"Okay, okay. One more time, I'll do my best to follow along this time!" Mythra called out giddily.
"Alright, alright, Kaito! Give me a beat!" Frankie hollered as Kaito began to gently beatbox, Frankie continued the song all the way to the end in tongue Mythra couldn't understand, but his inflection of the words that spilled out of his mouth let her know that this was HIS tongue, no matter how far removed he thought he was.
"¡Aaaayyyyyy, Jalisco, no te rajes! Me sale del alma gritar con calor abrir todo el pecho pa echar este grito ¡Qué lindo es Jalisco, palabra…. deeeeeeeeeeeeeee…! honoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!" Frankie held the last word and note as long as he could, causing Mythra to laugh even harder at the sheer goofiness hee Driver was displaying, and also a bit of impress; as he had held it for a lot longer than she thought; a lot longer than she could at least.
"Do it, Frankie, do it!" Kaito cried out as he finished.
"¡Aja!" Frankie crowed happily, finally getting to do his little 'grito' after holding it in for so long. Mythra shook her head in amusement as she stared at her Driver.
"You're something else, you know that, Frank?" She asked fondly.
"I'm just proud of where I come from, what can I say?" Frankie asked back with a smile on his face.
All of a sudden, the donkeys stopped. The quartet all stared ahead of them; just before them was none other than the temple of Tepozteco. What they've been looking for this whole time. The donkey that Frankie was riding brayed nervously as it scuffled its hoof on the ground in discomfort.
"Cállate…" Frankie cooed as he gently stroked the animal's neck.
Kaito and Miko took deep breaths in and out as they stared ahead in nervous anticipation. They then looked over at Frankie, whose sudden jovial attitude vanished just as quickly as he had garnered it. Mythra didn't seem bothered one bit; if anything, she was in awe of the temple's rustic nature, all gray and boxy, its outer shell overgrown with the surrounding vegetation. She was more concerned about Frankie and how he would react if they found something… less than agreeable.
"We're here, Frank. No turning back now." Mythra reminded him.
"Yeah… no turning back…" Frankie repeated in a monotonous, almost trance-like state, worrying Mythra, as well as Pyra even further.
"You better stick close to him, Kokonut… I think Frankie's really gonna need you here…" Miko whispered in concern to Kaito.
"I'll do what I can, Miko…" He responded back.
The quartet had tied their donkeys up near the trees and set up a trough of water for them to drink from as well as give them their own individual feed bags so they can be cozy while they searched on the inside. The air was heavy now, and a chilling silence crept across the mountain; whether it was Frankie's own imagination, or the spirits of the deceased angrily venting their regrets towards the travels, he wasn't certain, but he was certain that he was glad that he had a small group to stick by, as he knew this wouldn't have been something he would've been able to do himself. Mythra discreetly held onto his hand and stroked it gently with her thumb, much like Frankie did to her in court. Blade and Driver looked somberly at each other while the former smiled slowly on reassurance. Kaito and Miko joined in with her, there would be no teasing this time, as this kind of affection and attention was what he desperately needed. He couldn't bear to bring himself to a smile, but the warmth Mythra felt in her core crystal let her know that he was ready to move on regardless… and so the investigation at last began.
It was a bit difficult to find the opening of the temple, but after a bit of prodding, they were able to make their way through the vegetation and find themselves a downtrodden shrine, which was mostly empty. Frankie, Kaito, and Miko were initially disappointed and maddened, thinking they had wasted their time and money for quite literally a big heaping pile of nothing. Mythra, on the other hand, ventured further in; in which she found two fallen stones engraved with some sort of glyph on each of them. In one, Mythra was able to make out the word, 'Ahuizotl', clearly an important figure; perhaps a ruler of the land at one point. The other had a very odd phrase detailed on it… '10 Rabbit'. It made absolutely no sense to her. It had no meaning other than what it showed itself to be at that moment in time… what DID pop out at her, however, was quite the special carving, indeed, that nestled itself in between both of the fallen stones. A turquoise colored crown and a shield with arrows. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she squatted down to get a better look at it, brushing over the glyph with two of her fingers in intrigue, all the meanwhile, the trio of humans stared on quizzically at her, she was on to something for certain, but what, was almost as much of a mystery as she was herself.
