Chapter 5
"Chiffon!" Attia screamed sitting upright in her bed. She gripped the front of her negligee that she wore to sleep. Her heart raced uncontrollably and she shivered now that the slightly cooler night air touched her skin. She was covered in sweat causing the air to feel colder than it actually was. She took a deep breath trying to steady her heart beat and bring it back to a normal rhythm. After a short time, it finally subsided and she finally felt her body fall back into normalcy.
She swung her legs around hanging off the edge of her bed and placed her bare feet on the floor. She took a few minutes to just sit and continue to catch her breath. She was shivering harder now and finally pushed herself up off the bed. With a swift tug she pulled the blankets and sheets off her bed and tossed them on the floor. She walked to the bathroom peeling her negligee up and over her head tossing it against the wall. Attia grabbed a towel off the rack in the bathroom and wiped the sweat off her body before returning to the hallway where a small linen closet was set into the wall.
"Attia?" She turned her head hearing her name being called from behind a door nearby.
"Yeah, sorry." Attia called back and the door opened revealing Arnette rubbing her eyes. Attia and Arnette had been sharing the same apartment since the new additions to West Genetics were built. After the death of their Limiters they made the choice to not take on replacements. Instead with the Nightingales and Varen they could function as a unit without dedicated Limiters that normal Pandora typically required. Varen could create freezing fields at will without the Ereinbar Set that Pandora, Limiter pairs needed.
When the living quarters were being built each of the original members was given custom apartments that they could design within reason for the construction crews to build. Attia and Arnette settled on sharing an apartment by simply adding a second bedroom and a shared living room and kitchen. After the Nova attack on West Genetics they leaned on one another for support frequently.
Attia had freed a new set of blankets and sheets from the closet and leaned her back up against the wall nearby facing Arnette. On any other occasion if Arnette had come out of her room to find Attia standing around topless in nothing but her thin underwear it would be a cause for teasing, but something told her this was not one of those moments. Attia was a very self-conscious girl who always felt inadequate compared to other Pandora. Her short height mixed with her petite frame meant she lacked a lot of curves Pandora like Arnette and to an even greater extent Elizabeth had. Where a lot of Limiters would label Arnette and Elizabeth as beautiful, Attia was considered to be cute.
No one knew Attia better than Arnette. With that in mind the red haired Pandora knew there had to be something serious up for Attia to forego her modesty. Arnette closed her bedroom door behind her and reached out taking the blankets and sheets from Attia. The small white haired Pandora looked up at her releasing her hold on the various forms of cloth.
"It's a bit cold tonight, I'll bring these over so get something on to warm up alright?" Arnette said. Attia forced a small smile and nodded walking ahead of Arnette back towards her room. Arnette followed her inside and placed the blankets on a chair nearby unfolding the thin sheet and spreading it out over the bed. Attia grabbed a large sweatshirt from her dresser and pulled it up over her head. It was large enough to drop down below her hips. She also grabbed a pair of wool socks that she pulled up her legs so they reached up to a little above her calves.
"Thanks Arnette." She said grabbing a blanket and laying it over the sheet on the bed. Arnette grabbed one of the corners and pulled it down straightening it along the length of the mattress.
"I'm going to assume you didn't wet the bed since you left your underwear on, so you want to talk about whatever happened?" Arnette asked light heartedly. She could tell her friend was not herself and it pained her to know Attia could be struggling with something.
"Nah, just a bad dream that's all." Attia answered quickly.
"About Mark?" Arnette pressed her further. Mark Anthony had been Attia's Limiter before his death during the West Genetics Nova clash. It was still a difficult subject for Attia and Arnette to discuss and the other Nightingales respectfully never asked. Between themselves, however, Arnette and Attia found it possible to talk about it from time to time.
"No, I haven't been troubled by that for some time now." Attia answered grabbing another blanket and unfurling it towards Arnette with a rapid flick of her arms.
"That's good. So, what is it then? Another one about him?" Arnette asked catching the opposite end of the blanket in the air. During the battle of Kaizu months ago Varen had utilized a unique form of Ereinbar Set between them. Typically, only a Pandora who has shared her stigmata with the Limiter can form a connection between the two. Varen, however, was different. He could form Ereinbar Sets with any willing Pandora regardless of stigmata. The catch was that during such times their minds would synchronize and all emotions and memories would be conveyed or accessible between those involved.
In Kaizu, Varen had done so between Chiffon, Arnette, and Attia in order for them to flood his body with their stigmata energy. It allowed him to beat Kyle Monroe and end the Novitiate threat. The connection lasted for only a short while, but long enough that all four involved knew everything about one another. There was a single focal point amongst the three girls that had caused a minor amount of distress following the attack on Kaizu.
Whether Varen ignored it, or truly did not allow their thoughts and memories to reach him he had not addressed it himself. Perhaps it was too awkward to bring up in conversation. When he formed the Ereinbar Set all three girls realized that they all shared feelings for him in some shape or another.
Chiffon did not hide hers which made sense that they were not only partners as a Pandora and Limiter, but also as a well-known couple. They were what many other students referred to as a high profile couple. Arnette's were more complicated. Through the link the others could tell she harbored some sort of admiration for the Justicar, but her subconscious seemed to be fighting against it. Attia understood it clearly for what it was, since she had gone through the same thing. She never asked Arnette about it directly, but it was clear that Arnette was simply in denial.
