Okay first of all, I would like to say I that went back and edited some stuff in the previous chapter. Not much, it's mostly just Shephard's talk with Kirche, but I gave him a more solid reason to agree to the date, cause looking back it was a bit rushed and nonsensical. Yeah, pretty much just added a more plausible reason.

Also, kind of a weird question to ask, but ever since I posted another story on this site the traffic chart seems to have frozen for both of them. I know because the other one currently reads two faves but zero views. How the hell do I fix this glitch?

Another night with no disruptions, for him and Louise. All things considered, that was damn good. Especially for the redheaded nuisance he would have to deal with today.

Shephard explained what happened with Count Mott the previous night. The sisters, although shocked at what he did, were too uncaring toe count's fate. he would have thought Louise would have given him an earful, but like most nobles she regarded him as a disgrace. it seemed other world or no, rape was still a very taboo thing.

It was when he got to the date with Kirche however that things got a bit more complicated. And Loud.

"You What!?"

Only for one of them, but it was more than enough to warrant ear protection. At least Cattleya seemed calm.

"I agreed to a social occasion with Kirche."

"You are going on a date with a hussy!" Louise exclaimed. Recalling how Kirche heard her the last time she yelled this loud, he was guessing the redhead was hearing the unfiltered opinions of her right now. Whether she cared was another story.

"Language Louise." Cattleya chided."

Louise ignored her, keeping her glare focused on Shephard. "Why did you agree to this!?"

"First of all, I don't like this anymore than you. Second, it was necessary. It was either agreeing to a date, or spend who knows how long searching her room. I wanted to get back to the mansion as quickly as possible, so I had to bite the bullet."

The metaphor caused both girls to tilt their heads. "It means do something you don't want to do. And that's what this is Louise. An unpleasant necessity."

Hearing his genuine distaste for this seemed to be getting through to her. She paused long enough for him to get more words in at least.

"And, she revealed something last night that I need to look into. Apparently her blue haired friend Tabitha was following us yesterday while we went into town."

At that both Vallière sisters looked shocked.

"How did we not see her… unless…" She turned to Louise "Sister, this Tabitha girl, is she a powerful wind mage?"

Louise nodded. "She must have used an illusion spell then. They can manipulate the air to make themselves invisible at a great distance. Perhaps even a sight enhancing spell. Powerful enough to keep herself invisible plus a whole dragon… do you think she was involved with those who attacked you last night?"

Shephard shook his head."No, if she was, being as strong as she is she would have helped then and there, but regardless, it's something that I need to check out."

Cattleya nodded but then looked uncertain.

"Shephard, if I may ask. How do you intend to keep Louise safe while you are gone?"

He already thought of that."Sparky, you're in charge of the VIP's safety. Keep her safe."

With that the bug jumped from his wrist and latched onto Louise's. She doubled taked at the presence of the bug on her wrist, before violently shaking her hand so much all Shephard could make out was a blue blur that was Sparky.

"Ah, getoffgetoffgetoffgetoff!" She wailed, furiously spinning in a circle, so fast that Shephard swore he could smell the wood burning from the friction. The two adults present looked at each other briefly, then back to the over the top pink spectacle.

Shephard sighed. "Attach to the other one."

The insect complied immediately. The momentum from the spinning caused his realses to send him flying into a convient pair of cushions.

Cattleya held out her hand and caught him before the dazed insect could fall to the floor. "Really Louise, must you have such an overreaction?" She said, while gently stroking the insect.

"How can you stand the feel of those ugly, ugly legs!" She exclaimed, her arm still shivering at the foreign feel of the insect.

Said insect took instantaneous offense and began squeaking loudly, which caused Louise to yelp. Cattleya, not batting an eye, began gently cooing the insect and stroking his back in an attempt to comfort him.

"Louise please, do not hurt his feelings.' She said, while shushing Sparky. It seemed to work as the squeaking quickly died down.

"Great. Leave the easily offended bug in charge of my safety! What next, make that tongue creature in charge of dressing me!?"

'In case you forgotten Louise, this bug was able to tear through golems and put down attackers with ease. He's more than capable of keeping you safe."

"If you are scared of being without Shephard again perhaps we should go too?" Cattleya chimed in.

Louise blushed at the comment. "I'm not scared! It's just… you are going out with Kirche Von Zerbst!"

