Louise didn't know when she woke up but she was no longer at Henrietta's side, instead she was in the bed that she and Tabitha shared. Her eyes were puffed red and she had tears running down her face.
She looked to her left and there was Ikaros beside the window with a strange white card in her hands. Suddenly it shattered leaving the Angeloid's hand empty.
"I…Ikaros?" Louise asked with a shaking voice.
"Yes, Master?"
"W…What happened?" Louise slowly stood up from her bed.
"I used the dream program as you commanded." Louise had to collect her thoughts at that and after thinking for a few second she remembered what she said just a few moments before.
"Are you telling me that everything that happened today, everything, never happened at all?" Louise's voice cracked again. She was now on her feet with her arms wrapped around her. "That Henrietta didn't…?" She couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Princess Henrietta is currently alive." Ikaros continued in a monotone voice. "Correction, We are three days in the past. When you said 'I wish this was just a bad dream.' I based it on the whole familiar examination from the day it was revealed." Louise was now standing in front of Ikaros and holding the Angeloid's shoulders in disbelief."It is currently the morning three days ago." That was all she could take and she slowly slid down on Ikaros' body wide-eyed.
Ikaros granted her support by going on her knees and taking Louise into a hug. She didn't really understand the maelstrom of emotions that was currently running through Louise but she did detect sadness among them and as such, she took Siesta's advice and hugged Louise who started to cry again.
What Louise didn't know and Ikaros chose to ignore was the fact that they were not alone in the room. Tabitha heard everything and now was simply confused. Princess Henrietta? Familiar examination? And what was she talking about while using the wrong tenses?
Nevertheless Tabitha waited for Louise to come down before announcing herself by clearing her throat.
"Tabitha?" Louise stared blankly at her. "How much did you hear?"
"Everything, but you will have to explain." She answered in a monotone voice.
That again opened the floodgates for Louise.
"T-Tabitha, you have to help me." And so the blunette listened.
Louise told her about the announcement that the Princess will come, about both of them practicing together, the Inquisition, and the chaos that transcendent upon the examination.
Tears streamed down while she told the whole story and she was about to break down again while trying to retell the death of the Princess.
Tabitha, upon finally understanding what had happened, only stared at Ikaros wide-eyed. Making past events undone? That concept sounded so ridiculous she didn't know how to feel about that, yes, the Angel was strong and she knew that but this was just beyond her imagination.
Nevertheless, she chose to humor Louise for now. After all, if she did tell the truth than today's lesson will get interrupted by a ridiculous looking Professor Colbert.
Tabitha bothered Louise to tell every detail of everything she could remember but tried to make a circle around the Princess death, trying to not upset Louise even more.
Today couldn't have started any weirder.
Red lights and sirens were blinking and screaming no matter where you looked and Angeloids were running around or using consoles trying to counteract the extreme energy drain that, without a warning, hit the synapse.
"Transferring all non-critical energy to life systems."
"Tracing energy drain."
"Activating self-repair programs in blocks C-F."
In the middle of the chaos sat Minos with one hand over his face and an overall tired posture.
"Number thirty-four." He said with a heavy voice.
One of the Angeloids approached him."Yes, Master?"
"I am just going to ask because I still don't believe it. The Uranus Queen had full access to all resources since we deactivated her six thousand years ago?"
"Yes, because she was unable to physically access any of our computers it was never put into consideration to put her off the grid."
Instead of the expected violent reaction, he only looked more tired and ragged at that."Take care of that immediately and open a secure channel to..." That was as far as he got before his screen flashed and a worried looking beta class Angeloid was on the screen.
"Master! We have been trying to contact you since forty-eight minutes ago. What is going on over there?"
"Nymph, we have a lead as to where Type Alpha is. We don't know what but she did something big and the resulting energy wave has damaged our systems, but we were able to use it to pinpoint her location. "He started typing at his screen "I will send you the coordinates. You and the Harpies are to find her immediately but be very careful and retain a distance for now. We have no idea what exactly she used that extreme amount of energy for."
"Yes, Master!" And with that, the screen turned black.
"I need to have a word with a certain Angeloid smith."
Louise was pacing up and down in Tabitha's room with the blunette sitting on the bed with a shocked face.
It is always a difference between being told something than experiencing it. She still had doubts about Louise's words this morning but they all have been erased with today's canceled lesson and Louise one hundred percent accurate retelling of the day.
