Gun Princess Royale: Awakening the Princess, Book One

by Albert Ruckholdt

  “Twenty-five seconds,” exclaimed Angela, just as Tobias arrived at the door.

  “Get the door,” he gasped, and someone rushed by to pull the handle and yank it open…but it remained shut.

  “It’s locked,” Felicia cried out.

  Tobias kicked the door, startling Felicia who darted back. “Damn it, Clarisol. For frek’s sake—open the frekking door!” He kicked it again, almost dropping me in the process.

  Abruptly Shirohime stepped between him and the car, holding up her phone toward us. “It’s her.”

  “Clarisol, open the door,” Tobias demanded. “Now!”

  “My oh my, little brother. Frustrated are we?”

  “Open the door.”

  “Why don’t you give your Princess a kiss?”

  “What?” Tobias blanched.

  “Give her a kiss and I’ll open the door.”

  “Fifteen seconds!” Angela reported.

  “Clarisol, open the frekking door. Do it now!”

  “Zap zap, brother dear. Oh, and don’t hold back on the tongue.”

  “Ten seconds!”

  “Tobias—just kiss her!” Felicia almost yelled.

  “Mat?” I tried not to whimper.

  “Cass, I—”

  “Please, just do it,” I told him and closed my eyes.

  “Five seconds.

  “Kiss the Princess, dear brother.”

  “Cass—I’m sorry.”

  “Kiss her!”

  I closed my eyes and waited for his lips to touch mine…then a deep metallic clack sounded loudly nearby.

  Laughter drifted out of the phone. “Just kidding….”

  “…the door…the door’s open…,” Angela whispered loudly.

  I opened my eyes and turned my head to see that the door to the black saloon was indeed open.

  “What are you waiting for brother dear? A shocking invitation?”

  After hesitating for a moment, Felicia reached out and pulled the door open all the way, exposing the wide spacious interior of the saloon’s passenger compartment.

  I felt my body tremble but then realized it was Tobias who was shuddering, and not in fear but in deeply unsated anger. Carrying me in his arms that were surely burning with exhaustion by now, he bent low and climbed into the car, gently depositing me on the back seat before seating himself beside me.

  The interior had sufficient room to contain six people in comfort, and possessed two sets of seats facing each other.

  “Hello, Princess Kassius.”

  A young woman sat in the middle of the rearward facing seat.

  “Clarisol…,” Tobias breathed out sounding like a bull moments from rampaging.

  With him seated beside me, I looked across at the young woman. At first I confused her for Monique Valjean, but this girl was older, taller, with dark blonde hair and notably smaller breasts, such that she bore a sisterly resemblance and nothing more, though I couldn’t deny that she was quite beautiful. She wore an ensemble of tight denim hipsters, a black silk blouse with ruffled sleeves, and open toed strappy high-heels. Though she exuded Valjean’s haughty attitude, there was something maliciously refined about her, and I remembered the spider’s famous words to the fly, “Welcome to my parlor.”

  “Hello, brother dear,” Clarisol greeted with dulcet tones that made me shiver.

  “Cut it out, Clarisol,” Tobias a snapped. “Don’t even think of using the Voice on me.”

  I shot him a glance. “Voice?”

  Tobias hastily waved me silent, his attention fully on the young woman he referred to as his sister. “You’d better tell me what’s going on—hey, Class Rep! What are you doing?”

  Shirohime climbed in and after saying ‘Excuse me’ she sat on the backseat, thus flanking me between her and Tobias, while Felicia and Angela chose to sit on either side of Clarisol.

  I wasn’t surprised to see the three girls follow us into the saloon limo, with Angela closing the door behind her. After all, it was quite clear they were involved in my day from Hell, and I’m not referring to their decision to help me on my ill-advised quest, but the disingenuous nature of their actions. What did surprise me was the behavior they displayed as they sat beside Clarisol. The normally boisterous Felicia resembled a timid love struck schoolgirl, and Angela looked downcast and forlorn though her hands were clenched tightly on her lap as though she were restraining herself from lashing out. The change in them left me both speechless, surprised, and suspicious.

