Tabitha sat on the bed reading by candlelight in the otherwise dark room. For many years, books had been her respite from the world. After all, the characters in books never died, not truly. Even if the hero perished to save the day, he would still be there on the first page. Real people, however, didn't come back. She understood firsthand how fragile a life was, she had certainly taken enough of them by now. So she found comfort and even friendship in fictional people, because real people could disappear at any moment, and she knew that she wouldn't be sent to kill a character in a book.

Books were especially a respite in this place. She hated this castle and the people that lived in it, she wished that she could hop on Sylphied and fly away to wherever her whims took her. But she had no choice, not when the one person that mattered was held beyond her reach. So she did as she was told, came when she was called, and killed whoever she was pointed at. Tabitha wished that she could sit in this room and continue reading for as long as she wanted, but she knew that she needed to be somewhere soon. She closed her book and set it on the bedside table, took a deep breath to compose herself, grabbed her staff, adjusted her glasses, and made her way to the door.

The stone corridor was just as dark as the room she had left, illuminated only by torchlight and the occasional slivers of moonlight that slipped through the windows. All was quiet, save for the sounds of her shoes on the stone floor and her breathing. She eventually arrived at the large, ornate double doors that separated her from her puppet masters, and unfortunately, one was standing in front of those doors.

She wore a regal, deep blue gown with a high collar with white accents, trimmed in gold that resembled a blooming flower, and matching detached sleeves. Her long, light blue hair framed her face, and atop sat an ornate crown that matched her dress. As Tabitha drew closer, the other girl's blue-stained lips spread into a grin that matched the malice in her sharp, cold eyes.

"Well, well," she said, "It looks like the little doll has gone for a midnight stroll."

Tabitha said nothing and stood before the door, waiting to be permitted to enter. She then felt a sharp pain as her hair was suddenly pulled and was forced to face the other girl, hands gripped around her face to keep her from moving.

"Don't you ignore me, you little bitch," the girl hissed, "You think you're better than me, you think that just because you're allowed to leave that you can be free! But you'll never be free, so long as I hold what matters most to you."

Tabitha remained silent, expressionless. Even as the grip on her face tightened and sharp nails dug into her skin, she would not give in to her cousin's taunts.

"That's enough," another voice commanded.

From the corner of her eye, Tabitha could make out a pale face framed in long, dark hair, a figure clad in a black and violet dress.

"Come now, Sheffield," Isabella pouted, badly feigning guilt as she released Tabitha from her grip, "I was just catching up with my dear cousin."

"You know as well as I that useful tools are hard to come by," Sheffield replied, before stepping forward to push open the large doors.

The vast stone room on the other side was lit by torches that cast deep shadows, barely illuminating the path to the far end at which rested a throne, and upon that throne was a man. The man that Tabitha hated most of all. Though he was barely visible, half veiled in shadow, Tabitha could still make out his short, light blue hair and matching goatee, as well as the large fur collar of his deep blue overcoat.

"Report," the man commanded, the sound of his voice causing Tabitha to grip her staff tighter.

"Weapons development is progressing on schedule and within the predicted margin of error, my liege," Sheffield began with a light bow, "In particular, many of our experiments in Albion are bearing fruit."

"And what of you, my daughter?"

"Infiltration is still underway but we already have a sizable force in position," Isabella explained, "They await your command to strike, Father."

"And you, Chevalier Tabitha?"

For the briefest moment, she considered just killing them all. She knew how to kill multiple people with a single spell, and none were hidden behind cover. She snuffed out the idea, they were too intelligent not to have some countermeasure prepared. She knew nothing about that Sheffield woman, save that she possessed a myriad of enchanted items, despite seemingly having no magic of her own. She could have given them all protective objects for just such a scenario. If Tabitha failed in the attempt, she could lose everything. She hated to do this, but there was no other way.

"The one who calls himself the White Ranger is formidable, from the little I have observed, not merely in combat, but with machinery as well. Additionally, he possesses allies of potentially similar skill and strength that he may call upon. Direct confrontation is ill-advised."

"He will be dealt with in time," the damnable man before her said, a vicious smile spreading across his shadowed face, "For now, continue your surveillance."

