I own nothing

I apologize for the time skips in this chapter. I don't particularly like doing them but I had no idea what else to do aside from fluff

Chapter 2: Calm Before the Storm

Rex's POV

"Wow…the Chairman is actually wheeling out the Maelstrom for this job huh…talk about deep pockets…" Rex said to himself as he and Gil stood in front of the massive salvager ship at the docks. They were supposed to leave very soon and from the way everyone was running around, it seemed they would leave even sooner than that.

"Hm…at least we're getting the best vessel…well the best one Argentum owns anyway…" Gil mentioned off handed and Rex looked at him. He was dressed the same for the most part except he had a full white coat on with his hood pulled up for whatever reason. His face was basically shaded now from view, Rex didn't really understand why he did it though. Before he could ask him though he turned his head and on queue…

"Honestly, gawking at a ship…what are you twelve? Wait maybe you are twelve…" Rex fumed a little at those words and turned to face the bratty girl from the other day.

"What's my age got to do with anything? Besides you're not much older than me if at all," Rex declared. Nia crossed her arms at him, unimpressed while her Blade seemed a little embarrassed.

"Yeah well at least I don't go gawking at everything I see…" Nia said snidely and Rex glared at her before he looked down and saw one of the ropes was basically around her leg.

"Yeah, well you better watch where you're standing. Because if anything casts off right now, you'll get pulled off with it or lose a leg…" Rex said and Nia's eyes widened before she jumped away like a cat would from water.

"Nya!" Rex laughed at her reaction and he heard Gil give off a few chuckles of his own.

"Now look who's gawking," Rex joked and Nia glared daggers at him.

"Why you little…" Nia's eyes seemed to flash and Rex thought he saw claws extend from her hands.

"Now now, why don't you play nice," Gil intervened as he stepped up. Nia calmed down at least from Gil's interference and she gave him a look over.

"So I assume you're supposed to be his "brother"?" Nia asked as she crossed her arms again.

"Oh he said that did he? How presumptuous but yes you could say that I suppose…Rex told me you're the one who thinks she's older than she actually is. From what I see that's actually true. Did I miss anything Rex?" Gil asked the last part a little cheekily and Rex laughed while Nia fumed.

"Hmph! I guess rudeness runs in the family," Nia grumbled and surprisingly Gil just reached down and pat her head as if she was a little kid. He ruffled her hair up a bit like one would do to a child and she seemed surprised that he had the nerve.

"Heh, I like her Rex! You have my blessing to pursue him, Nia and you better return it in kind Rex!" Gil boasted as he went off to get on the ship. Rex flushed at his remark and he saw Nia did as well.

"He seems friendly…" Dromarch mentioned and Rex wanted to mention that he wasn't always like that but he was far too embarrassed for that. Nia was too if the way she was staring at the ground was any indication. Hm…she actually looked a little cute like th-NO! Rex shook his head quickly and cleared his throat.

"Ahem! Right well that was Gil; my brother and friend. He's in a good mood now and I think he likes you, I don't know if that's good or bad yet. So…please just leave him alone unless he approaches you," Rex explained quickly and Nia seemed to regain her composure at that and she just turned her nose up at him.

"Hm…" she didn't respond to him. Rex sighed and her Blade strode up and gave him a small bow.

"Forgive my lady again. She means no offense," he said respectfully. Nia seemed like she was going to go off on him again but before that could, Jin came up to them.

"Cease, Nia. You, they say that you're on night watch since you were late," he said briskly but Rex nodded.

"You got it!" he took the opportunity to slip away at that point. He might as well get up to his post now, he didn't want to risk getting stuck in a room with Nia again and he didn't feel like seeing Gil right now since he was probably going to tease him again. Oh well…hopefully no one would need him for a while…hopefully…

Later

Rex sighed as he watched the cloud sea pass by. The day was thankfully uneventful thankfully, no one needed him and he was aloud to just do what he wanted and he didn't get tracked down by Nia and Gil was…actually he didn't know where he was. Thankfully no one bothered him other than getting him to come down to eat so he managed to get away and nothing happened. Still though it does get old just standing around in once place for so long with the only difference being the sunlight going away and being replaced with moonlight. Maybe he should have just sat through whatever teasing Gil would have put him through.

