Wow. Her face had turned really red. I thought her ears would start to glow like hot coals in the dark.
I noticed she was breathing a little heavier.
“Melanie…are you alright?”
“You—you say that to me and expect me to be alright?”
I reviewed the last few sentences in the conversation. “But it’s all true.”
Melanie groaned and pushed me away with surprising strength. “You are unbelievable.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you have no shame. You can’t just say that to a girl.”
“Why the Hell not?”
“You have no idea how to properly flatter a girl. No tact. No style. No anything!” She pressed down on her meager chest. “Girls have feelings. When a guy says that to us, we take it to heart. Calling me a vision is something I can accept from Duncan, but not from you.”
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to relax.
“Oh, I get it. Because Duncan’s just that much more of a man than I am. Oh, that’s right—he’s an Aventis. Gosh how special.” I inhaled sharply. “Well I don’t give a crap what he is. I’m not taking anything back. I meant every word I said about you.” I bowed to her formally. “And now, I will bid you good night.”
I turned on my heels – less than smoothly – and marched away in the direction of the mag-lev station.
Heartbeats later I had a feeling something was headed my way so I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting Melanie to have run into the apartment complex.
But she was standing on the sidewalk, leaning forward, and wearing only one shoe.
That’s when her other shoe connected with my face.
I didn’t even get the chance to over-clock and avoid it.
My sense of danger was totally nil.
“Guh!”
My head rocked back and I felt my nose complain loudly as I fell on my backside.
Somehow I managed to use my hands and arms to cushion my fall, but it hurt nonetheless.
“Caelum!”
I rubbed my face painfully as I heard the sound of running footsteps.
Melanie dropped to her knees beside me. “Are you okay? You weren’t supposed to turn around? Why’d you turn around? How stupid can you be? Once you walk away you don’t turn around!”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Why’d you throw your shoe at me?”
“Cause I was angry. You made me angry.”
I rubbed my nose and winced. It was bleeding a little.
Melanie saw the dark spots on my fingertips and pulled out a handkerchief from her skirt. “Here, let me.” She licked the handkerchief before dabbing at my bleeding nose. “Damn. I don’t think it’s broken but it’s bleeding a lot.”
I winced again and gently took hold her hand, stopping her. “I’m fine. I’m a Familiar. I can take this punishment.”
Her hand felt a little cool in mine, but that wasn’t really important.
What was important was that her concerned face was a mere foot away from mine.
I forgot about my surroundings and lost myself in her visage.
The sound of people walking by on the sidewalk, muttering something about young kids this days, barely succeeded in distracting me.
“Ah, Melanie. It’s okay.”
“No it’s not.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Cause…cause I think I lied.”
She stood up stiffly. For a moment I thought she was going to say something, but then she pressed her lips together in a thin line. She bent down and picked up her shoe, then turned and ran back to the apartment complex.
I watched her runaway, then looked down at her handkerchief in my hand.
“Ah damn,” I muttered.
I stood up, and used the handkerchief to stop what little blood trickled out.
Should I tell her she had cute feet?
#
(Caprice)
Training continued through the weekend.
Little by little we were coming together as a team.
Maya had a good eye for detail, identifying the shortcomings in our attacks.
She was also fairly critical of her own performance.
Rina kept up her training, sticking to cardio work and salads with a helping of vitamins. Constance kept an eye on her, refusing to give the girl any slack.
As for me, I underwent specialized combat training with one of the male instructors.
I can’t lie. The whole experience was eye opening and utterly exhausting.
Thankfully we stayed at the company dorms which meant we avoided the hourly journey to and from the training habitat.
While at the habitat I couldn’t use my palm-slate because communications were banned. So I had no way of contacting or talking to Caelum.
Even if I could, what would I say to him.
Outside of our Artemis training, what could I talk to him about?
But I wanted to see him, and resolved that I would call him on Monday. I realized that I’d been avoiding him, relying on text messages to communicate with him. I felt like such a fool. Why hadn’t I called him? I wasn’t angry at him anymore. So why was I holding back?
Saturday was a full day’s training.
I expected Sunday to be much the same.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
#
(Caelum)
It was early Sunday afternoon when the dorm manager called me up while I was in my room studying.
I had a visitor, and when I came down to the entrance lobby I found the Countess waiting for me. She was dressed in black slacks, an apricot blouse, and wore heeled sandals on her feet. My eyes didn’t miss the sight of her painted red toenails.
I noticed she had pretty feet like Melanie.
Needless to say, she attracted attention wherever she went. A number of my fellow dorm residents were making excuses to cross through the lobby in the hopes of peeking at her.
I received a few glares which I ignored.
“Countess?”
She smiled at my approach and stood up gracefully. “Caelum, I’m sorry to call you out.”
“It’s no problem. What can I do for you?”
Her smile wavered. “Well, I was hoping you could join me for an early dinner.”
“Ah—huh?” I glanced around hoping no one else had heard her.
No such luck. A number of male students gave me withering glares.
