Please tolerate my delay.
It's like this, I had these way cool and confusing ideas for this fanfic that I couldn't help but add.
Meene could not sleep. She also could not concentrate on translating the few remaining reports on her desk. It was a rather useless gesture on her part but she wanted to be somewhat useful on the eve before her fight.
Oh, and she was also hungry. She found out, earlier that evening, that she could not bring herself to go to the dining room to eat with everyone. Which she was feeling mildly guilty for since Cebin knocked on her door to request her presence. The Iron Maiden had joined them for dinner so they could be together and was worried about Meene's absence and Lyserg had explained that Meene wanted time alone. Jeanne, however, would like it if Meene would come down to eat with everyone.
Meene refused.
It was first time in her life that Meene had ever refused the request of Jeanne D'Arc. It must have stung the young leader very badly to be refused when all she was thinking of was Meene's well-being.
Cebin did not question why she did not want to come to dinner. He bore it with silence and nodded. He understood that Meene wanted time alone to think about everything. He also did not want to attend dinner but he indulged the Iron Maiden's wishes. Cebin would never criticize Meene for not coming.
So when Cebin returned to the dinner room by himself, Jeanne was saddened by it but did not press for details.
Marco on the other hand was a different story. Meene locked the door after Cebin left immediately. True to her predictions, after two hours of the dinner Marco came down the hallway towards the vault. His feet echoed down the length of the hall and he announced his intentions by trying to open the vault's door, only to find that it was locked.
Marco made a sigh of irritation and knocked on the door.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Hard.
"Meene… Open the door… We need to talk… Right now," Marco said in a quiet and tightly controlled voice. When Marco was enraged, he tended to talk in a quiet fuming voice that almost sounded as though he was less angry than he was in reality. Meene was surprised that Marco didn't consider ripping the door off using Michael, his mechanical angel.
"I'm busy Marco," Meene answered back in a calm voice. She wasn't but she couldn't think of a better excuse for skipping dinner. Saying nothing would only get Marco angrier.
"If that's the case, I'll wait until you are not busy," Marco said, gritting teeth and began pacing outside the door. Meene could hear his footsteps.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Stop. Turn.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Stop. Turn.
And so on.
Meene thought she would go mad as it became obvious that Marco was not going to go away any time soon and the pacing itself was annoying beyond belief. After thirty minutes Venstar came by deciding it was time to intervene, much to Meene's relief. Marco could be fairly obsessed when certain things drove him to anger. It seemed that her refusal to come to dinner was one of those things he felt he could not simply let go.
"Marco, you know that Meene can simply hole herself in there with you're pacing at the door. She's not going to open the door when you are in such a state," Venstar said to Marco in a very diplomatic voice, he had decided to come and see Meene but was greeted with the sight of Marco pacing in front of the locked door of the 'vault'. Venstar was a good head taller than Marco and was benevolently looking down upon the other man. It forced Marco to calm down considerably, though it wasn't enough to cancel out his anger. Cebin silently followed after Venstar and watched the situation.
"She won't open the door. She won't talk back. She is ignoring me," Marco noted with his fists clenched.
"I am the team captain for X-III. Let me talk to her," Venstar offered. Marco closed his eyes for a moment and thought about it. The light above him shined down in such an angle that it hid Marco's eyes from Cebin and Venstar's view. It wasn't often that Marco rested his indecipherable gaze upon Venstar, usually because Marco concentrated on winning the war and defeating his enemies.
"Very well then," Marco said in the same flat voice. He then turned around and marched down the hall but not before giving the offending door and hidden occupant one last glare of death tm.
"Meene did you do something to make Marco angry before dinner?" Cebin asked in his hoarse voice at the door. Cebin not only had his face burned off by Hao but he also had his windpipe crushed partially, causing his voice to become rasping and no voluble than a very loud whisper. Meene could barely hear Cebin's voice through the door and she sensed that Marco had stormed away. She opened the door and gave her two teammates a weak smile.
"Yeah, you could say that Cebin," Meene answered tiredly. She allowed the two into the vault and once again locked the door. Venstar walked around the cramped room and observed the scatter of half-translated papers and reports on the desk. There were crumpled pieces of paper on the ground also and pens were haphazardly strewn about the room.
"Why are you still working?" Venstar asked as he bent down to pick up the papers on the ground.
"I guess it helps me remain calm. I feel useful if I work instead of doing nothing," Meene answered as she helped Venstar clean up the mess she made on the floor. She saw that she had not picked up the reports she had dropped earlier. Cebin walked over to a pot and began preparations to make some tea for everyone. They worked in silence with complete coordination. They had known each other for at least two years, it was long enough for them to know each others place and responsibilities.
"You did realize that by refusing to come to dinner would drive Marco into a fit," Cebin finally spoke when the clean up was finished and the tea was ready.
"I knew the moment I refused… that's why I locked the door when you left," Meene answered. She took a small sip of her tea. Venstar sat down on the desk to get comfortable while Meene and Cebin remained standing.
"Well, thanks for the show. Marco must have changed into several shades of red and purple when he heard you weren't coming and was stiff all dinner long," Venstar said drolly. It had been an interesting dinner, if Meene had been there it would have been quite sedate and depressive due to tomorrow's fight but since she didn't come the atmosphere was surprisingly lighter. If having Marco angry, Jeanne bemused by the rejection, Lyserg in a panicked mood trying to calm Marco and everyone else, Denbat being the worst offender, giving absurd reasons as to why she didn't come.
At Dinner
"She has diarrhea and can't make it to dinner," Denbat suggested.
"By the Mother Mary! That's disgusting John! It is obvious that this is Marco's fault somehow," Porf announced.
