1930 HOURS
ALPHEIM
BIANCA ROSSWEISSE'S PENTHOUSE
2 HOURS AFTER THE KAISERIN OF MOTION'S REAPPEARANCE.
"The time now is 1930 hours. Mistress Ilise, I have, in accordance to your plans, set an alarm for you at this time. You are not to miss your next appointment. Please wake up. My precepts dictate that a spray of cold water be discharged, should you not end your current REM cycle. I repeat - Mistress Ilise, please wake up."
"H-huh?"
Ilise was having the oddest case of deja vu. That, and she'd had the whackiest dream ever. The sky outside was still dark - why had MUTHR woken her up this early? The Mistilteinn exams were hours from now, and Ilise was pretty sure she'd set her alarm clock for seven thirty in the morning, not five.
Beyond the large windows of Ilise's oak-panelled room, Alpheim's city lights glowed through a pair of billowing curtains. That's odd, Ilise thought. The lights don't normally come on until six in the evening. Still, it would be foolish of her to not enjoy the view before her exams began. Alpheim was laid out before her. No matter how many times she saw it, the shining skyline of Alpheim was always startlingly beautiful.
There wasn't a cloud in the star-speckled sky. Ilise briefly considered waking up early like this every day, so she could see the city like this. She sat up in her bed and stretched luxuriously. She was going to miss her bed after today. When Bianca-
The deja vu returned in full force. Her head throbbing, Ilise looked to MUTHR.
"MUTHR, what time is it?"
"REM cycle ended. Disengaging 'Rude Awakening' precept. It is seven-thirty in the evening, Mistress Ilise. Shall I recite your schedule?"
"Hold up. What time did you say it was?"
"It is seven-thirty in the evening." MUTHR said, her voice silky-smooth.
"How did I oversleep by twelve hours? MUTHR, why didn't you wake me? Why didn't anyone wake me?" Ilise got out of bed, panicking. There was no way she could've missed her Mistilteinn exams. Not by twelve hours. Something was definitely going on here.
The door to her room swung open. Bianca poked her head in, looking concerned. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, and she smelled like rosewater. A shower? Why had Bianca showered at this time? Why did she look so calm?
"Ilise? Are you okay?"
"No, I am NOT okay! I missed my exam by twelve hours! Why didn't you wake me up?" Ilise cried. She felt the urge to toss herself back into bed and cry herself back to sleep. She waited for Bianca to come sit beside her, to pat her on the back and say that it was okay and that this was all a bad dream-
Bianca laughed.
"Don't be silly, Ilise. You took the exams hours ago! And you passed." She walked over to Ilise's dresser and tossed her a gleaming badge. It was still pinned to a scrap of charred cloth. Ilise caught it with surprising deftness for someone who'd just woken up. As she ran her fingers over its grooves, her fingertips brushed the bit of cloth.
Like a tidal wave, all her memories of the day came rushing back. Siegfried. Rei. Toby. Roza. Rita. Marten. Ivan. The student council. Everything returned to her, with the exception of the huge blank spot between now and when she'd entered the crater. Fearfully, she looked at her forearms. The lightning-bolt scars were there, and they'd gotten much longer. Rolling up the sleeves of her pyjamas, she realised with a gasp of horror that the scars had extended all the way up her arm.
"Don't tell me I-"
Bianca nodded sadly. "You did. You lost control again. We were lucky I was there. But don't worry. That's all over now, and you've got a parfait date with a few of your new classmates-"
She was abruptly cut off by Ilise, who wrapped her arms around her in a bear hug. Ilise sobbed into Bianca's shoulder, her warm, salty tears dripping into the towel. Ignoring the fact that she'd have to shower all over again, Bianca hugged Ilise back.
"Shh. Shh. Don't cry, Ilise. It's over. You passed. You're you again. I'll always be here for you. Forget what I said, okay? It isn't just luck. I will always be here. From this day to our last."
"R-really?" Ilise sniffled.
"I swear on my title as heiress. I swear as your sister. Now, go on. Take a shower. Kallen and Rei are waiting for you. The Roza girl got discharged, too. You don't want to come out looking all sad, do you?"
Ilise shook her head.
"Good. I expect I'll have to take another shower, too." Bianca sighed. "Then again, nothing bad ever came out of taking two showers in the span of thirty minutes."
Ilise shook her periwinkle-blue locks out of her face. She couldn't remember anything about what had transpired in those two hours. Another segment of her memory had been sealed behind the same, big blue wall that kept away fifteen years of it locked away.
Caught between cursing herself and trying to relax as she trudged to the bathroom, Ilise found some solace in the fact that she was practically re-living her entire morning. Even though barely twelve hours had passed since she first woke up that morning, it felt like another fifteen years had gone by. Being a Kaiserin did that to people, she supposed.
