Rean hummed a little tune to himself as he walked down the Alto Street in Heimdallr en route to the Bracer Guild. He was alone this day, as Fie had decided to spend the day assisting some of the junior bracers on their missions. Ever since those two girls has joined the guild Fie had begun to warm up to the idea of being the cool mature senior bracer. Dealing with her when she got a big head was somewhat annoying, but as a former instructor Rean couldn't be more proud.

Autumn was now in full swing and while Heimdallr was a lot more temperate in weather compared to a place like Ymir, there was no denying the chillier days and earlier nights. He personally didn't mind the changing of the seasons, but given the increasingly common sight of people wearing heavy jackets and hats he was definitely in the minority with his opinion. At least it was one he shared with Fie, and hers was the one opinion that mattered most to him.

Reaching his destination he stepped in. He wasn't surprised that Fie had beaten him to the punch and was waiting for him. The only other bracer present was Toval and it was to the older man that Rean reported the successful completion of the simple requests he had taken for that day. Once finished he made his way to where his partner was waiting, but noticed something unusual in her hand.

"What's in the bag?"

"A gift from Sara."

Warning bells were going off in his head. A gift from Sara was worrisome indeed. He eyed the bag suspiciously. "Do I even want to know?"

She smirked, clearly seeing his hesitation. "I'll show you when we get home. Speaking of...?"

"Right, let's go." Naturally he was already ready to go home, but curiosity was compelling him even further in that moment. The bracer couple bade farewell to Toval before making their way out. The return trip was as smooth as ever while the two chatted about their daily activities, mundane as they were.

"What's in the bag?" He repeated once they were safely ensconced in their home.

"Not much, just..." She reached her hand into the bag and pulled out the contents with a flourish. "Ta-da!" Rean recoiled in horror as he identified the item in her hand.

It was a bottle of Spirytus.

"W-Why do you have that?" Rean remembered the first and only time he had tried Spirytus. With an alcohol content of ninety-five percent the North Ambrian drink might very well be the strongest drink on the continent.

"It was Sara's idea. She thinks if I drink a little bit at a time I can slowly build up my tolerance to booze." She paused and shrugged. "I'm sure she's just waiting for us to make fools out of ourselves, but it should be safe as long as we only drink at home, right?"

There were so many ways this could go wrong. "I thought you swore off drinking?"

"Most of your former students will be of age by next year. If I can't handle a little drink I'll be the laughingstock of all of Class VII. I will die before I let that happen!"

"Shouldn't we start with something a little less... intense?" He was all but pleading at this point.

Unfortunately, as was often the case whenever Fie got a crazy idea in her head, his pleas were unheeded. "C'mon. Sara told me you sucked hard the first time you drank this stuff. Don't you want to see if you've gotten any better?"

Ugh... He missed the days when the devil on his shoulder was the kind of horrific fiend from Gehenna he would read about in church scripture. Now that said devil was a gorgeous silver-haired young woman giving him such an expectant look it was impossible to resist. "I... suppose it should be alright as long as we stay here..."

"Yes! I'll go grab us some cups!" A small part of him couldn't shake the feeling that he had just condemned the two of them to some horrible chaos, but seeing her face light up in joy made it all worthwhile. Probably.


What occurred that night was something neither of them spoke of again. Not because it was particularly embarrassing, but because neither of them could actually recall what happened. There were enough hints that it was a wild night, but given that it all happened in their house and there were no awkward noise complaints from the neighbors it was a simple enough matter to put it out of mind. That was well over a month ago.

Today was a bit different from their normal routine. Toval had called that morning and told them that there had been a request that required all five of Erebonia's highest ranking bracers. He assured them it wasn't some crazy end of the world crisis, but that it would still be worthwhile for the two of them to arrive at the guild at the early designated hour.

Since it wasn't much earlier than they had originally intended on showing up and both were curious about this mysterious request, it was a simple enough thing to acquiesce to. They arrived just a few minutes before the meeting time, which meant that they still beat the ever unimpressive Sara and Schera to the punch, as the two older women arrived at the very last minute with neither having any more knowledge of what was to come than they did. Toval remained annoyingly tight-lipped on the matter.

