Hello again!

I must thank again again Poliamida for his help.

If someone is following both versions of the story he will surely have noticed that I have merged chapter 3 and 4 in the original story in this chapter because I think that the start of the original story was to fragmented.

I own none of the franchises that appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.

Louise was lying on the bed unable to sleep. Kyle, for his part, was lying on the floor on a blanket that he had brought from the golem, and seemed to have fallen asleep instantly. She turned and she could see him. Dressed in the strange one-piece suit that he had been wearing when he came out of the head of his gol... What had he called it? It didn't matter, only the sturdy boots and that vest full of wires were missing, now neatly folded on the table along with some other of the boy's belongings.

What had he meant by keeping them from making fun of her? And killing them all? She hoped he would not cause her more problems, that it was just an exaggeration. She already had problems ordering him to change her clothes, so many and so unpleasant that she had preferred to undress herself...

...with Kyle waiting outside.

Kyle woke up after a short rest. His master still dozing, he decided not to disobey her previous orders about waking her up, and so he prepared something for the time she had demanded. Looking out of the window he calculated how much time was left and set an alarm on his pocket computer, also enabling a visual reference so that even someone with no knowledge of technology knew what to do. After doing this, he decided to begin his calisthenics and physical training exercises in the academy's courtyard. After stretching he continued with a light run. At least it was a relief to get rid of the Dust Bowl's low gravity. In that rock, if someone neglected their exercises they would suffer muscular atrophy. He ran around the main building trying to forget his bizarre and desperate situation. Although he had a Battlemech with him, the one assigned during an exercise in asymmetric warfare proposed by the instructors of the Kell Hounds, over time it would malfunction, and without access to spare parts it wouldn't last long. He would try to do some basic maintenance, but it wouldn't be enough. He would eventually become a footman, or worse, a servant.

"Uh, excuse me" Kyle stopped and saw a girl of around his age, with black hair and generous curves contained in a slender body that reminded him of Grana, without her deranged smile, dressed as a maid. "Are you Miss de la Vallière's familiar?"

"Aff, that is right. Who are you?"

"Siesta, my name is Siesta of Tarbes." The maid said smiling.

"Mine is Kyle of the Wolf-in-Exile. Do you want something, Siesta of Tarbes?"

"No, it's just that I heard rumors about the lady's familiar and I was curious. Uh! Did you torn your clothes?" She asked pointing at his shoulder.

"Neg, my clan patch there. As master Louise's bondsman I decided to take it off, but it can be easily attached and detached with the Velcro." The girl didn't understand that last word but chose not to bother the boy with questions about his strange clothes.

"I understand it. It must be hard being detached from all what you knew. You are very brave confronting all this with that determination."

"I am bound to do it. I may be a bondsman, but I must honor my old and new clans, doing less would cover me of shame and disgrace."

"You remind me of my father with your way of talking."

"Your father?" He asked puzzled.

"Yes, as my mother told me before I left to come work here, he was a warrior, maybe a foreign mercenary, already very old, who arrived in my hometown, Tarbes, about twenty years ago. He was wounded and got healed in the village. Once he got better, in gratitude he helped the villagers in the heaviest tasks. He was very strong despite his age! My maternal grandfather said that as much as two men. A couple of years later he married a widow woman much younger than him and, well... I am here." She said pointing to her timidly. "I always saw him as a very old man, but full of strength smiling all the time. He said we were his greatest claim. I never fully understood that."

"You speak in past tense."

"I had to work here because we needed money. He always worked hard, supporting us and giving us a good life by selling exotic stuff to the nobles, but he disappeared almost ten years ago one night during a bandit raid on our village, he left us in the care of some neighbors and went to fight them." She lowered her face. "We never found his body-" Kyle put a hand on her shoulder.

"If he died trying to protect his new home and his greatest claim, you must be proud. It would have been an honor to meet him." Siesta smiled and Kyle mimicked. That he was trapped in this weird world full of madness didn't mean that he couldn't try meeting the staff members, if he was going to be a bondsman he would surely be dealing with them often. "Thank you so much for talking to me, Siesta. But I must continue my exercises before my master wakes up. However, if you wish, we can speak another time when our obligations do not stand in our way."

