Tabitha was always reading no matter what.
Everything she did, she did with her book in hand. Walking, eating, casting spells, learning school subjects. The only time when Tabitha was not reading was that one time that a few students got the bright idea to burn some of her books.
The events that followed were erased from the school history.
So, when Tabitha dropped her book, you better believe that things were dead serious.
The students simply didn't know how to deal with this situation. A few hushed whispers about heresy were heard along with a few questioning if they were still dreaming.
Most of them simply started at the scene in front of them in bewilderment.
And, in the midst of all this confusion, stood the pink haired girl who had no idea what to do with the stoic Angeloid that was awaiting her first order.
"That… is definitely an interesting summon Miss Vallière," Professor Colbert finally broke the silence. He was not a very religious man, of course he would never admit that to anyone, doing so would be like asking the church for trouble. The founder indeed was a great man, creating the art of magic through unknown means. He deserved every piece of recognition he got for protecting humanity against the Elves, but to Colbert he was just that, a great man long gone.
So, to suddenly have all the old stories confirmed was simply not possible. His brain refused to believe that what he had in front of him was a messenger of God, and so he treated this as if it was simply another unknown magical creature that was not known of yet.
After he repeated that to himself enough time he could finally keep talking.
"Miss Vallière, please, finish the ritual." He said with all the determination of a former soldier.
That got a reaction from the students, even if it was just looks of pure disbelief.
Louise for her part simply continued staring at her new familiar. Upon pinching her arm and feeling the pain she confirmed that, yes, this was real even she had a very hard time believing it. The words of the Angel in her dream echoed in her mind.
"Miss Vallière!" At the loud voice of the professor, she finally snapped out of it. "If you please, would you stop daydreaming and finish the ritual se we can finish this lesson?" He said with a forced smile.
Louise complied, picking up her wand and walking to the Angel with as much fake bravo as she possibly could.
"P-P-Pentagon of the F-Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar." She said shakily taping the Angel at the forehead. She hesitated before giving the still kneeling Angel a quick peck on the lips. Throughout the whole time the Angel didn't move one muscle, not even a twitch, just stared into the eyes of her master and with a flash of light symbols started to appear on the left hand of the Angeloid.
"Well done, Miss Vallière. Now that everyone has their turn summoning, the class is dismissed!" The professor said with happend to the disbelief of the students and Kirche was not ok with this.
"W..Wait, you can't just-"
"Class dismissed, Miss Zerbst!" He commanded and with that the students got the message and left the lesson with varying degrees of confusion.
Louise could do nothing but stare into the eyes of her familiar.
When she finally dared to look somewhere else her eyes wandered to the chain that was wrapped around her hand, it was light, and while she felt that it was there she was sure that she could easily forget it if she wasn't looking at it for long enough.
A chilling breeze made her remember that she was still standing in the yard and it was getting late.
"Let's go to my room." She finally said breaking the silence, and started to walk to the tower with Ikaros right behind her.
The walk felt way longer then it should with Louise's mind being a whirlwind of emotions and questions.
As they reached the room, Louise simply couldn't continue standing anymore and fell on her bed.
With her arms barely holding her in a sitting position Louise found herself staring yet again into those emotionless turquoise eyes.
"Is something the matter, Master?" The Angel asked standing in front of her.
"No, no, just..." Louise was still struggling to find proper words. "This is all a bit much." She finally admitted.
Louise remembered that Ikaros gave her a long intorduction, but to her emberesment she couldn't recall even half of it.
"Ehmm, w-what's your full name again?" Louise asked shily.
"My name is Ikaros, I am a pet-class Angeloid, type Alpha, send by the Synapse to fulfill your every want and desire." Ikaros said while walking closer to Louise."Please Master, give me a order."
"I, ehh..." Now Louise was really getting nervous because Ikaros was right in front of her and the poor girl had no idea what the angel exactly wanted. "What can you do?" She tried to change the subject.
"We Angeloids were created solely for our Master's pleasure. You can ask us for anything you desire." She said, so close that Louise could practically feel her breath.
"A..Anything?" Louise said while backing away onto her bed.
"Anything." The angeloid reinforced, and followed Louise movement.
At this point Louise face was a very deep red and her back was pressed into her bed.
"You, you can..." She stammered while trying to come up with something to get her out of this very awkward situation. She spotted the laundry basket that was the maid normally picked up in the evening. "Yes my clothes, p-please go wash my clothes the need to be ready for me in the morning." Louise stammered out while trying to sink deeper into her bed. "A maid should be able to tell you where the wash room is."
"As you wish master." Ikaros answered and went to the basket.
"It's getting late, I will go sleep." Louise said, as she slowly caught her breath. "Please wake me at dawn."
"Yes, Master. Good night." Ikaros said as emotionless as ever.