How many times does one need to cover the same point? "I explained this. Is gonna happen and I'm gonna do my best to try and shorten it." She didn't look convinced. He knelt down to her

"Louise, you trust me enough to handle your safety right? Then please trust me on this. Nothing. Will. Happen."

"…You better keep your word." Threatening as a gun to the head, he was sure that's how she thought of herself. More like the threat of an air horn to the head.

'Wait, Von Zerbst? Oh no…" She gave a deep sigh as she explained.

"The Zerbst's and the Valliere's have an unofficial feud. A member of their family once stole a lover from ours. It was long ago, but their family liked to boast about it whenever they met ours and well, pride breeds grudges. But Louise that was before your time. A silly little feud like that should not be of your concern."

She paused in contemplation as she studied her sister, her voiced dropping slightly at her next words. "…Has she been bullying you?"

Well Shephard knew that the two were not on the best terms and he figured that Louise would jump at the chance to have her sister scare some sense into one she did not like. Instead, the younger pinkette's eye's widened and her mouth became a thin trepid line.

She almost stuttered out a response but suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Shephard could guess the occupant. Feeling Cattleya's gaze starting to freeze him through his vest, he walked towards the door and opened to reveal the flirtatious redhead.

She greeted him with a warm and confident smile. "Hello Shephard!" Shephard, partly of just wanting to get on with this charade already, partly out of fear of dealing with two feuding women tried to quickly exit the room.

Her eyes snapped to Cattleya too fast for him however. 'Oh! You are Louise's sister right?" Kirche greeted the pink haired woman. The delayed response, though brief, was enough to

Cattleya stood up, Shephard picked up some tense muscles in her face.

"Yes. I am Cattleya." She stated.

"Kirche von Zerbst. Or the hussy, as your sister loves to shout." She said, making Louise blush.

"Anyway, just need to borrow Shephard here for a few moments. Don't worry, it won't take too long and I promise, he won't be too taxed for stamina.' She finished with a wink.

Her innuendoes were as needed as a boot to the face. Her smile got even stronger with Louise yelling something, but she seemed to focus on Cattleya's face, seemingly looking for a reaction.

There wasn't one and Kirche's smile sagged slightly at the unchanging look. At the rate her gaze was going it wouldn't be too long until his vest started losing energy from it so he quickly said goodbye and pushed the redhead out the door, leaving the two sisters behind.

The confusion was evident, both on her face and in her voice. "Was it something I said?"

"Only a little. I'm sure you're intelligence played a bigger role." Shephard quipped as he lead her away by her arm.

Oh this was going to be fun…

Guiche da Gramont walked to the Academy's kitchen, the events of last night still not out of his head. He was aware he had been complicit in the assault of a high ranking member

And yet, whe he thought of Siesta's nearly naked form shivering, or her he still could not bring himself to care. Noble's were expected to look after commoners. By all accounts he had done what was expected of him. He did however thank the founder over and over again for Shephard's quick thinking. There were plenty of witnesses to confirm that none of them were anywhere near Mott when he was… deprived of his weapon.

He shuddered once again. There was no limit to the number of times he felt it necesary to slap his former self.

He entered the kitchen to find some servants milling about. It was another day off for the students, so they were as taxed for time. They stopped what they were doing to look at him. He was sure Siesta had told them that the deal was completed, so the confusion on their faces was undserstanable.

He spotted the de facto leader of the kitchen staff, Marteau if he recalled, approached him, through with some caution as he was no longer under any duty to obey the man.

"Lord Gramont. Is there something you need?"

"Yes. I… I was looking for Siesta."

"I gave her the day off today mi lord. I felt it nescary to give her the day off in light of recent events."

Guichie nodded in understanding, however the chef looke dlike he still had something no his mind.

"May I say something mi lord?" Guiche hesitated but nodded.

"She told us what you and our Shephard did last night. How you saved her from the count. I... I..." he trailed off, his own internal akwardness of having to genunly compliment a noble tripping him up. He knew it was irrational for this one, but old habits die hard.

"Speak your mind." Guiche said, with just a little more force than nescary, making himself flinch.

