Fie was still gritting her teeth in impotent anger as she watched the train depart towards Leeves. If that jerk thought that she would so easily forgive and forget that comment he just made than he was a lot dumber than he looked. Comments like the one he made were only acceptable when she made them. Or when they were directed towards someone else instead. To fire off something like that against her... He would pay.

She shook her head. Right now she needed to focus her attention on Vivi. Revenge against her came first. Rean came later. And Sara too, probably. They would all pay.

The rest of the group sweatdropped nervously as the girl they were following began to chuckle darkly. "Does anyone else have a really bad feeling about this?" The young musician seemed pale.

"Um... Fie?" Emma cautiously approached the girl. "Is everything alright?"

The bracer blinked as she turned and gazed upon her friends. "Oh. Right. You guys are still here..." Some of them looked rather offended by that statement, but she wasn't sure why. She hadn't forgotten about them, she had merely been preoccupied with more important thoughts. Either way, it was time to ditch them... Or at least that was her thought until she realized that Laura and Machias had seemingly moved to block the most obvious escape routes during her reverie. Not bad at all. Now what to do with them...?

"Yo, Fie. You're shooting us a pretty nasty glare there."

She rolled her eyes at Crow's comment. "Just trying to figure out a plan. Are you guys with me or against me?"

Such an easy question, and yet they hesitated. "We're just here to make sure nobody gets hurt..." The Reinford heiress answered in as diplomatic of a tone as she could muster.

"Against me. Got it." Their guards were up now so she would need a distraction before ditching them at a later date. In that case... "Well there's one thing I wanted to do that I could use your help with. Don't worry, this is completely harmless. It's gonna suck for me, though."

Her suggestion was met with dubious stares, but if they were there to keep her out of trouble than they were there to follow her orders.

"I am not sure I like the sound of that..." Laura admitted readily. "...but if you need our help, we will provide it willingly." There were some disagreeable mutters among the group, and Celine scoffed, but nobody disagreed with the Arseid master.

"Good. In that case, follow me, my loyal minions. We have a mission to complete." Did she need to call them her loyal minions and earn their ire? Of course not. But she did it anyways. Rean wasn't here to reign her in and the others had made it quite clear that they were her enemy, so she had no remorse in her heart as she bossed her friends around.

"So..." Elliot muttered to break the awkward silence. "Where are we going anyways?"

The silver-haired menace to society let out a casual shrug. "Dunno. Let's just find a place with lot's of people. I'll explain as we go."


The assorted group of Old Class VII looked conflicted as they departed the tram onto Vainqueur Street following Fie. The plan she had provided them with was simple enough, but they all still had some reservations.

"So let me get this straight, you want us to spread the fact that you are pregnant, right? Wasn't this whole trip about punishing the one who spilled the beans in the first place? How in Aidios's name does that make any sense!?" Machias was the one to voice their confusion aloud.

"I'm not happy about it either." Fie admitted with an annoyed grimace. "But you guys already know. And that means all of Erebonia will know soon enough. Since it's happening whether I want it or not, I' want to make sure that Vivi won't be the one to get the article out."

"...By spreading the news just a few arge away from the Imperial Chronicle's headquarters knowing that someone will head right over there after overhearing us." Emma finished for her.

Their temporary leader bobbed her head in agreement. "Yup. And you guys don't even need to do anything tricky. Just be your normal selves: Loud, obnoxious, and completely oblivious of your surroundings. Easy."

"Umm..." Elliot looked like he wanted to say something, but Fie's withering look stopped him before he could.

Fortunately for them, she could only glare one person into submission at a time, opening the way for Alisa to deadpan. "I don't think 'loud, obnoxious, and completely oblivious of our surroundings' are how I would describe us."

"Sounds more like the other group, actually." Machias got to be the voice of reason and threw his rival under the bus at the same time. He felt proud of himself for that.

"Nah. Crow's with us, so your argument is invalid."

