Author's Note: As I stated at the beginning, these ficlets and drabbles are not released in chronological order.
I honestly have no idea why Nia's content is post-game, because it actually touches on stuff that should be spelled out clearly in the main plot. Like how once Origin restarts, the worlds would split apart again.
Let's just assume that those events occurred before Ouroboros made their trek to Origin, because why exactly would Nia have to remain in Cloudkeep until the endgame, narratively speaking?
(Still haven't completed Melia's post-game quest yet.)
Spoilers for endgame and post-game content, as a reminder.
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/Time: Chapter 7, prior to the battle with X/
The sky seemed so...violent, mused Noah, his feet at the edge of a steep drop.
As Ouroboros continued their descent towards Origin's core, the thoughts in his mind continued to circulate, with more ferocity than the Ocean Vortex had possessed. They were near the end. (Hopefully.) It would end well. (Hopefully...) It had to.
"Are you all right?"
Noah glanced over his shoulder, towards the small little cove where their party had stopped to take another breather (because if nothing else, the artificial constructs that populated this place where absolute mudders to deal with, and there were so many of them!). Mio was quietly walking towards him, short hair swishing with each movement. "...I'm not sure if 'all right' are the right words for this."
"I suppose not," she agreed, stopping by his side. Standing over the abyss, they gazed out at the shifting parts of Origin, through which the sky — tinged a purple so bloody it was close to crimson — of Aionios could be seen. "What are you thinking about, then?"
(What wasn't he thinking about? It was hard to choose.) "...some of what Queen Nia had talked about, I suppose."
Mio's ears briefly drooped. "Ah..."
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The Queen of Agnus had briefly accompanied them, for a time.
As they had scoured the world for the Origin shards needed to complete Samon's ship, Nia had been an amiable yet strangely feisty companion. Armed with three swords — two floating behind her like watchful aegises — the ruler of Agnus had amply demonstrated her capability in battle.
More importantly, however, had been her tales and observations of her old world...and how it still manifested in the remnants of this frozen time, in the Endless Now perpetuated by Moebius.
("All life...all civilizations and cultures...everything comes to an end, in time," she had said, with the ruins of Maktha Wildwood looming behind her. "Of course, humans are part of the world, too. We can't escape that rule either." With a look that was both haunted yet stern, she added, "But people never stop looking for a way, even if it means going beyond the rules.")
Though their time together had been short, it had been...pleasurable. More than that, it had been necessary.
For when it had culminated in the Great Sword's Cavity, overlooking Erythia Sea and the distant Castle of Agnus, she had spoken of what the end of their journey would mean.
("When this battle is over, the stationary worlds will move once again. When the worlds were divided, they knew nothing of each other. In the end, they'll be strangers once again...perfectly ignorant, as will we." The melancholy in Nia's tone matched their mood.)
Her words had only gained more weight, in light of what they would later learn upon freeing the Queen of Keves.
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"...worlds moving on from each other," muttered Mio, her gloved hands folded together. "It's strange...I thought I was ready to die. I was preparing for it. Then, thanks to M," she said, her Iris glowing with the dual symbol of Moebius and Ouroboros, "I got a new lease on life: an extension of the time left to me. But now..."
It was something that everyone on their team had been quietly struggling with (and each in their own way), in the time between their journey with Nia and the invasion of Origin. As the final battle with Moebius loomed large in their future, the artificial and ephemeral nature of Aionios had only become more prominent in their minds. "...I know." This time, he could truly say he knew, in a way that no one else could understand.
(The memories of N roiled within him, constantly.)
(You can't help but wonder if M's are a tempest in Mio's mind.)
Mustering his courage, Noah continued, "And not just what Nia said...but Queen Melia, as well."
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The temperament and aura about the Queen of Keves was similar, yet different to that of the other queen. Equally melancholy, tinged with a sorrow that was more detached and dignified: tempered by experiences from a life lived far longer than Ouroboros could fathom.
Those experiences had given a particular weight to her words. "About Z...he is not a person," Closing her eyes (out of regret? What was she remembering, in that moment?), she said, "but a concept." At their confusion, she explained, "Everyone can feel uncertain, frightened...these feelings, coagulated, and then given human form, are Z. Unlike those people who were granted a Moebius body, he is a true Moebius."
How ominous, it sounded; he barely seemed like an individual, in spite of N and M's memories to the contrary. Taion unknowingly gave voice to Noah and Mio's thoughts. "So he's not even an individual?"
