AN: This is a shorter chapter, though I felt that the next parts didn't entirely fit. Decided to just send it out like this. The chapter is more a set up to prepare for the next arc, and things are going to go crazy.
Sorry it took so long to get this one out, here's a general responses to reviews:
The Phantom shall fly, just because he has a spine does not mean that things will be better or worse, he is less emotionally stable then the canonSaito and thus less calm in certain situations, the Naval Academy in Annapolis teaches both marine and navy ROTC (though it does teach more naval), a lot of people want Wales dead for some reason, who says he will not love Tabitha, I like the shiv too and that will be addressed more later, the M72 LAW will be fired in the future, Fouquet HAHAHAHAH, venting is nice though it is known to be unhealthy if done too often, Joseph oh the plans I have for him.
A hint for people, the runes work with things made to be a weapon.
Percerin was on his way to wake all of the guests. It seems that Miss Charlotte and her guests were to leave early. It was the break of dawn, and all of the Nobles had risen. All that was left was Gandàlfr, though the young Vallière expressed shock that he had not already woke up. According to her, he always awoke on his own.
Percerin understood why he was still sleeping, Gandàlfr grabbed his weapons, went straight to the first bedroom he could find and fell straight into bed. As he entered his room, he saw the young man sleeping on his side, the morning sun shining on his face. His face. Most people looked at peace when they slept, but this young man had his brow furrowed, and a deep frown on his face. Percerin reached down to wake him up, and grabbed him by his shoulder.
His eyes shot open, a cold, hard gaze. He reached out and grabbed Percerin's arm, giving a quick twist. He tried to pull away, but that only seemed to help Gandàlfr as his foe moved with him, using Percerin's own movement to pull himself out of bed. He was holding his dagger in his free hand, throwing a quick punch toward his chest. Percerin twisted as much as he could, barely dodging the blow. Gandàlfr kept his momentum and his grip, pulling Percerin along and throwing the butler off balance.
Percerin tried to fight back from his off-balance position, landing a weak blow that didn't even elicit a reaction. Then cold brass began digging into his side, and then next moment his arm was twisted painfully behind his back. It was painfully obvious now, he lost this fight. Percerin felt a hard blow come on the back of his knees, forcing him down. He couldn't see any way out of this as Gandàlfr grabbed his other arm, twisting it back and shoving the old butler on the ground.
"Who sent you?"
"Wh-what?" Percering struggled out.
"Was it Gerald or André? Do I have to follow through on that fucking threat?"
"Please sir, I was only trying to wake you…"
"…Wait… you're that butler…" He mumbled as the malice disappeared from his voice.
"Yes, I maintain the estate for the young miss and Duchess d'Orléans." Percerin grunted out from beneath Saito.
Percerin felt Gandàlfr's weight leave him, and the old butler pulled himself up with Gandàlfr's help. "Sorry, I've been kind of paranoid ever since… Yeah… Sorry."
"It is quite alright sir. If you don't mind my asking, where did you learn how to fight?" Gandàlfr knew just how to twist him to immobilize him, he knew just how to move and act. Percerin knew how to fight. Before the fall of the house d'Orléans, he acted as both butler and bodyguard. Before the Duke was assassinated on that fateful hunting trip by the poisoned arrow Percerin had stopped two attempts before they even threatened his liege.
"I remember my brother, sister, my parents, some teachers, a couple competitions, but I don't remember anything else."
"It is an interesting style." Percerin stated. "It seemed effortless. Do you have any tips?"
"Well… Practice." Saito nonchalantly said. "Seriously though, your stance, your feet were really close together, once I grabbed you, you were off balance. When you pulled away, you pulled me up and threw yourself further off balance. You should have pushed forward, I was lying down, and while I was armed you would have had leverage and I would have been forced to push up against you and gravity. You could then try to disarm me, though that probably wouldn't end well, I have good grip."
"You noticed all of that after just waking up?"
"I'm... uh... I'm observant?"
"You clearly know what you're doing; it all seemed natural to you." Percerin said.
"I wish it was all second nature. My brother and sister could have done that blind. I still think before every move."
Percerin looked at him with a look of disbelief, having trouble imagining someone who could flow so well without it being instinctual. He must have just been extremely modest or outright lying. "The others are eating breakfast at the moment, would you like to join them?"