Tabitha didn't know if she should be mad or happy.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Louise cursed while she tried to think of a way to warn the Princess.
Preventing the assassination of Princess Henrietta de Tristram. Another tall order but she could at least work with this, she was used to impossible challenges.
But why bother, Tabitha asked herself, couldn't the Angeloid just make it happen?
"Can't Ikaros just do it?" Tabitha voiced.
Louise thought about that for a moment. She couldn't really imagine how turning back time could help them… but stopping it on the other hand."Ikaros if you can manipulate time like that can you make it stop somehow?"
"I can." Ikaros pulled out one of the same cards she saw this morning which began to glow.
Many thousand kilometers away a lower servant class Angeloid tipped a single command line into a console and severed the connection between Ikaros' Transport Cards and the Synapse, and Ikaros' card cased function.
Louise and Tabitha were staring at the card full of expectations and were awaiting magic of epic proportions.
"It doesn't work." That short sentence made both of them topple over.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Louise screamed out. "You made it work just fine this morning!"
"I have been denied access to the Synapse to transport the necessary energy," Ikaros explained. "I am no longer able to request things from the Synapse."
…
Louise slowly started rocking back and forth on the bed while slowly repeating 'We are doomed' over and over again.
Tabitha took none of that and her book met the back of Louise head. "Stay calm." she insisted "You have been given another chance, use it." Louise could swear that there was a bit of an edge to Tabitha's voice despite still having the same stoic expression.
Louise sat back up. "But how?" She said with a sulking voice. "She is guarded every minute of the day including at night! I can't just walk up and claim to be her old childhood friend. The guards would drag me away before I can prove anything."
Well, time to make plans. "We meet her when she is alone," Tabitha said with a, for Louise, an unusual edge to her voice. "We have to contact her at night when the guards are fewer and less attentive."
"I don't think that will work," Louise added. "She always has her musketeers guarding her, and if I remember correctly she even had them split into two branches, one responsible for the day, the other for the night."
"Doesn't matter." Tabitha retaliated. "Humans are not meant to work at night and have dulled senses. Additionally, who would expect someone attacking at a school."
Louise gulped at that. "Not like that stopped them in the middle of the day, on school ground, in a crowd of three hundred students, teachers, and guards."
"Exactly," Tabitha said. "No one expected it and it worked perfectly, didn't it?"
Louise winced at that, the memory still fresh in her head.
"Master?" Ikaros interrupted. "Why don't you meet Princess Henrietta in your room?"
"What do you mean Ikaros?"
Ikaros' eyes started turned green "Playing recording from seven hours ago: 'I tried to visit your room yesterday, but you weren't there.'." Ikaros said with Henrietta's voice.
After Louise registered the words she slapped her hand on her forehead.
Things were going better than expected and after they caught a good night sleep they decided that they would need a more specific plan. Louise this time was able to fully retell everything in detail without breaking apart.
"The problem will be the golem even if we can stop the fake guard," Tabitha said with a concerned voice. "Taking down a square level golem is hard."
They were at the clearing where they were supposed to train for the familiar examination. On Tabitha's insistent they took no chances and followed their exact footsteps.
"What if we just take out the mage." Louise remembered the hooded figure "I mean the mage was just standing on the shoulder."
"The mage will be protected by the golem." Tabitha had experience with many enemies and golems were among them, not that Louise knew but she still trusted Tabitha's judgment. "Attack the mage, attack the golem."
"Ikaros is very fast she could easily get the person away from the golem." A slight air of superiority appeared around Louise. "You should have seen her speed yesterday, to the sea and back in under 10 minutes."
The bluenette didn't know what to think about that. Yes, Ikaros was strong and durable but her main power apparently came from her cards that were useless now.
"Let's test her, then." Tabitha said. "An earth golem like you described is very fast in protecting their master. If Ikaros can steal me from Sylphids back while I try to defend myself than she can do it."
After whistling once, the Drakaina in question appeared and Tabitha mounted her.
After she reached enough height that she only saw Ikaros and Louise because of the pink they had on them, and readied her staff. Tabitha knew about five spells that she could fire on a whim that should prevent the Angeloid from reaching her. Just to be sure she told Sylphid to start making circles around the two pink spots on the ground.
She saw Ikaros make a small movement, any second now, she would come.
Suddenly all the air was knocked out of Tabitha's lungs, at first she only saw colorful stripes and dots as the world around her started to spin. She desperately tried to take a breathe but only after struggling for a few second her body finally obeyed her.
