"She left Fumi's side and began to climb to the top of the great hill that overlooked the oceans below. There, away from her comrades, young Victoria let her eyes wander to the stars. Overcome with her youth and her longing, she began to sing an old melody from Earth that had been contained within her mother's charm, the solitary personal possession she had owned before the migration. To Victoria, the song was more than a melody. It was a prayer streaking to the skies above, hoping that somehow, the relatives she had left behind would hear it." -- The Maiden's Lament, pg. 38. Written 2976, AD. - - - County Grauwald, Windbloom Kingdom The gentle rays of the afternoon sun trickled through the dense forest around them, causing the lake nearby to look like it was filled of golden water. It was overcast, and the air carried a noted mist, though she was certain that it would not rain. It was her homeland. She knew the region's behavior perfectly, despite having lived abroad since her early teenage years. It was wonderful to see her home again, and felt herself in the embraces of nostalgia. It was a long overdue holiday after the hectic times they had recently faced. It truly was beautiful. She had nearly forgotten. Many of the other noblemen of Windbloom envied Count Kruger because of his dominion over the Grey Forest. It was getting late, however. It would be wise to head back to the keep for the rest of the evening, even if it was uncomfortable to have the other members of her father's inner circle make sore remarks about young Mistress Kruger returning home with that 'concubine' of hers, as the other woman had been so lovingly labeled. She smiled as she gently caressed the cheek and jaw of her companion's face. So seldom did they have any free time together. They were lying next to a lake made golden by the rays of the sun, and had remained there for quite a while, simply enjoying each other's presence. Natsuki gently lay on top of Shizuru, her navy blue cloak shielding them both from the gradually cooling air around them. "We should get back to the keep. It's getting dark," Natsuki said at last. The playful red eyes and the gentle smirk that followed that comment was a clear indication that Shizuru Viola was about to make some smart little comment that would no doubt want to make Natsuki throw her into the lake. "Ara? Certainly the big tough headmistress of Garderobe is not afraid of the dark." Natsuki's eyes darted to the shore and then back to Shizuru. Probably too great a distance to cover while trying to carry a kicking and protesting woman larger than herself. "No. Neither are the wolves. So let's go, onee-sama." That last part was laced with a snide attitude. Natsuki had never really seriously called her onee-sama after becoming friends with her. Such disrespect, Shizuru thought. "I forgot how common they are in this region. I thought I heard a call or two, but I was distracted." "Really," Natsuki replied sarcastically, pulling away from Shizuru and standing up. She extended a hand to the woman still resting on the grass below, who accepted it. Natsuki pulled her up, and Shizuru began to casually walk back toward the brown stallion of Count Kruger's that had been left to graze while the two women sat by the lakeside. "Besides, I thought you enjoyed the company of wolves?" Shizuru asked as Natsuki politely helped her onto the horse. "You father has two of them for pets, after all." Natsuki made some kind of unintelligible noise in response as she climbed up onto the horse. Then, once settled, she managed to coherently speak. "Those would be the cubs of two wolves I adopted when I was little. Hunters came through and got rid of their parents just after they were born, and I felt sorry for them. I feed them scraps when no one was looking, and they sort of became members of the family after a while." "How... cute," Shizuru commented, smirking to herself. It wasn't often that one got to see the lighter side of Natsuki Kruger, who always so businesslike and stern. It was the price one paid for taking on so much responsibility so young. Shizuru much preferred the side of her girlfriend that babytalked to canines (even if she tried to make sure no one else was around when she did it). The headmistress naturally glared from where she sat, and elbowed Shizuru as best she could. "Don't even start with that unless you'd like to be punched in the jaw." "So harsh. I did not teach you to act like such a hellion," the other woman countered. She opened her mouth to say more, but found herself stopping short as a glowing light from the skies caught her attention. She watched two separate trails streak across the faint stars above. "Shooting stars?" Natsuki, also watching the objects, was lost in thought for a