Disclosure: I do not own anything related to Sonic the Hedgehog or The Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima. All properties belong to their respective owners. This is fan-fiction and should not be treated as part of a canon with any franchise.
Sonic is owned and trademarked by SEGA corporation.
Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima is made by the works of Noboru Yamaguchi and its Light Novels are published under Media Factory.
Apart from that, I hope you enjoy!
-TokuBinu
Dark may be the night, and it may reign cloaked from the stars, but the glimmering of the morning dawn illuminates shadows, and their throes commence upon the visions of life.
Grasshoppers chirped without end, fireflies flew aimlessly amongst the damp grass coated in a sleet of morning dew, and the sky was showered with stars. The chill wind of the night swished the blades of grass; moving so thinly veiled and swift like an ocean wave, it encompassed the peaceful quiet of the academy upon its earthly trills.
The glimmering sky and its twinkling stars expressed an ethereal beauty, in the faintest of times as the light arose, upon the twilight this beauty, the utter magnificence of the heavens far and wide could be glimpsed behind their veil of night.
Bore to the heavenly performance, a lone sage, his skin wrinkled with the throes of time and within the confines of his office, the Headmaster of Tristain's academy looked out the window; he gazed quietly at the wreath of the stars, yawning before wiping his tired wettened eyes. A perturbed expression dotted his face, carrying a sense of resignation and anxiousness for the start of the day as he glanced far below. He held onto his cane sternly, humming slightly as he groomed his beard and stared at the entrance leading to the campus grounds.
"How unforgiving it is, that while many remain asleep at this time, instructors such as I have to wake early for the beginning of the semester." The Headmaster croaked with a resounding sigh. His familiar, Motsognir, a tiny mouse no bigger than his thumb agreed with a squeaky yawn from the early morning. The little white mouse was sitting atop Osmand's shoulder, looking outside the window just as its master did.
To say the least of their woes, the two of them were mentally drained and the monotonous labor composed of a man in such advanced age had exhausted them in their preparations for the present school year. From writing out a welcoming speech for new and returning students to finding and hiring educators across Halkeginia to make up for the teachers who've retired from the academy.
One of the more important objectives was organizing the schedule of the academy's education for the school year, refocusing the academy's teachings to be even more vigilant on the four elements and hands-on rather than by example —"No thanks to Ms. Valliere..." Osmand's shook his head slightly, rubbing his temples with a remorseful groan.
Along with establishing a dress code that fits in accordance with fashion trends, and general parental verdicts, Osmand had a lot on his plate.
Though while it would've been surprising, knowing the Headmaster organized everything despite his incredibly old age, his newest assistant secretary Miss Longueville eased his burdens somewhat as she spearheaded the administration's newest efforts.
Osmand pondered how Longueville had the patience to deal with such tasks, considering the recent gruesome politicking of the school: a constant immobile struggle between the higher-ups at the academy and the minister of the treasury by the kingdom of Tristain for more funding on important academic fields which have been sorely neglected, especially in the turbulence of recent trends in Halkeginia. He shrugged shaking the thoughts away, concluding that it wasn't of any point of concern, plus the politics drew a headache and a severe thirst out of him every time he bothered participating; which he'd rather avoid.
The academy doors opened formally as the rays of sunlight peaked from the scattered clouds. Only a matter of minutes left before another school year with Ms. Valliere's antics begin again, so thought the sage Osmand; her magical "inclination" for wanton destruction, student grievances against her oft un-noble attitudes towards the rest of her peers, and more repairs to the academy's infrastructure. It was truly a miracle the troublesome girl wasn't expelled already if it wasn't for her mother's connections and ecu to pay for the damages and actions against her daughter.
Just thinking about the year more caused him much frustration, in fact, too much for his poor health. The headmaster narrowed his eyes as he looked around suspiciously, doing a thorough once-over of his office with a wave of his wand. Once he found the room to be empty of bugs, he reached for his desk and pulled a pipe which he eagerly eyed.
"A little puff wouldn't hurt now would it?" Osmand asked rhetorically seeing as the room was empty. Swiftly, he rummaged around his desk drawers for his secret stash of goodies. "Of course not!"
The Headmaster stopped dawdling in his thoughts as he heard a knock on the door. "Oh, Come on—" The doorknob audibly clicked and the wooden door creaked, "—in! Come in please!" Osmand responded coughing loudly with great force, quickly stuffing the pipe back in his desk's drawer and slamming it shut as he turned around to find his secretary opening the door. The quick shift from her pleasant smile to a dour deadpan had the Headmaster chuckling silently in shame.
"Erm.. hmph! Old habits die hard you know!" Osmand decried, turning away from the woman's unfazed look of disbelief.
To that the secretary sighed softly, "Do you wish your last breath to be smoke and ash from your cooked lungs?" she inquired, her brows raised in disbelief.
"Perhaps, maybe that's how I wish to go!" Osmand huffed, standing aside as his mouse rolled down his sleeves and onto his desk. The old man coughed, straightening out his cloak briskly. "Regardless, I have responsibilities today, and that may be a surprise to you that I'm up here, but I'm required to be." Osmand turned back to the window.
He could instantly feel Longueville roll her eyes since he said the same thing every day when he gets caught with the pipe leading up to the beginning of the semester. "We've got a big day ahead of us now that the academy has formally reopened for the next school year. All the students will be coming directly from that entrance." He continued onward, gesturing to the front entrance as he glanced behind.
Osmand babbled onward with the speech he'd been preparing to cover himself, treating Ms. Longueville as a stand-in for the student audience, though all he heard in response from the secretary was the sound of wood groaning as Longueville took a seat to her desk.
"—Parents of nobles will be coming by, carriages will be filling up the dirt path leading to the doors of our academy, and students new and old will be attending our classes." The Headmaster paused for a moment as he let his words sink in. He's met every parent of every student that will be attending the Tristain Academy of Magic, and now he'll be held responsible for the safety, education, and growth of every student here. "And now, a new generation of nobility will be prepared by the greatest teachers of Halkeginia for the future of all of Halkeginia."
As soon as Osmand finished his short speech somehow holding inspiration, he felt a tug on his cloak followed by the squeaking of a certain mouse. The Headmaster glanced down at the floor to find his familiar calling out to him. He kneeled to listen to what Motsognir had to say and found himself discovering something interesting.
"Blue you say? Well, that's quite new." Osmand scooped up the familiar onto his hand and stood up, handing the small mouse a treat. "I find black more befitting, the taste is there but is lacking since Miss Longueville will have to stand among many people today." Osmand stood and opened his palm revealing a crumb of bread for the mouse, who eagerly began to nibble.
Upon these words, a look of shock and horror came upon Miss Longueville. Yelping in disbelief she swiftly slammed her legs together and grasping a handful of her wear, she tugged along the cloth of her long skirt, hiding even though she was already discovered.
The secretary glared furiously at Osmand and his invasion of her privacy, reaching and taking ahold of her wand, uttering a levitation spell the onto a book, and the woman pelted it at the Headmaster. The book successfully knocked over the old man who yelped in pain as he fell into a heap on the floor, with only Motsognir landing onto the Headmaster's desk.
The mouse continued finishing its snack.
"Sir..." Miss Longueville ground between her teeth, flicking her dress with a scoff, "—the faculty, and staff, are in need of your presence for the arrival of all students. Your speech will begin, once they have all been seated."
Miss Longueville did her best to hide her lingering anger that had been lasting for weeks, but with the successful hit on the Headmaster, she composed herself enough and went back to focusing on the paperwork in front of her.
The secretary adjusted her glasses, turning to the window as she heard the faint sounds of horses galloping towards the entrance of the academy. "You may want to hurry. Our first students are arriving shortly."
Osmand groaned miserably as Motsognir nibbled and pulled at his ear.
A little ways away, outside the campus grounds, an elegant pristine carriage, carved out in the likeness of a rose, traveled the roadway towards the academy; pulled by two gleaming white stallions, the best of their breed. The door by the side of the carriage was carefully carved by the finest of hands, crafted delicately in the image representing the coat of arms of the Valliere lineage. Around the carriage, the salmon color lined up every speck and crevice of the carriage where it was necessary, enlightening groveling commoners to the grandeur aura of elite culture.
Inside the carriage rested two female occupants, coming down their shoulders were streams of all-natural bright pink hair. Of the girls riding the carriage, one espoused an incredible presence that demanded sight, a woman of a culture of elegance and power. She was evidently tall even while she rested in the cushions of the carriage, well endowed and matured through her ages, and portrayed a calm indifference with her spine straight and her elbows pushed back. Both legs pressed together firmly and held so still, her hands resting on her lap comfortably.
The older, taller female was dressed in humbling yet striking contrasting fabrics like a cross between linen and silk, a central theme of violet adorning the dress with modest amounts of embroidery wrapped around herself and her gown, whence the largest jewel laid center in her collar. The woman assumed a neutral resigned look to her as she stared straight ahead, looking beyond the walls of the carriage, blinking slowly. After a moment, the woman breathed with a greater effort, blinked, and glanced down to the girl in front of her before shifting her position to face the demure child.
The girl sitting opposite the woman was expressly small, thinly petite, so similar yet distinctly bounded not at all like the woman before her; and even more still, had not mastered her form as she struggled to hold herself neatly like a still mural. The girl shook softly bouncing steadily on her toes and her breathing was becoming a little more laborious, quick; she bit and licked her lips nervously.
This front of a calm collective stride she tried to maintain by her mother was faltering. It was quickly becoming apparent before the mother's eyes, how her little girl gradually slouched over with her knees pressed too tightly, squishing together in an attempt to be still and stoic, how her shoulders were pushed forward deflating her frame, her hands once resting comfortably at her knees now squeezed and gripped at her thighs, and how her bulbous and glistening ruby pink eyes kept glancing around the interior of the carriage in a faux passing of interest.
Everywhere except the woman in front of her.
The older female puckered her lips in a thin frown. "Louise," The woman spoke.
The girl before the woman snapped her head forward, glancing upon the lady's face, Louise sat upright and faced the woman; flaring her teeth slightly in panic.
"Y-yes, mother?" She asked uneasily. Louise unconsciously tightened her grip on her black pleated midi skirt.
"Keep your head up and your shoulders back, dear. It is unbecoming of you to lose even a second of commitment to your form, it will only become all the more necessary and proper that you maintain yourself as expected as you grow older. Indeed, it is a terrible sight for sore eyes of how so unfathomably un-ladylike you've found yourself, hunching over like some germanian brute, terrible."
Louise's eyes lowered, sorrowful as she kicked at her soles meekly. The words of her mother stung sharper than her wind.
The older woman sighed. She could not help but feel her heart softened for those eyes; her life, her past reflected in her daughter. Resigned to her heart ruefully her mother requested the girl, "Louise undue those perturbed eyes, my child."
Louise sighed silently as she recollected herself, copying the older lady's form as she hesitantly met her stern face. "Yes, mother..."
Louise's mother looked at the petite girl for a moment before she glanced out the small window within the carriage and saw the academy drawing near. Nothing alive stirred before the open gates.
"That's better, dear. Nevertheless, remain focused on your studies Louise, as you were this past summer. You understand where you'll be if you can't make any proper spells, correct?" Louise's mother regarded her. It was a rhetorical question spoken as if it were a statement, but nonetheless, Louise responded with an inaudible "Yes."
"Then you must also know that if you can't summon a respectable familiar, or any familiar to begin with—" Louise cringed at the acrimonious tone, "—that can live up to the accomplishments of the Valliere family and ancestry, recall our discussions with your father. We can no longer support your continued education at the academy if this cannot be done, and we will cut all funding to stop enrolling you in the advent of such failure. Furthermore, should you fail, you'll be married off with your chosen suitor as soon as possible to save face for our family name."
Louise's mother glanced away from the small window and turned to face her daughter, whose rosy cheeks darkened at the last remark, leaning in slightly. "I do not wish to be disappointed and alit in shame anymore. I do not want to read anymore how you were involved in more 'incidents' compared to what happened in your first year. I want nothing short of perfection, and that begins with fixing you. Understand your place, dear."
Louise remained silent, staring meekly at the ground. She didn't want to lose the hope of her parents, she didn't wish to let them down nor could she, and that meant doubling down on the responsibility of her growth to become a respectable noble and a powerful mage in her own hands. Louise recalled in morose agitation the emotions running high through her blood the day she enrolled to be a student in the academy, how she hoped beyond all hope that the best minds of Halkeginia could fix her, solve her magical "quirks" as they were, and reveal to which element she had an affinity with.
For all of her troubles, how hard she worked to rid of her destructive proneness, how the girl's alacrity pushed her through many after-class sessions to unravel her magic when all attempts were exploited dry with her tutors, educators, teachers, and even the headmaster; all of her searching just to find the answers to her explosions so that she may finally put to rest her unresolved magical class and move on. Her preservation and unwavering hope proved only to be her downfall in the eyes of the faculty and student body at large that year.
In the dawning months of her first year it became quickly apparent that because of her poor magical discipline with her spells and chants, combined with her antipathy for trial and error, Louise's standard amiable personality of a mind eager for knowledge and friends as expected of youthful nobility withered in disillusionment for either, eaten away throughout the school year by admonitions from her educators and counselors.
The daughter, of the great and most powerful noble family of the Vallieres, a premier family housed in the royal court of the kingdom of Tristain, a great failure?
It was an incredibly ironic tragedy of luck. The academy's populous of spoiled rotten children of other lesser titles were masters in their elements in comparison to the Valliere girl! It upset her greatly at the injustice, that the daughter of one of the most powerful lineage was grounded to the earth to toil away the basics of her inherent nature repeatedly to no end while suffering the history of power and glory that surrounded her.
With her lack of a solid affinity to magic, combined with her shyness and reserved participation developed in the face of her peers, Louise found herself continuously ostracized as her name and her parent's accomplishments were dragged through the mud.
Fueling and stoking the fires of the girl's imposed isolation was according to the machinations of a single girl who Louise knew intimately and distantly from the stories told by her mother of stolen loves; a long-running family feud between rivaling families that, by the vices of their magic, became bastard relatives over time with bewitched ancestry.
Unfortunately, as the throes of fate or luck would have it, their cold civil war only intensified when the bastard daughter of the Zerbst's and the youngest of the Valliere's crossed paths's within the very beginning of enrollment.
The quarrel between the girls that day and onward, of a race for the final supremacy of their family names, culminated in a transfer of social graces against the sheltered Valliere girl. Henceforth, this passing birthed the nightmare into a never-ending blight for Louise's remainder of the school year when Zerbst slicked on the girl a title so repugnant and loathsome it acted like a repellent, an invisible veil that utterly separated the girl from her peers, like the lame. A faux title that doubled as a derogatory slight against her inability for magic, her lack of accomplishments, and an affixed penetrating wound of mockery in the crest of her family name.
Nobles would have a sort of nickname to carry around to both impress and refer to their area of expertise in their affinity to their element; absolutely critical for the public reception and status of a noble in the eyes of other nobles. It was within these petty meddlesome squabbles of pathetic differences that her rival Kirche coined an offhand title—
"The Zero"
—and laced it upon Louise like a parasite. The rest of the students ran that shameful title dry that year with constant peddling at the poor girl every moment they could.
In the face of their jeers and her fears, she forwent all pretenses of civility and respect with her fellow noblemen. The once sweet girl grew callous from the cruelty of children and teachers apathetic to her crisis, dampening her in nearly all aspects of sociality.
The estranged and distant relationship she had with her peers was thrust upon her by them, and partially self-imposed as well. Every club the academy offered her resulted in refusal. The lunch tables beside the girl were often partially vacant— and that was acceptable for her.
As lonely as the girl became, she could be in peace only with herself.
Eventually, their taunts and ridicules subsided to the backgrounds of her mind and became a daily occurrence, her imposed status quo. The change was bittersweet to the girl, they can tease and laugh at Louise at a distance but it'll just be white noise for the girl, and yet despite it all, how much she despised even being around other students she craved to be a part of their livelihoods, to enjoy their presence as she was bitterly alone and kept up nightly to her thoughts, her only companion.
Though she graduated her first year, as she took her studies seriously, the staff made it clear their hesitance to admitting Louise for her second year at the academy. Seeing the trouble and the costly damages that followed in her wake made an obvious case for an unstable individual to be more harm than good to the community of the academy as a whole. However, because of her familial ties and her ability to at least do something with magic, even if for all intents and purposes her 'element' was a magical bomb on the end of a stick, strings were pulled behind the scenes.
Despite even her families' best efforts to have the academy look the other way and accept their daughter again, the academy barely welcomed her back with strained hands.
Understanding the implications clearly, it was becoming increasingly apparent to the girl that the familiar summoning was shaping up to truly be her last chance— to prove to her family that she had some sort of affinity to any element of magic and that she can develop to be a proper model student for the academy. She had to succeed. There was no other choice but this ultimatum; she would no longer have control over her future.
"I-I understand mother! I won't let the name of Valliere go down in ruins with failure!" Louise declared impassioned. Louise's mother sighed at this statement donning an inexpressible look.
"It is not failure that I expect out of you, Louise. Remember that I am your mother, and as your mother, I worry not of your failures but your progress." The woman said. Louise found herself stupefied instantly as she tried to swallow the weight of her mother's words.
Their conversation ended momentarily as Louise tried to find her voice, but couldn't. Louise resigned to her thoughts as the pair rode in silence, waiting for their destination. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the clearing of campus grounds as the structure came clearly into view.
The academy was spacious, its six towers surrounded with green fields of grass in the interior of the structure which was divided into four sections. The walls surrounding the academy were shaped like a pentagon to signify the elements of magic with five towers placed on each vertex of the shape. As far as Louise knew in her time within the academy, each tower represented an element: Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. Large and long halls were connected from each tower to a central grand tower that resembled a chess piece like the bishop, except for the fifth tower. As odd as it may seem, the fifth tower wasn't associated with any type of element and was largely vacant of life, collecting dust over the years and occasionally being used as storage for the familiar's meals.
Louise glanced at the scenery outside the carriage, finding that they were reaching the end of the grey brick road leading to the main entrance of the academy.
The carriage turned on its end with the door facing towards the stairway before slowing to a complete stop with a slight jolt. The horses snorted, neighing as the coachman tugged the reigns and informed the duo through a shout that the carriage had reached its destination. The uptight girl remained in her seat, hesitant to move as if she were waiting for her permission to leave.
"Well Louise, what are you waiting for?" The woman asked.
Louise glanced between her mother and the doorway, continuing to sit awkwardly in the small room before the coachman opened the door; Louise took that as a go-ahead and made her departure.
"Make sure to close the door before you go. Do not forget your wand or leave anything behind." Louise squeaked in realization as she went to grab the essentials underneath her seat. "And fix your cloak, Louise. It's coming undone." Louise quickly went to adjust her black cloak before turning around, holding the door to the carriage suddenly overcome and still.
The girl's mother scoffed before she arose from her seat and peered down at the girl questioning, "Is something the matter?"
