Rex eyed Vandham carefully as he controlled his breathing. He had been holding back in their fight, but he had still pushed the mercenary harder than the first time. Though, Rex was far from at peak condition during the fight. His mind was scattered, and he had a hard time focusing while fighting his, albeit brief, mentor, even if neither of them meant each other harm.

"You're pretty good, for a shrimp," Vandham smirked.

"And you're not bad for a big oaf, so can we end this and get a bite to eat?"

Vandham suddenly lowered his weapons and let out a large belly laugh, "I like you, kid. Ya got guts. Come on, I'll treat you and your little gang of misfits."

"Can we really trust this guy?" Nia asked incredulously as everyone else save for her and Dromarch stood down and followed the massive mercenary, "He did just attack us."

"Ah, he didn't mean anything by it," Rex told the Gromotti woman as he walked past, "Isn't that right, Pyra?"

"He's right," Pyra smiled as they walked, "I could tell there was no malice behind his actions. He was holding back." Though, not by as much as one might expect.

This just made the Gormotti groan, but she relented and followed along anyway. Apparently, the big lug was in charge of a whole town of mercenaries. Well, he certainly seemed to be the mercenary type, so that at least was no real surprise.

Somehow, he did manage to wrap them up into some mercenary work, and the whole time Rex seemed especially on edge. Something that did not go unnoticed by most of their party. For whatever reason, he seemed to practically freeze up anytime that Vandham guy spoke to him. It had gotten a little better since their short stop in Garfront, but something was definitely off.

Despite Rex's odd behavior, it was clear that Vandham was impressed with how well he handled himself. The older mercenary seemed to have taken a liking to the salvager turned driver for reasons that eluded most of them, though Rex remembered offhand comments about a son. He had not connected the dots at first, but others had and eventually told him. That made Rex even more determined in his mission.

However, that did not change the fact that he needed things to play out similarly to before to get his chance. Though, he was going to need to talk to Mythra again before then.

Before that, he had something else to deal with. He surprised everyone by drawing his weapon seemingly for no reason a few seconds before Akhos paid them a visit.

"My, aren't you eager?" The member of Torna adjusted his glasses, "I assume this means you won't hand over the Aegis willingly."

"Not on your life!"

"Very well, I suppose I'll just have to deal with you and the traitor in one fell swoop."

"W-what?" Nia stepped forward, but Akhos simply laughed.

"You didn't think we'd let get off scot free for betraying us, did you? You can die with the rest of this drabble!"

"I won't let you touch any of them!" Rex was suddenly in front of Nia catching Akhos' weapon.

"Rex…"

"Very well, a minor adjustment to the script can be arranged. Allow me to assist with your early exit!"

"Rex!" Nia regained her composure, "Be careful! His blade can affect the ether in the air."

If Rex heard her, he did not show it as he kept trading blow for blow with Ahkos. He was doing well. Really well. Enough that Akhos was both intrigued and concerned. He had thought that Malos had been embellishing a little to make his failure less of an embarrassment, but, no, the kid seemed to have suddenly grown some skill. Curious, but not something he deemed overly important. He just chalked it up to the Aegis.

"Obrona! Let's end this!"

"Hehehe! End this!" Ahkos' blade let out ether in the form of red waves and immediately everyone felt their connections to their blades dissipate. However, despite the golden band disappearing, Rex regained a slight connection with Pyra through little more than sheer force of will.

"R-Rex! I-I…"

"Don't worry about it," Rex flashed her a quick smile, "You're stronger than you know."

"How are you…" Akhos was both amazed and frustrated. It should have been impossible to keep an ether flow right now, so then how was he doing this? And was he…reassuring the Aegis? Still, he was much weaker now. Weak enough to take advantage of.

"Rex! Look out!" Pyra pushed Rex out of the way just before Akhos' blow came down on her. She took the blade to the shoulder which Rex almost immediately felt himself., but he barely recognized the pain. He was focused on Pyra clutching her bleeding arm. No…she had gotten hurt again…because of him.

"Too easy," Akhos smirked as he prepared for the killing blow, but he was stopped by Vandham shoulder tackling him into a nearby rockface while Roc landed harshly landed on Obrona freeing up the surrounding ether.