Before Ikaros could leave there was a sound of rustling heard while she moved.
"Wait, what is with the Chain?" Louise asked having, indeed, nearly forgotten about it.
"The imprinting connection is not strictly tied to a physical existence and will become unoticable if ignored." Ikaros explained.
Louise only understood the 'become unoticable' part. "B..But others could trip over it, can you do something about that?"
After a few seconds the chain disappeared. Although that would be the wrong use of words, because if Louise focused on the place where she knew the chain was she could see and feel it, if barely as it was there at all. This strange magic made Louise a bit jittery.
"Is there anything else you need, master?" Ikaros asked standing at the door.
"No." Louise said quickly. "Please just take care of my clothes for now."
"I will, good night master." With that the door closed and Louise was alone, she quickly switched into her night garments and buried herself under her blankets.
Who was she kidding? There was no way she would be sleeping after all that.
"I tell you, it has to be some sort of trick! There's no way Louise, the Zero, can actually have an Angel as a familiar!" An enraged Guiche shouted over his colleagues.
After the Summoning ritual some of the students have come together to discuss what had happened.
"Then what the hell was that thing then? Do you want me to reread the description that was left behind by the Founder again?" Came another male students' voice as he pointed at the book in his hands.
They had already put a good half an hour of debating behind them.
"I tell you, it has to be a trick. Some mage used an Illusion on the girl and the Zero used the explosion to cover it up." Guiche was the son of a General and his father made sure to instruct the boy in military tactics. Deception was one of them. 'The enemy that can not win with brutal force will try to trick you. The Zero, while a having no skill in magic, definitely has a big stock of money from the Vallière's treasury' He thought to himself.
"Pulling something like this is not a problem, and she had to do it because she would be expelled if she failed the exam." He said full of confidence, not seeing any flaws in his logic.
"Well, that can be true, I suppose." Kirche admitted.
"We can't just let something like this happen! We have to do something!" Another student threw in.
"Why should we? She put so much work into it." Kirche said feeling smug. "If it is fake, it will blow up in her face anyway."
"That is true." Montmorency added.
"Are we really going to let this slide like that?"
"Well, I don't really care about it, so you guys go have fun. I have a date for tonight." With that being said, Kirche left the room for the night. It was late after all.
Ikaros, like the good Angeloid she was, was looking for a maid who could point her to the washing room where she could wash her Master's clothes.
She had no idea why she had to do it in a specific room, but orders were orders.
As she got outside, she saw a girl wearing a black and white dress and carrying a basket with clothes. Was this a maid? Well, Ikaros didn't know so she made a short hop to the girl accompanied by a flap of her wings.
"Are you a maid?"
The girl in question jumped a bit at the sudden question, and the accompanied noise. But the instincts that she picked up during her time as a maid quickly caught up with her.
"Yes. Yes, I am. What can I do for…" The words died in her throat as she turned around to face the one who was speaking to her.
Let it be known that if there is one thing that was faster than light, it was rumors. It was very possible that her highness had already heard about the incident in this year's summoning so it was no surprise that the maid named Siesta has already heard about it as well.
The bad thing about that was the the rumor the kitchen already had cooked up something, and that something was that the Angel was sent to Halkeginia to look for sinners to punish them for their bad deeds.
Now, Siesta always thought of herself as a good girl, but seeing an armored girl with her wings wide open... let's just say that some of the stronger spirits can get weak in that moment.
She fell to her knees and started praying."Oh Founder, who has gifted us with magic and fought all evil for us..."
"Do you know where the washing room is?" Ikaros asked completely unphased.
"...may you praise the, huh?" Siesta could do nothing but stare upwards in confusion.
"Do you know where the washing room is?" Ikaros asked again. "I need to wash these clothes." she said pointing at the clothes she was carrying.
"Y..Y..Yes, I..I..I w..was just on the way there myself, I..I c..can show you the way." Siesta quickly picked up the clothes that she dropped and started walking. She was very nervous and had a really hard time not tripping on the way.
Siesta always had a wild imagination but even the most insane theories she could come up with wouldn't work in this scenario. As such, she could do nothing more then lead Ikaros to the washing room.
They entered the room that had water barrels, towels and washing boards.
"Yes." Siesta answered still as nervous as ever. "Do… you need anything else?"
"No." Came the short replay, and Ikaros pulled something that looked like a card out of somewhere."Transport."
There was a bright light radiating from the card, it surprised Siesta and she had to shield her eyes from it.
Suddenly, a bright pink box was standing in the room and only more questions began piling up in Siestas head.
"What… is that, thing, if you don't mind me asking." Siesta asks, her agitation forgotten by her surprise and confusion.
"It's a washing machine."