"He is and he isn't. There is some Moebius within you, too...but...perhaps you've realized that?" Before they could ponder further, Melia added, "Your Aionios...lies in frozen time. Born from the Moebius wish that chose the Endless Now."
"So then, both us and the world...everything that exists, it's all false?"
(It was a worry that had plagued them all, in light of Nia's words; if their worlds were fated to split apart again, then was Aionios merely a mistake?)
Melia shook her head, putting that line of inquiry down with a simple statement. "Everything that exists is reality." With a forlorn yet strangely satisfied smile, she gazed up at the glowing node where she had previously been imprisoned. "Present lives...and future ones...Moebius aside, the wills of countless people persist, inside of Origin. The Sword of the End you carry, and Ouroboros, they take their shape from these thoughts." Almost as though she were challenging them, she added, "Protect the now, or carve a path to the future? The wielder decides."
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Noah quietly summoned his Blade, gazing down at Lucky Seven and its humming sheath. (Within this place, imbued as it was by the presence of Moebius, the sword vibrated without end; that translated into the quiet whine emanated by the sheathe itself, its energetic edge squealing from the ethereal pressure.) "The future is undeniable," Noah said, quoting Melia's words. "But we must realize our own..."
"...yet realizing our own means bringing an end to the way things are," remarked Mio, reaching for his Blade's hilt. Her hands overlapped his own, clinging tightly to the weapon that had freed the future for so many. "To cut away that which binds this moment together..."
"Like ending an Interlink," said Noah, eyes glistening with understanding.
"Yes." Mio nodded, visibly glad they were on the same wavelength. "Aionios...this world is unstable, created by an ark which failed at its intended purpose." Some might call it heartless, to think of their world as something which had come about only because a grand machine had failed to properly reboot...and yet that was the truth. No amount of wailing or gnashing of teeth would change that. "Yet...it feels like there's so much power within us, because of that failure."
Noah thought back even further, letting traces of M's memories filter through. "...I think I see it..."
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Keves and Agnus were representatives of two different worlds, in a way they had not realized before.
Their world of eternal war, chosen as the means by which the Endless Now perpetuated itself, was also a reflection of the physical chain of events that had led to Aionios's creation.
The Intersection would have annihilated their worlds, leaving behind only light in an energetic mass of information. (If Origin had not been devised to preserve their civilizations...would that light have eventually formed a new world? There was no way of knowing, at this point.) That reality still manifested in the Annihilation Events, characterized by the black fog that lingered throughout the world. However, they were both signs of just how much power their union unleashed.
(How strange, that the monster they would eventually come to know as Consul D — merged with Consul J, though they had no idea at the time — had hinted at that knowledge on that fateful night, so long ago. "So you got yourselves an Interlink going, eh?" The monster sauntered towards them, sounding strangely pleased by this turn of events. "That form you just merged into? It's called 'Ouroboros.' Sear that into your skulls. Oh and me? I'm Moebius. We look a bit alike don't we?" Holding his arms out wide, he spoke with even greater grandiosity. "When Keves and Agnus come together in unity, you're practically one step away from being on the same level as us." For all the theatricality of his presentation, he had seemed strangely impatient, as though he were more interested in kicking off the next act of a play.)
(How little they knew back then of how true that metaphor would be, because how were they supposed to know that they were not the first Ouroboros to war against Moebius?)
Moebius: born from two worlds coming together in a destructive cataclysm, empowered by the desires of those who wished for an Endless Now in the face of their doom.
("Interlinking...you've been blessed with quite the talent." In the wake of Ethel and Cammuravi's mutual demise, Consuls O & P sauntered toward them without a care in the world, as though this were all a game. Turning into their Moebius forms, they joined together into a hideous amalgamation. "...this is the true form of Interlinking! Yes. The form in which two worlds become one. A far more refined form than this...half-assed one you've stumbled upon. Look upon us and tremble before perfection!")
Ouroboros: born from those of each world coming together in a form that was equally capable of destruction...yet also capable of direction, and purpose, able to seize the future.
Both were susceptible to mutual annihilation. Whether it was Moebius...
(Conuls O & P, so cocksure before, were on the verge of burning up; their combined form squealed from the inherent incompatibility of their form with existence. "That damn noise! Shut UP with your infernal beeping! DDon't go telling us our time is up now! We were only just getting to the best part!" Their Moebius cores glowed, on the verge of rupturing; in their desperation, they tried to pull on the full might of their Interlink...and yet they had taken too long. Black fog surged about their forms, building up for an explosion that would annihilate the cliffside.)
