Author's Note - thank you so much to everyone who read the last chapter, and special thanks to enarmonios for reviewing and to Redder45 for following and favoriting.
enarmonios - thank you for the review! I'm hoping to be able to keep up the same level of quality throughout the fic.
Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 2 - Cure Heiress
Small waves rolled off the surface of the lake, propelled by an ominous wind which rustled the trees and covered the sky in a blanket of clouds. It was eerily peaceful, but nothing looked to be going wrong.
The stench of blood which hung low in the air however, said otherwise.
The city lay in ruins from a terrible invasion and the fierce battle that followed, one in which the invaders were victorious. It barely resembled the pristine capital it had been just hours before, with the lone exception being the shining castle, which still stood tall in the middle of the city.
Only three creatures could be seen amongst the wreckage, floating just above the ground and rushing towards the edge of the city as fast as they could.
They were familiar spirits, tasked by the niece of the queen, who had been captured in the invasion, to escape the city and revive the legendary warriors, thier last hope of salvation.
The first of the three vaguely resembled a dog, with ears that hung down just below his head and a tail with a small flick at the end of it. His wings were small and round, and he had a crown on his head, with a four-point star as the centerpiece, establishing his relation to the royal family. He was clutching a green and blue stone in his paw, which glowed as they approached thier destination. He also had a small bag slung around his body, the contents of which were of utmost importance.
The second one was rabbit-like, with long ears that flowed down behind her. She had wings and antennae which resembled that of a dragonfly. She was also holding the paw of the third one, who had ears like a cat's and a long tail with a tuft of fur at the end of it, that had a golden ring suspended around it.
"It's been quiet for a while now, Alan, we have to hurry, they could be here at any moment!" the rabbit-like one said in a frantic whisper.
"R-right. In any case, we should be getting close. I hope…" Alan replied, looking at the stone in his paw. He turned back towards the others, who were overflowing with fear. He clearly wasn't making them feel any better. "I'm sorry, Biee, Clin."
Biee attempted to smile, "It's fine, we'll be fine, we just need to hurry. I just hope that Clin will make it."
Clin's eyes were shut tightly, abnormally small paws clutching Biee's as tightly as possible. Just last night everything had been normal! Well, mostly normal… it had been the same as always, going over to the observatory to 'tutor' from Biee, Alan coming over and goofing off a bunch, and Athanasia, Alan's fairy, talking to the observatory man for a long time.
Then a strange person had walked in, and the observatory man talked to them instead, and they both seemed really worried. But then they all got to go to the castle for a sleepover! It had been fun, but then they had to get up in the middle of the night and go to the library.
But even though it had been night, everyone was still up. They were running around all panicky, Saying things like, "They're invading us!" and "Oh no, they've entered the higher city!" Clin hadn't really understood any of that.
But then, lot of really big vines sprouted everywhere and blocked the entrances and went all around the room. They had a lot of thorns which looked really sharp. That was really scary.
Then Athanasia did a thing, and they had all got out of the library. Then she gave Alan some stuff and told them 'escape' and, 'they don't think much of familiars'.
They got out of the castle, but everything was all different. Then some ghosts started chasing them. Clin had heard of ghosts before, but they weren't supposed to be this mean. There was a bunch of fighting everywhere, and they managed to make them go away by flying around all loopy.
Biee had said, "ignore the blood, we can't risk getting too distraught right now."
So Clin tried to imagine it as cranberry sauce, a big cranberry sauce party. But then it was too red, so Clin just stopped imagining.
But just a few minutes ago things had gotten quiet, so they had to go really quickly. It was scary, to think that almost all the people in the higher city were probably looking with wide, empty eyes at the extra-red cranberry sauce right now…
Biee's ears twitched a little. She was really good at hearing things. "We really need to hurry," she whispered, and they started going even quicker than before.
Now Clin could hear it too, the faint rushing of wind past thier forms as they flew just off the ground.
But thier destination was also coming into view. It was a very small pond surrounded by foreign plants, that also seemed to reflect a clear, beautiful sky that wasn't there. A stone spire jutted up from the middle, with a groove in the top the same size as the stone in Alan's paw, which was glowing immensely bright as they approached it.
"Damn Familiars," a mean voice with an accent could be heard yelling behind them, "They procured the pencases and the charms, we can't let them reach the portal!"
Clin glanced backwards at the people who were chasing them, and saw a group of three ghosts. The first one was a woman with a high ponytail who looked ready for battle, she was probably the one who'd yelled at them. Behind her was a painfully thin man with unkempt hair, and another woman with scary eyes who seemed to be looking out for other threats. They were all wearing matching black jackets.
