Back at the academy, the duel between Saito and Guiche was over. Saito had somehow won despite not having any combat experience and never wielding a sword before in his life.

Unfortunately for him the moment he let go of the sword all the injuries he sustained during the fight hit him full force causing him to faint, right on top of Louise.

"Hey, what's wrong?" a few seconds later Louise could hear Saito snoring. "He's asleep? Get off me! You're really heavy you know. Come on get off!"

The other students just stood there in shock, Guiche was on the floor in disbelief wondering how he lost to a peasant.

Kirche was smiling "That peasant boy is more interesting than I first thought."

She then turned to look at the sky with a frown on her face. Tabitha, she thought, concerned as to what happened earlier.

Sighing Kirche went over to Louise and levitated Saito off her.

"You know Louise, your familiars are more interesting than I gave you credit for," said Kirche smirking.

Louise huffed "He's alright, I suppose."

There was silence between them for a few seconds until Louise realised what Kirche had said.

"Wait, familiars? The other one's still in the infirmary."

"You didn't notice," asked Kirche looking perplexed.

"Notice what?" growled Louise.

"Your other familiar was watching the duel from on top of Tabitha's familiar."

Louise's eyebrow twitched and she immediately looked around for the big blue dragon.

"Where are they now?" demanded Louise.

Kirche held her hands up in a surrender position.

"I don't know, they just took off halfway into the duel."

Louise let out a sound of frustration before shouting.

"STUPID FAMILIARS!"

A few hours later, back in the clearing Mikoto was depressed.

She'd spent 3 months fighting mages and now she was forced to serve one.

It wasn't really the mages she had a problem with, heck it wasn't even that they used magic, although that would be hard to get used to.

What made her depressed was Tabitha's explanation on how most nobles treat people without magic, commoners.

Turns out most nobles saw commoners as below them.

Expendable.

They have a lot less rights then nobles and from what Mikoto understood there wasn't very much protection for them against nobles.

It was a lot like how the magicians of her world saw espers except these commoners couldn't fight back.

Tabitha and Sylphid were kind to Mikoto despite the fact that she couldn't use magic.

They were also relaxing to be around, Tabitha reading and Sylphid cuddling into her.

Whilst she was glad that she was no longer being hunted, somewhere deep in her heart Mikoto wished that she could be free.

Unfortunately she was summoned by a girl called Louise Vallière.

She hadn't met Louise yet and if Mikoto was perfectly honest she wasn't sure she wanted to either.

Tabitha closed her book, causing Mikoto to sigh knowing that that probably meant it was time to leave.

Sylphid moved her head off Mikoto's lap and Mikoto stood up, using Sylphids head for support.

"Thanks" said Mikoto with a small smile despite the sadness in her eyes.

"Let's go" said Tabitha as she mounted Sylphid's neck.

Mikoto moved along Sylphids neck using it as support until she reached a space behind Tabitha where she could sit.

She then attempted to climb onto Sylphid's back but her body wouldn't move properly.

Tabitha seeing the pain on Mikoto's face as she tried to move her legs so she could climb onto Sylphid cast a floating spell on her picking her up and placing her behind herself.

"Thanks" said Mikoto in a small voice with a light blush on her face.

Tabitha smiled before telling Sylphid to head back to the Academy.

Arriving back at the academy Sylphid landed near a wall that a certain red haired girl was leaning against.

"Tabitha, there you are, what happened back there, you just took off without a word," asked a concerned Kirche.

Tabitha dismounted Sylphid but Mikoto stayed where she was, not being able to walk and all.

"Nothing to worry about," replied Tabitha.

Kirche then looked towards Mikoto who had a guarded expression on her face.

"Well if it isn't Louise's other familiar, I wonder are you as interesting as Saito?" said Kirche smirking slightly.

Mikoto narrowed her eyes and Tabitha held her hand up to stop Kirche causing her eyes to widen.

"Tabitha?" whispered Kirche.

Tabitha looked back at Mikoto and smiled slightly.

"She's a friend."

Mikoto nodded and relaxed, her guarded expression melting away somewhat.

"I'm Mikoto Misaka, it's nice to meet you," said Mikoto bowing slightly from on top of Sylphid.

"Kirche Von Zerbst, the pleasure is all mine," smiled Kirche. "Oh by the way, Louise probably wants to see you, she wasn't very happy that you took off halfway through the duel."

