When she entered the ballroom, everything faded into the background. There was no music, decorations, or other people, just her. Lena shined brighter than ever, silver hair tied in an elegant crown, adorning her face as God's biggest masterpiece. The black dress was simple, yet Shin couldn't take his eyes off the girl. At least that's what he thought, until Lena turned around, and revealed her naked back.
His mind went blank. No, calling it empty would be a lie. It was filled to the brim, with thoughts he shouldn't dare to entertain. A wave of heat spread throughout his body, making him tortuously aware of how much he craved her. Shin could no more than hope that the designer of his suit did a splendid job in thinking it through.
"What a bombshell, huh?" Raiden touched his shoulder, chatting up with a sly smirk.
"Stop looking at her." Shin suddenly became keenly aware of every male in the hundred-meter radius, who had the opportunity to see her in this daring outfit. Rationally it didn't make sense, but he wanted to gauge their eyes out right this instant.
"Relax, she's not my type. I'm more into brunettes." He winked, trying to ease off the tension. Shin's jealousy was written all over his face, making it hard for Raiden to resist teasing. Seeing him wear his heart on his sleeve was a scarcity, but the man knew, it wasn't the time to make him self-conscious. It was time to play matchmaker.
"Is there a way to keep those staring perverts away from her? It irks me. So much that I want to kill them." The Captain couldn't believe he was admitting it, but Raiden was the only one capable of advising him. Theo and Anju disappeared somewhere, Ernst would get too noisy, and Kurena was off for obvious reasons. Besides, Raiden struck him as someone who would understand his issues.
"It's easy, man. Ask her for a dance, and snatch her away. Strike before anyone else dares to do so. That, or regret this night till the day you die. The choice is yours." The man shrugged, but his provocation did the job. Shin walked away without a word, clearly in the girl's direction. Raiden congratulated himself on the job well done and went back to being the little Princess's escort knight.
Step after step he was getting closer, but no grand speech was coming to his mind. Should he simply confess? His rationality was no longer there because of the love for Lena taking all the available space. How could she be so mesmerizing? He felt like the measliest peasant yearning for the noblest of the maidens. Lena was eons away, way out of his reach.
That's when it hit him. They undeniably belonged to two different worlds. She was standing in the center, shining brighter than any chandelier adorned with the finest of diamonds. He was the one who didn't belong in her spotlight. The Undertaker was forever bound to the shadows of war, and he felt foolish for forgetting this obviousness. He couldn't live a normal life, and give her what she wanted and desired. Shin was certain if he indulged his selfishness, he would weigh her down, and inevitably hurt her. Walking away was the right choice. After all, Vladilena Milizé deserved only the best.
Like a coward, pulled back by his insecurities, Shin backed away in the last moment, hiding behind the massive pillar. Lena was where she should be. Gloomy Reaper would only ruin this picturesque moment. He saw her laughing earnestly while talking with the Empire's most prominent figures. It proved others also recognized her charm and brilliance. Ashamed of what he almost did, Shin somberly backed to the corner, taking a seat next to the wine stand.
Unbeknownst to him, the same Vladilena Milizé was tired of people prattling over her head, and wished for nothing more, than to get out of here. She despised the hollow pleasantries from strangers, whose faces she couldn't remember anyway. The hall was beautiful, but Lena had seen many grandiose balls, filled to the brim with splendor and extravagance.
Her eyes weren't focused on the costly costumes or the decorations, instead obstinately searching the crowd for one specific person. To her disappointment, Shinei was nowhere to be seen, and she was forced to continue this diplomatic farce. Lena secretly fantasized he'd ask her for a dance, and they could spend this night together like she had once dreamed of. Swirling under the silver garlands, forgetting there exists a world beside the two of them. For once, experience a fairy tale, instead of the usual nightmare.
Even if Shin had proposed to flee this place forever, today the girl would agree in a heartbeat. To elope as if they were actual lovers, choosing to abandon their tragic fate. Promising a future together, no matter how long it'd last. If that were the case, she would desire nothing more, than for the clock to stop eternally.