Tabitha merely nodded, expression unchanging. Valliere's familiar did not deserve this. From what she had seen, he was a good, kind man. He reminded her of Ivaldi, a valiant warrior who fought for the good of all. But life was not a book, and the good were rarely victorious.

"The three of you, return to your assignments," King Joseph de Gallia proclaimed, "We shall bring a glorious new dawn to this piteous world."

Seven days, that was what Louise had to suffer through. Seven days of renewed ridicule until she could begin to take back control of her life. The previous day's mishap, or lack thereof, still weighed on her mind. What had she done in Albion that did...somethingto her magic that she now had to wear the royal ring to achieve her regular explosions? Tommy's explanation of the events still confused her as she still could not recall a thing beyond passing out.

She wanted nothing more than to solve the confounding mysteries of her magic. But the pile of mysteries seemed to grow ever higher and she had yet to take a single forward step toward understanding any of it, the supposition that she was a Void mage notwithstanding. As much as it pained her, she knew she had to set this aside for the time being and focus on what she could do.

Classes went as they always had, complete with whispers about her from her classmates that both she and they knew that she could hear. Louise did her best to ignore them, even when they escalated from whispers to taunts when they noticed she was ignoring them. She just needed to get through this for seven days, it was no different than anything she had suffered from them before. But before she didn't have something that she looked forward to.

Though the passage of time felt agonizingly slow, the days passed by until the Day Of Void arrived. Louise woke early, prepared and yet nervous for whatever Tommy had planned. She would not be useless and helpless any longer. She dressed and went down for breakfast in the dining hall, and yet nothing was appetizing, her nerves had twisted her stomach into knots. Despite this, she forced down a plate of egg and sausage, she could not afford hunger impeding her.

Hours slowly ticked by as she paced around her room, her mind racing, until a knock at her door caught her attention.

"You're up and ready, good," Tommy said as he entered and handed her some folded clothing, "Change into those, and then we can get started."

Louise accepted the garments and found them rather distasteful. The sleeves of the plain white blouse were far too short for her liking, lacking fastenings of any sort, suggesting that she would have to pull it over her head to wear it and it looked like it would ill fit her. The plain black trousers also seemed like they would not fit her and similarly lacked fastenings. Atop the pile were a pair of plain white stockings though far shorter than what she usually wore, appearing to only rise past her ankle. If it weren't for the fact that they did not match any fashion she was familiar with, she would swear they were peasant clothes.

"Must I wear these?" she asked as she looked them over.

"Would you prefer that your uniform gets covered in sweat and dirt?" Tommy replied.

"A fair point, I suppose. But why are they so loose-fitting?"

"It's to allow you full range of motion while training. Now get changed so we can get started."

As he left the room and closed the door behind him, Louise sighed to herself. This is what she wanted, after all. She removed her uniform and quickly dressed in the 'training clothes', finding them to be rather comfortable, save for the short sleeves leaving her arms so exposed.

"I'm ready," she called to the door and Tommy stepped back in.

"Good. Now be sure to brace yourself, teleportation takes some getting used to," he said before speaking into his communicator, "Alpha, send us to the training spot."

For the briefest moment, Louise felt a shock run through her body, as though every inch of her had been struck by lightning, only for it to fade as she now found herself outside. She stumbled slightly as she attempted to reorient herself, shaking a dizzy spell from her head.

"Is that what you experience every time you do that?" she asked.

"Like I said, it takes some getting used to. Though you did fairly well, most people fall over the first couple of times they're teleported. Now, let's get started."

Louise looked around to find that they were in a grassy field beyond the academy's walls, the castle still close enough that she could make out the windows of its towers. In her immediate surroundings, she saw a variety of odd objects neatly piled against a tree, as well as what looked like two poles embedded in the ground a short distance apart.

"Are you ready?" Tommy asked, "This won't be an easy path to walk."

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied.