"Its way too cold up here, how come you're not wearing anything else?" Rex turned to see Nia coming up to the post. She was shivering gently and rubbing her arms down.

"Its you," Rex said surprised, she had to know he was up there so why did she come up?

"My name is Nia," she said in an even tone for once.

"Ok then, Nia why are you up here?" Rex asked, genuinely confused.

"Well the others downstairs are getting up to drinking. You should probably go and join them. I doubt they would mind since you've been up here the whole day," Nia said as she went to lean on one of the railings.

"Why don't you join them then?" Rex asked.

"Heh, well its not that I hate it but well having a headache later isn't something I need right now," Nia said a little jokingly. Ok…so this was a bit of a one eighty from how she was treating him earlier. Better not waste this stroke of luck.

"Haha…you wouldn't last long as a salvager then. Swim like a fish and drink like them too, the Salvager Code," Rex said with a small laugh. To her credit Nia didn't scoff but she seemed amused at least.

"Really? Guess I won't be looking to change careers anytime soon," Nia sighed sarcastically. Right like anyone would give up being a Driver.

"Well you probably get paid a lot more than I do since you're a Driver," Rex sighed as he leaned back on the railing to look out at the sea.

"Right then, so…Rex, why did you become a salvager then? I've seen your brother and heard people talk about him; you could probably be working with him if you wanted to. Is he doing something you don't approve of?" Nia asked and Rex shook his head with an amused laugh.

"No, he's not doing anything bad. His business actually helps people and he makes a lot of investments. He has amazing luck with those actually and he knows how to sniff out a snake. That's not really for me though, I wouldn't know a snake unless it told me and well I'm just not cut out for the kind of life he leads even if it's a bit more exciting," Rex explained. Nia made a "hm" sound at that.

"I became a salvager because of the World Tree…" Rex continued as he nodded towards the giant tree in the distance.

"The tree?" Nia asked.

"Yeah, you come across a lot of things when you're salvaging. Some of it is junk and other things are treasure but they're all from people that have passed. I can't help but hope that maybe someday I'll be able to find a way into the tree and climb up to the top and find Elysium," Rex explained and Nia started giggling.

"Elysium? Really? You believe in that fairy tale that they tell little kids?" she asked after she got herself under control. Rex was perturbed though.

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with believing in that right? A place where everyone can live in peace and harmony, a place where we don't have to fight over the land that we're slowly losing. Isn't that something worth believing in?" he asked.

"Well…no one can tell you what to believe in sure…hm…" Nia said, coming back to a more mature tone. She crossed her arms again and her gaze seemed to stare more intently at him like she was trying to see something that might be hidden.

"What?" Rex asked.

"Nothing, its just I've come to believe that people are quite selfish but you…you're not," Nia said and Rex blushed slightly in embarrassment, a compliment from her was new.

"Your parents must be proud," Nia said again.

"I don't know, they're not around anymore," Rex shrugged and Nia's ear seemed to flatten.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" she said softly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not the only one who's lost their parents in this world. When I asked, Gramps and Gil told me that they died when I was very young, I hardly remember them myself really…" Rex explained as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah…your brother must miss them greatly then since he remembers?" Nia mentioned and Rex chuckled a little.

"Well not exactly. Gil isn't really my brother," he said and Nia looked surprised.

"Really?" her hazel eyes went wide at the revelation.

"Yeah, we grew up together and we just stuck together ever since Gramps introduced us, so we're brothers in that sense," Rex explained.

"Gramps? Oh, you mean the one who taught you to use arts?" Nia asked.

"Pretty much. He taught both of us to use arts really and he practically helped raise us," Rex said fondly.

"He sounds like a good person," Nia said with a smiled and Rex nodded.

"He is but he's not like us," he explained.

"Not like us?" Nia asked confused but Rex didn't answer that. He didn't feel like telling her a titan was one of his parental figures in life.

"Well regardless, you're ok kid. Keep those beliefs close, they'll prove…fruitful in your life, I just know it. After all, I would know since I feel a similar way," she explained as she turned around and walked back down to the main deck. Rex sighed as she left before he smiled.