"Lena! Here you are. I was looking for you and Annette everywhere! Are you guys avoiding me? I thought we would prepare together." Charlotte's melodious voice interrupted Lena's daydreaming. She politely excused herself to the people she was pretending to listen to and left wanting some privacy.
"I haven't seen her either, maybe she isn't feeling well. I'll go and check on her. Could you call me if she comes here? I don't want to play tag. Those leeches swarming around me were sufficiently draining, nobody will notice if I'm gone for a moment." Since Shin was nowhere to be seen, Lena came up with a convenient excuse to get herself a break.
"Not so fast, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes, and give me your hand." Char ordered cryptically, but Lena obliged without much thought. They were walking for a minute until the girl sharply stopped.
"Can I open my eyes now?" The Colonel had no clue what this was about.
"Your loyal knight reports for duty. Missed me yet, Your Highness?" Right before her stood grinning Shiden, dressed in a slightly indecent, bright red dress. Her neckline was closer to her belly button than the clavicle, making it hard for anyone to divert their stares. The woman's height also didn't help, and thus Lena ended up directly across her assets, almost hypnotized by the view.
"Shiden came earlier than we had planned because Sophia had reported strange things from the refugee camp. You have to hear it, something smells fishy here." Charlotte once again brought Lena back to reality, urging her to focus.
"First things first. I've missed you, Shiden." Lena hugged her favorite subordinate, who privately was one of her dearest friends. Cyclops's face matched her dress's color, but she reciprocated the embrace. She had spent the past weeks on an undercover mission, done outside of the official jurisdiction.
"Monitoring those morons was boring as hell. I almost went nuts in that cubbyhole. I have no clue how ya do it, my Queen. Listenin' to their non-stop yapping drove me nuts." Shiden shuddered, recalling the mundane job.
She blended in with the outskirts' shady crowds, with dark eye contact lenses and dye sufficing to hide her identity. Her outgoing attitude was crucial in making fast friends, making her perfect for the job. Cyclops diligently gathered information from the territories bordering the refugee camps, sometimes serving as a point of contact for their inside woman.
"I'm thankful for your help, you were irreplaceable. I'm sure the Federacy did their best to keep the tabs on Yvonne and her followers, but it's easy to underestimate the foreign enemy." Something about that woman sparked a distinct queasiness in the back of her head. She didn't know what Primevére was planning, but her intuition told her it had to be harmful.
"That's the thing, that nutjob did a complete one-eighty. She had adopted an orphan and has been taking care of her since. From what Sophia had relayed, both folks died during the Legion Offensive, and she was passed on from stranger to stranger since. Yvonne took the kiddo two weeks ago, but we didn't think it was serious. On the contrary, a little birdie told me she is obsessed with that child, almost to the point of fanaticism." The words didn't convey how strange her behavior was. Shiden spent many nights verifying those claims, and every source only added to the bewilderment. None of the stories sounded like the actions of a reasonable woman, but it wasn't enough to arrest her.
"She didn't strike me as a motherly figure, but you never know. Take a break for a few days, I'll ask the headquarters what they know. Maybe they will come up with a justifiable reason to get the child for an examination. We have to make sure she isn't taking out her frustrations in the dark while putting on a caring front." The girl couldn't understand what was going on, but she felt that tonight she wouldn't figure out anything useful. Lena had enough of brainstorming for one day, and she craved a break herself.
"Roger that. I'll go grab booze, want some?" Shiden also had enough for the evening. She wanted to have a little fun instead of doing more work.
"Count me in, I saw there is an open bar. I could use a drinking buddy who can handle the hard liquor." Charlotte winked, stretching her arms in preparation.
"I'll pass, but you guys go and enjoy yourselves. I will check if Annette is in her room and maybe decompress for a while. Socializing is exhausting." Lena waved them goodbye and headed for her quarters.
