A promotion. Something all F.A.T.E operators dream of. The ability to rise up the ranks, proving to the world you're not only competent as an operator, but you've exceeded your original expectations.

"So why is it that on this momentous occasion, do I have to be stuck in a stuffy suit..." Oliver said, pulling on his collar.

Sighing audibly, Oliver began fixing his hair in the backstage dressing room's mirror. Operators, Investigators especially, have to look their best during promotions, since media outlets from all over Eile will be present to record the celebration ceremony, and ask those who've been promoted various questions.

"At least that's what Mr. Sieg said... Even still, I look stupid... What's with the slick back hair?!" Oliver thought, quickly fixing it back into a side part that covers his right eye.

Sitting in his chair, Oliver began feeling antsy. Not only was he getting a promotion today, he also hasn't seen anybody all day! Apparently it was because the researchers figured out that if promoted operators walk around flaunting their promotions, company morale would drop 35%.

"Geez, what about my morale then?" Oliver said to himself, sighing.

As he began rocking back and forth in his chair to starve his boredom, Oliver began thinking back to everything that had happened. It's only been 6 months since he joined F.A.T.E as an operator, but his life has changed drastically. Before this, he was basically a background extra that didn't even deserve to be a side character.

"But now... It feels like the whole world is opening up for me! And it's all thanks to you!" Oliver said, pulling out his driver.

He began treating his driver like a baby; tickling it, tossing it up in the air, even kissing it. Unfortunately for him, his antics were discovered by the worst person it could have been revealed to. Olivia.

Cringing to the maximum degree Olivia began looking down on Oliver, like he was something she found stuck on the bottom of her shoes.

"... Please don't tell anyone" Oliver said, making a pathetic expression on his face.

Olivia paused for a moment, before quickly taking a picture on her phone. Oliver immediately tried snatching the phone away, but Olivia was too quick for him.

"I'm sending this to everyone! You're going to be an outcast forever!" Olivia said, laughing maniacally.

He couldn't believe how cruel Olivia was being. His own sister. His flesh and blood. How could she have done this to him?

"Please, I'll give you all my money!!! Don't send that to anyone!!!" Oliver begged, holding onto her leg as he sobbed.

Olivia stuck her tongue out before going on social media to post about her findings. When Oliver thought it couldn't get any worse, Katherine walked by. He gulped, hoping she would just walk away, but like a vulture finding her prey, Katherine's eyes locked onto Olivia's phone.

"What's that?" Katherine asked, making sure to look at Oliver as she said that.

Oliver tried to stop Olivia from telling Katherine about what he did with his driver, however she responded by putting her shoe in his mouth.

"Leathery" Oliver blurted.

Turning to Katherine, Olivia began showing her the picture she took. The two looked at each other with a malicious grin on their faces, as if to tell Oliver "you're fucked". At this point Oliver began to deflate like a balloon, accepting his fate.

"Hold up, I have more followers. Lemme just..." Katherine took away Olivia's phone seemingly to send the picture to herself.

Olivia began to look down on Oliver once more, laughing maliciously. It was then she heard the sound of a camera flashing. Slowly turning her head to Katherine, she was met with a very sinister smile as Katherine pointed her phone at the scene.

"You know betrayal always hurts... Because it's never from an enemy" Olivia said with a stone cold expression.

Deleting Oliver's picture from Olivia's phone, Katherine tossed it back to Olivia.

"Don't get it twisted. I'm not betraying anyone. I was never on your side in the first place. I'm an agent of chaos" Katherine said walking away.

Closing her eyes with a smirk, Katherine believed she had come out victorious in that battle. However, in life all things must be in balance.

"Ouch!" Katherine said, bumping into a wall.

The three then stood in awkward silence. In that moment, they all realised one fact of life. That in war, there are no winners.

"What is wrong with all of you..." Sieg said, dumbfounded by the situation he has stumbled across.

After a quick scolding from Sieg, the three sat in the dressing room on their knees with their hands on their load, and their heads lowered.

"Honestly all of you... I get you guys are kids.... But I expect 17 year olds to... I don't know... Act a BIT more mature!" Sieg said, messaging his temples.

