Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

She was there again, in that chamber, in front of that enigmatic red door.

Elise Schwarzer was dreaming. She was having a lucid dream, in fact, for she was fully aware of the fact that she was dreaming, and could act however she saw fit. She currently resided within the bowels of the Old Schoolhouse that resided on the Thors Military Academy campus. She had been there but once, but this place followed her, nonetheless.

She took a step forward, towards the door in front of her. It was sealed. It always was sealed in these dreams. In the real world, it had opened in front of her, revealing some strange, hulking monstrosity from the Dark Ages.

In her dreams, it remained closed. It would not open.

She was not sure why, but she felt that the reason it would not open was because… was because she was her.

She was not who the door should respond to.

And yet…

It called to her.

By all accounts, it should have been entirely forgotten. Or, more accurately, she should have been entirely forgotten. A footnote in this entire tale. Yet drawn back she was, night after night, to this place where her life had flashed before her eyes.

She approached the door with a hand held out in front of her. She pressed her palm to the stone. Somehow, she could feel a heartbeat, like the entire thing was alive, pulsing with blood beneath the surface.

“…Why do you keep calling out to me?” She asked, for she could think of nothing else to do. “If you won’t open, why are you calling me here?”

Nothing happened. Of course, nothing happened, because she was talking to a door inside of a dream. There were a lot of reasons for nothing to happen.

She sighed, leaning forwards so that her forehead made contact with the door. The beating of some mystical heart was even more evident now, but–

It was the faintest, most absent thing she had heard in all her life. Inaudible, yet somehow heard. She could not decipher the exact words, but…

Something had spoken to her. Tried to address her.

“Are you… are you in there?” She called out.

A response. Once more too distant to identify.  

“…Why am I here?” She asked, almost desperate. “Why are you calling out to me? Why do I keep having these dreams? What am I… what am I supposed to do?”

For the first time, she could identify something in the words spoken to her next.

…reveal…

“Reveal!?” She called back. “What… what am I supposed to reveal?”

‘He thinks you have potential, and he wants you to reveal it to him.’

Elise’s eyes widened, and she turned on a dime towards the sound of that voice. Or… she thought she had. When she looked behind her, there was nothing and no one. Just an empty blackness where the elevator out of the schoolhouse should’ve been.

“What are you…”

‘Believe me, if it were up to me, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now.’ The voice was high-pitched and nasally. It sounded like it belonged to a young woman. ‘But unfortunately, it’s not up to me. And for reasons I can’t fathom, you’re in the running.’

“…Who? What?”

‘It doesn’t matter what I think, though. The Ashen Knight still hasn’t decided, and we need him to soon. I told Emma I wouldn’t interfere again, but frankly, we’re out of time. If you remember this when you wake up… Crap. You’re already waking up.’

“What… are…”

A warm sort of feeling suffused Elise’s body. Suddenly, even though she knew she was dreaming, she felt exhaustion beginning to overwhelm her. It was nearly morning, then. She needed to be awake for lessons.

‘Ugh. Of course, our guidance had to be this difficult. Listen, you need to be present when the final trial commences. So–’

/

Elise awoke with a gasp within her dorm room in St. Astraia’s.

Things were quiet. She checked the orbal clock on the wall, and saw that it was only just now cresting the more acceptable hours of the morning.

She sat up in bed, trying to get the last remnants of that odd dream out of her head. She knew that the memories of it would pass with time. She reached for the glass of water she’d poured herself the previous evening, and took a quick drink.

…She had a feeling she would not be getting back to sleep, no matter how hard she tried.

Elise sighed, but ultimately accepted that. She got out of bed, dressed herself, and walked over to the desk inside of her room. There were a few pages out on it relating to Empress Priscilla’s speech at the turn of the century ball, back in 1200, but Elise had done more than enough studying on that subject. She folded them neatly and set them aside.

She took out a blank piece of paper, took up her pen, and quickly sketched some of what she’d seen in the dream.

The pattern on the door; that odd insignia, in the shape of a curved, four-pointed star…

It was branded into her mind, somehow. She drew it out onto the paper in front of her without a second thought, or a moment’s hesitation.

…That same dream. She’d had it over and over again. She did not have it every night, nor did the dream repeat with any clear pattern, but even so, it haunted her.

That singular day within the confines of the Old Schoolhouse, when Rean had gone into that rage-filled state to help her…

Normally, the dreams had already been forgotten by now, but this one was sticking. She could remember all of it clearly; could remember the words that mysterious voice had spoken to her.

‘Listen, you need to be present when the final trial commences. So–’

That voice had been trying to give her some direction. It had been trying to tell her something.

