Pride x Familiar (38 page)

Rina stabbed her salad. “I’ll get better at
it.”

Maya raised her head and studied the girl. “We
know you will. No one is saying otherwise.”

I watched Rina’s lower lip tremble before she
forcefully shoved a mouthful of salad into her mouth.

I didn’t miss the look Maya gave her, one of
clear concern.

A few moments went by before Maya turned her
attention to the data slate, and munched on a slice of sandwich cut
into a triangle no larger than her palm. “Maybe we should focus on
re-tuning with our Fragments. My okatanas feel like they’re
fighting against me rather than with me.”

She looked up at Constance.

“When are you going to start fighting with
us?”

Constance gave her a puzzled look. “What?”

“You’re fighting as if you’re not part of the
team. Why?”

“So sorry, but I’ve never fought in a group
before. Takes a little to get used to it.”

“That’s the whole point of this,” Maya pointed
out. “We’re supposed to help each other improve. You think you can
handle Crescent on your own if and when they show up?”

Constance was about to retort, but I cut her
off.

“If Crescent are anywhere as good as Caelum was
that Saturday, we are all dead.”

Constance shut her mouth with a loud clack.

Maya sighed. “We could have used his strength
last night, especially if he can manifest both shield-blades
now.”

Rina swallowed a second unpleasant mouthful of
salad. She looked at the three of us and asked, “How strong is he?
I mean, is he really good with his Fragment?” She looked across at
me. “Hey Cappy, when’s he coming?”

Rina had a habit of calling me by that annoying
nickname.

I started to correct her, but gave up a
heartbeat later. “I don’t know. My handler—I mean Guardian—won’t
tell me a thing. She just keeps telling me to work hard and not
drag the team down.”

I was holding a soda can in my left hand. I had
to put it down or else I might inadvertently crush it.

Maya asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

Rina nodded quickly. “Yeah Cappy, are you
okay?”

“Why are you asking?” I retorted, somehow
managing to hold onto my usual flat expression.

“Cause last night you were pissed,” Maya
stated.

I lost my train of thought for a moment. I
muttered a feeble, “Sorry….”

Rina swallowed down a third mouthful of salad
with a grimace on her face. “Cappy, you don’t have to feel lonely.
Caelum will be back.”

I gave Rina a flat look. “Please don’t call me
that.”

Constance muttered in a low voice. “I don’t
think he’ll be back.”

I faced her in a heartbeat, as did Maya and
Rina, the latter with food halfway to her open mouth.

Maya beat me to the punch. “Care to explain
why?”

Constance stared down at the data-slate on the
grass in the middle of our circle. She made no effort to reply
which quickly angered me.

Again before I could say anything, Maya spoke
up. “We’re waiting for an answer, Constance.”

The girl closed her eyes and took a shuddering,
nervous breath. “The Princess told me that one of the reasons for
having us train as a unit is so that we don’t need Caelum Desanto
and his Fragment.”

Maya half frowned. “Huh?”

Constance looked the girl in the eyes. “The
Prides don’t trust him. They’re afraid of what he can do.”

Rina grimaced. “Well, I’d be afraid of facing
him too if he was that angry.”

I said it bluntly. “You’re lying.”

Constance clenched her jaw. “If you don’t
believe me, ask Simone Alucard. Ask Severin Kell. They know.”

I stood up slowly. “The only reason they’re
afraid of him is because of what he did to you.”

Constance stood up and faced. “It’s more than
that. They’re afraid of Crimson Crescent getting to him—of
convincing him to join their side.”

“He would never do that.”

“He would if they gave him reason to.”

I stated flatly. “He has no reason to.”

Constance narrowed her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry
for what happened at the amusement park. I am sorry for how far I
took things.”

“You’re sorry for stabbing me through the
chest?”

“Yes. I am sorry. I have this”—she pulled aside
the collar of her blouse—“to thank for my actions.”

I saw the pink skin of a scar running diagonally
across her chest all the way to her left shoulder.

Her voice was low. “This is what Caelum gave me,
the brand I have to bear for turning my Fragment on another
Familiar. For trying to take your life. For trying to kill someone
close to him.”

