Chapter 11
7:45 in the morning was what the clock read when Varen opened his eyes. Still fifteen minutes before the alarm was set to go off. He was planning to meet with Sister Margaret today, but Chiffon still had classes that started at 8:30. He felt well enough that he would resume normal schedules tomorrow. He turned over slowly looking at Chiffon still sleeping. Her breathing was soft and quiet as she slept facing him. She shifted slightly and opened her mouth breathing in deeply.
"The alarm hasn't gone off yet why are you awake so early?" She asked groggily.
"Fifteen more minutes and it'll go off so I'm not up that early." He responded.
"Fifteen before seven is early to me." She smiled.
"You mean fifteen before eight? You said your classes start at 8:30." He laughed back and she sat up with a jolt.
"No, I mean fifteen before seven! It's 6:45 right now right I told you to set it early!"
"I did I set it for half an hour before you had to be at class!" He argued grabbing the clock and showing her.
"Oh…my…god you ass! I meant set it early early! Not just early enough to go to class from here! I wanted to get back to my room before anyone else was around!" She yelled slapping the clock from his hand.
"What the hell is the big deal Chiffon you have plenty of time to get to class!" he yelled as she jumped out of the bed and grabbed her uniform. She sprinted into the bathroom to change leaving Varen in confusion. He got up and got dressed as well waiting for her to come out. At 8:15 she finally emerged and stormed past him grabbing her bag. Varen sighed and opened the door to his room walking out and holding it open for her. She came out slowly and only then did Varen realize everything that caused her anger. In the hallway were a good number of other male students preparing to head to class. As Chiffon stepped out every single person stopped and stared with their mouths open. Chiffon turned red and started walking past them to leave her footsteps quickening with each step.
"Varen…seriously? The president?" One of the boys asked still in shock.
"Not even her Limiter and making the president a woman!" Another shouted.
"Varen you're our hero!" A third yelled and Varen shook his head quickly.
"No no! It's not like that! We only did what was necessary!" He tried to explain.
"Yah you did! You did everything that was necessary!" A fourth Limiter cheered.
"We didn't do everything! There were circumstances involved!" He shouted still desperate to save face.
"Hear that he hasn't done everything! There's still more!" More cheers rose and Chiffon grabbed his hand sprinting down the hall and out the door. They breathed heavily outside around the corner out of sight.
"Why couldn't you just shut up? You made everything worse!" She yelled.
"I was trying to explain the misunderstanding!" He yelled back.
"If you had just set the alarm earlier! Forget it!" She threw her hands up in disgust and started walking away.
"Was kind of funny." He chuckled and she turned around her face twisted in rage. He held his laughter in and within seconds her face changed and she let a small laugh escape.
"Maybe a little bit." She admitted smiling.
"It's fine I'm sure no one will care by tomorrow." He reassured her.
"They won't care by first class because I'll crush anyone who utters even a syllable of what happened this morning." She threatened smiling wickedly. She waved a hand and walked towards the building that housed her classes for the day. He looked over his shoulder towards another section of the facility and began walking. Before seeing Sister Margaret he had something else to take care of.
He opened the door to the room the nurse had directed him to and stepped inside. He carried a small bouquet of flowers in a vase he picked up at one of the convenience stores that were part of the Genetics facility. A familiar Pandora sat in a chair next to the hospital bed flipping through a book. The corkscrew looking white tails on either side of her head bobbed as she looked up.
"Good morning Attia Simmons." Varen said bowing slightly. She set the book down and stood.
"Didn't expect to see you come through that door." She said and Varen was overcome all at once with a feeling of nervousness. He realized that this was one of the girls who saw him as an insult to their school. For a moment he regretted the decision to come until the small Pandora stepped forward and hugged him tightly. He stood in shock unknowing as to how to react. She only held him for a second to two before stepping back and taking the flowers from his hands.
"How is she?" Varen asked still shaken a bit. Attia set the flowers next to the bed on a table and sat back down in her chair looking over the red haired Pandora lying asleep in the bed. Varen saw Arnette differently in that instant. She usually looked so aggressive and tense like a wild animal waiting to attack. Now, though, her face was calm and soft as she slept. Peaceful was the word he was thinking of in regards to how it felt looking at her. Bandages wrapped around her chest and over her shoulder where the animal and wounded her heavily.
"She's good actually. Should be up and about in a few days. Thanks to you." Attia said smiling.
