A/N: And now we begin breaking Louise. Enjoy!

-H-

Louise was in a state of panic. Not that anyone would be able to tell from just looking at her, she had gotten too good at keeping her appearance regal and emotions in check thanks to her mother and wife's teachings.

It was a close one though.

'What is going on. I go to sleep with Lotte, after a successful conversation with the elves, not to mention as a twenty-two year old. I wake up alone, back in a bed and room I haven't seen in over five years, and sixteen years of age, if my calendar is correct. Not that it is too obvious in regards to the physical aspect… aside from loss of muscle mass and scars I look the same… Goddamn it! Now I can't argue against all those assholes who spouted lines of jailbait queens and whatnot…. I need to punch Kirche.'

After that thought, Louise calmed down a bit, and tried to once again observe and catalogue the situation.

'Okay. Calendar says today is the Springtime Summoning Ritual, so I will meet Korra again soon. Have to botch my magic a bit to create the smoke cloud… or should I? Thoughts for later. I need to see if anyone else, particularly Tabitha have also come back in time. I need to use the coming void day to go pick up Derf as well. The sooner I get him back, the better. Hmm… Well, that is all that matters at the moment, once Korra is here, we can see about getting Lotte and talking. It might be a bit difficult, but if neither of them came back with me, I should be able to prove my situation to them with all I know of them and the future…. I just realized I barely know anything about Korra… Outside a few stories she has told about her adventures and lover back home. Well, I can most definitely use this as an opportunity to fix this countries problems sooner, and save more lives. Now that I have my magic as well… check later to make sure I DO in fact still have access to my spells, and sneak into vault to get the Prayer Book for those I have not memorized. Anyway, it should be easier and smoother this time around. Maybe make Henrietta take the damn job as Queen herself so I can spend more time with Lotte.'

Mind made up, she finished changing and decided to head down to breakfast, hoping she still knew her way there.

-H-

Kirche was confused. Pleasantly confused, but confused.

She had arrived at breakfast and noticed that the Zero was different. She was still the same washboard, with Zero sexiness… but there was something different about her. There was something in the way she carried herself, something that drew the eyes to her in a way that had never happened before. She didn't even seem to notice as she walked past them all and sat at her usual spot to eat breakfast.

Kirche gathered herself up and decided to test this new development like she always did, by poking the prickly kitten that was Louise until she blew up… or blew them up.

"Morning Zero! Are you ready to be embarrassed when you fail the summoning spell as well?"

Louise merely glanced at her in something akin to amusement, she even had a single eyebrow slightly raised. "Kirche, how good to see you again! I had this horrible dream where I was in my mid-twenties and my back was breaking thanks to having a massive pair of sagging udders on my chest. I needed to allay my fears by confirming that it was you who was going to suffer such a fate."

Well, if that wasn't a backhanded slap across the face.

The entire present student body awaited The Ardent's response to that powerful strike… and waited… and waited… until Tabitha stepped forward, lowering her book a tad bit, looking at her much taller and filled out friend.

"…K.O…"

Louise, who had gone back to eating snickered. "Sorry about that, but I had been saving that one for a while. Join me for breakfast Tabitha?"

Tabitha just sat in response and started nibbling on a bagel as her eyes never left her book.

Louise appeared content with that, as she smiled beautifully at the slightly shorter blue haired girl, before turning back to her meal. Although a more observant person may have noticed the tinge of sadness that flittered through her eyes for an instant.

Today was an important day after all.

-H-

Louise was a bit bummed that it seemed neither of them had come back to the past with her, her Tabitha would not have sat across from her, nor would her Kirche shut down like that to her attack, since Fouquet was the one who had first used it on her. Still, she would make due. She had become friends with both of them once, and captured Tabitha's heart as she took hers, and she would do it again. She was more than worth it.

As Louise walked around the school, greeting the few maids that walked past, she realized that she still had a few hours before she had to appear with the rest of the class for the ritual summonings, and decided that waiting five days to meet up with her partner was too long. So she snuck up to her room, and cast an alteration to a spell called 'World's Door' from the Prayer Book. She hadn't actually cast that spell proper, since Derf told her it would send her into an alternate world, which while sounding intriguing, was most definitely NOT the right time for it. Korra, Tabitha and Karin were all one hundred percent behind Derf on that, although Korra did say that later, when she had more time, it would be an interesting adventure. 'Time which I now find myself with… Food for thought.' The premise of the spell though, to create a portal to another location, was promising, especially when her wife was two countries away, instead of in sharing her bead. So, with help from researchers who were most interested in learning more about the fabled void, along with Derf and Korra, who both had suprising aptitude for magical alteration and construction, they created an alternate spell, which worked on the premise of the summoning, call summoning, and world's door spells, to allow her to create portals to locations she had previously visited, or to magical signatures she knew deeply. This allowed her to jump to any family member or close friend, as well as to areas she had clear pictures of. It was rather difficult WITHOUT a magical signature, so she tended to imbue something with her own magic in areas she tended to frequent, but she could still do it without such assistance with enough concentration.

Seeing as how she had no such markers in the past, concentration it was. She had to focus on a clothing shop she was well used to, considering all the times her own outfits were destroyed by her misfired spells in the past, as she had only visited the weapon shop where they bought Derf once, but it was close enough. She managed it after only twenty minutes. Imbuing tea set with her magic as a marker to make the return trip easier, she opened the gate, and stepped through, arriving right in front of the shop. Thankfully, the street was relatively empty, so no one noticed her sudden appearance, although it wouldn't have mattered if they did.

She quickly asked for directions, as she didn't really recall where the weapon shop was, and headed towards it. Her heart beat with anticipation as she neared the dirty and smelly shop. As far as her mind was concerned, she had only been parted a few hours, but considering how often the sword had saved her life, and how close they were thanks to how she allowed him access to her body practically without notice since the damn sword had better instincts than her, she had honestly felt naked without it.

Annoying though he was, he was her partner, as important to her as Lotte was.

She entered the shop, where the seedy, rat looking man turned a baleful glare in her direction, until he noticed her brooch with the Tristian Academy of Magic seal on it. Suddenly he was all sparkles and smiles.

"Hello dear Noble Lady, I assure you, my shop is perfectly legit and above board. Nothing improper going on around here."

