Chapter 4: …and the Real


"Glad friend to be joining us!"

Wonone greeted Jin as he slid down to join him and Minoth at the bottom of one of the glassed craters that dotted the landscape of Judicium's ruin. Unlike the empty expanse he'd seen at the other craters, there seemed to be something at the bottom of this one.

"What have you found?" Jin asked as he approached Minoth near one of the slopes of the crater. He was crouched down, shining an ether light at something out of Jin's line of sight.

He glanced at Jin as he approached. "Remember how the attack from Malos' Artifice eats through everything in its blast radius?" Minoth asked as he leaned in closer to the hole.

"'The hallmark of the Aegis.' It's not something I think anyone could easily mistake."

"Right. Anything 'fortunate' enough to be on the crater's blast radius turns to slag like this one. In the one's I've seen, there's not much that these things will expose besides rock or earth or some city infrastructure like sewage tunnels, but there's something else here." Minoth held out his hand, ether light in his palm. "Take a look if you want."

Accepting the light, Jin crouched down beside the other flesh eater at the edge of the flat portion of the crater, where pieces of melted metal beams nearly flush with the side. That in and of itself might not have been too interesting considering what made the crater, if it weren't for the small gap between them. He shone the light into the gap.

That's no sewage tunnel.

No, it wasn't. Minoth's light shone down through the small gap onto a debris strewn floor that might have been pristine at one point. Peering closer, it seemed the hallway curved out of sight of Minoth's light. A pulse from his core ached a moment — was that leftover from that…experience in the library? — before receding again.

"Reading from U-DO is fluctuating," The Nopon announced as he came up behind the two, "but seem like strongest signal coming through down there. Sadly, Wonone doesn't have tools necessary to blast through. They back at base camp. May have to wait until second trip to scout undertunnel area, or look for different entrance."

Jin, maybe you could…?

"That won't be necessary." Jin stood, handing the lamp back to Minoth and glared at the Nopon. "Not a word of this to anyone."

The Nopon seemed puzzled but nodded.

Jin breathed out, grasping the hilt of his nodachi — noting that the Nopon leaned forward with interest, but kept his mouth shut. Ice crept up from Jin's feet, spreading on to the melted metal beams, seeping into their very seams.

Time seemed to stretch. Lora's heart pounding in his chest, with a flurry of deft sword strokes, he sliced through the frozen metal. Time stopped stretching and the Nopon made a yelp of confusion. Moments later, the metal beams and surrounding rock slowly fell in and downwards, crashing down into the hallway floor below, leaving a hole large enough for one person to fit through.

Headwinds clapping and hopping up and down, the Nopon bounced forward. "Friend is a-"

"Not a word," Jin repeated, sheathing his sword on his back again.

"-a-amazing!"

"No questions asked, remember?" Minoth glared at the Nopon. "He's just a normal, if highly skilled, bodyguard. Something I'm sure you won't have any problem with after that demonstration?"

"Not one, friend!"

Jin slid down the opening, landing on what appeared to have once been polished stone flooring that was now covered with a thin film of dust. Glancing behind him, the tunnel had collapsed into debris, but ahead was relatively clear. Along the wall were small recessed indents that he guessed had once housed ether lamps of some sort to light the place, but no such things existed any more.

Though it's a bit…gloomy, this is kind of exciting! Don't you think?

"That's one way of looking at it," he muttered. "But…"

But what?

A moment later, Minoth landed beside Jin, setting the Nopon down from his arms. "So whatever your little gadget is picking up is coming from in here somewhere?" Minoth asked, eying the dark, curving hallway.

"Signal is coming from far underneath friends. Hallway might not even connect, but Wonone see no reason to not try and find connection through here!" With that, the Nopon dashed ahead, an ether lamp clipped on his pack lighting up, providing a bobbing light source. He stopped, gesturing towards them with one headwing. "Come friends! Treasure waits for no 'pon! "

A snort of laughter echoed in Jin's head.

Minoth followed, muttering something about "no instinct for self preservation," and after another moment of hesitation Jin fell into step behind the two.


"Such much debris!" Wonone exclaimed. "Friend sure he not getting tired?"

The sensation Jin had as he continued tapping into that same power he had back on Iraem to cut through the stone debris was…strange. Tingly, like something trying to worm its way out. Not…unpleasant exactly, just strange. He was still really only skimming the surface of it — something about it still unnerved him — but he made no mention of that to everyone here.

Not that you'd ever keep something like that to yourself.

"This is nothing," Jin responded instead, steadily sheathing his nodachi once again. The deep furrows he'd cut into the stone and rebar were precise, but the stone held stubbornly still. "Minoth, help me a moment."

Grunting as he and Minoth pushed stone and rebar, it fell inward, clattering forward into the darkness. A moment later, the Nopon's light shone through the sizable hole as he walked up, showing the next stretch of this hallway.

"Friend's cut is always so precise." The Nopon began hopping up and down in place. "Wonone think he could make profit using skills to cut tossed fruit out of the air!"

Ooh, that sounds like it could be pretty interesting. You'd be all, swish-swish-swoosh in the blink of an eye, and boom! Ten different shaped cuts of fruit!

"What would be the point of that?" Jin asked, incredulous.

You're no fun, you know that?

"Would bedazzle the world with splendiferous and daring cuts of fruit!" The Nopon exclaimed. "Could even add other death defying dangers: cutting over pit of hungry, raging aligos!"

"Hah!" Minoth belted out a laugh as he boosted the Nopon up so he could clamor through the hole. "Now there's a thought. If you're ever lacking for funds you could take up part in an entertainment troupe. Might even pay better than your freelancer gig."

