Nothing to announce! :D
So onwards...
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I had been fed up with Louise's actions already for the past 36 hours... her overly obsessive affections were... smothering to say the least... way too much for me to handle... I thought back to only a few moments ago when Louise had gone over bored while I was trying to do a menial task... she'd gotten all over me accusing me of seeing another girl...
Pfft... so what if I did... it's not like I had those types of feelings for Louise... plus I already knew that this was all due to an aphrodisiac, a potion that causes the user to fall in love with the first person he or she saw... just so happened to be me...
Monmon had told me this the night Louise drank it, almost right after Louise had fallen in love with me... she had told me that the effects would wear off in due time, a month or year... I doubted I could wait that long... at this rate I doubted I would be alive that long.
Now here is where things started to get shitty... I had been bringing out some laundry for Louise, who happened to follow me, again accusing me of seeing another girl when Siesta walked by, and Louise accused me of loving her, which I denied... I had a feeling that might have set Siesta off and after convincing Louise I was only going to finish my task I went after Siesta in hopes of explaining.
"An aphrodisiac?" she asked "You know, you don't have to lie to me Mr. Alexander, I really don't mind..."
"W-what? Why would I lie, that's no lie..." I said
"Even peasants like me know..." she stood up from the fountain she was kneeling at "Spells and potions that alter a person's emotions are banned by law, that's something everyone knows... now then, if you'll excuse me, I have chores to tend to." And she walked away leaving me with an idea... Monmon...
I headed back up to Louise's room to check on her... I had a feeling she'd somehow gotten wind of my talk with Siesta and was gonna be pissed... I opened the door and wanted to shoot myself... there were clothes littered all over the floor and Louise lay on her bed in her nightgown...
"Ah! L-Louise what the fuck are you doing!?" My voice was higher then usual when I said that. Then I noticed something that made me nearly flee the room "and p-please put some panties on!"
"I don't wanna put panties on!"
"W-why not!?" I thought about that I said "I... I mean you should really get dressed, this isn't very civil is it?"
"I have absolutely no sex appeal at all! I know that because I was told that a hundred times the other day... that's why you are always going after other girls!"
"The other day?" I remembered the events at the Fairy Cafe "Oooooooh... right..."
"The fact that I have no sex appeal is also the reason you won't do anything to me even though we're always in the same room..."
I didn't like where this conversation was going... "Well... of course I don't want to do anything to you... you're like a sister to me Louise and frankly I find incest to be more than a tad disturbing..."
"But I don't! I love you Alexander and... if you wanted I wouldn't mind if you did things to me... you know... if it was only like... for an hour or so I'd close my eyes and pretend not to notice..."
I was actually rather repulsed by her suggestions, I also knew she didn't mean it... "Son of a bitch..." I cursed "hold on Louise you wait right here, I need to go find Guiche and Monmon..."
"What no your going to see that girl again arn- ah... ahhhhh... ZzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZ" she fell asleep as I hit her with a tranquilizer.
"There, that ought to keep her quiet for the next little bit..." I muttered and started down the stairs.
"Hey if you ask me it's better that she's fawning over you rather then bossing you around like usual." Said Derflinger
"Shut up..." I replied "It's disturbing and frankly there's only so much I can take..." I reached the bottom of the stairs and listened for the room Monmon may have been in, then once I'd figured out which one, I walked over to the door and kicked it in, knocking something over in the process.
"Listen up Monmon!" I said
"Hey haven't you ever heard of knocking!?" she exclaimed
"As usual you still have no sense of decorum" Said Guiche who had a large bump on his head.
"Shut up Guiche!" I turned back to Montmorency "Now you turn Louise back to normal!"
"I told you already the effects of the potion will wear off in-" I didn't let her finish.
"C'MON THERE'S GOTTA BE SOME WAY! A way to reverse the effects faster!"
"Well there is a way, but I don't have the required ingredients' to make it..."
"So where can we get them?!"
"Now Alexander" Guiche said "That isn't any way to address a noble..."
I pulled my magnum out and clicked the slider forward "Care to step outside and talk about this again?"