Louise almost rolled her eyes, and wondered if this was one of the shops her campaign as queen had dealt with. The man couldn't have been more worthy of distrust if he held a sign. 'Something else to consider for later.'

"Calm yourself. I am here as a customer, nothing else."

The man visibly relaxed and perked up simultaneously. Somehow.

"Oh, I have fine stock here for all your guard's needs, or if you need something to decorate a room or hall."

Recalling how the man had tried to sell her friend, trash that didn't even qualify as a weapon, before Derf called out to them, she decided to play the same part again. Didn't want the greedy man to attempt to oversell Derf if she went straight for him. She had an even more limited wallet than before. "I need something for two people. One prefers swords, hand-and-a-half swords." Then she wondered what to get Korra. With the Gandalfr runes, she could use any weapon, but tended to use her bending, as she called it, instead. Bah, let's get her something that won't impede her movement then. "The other is more of a rogue. So I would like to look at your selection of short swords or daggers afterwards."

"Of course, of course, one moment as I get the good stuff from the back."

What followed afterwards was almost identical to what happened the first time. Only this time she didn't have to Korra to test the weapons, for ACTUALLY being weapons, but she felt she did a decent show of testing them. It was strange, her body had reverted back to its physically weaker teenage years, but she was able to greatly bolster her abilities with some use of her magic, kind of like Derf used to when he took over, so as to help her body heal faster from their 'training', as well as to prevent some damage when he was forced to push her body further than it would normally be able to, so as to get out of sticky situations.

She had actually been doing so instinctually for years now, thanks to her criminal lifestyle, followed by participating in two separate wars back to back. Not to mention all the cleanup in-between.

As she expected, when she pointed out what CRAP the golden sword was, or rather, the brittle golden sword shaped stick, Derf broke into intense laughter and called out to her 'good' eye.

She calmly sauntered over before reaching in and pulling him out of the barrel. "And what do we have here?"

"I, little lady, am the great Derflinger!"

"Shut up Derf! You are constantly running all my customers out of the shop!"

"Bah, all of them were blind stupid bats!"

Louise arched her eyebrow. "Are you saying I am blind or stupid as well?"

"Of course not, you did well in spotting those poncy fakes."

Louise smiled. "How much for this one?" she asked casting a single eye towards the merchant.

"You can have him. I lose more money with him here."

She turned back to face Derf fully. "Well then Derflinger, guess you and I are partners now." She gripped him firmly before turning to head back to the counter.

Derf burst out laughing, "Something tells me that you are going to be fun. Partners it is little lady."

"Louise. Call me Louise. Now, how about you help me pick out some daggers and another sword for my friend?"

-H-

Kirche was once again confused. To be fair, she hadn't actually left said state since her initial confrontation with Louise earlier.

After her brain rebooted thanks to the sounds of Miss Longueville beating up Professor Osmond for attempting to look up Kirche's skirt, she left the cafeteria for the courtyard they would be summoning their familiars. All the while, thinking about Louise and her response.

She realized what had caught her eye at the beginning. Louise always went around boasting in her knowledge and eventual ability, head always held high, boisterous, confident, and temperamental.

All of it an act. Kirche, unlike most of the students, and even teachers in this school, knew that Louise did have a great potential, otherwise every single one of her spells wouldn't blow up like a grenade, but the constant failures, and put downs had hurt the girl. When no one was looking, the fire that Kirche was attracted to dimmed drastically, her head fell, her shoulders sagged. She was knowledgeable, no one could deny that, but everything else was merely an act. She barely held unto the belief that she claimed anymore. Kirche knew, that today would make or break Louise.

Yet, when she saw her this morning, Louise walked with TRUE confidence. She carried herself better than many, if not most, of Germania's royalty. As if she knew who she was, and her place in the world. There was no act in Louise this morning.

And then her response. Crisp, and sharp. She didn't sputter, there was no hint of her usual explosive temper or fiery nature. It would even have been considered VULGAR by the standards of the Louise Kirche knew, something that she would normally have been forced to drag out of the Tristainian. Instead, Louise used it immediately, and without warning and a glint in her eyes that Kirche had never seen before. To say Kirche was surprised would be an understatement.

And now? Now she watched as the target of her thoughts came into the courtyard late. The area already having a few familiars that had been summoned present. Strange enough for the girl whose sole good points among the staff were her excellent grades on theory and impeccable attendance record. But Louise decided to make it weirder.

Strapped to her hip was a sword…

-H-

Louise had a rather amused smile on her face. After Derf had helped her buy a couple of daggers, and an extra sword for Korra, she then went into an alleyway, and imbued one of the shops backdoor with her magic before opening a portal back to her room.

Needless to say, Derf had been impressed. Both that his new partner was a void user, as well as her grasp of the magic, considering it was a spell he had never seen before… and he had been around the original void user. She quickly caught up with him a bit, before realizing that his memory was incredibly spotty, and cursing herself for forgetting that Korra had removed the rust on his, and helped sharpen him with her bending, which allowed him to recall most of his abilities and memory.

That in mind, she apologized to Derf, and promised him that she would help get him cleaned up and sharpened before she strapped him to her hip, and headed down to the ritual summoning event. Eager to meet up with her first real friend, as well as the one who helped her in becoming who she was. Who helped her become someone she was proud of. Who tore down all the misconceptions and barriers she had placed on herself, or been placed on her. Who cleared her eyes, and allowed her to see others and herself as they really were. Who helped her connect and get together with the greatest woman she had ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Who helped her become a Queen.

A legend.

So eager was she that she completely forgot how anyone would respond to her showing up with such a 'barbaric' tool as a sword on her hip. Even if said sword was over six-thousand years old, and had more magical abilities and intelligence than most of them ever would.

Hence her amusement. Her classmates had turned around and started ribbing her for carrying Derf, making disparage comments about how she had finally noticed that she was no mage, and decided to resort to wielding a sword like a commoner. Oh, how she wished to simply quick draw Derf and level it at the loudest one's throat in a show of power. Which she knew she couldn't do without Derf taking over her body in her current condition, sadly.

Surprisingly enough, Kirche was NOT part of the rabble laughing at her. Nor of course, were Tabitha or Professor Colbert. She was honestly surprised by what Mister Colbert was able to pull off with the help of Korra, when they started creating airships with the Zerbst families backing. She was however, glad that he had accomplished his dreams, him being one of the few people who truly helped and believed in her before she became the True Zero. She would have to see about releasing Jean, the Flame Snake though. Karin had been disappointed in how much Professor Colbert had let himself and his skills rot in his quest to forever avoid combat again, and it had put a bit of a strain on their former friendship, something Louise wanted to avoid this time.