"That would be great! I would love it, Mister Kyle."

"Kyle, please... I am not a Mister. Maybe I will ask you to tell me some stories about your father later." There was something that caught his eye about the maid, but he wasn't sure what.

"I would love to tell you M- Kyle."

An insistent beeping noise woke Louise up, she tried fumbling for the source of the sound but she couldn't find it. She covered her head with the pillow trying to ignore it, but the noise continued piercing her skull. At the end she straightened up annoyed, searching for the source of that torture. She found on the table a flattened object with one of its surfaces made of something similar to glass, on it flashed an enormous red circle that trembled to the rhythm of the beeps. She touched the circle, with some fear, wondering what kind of magic was and the annoying noise stopped. Such a torture device.

Then she looked around in confusion, Kyle's blanket was folded exquisitely on the table and some of his things were missing. But others, like the vest, were still there. Where was he? After all the shown with that with the cord, the oath, and the bondsman thing could he have left her?

She turned to the window checking if his golem was still there, but as she looked out she saw the boy lying on the floor, near to his golem, doing push-ups while carrying something on his back. He had removed the top of his clothes, tying it around his waist. Several students, already awake, stared at him. Kyle started doing push-ups with only his right arm not even acknowledging the stares. Louise didn't remember any of the men-at-arms of house de la Vallière ever doing such aggressive exercise, even when her mother inspected them during their training. What kind of warriors were the members of the Clans if that boy behaved that way?

Louise got dressed and went down to call her familiar for breakfast, assuming he knew what breakfast was... or something.

At the courtyard, she saw that what he carried on his back was a heavy stone, maybe fifteen pounds. Of course, even without his golem, he looks like a strong familiar. Then he noticed the scars on his back, it seemed that someone had lashed him with a whip many times, he also had a strange scar on his right side under his armpit. As if something big with claws had wanted to tear the skin off the area. It looked creepy, the skin there was soft but at the same time impossibly pale. She could see the veins underneath, as if someone had replaced the ripped skin using a piece of white silk.

"You- you- familiar," She began.

"What did I say about the voice?" He replied, still going up and down.

"Familiar!" Kyle stopped, turned around dropping the stone to the ground, sat on the lawn and crossed his legs while looking at the girl with a calm smile.

"Do you want something, master?"

"What're you doing?"

"Exercises, master. I must keep fit and sharp. Otherwise, I will not be able to face any danger that might threaten you".

"I- I thought you'd fight with that." She said pointing at the mech.

"I am a mechwarrior cadet, but there are places where I cannot use my machine and I will be using whatever I have at hand, or even my bare hands." He said raising his fists.

"I get it. You are a warrior among yours."

He shook his head. "Neg, I was training for it, but our instructors made clear that we would not be one until we passed our Trial of Position. Despite being so far away from them I would not dare to challenge their teachings." Louise rolled her eyes dropping the subject.

"In the Clans, do you have breakfast?"

"Aff, master." He said getting up and putting the clothes correctly.

"Af?"

"Affirmative, master." He said finishing his preparations. "Although I need to clean up myself first." He said pointing at the main building. Louise nodded wearily.

At the Alviss Dining Hall, Kyle didn't complain about the food, he would have to search for something else later, but it wasn't the first time that he was subjected to such treatment. He especially remembered those two weeks they (Kyle, Grana and Viter) survived on reduced rations because they weren't able to bring an "alternative source of food" because of the special vigilance that the instructor Selvin put on them for the time... a lot of time. He devoured his rations as if it was the last food dish on the surface of that backward world, not caring for being on the floor. While he was eating, he scanned the faces of everyone present and classifying his expressions, searching if anyone looked at Louise in a strange or aggressive way.

