"Gooooood morning my adorable little proteges!"
What had started as a peaceful and quiet breakfast died a terrible death as the door to their home was kicked open with enough force that Rean cringed. It was only after making sure the door hadn't broken off its hinges or put a dent in the wall that he finally looked to see who the one who had just burst into their house was.
"It's way too early to be dealing with you, Sara."
The three barely awake teens could only stare in incomprehension as the older woman strolled in like she owned the place before swiping a piece of toast off of Fie's plate and taking a big bite from it, "Thanks, Fie. How'd you know I was starving?"
"W-What are you doing here, Instructor?" Rean asked, partly because he wanted to know but mostly to keep Fie from attacking her mentor figure.
"Hmm?" Sara tilted her head in genuine confusion, "Don't tell me you guys already forgot? Today is your free day, yes?"
It was. Their first free day of the year. It was such an odd feeling to Rean. He had always been so busy during free days that waking up without a list of tasks or a trip to the Old Schoolhouse felt... strange. He had no idea what he was going to be doing that day-
He blinked as realization dawned on him. Sara's arrival probably made that worry a moot point, didn't it?
"Are you here with more work for us?"
"Bingo!" Their former teacher answered Laura with a smile, "I gave you guys that one job 'cause I had a feeling you'd need it, but today I've brought an entire list of crummy tasks for a bunch of wet behind the ear junior bracers."
With a flourish she reached into her coat before pulling out an envelope which she passed off to a curious Fie. With equal curiosity he and Laura got up and moved around so they could read the contents for themselves even as the silver-haired girl began opening the message.
It was unfortunate that in doing so she left her breakfast cup wide open for Instructor Sara to swipe before draining in a single gulp, "Good juice. Would be better with a little something something to give it that extra kick, you know?"
"...I hate you so much." Surprisingly Fie showed remarkable restraint as she turned her glare away from the older woman and back to the paper in her hands. Together the three of them silently read the tasks for them to do.
Do a monster sweep on a section of the Heimdallr Catacombs.
Retrieve a wallet stolen from a student at the capital's political academy.
Catch a Catfish.
"I see. All of these tasks seem to be-"
"Lame?"
"...Simple enough for us." Laura finished, ignoring Fie's interjection.
"Yep. That's why I'm handing them off to you." Their former teacher admitted with absolutely no shame whatsoever, "Osborne's minions don't let us bracers have much, but they've always been willing to let us deal with monster problems, doubly so with the war turning everything into a mess. The only other work we can usually get..." She gave a lazy shrug, "You can see how it is."
Fie let out a groan, "And of course we're getting the most boring of the bunch. Starting to regret my decision to become a bracer."
"Welcome to the real world, Fie. As good as I know you are someone's gotta be at the bottom of the ladder and right now it's the two of you." Came the surprising advice, "Think of it as extra incentive to do a good job now so you'll be at the top once things get better in Erebonia and we can actually start being bracers again."
"Yeah, yeah." The younger girl grumbled good-naturedly, "We're already used to you giving us lame jobs during our field studies. Nothing new on that front."
"That's the spirit!" Sara cheered, "And just like your field studies I expect you'll be keeping an ear open for anyone who needs help. I'll be in the capital all day on important business so you can just call me when you're finished to report mission success."
For some reason Rean had a feeling the important business of which she was referring to involved her and a pint of something they weren't allowed to drink.
"Oh, one last thing..." Sara announced even as she began moving towards the door – after once again liberating a piece of meat from Fie's plate - "Toval and the prince have been working with the Epstein Foundation and the Reinford Group on some secret project that the bastards refuse to tell me about..." For a few seconds her voice lowered to the point where they could hear bitter curses from the woman, but eventually she recalled what she was doing and perked up again "A-Ahem... E-Either way, while I don't understand the scope of the project it seems to be some kind of improved communications network. Toval hinted he might use you guys to beta test it so that we can give you missions from anywhere in Erebonia even though you don't have a terminal here. So be looking forward to that!"
"Anywhere in Erebonia?" He asked rhetorically. That kind of technology sounded amazing. Maybe a day would come when they could reach their distant friends in Roer, Bareahard, Nord, and beyond with a simple call on their orbment?
That would be a great day indeed.
With a cheerful wave the teacher exited their home, leaving the three students and their breakfasts. There was a momentary silence as they all processed what had just happened, but inevitably that faded away as the youngest of the trio made a dash for his plate, "Since Sara stole all my breakfast I'm borrowing the rest of yours Rean."
