Omega [REDUX]
Chapter 4
There was a sense of begrudging respect among the team when Elsa stepped back into the lecture hall alongside Anna for their next class. She could see it in their eyes.
Frankly, she wholly believed Elsa deserved it. She'd watched the replay of their match, thoroughly impressed at how Elsa had predicted the enemy movements so accurately and precisely, aside from her seemingly superhuman abilities. She didn't know how that last bullet from the sniper could be deflected by someone else's shots, but all in all it was one hell of a play. Impressed as she was, it was kind of scary.
But after their little moment up on the roof, her opinion of Elsa somewhat softened. I guess she's human too, just like all of us.
Of course, Anna, what the hell were you expecting? Someone cold and cruel?
…maybe—
Oh please. She's in the academy just like all of us. Just 'cause she's different doesn't mean you should be thinking that way. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
She jolted out of her thoughts after Merida gave her a nudge. Evidently she had taken a seat despite being caught up in her thoughts, Merida on her right, Elsa on her left. She found sitting right next to Elsa a little bit less intimidating than before, and took it as a good sign.
"Recruits, today we'll be deviating a little bit from our normal programme of strategic and tactical approaches to the battlefield," the lecturer began. "Instead, I'd like to take the time to explore the main enemies of the UIF, an entity that is known as…" He paused for effect as he lit up the holographic display, "Empyrean."
Anna sighed out loud, but soft enough that the lecturer did not hear her. Empyrean. Not again. It's like the only thing they keep going on about. Truth be told Anna did not envision herself as a soldier actively undertaking deployments against Empyrean; she never considered what would happen to her once she turned 21, three years from now, the same the time she'd have to find a job for herself and could no longer be under custody of the academy.
Now that she was thinking about it, she wasn't very sure where she would go.
But more interestingly, she felt Elsa stiffen at the very mention of the word "Empyrean". It was barely visible, and it was probably just because Anna happened to be sitting right next to her, but she caught the movement nonetheless. That set off a twinge of curiosity, but no more.
"Aren't they the bastards we're training to fight for, sir?" a random voice in the lecture hall popped up.
"A little enthusiastic don't you think?" another one said. The hall burst into laughter.
"You would be correct, both of you," the lecturer said, with a straight face. "They are indeed, the main threat that the United International Front faces, and while you may hear lots of jokes and wisecracks about them, know this: you will not step foot upon that battlefield with that attitude. No no. You do that, and you die."
His display finally completed booting up. Anna sat just a little bit straighter, now somewhat interested in what the lecturer would have to say.
She felt a nudge from Merida, and tilted her head slightly so she could hear. "What's up with Frosty?"
Anna was confused. "Who?"
"Elsa. Look at her."
Anna shifted her eyes. Elsa was leaning back in her chair, eyes shut, body now somewhat shivering, lips pursed tightly together. The strange thing was, Anna didn't even feel cold.
"She might be sick," she responded to Merida.
"But she was fine in the arena," came the reply.
Anna had no answer to that, so she merely shrugged, casting a sidelong, somewhat worried glance at Elsa before turning her attention back to the lecturer.
"Call them terrorists, or cowards, all you want," he was going on, "but remember, your enemy is well-trained, well-experienced and well-armed." A series of texts and numbers began to fill the holographic display. "This is a list of victories and defeats we've had in recent battles with Empyrean. As you can see, this number is almost even."
Gasps and murmurs ruffled through the crowd. "Yes, yes I know, you're all rather amazed amidst the image of unstoppable UIF soldiers in your minds. That's why I'm telling you Empyrean is good. But here, we're training you to be better.
"We do not yield to our opponents. You all are here because you've all committed to protecting all that you hold dear. You are the ones that will find the courage to surge forward in the face of adversity, and defend what is right."
God, I swear this is some pre-arranged propaganda.
"I'll let you all in on a little secret. About a year back, a bunch of my previous students were part of a squad that captured and secured Empyrean's superweapon."
Cheers erupted from the crowd amidst gasps of genuine surprise and joy. Abruptly Anna watched Elsa stand up and walk, considerably briskly and unsteadily, straight towards the exit of the lecture hall. What's up with her?
"The heck?" Rapunzel asked from across their table, Belle also casting a glance as to where Elsa had walked off to. Merida shrugged, almost casually, but Anna could see a tinge of concern in her eyes.
What are you up to, Elsa?
Empyrean.
