AlterMyth - A Hololive Fanfiction

At All Costs

Prologue

Thick fog rolled in through the streets of London, England at half past midnight. A pair of horse carriages stopped in front of the wrought iron gates of the Occidental College for Young Ladies. Ophelia Lowry stepped out of the foremost car and bid her friends - and her six trusty bodyguards - farewell. We'll meet up at the hotel when I'm done here , she promised her companions. Then, she watched them disappear into the dark city streets.

Ophelia stood alone under the light of an electric street light that flickered intermittently on and off. Once the two carriages were out of sight, her fake, frail smile crumbled into a frown and she sauntered into the campus. Her mind was riddled with thoughts.

All of the things that she had seen and heard on the RMS Teutonic and in Bordeaux, France haunted her and shook her to the core. The absence of the continent-wide investigation by Scotland Yard also sent a chill up her spine.

Something was amiss in the world - and Ophelia couldn't help but feel like its roots ran uncomfortably closer to home than she first thought.

If anyone had any clue about what that strange oddity was, Ophelia deduced, then it would be her father - the Chief of Police of Scotland Yard, her father, as well as the chairman of the Occidental College board.

Mr. Steven Lowry.

Ophelia knew for a fact that her father's office in the College was his home-away-from-home and that he spent more time there than in Scotland Yard and at their Bedfordshire home combined. Whatever strange oddities were manifesting were sure to catch her father's eye. Any records he had about it would be stored there in the Occidental College.

She sauntered through the front gates and slipped past the night watch under the cover of darkness. She went over to the quadrangle garden and the willow tree at its heart and then reached into a small hollowed out hole in the trunk hidden behind the thicket. She was looking for a brass copy of the Occidental College's master key.

Suddenly, her heart sank. It wasn't there!

Dejected, she pulled her hand out of the hollowed out trunk and looked at her empty hand. No one else was supposed to know where she kept that key - not even her most trusted lackeys.

All of the sudden, Ophelia felt a presence looming behind her. She whirled around to face the presence and prepared herself to fight. However, in the blink of an eye, she found the blade of a British Army saber inches away from her throat.

Ophelia's entire being trembled and she dared to look up at the shadowy swordsman. Then, she gasped.

"Professor Watson?"

"Lady Lowry?" Amelia's uncle, Dr. John H. Watson lowered his saber and he sheathed it back into his walking cane. He lent Ophelia a hand, "I apologize, but I didn't expect you to be back from France so soon."

Ophelia took Dr. Watson's hand and let him help her up to her feet.

"Midnight trains and clipper cargo ships." The aristocrat explained and dusted off the dirt and leaves from her dress, "The cruise liners wouldn't take my chequebook. The customs officers nearly didn't accept my passport - or the passports of my friends and guards. Until I threatened to get my father involved. That shut them up."

"The rumours say that you and your friends are dead." Dr. Watson revealed with a frown, "French news reports about your exploits on the high seas never made it to England."

"And yet here I am in the flesh, Dr. Watson." Ophelia stood defiant.

"Indeed. It is a fortunate error. You are still a student of mine, Lady Lowry. Just like Amelia. It's good to see you alive and well."