…No, it hadn’t. It had been a figment of her imagination inside of a dream. It wasn’t trying to tell her anything, other than that she probably had some trauma she needed to work through in regards to that Old Schoolhouse, and nearly dying there.

But she just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more going on.

She tried to dismiss it. Tried to push it to the back of her brain. She had schoolwork to focus on, after all.

…Well, exam season had finished, and she was actually ahead in all her classes. What was more, she could afford to fall a bit behind with Musse and Alfin there to tutor her when she returned.

When I return? Elise thought. What am I…? No, this is ridiculous.

But unfortunately, the thought had already wormed its way inside her head.

…Perhaps she could ask for a leave of absence from St. Astraia’s. Perhaps, instead of departing for Trista in a week for the festival, as she had planned, she could instead leave tomorrow. She could go to Thors, try and be present for this ‘final trial’ nonsense, and…

And what? What happens then?

She didn’t know. Actually, no, she knew. Nothing would happen, because she was putting an awful lot of stock into her own nonsensical dreams. She would go, nothing would occur, and she would return emptyhanded and more than a little embarrassed.

It was a hairbrained scheme. Entirely unlike her.

And yet…

Something was calling out to her. Something’s heart had been beating behind that crimson sigil. Something’s voice had called to her, and told her to reveal her potential to it.  

And Elise found that she needed to know exactly what that something was.

And with that decision, the gears of fate misaligned.

/

Getting a leave of absence turned out to be shockingly easy. This was mostly due to having a princess for a best friend. Alfin had gone with her to see the principal, and Elise had been out of the woman’s office with a weeklong leave of absence within thirty minutes.

Elise had initially planned on making up some sort of excuse as to the why of her sudden trip to Thors, but she needn’t have bothered. Alfin had already come up with her own idea as to why Elise was going to Thors early.

“Be sure to say hello to Rean for me,” Alfin’s smile was so sharp it could’ve killed. “Oh, I don’t know why I bother. It’s not like you two will have any time to talk at all between staring longingly into one another’s eyes.”

“Y-Your highness!” Elise huffed, trying to get her cheeks to return to a normal shade. She wasn’t going to Thors early to see Rean!

…Or, well, that wasn’t the entire reason, at least!

/

She had chosen to leave early in the morning the next day, before classes at St. Astraia – or at Thors – had started. It wasn’t very difficult given Heimdall was only a thirty-minute train ride away. In fact, the Class VII dormitory was right next to the train station. She hadn’t had to go far at all in order to run right into her brother.

Rean was surprised to see her, as were the rest of the members of Class VII.

“Elise!?”

“Hello Rean, everyone.” She curtsied to them all. “It’s wonderful to see you all again.”

“Elise, I… it’s great to see you, of course,” Rean had been doing his best to make sure she knew he cared about her ever since that debacle last time, and Elise really appreciated it. “But what are you doing here? Don’t you have classes today?”

“Well…”

/

Elise had, admittedly, just sort of thrown herself onto the first train that she could get on in order to make it to Trista the day after her decision, all to chase after some odd… feeling she’d had from out of a dream. It was stupid, and silly, and yet… well…

Elise had never been a particularly daring person. She was the kind of person who went with the flow. Who did what was expected of her. Her father had suggested she use a rapier based on her build, and so she did. Her parents had suggested that she attend St. Astraia’s, and so she had. Alfin had decided that the two of them were going to be best friends, and so they were.

She didn’t do much to challenge what others felt she should do.

So… maybe that was what this was. Some sort of late rebellious streak. It made about as much sense as her deciding, on a whim, to come to Thors in order to see that strange door again because someone in her dream told her to.

In fact, it made about a hundred times more sense.

So, that was that. This was all a bid of teenage rebellion. Next week, she would go back to Heimdall, and she would forget this had ever happened.

That was what she told herself, at any rate.

/

In the end, things ended up solving themselves.

It had been a somewhat spur of the moment decision from Instructor Sara – okay, actually, it had been a very spur of the moment decision from Instructor Sara – to invite her to Thors to speak with the principal, but doing so had turned out to be the right choice. He was an older, jolly man, with the build of a bear and the attitude of Mishy. He’d heard her circumstances, laughed, and then decided that, for the next few days until she returned to Heimdall, she would be joining Class VII as a ‘temporary transfer student’.

Things were run a bit differently at the Academy from how they were at St. Astraia’s, it seemed.

Elise was not sure what to make of this, although, in the end, that didn’t end up mattering very much. The classes that they did have over the next few days weren’t difficult things. It was clear everyone’s minds were elsewhere with the festival approaching, and Elise shared in their excitement. Perhaps that was why the principal had been so willing to allow her to sit in, because there was no real work being done regardless.

