Louise walked through the dark night that encompassed the wastes and beside her walked Saw'veleesh. Both were completely quiet until they came around to the far side of the dreadnoughts wreckage, or the Nightscreamer's corpse, as Lady Montmorency had called it. Louise had to admit it was not a bad name, especially since the name likely had a historical connection. She just didn't care. Whatever historical context it had, whatever the elves or humans thought of it, all of them were meaningless.

Stopping before a large section of the main body of the wreckage, Louise stepped near it and reached out to touch it, but stopped a few inches from its surface. Looking down at her hand Louise scowled and let out a sigh. Her entire left hand was now dark purple and silver, her fingers having become slightly longer with sharp pointed tips, her transformation was nearing its climax, far sooner than she would like.

"Saw, how bad is it?" Louise asked as she stepped forward and placed both hands, her still human right, and her Scrin left, upon the surface of the wreckage.

Saw'veleesh walked over to the ship and placed his front limbs against its surface, and quickly pulled away. "This one is sure you know, the dreadnaught is in bad shape. I cannot tell the full extent of damages, but it is evident that the ichor reserves responsible for the automatic repair of the ship are empty, likely having leaked into the environment after crashing."

Louise scowled, she knew what he said was true, she could feel it. Just from touching the ship she could tell its basic build and organization, and could tell that no ichor usable to repair, or even power the dreadnought was in it. She needed the dreadnought, and she needed it sooner rather than later, for every minute she was not inside it, was a minute she could be discovered. "I cannot seem to find an entrance into the dreadnought."

"This old model of dreadnaught was only able to be opened by sending ichor surges through its circuitry. Without power however we shall be unable to enter it. This one suggests rectifying this problem by providing the dreadnought resources to engage self repair systems and power."

Louise turned and walked away from the ship's hull, Saw quickly following behind her as she circled the wreckage and stood at its one far edge. From here she had clear view of the Ostrand and the camp below it that had just that afternoon been finished. Standing at the edge of the ship and looking at the camp, a grin slowly spread across her face as she lifted her left hand and looked at it again. Not just her hand, but almost the full length of her arm had become that of a Scrin, and it felt completely natural. Her arm did not feel strange in the least, and the new length of her fingers did not seem to cause her problems either.

Reaching up to her hair Louise yanked the nearly invisible wire from her ponytail, allowing her hair to fall out of it. As her hair fell her Polaron cords fell as well, lying on top of her hair, now numbering ten. "How many people are awake in the camp?"

"This one feels high neural activity from only one person, and one familiar."

Louise smiled and turned away from the camp, walking toward the dead forests that surrounded them as she spoke. "I assume you are strong enough to, at the very least, make someone curiously waltz into the forest, yes?"

Saw'veleesh turned and followed Louise. "This one believes so."

"Good. If the familiar that is awake is the awake persons, then this is perfect. Have them and their familiar enter the forest and bring them to me. Since we don't have any ichor and I cannot produce it in large enough quantities. . . . "Louise said as she produced a small green crystal of ichor in her palm as she trailed off. ". . . .I'll just have to make some using a person's body as a substitute."

Saw'veleesh bobbed and turned around, quickly running away from Louise and toward the camp. "This one shall return with the designated targets in a short while."

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Kirche sat upon her bed and glared at the empty bed across from her. She had only awoken due to having a strange dream, but now that Louise was not sleeping in her bed across from her own, that dream seemed all the more like reality.

She had never liked the young Vallière. Since first seeing her at the academy she had always rubbed her the wrong way. She knew it was partly because their families did not get along, but Kirche could always see some kind of cold callousness in the Vallière's eyes. Despite not having magic she still thought herself better than others, and it pissed her off.

When Louise had disappeared she had thought she must've been hidden by her family out of shame, but then she appeared at the school again just in time to join Lady Montmorency's expedition. And then there was her familiar, it also made her worried. Louise's familiar did not so much look like a creature and more like some kind of nightmare or monster.

"Raaaaa"

Kirche looked down to see her familiar, Flame, growling at the door to the tent. The flame on his tail burning fervently. Following his gaze Kirche looked to find Louise's strange familiar standing in the tent's entrance, looking toward her intently. Or at least she thought it was looking toward her, as it had no perceivable eyes or even a face that she could tell.

As she looked at it the familiar turned and left the tents entrance as suddenly as it had come. Kirche sat for a moment, confused about what was going on. Did the familiar want her to follow it? Was it looking for help because its master was in danger? It seemed like a likely possibility, especially when Kirche considered how much of a failure Louise was.

Kirche sighed to herself as she stood up from her bed, deciding that Louise's familiar was likely looking for help. "C'mon Flame, let's find out what that thing wants, and see if we can't make that damn Vallière owe us something."

With Flame close behind her, Kirche walked through the camp, following the strange, ugly, and absolutely monstrous familiar of Louise's. Weaving around tents and smouldering campfires Kirche swore for a moment that it was leading them on, until it suddenly made a beeline for the trees, its four long legs propelling it quickly. Force into running to not lose sight of it, Kirche found herself among the trees of the dead forest that surrounded the camp and their soon to be excavated corpse.

Deeper and deeper into the forest it would go one moment, then turn and arc back towards the camp once again. Kirche could help but feel worried from the way that the Vallière's familiar was acting, moving as if it was trying to lose something that was following it, despite she being merely a couple feet behind it.