"Well at least that's one problem fixed, now I just need to worry about whatever this job is…"

Gil's POV

Gil smiled as he listened in on Rex and Nia's conversation. He was only messing with Rex when he was teasing him about a crush but now? Well…he would try to help his friend out if he actually went down that path. Still though something felt…wrong.

Gil's smile faded into a scowl as he thought about their "employers". He'd seen them all by this point and the leader and his lackey gave him a bitter taste in his mouth for some reason. Something didn't feel right, actually almost everything about this felt wrong. Azurda had the same thoughts when Gil told him about what Rex got himself into in full detail but instead of breaking off the deal, he wanted Gil to tag along and see what was going to happen. Gil would have preferred to go with his plan but if the old man wanted to let things play out then he would go along with it, for now.

The names of two of their employers, specifically Jin and Malos seemed to set something off in Azurda. Come to think of it, they set something off in Gil too, a big headache like he was supposed to know something about them. Regardless, the old titan didn't shed much light if any. He seemed very…troubled though and if there was one thing Gil respected about him, it was that he feared nothing. If these people were really so scary then why had he commanded Gil to follow them? Why not just pull Rex away from these people if they were so dangerous? Heck why did he practically command Gil to cover his face from them? Things were going in an uncomfortable way and Gil really hoped that Azurda wasn't trying to use Rex as bait.

"What a nice kid…" Gil's head perked up when he heard Nia's voice get closer. He turned and saw her coming down the stairs and his eyes narrowed under his hood. She noticed him of course as she got down the flight.

"Your brother has a good head on his shoulders," she said and he tilted his head slightly.

"Perhaps, though his sense of morality tends to get him in trouble every now and then…he always seems to invite the snakes into the den without noticing…" Gil muttered with an edge. Nia seemed to take offense to that since her eyes narrowed.

"I don't know what you're implying but you should not make assumptions," Nia said as she crossed her arms and Gil merely scoffed as he pushed off from the wall to walk past her but he stopped when he was at her side.

"Remember, Rex said that I can smell a snake but he forgot to mention that I also tend to see them too. I don't trust you or your companions, no matter how much you're paying. I don't care whatever agenda you have but Rex better not be harmed or else…" Gil warned and he smirked when he saw her twitch gently. As interesting as she was to him, she was associated with people that he was told to be wary of and that meant he would have to watch her too. Hopefully this time he was wrong but he found that he seldom was…

Rex's POV

"This ship looks ancient…" Rex said as he pulled his diving helmet off. He and the rest of the crew were currently watching as their prize was hauled up out of the sea.

After yet another uneventful hour, the ship had come to a stop and all salvagers were called down to prepare for a dive. It was rare that Rex was on jobs that required more than two or three salvagers but when he got down there he could see why they needed a crew. The thing they hauled up was a ship, a downed ship to be precise and it was huge, even bigger than the Maelstrom. It would have taken three salvagers forever to attach the inflatables to the ship but they managed to do it all in a few minutes since there was a few of them. Now though that he could see it above the sea, it was definitely something more. It didn't look like any ship Rex was familiar with, it must have been down there for a long time.

"For a piece of junk it looks remarkably well preserved…" Gil said next to him. He still had his hood up for whatever reason even though the sun was down and it wasn't raining.

"Alright, everyone assigned to combat duty come on!" Malos suddenly shouted as the ramp was extended. Rex thought he heard Gil growl in annoyance at the command.

The Drivers and Blades went first while Rex and Gil went next, followed by the rest of the group assigned to the boarding party. They were not impeded at all really as they got on board but when they went to enter the hull, the door opened suddenly, revealing a rather large monster, something far bigger than the usual krabble.

"Watch it!" someone shouted and Rex reached for his sword as the beast strode forth, screeching loudly. Except before it reached them, the drivers sprung forth.

Malos and Nia drew their weapons and their Blades started streaming some form of energy to them, ether probably. They sprung forward past Jin who didn't even move a muscle. The pair of drivers were relentless as they laid their assault. In quick movements that Rex managed to catch, they brought the beast down easily. Rex had never seen a Blade and Driver fight before…that was just…amazing…

"Passable I suppose…" he heard Gil mutter; he didn't even go for a weapon at all.

