Ok so, just a heads up, there will be "lemons" later on in the story, not necessarily in this chapter or the next and so forth but there will be one every now and then. Chapters which have lems in them I will put up a warning like so:
-THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH HIGHLY MATURE SUBJECT MATTER, READER DISCRESION IS ADVISED-
(But don't worry that was just an example, I'm not really warning you right now)
Then once you read down enough eventually you will get another warning like so:
-THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH(S) ARE DEALING WITH SEX/BORDERLINE SEX, SKIP, OR READ WITH CAUTION-
To skip a lem or disturbing scene, keep scrolling down till you see:
-ALL CLEAR- XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Thank you.
PS: The last chapter was a bit rushed so I'm going to start taking maybe an extra day and a half to work on chapters in order to give me some breathing room (I'm not even kidding, in order to meet the chapter a day quota I was originally going for, I had to rush the Halo: Reach dream scene otherwise I wouldn't have the opportunity to put it out that day.
PPS: Also you may have noticed the POV switches around sometimes, there are no main characters of whom will be switched to, characters viewed from so far are only Louise, Scorch/Alexander/Noble 6 and Siesta... that being said it's not restricted to them, others like Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche, Tiffanina, etc... anyways...
On with the fiction!
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Louise's POV
"Say ahhhhh!" Said Kirche when we were at study hall, to my familiar... I've noticed that he's been softening up to Kirche lately... I don't like it...
"It's pretty good huh?"
"Yeah, this is, what is it?" Said Scorch with a mouthful of fruit.
"Its a specialty of Germania..." Said Kirche, I clenched my fist and stood up.
"HEY! Don't feed someone else's familiar!" I grabbed Scorch by the shirt of his green soldier's armor, knocking his, as he called it, marine helmet off his head along with his eye piece and whacked his face against the desk. Apparently that caused enough trauma to prevent him from fighting back, or knocked the wind out of him I dunno...
"Oh its alright, I mean we all get bored when we're stuck in study hall right? this whole thief thing is giving them no time to even hold classes!" Complained Kirche and she stood up "They're making it such a big deal, in fact I heard a rumor that they're gonna try and blame the whole thing on Princess Henrietta."
"What?" I asked and stopped kicking Scorch, I'd gotten used to calling him by his nickname... I don't think he deserved to be called by real name by me quite yet!
"I heard that Fouquet was able to sneak in because they pulled what few guards they had off the vault to help guard the princess. On top of that I heard that Princess Henrietta decided to visit the institute despise all objections from her advisors." Explained Kirche
The door at the front of the class room opened and Mr. Colbert came in "Ms. Louise! And Ms. Tabitha! Come to the principal's office immediately."
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We all stood in the principal/headmaster's office surrounded by instructors. Headmaster Osmond was at the front center of them all addressing us. I glance to my side and saw Kirche... "Hey! Why are you here?" I hissed
"I don't know, it sounded like fun..." she replied, the smartass she is...
"After questioning several witnesses around town, we have gained credible information on the whereabouts of a suspicious shadow we have seen entering and leaving a deserted shack deep in the woods this morning" said Ms. Longueville, Mr. Osmond's green haired secretary.
"Very speedy work Ms. Longueville, you ought to be commended..." said Mr. Osmond
"From those testimonies I attempted to sketch out a picture of the shadow." She pulled out a scroll of paper and handed it to Osmond.
"hmm? Hmmmmmmm..." he turned the paper around and showed us "What do you think?" he asked us.
I recognized the drawing perfectly "This is Fouquet! I have no doubt about it!"
There was tension in the air after I said that... then Mr. Colbert spoke "We must report this to the palace at once I send a request along with it. We'll ask the royal guards to go after her."
Osmond shook his head "If we wait for those Burocrats to actually take their job seriously and make a decision Fouquet will get away!" I glanced back at Scorch who had scoffed and was now grinning and shaking his head, I take it he knew that feeling well... he muttered something about red tape... odd...
"We must retrieve the staff of destruction, the item that was stolen, and capture Fouquet ourselves if we're to regain the honor that was tarnished by that thief..." Osmond looked out at everyone. "Now raise your staff if you're up to the challenge." There was a bit of nervous muttering going on and no one was standing up... "What's this? Are there none among you who wish to raise their fame by capturing Fouquet?" more murmuring and awkward conversation...
*chk-chk* I heard the unmistakable sound, one I'd heard in my dreams all too often, an assault rifle being locked and loaded, I looked behind me and saw Scorch had raised his Rifle for the task.
"I'll do it, I'll go alone if I have to... beats sitting around here all day."
