Alexandra and Lyova were sitting in the office as their work had been non-stop. They had spent the last week bringing the school up higher and higher than last year and were making leaps and bounds from it. However, this was coming at a high price.
"The school continues to get better at breakneck speed. I'm sure we're going to get stuff done before winter arrives and the first people are moving into the apartments." Lyova told Alexandra that the factories and the housing projects were completed and the workers coming to the USS George Washington in search of employment were flooding in and buying up the apartments. "So what do you want to work on next?
"Probably more housing if we get a massive flood of workers and nowhere to put them, they will rebel for not providing their needs." Alexandra replied. She went to sit up but she felt a crack in her back. She winced in pain for the moment.
"You okay Alexandra?" Lyova asked with worry.
"I should be fine. My back has been very stiff for the past week or so but I continue to work through it like nothing is happening." Alexandra replied.
"Okay, let me know if your back gets worse and I will call a doctor to evaluate your health." Lyova told her while he sorted through the papers. Alexandra nodded while rubbing her lower back, she had to ride through it in the hope that was to go away. Megumi then entered the room next.
"Okay everything is going good, Kay's education is coming along though I'm sadly still on crutches." Megumi began. Lyova nodded with approval before he began speaking again.
"Alexandra isn't doing too well, her back is beginning to bother her." Lyova told Megumi what exactly was going on.
"Will she be able to pull through this?" Megumi asked Lyova if Alexandra was going to be okay.
"I hope so, we don't want another tsarina hospitalized this year." Lyova replied. He paused and began reading over the papers and that reminded him of something. "Also there is a meeting with Azumi and Rumi is coming up, who should be the representative to the two schools? It's about the alliance."
"Well I still have a lot of work to do. Lola is tied down with work of her own and Kay is still too inexperienced to do this type of work." Alexandra told Lyova that they were either completely busy or lacked the skills for things like this.
"Looks like I'm doing it." Megumi sighed while she kept her crutches close to she got up.
"Do you know where you're going?" Alexandra asked Megumi if she knew where the meeting was being held.
"Where?" Megumi asked.
"It's being held here as you can't get around too well still." Alexandra replied. She tried to get herself more comfortable before she placed her hands behind her back, she wasn't in good shape.
"You better take it easy Alexandra." Megumi suggested, she was worried for her friend who's problems weren't getting any better.
"Hopefully I will." Alexandra sighed. She didn't know how to be comfortable as Lyova walked over to her.
"I'll try my best to comfort her, you get your meeting done and give us the news." Lyova told Megumi to get her meeting done while he was going to take care of the tsarina. Megumi nodded and she got up and made her way to the door to greet her friends.
Megumi was waiting at the front doors for the incoming students while on her crutches. She didn't want to be standing around for too long as her legs were still in poor shape. Then the door opened to see Azumi walking in with Rumi following behind her.
"Hello there." Megumi began speaking to them.
"I see you're still on your crutches, we heard about the train crash, is everything alright?" Azumi asked Megumi if she was fine.
"Yeah I'm fine, the train crashed on the way to get me." Megumi replied. Azumi nodded while the three girls began making their way to an empty room that was reserved just for them. Megumi sat opposite of them along with Azumi and Rumi sitting together.
"Also how is Alexandra doing? We heard she lifted the entire roof to the carriage by herself to let the others free. We are impressed by this but we're worried about how she is holding up afterward." Azumi asked Megumi about her friend. Megumi gulped and she knew this wasn't good.
"Alexandra's not doing too well from what I have heard. Just today, she's complaining about her back aching and I haven't been around her all that much because I'm still on crutches." Megumi replied.
"But Alexandra's seventeen not seventy, how does she already have a bad back?" Rumi asked as this wasn't adding up for her.
"We don't know for certain, Azumi mentioned the train derailment so she's probably torn a muscle and continued to push onward despite the increasing pain." Megumi decided to give her best guess to her friend's condition as she was in pain.
"She's resilient, is what I'm guessing but I don't know how much longer she is willing to keep this up with." Azumi came to the conclusion that Alexandra's condition was going to bring her down one day and there was nothing she was going to be able to do. Now that they strayed far off the beaten path, it was time to get back on it. "So we're here to discuss the alliance that Alexandra wanted to put forth and you've come over to represent her because of her condition?" Azumi asked Megumi if this was true.
"That I am doing." Megumi replied. "So we managed to get Rumi, Jakotsota's commander into this and anyone else we tried getting into the alliance?"
