Chapter 22: Old and New

December 2, 2023 11:00 AM

Flonne was having to fight to keep from crying as they continued home. Sanders was gone...dead, killed because she couldn't keep him safe. Dead because she had lost her grip on him. Isabella and Aviel had said it wasn't her fault, but...but it felt like it was. Even if they were right, Sanders was still gone. Sanders who had, after their first meeting, treated her just like a normal person. Sanders who had let her meet her family. Sanders who's family had welcomed her with open arms. She hadn't just failed Sanders, she had failed them. Flonne felt the tears coming on again and she tried to sniff and whimper as quietly as she could.

Aviel, who she was holding up against her chest, looked back at her. Aviel was hiding it much better than Flonne, but her red eyes gave away that she had been crying as well. She wiggled around so that was facing Flonne before doing her best to hug Flonne. Her small arms got nowhere near wrapped around her, but the thought was what counted. Flonne forced a smile onto her face as she gently "hugged" Aviel back with her hand. At least...at least she still had Aviel and Isabella.

Isabella, however, was not much comfort at the moment. She was in the driver seat of the jeep, focused completely on the drive. Her face was locked into a scowl of rage and she didn't spare a single glance down at Aviel or Flonne. Alice was no better. While she was making sure they didn't go anywhere in her lap, there was no real warmth or anything from her. Flonne wasn't mad about that, though. She knew they were focused on getting revenge, something Flonne couldn't get against the bad women.

Flonne spent another few minutes trying to hide her tears while embracing Aviel before the jeep began to slow. It came to a stop at the gate into the base, but Isabella rolled past the waiting security women and stopped once the back window was lined up with her. Flonne couldn't see thanks to Alice taking up most of her view backwards, but she did hear the window come down.

"This vehicle wasn't authorized to leave. Stat- Gabriella?" a woman said from outside.

"Get that gate open, forget you saw this... NOW YOU DUMBASS!" Gabriella yelled in barely contained fury at the woman. There was a sound of someone running away before Flonne saw the open to let them in. Isabella drove the jeep into the base before bringing it to another stop inside a hanger. Alice and the rest opened their doors and Alice let Flonne take off into the air with Aviel before getting out.

Isabella practically stormed away from the jeep with Gabriella and Alice in tow. Flonne had to fly faster than she would have liked to keep up, but didn't dare voice a complaint. All three were beginning to scare her and she was worried they might turn their anger onto her. Aviel, however, didn't seem to have that concern.

"So what now? Your not just going to storm into the base and run around till you find Lutice, right?" Aviel asked getting Isabella and the rest to stop. Isabella took a deep breath and shook her head.

"No..no. Let's...let's go back to my room. Aviel and Flonne will be safe there and we can discuss what to do there," Isabella said in a calm voice, though her face looked anything but.

"Isn't anything TO discuss," Gabriella said before hitting her fist into her palm, "Their going to pay and that's that."

"Dangerous. Safer for smaller people to wait," Alice said in her usual nearly monotone voice. Gabriella sighed but nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough. Lost enough pip-...people today," Gabriella said already looking ready to rip someone's head off just for saying it. Isabella nodded in agreement and turned back toward the barracks. Flonne followed behind them, thankful she wasn't going to have to fight again. She was tired of fighting and wished the others were too...

Isabella let them into her room. Flonne flew to her small bed on the bed-side dresser and landed there with Aviel. Isabella and Alice remained standing while Gabriella sat down in Isabella's desk chair.

"Well, their safe. Now what?" Gabriella asked as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Now we find Lutice and and the other Swords that were with her. And then we make sure they regret ever being grown back to normal," Isabella said as she looked at the picture on her desk. Flonne looked at it and felt tears beginning to run down her face again. Sanders was right there, his arm wrapped around Alice with Flonne and Isabella behind him...oh Sanders...

"How?" Alice asked crossing her arms under her small breasts. Isabella looked at her wrist computer before looking back up.

"Because we know where they will be. Its a little past noon. Lunch is being served in the mess hall and with most people off-duty from the weather," Isabella said letting someone else finish.

"They'll be in there. Good, then let's go. Those bitches are going to be pulling tables out of their asses when I am done with them," Gabriella said as she slammed her fists together and stormed out. Alice followed behind without a word, leaving Isabella alone with them. She sighed and her shoulders slumped as she looked down at them.