"To begin, you're going to perform a series of basic exercises to determine your current physical fitness, and from there we'll formulate a suitable training regimen. First, you will run back and forth between the two poles until you are unable to continue. You can begin at any time"

Louise nodded and walked over to the nearest of the poles. She looked to the other, gauging the distance between the two. They weren't unreasonably far apart so this shouldn't be too difficult. Louise took off, her shoes disturbing the grass as she went. In moments, she reached the other pole and ran back to where she started. As she went, her breathing became heavier, and her legs began to burn, but this wasn't so difficult. As she ran toward the far pole once more, the burn in her legs doubled and her breath left her. She slowed and fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath and now fully aware of the sweat that had accumulated all over.

"You okay?" Tommy asked as he approached, offering an odd bottle.

She took the container and examined it before bringing it to her lips, the taste of refreshing water quite welcome.

"I am... fine..." she said between breaths, "I don't understand, I didn't have this much trouble with running during the mission."

"Threats to your life are usually a good motivator," Tommy replied, "Are you ready to keep going?"

She nodded and stood, prepared for what came next. Tommy then demonstrated push-ups, balancing himself on his hands and toes, then lowering himself to the ground before pushing himself back up. Louise assumed the same position and repeated his actions, her arms beginning to burn from the exertion as she raised herself up. As had happened while running, the burn doubled as she lowered herself a second time and found that she could not lift herself again. Try as she might, her arms eventually collapsed from under her.

Louise could feel the burn now on her face. How could she accomplish anything if she could hardly do these simple actions? Did her ineptitude with magic extend to this as well?

"Louise?" Tommy asked, concern in his tone.

"I'm f-fine!" she said as she rose from the ground, "What's next?"

Despite her best efforts, every subsequent exercise ended the same, with her barely managing to complete any of them. As she sat on the grass, the water in the bottle long drained by this point, she looked up at the sky as she tried to get her breath under control. What was she even thinking when she asked for this? This was miserable, she couldn't believe that people willingly put themselves through this.

"Alright, I think we've got enough data to work with," Tommy began, "From here on, you'll perform each of these exercises save for the running twice daily, first thing after you wake up and before you go to bed. You will do five repetitions of each one."

"Five?!" Louise nearly shouted, "I can barely do one!"

"And the more you do them, the easier they'll become," Tommy countered, "They weren't easy for me when I first started either."

"I suppose..."

"Now, are you ready for your first proper lesson?"

For a moment, Louise considered saying no and just walking away from this dreadful nonsense. But giving up had never been an option before and it would not be here.

"Yes, I am," she said as she stood and faced her teacher.

"Should you come across someone who seeks to do you harm, you will do everything in your power to escape from them."

"What?! I thought you were going to teach me how to fight!" Louise exclaimed

"I am teaching you to defend yourself," Tommy countered, now deadly serious, "As you currently are, you are not strong or skilled enough to fight off an attacker. So if running means that you will survive, then you will run. Is that understood?"

"...I understand."

"Good. Now for lesson number two: how to throw a punch."

Tommy walked over and stood beside her to demonstrate the proper stance: feet shoulder-width apart, dominant foot a step and a half forward with seventy percent of her weight on her back foot, and arms raised with balled fists.

"Now, the key to a proper punch is to follow through," he explained, "You want to turn your body in the direction of the hand that you are punching with to give it enough force to be effective. And remember to never fully extend your elbow when punching with full force, that's a good way to hurt yourself and it makes retracting your arm take longer. A split second might not seem like much, but it can make all the difference in a fight."

Tommy then demonstrated, slowly at first so that she could see the technique, then at full speed to show what it truly looked like. Louise readied herself, taking note of how Tommy only extended his arm ninety-five percent of the way, and slowly tested the technique for herself. She extended her right arm, making sure to twist her torso as she had been shown, before returning to her starting point. She did it again, faster this time, then again faster still. She then punched with her left arm, feeling the air rush past her hand in the sudden movement, all the while Tommy corrected her technique where needed.

He then walked over to the pile of objects and retrieved... she didn't know what to make of it. It was round and flat, primarily black in color with a red spot in the center, and Tommy seemed to be wearing it like a glove. He then instructed her to punch it. She did as instructed, her knuckles making swift contact with the soft yet firm material, her hand lightly stinging from the friction. She struck again, the target unmoving due to Tommy's strength. She alternated her fists, right then left then right again, and as she continued, Louise realized something.

