Pride x Familiar

by Albert Ruckholdt

  “Geh!” Rina gasped.

  Silia smiled cruelly. “But don’t fret, we’ll have you burn off those extra pounds in short order. We’ll turn you into a lean, mean, little machine in no time at all.” The young woman narrowed her eyes. “Until then…no pizza!”

  “Gah!” Rina swayed on her feet.

  Silia’s Artemis team members laughed amongst themselves. These girls were older than us by a few years, taller and carried themselves with confidence born of experience.

  And they were Aventis.

  My Fragment gave my thoughts a subtle nudge and inserted that tidbit into my head. It could sense the Symbiote inside them.

  Maya shifted her stance. It wasn’t openly combative but it held a hint of rebellion.

  “Very well,” she said. “Formation or individual combat?”

  “Four on four,” Silia replied. “We’ll give you a ten minute head start, then hunt you down. The longer you last, the better your final grade. One thing to be mindful of is collateral damage. Injure a passer-by or civilian and you’ll be demoted points. Damage property and buildings and you’ll lose even more points. Other than that, almost anything goes. But remember, this is a mock battle. We’re not out to kill you or permanently injure you. We expect the same from you.”

  Maya asked, “So you’re telling us to hold back on what our Fragments can do?”

  “Like I said, short of permanent injury or killing someone, you’re free to come at us however you see fit.”

  Maya raised her chin. “When do we start?”

  “Now,” Silia replied.

  Before I could summon my Valkyrie Armor, a cold chill filled the air and the black mist surrounded Rina. When it cleared heartbeats later, she held a large sniper rifle in her arms. The weapon looked fit to snipe an armored vehicle from ten kilometers away.

  What happened next took everyone by surprise.

  Yet in hindsight I should have expected something like this to happen.

  Events had been building up to this moment.

  Rina yelled like a wounded feline and heft the rifle underarm. “You’re not taking away my pizza!”

  Particles of violet let danced in front of the barrel and a second later the weapon shrieked and fired at Silia.

  The young woman and her team scattered a millisecond before the blast of violet light missed them. It struck the balcony entrance behind them. The wall and security glass held, but the air hissed and wavered.

  “Apologize to pizza!” Rina shouted, and fired again and again at the Artemis girls.

  The rest of us had jumped back to the balcony railing, summoning our Fragments in a heartbeat.

  Rina was shooting with surprising accuracy, but the Artemis team narrowly avoided getting hit. Within seconds they dove off the balcony and into the habitat below. The girl ran to the edge of the balcony and began firing quickly into the habitat.

  Maya ran forward and kicked up the rifle’s barrel.

  Then she smacked Rina lightly on the head. “Idiot—you’re damaging the buildings.”

  Rina started to laugh unsteadily with a huge twisted smile on her face. “The power output is down to one percent. It’ll just burn the paint off the walls.”

  Constance yelled, “We’d better chase after them or they’ll start chasing us. Either way, I don’t think they’re going to give us a head start anymore.”

  Maya groaned loudly like a tree about to fall. “Aggh, damn it.” The girl trembled violently for a short while. Then she relaxed and nodded angrily. “Fine. We go on the offensive. Stick together. We don’t know the habitat’s layout, but we’ll move rooftop to rooftop.”

  Constance and I nodded, but Rina suddenly looked aghast.

  “You—you mean we’re going to jump from building to building?” The girl’s expression worsened. “You mean we’re going to have to run?”

  Maya grabbed Rina by the scruff of her skinsuit. “That’s right. And after the stunt you just pulled you’re coming with me. I’m not letting you out of my sight. I swear I will kick you if you fall behind.”

  With those words, Maya jumped off the rooftop while holding onto the scruff of Rina’s skinsuit. They disappeared from view and I heard Rina scream all the way down.

  I glanced at Constance.

  The girl looked undecided, then quickly shot me a sideways look.

  I knew what she was thinking. I raised my gauntlets up. “Truce.”

