Disclaimer: I do not own Prototype or Familiar of Zero

Infection in Halkeginia

I'm your what?

Sunlight streamed through an open window, the rays landing right on Collin's face. He twitched his eyes at the unwelcome awakening. Opening his eyes slowly he made out a dull grey ceiling before the light blinded him. He remained like that for a while, enjoying the softness of the surface he lay on and the warmth the sun gave him.

Then everything came rushing back to him. The base. His father. Zeus. Pain shot through his head as he recalled his last conscious moments. Pain gave way to fear and he forced himself into a sitting position and took in his surroundings, half expecting to see Zeus waiting for him.

He was in a large and long room with high ceilings. Wooden chandeliers were hung at regular intervals though he couldn't discern a light source. Several plaques hung along the wall all showing the same crest: a five sided star with a different colour on each point, purple, red, blue, yellow, white were arranged starting from the top. Collin didn't recognise the symbol.

How did I get here? The room definitely gave off a medieval feel. A castle? How did I get to a castle? He studied the stone wall. At first glance it looked like all the other walls he had seen during his visits to the old castles in England. Wait a minute... The design is definitely old but the workmanship seems new... Furthermore as the studied the wall it wasn't made of stonework as he first thought, instead it seemed to be made of pure smooth stone with no trace of construction, as if someone had moulded the stone itself.

This room should be the infirmary. He thought looking down at the plain white hospital gown he was wearing, that at least he recognized.

He felt great. Better than he would expect to feel especially after being stabbed through the gut with a giant blade. In fact he had never felt better before in his life! Well he wasn't one to spit in the face of good fortune, he was just glad he survived. He pulled up the hospital gown to inspect his wound and was shocked at what he found. There was no trace of even a scar on his abdomen!

Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement. Looking down he realized there was someone sleeping at the foot of his bed, torso resting on the edge. He hadn't realized it was a person due to her hair being an outrageous pink. She stretched a yawned cutely. Studying her young face Collin placed her to be around 16, though her lack of certain developments made him second guess himself.

"Err morning?" Collin greeted her, hoping she could answer his questions.

"Oh you're awake." She commented, pink eyes meeting brown. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. After all the stress yesterday and fretting over her familiar she had only gone to sleep a few hours ago. She studied her familiar, noting his average build, he wasn't particularly muscular but he didn't look like a wimp either. She sighed to herself; at least he could probably do her chores.

French? How did I get from New York to France?

"Yeah...do you know how I got from New York to France?" Collin asked, switching over to French.

"France? New York? I've never heard of those places?" Louise gave him a weird look, genuinely confused. "You're in Tristan, one of the kingdoms of Halkeginia. As for how you got here, I summoned you."

"I'm sorry. Summoned?" Collin was even more confused. How could she never have heard of New York? Speaking of which how did he pass the red line Blackwatch set up, that was even more unbelievable, he had seen them slaughter perfectly healthy children trying to flee.

"The springtime familiar ritual." She stated simple as if that answered everything.

"What?"

"You've never heard of the summoning ritual?" She asked incredulously. Louise felt her hopes plummet; it seemed she had gotten an idiot on top of a commoner. When Collin nodded she groaned. "So you're a commoner?"

"Commoner?"

"Someone that can't use magic."

Magic? Is she crazy or something? Collin noticed her unusual clothes. She wore an elegant looking white blouse white a short black frilly skirt. They looked extremely fine albeit crumpled from her sleep. What made it unusual was the black cloak that was wrapped about her shoulder, secured at her neck with a golden brooch bearing the same five sided crest as the plaques on the wall.

"So... I'm your 'familiar?'" Collin asked hesitantly, deciding to go along with her.

"Yes and I'm your master." Louise confirmed.

Well she's definite nuts. How do I get out of here? Collin pondered. Thrown from one crazy situation to the next, what god had he pissed off

"Wait here. Ms Pomfrey instructed me to inform her after you wake up." She ordered jolting him from his thoughts.
"Err okay."

The moment she left to go to the adjacent wing Collin immediately took the opportunity to escape. He threw the sheets off himself and bolted out of the infirmary through the ornate wooden door at the end of the room.

Bursting out of the infirmary he saw several other people dressed in a similar fashion to the girl earlier freeze in shock at his sudden appearance.

"Could one of you please tell me how to get out of here?"

Wordlessly one of the girls pointed down the corridor.

"Thanks!" Collin called out as he raced down the indicated path. The corridor followed a similar design as the infirmary, with the walls seeming to be a single piece of stone. The corridor had large glass windows at regular intervals lighting it up.

