"A Past Life with Nia" returns with bonus chapters! Continuing this story was only a matter of time since there were a few loose ends leftover from the main plot. In the past, I had everything written and completed before I started sharing the story. From this point onward, however, I will share each bonus chapter as I finish it.
To summarize this story which is set roughly 100 years before the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nia is the Blade of a young mercenary and treasure-hunter named Remi, my original character. Remi's gender and appearance aren't specified so that you can put yourself in this role. Hagan is their home village, Sollerta is the nearby town with their mercenary camp, Dosilla is an aristocratic city in ruin, and Prudentia is the Titan on which these locations exist. I've imagined its landscape to be like any old grassy countryside with quaint little villages here and there.
This story contains some lemon which I try to keep tactful and relevant. The OC's thoughts are written in (parentheses). This chapter takes place eight months after the previous chapter. Here we find Remi and Nia on a vacation in Leftheria. Thank you for reading!
Chapter 15 "Setting the Stage"
~ FONSETT RESIDENTIAL AREA, of Fonsett Village in the Leftherian Archipelago ~ [Eight months later, now in the year 3964]
"Happy birthday Remi!" I had just opened the curtains when Nia wrapped her arms around me from behind in a warm, morning embrace. "Feel any different?"
"No, not really." I put my hands over hers and stared at our reflection in the window. "Nobody really feels older. Aging is so gradual that it goes unnoticed. I suppose you Blades don't have to consider that."
"True. Physically I'll always be the same." She kissed my neck which sent a shiver down my spine. "When would be my birthday, then? Would it be when the Architect conceived me? Would it be when I resonated from my core last?" I turned around and she looked at me like I had all the answers.
"That's a good question. Between us, it has to be when we bonded, right?" She seemed satisfied with that. "Regardless, in two months, it'll be one year since that fateful day when we met in Dosilla."
"A whole year, eh?" Nia folded her arms and stared at the floor for a moment. "That'll make me only a year old, then."
"I guess. It sounds weird when you put it that way, though. Either you'll be one year old between us or over four hundred years old from when your core crystal was originally created." Indeed, my partner standing in front of me very likely existed during the Aegis War, but I never saw her as an artifact nor a historical figure like the Aegis. To me, she was always my dearest Nia.
"So, what shall we do today? It is your birthday, after all." We both looked outside to the village streets.
"Let's take a stroll through Fonsett." I put on a coat and fixed my hair in the mirror. "You know me. I don't need anything fancy. Just some quality time with you." Nia's smile was as bright as the sunlight beaming in behind her.
"Very well. Lead the way." She followed me out of the house which we were renting for our vacation in the Leftherian Archipelago. All of the houses in Fonsett looked rather unusual with their whimsical shapes and high rooftops. (Every village has its own style, I suppose.)
This vacation was well-deserved. Following my near-death experience in Mor Ardain, I was left with a fragile body and an even more fragile mind. Ironically, I had helped to rebuild a therapy center on our home Titan Prudentia for drivers and Blades, so it only seemed natural to volunteer myself as its first new patient when it opened a month after the incident. Since I curated the revival project in the first place, admittance was free to me, anyway.
Nia and I learned a lot from the recovery program, from basic partnership counseling to deeper practices to counter my anxiety and paranoia. While our teamwork on the battlefield was as good as it was going to get, our relationship had some room for improvement, particularly in how we had radically different goals in life. She always looked for new things to try and new ways to improve herself while I was content to live my life in a safe routine. The program ran for half a year and conveniently ended a few days before my birthday. This vacation to the Leftherian Archipelago seemed like a nice way to cap it off.
"This place is so peaceful," Nia put it simply. The birds were in full song with the return of the spring season.
"Hagan is peaceful, too, but in a different way." I took a moment to appreciate the scenery. "I'll admit, though, our home village feels a little plain compared to Fonsett with all of these trees." (Honestly, all of Prudentia feels plain with no forests to speak of.)
"It's not just the trees, Rem." She pointed to the beaches just past the village. "We're on an island, here. Everything feels so fresh."
"Yeah… hard to beat having beach access in all directions," I admitted. "After lunch, we should go and check them out."
