A/N:

#1. As always, thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows! I'm sorry about the recent delays and updates. Covid-19 has more or less changed the way I do work in real life and has set me back considerably on numerous projects. Nevertheless, this story is never far from my thoughts nor are the many readers who have taken the time to review in critique my work.

#2. The critiques readers have taken the time to give me have been well taken. In particular, one of the critiques was with regards to the relative power levels I had established for Tatsumi and Esdeath and otherwise low end showing they had in the first chapter of this fic as opposed to how powerful they were in the previous fic. Rest assured that I am not deliberately trying to make them weaker. There are later plot points I am laying down the groundwork for, but there can be no question that a serious Tatsumi or Esdeath would have had no trouble disposing of the cheenoo. In Tatsumi's case, it was a matter of carelessness and knowledge that Esdeath was not only nearby but could stop time at her leisure. In Esdeath's case, she simply didn't know her Mahapadma would not activate. Even still, I probably could have done a better job at driving home the point that I wasn't trying to hit either of them with the nerf stick. Believe me, I hate it when I'm reading/watching something and a story is forced to go down a certain plot thread only because of plot/character induced stupidity (I'm looking at you Star Wars the Clone Wars and that episode where Obiwan, Anakin and Dooku get captured by non-force wielding mercenaries). Will be very mindful of power levels moving forward!

#3. There were some concerns about Tatsumi's newfound pacifism, but this too is a plot thread; I won't spoil where I'm going with it, but trust me when I say there is a method to my madness. It all stems from his evolution before acquiring Incursio's 'perfect sync in the previous fic. The result of that upgrade was not as simple as getting a power up.

#4. There were some concerns about the progression of Tatsumi and Esdeath's romance. I like to take things apart piece by piece and will definitely spend a lot more time fleshing it out in this fic than I did the previous one now that they are in a full blown relationship. I still feel like there's plenty of room for character development for both characters. This is especially the case with Esdeath whom I look forward to completely dissecting in light of what she started out as in the source material.

#5. This chapter revolves around Wave and Kurome. Bare with me now as the character I've hinted at him becoming still has a ways to go and I still need to lay down the groundwork for events later down the road. Trust me when I tell you that I am a strong proponent of chekovs gun and that I've written everything with the intention of carrying this story to the place it is headed. The Bestimmung arc in the previous fic is no exception as this chapter will recall quite a few details from the 6th chapter of the first story.

#6. I intend for the 4th chapter to be out by early December. I promise there won't be as much of a delay as there was with this one.


. . . Then there was Wave . . .


Weeks prior to Tatsumi and Esdeath's ordeal in Port Gavon . . .

Of the four neighboring kingdoms, there was no disputing Bestimmung was the most well known for the harsh and bitterly cold weather regularly endured throughout its lands. But compared to climate Tatsumi and Esdeath had experienced in the southern region where Port Gavon was located, it was nothing compared to the frigid hostile weather in Bestimmung's northern regions. Snowstorms occurred every other day, temperatures would fluctuate to the point to where leaving a glass of water unattended outdoors on some days could lead to it freezing solid within minutes. It was a region only for Bestimmung's fiercest and determined.

As frigid as temperatures were during the day, however, they are incalculably more frigid at night, forcing even the most stoutly travelers to seek shelter at the risk of suffering immediate hypothermia. On one particular windy night, a scant trail of footprints could be seen outside a curious snow burrow a little over a half dozen yards in width and heigh. Following the sounds of sticks meticulously being rubbed together, flames could suddenly be heard cackling from the inside.

"There we go", said Wave, sighing with relief. With meticulous use of his survival skills, the former Jaeger had not only found a temporary haven from the harsh weather outside, but had even built a small campfire to boot. "That should do it for the night, right Kurome?", he grinned, turning his attention to the sleeping beauty on the other side of the campfire.

Although he had been carrying her around on a harness he had strapped to his back earlier, the dark eyed swordswoman was now safely secured sleeping peacefully in layered winter clothing and multiple blankets.

"One more night . . .", Wave said before reaching for a small book a travel bag that had been set down nearby. He opened the book which was titled 'A Tour of the Four Kingdoms' and reached for a page he had turned to enough times leave a faint thumb imprint behind. On the page was a golden tower with magnificent architecture; it was labeled as Babel's Library.' He attentively thumbed through the caption beneath the picture almost as if he could recite it by memory. "Just one more night. Just you wait."

After closing the book and putting it back in his bag and with a faint smile on his lips, he caressed one of his hands over his companion's head. Gazing down upon her peaceful expression reminded him of a simpler time. A time when he and the rest of the Jaegers were all happy together. Seryu, Dr. Stylish, Bols, Run, Esdeath and Kurome. A time when they could all eat ice cream together without a care in the world. Even with all of the ugliness that was an inherent part of their job, those pleasant times still stood out to him. It was hard to believe that they were no longer together. And it was even harder to believe that his friend lying before him was now . . . "Just wait a little longer", he said with a bittersweet smile. "I promise I'll find a way."

With that, he went and sat down closer to the burrow's entrance with Grand Chariot's hilt resting in his hands in case a wandering predator drew near. For hours on end, he gazed outside the burrow with his eyes constantly surveying the area nearby and his ears listening attentively for danger. And although he heard ample amounts of howling, it was only the howls of the harsh winds from the atrocious Bestimmung weather.

But as the hours passed, the hours began catching up with him. Much like his Night Raid counterpart, he was headstrong in both spirit and body and trained himself relentless from a young age. And so his endurance was borderline superhuman. Nevertheless, there was no telling how long he had been venturing through Bestimmung, much less its northern regions. And there was also no telling how much rest he had gotten since beginning journey. But his body was more than willing to tell the tale. With a sigh here and yawn there, his eyelids began flicking and he slowly began to drift away . . .

Before he knew it, he found himself drifting away to what was at very least elsewhere. Waved looked around before realizing that he was back in the Grand Empire's capital. And from the look of things, it had to be a random back alley near the slums. As he began wondering why he was back there all of the sudden, he noticed that he was donned in his Grand Chariot armor for some reason. He had not recalled summoning it, but he was wearing it nonetheless. Even stranger was that he had not noticed that someone was directly in front of him. As he looked to see who it was, he realized that it was an all too familiar young dark-eyed woman with a thin trail of blood trickling out of her mouth; what's more, he noticed that his fist was cleanly protruding straight through her chest. "Did I . . . do this?!"

He suddenly snapped both of his eyes open, instantly returning to the waking world in a cold sweat. It was in this very instant that he noticed black eyed companion standing before him and on the verge of thrusting the jagged edge of a stick right through his throat and with an almost demonic and gleeful look in her eyes.

Before the dark eyed swordswoman could succeed, however, he used his superb reflexes to catch her by her wrist just in the nick of time and swiftly whip her arm around behind her back before flooring her to the ground. As he glanced down at the stick she tried to use, he realized that she had clearly scavenged one from the campire not lont after he had drifted off. "Doesn't look like you're giving me a choice", he sighed.

Within minutes, Wave had tightly tied her up with a thick set of rope. She was sitting indian-style on the other side of the campfire as Wave continued to maintain his best efforts to remain awake. All the while, Kurome maintained the same hate filled expression in her eyes as she gazed upon her companion.

"Don't look at me like that", he said before reaching for yet another item in his travel bag. This time it was a wrapped chocolate candy bar. He peeled away the wrapper halfway and placed it near the young woman's mouth in a friendly and invitational manner. "Look, I've got your favorite."

The dark eyed girl glanced upon the candy bar for several moments before taking a quick bite out of it much to Wave's relief. However, his relief was short-lived and she quickly spat out the contents of what she was chewing directly onto his face.

As he rubbed the chewed up chocolate off his cheeks, Wave looked taken aback. The Kurome he knew loved sweets and especially loved chocolate. For some reason, her behavior here perplexed him far more than her attempt on his life minutes earlier. He searched her eyes, hoping to see some glimpse of the Kurome he knew; even if only the faintest hint, he wanted to see some resemblance. But alas, as hard he looked, he simply could not find any trace of his friend.


. . . He met a woman named Professor Charlotte Kastigar . . .


Just as soon as the sun had arisen once more, Wave had once again resumed his quest alongside Kurome who was secured and harnessed to his back, albeit every bit as hostile as she was the night before. He was once again trudging through the snow laden wasteland, only this time with his goal closer at hand. For far up ahead in the distance stood the very same tall and magnificent golden tower he had examined in his book. Of course, the tower appeared to be even more magnificent in person as there seemed to be no end to its height; from what Wave could see alone, the tower easily peered through the clouds; surrounding the tower was a small but industrious city.

After several more hours, Wave eventually made his way to the peak of this gargantuan structure; he stood before the entrance of this unique city, promptly noticing that the city itself was enclosed by a one hundred foot tall pristine and circular marble wall. "It's all looks impressive, but . . .", he remarked to himself while walking towards to the city gates. ". . . you'd think they have some guards at the entrance."

As soon as he walked through the city gates, he noticed scores multi-story brick gothic architecture styled buildings all throughout; the buildings were all stationed in such a circular pattern that they surrounded the tower at the center. Furthermore, the Grand Chariot wielder noticed a plethora of uniformed young men and women all walking up and down the streets. Each and every one of them had a saber sheathed at their side. This particular detail reminded of his days in the imperial navy, harkening Wave to wonder whether he had inadvertently stumbled upon a military base. But the more he thought about it, it simply didn't add up. Surely the exterior wall would have been more fortified and surely they would have at least had enough sense to station guards at the city gates. "Why would Babel's Library be on a military base?", he wondered.

The further he walked into the city, however, the more questions that made him wonder. In a small field near the wall, a uniformed instructor appeared to be overseeing an organized number of uniformed young men and women engaging in target practice with the use of rifles. In a similar small field up ahead, similar young men and women all appeared to be using their sabers to practice sword swings while monitored by a uniformed instructor. Through the windows of a brick gothic styled building nearby, he noticed numerous young men and women sitting at their desks as another uniformed instructor was giving a lecture. "Is this . . . a school?", he mused to himself.

Before Wave could wander any further into this uncanny city, he heard an approaching and tranquil voice drawing near. "There you are. I see you've finally made it."

He turned in the direction this tranquil voice was echoing only to notice a short and portly balding late middled aged man dressed in business attire. "Excuse me? Sorry, but I think you might have mistaken me for someone else", Wave responded, befuddled as to why this stranger was talking to him.

"What a fine sense of humor", he said with dry and stinging sarcasm before grabbing Wave by his wrist and politely nudging him towards one of the buildings up ahead. "I can see you're going to make a fine addition to the academy."

"Academy? H-hey!", Wave protested as he was being pulled. "Where are you taking me?"

"Professor Kastagar does not like to be kept waiting."

"A professor, huh?", Wave wondered to himself with a intrigued look in his eyes. "Who better than a professor to tell me about the library."

"This way please", the short and portly man said, still nudging Wave forward.

"Sure thing Mr . . . what's your name?", he asked, realizing that there had yet to be an introduction in their brief exchange thus far.

"Mr. Chapelton: Professor Kastgar's assistant."

"The name's Wave."

"Well Wave . . .", Mr. Chapelton said with a vein of disapproval in his voice. "I don't know why you have a young lady strapped to your back, but the academy has no use for such uncouth behavior. I suggest you release her immediately and return her wherever you found her."

"Nah", Wave bluntly declined. "She's with me."

The portly assistant winced his eyes and took a closer look upon the girl strapped on Wave's back. At a loss for words, he attempted to ascertain what she was doing strapped to the young's man's back so patiently and quietly. But as he looked deep into her eyes, deep into her pupils, all he could see were two ebony pools of almost maddening hatred; enough hatred to briefly cause a bead of sweat to roll down the portly middle aged man's forehead. Upon realizing his brief loss of composure, he nevertheless cleared his throat and quickly regained his tranquil demeanor. "Hmph. Very well. See to it that she does not cause any trouble for the other students or the academy will hold you personally responsible. Is that understood?"

