Chapter 8: Goodbyes
Author Notes: Sorry about the long wait. I've been going through the process of being medically separated from the Air Force and am drawing towards the end so things have been a little hectic for me. Plus while doing all the processing out I still have to work 12+ hour shifts sometimes they reach close to 14 or 15 hours. So anyway here is the next chapter.
(Three days later, Mausoleum, Garderobe)
"Natsuki Kruger was a beloved daughter, sister, friend and Otome. I knew from the first time I met her as a young Pearl that she was one that I needed to keep my eye on. Though she entered Garderobe reluctantly she came to fully embrace the life of an Otome. She ended her Coral year as the number two Coral and then later graduated as the number one Pearl to go onto be selected as the number two Column. Being a Column is one of the most challenging jobs an Otome can have and being the second Column even more so but Natsuki was up to the task of being the Headmistress of Garderobe. There are many in this room that has many fond memories of her. We see her as a teacher, mentor and friend. She will be sorely missed." Shizuru said standing before a podium in the Mausoleum. The room was filled with students, kings, queens, dignities and their Otome. "She stood proudly beside us and now stands proudly with a different sisterhood; she stands with those that came before us." She paused for a minute then walked over to a large crystal pillar with a plaque embossed in the center of it. The plaque read:
Meister of Ice Silver Crystal
Natsuki Kruger
Devoted her life to Garderobe
Second Column
A.R. 308 - A.R. 334
Shizuru pressed her palm to the pillar then turned taking her place to the side of it. Sara stood directly across from her, Maya behind her and Nao stood behind Sara. She took a deep breathe then glanced to Sara out of the corner of her eye who nodded then they all shouted, "Materialize!" There was a slight delay so short that anyone that wasn't an Otome wouldn't have noticed then all four of their robes appeared at the same time. Youko had programmed the Fumi system to materialize the four of them at the same exact time. Still in unison they turned to face the pillar. Shizuru and Sara grabbed the top and gently pushed it back into Nao and Maya's hands before reaching for the bottom of it then they hoisted it up to their shoulders walking towards the steps leading into the basement and sacred rooms of the Mausoleum. The crowd gathered stood watching silently many with their heads bowed in respect watching until they were gone from sight.
They carried the pillar into the resting room and placed beside several others as Shizuru stood staring at it. She felt someone place their hand on her shoulder but didn't turn to see who. "That was a good speech." Nao said not really knowing what else to say.
"Thank you Nao." She said then nodded, "I'm just going to stay here for a while."
"Do you want some company?" Sara asked putting her hand on Shizuru's other shoulder. Shizuru shook her head and after a couple of hugs was left standing alone.
(Sewers beneath Garderobe)
Alyssa ran down the path tears full in her eyes she finally stopped quite a distance into the sewers leaning on the wall. She had been at the ceremony sitting next to her mother still in shock that Natsuki was gone. Growing up they had fought quite a bit but that didn't change how Alyssa felt about her older sister. She loved Natsuki. As soon as she was able to Alyssa had snuck away from the wake unsure if she would be able to take another person asking how she was or apologizing for her loss. Only a handful of people knew about these sewers and Alyssa knew she would be alone here. Before leaving she had ran into Chase and told her where she was going. Chase had offered to come but Alyssa had said she wanted to be alone. What Alyssa didn't know is Chase had followed her and was currently sitting outside the entrance making sure Alyssa was truly alone. She slid down the wall sitting on the ground not caring if she got her uniform dirty her mother could yell at her later. A short distance from her she thought she saw a small flash of light but her eyes were so full of tears she wasn't sure until she saw it again. She stood and walked towards the flashing light realizing as she got closer that it was sparks coming from a woman with short light blue gray hair. The woman lay on the ground and looked as if she had been in a fight. Upon closer inspection Alyssa saw the sparks were coming from the woman who by the looks of it wasn't human but rather a robot. "What is a robot doing here?" She asked aloud jumping as the robot moved. "It's still working?" She jumped again as a little bird circled around her head chirping before landing on her shoulder, "A bird too."
The robot on the ground started to move but was unable to stand up and settled for looking up at Alyssa speaking first in a strange language that sounded similar to the language of Zipang. "Adjusting language p..p…processor, vocal system…m…ms damaged."
"You speak!" Alyssa said jumping back starling the bird who flew off settling on the robot's shoulder.
"Visual recognition software activated..ed...ed, confirming identification: Searrs Alyssa art...artificial H...HiME, child: Artemis. Directive to prot..t..t..ect Searrs Alyssa." The robot said jerking her head as if she couldn't control it.
"Searrs? My name is Kruger. Alyssa Kruger." Alyssa corrected wondering how this robot knew her first name even if she got her last name wrong.