"Says the guy who looks like a kid..." Olivia said under her breath as she looked away.

Sieg paused for a moment before standing up from his seat. He was silent the whole time as he began walking towards the door.

"So that's how it is... Honestly..." he gripped the door handle tightly.

"You're so mean!!!" Sieg said, running out crying.

The three were frozen in shock. After a few moments to really process what happened, Katherine stood up and chased after Sieg. Before she left the room though, Katherine made sure to glare at Olivia. This frightened her a bit, which she complained to Oliver about.

"What's her deal..." Olivia said, pouting a bit.

Oliver gave her a "you kidding me right?" Look before standing up.

"You just insulted her dad and made him cry... What did you expect?" Oliver explained, dusting off his suit.

Olivia mumbled a bit before curling up into a ball.

"Yeah it must be great having a dad right..." Olivia said, burying her head deep into her knees.

Clicking his tongue, Oliver sat beside Olivia.

"Don't be like that... It's nobody's fault we don't have parents. You shouldn't blame her for something out of her control..." Oliver said, patting her head.

What he did, reminded her of all the times she had comforted him before this. She didn't know why, but it made her feel worthless.

"When did you become so reliable...?" Olivia said, biting her inner cheek.

Oliver couldn't quite catch what she said, asking her to speak up. Instead of repeating what she said, Olivia stood up and began swiftly walking out of the room.

"Forget it... The ceremony is in half an hour. That's what I came here to tell you..." Olivia said before leaving.

He tried stopping her, but barely missed her. Sighing, he leaned his back against the wall and held his face.

"Damnit..."

Chasing after her father, Katherine ended up bumping into someone she didn't expect. No, more like she didn't want to meet.

"What're you doing here..." Katherine said, looking up to ren.

"I saw General Sieg running from here crying like a kid who had his candy stolen, so I wanted to check what was up. Didn't expect to find you here." Ren said, in a gentle manner.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

His efforts were in vain though as Katherine couldn't be colder. If one were to bring a thermometer, it would read in the negatives. This saddened Ren greatly.

"Hey... Please... Let's just talk please?" Ren asked, almost pleading.

Katherine contemplated for a second before walking away, purposely bumping into him in the process.

"We don't have anything to talk about. This is MY day... I don't want to ruin it by talking to you.." Katherine retorted.

Ren was heartbroken hearing such a thing coming from his own sister. He grabbed Katherine's arm with a determined look in his eyes.

"Please! I don't know why you're so mad at me! If I did something wrong please tell me so I can apolo-" but before he could finish his sentence, Katherine shot a nasty glare at him.

"You didn't do anything, got it?! I'm just a bitch so let go of me. Now!" Katherine said, pain in her voice.

Ren let go, letting her walk away. Punching the wall, he wondered what exactly he did to make her like this.

"Does she hate me... Cause I failed her back then? That's right... Of course she'd be mad at me... I'm... A horrible brother"

Ren began clenching his fists so hard, that his nails began digging into his palm. It wasn't long before he accidentally cut himself. He stared at his bloody palm for a while, before ignoring it. Unfortunately for him, someone couldn't let him ignore it.

"Geez captain, you'll get it infected..." Olivia said, walking up to him.

Grabbing his hand, she began wiping the area with disinfectant wipes before applying a bandage.

"There you go, all better," Olivia said, proudly.

Ren looked back at his palm, which was now clean and covered up. It was a strange feeling to be taken care of.

"Do you always carry around bandages, investigator?" Ren asked, chuckled.

Olivia's face turned red from embarrassment as she began to frantically explain why she had bandages.

"Well back as kids Oliver used to always scrape his knees so I always brought along bandages for him. I guess it's become a habit! But... It seems he doesn't need it anymore..." Olivia said, looking down as she fidgets with the empty packaging.

Ren could see pain in her eyes. Pain of being unneeded by someone you used to protect. He knew exactly what she was feeling; and maybe it was just for his self gratification after feeling so useless, but he couldn't just let her be.