"Whoa… hang on, Rem. What's that, way out there?" Nia pointed beyond the beaches to a mysterious creature swimming on the Cloud Sea. It looked like a small Titan, the kind that are normally used to carry ships. This one, however, had nothing on its back.
"Aye! You must be talking about Azurda," a villager informed us. We turned to meet this person as she opened up her market stall. "Not to worry, kids. He's sworn to protect us."
"Really? You have your own village guardian?" I asked incredulously and jealously. "I'd sleep so much better at night if we had one of our own."
"You could say that," the villager agreed, "although around these parts, when people say 'village guardian,' they refer to the giant statue just south of here. They say it houses the spirit of the Hero Addam which watches over us."
"I see. You folks are well-covered, then." I continued to observe the Titan before it disappeared in the misty background.
"Right. Now would you two be interested in any of my wares?" The villager had finished preparing her stand and wasted no time.
"Hmm…" Not wanting to be impolite, I took a quick gander, expecting to find nothing of interest. "Got anything inherently Leftherian?"
"I have a fine selection of pottery, and they're made right here in Fonsett." She directed me to the back of her market stand.
"You go on ahead," I shouted to Nia. "This won't take long."
~ FONSETT ISLAND, later that afternoon at the nearby beach ~
Nia and I enjoyed the most carefree of days. It wasn't long before we started to feel like locals of Fonsett rather than the tired tourists that we were. We spent the afternoon at the beach south of the village where the cloud sea laid its fluffy fringes on the pristine white sands.
"My gosh, Nia. If only every day could be like this." I stretched out on the banks of sand and looked over to Nia who sat with her boots off, knees up, and arms around her legs. She was close enough to the shore that the cloud tide occasionally rose high enough to reach her. "I suppose this is the life that we can look forward to when I retire."
"Yeah…" She seemed lost in thought. "It's hard to believe that life can be so different depending on the Titan you're on. These people have it so easy, especially when I think of places like… Mor Ardain. Can the Ardainians really be okay with staying rooted to a daunting desert?"
"Most of them probably have family there that keeps them from leaving," I surmised. "I don't have any family left, so we're not rooted to anywhere. We can go wherever we want."
"Have you really got no one else left?" Nia looked at me sympathetically.
"Sad but true." It wasn't something I liked to think about. "I've got you, though, and I'm grateful for it. You may not be family, but you may as well be with how… uh… how close we are."
"Oh?" Nia turned toward me and sat on her heels.
"If I married you, then you'd legally be family." I wasn't sure why I said it when I hadn't even considered it before.
"So then why don't you?" Nia's sudden query caught me dry in the mouth.
"Uh… why don't I do what?" I wasn't prepared to answer.
"You know. You just said it! Don't be daft." Her eyes were laser-focused on me and I was sure that she saw the discomfort on my face. She might've even enjoyed seeing me squirm.
"Nia, I would love to marry you, but we can't." I expected her to be disappointed, but her expression didn't change much.
"I 'ad a feelin' you'd say that, Rem," she sighed.
"Hey now, I'm not copping out. In Prudentia, legal matrimony doesn't include drivers and Blades." It was a fact, but at that moment, it felt more like an excuse.
"So then let's move to where it's legal! You said we can go wherever we want!" Nia grinned knowing she'd cornered me with logic. (Sometimes I wish I didn't talk so much.)
"I really don't want to leave Prudentia. Not yet, anyway. It may bore you from time to time, but it's my kind of lifestyle," I explained. "Besides, what would the Echells think? We agreed that your core would return to them when I pass away."
"That's only if you end up not havin' a family of your own." She reminded me of the condition of the agreement we made with the Echell family. "Whatever we do, they'll just have to deal with it. I don't care what they think. I only care what you think."
"Fair enough, but do you actually want to get married, Nia?" I patted the spot next to me and she crawled over to join me on the sand bank. "Frankly, I wasn't sure you knew what marriage was, being a Blade and all."
"Mmm… well…" Now it was her turn to shy around the subject. "I'll admit I haven't really thought about it until now, either."
"I'm not ready for something like that anytime soon. I would really need life to settle down before I would consider it." I leaned my head against her neck as we held hands like hopeless romantics. "Although… I mentioned earlier that in two months we will have been together for a full year. So, in a way, that can be our first anniversary."