"Ku..ga..ga Natsuki natural HiME, elem..m..m...ent: pistols, child: Duran. Half sister to S..S..S..S..earrs Alyssa. Lover to Fujino Shizuru n..n..na..natural HiME, element: Nagtena, ch..ch..child: Kiyome." The robot continued as she ran the name Kruger through her database her files a little jumbled and bring up the file on Kuga instead.
"Kruger not Kuga. My name is Kruger and Natsuki's name is… was too." Alyssa said wiping a tear away from her eyes. "Shizuru's name is Viola not Fujino."
"Searching data…b…base for Kruger." The robot said running a quick defrag on her memory base. "Saeko Kruger former Cont…continental Orb Topazzzz, sister to Ki…ki…kihomi Kruger former Ice Ssssssilver Crystal and former headmistress of Garderobe, Natsuki Kruger former I…i…ice Silver Crystal and former headmistress of Garderobe; Alyssa Kruger number number one Coral."
"Alyssa Kruger that's me!" Alyssa said.
"Alyss…ssa Krugerrrr visual recognition confirmed," The robot said as a small light scaned Alyssa startling her at first.
"Okay now that we've got that cleared who are you and how do you know so much about me?" Alyssa said hugging her arms close to her. She never expected to find anyone else down here and never a badly damaged robot that knew who she was.
"Mer…merciful Int…intelligential Ygg…yggdrasil U…unit, MIYU, MIYU." The robot said. "Vo..vocal sysssstems de..de..deteriorating re..pairs…pairs required..ed..ed."
"Okay I know a little about mechanics but I'm going to need some tools at least a screw driver." Alyssa said kneeling next to Miyu looking at several burn marks on the side of her. By the looks of it Miyu had been in some sort of fight and had lost.
"R…r…r…right in…in...index fing…fing..finger, th…th..three quarter…ter turnssss clock…clock…clock…wise." Miyu said trying to raise her hand but failing.
"Three quarter turns clockwise." Alyssa said taking Miyu's and hand hesitantly turning it until it came off the back half of it being a small cross tip screw driving. "Ok how do I get to your main boards?"
"Lean..an..an for.forward panel on on on back ssssside." Miyu said as Alyssa leaned her forward lifting up the back of her shirt and taking the panel off. She was amazed each of the screws looked like freckles or moles unless you looked closer at them.
"The wires are damaged I'm going to need to replace them. Maybe I can get some from Irina-sempai." Alyssa said.
"L…l…left ring ring finger..ger three…three…three" Miyu said unable to finished before her vocal system failed and she started repeating the word three.
"Three quarter turns clockwise got it." Alyssa said removing that finger as well pulling out several wires. She removed the old ones dropping them to the ground and replacing them with the new ones. "There changed out but they are going to need a sodering gun unless you've got one in your big toe."
"I am not equipped with a sodering gun." Miyu said after testing her voice in several different languages the only ones Alyssa was able to understand was the common language and. Arian.
"Glad you aren't stuttering anymore you were sounding like Haruka when she is drunk." Alyssa said. "I could probably repair you but I'm going to need a lot of parts."
"Running complete system diagnostic compiling list of required parts," Miyu said. "Required time six minutes and thrity-eight seconds."
"Can you talk why doing that?" Alyssa asked closing the back panel and sitting Miyu up again.
"I am equipped with four internal processors." Miyu said as if that explained everything but by the look on Alyssa's face it didn't.
"So is that a yes?" Alyssa asked trying to figure out what Miyu was saying. She knew she was a robot but she sounded a lot like a computer.
"Affirmative," Miyu said as the bird on her shoulder chirped.
"What happened to you?" Alyssa asked looking around there were several burn marks on the walls and places where it looked like a bullet or two had been shot. Looking at Miyu she noticed several bullet holes that would have killed a normal human.
"Investigating possible entrance point of the fugitive known as Tomoe Marguerite," Miyu said "Subject was located and skirmish incurred subject Tomoe Marguerite escape heading eastward."
"Tomoe! She killed Natsuki!" Alyssa said standing up and looking around the direction she thought was east lead to the hatch they had found several days ago. "How long ago?"
"Two hours, twenty-six minutes and forty-two seconds ago." Miyu said reciting the exact time in her processor that Tomoe had left.
"I have to tell Maya!" Alyssa said as she started to but stopped hearing Miyu.
"System diagnostic complete printing required parts." Miyu said opening her mouth as a piece of paper came out.
"That's just creepy." Alyssa said taking the list, "I'll be back with the parts as soon as I can."
