"It is time for you to wake up."

Groggily Fie opened her eyes. She wanted to glare daggers at the person who so rudely ended her blissful rest, but unfocused eyes could do little more than blearily identify the perpetrator – Altina. "Fine." She yawned out, "Give me a few minutes and I'll be up-"

"That's what you said the last time. And the time before that. Juna and the others have all left the dorms by now."

Had that really happened? Fie couldn't recall being woken up prior to that moment, but considering how tired she had been after the army of students left their room it wasn't entirely impossible that she'd ignored her friends and gone back to sleep twice.

It was something the silver-haired girl considered carefully as she buried her head into her pillow and shut her eyes again. Maybe her memories would come back if she just-

"Claiomh Solais."

"W-Woah! I'm up! I'm up!" Combat instincts flared within the girl as she went from nearly falling back asleep to on her feet in a combat ready position within a second, eyes warily gazing at the combat shell floating peacefully behind her classmate, "I think I liked you better when you weren't so vicious."

"And I liked you better when you weren't pretending to be a lazy cat."

On one hand Fie was annoyed that once again she was being called a cat, but the fact that Altina was now able to dish it out just as well as anyone else was truly impressive and wholesome. With her flat stare and dry tone her snark game was actually becoming quite impressive.

She'd have to step up her own game lest she fell behind her friend.

"Why'd you bother to get me up anyways? Isn't today a free day?"

"Free day does not mean you can take the day off. We're still expected to participate in activities whether class or club related. Plus Instructor Rean wants us all ready for our Einhel Keep trial this morning."

"Yeah, yeah." Fie waved Altina off as she began to get dressed, "Not like the Cooking Club is doing anything today with Tita being needed at the Keep. What about the Swimming Club?"

The other girl shook her head, "Just practice laps. But today is important to me as it shall be the day that I swim forty arge." The little girl had fire in her eyes as she made that final declaration.

"Nice. Want me to come and cheer you on?"

"That will be unnecessary." Came the quick reply, "I suspect I shall need full concentration to accomplish my goals."

Fair enough. Fie let out a yawn – she was still tired, dammit! "Got nothing better to do so I guess I'll go train until Rean calls us."

One advantage of being lazy was that the dormitory was almost completely empty, thus giving her free reign of the place. The speedy girl brought her talents to the kitchen where a breakfast was created and consumed in record time. With that detour out of the way she got started on her primary objective.

Training. It was something she'd been doing ever since that first disastrous trip to Sutherland. Often by herself, occasionally alongside Kurt or someone else, and that one extremely traumatic experience serving as the Golden Rakshasa's punching bag. All of them – with the possible exception of that terrible last one – had been productive. Between all that training and the crazy stuff that kept happening to Class VII she knew she was getting better.

But right now she wasn't seeking to further her general skill like she had been. On the side she'd been brainstorming on a different project, one that wouldn't be easy, but one she was hopeful would end up defining her future.

It was time for Fie Claussell to create a move to surpass her Sylphid Dance.

Sylphid Dance had so much sentimental value to her that it hurt to consider. It was still powerful a technique, but it was a move simple enough for the Boss to teach to a small child. She wasn't that child any longer.

She needed something stronger. A finisher that could actually work against all the Magic Knights, Cryptids, Enforcers, and Shirleys they constantly found themselves fighting. It wouldn't be easy since her gunblades gave up raw power in favor of speed and versatility, but she'd seen other jaegers do a lot more with a lot less. She could get it done.

The young girl tried to squash the thought that moving on from her Sylphid Dance was like moving on from Zephyr. That was a conversation she still wasn't quite ready to have, even if a small part of her felt like the answer was right there for her to seize.

Fie stared down at her weapons. One of the main flaws she'd realized about her Sylphid Dance was that much of her firepower was wasted against a single target. It was disruptive, sure, but spraying and praying while spinning around didn't accomplish a whole lot against an enemy savvy enough to block or one that was simply impervious to small arms fire.

Another issue was that after her initial strike the girl would give up her greatest asset – her speed. Standing in place to fire her shots left her extremely open, especially as she usually needed a second to recover after all the spinning. Against someone like Shirley such an opening was a death sentence.

There were also a handful of other smaller improvements she wanted to make. That left the girl with a mental checklist of things to improve with her new move. She wanted to become more mobile without sacrificing offense. She needed to concentrate her fire better while still keeping her attacks versatile enough to work on a group of enemies. Either mixing in some explosives or tuning up her gunblades to fire more powerful rounds would be helpful against the heavily armored foes, and adding more vectors of attack would help against the more intelligent enemies.

