Chapter 29: Calm before the storm (1) Anxiety for the Future

Pushing her up I giggle when I hear her squeal.

"Wow there's a lot of room here"

Leaping back up the closet myself I nod "Yeah I guess the door in the living room is also a closet which steals a part of this room."

Smiling she looks up "That door leads to the supply closet, so if you ever need something in the kitchen that isn't there, look in the closet first before heading to the canteen."

With a nod I drop myself on my side and curl up tight cuddling the blanket. Smiling she strokes my head causing me to purr.

"I still wonder how you're able to purr"

Enjoying the feeling of her hand I smile and close my eyes. "It just happens, I mean I can do it on purpose, but usually it just happens a bit like squeaking or moaning when tickled or hurt."

Chuckling she squeezes my ear between her fingers "I don't mind, it's cute" When I feel my cheeks turning warm she giggles once again "So why are you so afraid of school?"

With a sigh I roll on my back and gaze at the ceiling. "The response of everyone, I mean all of you here already fluster and stagger me often enough by simply complimenting me. Seeing I'm already this sensitive to positive reactions, I really can't begin to imagine how I'd respond to negative ones. Not to mention… everyone in this facility is used to… external features."

Smiling she softly tugs my tail "That's the first one for this facility though, but yea I get what you mean."

"And not to think about what you said about having to shower with everyone… or if I'd change…"

Softly stroking my head she gives me a kind beaming smile "Exceptions can be made, besides I haven't seen you sweat once, so I doubt our school exercises will cause you to sweat."

With a giggle I sit back up "Probably not no"

Moving around she leans against me with a smile "So please don't worry too much okay?"

"I'll try"

"Good, also where did you leave your ID?"

"On the table in the living room"

With a nod she moves to the edge of the closet "Follow me there"

With a nod I turn my head with a curious smile when I see her slowly lie down on her stomach with her legs down the closet to slide off.

[Heh, that actually looks hilarious]

Fighting to contain my laughter I gaze at the bed, shrug and leap off the closet.

"Come here you crazy cat"

Giggling I quickly follow her into the living room where she grabs my ID and holds it up. "Hold up the palm of your right hand"

Doing so I frown when she moves the ID to my wrist "What are you do-ING?!" A sharp sting makes me pull back my arm.

"Sorry, but it's the chip belonging to the ID, I forgot how it worked, but it's inserted into the radius bone of your wrist. Now you don't have to carry the card with you all the time."

Licking my wrist I look up with a pout while my ears lay flat on my head "Could have told me up ahead"

Softly giggling she blushes mildly "Sorry, I forgot you were new to the Legion for a moment."

With a faint smile I sit down on the couch "It's okay, it doesn't hurt too much it just startled me."

Her saddened face immediately lights up "Glad to hear" Motioning to the kitchen she smiles "Want something?"

"Coffee would be nice"

Zhloe attentively clears her throat "Are you sure? It's ten in the evening"

Smiling I look up and nod "Caffeine has no impact on me"

She chuckles "You remember that?"

Mildly blushing I nod "I remember a few flashes of nights before. I recall myself drinking tons of coffee and energy drinks before heading to bed ten minutes later."

Khloe giggles "Sounds like a geek alright"

Sighing I look down "I can't remember me hacking, but thinking of how easily I changed my name in the system… I guess I still can."

Khloe smiles when she hands me a latte macchiato "The machine mixed in three portions of sugar."

Smiling I sniff the coffee and purr softly "Thank you, it smells so good"

-

After a few minutes she looks up with a smile "So how energetic are you?"

"A little"

Smiling she looks at the wall "Want to take a walk through the garden?"

Curious I turn my head "Garden?"

"The yard, there are plenty of bushes and trees, but I guess there aren't a lot of flowers this time of year."

"Would love to, but you say this time of year… yet when I got here it snowed as well."

She nods "We're on a mountain and in a cold climate, it snows about nine months a year here."

Loudly yawning Zhloe stretches "Alright… I'm done here, mind if I join you two for a cup of tea before I head to bed?"

Shaking my head I smile "Go ahead"

Wearing a kind smile she walks towards the kitchen. "So how did the washing go? I heard you scream quite a bit."

Groaning I hang my head "It's better than a shower I guess, but I didn't exactly enjoy it."

Khloe bursts into laughter "That's an understatement"

Zhloe giggles and sits down next to me "Well I'm happy it at least helped a little bit."

