Chapter 16: The Only Family They Found

A/N: Those who run out of snacks together, stay together. Right?

"Where is this thing going, Mik?"

Lora had to strain to hear Nia's voice over the wind whistling past them as the massive cargo container Mikhail had commandeered continued on its tram line. Lora glanced behind her, seeing down, and wished she hadn't, stomach flopping from the drop she faced below. She wasn't afraid of heights, per se, but it didn't make the idea of dropping from this high any less intimidating.

All of them were crouched low, trying to present as little as they could for the wind and the wobbling cargo crate to knock them off their precarious perch. On their makeshift platform, Nia and Dromach were closest to the front, with Dromarch shielding Nia from the wind. In the middle, Mikhail and Cressidus were situated, while her and Pyra took up the rear.

The container swayed despite it being secured to the cargo line by a quartet of lines leading to a contraption that fed through the metal cargo cable, likely controlling its pace. Because of that swaying, and the smoothness of the container Lora had trouble finding stable purchase to hold onto it. Of course, cargo containers weren't usually made to have passengers riding on top.

"This cargo line should go to Mor Ardain's main geothermal mining plant!" Mikhail yelled in answer.

"Considering what just transpired," Dromarch roared over the rushing air, "I doubt the empire will be rolling out a welcome mat for us there."

"Unless the welcome mat is made out of bullets and blades," Nia sniped, "no probably not."

"We're not going to be staying there," Mikhail shot back. "If we can time it right we won't even have to set foot inside the plant, just the outskirts."

"Time it right? What do you…" She saw Nia's eyes widen in understanding. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. That was your escape plan? Jumping off a speeding cargo container?"

Mikhail smirked. "Not bad, right?"

"And if we misjudge it, we could die!"

"Good thing I trust you all enough not to fall." He shifted his head to look towards the container's destination. Lora followed his gaze, seeing the massive metal structure built into the stone of the Titan drawing closer. Steam continuously puffed out of the Geothermal plant's cooling towers on the top far above them. "It won't even be a long jump, but we still have some time before we get to the plant. When I give you all the signal, get ready to jump."

The wind continued to whip by, and they began to pass by spindly, metal towers - were those used to do maintenance? For what? - closer to other cargo lines that lead to other destinations. Dotting the landscape were small, jutting plateaus with not much more room than on top of their ride, almost like stalactites in some of the caves Lora had seen on Coeia.

All of these things were far too far away to jump to, so definitely not what Mikhail was talking about. Up ahead, further along theit 'commandeered' cargo line, Lora could see some of those towers that seemed to line up with their current route.

Those weren't what Mikhail was talking about. The plant was still rather far from them, but if she squinted, she thought she could make out what could be metal catwalks ringing around the plant. Certainly not what she had expected to be doing tonight, but Mikhail's plan was better than anything she could think of at the moment.

Mikhail…

Despite the potentially perilous situation looming ahead, her mind wandered back to the fights in the inn and around the hot spring. She thought of Mikhail's rescue, and the way he had batted around Rex and the Blade who resembled Azurda. Not for the first time, she wondered what had happened to him in the nearly five hundred years she'd been frozen.

A gentle hand landed on her shoulder, squeezing it. Their affinity link flared to life, telling her whose hand it was, and the feeling of worry from the link was shared on Pyra's face as Lora looked over to her.

"Are you alright?" Pyra still had to yell to be heard over the wind, but since they were right next to each other, she didn't have to shout as loud.

"I should be asking you that question," Lora responded.

"I'm fine," she assured her, though the smile she gave afterwards was strained.

Considering the accusations that Mòrag had thrown their way, Lora wasn't surprised. For now, she supposed the assurance would have to do, as their precarious swaying perch on the crate was hardly a good place to have a heart to heart.

"We'll figure things out," Lora assured her. "There has to be a reason for everything."

Pyra nodded, and opened her mouth to respond.

A sudden ear-splitting metallic screech tore their attention over to the contraption connecting the cargo container to the line it traveled on. Sparks flew as the box like contraption grated sharply against the cable from which it was suspended.

Lora only had time to say, "What was-" before the crate lurched to an abrupt halt. A cable snapped. And suddenly, her world was shooting upward in a dangerous angle.