"What! I haven't done anything to that… that woman!" Marco sputtered in an indignant voice. The captain of the X-Laws was in a pink apron with the words 'Kiss The Chef' on it. Marco despised the apron but Jeanne had bought it for his birthday and so he wore it with grim tolerance. It looked completely absurd on him and everyone including Jeanne knew it but he still wore it.
"Maybe she didn't want anyone to see her depressed?" Lyserg suggested trying to defuse the situation.
"I can't think of any better reason… Though she just might not be hungry," Jeanne offered.
'But Marco cooked tonight! She loves his cooking! She would eat it even if she wasn't that hungry or if she was angry at him,' Cebin noted.
"Yeah, Marco's cooking can make anyone forgive him and get on his good side," Venstar said with gusto as he ate his pasta. Tonight's menu was asparagus salad with lemon olive oil salad dressing, bread with assorted cheeses, Marco's original penne arriabiata and sorbet for dessert. Marco was an incredible cook and ate generous portions of it as well. He hated bad food as much as he hated the dark rooms. He was very particular that his food be at least tasty when cooked by the others (or when it was Meene's turn that it was something that, at least, did not taste like vinegar mixed with tar).
Marco rolled his eyes.
"I always get the feeling the only reason why I'm captain is because everyone loves my cooking and wants to suck up so they can get their favorite dishes served," Marco joked dryly.
"That's not true Marco-san… You were chosen because you also know how to sew, launder and endure shopping," Lyserg said in a light voice. There was a weak grin on his face and he noted that this was probably one of the very rare opportunities to poke fun at the otherwise stiff and unbending Roman. But the impending match of tomorrow weighed heavily on his mind still.
"Amen! To Marco, the future wife of a lucky woman!" Denbat said as he lifted his glass to toast. Unfortunately Marco could only endure so much teasing in one round.
"That's it! No dessert for you!" Marco said as he scowled at Denbat. Marco failed to realize that he just did an inadvertent imitation of the Soup Nazi in Seinfield. Venstar, Larch and Porf (being Americans and thus had watched the show before) tried not to laugh but they were cracking up. The European members of the X-Laws failed see what was funny.
Denbat went into three distinct phases as Marco's announcement raced through his head.
Stunned silence;
"…"
Denial;
"WHAT? NOOOO!"
And finally… panic.
"MY DESERT!"
A round of laughter erupted. Jeanne giggled at the entire situation. The air was not depressing any more, it had lightened. Though tomorrow would be painful for them all, they wanted to laugh one last time together. To chase away dark thoughts and forget for one blissful moment, that this dinner together as a (almost) whole group was to be their last.
"I see that it was a good thing that I didn't come to dinner at all," Meene smiled as she tried to imagine the situation and was sure it was pretty funny. There was brief spell of silence before it became obvious that the time for jokes and laughter had passed now.
"You haven't been yourself since the Shaman fight notice on the Oracle Bells," Cebin observed. Meene took in a deep breath and stared at the ceiling above her.
"Would you believe me if I say I am afraid?" Meene asked.
"You would have to be insane not to be afraid," Venstar answered. Meene almost laughed.
"That's what I said to Lyserg, but I can't bring myself to get over it," Meene said in a defeated voice but there was an hardness to it. Fear was not something that paralyzed her from taking action often. She remember on three situations before that made her freeze with inaction and doubt. The "Death Dancer" incident in Yugoslavia, "Dante's Hell" in Sudan and at the "Gates" in Ukraine. Every other battle, campaign, mission and combat she never feared for her life. It was only in situations when the chances of survival was less than five percent that she froze up. Her upcoming battle with Hao was a situation with a chance of survival of exactly zero percent.
"You're considering running away, aren't you?" Venstar said it as a statement, not as a question.
"Yes I am," Meene affirmed without skipping a beat. She waited for Cebin and Venstar's reaction and was surprised to see they were not horrified or angry with her answer. Both said nothing.
"Have you run away before?" Cebin asked. Meene said nothing for a moment and stared at the ceiling, eyes fixed on nothing in particular and let her voice drift in memory.
"Once. I tried to once… I… Couldn't because Chr… Commander D'Arc called me back… She asked everyone came back to fight at the 'Gates' in Ukraine. She actually asked rather than commanded us to return. We had a choice on that day. There, we weren't nephilims… We weren't wanna-be saints or forsaken sinners… We were children on the brink of adulthood. And we sacrificed too much to get to that point…"
Venstar and Cebin was surprised. Meene was never forthcoming with her past or previous experience in the Order. They had only heard bits and pieces of the doings of the Church in other areas but they never imagined that the rumored battle in Ukraine had actually happened. They also did not hear much of the cursed nephilims or of the previous Iron Maiden except from questionable second hand sources.
"I know how you feel… Fear, terror… I was in the desert during the Gulf War. We were ambushed by an Iraqi division and suffered losses, we managed to beat them off but… I was terrified at the sound of guns. I was part of the most advance military in the world in that desert, but that meant nothing when Hao…" Venstar trailed off, he sought ways to keep Meene from losing her nerves and simply refusing to comply with orders. He couldn't exactly blame Meene for balking at her orders, they were a death sentence but such an action would be treachery. Thus, he related his war experience with Meene's battle experience. This was what he could understand. What he could use to convince her, the stale fear of death and the guilt for surviving.
But there was an aspect of Meene's experience that Venstar could not understand.
"Oh no… You don't understand. During the final battle certain members of the Order switched sides… My 'older brother' Alexander was on the enemies side, he refused to come back. So when we met on the battlefield, I killed him… And by virtue of blood relations, the enemy at the "Gates" were my brothers and sisters, my family whom I would never know. We were all descendents of Samael… Somehow I doubt that in Iraq you had to face your own former comrades in arms and family in combat."
Meene said it dully. She did not sound as though she resented Venstar's and Cebin's pity but rather she was weary.
"I'm sorry," Venstar said automatically and realized that was one of the worst thing to say. Anyone could say 'sorry' and not understand.
