There was something about these spontaneous performances that drew Elliot.

After he'd finished his education in Heimdallr, there had been many options laid out for him. The orchestra, a long term recording contract, perhaps even working with the military band. He could have even been a teacher, like his mother before him, and his sister now.

But instead he'd chosen this. The life of a wandering minstrel.

It had become the path most familiar to him. After all the field studies he'd done in Thors, and the time he'd spent hiding from and fighting against the Noble Alliance, being on the road had become second nature. Honestly, this was far easier than anything during the Civil War. Instead of sleeping in windmills and taking long treks along the Empire's winding roads, he rested in proper beds and rode trains from city to city.

The flexibility was great. He could perform, he could teach, he could compose. Anything and everything he desired was available to him, all he had to do was do it.

But what he loved most were events like these. Where he could stand before a crowd and light up their day with the sounds of his violin. The church's pews had not been filled, not even close, but those who wandered in seemed so content with the small show he had put on. His music was uplifting, inspiring. It was everything he wanted it to be. And then after, he could spend his time teaching the children who'd watched some of the basics. So they too could one day spread their own songs.

But eventually the show came to a close. They all did, sooner or later, though he promised the priest to return on sunday to help assist during Sunday School. For now, he stepped out of the cathedral and into the regal streets of Saint-Arkh.

Casually, he walked along the cobbled roads. First to the city's Rieveldt store to buy a new set of strings, then to the market to buy a bag of groceries. Finally, he checked his watch, noting the time before he picked up his pace and made his way into the Lunacrest apartment building. There he jostled with a set of keys, almost fumbling his goods onto the floor, before he slowly pushed it open and quietly poked his head forwards.

Inside, the apartment looked more like an office than someone's domicile. Shelves lined with tools and files, a large computer sat in the corner with a multitude of cables coming out. Off to the side, some weapons hung on the wall. And on the far side, nestled in the corner, Elliot could barely see white hair flopping over the edge of a bed.

Silently, the musician tip-toe'd his way inside. He avoided the beds entirely, going for the kitchen and carefully removing the various foodstuffs. One by one, into the shelves…

…Until a force smacked against his back. A pair of arms then draped over his arms and across his chest, and he could feel someone's chin rest on his shoulder.

"Eep!" Elliot exclaimed, practically jumping out of his skin. A loaf of bread slipped out of his hand, only to be caught by one of the hands that was currently ensnaring him. Looking to his left, he could see Fie's face analyzing what she'd grabbed.

"They were out of sourdough again." Elliot lamented, taking the loaf and setting it down on the counter.

"Laaaaaaaame." Fie complained, but remained glomped onto the redhead. "What's for dinner then?"

Elliot pulled out a box of linguine, giving it a shake. "I got some pasta! Going to try that recipe Fiona taught me again."

Fie leaned forwards, giving the man a skeptical look. "You. Make pasta and sauce from scratch. The guy who can barely grill a steak?"

"I'm getting better!" Elliot protested.

"Uh huh." Fie answered, her disbelief ringing through the words. "Who did Sharon ban from the dorm kitchen again?"

"Both of us!" The musician reminded. To which Fie waved a dismissive hand.

"Details, details." She replied, before a sharp beep went off.

Both former Class 7 members turned to the right as the console bank hummed to life, screen turning blue and fuzzy for a moment. Then, after a few more moments of dial tone, Toval's face popped onto the screen.

"Afternoon, lovebirds!" The A-rank bracer greeted. Elliot immediately flushed with embarrassment, but Fie lazily lifted her hand and waved at her handler.

"S'up, Toval. Any news?" She asked.

"Yeah, good and bad." Toval answered. "Good news is that new quartz you ordered is ready at Chambers' Orbal Factory."

Fie cracked a grin, some new toys always brightening up her mood. "Sweet. What's the bad news?"

"Another request, straight from Marquis Hyarms. There's a big monster that's been giving the Provincial Army trouble on the South Highway."

This news prompted Fie to groan, slinking off of Elliot's back as she walked over to the console. Elliot went back to storing the groceries, laying out the ingredients he needed to start preparing the night's dinner. Meanwhile the two bracers bickered back and forth about the immediacy of the request. Fie asking if they could wait until tomorrow, and Toval insisting that the job needed to be done as soon as possible.

Despite her complaints, Toval eventually won. After the screen cut off, the girl's head sagged in defeat.

"He's such a slave-driverrrrr." Fie continued to complain. "I'm the only bracer in the whole province. Why does he keep accepting so many jobs?"

Elliot smirked, barely managing to hold his chuckle back at how much the girl was beginning to sound like Instructor Sara. "Agate should be here soon, at least."

"Not soon enough." She lamented, before she went over to the weapon wall. She grabbed both her gunswords, tying the holsters against her hip before plucking Elliot's orbal staff and turning around.

"Hey, catch!" Fie called, tossing the weapon over. Elliot turned around just in time, snapping the device out of the air with both arms like a grandmother trying to catch a ball.

