A/N: Right. So where was this story anyway because I was busy working on another one. Oh well I hit a good stopping point there so I can get back to work on this one. Let us continue shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the anime, manga and games they are from. They all belong to their rightful creators. The OCs that appears in this story belongs to me.

Seven Heroines

Chapter Fifty Two: Biscotti: Kingdom of the Canine Faunus

A soft warm breeze blew through a small cottage located in a forest. Inside the cottage was Brioche and Yukikaze sitting across from each other Seza style on pillows. A small sword, a tanto laid beside Brioche. The two shared a serious look on their faces. "Yukikaze." Brioche spoke in a stern voice.

The fox girl sat up straighter. "Yes?" She gulped. Yukikaze was nervous and for good reason.

The Faunus woman smiled at the other girl. "It has been a long time since I found you and trained you. You have overcome many obstacles both physically and emotionally. You have learned much over the years and I am proud yet somber to say that I have no more to teach you." She grabbed the sword and presented it to Yukikaze. "This blade, it is a gift from me to you. Once you unsheathe it, we will no longer be master and student. We will become equals. Now take it."

Yukikaze took the weapon and held it close to her. It was a strange feeling for her to think that such a small item can change a life. "Thank you. I will cherish it always."

The moment was at hand now. Brioche took in a deep breath. "Now draw your sword Yukikaze!" There was a moment of silence and the fox girl didn't draw the sword. Brioche was confused as to why she didn't. "Is something the matter?"

Sure enough, something was bothering Yukikaze. Brioche could see the sad look in her eyes. "It's just that…I wish they were here with me. If they were still here, we all could've graduated together."

Brioche understood what the other girl was feeling and talking about. She fondly remembered everyone's smiles and laughter. "What has happened in the past, we cannot change. What we can change is the future we create. Remember those words well Yukikaze."

The fox girl nodded at the words and smiled. "Understood. I will cherish and take them to heart. Thank you…master." That will be the last time she will call Brioche by that name. With a quick move, Yukikaze drew out her sword.

Brioche smiled as this was finally over. "From this moment on, we are now equals. Keep in mind that your journey is far from over. In fact, it has only just begun."

Yukikaze sheathed the sword. "I understand. So what shall we do now mas-I mean Brioche?" Say the other woman's name will take some getting used to for the fox girl.

Brioche chuckled. "Why we celebrate of course. Let us go to Biscotti and enjoy ourselves."

The fox girl liked the sound of the idea. "All right then. I'll get ready so we can leave." She stood up and ran to her room.

Brioche laughed at herself. She would most defiantly miss Yukikaze's cheery personality. Despite all that has happened to them, she was glad this moment had come. Still, there were times Brioche regretted she could've done better but like she said. Brioche can't change what happened in the past. All she can do now is look toward the future. "I wonder what awaits me now?" She'll figure out that part later. Right now, it was about celebrating the present.

B

Erza and her group were traveling on the path toward Biscotti with Touka accompanying them. The journey itself was quite pleasant. It was also a good opportunity to ask few questions to pass the time. "So Touka…" Aisha spoke up.

The Evenkurugan looked at her. "Yes? What is it?"

The heroine giggled nervously. "You and Karura. Are you two…together?"

The question brought out a blush from Touka and looked away. "W-Why would you ask that?"

"Because that tiger chick frenched the hell out of you earlier." Jo bluntly started.

The Faunus woman didn't understand what frenched meant but understood the statement. "Oh that. Our…relationship is what you call strange."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Strange how?"

Touka sighed depravedly. "Well, she does have a habit of doing that to me time to time but also flirts around with other women whether they are human or Faunus."

"So, in other words, the two of you are friends with benefits." Jo stated bluntly again.

"It's not like that!" The Evenkurugan shouted angrily. "Karura just…does things on her own. That's all."

Erza heard enough. "All right that's enough Jo. We won't talk about this anymore."

The gunslinger scoffed. "Yeah yeah.

After that, the group continued traveling without speaking another word. It wasn't until much later that they saw something come into view. "What's that?" Aisha asked.

Until they saw the whole picture, they stopped to gaze at it. Touka smiled. "Ladies, what you see before you is Biscotti."