"Well, at least it seems that your familiar has a good appetite, Louise." Kyle raised his head and found two girls approaching. One was the busty redhead from the day before, the other was the blue haired girl with the staff that threw him on the ground. Because of the new information he had from his master about this "magical" world, he deduced that the last one was the responsible for it. He rose quickly to stand next to Louise. "Oh, that's formal! At least he seems like today you have him more tamed, not like yesterday."

"Kirche, what do you want?" Louise was pissed.

"Oh, come on Louise! I just wanted to see your familiar, now that he's less aggressive. Do you know that the hot topic is him and that he knocked-out both Guiche and professor Colbert?"

"Get lost, Zerbst!" Louise said angrily.

"No, seriously, he looks so strong and handsome! For a commoner." She said winking at him. Kyle noticed her, she wore the same uniform as Louise, but unlike his master's blouse Kirche's one could barely hide the girl's chest that threatened with spilling over the pronounced cleavage. She also wore light brown boots with an edging on the front, and the same short skirt that Louise wore. The blue-haired girl with glasses was even thinner than Louise, flat as if she was a boy, but Kyle suspected that his pectorals were bigger than hers. She wore white stockings instead of the boots of her friend.

"I am not a commoner." Kyle said again. "I above your neo-barbarian class system. I am a Trueborn of the Clan Wolf in Exile. Breed from the lineage of General Kerensky himself."

"Are you a general's son?" Both girls opened their eyes wide, the one with blue hair blinking at the boy for a second.

"Neg, the General, the Father of the Clans, died almost three hundred years ago, but his bloodline has continued giving us warriors without paragon. I have the honor of one being of his descendants, alas, I am not worthy."Kirche looked at Louise.

"You can't deny that he's exotic, Vallière. I summoned this instead." She waved her wand and a huge red lizard suddenly appeared. Kyle unconsciously raised his hand to his holster. "This is Flame, a fire salamander..."

"It is burning." Kyle said looking at the flame in its tail.

"Or course." She said raising her voice and smiling. "It is an F-I-R-E Salamander, if it didn't have these flame in its tail it wouldn't be called that. You don't have animals like these in your country?"

"Animals that can burn themselves without dying? Neg, the closest thing to a familiar that I have seen were some domesticated flying reptiles in the Inner Sphere, and maybe the Mantiroack Goliat."

"How so?"

"They exist on some planets. Normally they are around two times the size of a regular human, with a thick exoskeleton, four arms ending in claws, and capable of spitting acid. But some specimens managed to reach more than twelve meters in height, being a danger even to a battlemech like mine. I heard about them from the stories that a Solahma warrior told us about how he-"

"There you are, you fiend! "A voice behind them made them turn. It was Guiche, the boy Kyle had knocked out cold the day before, visibly furious and with bandages on his face. "Damned commoner! You used a dirty trick and you humiliated me!"

"Guiche, I'm sorry!" Louise said. "My familiar will apolog-"

"Shut up you too! Last night you attacked me with one of those damn explosions of yours in the infirmary! You will always be Louise the Zero even if you managed to deceive us with this farce!" He pointed at Kyle.

Kyle approached Guiche, who took a rose out of his tunic and was wielding it in front of him. The wolf raised an eyebrow.

"Stop! I will not let you treacherously attack me again, filthy peasant! Moreover, I deserve a retribution..."

"I am not a commoner, I am a Trueborn of the clans, but if you want a retribution you are very lucky." He stepped forward and pointed to the boy. "I demand you a Trial of Grievance against the words you have thrown at my master!" Guiche gaped at that.

"A trial? Are you crazy commoner? A royal prosecutor would never want to rep-"

"As challenger, I am entitled according to the rules of the clans to choose the weapons, and you, as the challenged, to name the battlefield."

"Weapons? In a trial?" Asked Kirche.

"No trial. Combat." Said Tabitha, Kyle nodded.

"Aff, the trial is a combat. If I win he will have to retract everything he had said about my master.

"I was going to challenge you myself before." He said still trying to recover from the surprise.