They were also flying a lot faster, there was no way they'd be able to escape in time.
Biee suddenly released Clin's paw, and turned around to face the ghosts, "Go! I can probably hold them off for a little bit."
Alan quickly took Clin's paw and they dashed faster than Clin could ever remember going towards the pond. The stone was glowing very brightly now too, so much that Clin had to wince.
Alan let go of Clin, and flew up to put the stone in the spire. Clin couldn't see him place it, but suddenly the pond beneath them began glowing, and the shining blues began fading into murky, distorted greys.
Alan pushed Clin down, forcefully, not even giving them time to hold in breath. But as Clin drifted downwards, it didn't really feel like water. All around was a strange silver magic, which was pulling downwards into the unknown. As everything that could just be seen was getting further away, changing, or was it?
OW!
Clin hit the ground with a large thump. Rubbing the bruise while looking back upwards, they saw that there was a swirling grey vortex just a few feet off the ground. Deep inside it a small bit of green could be seen, and there was another spot too, and it was getting bigger…
Alan and Biee fell out of the vortex and onto the ground just as it fizzed and disappeared into nothingness.
Biee sighed, "Thank goodness we made it, I was worried it would close before we got here." She looked over towards Alan, "Do you still have them?"
Alan looked up and opened the satchel, "Of course they're- wait, the charms aren't here!"
The two desperately looked around to try and find them, praying thier only hope hadn't been left behind in the hands of thier enemies, when they noticed Clin, who was pointing upwards.
There, where the vortex had been floating just moments before, were now four small charms, all shaped like a fairy's wings. They danced around each other, leaving trails of pink, green, orange and purple in thier wake, before they suddenly zoomed off in different directions, too fast to see.
"They're- they're gone."
Alan noticeably relaxed, "Well, we made it. And those ghost guys can't follow us." he said, opening his paw to reveal shards from the blue and green stone
They sat there in silence for a minute. They were safe, they were free, but they could also be in so much more danger than before.
Biee stood up, "We should get going. From what I've read those charms will go and seek out people to become precures, and it would be best to find them as soon as possible."
Clin looked down. It sounded like a good plan, probably.
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"WHAT?!" she screeched, the walls around her shaking, "YOU LET FAMILIARS ESCAPE? FAMILIARS?!"
She took a deep breath to suppress her rage, as one of those before her spoke.
"I'm deeply sorry, my queen. We made a miscalculation while guarding the charms. We had assumed that the girl would have them, so we weren't able to catch her familiars escaping. But rest assured, we will not allow them to summon the legendary warriors."
"You'd better not." she said, resuming her seat. She looked out towards the five before her, bruised and bloodied from the invasion, eyes falling on the one second to the left, "Yttrium, your team was the one that allowed them to escape, correct?"
A woman with a long ponytail, who seemed to be noticeably lacking in injuries, walked forward, and bowed deeply before her queen, "Yes, my queen. W-we were the ones which allowed them to get away."
"Then it is your team which will be assigned the duty of going to the living world and killing the familiars. If you successfully complete this mission, then I will be willing overlook your previous incompetence. Additionally, under no circumstances are you to allow them to summon the legendary warriors, we might not be able to fend them off."
Yttrium stood to attention, before dissipating back to the rest of her team.
"Now, for the rest of you." the queen said, looking down upon the remaining four as they went rigid. "Radon and Trancium, your teams will be in charge of patrolling and securing the higher city. I assume that your troops are already stationed there?"
Both of them nodded, "Good. then go back, and make sure to question some of the prisoners. We could use the extra information." They both immediately dissipated without making any comments.
"Scandinavium, your team will be overseeing the medical ward. Use all the soul energy you need, we have more than enough."
Another person before her dissipated.
"And lastly, Dubnium, I want your team to be on high alert in case anything comes up. We need to be ready for any situation that might arise." The last of the five before her promptly dissipated away.
She then turned to her trusted assistant, Xenon, who had been standing by her side scratching notes throughout the address.
"Xenon, would you mind going out and making sure they're actually doing their jobs? This is a crucial time and we can't afford any slip ups."
"Of course, my queen." he bowed before walking out the door, contrary to the others who'd all dissipated.
The queen was alone in the massive throne room now, allowing her to release a heavy sigh she didn't know she was holding in.
She walked solemnly up towards a large window on the far side of the room, looking down into the space it revealed. There, thousands of ghosts slaved away, moving glowing bits of light along impossible bridges, balancing over an abyss.
She clenched her fist. "I swear that I, Dysprosium, will end this. All of this."
