Times New Roman 14 - Aftermath
April 2004
Archen
It's been very hectic around here lately. To be completely truthful, it's our own fault that everyone's all up in arms. Once the barriers around her island broke, due to a certain someone using her beam of destruction, everyone from Le Fay's family teleported in ready to viscerally kill everything that even remotely looked at her funny.
She had to do some quick explaining on the situation, but they were happy with the result since nobody was actually hurt. They quickly took us back to our respective homes.
Hello? I was hurt? I was sitting there with a few new gashes in my arm and torso, but I've got a new name out of it at the very least. Please call me nobody from now on, and it was just a scratch anyways. It's not like the claws of a mind-controlling demon are potentially a future hazard. No siree.
The caretakers at the mansion were a lot more concerned about my bleeding body being left at their doorstep than Fay's family were. I think they're becoming tired of me getting hurt all the time. They quickly diagnosed my situation and easily found out that there was (luckily) no leftover corruption. All I had to deal with was the physical aspect of healing.
Once I explained where my wounds came from and gave a more detailed explanation about our circumstances, the matron saw it fit that I get treated instantly instead of letting my natural regeneration do the work. Funnily enough, I got healed by a druid and a priest. I was hoping for some religious sniping at each other, but they were actually good friends.
The druidic spell was really interesting though. I don't think he even realized what his spell actually does, nor that it's temporal in nature. It's an overtaxing version of my own regeneration spell. After fiddling with it for a few weeks, I've managed to get the hang of it and I can close surface wounds mid-battle. Sadly it comes with a downside of needing to eat a lot of calories after too much use of it.
I thought that would be the end of it. Everything returns to what it was before the entire debacle. Except, there was one small change.
"Arc! Top of the morning to you!" A voice brimming with positivity greets me, as she has done for the last month since moving into the mansion. My new neighbor, if you will. Meredith has decided that she doesn't want to stay at the royal palace anymore and instead chose to live in our sleepy town instead.
"Good morning, Meri." I yawningly reply. It's a change of pace but a good one in my book. "Do you already have other plans today, or are you going to keep playing with your holy toy again?"
Yes, Meredith, after her harrowing experience, thought it wise to live as close as possible to me in case some other idiot decides to mind-control her. Since I was the one who recognized it the first time it happened, I would be a good choice for a neighbor. As I might recognize it if it happens again.
"Yep!" She chirps. She's still overcompensating in her outward joyous appearance. "I think I've got a lead on a non-control use of my gear, and I'm trying to figure it out. Maybe you can help me test it when it's completed?" Or maybe she's happier not having to deal with her family all the time.
Speaking of her family, they're a bunch of idiots if you ask me. Despite her awakening a sacred gear with a direct link to the church, they still barely pay attention to her and don't want anything to do with her. Are you people daft?
"Sure, I'll help. Are we still on for a sparring match?" She has gotten one hell of a boost in destructive power after awakening her sacred gear. Since her previous fighting style was mostly just a supportive role, we've all been helping her get a handle on her abilities.
"You're on, mister." She happily replies. "I'll set up the sparring grounds and you can have your breakfast in peace." She skips in front of me while rolling her eyes and lambasting my rigid morning routine. I can't do anything on an empty stomach. Sue me.
"Alright, I'll grab a quick bite and meet you there. Ten minutes tops." Her addition to the mansion has livened up my routine immensely. I expected her to go and live with Fay, but after they talked about it, it was better if she lived somewhere less connected to the royal family.
I take a sedate walk to the dining hall to grab a light breakfast. Don't want to be bloated for our morning exercise. After a quick bite, I walk to a sizable building a few minutes away from the orphanage. It's a former indoor gym and my very own property. Yes, I own it now. Technically, the matron owns it as she's my legal guardian, but for all intents and purposes, it's mine.
When her family heard about what happened, they weren't mad or worried about her. No. They were pissed that someone targeted someone from their bloodline, as it meant that they themselves weren't respected or feared enough to prevent that. They couldn't allow the person who helped regain their honor go unrewarded.
