“The fuck is this nonsense?”
Jeanne D’Arc Alter, the Dragon Witch of Vengeance, the Furious Flames of Chaldea’s Wrath, just wasn’t prepared for the sight that stood outside her room.
Before her stood her ‘sister’, the Saint of Orleans, the original Jeanne D’Arc, who had her hands light but firmly holding a young doppelganger of herself in front of her.
And she couldn’t tell whose doppelganger she was.Her eyes and hair were the same bleached gold she had (in comparison to her ‘sister’s’ luxuriously golden blonde hair colouration and blue eyes), but she had the bright eyed optimism that she would never allow herself that was also a common sight in her ‘sister’s’ eyes.
And she wore a snow white Christmas-themed version of both of their outfits, white furs and felts replacing the heavy plate, red and green ribbons replacing the leather straps.
Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to give her a Christmas theme?
And more interesting than the strange festive theme to her armor, was the white lance which had seemingly replaced the flags both she and her ‘sister’ usually took into battle.
“‘This, as you so bluntly put it, is our new sister!” Jeanne declared proudly, obviously happy about the news.
Jeanne Alter sighed.
“Okay, I can kinda get that, after having seen what Halloween does to the shrilly lizard. But how did this happen to us?”
Jeanne Alter swore she had seen the tiniest flash of smug pride before her usual saintly smile replaced it.
“Don’t you remember what happened on Christmas this year?”
This stopped Jeanne Alters thoughts in her tracks.
Last she recalled, she had gone to the more tolerable of the Gilgamesh’s, and had asked for a potion. Her memories as to why she did were a bit hazy, and considering how she had woken up a day later in her bed undisturbed, she had assumed the young King of Heroes had played a prank on her that he knew wouldn’t cause her to hunt him down.
“I spent Christmas asleep, so no, I don’t know what happened with the rest of you degenerates.”
THERE IT WAS AGAIN! That same little flicker of smug pride.
What had happened on Christmas that would cause her saintly ‘sister’ to indulge in that sort of emotion?
“Um, if you’ll excuse my impertinence, but that potion didn’t knock you out.” The small doppelganger finally found her voice.
A quick glare was enough to put that delicious fear back in her.
“Oh? The fuck would you know?”
“Well……..uhhh……you se–“
The young Jeanne stammered before being interrupted by her saintly self.
“Language please, sister. We need to set a good example for her.” Jeanne warned her, a motherly sternness in her voice.
Jeanne Alter waved the remark away, before focusing back in on the impertinent whelp.
“Go on.” She said, firing up her glare with the full fury she could summon in this bizarre situation.
The young whelp actually stood up straight, and glared back.
Oh no.
“Well, my rude Older Self.”
Oh no.
“That potion you drank, was the potion of rejuvenation,”
OH NO.
“I am what you were during last Christmas. You spent Christmas as a Lily trying to emulate Arturia Alter, and we had a BLAST AND MADE LOTS OF FRIENDS!” The young Alter was working herself into a fit of rage, and as the apparent Origin of said rage, she knew how bad it could get.
Jeanne Alter slumped, then pointed to her open door.
“In, now. We aren’t discussing this out here, where the Ice Bitch can easily stumble upon this.”
———————
Jeanne Alter quickly stalked back into her deluxe room, not knowing if her sisters had followed her.
She was one of Chaldea’s aces, and had used that position to claim both rooms on either side of her, and as such, her original room was a large lounge room, with the bed hidden behind a screen.
Despite having claimed both rooms and convinced Da Vinci to join the rooms together, Jeanne Alter hadn’t let herself claim those rooms.
While her Pride as an Avenger and the Ace of Chaldea had forced her to claim the space as defiance to the Rulers and Kings of Chaldea, the shame of being a fake refused to allow her to use said space.
I may be a fake, but as Brynhildr said, the Throne of Heroes recognized that true Heroes weren’t enough, and had deemed me more than worthy of having the right to exist. I am allowed to exist!
Jeanne paused, reaching the couch that sat at the end of her bed.
She’d forgotten something, but couldn’t quite figure out what.
“THIS IS OUR ROOM?” Jeanne Lily exclaimed, taking in how much more space the older Alter had claimed.
Whatever she had forgotten was banished from her mind, as she planted herself on the couch.
“No, this is MY room. As the Ace of Chaldea, it is my right to claim whatever I wanted.”
Jeanne Alter thought she heard a quiet laugh from behind her, but she dismissed the idea, since both her sisters were in front of her.
The benefit of this couch in particular is that it allowed her full sight of everyone within her original room.
“So it is our room?” The young Alter asked the original Jeanne, ignoring her older self.
The smug joy was radiating off of the Saint to such a degree, that Jeanne Alter realized that within Chaldea, her older sister was allowing herself to experience the emotions she never allowed herself in real life.
And she was reveling in being able to be both a doting Older sister, and be a mischievous twat who no one but Jeanne Alter was aware could be such a busy body.
“Yes. Since it was due to our Sister’s actions that we gained a new sister, and since she has spare rooms, you will be living in her apartment now.”
She seemingly glanced behind Jeanne Alter, that mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“But while I will lay claim to a bed in whichever room you choose, I have my own room, which I’m fond of, and Rulers shouldn’t be in close proximity to Avengers, since they tend to be rather loud.”
The smugly amused look on her older sister’ face was really starting to tick her off.
“Okay, you’ve forced our new Sister on to me. Was there anything else you wanted?” Jeanne asked flatly, wishing she could just use her Flames to wipe the smugness from her sister’s face.
“No, that was all.” The smile lost its smugness, now filled with genuine love.
“I also just wanted an excuse to spend a little bit of time with you both.”
The Oldest Jeanne turned away from the Middle Jeanne.
“Young One, time to leave. We’re going to go get your things, and tell your friends about your new place, as well as give our Sister some time to prepare for you.” She declared, smilingly brightly when the Youngest Jeanne quickly dashed out of the spare rooms and now stood at the ready by the door.
“Okay!” the youngest Jeanne beamed, Jeanne Alter’s heart skipping a beat seeing such pure joy in her younger self’s face. Maybe having her nearby might not be so bad.
“See you soon, Big Sister!” The youngest Sister waved as she left, quickly followed by a beaming Jeanne d’Arc.
Finally alone, Jeanne Alter slumped back into the couch, the tension finally leaving her body.
Well, looks like she needed to start organizing some things in the spare rooms, and ensuring the less child friendly items she had were now securely placed in her private room.
“Beloved, are you forgetting something?” An embarrassed but loving voice sounded behind her, as the sheets on her bed moved.
Oh fuck, that explained the smug look on her sister’s face, and why she had carefully made sure to direct their youngest Sister towards the rooms first, and made sure to keep her on the other side of the privacy screen.
“I think we should talk to Da Vinci about altering your room a bit, as well as getting some sound proofing for your personal room, now that we have to worry about dealing with young ones.” The Goddess of War inhabiting her bed shyly suggested, before leaning in and kissing her on her forehead.
“Just let me kill my sister first.” the Ace of Chaldea asked weakly, before laying her head in her girlfriend’s lap.