Fie had thought she had been getting better at not needing to nap as much.
She had been more attentive in class, less bored in the afternoons, and more active with her training. All things that led to a more energetic daily routine and less boredom overall. Said changes had absolutely nothing to do with the deadly threat known as the Golden Rakshasa finding her again.
...Maybe if she kept telling herself that she might actually come to believe it.
But the point was the same. Fie Claussell no longer needed to take naps during the day. She was an active, friendly, sociable girl with things to do and places to be.
Or at least that had been her assumption until recently.
Come to find out adding two new headaches to her perfectly balanced life was enough to send the irreverent girl back to her old ways. How anyone could deal with Ash's loudness and Musse's Musseness she would never know, but there was no way she had the energy to endure it on a daily basis.
Thus she found herself in search of a place of relaxation. Preferably one that wouldn't end with her as a smear in the training room.
But thankfully some good had come from the last couple weeks. While Class VII had some new – and quite annoying – additions, the school itself had gotten a few new members to the staff. And one of those members in particular gave the sleepy girl just the escape she needed.
"Oh, hello there. Fie, right?"
The school had a nurse now. And the nurse was actually someone she had met before. It was the less obnoxious of the pink-haired twins she met in Crossbell.
Fie blinked. Correction. It was the lesser of the pink-haired twins from Crossbell that were Rean's old schoolmates. That she had to clarify that in the confines of her mind confirmed that there were way too many pink-haired twins in Crossbell and Zemuria as a whole. What a noisy color.
Either way, Linde was the nurse now. Which meant there was a bed in the infirmary with her name on it. The student merely nodded her head, somewhat impressed the young nurse remembered her name despite only having met her as part of Class VII.
"Is there something I can do for you? You don't look injured... Are you ill?" Give credit where it was due but the nurse actually looked worried for her sake.
"Nah." She quickly waved off her concerns before pausing, "...Actually, would you let me nap on the bed if I said no? Cause in that case I'm really sick. Might be terminal."
The pink-haired woman giggled, "I don't think you need to go that far. I personally have no problems with you using the bed so long as there's no actual patient-" Score! "...but there's a teensy tiny little problem with that right now."
Fie blinked. What problem? Even though she didn't voice her question Linde must have read her expression, as the nursed glanced towards the bed with her eyes. But Fie was absolutely positive there had been nobody on the bed when she arrived-
No. That wasn't right at all. She was correct in that there had been no humans on the bed when she arrived...
But the black cat curled up on the bed wasn't human, was she?
She had almost forgotten that Celine had come back to Leeves with them after Crossbell. Supposedly she was there to help Rean get his powers back under control, but the cat usually didn't hang around the school for her or anyone else to really investigate those claims. Instead the talking cat usually kept to herself or stuck around where they couldn't find her – presumably in Rean's room.
And yet there she was snoozing away on the one bed Fie really wanted for herself.
If looks could kill the magical kitty would be on fire right now, but sadly Fie's glare lacked that ability. Instead the perturbed jaeger approached the bed in the hopes that her approach would 'accidentally' wake the cat and cause her to leave. Unfortunately either Celine was too heavy a sleeper or her light footsteps were working against her for a change, because the familiar never once twitched.
Fine. If that was how it was gonna be then Fie wouldn't back down. She cracked her knuckles, fully prepared to shoo the furball away and claim the bed for her own.
But she stopped before she could. Instead she bit her lip as she looked down at Celine snoozing away peacefully. Curse her innate weakness to cats!
Maybe she could just scoot onto the bed where Celine wasn't? Of course the annoying habit of all cats to sleep in the worst spots possible once again reared its ugly head as the black cat was dead smack in the middle of the bed. M-Maybe she could slide the blanket over a little without waking her?
"Why are you standing there blocking the sun?"
Oh good. By standing there awkwardly while considering her actions a solution had presented itself to her, "Oops. My bad. Didn't mean to wake you. Guess you'll need to move now."
Celine raised her head and stared at Fie. While cats weren't the most emotive of animals she could tell the familiar was glaring at her, "...No. I'm not moving."
"Aww, come on! You're a busy cat, right? Don't you have better things to be doing then sleeping around here all day?"
"You just want this bed for yourself, don't you? Well too bad. I was here first."
