The following afternoon, the women took their first stop in Marvigno, a small town tucked away, homes that looked like stained glass and cobblestone paths. To the women's left ran a river fit for a gondola, splitting the two walls of buildings on each end down.
"The Vacances Auberge, right, Jeanne?" said Nuiko, and Jeanne nodded, still drowsy.
"Yeah." she mumbled. "Did you want to go back? Guess we've been walking for a while."
"What do you think, Mia?" said Nuiko, the leader stuck in her phone.
A pause.
"Mia?"
Mia looked at the others with tired eyes, and Marisa knew it wasn't from lack of sleep. "Sorry, y-yes?"
"Um, I kinda wanted to walk around a bit more." chimed Marisa. "But you and Nuiko can head back to the hotel if you want."
"We do need more money." mumbled Jeanne. "Uh. You can use my card, if you want." She pat her pocket, and Nuiko reached over, pulling it out.
"I won't spend it all in one place." she chimed, and her & Mia peeled off back up the street. Mia's eyes were still on her phone, waiting for that expensive voice or text.
For Jeanne and Marisa, they walked along the cobblestone, wall of homes and Marisa right, Jeanne and river left.
"We'll go sightseeing some more, like." chimed Marisa, glancing to the river left. "Maybe we could go on a boat. They have those here, right?"
"Er. I guess, but -"
- the hollow point of three bullets entered Marisa's right arm; the pain stumbled her left, and as the women turned their vision right -
- they caught their foe standing at the front door of one home, fattened Frenchman wearing purple; another three gunshots rose in the air -
- that found only the shield of Boudoir, Marisa's sword behind. With no time to waste, the women rushed right in pursuit; the man ran back inside and slammed the door shut, and as Marisa slammed against it -
- her body crashed against the door, finding far more resistance than she had expected, hearing footsteps behind. Boudoir's sword slashed against it, but wilted against the impenetrable barrier -
" - got it." said Jeanne, her spraycan at the ready. A white stream painted the door to glass-wood, and as Marisa's sword tapped the door again -
- it suddenly burst outward in a volley of glass-wood; the shards cut her skin and slashed her eyes; shrieking under the sudden blast, she raised her shield blindly -
- and a second set of gunshots entered her chest and burst out her back. Jeanne saw their foe rushing forward from the other end of the hall, pistol raised high -
" - I - run -" panted Jeanne, sweeping an arm around the limping fashionista, and with a nod, the two ran back out on to the cobblestone path. Marisa threw her shield back to the home, and a barrier of fabric filled the door, blocking another set of gunfire; the women ran left and away, nearing the river below -
" - jump?"
" - jump."
- and in sync, the two leaped down, Jeanne spraying a bridge of glass-water below, rolling as they landed and stumbling as they ran.
They heard the glass crack behind, their foe having leaped down a second after, and as Jeanne turned -
- two bullets entered at their footing, and the next scene was instant.
The glass-water buckled inward & shattered, plunging the two under true water, the depths catching and shoving them down with the force of a thousand; a rip of Marisa's fabric formed goggles for the two, but the pressure pinning them, threatening to crush them, and as their limp bodies neared the bottom -
- Marisa heard a hasty spray around, a cube of steel-water forming around the two, and Jeanne's hand brought the two inside, a second spray forming a steel-water floor. A third spray at the floor eroded a hole, allowing the water to leak out and down, and Jeanne spoke as she sprayed a set of steel-water bars on the interior.
"He creates pressure -" she panted. "Exploding glass - happens - pressure high."
"I - I don't have much of Boudoir left -" winced Marisa, bleeding from a score of wounds. "What are we gonna do? He'll realize eventually."
"He's trying to drown us. These bars will keep it reinforced, I-I think." nodded Jeanne. "But I've got an idea."
Above, their foe sat down on the glass-water bridge, eyeing down carefully. Breaking Point would suffice to drown the women below, and few could withstand the pressure.
'They're not high-ranks, though it'll do well enough to drown -'
- the water below began to bubble, and out of the cloud of vapor -
- a green spray erupted and hit the bridge between the man's legs, and the acid-water dissolved him from the crotch-up.
◆◆◆
In the middle of the next night, one woman had a craving Mia couldn't help.
Nuiko knocked on Jeanne & Marisa's door. Jeanne answered.
"Hey." Jeanne avoided eye contact. "U-Uh, everything alright?"
"I want ice cream." Nuiko smiled. "Will you be my night buddy, Jeanne?"
"Marisa should, um, go with you. It'd be safer."
"She can't speak French." said Nuiko. "I already picked out a place, too."