Elsa stumbled out of the lecture theatre, frantically shutting the door behind her. Empyrean. The word rang in her head like the tolling of a bell, increasing in volume with each utterance. Empyrean. She was already struggling to keep her balance, and was beginning to feel disorientated.
Empyrean.
The image of the dreaded irons flashed into sight, red-hot and glowing. A sharp pain sliced through her skull, yet she felt no wound nor blood as her legs gave way and collapsed to the floor. Her hands caught the brunt of the impact, and she gasped in pain as she struggled to push herself back up. Empyrean. She needed to escape, to get out of wherever she was, to get that image out of her head.
Empyrean.
NO! her mind screamed as she pushed her way through confused students, fully aware that she was attracting a lot of attention but she needed to get that voice that goddamned voice out of her head otherwise she would end up doing something she would regret and then everyone would know what she was and she definitely couldn't let that happen what was that mantra she needed to think of that mantra conceal don't feel conceal don't feel conceal don't feel conceal don't feel conceal don't f—
Deafening silence.
There was no sound to accompany the invasive permeating of light into her irises, her eyelids squinting to minimize the strain on her sensory organs. The light was white, pure white, and no other colour.
Only when her sensory functions began to kick in again did the light increase in clarity. She felt oddly calm as the medical light directly above her came into view. Her enhancements kicked in; her eyes began to feel a reduced effect from glare, and she saw the world in much greater focus. She could feel her body again. She didn't hurt, she just felt tired. Right now the cool fabric of the pillow reached the back of her neck. She almost sighed in relief.
What the hell happened—?
The glowing irons flashed across her vision again. She didn't jump this time, but she definitely felt her skin crawl, along with a growing mix of annoyance and dread. Goddammit, this again. She almost found the strength to roll her eyes, but the exhaustion overcame her and blurry spots appeared in her vision.
"Elsa?"
Mustering whatever energy she had left lying on the bed, she turned toward the sound. It was Hans.
"You okay?"
Probably one of the better things about Hans was that he treated her like an actual human being. Unlike some of those doctors, who'd say things like "You're awake" even though she was evidently conscious.
"I guess," she responded. "I just feel spent."
"You should be." Hans gave a brief glance at the datapad in his hand. "The report tells me you stumbled out of your class and attempted to break into a run, all while in a heightened state of panic. Then you fainted, having run a good halfway across our campus, and I'm sure you know how big our campus is."
"16 kilometers long."
"Well, if anything, it shows you're really fit. As far as the report indicates you may have broken the academy record for running."
That brought a small smile to Elsa's face.
"You are unfortunately required to return to your normal schedule in the academy as soon as you recover."
"I'm fine with that," Elsa replied. "It keeps me occupied."
"You sure it's not triggering any of these… events?"
That set her thinking for a while. "It was only 'cause the lecturer went on about this." She shuddered from the flashback. "I don't even want to think about what happened."
"I'll understand."
Another moment of silence passed between them. Elsa was glad she was comfortable around Hans, else things would have gotten awkward very quickly.
"Your team leader is waiting, you know."
Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Anna? What's she doing here?"
"She's concerned."
Elsa let out a snort. "Concerned about what. I'm not worth her time." She could hear her own self-deprecation shine through. It still hurt.
"Don't say that, especially considering we've had this conversation a million times over."
"I doubt any of it is true anyway."
"Hey, we promised not to lie to each other, remember?"
"Yeah, but—"
Hans held up a hand. "Stop right there. We're not going back down that path again."
Elsa pursed her lips.
"I don't want to hear you say those things again. I know it isn't the first time I'm telling you this, and it probably won't be the last time either."
She averted his gaze, even though she knew there was no malice in it. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to keep going on, and hadn't put a gun to her head yet. Sometimes she'd attempt to justify the things she'd done, and fail. Sometimes she just curled up and cried through it all. Right now she simply looked down at the white blanket that covered up the better part of her body, doing a better job of keeping her warm than the flimsy infirmary outfit was doing.
"I'd better go. Anna would want to see you." Hans got up, the chair creaking as he did. Elsa watched him walk over to the door in his signature slow-walking fashion, open it, and exit.
Just before the door clicked shut it burst open again. It was Anna. For a moment they just stared at each other, and Elsa took the time to look Anna up and down; from the student outfit she wore to the red hair that adorned her head and shoulders, to the freckles on her face. It was a new sensation, she realized, to admire someone in such great detail.
"I'm sorry," Anna said, breaking the silence. "Are you okay?"
