"I'm bushed!" Juna's complaint was accentuated by her slamming her head onto the table, creating an audible thud.

Fie wasn't the only one to glare at the oblivious girl after her action nearly caused her drink to topple, "Suck it up. You aren't the one who had to go through it twice."

"How did you end up fighting alongside a member of the Old Class VII... again?" Altina questioned.

"Wrong place at the wrong time, mostly." She had no desire to detail the conversation that had all but forced her into participating.

Unlike the others who gazed at her with a mix of sympathy or amusement, Kurt looked rather put out, "A shame Laura has already left. I would love to have an opportunity to battle alongside a member of the Arseid family."

"Next time I'll call you and let you replace me." Fie snarked. She was serious, too. Two extracurricular trips into the mechanical dungeon was two too many for her. Someone else could suffer next time!

"W-Well..." The voice came from Tita, the one outsider in their little group, "I think you guys did really well. I knew Professor Schmidt had been working on that custom archaism for a while, but I didn't think he would make you guys fight it so soon. I was pretty worried there..."

That friendly comment caused Juna to growl dangerously, "That man... I would have so much to complain about if I didn't already know how pointless it was!"

True to words, she had tried to pick a fight with the crusty old scientist multiple times during and after their second excursion as a class into the Einhel Keep. Between the news that he had been responsible for the weapons used against Crossbell, the layout of the keep forcing her to go through multiple vents – something which Fie couldn't resist teasing her about – and the fact he made them fight a homemade archaism at the end, it was a minor miracle that Mount Juna hadn't fully erupted yet.

And despite all that nothing she said or did seemed to faze Schmidt any. He wasn't just a crusty old bastard, he was The Crusty Old Bastard. Fie could almost respect it.

"You think his meeting is about our next field exercise?" Fie asked before Juna could go on another rant. The his in this case being the one empty chair at their table, where Rean had been after treating them all to lunch. While they were able to take their time and enjoy the company he had practically shoveled his plate down before leaving for a scheduled meeting of the faculty.

"I would assume so." Altina stoically answered.

Kurt sighed tiredly, although Fie doubted it had anything to do with the just finished trial, "I just hope the next one doesn't take us back to Sutherland."

"Yep." She could definitely agree to that! If the Goddess actually was real she would allow Fie a month with no personal drama.

"Heehee. I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow." Tita agreed before groaning as she glanced at a clock, "Sorry guys, but I need to get going. Gotta make sure the soldats are ready for tomorrow. See you at club later?"

"Yep." Fie repeated herself. If there was one thing she really liked about the Cooking Club it was how informal and infrequent it was. Their club activity for the day was helping Sandy cook something for dinner that night. Easy.

After the young engineer left the members of Class VII fell into a companionable silence as they worked their way through their burgers and salads. One thing Fie would never complain about at this school was the selection of food. She could die happy with the way she had been eating the previous two months!

But inevitably after such a big and tasty meal came the crash, and Fie could already feel it settling in... "Yaaaaawn."

She blinked. That didn't come from her.

All eyes turned to the youngest member of the group, who seemed mildly perturbed, either at her action, or the fact that it caused everyone to focus on her. Naturally, however, she was quick to shake off the awkwardness as she rose from her chair, "I'm gonna lay down for a nap."

It was only once Altina began heading towards the stairs to the roof that Fie realized her folly, "I dunno if that's such a good idea..." On one hand she was happy that her earlier lesson had taken hold and Altina now appreciated the value of a sunny nap, but on the other she was regretting that the entire lesson had been built on poor planning.

Principal Le Guin was currently within one hundred selge of the school! It was too dangerous!

Altina either didn't hear her warning or chose to ignore it completely as she ascended the stairs. Fie glanced towards her two remaining classmates for support, but found almost identical flat stares from both of them, "It's your own fault, you know." Kurt stated simply, causing Juna to nod. Rude.

She might have been content to let things remain as they were and hope for the best, but that idea died a terrible death when the door to the cafeteria opened and in strolled the most terrifying woman in Erebonia. Aurelia barely spared the trio a glance as she crossed the room before grabbing a plate of food and settling in to eat.

