A Frail Immortality

I

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I claiming to own any part of the Xeno- franchise.

"Azami was certain?"

From atop the highest outcropping of the Eight-Skip Ditch, two figures, one tall and one much smaller, eyed their prey.

"She swore it. From another Titan away, she said she saw it happen with her own eyes."

The taller of the two, a woman dressed in tight black and brown garb, knelt closer to the cliffside. Her vision was far from perfect, but it was clear enough for her to recognize that the group well below consisted of what appeared to be two teens, a white animal, and one adult blonde woman. Her face darkened in confusion as she watched the two younger forms seem to take turns trying to push one another into the vibrant, clear water that surrounded the rock platforms they crossed over.

"Do you really trust that Blade to give you accurate information?" The smaller figure pushed back their hood enough to make eye contact. They were beautiful, with vibrant lavender eyes and pixie cut hair the color of fresh buds peeking through winter's last snow. Despite their lovely appearance, their voice dripped with venom for this 'Azami' that they spoke of.

Deep blue eyes turned down to this lovely creature. "I know she can be cruel, but I believe her. She is honest to a fault, for better or worse." The woman raised a porcelain plated ether rifle and tried to focus the young man below in her sights. With the enhanced vision granted from her scope, she could see that he was a small, brown haired kid, no older than eighteen at the most. If he even was eighteen, he would have to be an incredibly small eighteen. His gear was that of a salvager.

"Something isn't right, Lucille. That kid can't be a murderer and a thief. Maybe he found the Core Crystal in the aftermath of the explosion. If he did, that's no reason for you to kill him."

The woman, Lucille, lowered her weapon and blinked back angry tears. "I don't want to kill him, damn it! I just want to take his core back and turn it over to the Special Inquisitor. It belongs to the next Emperor, not some child."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep it for yourself?" Floren asked quietly.

"That's nonsense," Lucille stated matter of factly as she gazed through the scope again. "It would be unbearably cruel to do such a thing. He would not remember me and I can only remember, well, the way things were."

Floren ignored Lucille's answer and placed his hands over his own core crystal. "Lucille? There's something off about that blonde woman. The amount of ether she gives off is making my heart race."

"All of this is off." She trailed off as she lowered her weapon. It grew heavy in her hands; somewhere out amongst the pink petal blizzard of Saffronia trees, Lucille's other Blade Azami was channeling her dark energy into the weapon in the form of an energy bullet. It seemed that the giant porcelain doll had her sights on the group below and was eager for the bloodshed to begin. She scanned the walls of the Titan trying to find Azami's location, but it would be nearly impossible to spot a monochrome figure in such a vivid place as this. "Perhaps we should confront them honorably."

Floren gasped in surprise as he felt the steady ether of the Urayan Titan quake within the soles of his feet. What was going on? Was the Titan trembling? An earthquake? The nearby pools, which had been so still only seconds ago, rippled as vestiges of bright light began to sparkle around the two of them. He reached desperately for his Driver as he realized that they were under attack. "Lucille, take my hand!"

Before either of them could make another move, a bolt of white pounded their perch and missed them by mere inches. Lucille's finger slipped on the trigger and the ether bullet shot upwards. The rifle's cry caught the attention of the young boy and girl below, but the blonde woman with them only folded her arms. It seemed she had already sensed the threat long before they did.

With a flick of her wrist, the blonde dropped down yet another nuclear blast, this time it split the earth into bits. A great rumble erupted from the smashing rocks as the ground gave way and the pair of would-be assassins found themselves slowly tumbling against gravity towards the rocky skip below.

With the ground slipping away, Lucille dropped her rifle and reached for Floren to pull him close to her chest as they tumbled backwards. It was some kind of reflex, a protective driving force, despite the fact that Floren would be able to heal and regenerate any damage he received unless his core was destroyed.

"Idiot! If you die we both-…!" His protest was interrupted as the two of them were pelted with falling pebbles that felt like boulders.

The impact into the slippery pools hurt far less than the small rockslide that followed. How could such a huge fall be over so quickly? Floren immediately found his footing and whipped his head around to find Lucille. He ran to her and began to pull her upright.

