Note:
' ' = Character's thoughts.
[ ] = Past dialogue.
Bold text = Herrschers/Honkai beast talking/thinking.
Chapter 2: New home, New beginnings
2 Days after their escape.
"How are you holding up?" Asked the blond scientist in front of Sakuya who's currently resting on her new bed.
"Still dizzy." Sakuya holds her temple with her small hand.
They are in a small cabin far away from any civilization and were close to a nearby forest. Siegfried used this cabin as their new home. Originally this was one of AE Safe houses but they were given to the male Kaslana as a compensation for his troubles in saving K-423.
"What in the world did you do back there, Sakuya?"
Though the girl looked as confused as the scientist and simply shakes her head. None of them really knew what happened in Kolosten a few days ago.
"I see… Well Leon watch her closely okay? And if Kiana enters watch her too… Let Sakuya here rest." The scientist turns to the boy who was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room reading a book. Leon Milkova was the name that the boy received as Natalia didn't liked calling him by his codename, C-020.
Leon nods at her request "Yes mom."
"Alright good…Oh and watch K-423 too."
"…Why's she still called that mom?" Leon tilts his head.
"We…Currently don't have a name for her yet." The scientist looks away. Feeling ashamed of herself for not thinking of a proper name for K-423.
"But she looked like Kiana… They aren't twins?"
"No…Unfortunately It's more complicated than that… If she woke up do please tell her that she's her twin okay?" Thankfully the boy didn't pry any further despite his curiosity for the white haired girl.
"Okay mom…I'll watch the two of them." Leon nods. He looks down to his book once more and continue reading. With that Natalia left the room.
Sakuya looks closely at the boy sitting on the corner. He has dark unsaturated yellow eyes and bright red hair. He's rather skinny too.
For some reason the far eastern girl felt an unexplained familiarity from him, a feeling similar to a déjà vu.
"?" Leon notices her staring. But Sakuya kept her eyes glued on him as if she was scanning him.
A few minutes passed and the two of them are now locked in an intense stare down with each other. Neither one of the two break their concentration and with no purpose at all the two continue to stare deep into each other's soul.
However their concentration immediately shifted to Kiana once the girl enters the room.
"Hoo! You're awake now!" Kiana sprints to the side of Sakuya's bed.
"I was worried you know…You started nosebleeding out of no where!"
"Kiana let her rest." Leon puts his hand over the young Kaslana's shoulder.
"I am! I'm not asking her to play hmph, she's still on her bed you see." The Kaslana pouts
"That's not…O…Okay fine then just don't be too loud." Leon sigh and sits back down onto his chair.
Kiana sits on the side of Sakuya's bed. Sometimes sneaking glances on what Leon is currently reading.
"Say when would she woke up?" Kiana points at the other girl who was still asleep. She looked exactly like Kiana although her left eye seems to be bandaged up for some reason.
"I don't know…Who's she exactly? She looks like you but Natalia said you two aren't twins" Sakuya asked. She's been rather curious on why the two looked similar ever since she met Kiana back in Kolosten.
"Hmm that's complicated…Why didn't dad gave her a name yet." Kiana grumbles as she stared at her look alike.
"Fine…I'll do it…Hmm then she'd be called Sirin… Any objections?" The kaslana looks back at the other kids. Their answers are an astounding no. They shake their heads to make their answer clear for her.
"Sirin huh…I feel like I've met someone with a similar name like that before." Sakuya comments whilst she observed the sleeping girl.
"Oh you do?"
Sakuya nods. That earned Kiana's interest on wanting to know more about her background.
"Oh what was she like then? Your friend Sirin."
"…Not sure Kiana…My memories are hazy." Sakuya look down as she tried her best to recall her past.
"I see." Kiana is a bit disappointed hearing that. But there's nothing she can really do about it.
"Where's Siegfried and Natalia?"
"Downstairs… They're discussing about your adoption. Well I'm fine with whatever hehe." The Kaslana flashed her grin.
"A…Adoption?" Sakuya was taken aback by that sudden news.
"Mhm~ I should tell dad about Sirin's name then!" Kiana hopped down from where she was sitting on.
"Oh if she woke up let me know kay~?" She left the room leaving the two of them in an awkward silence once again. The two of them could even still her hear humming outside. Perhaps the girl is just excited over the fact that she would have a sibling to play with.