(Principal's Quarters, Garderobe)
Shizuru walked into the room looking around the room had been cleaned but it still bore evidence of what had happened. The mattress to the bed had been replaced. There had been an attempt to clean the blood off the wall but it had ended up being repainted with a paint that didn't match. Maya had assured her that as soon as things calmed down the whole room would be repainted and the carpet replaced. Shizuru stopped looking down at the sword still lying on the ground. The last few nights she had been staying in one of the guest suites and this was the first time she had come back. She picked the sword up looking at it. She had been so happy when Natsuki gave it to her but now it made her angry. The blade was still coated with her blood and no doubt like the wall was stained and was ruined. Shizuru threw the sword across the room and growled before looking over to the office door. Someone had just rushed into the office and slammed the door. Within a few steps Shizuru was inside the office seeing Maya sitting at the desk going over some paperwork, Alyssa and Chase standing in the room panting for breath. Each of the columns had been taking turns ensuring that the school still functioned. "Alyssa why are you bursting in here?" Maya asked not seeing Shizuru at first then frowning she had been trying to keep Shizuru out of the bedroom until they could finish cleaning it.
"Tomoe, I know how she got in." Alyssa said between breaths bend over at the waist. They both had ran from the basement here getting yelled at by several Pearls and instructors only to stop running until out of sight then started again.
"What how?" Shizuru asked hurrying across the room to the girl's side. They had been searching all over Garderobe and Windbloom for Tomoe but hadn't been able to find anything. So far they had figured Tomoe managed to slip past the Pearls that patrolled the campus every night.
"In the basement there is an entrance into some really old sewers." Alyssa said both she and Chase ducking their heads knowing they would be forced to explain how they knew the door was there.
"How do you know about them?" Maya asked standing up she thought she knew of every secret entrance in and out of Garderobe and it certainly wasn't common knowledge.
"Nao-onee-sama told me about them." Alyssa said thinking of the map hiding in the vent in their dorm room and the key in her pocket.
"Zhang…." Maya said under her breathe that girl had been trouble when she was a student and even more as a column why Fumi chose her as a column was beyond her but it wasn't her place to second guess the founder.
"What makes you think Tomoe came through there?" Shizuru asked running through the list of secret entrances also unaware of one in the basement leading into the sewers.
"I was just in there. I found a robot named Miyu she said she fought with Tomoe a couple of hours ago." Alyssa said reaching her hand in her pocket feeling the list of parts in her pocket remembering that she would have to talk to Irina if she wasn't grounded.
"Miyu was there?" Maya asked that robot had a habit of being everywhere and no where at the same time. Just a few weeks ago when she was in Artai she had seen the robot in a town paying close attention to a young boy and a young girl both with light blonde hair. She had asked what they robot was doing there but all Miyu said was she was checking up on the bloodline. What bloodline she was talking about Maya had no clue the children seemed to be normal peasants.
"She still is." Chase said looking at Maya realizing this was the first time she had ever actually met Maya. She had seen her a few times since coming to Garderobe but hadn't spoken to her. Chase was sure Maya knew who she was but neither of them had said anything considering their relationship, "Alyssa said she was damaged."
"I'll get Youko and Irina to check her out. Bythe back to the dorms Kruger show us the way." Maya said treating Chase like she was any other student and not her half sister then turned to Shizuru, "You up for a little hunting?" Shizuru didn't say anything just walked towards the door.
(Pearl Dormitories, Garderobe)
Nina stood at the edge of her bed folding her clothes it was took early in the year to chose room attendants and even still she wasn't sure if she would. Who would want to be the room attendant of the Ultimate Black Diamond? She glanced up as there was a knock on the door. "Arika-chan?" Nina said seeing her fellow Otome standing there.
Arika stood up straight with her hands at her side looking odd for the normally relaxed girl, "Queen Mashiro of Windbloom," She announced then bowed.
"Baka get out of my way." Mashiro said pushing Arika to the side knocking her over and to the ground. There were a few Pearls walking by one of which almost said something when the other whispered who that was and that it was normal for the Queen and her Otome.
"Mashiro-sama," Nina said bowing as she watched Arika get up out of the corner of her eye. "Forgive me I didn't expect you to come here." She had seen Mashiro and Arika at the ceremony and had even sat with them but after the wake she had excused herself and come back to her room. She was Mashiro's Otome but for the time being she was assigned to Garderobe and was a student.
"Relax Nina." Mashiro said walking in and sitting in the chair Nina offered her. Arika walked straight in and plopped down on the bed throwing laundry everywhere. When she realized what she did she pushed the clothes into a pile like nothing had happened to them.
Nina glared at Arika ready to jump across the room and beat her but held her cool and with a deep breath turned back to Mashiro. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit my Queen?"
"Garderobe is temporarily releasing you back to me." Mashiro said picking a book up off the desk and throwing it at Arika, "Baka you just messed up her clothes. Fix them and give me that book back now!"
