Prose Magica: The Ballad of the Seventeenth Part 8

Rain pounded outside. Odette quietly walked through the musty apartment hall, side-by-side with her companion, Lotte Laufson. It was the first time they'd had a chance to work together in too many months. The last time Odette could remember them actually working with each other was some job in Niagara Falls. Something about a nutjob magical girl holing up in one of the seven million haunted houses on Clifton Hill. Therese had refused to come along, inexplicably falling ill the day they were supposed to go. Afterward, the Eversor and Callidus pair ended up going on the closest thing to date either of them had ever been on. Deep down, Odette still wanted to go on the ferris wheel again some day.

"Three-oh-six, right?" Lotte asked as they walked.

Odette nodded without a word.

The apartment was old and dingy, not entirely like the former warmaster's own building. The hall carpet was a dull, pinkish-brown mess while the walls clashed with a bright green. Lining the walls were cigarette smoke stained sconces that really looked as though they ought to flicker every now and then.

"What's up?" The Callidus asked, looking more than a little concerned.

Odette made a slight questioning grunt and cocked an eyebrow.

"You've got that look," Lotte chuckled. "You get it when you're thinking too hard. I'd know it anywhere."

True, Odette was thinking too hard about some things. She had a strange feeling in her gut, as if she were changing somehow. One moment she was grumpy and brooding, the next she felt as if she could snatch the cap from Therese's head and become warmaster again. Some thing, however, weren't worth getting off her chest.

"'m fine," she mumbled. "Don't worry about it."

"Suit yourself," Lotte shrugged, laughing to herself. "But if you were really fine, you'd have made some kind of remark."

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it."

"Good enough."

Soon enough, the two reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of room 306, the residence of a one Fennel Vance. All in all, it looked like any other room in the building, save a missing screw in the six, making it fall over to make a nine.

"I don't really know what I was expecting," the Callidus mumbled as they approached their destination, "but I'm a little disappointed."

The one-eyed girl glanced up at her partner in crime, scowling, and muttered a simple, "What?"

"Was hoping for a shabby, crack den looking place, I guess," Lotte replied.

Odette rolled her eye and raised her foot to kick in the door, only be shoved out of the way by the blonde. The silver-haired girl scowled harder, letting her face do all the talking. Her partner, however, would have none of it. In a flash, she donned her magical girl costume - a black leather skin-tight suit with a plunging, fur neckline. Newly transformed, the Callidus clapped her hands together and then - in a display of magic and showmanship - spread them, conjuring a leather bandolier out of thing air like an accordian, filled with every thief's tool imaginable.

"I love doing that," she cried, grinning from ear to ear. "Let's do this nice and clean, shall we?"

Odette shrugged and mumbled something about making it quick as she leaned against the wall. The Callidus' work was quick and efficient; in mere moments there was a loud clunk of tumblers as the door unlocked. Lotte looked up at the other girl and made an indecipherable head gesture. Odette simply looked confused and blinked a few times in response, shaking her head.

"Make with the sparkles," the blonde mumbled.

"What?"

"What if she's in there?" Lotte asked, standing up again. "You're not gonna suit up?"

"You know I hate doing that," Odette pouted, turning a shade pinker.

"Oh come on! No one's here!"

Odette tapped her foot nervously before finally conceding the point. With a second flash, a long black cloak fell from her shoulders, draping her completely. Her left shoulder bore a delicate looking metal pauldron, fashioned to look almost like a wing. The girl held the cloak closed tightly from within, trying her best not to expose what was underneath it.

"Happy?" She groaned.

Lotte smirked and nodded. "Shy Odette is good too. Let's do this."

The shorter girl nodded silently. Taking her cue, Lotte turned the knob with great caution and delicacy, careful to make as little sound as possible. As soon as the doorway was clear enough, the pair slipped in like ghosts. Much of the apartment was left in disarray, as if the girl had been in a hurry to leave. Drawers were left out, shelves cleared and their contents strewn about on the ground. Odette was suddenly reminded of her own apartment after it had been broken into.

"I'll look around here," Lotte said as she scanned the room, "you check the bedroom. If there's anything good, it'll probably be there."