Tabitha glanced towards Mikoto seeing her slightly colder expression before turning back to Kirche.

"Tomorrow," came the monotone reply from Tabitha as she walked past Kirche heading towards the kitchens. Sylphid with Mikoto on her back following behind.

Kirche stared unsure at Tabitha's retreating back. "Okay?" she whispered before shrugging and making her way to her room.

Arriving at the kitchens Sylphid waited slightly behind Tabitha whilst she knocked on the door.

Mikoto, confused as to what was going on just stayed silent.

The door was soon opened by a tall man wearing a chefs outfit, and after a few seconds of hushed conversation the chef smiled and went back inside leaving the door open.

Moving back to Sylphid Tabitha looked at Mikoto before gesturing to the open door.

"Food."

As if on cue Mikoto's stomach growled causing her to blush slightly.

Sylphid lowered her head and Tabitha helped Mikoto off her neck and onto the ground.

The chef soon came back out with 2 bowls of soup and some bread whilst another chef brought out a basket full of bread and put it down in front of Sylphid who made a happy sounding kyui and started eating the bread.

Passing the bowls to the 2 girls sitting on the ground the chef smiled.

"This is chicken and vegetable soup left over from dinner, sorry I can't offer anything else," said the chef.

"It smells amazing, thank you," said Mikoto with a small smile on her face.

Tabitha also smiled slightly before giving the chef a small nod showing her gratitude.

"Tastes even better, I'm Marteau the chef by the way, if you ever need any food you can come here us commoners gotta stick together right," he said with a big smile. "Miss Tabitha, you and your familiar are also welcome anytime."

"Right" replied Mikoto as Tabitha nodded her thanks.

"Well I'll leave you to it, just leave your empty bowls on the table in the kitchen and someone will clean them up," said Marteau as he headed back into the kitchen.

"Itadakimasu," whispered Mikoto before she started wolfing down the soup, not having eaten anything in so long.

Tabitha glanced at Mikoto whilst eating at a normal pace. She was concerned, she could tell that Mikoto had gone through ordeals just like she had and that they had left both physical and mental scars. It was the mental scars that she was most concerned about, the scars that ran so deep they would never heal. Just a small piece of kindness made her happy and yet Tabitha couldn't stop thinking about what happened in the square, how closed off and cold she looked when she met Kirche even though Kriche wasn't being that bad and this made Tabitha dread the time when she would meet Louise.

Mikoto quickly finished her meal whispering, "Gochisousama," looking towards Tabitha, Mikoto could see that she'd only eaten a quarter of her food and was still eating.

Sylphid had finished eating and was lying on the grass dozing off. Mikoto smiled deciding to take a page out of Sylphids book, she leaned back against Sylphid and closed her eyes, feeling at peace for the first time that day. Exhausted from everything that had happened she soon dozed off into a dreamless slumber.

Tabitha looked towards Mikoto when she heard light snoring and smiled, this was probably the most relaxed Mikoto had been all day.

Around 10 minutes later Tabitha finished her meal and took both her and Mikoto's bowls back into the kitchen before returning to Sylphid and Mikoto. Sylphid lifted her head and she gently stroked the dragon's head enticing a low purring sound causing Tabitha to smile slightly. Turning her attention towards the slumbering Mikoto, Tabitha's smile disappeared and her eyes showed concern. Using her magic Tabitha lifted Mikoto back onto Sylphids back as they made their way towards the infirmary.

The rays of sunshine shone down onto Mikoto, rousing her from the confines of sleep. Stiffening slightly she forced her body to relax as she once again used her radar to check her surroundings. Only this time she could feel 2 people in the room with her causing her to tense ever so slightly after all as much as she trusted Tabitha and Sylphid she didn't really know let alone trust anyone else.

Now more awake Mikoto could hear one of the people in the room humming as well as the sound of papers being looked through. Using her radar to see their movements Mikoto deduced that one of them was cleaning and that that was the person who was humming. The other person was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room going through what sounded like paperwork if the way they placed their hand on their forehead and groaned lowly was any indication.

Carefully considering the pro and cons of letting the occupants in the room know she was awake. She decided it was best to let them know she was awake after all if they wanted to kill her they would have done it already and if push came to shove she could always fry them and escape. Mikoto took a deep breath before opening her eyes and having to close them because of the suns rays. Slowly sitting up Mikoto found that she could move her body a lot easier which was good.