Gandàlfr let out a long, deep breath. "I'm sorry, but no. I just want to be alone right now. I would appreciate it if you could bring me my food here, and I'd also like it if you tell me when they're leaving."
"Of course, sir. I'll have your food here in a moment."
"Thank you."
"Come on, you can do better than that Sai-Sai! I can't get ready like this!" Ben taunted as he released me from the rear naked choke hold. He was training for a Mixed Martial Arts competition.
I coughed a bit as he released me and I got up. I stretched out my sore muscles, straining against the protective padding I was wearing. "Shut up." I could not beat him and he was fucking blind folded. It seemed like I only had to hit him once and he knew exactly where I was. Sure, Ben's bigger and stronger than me, and about four and a half years older, but he shouldn't be able to beat me so easily blind. "I'm going to beat you."
"I do have a bit of a handicap." He added with a cocky grin. "Seriously though, lil' bro, just knock me off balance. I'm blind and you haven't done that yet."
"You goin' ta fall on yo ass, bitch." I boasted, trying to sound as gangster as possible.
"Never do that again, you sound like a fucking idiot."
"Yo puck ass jealous, bitch?"
"You better be doing that to piss me off." Ben muttered as I silently charged forward.
I started with a right hook, hoping that he wouldn't expect me to use my weaker arm. He barely stumbled, as my padded fist dug into him. Ben batted my next strike effortlessly and nudged my right shoulder, as I think back I can't even consider what I did a punch. It was a left throw-myself-off-balance. He gave me another slight push, and I was on my face.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell. That was less than sloppy. Why did you start on your weak side?"
"I thought it would surprise you…"
"Well, you are not good enough on your right. Everything about it was sloppy. I am embarrassed for you." Ben scolded as he took his blindfold off. I was embarrassed for myself.
"Yeah, well… You have 4 years on me! I'm twelve!"
"I was blindfolded. Terrible excuse. Go through a few moves, show me what you can do." Ben ordered.
"Why? I'm tired!" I bitched like a stupid brat.
"Look, Saito, just do it, stop being whiny, it's better to practice tired. You remember better."
"Fine." I stretched a bit, before taking a stance.
"Feet are too close together, bad balance. Also, relax."
"Relax, really? I'm fucking exhausted."
"Watch your fucking mouth, just do it." The hypocrisy of that somehow eluded him.
"Just tell me how it helps to relax!"
"It allows smoother motion and more reflexive control! Now relax!"
"Got it…" I muttered as I spread my stance. I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. I wasn't that good at calming down.
"Go through the motions pipsqueak."
He made me feel like an invalid. Still, Ben wasn't as bad as Megumi. And I learned more from them than any other teacher.
Saito was avoiding them. He wasn't even riding back with them, he was walking alongside them. They all (well, except for Tabitha and Guiche) asked him if he wanted to ride, but he quietly refused. It was the second day of the trip, and he was still walking. They didn't even stop to rest; he had been going all day and night. They did make good time, however, and it seemed that they would all get to sleep in their own bed tonight.
The gate to the Magic Academy was in sight, and Louise was looking forward to getting back. She was looking forward to just getting back to school, going back to her life. She still didn't understand why Saito drank Guiche's champagne, or why the Water Spirit was so obsessed with Gandàlfr, but it was over.
As they entered the gates Saito made a beeline for the baths. Louise could understand why Saito wanted a bath, she felt like she had a thick layer of dirt coating her after such a long trip, and she hadn't walked the whole way.
As the carriage came to a stop, servants were already grabbing the luggage and returning it to their rooms. One maid in particular was waiting, Siesta, the girl who shot Saito while he was insane. "Where's Saito?"
"The baths." Louise muttered as she pushed past the buxom maid. She needed to talk to the Headmaster. While Old Osmond was a perverted idiot, he was a perverted idiot who knew what he was doing. Sometimes.
Louise entered the main building, and made her way to the Headmaster's office. As she entered Osmond's grounds she saw that he had yet to replace Fouquet. As she barged into his office, she saw that he also still didn't have walls, though he did have a ceiling now.
"Ah, Miss Vallière. I trust that Gandàlfr is restored?"
"He is, and he went to the baths." Louise said.