To which Wave replied with a knowing chuckle, "I've been doing a good job keeping her out of trouble so far. I think I'll manage."

The two made their way to a building further up the street and much closer to Babel's Library. This building was roughly twelve stories high and had what appeared to be a grandiose campus bell tower at the very top. Inside, the pair ventured up ten flights of stairs. There, on the tenth floor was a series of offices each with a name plaque on the door. Mr. Chapelton guided Wave to door that said 'Dr. Charlotte Kastagar' before turning the nob and walking straight in. It was a moderately sized office with several bookcases full of scholarly books, a coffee table with a stack of crossword puzzles lying on it, an ice wolf head mounted on one of the walls, a carpenter wood desk resting in the center of the room as well as an accompanying ivory linen cushioned chair.

"Odd. The professor said she'd be here for the rest of the day."", Mr. Chapelton openly pondered while observing the empty office. "Odd. The professor said she'd be here for the rest of the day. Stay here. I'll return with the professor."

"Sure thing", Wave said with a polite smile having curved on his lips.

"And whatever you do, don't touch anything", Mr. Chapelton said with a judgmental scowl in his eyes. Without any further delay, he promptly left the office before closing the door behind him.

Wave merely shrugged his shoulders; his curiosity beckoned to him to have a look around. As he took a closer look at the bookcases, he noticed multiple shelfs comprised of extensive volumes of danger beast bestiaries. He opened one random book and was amazed at how extensive it was to the biology and physiology of various danger beast found in the southern region of the Grand Empire alone. The material was not only extensive, but far too complex for him to even fully understand; he promptly closed the book upon realizing that he would not get anything out of reading it.

He turned his attention to the office desk in the center of the room; there was a small framed desk photo. As he took a closer look at the photo, it appeared to be a wedding picture of a young woman with crown braided dark blue hair and wedding gown alongside an equally young gentleman with ducktailed light blue hair sporting a tuxedo. Next to the photo were multiple vials of different colored liquids. Each vial appeared to have a different label on it, but he nonetheless could not ascertain what these labels meant or what they liquids were. Even as he picked one particular vial up to take a closer look at the liquid inside, he had no idea what the substance was. It reminded him of Dr. Stylish in a way as he'd probably have no trouble figuring out what this stuff was.

Just as Wave attempted to take a closer look at another vial, he heard the loud sound of an explosion. And based on the slight way the room had shaken just then, it had come from inside the building. The Grand Chariot wielder dashed out in the room only to hear the cries of someone yelling "Professor Kastagar! Professsor Kastagar! Are you okay?!"

Pumped full of his natural sense of altruism, he ran down one flight of stairs to the 9th floor and spotted Mr. Chapelton at the end of the hallway doing his best to kick in a ironclad double door. The short and stoutly old man was desperately trying to get pass the doors, but they appeared to be sealed shut. "Professor Kastigar!", he yelled, banging on the door.

"GRAND FALLl!" Before Mr. Chapelton had even realized it, a dark blue blur had thrusted its way through the steel double doors in what felt like an instant

Clad in his Grand Chariot and still with Kurome harnessed to his back, Wave looked around the room Mr. Chapelton had been trying to get into. A task he find quite difficult given that the room was almost filled to the brim with flames and thick black smoke. He could nonetheless hear the sound of woman coughing nearby. Following the voice alone, he reached for what felt like a grown woman, cradled her into his arms and quickly jumped out of the room unscathed.

Quickly reverting Grand Chariot back to its cutlass state, he examined this grown woman with his own eyes, immediately noticing the uncanny resemblance to the woman he saw in the wedding photo earlier; unlike the woman in the photo however, this woman appeared to be at least a decade or so older but with the same crown braided blue hair and further donned in a solid white dressed shirt and a solid black dressed skirt.

"Professor Kastagar! Professor Kastagar!", Mr. Chapelton said in a rather reverent fashion before kneeling down next to her. "Are you alright?"

"Do I look alright, you simpleton?", she spat in between coughs before directing her attention to Wave. "And you! Put me down this instant!"

"You're welcome", Wave complied while rolling his eyes. He watched get up and stand on her own two feet wondering if there was simply something in the gene pool that made blue haired women prideful and aggressive.

"Professor! We should get you immediate medical attention!", Mr. Chapelton said before gently tugging at the good professor's wrist.

The professor nonetheless tore her wrist away from her assistant's grasp. "I'm fine. Have someone put this fire out immediately.

"Y-yes maam", he nodded before promptly running down the stairway presumably to do as he was asked.

"Boy! What is your name?", she said, directing her attention back towards the Grand Chariot wielder.

"Wave", he answered.

"Just Wave? No last name? Quite the strange one you are . . . Wave. Not to mention late. Though better late than never I suppose. Come. Lets head back to my office and I'll get you started on your introduction here at the academy."

"Yeah . . .", Wave scratched and nudged the back of his head in a fidgeting fashion. "About that . . . I'm not really . . ."

"Hold your questions for me until after we get your introduction out of the way", the professor interrupted while walking away from the scene.

Shrugging his shoulders, Wave followed the headstrong professor back to her office. As she took a seat in her ivory cushioned chair, she removed a large stack of documents from a nearby drawer and dropped them on her desk in a heavily disinterested fashion. "Before we begin, hand me the snow lotus. Evidently, they now have some bizarre regulation about immediately sealing it in an air tight bag and preserving it for your graduation ceremony. Something about reminding students of how far they've come since their first day or some such bureaucrat driven nonsense."

"The snow what?", Wave asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something wrong with your hearing, boy? The snow lotus you picked on Mt. Zugspitze before traveling here. Hand it over so we can get this silly process out of the way."

"Yeah . . . there's been a big misunderstanding", he nervously chuckled. "I'm not trying to become a student here. Your assistant must have confused me with someone else he was expecting to meet."

"Good god", she drawled while rubbing her face in her palm. "That idiot Chapelton. Can't even rely on him to be a liaison. Though I suppose it make some sense. Applicants for the genetics wing have been turning up missing for weeks now. We'll have to have someone look into that. You're excused . . . is what I would say if you did not peek my curiosity."

"Your curiosity?", Wave openly wondered.

She casually knocked the large stack of documents off her desk before getting back up and walking towards him. "From the look of things, you're a foreigner who managed to travel up here on his own. Not bad for a flaccid foreigner."

"Who are you calling flaccid?", Wave retorted, taking the slightest offense towards the professor's crude nationalism. "I made it up here just fine."

The professor began circling around him as if she were inspecting him from head to toe. "No doubt about it. You were a soldier at some point perhaps? That would explain the weapon. And not just any weapon, but one of those fabled imperial arms from the Grand Empire."

Wave winced his eyes, perplexed at the professor's keen insight ,"How did you-"

"Do you think I'm blind? How do you explain that blue suit of armor you instantly changed into? Not only were you strong enough to knock down the iron clad doors to the laboratory, but you did so with such inhuman speed that a flaccid foreigner like you could have only accomplished it with the use of an imperial arm."

"You mean this?", Wave asked, brandishing Grand Chariot before her and displaying it in its cutlass state. "You're welcome by the way."

"Then there's the girl on your back", she said, still circling him and paying his last remark no heed. "Based on that constant look of contempt in her eyes, she appears to despise me. Not just me or even Mr. Chapelton, but you as well. She despises everybody it seems. Everything perhaps. And yet you seem to be very protective of her. You had her at your side even as you rushed into the laboratory. Something is wrong with her, isn't there?"

"She's . . . suffering from a some kind of illness. I've tried taking her to multiple doctors, but every one of them told me they could not diagnose her condition; that whatever her condition is, it's beyond modern medicine", Wave remarked with a glum look on his face. "I came here hoping I could find some answers in Babel's Library."

"Find some answers in Babel's Library?", she giggled while covering her mouth. "You want to get into Babel's Library?"

"Well yeah . . . that's why I came all this way."

"That's just adorable", she laughed in a patronizing fashion. "You came all the way up here to the northernmost part of Bestimmung thinking you would just be able to find a way into Babel's Library and find a cure for the girl on your back."

Wave scowled, failing to see the sense of humor in the weeks he had spent on his journey thus far. "What's so funny?"

"Foolish boy. No one can enter Babel's Library without Chancellor Eisen permmission. It's impossible."

Wave rubbed his chin, pondering his next course of action. "Chancellor Eisen? Where have I heard that name before?"

"Where have you heard that name before?", the professor asked, voice filled with indignation. "What ignoramus foreigner school did you go to? Chancellor Eisen is the head of all Bestimmung; he is what you'd consider our king."

"Then I need to speak with him."

"Sure", she said with dry sarcasm while tossing her hands into the air. "There's a building called Schloss Palace. It's 700 miles southwest of here. Just walk right up and ask him and I'm sure he'll understand your situation."

"Thanks!", Wave cheerfully smiled. Paying no heed to the professor's japes, he turned around and headed towards the door.

Before he could touch the door knob, however, the professor had reached over and tugged at the former Jaeger's hand. "I was kidding! Do you have a death wish or something?"

To which Wave sighed, " I need to find a cure and Babel's Library is the only lead I could come up with. I have to get in there. Risking my life is only a small price to pay."

"Regardless of your reasons, walking into Schloss Palace uninvited WILL get you killed."

"For the record, I didn't plan on just walking in there without a care in the world, but even if it did come to that, you should already know I can take care of myself just fine."

"Did you not hear me, child? You going into the Schloss Palace uninvited will result in certain death. It doesn't matter how badly you wish to find a cure for that girl on your back; if you go in there, you will die."

"I'll take my chances. Thank you for your time", Wave smiled before politely bowing his head before reaching for the door knob.

"Are you really that determined, foreigner?", she asked, her tone having shifted to a more ominous tune. "Are you really so determined to help that girl that you throw away your very life?"

To which Wave solemnly responded with looking into the professor's eyes with no hesitation whatsoever. "I will do whatever it takes to save Kurome."

"Very well, boy", she said while reaching for a thick winter coat she had set on a clothing rack nearby. "Believe it or not, there is a way for even a flaccid foreigner like you to gain an impromptu audience with the chancellor."

To which the ex-Jaeger asked with a cheerful and optimistic smile. "R-really?"

"Here in Bestimmung, we have what is called the annual Steel Festival. It's a festival that has been celebrated throughout Bestimmung's history and it is the one time of the year in which our citizens celebrate the pride of our great nation. Down in Hertz, they host all kinds of events in celebration of Bestimmung pride. Chancellor Eisen just so happens to be an avid fan of these events; so much so that he always attends just to watch them. Every once in a while, he'll have such a good time watching certain participants that he'll immediately invite them to dinner upon the conclusion of the festivities. "

"I get it . . . so if I go to the Steel Festival and manage to impress the chancellor just enough, he'll invite me to dinner and I can ask him about Babel's Library then and there?"

"Precisely", the professor nodded. "Perhaps the failure of your flaccid foreigner education is not as extensive as I initially thought. But keep in mind: Getting invited to dinner is no guarantee. The chancellor does not always make the gesture. You will have to considerably impress him. And considering that the Steel Festival is in 6 weeks and you'll be competing with people who train all year around just for this very purpose, you don't have a lot of time to get ready."

"I don't mean to keep tooting my own horn here . . .", Wave responded with a carefree smile while rubbing his index finger under his nose. ". . . but until last month, I was a member of the Grand Empire's military's Jaeger division. And so I'm not exactly out of shape."