That... was a lot of things to consider.

Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't been thinking about it for a long time. Already the girl had formed a few ideas and now it was time for her to try them out. The tiny confines of the training room wouldn't allow her to go all out, sadly, but at least she could get a decent feel for what was practical and what wasn't.

She was pretty sure even if she got the basics of her new move down pat it wouldn't be in a combat state before the next trip. Fie had no doubts that Class VII would get themselves into some crazy situation again, so for now she'd need to continue relying on the others to pick up the slack. Next month, however...

She made a mental promise to be ready by then.

But just because she accepted the limitations of her training didn't mean she couldn't go all out now regardless. Theories needed to be tested. Moves needed to be practiced. Failed ideas would need to be discarded.

A good portion of the morning passed like that. There was no moment of epiphany involved, but trial, error, and lots and lots of practice led to noticeable improvement. Eventually she was forced to pause and take a break after hours had passed, giving her the chance to take stock of her progress.

It was raw. It was unfinished. It needed a lot of refinement.

But deep down Fie had a feeling it was the start of something great.

Unfortunately for her time was inexorable and she had to put the brakes on her training as it was nearing the time Rean had warned about. The silver-haired warrior had just finished putting the training room back the way it was and had left the dorms when her ARCUS II chimed with a message from their instructor.

It was time for Einhel Keep.

Despite being so far away Fie took solace in the fact she somehow managed to beat both Juna and Ash to the square building – although she had a suspicion the latter was just choosing to be late out of principle. Rean – who had been standing next to that engineer George - took one look at her before shaking his head tiredly. Much to her annoyance he refused to elaborate further on that expression of disappointment, but luckily for her the mini-me Kurt was standing next to him.

"As fond as I am of training did you seriously decide to wear yourself out right before our trial?"

Ah. That made sense. Normally she'd agree with that common sense assessment, but right now she gave a shrug, "Eh. I don't see the big deal. The newbies are gonna do all the work today, right?"

"That's not the point of this and you know it." Their teacher sighed out tiredly, "We're here to make sure you all get experience working together."

"Sure, sure." Did she wave Rean off so casually because she knew it'd annoy him? Yes. Did she feel any remorse? Not at all. "You say that, but tell me with a straight face you weren't gonna have Ash and Musse up front regardless."

"..."

Fie nodded her head as she basked in her little victory, "That's what I thought. You can count on me to support the others as much as needed, especially if Schmidt has some crazy boss waiting for us at the end, but you should count yourself lucky to have a humble student who is willing to step back and let the newbies take the spotlight for a change."

"My, how very considerate of you!" Had someone not known Musse like Fie did they might've thought the younger girl was genuinely oblivious to her true intentions.

"Honestly you two..."

"Sorry we're late!" Juna cried out as she announced the presence of the rest of Class VII plus Celine. "I needed to get changed and-"

Ash let out a scoff, "Why bother making excuses? I was late because I didn't feel like arriving early. Simple as that."

The poor suffering teacher could only slump down in despair, "The rest of this year is going to be a long one, isn't it...?" Altina's efforts at cheering him up by patting him on the head were only mildly successful.

The moment of levity was ruined by the arrival of Professor Schmidt and Tita, with Fie giving a lazy wave to her friend. "Now that everyone's here we can commence the test."

"Be careful, guys!" A worried Tita warned, "The Professor, George, and myself were hard at work raising the difficulty of level three since you have more people now, but if it ends up being too much for you don't be afraid to-"

Given the way Schmidt scoffed Fie didn't think them retreating would actually be allowed, so she tried to reassure her friend with a victory sign, "We'll be fine. You've seen how good we are and now we have a big meat shield in Ash-"

"The hell I am!"

"...We'll clear this trial in record time. Just watch."

Her efforts must have been at least a little successful as Tita giggled, "Alright. I trust you. Good luck, everyone!"

After the three engineers returned to the control room Rean led them to the elevator, "Alright, Class VII. Commence the third level of the Einhel Keep trials!"

"Ja."

Once they stepped off the elevator they bore witness to the new area. Level three appeared to be significantly larger than the previous two, which made sense considering it was supposed to be harder. The monsters were unsurprisingly different, but outside of those changes it appeared like any other floor.