Her head smacked into the hard metal of the crate at the ascent, momentarily dazing her enough that her fingers reflexively let go of the tenuous hold she had on the container. She slipped off the end of the tilting world, and in desperation grasped the edge of the crate with one hand, struggling for an instant to hold on.

But it was in vain. Her fingers slipped off the metal of the container as it reached the apex of its swing.

"Lora!"

A surge of power from Pyra's already active affinity link and her eyes snapped over to her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. She saw Pyra's right hand - noted distantly that her left was holding on to her sword, now embedded into the metal crate - was reaching desperately for her.

Lora reached for her extended hand with her free hand. The container groaned as it began swinging back out the other way.

Their fingers missed.

And she began to fall.

# Caution: manual override of 'external memory bank' is unadvised while data mining of corrupt data is in progress. Do you still wish to proceed: Y/N?

# Y

# working…

# Manual override activated.

At once, there was nothing.

Her world was dark. A complete darkness that was at once familiar, and entirely alien. Her mind mush, plodding through a haze impossible to penetrate.

She couldn't see, could barely think.

She tried to call out, only to find she had no voice. Couldn't move.

She felt nothing.

She…had been falling.

…Right?

Or, had she been running?

Sensations she had only subconsciously feeling just weren't there anymore. No smell, no feel of wind on her skin. But there was…

…Cold.

Cold began to seep into her. Or…had it been there this whole time?

All of this in a moment. All of this in an eternity.

So…cold.

As if in a blink, everything snapped back into place.

She breathed.

Lora's arm was wrenched upward as her fall was abruptly accosted, sending her swinging wildly. If Pyra's affinity link hadn't been established, her arm would have been wrenched out of socket.

She was hanging by one arm by her battle braid, just past the crate. Looking up, at the other end, she saw Pyra desperately grasping onto it with one hand as the crate swung back.

She didn't remember casting the braid up, but she must have, or else she would still be falling.

But there was no sense dwelling on that right now. Her other arm reached out to grasp her makeshift rope to even out the burden of holding on for dear life. Above, Pyra was straining to hold on with one hand while her other hand still held her sword to keep her from falling as well.

But the thin rope was slowly slipping out of Pyra's grasp , and the container's continued swinging back and forth as it bleed off inertia wasn't helping either of them. No matter how much strength Pyra might have as a Blade, if her grip slipped, that would be it.

Trying to haul herself up the length of the rope would only make things worse right now. She clutched her weapon harder as the container swung back the other way again, her lifeline taking her with it.

Looking desperately around for a way out, her head whipped about. To her left lay an empty wasteland; to her right, a metal tower way too far away to leapt onto even with the way her makeshift rope was swinging. Down was death by falling, especially since she knew a Blade's affinity link couldn't go that far. And even if it could, there was no guarantee she - and by extension, Pyra - wouldn't be hurt from the fall.

Now what?

"I've got you!"

The tension on her lifeline increased as she and it was hauled slightly up. She looked up and saw Mikhail tightly gripping her rope further down, helping steady Pyra's grip. A moment later, Nia appeared and joined him in his efforts.

"Just hold on tight 'til this thing steadies, Lora," Nia called, "and we'll pull you up!"

"Okay!" She shouted back, relief ringing her smile at the three holding her up. Her shared core seemed to pulse less rapidly.

That was way too close.

Though she felt like the pendulum in an antique clock she'd seen Addam tinkering with once, eventually, the container steadied enough that the three began working in tandem to pull her up. At last, with Mikhail and Pyra grasping her arms, they hauled her up past the edge onto the not-really-safe confines of the top of the crate.

Lora rolled over and sprawled out as much as she dared on her back, arms aching, noting that Cressidus and Dromarch were on the other side. She wondered for a moment why that was, until Mikhail backed up, which tilted the crate into a flatter position. If the two Blades had helped out, it might have tipped them all off.

Lora breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you all."

"Don't mention it." Nia waved it off as she checked her and Pyra over for injuries, and she scoffed as Lora - and a split second later, Pyra - winced as Nia's finger brushed over the tender spot on her head where it had bashed against the metal. "Does it hurt?"

"I'll manage."

"Even so, I'll have Dromarch look at that once we're off this stupid thing."

She nodded her thanks, and simply lay there a moment, breathing still erratic from the experience. The night sky was tinged with lights from Alba Cavanich, blocking out her full view of the stars. She closed her eyes, moving her arm over them.

