Pride x Familiar (41 page)

“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 joint, 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. At 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.”

I felt miserable, really miserable. “Countess,
I’m really, really sorry.”

“Not flat anymore, am I?”

“Ah…no. Definitely not flat.”

She started to laugh wickedly. “Well, you won’t
be forgetting me any time soon.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.”

Simone’s eyes widened. “You mean that?”

“I don’t see how I ever could. I’d have to
suffer a head injury for me to forget you.”

“You really, really mean that?”

“Of course I do.”

Were those tears glittering in her eyes?

She drew back out of my hold on her. My hands
and arms felt empty without her.

I watched her run a fingertip across her
eyes.

“Is that so,” she muttered softly.

I watched her take a moment to gather herself.
She tidied up her blouse, then surprised me by reaching out and
straightening my summer shirt.

Damn, she could make my heart race hard.

I had to swallow a few times in order to clear
the tightness in my throat. But then I realized I had to say
something to break the weird tension between us.

I thought of something quickly.

“Countess, would you tell me more about that day
at your party? Would you tell me more about my sister’s friendship
with your sister?”

Her eyes searched my face for a handful of
heartbeats. “I will but over that burger meal you promised me.”

I nodded. “Deal.” I paused before asking one
more question. “Would you tell me about the Familiar that has my
Artifact?”

Her face clouded and she looked reluctant. But
after a troubled moment, she gave me a firm nod. “Yes. I will tell
you what I know. I’ll tell you
everything
I know.”

#

(Caprice)

Four Artemis.

Four Familiars.

That’s how Sunday evening’s mock training battle
commenced, the second for the day.

But ten minutes into the battle, I realized
something was wrong.

The two Artemis girls that Constance and I were
stalking pulled back and avoided confronting us.

Then we heard Rina’s call over the link between
our Fragments.

*
Help
.

We lost contact a heartbeat later.

Maya cried for help within a half minute.

*
What the Hell? Who is this guy?

Using the effect-fields our Fragments generated
to boost our speed and leaping distance, Constance and I raced over
rooftop after rooftop. The training habitat might have been small
in comparison to an Island habitat, but it still took us precious
seconds to arrive at Maya’s location.