A Call Beyond
Chapter Three: It's all thanks to Superior Being

It had been a week since the Familiar Summoning Ritual where Louise had suddenly started screaming before collapsing. She had been hurried to the sick room where she had lain comatose ever since. Numerous water mages had had a look at her and concluded that she was physically healthy and that she collapsed most likely due to extreme stress. They were adamant that she was not to be disturbed and that she would wake by herself eventually. Headmaster Osmond had not been too happy about this but accepted it the end.

He was sitting in his office at this moment contemplating how to deal with this affair. He would need to inform the Duke and Duchess de La Vallière of the state of their daughter's health at some point. And it would have to be well before whatever exaggerated rumors flying around the academy reached outside. It was the responsible thing to do and yet Osmond had not done so until now, instead hoping that the young Miss Vallière would simply wake by herself as the water mages had suggested. That would at least remove one problem from his back. But it was more than just that, Osmond thought as he leaned back in his chair. He felt that he had failed in his task as headmaster, to actually allow a student to collapse from stress like that. One of her teachers should have notified him earlier or simply stepped in themselves. No, he could not rightly place the blame on them. He, too, had been aware of the young Miss Vallière's troubles with spellcasting, but seeing her excellent results in all things theoretical, had considered it a quirk that would work itself out with time. Evidently, this was not the case. Osmond let out a small sigh. Miss Vallière had failed the Familiar Summoning Ritual, a requirement for second years. So when she woke, he would be forced to expel her from the academy. In the gentlest possible manner, of course. Still, it was not a conversation he was looking forward to have.

"Tell me, Miss Loungeville, am I getting old?"

He addressed his secretary who had dutifully been doing paperwork on her desk while he was lost in thought. The bespectacled, green haired woman gave him a dubious look. As far as she was concerned, the fact that Osmond was still alive could be considered nothing short of a miracle. In lieu of answering, she loudly stomped her right foot. Osmond winced internally, but let nothing show on his face. That had been too close to his mouse familiar, who had tried to take advantage of the secretary's distraction and take a peek up her skirt. No matter, he thought. She would let her guard down eventually. Old Osmond was content to play the long game.

Soon after, with intuition born from experience, Miss Loungeville excused herself claiming that she had to speak with Professor Colbert about something. This was fine too, Osmond considered as she closed the door behind her. Now he would have time to search the room and find where she had hidden his cigars.

(***)

Meanwhile, in another part of the academy, Kirche von Zerbst was feeling a little down, somewhat worried and perhaps slightly guilty? It had been an entire week since Louise had collapsed after all. At first, rumors of what happened had circulated wildly in the academy. Some had claimed that the infamous Zero had pretended to faint for sympathy and attention, some had claimed that her magic had abandoned her and some of the more outrageous rumors held that she had died on the spot. For those who cared to listen, Kirche included, the school water mages had simply stated that she fainted from stress and would sleep it off. However, it had been an entire week now. There was "sleeping it off" and then there was "laying comatose" and at this point, Louise's condition was clearly closer to the latter. Kirche absentmindedly drummed her fingers on the table in front of her at the library she sat in. She was supposed to read something or other regarding general Halkeginian history, but had quickly given up on that, partly due to her current concerns.

"…worried?"

A quiet voice rang out beside her. It belonged to her friend Tabitha who sat in a chair opposite the table from Kirche, reading a book that was probably related to their assignment. For a girl whose attention would be mostly taken by a book at any given time, she could be quite perceptive when she wanted to.

"Yeah, I'm a bit worried about Louise." Kirche admitted. "It's been a week, you know".

Tabitha uncharacteristically closed her book and instead looked directly at her friend.

"Not your fault." she stated in a consoling tone, or at least Kirche thought it was supposed to be a consoling tone. It was just a slightly bit softer than Tabitha's normal monotone pitch.

"I know, I know, Louise failed the summoning ritual all by herself." Kirche agreed with Tabitha. It was perhaps a bit harsh to say it out loud like this but it was nevertheless the truth.

"It's just, you know, they said she collapsed due to stress. I think I may have been a contributing factor to that." Kirche finally let out what had really been bothering her.

"…regret?" Tabitha asked after thinking for a while.