I can see it now…Jin the amazing fruit ninja! I'd get front row seats every time.

"Fruit…ninja?" Jin mumbled incredulously.

"What's that?" Minoth asked.

"It's nothing." He pressed forward past Minoth, stepping carefully through the hole.

Hmph. One of these days I'll figure out how to communicate without you having to repeat what I say. You're too gloomy for your own good sometimes.

"You're not very good at hiding things Jin, not with that gloomy look on your face."

See? Minoth gets it. Doesn't suit you, hmm?

Jin stopped, sighing as he put his hand to his forehead, hitting Lora's half-mask still in place. A moment later, he heard Minoth stop shortly beside him.

"Something's got you spooked, on edge," Minoth muttered.

"And you aren't?" Jin countered quietly.

"Oh, I'm plenty spooked, but that's no reason not to crack a joke or two. In a story, a well placed piece of humor can enhance a scene and make the scary parts hit even harder."

"This isn't a story."

"Isn't it?" Jin glanced over to him, the waddling light of the Nopon's lamp alternated framing both sides of Minoth's face in shadow. "It's got all the pieces to one. All the principal characters have good reason to be down here. All of us are searching for something, drawn by different motivations," he eyed the Nopon up ahead. "Some are more noble than others, I suppose, but we're here all the same."

I guess we never did ask exactly why Minoth was coming here, did we?

He relayed the question to Minoth.

"I'd have figured you would have picked up on it. But no matter. I guess you could say that I'm looking for...closure. If this is what I think it is, you'll see soon enough."

That's a bit ominous, but…do you think he's scared too?

Could be. At the very least, he was on edge. Like he was.

"More debris up here!" The Nopon's shout echoed slightly down the hallway.

Minoth laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Jin. Whatever it is that's bothering you, we'll work it out, whether or not we find answers here. Together. Surely it hasn't been long enough that you've forgotten how to do that, have you?"

"No. I suppose it hasn't."


They continued on in the curved hallway, and started finding sliding metal doors. The ones they could force open — or occasionally cut open with Jin's deft sword strokes — led only to rubble and the remains of rooms. Debris, dust and rock had made them and anything in them inaccessible or useless for their purposes. Or Wonone's at the very least.

However, after forcing open another sliding metal door, they entered a small room mostly untouched by the collapse save for a light film of dust built up in the room. Wonone was still very excited about potential treasures they could scrounge from it, despite that this was the fifth room they'd broken into.

But the contents of the room were far from the treasure he suspected the Nopon prospector-

Ponspector!

…ponspector wanted.

Hah! I win.

He sighed at the smugness in her voice as he stood on guard while Wonone rummaged around. He glanced over to Minoth, who seemed keenly interested in one of the inert machines along the wall. This one hadn't been in the last room they were in.

"I thought as much." Minoth muttered.

"What is it?" Jin asked, moving closer.

Minoth's hand traced over the machine, tracing a line of dust onto his fingers, eying Jin as he got closer. "I remember this place well. It's where I became a flesh eater Blade myself after all."

"Here?"

It's so…bleak.

"It wasn't this room in particular. Just one like it. I suspected, but wasn't sure until now." He flicked the machine. "This is…or was, part of the main research and development facility for flesh eater technology in Judicium. 'Perfect Works' they called it. Ambitious, to be sure, but ultimately doomed to failure."

Jin eyed the dilapidated and scattered medical accessories, the raised bed in the middle, a few machines, only a few of which looked to be in decent repair. Though when Wonone played with the switches on it as he passed — mumbling irritably about the lack of treasure chests — nothing happened. Made sense to him, whatever source of energy powering it had probably long since stopped working.

"I'm sorry. Does it bring back bad memories?"

Minoth shook his head. "Not really. The process was all very…clinical. Nobody died for it, and I really didn't feel any different besides being able to operate at full power without Amalthus. The Judicium scientists were disappointed, but most looked like they expected nothing different. In the end, I was just another statistic in a long line of 'failures' for them."

Minoth…

"Do you regret it?"

"No." The answer came almost immediately. "I doubt I would have been afforded the freedom I have now if something like what happened to you and Lora happened to me. This," he tapped the place where his mottled blue and red core sat covered by the forest-green poncho, "suits me just fine."

Despite the surety of his answer, Jin noted an undercurrent of bitterness in his tone.

Sighing, Minoth turned and lean back against the machine. "I never saw the full measure of the research facility considering how boringly normal I turned out, but I know it goes deeper than the floor we're on right now." He traced his finger in a large circular motion. "This hallway we're in is a circle, and there's a main lift in the center."

"What's down there?"

He crossed his arms and let out a 'hmph' "Couldn't say for certain. I never went past this floor. Access to the lower floors were locked by security, even though it was on the same lift. They were also guarded."

"It won't be anymore." Jin glanced at the unpowered machines nearby. "But given what we've seen of the rest of the facility, there won't be anything powering the lift either."

Minoth hummed quietly in thought, hand moving to his chin. "However…there's almost always another way down."

"An emergency exit?"

He nodded. "Close enough. It's worth checking out."

Wonone waddled over to them, a glum look of disappointment clear in his eyes. "What friends discussing? Machine over here working?"

Minoth crouched down to the Nopon's level. "'Fraid not my ponspector friend. But I know where we are now, and there could be something of interest to you."

The Nopon leaned forward intently, headwings spreading wide in delight. "Friend sure?"