"Nah, you and the others are the ones who saved us. If you hadn't gotten us onto the Interceptor and done what you did we would be dead. Thank you Attia for saving my life." He answered.
"Well…you're welcome." She answered awkwardly. He moved to the other side of Arnette's bed and rested a hand on her head.
"She will like them. The flowers I mean. It's a nice gesture." Attia said and Varen nodded.
"I'm glad."
"I think she will want to see you as soon as possible when she wakes up. I think we all will want to see you again when that happens. Arnette is brash, and thick headed most the time, but it's only because she has so much pride in being a Pandora. We all do and I think after the other night we all owe you an apology. These past few days have been…enlightening." She said.
"It's not important. Just make sure she's ok." He replied taking his hand from her head.
"Elizabeth wants to meet you as well. We've all been close since our first year and she has helped guide us to be the best we can be. She could help you too I think." Attia said standing up.
"Sure, I've heard her name, but never met her or seen her. She's the second ranked Pandora behind Chiffon right?" Varen asked to which Attia nodded.
"Come back again alright? Things are different now and it would be nice to talk with you more." She said bowing which Varen hid is shock about.
"Take care Attia Simmons." He said leaving the hospital room. He left the medical ward and headed towards Sister Margaret's office. The whole walk he couldn't understand why there was such a sudden change in demeanor from Attia and potentially the others. Not long ago she had seemingly hated him as much as Arnette, but there was nothing to indicate that now. In fact she seemed very distraught over the whole thing and very guilt ridden. It didn't sit right with him when he thought about it. It was something he could consider and look into later he figured as he reached her office. He opened the door and Sister Margaret stood from her desk and smiled walking towards him.
"You are awake and doing well I see." She said happily holding her hand out and Varen shook it lightly.
"Yes ma'am. I feel fine I will be ready to return to classes tomorrow." Varen said and noticed that they weren't alone. To the side a long black haired Pandora stood and gave a quick wave to him as he looked over.
"You already know Ticy Phenyl yes?" Sister Margaret asked motioning towards the Pandora.
"Yes of course. Vice president, nice to see you again." Varen said bowing.
"Likewise, I'm glad you are well." Ticy responded. Sister Margaret beckoned for them to sit and they did. She walked behind her desk and took a seat as well.
"I'm glad you came I wanted to talk with you about some things. The events that transpired in the Lowlands were a failure on my part. I am so sorry you all were put in such a circumstance. The intel provided was incomplete from Chevalier and it put you all at risk. Please understand it was not my intention to send you in there without proper preparations."
"Thank you ma'am I do understand." Varen answered. She smiled again and sat back.
"Good, then we can move on to why I really wanted you here. What happened out there has raised a lot of questions. Questions that I'm sure you cannot answer any more than we can. However, I want to help you find the answers. President Chiffon filed a report earlier this morning detailing what you could explain and some potential scenarios that would answer these riddles. You both are very bright and I feel that this is worth pursuing. If you are willing, I would like you to accompany Ms. Phenyl to the training arena and see what you both can find out." Sister Margaret explained.
"Is that alright to do? I mean the thoughts Chiff…er the president and I had were just spur of the moment ideas. I don't want to trouble Ticy with this." He answered back and Ticy shook her head.
"It's no trouble at all I would be happy to help." Ticy said.
"Then it's settled. Elize could find nothing to explain the situation medically so I think the answers lie somewhere within you and that the only person who will be capable of finding them is yourself." Sister Margaret said.
"Alright, I'm in. Let's do it." He said excitedly excusing himself and standing. Ticy stood as well bowing to the headmistress.
"Excellent please report to me with anything you can uncover. Oh and Varen?" She said called out as he was nearly out the door.
"Ma'am?" He answered.
"Please do be gentle with our president. Forcing her to spend the night is not very gentlemanly. Good luck!" She said waving and Varen flushed red.
"I…I did not…" He stammered as she shut the door before he could finish. The smile on her face never left.
"You know, Chiffon never came home last night. As her roommate I was quite concerned." Ticy said as they walked along the road. Everything was quiet since nearly everyone was in class at this time.
"Ticy, nothing happened everyone has the wrong idea!" Varen argued.
"Oh, defensive are we? Signs of a guilty conscience!" She laughed and Varen shook his head again.
"I swear we were talking about things and just lost track of time! Curfew had come and gone so I let her stay so she would not get in trouble."
