Pyra was stuck with a horde of rambunctious children climbing all over her begging for her to play with them or show her cool tricks with her powers or something, anything else of that nature. The normally calm and collected blade was losing her patience and tried her best not to get a temper about the whole thing… but the voice in her head was right, these kids were a LOT to handle.
"Need some help there, Pyra?" A soft and demanding female voice suddenly called.
"Morág! Thank goodness! Yes, please! I need a lot of help!" Pyra called as she plucked a child from her face. Morág nodded sharply and whistled to catch the kids' attention.
"Alright, you lot, listen up, we've a mission to undertake. Whoever's the quickest to clean their room and bring back the prettiest toy gets a special treat." The children's eyes all lit up at Morág's request and they all stampeded off in celebration, leaving her and Pyra alone.
"Oh, Morág, you're a lifesaver, what would I do without you?" Pyra asked as she picked herself up.
"You'd be buried six feet under with Malos's ugly mug starin' you in the face after those kids leveled the ground above you." Morág responded.
"O…kay…" Pyra stepped back awkwardly as she spoke.
"You're a great aunt to all these kids, I want you to know that."
"Aww, Morag, that's awfully sweet of you-"
"But it shouldn't be your sole responsibility in keeping up after them. You weren't the one who took them in and keeps bringing in more and more when we have plenty of mouths to feed already. If Poppi was a real girl, matters would only get so much worse."
"What? But that isn't fair to-"
"You can defend that driver of yours as much as you like, I won't stop you. It's not my place to tell you how to feel about him. But let me ask you something. What's he doing right now? In this current moment while your struggling your tailend off?"
"He's- he's working of course, he's… he's a salvager and all…"
"And what time does he usually come back from work?"
Pyra was silent, she knew the answer and it sounded absolutely terrible, but she couldn't admit that to Morág. Especially since her driver wasn't here to hear her say anything.
"Pyra, look. I'm really, truly happy you found a level of purpose stepping in as a caretaker for all these children. But you aren't their mom, and you aren't your driver's wife. That stumbling energetic sweetness was cute when he was a kid, but he's an adult now, an adult who made the conscious decision to keep bringing these children here without consoling any of us first."
"He… he just has a big heart… don't you remember what happened to him when he was a baby…? I'm sure he doesn't want that to happen to any of these poor kids either."
"He's not the only person in the world, Pyra, I apologize if that sounds mean, but it's the truth. If he's going to take in these children as a father, he needs to start acting like it. Remember your place in this family, Pyra. You're their caretaker, but most certainly not their keeper."
"…If he finds me like this, he's gonna ask about it…"
"Then he'll ask about it, but my point still stands. You can stand by your driver's side as much as you want, Pyra… he's certainly changed a lot since we first met him… but he hasn't grown up… and that's the biggest tragedy of all. Your heartbreak when you discover the truth… I pity you… I really do… and I'll be happy to help pick up the pieces, but let me ask you a thing or two… what have you always wanted to do with your life? And for that matter, how much does he really understand you as a whole, after all the things you went through, for yourself or… otherwise? Tell me those things and I'll drop the whole subject completely."
Pyra was silent. Morág stayed vigilant. It was clear she wasn't going to leave until she got a straight answer.
"…I don't know…" She responded.
"Think about it when you get a chance then. Time is running out. And don't think that driver of yours is gonna give you any answer other than 'take all the time you need'." Morág turned to leave Pyra sulking for a bit. The black haired woman turned to face her sympathetically before leaving again with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Pyra…"
—————————————————————————
Pyra went back to the village her little makeshift family had created after the World Tree fell, it was deadly quiet, fitting, as it was around the kids' nap time, but it still felt so… eerie.
"Catching up on cloud watching, are we, old friend?" A gentle elderly voice called to her, turning around to face it was none other than Azurda, back in his larval stage after the great battle.
"Hello, Azurda… and no… just… thinking…" Pyra said.
"Thinking too hard from the looks of it…" the former Titan pointed out. Pyra turned away dejectedly as Azurda fluttered his way closer to her. "Child, what troubles you? Your silence is deafening and your worries are saddening."
"W-well… Morág and I… had a little talk." Azurda sighed heavily and fluttered down to the ground to ponder deeply.