As he sped around a bend he collided into someone causing her to fall, he barely bounced backwards himself.

"Ouch watch where you're going idiot."

"I'm terribly sorry." Collin apologised. He reached out a hand to her. Smelling smoke he looked for the source and his eyes bulged as he took in the huge lizard with a flaming tail growling at him from behind the girl.

She took his offered hand. "I've never seen you before. Are you a new student?"

His eyes snapped back to the girl. She was dark skinned with flaming red hair, a real beauty. But what caught his attention was the huge amount of cleavage she was displaying as her blouse struggled to hold them in. Even as he struggled to form a coherent reply someone answered for him.

"Familiar." A quiet voice said.

Collin looked behind the redhead to see a girl with bright blue hair holding a staff and a book staring at him intently.

"Familiar?" Kirche scratched her head. "Oh you must be Louise the Zero's familiar. Where is she by the way?" She laughed.

That familiar business again. Collin opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on but was interrupted when a dragon chose that exact moment to stick its head through the open window stared at him with large and curious eyes.

The dragon gave a yawn, baring its ferocious teeth and bathing Collin with a breath. Nerves giving way he ran off with a cry even as the redhead shouted at him to wait. What the hell is going on? Those weird creatures had to be mechanical. Right? But those eyes... They held intelligence.

Collin spotted a large arch leading out of the building. He could finally escape this crazy building. Rushing through the opening Collin's jaw dropped open in astonishment. He had entered some sort of courtyard. He could spy some towers standing tall and proud in the distance but what amazed him what the sight that lay right before him.

There were dozens of students in courtyard moving about, by flying. Some chose to walk but there were several that were levitating in the air by no obvious means of suspension. There were also all manners of creatures following them about. Collin recognized several such as the bird hovering besides its flying owner, the dog barking and running about its master's legs. But there were also others he didn't recognise.

So engrossed with the sight was Collin that he didn't watch where he was going and tripped. Flipping over he lay on his back trying to make sense out of the crazy situation he found himself in. Staring up into the sky he spied the moon, visible even in daytime. He frowned as the noticed it was larger than usual, and was it green? Shifting his gaze he spotted a red moon directly next to it.

Alright stay calm Collin. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all this. Maybe you're really dead.

"Hey are you alright?" Someone asked him.

Sitting up he turned to face the speaker only to come face to face with a giant floating eyeball. The yellow ball encased in purple stared right at him. He could make out the individual rings that made up its eye.

Collin blinked. It blinked back.

He then did what any normal person would do. He fainted.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Louise was livid. She left her familiar alone for a minute and it promptly disobeyed her. Where is that stupid familiar? She stalked down the corridor searching. Sensing the dark aura emanating off Louise in waves the other students wisely steered clear from the angry pink head.

"Oh if it isn't Louise the Zero." A sultry voice pierced her thoughts.

Without even bothering to look up Louise brushed her off. "Shut up Zerbst. I'm not in the mood."

Kirche planted herself in front on Louise forcing the shorter girl to glare at her fiercely. "Why so cold Zero?"

"I'm busy cow." Louise tried to sidestep around the Germanian. "Unlike you I have more important things to do that sleep around with every guy in school."

"That's only because none of them are attracted to you." Kirche snidely remarked. "Looking for your familiar?"

Louise whirled around "How-?"

"Aha I knew it!" Kirche clapped her hands in glee. "Only the Zero would have a familiar that runs away from her."

"Can it Zerbst. Where is it?" Louise growled, pissed at herself for leaking it out.

"Courtyard." Tabitha murmured not taking her eyes off the book she was holding.

"Thanks." Louise took off.

Kitchen pouted at her quiet friend. "You're no fun Tabitha."

The bluenette merely turned the page of her book in response.

Louise ran out to the courtyard in time to see her familiar slump over for the second time within a day.

Laughter trilled out behind her. "Can your familiar only faint Zero? A useless familiar for a useless mage." Kirche had followed her. The surrounding students joined in, sniggering.

Ears burning red Louise merely said "Shut up and help me get it to the infirmary." This familiar was proving to be more trouble than it was worth.

Xxxxxxxx

Ouch my head. Collin groaned. He could feel the soft mattress under him and figured he had been brought back to the infirmary. Reluctant to open his eyes he feared what would greet him. An angry pink haired girl? A dragon? Or maybe that weird eyeball?

Hesitantly he cracked open an eyelid. All his fears were unfounded as a rather plump and matronly woman greeted him with a warm smile.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked concerned, touching his forehead.

"Yeah you wouldn't believe the dream I had. There were dragons and fire lizards and flying people" Collin laughed weakly. Yeah that's right, it was probably a dream.

