Person's Thoughts

"Speaking"

"Japanese Speaking"

Louise was pissed.

After arriving back at her room she found Saito exactly where she left him, still unconscious.

A couple hours later the sun had gone down and Saito still hadn't woken up.

This was fine, it meant she didn't have to deal with him until he woke up.

Around an hour later Saito finally woke up, however she couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand her, even when she made it extremely obvious she wanted her clothes washed.

He then got really upset and started shouting for whatever reason, therefore in order shut him up Louise decided to use the silencing spell she had learned the previous year.

Unfortunately that ended up in another explosion, on the bright side it had turned into a translation spell.

Then after learning his name was Saito her familiar ran away.

She had to get Guiche to catch him and Kirche just had to be there to laugh at her as well.

To ensure he didn't run away again Louise decided to chain Saito to the wall.

After telling him to wash her clothes and have them ready by morning, Louise got into bed and tried to sleep.

"Hey" Saito murmured.

"What?" Louise growled out.

"What happened to that other girl? Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine, now shut up."

Saito sighed relieved that she was alright but concerned as to where she got those injuries.

Deciding not to dwell on it Saito closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep, despite the fact he was cold, sleeping on hay, was chained to the wall and had to wash Louise's clothes.

The next morning Saito woke Louise up, gave her the change of clothes she asked for, he even got her panties and then on top of that he had to dress her.

This day was a disaster and it wasn't even breakfast yet, on the plus side he did get the chain removed. Entering the dining hall Saito was entranced by the feast the students were eating for breakfast.

Until he realized that he would be eating a small piece of bread on the floor.

I hope she's having a better time than I am thought Saito as he ate the bread with tears in his eyes.

After exiting the dining room Louise and Saito headed outside.

"Normally familiars wait outside the dining room until their masters are finished but I made a special exception and let you stay" said Louise walking in front of Saito.

"Yeah, I would've rather waited outside" complained Saito earning a tick mark from Louise who was annoyed at how ungrateful her familiar was.

"What are they doing over there?" asked Saito.

Louise sighed "The second years have the day off today, we're supposed to use it to bond with our familiars, unfortunately my other familiar is still in the infirmary so i'm stuck with just you."

Maybe that's a good thing, thought Louise.

"I think we should skip that" commented Saito.

At that moment Kirche interrupted their conversation with her salamander causing Saito to freak out and tell Kirche to keep her salamander on a leash because it was dangerous.

Kirche laughed and stated that her salamander, Flame was perfectly safe and that because of the contract familiars obey every order from their master, and they never try to run away added Kirche, just to annoy Louise even more than she already was.

Whilst they were arguing, on the other side of the courtyard a small girl with short blue hair and glasses was sitting reading a book, leaning against her familiar, a big blue wind dragon who was lying on the ground behind her.

This girl was called Tabitha and her blue dragon was called Sylphid.

Tabitha was immersed in her book but couldn't help but be concerned and glance at her familiar out of the corner of her eyes when it made a small but sad whining sound.

Sylphids eyes were looking through the windows of the infirmary and staring straight at a small brunette girl who was still sleeping.

Gently stroking her familiar's leg Tabitha tried to offer some comfort for her sad and somewhat depressed familiar.

Tabitha didn't know what about the brunette had her familiar so enthralled but she knew that she couldn't afford to let her guard down around her so easily.

It was only when Guiche rather loudly declared a duel with Louise's other familiar at Vestori Square did Tabitha turn her attention away from her book and her familiar.

She could see Kirche heading in her direction and stood up.

"Hey Tabitha, you wanna come and see Guiche kick Louise's familiars butt."

Tabitha didn't answer but started to walk in the direction of Vestori Square so Kirche took it as a yes and stated that she couldn't wait to see what Saito would do.

A few paces away from where she was previously sitting Tabitha stopped and turned towards her familiar, she tilted her head slightly silently asking is she wanted to come.

Sylphid looked at Tabitha and then back at the brunette in the infirmary, Tabitha nodded and continued walking to Vestori Square still reading her book.

Kirche looked towards Tabitha and then Sylphid and back to Tabitha confused as to what just happened but shrugged it off knowing she probably wouldn't get an answer if she asked and jogged to catch up to Tabitha.