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Yttrium appeared in the middle of a small lounge, with cushy chairs and a bar table that had been dried out long ago.
There were two other people in the room, the members of her team. A woman with glowing orange eyes who was applying balm to her burns, and a disheveled, painfully thin young man who was trying to pop one of his joints back into place.
"Selenium, Manganese!" she yelled, instantly earning the begrudging attention of the others.
"What is it now? We just got back!" Selenium said, bouncing up from her seat.
"We've been ordered by the queen to go to the other world and kill or capture the familiars. If we don't do it quickly they might revive the legendary warriors, and needless to say that would turn out very, very badly for us."
"If it's needless to say, then why are you saying it?" Manganese said from his corner, not taking his eyes of his leg.
Yttrium glared at him, before continuing, "Selenium, you'll be going. Don't say that you can't, because you barely have any injuries anyways. And you better not let them get away, because I'll be damned if we let Familiars of all things get the better of us."
Selenium glared at her, "if it's a matter of injuries, then why aren't you going?"
Yttrium 'tch'd, "Well if you're too injured to fight, then why aren't you in the medical ward right now?"
Selenium attempted a retort, before simply narrowing her eyes and dissipating away silently.
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It had been about a day since Alan, Biee and Clin had first made thier ascent into the human world, and during that time they'd been doing virtually nothing except looking for the precures. They'd found zilch so far.
"They shouldn't be this hard to find, should they?"
"I don't know, I've never summoned legendary warriors before."
"Yeah, because that's So common."
"I'm just saying…"
Biee and Alan bickered, something Clin had seen them do hundreds of times before. But it carried a new weight to it now, both from being lost and having no idea where they were, and from having made no progress over the past couple hours.
They'd wandered near a very large building, but nobody appeared to be around it, so they didn't have to hide in any trees or bushes.
Clin had been looking at the building for a while. It was super big, maybe it was some kind of castle? There were a lot of windows, and a bell tower. Clin wished they could go fly around in the bell tower, it seemed like it would be fun!
But there was another less big building beside the big one. Clin could sense that something was wrong about it. Like, there was a thing that shouldn't be there, but was. And it didn't want them knowing it was there.
Suddenly, there was a lot of darkness, so much of it, and it wasn't even trying to hide. Biee and Alan froze. they felt it too.
It was coming from the direction of the smaller building, but what could possibly be this evil? Radiating this much darkness?
It had to be the ghosts.
Biee was the first to speak, "They're here, I think they did something to someone's soul! Oh goodness this is bad, they probably found a precure and are attacking them!"
All of Clin's instincts were saying to run, to get as far away as possible from this terrible feeling of someone's soul being turned so dark, with them not even being able to have a choice in the matter…
But they needed to save the precure. They needed to give them one of the pencases so they could fight against the ghosts.
They needed to go towards the darkness, no matter what the cost.
After the initial shock wore off, they began flying as quickly as thier wings could take them, through the grounds of the building and straight to the place where the darkness was originating from. When they only arrived at a big, flat wall, all it took was a nod and Biee and Alan went flying in different directions looking for an entrance.
Clin didn't know what to do, but decided that flying upwards would be best.
There was nothing on the roof, but Alan had found a door on his side. They all flew over to it.
Biee held Clin's paw, preparing them both for whatever was behind that door, while Alan hesitated, before shoving it wide open.
"Stop right there, You monster!" he yelled, bursting into the enormous room
Inside, there was a giant demon that appeared to have been crafted out of objects from this world. It was definitely the source of the darkness. There was also a ghost, one of the ones who'd been chasing them no less. She appeared to be commanding the demon.
There was also a young girl, who couldn't have been older than 16 at most. She was cornered against a door as the demon's target. Auburn hair flowed down onto her back, which curled in some places and laid straight in others. Her face was molded into a kind of fear like she hadn't been able to let herself show this much emotion in a long while, and couldn't properly express it.
And they were all staring at them. The ghost with rage, the girl with wonder, and the demon with, well, it didn't have a face.
"Kill them with the girl." the ghost said, pure rage in her expression.
Wasting no time as the demon changed its target, they flew as fast as they could towards the girl, and Biee let go of Clin's paw so she could create a shield to protect them.
"Hurry Alan!" she called to her friend. "I can't keep this up, for- for long!" her shield was already cracking under the strain of the demon's attacks.
Alan hesitated, before nodding and turning back towards the girl. She looked confused now, but they didn't have any time to worry about that. They needed to check if she was a precure at all, and make sure that the ghosts didn't just attack some random girl in the hopes that they would come and get killed trying to protect her.
