The Aegis Awakens

/Chapter Fifteen: Umon/

Tears dripped down her face as she hugged her knees to her chest. Malos had clearly been worried about her, and she had pushed him away. She had even called Ethan here, so he could comfort Regan. The man was insufferable, but Regan did not seem to be bothered by him at all. Then again, she had not seemed bothered by Drew's annoying personality either.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, Winter looked up and wiped at her eyes as she realized who it was. "What do you want?" She questioned, trying her hardest not to start a fight with him. As much as she hated him, Winter would rather not ruin her friendship with Regan more than she already had.

"Just wanna talk. Can I sit?" She motioned to the ground in front of her.

"Go ahead." Ethan looked a bit hesitant as he took note of her currently angry facial expression. Finally, he simply decided to sit down. Looking down at his lap for a moment, he contemplated what he should say. He definitely did not want to risk pissing her off since she had not told him off yet so far.

"You realize just how upset she was, right?" Her eyes narrowed a bit at that, and she looked to be having a hard time biting her tongue. To be honest, he knew he was treading on thin ice and that one wrong move would result in him being submerged in icy cold depths. Unlike Regan, she seemed to despise every single word that came out of his mouth.

"Obviously. Why else would I have called you here?"

Ethan sighed, "She's been through hell, yet you insist on treating her like this..." He put up a hand as she attempted to interrupt him, "Back after we found Raymond in that dungeon, I thought she might leave me behind in my village. After all, she had just found her older brother alive and she had only known me for a couple of weeks." Winter was just listening now, her eyes focused in his direction.

"If it was not for the two of you, I would have been buried in the ground two decades ago." He placed his hand over the currently covered x-shaped Core Crystal in the center of his chest. "Even after that, she still insisted on me coming to the castle with her..." Winter interrupted and shook her head at him.

"You have half of my life force. Of course we weren't just going to leave you behind." She made it sound so simple, yet he was fully aware that it was far more complex that she let on. As much as she seemed to hate him, he highly doubted that she wanted to bring him just due to their shared life force.

"You really want me to believe that? You could have taken back the half of your core you two gave me at any time, yet you didn't." Her eyes narrowed a bit in warning, but he ignored it. Things were clicking in his head, and he just wanted her to admit it. "You actually care about me don't you? Otherwise, you would've just-" He cut himself off abruptly when she suddenly climbed into his lap and held a hand over his mouth.

Looking up at her, he quickly took note of her agitated expression. "You really don't know when to shut up do you?" Her tone was sharp, yet there was something else in it that he was unable to figure out. He knew better than to try to fight her on this since he knew he had already tested his luck enough. Her patience was running thin, and Ethan did not want to upset her.Her eyes looked his expression over before she finally uncovered his mouth.

"Sorry to upset you, Winter." He did not sound sorry at all as he looked up at her. His expression bothered her, and she suddenly realized why. One of his hands had come up to rest on her waist. Her eyes widened, and she hurriedly got off of him and turned her back to him. "I don't mind you know?" She hesitantly looked back at him and realized what he meant. Her face turned bright red, and she walked back to him. Internally, she hoped she would not regret it.

"Winter-"

She held a finger up to his mouth and shushed him as she climbed back into his lap. "Don't say a word... Just shut the hell up for once." After he nodded, she suddenly hugged him tightly and buried her face in his neck. His eyes widened a bit at her actions, and he just now realized what she wanted. Despite her obvious dislike for him, she still needed someone to lean on for comfort. Since Malos was still with Regan, Winter was allowing Ethan to comfort her instead.

She was actually crying, something that he noticed she had been doing when he had first approached her. Ethan decided to just do as she said since he could tell just how upset she was. The Elf had never witnessed her cry like this since she always made sure he was nowhere near her whenever she got super emotional. Of course, his interactions with her were mainly limited to this memory space since she rarely if ever swapped places with Regan.

"Ant..." He heard her mutter out softly, and he then realized just badly her first Driver's death had affected her. Ethan had been unable to meet Ant since he had met Regan a couple of months after her mother's death. Neither Regan nor Winter really talked all that much about Ant, so he knew very little about her. From what he had been told, Ant had done her best to raise Regan despite all of her duties as Queen of Elvuen.

"It's...all my fault..." That caught his attention.

•••••••

After making it back into Torigoth, Malos had asked Nia and Regan to get some ingredients for him. The two agreed, the Gormotti somewhat reluctantly, before the others headed to Tora's house. Poppi had made sure to inform them of the house's location since neither Nia nor Regan had been there.