Meanwhile in the infirmary a certain brunette begins to stir.

Waking up fully Mikoto doesn't move and keeps her breathing even, not knowing where she is and not wanting to alert anyone that she had regained consciousness, carefully using her other senses Mikoto smells disinfectant and concludes that she's probably in a hospital somewhere.

Using her radar she can tell that there isn't anyone else in the room.

Normally Mikoto wouldn't bother using her radar but war changes people and Mikoto is a lot more cautious of unknown places.

Mikoto slowly opened her eyes only to quickly close then due to the sun's rays.

Mikoto moved her left arm up in front of her eyes, feeling the strain of doing so, to block out the sun and tries opening her eyes again.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the sun's rays, Mikoto notices a strange mark on her hand, it was a diamond with a circle in the middle of it.

Deciding that the strange symbol could wait she moved to sit up only to grit her teeth at the groan lowly as her body protested the movement.

Looking around the room Mikoto realized that she was in an infirmary and not a hospital.

Looking to her left Mikoto saw her clothes folded neatly on the bedside table.

Removing the blanket that was covering her, Mikoto moved her legs over the left side of the bed, pushing off the mattress she tried to stand up only for her legs to give out, causing her to fall and grab onto the small bedside table for support.

Pushing herself back slightly so that she was once again sitting on the bed.

Sighting slightly Mikoto realized that whilst her wounds had been healed her body was still suffering the effects of being overworked.

Using her ability Mikoto pulled the curtain around her bed shut so she could change back into her own clothes without having to worry about anyone outside seeing her.

Picking up her black long sleeved t-shirt Mikoto realized that there weren't any holes in it, someone had fixed it for her along with her gray hoodie and cleaned them, Mikoto smiled, she would have to find and thank them later.

Removing the white gown that someone had dressed her in, Mikoto put on her sports bra, then her underwear, followed by her long sleeved black t-shirt and then her black trousers.

She puts on her black military style boots and ties her hoodie around her waist.

Mikoto takes a few deep breaths before once again trying to stand up, this time using the bedside table as support, her body still protested the movement but this time she manages to stay standing.

Using her ability Mikoto reopened the curtains only to stumble back onto the bed in shock, there outside the window staring at her was a big blue lizard looking straight at her.

What the hell is that thing?

"Kyui" was the sound the creature made as it tilted its head slightly, eyes full of happiness and curiosity.

Mikoto cautiously stood up and slowly made her way towards the window, half out of cautiousness and the other half because her body did not want to move properly so she had to use whatever was around her to help herself walk.

Arriving at the windows Mikoto notices the big blue lizard had backed off slightly and against her better judgement Mikoto had decided to open the window.

The big blue lizard appeared very happy with this and moved closer towards Mikoto but stopped when it noticed Mikoto tense up and take a weary step back.

"Kyui" said the big blue lizard as it tilted its head slightly confused as to why Mikoto had backed off.

Swallowing Mikoto took a cautious step forward and brought her right hand up towards the big blue lizard but stopped short of touching its nose.

Sylphid could see the nervousness and hesitation in Mikoto's eyes so she moved her nose forward to touch her nose onto her hand.

When this happened Mikoto let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, relieved the blue lizard thing wasn't going to eat her.

Sylphid on the other hand was really happy when Mikoto relaxed and started stroking her nose, she loved the tingly feeling she got whenever Mikoto touched her.

Sylphid gently grabbed Mikoto's sleeve and gently tugged so as not to scared the skittish girl but to also tell her what she wanted.

Mikoto understanding that the big blue lizard wanted her to come outside pulled herself up onto the windowsill and had to use her arms to manually lift her legs over it because they were too stiff.

When Mikoto put her feet on the ground outside she slowly walked away from the window, only for her legs to give way a couple of steps away from it. Luckily for her Sylphid managed to get her head under Mikoto before she hit the ground.

Sylphid lowered her head slightly so the Mikoto was sitting on the ground and let out a concerned kyui sound when she noticed the pain on Mikoto's face.

"Thanks" said Mikoto as she looked up at Sylphid gratefully, and whilst Sylphid hadn't understood what Mikoto had said she saw the gratefulness in her eyes and let out a happy kyui causing Mikoto to smile.