When the Ereinbar Set formed, Attia was an open book. She felt no shame in her thoughts and accepted them for what they were. Although she would never voice them out loud, they all knew she loved him. Much to Chiffon's amazement, however, Attia had also decided long ago that those feelings would stay between them as friends. She loved Chiffon and her family in the Nightingales and would never want to betray that comradery. She could not help how she felt, but she could choose how she acted and when Chiffon and her met one night to discuss things she told her the same. Chiffon had been more supportive and understanding than Attia expected.
"No, it wasn't Varen." Attia answered Arnette's question. The small Pandora sat on the edge of her bed now that the fresh linens were draped neatly over the mattress. Arnette sat down beside her folding a leg under her rear.
"Come on Attia, talk to me." She asked putting an arm around her friend. She pulled Attia's head against her shoulder and stroked her hair softly.
"When you formed a link with Varen you told me about the visions you saw." Attia stated. Before the Kaizu incident Varen and Arnette had tested forming an Ereinbar set with each other and when they did a strange phenomenon occurred. Arnette saw visions of herself and Varen in what seemed to be a war torn section of West Genetics. In her vision she asked Varen to marry her to which he agreed. It made little sense to her, but she repressed it as a side effect of the connection and nothing more. She hadn't even brought it up to him yet. The only person who she had confided in was Attia who could not explain it.
"That's correct I did." Arnette answered. "What about it?"
"Normally I would simply pass this off as a nightmare, but it felt different. Dreams can feel like dreams and when you wake up you understand that it was simply that. However, this…I think something is happening to me." Attia said.
"What did you see?" Arnette asked removing her hand from Attia's white hair and placing it around her waist.
"It wasn't all at once, nor did it play out in a sequence. It was just images really. First I saw snow. A lot of snow that was swirling through the air like a hurricane was near. Then I saw a hallway with steel plating and bright lighting. Similar to our hallways here in West Genetics. I felt like I blinked and then the same hallway was engulfed in flames, explosions echoed all around me. There were warning sirens blaring incessantly. Then I saw Chiffon standing before a veil of darkness. A sheer wall of pure nothing laid out before her as she stood. The sound of a large explosion echoed everywhere and she shattered into millions of pieces. That's when I woke up." Attia explained lifting her knees up to her chest hugging them.
"I'm not discrediting you, but we spent all morning overseeing the mission in Freystadt. That could explain why you saw the snow. You tend to overthink things sometimes so the explosions and Chiffon could easily be attributed to memories about the Nova attack. I just think you had an intense dream is all." Arnette said.
"It felt a lot different than a normal dream though. Even the bad ones aren't like that." Attia responded.
"It was a long day, and you are over tired. Go to sleep Attia." Arnette said and after a brief pause the small Pandora nodded. Arnette made sure she was comfortable before saying good night and heading back to her own room. The second the door closed Arnette fell to her knees and breathed heavily to calm herself down. She placed her hand over her chest feeling the rapid beat of her heart. The last thing Attia needed was to be afraid or worried and Arnette wanted to spare her from such things. For those reasons she chose not to tell her that she had awoken from the very same vision.
"It's not typical I will agree on that." Sister Margaret said pushing the paper back across the desk to Varen. He woke up earlier than normal to get to his office for a meeting with the West Genetics headmaster. He wanted her opinion on the invitation that general Renalt had given to Chiffon and him.
"Never heard of these E-Pandora either then?" He asked and sister Margaret shook her head.
"No, this is news to me. Chevalier rarely calls the schools together aside from the world carnival to determine rankings. We are spread out to function as rapid response forces to Nova incursions across the world. There is little need for the schools to gather." She answered folding her hands.
"If you don't mind me asking. Asakura has two genetics facilities. Only country that does now that I think of it. Why is that?" Varen asked.
"I'm sure you are familiar with who Gengo Aoi is? You are Chiffon's partner after all so I assume you are aware that she is his daughter. When Dr. Aoi first developed the Pandora project this facility functioned as the primary stigmata research lab. A second facility was constructed to apply the stigmata and train the girls. East Genetics was that second location. In time and as necessities requires more facilities were constructed and eventually the research lab received a massive repurposing to function as a genetics facility as well as primary stigmata manufacturing location." She answered.
"So, this wasn't supposed to be a school to begin with?" Varen asked and sister Margaret shook her head.
"No, the stigmata are cultivated here and sent off to the various other facilities around the world. However, for the sake of efficiency and as more Pandora are needed it made sense to take an already state of the art facility such as this and simply add onto it to make it into another genetics facility." Varen nodded as she explained.
"Besides the world carnival how often do schools meet for things like this?" Varen asked and sister Margaret leaned forward placing her hands on Varen's desk.
"Never." Her answer made Varen more uncomfortable than he already was with the situation. Chevalier was clearly placing high value in this E-Pandora project. High enough value that they were not only willing to bring students from each school into the mix, but the very best.
"Thanks Headmaster, sorry to have bothered you with this." He said standing from his chair and bowing to sister Margaret respectfully. She laughed lightly standing from her own chair.
"Sometimes I can see that you are still the young man who first came to my school a year ago. Your position is not one below me anymore Mr. Askiligar. You do not need to show such respect to me anymore." She smiled.
"I don't show respect to you out of some hierarchy reasoning. I do it because you have been someone who has always been respectful towards me and everyone here. Thank you for all you do sister Margaret." Varen said bowing once more.
"Well, thank you for the kind words. Good luck Justicar as always…come home safe." She said waving a hand. She opened the door and left just as Chiffon entered giving sister Margaret a respectful bow.
"So?" She asked sitting in the chair the headmaster had just vacated. Varen looked down at the paper sitting on his desk and sighed.
"Round them up, let's tell them."