Shortly after the sound of an orbal car pulling up let the five bracers know that their client had arrived. The door opened and in came two visitors. Sara groaned in dismay as she realized just who it was.

Her dismay wasn't so much because of the first guest, as none of them were aware of any animosity the former teacher held towards Alisa, but the maid standing directly behind her was a different story.

"Sup Alisa, Sharon?" Fie was the first to greet their close friend and former dorm maid.

"Fie." The blonde archer replied with a smile, before turning to the others. "Rean, everyone. It's good to see you again."

"Lady Sara." Sharon stated as she curtsied to the group. It was fun seeing just how easily the enforcer maid could get under the skin of the elite bracer.

Rean decided to head off any potential eruption from Mount Sara by focusing on the matter at hand. "Are you the special client we are supposed to be meeting, Alisa?"

"That's right. I'm here today in my role as the Division Manager for Reinford's Fourth Division."

"And as ever, I am here to assist my lady."

"...We already knew that." Sara grumped in response to Sharon's comment, but everyone did a remarkable job of ignoring her.

Toval took this chance to step forward. "The Reinford Group contacted HQ a couple weeks back as they were interested in working together on a collaborative venture."

"That's right. Ever since Calvard first introduced their Xipha battle orbment we in the Reinford's Fourth Division have been hard at work creating our own sixth-generation orbment and today we are almost ready to unveil it to the public." Alisa looked like a proud businesswoman as she marketed her new invention. "That's why we have partnered with the Bracer Guild to be the first ones to put it through its paces in live combat settings. It's my pleasure to introduce you to the ARCUS III.

"Seriously? Couldn't you come up with a better name?"

Said proud businesswoman wilted under that comment. "Shut up, Fie." The young bracer wasn't the only one to giggle at her misfortune. "Anyways! Sharon, if you would?"

"Of course, my lady." They weren't sure where she had been hiding them, but the skilled maid now had five of the new ARCUS III units in her hand. These she handed out to each of the present bracers who looked upon them with curiosity.

"These retain all the features of the older ARCUS units, which is why it's named the way it is." The glare Alisa shot Fie's way accomplished nothing as the silver-haired woman merely smiled innocently in return. "Grr... Anyways, the most obvious new addition is the additional quartz slot each model has, as this orbment is a lot more powerful than its predecessors. Additionally, to counter the increasingly frequent stealth technology being used by Ouroboros and Calvard this tool has a built-in scanner designed to counter it."

Fie snorted in amusement. "Altina's not gonna like that." Beside her Rean nodded his head in agreement. Personally Fie was delighted. Stealth technology was a lame alternative to her awesome natural stealth abilities, after all.

"But the feature I am most proud of is..." She really was the consummate businesswoman as she even managed to add the dramatic pause for effect. "The ability to utilize the equipped quartz of your combat link partner, even the passive ones designed to enhance the user!"

"Wait, really?" Schera sounded impressed, which made sense since the rest of them felt the same way.

The Reinford heiress nodded happily, clearly enjoying their reactions. "As with the sub-master quartz system, the effects aren't as potent as having the quartz equipped directly, but it's still very noticeable regardless, especially when you're partnered with someone you have a strong link with."

The two partners were thinking along the same lines as they glanced at each other, pondering the implications. Fie's preferred orbment setup focused mostly on enhancing her speed and agility, and even the few active time arts spells she slotted in were built around increasing that advantage even further. And while Rean did usually carry around a couple fire arts and a healing art, those were backups for the rare situation when he couldn't simply hit his opponent with his tachi, which was boosted by the speed and strength quartz he always kept equipped. If they could now begin to share quartz with each other...

"Of course eventually we'll be providing these to the rest of Class VII, the bracer guild, and the Imperial and Provincial armies, but right now the logistics aren't in place for that. So for now we just want to start with the five of you while we prepare for a wider release. We've contracted the Lumiere Orbal Factory to host a Reinford engineer who is trained in servicing this model, so use that place when you need to purchase quartz or unlock slots.

