Yurui The Cursed One

Captain Uden woke to the shrill chirping of her alarm and immediately regretted the decision to stay up so late the previous night. Her head throbbed like hell, and she felt so groggy that for several seconds she could barely remember why she'd set the damn alarm in the first place.

Right. The revolt.

Uden rubbed at her eyes and suppressed a groan. At that particular moment, she hated everything about the world, and knowing that most of her squad was about to march into her office and make her morning even worse did very little to improve her mood.

She fumbled across the nightstand until her fingers found the device and silenced it. Uden remained where she was for several seconds with one arm stretched over the mattress and her face half buried in the pillow. Her body seemed eager to pretend it was still asleep.

Eventually, she forced one eye open.

7:30.

Uden stared at the glowing numbers until they stopped blurring together.

Two hours. Two fucking hours.

Maybe two and a half, if she was being generous, which she wasn't. That would have felt unpleasant after a good week's sleep, and she hadn’t slept properly in a while now.

She pushed herself upright and rubbed both hands down her face.

In just thirty minutes, most of her squad was going to walk into her office and demand that she remove Alysa from her position as Vice Captain, if not outright fire her.

A wonderful way to start the already shitty morning.

Uden slowly dragged herself out of bed and picked up her clothes. The trousers went on first, followed by her shirt and jacket. She tightened her tie, checked the collar, then stood in front of the mirror and examined the whole outfit with the same scrutiny she would have given an officer reporting for inspection.

There was a shallow crease near her left hip.

Uden frowned and smoothed it away.

She looked at the mirror again, this time paying more attention to herself. Her eyes looked tired, but there was nothing she could do about that. The rest of her was immaculate, though. Her shirt was tucked evenly, her tie sat perfectly straight, the jacket fell cleanly over her shoulders, and there wasn't a visible wrinkle anywhere on the uniform.

She straightened the tie once more anyway.

Better.

Uden turned and walked out of her bedroom. She crossed into the small kitchen adjoining her suite and opened the refrigerator. For a few moments she considered making herself some massive feast as she was famished. Not surprising, really, considering that she hadn’t eaten properly in the past few days. Yet she hadn’t had any time to prepare anything substantial, so she had to settle for a yogurt while two slices of cheese toast browned beside her.

She finished the toast in a few quick bites, grabbed the yogurt and downed the last of it as she headed for the door, tugging her uniform sleeves into place along the way.

Uden stopped in the doorway and allowed herself one small flicker of satisfaction as she eyed her trousers. They were picture perfect, looking like fresh out of the factory. Staying up to iron the damned thing had been worth it after all.

Whatever else happened today, at least she wasn't going to face it looking like she'd just crawled out of bed after two hours of sleep.

By the time she stepped into the corridor, the fog in her head had mostly cleared, leaving her thoughts free to drift back to the problem waiting for her up ahead.

The Ninth was angry, and there was something deeply unsettling about one's own comrades being out for blood.

Uden stepped into her office and found one side of her desk buried beneath a pile of unfinished paperwork. She moved closer, already knowing what she was going to find before she picked up the first form. No signature. The next one was the same, and judging by the rest of the stack, Alysa had not touched any of it.

Uden let out a tired breath and dropped the document back onto the desk.

She really should have known better than to leave Alysa in charge of paperwork.

Other than her desk, the office itself was spotless, because as it turns out the cleaning staff had more care for maintaining order than her own Vice Captain ever did. Pale marble covered most of the walls, broken by narrow strips of precious metal and polished stone that nicely shone under the morning light. Even after years of working here, Uden still had a hard time coming to terms with the sheer luxury of it. Not that she had anything against luxury, but it felt like she was stuck in some temple rather than her own office. She would have rather preferred something more homey if it was up to her.

Miracle Inc. seemed to believe authority worked best when surrounded by enough luxury to make everyone else in the room feel insignificant.

Not that it mattered, she had more important things to attend to now. The ninth will be coming in at any moment. She’d better get some work done before that.

So she sat down behind her expensive wooden desk and pulled the nearest document toward herself and stared at the empty signature line.

Uden exhaled through her nose.

Leaving Alysa in charge of the paperwork had been her own decision, so she had no choice but to take some responsibility for this particular disaster. Still, she'd genuinely hoped Alysa might rise to the occasion. That was half the reason Uden had trusted her with it in the first place. She'd wanted to give Alysa a chance to prove that she could handle more responsibility without someone constantly looking over her shoulder.

Judging by the untouched stacks of paper, that faith had been somewhat misplaced.

Uden leaned back and closed her eyes.

That was the maddening part. Alysa wasn't useless. If she had been, Uden would have cut her losses and thrown her to the dogs.

To Alysa's credit, she was powerful enough to justify her position several times over. When shit hit the fan in the field, there were very few people Uden would rather have at the front.

She had never lacked the competence. The real problems were her attitude, temper, and the still-inconsistent control she had over her powers. If she ever managed to get those under control, and fixed her attitude a little, Uden could easily see her becoming a captain in her own right.

That would cost Uden some influence at first, naturally, but it would also open a brand new bag full of opportunities she didn't currently have. Having someone like Alysa rise through the ranks could prove far more valuable in the long run than keeping her at her own side like some lost dog no one else wanted.

Unfortunately, Alysa seemed to be hell-bent on alienating every single person around her, bar Uden. What frustrated Uden most was how little Alysa seemed to understand her own potential. If she ever learned to control herself properly and actually put some effort into making use of what she had, there was no telling how far she could go. Possibly farther than Uden herself, she might actually be one of the generation type of talent that surpasses even the likes of Maevis.

Uden rubbed at the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

She wasn’t told that she would have to deal with all this stuff when she got offered the job. All she wanted was a get-out-of-jail-free card. It worked out great for her, sure. But still, she never imagined having to sit in an office in the early morning, expecting her whole squad to rebel while contemplating as to how this whole situation had escalated completely out of hand.

Things used to be easier before. Simpler.

The good times were over now though.

Uden let her eyes close for a moment, only for exhaustion to pull her dangerously close to sleep. A sudden knock at the door snapped her awake, and she jerked upright hard enough to bang her knee against the underside of the desk.

"Fuck—"

The curse had barely left her mouth before years of drilled-in discipline took over. Uden straightened in her chair, smoothed her jacket, adjusted her tie by touch, and set both feet squarely beneath her.

Another knock came, louder this time.

"Come in."

Her voice sounded considerably more alert than she felt, and as much as she would have hated to admit it, she was still half asleep.

The door opened, and Bereth stepped inside without so much as a good morning.

So much for pleasantries.

Uden had expected better from them, if nothing else. Beneath the irritation, there was a genuine flicker of disappointment at how far things had deteriorated.