After finally regaining enough control of her senses she noticed the arms that were around her midsection, holding her in the air.
After all that sunk in she only was able to glurp at the implications.
It was late in the evening and the familiar examination was supposed to happen tomorrow.
The Inquisitors, this time around, were so easily dealt with Louise didn't even think about them until they met Kirche. Putting things into perspective getting herself branded as a heretic seemed so unimportant in what was about to come.
If they had a clock in Louise's room then it would have either turned the youngest Vallière insane or would have suffered a death by explosion, so great was the tension in the room.
Finally, after an ungodly eternity, there was a knocking at the door.
Louise ripped the door open and pulled the hooded figure inside simultaneously pulling the hood of the invader's face.
The moment Louise was sure that this was indeed Henrietta who stared at her in complete bewilderment. "Lou… Louise?"
It took the small mage three seconds of staring into her childhood friend's face and the constant mental image of her dead lifeless eyes to break down again.
Henrietta didn't really know what to do other than hug Louise back and stare at the other student in the room and the winged creature but lucky for her Tabitha decided to help her out. She laid her hand on Louise's shoulder and said. "Your Highness, we will explain everything shortly."
After Louise calmed down they all took a seat, although she was still holding on to the Princess and refused to let go.
"Tomorrow there will be an assassin at the show. They will try to kill you." To her credit, Henriette only flinched. After all, she was used to attempts on her life because of her status.
"What exactly do you mean, who will come for my life and why?" It was important to know what motivated her killer has so that she could go against them.
"W-We don't know." Louise finally spoke up."T-There was an earth mage and then you just got stabbed in the back by one of your guards." She stammered out.
Henrietta got confused at that. "Louise, what are you talking about?"
Tabitha interfered so that they wouldn't be forced to sit through hours of explaining." It's about Louise's familiar." She said while pointing at Ikaros who made a short bow.
"I was about to ask, what are you?" The Princess said, her attention now fully at the winged girl in armor. "I have never seen any creature like you."
"I am a pet-class Angeloid, type alpha, name Ikaros and the familiar of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière." Ikaros explained with her monotone voice.
Before the Princess could ask more questions Tabitha interrupted. "To make a long explanation short, Louise's familiar has a way to see the future and showed Louise your death."
"Are you sure that this ability is trustworthy?" Henrietta answered skeptically after all many of those who claimed to be able to predict the future turned out to be nothing but liars.
"Y-Yes every prediction came true no matter how small or big," Louise said still holding her Princess. "Henrietta, I saw it, no, l-lived every moment of it, I saw you d-die by a blade through the heart and I will forever remember your dead eyes." She held onto her even more desperately. "Please, you have to believe me! Before the show started you came to the tent to talk to me because you couldn't find me in my room as I was staying with a friend. You told me how much you missed me and how you remembered the times we played together as children." Louise once again had tears in her eyes.
"It's ok, Louise." She returned the hug and patted Louise on the head. "I believe you and because of your warning, I am not going anywhere."
"How?" Tabitha asked, "We need a plan."
"You are right Miss?" Henrietta got a questioning look. "I am sorry but I don't know your name."
"Tabitha, Chevalier de Norfatul." Tabitha introduced herself while taking the Princess' hand and kneeling like a proper knight.
"A Chevalier?" Princess Henrietta praised. "You have to be a very capable mage to reach this title at such a young age, Lady Tabitha."
"Tabitha is enough." The blue haired girl said while standing up "Anyway, we need a plan."
"I have an idea." Henrietta got an evil smirk on her face. "Meet me at seven in the morning at the Headmaster's office. We will have to do this discretely if you are right about one of my guards being involved."
"What are you planning?" Louise asked.
"Youuu willlll seeeeee." Henrietta singsanged while she stood up.
As she tried to move towards the door, she was again stopped by Louise who was holding Henrietta's hand tightly with a pained expression on her face.
Henrietta seeing this bend down to be face to face with the still sitting Louise. "Louise, I can't imagine how hard seeing something like that was for you but I promise you that I will see you tomorrow, so you have to let go for now okay?"
Hesitantly, Louise let go of the hand. "I-I will see you tomorrow. Good night."
"Good Night Louise, and also goodnight to you Tabitha and Ikaros."
"Good night." Tabitha answered. Ikaros only nodded.
As they all went to bed Tabitha chose to ignore the fact that Louise's room was in pristine condition when they left for hers.