"Investigator... If you want to talk about anything. Please feel free to contact me on my personal number. Here I'll write it down for you..." Ren said, taking the empty packaging from her hand.

He began writing down his number before getting a message on his phone. He bowed slightly, thanking her for the bandage before handing the empty bandage package.

"Sorry there are things I need to see to. Please feel free to contact me any time" Ren said, before leaving; practically vanishing into the wind.

Everything happened so fast for Olivia that it took her a few seconds to realise what had happened. However the moment her mind processed the information, she grinned from ear to ear.

"Hehe... Captain Ren's personal number" Olivia thought, practically chanting it in her head.

Oliver witnessed this from afar, wondering if his sister had finally gone insane. As he was about to get revenge for the picture incident, he was interrupted by a message from Sieg.

"The ceremony is about to start, WHERE ARE YOUლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)!? Also after the party I need to tell you something ･ﾟ･(｡>ω<｡)･ﾟ･"

Oliver grimaced a bit before quickly grabbing Olivia and running out to the ceremony hall. Olivia was still hung up on the fact that she got Ren's number, so much so that she didn't even realise Oliver was practically dragging her over. She honestly believed that she was on a rollercoaster with Ren, having an amazing date together.

“Oh Captain my captain…”

Once they arrived at the hall, Oliver flicked his sister on the forehead with just enough force for it to hurt, but not leave a mark.

"Ouchie. My forehead" Olivia retorted, rubbing her forehead.

"That's what you get for being an idiot... I swear you lose all your brain cells when you're around captain Ren..." Oliver said, giving her disapproving glare.

Bringing the topic of Ren back up made her start daydreaming again.

"Idiot!" Flick.

Gathering up backstage; the two reunited with Sieg and Katherine, as well as a few high ranking Operators.

Seeing such greats from the past and current of F.A.T.E brought upon a childish excitement in Oliver's heart. It was now Oliver's time to start acting like an idiot.

"I wanna touch them" Oliver said absent mindedly while making an obscene face.

The other three looked at Oliver with disgust, wondering if they should all punish him.

"No too many witnesses..." Sieg said, holding his chin.

Olivia proposed another idea, one that would let her repay Oliver back ten fold for the flicks he gave her. She was met with an even more disgusted look from the two.

"You punch him in the gut just cause he flicked you?" Katherine commented.

"Well when you say it like that..." Olivia's face turned red from embarrassment.

Katherine and Sieg turned to each other before looking back at the two.

"You two really are twins...."

While the three were busy arguing about morals and how to properly execute revenge, Oliver began walking around, talking to the operators. At least he tried to talk to them. Most of them completely ignored him, or were straight up just rude.

"Right... I almost forgot... Everyone thinks I'm a failure of an investigator. I guess I got too caught up in playing hero..." Oliver thought to himself.

A tiny part of him died that day. Walking back to the group with his head low, Oliver asked when the ceremony would start.

"Huh? I think in a few minutes... Why do you look like a puppy who lost its ball..." Sieg asked, a bit worried.

"... I realised why they say no to meet your heroes..." Oliver retorted.

Sieg immediately started to regret being witty, as he knew how high ranking Operators treated the younger and less experienced ones.

"Hey I'm sorry about them... They're old geezers with chips on their shoulders. They've lost too many people for them to actually care about how others feel. I'm not justifying their actions, but that's just how it is..." Sieg explained as he patted Oliver's back.

He understood the reasoning, however it still hurt him. Olivia noticed the pain in Oliver's eyes, and weirdly enough, she felt a bit satisfied. Not because he was hurt, but because he looked like he needed someone to step up for him. It was a cruel feeling, but it made Olivia smile a bit. Olivia tried to walk up to the operators to try and knock sense into them, however Oliver did something unexpected. At least for her.

"Well whatever! I'm just going to show them I'm better!" Oliver said enthusiastically as he began stretching.

Olivia paused, dumbfounded. He just let it go? Why? Oliver never did that before. He would just bottle it up, so Olivia always had to deal with those bullies. However he was just letting it go now?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? 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Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

"Olivia?"