Marteu refocused himself. "I just wanted to say thank you. That girl is without a doubt the nicest one in all of Halkegenia and I cannot begin to fathom why it has chosen her to be its own personal pack mule. And I take the well being of my fellow servant very seriously lord Gramont, so know that I mean it when I say thank you." He finished, a few murmers of agreement coming from the gathered crowd.

The look in his eyes, in everyone eyes, was different than the ones he was accustomed to. He knew it was customary, that look of reverence was one well versed to him being a noble. But there was a palaple difference in these ones. It was something that, although he failed to understand it due to it being the very first time experiencng it, left an impact on him.

he would later find out, It felt earned.

'Well, if you want I can get Siesta for you. Though she thankfully escaped any physical harm, I'm afraid she still did not get a decent sleep last night. She's been having some nightmares. She is a bit addicted to working however, she's having trouble staying still when, in her mind, she has a job to do." Marteau explained.

Guichie was silent as he ponderd the situation. "… all right. I will take over her duties for today."

"Are you going to question a noble?"

The response was enough to quell any further arguments, but it was obvious there was still an air of incredulity in the kitchen for some time after ward.

Guichie set to work, the book in his possession forgotten once again.

Once again back in a saddle Kirche decided to take him into Tristania again.

Kirche had decided to stop by a place called Charlotte's Delicious Pastries. Well the name could have been more creative but if said pastries lived up to the title who was he to judge? The found a general lounging area not far from the shop and sat down, Kirche doing a wonderful job ignoring the elephant the entire way here.

"So what do think of the great Tristain capital city Shephard?"

He shrugged."Seems alright. First city of its kind I've been to in person so I don't really have any comparisons." He replied simply, looking around the area and not at the redhead next to him. There weren't that many peope in the general vicinity, at least not within hearing distance.

"Oh come on Shephard. We're just talking, is that really worth the stoic soldier act? I mean I know there's no breast groping but really." She said, the humor leaking from the smile she wore.

He sighed "First of all, I apologize for that, it was out of line." She waved him off instantly.

"Oh don't be. I didn't mind one second of it, besides I like the occasional bold renegade. Though I must admit, being too shy of a woman to go on a date with her, yet still grope her is some pretty odd logic..."

"It would have wasted less time while my friends were alone with a rapist." He corrected "Besides I kept to only looking of objects of interest." He said the last part in no small part of pleasure from her briefly offended look.

It worked, as the redhead huffed as her cocky attitude disappeared. He took a bite of his pastry to add to the effect.

Though in five seconds it was back as she asked her next question "So I guess that's just how people from your world make friends?"

His head snapped to her direction. He thought she let it slip, but her returning smirk dispelled that notion.

"How did you find out about that?" He asked, his tone having gained some steel to it which matched his eyes.

"Oh, I eavesdropped on you while you talked to the Headmaster."She said offhand, finally taking a bite of her pastry while she was at it.

"And how much did you hear?"

"Just something about a place called Black Mesa, Hazard soldiers or something, nothing much really. But it was enough to get me interested in you. Well, more so anyway. After that show you put on with Guiche you already were pretty high up on the interest level. And do I need to get started on, oh I don't know, the first human familiar? Really, can you blame one for developing an interest in you?"

"Define interest."

"Sexually of course. You have quite the air of exoticness about you Shephard, and you're not that bad looking besides." Was the brash answer.

'What? Don't give me that look. You're muscles add to that exotic foreign soldier look. Soldiers always struck me as being good it the bed. Must know all kinds of combat positions."

Shephard sighed. "Does everything about you always come back to sex?"

Kirche was unfazed. "More of a prude than I thought. I thought soldiers were supposed to more accepting of 'inside jokes'.

Shephard face palmed.

Well your nothing if not passionate." He said.

"Well I am Kirche the Ardent flame." She said as if were self explanatory.

Shephard did recall that mages had runic names, usually explain their element they were most proficient in. 'Passionate Flame' huh? She looked the part at least.

"And Louise's was 'Zero?'" He snorted "Yeah, real clever. You don't know who started that do you?"

At that the redhead looked uncertain. 'Well… that was me."

" Kirche, you're literally calling her nothing. Even where I'm from, that's a pretty nasty thing to say to a person. Just when did you come up it?"

Seeing the un amused look in his eyes, and hearing it in his tone she responded. "Since her first year at the Academy."

