Tracking
"Louise!"
Her muscles tensed up and her eyes snapped open. She eyes snapped left and right, looking for anything that could become a threat to her. The more she looked around though the more confused the got but that confusion was quickly quelled when she finally realised that she was not in the midst of an intense battle but inside of her room. Her vision was then swallowed by a concerned Alban. Louise groaned and sat up, nursing her head all the while.
A moment of silence graced the couple as Louise calmed herself. Alban brushed her hair to the side as she patiently waited for her beloved to calm herself. Her concerned look turned into that of compassion as she stretched her arms outwards, inviting Louise into an embrace. Like a moth drawn of light, Louise pounces on the opportunity and hugged Alban as tight as she could, fearing that it might be the last time they shared this intimate contact.
"I'm scared," Louise whispered.
"I know, honey," Alban said as she patted Louise's back. "I know,"
Afterwards, Louise began to sob, muttering phrases like 'I tried', 'I just saw them yesterday' and many other phrases that associated with a person who had just been through a rough time. It had been six months since Louise had joined the Hunters and even though she had rose up in terms of ranks, Louise's multiarmed girlfriend was glad that she was still the Louise that she had met and loved despite having seen first-hand at how cruel the world outside of Bans is.
She couldn't really sympathize with Louise, instead what she could do at the moment was to be her crutch for the time being. She had been sent back for lashing out on her captain when she'd been ordered to do something that she strongly didn't like but that didn't mean it was over for the pink-haired cyborg. She'd only been instructed to leave for a few days, only until she could control her emotions. Such is the way of the Hunter, in the open and harsh lands beyond the floating city, emotions could only bring detriment in certain situations.
Often than not, Hunters would create metaphorical walls, blocking others and preventing them from creating a relationship deeper than acquaintances. It is not a surprise when a Hunter gets defensive and unconsciously display some rude behaviour when approached by a person who just wants a simple conversation. Others couldn't even begin to make these walls and opted for more emotional backlash. Louise herself has built walls around her, it just so happens that during a particular mission, her walls broke down.
Louise's sobbing had finally ceased, Alban pushed her away to take a look at her. Once they locked eyes with each other, Alban smiled.
"Why don't we go outside? You've been cooped up in your room for a while now,"
The hesitant look that she gave made Alban furrow her brows. This wasn't missed by Louise as she seized up. "O-okay,"
Cattleya sat in the room that was given to her and Eleonore, unease constantly gnawed at the forefront of her mind, her foot kept continuously tapped on the wooden floor, not caring for the people who stayed just below her. Hours had already passed since the attack of Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt and if she were to believe Princess Henrietta's words, her eldest sister was mortally wounded. She carried her weak and frail body towards the infirmary where she was prevented access by water mages. When she demanded to enter, the reply she received was:
"Please wait in your room, the one helping Eleonore Vallière will come to your room once she is done,"
She wanted to press on but try as she might, her body couldn't allow her. Begrudgingly, she had agreed and had one of the water mages escort her back to her room. That was three hours ago and right now, her worries are taking over. Standing up, marched her way to the door only for it to open wide, revealing a dishevelled Louise. Eleonore watched Louise with bated breath, no sound escaped from both mouths with the only noise being the groaning of strained wood due to Louise's weight.
Louise locked gazes with her sister. She looked away for a moment, a hint of hesitation, fumbling in her mind as to how to lay it on Cattleya as gently as she could. Realising that there were no corners that could be cut, Louise gave out one large exhale and was about to tell her the results only to be cut off when she spoke first.
"Is she fine?" Worry and distress plastered on her face.
She paused for a moment, "She had multiple mortal wounds; broken ribs, a stab wound, two compound fractures, a collapsed lu-,"
"Louise, is Sister Eleonore fine?" Cattleya demanded, each word laced with exclamation.
A long silence graced them. Time seemed to have lost all meaning as Cattleya fell to her knees. Tears streaming down her face as she tried to grasp on to the idea that her eldest sister is de-
"She's fine,"
"Huh?" Cattleya said dumbly.