...or Ouroboros...
(Sena and Lanz, in a desperate gambit to stop N, had been banking on their own annihilation. With a triumphant and defiant yell, their Ouroboros form — shining ever so brightly, a star amidst the swirling clouds of black fog — soared into the sky; had it not been for Consul X nullifying their Interlink, an Annihilation Event would have brightened the sky with a second sun.)
...neither were immune.
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"...in a way, Aionios is an Interlink of two worlds," muttered Noah, trying to piece together the oddities and paradoxes that kept this realm going in spite of its inherent contradictions. "If not for our self-imposed time limit, our Ouroboros Interlink would result in annihilation...it's the same for Aionios."
"The machinations of Moebius have kept pushing that time limit ever onward, even though the mere act of coexistence is enough for our worlds to destroy themselves," mused Mio, unable to keep the sound of defeat from her voice. "It's all so wretched, isn't it?"
"Yes. This world...is dying," murmured Noah. (That which was perpetually stagnant could only be dead; as an off-seer, the comparison of Aionios with a still corpse was all too apt.) "Moebius can't ignore that forever, no matter how much they want to."
"And yet...it still seems sad, doesn't it? That our world has to end."
(It was a binary that they would not have chosen: to perpetuate Aionios's existence, the Endless Now had to endure. To seize a new future would necessitate Origin — freed of Moebius — completing its reboot process at long last.)
"...but will it?" pondered Noah. "You said it yourself, didn't you? To Queen Nia."
("...even if we do get separated, someday we'll see each other again. We want you with us, Nia, in that future. How could we not? We need you." Stepping forward, Mio reached for Nia's hands. "Rather...please stay. Because...the connection we share, Nia...that's something...that can never be broken." The expression on the Queen's face was...full of longing and grief and joy. It was strange, how Mio's words elicited such.)
Mio blinked, her ears perking upward. "Oh. I guess I did, didn't I?"
"Everything that exists is reality...so even if this time comes to an end, it won't have been for nothing. Because when we join together..." He looked down at their hands, still gripping Lucky Seven's hilt. "...it's not as though we're unchanged by the experience. Even when the Interlink ends, I come away with a part of you...and you leave with a part of me."
"I guess...in a sense, when you put it that way...the Interlink is always going."
"Yeah. Except this one has no time limit. We'll both make sure...won't we?"
Mio smiled, putting his and her hearts at ease. "...then I guess that means the world won't truly end, will it?"
"It's like Melia said: this world is ours." Not the Endless Now, and not Aionios itself...but the future they chose for themselves, unburdened by past regrets. That was the world which was theirs, if they had but the will to grasp it.
They stared at the sky for a little bit longer, hand in hand; before long, their fight for the future would continue...but for now, they would enjoy the moment.
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Interlinking was a bizarre reflection of Aionios, in the end: a means of accessing power that would doom its users to destruction on a fundamental level.
As such, it was strangely fitting that Moebius would have still made use of it, in spite of that danger...because it only cemented the fear that the uncertain future represented in the minds of those that Z claimed to represent. That was the perfection Moebius professed to have, even if it was no such thing.
Yet power was power: without a will to guide it, it had no meaning in of itself. Interlinking was much the same.
("That future...I'll share it with you," said Nia, placing her hand atop Mio's. "It's not just yours...it's our future we'll invest in. For that, we need this world to end.")
Through their actions, even going far into the past, they had pointed the way towards the future of their worlds.
("Noah, Mio...though we came from different worlds, we were able to leave a life behind," said the echo of N, drifting away with M towards the blazing mass of self-loathing that Z had become. M added, "It was a hope for the future. Our hearts and our dreams intertwined...and we were given the chance to weave new life. And therefore...it's all good.")
As such, despite the uncertainty of what awaited them in the worlds reborn...despite their fear of the unknown, despite that little bit of Moebius which lingered within them...they would make their choice, despite how much it hurt.
(As the worlds prepared to separate once more — as time began to move forward again — they made a vow to each other. "I won't let go." Mio slowly reached for Noah's hand. "Not ever. I'll always be with you...our feelings, forever interlinked." Wherever they were, they swore; this oath was sealed with a kiss.)
Because they had faith in the future they had chosen for themselves, confident that this goodbye was not the end.
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Author's Note: I sometimes feel like the plot direction in Xenoblade 3 got changed a bit at some point during development, because the themes and focus of chapters 1-5 seem somewhat skewed once we get to chapters 6-7.
This was my attempt at trying to bridge those themes together.