"Everyone says they are sorry," Meene answered in the same dull voice.
To say that the lack of emotion from Meene was worrisome was a gross understatement. Cebin and Venstar found it frightening because it meant that she was in the first stages of considering alternative choices that ranged from unpleasant to immoral to soul chillingly evil.
Cebin looked at his tea hard and drank it down in one scalding gulp.
"In the end though, you had a choice. You choose to remain and fight. Do you regret your decision?" Cebin asked.
"No… I don't regret it… I almost never regret my decisions. I suspect if I run away from tomorrow's battle, I will only feel horror but I would not regret it… I would only feel the same horror as I did when I killed Matty. I said that I would give my life to make a paradise on earth but I'm too much of an coward to make that come true. I want to live to see that paradise, I don't want to die to make it."
Venstar and Cebin said nothing. Meene rarely ever mentioned her past or her dead 'son'. The horrors that she had seen and inflicted was hidden under bright smiles that never warmed her eyes and kind words that never moved her heart. A mask that everyone preferred to see because beneath was far too frightening to bare to anyone.
Right now they saw the face of a young woman who had lived through far too many harsh choices and chose the ones that kept herself alive.
"To feel the horror of it means that you do regret Meene. And your want to make a paradise on earth means you want to make amends to your sins," Venstar answered eventually. He was quickly coming to the realization that Meene was considering abandoning them before the match started.
Would Meene feel saddened if her teammates died? Yes.
Would she feel guilty if she decided to abandon them? That was something they weren't sure of.
Nevertheless, they knew she had an obligation to the X-Laws. An obligation that she would carry through to the bitter end if it was strong enough to compel her so.
"Is it really? If sin can be forgiven, then it is not a sin… At least that is what I have been taught," Meene said. There was a knot of acrimony in her voice and a cold ironic smile as she stared back at Cebin and Venstar. Her green eyes no longer mildly friendly but sharp and searching.
"I think all you need really is some time," Cebin noted.
"Time? I had time enough to decide really," Meene answered back. Now she smiled as though it was all a great joke, the darkness in her eyes was concealed again. She saw the looks on Cebin and Venstar's faces and realized that her hidden side was bleeding through her mask again.
"I think differently. Tomorrow Meene arrive at the stadium alone, use your trip alone to decide what you want to do…" Venstar ordered as he set his cup down on Meene's desk. For now, Venstar would cajole her with her sense of responsibility and duty.
"I just told you that I might abandon you at the match and you are giving the opportunity and time to run away?… No one would ever agree to let such an order fly," Meene noted grimly.
Cebin put his cup on the desk also and walked past her towards the door.
"Cebin and I are prepared," Venstar said as he left Meene alone in the 'vault', he needed to talk to Marco as soon as possible.
"And we cannot abandon the world at its moment of need," Cebin said quietly.
Meene blinked at Cebin's and Venstar's statements.
The door closed. Meene was left alone again and began wondering. She wondered if Venstar and Cebin knew what they were doing. Were they serious about letting her go to the stadium alone, knowing full well that she might abandon them at their match. Was it trust? Stupidity? Or maybe they had said those words to trap her in guilt and duty to compel her to fight.
"How can I abandon the world, when the world abandoned me?" Meene asked but Venstar and Cebin were too far away to hear.
Hours latter and still no sleep was to be had.
Meene wondered if she could get away with passing out due to lack of sleep as she walked to the stadium and thus avoid her match. She would have plausible deniability then.
Nah.
There wasn't any idiot in the world who would believe that sort of excuse.
Midnight had passed and time continued to tick away the precious seconds to the fated match. Meene had done her rosarios badly. She stumbled over the familiar Latin words and found that she could barely announce the mysteries because they were not the greatest of comfort to her. It just had to be Friday of all days when she had to do the Mysteria Dolorosa, sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.
Thinking of the agony that Christ suffered did not comfort her or give her strength. In fact it made her all the more aware of just how painful her last moments of life would be if she went to her match.
Yes it was rather selfish of her to think of her own situation in such a light and diminish Christ's suffering but she was selfish.
And she was afraid.
Meene threw her rosary on table in the vault and left it there. She needed a walk, the time of prayers had passed. Soon it would be the time of decisions and life hanging in the balance.
She never thought it would be so hard to make such a choice in silence. There were no bullets whizzing around her head like angry flies; there were no booming explosions throwing dirt, blood and flesh in the air; nor was there the screams of the dying, the living and the killers.
There was none of that, the familiar background where death stalked every decision made.
There was only silence here in the ship.
Or there would be if Meene didn't hear the familiar footsteps of a stranger in the hallway she just entered. A door opened somewhere and shut, the sound echoed for a short distance. Meene froze and frowned, it was far too late for anyone to be up normally and the door she heard opening creaked more loudly than the bathroom door. The sound of the door shutting was metal on metal, not wood on metal, as well. The entire length of the hallway had wooden doors, except for the kitchen door at the very end of its length and the vault.
Meene slowly eased herself down the hallway and took out her gun silently as she came closer and closer to the kitchen at the end of the hall. She heard the shuffling of feet in the kitchen and some bumps but the noise in the kitchen soon stopped but Meene strained her ears and heard the sound of a container being opened.
Meene frowned and then stopped to listen closely for more sounds by pressing her ear at the door.
She heard the sound wet munching.
With that Meene holstered her weapon and opened the door without fear. It was probably Denbat trying to steal some desert that Marco had denied him… Then Meene stopped when she saw who it actually was.
It was a remarkable sight. The Iron Maiden was on a midnight kitchen raid and was eating the strawberries in the fridge. The fridge door was still open and bathed Jeanne in it's artificial light, Meene could clearly see that Jeanne had been completely startled. Jeanne's eyes were wide with surprise and the container of strawberries in her lap were forgotten.