Though it left Sakuya to wonder which family she would eventually be adopted into.
Little did the girl knew. The debate goes on for a few days. After a lot of arguments from both sides eventually Siegfried stubbornness won him the debate.
That Sakuya will officially join the Kaslana as his adopted daughter. Sakuya Kaslana that would be her official name starting from that point in time.
2 Weeks have passed since they settled down in Alaska.
"Listen Sirin… this white powder thing is called snow… And there would be lots of them in the upcoming winter." The two twins crouched down on the snow in front of their house.
"They're cold. Nee san how come you're not freezing? Didn't you lay down on the snow before?" After she had been adopted. Sakuya became the older sister for those two as she was a year older according to the documents
Sirin looks up at Sakuya who's closely observing her younger sisters. Unlike the twins who wore 3 layers of clothing and a scarf, Sakuya only wore a simple turtleneck sweater with a shirt underneath and gloves.
Everyone silently agrees that Sakuya has a weirdly abnormal cold resistance. Even under this weather none of them have ever saw her shiver once or complain about the cold.
"Hmm…For me it doesn't feel all that cold though and I like the chilly feeling of the weather outside."
"Saku-nee you're a bit weird, even dad still feel cold in this weather." The way Kiana calls her still surprised the girl. Sakuya never thought that Kiana would accepted that fact so quickly.
"I…Is that so?"
She continue to keep an eye out for her little sisters. While Leon watched the girls from the terrace of the cabin.
He wanted to play on the snow with them too but the cold was a bit too much for the boy to handle for now, as his body was inheritly weaker than them. There's nothing much that can be done about it, all he could do is be patient until his body adapts to the cold environment.
And so they boy observed from afar as the girls build their very own snowman.
"Seems like they all get along quite nicely." Natalia comments while she took a sip of her warm cup of caffeine.
"Yeah. Sakuya opened up much faster than I would've anticipated. Now then what's with all of this?" Siegfried looks on the bundle of papers in front of him.
"Their documents. Specifically for Sirin, Leon and Sakuya. We would be needing them in the future, and I did some research on them as well by asking a friend."
"Mobius? You still work with that mad woman?" Siegfried looks at her weirdly. The man just couldn't understand how she could get along with her. Maybe all scientists can't really be define by his regular common sense.
"She's just an eccentric workaholic Sieg… There's nothing wrong with that" Natalia shakes her head "Anyway yes I would be working with her company from home for now…"
"…Hope it pays well enough for the money problem… AE can't always send us money."
"I know." The blond scientist sit across from him. Siegfried takes a piece of the documents out of curiosity.
"…Stigmata huh, so all of them had one… Is that why you begged me for help?"
"Partially. I just couldn't bear to witness these poor kids being tested like that." The scientist frowned.
"I see… " Siegfried sigh, His reasoning into saving Sirin was of course much different. It's not out of empathy but it's to save the world from the wrath of another Herrscher.
Although now, he thought of her a little differently. Even though she's just a clone of his real daughter, Siegfried hoped that she would eventually find her own identity.
He wished that his late wife would still be here raising these kids with him but alas reality was cruel.
The man continue to skim through the documents at hand until he found something that caught his eye.
"Abnormal color?"
"Hm? Are you talking about Sakuya's blue colored stigmata?"
Siegfried nods "Yeah. This is the first time that I've heard a stigmata having different colors, even Herrschers still has red Stigmatas."
"There's not much information about that in Schicksal either from what I remember there's someone else that has a different colored Stigmata…Hers are bright pink instead of the usual red."
"Who? Is she a Valkyrie?"
"Not yet. Her name is Elysia Schariac. An adopted Schariac member unlike your wife Cecilia who's a natural born Schariac."
Siegfried went into deep thought. He haven't heard of her name before, therefore she must've been relatively young or was recently adopted into the Schariac family who's known to adopt many kids compared to the other 2 main families of Schicksal.
"She's still in her training phase. But considering she was adopted she may be a powerful adversary in the future if we do fight her…"
"Damnit. Otto is very prepared huh." Siegfried sigh frustratingly. "…I'll ask if they wanted to train in the Kaslana arts like what I've been teaching Kiana."
"What!? Sieg you can't force them to become soldiers!"
