12th April 2016

AN: This is just something I wanted to get out of my head. I'm not sure if this will continue to be another story for me to write. The RWBY one is already taking too long to update.

It's a bit weird as there's both first person and third person.

Meh.

There is no planning for this story what so ever, so even if I want to write more, it'll be pretty bland. Also, I haven't even read through much of Zero no Tsukaima's light novel yet, so I'm pretty ignorant in regards to the story and lore.

But it's nice to imagine other "what if"s once in a while right?

Enjoy.

/* - */

Void Queen

Chapter 1 – The Queen Arrives

There are gift shops, food stands, and an endless amount of people everywhere. Every single aspect was painted with the theme of the League of Legends game. I would be excited seeing all this for the first time, however...

"So who are you meant to be?" asked, what I assumed to be, yet another League of Legends fan.

I looked beside me at my cousin, Jeana, asking, hoping for any sort of help at all. For her to explain everything.

Nope.

Just a sweet smile and a nod. "Tell her Alexis."

To everyone else, she looked like a nice girl, encouraging her cousin. To me her smile looked like the face of the devil who just signalled to throw me even further down the depths of hell.

Why you ask? Well, I lost a bet. A rigged bet.

As the victor of the bet, Jeana had me cos-play as any champion she wanted in League of Legends and...

"I'm...Rek'Sai...Queen of the...Xer'Sai..." I mumbled, gradually becoming more quiet with each syllable.

"Oh wow! Who knew you could make such a monster look so sexy!" the fan gushed.

"Hey Danny! Come over here! Look! I found a wild Rek'Sai! Haha!" She waved over a friend, possibly a boyfriend, while pointing at me.

Her friend, some dude with a scarf and yellow hair (a wig?) came over. I can tell he's cos-playing as well, probably Ezreal, but he seemed pretty comfortable in his getup. Unlike me.

He looked me over with a critical eye. I can practically feel his stare on every part of my body that his eyes traced:

My long purple wig.

The blue helmet in the shape of Rek'Sai's head.

Then immediately down to my chest which was covered by blue and purple armour. It was made much in the style of Rek'Sai's exoskeleton.

I don't know what it's made of but the quality of my cousin's handy work made it look like some shiny metal with scratch marks. I would have admired the details and her skill if not for the two round breastplate protruding out from my chest area. It looked incredibly feminine.

Not that I have any problem against femininity or females. It's just that it feels weird and out of place for me to be cross-dressing.

Yes. I'm a guy.

My audience, this Danny guy, had his attention on my chest armour a bit too long before moving on. Whether he was scrutinising the material used, or examining the quality of my cousin's craft, or if he just liked the...shape of the armour, I can't tell. I don't need to spell out what shape he might have liked right?

Or maybe he liked my abs. The armour only covered my chest after all. In either case: Gaaah! Please stop! This is all weird and creepy!

Next he took note of the blue and purple themed pauldrons that jut out from my shoulders. The edges were all jagged but the texture is smooth, sticking close to Rek'Sai's look.

Then he gazed down my lean arms to the clawed gauntlets I'm wearing. Again it's jagged, styled to portray fierceness.

His attention switched to my legs, which only had armour coverage around my waist, upper thighs, lower calves and my feet. All of it, blue and purple themed.

And yes, my groin and backsides were covered too. I wouldn't have worn this ridiculous getup if those were to be left exposed.

However, there was still quite a bit of skin exposed and I felt quite naked. I could only stand there stock still. I was like a deer caught in headlights, as if moving would expose more skin.

Behind me, a thick, blue, and armoured tail swayed slightly as I nervously twitched from standing still for too long. The purple underside reflected off the shiny tiles we stood on.

After what seemed like a millennia, his eyes finally found mine again.

"That's a really high quality costume you have there. Do you cosplay as any other characters in a humanoid form?" he asked, looking me up and down. Before I could form an answer he said something outrageous.

