Divergence
TWELVE
Explosions lit up the sky above the snowy mountains, as once again battles were fought on the Empire's northern border. As troops battled on the ground, mages engaged in combat high above them.
"They're trying to sweep around us and bomb our troops!" Weiss yelled.
"Cut them off!" Visha barked.
"Someone stop those bombers!"
"Major Degurechaff took off to engage them..." Visha added.
"Well, that's handled," Aoi mused.
"Jink right!" Mary barked out the order as her comrade Helma desperately tried to get away from an enemy mage.
Helma Lennartz dodged right as instructed, and felt a surge of relief as Mary Sue nailed the enemy chasing her.
"No.." the man started as the magic bullet pierced him. There was an explosion, and he spiralled to earth, dead.
"Are you all right?" Mary demanded, seeing blood on the younger girl's overcoat.
"They winged me," Helma admitted, wobbling a bit in midair.
"Ma'am! I request permission to escort Helma back to camp," Mary shouted worriedly to Aoi, seeing the blood stain widening.
Aoi Rushmeister knew Mary was one of their strongest mages, they couldn't deprive themselves of that combat power... "No," she said then used the orb to radio, "Hilde, can you break free and get her there?"
"A moment," Hilde used her saber to cut an attacker down, then raced to their position. She helped support the young girl as they raced off.
"Did Mary kill whomever wounded her?" Minna Wilke demanded flatly, firing her rifle and dropping another attacker.
"Yes," Mary nodded.
"Good," Minna growled.
Aoi sometimes wonder if the girls would have as many crazy fans if the public knew how viscous they could get...
"We need support on the left flank! More enemy mages," Weiss barked.
"Ma'am?" Aoi radioed Tanya.
"Go," Tanya ordered as she blew up another bomber, "we've got things under control here. Visha, support them."
"Aye aye," Visha agreed as the group raced off.
'Once more into the breech,' Aoi thought as they flew into combat again. 'At least we're getting some incredible footage...'
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Classical music played, filling the theatre as the two women looked at each other tenderly in the soft lamp light.
The taller, buxom woman took the smaller blonde's hand.
Despite being smaller, the one woman clearly led the dance.
They spun and danced gracefully through the remnants of a party, as others looked on fondly.
Swinging out, then cuddling close... swaying gently together... then the film faded to black as the music wound down.
"WHAT," Tanya von Degurechaff yelped, having only just seen the new film.
"That was SO PRETTY," Mary Sue sighed as the group tromped out of the tent used as an improvised theatre.
"That was so moving," Weiss agreed.
"I never thought the Major could be so... romantic," Neumann offered.
"Agreed," Grantz nodded thoughtfully.
Tanya just pretended she didn't hear any of that. "Captain Rushmeister," she caught up to the other woman.
"Major," Aoi answered cautiously.
"I knew you were going to use the Christmas footage, but I didn't expect that," Tanya admitted as they walked to the mess hall.
"You didn't like it?" Aoi asked a bit nervously.
"It was..." Tanya couldn't not admit that, "quite beautiful. You arranged it very well."
"Thank you," Aoi flashed a smile. "Though we didn't need to edit much."
They both got coffee as Tanya asked her, "Has that already been sent out to the propaganda department?"
"Yes," Aoi nodded, "it will air along with the next Valkyrie film."
"I'm a bit nervous that it might not be well received in some quarters," Tanya admitted, "there are conservatives in command and elsewhere."
"I can't imagine it being an issue," Aoi waved it off.
"Well, let's hope," Tanya sighed. She also hoped that Visha wasn't feeling too embarrassed by all of this...
Meanwhile...
"YOU LOOKED SO COOL," Erika Hartman squealed.
Visha looked sheepish, "I suppose."
"I'm envious," Hilde remarked.
Visha found herself wondering if the other woman meant it. She seemed... more interested in Tanya than most.
"What was dancing with her like?" Mary Sue asked, also clearly a bit envious.
"She leads very well," Visha admitted.
"It's too bad you weren't dressed up," Hilma sighed.
"Eh?" Visha asked.
"Imagine the Major in a tuxedo!" Hilma suggested dreamily.
"Ooohhh," several of the girls murmured.
Hilde fanned herself, then sighed. "Maybe we can talk Aoi into dressing her up for a photo?" she suggested.
"Please!" Hilma nodded eagerly.
Visha wondered how the Major would react to discovering she had a fan club.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Colonel Erich von Rerugen saw the film along with members of command.
"Well... that was interesting," one General noted gruffly.
"Should we really be supporting this?" another asked.
Rerugen sighed, "It is already airing along with other new propaganda films."
General Hans von Zettour actually looked faintly amused. "I suspect the church is unhappy," he noted. "Two women and such."
"That and they disapprove of drinking and dancing in general," General Rudersdorf noted dryly.
"Well, Tanya doesn't drink, at least," Zettour noted.
"Please don't joke, sirs," Rerugen sighed.
Zettour just puffed his cigar.
"The northern operation... are we ready to move yet?" Rudersdorf asked Zettour quietly, so only the three of them heard.
"We should have everything in place soon," Zettour sighed. "The railways up there are in poor shape, getting the supplies up there has been tricky."
Unlike their enemies, the Empire believed in proper preparation. You couldn't just throw troops into battle, you needed adequate food, weapons and fuel too.
"Good, we need to break the stalemate up there," Rudersdorf grumped.
"We'll contact Major Degurechaff once we're ready... she'll be key to the operation," Zettour nodded thoughtfully.
"She'll be ready," Rerugen said calmly. Though he hoped that battl;e maniac wouldn't overdo it in the coming battle.
Up north, Tanya von Degurechaff sneezed.
"Getting a cold?" Visha asked as she poured coffee for her.
"No, it just came on suddenly," Tanya said.
"Someone must be talking about you," Visha teased.
"I'd be sneezing all the time," Tanya grumped.
Visha just chuckled.
Unaware that he was interrupting the 'battle maniac' drinking coffee and trying not to notice Visha's curves in her tight uniform, Rerugen lied, "I have total faith in her."
To be continued...
OMAKE. SEASON TWO IS COMING!
"We have a major announcement!" Tanya von Degurechaff declared.
"The SECOND SEASON of Youjo Senki/ the Saga of Tanya the Evil has been announced!" Viktoria Ivanovia Serebryakov continued.
"HURRAH!" the unit cheered loudly.
Reading from a cue card Tanya noted. "The second season will have Yutaka Uemura returning as director along with Yuji Hosogoe as chief animation director and character designer and Kenta Ihara as script writer at anime studio NUT. All of the lead voice cast members from the first anime season and the movie will be back as well in their respective roles."
There was another cheer.
Visha finished, "Stay tuned for further info on The Saga of Tanya the Evil season 2—including release timing and more—as it's announced."
"Hurrah!" they cheered again.
"All right everyone, back to work," Tanya ordered briskly.
Notes: Based on a news report posted on Crunchyroll, on June 19th.
Notes: Sorry, no new update. Decided to reformat the chapters...