So now here I am. Prodigy, millionaire, boy soldier, and an apparent do-gooder. Yeah, they took one look at me and decided that the best way to reward me is to throw copious amounts of money at me, give me a pat on the back, and urge me to go away. I'm not even mad. I'll take their money any day of the week. I was more afraid that they suddenly wanted to get involved with me. I'm not sure I could have kept being cordial with people who treat my friend like that.
This worked out perfectly fine. I've got a building close to my home. One we've been decorating as a base of operations, and we're slowly but surely reinforcing it to have everything we need.
When I reach the doors of the building, I don't need to physically open it, as I've been keyed into the wards surrounding it. Entering the somewhat dilapidated hall, I make my way to the center area where, in the past, a sports court was. In there, I find Meredith already in position, her holy nails circling around her threateningly while she holds one in her off-hand.
"I've been waiting for you." Yeah, just as you said you would. I think, rolling my eyes while trying not to physically cringe at her theatrics.
With a flourish of my arm, I withdraw my spear from my necklace while jumping to the opposite side of the room. "So... what do you want to practice today?" I reply in a conversational tone, not rising to her provocation.
"Psh, you're no fun." She replies in a pouting tone as her nails stop their circling motions, returning to inertly floating behind her. "We've talked about using them as a defensive tool. Can you throw those balls at me?" She points to crates filled with tennis balls. "I want to try and have them automatically block the projectiles."
Oh, you did not just ask me to do this specifically.
"I've got a better idea. What if, in addition to this, from now on I always carry some of those balls with me and chuck them at you for a more realistic experience?" Please say yes. I've got to experience this from the other side.
Her eyebrow furrows at this, but not instantly seeing any danger in it, she easily agrees. "Fine, but don't do it in public or I'll get in trouble." Her tone of voice warns me of consequences should I break her trust.
I chuckle evilly at what she has unwittingly agreed to and start slowly lobbing balls at her at increasing speeds and steadily more difficult angles. At first, in mortal to low-class levels, it all goes swimmingly. She doesn't need to pay attention to them, as they are automatically intercepted, giving her more than enough wiggle room to strike up a conversation.
"How have your Grigori missions been since then?" She asks in a casual tone, trying not to show interest as we've been investigating the connection between the Daeva and the British royal family.
I can't help but snort at that. "Well, we've found a few more 'relics' from the Zoroastrian, and you might be able to guess where we found them." I reply with a chuckle, as reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Still unconcerned about the low intensity of the training, she takes a minute to think about it. After a short moment, I see a light bulb flash above her head as she starts shaking her head in faux mirth. "You've found them in museums or private collections, didn't you?"
"A-yup. They've been dormant for a long time, but something awakened them last year, and you were unlucky enough to be close to one when it 'woke up'." At least that's what they think happened; the science guy seems to believe so.
She hums noncommittally, obviously not believing that it was just bad luck. The Grigori are working under false assumptions—if the demon called it a mission, it means there's someone else pulling the strings.
And it's not paranoia if someone's literally out to get you.
"Is that lady still the team leader?"
"You mean Penemue?"
"...Yes, her."
Not sure what she has against her, but Penemue has been a lot better these past few months. The first meeting left a lot to be desired, but once we started the missions, she was much more professional. Especially after the island debacle, I think she's starting to treat me with more respect instead of the intermittent teasing.
"Yeah, she's been great. She's been telling me all about a school they run and hinting that I should visit sometime." I'm kind of interested in visiting it as a group sometime in the future—meeting other supernatural kids from all over the world. She mentioned they teach a lot about sacred gear control, and it might be a good place for Meredith and Gray to learn something new.
"Oh, is that so," she replies blandly as her deflections of the balls sharpen and her nail movements become more precise. "You want to..."
It seems that she has managed to get into the groove of things. Time to try and push her limits. "Bianca!" I call out loud enough for Meredith to hear me as my slightly larger-than-before wolf appears behind her and starts to languidly attack, forcing her to block bite attacks with her off-hand dagger.