Plus, Kirche was right, The Flame Snake was amazing with his blue flames and the precision he commanded them with when he had been forced to fight to protect others. Despite having been INCREDIBLY rusty, there was definite proof as to WHY he had been one of Karin's teammates.

With those thoughts in her head, she practically ignored as Professor Colbert quieted the class and told them to proceed with the summonings.

Louise was pleased when Irukuku, otherwise known as the Rhyme Dragon Sylphid, was summoned again by Tabitha. She had been a blessing to everyone, both as a quick method of transportation, as well as a constantly cheerful little sister character that brought them all together.

When she wasn't eating enemies…

Eventually her turn came, although this time, there was no Malicorne calling her out for being last.

She quickly, and confidently chanted out the spell, and decided against causing an explosion to avoid pissing Korra off again from the start.

She shouldn't have worried.

For instead of Korra, there was a short, black haired and eyed boy, no older than her, wearing some weirdly designed shoes and jacket. Even more so than Korra's.

The shocked silence from Louise was not broken, even as her class burst out laughing again, and the strange boy started speaking in another odd language.

-H- -H-

Louise woke up in a cold sweat.

Which was strange considering her last memory was being impaled through the chest, her heart failing miserably thanks to the rather large hole that should not be there.

As she looked around, she noticed that she was back in her room at the academy, and her calendar once again told her it was the day of summoning. She decided to just lay back in bed and curl up.

After she had gotten over the shock of her summon NOT being Korra, she tried speaking with him, before casting a translation spell on him, which raised a few of the smarter people's eyebrows, and then completed the ritual to make him her familiar, although she kissed him on the forehead, before watching him scream and throw himself on the ground holding his hand.

Korra apparently hadn't been kidding about the pain, nor her tolerance to it.

Which proved to Louise how amazing her first and in her opinion true familiar was.

It only got worse from there. Turned out Saito, as he called himself, was a pervert… well, Korra was one as well… sorta. But at least she was good about it, and an incredible gentleman about it… which was strange considering she was a girl, but whatever. Saito was an unrepentant pervert, who would probably get along well with the early Guiche… if they hadn't pissed each other off, one for being successful in HAVING female partners, and the other for RUINING his two-timing… Korra had destroyed Guiche verbally, and then physically when the same situation occurred.

Saito? Saito joined Guiche at the bottom of the totem pole were human scum gathered when he opened his mouth. Although beating Guiche with the skills of Gandalfr and the weapons Louise had prepared for him did apparently make him super popular with the servants in the academy. Including a certain maid. A Siesta of Tarbes.

THAT, Louise was happy about, since it allowed her to get involved with the maid before Mott arrived, and actually purchased her contract, so that when Mott showed up, and brazenly attempted to buy her, Louise was able to trick him into dueling her with Siesta as the prize for him, against his entire property and currently held contracts, both of his servants, any open projects of his, business ventures, etc etc. Anything with the word contract in it that he owned, would be hers.

Louise was almost surprised by either his COMPLETE stupidity, or his utter confidence in his skill to beat an academy student. Or maybe just her in particular, since she was rather famous for being incompetent with magic.

Needless to say, she had him sign both a contract proving the terms of the duel, as well as a waiver in case anything happened during the duel, in front of Professor Colbert, Osmond, and Miss Longueville. While Osmond and Colbert debated and tried to argue against the duel and conditions, Louise looked at Fouquet and sent her a wink and smirk, before stepping a bit away from where the 'men' were arguing.

"I think you will be pleased with the outcome of the match. Do come by my room for a conversation later."

Without giving her a chance to question her, she approached the 'men' and helped get things squared away.

An hour later, she was facing down Mott with Colbert as the referee and most of the school watching. Many in anticipation for watching a Triangle mage in action, many in anticipation for watching said Triangle mage put the uppity Zero in her place. Some in fear for what Mott would do to her, which she was happy to see. And then there were a few, four really, who watched in anticipation as to whether the Zero was actually hiding more than pain behind her façade.

She was happy to note that all four were part of her old gang.

She was happy to note that there was also another two groups. Mostly consisting of the commoners and Saito, split between hatred that the nobles were using Siesta as a prize to be won, and the others hoping that Louise pulled off a miracle and won against the known monster.

No sooner had Colbert started the fight, that Mott summoned several water snakes. Louise just calmly drew her wand. She ignored his boasting and offers for her surrender, eventually, after letting him run his mouth a bit, she decided to cast a wide-range dispel. The look on his and everyone's faces when his snakes all lost cohesion and fell to the ground in puddles was rather satisfying. It didn't get boring anytime soon either as she kept erasing all of his spells.

It was actually amusing to watch Colbert attempt to end the fight since it was clear that Mott would NOT be able to beat her, since she could cast her dispel quicker than he could cast any of his spells. Of course, the pompous rapist refused, before loudly boasting, that she could not win with just that spell, since she could not hurt him, and that she would eventually tire before him.

Funny thing, her magical capacity and strength were things that came along with her memory when time reversed, and she had had more magic than him when she was ten.

As he kept throwing out more and bigger spells, which really meant he just summoned more and more snakes, some bigger with less numbers, some smaller with more numbers, regardless of what he did, she just continued casting the same spell and breaking them up over and over, until Mott had his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

At that point, most of the student body was between shocked at Zero apparently about to win the fight, and slight boredom at how the fight turned out. It was also when Louise started taunting Mott.

There may have been some comments about little girls, rapist, small penis, and a few other disparaging comments, which made many in the crowd blanche, or grow red knowing how close to the truth Louise probably was, but the main goal, that of making Mott enraged enough to run at her for good ole fisticuffs. Needless to say, Colbert tried to interfere, she didn't give him the chance.

Having already gotten a few materials and tools from the kitchen to clean and sharpen Derf, plus feeding him magic, had him back at near full strength again. Most students couldn't follow her movements as she pulled him from his sheath while sprinting towards Mott. Most simply saw Louise with her sword buried in Mott's chest, before screams filled the air.