She was doing this. Though the action itself was extremely minor, she was the one doing it. She was accomplishing something without failure, the thought of which sent a lightness through her chest and caused a smile to form on her face. She struck the target, then again, and again, until Tommy called for them to take a rest. He handed her another bottle of water which she happily accepted, for the moment uncaring of how much she was sweating or how much her hands stung.

"Not bad for your first training session," Tommy began, "And don't think I didn't notice you were starting to have fun. Just remember the story I told you last week."

"Of course I remember," Louise replied, her mood slightly soured, "I would never descend to such lows as to go around assaulting people."

"I'm just making sure. It can be exhilarating to push yourself to new limits, even addicting, so make sure that you don't let it overtake you."

"I do suppose it was an enjoyable experience," Louise admitted, looking down at the bottle in her hands, "I can hardly recall the last I enjoyed doing something."

That was not entirely true as she recalled many moments of fun in her life. The times her mother took her flying on the back of her manticore, whenever Cattleya would read to her, all the mischief she and the princess would get up to. But that was all so long ago, before her lack of magical ability came to light.

"Well you're in luck," Tommy replied, "So long as you're up for it, we'll continue to do this every week."

"I would very much like that," Louise replied with a genuine smile.

"It's still not too late yet, you up for another round?"

"I do believe that I am."

Louise and Tommy continued to train until the sun began to set, and then they teleported back to her room. Though she ached all over, and most definitely needed a bath, Louise felt accomplished for the first time in a long time.

Another Day of Void, another day of boredom. Kirche lay upon her bed, one hand absent-mindedly scratching the ridges on Flame's head as he napped on the floor below. Tabitha was gone again, much to her concern and frustration. She understood that her friend wished to keep things to herself, but Kirche couldn't help but wonder. Was she off on some secret adventure? Perhaps even to see a secret lover? Or maybe it was exactly as Tabitha had said, that the hunting trips to feed a dragon really did take a while.

That still didn't alleviate her current predicament of having nothing to do. Day of Void was an apt name, what else would you call a day completely empty of entertainment? She sat up and looked out her window at the same old sky, the same old clouds, and the same old sun. A brief flash of light then caught her attention, and she spied two very new things down on the ground. Though her current vantage point in one of the academy's towers allowed for few details, the cascade of long pink hair was unmistakable at any distance. Which meant that the other figure was most likely that handsome familiar of hers.

As Kirche watched, a gleeful mirth washed over her at the sight far below. She just could not believe what she was witnessing, Louise was exerting herself like a lowly peasant, and it seemed as if her familiar was making her do it! Kirche's laughter filled her room, disturbing Flame from his nap. She wished to apologize to her familiar, but the thought of Louise performing menial exercise caused her laughter to redouble!

As she regained control of herself, her thoughts turned to how she would use this newfound treasure trove of information. This should keep her entertained for a good while at least.

Dinner in the Alviss Dining Hall was a standard affair for any student of the Tristain Academy of Magic, or as standard as can be for one who has suffered a harrowing experience. Though Guiche wished to be anywhere else, he had appearances to keep and so mustered as much of his charisma as he could so that his companions were none the wiser. They sat together at one of the long tables that ran the length of the hall, each enjoying an array of dishes befitting of their station as young scions of great lineage, listening intently as Gimli recounted a bit of humor.

"Liquor? I hardly know her!" he proclaimed, tossing back his shoulder-length green hair as he laughed at his own jest.

The rest of the group laughed along, though Guiche's heart wasn't in it. At any other time, he would have found such a play on words highly amusing. But since returning from Albion, he had found that much that he once found entertaining had lost its luster. And much to his consternation, his friends had noticed.

"Come on, Guiche, Gimli's humor usually gets you to laugh harder than that," Reynald said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Yeah, what's gotten into you?" Malicorne asked between bites of his second helping of dessert.

As much as Guiche wanted to explain, he did not know what good it would do. They weren't there, they hadn't seen what he had. They hadn't... cut a man down.

"Hey, this should brighten his mood," Gimli said.