"Hey! I take offense to that. I am quite aware of our surroundings, thank you very much." And yet he said nothing about being loud or obnoxious. "...I just usually don't care. Don't forget that I fooled all of you for the whole year back at Thors."

This time the entire group, Fie included, looked at the older man like he was an idiot. "Oh yes. Bragging about your stint as a terrorist. Real impressive." The cat on their team was not impressed at all.

"Deny it all you want..." Fie gave a casual shrug. "But have any of you noticed just how many people are staring at us right now?"

Come to find out, they hadn't. Apparently you don't need a Thors uniform or an Ashen Chevalier for the average citizen of Heimdallr to recognize the large group as Class VII heroes, especially as they were standing just outside of the ever busy Plaza Bifrost. The attention usually wasn't so bad when they were alone, but when they were traveling as a group...

Fie let out a yawn. "It kinda pisses me off that I'm getting used to the attention, I gotta admit. Still, this works in our favor. So go on, do your thing. Show off your acting skills and let the world know." She prodded them none too gently.

Class VII glanced at each other uneasily, but they had agreed... Laura cleared her throat as she took the lead with her fellow swordmaster absent. "Ahem... Oh, wow! I can't believe that Fie is pregnant!"

"It's such wonderful news, isn't it?!" Although Elliot's words were genuine, he released them at a far higher volume than the timid musician was known for.

Already a few heads were turning as curiosity began to overwhelm the decency of giving the group of young adults privacy. "It's unexpected, but I'm happy for them."

Machias sighed, completely unamused by the situation, but nodded along to Emma's words. "Indeed. To think the Ashen Chevalier will be having a child in just a few months..."

By this point not a single resident or tourist in earshot was even pretending to not be listening to their every word. It was time for Alisa to go for the kill. "Such a huge story! Imagine if the Imperial Chronicle found out!"

Like clockwork, those final words triggered a proverbial stampede as half of the street immediately cleared out in a mad rush to reach the newspaper headquarters. It was frankly terrifying just how much power they had over others with just a few simple words.

Despite the oddness of the situation Laura couldn't help but giggle. "Despite everything, that was sort of fun. Did that work out for you Fie... Fie?"

The others followed the blue-haired warriors eyes as they all looked to where their dear friend had been standing, only for the space to be completely vacant.

"Yeah..." Crow deadpanned. "She left as soon as you guys started. Kinda sad that none of you noticed."

"Crow! Why didn't you say anything!" An irate Alisa berated her friend.

The older Chevalier shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh. It was funnier watching you guys play it out. Your acting sucks, by the way. Good thing we did a concert and not the operetta that Class I did or we would have been the laughing stock of Thors."

Naturally, none of them were impressed by his criticism, but unfortunately they had bigger fish to fry. "What do we do now?" Emma asked worriedly.

"It's obvious, isn't it? We need to track her down before anyone gets hurt." Celine pointed. "Not that I particularly care about that pink-haired annoyance..."

"Celine is right." Laura agreed, taking charge. "You all know the city better than me, so I want you to scour the city for any signs of her you can find. We all know how slippery she can be, but your presence should be enough to restrict her movements. Her target is Vivi so I will protect her directly. Care to join me Alisa?"

"Of course! Do you know where she is?" Alisa received a negative shake of her head. "Alright. I'll call her and arrange a meeting." The others began to disperse as the blonde archer pulled out her own ARCUS III and made contact with their friend. By the time she reached Vivi the only ones remaining in that area were her, Laura, and a Crow who was curiously looking around but not moving. After a few minutes she finished the call. "Alright, she said she will meet us at the cafe in Leica. We had better hurry. She sounded... terrified when I informed her of the situation."

Her partner nodded and the two girls swiftly departed towards the tram, leaving only Crow behind. After a few seconds the jokester spoke up. "They're gone now. You can come out."

A few seconds later and Fie appeared from inside a nearby building. The young woman looked suitably impressed. "How'd you know I was still here?"