Her words took another delay before Elsa's own brain registered their meaning. "Yeah, yeah," she replied quickly, trying to hide the fact that she'd been staring. "I'm good." What the hell was that?
"That's good. I mean, that's great!" Anna said, slipping past the door, with what Elsa noticed was a semi-forced smile on her face. Semi-forced? That means half of it is actually genuine. I'm quite surprised.
"You don't have classes now?" Elsa asked as casually as she could.
"No, they made an exception for our team; they asked if we wanted to go and see you. I… volunteered to come alone so the others could take notes and bring us up to speed when we get back, because… we have a test coming up soon. I'm sorry, you probably didn't want to hear that…" Anna's voice trailed off into silence.
"It's fine," Elsa said, trying to comfort her team leader while still analyzing her words. Volunteered? She means she wanted to come, but the rest of the team didn't. I'd understand why the team wouldn't want to, but why would she want to? "I was probably going to flunk the test anyway."
That was a tension breaker; it got a relieved giggle out of Anna, and Elsa felt a weight lift off from her chest as well. Whether it was from the general sense of relief or simply the melodious sound of Anna laughing, she could not tell.
"How long do you have here?"
"…the whole day apparently. The general was rather… generous with this issue."
"That must be the lamest pun I've ever heard."
Anna laughed again; Elsa found herself longing to hear it more.
"Would you rather go back to lessons or just stay here the whole day?"
"No way!" Anna said, and Elsa's heart sank just a little, in before Anna continued, "I'd rather stay here. I hate the lessons we're having today."
"And what are those?"
"More tactical, a lot more of it, and a match. Luckily, that got postponed, because I'm here, and you're technically WIA."
Elsa smirked. "It's cool, I'm taking one for the team." Humour? This is new; I never knew I had any semblance of it. I've read about it, I've researched on it, but never actually put it into practice… She found her smile widening as Anna giggled again.
God I love that sound.
The rest of the day was spent talking, doodling, generally dissing of Ursula, future strategies for gamemodes Elsa had yet to see, and animated gesturing. Anna seemed to be full of it; Elsa not so, though she suspected it was only because she was exhausted and confined to a bed.
At the end of it all Anna stood up to leave, but just as she was about to exit Elsa saw the blur of red hair whip around quickly as she turned and quickly mouthed the words "Thank you", alongside what must have been an absolutely radiant smile, before she shut the door and darted off, somewhat sheepishly, according to Elsa's observations.
Elsa leaned back into her pillow. She felt warm. She kicked away the blanket and lay in the hospital bed.
She wasn't warm in terms of actual temperature. She felt warm inside.
And she couldn't get the smile off her face.
"How is she holding up?"
"A lot better. This much progress in the span of one year? We both never expected such rapid progression. She'll be fine."
"I would certainly hope so, given what she's been through."
"Indeed."
"What of her combat proficiency?"
"Let's see… according to her last simulated deployment… she appears to have single-handedly turned the tables."
"Should we be surprised?"
"What do you mean?"
"She was a superweapon only because of her natural elemental affinity. No mention of her combat proficiency was ever made in our reports while she was still being… used."
"What do you expect me to have in my hands? An in-depth analysis? She's only been through one simulated deployment. Considering we know that she has the knowledge and capacity for combat, I'd say everything has gone as expected."
"Yes, but she's done well against recruits. Of the worst division in the academy."
"Are you suggesting we pit her, and the team of seemingly inadequate recruits that make up her team, against far more experienced opponents? That isn't remotely fair in any way."
"There are of course, alternate methods to properly assess her proficiency."
"Yes, but, drag along recruits that have nothing to do with this? It's not fair to them!"
"They are—"
"No, one of them is at risk of fulfilling the expulsion criteria. She isn't of legal age yet, and cannot find employment elsewhere, even though she can still be expelled. I will not have additional circumstance drag down her performance unfairly."
"Why is that a problem?"
"Because she's an orphan."
"…"
"Do you see now?"
"Yes, I do suppose that makes somewhat of a difference. In that case, we should employ… alternative methods then."
"Such as?"
"Our Omega level asset will train this… orphan. If this orphan—"
"I'd rather you call her Anna. Anna Arendelle. The term 'orphan' is degrading in nature."
"Fine. Anna. If Anna has indeed improved under her coaching, then I'd say that is an absolutely fair assessment of her proficiency for combat, and also for interaction. This way, we keep this Anna you care about, and we can decide what to do with Asset Omega."
"I'd implore you not to call her that."
"Then what do I call her?"
"By name. It's Elsa."