Lydia: Well, you sure took your sweet time.

KS: (groans) Give me a damn break, will you? I've had a rough week.

Imca: Don't we all.

Riela: Hey, this chapter's going to be longer than the last one, right?

KS: Well... it's long-ish.

Lydia: And what the hell does that mean?

KS: Just read it.

"I swear, that girl just doesn't know when to quit," Baldren muttered, rubbing the side of his head. He just survived listening to Anisette ramble on and on about how she would follow her sister's footsteps and become the greatest idol the world has ever known. Sure, he was happy for her, but did she have to go on about it for six hours?

"Hmm?"

Although, that question had to remain unanswered for the time being, seeing how Baldren felt the presence of another person behind him. He cautiously turned around, hoping not to spook whoever may be stalking him.

"Is anyone there?" he called out. There was no response. "I'm warning you, if you even try to attack me while my back is turned, you will regret it dearly." The hall remained silent, but Baldren kept his guard up, expecting a surprise assault. Instead, he got silent laughter, which provoked him a little bit.

"Hee-hee… To think that someone found me out…"

"Show yourself," Baldren demanded, trying to keep his anger intact. To his surprise, the figure appeared from her hiding place, although it looked as if she was leaning out. She had short black hair with a large green ribbon tied to it and dark eyes that squinted towards him. Honestly speaking, he couldn't help but feel a little bit creeped out.

"You want to know my name, don't you?" the girl asked. Baldren slowly nodded. "It's Melissa Dalen. Be sure to remember that."

"I will," Baldren said.

"And another thing…" Melissa moved from her hiding place and walked towards Baldren. "I will be keeping a very, very close eye on you. Just wanted to let you know."

Baldren raised an eyebrow. "I take it you do not trust me either?"

Melissa gave him a coy grin. "I never said that. I'm only keeping my eye on you."

Baldren scratched the back of his head. "Right… so, what is your standing on me and my sister enrolling here?"

"You could say that I'm… on the fence," Melissa answered.

Baldren stared at the odd girl for a few seconds, then turned around a proceeded to walk away. "Very well. I'll see you later."

Melissa chuckled. "Later? Didn't I make myself clear? I've got my eye on you…"

He didn't exactly know what, but something about Melissa made Baldren's blood run cold.

"Never thought I'd find myself here, again," Audrey said as she returned to the library. "Really wish I could speak to Noel a little more, though."

She looked around the library, hoping to find Magari. Although, there were more people in the library than before, making her search a little difficult. Of course, there were occasional whispers about her, and none were very friendly.

"So that's her, huh?"

"Yeah, it's her. I wonder what she and her brother are planning here."

"If you ask me, they're probably going to temp students into joining the rebels. I wouldn't be surprised if they did that."

"If it's Darcsens they want, they can take every one of them out of here. Lanseal's supposed to be the greatest military academy in Gallia and having even one of those dark-hairs hanging around could ruin it's reputation."

Audrey growled lightly. She didn't expect a warm welcome when she and her brother came to Lanseal, but she never once thought that unsavory rumors about her and Baldren would spread like wildfire. As she sat at a nearby table, she noticed that a girl with dark blue wavy hair and blue eyes was sitting in front of her, reading a book.

"Excuse me," she said softly, getting the girl's attention.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Would you happen to be friends with a girl named Rene?"

She nodded.

"So… are you Magari?"

Magari put her put down her book and looked towards Audrey with an emotionless expression. "Yes."

Audrey swallowed a nervous lump. She could not afford to botch this up. "I'll be straight with you. Me and my brother have realized that what we have been doing is a grave error, and we will do anything and everything to atone for our actions, and we could really use your support. That is, if you will lend it."

Magari stared at Audrey without saying a word, making the older woman a bit uncomfortable.

"I'll think about it," she said.

Audrey was caught off guard by the sudden response. "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't exactly trust you or your brother, but I believe that you can truly make up for what you did." Magari smiled brightly as she talked. "But you will have a long road ahead of you, so make sure you stick to it, okay?"

Audrey nodded. "I will be sure to do that."

"Well, aren't we getting along," a condescending voice sneered. Audrey turned to her right to see a two boys staring at her. One had brown spiky hair and brown eyes while the other had dark skin, greasy-looking hair and dark eyes.

"A rebel and a dark-hair being buddy-buddy each other. Ain't that something?" the greasy-haired student snickered.

"Yeah, how much do you want to bet that they'll start making out with each other?" the spiky haired student joked. They both started laughing obnoxiously, causing Audrey to grit her teeth and clench her fist in anger. As much as she wanted to rise from her seat and silence the two of them, she knew that doing so would damage her and Baldren's already bitter reputation. But, then again… to hell with it.

"NOW SEE HERE!" she roared while rising from her seat. "I am trying to have a conversation with somebody and you fools are being very disruptive. So, if you would kindly remove yourselves, I can continue talking with this nice girl." She glared sternly at them, which only made them laugh at her bravado.

"Did you hear that? She thinks that she's in a position to boss us around!"

"I'll say. Wait 'til Juliana hears this. She'll laugh her head off!"

The name made Audrey's ears perk up. "Juliana? Surely, you are not refering to that unsightly woman who rudely barged into our classroom, are you?"

What she said seemed to made the boys mad as one of them grabbed her collar.

"Hey! What do you mean by 'unsightly'?!"

Audrey scoffed. "Please. As if her attitude wasn't hideous enough, she has the absolute gall to sport those globs of fat on her chest like they were the greatest things known to man. A woman like her has no right- actually no privilege- to act that way toward her peers!"

Audrey had hoped that her words would scare the students off and leave her be. Unfortunately, they had a polar opposite effect. Instead of being intimidated, they were irritated. Actually, irritated was an understatement. They were fuming with rage.

