The Aegis Awakens

/Chapter Sixteen; Garfont Part One/

Many times in her life, Regan had always been interested in going to the World Tree. Perhaps Winter had been a big reason for that since the Architect was her father. Winter always referred to him as such, and from what she had said Malos did the same. It did make Regan feel a bit disturbed when Winter explained that the Architect had done nothing to stop Mythra's Driver from stealing the three Aegis cores.

Considering just how much destruction Mythra had intentionally caused during the Aegis War, including the absolute destruction of two Titans, why the Architect had done nothing was a mystery. Aegises were capable of great destruction, yet only Mythra attempted to destroy all of Alrest. Both Malos and Winter had honestly been baffled at Mythra's urge to destroy everything.

Winter had told Regan quite a bit about the events of the Aegis War; however, the ice Aegis had been very vague about their final battle with Mythra. The Aegis seemed to be pretty broken up about the events of the battle so Regan did not pry too much into it. It did feel a bit unfair that Regan could not hide anything from Winter since the ice Aegis was always watching.

She had become used to the constant presence of Winter; however, she still sometimes could not stop herself from wishing for a break from the Blade. Never being alone with her thoughts, secrets kept from each other were rare between them. During some odd occasions, Winter had simply gone silent. It had happened many times throughout their almost five centuries together, and Winter had been unable to give a proper explanation as to why.

Just now, as she was trying to communicate with Winter, the ice Aegis had gone quiet. Despite their argument, Regan knew that Winter would not just refuse to speak to her at all. The Blade definitely was still upset, but the lack of response was something that only happened once every couple of months. Regan had stopped worrying about it at this point; however, it did not stop the curiosity she was feeling.

"Regan alright?" The Elf had been so lost in her own thoughts that she was very alarmed at the sudden voice. Her posture relaxed after a moment after she realized that it was just Poppi. The Artificial Blade was standing in front of her, looking to be curious. To be honest, Poppi both looked and acted like a child which was understandable considering Tora had just activated her the day prior.

Regan looked down at the floor for a couple of seconds before looking up, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got lost in my thoughts." She answered and looked towards where Rex was currently steering the Titan ship. Malos was standing next to his Driver, and his posture was a little worrying. He had already been upset about learning about Maddie's allegiance to Mythra, yet he appeared to be even more bothered about something now.

The Elf glanced towards Azurda, "Hey, what do you think's going on?" She asked while motioning towards Malos. The Titan thought about it for a moment before he shook his head. Clearly, Azurda had no idea why Malos was even more tense now. Regan sighed at that, and she internally debated whether she should question the dark Blade about it or not.

She bit down on her lip before she finally made a decision and approached Malos. Immediately noticing her, he whispered something to her quietly. He knew it would be inaudible to Rex; however, the Blade knew that she would be able to hear him. Gormotti and the races with pointed ears had better hearing than those with non-pointed ears.

"There's an Artifice nearby."

"It's not one of yours?" She asked quietly, and Malos shook his head. Regan had been informed that he had a couple of Gargoyles left after the Aegis War; however, if what he sensed what not one of his, then the only possibilities were either it was one of Winter's or Mythra's. "Winter's?"

When he shook his head again, Regan knew that could mean they were about to get attacked. She doubted Mythra's Siren would be in the Cloud Sea, so it only could be the blonde Aegis' other Artifice. Having been informed of his memory loss from the the final fight with Mythra, she knew he probably was trying to recall what said Artifice looked like.

•••

While his memory had been severely corrupted during the fight with Mythra five hundred years ago, fragments still remained. Being stuck in his memory version of Elysium, he would regularly get flashes of what what happened. Malos was never able to actually put all the pieces into their proper places himself and had to rely on Snow's telling of the events to actually be able to put everything together.

Out of all the memory fragments, he found one to stick out in this particular moments. A giant snake made out of metal, with the markings of an Artifice. He also knew that the Artifice belonged to Mythra, yet he could not remember himself what she had called the serpentine Artifice. Malos was now trying to recall the name of the Artifice from Snow's words and just as it came to him...he realized that knowing that the Artifice was called Ophion did not help their current situation in the least.

"Kid, we have to get out here!" Honestly, he knew full well that he should have already warned Rex of the danger nearby. The fifteen-year-old did not even get a chance to respond before the serpent-like Artifice made its presence known. Considering just how quickly Ophion emerged from the Cloud Sea after he had spoken, Malos had no time to explain what was going on.

