Chapter Text
“Study hard, Sweetie.” Mrs. Rose nicely requested of her daughter as she did every day.
“Yes, Mommy…” Amitie took the bag of her gym clothes off of her mom’s hands.
“And you do when to teach her well at the gym.” She asked of her host.
“Will do, Mel. Seeya.”
“Bye, mommy.”
“Have a good day, girls! Oh, and Daddy won’t be back until after dinner or so, sweetie!! Just so you know!!”
“Feel better, Sis? Have you made up with Mommy?”
“It does feel kinda nice to see you off…” She suppressed her smile. “And yeah. But Army still needs a lot of love before he forgives me.”
Chapter 67: Easily Bent Spear-it
The first time Silvana went back to Primp Magic School, where… well, the people she knows don’t miss her, they see her regularly. Klug gave an unantagonistic welcome back.
Of course, Arle had planned to hang out today.
Of course, of course, Accord had a surprise teacher for today. Accidently overlapped it with Sil’s first teaching day.
Not that she minded. This guest teacher was… Incomparable to Fudoushi. It was a Samurai Mole. One that traveled the world in his vacation time, collecting all types of weapons of all cultures for recreational use. He has a dojo, a weapon dojo, where he taught the basics.
Today he’s here for a weapon tryout day. He brought safe mock weapons for them to test out. See if they like it. “I am grateful every one of you is so distinct in colour. I recognize you all from a distant.” He’s also nearsighted. “Thank you for thinking of me, Accord-san.”
The teacher giggled, as she left the building to… Accord. “You’re welcome, Mr. Mole. Have fun Kiddies.” The students and guests shrugged amongst their selves or looked at each other’s clothes and hair colours.
“Now...” The deep voice spoke as he slowly laid out their options. “You may call me Sensei for today, that translates to Teacher, in this case.”
“I know.”
“We know.”
“Huh?”
“Okay.”
“Who doesn’t know, in all honesty, know?”
“Yep.”
‘I didn’t know…’ Sil quietly thought. She thought it was a normal name in another language.
“Ah, so you are what they call: “Smart Cookies”, it would seem.” Everyone introduced themselves to their temporary sensei.
“Ah, so you are Pierrot-dono?”
“Did my mask give it away?” Sil asked sarcastically.
“Wait!!” Klug interjected. “How come she gets Dono and I don’t?”
“Hey, Raffi. What does
Dono
mean?”
“I have no clue, Amitie-chan.” She covered her mouth. It was a slip of the tongue.
“I’m flattered, Raffi. But I have a girlfriend now.”
“I know.”
“Because. Klug-san.” The mole answered. “She saved my nephew from eternal foot pain from that naughty ghost.” It should be noted this mole does not wear shoes himself. “He is a big fan. And she had earned my respect.”
“It was nothing…” Sil was still embarrassed for the whole town…
Klug couldn’t argue…
“Hey.” Arle got the mole’s attention. “Not to brag. But can I get Dono too? I saved my world.”
“Sure, Arle-dono.” Arle fistpumped. Mailman Arle-dono.
The Mole was done putting the practice weapons in a row on the ground. “Pick whichever is to your liking. I should say I am most proficient in swords, therefore I can teach better. But there’s no harm trying a saï, nun-chuck or bow staff.”
Amitie grabbed a basic western sword. “Magical Knight Amitie-chan!” She giggled to herself as she posed.
“I got experience with knives. So I’ll pick one.” Lidelle said picked up one, to the worry of everyone but to not the surprise of Silvana and maybe Klug and Raffine. It’s more accurate to say that Vento had a natural talent throwing knives. Not swinging them.
“Oh, Sig-san. Be careful. That is a two-handed sword. Very heavy.” Sig switched hands trying to lift it. He held the big thing in his big red clawy arm.
“Huh?”
“I… stand corrected… How unorthodox…”
Sil smiled while the others were in awe.
“Do be careful waving that around, Sig-san. They still hurt.”
“I’ll have this rapier.” Klug stated. “KYAYAYAYA!!”
Arle thought about it. Her memory began rumbling. Somewhere in her head were visions of her as a valkyrie knight, serving the town in another world before she moved on to the next world. ‘…Did that even happen? Or did I have too much alcohol?’ She asked herself as she subconsciously picked up the spear. She did a few impressive twirls like it was no big deal. No one happened to see. Arle smiled, she tried to get a better feel of the thing’s weight.
‘Either I’m regaining memory again… (Took me long enough if that’s the case.) Or I’m a natural.’
Valkyrie Knight Sorceress Mailman Arle-dono.