"Our first anniversary as driver and Blade, eh?" she cooed. "I like the sound of that."
We stayed at the beach until sunset which was an absolutely gorgeous sight. Spending time with Nia in such a place felt like a dream. I certainly didn't want it to end, but even a vacation destination like this wasn't completely safe in the dark. Before we headed back to the village, I took out a tiny glass jar which I'd bought from the villager and scooped up some of the Leftherian sand.
"What'd you do that for?" Nia asked.
"I want to collect a sample for some research later." She started laughing at my lame explanation immediately.
"You're such a nerd," she teased.
"You're such a labeler," I teased back, ironically. I had an ulterior plan for the sand, but I wasn't ready to tell her about it yet. As with all good things, our vacation eventually ended, and we returned home to Prudentia a few days later.
~ HAGAN, our home village on our home Titan Prudentia ~
Life at home resumed without a hitch. We spent most days going on missions with the Solly Mercs before enjoying cozy, quiet evenings in my little house on the hill. This was the satisfying life that I had always wanted. Each day I thought about our impending driver-Blade anniversary until it was only a week away…
~ SOLLERTA, neighboring town and home of the Solly Mercs ~ [Almost two months later]
"Nice work today, Remi!" Chief Reynold complimented as we put away equipment after another mission was completed. "I reckon we all deserve a good chow after that one."
"Yeah, although it's kind of late. All the good stuff may be gone by now. Nia's already in the mess hall." I found a chair by the admin desk and plopped myself down. "I told her to wait for me."
"Oh?" The chief took his seat behind the desk.
"Chief, I don't know if you know this, but she and I will soon be celebrating our first anniversary as driver and Blade. It's in a week, to be exact."
"Oho! Has it really been a year?" He sat back and put up his feet.
"Yeah, it's crazy how quickly time passes when so many things happen." I didn't care to think how dull my life could've been had I not bonded with Nia. No doubt I would've lived a much safer life without her, but I wasn't about to blame her for the way things turned out, even at the direst of times. "I was curious, and pardon me for asking, but did you and your first Blade ever celebrate your first year together?"
"I'm sure we drank quite a bit. Not really sure anymore. It's been so long, it has." He stretched out his arms and groaned at the strain from exhaustion. "I drank every night back then, so it was probably unlike any other night for Fubuki." He referred to his first Blade, a common female Blade with knuckle claws and the wind element. "I made sure she felt appreciated after I got me head on straight though. You an' Nia gonna do something fun?"
"Maybe. I've been working on a gift for her, but don't tell." The chief gave me the thumbs-up from across the room. "I also want to bring her back to Dosilla, back to the old Kolier Manor where we first met. What do you think? Good idea or bad idea?"
"Not bad, not bad, although you may be running out of time." The chief dropped his feet back down and reached for a map of Prudentia. "You've heard that Queen Sophia has new plans for the 'other side' of the Titan, have you?"
"I'd heard rumors, but I haven't kept up with the news. Something going on with Dosilla?" I got back on my tired feet and joined him at the desk.
"She wants to revitalize the 'other side,' starting with Dosilla." Chief Reynold took out a pen and circled Dosilla City on the map, along with a few other old settlements. "She's funded a massive clean-up effort of these places in hopes of making them attractive to folks looking to move in."
"Really? Dosilla too? It was a right mess last I saw it." I was being too kind with my crude assessment of the old city, for nobody could live there safely in its current state. A lot of stone walls looked as if they were ready to fall with any tremor.
"She wants to make it a tourist destination, like a museum, but outdoors," the chief explained. "And to commemorate its grand reopening, she wants to have a new Blade Pageant… like from the Dosilla of old. Not many folks know that there used to be such an event. I reckon the queen will have to advertise heavily for it."
"I knew about those old pageants!" I exclaimed, like a teacher's pet. "In fact, Nia was supposedly one of its winningest Blades."
"It wouldn't surprise me one bit. She's still the prettiest Blade we've ever had in the Solly Mercs," Chief Reynold complimented with a wink. "I'm sure she'll win again if there is, in fact, another pageant."
