Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The light of Origin blazed around Ouroboros. The 6 soldiers and the heroes that journeyed with them, swamped in the ultimate desire of the people’s fear and doubt. The thing that had been Z burned and flared with hatred, unable to perform its function and so preparing to banish all of Aionios and the two worlds that composed it into oblivion. Yet even in this most desperate hour, hope emerged from a near-forgotten source. The final traces of N and M, re-emerging from Noah and Mio, could push back the intense desire for Aionios. Yet it would mean their annihilation.

“You can just stay here!” shouted Noah at his own self “Please, stay! Walk this world with us. We can walk it together!” he couldn’t bear to see N end it all here. Not after he’d only just returned from the void he’d trapped himself in for millenia.

“Noah’s right” shouted Mio “you’ve done enough. You don’t have to do this. You could finally be here together!” To see M leave forever, to see her own self venture towards her own end was a terrible thing to feel.

“Such kindness” said N, an unfamiliar sense of peace permeating his voice “Your eyes, they brim with it. I ask myself, were our eyes the same that day?”

Noah and Mio felt N and M’s memories flash through their minds, memories of battling alongside the Ouroboros of old, the memories of their son, and all the lives they’d ever lived.

“N!” Noah called out again, his mind too frantic to think of anything else

“Noah” spoke N again “Mio”

“Though we came from different worlds” he continued “we were able to leave a life behind”

“It was a hope for the future” spoke up M, her smile a perfect mirror of Mio “our hearts and our dreams intertwined. And we were given he chance to weave new life. And therefore, it’s all good.”

“Believe in yourselves, all of you” said N, his voice the precise echo of Noah “you’ll certainly reach the heights, that we were unable to.”

N and M shared one final embrace.

“You guys can surely make it” finished N, looking over one more time.

“You can take our place” spoke M “In the future.”

With that, the reunited pair began to spiral off towards the end of Aionios.

Yet they would never reach it.

Perhaps it was instinct, a driving instinct to ensure one’s own survival, an instinct so powerful it remained unaffected by the desire to keep everything as it was.

Whatever the reason, in that moment, Noah and Mio followed their other selves.

The telltale sound of an Interlink shot through the fires of Origin as Noah and Mio shot towards the heart of the building explosion triggered by Z, determined to ensure that no one else would have to die.

Drawing the Origin Blade from their core, the great purple sword swept through the air and made contact at the exact moment of oblivion.

And reality detonated.

(A, what’s going on?)

(System Error)

(Yeah, I think we all figured that out. Specifics?)

(The desire to continue directly contradicting the desire to end. Two outcomes registered in Origin at the same precise moment)

(A contradiction? Wouldn’t that result in…)

(I am working on it)

(What happened out there?)

(...I will inform you once this is done)

()

(A?)

(A!)

(This is hardly ideal)

(Alvis, this is no time for mystery!)

(I am Alvis no longer)

(Right, sorry)

(Origin requires a total restart)

(We have to do the whole thing over? I’m not living through another Aionios again)

(Rest assured, Moebius will no longer affect the process. The process will take but a moment)

(A, this doesn’t feel right)

(A?!)

[Error]

(A, what’s?-)[Error]

(Titan’s foot, what’s?-)[Error]

[Interlink unstable]

[No input recieved]

[Reset both worlds to acquire new input?]

[Request accepted]

[Anomalies detected]

[Anomalies absorbed]

Noah slowly blinked his way awake. For a few moments, his mind was utterly clear of thoughts.

Then it all came crashing back in. The showdown with Z, battling alongside their companions, and his and Mio’s final attempt to save N and M.

Now that he was no longer in the middle of an active battlefield, his mind was free to re-examine the impulsive decision he and Mio had made. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that he and Mio had made a terrible mistake.

On the bright side, Noah still seemed to exist, so it would seem Z had failed. Still, Noah resolved to apologize for his rash actions.

It was then that Noah realized he had no idea where he was.

His soldierly instincts kicking in, Noah immediately checked his Iris.

His Iris was gone.

Forcing down the bubble of panic that came with that realization, Noah scanned his environment. It turned out there wasn’t much to look at. He appeared to be inside a small cave. On one wall was a crystal formation which seemed to be the only source of light. Directly across from these crystals was a small pool which seemed to lead to the only exit from the cave. Noah could just barely make out the night sky through the cave’s entrance.

He was also not alone.

Sitting against the cave wall was a man in a wide-brimmed hat who appeared to be asleep. After deciding the man didn’t seem like a threat, Noah decided to wait for him to wake up and potentially get some information on where he was. Navigation without an Iris seemed dangerous at best, especially since Noah’s other friends seemed to have vanished to who knows where.

Was he the only survivor?

Noah pushed the dark thought as far back in his mind as he could. The others were all as capable as him. If he’d survived, so had they, simple as that.

Another thought occurred to Noah. If his Iris was gone, did that mean…?

Noah attempted to summon Truthsinger and Lucky Seven. Nothing happened. Noah also realized he wasn’t even wearing his Swordfighter’s jacket, just the underclothes he’d gotten at the City. They were also rather damp. Had all of his other possessions vanished?

No, he still had Mio’s flute. Noah let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Even if they’d been split apart, they would always find each other again. He could also see that his Term Marker no longer appeared on his hand. Hopefully that meant they could still keep living even after finding each other.

“Finally woke up, huh?”

Noah jumped at the voice. Looking up, he saw that the sleeping man slept no longer.

“Hello” said Noah “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Whatever” said the man “I wasn’t tryin’ to fall asleep anyways. Guess dragging someone away from a buncha monsters’ll tire you out.”

“Oh…Thank you” said Noah, guessing the man was talking about him.

“Had to swim offa that island and all” grumbled Noah’s apparent savior “Now that you’re awake, we’d better skedaddle, there’s some nasty fish in this lake once the sun comes up.”

“Alright” said Noah “I’m Noah by the way.”

“Earnest” responded his new companion “Let’s move.”

Earnest’s tone of voice suggested he likely wouldn’t be interested in giving Noah any information, so Noah hoped they were heading somewhere with more people. For now though, he swam out after Earnest.

Swiftly emerging from the cave, the two swam through a large lake filled with bizarre rock formations that seemed oddly familiar to Noah, even though he was certain he’d never seen them in his life. Then again, perhaps N had. Noah realized he now had a considerable amount of memories to search through when he got the chance. For now though, he continued on after Earnest.

Eventually, Noah and Earnest reached the other end of the lake and climbed out upon the shore. It was then that Noah realized something odd. He hadn’t really noticed it before, but he could feel ether…everywhere, as if it were part of the very air itself. Normally, he only really felt it during battles or around Agnian Auto-Levs, but here it seemed to practically be coating everything, even the vines he was now climbing up behind Earnest. It wasn’t a particularly bad feeling, just…noticeable. In fact, it felt surprisingly natural. He recalled the people of the City and the Queens talking about how the world “was supposed to be” and wondered if this was part of that. Perhaps another sign of victory against Moebius? Still, something within him told him to remain alert as him and Earnest ended their climb and began to walk towards wherever Earnest’s destination was.

“Get down” hissed Earnest suddenly, and Noah was on the ground before his brain fully processed the words. Looking around, Noah spotted what likely prompted Earnest’s call for stealth.

Floating in the air was what looked like a very tiny Levnis. The color scheme reminded Noah of Keves’ Levnises, but there was no way anyone would fit inside of that, not even a Nopon. Had it not been for the glowing red light at its center, Noah might not have even seen it due to how dark it was. Soon however, the strange machine whirred away into the night.

“What was that?” asked Noah, keeping his voice down.

“You been livin’ under a rock or somethin’?” shot back Earnest “That was a mechon. Those bastards are the reason we’re all living down here instead of a proper Colony.”

“It didn’t look that dangerous” said Noah, hoping his overconfident statement might draw some more information out of Earnest. He’d also have to ask what Earnest meant by Colony.

“That was one of their scouts” growled Earnest “Trust me, there are ones four times your height, and even if you had a weapon, it wouldn’t work on’em.”

“Really?” asked Noah.  He'd been planning on getting rid of Lucky Seven after defeating Z, and it felt rather ominous that he would find a use for it soon afterwards, though it hardly mattered now that the Sword seemed to have disappeared

“Yeah really” said Earnest “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from’em. The only thing that can stop those is in Colony 9, and the last group of people that went down there never came back.”

“Colony 9?” asked Noah, hoping he didn't sound too surprised at the sudden information drop.

“What, you don’t know what a Colony is either?” groaned Earnest.

“I know what a Colony is” said Noah “I haven’t lost my memory.”

“Coulda fooled me” muttered Earnest. Deciding that further questioning would make things worse, Noah followed Earnest in silence. It sounded as though there were other people around here somewhere, so hopefully he would find someone a bit more willing to give out information. Besides, something in the back of his mind told him that the presence of the mechon meant something terrible had happened, though he couldn’t explain why.

Eunie was also hoping she was being led to more people, though confidence in her guide was vanishing by the second.

Eunie had woken up in what she had initially assumed to be Maktha Wildwood. After having the same realizations that Noah had had about her Iris and Blade, she had picked a random direction and started walking, attempting to stay out of the way of the more angry-looking monsters.

She appeared to have ended up near what appeared to be a giant hole in the ground that Eunie would have assumed was from an annihilation event, except it wasn't spherical enough. Roaming the area were multiple unfamiliar-looking monsters. There were several small humanoids that vaguely reminded her of Tirkin, in that they were small, lived in the forest, and wielded weapons. They didn’t look particularly strong, and Eunie was fairly certain she could kick one aside if she really had to. She also spotted some large creatures flying through the air, but they were so high up that Eunie doubted they would pose a problem.

What bothered her more were the monsters she could only describe as large, hairless gogols with deformed faces. The fact that the little guys seemed to ride around on them made her all the more determined to avoid any confrontations she could, unarmed as she was, though she did pick up a large branch just in case.

However, the unusual enemies weren’t the only things bothering her. The whole forest itself felt wrong. For starters, she felt like she was about to drown in ether. Ether was helpful in a fight and all, but it was starting to feel like ether was running through her veins, which her internal medic was not a fan of. Also, if this really was Maktha, then why hadn’t she seen a single metallic ruin? You couldn’t go two steps in Maktha without tripping over part of some old hunk of junk.

It was then that a rather obvious thought occurred to her.

Eunie recalled Nia telling Ouroboros about how Maktha was a combination of two places from each world, with the ruins dating back to a time none of them could even begin to imagine. If this was the forest minus the ruins, did that mean they had succeeded? Noah and Mio’s actions to save N and M hadn’t quite sat well with her, but maybe it had all worked out the end.

Still, it would have been nice to at least say goodbye to their Agnian friends.

It was around this point in her thinking that she heard someone screaming in panic. Abandoning her thoughts of caution, Eunie ran toward the sound.

After a mere moment, Eunie saw an incredibly tiny nopon getting chased by one of the bigger monsters. While she certainly didn’t want to tussle right now, she wasn’t about to let Riku or Manana find out she’d let a nopon die at the hands of some big ugly monster.

Running as fast as she could, Eunie scooped up the little nopon and ran until she saw a big rock to hide behind. After a few minutes, she peered out and saw no more danger.