With the increased tempo, she loses the ability to talk and fight at the same time, but her focus is amazing. A great tradeoff if you ask me.
At around four balls and Bianca harassing her, she starts to lose grip on the situation. Inevitably, some of my throws begin to connect, and it's obvious she hasn't learned how to take hits in less vital areas.
"That's enough." I call out after a fourth ball hits a vital spot on her body. "You're doing really well, but we need to work on your prioritization of targets next. If you can block everything, then it's fine, but at a certain point you lose focus."
She nods quietly.
"The precision of your nails is fantastic. Every time they move to intercept, they arrive at the correct spot. Now it's a question of making sure it becomes instinct to block all attacks headed your way." I praise her growth so far. At the start, when she attacked with them, they didn't always hit the target. But now she can do both fairly proficiently.
Her face glows with happiness, and she starts abashedly kicking the floor. "Thanks! I've been keeping up the precision exercises."
"It shows, but I've got a mission lined up today. They've found another weird location and I want to stamp out all the potential pitfalls as soon as possible." I somewhat dejectedly add. I'd hoped no more would be found, but it feels like an uncomfortable number of them are still around.
"...Aah. Hmm. Okay, I'll practice targeting on my own then. How late will you be back?" Her voice trembles slightly, belying her true feelings.
I put up a confident stance and, in a reassured tone, tell her, "I'll be home later this evening. No need to wait up."
"All right, see you later." She waves halfheartedly but quickly steels herself and refocuses entirely on her sacred gear.
"Oh, by the way," I add jovially as I walk away. "Think fast!" I chuck three balls at her at a decent speed. She flinches slightly but easily manages to deflect them.
"Hahaha. From now on, I'll call that out when I throw stuff at you." I chuckle ominously. Welcome to your new hell. Please stay a while.
Her face gets that deer-in-the-headlights look as she realizes what she's asked for and why I'm so upbeat about it.
"W-wait," she stutters weakly, probably hoping to change the arrangement to avoid a somewhat similar experience to mine.
"This is going to be so much fun! Believe it!" I shout, power-walking out of the room before she can mount a stronger defense.
"Ta-ta."
That night.
Taking a stroll through the darkened halls of the orphanage while making certain the food trolley does not make too much noise. I take a moment to center myself, I'll need to keep my emotions in check for her sake. But now I can still take a minute to reflect and hopefully relax a little bit.
Haah. Fuck. Again nothing, all these sealed evil spirits should not appear out of nothing. It's almost as if the British brought those trapped relics back themselves.
Oh, wait. That is exactly what they did.
I cannot believe their hoarding tendencies are biting them in the ass now I think sarcastically, I have been underestimating them though. Everything has been checked previously by various esteemed mages and some of the church's clergy, but all those museum pieces were inert before. I erroneously thought they just took them and never checked for danger, but they aren't that stupid.
Something has shifted and with this change, it has awakened all the slumbering evil in the world. Penemue has told me that across the globe and in every faction the previously thought vanished wraiths have reappeared.
She has been uncharacteristically serious lately; her focused visage is much more attractive than her degenerate bullshit as well. I hope she stays like this, with her acting as a competent adult I can see myself getting along with her better.
She has been teaching me about history, seen from the eyes of a fallen angel and it's super interesting. Her opinion on past events viewed with a somewhat inhuman perspective is crazy, I do notice that she is human adjacent in her thought process, but that tinge of differentness is wild.
She called World War Two a temper tantrum. Like what the fuck lady, I get that the whole biblical civil war was a lot worse, but damn.
Where her and my relationship seems to improve, she has gotten on the bad side of Fay's. Every time that Fay joins my outings, she continuously snipes at Penemue and tries to get a rise out of her. Unlike how she does it with me, it feels a lot more spiteful.
Penemue took it all in stride though, she enjoys teasing Le Fay a lot, or intentionally misinterpreting her words to take them as a compliment instead. It is hilarious seeing her get a taste of her own medicine. But I have reached my destination.