Strawberries.
In fact now that Meene thought about it… Strawberries with chocolate sauce sounded very tasty indeed. Meene walked over to the fridge to see if there was any chocolate sauce left.
Jeanne attempted to gather her lost dignity after being discovered but only ended up like a little girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. It struck Meene at that moment just how young the X-Laws leader really was at that moment. Meene grabbed a small bowl in the fridge and saw that it was chocolate sauce.
Perfect.
Meene turned to give Jeanne a somber look.
"Strawberries go well with chocolate sauce," Meene stated seriously. A flicker of confusion was in Jeanne's eye when her brain began processing the words.
"I thought you were going to say something else," Jeanne said amused. Meene shut the fridge door and sat down besides the young girl and removed the saran wrap. Jeanne eagerly dipped a strawberry into the chocolate sauce and ate it.
They said no words between themselves and continued to eat the strawberries and chocolate sauce. It was an almost companionable silence that both were unwilling to break. There was only the scent of strawberries, chocolate and blood that made a heady concoction between them, it made Meene feel uncomfortable. It was only after they had eaten all the strawberries that they deemed it the time to talk.
"Should I ask why you are up so late?" Jeanne asked calmly as daintily wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. The chocolate was smeared on the corner of Jeanne lips, and made her look like a child.
'What am I thinking… Of course she's a child but she is beyond that,' Meene thought to herself.
"I should ask that question to you… Oh and you missed a spot," Meene said and pointed to the chocolate smear. Meene's eyes could see in the darkness easily, it was a natural ability of hers, while Jeanne struggled to see anything with the minimal moonlight that came in through the windows.
Jeanne did not drop her dignified pretense but she used her handkerchief a bit more vigorously to remove the smear. It was past midnight, Jeanne was dressed in her slightly bloodied night dress pants with a large oversized blanket to cover her naked top, raided the fridge for a midnight snack and she still acted with extreme dignity.
Somehow, the picture was contradictory that it made Meene wonder if she was dreaming. If only Christina was alive to see this. Meene was sure her former superior officer would wibble at the cuteness of it and at the same time be repulsed by it. Jeanne's wounds may of healed and there was no dripping or drying blood on her except on her pants but the scent of blood and strawberries was heavy in the air.
"Why did you not come to dinner? It was the last meal that you and everyone else could have together, I will not be available for breakfast tomorrow," Jeanne asked politely. Meene noted that if Jeanne was anything like her older sister Christina, then she would ask the question with biting sarcasm.
Something along the lines of…
"I'm glad you deem yourself worthy for food now when earlier you decided to starve. Tell me do you have any more childish antics you plan on doing to share with me as you do fifty push ups?"
Jeanne waited for an answer.
Oh, that and Christina would undoubtedly kick Meene's ass for acting like such a 'brat'. Meene was eternally thankful that Christina was nothing like Kyouyama Anna, fiancée of Asakura Yoh. Christina was half as scary as the young itako, which was still scary enough to make someone immune to Marco's glare and various death threats. To be a little less harsh on her former superior officer in the Order, Christina's scariness was somewhat offset by her thing with cute kittens, claustrophobia, fear of the dark, paranoia and relationship with Adalia Vasquez, the Iron Maiden before Jeanne and Christina.
"I just wanted time alone," Meene finally answered.
"I see…" Jeanne said as she stood up.
"… Um… Mademoiselle D'Arc?" Meene said as she stood up also. There was a note of curiosity in it that Jeanne could hear.
"You wish to ask a question?" Jeanne waited for Meene to ask.
"Um… yeah, if you were in the Iron Maiden and in the bilge… How did you get out to raid the kitchen?" Meene asked, Meene was busy trying to figure the mystery out in her head.
Jeanne stopped moving towards the hallway and blushed in the darkness.
"Well… Don't tell Marco but I sometimes get Monsieur Porf not to lower me into the bilge while inside the Iron Maiden… He knows of my late night kitchen raiding habit," Jeanne answered, she sounded somewhat embarrassed and giggled a bit.
"Oh," Meene intoned, fully understanding now. It sounded just like Porf to indulge in such a simple request like an opportunity to have a midnight snack. It was in Porf's nature to make everyone as comfortable as possible.
Meene opened the kitchen door and allowed Jeanne out first. Together they walked the length of the ship, towards the Iron Maiden of Roses rested. Their journey was swift but silent because they had to pass through the sleeping quarters of the X-Laws.
The lights to the small private chapel was on and occupied. Both Jeanne and Meene passed in silence without looking in. It would not do to disrupt someone's praying and breach their privacy.
Eventually they arrived at their destination. Meene threw on the lights and was greeted by the sight of the Iron Maiden of Roses, hanging from the ceiling by numerous thick chains. The 'face' of the Iron Maiden stared down upon the two as they entered the bilge.
The Iron Maiden of Roses was a bloody contraption from Medieval times. It was made of iron melted down from, according to legend, the thousand swords of the brave First Crusaders who entered the Holy City of Jerusalem. The Church quietly gathered the swords in secret for almost five hundred years before making it.
Meene knew her medieval history well, due to the efforts of Sir Sou Lin Hao, and found that the idea unnerving to the extreme. The First Crusaders massacred the people of Jerusalem. The weapons of a massacre would be used in such a relic and in turn be used by the Church to do good. It was something that Christina had noted and balked at when she inherited the Iron Coffin, as it was more commonly called.
What Meene balked at was not the bloody history and supposed origin of the Iron Maiden of Roses but what was inside the it. The unnerving sight of huge thorny rose vines encased within that would wrap itself around its occupant and cause massive amounts of pain and provide a means of increasing furyoku. The idea of a child willingly submitting themselves to such a bloody torture boggled her mind. She still failed to see how the Iron Maiden could possibly raise the furyoku level of Shamans through torture.