"Could be dangerous, but if you'd rather not risk it, then we can head—"

"Danger is Wonone's middle and last name! Ponspectors would never have come so far without danger. Besides, Wonone still hasn't found origin of U-DO signal. Though could be big dangers, big dangers have best shinies!"

Chuckling, Minoth stood. "Well then, who am I to stop you from coming with us?"


Carefully setting his foot down on a ladder rung, Jin tested its weight for a moment, before stepping down. Though they creaked, none of the rungs had broken yet — the research facility was only a little over a decade or so out of service after all — but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Still clear so far?" Minoth called from above.

"Yes," Jin replied. "The rungs have been solidly anchored so far." Minoth's borrowed light shone downwards into the darkness, though it didn't pierce it very far. "The shaft is still clear of debris from what I can see."

After backtracking and uncovering the debris that had covered where Minoth thought the lift should be, its carriage — assuming there was one left — was out of sight, either up above or below. But there had been a maintenance ladder, going up and down as far as their lights shone.

Stopping on a small platform that had a maintenance hatch leading into their latest floor downward, Jin backed away from the ladder. Minoth descended a few moments later, the Nopon clinging to his back.

He's kind of like a fluffy, oversized backpack.

Once Minoth reached the bottom rung, the fluffy, oversized backpack hopped down and pulled out his device, fiddling with it some more.

"How about this floor?" Minoth asked.

After another few moments, the Nopon shook his furry head. "Still further down."

They had stopped at every floor while Wonone tested the signal strength, but so far it kept leading them ever downward. Peeking into the other floors where the lift stopped revealed other circular halls with more doors, this time with no debris in sight. Spared the destruction that Malos had rained from above.

Without another word, like the last floors, Jin started down the next ladder. However, he didn't get very far before he suddenly got a sharp pain in his head, right in the middle of stepping down the rung. His foot slammed down hard, and the rung broke.

The sudden pain made him lose his grip.

As he fell, at the top of the landing, Lora watched him fall. Her lips moved with words unintelligible.

He heard the Nopon above him yelp.

"Jin!" Minoth yelled.

In a pulse of pain, he blinked and she was gone.

It only took a few seconds for the fall to finish, before he landed, hard, on his side, rolling shortly to a stop. The sound of his impact on something metal echoed into the shaft above, combined with a glassy crunch as he was plunged into darkness.

There was ringing in his ears as the headache stopped as suddenly as it began. He groaned as broken bone and flesh began mending quickly as his Blade healing factor quickly started to take effect.

"Jin, are you alright?" He heard Minoth call faintly from above.

Rolling gingerly to his back, he looked up and far above him saw a pinprick of light shining ineffectually down towards him.

"One of the rungs broke!" He called up. Carefully sitting up, he felt for the ether light Minoth had loaned him. Sure enough, the lamp was broken. "Your light busted, but I'll be alright."

"We'll say you owe me one; stay there and we'll come down to you!"

Did the ladder catch you off guard?

Her tone was teasing, but there was a genuine undertone of concern.

"No, I just...I had a sudden, sharp headache."

That's quite the headache. Was it the same kind of thing that happened at the library as well?

He smiled slightly in the dark. Nothing got past her it seemed.

I am in your head, you know.

"It might be. This headache was shorter, more intense, but..." But it was still accompanied by a brief vision of her. An apparition? Something more? The voice of Lora in his head hadn't seen the last one at the library, and had seemed confused when he alluded to it.

So do you think whatever it is is getting worse?

Temporarily removing Lora's half-mask, he kneaded his temples, even though the headache had gone, an almost phantom pain lingered there. "I don't know. This only started once we came to Judicium. I don't have a whole lot to go off."

The lights from Minoth up above slowly descended closer and closer to them.

Hmm. I don't like this. Once Minoth and the ponspector get down here, maybe we should head back-

"No!" he retorted sharply. Before lowering his voice again. "No. I can't fully explain it, but this is important."

Okay, I'll relent, but only if you take a break. And at least eat something? I know you didn't bring any cooking pots or anything down here, but snacks are better than nothing.

He grunted in acknowledgement. Looking up again, Minoth and the ponspector's light were still fairly far above, though they continued to descend.

"It's funny," he muttered.

What is?

"It always felt like I was always watching over you, but now…"

It's the least I can do. Besides, there were countless times I helped you, remember? Even when in the year after I first awakened you, I wasn't exactly helpless.

"Not at cooking."

Hey, that's a low blow to make, mister 'I couldn't weave charms if my life depended on it.'

"Sorry."

That's why we complement each other so well. We all pitch in with our strengths to cover our weaknesses, right? You, Haze and I just fit, you know?

"We did, but…there's not much we can do about it now."

Haze had been separated from them with Mikhail in tow. He'd found no sign of either Mikhail or Haze's core crystal when he'd scoured the aftermath of the Tornan Militia's slaughter. It had made a grim sort of sense. Core Crystals were too valuable to leave behind, and Mikhail…

No one had been left alive.

Maybe one day we'll find her again.

"You know that it wouldn't be the same. That is the fate of a Blade after all."

No, but that's no reason not to try. She's family. Even if she's already been awakened by a new Driver, we can at least make sure it's a good fit for her.

"And if it's not?"

Well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, won't we?

"I suppose you're right."

Putting the half-mask back in place, they lapsed into silence, Jin quietly eating a ration bar as they waited for Minoth to finish coming all the way down.

He was still a ways up, when a hollow sounding groan echoed slightly through the shaft of the lift. Jin was on his feet as fast as his mostly mended self could muster, his hand immediately on his nodachi, eyes uselessly trying to pierce the darkness to see what, if anything was there.

