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.
Chapter 26, The Seven Schools Competition: A midsummer's night dream.
Sunday, August 1st 2094 10:00 PM
To say that the event that night had proven to be exhausting was probably an understatement. The popularity of Visha was hardly surprising, but no less draining for the former Devil of the Rhine. She laid her jacket on the back of the chair before she slumped in it and accepted the cup of coffee from the ever thoughtful Visha.
"Thank you, you always know exactly what I need." Tanya commented as she watched her companion fussing about with the carafe and laying out an appropriate selection of snacks. From the taste and smell, she could tell that Visha had snuck some of her secret stash of beans with her on the trip.
There was a reason that Tanya loved this woman, after all.
Visha, for her part, was feeling a bit flushed. The night had been fun, the food had been good, but the highpoint was spending time with her Argent while she was wearing the woman's dress suit that she had brought with her. There was something about the Argent in a well-fitted uniform or suit that always made her feel just a bit flushed. She cast another covert little gaze in the Argents direction, and nodded. Definitely an emotional support night. After all, she had to make sure that Tanya was ready for the competition tomorrow, right? That was, after all, one of her primary and most important duties.
"Would you like for me to draw you a bath, Tanya? Or would you prefer a shower tonight?" Visha asked as she set out the tray of snacks for her partner.
Tanya smiled and stretched "I think a shower, or I might just fall asleep. Don't want you to have to perform a marine rescue or anything." Tanya joked.
"I wouldn't mind saving you for once." Visha said with a smile that crinkled her nose in a way that Tanya had to admit was adorable.
Tanya blushed and looked away "Isn't it my job to save you, though…" she said quietly before eating a pastry.
"Did you say something?" Visha asked as she tried to get the zipper started on her dress.
"No, nothing. Here, let me help you with that." Tanya said as she stood up, and Visha turned away, brushing her hair out of the way for Tanya.
Tanya swallowed as she started to undo the dress, her pulse racing a bit more with each inch of Visha's supple back that was exposed, until the scar from the injury that almost took her from the Devil of the Rhine came into view. Tanya somberly touches it, tracing the edges lightly as Visha shivers at the touch.
"It's okay, Tanya. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere." Visha said as she looked over her shoulder at her shorter companion.
Tanya cleared her throat and nodded, the sudden rush of emotions making it a bit hard to speak at the moment.
Visha smiled and nodded her thanks as she stepped past Tanya to go change, resting a hand briefly on her companion's shoulder in passing.
Tanya watched her go, then took one last drink of her coffee to settle her frayed nerves.
It could be a long night, she mused.
Visha leaned out, and smiled at her friend "I was wondering, since the shower is rather large, maybe we could wash each other's backs? It's been a while, and I want to help you relax."
Tanya froze as her mind locked up, and unintelligible sounds slipped from her lips until she coughed in her hand and waved at Visha with a smile once more on her face. "You go ahead, I will take mine in just a bit." As much as the prospect of seeing Visha standing under a cascade of water, wearing only what her amazing genetics gave her was appealing, Tanya feared for her sanity. Not that they hadn't done it before, of course. But, things had changed between them, at least on her end. And, she no longer felt like it would be quite fair and right, since she was the only one who she was sure was interested. It would be much too close to peeping for her sake, after all.
While Tanya was lost in her thoughts and doing her best not to stare at her longtime companion, she missed the little sad look that crossed Visha's face. "Okay, just make sure you get to bed soon, you don't want to be tired for tomorrow."
Tanya tried her best to keep her mind from wandering, and wondering about what could have been, as she heard the shower start in the bathroom. It is an agonizing fifteen minutes later that Visha came out in her nightclothes while toweling her hair off.
"Goodnight, Tanya. Sleep well, okay?" Visha said as she leaned in and gave Tanya a warm, gentle hug.
Tanya returned the hug, glad that Visha couldn't see her face. Visha smelled good on any day, fresh out of the shower was probably the best smelling Visha though. Her shampoo was intoxicating at times. Hugs and other acts of familiar affection are still new territory for the reincarnated salaryman, and she liked to think that she had mastered them fairly well. At least she no longer froze up when Visha showed such casual acts of affection towards her.
Tanya waited until Visha had laid down, then went to take her own shower. She had to admit, the feel of the water cascading down her body felt much better in this body than she ever remembered it feeling as the salaryman. It could have been that he had always been so focused, so driven that he had never once stopped to enjoy the little things? That was something she thought about from time to time. Would the day come when she would forget her old life? That it would just drift into dreams and old memories?
