Third Time's the Charm

by SugarcaneSoldier

Dying again was much more painful the second time for Tanya von Degurechaff, but what came after was intriguing, to say the least, and she was nothing if not opportunistic. Taking the opportunity presented by Aqua would expand her opportunities by much more than she could have dreamed possible… but why did the good have to come with so much insanity!

37. …and Terrifying Memories (plus more)

A/N 1: WARNING

SCENES INCLUDING ATTEMPTED RAPE ARE UP AHEAD. IF YOU DON'T WISH TO READ IT, ctrl + f AND SEARCH "Viktoriya sighed tiredly." NOTHING AFTER THAT. OTHERWISE, READ ON.

-OxOxO-

Viktoriya quickly landed on the tall tower that jutted out of Alderp's mansion. She pushed past the door she saw and began to make her way down the staircase.

Soon, she was in the attic. She quietly walked through the suffocating maze of unused space that was meant to confuse invaders and buy time for defenders to make it to the roof, making sure not to jostle the girl in her arms.

Then, she reached the wooden hatch. She kicked it in, ignoring the splintering of the wood, and floated down into yet another unused room.

She pushed the door open and began to walk through the corridors. The guards and maids and servants that they encountered seemed worried, but Viktoriya paid them no mind – really, they hardly registered – and continued walking.

Then, she was in front of Tanya's room. She quickly opened the door, threw the sheets off of the bed, and placed Tanya on it.

Her face looked grief-stricken, for a moment, and Viktoriya took an unconscious step back. The grief faded, though, and she turned her back to Viktoriya and huddled under the covers.

"Leave."

"…No."

The silence stretched on, for a moment, until a soft knock sounded on their- no, Tanya's door. Viktoriya quickly rushed forward, opening it a crack to welcome in-

"Ah… is everything right with my Lady?" asked the woman. Victoria's frazzled expression faded, and she sighed.

"Um… she's not really up for… anything, Shelly," Viktoriya told the older housekeeper of Alderp. The woman frowned at Viktoriya's casual usage of her first name, but she said nothing else, for a moment.

Just like every other noble – which included many of the guards and servants in this mansion – she had blonde hair and blue eyes.

Unlike them, she showed signs of aging with wrinkles on her face and a few gray streaks.

She had been the one to help them around the place and suggest changes and what would and wouldn't be proper. She also hadn't believed that Alderp was dead, which pointed to her observational skills being top notch, if she could catch either Tanya or Viktoriya in a lie.

She was, in the words of Tanya, useful due to her knowledge and annoying because she seemed to have a very good bullshit sensor, one which likely went off as long as she was in the same building as Tanya and Viktoriya.

"Viktoriya, leave."

Viktoriya looked back at the small lump surrounded by a forest of blankets in the middle of the continental bed, biting her lip nervously. She turned back to the housekeeper.

The housekeeper gave Viktoriya a long, unflinching stare, and then a nod. Viktoriya sighed thankfully. "Alright. Shelly's here, though."

Tanya poked her head above her blankets a small bit, watching Viktoriya practically knock the old woman down as she rushed past her. With nothing more than a practiced readjustment of her hat, she stepped into the room. Tanya stared at her wall, an order on her lips.

She saw it coming. "Now, now, My Lady. There will be none of that." Tanya heard the woman's steps echo on the marble – Tanya vengefully reminded herself to get carpeting installed soon, or to invent it, if only to keep her feet warm when she didn't feel like wearing her boots.

Tanya was startled out of her thoughts by the woman's weight coming to rest on her bed. "I'm not talking to you," Tanya said, a little louder than necessary.

She could practically hear her shrug. "You don't have to. My presence distracts you while your young Miss is gone."

Tanya opened her mouth to argue – Viktoriya was not hers – but she just sighed unhappily and stared at the wall as her thoughts drifted back to the room and the orb and him and-

The door burst open, and Tanya turned to glare…

She blinked and inhaled through her nose deeply. She breathed out, and she felt her frown fade.

Just a bit.

Viktoriya didn't smile, despite the wonderful smell of coffee, and she sat down in the place that Shelly quickly vacated. She propped up the small, bed-in-breakfast table that held a full pot of coffee and a few pieces of chocolate.

Viktoriya poured it as Tanya nibbled on one of the chocolates. This…

This was better. This was what they should have done on their break day.

Going out, eating somewhere, buying materials… that felt more like a relaxed work day than anything – though getting knocked out by a cabbage certainly made her life feel just that bit more ridiculous.

Tanya sipped on her coffee moodily. She should have just… sat in bed. Eaten a bit, yeah, but she should have just given herself a chance to relax and forget…

Forget…

How could she forget that and him and being weak useless helpless-

Viktoroiya pushed a piece of chocolate into Tanya's hand, but she was lost in her memories. Viktoriya frowned.

She held it there, for a moment, waiting diligently for Tanya to take it, but…

Viktoriya tried not to cry out as the hardly-touched coffee sounded off of the bed-in-breakfast table while tears began to well up in Tanya's eyes.

Viktoriya grabbed Tanya's left hand.

Tanya tried to pull away, for a moment, but then…

She let it be. She let her hand rest in Visha's. She didn't protest when the Russy woman began to rub circles into her hand or fiddle with her seemingly forever-warm ring.

She opened her mouth, to thank her for the coffee, but a choked sob came out instead. Visha rushed in to hug her, and Tanya took a deep shuddering breath, trying not to flinch.

She wasn't… she wasn't Loria.

She was… was Visha.

If there was one thing that Tanya could trust in, it was not some far-off existence like Being X. He was a liar, a cheat, and completely, utterly wrong about being 'god.'

It was not her magic and her prowess in the air and with a gun, nor was it her logic and willpower. Those might not have failed her often, but they had still failed her.

It was not even her promise never to acknowledge Being X as god.

It was Visha. She was the one person she could trust to always have what she thought of as Tanya's best interests at heart, no matter what happened to them or what Tanya thought. She had proved that over and over again and again.

Tanya blinked, and she realized she was crying like she was a newborn again.

"Huh…" she managed to say as she wiped away her tears with one hand and continued to grab at Viktoriya with the other.

She pulled away, and while Tanya wanted, at that moment, to beg her not to, she let her go. Viktoriya looked at her, and Tanya shook her head.

"It's… odd, really. I might be one of the only people alive to vividly remember every moment of my life from before I was two years old." Viktoriya blinked at her, and she only shook her head, chuckling.

"Tanya… you think of the oddest things." Tanya simply raised an eyebrow at her former adjutant. She opened her mouth to ask her what she meant, but she was interrupted.

Not by someone barging in, or by Shelly bringing them a dinner that Tanya wouldn't be able to stomach, or anyone else, really. Viktoriya held up a single, quieting finger, and began to walk towards the door.

Tanya just tilted her head and activated an Observation spell. She glared at the door as she sensed two faint, familiar mana signatures behind it.

Viktoriya threw the door open, and Tanya watched as both Lolisa and Lorelei retreated back from her. Tanya just rolled her eyes at their lack of discipline – who would get scared of Viktoriya? – but they walked past Viktoriya and stood next to Tanya's bed.

She sighed. The idea to ask for dinner – even if she couldn't stomach it – so she could put this off for even a second longer appealed to her greatly – anything to get away from those memories – but…

She shot a disgusted look at her bed. No, this needed to be done. They were concerned about her, and while Lolisa might not be able to do anything official about this, she could…

Tanya shook her head.

No, no… Tanya wasn't really all that worried about what they could do if she didn't tell them. They wouldn't do anything too harsh.

She… she needed to talk about this stuff. She'd been holding herself together for a little over seventeen years using logic and by forcing her emotions to the back of her head.

She'd done it a few times during her first life, whenever she wanted to tell her manager that he was asking for unfair hours, or her boss that his decision was wrong, but that had only been brief flashes of anger.

She'd been pushing fear and anger and hate far to the back of her head constantly during her second life. She had known that it would be unhealthy, but she'd done it anyway to survive.

She took a deep breath, and then she crossed her legs and made room on the bed. "You might as well sit down. This… this will take a while."

Lolisa jumped on the bed, bouncing a bit, while Lorelei sat on the edge. Viktoriya stood next to the bed, wringing her hands and looking at Tanya with concern and…

Tanya shook her head. Well, even if this was a bit pitiful, she didn't mind if Viktoriya looked at her like that. Tanya had to trust her judgement that pity was warranted, in this case.

She took another deep breath, and she began. There was no deliberation over where to start – the beginning was both logical and the easiest by far.

"On July 24th, 1981, I was born in Osaka, Japan."

"I was an only child, and my parents, who spent most of their time working but made sure to give me plenty of attention, could not have asked for a more obedient child."

Tanya paused, looking to Viktoriya for a moment. She gave her an encouraging smile, and Tanya continued. There would be no going back after this.

"At the age of 18, I graduated from High School and went to college, getting a bland degree and using the connections I had with acquaintances and teachers to eventually land myself a job working for a company in the capital, Tokyo. The company wasn't too large, too wealthy, and it never improved or failed enough to become embroiled in a scandal or rise to stardom."

Lorelei and Lolisa seemed to be confused, and Tanya couldn't blame them. She had told Lorelei that her age was seventeen, and she was fairly sure that it was obvious she was a veteran of a war.

She opened her mouth again, but she blinked, and reached a hand towards her Type 97. Using it, she displayed an image of herself.

Her old self.

Tanya smiled nostalgically at the image.

"I worked there for a decade and a half. At the age of 32, as a worker in the company's Human Resources Department, I fired a man that didn't meet company standards. I walked to a train station, intent on going home and coming back to fire people and work in Human Resources and live my life in the same way, every day, until I keeled over and died, a relatively unimportant and thoroughly safe man."

She summoned forth the image of that train station. Them and the bed they were on stayed the same, but everything else changed as the image expanded around them. The same people, birds, and train surrounded them. Tanya watched as the man ran up behind a fake version of herself and pushed her into the tracks.