  She was quiet for a heartbeat. “Truce.”

  I waved at the edge of the balcony. “In that case, we’d better not fall behind.”

  Constance inhaled deeply, then gave me a tight nod.

  I returned it, and temporarily shelving the bad blood between us, Constance and I jumped over the balcony railing and into the habitat skyline below.

  Reflections – 12.

  There are two kinds of Aventis.

  The first kind of Aventis is a Regular that developed a degree of compatibility with one of the eight strains of Symbiote. This normally happens during or after puberty, thereby confined to the teenage years. If their compatibility exceeds seventy percent, they are granted admission into the specific Pride they are most compatible with. The Symbiote then takes residence within the Regular’s body, and they join the Aventis ranks.

  The second kind of Aventis is one that is born with the Symbiote inside them. Elements of the Symbiote flow into the fetus during the second trimester when the baby is more fully developed. It then continues to grow along with the fetus. Such an Aventis is commonly referred to as a Pureblood.

  The difference between the two kinds of Aventis is somewhat telling.

  A non-Pureblood’s compatibility with their Symbiote rarely exceeds ninety percent. That means that the Symbiote is only able to perform its ‘tasks’ of strengthening the host, healing injuries and keeping them healthy to ninety percent of its ability. Most non-Purebloods rate a compatibility with their Symbiote of between seventy and eighty percent. Haruka Amiella was rated at eighty five percent which put her in good standing against other non-Purebloods.

  In contrast, a Pureblood is a hundred percent compatible with their Symbiote. They benefit the most from what the Symbiote can do for them.

  Simone Alucard and Prissila Ventiss were fortunate enough to be born Purebloods. Their mothers were also Purebloods, and it was likely that Simone and Prissila would give birth to Pureblood offspring.

  But it wasn’t assured to be the case.

  A case in point is Maya Khayman.

  Maya’s mother, Cassandra Khayman Sora, is a Pureblood.

  The Khaymans have multiple business interests in the entertainment and residential industries, so it’s safe to say that Maya was born into a very, very wealthy family. However, she was born without the Symbiote, relegating her to the ranks of a Regular. While this was disappointing to the rather proud Khayman family, and the Sora Pride, all hope was not lost because it was almost assured that Maya would develop a compatibility with the Sora strain of the Symbiote when she entered her teenage years.

  She did not, and instead awakened to an existence as a Familiar on the month she turned sweet sixteen.

  Needless to say, this was something of a shock to the Khaymans.

  Needless to say, this sent the girl into suicidal despair.

  The Khaymans had never birthed a Familiar in all the generations since becoming Aventis, and her family didn’t know how to deal with this outcome. It can be said that the general ambience was one of disappointment. Some expressed shame toward Cassandra, as though she had dishonored the Pride by giving birth to a Familiar.

  And that shame swallowed and consumed Maya.

  Perhaps if she’d been an only child, she might have struggled through her despair. But Maya’s younger sister, Katalina was a Pureblood.

  It didn’t help having a sister that looked upon her with disdain.

  It didn’t help having a sister that belittled her at every opportunity.

  So, in the time honored tradition, she attempted to
commit suicide by slitting her wrists. An Aventis might heal quickly enough, but not a Familiar. As misfortune would have it, it was Katalina who found her older sister bleeding to death in the bathroom. And it was Katalina who saved her life by giving Maya her blood. The Symbiote healed Maya’s body, but not her heart.

  This was all kept a closely guarded family secret, but there were those that learnt of it nonetheless. In fact, it was the Countess that told me about Maya. She also told me that Katalina Khayman Sora was a senior in middle school at Galatea Academy.

  Needless to say, that girl didn’t take it well to learn her elder sister was now attending her school, even though they were in separate years.

  I thought the girl was being stupid. She still had a sister, one whose life she’d saved, whereas I didn’t – or thought I didn’t.

  Even if Maya was a Familiar, she was still family to Katalina.