"I'm not damnit! It's for their own self defence and I'm asking for their permission…I want them to have a normal life too Nat… But with Otto on our tail, shouldn't we at least give them the means to fend for themselves?"
"Fine." She sigh "You're right… There's also the Honkai. Just don't force it on them if they don't want to."
"I know that." The man glances over to the window on his side. He relaxed a little seeing his daughters innocently playing together on the snow. They were throwing snowballs at each other.
They even dragged Leon in on the fun seeing how lonely he was, being left behind.
"Geez those girls…Leon could catch a cold or worse."
"They'll be fine… Let them have their fun. If he gets sick I'll just buy him some medicine. It's better that happened than him feeling alone."
"…" Natalia didn't say anything and continue to look at her adopted son with a worried look.
A few hours later. One of Natalia's worries did come true.
Leon came back a little paler than normal. Sakuya gave him a piggy back ride on their way back home. The boy was having trouble moving because of the cold. Thankfully he didn't suffer any hypothermia since they reacted quickly by bringing him inside.
Although he had his fun, Leon is now experiencing a high fever after being exposed to the cold atmosphere for that long. Leon didn't seem to be mad at anyone however he even defended the Kaslanas by saying it was his own choice.
The scientist could only sigh. She's feeling a mixture of emotions right now. On one hand she's happy that he got to play and bonded together with them but on the other she's worried about his high fever.
"So…Sorry Natalia." Kiana looks down. She prods her index fingers together while shivering a little from the cold. Sirin also did the same. Their puppy faces makes it hard for her to scold them any further.
Siegfried watches it all unfold with a smirk on his face. He is trying his best not to laugh. His daughters puppy like expressions are just too cute for him to bear.
"Ugh fine but you three better help me look after him."
"Yes!"
And with that the twins immediately carry Leon to his room all while Sakuya looks for a towel.
"Sieg you better keep your words about buying him medicine too." The blond scientist glared at the male Kaslana.
"Yes yes… We still have some cold syrup in the bathroom cabinet. I'll ask tesla to restock on basic medicine as well."
"That's fine. Sakuya wait for me." The scientist jogs in order to catch up to the girl who was already on the stairs. Sakuya already brought in the towel and a basket of water with her as she goes up and Natalia was shortly behind her.
With a satisfied smile Siegfried put down his empty cup "Gah empty already? Damn that was some good coffee too. Kiana would scold me if I start drinking again." The man puts away his empty cup onto the sink.
It has been awhile since Siegfried smiled like this ever since the death of his beloved wife. Perhaps this is exactly what he needs to fully get over his grief.
Nevertheless the man is already thinking on what he should do with his 2 new daughters.
"I wonder if they'd be as excited as Kiana when she first learn how to wield a gun." Siegfried muttered to himself while he cleans the dishes. He really wants them to learn the Kaslana arts but Siegfried doesn't want to force them either.
"Guess I'll ask them all later." Though unconsciously, the man kept smiling. This new joint family really did start to rub its influence on him.
A few months have passed since the joint family settled down in Alaska.
Bang Bang Bang-
Siegfried is currently training the kids how to shoot a gun in the backyard of their cabin, where they made a makeshift shooting range.
"Alright few more rounds. Keep your arms steady! Sirin don't forget to breathe!" Siegfried pokes her back with a stick. The girl flinches and relaxes her stance a little. She takes some deep breaths before she aims at the wooden target on the tree about 100m away from where she is standing.
"Good. Leon straighten your posture." He pokes the boy's back. Leon took his time to fix his stance first before firing a shot once again.
"Now Sakuya…" Siegfried sigh. He's unsure on what to do the girl has develop her own stance. The posture isn't bad although for her it looks awkward as the weapon that she's wielding doesn't match her stance whatsoever.
Siegfried contemplates for awhile as he observes Sakuya's awkward stance"…I'll give you a rifle it seems a pistol isn't your best option…"
"O…Okay dad."
"Right. Kiana don't slack off yet. Grab more ammo all of you will have your break at the same time." Kiana nods at her father's commands.
Normally Siegfried would be pretty laid back but when it comes to training he's a very strict teacher often times the kids that wasn't used to his harsh training regime would be left exhausted.
