Chapter 7.5
Date: 27/04/2014
Location: Dorm House
The Herrscher of Thunder is currently sitting by the dining room table, she is contemplating her life and how it came to be how it is now, after all her current predicament wouldn’t be a thing if she hadn’t given control back to her host, the coward, when she did back then.
But even then, as much as the snow haired girl said otherwise, she noticed that Kiana was becoming lonely without being able to interact with other people, the girl is after all a social creature albeit an introverted one
Kiana knew that she was a Herrscher even then, as such the Herrscher didn't understand the girls decision to not kill her, especially since these girls, Valkyries in training, are taught that Herrschers are not only dangerous but also should be killed on the spot. Instead Kiana chose to save her from her attempt at suicide with the attempt at protecting the snow haired girl from herself and even later had given the Herrscher of Thunder a name that people, only Kiana really, would call her.
Rei, that was the name she was given a mix of her hosts name Mei and Rai from her namesake of lightning. It was simple in a very Kiana fashion but it warmed her heart nevertheless, and as time went on she grew closer to the snow haired girl and learnt quite a bit about her, things that her foolish coward of a host still hasn’t learnt despite having spent more time with Kiana than Rei has. Ultimately it was Rei seeing Kiana’s loneliness that led to her reluctantly relinquishing control back to her host.
Rei remembers one night in particular after the trio had joined St.Freya she had finally managed to take control of her coward of a host's body without triggering the time on the bomb that was placed on their shared heart, on that particular night she was seated at the dinning room table like she is currently thinking and contemplating her "life" thus far
At least she was until the sound of a door opening broke her out of her musings, within seconds she was ready to have to fight or even relinquish control once more, although it seems that her fight or flight instincts had been for ought as the person that came down was one Kiana Kaslana, who for all intents and purposes just glanced at her but ultimately said nothing, and that by itself was concerning considering how she generally behaves around her host
Kiana for her part simply took a sip from the glass of milk she had poured herself before she asked a very surprising question
"Is it ok for you to be out? I heard from aunty Himeko that there's a bomb placed next to your heart"
She was genuinely surprised by the question and explanation and it showed on her face since Kiana just looked at her amused and asked "surprised?"
Following that was a short conversation between the two of them like they had done during their time alone together in Nagazora
She sighs at how things have been going for a while now, she had thought she knew her host well enough however it seems like she knew that coward she calls a host very little.
Now here she is, over a month after the falling out between her host, the solder brat and Kiana. Part of her wants to go and apologize to Kiana on behalf of her foolish host but Kiana, whilst not stupid, is prideful, and she would tell her that the fault isn’t hers and as such there is nothing to apologize for.
It was when the bet happened that Rei knew that until the coward lets go of her preconceived notion of who Kiana is and starts to see Kiana for who she really is, there will be no amends made
After the fight between Kiana, her host and the brat, Rei didn’t think her opinion of the coward could go lower. She was both extremely irritated and mildly impressed to be proven wrong, the coward could sink lower it seems.
When Mei put money on Bronya winning in the betting pool was the last straw for Rei and she herself made a bet with Mei, a bet that will rid her of her cowardly host regardless of which way it ends.
What was the bet?, it's simple, if Bronya (the soldier brat) wins the bet she will let her host have full control over the power of the herrscher of thunder and if (her beloved, not that she will say that aloud) Kiana wins then the coward must remove that pesky bomb from their heart, which in turn means that she will free to do what she wants.
She was broken out of her musings by the sound of a door opening and closing, and from the honkai energy signature of the person that left their room she could tell that it’s Kaine
‘This should be interesting’ Rei thought to herself, as she prepared herself for what she can only assume would be terrified screaming as she, The Herrscher of Thunder shouldn’t be active, or at the very least not in control of her hosts body
Kaine didn't know what to think when he entered the kitchen and saw a wide awake Raiden Mei. He didn’t think that Mei was the type to stay up this late, especially considering the dreadfully exhausting day that they all had earlier, at least that was his thought process until he took a good look at her.
He had been told of The Herrscher of Thunder by his mother in confidence, he was told that the Herrscher of Thunder is for all intents and purposes the exact opposite of Mei, for example, where Mei is generally nice and shy, The Herrscher won't hesitate to insult you and her very demeanor would ooze confidence
It took him a moment to recognize that it wasn't Mei that was in the room with him but rather the Herrscher, between her seated poster the oozes confidence, her crimson tinted purple eyes that was seemingly staring into his soul, the uncharacteristic frown on Mei’s face, it was clearly not Mei that was seated at the Dining table
“Are you going to gawk at me all night or are you going to do whatever it is that you came down to do?” the Herrscher asks with an annoyed tone of voice
“I, you, er… what?”