  I was fairly certain that one day Katalina would come to regret treating Maya the way she did.

  Chapter 16 – Revelation.

  (Haruka)

  School Week Two. Friday.

  I’d been feeling down and depressed since the events of Wednesday.

  The Bust War had simmered down into a Cold Bust War.

  More than a few social cliques had re-organized around the newly formed battle lines. I couldn’t help noticing how the small breasted girls had grouped together as though for protection from the large breasted ones. But it wasn’t smooth sailing for those sporting a Cee cup or above. After one girl was accosted in one of the toilets on the second floor, we bigger busted individuals had taken to moving around in groups of two or three. It seemed the teachers and administrators were handing out detention notices every day, and while the situation had calmed down a little, there appeared to be no sign of the tensions abating.

  This stupid rivalry had affected our friendship with Alistair.

  She was suspended like Caelum and didn’t attend class, but she ignored my messages and my attempts to call her.

  Siobhan had also tried calling Alistair and met with the same wall of silence. She was angry and hurt by Alistair’s behavior, but stopped short of paying Alistair a visit to give the girl a piece of her mind. She said she’d known Alistair for a long while and knew the latter was self-conscious of her figure. But even she was surprised by the sudden sullen animosity Alistair was expressing toward us.

  Before morning homeroom I sent Caelum a message to his palm-slate asking him how he was doing.

  He replied back with an ‘all good’ and asked for the class work he’d missed so far.

  I took that to mean he was at least busy studying while stuck in his dorm.

  He didn’t ask about Duncan and I.

  That made my heart fret.

  I sent him a message telling him to study hard. I wrote ‘love Haruka’ at the end, thought about it, then deleted it.

  I wrote ‘missing you’ instead and sent it to him.

  I received a reply before classes began.

  MISSING YOU TOO.

  It came in right after Duncan’s message, where he pleaded to meet me after class today.

  I’d been avoiding him since the beginning of the week. I couldn’t put him off any longer. So I told him I’d meet him after class at the cake shop, La Muse, a district block away far from Galatea Academy.

  His reply was almost immediate. He said he’d wait for me all night if need be.

  That pained my heart, and left my emotions swirling in confusion.

  I gave up trying to pay attention to Ms. Fauntine during homeroom. It all went in one ear and out the other. But as I sat there I came to accept the obvious truth.

  I was caught between two loves.

  My love for Caelum.

  My growing love for Duncan.

  And now I was going to have to choose.

  I was going to have to choose!

  And I couldn’t do that.

  I just couldn’t….

  #

  (Caprice)

  With Caelum suspended, I thought I’d spend my lunches alone.

  Instead, I found myself in the company of Maya, Rina, and Constance.

  In fact, I found myself spending a lot of time in their company.

  On Thursday morning, an hour and a half before homeroom, the four of us met at the gym under the nightclub that belonged to Arisa Imreh Lanfear – the same gym Caelum and I used to train at for seven odd months. First, I had to get permission from Arisa to do so. That I achieved on Wednesday night when I called Arisa after our disastrous debut against Team Silia.

  To put it simply, Silia and her group wiped the floor with us.

  We underestimated them because they didn’t possess Fragments or Artifacts. To make up for that, the young women of Team Silia were gifted with various weapons that mimicked a Fragment. It was obvious from the first few minutes of combat those four Aventis girls had trained long and hard with their respective faux-Fragments.

  We were handicapped on three fronts.

  One, we’d never fought as a team. We didn’t know what the other could do to complement our strengths or compensate for our weaknesses.

  Two, we weren’t allowed to use our Fragments to maximum effect. I had to hold back with every strike and kick or I was certain the Valkyrie Armor would shatter my opponents faux-Fragment in a heartbeat.

  And last but not least was problem three – Rina Sayen.

  Rina displayed excellent marksmanship…but nothing else.

  She was weak, slow, and lacked stamina to the nth degree.