Lena knocked on her friend's door a few times but heard no response. She went into her lodging and opened her window, trying to see if the lights next door were lit, but it was pitch black. The girl assumed they must have missed each other, but she didn't want to go back to the hall yet. The chilly breeze sent a chill down her bare back, so she covered herself with a light robe. It was a lovely night, but Lena felt lonely. That was until a familiar knocking noise echoed on her own door.
August 9th Republic Year 357 (Stellar Year 2138)
23 days until the Start of the Legion War
The convalescence was a strange experience. Elizabeth was falling in and out of consciousness, but from what she had gathered, many things had happened while she was resting in bed. Mathilda safely delivered her daughter, Hildegard. Public opinion was split over the attacks, and the royal pair had been fighting for their lives after their carriage exploded.
Oddly enough, the most perplexing thing in it all was her aunt's behavior. Zelene frequently came to her room, sometimes to tend her wounds, but more often than not, just sitting in the chair next to the bed, lulling her back to sleep each time she awakened in screams.
The fire was hauntingly vivid in her dreams. It scorched her limbs and melted her skin, making Liz beg for the mercy of death. Her body remembered the hellish temperatures she was exposed to and shivered from the memory alone. Her left side of the corpus was badly burned, but thanks to the debris serving as a shield, nothing was so charred it had to be amputated. It was obvious Liz would be left with scars for the rest of her life, but what scared her the most was the pending pain, hidden under a thick layer of analgesics.
She was in an unknown location, resembling a hospital room but with no other patients to be seen or heard. There were no windows, medical equipment filled most of the space, and the air smelled like an antiseptic. Liz wasn't sure how much time had passed since the last time she was awake since her sleeping schedule was a mess. She groaned trying to adjust her position, and a nurse immediately burst into the room.
"Miss, please don't try to do it yourself. You have a button to call for help, but making any sound should be enough for someone to come. I'll tell the Mistress you are awake, please don't move in the meantime." Her face was familiar, almost like she had seen this woman before, long before ending up in this bed. The way everyone addressed her aunt also didn't add up, but Elizabeth was too tired to figure out the reason.
"Mm-hmm." Liz moaned in response, throat aching from the smoke she had inhaled. Most of her communication was done by nodding and simple noises, but even those were taxing.
Her head was in remarkably good shape for this level of trauma, thanks to Gregor's swift action and sacrifice. The most damaged parts were those directly hit by the rubble, or exposed to the extreme heat from their surroundings.
Elizabeth was hooked to various machines pumping strange fluids in and out of her body, but the weirdest of them all was a dense cyan substance, delivered to her spine from the pipe under her bed. It restricted her movement, but the truth was, it took her a while to figure out it was there. The enormous tank had multiple pipes, coming both into the walls and over the floor. At first, Liz thought it was similar to a water purifier, but it appeared crucial in her treatment.
When a kind nurse was changing her bandages, Elizabeth begged for a mirror to be brought to assess her own condition. The woman was reluctant, but Liz's tears did the job, and she was allowed to see the full scope of her injuries. They were severe, the worst she had ever seen, but the speed of her recovery was almost inhuman. Her tissues were knitting together at an absurd pace, with the changes noticeable from day to day. Elizabeth didn't understand how was it possible, but she didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"You're conscious! Do you feel any pain? Nod once for yes, twice for no." Zelene was dressed like a typical doctor, with a white apron over her clothes, and a stethoscope peeking out of the pocket. Liz wasn't sure she was even a real doctor, but the staff seemed to treat her like a boss.
The girl shook her head, changing it to a double nod in the middle, when she remembered the instruction. Her aunt smiled, slightly amused by Elizabeth's response, looking more human than ever.
"Good. I've been experimenting with the dosages, but the physical stimuli should be fully suppressed. The goal is to deviate from the strong sedatives, focusing more on targeted pain relief. I am conflicted you had to become an involuntary test subject in my project, but it was the best chance we got for saving as much of your body as possible. I hope you'll be able to forgive me one day, for forcing you into it. Scratch that, you don't have to forgive me for anything. Just… let me continue helping. It's all I'm asking for." She had never seen Zelene Birkenbaum talk so much before.