The nurse frowned at him. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem delirious."

"What's wrong?"

"That wasn't a dream I'm afraid" a new voice added. Collin turned to look and saw a bald middle-aged man enter the infirmary with the same pink haired girl as before. He flinched as the girl glared at him. Such fury in such a small package. He introduced himself "I'm Professor Colbert of this academy. Mr..." The professor stared at him intently.

"Call me Collin." Collin replied, trying to ignore the uncomfortable stares he was getting. "Academy?"

"Ah my apologies Collin. This is the Tristain Academy of Magic, located in Tristain on the continent of Halkeginia."

"Academy of...magic?" Collin said incredulously.

"Yes. Magic." Colbert seemed to get more and more excited even as Collin became more and more confused.

"Then the floating students?"

"Levitation."

"The dragon?"

"Real."

"The floating eyeball?"

"That would be a bugbear."

The gears whirled on overdrive in Collins head. What the hell have I been dragged into? "Magic?" He repeatedly weakly.

"I'm afraid so."

He summed up all his thoughts into one word: "Fuck."

A slap on his hand shocked him as the nurse chided "No profanities in my infirmary young man."

Of all the nonsensical things that had occurred to him over the past day the seemingly normal response to his cursing made Collin burst pun in laughter.

"Sorry" Collin sheepishly apologised seeing the nurse give him the evil eye. Trying to change the topic he asked "I was injured before I woke up here. Are you the one who healed me?"

"No that would be Miss Vallière over there" she replied gesturing towards the pink haired girl.

"It appears I owe you my life. Thank you. Sorry I ran away when you left. I was kind of overwhelmed." Collin apologised to Louise who was still standing behind the professor, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"It's the duty of the master to take care of her familiar." Louise merely replied, crossing her arms arrogantly. As unbelievable as what Professor Colbert had been telling her after seeing his reaction she was starting to have her doubts.

There is it again. That familiar business. "Could someone explain to me what that means?"

"I'd be happy to, but first there are some things I must clarify." Professor Colbert held out his clothes. They were folded in neat stack with his handgun resting on top of them "You are not from Halkeginia are you?"

There was an audible gasp from the nurse.

Collin shook his head.

"I thought so, your clothes were made from a material far more durable than any we have and your firearm is decades ahead of ours in terms of design. Are you perhaps from the east? Beyond the elf lands?"

Collin thought back to the twin moons he saw earlier, added to the fact that he didn't recognise any of the names the professor had thrown at him. And wrapping it up in a nice package was the fact that magic existed.

"No. I think I've been transported from another world."

"What? Another world? That's impossible!" Louise exclaimed. She could believe if he came from the eastern lands, they were rumoured to have advanced technology adapted from the elves. However another world was Ina whole other league.

The professor on the other hand was much more ops minded. Rubbing his chin in thought he murmured more to himself than to the others. "Yes. That would explain the lack of magic."

Collin was impressed. He was a deductive one.

Louise scoffed. "A world without magic? Ridiculous. How would you get anything done?"

"I'm extremely curious as well." The professor jumped in, as excited as a little school boy. "How do you build you buildings? How do you run your country? How did you develop such materials? How do you -"

"Professor that's enough! You're scaring him." The nurse exclaimed.

Collin who had been backing away from the professor's sudden change in demeanour shot the nurse a grateful look.

"Ah my apologies. I got a little too excited there. This must all be terribly frightening to you I'm sure."

Collin thought back to his last moment before coming to this strange land. "Not really all things considered. Now could you please explain this whole familiar thing?"

"Of course. Here in our world when the students turn 17 they partake in the springtime summoning ritual. When Miss Vallière cast her spell you appeared, wounded." Professor Colbert explained.

"So I was summoned here to be her...what? Pet? Servant?" Collin asked worriedly, he did not like where this was going.

"Well... Not exactly. A familiar is the lifelong companion and protector of a Mage."

"What is in it for me if I become your familiar?" Collin turned to face Louise.

"Well you kind of already are my familiar." She stated. "Those runes on your hand mark you as such. And I will provide food and shelter for you."

Collin glanced at his left hand and noticed the faint markings on in. They were written in strange runes. He exclaimed "You turned me into your familiar without my consent?"

"Peace kind sir." Professor Colbert interrupted, before Collin could do anything else. "It was necessary, it weren't for the contract sealing spell you would be six feet under by now."

Collin digested this information. "I suppose I do owe you in return for saving my life." Besides I need to get my bearings in this new land. "Very well it looks like you have yourself a partner."

