Author's Note: So I've officially caught the XB3 bug. I have to post this thread if only so I can get these ideas out of my head; I can't be distracted from Shin Persona Evangelion forever!

These drabbles and ficlets will be released in no particular order and without any standard update schedule. Obviously,

spoilers abound if you haven't played the game.

Have fun!

xxxx

/Time: After the first night camping at the end of Chapter 1/

/Gura Flava Lowlands, Aetia Region/

A lifetime of fighting Agnus would not remove suspicion, doubt, and wariness; Lanz's musings circled around and around this fact (always bound to the fixed point of Joran's death) as he and Sena took the last watch.

Though their current circumstances — Ouroboros; Moebius; Vandham's strange message and his untimely passing; their new destination at Swordmarch, if it even existed; the sudden betrayal by Colonies 9 and Gamma — were a balm on that emotional rash, it still itched something fierce. It was why, even after everything that had happened, both sides had one member take watch overnight.

(He could imagine Noah lightly chiding him about how they shouldn't be thinking of each other as 'sides', but for sparks' sake, he could only do so much!)

Noah and the catgirl Mio had been first; Eunie and the four-eyes Taion had been next; finally, he and the girl with fiery hair (which didn't even burn, how did that even work?) took last watch.

Most of it had been passed in dead silence, as they tinkered with their respective weapons and quietly patrolled the grounds otherwise. The tension was right awful, with a certain distance that was...hard to break, for how real it all was.

Finally, as the sun began to peek over the walls of the valley, a timid voice broke the silence. "So...that was pretty awesome, huh?"

"Say what?" asked Lanz, looking over towards the tiny girl.

"What Mimi and...Noah, right? What those two did. That Ouroboros thing," she remarked with a surprising amount of earnestness. (Then again, she had always spoken in an earnest fashion, he retroactively realized.)

"...yeah, I suppose it was," he tentatively agreed. "It was all so crazy that there wasn't any time to really think about it."

Sena nodded, her throat humming as though she had words to say that couldn't quite make it out: akin to a rough-sounding Levnis that needed maintenance. After several more seconds of silence, she added, "I wonder what Mimi felt like..."

"You can ask her when she wakes up, can't you?" he impulsively responded.

"Ah. Right. I guess so..."

"...at least it's a pretty powerful trump card," he remarked. Talking about their current circumstances was safe, he supposed; the problems they now shared were real enough that he could pretend to ignore the old hurts that Agnus had caused.

"Yeah, it is," agreed Sena, her feet lightly tapping against the ground with impatient energy. Looking towards the brightening sky, she said, "So...I normally do morning workouts around this time."

"...and?" he questioned.

"Well...Eunie's her name, right? She said something about 'muscle-buddies'." She said the term with such trepidation, as though it were a taboo. "So...do you work out, too?"

"...yeah," he admitted. "Standard drills are fine, but I gotta go the extra mile." (Just being 'standard' hadn't been good enough to save Joran. Being better than the standard hadn't been good enough for Mwamba, either. You'll never be good enough.) "If missions aren't in the way, I usually start around first light."

Sena nodded. "So...I guess I'll start, then?"

Lanz wondered. Pondered. At last, he made a decision. "Guess I might as well. Shouldn't let you out of sight, I suppose. You probably shouldn't let me out of sight either." It was only natural, for Kevesi and Agnians to be suspicious of each other; better to be in one spot where they could keep an eye out.

Sena nodded with surprising eagerness, with a level of relief that downright confused him.

Thus did they walk to the outskirts of their camp, feet crunching through crimson grass. First came stretches; then a hundred push-ups; then a hundred squats; then a hundred Hox crunches.

"...say, Lanz?"

"What is it?" His answer was quick, and surprisingly easy, he thought. Then again, Sena had done nothing but keep up a steady pace with him (because for all he cared for those lunks, Queen's wings Noah and Eunie didn't quite share his enthusiasm for calisthenics. It was surprising enough to admit that inwardly). She'd earned at least that much.

"How do you think they combined?"

"You mean Noah and Mio?"

"Yeah."

As he calmly limbered up, he thought back to the chaos of that fight, and everything that had come from it. "Well...there was a lot of shoutin' involved. Think there might be something to it."

"...do you...wanna practice?" she asked. "I'd like to see if I can pull it off, like Mimi could."

Lanz looked at Sena. Really looked at her, and found himself...not entirely opposed to the idea. With a casual shrug, he answered, "Sure, I guess there's no harm in it. It'll give us an edge if we can do it like those two."

xx

It didn't even take ten minutes of their exaggerated movements and audible outbursts before Taion burst their proverbial bubble.

(All told, if this what having a 'muscle-buddy' was like, then he could get used to it.)

xxxx

A/N: Since they lack bicycles, a "bicycle crunch" wouldn't make sense as a name. Hence, "Hox crunches" as a name substitute.

This game is such a brain rot, but it's so much fun.