Disclaimer: Xenoblade Chronicles X is developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. Nothing belongs to me, but my AU-ish and OCs.

Spoiler warning: You have to at least completed chapter 5 in the video game. Otherwise, keep reading if you don't mind getting spoiled right now.

Chapter 1

The worse thing that could ever happen to anyone is when the city is under attack while taking a number two.

Sirens were heard and the speakers in the room soon followed, "This is an emergency! There are incoming unidentified flying weaponries heading towards the White Whale! All noncombatants must leave to the safety zone and the rest into combat!" Then the announcement quickly repeated.

In the women's restroom, located on the second floor of the administrative tower, someone cursed under her breath and a slam was heard, as if punching the wall. "God dammit, at a time like this?! I just can't—" Suddenly, there was a slight sound of an explosion from afar and the room nearly tilted. "Hell no, we're already under attack...?!" the woman's voice shouted angrily.

On the lower level under the administrative district, the hanger complex, there was already a ruckus going on. Everyone was moving in a heartbeat while a very young girl with short, black hair was raising her hands to the walking crowd.

"Remember, as soon as things start going down, come back here right away!" her voice echoed in the large room. "Seriously, it's still dangerous when the flight modules are not fully developed yet!"

Men and women were getting into the vacant Skells, some nodding the girl's way. "We got it, Lin!" someone waved at her. It was a rushed crowd and some armed Skell already took off out of the hanger.

Lin, a thirteen-year-old girl, smiled a little, yet an uneasy look was written on her face. Hanging from her back was a shield, her melee weapon. Something she prepared right after the earlier announcement. She could feel her heart beating fast once she started to imagine herself having to fight. If she wanted to protect the others, she would have to brave herself.

As if it was a unwanted calling, a loud crash was heard. Loud gunshots were fired and people cried out from the distance. The dust outside flowed right into the hanger complex and Lin backed away while closing one of her eyes. The ground shook as a large, unknown thing just landed in front of the hanger's entrance.

With heads raised, Lin and the other people in the area saw a glowing giant insect that was coated with purple. Its eyes stared at them as it wasted no time in loading energy from its legs, which aimed at them.

Barely having to react, Lin's mouth dropped first.

The next thing that happened was too much of a blur. The ground below her shook violently as she lost her balance and landed on her left side. Her eyes never looked away, however. She saw a silver Skell jumped on the unknown alien and took it out with a few shot of gunfire.

Just as the shots killed the threat, the silver Skell leaped into the air. Lin saw that single glimpse and rushed on her feet. She ran right outside and witnessed the silver Skell shooting at more unknown force of large, purple insects that had invaded the city.

Alone, the Skell charged forward. It took out its glowing blade and slashed through one of the insects, jumping again to fire a powerful shot at the second one. And then with one more leap on a building, with a blast of the engine that fired behind its back, the silver Skell stabbed the third insect right in the center and pushed it high into the sky. The blade even pierced the sky, causing cracks, and soon the both of them broke through it and took it into space.

All over the White Whale, possibly the only interstellar ark that held the last humans from Earth, a war between the Skells and the unknown enemies was happening for the second time since two years ago. The silver Skell that just made its entrance moved onto the others to help out its allies that were being pushed back. It swiftly flew around the White Whale and loaded its gun, firing a large beam at the army in front.

The morale seemed to have increased from such a single fleet of the silver Skell. However, no one knew what really was going to happen next. Too much were happening in such a short time. Struggling to survive, humans continued to fight back against the unknown forces. Countless of shooting kept sparking up the space around them. But this would not last any longer. And none of the combatants knew they were getting closer to a planet next to them.

Soon came the announcement, "Flight Engine A-1 has taken heavy damage! The White Whale is being pulled into the gravitational field of a nearby planet—"

Once more, Lin had fallen off balance. Every person shouted out and screamed. Their ears rung by multiple explosions. Their bodies shook by the rough pull of the gravity. There was nothing to hold onto. No way to help themselves.