The four-point star symbol on Alan's forehead glowed as he activated his powers so that he could see into her soul. He always said it was really hard to do though. Clin didn't understand that, but they couldn't see souls anyway so it really didn't matter.
So instead Clin just looked at the demon blankly. It was suffering, being controlled. It almost seemed like it would be too cruel to do anything more to it, But Biee's shield was about to shatter, and they would be dead soon if they didn't do Something.
Alan's forehead stopped glowing as he looked up. "She's one of them, no mistaking it."
"Then get on with it!" Biee yelled, barely keeping her shield up.
The girl was obviously confused at what was going on, and none of the familiars could really blame her. They barely understood this world, and that was with the basics of it being somewhat common knowledge in thier world. Why should they expect her to understand things from a world she never could've heard of?
Alan promptly pulled out one of the pencases from his bag, and held it up to the girl. It began levitating towards her, unknowingly suspended by the power of her soul.
Her chest, where a majority of the soul is held, began glowing, and a small object emerged from it. Sure enough, it was one of the charms.
"NO! KILL THEM RIGHT NOW! KILL THEM! KILL THEM!" The ghost screamed, her voice destroying the wonder of the moment.
The demon began banging on the shield twice as hard, there was no way Biee could hold on much longer. "Hurry!" she prompted.
Alan turned towards the girl again. They were seconds away. They could do this. "Just say, 'Precure Shining Power'" he said, repeating the phrase he'd been told a hundred times, which was supposedly how the precure had activated thier powers.
"W-what?" she stuttered, "Why?" panic bleeding through her voice.
"I don't have time to explain, just hurry!"
She looked at the charm and pencase, floating just inches away from each other. They didn't have much time, Biee's shield was practically gone and the demon was right there, there was no time for hesitation!
Finally, she muttered, "Precure shining power."
Suddenly, her being was enveloped in a bright pink light, which flooded the area behind the shield.
Just then, the shield gave way under the demon's strength, but the instant the light hit it it reeled back in surprise, along with Selenium, who moved to block it away.
But just as soon as it started it was over, the light dissolving into millions of sparkles which just as quickly dissolved into air.
She looked almost completely different, with a pink dress and hair, a brown vest, and a set of transparent wings like a bow on her lower back.
She inhaled, before reciting her name.
"The Fairy of Royalty and Crystalline emotions, Cure Heiress!"
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Heiress stared blankly ahead as pink sparkles faded from sight along the edges of her vision.
What the hell just happened?!
She looked down at herself. What was she wearing? This- this made literally no sense. What just happened, and why did she call herself "Cure Heiress" of all things?
She looked up at Selenium, who was surrounded in an aura of anger and terror. "You- I-, no, this, this can't be…" then the fear melted away, leaving only rage "I WILL DESTROY YOU, PATHETIC GIRL! SOUL DEMON, KILL HER!"
The demon charged at her and the familiars, forcing her to run to the side to avoid it. But what should've just got her out of the way of the demon's blow instead got her halfway across the room. It was exhilarating to go so fast, she must've gotten some sort of powers from that transformation!
Suddenly the ground underneath her was smashed to bits by a shot of magic from the demon, and with no time to react, she jumped upwards to avoid it. In seconds she was already higher up than the demon could reach, floating near the top of the gym.
She flipped backwards and managed to land near the familiars, who were trying to stay out of the demon's line of sight.
"What happened to me? I have super powers now!" she asked them, hoping the demon wouldn't turn around in time to stop thier conversation, "Like some chosen hero of the gods…"
"Huh?" Alan said, before ignoring her comment about Gods, "Well in any case, you're a precure now! A legendary warrior set to save the world from evil!" he pointed towards the demon, "and for now you need to stop that demon!"
"How?"
"You have to retrieve the soul from the demon, that will demolish it's body and you can use it to revive this girl," he pointed to Fleur, "If not, she'll die!"
"How do I get it ba-" she began, before being violently interrupted by a kick from the demon that sent her flying across the room.
"Fight it!" Alan yelled to her.
She looked at the terrible demon, which was once again barreling towards her. Fight that? How? It was huge and strong and could shoot laser beams and-
-and she had superpowers.
As the monster continued its charge she readied a punch, which she released just as the demon reached her. She had managed to hit it right in the middle of it's basketball center.
However, it didn't budge with the force of her punch, and instead pushed her back to the wall with its own punch.