"This is bad!" Fie hissed frantically. She might have been willing to throw Juna or Kurt to the proverbial wolf, but Altina was too innocent to die! "We gotta rescue her!"

The others seemed to understand the gravity of the situation as both nodded their assent and together the three of them tried to avoid notice as they followed Altina's path up the steps. Once out of Aurelia's direct line of sight they sped up before rushing out the door to the illusion of freedom that awaited them. There they expected to find their classmate settling in onto a bench for her rest.

Instead they found her hiding behind a corner of the roof while staring at something out of their view.

While Fie didn't know what was going on she at least understood that this was a stealth mission and reacted accordingly as she silently closed the gap with her classmate. The others followed her lead even if Juna seemed to be completely abysmal at being quiet. Together they reached Altina's position and glancing around the corner revealed...

Rean chatting with some blonde guy?

Further analysis of the situation revealed that neither of the two seemed very happy. Given the other guy looked to be around their age and was wearing a different colored uniform she could only assume he was a student from another school. Outside of that, however, the only other thing of note was the pompous look on his face. He was definitely someone important, but she had no idea-

"Prince Cedric?!"

...Thank you, Kurt.

His outburst drew all eyes to the students. While their teacher looked conflicted, the now-named Prince Cedric smirked at her friend, "Ah, hello, Kurt. It's been some time. Nearly half a year, I believe. I'm glad to see you again. I never expected someone of your caliber to enroll at the branch campus."

One didn't need a combat link to tell that her friend was of conflicting emotions in that moment, "Is... Is that really you, Your Highness?"

"Indeed. I've grown quite a bit recently, so it's no wonder you don't recognize me. It seems the past few months have been difficult for you." The smile on Cedric's face didn't seem to reach his eyes anymore, "I imagine after so many years of loyal service, it was a shock for the Vanders to be dismissed as the Imperial family's guardians. I'm sure it was difficult for you to accept, but there was no need to withdraw from your enrollment at the main campus."

Oh yeah. He was definitely mocking Kurt. Fie decided that she did not like this guy.

He wasn't finished, either, as his eyes widened as if he had a brilliant idea, "But this is a perfect opportunity. You can transfer to the main campus along with Rean. I can even have you stationed as my guardian. It would be a simple matter for me to overrule the government's decision."

Wait. What? Was he trying to poach both Kurt and Rean from this school! The place had only become tolerable due to the friends she was starting to make and this guy wanted to take them away?

Still, he was a prince. Fie wasn't much for politics or etiquette, but even she understood that you couldn't just run your mouth to a guy like- "Hey, you! Who do you think you are?! You're talking all big, but you're wearing a uniform just like ours!"

The former jaeger blinked as she and everyone else stared at her pink-haired friend. Bless your soul, Juna, but you are really dumb. Did she not hear Kurt's greeting?

For his part Cedric seemed rather amused, "Oh, you don't recognize me? Are you a foreigner, then? Or perhaps from one of our newer provinces?" By shifting his mockery from the more reserved Kurt to Juna he earned himself an angry growl for his efforts.

But the crown prince wasn't finished as he turned his focus to Altina, "Aha, and it's been a while since I've seen you, too, Miss Black Rabbit. Major Lechter and Lord Rufus told me you were attending this school. Well, if Rean transfers to the main campus, I can accept you tagging along with him."

Like hell he was! Taking Rean and Kurt was bad enough, but now he wanted Altina too? That just wasn't going to happen. Maybe Juna had the right idea as she looked about ready to assault the guy.

Fie wondered if he was going to say something else as his look naturally shifted to her, but he merely sneered at her before turning back to Rean. Hurray for having no past with the guy and not running her mouth at him? "I'll return to hear your decision another day. I expect a favorable reply, Instructor Rean Schwarzer."

With that the jerk of a prince strolled away like he owned the entire campus, which admittedly given that he was the crown prince might very well be the case. Still, that didn't mean she had to like it! Turning to the others revealed that all of them were in deep thought.

Rean was the first one to come to his senses, and with a few parting words he made his way back into the building. Fie watched his every step. Altina wasn't going anywhere without Rean, and after the last field study she had a suspicion that Kurt was probably of the same mind. If she wanted to make sure everyone was staying then Rean was the key.