"That woman… she can be such a piece of work when she puts her mind to it… it shouldn't be her goal to try and tear rifts in this family, did it involve Pneuma again by any chance?"
"No, but… someone… close nonetheless."
"Mythra?" Pyra was silent. "Ah… now I see. Well, I'm sure Morág is exaggerating her speech patterns ever so slightly, I haven't a clue why, though I suppose she just misses being on the battlefield if I were to hazard a guess."
"Yeah… exaggerating… I'll… keep that in mind…" Pyra mumbled.
"Good, good. You know that none of us would even be here were it not for you, Pyra, you should be really proud of yourself." Azurda tut tutted her concerns away and stayed by her side to keep her from being too sad… but that just reminded her that shouldn't be his job… where was that driver of hers?
"WHERE IS THAT DRIVER OF YOURS?!" A Welsh accented shrieking roared from across the village.
"And a good afternoon to you as well, Nia, the children are supposed to be asleep, I'll have you know." Azurda scolded gently.
"Oh, heavens… ya mean the li'l monsters I found snoopin' around me livin' quarters AGAIN? Well I bloody well hope they wake up! Teach 'em the cold hard truth of reality!"
"Nia… they're children… give them some time to grow…" Pyra pleaded.
"'Give them some time to grow?'" Nia parroted, "Golly gee, that sure sounds familiar. Were those not your exact words when that 'darling' driver of yours was busy doin' his glorified dumpster diving while you got stuck with one too many kids to handle? Do you want me to bring Tora in here so he can recount all the days in vivid detail it took him to fix that game cabinet of his?"
"N-no! That's isn't necessary!"
"Ladies, please, there's no call for such fighting!" Azurda stepped in.
"That's just IT, Gramps! There's never been a call for such fighting! Not since all o'… THIS happened!" Nia wildly gestured around herself to prove her point.
"You're saying you want to go back to so many endless wars and conflicts and struggles?" Pyra asked, her tone noticeably harshening, akin to her original self, Mythra.
"Don't put words in my mouth, Pyra. Of course I don't want that. What I want is just to be able to feel something again. Something that isn't just… what people think I should act when they get a good look at me, the undying emptiness from all this nothing quietness, or the depressing fact that when these children or friends of yours grow old and die, you'll have to watch them and there's not a thing to do about it!"
Pyra felt her heart sink. She knew the complications of being a blade as well as anyone, but when put into perspective like that… it was horrifying.
"Nia! That was largely uncalled for, young lady!" Azurda exclaimed.
"Look…" Nia sighed. "I'm sorry, Gramps, I'm sorry, Pyra, okay? I'm just… frustrated… and… maybe I still haven't gotten over that… 'and all you guys' bullcrap yet…"
"Nia…" Pyra reached out a hand for sympathy, only for it to be stopped by Nia.
"Pyra… you're a sweet lady, ya know that… and Mythra is too… I'm jealous of you, I really am…"
"Nia, there's nothing to be jealous of…"
"Maybe you're right and maybe you're wrong but…" Nia groaned as she walked away. "I wouldn't mind having a child myself someday…"
"I'm so very sorry you had to go through that, Pyra. Er… perhaps you and I can go over to the shore so we can see what-" Azurda was cut off by Pyra.
"No, Azurda, that's… that's fine… I just… need some time alone, is all…" Pyra walked off slowly while Azurda looked on in guilt, feeling that he had only added more fuel to the flames than putting them out.
—————————————————————————
Pyra hung out over by the hill she had witnessed the world recover with her driver. The sun was high in the sky now and still nothing had changed besides a few emotions spiking too much for their own good. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes… just for a moment, to give them rest.
"Pyra… you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, you know…" A voice called out amidst a white void.
"He-hello…? Is anyone there?" Pyra asked, causing an echo effect the voice strangely didn't have.
"Ha! Oh, Pyra… what would I do without you?" She didn't even bother trying to call out any names. This voice sounded absolutely nothing like anyone she knew and yet… it sounded so familiar all at once… but she didn't know any young men aside from her driver, really, which only made her even more curious.
"Who-who are you…? And where is this? Answer me please!"
"Pyra… don't you recognize me?" The voice asked.
"I don't… so please, just tell me!" She pleaded.