“Aren't you supposed to be asleep?”
“A-a-aren’t you?”
The Herrscher narrows her eyes at the boy, which in turn causes the boy in question to let out a squeak
The Herrscher lets an irritated sigh before looking at the boy “take a deep breath, calm down, think about what you want to say and say it,” she thinks for a moment and follows up with “and here I thought you Kaslanas are supposed to be fearless”
“...’m nt….” was all the Herrscher heard from the boy as he mumbled in response to her
The Herrscher could only shake her head in disappointment, “surely “you” aren’t the same the same boy that invoked the “wrath” of my coward of a host by foolishly questioning her about “Kiana” not even a day earlier”
That statement from the Herrscher in particular seems to have lit a fire in the boy that he was lacking earlier
“So what if I am!” Kaine said with a glare aimed at her
“Hoo?, interesting” she says as she looks at him with a smirk, she gestures to the chair across from her “sit” , when Kaine looked like he was going to protest all she said was, “either you sit or return to your room, i was enjoying the silence until you barreled your way into here”
The boy looks apprehensive but ultimately takes a seat across from the Herrscher, “I thought you Herrschers were supposed to be hostile”
“Me? The Herrscher of Thunder? The Herrscher who, for all intents and purposes, lingered around Chiba academy doing fuck all after awakening, never having a reason to go beyond the bounds of the academy walls before Kiana herself arrived?”
“That doesn’t… make sense”
“There’s always an exception to the rules that you are taught, the only reason why my coward of a host is in control is because i returned control to her, not because she somehow defeated me and regained control like I'm sure that you’re told”
“Huh?, but…why?”
“I don't see how that's any of your business brat”
“T-then can you at least tell me when you gave control back to her?”
“...” she opted to stay silent, keeping an unnerving gaze on the boy, making the boy in question squirm, “...if memory serves me correctly it would be between a month and a month and a half before they were brought here”
“...but Kiana and Mei were… oh, Oh!” he starts before his eyes widen as realization takes place
“Mmm”
Kaine’s eyes dropped down to the table as he twiddles with his thumbs
“Can you… tell me about her?, Kiana, I mean” the boy asks softly to the Herrscher across from him after a few moments of silence
“If you want to get to know her than go talk to her, what i know about her, much like what anyone else knows about her, involves my own biases, the only way you will ever have an accurate understanding of her will be to interact with her and make your judgements about her”
“Hard to do that when she avoids me like a plague, besides it’s damned near impossible to find her when she doesn't want to be found”
The Herrscher hums as acknowledgement of what he said “why are you so interested in her anyways?” she asks with narrowed eyes as a protectiveness surge through her, "Hmm?"
"I.. er.. mmmn… she…" the boy let's out a sigh, "because she's kinda, sorta, my sister?"
Of all the large variety of answers the herrscher was expecting, that wasn't one of them, it wasn't even close
"...Come again?". Asks a very genuinely baffled Herrscher.
"It's just that I'm artificially created but I was created with the genetics of Cecilia Schariac and Seigfried Kaslana, Kiana's parents…". The boy gives his explanation
"Which technically makes you her little brother, however"
"Just because we're related by blood doesn't mean that we're siblings", Kaine finishes his summary of his origins "
it'd be nice, y'know, to have family that doesn't despise you for existing" he says with a relatively depressing aura
"It's late, you should go get some rest" The herrscher chooses to end their conversation here
"Yeah", he accepts that their conversation is over and stands to return to his room, before he remembers a question that would like the answer for, a question that she would most likely be the only one that can give a relatively accurate answer to, "oh yeah, mind if I ask you something?"
"Mm?" She hums questioningly
"What do you think of what's happening between Kiana, Mei and Bronya?" Kaine chooses to bite the bullet and just straight up ask the question
The herrscher looks at him sharply as though she was studying him before giving him an answer “What do I think of what’s happening between them?” the Herrscher let out a scoff before continuing “what I think is that if they keep going the way they are, Kiana will leave them behind, and if I right about the coward by the time she realizes how badly she’s fucked up the bridges would be absolutely beyond repair”
Kaine could only nod in acceptance of her answer before he leaves returning to his room
After he leaves Rei herself get up to return to her hosts room however before she goes up the stairs she goes to the living room
Very specifically she goes to the back of the sofa and gazes upon the slumbering duet
Rei is no fool, she can see plain as day that the looks Kiana give this gray-blue haired woman is non too dissimilar to the ones she herself receives from the snow haired girl
The herrscher had vowed to herself back then that she would do what she can for the snow haired girls happiness, if it means letting this gray-blue haired woman court her then so be it
'However if she hurts her, in any way shape or form, fuck these Valkyries, screw the bomb, I will ERASE her' she thought to herself before returning to the room of her host