“Hey, hey, Elise!” Millium Orion leaned over in her chair in order to address her. “Got any embarrassing stories about Rean!?”

Rean just sighed. “Millium, please.”

“Oooh, I’m curious.” Crow Armbrust leaned forward in his seat. “If it’ll sweeten the deal at all; we’ll pay 50 mira for each tidbit.”

“He’s using the royal ‘we’, in case it was not obvious.” Jusis Albarea huffed. “He will not be paying for anything, given he has no mira to speak of. And Millium, sit down in your chair before you crack your skull open.”

Millium leaned towards her and stage whispered, “Y’know, I wonder if this is what it’s like to have a mom!”

“You little–”

Elise couldn’t help but giggle below her breath at everything happening around her. Class VII was perhaps the single strangest group that she’d ever seen, and she’d been inserted into it in a rather haphazard fashion. Everyone was making an effort to include her, to speak to her and address her, but even so, it was clear that Elise was an outsider here. Even Rean, her brother, was like an entirely different person from when he’d left home to attend Thors. She’d seen it in the few brief times they’d spent together since, of course, but it was while getting to spend entire days with him here that she really cottoned onto how drastic a change it was. He was braver, wiser, and more confident. He walked about campus with a purpose in his step. The other students – his classmates included – looked to him for guidance, and he provided it, often without a hint of doubt.

He was Class VII’s leader. That was as clear as day.

Elise couldn’t have been prouder of him.

…Even if she felt a strange sort of fear inside her heart. One which she knew not how to identify.

/

She asked Rean to take her down into the Old Schoolhouse in order to see that strange door. He didn’t seem to know what to make of her request, but did as she’d asked. The two of them – alongside a smattering of others from Class VII – travelled down the lift, and eventually arrived in front of the now open door.

Nothing occurred. Nothing called to her. Elise stood in front of the empty chamber that laid behind the door, and wondered if she had, somehow, dreamed up all of this.

…Of course, she had. Why had she thought…

She shook her head. She turned back to Rean, and said, “We can go. I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Rean nodded his head, but it was clear he was confused. “You’re not wasting my time, Elise. You never are.”

Aidios above, how did he say things like that with a straight face! Elise tried not to let the blush on her face be visible, but judging based on how a few of the others giggled in her direction, she felt like that hadn’t worked all too well.

Yet, she missed the way that Emma Millstein eyed her with a sidelong glance. The way that she seemed to wonder exactly what it was that had drawn Elise here.

It would not be long before they knew.

/

Watching the others all practice for their performance had Elise smiling from ear to ear.

She was not joining in, since even if the others had started this on short notice, they still had quite a few weeks on her, and hadn’t planned to add a sudden extra member, either. Besides, they’d already placed the orders for the outfits.

Crow had still been willing to help if she wanted, saying that he could make some modifications to Towa’s old outfit from last year for her to dance with them. Elise had been seriously considering taking a look at the outfit in question up until Rean placed his hand on Crow’s shoulder with a smile on his face far too saccharine to be real.

“What are we talking about over here, Crow?” Rean spoke like one of the church’s devils themselves.

“Er… Nothing?”

“Yes.” Rean nodded. “It had better be nothing.”

Crow did not bring up Towa’s outfit again.

/

Elise wasn’t with the others when the bell began to toll. She was sat in the kitchen of the Class VII dormitory, enjoying a fine meal that Sharon had prepared. It was better than just about anything she’d had in her life.

Of course, that sort of ceased to matter when the sound rang out, and she felt some sort of… pulling.

Oddly, she felt like Sharon had turned her head towards the sound before it had even started to ring.

“You’d best make your way back towards your friends, lady Elise.” Sharon smiled at her. “It seems that you’ll be needed.”

The idea that they would need her struck Elise as somehow droll, but she stood from her seat, bowed and thanked Sharon for the food, and then made her way towards Thors’ campus as quickly as she could.

She found the others gathered around the front of the school. They all looked back towards her. She asked if they knew what was going on. Rean said he had a feeling.

They followed him to the Old Schoolhouse, which, as they approached, began to glow with an azure light. A barrier surrounded the building which seemed to stretch up to the very heavens above. None of them really knew what to make of it.

And yet, over the course of the next few minutes, it became clear that the members of Class VII were planning on bypassing that barrier, and entering inside.

Elise wasn’t sure how they were all so confident in themselves; how none of them seemed to harbor doubt that this was beyond them.

And yet… when she looked up at that barrier, looming over them all, she could not help but feel like she was being called upon as well.

“Rean, let me come with you!” She called, despite the fact that the barrier had made it abundantly clear that it would only allow those it wished into the schoolhouse proper.

“Elise?” Rean looked troubled. “What’s going on? You sound… desperate.”

