A/N: So, after posting the first installment to the ShesKain shenanigans, I got feedback wondering if there would be more, and had to continue the story. Everyone has been asking about the reunion after the Promised Day, but the next logical step in my thinking was WHAT THE HECK was Sheska doing during the Promised Day. We will get to the reunion, I promise.

I can't believe that I got so much feedback for 'anyone plain can be lovely', this little self-indulgent fic that I honestly thought no one would read. Thank you so much for all the Kudos, comments, and anon messages I've gotten about this! I honestly thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy this installment!

Sheska had come very close to calling in sick on the Promised Day, for the sole purpose of watching the upcoming solar eclipse.

She hadn't, of course, known that there was any reason other than the eclipse that her day would be special.

It had taken her longer than she would admit to convince herself that it would be irresponsible to do such a thing. Besides, she could always sneak away and watch it from the roof, or in one of the abandoned offices. No one would miss her; it was the best compromise that she could think of.

The bespectacled brunette felt as though she had done some maturing in the months since Kain Fuery had been transferred from Central command, and she'd lost the only friend she had known up until that point.

Her mother was still ill and in the hospital, though the nurses finally gave in to Sheska's relentless visits, and, so long as she disinfected properly, she was able to visit and help with the rehabilitating. The time was cherished, and every time she said goodbye to her mother, she feared it was for the last time.

She had thrown herself into getting her hands on any information about her mother's condition, so she could possibly give suggestions to the doctors about what they could try for her treatments.

But Sheska had also stopped spending as much time in the library as she had before.

When her coworkers invited her out, she went. She had realized the value of friendship, and though she hadn't found another relationship that was as comfortable or as close as the one she shared with Kain, she was hungry for more.

She started visiting Mrs. Hughes and her beautiful daughter Elicia, something that she really should have done a lot sooner than she did. Though, sweet as she was, Mrs. Hughes was elated to see her when she explained who she was, and what had brought her there.

She had even started taking advantage of the gym facilities that she had access to at Central, and was able to lift more than a few books without her arms getting sore.

As for Kain, Sheska had sent him long and detailed letters every week. She never got any responses, but she figured he was either too busy to have time to write but hopefully enjoyed reading them, or they weren't being delivered. She seriously hoped it was the former.

Sheska refused to believe anything worse had happened.

"Morning, Sara!" Sheska chirped as she walked into their shared office, having more of a fond appreciation for her gossipy coworker now that she'd actually taken the time to get to know her.

Sara smiled over her cup of coffee, "I'm surprised you came in today, we were taking bets on you calling off so you could watch the eclipse."

Sheska laughed, cheeks reddening. "I – well, I thought about it, honestly. I was hoping you could cover me for a little bit so I can go take some notes."

Sara rolled her eyes and waved her hand in the air, "Fine. But you owe me."

"Okay, I'm just going to go scope out an abandoned office, I'll be right back."

The halls were more deserted than she had ever seen them, and so, Sheska found herself an abandoned office in the giant fortress, with a wall of windows that faced out into the city. Her plan was to set up a little station so that she could sneak away as quickly as possible when the time for the eclipse came, but she didn't quite get that far.

What she certainly didn't expect to come from her morning was to hear sirens and gunshots.

Paralyzed by fear, but also propelled by curiosity, she ducked down but continued to look out the window. There wasn't much to see, and she turned back to the center of the room, back to the wall as she weighed her options.

What exactly was going on? What was she expected to do in such a situation where she had no information? She probably should have made her way back to her office, but the Central Command was a large building, and she wasn't sure what she would run into along the way.

Sheska was unsure for how long she sat there, trying to make up her mind, but the gunshots sounded as if they were getting closer and closer, and then –

BOOM.

She squinted, leaping up to look out the windows again.

Was that a tank?!

She needed to make some sort of move, and chances were that whatever was going on, it was happening outside the fortress walls.

Which really didn't make her feel better about the civilians who were going to get caught in the crossfire, but at least she could try to get back to her office and figure out what was going on.

Steeling herself, the brunette pushed her glasses up her nose and pushed herself off the floor, across the room, and out the door.

The hall was deserted, which wasn't particularly surprising, but as she turned around the corner, she ran right smack into something solid that had her stumbling backwards.

Blinking the stars out of her eyes, Sheska was incredibly surprised to see Sara, who clutched at her uniform jacket.

"Sheska! Everyone is looking for you! There's been a coup, we're under attack!"

Even though she had pretty much pieced that all together, hearing the words aloud startled her almost as much as the blast of the canons. Her jaw dropped, "What!"

"We don't have all the information, but I think it's the Briggs soldiers. We need to get somewhere safe, now."

"Shouldn't we – shouldn't we try to help?!"

Well, as much help as she could provide having no formal combat training, no medical training, and no skills other than transcribing, alphabetizing, and colour coding. It wasn't exactly like she could paper cut someone to death.

