AN: Aaaand here we are a year later. I am so sorry I took so long to get this out. You know when I said that it was unlikely that my professors would take pity on me, it turn out that life wasn't very willing to take pity on me either. Of course the other reason this chapter has taken so long is thanks to a tenacious bout of writer's block, I ended up re-writing it three times.
As for the Poll. I have decided to close it 'early', with the winners being Alyssa and Miyu. Not only has it taken me way longer to get these chapters out than I thought, but also over the course of the year I have come up with the perfect way to fit the two into the story. Which is fine because they were the majority vote anyway. As many people also thought that I am overdoing it with the amount of characters I have, I will most likely take a similar route to both Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome. In that Alyssa and Miyu's presence is downplayed but still somehow essential to the plot. (As to how is my little secret for now)
Now that, that onslaught of rambling text is out of the way, I bring you without any further ado: Chapter 8!
I can only hope that the wait was worth it to my readers.
Oh, and Telepathy is italicized with single quotes. Where as inner thought is simply in italics
Chapter 8,
Lunchtime!
'The word is 'puppy' I replied mentally, as I poked absently at my food adorned plate.
'Thanks Fate-san!' Natsuki replied happily. 'I'll let Nanoha-san know.'
Having taken a break for lunch, our large group occupied a good portion of the base's mess hall. Between all forty of us, we were taking up four of the largest square tables, pulling them together in a loose circular formation.
'Fate-chan.' Nanoha's voice momentarily interrupted my musings and mindless vegetable prodding. 'The next word is lion.' I nodded out of habit, taking a bite out of my now very mangled looking carrot.
Nanoha; of course had wasted no time in training the new recruits, and was doing her best to try and teach her new students how to communicate telepathically. A skill that surprisingly only the Puella Magi had ever used before. Except they had used what Homura called: 'an evil, fury, cat-like bringer of misery' as a go between. So unsurprisingly, The Puella Magi were having far fewer problems learning.
Using lunchtime as a means for their mouths to be otherwise occupied meant that there was no speaking allowed. However for me, this did not necessarily mean a quiet meal. I was the one the recruits had to contact telepathically. Once they succeeded, I was to tell them whatever word Nanoha gave me; also without speaking. Nanoha and I were sitting as far apart as possible in order to ensure that the only way we could possibly communicate was through telepathy.
It was a simple exercise that Nanoha had concocted more or less on the spot, seeing how most recruits at least knew the basics of telepathy before Nanoha got to train them.
We were getting a lot of very awkward stares from just about anyone who passed us by. A couple of unfortunate souls (mostly men) had been so caught up in their staring, as they walked past our tables, that it was only a quick and unpleasant meeting with the nearest hard surface that could snap them out of it.
I suppose I couldn't blame them; eleven girls of varying age, wearing vintage earthen military jackets, casually sitting around in their underwear was probably the last thing any of them had expected to see today.
Then again, the last thing I had expected to see today was a fifty story high, six headed purple hydra, at the beck and call of a mild-mannered, tea-addicted, high-class Kyoto woman, who is head over heels in love with a sassy biker chick who has an unhealthy obsession with mayonnaise. (AN: Yay for run-on sentences!)
But the eleven military personnel, casually sitting around in their underwear did come in a close second.
Before we start any combat training, we are finding these girls some pants. I thought to myself, sighing as two male personnel plowed into each other, sending the contents of their lunch-trays flying everywhere. This is starting to make our male soldiers look like uncoordinated, hormonally driven clods.
'FATE-SAN!' A voice that could only belong to one person suddenly exploded into my mind, causing me to decapitate the piece of broccoli I had been toying with. 'CAN YOU HEAR ME!?' I cringed as my brain literally rattled against my skull from the sheer force of her thoughts. Once my teeth had stopped vibrating, and my eyes had uncrossed, I looked over to the recruit's table, in an attempt to locate the one who had practically assaulted my brain from the inside.
Haruka was not particularly hard to spot, her face was red and scrunched up in an expression that I could only call 'constipated concentration.' Her hands were balled up in tight fists, and it was clear that she was putting everything she had into sending her thoughts over to me. I also noticed that Nao seemed to be having a very hard time keeping herself from laughing, while everyone else at the table seemed to be eyeing her with concern, almost as if they were expecting her to spontaneously combust at any moment.
I heaved an exasperated sigh, as I went to take a drink of coffee. Nothing Haruka did was ever halfway was it?
'FATE-SAN!?... IS THIS THING ON? HELLO!?'
It wasn't until after my mouthful of coffee had nailed Kiseki (Who was unfortunate enough to be sitting across from me) square in the face that I remembered that I had left Haruka hanging.
'Yes, Haruka-san.' I finally replied, sending Kiseki an apologetic smile and a napkin. 'I can hear you loud and clear...emphasis on the loud.'