Selenium let out a laugh from her spot above, "A legendary warrior can't even scratch such a weak soul demon? It's a wonder they managed to fight in the war at all!" she looked down upon Heiress, who was struggling to dodge the soul demon, "I can't wait to tell the queen this, she'll be thrilled!"
Weak? Heiress was in utter disbelief as she looked at the monster before her. This thing was weak? She couldn't even dent this thing, let alone beat it!
But, she had to beat it. and if she didn't…
her eyes glanced over to Fleur's unmoving body, looking calm as if she was simply sleeping, with only her ragged breaths betraying this image.
No. She had to beat it. A girl like Fleur didn't deserve to die.
She turned back towards the demon, who was going towards her at a very slow pace, as if it was wanting to relish in her terror before she was beaten.
She tried to suppress her fears though, and think of a way to get through this. She tried to remember every single myth she'd ever read, and every single heroic exploit of a legendary warrior beating a terrible enemy with thier own two hands.
She was something like that, right? She needed to overcome this. She had to.
She closed her eyes, and tried to gather every bit of magic, all the power, all of her soul that she could, and let it take shape.
The diamond shaped item on her chest began to glow, until a small light came tumbling out of it. It grew, changing shape, until it was roughly the size and shape of a pencil.
Across the room, the familiars looked at the light in surprise, "It couldn't be, could it?" Biee questioned.
Selenium held back a scream, "kill her! KILL HER NOW!"
The demon began running at her again, desperate to obey its creator's wishes.
Heiress clutched the object, hoping it might be the answer to victory. Immediately after she did this it glowed with rosy light in her hand, extending to the length of her arm.
The light faded, but before she could inspect it the monster came at her, and she was forced to hold it in front of her as a shield.
Miraculously, this blocked the monster's attack, and sent it falling back a few meters.
"The Magic Wand!" Biee yelled ecstatically, "She summoned the Magic Wand, weapon of the precure!"
Heiress looked at the object in her hand. Weapon? It certainly didn't look like a weapon. On one side there was a magic-looking sphere held within what looked to be a crown, and on the other side there was a diamond-shaped stone with a pair of wings coming off of it, and a bow with one long ribbon cascading down.
Oh well, she thought, as long as it works. Now she could really start doing some damage.
"Get up! Get up! GetupGetupGetup she's going to beat you!" Selenium desperately yelled to the toppled demon
Heiress looked over at the demon. She had to get Fleur's soul back, but she didn't want to risk something happening to it if she wasn't careful.
There was no sign of anything even slightly resembling a soul on the demon's outside, so she had to assume it was being held in either it's head or center, out of sight.
Taking a deep breath, she charged at the demon, wand in hand. As the demon got up she made a snap decision to attack its center, since it was the closest thing this beast had to a chest.
She jumped into the air just as the Demon got back up, and dived down, ramming her heel into the basketball.
However, the demon grabbed her arm before the kick could break the cover, and dragged her over towards its front.
Fortunately, her heel was still wedged into the plastic, so as it dragged her over the force of her heel skidding across it was barely enough to break it and reveal the inside.
Startled by having its own skin ripped in two, the demon dropped Heiress, allowing her to see inside the tear.
It was a bit of a letdown when all she could see inside was empty air.
It must be in the thing's head then. She thought, jumping out of the demon's range. At least it would be easier with the large injury it was sporting.
Suddenly, the tear glowed, and seemed to repair itself back to flawless condition.
Meanwhile, Fleur's breathing suddenly became heavier, and she turned a few shades paler.
Heiress looked back, and quickly rushed over to make sure she was okay. "Is there something wrong with her?" she asked the familiars, who had been staying in the area for a while, since it was the only part of the gym the demon didn't seem to be attacking.
Alan flew closer to Heiress, "She'll be okay for a little while longer, but you have to hurry!"
She nodded, looking back at the demon. She was much stronger than usual in this form, so she could sustain attacks she otherwise couldn't. Still, she didn't know her limits, so she didn't want to be too risky. She just had to find an angle to attack from.
She looked up. Selenium was now sitting in the rafters, watching the conflict with a deep scowl. She couldn't jump over the demon, she'd probably get blasted to smithereens doing that. There was no reason for the demon to pay attention to anything but her, so trying to attack from the back wouldn't get her anywhere, and attacking from the front just seemed like a bad idea altogether. She could probably attack from the side, but unless she had a way to latch on to the demon there was no way it'd work.
She looked down at the wand in her hand. The crown on the end would probably do, it looked spiky enough. It's not like she had any other options anyways.
She took a deep breath, before dashing forward towards the demon, running over to the side.
"What's she doing now?" Selenium contemplated, watching from above.