Wait... What!?
"So what's the plan?"
For some reason Rean seemed confused by her question as he stopped and stared at her despite standing in the middle of the busy Heimdallr street, "Why are you asking me?"
So they had no plan. Just great.
"You're our leader, obviously."
This time the swordsman gave a knowing smirk that annoyed Fie for some reason, "I don't think so. I'll gladly take charge with Class VII activities, but this isn't Class VII anymore, is it? We're doing bracer activity and since I'm not actually a bracer..."
What the hell?! The jerk was running away from his responsibilities!?
What part of her wasn't annoyed at that news did find a little amusement in the fact he finally admitted he had been the leader of Class VII.
Well, fine. If he wanted to be utterly useless that was his choice. Instead Fie turned an expectant gaze towards Laura. She often served as Rean's right hand woman during the war, right? The Arseid tilted her head thoughtfully, "I'm... not so sure I'm the best choice. While I am confident in my abilities to lead during a combat mission I suspect I might be less suited towards more... flexible outings like this one."
Fie blinked. So Rean wasn't going to do it and now Laura didn't think she'd be the best to lead the three of them. That just left...
"Oh you guys suck so much."
"I think you'll do fine-"
"The unpaid help doesn't get to have an opinion."
Rean looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon although Fie couldn't tell if it was because she cut him off or the revelation she was definitely not sharing her mission payment with the slacker. He'd be lucky if his lunch came out of her mission expenses.
"Now that that's been taken care of..." Oh how Fie wished she could shut Laura up like she did Rean, "...how do you propose we tackle we tackle our requests? We need to do a patrol of the underground passage, catch a fish, and help a student find his stolen wallet."
"Right..." Fine. If they wanted to play this game she'd humor them, "Well we don't know how long the wallet search will take, so let's save that one for last. Did the letter say which section of the underground we needed to explore?"
"The section connecting Mater Part with the Garnier District, I believe." Seems Rean hadn't learned his lesson about shutting up, but the intel was good so she'll let it pass this time.
"Hmm..." She considered the options. It made a lot of sense for them to stick together and handle the tasks one at a time. Clean and precise to get the job done-
Wait.
Did he just say the underground section between Mater Park and the Garnier District?
Never mind. That plan was dumb. She had a new and better plan.
"Me and Laura are gonna go deal with the monsters while you go catch the fish. We'll meet up after to deal with the wallet."
Laura seemed pleased by her declaration, but Rean furrowed his brow in consternation, "Are you sure that's a good idea. Not that I doubt your skills, but-" Fie fixed him with a flat stare causing him to rub the back of his head sheepishly, "I know. I know. Mean Rean refuses to take command but is still second-guessing you. It's just..."
It was Laura who stepped in to answer for her, "We understand what you are saying, Rean, but you need to remember what happened the last time we were in that section of the underground."
"What happened the last... oh!" Realization dawned on the swordsman's face, "That's where your combat link broke, isn't it?"
"Yup. Sure it's petty of us to want the second chance after everything that's happened, but since this chance is right here..." Honestly a part of her suspected Sara intentionally left that part for them because of that, not that she'd ever give her mentor any credit. "Plus we all know you're the best one to catch the stupid fish."
All eyes were drawn to the fishing rod Rean had on hand, "Well... Alright. Can't say I'm thrilled about being left behind, but I guess I can see your point."
"Kinda like how we feel whenever you run off to do your Ashen Chevalier missions." No she wasn't bitter at all.
"Alright, I think we're all set." Laura interjected, playing peacekeeper, "Do you believe you'll be able to find a Catfish in Mater Park?" A nod was his reply, "In that case I think we should take the Garnier entrance and we'll meet up with you there once we finish our sweep."
"Agreed." She assented with a nod, "These missions are pretty lame so if we mess up Sara's gonna laugh at us forever. Let's get this done."
Rean stepped off the tram at Mater Park. It'd only been a couple months since he came here to visit Elise and the royal siblings, but now that spring was in full bloom the place was certainly a lot livelier. Crowds of people were milling about enjoying the sights, eating the food from the carts, and listening to a beautiful violin being played at the far side of the park.
He would've been content to focus on his job and listen to the music passively, but there was something very familiar about the sound. Given the location he was in he couldn't help but think it was more than a coincidence, so the swordsman decided on a quick detour. Pushing through the crowds enough to get a better look ended up as a surprising challenge, but eventually he prevailed-
And bore witness to his first friend at Thors captivating the crowds with his violin.
