Beautiful Four

This chapter will be shorter, as its sole purpose is to give a little more flesh to each of Drake's Goddesses. Hope you enjoy!

Colette was the first to rise from her slumber, the soft glow of the morning sunrise piercing the curtains and splaying across her bed. With a soft grumble, she lifted herself from her pillow. Upon fully waking, she felt her face burn with blush.

"He kissed me... well my forehead anyway... but still. I'm guessing that's why I fell asleep. I wish he would have warned me... but I guess he was nervous without Cthulhu with him." She said, ending her sentence with a slight giggle.

"Good morning, Lady Colette." Came a small voice from near Drake's bed.

Gullveig's furry cloak shifted as she leaned her head back in a yawn. The tiny girl smiled at Colette as she removed her hood, her light brown hair bobbing in a strange, soft rhythm.

"Good morning, Goddess Gullveig. I hope you slept well." Colette responded.

"Well, I don't sleep... there's really no need, plus it feels nice to protect the Master while he sleeps." She said cheerily.

"Oh? Just you? Or do the others simply choose to sleep?" She asked.

She nodded.

"I don't like sleeping... I feel like it's a waste of time." She said.

"So you can stay awake without any problems at all?" Colette asked.

"That's right! We all can, but the others sleep next to Drake because it makes them feel closer to him." She laughed.

"You don't?" Colette asked.

"Nope, I like the relationship I have with Drake. I've never felt the need to deepen it or anything." She smiled.

At this moment, Drake stirred, pushing himself up from his bed and looking around the room. His brown hair had become disheveled from his tossing and turning.

He gave Gullveig a look that she responded to immediately, moving from Colette's bed back to his. He gave her a soft tap on the head, and then did the same with the other Goddesses beside him.

The four nodded in response, and Cthulhu, who had taken a spot in the corner at the back of the room, stood and moved over to Drake.

"Colette... I'm going to check on the others and make sure their first night went alright. My Goddesses will stay here with you, but Cthulhu's coming with me, just on the off chance that something unexpected happens." He said.

Cthulhu nodded, then disappeared as he returned to Drake. The others nodded in affirmation, moving away from the bed.

"Sorry to leave you alone so soon, but I want to make sure everything is okay with them... besides... I also need to talk to Yui about something." He said.

Without giving her a chance to respond, he slipped through the dorm door, calling back behind him: "If you want, you could get to know my girls, it'd probably help to be able to trust them when you need them."

With that, she was alone with them. They smiled not uncomfortably to her, awaiting any words for them that she might have.

"Well... I suppose getting to know you four would probably be a good idea." She said. "So is there anything important to come that you four could clue me in on?" She continued.

"Well... I'm sure you're curious as to why Drake had you strip down so he could look at you." Pandora said.

When Colette nodded, the four Goddesses howled with laughter.

"Yeah I thought so! I bet it was a little weird, and he didn't really explain it all too well... so why don't we do so on his behalf?" Gaia giggled. "Girls!"

With a flash, their night gowns returned to their previous sets of clothing. Gaia and Pandora redonning their strangely revealing dresses, with Khione and Gullveig now wearing their armor and fur coat, respectively.

"You see, there are four roles that a Spirit Hunter on a team can fill." Gaia explained.

"With the four of us... Drake can technically fill all roles. I'm the Vanguard." Gaia said. "When using me, Drake will attempt to flank an opponent and deal damage to them from the side or behind." She finished.

"With me... Drake takes on a Support role, using my abilities to assist Drake's allies during a fight." Pandora said.

"I serve as a Tank, when he and I fight together. Tanks are meant to draw the attention of a Spirit and to either eliminate it with powerful frontal attacks, or to distract it long enough for the Vanguard to take care of it." Khione explained.

"And finally, I work alongside Drake as a Mage! As I'm sure you realized from seeing my Equalizer, Mages use ranged attacks to inflict damage from a distance. But, despite the name, Mages don't always use magic attacks." Gullveig said.

"I see... so... that's the kind of things that we'll be doing under him... that still doesn't really explain why he had me nearly naked." Colette said.

"Simple!" Gaia said. "By understanding your body types, he'll be able to get a feel for what role suits each of you best."

"Oh! So he's trying to better understand our physical abilities to try and guide us to the right role!" Colette sighed.