Heiress jumped into the air, just high enough to ram the spikes of her wand's crown into the demon's head. She managed to get a firm footing on the plastic, so far this was going great.
Making sure she wouldn't fall, she began punching the demon with her open hand, and was causing visible damage to the beast. She might actually be able to do this!
But she remembered how after she had hurt it the first time, it had seemed to heal itself. And that was also when Fleur started getting worse, she didn't like where this was going…
She began to punch harder, putting all of her strength behind her fist. She couldn't think about it like that. She would save Fleur, she would stop this demon, and she would even compete in the stupid election if she managed to get out of this alive!
With a final rush of adrenaline, Heiress slammed her fist onto the plastic, and a vicious popping noise could be heard from the other side.
She instantly grabbed her wand and jumped off the monster, flipping over it so she could see its "face". There was a large gaping tear, and inside, a shining soul locked in a sphere of darkness.
The edges of the tear began to glow, and she quickly turned towards Alan, "Is there any way I can get the soul before it closes?"
"Um, try using your special power, it might be effective!"
Special power? Like magic? But she didn't know how to do anything like that! But… if she had to guess, then her wand would be the best candidate for the source of something like that.
Heiress held her staff between her hands, and tried to concentrate. She needed to get the soul back now, because she might not get another chance.
She felt magic flowing through her hands, swirling around the staff and gathering at the top in the diamond-shaped stone. Just as before, words bubbled up to her throat.
She opened her mouth to release them, magic intertwining in the letters, "Precure, Crystal Catcher!"
The single ribbon which hung from the wand glowed, and a three-pronged jewel appeared from the end of it. She shot it forwards like a whip, and the ribbon extended until the jewel was able to close up with the sphere of darkness and soul trapped inside.
She pulled back on the wand, and the jewel came flying back to her as the demon's body unraveled, leaving only a common basketball in its place.
The jewel detached from the ribbon, and landed in between her hands, suspended in the air. The crystal and sphere both dissolved into glitter, leaving only Fleur's soul behind.
Selenium, still watching from above, clenched her fist, "This- oh god, this is bad, I should go report this…" she looked down before dissipating.
All at once, any remaining darkness that hung in the air vanished, leaving only Heiress, The three Familiars, and an unconscious Fleur in the utterly wrecked gym.
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Heiress collapsed beside the familiars and Fleur, soul still in her hands.
She was so glad that the fight was over, fighting for your life was way more stressful than she ever could've anticipated.
She looked at the soul between her hands. It still had the same bright blues and whites, but now there was a bit of grey. And there was more of it, the more she looked the more grey she spotted. "It looks, darker than before…"
Alan's face softened, and he looked up at her, "It's really sad, but the dark magic that ghost was using darkened her soul. It might heal with time, but it's really unlikely."
She looked back at the soul. Was this because she wasn't fast enough? Because she couldn't stop that 'weak' soul demon in time?
Alan noticed her worried expression, and quickly flipped his own grim one, "Well, you managed to get the soul back before all its energy was used up, and that's the best we could've hoped for! Now hurry, return this girl's soul to her!"
Heiress slowly set the soul on top of Fleur's chest, and as she did it unwound, returning to hundreds of strands which flowed into all corners of her body. It probably should've seemed creepy, but somehow it seemed peaceful. Like everything was going to be okay now.
"You should stay with her until she wakes up." Clin said, eyes fixated on fleur
"Yeah. Okay. Tha- that's probably a good idea." she replied, sitting down in front of Fleur. Color was returning to her face and her breathing had slowed. Now she was actually sleeping.
"So…" she said, looking around, "I was wondering how I could get my clothes back. I mean, This outfit's fine and all, but I don't want to have to do all that explaining…"
"Oh! Right, I forgot about that. You just have to take the pencase, the diamond shaped thing on your chest, off, and your clothes should go back to normal."
She hesitantly grabbed the pencase and quickly pulled it off her chest, and in an instant her clothes and extended hair turned into light, which fled back into the pencase, and her school uniform returned.
Beside her, her wand glowed with the same light, and shrunk down to the size of a pen, a form which she had briefly seen before. She picked it up, "What's this? I think I might've seen it before, but-"
"That's the pen. It's supposed to go in the case." Biee interrupted.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. But how does something like this fit in that tiny little case?" she asked, holding the two close to each other.
Suddenly, the case extended lengthwise, until it was actually big enough to hold the pen. "I think that should answer your question?" Alan asked.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." she put the pen inside the case, letting it shrink back down to its normal size. She then stuffed it and the charm into her skirt pocket.