Even though it'd only been a month since Class VII disbanded Rean couldn't help but feel a sense of elation as he saw Elliot again. The young musician didn't look much different, but he certainly seemed completely at ease despite being the center of attention. He was truly a different person when he had an instrument on hand.
As much as he wanted to greet his friend it would've been selfish to interrupt the performance, so he contented himself to remain the crowd and wait. Eventually his patience paid off as during a quick break between songs Elliot's eyes roamed the masses before widening briefly as soon as they locked onto his. With that connection made Rean held up the fishing rod in his hand before nodding his head towards the nearby water. A tiny nod was the only sign his friend had noticed before going right into the next song, but it was enough for the swordsman.
With that finished he was quick to return to his task. With most people enjoying Elliot's impromptu concert he was able to find a nice secluded spot before casting his line. His mission was to catch a Catfish, which he knew to be a fairly uncommon fish that could be found in freshwater sources around the capital, like the river before him was.
Even as Rean cast the line into the water a part of him still felt a little guilty he was out here fishing while his girlfriends were fighting monsters in an underground labyrinth, but given it was their decision he had no choice but to go with it. At the very least he was in position to keep an eye on the exit so he'd be able to greet them as soon as they emerged, but it was little solace to the anxious swordsman.
He was thankful for the art of fishing. While it wasn't enough to put his mind fully at ease, concentrating on the line in the water was a good way at calming him down.
It took a few minutes before he got his first bite, but unfortunately the fish he reeled in wasn't the one he was looking for. Even still he made sure to properly record the information on the Arowana he just reeled in inside his fishing notebook – Now that he was a member of the Fishing Club he wanted to be even more thorough with the information he could share with Kenneth once he got back to school.
Two more casts and two more fish that weren't Catfish. Luckily he had gotten pretty skilled at angling and had a rod to match so he could multitask a little as his eyes remained focused on the underground exit while his ears were listening to Elliot's music. His former classmates played three more songs while he fished, but no more came after, causing Rean to chance a glance to see the crowds slowly dispersing.
He only got one more cast before his friend arrived in a rush, "Rean! It's been too long!" It was clear Elliot wanted to give him a hug or a handshake, but since the Ymir native still had a line in the water he was forced to settle with an awkward pat on the back.
"Same to you." He replied with a wide smile, "It seems the music career seems to be going well so far based on what I just saw."
Elliot gave a nervous laugh, "Today's actually a day off from the academy, but since it's such a beautiful day..."
"You decided to play music on your day off from music." Rean teased.
"That might sting if it came from literally anyone but you." The once-timid musician countered, causing both young men to laugh.
After a moment Elliot calmed down, "Did you come down here just to fish? I mean this wouldn't be the weirdest place to find you fishing, but..."
"I don't fish in weird places, do I?"
Elliot looked completely unamused, "Remember that one time you halted our investigation of the Old Schoolhouse because you saw a fish in the water? There were fiends just a few arge away but you had to stop and make us wait around for almost ten minutes, didn't you?"
"Uh... T-Thats..." Rean fumbled for an excuse. Did he really do something like that in the past? It sounded completely insane and unlike him, but a tiny voice in the back of his mind made him think there was a very real possibility such an event happened. In the end he settled for an awkward cough which caused the musician to smirk victoriously, "A-Anyways, I'm helping the girls out with some bracer requests today. One of them involved catching a fish, so here I am."
"Oh, I was wondering about that." Rean watched as his friend glanced all around the park looking for the two in question, "So where are Laura and Fie anyways?"
"They're underground dealing with monsters right now. I'll be waiting around here until they pop up."
The angler smiled as he felt a mighty tug on his line. Sure there were plenty of fish in the waters here, but given the strength of the bite he had a feeling he had just snared his target. Elliot stood silently and watched as he battled the fish for a few minutes until with one mighty heave he pulled the fish out of the water.
It was a massive Catfish. Exactly what he needed.
"Heehee! Nice job, Rean!" Elliot praised, "I don't have any other plans for today so is it alright if I wait around with you?"
"Definitely! I want to hear all about your life in the music academy!"
"And I want to hear about how it's like being a second year student."
Getting to sit in the park catching up with one of his closest friends on such a beautiful day? Yeah, this was pretty much the perfect scenario for the young swordsman.
He could only hope Fie and Laura were having just as much fun.
Fie was not having fun at all.
