My-HiME: At The Beginning

Natsuki was just finishing her classes at Fuuka Academy, she was very ansty and squirmy as she was really wanting to be done for the day. She wanted to see her girlfriend a lot, missing the brunette everytime she left to go back to school. The bell finally rang and she leapt out of her seat after gathering her books. She shot out of class, running to her locker to put her books away and went outside, only to pause as she heard the sounds of a battle going on. Hmm? What is that? It sounds vaguely familiar... sounds like a battle... She froze, images running though head as she backed away from all the sounds. She was in no mood for battle right nao, even though her mind really wanted to find out what it was and she simply wanted to see Shizuru.

She walked around, poking for Shizuru. But instead of Shizuru, she saw Haruka and Yukino. Her face creased a bit as she saw the signs of a battle. It was HERE! She ran up to them, calling out softly. Yukino, Haruka! What happened here? Looks like you guys got into a huge battle! She was rather concerned, looking at them a bit.

"My lady?" Miyu announced as she walked into the bedroom. Alyssa was finishing up putting away her books. "My lady, have you completed your assignments?"

"Yeah," Alyssa said simply as she zipped up her backpack. She said nothing further as she placed it on her chair and walked towards the door.

"My lady?" Miyu inquired.

"I know, Miyu, I'm going to the sanctuary nao," Alyssa said as she walked right by Miyu into the hallway. Miyu just watched Alyssa walk silently save for her footsteps down the hall and turn down the stairs. It had been going on for a while nao, pretty much ever since the HiME Star had been destroyed. Sugiura-sensei had reactivated her, and the former Director had restored Alyssa along with everyone else, but after the Carnival, Alyssa had seemed..."dead" was not the right term to use - she was very much alive - but her enthusiasm had waned. Some days, Miyu observed a noticeable decrease in the volume and inflection of her voice. It wasn't always there, but in all her years of serving her, Miyu had never seen Alyssa so...she struggled to find the right terms. Perhaps that is simply something humans can do better. Miyu can monitor many different measures of Alyssa's physical health, but this seemed different.

Miyu eventually followed Alyssa down the stairs. She stood at the bottom, looking at Alyssa, who was nao at the far end of the sanctuary, looking out the opened doors and into the afternoon sky. "What are you thinking, my lady?" Miyu asked to herself. She wanted to know.

All of a sudden, what sounded like faint explosions echoed in from outside. "My lady?" Miyu asked, this time with concern.

Alyssa turned her head to see her guardian approach. "Miyu? Did you hear that?"

Natsuki's eyes had gone wide at the sight of Haruka and Yukino hugging and a faint blush formed across her cheeks. "Ah..." She was about to say something when she was cut off, glancing at Yukino and listening to everything said. "..." She was quiet, not saying anything as she listened and finally spoke after a few minutes. "I see..." She creased her face when they talked about Shizuru, jumping when said older girl hugged her suddenly. "Ah... Shizuru." She didn't even pull away, happy that the brunette was alright. "HiMEs are back." She looked up at the brunette, her eyes very serious as she spoke, feeling really tense right nao as she stood there, looking from Shizuru to Haruka and Yukino. She was still a little shocked at that one, though she had been expecting it like all the others were. "Mm..."

"Yes, my lady," Miyu answered, reaching the doors where Alyssa stood. Additional faint explosions echoing into the sanctuary confirmed that neither of them were hallucinating it. "My lady, would you like me to go investigate?" Miyu asked.

"If that's all right with you," the blonde replied. "At least one of us has to be here to take care of the chapel, and if whatever's going on out there turns out to be dangerous..."

"I understand, my lady." With that, Miyu walked out and virtually disappeared in the blink of an eye once she reached the road outside the chapel. Alyssa just stood at the door, looking out at where she last saw Miyu, and for some reason, feeling more uneasy than usual. Well, to be precise any time Miyu wasn't around Alyssa never felt as sure of herself, but nao especially with Searrs having cut them loose, she was really the only being she to trust.

"Come back safe, Miyu," she said quietly before heading back inside towards the pulpit.

Miyu raced along from treetop to treetop, the faint smoke in the distance her beacon towards which she was moving. As she drew closer she could see four figures standing in a small clearing, as well as the remains of what appeared to be an Orphan. Miyu stopped at the top of a high branch, out of sight of the other four, and with a quick search through her database identified the four as Yukino Kikukawa, Haruka Suzushiro, Natsuki Kuga, and Shizuru Fujino. She used a directional microphone built into her system to listen on the conversation from afar:

Kikukawa: "...as they cannot summon their Child without their, um, Key there. Seeing as everyone here has a good idea of who is whose Keys...well, yes. Be best not to fight."

Suzushiro: "I agree with Yukino."

Miyu made note of the new term Kikukawa had used, "Key", though she waited until someone else continued the conversation before coming to any conclusions.