"Then, the man that I fired pushed me onto the tracks of a train," she said. The screaming of the crowd began to pick up as they realized what had happened, and the train came rushing into the station. "I, Mizuho Wakatsuki, was killed in an instant."

The train station faded away, replaced by crumbling ruins and white clouds. She saw that her illusionary double was standing in front of her. She looked over her shoulder to glare at what Lorelei and Lolisa were staring at and terrified of, respectively.

"This thing claimed to be god. And not just any god, but the mightiest one know on Earth. He asked why I had never believed in him. I… told him that I didn't think he was god, called him Being X, and…"

She growled, and the image around them faded again, replaced by a familiar room. The wailing – her wailing – reached her ears. "He put me in a new body. No longer was I a tall man dressed in suits with dark hair and dark eyes, but a blonde-haired, blue-eyed little… girl."

And she continued. She spun the story as to how she had grown up, been practically forced to join the army so she could rise to the top. She detailed her training.

Then, she began to skip around. She showed them the Rhine front, where she had met Viktoriya. She showed them scenes of her training, of being forced to wear the cursed Type 95 – that seemed to have now gained a mind of its own, thanks to the other Divine Relics – and of fighting through battle after battle with the 203rd.

She showed them scenes from her battles against the Free Republic's forces in Africa. She showed them her fights against Mary Sioux, the Bloody Valkyrie. She showed them the pitched, drawn out battles on the Eastern Front.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Then, it was the beginning of the summer of 1931. We were finally beginning to beat back the Federation. The Suez canal had been taken from the Albish by our Middle Eastern allies. The Akitsushima Empire was pushing them from the East."

She looked down at the bed, and all of the images faded away. "And then, my greatest enemy revealed himself."

-OxOxO-OxOxO-

Tanya grit her teeth, watching, unable to do anything but glare.

This battle near some Soviet backwater had been unexpected, but the Bloody Valkyrie didn't care what she had to do to try and kill them. For months, she had shown up within a day of their deployment to wreak havoc on whatever operation they attempted to carry out.

During those months, they had expected her attacks. She didn't exactly try to hide her mana signature, and dozens of mages would lose their moral if they caught so much as a whiff of it.

To hopefully get Tanya to where she could do some good away from the bitch, they'd been swung from the north to the south to the central front, and there were actually more mages in both the south and northern fronts against the Russy Federation. Logic dictated that she'd stay where she could do the most good, regardless of her hatred for Tanya.

Thus, they were surprised by her next attack – this attack.

The surprise worked in her favor.

She had killed six of them with an opening salvo, and she had proceeded to outpace Tanya for over ten minutes as she killed over a quarter of the 203rd.

Tanya had been able to hold out. She hadn't wanted to pray to Being X, no matter how false the praying was, due to the side effects it seemed to be gaining. She-

Grantz, as strong and loyal to the Empire as any of the oldest members of her battalion, had been the last straw, however, and Tanya had begun spewing prayers as fast as she could, matching her opponent in output.

She wondered, sometimes, if they were saying the exact same words.

The tide had turned a bit. Tanya had destroyed the heavy machine gun that the bitch tended to favor these days, forcing her to switch to her rifle.

It still hadn't been enough. Tanya just wouldn't believe in Being X, and the additional half of the 203rd that died while Tanya tried to fight her proved that.

She continued to try and hit her, but this bitch had advanced well beyond her pathetic efforts on the Southern Continent and her paltry ones in Moskva and Tiegenhoff.

Her fighting was a match for Tanya's, and her prayers let her outstrip the rest of the 203rd.

So Tanya fought, shouted prayers – though they were completely false, they were helping – and waited. She waited for an opening, or for anything. For her to slow down, or for reinforcements.

But…

But Tanya broke first. She had to pause, to stop changing her acceleration air for a moment and stop shouting false prayers and to draw in a breath and become predictable. Tanya glared at the woman as her eyes flicked to Tanya-

No, she was looking… past Tanya. They were staring behind her, at… Viktoriya!

Tanya jetted upward, bringing her rifle up, yelling. It was a waste of breath, she knew that, but she didn't care because that bitch was killing her friends!

Tanya stabbed her in the shoulder, and the bitch just grinned. She grabbed Tanya's rifle, and Tanya fought to bring it away from the horrible, horrible-

If Tanya had the gun she had lifted from the woman's father – or so the bitch claimed in their fighting, anyway – the bitch would be dead, but she had destroyed it well over a year ago.

They began to fall, and Tanya fought and punched and kicked, but the bitch managed to disorient Tanya with a headbutt and rip away her gun, flinging it towards the ground. Tanya was forced back.

Tanya saw vicious triumph shining in her eyes. Tanya felt hopeless despair at being deprived of her weapon as the woman took her time aiming at her, smirking. She could hear the others – too far above them to be of any use – shouting.

Within one second, Tanya realized that the bitch's look at Viktoriya had been a ploy to get her away from the 203rd.

Within three, she was flung into her memories as she remembered similar situations.

A girl stood over a defeated enemy, assured of her victory, despite the pitched battle.

A wounded veteran, deprived of their gun, who had shining yellow eyes.

Tanya, out of time and options and ammunition and facing an enemy she couldn't defeat conventionally.

She blinked. The secret attack on Orsefjord, the sneak attack against her battalion following the encirclement of the Republic's troops in the Lowlands, and her first battle in Norden all flashed behind her eyes. They all seemed eerily relevant, and they all had something in common.

Yeah, that could work.

It would, at least, give the others time to get down here.

And, as Mary Sioux fired, Tanya didn't wait idly to die. She didn't put up an Active Barrier in an attempt to forestall an attack that could break anything she put in front of it and that was expecting a shield.

Instead, she did what she did best: she exceeded everyone's expectations.

She rushed forward and began to pump as much mana into her Type 97 as she could.

Sioux, with prayers pouring from her lips, fired, and Tanya was barely able to grunt as the round didn't impact her shields.

It went straight through her, and Tanya didn't stop.

Too late, the bitch realized what Tanya – who was beginning to feel lightheaded from the mana and exhaustion and pain – was trying to do.

She was too late to try to bring her own gun up between herself and Tanya, but she tried it anyway, letting a hand fall from her rifle to try and get some other weapon.

She failed.

Tanya was propelled forward with as much force as she could muster, and then she squeezed the girl who was now in her arms.

Her own Reinforcement spells were stronger than this girl's, who relied on Being X to keep her from dying so she could focus on killing his enemies.

Before she could pull some trick – like Tanya had when this girl's father had done the same – Tanya channeled mana into her fingertips, ripping through her gloves and into the girl. There would be no way for her to create an Active Barrier now.

Tanya continued to squeeze the life out of her – continued to squeeze even as she heard bones begin to pop and crack – and Tanya watched as the bitch cried out to Being X once more.

Tanya snarled, continuing to squeeze… as the Bloody Valkyrie's eyes began to glow red.

Tanya's glare faded.

Uh oh. That might be much wors-

BOOOOOOOM

-OxOxO-

She was falling, and she gasped as she was forced into consciousness. Someone was screaming 'Colonel' in the distance, but Tanya was tired, and even the distant roaring of something in her ears couldn't rouse her attention or mana or-

THUMP

Tanya was thrown out of her shock as yet more pain assaulted her body. Her vision was foggy, and it was dark and cold, with the new moon covered by the slightly overcast sky.

She took in deep breaths and tried to remember where she was. She wasn't falling, she was surrounded by trees, she could hear the sound of distant gunfire and-

She blinked and looked up. Flashes of light lit up the night sky, and she watched, horrified, as her decimated battalion was forced out of her sight.

She rubbed her hands together as best she could, suddenly aware of how alone she was and how little of her warm clothing was left and how much she was bleeding.

She took a deep breath and tried not to hyperventilate. She…

She was out of mana. She would have to pray to Being X again in order to retreat, and without the Bloody Valkyrie to fight, she would be sure to suffer from the mind-altering effects of the cursed Type 95.

On the plus side – she needed something to keep her warm, and some positive thought would do that – Tanya was fairly sure that, if that bitch thought she would kill Tanya by sacrificing herself, she was probably dead.

She tried to sit up, and she had to take another deep breath instead.

She couldn't move.

She was hoping that her spine or legs weren't broken, and that it was just her muscles or something related to an imbalance of hormones or mana or something, anything, but she honestly wasn't sure she-

Shouting interrupted her thoughts. The people – whatever mages the communists had managed to scrounge up – were coming down. They could probably chase her due to the residual mana and her unique, well-known mana signature.

Tanya gulped. This wasn't…

No, this wasn't just not good, this was bad. They were coming, and she didn't have any mana left. Even now, she was fighting not to give in to the despicable being of pure light and-

NO! She shook her head. She wouldn't give in to him, no matter what. She couldn't, she had-

The sound of heavy boots and heavier men impacting the ground was the last thing she heard, besides the blow to her head that someone delivered.

-OxOxO-

"I want her AWAKE!"

Tanya bolted up, trying to move. Someone was yelling, and she needed to stand at attention-

She couldn't. She looked down at herself-

She was… she was being operated on. There was a mass of open wounds on her legs, on her sides, at the place where Sioux had shot her. Her head whirled around.

Two men wearing sanitary face masks and medical scrubs were staring not at her open body or the implements in their hands – used by Medical Mages when healing patients, if she wasn't mistaken – but at a portly man in a military uniform with small, round glasses and an odd scar on his balding head.

One of them pulled down their face mask. "You may be responsible for our release, Loria, but we are not part of your NKVD. We will put her under and fix her, as our oaths compel us to."

Tanya's eyebrows furrowed. They-

They weren't speaking Germanian. They weren't speaking English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, or anything else she even vaguely recognized.

Her eyes widened. They- they were Russian. Or, they were speaking Russy, she supposed.

Then, she blinked, thinking about the specifics of what she'd just heard. She didn't know the language – though she had been thinking about asking Viktoriya for some lessons – she did remember her last life…

It sounded like he'd said four… syllables? Letters?