The heroines just stared at the sight. Biscotti was much more vast then either Medaka's kingdom or Alfnia. Granted they could only see what the large tall walls surrounding the kingdom didn't block but could still make it out with the taller buildings. "Oh wow." Aisha summed up the other's thoughts.

Touka chuckled at their reactions. "If you think this looks impressive, wait until you see the inside."

That was more than enough motivation for the heroines to fast travel all the way to one of the front gates. Once they did arrive, they were approached by two guards. "Halt!" The heroines stopped in front of them. The guards observed them closely. "Huh. More humans. I guess the festival is becoming more popular"

What one of the guards mentioned caught Erza's interest. "What do you mean more humans?"

The two guards looked at each other and then back at the group. "Two young girls arrived here a few days ago. I'm guessing all of you aren't with them so what business do all of you have here?"

"There is no need to worry about that." The two guards looked past the group and gasped when they saw Touka walk up to them. "This group is with me. I trust there will be no problems?"

The guards straightened out and saluted to her. "O-Of course not! We're honored you've come to our kingdom. Please go right ahead." The two moved to the side so the group could pass.

Touka smiled at the gesture. "Thank you, ladies."She walked past the group. "Shall we continue?"

The heroines weren't sure what just happened but decided to take it. Once the group entered the gate, the two guards sighed. "I can't believe that actually happened."

The other guard sighed as well. "I can't believe a group of humans actually know an Evenkurugan. How in the world does that even happen?"

Back to the group, they exited out of the gate and stopped dead in their tracks. They were at a lost in awe at what they were seeing in front of them. What they saw outside the walls was nothing compared to what they were seeing now. There was countless canine Faunus folk walking up, down and around the vast stone streets, the buildings were colorful in every way possible, countless decorations of the same variety, and balloons were tied down on the houses. In short, everything was in full-scale celebration. Aisha laughed nervously. "It really does feel like we're in a different world."

The others had to agree. The group walked down on one of the streets and looked around. It was an unbelievable sight to the heroines. Homes, shops, everything was here and the citizens looked quite busy but having fun as well. To Rock, it was quite strange seeing so much activity happening all at once. Even Jo felt a bit impressed about what was going on. "Looks like one hell of a party here."

Erza was quite enjoying it as well. "Yes, it does. It seems everyone is in high spirits. However, we must not let this distract us. We still have a mission to do."

"Free cake pops samples! Get your free cake pop samples here!"

And like that Erza rushed over to the sales girl with an obsessive look in her eyes that freaked the Faunus girl out. "I would like to buy some!"

Shortly after that, Erza took a bite out of her frosted cake pop and squealed in delight while she and the rest continued walking down the street. "So tasty! All of you must try this."

The others were holding a box of six cake pops each. Jo scoffed. "So much for not being distracted." She was lucky Erza didn't hear that.

While they were walking down the street and Erza still enjoying her cake pops, Aisha had a question and turned to Touka. "About what happened earlier, the guards seemed to know you very well. Are you famous or something?"

The Faunus woman laughed nervously. "Not me per say. My clan is very well known in Flognarde. The people in this land know how strong the Evenkurugan are."

That caught Jo's attention. "So she's strong then. I wonder how good she is in a fight."

"Are you an idiot?!" A voice rang out from up ahead. The group heard it and followed to where the voice was coming from. They heard more. "May I remind you that we're on a budget here!? You just can't buy sweets, you dolt!"

They heard a second voice whimper. "B-But, they were on sale. I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."

Something about the voices sounded familiar to the heroines. "May I remind you why we're here in the first place? We need that money for lodging!"

Once they arrived at the source of the voices, the heroines were surprised to see who the two voices belonged to. "I'm sorry Weiss…" Ruby pressed her index fingers together while giving her an apologetic look.

Weiss saw the sad look the younger girl was giving. No matter how many times she was mad at her, she couldn't be for long because of that same look Ruby always gives her whenever she thought the younger girl did wrong with those eyes. The snow haired girl sighed. "Just don't do it again."

Ruby laughed and gave the other girl a great big hug while rubbing her cheek against Weiss' affectionately "Oh thank you, Weiss!"

The other girl became rather embarrassed by the younger girl's display of affection. "C-Cut it out! People are going to stare at us."