The voice chuckled and grew farther away, she couldn't exactly chase after it, but its sudden disappearance caused her to fall back in shock, she was reminded yet again of how… lonely she was… Morág was right… Nia was right… she was right… just as the voice came and went, so too did it feel like the recognition of their efforts to change the world from the heavens did. No. Azurda was right, all of this was just a big scare tactic, she knew better than that… or at least Mythra would.
Just as she was going to call out to the voice again, a strange egg formed between her legs. Intrigued, she wasted no time in picking it up to inspect it further. Then it started to wriggle and move and shake around as the ground began to shake. Pyra stood up quickly and set the egg down to try and level herself, but the tremors sent her right back down again. This time she was looking at the egg straight on, and just before the tremors stopped, the voice appeared once more.
"The only living dinosaurs today are birds, and if you've ever seen a goose, or a duck or, heaven forbid, a giant chicken go into full attack mode, you'll understand completely."
It said just as everything halted immediately with the hatching of the egg. Out of the egg was a little dinosaur fellow, grayish green in color with amber colored eyes and a row of sharp teeth. It chirped curiously as it made its way toward Pyra, who was still a bit frightened by everything that had just happened. But her worries faded when the little dinosaur nuzzled up to her leg and smiled gently. Placing a hand on her chest with a sigh of relief, she picked the small creature up to get a better look at it.
"Well look at you…" She cooed gently, affectionately stroking the reptile's soft downy coat of brownish feathers. But the little dinosaur squirmed around to get free, Pyra dropped the animal in alarm as it hissed at her all of a sudden and watched as it ran off into the white void. "W-wait! Come back! Where are you going?!" She tried in desperation to run after it, but as the creature grew farther and farther away, it never felt like she went anywhere. Realizing this whole chase would be a fruitless decision, she slowed to an uneasy shuffle, looking around in concern as her breathing quickened.
"Pyra….. I'm sorry…." The voice called again solemnly.
"Sorry for what?! Answer me, please! Somebody! Anybody!" She screamed, unsure if the voice was taunting her or worrying her. She frantically took to one side and then the other as her breathing quickly turned to hyperventilation, her confused state shifting to one of pure and genuine terror as the already seemingly endless white nothingness somehow grew larger and larger with each passing second, and just as it seemed like she'd be gobbled up by the surrounding environment…
A bouquet suddenly appeared in her hand.
"Wha…?" She asked herself quizzically as her breathing calmed down a bit.
"I hereby pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the blade." A very different voice called, far older than the one speaking to her before.
The sound of raucous clapping was coming from every which way of the void, Pyra couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, nobody was there, hee supposed husband just didn't exist, there was music coming from nowhere, the crowd was filled with people covered completely in shadows, the- the crowd? The scene became suddenly vivid to Pyra instantly. She was in a chapel which was illuminated by the heavenly light of outside, she turned to look at her groom but he still wasn't there, and yet, she could hear some voices creep up on her the louder the applause grew.
"Wow, you must be so proud- KRZTKZTX"
"That Pyra's quite a catch, you landed yourself a good one- KRZTKZTX"
"Dang, who let you have three wives- KRZTKZTX"
"No, it's four! Remember Nia? My boy is FIRED. UP!"
The sharp nonsense clouded her mind as she backed up away in horror, with each voice become much more clear and upsetting and greater in volume and capacity. It was at this moment she realized that she wasn't in any beautiful dress or gown or any kind of get up that would present her as a bride in waiting… just her normal blade outfit… what did this mean?
Before she could think too much of what was happening, however, a large footstep broke through the room, silencing all the voices and noise and music at once. Pyra felt her heart beating loudly as she turned around to find… the dinosaur- very clearly now a full grown tyrannosaurus- not like she had any knowledge of the species but it was plain as day to anyone with more modern information readily available. It wasn't just any tyrannosaurus either… it was the one she watched hatch from an egg. The creature lowed threateningly at her, causing the blade to fall over backwards and shuffle away slowly as best she could, to no avail, however, with every inch she scooted back, the animal's head merely grew larger and closer to her in no time at all. Its giant amber eye inspected her closely, its large nostrils flared gently with curiosity and wonder, and its thick, hot, breath filled the air with terror as it tried to get a sense of what she smelled like. Pyra was terrified, she couldn't even scream, all she could do was look up at this brownish-green beast and hope for the best.