The groan sounded again, closer this time, coming from the direction of where all the lift doors would open.

He heard Minoth curse from above, and the sound of steps down the ladder quickened. The light from above was close enough now to make out the faint outline of the lift door.

The open lift door.

There was the sound of shifting rock, a groan, followed by the more subtle sound of flesh dragging across the floor. Minoth jumped down, landing next to him on what was now revealed to be the bottom of the lift shaft.

"Something there?"

Jin nodded as the Nopon hopped off Minoth's back again. Minoth aimed his light more directly into the open space. It glinted off of…

Oh that's disgusting.

It was. Pallid, gray, distorted flesh, mottled with striations and tumors and other things he'd rather not dwell on. But the most notable feature was the mottled blue and red core sticking out near its chest.

Minoth had one of his gunknives drawn on it near the instant his light hit it, training the weapon on the grotesque creature. "Just our luck that someone left a little present for us down here."

"Wonone not think that present!"

It shambled closer, letting out a horrible, pained sounding shriek, reaching out what once might have been a hand.

"Is that what your little tracker was detecting?" Minoth asked as the Nopon quickly huddled behind his legs. The sights of his gunknives never left the shambling creature.

"Wonone not think so!" The Nopon yelled shakily.

"Check."

The Nopon hastily fiddled with his instrument a moment as the deformed creature drug itself closer. A moment too long if Jin had anything to say about it. His hand never left the hilt of his nodachi.

"N-no!" The Nopon stuttered out. "Well, actually, faint reading is coming from creature, but not what U-DO detected earlier. We on same level, but big reading still further away!"

"Good." With that, Minoth fired off a shot into the creature's chest. The recoiled at the impact of Minoth's dark-element ether shot, seizing up almost stock still before it crumpled into a heap on the ground.

Lora's heart thumped in his chest, and the core in his head pulsed. Jin blinked in confusion.

She was there, on the ground, dirty and battered. Golden eyes staring pleadingly at him.

"Jin…"

His head began pounding at the sound of her voice, and his hand fell from the hilt of his nodachi, going to clutch the sides of his head instead. He let out a soft gasp as his ears started ringing.

Her arm reached up towards him. "H-help…me…"

Spots started appearing in his vision again. He stepped forward, arm reaching towards her own. But it only seemed to make everything worse. He could…just make out her face still.

He felt more than saw himself collapse to his knees.

Another blast echoed from Minoth's gun and Lora's head snapped back. A hole dead center in her forehead. Jin's eyes widened, then shut reflexively against a rush of pain.

And just as suddenly as it had appeared, the pain was gone once again. Carefully letting his hand fall from his face, he opened his eyes again, blinking rapidly.

The creature, not Lora, sported a few more holes from Minoth's weapons. The faint glow from that mottled red and blue core crystal blinked weakly a few more times, then ceased.

He heard more than saw Minoth twirling the gunknife before sheathing it into one of his hip holsters. What seemed a moment later, light poured over him, and Minoth was crouched down beside him, hand on his shoulder.

"Jin, what happened?"

"It's…nothing."

"Hogwash. You saw something as well, didn't you?" He murmured quietly in his ear.

As well? Jin let out a shaky breath. "…Yes."

"It was Lora, wasn't it?"

I sure hope I don't look like that.

Jin said nothing, but he really didn't need to.

"Are you good to keep going?" Minoth asked carefully. "We can head back if you need to."

Shaking his head slightly, Jin braced himself on Minoth, and stood with his help. "I'll be alright."

"Just remember what's real, Jin. Whatever you see, that isn't her, just some bastardized flesh eater experiment." He tapped the front of his half-mask where his core lay. "She's still up there, right?"

Yup.

"…Right."

Stepping to the side, Minoth patted his back a couple times. "Then let's keep going." His voice was loud enough for the Nopon to hear now. "This was the correct floor, right?"

The ponspector bobbed his head affirmatively. "Reading from U-DO steady now. Friends of Wonone on right floor."

"Then let's mosey on in and see what this treasure of yours is."


A loud, pained sounding roar echoed through the hallway, shaking the area slightly.

Minoth held up a hand to stop Jin and Wonone's progress. He drew one of the gunknives again, twirling into gun form, he motioned them to stay there and stepped forward. The Nopon ponspector stopped, shivering slightly. Jin glanced around warily, hand on the hilt of his nodachi once again.

Roars are never a good sign. Especially in tight spaces.

"Does friend see something?" The Nopon asked warily. "Is more strange creature like before?"

"Just stay put for now," Jin told him.

"But-"

"Quietly."

This floor had the same structure as the others: a central circular hallway looping back into itself. They had yet to make a full circle back to the shaft of the lift, nor had they found any more of those flesh eater Blade creatures.

Squinting his eyes, he could still see the shadowed outline of his friend carefully moving forward, then crouching. Eventually he stopped, sheathing his weapon again and turned, gesturing them both forward.

"Take a look at this," Minoth murmured quietly as they finished their approach, dropping into a crouch beside him. He gestured with his head to what looked like glass beside him, before partially covering the light with his hand and shining it through the glass.

The thin film of light pierced through, slowly sweeping over the large room it was set to observe below. Or, he supposed it wasn't a room like the rest of the R&D facility. More of a large cavern that happened to connect to the facility than anything. The thin beam of light didn't even reach the edge of the far wall.