"Well well. Aren't we overconfident about a contest we know nothing about", she scoffed. "You're certainly quite capable physically; I'm not denying that. But in order to even register into the events, you need a sponsor from an esteemed Bestimmung noble. Luckily for you: You just happen to be standing in front of one."

"Y-you'd do that for me?", he asked with a slight and surprised blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Of course, but my help will not come for free."

"I don't exactly have a lot of coin on me", Wave remarked with a nervous chuckle.

"Please. Don't insult me", the professor scoffed. "It just so happens that I am currently on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. In order to complete my research, I am in need of a living test subject; a specimen whose natural abilities are within the elite range of human capabilities."

"I'm flattered, but what makes you think I'm that candidate?"

"If you weren't, you would not even be able to wield an imperial arm."

"So all I have to do is be your guinea pig for a while and in exchange, you'll help me enter the Steel Festival?"

"Correct. Although . . . whether you survive my experiment until the Steel Festival is entirely up to you", she remarked with cool and calculating gaze. "For now, you will accompany me back to my estate in Hertz"

"As long as it doesn't involve harming innocent people, I'll do it"

"Harming innocent people, hmm?", she openly ruminated in a pondering fashion. She carefully glanced upon Wave for several moments before shifting her eyes away. "How curious. Are there truly any innocent people in this world? Hmm . . . no, I merely need you to retrieve something that's mine. Do we have an agreement?"

"If that's all you're asking me to do, then you have my word", he nodded with ample assurance in his voice.

"Good. Then let us be off. The sooner we leave, the better", she smirked before putting on her coat, opening the door and sticking her head out towards the adjacent hallway. "Chapelton! Get in here!", she shouted.

Within mere moments, the short an portly assistant could be heard running up to her office while panting quite heavily. "Professor Kastagar . . . ", he huffed upon arriving.

The professor cleared her throat, "For the remainder of the semester, I will be taking an indefinite sabbatical. A new and promising research project has come to my attention. See to it this information is forwarded to the dean."

"B-but professor", he stammered. "What about your classes? What about any new students that will need-"

But the professor quickly cut him off. "We use the same textbook every year for the classes. Any idiot can stand in front of students and prattle on and on for several hours a week; you should have no problems getting a substitute. As for new students, in case you haven't noticed, not a single applicant for our department has made it here since the beginning of the semester."

"But what about young Wave here? He's an applicant that-", Mr. Chaptelton yet again stammered, only to be interrupted once more.

"This child is no applicant. Thanks to your bungling you ended up bringing a complete stranger into our midst. I have very little tolerance for incompetence, Chapelton. I suggest you shut up and do as you're told. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, professor", he said as sweat beads began accumulating on his brow. "I will alert the Dean at once."

Having put her assistant in his place, the professor then directed her attention back to Wave. "As for you, come with me. There's something I'd like to show you before we depart."

Within minutes, Wave and his would-be benefactor had left the building. Following her lead and with Kurome all the while maintaining the same hostile gaze she had been maintaining, the former Jaeger followed her all the way to what appeared to be the entrance to Babel's Library. It was a massive stone set of double doors with a peculiar carving engraved into it; the carving depicted a set of hands reaching towards the clouds.

Wave took a careful gander at the stone doors and imagined himself donning his Grand Chariot armor and breaking through the doors with a kick similar to the one he used to burst through the set of ironclad doors earlier, but quickly dismissed the thought. "No . . . I didn't come here to cause an international incident."

Of course, the curious look in the young man's eyes, if only for an instant, did not escape Professor Kastagar's attention. "Shall I guess what you were thinking just now? With my imperial arm, I could easily break into the library without having to go through the trouble of talking to the chancellor about it. Am I right?"

"Well . . .", he said with an embarrassed grin while casually rubbing the back of his head. "It's not like I would actually do that."

"If you think it's that easy . . .", the professor said with a knowing smirk. "Then why don't you give it a shot?"

"I'm not trying to cause any problems with your country!", he replied while frantically waving his heads in a protesting fashion. "If there's a way for me to get in here legally and legitimately, I'm happy to do that instead!"

"But didn't you tell me that girl's life is at stake? That your best chance of saving her is to get into this library? Is the law of some foreign country truly more important to you than your friend's life?"

"That's not what I said!", he glared at her with a sudden hint of irritation. "Besides, if it were that easy to get inside, surely someone else would've done it by now."

To which the professor casually shrugged her shoulders. "You're correct. I just wanted to see what you would do."

"Wait . . . ", he asked her while gesturing towards the stone doors. "So then this place really is impenetrable?"

"Observe", she said while walking closer to the door and stretching one of her hands out. As she reached out to touch the stone door, her right hand phased right through it as if the doors themselves were nothing more than an optical illusion. But just as she did this, the very same hand appeared to come right back out of the door from a different position. It looked almost as if someone from the inside was stretching their hand out.

Upon seeing this, Wave eyes beamed with curiosity and he too reached his hand out to touch the door. And much like Professor Kastagar's hand, his hand simultaneously protruded out of the stone doors from a different location. Growing all the more curious, Wave decided to go one step further and actually walk through the stone doors only to find himself walking out from them an instant after he walked through them. "What the hell is this?", he said, his voice full of confusion.

"That's a good question", the professor once again shrugged. "I've been studying this tower for 20 years now and even I don't understand this phenomena. The one thing I do know is that Chancellor Eisen appears to be the only man in the world who knows how to bypass this door and enter the library. Unfortunately, it has been ages since he last stepped inside."

Feeling unnerved by the unnatural sensation of simultaneously walking in and out of the tower, the Grand Chariot wielder quickly jerked away. "Just what is this place?", he thought to himself.

"Frightened, are you?", the professor smirked with a mocking look in her eyes.

Wave quickly regained his composure. "Why did you bring me out here?"

"I needed to make sure you wouldn't delude yourself into trying to enter the library on your own as opposed to keeping your word."

Wave narrowed his eyes, looking as if he had just been insulted. "I gave you my word. I don't know how you all do things up here in Bestimmung, but where I come from, we keep our promises."

"Where you come from?", the professor scoffed with a hint of condescension. "Whose country was it that killed three foreign ambassadors without any provocation?" (***A/N*** See Down a Different Branch - Chapters 4-6)

"I had nothing to do with that", he fired back while doing his best not to lose his composure.

"Hmph. Fair enough", the professor retorted before beginning to walk away. "Lets not waste any more time."

With a begrudging nod, the former Jaeger followed her lead only to end up at the stables at the inward edge of the city. The professor exchanged a few words with a gentleman nearby who appeared to be tending to the horses. And within no less than a minute, this gentleman had corralled a pair of saddled horses for the pair to ride on. Professor Kastagar had no problem hopping on her horse, but Wave felt a little disoriented as he attempted to hop up to his, almost forgetting that he was simultaneously carrying a holstered Kurome on his back.

"Leave the girl here at the academy", the professor said with an impatient tone of voice. "I'll see to it that Chapelton takes good care-"

"No", Wave shot back before the professor could even finish her sentence. "She goes wherever I go."

"Have it your way", she remarked while again noting the sheer disdain in the dark eyed swordswoman's eyes. "But understand that I will bare no responsibility for this . . . creature."

"I wouldn't have it any other way", he said before finally posturing himself onto his horse's saddle. "But she's no creature. Her name is Kurome."

"From where I stand, your little . . . Kurome . . . is nothing more than a ravenous beast who only seems tamed due to its tight leash. Who knows what will happen, however, when that leash is removed?"

Wave rolled his eyes in indignation "Is it just me or are you not a very pleasant person to be around?"

"Does the truth frighten you, flaccid foreigner?"

"There's a difference between the truth and an endless supply of pessimism. You can mock me however you like, but Kurome stays with me and that's final."

"Heh", she smirked. "You're a stubborn foreigner; I'll give that much. Again: Do as you like with your pet. It matters not to me."

"By the way . . .", Wave said, shifting the conversation as he began maneuvering his horse out from the stable and straight towards the city gates. "Just what were you doing back there before the lab caught on fire?"

"I was conducting an experiment", she replied while following Wave's lead with her own steed. "As you can surmise, the experiment got out of hand."

"Must've been some experiment to lock yourself behind those doors."

"An inquisitive foreigner, are we?"

"Just trying to make conversation."

"In case your flaccid foreigner brain hasn't already pieced things together, I'm not one for idle pleasantries. So skip the small talk and don't address me unless it's important.

"Good grief. What have I gotten us into, Kurome?", he pondered as he rolled his eyes at the professor's continued ill-mannered demeanor.


. . . he decided to take her up on her offer . . .


And so without further delay, Wave did just as Professor Kastagar requested and accompanied her back to Hertz; they traveled to the very city Tatsumi and Chelsea had ventured to on their mission to assassinate the late Ambassador Klaus Hartmann; they traveled to the prosperous city on the tip most northern edge of Bestimmung's southern region. Despite having to frequently tend to Kurome in her current crazed state of mind, the two nevertheless managed to travel all the way to Hertz in a week and a half's time. All the while, the professor remained as distant and antagonistic as ever, much to the Grand Chariot wielder's dismay. But for Kurome's sake, he managed to put aside his feelings and focused on keeping his promise.

Upon arriving in Hertz sometime in the morning, it was not long until they made their way to a majestic estate with an equally majestic and imposing two-story mansion at the center. And despite Bestimmung's considerably cold climate, the estate was equipped with a wide range of perfectly positioned symmetrical shrubbery enclosed around a large and circular water fountain to boot. As they entered the mansion, Wave could hardly believe what he saw.

"There's . . . no one here", he said with a dumbstruck look on his face. Indeed, there was not a single soul to be found throughout the interior. An interior which most certainly would have been every bit as impressive as the exterior if not for the light traces of cobwebs that had accumulated throughout a significant portion of it.

"What were you expecting, foreigner?", the professor said while whimsically looking around the place. "To be greeted by a maid or butler? To be waited on by hand and foot?"

Wave rubbed his finger on the rails of the grand staircase at the center of the main hallway, quickly taking note of the dust had accumulated up and down. "Well you DO live in a mansion and most people who can afford a mansion can also afford . . . the staff needed to run one."

"Oh but the staff is already present", the professor retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?", he responded with the raise of an eyebrow.

She smirked before turning around and walking out the front "I have some errands to take care of. Use that flaccid foreigner brain of yours for a moment or two and I'm sure you'll figure it out. But do try not to hurt yourself before I return."

"Before you return? Wait, you can't be serious! There is no way in hell that I am going to-" . . . but before he could finish his sentence, the professor had already shut the door behind her. Wave subsequently let out a heavy sigh while once again examining the unkempt state the mansion was in. It wasn't just the dust and the cobwebs that had accumulated throughout the place. As he looked around the kitchen, he noticed that the sinks appeared to be stacked with dirty dishes. As he looked through the bedrooms, he noticed that there were clothes, blankets and even random dishes scattered across the floors. The more he examined the place, the more clear it had become that someone had been living there at some point, but had decided to just swiftly abandon the place; though it could not have been all too long ago given that the outside of the mansion appeared to have been well taken care of.

Annoyed with the implication that he would be required to clean this place himself, a part of him could not help but consider the temptation of leaving immediately and finding some other way to enter the Steel Festival or otherwise gain an audience with Bestimmung's chancellor. But that small flicker of temptation was immediately snuffed out as he recalled what he told the professor earlier about keeping his word. Just the thought of giving this arrogant woman the satisfaction of thinking that he does not in fact keep his promises erased any misgivings he had about her outrageous demand.