Louise fiddled with the knots holding her cloak together with a bashful hesitance. Squirming underneath the iron gaze of her mother, Louise swallowed a lump squeezing down her throat and met her mother's clouded eyes. "Thank you... for belie-believing. I lov—" her gaze narrowed solemnly and she paused cautiously, "—goodbye, mother."
The older woman stared down the girl impassively stoic, nodding softly. Retreating inside, the lady carefully closed the door of the carriage without another word.
The girl took a few steps back as she watched her mother look at her for a moment before turning to the scenery as the carriage drove away to the entrance. Louise almost expected something else to come from her mother, but she heard nor saw nothing apart from the carriage leaving. She was in a trance, staring at the carriage before quickly shaking her head and inspecting her attire.
Her black cloak had been properly adjusted, her white buttoned-up long sleeve shirt was free of wrinkles, her black pleated midi-skirt was in perfect condition, her black thigh-high socks weren't torn (even though no one could actually see her legs), and her black shoes were shined. It may seem mundane to worry about the condition of her clothing, but her anxiousness was relieved as soon as she confirmed that her physical appearance wasn't unsightly.
Louise shifted her attention to her pocket, pulling out a slip of paper sent out by the academy written with information regarding the schedule of the first two days of school. She read the contents of the paper, finding the time of the speech and the location of the student gathering.
Once all the students arrive—collecting their luggage of articles of clothing and materials for the school year—and the introductory speech had concluded, all students were to be guided to their rooms within the academy. Once they have been fully acquainted with their dormitories, the students would return to the Alviss Dining Hall for brunch to socialize with their peers whence they'll meet the faculty and staff hosting their classes for the remainder of the school year. From there on, everyone would sleep for the night before further instructions the next morning.
Louise examined the paper again and tucked it away in her breast pocket, turning to the open set of giant double doors as the main entrance to the inside of the central tower. The pinkette straightened herself and adopted an aura of confidence in an effort to replicate her mother as she puffed her cheeks in a deep breath before calmly exhaling.
"I can do this, I must. I'm more than just a zero!" Louise affirmed to herself before she hastily made her way to the academy's doors. Once she power-walked up the steps to the large and grand double doorway, the doors opened with a creak and her skin felt warm from the cool morning air inviting the young student inside, which Louise eagerly accepted.
In the emptiness of the front lobby, the pitter-patter of her black leather shoes echoed throughout the walls as the student made her way to the dining hall where the Headmaster would begin his welcoming speech.
"And the first thing a non-zero must do is arrive before—!" Louise almost shrieked aloud again before she smacked her palm in front of her mouth.
'If it wasn't for mother's cautionary reminder!' Louise berated herself as she stared ahead to find that lecherous vile whore Zerbst, "the bottomless pit", sitting a ways from Louise with another girl, the blue one she hung around with often mid-earlier last school year. It seemed she walked in a bad time as the fiery redhead guffawed loudly; probably from something the blue-haired girl said.
As Louise still stood debating on her next move, Kirche shifted in her seat, turning from her friend. As she brought a finger to wipe a stray tear from the corner of one of her eyes, she caught sight of the pink-haired girl. The redhead quieted for a moment, catching Louise's attention who promptly hid behind a pillar faster than Kirche could blink. Louise wracked her mind for a quip, swarming through her memory banks for something smug-like to maintain her family's honor.
The voices silenced behind Louise.
"Oi, look who decided to show up! If it isn't little Louise!" Kirche taunted from behind the pillar.
Louise jumped and her mind blanked for a moment, yelping from the sudden surprise and bounced away from the pillar, before turning to Kirche. "Z-Zerbst!" She squawked. Her face paled as she heard her own voice leave her, and she went to cover her mouth once more, before taking out a handkerchief and coughed slightly into it, trying to find her voice. "W-what are you doing here so early!?" Louise demanded as she put away her handkerchief.
Kirche raised her brows slightly in faux surprise. "What am I doing here so early? Well, isn't it appropriate for the children of nobility to arrive early for our initiation to the second year of the academy?" Kirche sighed and waved her arms out with a shrug. "It's quite bold of you to ask something like that when it is obvious what the answer is." The tanned student did her best not to giggle.
In reality, she didn't care to arrive early for the welcoming ceremony. In fact, she initially thought about coming in last to enjoy the time left in break. After thinking over another way to torment Louise and annoy her by showing up to the academy's halls first, however, she set out to camp at the academy the day before with Tabitha. And as she had banked on, Louise was fuming in hopeless anger.
Kirche tried to keep up the fake image of nonchalance, but the look on Louise's face; the anger, the shock, the utter bewilderment. It was simply too much to bear anymore.
"If you really wanna know, I missed my studies so much I decided to camp out the night before~." Kirche's cheeks tensed as she continued, but every word that came out of her mouth was so ridiculous she couldn't help bursting into a peal of piercing laughter, squared at Louise. They both knew how utterly fallacious the reasoning behind it was; she just wanted to show off and mock Louise before the day even started.
Louise shifted in her spot, switching from digging her nails into the palms of her hands to freeing her fingers as she was both annoyed and stupefied at the audacity of her rival.
Louise clenched her cheeks, before raising one of her arms and pointed at Kirche. "T-the only thing you missed studying was how all your "boy toys" compared, y-you you harlot!" Louise remarked, observing Kirche as she quieted her laughter and donned a neutral unimpressed look.
Kirche repositioned herself leaning down and to the side, the palm of her hand holding her head up. "Oh, how you wound me so!" Kirche bemoaned with feigned indignation. Glancing back at the girl with a creeping smirk, she placed a hand to her bosom pridefully, "So you admit it then. Unlike you pinky, boys adore and swarm me for my hand. Indeed, it's not because of power or connections like you, but because their heart flutters like butterflies in the treasures of beauty. They know whom to fall in love with."
Kirche smiled merrily as she motioned down to her chest; it was big, so incredibly bulbous that it bulged out of her shirt exposing some skin and developed perfectly for a noble as gifted and powerful as the lineage of the Zerbst.
Kirche sat straight and glanced at Louise's chest. Louise blushed red, irritated, turning her chest to the side and covering it up with her cloak.
"I-I'm still growing!" Louise mentioned, meekly. Kirche rolled her eyes; it's not like little Valliere hadn't said the same thing all of last year. "At least I don't go waltzing around flinging my chest at everybody enticing them to look, nor do I play on a carousel of "boy toys" all year long. And I don't drop on the floor and spread my legs for every new boy I meet, unlike you, you germanic barbarian witch!"
Kirche stood up from her table, the chair behind her screeched. Her lip trembled, clearly irritated. "You, wanna say that again? Little Valliere~." Kirche asked in a sickly sweet tone as she reached her chest and pulled a wand out. Louise copied Kirche's moves, pulling out her own wand and taking a stance.
The two girls eyed each other, their forms, and their wand which they both held at the waist.
The sight to behold was like a western shootout, sans guns and instead with magic and wands. They remained fixated on their spot, not moving an inch.
The blue-haired girl beside Kirche lowered the book she was reading and turned to the would-be duelers, her face portraying no signs of alarm or even emotion for that matter. "No infighting between nobles. It is forbidden." The petite girl stated plainly, looking at the two square in the eyes.
Louise shook, as she recalled the moral laws compounded into her by her mother and the church time and time again especially after last year. Kirche turned from her friend back to Louise.
"Well, you heard her pinky. We can't fight. So why don't you drop your wand? Hmm?" Kirche taunted as she could see the physical and mental divide within Louise.
The girl shook in place and flexed her grip on her wand, unsure to switch between putting it away and holding on, "Y-you first!"
Kirche gasped mockingly, before laughing, "Oohuhu! Feisty now aren't we~. Think you can back that up?" The girl teased.
"Unless, of course, you cant. Or, maybe you wanna get expelled together?" Louise cringed at the words, and after a moment's struggle she made up her mind to put away the wand, albeit reluctantly. Louise shakily took a deep breath as she cast her head down gloomily. "Ah, there it is the "principled defeat," how sad~." The Germanian cackled hysterically quoting a past confrontation.
"You should be thankful that I felt merciful today," Louise said as she took her spot, not looking Kirche in the eyes. Kirche smirked as she practically slithered down to her seat.
"Merciful or cowardly?" Kirche asked rhetorically, knowing full well the pinkette wouldn't respond. Louise turned aside, suddenly finding a keen interest in her shoes. Her face hardened and her eyes shimmered remorsefully; her lip quivered, but she spoke nothing more.
Some time passed and more students appeared in the dining hall, and half an hour, later it was almost completely full. The quietness of the dining hall the three girls occupied earlier that morning was drowned out by the chatter of oncoming students.
The loudest were the first and third years as the first years have never seen other nobles the same age as them outside of family and parties, and so they eagerly wished to know each other while the third years were students who bonded throughout their time in the academy and established strong lifelong friendships. The second years, still, were quite lively as the students reacquainted themselves with one another, and Louise tried too, but the groups that formed shunned her away or dispersed from her. Louise sighed, but put up a front of excitement and joy, even as she could clearly see boys of all three years crowding around Kirche.
It was another half-hour later when no chair stood bare, the Headmaster came to the dining hall. The entire student body quieted at his presence, out of respect and honor per the culture of Halkeginia, to listen to your elders as they carried with them a lifetime of wisdom and power.
The Headmaster strolled through the student body taking in every face staring before him as his appearance throughout the school year was few and far. His eyes landed on Louise, but he made no effort to show his feelings or thoughts as he continued onwards toward the podium where he'd give his speech.
Even then, Louise shrunk under his gaze, feeling the weight of his eyes and the world that came with them crashing down upon her.
Finally, as Osmand finished his once-over of the student body, he walked up to the stairs leading to the podium before reaching his hands across its surface, grabbing ahold of it before he stepped behind the stand and stood front and center. The student's eyes trailed with him until he stopped, and as the Headmaster took out his papers and settled them on the podium, he looked up to find the rest of the students' eyes glued on him. Osmand steeled himself, wishing he had his pipe to calm his nerves before trudging onward.
He pulled out his wand and very deliberately, word for word, spelled out his spell so that all the students could follow before he swung his wand. A wave permeated the room and coated the dining hall. Osmand coughed as he put away his wand, even as far back as the last table of chairs from Osmand could hear him clearly as if he was at an arm's distance away. Some of the first years were in awe at the power of the spell and they eagerly whispered amongst themselves how cool it was.
Osmand smiled and chuckled softly underneath the thick coat of his facial hair that drowned out the skin below his cheeks. 'Looks like I still got it in me!' Osmand cheered before he held a hand out and closed it, signaling the first years to quiet down. They obliged and after a moment the still quietness returned.
"Welcome students, both new and old! I am humbled that as the Headmaster of this academy, your family, the greatest of the generation of nobility in all of the land of Halkeginia, borne divinely gifted by our Lord, God, to rule the nature of this earth for his name and blessed by our founder Brimir to secure and entrust all civilization through their oversight of the elements and governorship of their plots of land, chose this academy to host and enlighten you." Osmand swallowed, his mouth dry.
"You, the newest generation of nobility rejoice! Before you stand these halls, crafted meticulously by the very apostles of Brimir for the sole purpose of proselytizing upon his works! It is a great privilege and honor to receive all the knowledge, scribes, and research our scholars meticulously documented over thousands of years since the foundation of this very academy by Brimirs apostles, so that you may benefit from this knowledge and uphold our ancestral heritage and legacy... to continue the works burdened by your gifts... to reign all of Halkeginia more efficiently and suitably, and in turn, raise all of civilization along with you." Osmand took a breath, glancing around the dining hall. "Now with introductions out of the way, my name is Osmand, Headmaster Osmand."
The speech delved into a short story of Osmand explaining who he was, what he did, and how he became headmaster of the academy. Everyone had their attention on the Headmaster, laughing as he cleverly joked about his life experiences before working at the academy.
Osmand continued on, bridging the gap between himself and his students by using his story as the relation of possible obstacles and achievements the students may encounter in the near future. The first years soon took a liking to the Headmaster for his charm while the second and third years recapped with the Headmaster on the newest updates to their education system. The speech had perfectly capitalized the welcoming ceremony, and it would've been the most fulfilling and relatable speech to everyone if there wasn't one special case.
Louise, though listening attentively to the Headmaster, was in her own world separated from every noble around her. She was occupied with worries of her own, and with the early rise of the morning along with the stress of her worrisome thoughts, Louise found herself strained and tired. Osmand meanwhile went along with his speech aspiring the student body and the staff to grow together as a community in the pursuit of knowledge, friendships, and fond memories to be made with peers of the nobility in Halkeginia and familiars as they go on to shape the destiny of the continent with the knowledge they gained in the academy.
As Osmand rounded off his speech he remembered something of importance to depart to the crowd of students. "...Which reminds me. As my speech comes to a close, every student from the first years to the third years is to be at the Vestri courtyard, the campus grounds inside the academy walls. If you ever find yourself lost, there is a table set up in runic order based on your background where you would be given a sheet of paper directing you to your dormitories among student activities for the rest of the first week in the academy. So, as before my dear students, it is my hope that this school year will bring many blessings to you and that furthermore, we grow as a community that strives for knowledge, education, and bonds of friendships to make along this school year. This journey strives for the betterment of Halkeginia and to continue the work of our prophet Brimir. Thank you all for coming to the Tristain Academy of Magic. We happily welcome you with open arms!" Osmand finished raising his arms up wide as the student body cheered and clapped happily.
Once the clapping wore down, the students quickly stood from their seats in the dining hall, turning around to the Vestri Courtyard to get their personalized scheduling list for the school week. The sounds of wooden chairs scraping along the rough cobblestone floor echoed throughout the hall as rounds of students crowded around like penguins, making their way to the front entrance of the academy.
"In an orderly fashion, please! Single file line or at least disperse a bit for breathing room!" Osmand shouted, alarmed at the traffic of students heading to the courtyard. Louise followed along with the mob, rubbing her dry eyes as she joined the wait in the vague form of a line to get her paper.
While the Valliere and the rest of the students were outside, the sun had reappeared among the cloudy day with an intensity to its light. Louise held a hand out to block the sun as she winced in its power. The crowd of students separated by their years huddled together into groups, talking amongst themselves as they waited for their turn.
At first, Louise paid no heed to the babbling of her fellow peers as she focused solely on keeping her spot amongst the line in the crowd, but as she continued to wait and inch closer to the table, foot-by-foot, she found her curiosity piqued as the discussions became more feverous and heated. The girl turned slightly to a group of students whose voices were the loudest she could make out among the rest.
"Did you hear what's been going on recently in Albion?" A student said teetering on whispering and shouting at the same time.
"No, I haven't heard of anything coming from there, why?" One responded quizzically.
"Exactly, that's the thing! Nothing's getting out of that place! No rumors, no official appearances to the annual mass... almost all trade has been halted between the rest of the island and Tristain!" The same one quickly hopped on the ignorance of the student with a raging vigor.
"Last I heard, there was a clerical populist movement going around before things went silent." Another spoke up butting into the conversation.
"Has Pope Vittorio commented about that?"
"I don't know, news has been traveling slowly, more than usual recently."
"I heard the kingdom has been hoarding up horses for a while now. I think that explains that."
"There's been a movement of those barbarian Germs recently, big waves so they say."
"No way..." the tone of voice drummed out in an eerie unknown silence.
Louise throughout the entirety of the conversation glanced further behind as she listened more attentively. The girl almost couldn't believe herself to be invested in such things, not usually, as her father's friends liked to discuss in her family's manor. She typically drowned them out as she played with dearest Cattleya's exotic pets. Perhaps it was to pass the monotony of waiting or to clear her mind of nagging fears she couldn't pinpoint. She never ventured further, only wishing the conversations all around her could last.
Blinking back to her senses, the girl found the small crowd glance between themselves and her, before huddling together close and gushing their voices. Louise wavered in place, downtrodden, before accepting to mind herself.
The girl took to the ground, gazing down at her glossy polished dress shoes. Laughter and feverous giggles surrounded the girl as the students exchange pleasantries. Most of the children had little pockets of friends and acquaintances. The stragglers that remained exchanged and engaged in small talk with another. Louise attempted the same as the line thinned, her turn rapidly approaching, but she could not find the strength to try. Her heart hardened in self-betrayal as she fell ill with a depth of misery. She shook her head lightly, reprimanding herself for getting too invested in her peers; try as she might want to belong, there will always be a distinctively acute feeling of longing.
It pulled at her heart to want nonetheless.
Louise turned to the line ahead of her, nearly yelping as she found a gap that formed while she was distracted. She scampered onward to the line as it shortened.
The girl rose her hand and gingerly held her head, as tender as her soft fingers could be. She rubbed and massaged a sudden dull hammering in her head, affected by the listless babbling of her peers. Her eyes were assaulted to strange visuals produced within the confines of her mind, scenes and people she barely knew coming and going without rhyme or reason as colors passed by like twinkling stars.
Her body lulled in place, and the girl suddenly jolted upright startled by a prick of her skin, and immediately she glanced before her peers worriedly. They were all too focused on their own conversations so she was safe from any embarrassment, but she remained persistent in trying to keep herself awake—Louise stretched pulling stiff muscles as she yawned—to make sure she can save herself from another dumb nickname such as "Zero".
The seconds felt like minutes and the minutes droned on. Eventually, the line moved again and Louise inherited the long line behind her. Glancing aside to the crowd around her, the girl wavered before trudging along to stop in front of the table where a faculty member merely glanced at her. With a flick of her thumb, she picked up a sheet of paper dedicated to the pinkette. Louise grasped the paper tentatively from the woman's hand and skimmed over its contents before walking back to the main entrance with the rest of the student body.
Walking to the entrance doors leading to the central tower, Louise read the list. The paper detailed everything; the number of classes the young Valliere would have to rotate throughout the day, the professors the girl would have and develop with for the school year, the subjects that would be driven in her to study, and most importantly where her dormitory would be. Luckily for the pinkette, she didn't need to visit her classrooms as of now, nor the towers that house them as her recollection of the academy's halls were still vivid.
Separating herself from the huddles of students and peers alike, with relatively little effort as they parted in her wake, she strolled by under the warm summer's day, inching closer to the walkways that connected the distant pillars to the central tower. Holding a hand out to block the radiant and everpresent sun from burning her vision, she looked to the tower where her dormitories lay.
It was the fire tower.
Louise scowled confused, "This isn't my dormitory from last year..." The small girl skimmed down her paper once more, before straightening it out and closely examining the contents within the page.
Louise stalked alongside the walls of the walkway leading to the fire tower, coming to rest upon the ledges of the walkway sheltering her from the burning sky. Holding a finger out she gradually brought it down as she passed by her teachers' scheduling list before finally landing on her place of residence, and yet despite how she wished it were not so, it was written precisely and clearly in the runic text: "Residency: Fire tower..." It continued on with her room level of the spiraling tower.
She huffed indignantly, as she brought the paper down with an impassioned force. 'So my affinity isn't to the elements of the earth, but fire?! Sharing the same tower, never mind the same space and breath, with that-that germanian whore?!' The girl was infuriated by the decision.
Why in Brimir's name would the school council want the Zerbst's and the Valliere's in the same place? They were rivals —no, enemies! Family enemies, for generations! Never mind the incidents that happened sporadically all throughout last year with the two damaging school property.