I grimaced inwardly. “Ah, I need to change.”
“No need. There’s a burger shop nearby.”
“A burger shop?”
“Yes. I like their roast beef burgers.”
“I never imagined that.”
She planted her hands on her hips and leaned forward. I couldn’t help noticing how her breasts swayed forward under her blouse. “Hey, I can indulge every once in a purple moon.”
“You mean blue moon.”
“Purple moon. Here in Island Three we have a purple moon. Island Two makes use of a blue moon.”
“Fine. Purple it is.” I looked down at my worn denim pants and sneakers. My t-shirt was clean but not high on the fashion sense. A girl with monumental breasts in a string bikini was printed on it.
The Countess frowned at it. “Ara ara. On second thoughts, change that shirt.”
“Yes, Countess.”
I came back down five minutes later after brushing my teeth, spraying on some anti-perspirant, and of course changing my t-shirt into a short sleeve summer shirt.
“You kept me waiting,” she grumbled, but I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or not.
“Sorry. Should dinner be on me then?”
“Yes, good idea.”
I refrained from growling in my throat.
I should have known she’d take me up on the offer.
We left the dorm together which further riled the envy and jealousy of my dorm co-habitants. I feared I was going to face trouble when I returned.
I thought Simone and I would walk straight to the burger join
t, but instead the Countess led me to a nearby park complete with swings, slides and spinning wheel. It was empty, but still monitored by the commonly seen sentry bots that resembled large bowling pins.
Simone sat down on a swing, and I sat down on the swing beside hers.
“What happened to dinner?” I asked.
She inhaled deeply, which pushed out her chest, then sighed so heavily I thought her bust would deflate. “Before we eat, there’s something I need to tell you.”
I gave her an anxious look. “…okay….”
“First of all, your suspension has been lifted, but not your detention. You’re expected back in class tomorrow.”
I nodded, feeling a bit relieved. I was getting tired of studying on my own. “Is there something else?”
She took a deep breath which she exhaled loudly. “Yes, there is.”
She pulled out a thin palm-slate from a back pocket, thumbed through the screens and then offered it to me.
I took it and read the message it displayed.
I read it twice to be sure I was reading it right.
I felt sick by the time I read it a third time.
My stomach felt like it had fallen to my knees.
I stood up and wandered away a few steps before I rounded on her. “Why? Why did they do this?”
Simone looked pained and it cut through the anger welling up in me. “Because after my Pride learnt your Fragment was actually a very rare Artifact, they pushed for action to have you disciplined, and to have your Fragment unbound from you. When they garnered support from other Prides, this put the Lanfears in a tight situation. Arisa had no choice but to acquiesce to their demands.”
So my gut feeling was right. The Gauntlet was an Artifact. I’d suspected that since that Saturday at the amusement park. “Just how rare is it?”
The Countess continued after a breath. “We’ve determined that your Gauntlet is actually an Artifact. Apparently when you drew out its power, you unlocked part of it and the Lanfear and Raynar researchers were able to access its core systemry. From that they were able to identify it as the Kaiser Armor, or as it was otherwise known, the Kaiser’s Blessing.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that it was a lost Artifact. There are references to it during the War of Supremacy between humanity and the Aventis. It was considered an Artifact fit for a field marshal. In fact, it’s considerably more powerful than a Valkyrie Armor, or the Chevalier Armor used by battalion commanders. From what I’ve been told, only a handful existed during the war, and they were believed to have been lost. Somehow this one ended up in the hands of the Lanfears. It’s an extremely rare find. A very precious find.”
I gave her words time to sink in, then broke into a bitter laugh. “So my actions gave the Raynars the opportunity they needed. They pushed for disciplinary action against me. In order to quash it, the Lanfears handed the rare Artifact over to the Raynars.”
She nodded sadly. “Yes, that’s right. In fact they handed it over to my family.”
“Your family? Why your family?”
“Because one of our Familiars exhibited extraordinarily high compatibility with it.”
“How high?”
“Almost ninety eight percent. Almost perfect compatibility straight out of the box.”
That was in excess of what I had achieved with the Gauntlet. It felt wrong calling it a Gauntlet when it was in fact an Armor that I’d failed to fully summon.
Simone rose from the swing. “Caelum, I’m sorry. I only found out this afternoon when Arisa called me and asked me to speak with you.”
I clenched my free hand. “She didn’t have the courage to tell me herself?”
“No. She didn’t….”
I shook my head. After the Countess’s explanation, I felt betrayed by Arisa and the Lanfears, and manipulated by the Raynars. I felt gutted. “All I wanted to do was protect Caprice. Yet everything turned out so wrong.”
“I know….”
I started walking around the park. The Countess sat back down on the swing seat to watch me.
I climbed up a slide and sat at the top.
I re-read the message on the palm-slate. It was an official declaration from the Primatriarch of the Raynar Pride, and approved by the Lanfear Primatriarch, and signed by the Avenir Primatriarch as a witness.
I thought about that day at the amusement park.