"…okay." mumbled Jeanne. "Sure."
With some anxiety, she left a note on Marisa's tablet and the two left to the streets. Nuiko showed Jeanne her phone.
"…uh, it's in a park?" said Jeanne.
"Apparently." muttered Nuiko. "Must be a good spot in the afternoon."
"I guess." said Jeanne, followed by nothing.
Nuiko started to feel nervous, so she said: "Are you still good with your French?"
"Yeah." mumbled Jeanne, turning in to the park and down a path between grass & trees.
"Does your dad still say 'bonjour' every time he calls?" said Nuiko and Jeanne laughed a little.
"'Bonjour, ma fille.' I told him what it meant when I was, um, taking it in highschool. He still thinks I'm practicing every day." Jeanne shrugged. "I'm pretty sure every new dad gets something that teaches them how to run every joke in to the ground."
"Maybe." said Nuiko, as they came up to the ice cream stall parked beside the path.
The elderly man staffing it gave them a vague gestures as they came up, and Jeanne pulled out their payment before Nuiko did.
"(No, it's -) - Jeanne laughed, embarrassed - " - it's on me. Um." She tapped her head. "(What do you have?)"
"(Mint chocolate chip, vanilla, a bit of strawberry - bit melted, now. Are you Americans? Your badges. Isn't that America's academy?)" He gestured, and Jeanne nodded.
"(Yeah. Trying to get back home. Nuiko, they have -)" - she laughed again. "Nuiko - um. Mint chocolate chip, vanilla, strawberry."
"Vanilla."
"(Two vanilla cones, please.)"
The man nodded, and they spoke as he scooped it out. "(Have you two had ice cream in France, before? I assume you're here for some investigation.)"
"(You could say that.)"
"(Our ice cream will be different than what you're used to. We use eggs for it - a custard-base. Italians do it as well - though it's a cheap imitation of our's. As with everything else.)"
He handed Jeanne her cone, and Jeanne the payment.
With a nod, Jeanne took the first bite of her ice cream -
- and suddenly shrieked, blood running down her lips; she pointed frantically to the roof of her mouth -
- where a set of razors were embedded; with the speed of light, Nuiko dug her fingers in and up -
" - shrink!"
- and the blades shrunk to a microscopic size; with the speed of light, Nuiko gripped the vendor's neck, holding him over his frozen cart - " - enjoy life in a vanilla wonderland, bitch!"
- and with the speed of light, the man shrunk, falling microscopically in to the custardy land.
And as Jeanne glanced down the path, she stifled a groan, seeing their true foe running away from them, a fattened figure who had enjoyed the vanilla wonderland in a different manner. With a hasty gesture to Nuiko, blood rushing down her lips, the women ran in pursuit; but far more blood was draining down Jeanne's throat, threatening to choke her on her own fluids -
" - gggfffg - Nffkf!" She tapped Nuiko's collar, gesturing to the crimson slits at the roof of her mouth, which hadn't even begun to clot.
"I - swell!" Nuiko nodded, and the skin at each end swelled, closing the wound, if for giving a temporary speech impediment.
"Gffd enuff." panted Jeanne, the two rushing in pursuit of their foe, down the path & between the trees.
"(Senescence!)" shouted the man ahead, and in the next instant -
- deep wrinkles appeared on Nuiko's cheeks, sagging her face down, her step suddenly slowing, Jeanne still rushing ahead -
- and the same fate and face befell her, her joints cracking and beginning to slow - but the women had no time to rest.
A crowd of elderly burst out of the trees beside, faces as saggy as their's, knives in wizened hand, and as the mob readied to surround the two suddenly-elder women -
" - Drffm."
A green spray flashed at their feet, spraying all around - the milling mob were stopped in their tracks, tripping on their faces, their feet stuck to the glue-grass Jeanne had wrought. Ahead, their foe turned -
- and as valiantly as the women tried to run forward, their youthful swiftness had left them, wrinkles scoring their bodies and sagging deeper with every hobble closer - with a laugh, the man halted. "(Senescent cells! They accumulate as you grow older, causing inflammation in your bones and joints - but too few, and your wounds won't ever heal!)"
The women attempted again to hobble forward, their bodies aging faster the closer they drew.
"(Enough accumulation, and it's a trivial task to control your body -)"
- and the next scene was instant.