"Right, I forgot about that part..." Rean flipped open his new orbment to reveal the one great flaw that presents itself whenever a new orbment model is released: That none of their old quartz worked anymore and they had to start from scratch.

Beside him Fie sighed in annoyance at that reminder. The thought of having to start over was annoying as hell. Seriously, just thinking about it was causing her head to ache...

"Aww, don't be like that you two. It's a tradition! It's a new start! What's not to love?"

"Just... shut up, Sara, you're too loud." She complained piteously as she tried to massage the pain from her skull. Rean looked upon her with concern, but she waved him off, instead turning back to their classmate.

Said classmate also was looking at her in worry, but refocused herself on the task at hand once their attention was back on her. "That's basically all I have. I know it's a pain, but I'll need you guys to send periodic reports as you test these out, similar to the ones Emma and Elliot had to do with the orbal staffs. If you have any problems don't be afraid to call me directly."

Even though their business was complete, nobody objected to the heiress and maid hanging around for a few minutes extra to chat with friends, comrades, and Sara. Eventually, however, the call of duty became two much and Alisa regrettably bid farewell to them all and left on the long trip back to Roer. Of course being one of the richest people in the country meant that the trip was a lot less long as they could simply take one of Reinford's personal airships, much to Fie's annoyance.

"Hmm..." Fie didn't look too impressed as they scanned the board for available requests after the Reinfords had left. Still, even if the requests sucked they still needed to...

"Why don't we take today off?"

"Huh?" Fie wasn't expecting to hear those words, especially from her diligent lover.

He held up his new ARCUS III. "We need to go take care of this, and given how much we have prepared for this day..." His cryptic comment caused the three older bracers to look at them in confusion, but realization set in in Fie's eyes and she nodded along. He also had a second reason for suggesting they take the day off, as even if she didn't seem inclined to say anything he could tell that Fie was suffering from a headache, and a rather severe one if he had to guess. For her sake they would take it easy for the rest of the day.


The next day the two returned to the Bracer Guild. It was early in the afternoon, but neither of them were particularly surprised when Sara greeted the duo as they entered. Sitting beside her was Toval and the two seemed to be conversing about something. "You two are late." The older woman pointed out, but without any real heat.

Rean scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that..."

"It's my fault." Fie admitted easily enough. "Must have been more tired than I thought 'cause I did not want to get up this morning." As if wanting to provide evidence to support her statement she chose that moment to let out a yawn.

"Oh? You guys have a wild night?" Sara asked with a salacious grin.

The swordsman couldn't help but sigh at their former instructor's antics. "Not at all."

"Not that we would tell you even if we had." His lover continued for him. "Dunno, just feeling really sluggish today. What are you guys doing?"

Toval opened up his ARCUS III. "We're just comparing our setups. How'd you guys do?" Turning it towards them they were able to see that he had five slots opened with a mix of mid and low tier quartz. Beside him Sara presented her own unit which only had three slots unlocked with two of them possessing simple quartz.

The two former Class VII students shared a glance. "Wait, that's it?" Rean asked in disbelief.

"What, like you guys did better?"

To answer Sara's question the two opened their own ARCUS III units, revealing a pair of fully unlocked, upgraded, and equipped combat orbments.

"W-What?! But how?!" The two older bracers looked upon them in shock.

"That should be our question!" Fie countered quickly. "Its been like three years since we got our last orbments and two since we all got enough sepith to fully unlock them. What have you been doing with it all since?"

"W-Well." Muttered the older male. "I always liked to have a variety of quartz on hand in case I needed to swap out elements on a mission. As for the rest... Well airship trips to Arteria are really expensive, you know?"

The Purple Lightning shrugged. "Do you seriously think I can afford all my dates to classy bars with a bracer's salary? Get real."

The two young adults could not believe what they were hearing. "Wow... You guys suck. Especially you, Sara."