moment. "No. They're on an impact trajectory. Looks like they're moving too slow for any real sort of meteor. We'd best hurry to the keep and get in contact with Garderobe." Shizuru sighed as Natsuki galloped back to her father's keep. So much for the vacation. - - - The two entered the keep, the guards sliding out of their way without a moment's hesitation after seeing the determined look on Natsuki's face – the one that always showed whenever she felt that her authority was essential. Once inside, the pair headed up a flight of stairs, greeting the few people who said hello to them. They would have optimum GEM transmission and privacy from one of the keep's lookout points, and so they headed in that direction. "Mistress," one of the servants, who had tended to Natsuki as a little girl, called. "Do you know what that was? Was it a comet?" "Don't know yet," Natsuki responded, never slowing down her pace. "I intend to contact the rest of Garderobe's administration to see if they have determined what it was. Will you excuse me?" "Yes, ma'am, forgive me," she said. Then, finally acknowledging Shizuru's presence, she nodded politely. "Have a safe evening, Miss Viola." Shizuru gave her a smile and continued on her way, following Natsuki through the building. She had visited once or twice during holiday breaks, but still hadn't been there enough to know the place by heart. As the pair headed up to the top of the structure, she couldn't help but say, "Ara, I guess the world will fall apart the moment we go on vacation. You were right. I apologize." "You're forgiven." The two opened a large wooden door that led out to an observation point. Natsuki nodded to the guards to get out of there, and they headed inside for the moment. Privacy obtained, Natsuki fixed her eyes in the direction of where she thought the objects had fallen. It was in the direction of Windbloom's capital, but surely it had been farther away than that. She tapped on her GEM, trusting that either Irina or Yoko would be there to handle her transmission. "This is the headmistress. Have you identified the object that just hit?" She demanded. It took a few moments before someone, Yoko, responded. "Sara, Nao and Maya were on patrol, so they swung by the crash site of the nearest one immediately. The other will take some time to get to." Neither Shizuru nor Natsuki were calmed by how Yoko was almost skirting around an explanation. The headmistress wouldn't stand for that. "Then what was it, Yoko?" "You might not believe it, but..." "Well?" "Sara reported that it was a vessel that crashed. Many of Windbloom and Aries' old technology ships became unaccounted for after all the recent chaos, but this has markings in foreign text that seem to indicate it is affiliated with Earth. The occupants are able to communicate, but their language patterns are vastly different. We recovered two from the crash site, and both are Otome." Yoko paused then, knowing she was getting ahead of herself. Shizuru and Natsuki were both, expectedly, speechless for quite a while. Then, Shizuru managed to form a reply. "Yoko, are you telling us that we are dealing with aliens?" "Well... I don't know! Their customs are so entirely different from anything I've seen and their language is structured in a similar but distinct way – perhaps a little like the native tongue of Zipang, but I'm not sure." Yoko could almost see the look Natsuki was giving her. "Look, all the old literature from just after the colonization kept saying that there were some kind of Otome on Earth and that a reunion was always expected. Don't you remember reading "The Maiden's Lament" when you were in school?" Yes, yes, she read it. It was a mandatory novella for first year Corals. It was a tale about one of the first proto-Otome who had fought alongside the legendary Fumi. While it was written generation or two after its events, it chronicled the life of the Otome known as Victoria, who carried a picture of her elder sister with her to Earl. She had prayed that they would be reunited and that the colonies and the home world would unite again some day, but it didn't ever happen. It served as a text that demonstrated the life at the time and certain bits of Fumi's life history, but was otherwise somewhat vague about the War of the Twelve Kings and the other Otome. "The reason our ancestors came here was to avoid nuclear winter on Earth. Do you think anyone could have survived that?" Natsuki questioned, not willing to embrace such flights of fancy just yet. "Perhaps they're from another colony?" Yoko suggested. "Or perhaps they're just some punks looking to get famous by staging an elaborate hoax," Natsuki grumbled. She looked to her side. Shizuru seemed lost in thought. She couldn't have possibly thought that any of