Chapter 27
Sol tilted her head. "Remember what?"
Alviss felt like he'd fallen through the ice he was standing on. She… doesn't… remember? His heart clenched painfully. But… no. Why should she remember… when I didn't. Still… it hurts… "Uh… it's nothing." He looked away from her. "Just… thinking about the past."
Sol frowned. What the hell kind of cop-out was that? Before she could call Alviss on his crap, Pozun called out.
"Solara, we need to proceed with the battles."
"Oh, right." She looked over at the three remaining Chess Pieces. "They're a thing." She looked back at Alviss. "Don't think I'm gonna let that go." She poked him in the chest. "If you still wanna lie to me later, I suggest you come up with a better line than 'nothing.' Understand?" Alviss nodded, wide-eyed. "Good. We're ready, Pozun." She called to the ref.
"My turn! And I'll be way better!" The bubbly Aqua hopped out to the field. "Cuz Miss Aqua's always good!" She chirped.
"What an appalling creature!" Babbo exclaimed. "She can't be fighting?!"
"We're the last remaining MÄR fighters." Nanashi commented, referring to Dorothy and himself. "Just the two of us. Well, then… I guess she's mine!"
"Who says?!" Jack exclaimed.
"Just what I figured." Alviss rolled his eyes.
"Pervert." Was Dorothy's only comment.
"Who's a pervert?!" Nanashi cried.
"Whatever. I want the Knight anyway." Dorothy just shrugged.
"Nanashi." Sol stopped him from walking out. "You should see something before you fight her." She lifted her left hand, revealing the ÄRM Lunestra had been wearing was on her left thumb.
"Erinnerung*. With this I can show memories. I now have two sets. Phantom is a monster, but at least you know that immediately. Aqua… in a way, Aqua is even more twisted than him." The group looked at her like she was nuts. "This happened yesterday.
The ring ÄRM Erinnerung flashed, and a sphere appeared above her hand. In it, a scene played out.
The two boys slugged each other. Lunestra blinked, confused. "Why are your boys fighting?" She looked around. "And where's the rest of them?"
Aqua giggled. "These are the last two."
"What?"
"The rest are gone. I was bored with them, and Phantom said I couldn't get anymore unless I got rid of the ones I had. So I thought this would be entertaining." She gestured to the two boys. As she did, a sword and an axe were tossed to the floor. The boys scrambled for the weapons.
"And this is…?"
Aqua giggled. "Just a little tournament. They fight and the winner gets to spend the night with me!"
"These are the last two? Out of the 20 you had?"
"Yep!"
"And they're… how old?"
"Uh… the brunette is 14, and the blonde is… 10?"
"Hm." Lunestra watched the boys and tried not to let her face show her distaste. After all, Phantom had given her permission to do what she pleased with the boys she had collected from the sacked cities and towns.
The 14 year old brunette hooked the 10 year old blondes ankle and yanked his leg out from under him. The blonde fell and dropped his axe. The brunette took full advantage and brought his sword down in a powerful swing on the blondes exposed neck.
Aqua squealed in excitement. "Wonderful!" The brunette beamed at her praise. "Come. We shall have our night and tomorrow I'll find you some new companions!"
"Actually, Aqua, Phantom sent me to inform you that you're participating in tomorrows battle." Lunestra told her.
"Oh, phooey!" Aqua pouted. "Fine. Guess I'll just have to go the day after."
"She collects boys from the cities and towns that got sacked before the War Games began." Sol pursed her lips. "I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them had been from Luberia."
Nanashi turned pale.
Sol scrubbed her hand over her face. "I'm not gonna tell you to kill her, Nanashi. That's your choice. I'm just gonna tell you, don't try to save her. She's not worth it." Sol said. "Good luck. She's not a Bishop for show."
Nanashi looked down for a moment before looking her in the eye and nodding once. "I understand." He walked out onto the field.
"Fourth match! Chess Piece – Bishop – Aqua vs. MÄR – Nanashi! Begin!"
Nanashi stood in a relaxed position. He smiled serenely. "Please… ladies first." Even though he knew what Aqua had done… he wouldn't change his principles.
Dorothy slapped a hand to her forehead. "That idiot…! He didn't learn anything from losing last time!"
"Oh, you're so sweet!" Aqua squealed. "Thank you so much!" She reached down the neck of her dress. "And since you insist… I'd love to go first!" She pulled out an ÄRM. "Come on out! Guardian ÄRM – Akko!"
A massive red clam appeared, slightly open to show off a couple of white lights that must be eyes. It clacked its shell open and closed a couple of times. "Go!" At Aqua's command the clam surged forward.
"What the - ?! A clam?!" Nanashi certainly hadn't expected that. He activated a ring ÄRM. "Weapon ÄRM – Griffin Lance!" With the spear in his hand, he jumped at Akko. It slammed its shell closed. Nanashi's spear hit the shell and found it rock hard. Impenetrable! Akko spun, throwing him off. The clam then started spitting large white spheres. "Ngah! Pearls?!" Nanashi jumped around, dodging the oversized gems.
Aqua giggled. "Isn't Akko just so cool? You've never seen 'Pearl Attack' before, huh?"