Mythra kept her fingers on the crown shape for a while just before it began to glow briefly in reaction to her core crystal. She removed her fingers in shock and held her wrist while she looked down at her hand in surprise before standing up straight once again.
"Bring him over." She demanded plainly. Nobody moved or bothered to respond with anything other than a confused grunt. "Frankie. I need him. Now." Frankie blushed lightly as a bewildered Kaito and Miko shook their heads in confusion at him. The older young man swallowed sharply before joining Mythra by her side. The Blade summoned her… blade and placed it firmly in the ground as she grabbed its base with one hand.
"Frankie… take your hand and join me." She ordered gently. Frankie complied nervously and put his hand just directly above Mythra's. "Close your eyes…" He did as he was told while Mythra placed her free hand over her core crystal, focusing her mind back to the glyph, which began to glow just the same color as her core crystal. Kaito and Miko overlooked the scene in intrigued silence, only shifting their attention to look at each other with equally confused faces.
That was when the room started to rumble, catching the shorter couple off guard, and slowly disgruntling Frankie.
"Keep your eyes closed! It'll only last a few more seconds!" Mythra demanded, very sneakily edging her fingers upwards towards Frankie's to calm him down ever so slightly.
A few more seconds of rumbling had caused the emblem in the rock to react suddenly, covering the whole area in a blinding blue light, trapped in only by the thick outside of the temple. Miko and Kaito shielded their eyes to avoid being blinded themselves when everyone in the room realized that the floor wasn't shaking anymore. Frankie and Mythra had opened their eyes now as well. While Frankie looked around in confusion, Mythra stayed as stoic as ever, sheathing her blade back into her person as she tapped Frankie's foot with her own, getting his attention quickly. She pointed downwards as the ground beneath made a strange sound before opening just slightly below. Frankie and Mythra retreated themselves back a bit while Kaito and Miko ventured closer, eager to take a look what might be inside.
Pitch blackness. Well, stairs leading down to pitch blackness at least. The three non-Blades stared down into the nothingness while Mythra hovered over comparatively plainly, arms folded and face as blasé as ever as she took lead in the climb down.
"Come on. There's no time to lose." She announced as she headed forward. Frankie, Kaito, and Miko all exchanged unsure looks briefly at each other until Frankie decided to head in directly after her; trusting her judgement. Kaito followed suit, as did Miko, who held on to her boyfriend's hand as they followed the taller duo.
The only light that led their path was the soft and gentle glow of Mythra's core crystal. It was only good enough to see a bit ahead of them, and as such, none of them aside from seemingly Mythra herself knew where they were going. Downwards with the only trickling of light and salvation being long gone and far up above now. The thought of that at all made Frankie shudder in discomfort. He would've huddled closer to Mythra or Kaito, but the positioning of the stairs, one just above the other with no connections or expansions to let more than one person stand on it at a time, made that impossible. Just when they all thought that the room couldn't possibly get any darker, they heard Mythra's footsteps change from a hard and rhythmic sound, to a rough and coarse sound.
"We're here. Frankie? I need you again." Mythra called out.
Frankie could barely see Mythra in the darkness, but was just able to make it her way as she pulled out her blade once again, directing Frankie to grab onto its base alongside her.
"Concentrate, Frankie." She ordered as the two shut their eyes and instinctively raised the sword up to the sky. "Sacred Arrow!" Mythra hollered as a single arrow of light shot out from her sword like a great speeding rocket before exploding into the sky, sending tinier more translucent arrows to rain down from above, some becoming solid as they hit the ground and illuminated in the light of the sun; with the upper room itself being brightened up by the single large arrow Mythra shot out.
It was a mess of ruins; pillars were crumbled, ancient artifacts rusted over or broken, scribes strewn across the floor in an frustrated array, and just a whole bunch of sad nothing as far as the eye could see… and yet… that nothing said so much more than a sound structure ever could have.
"This is it…" Kaito intoned as he and Miko joined Frankie and Mythra in the ruins. "The San Adán Mission…"
"Or what's left of it, anyway…" Miko added.