that was true, could she? Shizuru was a bit of a dreamer, but not enough to even consider a great hero coming down from Earth to bring them all back. "In any case, you and the Archmeister should return to oversee interrogation and an international meeting. The twelve kingdoms are assembling in Windbloom to discuss the craft and its occupants. Midori also indicated that she would be arriving as well," Yoko informed. "The meeting is to be held tomorrow at midday." "Very well. We'll return to the academy now. Expect us to arrive within two hours," Natsuki declared, estimating the time it would take to get back to the capital using their robes. No sense in staying another night at the keep. Natsuki closed the connection and activated her robe, coating her body in blue and gray. She prepared to take off, but paused when she saw Shizuru fail to follow behind. The brunette nodded her head back to the door. "What of our things?" Oh, right. The headmistress paused, turned, and headed back into the hall. They had arrived conventionally, and had a few bags of belongings in their room. They could not carry them back to Windbloom. She spotted someone who she could trust walk down the hall. It would have been polite to say goodbye, anyway. "Mother!" Countess Saeko, who was walking with two of her attendants, paused and turned around. Her face, so similar to Natsuki's own, contorted into a look of confusion. Then, making the connection, the elder woman sighed. "You're already leaving? The meteors are that much of an emergency?" Natsuki walked up to her, Shizuru following behind quietly, and tried her best to explain. She tended to revert back to childlike behavior whenever she was in the presence of her mother, regardless of her own social rank. "Ah, well, yes, I'm afraid so. I'm sorry. I'll be back in no time. I still have plenty of vacation days left." The dark haired countess tapped Natsuki on the head with a folded piece of paper she had been folding. "Of course you do. You've barely taken a holiday since you've become headmistress. I'm glad that you're diligent, but don't overwork yourself." "Yes, Mother," Natsuki surrendered, her gaze shifting to the ground. Shizuru smiled all the while, amazed at how much she looked like a young kid again. "If you have to go, I suppose you don't have a choice," Saeko sighed. She gave both Natsuki and Shizuru a small and quick hug. "Take care, the both of you." "Farewell, Countess Kruger," Shizuru replied with a bow. Saeko pivoted around and began to walk away, and as she did so, she smiled and waved an arm. The comment that followed, she knew, would be picking on her poor daughter, but it simply had to be said. Shizuru had been treated like an outsider by a great number of the other aristocrats. "Please, Shizuru, you might as well be calling me Mother." Shizuru waved. "Goodbye, Mommy." "Shizuru, go out that door and start flying before I do something I'll regret." Fists were tightened in embarrassed rage. That was not motivation to get her to take another holiday any time soon. Mommy. Honestly. Was she four years old? Shizuru held up her hands in surrender, a smile never leaving her face as she exited back out to the observation point. Summoning her robe, Shizuru dropped herself off the ledge as if she was going to commit an act of suicide. But, a few dozen feet before hitting the ground, her glowing robe propelled her up towards the skies and off towards Windbloom. Natsuki was right behind, also diving off the side of the building. Achieving their robes' maximum atmospheric velocity, they darted through the skies. A Column's work was never done. - - - Aries Republic, Borderlands Haruka Armitage followed the second, more distant flaming object down the ground, tracking it with the utmost precision. It landed in the mountains, and while it took her some time to close in and find its landing spot, her skills as an Otome paid off. A small trail of debris and destruction had followed in the object's wake, trees having been knocked down as it slammed into the ground. She had been expecting a fairly large rock that she could have easily hurled back into space or taken back to the presidential residence for study and research. What she found, however, was something... well, otherworldly. It was all metal, and was clearly some kind of vehicle. It appeared too awkward to be something meant primarily for atmospheric flight, so perhaps it was for space travel. Had that ship she tossed into space while she was at Windbloom finally come back down? No, that was impossible. Her throws were clearly too good for that to happen. That thing must have been around the moon, nay, the sun, by now. "Yukino, I've located the birdie, and --" "Bogey, Haruka." "Right, that's what I said. I've located the