I swallowed.

Someone close to him.

I guessed she was right. Caelum’s blinding anger
had allowed him to manifest both Gauntlets and to slice through
Constance’s barrier-field as though it were nothing but air.

It was anger I’d never seen him display.

Anger expressed at my being injured.

Constance straightened her blouse. “I’ll carry
this with me for the rest of my life. I may have survived, and my
insides and bones may have healed. But this scar will be with me
for years.”

I had scars too – one that marred the skin
between my breasts; another that marred the flesh beside my left
shoulder blade.

I was lucky she hadn’t stabbed through my spine.
The Symbiote they’d administered to me might have healed that kind
of damage, but it would have taken me weeks if not months to learn
to walk again.

However, like Constance, I would be carrying my
two scars for years to come.

Constance carried on. “And I have shamed my
Princess, and the Raynar Pride. That is something I will also bear
for a long time.” She waved a hand loosely at all three of us.
“This is why training with you, and becoming a part of something
bigger than I am, something that makes it worthwhile to possess a
Fragment and gives meaning to my existence as a Familiar, is really
important to me.”

Maya snorted. “Those sound like really lofty
words and ideals. But after what you did, it’s a little hard to
believe you.” Maya leaned forward where she sat cross-legged on the
ground. “I’m trying. Believe me, I really want to believe you. But
you haven’t convinced me yet.”

Constance swallowed hard. “I know. I know
that.”

For a while she fingered the lapel of her
blouse.

Rina spoke through half a mouthful of food. “If
we keep doubting her, we might as well doubt each other.” She gave
Maya a meaningful look.

I noticed Maya had gripped her left wrist
tightly.

A little self-consciously, she let it go a
heartbeat later.

Constance cleared her throat softly. “I don’t
want to lose my place. I don’t want to lose my Fragment. I don’t
want to shame my Pride, my family, or myself anymore. For that, I’m
willing to set everything aside.”

I didn’t say anything, and Maya and Rina were
just as quiet for a long while.

Then Maya stood up slowly, and looked Constance
in the eyes. “Can we believe you?”

Constance stiffened for a heartbeat. “Yes. I
swear it.”

I noticed Maya narrow her eyes. “If this is
going to work, we have to be open with each other.”

“I understand.”

Rina muttered, “But you hate Caprice. How can we
trust you?”

“I don’t hate her,” Constance snapped. “True, I
did resent her for kicking my ass and shaming me. True—I let that
resentment get the better of me. But I—I regret what I did. I
regret it so much.”

“Because of the scar?” Rina asked softly.

“Because I almost lost everything,” Constance
cried out. “If the Princess hadn’t begged them, I would have lost
my Fragment too. If she hadn’t thrown herself at their mercy, and
succeeded where Arisa Imreh failed, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d be
nothing. Just a worthless Familiar without a Fragment.”

Constance looked ready to burst into tears.

She added after a heartbeat. “I always thought I
was a burden to her. I believed I’d never live up to her
expectations. And I was right. I caused her to lose face and she
had to sacrifice herself for me, all so that I wouldn’t lose my
Fragment.”

“What did she do?” Maya asked. The girl took a
step closer. “What did Prissila do?”

Constance shook her head. “I don’t know. She
won’t tell me. No one will.”

Maya lowered her head. “Damn it, damn it, damn
it….”

I inhaled slowly, and deeply. “I accept your
apology. I’m sorry for what happened as well. We were both doing
what our Prides and our Guardians expected of us. We’re both
puppets of circumstance.”

All three girls looked at me.

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t want to fight
anymore.”

I heard the weak thanks that Constance
whispered.

Weak as it was, I guess it was a start.

If anything the truce between us had grown a
little stronger.

When we weren’t aiming our Fragments at each
other, we actually made a strong pair. As Familiars we made a
formidable team. If we worked together, we could grow stronger and
go a long way as a team.

It wasn’t just my opinion. I’d overheard Silia
Alucard mention it to the other instructors.

I sat back down on my blanket atop the grass,
and crossed my legs under me. “Lunch break will be over soon. Let’s
go over this before this afternoon’s training.”

