"I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers" – Christopher Lee

Deep within the confines of Tristain's Academy of Magic, a maid dreamed of greatness, of pillars of flame and thunderstorms that shook the world just like they would shake a ship out in the sea. Everybody dreamed, of course; it was meaningless if they were the highest of nobles or the lowest of the low. Some saw hidden meaning between the deer they have hunted and the cliffs they fell off. Others took their dreams at face value. Many a lord and baron have foiled the assassination attempts at their persons just because they were already once slain.

Dreams carried a grand meaning, even if the things within Siesta's were unknown to her. Things that looked like lutes and zithers, but sleeker and with sharper edges. Carriages of metal and flame that propelled themselves with no assistance from beasts of burden, by strange magic. Men and women of strangest proportions – some stocky and muscled, others gaunt and eerily sickly. There were demons too; their apparel nothing short of scandalous and off-putting. Through all this resonated a music unknown to Helkeginians; perhaps even to the elvenkind. It was rough, strong and bombastic; in a way no orchestra could achieve. It carried the strength of Metal, the passion of Fire, the trueness of Blood and the volume of Noise most glorious.

Her grandfather – a tall man who dressed himself in black leathers – called it "Heavy Metal". It seemed like a silly name to call a genre of music with to Siesta back then, and even now she wondered if there were others to call it with. She could think of a few: Dragon's Roar, Minotaur's Battle Cry, Triumphant March of the Victorious. Of course, as an ever-inquisitive granddaughter she once asked why call it like her grandfather called it. As he explained it, it was simple enough for everybody to understand. No one in her sleepy village of Tarbes had heard a dragon roaring, nor did they have to repel invading bullmen. Everybody, however, held something heavy and metal in their hands at least once; be it a length of blade, a piece of armor or even a simple rusted bucket.

Metal was strong and stalwart; and if it was heavy, one would need a deal of strength themselves to carry it… but again, everybody had once carried something of that essence. By his own admission, he was poor at explaining the concepts of his people – for he came from a distant place, far far away from Tristain – but it made a degree of sense to Siesta. Point was, Heavy Metal was the music of the people, regardless of class differences, regardless of wealth, of their status. It could inspire the most demoralized of armies, grant hope to those in despair, push ones at the vanguard to achieve deeds of great renown.

Her parents thought little of it, dismissing her grandfather's stories as the ramblings of a man long past his prime, something to fill the void after the death of Siesta's grandmother, who departed from this world before her birth. Out of all her siblings, it seemed the now-maid at the Academy was the one most enthused about the grandfather's exploits and tales. At his deathbed, he granted her his most precious of possessions – the oddly-shaped guitar that never left his side. It produced a pleasant murmur of a sound that soothed one's nerves and calmed the mind. She didn't have much time to practice playing it now that her duties demanded her constant attention, but every once in a blue moon, once everybody would sleep, she would tune it and strum it, caressing it with the same gentleness one would caress a newborn infant. It was, after all, her grandfather's legacy, and it would be most untoward to damage it.

And sometimes… she would hear from other staff or the students, marveling at the smooth sound carrying through the Academy. Some attributed it to the Headmaster Osmond, the old sage killing time with gentle tunes of an instrument, be it magical or otherwise. Others thought that it was the known Casanova of the school, Guiche du Gramont, trying to woo yet another fair lady with one of his many talents. Some – and those spoke in hushed whispers – even talked of a bound spirit that tried to communicate with the world of the living, lamenting its sorrow through the hauntingly beautiful melody.

"If only they knew", Siesta thought to herself with a small smile, hiding the guitar under her bed, where it rested safely. A rumble of an explosion in the distance would alarm her a year back or so, but these were almost a regular occurrence by now; the doing of one Louise Françoise Leblanc De La Vallière, also known as Louise the Zero among the student body. This malicious misnaming stemmed from just that – her inability to cast any form of magic. All attempts simply ended with explosions – which in Siesta's opinion was kind of impressive, honestly – earning her a lot of ire and disapproval among her peers. It was a shame, too; at the risk of sounding selfish, Louise was also one of the few nobles at school that treated her or the other stuff with any modicum of respect. With how her education went, it probably was only a matter of time before she would be forced to leave the Academy, regardless of the strength her family name carried.

Today was the day of the Springtime Familiar Summoning; a ceremony conducted by the second-years during which they would summon and a bind a familiar to their will. Seen as extensions of a Mage's will, these animals and beasts helped students in their endeavors, shielded them from harm and represented their good name. If there was any point of no return for the young Vallière, it would be now. Failure to summon even the most basic of familiars would no doubt exhaust the Academy's goodwill with her. That was how Siesta saw it.