"I didn't." Crow admitted with an easy shrug. "But I gambled that I would have better odds by taking that shot than randomly walking down a street."

Fie sighed. So much for being impressed. "So, what? Aren't you gonna help the others stop me?"

"Nah. Well, maybe later. Probably gonna hit the tracks instead. Not much going on this late in the year, but there's always some way to blow my mira. What I'm more curious about is you. Shouldn't you be... doing something?"

"I will be, in just a second." She pointed across the street to where the tram station was, with Laura's blue-hair still visible to the two. "Not gonna walk all that way and I've had my fill of riding on top of vehicles for a while."

"Yeah, that makes sense." He agreed easily enough. "But I saw the tram depart while the others were giving their crappy performances. Why didn't you leave then?"

The silver-haired bracer gave a mischievous smirk. "You guys overestimate me. You really think I knew where Vivi would be hanging out right now?"

"But how is-" Crow blinked in realization. "Oh! You waited so Alisa would find out her location for you! Smooth."

"We all know that Class VII can't go five minutes without blabbing out something we shouldn't." It wasn't hard to notice that Fie was casually including the two of them in that group, not that Crow had any room to protest. "And plus. I want them to go first. The hunt is no fun without the chase. I want her terrified and exhausted before I go in for the kill."

That comment caused the former ILF leader to sweatdrop nervously. "Uh, Fie? You're kinda scaring me a bit..." Maybe he should start helping his friends out a bit?

"Relax. I'm a bracer, remember? I can just blame it all on a monster or something."

"That's not what I was worried about..."

The two watched as the Tram finally departed with their classmates on board. The greatest threat to Heimdallr in two years let out a yawn. "Well, I guess it's time for me to get going. Would be kinda lame if the others came back and found me standing here. Plus I still need to actually come up with a plan and all that..." She didn't even wait for a reply from the jokester as the girl walked off, deep in concentration.

Crow waited until she was safely out of sight before letting out a sigh. "Woo boy. This isn't gonna end well. You had better hurry up, Rean, cause I have a feeling you might be the only one who can stop her..." But would Rean even want to stop her?


For Vivi, the past ten minutes had been the biggest mood shift in her life. Now that the news was out and spreading she had been eating a tasty lunch while writing the article that would ensure her dominance over the gossip section for years to come and make Grace super jealous. It was to be her greatest victory since the end of the Great Twilight.

That was before her ARCUS began to ring.

Now here she was pacing about frantically while waiting for her backup to arrive, fully expecting each and every breath she took to be her last. The absolute treachery of her sister selling her out like this... Now Fie was somewhere in the city hunting her down. The last time she had felt such terror was the one time she accidentally stepped on a bed of flowers that Edel had been growing.

But perhaps she will live to see another dawn, at least if the rest of Class VII had anything to say about it. She wasn't sure who exactly was coming, but if there was anyone with a chance at stopping the irate girl it was them. Although she just wished they were moving a little faster. Sure she understood that the trams ran on a schedule and could only move so quickly, but right now that didn't matter! There was a killer on the loose and she was the victim, so they needed to hurry up!

It seemed that Aidios herself had heard her prayers as a glance out the window revealed not the silver she had been dreading, but the blue and blonde of her salvation. She let out a breath she did not realize she had been holding as she waved her schoolmates over.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Alisa exclaimed as the two girls entered the cafe and sat down opposite her.

Vivi smiled gratefully at the two, but that soon gave way to confusion. "Is it just the two of you?" Sure she was grateful, but as badass as her Class VII friends were she didn't quite feel comfortable with just the two of them.

It was Laura who shook her head. "Some of the others are in the city looking out for Fie. We can rendezvous with them if the situation requires it." Well, that was something at least...

"What about Rean?" Fie's beloved hero was possibly the only person who could calm her down at this point. But than again, wouldn't Rean also be mad about what she did? Still, Rean was always good at reigning in his emotions so even if he was upset he wouldn't do anything to hurt her... right?