Filled to the brim with determination, the former Jaegar undid the strap he had been wearing to holster Kurome on his back and gently sat her down near the grand staircase near the entrance. He then kneeled down to her height and looked in the unending sea of contempt and disdain that filled her impure ebony eyes. "I know we're not seeing eye to eye at the moment, but I'm gonna need you to behave while I tidy things up. It'll be a lot easier if you just-"

But before Wave even knew it, he could feel his crazed comrade's teeth sinking into his neck, inches away from his carotid artery. He proceeded to unpry her jaws and push her away. "Can't let my guard down around you even for a moment", he weakly chuckled after dabbing his finger in the open wound on his neck and glancing down at the light trickles of blood. Luckily, she did not manage to sink her teeth any lower than what would give cause for a cursory wound. "Hard way it is", he said before strapping her back onto his back and keeping her secured.

He proceeded to set his travel bag down and look through the nearby pantry for some cleaning supplies. There he found a multiple brooms, multiple dust pans, multiple mops, and a feather duster, dish rags and a modest amount of laundry detergent. "Alright", he said with a confident smile. "Time to show you just what this 'flaccid foreigner' is capable of."

Hours upon hours had passed and the sun had already gone down. Having secured the horses at the estate's stable, Professor proceeded to walk right back towards the front door with a wooden briefcase in her right hand. Just as she opened the door and walked in, however, her mouth fell agape. Every trace of dust she saw earlier was gone. All of the cobwebs that had been scattered about the interior, including the ones on the ceilings, had vanished without a trace. She walked into the kitchen only to see that there was not a single dirty dish, much less any dish, resting in the sinks and that the floors and tables were spotless. She wondered from bedroom to bedroom, visibly astonished at how it felt as if she were walking into a brand new house.

As she continued inspecting the place, she eventually stumbled across the sound of someone humming a lively tune. She walked into what could be described as the mansion's den area; a room that appeared to be filled with mounted danger beast heads hoisted up on the walls. Wave himself was standing high up a ladder while spot cleaning the stuffed head of a class one ice rhino. Despite having Kurome holstered on his back, he did not appear to be having any trouble maintaining his balance; his balance was perfected to the point that the black eyed swordswoman was apparently able to sleep without any indication of discomfort. What's more, the former Jaeger was donned with a cleaning apron over his chest and waist and a cleaning scarf wrapped around his head.

Suddenly noticing the professor in his midst, Wave could not help but smirk triumphantly. It was very clear that he had taken pride in his work. "Like it?"

She looked around the now pristine room for several additional moments. "It's adequate I suppose."

"Adequate? In case you haven't noticed, I've just about cleaned your entire mansion from floor to ceiling. And I did it all by myself."

"You did tell me you were in an elite military unit did you not? Basic cleaning skills are expected out of even the lowliest of grunts."

"Basic?!", he exclaimed. "Are you kidding me here?!"

"I took the time to do some research. Didn't you tell me you were part of the Jaegers the other day? That wouldn't happen to be the same unit General Esdeath personally leads, would it? If so, I'm surprised she'd tolerate a subordinate who expects to be praised for demonstrating mundane skills such as yours"

To which Wave responded with a surprised look on his face, "Hold on a second. You know about Esdeath?"

"Know about her?", the professor giggled almost as if having heard a humorous joke. "Who doesn't know about the invincible upstart general who flaunts and embodies our culture at every waking moment? "

"I didn't realize she was that popular."

"Popular . . . may not be the best choice of words at the moment", the professor remarked before shrugging her shoulders. "Especially now that your country is blaming her for organizing the assassination of three different ambassadors including one of our own The very ambassadors you previously claimed to have had no part in killing I might add."

"Still do", Wave retorted while scooting his ladder over just enough to dust the next spot. "When I was in Reispan, I even tried to stop one of them from happening."

"Reispan?" The professor glared up towards Wave for several moments, almost as if looking for any indication in his posture that he was being anything less than truthful. Naturally, however, there was not even a smidgen of dishonesty. "Tell me foreigner: What do you know of the assassination that took place here in this very city?"

"Not much other than that Night Raid was responsible", Wave replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he began to dust several medium sized portraits hoisted up directly above the fireplace, "I was assigned to stop the assassination attempt in Reispan and General Budo had volunteered to deal with the attempt here in Bestimmung. He's been MIA ever since."

"Interesting", she said with a discerning look in her eyes.

Wave paused all of the sudden as if to take a gander at what he was dusting. He hadn't noticed earlier, but the faces in the portraits he had been dusting all looked familiar; the photos he was looking towards were all of a young man with ducktailed light blue hair engaging in different outdoor activities alongside a young woman with crown braided dark blue hair; horseback riding, sailing, hunting, etc; they looked very much like the couple on wedding photo that had been sitting on the professor's desk back at the academy. "To be honest, professor, I didn't figure you to be the marrying sort. Your husband I take it?"

"Enough talk, foreigner", she scoffed with a dismissive glare. "It's 8:00 pm and I have seen no trace of dinner."

"You expected dinner too?", Wave asked before leaping down from the ladder, noticeably grinding his teeth at this point.

"Hmph", she scoffed before walking away. "Expected and still expect it. Have it ready in an hour."

The remainder of the evening went just as expected with Wave scrambling to put together a meal at the last minute and the professor sparing no praise nor appreciation for his efforts. When it was time to retire for the rest of the night, he picked one of the many bedrooms he had cleaned earlier in the day and settled in. Even though Kurome appeared to be asleep, he had tied her up with the same rope he had used previously. Once she appeared to be secured, he then gently scooped her in his arms and laid her down on the bed. Afterwards, he reached for his travel bag and began unpacking its various contents, knowing full well that he'd be occupying this mansion for at least another four and a half weeks until this Steel Festival the professor had told him about.

As he reached deep into the bottom of the bag, the shape and texture of the item at the bottom suddenly reminded him of why he was in the position of having to go through all of this effort in the first place; it was Kurome's imperial arm, Yatsufasa. He swiftly yanked the cursed katana out from his bag, blatantly agitated as he glanced over its features. He couldn't understand what would possess someone to design a weapon like this; a weapon capable of doing what it did to Kurome. Even worse, the ones who gave this weapon to Kurome in the first place knew about its effects but gave it to her anyway for the purpose of their sick and twisted experiments. A part of him was tempted to throw this blasted weapon out the window and be done with it once and for all, but he had no desire to see someone else meet the same fate as his dark-eyed companion. Another part of him was tempted to destroy the weapon entirely, but with the link Kurome appeared to have to this accursed blade, there was no telling what effect it would have on her illness. As such, the only thing he could contemplate doing was holding on to Yatsufasa while simultaneously keeping it out of Kurome's reach.

Wave then walked up to the bedroom window, glancing outside while reflecting on his journey thus far; he particularly considered the increasing rate at which new obstacles were arising. To think that his quest had started off as simple as going to Babel's Library and finding a cure for his friend's ailment. But now . . . he's gone from focusing on meeting Bestimmung's king to thinking of the most prudent ways to wash dishes and scrub floors. Even worse, there was no telling whether he would have to put up for this for the entirety of the next four an a half weeks.

His eyes ever so directed out the bedroom window as his mind continued to wander, he suddenly noticed a figure walking outside towards the horse stables. As he looked closer, he had no doubt who it was. "What's she doing out there this late?" It was indeed Professor Kastigar, though what she was doing was unclear. She appeared to have a lantern in her hands, but didn't appear to be equipped with anything else.

"Whatever it is, it's none of my business", he shrugged before turning away. Just as he did, he heard Kurome cough all of the sudden. He walked up to her, somewhat taken aback at realizing that this was the first noteworthy thing he had seen her do in weeks besides try to kill him. He gazed upon her for several moments in an effort to make certain she was okay, but she appeared to be sleeping just as peacefully as she had been immediately prior to her impromptu throat reflex just then.

Sensing no apparent danger, the former Jaegar proceeded sit near the window with his sheathed imperial arm resting against his chest. No doubt a posture he had repeatedly assumed again and again and again over the course of the last several weeks of being Kurome's sole guardian and protector. Though his eyes felt like heavy bags, he did his best to keep them open as much as possible, having learned firsthand how crafty his bloodthirsty companion was from experience. He remained in that posture for the remainder of the night.


. . . but Kurome was . . .


"Did I . . . do this?"

Wave snapped his eyes wide open, once again finding himself in a cold sweat. He looked around and noticed that the sun had arisen. Moreover, he could hear the sound of someone coughing. And not just one brief instance like last time, but continuous coughing. As he rushed to Kurome's aid, he noticed her nose was running, her cheeks were flushing, she was coughing every other moment. What's more, to Wave's befuddlement, her face was littered with small but semitransparent irregular blue spots.

"Shit!", he said with a panicked look in his eyes. Although he was a trained soldier and an impeccable warrior, medicine and healing were clearly outside of his purview. And given that last symptom of hers, he couldn't even began to grasp what was wrong. "What do I do?"

Pressing his hands to both sides of his head, Waved paced back and forth wondering what he ought to do. If he took her to a hospital, there was no telling what her murderous antics would lead her to do to a physician. On the other hand, he couldn't simply leave her in her current state and merely hope for the best. "Think think think", he said out loud.

"Careful now. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself", Professor Kastigar said before walking into the room and observing the scene for herself. "Especially before you've prepared breakfast. You're late by the way."

"Yeah yeah", Wave scoffed. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something? I don't have time for you right now."

"You're in the middle of being a fool . . .", the professor replied before walking up to Kurome's bed, surveying the black eyed girl with close attention to detail and gesturing Wave to step aside. " . . . as per usual it would seem."

Wave widened his eyes, astonished at the sudden interest the professor appeared to be taking in Kurome. She had not so much as acknowledged the young girl's existence since they were at the academy a week ago. And even then, it was merely to suggest she was useless baggage. "What are you doing?"

"As I suspected", the professor remarked after pressing one of her hands against Kurome's forehead. "Your friend is suffering from a severe case of tectus ignotas febricitantem."

"As you suspected?" Wait . . . what even is that?", he asked, clearly befuddled.

"Up here in Bestimmung, we call it tourist fever. Never mind that though. Go get one of my linen wrags and a bucket of cold water."

"Right", he nodded his head before swiftly running out the room. Within minutes after a quick trip to the pantry and laundry room, he had returned with all three items. "Alright, now what?"

"Shut up and watch", she ordered, now attentively sitting on the bed with her attention focused on her would-be patient. She dipped the entire linen rag in the bucket of cold water, drenched all of the excess water out of it and placed it on Kurome's head. She then peeled away the bed covers just enough to notice the rope Wave had secured her in. "She'll need to be untied."

"You don't understand", Wave remarked while shifting his gaze to his young companion. "If I untie her, there's a good chance she'll-"

"Is this what passes for chivalry in your country, flaccid foreigner?", the professor interrupted. "Untie her at once. The ropes will only hinder her blood circulation, making it more difficult for her body to fight the illness on its own."

"Okay, but just don't say I didn't warn you", Wave said before proceeding to remove the ropes. He made sure to exercise extreme caution. And sure enough, just as he removed the rope, Kurome lunged towards the professor much like she had against Wave on the previous day and despite her sickened state; she made a similar effort to bite the older woman's major artery. But to her and even Wave's surprise, the professor was entirely unnerved by this ravenous effort.

"Sweet dreams, girl. Sweet dreams filled with murder and madness I suppose" Before Kurome even knew it, a syringe needle full of a light red liquid had been injected into the left side of her throat. Within moments, the black eyed girl's eyes began to shudder and she quickly passed out.

"What did you do to her?", Wave asked, hardly able to believe what had just transpired. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"I just gave her an exotic variant of chloral hydrate. She'll be out for a couple of hours", the professor said before standing up from where she had been sitting and dusting away the excess water that had gotten on her dressed shirt. "I would suggest you regulate her body temperature. Make sure she doesn't get too hot and also see to it that she doesn't get too cold. I trust a rag and a bucket of water aren't too confusing for a flaccid foreigner to handle."