Gazing at the glass fiber wallpaper on the wall I chuckle "So strange, to think… I'm going to school."

They both chuckle and Khloe replies "You'll get used to it rather quick."

Shrugging I lean back against the couch "Just wonder what the classes will be"

Khloe smiles "To list them, Math, History, PE, Physics, Chemistry, IT, English with optional classes of which you have to choose one: Biology, Theology, Economy, Art History and uhh… the less popular one Foreign affairs."

Zhloe chuckles "You're forgetting your own optional class Engineering."

She immediately turns red "Right… haha…"

Giggling I look up with a curious expression "Foreign affairs is mainly about the Alliance then I guess?"

Zhloe shakes her head "No, currently it's mainly about the city-states and foreign affairs in general. The Alliance is of course part of those affairs, but to deal with the Alliance you need a follow-up study within the Military affiliated university."

Groaning softly I shake my head "Just thinking about all the other classes, I'm not looking forward to some of them."

Chuckling she turns her head "The optional or mandatory ones?"

"Mainly the mandatory ones, History, PE and chemistry really don't sound appealing."

Curious they both smile "History and PE is understandable, but why Chemistry?"

Sighing softly I point at my nose "The smells, I understand chemistry will mainly be theoretical but the practical side is important as well."

Khloe nods "Ah yeah, we might have to think of something for that"

Gulping down the last of my coffee I stretch "I just wonder how chaotic it'll all be."

Smiling Zhloe places her empty cup on the table "The Admiral will or has already sent and official notice to the school preparing them for your arrival and special features. So there shouldn't be too much to worry about."

Sighing deeply I look down at my knees "I just hope the students won't drive me to the limit"

You are reading story Transcendence to Guardian of Subsistence at novel35.com

Khloe smiles "In our class, maybe one. Show him your fangs though and he'll shut up, the others are awesome people."

Feeling my fang I look her way "They aren't that scary are they?"

Giggling she shakes her head "No they usually just cause you to look cute."

Blushing brightly causes Zhloe to burst into laughter "You really blush way too easily"

Slowly I nod and sigh "Guess I'm really not used to social interaction."

She smiles "Eloise told me a bit about how you were, even then you didn't go out that often."

A wave of sadness washes over me and I look down "I can't remember any purpose in my life either."

Khloe softly clears her throat. "From what I've heard, you were rather focused on getting your degree to live in the Alliance, if I hadn't known about the truth, I'd have done the same."

With a meek smile I look up "It just feels as if you're talking about someone else, I mean partly I'm just incredibly curious to how the Legion's cities look."

Giggling Khloe hops on her feet "Come let's take a walk."

With a nod I stand up and follow her out of the door once she has put on her coat. "Alright, ask me anything you want to know."

Giving her a curious look causes her to smile "I mean, I bet you're curious as to how school goes, or how the city looks no?"

"Hadn't even thought about most of that yet, but… where is it, how do we get there and how early does it start?"

Giggling she looks my way "Garna, Airship and the first classes start at ten in the morning."

Following her through a glass door, the fresh air invigorates me and I smile widely as it's snowing. Leaping into the snow I turn around "Do we go there directly with the airship?"

Giggling at my behavior she shakes her head "No we fly to the airport and then head towards the school with a levi-track."

Curious I gaze her way "Levi-track?"

Kneeling down she grabs a handful of snow and compresses it into a ball before throwing it at me "It's basically a horizontal escalator, but instead of steps or platform, it generates an anti-gravity field which moves you across."

[Anti-gravity? There exists tech like that?!]

"I see, say if the Legion is the most advanced society on earth, how come they ended up as tyrannical war fanatics in the eye of the masses outside?"

Softly coughing she gives me a smirk "Better not describe the Legion like that at school, but it's quite easily explained. Religion and Animus."

Having piqued my curiosity even more I turn my head while throwing a snowball back towards her, yet it flies way to fast and she barely manages to evade it before it shatters against the wall. "Sorry!"

Smiling she shakes her head and motions to a bench in the distance. "Come"

Following her towards the bench I gaze around the courtyard like garden. A large pine nearly twenty meters wide stands in the middle, while it seems a circular path runs around it as I can see lanterns circling around and a bench so here and there. The composite wooden benches are enclosed by a meter high lush green shrubs. A few meters behind every bench is a square garden bed surrounded by the same shrubs. Yet at this time there is nothing to see but snow.