'GREAT!' The battering ram that was Haruka's voice barged it's way into my mind once again. 'I WAS BEGINNING TO THINK MY BRAIN WASN'T TUNED CORRECTLY.'
'That would have been a problem with your artificial linker core, It wouldn't be a problem with your brain.' I assured, massaging my temples against an oncoming headache. Of course I can't really say the same for my own brain at the moment. I silently added. 'At any rate, the word is 'lion.'
'THANKS FATE-SAN!' Haruka sounded very pleased with herself, while I had to grind my teeth to keep from groaning in pain.
'Just one more thing Haruka-san.' I added, in an attempt to keep the enthusiastic blond from giving Nanoha an aneurism. 'You don't need to try quite so hard in sending your thoughts to others. Your thoughts will come across just fine if you think...quietly. Telepathy isn't affected by distance either, so keep that in mind.' I sighed with relief as Haruka relaxed her body.
'...oh...Like this?' she asked, sounding a little sheepish. It was nice to hear her voice when it wasn't echoing through my entire body.
'Perfect!' I exclaimed giving her a thumbs up for extra reassurance. 'Congratulations Haruka, you are now telepathic!'
'Thank you Fate-san.' Haruka said gratefully. 'Now I can talk to Yukino whenever I want to, no matter how far apart we are right?'
I couldn't help the smile that crept its way onto my face at the surprisingly innocent question.
'There are limits.' I admitted. 'but if the bond between the two of you is strong enough, you will always be aware of each other'
'Then there's no problem.' I could hear the absolute confidence in her voice. 'Because my bond with Yukino is stronger than anything!'
'I don't doubt it.' I replied honestly. 'Now, you don't want to keep Nanoha waiting any longer. So, what was the word?'
'uuuuhhh...' Was my reply. I had a feeling that the blond had probably been sidetracked for too long.
'Lion.' I reminded patiently.
'Right! Thanks again Fate-San!' With that Haruka fell silent, and I turned back to my neglected food. Haruka was the last recruit to take the test, so I was finally free to enjoy the rest of my lunch.
"Ahem!" My fork froze halfway to my mouth.
...almost.
I turned towards the coffee stained brunette in order to give her a very belated apology.
"My clothes smell like java." She grunted before I could even utter a word. "That, and I'm pretty sure the rest of my lunch will be tinged with coffee flavour. Who the hell would wanna eat coffee flavoured macaroni and cheese!? " She was clearly unamused. So much so, that all I could bring myself to do was smile timidly.
"...Sowwie?" I offered pathetically, taking a page out of Nanoha's book and putting on the best 'puppy dog eyes' I could muster. Much to my relief, an amused smile soon replaced her sour frown.
"You should try that face on Nanoha-san sometime." She suggested with a chuckle, the coffee incident momentarily forgotten. "I can personally guarantee that you will find yourself wearing far less clothing in a matter of seconds."
"Somehow I doubt it" I snorted bitterly. Kiseki gave me a look that suggested she wanted to say something, but she seemed to think better of it.
"So," she said instead. "Should I bill you for my dry cleaning?" My eyes dropped to the collar of her shirt, which was now sporting a rather large coffee stain.
"Funny." I muttered to myself. "I don't remember spitting out that much coffee."
"That's not the point!" Kiseki exclaimed, putting way more confrontation into her words than necessary."This was my favourite shirt! I demand reparations!"
"So are we talking about footing a laundry bill, or giving up a pound of flesh?" I asked sarcastically, getting the feeling that the golden eyed brunette was doing this on purpose.
"While the pound of flesh idea is tempting, (AN: Insert boob joke here:) I have a better idea." Kiseki went on, confirming that the loss of her 'favourite shirt' was probably not at the forefront of her mind.
"My firstborn child?" I offered casually, going along with the joke.
"Close." Kiseki replied, catching me slightly off guard. "My firstborn child."
I couldn't think of much more to do than to blink stupidly at her statement.
"...or at least the clone of my firstborn child." she clarified, noting my blatant confusion. "You and Nanoha-san are her adoptive parents, are you not?"
The fog lifted as I realized who she was talking about.
"Vivio!" I gasped, "You're Vivio's real mother?"
"In the same sense that Precia is your real mother, yes." came the soft confirmation. "I am."
I felt a very strange mix of emotions upon hearing this. One the one hand; I knew how much Vivio longed for her 'real' mother. It was something I could identify with, but on the other hand... Vivio was our daughter! Mine and Nanoha's! I had considered her my daughter before Nanoha had even legally adopted her. We were a family! And just the thought of someone breaking my family apart, was simply horrifying.
"A-are you going to take her away from us?" I could barely keep my voice from shaking from my fear of her answer.