"Your loss, freebirth. The weak and the hesitant that lose their opportunities to attack are attacked and devoured in turn. You should learn soon or you will not last long, stravag." He said with a wolfish smile. "I choose a non-augmented combat, without weapons but our hands. Where will we fight?" He waved his arms around the room. "Right here? It is a closed place and with a lot of obstacles, it would be a very interesting combat."

"No ... I don't want to stain this respectable room with your insolent blood, we will face in the Vestri Court. If you don't decide to give up and flee. I would understand you if you did, commoner." Kyle burst out laughing in Guiche's face.

"I will make you swallow those words, let's go to that place and I will teach you how a Wolf hunts his prey."

Louise grabbed Kyle by the arm trying to pull him in the opposite direction to which he was heading. Unfortunately for her, the boy kept walking in the same direction dragging her behind him.

"What are you doing? You can't defeat a noble." She said trying to stop him.

"Why? I beat him before, dizzy, disoriented and with a single blow." He said without looking at her.

"No commoner can win in a fight against a noble if he takes it seriously!"

"And a presumptuous freeborn with no experience in combat can never defeat a Trueborn!" He said freeing his arm with a jerk. "Or even a trained freeborn warrior."

"I forbid you!" Kyle turned around and brought his face to hers.

'Obey.' Kyle felt a slight discomfort, but gritted his teeth and continued.

"You do remember that I told you I would help you, even against your will, quiaff? This is one of those times." He turned and left the girl standing there.

"But-"

"That voice." He said following Guiche. "Neg, it does not matter, I will simply do it. Once it is over you will understand."

Louise was silent behind, she didn't understand the boy, it seemed as being a noble meant nothing to him. The only thing he cared for were those rare terms 'freeborn' and 'trueborn', whatever they meant.

"I don't want you to die!" She said abruptly, he was her only succeeds so far.

"I will not" He answered confidently.

Mr. Osmond looked at the magic mirror, which showed Miss de la Vallière's familiar and the General Gramont's son.

"It seems that we have a disturbance at the Vestri Court."

"We should stop them with the sleeping bell." The professor Colbert was next to him and looking worried. The old mage raised his eyebrows.

"Why should we?"

"It's dangerous! A commoner against a noble isn't fair."

"Oh, come on, Colbert! You don't remember that this commoner already knocked out that boy and yourself yesterday?" Colbert frowned.

"But-"

"Look, after what you told me about his runes I have an idea. I bet 100 ecus on Miss de La Vallière's familiar." He said in a playful tone.

"How can you suggest betting now?" The teacher showed something between shock and surprise.

"You're too serious, Colbert."

"But if I wasn't wrong with those runes, that boy could be part of the most important event in Tris- Halkeginia in centuries! If Guiche hurts him-"

"You should calm down and watch, I think that boy is going to give you a surprise."

"Besides, Mr. Osmond... shouldn't we contact the palace to inform them about-?" Osmond, despite his age, almost bounced off his chair when he heard this.

"We can't allow any of those leeches that take advantage of the royal family to take advantage of the boy and his master too!"

"Uh-" Colbert was surprised at the old man's outburst.

"You know I'm right."

"True, Mr. Osmond, but the duel still-"

"Silence! I think it's going to start." The old man said rubbing his hands with certain joy.

Guiche adopted another of his poses as he looked at the commoner who had challenged him. It was going to be fun and he could even catch the attention of some girls.

"I admit you're brave, peasant"

"And I admit that you do not have brains, freebirth. We will fight to the death, or do we would accept surrender?" A chorus of exclamations sounded among the public. Louise looked at her familiar in horror.

"Uh- you have a spine, familiar, but I'm a fair noble, if you give up and apologize properly I will forgive your life."

Kyle smiled. "Then we can begin." Kyle started speaking with an archaic and ceremonial-like accent. "I am Kyle of the Clan Wolf in Exile, bellowing from the bloodline of the General Kerensky the Father of the Clans. I have seen 16 years so far, at the age of 14 I kill a dezgra Elemental of the Steel Vipers in full power armor. I have been called ristar in my sibko since I began to train myself to become a warrior. And now I have been taken as familiar and bondsman of Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière." Several students began to whisper when they learned that he had killed an elemental. Louise watched the scene trying not to suffer a seizure, how could a commoner kill an elemental spirit? At the age of 14, not less! "I am just a wolf cub, but if the necessity arises I will kill my prey." He said pointing at Guiche, who gave him an awkward look. "And I challenged you to a non-augmented Trial of grievance against the fallacies you have laid upon my master!"