Unnoticed by the Valliere, a trail of footsteps loudly made their way alongside the girl, before stopping altogether at her feet. There was a pause as Louise stared between the shoes of her visitors.
"Well, well, look at what we have here~." A voice cooed behind Louise with a condescending yet venomous edge. The angry red-faced girl turned to meet the owner of the voice with dangerous intent. Before Louise stood Kirche, her hands on her hips standing straight and imposingly tall over Louise. Her face looked smug and yet it carried with it a sense of anger; a cross of vicious power.
Behind the tanned girl stood her orbiters, her playthings, her "boys" caught within her webs; infinitely dedicated to the whims of the Zerbst, and more if need be. Around the flaming girl, there was a half-circle of her associates, friends, and other popular girls eying Louise with malicious judgment. Louise turned to face the group entirely, parallel to their form.
Louise hardened her face as she stood to meet the girl, "What do you want, you numb germ?" She spat out the words like a sour taste caught within her essence.
The thinly veiled smile spread across the Germanian girl's face. "Oh, nothing much I promise you. I wouldn't want to speak with you more than I have to...but, I would just like to know one tiny little thing, shorty~." The taller more influential girl responded with a sickly sweet tone.
The crowd around her chuckled at the little poke to Louise's ego. Louise stood before the group ignoring the slight against her as she eyed them suspiciously with a warning glare. She weighed the retort around in her head for a moment before the pink-haired girl decided to answer Kirche. "Spill it out then, I have things to attend to."
Kirche chortled silently with a curt wave, "Of course, shorty~. I wouldn't want to waste your precious time of..." she glanced around the girl, "doing nothing." Her little comment at the end snuck a few chuckles within her orbiters. "So, what are you doing here in the fire tower Louise? Hmm? It's reserved exclusively for users of the flames and, last I recalled... you're not a flame mage!" Kirche stated with a biting accusatory edge in her tone. Louise lowered her head with a sigh.
The pinkette slid her foot forward, her shoulder facing Kirche as she retorted, "Look, my paper told me my dorm is here so this is where I'm going to be for the rest of the school year. Until the school can help with truly clearing up which element I belong to, this is it, unfortunately." Louise sighed looking down bitterly.
The pinkette scowled as she whipped to face Kirche, her voice laced with exhaustion and venom, "Enough of the theatrics for once Kirche, I'm not wasting time with you."
The Valliere girl turned on her heels, intending to head up the stairs. Right when Louise made her first step against the mahogany wood, Kirche called out again voice raised, slighted. "Just remember this Louise! You are not a flame mage—"
"I know I'm not but—"
"—You're not an earth mage, nor a wind mage, and neither are you a water mage. You are nothing Louise. You belong to no element; you're just a freak of nature. A zero, worth nothing, and hold no value. That is what you are, always and forever."
Pure scorn dripped from the girl's tongue. The milieu of that spot dripped of judgment and Louise felt it even if she couldn't see their eyes. She already had grown familiar with the faces that greeted her in this academy on a daily basis.
Louise held in her spot, lingering on that creaking step, creaking ever so loudly as she stayed. When the girl turned, a glimpse of her ruby sapphire eyes peaked from the depths of her long pink locks. Kirche gazed blankly at those perturbed eyes, catching the depths of her shame before the girl trudged onwards, balancing herself with her hand on the railing.
Kirche stared at Louise as she gradually walked the stairs, her soles clicking against the hard wooden floor and echoing quietly with each step. The Fire mage furrowed her brows with her arms crossed, her ruby red eyes glared dimly in the shade of her flaming bangs.
After a long tread up the stairs of the spiraling staircase, with the only sound to accompany the girl being the clicks of her heels on the stairs, the youngest of the Vallieres found the hallway that led to her dorm room.
Grasping alongside the rough and callous stone walls, Louise peeked around the corner, and the halls that greeted her were devoid of life and instilled in the girl a suffocating unease. The student grimaced at the tyrannical silence that shrouded the place, but she trudged onwards despite it.
Making her way to the door, she glanced at a few rooms neighboring hers and as she landed her sights on a far-off door opposite to hers, she scowled.
'Of all neighbors to have.'
Louise stood still for a moment, looking at the offending door before ripping her mind free of the imprisoning pains with a slight shake of her head as she twisted the knob to her door and let it drag open.
Walking to her room she paid no mind to the little furniture that she had inside, and instead, found herself enraptured by the frivolous drapes flapping along with the wind as well as the large bed inside the room. Mostly the large and comfy-looking bed in the room.
Louise put her paper aside on her desk, standing still for a moment whilst looking so incredibly empty until she collapsed to her knees and gripped the sheets at the side of the bed, burying herself in a mound of comfort. She took a deep breath smelling the lovely aura of roses and honey before she rose her head. Her tired pink eyes came upon those window drapes still fluttering along with the wind. She yawned, tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she watched the curtains dancing with a hypnotic trance.
She gripped the sheets as she pulled herself up on the bed sitting squarely in the middle of the mattress. Louise's eyelids felt heavy and her breath felt like it was being taken away. Her head draped back as she stared at the ceiling, mouth agape and her eyes feeling ever wetter.
The girl found her eyelids closing slowly to a dream. She squinted her eyes, blinking rapidly as she fought hard not to fall asleep, but eventually, her eyelids ultimately shut together, leaving her in darkness. Louise tried opening her eyes once more in vain protest of her wanting, but the recesses of her mind succumbed to the cool embrace of her bedsheets. She silently went to sleep, sinking into the covers of her bed.
In the existence in which consciousness stirred for naught, in the passages that lay in the wreaths of sleep, Louise found the warmth of light shining on her eyelids and wearily opened her eyes. She blinked momentarily as she found herself in her bedroom wearing her nightgown. Her plain white-walled room was brighter than ever before thanks to the light of the sun shining from the window, and due to such brightness, Louise soon felt her desire to sleep fade away.
The pinkette turned away from the beams of sunlight filtering through the curtains and into the room, rubbing her tired but rested eyes. A cute whine left her lips as she begrudgingly sat up in her bed and stretched her arms above her head, letting her body relinquish itself from its tense muscles and relax a bit. Some bones popped in place as Louise readily moved her limbs about.
Feeling satisfied and her muscles relaxed, Louise slumped over on her bed, needing another moment to gather her bearings. The girl went to glance ahead of her, but her long lavish hair was mottled and uncombed, blocking the sight of her room. Louise, a little exasperated at the unsightly frizzles of hairs, brought her slim hands to her head, digging her dainty little fingers between the seams of her hairs and pushed them aside, allowing her to see. It was a temporary fix Louise noted, rubbing her eyes, right after she looked around her room, contemplating.
"It was... a dream..?" She said to herself, a little unsure.
Memories of the day before swam around her head as her mind could only recall bits, though that wasn't of her concern. The petite girl glanced around her little room, almost expecting out of instinct to be back in her room in the mansion of her parents.
Of course, instead of the lavishly ornate and quaint room fitted to Louise's liking, filled to the brim with books and dinky trinkets and cushions, her eyes met a much more humble, and in her opinion, drag sight.
The proof of her dream being a reality was all in this room; with her furniture, all wooden and brown in place of the polished white furniture, the walls plain and vanilla instead of the salmon or pink aesthetic of the mansion and her room, also empty of paintings or decorations to liven up her quarters.
Everything around the girl, including her clothing cabinet, filled to the brim with nothing but her school attire, a small dining table to the side of the bed that came along with two chairs, the queen-sized bed she had slept in last night, and a desk for her to study with, meant that everything that happened the day before had really passed.
"No, it's not..." Louise deduced, blinking leisurely. Louise turned to look at her mattress, finding multitudes of creases and large erratic wrinkles underneath where she slept. If one could peer a bit closer it seemed a little damp even.
Louise stared for a while, blankly. She turned around, removing the sheets covering her, exposing the rest of her gown. The girl spun around her rear end, letting her feet touch the floor, and pushed herself off the bed. She went over to her little mirror on top of the desk facing the bed and sat on the small chair. The pinkette pulled at one of the drawers and drew out a brush.
Grabbing ahold of a mass of hair, Louise went to work, brushing against the pink surface of her locks and straightening her hair out from its messy bungle. The girl noted with a deadpan expression that the folds underneath her eyes were a bit more pronounced than usual. Regardless, she made no further action as she continued brushing along her hair. It had been several minutes later when the pinkette felt that her hair was straightened out and free-flowing as before, she decided it was the best she could do to mold her hair in a quaint and charming look.
Louise set aside her brush and stood up, walking towards her closet and pulled out one of many identical school-appropriate dress attires filling out the entire closet rack. Louise crossed her arms around her and took off her nightgown before grabbing a hold of one of the long-sleeved plain white shirts and outfitting herself in it. Getting ahold of the lower buttons, she steadily moved up her chest, buttoning her shirt as she did so, till she finished. She grabbed ahold of one of many plaid midi-skirts and wrapped it around her waist, buttoning it closed.
In the midst of her morning routine, Louise found herself enjoying her little objective, preparing for the day, and steadily a warm little smile dotted her face as her cheeks rose slightly with some enjoyment.
Louise went to her desk and reached to pull at one of her drawers, but she stopped once she saw her wand sitting across her on the desk. She looked between it and the drawer for a moment before shaking her head slightly as if to whisk away a thought or a feeling.
Louise sat upon her bed and pulled two black thigh-high socks along with her. Fitting her feet inside, she pulled at the material as it stretched along her skin till she lay flat on her bed and the socks stopped following along her legs.
Louise went back to the cubby, pulling out a cloak that was all black on one side and velvet on the other, marking Louise as a second year. She swung the cloak around her shoulders and tugged at it until it fit nicely and draped alongside her ankles. Once she felt pleased with it, she went to work tying the laces of the cloak to a knot.
Finally, she slipped on her black leather-material shoes nicely; her routine was finished and she was all ready to start the day.
Louise walked to her desk and checked out her form striking a lovely pose, highlighting her beauty and charm. Satisfied, she reached for her wand, grasping it tentatively before ultimately overcoming her hesitation and firmly grasping it. Louise turned to face her mirror once more and a big wide smile plastered her face, clearly excited and joyous for the day.
The girl puffed her chest out appearing confident as she strutted towards her door. As the pinkette went to grasp the handle of the door, her hearing caught the faintest sounds of paper slithering and flopping towards the ground.
Louise opened the door slightly as she turned to look at what made the noise, looking around the room and as she observed the floor, she found a slip of paper dangling against her cloak on the floor.
A look of surprise and curiosity came upon Louise as she went to pick up the paper. Louise grasped her fingers on the surface of the paper, and as she brought the paper to herself, she flipped it around to find a stamp dead center on the paper. It was a wax red stamp in the insignia of her family's coat of arms. Louise appeared even more befuddled as she quickly made her way back to her desk.
She brought her thumb up on the stamp and applied pressure on it, cracking the wax in two and breaking open the seal on the paper. Louise briskly made haste as she grabbed ahold of the sheet of paper inside the envelope and pulled it out, swiftly reading into its contents.
As Louise read into the contents of the paper, a look dawned on her, one of apprehension and fear the further she read into it. She quickly found her tongue feeling incredibly dry and she gulped to moisturize her mouth. After a moment, Louise put down the envelope staring at a wall and into space as hundreds of thoughts, feelings, and emotions drowned out Louise's comprehension.
The petite girl quickly brought up the envelope once more skimming through the notes and analyzing the meaning of the words. She placed the paper down with a thin line on her face, still trying to portray a sense of confidence and security, even though at that moment when she went to look at her mirror once more, she appeared as debilitated as she was earlier in the morning.
"Congratulations everyone for your ascension to your second year in the academy of magic. My name is Chevreuse, but you may call me Professor Chevreuse." A plump middle-aged woman who named herself Chevreuse stood on top of the podium at the front of the classroom, wearing a large purple Wicca hat and purple robes to go along with her style.
Every student in the classroom listened attentively, if not out of obligation due to their willingness to learn and master magic or waiting to summon their familiar. Regardless, the professor continued introducing herself.
"My element is Earth and my code name is Chevreuse the Red Moon. For the next two terms, I will be teaching you the element of Earth and how it can be used in your daily routine, but before that..." The professor took out her wand and pointed at a large sketch in a depiction of a cross on the chalkboard. "A refresher. So, can anyone tell me what are the four elements of magic?"
As soon as the question reached their ears, a boy held up a red rose in the air, taking a breath as he coolly whipped his hair to the side. "May I be the first to answer?" He asked with a haughty laugh.
The professor soon became intrigued by the boy, finding his blonde hair very noticeable as it was well-groomed compared to the rest of the class. "And what may your name be?" Chevreuse asked.
"I am Guiche de Gramont and the four elements of magic is Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind." He said with confidence.
The professor smiled. "While you are correct, you are also wrong."
"What?" Guiche was left surprised and an uncertain look came about him. "I'm fairly certain that is all...—or is it?" Guiche mumbled to himself, thinking over his lessons from last year.
"The four elements of magic... 'are'... Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind." The professor turned around to face the board and wrote down the names of each branch of magic.
The blonde student remained baffled for a moment as he tried to understand what Miss Chevreuse said, only to then figure out that the teacher said the same sentence in the most subtly correct form of grammar. It annoyed him bitterly, incorrectly applying the structure of his native language so absentmindedly, especially on the first day of all days.
Guiche grit his teeth for a moment outraged at himself, but once the class started laughing at him, the anger boiled down to a depressed sigh as he hung his head low, shamefully. His image sullied by his own mouth, what a disappointment.
"In speaking of magic, Earth magic is directly involved in the revitalization of all things." The professor finished writing and turned back to the class. "And to provide an example of that, you will all memorize a spell concerning simple alchemy."
Miss Chevreuse pulled three small rocks out of her sleeve and set them down on the stand in front of her. Using her wand, she whipped it with the fling of her wrist towards the rocks and made a chant.
"Rehm Inn Yahn."
The small rocks shook in place before glittering with light, revealing the three same rocks now with a golden sheen. The students awed at the change in the physical appearance of the rocks, glittering like gold. All the students leaned forward on their desks with intrigue, the most surprised of them all being the redhead Zerbst, who had her bountiful chest bounce as she spoke the general consensus of a question.
"Did you turn those into gold?!"
"No dear, not gold. Brass." Miss Chevreuse replied with a beguiled tone, humored at the class' reaction to her spell, especially by how quick they assumed the rocks to be the precious metal gold. The look of surprise quickly fell from the well-developed redhead, as the girl deadpanned at the clarification.
"Oh, right... how dull." Kirche sat back down on her seat, boredom lacing her tone of voice as she laid her chin on the back of her hand. The professor made no physical acknowledgment of the girl's rudeness as she brought out a few more pebbles from her sleeve.
"Now with that being said, let us see which of you could recreate this spell as closely as I have demonstrated." The professor challenged, looking upon the rows of students who sat at attention. As her eyes glazed over the classroom she caught sight of a girl attentively writing in her notes.
Miss Chevreuse smiled softly. It seemed the girl was surely dedicated to her studies, writing the spell down despite its simplicity when the teacher didn't even prompt the students to record the spell. Furthermore, the rest of the class either merely stared back at the teacher or they eyeballed the spell, trying to recreate it as she had, sans their wands. 'Looks like she'll do.' Miss Chevreuse thought, gesturing to the girl.
"You over there, dear. Yes, the one taking notes." Miss Chevreuse clarified in a warm tone as she looked upon the pinkette. The class immediately broke out in a hushed fervor whispering fearfully as they realized who the professor chose.
"Is she being silly?"
"What is the professor thinking?!"
"Here we go again..!"
"No, not her!"
Louise, believing herself to be the one addressed, quickly went to finish her writing, scribbling along her paper before briskly putting her quill aside. The girl murmured out loud, softly; gesturing for clarification. Again Miss Chevreuse spoke out.
"Yes, you dear. What is your name?" Miss Chevreuse rose her voice a bit to catch the girl's ears, as the students whispered amongst themselves even louder making it hard to clearly hear what was being said.
"I-it's Louise... ma'am." The dainty girl greeted adding the proper form of address hurriedly at the last second. The girl went to stand from her seat. "My name is-"
"Excuse me, ma'am!" The girl was cut off as a morbidly rotund student grunted and provoked the teacher's attention. The lard with a blonde fop timidly and worriedly called for the professor.
"I-I'd think it'd be more preferable, and safer if you... pick someone else." The rest of the student body agreed as they excitedly nodded in affirmation of his request. The redhead girl from before spoke up as well adding her two cents on the matter.
"It's too dangerous! Let me do it, besides I'm the most gifted in this classroom!" The girl insisted, cold sweat dripping against her scalp. The professor looked upon the classroom with a bewildered smile.
"Dangerous? How preposterous! There's nothing in alchemy, let alone this spell, that would be so dangerous as to warrant such extreme caution. It's a simple spell. In fact, dot mages could perform it with ease! While I may be more advanced in my magic, being a triangle mage and all, this does not excuse—"
In between the argument for Louise's chance to perform the spell as the teacher wished, Louise looked down self-consciously all the meanwhile, shamefaced as the class bickered for her exclusion out of her participation in the test; right in front of her, consciously leaving her voice out of the conversation.
As the bickering heated up, her shame turned to frustration, and that frustration grew to annoyance as the girl had to endure the screeching of the harpy redhead and her orbiters repeat her pleas to get someone else to do the spell. The girl's face scrunched up as she boiled in indignation, and her cheeks puffed out tensely as an embarrassed red blush appeared and continued to flush a deeper red.
"I'MTHEONESHEPICKEDSOI'MGOINGTODOIT!" Louise declared in a single screeching breath, drowning out the student chatter in the classroom with her piercing voice.
"Well said, miss Louise." Miss Chevreuse, though a little surprised from the outcry, congratulated Louise as the girl made her way to the central podium. The rest of the classroom still continued in their whisperfest as they prepared themselves for the trouble that was about to come their way. Except for a blue-haired lone girl with a large staff. She stood from her seat, protesting wordlessly as she took her book which she had been reading, and promptly left the room.
"Tabitha take me with you!" Kirche begged, despite knowing full well that because she skipped one too many classes last school year, this year she was forced to stay in her regular rotating classes even if there were actual emergencies. Louise finally made her way to the podium and presented her wand, holding it out and prepared to present the spell for the whole class. Kirche bit her lips distraught. "Louise, stop this folly!" The girl demanded. A tick grew on Louise as she glanced at Kirche irritably.
"Shut up, your presence distracts me." Kirche gaped at the boldness of the demure girl as the rest of the students in the classroom "ooohed" in response.
'She's really going all in.' Kirche realized to her horror as Louise brought her wand up. The professor nodded in encouragement.
"Good Louise, now for your next and crucial step, think long and hard about the metal you want to transmute these pebbles into. Point your wand at the pebbles before finally reciting the spell for the pebbles to undergo their transmutation." The professor instructed the student and Louise obliged, going over exactly as how the professor described; swinging the wand around once before pointing the stick to the pebbles.
Louise opened her mouth and carefully, very delicately and slowly, drew out the words the professor used to enchant the rocks.
