#drabble: lulu adamson

[fallroute]

GLEAMING SWORD BRÍSINGAMEN

A young girl laid on her stomach on the bed in her hotel room, kicking her legs back and forth in the air as she watched the current news on her tablet. It was talking about the recent explosion in an abandoned building, which was said to have been caused by Noise.

It seemed there was a lot of Noise activity lately, even though there hadn't been any recent sightings. She'd picked the worst time to come visit Japan, it seemed. All because she wanted to see all of what Tokyo had to offer, and therefore was here... at the worst time.

"Noise, huh? I wonder if their structure can be analyzed." Sitting up on her knees, she turned the tablet off and put it under her pillow before getting off the bed. It'd been morning for about two hours, and all she had done after showering and getting clean clothes on was watch random shows and then the tail end of a news report about the recent Noise attack. Well, she should probably go out and look around for a bit.

Making sure to lock her room door once she exited, she put her keys in the messenger bag she was carrying and headed out, making sure to exchange out her indoor shoes for outdoor ones when she was at the entrance. After heading out of the hotel, she started to walk down the street and wondered what she would do today.

For a few hours, she checked local stores, played a few games at the Arcade, was surprised to see they had a lot of CDs in stock at the store so bought a few of the singer, Tsubasa Kazanari. Once it turned to at least 1pm, Lulu decided it was time to buy some lunch.

Finding a row of vending machines and a few tables, Lulu stared at them for a minute before noticing they had katsu sandwiches in a vending machine. Curious, she decided to buy one of them. It wasn't easy to get the paper bill in the money slot, but it finally took and Lulu pressed the number 3 button and then the okay button. As it vended her sandwich, she got the change out of the change return part and put it in her messenger bag with the rest of her money.

Once she had her sandwich, she moved over to the drink vending machine and stared at the options. Noting the milk tea, she decided she'd try that and put in the required amount. However, she had to temporarily bring over a chair to be able to push the button for the drink, as it was higher than she was.

After putting the chair back and retrieving her drink and change, she sat down at the table and opened the box containing her sandwich. It had a small package on the outside, taped to the box, which she removed and set aside carefully. Once the stickers securing the box were broken, Lulu opened it to see a fortune message.

Two stars, and...

"Your adventure begins today, with yellow and blue." Strange. Giving a shrug, she continued to open the box to reveal the sandwich, carefully wrapped up, and a packet containing a wet wipe for her hands. It was really convenient. Opening the wrapped sandwich, her eyes widened a little.

"Oh.... That's so cute." It was a half a sandwich side each, cut into three. Taking a square, Lulu bit into it and ate it. The taste was... actually really good. With the test bite done after a few minutes, she opened her milk tea after setting down that sandwich bit and took a small sip.

It was a different taste, but one she didn't seem to mind. For about twenty-five minutes, Lulu sat there, eating her food and drinking her bottled milk tea before finishing and putting the trash in the proper places. The package of goodies ended up in her messenger bag, and she started down the path again after making sure her chair was pushed in.

However, as she started to leave the area, something landed on the ground and slid towards her. A pinkish pendant, it looked like. Picking it up, she noticed a young girl with blonde hair lying on the floor, with a woman who had brown hair with blue underneath standing there with a creepy grin.

Yellow and blue.

Was this what her fortune meant?

"Oh?~" The woman with the creepy grin looked at Lulu, who was standing there staring at the scene and holding the pendant. "Is this why you were running from me?"

"N-no! Please, you need to run!" The blonde-haired girl said, reaching up. Noise were starting to close in, having been summoned by the woman with the creepy grin. "Hurry! Get the pendant to the girl at the vending machines!"

Girl at the vending machines? She was literally the only one there. Glancing back at where she'd come from, she held up the pendant and felt her heart skip a beat. Setting her messenger bag down, she stared at the woman with the creepy grin and the girl laying on the ground.

The Noise were close. Words came to her almost in an instant, as if her heart was telling her what she needed to say.

"Valhimmel Brísingamen tron ...~"

In a flash of light, Lulu's clothes were replaced by a long, sleeveless and backless shirt that was more like a turtleneck shirt, a skirt with shorts underneath and various bits of armor over her arms, legs and around her neck. Her shoes were more like boots now, and a melody began to play that she didn't seem to recognize.

The slot on her left leg's armor opened up, shooting out a sword that formed itself into a greatsword. Catching it, curious as to how she could hold it without toppling over, Lulu took a test swing and caught two Noise in it. The Noise turned to carbon almost immediately. Moving herself forward with a couple steps, she cut down a couple more Noise and then moved out of the way of one that attacked. Using this as an opening, she sliced it apart.

Was this her adventure?

The Noise were whittled down to nothing, leaving her and the woman. With a "tch!", the woman threw down a pink bottle of some sort and told her to actually sing next time before leaving. A sound told Lulu the effect was over, and she was returned to normal. Running over to the girl, she helped her up and retrieved her messenger bag.