Well, this is quite a surprise." Both girls looked to where they heard that familiar voice. The two of them couldn't believe who it was. Erza chuckled and smiled at them. "We didn't expect to see the two of you again here."

Ruby let go of Weiss and pointed at the group with a surprised look on her face. "Y-You're the-"

Suddenly all of them heard laughter. Ruby and Weiss looked behind while Erza and the rest of the group looked ahead to see who it was. Touka could only stare in amazement. "I must say this is quite the reunion." Brioche and Yukikaze arrived at the scene and smiled at everyone. "It's nice to see all of you again."

B

Plenty pieces of meat were sizzling on a grill in a table. Everyone was in a large room at a barbecue restaurant. Brioche chuckled. "Here is to our reunion. Don't worry; all of this is on me."

"Thank you!" Ruby already picked up several pieces and ate them all at once. "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Weiss groaned. "You idiot! You're supposed to blow on them first and eat one at a time."

Yukikaze giggled. "I'm so happy we're together again. It's been quite a while."

Erza blew on her piece. "Yes, it has been." She took a bite out of it. "This is very delicious."

Brioche smiled. "I must say seeing all of you is quite a surprise and with an Evenkurugan as well." She turned to Touka. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The other Faunus woman waved her hands frantically in front of her. "Oh no, not at all! If it's a pleasure to you then it's an honor to me meeting you."

Ruby blew on the meat this time and ate it. "Even-what now? And why is it an honor to her?" She looked over at Brioche.

"Oh, that's right. You see mas-I mean Brioche is well known throughout Flognarde. She's so strong; many believe she can be one of the next Divine Four." Yukikaze explained.

That fact surprised everyone. They didn't know Brioche was that powerful. "That's enough now Yukikaze." She looked at the heroines. "Where are Sora and the others? Didn't they come with you?"

Erza shook her head. "No. She and the others are making their way to Galette."

Hearing that intrigued Brioche. "Is that so? I had hoped to meet her again. I see such promise in that girl. By the way, since all of you are in Flognarde now, I assume all of you found Lightning?"

Touka gasped and looked at the heroines. Weiss swallowed her piece. "That's right. Queen Henrietta asked all of you to look for her. Did you?"

Jo took a bite out of her piece. "Yeah pretty much." She answered nonchalantly.

The others just gawked at her not knowing what to say. "Seriously!?" All of them shouted.

Aisha giggled nervously. "Let's all explain this from the beginning."

And so the heroines told their tale of finding Lightning. They explained every detail. How they met Fang, Serah, Vanille, the Reverse Woods, the girls who lived there, one the Hell Elite appearing, the Voice of the Forest, how they fought Lightning when she was corrupt, the Festival of the Fireworks, and how Lightning was going to find the other Divine Four. Touka just couldn't believe it all. "Incredible. These seven went through all of that? They truly are the ones from the prophecy."

Brioche sighed. "That's quite a journey. All of you had overcome such great ordeals."

Ruby, however, was very impressed. "Oh wow. I wish I could've been there to see it all."

Weiss was impressed as well at what the heroines had to accomplish. "It's incredible on what they went through. I knew finding Lightning wasn't going to be easy but still."

Brioche took a few pieces of meat. "It seems Rias' hand extends to everywhere. Even to the Divine Four. However thanks to all of you, we may be able to tip this war to our favor no matter how small." She ate the pieces. "I think you should know that the kingdoms of the alliance all have a role in this. With Medaka's, hers is a melting pot with those that are talented. Alfnia provides support with their healing. Tristian handles the finances since they are the richest out of all of us. Biscotti and Galette help out with the offensive and then there's Forland." She turned to Ruby and Weiss. "Out of all of us, Forland has the most artillery. Not only that but the people there are quite special. Are you girls?"

Weiss stared back. "Indeed."

Jo took another piece. "What do you mean special?"

"She means humans over there have special abilities." Touka spoke up. "I've heard of them before in my travels. One of them is aura which acts as a kind of protection from harm. The other is semblance which is the main ability they have. Not only that but the weapons they wield are unique as well."

That part caught Jo's interest. "Ruby giggled. "Yeah, that's about right."

"Since Forland is so close to the river leading to Flognarde, you can find a lot of Faunus there. Some can even unlock their semblance if they try hard enough." Weiss explained.