A gray spray of Dream painted the ground ahead; with the last of her strength, Nuiko hurtled forward, scooping a pebble off the ground; as she hit the rubber, she was launched rapidly forward - the man instinctively threw his arm out with a cry -
- and laughed as Nuiko landed only inches ahead, her body skidding with wounds crawling in her skin that would not heal. Her face started to age rapidly, skin dry and bones clinging -
- and from above, a titanic boulder landed and crushed the man to red paste, the pebble that Nuiko had thrown upward as she flew.
She drew to her feet, the wrinkles beginning to disappear, admiring her crimson handiwork. Behind, she heard the clamor of the elderly, freed from their controlled prison, a spray of Dream releasing their feet.
She looked back at Jeanne, who frowned.
"… I dropped my ice cream."
"We can go back and get more." chimed Nuiko. "Go ahead and scan."
Jeanne glanced to the elderly, who nodded & left after she told them 'Revenant' in French - which was also 'Revenant'. As she crouched down to scan, she did not like how Nuiko's eye lingered on her rank.
"…ready to go?" said Nuiko.
Jeanne frowned as she stood. "Don't even start."
"Don't even start?"
"I know that look. I-I know I've been fucking up, alright? I used to be three-star, a-and now my own fucking protege is ahead of me. I don't need it from her, and I-I definitely don't need it from you."
Nuiko frowned. "Jeanne, all I saw was -"
" - you know, I-I'm really sick of you treating me like some fucking, some fucking accessory, or that I'm just -"
" - Jeanne, I wasn't trying to -"
" - all of those times you called me in and didn't even ask me about - do you even know my protege's name?"
"Kirihara." said Nuiko. "Her name is Kirihara."
"You never asked me anything about her. Just asked me to make fucking costumes with you."
"Jeanne, I was… It was the beginning of the semester, we could barely talk between… I didn't think you *wanted* to talk about her. I thought that if you did, you would just introduce us."
"Yeah. That's how you approach everything but your f-fucking rank. Just leave it for somebody else to do."
"I don't know what you want from me." said Nuiko. "I feel like I always treat you -"
" - you treat me like your assistant. That's it. I remember all of those fucking delivery contracts when you - when you were t-trying to beat Aimee, and n-now she's probably fucking dead anyway. I told Marisa that you put too much in to o-other people, b-but... I realized that -"
"- I wanted to make sure that when - if I had gotten presidency, you would have enough experience that I could have you in my squadron. Y-You think I never thought about a-asking you to stay behind so you could get some rest? What if - what if you hadn't been there when I lost my eye?"
"…I-I don't know." said Jeanne.
"…w-well. Y-You'd still have a cyclops for a mentor."
Jeanne tittered. "…y-you know, i-it really fucking hurt having nobody to t-talk to every time I-I came out of my comas."
"…I'm sorry." said Nuiko. "I don't know how to show that, but me giving you more excuses isn't going to help, either. Or involving Mia and Marisa." She looked back up the path. "…I need to unshrink him before the ice cream melts."
◆◆◆
As the four left their hotel the next day, Nuiko's phone vibrated.
(Jakuze) "Nuiko, are you with Mia Schultz right now? Swarm?"
Nuiko glanced at Mia as they walked out to the parking lot. "Just a notification."
(Nuiko) "Is Aimee okay?"
(Jakuze) "I need to talk to Mia, please."
Nuiko frowned. She didn't know much about Jakuze - he usually skipped class & never hunted with anyone else. She got the feeling he didn't even like Urasaria.
(Nuiko) "She's been worrying a lot about Aimee."
(Jakuze) "It's about her. Please. I need to speak to Mia."
"Mia." said Nuiko, tapping her shoulder. "Someone I know wanted to speak to you."
"W-What?" said Mia. "A student?" (Nuiko nodded and showed her the texts.) "I - I need to call him now, then."
"What's up?" said Marisa as they came to their car.
"Stay here." said Nuiko to Jeanne & Marisa. "Mia, let's go back to our hotel room and - call him there."
Mia nodded rapidly, and the two started walking back. She started practicing what she would ask & how she would react to Aimee's death, a cold feeling beginning in her chest. "Who - who is Jakuze? I-I think I saw him before, but -"
" - he's a third-year. In Aimee and my year." said Nuiko as they came up to their hotel room, door still unlocked. "Do you want me to come in with you?"
"N-No, I - I need to - I need to call h-him up." said Mia, and Nuiko nodded as the scarabwoman went inside. The touch went out of her hands as she called him on Nuiko's phone.
"Hello, is this Mia?"
"Yes, is - is A-Aimee alright?"
"I - I don't know if she is, admittedly, but, er -"
" - why are you calling?"
"I need to speak with you before you return to campus. It, it does have to do with Aimee, however -"
" - can't you tell me right now?"