Despite his missing memories, Malos did remember that he had managed to defeat Ophion through the use of his Gargoyles. "What is that thing?!!" Rex yelled as the snake-like Artifice looked down at them. Even with the obvious hostility, something still felt off about the whole thing. Ophion appeared to be undamaged, so someone had clearly repaired the damage his Gargoyles had done to it.

"No time for that, we just need to get the hell out of here!"

Surprisingly, Artifice Ophion did not follow them as far as he had expected. Despite the fact that they were now safe from it, they were now rapidly approaching another potential threat. While Regan had never actually been to the Titan they were rapidly approaching, she had seen it from afar and could identify it before Azurda even spoke. "The Urayan Titan!" It was then noticed that Rex was unable to steer out of the Urayan Titan's way as well as that the Titan had its mouth open.

Then they were in the belly of the beast.

•••

Despite the fact that Nia had already taken care of her head from where Pyra had knocked her out, Regan's head was now once again throbbing. Reaching left her hand up to her left temple, she found nothing. When she pressed her left hand against her right temple instead, she received a sharp pain in response. Pulling her hand back down, she found a little bit of blood.

Regan had not found any significant damage, so she knew she had not busted her head open. A concussion was still a possibility, but she decided that the higher priority was trying to find the others and make sure they are okay.

She looked around and found everyone else not that far away from her. Rex, Malos, and Kaevan had already started to get up, and they appeared to not notice her. The others still seemed be a little dazed, except for Poppi of course.

"You guys alright?"

The fifteen-year-old looked at her before his eyes widened, "What do you mean? We're fine. You're the one who's bleeding!" Considering the darkness, it was honestly a surprise that he even could tell. The main light they had at the moment was the glow of the Core Crystal of each Blade, as well as the x-shaped half of Malos' core in Rex's chest.

"Let me see." Nia had gotten up at this point and had clearly heard that Regan had been injured again. Despite the lack of very significant lighting, Nia was quickly able to access the damage. "Geesh, you really are prone to gettin' injured aren't you?" The Gormotti questioned as she cleaned the wound with a wet cloth. Afterward, she applied a poultice and murmured an apology as Regan winced.

"Thanks. Truthfully, I have a pretty awful scar on my right leg...I broke quite a few bones when I was a kid because I kept falling out of trees." Regan looked a bit sheepish as she said this, and Nia sighed at that. The Elf thought that the girl was about to scold her for being to careless. In all fairness, Regan knew she definitely deserved it. She was often very careless, even more so when she was younger.

Just as Nia was looking to do just that, Rex said something that made her look like she was ready to kill him. "Can I see it? A scar like that has gotta be pretty cool looking." Regan's face turned a little red from embarrassment before Nia started to try to berate him. The Gormotti's ears pinned back on her head with anger, and he visibly gulped with a look of confusion in his expression.

Nia was unable to get a word out before the Elf shook her head. "It's alright, Nia. He didn't mean any harm by it." Despite her evident embarrassment about Rex's request to see her scar, Regan seemed reluctant to have an argument started over it. The Gormotti sighed and shot a glare in the fifteen-year-old's direction before she went to check on Tora and Poppi nearby.

The dark Aegis seemed curious about the sudden anger Nia showed to Rex but refrained from commenting on it. Regan's face was still flushed red with discomfiture, and she looked down at the ground until she noticed that he was looking at her. "He's pretty oblivious at times, but he means well..." She said when Rex was out of earshot and ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't get it."

Her eyes widened slightly, "Really? The oblivious part or Nia's anger part?"

"Both." Regan looked up at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ask Winter about it later if you want...she'll be able to explain." Whenever Winter came back that is.

He raised a brow at that, but she simply shook her head and approached the others. Eva immediately perched on her Driver's shoulder and thought about scolding her about the new injury. The Blade was concerned about her, but she knew that Regan was embarrassed enough already. "You okay?" Regan nodded her head, but it honestly seemed to be a little forced.

"How are you two doing?" The Elf asked Ursula and Zenobia as she scanned the Blades for any sign of anything being off. She knew it was highly unlikely that they would have any visible injuries since they would have healed any damage in a matter of seconds to a couple minutes depending on the severity of the injuries they might have sustained.