"Of course not." Kiseki assured firmly. "I wouldn't dream of it. I was simply hoping that I could accompany you and Nanoha-san home after today's training. I would just like to meet her."
There was that weird mix of emotions again. Part of me was relieved that Vivio wasn't going to be taken away, the other part was remembering the pain of being unwanted and rejected by my own mother. Suddenly, the girl sitting across from me was starting to look more like Precia at her worst, than the cheerful girl I was only just starting to get to know.
"Why don't you want her?" I snapped harshly. "Is Vivio not worthy of your love, just because she's not your 'real' daughter?"
Rather than being offended by the accusations I was flinging at her, Kiseki looked as though she had expected me to pull a total 180 on her.
"Just the opposite." she promised softly, her eyes portraying a deep sadness that I hadn't noticed before. "I am the one who is not worthy of her love." Her strange response managed to cut through my anger like a knife.
"...What?"
"Because in Vivio's eyes, I will never be her 'real' mother." she explained. "To her, I will most likely be just some random stranger trying to steal the title away from her true Mamas."
"I'm not so sure I understand." I mumbled timidly.
"Fate-san, what is your definition of a mother?" The simple question caught me by surprise, and it took me a few seconds to recover before I thought about my answer.
"Someone who raises you," I began slowly.
Kiseki nodded thoughtfully.
"Loves you unconditionally."
Another nod.
"Cares for you."
Yet another nod.
"Someone who will always support you no matter what." I finished, wondering just where this was all going.
"Sounds like a pretty good description." Kiseki agreed, grabbing her fork and pointing the end of it right between my eyes. "Now, I want you to put yourself in Vivio's shoes."
My eyes uncrossed as they fell from the fork she was pointing at me, back to her face. "uhh...okay?"
"Who best fits the description you just gave me?" she inquired, even though it was clear she knew the answer. "Me? Or yourself and Nanoha-san?"
"Well, Nanoha and I." I admitted hesitantly. "Bu-"
"Exactly." Kiseki interrupted, jabbing me gently on the forehead with the end of her fork. "You know better than most that blood isn't always thicker than water when it comes to family."
She certainly had me there. But at the same time, I couldn't understand why Kiseki seemed so convinced that Vivio wouldn't long for her, the same way part of me still longed for Precia.
"You forget, that you were born with all of Alicia's memories." She went on as if she could read my mind, jabbing my forehead a few more times with her fork to put an emphasis on the word 'memories'. "You remember Precia raising you, loving you, and caring for you, even if it wasn't 'you' in the normal sense. That's why it was much more painful when she started to change, once..."
"You mean once I was actually born?" I supplied bitterly as she trailed off. Kiseki winced at my choice of words.
"My point is, that when Vivio was born, she was essentially born as a 'blank slate.'" she continued, drawing the focus back to Vivio. "She has no memories of Olivie's life, and by extension no memories of me. If she ever happened to pass me on the street, she wouldn't have a clue who I was. Olivie and Vivio both look much more like Chiyo than they do me, so Vivio doesn't even have the family resemblance to go off of. Basically, I have no right to call myself Vivio's mother. I barely even have the right to call myself Olivie's mother!" By the time Kiseki was done, she was shaking with barely contained grief.
"But you still are." I said quietly, voicing the very reason why she had brought Vivio up in the first place.
"Exactly." Kiseki agreed weakly, after taking a deep calming breath. "That is why, I have to meet her...I have to see the happy life that I would never be able to give her. I need to see that she's well taken care of. I trust you and Nanoha-san, but I have to see it with my own eyes... No matter how painful it will be to see." Another deep steadying breath. "...So Fate-san, would you mind if I accompanied the two of you after training?"
"Nanoha and I would be happy to have you." I accepted, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can stay for dinner."
"Thank you Fate-san." Kiseki's reply held equal amounts of relief and pain.
It was at times like these where I was forced to remember that Kiseki had lived far longer than any human, and had experienced far more sadness than she allowed to show. The cheerful exterior she showed the world was clearly her way of masking the pain of her past, kind of like Homura's stoney indifference.
"Alright people! Time to wrap it up!" Nanoha's voice rose over our group. "Finish up your lunches! I expect to see nothing but clean plates! And I will see everyone to be out on the training field in ten minutes!" There was a slew of screeching noises as those in the group who had finished their lunches got up to put away their lunch trays before heading out. I watched as Kiseki looked back down at her coffee drenched macaroni, and wrinkled her nose. She seemed to weigh her options, most likely factoring in an angry Nanoha as a possibility for wasting so much food.
"Ahh...screw it!" She exclaimed, coming to a decision and sticking her finger in her food. "I know I'm gonna regret this later; but Al-Hazard, if you please?"
'Absorption!'