She glared down at the stubborn animal, "This is an infirmary. That bed is for sick people."
"I heard you earlier. You aren't sick."
So Celine had been awake the entire time!? "I wasn't sick two minutes ago, but I feel something bad coming on now..." To prove her point Fie let out some nasty coughs that just so happened to be pointed Celine's way.
"Ew! Gross! Why are humans so disgusting!"
"Well how come you aren't cute and fun like most cats!"
"I'm not a cat!"
"Obviously! You just suck!"
"Hmph!" Celine rose from her position and for the briefest of moments Fie thought she was going to give in...
...That hopeful thought lasted as long as the feline needed to stretch her body across the bed before lying back down. "I'm not leaving."
"Grr..." The silver-haired girl's glare intensified as the cat now took up the entirety of the bed, "Either you move or I'll move you."
"I dare you to try it."
If Celine thought she was making an idle threat then the magic cat was about to be disappointed. It only took one swift movement for the fuming girl to lay both hands on the stubborn animal before giving her a good yank.
"Nyaa...!" And yet Celine refused to budge. Despite claiming to not be a cat she sure possessed the very cat-like ability to latch herself onto a piece of furniture and refuse to budge, "I'm... Not... Leaving...!"
"Yes...You...Are...!" But Fie was a jaeger, trained from a young age to fight. Despite her small frame she possessed a great deal of strength. All of which she now brought forth to the singular cause of getting Celine off this stupid bed!
Emma's cat growled, but stubbornly continued to resist against Fie's superior size and strength. Her hind claws gave way against her might, leaving just the front ones connected to the bed. And yet even as she gave another tug it was the mattress that shifted and not the cat. In fact it almost looked like... "Are you using magic!?"
"I am, dammit! And if you don't want me to place a hex on you you'll let go right now!"
So, Celine wanted to escalate the situation, did she? Fine by Fie! The angered girl narrowed her eyes before preparing her muscles for the greatest tug of all time-
"Seriously, you guys?"
She stopped as the voice of a newcomer broke her from those thoughts. Although she still refused to let go of the black cat she wasn't actively trying to move her either. Instead she could only turn and blink owlishly at the newcomer.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Celine doing the same.
"Oh. Hey, Rean. This... isn't what it looks like?"
"Really? Because to me it looks like the two of you are having a disagreement, which was why I was called here to begin with." The teacher paused before turning to the nurse who had snitched, "Thanks for that, by the way."
"You're welcome." Linde gave the student and cat an apologetic look, "Normally I'd let the two of you continue with that – Aidios knows I fight with Vivi all the time – but I was afraid you might end up damaging something in the room."
"Hmph! In that case I demand justice be served! I was sleeping peacefully here when this... this... this brute came in an violently attacked me!"
Fie glared at the cat for trying to make her out to be the bad guy. With Rean's gaze now settled on her she shrugged, "Celine wasn't sharing. That bed is big enough for the two of us, but she just had to be stubborn about it."
"I was there first!"
"All beds belong to me. It's one of the main rules of this school."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
"Ugh..." The teacher massaged his head, "I'm getting a headache just listening to you two." Lucky for him he was in the best place for that as Linde quickly passed him a painkiller which he took without hesitation, "Thanks, Linde. Anyways... It's clear to me that neither of you are willing to act the part of civilized people right now-"
"I'm a cat, not a person." Wasn't that the opposite of what she said earlier!?
"You know my background, right? No civilization there."
Fie shared a glance with Celine. If nothing else it was funny working together like that to blunt his speech.
"Alright, that's it. Both of you are banned from sleeping in this room unless you are actually feeling ill."
"What!?"
"You can't do that!"
The jerk of a teacher simply rolled his eyes, "I can and I just did. If the two of you are gonna fight about the bed then neither of you deserve it."
"Fine!" Celine shot a nasty glare her way before jumping off the bed and out the door without a second glance.
Fie made to do the same, but as the ill-tempered girl brushed past her teacher she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. As much as she didn't want to listen to what he had to say it wasn't like she had much of a choice, "Look. Celine will probably be gone in a few days. Just accept this for now and I don't care what you do afterwords, alright?"