"Why dontcha pick on someone your own size!" Behind him, several of the more experienced mercenaries had gathered. It was certainly more than Ahkos had intended to take on.

"Hmm, there are too many actors on this stage. I think I'll take my leave for now, but don't think that this is over."

"Bah! Got away," Vandham growled as Akhos and his blade flet before turning his attention to the kid who was practically cradling Pyra as she picked herself up. He was extremely fond of the girl it seemed. Far more than a usual driver and blade. Well, he knew what young love was like, and while he missed them, he cherished the time he had with his own family while he had them.

That said, something about that wound seemed off in the fact that they had the same wound almost. There was only really the one to judge it by, but something was really off about those two. Something he wanted to see more of.

"Hey," Rex quietly nudged Pyra by the shoulder trying to ignore the gash on her arm. She slowly started to stir and open her eyes. She also guiltily eyed the matching bandage on Rex's arm before avoiding it.

"Mmm, Rex?" Pyra rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was not sure, but she felt sleepier than she used to. She wondered if it had something to do with her and Rex's bond.

"Shh," Rex cautioned, "Keep your voice down. Can you…come with me for a bit?"

"Oh, umm, certainly." Pyra was not sure what this was all about, but she pulled herself out of bed anyway. She found herself a bit anxious as to what Rex wanted to talk to her about. Was it about her failure earlier? He seemed to believe she was stronger. Maybe future Pyra was, but she felt she must have disappointed him so much. However, a small part of her held onto a sliver of hope that maybe he wanted to encourage her, or just…talk.

Rex was not very talkative as he led her outside of the village. The silence only made the Aegis increasingly nervous. While it was only a few minutes, it felt like hours before they were far enough away for Rex to turn and face her.

"Um," The salvager rubbed the back of his head, "Can I speak with Mythra?"

"What?" Pyra was taken aback, but a moment later she realized that she should not have been surprised. She had failed him in her eyes. Why would he not want the superior model? "Um, sure. Hold on a sec."

In a flash of light, Pyra was replaced by her sister whose hand instinctively went to her hips, "What do you want?"

"Something big is coming soon, and I need your help. Malos and Ahkos will try something soon, but with your help, I think we can beat them here in Uraya."

"You want me to fight?"" Mythra backed up with wide eyes while her breathing became erratic, "No, no, no, no, no, no! You should know what happened last time I fought! Make do with her!" And in a flash she shifted back to Pyra.

However, Rex was not done, and he suddenly grabbed Pyra by the shoulders. Rex looked her deep in the eyes, but she quickly realized it was not her that he was staring at. Not really. He was looking right through her to Mythra.

"You can do this! I know you can. I saw it. You can control it. I'll help you. You don't have to live in fear of your power anymore."

Pyra was not sure what to do. She felt so awkward in between them, and it did not help that Mythra seemed to be in the midst of a borderline panic attack. If she had been breathing, she probably would have started hyperventilating. It was…disconcerting seeing Mythra so exposed like this…but he was getting through somewhat.

"She," Pyra finally spoke, "She says she'll think about it."

Rex nodded and released her, "Alright. You can go back and get some sleep. Sorry for waking you."

"You're not coming back?"

"Not yet. I…have something to take care of."

"Oh, alright then. Take care. You sure you don't want me to come?"

"Nah, I'll be fine." Rex patted the sword handle jutting out from behind him, "I can handle myself for a bit. Especially around here."

"If you say so," Pyra forced a smile and walked away. All the while she dealt with the feeling of being unwanted. Had she failed? Had she not lived up to his hopes? Was she lagging behind future Pyra, or was he just out of patience for her weakness? She dreaded an answer.

Rex finally emerged from an overhang a little while later. He looked around but did not see anyone, but he knew they were there.

"Alright. Come on out you two. I know you're there."

"So!" Rex nearly jumped at the voice coming from behind him. How was he so stealthy when he wanted to be? "You called us out. Not bad."

"Yeah, yeah, look, I know why you're here. Amalthus sent you to test us, didn't he?"

"How did you–" The smaller cloaked figure was cut off by the larger one raising an arm.

"Alright Mr. Know it all, what's your deal?"

"It's…a weird story, but I know you're a good person, and I could use your help."

"Oh? What for?"

"Well," Rex began to explain.

A/N: So, how's it going so far?