Pride x Familiar (48 page)

My nervousness shot up noticeably.

“Commander Alucard…it was a pleasure to serve
under you.”

“Idiot,” she muttered audibly. “Wish me
luck.”

She ended the call before I could offer her
words of comfort.

(Caelum)

I held Simone’s right hand firmly in my left as
we walked a couple of feet behind Melanie.

At first the corridors and hallways were pitch
black, illuminated only by the palm-slates that Melanie, the
Countess and I carried. But a couple of minutes after leaving the
room, the emergency lighting came back on, casting a weak amber
light into the building’s interior.

All three of us pocketed our palm-slates. There
was no point wasting precious battery life.

Every ten or so meters we came across students
and teachers struggling to crawl along the ground, or simply
struggling to breathe.

At sight of us they reached out and pleaded for
help.

The Countess reached for them but I pulled her
back. If we fell too far behind Melanie, we would end up just like
them.

Melanie had said the effect-field generators
within the academy had been cranked up to maximum, delivering a
crushing five or six gees. Even an Aventis would have trouble under
those conditions, but for me the constant weight might be
fatal.

The only reason Simone and I were upright and
walking was due to the effect-field bubble Melanie’s Fragment was
generating.

I no longer had any doubts she was a member of
Crimson Crescent. Knowing that felt like a knife through my chest.
I’d liked Melanie, but now I felt betrayed by her. I had to wonder
how it was possible for her to be a member of Crescent. I also had
to wonder why.

But there was another question I had to ask.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked her.

“Orders,” she replied, leading us down a hallway
while stepping carefully around a couple students, never giving
them enough time to benefit from her effect-field bubble.

“No, I meant why is Crimson Crescent doing
this?”

“In their words, to right a wrong.”

“What?”

“To correct a mistake from two centuries
ago.”

The Countess asked, “What mistake?”

Melanie glanced over her shoulder. “Handing
power over to the Aventis.”

I stared at her, then thought back to what the
Countess had told me of how Familiars had fought for the Aventis
during the War of Supremacy. “Care to explain?”

Melanie shook her head, then abruptly nodded.
“Fine. I’ll tell you what I know but this stays between you and
me.” She gave Simone a curt look. “And Busty beside you.”

The Countess snapped, “Hey, I have a name.”

“Yeah, Countess Boobies.”

“Ah—how childish,” Simone yelled. “Can’t you
come up with better material?”

I saw Simone’s anger spread across her face, and
quickly jerked her arm. “Countess, don’t. She’s just taunting you
because she’s jealous.”

Melanie stopped and half turned. “Jealous? Of
those heavy udders? No way.”

I rolled my eyes and exhaled loudly. “Can we not
do this now?”

After glaring at each other for a few seconds,
the Countess and Melanie harrumphed and turned away from each
other.

Then Melanie turned back with a sneer. “You
know, all I have to do is weaken the field. Let’s see how well
those hold up under heavy gravity. They’ll be down to your knees
before you know it.”

Simone scowled at her. “Don’t you dare!”

Melanie planted her hands on her hips. “Hah. You
see, they do have their disadvantages.”

“Of course they do,” Simone growled. “But the
advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”

Melanie snorted. “Outweigh, huh? What choice
words.”

She raised a hand and I realized she intended to
make good on her threat. “Melanie, don’t—”

“Too late,” she laughed.

I moved instinctively to protect what was
important.

“Gah!” Simone gasped as though winded.

Behind me, Melanie hissed as though she’d been
stabbed.

I turned to look at her. “Melanie—please don’t.
You can’t do this.”

“You…you…you pervert,” she whispered loudly.

The Countess asked in a low, hoarse voice,
“Caelum…
what
are you doing?”

I looked down and saw what I was protecting from
Melanie. “Ah—well—these are important.”

Simone trembled with her arms stiffly at her
sides. “Important? I see.” She started to laugh a little unstably.
“Important. Ha ha ha. Maybe I should be grateful you dove to
protect
them
and
not me
.”

I gulped in a lungful of air and steeled my
resolve. In my heart, I knew I had done the right thing.