"So it IS a Mission… I knew that's what we were looking for in the first place, but I didn't think we'd actually have to go subterranean to do so… especially with it all looking so…"
"Defeated?" Mythra helped. It was an oddly specific choice of words, those that made her upset brow all the more concerning to her Driver.
"S-sure… I suppose that is quite apt."
"Let's stay close together. There no telling what's making their home around here…" Kaito warned as he inspected a scroll. The remaining three nodded in agreement as they huddled up closer during their investigation.
"Hey Mythra, can you read this?" Kaito gestured to the scroll he was observing.
"Sure, just hand it over." She held out her hand as she spoke, taking the scroll from Kaito as he dropped it into her hand, unfurling it even further to read it. Frankie looked over her shoulder to get a look for himself, but just as Mythra didn't understand much of his own language, what was written on the scroll was just as vague to him.
"This isn't Spanish…" He began. "It doesn't even look like Nahuatl. I know the culture of the Aztecs always gets mixed and matched as time goes on, but I wouldn't know any other language they speak or write in. How old is all this stuff, anyway?"
"Not sure." Kaito responded before glancing over at Miko. He had considered asking her to read it, since he recognized the symbols from their earlier excursion to the dinosaur park, but they had both silently agreed to keep Miko's new senses to themselves for the time being.
He figured the language would be something Mythra could recognize regardless. And sure enough, after a brief moment of analyzing, she looked up from the scroll.
"Yep, I can read this, let's go sit over there closer to the light."
"What do you think it says?" Miko asked Frankie.
"If anything, probably something on the legend of Tepozteco, and all his trials and accomplishments, his connection to the god Tepoztēcatl, things like that."
"But… why would they hide all that so far underground? If it weren't for Mythra, we wouldn't even be here."
"That's what I'm wondering… everyone has skeletons in their closet, maybe that's what all this details… but why is the Mission not named after him?"
"Kaito called it San Adán. What does that mean?"
"It means Saint Adam. The Mission of Saint Adam."
"Like Adam and Eve?"
"Adam was no saint. He birthed the very concept of sin through temptation… but I suppose we'll get the answer to that question soon enough… best let Mythra go on…"
They glanced over at Mythra, who, for someone that rather confidently stated her ability to read the text, was taking a longer time with the scroll than they thought she would. They didn't want to rush her though, so they simply let her take the time she needed.
However, the reason Mythra was taking so long had nothing to do with her ability to read. Truth be told she had already read the scroll back to front multiple times. No, what was causing her to hesitate was this feeling of…unease. As if there was something else she should be recognizing here but…wasn't.
"Mythra…" Frankie finally spoke. "Is everything okay?" Mythra quickly shook off her unease, it wasn't worth worrying about at this time and turned her head to face Frankie.
"I'm fine, Frank. But thanks for checking up."
"Well…?" Kaito asked.
Mythra stood up and promptly shook the scroll.
"I'm not quite sure cuz it's a little faded in a lot of places, but this scroll seems to be describing a place called Genbu, a titan to be more exact."
"Like Gormott?" Miko chimed in.
"Mhm, though this one was quite a bit bigger, and according to this it would often swim into the Cloud Sea, with its people living in its giant shell, so it was kinda like a huge turtle."
"Huh, so there were even giant turtles back- actually wait a second, 'Cloud Sea?' What's that?" Kaito darted his head towards Mythra at the sound of this new term he had never heard of.
"Hm? Did I not mention that?" Mythra simply tilted her head.
"You did not."
"Oh…whoops…"
Kaito pressed his knuckle to his forehead.
"Nah it's fine, I should have figured we'd miss something. You can give us the gist of that later, let's hear more about this Genbu turtle-thing first."
"I thought Genbu was a Chinese legend? So far from what I've heard from you and Pyra; your culture is like… part European, part Middle Eastern." Frankie suddenly said.
"Well, we're currently learning more about it in Mexico, aren't we?" Miko pointed out. "To me, it's pretty clear we're dealing with a wide variety of cultures addressing the same set of concepts."