"I was inside the old Dosilla Country Club where they held those pageants," I said of my fateful trip last year. "I tried to imagine what an event like that might've looked like, back in the day."
"Hopefully it ain't too decrepit to be repaired for modern use, otherwise the queen's clean out o' luck," the chief commented candidly. "I hear the clean-up crews will reinforce as many buildings as they can and tear down the ones that can't be saved." (I wonder if they'll tear down the Kolier Manor? It certainly didn't crumble over me when I was in it.)
"I see what you mean about running out of time. Any idea when this project will begin? It's important to me that Nia and I pay the city a visit on our special day." The chief shrugged his shoulders.
"I was a trifle put off that her majesty did not ask us for help, especially after our ace renovation project." The chief referred to the therapy center that we fixed up, and it was gratifying to see it listed on an officially-sanctioned map. "I like to think that you had a lot to do with influencing the queen's plan, but she hasn't acknowledged anybody or anything."
"It's fine. I don't desire any extra attention. Besides, Mor Ardain already loves me." Chief Reynold laughed at my modesty.
"Regardless, it looks like she's finally going to do something with all of those old settlements. I'm sure you'll be able to see that old manor again before something happens to it. You know how the higher-ups spend more time talking and less time doing." He rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Thanks, chief. I'm looking forward to the big day." I gave him a wave and turned to leave. "I'd better get back to Nia before she wonders what's keeping me."
I found her in the mess hall with a couple of trays of potato and cheese salad for us. "Well you sure took your sweet time."
"Sorry about that." I took a seat next to her. "Thanks for saving me dinner."
"Sure, sure." She handed me a fork and we dug in. "So, what were you doin' in there?"
"Uh… just talking with the chief…" I answered between mouthfuls, "mostly about a massive revival plan that the queen has for the 'other side' of Prudentia."
"What, again?" she snapped. "Why doesn't she just give up?"
"The chief says it's for real this time. Her majesty already has crews to clean up and rebuild lost towns." I looked over at Nia who smirked at the idea.
"Hope they have fun out there," she quipped. "Better them than us."
"I thought you enjoyed making a difference. If all goes according to plan, then there will be a lot of new space for people to live." I knew that there were plenty of Ardainians who were displaced last year. We got a good look at some of them during our last visit to Mor Ardain. "Besides, there may be a new Blade Pageant at the end of the project."
"Really now?" Her ears perked up instantly. "Just like the ones I won in past lives?"
"Oh, now suddenly it's a good idea, is it?" I poked her and she punched me lightly in return. "They have to fix up Dosilla first. Can't have a good show without setting the stage, you know."
"Sounds easier said than done." She finished her salad and stuck her fork in mine for an extra bite. "I bet it will look completely different when it's done."
"I'm sure they'll want to preserve its ancient, aristocratic image, but you're right, it won't be the same." I took one more bite before I gave the rest to her. "Speaking of which, I was thinking that we'd visit Dosilla again… for our, uh, first anniversary as driver and Blade. We've only got a week to go."
"Now that sounds like an idea that you'd come up with." She pushed her tray aside and scooted closer to me.
"Hey, it's the simple things that please me," I pouted playfully.
"C'mon Rem, I'm only teasing," she reassured with a warm hand on my shoulder. "I like it. I say let's do it!"
"Great! It's a date!" I proclaimed ecstatically. "And specifically, I want to take you back to the Kolier Manor, where we first met. I know there won't be much left to see there, but I'm feeling sentimental about it. I just hope that it'll still be there in a week."
"You're really lookin' forward to this, aren't you?" Nia rested her head on her arm and smiled lazily at me. "Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be a day we'll never forget."
"I want it to be a special day for us." I looked around to make sure that we were the only ones left in the mess hall before I moved forward for a kiss. "I won't let anything get in the way. In fact, as a precaution, we won't partake in any merc missions this week that require us to travel to other Titans. We will have our date in Dosilla and then… celebrate even more when we get back home." She licked her lips deliciously when I said that.
Having made my bold statement, we returned the trays and headed outside to find an armu-taxi back home. I was serious about wanting our first anniversary as driver and Blade to be a special day; and I was serious about not letting anything get in the way. But of course, fate had other plans in store for us.
The following day began like any other day…