"Don't leave here or open the door for anyone until I or the others get back. I won't let them get away with what they did, I promise," Isabella said before following after the others. Flonne wanted to say she didn't have to. That if she wanted to make up for it, she would stay and just hug her or or...SOMETHING just...just don't go out to fight more. But her words caught in her mouth and Aviel only nodded. By the time the lump was gone, Isabella had already closed and locked the door. Her footsteps faded away leaving Flonne and Aviel alone in the room. Each fading step caused Flonne's antenna to dip lower and lower.

Flonne bit her lower lip, regretting not speaking up. Even worse, she might not get the chance to talk to Isabella about those...things she saw. She was about to flop onto her bed when Aviel called out to her.

"Flonne!" Aviel yelled, snapping Flonne out her thoughts. Flonne looked down at Aviel and squatted down to hear better.

"What is it Aviel?" Flonne asked.

"Do you mind if I sit on your bed while we wait?"

"Oh, of course not," Flonne answered. Flonne reached down and picked Aviel up before setting her on her bed. Aviel could have climbed up onto it via the covers, but Flonne was too nice to let her. Aviel didn't mind and she nodded a thanks before taking out a large amount of scrap paper all bundled together. Aviel began to read through the papers leaving Flonne to her thoughts.

Her thoughts were anything but welcome, however, as she went back to the strange dreams? Visions? Or...or were they memories? But she didn't have a mom or a dad. But they had seemed so real and the feelings and...and the fear. Her antennas twitched and shivered as she struggled to come to terms with these things.

Flonne had to talk to someone about this. Ask them what it meant and why she was so confused and why her head hurt and why she couldn't get her mom, NO not mom just a lady, out of her head and...

"Aviel?" Flonne heard herself say as her mind calmed down. She regretted saying it at once. Aviel wasn't who she really wanted to talk to and Flonne found her kinda scary. Not as scary as before, but still talking to her about this was... It was too late, though, as Aviel looked up from her book to Flonne.

"Uhh... nothing, I was...uhh...just..." Flonne said trying to think of an excuse on the fly but her brain seemed to go completely blank. Nothing was coming to her at all and she found herself just sitting there in silence. Aviel put the batch of paper she had aside before giving Flonne a knowing smile.

'What is bothering you, Flonne?" Aviel asked causing Flonne's face to flush and her antennas to shoot up.

"N-Nothing! I'm...I just...uhh.." Flonne sputtered out, her mind even more blank than before. Aviel's smile didn't fade though as she stood up and moved closer to Flonne, bouncing a bit from the bed.

"Flonne, I understand. Killing people is never easy. I know I make it look like that and sometimes act like I enjoy it and maybe...maybe I do a bit, but there is nothing wrong with feeling bad about it. Its a good thing that you feel bad. If you didn't, well you would be no better than Slutice and her bitch friends," Aviel said putting a small, but reassuring, hand on Flonne's hand. Flonne opened her mouth, but nothing came out. That...that wasn't what she wanted to talk about, but now... Now it was all she could see. Her killing those Resistance members. She crushed them like it...like it was nothing and worst of all she, she might HAVE enjoyed it. No, no, that was only because she thought they were those monsters that took her mo- NO NOT HER MOM! What...What was wrong with her?!

"That's not what I meant. I mean...yes I felt bad about killing them once I realized they were not monsters, I mean I knew they weren't but...the dream or," she stopped as her head began to hurt again. She clutched it and shut her eyes tight as the visions started to replay in her head. They were so...so real, but they COULDN'T BE!

"Flonne! FLONNE!" Aviel yelled at her. Flonne opened her eyes and looked down at Aviel. She had climbed onto Flonne's lap thanks to her pants and was standing on her thigh.

"Look at me Flonne. Look, don't think about whatever is happening, just look at me and calm down," Aviel said slowly and calmly. Flonne tried to, but the pain wouldn't stop and neither would her head. UGH she couldn't concentrate and things were running so fast and...

"FLONNE! FLONNE HELP!" Aviel yelled causing Flonne's eyes to shoot wide. Aviel was slipping off her thigh and looked about to fall to the nightstand below. It wasn't far to Flonne, but it was far enough to hurt the smaller Aviel. All the confusion and racing visions vanished as Flonne felt fear rush through her.

"AVIEL!" Flonne yelled before shooting her hand out to catch her. Flonne got her hand under Aviel before she slipped completely off. Gently, she pushed Aviel back up onto her thigh.

"Are you alright, Aviel?" Flonne asked bending down to get a better look at Aviel. It wasn't like her to slip like that, doubly so on pants. Aviel was smiling to herself as she turned back to face Flonne.