"You could call it a bit of a melting pot, if you really wanted to." Mythra added. Frankie chuckled nervously as he shook his head in amusement.
"That's just how they label America…" He said.
"W-well that doesn't matter right now!" Mythra stumbled over herself.
"Heh, right." Kaito chuckled. "What about the people of Genbu? Anything it says about them? Ya know, beyond the whole 'living in a turtle shell' thing."
Mythra straightened herself out before answering.
"Well the rest of the scroll has some chatter about the monarchy the people created on it, specifically ruling over this 'Kingdom of Tantal,' which lasted a long time from the looks of it."
"Huh, never thought about it much, but it makes sense that they'd have monarchies given how many people must have been able to fit on this thing." Miko pondered, now wondering how many people had lived on Torigoth.
"Hah… are we talking about Genbu here, or Gamera; friend to children?" Frankie nervously joked, attempting to lighten the mood for himself.
"Focus, Frank, this is no time to call attention to any cameras or whatever; this is important." Mythra responded. Frankie nodded in slight defeat as she continued.
"Kinda goes without saying I guess, but they had a long line of kings ruling over these people, and…hm…" Mythra paused for a moment.
"Something up?" Kaito leaned over the scroll to see if there was something of note he could spot, to no avail.
"Well, you know that 'Saint Adam' thing you mentioned earlier?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not super sure of this, but one of the most prominent kings of Tantal was a man named Addam, Addam Origo… you think that means anything?"
"So that means this 'Addam' fellow is Tepozteco?" Miko asked.
"But the legend of Tepozteco says that Tepozteco was his last name! In what sense of the word does "Origo" translate to that?" Kaito cried out.
"ONE version of the legend." Frankie pointed out. "True, it's odd that the name differs so greatly in between versions but… and please, forgive me, Mythra; with how much the world seems to like to cover up the existence of anything relating to your old world, it wouldn't surprise me if they mixed and matched names for the sake of either a better story; or to retcon it completely."
"I can't STAND retcons…" Miko grumbled.
"I'm not familiar with the legend of Tepozteco. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised you know about it at all, Kaito." Mythra stated plainly.
"I asked a LOT of people a LOT of things." He said.
"Well, it's no La Llorona or Chupacabra, but I can try to retell what I know." Frankie cleared his throat as he put on a theatrical sort of voice so the group could hear him. "One tale tells the story of a man with the last name of Tepozteco, born to a laundress and converted to Catholicism; as payment for work when he ended up in Mexico, he was given three boxes but told not to open them, and not unlike the Israelites, went against those wishes and released flocks of birds that were hiding inside, of which they represented the riches and well-being of his people."
"Is that good or bad…?" Miko asked again.
"Like I said, this isn't a very popular story in my family; no, we like to scare all the kids to listen to their parents by telling them there's a scary lady who drowned her kids and then herself in a jealous rage and is still looking for them to this very day… or at least we used to… damn brats have it too easy nowadays."
"And the other one?" Kaito immediately tried to get his brother back on track.
"Right; no real significance to the name Tepozteco is present in this one; just that it was A name belonging to A person; in this instance, something about being in touch and protected by the god of Wind at every moment, at least Tepoztecal is; giving them the strength to overcome the trials and tribulations thrown his way; more than likely stemming from being baptized in the Catholic Church when he was a baby, accused of betraying his gods."
"…Any of that ring a bell at all, Mythra?" Miko asked.
"It all feels a bit too romanticized to be 100% true." She said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if there was SOME element of truth in there; at least we have a lead, now."
"Surprised? You remember Genbu and the people of your time, but you don't remember an Addam?" Frankie asked.
"I did tell you that one of my biggest wants in life was being granted the chance to forget, Frankie. Well… I got some of that, but I didn't expect such a sporadic kind of forgetting." The Blade excused herself.
"I-I see…" Frankie muttered to himself as he looked down deep in thought. He couldn't shake the feeling that her answer was…odd. Was she trying to forget things on purpose? Why? Yet another question he wasn't sure how to ask.
"Well we're not gonna learn anything just harping over one little thing; let's keep looking around." Miko suggested as she very nearly bent over to join Kaito in picking up some artifacts on the ground. "And remember; stay together!"