Welp, once more unto the breach eh.
I check my trolley one last time and everything looks good, the water decanter is filled with sprigs of fresh mint and lemon wedges. A small bouquet of white begonias to enliven her nightstand and some fruits in case she wakes up hungry.
I knock softly on the door despite knowing that even if she could hear it, she would not wake up anyway. The heavily warded room allows me to silently enter as I have done every night since she started living in the room next to mine.
Entering a fully lit room, I spot my target and slowly make my way to her. Taking in her haggard appearance, one she desperately tries to hide by day but always returns when she is alone in her room. The dried tear tracks on her face, wet pillow from crying herself to sleep and a terrible sleeping position.
I take in a sharp breath, not allowing the rage to bubble up. I have got something more important to do, I gently prod her to lay on her back and swiftly swap her pillow for a fresh one.
Her erratic breathing starts to slowly subside, and her face takes on a less strained appearance. Ever since she moved here, I noticed how bad her night rest was. I decided to try and help her as I have had the same problems plenty of times in the past.
But I did not even realize at first what the problem was, I should have noticed as it is so obvious in hindsight. Of course, getting possessed would fuck you up.
It has been a gradual process helping her sleep somewhat normally again, yet the recovery is still ongoing. At least she's able to fall asleep without someone else being in the room with her.
I take the small bouquet and change the old ones, placing the vase next to her pet cactus. The one she and Gray got together as a gag gift when she moved here, I cannot help but smile remembering how she started reading about them in 'correct cactus care volume one'.
She has got a few picture frames, mostly her, Fay and Gray at different locations. Some of the others are more recent, even I am in some of them now. Yet, the most telling is that I do not see pictures of her family anywhere, she had told us of a professional photo shoot she had done with them. But those pictures are not in view anymore.
I take the decanter of last night and what do you know, she is still at it. She keeps eating the lemon wedges after she is done drinking the water. Maybe I'll get her some lemon sweets. If she likes the taste of them that much, might be a good gift.
Finishing my rearrangement of her bedside items, I take a last look at her. She's still afflicted with a steady stream of nightmares but now it has become more tolerable. I smile softly as her breathing has calmed down completely and her scrunched up face has taken a rested appearance.
I dim the lights slightly, not turning them off completely but making it so that they do not blind her when she opens her eyes once she wakes up. Taking the trolley with me I silently leave the room and whisper softly, "this too shall pass."
Closing the door behind me, I do not notice one of her eyes opening and taking a peek at my retreating figure.
Once outside my forced calmness fades and that familiar seething fury returns in full force. I don't think I've ever felt this kind of hatred before and the worst part, I have no target for it.
Instead of returning to my room, I decide to go to my gym instead. I don't need to sleep every day by this point and right now I could really use some stress relief.
When I find out who that demon's boss is, I'll need to be stronger than I am now. A reckoning is coming, and my preparation has already begun.
April 2004
Le Fay
"Our scanners showed a response from this location, could you be a dear and verify its accuracy for us?"
That hussy. Her new approach is working as intended and Arc does not even realize he is falling for her traps.
"Sure, the faster we finish calibrating them, the sooner we get rid of all those fuckers."
He's still pissed at what they almost managed to do. His focus on removing all the demonic relics is admirable and he's helping Meri a ton, but why did he have to get so close with that no-good hag?
Turning my head, I see Meri smiling happily as she watches him intently. Stupid Meri. Do you not see, she's stealing a march. Stop acting like you don't care, I know for a fact you're not afraid of the dark anymore.
"Good, I'll have to stick close to you as we inspect the venue." Miss purple-headed bimbo says while she instantly makes good on her word.
I shoot her a baleful glare as she attaches herself to the hip with Arc, that bimbo is oh so obvious but he is too single-minded to notice her advances when he's focused on something else.
She notices my look and winks at me? Bitch, do you know who I am? I quickly turn to Meri again, hoping she notices Penemue targeting our guy. But no, of course she doesn't notice, too busy being happy about him visiting her every night.