"You want to repeat that, you little brat?" the greasy-haired student snarled.

Audrey was shaking like a leaf on the inside. Somehow, she knew that she had crossed a line with these two and she was going to pay for it dearly, but that only strengthened her resolve. She was going to see this through no matter what.

"You heard me. I will not stand for anyone insulting a fellow student, even if said student is at the bottom of the barrel. Would you like me to put that in writing for you?"

The student with the spiky hair let go of Audrey and started to growl while cracking his knuckles.

"You've got a lot of nerve, kid. You and your idiot brother. You think you can waltz into this academy, claim that you're going to atone for everything you've done and then have the gall to insult our beautiful and elegant class chair in our faces and get away with it?" He tightly clenched his fist and raised it, preparing to strike Audrey. "Well, I say that's the biggest mistake you've ever made in your life."

His threw his anger-driven fist towards Audrey with full intent to knock her down. Audrey closed her eyes, expecting the strike to connect… but for some reason, it didn't. Wondering what happened, she slightly opened her eyes and saw the the fist was only a few inches away from her face. The reason for this was due to someone gripping the student's arm, preventing him from harming her. And that someone was none other than Baldren, who was giving the offender a glare so intense that it could make even the Empire shudder in fear.

"I have very little patience, so I'll make this brief," he said slowly, making no attempts to conceal the anger in his voice. "If I see you trying to bring harm to my sister… I will make sure you don't live to see tomorrow."

The student in Baldren's grasp was twitching from both fear and anger. Now he had to deal with the second person who insulted his class chair. He balled his other hand into a fist, but due to the intensity in Baldren's glare, he couldn't raise it above his head, let alone strike him with it. Baldren immediately noticed this and grew a sadistic smirk on his face.

"What? Are you going to hit me? Go ahead… make my day."

The student paled and frantically used his other hand to free himself from Baldren's grip, but it proved to be useless as the older man kept a tight grip on his wrist.

"Baldren," Audrey said.

"Yes?" he asked, not lifting his menacing gaze from the petrified student.

"Are you done scarring that poor boy for life?"

Baldren turned to his sister, then at the quaking student. He went on like this for a few minutes before deciding to release his grasp on him.

"I-I swear when Juliana hears of this, both of you will pay dearly!" he cried out as he and his friend dashed out of the library in a hurry. After the left, Audrey walked up to Baldren and flicked him on the forehead, much to his confusion.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"You are aware that we are on thin ice here, are you not?" she whispered.

Baldren nodded. "I am, but I couldn't just stand by and let that punk just bash your face in."

Audrey pinched the bridge of her nose. "Given the way you were looking at him, you were about to drive him into the ground. Do you think that will do any good for our current reputation?"

Baldren shrugged. "If I have to ruin my image to keep my sister safe, so be it."

"That reminds me, how did you know that I was in trouble?" Audrey asked.

"I was talking to some kid who looked as if he's gotten into a fight or two and I felt this chill on the back of my neck. I thought to myself, 'did Audrey get herself into trouble?' Anyway, as I was looking for you, the chill intensified as I walked near the library, so I walked in and what do I see? My darling sister about to get her beautiful face ruined by some miscreant. It was lucky that I was around to stop him or who knows what might've happened."

Audrey pouted. "I'm not some helpless damsel, Baldren. I do pilot a tank for heaven's sake."

Baldren rubbed his sister on the top of her head, messing up her hair. "I know. I just enjoy playing the role of the older brother."

Audrey blushed lightly and turned away. Deep down, she really appreciated Baldren looking out for her, but she'll be damned if she admits it to his face.

After interrupting the altercation between Audrey and some unsavory students, Baldren walked around campus once more. He need to talk to someone so he can get his mind off of the incident in the library, and somehow, he got his wish when he saw a student leaning against a pillar with his head lowered. It was a young man with blond hair and blue eyes wearing a hat. He looked as if he was deep in thought.

"Excuse me," Baldren said. The student raised his head to see Baldren looking at him.

"You're Baldren, right?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Name's Helmut Bourdais. Nice to meet you."

Baldren sweatdropped. "Right…"

"If your going to ask me if I trust you or not, save it. Right now, I'm in a neutral position."

"Sure, whatever."

Helmut moved off of the pillar and started to walk off.

"Hey, Helmut."

"Yeah?"

"I know this is out of the blue, but… did you ever stop to think that Darcsens are not as bad as people make them out to be?"

That made Helmut stop walking. He turned around to face Baldren with a questioning look.

"Why are you asking me that?"

Baldren shrugged. "Just wanted your input."

Helmut turned around once more. "Can we put a pin that? I'd like to think about it some more."

Baldren nodded. "I won't rush you, then. Take as much time as needed."

Helmut walked away from him. "Believe me, I intend to."

KS: So... how was that?

Riela: (silent)

Imca: (silent)

Lydia: (silent)

KS: (irritated) Well?

Riela: It's okay.

Imca: No problem.

Lydia: Is that seriously all you've got? Man, I was hoping for at least three-thousand.

(Riela and Imca hit Lydia in the back of her head)

Riela: Don't be mean to him.

Imca: Yeah, he's under a lot of stress right now.

Lydia: (scoffs) Whatever.

KS: Anyway, in lighter news, a remaster for the original game has been confirmed as well as a new one called "Azure Revolution".

Imca: Azure Revolution? Sounds interesting.

KS: Although, from the looks of the screenshots, it's going to be a drastic change from the original game.

Riela: When's the release date?

KS: The remastered version will launched next year in Feburary, while Azure Revolution is pushed all the way to winter.

Lydia: (crosses arms) It better be worth the wait or I'll be disappointed.

KS: You have no patience today, do you?

Lydia: Do I need to explain why?

KS: No, not really.