"So, what happened?" she heard Nia ask. "Why did it stop so suddenly?"

Shifting her arm to peek, she saw Mikhail jerk his thumb back towards the capital city. "Someone back there must have hit the emergency stop on all the cargo lines. Normally, these will just come to a slow stop when they're close to the factory, not do something like that."

"Bet it was that snooty Inquisitor," Nia griped. "Aren't we lucky?"

"We're lucky Lora's a quick thinker, using her weapon like that!" Cressidus chimed in.

Nia palmed her forehead "That's…not really what I meant. But yeah, I think we're all just glad you're okay, Lora."

"Same," Lora agreed easily. "I'm not really sure how I managed." She slowly sat up now that her breathing had steadied, propping herself up a still sore arm. "I'm glad we all made it through."

"So…what now?" Nia asked. "Are we just stranded up here or what?"

"It looks as though Master Mikhail has an idea," Dromarch rumbled.

Mikhail had moved to the center where he was reaching up to the mechanism that held the cargo in place on the line. He fiddled with a panel a moment, and it popped open, exposing mechanisms and wiring.

"Oi, what are you doing, messing around with that?" Nia shouted. "If you detach us from this line…"

"Relax," Mikhail drawled, as he continued digging around. "I know what I'm doing." After a few moments his arms retreated from the guts of the small mechanism, followed by a muttered curse. "Besides, it looks like there's nothing I can do while we're hanging here to start us going again anyways. At least not quickly."

"Do you think they would attempt to reverse us, pull us back towards the city?" Dromarch asked uneasily.

"No need to worry about that," Mikhail rapped his knuckles against the innards of the mechanism. "Whoever designed these was probably cutting costs. They're made to only go one way, which is shortsighted for them, but good for us."

"Quite a relief."

"But it does mean that we're stuck up here unless they decide to start up the cargo line again." Mikhail started looking around. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Silence pervaded the top cargo crate. Lora glanced at her battle braid, then thought better of it. It wasn't anywhere near long enough to swing over to any nearby structures. Not that she really felt like doing that again after what she's just gone through.

"All I can see close by," Dromarch rumbled, "is that support tower."

Nia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and it's what, like forty peds from us?"

"It's thirty-eight point four two peds," Pyra listed off, "in a north-north eastern direction, angled 18 degrees down from where you're standing Nia."

Nia blinked at Pyra's hyper specific measurement, mouth hanging open a little and Lora joined in on her surprise, looking toward Pyra with amazement. Mikhail quirked a brow, seeming to regard Pyra with interest.

She averted her eyes at the attention, mumbling, "It's pretty easy to calculate."

"Maybe for you," Nia mumbled.

"Exact distances aside," Lora cleared her throat, bringing their attention away from Pyra, "how would we get over there? We can't exactly jump a distance like that. And even with how strong Cressidus is, I doubt he could throw us over there."

"Actually…" Mikhail glanced at Cressidus, with a roguish gleam in his eye.

"Wait, hold up." Nia's ears flattened on her head. "Are you seriously considering that right now?"

"C'mon, Nia," Mikhail teased. "You heard Lora. Cressidus is a strong Blade. I bet he could chuck even Dromarch back to Alba Cavanich if he tried hard enough. A several dozen peds would be nothing for him."

"You aren't throwing Dromarch!" Nia protested. "Besides, if Cressidus missed, he'd end up as Rhogul food. They…do have Rhoguls here, right?"

One of Dromarch's ears flicked, the only sign of acknowledgement of the barb. "That's rather gruesome imagery, my lady. Though I am confident I would still be able to land on my feet."

"So you're volunteering are you?" She sniped back, crossing her arms.

"Er…"

"Hey!" Cressidus flexed as if to prove Mikhail right. "Don't worry, everyone; I've got this!"

"Yeah," Mikhail egged him on, eying Nia, "and just like Dromarch said, all you have to do is land on your feet."

"Well if you're so sure of it," Nia sputtered defiantly, "you go first!"

Mikhail smirked. "Don't mind if I do. You're up, big guy." He paused, eying Pyra, and a somewhat grudging tone entered his voice. "And…Pyra, would you be able to help make sure he gets the correct angle? Precision isn't his best feature."

"Oh, um, alright."

She seemed just as surprised as Lora was that he'd asked. Was it too much to hope that it was a sign of progress?