As the dust kicked up by the attack cleared, Nanashi was revealed. "Tough luck. Not one of 'em hit." He grinned.
"Oh phooey." She giggled. "Well… how about… we change tactics?!"
Nanashi blinked. "What?"
Aqua shooed Akko. "Go away now, Akko!" She jumped and a pair of blades appeared on the bottom of her shoes. "Yay!"
"Huh? Skates?!"
Jack looked at Dorothy. "Is it a weapon ÄRM?"
"Doesn't look like one… but she's unpredictable." Dorothy frowned.
"Ready… set… skate!" The bubbly blunette pushed off and began circling Nanashi while giggling madly. She stayed out of reach of he spear… not that Nanashi tried to use it, just watching her.
After three or four laps around him, Aqua stopped. She pulled the large conch shell off her head. "Okay, Mr. Nanashi. Here… we… go!" She blew into the tip and a deep tone rang out.
Nanashi looked around in confusion. Then, "Move, you idiot!" He snapped his head around at Dorothy's shout. She was pointing at a huge shadow moving towards him under the ice.
He jumped as it reached the circle Aqua had sliced into the ice. A giant fish, with numerous sharp teeth smashed up through the ice, lunging for him. The circle she carved… called this creature!
Team MÄR watched in horror as the monstrous fish engulfed Nanashi.
Aqua giggled. Lifting the shell in her hands, she said, "This is the Nature ÄRM Supikara! I can call all my undersea friends with it!"
The group watched the fish circling underneath them. Suddenly, dark liquid sprayed into the water around it. Blood?! The fish began thrashing erratically.
"Nanashi!" Dorothy yelled, surprising herself.
The fish smashed through the ice again. There was something sticking out of the top of its head. With a gross sucking sound, Nanashi's spear tore through the fish's head.
"You called?" he smirked at the shocked look on Aqua's face. He twirled his spear. "Griffin Lance! It didn't work on the clam – but it's perfect for fish! " He grinned broadly as Aqua turned pale. "I really did not want to become fish feces."
"Oh gee…" Aqua quivered despite the smile on her face. "I don't wanna get my head cut off! Akko!" She summoned her giant clam and jumped in it.
"Hey, Sol?" Sol looked at Jack. "I don't get it."
"Get what?"
"How can someone like that act so…" he couldn't come up with an accurate description.
Sol scratched her jaw. "…it's hard to explain… in a manner that makes sense. Aqua not only doesn't recognize what she does as wrong, she believes it's… normal. It's how she grew up. In fact, she thinks she's doing it better because she's brainwashed them to the point that, not only will they gladly do anything she asks, but they also don't know how to function without her. We look at what she's doing and see something disturbing, but… those kids weren't unhappy… I hate what she's done… but I remember interacting with her as Lunestra… so I don't hate her."
"But you told Nanashi not to try to save her." Dorothy pointed out.
"There's nothing to save. Some might say, 'well maybe you can fix her.' She's not broken. She just is. She will never change her stance, since that's what she was raised to believe was natural. As for the tournament… the fact that she was bored with them is cruel, but it she had simply thrown them out, they would have died in much more miserable fashions and she knew that."
Nanashi smirked at the sealed clam. "It's about time… to end this."
Akko started spinning. As it picked up speed, it started moving towards Nanashi. "Rolling Akko Attack!"
Nanashi deactivated his Griffin Lance. Putting his hands near each other, electricity started sparking between them. As the amount of sparks increased, he lifted his hands then, at it's peak, pointed at the rapidly approaching shell. "Electric Eye!" The electricity coalesced into a single massive bolt and struck the clam.
The power brought the Guardian to an abrupt halt. After a moment, it opened, releasing a gout of smoke. Aqua stumbled out, tripped, and landed flat on her face. Akko disappeared and Aqua didn't move. After a moment, Pozun called it. "Winner – MÄR – Nanashi!"
Nanashi looked sadly at the small blunette for a moment before going back to the others.
Aqua woke up and, realizing she had lost, nervously walked back to the psycho siblings.
"Pathetic!" Rapunzel screeched. "You dare to lose! Take your punishment Aqua!"
"…okay, but…" she swallowed nervously. "You don't kill me if I win the game, right?"
Rapunzel gave her a dead eyed smile. "Sure, Aqua. Sure." The two held up their hands. "Rock… paper… scissors!" They put out their hands. Rapunzel had paper and Aqua had scissors.
"I won!"
SHUNK! A spear of ice rammed through Aqua's stomach. "Too bad…" Girom's twisted grin was highlighted by the light reflecting off his ice, "I had rock."
Team MÄR was disgusted by the cheating, but as Sol said, "Can't say I'm surprised.
*Memory - German
So most speculation around Aqua states that she isn't really suited to being in the Chess Pieces and was possibly forced into the position. If she was a Pawn or even a Rook, I might think about agree. However, Aqua is a Bishop. The way the Chess are designed, it's not just power that helps you climb the ranks, it's depravity. Neither the King, the Queen, or Phantom is the kind of person who would promote someone to a high rank that didn't share their values. So Aqua must have some creepy or disturbing quirk that they would approve of. I just felt that something with children would fit with her 'chipper' personality.