"Fie!" Sara whined, before a smug look appeared on her face as she came up with the seemingly perfect counter. "...But you're wrong. It's not about the mira, it's all about tradition. Everyone knows that a bracer is supposed to start from scratch and build their way back up every time a new orbment model is released. C'mon Rean, you know the importance of respecting tradition, right?"

"Hmm... A wise man once told me that we should be respectful to tradition, but not be a slave to it. Do we really want to be running around with empty orbments when the society could strike at any moment?"

She glared at her ex-favorite former student for a second before turning away with a huff. "Annoying brats. You'll back me up Toval, right?"

Unfortunately for her, the art specialist was involved in his own conversation. "...So you know I'm good to pay you back, right?" He whispered to Fie. "Anything you can spare would be appreciated."

"Toval!"

"Sorry Sara, but people call me Zero Artisan Toval, not Zero Arts Toval. Gotta have my orbment loaded or my reputation will suffer, know what I mean?"

Faced with opposition from all sides the most senior bracer in the country slumped down in defeat. "...You're all terrible people! Fine! If you're giving Toby sepith you need to give me some too!"

The two younger bracers shared a grin. Teasing Sara was a guilty pleasure of Class VII and they got to experience that pleasure the most. In the end they would do what they could to help Sara out, but before that... "Hmm... I believe Toval when he says that he will pay us back, but I'm not so sure about you. The bank of Rean has the highest interest rates on the continent, you know?"

"Rean!"

"It's true." Fie happily agreed with her partner. "You should have seen how much Rean went after Crow after the Twilight ended. Poor guy is still paying off interest for some mira he stole from him at Thors."

After a few more minutes of making their former teacher's life miserable the two eventually agreed to bring in what sepith they had left the next day for the two irresponsible adults to fight over. If nothing else it at least promised to be good spectacle. Eventually the two decided to get to work and looked for a couple simple monster hunting requests so they could experiment with their new orbments, although Rean was privately grateful that nothing too extreme was available as Fie was still looking mighty sluggish in his eyes.

As expected, the new orbments worked rather well. While the overall improvements to their combat capabilities wasn't all that great, considering the lofty plateau they had reached in their skills any small improvement was a welcome one. From what Rean could tell, linking up with Fie was enough to marginally improve his speed and reflexes, which was always appreciated. Fie didn't really get an accurate measure of her own physical improvements, as she was too busy trying to light all the monsters on fire with his quartz while giggling in a somewhat crazy way. He almost felt bad for the monsters they were facing, but as he had no desire to find himself lit on fire in return he held his tongue.

It was somewhat irresponsible to be fooling around with their new ARCUS units while fighting dangerous monsters, but neither of them were all that concerned about it. Arrogant, perhaps, but even while fighting sub-optimally they were still good enough to handle any of the threats that they encountered. Eventually they finished with their current request and moved onto the next.

Since Heimdallr and its suburbs were one of the safest regions in the Empire their decision to grab up a bunch of monster hunting requests meant that it entailed a lot of traveling to get from one small threat to the next. Thus it was late in the evening when they finally finished, reported mission success, and made the return trip home. After dinner it was clear that Fie wanted nothing more than to relax the evening away, but unfortunately for her...

"Don't forget, we need to write up those reports to send to Alisa tonight." The look of betrayal she shot him was reminiscent of the hopeless looks that his students would send him after being reminded of their reports after a particularly exhausting day of field exercises. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the nostalgia.

Something which she clearly misinterpreted as she glared at him. "Do you think it's funny?"

Not wanting to jeopardize his own safety he did his best to clear up the confusion. "Not at all. Just had a funny thought, that's all."

"Hmm..." She stared at him with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine, I believe you... This time. Let's just get this over with." Grumbling in annoyance she took a seat and prepared to write her own report.

Moody Fie was always entertaining, but as he much preferred happy docile Fie and fortunately he knew just what to do to get what he wanted. She barely reacted when he took his seat right next to her, but did arch an eyebrow when he didn't immediately get started on his own report. Not wanting to raise her suspicions Rean struck forth with his most powerful weapon before she could react.

