The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Divergence
Chapter Four
The recruitment office in the capital wasn't usually busy. At this point most of the able young men had been drafted. Now they only had people who were normally exempt coming in, some older gents who decided to sign up, and more recently young women were asking to apply.
Limping on his cane, the medically discharged officer blinked as he saw the woman waiting for him to open. She was young, with shoulder length brown hair. She was sort of pretty, but there was an strange intensity in her eyes that bothered him.
"Good morning!" the brown haired woman beamed in a somewhat manic way.
"Ah. How can I help you?" he asked.
"My name is Mary Sue. I wish to join the Mage Corps!" she declared.
The name didn't ring any mental bells, and while she was young she was old enough to volunteer. Plus, mages were especially sought after. So he had her fill out the forms, then assured her that they would be calling her.
The completed forms gradually went up the chain of command... then went off like a bomb.
"WHAT," Erich von Rerugen yelped.
As Anson Sue's handler, the papers landed on Erich's desk. Plus while he was a Lt Colonel, that still made him the low man on the Imperial Command. If a miscellanious problem needed to be handled, it was usually passed to him.
Erich officially put a hold on Mary's application, then called Anson.
"What!" Anson Sue groaned.
"That was my reaction," Erich grimly agreed. "Did you know she intended to do this?" he asked his friend quietly.
"No," Anson promptly answered, then sighed. "She's been restless," he conceded, "she wants something useful to do."
"Hmm," Erich replied quietly.
"And she greatly admires officer Degurechaff," Anson added ruefully.
Erich winced slightly at that. He really should have anticipated it happening. A dashing hero who was nearly her same age, and Mary being so innocent looking? Of COURSE she might bond with Tanya. It was a pitty no one could see the monster under the angelic looks. Plus, she probably wanted to help her new homeland.
"Could you...?" Anson started.
"I will stop her application for now," Erich said, "as she is not yet a citizen. But if she continues to apply, I imagine my superiors might support it."
"Understood. We'll talk with her," Anson agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Congradulations! You're a 'von' now!" Visha declared excitedly.
Through a combination of heavy studying and subtle political work, Tanya had emerged in the top ten of the entire War College, and would have the title 'von' added to her name. Normally she'd be as excited as Visha, but command had also just hit her with her new assignment.
"And congrats on the new, elite Mage command," Elya cheered. "Major Von Degurechaff has a nice ring to it."
Elya was more Visha's friend than Tanya's, really, but they had spent enough time together that Tanya was growing comfortable with her. And, bluntly, the woman was an incredible source of information. Tanya's new assignment had only been revealed to her hours ago, and she hadn't told either of them. But somehow, Elya knew.
"Congradulations on finishing officer's school, Visha," Tanya changed the subject.
Visha blushed. "Thank YOU for helping me study. I'm sure I'd have flunked the exam otherwise." she said.
"You would have been fine," Tanya reassured her.
They were having a small celebration at the cafeteria they normally ate at. There was an unofficial party the other graduates were at... but it was in a bar and Tanya was under aged. DAMN YOU, Being X!
"There was something I wanted to ask you about," Tanya started, then looked at Elya.
Elya smirked, "Asking her out?"
"ELYA," Visha yelped... but she was blushing too.
"Oh, what the hell, you both know about my new assignment anyway," Tanya sighed. She looked over at Visha, "I'm going to need an aide, but I didn't want to just force you to do it. If you want, I can ask..."
"Of course I want to continue on!" Visha declared.
"It really does sound like a proposal," Elya muttered, but neither noticed.
The three ate a hearty meal, Visha and Elya drank a bit of beer and Tanya had juice, and they celebrated into the evening.
"Do you need help getting her inside?" Elya asked as she helped Tanya get the mildly drunk Visha back to their quarters.
"I think I can lead her in. Thank you," Tanya smiled wryly as she half supported Visha.
"Be careful," Elya called as she left.
Tanya didn't really register that as she manhandled Visha into Visha's bedroom. She kind of flopped on the bed, and Tanya sighed. She got the woman's boots off, then sort of tried to get her in the middle of the mattress.
"Hmmm," Visha reached out and hugged Tanya.
"Eeep," Tanya yelped as she tried to get free.
The (basically) nearly asleep Visha just tightened her grip, rolled over on her side then started softly snoring.
'Shit,' Tanya thought.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Rachel Sue watched as her husband and daughter argued. Anson was determined to keep them safe, while Mary wanted to volunteer for the army. Both were firm in their positions, and seemed unwilling to budge.
"May I ask something?" Rachel spoke up.
"Yes?" Anson looked at her fondly.
"If Mary wanted to join the military, she'd have to be trained as a Mage first, right?" Rachel asked them.
Anson nodded a bit warily, "Yes."
"So why not have her be trained first, THEN have her apply? It would give her time to consider and see how hard the training is," Rachel suggested.
"Yes!" Mary said enthusiastically. "I'd like to know more about what it's like to be a mage!" she continued, eyes sparkling.
"Rachel...," Anson started quietly as he moved them off a bit.
"Anson, she is very determined to do this," Rachel answered quietly. "But she hasn't seen the realities of military training," she added.
He nodded thoughtfully as Anson said, "So hopefully the harsh mage training will convince her not to do it."
"And if she makes it through and still wants to join the military, at least we'll know she means it," Rachel added.
Anson frowned, but he really couldn't argue with that. They turned to a visibly vibrating in anticipation Mary and said, "We'll agree to put you through the Empire's version of Mage training. After that, we'll see."
"Thank you!" Mary Sue beamed and rushed off.
Anson watched her go, then sat down with a sigh.
"Dear?" Rachel asked gently.
"I think that was the best decision to make," Anson said quietly, "but somehow I have a bad feeling about this."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Hilde?" Tanya blinked as the tall, thirty something entered the office Tanya had been assigned to begin organizing the new mage corps.
"It's been awhile," Hilde Schnee smiled warmly. "Congratulations on being a top War College graduate." she added.
Visha looked at the strange woman being so familiar with Tanya, and felt an odd unfamiliar emotion she couldn't quite place. It was a bit like anger, as if she wanted to get the lady the HELL away from Tanya.
"Ah, Visha, this is Hilde Schnee. We met back in Norden." Tanya said, unaware of the undercurrents. "Hilde, this is Viktoriya Serebryakov, my aide."
"Ma'am," Visha nodded a bit stiffly.
"Nice to meet you," Hilde smiled. She continued, "I'm in Communications and Propaganda, now, which is why I'm here."
"Oh?" Visha looked curious.
"I'm working on a notice to send out to the other make units to ask for volunteers," Tanya admitted, "I wanted a professional's opinion."
"Ah," Visha nodded. She added, "I'll get some coffee going."
"Thank you,"Tanya absentmindedly said as she searched for a document on her desk. "This is the draft I'm working on," she passed it to Hilde.
Hilde scanned it, "You realize young men will take this as a challenge and apply to prove they can do it?"
Tanya froze, "I hadn't considered that..."
As Visha returned, Hilde was careful not to stand too close to Tanya. She was certain Tanya hadn't noticed, but Hilde had picked up Visha's annoyance immediately. Interesting...
To be continued...
Notes: I don't think, canon wise, Mary Sue had mage training at that point. We're also jumping ahead a few weeks. Been meaning to use Hilde again, so here we are.