"So an entire year of people of calling her nothing, while you insult her on the side." He paused. "Also, you do realize she makes explosions right? What makes anyone think it's a good idea to pick on a girl who can do that?"

"I am not entirely certain of that myself Shephard. Best i can figure is, she's terrified of them hurting anyone, heck you remember how she was after destroyed that classroom. She always got that way when someone did get hurt. Not even me calling her Zero got through to her when she was like that." She shifted uncofortalbly.

"Still, I don't want to hear any more of that. Her sister in particular might take some umbridge once she find just who started it."

"Hey, in my defense I never wanted other people calling her that. It was just supposed to be something I could call her, just something between rivals." She sighed in discontent Now everybody uses it." She finished huffing. "It was fun being the only one who could rile her up, she pretty much just brushed off other people's comments. But now I'm just another face in the crowd, because now I can't even tease her about her zero bust since her sister is a… worthy opponent in that regard."

Shephard raised an eyebrow. "Just as well Kirche, Cattleya is pretty protective of her. Just some advice, keep the zero thing to yourself around her."

"She doesn't seem like one to overreact to a little teasing."

"I wouldn't test her Kirche. She gave a pretty hearty smile when I told her that one of the attackers wouldn't be able to feed himself for a while."

"Well that's understandable. I mean, if anyone tried hurting my little brother you can bet no amount of water mages would ever make one inch of his body presentable again." She said with a slightly unhealty amount of casualness.

'So it's okay for you to drive someone else's sibling into the dirt? To torment them, but if someone does the same thing to your suddenly it's bad?"

Kirche rolled her eyes, but her fist clenched in annoyance. "It's just teasing! It's not like I wanted to see her hurt or anything! Besides, I don't recall you standing up for her all that often. When Guichie had her humiliate herself in front of everyone you decided to play silent man."

"Cause I'm sure the whole year of you humiliating her was absolutely negated by that…"

The two stared at each other, Kirche's jovelness gone as she attempted to stare down the marine.

Finally she closed eyes and sighed.

"Okay we have gotten off topic here. I admit I can and might have been a bit too ah personal, in my teasing I'll admit that. But I think we need to get to the real reason we are here, but first, answer my question."

She opened her eyes again.

"Those people you killed in the forest to protect Louise… they were form your world too, right?"

"Yes."

"And they were obviously here quite a while before Louise summoned you right?"

"Yes. What are you getting at? Why does this concern you?"

"Not me specifically, but a little certain blue haired dragon owner on the other hand, very much so. She..Well… to put it bluntly, Tabitha hates you."

Shephard, though expecting a reason, was bit put off by the reveal.

"I didn't understand it myself at first, but then I realized she only started after the forest encounter. After I told her about those black clad soldiers more specifically. We've established they have been here for a while so…" Kirche trailed off, letting the full implications

"Oh this is just perfect…"

"If it helps, I tried to reason with her. Told her you killed them with no hesitation, which I'm assuming was true, that you protected Louise from them. Still, she didn't seem convinced. Trust me, I've been around her long enough to tell the difference between her usual disinterested look, and her "angry disinterested look. Very hard to do if I'm honest, but I can tell."

"You think she had an encounter with them?"

"Maybe, but even then, she's a logical girl, and you've seen just how much emotion likes to leak from her. I didn't think one bad encounter would have been enough to cause that look in her. Must have been very personal to her if it did. I mean it got her stalking you no less."

'They've been here 15 years Kirche. That's more than enough time to get 'personal' with those fuckers."

He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in."Fifteen years of them setting first impressions for our world and its people as well." The good news is that they were primarily stealth operatives, called into keep things covert. The bad news was that they practically lived for going after people who played vital roles. In other words, they might not have pissed off many people, but they probably pissed off the ones who could make his life difficult if they had enough hatred in them, not to mention their employers.

Great, all because those dick kettle's had to get involved. Couldn't just keep their heads down completely, nooooo. Probably had to try and become Emperor of Germania or some shit. Did they even think that they might be representing another fucking nation on other fucking world? Or what might happened when contact was properly established? Because they were giving the politicians and people of this world more than a few reasons to be wary of Earth. Shephard knew full well that he would probably be thrown to the dogs just to try and ease relations.