Fie gave a shrug and a nod before exiting the room. That was certainly better than nothing, but she was still angry!
Celine would pay for her crimes!
"Arf! Arf!"
Cerberus wagged his tail happily as his second favorite favorite human behind only Master entered the store. Even though master said he was a fierce and professional guard dog – which he was! - he didn't need unnecessary rewards and yet the female known as Fie never seemed to listen to master, always doing her best to sneak him a pat or a treat whenever Master wasn't looking.
It was so nice, in fact, that Cerberus couldn't help but keep an eye on Master. The two humans were currently engaged in a discussion about something. His understanding of human words had come a long way, but he still struggled a bit with the words being sent back and forth rapidly. But right now none of that mattered. What mattered most was that Master had turned her gaze away as she searched for something in the back.
Cerberus perked his ears up. Maybe if female Fie saw she'd-
Oh, yes! There it was! How could Master say he didn't need to be rewarded with ear scratches when they felt so good!?
So good in fact that the puppy couldn't stop his back leg from thumping on the ground. Tragic, because the noise caused Master to turn around and for the other human to retract her hand.
Curse you, leg!
After that painfully brief moment of pure bliss the puppy wanted nothing more than to let out a whine to see if he couldn't garner more attention, but Master would definitely not approve. Instead he was forced to do his best to follow the fast-paced conversation between the two humans. Hearing his name mentioned a few times made the small dog understand he was somehow involved, even if he had to wait until Master explained it to him.
Happily, once they finished she did, "Alright, Cerberus. You're going on another hunting mission. Fie will provide you with more instructions, but remember that you are an employee of Neinvalli first and foremost, alright? Don't do anything I wouldn't!"
A hunting mission? Cerberus remembered the last one he went on. It was a lot of fun! Would he get to take a nice walk around the area again!?
The dog barked his approval. Master's warning was unnecessary. He would never do anything to upset his Master!
...Unless doing so would earn him more ear scratches. Hopefully he would never find himself torn between his loyalty to Master and his growing love of pats. It would be the hardest decision of his short life.
The excited puppy followed the human Fie out of the shop, tail wagging the entire way. New mission! So fun! He couldn't contain himself any longer as he let out a bark once the duo reached the end of the alleyway.
That seemed to be enough to cause the human to stop and turn towards him, "Alright. I need you to chase around a cat and-" Fie blinked before scrunching her face up, "...Do you even know what a cat is?"
Cerberus tilted his head. A cat? Maybe master mentioned the word before, but if she did she never explained it to him.
He answered with a whine.
"Just great. How come this crummy town doesn't have a bunch of cats running around...?" The human shook her head, "Well, anyways. Uh, how do I explain? Imagine something small and black, with a blue ribbon and tufts of purple fur-"
Cerberus whined again.
"Bah. Dogs are colorblind, aren't they? Maybe I should've stolen her collar or something...?" Human Fie shook her head, "Well, whatever. Let's just walk around and I'm sure we'll come across her eventually. Imagine a creature as small as you, but with an attitude problem. Less cute, too."
He still wasn't sure he got it, but he barked happily regardless. If nothing else he was getting to run around in the area again! How fun!
Dog and human walked across Leeves together. They didn't encounter any uncute small animals with attitude problems, but there were lots of people walking around! Some of them wanted to talk to Fie, which made sense since they seemed to be wearing similar clothes as them. A few of them even had nice things to say about Cerberus. Of course being a skilled and professional guard dog meant he accepted the compliments with grace and dignity befitting his station.
...Wagging his tail and barking happily were things a guard dog did, right...?
"Alright... I guess she's not around here." The dog was able to understand the human he was following appeared agitated, "Maybe she's at the dorms? I think she likes sleeping on Rean's bed during the day?"
Cerberus followed her to the big building at the end of town that lots of people like her entered each night and exited each morning. He'd never been in there before, so this was very exciting to the little puppy. He couldn't help but let out a disappointed whine that there was nobody around when they entered.
"Most of the others are still at the school or in town." The human explained as she glanced at him, "I'm sure a few are in their rooms right now. Hopefully Rean ain't one of them."
After that he followed Fie towards a flight of stairs. Cerberus was a brave dog so he easily overcame his fear of giant steps and climbed up behind her, even if it was a difficult task for the small pup.