  It was clear the Sora Pride had devoted little resource to her training. Maya promised to speak to her mother about that, but for now, we decided to go with my proposal – to use the gym every morning in order to whip Rina into shape.

  So on the journey back from the training habitat – courtesy of Laurence who picked us up outside the entrance to Artemis Industries – I made the call to Arisa and explained the problem. Surprisingly, she needed little convincing, and we were granted permission to train at the gym that was once used solely by Caelum and I.

  The agreement was that every morning we would meet at the gym, oversee Rina’s training, and then shower, change into our uniforms, and make our way to Galatea Academy.

  Constance had proposed getting Rina to join the Track-and-Field club but Maya and I vetoed the idea after Rina began to cry from embarrassment. The girl really believed she’d make a fool of herself before the members of the Track-and-Field club. So she readily agreed to the alternative which was private training. Since she was a Familiar, we were confident she could attain a decent level of fitness in a few weeks, much faster than a Regular person could. But we were going to have to push her hard, yet avoid breaking her.

  Thursday morning went well, though Rina collapsed after fifteen minutes on the treadmill.

  Thursday evening’s training was another disaster. We spent too much time covering for Rina, and couldn’t do enough for ourselves.

  Friday morning it was back to the gym. This time Rina lasted twenty minutes before dropping to her knees and sliding off the back of the treadmill. However, we decided not to cut the girl any slack. Maya put her through basic hand-to-hand combat training. She spent another twenty minutes sparring with Maya until she was too tired to lift her arms.

  Watching Maya spar with Rina made me wonder how long Maya had been training. Having seen her skills with the twin okatanas, I realized it wasn’t a skill you learnt overnight. It certainly wasn’t a skill you learnt in the span of a few months. It was a level of skill you attained after years of dedicated training. I was certain her hand-to-hand skills were also considerably better than mine, and this wasn’t lost on Constance either.

  So the big question was: who is Maya Khayman afil Sora?

  I was curious but unfortunately that answer was going to have to wait.

  A quick shower, a hasty change into our uniforms, and then it was off to Galatea Academy. That was a trip via mag-lev from Habitat Two to Habitat One wher
e the academy was located. We bought our lunches from a convenience store outside the station, then walked as a group to the school.

  I hadn’t noticed it on Thursday, but I was certainly aware of it on Friday morning as we walked into the school – the reaction from the other students walking around us.

  It was clear they knew we four were Familiars, but our being together elicited a range of emotions from the girls and the boys, and they were disparate between the genders.

  The girls gave us dark, disdainful looks, with a touch of wariness thrown into the mix. It was clear they saw us as a threat of some sort.

  But the guys…they watched us with hunger in their eyes.

  I wouldn’t call it lust, but it came close.

  Perhaps it was more accurate to describe it as forbidden desire, and that made me feel conflicted.

  On the one hand I felt uncomfortable as their eyes watched our every move. Some girls describe it as feeling like bait on a hook for a hungry predator.

  But on the other hand, a heated warmth bloomed in my chest. I was proud of the way I was drawing their undivided attention.

  I realized I wasn’t the only one who noticed this.

  Each of us was subconsciously and consciously reacting to the attention in our own way.

  Maya walked with her head high, her eyes straight ahead, and with a definite, girlish swing of her hips. If I had to describe her, I’d say she walked with the poise of a fashion model.

  Constance wasn’t far behind, with a powerful gait that was fluid and light. She reminded me of a feline on the prowl.

  I wasn’t sure how I walked, maybe a little taller, a little more confidently, but I certainly hoped I kept up with Maya and Constance.

  If anyone fell behind it was Rina.

  She looked like she wanted to sprint on ahead and hide in class.

  She definitely did not enjoy the attention we four attracted.

  During lunch break we trekked to the small grassy area behind the gym building built for the high-school student body. The gym for the middle schoolers was on the opposite side of the school grounds and near to their class rooms.

  Learning our lesson from the day before, we each carried small blankets with us that we lay on the ground to keep grass stains off our uniforms.