"Rehm. Inn. Yahn." Immediately, the effects of her magic were imminent as an array of vibrant lights pierced the classroom and coated the pebbles, growing larger and more powerful in their dazzling light by the second.
"Hit the deck!" One student shouted as the room was engulfed in white.
Away from the classroom in the central tower overlooking the academy, Osmand relaxed into his office chair, reclining and rolling it back and forth rhythmically. Of course, neither the rocking chair nor the reclining chair had been invented yet. Instead, the old sage opted to use his wind magic to prop the chair up on its hind legs without the worry of falling.
"And so another school year for the academy has started. The previous and new students have adjusted nicely to their professors and peers, all without any particular problems. As this institute's leading principal, I could not have wished for a more pleasant and humble beginning to the year. In fact, I believe this calls for a celebration!" The Headmaster cheered as he eagerly went for the pipe he had in his drawers and went to light it up, only for the secretary, with a flick of her wand, yanking the pristine and ornately detailed pipe from the headmaster's hands onto the pile of paperwork on her desk, her eyes never once straying her sight from her work
"As the secretary in this institute, my job is to help organize and overlook the lessons our staff and students will use for the foreseeable year, collect funds for the continued service and function of this academy, and account for any trouble a student may face in their time here in the academy, be it social or health issues. That service also includes the oversight of your health."
The swift slash of paper waddling in the air fiddled the Headmaster's ears as Longueville put away her completed work and began on another.
"So if you recall, Mr. Osmand, smoking is bad for you." The secretary droned out her speech with such clarity and monotony one could infer this has not been the first time she had to repeat this sentiment.
"D'oh fiddlesticks! Must you take away the only pleasures these old bones have left in their life? Surely one puff wouldn't hurt." Still the secretary did not relent her previous statement.
Old Osmand sighed. "Oh, fine have it your way. Know my body more than I do, the nerve."
Before the two could carry on with their conversation a thunderous boom reverberated from one of the towers in the academy, right as a faint cloud of soot rose from the exposed openings before being swept away by the wind. Osmand hurriedly made his way to the window overlooking the academy to get a closer look.
"Good heavens, what was that?!" Osmand demanded, both upset and curious.
"It seems to have originated from the fire tower, on the lower floors. I'll get help to investigate the matter further." Miss Longueville deduced as she went to call the staff of water and earth mages to ensure the structural stability of the wood and stone within the building.
As Osmand stood there grooming his beard he suddenly came to the only suitable conclusion.
"Of course, the third child of the Valliere family... And here I was congratulating myself for a stellar non-destructive start to the year." Osmand sighed, rubbing his temples with a tired look.
"Me and my big mouth."
Back to the classroom, the room was a complete mess like a bomb had been set off; chairs were scattered and overturned, entire sections of the seating area had been collapsed inwards, windows were shattered from the explosion, the students were dislocated from their seats and thrown about in the room, the chalkboard behind Miss Chevreuse hung by a single nail, and everything was absolutely covered in soot. The second years laid prone in the spots they found themselves in, trying to get their bearings, and among the rest of the students, the only one standing was Louise. Despite this, she herself was also affected by her magical power.
The threads that held her clothing together were compromised in many areas. Holes were torn about her body and burned in other spots, barely holding itself up together in the aftermath of the demonstration of her magic. Even her wand which she held delicately was blown apart, imploded from within.
The poor teacher was out cold, twitching in hysterics at the sight that unfolded. Louise made no attempt to showcase her feelings or emotions, adopting a blank resigned look. She pulled at her long-sleeved shirt and brought out her handkerchief, wiping her face clean of the soot adorning the room.
"... I suppose I... messed up." Louise spoke meekly, barely above a whisper. Once more she cast her eyes down to her feet, shifting slightly in place, not wanting to look anyone in the eye.
With groans and moans, the class recovered somewhat to glance at the chaos covering all surfaces. One student was unlucky enough to encounter and avoid debris falling from one of the shattered windows along with a few second years coughing from smoke and dust. While some students were hunched over in their seats covering themselves with their cloaks, they were miraculously only layered with soot on their bodies.
As the student body gradually recuperated, the vast majority of her fellow peers glared down at Louise, their expressions ranging from annoyance to pure malice. Louise took a quick glimpse at their faces before quickly looking aside; she couldn't bear to look at the piercing judgment that emanated from them.
The room remained silent for a long minute until one bulbous girl spontaneously spoke up. "What is the matter with you!?" The red-head student pushed herself away from one of her orbiters who she used as a meat shield. "You just had to go and blow everything up again, didn't you?!"
Louise noticeably flinched at the words, and her blank expression sagged slightly, shamefully.
'Every. Single. Day.'
Every lesson on magic always ended in explosions, and every day the students constantly heckled and teased Louise of her magical ineptitude. With every failure, with every blow to her character and name, her emotional defenses continued to be chipped away in the constant vindication of her incapability of magic.
"It's... only a little cloud. I-I had... I thought I had... control-" Louise tried to excuse her recent and constant strings of failures, but she couldn't find it in her heart to explain herself further as the silent judgment of her peers bore into her.
The harangued girl went to save face, turning around to face the chalkboard. Louise continued brushing her face of the soot with her handkerchief even though it had been thoroughly cleaned. The meek and timid girl tried to put a show of strength and ignorance, but it was all a farce; an attempt to hide from the glares that were pointed at her.
"What part of any of this is controlled?" The same blonde yet morbidly rotund student asked with an exhausted tone. Louise couldn't find a reply that was helpful.
"Your magical success rate to date has been and will always be zero!" The student who introduced himself as Guiche stood up in anger. Louise furrowed her brow, burying deeper into her handkerchief; her eyes felt dry.
"Yeah! Louise the Zero!" Kirche yelled.
The blonde and red-head students continued on with their frustrations and their classmates soon picked up on their rage, turning the whole classroom chanting "Louise the Zero!"
Louise continued cleaning herself, remaining defeated in such a situation. She tried to keep her mouth on a thin line, but her lips betrayed her as they trembled faintly. Before the chant could get any louder, one of the doors leading to the entrance of the classroom suddenly opened, revealing a middle-aged man with glasses holding a tall staff and wore a long purple robe.
"What is going on here?" The man said with a strong voice.
"This idiot here blew up the classroom!" Kirche yelled pointing at the culprit at fault.
As soon as the man looked at the one accused, he quickly realized the situation that had just occurred. Evidenced with how every student in front of him was covered in soot, this was the typical girl who would leave trouble every time she tried using magic. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders.
"Everyone, go to the nursing ward and have yourself checked. If the nurse has deemed you uninjured, you're to go to the third floor where the third-year students have class and continue your studies there." He said.
"But what about her?!" Guiche demanded, pointing at Louise. Many of the students followed suit and made themselves known as the classroom flared up in anger and gossip, wanting punishment for the timid girl standing at the front of the classroom.
"Go to the ward. I will not repeat myself again." The man said more sternly. "I will worry about Miss Valliere here."
The students nearly grumbled without getting the answer that would satisfy their frustration, yet obliged to the orders of the man. While standing next to the entrance, he watched every student leave the classroom inspecting for any hidden injuries within the students. Once they have all left, the man turned to Louise, prepping himself for the next words that were to come out of his mouth.
"Louise Francoise de la Valliere," He started. He could see the girl stop wiping her face, turning to him as a sniffle escaped the girl. The man steeled himself and hardened his heart, "You are to clean up this classroom before lunch period."
Having to treat a student with such words condemned his natural benevolence, especially by the odd circumstances the girl in front of him had endured. She was genuine in her practice to become a mage, but with the same result that came up no matter what chant the student conjured, she was set back by her peers and left in a state of constant setbacks. And with such thoughts, it was obligatory for him to say his next two words.
"Without magic."
Louise turned slightly from the man as her bangs covered her eyes. It was too quiet to hear, but a moment later the man could faintly pick up a "Yes sir..." coming from Louise before she put away her handkerchief. She went to work and began from the back of the classroom, starting with the chairs that were flipped over.
The man watched with empathy as the girl became busy. He quickly adjusted his glasses as he turned his focus onto the professor. She was lying on the floor with stars swirling above her head, but apart from the soot covering her body, she was alright.
His eyes soon caught glints of light reflecting from the podium which caught his curiosity. He walked towards the shiny objects and kneeled down to get a closer inspection. He had found three yellow-plated rocks scattered around the professor which made the man realize the lecture of which the students were going through.
He smiled as a warm memory resurfaced. "I remember when I first thought that these were gold. Sadly, it turns out they're not." The professor murmured softly. He put down his staff and picked up the rocks, reminiscing the times when he was a student. "I'll return these to Miss Chevreuse once she recovers."
The man put the rocks into his sleeve and grabbed his staff, standing up to wipe the dust off his hands. Though, after another glance around the area, he discovered three more rocks with a yellow sheen. "She must've had a student of her's try the spell out." He went over and picked up the rocks as he went to check up on his colleague, but quickly stopped. He glanced down on the palm where he held the other pair of pebbles with a curious look.
The man held the rocks out on his hand and looked them over. "That's... strange..." The man shuffled the pebbles in his hand around, as the curiosity developed into befuddlement.
In order to satiate his confusion, he took out the prior three rocks that he put away and held them on his free hand, bouncing his arms slightly. Before he could continue further, another groan escaped from the faint Miss Chevreuse and he made his way to her. He freed his palms open, and upon giving the rocks a cursory glance, it became apparent to him that the two pairs emitted a different tonal sheen.
"Curious."
It was the looming dawn of evening when Louise finally finished cleaning, reorganizing, and sweeping up the mess she made in the classroom; a long few hours after breakfast and lunch had begun and finished. When Louise stopped to look at her work she sighed and wiped her brow, relieved for the monotonous torture to end.
Every chair was put back in place, the stone walls were cleaned of soot, the glass shards from the windows were all neatly organized in a pile, and the rest of the scattered miscellaneous items were painstakingly put back into place.
Staff members belonging to the water and earth elements inspected the room and ensured that the stone walls were not compromised of their structural integrity, adding a layer of magical reinforcement to the walls for better endurance. Regardless, Louise was still in a sour mood. She was hungry, tired from the hard manual labor, and still wore the ruined clothing which currently presented a sight of utter disrepair.
By the end of the cleaning, her appearance was absolutely ludicrous with soot adorning every inch of her clothes; burns on her apparel that flaked away from the fragile material of her dress, tears that riddled her clothing stretched and expanded, and now she was damp and coated in her sweat.
The pitiful girl eyed herself with pure disgust. She looked no different than the commoners out in the fields. As the girl made her way to the door, Louise stretched slightly as bones audibly popped in place and relaxed from their tense state. Louise grasped the handle and pushed it, moving the door aside as her sight was met with the man from earlier and the secretary of the academy.
"Miss Valliere, report to the overwatch in the central tower of the academy. The Headmaster has requested for your appearance." The secretary said. Though, after looking Louise over, she added a small comment. "Before you go, however, change your clothing. It would be appropriate to meet him in clean proper attire."
"I'll let the Headmaster know you'll be taking a few moments." The man chimed in. He felt pity glancing over to Louise. Just as how Louise had thought of herself, the man couldn't help but think that Louise's state was incredibly rough to behold. She looked hideous, like a normal-commoner girl.
"Of course, Ms. Longueville. Thank you, Mr. Colbert." Louise replied with a resigned sigh, bowing. While the gesture might've seemed expected as a common social courtesy at first glance, Louise was truly relieved to just have a moment to pause and simply think.
The pair of staff turned away from Louise, resuming their scheduling for the remainder of the day. Louise leaned out of her bow and made her way to her quarters, her mind clouded.
Half an hour passed when Louise wiped herself clean with a dry towel, fixed up her appearance, and put on a fresh set of clothing when she made her way to the overwatch where the principal of the academy resided in the headmaster's office. The trek up the spiraling staircase would've been made easier if the girl had mastered levitation, but of course, her magical quirks prevented that and she had to suffer rashes on her soles for the journey.
Louise came to a stop at the front double doors leading to the room, inspecting the inscription on the door that read "Osmand the Grey, Headmaster's Office." The pinkette pursed her lips as she steeled herself in preparation for the sharp lecture for her negligence of magic.
She balled a hand and raised it to the door, knocking thrice rhythmically. Louise raised her voice "It's me, Lo-"
"Come in Miss Valliere!" The femme young adult voice of the secretary responded. Louise stood a little ways from the door, feeling slighted by the woman's rudeness, but she calmed her nerves and reasoned that she was running late.
Louise sighed, taking in a deep breath of anticipation despite putting up a front of resignation up to now, and pushed the doors entering the office. Louise's eyes were met with the Headmaster of the academy standing before her, staring down the large windows adorning the room while the Secretary worked at her station, making no effort to react to the student's presence as she continued on her piles of paperwork.
The third daughter of the Valliere's leaned forward, bowing with a small curtsy. "Headmaster Osmand, I Louise de la Valliere am here as was requested of me." Louise humbly introduced herself to the aging man, who still stood with his back facing her. Osmand lowered his head, as if in deep contemplation.
Louise stood back up from her greeting and continued, "If I am to assume, you wished my presence here because of earlier." Osmand nodded, still turned away. "And furthermore because of the incident, you're going to expel me," Louise stated, without a hint of emotion; no sorrow, anger, bitterness, or regret. Osmand turned around as she finished, piquing interest in the secretary who paused momentarily to glance at the two.
"Stop indulging so much in the imaginary, Louise. They exaggerate fears." Osmand peered down Louise sternly, but emotionally reserved.
The girl couldn't help but speak her mind, "What?" Louise was confused.
Osmand shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you heard me. I didn't send Longueville for your appearance just to expel you personally. What's more to say?" Louise relaxed her posture, which had been rigid since and up to this point.
"But, I was sure that another fluke like today would get me in serious trouble. Enough to warrant my expulsion from the academy." Louise added, shamefully.
"Were it so easy!" Old Osmand chimed in chuckling, however, glancing down the pitiable girl paused him. He returned to his stoic look. "But rest assured, you're still in trouble miss Valliere."
Louise looked around the room, unsure of what to say next out of bewilderment. She swallowed her surprise, finding her throat dry. "Is that so? Then if not to expel me, why did you request me here?"
"Two things," He extended his arm and held up his hand, raising two fingers. "One, to assign you your punishment for the damages in the classroom and in nearly collapsing the structural integrity of the fire tower, and two, for your confirmation of something." Louise raised a brow curious on the last note the Headmaster said.
"First, let's go over the latter." He gestured for Louise to come to his desk to which Louise did.
Osmand brought both arms up, his hands closed before resting his palms on the desk. Louise looked on, unsure where he was going with this.
"Miss Louise, today your classroom was in the process of learning a new spell in the field of alchemy, correct?" Louise nodded, slowly. "And to showcase this new spell your new professor, Ms. Chevreuse, applied an example of the spell in work using some pebbles..." Louise hummed then nodded, remembering what transpired earlier to be correct with Osmand's inquiries to the story. "Finally, when she applied the spell on the pebbles they underwent transmutation and became brass." Again, Louise nodded, saying "Correct."
Osmand peered down on Louise seriously, "Do you know exactly how the rocks looked as brass nuggets?"
Louise contemplated for a moment before she spoke. "...Yes, they had a metallic sheen like all metals produce under sunlight, and at a glance looked like gold. But the reflection of the rocks was at a cross between gold and bronze without the void appearance gold usually has underneath direct light."
Osmand hummed, maintaining his serious aura. "Then which of these rocks were the ones that Ms. Chevreuse transmutated?" The Headmaster turned his wrists around, facing his closed fists up to the air and laid the back of his hands on his desk as he opened his fingers from his palms. "Is it these?..." Osmand opened up one hand and revealed a trio of nuggets shining damply. Louise took a close and contemplative look on the nuggets comparing them to the memories of the brass nuggets.
She remained silent for a moment.
"Or these?" Osmand opened another hand revealing a similar looking pair of nuggets. Louise looked between the hands, still unsure of where Osmand was heading with the questions.
After a moment Louise gestured to the one Osmand held out first. "Those are the ones Ms. Chevreuse transmutated."
Osmand still stared at her. "Are you sure?"
Louise hesitated for a moment before responding "Yes."
Osmand closed the hand Louise hadn't chosen and pocketed the nuggets away.
"Hmm..." Osmand juggled the rocks in his palms. He walked around in place, inspecting the rocks and testing their pliancy. "Very well, veeerry well... now with that out of the way..." He put the rocks aside, "A punishment. Disciplinary action suitable for your reckless usage of magic and damages to academic property." Louise stood stiff, gulping as she awaited what possible retribution the school board would have in store for her.
Osmand closed his eyes and stroked his beard as he thought long and hard for a suitable punishment for the Valliere. A few minutes passed when he shot his eyes open and he smacked the palm of his hand with a strike. "Of course, the detention ward!"
Louise swallowed a lump in her throat, "The detention ward?! B-but I deserve more! I nearly destroyed the classroom and seriously caused damage to the building's structural support!"
Longueville eyed the girl for a moment. An indescribable look ran through her hearing the last few words, but the woman quickly returned to her paperwork.
Osmand waved Louise off. "Yes, yes. While that is true, I'm willing to lessen your punishment for a variety of reasons. Firstly because you're still considered a first-year, until tomorrow—" Louise paled as she recalled the big event due. "—That is, your punishment is due in part to the highest a first-year may be given typically, which is the detention ward. Secondly, the professor Ms. Chevreuse was warned beforehand from the rest of the classroom to withhold you from inciting the incantation and still went with you regardless, so there's partial blame to be had in her judgment. Thirdly, because tomorrow is the true graduation of first-years to second-years by the successful summoning of a familiar. Your discipline is lessened so that you may have enough time to rest and prepare for your ascension to second-year. Lastly, it gives you time to reflect and perhaps understand why your magic is so... irregular, meanwhile."
Louise slumped slightly, dejected from the truth. Even if Osmand meant well, her irregularities were seriously damaging her socially and financially the longer she stayed at the academy. It wasn't an asset or power to be proud of if she couldn't control it. Just a dangerous liability.
"So, with that being said, your time here is done. Go to the detention ward and stay for the remainder of the day." Osmand ordered, gesturing Louise to leave just as the man from before, Colbert, entered the classroom. Louise bowed with a curtsy once more and begrudgingly made her way to the detention ward.
The pinkette went through two sets of doors before ending up at the staircase. She closed the door behind her and started her journey down. With the sheer height of the tower followed by the ambient echoes that came from her steps along with the amount of time Louise had to think for herself, her mind remained occupied behind the reasoning of her punishment.
"So, how'd it go?" A feminine voice asked.
The sudden question knocked Louise out of her thoughts, prompting her to look at the speaker a little ways down the staircase. It was Kirche along with her silent companion Tabitha. There was a new girl with her as well, one who had blue eyes and wore a red bow on her blonde hair which was oddly shaped like drills. It seems from the way they stood in the middle of the pathway, they weren't worried about Louise. More like from the tone of her question, Kirche and the two girls were lying in wait for the news that was to come out of Louise's mouth.