She then opened her eyes again she saw that both people were so amerced in what they were doing they hadn't noticed that she was awake or was sitting up. What appeared to be a maid was cleaning one of the beds with her back facing Mikoto, whilst the other women in lab coat was staring at the paperwork in what appeared to be despair.

Dangerous, Mikotos mind supplied.

She could have easily killed both of them by now and neither of them would've realised what had happened let alone have been able to do anything about it. Not that they could have anyway.

Realising that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday Mikoto decided to test how long it would take the occupants to realise that she was awake. She stealthily moved off the bed and crouched on the floor not making a sound, quietly she grabbed her hoodie that was folded on top of the bedside cabinet and tied it around her waist. Stealth never was her strong suit but she was pretty good at it when needed.

Slowly she made her way under the bed knowing that movement draws peoples attention. Taking a deep breath Mikoto made her way towards the woman in the lab coat, sticking to the shadows. Until eventually she ended up behind the woman. Slowly she reached out and touched the nape of the woman's neck after all had they been enemies that would have been an instant kill spot.

The woman let out a short scream and fell off her chair much to Mikoto's amusement.

This also gained the maids attention having also not realised Mikoto had moved. The woman on the ground stared wide eyed at Mikoto from her place on the floor.

"If I was your enemy you'd be dead," said Mikoto with a carefully blank expression.

The woman sighed in relief, quickly getting over her shock realising it was just Louise's familiar.

Slowly standing the woman glared slightly at Mikoto.

"You shouldn't be up, your body needs as much rest as it can get considering how overworked you are, and don't even get me started on yesterday, you were lucky Miss Tabitha was kind enough to bring you back."

Mikoto shrugged as she made her way over to the window and opened it.

"Don't you dare jump out that window," threatened the woman with a tone that would've made even old Osmond obey.

Mikoto glanced back at her momentarily before sitting on the ledge and leaning against the side, staring out into the yard.

The maid got back to work whilst the woman sighed and made her way over to Mikoto.

"My name's Jane, I'm the head warden of the infirmary," said Jane clearly trying to start a conversation.

"Mikoto," replied Mikoto without even looking at her.

Jane just stared at her sadly knowing from her injuries that she'd been through hell.

"Can I get you anything? Maybe some food or a drink?" asked Jane hesitantly.

"No."

"Alright, well if you do decide you need something i'm over at that desk," Jane pointed to the desk but Mikoto didn't even turn her head.

Turing around Jane made eye contact with the maid.

"Could you please find Miss Vaillère and tell her that her familiar is awake."

The maid nodded and exited the room, Jane turned to look at Mikoto one last time.

Or at least where Mikoto had been 3 seconds ago.

Jane groaned in exasperation before moving over to the window and sticking her head out. Scanning the square Mikoto was nowhere to be seen.

"How can someone disappear so quickly?" she muttered before rushing out of the infirmary and heading towards the headmasters office to report what happened.

Meanwhile on the wall slightly above the open infirmary window was Mikoto.

"No one ever looks up," she huffed before running up the wall and sitting on the roof of the middle tower staring at the sky and enjoying the gentle breeze.

Louise was furious.

It was breakfast and she'd just been told that her familiar had escaped from the infirmary and was now nowhere to be found. Also because she was in the middle of breakfast when she got the news she had to endure all the laughter and snide comments from everyone there. Storming out of the room she was determined to find her familiar and put it in its place, because to her that's all Mikoto was to her, an unruly animal.

The search party consisted of Colbert, Louise, Kirche, Guiche and Tabitha.

Colbert because he was a teacher and worried about everyone on campus.

Louise because Mikoto was her familiar.

Kirche and Guiche because they were curious about Mikoto.

Tabitha because she was worried about her new friend.

They all decided split up to increase the chances of finding her.

The plan was that Colbert, Louise, Guiche and Kirche would search inside whilst Tabitha would search outside with Sylphid and they would meet back up in Vestori Square in one hour.

The moment Tabitha got outside she whistled and Slyphid flew out of the forest and landed in front of her.

"Mikoto missing," said Tabitha as she climbed onto Slyphid's back.

Sylphid's eyes widened as she quickly took off into the sky, flying around the academy. 10 minutes later they circled the academy for what felt like the hundredth time trying to spot Mikoto from the sky. Commanding Sylphid to fly higher Tabitha scanned the grounds.

