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Enjoy!
The FFML Refugee List
Assume all usual legal disclaimers etc...
The prequel for this story which was posted quite a while back
is at:
http://www.rakhal.com/AlexGray/ffml/UTENA.TXT
Cheers
Alex
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*******************************************************
Revolutionary Girl Utena
The characters and concepts of Chiho Saito are used without
permission. Other original characters are copyright of Alexander
Gray
This story maybe freely distributed as long as this section is also
referenced and the author is quoted.
*******************************************************
Redirections - Act I - A New Beginning
------------
Scene I:
I stood at the great gates of the Academy and looked up in
amazement at the way it never seemed to change, even after so long.
These majestic halls had once been my home, but I had been away for so
long now that they meant nothing to me except as a reminder of the joy
that I had lost. When I had last left this place so many years before,
I had had life, hope and a mission, but now... now I had nothing left
but bittersweet memories.
I closed my eyes and let the spring wind gently blow over my face.
It ruffled my hair and I could detect the faint scent of cherry
blossom. I inhaled deeply and let its fragrance slowly relax me. The
sweet perfume of spring bought back to my mind memories of a warm and
happy time, a time of companionship and shared dreams. It was a memory
that bought a fleeting smile of delight to my face, a delight that
slowly faded as other darker memories gradually overwhelmed it.
She was gone. My companion, my Prince was gone.
I shivered slightly as the warm wind suddenly turned chilly and
blew straight through the light summer dress I was wearing. Putting
down my suitcases, I took a moment to pull my cardigan tighter around
me and in my mind closed the door on those painful memories of my past
life. She was gone - I could not call her back, and while I would
never forget her, I had to move on. That is what _she_ would have
wanted me to do. I had mourned her passing for 70 long years, but I
could not continue to do so forever. It was time for me to begin to
live my life again.
Raising my hand to shelter my eyes, I looked up at the blue sky
overhead and felt the radiant warmth of the sunlight shine down on my
face. Yes, for her sake I had to be strong and live. Hiding from the
world solved nothing, even I should have learnt that by now. Taking a
deep breath, I forced a small smile onto my lips and returned my
attention to the great gates.
Why I had chosen to come back here, to the place where it had all
begun I did not really know. Maybe it was because this place had been
my home for so long, or maybe it was just because of my brother. To be
honest, I did not even care. I was here, and that, was that. I took
another deep breath and reaching down picked up the two small
suitcases at my side. Taking a moment, I ran over in my mind the
details of my latest reincarnation. Names, dates, the routine was much
the same. I was surprised sometimes that I managed to keep it all
straight in my head and not get the details confused. When you have
lived as many lives as I have the names and the places begin to blur
into one.
"Mai," I reminded myself. "Mai Azura." That was who I was now -
Mai Azura, age 16. An orphan and only child. No family and no
relatives. This was the new me, the me that I would have to live and
breathe for the next five years before it would be time to move on yet
again. I...
"Excuse me."
A soft voice broke through my musings and startled, I turned
around to see who had spoken.
"Umm, excuse me," the soft voice said again. "I'm sorry to disturb
you, but do you think you can tell me the way to the western
residential hall. I'm kinda new here and to be honest, I'm completely
lost..." A lopsided grin broke out on the teenager's young face and I
could not help myself but respond in kind.
"Of course," I replied with a small polite bow as I looked over
the newcomer in greater detail. Physically, she seemed about my age
and had a well proportioned, but slenderly built form. Short chestnut
brown hair ringed an attractive pixie like face from which two very
intense blue eyes stared out at me anxiously. I smiled warmly at her
in an attempt to reassure her. "I would be happy too," I finished.
"Oh, thank you!" the girl said and gave me a grateful bow. "I had
feared that I might be wandering around this place for hours trying to
find out where I was supposed to be. You see, I'm not very good with
directions - I tend to get lost easily."
"Oh," I replied.
"Karina De'Naime," the girl suddenly said holding out her hand.
"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."
I smiled in reply and taking her hand in mine introduced myself as
well. "Mai Azura, pleased to meet you."
"Azura," the girl said slowly almost as if she were savoring the
name. "Blue - like the sky..." She smiled, "That's a good name. I'm
very pleased to meet you, Mai Azura."
