Chapter 20 part 2
Date: 11/10/2014
Location: St.Freya Academy, Theresa’s Office
In front of Theresa’s table stands a woman with long brown hair with pink frosted tips that is tied into a low ponytail, she's dressed in a standard Schicksal valkyrie uniform
“Thank you for coming to cover for Himeko, Miss Ragna”
The woman, Ragna, chuckled softly “It’s no problem at all, it's not often that Pixie asks for help”
Theresa blinks in confusion, “Pixie? Who’s Pixie?” she asks with a raised eyebrow
“Himeko, of course” Ragna says with a grin on her face
Theresa understandably started having a giggling fit due to the absurdity of the nickname given to the red head
There was a knock on the door and Himeko enters without getting Theresa’s permission
Only to freeze at the unfortunately familiar sight before her eyes
“You referred to me as ‘pixie’ again, didn't you” that wasn't a question, but a statement as this has happened before, that was directed at her former captain
Ragna for her part merely had an amused smile, “i have no idea about what you're talking about”
By the time that short exchange between Himeko and Ragna came to a close Theresa managed to get her giggling under control
Theresa clears her throat, “H-himeko, what brings you here? I thought you were helping the girls pack”
“We’re done packing” Himeko says, “i wanted to know if you hired a private jet to get us to Tai Xuan”
Theresa gives Himeko a blank look, “you and i both know that we don't have to budget to hire a private jet”
“Just making sure” Himeko says, “because theres a private jet that contacted our comms asking permission to land on our runway claiming to be here to pick up Fu Hua, Ana, Kiana and myself”
Himeko received 2 blank stares from the pair of women in the room
There was silence between the three of them for a minute
The shrill ringing of Himeko’s phone was what broke the silence between them
Himeko answer the phone while putting it on loud speaker
“I apologize for suddenly calling Major Himeko” it was Fu Hua that called, and she sighs over the line, “a friend of mine just contacted me, she told me that she sent one of her private jets to collect us…”
“Anyways, i called to simply inform you, i apologize if i interrupted you” Fu Hua says before cutting the call
Silence reigned over the room for a solid five minutes
“Well” Theresa says dryly with a blank look on her face, breaking the silence, “that answers that”
“So are we not going to question how she has such a rich friend to send a private jet to collect the lot of you?” Ragna asks with a raised eyebrow
“If we’re going question that, then we’ll also need to question how she has property in neutral territory” Theresa states while leaning back into her chair, “especially since Tai Xuan is near impossible to get property on regardless of affiliation”
Himeko shrugs, “i'm simply choosing to not look the gift horse in the mouth”
“Go give the all clear for the jet to land” Theresa says with a face palm
Himeko nods and leaves the office
Date: 11/10/2014
Location: Dorm House, Hua’s room
“Im impressed” Ana says with an amused grin on her face, “i didn't think you'd ask your friend to send someone to pick us up~”
Hua groans into her pillow with her face buried in it to hide her flustered face
Kiana playfully punches Ana in the arm, “alright that's enough teasing her”, she looks to her flustered class monitor, “so did you get a reason for the sudden private jet?”
Hua picks up her phone and shows Kiana and Ana the last chat between her and ‘Eedee’ which ended with “it's faster this way”
“Is your friend always like this?” Kiana asked with curiosity
Hua pushes herself off of her bed and looks towards her squad mates, “no, i think she's just excited that i'm going home soon” she then shrugs, “it's either that or Doctor made the call and Eedee is going along with it”
“GIRLS GET YOUR STUFF, WE’RE LEAVING IN 10” came Himeko’s voice
Kiana and Ana looked at each other then shrugged before leaving Hua’s room to go get their packed stuff from respective rooms
Hua’s eyes were trained on Kiana as the pair left the room as she’s been feeling a lot more honkai energy from her than usual since the night she confirmed their extended leave with Major Himeko and Principal Theresa
There's clearly something different there but she can't quite put her finger on it
She was going to ask them a little earlier after they came into her room, but Eedee threw a wrench into that plan
‘I’ll just have to ask them while in the plane’ Hua thinks to herself
Date: 11/10/2014
Location: St.Freya academy, landing zone
When Ragna and Theresa arrived at the landing zone they saw an odd and comical sight
The comical part being Ana was shaking Hua while shouting something but that was admittedly understandable as the private jet that came to collect them belongs to the world star Eden
All the while Himeko is struggling to hold back her laughter from the interaction
The mystery that is Fu Hua is getting more intriguing the more they learn about her, she has property in Tai Xuan and is close enough friends with Eden that the woman sent one of her private jets to collect her
if the next thing they find out that about her is that she has doctor friend that can fix Himeko’s stigmata, Theresa will lose it
While the odd part was Bronya using Project bunny to hold back Mei while Kaine talked to Kiana
“WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT YOU KNEW EDEN!” Ana shouted at Hua while shaking her
“I—I thought I told you... when you—when you asked earlier!” Hua stutters out through the shaking
“I know you don't like me for whatever reason” Kaine says to Kiana while scratching the back of his head, ”i'll try to figure out how to say what i want to say by the time you get back”
Kiana stared blankly at the snow haired boy who is sheepishly scratching the back of his head, “fine” she says with a sigh, “but don't expect much out of it”
Kiana ignored just how brightly the boy beamed at her, especially since she knew that smile, that look of longing
That same look of longing that she saw in the mirror during those days where she was wandering aimlessly
She didn't know why he was giving her that look specifically, but she’ll give him a chance to explain himself
He’s earned enough brownie points from her for at least that, anything that may come after she’ll decide after they have that talk