"Right", he nodded before grabbing the linen ring and submerging it in the bucket of cold water. "I'll get started right-"

"I didn't say I was finished", the professor interrupted while making a stop-gesture with one of her hands. "She will also need to be vaccinated. There's a clinic on 12th avenue a couple of miles from here. Tell them your friend has tourist fever and they'll get you a vaccine."

"Just like that?"

"Well they'll want several hundred gold pieces of course, but that shouldn't be a problem."

Wave suddenly began to rub the back of his head with a twitching grin on his lips. "Yeah . . . that might be a problem."

"You can't be serious", she remarked before rubbing her face against the palm of her right hand.

With little time to waste, Wave found himself out of the mansion, on horseback and following closely behind an otherwise annoyed Professor Kastigar. Given that her estate itself was merely on the outer limits of Hertz, travel into the actual city was short and expeditious. And as they arrived into the actual city portion, Wave could not help but find himself enamored with just how refined and advanced Hertz appeared to be. Up until then, the finest city he had ever seen was the Grand Empire's capital. But with the sheer amount of high rising concrete towers nearby, the sheer amount of fragrances from various restaurants nearby and the various machinery that was being used to construct even more buildings, there was no doubt that Hertz put the imperial capital to shame.

"Get your head out of the clouds", the professor scoffed at the former Jaegar as they approached the sidewalk near what appeared to be the clinic she was referencing.

"Huh. Oh. Right.", Wave replied as they road towards a building with wall sized glass windows and a penumbra of items on various shelves; a building that appeared to be set up much like a department store.

Upon securing their horses to a conveniently placed horse post outside, they began walking towards the entrance. "Astounding, isn't it?", she dryly remarked.

"I'll say", Wave remarked after taking another marveling glance at the scenery. "You Bestimmung folks sure do know how to keep it fancy; I'll give you that. If Kurome wasn't in her current condition, she'd be demanding for us to check out that pastry shop over there. Is that a real cake out front?"

"Astounding in that you traveled all the way to a foreign country on foot without taking fairly basic precautions. Not having the foresight to have your friend vaccinated is one thing, but you didn't even bring any gold pieces, did you?"

To which Wave could not help but feel a little pride in, "Well excuse me if I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, lady; Where I come from, we didn't live in fancy mansions and had to get by with our blood, sweat and tears."

"Yes and look where your blood, sweat and tears have gotten you", she scoffed before opening the door.

But just as she did, a trio of men walked straight out. Two of them had rifles holstered on their backs and were dressed in dark red and black leather garbs. The third one was a young man no older than Wave donned in a red and black leather armor and with a war hammer sheathed on his back; unlike the other two men, this one stood out for his dark blue ponytailed hair.

"That's a real shame, doc!", the young man with ponytailed hair yelled with faux politeness while walking out. "Something tells me brother isn't going to be too happy with your answer."

To which a voice from inside the store replied, "Tell your big brother that if he's going to make threats, he should make them to my face as opposed to sending his little brother to do his dirty work!"

"It's your funeral", the ponytailed man chuckled before turning his attention to Wave and the professor. "If I were you two, I'd avoid this place like the plague. Rumor has it that the doc inside is allergic to his own brain cells."

Professor Kastigar simply walked past the trio and into the clinic without the slightest interest in them. "We'll take our chances."

"Lets go boys", he said to the other two men before walking down the street.

Wave glanced upon them for a moment as they walked away, but decided not to give them another thought.

As they both stepped inside the clinic, it was immediately apparent that there was no other customers present. Wave wondered if perhaps the place was closed, but that wouldn't explain what the three men they saw moments earlier were doing inside.

"Can I help you?", said a middle aged man standing at the store counter. The man had dark combed hair, blue eyes, a pair of glasses and sported a white dressed shirt and a white lab coat. All the while, he was smoking a cigarette. He had a bit of a serious yet cavalier aura about him.

"I see the economy hasn't been too kind to you lately, Jean", the professor replied in a rather snide and familiar tone. "Especially if the only customers you have these days are riffraff like those three."

"A shame", the man remarked in an equally familiar tone before puffing some excess smoke into the air. "Perhaps I should whore myself out to the right diplomat in the hopes of using his connections to get academic tenure. It's done wonders for you I hear."

"Scathing", she replied with the utmost indifference. "But I didn't come here to exchange wits with an unarmed opponent. I'm actually here to do business."

The man glared towards Wave with an attentive gaze. "A little young for you, Charlotte. Either way, I don't run that kind of establishment. Scurry on back to your estate before the boy realizes he can do better."

"Okay . . .", Wave said, finally chiding in. "I'm kind of lost. What is this . . . back and forth you two have got going here?"

"You'll have to forgive Jean. All of this pent-up angst of his has made him forget his manners so I'll have to introduce him myself: His name is Jean Sérieux Stylish and he is the owner of this establishment. Though don't let his fangs fool you", she chuckled with that last remark. "His bark is far worse than his bite."

"Did she say . . .Stylish?", Wave thought to himself.

"That's Doctor Jean Sérieux Stylish thank you very much", he replied. "And if you only came by for a social call, you can kindly excuse yourself out the door."

"Doctor Stylish?", Wave asked, his mind suddenly filled with reminiscence of his deceased and crazed yet scientifically brilliant teammate. "But . . . how?"

"It's called a medical degree, boy", he retorted in a blunt fashion.

"Perhaps", the professor smirked, "But the 'how' aspect of someone as pathetic as you obtaining one is a question worth asking. Nevertheless, we can save that discussion for another day. The boy here is in need of a vaccine for tourist fever and I've agreed to foot the bill. So make with the vaccine already and we'll kindly excuse ourselves out your door."

To which Dr. Stylish shook his head before glaring in Wave's direction. "Your mistress here isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed or else she'd have realized this already, but I don't have any tourist fever vaccines in stock."

"Nonsense", the professor scoffed. "Your general incompetence aside, everyone knows your clinic is the best stocked clinic in the city. Your compulsive obsessive narcissism practically insures it. We don't have time for games."

The doctor looked back towards the adjoining room behind him. "Amelia! Do we have any more tourist fever vaccines?!"

"We haven't gotten a new shipment of that in months", said a young female voice shouting from that direction.

"Wait, what?!", Wave exclaimed in disbelief. "What do you mean you're fresh out?"

"Your mistress is incredibly shortsighted not to know better. With Bestimmung's economy in the state its in, most of the small businesses here have had to cut back in order to make ends meet and we simply can't afford to put in orders for vaccines that only foreigners have a use for."

"Maybe we should check with the other clinics", Wave asked, his attention having shifted back to the professor.

"A waste of time", she bluntly remarked after letting out a sigh..

"What?", he retorted "Why?!"

"As much as it pains me to admit it, Jean here is correct. If his clinic does not have it, it's doubtful any other clinic does. I haven't exactly felt the impact of the recent economic recession, so I was not aware things had declined to this extent."

"Then what are we supposed to do? You said it yourself. Kurome needs that medicine-"

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but listen in on your dilemna", Dr. Stylish interjected as a soft and curved smirk curled up his lips. "We might not have any vaccinations, but depending on how dire your friend's condition is, there might be a remedy yet."

"And here it comes . . .", the professor said with a sharp hint of annoyance in her voice

"I'm listening", Wave replied, his reaction being the complete opposite of the professor's.

To which the doctor continued. "We may not have any vaccinations in stock, but that doesn't mean we can't reverse engineer one ourselves."

"How much are you asking for?", the professor drawled in an indignant fashion, having realized what her old acquaintance was really saying.

"Given the amount of time and work it will involve on such short notice, I'd say four . . . no, more like five."

"Five gold pieces?", Wave asked optimistically.

"He means five thousand gold pieces", she added, the hint of annoyance in her voice growing at every moment.

"Well . . . what's it going to be, Charlotte?", Dr. Stylish smirked with the utmost satisfaction on his lips.

"Sorry", Wave replied while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "But I don't have that kind of money nor do I expect to put that kind of burden on someone else. Maybe we can reach some kind of other arrangement."

"There will be no other arrangement", she said before hostily removing a bag of medium sized gold pieces out from her purse and setting it on the nearby store counter. "That there is ten silváts. You'll get the remaining three thousand gold pieces once the job is done."

To which Dr. Stylish said with mock-politeness before snatching the bag away. "Pleasure doing business with you, Charlotte."

"As for you", she said before scowling in Wave's direction. "You will perform all of your tasks from now on without questions or complaints. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am", he said with a polite bow of his head.

Still smirking, the good doctor gently adjusted the bridge of his glasses with his index finger. "Of course, there's still the matter of the costs and labor that will be involved in procuring the materials . . ."

"How very generous of you . . .", she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. "But as you can see, the boy here is a strapping young foreigner. He'll assist you with that."

The doctor rubbed his chin in a contemplating fashion before glancing upon Wave; he began to circle around the Grand Chariot wielder much like Professor Kastigar did in her office at the academy; this caused Wave a slight sense of discomfort as he was not used to being judged and scrutinized in such a meticulous fashion. "He certainly appears capable . . ."

"I'm right here you know", Wave commented, annoyed at how he was being talked about in the third person.

"But I can't guarantee you an efficient job without . . . additional incentive", the doctor playfully shrugged.

"Considering what is at stake for the boy, I'm sure he'll be up to it no matter what the task. Isn't that, right?", the professor noted before turning towards Wave.

To which Wave nodded. "Whatever it is, you can count on me to get the job done."

"Very well", Stylish remarked before walking back towards one of the rooms in the back. "Amelia, we're closing early for the day. Be a dear and ready my equipment."


. . . he was once again cornered . . .


Within an hour of their meeting at the pharmacy, Wave and the good doctor had ventured out well beyond the city via horseback. The doctor had changed out of his physician garb and was wearing a gray winter jacket and thick gray winter pants. As the two were galloping through a snow laden forest at breakneck speed, the Grand Chariot wielder followed Stylish's lead until the good doctor eventually signaled for him to slow down.

"Is this the place?", Wave asked as his horse reared its legs up and neighed before beginning to walk at a gradually slower pace.

"Just a little further up ahead", Dr. Stylish replied as his horse followed suit with the other.

With but a few minutes of awkward silence, Wave gazed carefully upon this eccentric physician. Although the name Stylish caught his interest, the looks and facial features were a bit different from the one he was accustomed with. The other Stylish sported a white patch in his hair and his hair wasn't as combed as this one's. Furthermore, whereas the Dr. Stylish he knew was a bit . . . flamboyant, this one was a bit more stoic . . . at least outside of the back and forth he had with Professor Kastigar earlier. Still, Wave couldn't place his finger on it, but something felt odd. "This is going to sound weird to you . . .", he remarked before clearing his throat.

"Is that right?", the doctor asked in a nonchalant fashion as his horse continued to pace forward

"Do you have a brother?"

"Nope. Only child."

Wave's eyes widened upon hearing that answer. "Are you sure about that?"

"I think I would know whether I had any siblings. What are you driving at?"

"Before I came up here, I used to work for the Grand Empire's military. I was in a special commando unit called the Jaegars."

"The Jaegers, huh? I take it you used to work for General Esdeath."

"I guess the professor wasn't kidding. Seems everyone really does know the commander up here."

"At very least, there are quite a few stories and rumors associated with that name. Especially now that she's a war criminal. Don't tell me you came up here because you were charged with some crimes as well."

"Nope. As far as I know, Esdeath, the former prime minister and his son got branded as traitors."

"You wouldn't happen to know her current whereabouts would you? I hear she's worth quite a few gold pieces these days."

"Afraid not", Wave shrugged. "Nobody has seen her since the day the new prime minister got appointed. Knowing her though, I'm sure she'd be thrilled at the prospect of people trying to collect a bounty on her head."