At the same time, something told her that despite everything Louise would succeed this day. Any success, no matter how paltry, would keep her within the walls of the school. What Siesta didn't expect was the thunderous, distorted roar shortly after the explosion. The Dragon's Roar.

Against her better judgment, she rushed out of her room and headed for where the Familiar Summoning was taking place.

If somebody had told Louise Françoise Leblanc De La Vallière that she would despair at a spell going off right for once in her life before the Springtime Familiar Summoning, she would surely decry them as a madman. And yet… here she was.

It all began innocently enough. Not wanting to become a center of attention, she stood off to the side and let others summon their familiars first. The blond fop summoned a mole; fitting for an Earth Mage. The lascivious Germanian strumpet summoned a salamander; no small feat. The quiet bookworm from Gallia did one better and summoned a rhine dragon. There was plenty of variety between the familiars.

For the tiniest of moments, Louise believed that she might slip through the class unnoticed. "Now then, has anyone not summoned their Familiar yet?" Called the voice of the teacher, one Jean Colbert.

"There's still Zero, professor." The red-haired hussy, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst, crooned, arousing a number of snickers among the class. The pinkette shrank a little on her spot. "Granted, perhaps it's for the best she doesn't try, or someone might get hurt in yet another explosion~"

"That is enough, Miss Zerbst." Colbert replied sternly, a steel look quickly silencing any dismissive giggles. "Miss Vallière, if you please."

"Y-yes, professor…" Well, there went an attempt at trying to hide in the crowd. So far not much had came out of her education at the Academy; whatever magic she attempted it would end up with a bang and yet another wave of jeers. No. Not this time. This time she would dazzle them all with the grandeur of her spell. By Brimir's balls, she was a Vallière, daughter of Karin the Heavy Wind, the most powerful Wind Mage in Tristain's recent history! Scratch that, in the recent history of all Helkeginian Kingdoms! Her father was an accomplished Mage as well, and so were her elder sisters.

She would succeed, or else the label of Zero would stick to her like leprosy. She was enough of an embarrassment to her family as it was. Failing the summoning would just cinch it. Taking a deep breath, she began chanting.

The strange discordant tones suddenly rumbling in her head she dismissed as stress. "My servant, that exists somewhere in this vast universe! My beautiful, strong, splendid servant! I am Louise Françoise Leblanc De La Vallière, calling from the bottom of my heart. By the Pentagon of Five Elemental Powers, heed my call and answer my summoning!"

The very moment Louise's wand moved and her chant finished, the Academy was rattled with the explosion not yet seen. The sheer scale, the volume, the raw power… Colbert did a wise thing creating the fire wall between the summoning circle and the curious students. Despite that, quite a few of them were bowled away nevertheless in various states of disarray; the Gallian bookworm thought the same thing with her hastily-conjured wall of ice. Her familiar was quick on the uptake too, shielding students and familiars alike with its wings.

Miraculously, it appeared that Louise herself was unharmed beyond the minor damage to her hair and uniform. She was however stuck in an expression that wasn't sure if it was meant to portray unbridled horror, pure shock or bitter disappointment. All three, probably. Frozen like a statue, she stared at the clouds of dust and debris slow to disperse. Of course, there was no real need for them to disperse. If anything, she begged they would take their sweet time. Either she failed the summoning or, worse, she did just kill her familiar in the ensuing explosion. Both of these notions were horrifying, one more than the other, but the conclusion was the same. She was a Zero, after all.

The courtyard exploded a moment later, though this time it was only metaphorically. Brimir's balls, Louise'd rather it would blow up to smithereens instead.

"Are you trying to kill us, Zero?!"

"Told you this would happen! You owe me twenty Écu!"

"Just give it up, Zero! You're a lost cause!"

"Maybe she's not even a Noble at all, but some Upstart Commoner?!"

Colbert was about to break up this frankly cruel string of insults before something else brought everybody else's attention: a sharp, distorted sound from the epicenter of the explosion. It worked wonders; not only did everybody's attention was at the summoning circle, Louise snapped out of her stupor as the disappointment and shock gave way to – currently cautious – optimism. So she did summon something, after all! She wasn't a Zero! Now to see just what she had summoned…

A voice called out from the dust cloud. Male, fairly deep, and-wait, wait a second. Did she summon a talking familiar?! That… that was incredible! Just what kind of splendid creature did she summon?! The faint murmur from behind, from her peers, was one of admiration too, admiration and disbelief. Serves them right, undermining her efforts at every step! The one problem Louise noticed was that the words her familiar spoke were not of any language she knew. Perhaps the beast was from so far away that it did not speak Helkeginian languages?