"And I you, Karina De'Naime," I replied trying to speak the
foreign sounding name without twisting it too much.
Karina smiled at my care and nodded in understanding. "I'm afraid
my Mother has rather an old pride when it comes to somethings. For
instance, she still insists that our Family incorporates a sense of
the past in the names we can chose for ourselves - even now."
I did not reply. I just smiled and waited for her to make the next
move.
"I really do appreciate this..." Karina commented picking up her
two suitcases. "I'm just useless at directions, I... Oh, silly me,
I've already said that haven't I..." She giggled and moved over to
join me. "Are you starting here this term as well? I only just arrived
today. Mother wanted me to come here so that I could get some
experience of being out in the real world." The girl shook her head
fondly, "Mother's like that. She does not believe in cosseting her
daughters..."
I nodded my head politely but mostly just ignored what the young
girl was saying as she continued to go on about her mother and her
family. This Karina seemed to be a nice enough girl, but she really
was quite childish. I could easily see why her mother thought it was
necessary for the girl to get some experience of the real world. She
still had a lot of those soft edges that only hard living could polish
into maturity. I silently wished her luck with it. No matter what
happened, Karina had interesting times ahead of her - especially being
here.
The two of us walked side by side up one of the many paths that
led towards the main school complex. As I walked along half listening
to what Karina was saying, I took the time to re-familiarize myself
with my old home. Nothing much had really changed. The other girls and
boys that we passed were still wearing the same style of uniforms that
I had once worn so long ago. The snippets of bright conversations that
I overheard were still on the same sorts of subjects, and the air was
still full with the faint smell of summer roses. No, nothing much had
changed at all. My brother's twisted idea of Eden was something that
would never change - it was as timeless as he was.
"You seem to know this Academy very well," Karina abruptly
commented, looking over at me with interest. "Have you been here
before?"
Her sudden comment bought me up sharp and stopping, I turned to
face her. "What makes you say that?" I asked carefully.
Karina smiled warmly and then shrugged. "Just your attitude I
guess. You seem to be smiling and looking around as if you were
remembering things that made you happy, so..." Her voice trailed off
as if she were slightly embarrassed by her directness.
I was genuinely surprised by her perceptiveness. This Karina was
far more observant than I had initially given her credit for. I would
have to be more careful than I had originally thought. I nodded my
head slowly. "Yes, I have been here a few times before," I said
dismissively. "Enough to know my way around at least."
"That's nice," Karina replied fidgeting slightly. The expression
on her face had become strangely nervous, almost as if she wanted to
say something important and was trying to build up the courage to do
so.
"Karina?" I asked taking a small step towards her. "What's up?"
Karina looked down, and then raising her head, locked her deep
blue eyes onto mine. "Mai..." she began hesitantly. "Would you...
Would you please be my friend? This is the first time I've ever been
away from my Family and I... Well... I don't know how..." Her voice
faded away in nervous confusion and she looked down, embarrassed.
I must admit, her request startled me and I looked at her
searchingly trying to ascertain what she meant by it. As the seconds
of silence slowly ticked by, the girl's white face turned an evermore
increasing shade of red and I gave a small sigh to myself. This Karina
really was a child. Oh, well, what the heck... I took a step towards
her and held out my hand. "I would be happy to be your friend, Karina.
I'm not sure how useful I can be, but..."
The smile that suddenly erupted on the girl's face seemed to light
up the day around us and I had to stop myself from smiling like an
idiot in reply. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, Mai-san!" Karina exclaimed
happily. "I'm so glad! Really! I swear I will make you proud!" She
clasped my hand with a strength that belied her slender form and I
tried hard not to wince. The girl was certainly enthusiastic - that
was for sure.
"I'm glad too, Karina-san," I said trying to calm her down a bit.
"But may I suggest that we hurry up and get over to the Admissions
office. I don't know about you, but I was supposed to be there over 20
minutes ago."
"Oh, sorry!" Karina apologized pulling back her hand and looking a
bit sheepish. She bent down, and picking up her suitcases flashed me a
winning smile. "Lead the way, I'm right behind you."