Was that necessarily such a bad thing, if it did happen?
She stayed in the shower just a bit longer than normal, letting her mind wander as she went about the rote routine of taking care of herself, amusingly enough, just like Visha had taught her.
They had shaped each other in so many ways, you could even say in some ways they had raised the other. Tanya had taught Visha to be the soldier and officer she had been. To fight and survive, to think and adapt.
Visha had taught her how to live, to be a part of society. What it meant to be a girl and a woman, how to navigate this new self, this new life. WIthout her, she would have ended up just like in her previous life, she was sure of it. At one time, that thought would not have bothered her, now though… She was glad that Visha had been there to help shape her into who she had become.
She finished her shower, dressed in her much planer bed clothes, and headed back into the room. She stood in the doorway for a bit, watching her companion sleeping in her bed before she made her way to her own. Maybe tonight would be a nice, restful night without the nightmares that had been so prevalent for a while now. Oddly enough, they had been happening less and less often recently. Perhaps something to think about another time?
She settled into her bed, and closed her eyes. It doesn't take long for her to start to drift into the realm of dreams, and nightmares.
Tanya soon found herself in all too familiar territory. The Rhine front, during her early days of the war when she was leading her first squad. Back when Visha had just been the least annoying of the soldiers under her, not yet the constant anchor in the horrors of war that kept her sane, or at least something resembling it. Well before Visha had become one of the cornerstones of her life, of the battalion that Tanya had led.
The faces of the soldiers were all too familiar to her as she flew over the trenches. The many people she had seen die over the years, some of them strangers, some all too familiar. It was a familiar hell for her, a litany of the failures that she had blamed herself for, on some level. She knew, on one level, that people died. That most of them were bad luck, or lack of skill on their part. But there was some part of her, maybe a remnant of the young girl she could have been, that took each loss personally.
The dreamscape rippled and shifted as she found herself on another battlefield, invading the fjord once again. But the faces of the enemy mages are different, much more familiar. Gantz, Newman, the rest of the 203rd. And Anton Sioux is gone, replaced by Visha, with the glowing eyes of one who has been embraced by Being X.
She watched herself kill them, one by one. Relived the fight over again. Watched as Visha plummeted into the icy waters of the fjord. Felt the same feeling of indifference once again.
That part of her that was the waking her, the part that was not immersed in the dream shivered at that casual indifference. That didn't care about what happened, as long as she survived.
But, was it really living?
The dream shifted, changing in that way that dreams do. She had always hated how she seemed detached, like someone watching a movie or play, not really immersed in her own dreams. Perhaps this was another artifice of Being X, or her own warped and broken mind at work.
The next scene was one that was all too familiar. The battle at the bunker line. The fateful day that almost cost her Visha. That dragged them from that hell into this world. She knew already what she would see, what she would be forced to see.
That she would once again fail to protect Visha, that she would be found lacking at the most crucial moment.
It played out in a blur, the events half remembered yet seared into her mind. The moment she knew she had failed, the moment that Visha died in her arms.
The hell that her mind kept throwing her back into.
She woke screaming, jerking and flaily before she realized she couldn't move, that something was holding her.
Not something, someone. The scent of coffee and lavender filled her nostril, a scent unique to only one person.
Why Visha was there, holding her was something she might have to examine later. What mattered now, at this moment, was that she was there. She was alive. She was close.
Tanya could freak out later. For now, she just closed her eyes and let Visha hold her.
It was a feeling that she could get used to.
"You okay?" Visha whispered softly as she held Tanya protectively.
"Yes. Sorry...You had to see me like that." Tanya said as she might have moved a bit closer to Visha.
"It's okay. I am always here for you." Visha said, not sure if she should move or not.
"Visha… I know this must be awkward for you…. But… Can you stay, just a bit longer?" Tanya said quietly, as she hid her face from her companion.
"Of course. As long as you need." Visha said as she rested her forehead against the crown of her smaller companion.
Tanya blushed and settled back in, some small part of her wondering just how long Visha had been here. The blankets seemed warmer than expected.
Another part of her mind told that part to kindly fuck off, and just go with it.
For once, she decided to listen.
The two wounded souls slowly slipped back into a comfortable sleep, nestled in the safety of the others' presence. The lone shelter in a world that was not their own.
Questions could wait for morning, the awkwardness was surely to return once they thought about the situation more closely.
For now, though, all that mattered was that a warm, welcoming body was close by.
All else could wait.