"Up and ready for action!"

Laya bounced down the stairs into the living room, her energy completely recharged from her daylong rest. The events of the previous day were still on her mind, seeing her sister on her hands and knees with blood dripping from her mouth was a cause for concern. However, after her sister's dismissal of her strain, Laya was forced back upstairs to continue her rest, as much as she didn't want to leave Leia alone.

When she woke up from her slumber, the first thing she made sure to do was go down to greet her sister, since she knew that she wouldn't be in her bedroom. If there was one thing she was positive about when it came to Leia, it was that most of her sleeping was done in the lab, even if she desperately needed it.

"Back to normal, I see."

Laya's attention directed to the top of the stairs, her eyes falling upon the black dragon that groggily followed her. It put its front legs down the following step, stretching its hind legs and its back with a grunt. Of course, this put a doting smile on her face, seeing the Relic act as if it were a regular pet while she was cooped up in bed. It laid at her feet while she was snuggled under the covers, only getting up when she did, which was all the more cute. Even in its draconic form, it was as threatening as a normal house cat.

"Yup! I knew all I needed was some good food and binging a show," Laya declared, her fist coming up to her chest triumphantly to enunciate her current condition.

"You say that as if you didn't fall asleep through half of it."

Nidhogg's wings flapped once, lifting it up before it began its levitation down to the bottom of the stairs. The comment got Laya to put a finger to her lips once Nidhogg got to her, a way of silencing the dragon's speech, even though it could just talk telepathically rather than vocally. During her rest, she did plan on binging a show: a shonen anime that revolved around a boy who was born powerless in a world where everyone has a special ability. Sure, the trope was done to death, but there was something about a protagonist declaring that he'd be the best and show everyone up that drew her in every time. Plus, it wasn't like she missed that much from sleeping through some of it, knowing the repetitive nature of how these types of shows worked.

"Hush. That's what rewatches are for, Nids."

The girl shushed the dragon, opening the door that led to the lab via the touch sensor. Just as she had anticipated, she saw Leia seated in her swivel chair as she looked up at the massive screens above her. Her fingers were moving fast, inputting sequences and notes with maximum efficiency, completely unperturbed by the hissing of the door behind her. The room had a faint scent of cleaning products, due to the alchemist's extensive cleansing upon her return.

What's more, the girl herself looked more well-kempt compared to when she returned. Maybe she did have a bit of rest while she was there and wasn't constantly working, though that may have been completely up to speculation. When she finally finished typing, she swerved over to another device, a vial of clear liquid contained behind a glass door.

"What do you want?"

The alchemist called out to her double, taking hold of the vial as the wheels on her chair rolled her to another table. Her response made Laya huff, puffing her cheeks as she crossed her arms. "What, I can't come in to see my adorable younger sister," Laya remarked, her words prompting Leia to roll her eyes.

"Don't patronize me. You're older by three minutes, you barely qualify."

Leia knew how much Laya liked to hold that over her head, even though it was as significant of an impact as an ant crawling on the porch outside. The two were the exact same age, the only differing factor was a timeframe of three minutes. Despite this miniscule difference, Laya would tote this fact around any chance she got, though it would mostly be in a joking manner.

"Barely still means that I passed it."

She hopped down to meet her sister, who couldn't help but wear a sour expression after that comeback. Even if she didn't act like the portrayal of an "older sister", the fact still remained that Leia was the one who was last place in that specific race. "Whatever," Leia scoffed, filling up a dropper with the contents of the vial before carefully placing it to the side. She aimed the dropper above a container beside her, two drops of liquid falling onto the pile of powders in the disk-shaped container. When Laya noticed the contents of the disk, she really wanted to ask more about it, though she knew that her sister wouldn't give her an answer that made sense. She just wanted to be involved in Leia's interests, even if she looked dumb doing it.

"Are you still working on that?"

The one to ask this question was Nidhogg, who flew closer to the dropper. Usually, Leia would be more insistent on shooing the dragon away, but she was too invested in making sure everything went right there to care. The information she obtained remained in her mind all night, so getting her little "experiment" done was her top priority.

"The apex of alchemists isn't something as trivial as mixing a couple of compounds," she stated, the powder before her now beginning to shine a bright red. She didn't expect this reaction, but she never made anything like this before, so she didn't know what to expect.

"Apex... of alchemists...?"

Laya was confused as to what the two of them were referring to. Even if she wanted to feel included, only the living tome and the alchemist had any knowledge of alchemy in their group, always keeping her out of the loop. It wasn't like they never tried to explain anything to her, but when they did, it always flew over her head faster than a fighter jet. Therefore, the "apex of alchemists" didn't register to anything Leia brought up to her in the past. Leia noted this confusion, so she gave her a quick answer, even if it didn't mean anything. She would have just said nothing to her, but if she didn't, she knew Laya would have been more insistent on it. "The Lapis Philosophorum," Leia responded, placing the dropper back into the vial.