I’d thought about it many times since then – during the time spent in the cell, during my lunch breaks at school, and late at night when I lost my grip on sleep.
“Caelum?” The Countess stood near the foot of the slide. I hadn’t sensed her or noticed her approach. Once again, I realized how much smaller my Awareness was without the Fragment.
I looked down at her. “Maybe it’s the right thing to do.”
She blinked and opened her eyes sharply. “Why? Why would you say that?”
“Because they’re right. I lost control and in a moment of fury I almost took a life.” I folded my arms over my knees. “I almost killed a girl, and it’s been eating me up little by little every day since then.”
She stepped closer to the foot of the slide. “Caelum….”
“I never received the training I needed to use that Fragment—I mean Artifact. Something so powerful is just a tool for carnage in the wrong hands. Mine were the wrong hands. I just don’t understand why the Lanfears gave it to me. They should have known better. They should have done better by me.”
I shook my head in disappointment, then added, “I feel like they really didn’t know how to deal with me or the Artifact.”
“Maybe, maybe that’s true.”
I saw that Simone was struggling with her words. Part of her agreed with me, and the other part wanted to justify their decision to bond me to the Artifact. I shook my head, and felt irritated with myself. I had caused nothing but trouble for Arisa – though she had a part to play in that – and now I was causing difficulties for Simone.
This had to end.
My litany of bad judgments and mistakes had to end before someone was hurt.
I pushed off and slid down the slide, coming to my feet at the bottom. Then I stepped up to the Countess. I handed the palm-slate back to her.
She took it with trembling hands.
On impulse I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Simone, thank you for telling me. I’m just sorry that I can’t help you anymore.”
She looked at me in slight confusion.
I sighed. “I can’t protect your academy for you.” I laughed a short laugh. “The truth is I just wanted to stick it to Crimson Crescent. I guess that’s not going to happen now.”
Simone gave me a helpless look, then without preamble embraced me tightly.
Damn she was fast.
Damn she was strong.
Damn her breasts felt amazing.
I struggled for breath as they crushed into my chest. “Countess?”
“You should have been mine. You should have been mine. All this time you should have been my Familiar.”
She had said this before but I was pained to hear her words again.
Her voice was muffled against my shoulder. “My blood should have awakened you. You should have been my Familiar.”
I didn’t know what to do with my arms. Keep them at my sides or wrap them around her. I chose the latter, hesitantly returning the embrace by gently touching her.
Damn she felt good against my chest. I know I told Melanie breasts weren’t everything, but I was wrong. Breasts were awesome, especially Simone’s.
I heard her clearly since her lips were close to my right ear.
“I watched you for so long, ever since your sister Awakened and become affiliated with the Raynar Pride. I even met you once but I doubt you remember.”
I tried not to frown and failed. “You did?”
“It was my eleventh birthday party. Your sister was an Artemis in training. She had become good friends with my elder sister Silia, and both of you were invited. A
t the time I didn’t care for differences between Familiars and Aventis, so I didn’t understand why you were angry. You didn’t show it, but it was there. I felt it inside you—a hatred you had for the Aventis.”
I couldn’t remember. Try as I might, I couldn’t remember meeting Simone as a younger child. “Sorry Countess, I just don’t remember.”
“My breasts were smaller, so that’s why you probably don’t remember.”
I winced. “Well, I will admit I was interested in them at a young age.”
“Pervert.”
I winced again. “Sorry….”
“You were rude to me. You actually pushed me to the ground when I tried to be friends with you. I didn’t have any boy friends so you were kind of strange to me. But you called me a flatty and pushed me. I fell and dirtied my party dress.”
“I did what?” I grabbed her arms and pulled out of the embrace so that I could look into her eyes. “Countess—I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. And I’m so sorry for not remembering.”
She started laughing softly. “Your sister smacked you silly for embarrassing her. I made it worse by bawling my eyes out. Then she smacked you for making me cry.”
I felt terrible. I was almost glad I couldn’t remember. Making a girl cry was at the top of my list of things not to do. “Damn, I’m so sorry.”
Simone laughed a little more, then said something that shocked me. “Haruka came to my rescue. She punched you—she really punched you—and knocked you into a table. Then she helped me up.”
I stared at Simone in disbelief. “Haruka—Haruka was there?”
The Countess nodded. “Yes. Your sister brought her along. At first I thought she was your younger sister, but there was little resemblance.”
I shook my head weakly. “Why don’t I remember this? I should remember something like that but why don’t I?”
Simone frowned. “You really don’t remember?”
I shook my head a little more vigorously. “No. I really don’t.”
Simone’s frown grew deeper. Then she abruptly shrugged and her expression cleared. She gave me a faint smile. “It was around six years ago. I guess we forget things as we grow older.”
With the park lights shining in her eyes, the look she gave me stole my thoughts.
She spoke tenderly. “But I never forgot you. I’ve been thinking about you, and watching you, and when my breasts grew larger I thought this is my chance to pay you back. Now I’d make you regret for calling me flat.”
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