A mission to do a monster sweep was supposed to be a simple thing. Start at one end of the underground passage, walk to the other end, and kill any monsters that got in their way. Short and easy.
What she hadn't expected was for the obscenely massive number of creatures that had made their home in this section of the underground.
Almost as soon as they had entered the first major chamber the two bracers had been beset by a large group of beasts. Not much of a problem. They'd handled much worse in the past.
The problem came from the fact that noise traveled far while underground. The sounds of the two girls murdering a bunch of hapless monsters carried far and wide, which caught the ear of more monsters far and wide. And naturally some of them were rather interested in investigating the noise for themselves.
They soon found themselves needing to keep the number of enemies in front of them to a manageable level lest they found themselves overrun by the constant stream of reinforcements. Fie knew this to be fact, but right now it was a really difficult thing to accomplish as she was entirely preoccupied trying to fend off four creatures attacking her all at once. Dodging them wasn't much of a challenge, but there was no opportunity for the lithe girl to counter-
She threw herself to the ground as a massive blade of steel sliced through where she had just been standing, cleaving two of her foes instantly. That opening was enough for her to quickly recover and finish the other two off before they even understood the danger they were in.
"You came closer to hitting me than any of those monsters." She complained even as she moved to intercept a bat monster that was trying to flank around them.
"I had full confidence you'd evade it."
Fie wanted to roll her eyes, but they were fixed on the path ahead where she could see another wave of monsters approaching, "Ugh. There's no end to this. Let's fall back and use the doorway to funnel their numbers."
"Understood!"
The two girls made a clean break from their enemies as they retreated to the portal. It kinda sucked for Fie because by limiting the space the monsters moved she also limited her own capabilities to be mobile and agile. Instead she was forced to rely entirely on the gun half of her gunblades to snipe down flying enemies or any drones that were trying to cast arts while Laura got to wave her over-sized sword around at anything and everything that got close to her.
As dull as the battle became there was no denying the effectiveness of it and after a few long minutes the two girls stood alone as the last of the monsters fell to the ground dead. There was a pregnant pause while they waited to see if any other creature was approaching, but once it became clear otherwise they finally relaxed.
"Pretty sure the reason Sara gave us this job's because she knew just how much a mess it was gonna be." She groused even as she sheathed her poor overworked gunblades. "I bet nobody's come down here since our field study."
"That... may be," The blue-haired girl conceded, "but at least there are a few positives we can take from this..."
"You're either gonna tell me or not. I'm not asking."
Laura shook her head with a tired smile, "Firstly it stands to reason that we just dealt with the large majority of monsters in the area-"
"You're probably right but if you just jinxed us I'm never gonna forgive you."
"...And secondly." Laura continued as if she hadn't heard Fie, "This time we're a lot more prepared for a situation like this."
That much at least was true. Even though neither of them had taken a hit in that last skirmish the former jaeger knew her companion had slotted a couple healing quartz into her orbment while she herself was carrying a couple potions of varying flavor. Naturally she was hopeful they wouldn't need them, but it didn't hurt for them to be well prepared just in case.
"Yeah, yeah. We got this. Still, next time pride be damned I'm bringing Rean with us. We always have a lot more fun when it's a threesome."
"Fie!" They really must've done a number on the monsters in the area as not a single one responded to Laura's loud shriek.
After a brief break the two junior bracers continued further into the tunnel network beneath Heimdallr. The few monsters that had the good sense to not join the initial horde tried to ambush them as they went along, but their attempts at being sneaky were laughably clumsy to the jaeger scout's ears. Since Laura had carried the load during the large battle she made good use of her quick responses and quicker feet to handle most of those minor skirmishes before her companion could even reach the battle.
It was such an odd feeling for the two girls. The last time they had traveled these passages the only thing that had been on their mind at the time had been the invisible and impenetrable barrier between them, so they had been almost completely silent the entire time, leaving conversation to Rean, Elliot, and Machias. Now those three boys weren't there, but the two of them were more than enough to keep the atmosphere pleasant and lively.
It was like they were making up for their missed opportunity the first time.
Eventually their feet carried them down the path until they neared a very familiar dead end, "So here we are..."
Laura chuckled quietly, "I have a feeling our link won't break this time."
"You know it." Not that they even needed the ARCUS link at this point, but that unbreakable connection between the two of them was reassuring, "Ready?"
"Of course." They didn't know what would be waiting for them at the end, but they'd be ready for it all the same.