"If the stories are of any indication, that sounds likes her. Though it appears we have gotten a bit off track. What was this weird thing you were trying to tell me about?"

Wave glanced upon the good doctor for a few additional moments. There was definitely some vague resemblance to the Dr. Stylish he knew, but this man definitely wasn't the other one's double. He wondered whether it were simply a coincidence that they had the same last name. "On second thought, it's nothing."

"Suits yourself", the doctor shrugged.

Several minutes later, the two finally made their way into a clearing. Only the clearing was not merely an open field, but a massive valley consisting of numerous trees sloped from top to bottom. The valley was so wide and massive in size that even the Grand Chariot wielder looked a bit mystified. "What is this place?

"Zuerst valley", Dr. Stylish answered.

"Is this where the ingredients for the vaccine are at?"

To which the doctor nodded. "Even with the economy in its current state, we should still be able to catch a danger beast here."

"A danger beast?" Wave scratched his head in confusion. "That's why we came all the way out here? No offense, but we probably could have found one closer to the city."

"You're not from around here, so you wouldn't understand", Dr. Stylish shook his head. "But here in Bestimmung, the number one factor driving our economy has always been danger beasts."

"What do danger beasts have to do with your economy?"

"Until recent months, this country had more danger beasts populating it than every other country in the world combined. And so mercenary work has always been in constant demand. So much so that no matter who you were, if you couldn't secure reliable employment anywhere else, there was always mercenary work to fall back on. That is until recent months anyway."

"Now that I think about it . . .", Wave openly pondered while scratching his forehead. "When I was traveling up here from the Grand Empire, I don't think I had any more than two or three encounters with some ice wolves."

"Were you to have made that expedition even two months ago, you not only would have found yourself hounded by such vermin at least two or three times a day, but you would have surely seen mercenaries dealing with them. But with the way things are now, danger beast are scarce and opportunities for mercenaries to deal with them are equally scarce. And so the odds of simply finding one next to the city may as well be 0%."

"If danger beast truly are as scarce as you say, what makes you think we'll have any better luck here?"

"Because this place is a well known breeding ground for all kinds of danger beast and I just so happen to know of a particular species here that mercenaries tend to overlook."

"So we just need to capture this danger beast and then you can make the vaccine?"

"No. We also need to collect some herbs as well, but that shouldn't be too difficult for . . . what did Charlotte refer to you as? A strapping young foreigner?", Stylish chuckled as he uttered the last three words.

"Very funny", Wave rolled his eyes. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

After securing the horses to the nearest trees, they both began descending down into the valley on foot, minding their steps as they treaded lower and lower.

The doctor gazed across the snow laden area as they descended. "We'll need two . . . no three rabbits. Be a good strapping young foreigner and go get them."

"S-sure", Wave replied while gazing across the scenery himself. "Just tell me where they're at."

"Tell you where they're at?, the doctor asked while raising an eyebrow. "And then what? Do you expect them to come out of their burrows and greet you with a song like they do in the books for children?"

"Is it just me or is every other word that comes out of you and the professor's mouth sarcastic?"

To which the doctor chuckled. "My point is that you need to hunt them down, boy."

"Oh", the former Jaegar remarked before looking up at a nearby tree. "Well I guess I could wait up there until one came along."

"Sure, you could do that. And we could also make a campfire out here and share some ghost stories."

"Geez, again with the sarcasm?", Wave shrugged.

" I can tell just by looking at you. You're probably a pretty capable fighter who gets by with his strength and reflexes. But there are often times in life when that by itself is not enough. Sure, we could wait out here right now while you hope and pray that a rabbit wonders by, but what if it doesn't? You'll have wasted all of your time waiting out here and your friend will probably die from an illness her body cannot stave off on its own."

To which Wave solemnly nodded, "I see your point. What do you have in mind?"

"Tell me Wave: Up in the sky; what do you see?"

The former Jaegar glanced up into the air, uncertain of what the good doctor was playing at. "Clouds? Lots of clouds? The sun?"

"That's right; the sun. What do you imagine a rabbit does when the sun is out?"

"Look for food I guess . . ."

"Bravo!" Dr. Stylish gave a quick and celebratory clap. "Now using that knowledge, how would you go about finding a rabbit at this hour?"

"Yeah yeah, you don't need to be an ass about it", Wave shrugged.

"Two things you should know", the doctor remarked while holding two fingers in the air. "First, rabbits around here are quite fond of snow berries; they're blood red and one of the few fruits in the world capable of withstanding Bestimmung weather. Second, they're very discreet herbivores; they have to be in light of the many danger beast that wouldn't to eat them. Use this knowledge to your advantage."

"They like snow berries and they're discreet. Got it", Wave nodded.

"Good", the doctor responded before walking further down into the valley. "I'm going to go on ahead and get the herbs. I'll be back here at this spot in an hour. If you haven't gotten the rabbits by then, don't bother sticking around."

"The nerve of that guy", Wave thought before turning his attention to the immediate area surrounding him. He scanned the environment left and right before deciding to begin jogging in a random direction. "He said snow berries. Blood red snow berries."

Grunting in frustration, he made sure. to look left and right every several seconds. "But I don't see any berries around here."

He continued jogging in this fashion for multiple minutes until eventually moving in a full fledged sprint. "In fact, I don't see ANYTHING blood red around here. Thanks to all of this blasted snow, all I see is . . ."

He then came to a screeching halt; he planted his feet so that he wouldn't move another inch. "SNOW. How the hell am I supposed to find snow berries when everything is covered up in snow? It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack."

Using his superb athleticism, he quickly skirted up a nearby tree as if to gain some elevation. He then looked around the immediate area, but saw no sign of anything red; the snow made visibility extraordinarily difficult. "Even if I were to go around shaking every bush and shrub, there's no telling how long it would take for me to find these things. Dammnit. Is that guy just screwing with me? "

As the former Jaegar gritted his teeth, he was once again reminded of thoughts of a simpler time; thoughts of him being happy as he sat on a boat with a fishing pole in his hands. With that distant memory in mind, he took adeep breath. "Concentrate, Wave. When you think about it, this is no different than being on a fishing boat."

In that moment, he sat down upon the tree branch he had climbed up into and closed his eyes; in that moment, he let go of everything outside of the moment; he put aside the need to find the snow berries, the need to catch rabbits and even need to save Kurome; in that moment, he cast everything aside. And just as he did this, he found himself more attuned with everything around him. The light gusts of wind, the smell of pinewood in the trees, the cool air and . .. the rummaging 30 yards away. Oddly enough, this was the only rummaging that could be heard despite all of the vegetation nearby.

With his eyes flying open, Wave immediately leaped from the tree branch he was in to another; he moved from tree to tree with his eyes focused on the source of the sound he had heard until finally . . . "Gotcha!" Wave said after zipping down to a snow covered bush and removing a rabbit that had peacefully been gnawing on something within. And sure enough, there had been no trace of the rabbits paw prints in the snow nearby. "The doc wasn't kidding. You guys really are discreet. One down. Two to go."

Three quarters of an hour had passed and Dr. Stylish was making his way back to the spot he had instructed Wave to wait. Only much to his surprise and befuddlement, Wave was already there waiting with a smug look on his face and he leaned up against a tree with all three rabbits dangling and strung together in one of his hands.

"Hmph", the doctor snorted before readjusting his glasses. "Not bad for a foreigner."

"I'll take that as the closest thing you're willing to pass for a compliment", Wave smiled while rubbing one finger under his nose.

"Rub this over your clothes", the doctor said after removing a small jar of some brown substance from the travel bag he was carrying.

"What's this?", Wave replied before opening the jar and immediately wretching in disgust. "No really, what is this crap?!"

Dr. Stylish shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the repugnant odor filling the air. "You don't want to know."

Wave quickly pinched his nose while still wrenching in disgust. "Whatever it is, I am NOT putting that on."

"You're call. Just remember that I'm not the one whose friend's life is on the line."

"Just . . . ugh . . . give me a minute", the former Jaeger muttered before running behind a tree and wretching something up.

It did not take long, but Wave had managed to apply a thick coat of this strange substance on his shirt and jacket while somehow managing to steel his senses just enough to avoid hurling up more anything else he had eaten in the past week.

"And now for the finishing touches", Doctor Stylish remarked before snapping the necks of all three rabbits Wave had gathered. With a razor sharp scalpel he just so happened to have on hand, he skinned all three of them in less than a minute and proceeded to dash their discarded hair all over the substance Wave had begrudgingly applied to his outerwear.

To which the Grand Chariot wielder sighed, "Great. Now I reek and I look stupid. What's next?"

"Bait", the doctor smirked.

Within minutes, Wave found himself in an even stranger situation. He was lying on the sloped ground lower into the valley and was lying next to a seemingly bottomless circular hole in the ground with its entrance at least two feet in length. Wave laid uncharacteristically still, albeit with the occasional sweat bead rippling down his forehead. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. 30 minutes passed. But Wave patiently waited in the same position. Another 20 minutes passed and still nothing of consequence happened, only Wave was grinding his teeth. It wasn't until an additional 30 minutes passed that he could hear a soft rumbling in the ground. A soft rumbling that gradually became stronger by the second. Until finally . . .

A bizarre worm-like creature six inches wide, 5 feet long and with an odd mixture of fur and scales veered from the hole in the ground and immediately sprung itself towards Wave. Although the former Jaegar fretted at the sight of this, his fears were quickly dashed as a bullet could be heard ripping straight through the creatures head and killing it almost instantaneously. Apparently, Dr. Stylish had been hiding behind the tree nearby and was waiting for just the right moment with his semi-automatic handgun.

"Good grief", Wave sighed. "It's a good thing it came when it did. With the foul smell and cold ground, I didn't know how much longer I could stay still like that."

"Yes, I suppose it is a good thing you didn't move", the doctor said while putting his gun in his jacket pocket. "All of that time luring the vutworm out would've gone to waste."

Wave did his best to try and wipe away the brown substance on his clothes as well as the excess rabbit fur, but was nonetheless having difficulty. "I can't believe these things actual use this stuff to attract mates. What a weird ritual."

"To be fair, the rabbit hair was a bit of improvisation on our part. Ordinarily, a male vutworm would be able to coat itself in what you're wearing just fine . . . after digesting a couple of rabbits of course."

Wave let out a small cough as well as a sneeze. "Just spare me the details."

The doctor removed another item from his travel bag. A pristine roll of industrial grade plastic wrapping. He leaned down next to the slain vutworm and wrapped every inch of the creature's body.

"What's so special about that danger beast anyway that you need it for the vaccine?"

Dr. Stylish proceeded to place the wrapped creature in his travel bag. "Although the vutworm is merely a class four danger beast, the enzymes in its blood and scales, if isolated properly and in a timely manner, are useful in a wide range of curatives, including the vaccine for tectus ignotas febricitantem, otherwise known as tourist fever."

"Class four, huh? I'm guessing that's the reason mercenaries aren't keen on hunting them."

"More or less. As you yourself have seen, the process involved in hunting them is . . . less than desirable. And the going rate for hunting them down isn't enough to even buy some . . ." But before Dr. Stylish utter another word, a gunshot was suddenly heard.

Wave looked to his companion to see that he had fallen over. His prior military training kicking in, he swiftly grabbed the doctor and jumped behind the nearest tree. "Hey! Are you still with me?", he said, looking down to examine the middle aged man's state.

"Nothing irreparable", the doctor grunted before clenching his right and bloodied shoulder.

"That was just a warning shot!", yelled a familiar male voice dozens of yards away. "You've got until the count of 10 to come out with your hands up!"

"Dammit", Dr. Stylish muttered with his eyes widening, still gritting his teeth at the pain in his arm "Are they really stooping to this . . .arggh."