Odette nodded and took off at a brisk pace for the other room. The apartment was a fair size; the only rooms were the living room, bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom was left in the same state as the rest of the apartment - the bedside table's drawer was pulled out and it's contents dumped, clothes were thrown from the open closet, even the bedsheets were pulled up and the mattress not set on the frame properly. The one-eyed girl had to wonder what Fennel could have been looking for that was so important.

As she stepped over the objects on the floor, something caught Odette's eye. On the bedside table was a manila folder, printed with a large stylized seventeen in the corner. Fennel's last assignment. It looked almost as if it were left for Odette to find, sitting out in the open like that. Odette took a seat on the bed and flipped it open.

Sure enough, it was a termination order - Fennel's speciality. But as she read further, Odette's blood ran cold. Her eyes shot open and she nearly bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. The room temperature plunged and the bedroom window crackled as frost began to grow inward from the edges. Odette wished there was some kind of mistake, but there it was in front of her eyes, signed by the Seventeenth incubator himself, dated for three weeks previous. It looked as though the assignment was given out the day before Fennel went missing. Had it tipped her over the edge?

"Everything okay?" Lotte asked, poking her head through the doorway.

Odette quickly pulled her arms back under her cloak, bringing the folder with them. The frost receded from the window as she nodded and answered with a quick, "Yeah, I'm fine."

The Callidus looked around the room. "If you say so," she muttered, not entirely believing the other girl. "Found anything yet?"

Odette shook her head. "Not yet. You?"

"Looks like she cleaned the place out good," Lotte replied, leaning against the doorframe. "Makes sense, really. She was a pro. You know I worked a job with her once?"

"Seriously?" The one-eyed girl asked, suddenly curious.

"Yeah, just remembered when we were coming here. Couple years back we went after some druglord together. Pretty standard stuff."

Odette nodded and made a quiet "hmph" noise. "So what was she like?"

Lotte shrugged as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "She was... a weird one. Not really like psycho-weird, but she just didn't take anything seriously. Always laughing and joking. The type that'd make some corny pun about 'getting ahead of yourself' while she chopped it off. I get that you have to be a few cards short to do her kind of work but," the blonde took a deep breath and seemed settle down a bit, "I guess she was okay. Had a way of rubbing off on you. By the end of it, I was laughing right along with her."

Odetted snickered. "Weirdo."

"Yeah, yeah," the Callidus laughed. "Like you're one to talk."

"Haven't had a good fight in a while," the one-eyed girl replied. "Hell, this the first time I've worn my costume since I got the boot."

"Well, you ever want that hat back, you come talk to me," Lotte said, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "The offer's always open."

Odette's thoughts flashed back to the folder. The deal offered by the Callidus and her enigmatic friend suddenly looked far more appealing. She tossed the idea around in her head a number of times, weighing the options. Finally she mumbled a short and simply, "I'll think about it."

Lotte's eyes narrowed as her lips curled at the tips, a devilish grin if Odette had ever saw one. She could tell what the Callidus was thinking. She could see that smug statisfaction in her eyes as the former warmaster started to come about.

"That'll do," Lotte replied, nodding to herself. "That'll do."

Odette shook her head and pulled herself up. "Whatever. Let's go pick up the kids."

As the pair left the apartment, the one-eyed girl could swear she heard muffled, tinkling laughter mixed in with the rain. Somewhere, she thought, a girl in a black baseball cap was thinking over her options.

✱✱✱

Odette stared out the window of a Tim Hortons, one hand firmly clutched around a hot chocolate while Lotte rested her around the one-eyed girl's shoulders. Across from them sat Meg and Mona, the former nursing a tea and munching on a Dutchie while the latter occassionally sipped at her coffee. It seemed as though Meg had finally gotten used to the presence of her idol after actually trying to start a conversation with her. Mona simply sat back and absorbed Lotte's tall tales with a skeptical eye. She couldn't bring herself to believe the one about the Nineth warmaster's birthday bash, despite Odette assuring her that every word was true.

Aside from Lotte's occasional proddings to verify the veracity of her stories, Odette kept silent for most of the meeting as she mulled over the day's events. She couldn't rightly deny that she was starting to change. Getting back into her groove.

"Hey, O," Lotte suddenly called out, leaning over to her, "didn't you beat the bartender at shots that one time?"

Odette blinked. "The Bartender bartender?"

