Ch. 55 Semblance
In the base timeline, Shinra walks towards a door, the one to his room, and is fully ready to get some rest as he has had a long day. When he arrives in his room, he finds Geri, with her hat off, reading a file that she took from this world's DEM. She begins trembling after finishing it.
Shinra notes her trembling and puts his hand on her shoulder "Troubled by your past again, Geri?" he asks with concern.
Geri puts the file down and nods with an uneasy expression. Her past is something not easy for her to remember, and the same goes for Freki. But reading this file brings back so many of her memories and she hates every second of it.
Twenty Years Ago- DEM Industries England
A white room filled with tubes, computers, and scientists is breathing out words of experiments that are an act against the very law of nature itself. This is where Geri's story began as a pair of scientists observes what appears to be an infant floating inside a tube filled with a light liquid that reflects light. The infant has its eyes closed as the scientists make notes of what is going on inside the tank. The infant moves its fingers and this warrants notes. They seem rather happy with this.
5 Years Later
About five years later, the infant has grown into a young girl wearing a simple white outfit and has short blue hair with brown eyes and she stands among four other young girls with varying hair and eye color. But each has a tattoo on their foreheads with hers being CWM-M and the others are E, A, J, and O. The girls are lined up and they are told to hold out their arms and each girl does so and a doctor gives them an injection of blue liquid. After a few minutes, O falls to the ground in pain as she clenches her arm and starts crying. J and A do this after a few more minutes and then E does this after one more minute, but M doesn't at all. The scientists do a little more not taking and M is escorted out of the room and into a room filled with toys and games.
She plays for a little while and then the others are allowed in, but they have disappointed looks on their faces, but O isn't with them. E, A, and J begin playing with the toys and games as well which cheers them up a little but M seems happy as it is.
After some more time, the director of DEM, Isaac Westcott enters the room with his secretary, Ellen Mira Mathers and they both approach M. Westcott kneels to her with a smile, rubs her head, and kindly says "I just want you to know that you're the best of these bunch. You have a lot of potentials that they don't, and I want you to do your best." And this makes M smile wide.
Five More Years Later
M is training while wearing a prototype wire suit with A using two fake swords as they combat each other. It goes completely in M's favor as she knocks A down with a powerful swing and holds her down with the fake sword. Smiling, M offers a hand to A and helps her off the ground. M is a good sport about it, but A seems on edge today as looks at the director in fear and lowers her head.
M pats her on the shoulder "Hey, you did great today, A. I'm just really good is all." She says with a confident smile.
This does seem to cheer A up as E and J enter the combat training area and both begin to practice with M and A as well. M stands by as she watches her friends train their hearts out, but she does feel a little bit of discomfort because O is no longer around. The room becomes brighter as Geri's flashback ends with her being patted on the shoulder by Westcott.
Present
"Geri, I need you to do something for me." Shinra states which get Geri out of her remembering and she turns to face Shinra.
"Yes, my lord." She replies swiftly as she puts her hat back on.
Shinra gives her new orders and she quickly leaves the room at the end of the word.
Inverse Tohka Timeline- Before the Alarm
Mana and Ellen have just left leaving Tohka and Kotori alone so they then walk up the stairs and near the door to the Itsuka residence and knock on the door.
"I'm coming." A familiar voice says in an audible voice as footsteps approach the door.
The door opens revealing this world's Shido, who immediately catches the attention of Tohka and Kotori who take deep gasps at seeing him since they miss their Shido so much. But he is absolutely stunned to see another Tohka and a young Kotori.
He looks at them for a second and turns his head "Tohka, can you come here please?" he calls as suddenly appears in the hallway.
Inverse Tohka will simply be called to avoid confusion
They are both stunned at first, but Kotori defuses the situation by calming everyone down "Look, I got an explanation for everything. We just can't get too excited and talk about this calmly." She says.
is immediately skeptical and her younger counterpart is containing her excitement and her powers are under control as she takes a deep breath and nods with Kotori. Feeling they need an explanation, Shido and his wife invite both girls into the residence. The two girls walk into the residence and Tohka immediately starts looking at the pictures on the walls and on the sides showing various family photos, date photos, and a wedding photo of and her husband. In this photo, she wears a dark wedding dress with a bouquet of violets.