The ever-confident Ash was the first to step forward, with Rean right behind him. Musse – being Musse – clearly wanted to remain as close to the teacher as physically possible as she followed suit. That just left the four founding members of the class to decide who should take the fourth spot while the rest followed a few paces behind in reserve.

"Kurt."

"Kurt."

"Definitely Kurt."

"W-Wait, what? Why me?"

Both Juna and Altina glanced towards Fie silently telling her to provide the answer. Cowards, "Do you want the nice answer or the painful one?"

"I have a choice?" Kurt tilted his head thoughtfully, "How about the nice answer."

"We're looking out for you cause we know you suck at ranged combat. Best to have you up front where you can actually do something."

"...And that was supposed to be the nice answer?"

Fie shrugged, "You have what? One technique that can hit enemies at a distance? I think even Ash has you beat at range with his weird axe and chain weapon."

"You... aren't entirely wrong, I suppose." See? The nice answer. "But now you have me curious as to what your painful response would be?"

"That's easy. You're boring. We're gonna have uh..." She tried to think of the right word, "...girl talk and you definitely wouldn't fit in."

Despite being the meaner of the two responses Kurt merely rolled his eyes in amusement before picking up his pace to join up with the others, "Fine. I was already planning on fighting at the front regardless. Still, I refuse to believe that any of you have any idea what 'girl talk' actually means."

Wow. What a world they lived in when Kurt Vander of all people was taking a shot at her. Of course they knew what girl talk was. They were girls after all! The topics girls loved to gossip about were...

Uh...

"Fluffy pancakes and Swimming?"

"Sports and our hometowns?"

"Nap places and explosives?"

O-Oh. A sense of dejection fell over Fie, one that both Juna and Altina seemed to share. For some reason even though they had won the battle at forcing Kurt to fight it still kinda felt like a loss for the three of them.

Despite her nonchalance Fie took her support role seriously. Sure she didn't need to jump into every melee and wear herself out, but that was no excuse for her to not remain alert and ready to act at any moment. The boys plus Musse had been doing pretty well, but there were a couple instances where she had to thread a round through her comrades to interrupt a monster trying to cast arts, and one sneaky creature trying to flank Musse met its end as a result of a hasty lunge to assist her friend.

Since she wasn't doing much fighting she took the time to appreciate Musse and Ash's fighting styles even further than she had at Orchis Tower. They were classmates now, after all, and given Class VII's previous track record she had no doubt they would eventually end up in even crazier situations in the future. Best to figure out how she'd work with them when the time came.

Despite her orbal rifle being slower and less destructive than Fie's gunswords she couldn't deny the skill the mint-haired girl used with it. Quick accurate shots directed towards weak points to provide openings for the powerful but slow arts she seemed to favor made for a lethal combination. Her timing and ability to coordinate were quite good too as Fie watched as Musse's link partner – Rean, obviously – was able to disengage himself from a group of monsters almost the exact instant the student finish her cast, leaving no chance for the monsters to evade the attack.

Despite being polar opposites Ash reminded Fie of the time she fought alongside Laura. Except where the swordmaster fought with skill and grace her newest classmate fought like a berserker, relying on strength, fury, and a high tolerance to pain to overwhelm his foes. He couldn't hold a candle to the Arseid, but he was a strong fighter regardless. Fie couldn't help but think of the times Zephyr fought against the Red Constellation.

That he'd fit in with them like a glove was a surprisingly unsettling thought to the former jaeger.

Overall, even if their personalities left a lot to be desired Fie was pleased at what the new additions added to their fighting capabilities. That they both worked well with their link partners despite this being the first time the pairings had worked together was another good sign. A small part of her was regretting her chance to sit back and let Kurt take that final spot – maybe she'd get a chance to sub in at some point.

Things got interesting about midway through the keep when they encountered a giant crab enemy. A tough monster, sure, but nothing they wouldn't be able to handle. She was confident the others could handle it without her needing to assist.

...Which was why she was completely off guard when Rean used his Spirit Unification.

At first she thought it was just some insane flex from their teacher, but after a few seconds she noticed one very important detail – He was in full control. A subtle glance towards the cat that had been tagging along showed what could only be smug satisfaction on Celine's face.

So this was the result of their secret training together?