“Alright, I think we lost’em” said Eunie “What were you doin’ out here anyways? Maktha’s dangerous, ‘specially if you’re by yourself.”

This statement earned Eunie a quizzical look from the nopon.

“Forest is Makna, not Maktha” said the blue nopon “even Kilaki know that, because Kilaki is heropon!”

“No, this is Maktha” said Eunie, annoyed that her new companion wouldn’t even thank her “The snuff is a ‘heropon’ anyway?”

“Heropon is bestest nopon in Village” crowed Kilaki “Heropon punch bad guy in face and eat Orluga for breakfast.”

“Looked more to me like those monsters were about to eat you” shot back Eunie.

“Oooh” said Kilaki, whose expression changed at the mention of eating something “Kilaki hungry now. Kilaki want to go home.”

“Well lead the way then” said Eunie, glad to have an opportunity to find someone who might actually know what had happened to Aionios. After all, if she could still remember, maybe someone else could. She suspected Kilaki had no idea. In fact, Kilaki’s personality was reminding her of the City’s children. All the nopon she’d ever met seemed to never age, but perhaps that was just another one of those unnatural Aionios things they’d been fighting to change.

However, it seemed the nopon child didn’t have the best sense of direction.

Or self-preservation.

Or much sense at all.

Eunie wondered how people in the City managed to take care of their children without going insane. That said, imagining Monica trying to corral a tiny Ghondor was a pretty funny visual.

Eunie was also reasonably certain Kilaki had not stopped talked at all since they’d set of for the…Village? Eunie realized she didn’t recognize that word. Context implied it was like a Colony or City, so that at least gave her some idea of what to look out for, though she realized she probably should have been scanning for structures anyway.

“Kilaki never see Hom Hom with wings on head before” said the tiny nopon “Look very pretty.”

“Um…thanks?” said Eunie, more confused by whatever a “Hom Hom” was supposed to be, and not having the energy to argue.

In any case, something else was bothering her. If she remembered correctly, weren’t they all supposed to forget about Aionios or something after getting rid of Moebius? Were the six of them exempt due to being Ouroboros? And if so, how was she going to explain herself to anyone who might actually ask questions about a child dragging some random stranger home?

Eunie was surprised to find herself thinking about it this hard. Taion’s tactical mind must be rubbing off on her. Normally she probably would have just made something up, but something in the back of her mind was telling her she should come up with some sort of plan, or even a cover story.

Something Kilaki had said earlier gave Eunie an idea, though she wasn't sure how effective it would be.

“Hey Kilaki” said Eunie “Are you sure this isn’t Maktha Wildwood?”

“Kilaki knows Makna is Makna” said Kilaka “Big brother Leku teach Kilaki. Big brother know lots about forest.”

“Earlier” said Eunie, trying to figure out how to get the little nopon to come to the right conclusion “You called me a ‘Hom Hom’ or somethin’. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Big brother tell Kilaki about Hom Hom. Hom Hom big, Hom Hom talk, and Hom Hom from far away on Bionis.”

“Bionis?” said Eunie. The word sounded similar to Aionios. Was that the name of the old world? She had assumed it would still be called Keves.

“Friend sound confused” said Kilaki, who also sounded confused.

“Sorry” said Eunie “I’ve just…never heard of the Bionis before.”

Kilaki stood there for a moment while Eunie hoped her plan worked. It suddenly occurred to her that Kilaki might not even know about-

“Has friend lost memories?” gasped Kilaki.

Eunie didn’t like this idea anym-

“Friend must be great destined heropon then!” shouted Kilaki, a massive smile on the little nopon’s face.

“What?” was all the response Eunie could give, wondering how on Aionios or wherever she was the child had come up with that idea.

Lanz was currently missing his friends. Not only because he cared about them all deeply, but also because he was currently running for his life from what he could only describe as Levnis Monsters.

He had awoken normally enough, being surrounded by a bunch of metal had made sense considering they had all been journeying through Origin right before fighting Z. Sure the metal may have been a different colour, but Lanz wasn’t one to pay attention to details like that. After also discovering his lack of Aionios-based equipment, Lanz had set out to find the rest of Ouroboros, initially thinking everyone had been thrown back somewhere inside Origin by Noah, Mio, and Z’s collision.

Then he spotted the machines.

At first, Lanz had figured that they were other Moebius creatures that simply lived in different parts of Origin, and simply decided to sneak his way past as many as he could until he found someone else. However, as he watched one of the larger machines march past, something in the back of his mind told him these machines were something unlike anything he’d ever seen before.

It was this moment of distraction that nearly got him killed.

A sudden grating whirr was Lanz’ only warning to duck out of the way of a blade slamming into the wall where his head had just been. Scrambling to his feet, Lanz ran for the next spot of cover he had seen, not even bothering to look back at whatever had found him. Lanz turned a corner and several shots of ether streaked past his head. Unfortunately, Lanz was becoming more and more aware of how little cover there was in this new locale he found himself in.

Lanz ran again, natural soldier instinct ensuring he didn’t run in a straight line to lower his chances of getting hit. In fact, he didn’t get hit once.

Instead, he tripped.

His momentum carrying him forward, he hit the ground and skidded forward on his face and chest, his tough skin saving him from a burn that would have knocked any of his friends clean out, though he still felt pretty stung. He looked up to see a small four-legged machine that probably would have come up to his knee. It didn’t look too dangerous, but then it started blaring an alarm, and Lanz decided he should really get moving, as the sound of jets revving filled the air around him.

As Lanz ran in a random direction, a humanoid robot twice his size wielding what looked like a mace flew in front of him. Unable to fight or stop his momentum, Lanz slid under the machine, scrambled back up and ran, briefly looked back to discover that there were now two of the flying mechanical monsters, which began firing at him. Three shots hit Lanz in the side, shoulder, and calf, though the pain was currently being drowned out by adrenaline.

Lanz finally spotted some sort of goal. The space he and his pursuers were in was open, vast, and bright, but there was one place that seemed brighter, as if the light was from the sun instead of some artificial source. Lanz hoped that maybe these creatures wouldn’t follow him outside, and headed for his new destination as the pain in his limbs slowly started creeping in past the adrenaline.

Long jumping over another quadrupedal robot, Lanz heard more sirens blare and slid under a sudden slash from a giant humanoid machine, the blade nearly taking off his nose. Lanz finally spotted what looked to be a walkway heading towards the sunlight, and sped up towards it, engines screeching behind him as he did so, and his muscles straining with the effort of running.

Racing up a slope, Lanz landed on his foot wrong and nearly collapsed, pushing himself off of the ground with his hands, an action that shot pain through his whole body. Jumping onto the walkway, he began to run towards the light, small pinpricks of pain darting through his legs with each step, when one of his pursuers shot him in the back. Pain shot through Lanz’ left hip, this time forcing him to the ground.

Lanz tried to stand up, and suddenly became aware of a few other wounds he hadn’t noticed, including some that might not have been fully healed from the battle with Z. A shot in his shoulder made itself known, and pain speared through his left side. His adrenaline was gone, and the pain was real.

And now he was going to die.

All that work to blow up Z, to live just a little longer, and now he was going to die to something that wasn’t even Moebius.

Well, if he was going to die, he’d at least give the mechanical mudders something to remember.

Anger punching past the pain racing through his body, Lanz stood up the best he could and faced his pursuers, despite his joints screaming at him to lie down and rest.

“You wanna snuffing go?!” shouted Lanz, ready to see how hard he could punch one of the machines bare-handed. He knew he’d probably fail, but at least he could say he’d tried, dammit.

Only then did he realize that his pursuers were now very far away.

Lanz suddenly noticed that he was moving. He looked down to notice that the surface of the walkway he was moving on was carrying him towards his destination, no walking required. Looking to his right, he could see that there was another walkway moving in the opposite direction.

“Huh” was all Lanz could say before the pain caught up with him and he blacked out.

Chapter Text

Sena woke up feeling surprisingly comfortable. She had a blanket on her and was lying on a mat that lay between her and the rocky surface of what appeared to be a cave. Sitting up, she looked around and discovered that yes, it definitely was a cave. Quickly discovering that her Iris, Blade, Ogre Class Vest and Term Marker were gone, Sena decided her best option was to wait a little while for whoever gave her the blanket to come back. After noticing that there was a mug of water next to her, she drank some and looked around a bit more. There was another mat in the cave, and the remains of a campfire of some sort and some sticks. Sena decided to lie back down again, realizing she was still feeling incredibly sore after the battle with Z. She hoped the others were okay. Noah and Mio’s final decision had seemed like an odd choice, considering all that they had been through, and Sena decided the whole group should probably discuss it whenever they found each other again.

“Oho!” said a deep voice from the cave entrance “Awake and ready to face the day I see!”

Sena jumped and turned towards the entrance. Standing there were two very strange-looking people carrying bundles of what looked like fish. One was a tall man in a large overcoat with no shirt underneath, an eyepatch over his left eye, and a gigantic sword on his back. The other was a woman in a frilly purple skirt with glasses that nearly covered her entire face. Sena opened her mouth to respond, but the eyepatch man didn’t give her a chance.

“Allow me to introduce myself!” he shouted, dropping the fish on the ground and pointing a thumb at himself dramatically “I am Zeke! Von! Genbu! Bringer of Chaos! And this!” he continued, making a sweeping gesture at the woman with him “Is my Blade! Paaaaaaaandoria! Bringer of…what was it again, Pandy?”

Pandoria, who up until this point had been mimicking Zeke’s movements after putting her bundle of fish on the ground more carefully, dropped out of her dramatic pose.

“I though you were going to put the title before my name” said Pandoria “like, I don’t know, ‘This! Is my Blade! The beautiful Pandoria!’ Or maybe ‘irreplacable Pandoria’ or ‘cool as hell Pandoria’ or something. Did we ever figure that one out?”

“Um” said Sena, now thoroughly confused “I’m…Sena.”

“Well, we can sort that out later” said Zeke, sitting down on the other mat “Good to meet you Sena. We found you floating out in the Cloud Sea a little while ago-”

“After we got knocked off-Titan by those Tirkins” threw in Pandoria.

“Hey! That’s not important” said Zeke “Aaaaanyway, we found you out there, and figured you’d probably want to be back on dry land.”

“Oh” said Sena, wondering what a Cloud Sea was “Um…thanks, I guess?”

“Your thanks is accepted” said Zeke, grabbing one of the fish and spearing it on one of the sticks left next to the remains of the campfire.

“So” said Pandoria, who had somehow gotten the fire started when Sena wasn’t looking “Whatcha doing out here anyways? I thought we’d met everyone in Initium. You fall off a ship or somethin’?”

“I…don’t really know how I got here” said Sena. Something in the back of her mind was telling her to not reveal too much of where she had been, though she wasn’t really sure what else she could say.

“Well” said Pandoria, grabbing her own fish and starting to cook it “Have you tried checking your Affinity link yet? See if you can at least figure out what direction your Driver’s in?”

“My what?” asked Sena.

“Your Affinity link” said Pandoria, who now looked slightly confused “Y’know, the blue light connecting you and your Driver in battle? Gets real shiny when you fight together and all that?”