"Whatever you brute! I am Guiche de Gramont, son of the general of Gramont and as my affinity is earth, you'll fight against my Bronze Valkyries." He said, waving the artificial rose that he used as a wand, dropping a pair of petals that when they touched the ground transformed into empty armors with feminine forms.

"What, in the name of the eight hundred, is this?" Kyle roared. "I said a non-augmented combat. Dezgra! Do you have no honor?"

"Did you want to fight with your fists? How barbarian! I'm not going to lower myself so much. But if you think it's unfair you just have to give up, admit your mistake and apologize, maybe I would be in the mood and I would spare your life. Besides, my runic name is Guiche the Brass, so it's right that you face these Valkyries." Kyle clenched his fist, but he was determined to face and overcome his enemy, even in a powless combat.

"After I finishing with them, I will continue with you." He said as he took the armored gloves from one of his pockets and put them on. "Let someone announce the start of the combat."

A plump, blond boy stepped forward and gestured with one of his arms to start. Kyle threw himself on the right golem giving it a very strong kick with the reinforced sole of his armoured boots, the golem endured the blow but its chest was dented. Kyle smiled. Even if they were brass, they had a thin armor to make then fast but hard enough to overpower a "lowly peasant", they could do nothing against a durallex reinforced boots.

The other launched itself on Kyle, but he threw himself on the ground, rolled on his back and jumped to his feet, ready give it a spinning kick to the head that made the helmet fly away, causing the rest to crumble and leaving the spear behind. Kyle lunged at it as he deflected the remaining golem's attack with the armored glove. When he reached the spear, he wielded it over his head, and at that moment he felt as if he had been carrying this weapon all his life, as if it were an extension of his own body. With a skill he didn't recognize, he used the weapon to pierce through the body of the second golem in a fluid motion.

Guiche summoned four golems more, only to watch as Kyle wreck them, one by one, with an ease that made it look as if he was dancing.

He finally summoned six. But before the last one finished materializing, it had the spear stuck in its chest. Then the young wolf turned on himself, launching the magical construction against its companions. Then he pounced on Guiche, passing through the remaining golems like a spear, striking him with his own chest as he held his lance behind him. The blond felt as if a stone wall had been thrown over him when both solar plexus collides. He fell back on the ground and let go of his rose-wand, leaving his golems inert. When he opened his eyes to find it, he found that Kyle had also released his spear and was now seated on his stomach, holding Guiche by the neck with his right hand while the other was lifted, ready to strike his face.

"Say it."

"I- I- I surrender-" Kyle punched him, blood began to come from the nose. Several girls in the crowd let out a stifled shriek.

"That one was a soft punch. I do not want to hear that, it is clear that you cannot win, you have an interesting power but you do not know how to use it. I want you to retract right now or I will break all your teeth, and keep doing so for as long as is necessary."

"I don't understand what you want me to sa-" Another blow made him turn his head. Although stronger, Kyle was trying to keep him conscious, otherwise all his efforts would go to waste.

"Retract yourself from what you told to my master. These are reinforced anti-shrapnel gloves made of durallex, the same armor used on my mech, your jaw will break long before they even dent."

"I- I retract myself- please- I won't call- Louise- Zero again." Kyle pushed his left arm even farther back to give him a stronger punch.

"Never again? Answer, stravag!"

"Never- again- I swear- "

"Good." He said lowering his left arm and standing, forcing the noble to stand up with him. Kyle searched around him and found a sword dropped by one of the immobile golems. Dragging the mage's throat even further, he reached for it and picked it up. Suddenly he forced Guiche forward, releasing his neck and giving him a strong kick in the back in direction of Louise. When they approached, Kyle gave him a second kick, this time in the hamstring, that made the blonde fall on his knees in front of Louise. The young Wolf grabbed him by the hair and put the sword against the Guiche's neck to the horror of all.