Four something, pronouncing them specifically. Four specific letters, with the last two sounding like 'V' and 'D'…

Her eyes widened. Was it their secret police? Enough reports told her that their famous NKVD was the only reason the battle for Moskva had been so protracted.

She began to fight against her restraints. Sense – because there was nothing common about this situation – indicated that she probably couldn't get out of here, and that the holes in her legs would ensure she wouldn't get far, but that didn't take into account who she was.

No, she'd killed many, many Communists personally. Hundreds, perhaps. They were going to torture her, and as long as she had even a moment to get away, she had to try and escape and-

"FINE!" the man shouted. He turned around, and Tanya belatedly realized they were all moving. Her surroundings didn't look like they were in a truck, but-

The doctor that had pulled his mask down shook his head and put it back on, and Tanya felt a haze begin to build in her mind.

She shifted her head to the left, to see that the other doctor was pressing some kind of tool to her head. She tried to protest, to tell them that they couldn't…

She could see the man's eyes wince. "Sorry," he said softly. She couldn't respond, and she lost the fight against unconsciousness.

-OxOxO-

They looked down at the camp, waiting for reinforcements. It had been hours since they'd been finally forced to retreat by the Federation's mages.

They waited to feel the pinging of mana signatures on the Observation spells.

They waited to see new troops arrive.

None of that happened, so they waited, for… something.

Anything.

Weiss looked to Viktoriya. As the Colonel's second-in-command, he might technically be supposed to give orders with the… disappearance of the Colonel, but they all knew that Viktoriya was the second best in their battalion, and that she was the closest to the Colonel.

No one begrudged her for wanting to take over operations for now.

He shook his head. Really, she would probably have won herself just as many awards and names as the Colonel had, if she wasn't overshadowed by her.

Of course, she also wouldn't have gotten as good as she had without the Colonel…

Their radios crackled, and those of them that were left all smiled. Viktoriya answered it, and-

"What are you doing? Land, now."

Viktoriya glanced incredulously at her radio. "But what about-"

A new voice came on the radio, just as familiar as the normal radio operator. "I will talk to you down here. Now."

Viktoriya couldn't resist the order, and she went down. The others – those that had survived – followed her. She took off her rifle and dropped it in the dirt, running towards a small, unassuming tent.

She shot a glance over her shoulder. "Do not put away your things yet. Wait for my order."

She disappeared, and Weiss glanced at Koenig and Neumann. They both seemed uncomfortable, and he wasn't much different.

He turned to the others. There were twelve of the 203rd left – five higher officers, including Tanya, and seven regulars – and it was… horrible to think about all they had lost.

He wouldn't lose more. "Baumer, you're in charge. We're following her."

The small, unassuming male mage nodded uncertainly, and Weiss took off, followed closely by Koenig and Neumann.

Viktoriya, meanwhile, was staring at the large tent in front of her. Standing orders were that no one was to go inside without orders, but…

She shook her head and pushed open the tent flap. She stared at the man in front of her.

Rerugen stared back at her.

He was not standing next to a map, nor was he helping a higher general. He wasn't standing near the radio, ready to contact the General Staff as his job dictated.

He was sitting in a chair, staring at the entrance she had just pushed open.

He was waiting for her.

"Sit, Serebryakov."

She walked closer to the table in front of him, but she did not sit. He sighed heavily, and he brought out a sealed brown envelope and stared at the table.

"These are your orders. We have sighted more mages in the north, and Moskva, despite heavy resistance, will fall any day now, especially without… the named mage that was just eliminated. Your troops will prove invaluable-"

"What about Tanya?"

He closed his eyes, and he sighed slowly, and he said, eventually, "Sit down, please."

Viktoriya's hands shook. "What about Tanya?"

He brought out another envelope. It was colored purple, and it reminded her of… the letter Tanya had gotten during her invitation to one of the Kaiser's holiday parties.

"This is an order containing the personal signature of many members in the General Staff, as well as from the Kaiser, Frederick Otto von Hohenzollern-Hapspurg. You are to go north and participate in the siege of-"

"WHAT ABOUT TANYA?!"

She heard boots pounding on the ground outside the tent, and she placed a hand on her Type 97. She didn't have a gun, but-

She calmed down. Weiss, Koenig, and Neumann were all there, glaring at Rerugen.

Viktoriya turned stiffly, and Rerugen sighed. He brought a plain white envelope out of his jacket next. "This…"

He took a heavy breath. "This is…"

Viktoriya slammed the table, and he jumped back, flinching away. He was terrified of her, of that damned girl's most faithful soldier, but he couldn't-

"Please. What about Tanya? You can't just-"

"Pray."

They blinked, and he looked at them- at her, in the eyes, for the first time. "Pray…?"

He took another deep breath and stared down at the table. "Pray that her last, final attack on her enemy forced the Oxygen from her lungs and burnt her into an unrecognizable crisp. Pray that her luck finally caught up with her and that she couldn't do anything to save herself from the fall. Pray that, when she hit the ground, she perished in an instant."

"Pray that your precious Colonel is in a better place than this cruel, horrid world."

He stood up. She noticed that his hair was unkempt, that his clothing was horribly unfitting, and that his breath stank of alcohol.

She noticed the fear in his eyes, and the terror coursing through him from facing her and… thinking of what Tanya might face.

"Pray, Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov, that Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff is dead."

She was stunned into silence, for a moment, and then she advanced on him, pushing him into his seat and standing over him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?"

He was whimpering again, but he just pointed at the white envelope. She took it up, tore it open, and let the other three read it over her shoulders.

He began to speak again, apparently well aware of what was on the paper. "Last year, when we finally took the last of their warm-water territory in Finlandia, we raided several NKVD bases. They were, apparently, off the books. We found proof – letters and missives and watch orders – that suggested something… horrible."

Viktoriya's hands began to shake as she heard his words and read the words on the piece of paper.

"Over time, as the summer wore on and turned into fall, a highly-placed NKVD officer turned traitor. He barely made it to our lines, and he provided us with facts about their secret service and how to exploit the cracks…"

Viktoriya shook her head as she read the paper. She looked up at Rerugen, but he was staring down at the table. "He also told us that the Head of the NKVD, Loria, was a… pedophile that has an obsession with… obtaining Colonel Degurechaff. Ever since her raid on Moskva, he has been doing everything within his power to increase the ability of the Federation to fight us off, all in the pursuit of the young Colonel."

She shook her head, but he just continued to stare down at the table.

Not…

Not Tanya. Never Tanya. N-

No.

She took a breath. No, she could not afford to panic right now. She needed her wits about her, and she needed to keep a calm head.

She stuffed the letter in her clothing, and headed towards the door. The others followed her, and they left Rerugen.

They got outside before he barreled out of the tent to stop them. "Wait, you can't just-"

She turned on him, furious. The others in the camp – men and women who fought on the ground in trenches or behind artillery or in tanks – were coming out, no doubt to gawk at Tanya or prepare for an offensive or… whatever.

She didn't give a shit about them.

Her hands were shaking violently, and she stomped over to her rifle. She snatched it off of the ground, and marched back to Rerugen.

He backtracked, but he hit… a wall. He turned around, and Neumann was standing in front of the tent, blocking his retreat. Rerugen turned back to her.

She could see his fear in his eyes, the-

She threw the rifle at his feet. He stopped silently praying to God, breathless, and looked up at her.

She ripped her Type 97 off of her neck, snapping the cord. She threw it at her feet and glared at him and crossed her arms. "There. There's nothing stopping you anymore."

He looked between the rifle and her, seemingly confused.

Viktoriya put on one of her nastiest smirks. "What, coward? You won't stop me? You'll huff and puff plenty, but the minute I dare you to shoot me for my insubordination, you bow out?"

He couldn't speak, and she turned, slowly, towards the rest of the staring camp. "Well? Will any of you shoot me? Imperial Doctrine orders soldiers to fire on known traitors if they are planning to disobey orders, if a commander is refusing to do the deed. I am planning to do that, to save her."

She whirled around. None of the regular soldiers were looking up anymore. She felt something stinging her eyes besides the harsh cold of the homeland she hadn't ever really known. "Will none of you try and stop us from saving Tanya's life? From saving Mithril? From saving a sixteen-year-old girl from the poisonous clutches of a monster?"

No one said anything. She kept spinning, building up more anger and hate and frustration and-

"WILL YOU!?"

They all flinched back, and she turned back to Rerugen. His head was bowed, and Viktoriya bent down to pick up her rifle and Computation Jewel.

"The Kaiser… the General Staff… they won't stand for this…"

She stopped, and she nearly collapsed at the thought. But she sank to her knees instead and grabbed Rerugen's face. She made sure he was staring at him in the eyes.

"Then they should be here, with us, freezing to death and dying for the country they profess to 'love' so much. They should be trying to save the best soldier – the best patriot – they've ever had instead of ordering us to hope that her corpse is too disfigured for that bastard to want anymore!"

He hunched down again, and Viktoriya stood up, adjusting her rifle. She walked over to the other seven, with Weiss, Koenig, and Neumann in tow.

"And what happens if you save her? And how can you? You'll still be shot for dereliction of duty!" he protested.

He prayed that they wouldn't throw themselves away. She was gone, and they couldn't change that.

Viktoriya scoffed. "I can track her anywhere, Rerugen. I am doing as ordered and attacking Moskva. Right now."

She bent down, preparing to launch. She sent him one last stone-cold glare. "As for your second concern, if they want me dead so badly, I'll put a pistol in the Kaiser's hands, and I'll dare him to shoot me himself!"

And then, they were gone. She was trying to resist the urge to go back and punt their liaison with the General Staff into the Urals so he could try and do half as good as Tanya had, but it was hard going.

Luckily, the others had a question for her. "Ah… Serebryakov… can you really…"

She took a deep breath, and then another. She prayed that this would work, that her Observation spell, pushed to the limit of what the Type 97 could do, and even beyond that limit, would find Tanya, would find-

Her eyes flew open, and then she knew. "Tanya is currently one kilometer outside Moskva, travelling at twenty kilometers an hour. They're travelling on a bumpy road, or they have a bad driver, based on the variation. She is… weak, so incredibly weak, but I can still track her as long as she has mana."