He then held his leg out in front of a passing maid, tripping her and sending the plates she had been carrying clattering to the ground, many of them broken. Though his friends laughed uproariously, Guiche grew silent. He watched as the maid hurriedly cleaned up the mess, her face a deep red, tears barely contained. He watched, and memories from not so long ago came unbidden to his mind. A child savagely beaten, a mother forced to watch. A man bleeding to death at his feet.

What should he do? A part of him wished to rush over, to apologize and assist with cleaning the mess. But what would his friends think? The son of a general, debasing himself as if he were a common servant. He would be a laughing stock, he would bring shame to his family. Before he could act, the maid had finished and quickly fled.

"What's with you, Guiche?" Reynald asked.

"I... I've lost my appetite," Guiche replied, and stood to leave.

He walked to the entrance of the hall, his mind awash with conflict, all the while his friends called after him to no avail. He wandered through the courtyards, the cool, early evening air doing little to ease his turmoil. What was he thinking? This was no way for him to act, he knew better than to let some maid trouble him so. And yet, troubled he was, his shoulders weighed by an inexplicable guilt. He ran his hands through his hair, anything to shake him from this state, and he felt something shift on his wrist. He looked to find the bracelet, the 'communicator' that Sir Thomas had given them before the mission. In his malaise, he had not realized that he had still been wearing it. Recalling what he had been told, he pressed on the jewel and spoke into it.

"S-sir Thomas?" Guiche tentatively asked, "Are you there?"

"Guiche?"Sir Thomas replied after a moment,"How can I help you?"

"Do you have a free moment? There is something that I wish to speak about."

"Of course, stop by Professor Colbert's workshop whenever you're ready."

As the communication ceased, Guiche breathed a sigh of relief. Sir Thomas had not steered him wrong yet, surely he would know how to put his mind at ease.

After dropping Louise off and grabbing a bite to eat, Tommy set to work on maintaining Derflinger's blade. He might not be covered in rust anymore, but that was no excuse to forgo proper weapon care. He sat on a bench in the setting sun, slowly working on sharpening the blade in front of him. After everything that had been going on, a nice quiet moment was just what he needed.

"You there!" a voice called out.

Tommy turned to find the head chef marching across the courtyard toward him.

"Can I help you?" Tommy asked as the man came to a stop.

"You're Siesta's uncle, yes?" the man asked.

"That's right."

"The name's Marteau, I've been looking for you to offer my thanks for freeing us from that witch. I had planned to find you sooner, but I lacked the time to do so until now."

"No thanks are necessary," Tommy replied as he sheathed Derflinger, "I was just doing what I always do."

"I also wanted to get your measure," Marteau continued, "Siesta speaks very highly of you, says you're a man of the people. I wanted to see for myself."

"Well I hope that I'm living up to her high praise," Tommy said.

"I'm not so sure," Marteau replied, crossing his arms and giving Tommy a serious look.

"How do you mean?"

"I don't pretend to know how it is you do what you do, but I know it isn't magic like what the nobles do. So as far as I'm concerned, you're a commoner like us. But I can't help noticing that you spend more time with the nobles than with your own kind."

"I am a teacher by trade, is it so unusual for me to try to help kids who might need it?" Tommy asked, standing to properly face the other man.

"They've already got plenty of teachers here and they're hardly children, they practically adults as far as anyone is concerned," Marteau countered.

"That's exactly why they might need extra help, the time between adolescence and adulthood can be confusing and stressful," Tommy explained.

"I'd say they're doing just fine, they've certainly got enough money and power to make any problem go away."

"Money and power isn't everything."

"I beg to differ. You've only been here for a few weeks, but I've worked here for years, and do you know what I see year after year? The same dismissive attitude that most nobles have toward us common folk. Sure, some treat us decently enough, but the rest just see us as interchangeable and disposable. We break our backs so that they don't have to lift a finger, and what do we get? We're ignored at best and stepped on at worst."

"That is fair, I don't blame you for seeing things that way," Tommy began, "You have every right to be angry in such a situation. I've seen the same problems happen back home. But maybe me being here for such a short time is letting me see things that you're missing."

"And what's that?" Marteau asked.

"The kids here have their flaws, no doubt about it. But I see in them a potential future. A brighter, better future for everyone. All they need is the right guidance, and they could change the entire world."

"You really think that highly of them? After everything that you've seen happen since you got here?"

