Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière was scared.

With all her heart, Louise wished she could simply「deny」the reality of her situation. But as she stood upon the windswept plain, watching her peers each perform the sacred summoning ritual with the same infuriating ease, she couldn't deny the truth.

This would be her last chance; to prove herself a mage, a noble, and most importantly, a Vallière. If she failed here, she couldn't even imagine a world where she could stay at the Academy. Even if the headmaster was willing to take such an unprecedented step, Louise certainly couldn't see her mother allowing it. The 'Heavy Wind' wouldn't allow a daughter of hers to break the Rule of Steel, to drag their family name through the mud any more than she already had by abusing their status in such an unseemly manner.

Then what would happen to her? Would she be disowned? Cast out into the wilds as one cursed by God and Founder? Or would she just be a failure, carried on through life by her name and the pity of her family alone, married off to some upjumped peasant or merchant lord?

Louise couldn't tell which possibility she feared and loathed more, that her family might cast her out to avoid the shame, or that their loveborn pity would forever rob her of the dignity she'd been raised to see as inherent to her status as a Vallière. All she could know for sure, was that this was it. Her time, where before the eyes of the gods she'd rise or fa-

"Ms. Vallière." Professor Colbert stated not unkindly, knocking Louise out of her spiraling thoughts.

"Yes Professor." She strode forward, projecting a confidence and dignity that she couldn't find within heart or mind. Coming to a stop in the same spot each of her classmates had previously utilized, she kneeled and began drawing out the ritual pentagram.

A certain degree of flexibility was inherent in almost all spells. As the Founder's gift functioned by imposing the logic of the caster upon the World, spells would inevitably vary between casters. After all, every person would have different beliefs they held, and even moment to moment their thoughts and feelings could change. All these things could affect the outcome of a spell, and all had to be taken into account to some degree. Louise knew this all by heart, a natural consequence of being one of the Academy's most academically talented and diligent students.

Which is why, after standing back up, Louise took a few moments to collect herself and cast aside her errant thoughts. Even if it didn't calm her heart, it'd at least eliminate one variable.

"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière-"

A few of the closer students, the great mass of them standing a few meters back from and in a rough semi-circle around the summoning circle and Louise, took a few steps back as she began her incantation. A year spent around Louise apparently having invested a certain instinctive response to imminent explosions in her classmates.

"-in the name of the Five Great Powers, do beseech thee-"

The familiars previously summoned by Louise's peers, who had up to that point been unnaturally docile, became agitated at this. Some glanced around, as if expecting some predator to appear from the air, while others began edging away from the area or cowering in place. The only exception to this was the blue dragon that the bookish Gallian girl had summoned, which was staring at the Vallière girl with what the more imaginative students, if they had been paying attention to it, might've thought to be dread.

"-that thou mayst summon unto me a most divine, beautiful, and wise servant-"

A nauseating, coppery scent seemed to blow in upon a breeze. Though only Colbert and the Gallian seemed to recognize it for it was, indicated only by the widening of the professor's eyes and the stiffening of the students' posture.

"-Oh sacred magics, engraved unto this world by the most Holy Brimir, in the name of the gods summon my familiar!"

And with a blinding flash of light and a scalding blast of heat, Louise knew no more.

「Path Reconstruction Complete.」

'Oh, what's this?'

「Transferring Situational Data...Transfer Complete」

'Kuahaha! This is the best ever! A whole new world to see, full of treasures to steal and loot to plunder and sweets to eat and and….I can smell her! She's here! Shuten's here! I just know it!'

「Acquiescence Acquired. Retrieving Compositional Data...Retrieval Complete.」

'Oh we'll have so much fun! We'll steal and plunder and drink and eat and it'll be great and fun and wonderful and, uh, great! Yes.'

「Constructing Spiritual Vessel...Construction Complete」

'We'll find a new mountain, and even if I can't find any subordinates, I'll build us a palace twice, nay, thrice as grand as the one at Ooe! Shuten will love it and then-'

「Encoding Compositional Data Upon Spiritual Vessel...Encoding Complete. Beginning Spiriton Transfer.」

'...oh, so we'll still have masters? Hmp...well, it's of no concern. Before the terrifying visage of a great oni such as I, surely she'll be quaking in her boots befo-WHY IS SHE TALLER! That's no fair, no fair at all!'