"What the hell is goin' on!?" The smaller girl, a silver haired Gormotti, did not hesitate to pull a pair of ring blades from their holster at her hip. The blonde woman stepped in front of her and folded her arms.

"If you idiots were more careful, you would have noticed that these two have had a weapon pointed at us for the past few minutes! How often do I have to tell you to pay attention, Rex?"

Floren turned to face the woman, trying to ignore the fact that his entire body was trembling. Was it fear? No. It was awe. She was no ordinary creature, that was for sure. Despite this, he had to stand his ground long enough for Azami to come closer and assist them in escaping with their lives. That was the backup plan, after all.

"Since when is it a crime to point a weapon at a band of thieves?" Floren huffed. "You're under arrest!"

"Are you kidding me?" Her golden eyes narrowed in anger. "You know what? I was going to give you a moment to explain yourself, but you're not worth our time!" She reached her palm out in anticipation for her partner to toss the massive sword that he carried. Instead of a weapon, he offered her a scream of terror.

"Mythra!" The lad let out a panicked shout as black tendrils crept up his legs and bound his feet to the ground. He tried to toss the weapon but snakelike fingers paralyzed him in place, threatening to creep up to his neck and suffocate him.

"Rex…?" She whipped to face him but hesitated. Noticing her own shadow shift below her, the blond leapt high upwards just as two more shadow limbs crawled up from the earth right where she had been standing. With the flick of her hand, they were bathed in light and shriveled away into nothingness. She regained her footing quickly and launched another pillar into the darkness. Though it seemed like a misfire, a woman's sudden shrieks of pain proved that it was very much an intentional and well-aimed shot. The Blade Azami lurking in the shadows collapsed before she could even reveal herself.

"this is bad…" Floren took a singular step back, letting out a squeak as he bumped into his Driver. He hadn't even realized that she was up and on her feet.

"I thought you were a group of children, but I can see that you clearly are powerful enough to have committed the crime. You're under arrest for the murder of Emperor Niall!"

Rex, the Gormotti, and the white beast all took turns looking at each other in slack jawed confusion. Mythra, however, was beyond fed up with this encounter. She gave a singular wave of her hand and the flood of ether erupting from her form jammed the rifle and shattered it into shrapnel. Lucille stumbled backwards, covering her face as flying bits pelted her and dug metal cuts into her arms and forehead.

Floren looked back at her in a panic and then back to Mythra, who sauntered towards him with her sword in tow. Thinking as quickly as he could, he brought forth a barrier and began to focus on converting the energy from the earth into healing energy in the hopes that defense could at least sustain his Driver's life through the next attack.

"Wait! Mythra! What was she going to say?!" Rex called, halting Mythra in her place.

She tossed her hair back with a flourish instead of using that hand to strike down Lucille and Floren. "Like I care. These fools just tried to assassinate us, Rex!"

"I think you've done a swell job of making them defenseless. Besides, that woman said arrest, not assassinate! She could be an ally of Morag's."

Mythra couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Did I or did I not tell you that they've been watching us from a distance this entire time?"

As the two began to argue, Floren collapsed next to Lucille and began to gingerly wipe the blood from her face. Her blue eyes were glazed, as they often were in the past few days, but the haze seemed to be from physical pain instead of grief this time. He carefully searched her face and head for injuries as his eyes welled with tears. 'Oh, Lucille, how did this happen? How did we get here? We were so blissfully happy only a couple of weeks ago…'

"Hey, why don't you explain to me what you're after, yeah?" Rex demanded of the pair on the ground. He took a step closer but didn't dare lower his guard.

"The Emperor is dead, and you have his Blade's Core Crystal." The woman tried and failed to rise up onto her feet and ended up tumbling back onto her rear. She pulled a short sword from the sheath at her hip and held it towards Rex. There was no conviction behind this move; she was raising her weapon to a bright-eyed boy who couldn't even yet be a man. But at the same time, Emperor Niall, too, had the face of a child with the responsibilities of an adult. "Did you kill him, too?"

"Stop moving right now!" Floren protested tearfully. "You're hurt!"

