"Egil… Egil, wake up." Lady Meyneth's voice rang through his head. Was this another hallucination? Were they getting worse? "Open your eyes."
He groaned, grasping at his chest. He hurt, he wanted to rest… No, he needed the hallucinations to let him rest, just this once. Let him sleep through this pain.
"Egil…!" Her voice became louder as his hand rested on a plate on his chest. "Please…!"
His eyes finally began to open as he felt the plate. It stuck out more than it should, more than his chest ever had. He had been hurt, if anything there should be a gap here, where the Mechon had torn him to shreds.
When his eyes came into focus, he saw Vanea and Linada's worried stares melting into relief. Shouldn't he be dead…?
"Good, you're awake." Linada was the first to speak as Vanea sobbed and fell onto him. "Can you tell me your name? Where you are?"
"I am… Egil." He groaned, finally trying to look at the plate. It looked like the symbol of Lady Meyneth. "I'm in Sword Valley, I was just attacked and should be dead."
Linada looked concerned when he said that, looking at Vanea. "Ah, yes, I suppose all of that is correct."
"How am I alive?" He forced himself up, an arm around Vanea's shoulders. "My chest… What is this thing?"
"Don't worry about that, brother." Vanea shook her head, pulling away. "It was just to stop the bleeding."
"Is that so?" Egil closed his eyes and sighed. "Then why did I… hear Lady Meyneth's voice?"
Vanea's eyes widened. "You heard her?"
"Yes. It seemed too real to be my hallucinations." Egil looked down, hand gently grazing the plate now. "Vanea, Linada… what did the two of you do?"
Linada sighed, looking at the other Machina. "I don't think we should hide this from him as planned, Vanea."
"I know." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Egil, Lady Meyneth's soul is now within you. It was…"
"Vanea." He placed his hand on her shoulder, a frown on his face as suspicion began to eat at him. "Why would you do that? Why did you have her soul-?"
"It was the only way I could save you! It felt as if a… a man was in my head, telling me to do it." She looked at her hands, voice shaking as she spoke. "Saying it would help Lady Meyneth achieve her dream, that this was the reason she entrusted herself to me. If it was better for the both of you, then…"
"Better for the both of us?" He closed his eyes for a moment, feelings not his own flooding into him. "Mmm… I see…"
Vanea looked at her knees, refusing to meet his eyes as he opened them. "Are you angry with me…?"
"No, Vanea. I'm just… unsure of what this will mean." He pulled himself to his feet and held out his hand to her. "For now, we should focus on finding that Mechon before it causes more trouble. I can… work out the details of this shared body later."
"After what it did to you?!" Linada was taken aback. "What if it does that again? We won't have Lady Meyneth to save you this next time, Egil!"
"I know, but we can't let it run wild! If it attacks the Bionis, we'll be in trouble." He shook his head, gritting his teeth. "We'll just need to take out other Mechon as we go, build our strength."
Vanea frowned. "Egil…"
"Come on, then. We have work to do."
As they travelled through Sword Valley, Egil found himself becoming less and less fearful of the Bionis. In fact, he felt as if he wanted to make his way there now. Wanted to step foot on it for the first time in forever… And it unsettled him.
"Egil." Linada's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Are you alright? You haven't moved in a few moments."
"Ah, I'm fine. I just feel… odd." He frowned, looking back to the Bionis. "As if I am experiencing emotions that are not my own."
"That may be Lady Meyneth, Egil." Vanea spoke up. "Which of her emotions are within you?"
"I feel a longing… a longing to go to the Bionis." He let out a sigh. "It's drowning my own fear of it, but I am unsure of why she wants to go. The reasons are unclear to me."
"I see…" Vanea nodded, arms crossed against her chest. "Then perhaps we should go?"
"And take our treaty-breaking to another level of unforgivable?" Linada put a hand on her hip. "Does that really seem wise to you, Vanea?"
"For the sake of Lady Meyneth…" Egil spoke up, taking a step forward. "I… agree with Vanea. I will take any punishment for the Machina unto myself for this."