"Daaamn girl! I would dig your tunnels any day-"

Thwack!

Danny received a prompt smack upside his head and turned with a hurt expression towards his assailant: the girl next him.

"Danny! I can't believe you! You're such a perv." the girl exclaimed.

She turned to give me an apologetic look along with her apologies before she dragged her friend off into the crowd by the ear.

I turned to my cousin, expecting some sort of reaction and the expression I saw was one of her trying in vain to hold her mirth.

"Pfff! He thought you were a girl! He was totally hitting on you! Hahaha!" she got out between bouts of laughter.

"Yeah, I'm incredibly creeped out right now." I said shivering a little, hugging my arms. "I really hate you, Jeana."

"Oh come on, Alexis!" she said, lightly slapping a hand on my shoulder, lest she damage her oh-so-precious cos-play gear. "Cheer up! At least you have- pfff hahaha. A sexy figure! Oh, making this set was so worth it."

I really hate her right now, and I'm pretty sure my face shows that too, but I doubt she took note, nor cared. I hate myself even more for getting into this nightmare. It was stupid to have taken her bait. I should have known better: she doesn't play fair.

But I'm a man of my word. I had lost, and she was the victor. It wouldn't be very sporting of me to quit on my word. There's also the part where I can't really say "no" and that she's really pushy. But that only played a small part! It's mostly because I wouldn't go back on my word because I'm a man, okay?

A broadcast overhead announced that the League of Legends World Championship will begin shortly, jogging me out of my internal musings. With my cousin still giggling beside me, we began making our way to our seats.

Oh great, seats, how am I supposed to sit down with this tail in the way?

/* - */

Louise awoke feeling both anticipation and dread for this day. Her anticipation rose from the the mystery that is her future and her would-be familiar.

What will it be? What would be her classmates' reactions? How would her family react? How would her dear sister Cattleya react?

As her questions provoked wonder and hope, it also cast a shadow of doubt over her heart.

Louise hadn't been able to succeed in any spell she tried. What would happen to her if she can't even succeed in summoning a familiar? The shame and embarrassment she'd etch into her family's name would be devastating.

The Springtime Familiar Summoning was a rite of passage that signified their coming of age. It is during this summoning when a mage learns his or her affinity: Fire, Water, Air, or Earth.

Of course, there's the Void element too, but no-one can cast any void spells since the Founder Brimir himself. It is a lost element. One which no body had any knowledge of.

To fail the summoning is to fail at being a mage. If she failed, all she will have left to look forward to in life is either being married off for her family's political gain, or be banished by them altogether.

Those are grim consequences indeed, so the enormous amount of pressure she felt was completely understandable.

She shook herself a little to clear her mind and fully wake up. She had wasted enough time pondering "what if"s and the results of her summoning that she haven't even attempted yet.

Steeling herself like how her mother taught her, she embraced the day with the same resolve she had on any other day.

She will succeed.

/* - */

"What!? No way I'm going in there!" I cried out in disbelief.

"Shhh! Stop shouting, it's fine. Just get in here!" my cousin whispered back.

She was waving me towards the women's restroom and she was going to help me get out of this outfit before sitting down to watch the tournament. But I'm a guy! I can't go into the women's restroom!

"Why are you making such a fuss about this! Man up!" Jeana kept whispering. "You've always looked like a girl anyway!"

Really that should have hurt my masculinity a lot more than it actually did. I've actually heard that my whole life, so right now it's nothing new. I just sort of got used to that fact. Just not enough to be cross-dressing and going into the women's restroom.

"I'm not going in there." I declared.

I had stood stubbornly on the same spot for the past five minutes already. I don't need to get in there to change. I just need to take off my tail. The tail is detachable, Jeana should know. She made this damn costume.

The only reason she wanted me to fully change must be because of what's in that bag she had been lugging around. I bet my head that this is all still part of her plan. She must have brought girls' clothes just for me to cross-dress into. I hate that she's having so much fun doing this.