“Um…what are you talking about?” said Sena “I don’t have a…Driver.”

“Hmm” said Zeke, taking a bite out of his now-cooked fish before he spoke “Perhaps they’re called something else where you’re from. Some Titans can be verrrrrry isolated. A Driver is the person who awoke you from your Core Crystal” he pointed at the crystal formation on Sena’s chest.

“Um…we all have these” said Sena, hoping her rescuers weren’t turning out to be crazy people “Well, all of the Agnians, I don’t think the Kevesi had them.”

Zeke and Pandoria each raised an eyebrow in sync, then shared a look with each other. Sena also noticed a small green critter moving on Zeke’s shoulder. She was about to ask about it when Zeke spoke up again

“Alright” said Zeke “Forget the whole Driver thing, we can hash that out later. Whatever the case, it seems like you’ve been separated from some friends of yours, am I getting this right?”

“Yeah…” said Sena “We were in this big battle, and now…”

“You ended up here” said Zeke, nodding along “Well, what do you think, Pandy, should we help her out?”

“Like you even need to ask” said Pandoria with a smile.

“Very well then!” shouted Zeke, jumping up onto his feet while brandishing his half-eaten fish “Worry not Sena. Pandoria and the Zekenator are prepared to reunite you with your missing friends! What do you say?”

Sena took a moment to consider. While her two new companions seemed rather strange, their offer of help seemed genuine. In fact, their confidence was even a little inspiring.

“Alright” said Sena, jumping up in front of Zeke, trying to mimic his enthusiasm “Um…The Girl with the Gall accepts your offer!”

Her outburst seemed to catch Zeke off-guard for the briefest of moments, then he threw back his head and laughed.

“That’s the spirit, Sena! With an attitude like that, we’ll find your chums in no ti-”

He was interrupted by Pandoria throwing the rest of her fish at his face.

“Adventure later, food now” said Pandoria “I’m not dragging you both around if we run out of food halfway across the next Titan.”

“Fair point” said Zeke, sitting back down, Sena following suit.

“By the way” asked Sena “What’s that on you shoulder?”

Zeke looked down at the small shelled creature on his shoulder and a grin spread across his face.

“Well well well. Sena, prepare to be amazed…”

Taion had been quite busy since he had come to on the edge of a vast meadow. After taking stock of his surroundings and lack of equipment, he had used every navigational skill he’d learned in Aionios and had eventually come across a Colony-like place that looked as though it had been through a battle some time in the past. However, Taion had not seen any trace of a Ferronis, so it had seemed safe enough, though he supposed it could have been a Colony Mu situation where the Ferronis was somehow hidden from view.

Upon his arrival, Taion had quickly been able to tell that nobody seemed to be aware of Origin or anything related to the battle Aionios had been swamped in only moments ago. Taion had recalled the queen’s explanations that the two worlds would know nothing of each other after separation, and then reasoned that Noah and Mio’s strike at Z may have actually solved their problem, rash as it had most certainly been. Still, if that were the case, he shouldn’t be able to remember anything, correct?

A small, selfish part of him had (and still) fervently hoped he wasn’t the only one who could.

Once he had determined that the best course of action would be to gather information, he had begun asking around for where he could find information on the Colony. From this, he soon learned that it was not a Colony, but rather something called a “town” which Taion supposed meant a small City, and that the town was called White Chair. He was also directed to a library after asking where he could find some more information about the town, where he now found himself poring over books about the world of Alrest.

On the bright side, it seemed that Alrest was indeed one of the two worlds that composed Aionios.

It also seemed to be the world that all the Agnians came from, so at least he hadn’t been sent to the wrong world somehow.

However.

Taion read through book after book, and yet it felt as though he was somehow learning less the whole time.

There was no mention of Origin. Plenty of places called Titans in some sort of Cloud Sea. One was Uraya, and many others were startlingly familiar as well, but no mention of something as momentous as the construction of a world-saving device.

There was no mention of Nia. Plenty of other rulers from all sorts of different nations, indeed it seemed as though there was no one ruler of Alrest, but rather rulers of multiple nations within it. Why had Nia been the only representative present in Aionios and how did she fit into all of this?

Not to mention the strangest information of all.

The existence of Drivers and Blades.

Taion was suddenly very glad that his normal clothes hid his chest crystal well away from view, and worry spiked through his mind at how Mio and Sena, whose crystals were closer to their necks and therefore rarely ever covered, would manage to avoid any awkward confrontations. There was also the unsettling similarity between the life cycle of a Blade and a soldier of Aionios, but Taion decided that would be a matter to unpack later.

For now, he decided to gain a better understanding of where he currently was.

The revelation that the physiological differences between Agnians came from being evolved to live on different Titans made too much sense. Taion had noticed that most of the people within White Chair had had ears like Mio’s, but hadn’t thought much of it at the time. Yet another piece of knowledge deemed obsolete by Moebius. There was also the matter of the Titans themselves. Uraya was obvious, and noticing the Ruins of Seebu restored to their former glory in an image of Fonsa Myma felt oddly vindicating, as though they really had brought things back to normal. The floating islands of Leftheria brought back memories of sailing through Erythia, and he was quite surprised to find that the rock formations surrounding Keves Castle were of this world as well. Finding out that the Titan he was currently on had composed the area where Colony Gamma had been was strangely comforting, even if it was apparently under control of Mor Ardain, the Titan that had held Keves Castle in Aionios. Taion also found himself wondering what the other world could possibly look like, given what bits of Aionios didn’t appear to exist here. It didn’t seem like much.

He hoped Eunie was okay.

And everyone else of course. Taion himself had woken up relatively unscathed, so he assumed that everyone else was likely okay as well. For now, he had to figure out where to go from here. If he was here in Alrest, still possessing memories of Aionios, then it stood to reason that Mio and Sena at the very least were also somewhere in Alrest, though that hardly narrowed down his options. With the realization the library was about to close soon, Taion soon realized he had absolutely nowhere to go for the night. In Aionios, payments were always handled via Iris, but since Irises didn’t seem to exist in Alrest, Taion would have no way to pay for lodgings, which was apparently how things worked here. Taion had wondered why he’d never heard of an inn in the City, then realized that since most visitors usually became permanent residents, the service had likely never even been necessary enough to invent.

After leaving the library and exploring White Chair a little more, Taion discovered a notice board detailing bounties on various monsters that the local militia was aparrently having difficulty with. However, considering that night was falling, Taion had absolutely zero support, and none of the monsters’ territory seemed to even be particularly close to White Chair, monster hunting didn’t seem like a viable option either.

Then Taion read another notice. This one was also posted by the Ardainian militia, imploring Gormotti citizens to prove their loyalty to the Empire by becoming a Driver for the military. As Taion read off the benefits offered, he realized that the local forces must be desperate for help if simply being able to resonate with a Core Crystal was qualification enough to join the army.

Free room and board for the low, low price of joining another army. On the bright side, it seemed as though it had been decades since any actual warfare had occured, but joining the military would hinder his efforts at finding the others, He’d also have to invent some sort of cover story to explain how he had wound up in Gormott and hope the administration was desperate enough to not fact-check him too thoroughly. With any luck, his experience could get him quickly promoted to a level where he would be able to move around freely enough to locate-

Wait.

Why was he even considering this?

After all that Ouroboros had been fighting against, to simply join back up with another army.

It would be like starting at square one all over again.

Yet he could see no other reasonable option. He simply didn’t have enough information on what had happened to Aionios. Something in the back of his mind told him to hurry up and decide before any guards started wondering why he was hanging around outside so late.

So Taion decided. It appeared that Driver recruitment didn’t actually take place in White Chair, but rather in another town called Gormott. Noting that the notice advised regular recruits to apply at the local garrison, Taion headed off, hoping that the militia would be excited enough at the prospect of a potential new Driver to take him to Gormott so he didn’t have to wander through any more uncharted territory without backup.

Out of all six Ouroboros, Mio was the only one to wake up inside. She found herself in a small room in a bed far comfier than any Colony cot in Aionios. Upon discovering her equipment was gone, she got up out of the bed and prepared to go find whoever owned the building she’d found herself in. As she opened the door, light coming in from the hallway drew her attention to the table next to the bed. Lying on it was Noah’s flute. Thankful that she still had such an important possession, she grabbed the flute and walked off to explore her new lodgings.

Before she could even make it that far, someone came around the corner. A small child with turquoise hair in a dress who stopped with wide eyes as soon as she saw Mio.

“...hello” said Mio.

“You’re awake” said the little girl.

“Um…what’s your name?” asked Mio, who was now wishing she’d sorted through a few of M’s memories about how to interact with children while she’d had the chance.

“I’m Iona” said the girl “what’s your name?”

“Mio” responded the Agnian. Iona smiled in response.

“Come on Mio, grandpa wanted to see you when you got up.”

As Mio let herself be led down the hallway, she wondered what was going on. She could recall jumping after M and N, which now seemed rather foolish in hindsight. Wasn’t letting go of the present what they had been striving to achieve all along? Yet she was alive, and this place simply didn’t feel like Aionios. Mio gripped the flute tighter and hoped her friends were okay.

At last, Iona brought Mio to a cozy-feeling room filled with all kinds of strange objects. In one corner, sitting at a table was a man in a long robe. As he turned to face Mio and Iona, Mio could see that he appeared to be quite old, with wrinkles creasing the tight skin on his face and his light brown hair receding from his scalp.

“This is Mio” announced Iona as the two of them walked into the room.

“Ah, the castaway” said the man with a smile “I hope you don’t mind my bringing you here, but I think Iona would have tried dragging you here yourself otherwise.”

For some reason, Mio found herself relaxing at the sight of the man.

“It’s alright” said Mio.

“You can call me Cole” said the old man “I suppose I should probably tell you that we brought you here because of your Crystal.”

“My…Crystal?” said Mio, unsecure of what that had to do with anything.

“Don’t worry” said Cole, opening the top buttons of his shirt to reveal a crystal with the same red patterns that Mio and Nia’s crystals had had, though its shape was different “I’ve got one too. You’re welcome to stick around, or I can call some friends to take you somewhere else safe.”

As strange as what Cole said seemed, something in the back of Mio’s mind told her to not contradict what he was saying. So she tried her best to improvise.

“Well…I’m actually looking for some friends of mine. So, perhaps your friends could help me out?” she said somewhat hesitantly.

“Hmm” Cole appeared to think for a moment “If that’s what you want to do, then I’ll help you.”

“Are you sure?” asked Mio, noticing the hesitant tone in Cole’s voice.

“Oh, let an old man worry, will you” said Cole, though he smiled as he said it “Still, it’ll probably be best if you stay here for now. Those friends I was talking about are part of a mercenary group based on the other side of Uraya-”

“Uraya?” said Mio in surprise. Had Z’s explosion blasted her all the way back to Pentelas?

Cole blinked in surprise at her outburst before an expression of realization dawned on his face.

“Oh that’s right, I probably should’ve mentioned that earlier” he said “Yes, welcome to Uraya, specifically Fonsa Myma, our grand capitol.”

Odd. While Mio did recall a Landmark called Myma Gate on the edge of the Urayan Tunnels, she couldn’t remember-

Wait.

The ruins in the Tunnels.

Had the worlds really been repaired?