Louise enjoyed the feeling. There were few people she had TRULY wanted to kill before, and he was most certainly one of them. Right behind Wardes.

The school was in a tither afterwards, but Louise was legally covered, and as such, the new owner of Mott's entire estate, fortune, and titles. All of which she gave to Fouquet when the thief bravely showed up that night as Louise had asked. Together, with Siesta and Saito present, and even some input from them, started planning for everything that they needed to do, as well as getting the info she needed of Reconquista so that Louise could ACTIVELY act against members she knew to be a part of, but had no proof of.

Her next task, was asking Fouquet to join her to move Tiffania and the children, and wasn't springing that on Fouquet a nasty surprise, out of Albion, which was currently at war. This was accomplished with Tabitha and Sylphid's help, along with a small 'borrowed' pirate ship that Louise and Tabitha had liberated. Then Louise and Tabitha rescued Tabitha's mother again, this time being healed by Tiffania, Tabitha once again pledged herself to Louise, and things seemed to be getting back together.

…Except, thanks to her actions, the Talent festival was postponed, which meant missing Henrietta and her request, which meant Wardes ended up getting the letter after killing Wales, spreading it out, which destabilized Tristain badly, with the corrupted Chief Justice taking over with a council of equally corrupted individuals, which THANKFULLY included Fouquet. This forced Louise to ONCE AGAIN become an outlaw, by killing the bastards, only, in this case, unlike Joseph, they hadn't shown their hands as being evil. And Louise could not give the right people, nor the populous proof fast enough to justify her actions, without giving the three bastards enough time to fortify themselves and start helping Reconquista directly, which would have destroyed Germania with it being attacked from three different countries. Four if Romalia decided to act.

So she sent Kirche and Tabitha to explain the situation to Germania, and Saito and Siesta to her own home to explain it to Karin and her family, while she went alone to kill the bastards in one fell swoop, since Fouquet had managed to get almost all the corrupted nobles in a large meeting for the 'future' of Halkeginia.

Kirche's team was the only one to succeed. Well, completely at least. Not that Louise knew that.

Saito, being an unknown, had been detained at the Valliere compound, although Karin did interrogate him, she refused to act on his words beyond tightening up security.

As for Louise herself. Well, she managed to give the signal to Fouquet to excuse herself from the room, before she blew the castle up with her overpowered Explosion spell, successfully killing all those inside the room. However, she was then chased by the complete forces of the Manticore, and Griffon forces. Louise was powerful, and thanks to Derf, she was fast and strong… but she could not beat such a large aerial force, not without killing them, which she was NOT willing to do on loyal subjects of the kingdom who were merely doing their duty. Nor could she escape them, unable to even cast her portal spell with how doggedly they chased her.

So it was that Louise found herself eventually on the receiving end of a rather strong wind lance that she could not dodge or block with Derf, it going straight through her heart and out the back.

-H- -H-

Louise woke up in her school bed for the fourth time after going back in time. She was pissed now. She had once again summoned Saito, despite her deliberately messing up her magic to cause an explosion like the first time. This time, she decided to NOT make waves, and try to play it off like she did the first time… but without Korra or Tiffania, she could not heal Tabitha's mother. Since she had taken too long trying to get over her death, she had failed to get Derf or any other weapons, so when Saito got pulled into another duel with Guiche, he got his ass handed to him, until Guiche tossed him a sword.

Since the doctors refused to treat a 'commoner', Louise was forced to waste a good portion of her funds on medicine for the idiot. Although she did get Derf back on Void Day, along with a nice collection of random and shiny swords for the fool, after accurately threatening the rat who owned the shop, since she did not have the funds to buy anything but Derf. And she needed to vent a bit.

She used the time at night when she was cleaning, sharpening and polishing Derf to connect with Siesta, who she had come to like on the last loop, despite not getting to know her too much thanks to all the chaos and her attachment to Saito.

Louise even found out that the servants ate better than the nobles thanks to her.

Louise had taken to training during the day with Derf instead of going to class, since she had already gone no less than thrice. Plus, she was the single most powerful mage in the school, bar none. Although she was not that confident in facing the likes of Osmond, Colbert or Tabitha, she was certain she would beat everyone else, including Fouquet, since she tends to underestimate opponents unless they were giant automated metal golems or Karin is nearby.

Now, during one of her training sessions, Siesta comes up to her, with a basket, saying she had missed lunch, and as such, Siesta went and brought her some leftovers from the kitchen…

The leftover soup and sandwich? Easily twice as good as her usual fare while sitting with everyone else.

So Louise had started to join her familiar during meals in the kitchen, and had come to like the staff a lot. After a while, she also learned just how bad things were. While Old Osmond did his best, his influence only went so far, and Marteau had told her when she managed to convince Mott that Siesta was hers, that there were many cases like that, only most girls weren't as lucky as Siesta to have a true protector.

Louise shivered at her memory of her first encounter with Siesta, a seeming eternity ago, just another one of Motts toys, broken. She also shivered at the leer and pat that Mott had given Louise when she told him that Siesta was hers, and as such not available to him. Hearing him exclaim how he understood what it was to go against social conventions, and that she had good taste, she had to scrub herself hard after that, and ran straight to Tabitha, glomping the confused girl and silently shivering. To Louise's growing love of the girl, despite being confused, and not being close to Louise yet, Tabitha put her book away, and started rubbing circles on her back while rubbing her head.

After that situation, she dragged Colbert with her, and had Marteau tell them both everything that had happened, and to whom.

To say that Colbert and she were disgusted was like saying water was wet, obvious to everyone with any knowledge or common sense. To say that she and Colbert were furious, was like saying that Albion was high, a MASSIVE understatement.

She and Colbert both affirmed to Marteau that he or any servant should come to either of them immediately should anything similar happen in the future, and Louise took the list of those who had gotten away with such acts, and remained in school.

Colbert had been curious as to why. When they began showing up in the infirmary without sexual organs, both the males and few females, Colbert was stunned, despite having seen the girl training hard with her sword, he had not expected Louise to do something like that, but made no comment on it when he saw her afterwards. Whether because he approved, or because he figured that she was Karin's daughter… Louise wasn't certain.

After that, things went pretty normally, until the talent show and Henrietta's mission.

This time, Louise went with Saito and Guiche, who had been sneakily hearing in again, only this time, without Tabitha there to prevent him from hearing, so he had forced himself aboard. They had been travelling on horses when Wardes showed up.

