Overcoming Destiny

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Wireless communications"

Ch 8

Groaning one girl awoke too a few unfamiliar sensations she hadn't ever felt before. She felt a foreign sensation on top of her head causing her to reach up and investigate, what she found prompted her to scream.

"Ms. Montmorency please quiet down this is the infirmary." One of the healers admonished the hyperventilating girl.

"My ears are wrong." Montmorency said in tears.

"Personally I think them rather fetching myself." The healer said with a chuckle.

"But I'm human." She shrieked.

"Please quit it Monmon it's unbecoming." A tired voice called from a few beds down. Montmorency looked over at the large tanned arm that was covering someone's eyes.

"Only one person is allowed to call me that." She said incredulously.

"And I would be that person." The rather large person said as he stood up from the bed.

"You aren't Guiche de Gramont." Montmorency said with conviction.

Sighing the large being looked exasperated before he turned and picked up a mirror. "If that is the case then you aren't Montmorency Margarita La Fère de Montmorency either." He said allowing her to see her reflection. Her hair was the same as it had always been, what was different was that her eyes were slitted like a cats and her ears looked like a cats. Seeing this she promptly fainted. "That was somewhat expected." Guiche said. "I must say it's almost poetic justice that the Zero is now my liege."

"Why thank you Mr. Gramont." Louise said cheerily coming behind the now tall young man causing him to stiffen. "Have you met little Yuki yet?" Louise asked with a beaming smile.

"No I haven't." Guiche said cautiously as he knelt so that he wasn't towering over Louise nearly as much. "I still find it hard to believe that you're two years older than us now."

"Get used to it." Louise said getting her daughter laughing while Louise was cooing over her. "I was just checking if any others were waking up before I took care of the treaty signing between me and the princess. Matilda is being a big help with that."

"Anybody that could keep the headmasters paperwork in check would be a big help with drawing up that." Guiche said shrugging.

"Very much aware of that." Louise said shaking her head. "Two weeks and four revisions so far. The advisors wish for it to be solely to their advantage so wording is being used to sneak it by them so that everyone benefits." At the end of her rant Guiche could only nod his head in sympathy.

"At least with prominent families 'losing' an heir to the transition they are trying to make concessions though the advisors don't wish it so." Guiche answered.

"So how is your family?" Louise inquired.

"Mother was fit to be tied and father seemed to wish to wash his hands of it all but wasn't allowed." Guiche replied sighing.

"At least you still have a family I can't say the same for all of the other students in here." Louise said sadly.

Guiche concurred as he looked over to look at the little Imp next to Montmorency known as Katie. Two days prior Katie had met her parents and been told that she was disowned because of her new situation that was beyond her control. The girl had cried herself to sleep the night before being comforted by the water fox of Montmorency's that Louise had identified as a Vapereon. "So Guiche." Louise started getting his attention as she stood in the doorway of the infirmary. "Are you going to let your previous attitude define you? Or are you going to use this opportunity to grow up?" She asked walking out of sight.

OOooOO

In another part of the academy a certain blue haired girl is sitting in bed with a book open in front of her but she isn't reading. The cause of this can be attributed to the other person in the room whom was currently speaking with her.

"Charlotte please explain to me why is it that you agreed to make the contract with Nagisa even after it was explained what you'd be going through." Henrieta asked the other princess that had changed drastically since the last they had met.

"Staying away from uncle. Charlotte d'Orleans no more. Renounce former name. Now Tabitha Kirigaya. Can't be controlled." Tabitha answered keeping her answers short as usual.

"I see." Henrieta stated sighing. "You know that there is the chance you'll die right?" She asked worried.

"Risk acceptable." Tabitha answered.

Realizing the time Henrieta stood up to fulfill her other obligations. "I know that becoming a Dragon Kin was your choice but please don't allow yourself to lose control." She begged having got that much from Louise.

"Not possible." Tabitha answered curtly as Henrieta left Tabitha to her thoughts that included a telepathic conversation with Nagisa.

OOooOO

In a dark dank location that isn't readily apparent as to its whereabouts a little girl sat in a corner crying in pain from the injuries given by her captors. Her parents used to be with her but they had already succumbed to their treatment by the people that were holding them some time prior.

"Please. Someone. Help me." Came her near silent plea to the otherwise silent darkness.