But here was Jeanne D'Arc, the Iron Maiden, who did so with a saintly aura and was becoming ever increasingly powerful because of it.
And unwittingly halving her life by enduring the duress of the torture.
Jeanne, fortunately (or was it unfortunately?) didn't know of the price extracted from her in the Iron Maiden. She probably thought that the pain, the darkness and the isolation was the price for power.
Meene had no intention of telling her the truth… At least not right now, not during the most critical phases of the war against Asakura Hao. Sometimes the truth had to buried for victory to be possible, but it didn't mean it was an easy decision.
Or perhaps it was just that Meene was not comfortable with the idea that Jeanne would easily accept the side effect and continue on torturing herself inside the Iron Maiden. That Jeanne would willing accept halving her life in exchange for victory.
Jeanne gave Meene a soft smile and folded the blanket she had around her body before the giant preternatural rose vines grabbed her body and carried her inside the Iron Maiden. The thorns dug into flesh and blood slowly trickled from the wounds, fortunately the metal door of the Iron Maiden shut itself with a loud metallic bang, enclosing Jeanne within and hiding the bloody method of torture. Meene felt mildly ill when the vines grabbed Jeanne and looked away from the sight automatically. Meene had seen the same scene hundreds of times with Adalia Vasquez, Christina D'Arc and Jeanne D'Arc but it never failed to make her feel ill. Familiarity did not breed contempt in Meene but rather enforced what was already hardwired into her brain.
The Iron Maiden of Roses was a death trap.
Meene had seen far too many would-be Iron Maidens die in the thing. A dozen young girls and young women who tried and failed, dying within hours or, worse, within days of entering it. Those young women spent their last hours of life in various ways. Some screaming in pain; Screaming for death; Screaming curses; Screaming blasphemies. Or most unsettling of all, some accepting their failure quietly and going peacefully to the arms of the Creator.
The rare few who survived became the Iron Maiden.
"Are you ready to be lowered into the bilge?" Meene asked quietly when it seemed like Jeanne had settled into the Iron Coffin. No not a coffin, no matter how many died within it, it was the Iron Maiden of Roses, she reminded herself. Meene had picked up the slightly bloody blanket and held in the crook of her arm.
"No, I am not," Jeanne answered back. Meene was surprised and waited for Jeanne to speak up again.
"I am disturbed by your reports of the lack of inroads we have made in general Shaman population in regards to our war against Asakura Hao. Despite the X-Laws deeds and words, you report significant reluctance or outright rejection for cooperation from a majority of Shamans, independent or otherwise. I don't understand what we are doing wrong," Jeanne stated it crisply and with genuine concern but there was a slice of D'Arc resentment. No matter how politely Jeanne worded it, Meene could easily pick up the glimmer of resentment in her voice.
In the twenty one years of her brief life had Meene ever heard or seen an Iron Maiden resent. Even the candidates of the Iron Maiden of Roses, that is before they entered it, never resented anything. Well except for Commander Christina D'Arc but she was an eternal pessimist and cynic before she acquired the position, so the Commander did not count.
"Can you remember the Cowboys team and their 'April Fools' joke a year ago?" Meene asked.
"What has that got to do with…" Jeanne began bewildered how it had anything with the situation.
"Do you remember?" Meene asked once more.
"Yes… I do."
It was a bizarre spectacle to say the least, furyoku enhanced cows trampled Marco and most of the other X-Laws on the early morning of April 1st while the shamans from Cowboys attempted to hogtie Meene to kidnap her. All the while shouting about rescuing Meene and stopping brainwashing. It was all very odd and ended up with Jeanne having to appear, save Meene and forcefully remove Cowboys. The cows even had their own name tags on them and were of a rather pinkish hue when they attacked. The idea that pink cows with names like Marble, Dinner and Sally defeating the X-Laws was humiliating enough. Cleaning up the mess, however, was sheer torture.
The reasons for the attempt in kidnapping never was seriously revealed but then again, Jeanne never bothered seriously asking since it seemed like some fantastic prank rather than a serious attack. No one was seriously injured, despite the vast majority of X-Laws getting run over by a flood of pink furyoku enhanced cows.
It was in Marco's opinion, before he stormed off to take a long shower, that Meene's judgment should have precedent on the entire thing since she was personal friends with the shamans of Cowboys.
Meene's answer was that it was a 'April Fools' joke gone too far.
"Now do you remember what they were shouting about?" Meene asked.
"It was something along the lines of 'we got a room ready to cure you Meene' or something similar. They were acting rather frightened about something but it was all part of the practical joke," Jeanne answered.
"Actually… It wasn't a practical joke or an act. Somewhere down the line the Cowboys got the idea in their heads that you were the leader of a cult and that you had brainwashed me into being one of your loyal angels."
"… A cult! They think we're a cult!" Jeanne was aghast at the thought. Meene shifted from one foot to another trying to figure out a way to lessen Jeanne's incredulity.
"Well… with our uniforms, our beliefs that you are the prophet to lead all of humanity to paradise among other things, do have a tendency of… er… causing misunderstandings amongst most Shamans… I mean with Adalia and Christina, the Church and most people never claimed they were saviors of the world or of the sort," Meene coughed.
Jeanne said nothing.
"Hey don't act too shocked… I mean it's better than that really weird belief running around the Shamanic community that the X-Laws was some sort of pop/rock and roll group when the X-Laws were first formed," Meene attempted to joke about the issue to make Jeanne relax and not over react.
"You didn't have to bring that up," Jeanne said in a voice full of patient suffering. If she wasn't encased within the Iron Maiden of Roses, she would have massaged her forehead to futilely ward away a developing headache.