  Clarisol regarded the girls for a moment. “Hello Angela.”

  “Mistress,” the blonde girl replied with the merest glance at Clarisol who studied her for a quiet moment before turning to Felicia.

  “Hello, my sweet Feli.”

  Felicia squeezed her thighs together and whispered, “Mistress….”

  I stared at the girl, finding it hard to wrap my mind around what I was seeing while an unpleasant feeling began to smolder in the pit of my stomach. A sense of wrongness began to permeate within me, as though I was watching a crime or violation being committed yet was helpless to intervene.

  Clarisol looked at the ceiling and said, “Thane. Kindly take us to the marina. We’re running a little late but don’t break any speed limits along the way.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Oh, and Thane, let the Carnal Sin know that we’ve departed from the school.”

  “As you wish, Mistress.”

  Within moments the car and its companion vehicle pulled away from the cul-de-sac and made their way onto the bridge connecting Telos Island to the harbor shoreline of Ar Telica city.

  “The marina?” Tobias asked. “Why there?”

  “Because dear brother, our three Princesses have a very important trial ahead of them.”

  “Three Princesses?” Tobias threw a curious look at Shirohime and I.

  “Correct,” Clarisol replied. “We have the Second and Third Princesses with us. And now we are on our way to meet up with the First Princess.”

  An incredulous look spread across his face. “You mean…you mean they’re part of Team Novis? Are you serious?”

  Clarisol made a shooting gesture at him with her right hand. “Bulls eye, brother dear.”

  “Where? Where is this trial?” Tobias questioned with noticeable trepidation.

  Clarisol switched over her crossed legs.

  “At the Proving Grounds, dear brother.” She directed a merciless smile upon me. “Where our darling Third Princess will demonstrate what she’s capable of.”

  - III -

  The young woman, Clarisol, spoke as we rode in the saloon’s luxurious passenger cabin.

  With the necklace exerting its invisible influence upon me, I was as weak as a child. Unable to walk on my own I had little hope of making a dramatic exit from the moving vehicle in the style of an action holovid heroine. So I sat limply in the backseat while directly opposite me Clarisol prattled away in a lofty manner. Knowledge was a strength in its own regard, and the more I learnt about my situation the better prepared I would be in the future, and so I listened quietly to the exchange of words within the cabin between one individual I knew nothing about, and another person I mistakenly thought that I knew. As a result, the more I listened the less the situation made sense to me.

  I was more confused now than when this strange story arc began several minutes ago.

  “Truly, Matrim,” Clarisol droned in an overbearing tone, “I had hoped you wouldn’t learn of this until she was properly introduced. This is most unfortunate….”

  Why does she repeatedly call him, Matrim?

  “Tell me what’s going on,” Tobias demanded with a pained expression as he stared at me for a heartbeat before averting his eyes back onto the young woman. “Talk, Clarisol.”

  “Is that how you treat your elder sister?”

  Looking at him and the young woman carefully, I judged they had a passing resemblance as siblings. But if true, then why was Tobias adopted if he had blood relatives? Adding to my co
nfusion was the matter of Angela and Felicia’s involvement, and the fact that Class Rep had been referred to as the Second Princess. Yet Tobias had bewildered me further by mentioning Team Novis.

  I felt as though my picture of the world had fallen to pieces, shattered like a stained glass window the victim of a hefty brick thrown through it, but my view out the window was murky and indistinct, and I felt the onset of a debilitating panic creep across my chest. Whenever I played a game, especially a first-person shooter, I would look for patterns in my opponents’ movements in order to choose whom to take down first. If I could see the patterns defining my situation then I would feel a little better about my options. But at the moment, I was having trouble just keeping up with the conversation. Truthfully, I wasn’t keeping up – I was falling behind.