"Now, tell me what is bothering you, and DON'T think about it, just tell me," Aviel said in a calm voice. Flonne was confused at first, but then she realized Aviel had slipped. She had nearly fallen on purpose to snap Flonne out of her panic. She felt a bit angry at being tricked, but did as Aviel said.

"Okay. Back in the cabin, after I healed my wings my head started to hurt really bad, I... I saw things..." Flonne began before telling Aviel the whole story. Of seemingly being in two places at once. One where she was Flonne and another where she was someone else it seemed, with a mother and a house and friends and being small like Aviel. Of how something had attacked the town, something huge, and killed this other person's mother, and then...then...

"Then...something showed up. Something big with wings, but not as big as the monsters. It reached out to me and then I woke up. Only I...I didn't. I was still that other person and I saw the Resistance people as the monsters so I, I mean she...killed them," Flonne finished as her head began to hurt again. It wasn't as bad as last time, but it still made her cringe a bit. Aviel had been silent through the whole thing and just stared at her. She turned away and looked at the ground in thought

"This thing that showed up with the wings. What were they like?" Aviel asked as she looked back at her. Flonne tried to think about, but it was...hard.

"I...I don't know," she admitted.

"What did they look like?"

"I don't know."

"Were they made of feathers?"

"I don't know!"

"This is important Flonne, think! What were they?"

"I DON'T KNOW! I WAS SCARED, OK?! MY MOM WAS DEAD AND THAT GIANT THING BENT DOWN TOWARD ME AND ALL I COULD THINK WAS HOW PRETTY HER WINGS LOOKED WITH THE LIGHT SHINING THROUGH THEM!" Flonne yelled as tears began to form in her eyes. But she stopped as she opened her eyes wide at what she had just said. She...she could see it now...the giant monster wasn't a mon-...it was...

"No...no..." Flonne said as she suddenly felt very dizzy. Her head began to swim and Aviel was calling her name, but it sounded far off. Her breathing was getting ragged and fast, she couldn't seem to get any air and her heart was starting to pound and...

Flonne slowly opened her eyes. She groaned as she rubbed her head, a dull pain going through it. She glanced around and saw she was lying on her bed. When did that happen? She was...was...what had she been doing?

"Flonne?" Aviel said. Flonne looked down onto her chest to see Aviel standing between her small breasts. Aviel had a mix of worry and relief on her face as she moved a bit closer.

"What...what happened?" Flonne said looked around in confusion. Everything looked the same other than that she was laying down.

"You passed out after you..." Aviel stopped before looking away. Her face suddenly turned stoic and Flonne couldn't tell anything from her face. After she had, what? She was telling Aviel about her dream and the- oh...oh no...

"It was a fairy," Flonne said feeling a bit lightheaded again, though not nearly as badly. Aviel turned back to Flonne and moved up to her face.

"It might not be true, Flonne, it might just be a... a lingering memory from whoever they cloned you from. Don't freak out about this, OK?" Aviel said as she hugged herself to Flonne's cheek. Flonne's fear and panic lowered a bit feeling Aviel hugging her and she lifted her hand up to return the hug.

"Isabella will come back soon and she will know what to do. She'll be back having gotten revenge on that bitch and then we can find out what happened to you. Everything is going to be fine," Aviel said as she comforted Flonne. Flonne sniffed as she felt her eyes starting to tear up. Revenge...revenge for Sanders...she wished...she wished Sanders was here...and revenge wasn't going to make that happen.

"I...I don't want revenge. I just want Sanders," Flonne said as she began to cry. Aviel patted her check, but didn't say anything. Whatever she was feeling or thinking she keep to herself.

Flonne cried and held Aviel to her cheek for a second or two before a sudden knock on the door jarred them both out of their hug. Aviel put her finger to her lips and Flonne nodded before she whipped her nose on her sleeve rather than sniff the snot back in. They laid there in silence before a second, slightly, louder knock came.

"I...I don't think she is here," a woman said from outside, her voice muffled by the door. Flonne didn't hear anyone response, but the girl spoke up like someone had.

"B-Break in?! I..I can't do that! Its...Its wrong even if you are one of her scouts!" Both Aviel's and Flonne's eyes shot wide at that and Flonne nearly leap out of the bed. She was about to yell, but Aviel was waving her arms and shaking her head like crazy. Flonne closed her mouth and keep quiet, despite wanting nothing more to open the door. She must have made some noise though as a muffled meow came from outside. Aviel's eyes narrowed as she reached for her sword and Flonne suddenly felt a wave of fear hit her. Catgirls couldn't swallow fairies whole, but that didn't mean they couldn't claw them to shreds.