The Elf wondered why Malos had asked for her to come with Nia, especially after how uncomfortable the Gormotti had been with their conversation the previous night. Perhaps he was trying to just get them to talk; however, Regan would rather not push Nia back into an uncomfortable conversation. Honestly, that topic was best avoided until Nia chose to bring it up.

"You think we should buy some Core Chips too?" Finally breaking the silence between them, Regan looked towards the Core Chip blacksmith. A look of surprise fell over Nia's expression at that, "It's just that we didn't buy any when we first came into Torigoth." The Gormotti nodded after a moment.

"Seven in total. Of course, that's if Poppi's weapon can even be upgraded with a Core Chip..." The Elf commented, and Nia shrugged her shoulders at that.

"If not, then we'll just have an extra one."

Regan nodded in response before they headed over to the Core Chip dealer. Affording the Core Chips was not a problem since she did carry quite a bit of gold on her, in a completely different pouch than the one that hung from her belt. "Thank you." The blacksmith nodded back to her before Nia and Regan headed in the direction that Poppi had told them to go in.

•••

When they were almost to where Poppi had told them Tora's house was located, Nia suddenly spoke. "What's the name of that friend of yours?" That question caused Regan to pause for a moment, her brows furrowing. The topic was very close to their discussion the previous night; however, it appeared to be the most Nia was comfortable talking about at the moment.

"Honestly, she's closer to being family than a friend. Her name's Maddie." Regan answered, and she took note of Nia's sudden change in expression. The Gormotti's eyes had widened quite a bit and her ears were pinned back on her head. "What's up, Nia? The name ring any bells?" Nia did not answer at first, and she let out a sigh after a moment of thinking.

"I'll explain when we get to Tora's house... C'mon, we're almost there." Regan nodded before they found the odd looking part of the wooden wall that Poppi had informed them of. The Elf opened the door and held it open for Nia. "Thanks." After making sure to close the door behind them, they headed down the ramp and into the house.

Rex, Eva, and Tora were sitting at the wooden table in the large open room. The Titan was currently sitting on the table and talking with the others at the table. Both Kaevan and Dromarch were lying on the floor next to the table, and they looked to be in the middle of a conversation with each other. Nia's newly awakened Blade was on the other side of the room along with Beary, and they were sitting on the floor. Malos and Zenobia were both in the kitchen, and she was in the middle of once again bothering him when Poppi greeted Nia and Regan.

"Friends look uneasy. Something wrong?" Poppi asked them as she looked at both of their expressions.

Nia nodded, "Yeah... I'll explain after we eat." She answered before she walked over to the the table with the Core Chips they had purchased in hand. After she watched Nia for a moment, Regan then walked towards Malos and Zenobia. The dark Aegis looked to be visibly annoyed, and his expression almost seemed to say 'help me' as he spotted Regan walking towards them.

She shot a 'knock it off' look in the wind Blade's direction, "Wait until we leave Torigoth at least, Zenobia." The Blade turned towards her Driver, almost appearing to be pouting. "You can ask him to spar with you once we leave the city, okay?" While Zenobia did still appear to look disappointed, she reluctantly agreed. After the Blade floated away to the table, Malos almost immediately called the Elf out.

"You realize I'm still going to refuse when she asks again, right?"

Regan nodded at that, "Yeah... You know, it'd honestly just be easier if you agreed." This did not seem to sway his decision at all, and he sighed in annoyance.

"Maybe, but it's still no." He responded before he took the groceries from her and set them on the counter. "You wanna help?" Malos asked, and her eyes widened slightly at that.

"You still want me to cook with you?"

He raised an eyebrow at her question, "I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't."

"True..." She answered and looked down at the floor as she realized he had a point. "So, what'd you have in mind?" She asked as she looked up at him. Malos shrugged, and she realized that he just did not want to tell her.

"If it involves Moonbeam Bananas, I'm in." The corners of his lips upturned slightly at that.

•••

The meal they ended up making was essentially a fruit salad, consisting of both Moonbeam Bananas and Hot Oranges which were native to Gormott. It also consisted of Dawngrove Strawberries brought in from Elvuen. Despite the fact the only ingredients in it were fruit, it was honestly quite tasty.

Surprisingly, one of the merchants Torigoth had even had Dawngrove Tea leaves. Dawngrove Tea was easily one of Regan's favorite things to make, and it turned out to something Malos already knew how to make. The person who taught him turned out to be her mother, and Regan was not that surprised about that.

