A/N: Louise summons a strange woman from Germania with a troubled past. Depression and the overcoming of regrets ensue.
This is just a fun idea I had after I scrapped my other story while reading the LN's, exploring Louise's propensity toward depression, and her true feelings towards Saito.
If she had been repressing her feelings towards Saito from the very start of the series without anyone knowing, what would happen if she summoned someone else that also was very repressed who could help Louise find what was missing from her life?
The blackness of the night was dense. A sheet of sheer onyx which was only cut through by the torch she was holding.
Firs. Snow. And nothing. It was cold, as it always had been.
She felt like shivering, but somehow this felt familiar to her, so she pushed on with haste as she walked forward.
Suddenly, a light. A torch-bearing figure cut through the darkness, many, many mails ahead of her as she stopped in her tracks.
She gasped.
Her mouth went dry. Her mouth tasted of blood when the familiar female voice distantly whispered in her ear as the torch-bearer grew nearer upon its black steed.
A long, silver sword gripped in their hand, drawn toward her throat as she stood.
"Frjósa. Hvaðan iak ríða."
Her soul shivered.
Then Louise woke up with a shock.
The warmness of her room, coupled with the familiar pastel beams of light which bled through her fanciful curtains comforted her at last.
She quickly pulled her pink blankets back over her, half-covering her face, blushing.
That recurring dream…
As the Springtime Summoning Ritual drew nearer and her anxiety festered, it kept reappearing as she slept, and she'd wake up in a cold sweat every time.
Why should I be worried, anyway? She told herself. She knew, however, that it could be a sign, but chose to ignore it. She was too headstrong to accept being outclassed or expulsion due to her refusal to summon a familiar. It was her birthright as a noble, let alone one as the youngest daughter of the esteemed La Vallière family.
Her convictions replayed much as the nightmare which plagued under the stars which cross her every night.
Her head clear, she falls back asleep, adrift amongst the dull pull-strings which kept her head from plunging into a void she had no right to wade about in.
"So, the esteemed daughter of the Vallière Duchy has come after all, huh?" Kirche said with blatant sarcasm, her hips tilting which exuded confidence.
The students had all gathered outside of the school grounds as the Springtime Familiar Ritual was liable to start any time, now.
Louise simply pulled her head aside, muttering under her breath.
"Shut up, already."
She had at once finally steeled her nerves and held her head as high as she could raise it despite her stilted confidence.
The truth of the matter is, something had changed with Louise, so drastically to such a degree that even students like Montmorency, aptly nicknamed Flood for her previous habits of bed-wetting (which she used as a retort), had begun to take notice of it.
The way she sighed with a defeated tone every time she was about to enter her room, the way she held her head as she walked across the courtyards, wordlessly and devoid of caution like a blank marionette.
For such an explosive (no pun intended) character as her that the students had acquainted themselves with during her first year, this was unbefitting.
This wasn't the Zero Louise they had come to know.
"Is Zero Louise alright?" A female student had asked previously a plump Malicorne during a lesson.
"Ehhh, I don't know. I wish she'd snap out of it. She's no fun anymore"
It didn't cause her moniker of "Zero" to falter, however, and of course, Kirche von Zerbst wasn't having any of it.
"Hmmm…? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
Louise snarls, letting her naturally hewed confidence take over as she walks away.
"Say, good luck Zero Louise! Maybe if we're fortunate enough you won't blow us all to bits! Ohohoho!~"
"H-holy crap!"
"Zero Louise summoned that?!"
"What a hotty! Damn!"
The male students were raucously cheering and shouting in surprise, while the girls were utterly dumbfounded.
Especially Kirche, who, in Louise's eyes, was acting the most peculiar as she glared at the figure noiselessly, as if examining.
Louise's eye was twitching such as her mouth both of which remain agape as she looked down after the plume of smoke, from the explosion her Summon Familiar spell had caused, died down.
"T-t-this i-is my… B-beautiful…"
The woman was asleep and surprisingly had not stirred from the commotion.
She had pale, ivory skin, and long, lavender hair that draped down to her mid-back. Her face was, despite appearing to be in her twenties, small, pointed, and somewhat cute, and of course lest it be forgotten, her breasts, albeit smaller than Kirche's, were the central focus of the men's eyes.
She wore a periwinkle baby-doll with long sleeves and lay on her back.
A woman… Who in looks reminded her of Kirche-sama…
"A woman… Who is that?" Professor Colbert thinks to himself.
Louise felt herself nearing a brain aneurysm just as Colbert-sensei stifled the noisy students, waving his wooden staff.
"Enough! I think we've all earned our respite from this… Interesting summoning ritual. Miss Vallière, if you will, please complete the summoning contract so we can move forward with today."
Louise dropped her hands in anguish.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
The woman was still asleep. Was she a vampire? Wait… No… She couldn't possibly be dead, could she?! I summoned a corpse…?
She pokes the woman with her wand a couple of times on her tummy. Drool could be seen forming from her mouth.
"B-but Sensei! This woman is deceased! Can't I re-do the spell?"