After a moment of consideration, Kirche shook her head. "Not really. I mean, it had gotten a little out of hand towards the end, but mostly it's just been harmless fun. It's just how I connect to people sometimes, you know." Kirche started smiling, a memory resurfacing. "Just think of how we got to know each other."

Kirche fondly recalled how the two of them were initially at odds against one another. It had turned out to all be a ploy by some of the other students, and so the two came to an understanding, banded together and beat up all those responsible, side by side. This "understanding" had then later blossomed into the closest friendship Kirche had ever enjoyed. Kirche looked back at Tabitha only to find that the small girl had gone back to reading her book. Yet Kirche couldn't help but notice the slight contortions of her cheek bones, indicating that he girl was smiling softly to herself, most likely recalling the same memory.

"It was different with Louise, though." Kirche continued. "You know the rivalry between our families, right? We were more or less destined to be enemies from the start. Roles we fell into quite readily, I might add."

Louse had been hostile towards her from the moment she learned her family name was "Zerbst". Not wanting to back down, Kirche had responded in kind. It turned to full on shouting match, with the two of them trading barbs until a teacher had heard the commotion and broken them up. Neither had been satisfied with that, and so they made it a habit to casually throw insults at each other during most of their interactions during the entire first year. Kirche had found it to be liberating in a way, truth be told. Moving to the academy from Germania, she had found most noblewomen of Tristain to be woefully uptight, obsessed with maintaining "proper decorum", whatever that meant. Louise hadn't been afraid to get into the metaphorical mud with her and Kirche might even have lured her into a literal mud fight, had Tabitha not dissuaded her of that particular plan. It was also Kirche who came up with the nickname "Louise the Zero", using the girl's apparent inability to cast spells properly as a new avenue of attack. It had, however, quickly caught on among the rest of the class who were disgruntled with the constant explosions and associated cleanup. Looking back on it like that, at some point it had turned into full on bullying that had seemingly culminated in Louise falling into a coma due to stress.

"I guess I regret it a little after all." Kirche said, having finished her contemplation. If Tabitha was surprised by the change in attitude, she did not show it, still appearing to be reading her book. "I suppose I just miss someone to shout at in the end." she concluded with a weak chuckle.

Thinking further on it, it really wasn't that far off. Next to Tabitha, Kirche would rank Louise as her closest female associate, which was funny in its own way. Still, that was enough for Kirche. Typically overflowing with emotions, Kirche could dump her burdens on Tabitha's shoulders, vent her frustrations on Louise and unleash her passions on eagerly waiting male students. All in all, it was a pretty good setup as far as she was concerned. But now a piece, namely Louise, was missing.

"That's why I've been feeling so down lately: I'm missing a piece of myself! What should I do, Tabitha?" Kirche almost shouted at her friend, caught up in the excitement of her conclusion.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow at the formulation, but nevertheless considered her friend's words carefully. "Go visit?" she eventually suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Kirche still spoke in a tone much closer to shouting than was necessary for a conversation between two people in a library. "You're such a great listener, Tabitha!" Kirche continued.

Tabitha nodded affirmatively, either in recognition of her own skill or just to placate the now overly excited Kirche. Kirche, however, didn't leave it at that and instead swept the much smaller girl into a crushing hug.

"I'll go visit her right now and then tell you all about how it went later, see you!"

Kirche took off from the library with great speed. She had places to be and wasn't about to be stopped by a teacher saying that class was still in session or a librarian telling at her to stop running in the library.

(***)

Kirche wasn't about to be stopped by some nurse claiming that Louise "needed rest" and "was not to be disturbed" either. What did she know! Kirche told her that she held no authority over her, Kirche being a noble and all, and simply brushed past her into the room where Louise lay. Kirche placed the chair she had brought all the way from the library with her beside the bed and sat down. She watched Louise sleep for a while. She certainly looked peaceful laying there, her face not turned up into a grimace, for once.

Well, what now? Kirche thought. Was she supposed to just watch Louise sleep? That was already getting boring, so what else? Maybe talk to her and encourage her to wake up? It seemed silly. For want of anything else to do, Kirche touched the sleeping girl's hair. She wouldn't admit it to Louise out loud, but she did think it was a rather impressive shade of pink. Kirche always did prefer this type of hair color, but she was a bit biased, having red hair herself. It was at this moment, with Kirche toying with the pinkette's hair and letting her mind drift off, that Louise returned to the Waking World.