Loud cheers drew Mikoto's attention away from Sylphid as she looked in the direction the cheers came from.

"Wonder what's going on over there" said Mikoto.

Sylphid looked at Mikoto curiously not understanding what she said, hearing the cheers again Sylphid realized that she probably wanted to find other humans, and wanting to make her new friend happy Sylphid lowered her head and motioned for Mikoto to get on, realising Mikoto couldn't walk by herself.

Mikoto looked at Sylphid confused "What are you doing?"

Sylphid tilted her head in confusion, she'd have to get Tabitha onee-sama to cast a translation spell if she ever wanted to understand what Mikoto was saying.

Mikoto didn't really understand what Sylphid wanted so when Sylphid picked her up by her hoodie that was tied tightly around her waist and placed her on her back Mikoto was shocked and confused.

Even more so when Sylphid gently took off making sure Mikoto didn't fall and headed towards wherever the cheering was coming from.

Arriving where the cheering is Sylphid lands a short distance away from Tabitha and looks back at Mikoto who seemed curious and a bit weary as to what was happening.

Tabitha, who was standing next to Kirche looked up from her book and stared at Mikoto with what appeared to be curiosity.

Mikoto, feeling someone watching her looked over at Tabitha briefly before looking back to the fight.

From what she could tell the blond boy was winning what appeared to be one of the most rubbish fights she'd ever seen.

It was obvious the black haired boy had absolutely no combat experience whatsoever or any ability that would help him out in this situation and yet he kept getting back up, the blond boy was somehow controlling what appeared to be a green suit of armor, and a small pinked haired girl kept talking to the black haired boy in the middle of the fight.

To Mikoto this was a farce, it nothing more than a childish squabble.

Eventually the blond boy took pity on the black haired boy and gave him a sword.

Mikoto tensed.

Magic, that boy used magic, shit shit shit shit shit, okay, calm down, calm down, assuming everyone here uses magic I need to get out of here fast, thought Mikoto as her breathing sped up.

Sylphid who felt Mikoto tense looked back at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

She also felt Mikoto's hands trembling ever so slightly and her breathing was also slightly panicked.

Not knowing what to do Sylphid let out a concerned kyui.

Mikoto didn't hear it though she was too lost in the flashbacks of the war, the horrible bloody war that she had fought in and that she had killed in.

Tabitha having seen Mikoto's reaction to Guiche using magic tensed, ready to interfere if she attacked anyone.

However one look at Mikoto's wide eyes, shaking hands and uneven breathing, Tabitha knew that she was having flashbacks of a horrifying event that happened in her life.

Tabitha occasionally had bad flashbacks as well and knew the signs well enough.

Tabitha closed her book and began quickly making her way over to Sylphid.

This action gained the attention of Kirche who was standing next to her.

"Tabitha" said Kirche curiously as she looked in the direction her friend was going.

Kirche was shocked at what she saw, Louise's other familiar was sitting on top of Sylphid and Sylphid was allowing it.

Deciding to join Tabitha and question Louise's other familiar she was shocked when Tabitha got on Sylphid's back behind Mikoto and they took off from the square heading towards the forest.

Sylphid landed in the forest near a lake and Tabitha immediately dismounted, using magic Tabitha lifted Mikoto off of Sylphid and onto the ground where she proceeded to curl in on herself and cry.

Tabitha put her book and staff down as she carefully moved Mikoto so her head was resting on her lap and carefully ran her fingers through Mikoto's hair. Sylphid moved so that she was curled around both Tabitha and Mikoto in a protecting embrace.

Tabitha smiled up at her familiar before refocusing on bringing Mikoto out of whatever memory she'd been trapped in.

"Shhhhh, it's okay, your safe, your safe" Tabitha kept repeating these words whilst stroking Mikoto's hair and holding her hand.

Mikoto was in combat it was her and a few other espers, she was up against the leader of one of the enemy squads, he was a fire user and he was very trigger happy.

She was doing well and her enemy was on the ropes, one more strike would finish him, suddenly out of the blue he started laughing, Mikoto was confused she couldn't see anything funny about the situation they were in.

The fire magician suddenly shot a massive ball of fire in a random direction, or at least Mikoto thought it was a random direction.