Weiss stared back at Grantz, to taunt him about his bet that they woul-

He turned back around when he noticed no one was there. Grantz was dead.

He was thinking about that for a long while, and then he took in a deep breath and stared forward, ready to-

He quickly altered his Flight spells as Viktoriya stopped abruptly. He stared at her shaking head.

"I… I can't feel her anymore…"

Then, she was gone again, going faster than ever. He hurried to catch up, hoping that she wasn't as good at this as she thought she was.

She could practically read his thoughts. "If… if she's…"

Her voice echoed through their Communication spells. "All of Moskva will burn if we cannot recover Tanya."

-OxOxO-

Tanya woke up slowly, and she began to run through what she liked to call her diagnostic ch-

"Guh-"

It was not an elegant sound, or even a meaningful one, as far as language went, but it certainly fit the characteristics of what someone hit in the side of the head might let out.

Her vision swam before her, but she didn't let herself fall into unconsciousness. She tried to look around, to understand the people around her.

"-rest! She is currently dying, Loria. If you don't give her time, then she will not last through the night!"

She couldn't understand them – why hadn't she asked Viktoriya for those lessons? – but one of the doctors was trailing them. He was mostly clean-shaven, with dark, restless, sunken eyes and a ratty head of hair that seemed like it went on forever.

Tanya only realized then that she wasn't walking, or being carried. She was being dragged across a cold floor.

She tried to find her feet-

"Ugh…" she ground out as her head was hit again. She heard the doctor curse – Viktoriya said some of the same words, when she let her anger get the best of her – but he soon stopped.

Tanya looked up. There were… two men, wearing red and black uniforms that seemed to resemble the one the man dragging her was wearing. They didn't even give Tanya a glance.

She eyed the handcuffs in their hands warily. They looked… normal enough, if a bit… brighter than regular metal, but-

"Restrain him, then do the same to her. Shoot him first, of course."

Tanya's eyes widened at the familiar words. Not Germanian, but English – Albish, it didn't matter. The first target was obvious, but-

She tried to use her flagging strength to warn the man behind her. If he could escape and get help…

She shouted out, told him to run in the languages she knew the word in, desperately tried to make signs of distress, and then-

"...Loria? What are you-"

His question was cut off with a grunt, and Tanya felt her arm twisted around. She was forced to look at the doctor.

He was wearing the cuffs – not delicate things that police of the future would carry, but thick, heavy, Medieval-style irons. He was staring down at them in shock, shaking.

She wanted to scream at him to run, to save her using his magic, but he just looked up from his chains as one of the men pulled out a pistol. He looked between her and the man and his executor.

He put his all into glaring at the man twisting Tanya's arm.

He snarled.

He scared Tanya with the fury, pain, and anger burning in his eyes.

"Burn in Hell. You-"

BANG!

Tanya watched as the defenseless man was executed, and Germanian reached her ears. "And so ends Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, the last vestige of the bourgeoisie and the despotic Tsars. Have his body burned."

Tanya blinked, and then she felt the cuffs that had been on him snap down on her own-

She began to choke. Where-

Where was her mana? Where had it gone? What-

"Ah, is my Germanian good, my little doll? I've been practicing especially for this moment." She looked up into the eyes of this… Head of the NKVD, confused.

He grinned at her. "Don't you know who I am, my little doll? Didn't…"

He saw confusion clouding her eyes more than her ongoing pain, and he shook his head and chuckled. "So you weren't even told? About me? Despite the fact that one of my highest officers turned traitor?"

She didn't look any less confused, and the balding man chuckled. "Well, this makes things interesting. I thought I would have to work at your terror, but progressing straight into fear is even better."

He grinned at her, and she recoiled as much as her handcuffs would allow her. While he talked, she realized they were Mithril.

In her last life, the metal had been invented for a fantasy book she couldn't remember the name of, but it had become a staple of stereotypical fantasies. Here, where she had gained it as a name, it was a bit more interesting than just being something to make armor out of.

It could be used to drain mana, though it was horribly expensive to manufacture. It-

"My little doll," he said unhappily. She winced minutely, and he shook his head, apparently… amused.

"My name is Loria, Tanya." He said it as if… as if he'd been practicing it. Staring at himself for hours as he said nothing but those words, over and over.

Tanya continued to stare up at the Head of the NKVD in confusion, and he smiled at her.

"There is no way out for you, Tanya," he whispered into her ear, she felt her eyebrows crumple in confusion, and he dragged her towards him.

"I love you, Tanya."

With those four words, Tanya's thoughts ceased for all of two seconds

Then, he tried to… to grab her, to lean forward unmistakably, and she panicked.

She rushed forward and bit down into his neck as hard as she could. Blood filled her mouth, and-

"You stupid little bitch!"

He shouted something, but the fist in her abdomen was more pressing than his words. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her stomach. She began to retch, and-

The blood in her mouth was forced out, along with the snack she'd eaten before going up against Sioux. It touched her hands and her knees and-

"Ho… look what you made me do, my little doll…" he trailed off, and Tanya found herself being dragged to her feet by the handcuffs.

She tried to use her momentum to plant her feet directly in his stomach, but he grabbed her throat. Her diminutive size was only helpful for avoiding bullets in the air, not in this kind of combat.

He whipped something out of his pocket and pressed it against her face. She felt her legs give out, and she was reminded of the vivid image of a specific chemical compound…

Chloroform…

It wouldn't knock her out in seconds like in the movies, but she wished, for a moment of terrifying certainty about what was coming, that it would.

Unconsciousness was better than what her mind told her was the logical endpoint of… this.

She tried to fight it, but she couldn't breathe through anything but the rag on her mouth and nose and…

And…

And…

She shook her head, trying to fight him off, trying to fight against the weakness, and Loria chuckled again. The rag came away stained in blood, and she tried to take in deep, heaving gulps of air and-

"Now now, my little doll. As we say, 'we are always pressed for time, here in Moskva.' Let me take you to… our room."

He was laughing now. He was maniacally laughing. He wasn't…

She was taking in more air. She had to breathe, to fight.

She couldn't.

No time, no energy, no thought beside fear and certainty.

She looked to her surroundings, desperately searching for a weapon or anything. Marble and stone and windows that showed a dark street with craters where shells had hit. She caught a glimpse of a red flag through a window, emblazoned with the yellow tools of the Communists of this world and illuminated by the light of the hallway she was being dragged through.

She turned her attention towards the hall. There were…

Her eyes widened as much as they could. Propaganda – red and yellow flags and symbols – could be seen everywhere, but they weren't important.

There were guards. She…

She was still breathing in and out and in and out and in and out and-

"Ah, the panic is setting in. I wanted to take this so much slower, you know…"

She shook her head and tried to stand, to look to one of the unmoving guards, to-

"I was going to break your will. Torture you slowly, and take pleasure in your every fear, every mote of panic. In the end, you would ask for me to take you, to make everything go away!"

She paused in her struggle and tried to digest what he'd just said, and she fought all the harder against her cuffs, sending pain through her arms trying to pull away. He just pulled her back, and she hit her head against the ground as she stumbled.

"…went wrong. The damned Albish had to fight their colonies and didn't want to aid us until they had prepared. The damned American's wouldn't join us without provocation, and they were far too late. Too many damned mages died in the lageri because the damned Empire took too long playing in the sand down south with the damned Francois and you didn't reveal yourself to me until after that…"

She was shaking her head, and he dragged her past a guard. She went to grab his leg-

She grunted in pain, and she realized that she had been kicked in the stomach. She doubled over again, retching uselessly, and Loria laughed.

"You think I haven't thought of everything? These men despise you for what you've done to the Federation. They'd sooner join me than help you."

She shook her head to try and clear it, to try and come up with a plan, but the sickening sound of doors being opened reached her ears. She-

She pushed, she tugged, she fought with every ounce of her strength and no mana and-

CRACK

She felt something in her arm twist wrong, and she cried out. The doors were shut, and she felt herself flying through the air and landing on a too-soft bed.

She looked around. Red and yellow dominated every facet of this opulent room, and-

She shook her head and tried to back up and ignore her broken arm as Loria smirked at her. No, nothing in the room came close to Loria in presence. He grinned at her, and she backed into the headboard, trying to grasp at anything that could-

He ran towards her, and she flinched away. He-

He grabbed her cuffs and attached them to something behind her head. She tried to turn around-

BANG

She flinched, and she cried out for a moment before she choked it back.

Wide-eyed, she looked down to see that her leg had been shot. Loria was grinning at her with a pistol in hand-

She launched herself forward, ignoring the pain in her leg and arm and wrists and body to get the gun, to shoot him, to-

He laughed again and threw it to the other side of the room. She couldn't ignore the pain anymore, and she gasped out.

He laughed harder, and then the cloth was back, strangling her, choking the air from her lungs and-

And he was laughing laughing laughing laughing.

And then he stopped.

She felt something wet touch her forehead, and she pressed herself away from his suddenly too-close body.

He'd kissed her head.

She was shaking now – why couldn't she stop shaking? why couldn't she think? why why why why – and he wiped his mouth and stared down at her. She couldn't move, she could hardly think because of that damned Chloroform.

He sighed. "You are safe from outsiders. This room… I spent millions on this room. It is lined with Mithril. Every inch was painstakingly made so that no matter what, you, Tanya von Degurechaff, would not escape me."

He chuckled. "I sent millions to their deaths so that Moskva didn't fall. I put every volunteer the imperialist scum sent us between the Empire and Moskva. I spent millions in cash putting every man, woman, child, mage, gun, and tank in the Federation between the Empire and this room, all so that you. Would. Be. Mine."

He silently stared at her, for a moment, before advancing.

"Now, let me get you out of those ruined, soaked clothes." He said it mockingly, with a tone that said he was trying to be sincere and that still seemed too nice and fake and false-

She shook her head, trying to back away, to get away from him, to do anything-

She couldn't. She…

She was helplessly trapped in her own mind, hardly able to comprehend him slipping her out of her tattered jacket, pulling off what the doctors had left intact.