"Yeah, the one everyone calls 'The Bartender'," the Callidus replied, making quotation marks with her fingers. "The hot redhead."

"Once, I think," the one-eyed girl answered, "out of like a hundred times."

The pair of junior Eversors across from them looked at each other, then pack at the other pair, confused.

Noticing their looks, Lotte began to explain. "Either of you two ever been to Harrison's?"

They both shook their heads. "Been outside it, but never went in," Mona offered.

"Right, so," the blonde began, hunching over the table. "There's two bartenders that work their. A blonde and a redhead. Both are former magical girls. We call the blonde 'The Russian' and the redhead 'The Bartender', even though they're both bartenders. They've got a thing going where if you can match them shot-for-shot, the whole night's drinks are on the house. Only one person's ever won, and you're sitting with her." Lotte punctuated the statement by giving Odette a light slap on the back. "Not even Valnikov could do it, ain't that right?"

"Yeah, cause she was up against The Russian," the one-eyed girl added. "Those two go way back."

"Right, right," Lotte nodded before continuing. "Only folks who know their real names are either dead or plan to carry them to their graves. Foobee let a whole bunch retire quietly right before Odette became warmaster."

Odette nodded quietly. "Right after Brie died."

"Brie?" Meg, the smaller of the Eversor pair, asked.

"The Seventeenth's first warmaster," the Callidus explained. "I didn't really know her that well, but Odette and her were tight. You want to tell this one?"

Odette sighed and turned her attention to the other occupants of the table. Reminiscing about Brie always did strange things to her emotions. On one hand, she couldn't resist telling a good story and didn't want to let the warmaster's memory die out. On the other, talking about her was like a knife in the gut. With reluctant resignation, she mumbled a quiet, "Ok," and sat back in her seat.

"Brie was my big sis," she explained, staring at her hot chocolate, trying her best to avoid eye-contact with anyone. "Figuratively, of course. She was the oldest of the group when they started the Officio system. The bartenders were from the same batch as her, but a few months later. She was beautiful and smart and kind. Everyone loved her. She had this platinum blonde hair that went on forever," Odette smiled and laughed to herself, "and she always wore a this black baseball cap with the warmaster's emblems on it instead of the regular cap."

"About three years ago a Wally finally got the better of her," the silver-haired girl continued, a tear coming to her single eye. "Half the officio resigned. A tenth witched out from grief," Odette took a shakey breath in a vain attempt to steel herself. "I had to pick up the pieces. They leave it to a sixteen year old girl to fix a broken officio and they wonder why we're so fucking weak."

"Odette, it's okay," Lotte whispered, pulling the other girl in tight. "You don't have to tell them if you don't want to."

But Odette simply shook her head and wiped the tears from her face. "Can't let people forget. No one forgets what happened three years ago. Not on my watch."

The black-haired Eversor nodded solemnly, then fumbled around in her pocket for a few moments before producing a small photograph. She gently slid it across the table to Odette. The one-eyed girl picked it up and took a good hard look at it. She'd managed to avoid focusing on it before, but for once she actually wanted to look at her old self. It seemed to be a picture from her inauguration. She still had both brilliant blue eyes, long silvery hair that went down to her waist and a black baseball cap atop her head, emblazoned with the warmaster's iconography.

"That's why you wore the hat, isn't it?" Meg asked quietly.

Odette nodded. She couldn't speak. She could feel the tears streaming down one side of her face. How could she let this happen to herself? At what point in those three years did she just stop caring? She tried to ask herself those questions, but deep down she knew. She knew when she'd lost herself. She knew when she'd stopped wearing that hat and cut her hair. Two years ago, a different Odette took her place.

After a few moments, she felt Lotte's arm tugging at her to get up. "Come on, O," she cooed softly. It was as close as Odette had ever heard the Callidus get to a motherly voice. "Let's go wait in the car until it's time to pick up Terry."

The crying girl nodded and got up, then motioned for Lotte to stay when she tried to follow. Alone, she left the restaurant and made for Sleepy Sue. She had a feeling a certain hat-wearing girl would be there waiting to laugh at her.

As they watched Odette leave with tears in her eyes, Meg turned back to the Callidus and asked, "But why did she stop wearing it?"

Lotte simply smiled a sad smile and shook her head. "That's a story for another day, kiddo."