  Clarisol sighed and with elaborate movements she folded her hands on her lap. “Ronin Kassius was selected as a Mirai after successfully passing the final test. In fact, it was already predetermined he would be Mirai—though I would have preferred otherwise. Nonetheless, the decision was already made and the test last Friday was little more than a formality. Interested parties, including our family, simply wanted to dispel some doubts they had regarding his personality. There were those that believed he was too soft hearted, but his cold killing spree swept away those perceptions.”

  “That doesn’t explain why he was chosen for the test,” Tobias pointed out.

  “That’s not for me to say,” Clarisol replied smoothly with a smile. “Ask our brother when the time is right.”

  Tobias took a long deep breath then spoke in a low voice that carried well enough across the cabin. “What happened to him? Why did Cass end up in Limbo?”

  I almost gasped when I heard him. I hadn’t mentioned Limbo when I recounted my tale to him and the girls back in the classroom.

  Clarisol tipped her head slightly to a side. “Because a certain someone decided to make things difficult for us. You could say that she’s intent on making things challenging for us and thereby entertain herself.”

  Tobias grew silently thoughtful, then narrowed his eyes a fraction. “You mean her don’t you?”

  A sneer flickered across Clarisol’s face. “I do indeed….”

  Tobias took a deep yet quiet breath. “Then…this is dangerous for us.”

  “It is problematic,” she said, “but we won’t be deterred.”

  After wetting his lips slowly, Tobias flicked a glance at me and then asked, “Then the reason Cass disappeared over the weekend was?”

  “Because he was being transferred to a new body, since his old one could no longer support his life and had to be dropped in a tank.” Clarisol spread her hands wide. “Because of this the decision was made to move now and have him assume his role as the Third Princess. To the outside world, he is a Princess Meister. But to those of us in the know, Kassius is a Gun Princess, and a very unique Princess at that.”

  For a moment, Tobias looked incensed and he appeared to be holding himself back with some effort. Eventually, he gained the upper hand on his emotions and succeeded in regaining his voice. “My best friend is a Gun Princess and I didn’t know anything about it. And on top of all that, we have his body—his human body—in a regeneration tank!”

  “Precisely,” Clarisol agreed, placing her hands back on her lap. “Although right now it’s only maintained in stasis. Regeneration has not commenced.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because that will depend on how well he performs from this point onwards as a Gun Princess.”

  Tobias looked flustered, and turned his head to look out his window. “Why was I kept in the dark?”

  “Because we didn’t want you kicking up a stink until the last possible moment.”

  Tobias’ jaw muscles twitched rapidly in anger. “How long have you known?”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “For a while. It’s one of the reasons I transferred into your school, to keep an eye on you and on him.” She frowned at me, her gaze critical. “Or should I say her? Honestly, there’s no him in there at all. The past three years had really done a number on him, but the Simulacrum finished the job.”

  Tobias faced the interior of the cabin. “What are you talking about?”

  Clarisol froze, then glanced away innocently out the window, though it was clear she’d slipped up.

  “Clarisol?”

  “Not saying,” she answered somewhat flightily.

  Again, Tobias’ jaw muscles twitched unhappily. After a while, he pointed at Felicia and Angela sitting quietly and still but for the gentle motion of the vehicle. “What about them?” he questioned. “How do they fit into this?”

  Clarisol crossed her legs and a lascivious smile played on her lips as she eyed Felicia and Angela. “They were brought into the fold two months ago due to their close association with the Third Princess. Their physical abilities were a bonus. However, our family deemed against exposing them to unnecessary risk, and so their bodies were replaced with Master-Grade Simulacra while their organic bodies are being kept in stasis and safekeeping in a secure storage facility owned by our family.”

  “Owned in this realm or our realm?”

  Clarisol waved her fingers at Tobias. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  As shocking as the revelation was to me, it answered how Angela and Felicia had succeeded in subduing the sizeable group of high school boys on the rooftop courtyard, though I didn’t believe for a moment that the fight had been one-sided. However, the fact that they had won over the larger boys was something that had troubled me subconsciously, and now that I had my answer it also explained why they were unable to touch me while I wore the rosary bead necklace, presently inhibiting my ability to move.

