Ch.2 Flame Empress
Five hours have passed since Shido was taken as prisoner on the ship. He was kept in a glass cage with holes for breathing and a small slot for food. Reine was keeping an eye on him, but Shido was trying to convince her that he wasn't a fake. He tried to explain to her what had was happening, and of course she didn't believe at first.
"Impossible the real Shin is currently on a second honeymoon with his wife"
Shido felt compelled to ask Reine the question that was looming on his mind for the last five hours.
"Uh, Reine could at least tell me who his wife is?"
Reine's expression didn't change as she answered with a straight face.
"Kotori is his wife"
Shido's face went redder than he intended.
"Me and Kotori!?...but she's my sister!"
"Well Shin and Kotori aren't related by blood, so I see no problem"
"Okay I'll give you that"
Reine was constantly looking at a laptop for messages from the sickbay since she ordered to keep finding private from Shido since they still believe him to be a fake. After a while of thinking Shido notices Reine putting a surprised expression; she then closes her laptop and exits the room and head towards the sickbay. In the sickbay, Akihiko still laid unconscious from his battle with the mysterious girl, but when Reine entered the room she immediately saw Akane yelling at the physician in charge.
"Do the test again! That can't be right"
"But Commander I already did the test three times"
"I don't believe it!"
The temperamental red haired girl was shaking the physician by the collar as she was yelling at him, but is stopped by Reine who wants to exactly find out the meaning behind the message.
"So what's this about an unusual find?"
Akane drops the physician and calms down to explain to Reine what she's angry about.
"Well we decided to do a DNA test to find out who this guy is, but according to the test this guy and I are half siblings"
Reine looked confused until she reads the test which basically read that Akihiko shared one half of Akane's DNA , and then they tested with others in the system which also said that he shared Shido's DNA but not Kotori's, and what truly was pissing Akane off was the note that said the other half was matched to Tohka's.
"Dad would never cheat on mom!"
Reine starts believing something more is happening, but fails to notice Akane storming out of the room. Akane storms down to the area where Shido is locked but is met halfway by a woman asking her to calm down.
"Mind your own damn business Origami"
The woman was Origami only in her thirties dressed in an upgraded AST uniform, and had longer hair.
"Keeping you in line is my business Akane"
"I'm sixteen I don't need a babysitter anymore!"
"No but you do need an instructor"
"Whatever"
After being lectured by Origami, Akane finally manages to make it back to Shido's cell to demand answers from him. Shido was just sitting with his hands still cuffed, and then Akane begins chewing him out.
"Okay who's your friend and why does he share half my DNA?"
Shido stands up, and tries to explain what exactly he knows and what's happened so far. After a half an hour if explaining Akane thinks for a minute, and she calms down.
"Okay that would explain a couple things, but I still don't entirely believe you, so I'll give you a test if you can pass it you'll prove to me that you're at least telling the truth"
"Fine what is it?"
Akane unlocks the cell and brings Shido to her sleeping quarters which also had a small kitchen inside it.
"This is my private room, so for your test you're going to make me something"
"How is that a test?"
"If you're really a younger version of my dad then you'll be able cook similar stuff"
Akane give Shido a mischievous smile as he decides what to cook. Meanwhile back in the present time four days had passed since Shido, Kotori, Tohka, and Origami had disappeared; Mana had become worried and began searching around the city along with Yoshino who was also very worried. Since it had been a while since they searched the apartment for clues so they decided to go back there and find anything. Upon arriving at the apartment nothing was changed, and Yoshino was starting to cry out of concern.
"What if they got kidnapped?"
Yoshinon tries to cheer her up.
"No that's not possible Shido isn't dumb enough to get kidnapped"
Mana chuckles a little to lighten the mood.
"Yeah you got a point rabbit my brother smarter than that (besides I've got a bad feeling about this)"
As they continue their search Mana opens the door to her brother's bedroom and someone was inside looking through his stuff, the young man with the mask. Mana immediately questioned him and he turned around to face her, but what was surprising was his expression towards her which was a look of shock.
"Mana is that you?"
Mana didn't recognize him but he seemed to know her.
"Who are you exactly?"
"Of course you wouldn't recognize me"
Mana was about to equip her realizer, but the young man extends his arm and immediately dark energy shoots from his hand paralyzing her. He then raises his other arm and entraps her inside a sphere which fills with negative energy and as it happens the young man silently says something.
"I'm sorry"
Mana read his lips as she fades away into the dark; Yoshino sees this and becomes paralyzed with fear. The young man smiled warmly and even with his mask one could see he was happy in a joyful way.
"Yoshino and Yoshinon…"
The young man approaches Yoshino and much to her surprise he pats her on the head.
"I never thought I'd you again"
Yoshino looked up at the young man and while she wasn't sure he appeared to be crying, but that's when things got creepy because he started patting her harder and harder which started to hurt.