bogey, and you're not gonna believe what it is," Haruka commented, diving lower for a closer look. "The Columns were right. There's a ship out here, too. Same kind of markings." "Check to see if anyone's inside. The other one had passengers," Yukino instructed from her position within the safety of the presidential residence. "Right!" The blonde Otome smirked and began to drop down to the surface, making sure that she looked daring enough for that silly television show that aired every week. She still wasn't sure whether she was flattered or creeped out to know that a bunch of guys were running after her with a camera. Maybe they hadn't been able to follow her this time. But, just to make sure there were plenty of good potential shots, she had to look absolutely daring. She marched up to the ruined vessel, her face painted with determination and unquestionable authority. She found what looked to be like some sort of hatch, and she pounded on it. Upon receiving no response, she punched a hole through it and tore it off, tossing it several feet away – like she was ripping through Styrofoam rather than what was probably some sort of composite metal sturdier than titanium. The Otome poked her head into the interior, but saw that it was barren. Advanced technology, none the less. The Republic could probably use it to their advantage, really. "Nope, I don't see anyone in here," Haruka informed. "Maybe they ejected. Or maybe it was a drone or something. Ah, wait, never mind. There's footprints over here. They must have gotten out." Haruka followed the footprints like a bloodhound on the chase. She hovered over them, not wanting to leave any of her own lest she or anyone else get confused later on. They went into a nearby forested area, and Haruka ducked and weaved around branches and trunks as she entered. There, the trail became nigh impossible to follow. Now, if she were a mysterious astronaut from Earth, where would she go? The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up, her body signaling that her position was very vulnerable. What if these people were hostile? She had seen dozens of sci-fi movies, and everyone had essentially been training her to prepare for an alien invasion. Of course they were hostile. In what movie had aliens been kind and helpful. She tightened her muscles and ducked low, her eyes scanning the darkness around her for any kind of movement. Instinct forced her to move before thought could. Haruka dropped to the ground entirely as she heard a whistling noise, and narrowly avoided being decapitated by some kind of saber. She looked up, spotting two individuals, probably women due to their shape and form, who had sprung up out of cover among the undergrowth. They were covered in heavy black cloaks, but they were soon tossed aside. Yes, they were women, now in nothing more than form hugging combat suits of some kind. Haruka jumped back and out of the way. They were supposed to be Otome, right? The other ship had Otome in it. "I am Meister Armitage! I'm with the Otome. Stand down immediately, or you will receive a beating you will not forget" she demanded. A good way to start interstellar relations, she thought. The two strange women, both with some sort of comet symbol on their bodies that she swore looked familiar, did not react positively to that statement. The second charged and lunged, and Haruka spun out of harm's way, materializing her giant flail and swinging it around to counter the attack. Both of her foes leapt out of the way, and she was, quite honestly, impressed with their skills. They were not Otome, yet they moved just as well. Perhaps they were cohorts of that Midori woman. She seemed to possess similar strength. Haruka unleashed a second massive attack, and again, the two dodged. A third attempted to ambush her from behind after leaping down from a tree, but Haruka shot out of the way using her robe's flight function. She moved laterally rather than attempt to fly up into trees, and skidded to a halt a few feet away. All three then began to race towards her, one taking to the trees again. The blonde moved out of the way of one attack and blocked a second with the chain of her weapon. Moving into a back flip, she avoiding a third diving strike from above. It was then she noticed that each had some sort of device wrapped around their upper arm, a faint red glow emitting from a row of indicators that no doubt corresponded to it being on or off. Were they using that to maintain their strength and speed – something like Midori's REM device? She had little time to continue pondering. Their triple assault continued. She blocked two more saber attacks with her chain and flung her weapon out to stop the third from successfully closing. Her weapon slammed through a tree