"Many Nobles want to meet Gandàlfr. His prescience means the return of Void. I've been stalling as much as I can, but I can't do that indefinitely. At some point people will come to meet him." Osmond sighed.
"There has to be some why we can keep him from meeting anyone too important." Louise could almost see the fiascos that Saito would cause.
"He is… abrasive at the best of times."
Saito grabbed some soap and gave it a quick whiff. "Ooohhhh! Lavender! Yay!"
"So, what should we do?" Louise asked.
"I don't know. I already know that if Saito meets someone important, things will go poorly." Osmond groaned.
"Things always go poorly when they involve him. It would be so much easier if he were someone else."
"Why don't we use someone else?" Osmond suggested.
"…That's a terrible idea, if Saito found out he'd kill you! And me!" Louise shouted. How stupid was he, it's not like they could keep it from him. Louise was starting to see how Fouquet got a job at the Academy.
"Well do you have a better idea?"
"We could just distract him, get him out of the Academy."
"They'll still want to meet him!"
"Maybe we can convince him to pretend to be normal?" Louise weakly offered. She knew that wouldn't work, Saito was far too prideful.
"Would that work?" Osmond asked.
"Probably not…" Louise sighed.
"Would he even want to meet them?" Osmond muttered.
"No, but that wouldn't change the fact that Nobles want to meet him." Louise grinned. "I've got it covered!"
"What are you going to do?"
"We can't avoid it forever! So we need to take control!"
"Montmorency! We need to talk." Montmorency groaned at the request. She was tired from this trip, and she was annoyed that Saito had somehow co-opted the entire meeting with the Water Spirit! Right now she just wanted to reach her room to rest.
"Must we do this now?" She snapped as she kept marching inside.
"Well, Saito is going to go after us to try and get his money back." Guiche reasoned.
"He hasn't mentioned it in a while, I'm sure Saito forgot." Montmorency dismissed.
"It hasn't even been two full days since he said he wants his money back!"
"Really? It feels like it's been months…" Montmorency muttered.
"I'm pretty sure that he'll remember, and he won't be happy. So how will we pay him back?"
"…Ask our parents?"
"I don't think the Count de Gramont would be willing to part with 2000 ècu…" Guiche muttered.
"My father wouldn't be willing to either; Marquis Montmorency (1) has been going through economic hardship lately. Our territory is doing… poorly."
"My family's in debt, they can't help." Guiche moaned. "It seems neither of us can rely on our family to give more than our monthly allowances."
"We'll discuss this later. It's late." Montmorency said as she opened the door to her room.
"A gentleman always escorts a proper lady home, perhaps I could come in?"
"Have you sorted things out with Katie yet?" Montmorency asked with a sweet smile.
"…Right, Katie. You see I haven't-"
"No." Montmorency said flatly as she slammed the door.
Saito had just left the baths, and he smelled wonderful, though he did look a bit angry. Now all Siesta had to do was talk to him. After she shot him. After he tried to kill her. While he was under the effects of whatever was warping his mind. She wanted to be closer but what was she supposed to say?
Saito entered the girls' dormitory that he was staying in. Siesta entered to continue following Saito while still trying to figure out how to talk to him. Then she faced icy eyes. "Why are you following… Oh, Siesta. Ni-nice to see you…" Saito sheepishly dropped his glare and replaced it with a slight and artificial smile.
"Good evening Lord Saito…" Siesta nervously added.
They both stared at each other for a few moments, and Siesta was trying to figure out what she could do to break the tension. "Sooooooo…"
"Yes?"
"…ummm… Thanks for shooting me while I was insane, and… stuff…"
"Yes… are you alright?"
"I'm fine."Saito muttered with a sigh.
"Really?" He looked really tired, and angry, and he seemed oddly artificial.
"Eh, I'm fine enough." Saito said with a shrug.
"Then would you like to…" Siesta took a deep breath; it would be nice and simple. Just dinner. "…Would you like to have dinner?"
"Sure, let me just get a few things from my room." Saito said with a grin, the artificial feeling he gave off seeming to fade away.
Siesta couldn't hide her smile. "Of course, I'll get things ready!"
Saito felt refreshed, having just taken a nice, long bath. Siesta invited him to dinner with the staff in her own cute mannor. Now all he had to do was grab some weapons, get some clean clothes, go eat with the staff, then finally go to sleep. He missed deodorant, and toilet paper, and tomatoes, and the internet. He wished he could Google void magic and get all the answers.