The large reptile roared victoriously to the sky, causing Pyra to cover her ears from the loud noise, and just as she turned around to not have to look at the dinosaur anymore, it reached down and picked her up in its jaws, heading off to somewhere as she lay stiff as a board between dozens of large sharp teeth.
"H-hey! Put me down! That's an order! I'm not your prize! Stop it!" Pyra's frantic punching and screaming didn't bother this dino one bit, it simply trudged forward out of the chapel, which morphed into a humble little hut outside rolling hills… the same rolling hills she called home. She was confused and a little frightened as the carnivore made its way toward the abode, looking as though it were about to smash the house into oblivion just as space around them distorted to the inside. She was revealed to be in a very familiar place… it was the room of none other than-
PLOP!
Before her thought could continue any further, she was dropped down on a hard wood surface. She immediately moved forward to try and escape, only to find out that she was trapped within a giant glass barricade. But to what?
"I'll bash ye up proper next time, I swear!" A familiar voice called out to her. Pyra's heart sank when she saw Nia in the exact position she was in, seemingly unbothered by it at all.
"N-Nia! What is this place?!" Pyra begged.
"Well, look at you! I never would've imagined you wanted to get THIS clingy!" She taunted, not bothering to answer Pyra's question at all.
The blade backed up in horror as the wood beneath her began to break, causing her to suddenly fall what felt like several stories from high in the sky to the rough scratchiness of a nest waiting down below. It was empty, apart from her in it, but inspecting the nest was none other than that same old tyrannosaur, breathing slowly as it waited for Pyra to make a move.
She maintained focus on the monster as she got up and rushed to try and escape, only to bump into a giant egg that was the exact size as her. She shifted direction to try the opposite way only to run into the exact same problem. She slowly started to hyperventilate again as she fell to the floor, with the number of eggs increasing and growing larger and larger with each passing second, and just when Pyra thought it couldn't get any worse… they began to move. Her heart stopped as each creature burst through their imprisonment to face her directly and roar at her in unison, all begging for something. Pyra didn't even have time to cover her ears, as the five that were closest to her charge and grabbed an arm, the other arm, a leg, the other leg, and her hair, and started playing tug-of-war with her body. Her screams of defiance to stop was deafened by the cacophony of wails and screeches, truly falling on deaf ears. What saw her next horrified her to no end.
The giant reptile looming above her didn't bark any orders or narrow its brow threateningly at her or look on in disapproval… in fact it seemed rather satisfied as it just… walked away…
"NO! COME BACK! DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!" Pyra hollered, her voice very clearly echoing amongst the chaos this time, and yet, still failing to find any audience. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HELP ME PLEASE! THIS ISN'T HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE! THIS ISN'T HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!!!!!!!!!!" Pyra looked up once more to see an unfamiliar face clouded by blurry fog looking down at her in sadness. She could very clearly make out tears coming from its eyes, rolling down the face of two rounded cheeks before it just… turned away and vanished. Which left Pyra all by herself.
"no…" she gasped as the tugging of the baby Dino's grew harder and more forceful. "No….!" She pleaded as the colors of the scene all faded away.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Pyra shot herself up out of her nightmare, panting heavily as she looked around frantically, relieved to see the same sight she saw before she had fallen asleep. She looked up to the sun to find that it had barely moved from its position at all. She sunk back into a coiled embrace of herself as she tightly shut her eyes, wondering what any of that even meant in her position. The only thing that seemed to persist… that genuinely calmed her down… was the first voice she heard in the white void.
"Pyra… it's gonna be okay… I'm right here… and I'm not going anywhere…" It was a low and calming sound, the reverberation of its soft unknown accent was almost like a lullaby to her, it pacified the young blade ever so slightly… but at the end of the day… it wasn't there…
"Maybe a bit too much time to think, eh, Pyra?" A feminine voice sounding much like her own asked from behind her scene. The red headed blade turned around with tears in her eyes, still frightened and confused by all of what just happened. The sight of this woman was the only thing that seemed like a beacon of hope in the dreary wasteland that were the inner recesses of her mind.
"…Mythra…"