trunk and knocked the giant thing down, everyone scattering out of the way before they could be crushed. With a series of snaps, the tree slammed into the ground, and Haruka took the time to go on the offensive. She lashed out with her weapon again, but it did not connect. The one she had been aiming for, some puny little kid with hair that had been dyed blue who should have been too young to move like that, jumped up into a different tree to avoid being hit. Haruka spun and flung her weapon out once more, this time wrapping it around the legs of one of the others. The enemy fell to the ground with an unceremonious crash, her limbs tangled in the chain. Haruka jumped up and prepared land a kick right in the subdued woman's gut to knock her out, but was prevented from doing so. In the middle of her leap, she was tackled by the third and seemingly eldest of her enemies. Haruka was slammed into the ground, giving the other two foes time to regroup. Haruka kicked her opponent off of her with a bit of a hiss. The woman started to fall back but recovered, stopping a few feet away. Another swing of the flail caused them to scatter, the weapon kicking up dirt and stone from the ground below. Like a rocket, Haruka shot forward, her Otome robe propelling her forward. Using the velocity to her advantage, she landed a hard superman punch right on the leading enemy's jaw, knocking her out. The two who remained only seemed to fight harder after that, angered over the injury of what could have arguably been their unit leader. One darted in and sent a volley of saber strikes to Haruka, all of which were expertly avoided or blocked. Haruka stepped in, placing her leg behind her foe's, and knocked her to the ground with a shove. She followed up with a kick that slammed down on her gut, and she too was rendered unconscious. That left the youngest one, and the one Haruka did not want to even try to seriously hurt. So, as the youth stormed at her without hesitation, showing some degree of fanaticism in her assault, Haruka slid to the side and caught her body in the chain of her flail. She tightened it, capturing the younger girl within the weapon. Haruka then bopped her on the head with her gloved hand. "You should be in school!" She scolded. The blue haired girl simply spouted out some insult in a different language. She sounded, in some way, like a certain tea drinking woman who had bested her on all her exams during their days in school. That just made it worse. "Yeah, well, back at ya, kiddo." "Haruka, what's happening?" Yukino's voice echoed through her GEM, Haruka only now finally hearing her calls now that the fight had ended. Haruka took a breath to recover her proper voice, and replied with, "I don't know what the others found, but these guys were certainly not Otome and definitely not friendly. Got in a fight with three of them. Two are unconscious and one is subdued. Haven't found any others. Send someone to take them back, will you?" "Support unit will be on its way, then. Are you all right?" Yukino inquired. "Is that a serious question?" Haruka said with a laugh. "Of course I'm all right. You're crazy if you think a fourteen year old could beat me up. It was easy as could be." Well, maybe not that easy, but it could have been worse. She sat down on one of the unconscious girls with a sigh. The support unit wouldn't take long. Perhaps ten minutes. Until then, all she could do was sit and wait. She turned her gaze to the younger enemy, who simply glared at her like she was some disgusting animal that should not even be in her presence. "What's your name, kid?" Haruka asked. All she received in response was silence. Haruka groaned in frustration. Ah, well. At the very least, they had three prisoners ready for interrogation by both Aries and the other eleven nations after they assembled. It would no doubt help solve the issue once and for all. Still, she had to admit that for a potential hoax, this was perhaps too elaborate. Two foreign ships, one with friendly passengers and the other with hostile ones – none of whom seemed to easily speak their language. Suspicious, at the very least. - - - More notes, for reference: While both shows obviously have to be in Japanese for their main audience to understand things, the reversal of family/given names in Otome seems to indicate, at least to me, that traditional Japanese would not be their primary language. With the influence of German (meister [master, schwarz [black, and so forth) and with more English in use in the series, I have the Otome cast speaking English with a German kick to it by default. The exception is Zipang. While speaking the English/German mix, it also has a language more firmly grounded in Japanese.
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