The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Neunzehn-komma-ein: Extras Fünf und Sechs
Kapitel Sechzehn: Em/Aus
XXXXXXXXXX
Unrest. That was the overarching mood aboard the Aquila early in the morning.
"Is il duce still not here yet?" one student wondered aloud amongst the large crowd of other Anzio students.
The whole crowd of students was rather talkative that morning, but it wasn't in their usual manner of energy. All of the Italians there were getting a bit distressed without their duce present. It was a most unfamiliar experience to them all for her to not be there on-time.
"I dunno, maybe she slept in?" another student tried to offer a guess. It was laced with uncertainty, though, for no one there seemed to know where their duce was.
"I don't believe this. She's no rebel, so why would she be late?" another student offered a reason. It once again fell flat on its face in tone because of vast uncertainty.
"Hey, guys, there's no need to worry about il duce's whereabouts!" Franco broadcasted his voice from the top of the very wide stair set that the students chose to meet up at for the daily agenda. In Anchovy's absence, it was il comandante who was left to settle everyone's unease, and he was growing to have a hard time doing it, not least of which because everyone was still talking about where il duce could possibly be.
The crowd of Italians was obviously nearing to openly rioting as they grew more unrestful.
"Where's il duce?!" many of them started to yell out in anger. Some of them had even brought out pitchforks and torches to wield in their hands. "Where is she?!"
"Oh, boy, where the hell are you, duce?" Franco muttered to himself as he witnessed everyone stand on the edge of chaos.
But his eyes quickly found someone walking along the sides of the crowd and up the steps, not trying to attract attention but inadvertently catching his. The comandante noted that the person was a girl with an overnight bag slung over her shoulder. She had long gray-greenish hair tied into a braided ponytail and wore some glasses with circular lenses. Besides that, she blended in almost seamlessly with the other Anzio students, wearing the same uniform as the girls did.
"Goddammit, where the hell have you been?" Franco muttered to himself. He knew exactly who that girl was, and it didn't sit well with him in the slightest to see her like that.
He then quickly whisked himself away to find one of his tenenti to watch over the crowd for him, or at least to delay the inevitable of a full-scale riot. "Hey, Furio," he beckoned as he approached.
Furio had been keeping an eye on everything, so he simply gave an affirmative nod, "Got it." Always the more sensible one between him and Fernando, Franco nodded in return before walking off to follow after the girl he saw before, silently trusting that the Folgore ace would be able to reel everyone in for long enough to give him the opportunity to defuse the massive conflict looking to rear its head.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Goddammit, where the hell have you been?!" Franco practically yelled out, none too pleased with all of the chaos nearly ready to unravel in his hands. He managed to hold himself back from a full-on yell to not attract attention.
He and the girl he had followed had reached a small secluded alleyway, away from any prying eyes, and the girl saw this moment to begin transforming herself as she loosened her hair out of the ponytail it was in prior and letting it hang freely down her shoulders and back.
She next removed her glasses and, though she couldn't see as well without them, she gave a glare to Franco anyways. It was one of annoyance, though the way it was done could only be done by one person: Anchovy.
Needless to say, that was exactly the identity of the mystery girl once the glasses were pulled away. "You know," il duce began in a low voice of annoyance as she turned her gaze away and began to place some contact lenses into her eyes. "A pleasant 'How are you?' would've been well appreciated for a greeting instead of speaking to me like I'm about to end this world."
"Well with the way everyone's acting right now because of your absence, I think the world ending looks more likely to happen," il comandante rebutted without hesitance as he stood with arms crossed behind her.
Anchovy gave off a stressed huff. "Well, let's avoid that and hurry out there," she suggested as she started doing her hair into its usual twin-tailed style. She passed a glance towards Franco. "Well don't just stand there. Help me out with this if you don't want a mutiny to break out."
Franco just shook his head and cooperated with helping her with her hair, knowing the alternative to that was far, far worse.
XXXXXXXXXX
A few minutes later, Anchovy sauntered her way to the top of the steps looking just as she always does to everyone else, with her usual hairstyle and mantle plus the crop in one hand, looking every part the confident leader she is.
"Alright everyone, calm down!" she commanded across the wide stone staircase. Immediately upon hearing the booming voice of their leader, all of the Anzio students quieted down and looked up to the stage with varying expressions.
"What the-when did she…?" one of them tried to comprehend the situation, no doubt confused about the sudden appearance of il duce.
"Duce!" some of the crowd began to cheer for the return of their leader, not bothering to question where she was and simply glad she was back.
"Everyone, your attention to il duce!" Franco boomed his voice across the area. He had come up to stand ahead of Anchovy to quell down the crowd, given that he had the necessary voice to do such things.
After everyone grew silent, he stepped aside to let Anchovy have the stage, but not before shooting a look of begrudging respect to her. Though he may not have liked that she was late, he respected that she had recognized that showing up late in the guise of il duce would set a bad example for everyone to follow, and God only knew that Anzio needed any more bad influences.
Hence, though still not satisfied with her tardiness, Franco still fully understood why she needed an alter-ego of sorts, and even somewhat praised her on it. 'Honestly,' he mulled in his thoughts, momentarily tuning out Anchovy's review of the day's agenda. 'She couldn't have done a better job at making sure no one recognized her.'
XXXXXXXXXX
Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.
XXXXXXXXXX
The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer" or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. Any references made belong to their respective owners.
Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Please note, however, that questions asked without being signed in will not be answered. The author would prefer to address questions outside of the story, and leaving questions while signed in provides that ability.