The next day at the familiar examination.
Sitting in the presence of royalty let alone standing at the same level as a Princess without permission was considered treason and could get you executed right where you stood or took a seat in that case.
So how come Louise and Tabitha were sitting respectively to the left and right of the Princess with Ikaros in full armor and Sylphid flanking them?
It started this morning in the headmaster's office.
"Your Highness, I can't allow that!" Osmond protested. "The familiar examination is a millennia-old tradition and every student has to participate!"
In front of his desk was Princess Henrietta with Louise, Tabitha, Ikaros and the Captain of her Musketeers Agnes.
"That truly is a shame Headmaster Osmond." Henrietta said dramatically. "But what can you do? I have not been able to be with my friends for so long and most likely never see them again because of my duties." Louise could swear that fake tears were running down her cheeks. "You are completely right Headmaster traditions should be upheld, in fact, I should send weekly inspectors to the academy to make sure the nobility of the future is taught in every tradition and guidelines of old!" She said in a dramatic fashion.
"I am happy that you underst… Wait, what?!" The headmaster was shocked out of his seat. "I-I-I can assure you t-that is not necessary your Highness."
"But Headmaster Osmond, you can never be stern enough with the teachings of old. We have to make sure that tradition is upheld, like the pureblood laws, the uniforms, can't be slacking off on that, now can we?" She smiled kindly at the headmaster. "After all, what would the church say if the teachings of the Founder are not properly taught? "
You could see the color draining from Osmond's face with every point the Princess listed. "N-Now Princess these are all very old and there is no reason to go back to incorporating them again." He said while shaking his hands and having sweat run down his face.
"But Headmaster." Henrietta's put on a smile as sweet as newborn kittens. "After all you yourself said that traditions have to be honored."
You could see the gears in the headmaster's head turning, trying to navigate a way out of the pit the Princess just threw him in but in the end, it was hopeless. "We can make a small exception." He said with a defeated sigh.
"I am glad we could come to an agreement," Henrietta said as she quickly dragged the dumbstruck teens out of the room.
"Scary." Tabitha commented from behind her book.
"Please, her Highness deals with politics on a daily basis," Agnes commented. "That old pervert was nothing."
"Agnes, you make me blush." The Princess said with her cheeks red.
"You wouldn't follow up on those threats, right? The purebloods' law is ignored for a reason." Louise asked sternly.
"That is why they teach every heir to the throne how to play poker." Henrietta lectured. "It is a fun game when you don't play with money and title on the line but learning how to bluff and reading your opponent is a must."
Later, as Henrietta saw that both of them chose to stand at the examination rather than sit with her she quickly abused the fact that she was taller than both of them and pulled them into her seat.
That got her whole squad of guards to freak out slightly, unsure of what to do. Henrietta quickly got things back in order by reminding them that they are supposed to keep watch for potential threats. That didn't stop the students from staring.
After some awkward silence, Henrietta got them to open up and they made small talk about the candidates and the performance. When the Princess asked about Tabitha's familiar the girl simply whistle once and the huge form of Sylphid landed next to them. Needless to say, that got the guards to completely lose it and point all the weapons at the happy and clueless dragon.
They calmed down later on and Guiche was the one currently posing with his mole.
"Isn't that the son of General Gramont?" Henrietta asked.
"Sadly." Louise encountered. "Not much to him except for flirting with other girls despite being promised to Montmorency the bed wetter."
She got a tap on the head from Henrietta for that. "Now Louise!" She started lecturing. "If you can't say anything nice about a person better don't say anything."
"Yes, yes mother," Louise said with her tongue slipping out.
"Now let's not speak of the devil lest she comes here and get both of us." Henrietta countered which got a healthy laugh out of both of them. Tabitha watched this with a fascination, how could someone be so casual in this position of power was beyond her.
She smirked slightly at that and thought 'Look who is talking Princess Charlotte, in theory, she is my equal after all.'
Suddenly the temperature around them dropped and everyone was on edge.
The reason for that was that Kirche stepped on the stage with her familiar, Flame.
This was a signal for what was about to happen. The attack started the moment Louise finished her performance and because she and Tabitha didn't perform, this time around, the only window the killers had was right when Kirche finished.
"Ikaros!" Louise whispered. "Do you remember your orders?"
"Yes, Master." The Angeloid acknowledged. "The moment the golem appears, knock the mage of its' shoulder and secure the mage as a prisoner."