He couldn't resist letting out a growl when a second flight of stairs was revealed to him once they reached what he had assumed was the top. While he certainly didn't need the help as he was a skilled dog he was too kind to refuse Fie's generous offer of assistance as the female picked him up before ascending the second flight in a fraction of the time.
"The door's slightly open... Celine must be in there." She whispered once they reached the top, "I don't hear anything inside, do you?"
Cerberus' ears perked up. Did he hear anything inside the room she was pointing to? Hmm... After careful consideration he did not. Given how stealthy the human was trying to be he whined quietly as his answer.
"Good boy." And he earned himself some pats for his discretion! "I bet she's sleeping in there. Let's sneak in there and if you see a small creature sleeping on his bed I want you to put on your meanest face and start barking at her, alright?"
Cerberus could do that! Master had been helping him perfect his mean face! She always said it was imperative for him to be as intimidating as possible! And he was good at barking! With a wagging tail he prepared to show off his skills-
"Not yet! Wait until we're inside!" She hissed.
Oops. He got a little too excited there. Cerberus calmed himself down. Master would be upset if she found out he blew a mission because of his enthusiasm.
The dog quickly calmed himself down which was enough for Fie. With a nod the human silently approached the door. She peaked her ear to the open crack before pausing. After a few seconds she nodded to him before throwing the door open.
Let the mission begin!
With enthusiasm back on his furry face the canine charged into the room. He was looking for a small creature sleeping on the bed... He saw it! Well, it wasn't sleeping, but there was a small creature sitting on the bed. That was what he was looking for, right?
The dog ignored the other human inside the room as he approached his target. The cat let out a hiss as he hopped onto the bed, but neither that nor the paw with outstretched claws she held in front threateningly would deter Cerberus from accomplishing his mission!
"Arf! Arf! Arf? Arf!"
Cerberus paused. Fie hadn't told him what to do after that. Should he keep barking? Should he wait for more instructions?
"...Fie?" The other human in the room asked with a voice that sounded both confused and tired.
"Ahah... H-Hey, Instructor Rean." Was it just Cerberus, or was his partner further away from the door than she had been when they started?
It almost seemed like she had been trying to run away, but his partner wasn't so disloyal... right?
"So why are the two of you barging into my room like this?"
"W-Well... About that... umm...?" Cerberus could never understand why some humans began to stutter with their words when they were nervous about something. It made them awfully difficult to understand! "I-I didn't think you were in here, actually."
"I notice you didn't answer my question, but if you must know Celine's been helping me get my powers under control. I was being quiet because I needed my concentration. If I hadn't heard you coming it could have been dangerous!"
Cerberus wasn't actually sure what he should be doing at this point. It seemed that some part of the plan had gone awry? Maybe he needed to bark more? "Arf? Arf? Arf! Arf!"
"Yes I get it, you're a mangy mutt."
"Arf?!" Wait... The small creature could speak with human words!?
"Of course I can speak like a human. I'm not an animal, you know."
Wowee! Not only could the grumpy little creature talk, but it could also understand him! How cool was that!
"Wait, you can understand him!?"
"Huh. Gotta admit, that's news to me too."
"Hmph! Understanding lesser creatures is child splay for a familiar like myself!"
This is so awesome! Maybe he could convince this animal to come work at Neinvalli with him! Sure he was already the bestest guard dog ever, but having someone who could interpret for him would make things so much easier! He barked out his message, but the cat creature just seemed to roll her eyes. Aww...
"Well this makes things easy." Human Rean muttered, "If you're not going to tell me what you're doing I'll simply ask him. Cerberus, what mission did Fie give you?"
"W-Wait! Don't say a word!"
Cerberus tilted his head. Master had placed him under Fie's employ, so he should probably listen to her, right? But the human Rean was also a regular at the shop and a high authority figure Master had deemed worthy of maintaining good relations with, so maybe he should heed him instead?
He was so confused!
"Look, as stupid as I'm sure this all is, I must admit I'm curious what useless ideas that annoying human put into your mind." The cat spoke, "So if you tell me what we want to know I'll help you out for a bit before I return to Emma."
Yay! New best friend acquired!
"So Cerberus ratted you out?"