'Why that...! If he's gonna go then that means I have to! But he didn't even consult his master! Errrrg... may as well play this off...' I thought "Then I'll go too, it would be wrong to let my familiar go alone!"
Everyone gasped, I'd wondered why they didn't gasp when Scorch raised his gun but I had my suspicions...
"I will go too..." Said Kirche
"Zerpes?"
"Well, I can't afford to lose to a Valliere can I?"
"Why don't you just-" I got cut off
"Tabitha?" I looked over and saw Tabitha had raised her staff. "You don't have to come, this is a problem between both of us!"
"I'm worried about both of you." Tabitha Replied.
We both said our thanks...
"Hmhm... well... I'll leave it to the three of you then." Said Osmond "These two have witnessed what Fouquet can do, on top of that Ms. Tabitha here is a Chevalier knight! So talented for one so young!"
"A knight?!" I exclaimed
"Is this true Tabitha?" asked Kirche and Tabitha nodded.
Osmond continued "Ms. Zerpes comes from an established military family in Germania, very powerful... and I'm also told that her flame magic is of the very best quality!" Osmond turned to me. "And uh... Ms. Valliere is the daughter of the well regarded Valliere family, which has had several excellent mages in the past and... Uh... erm... well..." I noticed his stuttering, c'mon old man... spit it out already! "Uh... she has a very bright future... and uh... AH YES! That's right!" he beamed "I hear that her familiar is an excellent fighter capable of taking on Guiche de Gramont and defeating the monster which attacked the school a few days ago..." I was stunned... not only did Osmond not actually commend me he gave more praise to my familiar... EEEEERRRRRRHHHH...
"That's right! He used the legendary Gan- erk *cough*"
"Then it's settled" Said Mr. Osmond "You four shall go and retrieve the staff and bring Fouquet to justice!"
"Excuse me Mr. Osmond, I would like offer my service to the group, please let me join as their guide." Asked Ms. Longueville.
"That's a good idea Ms. Longeuville, you shall accompany them."
"I already planned everything out!" she beamed, after she said that I swear I heard Scorch mumble something suspicious but I passed it off as another of his ungrateful sighs...
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Scorch's POV
"I don't get it... if Fouquet is a mage, wouldn't that make her a noble? Why would a noble resort to petty crime?" I asked
Ms. Longueville turned to us, we were all riding a wagon to the supposed location of the shack. "You see just because some of us are nobles doesn't mean that we all are pure in intent... then there are the fallen nobles... nobles who have lost their status through some various act or deed deemed punishable for specific acts and what not. For example I once had noble status but it was stripped away..."
"Really? But aren't you Mr. Osmond's secretary?" asked Louise
"Mr. Osmond isn't exactly picky about whether he hires peasants or nobles"
"Soo..." Kirche started and leaned closer to Ms. Longueville "What's the story behind your loss of nobility?"
"Zerpes!" Louise yelped "That's not the kind of question to go about asking people just out of the blue!"
"Soooorry, I'm just trying to make idle chit-chat out of boredom..."
"Then if you're so bored maybe you should have stayed back at the academy?!" Shot Louise
"No way" she sat down next to me and I found myself sandwiched between Louise and Kirche... making a volatile and highly explosive concoction, if not handled with care... "Besides I'm only here to protect my darling..." she said and pressed her chest into my arm... I couldn't feel much of it due to the MJOLNIR armor however. My helmet was on my lap and Kirche held up that piece of junk gold sword again... "Here, you forgot the sword I got you."
"I said I don't want it, I've already got one..."
"But this one is so shiny compared to that rusty one." She pointed out.
"Yeah, it's also much duller, weaker and heavier then my current one... if I take it, all I'll be doing is melting it down for hollow point bullets and gold coins..."
"I don't care!"
"Fine..." I took the sword, then bent over towards Louise who was steaming and whispered "You know this one is a piece of crap right? I honestly prefer Derf waaaaay better." To which she just rolled her eyes... damn this girl was hard to please... considering she's lucky that I didn't bash her brains in after the event at study hall... could it be... that... I'm becoming docile?
...
...
HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAHAAAHAAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAA... Haaaaaaa...
NAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Is this girl driving me crazy? Insane?
...
YYYYYUP!
Eventually we came to the location, an old run down coal burning shack in the woods... this place just screamed trap... I held my hand up and slowly pushed back towards my group who were behind a bush.
"What?" whispered Louise
Oh right, they probably don't understand hand signals... "Just wait there for a sec..." I snuck up next to the shack and took a peak through a broken window. No one in sight... and it was pretty small, no hiding places.
"All clear" I said in a normal voice and motioned the universal come here hand wave.