  Tobias frowned hard as he asked, “Why would they agree to anything our family proposed?”

  “They have their reasons,” Clarisol answered, and then glanced at the girls flanking her. “Don’t you, Feli? Angela?”

  Out of step, the girls nodded with abruptly pained expressions.

  Clarisol favored them with understanding smiles. “It’s all right, girls. Didn’t I promise to take care of you? And in return I won’t demand anything more than your devotion to me.”

  “Devotion?” Tobias spluttered while Felicia and Angela nodded again and replied “Yes, Mistress”, though this time I noticed their body language was markedly different.

  Felicia squeezed her thighs together once more and glanced shyly at Clarisol, but Angela winced faintly and turned away with veiled sadness in her eyes.

  I felt a sudden strange emptiness in my chest and a feeling of deep loss when I saw them like this. There was no disputing that these girls had lied to me, or at the least withheld the truth, yet once again I had the impression that a great wrong had been committed – was being committed. It was a crime against their souls and spirits, further exacerbating the vacuum within me. It was also clear that they had been pulled into this situation because they had befriended me, so it was because of me that they were in this mess.

  For his part, Tobias looked troubled as he regarded the girls sitting beside Clarisol. After audibly clearing his throat, he hesitantly asked her, “Tell me the truth. What did you do to them?”

  Clarisol smirked. “I gave them one more reason to cooperate with our family’s plans.”

  “And what reason would that be?”

  “I promised to keep their secret. Nothing more…and nothing less.”

  Tobias swallowed hard. “What secret?”

  Clarisol waved a finger at him. “If I told you then it wouldn’t be a secret and I’d be breaking my promise.” She folded her arms leisurely. “And as you know, Matrim, there are some secrets worth keeping…aren’t there? Shall I say, this summer break you and I enjoyed was quite informative, wasn’t it?”

  In the corner of my left eye, I glimpsed Tobias stiffen sharply for a heartbeat but he held his tongue and glared silently at Clarisol who broke into an enigmatic smile.

  Seated to my ri
ght, Shirohime snorted softly and turned to regard the view out her window with a bored mien.

  I turned my head to look at her. “So what’s your excuse, Second Princess?”

  She ignored me for a short while, during which Clarisol looked upon us with interest, but then she slowly turned her head and faced me with thinly disguised contempt.

  “My excuse?”

  I nodded, paying her disdain little notice. “Or is it a secret as well?”

  Her lips pressed together into a thin line and she held her breath for a long moment before deigning to honor me with a reply.

  “Let’s just say…there’s someone I want to beat.” She averted her eyes and her gaze became distant. “No…better to say…there’s someone I want to crush….”

  As though signaling an end to the matter, Shirohime turned away, planted her chin on an upturned palm, and then stared out her window, though I suspected she was looking well beyond the scenery – over the horizon and into the future, as they say.

  Someone she wants to crush?

  I thought of what Irene Casquada had told me about Shirohime on the rooftop courtyard.

  Maybe it has something to do with her family?

  “Princess, if you can hear me please blink twice.”

  I had already blinked once in surprise at Ghost’s unexpected return, so I had to wait a couple of seconds before blinking twice in response to his question

  Immediately afterwards something extraordinary happened.

  Time around slowed down to a fraction of its normal pace.

  I realized this because the scenery beyond the window beside Shirohime quickly slowed down yet there was no sense of changing momentum or inertia within the saloon to indicate the vehicle was decelerating.

  “Princess, I can only hyper-accelerate your awareness for around ten seconds. With time at a quarter normal speed, that gives me the equivalent of thirty-eight seconds and counting to get my message across so listen carefully. To begin, I have been able to infiltrate the logic core of the necklace. The device is a directed waveform motor inhibitor used on Simulacra to restrain their bodies. I will not explain the necessity for such a device. However, I can say that this model is rare because Master-Grade Simulacra are few and far between. I can also state that having infiltrated its core, I am able to disable it at moment’s notice.”