「Spriton Transfer Completion Rate: 50%」

'Well, I guess I'll just have to be extra oni-like! Make sure she understands her proper place...humans are still scared of explosions, right? Of course, it's only natural for an oni to frighten humans.'

「Spiriton Transfer Complete. 」

Unprepared by prior experience, neither Louise's peers nor her professor thought to shield their eyes in preparation for the blonde's 'doubtlessly' failed spell. Fittingly then, they were completely unprepared for the blinding flash of light that assailed their eyes and the deafening roar battering their ears. The pained cries of the students went mostly unheard, the only sound most of them being able to perceive was the ringing in their ears.

The first to recover was Colbert, the veteran war-mage marshalling his will and tearing his eyes open as he rose back to his feet while even the young Gallian chevalier was still trying to rub stars out of her teary eyes.

Despite the cold fury it set in his heart, Colbert allowed himself to fall back into the habits of his martial youth. Wand in hand, he cast his gaze across the field, taking in everything as quickly and thoroughly as he could. A moment later, the middle-aged professor almost wished he hadn't.

Those students who'd been closest to the explosion were on the ground, either knocked unconscious by the blast, or writhing on the ground clutching at either their eyes or ears. Those who'd been standing farther away had fared better, either having been merely knocked on their rears or brought to their knees. Though, even they seemed to be clutching at their eyes as if their hands could somehow pry away the aftereffects of the flash.

Farther out, Colbert could see some of the dryer patches of grass had caught flame, and clumps of dirt and rock had been scattered about in a haphazard manner for at least a few good dozen meters. A sight which had him offer a silent prayer of thanks to the Founder for his mercy. He'd seen what happened to the human bodies exposed to shrapnel from a gunpowder explosion, and he'd have sooner laid down his life then see one of his charges perish in such a gruesome, and often agonizing slow demise.

'Hm, and the fires don't seem to be spreading either. Probably too much moisture in the younger plants to catch alight, perhaps..' the professor's train of thought ground to a half as he realized what he'd been doing.

Since the moment his vision had cleared, the thought had been at the back of his mind. Jean Colbert had an...intimate knowledge of what the fire element and its derivative phenomena could do to a person, and he'd seen enough scenes of horror to fill a lifetime of nightmares. For his students who'd been standing meters away to be bleeding from their eyes and ears, he had a good idea of the state someone standing right in front of it would be in.

It would be easy, to merely focus on what he knew he could do, to not acknowledge this new failure. It'd even be the expected thing, to prioritize the living over the dead, to ensure his students all made their ways to the infirmary to see the school's healers. But...hadn't he sworn all those years ago? To never turn his eyes from the horrors of war, from the death caused either by his hand or his inaction?

No, Jean Colbert couldn't say he was a good man, but he wouldn't allow himself to fall back into that form of sin.

So the balding mage turned gaze back to the center of it all, and came to rest upon the cor-

'...what?'

Where Colbert had expected to find the broken, charred remains of a young woman he'd been charged with protecting, he instead saw the youngest Vallière daughter laying upon the ground. Her face, hands and legs were covered in soot, the edges of her clothes and hair were singed, but to his amazement her limbs were all still attached and her chest yet rose and fell. Some cuts and bruises also adorned her form, but as a man who'd dealt and received what would be life-ending injuries if not for the gift of the Founder, he knew she was in no real danger.

Were that all, the Professor was sure he'd have been quite profuse with his thanks to God and Founder, but such was not to be. For while Miss Vallière was indeed quite alive, standing over her was a creature he'd never seen nor heard the likes of.

The creature bore the general shape of a young human girl, just a bit shorter than Louise herself. The girl bore a head of long, flowing blonde hair and was garbed in strange foreign garments that, despite showing clear signs of age, seemed to bear an elegance of design he was not used to seeing outside formal gatherings of the high nobility. Were that all, he would have little reason to be concerned, but the strange markings covering her skin from head to toe, the twin horns that erupted from her forehead, and the wing-like jets of flame that erupted outside of the creature's back dispelled any illusion of humanity she'd born. And worst of all, she was crouched in front of his unconscious student, less than an arm's length away.