"Ah, that sounds like you, Egil. Stubborn and staunch in your worship." Linada smiled at him, just a bit. "I suppose I should go along as well, then. Any punishment meant for an entire people may be easier for three people to take, rather than two."
Vanea smiled. "Thank you, Linada. I knew you would be by our side through all of this."
"Of course, I can't leave my patient and his sister on their own." She chuckled, patting Egil's shoulder. "Then we'll find the Mechon, take it out, and be on our way to the Bionis. Perhaps even be lucky enough to not be seen."
"Ah, thank you." He smiled at her, just the smallest ghost of a smile. "I will try and become more attuned with Lady Meyneth, and see why she wishes to go there."
"Lady Meyneth spoke of wanting peace for our worlds once…" Vanea looked towards the Bionis. "Perhaps she believes the key to a true peace lies there?"
"Perhaps." He felt as if Lady Meyneth's heart was warm at Vanea's words. "I suppose time will tell."
With that, they were travelling again, their words dying out a bit. Egil focused on the plate on his chest, the soul sharing a body with him. Her feelings were strong, but he could not find a reason behind them, not yet. Perhaps he wasn't ready to know or perhaps only Meyneth needed to know…
Mechon attacked as they went, but they weren't much of a problem. Their group had quite the synergy, Egil easily softening the enemies while Vanea tore them to shreds and Linada kept them at full health. The longer they went on, the more Egil felt dealing with the source of the glitch would be easy.
There were some fortress units they had to avoid, of course. The last thing Egil wanted was to be stomped on, and he was sure the others felt the same way. Giant glitching Mechon… the worst kind of Mechon to have to deal with.
Ah, the sights of Sword Valley. No wonder both worlds were so happy to abandon it without a second thought. Nothing about this travel was pleasant.
But he would do what had to be done. For all he knew, he would long for it when he got to the Bionis in the end.
It was late when they finally decided to take a break and bunker down for the night. The glitching Mechon still wasn't in sight and they were too tired to keep going. Linada watched Egil make his way to a corner to sleep (or perhaps try and communicate with Lady Meyneth? She wasn't sure which).
With him off on his own, it left her and Vanea to speak. She sat next to the other Machina, offering her some water. She thought for a moment, trying to find a place to start, when Vanea finally spoke.
"Say, Linada. What do you think Egil's chances were? If I hadn't used Lady Meyneth's soul to save him, I mean." Her voice was quiet as she sipped at the water, eyes distant.
"I'm honestly not sure. The wound was large and would be difficult to heal with the ether I have on hand." She looked towards him with a frown. "We may have needed pure water crystals to do much."
"So he would have died." Vanea shook, voice and body seeming to move in tandem. "What I did… it wasn't selfish, was it?"
"Not fully, no." Linada shook her head. "As a doctor, I won't give up on a patient until there's nothing else I can do. As long as there's a chance…"
"Then you'll take it, right?" Vanea smiled at her. "I admire that about you, really. Always so logical about things."
"Well, one of us has to think things through." She chuckled, shaking her head. "You and Egil are both such emotional beings, even if Egil tries to hide it."
"Ah, so you've noticed that, too?" Vanea laughed in unison with Linada. "Nothing can get past you, can it?"
"There's a reason I can act as a therapist for him when we're lacking in them, don't you think?" Linada sat back with a small sigh. "You know, Vanea, if you ever need to speak of your own trauma… you can feel free to come sit down and talk with me. I wouldn't mind, it is my job, after all."
"Ah, Linada…" She blinked a few times. "Thank you, but I would hate to put more burden on you."
"There you go again, Vanea. Always worried about others, wanting to hold them up despite your own pain." She shook her head. "I'm fine, really. You and Egil both need to learn to rely on others more."
"Rely on others more, you say…?" Vanea looked at her hands. "I… will keep what you said in mind, Linada. Thank you."
"Of course, just doing my job."
