets, right up to her neck. She felt silly, outright stupid, but she still did it. She turned away, curled up and tried to sleep.

When night felt, It went out the room, and closed the door behind It. Something new had happened, again. After all Its long and strange time, even after the Pain, something new. After that group of children had banished It once and, then, as adults managed to destroy Its physical form, It had be floating in the macroverse which was Its eyes, swimming in the deathligths, for a long time.

And then... that girl.

Something new, after the Pain.

She had called up to It with a strange power that, for some reason, made It think of that detestable Other, that stupid old thing called The Turtle. That wouldn´t not be, of course, but It made It think of that creature, yes. At first, It had be furious. It was eternal, the Eater of Worlds. Everything flowed from It. And now, someone called to It. Strange power or not, someone had dared to try and call It. That... wouldn´t be allowed. So It let himself be dragged through the Dark Tower and into whatever world that was.

A little girl had summoned It.

It had be about to lose Its cool, and simple cast her into the deathligths, but thought better of that. In time, It would do that. It would let that insolent little girl met It face to face and know the weight of real power. But in time, when It had turned her world upside down and into Its personal hunting keen and not a second later. She deserved It.

When the girl had kissed It, the power that tried to alter It and bend It to her whims had shattered upon contact. It almost laughed. In the macroverse which was Its eyes, after being defeated for the first time in eternity, that girl´s meager power had seemed similar to the Other. Now, things were send straight. She was just an unlucky, stupid little girl, too weak to accept herself. It would felt the right shape to destroy her, twitching against Its skin. One word for that woman and she would die.

Her stupidity had only be confirmed when the girl demanded It to dress her.

It had accepted for a sole reason: playing with her mind was amusing. More so that normal, anyway. Her reactions were over the top, and there was a palpable fear in every one of her movements. She hadn´t stopped fidgeting when It had dressed her, nearly jumped when It went to take off her panties and covered herself up to her neck when she entered the bed. Oh, yes, it was amusing but there were far more important things for It to do now.

This was another world, another hunting keen.

So It went on the prowl.