My hands supported Simone’s large breasts, and I
couldn’t let them go until I was certain Melanie wouldn’t harm
them.

I looked at Melanie over my shoulder. “Melanie,
I’m sorry. I lied. Your butt and legs are amazing, but—”

“Yes, I know,” she hissed. “In the end…breasts
are still number one!”

I nodded with a face full of regret. “I’m sorry.
I can’t deny it.” I closed my eyes. “Please, Melanie. Please spare
them.”

The Countess sounded like she was about to burst
an artery. “Spare them? Spare
them
? What about the rest of
me?”

I opened my eyes to see Melanie’s anger
dissipate into defeat. I watched surrender settle on her attractive
features. Her shoulders sagged. “I give up. I give up. I just give
up. I can’t compete against those overfilled milk sacks.”

Simone sounded incensed beyond words.
“Milk…sacks…?”

Melanie looked down at the ground between
us.

For a moment I feared the effect-field
protecting us would collapse, but it held and Simone’s glorious
bosom appeared to have been spared from the detrimental effects of
heavy gravity.

I almost breathed out in relief, but I worried
that would trigger Melanie the wrong way.

The situation felt like it was balanced on a
knife edge.

“Just tell me one thing,” Melanie asked softly.
Her face was slack though her eyes were lidded as she looked up at
me. “Tell me the truth. Did you truly mean it when you called me a
vision?”

I nodded without a second thought. “Yes. A
vision from the heavens. I swear it upon my heart and soul.”

Her face twisted slightly as an anguished look
marred her features, then she relaxed slowly.

Seconds went by before she spun on her
heels.

“Come on. Don’t fall behind.”

I quickly released Simone’s breasts, not missing
the way they bounced at least once before settling down.

I grabbed the Countess’s right hand and pulled
her along before she could utter a syllable in complaint. “You
heard her. Let’s hurry.”

Arriving at an emergency stairwell, Melanie
pushed the door open, then descended quickly down the stairs as
though making up for lost time.

I glanced at Simone who was flushed red with
simmering anger. She returned my glance then averted her gaze in a
huff.

I really couldn’t help sighing heavily after
witnessing that.

However, I didn’t regret my decision. Her chest
was of monumental importance to me.

Looking down at Melanie ahead of us, I asked,
“What did you mean about a mistake in handing over power?”

Melanie didn’t reply right away. “All I know is
that Crimson Crescent believes the Familiars that fought for the
Aventis made a mistake by handing over power to them once the war
was over. Now they’re making amends for that.”

“They’re taking power back? How?”

“I don’t know,” Melanie admitted. “I’m just a
cog in the wheel that was given a job to do.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that. You know a
lot for just being a cog in the wheel.” I narrowed my eyes as I
studied her quickly. “What kind of Fragment do you have?”

“That’s a secret,” she replied. “A girl can have
some secrets, right?”

I shook my head as I climbed down the stairs.
“Then can you tell me why Crescent is here?” I hesitated then
asked, “Do you know about the black box in the computer
network?”

She replied, “You mean the sealed off part of
the network? Yes, I know about it.”

“What’s inside?”

She stopped walking and looked up at me. “The
commands to open up the sublevels and to access the Vault chamber.
Without those commands we can’t deactivate the security systems. It
would take a mobile fortress to survive the security cannons that
surround the entrance to the chamber. Even with an Artifact, a
Familiar could never get close to it. It’s absolutely
impossible.”

I frowned down at her. “What is the Vault?”

Melanie turned away and resumed descending the
stairs. “It’s built under the school. Deep under the school.”

Behind me, Simone said, “That doesn’t explain
what it is.”

For a moment Melanie appeared annoyed, but she
kept walking. “As far as I know, it’s an Artifact and it’s very
big. But that’s all I know. You’ll find out more when you get
there.”

I swallowed. “And my sister? Will she be waiting
there?”

Melanie slowed down for a moment. “Well I hope
so, otherwise this is all for naught.”

Despite holding Simone’s hand, I hurried a
little and caught up to Melanie. I grabbed her left shoulder and
dragged her to an acute stop.