‘Finally, someone who doesn’t take a blade…’ The mole mused glancing at Arle and her spear. She turned to the remaining ladies. “Why haven’t you two chosen anything yet?”
Raffine answered first. “I was hoping to stick to martial arts, actually. I need practice in disarming foes.”
“You are a brave soul, Raffine-san. But I am no martial artist. So please pick.”
Raffine considered her options. “None of these options look particularly graceful…”
“It is graceful you want? Then I suggest a Scimitar. Once mastered you’ll slice with grace. Fairly quick and lightweight..”
“Hm…”
“You can dual-wield.”
Raffine’s mouth went agape. “I’ll take them!” Her grabby hands were about as quick as a punch.
Klug was surprised Amitie or Sig didn’t take the dual-wielding route. They’d probably think that if one sword equals 100% power than two swords….
And now just li’l ol’ Sil. She looked Arle through the sliced air her friends were slashing.
Doppel looked at Arle seeming to some advanced show-offy tricks with the spear. “So cool…” ‘I wanna do that… No, Sil don’t…’
“PIERROT-DONO!!”
“Huh?” Sil rubbed her ear.
“Take your pick.”
“Oh, Sorry, Sensei… San? But uh… You see. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m practicing pacifism nowadays...”
“You’re a better man than I am.”
“Thanks…”
“But there’s no harm in trying. All this is purely… How do you say…? Recreational, yes recreational. No one will get hurt.”
“…Still…” She heard Arle grunting.
The mole turned his gears. “Take this spear.”
“Thanks, but no thanks…”
“I can sense you’re denying what you want.”
“No…”
“Stop pushing back. Let’s meet in the middle, I shall teach you the defensive capabilities of the spear.”
“…Yeah, I can live with that loophole, I hope.”
“Good.”
“Everyone is armed. Now I shall teach the way of the sword and the things that make yours unique.”
“What about us?” Silvana asked.
“Yeah, we don’t have swords.”
“My apologies Arle and Pierrot-dono. I shall attend to you as quickly I can. I trust you are responsible ladies. Just spar in the meantime.”
Doppel bit her lip. Looking at Arle. Oh, no. ‘Pacifist, pacifist, pacifist,’ etc.
“Yeah, okay. We can manage this. C’mon, Silvana.” The brunette moved to the fighting mats at the other side of the gym.
‘So this is the day everything’s over…’
“Careful, Sil. Deep breaths.” Sig said.
Sil smiled. “Thanks, Sig. I… Be careful you guys, and I’ll be careful. Don’t worry about me.” Sil joined Arle on the other side. Most were concerned. Sil will be left alone with Arle.
“She’s become a giant wallflower after that tower hasn’t she?” Raffine was honestly a bit disappointed Sil didn’t want to fight anymore.
Doppel stepped on the mat. Face to face with Arle.
Arle held the spear in a defensive position. Not that Doppel would know.
“Remember, Silvana, I am not your torturer. This fight is all play.”
“I know.” Doppel raised the spear in a way to stab Arle. But then she just mirrored Arle’s stance. But that didn’t sit well with her either.
“Good. This is just a sparring match.”
“I know…”
“No need to lash out at me. Maybe a little.”
“Sounds nice… But I only want to block. Is that okay?”
“Oh, yeah, pacifist… I’ll go easy on you. 1. 2. 3. GO!!”
Doppel was hit three times before she could block. “Oof! Stop!”
“Too fast?” Arle asked sheepishly “Sorry.”
“How are you this good?” ‘I should be that good!’
“Don’t know…”
Sil couldn’t block much. And the hits on her started to pile up. Arle felt Doppel’s self-worth drop. “Sorry, Silvana, I don’t mean anything by it.”
“Hrrrr. Of course, you don’t…”
“Do you wanna borrow my breastplate? Or do you want me to put on a mask so you won’t be scared of me?”
“Are you making fun of me, Arle!?” The clone clenched her fist.
“…Sometimes I wonder if you get the same reaction if I told you I liked your hairstyle…” ‘This girl, I swear…’
Doppel got ticked off enough to try and overhead smack with what should be the blunt part of the spear. But Arle reflexively blocked it. “Hrm, Hya! Take this! Take that! And that!!” She was venting out and Arle was feeling the pressure.
*Block* *Block* *Block* *Parry* And with that parry she bounced Doppel’s butt on the ground.
“Ow.”
“I get that you’re angry at my face, but you’re wielding a spear, not a hammer.”
“You’re a hammer!” Doppel stood right back up and continued to misuse the spear in new ways. And Arle blocked everything.