"Sorry." Alisa dashed those hopes. "He, his students, and a few of the others are currently on a bracer mission. They might be back later, but we can't count on them."

"Damn..." So much for that idea. "So what are we going to do?"

Laura hummed thoughtfully. "Admittedly this isn't really my area of expertise," Unfortunately the expert of their class was the one currently hunting them down. "but I suspect the best course of action would be to keep a low profile for now. Wouldn't you both agree?"

"Mmm." Alisa hummed in agreement as she glanced around the place. "Perhaps we should just hang out here for now? If she does come we should be able to escape if needed..."

Although their words rang true, Vivi couldn't help but notice that both women were distracted. Following their eyes she sweatdropped as both were clearly quite interested in the pastries that the people next table down were eating. "Fine. I've already eaten lunch, but the desserts here are to die for." That was what she had been most looking forward to when she stopped at this place a lifetime ago. "I'll pay for you guys." Let it be known that she knew how to treat her friends and loved ones... when she wasn't throwing them under the bus for her own gain, of course.

Not long after the three women were enjoying the tasty little cakes that the cafe served. Between the good food and enjoyable company Vivi began to relax and enjoy the moment. Laughing aloud at the story Alisa was telling the pink-haired menace glanced out the window.

And nearly choked on her dessert.

There she was, at the far end of the street. She wasn't moving. She was merely content to stand there sipping from a canned juice. Perhaps she hadn't noticed-

Fie gave a cheery smile and a wave in her direction.

As much as Vivi wanted to warn the others her body refused to do anything but hack violently in order to clear her throat of cake. The others looked concerned at her struggles and Alisa even had a healing art ready to go, but after a few seconds of painful coughs and another to regain her breath she managed to recover.

"Fie! I saw her! Right over there!" She quickly turned and pointed... towards an empty street.

Her two protectors shared a dubious glance. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" She countered Laura immediately. "She was just standing over there drinking from a can. When she saw me looking she waved back."

Laura continued to remain unconvinced, but Alisa swore in a manner alien to the high ranking executive. "You mean that can lying on the ground over there?" Sure enough, the sharp-eyed archer had spotted an empty can on the ground right where Vivi had pointed.

"You would think she knows better than to litter like that..." Laura made plans in her head to chastise her best friend later. "I suppose we need to relocate."

Giving that last order was one of the hardest things the swordmaster had ever done, as both she and Alisa looked down at their half-finished desserts and sighed in unison. Vivi too might have considered such an action if she wasn't frantically staring out the window and fearing for her seemingly imminent death. With great reluctance the two heroes led the frantic girl out of the cafe and down the side street towards the Vander training hall.

"She's blocking us from the tram." Laura grimaced at Alisa's observation. "We're going to need to lose her somehow."

Easier said than done. Laura briefly considered their options. The Vander school was an option as she was very welcome there, but that building wasn't very large at all. If Fie found them there - and she had no doubt in her mind that her resourceful friend would – than they were in trouble. They needed some place bigger. A place that Fie would not normally ever venture... "Perhaps we could lose her in the Imperial Museum?"

"Good idea. That'll give us time to contact the others..." In hindsight, Laura's plan for them all to split up backfired almost immediately. The two Class VII representatives grimaced in near unison as they both realized that Fie had almost certainly been following them this entire time.

From her vantage point Fie watched as the three retreated into the Imperial Museum. She couldn't help but shake her head in disappointment at how her friends had completely forgotten about her trusty grapple hook. Ah well, their loss. With a casual hop the athletic girl descended from the roof of the building she had been chilling on, scaring some pedestrians as she landed.

She cast a glance towards the museum that was her eventual destination, but made no move to head in that direction. She had all day to kill and was finding this entire thing to be one very fun game. There was no need to end the hunt this early. Instead she shifted directions and headed to where the three had just been.

There was tasty looking cakes that needed finishing, after all.