It was all Louise could do to avoid blowing him up or cutting him down, when he introduced himself as the guard that the princess had sent to aid them and Louise's fiance. It was MUCH harder when he tried to take her with him on his Griffon, or to take Derf from her since it was such a barbaric thing for her to carry, and unneeded by a lady like herself.

She managed to somehow talk him into carrying Guiche with him. She was laughing on the inside the entire way to the port town at his facial expression when he realized she had tricked him into taking the blonde with him instead of his 'lovely fiancé'.

Then, they were attacked on the way there by bandits. The same ones who helped Fouquet in her first timeline, attacked them BEFORE they arrived, and Wardes fell upon them like a 'hero'. Well, Louise made sure to tell Guiche and Saito that he was a shining example of what NOT to do in a magical battle. Both, scarred as they were at the sight they had given witness to, agreed with the crazy pink-haired girl who had just blown up the entire cliff side with its company of bandits and one Griffon Knight, hoping she wouldn't unleash her magic on them as well.

Shortly afterwards, Tabitha and Kirche landed next to them, showing that they had followed them, and had been prepared to help them when Louise took them all out, 'sadly' killing Wardes with her powerful magical blast in the 'confusion' of the battle.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing, seeing as how Louise had contacted Fouquet before the talent show, giving the thief the Staff of Destruction, and even teaching her how to use it, on the basis that she acted as a spy for her side. There was also the whole promise of getting Tiffania and her other charges to the safety of the Valliere care as well.

Then things went wrong. Turned out that this time, the fake pirates… WEREN'T fake pirates. That Reconquista had hired all ACTUAL pirates and had already killed Wales and the rest of the Royalists before they got there.

Sadly, she didn't realize this until AFTER they had been captured and their weapons removed. Louise had actually managed to get a couple of her spells mastered to the point that she could cast them through Derf instead of a wand, and even managed to cast Dispel without anything, as it was simply too important to her combat style to be able to cast that spell without any kind of focus… but that was it, and that spell was useless against the metal manacles attached to them.

Knowing what would happen to them if things continued, no doubt helped by the leers and taunts of the scum who guarded them. Louise did what any self-respecting time travelling Noble who happened to have a TON of power at her hands. She attempted to cast Explosion without a focus and ended up blowing them all up.

Hence her being so angry. She hadn't noticed it before, but looking at her new set of memories with much more scrutiny, which came with her each time she came back in time, she noticed inconsistencies with her 'original' memories.

In this timeline, she noticed that unlike her original ones, Karin was much colder, and it seemed that Guiche was more serious and NOT two timing. The rest seemed the same, but the slight change, meant that Guiche was much more hateful of her, and Louise had apparently attempted suicide twice, before stopping just short in her attempts.

It was then that the implication hit her.

'I am not just time travelling… each one of these is different. These AREN'T my world, they are each different, even if only slightly.'

Louise just spent the rest of that morning in her bed, realizing she had lost those she cared about in more ways than one.

-H- Continuation

Louise awoke to her door being slammed open, showing a nearly visible flaming aura around her, Kirche charged into her room.

Louise hadn't felt like doing anything about anything after her earlier revelation, but after listening to Kirche being Kirche, with Tabitha in the corner reading her book, as only her Tabitha could, Louise decided to hell with it.

Kirche promptly lost her voice, flame, and mind as a naked Louise promptly left the confines of her sheets, walked over to Tabitha, and proceeded to kiss Tabitha with enough passion that The Ardent herself felt a bit hot under the collar. Needless to say, Tabitha herself was shocked as well, which Louise took as a victory, considering how stoic and unflappable the girl normally is.

'Who cares if it isn't my original world. Kirche is still Kirche, Tabitha is Tabitha. If some of them are a bit different, it doesn't matter. Heck! Until the summoning ritual I didn't even have ANY of them as friends, so who cares if they ARE different. I will just treat them like new people each time until I find a way to stop these loops.'

"Sorry and thank you for bringing me out of my funk Kirche. Am I too late for the summoning?"

Kirche just nodded dumbly.

"No biggie, I have decided to stop fooling around and purposely flubbing my magic attempts, so a familiar is of little concern, I will try for one next year." Then she turned to face the mostly recovered blunette. "That also means that I will no longer just watch you from afar. I am going to be actively courting you now, so look out my dear." A smirk clearly visible on her face.

Despite being in her birthday suit, and known through the school as The Zero, neither of the two interlopers would refute her words, and instead felt shivers travel down their spines.

Exactly WHAT emotion or emotions caused those shivers, depended on the young women in question.

-H- -H-

Louise had been right.

Every single loop was slightly different. She had already been doing this for a while now, and had come no closer to realizing why she was looping, nor how, but had been anything BUT idle in her time.

Recalling each previous loop as a new lesson, Louise set out to learn from it and get stronger. Her mother's words clear in her head.

Surprisingly enough, despite the many loops and their variations, her mother seemed to almost always be the same. Sometimes she was a bit colder than others, but it was always the same women, following the same Rule of Steel. And as of this point in Louise's life… the one person she completely feared to face in battle one on one.

Louise had taken her mother's highest rule, the one of personal strength, to always be stronger than she was the day before, and STILL, her mother was a challenge.

Unlike the others, whose power remained the same, and she could easily defeat. Heck, she had on more than one loop, destroyed the entire Reconquista army, BEFORE they got to Wales and his last holdout, ALONE, and WITH handicaps.

Karin remained a very real challenge.

Bidashal? The freaking ELF that she tended to run into occasionally, either defending Lotte and her mother, or trying to get them back? A pushover now, once she managed to get past his counter, he was no threat.

Joseph? She had copied his Acceleration spell and IMPROVED on it a long time ago. Heck, his familiar was more dangerous, since if Louise killed Joseph first, she tended to blow everyone up with those damn firestones.

Vittorio, on those apparently odd occasions when he was evil? 'And wasn't that a shock, the man she had hated more than Wardes, turned out to be a good guy most of the time…' Piece of cake.

Saito when he came as a member of some military or combat branch from his world? Even if equipped with his enhanced firearms or weapons, Louise found little challenge in it anymore.

Entire fleets and armies where no match unless they had innocents as shields.