Finally having enough, she dropped her bag and strode over to drag me in. I resisted valiantly but she hadn't been my gym mentor for nothing. My only advantage was that she's holding back because she might damage her precious, precious Rek'Sai costume that I'm wearing.

Still, the girl's a mountain of brute strength. With a firm tug on my arm and a push from my back, I staggered and stubbled forward. I was about to flail into the domain of the fairer sex when I tripped on her bag.

I squawked embarrassingly and was about to face-plant into the floor when I noticed something off. That didn't look like the floor. More like a big purple ellipse that shimmered and distorted reality at the edges. I fell right against it.

Except I didn't, I fell right into it.

As I passed the threshold of the ellipse, I felt a sudden surge, like electricity zapping through my body. Every nerve of my body felt as if it's alight in flames. Yet it didn't feel like pain. Still I screamed, the sensation was too much to me.

I heard Jeana screaming after me as I fell into a free-fall, still screaming myself. Then everything around me was oppressing darkness.

/* - */

Louise's earlier bravado had all but disappeared. Now in the actual heart of the event, the Springtime Familiar Summoning, she felt her resolve slip as time ticked by. All her classmates have already gone through their summoning. Why oh why was she last? Although the anticipation nearly drove her insane, her exterior expressed a firm almost stoic appearance.

Summon after summon, her hope dimmed as she saw all the wondrous creatures her classmates had summoned. There were ordinary cats, dogs, ravens, mice. There were exotic creatures like a salamander, and even a dragon. They say that the magical power of a summon deduced the magical potential of the master. So summoning a dragon was a huge achievement and also very rare. Jealousy didn't even begin to describe her feelings when she laid eyes on the dragon. Even if it looked young.

However, at this point she began entertaining thoughts of just keeping quiet, hoping against hope that Professor Colbert wouldn't remember or notice her. Maybe she could just slip away unnoticed, then secretly do the summoning in her own time later. That way, even if she failed, she wouldn't be failing in front of everyone.

"Now, have I left anyone out?" the voice of Professor Colbert rang out.

From a little further across the court of endless green grass, Professor Colbert could be seen surveying his students. With the afternoon sun illuminating everything vibrantly, his deceptively keen eyes picked out Louise amongst the students.

"Louise!" he called, adjusting his glasses a little as he did so.

Louise jumped, although she quickly recovered and composed herself.

Well, guess this is it. Louise thought. She took one calming breath and was about to stride to the front of the crowd when a voice called out to her.

"Good luck Vallière! You'll need it!"

Damn Zerbst! Louise would recognise that annoying voice anywhere. The moment she heard it, it brought to mind resentment, the incomparable distance between Zerbst's success and her own, or lack thereof. It reminded her of her failures and what an embarrassment she was compared to Zerbst. Zerbst is quite possibly the embodiment of everything Louise couldn't achieve. But she won't give in to her rival's mockery.

She continued towards Colbert at the front of the crowd. Next to him, is a wide space where everyone else had called forth their servant for life.

Upon reaching the designated area. She chanced a glance at her classmates and immediately regretted it. She could taste their mockery just by looking at them. The butterflies in her stomach that were just fluttering before now felt as if they were trying to create a hurricane.

However, there was no time to be rendered incapacitated just because she felt nervous or because she feared failure. She shut her eyes and remembered what she had been taught.

Remember the rule of steel! Louise concentrated on burying her emotions. Nothing can effect her, no quick witted jabs, no blatant insults. She will show no weakness, for she is as immutable as steel.

Following her thoughts, she felt her connection to her magic. The power to force change on the world around her through her will. She focused her thoughts to one thing only: summoning her familiar.

"You may begin your summoning Miss. Vallière." Colbert informed.

She needn't be told, but Louise nodded her acknowledgement respectfully anyway. Professor Colbert was one of the few, if not, the only teacher in this academy who didn't look upon her with condescending eyes.