"Ohohohoh no... I mean there is no point in trying to argue the system of peasants and nobility with you anyways!" he jumped behind Monmon "For now Montmorency I think it would be best if we listened to his demands..."
"You are so incredibly pathetic..." said Monmon and Guiche sighed "Look say what you want, but getting a spirit tear is really difficult!"
"I hope you like closed quarters and iron bars Monmon..."
"Wh-what?"
"Oh, it's just that I heard it's not exactly legal to run around making aphrodisiacs" I said and Montmorency began to stutter "Well... I guess I should go inform headmaster Osmond about this..."
"Oh alright! I will personally go and get the potion as soon as I can!"
I smirked, blackmail was fun...
"So your, going to go and look for a rare potion?" Guiche asked
"Well it's not so much as looking for it, I know where to get it... the matter of will I actually be able to acquire it is another story..."
"Alright then let's go tomorrow!" I announced
"Tomorrow!?" Monmon exclaimed
"Oh um... I think I saw Mr. Colbert in his lab earlier today..."
"Oh alright! It's not like I have a choice!"
"So where will we find this spirit tear?" Guiche asked
"Lagdorium lake... where the water mages go to bind a pact with the water spirit... I've only been there once before... as a small child..."
I nodded and headed back up to Louise's room, who was having a fit due to my abrupt departure... "You have to sleep with me tonight! If you don't I shall punish you!" she declared, sadly, the tranq didn't work as long as I'd hoped...
"Sorry Louise, but I've got work to do... I've been meaning to try out the Do-it-yourself-vehicle-assembly feature on my Nano-Transformer for a while now..."
"B-bu..."
"Don't worry I'll be back in the morning... now go to sleep we need to get up early tomorrow..."
"Ok!" she chirped and went to sleep... I sighed and headed back down to the central courtyard... after putting on my MJOLNIR armor that is...
I scrolled through my Tacpad looking for the required parts... I started with the wheels, four of them, bulletproof rubber with titanium hubcaps... next was the basic transmission which would link the wheels together... this was as far as I got until I got stuck...
'Arrgh... I'm a soldier not a mechanic!' I thought and opened up my files list, which I had yet to look in, maybe there was a how-to in here some where...
Memo from Command. I'd check that later.
Pending Promotion for S362. Tempting... tempting... but I had one interest in mind right now...
UNSC Recon of Forerunner portal. I didn't think that mattered at the time...
AI fragment detection, awaiting activation. this might help... I opened the file and a pinkish purpleish light filled my helmet.
"UNSC Smart AI Cort- wait a second... where am I?" said a pretty female voice.
"Um... why is it you sound familiar...?" I asked
"Noble six... didn't you have orders to take me to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn?"
"I... I did... wait... Pillar of Autumn? That... that was the ship I was to deliver a special AI to... back when Reach fell... that mean's your..."
"Reach fell!? What year is it?"
"Umm... 2556 I think..."
"By the creator... wait... it's all coming back now... UNSC Smart A.I Cortana... fragment... reporting..."
"Cortana? Fragment? How long have you been hiding in my suit?" I asked
"I'm only a fragment, I received a data package from my original self, with all the data about the Halos and The Arc... I... I could spend weeks analyzing all this..." I wasn't surprised with her amazement... AI only live for 7 years before they begin to deteriorate into rampancy... which is basically a AI mental state of C-R-A-Z-Y! It's rumored that if an AI survives rampancy then it will enter metastability or something like that... where is has the emotions and thought patterns of a real human... basically... in thought they become human... so for her... a few weeks was years... "It's Glorious!"
Where had I heard that before? In fact... did I even hear that before? It's almost as if hearing Cortana's voice made me remember something I'd hidden in my memory... something I'd been made to forget, for a time at least...
"So if you're a fragment, what have you been doing in my suit for so long?"
"Well..." Cortana said "My original had spilt me apart in case she was destroyed with the Autumn or captured... I guess she counted on you living... anyways I had been set so that if my original deactivated or went into rampancy I would activate, or allow for activation... which is what you did... which means..."
"Alpha Cortana was either recently destroyed or went rampant... which can mean one of two things... she's crazy and/or dead... or... Chief is still alive..."
"That's a possibility... I bet that will be a mission for you in the near future Noble Six..."