"What are you talking about?", Wave whispered

". . . ONE . . . ", yelled the male voice in the distance.

The doctor reached into his travel bag as if to grab something. "Those three men you saw outside my clinic earlier. They're part of the mercenary guild known as the Neo Partas Clan. Specifically, their southern Bestimmung division."

". . . TWO", the voice yelled again.

"What do they want?", Wave whispered.

". . . THREE . . .", the voice yelled once more.

Dr. Stylish pulled a syringe with clear liquid out from his bag and proceeded to inject himself with it. "They wanted to make a certain business arrangement with me and I turned them down."

". . . FOUR . . .", the voice continued to yell.

"You must've turned down one heck of a deal for them to be THIS mad at you", Wave remarked in a hushed tone.

" . . . FIVE . . ."

". . . it's the economy I was telling you about. I had heard rumors that some mercenary groups were desperate, but I never dreamed it would turn the Neo Partas Clan into a band of common thugs."

". . . SIX . . ."

"Stay here", Wave said while gesturing the doctor not to move. "I'll handle this."

". . . SEVEN . . ."

To which the doctor replied in the same hushed tone. ". . . the loud mouth's name is Sir Jason Wolfgang. You met him outside the clinic earlier. He's the southern Bestimmung's division's brother. And if he's even half as talented as his older brother, you might want to reconsider that option."

". . . EIGHT . . ."

"I used to fight alongside Esdeath, remember? Compared to what I've been through fighting Night Raid, this should be a breeze. Just stay here."

". . . NINE . . ."

Upon hearing this, doctor stylish reluctantly nodded his head in approval before Wave got up from his spot and walked out in front of the tree with both of his hands held in the air. As soon as he did this, he was able to observe who had shot at them moments earlier. Sure enough, it was the same three men he had seen outside the clinic earlier. The two with rifles were standing further up the sloped incline near a tree. The third man, who the doctor identified as Sir Jason Wolfgang was actually standing up on one of said tree's tree branches with his war hammer casually slung over his right shoulder.

"Glad you came to your senses!", Sir Jason yelled with a smug look on his lips. "But in case you didn't hear me, I said for the both of you to come out!"

"I don't know what you want from us", Wave replied while slowly advancing forward with his hands still raised. "But the danger beast we caught isn't even worth much."

"Oh I'm well aware of that!", Sir Jason yelled as if finding Wave's efforts to plead with him to be nothing short of amusing. "We saw the whole thing. You two went out of your way to catch a worthless vutworm. Well done. But we're not here for that. We're here because my brother wants to have a chat with the doc face to face just like he asked."

"Look, Dr. Stylish is not interested in whatever deal you guys wanted to make with him", Wave remarked with a grimace on his face

"Well boys", Sir Jason laughed before looking down at his two men below. "It's been over ten seconds and I don't believe they've complied with our request. You know what that means."

Both riflemen trained their aim upon Wave, cocked their weapons and fired. But before they even managed to pull the trigger, the former Jaegar had already darted out of the way behind another tree only to dash even closer to them. And although they continued to fire in his general direction, he proved too elusive to actually be hit.

As soon as he was within 10 yards of them, Sir Jason leaped out from the tree he had been standing in and swung his war hammer directly down upon the Grand Chariot wielder. To which Wave responded by swiftly unsheathing Grand Chariot in its dormant cutlass state and using both of his hands to block with the broad side of the blade.

"Not bad! Congratulations on not being as weak as you look!",Sir Jason laughed amidst the clash of their weapons. But despite the backhanded compliment, Wave was clearly at a disadvantage as the mercenary was slowly but gradually pushing him down in their clash.

"It's not just his strength", the former Jaeger thought as he continued to struggle. He glanced down towards his feet, realizing that the snow and the sloped terrain were working against him; he had the low ground.

"But good god!", the mercenary retched, still gradually gaining the upper hand in the clash. "You smell like you've been bathing in horse sh-t all week! Do me a favor and just die already!"

"There!", Wave's eyes narrowed as he noticed a slight lapse in the mercenary's push. Using gravity to his advantage, he allowed himself to tumble onto his back and take the mercenary with him; in the split second he tumbled over, he subsequently used his legs to hurl his opponent down the incline behind him.

While in mid-flight, however, the third mercenary slammed his war hammer in the ground in such a way as to anchor himself from tumbling any further down the sloped incline.

As Wave glared down upon his opponent and readied himself for further battle, he quickly heard the other two mercenaries cocking their rifles behind him. With one swift maneuver, he spun around with his blade and sliced both of their rifles in two much to their dismay. "Enough! I don't really know who you guys are, but we've got no quarrel with you!"

The moment the former Jaegar said this, he could hear the sound of an object whirring its way through the air straight in his direction. As if by instinct, he speedily turned around to intercept this object, blocking the third mercenaries war hammer at the last second. Nonetheless, it was thrown with such force that it slammed him up against the tree the third mercenary had been standing in.

"Regular guns aren't worth jackshit against guys like him, morons", Sir Jason mockingly laughed towards his underlings while dashing in up the incline in his adversary's direction. "

Wave promptly knocked the war hammer aside and charged directly down towards his opponent with his blade held at the ready. And just as the two got within range of each other, he initiated a downward swing aimed towards the mercenaries right collarbone.

With the same smug smirk on his face, however, Sir Jason simply chuckled before quickly throwing snow he had clenched in his hand directly into Wave's eyes. This disoriented the Grand Chariot wielder just enough to allow this man to dodge his swing as well as punch him cleanly in the face, knee him fiercely in the stomach and then throw him back down the sloped incline.

It was now Wave who was forced to anchor himself by jamming his sword into the ground before he could tumble down any further. As he looked further up the incline, he gritted his teeth at the sight and sound of Sir Jason laughing hysterically.

"What's the matter, sh-t boy?", he laughed upon retrieving his war hammer. "Not used to fighting in the snow?"

Shrugging off the damage he had withstood just then, Wave regained his footing and readied his blade once more. "He doesn't act like it, but he's actually a pretty sharp fighter. Can't afford to underestimate him."

"Looks like he wants more, boys!", Sir Jason laughed towards his subordinates before rushing back down towards Wave with his war hammer at the ready.

The Grand Chariot wielder simply stood where he was standing, almost as if inviting his opponent to initiate the first move. Which is precisely what the third Neo Partas Clan mercenary did; swinging his war hammer sideways like a madman as soon as he drew close enough. Wave responded by parrying his attack while adjusting his footing just enough to avoid being encumbered by the snow again. The mercenary followed up with another sideways swing, but Wave yet again positioned his footing just enough to deflect the attack without succumbing to the terrain. The mercenary then followed with another swing, this time straight down, but Wave again used his footing to his advantage much to his opponent's frustration. Their dance continued with dozens of similar swings and deflections until finally . . .

"Quit dancing around and fight!", Sir Jason snarled. Using the momentum from Wave's latest parry, the mercenary proceeded with a half-pirouette followed by a diagonal swing downward. But this time, rather than merely deflect the incoming blow, Wave maneuvered his footing just enough to press forwards; holding the blade end of his imperial arm with his left hand, he used the broad side of his cutlass to slide it along the wooden handle of his opponent's war hammer mid-motion and simultaneously deliver a vicious pommel strike to the mercenary's face.

But that wasn't all. Just as Sir Jason appeared to be caught off guard by the nature of this counter-attack, Wave followed up by moving forward and using his left hand to deliver a visceral uppercut to his adversary's chin; an attack that not only lifted the mercenary off his feet but sent him tumbling down the sloped incline and up against a tree.

Reeling from that last attack, the Neo Partas Clansman's effort to regain his footing was gradual but slow. Slow to the point that just as he managed to crouch on one knee, the Grand Chariot wielder was already rushing towards him with his blade at the ready.

"End of the line", Wave remarked while rushing forward.

"You think so?", Sir Jason smirked before lifting his war hammer.

"WAVE! MOVE!", Dr. Stylish suddenly yelled at that very moment, having poked his head out from the tree he was crouched behind. "

But it was too late. For at the very next moment, Wave had doubled over and fallen down to his knees; he was clenching his sides in pain while coughing up blood; and it was as if the snow surrounding him had been blown away clean off the ground. "Just what the hell did he just hit me with?"

Amused at the state his opponent was in, Sir Jason managed to regain both his footing and his composure. "For what it's worth, I didn't think you would come out of that without your lower intestines smashed flat, but you managed to dodge just enough in the nick of time."

Wave gritted his teeth as he continued to clench his sides; he shuddered to imagine the damage his right rib cage just sustained. To him though, the pain wasn't anywhere near as bad as the shock from not knowing what hit him. "It's as if I was hit by the wind or something, but much harder. Was that an imperial arm?"

"What a shame! I can tell just by looking at you that you really don't know what happened just now", Sir Jason boastfully laughed. "You have such promising will, but you don't have the slightest clue about what I just did, do you?."

". . . Will?", Wave thought, his frustration seething as he fretfully looked down towards his dormant imperial arm. "Regardless of how he did that, at this rate . . ."

With his hammer lifted over his head in a striking posture ,the mercenary casually proceeded to walk towards him with with the intention of finishing him off. "Lets wrap this up. I've got a schedule-."

Before Sir Jason could utter another word, much to his surprise his opponent had not only donned an all too familiar set of azure blue armor, but had leapt towards the mercenary so quickly that his armored fist was within a single second of of caving into his face.

But even with such great speed, a single second was all Sir Jason needed; in that single second, he swung his war hammer down onto the ground before him; and in that single second, just as the hammer smashed into the ground, it was as if a powerful gust of wind blew around the mercenary on all sides . . . a gust powerful enough to hurl wave into a nearby tree despite his imperial arm.

Sir Jason was gasping for air all of the sudden; he looked much like a weightlifter who had just benched press a record setting amount of weight; whatever he had just done, it certainly required a great deal of stamina. Even so, as he was catching his breath, he noticed that his armor clad opponent appeared to be relatively unfazed despite having been etched into a tree just then; the Grand Chariot wielder's arms were crossed together like an X; he must've blocked the blast at the last moment. "Well I'll be. Shit boys got one of those imperial arms I keep hearing about."

Without a scratch on his legendary armor, Wave got up from the tree he had been slammed into.

"Hey you! Stop!", said one of the two subordinate mercenaries who had merely been spectators ever since Wave deprived them of their rifles.

Sir Jason turned his head just enough to notice Dr. Stylish running through the snow further up ahead while still clenching one of his hands on the gunshot wound to his shoulder. "Don't just stand there, boys! Nab him!"

To which the former Jaeger glared beneath his helmet, "What's he doing?"

"Eyes over here, shit boy!", Sir Jason yelled out before using both of his hands to swing another invisible attack towards his opponent.

Just like the last attacked, Wave blocked this one with little trouble. But rather than pause to regain his breath as he had done previously, the hammer wielding mercenary began swinging his weapon in rapid succession while laughing like a madman; he was firing off his attacks with such ferocity that the snow it was kicking up was beginning the cloud the area.

"That armor of yours has gotta be pretty tough to withstand all of this punishment", he laughed especially out loud as he watched the Grand Chariot wielder continue to block his attacks. "But just how tough is it I wonder? You'd think that if it were invincible, you wouldn't need to keep raising those little wittle arms of yours! Just what are you trying to protect I wonder?"

Like a missile, Wave quickly sprung out from Sir Jason's barrage and high up into the air.

"You think that's gonna save you?", Sir Jason grinned before twirling the handle of his war hammer in his right hand; he twirled it with such speed that the weapon was beginning to resemble a spinning windmill. After several moments of this, he viscerally hurled the blunt instrument up towards his adversary. And unlike the previous instance of him throwing it, the hammer was moving at a much greater velocity; the forest animals nearby all paused as they heard the sound of it whirring through the air.