Sinon shot up, instantly alert from where she was sleeping not sure what woke her. A vague feeling of someone crying for help that she couldn't place had called to her for the last few nights.

"I'll see if there's an aura that I can follow tomorrow!" She mumbled laying back down and trying to go back to sleep.

OOooOO

That night Kirito was somewhat restless mulling over a question that had been plaguing him for the last two weeks since they had entered this world and after listening to Louise explain it to Tabitha he questioned how she knew so much. Knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere on speculation he got out of the bed he was sharing with his wife whom was sleeping soundly. Getting dressed in his gear because he decided he couldn't be too careful at this point, he left the house that Titania had gifted them that was at the outer edge of Yggdrasil city before flying towards the palace where Louise currently was sitting on the balcony of her and Klein's room taking care of one of the twins.

"Are you here to discuss your heritage?" She asked not taking her eyes off of the two moons that were overhead as she rocked the chair she was sitting in.

"How do you know so much about my heritage when I didn't even know what I was?" Kirito asked sitting on the balcony railing.

"I met a man whose screen name is LordsFire. We sat down a few times within Alfhiem to exchange information. He decided to stay on earth seeing as he is the sole chronicler for our race." Louise paused when Kirito started in surprise. "Yes Kirito the two of us are Dragon Kin, and because he opted to stay on Earth I asked him to make me a copy of his works so that I had the necessary history of our race since he's the one that gifted me with the means to turn me."

"How come you aren't partway through the transformation or still stuck in your dragon form then?" Kirito asked before adding. "A better question would be how come I'm not for that matter."

Smiling Louise answered with a chuckle. "I'd say that we are special cases. Yourself because you were in a coma at the beginning of puberty so your body delayed the equalization between your Human, Dragon, and Elemental self. I on the other hand didn't have to wait because my body on Earth was more or less strictly an electronic existence so I was able to skip the painful part. Your electronic self was able to change due to sheer willpower and need. Everyone else though will have to live through it. Klein will be out of it for about six months or so while my blood does its work on him. I'd wait on changing Liz until Klein is at least fully dragon to keep our fighting force available during the uncertain times ahead."

Kirito nodded before turning to leave, stopping when Louise called him to. "To forewarn you and your family we happen to have a couple of MD and Herbalist with us so I'm making it mandatory that they work together and do full physicals on everyone so that we can learn how these bodies function compared to our human selves." Kirito nodded heading home after calling a good night to Klein receiving a reply before he leapt off the balcony to head home.

OOooOO

"We can't trust these creatures." A shadow whispered to another shadow in a dark alley next to their favorite watering hole.

"I agree the princess has over stepped her bounds this time." The other unknown being answered.

"So do we attack them now in hopes of driving them out or do we need to be more subtle?"

"Are you dense or something?" The second speaker asked with a look of horror. "Of course you don't attack them now you have to observe and learn about them first."

"Oh right."

"I swear I can't comprehend how you got to your position thinking like that."

"Until now I really didn't need to worry about it. Besides I inherited this position from my father."

"Ah yes that explains everything."

"Not all of us are as hard working as you."

"Well you should be."

"I think that we need to be getting to our previous engagements now."

"Ya, ya run why don'tcha."

The other man just grunted in reply as he left.

"I will come for you Louise. You will be mine." The remaining occupant of the alley mumbled to himself before he followed his companions lead and disappeared.

OOooOO

It was a few days later that some of the possible future conflicts began showing themselves while the treaty talks were still in progress.

Guiche was walking around the academy towards the forest where he and the other Halkeginians turned fairy learned about their magic from volunteers that had come from Arrun to get the students used to their new magical abilities. On the way there he saw a group of still human academy students that were standing in a circle that the distinct sound of leering was coming from. As he got closer he heard the ring leader landing blows on someone that was being blocked in.

"What's going on over here?" The Gnome asked nonchalantly.

"None of your business Gramont." The ring leader said with a sneer.

"I'm making it my business Morison." Guiche answered in kind as he stopped the third year student from hitting the person. Looking closer Guiche saw long purple hair that was very frizzy at the moment covering the huddled person on the ground. Guiche helped them up and saw that it was Katie as she latched onto him out of fear.

"Ramond you might be a third year you but that doesn't give you leave to injure a first year." Guiche said giving the other heir a heated glare.