"Well... it's nice to have a friendly and familiar face around..." I said, glad to have someone with knowledge of my home with me... "By that way... do you know how to put a Warthog together?"
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In the morning...
Me, Guiche, Monmon and Louise had gotten up before the sun and headed down to the stables.
"So it's along the border with Gallia? It'll take half the day to get there on horseback!" Guiche complained
"You know I didn't ask you to come along!" Said Montmorency
"Well what else would you knight be doing if he didn't escort you on this quest? Aahahaha!"
I wanted to facepalm so hard right now, the guy seriously tried waaay to hard, and if that opinion was coming from me... well then...
"Hey" I said "I have a faster way then horse!"
"Really?" asked Guiche "Dragon?"
I walked over to a bulky object with a tarp over top of it. "This!"
"What is that?" and I pulled the tarp back, revealing a common sight in the UNSC arsenal. With its sleek and slanted front, a tow winch at the front accompanied by two tow hooks that resembled tusks, four hard as nail all terrain tires with all wheel drive. Two were at the front, the driver's seat and passenger seat. The back, where the chain/machine gun usually goes was empty leaving a truck-like bed, similar to a pickup bed you might find on any normal 21st century civilian truck.
"I give you... the M-12 L.R.V! Everyone calls it the Warthog..." I said proudly.
"Warthog? Why?" Guiche asked
I sighed and walked over to the front of the car and pointed at the winch and tow hooks "You see these tow hooks? They look like tusks!"
"Yeah but-" Guiche started
"I think it looks more like a puma..." Said Montmorency
"What in Sam hell's name is a freakin' Puma?" I asked
"Puma?" Guiche asked "Like... the shoe company?" I got a bunch of raised eyebrows... (A/N: Let's assume they have a shoe brand called Puma just for humor's sake)
"No, a puma! It's like a big cat!" explained Montmorency
"I think your making that up..." I said
"No I'm serious! Look it up!"
"No time, we gotta go, now then if anyone else has any more mythical creature's names to suggest..."
"No... I don't..." Sighed Monmon
"Are you sure... maybe... Unicorn?" I said
"No... I'm fine"
"Sasquatch?" Guiche suggested "Salamander?"
"GUICHE!" Monmon squealed "You're not helping!"
"Hey... hey Guiche! What's the name of that Mexican monster... the one that eats all the goats?"
"Uhhh... Chupacabra sir!"
"Yeah! Hey, hey Monmon! How about that, Chupathinggy! I like the sound of that... got a nice ring to it!"
(A/N: Ok... I kinda butchered the fourth wall so I could make that reference... I... I... Ok I can't promise that it won't happen again...)
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"Wow... this thing is fast!" Said Guiche who I had let take the wheel... probably not a good idea, but it was actually easier to drive then a Mongoose... the easiest vehicle to drive in the whole UNSC! "What is it that makes it go?"
"That would be a hydrogen based engine which replaced gasoline about four hundred years ago... gasoline... which is made from refined crude oil... which has a long process of acquiring and then refining... so no, I won't explain it... but basically this thing runs on a hydrogen based system, with no need for fossil fuels." I replied, I also didn't know how either so... yeah...
Monmon who was sitting in the passenger seat looked at a map. "Lagdorium Lake is just over this hill!"
"So we finally get to see our destination huh? Woo-hoo!"
"Don't hammer on the gas, I don't want you breaking this thing!" I said "I still haven't put the gun on yet...
I was siting in the back of the jeep when Louise poked me. "Hey so I knitted something just for you Alex my love." She said, and Damnit, was it VERY disturbing to hear her say that... she held up a white cloth which I honestly didn't know what it was... so I wung... flung... erm... what the word... winged? Yeah I winged it...
I put it on my head after removing my helmet "I see... it's a uh... very lovely hat..."
She started crying "It's not a hat idiot! It's a sweater!"
"OH! Really then it's uh a very lovely... jellyfish sweater..." thankfully I was saved from putting it on as I noticed water quickly approaching us...
"Uh... how do I stop!?" Guiche screamed and I dove forward and pulled the handbreak since it was the only thing in easy reach. The Warthog lurched and almost did an endo (Reverse wheelie/doing a wheelie on the front wheels, but forward) which made Guiche fly out of the car and into the water with another girlish scream.