Frankie and Mythra nodded while the latter joined in the search. Frankie, on the other hand, furrowed his brow in concern. He watched Mythra diligently dig alongside Kaito and Miko, inspecting the shards of broken glass to see if an image could be deciphered from them like a sort of puzzle while he awkwardly kicked and pawed at what he assumed to be a bit of armor. He was still left thinking to himself about Mythra's condition and everything that could possibly mean. In frustration, he kicked the bit of armor away from him, only for it to roll away quickly towards what he thought was a dead end, as no light pierced through the corner it had rolled towards; it just looked like a big black wall from afar… but he didn't see it bounce back. As a matter of fact, he heard it keep rolling. His interest was tickled as he tilted his head and widened his eyes curiously towards the giant hole in the wall. He was apprehensive at first, as he did want to take Miko and Kaito's advice of staying together to heart, but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't be much help in uncovering anything at all.
He wasn't an ancient Blade who actually lived through times of strife like that as Mythra was; he wasn't an astute journalist with a penchant for really digging deep into the nitty gritty of any topic whatsoever no matter how difficult like Kaito was; and he certainly wasn't an aspiring lawyer who had an answer for everything like Miko was. He did have the nagging thought that whatever he found wouldn't put that feeling to rest… but it was worth a shot. He looked behind him to make sure the three of them were distracted, and indeed they were, Kaito was busy cleaning off scrolls while Miko collected the artifacts and organized them by category and meaning so she can save them for later through the means of a picture. As for Mythra, she was too fixated on just about everything the shorter couple was doing, again, feeling that emotion of unease as she felt some of this was important, but didn't care to ask why that was the case.
So he snuck away and followed the armor down the path it rolled down.
The hall was much longer than it appeared, as he expected, and the further he went down it, the easier it became to see his surroundings. Frankie took notice of the tiling, as it went from worn down and cracked to clean and straight the further down he went. At some point, it felt as though the air had become still, and he stopped hearing the sounds of his companions back behind him. But…something kept egging him on to keep walking.
So he kept walking.
And kept walking.
And kept walking.
Until finally
He suddenly found himself in an isolated, rather well-lit room. It felt so isolated that Frankie barely processed that he had even walked in, it felt more like he was transported here. But sure enough, as he looked down at his forward-facing feet, it was clear he had stepped into this room.
His eyes then were drawn upward to something on the other side of the room.
It appeared to be a shrine, with many very faded slabs of text and one large picture of a giant turtle, swimming in a sea of clouds. Frankie could only assume that was meant to be Genbu, the titan Mythra had mentioned earlier.
In front of the picture lay a slab of text, with a sort of doll standing next to it. Frankie couldn't read the text, but he recognized it as similar to the text on the scroll, so he went ahead and took out his phone to snap a picture. He didn't want to disturb the shrine any more than necessary if he could help it.
That said, his eyes were drawn to the doll. It had the slight appearance of an action figure, albeit made out of wood. It was clearly carved masterfully, but the paint used on it was peeled and extremely faded. Frankie decided to take a closer look and observe the details of it more thoroughly.
From what he could glean, the doll was of a muscular man with his fists pressed to his hips like a confident Superman pose. His hair seemed to be a muddy gray, although it could be lighter given the fading of the paint. He had very detailed plated armor covering him from head to toe, minus his head of course, along with his shoulders and part of his right arm being exposed. He also carried a large sword on his back, and while no emotion could be discerned due to the doll not having a detailed face, Frankie couldn't help but feel a sense of…bravado and charisma emanating from this man, like he just knew if he met him up close, he would be one of those jovial yet strong leader types.
Gross.
Mythra had taken yet another scroll off of Kaito's person and inspected it closely, quizzically placing her hand on her chin as she scanned left and right, trying to discern whatever the story inside was trying to tell her.
"Well…?" Kaito asked hopefully, trying to jog Mythra's memory. The Blade sadly shook her head and handed it back to Miko.
"None of this makes any sense!" She cried, flinging the scrolls she had carried down to the ground in frustration before angrily marching her way up to an uncharacteristically lowly Mythra. "You're picking and choosing what you can remember, aren't you?! You and both your past Drivers had things going on you don't wanna let us know about, is that it?!"