After a short while, both Constance and Maya sat
down.

It felt like something between us had been
resolved, but what Constance said about Caelum left me feeling
empty inside.

I felt incomplete without him beside me.

#

(Caelum)

I spent the Friday school hours serving my
suspension in my dorm room.

I went through the material already covered in
class. Thanks to Haruka and Caprice I didn’t think I would fall too
far behind. Perhaps a day, and not more. There was some material I
had a little trouble following. I would have to review it with a
teacher once my suspension was lifted.

Friday afternoon came round soon enough.

After classes came to an end, I walked from my
dorm room to the courtyard, lined up with Alistair, Klaus and
Melanie, and then suited up for more janitorial work.

On Wednesday it was seven of us serving
detention.

On Thursday it was eleven.

On Friday it was fifteen.

I asked the others if they knew why our ranks
were going up instead of down.

I asked them if they knew why all the newcomers
were girls.

Alistair shrugged, pleading ignorance, but Klaus
said he’d heard the
war
wasn’t over yet. He described it as
guerilla warfare between various groups of girls representing the
large and small breasted communities. To make matters worse, unrest
was now brewing in the middle-school section of the academy.

I listened in veiled disbelief as I walked with
my comrades-in-detention to our assigned area.

Today it was toilet cleaning.

I slipped the mask over my mouth and nose, and
went to work spraying and scrubbing the toilets down.

I worked with Klaus on the boys toilets.

Alistair and Melanie worked on the adjoining
girls toilets.

From ground floor to the fourth floor, we
managed to get through eight pairs of toilet blocks before our time
in detention ran out.

It was well after six pm by the time we had
cleaned up and changed back into our student uniforms.

As had been the case during the last two
evenings, all four of us walked in relative silence through the
courtyard. But then Alistair stopped and asked us, “Want to grab
some dinner?”

Klaus looked ecstatic, but I mirrored Melanie’s
slightly nauseous expression as I said, “Alistair, we just finished
washing down eight toilet blocks. How can you think of food?”

“Because I’m hungry. And I’d like to smell food
rather than cleaning fluid. I want food. Are you coming?”

“Ah….” There was no point glancing at Klaus – he
was happily nodding – so I gave Melanie a quick look. “Well…it is
Melanie’s last day on detention. Why don’t we send her off in
style?”

A bemused look crossed Melanie’s face as she
stared first at me, then Klaus and Alistair.

I tipped my head slightly. “You got plans?”

She shook her head feebly. “No. Not really.”

Alistair planted her hands on her hips. “Then
it’s settled. Let’s go. I know just the place.”

I asked cautiously. “It’s not someplace you,
Haruka and Siobhan visit? Right?”

Alistair stopped in mid-step. “Ah, that could be
a problem.” She glanced at Melanie. “As a matter of fact, I’ve seen
Duncan Armand there a few times.”

I saw Melanie stiffen, then straighten and heft
her school bag higher onto her shoulder. “That isn’t a problem for
me,” she said with smooth confidence.

Alistair gave me a look.

I knew she was thinking of Haruka and I.

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m okay with it. If I
bump into her, I haven’t said hello to her in a while.”

Alistair looked troubled, but then shrugged and
smiled naughtily. “Yeah. I guess it’s time to put the foolishness
behind.”

And so as a group we departed the school
grounds.

My stomach didn’t rumble alone on the way to the
family restaurant that Alistair led us to.

#

(Haruka)

The cake shop was full by the time I arrived. I
was delayed because I found out I was on classroom cleanup
duty.

I messaged Duncan to tell him I’d be late, then
rushed through the cleanup.

Kendo Club practice had resumed so Siobhan had
been attending it all week after class.

I was left to my own devices so I ran alone to
meet up with Duncan.

But all the tables were taken, and Duncan had
arrived late as well so he’d failed to mind a table for us.

I made a decision, and suggested we go to the
restaurant Alistair, Siobhan and I frequented. The food was good,
the service was prompt, and it was only two blocks away from
Galatea, and only a block away from the mag-lev station. We were
fortunate, and the waitress seated us at a table for two by a
window overlooking the sidewalk and street.