Regardless, both Pyra and Mikhail trodd carefully on the unstable crate over to Cressidus. The massive Blade stood and took Mikhail - who crouched on his massive hand - in one arm. Pyra coached him a moment, correcting his aim before stepping back as Cressidus drew Mikhail back like a ball.

Mikhail looked at Lora and Nia and winked.

Nia groaned, muttering to Lora, "I hope he does fall."

With a shout, Cressidus hurled Mikhail in a small arc that drove him towards the support tower. Lora held her breath as she watched him sail a few moments, before unfurling himself as his arc descended. He tucked and rolled to bleed off the momentum of his fall onto the platform on top of the tower.

She let out a relieved breath as Mikhail popped up from his roll and let out a whoop that echoed over to them. Punching his massive fists together, Cressisdus let out a holler, echoing his Driver.

Raising her eyebrows, Nia looked between the Driver and Blade pair. "Well what do you know? It actually worked."

"Hey!" Mikhail yelled over to them. "There's a maintenance ladder over here. We can get down from there!"

Pyra smiled. "That's good, but…" She looked at Cressidus. "How are you going to get over there?"

"Don't worry," the big Blade thumped his chest, "I've already got a good idea. Who's next?"

Everyone carefully avoided eye contact with him, suddenly interested in the surrounding scenery. Lora was the slowest.

Cressidus pointed his finger bombastically her way. "Looks like you're up to fly with Cressidus! Come on down!"

Lora chuckled nervously.

Mòrag watched as Rex was carried away on a stretcher, his Blade following as close as he could without interfering with the medical team's work.

Thankfully, despite it all, it seemed he would be fine.

Her eyes strayed past other soldiers and personnel milling about over to the small line of dead, lined up in an undamaged portion of the Jakelo Inn's common room.

Others had not been so fortunate. The blonde-haired Driver and his massive Blade had made short work of some of her men. Whether on purpose or happenstance, they had targeted the ones with ether net launchers first, depriving her of what might have been an easier capture.

Then again, she hadn't taken into account that there would be another Torna operative in the city. In her haste to apprehend them, she hadn't factored it into the plan. Careless of her.

Kneeling beside the soldier's bodies, she gently took their tags, burning the four names into her memory before stowing them away. They had known the risk, but she would do what she could to make their sacrifice worth it.

"Inquisitor!"

After a moment, she stood, facing a soldier who was dutifully ignoring how sodden her clothing still was. Changing out of it would come once things settled here.

"Report."

"Ma'am! The emergency stop order on the cargo lines has been issued, and received, though not without some complaint on the operator's end."

"I see. While their complaints are not unwarranted, relay back to them that it will only be a temporary delay."

The soldier saluted again and left. The cargo line operator's complaint was understandable, considering the still ongoing salvage bulge. Storage space was at a premium and a section in the main Geothermal plant's warehouse had been commissioned temporarily to hold excess salvage.

Though she suspected stopping the cargo line wouldn't stop Torna for long, at least they wouldn't disrupt anything at the Geothermal plant. Even if that hadn't been their goal, it brought her a modicum of comfort to know they would be safe.

She began heading out of the damaged inn, thinking of the compensation that would come out of the empire's coffers to help with repairs. Another soldier approached her as she came out the front, matching her pace as she walked.

"Inquisitor. We searched the rooms Torna were housed in as you ordered."

"Was there anything of note?" Mòrag asked.

"Just some packs with basic traveling supplies, bedrolls, rations and the like. However, we did find these."

Mòrag raised a questioning eyebrow as the soldier brought out a parcel that looked to have been tied with decorative ribbon before being opened. Inside were…

"Sweets?"

"Yes ma'am. I..." he hesitated as if embarrassed, "I recognize where they're from: an up and coming chef and patissier. A Blade named Gorg. My squad mates and I have been to his restaurant before. Perhaps he met the Aegis and her Driver."

"I see." While Mòrag wondered how valuable a testimony from the pastry chef would be, but any information was better than nothing. It might offer a fuller picture of the Driver of the Aegis' character. "Any information you can glean from them would be welcome. Choose a member of your squad and see what you can find."

"Of course!"

She was headed off by another officer, giving her an extensive damage report while she headed to the base.

It was going to be a long night.