"If you want more information, the reports on my desk should give you an idea of the public perception of the X-Laws among shamans… Also Christina's last words and will is written down and stored in a Swiss Bank account in Zurich should you desire to read it. I transferred the key and account information to Marco awhile ago, so just ask him when this is all over," Meene saluted the Iron Maiden.
"You didn't call Christina, Commander D'Arc," Jeanne observed. To a certain extent, the idea that Meene was going to die tomorrow seemed surreal to Jeanne. She had ordered executions before but she had never ordered someone in the X-Laws to die to defeat Asakura Hao.
"… I didn't mean to call her by name… She was a good knight."
"Wasn't she more of a friend?"
"… In a way she was like an older sister to the members of the Order."
Jeanne smiled sadly as she tried to imagine Christina acting sisterly to anyone. Christina D'Arc was a difficult individual to befriend, respect was almost automatic but Christina could never seem to find a way to bridge the gap to understanding Jeanne.
Their mother, Catherine D'Arc, had raised them very differently. Christina was a neglected child and hard to deal with. She had been raised on books, harsh experiences, the tremendous responsibility foisted upon her by the Catholic church and the expectations of her equally neglectful father, whom Jeanne could not remember his name or noble title. What Jeanne did know was the marriage of Catherine D'Arc and the nobleman was described as something of a disaster. Thus Christina had been born into a loveless family, a father who cared nothing about his daughter but the prestige she brought and a mother who could never come to look upon her with love or pride. Whether it was because Catherine D'Arc was too young, she was sixteen when she gave birth to Christina, to deal with motherhood or too frustrated at her limited life to care was not known by Jeanne.
All Jeanne knew for a fact was that Catherine D'Arc poured all her heart into raising Jeanne. As though Catherine wanted to make up for her inability to love Christina. Jeanne heard from her mother of vague references to Christina and some of her accomplishments but they were never held with pride or even familiarity, only sadness. Catherine was a mere observer in the events of her oldest daughter's life and nothing more.
When Catherine D'Arc returned to Italy to face the ecclesiastical court for an annulment of her first marriage. Jeanne and her father, Adrienne Baudot, came with Catherine.
It was… interesting to say none the least when they arrived. 'De civitate Dei' was a most mystical place. One that could only be entered by those with shamanic powers or at least those with the powers to see spirits. Even then the secret words of entry had to be said to certain doors and gates to allow passage to the secret place. It was much like the Patch village but on a bigger scale.
Jeanne remembered Arrach Roth, the grim fortress in the Sea of Dust where Christina D'Arc was posted as Commander of the Order of the Repenting Ones. She remembered the soaring cathedrals and white marble steps of the 'road to Heaven'. The thick ancient walls of the 'Ancilis' that surrounded the city, raised by Christians during the Crusades to protect itself from attacks of Salahudin Ayyubi who had sent a formidable secret army of faithful Muslim imams and shamans to harass the heart of Catholic Christianity.
(Sometimes… The secret history of it all gave Jeanne headaches. If she was to claim any of the items above as facts, she would regarded as crazy by the general populace or a deranged fan of alternative history/fantasy… On top of being a creepy looking pseudo-albino girl.)
But most of all… She remembered her father's and mother's funeral after arriving in Italy in less than a month. A horrible car accident (some whispered murder but Jeanne didn't believe any of it) that claimed both their lives. The funeral took place in 'de civitate Dei' with full honors and recognition of Catherine D'Arc and Adrienne Baudot's marriage, the annulment of Catherine D'Arc's previous marriage was recognized.
It all happened so quickly. Jeanne had met Marco and Father Rasso only a week before her parents death and was adopted by them. It hurt Jeanne to no end that Christina did not adopt her or recognize Jeanne as her step-sister. But there was reason to believe that there was something going on in the background that Jeanne was not privy to.
If Marco or Father Rasso knew what it was about, they did not breathe a word of it.
Jeanne did not question them about it. People did things with the best intentions.
Like when Christina D'Arc reluctantly became the Iron Maiden immediately after Catherine D'Arc's death despite her previous virulent refusals to accept the position. It was too soon after Adalia Vasquez's, the Iron Maiden before Christina, death. A little over a month really.
Jeanne remembered the reluctance of Christina to accept the position of the Iron Maiden.
That was a major difference between Christina and Jeanne.
Unlike Christina, Jeanne chose to become the Iron Maiden when the opportunity presented itself. Unlike Christina who became the Iron Maiden for reasons beyond Jeanne's knowledge and with great reluctance.
"What did she say before she died?" Jeanne asked and saw Meene flinch at the question. It was rare to see Meene physically react to a question.
"Please don't ask what she said as she died. Those words weren't for me to hear, I just happened to be there at the time… and some of those words were not for you either, they were for someone else whom I will not name… The Commander loved that person very much and hoped desperately to see that person again after death," Meene said this as she ran her hand through her hair as she remembered.
Meene remembered the sheer horror and morbid fascination of watching Christina D'Arc; Commander of the Repenting Ones, Iron Maiden and Justicar, die from her wounds. A spear thrown from a flying nephilim broke through the spiritual shield thrown up by shield bearers in the final charge. The force of the blow knocked Christina from her charging mount and the spear literally skewered her to the ground through the abdomen. It was fortunate that the charging line was thin and did not present a situation where the horses could crush Christina underfoot. The last attack was a success but it resulted in heavy causalities, there was not enough unhurt or living medics to attend to all the injured.
This unfortunately meant a slow and lingering death for Commander D'Arc. Meene was forced to only sit, watch and listen to Christina D'Arc's final words.
"So you won't tell me anything at all? I was there at the end of the battle, I wasn't there in the thick of the fighting but I saw the devastation. I remember Mathieu desperately healing as I provided furyoku for him to use. He was hysterical as he tried everything to save everyone around us… We could barely do anything to save anyone," Jeanne spoke with sadness.
"…"
Meene stood in silence and looked at the Iron Maiden straight.