But because of that strict training. All of them have mastered the basics of hand to hand combat and is now learning how to aim and shoot a pistol before they move on to learning the basics of the Kaslana gun kata.
"Alright that's enough!"
Instantly everyone's shoulders slumped down. Their hands and arms are shaking from the build up fatigue. They all sit down from where they stood.
Siegfried smiles seeing their growth as he examines the targets.
Leon is especially talented in precision shooting even if his shots were rather slow compared to the others.
While Sirin is better at rapid firing like her twin Kiana. Perhaps it's an effect of genetics? Siegfried couldn't understand how Sirin could shoot that fast without her shot dropping in accuracy.
"Hmph how did I do this time dad?" Sirin closed her eyes and grinned proudly at herself
"Not bad. It's better than before but you're still impatient. Being fast doesn't necessarily mean it's better." Siegfried pats the girl's head. Sirin giggles, looks like she's enjoying the headpat that Siegfried gave her.
Siegfried move over to Kiana. "Kiana you've improved your accuracy too. But don't be too complacent with your growth you still have much to learn."
"Mhm. I'll do better next time!" Kiana made a peace sign with her hand as she grinned. "Hehe training like this is more fun. You seem to be in a better mood too dad."
Siegfried chuckles. "Because my students are getting better who wouldn't? And Sakuya where did you learn that stance? Are you sure you never learn any martial arts before?" Siegfried questions the older girl.
Sakuya nods "Mhm. I don't really understand what you meant Dad but I just did that instinctively." She scratches her head.
'Even she doesn't know huh. What a weird girl.' Siegfried thought to himself. He's unsure if there's something wrong with her head or this is a side effects of those nasty human experiments that was done to her.
'But she couldn't possibly learn that while being confined.' The more he thought about it. the more questions it brings rather than answers.
"Hmm I might have you learn the rarely used rifle version of the Kaslana gun kata then. I believe that'll suit you better. But for the Kaslana sword arts you'd definitely learn that faster"
"Really?" Sakuya's eyes grew wide. She seemed surprised to hear that she has a talent to wield a sword.
"Yes but that would be for a different time for now focus on the gun kata first." Sakuya nods. The girl began to imagine in her head how cool it would be for her to become a swordsman.
"Sakuya you watched too many anime."
"But! Being able to move like those anime characters would be awesome dad!" The girl's eyes sparkled. Siegfried chuckles at her innocence 'A child would still be a child huh.'. The man smiled while he ruffled the girl's hair.
"Dad. Can me and Sirin play in the forest?" Kiana asked while pointing at the forest on the side of their cabin.
"Sure. But come back before lunch."
"Mhm~ Will do! Let's go Sirin!" The Kaslana in her excitement drags her sister along. Sirin tried her best to keep up with her twin. But it seems Kiana is still better than her twin in terms of her physical capabilities.
"Those two are inseparable." Siegfried chuckles seeing the two run off into the forest. "Are you not joining them?" The man looks back at Sakuya.
"No. Not interested and I'm tired Dad." Sakuya swings her legs back and forth. She looks up at the grey sky of Alaska while enjoying the cold breeze of winter.
"Call them back if you see signs of a blizzard okay? I'll try and ask Tesla a favor if she could spare a rifle for you." Siegfried walks inside with a smile still plastered on his face.
Sakuya noticed that everyone seems to be in a good mood nowadays. But why does she feel something was off.
The girl puts her hand on her chest and looks down at her feet. She's unsure why she has been feeling uneasy in the past few days. Maybe it's because that EGO Hasn't spoken to her again.
'But she hasn't spoken to me since a month ago. Why do I feel so anxious?'
The girl continue to blankly stare at the ground.
"What's wrong? You look expressionless" Leon asked. The boy is still holding onto his gun. He seems to be interested on how the weapon work though he dropped his curiosity for her sake as he feels that Sakuya is having trouble with something.
"Is something on your mind?" Leon asked again.
"No. Not really."
"…"
"…" Sakuya sigh. "I don't really know okay? I'm just feeling anxious."
"For no reason?"
"Well yes, I guess." The adopted Kaslana scratches her cheek. "I just have a bad feeling that something might happen that's all."
"I see. Hmm…" Leon seems to be thinking about something, although Sakuya is unsure on what he's thinking about.
"…"
"…"
An awkward silence ensues the two of them.