It was partially a monologue, but it was clear it was meant for Liz to hear. The woman seemed distraught, her hands trembling, and eyes filled with desperation. The more Elizabeth had looked at her, the less of the Ice Witch she had seen.
"...W...hy…?" Liz mumbled, asking a thousand questions with this one word. Her aunt's behavior was repeatedly confusing. Her mind was fed up with the unexplained contradictions, and she wanted to hear some answers.
"...It's… a long story. Your father, Carl, was my older brother. I'm sure you know we had a falling out when he enlisted, and death took him not long after. Carl was… more than a brother. He practically raised me, playing the roles of my dad, brother, and even my best friend. I know it's pathetic, but he was all I had. When he met Isabella… I was angry. Years later I see that blaming your mom was idiotic, but back then…" Zelene's voice cracked, recalling the past.
Elizabeth listened in silence, not wanting Zelene to back off.
"When he died, my life collapsed. I'll spare you the details, but the world could have ended tomorrow for all I cared. Everything will sound like an excuse, but I wasn't in a place to think of others. Since your mother had never reached out, I've assumed you're fine and never bothered to check. I apologize for that. I've failed you, and I'll never make it up. You have the right to hate me all you want." The woman didn't dare to look her niece straight in the eyes, but Liz noticed Zelene's cheeks were wet.
She brought herself to do something unimaginable, and put her bandaged hand on Zelene's palm, anxiously squeezing the bed's barrier.
"I have no right to fall apart now. To be honest, I brought you here to make you my heir. I'm dying, with little time left on this Earth. It'll sound awful, but this diagnosis was the thing that helped me get back on my feet. I found a goal, I had a set time to do it. Finding you in the United Kingdom was a sheer coincidence though. I felt like fate had put you on my path, even though the preparations weren't finished yet." She remembered the moment the court official knocked on her office, handing her the hearing notice. A sign she had to speed up her endeavors, or else everything would be in vain.
"...hy...no..tell..me?" Elizabeth ignored her larynx's opposition and tried to patch together a coherent sentence.
"You were hurt enough by me. It's hypocritical, but the hatred helped me get through the worst times. I thought… maybe I should be that person for you. As a repentance. You freshly lost your grandpa, trying to amend our relationship or showering you with love and disappearing would be… cruel. Losing something you never had is less painful than knowing how it tastes. At least that's how I tried to reason it." Zelene was lost.
She had never been good at navigating human relationships, and emotions overwhelmed her after the years of suppression. Tears were escaping her crimson eyes, like a clear waterfall emerging from an active volcano. It erupted without a warning, flooding everything on its way.
"Please, I will do anything, just… stay here. For ten years, no, even five would suffice. Stay in the Empire, in our family's house. Everything will be yours, including the things left in Roe Garcia. You don't have to be here forever. I beg you, give it a shot, it's for your safety. I can permit that flowery boy to reside in the mansion if that could change your mind. Anything you ask for. Until the storm passes, Sankt Jeder should be the safest place." She knew completing the unmanned war machines project should guarantee the nation's safety against its neighbors, but the Council's ambition was something to be wary of.
Her machinery was designed with the protection and defense of her country as a main objective, but those weapons were the most advanced military innovations in decades. Zelene had no doubt some would prefer to attack first instead of waiting to be invaded, so Elizabeth shouldn't go back to Roe Garcia for the time being.
"...ank...you…" Liz was getting sleepy again, but this time, she felt at ease. For the first time in weeks, things were appearing to come together, instead of pushing her further into the abyss. Many questions were left unanswered, but for now, it was sufficient to bring her peace. "I...ll...try."
"I should be the one thanking you. Thanks, Elizabeth. For listening to me, despite everything I've done. Now relax, and don't strain your throat any further. I'll be here until you fall asleep." Zelene wiped her cheeks and tried to look composed again. She started delicately caressing Liz's hair like one would for a young child, to give it affection. Not long after, Elizabeth flew away for the land of serene dreams.