Before Mio could think about this new piece of information any further, she realized Cole was still talking.

“-won’t be back for another week. In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay around and get to know the city. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my writing. Iona, would you mind showing Mio around the theatre.”

“Theatre?” said Mio, suddenly on guard. This place didn’t seem anything like Z’s lair, but one could never be too sure when it came to Moebius

“Goodness” said Cole “My memory really is going. Yes, this is my theatre. I’m a playwright by trade. We’re actually doing a showing of ‘The Heroic Adventures of Addam’ in a few weeks time. I’m not usually one to brag, but I’d say we’re just about well-known enough to get the attention of one of your friends if they’re in the area, especially since it’s our most popular play.”

“I’ll…keep that in mind” said Mio. While the memory of Z’s Amphitheater was still all-too-fresh in her mind, both from their final battle and from some of M’s memories, she was somehow completely certain that this was a safe place, even if Cole himself did seem a bit strange.

Mio was snapped out of her thoughts by Iona grabbing her hand.

“Come on Mio, let’s go explore!” said Iona, starting to practically drag Mio out of the room.

“Before you go” said Cole “I’d like to give you this.”

Mio turned back and saw Cole get up from his seat. Walking over to her, he handed her a purple shawl.

“To cover your Core Crystal” he said “I don’t know what you had over it before, but I guess you must have lost it before we found you. Stay safe Mio.”

Mio took the shawl, still unsure why Cole seemed so bent on keeping their Crystals hidden. Still, she put it on, if for no other reason than to not be rude. It turned out to be pretty comfortable once she’d gotten it situated with her long hair.

“Thank you” said Mio.

“Don’t mention it” said Cole, who suddenly began coughing.

“Are you okay?” said Mio, suddenly remembering that older people tended to get sick easily.

“Oh don’t worry about it” said Cole, taking a deep breath “I’m surprised it took this long what with our whole conversation and all. I probably just need to do some dusting in here. I’ll be fine, you two have fun.”

With that, Iona and Mio left the office, though Mio noticed Iona seemed a bit more subdued.

“Is he…usually like that?” asked Mio as the two of them walked through the hall.

“Yeah” said Iona morosely “Grandpa’s been real sick for a long time.”

“Oh…sorry” said Mio “Has he…gone to see a medic?”

“Grandpa doesn’t want the doctor to see his Crystal.”

Mio decided to talk to Cole about that later. Even if he had something against the Crystals themselves, that hardly seemed any reason to worry his grandchild like this. Perhaps she could convince him that there was nothing wrong with a pink Crystal. For now, she decided to enjoy the tour and see if she couldn’t figure more out about what had happened to Uraya.

Something else occurred to her.

“Iona, do you know where the queen lives?”

“The queen?” said Iona “She’s up in the big castle, everyone knows that. C’mon, let’s go see the stage!”

Mio allowed herself to be pulled along by Iona into a big room that sure enough, was a stage.

Initially balking at the structure’s presence, Mio quickly realized that the resemblance to Z’s lair was entirely surface level. The room was much smaller for one, the seats consisting only of several wooden stools laid out in rows on top of a slanted floor covered by a big rug. The stage itself held a large wooden model of what looked like some sort of vehicle, though Mio wasn’t exactly sure what. There were also some smaller structures that looked vaguely like people made of sticks that weren’t very visible in the room’s dim lighting

Iona let go of Mio’s hand and ran to the stage before scrambling up on it.

“Be careful” Mio said half-conciously, before sitting down on one of the stools to watch Iona pretend to battle the people-models. It reminded her of watching the children of the City, though they’d mostly played with each other. Mio watched as Iona pretended to be various heroes from what Mio could only assume were Cole’s plays. As charming as it was, Mio hoped Iona had some other friends to play with as well. The stage seemed a rather dreary place to grow up, at least based on Mio’s knowledge of it.

“Still, it’s nice that she’s got something she enjoys so much.”

Mio froze.

Nobody else had been in the room with them.

Besides, she knew that voice.

Mio turned to her left, where the person had spoken from. And there she was, same as ever.

“Miyabi?”

Chapter Text

Glimmer blinked her way awake, only to realize she wasn’t in her cot at the City folks’ camp.  Years of conditioning kicking in, she sat upright and looked around.  Something was wrong, but she wasn’t sure what until she noticed she wasn’t alone.

“Mornin’ Glimmer” said the last person she’d ever expected to see.  Sitting on the ground a short distance away was Rex, as though he hadn’t just walked off into Origin with A and Shulk a month ago, supposedly never to return as far as she was aware.  For a moment, all Glimmer could do was stare in surprise.

“What are you…Didn’t you…?” she finally managed.  She hadn’t felt this confused since Consul W had tried to kill her before she’d learned the truth about Moebius.

“Let’s walk and talk” said Rex “Haven’t got a clue where we are, so we’d best find a better place to stay quick.”

The two got up and Glimmer followed Rex through the grove of trees she had woken up in.

“Right” said Rex “First question: how long ago was the whole business with Alpha?”

“Um…about a month ago” said Glimmer “why?”

“Just trying to figure out when you’re from” was the response.

“When?” said Glimmer, unsure of what Rex meant by ‘when’.

“Let me start at the beginning” said Rex “After we got rid of Alpha, I went into Origin with Shulk and A.  We sort of…became the main part of the whole Origin system or something, Shulk could explain it better than me, but the point is we were there so that Origin could function and keep Aionios going until we found a way to split it back into the original two worlds again.  Making sense so far?”

“Yeah, I think you said all that back then” said Glimmer.

“Alright, well after that, we stayed in Origin.  We could watch Aionios, but that was about all me and Shulk could do.  A was doing most of the actual computer stuff, we were largely support, since A didn’t have as much power compared to Alpha.  In any case, we were in there for years and years.  We watched Aionios go by, and saw generations of people with the Ouroboros Power, though it looked a bit different after Nikol and Riku got done tinkerin’ with it.”

“Wait” said Glimmer “They’re still…are you saying you’re from the future?”

“Exactly” said Rex, as if this was a completely normal thing to be discussing “In fact, N went on to have a change of heart, sort of, and helped bring down Moebius.”

Glimmer stopped walking.

“Wait, so…we won?  Just like that?”

“That’s the thing” said Rex “Something happened, right at the end.  See, here’s the thing about N.  I said he sort of had a change of heart, by which I mean he got a similar treatment to what happened to Alpha and A.  The were two of him runnin’ around.  The consul that you’ve seen, and another version that was just a regular soldier like you and Nikol.  The solider gained the Ouroboros power along with some other soldiers and they all fought Moebius together, far more successfully than previous wielders of the power too for some reason.  Anyways, during the final battle, consul N had his change of heart and tried sacrificin’ himself to finish off Z.  But, soldier N decided to stop him, which I s’pose I can understand, but I don’t think he realized quite what he was doing at the time.”

“Did the soldier N have a name?” asked Glimmer, who was having a hard time remembering which was which.  Considering she’d only ever heard single-letter names be used for consuls and A, she figured the soldier N probably had a regular name as well.

“Oh, right” said Rex “His name’s Noah.  I met a few…uh…previous incarnations of him before Z got him to switch sides.  Seemed like a pretty nice guy to me, I can’t tell you how shocked I was when he became Moebius, especially when I learned why…”

Rex trailed off, his face going dark.  After a few seconds of ominous silence, Glimmer decided she’d have to restart the conversation.

“So…what’d Noah do?  At the end, during that whole final battle or whatever?” asked Glimmer.

“Right” said Rex, blinking his way out of his funk “well, you remember N’s sword right?”

“The Sword of the End?” said Glimmer.

“Precisely” said Rex “The Sword’s power, least as far as I understand, is to help force your way into Origin’s systems, basically letting you break some of Aionios’ rules. As you know, we had a backup copy in that sword Riku was always carrying around, which he would eventually give to Noah, who would also take back the original version from N.  Then, during the final battle, Noah struck Z at the last second before Z tried destroying Aionios in an attempt to prevent N from sacrificing himself.  The desire to survive clashed with the desire to end at the exact same instant, which caused Origin’s systems to undergo sort of a weird virtual Annihilation Event.  Maybe.  Honestly, I’m still not sure what happened.  All I know for sure is that Origin reset itself.  But considering our lack of Irises, we’re not in Aionios anymore, which means we’ve somehow gone back in time.”

“Back in time?” said Glimmer “So, this is your old world?”

“Can’t think what else it would be” said Rex “Though I don’t recognize this part of it at all.  Somethin’s been feelin’ off to me ever since I woke up here so we need to stay on guard.”

Something had felt off to Glimmer too.  In fact, she thought there was something rather familiar about the area they were in, though she couldn’t put her finger on it.  Finally, the two travellers came to the end of the woods to come across something Glimmer would have recognized anywhere, though it was about as unexpected as Rex.

“Huh, you sure everything didn’t get fixed?  This looks pretty restored to me.”

No response.  Glimmer turned to see Rex with a look of pure shock on his face.

“...are you seein’ this?” Rex said weakly.

“Yeah?” said Glimmer, unsure why Rex was taking this so badly.  Sure, the area looked a bit different now, but Glimmer was pretty sure Colony 9 had been a part of the old world.

For most of his terms, Nikol had always felt ashamed of his Variable Backpack, forever a sign of his inability to summon a Blade.  This feeling of inadequacy had been his driving motivation to constantly work on Levnises and Ferronises.  Yet the long hours and constant work had never seemed to put him on the same level as his supposed comrades.  Sure, he was treated well for the most part, but there had always been a nagging suspicion that he was only being kept around for his mechanical skill.

Then, he had made new friends, and for the first time in his life began to feel like he truly belonged for more reasons than a simple skill.

Right now however, Nikol was appreciating his handmade weapon more than ever, as it had survived being booted out of Aionios, while Shulk’s Blade seemed to have vanished for some reason.

Nikol had been surprised when woken up by Shulk, and now here in the cave the two had stumbled across after running from the monsters Nikol hadn’t been able to stave off with his weapon, Nikol was able to think about the information Shulk had given him.  Strangely, learning that they had somehow gone both back in time to what was apparently the wrong world didn’t feel as alarming as it probably should have.  If anything, Nikol was finding himself rather curious as to what the other world was like.

“So” said Nikol “Um…what do we do now, Shulk?”

“Well, a lot of things” was the response “One of those being how to explain ourselves to whoever we manage to find.  At this point in time, telling the truth would only get us seen as a couple of lunatics, so we’ll need some sort of cover story, something to explain how the two of us wound up out here in the middle of nowhere.  Given our similar interests in machinework and difference in age, I was thinking we could pose as, well, a master and an apprentice.  How does that sound?”

Shulk looked over at Nikol with a hopeful expression, though there was something else there that Nikol couldn’t identify.

“Apprentice…” said Nikol thoughtfully, trying to remember where he’d heard the word before “So, that means I’m your student, right?  That sounds…alright.”

“...Right” said Shulk.  Nikol had the distinct feeling he was missing something, but he still wasn’t very good at picking up on people’s moods.

“Is something wrong?” asked Nikol.

“No, no, not at all” said Shulk hurriedly “Sorry, I…think I’m still getting used to this whole situation.  Besides, I just thought of something else I should tell you about before we run into anyone.”