"Wait, what about dinner?!" Elliot asked as he watched Fie go for the door.

"We'll eat out. Now come on, twinkle toes." She called behind him, slipping out the door and letting it sag open behind her.

Elliot tried to retort, but cut off as he heard his stomach growl like a lion. The man sighed, shoulders sagging as he resigned himself to his fate.

Full speed and full stop. Fie's only two modes.


And when they found the target, she upshifted right back into full speed.

It didn't take them very long to find the monster. A march down the highway, halfway between the main city and Parm. Along the way they had passed by several Provincial Army patrols, each of them talking about how the beast that had been shrugging off rifle rounds like BBs. An officer explained that his rapier had broken in half trying to skewer the thing.

All of this alarmed Elliot, but it only intrigued Fie. To the point where they ran into the large, raccoon-like creature carrying a tree-branch as if it was a club.

Then, it was off to the races.

Sylphid kicked off, both of her gunswords drawn as she dove under the beast's initial downward swing. The strike smashed into the cobbled roadway, cracks forming and splintering the road. Elliot lost his balance, using his staff to just barely stop himself from tipping over.

Fie, meanwhile, entered a slide. The bracer zipped right between the rampaging racoon's legs, coming up behind the beast and going onto her feet. She then jumped up, landing onto the creature's back and slicing through its deceptively thick fur. The steel almost bounced clean off, making her grip rather tenuous.

Elliot, meanwhile, righted himself. The caster tightened his grip around his weapon, activating the built in detector and aiming it forwards at the target. As the creature continued to swat at the Fie on its back, data began to pour back over to Elliot's ARCUS. It's affinities and vulnerabilities, weak points and blindspots.

"Ellioooooooooooooooooooooot!" Fie yelled over, jumping up onto the monster's head as she continued to dodge the wild and angry swings coming from the creature. "Did you do it!"

"Yeah!" He called over, prompting his partner to slash the beast's snout. Fie dismounted the beast after, sprinting back over and stopping at his side.

The bracer then aimed both her firearms at the still staggered target. "What're we lookin' at?"

"Says it's vulnerable to earth arts!" Elliot reported.

Fie grinned mischievously, pulling out her own ARCUS and popping the device open. "Good thing I swapped my quartz around."

As if in response, the gargantuan racoon released an infuriated roar. One that sounded like a large bear far more than a rat with a long striped tail. Elliot gulped, bringing his staff up defensively as he prepared a new craft. Fie watched on, amused.

"Ooh, he's mad." She said, stating the obvious before glancing at Elliot. "Distract him?"

Elliot turned his whole head, baffled at the girl's request. "Wh-. You're faster than I am!"

"I'm also the one with the earth arts!" Fie reminded him.

"We can use each other's arts now, remember what Toval said about linking our master quartz?" Elliot reminded her, to which Fie took pause. The short girl tilted her head, thinking about Toval's reminder of the ARCUS II's new features.

And how she'd been half asleep the whole time.

"Right. About that…" She began to say, a sentence starter that Elliot had long since gotten used to.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Elliot deducted.

"Yup." Fie told him, not even bothering to hide it.

Elliot simply stared at her in disbelief, before both of their attention was drawn back to the massive monster stomping and swinging the branch around. The creature kicked it's feet like a bull, dragging them along the stone road.

Fie activated her ARCUS, the device charging up and preparing to cast her chosen art. Meanwhile Elliot stepped forwards, staff glowing as he readied it to go on the offensive.

"OK, let's do this smart…" He said to himself, pulling out his own ARCUS as he prepared an art of his own. The ornament began to glow, its charge time significantly quicker than that of Fie's. After mere seconds, the device flashed, a burst of temporal energy wrapping around the monster.

After that, Elliot sprinted forwards. The monster careened towards him as well, though now it was notably slower. Despite that, they were on a collision course, even when Elliot stopped and brought his staff to bare.

The musician then began his offensive, firing off a salvo of orbal energy from his weapon. Three deep blue spheres shot out from the tip as he swiped down, crashing into the front of the creature. The racoon stumbled back, reaction delayed and sluggish still as Elliot sidestepped over to the right. He fired off another attack, then another, then a third as he turned it around so it continued to follow him and took its eyes completely off of Fie.

It worked. But it also made him the sole target. The monster's speed was slowly coming back to it and now it was retaliating. It brought the treebranch down again, prompting Elliot to yelp as he dove to the side. The musician stood once again, staff winding up before he had to duck under another broad swipe with the beast's club.

Though that last whiff gave him an opening.

"Sweet dreams!" Elliot yelled out, firing off a wide barrage of aquatic bubbles at the beast. The shiny things wrapped around it, before bursting and enshrouding the creature in a sudsy mist.

The raccoon stumbled again, eyes drooping as it suddenly felt a strong urge to doze off. One it couldn't resist as it fell belly first onto the ground with an echoing 'THUMP.'

Elliot let himself breathe a sigh of relief, the less than athletic man letting himself lean on his staff as he got some air back into his lungs. Even after all his time on the road, he still found most of his days sitting amongst a bandstand instead of running for his life.