"You mean, as in, Niall? Emperor Niall?" Rex exchanged a look with Mythra, who only shrugged and folded her arms. "You heard from somewhere that we killed Niall? That's not the case at all!"

"That's a lie…" Azami finally spoke as she stumbled out from the shadows, her breathing ragged. Her ivory chest plate was badly cracked and the pulsing orb at her center seemed to flicker from within its cage. Even still, she had quickly recovered despite being hit with sheer light energy.

"Who are you?" Rex asked. He readied his sword and Azami let out a melodic giggle.

"I'm Azami. I saw the whole thing, you sweet boy. I saw you and the emperor on that ship in Indol! Brave little Niall fell to the ground and the sapphire of the Empire returned to his core. I could smell his cologne all the way from Temperantia where we were stationed. With my eyes, I can see everything." Her pupils had grown the size of saucers within her eye sockets.

Rex could only shake his head in confusion, feeling the hair on the back of his neck raise as Azami seemed to stare into him. "What the bloody hell are you on about? Niall is just fine, and we certainly aren't the ones who tried to hurt him! We can take you to the Special Inquisitor if you'd like proof!"

Floren finally stood up, hands clenched at his sides as he glared hatefully at Azami. "You were wrong. I knew you couldn't be trusted! Look what you've put our Driver through all because you-…you-!"

"I have never been wrong, little sprout. Mind your tongue unless you'd like me to pluck it out of your skull like a weed," the doll cooed back.

Lucille had finally righted herself, though she seemed worse for wear. Both of her Blades had begun to spitefully bicker back and forth. She locked eyes with Mythra, who only smirked.

"Some Blades you have there, huh? Leading you on a chase like that. And now they're leaving you totally defenseless."

Rex quickly spoke up before Mythra could antagonize her further. "It's true that the Emperor is just fine, though his Blade did go back into his core. There was an attempt on his life a few weeks back, and Aegaeon protected Niall's life. Everything's fine now, though."

The dazed blue eyes darkened with tears as Lucille held her aching, bleeding head in her palms. "Everything's fine, you say? That could not be further from the truth. Six months of research in Temperantia were lost during that nonsense that went down with Indol at its center. I received a tip that the Emperor had fallen, and I felt that Aegaeon was… or rather, I knew…" her words faltered as her face paled to a sickly white. She slowly began to slouch as she lost consciousness; Floren was at her side supporting her before she could hit the ground.

Azami laughed weakly. "Pain makes a woman more beautiful. Don't you agree, Aegis?" Her melodious tone seemed to be dripping with glee.

Finally, the Gormotti spoke up. "This is a mess. Look, let's just get that girl to Morag so she can straighten all of this out. This sounds like a big, stupid misunderstanding."

"Really? You're suggesting we help?" Rex seemed genuinely surprised.

Mythra had gone oddly quiet, considering her previous jabbing and animosity towards the enemy. "Nia is right." Rex's eyes bulged, but Mythra pretended that he wasn't there and instead tilted her head at Floren. "Can you carry her, little girl?"

Floren didn't feel that it was important to inform her that he was, in fact, a man. He carefully and solemnly scooped the limp Lucille up in his arms like a bride and then frowned at her bloody face. It was almost comical to see such a thin, delicate creature carry a woman nearly a foot taller and at least 50 pounds heavier than himself, but he seemed to do it with an ease so unexpected that Mythra raised her eyebrows.

"What about that other one?" Nia looked to where Azami had just been, but the crumpled doll was nowhere to be seen. "What the hell? Where did she go?"

"Leave her, I don't want her to come," Floren said with a twinge of anger and sadness in his sweet voice. Yet he knew that Azami would make her re-appearance alongside them at some later point, and with no warning. She had a way of slipping into shadows. "Lucille's in a lot of pain. Please take us to Morag."

However, Lucille was not in pain at all. As a matter of fact, she was nestled comfortably in a warm and pleasant memory. Perhaps it was a worrying sign that she had taken a very hard hit to her head, but as far as she was concerned, she would be content to remain in a pleasant dream of the past.