Nothing.

Absolutely no trace of Mikoto.

Sylphid let out a concerned "Kyui" and Tabitha was becoming more worried by the minute even though it didn't show on her face. She instructed Sylphid to circle the grounds again and 30 minutes later there was still no sign.

Tabitha was really beginning to wonder if Mikoto had left the academy grounds because if she had then she could be anywhere and it could take days if not months to find her. Flying high so they could see the whole grounds again Tabitha noticed on the main tower that some of the colouring didn't match up.

Instructing Sylphid to move closer she could then see a shape that was slightly outside the range of the shadow on one side of the tower. Getting closer she realised it was Mikoto, and she appeared to be sleeping in the shadow of the main towers roof, her clothes camouflaged her within the darkness almost perfectly.

If it hadn't been for the sun changing position Tabitha had no doubt that she would've never seen her. Landing next to Mikoto on top of the tower Tabitha got off Slyphid vaguely wondering how she got up here. It was a question for later as she carefully made her way over to the sleeping girl, and was moving to gently shake her shoulder when she paused.

She hadn't see before because her hood was covering her face but she could now see Mikoto's face was covered in sweat, her breathing was laboured and she was trembling. It took seconds for Tabitha to realise Mikoto was either trapped in a nightmare or memory.

Reaching out she shook Mikoto in an attempt to wake her up.

"Wake up, Mikoto wake up," called Tabitha, Sylphid let out a concerned "Kyui" also knowing that something was wrong but being unable to do anything.

Suddenly without warning Mikoto's eyes shot open and she lept up from her position on the tower, immediately losing her balance on the tower's curved roof and tumbling off it.

Tabitha was immediately on Sylphid and they dived after her. Sylphid catching Mikoto in her front paws and quickly slowing their decent until they were near the ground. The dragon gently placed Mikoto on the ground before landing gently next to her and Tabitha immediately dismounted and moved to Mikoto's side.

Mikoto didn't move when she was placed on the ground, choosing just to lay on her side catching her breath.

Feeling someone grab her hand and rub her back helped as the adrenaline faded. After what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only a few minutes Mikoto had manged to get her breathing back under control and opened her eyes.

She was met with Tabitha's worried blue and immediately felt bad for worrying her.

"Sorry Tabitha," she whispered and Tabitha's eyes softened as she let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Her grip on Mikoto's hand loosened slightly as she slowly helped Mikoto sit up and Sylphid took the opportunity to nuzzle into Mikoto's stomach.

Mikoto smiled slightly, "Hey Sylphid, nice catch," she said stroking her head.

"Are you alright?" whispered Tabitha, she was still a bit shaken up from what just happened.

"Yeah," replied Mikoto looking up at the main tower, "I've fallen off taller buildings."

Tabitha quickly pulled Mikoto into a hug startling her.

"Tabitha?" Mikoto whispered.

"Don't ever fall asleep on the roof ever again," Tabitha whispered, she'd nearly had a heart attack when Mikoto fell and the last thing she needed was to lose someone else she had grown close to. Despite having met only yesterday Tabitha had grown rather fond of Mikoto. She could also be the key to saving her mother but she didn't want to get her hopes up just yet.

"Ok," Mikoto replied as she pulled away. "By the way, what are you doing out here? Don't you have class or something?"

"Looking for you." she replied in her normal monotone voice.

"Why?"

"Worried," was her simple reply.

The bell then rang signalling 9:00am.

She stood and helped pull Mikoto to her feet before leading her onto Sylphid's back.

"Vestori Square," was all she said before Sylphid took off.

"Why are we going to Vestori Square?" asked Mikoto.

"Meeting with search party/"

"Search party! Wow I can't believe other people were looking for me as well."

Sylphid started descending towards Vestori Square, where she could see Mr Colbert, Kirche, Guiche and Louise waiting.

Hey, sorry for the wait I've been working on one of my other stories and I've just started university and had to move into the dorms since I live quite far away.

I've just finished freshers week so my life's about to get pretty busy so it'll be hard to find time to write.

Thanks for following and favoriteing my story.

Don't hesitate to leave comments I know how hesitant people can be when it comes to writing comments, I promise I won't be offended by whatever you write.

Also if there's anything you want to happen let me know and I'll see if I can add it into the story.

Thanks and till next time.