Never judge a book by its cover, you may be surprised by its content.

Daddy's Little Madians

At last, Fia's ban from FLJ was lifted. And not a moment too soon, her buzz from the last can Soma snuck her was wearing off and her withdrawal systems were coming back. Tsubaki had decided to test Fia and Azar to see whether Fia's punishment should be extended or not. Fia and her dad were given another broadcasted mission at Aegis Island. HQ had found it humorous to call this mission 'Harvest Festival'.

But the mission had been a disaster in itself. It wasn't that Azar and Fia conducts were inappropriate, they were surprisingly on their best behavior. But it was how the job was done that made the situation bad, for all over the world all the fellas that watched the live mission got an awkward boner.

Fia wasn't trying anything, really, she was just acting how she usually did when she got hyped up for a fight. But it was the soundtrack in the background that enhanced the things about Fia they hadn't noticed before at the Den. Ciara played in the background as she slowly walked toward the Aragami, as it serenade her curves that most failed to notice. Her God Arc rested on her shoulders as her hips swayed to the song, a natural gloss came to her lips and half-lidded eyes. It also didn't help that she decided to wear black heels with her normal outfit to click to the beat.

'All the boys all on me

Damn

Everybody pay attention

This right here is my'

Then she pulled her God Arc out from its resting spot as she began firing at the Aragami in a regular firing that seemed to look so seductive.

'Pretty girl swag

Pretty girl swag'

Then she brought a hard elbow on an Aragami that came too close, knocking it back.

'Pretty girl swag'

Then she fired for the kill.

'Pretty girl swag'

Then rushed in low on another to get in its face and fire upward from under its chin.

'Pretty girl swag'

"Dad, can you change the song." Fia yelled at her dad with annoyance. "It's extremely distracting and a buzz kill."

"Jeez, fine." He complied, using his free hand to change to the next random song on his phone's track list as he continued to fire. The Den didn't have time the question his choice in old music, or how out of character it was, as the song changed to Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball.

"Oh yeah, that's my jam!" Fia shouted out as her body swayed to the song. The Aragami felt the wrath of duo as they started to sing along with the song. Giving the Aragami a hard kick each time the song said 'wrecking ball.'

"-Running for my life

I will always want you."

They sang together, arm to shoulder as their free hand held their Gods Arc. Azar still firing his pistol with his free hand while Fia switched to blade mode as she sliced down the Aragami that got too close. Then they kicked together at the Aragami that came at them from the front.

"I came in like a wrecking ball!"

And it went on like that until the song ended. The Aragami were all dead one minute to the end of the song and they still kept going. All the Den could say it was an awkward return for the guys, as most of the signal guys couldn't meet her eyes. Either out of respect for her as a Gods Eater or out of fear of the wrath of her father, or Soma, if they looked at her with more than innocence.

Tsubaki had nothing to say about Fia's conduction, she couldn't punish Fia for doing her job... no matter how others interpreted it. And she 'did' do a good job, getting the mission done quickly and efficiently while still having fun. So she decided to end Fia's punishment on time and even end her tea ban early.

So now here Fia was, running from floor to floor, emptying out all the machines of their FLJ. Excitement and happiness splattered all over he face as a big smile coated her face with her uncontrollable laughter. The First Unit watched from the lounge couches as she finally made her way to the Entrance Floor. She carried a big bundle of FLJ cans between her arms as she ran to the last soda machine with FLJ still in it like a shopper on Black Friday.

"Hah ha HA! Today's a good day!" She laughed out.

"Don't you think you have enough, Fia." Sakuya nervously suggested, not wanting to ruin the good mood Fia was in. It had been days since Fia had last felt this good and Sakuya didn't want to stop her flow.

"She's practically the First Love Juice greatest buyer." Kota commented.

"More like she's it only customer." Soma teased with a smirk.

"She's practically keeping the product afloat, it's business must have been hurting without her consumer demand." Lindow joked around.

"Haha. Laugh all you want, guys. I'm in way too good of a mood to care." Then Fia began to skip around as she began to sing. "I'm happy, I'm happy! And I'll punch the man that says I'm not."

"Please don't..." Soma sighed.

"Soma, what's wrong?" Fia asked, coming up to him in concern when he kept turning his head to not look at her. "Why won't you look me in the eye?"

"Nh!" He nervously grunted as he continued to avoid her eyes, arms crossed as his hood hid his blush.

"Ugh, this is like third grade all over again!" She began to whine, starting to sniffle crocodile tears.

"?!" They all looked in confusion in slight curiosity, while Soma only looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She had lifted a hand to the best of her ability without dropping a can to wipe away the corner tears in one of her eyes. Soma felt a pang of concern until he noticed those were her playfully tears not the rare pained tears she had only shown him once when she thought they had abandoned Lindow to die. She was teasing them.

"When I was in the third grade. (Sniff) People treated me like a criminal." She said in a cute childish voice that caught them off guard when she said the last part. "BECAUSE I KILLED SOMEBODY."

"!"

"To be fair, it was actually something." Azar corrected, coming up the stairs from the mission desk. "You kill one Aragami, and the whole place treats you like a monster. Kids can be so cruel at times."

"You took your eight year old daughter to kill Aragami?" Kota said in disbelief of Azar's parenting.

"It builds character, and removed her fear of what lies behind these Anti-Aragami Wall."

"It's true... she is fearless." Alisa pointed out at Azar's logic.