To her side Altina appeared agitated as she nervously shuffled from one foot to the other. It was clear to the silver-haired girl that her friend wanted to intervene, but at the same time wanted to trust her partner in his attempts at controlling his power. So in the end the frustrated girl could only stand by silently as Rean and the others engaged – albeit with Claiomh Solais summoned and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Despite feeling a little nervous herself Fie once again began analyzing the battle before her. Elite jaegers could use War Cry to enhance their power, sure, but that technique came with a lot of downsides to ones health. Rean's Spirit Unification didn't seem to have any of those problems... As long as he remained in control, that was. Instead the teacher gained swiftness enough to match anything she could pull off while gaining a strength and durability boost as well. Even his sword techniques changed when he transformed with his Gale especially becoming a much different and more complex variant that he called the Arcane Gale.

Obviously with improvements like that the stupid crab monster didn't stand a ghost of a chance. It was dead before Ash could even act, much to the punk's annoyance and Fie's amusement.

"Phew... Totally under control." Despite his seeming confidence before the battle Rean seemed pretty relieved as the power faded from his body, "Guess that means it worked."

Beyond the help he'd been receiving from Celine the biggest contributor to his willingness to use his power came thanks to a nifty little pendant he showed them that Emma made for him. Given that Fie had absolutely no understanding of magic she couldn't say much about it other than it looked cool, but presumably the piece of jewelry had some kind of spell to suppress his power. Pretty nifty thing.

She'd never admit it, but Fie was glad he had that safety net available to him now. Given how powerful Spirit Unification made him, going berserk in the middle of a fight would end poorly for all of them. At best she might be able to evade him for some time, but eventually she'd slip up or he'd target her friends instead.

All outcomes would be terrible.

Ash and Musse seemed pretty chill about his transformation, all things considered. The former simply waved it off while the latter made a horny comment, surprising absolutely nobody. All in all the experience was a positive one for Class VII, although all of them were glad that he promised to only use his powers in moderation.

Both because while none would admit it they were worried about him and because they wanted to get stronger without him carrying future battles for them.

With that distraction out of the way the group continued through the keep. Thanks to the occasional direction provided by Tita or George the seven of them made solid progress through the keep. Monsters were slain, mazes were solved, and eventually they found themselves at the standard boss door at the end.

"Is everyone ready?" Rean nodded approvingly as they all provided assent one way or the other, "We don't know what the professor has planned for us, but given our increased strength I wouldn't be surprised if the enemy ahead is beyond anything we've fought in here before. I want all of you to be ready to fight."

In other words break time was over for Fie.

The room was empty, as usual, but that meant nothing for the students of Class VII. Given how the previous trials had gone their enemy should be appearing in a ball of light right about...

Yup. There it was. There was only one thought going through the silver-haired girl's mind as the ball began to take shape into something large and dangerous.

Please don't be a Magic Knight. Please don't be a Magic Knight. Please don't-

Luckily Aidios was on Fie's side as the thing that appeared wasn't a Magic Knight. It was a Cryptid. Juna's groan of despair was music to her ears.

Still, it didn't matter whether it was a Magic Knight or a Cryptid. It was still their enemy and one she was more than ready to dispose of. She had no doubt it would still be a troublesome opponent, but now that Class VII was larger, more experienced, and with a teacher capable of boosting his power to an absurd degree?

Yeah. It didn't have a chance at all. Fie accepted the first combat link sent her way – Ash, surprisingly – before unleashing a charge towards their enemy.

"How come you didn't mention this to me? I thought we were a team?"

"Ahah... Sorry, Fie, but we wanted this to be a surprise."

Said girl could only pout in response. Sure the answer made sense, but still...

The last thing she or the rest of Class VII had expected when they exited Einhel Keep was to be ambushed by Rean's sister. Come to find out she – with help from Tita and Towa – had prepared a special reward for Class VII.

A picnic lunch.

It would've been a perfect chance for the former soldier to enhance her cooking aptitude, but she couldn't even be all that mad because the food was really good and she was hungry! With annoyance the girl jabbed her fork with more force than was needed, watching bitterly as the very tender chicken fell apart under her petulant assault.

Sure she knew that Tita and Towa were good cooks, but Elise too? Just how long would it took for a neophyte like her to reach this level!?

Alongside the three cooks and all of Class VII were Celine and George. Watching the former gnaw away at a fish almost as large as the cat was almost adorable enough for Fie to almost forget about her annoyance and her rivalry with the familiar. Almost.