I gave her earnest face an amused look and smiled back admitting
defeat. My first day back and I seemed to have made a friend whether I
wished it or not.
* * * *
Scene II:
"I don't know how you managed to convince her like that, Karina-
san," I admitted as I started to unpack my second suitcase. "Getting
the admissions officer to change our rooms like that was absolutely
incredible. When you first asked her I thought she was going to laugh
in your face."
Karina grinned and made a dismissive motion with her hand, "You're
my friend," she said as if that simple statement explained everything.
"I want to be with you, that's all."
"Well, I'm still surprised," I repeated. "Admissions are not
usually known for changing things just to suit the whim of some
student."
"Well, I'm not just any student," Karina replied proudly. "I'm a
De'Naime."
I shrugged, "Whatever. Now, do you want any help unpacking?"
"Ah, no thanks, Mai-san," my new roommate said with a shake of her
head. "I'm already done actually."
"That was quick."
"I don't really have a lot with me."
"Oh, well perhaps you could give me a hand instead then."
Karina jumped down from the top bunk with an agility that
surprised me. "Sure can!" she said brightly coming over to stand next
to me. "What do you need?"
I did not reply but just passed her a folded school uniform, "Put
that away in the cupboard, would you?" I asked her. The girl nodded
and taking the uniform from me did as I bid, humming softly to herself
at the same time. I watched her antics for a moment, a slight smile of
amusement on my face, then I turned my attention back to...
The photo.
The photo sat there, resting on one of my skirts seemingly almost
somehow to be looking up at me. Two smiling faces, four bright eyes,
two hands clasped together in love, two bodies leaning against each
other...
A tear ran down my face as I just stood there silently staring at
it.
Karina turned back from the wardrobe and the bright smile that she
was wearing faded into an expression of worried concern as she saw the
tracks of the tears shining on my face.
"Mai..." she raised a hand and cautiously put it on my shoulder.
"Are you all right?"
I did not answer her, I could not answer her. The pain buried deep
within my heart was overwhelming me, suffocating me. She was gone...
_She_ was gone...
My prince...
"Mai..." Karina whispered in a voice that was filled with worry,
and awkwardly, as if uncertain of my reaction, she pulled me to her.
"Mai..." she whispered again as her head nestled lightly on my
shoulder. "Please... don't cry... I... I... _Please_ Mai..." Her voice
faded away as if she were confused and her arms tightened around me.
Deep sobs started to wrack my body as for the first time in months
my loneliness and grief completely overwhelmed me. I clutched at
Karina and burying my head in the crux of her neck, I sobbed my heart
out. How long the two of us remained like that I could not say, nor
was it particularly important. At that moment nothing else mattered.
Only the bitter pain of my grief mattered, that and the presence of
the soft voice speaking nameless words of hope in my ear. Those words,
and the soft voice that spoke them, became a fragile shelter that I
clung to as if my life depended on it. The hole that had been ripped
in my soul when _she_ had died was still as raw as it had ever been.
All these years I had been fooling myself, trying to believe that I
was over her. How could I have been so stupid? I would _never_ be over
her! She had been my soul mate, my lover, my friend... How could I
ever get...
"Mai... Oh, Mai... Please..." the warm voice whispered pleadingly
in my ear. "Stop it... Please. It's all right. Please, stop crying...
You're not alone, I'm here... Mai, please!"
The desperate tone behind the begging voice finally reached me and
the warm shelter to which I had been clinging suddenly seemed not so
fragile. Slowly, ever so slowly, that fragile protection became a
solid thing, a tangible thing, a thing that swamped over the endless
grief and drowned it in the sea of tender warmth that Karina's soft
voice seemed to be offering. Gradually, the sobs wracking my body died
away and became nothing more than a series of hiccups and sniffles.
Karina continued to gently hold onto me until the sniffles had
faded away altogether. The warm comfort of her embrace was something
beyond words, and I let myself simply relax in a way I had not done
for more years than I cared to remember.
"Mai..." the girl whispered in my ear and her warm breath tickled
my neck. "Are you all right now?"
I did not know what to say so just continued to hold onto her. It
felt so good once more to be held, to be cherished, not to be alone...
