The transport ship was eerily silent on the way back. Pyra's little transformation had been quite the event. Even now she was sitting rather close next to Rex with her head happily situated on her driver's shoulder. While this position would have normally had Rex's heart racing anyway, he was currently quite awkwardly rigid in his posture.

Well, for one, despite the different appearance, he was operating under the assumption that this was both of them like the other transformation. That kind of put a damper on how much he may have normally enjoyed this closeness. Mythra was nice and all, but she was not Pyra. However, perhaps a bit more pressing was how…different Pyra was. It had Rex slightly on edge to say the least.

Not that she seemed to mind in the slightest. Other than occasionally sending warning glares at Fan and Nia, she seemed mostly content staying by Rex no matter how much attention it drew to her.

"Um," Rex was not even sure what to call her. Out of reflex he had usually defaulted to Pyra when they were fused, but he still hesitated.

"Yes?" She lifted her head and looked at him in concern, "Is something bothering you?"

"Well, are you not going to switch back?"

"Hmm? Why would I do that?"

"Do you really want to stay all…fused?"

"Hmm? Don't you worry about it."

Rex was even more suspicious after that. They generally had not stayed like that for long. He had not really got into why they did not whether it was a power issue or something else, but it was suspicious all the same.

As Pyra readjusted her head onto Rex's shoulder, she smiled.

"You look…different," Amalthus commented as Pyra entered his study upon their return from Temperantia and the peace negotiations. He was not particularly fond of things he could not control, and this development ranked right up there.

"So I do," The Aegis responded with seeming disinterest.

"All the same, I thank you for your help. If you had not–hrk!" Amalthus' words died in his throat as Pyra grabbed him by the throat.

"I don't need your baseless praise," Myra looked him square in the eyes as her grip grew from warm to hot, "I know what you are: a snake. I'm warning you now that you had better stay away from Rex. Killing you now would put him in danger, but if you so much as touch him," Pyra's hand grew uncomfortably hot on his skin, "I will ensure that your death is slow and painful as I burn you to ash. Understand?"

Amalthus nodded as sweat poured down his face.

"Good. Oh, and do try to keep your little blade away from Rex, okay?"

Rex had found himself cornered by the party while the girls were with Amalthus. They had put up with a lot regarding his secrecy, but this last outing had been the last straw. Ironically, the thing to break them had been something that had him rather confused as well. Regardless, he decided to finally tell them about his future. It went over better than he had feared at least. They seemed to believe him if nothing else.

"Time travel?" Nia was the first to speak up after Rex finished his spiel. She wanted to make fun of him, but…he did have an uncanny ability to know what was going to happen.

"It would explain some things," Dromarch voiced what many of them were thinking.

"Like how you knew me and Pandy were waiting for you and why."

"Or how you knew about a secret military operation," Morag murmured, "But…if you're telling the truth then we all failed."

"Morag mean…we died?" Tora and Poppi's faces fell.

Rex's crestfallen expression confirmed as much reenforcing the somber mood in the room. Rex did not go into detail perhaps more for his own sake than he did for theirs, but it was still an unpleasant topic to say the least.

"So what do we do now?" Brighid broke the somber silence.

"We win," Rex answered looking back up, "So long as we can keep Malos from regaining his full strength, we should be able to win."

"What about your dream?" Nia asked, "If Elysium is in ruins…"

Rex shook his head, "We can't worry about that right now. Maybe the Architect has a plan to help, but for now, we have to do what we can."

"Rex is right," Zeke concurred, "I for one don't plan to just keel over and accept my fate. I'll fight to the bitter end if I have to."

Zeke's words quickly led to a chorus of agreements. They had come this far after all, "Thanks, guys. I think we're close, but…you all should know something about what just happened with Pyra and Mythra."

Everyone was a bit cautious as Pyra emerged from the inner areas of the Praetorium. She smiled upon seeing Rex, and seemingly ignored the others and their varying levels of distrust as they eyed her.

"How did your meeting go?" Rex asked as Pyra stopped a bit too close for comfort.

"Oh, I think he understood me, but we won't be going to Tantal anytime soon. At least not until the negotiations are over."

"Well, with Bana locked up and Torna set back, I guess we might could wait a little while."

"We could use this time to regroup and plan our next move," Morag picked up on the slightly distasteful look Pyra shot her, but she did not act on it.

"How about we go to Leftheria, Rex?" Pyra suggested.

"Actually, I would prefer to stay here with his majesty during the peace talks. I will meet up with you once we are concluded with our business here."

"Yeah, and if I just up and left it might be seen as suspicious. I'll wait till Morag here follows," Zeke suggested, "Maybe we can brainstorm a little."

"Wonderful," Morag muttered.

"Well, I got nowhere to be," Nia chimed in earning a small glare from the Aegis.

"Tora and Poppi come too!"

"Tora, wouldn't you want to visit your father?" Pyra tried.

"Meh meh, no time for vacationing! We have important task!"

"Alright," Pyra answered coldly in a far cry from her often warm nature. Despite the unusual behavior, the party made to leave for the port when they were caught by another person the mere sight of which made the air around Pyra get a few degrees hotter as her eyes narrowed.

"Ah, there you are," Fan greeted, "I was hoping to speak with Mythra if you had the time."

"Actually," Pyra linked her arms with Rex, "We were just leaving."

"Oh, I see. Maybe some other time then?"

Pyra did not respond as she practically drug Rex away who shot Fan an apologetic look. All the while Pyra put on a smile.

Pyra! Pyra, let me out! Something isn't right! Pyra!

A/N: Welp, seems like they'll drop tomorrow. Hopefully the content is all XC2, but either way, at least they'll be out. Will probably stall writing for a bit though. If you wanna play though, feel free to message me.