"Aside from Rumi, we've sent the alliance call to the other schools, Maginot Girls Academy said they were joining and wanted to meet with Azumi separately as they got Tunisia from Kebab shortly after the war and the treaty to discuss the proponents of the alliance. Earl Gray has backed down from the alliance as they're doing their own thing. I think Count said they were thinking about joining and that was due to one of their students Ileana having found a letter by the Tsarevich that proposed another alliance forming which he wasn't sure about. Alexei himself said that if this alliance was forming, he was going to convince his father to join up with us as we have a middle school on our side." Azumi explained to Megumi about who will potentially join the alliance.
"Sounds good and the other high schools?" Megumi asked as she wanted the results of the other schools.
"Chi-Ha-Tan is doing their own thing, Blue Division much the same thing. All of Earl Gray's colonies are sticking by her side so they're not responding, the Balkan schools are doing much the same thing. Pravda's invite got lost in the mail and Anzio decided to make an alliance with Kuromorimine and the Dual Alliance as they weren't the only ones who we haven't sent the letters to. Everyone else we're not too sure about their invites." Azumi explained what was going on with the rest of the schools and their status on the invites.
"So we're getting something going so far?" Megumi asked if this was going to be right.
"Yeah we are. We just need to figure out everyone else's status. Riccoli told us that the reason she joined Kuromorimine's alliance was mostly for defensive purposes and she will not declare war unless they are invaded." Azumi told Megumi that Anzio didn't know which side they were going to choose so they chose one where they were going to be the most comfortable.
"So they won't attack us unless we attack them first?" Megumi asked Azumi if this was going to be correct.
"Yep and we made sure about knows twice not to attack any of us as Anzio is one of the weaker schools." Azumi responded.
"That's nice to hear." Megumi responded with approval.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" Rumi asked Azumi and Megumi if they had anything else they wished to discuss and if they did they better do it now.
"We should be completely good unless you want to go walking around the school and figuring out what exactly is going to happen?" Megumi told Rumi that they were good but if they wanted to have a nice chat for the time being while they were going to catch up with certain events, that would be nice. Azumi slid Megumi a sheet of paper which outlined the information regarding the alliance.
"Sign here and we should have peace between us." Azumi instructed Megumi where to exactly sign. Azumi nodded and she began to write down her name where it said to sign. Megumi passed the paper back to Azumi who took it into her hands.
"Okay we're good, we should be all set." Megumi told Azumi. Azumi just packed the papers into her bag and the girls got up to wonder what they were going to do next.
"So what now?" Rumi asked.
"Let's go for a walk around to catch up on a few things and see what else is going on? I say we're all at peace?" Megumi asked while she got up and used her crutches to pull herself along.
"Yeah we are… for the moment." Azumi responded. The three girls opened the door and exited the room and began making their way down the hallway.
"So what exactly is going on other than alliance building?" Megumi asked as she had been held up in the hospital for several days and wanted to figure out what else was happening in the other schools.
"We learned that a first year named Maho managed to win a ten vs one tank duel by herself and this has made Manami worried about her taking over the school." Azumi explained to Megumi what was going on in Kuromorimine.
"Wow, that's impressive, who's training her?" Megumi asked as she was impressed with the first year.
"Runa is. She's the second in command of Kuromorimine and the one training her." Azumi told Megumi who was training who.
"Okay just so long as we're able to keep each other at peace then nothing will go wrong right?" Megumi said that she was just worried about the schools not tearing themselves apart.
"Okay." Azumi replied. The three students turned the corner to see a paramedic team carry somebody off on a stretcher. They looked on with curiosity and shock while Megumi's phone began to buzz.
"I got it." Megumi told them. She picked her phone up to see who was calling them. It was Lyova.
"Megumi you got a moment? Where are you?" Lyova asked.
"I'm with Azumi and Rumi, we just signed the alliance between us and we were on our way back, where are you?" Megumi asked her accountant friend.
"In the office I have some urgent news for you and you have to follow it immediately." Lyova told Megumi what he was going to tell them and this was going to shock them.
"What is it then?" Megumi asked Lyova.
"Alexandra has been taken to the hospital." Lyova told them. Megumi's blood went cold. That wasn't supposed to happen, first her and then her friend what was going on and why was it affecting the tsarina's specifically. Megumi tried to gather herself up while trying to figure out what to do. "I want you to go there to see how she is doing, Lola is taking over her work for the time being and we need to figure out what exactly is going on."
"Okay, I'm on my way." Megumi told Lyova. She hung up and they began to make their trip there.