Saito opened the door to Louise's room. "Hi your Royalness. Hi Derf."
"Partner! What took ya so long?!"
"Saito we need to talk."
"…Okay, let me change clothes." Saito said with a shrug.
"Don't start yet!" Louise stammered out as she rushed to her armoire. She pulled out spare bed sheets, and hung them up on her bed's canopy, hiding her from sight. "Now you can change."
"Thanks for the privacy." This was a nice change of pace, being treated like this was quite a bit better.
"So Partner, what took ya?"
"I had to take a bath. I felt all grimy and stuff. What have you been doing Derf?" Saito asked as he stripped off his filthy clothes.
"I was here waiting for someone to get back."
"…That sounds horribly boring. I suppose you can't do much without the luxury of being able to move…" Saito muttered as he slipped some blue jeans on.
"Saito, we need to talk. It's about you being Gandàlfr." Louise sternly said from behind the makeshift curtain.
"Good, we need to talk about how we are going to learn about void." It was great that she was taking this seriously.
"Actually, people want to meet you."
"…What…"
"People want to meet you." Louise repeated.
"Why?"
Louise stared at him, dumbfounded. "You actually have to ask that? How stupid are you, dog?"
"…Yeah, Left Hand of God, wasn't really thinking… So how can we avoid this?" Saito sheepishly asked.
"We can't." Louise calmly said.
"But I don't want to meet with anyone; I just want to figure out everything I can about Void." He didn't have time to waste on this. He had been gone from home for weeks; people had to be worried about him!
"Well we've been avoiding it, and it is going to happen. Since it is going to happen, it will happen on my terms." Louise haughtily said.
"… And your terms are…?" Saito asked as he grabbed a black shirt, peeved at Louise's domineering tone.
"We go to Princess Henrietta."
Saito was waiting for her to continue, to actually explain. "Okay, and what does that mean?" Louise gave a deadpanned look. "I'm not from here! Is she going to be the next ruler here? Who is she? Why is she important?"
"You don't know who Princess Henrietta is?" Louise asked, clearly believing that such ignorance was impossible.
"Where is the furthest place from here you can imagine?"
"Rub Al'Khali." Louise muttered, clearly confused by where Saito was going.
"Where is that?" Saito asked.
"Beyond the Sahara and the Elves' land?"
"Right, I don't really understand that but try to imagine that my home is hundreds of times further away than Rubbadubdub or whatever it was called." Saito began.
"Rub Al'Khali." Derflinger corrected as Saito fastened it to his waist.
"Right, well my home is almost infinitely further away than that, so it stands to reason that I may not know things. So please, elaborate." Saito said as he slung the M74 LAW over his shoulder.
"This is so basic, how can you not understand!"
"I'm sorry, but aren't you a Princess?"
"Why would you think I'm a Princess?"
"…So that's a no…" Saito muttered as he was now fully armed.
"Of course I'm not a Princess!"
"Well I didn't know, so what about Kirche, Montmorency, and Tabitha?"
"They aren't- well actually Tabitha's one, but the others aren't!"
"Well I'm going to get something to eat, lets go." Saito groaned out as he stretched out.
"What? You're done? Why didn't you say anything?" Louise shouted as she torn down the makeshift curtain dividing them.
"Are you coming? I know you haven't eaten yet." Saito asked.
"They're having dinner right now?"
"Yeah, I'm going to eat with the staff." Louise's face said it all. "So that's a no, we'll continue once I get back."
"No, we finish this now." Louise ordered.
"Then walk with me." Saito flung the door open.
Louise grumbled as she marched out the door. "What were we even talking about, your ignorance made me forget."
"We were talking about how talking to Henrietta-"
"Princess Henrietta. Not Henrietta, not your Royalness like you call me sometimes. Princess. Henrietta. Got it?" She looked livid.
"Fine, how's talking to Princess Henrietta going to make things better?" Saito asked as he made his way to the kitchen.
"We need to publicize it, make sure everyone knows that the only person you were willing to talk to was the Princess." Louise pointed out.
"So we convince everyone that I want to talk. Won't that attract more people?"