Then, he pulled off her tattered uniform and jacket and-

It was cold. She didn't have her mana, and everything was so, so cold and she couldn't do anything and she was trapped and-

"Tanya von Degurechaff…"

She was helpless and she couldn't do anything but watch as she was violated raped tortured-

"You are mine!" he shouted. He stepped forward and reached down towards his belt. Her shaking head only shook more.

His pants dropped, and she retreated farther, trying to fight the Chloroform and him and get away get away get away-

He grabbed a flailing leg with one arm and snapped it straight. She cried out, yelling nothing, and he laughed as he secured it to the bed. She stopped flailing, trying to use her last limb to keep herself hidden modest safe-

He didn't care. He grabbed the other leg, he snapped it into place, and he looked at her. She was crying, and her head was still shaking back and forth and she was-

Spread eagle.

Naked.

Defenseless.

He licked his lips and he advanced towards the bed and she shook harder against her restraints and against the pain. "You belong only to me, Tanya von Degurechaff, and, for the last hours of your life, I am your master!"

She was still hyperventilating and shaking her head and trying to get away from him to make him stop to stop stop stop stop stop-

She was crying, shaking her head. Her lips quivered, she-

He stepped closer.

She broke. She was sobbing. She-

He grabbed a bedpost.

She was crying. She-

He smiled.

She was begging.

"Please! Please! I'll do anything! Just please, save me!"

He continued to laugh at her. He dragged himself onto the bed, inching closer. He touched her thigh-

"Oh God, please, SAVE ME! Don't abandon me! I give up, just save me! AN- ANYTHING ELSE! Deliver me from here, please P- PLEASE PLEASE-"

He just grinned and lowered a hand and lined up and inched forward and no no no no no no no-

CRASH

He had not done it and he whirled around, but she didn't couldn't wouldn't stop. "PLEASE! WHERE ARE YOU GOD DO NOT ABANDON ME DO NOT LEAVE ME! PLEASE!"

BANG

Tanya stopped, for a moment. Just outside the room were not more men to join in, but Viktoriya and Neumann and Weiss and Koenig and-

They saw her staring at her looking at her they saw they were seeing no no no no no-

Viktoriya was holding up a pistol, pointing it at him. There was a bleeding hole in his shoulder. He cast a surprised look at it and-

He turned to her and no no not again, please no never again no please "PLEASE STOP STOP STOP SAVE ME ANYONE PLEASE-"

And he was gone and everything was cold and naked and bare to the world and why why why why-

"Tanya?"

She jerked away. "NO NEVER NEVER PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-"

"COLONEL!"

And she was back and everything was clear and…

She wasn't chained up. She was swathed in a blanket, but she could move and stay hidden and hide under it. He wasn't there.

Viktoriya was staring into her eyes. Weiss and Koenig and Neumann were standing around the room, glancing at her and-

"SHE'S MINE! GIVE ME BACK MY DOLL!"

Tanya flinched away, back to the back of the bed and shaking, and Weiss stomped on something.

She took a breath, and then another and another and another another another and in out in out in out in out in it was coming in into her in out in out in out-

"Please, Colonel. Breathe slowly." Viktoriya took one of Tanya's hands in her own, and her breathing evened out.

In. Out. In. Out.

She was calm and fine and okay. She looked at Viktoriya…

She was crying too, and trying not to. She was bleeding from what looked to be a gunshot to one of her arms.

Viktoriya made no sudden movements, so Tanya did. She leaned forward, into her adjutant. She grabbed her, covered her shoulders with the same blanket Tanya had on, and she leaned into her shoulder.

She wept.

"Please. Never again. Please, don't do it. Please, why didn't you save me-"

Viktoriya choked back a sob, and Tanya winced and gripped her all the harder.

Where was He? Where was…

Where was God?

She'd meant it. She'd believed. Why hadn't He saved her? Had she cried out to Him too late?

"Colonel, I'll always save you. No matter what, we'll be together. I'll always have your back, no matter what." She spoke into her shoulder, and Tanya kept crying and crying and crying and-

"GIVE IT BA-"

Weiss stomped down again, and Tanya pulled away. Viktoriya looked torn, for a moment.

"I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE INSIDE YOU, DOLL! I NEED TO KNOW! YOU ARE MINE, FROM NOW UNTIL THE END-"

She rose from the bed, and Tanya flinched away as the blank look on her face, so wonderful for poker, gained a cold aspect to it.

Viktoriya was no longer torn.

Weiss shut him up again. He dragged the man up from where they had slammed him into the ground. A thousand insults and ways to kill him using magic and his weapons and his bare hands flashed through his head and-

Viktoriya grabbed Weiss's arm and stared him in the eye.

"Leave. I do not imagine protecting this place with seven mages is easy. Go help the others."

Tanya blinked, and the sound of gunfire and explosions finally reached her ears. She took another deep breath, trying not to think to imagine in out in out i-

She was in Moskva, with… him. He was there, staring at her, wanting her waiting please no no-

When Tanya began shaking, Weiss did not reject the orders, and he fled the room, quickly followed by Koenig and Neumann. The door slammed shut, and Loria, dropped on the ground, grinned up at Viktoriya, despite the bloodied face and shoulder and bruises.

"Do you want her, I wonder? I could easily let you help m-"

She kicked him in the stomach before he could finish. She kicked him again, and again, and more and more until she finally launched him into a wall, her fingers itching for his neck.

He was coughing up blood, but she was not done. She bent down, and dragged him into the air, knocking all of the ornamentation on the wall to the side.

He opened his mouth, and Viktoriya reacted. "Dehydrate."

The word wasn't necessary, but she said it anyway, so he would know-

It didn't work, and he laughed through the blood, his eyes pointing over her shoulder-

Viktoriya slammed a fist into her throat, squeezing as hard as she could. When his face began to purple, and his eyes finally looked at her, instead of at the Colonel, she let him drop.

"Now that your vocal cords are too damaged for you to dare hurt Tanya with words, I believe that there are several million displaced Russy that desire your death."

She glared at him, and he recoiled. "I will gladly carry out their will."

Tanya watched, entranced, as Viktoriya lifted him by the neck and slammed him into the ground. He cried out, but Viktoriya didn't care.

She sat next to his writhing body, and Tanya watched – and rocked back and forth and back and forth – as an Observation spell sputtered and then failed. She growled and glared down into his eyes. "First, for maximum pain before I really start, I will make sure you can't ever hurt her again."

She took the bayonet that had been attached to her rifle and jabbed it into his hand. He cried out feebly again, but she didn't let move the hand that was holding down his body effortlessly. "I will break every bone in your hands, your arms, your feet, and your legs."

She stabbed him in the leg, and he writhed more. "Then… then, I will run my blade over every inch of your body for what you've done."

He cried out as she stabbed down into his other leg, and she sighed. "You deserve worse, but you won't even get that thanks to your location. That'll just give me motivation, though."

She stared into his bulging eyes once more, decided she didn't like what she saw, and began.

Twenty minutes of his tortured screaming later, Tanya, clutched against Viktoriya's body, was showered in broken masonry as they exploded out of the ceiling of the room and into the night.

She was shivering – she would not look at a single article of clothing in that horror house and wouldn't put it on and wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't – but she was alive.

But she was broken and pathetic and-

She was in Viktoriya's arms, and they were racing… anywhere but here. Away, towards a hospital or a warm bed or a secure tent or a hole in the ground, as long as he hadn't been anywhere near it.

She cried out at every gun flash, at every death caused by their attempt to rescue her, until she couldn't go on any longer. Tanya faded into unconsciousness.

-OxOxO-OxOxO-

Viktoriya sighed tiredly. "After that, we went to our allies in Ucraine to rest. I went to Berun, for a short few hours, and Tanya spent nearly a month healing – two weeks physically and an additional week and a half mentally – and then…"

She smiled sadly. "We went to a city called Dresdun. She was to meet my friend Elya Roth and have her first taste of alcohol, but the Cordiale attacked. She died instantly, and I died a few minutes later, killing as many of the bastards as I could."

Tanya was quietly leaning into Viktoriya's side, trying not to cry too much.

She wasn't doing very well on that front, but at least she was being quiet about it. And, she was more busy thinking than trying not to cry.

She'd…

She'd done it. She'd told them everything.

She'd admitted to them that she had nearly been raped, that she had been terrified and petrified and… broken, and that she had given in to the allure of Being X.

She had broken her promises to herself never, never, to acknowledge him as god. She'd tried to use him to get out of the most degrading, horrifying thing she had ever been forced into.

She had lost. She had given in to him, and she had been forced to realize what being trapped in a body not her own meant.

Viktoriya rubbed Tanya's head. "She woke up here, and I arrived nearly two months later. Aqua sent us here-"

Lorelei, for the first time, held up a hand. "Do you mean the actual Goddess Aqua, or…?" she asked quietly, her eyes glued to Tanya. Lorelei didn't want to say something that suggested that that idiot in the shop-

Viktoriya giggled. "Ah, they are one and the same, actually. Kazuma brought her down as his designated 'cheat item.'"

Lorelei stared at her for a moment, and then she nodded slowly, and Tanya took another deep breath.

"I…"

She smiled humorlessly. "I never knew you were all so worked up about me…"

She hadn't ever asked about what they had done – she hadn't learned that they'd rushed straight from camp to save her – in her effort to forget what had happened. Understandable, perhaps, but-

Viktoriya sighed tiredly. "Tanya… of course we'd be devastated. I-"

She winced at the confused look Tanya sent her, and she began to slowly eke out her next sentence. "I did go to Berun, when you slipped into a coma, and I… um…"

Tanya raised a concerned eyebrow. Viktoriya gave her an apologetic smile. "I put a gun in the Kaiser's hand, moved it to my forehead, and… dared him to shoot me? In front of the General Staff and his court?" she said. After every word, her tone increased in pitch as she moved back slightly.