Rean groaned aloud as he sensed it again. It was something he first noticed midway through giving Elliot a tour of the campus, and given the musician was probably halfway back to Heimdallr by now... It had been a long time.

He was being followed.

At first he had simply let it be since he wanted to enjoy the time with his friend and didn't get the feeling that his follower had any malicious intent. The skill of his pursuer also gave him a good idea on who it was.

"Are you going to keep following me all night, Fie?"

As expected, as soon as he announced her name she appeared, "You knew I was following you?"

Despite himself he couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Didn't we go through this already? I'm sure that you knew that I knew you were following me."

The corner of her lips curled up slightly, "So does that mean you knew that I knew that you knew what I was doing?"

This time he was able to suppress the groan that he wanted to let out. She would definitely continue this game if he didn't move the conversation along, "So why? You've been following me since Elliot arrived."

"Before, actually." Her smirk stretched a little longer, clearly enjoying that she had gone undetected for a little while, "You're a pretty good swimmer."

Ah. So she had watched his race with Wayne, huh? He supposed that made sense since he had been busy instructing the muscle enthusiast and hadn't been as focused with his surroundings.

But wait. If that was the case, "...Please tell me you didn't spy on me while I was changing?"

Rean was fairly certain that Fie wouldn't do something like that, but the way she silently answered his question with a shrug and a mischievous grin did not inspire confidence in him.

With that moment of levity out of the way the student frowned at him, "...You aren't actually leaving, are you?"

"Ah. So that's what this is about?" She said nothing in response, instead electing to furrow her brow at annoyance. With a sigh he considered how best to answer, "Personally? I would rather stay here. But I'm not sure it's entirely up to me anymore..."

"'Cause he's the prince?"

He nodded in affirmation, "'Cause he's the prince."

The silver-haired girl scowled, "That's lame. You sure there's nothing you can do? When I was with Zephyr occasionally we'd get missions to put the fear of Aidios into some annoying noble. I'm sure if you wanted I could-"

"Please don't do anything illegal to the Crown Prince of Erebonia."

The girl harrumphed in annoyance, "I still know a few jaegers. Maybe I could get their contact info for you so you can-"

"I'm not hiring jaegers to go after Prince Cedric either."

"You really suck. You know that?" Fie fixed him with a pointed glare, "You're not allowed to go after forcing me to stick around here, got it?" He opened his mouth to protest her decision, but she cut him off once again, "The second you leave I'm out the door."

"But-"

She shook her head, "No buts. All those points you made to convince me to stick around would sound a lot more hollow if you bolt, especially since one of your arguments was that Boss would be coming after you eventually... If you go I'll take my chances with the principal catching me."

Rean could see the seriousness in her eyes, even if she did flinch a little at that last bit.

And yet even if her words had been a threat he couldn't help but find comfort in them. His decision to leave or remain wouldn't just affect him, and to know that one of his students was willing to risk her own future in order to convince him to stay...

It was touching. Short-sighted, but touching.

"Alright, alright." He held up his arms in mock surrender, "I was already determined to do what I can to stay, but for your sake I'll try a little harder. I'm sure that somehow I can convince Prince Cedric to respect my decision..."

"Good. I'll beat him up if he doesn't listen."

"You aren't beating up the prince."

For some reason he felt a chill go down his spine, as if he was tempting fate with his words.

Shaking off that random thought he gave a sly look to his student, "Still... I didn't think you would care all that much about me leaving."

Fie scoffed at his teasing, "I don't, but it would still be pretty damn unfair. Plus if you dragged off Altina and Kurt the class would suck. Don't leave me with just Juna."

"Haha..." Her protests did nothing to quell the happy sensation in his breast. Out of habit he reached his hand out, causing Fie to instinctively lean her head towards him and closing her eyes as his hand made contact with her hair.

Hah! His classmates always laughed about his headpat obsession, but who was laughing now?! He knew exactly what he was doing! Everybody loves headpats!

