Remember to fave and review. Read 'til the end to see my A/N.
In a few hours, Fie, along with a few other members on the Courageous II, would be heading to the Draco Sanctuary where the next Rivalry against Fie's boss would take place.
While on the outside, Fie looked quite calm and composed, on the inside, she was wracked with worry and dread. Not so much so that it consumed her entire being. No, she was a Jaeger, that sort of feeling came with the job, along with being a member of Class VII. But it was enough to make her step outside to the deck for a bit, to get ready for the trial ahead.
After a few minutes of looking across the sky, she sensed someone making their way to her. She turned around and found Randy, who did a small wave and stopped before her.
"Hey, Fie. What are you up to here?" Randy said in a rather carefree and friendly tone.
"Hey. Just out here, thinking about what we have to do soon."
"Thought as much. You may not show it, but you're worried about your family, right? Xeno, Leonidas and whatever happens to your father after the Rivalry's over."
Hit the nail right on the head. "Yep," Fie simply answered, turning away from Randy to turn and look back at the sky. "Xeno and Leo obviously won't back down from a fight, Rivalry or not, so there's that. But there's also the boss. He was revived as an Immortal, just like Crow. Once the Rivalry's over, he'll likely disappear like Crow was, unless Rean pulls off what he did on Crow back there."
"I see." Randy joined Fie's sky watching and closed his eyes. "I can't entirely relate to what you're feeling. We're practically opposites; I was a part of Red Constellation, the War God's son. You were a part of Zephyr, the Jaeger King's adopted daughter. Even before my old man kicked the bucket, I wanted to leave the group and I did. I had done something bad. Something that I'm surprised that the SSS forgave me for. Even to this day, I can't help, but still feel guilt and regret about what cost me a friend's life." Randy's voice had gone from serious to soft and slightly quiet.
"I always wanted to be a part of Zephyr, fight on the front lines even if it cost me my life. The boss was against the decision, but eventually, when I was 10, he allowed me to join them in their fights. I already had some combat experience from Xeno, Leo and the rest helping me practice self-defense, but in our first fight, I had almost died. One of the more experienced jaegers from Nidhoggr almost got the jump on me while I was recovering my stamina when the boss stepped in and saved me. It's how he ended up with those scars on his arms. I felt guilty and apologized, but he simply said not to worry. He said he'd do anything to protect his daughter." Fie closed her eyes, a brief wave of nostalgia coming over her.
"Even after that fight, and the many others that followed, I wanted to stay with Zephyr and fight on the front lines. For as long as I've remembered, the battlefield was my home. It was the only life I knew. So when the boss fell in battle with your dad, the War God, and everyone in Zephyr left me behind, I felt lost. What would I do without the only family I knew? Even after Sara found me and got me to join Thors, I wanted to find my family and be with them again.
"Being with Class VII, my new family, took away that lost, empty feeling I had and helped me grow, find a new life that didn't involve smoke and blood. Even after we had to fight Xeno and Leo in the Infernal Castle, and they said that they were bringing back the boss, I wanted to show them how much I had grown since they last saw me, that I was no longer the girl who no longer needed to helped and was bound to a life as a jaeger."
Randy turned his head towards Fie, a look of kindness and warmth present in his eyes. "So that's how it is? We really are opposites. Though we're both pretty similar. After leaving Red Constellation, I joined the Crossbell Guardian Force, but when the SSS was established, I joined it when Sonya asked me to. It was better than my old job. We did more than drills and making sure people passing the gate I was guarding weren't trying to pull a fast one.
"Like Class VII is family to you, I feel the same about Lloyd and the rest. We had our fun times, like when Lloyd and I raced Estelle, Joshua and two gang leaders and came out on top. We also had our hard times, like fighting off the CGF when they were under the control of Gnosis and when my uncle and Shirley came to Crossbell. Despite the amount of barriers that were in our way, we overcame them and grew closer as a result. Even after the chancellor annexed Crossbell, we did and still are doing our best to take our home back, and get back to what we once had."
The two stood in companionable silence, looking back at the wide, azure sky ahead of them before Randy continued the conversation, his voice going back to its usual chipper and friendly tone. "I can't imagine what it'd be like if that Alberich guy decided to bring back my old man. I wouldn't want another conversation about the Red Reaper succeeding the War God. I think you'll be alright, lil' Sylphid. You're strong and you've got a lot of good friends to help you once the situation's over, just like how Lloyd and my friends had my back. I'm sure your other family will be good to you despite the battles we'll have.
"There's also your lady-killer of a boyfriend. He knows you better than anyone else here." Randy's comment on calling Rean elicited a small blush from Fie.
"Thanks, Randy," Fie said with a small chuckle and smile. "Yeah. I think I'll be alright for the most part."
The two stood in comfortable silence once more until Fie asked, "Hey, did you encounter anyone from Zephyr while you were a part of the SSS?"
Randy stood in thought for a bit. "Actually, yeah. The Killing Bear, Garcia was in Crossbell and was part of a mafia called Ravache."
"I see," Fie responded. She did hear something about the powerhouse strong enough to match Leonidas and even Rutger when it came to raw strength some time ago, but being a bracer didn't leave her with too many opportunities to look into more detail.
"Him and Ravache were arrested after the cult incident. He actually helped Lloyd get back to his usual self and escape from prison. Last I heard, he's still in there, but with all this Great Twilight stuff, who knows?" Randy said with a shrug at the last part.
Fie had a small smile on her face. "Yep, that sounds like him. Tough, but willing to help someone get up when they're down."
After a bit more small talk (and Randy face-palming and sighing at the idea of Shirley playing with a cat in the opposing jaeger's camp during the War God and Jaeger King's final battle), they made their way back inside, with Fie having more resolve to face her father.
A/N: This story was made for two reasons.
The first being the lack of interactions between Fie and Randy. I came up with this story after finishing the Draco Sanctuary and being disappointed with Randy not having any direct interactions with Fie, even during the dungeon. I found that the two have quite a few similarities and differences which would make for some interesting conversations, yet there aren't any from my experience playing CS4 thus far. They don't even have interesting post-battle dialogue which is a shame. And so began my take on what a conversation between the two would be like.
I also included a bit of ReanxFie for fun (it is one of my favourite ships in the series).
The second reason was me wanting to make a fanfic, and above that, a good story. Years ago, there was a multi-chapter story I uploaded which I was quite proud of at the time. That was until I got reviews that weren't happy with the quality of my story. That criticism, along with me being quite young, shot my confidence in continuing the story and led to me writing three more stories, one a bit successful and the other two eventually being deleted along with my multi-chapter fanfic.
Since then, I've had a few fanfic ideas, with them either being worked on a bit before being left untouched for a period of time or me being admittedly lazy. I wasn't entirely confident in writing and releasing a new one.
This fanfic is a redemption of sorts. Writing and reading is something I love and I did my best to create something I cared about quite a bit. It's not perfect and definitely can be improved. I've mainly experienced Zero and Ao through story summaries, so I had to use the wiki to help out here and there, and there's a lot of dialogue, but not a whole lot of description.
I hope, with my current (and hopefully much better) writing skills, I was able to create something that filled the void CS4 unfortunately left and faithfully wrote these characters similar to their in-game counterparts.
Once again, remember to fave and especially review. Reviews are what help me improve and tell me what I did right and wrong. With that, I hope you have a good day/night.