A part of Colbert wanted to rush forwards right then and there. He knew a handful of different fire spells that carried more force than heat and should be capable of knocking the creature back without harming his student. It wouldn't even take more than a moment, and once he'd put some distance between them, he could use his runic namesake and-

The thick, arcid smoke burns his lungs as he treads through the smoldering remains of the town. His comrades aside, not a single living thing yet breathes within a mile, but no matter where he looks he can see them. The mothers cradling their children as he his flames consumed them like a ravenous beast, the screams of whole families as he set fire to their houses in the dead of the night, the wails of infants as he left nothing but ash of their parents before moving onto them. Screams, wails, weeping, it's all he can hear. But all that's left is ash, nothing, nothing but ash and dust an-

No, he would not be that man, not again. Even if every fiber of his being and every ounce of his mind screamed to eliminate the creature, the firstborn standing over his charge, he won't be that man again. And, seeing the look on the creature's face, the widening of her eyes as she reaches out for the other girl, only to hesitate at the last moment as if afraid the taller girl would break at a touch, he couldn't help but feel shamed. It wasn't rational of him, there was no sane, grounded reason for him to come to the conclusion he'd reached. But looking upon that face, he couldn't see anything but a scared child.

Regret isn't something an oni should feel.

To look back at the past, to see and acknowledge one's errors and wish for a chance to make up for them. Such was not the oni-way. An oni is supposed to live in the present, to enjoy every moment to its fullest and never look back!

Ibaraki had never been good at that part of being an oni.

She looked back upon the past of her people, and saw the folly of the too often solitary lives they'd lived, that left them vulnerable and alone. She looked back on her rule over Mt. Ooe, and knew the weakness of her reign had always been the person closest to her heart. And when she looked back on the night-

The palace burns. Guttural roars shake the earth and the screams of her followers inundate the air. One after another, they go silent, and the fire swallows them all, taking both corpse and shade down to Yomi. It should've filled her heart with rage and hate, to see the paradise she'd built for Her desecrated. To see the manifest dream of her revered mother put to the torch. But...there is nothing but fear and panic in her heart.

Follower, retainer, acquaintance, even those she might've thought a friend in the depths of her cups, she pays them no mind as she races through the flames. There's only one person, only one thing she simply can't loose. So she runs and runs and runs and runs, as if she were but the wind racing upon the air. It takes her but a moment to make it to Her room, even though it seems an eternity and as she looks in...her heart stops.

Her body lies there, upon the ground, with all the grace she'd expect of her sister. Even asleep, she can't help but admire her. A being so filled with life, the very peak of what it means to be an oni. It wasn't in her nature to be hurt, to be stalled or bored. Her Shuten, she is too strong and great and beautiful and-and yet…

She doesn't want to accept it. She doesn't want to see it. She wants to tear her eyes out and burn them to ash for daring to show her such horrid, horrid lies. But she can't unsee it. She wants to unsee, to forget, even to die would be better. But she can't.

Standing over her sister, standing over her one friend and companion is a monster. The monster's long almost-purple black hair, her voluptuous frame, the demon-lightning crackling around her body, even the fiery hate in her eyes, none of it matters. She doesn't care, she doesn't even see it. All she can see is-is-is...her soft smile, her teasing eyes, her regal horns her-her-her-her-her-he-he-he-he

She screams. All she can do is scream and scream and scream and weep and cry and run.

A thousand knives to her heart, and million hot-iron stakes through her head, so weak and merciful, she can't imagine anything as painful as this.

Her footsteps crack the earth, her grief-filled wails hateful screams split the heavens, but it can't bring Her back. It can't mend the gaping, gnawing hole in her heart, that feels like it could split her chest open at the slightest touch. So she runs and runs and runs. Is it for moments? Days? Years? Decades? She doesn't know, she doesn't care, she just runs till her legs give out, crals till her claws break and her fingers break. Till she can't run from it anymore.

'She'd dead. Dead dead dead dead dead dead deaddeadeadeadeadeadeadeadea-'

A part of her, some infinitesimally small part of her, notes that there's something trailing down her cheeks. It must be blood.

After all, oni don't cry.

No, regret wasn't something Ibaraki was good at dealing with.