‘I’m in a pickle…’ Arle thought. ‘She probably sees me as my Doppelganger again… If I hit her back she’ll hate me more… And I can’t let her hit me because I can’t stop blocking.’ It was all instinctive ‘Did I forget really forget I was a Valkyrie Knight?’ Arle wasn’t sure. That doesn’t seem like a logical something she would do. Seems like she was missing quite a few steps in her memory.
It seemed like the sword lessons were dropped to watch the Arle’s fight. Sig, Amitie, and Lidelle voiced their concern but Doppel didn’t listen.
The Samurai Mole, Klug and Raffine just watched. They just saw it as a sparring match with a sore loser.
Doppel tried to sweep at Arle’s legs with the spear. “Whoop!” Arle jumped over it. She lectured as she kept getting at it. “Sweeping like that leaves you wide open to attack!”
“Shut up! Don’t lecture me! I was supposed to teach today!”
“Sil. Please stop.” Sig asked. “Don’t do this. Stop fighting.”
“Not until she drops!!”
“Oh no! She’s going Dopp-- Uh… You know…” Amitie observed.
“And it went so well…” Lidelle added. “We have to do something!”
“You’re right! But Sil’s waving that thing like a maniac.”
Sig bit his lip, he tried to close in, but both Arle and Doppel advised against it. “Arle. Please knock Sil out.” Sig requested.
Sil felt like her heart got squeezed. “Whose side are you on!?!” Sil redoppeled her effort.
“That’ll be easy, Sig.” Arle assured as she still was blocking everything. And attacked when she could. Doppel’s defense game was subpar. And even then her
“Sis! Come to your senses! It doesn’t have to be like this!”
“Shut up, Amitie, AH!!” Sil saw the spear coming for her forehead. There was no time to do block! “Eep!” Her life flashed before her eyes.
…
Arle’s spear hit the ground. And so did Doppel’s.
… “Huh?” The blue-clad sorceress exclaimed. It just registered for her how confusing this was. It’s not like she missed her on purpose. She meant to conk the clown out so her boyfriend could coddle her back to a reasonable level, as usual.
“What… Happened?” Raffine asked.
“Im… IMPOSSIBLE!!!” Klug exclaimed. “Do you not see the purple mist around Arle? That’s Silvana’s essence!! She’s become pure essence!”
“I have?” Arle heard that all around her, it freaked her out for a bit. “Oh. I thought quicker than my own shadow so to speak… Ufufufufu~” Doppel’s laugh got kinda concerning. It sounded familiar to Sig and Arle. Though the latter could just not place it, not even remotely and it bugged her.
“Silv…” Sig said shakily. He, Amitie, Lidelle witnessed their friend going into doppelganger mode for the first time. And it frightened them. Namely for Doppel's and Arle's sake.
Amitie was present first hand is a similar position Arle was in. She knew how to fix it, they thought up a way to shock Sil out of it before she does something she’ll regret.
“Well, well, “Arle”. Fufufu.” Doppel reformed herself. “I wonder what else I could do that you can’t. I’m not even sure this will work. But, it seems such obvious skill now to me… I love it when I get calculating like this, somehow everything is clearer with how to plan things, I feel so precise now. It opens so many doors for several more opportunities. Fufufufu~” She started to remove a glove.
“Essence or no… That’s… Are you even human?” Doppel didn’t even flinch. Just some more dissonant chuckles. ‘No more reasoning with her…’ “Well, you can’t turn into mist forever.” Arle helicopter twirled the spear in the hope to intimidate her aggressor. “Give up, or I’ll conk ya!!”
Doppel kept chuckling. She had removed her gloves. “Thanks for waiting. Now lemme show you the door!” She tore a rip in space to viciously slam Arle’s face into the mat.
“Ah!!!” Everyone winced. The ones not in the know were clued in that the former classmates had some screws loose. Remembering the lie she told them, about her supposed past with a Doppelganger. They informed the sensei.
The Samurai Mole acted quick and snatched the spears. He collected the swords and locked them in the chest he brought. “Everyone. Pile up on her!” And everyone did. Tried.
Doppel had scratched the ground below her and jumped into the rip to avoid her… friends… to portal stomp to the back of Arle’s ahead.
Her friends fell on top of her due to the failed pileup turned into an actual pileup onto Doppel and Arle.
Arle screamed in pain.
Doppel’s mask shattered. “Fools! You can’t stop me, the true Ar-- Owowowow…” She hissed. She turned to mist again. Causing them all to drop once more ontop of Arle. Once she reformed standing next to the pile, she hissed even more in pain. On par with what Arle was feeling but less physical. Turning into pure essence drains mana and life after all. She fell unconscious.
Raffine, free from the pile, looked over the clown’s bare face. “Cute face.”