Tabitha cast a strange blue wave in front of the door... "No traps" she said. Well I still wasn't going to take any chances... I checked my inventory... perfect... the M90 MKI Shotgun... I think that was the name...
"Wait, I'll go in first" I said and took the shotgun and aimed it at the top left corner of the door, fired, then did the same with the lower left... and kicked the door in and it fell over. "Breaching!" I rolled in doing a 360 with my MA5B. "All clear"
"You don't have to make a big show of it all" Said Louise... "And um... I think I'll just stay out here..."
"Good, guard this area, yell if you see anything." I replied.
Together me, Kirche and Tabitha all looked around the house, while looking at a chest I made the mistake of dusting it off, without my helmet on, it being at my side under my arm.
"*Ah-CHOOO!*" I sneezed "Damnit, someone needs to learn to dust... but it doesn't look like there is anything here..." me and Kirche made for the exit, then Tabitha said in her usual, emotionless tone.
"Staff of destruction."
"Huh?" Me and Kirche turned around and saw Tabitha holding a purple case... "Ok then" I said "We've got the staff... but do we even know if it's in there?"
"Why don't we take a look?" suggested Kirche, I shrugged and reached towards the box only to be interrupted...
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Louise screamed from outside.
"Damnit! What is it!?" I grabbed my rifle and was about to step out the door when the roof of the shack was torn off. The golem we had fought earlier at the school was here... and he didn't look happy.
Tabitha chanted something and hit the golem with an air spell like a tornado but it didn't leave a scratch... next Kirche used an inferno to attack to golem, also doing nothing more then pissing it off.
Tabitha whistled for her familiar, an air dragon to pick us up. "Where is Louise?" I asked then heard an explosion from outside and saw Louise trying to attack the golem.
"Louise!" I shouted "Run!
"I can't run! I'm a noble! A true noble never shows her back to the enemy! To do so would dishonor our name!"
I saw another hand coming down at her and I sprinted as fast as I could, slamming into her, knocking her over just as the golem's hand crashed into the position we had just been in.
"Scorch! Get away! I won't retreat!" then I slapped her lightly, but hard enough to hurt...
"So what if your honor is at stake! So what if your nobility! Are you telling me you're going to throw your life away all because of a title that in reality doesn't mean a thing! Snap out of it!"
Louise was silent for a while... "B-but... if I run from this battle it'll be just another failure! I'll still be a zero!" she was crying "People always called me zero and made fun of me for my inability to cast magic, if I run from this it'll be another excuse for people to make fun of me."
I sighed and shook my head and lifted her over my shoulder just as the golem tried to hit us again. I saw Tabitha's dragon land nearby. "Take her and get out of here... I'll deal with the golem!" Tabitha nodded and they took off.
"You don't hurt her you understand! You damn piece of dirt!" I drew Derflinger from my side, he didn't fit into my Nanite-transformer, since he said that; "I'm a sword with a soul, if you put me in there then technically the sword is being temporarily destroyed, hence you'd be putting an incompatible item in there! So it won't even let you put it in!"
I guess that made sense, but why I didn't use my guns or energy sword I'm not sure... but I did wield Derf in only one hand, he was easy enough to use with one hand and I'd gotten used to the weight and balance of him. In the other hand I had my magnum, a ranged and melee combination, a winning combination if you ask me...
"Bring it on you damned rock!" I jumped and slashed at its legs, surprisingly I managed to cleave them off... apparently this rock wasn't as strong as it looked... I jumped around taking off limbs and making giant craters in it. But whenever it would take damage some of the ground would fly up and repair or replace what was missing... with that happening, this battle could go on indefinitely.
"Damnit this is just gonna go on and on and on! I need something with more firepower!"
"Scorch!" I looked up and saw Louise floating down with the case with the Staff of Destruction in it... she opened the case and took out the... staff? Once she touched the ground she started swinging the staff trying to cast a spell "W-why isn't it working!?" I ran over to Louise.
"Louise give it to me, that's not a staff give it here, you got aim it... and fire!" I took the staff aimed it at the golem and pulled the trigger and a projectile shot out the end of it, flew into the golem and exploded, causing the golem to fall to pieces... I guess all that was needed was a good old 40mm explosive... could have used a grenade in hindsight I guess...
I didn't notice it soon enough but Kirche and Tabitha had landed and Kirche knocked me over and stuck her chest in my face. "Aww, my darling cast cast magic but he's just a peasant I'm so proud!"
"Hey, where is Ms. Longueville?" asked Louise after steaming for a bit...
When Kirche had bumped into me I dropped the staff and it was on the ground near Louise... it was then picked up by Ms. Longueville...