Lin closed her eyes and then realized someone shielded her against the ground. She looked up immediately, "...Xue!" A brown-haired man smiled rather reassuringly. She was horrified the second she saw the ceiling right above them start crumbling loudly. "Xue, above y—" She couldn't even say it as soon as he covered her head, embracing for impact.

It was the moment where hope seemed to have gone astray. The hull were breaking into pieces toward the surface of an unidentified planet... This was yet again another memory they wished to erase.

[—]

Two hours later...

"Lin! ...Hey, Lin!" That was Doug's voice. "Get up, Xue! Both of you!"

"Someone, send some medics!"

"Never mind that, Bozé, we'll have to take them there ourselves," Doug grunted. "Those who can still move, help out the others who are incapacitated! Check to see if they are still online!"

Voices were loud and echoing in the hanger. But at least Lin didn't hear any more gunfire. Slowly, Lin opened her eyes. She could feel she was lying on her side, her right face pressed against the cold ground. Even as she felt a little numb, she was able to move her fingers and toes. There were lots of rumbles laying around, some dusts flowing in the air and the wind howled.

As Lin's vision was clearing up, her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. "X...Xue," she murmured. The brown-haired man, Xue Lor, remained unconscious. Most of his lower body were obviously smashed.

"Lin!" Doug saw her and gently helped her sit up. "Thank goodness you're alright!" She moaned in pain and he waited until she got her mind together. "How are ya feeling?"

She now looked up at him and tried to smile. "Still living," she only said.

"I'll take Xue to the Mimeosome Maintenance Center," Bozé's voice was behind them.

Doug looked over his shoulder while Lin was still out of it, touching a bump on her head. She wasn't too concern with herself and begun thinking of the others. Her eyes popped open at the thought and questioned, "Doug, is everyone in their Skells alright? Did we win? Or escape from...?"

There was a hint of frustration, but he tried to smile. "They left," he said. "We did good."

Lin gathered her strength, wanting to stand up. While Doug supported her, he was hesitant on letting her trying too hard on her own. "Any heavy causalities?" she inquired, looking at him directly.

With him holding her arm and her leaning for balance, he answered, "...Plenty." His eyes averted sideways and right back at her. "...I heard we lost the Lifehold Core." Lin's mouth ajar and he quickly told her, "Captain Nagi and the government are currently having their meeting. ...About everything." Whatever that meant.

She couldn't utter a word and slowly looked outside. The sky was dark, but the ray of the sun setting was still there. With baby steps, she walked forward as Doug guided her. The moment she walked outside of the hanger, her mouth dropped even more.

Slowly, two unknown monster-like creatures flew in the sky. The sound of their howl was gentle and echoed smoothly. Like a whale's sound. They did look like fishes. Big fishes with beautiful blue fins.

"We landed on another planet with life." Lin turned her eyes to Doug, who was also looking out. He was smiling a little and said, "I checked around for a bit, looking for anyone else who might ended up somewhere... I couldn't help but stare too." He now seemed serious and brought his eyes down to her. "But take a closer look. We have a lot of work to do."

Of course. She would never miss it. The city was in rumbles. People were injured. Some Skells in ruins. She became determined and walked forward some more. "Well then," she nodded to herself. "Let's get to work."

Doug sighed, "Not in this condition, Lin." He was worried for her, yet they both went out to see if they could help with anything.

Down the road that was supposed to be a parking lot, a tall woman with a mohawk was picking up a pile of rocks with her bare hands. There was a mole under her right eye. She had a rifle hanging on her back and a knife on her right hip. Her hair was silver, the tips aqua green. Her focused purple eyes were fixed as someone under was saying, "Will you hurry it up, Lucille? I'm dying here."

"Why don't you blame yourself for making me eat spicy curry noodles?" Lucille frowned with her deep voice, throwing a big rock to the side. She checked around, in case she ended up throwing a rock at someone's foot. She saw Doug and Lin coming their way and proceed to pick up the rocks. "The city got attacked while I was in the restroom, you know."