"Eh...?"

The Gear user's bewilderment hadn't ceased, her brow furrowing more once those words reached her ears. Nidhogg heard Laya's confused reply, so it decided to give her an answer that she most likely recognized, especially with the amount of media she's consumed. "Philosopher's Stone." Her face loosened a bit after that name drop, now correlating it to another show she watched a few years ago. "Ah." The quick noise of affirmation was all Laya could provide. Leia smacked her lips at that response, since there wasn't a doubt in her mind that the Candidate was unaware of what a true Philosopher's Stone was.

"She doesn't know what it means anyways, I don't know why you even said that to her."

"H-Hey!"

Laya pouted, her arms falling to the side like a child insulted by a mean name. Leia didn't pay attention to this, putting her hand over the disk as she allowed a bit of alchemic power to flow from her fingers. The silver element dropped into the glowing mixture, Laya's mind now trying to figure out what the next step here would be. While she did, Nidhogg continued to provide an explanation for the alchemist's motives.

"It's a tool used to achieve perfection."

The moment it was explained this way, her mind was hit with a flashback to when her mother was explaining alchemy. Unlike Leia, their mother was always able to dumb down even the most complicated of topics with alchemy. From her words, it was just something that made other things the best they could be, though Laya would have never remembered that name if she had to. "Oh, yeah... I do remember Mom saying something about that," Laya muttered, putting her hand to her chin.

"The thing is, only a select few alchemists can actually make one."

"Is it hard to do?"

Of course, Laya didn't know the intricacies of creating the Lapis Philosophorum, but if the only person who mentioned it was her mother, then it was certainly going to be a task. The infamous Stella Noire was known within the lower ranks of alchemists, her skills being the talk of the town among them. Some even said that with her levels of transmutation, she may have even reached near the level of the Controlling Director, if given enough time. Even though Stella constantly denied it, since she knew that wasn't true by a landslide, the fact that many knew her prowess showed her talent. However, if it's something so difficult to create, why was Leia trying to do it? Or rather, how was she even able to attempt it?

Leia also had this thought in mind, especially when she was just thinking days prior about not being able to make the Lapis Philosophorum in the first place.

"You two are quite distracting, you know that?"

Leia's serious tone cut the conversation of the Candidate and her partner short, her hands now applying fire alchemy to heat the contents of the disk.

"Oh, sorry!"

Laya let out an apology, scratching the back of her head as Leia sighed. It wasn't that big of a deal, but she wanted to make sure everything went right on the first try. She didn't want to redo everything again, especially when it was all fresh in her mind. "I wouldn't have been able to without that girl attacking me the way she did," Leia informed, picking the disk up to examine how the powders and liquids had merged so far.

"That girl...?"

Laya's eyebrows raised, wondering who her sibling was referring to. She could only assume that she was referring to someone she dealt with before she came back, but Leia didn't provide her with a description of anyone she interacted with outside. After all, she wouldn't have come back with heavy breaths if all she did was use alchemy to teleport back home. She didn't have exact proof that she fought anyone, but it wasn't like Leia was known for not being antagonizing. With the information she had and an educated guess, she could only assume that comment was referring to either Tsubasa or Maria again.

"The wielder of the second Relic."

The mixture now melded into a substance with a consistency akin to hair gel, the light radiating from it much brighter now. All that was left was to let it sit for a couple of minutes to cool. The chair rolled back to the computer, the alchemist pressing a key on her keyboard while Laya's face remained unchanged. She normally wouldn't give Laya information like this, but seeing as how there was the chance that they could fight again, it was better to have her sister see exactly who their enemies were.

"I don't know who that-"

When the screen showed who Leia was referring to, her sister nearly pounced to her side, her eyes now revealing awe as her face got as close as she could to the screen.

"IS THAT RED SINGING HOOD!?"

Leia was stunned for a moment, seeing as how her sibling's demeanor drastically shifted from confusion to veneration. What's more, the name that her sister used was completely nonsensical. The girl before them was Chris Yukine, the footage captured from the crown of her Faust Robe. She had figured to fit her Spellcaster with a camera, just in case there was something that she wanted to review earlier in the day. It took the place of her watch, so it only made sense for an upgrade, though she didn't know if it would be incorporated into the Faust Robe. Thankfully, it was, but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if it hadn't.

"Who-?"