He began stroking her hair.

The effect was immediate and drastic as the silver-haired girl absolutely melted under his touch. He found it ironic how the girl who most often complained about his habit of petting girls on the head was the one most susceptible to its influences. He could only assume that she was jealous of his skill, forged through many years of hard work and experience.

After a few minutes of his ministrations his love was well and truly mellowed out, so he considered his work complete and stopped so he could begin his own report. Or at least he tried to. The iron grip that Fie kept on his wrist when he tried to pull his arm away prevented it. That and the adorable pout she sent when she realized his intention of stopping. It was in that moment that he realized that progress was going to be very very slow that evening. Still, it wasn't the worst thing in the world so he didn't hesitate to resume his actions, much to her joy.

As much as he would have loved to enjoy this pleasant moment, if they weren't working on their reports than he had something on his mind that needed to be brought up. "You know our wedding is only a few months away, right?" She didn't say anything, but the way she stiffened against him made it clear that she was listening. "I know, I know. It's a pain, but we're really gonna need to start planning for it at some point."

"Ugh..." She groaned in dismay. "Can't you handle it?"

He knew that she was just complaining for the sake of complaining, but the instructor in him couldn't let that pass. "You know that's not how it works, right? It's something we need to do as a team." Still, he could at least toss her a bone. "We don't need to get it done right away, but it'll be better if we don't save everything until the end. How about... hmm... Let's start with a guest list. If we keep thinking about it for the next couple days we should be able to figure something out."

"I guess I can do that..." Despite her obvious annoyance with the idea he knew that if Fie said she would do it that she would. She was nothing if not dependable. "...You do know we have a lot of friends, right?"

Now it was his turn to groan in dismay. "...Unfortunately." Having many friends and allies across Zemuria was a blessing, it truly was. It also meant that there was absolutely zero chance of them having a nice little low-key wedding like they would have much preferred. A part of him feared it might end up being akin to the spectacle that was Prince Olivert's wedding.

With the ball now rolling on their major project, it was time for them to return to the more immediate task: Finishing their ARCUS reports. Fortunately they didn't need to be long, especially since they hadn't noticed any real issues with their new orbments during their requests, so before long they had finished and sent them along to Alisa.

With all that finished they were finally able to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening, much to her joy. It was a relaxed affair, but given how tired Fie had been that morning Rean was more than willing to accept that. Hopefully a nice long sleep was all it would take and she would be feeling a lot better the next day...


Fie felt absolutely miserable the next morning. It all started when she got out of bed and was immediately beset by a wave of dizziness and nausea that almost cost her the contents of her stomach. Fortunately she was able to resist that urge, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like shit.

"Are you alright?!" Of course Rean was immediately by her side, concern written clear upon his face. "You're looking kinda pale..."

"I'm fine, just an upset stomach. Maybe dinner isn't agreeing with me..." She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself, but neither were working.

Needless to say Rean was shaking his head. "I don't think that's it at all. These last few days you haven't been your normal self. Are you sure you're alright?"

She blinked in thought. It was true that she hadn't been feeling great lately, but... "I guess, but it's all been different stuff, right? And none of it was that bad. It's probably just a fluke trend." As if trying its best to make a fool of her she was wracked by another wave of dizziness. Luckily Rean was there to make sure she stayed upright.

"I could maybe believe that if it was someone else, but not you. You've never been one to get sick. I can't even remember the last time you had a common cold..."

"Ugh, fine. Maybe I'm not alright. Guess I'll just go back to bed..."

Normally Rean would be fine with that idea, as bed rest was always a good first solution, but there was something about the symptoms she was suffering from. He had a feeling it was something he should know, but no answers were coming to mind. Still, it was enough that his concern wasn't quite sated. "Maybe we should go see a doctor...?" One look was all it took for him to know that she wasn't on board with that idea at all. "Or how about we call Linde up instead?"