Kirche's show was impressive in her own way. How she and her salamander danced around the flames was hypnotic.
Sadly it was interrupted the exact same way it was expected. Behind them, a gigantic earth golem rose from the ground.
Louise had to hand it to the Musketeers, they immediately sprung into action, perfectly organized. One part engaged the mage who was on the shoulder of the golem, hidden behind a cloak, while the other part aided the Princess's and her own escape as she was dragged along by Agnes.
Tabitha only needed a second to get airborne with Sylphid and started chanting an ice spell.
It was that exact moment when she finished and a crust of ice appeared that managed to stagger the golem for just a second which Ikaros used to launch herself at the cloaked mage… only for said person to break in half when Ikaros made contact.
Many minds that were watching simply shut down and tried to comprehend what just happened.
Tabitha was the first to notice the earth crumbling out of the half that Ikaros was holding. "It's a diversion!" She screamed but it was too late as Ikaros got the full swing of the golem's fist that smashed her into the main tower.
"Ikaros!" Louise screamed.
In that moment something clicked in Louise mind, it was the same scene, she had drawn all the attention to herself and now the killer would strike.
Never in her life did her legs carry her that fast as she ran towards Henrietta as the killer already had his blade ready to strike.
The ripping of flesh and a sickening crack were heard as the blade hit Louise's shoulder stopping at the bone and preventing it from going any further.
Louise didn't feel any of it. She just saw the hooded figure in front of her and the rest of her vision clouded in hate.
She immediately had her wand out and pointed at the would-be assassin's face. Her magic, fueled by her rage, simply rushed out at him.
The killer was obviously a professional as he simply let go of the blade and pushed the wand out of his face with a quick hit at Louise's wrist.
"What are you doing to my Master?" Before anyone could comprehend the words, a hand reached towards the killer's neck, lifted him upwards and tightened the grip as he tried to break free.
"I am asking what you are doing to her and I expect you to give me a satisfactory answer." The words were accompanied by power in form of a bright light that started to radiate off of Ikaros' wings. The force started to destroy everything it came into contact with. Whole sections of the Academy building were sent flying like pieces of paper. The struggle of the killer only increased as he was cut off from air and now terrified, tried to kick Ikaros with all his might breaking a few toes in the process but it was no use as the Angeloid didn't even flinch.
Because of the struggle, the hood finally came off and for all to see, was the suffering face Miss Longueville who was turning blue and had tears running down her eyes.
Louise knew that if Ikaros kept this up she would be dead in a few minutes. But despite how much she hated her right now she couldn't bring herself to let Ikaros finish it, after all, if Ikaros killed her than it would be Louise's hands that would be stained with blood. She simply couldn't.
"Ikaros! Stop!" And everything came to a halt, the power stopped flowing, Ikaros lost her grip, and the only thing that was left was silence as Longueville was unconscious. In the background, the golem started to fall apart as his master was no longer feeding it with energy.
"Master, are you alright?" Ikaros asked softly.
"Yes, I am fine Ikaros." She gave a tired sigh from herself. "Please tie Miss Longueville up so that she can't escape."
"L-Louise?" The words came from a slightly green looking Henrietta who instead of asking simply pointed at Louise's left shoulder.
As she looked down, she noticed the weight that was on her left side and saw that the blade that was meant for the Princess was still stuck in her shoulder and blood running down its length dripping out of the wound.
Instead of reacting in any panicked way she simply looked back at Princess Henrietta with a smile and a slight twitch in her eye and said: "I have been stabbed." The last thing she saw before, she blacked out, was the ground approaching her face.
"This is so annoying." One of the gamma Angeloids complained. "Why do we have to look through this damned forest? "
The three Angeloid were currently flying over the forest, sadly the energy signature they got only gave them a radius of about fifty kilometers. They managed to round it down to the forest but were losing hope of finding the rough Alpha as she could have easily flown away somewhere else.
They were two type gamma interceptor class Angeloids. The Harpies who stood at about one meter eighty (6 feet) and had claws instead of fingers and toes to represent their namesake.
"Just shut up and look for anything that looks like a clue." Beta retorted. She was an Electronic Warfare-Class Angeloid, Type Beta and was smaller than the other Angeloids. She had transparent, rainbow colored wings and long, light blue hair.
Suddenly a blinding white light was seen in the distance that radiated for a few moments before slowly going out.
"Does that count?" The other Harpie asked.