"But Mashiro-chan," Arika said rubbing her head where the book hit her then stood and started folding the clothes thinking to avoid another argument about how Arika was her bodyguard not her maid.
"I thought they wanted me to attend Garderobe full time." Nina said moving to help Arika when the girl seemed to really have no clue what she was doing. Nina quickly showed Arika how to fold the clothes.
"It's not really Garderobe's choice. There are those on the council that have the insane idea that you are working with Tomoe. They find the fact that the attack on Kruger happening shortly after your arrival is odd. There are even a few that think you killed her and made it look like Tomoe to draw the blame away."
"What?" Nina asked dropping the shirt in her hands and turning completely to Mashiro a shocked look on her face. "I have an alibi for the night I was with my bodyguards sparing. Imari Tohika and Shie Hallard can vouch for my whereabouts."
"Don't worry about it Nina this won't last. Ironically those pointing figure at you were on the same side as Nagi during the war. Meister Bythe and I have decided to pull you back to Fuka Palace to keep an eye on you. With Garderobe on a manhunt for Tomoe they don't have the manpower to keep a guard on you twenty-four seven."
"I understand Mashiro-sama." Nina said bowing her head.
"Good pack a few things and we'll go." Mashiro said picking the same book up and throwing it at Arika hitting her in the back of the head. "For the next couple of weeks you'll continue your studies like Arika did with someone bringing the assignments by the palace. At least until they catch Tomoe and you are cleared of these ridiculous charges."
"Ow what was that for?" Arika said rubbing her head again then picked the book up about to hand it back to Mashiro but handed it to Nina instead. Nina glance down seeing what volume it was and cracked a smile seeing it was volume six of Heart of the Otome the same volume that covered proper behavior.
"What was what?" Mashiro said a grin on her face then turned back to Nina, "Consider yourself lucky the King of Florence wanted you thrown in a jail ceil."
(Sewers, Beneath Garderobe)
"That is the hatch we used to get into Windbloom." Alyssa said pointing to the latter that was still leaning against the wall.
"How long have you known about this?" Maya asked looking away from the hatch to the Coral before her. She knew Alyssa had been through quite a bit but if she and who knows else had been sneaking into Windbloom they needed to know about it.
"A couple of years," Alyssa said looking at the ground.
"And how many times have you used it?" Maya asked mentally cursing Nao wondering who else the fourth column had told about sewers. No doubt she had told Chie Hallard about it whenever one of them was in trouble the other seemed to be as well. If Maya had remembered correctly Tomoe had been Chie Hallard's room attendant. If Chie knew about the sewers it was possible that she had either told Tomoe or more likely Tomoe had followed her.
"I haven't Chase and I just found it a few days ago." Alyssa said leaving the other two out of it. Chase and she had already been caught no sense bringing the other two in.
"A few days ago," Shizuru said lost in thought from the little Miyu had said when they found her and the fact that the entrance was unlocked the same day as the attack it was very likely that Tomoe had used these sewers to get into Garderobe.
"Yeah," Alyssa said making the connection that they had found it the same day Natsuki had been attacked. "Shizuru-onee-chan, I'm sorry." She hung her head low not able to look up.
"Report back to the dormitories." Maya said then held up the key, "I'm keeping this. You, Bylthe and anyone else you aren't mentioning aren't to come down here again."
"Yes, Maya-onee-sama." Alyssa said, "Can I help Irina-sempai with the repairs to Miyu?"
"Just don't get in the way." Maya said watching Alyssa leave then looked back seeing Shizuru float up next to the latter. They were already in their robes incase they found Tomoe in the sewers. She followed Shizuru up and they both looked around. "Looks like with are in the green district."
"If Tomoe came through here it would be likely that she is still in the area possibly staying somewhere around here." Shizuru said then flew up into the air looking down at the streets. It was midday and they were crowed with people. A few saw her but barely took notice. The columns had been taking turns patrolling the city since the attack. It seemed like there always was one flying around. Several blocks over Shizuru spotted a girl wearing a clock over her head but a strand of green hair hung out from it. She raced across the street knocking into the girl slamming her into the wall.
Maya jumped up following behind her by the time she got there a bag of groceries were scattered all over the street and a very frighten young girl held her hands up trying to block Shizuru's attacks. It only took Maya a second to realize that the poor girl wasn't Tomoe yet Shizuru still attacked her like it was. "Shizuru stop it." Maya said grabbing Shizuru and trying to pull her back but Shizuru threw her back into the other wall. "Damint Viola that's not Tomoe," She was back on her feet again trying to pull Shizuru away again still not able to it. Dodging a stray punch she reached up tapping her GEM. "Youko kill Viola's robe now!" Maya shouted as Shizuru's robe faded. She grabbed Shizuru and pulled her back the Archmeister no match for her without her robe.
To be continued…