"Miko!" Kaito shot up from the ground and and walked over to her in a huff. "There's no call for that kind of thought!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Kaito… but let me ask you this, you want big brother to be heartbroken cuz this dumb banana refuses to tell us anything she doesn't want us to know herself? Hiding it all behind some BS amnesia as a convenient excuse?!"
"Miko, Muffin, please… I know… tensions are high right now, but-" Kaito was cut off by Mythra, who sighed sharply.
"No, it's not like I've given you two a reason to think anything otherwise… I don't know if this helps at all but… I don't understand it myself… but if you want me to get out of your hair… that's what I'll do…" Mythra turned away and walked off with her head down and arms folded, feeling incredibly guilty for doing something she wasn't even sure she did.
Miko glared at her as she walked off initially, but soon regretted how harsh she was as it became apparent how personally Mythra was taking it.
"W-wait, Mythra! I'm sorry about-" This time Miko was cut off by Kaito's hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright Miko, I actually think it's better that Mythra try and figure this stuff out alone, without us hounding over at every step for answers."
"I know but…that was so mean…I just wanna help them so badly… but every new thing we find out just raises further questions and it's getting me so frustrated… how has so much happened already in only two weeks, and why does it get increasingly more confusing…?" Kaito sighed heavily as Miko sobbed lightly into his chest; with him rubbing her back to calm her down ever so slightly.
"This is why they'll need each other, Miko…" Kaito explained. "Mythra's going through all this as well… and I can't even begin or even want to begin to think how big brobro feels about all this right now… heck, he doesn't even know what the Aegis is… if he finds out too much right away… I just worry about him…"
"…I worry about that dumb banana and Pyra myself…" Miko admitted.
Mythra had isolated herself to a corner in the Mission, where she overlooked tattered clothing and some sort of torn apart canvas which depicted… what looked to be her herself. Confidently gleaming amidst the edge of darkness, hair flowing gracefully in the wind, dispelling evil and bringing light to the world at the cost of her own person… she touched her core crystal gently and prevented herself from tearing up… even now, she felt guilty about putting Pyra through everything she put her through, all because she was an immature idiot about everything despite being the confounded Aegis. Now she was getting frustrated and was about to kick dirt towards the painting's way when a gleam caught her eye.
A silvery glint raised her head toward the seemingly dead end of the complex, clueing her in immediately that there was something more than what she was looking at. It was at this point, did she notice that Frankie was nowhere to be found. Wasting no time at all, she headed in the direction of the shine to see if she could find him.
Frankie ventured further into the alcove, what he saw left him absolutely stunned. There was no decrepit text lying in wait for him or an offering shrine of goods and services or even a dioramic painting of a scene which was recorded eternally in the form of a historic piece documenting the trials of Addam or Origo or Tepozteco or whoever this Mission was built to honor or anything of the sort.
No, instead, he was greeted with a great copper statue of the hero king himself. What a far cry from the doll he had initially stumbled upon. It was almost intimidating to look at with the gusto and valiance sculpted into each individual part of the monument… he did look rather handsome up close, all things considered. Frankie didn't let that distract him, he couldn't get distracted, he had come too far TO get distracted. He steeled himself and pressed forward to see if there was any text detailing exactly what he was looking at.
To his surprise, engraved on the pedestal of the statue, there was… readable text waiting for him to unearth. Like a genie in a lamp, Frankie dusted off the obscurities quickly so he could finally get a proper closer look at this Addam fellow that had been running through his mind these past several minutes, and that is exactly what he was granted.
"The great Addam Origo, royalty of the Kingdom of Tantal and beloved hero across the Cloud Sea. Origo was offered both the throne of Tantal -despite being fourth in line- and lordship of Heblin by the King of Torna due to his many exploits and incredible feats of distinction. However he denied both of these roles and led the bulk of his life traveling across the titans in the Cloud Sea, assisting the people as he went.
