The Order of Heroes!
Xenologue 1 : Commander Anna's Lament!
The holidays are near, but Anna isn't really feeling any holiday cheer.
"Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, Hey! Jingle bells, Jin-!"
"For the love of god Sharena, I will pay you to shut up! Please!"
Sharena stared at her commander in surprise, Anna wasn't known for being snappy so this was pretty shocking. The Order of Heroes had been tasked (ordered) to clean up the living quarters of the castle. Alfonse and Kiran were handling the bathrooms while the girls took care of the living areas.
"Don't mind her, she just really hates Christmas." Sharena's father, Gustav, said as he entered the room, acting like he hadn't exploited his own children for free labor while he sent the help home for the holidays. "Always has, can't say why."
"I was abandoned!"
"I said I couldn't say, not that I didn't remember."
"Oh…" Anna blushed in embarrassment, "Well I'm just going to go… and see how Kiran and Alfonse are doing, ok bye!" Anna left the room in a sprint. Gustav sighed as his former retainer left and turned to his shell-shocked daughter. "I suggest you tone it done with the Christmas cheer, she gets crabby around this time of year."
"So the commander hates Christmas, I never knew…"
"We found her on Christmas eve, my was that an adventure." Gustav's other retainer, Sebastian, said from his spot on the couch.
"That's so sad!" Sharena muttered before turning t her father and looking him dead in the eye "Don't worry father, I'll make sure to show the commander the true meaning of Christmas!"
"I asked you to do no such thing!" He stated, but Sharena had already packed up and left "Sharena!"
Sebastian sipped on his tea as he wondered where this train wreak would lead. Gustav glared at him "What? It's not like it can be any worse than the noodle incident my lord."
"Scrub, scrub, scrub, rubbery love~"
"Kiran, please, I will pay you to stop singing!" Alfonse begged. The two were just about finishing up the men's bathroom, having finished the woman's bathroom earlier, and Kiran had been singing the entire time. Alfonse couldn't take it anymore!
"Well fine Mr. scrooge! But I'm expecting a meat lover's pizza for the emotional turmoil you've inflicted upon me!"
"I don't know what that is." Alfonse said as Anna poked her head into the room, upon realizing they were staring at her she quickly left the room "What was that about?" Kiran asked.
"No idea." Alfonse replied, he was lying, he had a pretty good idea. The two returned to their work, and were working quietly for a few moments before Sharena poked her head into the room. "Has the commander been around here?"
"Why..." Alfonse asked suspiciously.
"I'm trying to give Christmas cheer!"
"No."
"What, why?"
"Sharena, The Commander was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a child! Additionally, she's had one bad Christmas after another!" Alfonse began, setting the rag he'd been using to clean the counter top down "Last year Sir. Sebastian decided to try and help her move past this by taking her out to see some carolers..."
"Aw, how sweet of him" Kiran hadn't known the stern man to be considerate.
"And they came back a week later looking like they'd been mugged! Sir. Sebastian refused to tell us what happened!"
"That sounds like an adventure!" Kiran said, Alfonse glared at him.
"That doesn't prove anything!" Sharena said
"The year before that she had guard duty, and a blizzard struck! The walls froze over and she slipped! She almost lost a limb from frostbite!"
"Bu-!"
"And the year before that, she was nearly stoned to death with coal!"
"Wait, why was she being stoned?" Kiran asked, Alfonse graced his question with an answer.
"She got caught in a trap and some Saiyans found her before her squad did."
"Darn monkeys." Sharena spat "They look small and cute but it's a lie." Kiran was curious now but before he could ask her to elaborate Sharena was back on topic "But that doesn't me-!"
Alfonse moved past her and pushed her into the room "My word is final! now, seeing as you have nothing better to do I'm ordering you to finish cleaning this mess!" Alfonse said before shutting the door and locking it. "I'll be back later!" He said as he ran off.
"Alfonse you bench warming motherfucker!" Sharena yelled as she banged on the locked door "Why does this even lock from the outside? It's the bathroom!"
Kiran kept silent as he cleaned the shower. Alfonse had forgotten he was in here hadn't he?