"Another trip to the ward? Or are you finally getting expelled?" The Zerbst mocked. "Just kidding!" The redhead and blonde laughed at the comment, knowing that it was most likely expulsion Louise had been given. Tabitha made no effort to join them, still reading the book she had earlier.
Louise huffed indignantly standing straight and rigid as she marched down the steps of the stairs. As the pinkette made her way past the trio of hooligans with her head held up high, she answered them without glancing behind her. "The punishment, for the record, is the detention ward. Besides, they agreed that the professor was partially at fault for encouraging me to use my magic."
Kirche clicked her tongue and let out a disappointed sigh. "Ah, what a shame... and here I thought little Louise wouldn't make it before the familiar summoning." The blonde audibly laughed, nodding along with the tanned student. Louise paid no mind to the girl's bait, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of losing her cool. Still, the redhead continued trying to breakdown the girl's barriers. "Well, you're always the maker of your own bad days. You couldn't even get a real code name for yourself even a whole year later, Louise the Zero!" The two girls laughed at the remark with a biting edge.
Louise stopped as she took another step, annoyed by the biting title her rival gave her. Even after all this time it still made her want to strangle something. "O why don't you shut that mouth up with your boy toys meat sabers!"
Kirche ignored the piercing yell as she leaned down the railings with a teasing glint in her eyes. "Tomorrow should be real fun, won't it Louise? A familiar summoned that will be just as pathetic as you!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I'm confident in one spell! Summon Servants!" Louise retorted. Kirche raised a brow quizzically and the new girl gasped at the proclamation.
It was unusual for a student like Louise to confidently blurt out something that had to do with her magic, especially since it had to do with a successful spell. Louise then pointed at them with the intention of a bet. "Just you wait! I'll summon a familiar more divine, more powerful, and more beautiful than anything you can ever ask for and then we'll see who's the one laughing afterward!" The pink-haired student continued her way down the stairs leaving the group to end with that final statement.
Coincidentally enough, the duo stared at Louise until she disappeared from view down the spiraling staircase. The girls turned to each other with a confused look before Kirche piped up. "Hey Tabitha, what do you think?" She said turning slightly to the quiet girl.
There was a moment of silence within the group before the blue-haired student answered. "I don't know..." She turned to the next page of her book and remained silent.
It was the dawn of night. With the sun setting and the sky fading from an orange hue to a growing dark blue glittered with white dots in the sky, Louise returned from the ward to her room. Once entering her dorm, she got to work changing into her night garb, removing her school uniform and slid onto her silky and thin pink one-piece pajamas. Without so much of a thought, she jumped onto her bed once she was done and sluggishly pulled at the covers.
She took ahold of her pillow as she nestled in her bed, her mind replaying the confrontation from earlier. She couldn't help but find those words echoing in her head, again and again till they blurred into the background. '
Just you wait! I'll summon a familiar more divine, more powerful, and more beautiful than anything you can ever ask for!'
Louise cringed. She made a face of disgust and groaned, frustrated, as she briskly went to stuff her face full of comfy pillows. The words felt so... foreign and sour.
"Why did I say that?!... I wish I hadn't said that..." She was teetering on the peak of whispering and yelling at the same time, smothering her face onto her pillow. It was one thing to make a promise but another thing for it to hold nothing to back it up. Never mind that she would have to come and deliver on that in front of her RIVAL no less! Louise tossed in bed, desperately trying to flush the memory.
Though she was quite exhausted from the labors of the day, the night was full of anticipation for the summoning ritual and the girl found herself more terrified every passing moment.
As the moons rose with the sky she frequently twisted and turned in her bed, unable to get a comfortable sleeping position. It was apparent she had difficulty finding some sleep. A deep frown was etched on her that entire night as her eyelids trembled heavily for the day to come.
The next morning as the sun rolled out and the first thinly veiled rays of sunlight pierced the room, Louise went over the same routine just as she did the morning before, though anxiousness fogged her head for the event that was soon about to transpose.
Going through the extra mile to prepare herself for the summoning, Louise fixed her bed, brushed every loose strand of her hair, and repeated the summoning chant over and over just stopping short of the final arc every time, motivating herself enough to stand tall with her head held high. She was a little sluggish in her movements that morning and, if you could peer closely at her eyelids, they were cast in a faint shadow.
When the dainty girl came upon her dresser and saw her reflection, she looked dismayed and quickly applied a layer of makeup around her cheeks, nose, and her eyelids wiping at them very ornately and carefully; she spent almost an hour there.
After making sure that her clothing wasn't jumbled up in any way, shape, or form, pulling at the seams checking for any wrinkles, Louise took her wand and left her dormitory making her way to the dining hall.
The second-year students were notified by the headmaster, since the first day of their return to the academy, to meet up together as a whole at the dining hall for breakfast where they'll eat plentifully and will be told what to do afterward in preparation for the momentous day of the familiar summoning. As expected, once Louise entered the grand tower, she was greeted with cheerful chatter and laughter.
A single long and large table dedicated for the would-be second years ran across the hall where the students were to be seated as white plates and dining utensils were lined up and placed in front of every chair. Butlers and maids roamed around, writing down orders, attentively making their way for other students to place a request, and assisted students in their seats.
Louise found herself staring at the staff coming from and going to the kitchen, moving and scrambling about like ants, though she quickly regained her bearings and went over to an open chair.
Many groups of friends formed and huddled together as they talked about mundane things, patiently waiting for their meal to arrive. The pinkette couldn't help but notice all the second-year students chatting with a cheerful tone; discussing the familiars they might have, what they'll hope it'll be, and how they'll reveal the prowess of the affinity the students have with their magic. She frowned slightly as she went and pulled the open chair along with her to the lengthy dining table.
The second years were very chatty, more so than they were at the beginning of the week, Louise noted.
She made no further attempt to socialize with the rest of the students as she decided to order a large and fine dish at length, preparing her willpower to be at its maximum this day to ensure a quality familiar. She made a brief glance around herself and found a maid; her dark-brown hair with freckles on her cheeks stood out amongst the crowd of servants and students alike, walking around the table with an empty silver platter on hand. Compared to the lighter tones of hair in the dining hall she appeared foreign and exotic.
The maid came her way as she finished handing out drinks for a group of students. Louise cleared her throat before speaking up to catch the maid's attention.
"Excuse me, commoner girl!" The maid in question turned to the pinkette in surprise. Upon seeing that the student was sitting without any refreshments on her spot, she quickly went over to Louise, adorning a polite smile.
"Yes?" The maid spoke, concerned for the small girl.
"I would like to place an order." Louise huffed. Wasn't it obvious what she called for?
"Oh!" The maid quickly took out a quill and a small notebook written with lists of orders. After turning to an empty page, she looked at the student earnestly. "How may I serve you?" Louise made her order and the maid wrote down her requests, completing the task quickly and efficiently before leaving for the kitchen.
Upon the disappearance of the maid, there was no trace of any staff member roaming around the dining hall. Louise took her waiting time to glance at her peers, noticing the red and blue duo sitting next to each other.
The redhead was chatting with the boys surrounding her while the blue-haired student read a book in silence. Louise continued down the table catching another group of unique students sitting together. The most noticeable being three blonde nobles surrounded by lots of girls. Louise huffed, satisfied that she wasn't taking part in any qualms with her peers.
After a quarter of an hour passed, the food the students requested was prepared as lines of maids and servants suddenly streamed from the kitchen to serve the student body. Silver platters littered the dining hall neatly as the students were served their dishes.
Before they could begin to feast to their heart's content, a chime from a small bell rang out three times signaling for the student's attention. The dining hall of students quieted as a moment later the headmaster came on stage to join the students, congratulating their graduation from freshmen to becoming second-year students on the first day of their second school year.
The students greeted the principal of the academy and the Headmaster returned with a "Good morning to you too, everyone!" Louise, although following along with her manners, remained separated from the jovial air around the dining hall.
Osmand took his place at one end of the table and cleared his throat. "I know that many of you here are looking forward to the summoning that will soon ensue, but I must let you know of a few things first before you get started." The second-years hushed their chatter and turned their attention to the Headmaster.
"The relationship between familiar and master is one that is lifelong. So, whatever Brimir shall bless upon you, you must accept as your partner accordingly for they will be at your side to help you grow into a proper mage." Osmand took a glance at three students, particularly Guiche, Kirche, and Montmorency, finding their focus put onto things other than the Headmaster's talk. "A little advice from an old man such as I, the sooner you accept your familiar, the easier it is for both the master and familiar to grow."
Louise felt her heart slowly race as she listened attentively to the Headmaster. This summoning was going to be the defining moment of her life and she had been praying for a familiar that can restore her social status amongst her peers.
Perhaps... it may even make her mother proud..? To have her smile just this once for her?
She listened carefully to his next few words. "Now with this out of the way today, as you know, is the day of summoning. A day that will assign you, the children of nobility, the responsibility of life; to care for the creations of God as you would yourself. It is a day in which all your parents and their parents and so forth have all undergone to successfully secure their oath to one of the most crucial events Brimir orchestrated for the development of the nobility. The familiar will perform your very will dutifully henceforth of this day. Furthermore my students, once you have been granted your life long servant, you will officially graduate to becoming second-years in the academy and a great responsibility will be placed upon your shoulders as your character molds throughout this semester. As I've said before, on the first day of the academy a few days prior, the familiar summoning is more than a tradition placed by our founder Brimir, but a rite. A passage if you will, where the student rises from being the children of nobility to the continent's future rulers; upholding our ancestral heritage and building upon the civilization that was forged by our forefathers a few millennia past. Just remember what I say next and keep it to heart."
The Headmaster paused and leaned slightly on the end of the table. He eyed the student body, and they watched in anticipation as he carefully chose his words. "In your journey to grow as a respectable noble model for all future nobility to apply correct governorship, there will be some troubles and tribulations that'll test your very character. This world demands much and it will challenge you along the way, you will understand eventually but, be not afraid of this new and seemingly inconceivable future because it will come by gradually. You'll hardly notice believe me. Remember that your familiar will always be there to accompany you, no matter what. Understand?" Old Osmand asked looking around the long table.
The whole of the student body agreed, nodding enthusiastically as they all replied "Yes, Headmaster Osmand!"
Old Osmand smiled underneath his thick coat of facial hair and relaxed nodding along slightly with the students, "Good, very good to hear."
The headmaster paused and leaned slightly on the end of the table, as his hands clasped together arms raising. "Now, enough with the foreboding milieu. I believe it is time we make our prayers: celebrating the day to come, giving thanks for the meals provided for us and/or requesting for clarity in the ritual is all welcome today, so if you'd like to pray for one or all of these, you're free to do so. If you desire to pray for something else that's perfectly fine too. If no words can be formed or you don't feel invested spiritually, you can always recite the prophet's prayer." The student body hummed loudly, content with the sermons presented to them and they nodded along with the headmaster, prepared to make their morning prayers.
Almost robotically in sync, the young nobles copied the headmaster's pose: hands locked together and arms leaning on the counter of the dining table as they bowed deeply and enthusiastically. At once the student body commenced with their prayers as Osmand led the morning prayers. The bearded man raised his palms to the sky, finding it helps him feel a sense of connection to heaven.
"O lord of the most above, our heavenly father, today we give thanks for this great feast which ye have provided us, in celebration of your most sacred rites for the children of the Lord; the most rightful owners of this land and dutifully made to rule the peasantry as decreed by your prophet and our founder Brimir..." The headmaster continued on with the prayers, gradually becoming more enraptured in it; his voice growing more hoarse and yet lively and fierce like a tiger's roar as he embedded himself to the prayers.
The dining hall fell into a hushed passionate silence as every student, entrenched in their own prayers diverging from Old Osmand, prayed for good fortunes with their familiars amongst other small requests like stronger faith, bravery, and confidence, as well the grievances they've had poured out from their prayers. The line of students likewise in this moment of prayer come upon their prophet Brimir to give them blessings for familiars that will be with them for all life, hoping that they will be at their side for all important tasks before them.
While everyone else robotically goes over their prayers they've memorized from heart or halfheartedly attempt anyways, Louise enveloped herself completely into her prayers; practically begging and on the edge of hysterics. She desired so much and held great expectations of this particular day, that this ritual will prove she's not some anomaly of nobility, but that her familiar will finally once and for all make clear to everyone else she is a mage belonging to one of the four corners of magic.
"Pleasepleaseplease founder Brimir! Just let me have this one day, just this once! Please let my magic work for me just this day if no other. I ask for no more I promise, I swear it! I need to know, I'm dutifully bound to understand my element so that I may carry out God's will as you said I should! I'm so drained of searching and failing to find my element over and over and over again for so long... I fear all my struggles to this end is driving me mad!" Louise pleaded to the heavens above, her voice losing all sense of formality in place of raw fear, desire, hope, and frustration in the baggage of this morning prayer.
"I-I beg of you Brimir, God! From the depths of my soul, p-please bless this humble servant to the Lord a familiar!" She cried out, startling some students nearby who stopped in their prayers momentarily to glance at the emotionally driven girl. "I'm not a zero! Today must prove it all! Please... t-this is everything for me!" She finds everyone turning to her, bemused at her clearly passionate loud prayers but they continue on with their morning prayer. After a moment thanks are given before the students are allowed to eat.
Another half-hour passed when most of the students were finishing up their morning meal, and as they began to chat amongst themselves fully committed on the topic of summoning, the middle-aged man Louise dealt with the other day showed up and stood nearby the entrance doors.
Colbert coughed into a closed fist loudly, to catch the attention of the gossipy teenagers before rapping his giant wooden staff a few times on the floor. The small beady eyes of the students in the dining hall aptly met his as they quieted barely above a whisper.
The Headmaster turned from his seat in the dining hall, wiping at his whiskers before he stopped as he caught the anxious but proud form of the professor. Old Osmand smiled and softened his features as he went to pull himself from his chair, with a creak against the rough cobblestone as he pushed the seat back against the table.
The principal sighed contently as he understood, "Ah, Mr. Colbert! Is it time already?" Osmand asked albeit rhetorically knowing the man would escort the to-be second-years to the courtyard. The professor, acknowledging the title with a nod, stood at attention and struck his staff against the cobblestone floor once more.
"That is so, Headmaster Osmand. The time for summoning is quickly approaching and plus, it's almost time for the rotation to my classroom anyways." The principal nodded with a warm smile. "Very well, you take the reins from here then. As for everyone else!—" Osmand rose his voice loud enough for the whole dining hall to hear "You are to follow along with my colleague and good friend here, Mr. Colbert, to the Vestri Courtyard. Come along now, destiny awaits!"
The Headmaster made his departure to his office, stalking along the wide and tall hallways of the central tower to the overwatch while the students stood up from their seats.
Mr. Colbert looked at the fading form of the older man disappearing to the boundless corridors of the building with a smile before he turned his attention to the students. He gestured to himself, raising his free hand, "Alright students, the day has finally come. Shortly from now you will participate in the 'Springtime Familiar Summoning' to acquire your lifelong servant and friend. Once you're done, you will officially advance into becoming second-years! So on that note, let us commence."
Gradually rows of students stood up from their chairs and left their dishes, many unfinished; because most played with the foods the servants toiled over for them to enjoy. Many didn't even bother to push their seats back into the table as they crowded together in a huddle, slowly spilling out of the dining hall as Colbert made his way to the Vestri Courtyard.
Most followed the professor out into the courtyard except a few stragglers catching up to the huddle of students and the lonesome pinkette; still chewing monstrously on her plate. Louise being the last to get up from her seat, wiped her mouth as she left her spot hurriedly, making sure to push her seat in as she went.
As Louise carried on along with the students, she noticed by the corner of her eye was servants, flocking to the table as they began their cleaning duty. Louise watched for a moment, entertained by the spindling servants coming to and fro.
'Like little ants.'
There was a crowd of students huddled together in the courtyard talking amongst themselves as professor Colbert made a headcount of all the students present that day.
"Montmorency... here. Kirche... here. Guiche... Guiche? Oh, there he is. Here. Malicorne... impossible to miss. Beatrice.. here as well. Seems that's most of everyone!" Colbert hummed to himself as he cataloged the class.
The professor announced the headcount to the students as he quickly double-checked his list for the class of second-years. "Hmmm, hmm, oh forgot one. Uh, Louise!" Colbert shouted, looking around for the pink top to make its appearance among the crowd. No voice came to respond after a moment and Colbert repeated himself, catching the attention of some students as he glanced at the vast courtyard.
"Louise Francoise de la Valliere!" Colbert repeated once more this time saying the Valliere girl's full name, putting in a harsher inflection in his tone of voice. Colbert waited expectantly but after a few seconds passed he shrugged believing the girl to have skipped out the day. "Well, it seems like miss Valliere is not—"
"Here! I'm here Mr. Colbert!" A voice called out from behind. Colbert turned a little bemused as the demure girl scampered her way to the courtyard waving madly to get his attention. Colbert sighed both out of disappointment for her tardiness and pleased to see her so he wouldn't have to write her up for skipping classes.
"Glad you could join us, Miss Valliere. We were about to begin the ritual. Alright, students join me... here." Colbert rose his voice, coming over to a spot in the courtyard where the grass was shaven down to where the blades barely passed a centimeter or two off the ground.
The spot of the courtyard appeared regularly shaven and maintained in great and delicate care than in comparison to the rest of the courtyard whose grass grows wilder and taller, uninterrupted.
The flock of students piled together as they trailed behind the middle-aged man and encircled the area where he stopped. Colbert felt around the ground making sure it was the correct spot. He smiled as he felt the exact same arches in the dirt as had been there the year prior and so on.
As the middle-aged man rose from the ground, he produced a piece of chalk upon the palm of his free hand, turning to the students. "Here...—" Colbert gestured to the area before him using his staff along with a warm smile, "—is the familiar summoning spot for the 'Springtime Familiar Summoning'. The third-years before you graduated into second-years this very spot as have many of your families and ancestors. And now so will you. This will be your first true test here at Tristain's Academy of Magic. This is the sacred day and the spot in which you will finally meet your familiars to spend the rest of your life living with as you grow to become the next generation of nobility. It is very sacred and hallowed ground, as this academy goes back to the time of Brimir's apostles where they planted their rites of Brimir's summoning incantation here. This academy, too, was built for the purpose of studying all about the magical code our founder streamlined for us which we have been using still to this very day. Traditions shall not change so long as you remain to uphold them and pass the knowledge along with your kin. The links to the past, to your greatest ancestral lineages, will continue onwards strong and unbroken once you understand this." Colbert shared this little tidbit of knowledge to the class who awed in their imaginations how many summonings from the continent's greatest figures of history went down.
Colbert coughed slightly clearing his throat. "Now to properly start the familiar summoning, everybody comes on together as a group." The students obeyed as they hunched up closer together.
Colbert nodded stoically. "Good. This is important as it allows every student a moment of attention for the grand ascension to become second-years amongst all their fellow classmates. No one should be feeling forgotten on this special day. It should be a memory you'll cherish with your friends and acquaintances for the rest of your time here in the academy." Some students laughed with each other as they imagine how they'll look catching an animal in front of the other students.
Colbert took the laughter as an invitation to initiate the summoning, and so he smiled holding up the piece of chalk.