"Why would I blame myself when you're the one who lost the bet?" Murderess scoffed. Then she coughed.

The moment Lucille picked up one more, she could see Murderess's annoyed expression. "Huh, your pretty face is finally filled with dirt," Lucille grinned a little, speeding up the aid this time. "Break anything down there, murderer?"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you, baby face," Murderess rolled her eyes. "And it's Murderess."

"Crazy name," Lucille lowly chuckled. Lucille, a woman with a deep voice, had an almost-round face with rounder eyes. Hence why she was called "baby face."

"Need a hand?" Doug called.

Without looking back, Lucille waved, "We're fine, thanks!" She wouldn't want them to meet Murderess like this, who was so cranky at this moment. Actually, maybe all the time... right?

As Lin and Doug walked by, Lucille had already pulled the woman named Murderess out from there. Lucille helped dusted her and Murderess moved her limbs to be sure she was alright. Lin smiled and she proceeded forward to see if help is needed elsewhere.

"Doug..." Lin muttered.

"Yeah?"

Lin seemed so worried, he could feel her shaking. "I wonder what's going to happen from now on. I... I can't even imagine it." The future had always been uncertain since two years ago when Earth was destroyed. The home of humanity for the last four and a half billion of years. She didn't want to show her weak side at a time like this, so she remained strong with every step she took.

And Doug took his steps with her. "Don't worry, Lin," he nodded as she glanced up at him. "We're all here. Like we all promised, we'll find a home no matter how long it takes. Whether it be ten years. Fifty years or a hundred of years. We'll find it for sure."

Lin chuckled now, "A hundred of years is way too long."

"Well then," Doug stopped walking. Lin lifted up her head and he was looking at the sky with a relaxed smile. "Why don't we make this planet our home then? Starting today? I know we saw some weird monsters roaming in the sky, but they don't look hostile."

...Could they be able to? Would it be possible? Lin's eyes watered. Two years was already too long. Every night, she dreamt about a home. Starting today would be too soon for some reason. Or just too good to be true.

"Starting tomorrow morning," Doug quickly corrected with a grin at her. She blinked and returned the smile. "Come on. Let's keep going."

She nodded and followed his lead as her strength was slowly coming back. Right. One step at a time. Towards another tomorrow with her friends.

The image of the silver Skell appeared at the back of her head. The one that charged alone and took down a few number of those purple-looking insects by itself. Lin wondered who was brave and strong. ...So cool and inspiring.

[—]

Two days later...

Among many of the closed pods, Eleonora stood in front of one that was opening. The engine let out rusty sounds, at least it was functioning properly since the attack two days ago, and she smiled at the person inside.

Xue opened his eyes and greeted brightly, "Eleonora!" He walked right out of the machine with a large smile. His legs were fine now, though it wasn't as if he knew about it. He fell unconscious during that time.

"I see you've definitely recovered," she nodded. His legs were as good as new. "I will have to apologize for we didn't have the right parts until last night, Xue."

"Nah, don't sweat it," he grinned, waving down a hand at her. What ever happened, it was surprising enough that they had spares at a time like this. He glanced around. All the hallways were emptied. "It's just you, Eleonora? Mama didn't come see me?"

Eleonora giggled, "Elma has been in meeting for last ten hours now." Xue popped his eyes opened at her. He was shocked that a meeting went on that long. "I heard they're still discussing important matters. Even after the attack two days ago."

"Hah, so hardworking like usual," Xue pouted sadly. Despite his age, he still act like a child. "...I can't believe I was offline for two days..." And what else had he missed? He rubbed his chin, looking at the ceiling. Gradually, he thought about how hungry he was.

"And," Eleonora put her hands behind her back, acting a little cute. "Captain Nagi wishes for you to attend the meeting as soon as you're online. You ought to go now."

Xue gasped, freaked out, "To their meeting?! Why me?"

She walked to his side and patted on his shoulder. "You are one of the lieutenant colonels, you're required to attend," she then gave him a nudge and he stepped forward. "Please make haste. They are in the main conference room."