She cleared her throat and took out her wand. Gathering her willpower, she chanted the summoning spell she had been taught. Her version of the chant had added phrases that she thought would help focus her willpower more efficiently in bringing her the perfect familiar.

Her classmates muttered amongst themselves upon hearing the altered chant. But Louise ignored them.

She felt her willpower drain a little as she cast. The drain wasn't much, it was a rather simple spell for such a significant part of her life as a mage. She didn't allow that to interfere with her concentration as she finished her chanting, jabbing out her wand while pronouncing the last syllable.

The students all flinched as one when she finished her casting. They feared the typical resulting explosion that she would produce from every spell she tried to cast. However, the explosion never came. Louise took this as a sign that her spells finally worked, or at least are failing less obnoxiously. She still held hope though, as this was the first spell where nothing exploded.

So she waited.

And waited.

And waited a little more.

Normally the time taken for the familiar to arrive after the chant would take no more than a few seconds. About half a minute had passed by now and it's pretty clear that her spell had failed, like the many that she had attempted to cast before.

No, no, no, no, please work! Something please happen! Despite reigning her emotions in firmly earlier, all of her nervousness, her doubts, and her fears spilt forth in that instant.

"Miss. Vallière-" Colbert began.

"No! Please! Let me try one more time! Please Professor Colbert!" Louise all but pleaded.

Looking quite like a parent giving in to a child's wish to 'play for five more minutes', Colbert nodded his consent.

Louise quickly concentrated again, her will as strong as steel even amidst her panicked state. She ignored all the hushed whispers and provoking comments of her classmates.

Her mind turned inwards, and all she heard was silence. She can't fail again. Not this time. This was her last chance.

She chanted again, this time her voice louder, clearer, filled with purpose. Every word she spoke, she believed in. Every phrase backed by what felt like never ending waves of her own willpower. She had never felt like this before. She had never so one with her spell. As if she knew every meaning and nuance to every letter in her chant.

As she neared the end of the spell, she poured everything into it. Her heart, her soul, she was willing to give it all. She will never be a failure again!

"Summon! Familiar!" Louise yelled the last part of her spell.

She jabbed the at the space in front of her with her wand and the air where she aimed seemed to compress and inwards, then expand outwards in a rush. It generated a gust of wind that flapped every student's capes and rippled the entire court's grass.

Again, there was no explosion, and the wind that whipped up only spoke of the amount of dedication Louise had put into the spell. The wind screeched passed everyone's ears, as if heralding what was to come.

The whole court suddenly fell silent, waiting with abated breath for what should be a fittingly dramatic follow-up.

Louise gritted her teeth, her hope hanging by a thread.

She waited...

No...no way. This is a nightmare. Louise's wand hand fell by her side dejectedly. So this is it.

The end of her mage career. Her life as a part of her family. As a person.

"Hah! What did I tell you? Once a Zero, always a Zero!"

"All that show, and for nothing!"

"Go home Zero! This is an Academy for mages!"

Her classmates piled on one after the other, launching insult after insult. But Louise couldn't care less. She'd failed. There's no more worth to her any more.

Louise clenched her hands and bit her lip, trying not to give in to tears while hardening her expression. If she's going to be expelled, she'd go out with dignity; what's left of it.

"Enough! I will not have my students devolve into animals who shun and abuse their own classmates!" Colbert abolished sharply.

His face softening to a more saddened expression and closed the distance between him and Louise. He put a hand on her trembling shoulders. His heart wrenched at the state of his poor student. He hated seeing any of his students in such emotional turmoil, especially one who dedicates herself to her study so furiously.

"I'm sorry, Louise." was all he could manage to say. He didn't know what else he could offer.

The Summoning was the mark of a mage, and to fail it can only mean that one was magic-less. At least, that is what was seen in the eyes of the common masses. Colbert could clearly see that Louise had magic in her blood, just no talent for applying it.