"What are you going to do about it? You're no longer human and without access to magic." Ramond shot back with a sneer.

"I Guiche de Gramont challenge you Ramond de Morison to a duel of honor because I find you lacking in it." Guiche declared without a change in expression.

"As the challenged my conditions are no more weapons than what we have on our persons at this moment. The duel will continue to till one of the parties is unable to continue or concedes defeat. Location will be Vestry Court in fifteen minutes." Ramond answered before leaving with a menacing laugh.

Fifteen minutes later found Guiche walking into vestry court where he caught sight of his opponent with a friend of his standing as his second. 'I got myself into this by protecting somebody so I'll just have to make do with the hand that I'm dealt.' He thought as he sighed walking into position.

What followed was pathetic for Guiche because even though he wasn't injured enough to be life threatening it was obvious who won. "Well it should be obvious whom your betters are now non-human scum."

They were all surprised by a voice that called over the crowd. "You may have beaten him but you haven't won till you've beaten his second." The familiar voice of Louise stated.

"And what are you going to do about it Zero? You can't even cast a proper spell." Ramond taunted.

OOooOO

A few minutes prior the delegates from Alfhiem and Halkeginia were taking a break from their debates over the concessions they were willing to make to the treaty between their two countries when one of the students ran in to inform the headmaster that there was a duel occurring.

"Well we might as well take a break to cool off for a few minutes." Henrieta suggested/stated to those present prompting everyone to file outside to watch how the duel between Guiche and Ramond turned out. After Guiche lost to the older student, everyone was surprised when Louise called out naming herself as Guiche's second.

"The Zero whom would have us believe she's royalty comes to the aid of her subject." Ramond sneered continuing his taunts.

"Not really." Louise said shrugging. "I just think that you should get another weapon because your magic won't be enough against me Ramond the breeze." She added with her own taunt.

"The breeze?" Ramond asked indignantly. "I'll have you know that I'm the Tempest."

"A tempest involves water last I looked and I don't recall you having control over water." Louise returned with a laugh. "You may be a triangle mage but you still are unable to use anything but hot air."

Ramond growled his eyes burning with loathing when he suddenly yelled. "Siege wall!" The wall of air connected with Louise throwing her against the wall surrounding the academy, which she landed on feet first making a spider web of cracks that spread a good forty feet on either side of her.

"Is that all you've got?" Louise asked as she nimbly landed kneeling on the ground her bangs hiding her eyes. "If my mother had used that spell I would have demolished the wall and a swath of forest behind me." She drew one of her swords as she stood. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I-i-impossible that should have flattened you." Ramond said shaking in shock before he began rambling. "You're no longer human. You appear to be similar to the elves but you don't have access to magic aside from flight because you degrade yourself to carry physical weapons."

"I never said we were unable to use magic. We DON'T NEED a focus to use magic. Furthermore you're picking on two people that were unable to defend themselves because it's only been two weeks since they've started to learn their new magic." As she said this fire began to bathe the white blade in her hand in an orange glow and her wings unfurled behind her. Looking up she had a cold disdainful look in her dimly glowing eyes. "You shouldn't be poking at a dragon because you aren't going to be prepared when you rouse the beast."

Ramond stood there, shaking, as he looked into the Zero's eyes. He felt like a rabbit under the scrutiny of a wolf, unable to move as she rocketed forward her sword held straight in front of her faster than human eyes could see. Ramond could though, the same as someone watching the bullet they knew was coming. He was unable to move because in less time than it took for him to blink he found the white hot sword millimeters from his left eye. He felt burning pain as his eyeball was seared in it's socket causing it to explode as the fluid within instantly vaporized. The last thing he heard was a bloodcurdling scream from somewhere as he blacked out. Before the darkness claimed him he realized the scream came from him.

OOooOO

After the healers had removed the Morison scion to the infirmary and his second bowed out not wishing to fight Louise, Henrieta came to the now calm Queen. "Was that really necessary?"

"When one makes a decision to take a course of action they should be prepared for the consequences, whether they be for good or ill." Louise answered matter-of-factly sheathing her sword before checking on Guiche and Katie.

OOooOOooOO

Well Guiche getting changed seems to have helped you grow up some.

I wonder how long that'll last.

We'll see later