"So I take it those black clad soldiers were not the best ones for representing your people? What about your… Hazardous Environment Combat Unit?" She asked, he mouth looking awkward as she was having some trouble with pronouncing on the first two words.

He sighed. "Before I would have said they really were. Now… now, not so much. The one's involved in Black Mesa Kirche? They had a hand in things that would forever tarnish the name of the Corps." A brief flash of the execution lines flashed through his memory suddenly and he felt his hands tighten.

He did have pride in his time as a Marine and what he had accomplished and the friends he made, the purpose it gave him. But he would be lying if he said something hadn't been taken away from it by the BM incident. Even if he did manage to get back to Earth he doubted he would stay. Too many ghosts…

That's assuming the government wouldn't try to have him killed because dammit if he was going to keep his mouth shut after everything.

"That's why I'm worried about what those damn throat slitters did. I'm in enough shit with my own world's government as it is. I really don't want another one breathing down my neck due to guilt by association."

When stories of first contact usually were told, it was ideally with the best one world had to offer. While he was sure the technology fitted the bill, the people there were another matter entirely. Oh sure in brains and brawn most certainly… but even he had to admit some of the scientists were less than clean. After all, those vivisections of aliens he passed in some of the labs reeked of questionable ethics.

All in all, he had an unpleasant feeling he was going to be the one who was going to bear the brunt of the consequences of some dumbasses who came before him. Couldn't just keep you're fucking heads down could you? Just had to make their only experience of earth an unpleasant one?

He consumed a part of his pastry as one would an alcoholic beverage to sooth the trouble of their lives. Though he never touched any alcohol in his life considering his personal issues, lowered inhibitions was not something he ever wanted to deal with.

Kirche was silent as she pounded what she had learned, scrutinizing him. Then she relaxed and a grin formed on her face.

"Well Shephard, if anything does come of it, I'll stand by your side."

'Because Shephard, I might be a hussy, and occasional bitch, but I can plainly see that you're not a threat." She paused. "Well, I mean you are, the army of golems destroyed proves that. But honestly, I think you are just a soldier with some baggage. One who's clearly not afraid to take action, but so far it's been reactionary. And you're worried about what examples have already been set for your world and you want to avoid making them worse. More than enough reasons to think that all in all, you're probably not going to hurt anyone if they don't try to yourself. So if you need someone to vouch for you, just let me know."

He chuckled bitterly. "Thanks, but I doubt one redhead is going to provide much protection when the spells start flying my way."

"Probably, but it's the thought that counts right? At the very least I could smuggle you to Germania, give you some money to get yourself started."

Shephard sat there, a bit shocked at what he had heard. "You're pretty generous and open with someone you just got aquatinted with."

"What can I say? I'm a spontaneous woman. Besides, I'm pretty good at reading people. I'll try to talk some sense into Tabitha while I'm at it, hopefully she can see past whatever happened to her." She paused. Oh by the way, the heartbroken dragon has been a bit of an annoyance to her recently. Maybe we can organize a play date for them."

"A play date between a dragon and a creature the size of my arm… yeah I don't see anything bad happening there."

"Oh don't be worried about Syphilid eating him. After all I think it's the other way around we should be worried about."

Thank you Kirche…

For the third day in a row agent Michael Castavin was a new piece of furniture in the Academy's dungeon. He sat in silence, the balding professor being sure to instruct his guards to keep arms distance. He was pretty strict about it too, having made it a point to conduct frequent trips to the dungeon, both the check up on Castavin and to make sure the guards didn't slack off, something whichm unfortuantly, paid off. The guards never ventured into arms reach often, only to give him the necessities to live. But he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth the past three days. Probalby off to alert the palace proper.

His wounds had healed but not entirely. The left side of his face was a mess of scar tissue, it having been regenerated as best as it could with their water magic. Wasn't perfect though, as there was a perpetuateant feeling of numbness, but it was better than the scalding sensation of the actual burn. Both his arms were mended, but they still could sting from time to time. Say what you will about magic, the healing properties were definitely a step up above science in some areas. Even managed to bring back one of his teeth, but only because there was something to grow back out of. The other one was knocked out completely and was a permanent loss.

Oh yes, He had physical pains to complain about, but it was his thoughts that stung him the most. Lydia, Peirce, Taylor. His three squad mates, his friends, killed at the hands of Adrian Shephard. That fucker.