"Mai," the girl repeated more urgently and I almost reluctantly
pushed myself away from the warm protection of her arms. I swallowed,
and with a final sniffle tried to put a small smile on my face.
"I'm... sorry, Karina. I did not... It... it's just..." my voice
faded again as a shadow of the grief tightened my throat and I looked
back over at the old picture.
Karina's concerned blue eyes looked at me intensely and I could
almost feel her unspoken worry over me. Awkward silence ticked by and
then the girl reached out and picked the framed photo up. She studied
it intensely for a few moments and then turned to me. "This is you,
isn't it?" she said
I nodded, but could think of nothing else to say.
"Is the girl next to you an acquaintance of yours?" Karina asked
hesitantly pointing at the smiling figure in the photo standing next
to me. "She almost looks something like my Mother with that reddish
hair of hers..."
I raised my hand and with a rapid movement dried my eyes. "She
was... a very dear friend," I said at last as I carefully took the
photo back from Karina's hand and looked down at my beloved's smiling
face. "She... died a long time ago."
"Oh... I'm sorry, Mai," Karina said taking my hand comfortingly in
her's and giving it a squeeze. "It's hard losing someone you truly
love."
I looked up at her and somehow I managed to smile despite how I
had been crying only a few minutes before. "Don't worry, Karina," I
reassured her. "I'm not going to breakdown again. She died a long time
ago, but it still catches me now and then - that's all." I took one
last long look at _her_ smiling face and then began to put the photo
back in my case, but Karina's hand suddenly stopped me.
"Don't," she said gently, taking the photo from my grasp and
putting it in pride of place on the dresser table. "She was very
important to you and you loved her. It is only right for you to
grieve, but that photo is of a time of great happiness in your life -
you should not deny it, or her. Leave the photo out, Mai. Let the
memory of those times always be fresh in your mind. I think you will
find that there is no better medicine than that. And besides, I am
sure that that is what she would have wanted. She has a face that
speaks of a noble heart and I don't think she would want you to
remember her with sorrow all the time, eh, Mai?"
Karina's words surprised me and I looked up at her. As my eyes
caught her's my surprise deepened. There was an ancient wisdom
reflected in her gaze that was strangely out of odds with her age, and
I felt myself nodding in agreement without even being aware of the
motion. She really was full of strange contradictions, this wise girl-
child. "Thank you," I whispered without really knowing what it was I
was thanking her for - it just seemed the right thing to say.
"You're my friend," Karina replied simply with a warm smile as if
that explain everything. "Come on," she said turning back to my case.
"Let's get the rest of this put away, eh? I for one want to get some
dinner and also find out what our dorm mates are like."
The infectious warmth of her expression swept through me, and for
the first time in many years I felt I could look at the picture of my
beloved Utena, and at last, begin to smile.
* * * *
Scene III:
"So, you two are the new girls are you?" the portly looking woman
asked giving Karina and me an intense stare.
"Hai," Karina said with her ever present smile. "My name is Karina
De'Naime and this is my friend, Mai Azura. Pleased to meet you."
"Well, Karina-san, my name is Mrs. Daniels and I'm the Housekeeper
for this dorm. If the two of you have any issues or concerns about
settling in here, then I'm the person to see. Dinner is usually about
19:30, and breakfast at 07:00." The woman looked at the two of us one
after another and then nodded to herself almost as if confirming
something. "You both look like good girls, so I hope I will have no
trouble from either you - all right?"
"Are these the two new freshmen, Daniels-san?" an elegant looking
girl who reminded me somewhat of Juri said as she came over and gave
the two of us an appraising stare.
"They are indeed, Arisu-san," the woman said with a small gesture.
"And they look like they will both fit in here quite nicely."
"Good," the tall brunette said with a smile holding out her hand
in greeting. "Then I'm pleased to meet you. My name is Helen Arisu,
dorm president. How do you do?"
"Mai Azura," I replied bowing politely as I shook her hand. The
brunette looked at me sharply for a moment almost as if she were
weighing me up somehow, but then, with a faint smile, she seemed to
dismissed me as of little importance.
"And you?" she asked, turning to smile more warmly at Karina.
"Karina De'Naime," the girl at my side said brightly responding to
the warmth in Arisu's smile. "Pleased to meet you."