"She's in a coma… I don't know how long it's going to take but… she'll live,"
If Louise didn't weight 3.43 tons right now, she was sure to be knocked down on the floor as Cattleya charged her and hugged her as tight as she could. Crying while thanking her repeatedly. While this might be something to celebrate for her sister, Louise expression was still dark. Pushing her away she looked down while giving a scornful look. Not at her sister, the look was solely for herself.
"I…I don't understand… she was on Death's doorstep… I-I had to amputate two of her limbs! She'll be living the rest of her life as a cripple! Why are you happy!?"
Cattleya gave a confused expression before she smiled and with her left hand, nursed Louise left cheek. "She's still alive… that's all that matters at the moment,"
The two continued to hug for a few more seconds before getting interrupted by the sound of an opening door. Both heads looked towards the door to see a musketeer standing straight. Their curiosity was answered when the musketeer told them that Louise was needed in Old Osmond's office immediately. Quick farewells were given before Louise was escorted to the office.
After a long silence down the hallway, she finally reached the office. Opening the door, she was greeted with a group of people. Students with a purple scarf around them stood off to the side, presumably the seniors, Professor Colbert stood beside of the headmaster while the secretary stood from her desk, finally in the centre was Princess Henrietta along with the captain of the musketeer brigade, Agnès de Milan.
A cough escaped the princess's mouth before she began. "With everyone finally present shall we begin?"
A moment of silence to signify that no one wanted to interject before the princess began to retell the event that had happened roughly two hours ago. As she told this, all were listening carefully. With that said, she finished her anecdote with a sentence that made Louise's core glow red hot.
"…fortunately, the enchantments to the tower stood strong as time and we can all finally return back to the festival,"
The atmosphere of the room suddenly dropped when they suddenly heard a loud and deep humming sound. All ears traced towards Louise whose body was lit with deep red neon lights. Her closed fists trembled almost like a volcano on the verge of erupting only stopped by an unknown force. Taking a step closer to the princess, she didn't care about the spiderweb cracks that formed around the limestone floor. When the captain realised what was happening it was already too late. Louise grabbed Henrietta by the scuff of her clothes and brought her closer to her rage induced face.
Louise's breathing was heavy, steam kept getting pushed in the princess's face. Meanwhile, Henrietta tried her best to remain a straight face but it proved near next to impossible when she could practically feel the amount of killing intent being directed at her. The loud clanging sound of metal echoed in the room. All heads except for Louise and Henrietta looked towards Agnès. The captain had swung her sword as hard as she could at Louise only for her sword to meet the end of Louise's highly compacted nanomachine body, the vibrations of the collision travelled through the sword and towards Agnès hand making her yelp in pain while letting go of her sword.
Not missing a beat, she quickly grabbed her holstered flintlock and aimed it at Louise. Pulling the hammer, she pulled the trigger. A loud and sharp bang was heard making the other people in the room clutch their ears. Smoke from the gunpowder covered Louise's face preventing anyone from seeing how gruesome Louise's fate had ended. Their expectations were however shifted when the smoke finally cleared up revealing Louise still standing. She held Henrietta up with her left hand while her right hand was raised into a fist.
The tension in the room was so thick as Louise slowly swivelled her head towards Agnès. Surprisingly, the captain didn't back down from Louise's gaze and only battled it with a glare of her own. A few more seconds passed as both soldiers of war looked at each other. The first one to relent was Louise, closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. It gave positive results as the neon lights that were traced around her body died along with the bright glow of her core.
She brought she relaxed her closed fist releasing a small black ball which had made and audible thud in the room. After that, she slowly dropped Henrietta as well. Once the princess was on the ground, Agnès sprung into action and made a mad dash towards Henrietta. Meanwhile, Louise stepped back and began making her way towards the door only to be stopped when she heard Henrietta ask her a question.
"Where are you going, Louise?"