Karin? Karin, despite her strength remaining approximately the same through each loop, had MORE than earned her reputation and title. Her mastery of her element was to such a degree, that short of a surprise attack with a super wide range AoE Explosion spell, Louise could not guarantee a victory since it seemed Karin was ALWAYS combat ready and never let her guard down.

Karin was incredibly smart, had many years of experience, with incredibly dangerous opponents or bad odds, including her time looping daughter, and has come out on top using her mastery of tactics, element, reflexes and pure badassness.

And damn if Louise wasn't incredibly proud of her.

And even more of her wife over all these iterations. Lotte was always at least a Triangle Wind mage upon her new loop, and always, barring early death on Louise's part, ended up as the second coming of Karin and Queen of Galia.

Even INCLUDING that one time where her twin sister had turned out to be evil and replacing Joseph as the Mad Queen of Galia, making Tabitha act as her shadowy assassin, and Louise had failed to summon anyone and as such had somehow ended up in charge of a group of intelligent if 'evil' goblins attempting to make her their evil Overlady, managed to marry the woman of her heart.

Although they did happen to accidently conquer all of Halkeginia with the combined might of the Galian forces under Lotte, and her own 'evil' forces, which included her vampire sister Cattleya…

Worst part? Not the strangest variation of her world and history she had dealt with. Heck, once Cattleya was ACTIVELY poisoning herself to ACT sick, to avoid marriage proposals, so that she could keep an eye on her little sister. Apparently, she had realized immediately that Louise was a void mage, and needed to keep an eye on her, to protect her from people like Wardes. That was one of the few loops where Louise saw Karin have a difficult fight against someone who wasn't herself.

Seriously, Cattleya had a water elemental as a familiar that time! She didn't even know that was possible!

Needless to say, after those two loops, Louise kept a closer eye on her supposedly 'weak' kind older sister, but had yet to find her to be different from her original…

'This one promises to be rather unique though.' Louise thought as she stared at her newly summoned familiar. Who was NOT Saito or any of his variations.

Nor that weird time she summoned Siesta. Seriously awesome seeing the usually weak, 'Combat wise, as there was nothing weak about that girl's determination and personality. Sticking up for Saito against nobles as a simple maid.' Running around with a pair of reinforced cestus and beating everyone up. It was a bit weird to see her shacking up with Kirche instead of Saito though… even if Kirche seemed to chase EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER SUMMONS… except that time that she had none, and replaced them with an 'evil' army of course…

Instead, before her was what could only be described as a child. One with a REALLY big red nose, nasally voice speaking in what Louise had learned was English, thanks to a few of the smarter versions of Saito teaching her, along with the standard Japanese of his usual hometown. He also wore a red hat of some kind, and a weird striped shirt.

"Hey! Wanna play with me?"

As her classmates starting laughing at her summoned Familiar, something inside Louise, some kind of instinct from the beast contained in the void itself screaming at her, telling her to destroy the menace before her.

Too bad Louise didn't trust that thing and as such, stubbornly refused to listen to it.

-H- -H-

"HOW THE HELL DID HE MANAGED TO CRASH ALBION INTO TRISTAIN?! EVEN WITH MY MOST POWERFUL OF SPELLS! HECK, EVEN WHEN THE ANCIENT DRAGON ITSELF DECIDED TO RESIDE AND FIGHT THERE! ALBION NEVER DIPPED A FRICKING INCH! AND HE CRASHED IT INTO TRISTAIN!?"

In a most interesting twist for the school, Louise had merely shown up at the summoning, told their professor she needed a drink, and then proceeded to open a portal before them all and step through it, leaving everyone behind completely baffled.

Tabitha had somehow managed to track the sobbing pinkette to The Charming Fairies, a relatively nice bar with good waitresses, and a monster of a host. Truly, Scarron did his name justice with how many people he scarred.

She sauntered over to Louise, sat beside her, and pulled Louise's head into her lap, rubbing a hand on her back and eyeing the stressed girl who had been forced to listen to Louise's cries and complaints.

It took a while, but Louise eventually calmed down, before looking up in slight confusion at the bluenette who had been assuaging her worries and soothing her… like her wife of many times tended to do in the few instances that Louise was hit with something new and needed support.

"Lo-Tabitha?"

Tabitha shook her head. "Told you… Lotte when alone."

Louise's eyes widen at her comment, before she jumped her, throwing both of them on the floor, and sobbing even harder on her chest, this time in a combination of relief and absolute joy.

Tabitha merely drew circles on her amazing wife's back while caressing her long tresses.

-H-

Tabitha, had eventually been able to get a waitress to get them a nice private room, for a nice tip towards the bar and waitresses, and then proceeded to carry her petite, if not as much as herself, wife towards it. Ignoring the looks that people sent towards the duo, Tabitha continued walking, using some wind magic to help support her charge, until she was in their room for the night, and laid down on the bed with Louise still on top of her, seemingly fused to her.

"Since when? What do you remember?"

"…Fifth time. First time, was after you had vanquished Reconquista alone. Then with Fouquet, saved mother with me. Tiffa healed her. I gave myself to you in honor as a knight. You brushed it aside. You became my knight instead. Helped me save my country from my uncle. With Henrietta married to Wales, and me to you, we had a big alliance. Romalia complained about our marriage, but would not move against us, since even Germania had backed us. Peace. You single-handedly brought us all peace. Even with the elves. Yet no one besides the royalty knew it."

She took a breath, happy with her increased ability to speak in not just full sentences, but full paragraphs. Although, clearly, her younger throat was still not used to it, as she summoned one of the glasses nearby and filled it with some water from her spells.

"I was confused. One moment, I was happy in bed with you. Then I woke up alone at school. I thought it had all been a dream. I remember everything we had done, but I also remembered another set of memories, which stopped to the summoning day. Nearly killed myself. The dream was too real. Too harsh. I thought my uncle had been the cause, purposely causing me more grief, trying to kill me."

Louise rose and suddenly, Tabitha was the one who found herself being comforted by the other.

"But then… You came bursting through my door. Kirche had been banging on it, and I ignored it. Tired. Yet you came through the door, smile on your face. You dragged me out. Changed me, and took me to the breakfast. It was just like normal, when I didn't want to get up and be the Queen of Galia, you dragging me to work. I relaxed, and followed you. That time you went straight to saving my mother first. You left your familiar behind, telling him to defend the servants, after giving a big speech to the school about his word being yours. I saw you beat Bishadal like he was Guiche. At that point, I didn't care if what happened before was a dream. You had captured my heart again."