His most noteworthy acclaim was the taming of the legendary Aegis, as even if only for a brief time, he alone reigned in the deadly power of the Blade and prevented it from destroying many lands. Unfortunately his attempts were not enough to save the land of Torna, as it fell due to the Aegis's wrath going out of control. After this tragic event, Origo would disappear, although it is assumed he lived the rest of his life as he did prior - wandering the Cloud Sea to save people in need, truly living up to his grand heroic status."
Frankie backed up in shock as he scanned over the bit on the Aegis over and over again. That's what Kaito had called Pyra and Mythra. But none of it seemed to match either of them at all. He couldn't imagine in a million years the idea of Pyra being so violently crude and unstoppable, nor Mythra so… monstrous… though he did remember how little time he spent with them in comparison to this Addam. But still… something rubbed him the wrong way… why would this text refer to them like some sort of enraged rabid beast with death and hunger on the mind?
"Frankie?" Mythra's voice suddenly echoed over the hallway; her Driver turned suddenly to see her slowly and steadily walking up to join him in looking at the great statue in wonder.
"Mythra… do you know who this is…?" Frankie asked timidly. Mythra stared and stared and stared some more. The room was deathly silent as Frankie awaited for an answer. Her casual mentioning of him back in the main hall was a tipping point for his conclusion, but he wanted to be absolutely sure.
"I don't…" She responded. Frankie felt his heart skip a beat as he looked back to the text and then to the statue and then to Mythra. He came up to her closer with a worried expression on his face.
"Mythra… Mythra, you have to be joking with me. That's Addam! Addam Origo! THE Tepozteco! He's real as real can be! How-how can you forget your Driver so callously?!" Mythra only stared at her current Driver in confusion as she walked past him to get a closer look at the statue… still nothing.
"I'm sorry, Frank… but I haven't a clue who I'm looking at right now."
Frankie shook his head in disbelief as he joined her side.
"Mythra, come ON! Bring Pyra out! Maybe she'll be able to recognize him-"
"Whatever I forget, she forgets too, Frank. There's not much that can be done about it, besides… well… if things happened some other way… Pyra wouldn't even be here at all…" Mythra hung her head low as Frankie stuttered in shock, bringing her closer to what he had read, almost without thinking.
"Mythra, Mythra, please, look at this. Read what it says and just TELL ME if anything about this sounds even vaguely familiar!" Frankie was breathing heavily in concern as he swung his arms downward in frustration, letting Mythra analyze the text herself. There were the general things she knew well enough; Addam being a king, a great hero, the stuff about the Cloud Sea, nothing major really stood out to her.
…
And then she reached her part in the story.
"he alone reigned in the deadly power of the Blade and prevented it from destroying many lands. Unfortunately his attempts were not enough to save the land of Torna, as it fell due to the Aegis's wrath going out of control."
Mythra's mind was fraught with terrible memories of the people she watched die in battle; some even at her own hands… all their screams of terror, their cries of distrust and scorn, the whispers of all those nasty rumors even now she was tormented in hearing over and over again; the view of a large muscular shadowy figure leering at her from the distance, calling out to his 'partner' in a deep dark and taunting manner; all the bright flashing lights of destruction spreading across the land, all the heavy machinery laying waste to everything that stood in their path… and the most horrifying of all, a small dirty-golden haired child with feline features poking out of his head, looking around frightened, turning beside him in a fluster as his breathing quickened in fear.
"Mythra…?!" He called out just before he himself was interrupted by a blinding and screeching flash of light compounded by an ear piercing scream of agony.
She couldn't take it anymore, she summoned her blade once again and struck the text in furious regret.
"Mythra!" Frankie ran to her side immediately at the sight and slowly reached out to touch her. "Mythra, are you oka-" Mythra suddenly sprung behind her and reacted harshly as she slammed her Driver up against the wall of the alcove; her own blade laid across his upper person, preventing his escape.
"WHY DID YOU SHOW ME THAT?!" She ordered, her tone much more fierce and demanding than Frankie had ever heard before.
"M-Mythra, I-I-I-I-I-I-" Frankie was pinned further up against the wall as Mythra interrupted him.
