"With Bianca's flaming light sword out there? No can do, Ilise. I think we'd be better off running in circles for five minutes straight." Toby said.
"Don't be stupid, Tobias. She'll just cast Silent Night again and that'll be the end of that."
"Then what do you wanna do, Mr Smartypants? Punch through the defensive spells Marten cast? If you could do that, I think they'd have to promote you to councillor."
"Guys! Stop arguing! We're wasting precious time here. This dust will only hold up for so long. Bianca's playing nice right now because she knows it'd be unfair if she went all out. We have a minute in here, tops. Rei! You're our ideas guy. Do you have anything?"
"Ah," Rei subconsciously tried to push his glasses back up his nose. "Against an enemy like them? In a wide-open area? Ilise, unless you tap into your Kaiserforce, we're doomed. We can't stall forever."
"Shit."
Rei and Toby stared at her, stunned. iIt was the first time any of them had ever heard her cuss.
"So what?" Ilise flushed. "Add it to the swear jar. I got money to spare, anyway. Rei, I've told you. I can't risk it - every time I use my Kaiserforce, I risk letting that thing - the other me - out."
"We'll keep you under control." Rei tried to placate Ilise.
"Control me with what? Shackles? As far as I know, the last time I lost control, I ended up wandering around in Jotunheim completely naked until Bianca found me."
"Exactly!" Rei thumped his fist into his palm. "Bianca. If you go straight for Marten or Ivan in your Kaiserforce, she'll have to come fight you. Once you're done dealing with them, she'll just knock you out."
"What if I end up like Roza, Rei?" Ilise said, her voice soft. "Is your sister all you care about? Apart from victory?"
"Don't go there, Ilise. You know that's not what I meant-"
Rei was cut off by a ear-piercing shriek and a crack. Ivan's accented voice rang out.
"That was Kallen's arm, by the way. If you don't step out of your little shelter, I'll break his other arm."
"He didn't."
"Oh, he did all right. Prez is in some deep, deep shit."
Now it was Ilise's turn to stare at Toby.
"What? If the rich girl can say it, why can't I?"
Rei looked into Ilise's eyes. "I apologise for what I said. But you have to do it for Siegfried. You punched Roza for him, didn't you?"
"I-I suppose I did. B-but you promise you'll keep me under control?"
"We promise." Toby and Rei said. Their voices were clear. They weren't lying. The residual effects of her Silhouette spell showed no increase in heart rate.
"All right."
--
NOW.
THE MIND OF ILISE ROSSWEISSE.
Ilise finds herself in a deep, forbidden part of her memory. Something she sealed away three months ago. She sees herself staring at her other self - the Not-Ilise. The one that she made complete. Bits and pieces return to her, while some of them leave. Fleeting words escape her, and yet newer ones take their place.
Ilise Rossweisse is dead.
She sees herself on an operating table, her body nothing more than a lifeless corpse. Next to it is something else - bound to a similar table. As much as she tries to focus on it, she cannot. It constantly shifts. Its face changes, from that of an unfamiliar man to the face of Bianca. To Siegfried. Rei. Roza. Toby.
And finally, to a face that is not truly hers. Not-Ilise is pale - even paler than Ilise's Jotunheim skin, and her eyes are blood-red. Her nails are long and uncut, as if she has been dead for a long time now.
"H-hello."
"We meet again, Ilise." Her counterpart says. "I know what you are here for."
"I don't want to use you."
"But you have to. To protect your friends. To protect the one you love, hm?" Not-Ilise mockingly laughs.
"I-I don't love Siegfried."
"You amuse me, darling. When did I mention Siegfried? I know everything about you, Ilise. I have your memories. Part of me resides in your personality. You cannot lie to me. You cannot run from me. You can keep me hidden for as long as you want, but there will come a time when you must call upon me.
You lack your own strength, Ilise. You rely on that of others. You relied on Siegfried for the strength to hit Roza. You rely on Bianca to remain as a functioning human being. You rely on my magic to fight."
The Kaiserin flicks her hand. Ilise feels something well up inside her. A strand of rainbow-coloured light leaves her body and winds itself around her doppelganger's finger.
"This is your power, Ilise. Can you see? It glows bright within you, but you refuse to use it. You know you can - what are you afraid of? Your old self returning? Do you wish to keep your individuality? To remain as you are, with Bianca as your sister and with you scorning your former brother?"
"Stop trying to psychoanalyse me!" Ilise marches up and strikes the Kaiserin. "You know nothing about me. Nothing."
"You can convince yourself, darling, but not me. Because I am you. And as long as you are Ilise Rossweisse, I will always be you. You've felt it for a while now, haven't you? Ilise Alexeyevna wants her body back. I want my power back. Without those things, what are you?"
Ilise is speechless.
"As expected. You lack the resolve to fight for yourself. You fight for others; fight with others, but you do not fight for yourself. You wage a war on two fronts, Ilise Rossweisse. The war within, and the war without. A word of advice, from a being that has lived much longer than you. You cannot keep this up. Your past will haunt you, and eventually, it will catch up with you. Release me from my bindings, Ilise. Then we will be as one. A god."
Ilise laughs. She laughs and she laughs and she laughs and she cannot stop - she falls to the ground on her knees. When she looks up again, her eyes are brimming with tears. Not of laughter, but of sadness.
"That's your plan, isn't it? All this talk about individuality and being my own person when all you want is a body, so you can return to the physical world."
"Brava! Brava, ragazza. You get it. I serve no one but myself. I am bound to you against my own will. Locked inside your body by ancient blood magic. I have become the bridge between the 'then' and the 'now', Ilise. I am the barrier between you and Alexeyevna. If you were to free me now, I would not gain complete dominion over your body. Our minds would fuse into a composite personality. In a sense, neither one of us would rule. A new being will be formed, just as you were from Ilise Alexeyevna's remains."
Ilise turns to leave.
"Our conversation is over. I'll save my friends with my own power."
"Hah! The power you claim to possess is not yours to wield. It is mine. Your Kinetic magic is mine to use. Alexeyevna's Copy magic is hers. But on account of our relationship, I will lend it to you again. And again. And again, until I eat away at you and overwrite your mind. Everything comes at a cost, Ilise. It just so happens that my magic will cost you your life."
Ilise puts her hand on the doorknob. She feels the magic in her veins again. But she knows that it will not be enough. She knows that without the Kaiserin's power, she will never reach Siegfried in time. She will not best Bianca nor Ivan in single combat.
"It doesn't have to be single combat, Ilise." The Kaiserin laughs. "Free me. Then it will become an equal fight, no? Two on two. Think about it. Your precious Siegfried, and your friends that rely on you. Rozaliya's future is not yours to decide, but you have taken it into your hands. You view it as a responsibility, because you are in power. We call this 'noblesse oblige', Ilise.
Being powerful goes beyond establishing your rule. It extends to protecting your subjects. In this case, I suppose you are my subject. I have the power to decide Rozaliya's future. To rescue Siegfried. To pass this examination. And by the rules of noblesse oblige, it shall be yours to fight with. Go forth. But be careful. I will come and claim what is rightfully mine, when you are through."
For something that is strapped to an operating table, her other self is oddly cheerful. The Kaiserin of Motion is oddly cheerful. An entity that had more than enough power in its little finger to level all of Mistilteinn.
Understanding settles in Ilise's eyes. She looks over at the prostrate body of dead-Ilise. Summons a Concussive Force glyph. The restraints break, one by one.
"I am you."
"And you are me."
"We are the Kaiserin of Motion."
--