The three girls arrived back where Megumi had been taken a couple weeks before. They went up to the front desk where one of the paramedics was working to see Megumi.
"Oh you're back, is there something wrong?" She asked Megumi. Megumi stood there for a bit before she began to speak.
"Well nothing is wrong though but my friend has been taken in. I would like to see her." Megumi made the specific request to see Alexandra who had been taken in.
"I'm sorry but Alexandra's diagnosis is ongoing and we're figuring out what is wrong with her so it will be an hour or two before we let you see her and get a clear case of what she is suffering from." The paramedic told Megumi that her friend was undergoing something and was barred from any visitors. "I'm more to have a check up on your legs for the time being before we let you visit her." Megumi was given a choice, have her legs checked out or sit by and wait for her friend to get some diagnosis.
"We'll wait out here." Megumi replied. She walked over with her friends and they sat down on the benches where they were going to wait around until the announcement of what was going on with their friend was determined.
Alexandra was with her doctor as she was in agony, she didn't know what was going on or what was causing her back pain.
"It hurts so bad." Alexandra whined.
"I know, we're going to do everything we can to figure out what's wrong with you." The doctor told Alexandra that they wanted to figure out what her case was and how they were going to treat it. "Now lie with you back facing the ceiling, you said that is where the pain is coming from?" The doctor wanted to figure out where Alexandra's pain was coming from.
"Yes it is." Alexandra responded. She laid face down on the examination bed while the doctor pulled the robe up. He then got out a device and put some gel on it.
"I'm going to take a sonogram of your back to make sure everything is okay." He told Alexandra while he prepared the equipment. A nurse came over and decided to assist him.
"It's okay Alexanda, this might feel a bit cold but it will cool you down a bit." The nurse told Alexandra that if she felt anything cold on her body, do not flinch, it was going to help her out. Alexandra gulped before the doctor placed the gel covered device onto her back. Alexandra felt relieved that the cold gel was soothing to what seemed to be a cooking piece of flesh.
"Feels nice." Alexandra told the doctor while she relaxed. The nurse held her hand while the doctor got to work and scanned over her back to see what was wrong. "See anything?" She asked him.
"Oh… I think I found out what's going on." The doctor began. He continued to take a sonogram of Alexandra's back before he found out what was truly wrong with her.
"What is it? What's wrong with me?" Alexandra asked. She lifted her face up from the bed while he walked over to her.
"You have a kidney infection." He told Alexandra. "We caught it early and you're on your way to recovery." The nurse wheeled Alexandra out of the room while the doctor went ahead to notify Megumi of the condition her friend was in.
"Thanks doc." Alexandra muttered while she was carted out of the room.
Megumi was waiting with Azumi and Rumi when the doctor came along to see them. He had some news for them about their friend's condition.
"Oh there you are, we were waiting around to see what was wrong with our friend Alexandra, she had been taken here just earlier today." Megumi told the doctor that she was thankful for him being around them. He nodded and he began reading out Alexandra's results.
"So we figured out what is wrong with Alexandra, she has an infection in her kidneys which are partially inflamed. The good news is we managed to catch it early and Alexandra is on some antibiotics and it's correctable. Bad news however is that Alexandra is going to be laying on the hospital bed for a week or two while she recovers." The doctor explained what Alexandra's diagnosis was. Megumi and her friends found out what was wrong with their friend and they sighed with relief that the condition wasn't that serious and they managed to catch it early but the one thing that was flying over Megumi's head was how did this begin in the first place. She decided to get her friends to find where Alexandra was.
"I have to speak to her to find out what happened." Megumi told the doctor that she wished to see her. The doctor was more than kind enough to give her a pass which she took and began to make her way to Alexandra's room with Azumi and Rumi following behind.
Alexandra was on her hospital bed resting, she had her back in a gel-like substance to cool her down and relieve some of the pain. She was laying down as she was hooked onto the antibiotics that were treating her. Megumi opened the door and she entered with Azumi and Rumi following close behind.
"Alexandra! I never knew that you were taken in like this." Megumi told her friend that she was relieved that she was going to be okay.
"I couldn't take it anymore, I told Lyova that I wanted to go to the hospital to find some relief." Alexandra sighed as she wasn't built for this. "I told the nurse that if I was going to die, I wanted the last rights and bid farewell to my friends and family. The nurse told me that I was going to live and death was still many years away. I guess you were right about God being merciful and giving me the strength to fight this through." Alexandra smiled softly but she had to rest on the bed. Megumi walked over and held her friend by her hand.