Ursula muttered a quiet 'I'm okay' while she hugged Beary and hid her face in their neck. The wind Blade Zenobia seemed over her previous idea of leaving Malos alone for awhile in the hopes that waiting would make him change his mind. "Of course I'm okay! More importantly, isn't it time to fight?" Regan shook her head at that. To be honest, she did not really feel like dealing with the Blade's insistence of fighting the Aegis.

"Sorry, Zenobia... First things first, we definitely need to get to somewhere safe." The wind Blade pouted at that and was about to object when Nia called out to to them.

"C'mon, you four. We're going to head further in and try to find some help."

Regan knew Ethan had mentioned that the Garfont Mercenaries base of operations was in Garfont. Since she had never actually been to Uraya- it was one of two Titans that she had never been to- Regan honestly did not know where the village was located. Of course, she felt a small hint of her bond with Ethan.

"Let's get going." Rex stated as they left the area they were in.

•••

To be honest, even as she felt herself getting closer to Ethan's location, she was nervous about actually seeing him again in person. It had been about four years since she had seen both him and Lucy, and she could not deny that she missed them. Of course, while she could talk with Ethan in the dream version of Elvuen. Still, it was different when they actually spent time together in the castle or at the villages on the Elvuenian Titan.

"Something the matter, Reg?"

Regan shook her head in response to the fifteen-year-old's question, "I'm alright... I just think there's a village nearby." He seemed to be intrigued at that. Part of her wondered if she should go ahead and tell him about Ethan. Feeling as though she had already lied and hurt him enough, she did not want to break his trust anymore than she already had.

"Really? Have you ever been here before?"

The Elf shook her head, "No but I...have a friend here. He's told me about it." That was not even getting into the fact that Uraya and Elvuen were far from being on amicable terms, mainly due to the latter of the two's alliance with Mor Ardain. That was the main reason she had never been to Uraya, and Ethan was honestly her main source of information on the Titan.

"Oh, so you have a friend in Uraya?" When she gave a confirming nod in response, he let out a relieved sigh. "Well, that's good. At least we know we have an ally here at the very least." That is when Regan realized that Ethan was coming closer to them since the group had stopped moving. Regan let out a sigh, and she wondered if she should inform the others about it.

Regan was aware that Malos and Azurda were the only ones in the group knew about her bond with Ethan. It would be a bit odd if she just said she knew he was nearby when she had just told them that she had never been to Uraya. Of course, she could just say she had a gut feeling which would not technically be a lie.

After some time walking, they finally found an area with much more light. Looking up, everyone could see the light filtering through the Urayan Titan's hide. "Huh, it's a lot brighter now isn't it?" Nia questioned, and Azurda flew up and out of Rex's salvaging helmet. The small Titan nodded his head to the Gormotti's question.

"I've heard that the Urayan Titan has a translucent hide. The amount of light depends on whether the Titan is above the clouds or not." Azurda explained.

Rex thought for a moment, "Oh, so all that light must mean the Titan is above the clouds now." He stated before Malos added something as well.

"Heading to the Capital is definitely our best bet right now." Of course, he knew it was likely very different from the last time he had been there. Five hundred years was a long time, and he could only hope that it would still be a reliable place for them to go to.

The fifteen-year-old nodded in agreement, "That'll be great. The Fonsa Myma Port shouldn't be too hard to find once we're in the city."

The Elf was unable to add any information before the sounds of people walking ahead and above them caught her attention. Glancing over to Nia, Regan noticed the Gormotti's ears twitching so it was clear she heard it too. Regan tapped the fifteen-year-old's shoulder, and he looked back with a confused look.

"What is it?" Rex asked before he followed her line of sight to a group of people standing ahead and on a path above them. She quickly recognized Ethan and Lucy, and the two of them appeared to notice her as well. They were the only familiar faces out of the group; however, Regan figured that they were likely members of the Garfont Mercenary group.

"Well, look what we have here." The voice was loud, and the owner of it definitely looked to be an Urayan. That did not surprise her too much since they were in Uraya after all, and Ethan had mentioned that the leader of the group was a native to the Urayan Titan. Maybe this was the leader, but she could not help but worry about an ambush.

Considering that Uraya and Elvuen were definitely not on great terms at the moment, her royal status might actually get the rest of the group into trouble. Then again, she knew that most people would not know her face so it was not too big of concern since Elves going to live in and on other Titans had become more common over the years.