"Well, that does sound innocent enough I suppose there was nothing to worry about then. It's not like you slept together or anything." She grinned and Varen sensed something fishy.
"You already talked to her didn't you?" He accused and she giggled nodding.
"Of course Chiffon is my best friend there's no secrets between us! I was just teasing you come on!" She nudged him with her elbow making him sigh.
"You both are going to give me a heart attack." Ticy opened a set of doors leading into a large building. There were many sparring rooms setup inside to allow students to practice alone or one on one. Ticy opened one of these rooms and stepped inside behind Varen.
"You wanted to try with another weapon right? Then I will let you do it with me." She explained her prior humorous side gone now replaced by complete seriousness. Varen has passed out before he saw Ticy fight in the Carnival so he knew little about her aside from she was the third strongest in their class.
"Just…stop me if something looks off ok?" He asked nervously and she nodded.
"Volt weapon, Gigantes Glaive." She said holding her hand out. A sword materialized into her hand. What surprised Varen was the size of the sword that appeared. The blade was nearly a foot wide and longer than Ticy was tall. The grip was long enough to accommodate two hands and from its sheer size Varen questioned how she could even hold the weapon comfortably let alone use it.
"Wow." Varen said out loud voicing his thoughts. Ticy flipped the sword around and held the grip out towards Varen. He swallowed hard as anxiety crept into his mind. He reached out slowly wrapping his hand around the handle. The weight was heavier than he thought as he lifted it from her hands. No sooner had he lifted the weapon and the weight seemed to vanish. Along with it the blade dissolved into the air and was gone.
"That is the standard reaction when someone else holds a volt weapon. It is what should have happened when you took Arnettes." Ticy said holding her hand out and calling the volt weapon back into existence. They tried again and like before the weapon vanished before he could even fully lift it from her hands.
"I don't feel anything when I touch it. I expected some sort of backlash, but there's nothing." Varen said. They tried a few more times all with the same results. For hours they tried varying ways of trying to give over the weapon and create a connection to Varen. Even so far as to hold hands while summoning the weapon did not change the experiments.
"Any progress?" Sister Margaret asked opening the door to the sparring room. Chiffon followed in behind her.
"No ma'am nothing. We've been at it all morning and afternoon, but I can't do it." He said defeated.
"I see. Don't give up Varen sometimes the answers aren't always the most obvious." She responded.
"You are still recovering. You shouldn't stress your body out any further." Chiffon said.
"Stress?" Varen asked out loud looking around the room suddenly.
"Yah, all in a weeks' time you've been thrown into one stressful situation after another." Chiffon said.
"What are you onto Varen?" Sister Margaret asked seeing Varen ignore Chiffon and still look around deep in thought.
"She's absolutely right, anytime something odd happened I was under intense stress. Like in the middle of a heated battle or a life and death situation!" He said at last.
"You think that has something to do with it?" Ticy asked quizzically.
"I don't know, but think about it. The Carnival and the Lowlands were all intense events that could have some effect on what happened. We need to try!" He answered getting more excited.
"Varen the next Carnival isn't for another five or six months. I'm a little shocked that you are wanting to return so enthusiastically." Sister Margaret said.
"Then let's recreate it somehow. Make someone fight me. Someone who unless I could draw out whatever power is inside would kill me easily." He asked and the headmistress opened her eyes wider.
"You are asking me to sanction a fight that could very well end in your death?" She asked.
"Yes I am! Limiters and Pandora put their lives on the line all the time in the defense of our species. Let me do it too. We may learn something that could benefit humanity even further." He argued.
"Or you could die for nothing!" Chiffon yelled.
"Challenges are not an uncommon practice here Ms. Fairchild you should know this. If he truly wishes to enter combat with another he may issue a challenge freely. The recipient would have to accept or lose ranking and if he or she accepts must fight holding nothing back." Sister Margaret explained.
"He's not a Limiter! He will die!" She yelled back nearing the point of insubordination. Sister Margaret did not seem to mind and only shook her head.
"Then I'd like to issue a challenge, ma'am." Varen said and the three girls looked at him.
"Already? You have someone in mind this quickly?" Sister Margaret asked and Varen nodded.
"I do."
"Alright then let me know once you have spoken to the person in question then." She answered.
"There's no need. She's already here. I challenge Chiffon Fairchild."