"De'Naime..." Arisu said slowly as her mouth struggled to form the
alien sounding syllables. "An old sounding name, Karina-chan. French,
no, Italian, perhaps?"
"No, not really," Karina replied with a small shake of her head.
"It's just the name that my Mother and our Family have always been
called."
"Really?" Arisu said still holding onto the other girl's hand.
"Well, perhaps you can tell me about it sometime. Genealogies and
family names are something of a pet hobby of mine and I am always
interested in studying foreign cultural roots,"
Karina nodded her head politely once more. "Of course."
Arisu smiled. "Then, why don't the two of you join me for dinner?
I would like to get to know something about you both and I'm sure that
you have some questions you want to ask of me as well. I know how
lonely it must be for you just coming here for the first time and part
of being dorm president is helping freshmen, like yourselves, to get
settled in."
"Mai?" Karina turned towards me and the expression on her face
looked almost as if she were either seeking my opinion or asking my
permission. I did not know which it was, so I just nodded.
"We would be happy too," I replied.
"Wonderful," Arisu said smiling back warmly, and letting go of
Karina's hand gestured for us to follow her. She led us into a large
dinning room which was dominated by the presence of two long wooden
tables. Seated at just one of these tables were 20 or so girls of
various ages huddled deep in conversation. I frowned, slightly
surprised by the number of empty places. Where was everyone?
Several of the girls broke off their conversations and turned to
smile at us in welcome as, under the guidance of Arisu-san, we made
our way up to the end of the table.
"Just how many are staying here?" I asked Arisu out of curiosity.
"I would have thought a dorm this size would have had much more
people."
Arisu looked at me oddly for a couple of seconds and then
shrugged. "About 30 or so I believe. It's been remarkably quiet this
term. Last year at this time we were literally bursting at the seams,
but with the opening of the new western hall facilities most of the
middle-school and high-school students are housed there now. In fact,
Mai-san, I'm quite surprised that you were sent here at all. I would
have expected for you and Karina-chan to be housed there. You've been
quite lucky really."
"Ah." I commented as Karina caught my eye and gave me a quick
wink. I looked at her questioningly but she just smiled brightly back
and said nothing. Finally, Arisu led us up to a small table situated
against the far wall and stopped.
"Karina-chan, Mai-san, please, be seated and make yourselves
comfortable, and while you're doing that, I'll go and get us something
to eat. I'm hope vegetarian is all right for you, Karina-chan, but
Wednesday is I'm afraid strictly a vegetarian night."
Karina smiled and nodded her head. "That'll be fine, thank you,
Arisu-san."
"I'm glad," Arisu responded, smiling back at the shorter girl.
"Oh, and you, Mai-san?" she said, turning to me almost as an after
thought.
I bowed my head once in assent and Arisu turned and left. After
watching the departing back of the taller woman for a moment, I turned
my attention back to Karina. "I think Arisu-san likes you," I said
with a sly grin at the slender girl, hoping to get some sort of
response out of her.
Karina just shrugged off my teasing gibe and calmly replied. "She
is not my friend, Mai, you are."
"Ahh, right," I replied, uncertain of who had just won that little
exchange. In some ways, Karina almost reminded me of Utena. The young
girl had nearly the same sort of... well... innocence I suppose you
could call it - naivety might be another word, but...
"Mai, do you have any family?" Karina suddenly said leaning
forward and looking at me straight in the eye.
"That's a bit of a forward question, Karina," I replied a bit
nonplussed by her sudden change in topic.
Karina tilted her head to one side and looked confused. "Why,
Mai?" she asked. "Family is something you're supposed to be proud of,
isn't it? At least, that's what my sisters are always telling me.
Aren't you proud of yours?"
I smiled in apology. "I'm sorry, Karina, I did not mean it to
sound quite like that. I was just surprised by your question, that's
all."
"Oh," the girl looked down. "I'm sorry, Mai, I did not mean to
pry. I just..."
I reached out and took her hand in mine. "Don't apologize, Karina.
It's me who should be sorry. I, well, have not had anyone close I can
talk to for a long time now, and I'm not exactly the caring, sharing
type, so I tend to react a bit..."