It was strangely quiet now, The only sounds being the flapping of the familiar's wings. Alison half expected something to jump out at her after what had just happened.
"So," she remarked, looking around the gym. "What just happened?"
"Well, one of those ghosts that had attacked us earlier pulled a surprise attack on you, but we managed to awaken you as a precure before they, um, beat you. Then you fought the demon she summoned and saved this girl!"
"No, I mean what is this? What's a precure? What are you? And did you say that woman was a ghost? Was she dead or something? This is all so crazy, just tell me what's going on!"
"Oh," Biee looked down, "I forgot that people here don't know about the other world like we do.. Well, I don't know how good an explanation I can give, but I'll try."
She cleared her throat. "We're from another world, a world where fairies exist instead of humans. You are a precure. The precure are a group of legendary warriors who existed hundreds of years ago to stop a terrible war. We three are familiars, bonded to fairies from our world. That woman, Selenium, was a ghost, but she wasn't dead. Long story short she's one of many who're descendants of those kind of ghosts, but they haven't existed for a long time. I think that answers all your questions."
Alison let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Yeah, that answered her questions. She still had a lot of things she wanted to know, but that could probably wait.
"So, what are we going to do about the gym?" she asked, looking around at the wreckage surrounding her.
"Hmm," Biee said, "I know that there are spells that could reverse this kind of damage, but they need to be performed soon after the damage was done, and none of us know any anyways, so there's really nothing we can do."
"Oh." she looked down at Fleur, who was still unconscious. It would probably be best to get her to the nurse's office, and give a fake story as to why the gym was wrecked. It would be waaay too awkward to explain that she had to fight a demon using magical fairy powers.
She managed to hoist Fleur onto her back, and began walking towards the door of the gym.
"Where are we going?" Clin asked her
"Oh, the um, nurse's office. Could you guys, maybe not follow me?" she said
Biee and Alan flew up next to clin. "We really don't have anywhere else to go... we'll stay out of sight."
The way he worded that worried her a little bit, but she was already opening the door, and soon people would be able to see her from the windows of the school. Best not to dwell on it.
Just a minute or two after she came wobbling out, two students and the school's police officer came running towards her.
"What happened?" the officer yelled, "Some students and staff reported hearing some loud bangs from the gym. I was sent to check it out and-" she spotted Fleur, "Oh god, what happened to her?!"
"Oh, Um…" she really should've thought this through more. "Well, we saw a strange woman walking into the gym, so we went to investigate, and, um, we went to hide in the locker room, and Fleur passed out, and, uh, we hid in there until they left. And they just left and we just got out. I, uh…"
The officer looked slightly horrified. "Did this, woman, do anything to you?"
"N- no. we managed to hide in time."
"Well that's good. Max, could you carry this girl to the nurse's office?" the officer asked one of the students beside her. He picked up fleur off Alison bridal-style and began carrying her back into the school.
The other student, a girl who had a star on her uniform signaling her as a member of the student council, tapped the officer's shoulder before whispering something in her ear.
"Yeah, that sounds good." she turned to Alison. "Would you mind following Lin here to the nurse? I'm going to see what kind of damage was done to the gym, and see if that woman's still in there."
Alison nodded, and began following the girl to the nurse's office.
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She had been in the nurse's office for about 15 minutes. The nurse hadn't asked anything about what happened, to which Alison was beyond thankful.
The nurse had decided it would be best to just let Fleur rest until she woke up, and allowed Alison to stay by her bed while she went to an urgent staff meeting.
It was weird that the nurse of all people would leave her there without any supervision, and they weren't even the only people in there, there was another group of people who were apparently there because someone had passed out on the roof, but when he'd gone of to the meeting it had seemed like something was very wrong. And she'd bet it had something to do with the wrecked gym.
It wouldn't be too long until the "Election", and she was starting to regret the promise she made to herself in the heat of battle. How on earth could she compete in this? She had even missed a whole day of class with nothing to show for it.
She felt the small lump in her pocket. Well, nothing she could show them, at least.
Now all she had to try and tell people to vote for her instead of the most popular girl in the class. Nope. there was no way she could possibly do that.
But…
She looked at Fleur, who was still unconscious. She had worked so hard to help her do this, even if she herself really didn't want to.
She would probably be upset when she woke up, since she really didn't have anything ready and they would surely lose. And on top of how Fleur's soul was already darkened, the least she deserved was a fair shot at winning the election.
She grabbed a piece of paper and a nearby pencil, and set them out in front of her. She could at least write a speech. She could maybe write a paragraph or two, and hopefully that would be enough.