Looking down at her would-be master, the oni's eyes widening at the sight of bruised flesh and leaking blood, Ibaraki's heart fell.

'Another one for the list.'

Crouching down to get a closer look, Ibaraki wanted to reach out for the girl. She almost did, only to hesitate just a moment before contact.

'Can, can I even touch her?'

She'd always known humans were fragile, like wet paper or glass. For an oni like her, a mere touch could split a man open, if put actual force into a blow there wouldn't be much left other than a smear on the ground. But even so...how could this have happened?

She'd just wanted to show her, to show the girl who would be her master that she was a great oni! Something to be feared and respected and obeyed. So the girl would know that as long as she stuck to Ibaraki's side, she wouldn't let anything harm her! Ibaraki needed her, after all. If she wanted to live this new life, if she wanted to see her. Her dear, wonderful sister Shuten. But now...but now...

'It was just supposed to be a flash! Some heat, some force, but not enough for this. Not enough to ki-ki-no, that sound...she's breathing...she's alive!'

Being happy that a human was still alive, that was a novel thing for the oni. She'd never taken the joy some of her kind did in devouring or tormenting the weaker creatures, but she couldn't say she'd ever been attached to or fond of them either.

But, that still left the girl's injuries. Ibaraki would be the first to admit she'd never been in charge of mending wounds of her subordinates. The natural healing capacity of an oni usually meant that as long as they weren't killed outright, they'd typically recover from most injuries, even if they couldn't just regrow a lost limb. But humans...no, humans weren't that lucky.

'So, do I cauterize the wounds? No, that'd just burn her flesh and-' Her thoughts spiraled from there. It didn't matter if her would-be-master survived the blast if she just died from her injuries!

So occupied in her thoughts, the oni neither noticed the slowly recovering body of students standing a few meters away or the balding man quietly approaching the two.

"You seem rather worried about her-"

His words ground to a halt as she blurred forward, an ear-piercing crack of displaced air signaling her near instantaneous passage from one side of the downed girl to the other. It wouldn't have taken her more than a fraction of a second to remove the man's head, and were this a normal summoning she'd have done so without a moment's hesitation. But there was no Grail to inform her of her role here, and the World did not seem to have any input to give, so the Ringleader of Ooe stayed her hand even as she placed herself between the man and her summoner.

Though, even an oni like Ibaraki could acknowledge she was a bit impressed when the human merely paused for a moment at the sight of her speed, and then continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"-and if you'd allow it, I'd be happy to take her back to the Academy's infirmary."

His words were polite, soft-spoken, and left room for her to refuse. She didn't like it. In her experience, a human was only going to speak like that to an oni if they were working towards some scheme...well, that or they were really stupid.

Apparently the man noticed something in Ibaraki's expression, because he chuckled.

"You would, of course, be welcome to accompany her to the infirmary. Given your summoning, I'm sure the two of you will have much to discuss upon her awakening."

Then...there really wasn't any reason for her to refuse. She needed her summoner alive and awake to accept their contract and thereby act as her anchor in this world and time, and her being in anything but the best of healthy would just be chains holding her back. As long as she could be there to keep an eye on her…

Perhaps noticing her remaining hesitation, the older human shook his head absently before glancing back to the other humans- 'Why are they all wearing the same stupid clothes anyway?' stating in a tone that sounded vaguely familiar "Well, I was hoping to take your summoner back to the Academy myself, but it seems more of my students will need to be carried back than I'd expected. I don't suppose you'll be able to carry her back yourself? If not-"

Ibaraki couldn't help but scoff at that, loudly, and without further thought hoisted up the taller girl into her arms. Were she not caught up in contradictory spite, Ibaraki might've noted the strange expression the man made at the sight.

"Fool! A task such as this is not even a trifle for one such as I, the great and terrible Ibaraki Douji, Master of all the Oni of Ooe!"

She waited a moment, perhaps hoping against reason for some degree of recognition to flare in the man's eyes, but most certainly expecting a proper display of fear and submission.

Which is why, when all she saw from him was the slight trembling of his lips and the shaking of his shoulders, she was infuriated! True, she recalled such looks of terror she'd inflicted on the capital, but this wasn't enough! No, he should be balling his eyes out at the mere intonation of her name, begging for his life on his knees.