"I hope what you said was right, I don't want to lose you." Megumi told Alexandra that she was her friend and that she didn't want to lose her. Alexandra tried to pat Megumi on the back, but her left arm was numb, and she was unable to move it.
"Me either. I accepted all the help I had to rule the school as tsarina with open arms. Now God gave me this as a message to step down and take it easy for a while. Hopefully I can rule one day and help finish the work that I started." Alexandra told Megumi that even in pain, she appreciated the work that she had done to help the school get up and running.
"The question is, how did you end up with a kidney infection in the first place?" Megumi asked Alexandra how she managed to end up with this condition to begin with.
"I told the doctor that I was involved in the train derailment those days back. I was knocked out of my seat and landed on my back; I was nearly crushed while I watched Lola get buried beneath the rubble. I then used my strength to hold the roof of the carriage roof up to allow whoever was inside to escape. He said that derailment that the paramedics escorted you to. I nodded before I was wheeled into the examination room." Alexandra explained what had happened to her leading up to this.
"So, you must've gotten some blunt trauma to your kidneys, at least they're able to correct it with some antibiotics." Megumi replied that she was relieved to find out what exactly had happened, but Alexandra was now hospitalized because of it. "I'm so sorry but you're no longer tsarina, which is sad as you ruled with fair competence, now we have to find out who your successor would be." Megumi was worried that the next student they put up to lead would be very inexperienced, the only one with any sort of experience whatsoever was Megumi but with Megumi still recovering from her leg injuries, she knew she was in no position to be tsarina again.
"I understand, hopefully your successor would be as nice as you were and as strong as me." Alexandra told Megumi before Azumi, and Rumi left. Megumi rested Alexandra's hand by the bed before she left.
"I'll see who I can find." Megumi told Alexandra. She closed the door behind her while they walked away.
Megumi arrived back with Lola, Lyova, Mika and Jajka. They were going to discuss the possibility of who will succeed Alexandra.
"Alexandra has agreed to step down due to her kidney condition but the question is, who is going to succeed her. I can't take up the reins even though that position was supposed to be temporary until I recovered but with Alexandra also needing medical treatment and I haven't even fully recovered means there is a power vacuum that has opened up and there was only one person to fill it.
"None of us know how to run the school in this meeting so me, Mika and Lola are out." Jajka told Megumi that the three first years had no experience with running the school. Megumi nodded before she turned to their accountant Lyova.
"Okay Lyova, you're the oldest out of the group, don't you want to lead Saunders as you're the only adult that we have in the inner circle?" Megumi asked the accountant if he wanted to help lead Saunders. Lyova however had other ideas.
"I'm sorry to say but I can't lead, I'm only good with economics but not so good with leading the school and wish to keep my head with the school's economy, however. I'm out." Lyova responded. He had no experience running Saunders either. Megumi sighed. All of the best students were either suffering or didn't want to lead the school.
"Well, if none of you are willing to run the school, then who is willing to take over for Alexandra." Megumi asked the group as they were now in a dilemma, nobody wanted to run the school at this point. They needed to find someone to take over and run the school. The others continued to think about it, but it turned out no one was experienced enough to be the next leader. Since Alexandra had gutted all of the experienced students, they were left with the first years as the options to picking out new leaders. Lyova spoke up.
"I don't know if this will be a wise choice, but it is a choice that we have to make if we are to continue going forward." Lyova began. "We should make Kay the next tsarina." Everyone froze when they heard those words. Kay was one of the students that was untested, but they didn't know what she was capable of.
"If we're that desperate to pick a new leader to help us lead. Then… we're going to have to do it." Megumi told Lyova. "On one condition. You continue the economic work and I do all the decision making while Kay is our puppet."
"Okay. You have my word." Lyova replied. Lyova got up and left for his desk. Megumi also got up and left afterward. She hobbled over to the desk where she grabbed the microphone and began speaking:
"We are looking for a student named Kay. We would like to see you at the office immediately for a special treat." Megumi announced. The entire school froze when they heard Megumi's voice call out for Kay. This meant only one thing.
Saunders was desperate and placed a first-year girl as the tsarina. This will lead to disastrous results.
End of part 2
[A/N]: Second part of this fanfic was focused on the reign of Alexandra and probably one of the more boring parts of the fanfic due to the fact that nothing really major happens, was supposed to be seven chapters but sliced it down to six as the succession talks were supposed to take place in the next chapter but instead, they take place in this one. Now that they're giving Kay the position, where will she take the school and what will happen to those outside of it when she takes control? Find out what happens next. See you later.