They had been on nearly a hundred missions together. They didn't deserve to be killed so… cheaply. By one wayward Marine. Tiff would be devastated at the loss of her aunts and uncle.

He closed his eyes, his fist clenching in worry.

Oh Tiff… I'm a failure of a father. I'm a failure of a leader. I never deserved such a wonderful daughter. Well surrogate daughter, but after fifteen years, his small group of assassins were that girl's entire world. Especially after her true mother died. She loved them, and while only he would openly admit it, she caused the melting of hearts among all of them. Even Foyet, much of a ruthless bastard as he is, genuinely cared for her.

And he was the best candidate for ensuring her safety. He admitted he sometimes found Foyet's solutions… less than appealing, but when it came to Tiff he would let him off the leash. Anyone even thought of trying something with her, they deserved whatever Foyet's imagination could come up with. And he had a vivid imagination…

And whatever Wardes had him doing on the side as well.

Wardes better pray his men were on their best behavior. Knowing Foyet he likely threatened to burn them alive. Well good enough he supposed. But word must have reached them long ago that they failed. How had things proceeded afterward because they failed?

They had passed their deadline of getting the girl long ago. While had had conemplated telling them about Wardes, as he knew of his connectiosn to the crown, he doubted they would belive him. And if they did, well that once gain led to Tiffania. Even if they did somehow find her, she was freinds with someone who had comiited a very captial offense to the Tristainian governemnt, on top of being an elf. There was no scenario that she would come out alive if he told them, and until he got confirmation that she and Foyet was safe he was keeping his mouth shut about him. Castavin knew Foyet was capable, but still not knowing was driving him insane. He hoped Foyet had planned ahead for this.

One thing however he could not wrap his head around no matter how much he tried.

How in the hell did Wardes find them? Not just find them, but he ordered his men to go to every hidden weapon area, every single one. How was it possible? How was it that he knew which floorboards ,which underside of furniture, which nook and cranny, held weapons?

Their group, 'The Red Eyes' mercenary group was privileged knowledge within Albion. They had a small, but reliable customer base, ones who could always afford them and could not afford to lose them. Besides, they were far from amateurs when it came to covering their tracks, no customer allowed anywhere near one of their safe houses, never saw the inside.

No matter how hard he thought about it just didn't add up! He buried his head in his hands, the frustration once again taking over the physical pain.

The one saving grace was that Wardes appeared to be a rouge element in in the Reconquistia army. He was up to something, but it appeared to be serving only him. Otherwise, he would have handed Tiff over to them on the spot. He needed them so he was incentivized to keep Tiff safe. After all, with her, he had complete control over the best operatives Earth had to offer. But still what was he planning long term?

His thoughts were interrupted when the sound of the dungeon entrance opened. There was the sound of footsteps. He felt his neck hairs stand on end.

"Oh shit…" Well he knew the encounter with her was unavoidable. He already knew who it was.

The steps passed for the barest of moments, then resumed with an increasing pace and force, the power behind the metal boots coming closer. The guards around his cell were on edge.

Finally the person was in full view.

"It's been a while."

Standing before him was Karin de la Vallière, AKA the Heavy Wind. She ignored the guards and marched right up to his cell door, well within the danger area, but unheeding of it. Her eyes didn't seem to blink as she stared at him. He was sure her gaze made an attempt to kill him. A faint breeze in the confines of the dungeon made him worried that reality was considering it.

Nevertheless he spoke again. "Hello Karin."

Last time he laid eyes on the woman before him was nearly fourteen years ago. He had the supreme misfortune to stumble onto a toddler Henrietta, just as Karin had stumbled onto him just a few moments before. Along with a certain pink haired baby in her arms. He had been forced to take the young princess hostage, and obviously he survived, but there was no denying the… what words were stronger than 'undiluted and undying hatred' that he had left in his wake.

"Still, good to know you're doing fine."

From just his previous encounter he knew that Karin was one of those people that could appear as calm as glass, but underneath, even hellfire would be warmed by the hatred. Colbert probably went to her In person, explaining what happened... did he,Castavin wondered, explain all of it?

Suddenly an idea came to him. A wicked, delicious idea. It couldn't hurt him to see if it could work.

"Tell me, has anyone told you of my comrade in arms Adrian Shephard?"