The former Jaegar's response was swift; he started by maneuvering much like he would with his infamous drop kick technique, only he converted it into an axe kick instead and began to vertically spin in an increasingly rapid fashion as he descended down towards the ground. "Grand Fall: Waterwheel!"

"Waterwheel?", Sir Jason mumbled to himself, mystified at what he was seeing; with but one blow, Wave's spinning axe kick shattered the mercenary's hammer into pieces.

And before the Neo Partas Clansman could even begin to get out of the Grand Chariot wielder's range, Wave crashed into the ground in front of him and promptly lifted his entire body up by the collar on the shirt beneath his armor. "Enough of this. It's over."

"Over my ass!", Sir Jason snarled before punching his armored foe in the head with his left hand. But much to his annoyance, the former Jaeger remained unfazed. He tried kneeing him in the stomach, but that too did no damage.

"You can't beat me. Take your men and get out of here. Last chance", Wave said in a nonchalant fashion while tightening the grip on the mercenary's collar.

To which Sir Jason scoffed, "Last chance, eh? You're a foreigner, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"It would explain a lot of things actually", Sir Jason remarked while removing something from his back pocket.

"Such as?"

"Such as . . . WHY YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" In that very moment, the Neo Partas Clansman revealed a sizable hunting knife he had hidden and thrusted it down towards the side of his armor clad opponent's left rig cage.

Wave, however, was completely unnerved. The blade, as impressive at it looked, could not pierce through Grand Chariot. As soon as its tip end hit its intended target, it shattered in half. "Funny. I'm still breathing."

Yet despite what appeared to be a massive setback, Sir Jason could not help but chuckle. "Not for long."

Within seconds, Wave had loosened his grip on the Neo Partas Clansman's shirt collar, releasing it completely from his grasp as additional time passed. "What's going on? Why do I feel so . . . feeble?"

Having fallen to the ground upon being released from his foe's grasp, Sir Jason simply continued to laugh. "Ah, what's wrong? You were all high and mighty a moment ago. Now look at you? You can barely stand!"

"What did he do?", Wave thought as his knees wobbled uncontrollably.

"That knife of mine was thoroughly laced with venom from a supreme class deep sand viper. Straight from the dunes of Ali Jinnah. "

Growing less and less able to simply stand, the former Jaeger looked towards the area Sir Jason had failed to stab him at, confirming that the knife had failed to pierce his armor. "Venom? But how?"

Sir Jason continued to mock him. "Leave it to a dumbass foreigner to prattle on and on about the battle being over and how I should just give up rather than finishing the job when he has the chance."

"No . . . this can't happen. I can't . . .", Wave thought before collapsing down to the ground facedown.

"It really pisses me off though", Sir Jason remarked before walking over towards his bested adversary and kicking him in his armored ribs. "Making me resort to an attack like that. You piece of shit. I'll just have to help myself to that armor of yours once you've kicked the bucket."

Wave's eyes began to dim beneath his helmet and his consciousness began to fade. "No . . . Kurome . . . "

"So kick the bucket already, won't yah?", Sir Jason scoffed before proceeding to begin using one of his booted feet to repeatedly stomp his bested foe on his back as hard as he could. "I don't feel like hauling your dumbass back to base."

After stomping his foe's back another half dozen times, Sir Jason paused his foot mid-motion; not out of respect, decorum or anything, but perhaps due to the most primal emotion any human is capable of having: Fear. A strong sense of dread and uneasiness flowed throughout the Neo Partas Clansman's mercenary's being all of the sudden as he noticed blue ethereal light emitting from his seemingly defeated adversary's eyes.

Somehow unfazed by the venom coursing through his body all of the sudden, a cold and mechanical aura overcame the armored the warrior as he glared his luminescent azure eyes in Sir Jason's direction.


. . . but was it a bad dream? . . .


"Did I . . . do this?"

Wave snapped his eyes wide open, yet again finding himself in a cold sweat. He looked around the immediate area, quickly realizing that he was back at Professor Kastigar's mansion and that the sun had long gone down; he was in one of the bedrooms he cleaned the day beforehand and found himself lying in the bed beneath the covers. As he sat up and pulled his blanket away, he realized someone had to have removed his clothes as he was dressed in nothing more than a pair of blue boxers. There also appeared to be a bandage wrapped around his midsection.

He quickly got out of the bed without being the least bit concerned about the effect any quick movements would have on his apparent injuries or even the fact that his imperial arm was nowhere in sight. With only one thing on his mind, he immediately dashed towards Kurome's room, wanting to make certain that she was alright. But as he had bursts through her doors, he saw no sign of the ebony eyed girl in the bed she had been sleeping in. In fact, the blankets she had been tucked under appeared to have been freshly pulled back. As he looked around the room desperate to figure out what had happened to her, he could hear the sound of the professor's voice emanating from another room in the mansion.

With no concern for his relative state of undress, he proceeded to run in that direction and eventually made his way into the the mansion's den. As he looked around, he noticed that the fire place was freshly lit, the professor was sitting in a lounge chair near said fire place and Kurome was drawing near her with a kitchen knife in her hands and an axe-crazy look on her face.

With nothing but his honed reflexes kicking in, he swiftly dashed in Kurome's direction and promptly thwarted her murderous attempt on the professor's life by wrapping his arms around her throat and rendering her unconscious with an imperial fist styled sleeper hold. Of course he took no pleasure in taking such action against a close friend as her current mental state pushed her well past the point of reason.

"You shouldn't be moving around like that. Not in your condition anyway", the professor remarked, not the least bit concerned about the attempt on her life just then.

"What's going on? And what's Kurome doing out of bed?", Wave asked before gently setting the unconscious woman on a couch nearby.

"It's simple; the girl recovered much faster than anticipated. I expected her to at least need another twelve hours of sleep."

"Recovered?", Wave asked with a hint of optimism in his voice. "Does that mean . . .?"

To which the professor drawled, "Yes, Jean was able to produce a vaccine for her tourist fever and vaccinate the girl accordingly."

"Dr. Stylish!", Wave exclaimed, suddenly recalling the gunshot wound he suffered in his arm. "Is he alright? The last time I saw him, he was-"

"Despite being a boorish fool, Jean does have his talents. A mere bullet wound is nothing he cannot handle. At any rate, he left this morning. Asked me to have you stop by his clinic when you got the chance."

To which Wave responded with his mouth agape, "This morning? But it couldn't have been more than several hours ago when we were at Zuerst valley."

"Hmph. Isn't that precious?", the professor asked with a smirk having curved on her lips. "I hate to break it to you, but you've been unconscious for a little over 29 hours now."

"29 hours?!", he practically shrieked.

"Considering the venom that was flowing through your veins, you're rather fortunate that Jean was able to treat you when he did. Without him, you've would been dead within minutes."

"Poison. Right." Wave rubbed his chin in contemplation; he recalled the last phase of his battle with Sir Jason and how he he had managed to poison him through his Grand Chariot armor somehow; it suddenly occurred them that he had no memory of anything that had happened beyond that point. "Did J- I mean Dr. Stylish say anything else about what happened?"

"Nothing noteworthy or specific", the professor shrugged. "Apparently, your performance in hunting the vutworm was adequate and your handling of the Neo Partas Clansman's mercenaries you went up against was exemplary-aside from the part where you got poisoned of course."

With an oddly reluctant yet knowing look in his face all of the sudden, the former Jaegar shifted his gaze away. "Hmm . . . I see."

"By the way", the professor asked with a curious glare in her eyes, " . . . how long do you plan on strutting around half-naked?"

". . . uh . . .", Wave muttered as it suddenly occurred to him that he had neglected to put on any additional clothing before leaving his room; within seconds, his cheeks had turned beet red as he looked down and realized that he was only wearing his boxers. "What did you do with my clothes?"

"Those dreadful things? Ugh!", she reviled in disgust. "I threw them in the fireplace where they belong."

"You what?! But why?! Those were my only clothes!"

"It would appear that someone got the bright idea to smear vutworm excrement all over them", the professor rolled her eyes.

"Vutworm . . . excrement?", Wave asked as he felt the sudden urge to vomit.

"There are plenty of spare clothes your size in the bedroom you were in. Feel free to pick something that suits you"

"You didn't throw my sword away too, did you?", Wave asked in a passive aggressive fashion.

"Jean has it. Said he wanted to examine it for a little while. Your imperial arm fascinates him apparently."

"And you just let him take my stuff without asking?", Wave asked, his question laced with mild annoyance.

To which the professor retorted with a similar level of passive aggression, "Would you have preferred I sold it to him instead? That would certainly have been one way to repay the debt you owe me."

"Fine fine. You made your point", the former Jaeger sighed and relented. "But that's a pretty unique weapon. I can't just have people borrowing it out of curiosity."

"Then I suggest you get some rest now and retrieve it first thing in the morning. You'll need it after all."

"Need it for what?", Wave asked with a confused look in his eyes.

"For the first phase of our experiment of course" She grabbed the wine bottle that had been sitting on the end table next to the lounge chair she had been sitting at and proceeded to pour herself a fresh glass.

With a dismissive shrug of his shoulders, Wave proceeded to leave the room with the unconscious Kurome neatly tucked in his arms. As soon as he was out of sight, the professor, rose up to her feet and set her glass of wine down. After grabbing a lantern and donning herself in her own winter coat, she made her way outside despite the whirring winds and heavy snow descending from the night sky. Trudging through said snow, she walked into the estate's stables, much like she had done on a previous night when Wave had observed her.

The horses weren't alarmed by her sudden appearance in the middle of the night; it was almost as if they had grown accustomed to her being present at this late hour. Just as she made her way into the interior, she reached for a peculiarly placed lamppost and rotated it 90 degrees counter clockwise. And just as she did this, a rectangular panel mechanically opened up on the stable floor and a set of stairs was suddenly revealed. The professor wasted no time in descending down these stairs, only for the rectangular panel to close after she had ventured below.

At the bottom of this clandestine stairway and behind a bolted steel door was what appeared to be a laboratory outfitted with a variety of tools, from bunsen burners, to beakers, to microscopes, to scalpels, to tongs, etc. At the center of the laboratory was a hard wood black table as well as what appeared to be a body bag laying atop of it. After setting her lantern down on a counter nearby and discarding her winter coat on a coat rack, she walked up to this body bag lying idly on the table. On top of the body bag was a note with the initials J.S. on the bottom.

The professor wasted no time unzipping the bag only to see the body of a familiar blue haired young man with ponytailed hair; it was none other than Sir Jason Wolfgang, only he was clearly deceased. And based on his appearance, from the multiple fist shaped depressions in his torso, the crushed and wrangled nature of his throat, one of his eyeballs missing and the skin cleanly torn from his back, there was no question that his cause of death was . . . violent to say the least.

And yet despite the grotesque nature of his physical form, Professor Kastigar's eyes were beaming with fascination. She put on a pair of surgical gloves, removed a scalpel from a nearby drawer and began to perform what appeared to be a dissection. "He truly is a perfect specimen, isn't he darling? A foreigner he may be, but just look at what he did to the younger Wolfgang brother."

With absolute surgical precision, the professor removed the deceased mercenary's heart from his chest cavity before hoisting it in the air almost as if to admire it. "Even though it's been two days, you can practically feel the impression of his will still emanating. What a marvelous specimen that boy has turned out to be. Marvelous work by a marvelous specimen. Through him, we move ever closer to that dream of ours, wouldn't you agree . . . Klaus?"(***A/N See Down a Different Branch Chapter 6 ***)


A/N: And there we are with yet another chapter complete!

Love it? Hate it? Had to have been written by a complete and total hack? Meh? Feel free to leave a review! Feedback is always appreciated! As are follows and favorites! Thanks again and look forward to the third chapter as soon as I get around to it!