Flonne looked to the window and saw it was closed. She might be able to open it and escape that way. She motioned toward it and Aviel nodded her approval. Flonne fluttered up to it as another muffled meow came from outside.

"I..I think she hears something...Huh? Oh...yeah I can try, umm...OK I think its on their channel now," the woman's voice said. Flonne ignored it as she pushed the window latch to unlock the window. All she had to do was open it now and they could escape. She fluttered down to the bottom of the window and was about to start pushing when her radio crackled to life.

"Flonne, Aviel, you two in there?" an all too familiar voice said through the radio. Flonne stopped dead in her tracks and nearly fell as her wings stopped as well. She caught herself as she turned back to the door, her mouth gaping in disbelief.

"S-Sanders?" Flonne said as she looked over the see Aviel looking just a stunned as she was.

"Of course, who else would it be? Could you unlock the door for us?" Sanders said through the radio bringing tears of joy and relief to Flonne's eyes. He was alive...Sanders WAS ALIVE!! Flonne flew toward the door as fast as she could and quickly unlocked the door. She tried to open it herself, but couldn't get a good grip on the door handle she was so excited. Finally, it opened as the woman on the other side opened it for her.

Flonne fluttered away from the door to see a giantess come in with shoulder-length brown hair. Her green eyes looked around before settling for a second on Flonne before they quickly jerked away. She blushed a bit before looking everywhere but at Flonne. She looked nice enou- Flonne noticed she had a Swords patch. Flonne felt a spike of fear go through her that only got worse as a blonde haired catgirl slipped in between the giantess' legs. The catgirl looked up at Flonne and gave her a puzzled look, but her tail seemed to twitch as if in anticipation for something. Flonne fluttered a bit higher as she started to regret opened the door. She was about to rush toward the window when something caught her eye on top of the catgirl's head.

"Flonne, down here!" Sanders said as the thing on the catgirl's head started to wave. Flonne looked down at it more closely and realized what it was. It was Sanders! All fear and worry vanished from Flonne as she dived down toward the catgirl. The catgirl's eyes opened wide in surprise and tried to move out of the way, but Flonne was faster as she snatched Sanders from its head. She flew up into the air out of its reach as she hugged Sanders to her check, tears streaming down her face.

"Sanders, Sanders, SANDERS! I thought you were d...d...deaAHHHHHH!" Flonne said before bursting out in a full cry. She was so happy she didn't know what else to do but cry. She could feel Sanders pushing against her and thought she might have heard him trying to say something, but she was too relieved and happy to hear. Finally, she remembered Aviel was back on the nightstand and flew him down to her bed. Aviel was there and was whipping her eyes clear of tears. Flonne pulled Sanders off her cheek causing him to gasp for air. Maybe she had overdone it a bit.

"Sorry, Sanders," she said suddenly feeling bad.

"I...Its fine...ugh....It...its nice to know...know I was missed..." Sanders said through gasps from breaths. Flonne set him down on her bed near Aviel to let her welcome him back. Flonne noticed one of Sanders' arms was in a splint and felt even worse for her rough hugging. She hoped she had not hurt him anymore than he was. She, also, noticed he was missing his pants... Aviel didn't seem to notice, or just didn't care as she wrapped her arms around him and brought him into a hug.

"Dammit you bastard. Don't ever make me think you broke that promise again," Aviel said as she squeezed him tighter. Sanders groaned a bit but returned the hug with his working arm.

"Sorry. If its any consultation, I have had the shittest two days of my life because of almost breaking it," Sanders said as they pulled apart.

"Good, make sure you remember it the next time you almost break," Aviel said before whipping away some more tears. Sanders whipped away a few of his own as they both laughed.
"And make sure you are wearing pants next time we hug," Aviel added causing Sanders to blush a bit.

"Oh right, forgot about that. There were some wolves an-" Sanders was cut off as the giantess yelled out.

"Pyrra! No!" she yelled causing Flonne to look over just in time to see a massive form leap up onto the nightstand, sending the lamp and a few other nick-knacks tumbling off it. The catgirl loomed over Flonne giving an angry and low growl. Even squatting down, Flonne barely reached its bare breasts and Flonne backed away from it before bumping into her bed. She stared up at its face, nearly three-times as big as hers, and cringed as it made a loud hiss. Flonne was so scared she didn't even register it grabbing Sanders till it had turned and leap down from the table.