"Hurry up and do it! You're at risk of being suspended, Miss Vallière. Perhaps she'll wake up once the ritual has been completed," he barks.
She pouts as she sits on her knees beside the woman, and looks onto her face. The crowd holds their breath as they're unsure what to make of this, as well. Colbert is visibly nervous.
"Hey. Are you alive? Who are you?" Louise says, poking at the girl's cheek.
Her eyelids shoot open. Two, blood-dusk eyes with diluted, piercing black pupils stare at her for a brief moment, then, with a quick, forceful motion, Louise was now on her back, with a firm, breath-stopping hand around her neck, the eyes staring into hers intently, with an angry, murderous look as Louise's face flushed heavily and choked.
A few students gasped, and Colbert raised his staff reflexively, before her gaze dimmed, and her hand loosened.
"A magic student?" The woman said in German.
Louise coughed, and sat herself up, yelling.
"W-what do you think you're doing?!" Her voice is hoarse.
The woman looked around, confusedly.
What the hell… Was I kidnapped? Why is this girl speaking French?
She could speak French semi-fluently, so she tried to speak before any more flags could raise, despite seeing all red.
"Louise, stand back, she could be dangerous, she just tried to attack you" Montmorency yelled out, tensely.
The woman spoke with a yawn.
"It's alright. I apologize, she just scared me." She looked around again with heavy eyes. "What is this place anyways?"
Louise looked at her, her expression changing to curiosity.
"You speak French, too? Then you will understand me." She stood. "I am Louise. Louise de la Vallière. You were summoned by me, as my familiar."
The woman stood up. She was tall, and somewhat ravishing looking.
All the spectators gawked.
She suddenly looked dazed. "You're kidding…"
"I'm afraid it's true, Miss uh…" Colbert interjects.
"Blaudgust. Ignis Blaudgust."
Kirche's eyes pop open fully, and her heart jumps.
No way… So it is her...! What the hell?!
"Miss Blaudgust. In fact, this is the first time I've ever witnessed this happen before." He blushed. "I-if it's alright with you, Louise will now have to finish the spell contract, so just hold still a moment."
"Contract?"
Louise slumps her shoulders in defeat, sighing, then walks over to the mysterious woman.
"Hey. You're not a commoner or some other type of plebian, are you?" She whispers to Ignis, who looks at her perplexed. "Who am I kidding, you probably are, just don't say a word to anyone. They're too distracted by you to care, so just keep quiet."
Ignis shifts her eyebrow upward. "Hmm?"
"W-we have to kiss, if that's alright, so can you bend down?"
Ignis bends to Louise's head-height, as Louise plants a kiss on her lips, Ignis looking on in utter bewilderment.
Being woken up in a field while a cute, strawberry-blonde girl kisses a woman like her was the last thing she expected to happen when she fell asleep the previous night.
She suddenly felt bad for reacting the way she did upon being woken up, but it was inevitable.
"She's so beautiful!~" Guiche, a blonde boy cries out, perhaps a little too loudly, as he receives a falling fist to the top of the head from a jealous Montmorency, standing beside him.
Ignis and Louise sigh in defeat, with the same tone, simultaneously, Ignis uttering mentally. "I hope this is just a weird fever dream… Maybe I got poisoned last night.
Meanwhile, Louise utters mentally, as well. "I don't know what's going on anymore. I hope I get extra sleep tonight."
Ignis stood in Louise's room, rubbing her hand which still felt like it hurt somewhat.
She wishes Louise would have given her forewarning about the rune engraving process being akin to branding and how the pain could make her lose consciousness, but was too confused and tired to articulate it.
She doesn't look like a commoner, but the way she behaves, however, Louise thought.
Plus, I wasn't ridiculed for summoning her. Even Kirche kept silent through the whole ordeal. She's no dragon, manticore, or griffin, however.
Who ever heard of a human as a familiar…?
…Let alone a woman…
She blushed at her own thought.
This woman seems oddly comfortable, despite being ripped out of her life, whatever it may have been, and didn't speak much of the matter.
Is she… An idiot?
Louise suddenly felt depressed again.
She quickly perked herself up, as she realized a couple of things.
She was not going to let this woman fall from her grasp that easily, she was her familiar after all, and no matter how enticing she may look to others, she was to be treated as such.
"Listen to me. You are my familiar spirit, meaning you are to serve me faithfully. You may refer to me as Louise, and I am your master."
The woman grabs ahold of Louise's wand which she set on her vanity in her room, and gesticulates it.
Suddenly the hairbrush she pointed at floats in her hand gracefully, and she begins brushing her hair.
"A noblewoman like me serving another? Interesting. Anyways, I should probably introduce myself, or something," she says listlessly, before pausing, and turning, conducting herself suddenly more appreciative to a noble.
Louise's face was pale, and a shadow cast over it, mouth agape.
I… Summoned a…
"Y-you're a…?"
"I am Ignis Blaudgust, of Germania. Let's start off by talking about why I'm here I guess," she trails off before continuing to brush her hair.
A noblewoman?!