“Something… something’s calling to me in there.” Elise told him, missing the way that Emma Millstein’s eyes widened into saucers. “I couldn’t stop dreaming about this place. About something that lied within it. I don’t…”

She must’ve sounded insane. Despite that, Rean took a step forward, and looked into her eyes.

Elise tried not to blush. He was not trying to be romantic.

“…You hear it, too?” He asked her. He was completely serious. She nodded, trying to project that she was just as serious as he was.

There was a beat, and Rean’s jaw tightened. “Elise…”

“Hold on.” Emma took a step forwards. “What do you hear?”

“It’s just… I’ve been having these dreams, and in them, there’s something in the Old Schoolhouse that’s calling out to me. I don’t… I can barely hear what it’s saying, but… I want to figure out what it is.”

Before any of the rest of them could get into further discussions about Elise coming with them, Crow stepped up and said, “Well, that’s great and all that you want to come, but it doesn’t seem like anyone without an Arcus unit can get through that barrier.”

“Uhm… here!” A girl that was shorter than Elise with brown hair and a cherub-like demeanor – Towa, Elise was pretty sure – held out an Orbment towards her. “If you want to go with them, you’ll need to try using one of these.”

“I’ve… never used one of this model before.”

“Eh, not the stiffest learning curve.” Crow said with an easy smile. “If you’ve got the aptitude for it, you’ll be able to use it. Wanna’ see if you do?”

Elise didn’t know what they were talking about when they said ‘aptitude’, but… well, she supposed she would give it a shot. She took hold of the Arcus that Towa had handed to her, and followed Crow’s instructions to get it turned on. He flicked a blue quartz to her, a larger one, and she set it in the device.

A strange feeling, like she was somehow lighter and more in tune with herself, washed over her body. In the reflection of the metals of the Arcus, she saw that she was giving off a faint glow.

“What…?”

“Well,” Crow smirked. “That answers that question. She’d got the aptitude for it. And hey, would’ya look at that; seems the barrier will let her through after all.”

Elise looked up to see the azure barrier was now resonating with her as well.

“But…” Rean looked aghast. “Elise, I’d rather you didn’t put yourself in harm’s way.”

“And… so would I.” She looked up at him, an unusual sort of steel entering into her tone. It was always easier to stand up for herself when she was arguing with Rean. Perhaps because they were so familiar with one another. “I’d rather you didn’t put yourself in harm’s way either, but you’re going to because you think you need to, right? It’s the same for me.”

Rean looked surprised. A few of the other members of Class VII chuckled at that.

“She’s got you there.” Elliot pointed out with a gentle smile.

“Indeed. It seems her resolve is set.” Gaius Worzel noted, turning back towards the barrier in front of the Old Schoolhouse. “As are our own.”

Rean sighed, shaking his head. Eventually, he looked up and met Elise’s eyes.

“Okay, Elise. We’ll do this together.”

A beaming smile appeared on her face. “Thank you, Rean!”

“Alright, enough with the last-minute theatrics!” Instructor Sara clapped her hands together. “You guys are burning daylight! Or, well, the sun set a while ago, but you get what I mean! Get in there and figure out what’s going on before midnight, or the festival’s canceled! Got it!?”

“RIGHT!” Class VII roared.

/

The insides of the Old Schoolhouse would’ve been enough on their own to betray that there was something otherworldly going on, but what they found at the end of the path was even more so.

A door which issued a challenge to them. An orb that resonated with power.

THOU WHO WOULDST BE AN AWAKENER…

HERE EXISTS A FRAGMENT OF THE GREAT POWER.

IF THOU SEEKEST TO CLAIM IT, PROVE THY WORTH. COMMENCING THE FINAL TRIAL…

Then…

A strange landscape of ash, lined with blades of all different shapes and sizes. Each was stabbed into the earth, some with ribbons tied to them that swayed in the wind.

Elise looked at them all, and wondered just how many had perished within this place.

Her body quaked with anxiety.

Then… Celine, that odd cat of Emma’s, yowled loudly.

“It’s coming!” Emma cried out.

A figure of shadow, and flame, and ash rose from out of the ground. Its form was warped and giant. The energy radiating off of it something that Elise did not think she was capable of handling.  

And yet, somehow…

She took her rapier in hand, and held it more tightly than she ever had. She pointed it towards the creature before them, which roared at them like it was all the monsters in the world at once. Rean called to them, told them to prepare themselves. Elise felt stronger than she was. Better than she was.

She needed to do this. Not just to prove to whatever it was within this place that was calling to her that she could, but to prove it to herself.

She took up her blade, and, linking up with her brother, leapt into the fray.

