Copyright Disclaimer.
Zero No Tsukaima belong's to it's respective owner/owners. The Union Loyalist and the Confederate Rebel are my OC's. Any other trademarks/copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Now, onwards into the story.
Louise was starting to worry. It was day-break and Jason had not come back to the academy since he took off last night. She knew he was a tough individual, but every person had limits. Louise had realized, that after last night, she actually might have someone other than her sister she could talk to about her problems. She really did not want to lose that. She was already dressed and was staring out the window at the sunrise coming over the horizon. She knew this time had to come eventually. The Familiar Exhibition. This day would be the day she would be ultimately humiliated. Not only in front of every person in the school, but also her parents and sisters, and even the princess. She sighed because she knew this was not going to be a good day. She peered out the window only to see Jason walking through the main gate. Louise was ecstatic as she flew out of her dorm and down the stairwell in the tower. It was only until she got outside when she realized something was wrong. As Jason got closer, she realized he was covered in blood. And lots of it too.
"Jason." She called his name out with a hint of concern. He stopped and gave her a glare that pierced through her. She was nervous because it looked like saying the wrong thing could set him off. "You look like hell. What happened to you?" She asked him. His glare softened and then he sighed.
"I was out taking care of something last night." Jason started. "And I'm only just now getting back." She was horrified as she got a closer look at him. He had cuts, gashes and scratches all over him, but the blood he was soaked in wasn't his own. She realized it was someone else's. "After I had left last night, I ran into one of the cooks out here who asked me for help. He wanted to get that maid . . . uh . . . Siesta or something. But yeah he wanted her back here because she was forced into employ against her wishes." Louise did not like where this was going. She had a feeling he had gone off and killed someone and wound up fighting off an entire security detail in the process.
"Ok. But why are you covered in b-" She paused as she eyed him up and down. " -blood?" She had to tread carefully now. She knew asking him the wrong thing could get him mad. But instead, he was not mad, but more or less just uncaring. "This guy, uh . . . Mont-something-" "His name was Count Mott!" Derflinger interjected. Coltrane sighed. "Yeah. Piece of shit if you ask me. I had to fight off this guy's private army just to get into his giant-ass house. After I had done that, I did get that maid out of there, but not after I burned his mansion down and ripped that guy apart." Louise went wide-eyed as she realized just who Jason was speaking of. Count Mott, royal messenger for the palace. Oh she was really going to be in trouble if anyone ever found out. "But, for some odd reason, there was still one guy left alive. I think he was probably a perimeter guard I missed or somethin'. I told the guy to deliver a message to whoever rules the country about what had happened there. And I also told him to let them know just who exactly they're gonna be messing with if they retaliate for it." Louise went pale and proceeded to sit down next to the wall.
"Do you even realize what you've done?" Louise asked. Jason gave her the same blank stare. "You've killed a royal messenger. That's punishable by death, if not worse. And of course since I'm technically your master I'll be held accountable for it. And even then my family will suffer as well." She curled herself up and buried her head in her knees. After a few moments of silence, one of them maids came to tell them Osmond was gathering everyone for an assembly soon to discuss who would be arriving today. After the maid had left, Louise turned to Jason. "I don't care what you do today. I just need you to be there when the princess arrives." Jason nodded. "Oh, and go wash yourself off. You being covered in blood wouldn't exactly go over well with this country's royalty." Louise sighed as she walked off to go and join the assembly Osmond was gathering. Jason was left alone with his thoughts as he leaned up against the wall.
'That was quite a massacre you created last night wasn't it Jason?' Lee's voice echoed in Jason's mind. Jason's thoughts proceeded back to last night. 'Yep. Sure was. Quite the massacre indeed.'
Mott continued to retreat towards the staircase as this bloodied man approached closer and closer. Mott's entire security detail lay sprawled across the front portion of his property, having been cut down entirely by this monster that was slowly approaching him. Mott's mansion was already burning down mostly at this point, and it was only getting worse as time passed.
Count Mott fired a triple water blast at the approaching man, who only used his sword to absorb Mott's magic. Mott tripped up over himself, and turned to try and crawl up the stairs to safety, only to have the towering warrior's sword pierce through his head, killing him instantly.
One security guard, who was still alive after the assault, managed to stumble inside the mansion. There, he found the man who had cause all of this chaos, and the guard swing wildly at him with his club, only for the man to disappear, and then reappear in from of him, with his hand wrapped around the guard's neck as he was lifted to this man's level.