"…Hunting,"
No more words were exchanged during that time as Louise swung the door so hard that it's hinges were taken off.
Hours had passed and night had finally fallen. Inside of the infirmary, Louise looked at Eleonore with a sombre expression. The places where her right arm and left leg should be were wrapped with plenty of bandages, that was just the icing on the proverbial cake as the rest of her body were too, wrapped in bandages. In a morbid humour, it looked like she was like those mummies Louise had read up in the datafiles of Bans.
"Louise, you're still awake?"
The cyborg turned her head, meeting eyes with Cattleya who was already in her night gown. Cattleya rounded the bed where their eldest sister laid sleeping and sat just across her. A long moment of silence graced the two as they both watched their comatose sister. Their silence was finally broken when Louise spoke up.
"I'm going to find out who did this,"
Another moment of silence before Louise decided that she had enough, she stood up and left the infirmary. Under the gaze of the two moons, Louise made a beeline for the warehouse. She opened the door to the warehouse revealing a still floating Bench. Curiosity overcame Louise's initial rage and was about to ask when Bench answered her impending question.
"I had just started teaching her the beginnings of advanced chemistry," He beeped before pausing for a moment and continued. "Maybe, I want payback for hurting my student,"
Louise gave a small grin at the pod bot before bidding him to follow her. The pair made their way towards the place where the battle took place. While the rocks that were used to create the golem were placed aside, other than that, the place had looked like nothing had just happened which would make it harder for any normal investigators since all of the potential evidence has been removed.
Unlike normal investigators, Bench and Louise thought differently. Knowing that the one behind the attack was an earth mage in addition to the useful information given by Colbert that earth mages, at least of a higher calibre, are capable of creating a large network of tunnels. With that in mind, they knew what to look for. The pod bot's bottom side opened up, revealing a slowly rotating drill which started to increase in speed. Just like last time when Bench created a simulation to test Louise's Ravager body, he dug himself until the only thing that remained was his top dome.
Bench's body opened up and started sending signals outwards which helped map the entire underground. Even though what he got was just continuous dirt he didn't care, he knew that there is information in everything, like how recent the dirt was moved. Moisture, texture, pockets of air and even down to its particles were scanned. He triple-checked everything, ensuring that what he's seeing is consistent, if it reveals consistent results then that means the dirt hasn't been disturbed, if it doesn't, he'll follow that lead.
A few more minutes of scanning the ground and he had finally found it. A small pocket of air that didn't look like it belonged underground. He unrooted himself and floated his way towards the spot where the pocket of air was, once he was above, he dug himself again and scanned.
"Bingo," he beeped.
"Got something?" Louise asked.
Bench gave a drawn out 'yep' as he started tracing the inconsistencies. He had to give credit where credit was due, the thief really tried hiding themselves, if he wasn't scanning the ground up until to its particle, he too would've missed the buried tunnel. Fortunately, he didn't have to scan for long as the buried part of the tunnel ended and what followed was a large section of the underground taken.
"Found the tunnel,"
"In five minutes?" Louise said in a mocking tone. "You're getting slow, Bench,"
He blared out a loud sound before speaking, "Oh please, find another model like me and we'll see who's the fastest,"
Bench uprooted himself once more before floating towards the open underground section, which went under the wall. Louise and Bench launched themselves over the wall and out of the campus. Once outside, Bench pointed where the tunnel would be and Louise went to work. Willing the nanomachines in her body, her right arm shifted into an ion laser, the ion laser hummed with a high pitch before getting shot on the ground. Louise then carved a circle, making three meters of dirt fall down.
Louise gave a mental command and her eyes started to glow a bright green. With the provided night vision, Louise jumped down the hole she had created. Her mouth slowly formed into a feral grin but as stopped when she heard a voice from above the hole. Looking up, she locked eyes with a tired Kirche, arms wrapped around her exposed shoulders as the cold winds licked her body, it didn't help that the only thing that she was wearing was a night gown.
"What are you doing still awake?" Louise asked more out of confusion than irritation.