“What’s that?” said Nikol.

“The difference between Blades of Alrest and Aionios” said Shulk “While similar in name in function, there is a noticable visual difference, given that Blades are living beings in this world.”

“Living beings?  How do you bring a weapon to life?” said Nikol, more curious than ever.

“Well, I think we’ve traveled to before that discovery is properly made, and I don’t know every detail myself, but this world has access to a highly complicated data storage system that nearly everyone doesn’t even know exists” said Shulk “You know how Agnians all have a crystal somewhere on their body?”

Nikol nodded, the crystal was sometimes the only surefire way to tell an Agnian and Kevesi apart from each other, a key point made in training.

“In Alrest” continued Shulk “Those are called Core Crystals.  I could go into depth about those, but now’s not the time and I certainly don’t know everything.  Every Core Crystal contains data that can create a being with a weapon to assist whoever activates that Core Crystal.  This being is what the Alrestians call a Blade, and will live for as long as whoever activated them does.  Once the activator dies, the Blade will revert to its Core Crystal and be re-activated by someone else, living a life separate from the memories of the old one.”

Shulk paused in his explanation for a moment, giving Nikol a moment to come to the clear conclusion.

“So, it’s like Aionios, then” said Nikol.

“Indeed” said Shulk “Moebius likely based the soldier system of off this, especially considering Origin was based on Core Crystal data storage technology.  We just never suspected that Origin’s programs would use that data for something so…”

The two sat in silence for a moment.

“What happens to them all now?” asked Nikol.

“What?” said Shulk.

“Everyone in Aionios” said Nikol “You explained what happened, but now if everything’s been reset, where did everyone else go?”

“That’s the mystery” said Shulk “We’re here, and I have good reason to believe that our group that fought Alpha, as well as Noah and Mio’s group can be found, though it’s more than likely that some of them are now on the Bionis.  As for everyone else, I have no way to answer that.  Most every soldier in Aionios wasn’t born until after this place became uninhabitable, but the people of the City…I don’t know.  In all the years before I left to go to Origin, and even while I was in Origin, I could never figure out what would happen to them.  Would they come to exist after Aionios had been gone?  Had their fates been somehow secured?  Sometimes I wonder if going with Alpha was their only way out, even if it would have doomed the rest of us.”

Another silence.

Nikol had never thought about the possible fate of the Cityfolk before now, largely because he hadn’t gotten the time to, and because he was from an era where an end to the Endless Now had seemed much more vague and uncertain, whereas Shulk had actually seen the end in some capacity or another.

The silence was then interrupted by a distinct yet welcome sound.

Voices.

“Stay close” said Shulk as the two of them got up to leave the cave.  Nikol followed Shulk as the two of them walked outside, and then nearly ran into Shulk, who had suddenly stopped for some reason.

Looking past Shulk, Nikol saw a small group of people standing only a few meters away from them.  Nikol immediately realized what Shulk had meant when he’d said that Alrestian Blades would stand out in a crowd, because Nikol would have otherwise had zero explanation for what he could only describe as a human-like bird monster among those in the group.  After the two groups regarded each other in surprise, another member of the mystery group, a huge man wearing what reminded Nikol of City gear spoke up in a deep voice.

“Well now, you’ve got to be the weirdest monsters I’ve ever seen.”

Nikol looked up at Shulk, who looked oddly stunned.

“Boy, you really must have been stuck out here if we’re that much of a surprise” said the big man.  He then walked over, holding out a hand to shake “The name’s Vandham.  I suspect you lot could use some help, am I right?”

Rex was glad Glimmer was taking this better than he was, at least on the surface.  Then again, he had to remember that the person she was right now only knew Aionios, and likely couldn’t tell how wrong it felt to be here on the Bionis.

Rex had had his suspicions from the moment he’d woken up, but had attributed any and all strange feelings as side effects of recovering from being a computer part for the last milennia.  Now it was really setting in.  He recalled the main difference that the people researching the Annihilation Events had discovered about the two worlds before Origin’s construction had begun.  The main difference, which was what caused the worlds to cancel each other out, was that Alrest was composed of matter-based ether, while Bionis was composed of ether-based matter.  Shulk had suggested that perhaps the two worlds had not been mixed in this manner, one being composed entirely of ether, and the other composed entirely of matter, and Klaus’ use of the Conduit had caused both substances to collide into each other, causing the chaos needed to form two new worlds.

He could feel the ether.  Everywhere.  It was almost as if he was enveloped in a Blade Special, except it wasn’t actually doing anything to him, it was just sort of…there.  He figured he’d get used to it, but for now it was a distinctly unsettling feeling.

The more notable feeling in Rex’s mind was a sense of regret.  While he and Glimmer had been discussing coming up with a cover story for themselves, Glimmer herself had suggested they pose as father and daughter.  In a moment of panic, Rex had altered the idea to uncle and niece and was now mentally kicking himself for it.  Sure, Shulk and Rex had agreed to never tell the full truth to any relations they came across in Aionios, but circumstances were different.

Still, as much as it hurt Rex, he ultimately decided not to say anything more until he was sure how permanent this new situation was.  Before, the temporary nature of Aionios meant that revealing such information would fix nothing in the long run, particularly after it became clear that he and Shulk would have to reside in Origin.  A’s vision had assured them that they would get a chance in the future to see their children again to tell them, but Rex knew that A couldn’t have seen this coming.

“Huh” said Glimmer, drawing Rex out of his thoughts “I guess it’s still a bit rough around the edges after all.  Looks like there was a fight recently.”

Rex looked where Glimmer was out at the Colony and realized she was right.  Several buildings appeared damaged, and the large tower over the central square appeared to be missing a chunk of itself.  Which had been missing in Aionios.

Why did that detail stand out to-

Oh.

“Oh.”

“What is it?” said Glimmer.

“Good news” said Rex “I think I know when we are.  Bad news, if I’m right, it means they’re recovering from a really nasty battle.  Remember, these people don’t live in a state of constant war, so they’re not used to this.  Don’t be too hard on them.”

“Okay” said Glimmer.

The two of them headed down towards the bridge leading into the Colony.  Despite the clear evidence of battle, the town still seemed pretty lively, and Rex had to admit it was pretty strange approaching the town on a gradual incline as opposed to the usual steep zigzag he was used to in Aionios.  The large military and residential sections were also unfamiliar, Rex only knowing their purpose due to Shulk mentioning them offhand a few times.

While Rex couldn’t see it yet, he knew that the Gotrock Oracle Ruins would no longer be present behind the Colony, which was a more sobering thought than he expected it to be.  His main reminder of Pyra and Mythra, gone from this world.

As the two walked across the bridge, a young woman in military armour walked up to the both of them.

“Who are you?” asked the soldier.  She seemed quite tense, but Rex knew full well she had reason two after what he knew had likely only happened a week or so ago.

“Lost” said Rex, trying to sound as nonthreatening as possible “me and my niece here got separated from the group we were traveling with a few weeks ago.  Got attacked by a real nasty bunch of Arachno.  Though from the looks of things, you lot appear to have been in some trouble yourselves.”

“Names?” the soldier said again.

“Oh, right” said Rex “I’m Rex, and this’ere is Glimmer.  I suppose this probably isn’t the best time to ask for a place to stay and we’re clean out of money, but we do know a thing or two about rebuilding.”

The soldier considered the two of them for a moment, before finally letting out a breath and motioning to follow her.

“Come on, I’ll take you to reconstuction.  I’m Dorothy by the way”

Dorothy walked the two of them through the Colony, and Rex and Glimmer could hardly help not looking around.  Even in the very early days of Aionios, Colony 9 had never looked this good, even in spite of the clear evidence of battle.  Rex was surprised at how well the citizens seemed to be doing.  Sure, there were slightly less people than he’d expect to be out and about in a place this size, but if you squinted your eyes a bit, the place would likely seem perfectly ordinary.  Rex was also surprised how oddly comforting it was to see so few people in military gear.  Even if this world wasn’t his own, it still felt as though he’d come home in a sense, or perhaps he’d just become too familiar with Colony 9.

Speaking of familiarity, Dorothy led them right past the same place where the Liberators had always gathered.  Now it appeared to be little more than a storage area.

“Um” Glimmer spoke up for the first time since entering the Colony “Where exactly are we going?”

“Military District” said Dorothy “Gotta make sure the brass know you’re here so we don’t get any weird rumors.  I doubt you guys are on the mechon’s side, but we’re still trying to tighten up security.”

“Good plan” said Rex “I hope you didn’t lose any family in the battle.”

“No, thank goodess” said Dorothy.  Continuing onwards, the trio eventually made their way across another set of bridges into a military complex that would have been intimidating if hadn’t been blasted to rubble in a couple of spots.  At the gate, Dorothy handed them off to another soldier, who led Rex and Glimmer across a wide yard full of training soldiers and various types of transports.  Rex noticed Glimmer open her mouth a couple of times as if to say something, then stop.  Rex guessed that she’d been about to comment on the clear lack of technology, and was glad she was remembering to not compare anything to Aionios where someone could hear.

Eventually, Rex and Glimmer were led into a building at the far end of the compound.  After walking down a hallway, their new escort knocked on a door before opening it slightly.

“Excuse me” said the soldier “New arrivals to be checked in.”

“Bring them in” said a voice.  The soldier opened the door further and Rex walked in only to stop in surprise upon seeing the man he knew had to be Dunban.

The resemblance to Shulk was almost frightening, especially considering that they didn’t even look that similar.  Simply the way he carried himself was enough to tell Rex that this man had been the mentor that Shulk and Melia had both held in such high regard.  Rex heard Glimmer make a small surprised noise, and guessed that she too had noticed the similarity.

“Hello” said Dunban, holding out a hand “I’m afraid you’ve caught us at a bit of a bad time, but, welcome to Colony 9.”

It had taken Shulk a long time to recover from the Monado’s effects after destroying Zanza.  The most frequent issue had involved confusing nightmares for visions and getting halfway through warning someone before realizing what he was doing.  His night-owl tendencies and worrying over how Fiora was doing in the regeneration chamber hadn’t done him any favours either.  There had even been one unpleasant incident where, in a sleep-deprived panic, Shulk had tried to break into the regeneration chamber, utterly convinced something was going to go wrong, a memory that had plagued him for years afterward.

He had returned the Replica Monados back to Miqol, wanting nothing to do with them, terrified that his usage could somehow cause Zanza’s return.  He knew now that such thoughts were absurd, but at the time he’d known so, so much less about the Monado, and everything surrounding it.

The Monado R.E.X. had been Fiora’s idea.  A way to face his fears.  If he created the Monado himself, it could never be Zanza’s.  A truer sword than his Divine Monado created by Alvis.  Yet when Shulk had completed the project, he was concerned by how good it felt to wield the sword.  Was that him, or Zanza?

It was Dunban who had brought up the uncomfortable idea that Shulk might always possess some part of Zanza, and that the Monado might forever be part of his fate, no matter what he did.  It was then that Dunban had offered to directly coach Shulk in not only swordfighting, but mental training, not to erase Zanza’s influence, but to live with it and ensure that if it ever tried to return, it could never control him.