'What is he thinking so deeply about? Is he trying to make me feel better?' She stared at him deadpanned, while the boy is lost in his own thoughts unable to make up his mind on what he should do. It's been a minute since either of them says anything.
'Does Sakuya wants to read something? She likes anime so maybe she would like some far east light novels as well. Would Kiana allow me to borrow some of her light novels though? Sirin didn't like to read so she wouldn't have any. We could also read them together.' Leon thought. He's forgetting the fact that he was in a conversation with her awhile ago.
"It's alright Leon. You don't need to go that far" Sakuya rubbed the back of her head.
"W…Wait!"
'It's now or never!'
"Sakuya. Umm how about we read some light novels together? You liked anime right!?" The adopted Kaslana was taken aback by his sudden request. 'So he does care. He's usually pretty expressionless and a bit cold at times so I didn't think he'd care about me that much.'
Sakuya smiles a bit. "Sure. Let's read it here or do you want to go somewhere warmer?"
"…Here is fine." Leon really did took his time in answering that simple question. 'He's a bit indecisive huh' Sakuya smiled awkwardly. Leon quickly ran inside to grab some novels for them to read.
The two of them ended up reading a novel for almost an hour. Though Leon successfully did what he wanted to do and that is calming his friend down.
Leon looks rather satisfied to see Sakuya calmer now unlike before where her gaze was filled with anxiety. Truthfully he didn't know why she suddenly had a foul mood. Sakuya rarely complains when her dad trains her and she looks excited when Siegfried offers her a different style of combat since she already learn her own martial arts.
'Whatever that's not important now' Leon still couldn't wrap his head around that fact. But he doesn't need to if she's not feeling down anymore right?
"!" Sakuya immediately stands up and looked at the forest. Her eyes looks terrified. She bit her lip on the familiar ominous feeling as her hands trembled.
"What's wrong?" Leon asked standing up alongside her. Unlike Sakuya, the boy couldn't feel the ominous tension that came from the forest.
"…I… I have to go save them." Sakuya muttered and sprinted as fast as she could towards the forest.
"Wh…What do you-." Leon flinched as he heard a door being slammed open from behind him.
"Leon! Where did Sakuya go!?"
"Umm the forest. She suddenly ran there." The boy pointed.
"Tsk, Dammit not her too."
"I'll go with you!" Leon looks at the Kaslana with a burning determination in his eyes.
"…" Siegfried contemplated this for awhile. Leon is stubborn just like him when he has that look on his eyes, so keeping him supervised is a better option. "Just stay close to me." Leon nods though unfortunately for him. The boy is having a hard time just to keep up with the Kaslana who ran in front of him.
"Why now?" Sakuya gritted her teeth. "This… This familiar feeling! Why now!? Urghhh." The girl groaned.
A vision flashed inside her mind as she ran through the woods.
She was feeling the same feeling as she is now. Fear, Anxiety, and anger all of those emotions are swirling inside her mind.
She was looking at a floating figure of an older teenager amidst the sea of flames and destruction that lurks in the background of where she stood.
Sakuya couldn't forget those feeling when that girl's eyes stared at her soul.
Those wrathful yellow eyes that yearns for vengeance and destruction. A girl with white hair and that damn ominous yellow eyes were staring at her as if she were an ant.
Cold sweat fell from her cheeks as she clenched her fist until it turned pale white.
In this very moment Sakuya felt the exact same feeling. It was unknown to her on where and when she had felt that before.
And when her vision became clear again. She is now standing in the edge of the clearance of the forest she was in. She catches her breath as she was sprinting from her house to get her quickly.
Honkai beasts and Schicksal Valkyries lay dead(?) on the open and burnt field. Kiana was thankfully only unconscious on as she lay on nearby tree.
There she came face to face with that familiar ominous yellow eyes that she always dreaded. The eyes of the Herrscher of the void.
"Sirin!"
[Kiana!]
The girl screamed to the Herrscher in front of her, both in her vision and in real life. But the awakened Herrscher of the Void simply stared back at her. The Herrscher raised it's right arm as void lances began to materialized behind the Herrscher's back.
"Die pathetic vermin!"
[So long vermin.]
And in a blink of an eye.
Swoosh-
A void lance was already shot towards the unsuspecting Sakuya.