When Louise came to, she was immediately assaulted by discomfort. The light was too bright. The bed she lay on was too uncomfortable. It was too hot. The silence was too loud. Also, something was touching her hair. Slowly turning her head to look, as soon as she lay eyes on the culprit Louise decided that all other concerns were of a secondary nature.

"Kirche, why are you playing with my hair?" She spoke in a soft voice that came out just a bit raspy.

Kirche turned to look at her, surprise evident in her expression. Rather than attempt an explanation she instead chose to state the obvious.

"You're awake!" she said in an excited and loud tone. Louise noted that she did not stop touching her hair.

"Yes." she confirmed. Louise attempted to gently move her arms and pry the other girl's fingers away from her hair. This proved to be a mistake however, as Kirche apparently took it as an invitation to sweep Louise into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're awake." Kirche eventually said, ending the hug.

Really? Louise thought. "Why?" she asked in a manner not accusatory but mostly just confused.

"You've been asleep for a whole week now! Don't you remember?"

How would I remember how long I've been asleep for? That also doesn't answer my question and- wait a second. "Did you just say I have been asleep for an entire week?" Louise was now thoroughly confused.

"Yes, don't you remember? After the Familiar Summoning Ritual, you suddenly started screaming and then collapsed. You've been asleep the entire time since. A whole week, now!"

Of course Louise remembered the Summoning Ritual, she had been contemplating it just moments before. But what was that about collapsing? Louise tried to recall her memory more clearly. Ahh, she thought when she figured it out. I saw a vision of the sea. She remembered now hearing a strange in sound in her head and her vision being obscured by a symbol. Louise absentmindedly traced the symbol with the left hand. Numerous streams, all returning to the deep in the end, it was undoubtedly a visual representation of the sea in her dream. A Great Deep Sea. She simply hadn't understood it at the time. And to think I would try to resist such a wonderful blessing. Louise could not help but chuckle at her own foolishness.

"What's so funny?" Kirche asked, tilting her head to the side. It was now her turn to be confused.

Louise decided to employ the redhead's strategy of glossing over an explanation in favor of a non-sequitur.

"I dreamt of the sea." Louise stated with a certain devotion in her voice.

"I see" Kirche responded, not seeing at all.

"No, sea" Louise said chuckling to herself again.

"Regardless, what does that mean?" Kirche tried again, tilting her head to the other side. Louise was acting weird. First off, she was smiling, genuinely it seemed, and at her. Maybe the rumors of people undergoing personality changes while in coma were true?

"I wouldn't expect a fire-wielding barbarian such as yourself to understand its profundity, Zerbst, but it means that I'm a water mage!" Louise said proudly.

"That's more like the Louise I remember" Kirche said out loud, mostly to her own benefit. "Well, congratulations, then." she continued with a smile. She herself had had the occasional dream of raging flames – mostly when she was feeling unsatisfied in some manner, and while she hadn't asked Tabitha about it she supposed the same would hold for water mages.

"Thanks." Louise responded. She felt good, no, Louise felt great. Ever since she had recalled her vision of the sea, she had started to feel its presence in the back of her mind. She no longer felt too hot, the bed was just a little more comfortable now and the light was no longer too bright. The last part may have more to do with her eyes adjusting to the light, though.

"Do you want to try casting a water spell?" Kirche asked, excitement slipping back into her tone.

Louise looked around for her wand. It was only now that she realized that she wasn't in her room.

"I do, but I don't have my wand on me." she said. That was a bit odd, all things considered, since she definitely had it in her hand when she supposedly collapsed.

"Oh, that's no biggie, you can just borrow mine." Kirche stated, putting her hand down her own dress and retrieving her wand from her cleavage.

Why do you keep it there? Louise wanted to ask but quickly decided that she didn't want to know the answer. With a certain degree of hesitation, Louise took the wand offered to her. It was uncomfortably warm. Louise almost shuddered before she refocused her thought on the sea, making the sensation fade away.