For almost an hour she and Flame followed the familiar, until at last they broke free of the trees, and found themselves in a section of clearing on the far side of the Nightscreamer's corpse. "Why in Brimir's name are we here?" Kirche asked loudly to no one in particular as the familiar walked into the clearing, and sat down beside the Nightscreamer's corpse.

For the entire time they followed it, Flame had been quietly growling at Louise's familiar, but now Flame did not move from his spot and was loudly growling, though at what Kirche could not tell.

From her position at the edge of the forest Kirche looked around and couldn't see anything, so she moved to investigate. Lady Montmorency had said that no one would be near the Nightscreamer's corpse until the next day, but since she was here she may as well. Walking across the clearing, Kirche stepped up to the Nightscreamer and placed her hand on its surface, and quickly removed it with a yelp. The surface had given her a massive feeling of pain, and when she looked at her hand; its surface was burned and bruised.

"You really shouldn't touch that you know, Zerbst, touching ichor infused alloy will not end well for a human."

Kirche spun around and looked about the clearing until she spotted the owner of the all too familiar voice. Standing against a tree at the edge of the clearing was the mostly visible short form of Louise, the shape of the many branches above her covering her partially from sight. "Vallière? I thought you were in danger. Didn't your familiar find us to get help?"

"Oh I'm not the one in danger, though I do need your help."

"Then get over here and tell me what you need!"

"I need your body."

Kirche stood shocked for but a moment before answering in a coy tone. "I didn't think you swung that way, Vallière!"

"I don't. I need you to give me your body, and your familiar's."

Hearing this, a chill went up Kirche's spine, and the growling from Flame stopped. Looking over, Kirche could see him lying on the ground, tongue lolling out of his mouth and the flame on his tail dimming, like he was sleeping, or poisoned by something. "W-what's going on here, Vallière?" Kirche demanded. Loudly.

In response Louise walked away from the shade of the tree and into the open moonlight of the clearing, and Kirche's mouth opened up in shock. Louise was still wearing her academy uniform, but had seemingly gotten rid of her socks and shoes, revealing her legs covered in patches of silvery purple that looked almost like some kind of scale or metal. Her one foot looked like it was now a claw made of the same silvery purple material. Her arm as well was covered in the material, and her hand and fingers looked long, sharp, and most of all, dangerous. Her hair was out of the ponytail she'd had it up in for the entire trip, and laying on top of it, were dark purple cords with small blades and glowing pink ends. Louise stood before Kirche for a few moments before a smile lid across her face, her eyes glowing strangely pink. "This is what is going on, Kirche. The reason I disappeared, the reason I came on this expedition, and the reason I had to make Maria disappear."

Kirche's dislike for Louise suddenly rose and turned to pure hatred as her words reached her ears. "Y-you killed that girl? Why!" Kirche yelled as she slid her wand out of her uniform and held it in her unburned left hand.

"She got in my way," Louise said simply as she began walking a circle around the clearing, and around Kirche. "I couldn't allow anyone to find out about me, though it is my fault as I got careless. She saw how my hair is and overreacted, so I killed her and dropped the body from the ship."

"Just like that? You- you're not Louise, are you? What are you, creature! Demon? Devil?"

"I'm almost hurt, why don't you think I am myself Kirche? I am indeed Louise de la Vallière, third child of the Vallière's."

"Louise may have pissed me off, may have been a spoiled bitch who held herself above others even though she had no magic, but even she would not take the life of a plebeian."

"That was before I changed. I don't expect you to understand, but I'll be taking your body now. I can't repair the dreadnaught without it."

"Dreadnaught? What in Brimir's name is that?"

Louise smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know. We're done talking. I'll be using your body, one way or another, now!"

"Oh no, you won't!" Kirche screamed as she swung her wand and blasted a massive fireball nearing the size of a horse carriage toward Louise. The fireball flew swiftly and struck Louise, exploding violently with a crash. Kirche smiled to herself as he watched the massive pyre before her burn. Despite her initial worry, it felt quite good to finally lash out at Louise, especially because of the things she had been saying. "Now that that is over I can-,"

"Is that all you have going for you, Zerbst?" came Louise voice from the middle of the fire.

Before Kirche could even make a sound, Louise stepped out of the blaze completely naked, her clothing having been burned away completely by the flame. Despite this, Louise seemed not be embarrassed, as all the sexual parts of her body, now seemed to not exist. Kirche looked at Louise's body, terrified by the patches of silver and purple all over it, and confused by her lack of genitalia; but mostly terrified by her lack of burns. "W- what is, how-?"

"If you survive this, I'll tell you." Louise said slyly.

Before Kirche could react Louise rushed toward Kirche, her clawed left hand spread out and ready to attack. Raising her wand Kirche summoned a ball of fire above her head, and it promptly went out as pain coursed through her body. Looking down Kirche could see Louise's strange monstrous clawed hand, in her stomach, blood seeping out from around it.

Smiling to her, Louise quickly ripped her hand from Kirche's stomach, sending blood and chunks of flesh onto the ground behind her. Watching as the pain, and the wound, caused Kirche to fall unconscious Louise turned to Saw'veleesh who was now standing over Kirche's familiar. "Do you have the familiar under control?"

"This one does."

"Good. Then let's get started!"

Authors note: Ya now we get somewhere!

This chapter was both strangely easy and very fun to write, though I had to weight some options about having a five line second section, and obviously chose against it. It shall appear next chapter, unless I decide otherwise then I suppose. Either way I hope everyone likes how this is going!