Karina looked up and shook her head emphatically. "No, no - you
are a kind person, Mai-san. Please, don't put yourself down like that.
If you did not have such a good heart, then I would not like you so
much. And I do like you, Mai-san, really. You are my friend."
I blinked. This Karina really was a strange girl. Wise, childish,
intense... I was intrigued - which one was the real her? Slightly lost
for words, I grabbed at the nearest thing I could think of saying.
"Sisters? You have sisters? How many?"
Karina tilted her head in that characteristic way she always did
when she was being thoughtful and chewed her lip. "I'm not sure, Mai-
san. My Family is quite big actually, and it tends to grow larger as
my sisters Chos..."
"Here we go, ladies," Arisu said putting a ladened tray lightly
down on the table and starting to distribute the contents. "I hope you
like it, Karina-chan, Mai."
"Thank you, Arisu-san," Karina responded politely.
"Yes, thank you," I echoed as Arisu pulled out a chair and settled
down to join us.
"So, why don't you tell me something about yourself, Karina-chan?"
Arisu said, picking up a fork and beginning to play with her food.
"What would you like to know?" Karina asked, doing that same cute
trick with her head.
Arisu smiled and shrugged. "How about everything?" she said.
Karina looked slightly embarrassed at the request and turned
towards me. "I don't know what to say. I'm not really that exciting a
subject. Perhaps, Mai would..."
I shook my head and passed the buck back to Karina. "There's not
really that much to know about me either. I'm an extremely dull and
uninteresting person."
"Hmmm, same here," Karina said with an endearing look. "I'm just
one sister from a Family with a large number of sisters. Nothing much
to me at all."
"Well, how many sisters do you have?" Arisu pressed. "You could
start there at least."
Karina smiled, "Too many," she said with a merry giggle. "And I'm
one of the youngest. Mother sent me here so that I would be out of the
way."
"Oh," Arisu frowned. "That seems a bit cold of her - just wanting
you out of the way."
"Oh no!" Karina shook her head. "It's nothing like that at all!
Mother loves us all very much! That's why she wants us to be out of
the way. The fighting can be very dangerous for us youngsters - she
wants us to be safe."
Arisu looked up surprised, and so did I. "Fighting?" I said
confused.
Karina had just started to eat and looked over at us as if she
were wondering what all the fuss was about. "Hmm," she said as she
swallowed a rice ball. "This place is really out of the way, so Mother
said I should be safe here. The fighting won't reach this Realm for a
long time yet."
"What fighting?" Arisu asked still perplexed.
"From the War of course," Karina looked as if she were stating the
obvious.
"War? What war, Karina?" I asked bemused. I had lived through a
number of wars myself and I knew how ugly they could get, but even so,
I could never imagine any war coming here. The very concept seemed
impossible.
Karina put down her fork and was plainly confused. "THE War," she
restated. "You know, the _Great_ War."
"Great War?" I blinked, and traded a confused look with Arisu.
"Karina, just what is that supposed to be?" I had absolutely no idea
what the girl was talking about.
"You don't know what the Great War is?" Karina replied looking
surprised. "Really?"
"Really," Arisu confirmed. "I..."
Her comment was abruptly interrupted when another student came
running up breathlessly to the table. The girl was panting and the
expression on her face communicated her distressed state. "Arisu-
senpai! Arisu-senpai!" the girl blurted out. "Come quickly, please!
Ari has been hurt! She's bleeding, and has a great gash on her back.
Oh, please, hurry!"
"What?!" Arisu exclaimed jumping to her feet. "How... Take me to
her - quickly! Get Daniels-san to ring for the nurse! Tell her it's an
emergency! Hurry!"
And with that, the two of them rushed off
Karina frowned and looked slightly confused by the appearance of
the sudden crisis, but recovering herself, she got to her feet and
took off after them. I blinked, and without really understanding why,
I did the same.
Following after Karina and the others, I ended up in a small room
on the second floor in which a badly wounded girl was lying groaning
on a small bed. Another girl was desperately trying to use a small wet
towel to staunch the wounded girl's bleeding, but without much
success. For a moment I was too stunned to do anything. How could this
sort of thing happened in my brother's Eden? It seemed impossible...