"All right then… All right I'll tell you," Meene sighed as she edited Christina D'Arc's final words in her head.
"That stupid foolish girl… Does she honestly mean to shoulder the world's pain by herself?… That's too harsh of a task for anyone. To be so alone… There are too many sorrows, too many regrets in this world to face alone… Jeanne, mon petit soeur, I am sorry that you are a stranger to me…"
Jeanne said nothing. Meene knew that Jeanne would not speak again nor respond so in the silence she lowered the Iron Maiden into the bilge. Meene turned off the lights and quietly left the bilge.
Jeanne mulled over the words in the silence and in the darkness.
Meene felt a very small degree of guilt. Which she crushed easily under her well practiced ability to ignore her conscience.
What she had told Jeanne D'Arc was not the entire truth. The last words of Christina D'Arc was more of a lurid confession of her sins, her deeds and regrets. A truth that would forever besmirch the D'Arc family forever if it ever came out in it's entirety.
As far as Meene knew, she was the only one who knew the complete truth. And she was willing to keep it that way, buried for the rest of her life until death.
Sunrise was hours away, meaning that Meene had more than enough time to waste before her match. She could not sleep and she did not want to. So she walked down the hall of the ship aimlessly until at last she was approaching the chapel once more. Whoever was inside still remained there and she was curious to see who it was.
"Oh Father in heaven, gird us with your strength. Sweet Jesus, son of God, pray for our souls. Mary, merciful mother, brush away our tears…" Lyserg voice floated in the air unsure until he stopped awkwardly as though praying aloud was somehow not allowed.
"… There's more to that prayer I suppose?" Marco quietly asked.
Meene stopped by the door of the chapel and saw Marco and Lyserg both kneeling at the altar. Hands clasped in prayer, side by side.
"… I don't remember the rest of the prayer…" Lyserg admitted nervously.
"Why is that?" Marco asked.
"… I never paid attention to my mom when she said this prayer. She only said it once every Christmas and New Years with my dad and me," Lyserg continued quietly.
"… You want to make something up or do you want me to make up something to finish the prayer?" Marco's voice was soft, as though he was doubting in his own ability to offer up a prayer. Which was silly in Meene's opinion since Marco was raised by Luchist and was an active churchgoer when he was young. Not to mention a champion ranter and able babbler of the seemingly profound but actually empty flowery polite language.
"No… I want to finish this myself… It's for Cebin, Venstar and Meene," Lyserg said. His voice was sorrowful but was making every attempt in trying not to cry.
"Don't push yourself too hard…"
"… Marco… Do we really have to go through with the match tomorrow?"
There was sorrow… Such deep angry sorrow in Lyserg's voice. Meene felt like an intruder standing by the chapel doors and listening in. For a moment, Lyserg sounded much like Mathieu. Young, innocent and full of incomprehensible rage at the injustice done to everyone and his inability to do anything.
"No, we don't have to go through with the match…" Marco admitted calmly.
"Then why don't we just have X-III resign from the match! Are you really so heartless as to make Meene and the others fight against Hao!" Lyserg angrily demanded, frustrated. Meene was surprised that Lyserg got angry at Marco. Usually Lyserg acted with careful consideration and respect to the older man.
"I said, no we don't have to go through the match because there is a choice to decide. Go through with the match or not to go through with it. The X-Laws have chosen to go through with the match because we felt that it is required," Marco said in his eerily calm voice. Meene knew that beneath anger was boiling and hurt at the accusation that he was heartless towards his fellow X-Laws.
"How can you be so calm… It's as if you don't care…" Lyserg seemed to remember himself and was trying to calm down. There was still so much hurt and resentment at Marco's seemingly heartless cold response.
"Don't you dare accuse me of not caring! I have fought with them, lost with them, laughed with them, cried with them and much more far longer than you, boy! It hurts me, just as it hurts you!" Marco exploded in a seething voice. Meene saw that Marco made no move to harm Lyserg in response to the accusation. Marco was just very still, though his shoulders trembled with effort not to lash out at Lyserg for daring to say he did not care for the fate of his fellow X-Laws.
"… It's just not fair…" Lyserg whispered, realizing his lack of tact earlier.
"I never said it was fair. If it was our team, X-I, who was going to face down Hao… Would you demand that we resign from the match?" Marco asked harshly.
"No," Lyserg answered immediately. There was determination and hatred in his voice.
There was an awkward silence between the two.
"I'm sorry… I just don't want the X-Laws seen as weak in front of our enemies and disappoint everyone who wants Hao defeated. The X-Laws are a representation of the ideals of justice and righteousness… I can't tell if it's stubborn pride, justice or cold practicality that drives us to this match. All I know is, if we fail to confront Hao in this match… What would happen? What kind of message would we send to the entire Shaman community? That the appointed protectors and avengers against Asakura Hao were too afraid to confront him? That we are nothing more than cowardly hypocrites? That Hao is truly invincible and we shouldn't bother fighting against him?" Marco quietly spoke. He paused for a moment and continued.
"I don't want Venstar, Cebin and Meene to die… I would do anything in my power to keep them alive. But I am but a mere mortal. I am too weak to keep this from happening, Jeanne-sama is a match for Hao but she needs to have a decisive edge over him to defeat him permanently…"
"Marco-san… Will we defeat Hao?" Lyserg asked once more.
"Yes, we will win," Marco answered.
Meene left the two alone in the silence of the chapel. The man and boy, there was barely anything physical to link the two as similar to each other. Side to side the differences were glaring in fact.
Lyserg was short for his age and overly effeminate, though after an extensive search and viewing pictures of the late Sir Liam Diethyl as a child and contrasting it to adulthood pictures it seemed that Lyserg was destined to 'grow' into his gender in the future. Sir Liam Diethyl proved to be rather effeminate looking as a young child himself.
