A Saga of Tanya the Evil/The Irregular at Magic High School crossover.
I do not in any way, shape, or form lay claim to either of these works.
This is just a work of admiration from one fan, to those others that share the same interest.
The only characters or places I lay claim to are those solely of my own creation.
The war on obliviousness, preliminary bombardment.
Wednesday June 25th 6:00 AM
It was looking to be a good day, was the thought running through Tanya's mind as they sped their way towards the school. No major dilemmas besides dealing with her feelings for her former adjutant, no world shaking crisis to plan against. Even the first years were almost starting to resemble passable future participants under her tender guidance. The fact that she hadn't had to resort to a prolonged artillery barrage or burying them in an avalanche clearly showed that her skills as an instructor had only grown with time.
Tanya casts a furtive, covert glance to the side to admire her companion in profile. Visha was a treasure, indeed. A competent subordinate who learned quickly, whose loyalty was unquestioning and her ability to follow orders was without comparison. Sometimes, Tanya wondered if those were the traits that she was looking for in a romantic partner, as well? It was not something that until recently she had ever really thought about, in either life. When she was the Salaryman, romance and families were things that were unnecessary, and would be tackled when his rise up the corporate ladder dictated that they were needed to show the proper traits to further advance himself. And, obviously, until recently her childish body was not exactly producing the hormones that would drive such thoughts, and there was little chance that she would ever have the time to explore those thoughts, anyhow.
In some ways, she almost missed the simplicity of war, no matter how wasteful it was. At least her mind was not plagued with thoughts of what her companion might feel like in her arms, or what her lips might taste like. Nothing better to divert your mind from such thoughts than having to avoid an artillery bombardment, or take out a little nuisance like a bomber wing.
Those were the days.
Visha watches her former commander get lost in thought with a sense of contentment. It had become such a source of comfort, in an odd sort of way. There were times she wished she, herself, had the capacity for such deep, meaningful thoughts. Instead, she was constantly bombarded with pointless, distracting thoughts. Things like, how nice Tanya's hair looked today, or how cute that little smirk was. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, she could admit. Most people found it terrifying, but for her it had started to cause a liquid heat to pool in her gut. It was not unpleasant. It could even be said to be nice, at least in moderation.
All in all, she was rather happy with these days.
Soon, they are on their way towards the school, meeting up with Jane, Willa and Lisa along the way. It was a suggestion made from Jane, that since they all lived along what was roughly the same route, it only made sense for them to walk together. Or, as the other girls had found out the hard way, traveled at a good pace as Visha and Tanya pushed the other girls to keep their pace.
Not quite as satisfying as a forced march through snow covered mountains, but beggars can't be choosers, even Tanya had to concede.
Once they read the school, the girls scatter to their various classes, leaving Tanya and Visha to walk together to the class, chatting quietly among themselves about the little details of the previous day, and their upcoming plans for seeing to the training of the other first years.
It really was a shame that there wasn't any artillery to borrow for just a day or so.
Mind numbing terror is such a well proven teaching tool, after all.
The girls focus on their classes after that, meeting up with the others for their lunch again. Tanya keeps casting thoughtful glances in Jane's way while they stand in the line to get their food, even moving to make sure that she is between Jane and Visha. Needless to say, there are some raised eyebrows and knowing looks passed around between the other girls in the League while Jane just lets out a long-suffering sigh as she does her best not to earn the ire of the short blond ticking bomb.
Visha, of course, is too distracted by the sight of Tanya standing in front of her with her back straight, feet together and chest out. What it was doing to the posterior of her former commander was almost...Hypnotizing. To the point that Lisa has to actually repeat her question to get the distracted young woman to answer.
Visha blinks at Lisa who had just poked her with a knowing smirk on her face. "I said, what are your plans for the weekend, Visha?" Lisa asks, again.
Visha blushes a bit and casts one more look in Tanya's direction before turning to address Lisa properly. "I...Think that we might have plans this weekend. We are supposed to go see my doctor after school, and she said that she might need to see me over the weekend."
Willa and Lisa look at each other, then back at Visha before Lisa continues "Ahh, I see. And Tanya is going to be going with you?" At Visha's happy little nod Lisa laughs softly. "I'm glad that she is taking such good care of you, she must really care for you."
The two girls watch with amusement as Visha's face flushes and she waves her hands "Oh, no no, it's just that she always takes care of those who work under her. I mean, yes, she cares, but not in any odd sort of way. You know, I'm going to be quiet now…" Visha goes quiet as she blushes.
Once again a knowing look is passed between the two, while all three of them basically ignore the antics that are going on in the line in front of them as Tanya does a disturbingly good job in intimidating the taller girl who she is totally not glaring at. After all, glaring is not a productive way to indicate your displeasure with someone. Pillboxes work so much better, after all.
Such thoughts are dispelled rather quickly when Tanya feels a familiar warm hand resting on her forearm. "Tanya? Are you going to get your lunch?" Visha asks.
Tanya blushes and nods as she takes her tray. "Of course. I was just...Lost in my thoughts for a moment. Something I was pondering."