After a few seconds he retracted his hand and did his best to stifle a grin when Fie let out a little whine in protest, "I hope I've managed to quell your concerns. While I'm not the final authority on the matter I promise to do all I can to remain here."

"You'd better." Her warning would have been a lot more intimidating had the last few seconds not just happened. She seemed to realize that as she flushed in embarrassment before turning and scampering off into the shadows. He watched her go for a moment before returning to his previous task-

Or that was the plan until he was stopped by yet another of his students, "...Altina?"

His former partner was one of the least emotive people he knew, but he could clearly tell by her slightly narrowed eyes and more pronounced frown that she wasn't happy. In fact he was willing to bet that she was downright furious. That caused him to stop short. He didn't think he had ever seen Altina express anger before.

"I saw what you just did."

"I beg your pardon?"

Altina glared up at him, "I had my suspicions about you and watching you interact with Fie confirmed them. You are a dangerous individual indeed."

Rean was so confused that all he could do was laugh sheepishly and scratch his cheek nervously, praying that he could quickly decipher her words. Fortunately miracles do happen, as while he was unable to solve the puzzle at first he did notice that her gaze had shifted from his face to his hand. To confirm this theory he slowly lowered his arm. Her gaze followed it downward. He raised the arm out. Altina leaned her head forward, as if expecting him to...

Oh. Ooooooh.

Realization struck him like a bolt of lightning, causing him to freeze on the spot. Altina must have noticed his hesitation as her gaze shifted back towards his face with an expectant look, causing him to swallow nervously. He... had absolutely no idea how to deal with this mess. A jealous Altina was not something he ever expected to have to deal with.

...Maybe his old classmates were the ones having the last laugh after all.

"Gotta admit, piloting the soldats is the one class I actually find fun."

"Ugh... As a Crossbellian I feel like I should hate it, but dammit you're right."

"...Fun or not, I just wish I was better at it."

Fie watched with amusement as Kurt shook his head in dismay at their conversation, "Honestly, you three..."

While Juna scoffed, Fie grinned before sliding up to the taciturn boy, "Can you actually say you weren't enjoying yourself when it was your turn up there?" Despite himself the Vander looked away, silently conceding the point. Naturally, Fie accepted her victory with grace and class, "Knew it! You're just like the rest of us, so stop trying to act all cool about it."

The Panzer Soldat training session that month had been a lot more engaging than the previous one. No time needed to teach them basic controls and other dull stuff. Instead Rean and Randy were more than willing to let them do whatever they wanted – under the direct supervision of the two veterans, if course.

Kurt still didn't look too pleased. Surprisingly it was Juna who figured out the reason first, "Are you still hung up on what happened yesterday?"

"Are you conflicted about the prince's offer?"

"No... It's not even something I can consider." Fie would vehemently deny that she exhaled a breath of relief at those words. That or she would simply turn the topic around by pointing out that Juna had done the same thing, "...Still, he is someone I was prepared to risk my life to protect. I keep wondering whether my decision to withdraw from the main campus was the right one."

"What's done is done." Her comment drew three pairs of eyes to her, causing the former jaeger to shrug, "Apparently Boss and the others wanted me to stick around after Zephyr disbanded so a bracer could find me. I've thought about about what might have happened had I done that 'cause it might be interesting, but since it didn't happen I realized there's no point in stressing over it."

The Vander slowly nodded his head, "I suppose that makes sense. It isn't easy to ignore, however."

"Definitely."

Their conversation was put on hold as Tita, Towa, and Mint left the hanger in a hurry. Before anyone could contemplate the reason for it they heard the sound of soldats inside the building. But outside of Valimar there were no other machines inside there, so why-

The doors opened and out came a trio of unfamiliar soldats. They were different from the Drakkhens and the Hector the branch campus possessed. Altina called them Spiegels, which Fie recalled were a more advanced model soldat. Two of them were colored a dark blue while the leader was a crimson red.

"You three, stop there! Where did you come from?"

"It seems like you showed up via freight train... We're going to need your names and affiliation."

Well, if there was any doubt that these guys didn't belong, Randy and Rean's comments dispelled that.