"I want you to go to wherever the hell the rulers of this country live and let them know of what has happened here. And if they ask who is responsible, tell them that it was the Confederate Rebel!"
Louise was a total, sobbing/crying mess. She had locked herself in her room after the general assembly Osmond had called the entire school to. He had discussed the recent thefts of Fouquet the Clod, and the Familiar Exhibition. He also said that the princess was coming to watch this year, so it was going to be an extravagant event. Then Osmond went into detail how word had gotten out that Count Mott's mansion had been completely destroyed by a fire, and his entire security detail had been wiped out. It was assumed that someone by the name of the Confederate Rebel had been responsible. Because of this, security was going to be extra-tight when the princess arrived to the academy in an effort to coax off any possible attacks by this individual. Louise slightly recoiled when Jason had been mentioned, but surprisingly none of this made her break down.
It was after Osmond had asked to speak with her privately. When they were alone in his office, he mentioned that he knew of what Jason had done. He had known it since early in the morning after another royal messenger delivered the scrolls to him. He mentioned he would deny that he knew anything because he did not want to lose his current position as headmaster. He also went into detail with her about how Karin the Heavy Wind, Louise's mother, would be coming to the academy. He said he did not know why, but he had figured he would pass it along to Louise just to let her know.
Louise lay on the bed crying and sobbing. She was worried that her life was over. She was already a zero at magic, and now she would be shamed not only in front of the school, but her entire family and even the princess. But, then her mind wandered back to Jason's words to her from the previous night.
'Your old enough to make your own decisions in life, and she should know that.' 'You make your own god damned decisions and you stick to them!' She knew his words rang true. But what she had realized, for the first time in a long time, she actually had somebody she could depend on. She had someone who would be there to back her after last night, she was half-tempted to take his advice and stand up to her parents, but that was extremely risky for her. She knew there would be an excruciating punishment if she tried to defy her parents. Louise did not know what to do, but she was then broken from her thoughts by a knock on her door.
"Louise, your door's locked. Is everything ok in there?" Jason's voice echoed from the door. Louise got off the bed and opened up the door to let him in. She noticed he had a towel around his neck, and his hair was let all the way down instead. She walked back to the bed and sat down. Jason took notice of the state Louise was in at the moment. "Louise, what's wrong?" Jason asked. Louise sniffled a bit. "I-I'm worried about what's going to happened soon, with the exhibition and all that." She looked around nervously. Jason took a chair and sat down right in front of her, bringing his eye level down to hers. "I'm worried that my life will be over after this. I'll be humiliated in front of the whole school and the princess. My family will reject me and either marry me off or disown me, and I know that everything's just going to be-" She was close to shouting at this point but a metal finger pressed to her lips stopped her for the moment.
Jason sighed. "Look Louise, what did I tell you last night? Everything's going to be fine, and I'll make sure of it. Like I told ya, make your own damned decisions and stick to them." Louise simply gave him the same look as before. "Look, I don't know just how exactly things will go down, but if you do wind up getting rejected by your family," Jason paused for a moment. He couldn't believe he was doing this, especially after he had promised himself it would never happen again, especially after what happened with her. "If bad does come to worse, I'll take you in with me. I'll find someway to make some money and you and me can live together." His eye suddenly became cold. "Without that bitch of a mother you have or anyone else for that matter."
Louise looked at him in shock, but then started to tear up again and then jumped onto him, hugging him as tight as she could. "Thank you, thank you" She was sobbing and crying her heart out now as Jason returned her hug. The two remained that way until another voice echoed through the room.
"And here I was under the impression that I would never see the ever-famous Jason Lee Coltrane embracing another woman ever again. Lord have mercy Mister Coltrane; You really are an unpredictable bastard sometimes." Jason and Louise were startled by this as they quickly separated and face the door at the same time. There in the doorway stood another man. He looked similar to Jason, except his hair was short and white, and his beard was thicker and whiter. He wore black cowboy boots, light gray pants, and a white dress shirt with a black tie and a light gray jacket with gold buttons that was buttoned up. He had holsters on either hip, and handguns similar to Jason's. He and Jason came over to each other and shook hands all while mumbling to each other. Louise was dumbfounded as to what was happening at the moment.