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Meanwhile, Alyssa waited. And waited. And waited. Not even at night when the lights were off did the chapel seem so eerie. But even though it was starting to rain outside, there was too much light pouring in from the windows to justify turning on the lights. It was probably the rain that was keeping people away - she couldn't imagine a lot of people would want to walk outside in the rain during muggy monsoon season. She sighed as she sat down in the front pew, swinging her legs onto the bench and using the side of the pew as a backrest, flipping her hair to the outside so that it wouldn't get in the way. The Sister would yell at her for dirtying the bench like that, but she wasn't here nao. In her anxiou- boredom, she began to sing softly:

"Who are those little girls in pain
Just dropped in the castle of the dark side of the moon?
Twelve of them shining bright in vain
Like flowers that blossom just once in a year..."

Natsuki was blushing with all of Shizuru's hugging, though she did listen to what Yukino was saying. Her face was serious as she thought on it a bit and remained quite silent. She just nodded a bit, and gave a soft sound at Shizuru's tight hug. "..." Her blush deepened slightly when she finally spoke. "I agree as well... I don't want to fight any of you..." She looked up at Shizuru, giving her a warm, reasurring smile. "Yeah, lets go find her... she should know."
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Nearby, Nao had been resting in a tree when the battle started, prompting her to fall from it. "Ah?" She flipped mid fall, landing on her feet. "Mmmm... that's good. But what in the world is going on here? That sounded like an Orphan, which is strange." She started to follow the sounds and got there when it had just finished, watching Haruka and Yukino. Then when Natsuki and Shizuru joined them, she climbed up another tree and listened in to what they were saying. 'Ah... that is interesting... so the HiME are back... I can use my powers again? I definitely like the sound of that.'She gave a smirk, tilting her head as she dragged one hand through her red hair in thought. 'Mmmm... this shall definitely be fun... even though they don't wanna fight the HiME already known. I'm gonna have a blast.'

Miyu continued to listen in on the rest of the conversation. Something was wrong. It should not be the case that the Valkyries' powers have returned, nor should there be any Orphans at all, since Homura was the source of the vast majority of them and her lady had not summoned any either. Perhaps she should question Kikukawa about what is going on - she seemed to have a good deal of information about this incident, and it will be easier to ascertain the truth if she talked with her and Suzushiro.

On the other hand, if Orphans have indeed returned, then there is the possibility that her lady is in danger. If that is the case, then contacting Kuga and Fujino would seem to be the more prudent option, as they are the more skilled in combat among the four present. In addition, they are seeking Miss Sugiura, who despite her eccentric behavior is a capable leader and adept combatant as well.

Kuga: "Yeah, lets go find her... she should know."

Miyu could not be in two places at once. She would have to decide which pair would be more beneficial.

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"They're dancing in the shadows like whispers of love
Just dreaming of a place where they're free as a dove.
They have never been allowed to love in this cursed cage
It's only the fairy-"

A wooden clacking noise interrupted Alyssa's singing. She spun her head in the direction where it came from - the doorway leading to the basement of the chapel. She got up off the bench and cautiously approached the door. It was probably just a rat knocking something over or something, she told herself. Still, the fact that Miyu wasn't around made her just a little bit...cautious. Yeah, cautious.

Alyssa poked head to look down the staircase.

Kuga, Fujino, and Sugiura were generally known quantities in Miyu's calculations. Miyu had concluded that delaying getting into contact with them until later was an acceptable risk - it was most likely, at least for the time being, that her capabilities alone would be sufficient to protect her lady. From the portion of the conversation Miyu was able to listen in on, it was more likely that Kikukawa and Suzushiro were more informed of the situation - it would be more likely that they knew what was going on. And given the many unknown quantities surrounding this new revelation over the downed Orphan, Miyu had calculated it to be more prudent that more information be attained first.

With that, Miyu tailed after the bespectacled Student Council president and her bombastic mentor. So as not to startle the pair by appearing all of a sudden - they were likely to be on a bit of an adrenaline rush having just fought an Orphan - Miyu raced ahead above them via treetop before coming down to ground level behind a curve in the path and began walking towards them from the opposite direction.

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The bare light bulbs that lit the way down to the basement revealed nothing out of the ordinary visually, but the rustling noises still reached Alyssa's ears. Cautiously, she descended the staircase, her light footsteps slowly pattering her way down. The occasional noise continued as it was before - it didn't seem like whoever was down there heard her feet (or cared). When Alyssa reached the bottom of the staircase she slowly peered around the corner.

At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary - the boxes of random church stuff stacked in one corner (albeit one seemed to have been knocked over), her medical examination table in another, the huge-ass computer terminal next to it, some random bathroom mirrors in the far corner. But the rustling still continued, drawing the blonde into the area. With a bit of listening, Alyssa deduced that it seemed to be coming from behind the mainframe. Alyssa spotted a fortuitously located flashlight and picked it up as she quietly approached the little gap between the terminal and mainframe. As she got closer, the rustling became more distinctive, reminding her of a rat chewing through cardboard, but when she reached about a yard from the entrance to the gap, the terminal suddenly blipped off, causing her to freeze momentarily. Wait a minute...something's chewing her wires! How dare it! With a burst of fury-driven adrenaline she raced into the gap and shined the flashlight behind the mainframe, half a mind to scare those things away and stop the damage to her precious computer.