/

It was strong. So very strong that, even with the twelve of them, they were barely making headway. Despite Rean and Jusis calling out with encouragement and spurring them on, despite Fie and Laura’s strikes each being enough to bring any other monster to its knees, and despite Alisa, Machias, Elliot and Emma’s support backing them all up, it would not fall.

And yet something spurred her on. Rean was the same. Perhaps it was the link towards one another, the way that their minds were, for the time being, one. Every opening Rean created, Elise capitalized. She was rarely able to do the same for him, but even so, her brother did not abandon her. He did not link with another. He helped her up, and kept her steady.

She wanted to be able to say the same for him.

She pushed herself. Held nothing back. Even when she was entirely spent, she forged onwards, for she knew she could not forgive herself if she did not.

For once in her life, she would do something.

Rean made another opening with a downward cut of blazing fire, and the fragment of the Great Power fell to one knee. Barely there.

“Now, Elise!”

He needn’t have called to her. She was moving before he had.

It felt antithetical for Elise, of all people, to score the final blow upon the great shadow before them. For her to plunge her rapier into its face, and cause the entire creature to let out a howl the likes of which brought them all to their knees.

The energy that had previously been there – the adrenaline coursing through Elise’s body – faded. She was down, barely able to support herself with both hands. Her arms ached. Her rapier clattered to the floor below her.

And yet, in faint lettering that appeared before her face, she saw a name.

Valimar.

/

They now resided within a much smaller space. That which laid behind the door that the glowing red orb had been set in was revealed.

It was…

A machine. A machine unlike anything Elise had seen before in her life. Kneeling yet still four or so arge tall, and clearly able to stand to maybe double that. Yet… it was still and lifeless.

“What… is it?” Machias asked, stepping up towards it, but not getting too close.

“It’s some kind of machine,” Alisa observed. “It’s got joints, different sections… it’s inactive, though.”

“What do we do with it?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to do with it.” Rean spoke, sounding confused. “I just… I’m surprised. I figured something would’ve happened.”

Something had happened, though. Elise had heard a voice inside of her head, telling her that she was to be granted a fragment of the Great Power. And she’d seen that word in front of her…

Emma looked to Rean with confusion, like something wasn’t adding up. She asked him a few more questions, but whatever it was, Rean seemed to have no real answers.

For the time being, though, she was not too terribly concerned with anything. Elise was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to get back to her temporary room in the Class VII dormitory – she was sleeping in the same room as Fie – and get some rest.

So, she kept quiet, and, as they all filtered out of the Old Schoolhouse, and were celebrated by Towa, George, Instructor Sara, and everyone else, Elise did her best not to think about anything at all.

/

The performance was wonderful.

Elise sat within the audience, in the front row, cheering for her brother and the other members of Class VII as they sang and danced and played their way through three full songs. How they’d managed to come up with something so wondrous in so short a time was a mystery to her, even if she’d been present for the latter week or so of their preparation.

She also met Angelica Rogner, who was a very… forward person. Elise laughed under her breath at the woman’s jokes. She was like Alfin, in a way.

She wasn’t sure why the others were acting so protective of her in front of Angelica, either. The woman was just being funny. She was a woman herself. Pretending to have feelings for other girls was just her having fun. Elise didn’t begrudge her that.

After all, as a noble woman, one day she would take a husband, and produce an heir. That was their role. One that Elise and Angelica shared. So, Angelica was just playing.

That was all it was. All those thoughts would ever amount to.

Make believe.

/

Something was wrong.

It was clear in the way that Captain Reiveldt’s brow furrowed as she took a call on her Arcus. Clear in the way that she approached Alfin no more than twenty seconds later with a stern expression on her face, and a few curt words. Clear in how Alfin turned back towards her, and said that they’d need to be leaving.

Elise swallowed on her nerves, and the plethora of feelings she’d had building within the back of her throat for hours now. She’d thought things had been complicated before, giving her brother the push he’d needed to go off and dance with someone important to him – despite her wanting nothing more than for that person to be herself.

And then it had turned out that the person Rean had wanted to dance with had been a boy, which had… well, suffice it to say, Elise had read some of the stories that Musse and Alfin occasionally managed to get their hands on. She tried not to embarrass her brother by making any bold claims about his… opinions – mostly because it didn’t seem certain that that was what this was at all – but…

No. She was imagining things again.

But that was neither here nor there. Not now. Claire approached Prince Olivert, who sighed – in a serious and non-joking manner, which would’ve been enough for Elise to realize that something was genuinely wrong on its own – before speaking a few words to those members of Class VII who were present. Rean and Crow – the boy her brother had gone off to talk to – were just now returning to the bonfire, and seemed to catch the ending of those words.

The principal came down a few moments later and gave the news to everyone.