"Help save me!" He screamed
"What's this? Why is the water all the way up here?" Monmon asked
"Does this mean the water spirit is nearby?" I asked
"I seems like the water spirit is upset about something... the water level is unusually high right now... see?" she pointed across the water and I saw a whole village submerged underwater. "When I came here when I was little, the water level wasn't like this..." she sighed "Lets wait around here until dark... since the water spirit won't come out until after the sun has set..." I nodded.
"Hey! Before you stand around and idly chat, save me save me save me! Blub blub blub..." and Guiche went under...
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Me and Guiche were both standing next to a tree, a bit of a ways from the water, when Monmon returned to us. "Ok I just sent Robin, my Toad familiar to find the Water Spirit... if lucky she'll lead it to us... that and if the Spirit remembers the contract I made with it..."
"Then once it appears... we collect a tear... what... do we have to tell sad stories or something?" I asked
"You idiot..." Said Monmon "A tear is just a name for it... we really actually need her to split off a tiny piece of her body.
A feminine voice came from my armor "Wouldn't that be a bad long term plan? Wouldn't she eventually run out of body then?"
"W-what was that?" Asked Monmon, who just looked at me in horror, same with Guiche while Louise just looked around confused.
"Unless the aberration you are speaking of has an infinite body mass in which case... she must be pretty fat..."
"Oh... I almost forgot about you..." I said "Guys this is Cortana... she's an AI, or Artificial Intelligence..."
"Hello... and you two must be Guiche and Monmon..." said Cortana
"Actually- wait! My name isn't Monmon!" exclaimed Monmon
"Well, according to my recent audio logs, you have been referred to as Monmon... so... that would be your name right?"
Montmorency steamed... oh how I missed a certain girl acting like that... uh... simply because... her current state was creeping me the fuck out! But she didn't have time to rage...
A huge spout of water erupted in front of us and we all stepped back in surprise.
"This is it guys! The water spirit!" Said Monmon and she stepped forward "My name is Montmorency Margarita! A family with which you have a lasting pact! Spirit, if you remember this, please show yourself in a form we can recognize!"
Slowly the spirit morphed from a geyser to a slender, taller and older looking version of Montmorency "I remember... lonesome one... I remember the fluid which flows through your veins..."
"I'm glad you remember me Water Spirit... for I have a favor to ask of you!"
"A favor?"
"I would very much like to have a small piece of you."
"I decline your request lonesome one..."
I couldn't believe this... we came all this way... just to be turned down by a talking fountain! "No, don't say that! Water Spirit you gotta do this..."
"Hey Alexander stop! If you tick the spirit off-"
I knelt on one knee... "I'll do whatever you tell me to do... please... all we need is a tiny bit..."
It was silent for a long time... for a moment I thought I would be vaporized... or worse... or maybe that the spirit had simply left, or taken away my hearing... but no...
"I agree" Said the Spirit and I smiled "You say that you will do anything that I ask of you?"
"Yes"
"I am busy increasing the amount of water, and I do not have time to deal with the attackers."
"Attackers?"
"Yes... some of your kind have been attack us for some reason."
"I don't believe it" said Guiche "Who in the world would be so reckless as to attack the water spirit?" and Montmorency shrugged.
"All right, you have a deal..." I said and both Guiche and Monmon yelped "So, if we defeat these attackers, you'll give us a piece of your body?"
"I will" Replied the spirit.
"I do not want to be in any sort of fight!" wailed Montmorency
"Would you rather be locked up in prison Monmon?"
"AH! Oh all right fine we'll do whatever you want!"
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We hid in the forest on the edge of the lake... keeping a look out for any sign of these so-called, attackers...
"So this spirit lives on the bottom of the lake huh?" asked Cortana who had appeared in her holographic form on my shoulder, a purple human nude female, whose bits were censored by Forerunner runes and writings. At first this disturbed the others but the stopped caring after Cortana didn't even seem to notice... except Guiche... Cortana had called him out twice already for staring at her hologram... to which Monmon stomped on Guiche's foot... in a sense... Monmon already liked Cortana... and so Cortana continued her question "If that's the case how would someone get to the bottom? I mean it's highly unlikely that you have any form of scuba gear or submarine technology..."