"Alright, I have to ask..." Juna's question broke Fie from her reverie, "Just how in Aidios' name does Professor Schmidt keep getting all these things into the keep? Cryptids, Magic Knights, archaisms... it seems impossible!"

The former jaeger blinked. That... was a really good question. She wasn't the only one to turn her gaze to Schmidt's two disciples as all of her classmates, Elise, and even the two teachers seemed just as curious.

Under their combined gaze Tita shrank meekly, "U-Um. I'm actually not sure. I know the archaisms are usually created on-site, but the rest is a mystery even to me. I've tried asking Professor Schmidt about it before, but he'd always tell me to-"

"Stop asking pointless questions and focus on your work?" Her fellow engineer grumbled out causing Tita to nod, "Yep. The more things change the more they stay the same, I guess. Schmidt is a crotchety old goat at the best of times, but there's no denying he's unparalleled at what he does. I doubt even Makarov would have the answer to that question."

"Can't you follow him or something?" The former jaeger asked, "I could give you some tips on being stealthy if that'd help. Wanna know how to pick a lock?"

"Fie!"

The girl gave an innocent shrug at Towa's scandalized look, "What? You're just as curious as the rest of us."

"I... uh..."

Luckily for the teacher George was there to come to her defense, "I tried it once. It won't work. The guy hardly ever sleeps. If you want to stake him out all night long multiple days in a row be my guest, but I definitely didn't have the stamina for it.

A multi-night stakeout just to sate her curiosity? Not happening. "Altina can do it. She's always so proud of Claiomh Solais' supposedly superior stealth abilities."

"...I will make you rue the day you were born."

Elise let out a giggle, "I'm so glad that Rean has friends and students as lively as you guys. He can be a handful at the best of times, but please continue to look after him."

"Elise..." Haha. It was funny seeing Rean so flustered.

"Don't worry, my future sister-in law. I'll be quite certain to keep both eyes on Instructor Rean as often as possible." No questions needed as to who was the one who said that.

"No problem!" At least Juna seemed more honest with her reaction, "It's the least we can do after all the funny stories you told us about our Instructor last night!"

Fie could pinpoint the exact moment when her teacher froze, horror etched on his expression, "...What exactly did you tell them?"

"Mmm..." Elise seemed thoughtfully before giving her brother an impish expression, "I can't remember!"

"What the hell!?" Ash protested angrily, "You guys got all the dirt on Schwarzer? Share some with the rest of us, dammit!"

"My apologies, but that information has been deemed classified. Only a select few individuals are allowed to possess it." Altina somehow managed to look dead serious even as she teased the vastly taller boy.

Ash continued to fume while Kurt, Towa, and George merely seemed confused. Fie for her part turned to their ashen-faced teacher before simply mouthing the words 'Creepy Sheep'.

Rean looked about ready to sob.

With that extra bit of chaos added to the mix Fie decided to relax and enjoy the rest of her meal in peaceful quiet. With food in her belly and the sun bearing down on her this would've been the perfect time for a nap, but instead she contented herself to listen to the conversations going around her. Rean was talking with his sister about home. Juna was scolding Musse for being Musse. And Ash was trying to steal food from Kurt.

Fie perked up. That last one was kinda interesting. The Vander – who was sitting next to her – was entirely focused on shielding his food from the predator named Ash. While he was doing a solid job of warding off the primary threat, by focusing entirely on Ash he was leaving himself vulnerable to a sneak attack from an opportunistic third party.

As his sparring partner she saw fit to teach him the error of his ways. Or at least that was how she justified to herself stealing a piece of his omelet.

"Hey, Vander! Look behind you!"

"Really Ash? I'm not going to fall for a ploy that simple."

"I'm serious!"

"It's the oldest trick in the book. I honestly expected more from you."

Fie shot the others a victory sign even as she popped the liberated meal into her mouth. Rean and Towa tried to give her a stern look, but it failed as both teachers were clearly amused.

Yep. This was nice. The good mood probably wouldn't last long as they'd soon be meeting to learn which part of Erebonia they'd soon find themselves caught in the middle of a crisis at – not that they all didn't already strongly suspect Ordis, but for now she was content to relax, enjoy the rest of her free day, and spread a little more chaos as she went.

"H-Hey!? What happened to my lunch!?"

Daybreak is coming out tomorrow! I'm so excited! Needless to say I'll be taking a small break from writing, so expect the next chapter to be delayed by a few weeks. I promise I'll be back soon enough.