"Mph, a little too fearless if you ask me." Soma comment.

"Hey, I didn't choose this GE life. GE choose me." Fia grinned.

"Speaking of Gods Eater life, what are you up to today, Squirt?" Azar asked.

"Other than emptying out all of the soda machines. I have a mission at the Forgotten Carrier with Soma and the twins."

"..." Azar had gotten uncharacteristically quiet.

"?" Fia had tilted her head to the side, trying to see what his face was hiding from her. "Daddy?"

"Hey, kid." He called out to Soma.

"Grh, it's So-"

"Take care of my girls."

"!" The open concern was so out of character it caught Soma, along with the others in the First Unit, off guard. He walked away into the Mission Elevator as if nothing had happened, Fia looking at where he once stood with concern.

"... He's remembering again..."

"?"

"Get ready, Soma. We're grabbing the twins and heading out." Fia said seriously, leaving no room for questions at her last statement.

*** Forgotten Carrier ***

The mission itself seemed simple enough. Kill some Cocoon Maidens and then go home, simple as that. There was 3 Spark Maidens, 2 Freeze Maidens, and 2 regular Cocoon Maidens scattered around the bridge.

"Split up." Fia instructed the others. It would be harder for the Cocoon Maidens to target the group with them moving around. Nina went after the Freeze Maidens while Lynn went after the Spark ones. Fia took out the regular ones with Soma since they would go down quicker, lowering the number of enemies faster. "Oh, I've got an OC bullet with your name on it."

"Quit playing around, Fia, and finish them off." Soma barked, sending a crushing blow down on one of the Cocoon Maidens. "Your sisters need our help."

"Oh they can handle themselves." She waved off as her sisters stormed through their targets.

Lynn hopped around like a jackrabbit high on sugar as she pierced through her Cocoon Maidens while dodging their needles. Nina had entered a pattern of fire-roll-fire with her Maidens.

"See, they're fine." But like jinxing the situation, the last of Lynn's Spark Maidens got a lucky needle spike burst. The attack knocked Lynn back and off her feet. While she was still on the floor it fired a spark attack that knock her back... off the bridge. "Lynn!"

"Sis!" "!" Nina and Soma gasped in concern at the same time. Eyes widen as they watched Lynn fall to her death, too far away to make it to her in time.

"AHH!" Lynn cried out as her body disappeared under the bridge, when suddenly a strong hand caught her by the ankle. Her plummeting came to a halt, her breath heavy as adrenaline rushed through her body after her near death experience. "!"

The hand had lifted her up again to reveal that her rescuer was her father. Azar had been in the area and had been watching the fight, only popping in when his girls needed him. He held her upside down with a look of stern anger on his face as he took the head shot on the offending Cocoon Maiden. The shot uprooted the Cocoon Maiden from the ground, it was the first time Azar had shown feelings other than sadistic glee.

"Daddy?" Lynn gasped out in disbelief that her father had actually saved her. Her fear replaced with concern when he lacked the usual evil grin on his face he had when on the battlefield. He seemed reminiscent and so far away. "Dad?"

He didn't even look at her as he tossed her back on the bridge, leaving her to land on her butt with pain.

"..."

"Dad...?" Fia said in concern as he looked off at the Carrier crashed into the bridge.

"This place is still the same as ever." He snorted a breath of disgust. "It still reeks of hypocrisy and vile."

"Dad?"

"Don't stay out here too long." Azar commanded, walking back to the Starting Point. "You'll get dirty."

*** That night at the Den ***

Fia had broken into Soma's room again, invading his couch as she worked on a can of FLJ. For once Soma had allowed it without a fight, seeing how lost in thought she was.

"So what's the deal with your dad today?" Soma finally asked, leaning against his dresser with his arms and legs crossed as he waited for her to finally talk.

"Daddy was probably remembering the Rouge Wars." Fia reluctantly answered. "He doesn't like the Forgotten Carrier area much."

"Seriously? I didn't think anything could get to him." Soma huffed.

"You don't understand. Dad is... Dad has been in the game longer than us." She grew saddened, bringing her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "He's lost many comrades in the field, and had to put so many of them down. Aragami Infections were common back then, his sadistic nature was the only barrier he had to protect what sanity he had left. The will of a Slade is strong, but no man could ever go through all that without some damage. Even still, I can't stand seeing him suffer inside like that..."

"..." Soma remained silent as Fia's explanation came to a stop. Fia had released her legs which returned to the floor. She got onto her feet, walking up to Soma with the melancholy on her face hidden by her bangs. "?!"

"Listen, Soma, I know that my dad is sometimes an asshole. And he may seem like a horrible father. But deep down he really does care in his own way, this is just the only way he knows how to show affection to others. So please, don't think badly for him, okay?"

"..."

"..." She looked at him with so much pleading in her eyes, he could never say no to those eyes.

"(Sigh) Fine," Soma exasperated out, putting an arm around her waist to pull her in for a hug. Wrapping his other hand around her back as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "I guess I can't think too badly about the guy. I mean... he did raise you after all. That's one good thing he did, and that's good enough for me."

"...!" A small smile came to Fia's face at his answer, bringing up her arms to wrap around him. "Heh, yeah... I guess you're right."

"I'm always right." He smirked.

"Hmph, sarcastic sap."

"Closet softie."

"This coming from the guy who can't even resist a girl that's crying."

"Only one..."