After a tasty snack at the expense of her friends Fie continued her journey, albeit at a more leisurely pace. They had probably thought that the Imperial Museum was a place that she would never go willingly and thus they had a better chance of eluding her inside there.

Honestly? They were completely right on that one. History was not something she cared about one bit. Unfortunately for them, she had fallen in love with a history teacher and thus had spent more time in the museum than she cared to admit. She even managed to stay awake long enough on those trips to have some idea of the layout of the place.

Strolling through the door she was unsurprised to see their schoolmate Dorothee manning the front desk. The curator definitely seemed to prefer that position as it allowed her the most time to work on her true passion. That being said, for once in her life she didn't seem at all focused on her works as she stared at the bracer with a nervous expression on her face.

"Lemme guess, they wanted you to deny me entrance or delay me or something. Right?"

"Ahaha..." The writer laughed nervously. "It's good to see you too?"

Fie hummed thoughtfully. "Loyalty towards your friends is a good thing, I suppose. But let me ask you one thing. Should you really remain loyal to people who disrespect your life's work like that?"

"Huh?" The confused look on Dorothee's face was plain as day. Fie grinned, knowing she had the girl right where she wanted her.

"Laura and Alisa. Both of them hate your books." Technically not true, but neither have shown any interest in reading them, even after she and Emma offered to loan them some of the novels. "Now while I wouldn't say I am as passionate as Emma, I have read most of your books and respect the literary masterpieces that they are."

"I-Is that so?" She perked up, looking quite pleased to find a fan.

"Mmm. Oh. And one last thing?" Time for the finishing blow. "I know you stopped that series, but if you ever decide to bring back those characters you should know something. Rean? He's bigger." She held up two fingers in a visual approximation of the size in question.

With that little piece of information Dorothee was completely out of it, panting heavily as she imagined something which was unfit for most people. With the gate guardian crushed Fie strutted into the museum. And she was sure that Rean would be happy when his character returns to her book series. All guys like to be told that they are big, right? Maybe he will reward her with an extra headpat or two for her hard work?

The main hall was packed despite there not being any special exhibit that day. So many weirdos. This place was a whole lot funner when there was an ancient super cryptid in the basement. Now it was just dull.

That wasn't to say that Fie had no respect for history. The last few years did show her the value of at least understanding some of it. Mostly just the stuff that had the potential to rise out of the history books to try and murder her. She was pretty sure the current exhibit on the first Erebonian trains lacked that potential threat.

...Although fighting a demon-possessed train did sound kinda fun. She should pass the idea along the next time they encountered someone from Ouroboros.

Back on topic, her prey was not in the main exhibition hall, but she didn't expect as much. Perhaps Rean had the ability to sense them out despite the crowd, but she did not. That was fine, however, as she was perfectly content at taking care of business at a nice leisurely rate. Humming a pleasant tune she picked a random hallway and set out down it.


"Most of the others are on their way." Alisa informed her two companions. "Emma and Celine are close so they will be here soon."

Vivi sighed in visible relief while Laura appeared contemplative. "Good. I have little doubt that Fie is nearby if she isn't already inside this very building. Having them as a distraction should buy us some time to make our escape." Normally Laura wouldn't consider her friends to be mere distractions to be sacrificed for their escape, but she knew that her best friend had no intention of doing anything particularly hazardous, even to the one they were guarding. That being said, Fie's definition of hazardous was different than that of most people and she had a shockingly high tolerance for collateral damage despite her profession.

...In hindsight, luring her into a museum full of priceless relics might have been a miscalculation.

"I think Crow ditched us." The heiress grumped. "He said he was coming soon, but I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of horses in the background." Laura couldn't help but laugh nervously. That sure sounded like Crow.

As there really wasn't much for them to do save for keeping a low profile until reinforcements arrived the three contented themselves by checking out some of the exhibits. The room they were currently in seemed to be an exhibition on modern technology. The entire place was so alien to the swordswoman that she couldn't help but have flashbacks of the Black Workshop.