"More like incredible!" Rex exclaimed and Gil scoffed. Nia seemed to appreciate the praise since she stood tall while Malos seemed uninterested.

"No need to get hysterical, it was a piece of cake," Nia said casually.

"Piece of cake…they killed that thing so fast…it was like they were monsters themselves…" someone else said and Nia glared at the group around them but said nothing.

"Enough, everyone stays here to guard the surface, we'll go inside," Malos announced and everyone around Rex seemed to let out a sigh of relief. Gil just shrugged and was about to turn away and Rex was going to follow him but someone called for him.

"You, you're going in with us," Jin commanded and Rex turned in surprise to see him looking straight at him.

"Me?" Rex asked in surprise. Jin nodded and gave him a "come here" motion. Before Rex could go though, Gil held his arm out in front of him.

"Hold on, if he goes then I go," he stated and Jin spared him a glance.

"No, you will stay up here," he said simply. Gil growled in annoyance and stepped forward.

"I think you misunderstood me. That wasn't a request, it was a statement," Gil said icily and Jin's eyes narrowed slightly. Malos hefted his weapon onto his shoulder as he stepped in front of his leader.

"I think you're forgetting the hierarchy here buddy. We paid you to follow orders not make demands," Malos said and Gil reached inside his coat but Rex grabbed his hand.

"Gil! Its ok, I'll go. Don't make a big deal about this!" Rex shouted and Gil glared at him for a few moments. Rex felt his arm tense as he grabbed ahold of his sword but after another moment he released it and tore his arm away from Rex and crossed his arms.

"Thirty minutes, if you're not back by then I'm going in there," Gil said simply as he stormed off. Rex sighed in relief before he went towards the group of Drivers.

"Hm…that one has guts too, a lot of them too. Taking on a group of Drivers and Blades without even being a Driver himself," Malos said, interested and Rex chose not to state that Gil had something else to use.

"Lets move," Jin said simply as he walked into the ship uncaring. Malos and his Blade followed him in and after Rex and Nia shared a look they followed.

Later

The journey through the massive relic was relatively uneventful, which meant that it was way more eventful than most of Rex's jobs. The ship was falling apart basically, the inside had suffered far more than the outside but that wasn't the main issue. There were Krabble, Jellyfish and other nasty sea creatures down in the hold. If Rex was by himself it would have been difficult to fight his way through all of them but thanks to his new companions every fight was dealt with rather easily, he didn't even have to help out really.

"This looks like the last floor, finally," Malos said as they finally finish their trek through the halls and down the flight of seemingly unending stairs. The base of the ship certainly looked less run down than the rest of the ship, hopefully that meant whatever they were looking for was still salvageable.

"About time, I like fish but not this kind…" Nia muttered and Rex laughed a little. Nice to know those ears weren't just for show.

"Stay alert," Jin said simply, silencing any chatter. They walked through the floor silently as they made their way to…what Rex thought were doors. There was something in front of them, obscuring his vision. It wasn't until they got closer that Rex realized what was really obscuring his vision when it started moving.

"Oh great…" Nia sighed. The thing that started moving was actually a rather large monster, a Megalo to be exact. It was basically a giant shark with four limbs, quite the fearsome looking monster.

"Well we better get to it," Malos said as he drew his sword and ignited it while Nia did the same. Jin didn't make a move; in fact he didn't lift a finger at all in any of the fights so far. Rex felt a little annoyed about that but he didn't have time to really question him about it.

"Right…" Rex thought as he drew his sword and got into his stance. The Megalo roared viciously at them, showing the rows of razor sharp teeth within.

"Hiah!" Malos sprung forward and slashed his blade at the beast. To the Megalo's credit, it had the sense to lean back, something every other monster had not done so far.

"Gemini Loop!" Nia dashed in and hit the beast in the side though, her twin rings cutting deep into the creature's hide. The Megalo roared in anger and pain at the strike and snapped at Nia but Dromarch activated some kind of defense and a shield appeared around his Driver, which reflected the Megalo's attack. Rex saw his moment and sprung in on the creature's exposed side.