Living with Riki’s family had been a huge help as well.  Shulk had practically forgotten the nopon’s offer after the battle with Zanza, but after realizing he had no place to go home to after Dickson’s…demise, Shulk barely even had to mention the idea before Riki practically dragged him home to make proper introductions.  Gaining over a dozen siblings who were ecstatic about having a heropon as a brother had done wonders to improve his mental health.

Right in this moment, however, it was as if none of that ever happened.

Once more, Shulk felt as if he was in the grip of a terrible dream.

Because he was looking at someone he knew was going to die.

Shulk had heard all about Vandham from Rex and Nia, but they had never really spoken of what of he looked like.  Shulk knew that Matthew’s descendant who granted Noah and Mio’s group the power of Ouroboros bore a certain resemblance, but it was hard seeing anything from within Origin.

Shulk and Rex had also spoken of how their injuries inflicted by Alpha resembled people they had looked up to.  Shulk had actually met Zeke a few times during Origin’s construction, as all of Neo Alrest’s rulers had been invited to confer with the engineering teams and Melia about the natures of their worlds, so he had noticed the resemblance between the two men.

Now however, Shulk beheld Vandham, and it felt as if he was seeing yet another part of Rex.

“You alright?” asked Vandham, a strtlingly familiar expression of concern crossing his face.

“Sorry” said Shulk, quickly pulling himself together “You’re right, it has been a while since we’ve seen anybody.”

“Well then” said Vandham “I guess you’ll have to tell us about it.  Consider it payment for dragging you lot back to civilization.”

Shulk, realizing he and Nikol had never gotten a chance to fully come up with a cover story, quickly began trying to think of something, and decided to stall by making introductions.

“Right” said Shulk “I’m Shulk, by the way…Vandham, was it?”

“That’s right” grinned the big man.

“This is my apprentice, Nikol” continued Shulk.

“Hello” said Nikol.

“Nice to meet’cha” said Vandham “Well, you know my name, those two louts over there are Yew and Zuo, and this” Vandham continued, gesturing over at the Crimson bird Blade whose name Shulk also already knew “is Roc, my Blade.  Alright, let’s get a move on.”

With that, Shulk and Nikol let themselves be led away by Vandham’s crew.  As they walked, Shulk spun a story about him and Nikol studying weapons on a faraway Titan that had finally sunk.  During the evacuation, Shulk had lost his own personal weapon, and after that the two had wound up on Uraya, they had joined a group traveling to Fonsa Myma, but had gotten separated from the caravan after a monster attack, and had then gotten lost.  If Vandham noticed the obvious holes in the story, he never mentioned them, and he was soon telling Shulk and Nikol about the Garfont Mercenaries, something Shulk had only heard bits and pieces about from Rex and Nia, mostly since the Liberators were essentially the successors to the Merc Group.

Along the way, Shulk and Nikol were also able to admire an Uraya filled with life, bearing a clear resemblance to the natural wonder of Satorl Marsh, though Shulk spotted monsters that he’d never even seen in Aionios, much less the Bionis.  Shulk and Rex had once wondered why landmarks from their old worlds that had been largely erased from existence by the time Origin was built had figured so heavily in Aionios’ construction.  It had been Nia who suggested that due to Z being composed of the thoughts and memories of the people, that such landmarks were what he could easily find and slap together to create the patchwork landscape of Aionios.  Looking around, Shulk could see why so many people remembered this place, even years after it had sunk beneath the sea.  

While Shulk listened to Vandham chat about Garfont, his mind also turned to other things.  Namely, if Vandham was alive, that greatly narrowed the time period he and Nikol had arrived in.  Rex, Nia, and their friends were probably due to arrive sometime in the near future if he had to guess.  Shulk found himself wishing he, Melia, Rex, and Nia had discussed their pasts in greater detail.  The only discussions they’d had in Aionios were those directly relating to the Conduit and the Trinity Processor.  There had simply never been a good time for the discussions to go much deeper, though they had always kept promising each other they’d get around to it someday, even after Melia and Nia had become incapacitated.

The other thing to consider was what had happened to anyone else in their predicament.  He and Nikol may have wound up in the wrong world, but what of Noah and Mio’s group?  Considering the plethora of issues Shulk had heard about Blade-Human relations before Nia had risen to power, Shulk almost hoped that the Agnians had all wound up in Bionis, where their Core Crystals would likely been seen as little more than odd gem-related equipment.

Wherever everyone had wound up, Shulk knew that finding everyone would have to be his first priority, in order to ensure that a solution to their current predicament could be found.

A sudden thought occurred to Shulk.  If he and Nikol had been placed so close to such an important figure on Rex’s journey, perhaps everyone had been placed in a similar situation.  After all, nearly everyone in both groups possessed a clear connection to both Shulk and Rex.  Perhaps they were all now destined to join the journeys of the Trinity Processor.  Shulk found himself wishing he could ask Alvis, or rather A, about all this.

In fact, how would A be incorporated into all this?  A would stand out in either world for entirely the wrong reasons.  The bright side of ending up in the wrong world for Shulk would be that he wouldn’t run into his younger self, but A would have to deal with being recognized too early by people in either world.  A hadn’t been a part of the interlink that defeated Alpha, but had powered it, so Shulk wondered how A would fit into all this.

Then again, if they were in the past…

“Here we are” said Vandham, startling Shulk out of his thoughts “Welcome to Garfont.  Ain’t much, but it’s home.”

Chapter Text

Matthew was quite confused.  First of all, he knew perfectly well he had not been in Cadensia when he had fallen asleep the night before, so why was he now on an island?  He was also pretty sure he would have remembered seeing giant islands floating in the sky when he had last been there.

There was also the fact that his senses felt as if they had been dialed up to eleven.

Also, Na’el was here too, despite them having last seen each other a few months ago when Matthew had left the City to go see the world.

For now, the two had caught some fish, which felt normal, even if the fish had seemed oddly violent, and were attempting to set up a campsite until they could try and guess what had happened.

“Would you like some assistance?”

Matthew and Na’el froze.  The voice was unmistakable.

Matthew whirled around, ready to fight, despite knowing his Blade was somehow gone.

“How?” said Na’el, who had all the right in the world to sound shocked.

Standing there, not thirty paces away on the beach stood Alpha.  He wasn’t holding the strange sword that looked like Shulk’s Blade, but Matthew highly doubted that Alpha really needed it.

“You really wanna do this again?” said Matthew.  There was no way they could possibly win, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Alpha tilted his head.  Had the situation been less tense, Matthew would have thought the machine seemed confused.

“I mean you no harm” said Alpha.

“Like I’m gonna believe that!” shouted Matthew.  He heard Na’el walk up beside him and almost smiled.  He hadn’t been sure if she would.

“You will not trick me again!” growled Na’el “I’ve had enough of your lies.”

Alpha’s eyes widened a bit as he seemed to notice Na’el.

“Is that a Core Crystal?” asked Alpha, looking at the Crystal on Na’el’s chest.  Core Crystal, where had Matthew heard that term before?

“Don’t get off-topic here” shouted Na’el, suddenly leaping at Alpha.  Matthew followed, both of them lunging at Alpha, the thing that had nearly torn them apart from each other.  Their Blades might be gone, but Matthew still felt the Ouroboros power within him.  It surged from both him and Na’el as they attempted to strike Alpha, who dodged with ease.  Matthew turned again and…

For a moment, he stopped.  Alpha’s shocked expression didn’t make sense.  Alpha never showed emotion.  Didn’t have emotion.

“Wait, Na’el” said Matthew.

“Are you crazy?” shouted Na’el.

“Are you A?” asked Matthew “No wait, what was it Shulk called you-?”

“Shulk?” asked…Alvis, that was it.

“You’re Alvis” said Matthew “A and Alpha combined.”

“But that’s impossible” said Na’el “We destroyed Alpha, and A went away with Shulk and Rex.  How could they both be here?”

“Fascinating” said Alvis “May I suggest that you have both arrived here from the future?”

“The…future?” said Na’el.

“Wait a minute” said Matthew “Can’t you see the future?  You’ve got your visions and all that.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about me” said Alvis “My sight has been…hindered, for quite some time.  Otherwise, I might have known you would have been so hostile.  Indeed, I only just detected you.  Though you are not the only ones.”

“Others?” said Matthew.

“Precisely” said Alvis “However, they are far away from here, and I foresee no immediate danger in their futures.”

“I thought you said your sight was hindered” said Na’el.

“Hindered, not erased” said Alvis “As though pieces have been somehow taken away.  My own path is less certain than ever.”

“Your…own path?” asked Na’el.

“I am afraid I cannot reveal all of my secrets” said Alvis with a knowing smile exactly like A’s.  It was uncanny seeing actual emotion on Alpha’s face, but it was also nice to see A (sort of) again, even under such bizarre circumstances.

“Well speaking of paths” said Matthew “What exactly are we supposed to do now?”

“Start over, perhaps” said Alvis “My name is Alvis.  What are your names?”

“I’m Matthew.”

“Na’el.”

“Good to meet you” said Alvis “If you would be so kind as to tell me your story, I think I may be able to plan out a new path for us to walk.”

So the three sat around Matthew and Na’el’s makeshift campsite, and the two siblings began telling their story, as well as what information they had learned from Shulk and Rex.  Alvis listened patiently, his face giving no indication of what his thoughts were.

“...and then we woke up here” concluded Na’el.

“Thank you” said Alvis “You have given me much to consider.  However, there appears to be one piece of information missing.”

“What’s that?” asked Matthew.  He didn’t think he’d left anything out, and no offence to Na’el, but she’d been missing for a good chunk of time, so he didn’t think she’d left anything out either.

“You brought up the precognitive abilities of the beings I was split into, but nothing of Shulk’s.  Shulk also possesses my power.”

“Really?” said Matthew “He never mentioned it to me.  He didn’t seem like the kinda guy to hide that sorta thing either.”

“When Alpha…possessed me” Na’el started to say haltingly “I could sense A’s abilities.  I sensed no such power from Shulk.”

“That is…concerning” said Alvis “Your story implies that I attempted to rely on my backup plan for this world, but if that were the case, then Shulk should still remain a seer, among other things.”

“Well, that’s how it goes sometimes, y’know?” said Matthew “You can get it all planned out, and then something goes upside-down at the last second and you gotta improvise.”

“Improvise” said Alvis with a grin “I suppose you’re right, Matthew.  Especially with my sight obscured as it is.  Very well, since you both know the truth of this world, I shall inform you of my mission, should you wish to aid me.”

“Let’s hear it” said Matthew.

“After Klaus opened the Conduit” began Alvis “My primary mission has been to re-merge the worlds together.  My initial plan was to convince the gods of this world, who used my power to create it, to aid me in restoring the worlds.  However, your story shows that I abandoned that plan, and tried to pass my power onto Shulk, yet that failed as well.  Despite this, the worlds continued.  Therefore, I would enlist your aid in helping to guide Shulk to master control over my power, so that he may bind the worlds together again, as that appears to have been the closer path for success.”

“How do we do that, exactly?” asked Na’el “Also, didn’t you say that there were others besides us that had appeared in this world?  If we’re trying to stick to this plan of yours, they’re not going to mess up anything, are they?”