"So, who wants to go first?"
The class quickly shut up.
"Alright, I believe that is everyone correct?" Colbert looked around the group of students as they all acquainted themselves with their familiars.
Many creatures, big, small, and strange, filled the air with excitement as the students fell into an atmosphere of wonder and awe. Most notably of the bunch, however, was Kirche's fire salamander who she named "Flame", holding the spotlight as she summoned what was quite possibly the most intimidating familiar out of the entire class.
Though everyone had a chance at standing at the center of the stage, Guiche pulled out a giant mole, Montmorency spawned a comparably tiny frog, and Malicorne summoned an owl.
Malicorne's familiar did surprise the students at first, since he had a great horned owl for a partner, though the awe quickly shifted to Kirche once it was her turn.
The professor glanced at his list as he marked down everyone that had successfully summoned a familiar. As far as he could tell, especially with all the wonder flying around, the class wasn't missing anything. "All right then. It seems everyone has summoned their familiar. I say we should head back to—"
"Excuse me Mr. Colbert, but I think we missed one person." A girl called out. Colbert turned to the girl in question and found Kirche kneeling haughtily next to her familiar. "I believe Miss Valliere is yet to have her turn." She spoke with a slight mock inflection.
Colbert blinked with bewilderment. He pulled out his list again, and for sure, right at the bottom of the list was Louise's name without a checkmark.
"It seems so..." The professor looked around the students, searching for the pinkette that was possibly standing amongst them. Oddly enough, the teacher found the girl hiding behind one of the tallest students in the class.
"Louise! You haven't gone up yet. You're the last to go on this list, so this should be quick."
The tall student in question became confused and pointed at himself. "Um... sir. I'm not Louise."
The professor quickly followed up to clarify the confusion. "Pardon me. I'm speaking to the girl standing behind you."
"Behind me?" The tall student turned around, and sure enough, Louise was right behind him watching the other students, her eyes scouring the crowd with anxiousness.
The pink-haired student flinched, realizing that she had been caught. And due to the conspicuously perfect timing of Colbert's social cue, Louise was left with the conventional obligation to participate in the summoning ritual which commandeered a walk to the spotlight.
"What's wrong, Louise the Zero?" Kirche mocked. "From what you've told me yesterday, you were quite confident for today's ritual, yet you're hiding behind your classmate as if you're afraid of something."
Louise quickly hopped from her hiding spot and tried thinking of a retort. "T-t-that's... because... I wanted to get some shade from the sun!" She huffed and made her way to the summoning spot.
"Hey! I'm not a sun blocker!" The tall student yelled, raising a fist in the air. "And what gives you the right to insult me? You can't even use magic, right guys?" The student turned to his two closest classmates and awkwardly found them lined up where his shadow lay.
"It's as they say. Maybe you'll just end up making another explosion after this." Kirche added.
Demeaning comments sprouted from the class as they took the chance to chime in their frustrations to the little girl. Though they soon quieted to whispers as Colbert silenced them.
Louise stood in the opening where the chant was to be made. She remained staring off into space as she remembered everything that led up to this point. Her heart hammered violently in her chest, as she begrudgingly came into position, standing at the very spot Kirche stood to cast her familiar.
She pulled out her wand, which she stored in the depths of her shirt, before holding it down between her hands, glazing her eyes around it.
Louise mindlessly felt around the wand as her fears continued to eat at her. At that moment Louise's senses went on overdrive. Every brush of the wind and whispers, every smell that permeated from her peers and familiars, her vision blurred everything apart from the things near her sight as she could only focus on her wand in the palms of her hands.
Finally, she grips the handle of the wand tightly. She could feel the sweat on her palms mixing in with the fine wood.
Louise looked to the ground underneath her, checking and rechecking that she was exactly in the correct form before she glanced back to the rest of the students standing at attention. Kirche among the rest of the second-years stared at her with a sneer, silently egging her to go on.
"Well, Louise, what's the hold-up? I'm real sure the familiar you'll summon will be truly something else~... If you can even summon one!"
Professor Colbert frowned slightly at the scene before him. The disrespect displayed against one of their own in such a distasteful manner especially in a time as important as this nagged at him sourly, but he did not feel the need to intervene for the Valliere girl's sake; not yet anyway.
Louise turned at a glance at Colbert, who met her eyes and nodded holding out his chalk piece for her. Louise tentatively grasped the chalk, like a golden egg; so precious and so dearly fragile.
She turned to the summoning circle and slowly made her way to it before taking one more step and stopping at just the edge. Louise gripped the end of the chalk so delicately with such care and hope as she presented it to the sky, before pulling it back to her and kissing gently at its edge.
Some in the crowd sniggered as they saw Louise kiss something so dirtied and used like it were some bruised baby.
Now was the time to begin, lest there be nothing left for her. Her destiny remained solely in the hands of this ritual. Louise banked on everything of her waking living nightmare for this moment. There was nothing left, no alternatives, no other methods to find her true elemental designation besides this. It was all or nothing and she couldn't fail now, not where it mattered the most. The pressure was too intense for this girl, who barely lived her life up to this moment.
Louise wanted to cry, so badly.
"Into your hands, I place my faith..."
Louise whispered airily. A look of shame crossed the girl as she stared at the ground, downcast. Her heart weighed heavily in this burden, this ultimatum faced before her. None heard Louise, though a certain blue-haired girl paused momentarily in her reading to raise a brow.
The demure girl squatted to her knees as she held her occupied hand just above the grass, hesitant and unsure. Still, she persisted with a heavy heart as it made landing to the ground. Now there was no going back. Louise drew across the ground making the exact figure and symbol the ritual required to summon the familiar.
Louise, standing up and tugging at her sleeves and straightening the wrinkles in her clothing stood upright portraying this vestige of confidence were none stood, turned back to the summoner's spot before beginning her incantation.
"Brimir, our grand founder that always guides us when we are in need..."
Louise commences with the exact wording, inflection, and tone supposed to be used when summoning a familiar, but a heavy dreadful temper drips in her tongue.
Her hands trembled as she put her words together.
"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière appeal to you, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate..."
Louise's heart beat faster and faster until she could feel her pulse beating wildly in her throat. Every word that escaped her mouth felt breathless. Her voice felt dry, heavy, so airy and so light a hug could take her breath away. It felt as if she was driven to suffocating on her own words. Her chest felt so uncomfortable like it wanted to contort and clamp all the air she had left. Her tongue stuck out slightly as she so desperately needed a gasp of air her stubborn anxiety refused to give.
Still as she closed her eyes, Louise held on, finding and clasping on to every ounce of strength left in her to open her lips, to raise her tongue; to prepare her voice.
"I summon my familiar."
Her heart pounded wildly and rang blindly in her ears. She could feel the blood coursing throughout her head; her mind felt light and her vision blurred as she slowly pulled up her wand, holding it with such grace like there ever was in all of Halkeginia, pointing all of her hopes and dreams at the very end of her hand.
"Add to my guidance and appear!"
Louise whipped her wand down with all her might, putting all her deepest desires forth. Louise hitched a breath and gasped; shuddering in shock of the furious desperation that sprung from within. Louise felt her very being flowing into the wand as she completed the swing like so many before her had done; the exact movement the tradition and ritual upheld long before her, since Brimir's time.
The students behind her flinched in their spots, cowering and holding each other close as they awaited the explosion that always followed. Kirche and her circle of friends took a step back as they mentally prepared themselves for the shockwave to come. Colbert stood among them to the side, waiting patiently.
They all waited; for the explosion, for the pain, for whatever may pass through. They waited and waited some more. A few seconds passed to more seconds, and those seconds passed to a minute, and a minute passed to a few minutes.
...
Nothing.
There was nothing.
There was no explosion, no snap in the wind, not even the sparkle of magic flowing through the air as a spell was conducted. There was simply nothing, merely the disturbance of the grass by the cool wind passing through the morning.
Behind the girl, the class, her peers her fellow nobles turned and looked amongst each other with wide eyes and twitching moving mouths.
What happened? What went wrong?
Hushed voices break out in the tense silence, a zeal of shock and horror overcome the student's voices as the failure in front of their very eyes dawned on them.
Louise couldn't cast this spell, not even an explosion appeared.
Nothing was there, and the collective thought of her peers was that if Louise couldn't perform the ritual even once, as was dictated by the tradition set forth by Brimir,she was truly nothing.
Louise had nothing going for her in the academy: she was talentless, friendless, and very unsociable. She was the very bottom in the social circles of the academy. Her magic performance was the worst the school had ever seen in all its history. If there was one thing she held onto proudly it would be her grades and even then, compared to her peers, it was nothing to write home about.
Her time here was nothing but a daily fight and a living hell that chipped away at Louise, all of which chewed her up and broke her down. Louise knew it was a losing battle every day in the academy and all the time spent with her peers. her fellow students, and classes for physical magic only reinforced the feeling of exclusion. All the pain she suffered here, then, and now vindicated that judgment.
Louise herself was utterly frozen in place, like a statue. The only movement from her is the slight heave of her chest as she breathed silently.
The hushed silence grew louder. Theories and rumors get thrown about clearly out in the open, loud enough for Colbert to pick up on and isolate individually to lone nobles, but even then as the shocked silence gradually sprouts into a fervor of spilling emotion, Louise did not bother with them.
The only noise that reached her is the beating of her heart thrumming painfully in her ears and the sounds of her own breathing.
Louise was consumed so violently in a flourishing wave of emotion she, at that moment, was incapable of thought. Grief enveloped the girl hungrily in an inferno of despair and self-hatred.
Anger pierced her with every passing moment. She flinched each time her mouth widened, twitching for a devastated scream that could never escape her throat. Denial clamped on them both down feverishly and so tightly in an attempt to hold herself together, but every other moment her grief rips out with renewed and empowered vigor more fiercely than the last, setting upon their vengeance without mercy.
Louise's mouth quivered violently. Her eyes welled up and her face, her cheeks, felt warm with pain. All these turmoiling emotions chipped and sunk deeper unto the poor girl, eating at Louise mercilessly as she watched the fading future that was ripped from her.
A future that never could've belonged to her.
In the scrambling loud rumor mill amongst the large crowd of second-years, someone breaks away from the emotionally consuming madness. As Colbert recovered from his moment of bewilderment for the fragile girl, he blinked suddenly, coming back to his senses with the shake of his head.
He readjusted his glasses as he took a step forward and tried to call out to the poor girl. Worry and empathy in-kind graced his tone of voice as he attempts to console the unresponsive Louise.
"Miss Valliere, are you okay? Can you listen to me? I know this is—!" Colbert spoke reaching a hand out to grasp her shoulder when to his surprise, she violently reared around facing him with such sadness, such anger, such crushing devastation, pure undiluted grief poured from her starry wet eyes.
He choked upon his words and froze as Louise spoke.
"May I try the summoning ritual again." Louise rather demanded than asked, her voice hoarse with silent cries as she very sharply, very passionately, and angrily tore the words from her mouth as she looked up upon the professor's eyes and beyond them, searching deep within him.
The professor remained still, staring back and regarding the girl again with a regretable look. Colbert closed his eyes and sighed, pinching his spectacles, merely fumbling with them.
"I... I'm afraid that I cannot allow that, miss Valliere," He spoke with such honest discomfort, he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes as he regrettably said what he needed to say.
This is a very sacred ritual, so sacred because it was performed and made personally by their founder, their prophet Brimir only once. To break that tradition which had been upheld for so long since Brimir's livelihood would be utter blasphemy and sacrilege to the importance of the ritual without some very specifically circumstantial reasons for the repeat of the spell. While this itself is circumstantial and could fit the bill for a retake, Colbert had the sinking nasty feeling even a repeat would not give Louise a familiar.
Louise looked upon Colbert as her starry watery eyes threaten to spill large desperate tears. "Please, I just made a mistake! Can I try the summoning ritual again!"
Colbert looked down in uncertainty and pity for the girl as he juggled the request in his head. It was incredibly important for a noble such as herself to have a familiar, not just merely out of tradition set forth by Brimir, but also a necessity for any respectable noble to carry out their ordained heavenly duty; to proselytize upon the earth and be plentiful among their people as was delivered and ordained from God through Brimir.
Louise was stuck between a rock and a hard place; without her familiar, she is no legitimate noble nor a mage, and as such cannot fulfill that heavenly duty God set forth. But at the same time the girl was incredibly religious within her peers more so than most, and would be a disservice to the faith to have her cast out despite her sacrifices and loyalty to it.
The gradually rising voices of the students behind Colbert get even louder. The professor unhooked himself from his thoughts, turning to the group of students as they whispered amongst themselves about the uncertain future of the girl. Small pockets of vicious laughter broke out of students knowing and fully expecting she'd fail even this important task.
Colbert returned from his disappointed glance of the class and looked back at Louise who still stared at him desperately, putting all her hope with whatever may come forth from his mouth in an attempt to drown out the increasingly invasive chattering rumor mill surrounding her.
The laughter, the teasings, and theories suddenly jump in intensity as the crowd point at Louise with a mirthful look upon them, pure vicious joy directed at her failure and presence.
Louise cringed and hid her face, no longer finding strength and effort to drown out the voices and each bellow from the students makes her shrink back.
Colbert frowned. This was unacceptable behavior.
The professor glanced behind to the rest of the students. With a shadow cast over his features and gruff undertone to his voice, Colbert yelled at them. "Silence at once!" The older gentleman demanded with such authority and power held over the crowd of students, his voice pierced through the veiled webs of their developing voices like a screeching hawk, striking his wooden staff harshly against the ground to further signify his point.
The crowd noticeably flinches at the sudden and violent outcry coming from such a respectable and calm man, and a layer of fear was compounded even further as the staff he held was buried in the dirt and his eyes devoid and drained of the sheen of life and emotion that reflected from the light, now appearing a dull cloudy blue.
He seemed so emotionless and drained.
The mass of students before the duo quickly and immediately obliged his demands as they silenced and cut off their conversations behind him.
Colbert turned to Louise who so consciously tried to make herself appear small before the haggle, she was slanted over her head downcast and her knees slightly buckled. She seemed to humble herself before her peers, in some reflexive learned action against the blows to her.
Colbert sighed with a torn mind as he finally settled his opinion on the matter. "Miss Valliere..."
Louise acknowledged the voice, without inflection to his voice as it appeared before her monotonously with a small faint nod.
"I want you to understand what I'm about to say very carefully and closely, because I feel it deserves your conscious judgment in it, understand?"
Louise glanced at the middle-aged man, still answering with an insecure nod. The thin line of the professor's lips widened.
"Alright, as you know—" Colbert turned to the students with an annoyed glare, "And everyone else knows!—" The class yelped as he caught them speaking up once more. "The 'Springtime Familiar Summoning' is a rite of passage for all developing nobles, and it can only be done once as per tradition dictates. A one and done deal because our founder only ever did it once to showcase to his followers."
Louise whispered shamefully unable to meet his eyes. "I understand, I—"
"But, there is some leeway to this tradition. Some exceptions if you will."
At the brief mention of exceptions, Louise noticeably perked up and she went to look at him, curious and hopeful. Colbert looks to Louise and beyond her as he continued.
"This continent's history is long and ever constantly separated and distant to the past and full of strange events since Brimir's passing, even stranger than fiction sometimes dare I say. Regardless, circumstances like your current situation, Louise, is not too uncommon in Halkeginia's history. There have been plenty of documented findings that have men retry the familiar summoning, but most if not all of them retook it because their familiar's passed before they did. And so they needed to have one as soon as possible to continue their due to the lord." Colbert spoke softly as he regurgitated the events, knowledge, and records of history that played through his mind into his tongue and voice.
Louise stood still for a moment, processing his words gradually as she carefully decided the next words to say.
"I... think I understand, but... what does this mean for me? Am I..." Her voice trailed off due in part her breathlessness, and her fear of retribution for even suggesting to retry the ritual in front of her professor again.
Colbert shifted his head down to meet Louise's eyes.
"I believe you qualify for a second chance miss Valliere, however, a second chance only. This is already treading a very thin line with the church. Any more than what is allowed, I'm afraid I cannot condone in good consciousness. Punishment fitting for abusing the goodwill of your professors will be great."
Louise glanced at the palms of her hands to contemplate Colbert's words and her own moral quandary, and as she looked between the threads of skin interwoven to create her uniquely shaped palm print, she clenched her hands squeezing her fingers into her palms a few times as she shut her eyes.
Within Louise's mind flashed all her failures; from socializing to magical performance, to the constant look of disappointment and shame in her mother's eyes as they cross sights, and the hot flash of resentment burrowed within her cried out indignantly with a feverish desire to prove the world wrong.
Louise took a long cool breath. She opened her eyes and turned to Colbert, nodding gratefully. The professor meanwhile maintained a steeled look, giving no indication of displeasure or comfort in her choice as he simply nods back and takes his place with the rest of the class.
Once more all the beats are hit as Louise takes her place in the summoning spot, her soles resting on the edge of the grass with great attention and care. Digging her heels into the earth she rose both her arms and brought them above her head gradually and delicately in the striking pose of a symphonic composer.
The scene that came next was so astonishing as the focused girl raised her voice and spoke with such hope and sorrow lain underneath, it passionately overcame her normal tone of voice with dramatic effect. Her voice lowered a few pitches and rose in power and grief.
Louise perfected the exact positions to take in the ritual, and within the profound few moments the girl had to make such movements, practically flew through the motions of the ritual with flying colors, throwing down all the correct lines with purpose, honor, and devotion heavily re-emphasized in the incantation.
"Heed before my command, and appear!"
Louise flicked her wand down before she guided its continuous flowing path with a controlled swing, winning the midst of a shuddering breath.
Like a whip, she completed her swing, finalizing her incantation as the end of the wand pointed straight ahead. Again, the shuffling students surrounding Louise in the distant vague shape of a semi-circle shifted slightly in their feet, grimacing as she uttered the last few lines, and cautiously draped their cloaks over them to protect themselves from the explosion, but...
Nothing happened.
There was no explosion.
The tick, that little fuse, that swing was never answered. The plumes of smoke ensuring the girl's journey to her redemption amongst her world and to herself, which would lead to possibly the most renowned adventure lead by a mage and her familiar... never happened.
Her hands shook and noticeably shift rapidly in place becoming more violent with each passing second until she let go of her wand; it thudded quietly against the soft grass blades, rolling away from Louise momentarily until it came to a stop. Her hands continued shaking in place until Louise clasped at them so tightly her palms were a shade of red. Her wrists shook instead.
If there was one thing, if just one thing only, that kept her going, was a vainly dying belief that somewhere in her hid an element she belonged to.
An element that just needed to be discovered.
An untapped blooming proficiency in magic that just needed to be unlocked.
...The miracle that was trapped inside her.
Louise held onto such hope so dearly like a treasure. But now? Now, she was truly devoid of the one possession, the only possession that ever truly mattered, that she was so furiously adamant on having.
Her magic.