Clearly he just didn't know what an oni was. Understandable, given this was a new world, but that just meant she'd need to educate him.

"Hmph! You don't even know of the oni? Pah! I suppose I'll have to show you our strength and then you'll know true fear! Now, look yonder!" She nodded her head towards the castle in the distance, a good ten minute's run for the humans of her own land. "With but one leap, I'll be standing before your keep in the blink of the eye, splitting the earth and scything the air with my passage, and leave it shaking to its roots with my landing!"

And just as she'd said, Ibaraki Douji leapt off the ground with enough strength to leave a horse-sized crater in her place and shatter glass from the sound of her passing. Students who'd just managed to get a handle on their ringing ears cried out unheard and for miles one could see birds flying out of the forest in panic.

Colbert winced, not at the sounds of his students nor for the sake of his own ears. No, in the split second between the 'oni"s pronouncement and her leap, he'd recalled a conversation he'd had with an artilleryman back in the service on ballistic trajectories and made a rough guess on what he'd seen. A few seconds later, the sound of centuries old brickwork shattering and the puff of smoke emerging from what he assumed was a rather sizable hole in the wall of the Academy's main building confirmed his guess.

"They really are a pair, aren't they?" He muttered, shaking his head before turning back to his students. The rest of the day would be troublesome no doubt, but he had at least one point of consolation as he began the thankless labor of levitating students to the infirmary and guiding others to the same.

He definitely didn't earn enough ecu for this to be taken out of his pay.

It'd been a nice dream, Louise decided.

Even a mere moment into the realm of awareness, her eyes not even open and her mind foggy, her recollection of it was fading away.

Still, it'd been pleasant, so she was in a good mood.

"For the last time you little beast! It's for disinfecting wounds, not for drinking!"

"Oh? So you still think you're such a sage, to tell an oni what to drink? Kuahaha! How foolish, what an intoxicating innocence you have, little onmyouji. Perhaps when I seize this place, I'll keep you around as a jester!"

And just like that, Louise's good mood had evaporated before she'd even opened her eyes.

Even in her mostly-asleep state, Louise knew she had to be in her room as she remembered quite distinctly going to sleep early last night on the eve of the Springtime Familiar Summoning, and as she was slowly but surely waking up now, that meant that she had to be in her room. She wasn't sure who was in her, and in any other circumstance she'd be earring at the chance to give them a piece of her mind. But...did she really want to bother?

The fact that she then twisted around to plant her face firmly in the comforting embrace of her pillow was all the answer an external observer would need. Whoever the younger and older voices belonged to, she'd deal with them lat-

The sound of a child coughing interrupts her increasingly tired thoughts.

"I told you!" The older voice exclaims, exasperation mixing with triumph "But do you listen to me? Does anyone in this Founder-damned Academy actually listen to me? Of course not, they're too busy being litt-"

It was too much.

In a moment of pique, Louise's eyes shot open and she practically rocketed upwards.

"What in the Founder's name are you idiots doing in my-" The student trailed off, her eyes widening as she took in the scene before her.

She wasn't in her room, she was in the infirmary. Standing near another bed to her left, currently occupied by one of her peers with a blood soaked bandage around his eyes, was the same nurse who'd helped patch up her leg after a piece of stone shrapnel had shattered her kneecap.

To the young woman's shame, she couldn't even remember the older woman's name. Even if her position as a lesser noble would've normally excused such a gaff, this woman had been one of the few to show true kindness to her, even or rather especially because of the firm and commanding manner in which said kindness was delivered.

But even more than that, the sight of the woman so clearly agitated did nothing for Louise's mind. She'd be the first to admit that she, Founder be praised, did have to visit the infirmary very often. But on all the occasions she did, the nursing staff had always been professional and calm, even when one now-retired professor had blown off his arm trying to show a student how to safely set themself alight as a defense against the fire magic of other mages. Of course, unless she'd been hearing things wrong earlier, she knew what'd caused this mess.

So Louise turned her gaze to the right, expecting to find some lost child and-

'...well, I suppose I wasn't wrong.'

The first thing Louise thought upon seeing the bizarre figure seated in a chair on the right side of her bed, holding a jug of what she'd swear was disinfectant alcohol and hacking her lungs out, was that she was staring at a Greater Spirit of Fire.