"Ah excellent! If you are well enough I suppose you are free to go. Louise will show you about the academy." Colbert clapped his hands with a look toward Miss Pomfrey.

"Of course. Of course. You were in perfect health when you came in after all." Miss Pomfrey waved them away. "Goodness you've given me enough of a headache."

Collin pulled on his clothes, tossing off the hospital gown. With a frown he noted the large vertical gash in the cloth; he'd have to find a shirt to wear underneath it.

As he reached for his pistol he noted that the barrel was retracted and the chamber was open. He picked it up and examined it.

"Ah..." The professor said sheepishly. "We found you holding on to it for dear life. An extremely interesting design I must say, being able to fire off repeated shots without needing to reload. The cartridge design is most innovative. Also... I might have used up all its ammo."

Collin looked at the handgun in disappointment. Without ammo it was just as useless as a piece of metal. He had only been given the handgun at his father's insistence but the soldier had not provided any extra clips. After all a pistol was next to useless against the infected.

"Would you like to keep it? It's useless now but you might be interested in studying it." Collin offered the empty handgun to the professor.

"Really?" The professor's eyes lit up light a child receiving a birthday present. "Oh the experiments I could run. I might even revolutionize the weapon industry..." His eyes dulled over for a moment before he returned to his excited state.

"Err yes." Collin said awkwardly, leaving the professor to fuss over the gun as he left with his 'master.' He hoped everyone here wasn't as eccentric as the over-excitable professor.

Xxxxxxx

Louise walked down the corridor while Collin trailed behind arms behind his head.

Deciding to break the silence Collin tried to make conversation by introducing himself "My name is Collin Shepard. What's yours?"

Without even sparing him a glance Louise replied. "Collin Shepard? That's a strange name for a commoner. My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière." The foreign name flowed off her tongue smoothly. "You would do well to remember that familiar."

Wow that's a mouthful. He didn't like the way the word 'familiar' came out from her mouth but decided not to push it. "Well I'm not from around here. You called me a commoner again. Are you a princess or something?"

"No! Of course not. The only princess currently is Princess Henrietta de Tristain, princess of this country. I on the other hand come from a long line of powerful and renowned nobles. The Vallière name is well known across Halkeginia and we own a large estate in the north of Tristain." Louise stated proudly, puffing out her chest, intending to make Collin feel special at becoming her familiar.

"Are all nobles mages?"

"Yes. The nobles govern the country while the commoners see to it that the menial tasks are completed."

What a strange way to run a country. Collin saw a similarity between this 'Tristain' and the way the old European countries used to be run so the idea wasn't so foreign to him.

They had crossed a large courtyard and approached one of the 5 towers along the perimeter of the school. Louise explained it was the girl's dormitory. It was exquisitely built, more crafted than constructed, as if someone had just made it rise out of the ground. A beautiful red roof adorned the tower. The tower consisted of several levels all connected by a winding staircase.

After climbing up the stairs they arrived at Louise's room. Louise threw open the door to her room with a flourish. "This is my room and it'll be your home for the rest of the school years."

Collin took a look around. It was a fairly pretty room albeit a bit sparser than he would have expected for a noble. The room was rather spacious with a poster bed with pink sheets and white curtains dominating the centre of the room. There was a dressing table facing the bed and a medium sized cabinet next to it.

Louise entered the room and flopped onto her bed. "I'm exhausted."

Still looking about the room Collin asked "I know I agreed to be your familiar but I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. Are we going adventuring? Are there any monsters that I'm going to have to protect you from monsters or something?" At this point he didn't think he could be surprised by anything else, if magic existed it figured that magical monsters would exist. He was wrong.

"You can start by washing these." Louise instructed holding out her clothes.

"Huh?" Collin turned around to receive an armful of clothing, including the ones she was just wearing. Louise stood in front of him in her full glory save for her panties. Dropping the clothes and covering his eyes he yelled "What do you think you're doing?"

"What? Oh right, here you go." Louise took off her underwear and held them out.

Uncovering his eyes Collin was greeted with a pair of pink frilly underwear to the face.

"WHAT?!"

A/N

Hey guys thanks for the reviews/likes/favs. They really encourage me to continue writing. This is the first time I've written so much dialogue so I'd really appreciate some feedback on how I did and how I can improve.

I know this chapter is rather void of any action but it was necessary as a transition.

To wqs: I haven't decided on any pairings yet. After all Collin isn't exactly human after all. Let's see how it all plays out.

To KO: Mercer is going to be involved in the story, don't worry. As for Louise finding out that her familiar is more than she could ever hope for keep in mind that this story will also include Collin finding out about his new abilities.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review if possible!