This anomaly, this... failure stunned even the quiet, emotionless Tabitha, who lowered her book and watched with a deathly stillness to her. An indescribable look struck the apathetic girl's face as she stared at the shaking once prideful and loudmouthed girl realize her shattering world. Even the stoic law-abiding professor Colbert became stunned, his eyes widening slightly as his brows raised.
His spectacles drooped slightly on his nose, but he didn't pull them up... only resorting to watching in amazement and pity for the young girl.
There was nothing for Louise, nothing this school could offer anyways.
No friends, no acceptance amongst her peers, no help for her magical illness, no good grades, and no comfort for all her troubles.
She was nothing here; nothing anywhere in Halkeginia.
Louise felt her soul shatter horrifically as she grew aware of the accomplishments she made in the academy since the very first day she enrolled here.
Zero.
Kirche bit her cheeks. It was one thing to expect total and utter chaos after a summoning chant, but to see an end result of nothing, a complete and utter failure twice?
It was so... absurd. So baffling.
Entirely out of expectation, just like Louise.
The whole situation was too stupid to comprehend for the flaming redhead, to the point Kirche couldn't stop herself from an arising giggling fit.
Tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she recalled Louise's clearly empty words of promise. There was nothing the pink-haired student could actually do except study and bicker annoyingly, defensive against her classmates who all but hated her for reasons that could be listed almost infinitely, always derived from her dreadful "personality." Yet, to experience the most evident tragedy that was Louise's future crumbling before her very eyes were too hilarious.
And after such a dramatic show about it too!
Louise adamantly tried to prove to everyone she was worth something, but in the end with everything piling up on her in the midst of the mob along with the dawning expression she displayed, she truly was worth nothing in magic; a real zero.
It was down-right hysterical.
Kirche's giggles suddenly burst into laughter. She had to use every last bit of her focus to keep herself on her two feet since her own laughter had nearly caused her to overtly keel over.
The rest of the class was still stuck in the awkward phase of standing defensively versus staring thoroughly dumbfounded at the lone Louise, however, as the students heard laughter replacing the silence in the air, it was almost uncannily natural to follow the lead.
With a vicious cheer, the students began to collectively attack Louise in a peal of ironic piercing laughter.
Why did some of them start chuckling?
No one ever really cared nor wondered why as soon as they found themselves laughing alongside each other. For the most part of their blurred conclusion, the students said time and time again that Louise could amount to nothing.
And they were right.
A feeling of pure vindication and spiteful anger within the pinkette boiled over and spilled out amongst the gaggle of brats.
The students behind her whose boisterous hollering broke the tense silence, viciously broke out into full-on laughter as they look over and watch the infamous troublemaker of the academy stumbling over and embarrassing herself, displaying such emotions outwardly as a member in this prestige elite of higher society.
The sight before them was pathetic; nobles don't cry over their failures. This behavior belonged only to the lowly commoners. It was especially stupid for someone as ridiculously prideful and stubborn as Louise to suddenly be overwhelmed by the outer forces charging at her and the barriers she put up to continue this front of power.
It all but cobbled down and fall.
Louise meanwhile, her back still facing the crowd in the midst of her social destruction appearing before her very eyes, shakily reached up to her head, grasping at her ears with a fierce intensity as she desperately tried to clog the noises from reaching her ears.
She shook her head, violently, trying with a feverish temper in her heart to quell the stigmatizing bellows of "Told ya," at her series of failures.
She shut her eyes as her lips bobbed up and down empty words.
She suddenly opened her eyes as she tore her hands from her frazzled pink hair and stared at them, looking between them and her wand a ways away.
"Useless, useless, useless..!"
She jerked herself to her wand and went to raise it, appearing to throw it away but sagged in her spot as she heard the gauding voices of the students behind her, egging her to throw it for all she's got.
She, with a regrettable tug of war within her mind of anger and righteous justice, brought the wand down and held it within her hand down to her sides as it quaked violently in her grip.
Then, the mob of emotionally compromised children began wheezing maniacally as Louise hesitated to do as she was told.
"Look how pathetic she was! The girl was groveling at their commands!"
The slumped girl suddenly stood from her spot as she brought her form together with great effort, cobbling her legs together and dragging herself upright like a proper noble even as hot-red anger stemmed and toiled excessively within the small girl.
For the first time, Louise came to face the gaggle of students as she slowly turned to her peers, her tormentors, with a refocused sight and state of mind.
The girl faced her fellow nobles who've she tried so desperately to compromise with, to relate with, sacrificing her 'self' in a vain attempt of fitting in with her peers. Her previous attempts to create friends over the course of her time in the academy lost all semblance of effort in frustration of their audacity.
She opened her mouth, finding her voice flying out of her. Louise's hoarse voice howled at her aggressors.
"Shut up, Shutup, SHUTUP! You don't understand; you will never understand the pain of what it's like to be me every single day in this stupid building, trapped here with you lot!"
Louise tried to overpower the frustrating biting tone of laughter coming from the hecklers in the huddle of students, but all that did was make them laugh even louder and more maliciously as they notice snot dribbling down to her lips, and they thoroughly mock her for it. Louise, with a trembling mouth, went to use her sleeve to wipe her tears, but all she ended up doing in her haste to clean her face of nasty impurities resulted in her makeup smeared and stained onto her sleeve.
The sun was nearly overhung as the long process of familiar summoning cut up a large chunk of time outside, and with Louise's attempt, the afternoon was just around the corner. The intensity of the heat was starting to get to Louise.
The emotionally compromised girl moved about erratically, shifting on the soles of her feet, inching closer to the rest of the students in the intensity of the sun, the sweat trailing down her neck uncomfortably, and her rage messed with her high mental capabilities and she acted out of pure emotion, pure feeling.
Her head was hung low and the bangs of her hair draped in front of her eyes, covering her face and hiding the intensity of her fiery rose eyes in the thick strands of her pink hair.
She went to raise her wand, but before anything could be done, a cry rang out incredibly powerful and dense.
Immediately the hyenas shut their traps instantaneously, both out of confusion from a force holding their voice down and shock.
Louise and the rest of the students turn to the origin to find professor Colbert scowling with a darkened look overcoming him. Colbert was noticeably slouched over and he held onto the staff with both his hands as he breathed deeply for a few passing moments, before he felt enough rest to stand straight and collect himself.
"I..." He breathed trying to hold his tone of voice, before the middle-aged man steeled himself, pressing forward. "...would like to believe I grew and developed a great deal of understanding of the human complex and behavior in my time here in this life, but..."
He glared with truly genuine disappointment at the haggle of students that were supposed to be the future of the nobles. "But, here I understand I've been sorely mistaken in my diagnosis of the human mind and its ever-present evils between us all, no matter the age and class."
His cold blue and cloudy eyes scanned the huddle of students, making direct eye contact with every student he could see, laying the blame squarely on the individual.
"Nobility, should and ought to show respect with their fellow nobles. You are not commoners who harangue and harass each other until they have satiated their sudden lusts of power and dominate the other without mercy! You restrain yourself; you do not indulge in the spirit of the flesh! That is respectable, honorable, chivalrous, and expected of nobility! That is you; you belong to the nobility for Brimir's sake! The elite society, the best of the best people in the land, and one day the continent's future rulers. O what're you looking lost at? You peddle this ranking around arrogantly day-by-day as if it means your default undeveloped person is wholly justified to being as is, that no work be put into upholding what's expected of a noble, and yet when you're asked to act and be a noble you ditch the charade when it's "too much" effort?! You must hold yourself to a higher standard than this!"
Colbert slammed his staff into the ground reiterating his point with due power to it, commandeering attention and discipline from the students.
The class backed away, flinching from him. Colbert stared at them for a few tense minutes before he sighed, readjusting his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head shamefully.
The professor looked up to the haggle of students and he raised his voice loud enough for all to hear, "Class is dismissed... it's clear we cannot continue on as is anymore. Go to your dorms and remain there for the rest of the day. Think about what you've done today and acquaint yourself with your familiars as you stay there. That's the least you can do after this unbecoming behavior consumed you all."
The professor sternly dismissed them, ending the class session on a bitter, sour, note.
The students nod vigorously in unison, still silent, and soon after they make way for their dorms flying off in bunches, scattering across the courtyard to their respective towers to acquaint themselves with their familiars and enjoy what remained of the rest of the afternoon.
As the courtyard was cleared of the students littering its green fauna and beauty, Colbert focused his attention behind him.
Louise slanted over, feet crossed and hair hanging loosely around her face when she suddenly and abruptly, like a shattered dam, broke out in a shrill cry. Her wails were monstrous in intensity, and broken as the girl was suddenly overcome in a fit of hiccups. Louise's voice hitched, trembling. She stumbled over her own words as her grief overwhelm her voice.
Every word that came out of her lips were broken, stammered, and uneven as she desperately tried to find a reason why she couldn't summon a familiar:
The day was hot.
She had a restless sleep.
She was clouded with conflicting emotions throwing off her judgment and precision of the spell, or Kirche's stupid face haunted her as she made the spell...
But, none of her reasoning could bring her any sort of comfort, and her heart was burrowed in this sorrow.
She failed her mother; she failed herself, her family.
Her wand slipped from her hand and she collapsed onto her knees, fully succumbing to grief. She hugged the ground and bowed so close to the earth her head touched the floor. Louise didn't care how she looked at this moment, how dirty she was, or how unsightly she made herself before other nobility and her family name, for her grief was too great for her mind to think rationally.
Louise brought her arms over her head as she desperately tried to hide her tears, to beg for forgiveness for whatever sins she may have committed to being ostracized from everyone as she roughly wiped her face with her sleeve, getting it damp with her tears.
Colbert sighed at the unsightly little girl, pitying the unfortunate circumstances that maliciously brought the proud Louise to this. He made no effort to try and get Louise's attention, to break her grief and console the lonely abandoned girl. There was little, if anything, he could do now for her except give her space and time to grieve.
Colbert, as he stood there unsure of what to do, peered at the position of the sun and squinted his eyes as he cast his hand over his forehead, noticing the sun directly above him.
The professor once more sighed in discomfort, shaking his head as he realized the paperwork he would have to deal with; to notify the parents of the second-years shameful behavior they committed against Louise, nevermind reshuffling and rescheduling class work for today to be retaken another time. He scratched the back of his head unsurely as he understood with solemn hesitation he would have to get going soon to fill out those papers and attend meetings to begin the next study session for his other students in their third-year.
Colbert turned to leave, and as he took a step away from the unfortunate girl, he stopped, glancing back to the pinkette. He closed his eyes and with a somber tone to his voice, he spoke up once more, gentle with his delivery.
"I'm... so sorry, Miss Valliere."
Louise continued as she was on the floor, a mess of bungled and sullied hair staining the earth with her tears as the ground soaked it up, not making any indication that she heard him. Colbert hung his head low, ashamed for not doing something earlier before he pressed onwards, walking away from the broken girl towards the large doors of the central tower.
Eventually, Louise was left to herself; the only living soul still remaining in the courtyard.
The shrieks and bellows of her grief, her fears, and sorrows fade away gradually as the long minutes of boiling harmful emotions cascade with the flow of time, where the minutes passed and the hours grew. Eventually, those horrifying glimpses to the soul of pain within the miserable girl subside as Louise silently cried a flow of tears.
Her weeping faded away as her hiccups grew stronger but fainter, and once more, those toiling emotions battled for control with the girl as her mind came to work. She realized with horror what she did in front of all the students and the teacher, yet after pondering on the thought, she then wondered with an uncertain hesitance where she would go from here.
Louise finally sat up, adjusting her form and leaned back as far as her spine would allow her. Her head drooped back staring at the bright yellow sun. She looked so miserable, so hopeless at this moment, appearing like the embodiment and depiction of loss, of grief, of sorrow in an artist's work.
Louise wiped away her tears with an unthinking purpose, ignoring the stains she left on her sleeves, getting them wet, messed up with her tears, her snot, and makeup. A little puddle of her tears had formed in front of the girl's knees. Louise glanced down at it, finding the reflection of her self; her ugly little face.
She was no stranger to that ugly sight before her and what it carried; her hair was mottled in braids of dirt and sweat, her face ruined by the stains of her makeup that dribbled down and dropped to the puddle.
She appeared like a monster, an ugly unwanted beast.
Louise sniffled now, uncaring for her looks as she merely let herself swim in her thoughts until suddenly, she recalled Colbert's passing words. Louise remained on her knees for a few moments just... thinking.
She turned to the sky to see it still a shade of deep blue. Though through a bitter civil war of denial of the previous failures and truths that were self-evident before the poor girl, Louise had, albeit reluctantly, come to terms with the future she should've had. That was her promised future as was deserving of a Valliere to be well and truly over.
By the end of the day and in the reign of nightfall, her funds and her time abroad here in the institute would be over. And in a few days, her mother, Karin, would come to pick her up and drive them both away from the building, never to cross its path again as she would be set up and groomed for marriage to save face; living the rest of her life with the knowledge she was married off for political gain for the family. Still, the sky was blue and the sun still soared high. It was not nightfall, yet.
Louise's mind crossed a new region, a new and dangerous region within the depths of her mind as she recalled something of interest the professor let spill out.
"There have been plenty of documented findings that have men retry the familiar summoning..."
Louise pondered on those words for an unhealthy amount of time and suddenly her acceptance of her situation changed. Now she poked and prodded at the thought and gradually became enamored with it, and she tried reasoning and justifying to no one but herself that the day was not over; and that she could still get a familiar. Her hands rested in her lap, Louise glanced down to her hands and her wand. Louise wanted and desired above all to overcome the ultimatum her mother imposed if Louise could not prove her magic affinity with summoning a familiar.
All but a few sniffles escaped out of Louise as she stood from her spot groggily, her legs felt numb as she grasped her wand tenderly, and with a dying fading hope. The girl adjusted her grip on the stick holding it between the palms of her hands as she inspected the fine woodworkings. The name "Valliere" could be seen etched onto the grip of the wand. Louise frowned as she clasped the stick tightly. Looking to the sky, she finds a white dove soaring high above.
As Louise gathered her strength and she huddled her legs upright, her head hung low with a fiery passion burning within. Tentatively as she took a step and wobbled in place, perplexed to the rush of blood flowing through her legs, she glanced at the entranceway to the building. Louise turned, taking another step.
And another.
The periodic steps reached a routine and Louise gradually made her way out of the courtyard.
"No, no... I'm sorry, professor."
It was midway through the evening when Louise finally stopped walking. The girl, with a renewed determination and vigor in her step, walked for a few long hours under the intensity of the sun and away from the academy, far from any prying judgmental eyes.
She arrived at the entrance to the forest a long way away from the institute where she could rest and take shade underneath the leaves from the numerous trees dotting the land. Louise breathed heavily as she leaned into the closest tree she could find, placing her hand on its smooth bore surface. She slid her palm down as she leaned forward, before turning around and sat back into its bark as she dropped to the grassy canvas underneath her.
The girl sighed, comforted and relieved sitting there for a while. The only sounds accompanying her were the soft but constant intakes of breath as she tried to get air back in her system.
Louise's eyes were half-lidded as she merely watched the scenery before her. The silence of the meadows were accompanied by the cool winds blowing in from the mountains, brushing the grass around her like an ocean wave. It was like music to the girl's ears as she recalled a scene similar to one she witnessed a few long years ago.
Leaflets pricked themselves free amongst the wind and caught themselves between her large clomp of hair. Some nicked her cheeks and exposed skin and it tickled; she laughed, feeling amused.
After a moment a frown found itself upon her lips, albeit subdued as she just simply thought to herself, watching the scene before her. She felt sweat trailing down her skin, notifying her of the premise that is an uncomfortable pose stuck in stuffy clothes. Like any normal girl, Louise rose a hand and fanned herself, turning to look at the sky.
The rosy pink and darkening hues of the sky seemed so beautiful like the individual warm colors within the layers of a cake, full of sweet enriching tastes. The meadow whispered sweet nothings around her like the chirping of the birds and the fluttering of wings. Somehow, the environment had calmed the girl down, letting her take a break from the reality that she had left behind at the academy.
Louise laid her hand down onto the grass, letting her mind wander to the sounds of Alfheim. It was encapsulating to just listen to the breeze pass by.
She remained sitting under the tree for a few moments, emptying her thoughts of anything about the past, present, and future. It was if she were just being, without any interruptions.
Louise slowly leaned forward and stood up from her spot. She brushed off the dust that had settled onto her skirt and whisked away any dirt and leaves that were caught up in her hair. After ensuring that she was somewhat clean, she pulled out a small stick of chalk from her pocket. It was the same chalk piece that Colbert handed to the class for the summoning ritual, and though the professor may have forgotten about it, Louise decided to keep it. Besides, she was going to be quite busy for the remainder of the day and the chalk was necessary for her plan.
With one glance at the chalk, Louise replayed the statement Colbert made back at the academy once more in her mind, whispering the words to herself as if confirming something.
The pinkette took ahold of the chalk with determination and made a promise to herself. "If I can't summon a familiar by the dawn of moonlight, then I must accept my mother's terms."
Louise kneeled down to the ground, drawing the chalk piece down.
After recreating the symbol required for the familiar summoning, Louise brought out her wand and performed the same actions she used for the ritual. It was from beginning-to-end exactly synonymous to what she had already done earlier, and by that point on, Louise experimented.
She chanted, she moved with precision, she even tried using her non-dominant hand to make the chant, but every attempt she made by far had come up with nothing happening. For every piling failure, her spirits soured and she fell deeper into a depressive slump. Despite this, however, with every crack at the summoning, she remained persistent even as her breaths became more labored and harsh, and the chalk withered away as did her strength to stand with every attempt made.
At some point, Louise became more creative with her incantations. She began to lose track of how many failed attempts she made, though the number of tries didn't matter to her. The pinkette tried using a dramatic tone, she stood in the middle of the symbol, she tossed her wand up in the air expecting it to float. No matter what she did, no matter the force behind the dedication to the works, it all amounted to nothing every single time.
With every failed incantation Louise was losing the strength to keep herself up, feeling constantly breathless. She didn't understand what she did wrong, everything she did was right, right? Louise could even feel her willpower being drained into her wand, but nothing happened! Nothing...
Louise slumped slightly, her strength faltering as she swallowed a gasp. Her skin felt hot, the sensation of fiery ants biting all over her. With a heave and a pause of her breath, as sweat trailed down her cheeks falling and wetting her shirt, the girl threw down her wand, but it was more akin to dropping it; she could barely find the strength to move anymore. She grasped her chest lightly, trying to recollect herself, suddenly finding the world before her wavering as her heart hammered in her hands.
Louise tenderly held a palm to her head, her grip sliding with the cool sweat. She grimaced and furrowed her cheeks slightly; the girl's mind swam with a visual coalescence of chaos, and she was almost lulled upon the earth if it wasn't for the tree nearby her, grasping it gratefully as she tried catching her breath. Her anxiety arose, and her skin felt like needles pressed against herself. The girl was almost gulping air down to calm her nerves as the tree held her above the earth.
Eventually, as her heart paced evenly and she could take breaths with greater ease she parted with the decaying bark of the tree, and went to her wand and grasped along its handle, peering down the stick with disdain. The girl shuddered and her skin arose with an ocean of bumps as the cool wind brushed against her burning and sweaty skin. She rubbed along her arms and hugged her cloak to wrap around her more easily, burying into the recesses of its cloth for warmth and comfort. Louise glanced and screened the earth before her, her sight guided by the wind's path.