"This is pretty good! Is this the same tea you normally make, Reg?" Rex asked as he took a sip from the cup he had been given. The Elf nodded her head as she took a drink of the tea herself. It had a pretty decent calming effect on all of them; however, Nia's shoulders were still tense. "What's wrong, Nia? You look like something's bothering you." The fifteen-year-old asked as he noticed that she had yet to relax.

The Gormotti looked down at the table, and when she noticed that tmhey were all finished with their food she spoke. "Turns out that Regan is friends with a member of Torna. Her name's Maddie." Regan almost dropped her cup at that, and she barely managed to stop it from falling. Luckily, she did not spill more than a couple drops of her tea. After quickly dabbing at the small amount of spilt tea with a slightly wet cloth, the Elf looked towards Nia.

"Maddie's with Torna... Please tell me you're joking?" When she saw Nia's expression, Regan's face fell at that. Malos visibly reacted to the name as well, his eyes widening and his posture became noticably tense. "Tell me what she looks like...I want to make sure it's really her." Nia nodded her head at that, and she looked in Regan's direction across the table.

"She has dirty-blonde hair and greyish-blue eyes, and she wears sky-blue robes with gold inlays on the sleeves." Regan looked down at the description as thoughts flowed through her mind. It sure sounded like Maddie; however, she still had hope that it was just a coincidence.

"Does she wear a blue and red, star-shaped pin in her hair?" At Nia's nod of confirmation, Regan felt a wave of confusion hit her. She was angry, yet Regan could not bring herself to just outright hate Maddie. Of course, the hair pin was actually pretty solid proof that it was for sure Maddie. The hair pin itself was unique and coupled with the rest of the description, there could be no doubt.

Regan took a quick glance at Malos, who looked to be pissed. His fist was clenched, so it was evident that he knew it could not be anyone but Maddie too. "Why, why would she-" The Elf cut herself off as hunched over while trying her hardest not to cry. Part of her was angry to learn where Maddie had been, considering that she had not seen the Flesh Eater in just over two decades now.

"Reg...?" Rex asked softly as he rested a hand on her upper back, and she looked towards him.

"I'm..." She swallowed down her real feelings at the moment, "I'm okay. It's just a bit difficult to take in." She told him although at this point she was mostly saying it just to convince herself rather than him. He removed his hand after a moment, and he looked back to Nia. The Gormotti crossed her arms over chest and let out a sigh.

"I have no clue how long she's been with 'em, so I can't tell you that." Nia explained, "She seemed to be pretty close with Jin, and Maddie was overall very nice to me..." That definitely sounded like Maddie. Regan looked down at the table and shut her eyes for a moment in thought.

Considering that she had known Maddie since the day she was born, the Flesh Eater had essentially been like an older sister to her. Maddie had been pretty close with Raymond as well, so he would likely feel betrayed at Maddie's allegiance with Torna. While he usually was a very forgiving person, a terrorist organization made it hard for him to do that.

Nia likely had not been with Torna for many years, considering that she was unaware of Mythra. Maddie on the other hand had been with Torna far longer. Her reasons for doing so were a mystery, so Regan honestly was not sure if Maddie joined Torna for malicious purposes or if it was something else. Maddie had never enjoyed hurting others, so Regan doubted she had joined just to cause harm to people.

"Malos, why do you look so upset?" Rex's voice interrupted the Elf's thoughts, so she looked towards him. The fifteen-year-old was currently examining Malos' posture and facial expression.

The dark Aegis did not respond at first, and Regan thought he might just storm out for a moment. He instead just sat there before he finally seemed to come to a decision. "She's just an old friend."Malos' tone caused Rex to bite his tongue about any further questions he would have liked to ask. He sensed that is was a sensitive topic for both Regan and Malos since they both seemed to be dismayed.

•••

After being informed that Tora knew someone who could help them, the group left Torigoth and headed to the upper left part of the Gormott Titan. Both Malos and Regan were acting off, and Rex honestly did not know how to make it better. Regan was unusually silent, so Rex got the hint to just leave her alone for now.

The dark Aegis was just as quiet as he had been when they had been looking for information about Nia and Regan in Torigoth. Rex could tell that the dark Blade was angry, and it seemed that even the overly persistent Zenobia knew to just leave Malos alone. It was very unlikely that the wind Blade was just giving up completely, so Malos was only getting a very small break from the Blade's persistence.

Along the same way, they had even helped a couple who were being attacked by some Tirkin. In the end, the couple had left Gormott. Honestly, Malos had seemed to pay pretty close attention to them. He still appeared to be upset; however, helping people in need seemed to help his mood a little. Regan was still just silent, and it was almost as if she was not capable of speaking at the moment.