"Oh! I need to introduce you two to each other. Robert, this is Louise de la Valliere. Louise, this is Robert Edward Lee." The once-great General and the young mage both eyed each other warily for a moment, and but then Louise approached and they shook hands. "Anyways, Robert I had never expected you to show up. Not in a physical form at least." Robert gave the towering warrior a cheeky look. "Ha. You still have quite a bit to learn about the power. It can perform all kinds of miracles. Unfortunately it can't get us home." Jason sat down at the table, and motioned for Robert and Louise to join him. Louise sat down, but Robert shook his head. "Nah, I'm not staying for long. I just figured I'd check in with ya and see how you were doing." Jason simply shrugged at the comment. "Socially unacceptable but upright and breathing. Everything's about the same." Robert hmm'ed in response. He pulled a pocket-watch out and checked the time. "Anyways, I've got to get going. So I'll see ya soon. Hopefully." Robert turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door, leaving Jason and Louise alone with each other.
After several hours, the princess had finally shown up, and had been escorted to her quarters while the students dispersed back to their dorms. Jason and Louise were walking back to the Void tower chit-chatting about various little things. But, right as soon as they reached the door, they heard two carriages come racing in through the gate. As soon as they stopped, Louise recognized just who exactly was in those carriages. She wasted no time in taking Jason's hand as she dragged him back to her dorm. As soon as they were in her room, Louise started freaking out again. "Oh founder oh founder oh founder what am I going to do?!" She was pacing in frustration as they awaited her family to come. Jason was just standing to the side with the talking sword strapped to his back watching Louise make a racket, but he didn't really care because he knew he was probably going to have to kick some ass when her family got here anyways.
"Louise" he called her name out. She stopped to look at him. "Look, everything's gonna be fine. Especially since I'm here. Don't worry about it." Just as soon as he said that, the door flew open and in walked an older woman with pink hair and an older gentleman with light blonde hair. Jason assumed this to be Louise's parents. He watched as the man waved his jeweled cane, and then he suddenly felt himself being lifted off of the floor and then thrown into a wall.
"Louise," the woman spoke. Louise was walking back towards the bed as her mother approached her. "Your father and I are disappointed in you at this moment. And I mean. Extremely. Disappointed." Louise was already showing tears at this point. Jason was struggling to pull himself out of the wall. "As of now, you will not remain in this academy any longer. You are coming home with us and you are getting married. There will be no discussion about it. Pack up you belongings and come down to the carriages." Jason finally managed to free himself from the wall, only to be thrown into the other wall by the man again, and then he fell to his knees on the floor, trying to catch his breath. "This is the failure of a familiar you have summoned, daughter?" The man spoke. "I expected more of you, but alas, you fell short of our expectations again." The man then exited the room, leaving the three. "I don't know why I ever burdened myself with you." Karin spoke as Louise was crying harder. "I made the biggest mistake of my life bringing you into this world. You have never, in your entire life, lived up to what's expected of you as a Valliere." Karin turned to leave, and before she could walk out the door, Jason was already on her case.
"Hold it you bitch." Karin stopped right at the doorway with her hand creeping to her sword. "Just why in the fuck do you think you can just get away with talking down to Louise like that?" Jason was pretty pissed about the whole situation. He was up on his feet just as Karin turned around to face him. "I am her mother. It is my right to do as I see fit. And besides . . ." Karin looked over him from head to toe. ". . . I don't even think you are worthy of protecting someone like her. You look like a miserable failure as well." Jason's anger was rising quickly. He had to fight off every urge he had to kill Karin on the spot right then and there.
"It takes one to know one. Ain't I right?" Jason smarted off, and then Karin immediately pointed her sword at him. "Unless you want to die peasant, you will keep your mouth shut, because that is no way to talk to nobility." Karin then got an evil smirk on her face. "And besides, how exactly is it your business as to how I take care of someone? You obviously don't know anything about it." Jason let out a low growl as his eye glowed slightly. Karin saw that she must have hit a mark, and she continued her taunting further. "Oh, what's the matter? Are you mad because I said that? Or are you mad that you obviously don't know how to treat a noble woman, let alone protect her from any kind of threat?" And she set him off right there. Jason immediately appeared not one inch from her, quicker than the blink of an eye. He had a revolver cocked and pushed against her head in his left hand. His eye was glowing so fiercely, you could've swore you were looking directly into a lantern. Karin's eyebrows were raised, and her mouth was slightly agape. No one could ever have that amount of speed.