"No you idiot, people will be concerned that they aren't important enough to meet with you. Also, if someone comes who we don't want to talk to, you can just tell them that you refuse to speak with someone as lowly as them." Louise told Saito, finishing with an overly posh tone.
"Oh my yes!" Saito exclaimed with a barely suppressed grin. "I couldn't live if I was seen with someone so low and filthy as a petty Duke!" Saito finished with a magnificent flourish. This was going to be fun.
"What's wrong with a Duke or Duchess?" Louise seethed.
"…Are you a Duchess?" Saito asked as they stepped outside.
"My father is Duke de la Vallière." Louise spat out.
"Right, and how high ranking is that?" Saito asked.
Louise face palmed, "This is a joke, right?"
"Do I have to rant about my ignorance again?"
"One of the few Nobles who outrank my family is the Royal family." Louise smugly said.
"…I'm probably going to need a civics lesson or something." Saito mumbled before stopping in his tracks.
"How did Guiche get a second date ready so soon?" Louise asked as Saito and her stared at the Academy's servants preparing a single table. It was decorated with a rainbow of flowers and the Academy's finest dinnerware. Then they saw a girl with a large chest in a maid outfit, sans the apron and the headpiece. "Is he cheating on Montmorency again?"
"Oh my God it's a date. She was asking me out on a date."
"…Well, have fun." Louise cheekily said as she turned to leave.
"I can't get into an emotional relationship with someone! I'm leaving as soon as I can!" She wasn't paying attention. Then again it didn't really involve Louise. "Damn it, I have to break her heart. This is going to suck."
Everything was ready. Siesta couldn't believe how supportive everyone was, they got a huge bouquet at a moment's notice, Marteau had a meal made from the Nobles' leftovers, they took the finest, oldest and most expensive wine from the Academy's cellar, and everything was perfect. Still, she was unsure if this would be to his liking.
"Hey, Saito here…" An awkward voice called out. This was weird; Siesta had never seen Saito look uncomfortable before.
"My lord Saito! Please, take your seat!" It seemed that one as great as him got nervous sometimes as well. Just knowing that he felt as unprepared as her was comforting.
"Siesta, we should talk…" Saito began as a few of Siesta's friends brought food out, drawing both Saito's attention and a deep rumble from his stomach.
"Saito, let's talk over dinner…" This wasn't good; she didn't like the way Saito was acting.
"No, I'm not going to delay this. If I don't do it now I'll just try to avoid it. You deserve better, I'm not going to lead you on."
That tone. The look on his face. This couldn't be happening. Nothing had even started yet, he couldn't be doing this. "Please, Saito…" Siesta muttered.
"I am going to find my way home, no matter what. Anything you start with me will end when I find my way home. For your own good, don't get attached to me." Saito was being so cold; he was supposed to be nice! He saved her from Count Mott, why would he do that if he didn't care about her?
"What if you can't go back?" Siesta muttered as she looked away, clinging to any hope for a future with Saito she could.
Saito stared at her for a paralyzing moment, before his face shifted into a look of barely concentrated rage. He quickly stood, leveling a murderous glare on her before storming off.
"I can't believe she said that." Colbert froze in his tracks. Saito was angry.
"Relax, Partner. She didn't mean anything by it."
"She'd prefer it if I never got out of this hell." Saito muttered.
"You need to relax partner."
"No, I need to get out of here." Saito snapped.
Colbert rounded the corner, seeing Gandàlfr sitting against the wall, tired eyes staring at his knees. "Saito?"
"What." He seethed, looking up with a glare.
"I was looking for you…" Colbert said compliantly, ready in case Saito lashed out.
"Why?"
"I made fuel. I wanted you to take a look?"
"Alright…" Saito muttered as he pulled himself up.
"You look tired."
"I should." Saito began marching toward the lab.
"We could do this tomorrow." Colbert offered.
"Let's do it now. How did you make the fuel?" Saito asked.
Colbert grinned, glad to be moving toward a topic that wasn't emotionally draining, "Well, I used the fossils of trees…"
"You mean coal?"
"Well… Yes. I soaked it in a special catalyst and extracted a similar composition. After spending days doing that, I cast the alchemy spell on it, and that turned it into the dragon's blood!"
"My people do the same with coal, we call the process gasification. Are you saving the other byproducts?"