"Mommy, where are we going?" Chibi Anna asked, she looked adorable! Like a stereotypical anime child version of her present self.
"Oh, um... To the fair!" The woman holding Anna's hand replied.
"A fair! Oh boy!" Anna couldn't wait for all the fun they'd have!
"Mommy, wait there's no fair here!" Chibi Anna cried as she chased after her mothers horse.
"Bye son!" the woman said as she waved goodbye atop her noble steed.
"I'm a girl!" Chibi Anna cried but her mother was gone, leaving the little seven year old girl alone in a desolate field.
"Looks like you could use a home." a cloaked man said, lowering himself so that he was eye level with the young eight year old girl. He ruffled her hair and gave her a smile "It may not be ideal, but how about hanging out with us for a while?" He asked and gestured to the stolen loaf of bread in her hands "It's bound to be better than eating what you manage to steal, no?"
Chibi Anna looked at the man curiously.
"Consider it, a Christmas present." He said and, for the first time in weeks, Anna felt hope.
"My purse!" a woman yelled
"My wallet!" a man cried out
"My baby!" a teenager cried as Anna jumped atop his horse.
"Someone stop that thief!" Someone ordered as, the now sixteen year old, Anna road off on her newly stolen horse.
"You did good kid, real good" the cloaked man laughed as he tossed an empty purse at the wall of their room at the inn. He ran a hand on the groups newly acquired horse "But now we aim bigger, we can't call ourselves Phantom Thieves if we don't aim high!"
"Thank you Mr. Tom!" Anna grinned at the complement. She'd do anything for Mr. Toms sake!
"You, were sold out." The man holding her down with his booted foot told her before she felt a kick in the ribs. It hurt, everything hurt, but that pain was nothing in comparison to the feeling of betrayal.
"What do we do with her?" another asked him. This one seemed to be a subordinate.
"What do you think?" the man replied.
"Oh, oh, can I do it this time! Can I please!" a third, stupid looking man, begged the other two.
"And i'm going to have to stop you right there." a new voice said before approaching the three men "She'd my only lead after all." The three men prepared to attack the newcomer, but were quickly beaten down "As for you" the newcomer said, picking her up off the ground and looking her dead in the eye "You're going to help me find the director of this farce."
"I've come to far to be stopped now!" the director, Tom, roared! He'd discarded his cloak for a stupid looking cape, and pulled out a malicious looking tome before unleashing a torrent of foul magic attacks.
All aimed at Anna.
The bastard.
"Dodge!" the newcomer ordered before he shoved her out of the way and used his sword to parry the blows. How he managed to do that to magical attacks was beyond her knowledge.
Tom snared, but took a deep breath as he calmed himself "As expected of a member of the royal family" he spat before increasing the intensity of his attacks "But no one can counter attack without an opening, not even you Gustav! What? Are you going to toss that sword of yo-!" He narrowly avoided a sword being thrown at him. "Dick!" The attack had stopped his own but it also left the man wide open, Tom had won!
Gustav ignored him and made his way over to Anna who he'd tossed on the floor earlier.
"Wha-!? Are you ignori-!" an axe suddenly smashed into Toms side. "Oh..." He fell to the ground as darkness filled his vision and Askr reclaimed his soul.
"Took you long enough." Gustav said without looking to see who'd just arrived. He helped Anna to her feet and glanced at the newcomer with the axe. Said new newcomer glared at him.
"What?" Gustav asked
"My lord, you were gone for a week and what do we find when we finally find you?" He asked, glaring at Anna who avoided his gaze.
"Wait, did you say we?" Gustav questioned.
"Yea." Anna suddenly noticed a woman appear from behind her, said woman walked up to Gustav and slapped him "Gustav, you're a dick." Anna hadn't even felt this woman approach!
As Anna watched these three bicker she wondered...
What did she do now?
"I hate to address the elephant in the room, but what do we do about her?" the woman asked, pointing at Anna, who'd been silent as she followed them around for the past hour. They'd tied up the loose ends concerning the Phantom thieves actions and Anna assumed they were returning home.