A step was taken suddenly, and her heels clapped against the jagged edges of the rocky uneven terrain, startling the girl into a blinking frenzy as she straightened her posture and regained her sense of self.
She peered down upon her black soles and followed along with the clearing of trees before her. Louise gulped from the grandiose thicket, its endless dissipating darkness pressed against herself. As she stared before the grasp of the brushing and swishing leaves, like the ring of church bells and harmonies of the choir the girl felt compelled into the forest; she could not fathom the feelings bereft of her at that moment, far detached from language to ascribe... and mindlessly the girl moved as her eyes glazed over and the poles of the trees passed her by hazily.
Louise shambled about as her feet carried her, to and fro deeper and deeper into the forest without much consideration of its existence, never mind her own. The world unfurled itself before her as her steps echoed with the forest; for a fleeting moment, she was a part of it.
The grass crunched underneath her soles, and sometimes the earth thumped along with her steps as the grass parted and scattered distantly... sometimes the girl would raise her arm, and her hand, clenched tightly as she gripped the innards of her cloak, would unclench and snake its way loose as she parsed the cloak aside, and her rosy pink fingers felt along with the bark of close trees; holding her still, holding her steps steady and resolute.
The rough edges of the tree bark scratched against her fingers and thinly veiled cuts would line up against the flesh.
Sometimes the girl would pause in her steps and peer alongside the rushing winds as her hair flapped along messily until her whole head was a bundle; she would grab the strands of hair obscuring her eyes and waded her slim fingers alongside her hair as she dispersed the silky threads.
Sometimes the howls of the forest and its brushing leaves would attempt to reach the girl, the denizens and life of the world shadowed away from the plains, but the girl could only shoo it away as she gazed and watched the small critters living about if they could, and sometimes that was all... until the demure girl found a clearing, and in it, a dainty little pond.
Louise fettered from the self-imposed trance she found herself mucking about as faint glimmers of light pulsed in the depths of her rosy eyes. The girl's eyes brightened and her cheeks were puffy and raised as she brushed aside her sullen pastures, her steps quickening as Louise briskly made her way towards the pool. Her steps thundered in the girl's head as the howling wind suddenly and ferociously beat at her clothing in her haste to the clearing. However, unbeknownst to the girl in her haste to reach the pool's edge her foot was caught in a jagged rock that stood slightly above the earth, and she was sent tumbling at the pool's edge; mounds of dust arising from the fallen girl as she skidded and dragged against the uneven loose soil.
Louise crashed harshly against the earth as dust scattered to the wind, unsettled by the sudden and violent fall, the small woodland critters hiding amongst the brush of the clearing scurried away in fright. Louise groaned, coughing lightly as she went to raise herself, only barely able to find the strength to hold herself up onto her knees as she gazed upon the pond.
Feeling a sudden and stinging burning crawling on her shins and her palms, the girl tenderly raised her arms and inspected her dirtied, scratched up, and bleeding hands. They pooled and appeared before her eyes gradually as they spilled against the earth, swallowed up in the dusty grains of the grassy clearing. The girl hissed quietly, her face scrunched up and pained as she went to the edge of the water and washed her hands in the icy pond. The water was biting and heightened the stinging of her wounds but all the more, as she held herself there the longer she went, the pain subsided into an aching throb on her wounds.
The girl paused to gaze at the uneven and stilling surface of the water, her unsettling almost naked desolation peering down and before her face. Her eyes were shadowed and hidden in the shade of her hair, like a dark mist.
Hungrily she scooped up a pool of water in between the palms of her hands and wiped her face clean of all the sweat she garnered. You could say she only wanted to rid herself of the horrendous sight that was her face with ruined and pooling makeup. A few more scoops later, Louise peered at the reflection the pond provided. Her face wasn't so appalling anymore and it appeared pleasant; cute even.
She remained to stare at the water, lapsing into oblivion as she tenderly reached into the pool and cupped her hands pulling away from the source. The sight of the earth's blue blood, rippling at the smallest nick on its surface, became mesmerizing, almost hypnotizing. A ping of familiarity washed into Louise as her mind faded from reality into memory.
She rose up and the clearing faded away as the pool became a great lake, and beside the girl was a lonely ol' boat, held in the shade of a great tree and rested in a small dainty pier. The ambiance of the stirring lake paused every so often as the planks of the pier creaked occasionally, rocking softly alongside the pleasant gusts of wind.
The dim and rosy overcast, from the rays of the sun spilling between the tufts of large and dark clouds, receded into the corners of the horizon as the girl found herself bathed in the light of the rising sun.
Louise's face scrunched up in recognition, a terse small frown arose and adorned her lips. The girl sighed morosely, releasing a shuddering breath, easing her anxiety as she fell comfortably in at a standstill.
In the middle of the lake were two pink-haired siblings and with them a furry feline familiar. They sat on a lone boat floating aimlessly around the bank leading to their estate.
"Wait! Come here!"
Louise tried grabbing Cattleya's familiar who attempted to escape by leaping into the lake but quickly returned to the deck of the boat completely soaked. Louise attempted to reach out to it again only for the cat to jump onto the older sister's lap, shaking away its wet fur.
Louise, depressed at the lack of favor in her efforts, pouted softly as she brought her hands down to her lap. There was a terse silence as Cattleya awkwardly let her familiar shiver in the cold before the older sister decided to speak up.
"Don't worry Louise. Handling familiars is an experience you learn throughout your life." The older sister began brushing along the cat's back. "Once you summon your familiar and the two of you begin to bond, you will notice all the small things about your familiar that you would never notice before."
There was another break of silence.
"Do you think I will be able to summon a familiar?"
Cattleya remained silent as she listened to the wood of the boat smack against the water ever so slightly. "You will certainly earn a familiar with a bang."
That answer really didn't seem to satisfy Louise.
"Then, will my familiar blow up?"
That question really didn't really seem what Cattleya expected.
"N-no. Ah—I don't think your familiar will blow up. Rather..." Cattleya stopped her hand. "It will bring a miracle."
"A miracle?"
"Well, it was a miracle you were able to chant a spell."
"But everything I do only makes explosions. Shouldn't I make wind when I use a wind spell or water with a water spell?"
Again, Cattleya remained silent.
"What was your first spell like Cattleya?"
"...It was just like yours, although father wasn't there. Mother showed me how to conjure the earth from the ground, although after a few tries I fainted."
Louise became intrigued and disheartened at the tale. "What do you mean?"
"I have low willpower compared to the average mage. Mother woke me up and asked what happened. All I could remember at the time was that I suddenly lost the energy to stand up. I couldn't move very much after waking up, only that I could still breath, barely." Cattleya's mouth twitched slightly downward.
"At first, I thought that using too many spells drained me too quickly, but recovering took longer than we expected. By the time I was able to stand up again, mother and I wanted to see what other spells we could get into that would be easier to handle. Once I was done with the first spell, I felt my hands tremble, and again I almost lost myself to a faint."
Cattleya's familiar turned to its master in worry, finding a swirling of emotions within her. The older girl glanced from her familiar resting upon her lap and looked to Louise, her eyes simmering and her lips a small smile, although the slightest trembling of her lips betrayed her front. "Eventually, this became a dreadful recurrence, each longer than the last... and mother decided 'once more was once enough'. She went to appoint a healer and see what was going on. All that is certain, is that I am... sick. So far, no one has been able to understand nor rid me of my plague. Only that I should refrain from using my willpower."
The familiar purred silently, its tummy rumbling softly into its master's dress and creasing the folds of the cloth as it drew a paw onto its master's arm. When the girl was finished with her tale she peered upon Louise's face finding her in deep contemplation, before she scooted over from her seat and embraced her sister with as big of a hug she could manage. Cattleya was slightly taken aback by the power of the hug but she recomposed herself and with a tender thankful smile held her sister in her arms.
"Ah, I'm sorry I frightened you, but all is well Louise, 'tis only a fleeting pain. It comes and goes." The older Valliere girl assured as she ruffled the long and kempt hair of the younger Valliere. "Nonetheless, that was my first spell."
Louise remained silent.
Ribbit.
The girl looked down upon her knees and found a group of frogs standing about randomly.
Croak.
Louise jumped from her spot, scaring the amphibians into the lake.
The sky took a darker-purple hue and Louise couldn't find the sun anywhere. The drained girl's eyes widened as she spilled the pool of water from her hands. Louise whipped her head up to the sky and stood up, looking around for the sun. After a quick glance around her, she found the sun clearing halfway past the horizon. Time was fading away fast, but she needed more time; more time to set up the circle, to perform the motions of the ritual, to recite the words. Louise hurriedly made her way back to her spot in the forest outside in the clearing, flapping her hands and drying them from the clinging trails of water that still stuck on her.
Louise cursed herself as she finally came upon the clearing in the outskirts of the forest, realizing after a near half-hour of tossing and turning and running through the forest, she got carried away by the beauty of the trees, losing track of time and furthermore her sense of direction. When she finally came to her spot, she grabbed ahold of the closest tree to her and leaned on it, panting harshly as she looked to the sky to see the hues of sunlight fade even darker shades of violet; the sun had also disappeared from the horizon and the moons were coming to focus now. There was no more time to waste, but in her haste to commence with the ritual, Louise desperately needed a few more moments to catch her breath. She had to have a clear mind for this, not bothering for anything else of immediate notice.
After a few moments when Louise was sure she wasn't going to vomit her guts out or collapse, she made her way to a suitable spot in the clearing. Getting there, Louise glanced at the sky. It was almost entirely coated in violet streams of light, and the moons began to materialize further. Louise hissed angrily once she finally made it to the spot. With excessive force behind the girl she pulled out the chalk piece, but by then, with the abusive overuse of the supply, it weathered down to being as flat like a coin, and when Louise pulled it out from her breast pocket, it broke in two and scattered in the tall bushy grass.
Louise yelped in fear as she roughly felt around the ground for the pieces but she couldn't find any of the two. Louise wasn't sure what to do, what to feel this moment. Was this all? All that experimentation, constant error, and envelopment of grief for every failure all for naught? It was too late to find the pieces now, the light of the sun was too weak and the nights total darkness made it impossible to find in the maze of grass blades. The disconsolate girl clenched her hands into fists and she brought them down upon the earth, smacking against the flooring and disturbing the dirt in a fit of hopeless anger. Her brows were furrowed and they quivered as the girl suddenly found herself confronted with a million conflicting emotions stemming back from the note she got a few days prior from her mother.
Louise found herself caught in the web between her promise to her mother and the ever-approaching reality coming to grasp at Louise, that she was truly and always was a magical anomaly. Louise peered again at her hands and found in her dominant hand a dark and noticeably large splot of chalk at the tips of her index finger and thumb, still clinging onto her prints. Louise looked to the sky, the moons were just about ready to appear at any moment. She turned to the chalk stain in her fingers; her face hardened as she steeled herself on this decision. Louise stood up from her knees and squatted to the floor dragging her finger along the rough and uneven terrain of rocks and dirt. By the end of it, the chalk stain was completely removed from her fingers. Instead, it was draped onto the floor in the shape of a shoddy looking circle littered with exposed openings.
Louise straightened up and tugged at her sleeves, nipping at the wrinkles in her clothing. Louise slid her feet together, dragging them along the ground before they came to a stop with each other and rested in place. The anxious girl suddenly brought her arms up, raising them gradually with a grandiose flair as she brought both arms to level with a sharp stop before they nestled comfortably in the air. The girl appeared a composer and her ritual her magnum opus; the audience, the world before her.
A heavy pain weighs the girl down in her steps. Was this even possible? Was she so desperately in denial of the truths that appeared before her countless times this day? What if nothing happens again, what then?
What if something came out?
Louise felt her hands tremble as she pondered the sudden inexplicably self doubtful words in her mind. She clutched at her head when a sudden nauseating wave overcame her senses. Her eyes felt dry and Louise desperately went to wet them, only momentarily, but she rubbed at them longer than she intended. She was incredibly tired out. Her status was worsening by the minute as she found her body lulling around. Louise's eyelids felt heavy and her breath felt like it was being taken away. Louise took a long and cool sigh, trying vainly to ease her nerves but it did little if anything to calm her down, to appease these wretched pains coursing through her. Louise shuddered as the self-doubt crept in closer and more powerfully, but she trudged on taking her place in the summoning spot. The soles of her shoes shifted in the dirt as Louise firmly held herself to this end dutifully, the scene appeared like a still in a photo. Finally, she resolved to begin the incantation, to finally appease her demons tormenting her for this very day.
Her voice bellowed out of Louise. It felt so painful to speak. Her throat was sore of the abuse it received from earlier and every bellowing word that came of her was raspy, so airy. Clasping on to every ounce of strength left in her she slowly pulled up her wand, waving it erratically, and distressed as she calls to unleash all her willpower left within her to summon her familiar. "I, L-Louise Françoise..." The uncertain girl pauses in the midst of the incantation. This was a long used recite not a confession, not a desire nor call from the bottom of her heart. Louise's heart beat faster and faster until she could feel the drumming beats pulsing wildly in her throat. She had to do this right, to spill out everything she'd ever felt this day, and apply it for every single horrible living nightmare she endured in that campus, the nobles that tormented her. Louise rose her voice and it pierced against the stillness and silence of the night rising above the ambiance in a passionate inferno of hope, of loss, of pain.
"I-I beg of you, t-to the ultimate life form—my perfect and pure familiar! Wh!-who hails from a world enriched with power and strength most deserving of familiar spirits! O my most sacred, most powerful, beautiful, and heavenly familiar that lives s-somewhere... in this boundless perfect existence! I wish, I desire... and I beg of you! From the depths of all my heart, please... I'm more than just a zero! Give me a chance wherever you may be, somehow, someway answer my call!"
Every word that escaped her mouth stole the breath away from her, and she clenched her teeth and grasped at her chest. The raw pain, the grief, and dying fading hope in her voice; they strangled her, suffocating her the air she so desperately desired. "Please! T-this... means everything to me!"
Maybe it was due to her hunger, maybe it was due to her doubt, maybe it even had to do with how Louise felt scared at this moment. She wanted desperately to finish this whole thing, but she was afraid of what might come after. If it meant having to face whatever fate had laid out for her, she needed to complete her incantation and move on. Whether she liked it or not, Louise forced herself to make her resolve.
The petite girl shut her eyes and finished her last incantation. "Answer to my guidance a-and come forth!"
Louise almost wished to scream, shuddering furiously as she felt all the energy left within herself pour and swarm into the very end of the wand. A terrible, horrible empty pain devoured the girl; she could no longer find the strength she needed to hold her wand up as she completed the arc of whipping her wand forward, letting go of the stick as she staggered in place.
Time seemed to slow as the wand only touched the tip of her index finger. Somehow, she stood as the grandest and most powerful explosion she ever created, erupted from the single point where her wand was. A cascading brilliant volley of the golden radiance of light tore through the sky like a blade.
Louise was breathless as she came to witness sparkling dazzling stars dancing around her.
So boundless...
So perfect...
So heavenly.
She immediately felt comforted in the presence of whatever she summoned. The large cloud of soot and dust were scattered away with a strong push of the windy night, and Louise momentarily lost the ability to breathe as she came to witness the brilliance and beauty before her. The summoned familiar was everything she ever hoped for, and more it seemed like an angel. It's golden skin radiated and danced in the starry night with such magnificence, displaying a glorious aura of power beyond any precious jewels her family displayed in their mansion. The flaming trails of golden light swirled around Louise and the summoned being, but she did not feel the burning pain expected from being in close proximity to the flames. Instead, it was like a nice and warm sweet blanket to rest on.
The petite girl couldn't even find the energy within her to say anything. The very holy presence before her brought her to tears. How was she so lucky, so worthy as to summoning an angel to guard her and serve her?
The summoned one before her opened their eyes—it's green, beautiful, and comforting emerald eyes—locking their sights at her own pink sapphire eyes. She almost melted, stupefied as it regarded her. The summoned familiar brought its hand up and its golden flames encapsulated them both as the sparkling stars of light danced between them, its stunning and boundless brilliance far surpassing the beauty of the night stars around them.
"My guardian... my... angel." Louise whispered in a ghastly breath.
Suddenly the golden flames imploded in a display of magnificent lights as rainbow gems tore from the creature and flew into the night sky as one, before scattering across the night as the trails of their power dotted the land.
Louise took a step towards the creature and fell upon her knees hugging the creature with all her might she had left.
"Please... don't leave... me..." Her eyes closed as she let go of the conscious realm and plunged herself into her first-ever comforting, welcoming sleep.
End Chapter 2.
Well, congratulations! You just finished the chapter and now we're here.
...
Thirty... thirty thousand words. Well, gotta give it to the audience. Honestly, you may skip these notes if you'd like since there's not much to talk about except a few things.
First of all... thank you. Really. My editor and I did not expect the number of reactions and reads within the first three days of the public release of the first chapter. We already beat the viewership goal in two days. And the reviews and comments? Just a week and people gave their opinion about the story. Dam, I'm at a loss of words.
Well, seeing as how we're here and there is a second chapter, this one-shot will officially become a series. So, welcome to Sonic and the Pink Tress. We have ambitions for this fanfiction and you'll soon find out how determined we are once the tenth chapter of this series is released (Oh boy! Outright foreshadowing!). Of course, as you can tell by the word count from these two chapters alone, we're pretty motivated to write out this story, which brings me to my next point!
Second of all, word count. I must say, we came with the intention to write something with a minimum of 7,000 - 10,000 words like last time, but again, that goal has been smashed hard as you can clearly see. Yet, there's something we have to address. Though it may or may not sound disappointing, don't expect every chapter to come out with 20,000 words minimum. We strive to create a consistent length among the chapters, but just be aware that it'll be difficult to maintain that number as the story goes on. My editor and I are obviously human and we've got responsibilities in real life.
Oh well! In any case, we try to make every word count. I just hope some readers aren't intimidated by the numbers.
[Editor] Seriously, I think we underestimate sometimes how big the chapters can get, and we're only on the second chapter mind you. I mean imagine that for a second! The first two chapters alone total up to 50,000 words! That's about as much as 10 chapters minimum for other stories! Still, we worked really hard on this chapter, using any available time we got to work on this on a daily basis since the release of the 1st chapter.
[Editor] Honestly, I'm incredibly stunned how we managed to write down 30,000 words in such a short amount of time, especially when the first chapter took a month to finish. But, uh please don't expect us to churn out these chapters in such short notice, this was a special treat from us to you, for your incredible response to the 1st chapter. Furthermore, to celebrate you absolute madlads going above and beyond with the response to the fanfic within days, we present to you our official thumbnail!
[Editor] That's right, this thumbnail you see before you were drawn and made by the author, as a gift of appreciation for the amazing comments you have given us so shortly after the posting of the 1st chapter!
[Editor] So with all that being said, I think it's time we close out, until next time friends!
I hope you enjoyed the second chapter!
- TokuBinu