"I saved some, but not all of it. If I had been prepared it would gone better, but I was trying to do it quickly instead of intelligently. It starts burning more easily than the dragon blood, if that somehow affects what you need."
"We can't afford to have it too ignitable, we need to raise the octane. Only way I know how to do that is to add lead, but they stopped doing that back home because it was extremely poisonous. I'd prefer a safer and cleaner way." Saito added, and Colbert grinned. He wasn't angry anymore, though he wasn't exactly happy. He still looked exhausted.
"So we have to make it more stable to be suitable as a fuel."
"For a jet, yeah. If this were for a normal engine it would probably be fine, but with a jet engine it could be dangerous. When dealing with high pressure it can be deadly to use fuel that isn't stable enough."
"So it is dangerous to use?"
"Only for the kind of engine and altitudes the flying machine deals with." Saito succinctly explained.
"Would this fuel be safe for differing uses without additives?" Colbert already knew that it could be used safely with his engine that he displayed to his class.
"Of course, it just isn't safe for a jet. You could use it for other stuff. Just need to figure out the possibilities."
"Ooohh, I am thinking of possibilities." Colbert proudly opened to door to his lab.
"Time to have some fun. Let's figure this out."
He stood upon his flagship, gazing at the fleeing Royalist forces from the castle of some lesser Noble. They were all fools. They chose to side with the old King, now passed. Of course he owed the fallen King everything, were it not for his corruption, hedonism, and poor leadership the Reconquista wouldn't be possible.
Staring down, it all seemed so simple. He shouldn't have needed her help, he barely needed the ring. However this was all just the first step to reclaiming the Holy Land, and all that is holy saw fit to allow him to guide Humanity to victory.
Nearly everything was in place, once Albion fell they would take Tristain, then move on to Germania, ally with Gallia, than reclaim the Holy Land.
"My Lord Cromwell." He turned to see the man addressing him, he had gray eyes and light gray hair, but most of his face was obscured by a white mask. "I've brought her."
He looked toward the two women flanking the masked man, one helped him reach the point he's at now. Dressed in the garb that people from beyond the desert wore, she had violet eyes and the runes of Myozunitonirun on her head. The other, was going to be his newest ally.
"Mathilda of Saxe-Gotha, congratulations on your return to Albion, and welcome to the flagship of the Reconquista, the Lexington. I trust that you know why you're here?"
"How do you know my name? No one should know that name."
"I know many things, and I want your help. How would you like to serve Albion once again? Reclaim your stolen land? Avenge your family's murder?"
"Even if I wanted revenge, King James is dead."
"But his line survives. We need to end it."
"I don't want revenge."
"What about your home?"
"You assume I want to return. It stopped being a home a long time ago. If I ever see it again it will be too soon. Why do you even want me, barring an act of God and the Founder the Royalist forces are done."
"My vision goes beyond Albion. We wish to unify Halkeginia and regain the holy land that founder Brimir had once set foot on." Cromwell spoke, carrying an air of gravitas.
"You need me to be unseen? To acquire something for you?"
"I need capable Nobles to come together. I have allies in Germania, Gallia, Traistain, countless lesser Kingdoms, but none of my allies have the experience or skill that you do."
"Unify Halkeginia?" She scoffed. Not the reaction he was hoping for. "That's nothing more than a delusion. It will never happen. I have no love for nobles and I have no interest in Halkeginia. As for regaining the Holy land, the elves can stay there for all I care!"
"I'll give you a choice, Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth." He was done playing nice. He would not let some thief insult the goal he had laid out.
"Let's hear it out."
"Either you become our ally or…"
Fouquet finished the sentence for him, "Or I will immediately perish here? Am I correct?"
"I am glad you understand your predicament."
"You nobles are really a conceited bunch. You never consider other people's feelings," Fouquet said with a chuckle, "To put it nicely, you're inviting me to join you, but in reality there is no other choice, is there?"
"Well?" Cromwell asked as he toyed with the Ring of Andvari.
"Let me be a part of your consortium then."
(1) Not sure what the Noble title the owner of the Montmorency territory is, so I went Marquis for the Alliterative appeal.
AN: And thus, the stage is being set. Also, for those of you scared for the SiestaXSaito ship, it hasn't sunk.
Happy New Year, and please read and review.
This is Lee, and I'm out.