"I've seen the worst of monsters become genuine heroes, so I believe that a bunch of teenagers can become better people."

Silence fell between the two men as they sized each other up. Tommy had to admit that Marteau had a point, he did spend an awful lot of time with people who treated others as inferior. And it would probably help if he tried to spend more time with Siesta. But Tommy also knew that change couldn't happen without those who could make it happen.

"After what you did for us and what Siesta said, I'm willing to trust you," Marteau said, "But I'm not going to believe these claims of yours until I see them with my own eyes."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I'm in the business of doing the impossible," Tommy replied.

"We'll see about that," Marteau said before walking off.

Tommy began to walk toward the workshop, his thoughts occupied by yet another problem he needed to contend with. He really needed to make a list at this point. As he walked through the door, he spied Alpha diligently working at the terminal but noticed that Jean wasn't back yet.

"Welcome back, Tommy," Alpha said as he continued to work.

"Thanks, pal," Tommy replied, "Is Jean not back yet?"

"I believe he's still in his staff meeting."

"Those can definitely be a pain. What are you working on?"

"I'm fine-tuning our mapping algorithms so that we can obtain more geographical data from fewer beacons, but we'll need to start making improvements on the beacons as well."

"Good work, and I'll see about getting us some more raw materials."

Tommy then sat down in front of the microscope and began to work on a project that he'd been thinking about since he found it in Albion. He reached for the sample case and pulled out the tree leaf, then took a pair of scissors and carefully cut off a piece to examine. He looked through the eyepiece and began to take notes on its cell structure when the door opened. He looked up and saw that Jean had returned.

"How did the meeting go?" Tommy asked.

"As well as could be expected," Jean replied with a sigh, "What are you working on?"

"Just a bit of paleontology, I'm examining the leaf that I found in Albion."

"I see, but what is so important about it that it requires examining? To my knowledge, it is quite common."

"It might be common here, but back home this species has been extinct for thousands of years. We only know that it existed because of fossils and drawings of it in old books."

"Oh, then this must be quite the discovery. Do you plan to publish your findings?"

As Tommy was about to answer, it occurred to him that he wasn't sure. Part of him wanted to write a paper on it, it would go against his integrity as a scientist not to. But then how much was he willing to reveal about how he made such a discovery?

"Is everything all right, Tommy?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tommy replied, "Your question caught me off guard."

"How so?"

"I realized that if I tried to write a paper about this leaf, I would have to explain how a simple science teacher managed to travel to another planet."

"Aren't other worlds and their denizens common knowledge on your world?"

"They are, but we don't have publically available space travel. The last time anyone from the general population left Earth was with the Terra Venture colony, and that was thirteen years ago."

"Oh, I see. Why don't you tell the truth? If the Power Rangers are such renowned heroes as you had described, I'm sure that people would accept your research."

"That's just it, I don't want to tell them who I really am. Call me selfish, but I need to keep those parts of my life separate, or else one side will consume the other again. Plus it would be wrong to use my status like that."

"Yes, I do recall you mentioning that," Jean admitted, "Do all Rangers keep their identities hidden?"

"Some have public identities, but most of us prefer anonymity in our day-to-day lives. It's actually rare for Rangers to remain active, at least on Earth. We're usually happy to lend a hand to an active team if it's necessary, but we otherwise prefer to move on with our lives."

It was then that Tommy's communicator beeped. He answered and found it was Guiche calling, the young man asking to see him. He then gave Guiche the okay to come by the workshop.

"What do you suppose he could want to talk about?" Jean asked.

"Knowing him, either he needs more relationship advice, or he's still struggling with what happened in Albion," Tommy replied.

"I knew that I should have stopped them from going on that mission..." Jean lamented.

Tommy turned and picked up the leaf again, examining it as he turned it by the stem. Should he reveal his identity to the world just for this? It wasn't even that big of a discovery in the grand scheme of things, just a minor passion project of his. He didn't even want any fame from it, just the pursuit of science for its own sake.

"I must confess that leaf brings to mind a conundrum that I've been pondering," Jean began, "Doesn't it seem odd to you how many similarities our worlds share despite being so unfathomably far apart?"