"Listen here you stuck up cunt. Don't you fucking dare bring up anything about protecting someone." It was obvious he had some bad history here, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted this way. "When Louise summoned me here, I swore on my life to protect her till the world fucking ends. I swore to her that I would do anything to keep her safe. If you don't like that, I will be more than glad to rip you apart. Limb. From. Fucking. Limb." Karin took three steps back. She had never seen any commoner this bold as to challenger her like that. "Oh? You want to put that to the test, peasant? I can guarantee a slow and painful death for you right now!" Karin shouted. She was ready to strike, but then, something she never would've expected happened.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Louise screamed at the top of her lungs. Jason and Karin both look at Louise not believing what they had just heard. Louise was angry, and boy they both could see it. "YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT TREAT ME LIKE SHIT MY ENTIRE LIFE YOU BITCH! YOU'VE ALWAYS DEGRADED ME AND PUNISHED ME WHEN I DIDN'T MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS! ! YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO CARE WHEN I DID SOMETHING RIGHT! ! ! ALL YOU EVER DID, THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE LIFE, IS BULLY ME AND PUT ME DOWN! ! ! ! AND I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU AND YOUR-YOUR," Louise was screaming at her own mother, and her husband and sisters were watching unbeknownst to the three in the room. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR FUCKING BULLSHIT! ! ! ! !" Louise was breathing heavily. She had needed to let some anger out, and that did the trick just fine. A shadow fell over her eyes as she fell to her knees and felt her strength leave her. Karin holstered her sword all while backing towards the door. Jason still has his gun pointed at Karin, and he was still half-tempted to open fire.
"Ok then," Karin looked at Jason. "You and me will take this outside in the main area. If you can win against me," She looked over to Louise who was absolutely glaring at her through tear-stained eyes. "Louise can stay here and continue her lessons. If you don't win, she comes back to us and you are relieved of your duties as her familiar." Karin walked out of the room and closed the door. Louise was sobbing on the floor and Jason was just kind of awkwardly standing there as he holstered his gun. He never would've expected Louise to have a blow up kinda like that; Language and all. He got down to her level and did what she had done to him before; He pulled her into a tight hug, to which she returned eagerly. "Louise," He whispered to her. "I want you to stay here and watch from the window. I'm about to fix this whole mess the only way I know how to." He released her as he got up and proceeded to the door. "Jason." He stopped right as he was closing the door. "Yes?"
"First, I want to watch this in person," She said as she got up and hobbled out of the room with him. As they began descending the stairway, she piped up again. "And second, if you so desire," Louise gave him a unnerving cold glare. "Do something to her worse than what you did to Guiche." Jason's evil smile went wider at that line alone. The two got to the bottom and proceeded out of the tower. Everything was already setup and ready to go. Karin had on a set of armor, and her husband and other two daughters were watching from one side. Louise hung back around one of the carriages as Jason approached. Karin decided to be arrogant, as always.
"I'm surprised you even showed you self here commoner. I was beginning to think you didn't even have the courage to do this." Jason said nothing as he stood across from Karin. Coltrane decided if this was how it was going to be, might as well show off a bit. He took off his pistol holsters, steel chest-piece of armor, and his white tank-top, and threw them to the side. Everyone now got a good look at just what was under his armor. Where the gauntlet met his shoulder did not look pretty. It looked as though the metal had dug into his skin, and was permanently joined into his person. Most of his chest and back were adorned in tattoos of the Rebel Flags. He was absolutely covered in scars, making Louise wonder even more about what he had gone through in his life.
He summoned his favorite axe, which was the one he had when he was first pulled here. His eye glowed as he felt the power flowing through him. "Karin, I will give you one chance to back down from hell on earth. If you don't want to suffer an excruciating amount of pain, you can back down now." Karin only unsheathed her sword and got into a battle ready stance. Jason only sighed at this.
"Very well then. You have effectively signed your death warrant!" Karin and Coltrane dashed at each other and clashed, thus starting the battle.
OK! Thanks for the reviews on the previous chapters guys! I hadn't even noticed they were there until now. (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
cocoiscool - Cool! Glad you liked the story! And it seems your wish is being answered since this will become a story!
Guest - I had wanted to try and give something different than most other stories with the summons. Hopefully this will evolve more into that!
Anon - I am glad you love the story! And since this is becoming a story, your wish is also being answered!
Elveril - Like I had said, I did want something different with a summons than most other stories!
Rafal - It may seem similar because the setup was perfect. I wanted to use it so I tried to morph it into this story slightly.
Anyways, I hope all of y'all enjoyed this chapter, and I look forward to see ya in the next one!
Over-n-out,
N. Coltrane