Screams suddenly filled the air from the direction the magician fired as multiple people ran out of a house, they were all completely encased in fire as the smell of burned flesh filled the air.

Mikoto ran over to the closest person and tried to put the fire out but it was already too late, they were dead.

Mikoto tried someone else but they were dead as well, they were all dead.

Mikoto faced the fire magician laughing maniacally at what he'd done.

She was so angry, storm clouds gathered in the sky as Mikoto's eyes glowed a lightning blue as the lightning struck.

The fire magician was killed instantly, his body completely destroyed so nothing but ash remained where he once stood, the only thing Mikoto could hear was the fire magicians maniacal laughter that still remained.

Then a song broke through the maniacal laughter.

Mikoto couldn't understand the words but the song felt kind and warm.

Looking to the sky with tears running down her face the scene around her started to disintegrate and everything went white.

Back in the forest and seeing that her words and comforting gestures weren't working, Tabitha decides to sing a song that her mother sung to her a long time ago, a song that comforted her whenever she had a nightmare, a song she never thought she'd sing to anyone else.

Halfway through the song Tabitha could see slight awareness returning to Mikoto's eyes and her body was starting to relax.

By the time she'd finished the song Mikoto was fully aware and was staring up at her, she was no longer crying and had stopped shaking.

"Welcome back" said Tabitha with a small smile on her face.

"Huh" said Mikoto confused as to what Tabitha said.

Slowly sitting up Mikoto realized that she was no longer in the square watching the blond and black haired boy fight, instead she was being hugged by Sylphid.

Sylphid was overjoyed to have Mikoto wake up from whatever trance she was in and gave her face lots of kisses.

Mikoto flailed a little bit not expecting to be kissed to death by a big blue lizard.

"Hey, cut it out" complained Mikoto even though there was a smile on her face.

Sylphid uncurled slightly from around Tabitha and Mikoto so that she could nuzzle into Mikoto's chest and Mikoto put her hands on her head stroking her.

Tabitha reached for her staff, gaining Mikoto's attention as she cast a translation spell.

Looking back at Mikoto, Tabitha could see that she'd tensed and was looking at her warily as if she was going to attacked her.

"Can you understand me now?" asked Tabitha.

Mikoto blinked not expecting to understand her.

"Yeah" said Mikoto quietly.

"My name is Tabitha and that's my familiar Sylphid" she said gesturing towards the big blue lizard.

"Mikoto" Mikoto said quietly.

"Familiar?"

"A familiar is usually a creature that is contracted to a noble."

"Noble?" asked Mikoto.

"A noble is someone who can use magic, but not all mages are nobles."

"Oh" replied Mikoto looking around whilst Sylphid had placed her head on Mikoto's lap and was enjoying Mikoto stroking her.

"Where are we?" asked Mikoto curiously.

"We are in the forest next to Tristain Academy of Magic, myself and Sylphid brought you here when you started having a panic attack in the square" replied Tabitha as she opened her book.

"Oh, thanks" whispered Mikoto as Sylphid let out a happy kyui.

"Just one more question" said Mikoto, causing Tabitha to look up from her book.

"Why was I at Tristain Academy of Magic?"

Tabitha was silent for a minute before answering.

"You were summoned to be a nobles familiar."

Silence hung over the 2 humans and dragon as Tabitha tried to gauge Mikoto's reaction to this information.

She could tell that Mikoto was a genuinely nice person who for whatever reason was afraid of magic.

Come to think of it she was also afraid of magic, no it wasn't that she was afraid of it, it was that she hated magic thought Tabitha.

Mikoto was silent, she couldn't believe what she'd just been told she was contracted to a mage, a magic user.

She could feel Tabitha's and Sylphid's eyes on her but all she could do was stare at the symbol on her left hand.

The mark of the contract.

Mikoto smiled bitterly maybe death would have been the better choice thought Mikoto as tears started to form.

"I take it that since you didn't say I was your familiar that I'm contracted to another mage" croaked out Mikoto.

Tabitha didn't say anything, instead she stood up and placed a hand on Mikoto's head as a gesture of comfort as Sylphid nuzzled further into Mikoto as she cried.

Again I don't own either the manga or anime to either series.

Feel free to leave a review, I don't mind criticism so if there's anything you think I could improve let me know.

Till next time.