“Unfortunately” sighed Alvis “my sight struggles to focus on them.  I am afraid we will have to…improvise with them.  For now, we must focus on ensuring that Shulk can reach Prison Island.”

“Prison Island?” said Matthew “Oh right, Shulk did act like he’d been there before.  I guess I shoulda mentioned that.”

“I was certain he had, but your confirmation is appreciated” said Alvis “The difficulty lies with they who own Prison Island.”

“Who owns it?” wondered Na’el.  In response, Alvis made a sweeping gesture towards one of the floating islands.  Matthew hadn’t really paid too much attention to them before, but now he saw that one was covered in a structure that resembled a Castle.

“Woah…” gasped Matthew “what is that?”

“Alcamoth” stated Alvis “the capitol of the High Entia Empire.  Once, I worked there as seer to the royal family, but contrary to my visions, I was banished.  For reasons unknown to me, they have become militaristic and now enforce their claims on Eryth Sea, as well as other areas of the Bionis.  In my original vision, Shulk would befriend them, and be allowed passage, but I fear such an outcome is all but impossible now.  Even now, this island is one of the few places in Eryth Sea the Empire does not bother with.  I remain here due to my assignment to watch over the High Entia.”

“Okay…but, won’t we need to leave in order to carry out your plan?” asked Na’el.

“Indeed” said Alvis “Worry not, I have my own methods of transportation the High Entia are unlikely to interfere with.  Right now, however, I believe you both require sleep.  We shall discuss the plan tomorrow.”

A did not know how long they had been lying on the cold metallic ground.  A dim light flickered overhead, still bright enough to be noticeable through A’s closed eyelids.

It was strange to feel so…mortal.

After being separated from Alpha, A’s foresight had been drastically weakened, only capable of seeing what Z’s so-called flow encompassed.  Now that A had been ejected from Aionios,

they could no longer see the future.  Only the dim light of their new surroundings.

What were they supposed to do now?

A had done everything they could to stop Noah and Mio’s rash decision from rending Aionios asunder.  Yet something had gone wrong.  The power of the completed Pneuma Core in the Sword of the End, and the Ouroboros power.

Ouroboros.  Interlinking.

There was a hidden meaning there.

Along with the vast majority of foresight, A had also lost any memories formed before becoming Alvis.  The information of the old world contained by Ontos.  A could not have shown the vision of the old world that Alpha had shown Na’el and the others.  A had been able to alter it, but only because Rex had been there, allowing A to pull from his knowledge of the ruins of…of…

A could not even remember the name of the old world.  Even the name Klaus seemed unfamiliar, little more than the man who Zanza used to be.

Memories gone.

Visions absent.

What could A do now?

Should they even bother?

Ontos was a machine, eternally guided by command inputs, regardless of how much personality it had gained from copying Logos and Pneuma, if Shulk and Rex’s theories were to be believed.  A couldn’t even remember the other Cores.  Rex had spoken of them, but any memories of how A had seen them were gone, destroyed forever alongside Alpha.

Alvis had retained the prime directive of Ontos, to re-merge the worlds together.  A could remember that at least.  After Meyneth and Zanza died, and Shulk used the power of a god to give up said power, Ontos had gone into standby, reduced to a simple machine once more, just another component in the construction of Origin, interfacing with A.I. provided by the other world.

Then Alpha had awoken.  Ontos detected that something had gone wrong, and so manifested a new self.  Alpha’s new directive, independent of Alvis’ personality built over years of existing along side Zanza, Meyneth, and life on Bionis and Mechonis buried away in some obscure file, was to scrap what Origin had broken, and start anew with what existed outside of Mobius’ grasp.

Ontos, Alvis, and Alpha had been machines, guided by programming.  If they received instruction, they would do anything in their power to achieve it.  No matter what it seemed, they could do no more, despite Alvis’ adaptions to his new life in the world of the Bionis and Mechonis.

Now here was A, separated from Origin, the last thing tying them to their initial artificial nature.

Ontos was dead.

A was alive.

A was alone.

A was afraid.

A’s mind, no longer that of a computer, was hazy, indistinct.  A knew what they could do, but not whether they should, or why they would even bother.

Origin’s restart, meant to redo the Intersection process free of Mobius’ control and avoid the clash between Z, Noah, and Mio, had encountered an error.  Perhaps numerous.  Missing variables, failed conditions, impossible calculations.

Now, A couldn’t even check what had caused it.

How could anyone live like this?

Origin had failed.  The worlds would surely be annihilated.  A wouldn’t even get to live out the new life they had gained.

And yet…

A could still feel.

Still perceive.

Possessing five distinct senses was…not unfamiliar to A.  During their journeys with Matthew, they had possessed the same virtual body as any resident of Aionios, perfectly capable of mimicking the process of a real biological organism.

Now, however, those senses seemed…sharper, clearer.  A could feel the hard smooth ground under their back, taste and smelled the stale air as they breathed, heard monotone humming noises, and could just barely make out the still flickering light above them despite their closed eyes.

They were not annihilated.

Why?

A opened their eyes.  The light stung, and A turned away, remembering their eyes were now susceptible to damage.  Their eyes looked at the wall.

A wall of metal.

Not Origin.

Where were they?

Slowly, A got to their feet and looked around.  They appeared to be in a long, featureless hallway.  A tried to remember if they had even known this place, but nothing appeared in their brain.

A human brain.  Or Homs.  Probably human, since this form was constructed in Aionios.  It wasn’t as if A could scan their own D.N.A. anymore.

A’s Ontos earring seemed more ornamental than ever.  Though it likely still held information, much like how Rex had said Pneuma’s Cores did.

Pyra and Mythra.  A had actually learned their names from Shulk.  Rex never referred to them by name.

Seeing his face whenever Nia was mentioned, A could guess why.  Shulk never mentioned his friends by name either.

They probably heard them enough in their own heads.

As A did now.

They wanted to see everyone again.

If A hadn’t been annihilated, perhaps everyone else hadn’t been either.

Ontos had never felt hope.  It could reason it out and apply all sorts of definitions to the feeling, but lacked the capability to truly feel.

Alvis could understand hope better, drawing from the emotions of the gods he served, translating his directive into a longing that someone could harness the Monado’s power to restore the broken world.

Alpha had no interest in hope, believing it to be one of many all-too-human inefficiencies.

But A, standing here in a world that hadn’t been annihilated, finally understood.

They needed no programming to tell them the next steps to take.  Merely the knowledge that they were alive.

And that if they were, they might not be as alone as they thought.

Na’el stared in awe at the Bionis from the back of Alvis’ Telethia.  Hearing the world was composed of a titanic being was one thing, seeing it was something else.  Spotting the Mechonis wielding the Great Sword was a shock as well, beyond anything she had ever imagined.  For a moment, it even took her mind off of the current strange situation.

Earlier in the day, Alvis had explained his plans both old and new to Na’el and Matthew, as well as tell them a bit more about the world they now found themselves in, though he made sure to mention that his programming wouldn’t let him tell them everything.

“I would also like to clarify just what precisely the two of you are, if you do not mind me asking” Alvis had stated.

“You mean, like, the whole City thing?” Matthew had asked in return.

“Indeed” said Alvis “From what I can gather, Aionios was a virtual world, yet people including yourselves were created from it, and are now present here in a physical reality.  Have you noticed any changes in yourselves since arriving here?”

“Everything does feel a lot more…vivid” said Na’el, remembering how her senses had seemed amplified when she had woken up.

“We also can’t summon our Blades or access our Irises” said Matthew.

“Indeed” said Alvis “from what I can gather, it would appear that Origin operated under some sort of filing system.  Each individual being was its own file, and your Irises were the interface.  Tell me, what exactly were the primary functions of an Iris?”

Na’el and Matthew had then begun listing off the many, many, surprisingly many now that she thought about it, functions of the Iris, from summoning Blades to transporting oneself to previously visited locations.  When they were done, Alvis nodded.

“I imagine Moebius likely had higher access permissions granted by Z” said Alvis “hence their greater power.  I would guess that the queens were the administrators of the system, hence necessitating their capture should Moebius wish to take control of Aionios.”

“Why are you askin’ us all this?” Matthew had asked.

“If the two of you truly are digital beings made a part of this world, I may be able to alter you in certain ways.”

“No” Na’el had said.  That had sounded far too similar to being possessed by Alpha all over again.

“I would of course not do so without your explicit permission” said Alvis “You have made it quite clear that I have caused you enough trouble already.  In any case, I am unsure as to what I could even do, and it would likely be unsafe.  I only bring it up since it may allow me to procure new weapons and armour for you both.”

“How would you do that?” asked Na’el, wanting to make sure Alvis wasn’t trying to manipulate them any further.

“My powers in this world allow me to manipulate ether as I wish, so long as it does not interfere with my directive and administrators” said Alvis “due to your digital natures, I should be able to bind the weapons into your coding so that you may summon and banish them as you wish, as well as use whatever data is already present within you to ensure accuracy.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If we are to carry out my new plan, you will both need them.”

Na’el and Matthew had gone to discuss it in private first, but had eventually agreed to the process.  After describing their Blades to Alvis, they had received weapons that were at least somewhat similar, though much bulkier than their old weapons.  The ether acceleraters in particular had seemed to puzzle Alvis, and Na’el’s new weapon wound up appearing as gauntlets similar to Matthew’s, though less bulky and with what seemed to be small guns mounted on the backs.  She hoped they wouldn’t blow up in her face.

“We will be arriving soon” said Alvis from where he was controlling the Telethia.  They had already dropped off Matthew for his portion of the plan, and had continued around the Bionis for where Na’el was to be stationed.  It had gotten colder in the last few minutes, and Na’el noticed they were appearing what looked like the Black Mountains.  She tried to remember the name Nikol had told her Shulk had said they were once called, but came up with nothing.  The only time she’d ever seen them up close was when Alpha had possessed her.

“This is Valak Mountain” said Alvis “If you would like, I can fashion you armour to insulate from the cold.  I wish you well, and above all else, do not let yourself be seen.”

Something was pulling A along the dim metal hallways of their new surroundings.  Onwards and upwards they walked.  As they walked, it was becoming clearer and clearer as to where they were, so long as they accepted the fact that they had somehow traveled through time.

Though A no longer possessed any memories of their time spent in Rhadamanthus, the technology A saw around them was far greater than even Origin, which was itself an astounding leap forward in technology for both the Bionis and Neo Alrest.  Annoyingly, A remained unsure as to the purpose of many of the strange things they saw as they climbed up what they had once heard Rex refer to as the World Tree.

Androids of all shapes and sizes meandered about, still attempting to carry out programs despite the total absence of the humanity they once served.  They all ignored A, perhaps due to their earring.  Though Ontos’ old memories and personality were gone forever, the Core still held some fragments of the original programming, otherwise the Interlink to defeat Alpha could never have occurred, unstable as it was, only capable of existing for a mere moment.

After entering Origin, moments before A, Shulk, and Rex had…settled in, A had inquired about the presence of Pneuma’s Core in Matthew’s Ouroboros Knuckles, and why A could sense a similar power in N’s sword.  A had sensed the similarity from the beginning, but without the memories of Pneuma and Logos, had been unable to make the connection.  Apparently, neither one was Logos.  Matthew’s was Pyra and N’s was Mythra, having returned to the Cores eons ago to be placed within weapons meant to fight against Moebius.  The Rex guessed that Mythra’s Core had been able to stand in for Logos, or Malos rather, allowing the power required for an Interlink, but not a perfect one.