Louise blushed a bit as Tabitha took another drink from her glass and snuggled closer to her wife.

"Then it happened again, I was a bit more prepared this time. I even tried a quick square class spell I had learned the second time. It worked. I realized it was not dreams. I was travelling in time. And so were you. I ran down to your room, I was happy, truly happy. After everything life had taken from me, it had given me something better. It gave me you. And I had you for eternity." Tabitha could feel the heat Louise was generating by that point. It gave her incredible comfort. "But when I opened your door… you weren't there. Kirche came behind me, wondering why I was breaking into an empty room. Then my memories kicked in. There was no Louise. I… I never made it to the summoning… Kirche took me to the infirmary after I fell asleep from crying so much."

Louise drew the slightly smaller girl completely into her embrace, Tabitha curling up into her as her voice broke. "I am so sorry Lotte. I am so so sorry. The worlds aren't the same when we go back in time. Sometimes I have even been a commoner with no magic… well, based on my memories, I still actually had my magic. Sometimes you have been replaced with your sister Josette… one time you were the Mad Queen of Galia… I understood what Sheffield had to deal with Joseph that loop… You were the void mage that time, and I your familiar. And you felt nothing, nothing at all. I tried so hard to bring you back to the Tabitha I first fell for, to the amazing woman who made me realize what romantic love was. Who made me realize that Brimir and his religion are a bunch of assholes for trying to keep us apart. …I… I succeeded, just like Sheffield, I succeeded. Dying in your arms that night, you cried frantically as you tried to staunch my bleeding, ordering me to live with desperation I have never seen from you before… Despite how cruel, how apathetic you had been until then… At that one moment, you were the woman I decided to be with for eternity. It made me happy. It assured me I was not wrong in trying to be with you each time, no matter what."

Tabitha pushed her head deeper into Louise's shoulder. "You did. I woke up the next day to you and Fouquet breaking into the school. You then fought everyone in the school with just Dispel and your sword until I came out." Tabitha chuckled, lightening the somber atmosphere almost completely, as Louise tried to hide her face in the smaller girl's short hair at that particular loop. "'Halt' you cried to me. 'I am the great thief Leblanc, the Legendary Zero! I have broken into hundreds of homes and left without robbing a single thing! For I am above petty things like that, no! I search for the greatest treasure in the world! And today I have found it! You young lady have it, and I shall take it, so says I! Leblanc the Zero!' I was so shocked, I didn't notice as you picked me up and dragged me towards where Fouquet was finishing up emptying out the schools Vault." Tabitha chuckled again. "I may have made it easier because I was in fact your Lotte, rather than Tabitha, but you did manage to steal my heart again. You went down in history as both the worst but most successful thief. Having only stolen the Throne of Galia for her queen, and the heart of said Queen."

"I am sorry. I have been going through this much longer than you can imagine. I may have become a bit stir crazy. And that time I had been born to some Albion farmers before meeting Matilda, the woman who became Fouquet, so I decided that it would be fun being a thief from the start this time, instead of just becoming a criminal after the summoning. Despite helping Fouquet, I thought it would be great to become a thief after your heart. It would be the first time I tried it like that and since I was a 'commoner' that time again, it would be the only way… and… and you are worth it. I want to be able to make you happy every time. I want to make you look at me the same way you do now, every time. No matter if by the end of the eight years you would forget me completely. It didn't matter to me if I had to start from scratch each time… you were… you ARE worth it. Completely and utterly worth it."

Conversation ended rather abruptly as Louise finished saying that while staring into Tabitha's moistening eyes. Neither could say much when their tongues were too busy exploring the others mouth after all.

-H- -H-

"This is new."

"Definitely the first time I find myself in space… and my memories tell me we are nowhere near Halkeginia."

"Any idea?"

"Seeing as how everyone else is RUNNING away from those creepy glowing blue monsters and what looks like mini-Jormungands, with advanced automatic rifles?"

"Rifles?"

"Oh right, Saito changes as often as the world itself, and a few of his iterations came with this automatic muskets that he called a rifle. Those look like better sleeker versions of his."

Tabitha nodded as she absentmindedly sent several of them flying with a quick wind spell, before pinning them all to the ground with icicles.

"So avoid getting shot. And destroy them."

"…You know, I am not entirely certain I was so straightforward in my original time… I distinctly remember being a supposedly wise queen… No wait… I was part of four wars and won my place through force… never mind, let us go destroy these golems and monsters."

-H- -H- -H-

"Thank you two for your assistance… If it wasn't for you… I would be dead by the hand of someone I thought my friend."

Louise looked over the lucky 'Turian, my memories tell me he is a Turian. An Alien race… this is definitely the weirdest variation to date' that they had managed to save by chance. They had just finished saving a small group of what appeared to be soldiers before continuing on into the heart of this mess, the more fit ones right behind the two strange civilians who were tossing strange biotics that created icicles two feet long that pierced right through the geths armor and shield like they weren't there, and the other one throwing out small blinding white explosions that vaporized an area better than any singularity/warp combo any had seen before. They eventually ran across the scene where one Turian had a pistol at the base of the others skull, before Louise activated her improved Acceleration spell to its max, speeding and tackling the dark red one to the ground just in time to avoid the shot, before the soldiers and Tabitha started firing at him, forcing him to retreat.

"Don't worry about it. We were in the area taking out the enemy, there just happened to be one who nearly got the better of you due to close relations. It happens. God knows the amount of times I have been shot or stabbed for not being careful or taking things like who was trustworthy for granted."

Nihlus had an amused look, that no one present really recognized, seeing as how none of them interacted with Turians often enough. And why wouldn't he… here there was a human girl, in civilian wear, without a single weapon, who looked to be, at best, entering her teenage years, claiming to have personal experiences of someone four times her age might have, and in a completely different profession.

Then she lifted her hand, said 'Explosion', and Nihlus immediately readjusted his impression of the young girl who tackled him to safety, when he saw a tram full of Geth suddenly lose most of its passengers from the knees up in a bright white explosion. He was still regaining his thoughts when the SMALLER blue haired girl lifted her hand and Spikes of Ice materialized out of seeming thin air and shot forth and took out the remaining Geth with no difficulty.