"Oh, but of course." Fie recognized that voice, and given the way Kurt and Juna stiffened, clearly they did too. Altina's lack of response was probably because she just didn't really care, "I am Cedric from Thors Military Academy's main campus, and these are my two classmates. We've come to participate in your Panzer Soldat training exercises."

"Your Highness? Why...?!"

Somehow Cedric must have heard Kurt's muttering as his soldat turned towards them, "As I said, I will hear your decision. I would also like for you and Rean to bear witness to my current skills. Prepare three machines. Let's call this a friendly sparring match between the main campus and the branch campus. Our opponents shall be Class VII."

Score. While Fie hated ever doing anything that this annoying prince wanted from her, that the request was something she found herself very much looking forward to made it all the more worthwhile.

She could just imagine Rean facepalming in his soldat right now. He told her not to beat up the prince, but now she was ordered to do just that.

The two combat teachers both tried to protest that decision, but as Fie watched Principal Aurelia walking down the ramp towards the field she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were about to be fighting. The Golden Rakshasa was just that kind of woman.

As Fie confirmed with the others that they were participating – with Altina gladly sitting it out – Ash approached the group, "Hey. This ain't fair. Let me have a shot at this guy."

"Nah, sorry." Fie wasn't sorry at all. Nor was she feeling nearly as apologetic as the look she sent the punk, "You heard him. Class VII only."

"Grr... Whatever. You better put him on his ass, Jaeger."

Once again Fie found herself being told to do something by someone she didn't care to listen to, but once again it was a request she was wanting to do anyways. So she nodded her assent.

A few minutes later and Fie found herself back in her Drakkhen as they prepared for battle, "So how we gonna do this?"

"I say we kick the asses of these elitists jerks so hard that they go running back to the main campus!"

Oh yeah. Juna was mad.

Her declaration caused Kurt to sigh in exasperation, "We need to be careful. These guys are probably their most elite students. Plus they have state-of-the-art Spiegels..."

"So..." Fie decided to sum up their points, "We kick their ass, but we do it carefully?" Her words caused Juna to snort, and even Kurt looked mildly amused, which was a lot from him.

As usual, it was Rean who was officiating their match, "We will now begin the Panzer Soldat mock battle between the Thors main campus and the Thors branch campus. Both sides will use practice weapons. No attacks to the cockpit will be permitted! Once a Soldat has been lightly damaged, it will be considered defeated."

Not bad for a guy who had been freaking out after the Prince arrived a few minutes ago. Fie wondered if he had been practicing the speech ever since they started getting ready.

"Now... Begin!" Sadly those idle thoughts were forced aside as the match started. She was not gonna lose to some annoying royal in front of the entire school!

Given their shared history it was no surprise that Kurt and Cedric seemed to ignore everything else as they engaged in their own duel together. That left her and Juna against the two fillers. A bit of a letdown, but she could make it work.

Instead Fie darted towards the nearest of the two machines – the one with melee weapons – while Juna used her police training to suppress the other Spiegel. Her opponent met her charge with their own, and Fie was forced into a horrific realization.

She might be the fastest person on this field, but her Drakkhen was the slowest machine.

Sure she could make up the difference by using her natural agility and lighter weapons to outmaneuver easier, but for someone who relied on overwhelming speed to blitz her opponent into submission it was an uncomfortable sensation. Fortunately this revelation didn't end up costing her any as just before she found herself caught up in a melee against a dangerous opponent Juna shifted her gunbreakers into melee mode and attempted to overwhelm Fie's opponent with sheer numbers.

While that was enough to make the Spiegel back off and assume a more defensive posture, Fie was quick to notice that the other machine was recovering from Juna's initial barrage and was raising its rifle towards the Crossbellian. Not wanting her friend to take a hit while covering her, Fie raised her gunblades and took a reflexive shot at the machine, once again forcing it to evade.

If nothing else this brief battle had shown off just how awesome the hybrid weapons she and Juna wielded were.

An idea came to mind. While the two verses two battle had thus far not borne much fruit, the fight itself was actually supposed to be a battle against trios. Kurt and the prince seemed to be off in their own little world as they traded sword blows back and forth. It would take a special kind of jerk to interrupt their little duel...