"YOU WHAT?! YOU LET THAT BIGASS MORNING WOOD PYRA GIVES YOU EVERY DAMN DAY SPEAK FOR YOUR ACTIONS? ARE YOU THAT DESPERATE TO GO AT IT THIS WHOLE PLOY OF YOURS IS JUST A THINLY VEILED EXCUSE TO ACT LIKE YOU KNOW EITHER OF US BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THAT'D GET US ALL HOT AND BOTHERED TOO?! WHY DON'T YOU THINK ABOUT HOW I FEEL FOR ONCE YOU STUPID SORRY HORRIBLE JOKE OF A DRIVER?!"
"MYTHRA!" Frankie screamed, trying to free himself. Mythra stayed in her ferocious stance as she stared him down angrily… but as she did so, she got a real good look at him. He was welling up in tears, the way his eyes fell… that was pure unquenchable fear… she could feel his heartbeat through her blade. It had sunk drastically while its tempo was at an all time high. She retreated briefly and took her blade in both hands, just staring at it in horror, catching her reflection in the blade's own crystal. She stared at it, and it stared right back at her… and she hated what she saw. This wasn't any chicken meltdown, this was a real, genuine, violent action brought on only by her. Everything was falling apart due to the Aegis's wrath going out of control.
She gripped her blade tightly and began to well up in tears herself as she violently tossed it aside, letting it skid across the ground and chink the base of the statue ever so slightly as she fell to the floor and burst into tears.
"Mythra… why… what hap-… i-i think I know why but…" Frankie was tumbling over his words as he fell to the floor as well, clutching his chest in pain and horror, not sure what to make of anything that just happened at all… Mythra sunk lower into herself as she heard his tone of voice and crouched over in a fetal position as she continued cowering in over herself.
"ⁱ ʰᵃᵗᵉ ᵇᵉⁱⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᴬᵉᵍᶦˢ…" She murmured almost inaudibly.
"I'm sorry…?" Frankie asked yet again, coming closer to her just as she shot up and grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in with a vicious look in her eye.
"I HATE BEING THE AEGIS!!!!!!!" She screamed as she lazily tossed her grip on her spooked Driver away, refusing to even so much as look at him as she hung her head low.
"It's such cruel irony… isn't it…?" She began, fighting her way through tears. "I wanted nothing more than to be able to forget just like a normal Blade is supposed to… after my stints with my last Driver, that's how it was supposed to be… I finally could just be a normal Blade and not some kind of status symbol for people to flaunt around… taming the Aegis, so to speak…" Mythra couldn't handle it anymore, she let a deluge of tears stream down her face as she shivered while she continued. "I almost had that… I was so close to having that with him… a place to relax and forget everything that ever happened… feel good about myself… live with the family I wanted to live with, but………" Mythra was struggling to find any of the right words she wanted to say, even now, she felt she wasn't getting her points straight across. She still couldn't look Frankie in the eye, even though he wore nothing more than a face of sympathy despite her outburst.
He tried to call out to her to comfort her… but what help could he have been in this situation? He understood why now she wanted to forget as much as she did, even more so in knowing she remembered far too much that she really should… an inspirational speech wouldn't help now… but he wasn't sure what to do after Mythra's sudden blow up. Mythra felt Frankie's lack of presence creep up on her, forcing her to grip herself so very closely and tightly in a vague effort to comfort himself. Both of them needed that comfort, but giving it to the other was a whole other story
"I'm sorry, Frankie… I really am… I don't… know what I'm even doing anymore…" She sighed as she very subtly turned to face him. "I know we just had a moment like this not even a whole week ago, but… well… you can't put a bandage over a severed wound and expect an instant heal, now can you?"
Frankie sighed as he looked down to the ground sadly.
"I know Mythra… I just… Addam seemed so important to you from what I read and I thought if you remembered him… that… that…"
"That what…?"
"…I don't know… I just don't know…"
Mythra sniffed sadly as she turned away once again. She glowed briefly, running away from any more question and answer bits to allow Pyra to stay in her place.
"Pyra…?" Frankie asked somberly as his Blade still turned her back on him. And when she was ready to respond, she turned her head around fully with tears still flooding her eyes.
"I wanna go home now, Frankie…"