Leia couldn't get in another word before her sister grabbed her by her lab coat, their faces being centimeters apart as Laya's eyes flared up. "I do know who that is! You were fighting her!?" She began to shake her, Laya's excitement now turning into anger. "H-Hey, get off me," Leia demanded, prying her sister's grip from her. What in the world was she so worked up for?

The footage continued its playback, showing the portion of the fight when Chris activated Amalgam. When Chris fired her arrow, Leia raised her arm, Nidhogg's manifestation of energy coming out of the section of her sleeve and going after Chris after intercepting the attack. Even if there was an excuse for self-defense, Laya wasn't having it.

"I can't believe you sicked Nids on her! You didn't stop her!?"

Laya's question was directed towards Nidhogg, who merely tilted its head. Despite the knowledge of the universe at its disposal, even the Relic didn't know why the older twin was so invested in the safety of someone they were fighting. She didn't even seem to care about the other two that were on the screen, it was just Ichaival, which only made it more perplexing.

Leia backed away from the girl, fixing her coat with a disgruntled look in those blue eyes of hers. Laya had never been this passionate about anything before, at least, from what she remembered. Then again, they didn't have anything interesting happening in their lives until they found the Archive.

"Why do you care so much? She's just another enemy."

"To you!"

Laya kept turning back from the screen to the alchemist, her fury still on the girl who was nonchalant to the entire fight prior. "She's... oddly fired up," the dragon murmured, its study of its user being given to the one that was currently under fire. "I can see that," Leia responded, her attention now being directed back at the disk. Threads of dark red began to sprout from the mixture, crystallizing one after another as their temperature decreased. It was fascinating, Leia's interest rising as the Lapis Philosophorum finally started to take shape. More needed to be done, but even the start of it was enough to peak any alchemist's interest.

"Jeez, I thought I'd never see her again. And when I do see her again, the first thing that I see is my own sister trying to kill her!"

Leia's expression fell after hearing the brunette's cries, the joy she had from watching the Philosopher's Stone now dissipating while Laya gazed at a still frame of Chris. There was still that anger in her tone, but it wasn't as visceral as it was sixty seconds ago. For some reason, those eyes of hers were completely mesmerized by the girl on the screen, but Leia couldn't gather why.

It sounded like Laya did know her, but she didn't call the girl by her name. The name of "Red Singing Hood" lingered in her mind for a bit, it just didn't make sense where she got that idea from. There was some show that was released some time ago with a character with a similar name, but there was no way she was referring to that, was she? She would have chalked it up to Laya's usual delusions, but Laya never reacted to a delusion like that. It would always be hung up as a joke, but this time, she was dead serious.

"You must want to meet her badly, huh?"

Laya turned to Leia, her eyes widening as her sister gave off a sincere platitude. She rarely heard that from her, since she always wore a downcast expression accompanied by a demeaning voice. Even when she was trying to be nice, she couldn't even wear a fake smile, let alone sound like she had any glee in her body. That was part of the reason why Laya was always so happy and cheerful: to make up for Leia's constant seriousness. The moment there was a hint of an emotion outside of exasperation or hostility visible to her, Laya was going to be at attention.

"Why are you saying it like that?"

Once Laya responded, the alchemist clapped her hands together, her plan going swimmingly.

"Good news, I'm sending you back out to investigate Yggdrasil again."

She knew that using this tone of voice would get Laya to do anything she wanted, even if her sentence was still phrased like a command like it usually was. As long as she used a slightly softer tone of voice, she could always reel her sister in, since it was something that happened once in a blue moon. Plus, her proposition allowed Laya to test the limits of the Symphogear again, so it was a win-win in Leia's eyes. Laya, while she was interested in investigating the Yggdrasil System again, knew this wasn't without a reason.

"What does Yggdrasil have to do with...?"

Her sentence trailed off, her mind starting to see where her sister was going with this. It was really coincidental that not only did her sister fight the one she knew as "Red Singing Hood", but that this also happened after they found Nidhogg. Maybe this mystery girl was working with Tsubasa, since she was also trying to impede Leia and the inspection of Yggdrasil from what the video implied. Leia noted the gears turning in her sister's head, so she gave her one final affirmation, one that would lock her decision in the moment she heard it.

"More than likely, you'll see her yourself."

And just like that, a silence filled the air, only broken once the older twin could register that last sentence.

"Eh-"

So, Leia's making her own Philosopher's Stone, how cool is that? That is a rhetorical question, it isn't that exciting, but the question then becomes... how could she do it? I'll leave that up to you to figure out. Today was a double upload like last time with a "filler" chapter, but because that was the last one, we'll go back to once per week. That being said, I'll see you all next week!