But as Minoth's light passed over the floor near the center, it revealed a large shape. It was difficult to make out the full details, and would have looked like some sort of rock or debris. Except that the rock was moving, shifting. Then Minoth's light glinted off the large mottled blue and red core as it passed over momentarily.

"Is big Titan!" Wonone exclaimed.

"So the rumours of Judicium flesh eater Titan weapons were true?" Jin asked carefully.

"Probably," Minoth mused. "It was a horribly kept secret anyways. However, I'm not so sure this big guy is a weapon. There's no power generators or weapon attachments on it that I can see."

As they watched, the Titan started to stamp around, and a pained roar echoed that they could hear even in the hallway. The same sound they'd heard earlier.

It sounds almost…sad.

"Do you think it's hostile?" Jin asked.

"Could be, but..." Minoth carefully raised his light again scanning above where the Titan lay in the center of the cavern. The light brushed over…tubes, and his light traced them upward into…

…more rock, but the shape of it seemed abnormal, even for formations in a Titan.

"It's not going anywhere. At first, I wondered why this place went so far down." Minoth wiggled the light at the place the tubes connected into that storage shaped rock in the ceiling. "Even in Torna, most humans never see one, and most Blades wouldn't ever remember being to one either."

Hold on, doesn't that look sort of familiar?

The thought took hold and a memory cinched into place. This place was different from what he'd seen in the Tornan Titan, but the feeling was similar. "This is…the Temperantian Titan's womb matrix."

Where Blades came to be reborn into Titans.

Minoth moved the light forward in the hallway to a door that led down into the matrix. Though the door had a small hole near the bottom — which was likely why they had heard the roar of the Titan so clearly — Minoth's light stopped above the ruined door on an inscription in a language he didn't recognize:

תהיו כמו אלהים

"What does that say?"

"No idea." Minoth snatched the light back to them. "As for the Titan, I bet some researcher decided it would be a good idea to hook a Titan with a flesh eater core up to it." Minoth's hand went to his chin in thought. "Or maybe that was the primary purpose of the facility in the first place, and everything just expanded up from there."

Is the matrix…still alive?

"Is the womb matrix even still working after the desolation on the surface?" Jin asked in her stead. "The Titan is dead, adrift."

Minoth shook his head. "I doubt it's still fully functional. Whatever the Judicians were doing with it is past mattering now. That Titan was abandoned, whether because of evacuation or something else. I pity it."

"You don't think this was one of the places that the Praetorium cleared out?"

Minoth scoffed. "Could be. Everything past that first floor felt too clean to me."

"But why leave this in place?"

"Do you see that thing fitting in the lift?" He shook his head in disdain. "But that's not why we're here." He turned to the ponspector. "Is this it?"

"Wonone doesn't want it to be, but readings not lie! Source of signal is pointing towards Titan. Oh, Wonone should demand refund! U-DO supposed to lead to treasure, not Titan!"

"Treasure is in the eye of the beholder, dear ponspector. I'm sure there's parties out there interested in the information that some of Judicium's flesh eater Titans survived. If this big guy is still alive and kicking down here, who's to say there aren't others around? The others in your little expedition might have found clues on it by this point."

"Wonone would have preferred shinies…"

As he patted the Nopon's head, Jin could just make out Minoth's small smile. "Don't we all."

They all tensed as Titan roared again, shaking the glass they were by as it struggled ineffectually against the creaking tubes that held it bound. Sharing a look with an unspoken consensus of "we should probably leave now," they started moving back the way they'd come.


Their trek was broken in the face of shrieks, quickly revealing themselves to be the same type of creatures from before. Wonone screamed, Minoth dragged Jin back, forcefully turning him back around, and they started running around the opposite way, only to be met with shrieks from that way as well.

A headache started building again, and through it all, he heard Minoth curse loudly as a storm of dark element ether bullets showered the opponents as they backed up. "They're stronger than the first one we took down!"

They were boxed in. Due to the circular nature of the hallway, and the lift being on the opposite side of where they were, they would be fighting on two fronts. However Minoth was doing the heavy lifting.

The now familiar murderous headache and visage of Lora — those were creatures, that's not me — was all but crippling him, and in short order they were forced to retreat, driven back towards the room with the flesh eater Titan.

"This feels too perfect to be anything but a trap." He heard Minoth say through the haze of pain.

But the biggest problem came when the ponspector bolted from their protection and squeezed through the small hole in the door that ran into the womb matrix room

With the Titan.

It might have been safer for him in there, but moments later, Jin heard him scream.

Minoth cursed louder this time. "Jin, cut through the door while I hold them off!"

Struggling past the pain, he lifted his nodachi and drew on that same power from before. Lora's heart beat in time to the pulsing of his core.

To his surprise, near instantly, his headache receded enough that he could focus, and he quickly sliced through the door. Minoth quickly pushed him through, lighting a flare and throwing it into the midst of the room.

The cavernous room extended much further than Minoth's ether light had shown, but the sparking light of the flare revealed something else: dozens if not hundreds of membranous pods lining the walls.

Some had burst open, and even through the haze of his headache he realized. They were…Blades that had been in the process of turning into Titans. But their cores were flesh eater cores. What had they been doing down here?

The Titan roared as if in defiance of their intrusion, and more of the creatures popped out of the membranes, flopping like dead fish on dry land, some struggling ineffectually to get up.

Jin blinked, and suddenly everything was wrong.

"Help…me."

"Don't leave me here."

"Jin…"

"Just let me go"

"Save me…from this misery…"

"Want to…be free"

"Please…"

It was a cacophony of Lora's voice, layering one over each other, making all but impossible to concentrate. Even knowing that it wasn't really her, something seemed to tug Jin on. But…

"Remember what's real, Jin."