So busy in fact that she does not realize an interloper is trying to claim what's ours. Am I the only sane one in our group? Even Gray does not realize her own budding crush and worst of all, Arc is not looking at any of us the same way he looks at her.
Is this his teacher's fault? It's said that she's extremely beautiful, so gorgeous that she could topple kingdoms with her looks alone. Is he only interested in older girls? I need to investigate this.
Arc suddenly turns on his feet and marches towards the other side of the museum, leaving me alone with Meri and Elaine as the two fallen follow him closely. One of them too closely in fact.
Before Meri can follow him like a lost duckling, I grab her arm and turn her towards me forcing her to stay behind and face my inquisitive mind.
"Alright, what's got you in such a good mood?" I whisper-hiss at her, demanding an explanation.
Her confused look at my handling of her changes quickly into something more embarrassed, as she swivels her head back and forth to see if someone is in earshot.
She stammers back in a hushed voice, making certain that no one else can hear her confession. "It is nice living next to Arc, you know how he came running when I had panic attacks the first days living there? He still does that and having him care that much makes me very happy." Her stammering voice steadily turns dreamier, while her face takes on a red hue.
"Then why are you not mad at that hussy's behavior?" I gesture towards where the other half of our group is walking to.
Meri looks at me and shakes her head in confusion, "he acknowledges her, but just barely. If you want to test it, interrupt their conversation once the mission is over."
That was not the response I was expecting, we've not talked about this yet. But I thought I was the only one who noticed the dynamics shifting.
"You know that you have a crush on him?" I ask tentatively, my previous irritation vanished and replaced with a weird foreboding feeling.
She looks at me with something akin to pity, "I'm actually fairly perceptive you know? The one good thing about the possession is that it gave me a different outlook on certain things."
"Snrk!"
I turn on my heel and see Elaine standing there prim and proper, not a hair out of place. But I swear I heard her laugh at me. I eye her warily for a second hoping to see her lose her cool again, but alas.
"Then why are you okay with her hanging all over him?"
"You're kind of stupid for how smart you are." She states plainly while I hear a muffled laugh from behind me.
This wretch, sleep with one eye open from now on. I will have my vengeance.
A snap and a flash of light take me out of my musings. We both turn to Elaine who is holding a camera aloft and I hear her softly mumble, "a great picture, the two of you fighting over a boy. Your family will love this picture."
I pale at the implications of her words, "now, now let us be reasonable Elaine. No need to show them that picture, we can work something out." I plead with my best puppy dog eyes.
A glint enters her eyes, "oh, you admitted it~. I've got to show it to them even more now." She teases with a lilt in her voice.
I turn to Meri whose face has gone pale in realization that others will see it as well. "Truce?" I ask quickly while signing her about a possible plan of attack.
"Truce." She responds just as fast and instantly moves to intercept Elaine who is already backing away, camera held above her head looking at us in a provoking manner.
"Get her!" As we both move to stop her from immortalizing our embarrassment.
She laughs heartily as she keeps taking pictures of us while deftly dodging our attempts to grab the camera. The chase leads us to the other hall where Arc and the fallen are finishing up with their round.
"Arc, help us get her!" I shout at him, attracting some of the other museum visitors' attention.
He perks up at my voice and smiles in that silly way when he thinks something is stupid but still does it to play along. Since he's already finished with his task, he stops his talks with her and moves over to us, happily joining in on our shenanigans.
Meri was right huh. He did ditch her immediately when I called.
Pointing fingers between my eyes and the bimbo, I make the universal sign of 'I am watching you' as I continue the chase.
This only fuels her mirth as she starts cackling at the byplay.
Shaking thoughts about her out of my head, I focus on what is more important. Getting that camera out of her hands!
"Get her!"
A.N. So I'm back, had to outline the next twenty chapters or so and that took a lot out of me. Combined with my marathon training I've been too out of it to write effectively, but now I've got my timeline finished and writing should be back at normal speed.