Erza took a bite out her piece. "I see. So what are you two doing here? Is it something from Queen…Alita was it?"

The two exchanged looked and then back at the group while shaking their heads. "Actually no. We're here for a different reason."

"Yeah, we're here looking for Blake." Ruby blurted out. She felt the other girl jab at her side with her elbow. "Ow!" She rubbed her side with her hand and turned to the other girl. "What was that for?"

The older girl glared at her. "They didn't need to know that you moron. Keep your mouth shut."

Aisha blinked a few times in confusion. "Blake?" She thought back. "Oh, you mean the girl with the black bow."

Ruby nodded. "Yep, that's her. You couldn't tell before but she's a cat Faunus." She felt Weiss jab her again. "Ow!"

"Quit telling them everything! You know how sensitive she is about that kind of information."

Jo raised an eyebrow. "That chick is a cat girl?"

So to speak, the cat was out of the bag. Weiss sighed. "Yes, but it took a while before Blake told us she was a Faunus. As to why we're here, it's like Ruby said. We're here to find Blake. You see several days ago, she began to act strange, more so than usual. Then again she always has been for the past couple of years around this time. After that, she would disappear for a couple of days and then come back without telling the rest of us anything where she been. So we made it our mission to find Blake and what find out what is going on. As you can see, we tailed her to Flognarde."

After hearing that, Yukikaze gave a sad smile. "I see. What made you think Blake would be in Biscotti?"

"Ruby told us that you and Blake somehow know each other. "Weiss clarified. "How do you know each other anyway?' Blake barely tells us anything about her past."

Brioche chuckled at the question. "The answer is quite simple. Once upon a time, Blake trained under me."

"What!?" Both Ruby and Weiss shouted.

The fox girl giggled at their reactions. "It's true. Blake and I used to be students along with one other. However, Blake left us."

Ruby was amazed to hear that. "Oh wow. That would explain why Blake can fight so well." A thought came to her. "But wait, why did she leave?"

Yukikaze lowered her head. Brioche placed her hand on the other girl's shoulders. She smiled and nodded. "It's all right. I'll explain it all." She looked at the group. "You see three years ago almost to this date, Rias attacked Galette. I, Yukikaze, and the rest were there celebrating the anniversary festival when it happened. I told the three to stay put while I went to the front lines to help fight off the enemy. However, they came along anyway via the top of the wall. A random blast occurred there and they were all caught in it. Blake tried to save her friend but in the end, she fell to her death. Shorty after the attack happened, Blake left us without completing her training."

Hearing all of that again made Yukikaze remember what happened that day. "Blake blamed herself for not saving her friend in time. That was the reason why she left us."

After hearing that, the two girls had a much more, grim understanding about their friend/teammate. "Poor Blake. No wonder she doesn't want to talk about her past." Ruby pointed out.

A question came to Yukikaze. "By the way, where did Blake find the bow? She wasn't wearing one when she left."

Ruby grinned at the question. "Oh, that? My sister gave Blake that bow. You should've seen her when she first put it on. Yang told Blake she looked cute with it and I could've sworn I saw Blake blush a little."

Erza cleared her throat. The other girls looked over to her. "I would like to go back on topic here. In fact, Brioche's story is related to why we are here in Flognarde in the first place." Suddenly all of them had a bad feeling. "You see while Lightning was held captive, she overheard Rias herself mentioning something about Biscotti and Galette."

That fact worried Brioche. "Is Rias going to attack again like in Alfnia and from three years ago?"

The heroine shook her head. "We're not sure but this is a very serious situation. That's why we have to warn the Queen and Archqueen soon as possible."

Weiss gritted her teeth. "That's just great. Of all the times Blake had to disappear."

Ruby stood up. "Then let's get going already!" We have to warn them about this."

"I concur." Touka stood up as well. "I'll be damned if we let what happened three years ago repeat once again."

"So let's go already! We don't have any time to lose!" Weiss pointed out. "We just can't sit around and eat."

"Yeah, no problem there princess." Jo spoke.

Weiss turned to the gunslinger. "And why is that?"

Jo pointed over to Rock who ate the last of the meat pieces. "Because this chick ate the rest while all of you were talking."