"Now, repeat it!"

"I retract myself!"

"AGAIN!" He yelled.

"I RETRACT MYSELF!" Kyle drew the sword closer to his neck and looked at his master.

"Master, I request permission to terminate him right now. His dishonor stains this place." Louise gaped like a fish. "He disgraced himself by breaking the rules of combat, he deserves nothing else." The girl was horrified, Guiche was sobbing as he hold Kyle's left hand that was gripping his hair, trying to relieve the pressure. A dark spot on his pants began to grow.

"Release him!" She ordered.

"Master? He does not deserve to live, for an action like that in the clans a warrior should die together with his offspring and genetic legacy to avoid staining future generations!" Louise heard as someone behind her muttering something and a pair of girls began to cry.

"Release him now!"

"Aff, master." Kyle released the boy. Then he looked at the congregation there, all eyes wide. "The trial is over, however if someone else wants to insult my master I am ready to challenge all of you here and now." The students looked at each other in confusion. "No one? Well, this issue is settled, I hope no one else dares insult her or I will have to take care of him, or her. The Clans do not distinguish between sexes when it comes to battle." Kyle drew his sword, throwing it furiously on the floor.

Kyle came out of the combat zone and headed for Louise.

"Master, I am sorry, I disobeyed your order of not fight him, I will accept any punishment you wish to impose upon me."

Louise tried to open her mouth to answer, but Kyle's gaze sharpened, paralyzing her momentarily. The voice. She told herself. She drew air and tried to sound as self-assured as possible.

"Familiar!" Even when she managed to say that with apparent confidence, she was about to fall apart. She managed to raise her voice in an adequate tone. "Follow me. Now!"

Kyle nodded slightly and smiled following his master.

Professor Colbert couldn't believe it. His knuckles were white on the sleeping bell because the force with which he had held it. Meanwhile, the old headmaster of the academy brushed his beard with his fingers pondering.

"Legends say that the Gandálfr was able to handle any weapon by simply touching it with his hand. But that boy moved as if he knew how to fight before taking the lance. What do you think?" The Headmaster asked.

"It seems to me that Miss de la Vallière summoned a child soldier, but what nation would do such a thing? None in Halkeginia-"

"You say it, none in Halkeginia." The old man rubbed his chin. "We need to think about this. The golem where he arrived. What does your knowledge tell you about it?"

"It looks very mobile, fast for its size. Something of that mass should move slower. It looks like some kind of armored battle-golem"

"And doesn't it remind you of something you heard about before?" The old man continued with his games, but his face was serious.

"Uh... the Tales of the-" Colbert opened his eyes wide "No! It can't be!"

"But it can, Colbert. Because you checked it yourself. You said that this golem has something alike a ship's wheel inside of its head."

"No, I didn't say that, but... somehow it seemed to me that these levers worked in the same fashion." Colbert began to fell a slight headache forming at the back of his head. "So... a piloted Guardian?"

"Maybe... in two days the mail courier will arrive at the academy. Try to stop any letter with descriptions of that golem leaving the Academy." Osmond frowned. "This is the last thing we need now"

"We can't hold the student's letters back for much time."

"I know, but we need some time to think." He reached for his smoking pipe and began preparing it. "If he has piloted Guardians in his country... It may be a land in war, a vicious one at that. That's why they have child soldiers. Child soldiers driven by some kind of draconian honor code. I'm intrigued about how he'll cope with this relatively peaceful environment now... and by the way Colbert, you owe me 100 ecus."

"I didn't bet anything!"

"Spoilsport."

You see boys, Kyle punched Guiche two times at the same price!

Verfolger: I do not think many other clans will take it better than a Wolf. But Yes you have reason, to much Wolves... Hehehe!

ArtyomXIII: Wish fulfilled

See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...