Alison looked out the window into the endless blue sky, feeling much calmer than before. After all, she'd fought a demon and saved a person's life, she could probably do this. Maybe.
She was going to run for representative, and she was going to give herself a fair shot too. Just for the sake of doing her best, so she could prove to herself that she could.
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She dotted the final period on the paragraph. Whew, she swore that took forever. And even though it was only a few sentences long, it was probably the best thing she'd ever written.
Fleur grunted, and Alison looked over. She was already sitting up in the 'bed'. Letting out a loud yawn "Ugh, I feel funny- why am I in the nurse's office?" she looked at Alison, before her eyes shifted to the clock behind her, "Alison! The election started 10 minutes ago! We need to hurry back!"
Alison turned to look back at the clock, but before she could see what time it was, Fleur grabbed her arm and rushed her out of the office at breakneck speed.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" she rounded a sharp corner
"Well-"
"How long was I out?" She rushed up a flight of stairs
"Um-"
She skidded to a stop in front of the classroom door, "Did you get everything done?"
"Oh, uh, no."
"B- but, do you have Anything?" she handed her the sheet of paper, and Fleur quickly read it, "That's all? Oh, we're going to lose…"
She opened the door, and inside confetti was raining down while heavy perfume wafted through the air.
"-And that is why you should elect me your student council representative!" Katie declared, arms wide as her 'friends' all released party poppers.
She looked over at them, "Oh, I didn't notice you there. So you decided to show up anyways? Shame. I guess you didn't forfeit after all. But I'm not worried. it doesn't look like you have all that much anyways." she bragged, eyeing the piece of paper in Alison's hands.
Two girls lifted Katie up and carried her back to her seat as if she was an egyptian empress. The class began clapping, but it was hard to tell if it was genuine or out of obligation.
Alison slowly walked up in front of the teacher's desk, and looked out at the twenty-one pairs of eyes all focused on her.
She suddenly remembered why she didn't want to run.
All those eyes, all those people, all looking at her, she felt a lump forming in her throat and a knot in her stomach. No, she couldn't lose her cool now, not in front of all these people…
She looked down at her speech. The sooner she read this, the sooner it could be over.
"H-hi. My name is Alison Quinn, and I'm running to be your student council representative. I know I'm not the m-most social person in the class, nor the most qualified for this position, but If you vote for me, then, um, I'll do my best to represent you all fairly, and I'll try to get all your ideas seen through as best I can. And, Uh, I'll try to exemplify the qualities of the school, and respect you all. I hope that you'll vote for me, Um, thank you."
The second she was done she bolted for her seat, and put her head down. Her speech was so stupid! Now everyone would hate her, again…
She heard some people clapping. They were probably only clapping out of obligation though. Oh, why did she agree to this?
quickly walked back to her desk, and smiled unsurely, "Well, I guess we're going to vote then." she wrote Katie and Alison's names on the board.
"Now, could everyone put thier heads down?" she asked. Alison didn't move. Her head was already down.
"Everyone voting for Alison, please raise your hand." she heard some clothes rustling, but she didn't move. She was going to lose in a landslide, and then it was only a matter of time before she was an outcast…
"And everyone for Katie?" she heard more clothes rustling. Katie was going to win. At least she was someone who deserved it.
There was a pause filled with scratching chalk, before said, "Ok, you can lift your heads up now."
Alison barely lifted her head, but heard a couple of gasps. Why were they surprised? Katie won, didn't she?
"It looks like Alison will be our new representative then." Alison's head bolted up. What?! Then she saw it. Under her name were two more slashes then were under Katie's. She'd actually won.
Her face felt hot. She actually won. Somehow, she won. She slowly got up from her desk, half expecting someone to object or point out some obvious mistake that she didn't notice. But somehow she managed to make it all the way to the front of the room without either of those happening, and turned around to look back at the class.
"Um, thank you." she mumbled, and some people even clapped.
Ms. SilverCap turned towards her, and handed her a small packet. "These are some things you'll need to know for being the representative. Don't worry, it's not as much as it seems."
She took the packet in her hands, and looked towards the class. It was strange, she still felt so nervous and scared, but she also felt, happy. She'd won the majority, and she wasn't an outcast. It was better than she ever could've hoped for.
She noticed a movement from the window, and saw Alan, Biee and Clin waving at her from outside, big smiles on thier faces.
She reeled back. What were they doing here? They could get spotted!
She sighed. Her life had been turned completely upside down in the span of a single school day, and yet it all felt, right somehow. Like this was what was supposed to happen.
Somehow, someway, She knew this was all going to lead to something great.