Marco on the other hand, was tall, masculine and built like a member of the special forces. Actually that was pretty accurate seeing that Marco was once in the Carabinieri as part of his conscription service in Italy. An idealist in many things and at the same time a cynic in others. A poor Calabrian village boy who grew up to be a rich Roman city man. The old calluses on his hand that once came from farming was now replaced by calluses from using weapons. From a plowshare to a sword, not the other way around, as Marco once openly mused to his fellow X-Laws.
Meene's memories of her first meeting with Marco were something that never failed to put a slight smile on her face. A sputtering indignant off-duty Carabinieri who got shot in the stomach by a rubber bullet and trying desperately to regain his breath. All this while a thirteen year old girl was hotwiring his very expensive and powerful Ferrari to chase after the 'L'amante Di Morte'.
Has it really been almost eight years from that first meeting? Has it been three years since Catherine D'Arc had died? Has it been two years since she joined the X-Laws?
Meene smiled sadly and walked towards the upper deck of the ship. The night was going to be long and the stars were bright though very odd. The last time she checked before entering the Patch Village the night sky revealed summer constellations… But tonight she could see Andromeda and Cygnus together. It was very fascinating to look upwards into the night sky here in the vicinity of Patch Village because the stars were always changing their positions or disappearing entirely only to reappear within a few nights and such. There was no explanation for it but Meene didn't bother trying to figure out the logic behind all of it.
Meene looked about for the deck chair that was usually out for her observation of the night sky. It did not surprise her that there was also a blanket and note set out on top of the deck chair.
Getting a cold before the day of the match is inexcusable… and for your information I am still very angry at you.
Marco
Meene sighed and crumpled up the note. She set herself down on the deck chair while pulling the blanket over herself. The night air was brisk but luckily the wind was gentle.
The hours were spent looking at the familiar and strange sky. Stars appeared and disappeared in strange intervals or became strange colors such as blue, green and red for no apparent reason. The moon waxed and waned though only minutes would pass and unnervingly the sky black out and hide away all the shining stars. Tonight's odd performance was particularly active with no rhyme or reason to discern.
Each hour marched towards the fated match and the stars moved on as night was beginning to come to its end. Meene had lost track of time almost and lost interest in the stars when she came to the realization that dawn would be there soon. She was a bit cold despite the very warm blanket Marco had set out for her but she ignored it. The steam rose from her warm breath and she got up from the deck chair to go towards the east side of the ship where the stars were fading from an approaching orange and red tinge that signaled a coming dawn. There was still time before the dawn still though and Meene found the sky black and cold, the stars had either fled from the approaching dawn or dawn had burned them away. All she saw was the coming red and orange tinge of skyline and then a pitch purple black night sky receding away.
She really needed to talk to Shaman Fight Official to find about what was up with the night sky here in Patch Village. It was starting to drive her batty, at least the moon didn't wink in and out like a light being switched on and off.
Without the stars to keep her company, Meene found that she needed to keep herself busy to keep from thinking about the upcoming match she had.
This was where the Oracle Bell proved handy.
The Oracle Bell was not a user friendly piece of equipment. There was only six buttons on the thing, four of them were directional buttons while the other two buttons alternative between cancel, confirm and a host of other functions that changed depending on the situation and commands previously entered. She spent a number of hours with Denbat experimenting what combinations of buttons did what when they got bored. They eventually came to realization that they would never completely figure out the Oracle Bell. In the process they did become the most accomplished users of the Oracle Bell… Though that wasn't exactly something they were proud of nor was it something they wanted Marco to know.
Why is that? Because that meant that Meene and Denbat obviously had far too much free time if they were playing around with the Oracle Bell for hours on end. So Marco upped the training for both of them and increased the number of their missions and assignments.
So in honor of that memory, she followed the modus operandi of the experimentation. She pressed the buttons randomly for old times sake.
Up. Up. Down. Down. Right. Left. Right. Left.
The screen was blinking and making chirping noises. Meene raised an eyebrow and did another random button pushing marathon.
Up. Left. Down. Right. Up. Left. Down. Right.
The Oracle Bell did another cheerful chirp and then revealed a list of names.
"Hey… What do you know… I find something new everyday with this thing…" Meene muttered to herself, sounding not in the least bit impressed by the overly complicated combination needed to access this particular feature of the Oracle Bell. She didn't care if the Patch were proud of their little gizmo and hawked it as the best little electrical gadget out there since the Palm Pilot… It didn't tell the time or date, nor did allow e-mailing or internet access or any sort of communication. Hell, it didn't even play MP3s. In short it was fairly useless unless it was tenuously connected with the Shaman Fight. Moreover the FAQ in the Oracle Bell (which could be accessed with a short seven combo command) did not list the commands of the Oracle Bell and forced users to scroll down the FAQ list to find the answers to their questions.
In short, the Oracle Bell was something that pissed Meene off to a certain degree because there was a chance that the features in the stupid gizmo could aid in the X-Laws fight against Asakura Hao but they would never be found because of the awkwardness of using it in the first place.
Meene casually scrolled down the list and a name grabbed her attention.
Denbat, John.
She accessed Denbat's profile and was greeted with the sight of large numbers that filled the screen.
9800
'What the hell?' Meene wondered as she tried to make sense of the number.
She then accessed Marco's profile and got a number as well.
13000
Meene paused and thought for a moment. She vaguely recalled that the Patch had somehow calculated the furyoku of each individual Shaman numerically and wondered if the numbers represented furyoku.
Meene accessed her profile.
"Hey… I have 8500. Not bad…"
A thought occurred to her and she quickly searched the Oracle Bell for Asakura Hao's profile. The number she saw almost made her heart leap out of her chest and run screaming into the sea in terror.
'No way…'
And then came the fatal sunrise, burning away the night at last and revealing the deadly morrow.