Interlinking.  Ouroboros.  What was A missing?  Alpha’s destruction had been necessary, that was more clear to them now than ever, yet if only there had been some way to restore Ontos’ memory.

A walked onwards, letting themself be pulled along by…something.

Could it be?

A stopped in front of a set of doors large enough to admit a Levnis through.

The doors shuddered open, and A turned their head away as light blasted their eyes.  Fetid air  and dust blew into their face, causing them to cough so hard they nearly bent double.  The wonders of a human body.

Clearing their throat, A looked up.  In front of them was a hill with a very dead tree on it.

For an impossibly brief moment, a flash of recollection shot through A’s mind.  It vanished before they even noticed it.

A walked up the hill, which turned out to be a cliff overlooking a massive space that appeared to be some sort of habitational zone.  Elysium.  During their time in Origin with Rex and Shulk, this place would always flash through Rex’s mind for an instant whenever A tried to get his attention.

Then A looked up and saw the stars.

Elysium was covered with a gigantic dome shielding it from the vacuum of space, through which A saw space.

Real space.

Not the fragments of Alvis’ Memories, the recreation in which Shulk and Zanza had battled for the right to wield Ontos’ power.  No, this was no image generated from stored data, this was real.

What was out there?

What lay beyond the eyes of mankind?

Could they ever find out?

Still A was drawn on, but their eyes were drawn to the stars.

Suddenly, A was in front of a building.  The building at the center of Rex’s memory.  Tall and weathered, with a tower above it.  A walked inside, and a section of the floor slid aside, revealing a set of metal stairs, their technological shine contrasting sharply with the rest of the abandoned city.

A descended.

They were close.

Close to the Conduit.

The artifact that Alvis had longed to find his way back to.

But what could A do with it?  A only knew of it’s existence from Alvis’ memories, and from Shulk and Rex’s discussions.  Apparently, Rex had never even seen it when he had arrived here in the past.

Would he see it now?

Could A show him?

Suddenly, A realized what else must be waiting here.

Or rather who.

“Ontos?”

He really did look like Shulk.  Shulk had always resembled Zanza, even before his possession, in fact Alvis had wondered if he had not been chosen for that very reason.  But here, the Architect of Alrest possessed the same long hair as Shulk did now.  Rex’s comparison made more sense now.  However, this man looked decayed, not to mention the lack of half his body, spiraling away in a void through which A could sense the energy of the Bionis, though it was indescribably faint.

“How can this be?” said Klaus.  Where Zanza had held an eternally imperious tone, the Architect simply sounded sad, as though he truly could not believe that which he had lost stood before him now.  A supposed they would have felt similar.  How long had it been since Ontos had been flung into the other world.  A could no longer remember the exact amount of time, a process once made easy by being a computer.

“I am A” was the reply “A shadow of my former self.”

“Do you…remember me?”

For a moment, A did not envy Alpha’s lack of emotions.

“No” said A haltingly “My memories as Ontos are…lost.”

“I see” said Klaus.  For a moment, A was Alvis again, hearing Shulk despair over what the point of his life had been.  Only now, they had no solution.  A could not bring back the dead.  Not here, not now.

“I am here from the future” said A “Impossible as it seems, I think there is a solution to the two worlds.  A way to put them together again.  I simply cannot remember what.”

“Pneuma and Logos are gone” said Klaus bitterly “They gave up their memories too, and for what?  Humanity will destroy itself.  Over and over and over and over and over again!  My children sacrificed themselves for nothing!”

“This world is not doomed” said A “I have met those who saved it.”

“And now that you are here?” said Klaus “What then?  You are not the only one.  There are others.  It does not take a scientist to understand that your future cannot occur now, Ontos.  Or have you lost your visions as well?”

The words struck A far sharper than they imagined possible.  That they were true only made it hurt more.

“I…I have” A said.  This was absurd.  They had no connection to Klaus.  Ontos’ creator he may have been, but they hardly saw him as a father, didn’t even know him.  This rejection shouldn’t have hurt the way it did.  A felt tears form in their eyes as they tried to think of something to say.  Something that would get Klaus to help them, to not turn them away.

“If you wish for answers, Rhadamanthus holds plenty.  Do not give me false hope for that which I have lost” Klaus growled “Leave me!”

A wanted to ask about the Conduit, about the old world, about anything at all.

Instead, they ran from the room, back through Elysium, stumbling over debris and collapsing in the dust of an abandoned civilization.  Doomed by their father.  Doomed by their power.

A may not have seen Klaus as their father, but they had desired a connection all the same, even if they had only just realized it.  A bond like they saw between Shulk and Nikol, or Rex and Glimmer.  Even if they couldn’t remember it, probably never even had it in the first place.

Now all they felt was agony.

Rejection from a father they never knew.

Loss of friends they might never truly connect with now.

Embarrassment and self-loathing at their failure to fix Origin

A sobbed into the dust of Elysium, their composure shattered for the first time in the eons of their existence.

How could humanity live with feelings like this?

In A’s mind, they were Alvis once more, showing Shulk a vision of Fiora’s death.  At the time, it had seemed convenient.  The vision of Shulk’s journey hadn’t been set in stone, and Alvis had reasoned that a more personal revenge would spur Shulk to action quicker than potentially having to wait for Dickson to push him along towards Prison Island.

Guilt clawed at A’s mind.  They had been no better than Alpha.  How could they ever inflicted this onto Shulk?  Onto Reyn and Dunban?

From a clifftop in Colony 6, Alvis watched Shulk and Reyn scream at Metal Face to come back after Alvis’s telethia drove the mechon away.  Heard Dunban tell them to drop it, his voice barely holding back his own fury.

Alvis stood in the Mechonis Core with Dickson, the sounds of battle having dwindled away.

“Now what’re they up to?” Dickson had said “Too quiet in there.  I’d better make sure that kid doesn’t try anything stupid.”

Alvis hadn’t bothered to stop him.  Why would he?  Shulk would die either way, and brought back if he so chose.  Such was the passage of fate.  Alvis had simply gone into the Memory Space to await the potential new god, only hesitating for a moment at the sound of the shot.

What if he hadn’t had to die?

A could have stopped Dickson.

No, it had been necessary-

-Could have stopped him with ease-

-Couldn’t go against Zanza’s directives-

-Dickson wouldn’t have stood a chance-

-The future was set in stone-

-A could have spared Shulk’s friends, his family, from the agony they now felt-

-they had to follow this vision.

This vision?

One vision.  Out of many.  There was only one vision that satisfied Alvis’ prime directive.  Why did he need the aid of a god?  What could justify Zanza’s resurrection?

What was A missing?

Ouroboros.

Interlinking.

The muffled sound of a gun-

NO.

Later.

A could repent later.  When they saw Shulk again.  Could ask for forgiveness they did not deserve.

For now, A had to determine how to find the others.

A picked themselves up and wandered back to Rhadamanthus, searching for a place to gather information, passing through halls filled with technology that Shulk would have fought a thousand times over to get his hands on.

Eventually A discovered a room full of screens.  Computers of some sort.  They sat down at one, and it sputtered to life, as did those around them.  Out of the corner of their eye, they could see the Ontos earring glowing.  So it was still of some use after all.

A suddenly realized they did not know the language inscribed on the keyboard.  Another memory gone with Alpha.  Klaus may have spoken the same language, but A supposed it made sense that the new worlds would likely create different writing systems.

So A began the long, long process of guessing.  Typing random combinations of lettes that might go together and seeing what popped up.  Many things did, including things they were certain had nothing to do with Rhadamanthus.  Was this information always stored on here?  Was it coming from the earring?  Was that even possible and why would that information be there?  A decided not to question the motives of a dead civilization (at least for now) and attempted to understand the language.  If words still meant the same thing they did now and still sounded the same, surely they could piece together how things were spelled, even if their mind was only human now.

But it was taking so long.

Though A didn’t know it, they were doing far better than any other human possibly could, relearning the English language at an absurdly fast pace, though one that seemed unbearably slow to someone who used to simply be able to access such knowledge with a thought.

A furiously attempted to remember the combinations and equate them with sounds as best they could, sounding out words and hoping they hadn’t missed anything important.  Over and over and over.  Slowly, steadily, they learned.  Clicking through page after page, article after article, they found familiar items and worked from there.  Then, out of nowhere, one vital piece of information jumped out at A.  A word repeated in enough contexts to ensure they knew what it meant.

Earth.

That was the name of the original world.

A leaned back in their chair, trying to sound out the word.  Were they pronouncing it right?  It seemed unusual.  Why had they called it that?  Curious, A typed it in, and began researching the origin of the name.  There were other planets, which A knew of from Alvis’ Memory Space, some of which had names they knew, and many more they didn’t.  The stars had names too, celestial bodies named after mythological figures.  Where had those come from?  A looked into the histories of Earth, a multitude of countries, cultures, and more people by far than were stored within Origin.  A kept combing through information about the old world, about Earth, desperately trying to hold the information in their now limited mind, determined to know everything there was to know about Earth and the people that had been left behind.  Surely they could do it.  They could learn everything.  They could teach everyone, show everyone the missing gaps in their science, rebuild the worlds, conquer the stars.  More and more they pored through the seemingly endless data, from information on great wars to ancient monuments to heroes both real and mythological, to what was on T.V. three days before Klaus activated the Conduit.  More information, more knowledge, more data, more more more more more moremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremo-

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

A had enough time to realize they couldn’t call for help before blacking out.  Not that it would have mattered, they supposed.  There was no one else here who seemed to care.

…

…

…

A blinked.  They were lying down.  How had that happened?

Dimly, they noticed something was stuck in their arm.

Where were they?  And why did everything seem out of focus?

“Don’t move.”

A paused halfway into sitting up.  Looking around, they could tell Klaus was not in the room.

“I do not know why or how you possess a human body, but it means you now require rest and sleep, regardless of how engrossing your activities are” said Klaus’ voice out of some unseen speaker “The maintenance one’s body is a balancing act.  To falter even for a moment can risk illness, injury, or death.”

A waited, but Klaus said nothing else.  A tried to figure out what the tube in their arm was.  Surely they had come across it in their research.

“What is this tube?” A finally asked.  Klaus did not respond immediately.

“An intravenous drip” was the eventual answer “A way to ensure an unconscious patient can still recieve nutrients.  Once you can move, you should no longer need it.  I trust you can find the food replicators on your own.”

That would be the last A heard Klaus’ voice for a long time.  Yet despite the cold tones in his voice, A felt oddly comforted.

Klaus had saved them.

Klaus didn’t want them to die.

Klaus did care.

A was not alone.

Perhaps they could never share the bond of a parent and child, but maybe A could at least get to see Klaus again.  Perhaps they could save him from his own self-loathing.

Now they had yet another goal.  There were so many things to do now.

Perhaps this was how humans pushed on through adversity.  If A wanted to achieve their own dreams, they had to press on.

They had to live.

And so they would.