Garrelia Fortress had been erased from existence.

Elise had wanted nothing more than to ask questions; to figure out as much as possible about what it was that was going on. Of course, that was contrasted with the way that her legs shook beneath her; the palpable fear that coursed through her. War… war was almost certainly upon them, then.

“Elise?”

She looked up to see the princess smiling sadly at her. “We’ll be returning to Heimdall. I assume you’ll be coming with us?”

Prince Olivert, Captain Reiveldt, and Princess Alfin would be returning to Heimdall, alongside a few others assuredly. Elise would need to go with them. It wasn’t like she could stay here, no matter how much she would’ve wanted to stay by her brother’s side at a time like this.

Heimdall wasn’t home any more than Trista was, after all. Short of returning to Ymir, she didn’t truthfully have any preference for location, and she couldn’t help but imagine that classes at St. Astraia would almost certainly be canceled with everything going on.

Even so… she would return. Not even for any particularly good reason.

She would return because it was just… what she was expected to do. And Elise had never been the type to go against others’ expectations. Her little rebellion over the past week had been… interesting, but ultimately it was coming to a close. Her vacation from the real world was at its end.

She took a step towards Alfin. A step towards a return to Heimdall.

“Elise!”

Her breath caught. She turned back to see Rean jogging over to her. She tried not to focus on her own feelings, because, really, this was not the time, but…

“Rean? What is it?”

Rean stopped in front of her, looking to Princess Alfin and then back to her. “Are you returning to Heimdall?”

“I… yes. I’ll be travelling with Princess Alfin and the others.”

Rean looked torn. “I know that you’ll almost certainly be safer there, but…”

“Oh?” Alfin, adopting a teasing tone, leaned forward and placed a finger on her chin. “Are you unwilling to part with your sister, dear Rean? Unable to see her go? Have you gotten lost in her eyes, glowing with the light of the bonfire as–”

“Your highness!” Elise hissed, cheeks blazing. “A-Anyways, Rean, what… what is it you’d like me to do?”

“Well…” Rean rubbed at the back of his neck. “I know this is asking a lot, but… I think I’d feel a lot more secure if you stayed here at Thors with us. Knowing all this is happening…”

Elise had to remind herself that this was, in no way, a romantic proposition of any kind. Rean was her brother, and was worried about her. That was as simple as it was.

Alfin looked like the cat that had caught the proverbial canary, however, which made that difficult. “Oh-hoh! Well, I suppose little Elise here will be staying behind, then? She could never deny such an earnest proposal from her brother! Oh, how romantic–”

She placed her hand in front of Alfin’s mouth, practically burning up. “Your highness, please! Rean, I…”

She was still conflicted, despite what Rean was asking of her. There was this… this magnetic feeling in her gut, though. Something telling her to stay right where she was. She didn’t know what to make of it. Not truly, but…

It was a feeling not dissimilar to the one that she had felt within the bowls of the Old Schoolhouse. A feeling not dissimilar to how she’d felt inside of her dreams, seeing that door, and hearing that faraway voice calling out to her.

“Okay, Rean.” She smiled up at her brother. “I shall remain here.”

/

The others were all off doing their own things, and yet Rean was focused on something entirely different. Somehow, Crow and Millium were missing. The former was no surprise, given his… everything, but the latter was more so. Rean kept muttering under his breath about the ‘Intelligence Division’, which was a name that Elise knew in theory from having met Captain Claire, but knew little about outside of that.

She went with him as he searched around. The Engineering Building. The Student Union Building. The library. Eventually, they ended up in front of the Old Schoolhouse.

And there, in front of it, was Millium Orion.

They spoke with her for a while before trying to search for Crow a bit more. Rean entered into Crow’s room back in the Class VII dormitory, and found it entirely empty, cleaned out without exception.

Rean seemed confused. Millium, who had decided to come with them, looked like she was piecing little bits and pieces of information together, and the whole that was forming in front of her…

Was not at all something she was happy to consider.

/

They got their confirmation.

The radio broadcast. A shot heard around the world. The death of Giliath Osborne. The reveal of Crow Armbrust as leader of the Imperial Liberation Front, and the man behind the mask of ‘C’.

Then, the Azure Diva, Vita Clotilde, and Emma’s relation to her. A vision of the capital, of it being taken over by giant machines called Panzer Soldats. Elise watched it all with wide eyes and fear in her heart.

Princess Alfin…

Yet for those in the capital, there was nothing they could do. They had their own problems.

Panzer Soldats were on their way to Trista, as was that strange, azure machine that Crow Armbrust had piloted.

It reminded Elise of the machine down in the depths of the Old Schoolhouse.