Tanya blinked incomprehensibly at her for a moment, until she glared frantically. "Wh- Why would you do that!? You technically completed their order, and-"

She bit back another sob, and Viktoriya drifted closer. "I- I can't lose you, after I've broken, I n-"

Viktoriya hugged her swiftly, and Tanya grew silent.

"Tanya, you are here. You didn't break, and you're not worthless, or tarnished, or anything like that. You might not be okay now, and you won't ever forget it, but you will get better. I promise."

She leaned into it and hugged her back. Viktoriya rested Tanya's head in the crook of her neck. "I won't let you get into a situation like that again. You'll never have to think about… about compromising your body instead of breaking your promise, or the other way around either."

"I…" she trailed off, and she sighed resolutely. "We'll always be by your side. We'll always protect you, like you'd do for us."

She wanted, for a moment, to refute her. To point out that she couldn't keep those promises, that Tanya would always be in danger, and that Viktoriya couldn't guarantee that they would protect her.

She wanted to ask. She hadn't ever wanted to know how they'd found her, and she didn't know how they could have found her, with all that Mithril.

Tanya didn't know if she wanted the answer.

Then she decided she didn't care about logic or unanswered questions right now. She let herself believe those words and buried her questions. She nodded to her friend. Things…

Things weren't okay with her, not totally. She was doing better, though, and she could continue getting better at living beyond her past and focusing on the future.

-OxOxO-

After trying to digest what they'd been told for half an hour, Lorelei and Lolisa had asked to be let out. Tanya, who had fallen asleep, was put under her covers and allowed to rest, while Viktoriya cleared up some confusion.

They did not, for a second, express even an inch of doubt, even if they were somewhat skeptical about a few things. Tanya had created her illusions using her 'Type 97,' which were so lifelike Lorelei couldn't have told the difference between them and the real deal.

Furthermore, Viktoriya's description of what she had done to the pedophile – and what she would have done to him, given enough time – convinced them that she might be scarier than Tanya.

Still, they had questions, so instead of doubting her words, they silently agreed to ask to be shown all the 'interesting' stuff from her world, to see what it all looked like.

Viktoriya easily agreed, and they saw images and things they'd never imagined.

Planes and Tanks and Battleships and guns and artillery and Computation Jewels were terrifying and reminded them of the Mobile Fortress Destroyer. They had promised to explain to Viktoriya what that was, too.

Now, Lorelei was showing Lolisa out of the house. Lolisa did her job as a Succubus to look after, of course, but she seemed… preoccupied.

Lorelei sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't try and get them together. Tanya is probably-"

She shook her head. "No," she said, correcting herself, "not probably. She is very traumatized by that, and she might not… you know… want anything like that. Including… with Viktoriya."

Traumatized didn't cover it, but it was all they really knew to call it. Lolisa seemed hesitant, for a moment, but she shook her head. "No, I really do think they'd do well together, and…"

She sighed at Lorelei's skeptical look. "Our powers aren't as wishy-washy as you might think. I am almost positive that Viktoriya wanted very much to admit to something back there. Did you hear the way she trailed off after saying 'I'? She changed her sentence to say 'We'. The whole thing says to me that they would be good for each other."

Lorelei sighed tiredly. "Fine. But Viktoriya seems pretty set on trying to find a guy to date. Even said something about talking to a Mitsurugi…"

Lolisa scowled. "I don't think he's been to the shop. I don't recognize the name. We'll need to sabotage-"

Lorelei shook her head. "No! If she's alright with him, we aren't going to interfere. She could be plenty happy with him."

Lolisa glared at her. "She'd be more happy with Tanya!"

"We can't interfere that much!"

"If they'll be happier afterwards, then why shouldn't we?"

They continued to stare unhappily at each other for a few moments, and then they sighed simultaneously.

After a moment, Lorelei waved goodbye. "See you later…" Lorelei muttered.

Lolisa grinned cheekily at her and waved back. "See ya!"

Lorelei watched her fly off into the night, and went back in. It was getting cold, and she wanted to go to bed and try not to think too hard about what she had been told.

Tanya was… nearly fifty years old, mentally. She'd been through more than anyone in this world likely had, and Lorelei didn't think she had the experience with… life in general to deal with this…

She had to try, though. They were her friends, and though Tanya had been the focus of tonight, she wasn't entirely sure that Viktoriya didn't also have some memories she'd rather not have.

She sighed. Those would all be problems for tomorrow. For now, she was going to try and get at least a few hours of sleep.

-OxOxO-

Predictably, breakfast was… a quiet affair. Shelly probably told the servants and the guards that something happened, if their… unusually nervous – well, more nervous than usual – actions were anything to go by. Tanya didn't honestly mind.

She sighed contentedly as she sipped on Viktoriya's coffee. She felt…

She stared down at her plate of half-eaten food – some Japanese dish she didn't care to remember the name of that she'd shown the chef – and frowned.

She felt better and worse. More people knew what had happened to her, what had almost been done to her, and she hated it.

She wished that no one knew she had given in, and that she could use one of Being X's stupid Divine Relics to go back in time a stop it from ever happening at all.

At the same time… it felt… good not to have to… repress it anymore. They knew, sure, but she… she didn't have to pretend that it hadn't happened.

It had, and she'd never hate anything more than that thing, but her friends knew, and they knew why it was doubly disgusting, to have been scared of being r- raped enough to give in to Being X.

She sighed.

She could… move past it. It wasn't trapped inside her, which meant that she could try to learn to leave it behind her, now that it wasn't so close.

Hopefully, anyway. She wasn't an expert on these sorts of things, and she had a sneaking suspicion that the most anyone here could do for her is cast Heal in the hope that it worked on mental trauma as well.

She looked up from her food and pushed it aside. "Come on. We've got work to do!" she declared.

Viktoriya smiled at her from across the table and rose as well, while Lorelei simply raised an eyebrow at them both. "We do?"

Tanya nodded. "I… well, despite how it ended, I'm… fairly sure I won that competition yesterday, so I want to go to that Crimson Demon and learn how to make magic items."

Tanya heard the sound of spraying liquid, and she offered a napkin to the pair of them without turning around. She looked over her shoulder to see that they were both staring at her with… concern in their eyes.

She smiled happily. "I'm fine, really. I feel…"

She smiled genuinely. "I feel… more free."

Lorelei and Viktoriya shot each other dubious looks, but they quickly followed Tanya to their rooms, where they donned their adventuring clothing.

Tanya came out looking feeling fine and-

"Ah… Tanya, do you need new clothing?"

Tanya blinked and looked down, trying to see if anything felt as uncomfortable as Lorelei seemed to think it did. She frowned.

"Well… I suppose that my pants are feeling a bit tight, but everything else seems okay to me…"

Lorelei squinted at her, and asked her what her clothing's measurements were. Tanya raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You already know my measurements."

That did not satisfy her, and after a moment, Tanya told her.

Lorelei shook her head. "All of the things you're wearing are too small, besides maybe the mantle. I should have expected as much from someone masquerading as a girl."

Tanya raised an eyebrow and held up a hand as they walked towards the west wing. "Hey, I don't want anything different. Just-"

Lorelei scoffed. "Of course. But… your gloves are carrying daggers, right?"

Tanya blinked in surprise. They didn't poke out, so how-

Lorelei smiled at her. "I was training to be a Tailor, Tanya. I might have had to give up most of my skills to switch to being a Warrior, but I still know a thing or two that changing Jobs can't take away, and I can… tell. I'll make some additions to that, maybe I'll…"

Tanya just sighed as she got on her bandolier with her spare ammunition and other items.

She snapped her fingers. "Viktoriya, did you-"

Tanya's voice cut off as she realized she was glaring at Lorelei for some reason. Tanya took a wary step towards her, and waved her hand in front of her. "Houston to Sereryakov, do you copy?"

She blinked, and sent her the look nearly everyone did when Tanya said something about the future that they didn't understand. "What?"

Tanya opened her mouth to tell her to ignore her turn of phrase – Lorelei didn't know they were from a different world…

Then her eyes widened, and she smiled again. But she did, which meant Tanya could explain that to the girl.

Tanya shrugged and continued the conversation. "Well, I wanted to know if you grabbed the Magic Canceler scrolls."

She shook her head, but Lorelei's head bobbed up and she grinned as she reached into her coat. "I did! Wiz was… apologetic, and offered them at a discounted price!"

Tanya looked at them and grinned. "Good. Then, I think it's time we meet that Crimson Demon."

They quickly left the mansion, and Tanya turned to Viktoriya. "Ah, I wanted to know, Viktoriya."

She turned her head towards her, attentive and concerned and waiting for what would come out of her lips.

Tanya sighed, for a moment – she was still the Devil of the Rhine, no matter what had happened to her. She wasn't made of spun glass.

Still, she quickly asked her question. "How did you read the words on the back of the Body-Switching Relic?"

Viktoriya blinked owlishly, and she pouted, for a moment. "Um… I wanted to… you know, learn a bit of Japanese, so… I purchased a few of the books you translated, opened the originals, and tried my best to learn the language. You had a dictionary in there, too…"

Tanya's eyebrows rose, and then she shook her head. "I can teach you, you kno-"

She pouted again and began to sulk and pout adorably. "I know, but I wanted to surprise you for your birthday…"

Tanya blinked and tried not to make her whiplash too obvious. "You… were going to learn a whole language in less than a month… as a birthday present?"

She nodded slowly and muttered, "I wanted to do something special, since you're seventeen now…"

Tanya rolled her eyes. "You know that I'm actually closer to fifty mentally, right?"

They continued to talk for a bit longer – Tanya extracted a promise that they would learn each other's first languages in the next few months – unaware of the twitching of Lorelei's ears or the looks everyone else seemed to be sending them.

Based on the distrusting, suspicious, and, in a few cases, scandalized glares they were getting, she was guessing that one of the people from the restaurant they'd eaten at had talked about that blond-haired adventurer's accusation of them being Axis Cultists.