Kotori immediately walks into the living room and sits on the couch. The children are in their rooms eating, so they'll have privacy for the moment, but Tohka wants to meet them. But this isn't the time to fawn over her counterpart's life.
Tohka sits next to Kotori while Shido and his wife, who sits cross-armed with her legs crossed listen as Kotori explains their situation. The conversation is more brief than normal, but enough to catch their intrigue.
Afterward, Shido scratches his head and turns to his wife "What do you think, Tohka. We've been through a lot ourselves, but alternate world traveling?" he asks her curiously.
Oddly, seems to believe the two "I think there is truth to what they say. I've been to other dimensions, and I suppose alternate worlds could exist. But I do think it is a little much." She states.
Kotori tells them about the little things they know, but the two are still skeptical. After thinking, Shido then remembers about Saori.
"Hey, there is that girl who looks a lot like Kurumi that came here. Maybe she's with them." He says suddenly while remembers as well.
Feeling like they may have a lead since this could be their Kurumi, Kotori asks to know where she is, so Shido escorts Kotori to the bedroom, leaving Tohka and together in the room alone. This makes Tohka anxious because she hasn't been alone with an alternate version of herself before.
She's nervous, but asks "So, when did you and Shido get married? And when did you start having children?" she asks with her fingers tapping together.
simply replies "I married Shido when he was legally old enough. He lost control of himself, as did I, and we ended up conceiving our first child when he was only sixteen, and we had a healthy baby girl that he named Haruhime. I actually said I was pregnant to him in front of his entire class and teacher, and I do feel embarrassed about that in hindsight."
Tohka's eyes glow a little as she looks at another photo on the table of Shido holding up his high school diploma alongside his wife and baby daughter.
But confesses "I made things hard for him in that time. I forced him into situations that were difficult for him. I was the one who had a baby inside her, but he dealt with so much stress because of that. His classmates were spreading rumors about him, adults were lecturing him, and I was still demanding things from him, and getting through school was like a prison to him. But he never once complained to me, he just smiled and took care of me and our daughter." looks at the photo and smiles signifying her happiness with Shido.
Tohka nods and thinks about getting pregnant herself to make this reality her own in her timeline, but then thinks that might be tough for Shido, so she'll need to rethink it.
In the bedroom, Kotori and Shido arrive in the room and Kotori can't resist looking at him since she is very excited to see him again. But then she sees who is in the bed. Shido asks that Kotori at least be quiet since Saori has been sleeping peacefully for the last hour or so. Kotori looks horrified by this as she and Shido then leave the room without any words. She doesn't know how to explain this to Shido since Saori is her enemy and the reason her brother is missing.
At this moment, the alarm goes off and Kotori immediately worries as she thinks a spacequake is going off, but Shido seems oddly okay with it as he simply flips a switch and the windows, doors, and all other entrances have shutters on them and the building can be felt moving underground. Kotori almost falls over since she is standing up, but keeps her balance.
Shido helps her balance "Sorry about that. But this is pretty common at this time I should say. It's probably just my oldest daughter Haruhime. She just can't resist setting off those alarms if DEM comes around." He says oddly nonchalantly which completely shocks Kotori.
"THIS IS NORMAL FOR YOU!" she shouts a little, and Shido simply shrugs a little.
"Yeah, DEM is still active and going after my daughter, but she's really tough. She's even brought down Ashcroft with some help. Plus Ellen Mathers isn't around anymore, and then there's Vivian." Shido explains a little.
The building stops moving as Shido goes into his the different bedrooms and his wife does the same so that they can check on their children. Kotori takes this chance to get back to the living and explain the situation to Tohka. They want to help with the outside but they can't just bust out due to the building being underground but Ellen and Mana are more than capable without them and the others are still on the ship.
In the bedroom, Saori begins to wake up slightly as she sits up and looks at her bandaged body and that she feels better. She takes a moment to remember what exactly happened to her "…let's see….I remember….*gasp* damn, I lost Asami. I tried getting her back, but then that lightning girl ambushed me. I bet Miya tipped them off. I'll just have to cut out her tongue the next time I see her." She says to herself silently.