She couldn't help but be drawn to the nearest item. It was a fairly large armored vehicle with multiple blades protruding from the bottom. Clearly some kind of weapon of war designed to both terrify and maim the enemy in equal measures. Keeping a safe distance from the weapon she looked at the page describing the object.

An orbal lawnmower. That... was less exciting than she had been expecting.

She wouldn't allow her preconceived notions to affect her judgment of the next item on display. This one was a lot smaller as it seemed to be designed to be held comfortably in one hand. Deciding to do just that she reached out to grab it and-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a familiar voice that didn't belong to Alisa or Vivi.

The three turned, shocked, to see a wide-eyed Fie standing at the opposite entrance to the hall. "Really Fie?!" Alisa was shocked. "Just like that?!"

The bracer pouted. "I was preparing an awesome ambush to scare you off, but look." The young woman pointed directly at her. "Laura was about to touch technology."

The blue-haired woman couldn't help but feel insulted, especially as Alisa gasped in horror. Vivi didn't say anything as she was staring wide-eyed in frozen panic at her enemy. "I was only going to touch it!" She defended hotly.

Fie shook her head rapidly enough to cause her hair to fly about. "Nope. You never just touch things. You always start poking and prodding until it explodes." Curiously the girl approached the object in question, eyes darting about as it read the name. "If there's anyone who can destroy half of Heimdallr with an orbal can-opener, it's you."

"I'm not that bad..." Sure she had had some problems with technology in the past, but destroying half of Heimdallr? "Right, Alisa?"

The mechanical expert of Class VII averted her eyes. "...You are a dear friend." In her time training in the Arseid style and fighting alongside Class VII Laura had taken many painful blows. This one ranked right up there with the worst of them. Desperately she thought of how best to defend-

"Ahhhh! I can't take this anymore! I don't want to die!" Her thoughts were interrupted as Vivi finally broke free of her shock only to suffer a panic attack. The three watched as she sprinted out of the room in a blind rush.

"Huh. I was kinda upset that Laura ruined my plans, but this worked out too." Fie chuckled as she watched the panicked flight.

Alisa sighed miserably. "You are having way too much fun with this." Her piece said the archer set off in pursuit before Vivi could really screw something up.

Laura watched these events unfold with a feeling of detachment. "I'm not that bad..." She muttered weakly.

Fie, who was the only remaining occupant in the room somberly placed a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder. Gesture finished she set out in a leisurely pursuit, only making it out of the room before her ability to keep her laughter in failed, causing Laura to sulk even further.


Humming a merry little tune Fie made her way towards the exit. By this point she was having so much fun that she had nearly forgotten the reason for her actions. As much as she adored Rean and to a far lesser extent Sara, getting the chance to mess with her other friends was something she had sorely missed. She had no doubt that the rest of their group were in the process of rallying to Vivi's position, but didn't see that as a cause for concern.

They probably thought there was safety in numbers. Fie just saw it as a target rich environment.

She was pretty sure that Crow wasn't going to get involved, so that just left her facing off against Emma, Celine, Elliot, and Machias. Formidable foes to most people, but right now she was in her element and all she saw them as was prey to be crushed without mercy or hesitation. She let out a dark laugh as plans began to form in her mind. She would need a book, a fish, and some explosives. Plus a visit with a friend...

Said planning was put on pause as her ARCUS began to ring. She scowled at the interruption and was about to ignore it, but paused when she realized just who it probably was. Sure enough, the name on the orbment was enough to cause a mood shift and the girl cheerfully answered the call.

"Hey, babe. How'd it go?"


Originally I had no idea what I was doing and feared that I wouldn't be able to make an entire chapter out of this event, but as I started typing my brain began to work in crazy ways and by the end I realized I had gone way beyond a full chapter. So enjoy part 1 and look forward to the even bigger part 2 next time!

...Assuming I can pull myself away from my Zero replay long enough to keep up the pace. Kinda surprised just how much fun I am having on a third playthrough, but I am.