…
"A washing machine? For washing?" Now the poor girl was even more confused.
Ikaros, didn't let that bother her and simply put the clothes into the opening at the top, closed it and pressed a button, making the machine rumble and scaring Siesta a bit."What is it doing?"
"Washing my Master's clothes."
...
"That's it?" She asked a bit stunned.
"Yes."
Siesta simply stared at the rumbling box, until she remembered that she still had a job to do herself. She promptly got a bucket and filled it with water.
Suddenly a sound was heard from the pink box, the Angel opened the box and took out the clothes and started to fold them.
"Is it finished already?" Siesta asked curiously.
"Yes." Came the short reply.
"And it did it all by itself?" Siesta asked full of curiosity. "Don't you need to add some magic to it or something?"
"It is a washing machine." Ikaros explained. "You have to put the clothes in it, start it, and pull them out when it is finished."
"C..Can I use it?" For her, the idea of the clothes washing themselves was an opportunity just too good to pass up.
"Go ahead." Siesta quickly took her basket and laid it next to the washing machine.
"Ehm, how does it work?"
"You put the clothes in here, close it, then you press this button." The Angel explained.
Siesta slowly complied and shrieked a bit when the machine started rumbling again.
"And now?" Siesta asked nervously.
"You wait until it is finished."
"Ah."
…
…
…
"Ehm… what is your name?" Siesta asked tried get a conversation going."I am sorry I am asking so late."
"Type alpha, Ikaros."
"Miss Ikaros then?" Siesta tried to keep the conversation going.
"Just Ikaros."
"Ah." Those short replies were not something that Siesta could work with very well.
…
…
…
"You... are an Angel, right?" She said finally finding another topic.
"Angeloid."
"Angeloid?" Siesta affirmed in confusion.
"Yes."
"What is that?" She pressed on.
"Angeloids are created by the Synapse to serve our Master."
"Eee, what is the Synapse?"
"I have no information stored regarding the Synapse."
"And who is your master?"
"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière."
"Miss Vallière?" Siesta tried to confirm.
"Yes."
As if on command the Washing machine finished and, again, Siesta jumped a little at the sudden sound.
"It is finished." Ikaros said.
Siesta slowly opened the top of the machine and started to take out the things.
"It..It's warm and so clean." She said while holding her cheek against a skirt.
"It has a built-in dryer."
"Say, can me and the other maids use it for the laundry?" Siesta asked eagerly
"I see no problem with that."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! With that thing we can do our work at least twice, no, three times as fast as normally!" Siesta jumped at Ikaros and hugged her in a rush of joy.
Only after a few seconds she realized what she was doing, and jumped back in fear of offending the Angeloid.
"S-S-Sorry I was just so happy I..." Siesta started rambling.
"What was that?" Ikaros asked.
"I-I j-just had rush of joy my lady, please forgive me." Siesta was a nervous wreck again.
"Joy?" The angeloid asked cocking her head to one side. "The action you performed on me, what was it?"
'She… doesn't know what a hug is?' Siesta though while tilting her head in confusion.
"It was a hug." she explained carefully." People do that when they are happy or when another person is sad and needs some comforting."
"Happy or sad." Ikaros repeated thinking about the words.
"But really, that Louise, making so much trouble again!" Kirche said as she and Tabitha went to their respective destinations. "I mean come on, now I am late for my date!" She continued as they turn the last corner on their way. "And putting so much work for such a over the top Illusion!" Suddenly she stopped when she realized that her friend was holding her arm and stopping her.
"Tabitha?" Kirche asked confused.
"Dragons don't fear Illusions." And with that sentence she continued to walk again leaving a stunned Kirche in the hallway.
There was a mass of people all cheering to the podest where the bloody and beaten body of her familiar was being carried to a pod of boiling water.
"No, stop please!" Louise screamed out but the crowd wouldn't let her words be heard and the mass was too tight to let her run up.
A priest walked up the stage and addressed the crowd. "Found guilty of the crime of heresy this girl will now face the judgment of god. She will be submerged in boiling water and if god is with her so she shall not be harmed." After the short speech he gave the signal to the guards and they carried the Angeloid to the pot and threw her in.
"IKAROS!" Louise woke up with a scream, tears flowing from her eyes and sitting in a upright position with her hand outstretched.
"Just… just a dream." Louise breathed out in relief.
Out of nowhere and way too fast to react to it she was surrounded by pink feathers and hands pressed her at someone else's body. At first Louise didn't know to react, as she was completely encased by what she recognised as her familiars wings and was pressed tightly onto Ikaros body.
"Wha, Ikaros? What are you doing?"
"Master was very sad right now, and humans hug each other when they are sad." The angeloid clarified.
Louise eyelids grew heavy and before she knew it she drifted of into a peaceful dream.