“I agree.” Klug said.
“Me too.” The Samurai Mole added.
Silvana slowly but peacefully awakened. Her body felt drained in more ways than one. But she could live with it. It would return.
She suspected she slept with a smile. A familiar set of asymmetric arms were wrapped around her waist. “Mornin’, Sig~ Not that I mind, but when did you get in my bed? When did I? Did I get drunk? No… I’m not hungover…”
Sig was asleep.
Sil kissed his forehead. She looked at her alarm clock. “Huh. ‘snot even close to bedtime. What happened?”
She tried to recall, she noticed she still was in gym clothes. “Oh… What have I done?” She cried, holding her half-demon cuddle buddy tighter to ease her pain. “I have lost it. My life is over… Thanks for giving me one last night, Sig. I love you…”
“zzzzzzzzzzz”
“I’ll tell him I love him how much when he wakes up.” She continued to cuddle like it was her last.
*A little later*
Amitie and Lidelle were on their way to the caravan. “‘Kay, thank you so much, Liddy. I don’t think I could’ve covered up Sil’s identity without ya…”
“Oh, I thought I floundered badly. I don’t know how we pulled it off. We’re lucky Ms. Sil came up with that being tortured lie. Along with that unexpected… You know.”
“It was a surprise to me.” Amitie weakly smiled. “Think they’ll be okay?”
“Ms. Arle and Ms. Sil?”
“Who else, Liddy?”
“Oh, how silly of me… But uhm… Arle should be alright, she got hit on the back of the head, but she should be alright. She might hate Ms. Sil even more now… And Sil is cuddling up with, Sig. That always cheers her up.” ‘I wouldn’t mind having a cuddly boyfriend like Sig…’
“We’ll tell Sil the good news. This could be a good chance for her for a change.”
“Oh, I hope so too. Miss Ammy.”
The two entered the caravan, they were greeted by Amitie’s mom. “Liddy!”
“Mrs. Melody!” The two shared a quick hug.
“How’ve you been? Are you okay still doing well living on your own again?”
“I am. Sorry I don’t visit as much anymore.”
“Oh, that’s alright, my little friend. As long as you’re doing well. We’ll catch up later, but now Sil. Go!”
The girls knocked on the ring master’s door. “Sil? You awake?” Mrs. Rose asked.
“Leave me alone, Mel!”
“I’ve got Ammy and Liddy with me. No one but Arle’s angry at you.”
“Klug’s afraid of--” Mrs. Rose and Lidelle covered Amitie’s mouth. The former expected to do the same to Lidelle soon.
“We’re coming in, ready or not!!!”
“No! I can’t find my mask and Sig won’t lemm-- No!” She casted Go Home but just ended back into the sleeping Sig’s tight embrace.
“Don’t look at me, Mel! This is not what it looks like!”
“Sil… I have nothing to base it off. Sure you look like Amitie now, but your friends say this isn’t what you normally look like underneath the mask.”
Sil hid her face as best as she could. “In English? What the heck does any of that mean?”
Sil was handed a mirror. Amitie’s mom politely turned around so Sil could look at her face with minimum worries.
She rubbed and touched her face this wasn’t normal. Her face looked like an older, red-eyed, red-headed Amitie with… Someone must’ve wiped make-up while she was unconscious knowing it would inevitably run. But the point is “whaaaaaa?????”
“Can I join the ‘I’ve seen your face club’ now? Not like I see it every day or something.” She turned around anyway.
Sil just sat there with her rubbing her face and her eyes wiiiiiiide open.
“I’m so happy for you, Ms. Sil.” Lidelle smiled widely.
“Yeah. You got your own face, now! Sorta…” Amitie rubbed her own younger-looking face. “You don’t need the mask anymore in your personal life. Plus now you really do look like my sister! Wicked, innit?~”
“Sis… ter…? Look… like…?” Sil repeated, looking in the mirror.
“Do you still wanna be separate from our family? It’s gonna be hard not calling you my daughter now with your cute widdle face… Sorry… Seventeen, not my child, I know.”
“zzzzzzzzz… zzzzzz. Mmmmmm. zzzzzzzzzz”
“Well. Sis? Whaddya think?”
Silvana threw the mirror as hard as she could against the wall. “I DON’T WANT THIS!!” Sil went from vacant to distraught fast. It was jarring to the guests. “I don’t look like this! I don’t look like me! I need to look like me!” She teared up. She huddled up to Sig. “This isn’t the face you know me by! Am I Ammy’s Doppelganger now? I don’t wanna be Ammy’s doppelganger!! I wanna be nobody’s Doppelganger!!! WHO AM I?? How did I get like this?”