"Yeah, sure, let's go get right into the heart of the action! You've shot a gun before, right?" Sara rolled her eyes in the way only she could, and ploughed on without giving her time to answer, "Don't waste time. We're going to set up a station for the wounded in the operations center. We can help the military doctors."

"I – yeah, okay! I'm coming; I know just the thing that can help."

"Okay, hurry!"

The two girls nodded at each other, and each took off running in different directions down the hall.

Sheska had a tendency to panic in stressful situations. The only thing that could ever calm her down in such situations were her books. The irrational and panicking part of her brain was telling her that the least they could do is have a few medical books handy.

Bursting into her intended archive room, Sheska pulled three different books she thought might be helpful off the shelves, and took a deep breath to steady herself as she got ready to start making her way to the operations center.

Which, of course, happened to be all the way on the other side of Central, and she was completely unsure what kind of trouble she would run into on her way there.

As she stepped out into the hall, the Central intercom switched on, and Sheska screamed, tossing her books in the air.

Falling to her knees, she clutched at her heart, berating herself for being so jumpy as she gathered her books.

"Attention Central soldiers, attention Central Soldiers. Briggs forces have taken the operations center. Central soldiers, cease all hostility immediately. I repeat, we have your general in custody."

"Holy cow", Sheska breathed, straightening her glasses as she stood up.

She had heard that Briggs soldiers were absolutely fierce and fearless, but that didn't give reasonable explanation for taking over Central command.

Her curiosity was piqued, but she decided that they would figure things out eventually. She needed to focus on getting somewhere safe.

It was taking all of her strength not to flat out sprint as she slipped through the hallways; hoping that she didn't run into anyone. She kept hearing booms, bangs and crashes that made her jump, but none of them seemed close enough to put her in any immediate danger.

It was really eerie seeing the corridors so deserted, and she kept anticipating to run into someone as she turned around every corner, but she assumed everyone was at the front gate, trying to hold up against the attack. The operations center was close to the front gate of the fort, so she supposed she would start running into company sooner rather than later.

Luckily, she had looked at maps of the building, and knew her way around.

She had to be close …

Sheska looked out the window and realized she was only two hallways away from the operations center.

All of a sudden, a noise caught her attention, and she whipped around, glancing nervously around the deserted hall. It started almost like a low humming; a buzzing that sounded like it was getting louder and louder as whatever was emitting it got closer.

Heart hammering against her ribcage, Sheska felt her blood run cold as she realized the buzzing was an inhuman growling. It was getting closer and closer at a high velocity, and she froze, panic completely overtaking her system.

She had no idea what they were up against.

Backing up against the wall, eyes wide with horror, Sheska hugged the books to her chest, bracing herself for the inevitable.

And then, it came into view.

At first she thought it was a very pale man, but after a split second, she realized it was a monster. A monster with pasty white skin that stretched out hideously across its body and one eye in the center of its forehead that rolled around in the most grotesque way.

Sheska's scream got lost in her throat, and she was paralyzed against the wall as the creature caught sight of her.

Its mouth was covered in blood.

She was positively trembling now, and held up her books as some sort of feeble defense mechanism.

This was how she was going to die.

She hadn't even gotten to tell her mother goodbye …

And Kain, she hoped he was safe, wherever he was.

The creature ran at her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, turning away, hoping that whatever happened, it would at least be quick.

The sound of metal hitting flesh reverberated throughout the hall, and when Sheska opened her eyes, she was no longer face to face with the pale monster, but with the largest man she had ever seen in her entire life. And that was including Major General Armstrong.

Her jaw dropped. She could tell by his uniform that he was a Captain from Briggs, and vaguely wondered in the back of her mind if he would bother killing her after he'd just saved her.

He'd just saved her!

Even more spectacular than his size was the automail that replaced his right arm, and she gasped in wonder, realizing a moment too late that she was staring and that was incredibly rude.

Sheska let out a shaky breath and pushed herself away from the wall, legs trembling and barely able to hold her own weight. She wanted to ask him what that thing was, to thank him, but no coherent sentences were able to form.

Instead, he growled at her, "I thought I told you to get to the operations center!"

"I – Right! Right, sorry." He must have mistaken her for someone else, but at least she wasn't someone he wanted to harm.

"Go!"

Sheska propelled herself down the hallway, then froze, turning back around to grab his flesh hand give it a quick shake in both of hers, noting how it was bigger than her entire head. "Thank you, Captain! Be safe."

Pure adrenaline was propelling her forwards now, down the first hallway.

She was halfway down the second when something caught her foot and she went down, screaming the whole way, smacking her chin against the floor.

When she scrambled up, she realized she had tripped over a man.

A dead man.

A dead man with his throat ripped out.

Sheska leaned over and spilled the contents of her stomach on the floor.