"I… really do not wish to speak about this over the phone -"
" - just - please, just tell me something -"
" - she's in China."
Mia paused, feeling her tendency for over-worry compress itself. "I - but is she -"
" - I'm sorry. I don't know if she's alright, but she likely is - but -"
" - why is she in China?"
"…I… I do not know why, but I need to speak with you. Before you return to campus, please. I'll give you an address to come to -"
" - how do you know she's in China? Did another Ningsing student -"
- and she paused as the line went silent.
"…Mia." said Jakuze. "I understand that you're very worried over her, but I sincerely need you to speak to -"
" - why? Why can't you tell me right fucking now where she is?!"
"Because I need to - look, I will text you my address, and by the time you get back to -"
" - fucking tell me now or -"
- he hung up, and she didn't wait before trying to call him again to no response. She felt her tendency for over-worry compress itself in to anger, and she felt her cheeks rising white-hot. She stomped down -
- and two pillars of white flame disintegrated their beds as she stomped out, shoving Nuiko's phone back to her hands. "She's apparently alright, but your little fucking friend refuses to tell me anything until we FUCKING come back -"
" - then - then let's get to Paris, right?" said Nuiko, stepping back.
Mia's fists clenched. "He told me to meet him at some fucking address before we went back to Urasaria, and -"
" - can you make sure we haven't left anything, then? I'll make sure the - I'll pull the car around, and we'll leave right then, right?"
"I - I suppose." sighed Mia, and Nuiko went out quickly. Mia barely checked their room before stomping out again and burning a nightstand behind her. They could go send the bill to Jakuze. Once she came out of the hotel, Nuiko picked her up in the passenger seat.
"Go." muttered Mia, leaning back.
"Um, here's the directions, Nuiko." said Marisa, carefully pressing her phone up front.
"Thank you."
"One more day." muttered Mia. "One more fucking day here."
"Um, yeah." nodded Marisa, glancing at Jeanne in the backseat. "It'll, um, be over before you know it, like."
Mia closed her eyes. A while in, Jeanne asked her if she could swap with Marisa, though she didn't remember saying yes.
◆◆◆
After rushing down the next trek, the four came to the embassy that night, and headed back to America on a private flight. Jeanne & Nuiko had spoken more on the way over, Jakuze had sent an address, and ten hours of flight later, the four stepped up to a home two hours away from Urasaria. The light was off in the bedroom.
Mia banged at the door. If he was sleeping, she'd burn it down. Nothing irritated her quite so much as the disrespect she perceived in his lack of answers.
Jakuze answered a minute after. "I - Mia Sch-"
" - where the fuck is Aimee?"
"I - I need you to come inside with me, please." he said, gesturing her inside. "Just, just you. Everyone else can leave."
"Uh, excuse me?" said Marisa.
"Stay outside." said Mia, waving them down as she went inside. Jakuze closed the door and led her down a hall with no light to his bedroom.
'Christ.' he thought, glancing at Mia. 'I can't imagine what she's like *off* her period.'
"…alright." he said. "I know where Aimee and others have gone. May I start at the beginning?"
"Fine." said Mia, leaning against the wall.
"…while you were gone - while you've been gone. A professional came to me, as she saw I was rank six and couldn't find Nuiko. She was wanting to question you, about the Ningsing Revenants."
Mia's limbs were glued to her sides. "You know about the Ningsing Revenants?"
"*I* know about them, because - I - my Revenant, Mesmer. I can can control her mind, and give her one command that she won't remember. She had to speak truthfully -"
" - she knows about the Ningsing Revenants? What exactly?"
"She knows that - apparently, you were being attacked by former Ningsing students or something along those lines, I-I barely remember everything she said, but it's - it was clearly not good for you. It clearly wasn't."
"…then she's investigating for treason."
"No, it's… that's why Aimee and the others are in China. She's fucking psychotic, but..."
He trailed off. In the yellow lights between his old bedroom's blinds he worried Auctioneer's eyes would be there, and with Mesmer's one command gone, he wouldn't be able to defend himself.
"…she's told them to kill eight Ningsing students. She told them to kill eight Ningsing students. She smuggled them, sans badges, in to the country -"
" - then she's in China? Is she the only one who knows about this?"
"I - I assume, unless she's - she still works for the government, she can just as easily find you even if you flee, and -"
" - stop. Let me think. Let me think." Mia closed her eyes, tapping her head. "…she'll obviously try to do the same thing to me. I - do you know her Revenant?"
"Enough to scare them in to not fighting here. I don't know."