With determination the two girls charged into the room fully prepared to fully exorcise the past and eliminate whatever dangerous beast was waiting for them.
There was just one problem with that...
"There's... nothing here?"
Fie could read the disbelief in Laura's voice easily considering she was feeling the same. There was no possible way that after everything they've been through there wouldn't be a dramatic boss encounter waiting for them at the end!
Desperately the sharp-eyed jaeger scanned around the room, including the ceilings. M-Maybe there was something waiting to drop down on them as soon as they let their guards down?
Sadly all she could spot were walls, walls, and more walls. The only living things in that room were the two of them.
"I mean I shouldn't complain that our job is done and we can get out of here now, but this feels kinda..."
"Underwhelming? Disappointing? Something of a letdown?"
"Yep. Yep. And yep." She nodded sadly to each of Laura's comments, "We fought so many monsters to get here, but our big dramatic bonding revenge fight never showed up? Talk about lame."
Her girlfriend patted her on the shoulders, "There, there. We don't need any monsters to prove how capable we are." The conciliatory words didn't make her feel much better, so Laura decided to take a different approach, "The next time we're all free we should ask Rean for a duel against his Spirit Unification form. I think besting him would be a much more rewarding challenge, don't you?"
"Yeah, alright..." Fie still didn't feel great about everything, but a chance to beat up their boyfriend sounded pretty good. Something for another day, however. "Speaking of, let's head back and see if he's caught that stupid fish yet."
With assent given the two bracers retraced their steps from almost a year ago as they took the familiar side passage that would take them into Mater Park. Given how thorough their initial sweep had been Fie wasn't at all surprised that nothing tried to attack them during the final leg of their journey, but a small part of her was still a little disappointed that no super beast was blocking their path. After only a few silent minutes the two girls reached the door that would take them back into the light of the sun.
"I swear if we find that guy slacking off after everything we've just suffered through I'm gonna be so annoyed..."
"I seriously doubt that Rean would ever be slacking off."
Fie rolled her eyes at Laura's optimism before opening the door. The brightness of the world blinded her for a moment, but since she'd been expecting it it was a quick adjustment for her eyes to make. Stepping out she was quick to scan the park for Rean. The first place she checked was the waterfront, but he wasn't there. The nearby benches, however, yielded an unexpected result.
There was Rean. And Elliot. Just sitting on a bench together chatting animatedly about something or other without a care in the world.
Deep down Fie knew that Rean must've already completed his mission if he were relaxing like that, but right now she didn't care. She could hear Laura let out a laugh as the cranky girl stomped towards the two boys.
Unsurprisingly Rean noticed them first, and the way his eyes lit up in happiness almost calmed her beleaguered soul, "Welcome back! I'm glad you're both alright!"
"Hey Fie. Hey Laura. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
For now the girl ignored Elliot as she arrived at their location and turned to Rean, "Pet me."
"...H-Huh?"
"I said pet me!" To prove her point the annoyed girl took her seat on his lap before grabbing his hand and placing it atop her head. Rean still seemed confused, but the boy instinctively began patting her head, much to her relief.
"She's just being dramatic." Laura said as she finally approached, "It's wonderful to see you again, Elliot."
"W-Was the underground that bad?"
There was a pause and Fie assumed Laura was shaking her head, but she was too blissed out to check for herself, "Not at all. The mission just ended up being a little... unexpected. I take it everything went well on your end?"
"It did. I have it right here-" Rean tried to reach for the bucket by his feet, but his hand was grabbed before he could, "Fie, you gotta let me go-"
"You caught the fish. We believe you. Good job." She cut him off quickly, "Now keep petting."
"You do know we still have another task to finish, right?"
Elliot cut in before the tired girl could answer Laura's unamused question, "Rean was just telling me about that, actually. I think I can be of help."
"Wait, really?" That statement was almost enough to shake Fie from her happy place.
"Uh huh. If the person who made the request is the person I'm thinking of..."
She thought back to the mission details Sara gave them. They were to find a missing wallet belonging to a student at a political academy in Heimdallr-
Wait.
There was no way, right?
She didn't know how many people went to some fussy political school, but there had to have been at least a few hundred. What were the odds it was the one they knew?
And yet one look at Elliot's amused face gave her all the answers she needed.
Next chapter will be slightly delayed. I already took a brief break from this story earlier in the year so I can't imagine I'll take more than a week away from this one (A Change of Class will be a little longer), but a new day is breaking next week and I'm very much looking forward to it.