Realizing I'm getting way to distracted, I quickly pick up the pace and sit down on the bench she just cleaned.

Smiling she looks at the clouds above us. "You see, this war you describe has been going on for over eight hundred years. In the past the Legion weren't saints, in fact they held hostile crusades to force people to follow their religion. However as science bloomed, religion took a background role, later on Animus was discovered and thus also the link between Animus and Religion. The weakened crusades resumed in all intensity. Only for the last hundred-fifty to hundred-sixty years has the Legion been rather peaceful. Which is mainly due to the house of commons and the Legati"

Slowly I nod as my mind processes the information "I see, so I can understand where the fear originates, yet how can it be that you're still seen as the bad guys after a hundred-sixty years of peace?"

Sighing she hangs her head as she stares at the ground in which she pokes around with her foot. "The Alliance, they're currently the ones waging war. Although there haven't been any large invasions, they haven't stopped waging war. Last week there was an Alliance claimed terrorist strike on one of the largest churches of Musama. Only because of the Animus corps on duty were we able to minimize civilian casualties."

"Minimize?"

She nods "It was a bombing, eight people died in the initial blast and a little more than thirty got wounded."

"Oh.. But doesn't the Alliance have Animus?"

"No, the technology used is kept highly secret.. and the materials needed are the most intensely guarded things in the world"

Giving her a faint smile I sit up "That is a small relief"

She nods and gently grabs my hand "I'm kind of scared if I'm honest"

Frowning I turn my head "of?"

"Leaving, being emissaries.. I've never left the state walls… ever since"

Smiling faintly I squeeze her hand "From what I can remember.. most of the world lies in ruin.. only the larger city states remain neutral, I assume those would be our goal, however about the world itself.. I can barely remember anything"

She squeezes my hand and smiles faintly "Thank you.. although probably it's equally terrifying for you"

Chuckling I shake my head "Honestly.. going to school scares me more"

Giggling she tickles my ear "Weird cat"

Sighing softly I let myself fall over on her lap "How can I act as a normal student, when I am anything but, I mean I'm a Lieutenant second class, have the strength of a Goddess and.."

She gently places her hand over my mouth "It's so you can relax"

Confused I look up "How do you mean?"

A faint smile forms on her face "Zhloe and the Admiral decided you deserved to have a life outside of this facility, if it was left in the hand of the house of commons, you'd be in military training"

Turning pale I look down "Oh.."

She softly strokes my head "No need to feel guilty, as we can all understand why you're scared"

Sighing deeper I let myself roll off the bench ending up on my knees in the snow "It's not just school.. I have no idea what it means to be a Goddess.. I mean what if I use my strength in a wrong way.. what if I'm manipulated in doing the wrong things"

To my surprise it's Leone that replies telepathically -"That's why I'll be here, truth be told we exist for battle, be it war with men, or Gods. Yet follow your own conscience and you'll be a fine Goddess"-

Khloe smiles "Totally agree"

Giggling softly I stand up, take a few steps away from the bench and paw at a few falling flakes "It just feels like such a simple answer for something so complicated"

She giggles and stands up "Come, let's head back before you're a white cat"

Giggling softly I follow her back inside

"As for your remark, sometimes the answer to something very important, can be very simple"

Faintly smiling I stay silent as we walk back, yet when my thoughts begin to drift towards how I feel about Khloe I gently shake my head.

[Not the time]

She gives me a curious look "You okay?"

"Mn,just an itch"

She smiles and places her finger on her lips while she opens the door to the living room, there Danny waves from behind the desk. Khloe points to our room to which he replies with a nod

Heading towards our room I leap on the closet as soon as she has closed the door.

"Say, just so you know, if you don't feel right on there, feel free to join me in bed"

Blushing slightly I look away "Okay"

"Goodnight"

Curling up I cuddle my plush "Good night."

[As if I could join her in bed, I can barely keep my mind silent as is]

I cuddle the plush tight and close my eyes, yet as time passes I can't catch sleep, feel uncomfortable on the closet and sigh

[fine.. stupid brain]

Holding my blanket I let myself slide off the closet and once I climb on the bed, Khloe giggles "Decided to join me in the end did you?"

"Uhu" I curl up at the end of the bed and as I once again close my eyes and listen to her breathing, sleep quickly creeps up and takes over.