Saori tries to get up but is still exhausted from her fight with Sora so she decides to lie back down since she believes she is fine at the moment.
Outside After Battle
Ellen and Mana are both readying to fight with the two girls for hurting Akane, but as they ready their skills, Hiro uses his new speed to get to them before any damage can get done.
"Their allies! Akane began attacking us!" he shouts to Ellen and Mana who turn to look at him.
Hiro undoes his visor so they can see his face clearly and are both equally shocked at his new form. They lower their weapons and float down. But Ellen catches the attention of Vivian below.
After lowering themselves, Mana and Ellen put away their gear but keep their wire suits on for utility along with their swords as an added caution. After some moments of explaining the situation to the girls, Hiro undoes his transformation to reveal the new outfit he had in his vision.
Haru looks at Vivian, who is shocked to see Ellen this close and sees her walking close to the former DEM wizard. She just has this anxious look on her face and her heartbeat speeds up. Ellen then notices the girl approaching her and walks closer to make it easier.
Vivian is very close when she asks "Are you…Ellen Mira Mathers?"
Ellen nods but adds "I'm actually Ellen Mira Mathers Itsuka. But there's a long story to that."
Before anything can be said, Vivian clenches her hand into a fist as she quickly punches Ellen in the face and knocks her back a little. Mana catches Ellen, who isn't mad about being punched.
"I probably deserved that," Ellen says without hesitation as Vivian is shaking with anger.
Mana, not satisfied with that answer, asks "Why did you punch her? She didn't do anything you."
Vivian takes a breath as Haru pats her on the shoulder and tells them "I did that because she's my mother and the reason I was born a DEM wizard."
Vivian starts crying a little while Haru hugs her for comfort and explains "Vivian is the director's daughter and is the former 2nd lieutenant."
Ellen gets it a little; Isaac wanted another top Wizard like her and saw it fit for him and her to have a child.
But Vivian says something a little hard "And I was nothing but an experiment to him. His own daughter." And this makes Mana and Ellen feel worse for her. Hiro clenches his hand into a fist at hearing this because he is also angry.
Ellen stands up straight, straightens herself up, and walks over to hug Vivian herself. Vivian holds Ellen as well because clearly, Vivian needs some comfort. Mana walks over to Haru to ask her about it.
Haru then explains, silently, "My mom was too tough for DEM and she fought Vivian's mom a lot, but never lost to her. Eventually, from what I read in a file, Ellen's health began to fail from repeated defeats, so Westcott opted to have a child with her, you know, to carry on the fight. Vivian was pampered, trained, and disciplined to be her replacement, but wasn't good enough. Isaac decided to perform infusions on Vivian's body. After that, she had a few years left to live and Isaac apparently didn't care."
"Of course he didn't," Ellen says as she heard what Haru said, "Isaac could never understand the feeling of joy after having a beautiful baby girl hold your finger as you hold her in your arms for the first time." She adds while stroking Vivian's hair.
After some moments of nobody saying anything, Akane wakes up. She stands up and wonders where she is as she looks around.
She looks at her hands tries to summon to her fires, but can't. She tries it some more and when it doesn't appear, she freaks "My power..It's gone. Where are my spirit powers!?" she asks in a panic.
Haru summons her key and explains "I sealed up your power. You won't be able to use it until I think you're ready to again."
Akane looks at Haru in a panic, runs up to her, and starts shaking her intensely "I need my power to help Shido! I need to help or we can't win!" Akane won't stop shaking Haru but the girl simply pushes Akane aside.
Curious, Hiro looks at Haru's sword and asks her "Where did you get that sword? It doesn't look like Sandalphon or Nehemah, but it kind of looks like Michael."
Haru looks at her sword and explains "My sword is a fusion of Michael and Nehemah. It has powers from both of them, but not all of it. I got it from Mio, and she told me it was called Malkuth so I just rolled with that."
Ellen's eyes widen at the sound of that name "Mio Takamiya?" she asks with surprise much to the others wonder since no one seems to know that name. Clearly, Haruhime has some explaining to do and Ellen now realizes that she should say what she has to as well.