Arisu blanched, and began to look sickly, Her earlier decisiveness
abandoning her at the reality of the freely flowing blood. "Oh...
no..." she said in a faint voice as she started to back away.
Karina pushed passed the shaking form of the older girl and knelt
down beside the girl with the towel. Taking a good look at the nature
and size of the wounds she frowned. "These are sword wounds," she
suddenly declared in a calm voice. "This girl has been in a sword
fight of some kind."
The words - "sword fight" - caught my attention like nothing else
could, and pushing forward I knelt down next to Karina. I took the
opportunity to quickly glance over at her and see how she was doing.
The slender girl seemed to be remarkably calm and collected about all
of this, and apart from the slight frown of concentration on her face,
she seemed quite serene.
Yet another piece of the puzzle that was Karina.
"You're right," I confirmed checking over the wounds as well.
"Arisu-san!" I exclaimed, using a harsh voice to get the president
back together. "This girl is badly wounded! We need a doctor now!"
"Mai, wait..." Karina said gently putting a hand on my arm and
turning to look at me with those intense blue eyes of hers. "I don't
think we have that kind of time, she's going into shock. If we don't
do something now, she'll die."
The girl holding the towel gasped and jumped back in shock. The
abrupt movement seemed to make Karina come to a decision and she stood
up. Turning to the other girls crowding the small room she spoke out
in a soft but commanding voice. "Go downstairs and call the school
doctor. Tell them that there has been an accident and that someone has
been badly hurt, then wait in the dinner room. Do nothing else."
The girls quickly turned around and without making any fuss, they
left. For some reason I will never know, I found myself on my feet as
well, hurrying after them.
"No, Mai, not you," Karina said catching my hand. Her touch made
me sway and slowly I came back to the real world.
"Karina-san?" I asked confused by the sudden change in her.
"Close the door, Mai," Karina said turning her attention back to
the girl who was by now lying unnaturally still on the bed. "I want
you to see this. You are my friend, and it is only right that you
understand who, and what, I am."
Confused, I did as she bid and sat down slowly beside her as she
turned her attention back to the dying girl. "Karina..." I started to
say uncertainly.
Karina just looked over at me and winked as if nothing was wrong.
"Don't worry, Mai, my sisters have shown me how to do this many times
before."
I swallowed, I had the distinct impression that Karina was just
about to do something that was... different.
"Firstly," Karina mused with a look of intense concentration on
her elfin face. "Gotta stop the bleeding." She raised her left hand
and put it down on Ari's now clammy skin. My eyes widened in
disbelief, and I gasped as suddenly her hand started to... glow...
black...
A faint black aura that radiated an unnatural cold flickered over
her pale white skin and right in front of my eyes the impossible
happened - the wounds healed! Ari's skin shimmered, and flowing as if
it were water, knitted itself back together again perfectly in
seconds. In less than a minute, the girl - Ari - was completely
healed, sleeping naturally with a faint smile on her now reddish face.
"Phew," Karina said using the towel to wipe the blood off her
hands. "That was a bit more difficult than I originally thought, but
still, Helia would be proud of me!"
"How..." I swallowed, and with an effort managed to speak. "How
did you just do... that?"
Karina turned to look at me and with a mysterious smile on her
face, tapped her nose. "The Power," she said with a wink. "A small
gift that all the members in my Family have. Although, mine has really
got to develop quite a bit yet." Her smile grew, "Still, I did pretty
good for a mere child, don't you think?"
"Power..." I whispered still shocked by what I had just witnessed.
"Do you mean... Dios? The Power of Dios?" The confused look on
Karina's face gave me my answer almost immediately.
"Are you all right, Mai-san?" the brunette asked in a concerned
voice. "You look a bit peeky..."
"I... I'm fine..." I replied, still trying to accept what I had
just seen. If it was not the sealed Power of my brother then what...
What _was_ Karina?
"Mai?" Karina spoke holding up something in her hand for me to
inspect. "Ari was clutching at this in her hand. Do you know what it
is?"
I looked at the offered object and my heart went cold.
It was a ring.
A signet ring.
A signet ring with roses on it.
Black roses.
"Oh my brother..." I whispered feeling my blood run cold. "Not
again... Please... not again..."
* * * *
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
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