"Well, that's a job well done kids... and I should thank you, you showed me how to use this... and it took down my golem quick enough hmmm?" she said
"Fouquet?" I guessed, to which she nodded "I should have known..." I got up and reached for my magnum which was also on the ground.
"Don't move!" Fouquet said and aimed the staff at us. "All I needed was to learn how to use the staff, I was hoping that they'd send instructors with us but alas, then I thought about the new familiar... I mean if it comes from Gandálfr... it has to be correct..."
"Gandalfr?" everyone muttered...
"Well, I'd stolen the staff originally but I ran into a hitch when I didn't know how to use it, so I'd have Gandalfr show me... now then, I think it's time to say goodbye"
"Are you done monologueing?" I asked
"Yes... now... goodbye" she pulled the trigger *click* "what!?" *click, click, click* "Why isn't it working!? OOOUUUUFF!" I rifle butted her in the gut, then head butted her to the ground, thank the helmet!
"Unless you have the ammo to reload it with, it's useless... and it's not a staff... is a grenade launcher, the M319 IGL, firing a 40mm grenade, secondary function will add an EMP effect... it came from my world..."
All the girls were looking at me, Louise and Kirche were looking at me all dreamy eyes... Kirche I understood why, but Louise... well... it was... different than the usual treatment I got.
"Well, let's bring this... staff back and get Fouquet a personal jail cell huh?"
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"We have locked up Fouquet in the palace prison, and the Staff of Destruction has be once again safly secured in the vault... good job... you are all guests of honor for tonight's banquet." Said Osmond as he rewarded us... or more like the girls... for their or more like MY hard work... not that I care to be in the spot light, it's just nice to get some proper recognition is all...
"Well, that's to be expected" said Kirche who didn't seem the least bit grateful... stuck up nobles... *sigh*
"The palace thinks very highly of your conduct, and I'm certain a reward from them will be headed to the three of you shortly..."
"A reward from the palace!? Really?" asked Kirche
"Wait you said three of us... does that mean Scorch won't be included? Louise asked with concern
"Unfortunately, since he is not a nobleman... you are correct..." confirmed Osmond.
"Oh.. I see..."
"I don't mind, but Mr. Osmond, if you don't mind I'd like to ask you something..." I said and Osmond nodded. The girls left and headed to get ready for the banquet.
Once they were gone completely "I'm not from this world, I was summoned here by Louise during the summoning ritual about a week or more ago."
"Not from this world!?" Exclaimed Colbert "I guess it was to be expected however..."
"Yes, and the staff of destruction is actually a weapon from my world! Where did you get it?"
"The staff of destruction was a memento from a rather curious man" Osmond got a faraway look in his eyes "It's hard to believe it's already been thirty years... he saved my life that day and was dressed in a peculiar outfit... that man had suffered terrible wounds in battle... I rushed him back to the institute, but alas..."
"He passed away?"
"Yes... with him he carried two staves of destruction, I buried the one he used to save me along with is body in the coffin we buried him in, that one was larger... the second one which was smaller I geve to the palace so that it could be kept safe from dangerous hands..." explained Osmond.
"To think that such a story existed behind the staff of destruction..." commented Mr. Colbert.
"Damnit!" I cursed "I was hoping I'd be able to learn of a way home, or at least get some answers! But all this has lead to is more questions!" I stomped my foot in frustration.
"W-well, if it's any consolation..." said Colbert "That monster you killed, I took the body in to do some research and I found a strange residue on the body... I was able to collect it and form it into a liquid substance. Here is the vial I put it in..." he handed me a vial filled with black liquid.
I sniffed the vial "Uuugh... I recognize this smell..." the fluid has a faint glow to it, indicating radiation... "This... this is the fuel from a slipspace drive!"
"Slipspace?" asked Colbert
"If this is really slipspace fuel... then... that means that this place isn't another dimension... rather... another solar system yet to be discovered by the UNSC! That means, the Brute, or the monster I killed, got here with a ship! If I found his ship, I might be able to return home!" then my thoughts drifted to negativity... what if the slipspace engine was broken, it would be a loooong cryosleep... or maybe the ship wasn't even in working condition at all! But it was worth a look. "Mr. Colbert" I asked "Can you judge how long this monster was on the move, how long was he walking for?"
"Judging by the state of its body, I would say about only half an hour of walking since it's last rest."
"So freshly rested... that means either he's been traveling for a long time and took rests... or his ship isn't far away... Mr. Colbert, can you meet me at the stables in the evening?"
"Of course Alexander, for what reason?"
"We're gonna do a little research expedition..."