A bestial roar echoed from his throat, and he tapped deeply into that same power he'd used in Iraem. A group of the…things around them wearing Lora's face all flash froze in ice, stuck, like the real one still back in the Monoceres. But the white noise of their voices didn't stop.

"I don't want to hurt… anymore…"

"So sorry…to do this to you"

"Thought I…was ready for this…"

"One heart… being ripped in two…"

He delved deeper into that feeling, and his headache receded. He flickered to the first opponent, and one of the things pretending to be Lora collapsed to a stab through the chest where its core crystal was.

His vision exploded with a scene.

A small cabin, the screams of a thief, now one arm short, writhing on the ground. She shrunk back, confused as the man in white towered in front of her, before he crouched down, reaching out his hand to cup her cheek.

"From now on, I'll protect you. I'll keep you safe, always."

Jin gasped and the scene was gone.

"What was…?" Jin breathed out.

The sound of Minoth's gunkives blasted right near him, knocking away another of the creatures. "Stay with me, friend. Focus on the now!"

Minoth was right. Whatever he was seeing could wait. Grasping hold of that sensation he flickered to the next opponent. One by one the creatures pretending to be Lora fell, and their endless chatter fell in the swath of these… bursts of memory.

He kept pushing through the visions that took him up. Imagery flashed before him. Campfires. Forests. Small villages and towns. An awakening of another core crystal. Haze…and himself.

Lora's memories.

He brought himself up to the surface of that power, the headache that had felt far away closed in on him. The Titan roared again, and more of the creatures burst from all around them. The Nopon yelled in fear.

"Jin!" There was a burst of gunfire. "The Titan is hooked up to the womb matrix; I think it still has some control over it. If we sever that connection, we won't have any more of these to deal with!"

"Got it."

But first they had to make it through the veritable horde between them and the flesh eater Titan.

He sunk into the power again. And the slew of memories continued to burst forth with each of the creatures pretending to be Lora he slew.

Slash

She watched him making a simple meal over a cookfire.

"Is that…really true?"

Slice

Her arms burned, sweat pouring down her face as she grappled with the weight of Jin's nodachi. But she pressed on under his tutelage, even as she was still barely able to swing it.

"...today…be your new family…"

Swish

She quietly laughed as she watched Haze and Jin arguing over which job on the mercenary board to take.

"...go make some memories..."

Through the haze, he heard Minoth yell as he came out of another memory. Turning as another creature fell to his nodachi, his eyes widened. One of the creatures was right on top of Minoth, something looking like — but couldn't be — Lora's battle braid near to piercing Minoth's poncho where his core crystal was.

Time seemed to slow even more around him and he moved. But despite the ridiculous speed he had to be going, he wouldn't be fast enough.

The creature seemed to flicker in between the visage of Lora and the flash eater creature forever stuck between Blade and Titan. Its weapon flickered between her battle braid and a tentacle-like appendage honed to a hard point at the end, a piercing arm that would punch through Minoth's core crystal.

No amount of a Blade's regenerative ability would save him from that. Jin pushed himself harder, and time slowed to even more of a crawl around him, and he began moving towards Minoth but it wouldn't be enough. The braid/appendage would still make it before he would.

Thump.

Lora's heartbeat was the only thing he hear now. For the first time, he let himself completely sink into that power. A sensation of clarity and calm washed over him. Distantly he seemed to note that his clothes seemed more like armor now.

Thump.

The world around him stood still, locked into place, but he yet moved. The creatures around him no longer flickered into apparitions of Lora, but remained the grotesque creatures. The pounding headache was gone, and all that was left was a clear purpose:

Save him. Please.

With a thought, Jin was at Minoth's side, and the creature was flash frozen, then bisected down the core crystal. It didn't even move, much less react.

Thump.

In less than an instant, the rest of the creatures were gone the same way. The one near Minoth had now only barely begun to fall. He stopped in front of the flesh eater Titan.

Time and sound seemed to begin again around him, but the sensation of clarity remained, even as the Titan roared in confusion.

He breathed in, hearing the dying throes of the creatures, Minoth wrenching the pieces of the one on top of him off, the Nopon yelping at the sudden change in the tide of battle.

"Jin…?"

He breathed out, plunging his nodachi into the floor, ether flooded through Jin as ice flash froze the Titan, and the tubes leading up to the womb matrix. With another twist of his nodachi, it spread to cover the walls of the cavern and the remaining unbroken pods.

With a thought, he was on top of the Titan, slicing clean through the frozen tubes connecting it to the womb matrix, before leaping off of it.

Thump.

He landed, standing slowly to survey the completely frozen room. Minoth and Wonone stared at him in silence.

His mouth moved of its own accord. "Thank you."

And then the black armour dissipated, and Jin collapsed.


When he awoke, it was against something soft. The air was comparatively fresh, free from the smell of the mutated flesh eater Blades turning into Titans. His eyes blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the light, and after a moment, he recognized the area as the cot set up for him at the Temperantian base camp.

"Ah, glad to see you're finally up."

His body turned to face Minoth, who closed then set aside some sort of journal on the crate he was using as a makeshift stool, before looking back to Jin. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, his brow creasing.

"Jin, your eyes. They're…gold."

"What is he talking abo-" Abruptly, Jin's hands flew to his mouth without his input with a short gasp. "What the…"

Lora, are you…?

"I'm fine, Jin. I…uh think?"