"Sorry about that, it was such an easy target with all of them bunched up together that I just had to act on it. Well then, take care of yourself, and choose your friends better, we need to head over there to see about finishing off these things."

Nihlus watched as the two girls immediately ran towards the tram that had been recently occupied by the Geth, the three soldiers following immediately, and decided that they had the right idea. He quickly brought up his communication device. "Shepard, warning, we have a rogue specter by the name of Saren Arterius. Take heed, he is extremely dangerous. I am going to be heading deeper towards the beacon with a small group of survivors who have been pushing the Geth back. See you there."

-H-

Commander John Shepard stopped his run for a second... 'That's new.'

-H-

"So you're telling us that we are part of a huge multiverse, held together by a giant tree name Ygraddasil, that is like computer- and thank the world door for taking me to modern day Japan, otherwise neither of us would know what a computer is, even with the memories that come with this world. Anyway, because this computer broke, they set all our worlds into a time loop to preserve us until the admins, which are basically real gods, unlike that bastard Brimir, fix them?"

"Pretty much."

"And this has been going on for how long?"

"No one knows exactly, the original seven loopers have been around for billions, if not trillions of loops already…"

Both the Halkeginians just stared at Shepard in shock.

"So yeah, welcome to the Multiverse!"

-H-

"I have played around with muskets from our world, and even some guns from Saito's world when I head over there through the world door, but I have to admit that these things FAR outstrip them all. I can't wait to screw around with these and many of the things I wanted to take from Japan into Halkeginia now that I can carry them in my pocket."

"…cheater."

"Oh Tabitha, your pocket is also really big. Shepard was complaining about the size difference from when he first got access to his."

"All you magicals tend to have ridiculous Pocket sizes from the start. I still can't believe it. You both have had less than a couple hundred loops and have pocket sizes to match some who have been around for thousands or more. Especially you Louise."

"I have the same power that a man in my world used to uplift himself as a god among humans, building a religion that spanned millions of people for over six thousand years, completely uncontested, until Lotte and I decided to marry, which is against Brimir's faith… That reminds me. Shepard, do you know a Korra?"

"The avatar? Cute girl, controls fire, wind, water and earth? Couple with Asami?"

"So she is part of this as well?"

"Yes, how do you know her though? If you met her, than she should have given you the speech."

"I wasn't looping back then… I actually looped right afterwards. You have no idea how confusing it was for me to have summoned someone else instead of Korra. Thinking that there was something wrong. It would be nice seeing her again. Since she was a big part of the reason for who I became, and for finding my proper half."

She said this while looking at the bluenette by her side, who had a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she stowed away her weapon set into her locker.

"Well, I am sure you will get the chance. Although, to have that as your first memory is quite strange, since it most definitely is NOT your baseline, seeing as how she is a looper native to the Avatar universe. I wonder which admin is in charge of your loop, to have made your first memory a fused loop."

"Does that not happen?"

"We will occasionally loop into stable worlds with no native Anchors or Loopers, which yours technically was when Korra went there. Although she should have had an anchor with her, as she is not one. I am guessing that YOU became the anchor for that loop, which means your admin specifically did so. THAT is what is strange. Most admin start the anchor after a normal baseline run. So either your world is so corrupted that attempting baseline is impossible, which I am not sure IS possible, or your admin has a sense of humor on par's with Monkey's."

"Whose monkey?"

"He is the admin for Red vs Blue. He made an autistic, brain damaged man who tends to kill anyone who asks him for help or replaces his best friend Church in a loop. I honestly don't believe there is ANY other universe which has had as many crashes to total loops a ratio as those guys. It doesn't help that they ASK for Eiken as a VACATION instead of a punishment loop."

"…do I want to know what that is?"

"I already told you not to purposely crash your loop or you will have a punishment loop, as for what those are, I will let you find out when you are forced to crash due to an MLE or because you experimented with something you shouldn't have."

-H- -H- -H-

Louise was ecstatic. It was one of those rare times that Saito was different, which meant that Saito's WORLD was different. Those were always exciting, since Louise simply took a jaunt over to his world with the World Door spell, to enjoy the vast differences.

Sure, her own world was never quite the same, but it was almost always the same blueprint.

Saito's world, was not. Usually, it was Japan, with no visible variation that Louise could tell, unless Saito was different. Soldier Saito? War-torn Earth, where everyone is in mercenary companies. Louise learned a lot about firearms and explosives there, not to mention guerilla warfare. Samurai and Omni-usha Saito? Fuedal Japan. Louise was already a great swordsmistress thanks to Derf, there, she proved it and refined it further among people who actively attempted to reach mastery of their chosen blades.

So, Louise actively looked forward to those loops where Saito was NOT a pathetic perverted fool whose only redeeming quality seem to be his iron morality, and guts.

Of course, him being a Demon Hunter, was a first, and he ACTIVELY did NOT want to go back after she explained her world, and her ability to send him back. Needless to say, Louise was intrigued, greatly, as that had been one of the constants throughout her existence. Saito, would ALWAYS want to go back.

Even better? Lotte was with her this time! Sure, Louise had managed to drag Tabitha with her all those other times, just like she won her heart and hand all those times too, but having her Lotte with her from the start? Louise was giddy with excitement.

Especially since this would be the first time Lotte would be going to the other world available to them thanks to her spell. Although it is an altered version as compared to the original. The original required all four Void Users to be present and pool their forces together to create the World Door. Thanks to Colbert, Lotte and herself, they also found a NATURALLY occurring World Door in the sky.

This got Louise working on a standalone version of Brimir's spell. Since Louise KNEW that Brimir did NOT have three counterparts, and the naturally occurring one didn't even use Void magic, she felt that she could do one herself.

Not to mention she had enough magical power to cast the original by herself fifty times over anyway.

It took a while, but she succeeded.

So there she stood, fully armed, with a letter of introduction and one of his own firearms each, ready to jump through the World Door to this Saito's home world… which was apparently fused with a demon world and overrun. Most of humanity was dead thanks to that. So he reiterated, shoot first unless it looks human. In that case, unless they are fighting demons themselves, warning shot first, keep guns aimed, and ask them of their business. Up to you to decide whether they are human or demons in disguise by that point. If they were fighting demons when you met, introduce them to your letters.

Don't die.

Then he went back