"And that's why….I…I"
He realizes what he's doing and immediately stops, and then he then backs up into the shadows of the room and disappears. Despite what he was doing Yoshino felt sad for him, but Yoshinon wasn't so sympathetic.
"That guy was creepy! Call the police! Call the army, and where's Mana!?"
Yoshino looked around to find Mana, but she completely disappeared. In the other time Shido had just finished preparing the dish he settled which was hamburger steak.
"Well here ya go, hope you like it"
Akane takes a long whiff of the aroma and so far she seems pleased.
"Smells good but…"
She takes her fork and takes a bite of the steak. After swallowing her bite Akane pauses for a second, drops her fork, and puts on the look of a happy little girl.
"Just like my daddy"
"Uh so you like it huh?"
Akane looks at him sitting down now showing a white ribbon tied around her collar.
"It isn't the same but no one makes this like my daddy"
"So now do you believe?"
"Yeah more or less"
Akane welcomes the younger version of her dad by letting him look around her room which was filled with family pictures, a couple of report cards, and even a plushie of Kotori when which Shido looked at Akane with a little disbelief.
"Uh I took that from Kannazuki"
"Okay"
"Shut up my mom was cool even then"
After looking through some pictures someone knocks on the door. The person who opens the door was Origami who Shido recognizes right away.
"Origami!"
Origami nearly attacks when Akane assures her that Shido is by no means a threat; in fact she takes a shine to the younger Shido and even sits next him.
"(Even at this age she still acts like this)"
Akane then explains to Shido that Origami is her bodyguard and combat teacher. She then shifts the mood back to serious.
"So has your friends in the sickbay awakened yet?"
Shido became confused at the question.
"Uh awakened?"
""Sigh" well this is going to be fun; what I mean is…."
Before Akane could explain anything an alarm sounds off indicating an intruder. Akane apologizes but realizes something.
"Better yet I can show you; Origami protect him"
"Okay but be careful"
Shido keeps calm because if what she's talking about could help him in any way he should find out about it. Akane makes it to the deck where a camera has found an intruder wearing an outfit similar to one worn by Akihiko's attacker only this girl didn't have any weapons.
"Commander your orders?"
Akane looks around the room.
"Where's Kannazuki?"
"Uh commander you had him punished yesterday remember he's still digging the hole"
"Oh yeah….anyway Reine will take care of the deck and I'll handle the intruder"
"Yes Ma'am!"
Akane reaches under her station and pulls out a katana without a hilt guard. She then makes her way to the room where the intruder was. She was inside a new training room they built onto the ship for Akane's training which was large and dome-like. In the sickbay Akihiko finally wakes up with room now empty, and he also very confused.
"Where am I….Mom! Mom!"
He thought that maybe Tohka was somewhere nearby, but when no one answered he got out of bed and grabbed his clothes which were still covered with slash marks. He then wanders around the ship trying to find out where he was. But he was also having moments of pain from headaches with a voice echoing through his head, a comforting one which sounded like a mother talking to her child. Back in training area Akane confronts the intruder who's face couldn't be seen under her cap.
"So who are you and why are you on my ship?"
"I see no reason to explain myself, but I will demand that you hand over the young man on this ship"
Akane pulls out her sword and assumes a stance.
"I don't think so"
"So be it"
The intruder assumes a stance herself intending to fight barehanded. Akane attacks by slashing her sword on the ground sending a small red shockwave at the intruder, but she deflects using a kick and follows by immediately charging at Akane then uses fast punch followed by slower one that sends a small surge of energy at Akane which hits her in the chest and sends her flying towards the wall. She picks herself up immediately and leaps into the air.
"Eat this Rising Phoenix!"
She then shoots down at the intruder creating a streak of fire following her and even the sound of a large birds crying could be heard. The intruder is knocked down covered in burn marks, but she gets up shortly after and stands normally while holding up her finger to her face and starts muttering something. Akane decides not to take any chances and rushes towards her, but then the intruder yells out something.
"ABSOLUTE!"
As soon as that word is shouted a small glacier of ice appears below Akane's feet and engulfs her in a glacier of ice which is then shattered by another block of ice from above causing her to fall numb on the ground. Shido saw all this through a TV in the room he was in and tries to run to help but Origami stops him.
"What are you doing she needs help!"
"No you'll need help if you go now"
"Are you insane? she needs help!"
"It's not necessary"
Shido looks back at the TV and notices Akane's body glowing red.
"This is what she meant by Awakening"
Akane picks herself up, her body emitting heat like a blazing inferno.