Her suspicion had been right: a pair of brownish, cat-sized rodent-looking creatures looked up, large buck teeth bared. Below them bare wires were exposed, the copper twisted way out of shape. An audible hiss was returned to Alyssa.

All of a sudden, rushing into the situation didn't seem like such a good idea.

Alyssa had been backed into a corner next to the bathroom mirrors. This was not good at all. One of the Orphans made a lunge at her, but a desperation swing of her flashlight connected with its head, knocking it back.

"Alyssa! Behind me!" Alyssa stole a glance to the side to see Suzushiro and Kikukawa rushing to her rescue. (Wait, rushing to her rescue?) Fear took a back seat once Kikukawa positioned herself in front of Alyssa as Haruka went to deal with the Orphans. A flood of questions rushed to her. What were they doing here? Why were they interdicting to save her? Where did Suzushiro pick up that huge mace? Why was Kikukawa able to call on her Child?

Where the hell was Miyu?

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Miyu re-entered the church's grounds. Suzushiro and Kikukawa had moved faster than she had anticipated, and missed meeting them before they had entered the church. She walked one step into the sanctuary and stopped - Alyssa wasn't around. A commotion from somewhere alerted Miyu to a situation developing, and she materialized a sword on her arm. "My lady," she said quietly, tracking the noise to the basement stairs.

Natsuki followed Shizuru around after watching Haruka and Yukino leave. She was being incredibly quiet as she walked, shoving her hands into the pockets of her school jacket as she padded after the brunette. She didn't know what to think right now, actually she didn't even wanna think all together. It just made her head hurt a bit to think so much. She went with Shizuru to the clinic and saw it all trashed, finally speaking. "Oh wow... what do you think happened here Shizuru? Looks like someone got into a fight around here." She started to frown, glancing around and something passed by the window, catching her attention. It was a bit of bright red hair. 'Hm? Is that... who I think it might be?' She walked to the window and looked out it. It was the person she thought it was, Nao. "Ne, Shizuru? Were we looking for anyone in particular? Say... Nao for instance?"
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Nao had leapt from her tree after a while of thinking, planning. She started to walk, considering everything around her a bit. "Mmmmmmm... this will definitely be interesting. I wonder what will happen." She was basically talking to herself and was ignoring all the people around. She glanced upwards, finding herself near the infirmary and shrugged, passing by one of the windows. Her red hair was easy to spot as she moved, her jade green orbs starting to move around in interest of everything. 'Mmmmmmm...'

In a flash Miyu raced down the stairs to the basement and saw Kikukawa and Suzushiro keeping a pair of rodent-sized Orphans away from Alyssa. Suzushiro was wielding a large mace that appeared to be an Element to engage the Orphans while Kikukawa was using Diana to cover Alyssa.

Alyssa looked over and saw her metal guardian. "Miyu!" she cried out.

"My lady!"

One of the Orphans managed to sidestep around Haruka and made a lunge for Yukino and Alyssa. Yukino prepared to deflect the attack but Miyu rushed in between Haruka and Yukino and with a swift move impaled the Orphan in midair with her blade, pinning it against the concrete wall above Alyssa's medical examination bed. When the Orphan was immobilized Miyu turned to the pair. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Alyssa could scarcely comprehend what had just happened between being attacked by Orphans, the return of Childs, and Suzushiro wielding a freakin' mace (though on second thought, it was a rather appropriate weapon for her to have). Miyu's presence, though, was calming, her (very) subtle nods indicating to Alyssa that what Kikukawa had said was true, or at least consistent. Alyssa looked over at the vanquished Orphans. "Miyu, could you get some chairs for our guests?" she asked.

"Yes, my lady." The android walked over to a nearby closet and retrieved two folding chairs. Alyssa climbed into her desk chair at the computer (now offline thanks to those Orphans) and turned to face the bespectacled Student Council President and her mentor, motioning them to take a seat. "Could you explain what exactly you mean by 'return of the HiME'? I know what I just saw, but what exactly do you know?"

Alyssa would have scarcely believed anything Kikukawa said had she not seen with her own eyes what just happened. Especially Suzushiro. Alyssa sat intently, committing every detail she said to memory.

"Do you have any questions Miss Alyssa?" Kikukawa had asked. Did she have any questions? Does the Pacific have any water? So many ran through her head. How is the HiME Star's power still available if the star itself is gone? What did Nagi mean when he said if Alyssa was counted as a HiME? (Speaking of which, didn't he go away for all eternity with Kaza-frickin'-hana?) Did that mean Artemis was back? How many other HiME could be out there? Does Searrs know about this?

All these were questions, those two probably couldn't answer. But the question that Alyssa asked out loud first was one that they could, and one that had been bothering her as soon as they had shown up for the rescue: "Why tell me all this? I'm grateful for your assistance, but why come to my aid? I tried to kill you before, remember?" Alyssa kept an even look on her face as she asked.

Miyu looked on at the conversation stoically as always.