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I was at the banquet as a normal guest... not that I cared, I still wore my grey UNSC naval officer's uniform, the most noble looking of my attire. Again... I didn't wear the hat...
"Might I have this dance?" I heard behind me and saw one of the students offer Louise a dance, which she declined and walked towards me.
"If you're going to ask me to dance I'm going to have to decline..." I said
She looked shocked, both at the fact that I called her actions out, and that I'd rejected her.
"Why not? As my familia-"
"Look, I'd love to ok, but one, I can't dance for shit... second... I just got a lead about that monster I killed a while back... if my theory is correct then I might be able to get home... if not... then at least i'll have proved a theory correct..." I hit a button on my Tacpad and the green light engulfed me changing to my MJOLNIR armor. "I'll be back... see ya" I jumped off the balcony I was standing on and made towards the stables where I was meeting Mr. Colbert. Once I'd gotten to the stables I found Mr. Colbert and we made our way out on foot. Colbert had cast a spell so he could track the Brute's last known traveling path.
We followed the glowing blue trail to the edge of the forest near the academy... "The trail goes into the forest... should we follow it?"
I drew my DMR and turned on my helmet flashlight "Let's go"
We entered the woods and followed the path until I heard voices... I could understand them, but from the confused look on Colbert's face he didn't. "Urgh... I'm starving... we've had nothing to eat here except for deer, this bland flesh is nothing compared to the real hunt..." said a harsh voice.
"Why don't we eat one of the little ones? Huh?" said another followed with a high pitched yelp
"No! Master, me good, me good" it said
"No! Those are our troops... what's more they taste horrible..."
"True..."
I snuck over to a tree nearby the voices... there was a fire pit so I assumed they were nearby... I peeked around the tree, telling Colbert to stay hidden. What I saw shocked me...
Next to the fire was two Brutes and three grunts, but that wasn't what shocked me the most... next to the was a fully operational Type-52 Troop Carrier... also known as: The Phantom Gunship, since it was here with no extra ships, it must have been a scaled up version with a slipspace drive!
"Ok, Mr. Colbert" I whispered "I want to get a closer look at that ship, but we need to take out those Covies"
"Covies? Ship? Do you mean that sleeping metal dragon?"
"Those aliens..." I pointed at the Covenant troops and I noticed reluctance in his eyes... he didn't fool me, this man had killed before, but I bet he didn't want to do so again. "These guys aren't humans! They are monsters and must be treated like monsters! They kill and maim and slaughter mindlessly, if we don't take them out, whole communities will be at risk, so please Mr. Colbert... don't hold back."
"Right..." he nodded reluctantly...
I aimed my DMR at one of the brutes and shot him in the head, these brutes didn't have power armor so it was easy to kill them, once they first was down I moved onto the next. But he was already up and moving for cover. Mr. Colbert cast a fire spell and the Brute was engulfed in flames... the grunts well... I don't even need to explain what happened to them... but in short, they died quickly and without any sort of dignity... cowards...
I jumped inside the ship and looked around... I confirmed my worries... I jumped back out.
"Just as I thought... the slipspace engine is leaking... there is no way to repair it and a ship this size wont have any cryotubes... it would be better to destroy it."
"Destroy!? But this could be valuable research material!" Exclaimed Colbert.
"Yeah? Well Covie can track the locations of their ships... destroying it might prevent them from zeroing in on the location of the ship... and attacking your world... what's more is from the looks of it they crash landed here, I doubt they had meant to come here at all..." I planted a C4 plastic explosive on the remains of the slipspace drive... this was a small one by comparison to the ones on big ships so the resulting explosion wouldn't destroy the whole forest... still you don't wanna be around when the thing goes off... I also didn't have anything else to work with the destroy it.
"Mr. Colbert! We need to run!" I said and I grabbed his hand and we sprinted for the edge of the forest... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... BOOM! I heard the explosion and I bet it would be heard for many many kilometers... that was the end of that... now I had to get back to the academy and prepare for yet another day of labour in the shadow of my small, and obnoxious master... I only hoped that the Covenant didn't get wind of this group's little misadventure...
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Sorry for the shorter chapters but like I said I'm going to start taking more time to work on these chapters as I've been feeling rushed to put more out. Around the end of season 1 there will be a plot twist, albeit a small one, it will amount to something... don't worry.
If you liked the fic, please, add it to your faves and maybe follow it if you're interested enough. Then since you've got the time to read this, why not drop me a review telling me what you liked, didn't like, thought sucked, or with helpful advice and tips... it helps me allot to stay motivated on this fic.
Thanks, WTYL guys! Rogue out! :D