"Just because you're a Blade, didn't mean it wasn't gonna hurt." Nia shook her head, exasperatedly. "Honestly, it's like you have no sense of self preservation. What if you'd damaged your core somehow?"

She watched as Cressidus rolled his shoulder, which had just been freshly healed by an obliging Dromarch after she looked him over. "Tucking and rolling of course! The rest of me would've healed before long, then I'd be good to go and protect all of you again!"

"Oh sure," Nia rolled her eyes. "And what if the empire, or Mik's crazy royal 'friend' had a surprise waiting for us before that happened, or I had a chance to heal you? How could you help protect us then?"

The massive Blade shrugged. "It didn't happen, so there's no reason to worry about it."

"Hey are you almost done, Nia?" she heard Mikhail call. "I could use his help over here."

"Yeah, yeah, just a sec," she called back. She poked Cressidus hard in the chest. "Don't go doing something stupid like that again, you hear?"

She could have sworn she saw a grin beneath the darkness of his golden helm, but the gleam in the big Blades' eyes told her the whole story as he loped off toward Mik. Any sense of self preservation she had tried to instill in him had just gone right over his head. Impressive for how tall he was.

Nia scoffed, and stepped away, her boots echoing with little clinks on the metal of the old maintenance tunnel they'd holed up in. It was a small alcove clear of any arachnos - they'd all double checked to make sure - and other uninvited guests. Not exactly cozy, but far enough out of the way of the cargo line that it was less likely to be immediately searched.

She watched the massive Blade plod over to Mik. After tossing them all over - and she really didn't want to think about that experience more than she needed to - Cressidus had essentially thrown himself at the tower. It'd been a big jump, but he'd barely grasped on to one of the tower's support struts to break his fall, tearing the muscles in his shoulders and dislocating one in the process. He'd fallen straight to the ground after that.

Even once they'd rushed down and knew he was fine, it still worried her. Even with a Blade's natural regeneration factor, if not for Dromarch, he'd have been out for the count for at least a day if not more. Not something they could afford at the moment.

Dromarch stretched, and rubbed gently against her leg in an invitation to join him as he padded over to a slightly more comfortable piece of metal, plopping to the ground. After a moment, she joined him, flopping down, leaning back onto him.

Their swift exit hadn't given all of them much time to process everything, but she was currently too tired to care. None of them had any food, but it wasn't the first time she'd gone to sleep without it.

"Reminds me of back then," she murmured to Dromarch. "You know, when it was just us, don't you think? No food, no pack, running away from angry people."

"It is similar," he agreed. He shifted slightly underneath her, though she suspected he wouldn't find a truly comfortable spot here. At least the metal wasn't bitterly cold. "Although the forests of Gormott were generally more comfortable, and there was much less metal."

She snorted. "The forests had more insects, but at least the trees didn't smell like rotting ether lines."

"Indeed. But it's nice to have companions with us now. It's almost like a family."

Family?

She turned her head, hair rubbing against his fur, and raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. He stared back, eyes unblinking. He won the little staring contest as he always did.

She looked over to where Lora was passed out on the floor without a care in the world that it was solid metal. Pyra was close by, watching over her, wearing that sad smile she always had when she thought no one was looking.

She heard loud whispers on the other side where Cressidus and Mikhail were working on something. How they still had energy to do anything at this point was beyond her.

She thought of the others. Malos and Sever, always sniping at her, yet pushing her to stop hiding. She thought of Ahkos and his horrible theatrics, encouraged or berated by Obrona depending on how she was feeling. Occasionally, he had something good, too, not that she'd ever say it to his face since it would only encourage him.

She thought of Patroka and Perdido who always did more talking with their weapons. The spars and one short mission she'd been pulled into by her told her more about the other woman of Torna than anything else. Even though she acted aloof, she had a short temper, and respected strength. Respected Nia's strength when she'd landed a few good hits on her in a spar.

She thought of Jin, and his quiet thoughtfulness and strength. His kindness to the crew of Torna and leadership holding everyone together. At least until Lora woke up.

"They're annoying enough to be one, that's for sure," she concluded.

"They are quite the handful to look after," he agreed. "Remember, no matter what you choose, I will follow you to the end."

She sighed, leaning back more into his fur. "...Right."

She felt him shift slightly under her as he lay his head down. "Sleep well, my lady."

"'Night, you big furball."