“We don’t know. Sis.” Amitie quietly answered.
“……………………Can you guys leave me be? I need alone time. With Sig. Alone. Got a big, big headache… And it’s getting worrrrrsssssssssssssssssssssse owowOWOWOW!!!!”
They respected her wish and they left her. They did bring some aspirin.
“zzzzzzzzzilvie…”
Later Amitie and Lidelle, knowing Sil’s true nature, realized why all the positives they cited were a bit too much. “I think that maybe having a different face from Ms. Arle was a step too far…” Lidelle said at the dinner table for Amitie’s ears only.
“You say it like it's our fault, Liddy, her face change came out of nowhere.”
“It has to be someone’s, right?” ‘Most likely mine…’
“But is it? Sil’s our only Doppelganger friend. Maybe this is natural?”
“Ms. Ammy, no offense, but if I were to make an evil clone made to… replace… I wouldn’t make her able to change faces.”
“Think this has to do with Vibitia?”
“I could ask her… How many things can that poor soul leave posthumously behind to make us all sad?”
“Will I do the same?”
“Oh my goodness yes!”
“…Guess I’d better not die then…”
“Please don’t die on us too, Kiddo. We’ve talked about that.”
“Dad!”
“Mr. Mr. Ammy’s dad!”
“Lidelle!! I knew that voice sounded familiar.” The man hugged the imp. “How’re you holding up in your little cottage?”
“Oh, very well, Mister.”
“That’s good to hear. Why is it so glum in this room? Where’s Silvana?”
The girls winced. They played rock-paper-scissors to tell him.
*A little bit later in the bathroom…*
Sil looked in the mirror, and the longer she thought about her new face, the more it actually hurt her. Sig held her, he was awake now.
“I hate this, Sig, I hate this so much.”
“How much does it hurt?”
“So much that I wouldn’t be able to manage this pain over a long period of time…”
“Are you cursed?”
“Was that sarcasm, Sig?”
“No?”
“…It would explain a lot, aside from my existence in general…”
…
“You feel that?”
Sig clutched to Silvana for dear life.
“I take that as a “yes, please make the scary man go away”…”
“Silvana!” Mr. Amitie’s dad yelled. “Siiiiiiiilvaaaaaaaaanaaaaaaaaa! Oh, Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilvaaaaaaaaaaaaaanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Wheereee are yoooouuuuu?!”
Sil gritted her teeth. Never has she hated her name that much. Sig clutched tighter. “Sorry, Sig. I gotta make him shut up.”
“Please!”
Sil opened the door. “Yo! I’m over here!”
“There you are.” The man smiled. “Cute face. Say, Arms has grown big and blue.”
“…You’re not funny. No jokes please, this face is torture. And I… I just don’t know what to do…” She held her arm over Sig.
“Oh, that’s easy. Lidelle told me what happened. It’s a distinct possibility when you reformed to your physical self that you thought of Amitie. And that, in turn, confused your essence particles simulating your DNA and made the Vibitia parts more dominant. Turn into mist one last time and try to think of yourself as you reform.”
Silvana stared at her sister’s father. “Will. Will that work?”
“You won’t know until you try, Sport.”
Sil jumped back into the bathroom.
“Liddy?”
“Yes?”
“If Sis casted the Go Home spell on the Caravan… What would happen? Would the Caravan turn inside out?”
“I-I think a f-fate worse th-then death would await us.”
“THANK GOODNESS IT’S REVERSIBLE!!!!” Was heard all throughout the Caravan.
Sil was so happy. She wrapped her face, her true face, in a towel and jumped around onto Mr. Amitie’s dad and hung around his neck while Sig still hung around her. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou…” “…Thank! You!!” The creepy aura around the guy was gone. Actually, it’s still there, as Sig can attest to, it just didn’t bother Sil anymore. “How did you know?” She smiled.
The man looked kinda embarrassed. “Do you really wanna know?”
“Yeah!”
“Well… I didn’t… But when I learned I had a new daughter and she was an essence holder, I felt like I needed to read up on essence holders so I could be of use to her. It was an educated guess you could say.”
“…thank you.” She squeaked.
*Squeeze*
“I gotta get Sig home.” ‘He can stop fearing you and be happy for me.’ “He’s… um… had milk. I’ll treat your family to something nice, ‘kay?”
“Sounds great.”
Meanwhile, Arle’s head was wrapped in bandages. She slapped the fruit basket Silvana had sent off the table. Shehadfirsttakenallfruitout.
Next up: A thief has stolen something unusual at the Oshare Shoppe. Half of his clothes shoppers are worried.