Fie began charging her gunblades.

Pointing them towards the rifle-wielding soldat she was pleased to watch her opponent panic and began rapidly evading, clearly understanding that getting hit by her now overcharged weapons would be enough to get them disqualified from the bout. Once her gunblades were at the maximum capacity they could achieve with the limited training settings, she took aim... before snapshotting around and firing both shots towards the unsuspecting prince.

Hah. The old jaeger last second target switch. Honorable fighters never see it coming.

"Your Highness!" Huh. Fie blinked as she found herself proven wrong. While the prince himself didn't see it coming, the melee Spiegel had, and he responded by throwing his machine into the line of fire. Unexpected, but at the same time...

"Fritz has been eliminated!"

Just as effective. Sure in a real battle she didn't think her soldat gunblades – even at full setting – would be able to take out a soldat in a single shot, but for once she was willing to abide by the rules, 'cause they were working in her favor big time here.

"Wha...?" Cedric instinctively turned his head to see what just happened, but in doing so let the smallest of openings for Kurt. Despite professing himself to be an honorable and proper fighter of the Vander style and all that other junk, her classmate seemed more than willing to exploit that opening for all it was worth, pushing the prince's blade aside with one of his own before using the second to slash the blue Spiegel in the side.

"His Highness has been eliminated!"

With two machines down the outcome was no longer in doubt. The rifle-wielding machine tried to take one of them out by firing their gun rapidly in a spread barrage, but none of the Class VII students fell for such a desperate attack. Within seconds Juna had closed the distance before prodding the nearly defenseless enemy with her weapons.

"Ada has been eliminated! The match is over!" For someone who was supposedly an unbiased referee Rean seemed awfully pleased by that outcome.

And honestly? So was she. Sure there was the obvious pleasure of beating some skilled opponents and humiliating that arrogant prince, but Fie found there was more to it.

Listening to her fellow students and friends cheering for their victory felt... nice. She never thought she would be the kind of person to care about glorious triumph and school spirit, but the way the cheers grew when she gave a little bow before sheathing her weapons...

Yeah. Fie could get used to this.

"W-We did it!" Juna seemed too stunned to take advantage of the praise. A shame. This was such a golden opportunity for the excitable girl.

"Grr..." Oh yeah, the prince was mad. Sadly he didn't lash out, instead taking a deep breath to compose himself, "...I suppose you are still a Vander, no matter how far you've fallen. Your classmates weren't bad either, considering they're a bunch of foreigners and criminals."

Aww. Someone did their homework, "Kinda rude of him to call Altina a criminal like that..." She muttered over the secure comms she shared with Juna and Kurt.

She heard a very male-sounding snort that definitely didn't belong to the giggling Juna.

"Kurt." The prince continued, having been unable to hear their private discussion, "I will accept defeat for today. But know this. I've become this strong a mere two months after enrolling. Me, the weak prince who could barely hold a sword. "I've no doubt you're growing as well, but how strong will you be two months from now?"

The former jaeger grimaced. Playing upon Kurt's perceived weakness was a cheap shot. Hopefully her friend knew just how much stronger he had gotten since they started training together. She considered correcting the prince, but held off. This was Kurt's battle to fight.

"...A loss is a loss, so I'll withdraw for today. And don't worry. I have no intention of disrupting your field exercises in Crossbell. But know this. I haven't given up on you yet... Instructor."

Well, good. She wasn't sure why losing in a soldat fight was enough for Cedric to back off from his request that her classmates and teacher transfer over, but she'd take it. Once again violence solves everything!

...It was then that the other part of his statement sunk in. He didn't actually say-

"Field exercises in Crossbell? What was he talking about...?"

Yup. He did. Fie could hear the disbelief and confusion in Juna's voice. Just great.

Here she had been hoping that the branch campus' next field exercise would be devoid of drama. Clearly that was way too much to ask for. Taking the most bleeding heart patriot she knew and bringing her back to her home... The same home that was currently being occupied by the empire they were currently residing in.

Oh yeah. This was definitely a recipe for disaster. At least this time it wasn't her disaster to deal with.