"There could be any number of explanations, we are dealing with a timeframe of at least six thousand years," Tommy replied, "For all we know, it could be some spacefaring group visited one planet and decided to take samples and bring them to the other, or it could all just be a huge coincidence."

"For a man of science, you are quite blasé about such world-shaking possibilities. Although, I suppose you've experienced so many such occurrences that they don't phase you anymore, do they?"

"I wouldn't say that, it's more that experience has made me more open-minded to just about anything. If anything, it's the little things that I've come to appreciate."

It was then that a knock at the door interrupted their conversation, followed by Guiche stepping into the shack, a look of conflict and shame upon his face.

"What did you want to talk about?" Tommy asked.

"Something happened in the dining hall," the young man began as he took a seat, "Despite my best efforts, my friends have noticed that I have been out of sorts ever since... In an attempt to lift my spirits, one of them tripped a passing maid. Before this, I would have laughed along with them, yet the sight of her on the ground like that had caused me to recollect about our time in Albion. I don't understand why I feel this way."

"Is this sort of treatment of the maids common?" Tommy asked.

"Unfortunately, it is," Jean replied, clearly frustrated, "Despite the best efforts of myself and other professors, many of the students and even the rest of the professors see the serving staff as less than human."

"But they are less than us," Guiche retorted, "We have magic and they don't, we are inherently superior."

"So you think I'm inferior, Guiche?" Tommy asked.

"What? Of course not!" Guiche replied.

"But you just said that magic makes you superior, and I don't have any magic."

"It's not the same, you're different."

"What makes me different, Guiche?" Tommy began, sternly looking at the young man, "What about me makes you think that I'm superior over others, even though you just said that I am inferior?"

"Because you're clearly powerful," Guiche replied.

"So it's power that matters, not just magic? You think that just because we're strong and the servants aren't, it means that they should be abused?"

"Well, yes! I mean, they serve us, that's how it has always been. We have magic, therefore we rule and they must obey."

"You know, I spoke with the head chef Marteau earlier. In fact, he brought up this exact issue. He spoke about how commoners are treated, and I told him that you and your classmates had the potential to be better. But I can clearly see now that he had a point."

"Oh, what does he know?" Guiche groused dismissively

"I'll tell you what I know," Tommy countered, "I know that regardless of anyone's abilities, we're all people at the end of the day. It doesn't matter if someone can bring statues to life or if they have to scrub toilets for a living, we all wake up the same, we all breathe the same, we all dream the same, and we all bleed the same. And after what we went through in Albion, I think you know that now."

"T-that was different! That...!"

"How was it different? You can feel appalled at the mistreatment of those villagers but feeling guilt over how that maid was treated is somehow incomprehensible to you? You can feel remorse for the man you killed even after the suffering he helped cause, after he tried to kill you, but not for this maid who did nothing to you?"

"I... I don't know!" Guiche shouted, now holding his head in his hands.

"Yes, you do. You just don't know how to say it. And that's okay," Tommy began, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder, "It's good that you feel guilt like this, it means that you're capable of compassion. And it's good that you came to us with this, because it means we can help you understand."

"What do I do? How can I make this stop?"

"First of all, you can apologize to the maid."

"B-but what of my reputation?"

"If you're this broken up about things, I think your reputation is what's least important here. If you can apologize to that Katie girl, you can apologize to the maid."

"I wouldn't even know how to find her."

"I can arrange a meeting for you."

"Now if only you could locate Katie as well, I'd be able to put all of my worries at ease."

"You are unable to find Miss Lotte, Mr. Gramont?" Jean asked.

"Yes, Montmorency and I have been searching so that I might apologize for my scandalous behavior toward her," Guiche replied, "And yet, despite our best efforts, she has eluded us."

"How strange, I know that she isn't missing as I have seen her in my classes numerous times."

"That is what others have said as well when we asked of her whereabouts."

"I think I have an idea," Tommy said before turning, "Alpha?"

"Yes, Tommy?" he replied.

"Can you generate a real-time map of the academy?"

"Give me a few moments and I'll have it ready."

As they sat and watched, Alpha's golden digits sweeping over the keys with mechanical precision, an image began to form on the screen. First as a wireframe outline, soon followed by color and texture, until finally, the entirety of the academy lay before them.