After locating Umon's lost Titan and collecting the proper supplies and giving them to Umon, the group headed back to the shipyard. Once they arrived, they found the Titan had already returned and the ship was already repaired. It seemed that the repairs made had not taken too long to complete.

Then they were off for the World Tree.

•••••••

Bonus Scene*

'Ray?' Regan signed as her brother sat on the ground next to her. He was silent, which was just what she expected from him. When she was growing up, Raymond rarely spoke and instead chose to sign. Her older brother always used to have his best friend Derek with him to translate for people who did not know sign language.

Raymond's choice to not speak was respected and their mom, their Dad, Welsh, and Regan herself all knew Alrestian Sign Language. Of course, some variations of the language existed depending on what continent you are on. Even Maddie had learned it just so she could communicate with Raymond in the way he was most comfortable with.

'I'm alright. Just cold.'

Regan looked towards Lucy after he responded. "Lucy, could you make a fire please?" The fire Blade nodded her head and motioned towards the fire pit she had made. First, she created a pinkish-red flame in her hand before she started a fire with it. Raymond stopped shivering after a few minutes of being close to the heat source. Ethan had left camp to find food and fresh water, so they were going to wait to sleep until he returned.

Considering what Raymond had been through, it was completely unsurprising to Regan of Raymond's current needs. 'I don't know if I can sleep, considering-' He stopped signing abruptly as his eyes welled up with tears and he barely resisted the urge to cry, 'I just wish I could have been there, then maybe I could have...stopped it.'

Regan looked down at that as she reached up to clutch at her locket, 'I'm sorry, Ray... It's my fault she-' The Elf signed before she stopped herself as she realized that Raymond would definitely not appreciate her self-blaming attitude. As much as she believed it to be true, she was aware that Raymond believed only their mother's killer was at fault.

'I wish I could've stopped it too... She was so calm, Ray...it was honestly really scary...' She signed before she hugged her knees to her rest, and he took this as a hint to leave her be. Raymond did so and after he kissed her forehead, he laid down on the bedroll that had been set for him and somehow managed to fall asleep within only a couple of minutes.

"How are you feeling?" Regan had just been sitting there and staring into fire, when Ethan returned to camp and approached her. He was carrying their filled flasks along with cloth that looked to be filled up with berries. Since Ethan had grew up pretty close to their current location, he was fairly familiar with what was edible and what was not.

"I'm good... Just worried." Regan responded as she glanced towards her older brother's currently sleeping form.

"Can't blame you for that. I'm just glad we found him." Ethan sat down in between Regan and Lucy. "So...when do you plan on telling him?" The question made Regan freeze in place, and she honestly was unsure of what to say at first. She knew full well what he was referring to, and she absentmindedly rested a hand on her lower abdomen.

Ethan patiently waited for response; however, she could still feel Winter's annoyance at the fact that he had dared to ask. "How am I supposed to tell him that...? I mean, he just found out our mother his dead... He doesn't need to know about this yet." She answered as she once again glanced at Raymond as he muttered something in his sleep. Unable to make out what he had mumbled, she sighed and looked back to Ethan.

The taller Elf nodded at that, "That's understandable. You'll be able to hide it for a bit longer...just try to let him know before it's too obvious." Regan nodded at that, and she hugged her knees to her chest. Regan looked up the night sky and leaned into Eva as she perched on her Driver's shoulder from wherever she had wondered off to.

Regan was just grateful for the silence.

•••

That next morning, Regan awoke to an intense feeling of nausea. She could not even make it fully out of camp before she was throwing up all over the ground. The Elf then realized she had forgotten to grab her flask, so she knew she had to go back and grab it. Luckily, it was not that far away from her current location. Just about when Regan was about to get up, she heard footsteps approaching her.

Looking up and to her right, she was greeted by the sight of her flask and Raymond holding it out to her. 'Thank you.' She managed to sign before she grabbed the offered flask from him, and she took a few sips of the water. Admittedly, she still felt a bit nauseated so the water only helped a little. Raymond tapped her shoulder after a moment, and she looked at him.

'Anytime, Regan.' He signed before he gave her a concerned look and motioned to her stomach. Regan looked down at that, already knowing what he was asking. Sighing, she nodded her head.

'I just feel a little sick to my stomach right now... I'm okay though, really, I am...' Raymond did not seem to believe her; however, he seemed to decide that arguing with her was not worth it. He had never liked arguing with her when she had a certain expression on her face since Raymond knew it would not end until he just agreed. She would tell him eventually; however, she knew it might be too much for him right now.

Despite her hesitation, she knew couldn't hide it forever.