Even so, Rean and the others were determined to help the teachers in holding Trista from the Noble Alliance’s forces, which were coming towards their school at a rapid pace. Elise felt her breath quickening even thinking about her brother going out there and risking getting himself hurt.

“Rean–!”

“Stay here, Elise.” Rean shook his head, not so much as hearing anything she had to say. “I can’t risk you here. I won’t.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I can help you.”

“This is life or death, Elise!”

“Exactly why I can’t let you go on your own! I want to help, and I can!”

“Rean,” Laura placed her hand on Rean’s shoulder. “Your sister wishes to fight by your side. I imagine she will almost certainly come with us whether or not you want her to or not.”

“I agree.” Fie said with a smile. “She’s feisty. Quite a good match for you.”

Elise blushed, but didn’t back down.

“…Alright, Elise,” Rean nodded his head. “But don’t put yourself in danger, please. We’ve got a lot more experience with this than you do.”

Elise knew that, of course. Rean and the other members of Class VII had practically carried her through those strange corridors beneath the Old Schoolhouse. She’d only really been of any use during the final battle, and even then, that had been because Rean had been so willing to assist her.

She would do her best to not be a burden.

She would do her best to help save Trista; the place her brother had come to love so very much.

/

They downed the first Panzer Soldat, and yet there were far more than just the one. A second was directly behind it, a more powerful model. The first, the Drakkhen, had been challenging, but ultimately something they could handle.

This one, though? Its very armor adapted to every single one of their hits. A strike from Laura that had taken that shadow of the Great Power to its knees did not so much as buckle the Spiegel.

They fell one by one, until they were all kneeling, facing down that metal monstrosity. It pointed its sword at them, and spoke with the voice of a woman that the others seemed entirely familiar with.

And then…

Rean stood. Shakily, with barely any energy, he forced himself to his feet.

He placed his hand upon his heart, and a fell energy gathered about him. It…

It was the power that lurked within him. That dark, insidious strength that he could call out and rely upon.

He was going to use it. He was going to channel it, and try and fight this thing back.

But she had seen what kind of toll it had taken on him when he’d fought against the armor back within the Old Schoolhouse to save her. Against something this many magnitudes of order stronger…

She felt her heart skip a beat.

“Rean!” She cried out, trying to convince him otherwise. “Don’t!”

He looked back at her. His eyes, normally a warm violet, were already beginning to tinge further and further red.

“Elise… I’m sorry. Take care of everyone for me.”

His hair turned white. The aura surrounding him took on the color of dried blood. He drew out his tachi and pointed it at the Spiegel in front of him.

“NO!” She screamed, desperate for anything that could make Rean stop.

And she found it.

DOST THOU DESIRE THE POWER?

Her eyes widened as time seemed to still. She’d been laid out on the path leading out of Trista just moments prior, but now, she was floating in the middle of a black void.

IF THEE AND I ARE OF ONE ACCORD, A COVENANT CAN BE MADE.

THOU HAST BUT TO CALL OUT MY NAME.

ONE IN WHOM DWELLS THE FLAME… AWAKENER.

Elise’s eyes were wide. She pushed herself up into a standing position, trying to get some gauge on what it was that was happening around her.

“No… no, no, no!”

Elise snapped towards the sound of that voice, reaching for her rapier but not finding it anywhere. In front of her, sitting there and looking up at her with what seemed like panic in her eyes, was…

“Celine!?”

“Why you!? Why would it be you!?” Celine hissed out, somehow talking. “It wasn’t supposed to be you!”

Elise had no idea what was going on, but she recognized Celine’s voice. It was the same one that had talked to her in that dream two or so weeks ago. The same one that had told her to attend the final trial.

She said as much, and Celine huffed. “I called you here so that the Ashen Knight could make up his mind! He was taking too long to decide, and I wanted all the candidates in one place so that he could compare them directly! So that he could see that you weren’t ready, and choose Rean!”

“Wha–”

“Gah! Too late for that now!” Celine hissed, which felt appropriate, given she was a cat. “Focus! You need to call out to the Ashen Knight!”

“How do I do that!? I–”

Yet, as she spoke those words, Elise realized that… somehow… she knew exactly how to call out to him. She knew how to address the Ashen Knight. She knew his name.

He’d told it to her, after all.

She raised her hand above her almost outside of her own control.

“Heed my call… Valimar, the Ashen Knight!”

Color exploded back into the world as a field of energy surrounded Elise. In front of her, Rean stopped on a dime, turning with a shocked expression.

“Elise!?”

Ahead of Rean, the Spiegel pointed its blade in their direction. The woman inside laughed, wondering what she, of all people, could possibly conjure forth.

She was not alone, however.

There was a streak of silver flying through the sky, coming right towards them. The Spiegel dashed backwards, getting out of the way of the oncoming machine before it could collide with it.