"Alright, Guiche," Tommy began, "Show Alpha where Katie's room is on the map."

"Incredible..." Guiche muttered before catching himself and pointing at the map, "What I mean to say is that her room is right there."

The map then zoomed in on the third floor of one of the academy's towers, a tower that just so happened to be right above and beside the workshop.

"Well at least she's close by," Tommy said.

The map then zoomed further, revealing the interior of the room, yet no one seemed to be home.

"That isn't right, students should be in their rooms at this time of night," Jean said, his confusion evident.

"Then let's see where she is," Tommy replied, "Guiche, can you describe to Alpha what Katie looks like?"

"Of course," Guiche began, "She is roughly the same height as Montmorency, with long, brown hair, violet eyes, and she wears the brown cape that all first years wear."

"Searching, searching... Ay yi yi, we have a match!" Alpha exclaimed.

As the image materialized, they found the young woman in question sitting at a wooden table with a large stack of books, surrounded by large shelves filled with more books and flipping through pages at a brisk pace.

"That's it, that's her!" Guiche declared, clearly relieved at the sight.

"That's the library," Jean began, his confusion intensified, "Students aren't permitted in there at this hour. How could she have gotten past the librarian?"

"Let's go find out," Tommy declared, "Alpha, can you teleport us there?"

"Of course, it's ready when you are."

"You both are going to want to brace yourselves," Tommy warned his compatriots, "Hit it, Alpha."

In a flash of light and a surge of energy, their surroundings changed. Gone was the shack and instead, they found themselves among countless books... and an unoccupied table, with one book still open in front of a chair that looked like it had been hurriedly pushed aside.

"You were right, that was disorienting," Jean complained as he leaned against the table, "Hold on, where is Miss Lotte?"

"Katie?" Guiche called out.

"Alpha, what happened?" Tommy said into his communicator, "Where did she go?"

"I... I don't know!"Alpha replied,"She was there one moment, then there was a brief flash of static and now she's gone!"

"Do you think there was a delay in what the map was showing?"

"I'll look into it, but I am certain that it was a one-to-one feed."

"Madame Ducharme?" Jean called out, walking around some of the bookshelves "Are you... Abigail!"

Tommy and Guiche immediately followed, only to find an older woman slumped over a desk. To her side was what looked to be a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. Jean was in the process of checking her vitals, only to sigh in relief.

"She's alive," he said, then began to tap her cheeks to rouse her, "Abigail? Abigail, it's Colbert. You need to wake up."

Yet his attempts failed to wake her. Tommy leaned down to look at the tea and biscuits, and a dreadful idea came to him.

"I think she's been drugged," he said grimly.

"Drugged? Do you mean she might have been poisoned?" Jean asked, before also looking at the food before them.

"There has to be some other explanation, Katie would never do this," Guiche protested, "But then... she is fond of cooking and baking..."

"We'll find out what's going on, Guiche," Tommy said.

He then walked back to the table in the hopes that what Katie had been reading would shed some light on what's been happening, only to find some of the books suddenly missing.

"Guiche, Jean, get over here," he called out.

"What's wrong?" Jean asked as he and Guiche rounded the corner.

"Some of the books that were here when we arrived are gone now."

"But how could that be possible?" Jean asked, "Unless..."

"Katie is still here?" Guiche suggested.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the room. The three rushed toward the sound, only to find the door of the library slowly swinging closed as if it had been wrenched open in a hurry. They pulled the door open and peered down the dark hallway, but saw nothing.

"Derflinger, did you see anything?" Tommy asked.

"Sorry, Partner," the sword replied, "Either she figured out how to become invisible or she's just really good at hiding behind bookshelves because I saw nothing."

"Should we go after her?" Guiche asked.

"Assuming it even is Katie who's responsible for this, it's a big castle and she could be hiding anywhere by now," Tommy replied, "I'll have Alpha keep an eye out for her, but right now our top priority is making sure the librarian is okay."

As they returned to the unconscious woman, Tommy grimaced at the situation. Things were so much easier when a giant monster was involved, at least then he wouldn't be feeling so powerless.