"You know, you really picked the wrong ship to mess with because now…"
Akane's body becomes completely engulfed by a red blaze that turns blue as she stands up her body obscured from view, and soon as she's visible she was now wearing an altered version of Kotori's astral dress covered with a couple of small holes, no head accessories, and the out had light blue where the red was, but the biggest difference she didn't have a version of Camael with her.
"You have to face me Akane Itsuka the flame empress!"
Her body was surrounded by blue flames as she spoke. In the room Shido looks with awe at Akane's new form.
"This is Akane's awakened form we call Ifrit"
"But she said flame empress"
"She thinks it sounds cooler but we registered it as Ifrit without telling her"
Akane grabs her sword again and points it at the intruder who starts mumbling something again.
"Oh no you're doing that again!"
Akane gathers a small portion of her flames in the palm of her free hand creating a fireball that she shoots at the intruder with extreme speed hitting her in the chest. The intruder tries to use her fist and feet to attack again but can't approach Akane's body without getting burned. Origami then explains to Shido what she knows about what he's seeing.
"She lacks an angel but the flames protect her as if her parents were protecting her with their own arms….a spirit child"
"Spirit child?"
"She may be the only to exist right now but we call Akane a spirit child someone who was born to spirit; as far as we know spirit children can channel power gifted to them from their spirit power in this case Akane has inherited her mother's powers of fire with noticeable differences"
"(So that's why she asked if Akihiko's awakened yet)"
"But as far as I know the spirit child's power will initially awaken when they endure extreme stress; Akane awakened about five months ago when I was training her and she got mad"
Shortly after Shido returns his view on the fight Akihiko stumbles his way into the training room and falls to ground holding his head. After a moment the intruder takes notice of this and picks him up with her arm around his throat.
"Surrender the young man or I'll snap this one's neck!"
Akane grits her teeth.
"Coward!"
The intruder nearly has her way until Akihiko's body begins glowing as more voices echo through his head but this time memories of his mother in her spirit form flash through his head, and his eyes begin to glow purple. Mana rapidly flows through his body and the sword he wielded against the mysterious girl back in his time appeared sticking out of the ground. As reaches to pull it out a outfit appears over his damaged clothes, a dark purple suit of armor covering his body from head to toe and a cape that was made of the same material as the lighter part of Tohka's astral dress, and instead of a bow he had a long purple sash around his waist. His first action is let out a burst of mana launching the intruder away and into the wall knocking a bag out of her pocket. She picks herself up after wiping some blood from her lip.
"No way I'll beat two at once forget it"
The intruder reaches into the opposite pocket and takes out a crystal and breaks it in her hand realizing a black cloud and disappearing. Upon finally realizing what had happened Akihiko notices his new armor and his sword.
"Whoa this is…this is.."
Akane smiles at him and walks towards him.
"Wow so this is power of Tohka's child well I can't say that I'm truly impressed but…."
Akane pauses as if something ringed in her head. In the room Origami notices something that greatly concerns, Akane's blue flames were beginning to turn red.
"Oh no!"
Shido quickly reacts to her fear.
"What! Is something wrong!?"
Then he sees it Akane's eyes glowing red just like when Kotori went berserk during the fight with Kurumi on the school's roof, so he decides to run over to the training room to help. Back in the room Akane becomes gives Akihiko a sadistic look.
"So another spirit child has his power now..tell me how does it feel?"
Akihiko feels a little afraid.
"Uh good I guess"
He backs up a little while Akane just mimics the distance he backs up.
"You know that intruder was really boring, but you, you have the same power as me. You'd make a much better opponent"
Shido manages to make his way into the training as Akane begins gathering her red flames, and seeing Shido causes her to immediately regain control and releases the fire she gathered at the wall and falls to the ground exhausted.
""Huff""huff" I hate it when that happens"
While they were recovering from the moment Akihiko falls over and accidently falls over and lands on the bag that the intruder dropped which was full of those crystals; Shido becomes frustrated at the black smoke appearing again but grabs the others and waits for the smoke to engulf them; where ever they ended up he didn't want to be separated from them. After dealing with the passing smoke they ended up in the city again but in the morning since they could see students walking towards the school. Both Akane and Akihiko were wondering what had happened, but Shido spent the next few minutes explaining what he knew. In the original timeline at DEM headquarter the masked young man was upset with his two subordinates.
"You both failed to capture him!?"
"But sir we weren't sure he was ready yet, and we ran into some trouble"
The young pulls his hand back to slap the two but decides against it.
"Okay, but we must double our efforts…Kokoro!"
A woman garbed in a pearl white cloak teleports next to him.
"Yes, my love?"
"Where's Shido located now?"
"Let me see…"
The cloaked woman pauses for a second.
"Ah I can sense it he's in the timeline with our little spy"
"Do not refer to her as a spy again Kokoro"
"Sorry my love"
The young man has the cloaked woman Kokoro make contact with someone in the timeline Shido ended up someone very dangerous.