"I'm sorry about that. Here, you can have it back." She held out the pendant and the girl shook her head.

"No, but... I'd like to ask if you'd come with me. Since you're the owner of that now." The girl said. As if on cue, someone landed behind her. Turning to face the newcomer, she noticed, after looking up, that it was a brown-haired man wearing a suit with a soft smile on his face.

"Don't worry. We'll get you and Elfnein back to base safely." The man said. Lulu blinked, before being carted off to a submarine...

#drabble: gleaming sword brísingamen #drabble: lulu adamson

[fallroute]

WARNINGS FOR: ABUSE, DROWNING, BULLYING

"You think you're so cool because you got to skip to high school?"

Lulu looked up at them, the five bullies who had cornered her in the bathroom. She'd gone in here to just wash her hands and then head to her next class, but they'd taken it as a chance to gang up on her. The main bully, a girl with long, messy red hair and brown eyes, with a tan so fake you thought she was an orange, huffed and folded her arms against her chest.

"We'll show you not to turn your nose up just because you're a 'kid'."

One of the other girls, a short, mousy-haired girl with glasses and a fake tan as well, grabbed Lulu by the hair and started to drag her towards the stall. Another girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but wasn't sporting a fake tan, had her phone out as she recorded what was happening.

Lulu struggled. She tried her best to fight, despite the pain in her head. Grabbing her by the scalp once she was dropped near the toilet, the mousy-haired girl dunked her head in and held her there.

"Yeah! Drown the bitch!" The redhead jeered. "We'll show you what happens when you fuck with us, you stupid whore!"

Lulu continued to struggle, trying to get her head out. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe--

"Drown her!! Drown her!!" Came the chants, muffled from the fact her head was underwater. Lulu kept struggling, letting out air and choking on the water. Every time she did, her lungs filled with water instead. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe--

With one last attempt, Lulu tried to break free but was unable to. She let out the last breath she had, watching as her world went black.

Is this really it? She thought to herself as her vision faded. Oh... I guess it is. I just wanted.... to make my Mom happy so I could get a hug from her....

The girls jeered as Lulu's body went limp, the one recording the video having stopped once she stopped struggling and uploading the video with the title "Whoring Bitch gets what she deserves" onto a video website. They left the bathroom, leaving the body there.

"Oh, you poor, sweet child." A woman with long white hair, bright blue eyes wearing a long white dress decorated with silver armor appeared. "You've fought bravely for the love of a parent who doesn't care about you... You just wanted to make her happy."

Kneeling down next to the body, she pulled it out and held it, water staining her white dress. "I will give you a second chance."

----

An ambulance was called and the girls who had uploaded the video were arrested and charged with attempted murder, facing years of jailtime. Lulu was in a coma for several months, and brain activity was low.

Her mother didn't arrive.

The woman appeared again, walking over to her and brushing her hair aside. "I know it's difficult to come back after what happened to you, but you must. This isn't the end for you, Lulu Adamson."

Lulu groaned, opening her eyes just a bit. Staring at the woman, she blinked slowly before closing her eyes again. The woman sighed gently, sitting next to her and putting her hand over Lulu's. "I know your mother is negligent, and that's who you're waiting for to wake up, but I will be here until you do. No one can see me, or hear me except for you."

---

A year passed, and Lulu finally opened her eyes. She, with extreme difficulty, sat up to see the woman sitting there. Her mother, after all this time, hadn't come to see her? But she'd been good...

She got into high school early, she was going to graduate soon, wasn't she?

"Welcome back."

"....I...." She couldn't find the words to say anything, so lowered her head slightly. The woman reached over to put a hand on her shoulder. Warmth spread through her as the woman did that, giving Lulu the strength she needed to find the words.

"....I want my mom... Why isn't Mom here?" Tears filled her eyes. "Why... why am I alone?"

"I know it's hard when a parent isn't here. But I will always be with you. You are of my kin, after all." The woman smiled a little, reaching over to hug her. The warmth was... comforting to Lulu, who started to sob uncontrollably.

"I will always be with you...."

-----

When Lulu finally returned home, two months after waking from her coma, she found her mother sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating potato chips. She didn't even acknowledge Lulu had come home, instead just ignoring her. A frown crossed Lulu's face as she headed over to the stove to start cooking herself something to eat. Once she got something to eat, she washed her dishes and put them in the drainer, going to her room.

The next day, she went directly to school after making herself a lunch. Most of the people there were surprised to see her alive and well after seeing the video. They had all figured she would never wake from the coma, so she was bombarded with a million questions.

School life returned to normal not long after that, and Lulu graduated from high school, applying to college and getting through that as well. If she could get her mother to acknowledge her, by becoming the youngest college graduate ever, she would be happy.

But her mother never did....

#drabble; lulu adamson #content warning #abuse cw #death cw #drowning cw #bullying cw