"We are probably dealing with a user of Air" Said Monmon
"That's what I was thinking" added Guiche "Using Air magic, a user could form a bubble for air and easily walk along the lake bottom... we must be dealing with quite a caster..."
"HEY!" Shouted Louise and elbowed me in the ribs "All this time you've been talking to Montmorency and the Glowing girl! You love them much more then you love me don't you!"
"No no, nothing like that at all... I mean me and them... we're talking about something really important like how to cure you!"
"Cure me of what!? I'm perfectly fine!"
"No you're not your sick!"
"Sick? Maybe Love sick! I love you very much Alex and that's all that's wrong with me!" she declared
I was repulsed and I could hear Cortana snickering at me from inside my helmet. "Y-yes... and I love you too Louise" I said, doing all I could to keep the sarcasm out of my voice "But for now I need you to stay quiet, think you can do that?"
"Yes! I'll be as quiet as I can be!" she chirped
"Wow... Louise is... that potion works well..." mused Monmon
"HEY! Don't act like your all proud of yourself!" I yelled
"Shhh!" hushed Guiche "Someone is out there!"
We all looked out from our cover and saw two hooded figures... one was shorter than the other and waving a cane like staff around.
"Sounds like someone is chanting a spell" finished Guiche
I turned to Louise "Now you be a good girl and wait here until I get back ok?" I started moving out of my hiding place, readying my DMR. I was about to leave the foliage of the woods when I was pulled aside... by Guiche none the less...
"Hold on a sec... our opponents can wield some pretty powerful spells... it would improve our chances if we didn't take them on in a head to head fight..." said Guiche...
"Wait... your going... to help me?" I asked dumbfounded... I didn't believe what I was hearing...
"Of course I am, it would shame a noble's name to allow some peasant to fight by himself..."
"Sorry but-... wow... wow Guiche I... I totally had absolutely no faith in you until now..."
"Hah, don't sweat it!"
"So, since you came all this way to join the fight, I assume you have some killer plan ready right?" I wasn't holding my breath... but hey , his death might be funny... so I might as well humor him...
"Right, the plan will go like so; I will stay here and use magic to distract our enemies... then you, will seize the opportunity and attack the enemy from behind!"
"A pretty basic Hey look at that, gottcha trick... it's worked for me tons of times so I guess... hey... wait a second... your just trying to get off with the easy part aren't you?"
"Uh! What are you talking about? I'm a mage and you are a warrior! So this plan makes perfect sense!"
I rolled my eyes "Whatever, now I'm gonna sneak around back... I trust you with the rest... ok?"
Guiche nodded and got into position...
I snuck around using my active camo to avoid early detection, I got into position until I heard Guiche cast his spell and I emerged from cover... only to find his spells were ineffective... I drew Derf in one hand and my Magnum in the other... however the mage's had already spotted me.
A blast of fire came at me and I instinctively swiped at it only to find it was deflected... a nice trick, I'll have to remember that one... the shorter one sent a storm of ice bolts at me, all of which I dodged easily! Another blast of fire and I rolled to the ground, under the fire before springing to my feet... a blast of wind was thrown at me but I shouldered past it before launching my self at the taller one, knocking her over, planting an armored boot on her chest and leveling my sword with her neck...
I cut away the hood and dropped my magnum. "Kirche!? Th-then that means..." I looked over at the other girl who had taken her hood off. "Tabitha!"
"Powerful force... to defeat us both... you are..." said Tabitha
The others came out of hiding. "Tabitha? Kirche? What are you doing here?" they asked
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After a long and boring talk we figured out that Tabitha had to defeat the water spirit, since the rising water levels were threatening her family's property... I wasn't buying the bullshit however... but the others were eating it up... after a while I remembered that the water spirit had been angry about something, so I explained that the least we should do was ask why she was so pissed off..
We returned to where we had first contacted the water spirit...