"Sanders!" she yelled in panic, suddenly remembering catgirls EAT normal-sized people. She jumped down after the catgirl and blasted its back with her magic to get its attention. The catgirl stumbled from the wind hitting her and she whipped around to face Flonne. The catgirl stood up on her two legs, her full three foot tall self towering over Flonne's only one foot form. Flonne gulped her fear down as she remembered how she had failed Sanders once and summoned her magic again. She wasn't going to fail twice!

The catgirl looked about to pounce when she was stopped by her collar. The catgirl gagged as the collar dug into her and she jerked around it trying to get free. Flonne looked up and saw the giantess towering over even the catgirl, holding its collar.

"Bad cat! No! Give me Sanders!" she demanded before holding her free hand in front of the catgirl. The catgirl simply keep trashing a bit till the giantess blew into a whistle that was hanging from her neck. Flonne's antenna began to twitch as a strange noise came from it, an unpleasent noise. While it was only mildly annoying for Flonne, the catgirl seemed to HATE it and her ears and tail went down in pain. Her face cringed and twisted until she finally lifted up her right hand and dropped a tiny form into the giantess' hand.

The giantess keep a hold of the catgirl's collar, but stopped blowing into the whistle. Flonne sighed as the noise stopped and rubbed her antennas to get the lingering pain out.

"Thanks, Morgan. Guess Pyrra got a little jealous," Sanders said sounding not at all distressed about what had just happened. That was odd...wasn't Sanders terrified of catgirls? Maybe she was thinking of something else...

"I'm sorry, I...I should have keep a better...better eye on her. She didn't hurt you, right?" Morgan asked as she brought Sanders up to her face. Flonne took off into the air and grabbed Aviel as she headed up to the giantess', Morgan's, face.

"Its fine and yeah I'm alright. Bumped my arm once, but that's all," Sanders said before turning to look at Flonne and Aviel as they came up to his level.

"That's all?! You almost got eaten by a catgirl! What the hell happened to you while you were gone?!" Aviel asked voicing the same confusion Flonne felt. Sanders chuckled and shook his head.

"Naw, Pyrra wouldn't eat me. Lick me to death, maybe, but not eat me. As for what happened...that...is a long story. Suffice to say, I made a new friend and she is the reason I am still here and meet Morgan," Sanders said with a smile. He then slapped his forehead before turning back to Morgan.

"Oh right, never introduced you guys. Aviel, Flonne, this is Morgan. She's a newly promoted Swords member and gave me a ride back to the base. I'd be stuck out there freezing if it wasn't for her. Morgan, these are my squad-mates, Aviel and Flonne," Sanders said. Morgan blushed a bit at the introduction and looked away.

"I..I really didn't do...Pyrra was the one who found you and me, I just drove us back," she said before looked back up for a second, "It...it is nice to meet you both. I...I haven't seen a fairy up close when they are sm-...I mean when I'm nor-...like this." She looked away again looking more embarrassed than before. Flonne giggled at her having so much trouble with what to say.

"Its fine, I don't care if you call me small. Aviel and Sanders might, though, cause if I'm small they are tiny," Flonne said getting a dirty look from Aviel and an annoyed look from Sanders. Morgan chuckled at the joke before jerking forward a bit. She looked down at Pyrra who was starting to wiggle around again.

"Stop it, Pyrra!" she yelled down causing the catgirl to meow sadly, though she did as she was told.

"Don't be too hard on her, Morgan. She was probably just freaked out that I vanished with some people she didn't know. I could introduce you guys to her, though I think we should wait till Isabella is here for that," Sanders said before looking around, "Speaking of her, where is Isabella?"

Flonne had been so wrapped up in Sanders being alive she had completely forgotten about Isabella. Aviel looked to have done the same as she cursed under her breath. Flonne bit her lower lip as she realized Isabella was going to get revenge for Sanders who didn't need it. Sanders looked between them with a confused face.

"What? What happened?" he asked getting more serious.

"Isabella...Isabella, Gabby, and Alice all think you're dead. They are going to find Lutice and the rest of the Swords who attacked us and get revenge, by killing them," Aviel answered. Both Sanders' and Morgan's eyes widened in shock.

    Rules and Regulations for Advanced Science Society members:
Article three section five: Fighting:

Fighting between members of the Society is strictly forbidden. Any member caught fighting for any reason will face no less than suspension from activity duty and may be terminated from Society ranks. All parties involved in fighting, unless sufficient proof is presented to show the party took no hostile action, while punished to the degree the Matriarchs deem suitable.

Special note: Fighting between Swords and Shields members are frowned upon most of all. These fights cause rifts to develop between the two branches and are to be held in particularly high contempt. Such fights shall be punished more severely than fights between parties in the same branch.