Visha beams happily as Jane just watches the smile on Tanya's face before her own face goes a bit pale. Jane turns and grabs her plate, shuffling a little bit further ahead with a drawn look on her face.
The meal is tense, at least for Jane with Tanya pointedly ignoring her, except for the occasional quiet, contemplative look. Needless to say, it is with a mild sense of relief when the girls go their separate ways, with Tanya and Visha leaving from one entrance while the others leave from the opposite one.
"I never, ever want to be on her bad side again." Jane grouses as Lisa grins at her and Willa nods sadly.
"At least it's you and not me?" Willa says, drawing a betrayed look from Jane.
"She has a point, Jane. Neither of us could stand up to her if she was that...Miffed...with us." Lisa adds.
"I hate you both so much right now." Jane says as she sighs.
Lisa hugs her taller friend "It's ok, we still love you. We even promise to make sure you have a good funeral."
"I really hate you both right now…" Jane says with a defeated sigh.
"At least Tanya and Visha seem to be getting closer?" WIlla adds.
Jane sighs and walks off, as the other two look at each other, grin then hurry to catch up.
The rest of the classes pass in a timely manner for Tanya and Visha, as they both do their best to keep making up lost time to improve their grades. The flexible thinking and quick learning skills that both had honed in their years spent at war served them well in this, allowing them to at least close some of the gap.
Far from ideal, but at least it was a workable situation. And it was both of their longstanding tradition to make the best of what they had, and to punish fate for what it forced on them. That is after all what the White Silver and her Wing did best. It is what had kept them both alive through the hell that was the war, and brought them together to this time and place so very far from where they started.
As they walk towards the hospital and the meeting with the good doctor, Visha steels her resolve and looks at her former commander. "I...have been wondering something, it's been bothering me for some time now…"
"Oh? And what would that be, Visha?" Tanya asks as the two pause, meeting eye to eye.
"What...Do you think happened to the rest? All the men that we left behind when you sent us here?" Visha asks, suddenly finding her steepled fingers very interesting.
Tanya smirks and cocks her head to the side like the answer is obvious. "They survived, of course. Do you think that any of them would dare die, after all the time and effort I put into their training? I don't think so. No mages that I trained will lose to a paltry little thing like an entire world wanting their heads. No, those stubborn bastards will be fine. I have no doubt at all." She turns and starts to walk, looking back once at Visha. "We had best hurry or the good doctor will have even more time to figure out some crazy thing to inflict on us."
Visha smiles as she hurries up to walk alongside her companion, glancing once at the hand that she wants to hold, but finds herself unable to muster the courage to do it. "Of course! I never should have doubted them."
Tanya shakes her head, glancing at Visha then away quickly as her hand flexes just a bit before she clenches it. "No, you should never doubt us. The 203rd will prevail, no matter where we are, no matter what challenges that so-called God throws at us. Fate! Hah! We make our own, with our own two hands!"
"Right!" Visha courses as she finds new strength in her strides.
And all seemed just a bit better in the world.
The pair of them make their way into the hospital, heading for the offices of the good doctor while they enjoy the comfortable silence that settled over them. They were let in almost immediately, finding Doctor Schugel standing at the window, gazing out at the skyline.
"It's good that you two could make the time to come here today. We are going to be moving the testing to Facility One today." Doctor Schugel says as she turns to address the two young women.
"I see. And you want to brief us on what you have planned for the weekend, correct?" Tanya asks as she studies the good doctor.
"As astute as ever, I see. Yes, I have a little...Event..planned for the weekend, and I want to get Viktoriya cleared for duty, since I think that it will be an excellent chance to test what you two can do in concert, and how well your entropic manipulation works alongside others." Doctor Schugel answers as she adjusts her glasses, a gleam in her eye.
"Well then, I think that we are ready when you are. Lead the way, Doctor." Tanya says as she stands up just a bit straighter.
Visha, for her part, has partly zoned out as she studies the silhouette of her former commanding officer, her mind adrift for a moment until that intense gaze sweeps over her. Pulled back from the depths of dreams and fantasies, she shakes her head and nods "After you, Ma'am!"
With an amused little smirk Doctor Schugel leads her little troop of ducks to the garage and the private car waiting for them, to take them to Facility One. The drive is quiet, hardly surprising with the group that sits in the back of the vehicle.
As they make their way through the facility to the testing rooms, the lights suddenly go out, the red emergencies clicking on as an alarm sounds throughout the halls of the base. Doctor Schugel pulls out her suddenly ringing phone, snapping it open as she barks "Report!"
All three of them can hear the panicked voice of the duty technician. "Ma'am! The perimeter has been breached! We have hostiles inside of the facility!"
"Understood, stall them as long as you can. We are heading to Containment One." Doctor Schugel snaps, then looks at the other two. "It looks like you are going to get your clearance to engage, Viktoriya."
The grin that settles onto the normally angelic face of the former Devil of the Rhine is one that many have seen, often for the last time.
"So, it's time to hunt, is it?" Tanya says as they hurry towards war.