The Goddesses smiled, looking to each other with amusement.

Several hours passed, but Drake was still absent much to Colette's surprise. He HAD sent her a message on her tablet, but even still, she wondered what he was doing that took so much time.

The Goddesses had gone back to lounging lazily on their bed, fully miring themselves in the worst aspect of their Master.

Colette looked over them individually, admiring just how utterly breathtaking each of them were, even as slothful as they were being.

A thought crossed her mind that, even when actively attempting to ignore, she couldn't get out of her head.

"Drake said something before his fight about you three bickering." She said, directing her statement towards Khione, Pandora, and Gaia.

They smiled to each other, before addressing the question.

"Well... Drake typically works with one of us at a time when he fights... so sometimes it can get to be a while before we get to stretch our legs in a fight." Pandora explained.

"Oh... a part of me thought that it was you three fighting for his affection or something." Colette giggled.

Only two of the Goddesses laughed in return. Khione, however, turned a bright scarlet.

Pandora howled, slapping Khione across the back, and sending her hair splaying across her face.

"Wait... Khione?" Was the only response that Colette could muster.

"Khione's had a huge crush on Drake since the day she met him... it's honestly really cute." Gaia said.

"Gaia! Please..." Khione moaned softly.

Gaia and Pandora giggled ceaselessly, and even Gullveig had her hands over her mouth, trying her best to conceal a snicker.

Colette pressed her fingers against her lips, trying to find the strength to hold in laughter of her own.

The door opened, and Drake stepped inside, his face covered with a mixture of concern and disappointment.

All but Khione fell silent, allowing the room to be filled with the sound of her soft sobbing.

"Khione... come here." He said quietly.

She leapt up and threw herself against him. Gaia and Pandora looked genuinely surprised that they had managed to hurt her feelings, but seemed at least remorseful.

As he shushed Khione's sobbing, he looked to them.

"Apologize." He said.

With that simple command, they flanked Khione, wrapped themselves around her, and planted two, small, gentle kisses on her cheek.

"We're sorry, Sister... we should have been more considerate towards your feelings." They said in unison.

The sounded remorseful as well, and even Gullveig pushed her way into the mix, although her height only permitted her to kiss Khione on the jaw.

They separated after continuing their embrace for another moment. Khione looked decidedly more happy than before, although Colette wondered if that may have been due to Drake holding her so close.

"It's amazing that you can get them to be so friendly towards one another." She said.

"You think so? I made them each agree to treat each other like family if they wanted to form a Contract with me." He said with a smile.

"I think it was a good choice." Khione said, now back to her slightly more stoic self. "No matter what happens, we can always look back and remember that we chose to be a family, rather than just a bunch of Goddesses who happened to be Contracted with the same Master." She said.

"I agree! It's like having a bunch of older sisters and an older brother." Gullveig added.

Pandora and Gaia nodded in agreement, throwing their arms around each other's shoulder.

"Colette, the Elections will be starting at 9, so you have a little while to get a bath if you'd like." Drake said.

"Oh! Yes please." She said.

"Alright, the bath is on the first floor, just next to Asha's desk. I'll send a request to have her get you a fresh set of towels, so while I'm doing that, you should send a request for the staff to wash your clothes." He said.

"What about you, Instructor?" She asked.

He sighed, holding up a piece of paper. Although the print was rather small, she could manage to read one line.

[The students belonging to the Third Year Class of the Japan Branch of Ivoria have selected you, Drake A. Greymoor, to serve as their Representative for this School Year.]

Colette looked at the line over and over again.

"They chose you... even though you threatened to... you know." She said.

"Indeed they did... apparently someone managed to convince them that I wouldn't follow through... they were wrong." He said.

"You're actually going to hunt them all down? How do you think you'll manage?" She asked.

He winked in response.

"You'll see... although... this'll be as much for you girls as it is for me." He said. "Anyway, go! I need to get ready." He said.

She quickly sent her request through her tablet, and sprinted from the room.

"Ah... alright girls, let's get ready to go." He said.

"What do you have planned, Drake? I'd recognize that grin on your face from a mile away." Pandora said.

"Get in... you'll understand once we're on the way." He said.

"This idea is perfect... after all."