"Double Spinning Edge!" Rex spun with his sword twice, delivering two slashes against the creature's hide. They weren't exactly deep but they definitely caught the Megalo's attention since it turned its gaze back on him. Before it could do anything though, Nia literally did a hard uppercut with her blade, knocking it off balance.

"Die!" Malos literally jumped above the monster and slammed down into it's head and drove his blade right through its skull. The Megalo's motions ceased for a moment and then the next moment it slumped down onto the ground, dead.

"Well that was a little exciting," Malos said casually as he hopped down onto the other side of the corpse as Jin simply walked by. Rex and Nia followed after them as they came up to a pair of large doors or maybe it was one big door.

"Look Jin, its Addam's Crest…" Malos said and Rex followed his gaze and saw a blue symbol. It had two long wings surrounding a flame with what Rex thought was a tree in the center.

"Who's crest?" Rex thought before Jin pointed at the door.

"You, Salvager. Open the door," he commanded and Rex looked back to him in confusion.

"Me? Why me?" Rex asked.

"Only one of your people can open it," Jin said simply and that made Rex pause.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Rex asked but Malos cut him off.

"We're paying you to follow commands not ask questions! Do it!" Rex flinched at what he said. He had half a mind to refuse and go back up to Gil but at the same time Malos had a point even if he was being an ass.

"Ok ok…jeez, talk about abusive employers…" Rex sighed as he stepped ahead, he caught Nia's eye as he passed.

"How the heck am I supposed to open this anyway?" Rex asked himself as he stopped in front of the door. He sighed and reached out to touch the symbol and surprisingly it lit up when he touched it and then the door retracted itself and opened up.

"A release switch?" Rex asked, he'd never seen one do that before though. The door revealed a dark hall with icy fog and yet another door at the end of it.

"There should be another door at the end, open that too!" Jin commanded. Rex would have done it out of curiosity even if he didn't tell him too. He went to the end of the hall and he heard Nia and Dromarch follow him in.

"Ok so just like this?" Rex asked as he touched the same crest he saw on the doors. Like before the symbol lit up and the doors split open for him.

"Well don't you have the magic touch?" Nia asked sarcastically. Rex ignored her though since the contents of the chamber behind the doors surprised him.

"Whoa…" Rex ran into the room quickly and stopped when something caught his eye. There in front of him in a clear sarcophagus held up by some kind of machine was a girl.

The girl or young woman looked to be asleep. She had her hands crossed over her chest like she was praying. She was wearing a black under suit with red armor with green gems adorning her armor at least for her top and her arms. She wore a pair of shorts and stockings on her lower body. Her outfit was also lined with glowing green lines. Her outfit was a little showy but Rex was more focused elsewhere. He was more focused on her face. She was very beautiful, the prettiest girl he'd ever seen actually aside from maybe Nia…She had shoulder length red hair and she was wearing green emerald earrings and she even wore a small gold tiara with one of her trademark emeralds in it.

"What's she doing there?" Rex asked and then he felt a shift in the air and he looked down.

"What…" there in front of him, impaled in a pedestal of some sort was a sword.

The sword was red like the girl above and it was at the length of the sword he had on his back but it had no actual blade, so Rex assumed it was supposed to open up and project a blade similar to how the Driver's weapons seemed to work. Rex noted that the material seemed eerily similar to that sword Gil was trying to make work. It even had the same kind of gem implanted into it right above the hilt. Unlike Gil's sword though it was a bit slimmer and one end was a little jagged and the hilt had a guard that went over the hilt to give more protection to his hand.

"…" Rex reached out to grab the sword.

"Don't touch that!" Rex heard Jin's command right as his hand enclosed around the sword. The gem in the blade glowed brightly for a moment and Rex felt…power surge through him that was the only way he could explain it. He drew the sword from the pedestal and gazed at it in wonder.

"Wh-ugh!" suddenly Rex felt a sharp pain in his chest and his ability to breath suddenly cut off. He looked down and saw a slim blade sticking out of his chest, covering in his blood. Then the blade was suddenly ripped from his chest and slashed down on the sword in his hand, shattering it into oblivion.

"Rex!" those were the last words Rex heard before darkness took him and he lost feeling in everything…

Wow this one was annoying to write. Well action is coming up next so don't worry!