Abruptly, something was pressed to his temple, and Jin felt his body stiffen. His eyes slowly moved of their own accord to see the muzzle of one of Minoth's gunknives pressed to his temple, a hard glare on the flesh eater's face.

"Who are you?"

"Whoa, whoa hold on Minoth, it's just us!"

"Us?"

"I know it's going to sound a little crazy, but this is Lora."

"And Jin? Where's he?"

I'm still here, Minoth.

But his mouth didn't form the words, and after an awkward pause, he felt his throat swallow dryly. "I can still hear him in my — er, his? — head."

"Is that so?" The muzzle of the gunknife pressed deeper into the skin of his neck more. "What did Jin and I discuss on the night before I departed after Torna fell?"

"Jin?" She whispered it desperately, and it sounded so strange in his tone of voice.

He's bluffing. I spent that night watching over you and Haze, and he was gone the next morning.

Lora related that to Minoth, who tensed, before letting his finger off the trigger, and lowering the gunknife. After a moment, he twirled the weapon and sheathed it.

Seeming to visibly relax, he sat back down beside him. "I'm sorry for putting you through that, Lora, Jin; but I had to be sure. With how much of an effect that Titan was having on you, I needed to make sure there was no funny business going on."

Jin arms crossed as his mouth let out a huff. "Hmph. Apology accepted."

Please stop talking like that. I don't sound like that.

"I'll talk how I want to, thank you very much."

Ugh.

Minoth let out a chuckle. "I suppose it's good to hear from you, Lora."

"And it's good to really talk to you, Minoth."

"So," Minoth tapped his own temple next to his eyes, "is this…permanent?"

His hand moved to his chin — or…he supposed Lora moved it? — in thought. "Hmm. I hope not. I don't think I could pretend to be Jin if I wanted to."

I'll take that as a compliment.

He felt his mouth crease into a bright smile. "I smile way more than him, after all."

Minoth smirked. "I don't think the world is ready for a happy Jin."

Very funny.

His body laughed along for a while before settling again. "Thank you, Minoth."

"There's some other things we need to talk about what happened down there, but first, how about I get us some food?"

"Yes please! I haven't tasted anything in ages."

Minoth raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. It'll hardly be a gourmet meal in a place like this after all. Unless you've inherited Jin's skill in cooking?"

His eyes looked down at his hands. "I dunno. Jin could always do it better, so I saw no reason to not let him. All the more reason to figure this out, right?"

"Quite."

His eyes tracked Minoth as he left the tent, before his body leaned back into the pillows propped up there. "Do you think we'll be able to fix this?"

When I fought down there, when I grasped on to the power, that same power from Iraem, I…sunk into it, for lack of better word.

"Do you think I would need to as well? Like we'd be able to switch?"

Possibly. But don't overwork your-

"-self. You already did it, didn't you." Jin sighed, back in control of his body again.

Yup! It's kind of like us switching between vanguard and rearguard when we fought together. You sink, and I rise and so forth. But I'm switching when Minoth comes back for the food.

Jin smiled. "Of course."


"So…" Jin felt his control return as Lora switched him in. He sighed, setting the plate to the side, and the passable meal by Minoth eaten. It had felt strange, being an observer to eating his own meal.

"Interesting." Minoth leaned in a little. "Your eyes are back to normal. Does this mean it's you again, Jin?"

Only with my help.

"Yes."

"You learn quickly, I see."

"It was her idea. But…something's been bothering me. Back in the lift shaft, I remember you said that you were seeing things with those creatures as well."

Minoth nodded carefully. "Yes, that's right."

"If you don't mind, who…?"

"Amalthus first, and later, Addam. A mix of the two." His brow furrowed. "You can imagine that one was a little harder to gun down than the other. But I didn't get the headaches that accompanied yours."

You're just special.

"I see." So they both had been seeing their Drivers. "Did any of them…speak?"

Minoth eyed him carefully, before shaking his head. "Can't say they did."

"It all sounded like Lora, but all of them were in pain. Like they just wanted release."

Or at least the ones that he could hear. He was still unsure about the ones he'd seen in the Judicium Library and the shaft of the lift.

"Or perhaps to be released considering the situation," Minoth mused.

Jin leaned back, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?"

"Say for a moment, that a Titan, hooked up to a womb matrix has control over the Blades in the process of turning into Titans. Same with the flesh eater Blades in the process of whatever was happening down there with them. What if it could communicate with them and other flesh eaters nearby? And, say, it did that by showing those you love."

"Or," Jin mused, catching on quickly, "the one who you were awakened or fought with through an affinity link."

Minoth nodded. "Exactly. Like it was communicating the only way it knew how, sending a sort of SOS, trying to draw us in. To lead you. Compound that with whatever was going on with you and Lora, and I'll bet you'd have a recipe for a nasty headache."

Jin's mind went back to the first apparition that he could actually hear. "I think it just wanted help. To be free. It was…in pain. But the rest of it…the things that happened… what did it mean?"

"What do you mean?"

Jin relayed the memories that he experienced from Lora's point of view as he slew the creatures.

"I see what you mean. At this stage, it would be difficult to really separate what was causing what. It could be that it just gave you the catalyst you needed to use...whatever it was you did at the end. I didn't even see you move until you appeared out of nowhere in that black armour to freeze the Titan!"

Just a catalyst?

"Possibly, but-"

Minoth held up a hand to stop him. "We could probably spend all day trying to figure it out, but for now, I think the more important question is what are you going to do now?"

It had been the same question he'd asked himself after Lora's death, and the weight of it hung over him momentarily.