"So, what should I cast?" She instead asked.

Kirche rolled her eyes. "I don't know, you're the water mage here. Just conjure some water or something. It should be instinct."

Nodding, Louise focused her thoughts on the sea once again, waved around the wand a little and spoke. "Water."

Kirche looked on as Louise excitedly spoke the incantation. Nothing happened, but contrary to her expectations Louise only grew more excited as she cast the spell again and again eventually forgoing wand motions entirely.

"Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water!"

Louise could not help herself. When she recalled her vision she had began to feel the presence of the sea, but only barely. But with each cast of her spell, she felt its presence strengthen. From just lurking in the back of her mind, she could now envision it clearly if she closed her eyes and even hear it if she focused her ears. Even in the room she found herself in, she could sense traces of water yet to be given her form. It was far from the boundless sea of her dreams, but it was a start.

"Uh, Louise, I don't think it's working." Kirche said. "Maybe try another spell?"

"What are you talking about, Kirche, it obviously worked. Just look around you!" As if to accentuate her point, Louise stood up and spread her arms wide.

Kirche looked about the decidedly normal sick room. "Are you sure? I don't see anything."

"Ahh, of course, you cannot see it. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I pity you." Louise gave Kirche a sad smile.

"What's that supposed to mean? You failed yet another spell, I should be the one pitying you." Kirche crossed her arms in defiance.

As if expecting that exact response, Louise pointed Kirche's own wand directly at her and spoke final time.

"Water."

The traces of water she felt in the room were quick to obey her will and materialize in a jet, headed straight for Kirche. Without a wand, the redhead was unable to react in time and got drenched.

"See? I told you it worked". Louise kept her tone neutral as if merely stating an impartial observation, but internally she was smirking with all her might. It had been a while since she had gotten Kirche good like this.

Kirche herself took it in stride. "Yes, I see now, or is it sea? Well, as the bigger woman, in many ways, allow me to be the first to congratulate you in earnest. Tabitha and you are so far the only girls to ever have made me wet."

"I'm surprised you haven't angered more water mages, honestly." Louise responded casually, handing the wand to the dripping Kirche. "What, with your personality and all."

Kirche was in the middle of coming up with a retort when door burst open. It was that silly nurse from earlier. And she had apparently brought reinforcements.

"There she is, sir. I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen and just ran past me!"

"Now, Miss Zerbst, I understand being concerned for a friend but Miss Vallière's rest must not be…" Headmaster Osmond's voice rang out before he trailed off. What he saw in the sickroom was a very much awake Louise and a very much drenched Kirche. "…what happened?" he tried instead.

The two girls looked at each other for a moment. "Water." they answered in unison. Seeing Osmond's apparent confusion at the scene, Kirche took it as a chance to escape and quickly made her exit.

"Well, it was fun, but I got to go now, bye!"

"Thanks for visiting." Louise called out after her. It was only polite after all. Although she never did quite find out why Zerbst had decided to visit her. She would have to ask her again, later. For now it seemed that the Headmaster had regained his bearings.

Osmond turned his head to trail the girl that had just run past him but ultimately turned back to face Louise. "You're awake." he stated in a tone with a hint of relief.

Louise suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes." she answered. Now she got to have this conversation again.

Meanwhile, Kirche ran though the hallways, still dripping wet but smiling all the while. Not only had Louise awoken, she had apparently also gotten control over her magic. But more than that, she seemed a lot nicer than Kirche remembered. The only thing she felt sad about was that her last bit of innuendo had apparently gone over Louise's head. But there was still time. She would simply run by Tabitha and try the joke again. It was too god a setup to not make use of, after all. So what if a few books got wet in the process?

.

.

.

(***)

While chapters one and two turned out short than I expected, this chapter turned out to be much longer. Such is the power of dialogue, I suppose. If you feel the characterization is way off, let me know and I can hopefully adjust.

With this chapter and the next, I hope to mostly show Louise adjusting to new circumstances. Chapter five will be more in line with what some of you expected from this story, so look forward to that.

On a final note, in case anyone is curious about the chapter titles: They are written in the style of player messages in Bloodborne. Often grammatically incorrect and similarly cryptic, many players, including myself, find that they have their own peculiar charm.