Valimar slammed down into the earth just off of the path, and Elise walked towards him.

Before she really knew what was happening, she was inside of Valimar, and pressing buttons on the keyboard in front of her in order to calibrate him to her specifications. Her eyes widened a moment later, whispering, “How am I…”

“The moment you two formed your contract, all the requisite knowledge was granted to you.” Celine, who was sat on a small raised platform directly connected to the pilot’s chair, spoke up. Elise could tell that things were really crazy, because she wasn’t making nearly as much of a big deal about the whole ‘talking cat’ thing as she should’ve been. “Now focus! Can you fight without a weapon!?”

“I… Not well!”

The cat let out a guttural noise of frustration. “Great! Well, get to the downed Soldat over there and take that sword before that crazy lady stabs us through! Gah! Watch out!”

Elise turned and saw a sword threatening to stab right through them. She dodged by a hair’s breadth, moving on instinct more than anything else towards the downed Soldat that they’d taken on a few minutes’ prior, and raising up its weapon. The weight was wrong in Elise’s – Valimar’s – hands, but even so, it was better than being unarmed.

She held the blade at an off angle, as close as she could get to her normal fencing stance with what was clearly modeled after a broadsword. She – Valimar – moved forwards, stabbing out with the tip of her sword, but the Spiegel deftly evaded. It attacked her, but it was slower than a real person would’ve been. Almost lethargic.

Elise – Valimar – was faster. Able to move like it was her fighting, and not the gigantic machine she was piloting.

In the end, it was still far too close. As she knocked the Spiegel’s blade from its hands, and then severed one of its arms from its body, she took up the much nicer blade, and held it aloft, panting under her breath.

She told the woman to leave.

And then, of course, another figure arrived. Not a Soldat, but a Divine Knight, the same as her own.

Crow Armbrust landed before her, inside the Azure Knight. He drew up his double-bladed saber, and laughed.

“Y’know, I was pretty sure it was going to be Rean standing there opposite me,” he said with a little laugh. “But y’know what? Can’t say I’m mad about this.”

Rean called out to Crow; tried to convince him to stop this. But there was no reasoning with Crow. Elise took up the Spiegel’s blade, and pointed it in Crow’s direction. It was lighter than the previous one, made of higher quality material, but even so…

Elise did not fancy her chances in this fight.

She was proven correct in short order. In a straight one on one, Crow overpowered her quickly. His blade was perfectly adapted to him and his fighting style. More than that, though, he was simply the better fighter. More experienced with his own Divine Knight, and more experienced on the battlefield.

Elise tried. She tried with all her heart.

But the blade was knocked from Valimar’s hands, and a strike straight down the body had Elise screaming out in pain.

It felt like she had been slashed straight through.

“When the Divine Knight is damaged, the Awakener shares their pain!” Celine hissed. “Damn it! Why would he have chosen you!? You weren’t ready! Not even close to ready! So why!?”

“ELISE!”

It was Rean’s voice. She looked to her right, and she could see outside of the cockpit. Rean was there, standing at the right side of Valimar. The look on his face was one of fear, worry, and determination all mixed together.

“Rean…? I’m sorry. I couldn’t–”

“None of that!” Rean shook his head. “Are you okay?”

“I…”

“She’s alright for now, but another hit like that and she’s done for!” Celine answered for her. “We need to get out of here, now!”

Elise looked to Celine with shock writ upon her face. “What!? No, we can’t leave!”

“We have to!” Celine growled back at her. “If you die here, then that’s it!”

“This unit has sustained critical damage,” A voice that Elise had heard before in her mind, but never aloud, echoed out within the cockpit. “Any further battle would result in irreparable damage. Retreat is advised.”

“But… everyone, they–”

“We don’t plan on dying just yet!” Alisa called out.

“Yeah, we’re not going to give up!” Elliot cried.

“We’ll buy you some time to get out of here,” Machias nodded to her. “So, go!”

“Elise,” Rean knelt down beside her, smiling warmly. “I promise; we’ll see each other again. So, don’t worry.”

“Rean, I–”

“Valimar! Get us out of here!” Celine called. “As far away in Erebonia as you can take us!”

“No! Wait!”

It was too late. Valimar’s engines rumbled. They rose into the air, gleaming against the sunset sky of Trista. They turned towards the edges of the empire, and they ran. Elise screamed, watching all the while as Rean and his classmates raised their weapons, and challenged Crow to prevent him from chasing after them.

Her eyes were transfixed upon that battle, unable to look away, and yet the pain was weighing heavily on her. Her vision grew hazy. Her body felt heavy. Before long, her consciousness faded, and Elise knew only darkness.