Of course, half of the people looking at them like that were also looking at her like that, so Lorelei decided not to care about the staring, like her friends…

Or were they just oblivious?

…Who was she kidding? Of course they were just oblivious and didn't real-

"WHAT!?"

Lorelei's attention jumped back towards the conversation to find that Tanya was nodding. "Yep! The Americans made it to the moon in '69. They planted their flag up there and everything!"

Lorelei was trying not to pick at her ears to see if Tanya had said what she thought she had, because-

"That's so cool!" she shouted, and they were talking about all of the advances in science and technology that Tanya had seen in the future, without even a hint of care about everyone around them.

Some would call that being self-assured. Lorelei would call it obliviousness, because they would probably both be scooting away from each other if they realized just what everyone else thought they were seeing.

Lorelei just sighed. Hopefully, Viktoriya wouldn't find out and think the entire town was in on Lorelei's attempts to get them together, or things might end up going very… badly.

Still. They were having a bit of fun, and Lorelei knew that Tanya deserved some of that.

-OxOxO-

Tanya raised an eyebrow at the assembled Succubi.

They were wearing unfamiliar clothing. Instead of their 'work' clothing – the skimpy fishnets that might count as clothing in the X-rated version of something like Mad Max – or even the more familiar clothes they chose to wear whenever they all visited, they seemed to be wearing something more… formal.

A mixture of suits and dresses adorned the Succubi arranged behind the one that was heading their procession. Standing in front of them, Lolisa had her head bowed. She was wearing a rather spiffy dress that completely hid the fact that she was a Succubus.

"We're very sorry for what we did! Um… I didn't tell them anything specific, other than that you had a very bad reaction to having your Mental Defense ring removed," she uttered quickly.

Tanya sighed. At least she wasn't kowtowing like Revi had. She cast a glance at Viktoriya…

Tanya tilted her head. She didn't seem all that soothed by their apology. Tanya turned her head to look at Lorelei with a raised eyebrow.

She was staring hard at the Succubi as well, but when Tanya looked closely, she sighed and joined the Succubi, her ears lowered with the rest of her body.

Tanya smiled appreciatively. "Really, this is…"

She frowned. She didn't want to dismiss their efforts – they seemed rather uncomfortable in such formal clothing – but she did want them to do a bit of work for her…

She smiled again. "Thank you all for the thought. Ah… if you all are uncomfortable as you look in that stuff-"

Tanya never got to finish her sentence as they all ripped their clothing off in a glorious display that had Lorelei clawing at her hair from the wasted, high-end clothing.

Meanwhile, Tanya was trying desperately to run through as many math problems and remember the most dry, boring pieces of paperwork from any of her last lives to distract herself from imagining them tearing off what little they had left on as well.

She cleared her throat. "WeLl-"

She coughed into her hand and tried to ignore how horribly her voice had just cracked. They were all staring at her, and she cleared her throat again. "Puberty."

She glowered at them as they all leveled a stare at her that told her they were about as convinced by that explanation as Tanya was that Being X was a rational, sane person.

She cleared her throat again. "Anyway… I'm not going to thank you – that would imply that what you did was in any way acceptable – but I did open up a bit, so I appreciate that outcome at least."

They all nodded, while Lolisa, clad in her tissue paper once more, stepped forward. "Are you… okay?"

Tanya beamed at her. "Yep! I'm feeling much better, actually-"

Lorelei leaned towards Lolisa and whispered loudly into her ear. "She probably hasn't properly digested it yet. She'll remember to be furious eventually."

Lolisa grew pale at that, and Tanya just rolled her eyes. Really, she was feeling better-

She frowned. Actually, had she already reached acceptance in the five stages of grief, or was she in denial?

Before she could contemplate that worrying thought – she didn't often deny anything about herself illogically – Lolisa spoke up. "Ah, as… um, compensation, we were wondering if you'd like good dreams?"

Before she could respond, Viktoriya stepped forward. Lolisa began to back away, and Lorelei placed herself between the Succubi and Viktoriya, looking like she was about to talk her down.

Tanya rolled her eyes. Honestly, how could anyone be scared of Viktoriya? She only brutally tortured people who deserved it like…

Like… like L- Lor- Loria…

Red and yellow and bedposts and no mana left and unending laughing ringing in her ears and…

And it was all in the past now. Loria was dead – killed by the woman next to Tanya – and she wasn't even in the same world she'd met him in. Some form of Communism wouldn't arrive in this world for over a century, if it ever came at all.

She took a deep breath, and she mentally thanked Viktoriya and Lorelei for having a standoff and drawing their attention away from her, even if it was genuine.

Tanya took another deep breath. Still, she needed to address their offer.

She placed a hand on Viktoriya's shoulder. "Viktoriya, come on. I'm not exactly opposed to the idea, but I don't think they'll be able to regardless, unless they want to remove the ring again."

Viktoriya stopped and turned on Tanya, wild confusion in her eyes. Tanya raised an eyebrow, while Lolisa quickly stepped to their side, eyeing the two of them. "Of course we can do that! The only reason we had to remove that ring was because we wanted to look at your dreams without your… consent."

Lolisa petered off at the end, and grimaced as memories of Lori- Loria made their way into her mind at her pronouncement of her last word. Honestly-

She blinked, going over the Succubus's statement. She glared at Lolisa quickly. "Hey. Why would you want to look at my dreams in the first place? And, now that I think about it, how did you even get into the mansion? The guards are the best they've ever been."

She crossed her arms and glared at the assembled Succubi and Lorelei. All of them looked like a rather large spell was hurtling towards them about to end them in a few seconds. Tanya was a rational person, however.

She'd give them a chance to explain themselves before that happened.

Then, suddenly, a great… scheming look passed between the Succubi and Lorelei. Lolisa stepped forward, and-

Tanya frowned and looked towards Viktoriya. She could feel the barest hints of what felt like uncontrolled mana.

Meanwhile, Lolisa had retreated back into the fold with the other Succubi, who were all cowering.

Tanya raised an eyebrow at Viktoriya when the burst of mana didn't abate for the longest time. "Serebryakov."

She blinked, and the mana died off. Tanya sighed in disgust, and Viktoriya tilted her head in confusion.

"Viktoriya, I might not be your commanding officer anymore, but our adventuring party does have standards. At least for us."

Tanya suppressed a smirk as Lorelei sent her an affronted glare at the insinuation that there were no standards for anyone else in their party, but she moved past the teasing and raised an eyebrow at Viktoriya. "Honestly, broadcasting mana like that without using a spell? Did I train you and fight by your side for nearly eight years or not?"

Viktoriya finally seemed to realize what Tanya was talking about, if her downtrodden expression was anything to go by, and Tanya sighed. "Well, whatever," she said as she turned to the others. "I'm still waiting for an explanation."

Lolisa thought quickly. She had been about to tell Tanya exactly why she had been there, thus forcing the issue out into the open, but the killing intent that Viktoriya had leveled at them had convinced her that doing so would probably get her blasted into oblivion.

She smirked. If she couldn't give the real explanation…

She stepped forward again, only this time, she looked at Lorelei with an expectant smile. The beastman blinked in confusion.

The other Succubi were not slow, and they were also staring at the beastman now. She dared to look at Tanya…

Who was now staring at her as well. Lorelei gave her a nervous smile, for a moment, until-

"You stupid Succubus! I'll dress you in a nun's habit if it's the last thing I do!" she shouted as she pounced on Lolisa. She was shaking her shoulders back and forth, glaring down at the tiny girl for trying to throw her under the cart, resisting the urge to pick her up and chuck her through-

"Lorelei…" came Tanya's warning, and she sighed. She stood up, dusting her clothing off, and tried to smile nervously.

Tanya didn't seem to buy it. Lorelei sent a glare over her shoulder at Lolisa, who stuck her tongue out.

Repressing the urge to jump her again, she rubbed the back of her head in a show of nervousness. It would buy her time as she tried to come up with some excuse. "Ah… well, I, um…"

She sighed again, letting her shoulders fall. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't trying to… use me… is all…"

Tanya merely raised an eyebrow. "'Use you?'"

She nodded, praying that she'd buy this. Somehow. "I was hoping you weren't trying to exploit my friendship to try and get away with something in the future, or that you didn't have expectations of me being in the employ of the Demon King. I was nervous, alright?"

Tanya shook her head, walking towards Lorelei. "Really? That's it? That's what this is all about?"

She nodded, and Tanya shook her head again. "Honestly, why would I try and use you?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but something about the way she had delivered that sentence seemed… off.

Tanya spun around and began to monologue. "Really, if I wanted to use someone to contact the Demon King, then I'd probably just talk to the obviously demonic Succubi or that Undead Mage that's taken up residence in the castle Verdia owned."

"Furthermore, if I wanted to exploit someone's friendship for power, I'd probably just talk to Darkness or Iris or Revi. They all have much more influence and power than you do."

Lorelei's confusion was now twisting into annoyance. "And, if I wanted the party to get stronger, I'd recruit or hire someone from the guild using my position as Governor to get the best of the best before I would try and manipulate you through our friendship. There really is no reason for me to want to exploit you in any way."

Twitch. Twitch.

Viktoriya, who had been watching Tanya's delivery with a fond smile, nearly burst out laughing as Lorelei's ears twitched. It was the slightest thing, but it reminded her so much of Tanya's odd strand of hair that she only just stopped herself.

"Hehehehehe…"

Her own ability at keeping a poker face in place did nothing to help the Succubi, who were all snickering at Lorelei, both from Tanya's speech and Lorelei's ears.

Tanya finished and twirled around, only to tilt her head. Lorelei seemed more irate than she had at the beginning, while the others seemed to be laughing at something.

Lorelei shook her head and uttered, "Gee, thanks," under her breath. Tanya mentally shrugged and turned to the Succubi.

"Speaking of the Demon King…" she began, waiting for the reaction of the others in the room.

Viktoriya already knew what was coming, and the lack of change in her facial expression proved that. The others, however, were not quite as nonreactive.