She turned in a hurry and glared at me.
“What—?”

“Tell me why you’re with Crimson Crescent?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it quickly
before opening it once more. “I have my reasons.”

“What reasons?” For a heartbeat, I watched her
jaw clench. “What reasons could you have for joining Crimson
Crescent? Don’t you know what they’re guilty of?”

Her glare grew as sharp as a knife. “Crescent
has what I want.”

“And what’s that?”

“The means to avenge my parents.”

I stared at her, then slowly withdrew the hand I
had on her shoulder. “Avenge them? The Cardwells?”

“No,” she snapped, “my
real
parents.”

Simone spoke softly. “So…it’s true you were
adopted.”

Melanie shot the Countess a piercing look. “Yes.
I was adopted by the Cardwells. They believed I might join the
Avenir Pride, but it didn’t turn out that way. How disappointing
for them.”

I had trouble finding my voice. “What—what
happened to your biological parents?”

Melanie visibly trembled as her voice fell to a
growl. “They’re dead—that’s what happened to them. They died
because of the Prides and their damn in-fighting.”

Simone’s voice cut between us. “Do you mind
explaining rather than accusing?”

Her eyes on Simone, Melanie took a step back up
the stairs.

I stood nervously, watching the two girls stare
heatedly at each other, briefly wondering when the sparks would
start to fly.

In contrast to the heat in her eyes, Melanie’s
voice was like ice.

“My parents were Familiars. They served the
Avenirs, and they were loyal to a fault. They weren’t fighters,
they were explorers, and they were looking for the truth—for the
truth behind the Cataclysm and the Artifacts. And they were killed
for it.”

Simone bristled icicles. “And you blame my
Pride?”

“I blame
all
the Prides.”

“What evidence do you have?”

Melanie’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “They
were on the super-freighter when it exploded.”

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and
my mouth fell open as shock ran through my body like an electric
current.

Beside me, Simone grew ashen.

I managed to find my voice. “Wh—what did you
say?”

“They were explorers and that freighter wasn’t a
freighter.” Melanie took another step closer. “That freighter was a
Pathfinder mothership, and it was carrying a mother lode of
Fragments and Artifacts.”

Suddenly the Countess found her strength. “That
explosion was caused by Crescent!”

Melanie countered, “No, it was the Prides trying
to outdo each other—trying to steal the Artifacts from each
other.”

Simone yelled, “That isn’t true. That’s a lie
fostered by Crescent.”

Melanie reached out and grabbed Simone’s
necktie. “I read my parents’ journals. They wrote everything in
there. They wrote about how the Prides began working against each
other during the journey. And then it all came to a head when the
super-freighter docked in the Harbor Sphere.”

Simone’s eyes widened sharply. “What are you
saying? How do you have their journals?”

Melanie took a long, deep breath and released
Simone’s necktie. “Crescent had them. They had people aboard that
freighter. When it exploded they were aboard the pathfinder in its
belly. That’s how they survived. They tried rescuing the freighter
crew, my parents among them, but they couldn’t. My parents died,
but for some reason they had entrusted their journals to
Crescent.”

Still holding onto Simone’s hand, I slowly sank
down and sat on a step.

I heard Simone’s voice, barely above a whisper.
“Your parents worked for Crescent?”

I heard Melanie’s reply. “No, but they were
approached by Crescent. However, my parents remained loyal to the
Prides. Even so, they chose not to let the various ambitions and
ideologies affect their research. So they kept their research open
to all aboard that ship.”

I looked up at Melanie. “My parents…my parents
died in that explosion.”

Melanie looked down at me. “I know. I’m sorry,
Caelum.” She shook her head and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I
couldn’t tell you before.”

I shook my head as well. “It’s…it’s such a small
world…isn’t it….”

Melanie smiled bitterly down at me. “Yeah, I
guess it is.”

Simone’s question garnered our attention. “Do
you still have your parent’s journals?”

Melanie shook her head. “No, I returned them to
Crescent. It was too dangerous for me to keep them.”