“Bronya-chan, let me go!” Mei growls as she continues to struggle against project bunny’s hold while ignoring the slight bursts of pain in her chest
“Nyet, subject Kiana has expressed extreme displeasure in being forced to interact with subject Mei” Bronya says, partly because Kiana did look like she was 3 seconds away from knocking the lights out of Mei
But mostly it was because while she was observing Kiana to reevaluate her in Bronya’s mind, Bronya saw something peculiar and somewhat disturbing about Mei, something that she had blatantly ignored until she started understanding just how little she knew about Kiana
Raiden Mei is obsessed with Kiana Kaslana, around everyone else she's basically normal but once the snow haired girl is involved Mei essentially becomes a different person
The worst part for Bronya is that when she compared how Mei interacts with Kiana vs how the herrscher of thunder interacts with Kiana based on how the herrscher of thunder interacts with Kiana in the 2 or 3 time Bronya has seen them interact during the events of nagazora
Then a new picture is formed
A picture where the herrscher of thunder is the one that treated Kiana with comradery and respect, the same type of comradery and respect that class monitor and subject Ana treat Kiana with, a comradery and respect that Kiana reciprocates
While Mei is obsessed with Kiana, or more specifically a hyper idealised version of the bubbly, happy-go-lucky mask Kiana wore
Whenever Kiana didn't behave accordingly to that ideal version in Mei's mind, she tries to correct her, typically whatever it’s either so insignificant that it doesn't matter to Kiana and would humor her or its something that Kiana will choose to hide as she played along
It was clear that Kiana was trying to help Mei with her issues but when the individual believes that they don't have any issues then there's nothing that outside help can do to help
While Mei believed that she needed help, it was help she needed with the Herrscher not that she needed help with herself
Ultimately that is what lead to the entire fight between them happening, Kiana did not and still does not like Kaine
That little factoid made Kiana a lot more real in Bronya's mind
But
Bronya was ordered to stay close to Raiden Mei so Bronya chose to side with her, against Kiana (‘on that day, if the Bronya chose to side with subject Kiana how would things have changed?’ Bronya thought to herself)
That was what burnt their bridge down, Mei trying to make Kiana be someone that she isn't and Bronya siding with Mei
(idly Bronya remembers when Mei was horrified when Kiana said that her fondest memories involved her gun that she cherished, perhaps it's the militaristic side of her not understanding but what was wrong with cherishing a gun? One of Bronya's most cherished items is also a pistol, one that's small enough to fit in her childish hands at that time)
“That's not true! Now! let! me! go!” Mei continues to struggle
As Bronya suspected, Mei didn't even realise that Bronya changed how she was referring to Mei as she's far too focused on the subject of her obsession leaving her
…
Kaine-nii-sama was right, subject Mei needed a wake up call, a wake up call strong enough to shatter her delusions
Date: 11/10/2014
Location: Jet (interior)
“So you're meaning to tell me” Himeko starts while looking at a sheepish Ana, “that the core of thunder, that is supposed to be in Mei by the way, is currently inside Kiana along with the consciousness of the herrscher of thunder”
Kiana herself was looking at Ana wide eyes and slack jawed
“It's not our fault!” Ana says with a blush on her face and her cheeks puffed up
“To be fair” Fu Hua cuts in, saving Ana from further embarrassment, “even with my powers as the herrscher of sentience, I can't stay up all night to make sure that Kiana can get a good night's sleep… well technically I can, at the cost of my wellbeing, I doubt either of them are solutions you'd agree with, major”
“I don't agree with the current solution either” Himeko says with a sigh, “but what's done is done, I'll just text Theresa that this is a thing now”
“Auntie…” Kiana's soft voice catches Himeko's attention, “will you be telling her about…” Kiana trails off
Himeko gives Kiana a soft smile, “I promised you that I'd keep it a secret until either you're ready to tell yourself or something happens and you're forced to reveal it” Himeko gains a teasing smile, “there are ways to tell Theresa about thunder without mentioning my little void~”
The cute blush that formed on her kid’s face was definitely worth it
Date: 11/10/2014
Location: St.Freya academy, MedBay
after the jet took off, Bronya quite literally dragged Mei to get her checked up
The spikes of pain that Mei mentioned that she was feeling in her chest had Bronya concerned
“So she said that she was feeling pains in her chest starting this morning?”
“da”
“And she didn't come get herself checked out immediately…” theresa says with pursed lips
“That girl…!” Kaine growled with an annoyed twitch in his eye
“I didn't think id see the day that you of all people get angry, Kaine” Ragna chilld her student
“Sorry instructor, its just that…” the boy sighs, “she's been a pain to deal with since i was teamed with her”
“MADAM THERESA!” a doctor rushed towards them, “WE HAVE A PROBLEM”
“What's wrong?” Theresa asks with a frown
“Its Raiden Mei” the doctor breathes heavily, “the core of thunder within her, its gone!”
“Come again…!?” Ragna says as all of their eyes widen, ‘that's much worse than anything that i could have ever guessed’ Theresa thinks to herself
The doctor hand Theresa a tablet and theresa starts to go through it, quickly skimming through the details of every scan and test done one Mei, one at a time
“Raiden Mei gives off a faint Herrscher reading due to her being the one that housed the core of thunder” the doctor said, “however every scan we’ve done on her shows that the core of thunder is no longer there”
Theresa dismissed the doctor, almost immediately afterwards she receives a text from Himeko
She reads the text and sighs, “we have good news and bad news”
“What's the good news?” Kaine asks with a raised eyebrow and a slight tilt of his head
“Good news is the i just found out where the core of thunder is…”
“The Bronya wishes to know the bad news”
“The core of thunder is in Kiana”
“Its in Kiana?” Ragna asks
“Yes, in Kiana, as in moved to her last night” Theresa bemoaned