"I…I couldn't sleep, I looked outside and I saw you…uh…," Kirche hesitated before continuing what she said. "What are you doing?"
Louise looked away and focused on the tunnel. "Tracking,"
"Oh…,"
There was a moment of silence. Louise just staring at the never-ending tunnel while Kirche looked at the two moons that watched over her. A few more seconds passed before Kirche took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly which made the two robots look at her. Kirche looked back down to Louise a grin on her face.
"I'll help!"
A pause
"What?"
Kirche shrugged, "I said I'll help,"
Louise closed her eyes, irritation already settling in. "No, I heard you and no," Louise said with finality.
Kirche shook her head. "I never asked for your permission," She then placed her arms on her waist, a confident smile on her face, "My honour won't let go of the fact that a Vallière saved me,"
"I said n-,"
"Ap!"
"Kirc-,"
"Apap!"
Louise closer her eyes, inhaling and exhaling as much as possible, once the glowing of her core died down, she looked up at Kirche. "Fine… but don't expect help from me!"
"Hmph! I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"
Louise sighed before leaving the hole and started to walk towards the wall. Before launching herself up, she turned her attention to Kirche. The red-haired girl tilted her head in confusion, only to yelp when she got swept up her feet. Instinctively, Kirche wrapped her arms around Louise. She locked eyes with the cyborg and for some reason she couldn't explain, her heart began to race, her cheeks turned a shade of pink. On the other hand, Louise shifted her back into thrusters and without any warning, Louise jumped over the wall, Kirche took a sharp intake of breath as she watched the ground go further and further, unconsciously, her hug around Louise also became tighter and tighter as gravity began to take place once more.
She had expected a loud thud only to her surprise, she landed softly on the ground. Realising that the impromptu ride was over, she immediately let Louise go as soon as Louise allowed her some footing.
"You better be up early or I'm leaving you behind,"
"R-Right," Louise raised an eyebrow at the weird answer but disregarded it as she walked her way back to the warehouse with Bench in tow.
Kirche on the other hand stood on the same spot where Louise had dropped her off, her right hand close to her chest, confusion was on her face but in the centre of that was a small smile.
A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THOSE WHO ARE BORN ON THE 31ST OF DECEMBER AS IT IS ALSO MY BIRTHDAY! ALONGSIDE THAT I WISH ALL OF YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
With that said, I hope you all liked this chapter. Tell me your thoughts about the situation that Louise is currently in. Her constant cold shoulder to Princess Henrietta and a sudden act of kindness to her old-time rival.
Time to read the reviews!
AnimeA55Kicker: I'm not going to spoil to you what's going to happen to Fouquet. Perhaps, she'll live, perhaps she'll die. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter!
Touhoufanatic: Did you expect her blood type to be A negative? I'll leave it to your imagination as to what will happen to the now scarred Eleonore :D
torvalds42: Thank you for taking the time to read my work! The world where Louise came from is a harsh and cruel one. A world that I've designed and I hope that you will like this world that I've made.
Lucian Naruto: Well I hope this chapter answers your first question. I hope that it didn't feel forced at all. For your second question, considering that Kirche had managed to still do her stunt for the festival I think she's handling the situation pretty well… or is she? As for Henrietta? Hm… well not much can really be said about her right now since she had just joined the cast a few chapters ago. Maybe she's a coward or maybe she'll inspire courage, either way, you'll see as the story progresses.
I have to agree with you at how funny it is to look at Agnès and her battalion when they even think about fighting Louise. They don't really know how capable she it, the only thing that they know is that Louise has some serious anger management issues and a broken mind, which of course sets them on edge whenever she's near the princess. Also, I hope you liked that little flex I did when Captain Agnès shot her flintlock at Louise in the office… consider it my Christmas present to you :3 since you've been such a big help in helping me know more of the characters of this anime.
With that being all said and done, I bid you all a happy New Year! May 2020 be a fruitful year for all of us!
Peace~