Then, however, the smoke had finally dissipated and Louise's heart sank.

Her familiar… was human. He was tall and broad-shouldered – more of a Germanian barbarian than a Tristanian knight – with long black hair falling on his shoulders and a small patch of hair likely meant to be a beard. Dressed in black and in a fashion that Louise wouldn't attribute even to a commoner, he carried both a double-edged axe and a strange long lute on his back.

…she didn't just summon a commoner. She summoned a filthy Germanian skald. Just sort of staring blankly at the man she was supposed to deal with for the entirety of her stay at the Academy – and then further ahead in life – Louise didn't register the man speaking again. The jeers came back in full force, and each got to her more than the last. She might have not seen it, but the man's brows furrowed at what was a pretty clear-cut case of bullying. He pointed at Colbert and spoke – in a heavily accented Albionian – his mind on the matter. "Crassly, but truly", the professor observed grimly as he turned his attention to the jeering crowd.

"I said that's enough." He spoke in a tone of absolute authority, voice cold as ice; completely at odds with his runic name of Flame Serpent. "Regardless of whom Miss Vallière has just summoned, this gives neither of you any right to make light of her success. Miss Zerbst, Miss Montmorency, I will be seeing the two of you after this class." He gestured at the two forebearers of the jeers, much to their apparent surprise and paleness. "I will not tolerate any further bullying. Now…" Colbert looked at the summoned man – who gave a begrudging nod, mighty arms folded on his chest – and then at Louise, his voice turning softer. "Miss Vallière, please bind your familiar."

"What? Y-yes, of course…" Her first instinct was to deny, to ask for another go. A commoner as a familiar? Her familiar? Why, it almost felt more embarrassing than if she just summoned nothing at all. Already was her mother disappointed with her progress. To show this hairy boor, let alone at the familiar exhibition, as her own? She'd rather just combust on the spot.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this…" She looked up at the man grimly. "humble being, and make him my familiar." Now was the hard part; kissing the Brimir-damned barbarian. It wasn't even the fact she didn't feel particularly inclined to do it; the man was truly a mountain of muscle she wouldn't reach even when standing on her tiptoes. With an authoritative frown, she gestured for the skald to lean down. The faint amusement on the man's face only served to agitate Louise further, but at least he understood that much and did as ordered. "Stupid commoner… you should consider yourself lucky." She grumbled as they now faced each other. The man was pretty handsome, she had to admit that, but he was still a filthy Germanian skald. Besides, she had a betrothed already.

Summoning her courage she closed in for a ceremonial kiss, but then there was a big Germanian hand right in front of her, stopping her advance. "H-hey! Unhand me, you foul dog! How dare you mistreat a noble like that?!" The man, not as bothered about a pink-haired snot sputtering indignantly in French as he thought he would be, looked up at Colbert and asked another question. The teacher replied accordingly, causing Louise's familiar to grouse with displeasure before he shook his head and let go off his new… Master, apparently. Oh boy. Try explaining that to folks back home, once he got home.

If. "Are you done throwing a fit, you lousy commoner mongrel? Good. Now hold still…" The pinkette grumbled before sealing the contract with a simple kiss. The Familiar runes thus etched themselves onto the left arm of one Eddie Riggs, the savior of the Age of Metal, the half-demon slayer of demons and the asskicker extraordinaire.

Though nobody present in the room could have known this, Helkeginia was about to change radically; and it would do so with a thundering applause of Heavy Metal.

Siesta did not know who the man Louise had just summoned as her familiar was, but something in her heart fluttered with joy. She could not place it anywhere, but somehow… somehow things would be okay now.

Oh boy. Here I go starting another fic.

I had ZnT on my mind for quite some time now – I blame Zulu Squad no Tsukaima – and it's about time I pour some of the ideas I had in mind on virtual paper. Others included OC's – such as Kirche's little brother, a crippled girl from another world and a non-emotive merc from the same world as the cripplegirl, the RED Team of TF2 fame and a selection of D&D one-shots of Louise summoning various Monster Manual critters.

Eventually decided on this. Other fics of mine are not dead, though I've been having trouble putting thought into them, which is why I started this as something slightly more relaxing. As always, feel free to review, comment and suggest ideas.