This time round, she didn't spend any time looking at the artworks that adorned the halls of Bianca's home. Ilise just wanted to submerge herself in hot water and melt all her doubts away in it. She wanted to see Siegfried and everyone again.
Just as she'd done this morning, MUTHR had laid out Ilise's clothes. A peacoat, a frock the same colour as her hair and a pair of cufflinks. Ilise wondered why MUTHR had chosen the cufflinks. They didn't exactly fit, but all her questions were answered when she turned them over. A little tag had been attached to them. Bianca's spidery handwriting was on it.
"A prototype from Yggdrasil. I had them made it look pretty. I think you'd be interested in these." The note read.
Smiling to herself, Ilise stepped into the rosewater-scented bath and sank her head into the water. Something rumbled, and it was most definitely not the bubbles of her bath.
Boy, was she hungry.
--
Ilise was grateful that she didn't have to hurry that much this time round. She took as much time as she wanted, knowing that her friends would no doubt be entertained by the sheer amount of things Bianca had stocked her penthouse with. The bowling alley, the indoor theatre, all of them were enough to buy enough time for Ilise to get the soaking she needed.
When her skin was baby-pink and she was ready to face the world again, Ilise slipped into her clothes and found a pair of fluffy slippers outside the shower door. MUTHR had laid them out for her. As annoying as her robotic matron could be, Ilise liked having her around. Who else would pick her clothing for her?
The dress she was wearing that night was obviously a new one. Ilise could've done without the plunging neckline, but to her constant chagrin, it wasn't like there was a lot to show. The dress felt more like a nightgown than anything. It was soft and silky, and wearing it almost made Ilise sleepy again.
Making sure the peacoat covered up what her dress couldn't, Ilise tentatively entered the living room. She hadn't had to break any windows to get there - that had to be a good sign, didn't it? Rei, Roza, Toby and Siegfried were watching something on the television. They didn't notice her arrival - that is, until MUTHR had to announce it.
"Mistress Ilise has arrived, honoured guests."
"Ilise- I-I wow. You look-" Siegfried stumbled over his words.
"Stunning." Rei bowed. "May I have your hand?"
"Uh. O-oh, sure." Ilise extended her hand, unsure about what Rei intended to do with it. To the surprise of everyone present, he lightly pecked it.
"How scandalous," MUTHR tittered.
"Tsk. You shouldn't go around kissing random girls, bro." Roza said, pouting.
"You're looking well, Roza." Ilise grinned cheekily. Roza had a bandage around her head and she sounded slightly groggy, but for all intents and purposes, she was still the same Roza Ilise had fought alongside.
"Nice place you've got here," Toby whistled, awestruck by the opulence of his surroundings. "'S to be expected of a Rossweisse, I guess."
"Thanks. I had the interior design done myself, you know." Bianca said. She had suddenly appeared on the mezzanine, leaning over one of the railings.
"Bianca! I-I mean, vice-president?" Toby corrected himself. His run-in with Marten hadn't quite worn off yet.
Bianca laughed it off. "Relax, Tobias. I'm not as stuck-up as the rest of my councillors. Although," She gestured at her home. "I have the right to do so, which is more than I can say for some of them. I hope you got the formal wear memo. I don't think I keep any tuxedos at home."
"My father has them in excess, vice-president. I took the liberty of loaning them out to Siegfried and Tobias, who appear to lack clothes that do not have embarrassing slogans on them." Rei said. "Roza here took some convincing, but I got her to wear one of mother's dresses."
"Good!" Bianca clapped her hands together. "I'll drive you there."
"In gym clothes?" Ilise asked quizzically. "I thought Mr Jacques told you you had to stop doing that."
"I won't be going in with you guys. I have to pop by Mistilteinn and Midgard for a bit. Student council business, since, y'know, your little slip-up caused the exams to be postponed tomorrow. Congratulations on passing, by the way. Dinner will be on me. Just tell Jean-Pierre to put it on my tab."
"Oh." Ilise said, dejected. "I thought you'd be eating with us tonight."
"Don't worry, Ilise. I'll pick you up once you're done. We can go for a walk, if you'd like. But that's something for later. Right now, I want you to have fun with your friends. You see me every day. You won't be seeing these guys for another two weeks."
Siegfried fiddled with his collar. His arm appeared to be mostly healed. He still grimaced when he tried to bend it, but it was looking much better than it had the last time Ilise had seen it.
"Kallen here looks like he's getting stuffy. We should go. Jean-Pierre hates it when we aren't on time for our reservation."
"Reservation?" Siegfried whispered to Ilise. "Sounds fancy. Where're we going?"
"Someplace suited to my 'rich girl tastes'. You'll see." Ilise winked at him, and breezed out of the door with Bianca.
"Tough luck, buddy." Toby clapped Siegfried on the back.
--