Fie nodded after concluding her story, "Yep. Rean made me apologize to the cat. Most humiliating thing ever."
Juna could only shake her head in disappointment, "You know, when you said you had a wild story to share I wasn't expecting something so..." The pink-haired girl waved her hand around as she struggled for the right word, "...lame."
"Hey!"
"It's true." Allie was quick to back her up, "For someone who was supposedly a skilled jaeger your plans don't ever appear to be particularly well thought out."
Surprisingly Fie didn't seem nearly as offended by Altina's criticism. Unfair if you asked Juna, "Eh, it's whatever. Spontaneous plans are the best plans, and even if they don't end up working out they're still usually pretty funny. But seriously! It's a cat and a dog! Aren't they supposed to be arch enemies or something?"
"Are they?" The Crossbellian tilted her head thoughtfully, "I mean I've heard the saying and all, but I'm not sure I believe it. The SSS had Coppe and Zeit and they worked well together..."
"I was led to believe that Zeit was not a dog at all, but one of the Holy Beasts of legend. Wouldn't that example be a poor one to us?"
Huh. So Allie knew about Zeit? Juna suppose it made sense given her work with the Imperial Intelligence Division, "Shush. It's not important." The glare she earned for that statement would've been dangerous had the owner been anyone but Altina. Instead the Crossbellian simply reached over and patted her on the head, "The point is that you should've known better."
"At least you were able to acquire good intelligence from your failed mission." Altina intoned dryly, "We already knew that Celine had been assisting Instructor Rean with his training but I hadn't realized they were so far along with it. I'd rather he didn't need to use it at all, but..."
"We just need to get strong enough to handle whatever crazy stuff is headed our way during our next missions without him going full power mode."
Juna nodded to Fie's encouragement, "Right! I'm sick and tired of letting him and the original Class VII walk all over us! I'll show them all what the new Class VII can do!"
"You make it sound so easy..." Despite her caution Altina mustered a small smile, "Still, it would behoove me to improve my performance in the future. There's a high likelihood that we'll be encountering Millium in the near future and as the superior model I refuse to let her outperform me any longer."
With that little pep talk out of the way Juna returned to the original discussion, "So I take it by the fact you're telling us all this that you've given up on your stupid revenge plot?"
"I wouldn't say I've given up on it necessarily," Fie slowly protested, "but I did turn to some outside help to get it done."
The pink-haired girl glanced over at her other classmate, seeing a similarly clueless look on Altina's face that was probably on her own, "...Outside help?"
"Yep." The former child soldier gave a mischievous smirk, "Someone who is far craftier and more annoying than me. Someone who is so dangerous that neither Rean nor Celine would be able to stand against them. Someone so-"
"You turned to Musse for help?"
Fie pouted briefly at Altina cutting her off, "Got it. Didn't even need to explain anything to her. Just told her that she should spend some time with Celine before that stupid cat has to leave. Heh. Speak of the devil..."
That last part confused Juna, but she got her answer a second later when the door to their dorm room opened and in entered the girl in question. And it wasn't just Musse either, as in her hands was the feline that dominated the current discussion, "Hello, you three. Thank you for the suggestion, Fie. Celine and I have been having a wonderful time together!"
"Please... help!" The pitiful creature pleaded miserably in her arms.
Juna thought she would be granted her escape when Musse set her on the floor, but before Celine could even begin to move the genius reached a hand out and gave the cat a scratch. Just a single scratch.
And yet that single scratch caused the feline to collapse into a twitching mess on the ground.
"What... the hell!?"
Her stupefied expression caused Musse to giggle, "It's simple. You just need to find the right spot. Once you do that it's a trivial thing to keep Celine happy." To prove her point she reached out and gave the same spot another scratch. Juna thought it was completely unnecessary as Celine still seemed to be quite dead in her eyes, but the repeated action practically turned her into a formless puddle of fur and miserable bliss on the ground.
"Yep. This was about what I expected." Fie practically radiated satisfaction as they all stared down at the lifeless cat with varying degrees of shock, "The sweet taste of revenge."
Juna couldn't help but shudder. Fie could be a pretty vindictive girl when she wanted to be, but a Fie working in cahoots with Musse?
That was an impossible diabolical combination.