Before I could even begin to ask what the hell she was doing, I could only watch as the coffee seemed to get sucked off her food through her finger. Once this task was done she took up her fork and ate a few mouthfuls of her coffee free macaroni, before her eyes dropped to her stained clothing.
"May as well." she said with a shrug, repeating the process on her shirt.
"Why the heck didn't you just do that before?" I asked, more curious than annoyed at the fact that she was going to make me foot a totally unnecessary dry cleaning bill. "Coffee isn't energy, so how the heck can you do that in the first place?"
"I'd rather not get too far into how sub-molecular energies pretty much makes up everything in some form or another." She offered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But that's the gist of it. As for why I didn't do that before? Two reasons: First, I needed some way to ask you if I could meet Vivio today. Second being that I try to avoid absorbing or drinking anything caffeinated or alcoholic."
"Why?" I asked, still feeling very confused.
"One of Al-Hazard's main functions," Kiseki explained as casually as she could while trying to ignore her foot bobbing up and down like a jackhammer. "is to extract the purest form of energy from anything absorbed or eaten, concentrate it, and convert it to life energy. When it comes to chemical energy; like the caffeine in coffee for example. Al-Hazard will essentially focus on the caffeine, concentrate it to get the most energy, and then distribute it to my body." I noticed that as she was talking, she was starting to get a little twitchy, as if she was having a hard time staying still. "Since something like caffeine is already just pure chemical energy, it doesn't get converted to life energy. Not only that, but pure caffeine is rather...shall we say; potent."
"So a small mouthful of coffee..." I began, trailing off as Kiseki slowly morphed into a vibrating ball of repressed energy.
"Iskindalikedrinkingtwentyenergydrinks,eatingawhol epoundofsugar,andtoppingitalloffwithatrippleespres so." she blurted, speaking so quickly that I could barely understand a word she said. "speakingofwhichIthinkit'sstartingtokickin."
"Yeah, no kidding." I mumbled sarcastically. "So how long does this 'caffeine high' typically las-"
"CAN'TTALK!" Kiseki interrupted, finally loosing her battle in trying to suppress all the energy. "GOTTAGETMOVING!CAFFEINEWEARSOFFFASTERTHATWAY!"
With that she took off, running faster than I could while using Sonic Move, laughing like a deranged maniac as she went.
"Yeesh." I commented with a sigh, returning to my unfinished meal. "If that's what the caffeine highs are like, I'd hate to see what she's like when she finally crashEEEEAGH!" Kiseki nearly knocked my chair over in her haste to return to her seat.
"IALMOSTFORGOTNANOHA-SANWANTEDCLEANPLATES!"
I couldn't do much more than grab my chest in an attempt to stave off the heart attack that Kiseki's sudden reappearance had almost caused, and watch as she inhaled the rest of her meal with frightening speed. All that caffeine had also removed her ability to talk at any level lower than the top of her lungs.
"OKAYDONE!" She announced less than a minute later, slamming her fork down with a distinct finality. "ALLRIGHTGOTTAGOBYE!"
Once again she was off like a shot nearly bowling over Nanoha, who was just coming over to check on us.
"What the hell was that?" Nanoha asked smoothing her rumpled skirt back into place.
"That was our dinner guest for tonight." I replied, taking a bite out of my remaining vegetables before continuing. "Anyway, you know the coffee cake we were planning on having for desert?"
"uhh...yes?"
In the distance:
"HOLY CRAP! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOIN'!"
CRASH!
"Save it" I suggested, momentarily entertaining the idea of asking Shamal if she had any tranquilizers that could take down someone hyped up on enough caffeine to kill a normal person.
One thing was for sure though: Today's training promised to be...interesting.
...
AN: And there you have it! I know not much really happened plot wise, and I know it probably doesn't seem very flowing either. But after rewriting this chapter three times, I realized that I needed a chapter to let the some of the characters breathe, so I could get back into a writing groove. Now that that's done, we can finally start to move ahead with the plot! Despite the lack of progress with the plot I hope you all still enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to not take anywhere near as much time to get out chapter nine.
I also realize that I had originally written Olivie as Kiseki's great-great-great granddaughter, but I decided to change that when I thought about all the similarities and contrasts I could make with Fate and Precia by making Olivie her daughter instead. Because in essence that is what this story is about: Fate's struggle with her mother as well as her own existence, so that she can find happiness with Nanoha.
That is also one of the good things about Olivie's background, it's so vague that I can play around with it a bit without re-writing it completely...although I did take a few 'creative liberties' here and there.
I can't guarantee a regular schedule for chapter releases, since I am in school again, but I promise that I will not drop this story. I already have the ending planned out and everything! So please continue to be patient with me.
See you all in chapter nine, and as always: read and review!