Once Monmon had re-summoned the spirit... "Why are you overflowing the lake? Everyone is really upset about it!" I asked
"I'm flooding the lake because one of your kind stole a treasure from me... and since I can only exist in water, if I flood the entire world with water, I will one day have the treasure back in my possession.
"You want to fill the whole world with water? A bit of a long term plan isn't it?" I said
"It can't be helped" Monmon explained "The Sprits are immortal beings... that being said their sense of time is much different than our own."
"Oh do I know that feeling" said Cortana, but she was ignored
"Ok then if that's what it will take, I'll find that treasure and I'll bring it back here!" I declared, to which everyone's jaw dropped
"Alexander I know that's easy to say" said Kirche "but-" I ignored her
"What was the name of the treasure that was stolen from you?" I asked
"Andvari's ring... it is a ring with which I have spent much time with..." the spirit replied
"Andvari's ring..." mused Monmon "I think I've heard of it... if I'm right then it's a ring which can grant artificial life!"
"So what kind of person stole the ring?" Kirche asked
"One of the thieves was called... Cromwell... that is all I know..." said the spirit
"Very well... I'll do whatever it takes to find that ring and return it to you... I promise!" I said
"You should give it up man" sighed Guiche "Who would believe a random person who just showed up... and let alone someone like you... I mean you're not even a mage!"
"I believe..." said the spirit and a small vial could be seen flying towards us and landed in Guiche's hand.
"The spirit tear!" He exclaimed "But... but why?"
"Gandalfr made an oath to me in the distant past... and he kept that oath... if it comes from Gandalfr, then it is worth believing..." the spirit explained
"Gundulf?" I muttered "Again with this Gandalfr crap..." I raised my voice "Well I promise to keep my oath and return the ring to you someday."
"Someday?" Monmon asked skeptically
"Spirits are immortal right? so then it shouldn't matter how long it take right?" I turned back to the spirit "So how about lowering the water levels please?"
"I promise to do so..." and the spirit disappeared...
We had the spirit tear... I was off to find a magical ring... and soon Louise would be back to normal... everything would be just fine...
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Man was I wrong... back in Louise's room I stood against the wall, with one foot propping me up against it and my arms behind my head, leaning casualy while Louise flipped off her rocker... again...
"How... how horrible! This is the biggest mistake of my life!"
"You know I'd have thought you'd of forgotten about what happened..."
"No, I remember all of it! Uggghh... to think that you and me might have done this and that it's horrid!" she tried to whip me but I caught it and snapped the crop in half and threw the bits across the room...
"You really shouldn't take it out on me, Monmon made the potion and you drank it... so by logic, it's your fault!"
"SHUT UP! YOU... YOU... YOU DOG!" she was about to go get another crop (she's got a whole dresser full of them since I break them whenever she tries to use them...) but before she reached the dresser the bedroom windows burst open and I drew my pistol and aimed it at the window as a hooded figure floated up and entered the room...
"Who goes there!?" I demanded "State your business!"
"I see your being rowdy as always..." said the hooded girl... who had a rather familiar voice... a very cute one at that... the person removed their hood.
"Princess! Princess Henrietta!" Louise exclaimed... the Princess just smiled sheepishly...
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Hope you enjoyed this chapter... might have gotten a little boring at the end however... alas... not all things can change... but change is coming to this magical fucked up world (I've taken to calling the world of FoZ "This Magical Fucked up World" Whenever I forget the name of what it's actually called...
Get ready to see what the UNSC has been up to next chapter! They won't actually get to Halka... Halaa... *See below to know what I call this place when I forget the name* until the last episode of Season 1... Which will probably be chapter 13...
PS: There is going to be a Lem on chapter 12... if you don't like that sorta thing, I've left plenty (And I mean plenty) of warnings on that chapter, so if you don't like that sorta thing, then just go back to chapter six and re-read what sort of notifications to look out for so you can safely skip the lem but still keep reading that chapter.
Anyways if you liked, or didn't like... why not drop a review saying what you did or didn't like... maybe add a few tips and tricks to help me improve as constructive criticism is welcome... but if you really did like the story and want to see more of it, you should really consider following and adding the story to your faves. All the above help me out allot when it comes to staying motivated to write this fiction... thanks guys and gals, and I'll WTYL :D