Not like she had anywhere else to go...
"eh? What do you mean? Obviously she's sticking around." Gustav told her, his two companions showed looks of surprise at his words as did Anna at this confirmation. "Why are you two surprised? I had to go out of my way to get the mayor to let the fact that she was a member of the Phantom Thieves go. Would I do that if I wasn't planning on keeping her around?"
"Are you kidding me? Out of your way? You probably just told him he didn't have a choice!" The woman spat, Gustav gave her a look "Yeah, that's what I said, out of my way..." The woman face palmed. Gustav glanced at Anna and said "We'll sort through this," He began, gesturing to the girl, "mess later. Oh! and it gets better!" He grabbed Anna by the solders and led her to the man who'd killed Tom "You get a free student out of this, it's a win-win, wouldn't you agree Sebastian?"
"Are you serious!" Sebastian yelled.
"Do you even know what your doing?" the woman asked.
Gustav grinned and said "I don't need to, i'm king."
"It's a miracle he puts this much effort to help a random kid, considering how often he forgets about his own..." the woman muttered, and Gustav's eyes widened in realization.
Gustav gasped "Oh shit, I have two of those! and it's Christmas!"
Anna blinked, her mind was foggy, it seemed like she'd fallen asleep after leaving the duo in the bathroom.
"Ah, did you have a nice nap?" Anna jumped and turned to see Alfonse looking at her curiously. "Ah, Alfonse, you scared me half to death. What are you doing here?"
"I live here."
"You know what I meant."
"I'm just reading this book, it's typically what people do when they come to a library." He replied and Anna realized that she was indeed in the library. Had she fallen asleep on an armchair? "You okay? You don't usually make your dislike for this holiday known around Sharena."
"I'm fine."
"Good to know, I don't believe you though." Anna frowned at that, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"No, no, it's just that this time of year brings back painful memories I would prefer stayed forgotten."
"Memories about your mother, and how she abandoned you on Christmas Eve?"
"You really are your fathers son."
"Don't change the subject."
"Don't pick and probe me like some lab rat!"
"This holiday isn't going anywhere Anna!" Alfonse said, he'd never called her by just her name. He usually added Commander to it. "You need to move on."
"DON'T YOU THINK I'VE TRIED THAT!" Anna yelled but Alfonse silenced her by speaking over her "Then don't. The incident with the blizzard wasn't because of your past, it was because you were trying to keep busy and not think about it. You overworked yourself and slipped on some ice! You didn't have the strength to dig yourself out of the snow that cushioned your fall and nearly died because of it! If it wasn't for me passing by, you would have frozen to death! The same thing happened with the Saiyans! You broke into the hunting area because you were trying to avoid Sharena and got caught in a snare! The Saiyans that found you were domesticated and mistook you for a thief! and while I don't know much about the noodle incident, I have no doubt that was caused by you trying to avoid the issue too. Anna, you need to move on!" Anna bit her lip, and it was clear to Alfonse that she wasn't ready to do that just yet.
"We could try looking for your mother." Alfonse suggested and Anna gaped at his words "I DON'T NEED THAT BITCH TO MOVE ON WITH MY LIFE!" she yelled.
"Then prove it!" He shot back, Anna stalked off without a work and Alfonse let himself fall on his chair. This was frustrating!
"No one ever takes me seriously." Sharena said as she lay in the bathtub. Kiran sat by her side, obviously not in the bathtub, but on the floor.
It looked like they were role-playing a therapy scenario.
"What about you Kiran, what do you think of me?"
"I think you should get out of the bathtub." He replied. It was starting to get hot in here and the atmosphere was getting more and more awkward. Sharena's little act was just that, an act, an act meant to distract herself from the big elephant in the room.
"Alfonse is a real jerk."
"Tell me about it."
They'd get him for this later.
I'm going to try writing this way for a while. Next chapter will either be an updated summoning scenario or a "Halloween" related fic. Hell, if people like this enough, maybe a request? I doubt i'll see anything so soon though. This chapter takes place a bit after Kiran's been summoned (yes, that's still a thing).
R&R?
Also, criticism is appreciated.