"Fine." Fie was willing to concede that much, at least. "Don't suppose you have her number? I could ask Vivi, but that's far more hassle than I'm willing to deal with right now."

That... Was actually a good point. He actually didn't know how to contact her. He knew that after leaving the Branch Campus she had begun to work in a clinic in Roer, as she claimed she wanted to repay the people who helped her during the civil war. They all knew better, though. Roer was the closest city to the Nord Highlands and a certain classmate of theirs...

"Oh! We can ask Gaius for help!" If anyone could get them in contact with Linde it was definitely him.

Contacting the Nord wasn't always easy given his profession, but fortune was on their side this time as he was quick to answer Rean's call. "Rean. Fie. It's good to see you again." It hadn't been all that long since their mission to the Highlands, but the feeling was mutual. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually... Can you help us contact Linde? Fie hasn't been feeling great lately and we were hoping to talk to her."

The dominion adopted a concerned look on his face. Despite that, he seemed to be mentally warring with something in his head for a few seconds before answering. "Actually... I'm at her place right now. Let me go get her for you."

The two bracers shared a look after their friend vanished. Gaius at Linde's place this early in the morning? If nothing else they gained some spicy gossip from all this. A few minutes later and their classmate returned, this time accompanied by the one they were looking for.

Linde seemed quite happy to see them, which was understandable. Unlike her annoying sister who they frequently spotted in Heimdallr, the calm nurse was pretty hard to find. Neither had seen her since both she and Rean left Leeves, after all. Still, even if she was probably off the clock she was still a professional first and foremost, so the greeting was kept short. "So Gaius says you wanted a consultation with me?"

Since Fie seemed distinctly uncomfortable with talking about her issues, Rean took it upon himself to speak in her stead. "Right. Well in the past week Fie has been plagued with a bunch of different issues. On the surface they all seem unrelated, but..."

The pink-haired nurse nodded in agreement. "Understandable. A lot of sicknesses can show up in unique ways. And what exactly are the symptoms she's been having?"

"Um... Let's see. First it was a headache. After that came some unnatural fatigue, and just this morning she has been having some pretty bad nausea."

Surprisingly it was Gaius who reacted the most to that news, with his eyes widening in realization. "Rean, are you sure there's been nothing else wrong with her? Maybe she's been acting abnormally lately?"

That was an unusual request. Still, it was one Rean decided to consider seriously. While nothing truly stuck out, he did recall her antics the previous night... "Maybe? Fie's always been a moody girl, so I can't really say for certain, why?" Yeah, he could feel her glare pointed at him for that statement, but it was one that he needed to say since it was better to have all the facts on the table.

Despite the situation Gaius couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. "Only you would consider her moody. Sometimes it feels like we met a different girl back at Thors." Amusement faded as he shared a glance with Linde. "Are you sure you don't have any idea what this is?"

"I guess it's understandable Fie wouldn't understand given the difficult upbringing she had..." Linde mused aloud. "I highly suggest you go see a doctor as soon as possible."

"Wait, really?" Fie was surprised at that request, and Rean couldn't help but share in her alarm. "Do you think it's something bad?"

"If it's what I think it is than bad isn't quite the word I would use... Let me ask you another question. In the past three months have the two of you engaged in unprotected sex?"

Now that question elicited a response from the two bracers as the insinuation was obvious. At first Rean opened his mouth to deny such a thing, as outside of that first night together two years prior the two had always made sure to stay safe, but paused as a thought came to mind. Next to him Fie seemed to be sharing in the same thought as horror covered her visage.

That bottle of Spirytus they shared shortly after their trip to Nord. It was a night that neither would forget, as it was a night that neither remembered at all. Suddenly that forgotten night in their memories loomed large as realization began to set in.

Although they didn't say anything, Linde took their shocked silence as agreement. "While I can't say for certain without a physical check, all of the symptoms you have listed are those of a woman in her first trimester. And given your lack of response..." The pause was only for a second, but it felt like a lifetime for the two lovers.

"I am almost positive that you are pregnant."