The man who had spoke jumped to the ground, along with the rest of his group. Regan took note that people unfamiliar to her consisted of three Drivers and three Blades. Now that he was closer, they were all able to see the x-shaped scar in the center of his face. How that could have happened, Regan had no clue. She had to admit that she honestly wanted to know the story about it.

The leader looked over them before his eyes stopped on Malos, specifically on the amethyst Core Crystal in the center of the Aegis' chest. "That amethyst Core Crystal... You must be this legendary Aegis I heard about." The dark Aegis was silent in response, and he appeared to be contemplating how he should react. When Malos did not respond, the leader pointed to himself.

"The name's Vandham." The man then motioned to each of his companions, "That's Yew, Zuo, and Ethan."

"What do you want?" Rex asked after the man had finished talking.

"Isn't it obvious? Word has it that the Aegis was reawakened by a new Driver. Which one of you is it?" Vandham asked, which caused Rex to look a little offended.

"You're looking at him." The man snorted in response, and Rex walked closer with an annoyed expression on his face and his arms crossed. "What? What's so funny?"

"Just never thought a pipsqueak like you would be the Aegis' Driver."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Vandham shrugged, "I mean, maybe you could handle a normal Blade. But the Aegis is far too powerful-" He was quickly cut off by Malos.

"I have a name, y'know? It's Malos. If you're going to keep talking about me, you could at least use it." Vandham watched him for a moment before he chuckled.

"Malos, huh? You sure about a little kid being your Driver...wouldn't you prefer someone older, with more experience?" The dark Aegis crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, you're less agitating than the last guy was at least." Honestly, Malos thought Vandham was much less annoying than Dughall.

"Hmm... I'll make you a deal, Malos."

Malos seemed to actually be interested, and he raised an eyebrow at the man. "What kind of deal?" The fifteen-year-old let out a sound of surprise; however, Malos shot him a 'be quiet' look. The Aegis looked back to Vandham, and he nodded for the mercenary leader to answer.

"I'll just put it simply..." Vandham grabbed his Blade's Duel Scythes, "Depending on which one of us wins..." He motioned towards Rex and the others, "You stay with him if y'all win, and you come with me if we win." The man said as he motioned to his own team. Rex looked between Malos and Vandham and when he saw the Aegis smiling he held his hands.

"Please tell me you're not seriously considering this!" Malos said nothing in return before he nodded at Vandham.

"You've got a deal."

•••••••

Bonus Scene*

Alana kept her thin arms wrapped around Jin as he carried her onto the Marsanes, with Pyra following closely behind them. "Akhos, I need your assistance." Jin called out, and the other man came over. He pushed his glasses up as he immediately spotted Alana in Jin's arms.

"Who is she? She wasn't part of the-" Jin cut him off.

"It doesn't matter. Her ankle is twisted pretty bad."

Akhos sighed before he nodded, "Let's take her to the med bay."

•••

Setting the little girl one of the cots in the room, Jin helped Akhos find supplies to deal with Alana's swollen ankle. Pyra had gone to talk with Mikhail and Patroka, so it was just the three of them in the med bay. "It's pretty swollen. Considering how tiny she is, it's a wonder tripping that hard didn't cause any broken bones."

Alana flinched away from his touch, wincing in pain. "Here." Jin handed the girl a glass of water, and her hands shook as she took it. Since they had left the cabin where her family had left, the girl had stopped speaking.

Considering what she had just gone through, her silence was understandable. The little girl nodded her head before she took a sip of the water. After just one sip from the glass, she seemed to be a bit to quick to start on drinking a little more than half of the water from the cup.

"I need to...take care of something. Take care of her." Akhos was unable to raise an objection since Jin was already leaving the room.

"Wait!" Jin froze in place as he heard the little girl call out to him. "Please don't leave me...!" Jin turned to face her after a moment, and Akhos had to stop her from getting up.

Jin sighed before he looked towards Akhos, "Uncover it." The other man looked confused; however, Jin gave him a 'just do it look.' Reaching up after a moment he pulled off the cloth from the center of his chest, revealing a blue and red Core Crystal. Alana noticed this, and she calmed down after she realized that the man was a Blade. "See, you can trust him...as well as everyone on this ship."

When he was sure that the girl fully believed him, Jin finally walked out of room.