He tried not to make a face and nodded obediently. "I'm hungry..." he mumbled, but held more complaints in. If he was going to see Elma there, he needed to get his act together. "I know that they know I just can't get to work right away after waking up," he was telling himself. "Uh, I'm sure the meeting is important. I gotta catch up what's going on! Now I'm curious if Lin is okay or not! I need to ask Mama!"

With those positive thoughts, he begun jogging.

Finally at the main conference room, he found that Lao was the only one there, sitting at the large round table. No one else was around.

"Oh, Xue," Lao noticed him when he looked up from a pile of papers. "You're late."

The brown haired man paced further into the room, "You guys told me to come, but nobody's even here!" He was hurt and pointed to Lao's face. "Mama could have waited for me!"

Lao raised one eyebrow, "You can help me get these paper forms together then." Xue was still pointing with his finger and his eyes saddened like an unreasonable kid. Lao waved one of the papers and Xue took them. "There was a huge fight going on down the streets, so Elma volunteered to get their act together. That was three minutes before the meeting ended. They already covered plenty of things either way, though I heard we're still going over some more in the next five hours."

Sitting down together, Xue asked without reading. "So, what happened when I was out?" he curiously asked.

Sighing heavily, Lao set the papers down. "We lost the Lifehold Core..." Xue was shocked, nearly jumping up from his seat. "We're afraid it might lose its power source."

"My gosh!" Xue exclaimed, his hands clapped to his own face. "That's horrible news! Are we going to die?!"

"We," Lao lightly smacked Xue at the back of his head with a pile of papers, "still have the backup system. The Lifehold Core is running on backup."

Xue remain concerned and checked the papers. "Even so..." he let out a heavy sigh. "Well, what else happened? Are we still in space?" He was reading a category and focused on the bold letters that started each paragraphs. He read Pathfinders, Interceptors, Harriers, and... it seemed it was incomplete since Reclaimers was left emptied.

"We landed on some strange planet," Lao casually told him.

"Eh, really?" Xue flipped through the pages. "Hey, Lao, what am I supposed to do with these papers anyway? Is there something I'm supposed to be looking for?"

Uneasily, Lao chuckled, "Uh..." He was trying to read the other set of papers himself. "The Chief Engineer told me whoever comes late needs to catch up with their discussions." Lao came in just a few seconds before the meeting ended. Everyone was in a rush, so Vandham directly ordered Lao to do some late homework. Including Xue, even.

Xue paused and lowered the papers. Slowly looking at Lao, he asked, "...Are we in detention or something?"

Lao nodded, "I'll call it that, yeah." Looking back at him with a smile, he suggested, "You read that part and I'll read these. We can exchange what we learn later, this way'll be faster."

"Haha, sounds good," Xue agreed. "But Lao, I'm gonna have to ask you to help me some more because I'm been out for two days. And maybe everything else that I don't know of."

"Yeah, yeah, hurry it up," Lao tapped his finger on the table, reading as fast as he could.

Xue smiled widely, happy to share the burden. He got up and begun pacing around the room and reading at the same time. The two of them were focused as they could be and couldn't wait to get out of the room to do some action. "...What kind of fight was it? You know, you said it was down the streets?"

Simply answering, Lao said, "Some of the citizens have a little panic attack a couple of times. We did lose a couple of good men since two days. But I say we'll all be fine in the end."

Chuckling, Xue remarked, "As long as we have Captain Nagi, Chief Engineer Vandham, and Mama around, yeah."

"...You have to stop calling Elma that. You're older than her."

Xue grinned and kept quiet. They really needed to scan the paper forms as soon as they could, so no more time to talk. And it was actually nice to be doing some real work since two years ago. Xue was truly getting pumped.

End of Chapter 1

Extra notes:

To pronounce "Xue" it actually sounds like "sue" in English. He's an OC.

Lucille is a Cross. She belongs to my youngest sister, who never got to Chapter 1 of the video game. Main reason, she doesn't live nearby.

Well, thanks for reading!