Not that he was complaining, but it made moments like this far harder.

As he continued to recover, Elliot didn't notice the large stone slab form over the slumbering monster's head. He didn't notice, until it came crashing down to earth with meteoric force. Dirt, dust and cobble was kicked up everywhere. The caster soon found himself pushed back by the shockwave, landing squarely on his rear end as he was covered head to toe in debris.

Elliot sat there, dazed and blind as he coughed in the cloud. That was until Fie grabbed his arm and hauled him out, setting him down on the nearby grass as she took a knee in front off him.

"You OK?" Fie asked, giving him some room so he could recover. Elliot coughed out some more dirt, even a blade of grass came floating out.

"Ugh…" He said, rubbing his head as the adrenaline crash came. "I am way out of practice."

Fie sighed, coming closer as she pulled out a rag and started wiping the area around his eyes clear of dirt. After which, she offered him a hand, giving Elliot a pull up off of the ground. His balance still hadn't recovered, though, and the two found themselves slamming into each other.

Elliot grunted, before blushing up a storm. Fie just looked up at him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Falling for me all over again, twinkle toes?" She teased, wrapping her arms a bit tighter around his waist.

"Uh, er, um-." Elliot stammered, turning his head back and forth as he scanned the horizon. "W-we should probably go tell the Marquis! More monsters might show up!"

Fie giggled at her boyfriend's skittish nature, but nodded along with his words. She let him go, spinning on a heel and walking back past the crater where the raccoon had once been. Elliot, the picture of poise and composure, adjusted his collar and followed behind her.

At least Mister Hyarms would let them eat at his estate.


Night fell over Saint-Arkh, the streetlamps lighting up the city's roads as the moon flew above. The city itself was beginning to fall asleep, the food stands being rolled into storage and families making their way back home for the evening.

Elliot and Fie rested in a park bench near a bed of flowers, having left the provincial governor's abode after reporting about the mission's completion. Fie took careful note to blame all of the damages made to the highway on the large monster, not bringing up that it was her art that had left a massive square crater in the path.

Either way, he still invited them to stay for dinner. An offer they, their wallets, and their stomachs gratefully accepted.

Now the two former members of Class 7 relaxed, Fie laying down with her head in Elliot's lap while he thought to himself. Why they were both here, and how Rean would be arriving with the new Branch Campus soon. He felt a pit in his gut, not afraid of seeing his old friend again, but at some foreboding feeling. As if things were about to get very dangerous again, just like the Civil War.

The thoughts made him uncomfortable. That time in his life had been the hardest trials he'd ever gone through. Between evading the Noble Alliance's authorities, to fighting off Oroboros, to the deathtrap that had been Valflame Palace. It had been the most miserable time of his life.

Honestly, the only good thing he could think of was that he and Fie had gotten together. That, and winning by the skin of their teeth. If you could call it 'winning'.

"You look upset." Fie observed, looking up at Elliot, whom immediately entered panic mode. As he racked his brain to try and explain away his serious expression, his hand brushed against one of the flora behind them.

Thinking fast, he plucked one of the blooming yellow flowers and began to 'inspect' it. "H-huh? I'm just, um, looking at the flowers! We don't have daffodils this pretty in Heimdallr!"

"That's a rose, genius." Fie pointed out, slapping his acting chops straight in the face.

Elliot winced at his mistake, before looking back down at his partner. Fie returned a deadpanned glare his way, annoyed that he'd tried to pass such a dumb lie over her.

"Sorry. I'm just… worrying about things." He admitted, letting the flower stem slip between his fingers. Fie still looked somewhat annoyed, but her glare softened. Until she leaned up, slipping a hand around the redhead's cheek to keep his eyes squarely on her.

"No matter what happens, we'll make it. All of us." Fie promised, before leaning up and locking her lips with his. Elliot was almost taken off guard, but welcomed the kiss. Neither trying nor wanting to break from one another first.

Eventually, though, Fie pulled back. She gave her boyfriend her signature smirk, before plucking the flower from his hand and slipping it into her hair. The girl then let herself slide back down, head resting back onto his lap as she closed her eyes and let herself drift.

Reassured, Elliot smiled down at the dozing bracer. He slipped a hand atop of hers, then let himself finally relax. Meanwhile, Fie slowly drifted to sleep, her last bits of consciousness hanging onto Elliot's warmth.

She thought of Xeno, Leo and the Boss, and wondered what they'd think of her choice to be with someone like him. He wasn't strong or athletic. He wasn't a master marksman or an expert demolitionist. He wasn't someone who'd last a week in any mercenary outfit, let alone a Jaeger Corps like Zephyr had been. In short, he was nothing like any of the people she'd been raised by.

But that didn't matter. Elliot made her feel safe. He made her feel wanted. He made her happy.

That was all she ever wanted.


A/N: A gift for a few friends about a ship we all enjoy. Sappy? Yes. Do I care? Hell no. But I hope y'all enjoyed.

o/