But you aren't alone, Jin. You can choose what you want to do.

"I'll live. We both will."


Two Hundred Years Later


In a modest hole-in-the-wall tavern on Requiem — a small Titan that had previously been under Indol before the Osiran treaty — Jin nursed a drink.

It was Lora's birthday, and they'd already had a small feast to celebrate. A day off from everything they'd done over the course of these past few weeks. They'd left Mikhail in charge for the day. Nothing would fall apart that quickly. Probably.

The place was simple, and the Nopon bartender seemed to kept a tight ship. Requiem's port town was a popular launch point for pilgrims heading to Indol, but despite the relative bustle of the port, this place was a welcome reprieve from it all.

The bell on the entrance chimed as someone else stepped into the tavern, but Jin didn't pay it much mind as he and Lora simply enjoyed the rustic atmosphere the tavern offered.

"Well look who it is."

Jin sharply looked up from his drink, eyes widening his own personal serenity was blown wide open as Malos slid in the seat beside him at the bar counter.

"You." He stood in shock.

"You actually remember me?" he laughed, eying him with interest as he ordered a drink. "What a treat."

Jin switch with me.

He did, and Lora didn't waste any time as Jin felt his hand slug Malos in the side of the face.

To their surprise, Malos didn't block or even fight back, just took it and crashed on to the floor. A hushed silence followed in the interim in the small tavern.

Malos working his jaw before he looked up at him, then at his eyes, then laughed. "Well now this is a surprise. What the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing I'd tell you."

"If friends have beef with each other, take outside!" The Nopon owner glared at them from across the counter on a high stool. "Don't make Miximixi tap sign!" They pointed — menacingly? — at a sign that read 'RESPECT YOUR BARKEEP.'

"Don't worry," Malos grinned. "I'd say I deserve a lot more."

The Nopon narrowed his eyes, and his head wing inched closer to the sign.

Lora, let me.

He felt her glare at Malos a moment longer before his eyes blinked.

"We're old…acquaintances," he said as he turned to the Nopon. "We didn't part on the best terms, but we won't cause any more trouble. Right?"

Malos rolled his eyes at the withering glare.

The Nopon huffed. "Miximixi let you off with warning this time."

Jin looked back down at Malos, carefully studying his face, then his eyes before slowly extending a hand. Malos took it. They both settled back in their seats in silence. Before long the ambiance of the tavern resettled over them and Malos ordered under the withering glare of the bartender.

"So those eyes." Malos took a swig of the shot he'd ordered, before looking over to Jin and tapping the side of his head. "What's the story?"

"I could ask you the same about this." Jin tapped the spot that corresponded to where Malos' distinctive amethyst core was now covered by armour.

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm the Aegis."

As if that explains everything.

It might as well.

Doesn't make it any less annoying. Should we punch him again?

No, it was probably best to keep that in reserve. And not only was Malos being surprisingly civil, if obnoxious, there was something he'd seen in his eyes. It was different than when they'd fought nearly two hundred years prior. They should at least try to find out what he was doing here.

Suit yourself.

"Well?" Malos asked, a spark of impatience colouring his voice.

"It's a long story. What are you doing here?"

"A man can't just be getting a drink? Besides, even if I could, do you really think I'd waste my time on a little podunk town like this?"

Jin gripped his glass tighter. "Does the village of Fetley mean anything to you?"

"Touché." Malos knocked back the rest of the shot. "Doesn't matter now."

Says the man who destroyed it all.

The ambiance of the tavern prevailed for nearly a minute before Malos spoke again. "So, I hear you've got a little campaign going against Indol."

How'd he even hear about that?

"What of it?" Jin asked warily, glancing over at him.

Malos grinned. "I want in."

"You?"

Him?

He leaned his elbow against the bar's counter. "I'm up for a little payback against my 'dearest Driver,' and you need all the firepower you can get."

"And what's your stake in it?"

"Revenge. Clear and simple. Isn't it the same for you?"

"Not just revenge."

"Close enough for me."

Do you really think we can trust him?

No. Not by a long shot. But…Malos had also spent the longest time with Amalthus. He would at least have some insights to the way he thought. Maybe more than anyone else. And that look in his eyes…

"Let me sweeten the deal." Malos continued. "I also hear you've been rallying for the fair treatment of Blades. What if I told you there could be a way to free them from their curse?"

Jin's eyes flicked around. No one in earshot. "Flesh eater technology is dangerous. Not to mention the current stigma on them."

Malos rolled his eyes. "No, not that."

He was right, it did catch his interest. "What do you mean?"

"Figured that would get your attention. After Amalthus, what say I help you knock some sense into dear old Dad?"

His brow furrowed. "The Architect?"

"Who the hell else?"

There it was again. That look in his eyes. Those weren't just the eyes of a Blade gone rogue. Those were the eyes of one who had seen sorrow. The eyes of a man who'd been hurt, not simply a weapon.

Jin, you're not actually thinking of-

"Very well."

...Mikhail won't be happy about this.

He'd live.

Of course he will. Here, I've got something to say.

Jin blinked, and his finger went to point directly in between Malos' eyes. "Hurt the ones I love and I will personally make sure you'd wish you'd never come back."

Malos smirked. "I wouldn't have it any other way, partner. Let's show this world that we're more than just a memory."


A/N: But is that actually Lora? Does it really matter?

This has been a weird two year brainworm. Ending it feels a little weird, as I could keep going on, but I think the story as it is speaks well enough for itself. Ambiguity and all. Thank you all for reading!