The rational part of her was quick to dismiss such a possibility. The bodies of spirits were, at least according to what evidence the Brimiric nations had accumulated over their limited interactions with the creatures, composed of their associated element and were more vessels for their Will, which was the core element of their being, than anything else. By that standard, the being sitting before Louise couldn't be a spirit...animate masses of fire didn't exactly have coughing fits because they drank the liquid form of wiping alcohol like a free-roaming toddler after all.

Well, to her knowledge they didn't. Who knew what such heathenous creatures got up to away from the eyes of the faithful?

In the time it took Louise to consider that though, the nurse had already crossed the distance between them and was pushing her down onto her back.

"Miss Vallière, you of all people should know better than to get up so quickly after taking a blast like that!"

'What?!' Louise's myriad branching lines of thought came to halt, her eyes widening as she scrambled internally to recall...well, anything about what'd happened.

It'd been the day of the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual, she could clearly remember doing everything textbook perfectly, and then-A flash of light, a wave of heat hot enough to scorch her skin and singe her hair and-.

'Oh of course I screwed up! What else could've happened? What in this whole damned world can I do that isn't a fai-...' her self-reprimand ceased and trailed off as she realized a sound she'd been taking for granted for the last minute or so was no longer present.

Slowly, as not to give the nurse a fit, Louise turned her head to the side to look at the inhuman being next to her. Not just to give her a quick glance-over as the cause of an irritating situation, but to really see her.

The thing that stuck out the most to Louise, more than the girl's black and red horns or her golden eyes, or even the strange red markings adorning her face, arms and legs was the clothes she was wearing. Louise had no idea what style those strange garments were meant to belong to, nor could she say she knew what land they came from. But beyond all that, she could say with absolute certainty that they were not the clothes of a commoner.

The fabric on both the outer and, from what she could see, the inner layer were of a higher quality than she'd ever seen on any peasant garb, as she could see extensive signs of wear and age sitting right beside vibrants colors and elegant floral patterns. The sleeves on the arms of the outer outfit were much too long to be practical and the collar, which seemed to only meet over the girl's stomach and only because it was tied together by both a belt and sash, didn't even cover the girl's shoulders. The outer belt keeping the whole thing together seemed to be composed of free-floating beads which were presumably kept together by a string, which held down a vaguely feline-feeling sash. Finally, the girl was also wearing earrings that seemed a miniature version of the excessively large beads on her belt and an odd two-layered ribbon upon her head.

Not the garb of a noble from any of the Brimirc kingdoms, but not something Louise could see a commoner in any land acquiring without ruining themself.

'I doubt they'd even be able to put something like that on anyway. How many servants would I need just to get everything in the right place?'

Really, the whole thing seemed horribly impractical...which if her sister Elenore was to be believed, was half the point of 'high fashion' she'd been forced to indulge in. Then again, her sister also believed that a whip was the tool of a kind and generous employer, so perhaps she shouldn't listen to her so much….

But that still didn't explain why this obviously foreign girl-creature was even here in Tristain, let alone in the Academy's infirmary! It didn't make any sense, even if the thing's claws were for show and she was as weak as her frame suggested, there was no reason to bring what could only be a firstborn into a room full of injured students.

'Unless...d-did I…' Even in the privacy of her head, she wouldn't dare finish that thought. It wasn't possible. Even if the details were still blurry and hard to recall, she distinctly remembered her attempt at performing the sacred ritual ending in an explosion. The only possible conclusion then, was that she'd failed. The only thing her attempts at casting spells ever ended with were explosions, and only explosions.

'But, how else would-' She didn't get the chance to even finish the thought before her ears were assaulted.

It was a deep, rumbling sound, like great boulders being crushed under their own weird or some great tower crumbling. It grated on her ears, and were it not for her heart skipping a beat she'd have likely been pressing her hands against her ears to get it to stop. And not a moment later, stop it did.

Louise blinked, her blurry vision clearing and revealing what she'd thought an indistinct yellow blurr to be the horned girl, not even a hand's length away from her face, with her teeth.

"I can see it in your eyes girl, you know what happened, but you don't believe it. Well, I don't care." The creature practically spat the words at her, voice low and threatening in its intensity.