At this point, the only thing he could do was dismiss his class and take her to see the headmaster. As he was about to inform her of this, an ear-piercing, blood-curdling scream ripped through the entire academy grounds.(1) Everyone quickly covered their ears in distress and fright.

It was an inhuman scream like no other and everyone who heard it knew by some deep primal instinct: they are prey.

And the predator is here.

The screech echoed through the surrounding area long after the initial scream sounded. Birds can be seen flying away even in the distance, wings flapping desperately to get away. A burst of activity bustled in the nearby forest as other local wildlife also fled in alarm.

"What in Tristain was that?" Colbert wondered as he uncovered his ears and grasp his staff that he left leaning against him.

No sooner had he uttered those words the summoning area crumbled. It was as if there had been a large cavern beneath them and the scream cracked the ground; the roof of the underground cavern.

As the earth and grass gave way to the great hole, a purple pillar of light shot up from within it, reaching to the sky. It shone so brightly that even the sky seemed dim in contrast to the beacon.

Before anyone could make heads or tails of the current situation, the ground rumbled. The magnitude of the tremors grew stronger exponentially until it reached a point of climax. A huge beast of unknown origin burst up from the hole in the ground. It hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, then came crashing down in front of the students.

It was a fearsome looking creature with sharp teeth and mandibles. It didn't look to have any eyes, or a nose for that matter, which only brought it's chilling appearance up to another level. Its body was mostly blue and looked to be naturally armoured, like an exoskeleton. It has claws at the end of two front limbs and a single large claw at the end of each of the four legs further down it's body.

It looked like an oversized insect of some sort, if the insect was crafted in a nightmare that is. Every edge of the creature highlighted a new danger, especially that large curved spike protruding down it's back. It looked sort of like a shark's fin, though much crueller in appearance. All across it's body were purple undertones that glowed and pulsed with unknown energy.

After the shock, Louise slowly recovered. Observing more intently for the first time since laying eyes on the monster. Apart from it's ferocious appearance, it stood quite still, its head turning ever slightly, as if observing through invisible eyes...or listening for heartbeats. It's inactivity made it seem rather docile, however.

Wait. Could it be...? Louise knew she was desperate now, but there had to be a correlation right? She had just finished chanting her summoning spell, and now a creature appeared. Sure it might have took a lot longer than any of the other summoning, but why else would there suddenly be a creature here?

This is her familiar. She was sure of it. She took a step towards it.

"Miss. Vallière. I suggest you approach slowly to avoid spooking it." Colbert warned with great concern. His eyes had not removed themselves from the blue and purple creature since it's arrival. "I have not seen a creature the likes of that before, but I think it is your familiar. Go on now, I will be right behind you. You have nothing to worry about."

Slowly and cautiously, Louise inched towards the strange beast. As if sensing her approach, the creature turned it's head towards her and she stopped. No further action was taken by the beast, it was just content to study her.

Swallowing her fear, Louise slowly got closer to the creature until she was face to face with it. The creature didn't react and Louise took it as a good sign.

Up close, the beast looked even more terrifying and imposing. A lot of it contributed from it's sheer size, it was even larger than the young dragon her classmate had summoned!

"What are you?" Louise asked quietly in wonder.

Surprisingly, a raspy but feminine voice mixed with many clicks and clacks answered back.

"I'mhhh Rek'Saiii...Qhueen of the Xerrr'Saiii."

/* - */

(1) - vignette2.(wikia).(nocookie).(net)(/)(leagueoflegends)/images/b/b1/RekSai.(R1).(ogg)/revision/latest?cb=20150214025537

(Remove the brackets.)

/* - */

AN: Well that's it. I hope you have enjoyed it. Again, don't hold too much hope of me furthering this story much. Please do comment though and tell me your likes and dislikes of this idea. I won't be offended, it is after all just an idea I wanted to get out of my head. I haven't planned any further plot for it anyway.

Until next time.