Lorelei was staring at Tanya with a concerned expression on her face, while the Succubi were either curious, confused, or, in the case of Lolisa, nervous.

She opened her mouth, and then she felt something in her chest clench. She scowled.

That damn contract was still affecting her, then? It was a bit hopeful that that problem would disappear with either the appearance of that crazed thing that took over her body, but…

She turned to Viktoriya, smiling.

"Could you tell them? I'm still bound by that contract, and I'd like to be more direct," she explained. Viktoriya nodded dutifully and stepped forward.

"…can one of you go to the Demon King with a message from Tanya please?" she asked. There was a moment of silence.

All of them appeared to be trying very hard not to react, if the involuntary twitch of eyes, noses, and tails was anything to go by.

Lolisa stepped forward. "Um… can we ask why?"

Tanya nodded towards Viktoriya, who snapped her heels together, as if she were giving a report on the 203rd's latest battle. "Of course. We're thinking of joining him if it looks like Belzerg will lose, so we've been cultivating allies on both sides of this conflict. She needs one of you to deliver a message for her about recent… events. Does that clear things up?" she said, finished her statement with a question and an innocent expression.

Pandemonium.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh come ON! I wanted to avoid that stereotype, you stupid-"

"There's been a stalemate for over thirty years, and you decide that now is the best time to be splitting hairs?"

Tanya weathered the scorn – directed at them both in equal measure – all with a mirthful smile as she gazed at Viktoriya. She knew the power a few words could have – her leadership the 203rd and the Salamander Kampfgruppe showed that.

She had worked soldiers in a frenzy, bolstered their spirits, but she hadn't ever considered the chaos a few well-placed words could cause, mostly because she was rarely in a position for that sort of thing to occur… without having seriously negative consequences.

She supposed that was a result of her general disdain for chaos… but having a bit of fun was fine every once in a while, as long as it didn't do any lasting damage.

"Ah, also, if you all can't help, there might be dire consequences…" Viktoriya added. Tanya nodded along.

She- uh… one in her position had already struck a deal with the Demon King, after all. Or, he'd sent said person a letter. Such a person would want to cultivate allies on both sides, and said person might not have responded yet.

Tanya blinked her eyes, and she realized that Lorelei was now standing in front of her, peering down at her with an expression that was rapidly shifting away from worried to scared.

Tanya tilted her head. "You alright, Lorelei? If you want an explanation, I could provide one later, but-"

She opened her mouth, for a moment, and then she snapped it shut with a snap. She twirled away, and Tanya found herself staring at the Succubi once more.

"Yeah, you all really should do this. You invaded her dreams, after all. It might have been at my request, but I couldn't have done any of that without you," she said.

Tanya's brow furrowed – Lorelei sounded really vindictive, for some odd reason – but she was distracted as, once more, Lolisa was pushed forward appeasingly like a piece of meat. She smiled nervously. "Uh… are you sure you won't just settle for some good dreams?"

Tanya shrugged. "Oh, well… I suppose that, if you can provide generally good dreams, with no specific alterations beyond giving them a positive tilt, then sure, but otherwise, I don't want any."

She wasn't at all disparaging of their business and what they did for other adventurers, but she wanted no part in anything explicit. At least, not until she got the item she wanted.

Lolisa raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You know, if you're so interested in getting that item, we could always provide you with some very nice fanta-"

"Completely sure."

That ended that conversation, and Tanya sighed. "Look, if you won't take the message, then… someone in my position will probably either have to go there themselves or talk to the Undead Mage inhabiting Verdia's Castle."

For a moment, it seemed that they would refuse.

Then, something must have occurred to them, as Lolisa asked for a bit of time for deliberation. Tanya nodded agreeably and turned her thoughts to other matters.

It would be lunch time in a few hours, and she was looking forward to enjoying it. She'd taught the chef about another Japanese dish. He seemed very eager to learn about the dishes she knew of, and it warmed her heart to know that someone so devoted to their art was also able to survive Alderp.

Meanwhile, the Succubi had come to a consensus. Lolisa stepped forward and bowed at the waist. "We'll take it, if you allow us to give you generally good dreams. We won't change the subject matter, unless you're having some sort of nightmare."

Tanya nodded, and then she gazed at them speculatively. "Have you all ever thought of being counselors?"

They blinked, and Tanya nodded. "Being able to help people with PT- I mean, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – or many mental disorders, really – would probably stop people from going to the Tranquility Girls to commit suicide, if nothing else, and-"

The moment the word 'Tranquility' had passed through her mouth, the Succubi had all begun grinning evilly at each other. Tanya's smile became just a bit strained as she realized that, while they might be primarily beings concerned with lust, they probably didn't mind getting some other emotions concerned with revenge.

Tanya shook her head. They were just about done here. "Anyway, I'll hire a Mage to Teleport however many of you are going as close to the front lines as I can get you."

They all glanced at each other nervously. "Ah, Tanya… we really shouldn't use Teleport. Our Luck is horrible, since we're Demons, so-"

Tanya cut Receptionist Succubus off. "Don't worry. I'll make sure they're in a secure location, or I can even ask them to come here. There-"

Tanya stopped. She had been about to say 'there's nothing to worry about,' but her experience in the Capital had shown her that if she dared some so-called goddess to align the universe to spite her, they definitely would.

She sighed. "Well, I'll mitigate as much risk as I can, anyway. Would that be alright?"

They looked at each other, and, one by one, they nodded. Tanya smiled and turned to the door.

"Excellent! Come on, you two." She motioned to the other two as she brought a letter out of a pocket and deposited it in Lolisa's hands. She spun around, followed by the other two.

With that, she left the room, talking all the while. "Now, while this might sound weird, Lorelei… one in my position has been attempting to make sure that, no matter which way this war goes, they would be safe regardless. Said person couldn't do this in their last life for a number of reasons, but they would be more than…"

The room grew silent, but they stood there, looking at each other. Only after hearing the backdoor to their establishment close did they breathe a collective sigh of relief.

"Jesus, that was scary! How can she be so intimidating?" asked one. Lolisa just shrugged stormily.

Serebryakov had proved herself just as dangerous as Tanya. Her looks and threats had forced them into doing something they hadn't done, ever.

They were going to reveal themselves to the Demon King. Throughout the twenty-odd years the shop had been around and grown, they had stayed hidden from the conflict that they only enjoyed because it took scrutiny away from their home.

They didn't want to be used by the Demon King to collect information or spy or fight. They were here to live well and run their business. But…

Lolisa didn't fight the urge to drool. Oh, if they could just get them to look at each other speculatively…

She shivered. That was why they were doing this. If they did this, and if they did other tasks for Degurechaff, then they might eventually gain enough of her trust to get her to listen to them over Viktoriya, or even just let them speak to her alone for more than two goddamn minutes and explain that she really should get bizzay with her friend.

She shook her head and looked at the letter in her hands. Still, they'd need to travel to the Demon King.

She shivered. It was worth it, in the long term. She just had to keep that in mind…

-OxOxO-

A/N 2: Yeehaw! Sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long – this stupid quarantine isn't helping my writing productivity, surprisingly enough.

Ah well. I hope that the reveal was worth the wait, and that you enjoyed Tanya getting some… help with her self image? Not sure how to word it, but everyone's supportive of her after her trauma, which is nice.

Anyway, the next chapter is coming sooner.

A/N 3: Also, for those of you wondering: I chose Mizuho Wakatsuki as her name because… when I looked at the 'Japanese given names' and 'Japanese family names' articles on Wikipedia, no one was named that, which means it's not the name of someone famous. Also, because neither of the names mean anything particularly special, as far as my research told me.

In other words, it's neither a special name that would make him stand out, nor is it a name that's known for being overly generic like 'Satou' or 'Suzuki' or something.

A/N 4: Ah, and, as a bit of compensation for taking so long on the update, I've posted the beginning of 'Five Most Loyal,' a side story to this one that's important enough to need to be separate from the Omake series.

I couldn't post it before this chapter because, well, spoilers.

It isn't technically necessary to continue to read this, just like the Omakes, but it will have a much heavier impact on the main story than the Omakes, which is why it's separate. The reason why will be pretty obvious once you start reading it.

A/N 5: Oh, and one last thing:

I'm not going to respond to reviews as much anymore.

It's not because there's hate or flames or anything like that – really, it's been surprising how much I haven't been flamed for this – but…

Look, I had this chapter mostly ready to go four weeks ago, but the thought of going through the reviews and responding to them psyched me out so much that I just didn't feel like posting.

For four weeks.

So… yeah. If there's something particularly important I feel the need to respond to, I will, but, for the most part, don't expect to see many responses. I feel that you all will appreciate more chapters instead of responses, right?

With that said…

Number Sixty-Six: Gasing the Communists is not Canon.

My idea was that gas attacks were probably banned like in the Hague Conventions of our time line, and that all the countries stuck with it due to… I don't know, some accident that kills civilians or something and very bad PR. However, a few scientists get the idea of a spell to use magic in chemistry instead of just in physics to create a spell to convert chemicals in the air into something more concentrated and deadly. General Staff need every leg up they can get over the Federation, so they take it.

Rule lawyers would say that the agreement didn't encompass magically created gas attacks, and, of course, Tanya couldn't really argue against orders from her superiors, especially since rule lawyers have backed it up. She's so against using the spell because she knows exactly how well the 'we were just following orders' defense works, and she showed a bit of genuine care for her men by declaring she'd take the fall.

tylermech66: Ah ha! I've been so very careful about that distinction! My time is now!

They are two separate things! Magazines are the things that hang off the bottom of the gun, while 'clips' – aka 'stripper clips' – are small pieces of metal that hold cartridges. You put clips in through the top part where empty cartridges come out to reload magazines instead of replacing the whole magazine. It's mostly done with rifles, as far as I'm aware.

That is why they refer to the clips as 'small pieces of metal' and why they thought it was a bit ridiculous to conserve them – they're designed to be pretty disposable.

Skallagrim has a good video on it on YouTube, it's where I first learned the distinction.