Louise wanted to be happy. By all rights, those words of confirmation should've been the best things she'd ever heard in her life. But the fiery, hateful glare in those golden orbs, Louise couldn't bear to think, she couldn't bear to move or look away or anything. They told her all she needed to know, that the being in front of her wouldn't hesitate to smash in her head, to rip her limb from limb, to burn her till nothing but blackened bones remained and-

"But...you called for a reason, right? What am I saying, of course you did. Then what are you waiting for human? Do it, complete the pact and I'll make sure its done."

The question comes too soon, the voice too cold and stilted for Louise to fit the creature's words together. Every fiber of her being had been screaming that she was about to die not a moment ago, that she was staring some inhuman monster in the eye, that it'd be her last moment on this world before the Maidens took her up to Valhalla to be given judgement.

Now, not even a second later, the beast was speaking to her as if she was trying hold down some great surge of emotion, and looking into her eyes...Louise could see it wasn't anger, or hate or wrath or anything like that. In those two golden eyes trying so hard not to show a thing, Louise could see just the tiniest traces of fear.

If it were anything else, Louise doubted she'd have been able to recognize it. But there was no way she could miss this, no world where she wouldn't recognize that expression on sight. For Louise de La Vallière the look on the creature's face, the gleam in her eye, it was more familiar than her mother's stern frown or her dear Cattleya's warm smile. It was the expression of someone who was afraid, not for life limb or fortune, but afraid they'd fail where it mattered most, that all they'd ever be when it really mattered was a failure. Louise saw it every day, whenever she looked in the mirror.

Louise couldn't guess why anyone, why anything would so desperately wish to be bound. Really, she didn't even understand how such a being could be summoned in the first place, magic beasts could be summoned but she'd never heard of one that could talk being called. But that didn't matter. Every second she looked into those eyes was like taking a knife to her own heart. There was only one thing she could do, looking at a soul like that.

Louise rose to her feet, unsteadily at first as she struggled for a moment to disentangle herself from the covers, but with a surety of purpose that no amount of protest from her yet tired limbs would stop. She picked up her wand from the bedside counter, absently noting the nurse seemed to have fallen to the ground for some reason, and made the appropriate gestures as she spoke the incantation.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, by the Five Great Powers, Pentagon of the Elements, bless this being and make her my familiar!"

Incantation complete, her Will gathered and shaped, there was but one thing to do. Without giving herself time to doubt or dwell on the act itself, she strode forward, placed her hands on the strange girl's shoulders, and placed a gentle kiss upon her brow.

Louise took a step back, and for a few moments the two stood in silence.

Louise was very firm in not thinking about the specifics of what she'd just done, of the conclusions she'd come to, and generally just tried to keep her mind on the fact that she'd summoned a familiar, and that her immediate future at the Academy was secure. The horned girl, on the other hand, was just staring at Louise, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock.

'Perhaps she thought the binding would be established in another way?' Louise absently speculated, finding it increasingly hard as the moments ticked on to keep the smaller girl out of her thoughts with her staring like that.

Then, without reason as far as Louise could see, the blonde shut her mouth with a clack and glanced away towards the window, a light blush on her cheeks.

Perhaps it wasn't wise to assume the emotions and the expression thereof matched between humans and...whatever her new familiar was, but Louise couldn't really see the girl's expression meaning anything other than embarrassment. And really, what did she have to be embarrassed about?

The girl, 'I should ask for her name. Just calling her 'girl' or 'familiar' is going to get tiresome before long' had folded her arms and seemed to be trying to shrink into herself. Louise noticed then, that she'd apparently been mumbling, and while she couldn't catch much what she did hear shook her to her core.

"...and sis said you need to give someone candy first and…"

For a solid minute, the words failed to register and the Vallière's mind stubbornly refused to comprehend their meaning. It was only when she noticed that the other girl had stopped looking away and was actually staring up at her with a pout that everything clicked into place.

Her world spun, and a moment later she felt something soft on her back. As darkness fell upon her, she saw the golden-eyed girl glare down at her petulantly.

"So that's the kind of person you are? Escaping into unconsciousness to run away from your responsibility!"

For the briefest moment, Louise felt a brief, minute sense of sympathy for Guiche, and knew no more...for the second time that day.