"…and using scarabs would be so obvious -"
" - you can't kill her, Mia. Professional heroes have decades of experience. You need to flee the country - I can arrange transportation for -"
" - no, no." Mia stood, eyes opening. "No, I - there's a way out of this. There's a way to fix this. Every Revenant, there's something that can be done to -"
" - I can't deal with her for you." said Jakuze. "Mesmer's already been used once on her. My Revenant's completely useless." (Mia closed her eyes like the back of her eyelids had the answer, and the situation pulled her neck up.) "If you come back to Urasaria, she'll know where you are. She left her card with me. She's at a hotel an hour from here."
"What hotel?"
"I'll give you the address. I wouldn't attempt to fight her. Simply stay away from the area, and leave -"
" - I won't leave Aimee." Her eyes opened. "I - I c-can't leave Urasaria."
"…I can't help you with this."
"I don't need you to help me with this, I - I need to think of something."
"…alright. I'll be leaving Urasaria. Tomorrow morning. Let me know if you need anything else." he muttered, and began approaching the edge of her sight to turn the lights on.
Mia stared at him, watching him pull clothing out of his closet. "Why did you warn me?"
Jakuze frowned slightly. "…Aimee gave me this Revenant, and I wanted to use it to help her. She gave it to me after killing the woman who killed my parents."
"…thank you."
Mia walked out, and as he resumed packing, he saw her speaking with the other three out of the corner of his window. A sense of guilt came over him for lying to her; he didn't enjoy being a student, and Mesmer already had made the trauma of his parents' death beyond recovery. In truth, he had known before his 'rash' decision to use Mesmer on Laura that it would give him sufficient reason to leave.
As he watched Nuiko shrink & swell some of her scarabs, before Mia walked away from the others, he did not enjoy this conclusion. Yet he felt that he must accept it, as with all facts, lest he fall in to superstition or ascribe justice in to his primary motivation.
◆◆◆
Nervous for Nuiko's range, Mia knocked at room 531 of the Blue-Inn hotel. The door opened, and there stood Laura.
"J-Jakuze said you wished to speak with me?" stammered Mia, her arms drawn weakly close.
"Mia Schultz. My name is Auctioneer - I wanted to ask you some questions." Laura gestured for her to sit down inside, then walked to the bed across Mia, trying to keep her weight off her heels. "You remember your trip in January, right? To that girl who needed her Revenant removed?"
"Y-Yes." Mia nodded. "A-Aimee and I-I had, er, a lot of fun on that trip."
Laura looked her over for a few seconds. While she despised homosexuals, one did not have to club a deer to death when a bullet would suffice. "Well, I'm sure you did. I was the security guard for that facility, and when I was checking the footage from that day, I found out your girlfriend was destroying their Revenants. She is your girlfriend, right? Aimee?"
"Y-Yes. We're very close. Er, she told me to d-destroy their Revenants, b-but I-I assure you I don't know why."
"She told me the opposite." said Laura. "You can drop the act. One of you is lying."
She held her hand out as if to receive something -
- and Mia felt strength and swiftness pull away from her as a vial of gold formed in Laura's right hand.
"Worldwide - fire, ice, electricity, and a sword. If this breaks, your Revenant will be gone." She saw Mia flinching like Aimee had. "Now, I'm sure you're a good student. I'm not in this line of work just to hurt students who aren't doing anything wrong, but -"
" - p-please don't take my Revenant." sputtered Mia. "P-Please, I'll - I'll do anything you want, just please -"
" - it's alright. I'm going to set it down just right here, where you can see it."
She set it on the nightstand.
"Don't try to touch it. It'll break. Now, you don't want someone a thousand miles away to tell me what I should do with you, so I'm not going to report you to my boss unless I need to. One of the things I like about my job is that I get to have discretion. But, what I want you to do - you and your group killed eight hosts on your trip to Lanacca, and I know why.
What I want you to do is kill two Chinese students. I'll put you on a boat tomorrow morning, and once I'm out of range, your Revenant will come back. You can meet up with… Annie, or whatever her name is, and both of you can send me pictures of two corpses. Each. You know what I'll have to do if I don't get any pictures by the end of the week, right?"
"T-Treason."
"Well, we don't have to go that far, but you need to learn there's consequences for breaking the law. If those Chinese want to come over here and kill our students, then they need to learn that, too."
Mia sat limp. "…c-can I leave?"
"Of course not. You stay here with me." Laura rubbed her head, wincing slightly. "These goddamn headaches. Rest - rest up, and don't touch the vial."