But despite how tired she felt, sleep didn't come quite so easy.

Mòrag pulled her dark, wet hair into a tight bun, thankful that this time it was because of a furiously quick shower, rather than a forceful dip in the hot springs. Smoothing out wrinkles that weren't there in her new, dry uniform, she made to grab her visored cap from its hook, but found it missing.

"Looking for something?"

Looking over to the door in her suite, she found it spinning around the finger of a visibly annoyed Brighid.

"I didn't hear you come in," Mòrag noted. They shared the suite, so it wasn't unusual to see Brighid here, but…

Her cap stopped spinning as Brighid pinched its metal visor tightly between her fingers. "I stepped in just a few minutes ago."

"I assume you didn't come to try and replace a hat hanger. Has something happened?"

They were due to officially report to the emperor and the Senate shortly. She of course had informed Niall late the night before of the result of the conflict with Torna, and had confided her initial thoughts on the confrontation before he had dismissed her to get some rest. This morning's report would be a far more official affair.

"There haven't been any further developments with Torna or the Aegis and her Driver, no. No sign of them near the main geothermal plant from the scouts reporting from there."

"I see" Mòrag stepped closer, enough to see the lines of tensioning the face of her Blade, the crinkle of worry around her eyes. "Something's bothering you. You seemed perturbed all last night. Was it something that Torna said?"

The night had passed in a flurry of activity, and both of them had barely been able to catch a few hours of sleep, much less have much time to truly process or discuss the event.

"The Driver of the Aegis, Lora." The finger's of Brighid's fist clenched through the slats of the camp's metal visor. "Do you believe what she said was true?"

"Which part are you referring to?" She had a good idea but needed to be sure.

Brighid's brow furrowed as she scoffed. "You know what I'm referring to. Her ridiculous claim to have fought as a human in the Aegis war. And not only that, but she claimed to have fought beside the hero Addam and Emperor Hugo."

Alongside Brighid, went unsaid, only because it didn't need to be.

So, exactly the reason she'd thought. Mòrag mulled over her words carefully before saying, "I believe Lora thought every word she was saying was true. She was thoroughly convinced of it."

Brighid's gaze seemed to bore into her own. "Do you believe her? You saw the way that she was able to react and adapt to our fighting style when we fought."

It had been almost…uncanny. Like she had spared against someone with Mòrag's unique weapons and skill set before. It can't have been more than a week since Lora had resonated with the Aegis, so to have such skill already? She must have prior experience as a Driver.

"Whether I believe her or not remains to be seen. As you pointed out, there shouldn't be any way for a mere human to live that long. She denied being a flesh eater Blade as well."

"And you don't think she was lying about that?"

"Doubtful." Mòrag's hand snaked up to her chin, thoughtfully. "I may still ask someone to comb through the records of registered Drivers and Blades to see if she matches the description of any, just as a precaution."

"But," Brighid interjected, "if she truly remembers five hundred years ago, she would be older than Indol's current worldwide registry system."

"I suppose that's true." Mor Ardain kept records of notable Blades and Drivers in that time, so it would stand to reason that other nations would do the same in that time. "If Lora truly was born on the Tornan Titan as she said, any official records of that and the Drivers and Blades there would likely have sunk with the Titan."

Not to mention the five hundred years in between then and now. The likelihood of records being kept that long were slim to none.

Brighid scoffed. "Convenient for her."

"Quite," Mòrag agreed. "But that's not what is really eating away at you, is it?"

A wan smile stretched across Brighid's face, though it disappeared just as quickly as it arrived. "Astute as always, Lady Mòrag." She sighed. "My journal. The one from back then. Do…" she hesitated. "Do you think it could have been tampered with?

A slight frown curled Mòrag's lips down. She had considered the possibility, but… "Considering how tightly protected your journals are, I doubt it. It would be grave offense to even attempt to alter a record of such an important Blade to the royal family."

"But could it be done? If one of the emperors of Mor Ardain ordered it done in secret while my core crystal lay dormant, I would have no way of knowing."

"It's…possible," she ventured, carefully. "But what reason would they have to alter such events?"

Brighid's lips pressed into a thin line. "You've seen how the Senate plays their games, seen the depths they will go, treating humans and Blades alike as nothing more than tools. We helped stop an insurrection led by someone who thought like that shortly after I was awakened, or have you forgotten?"

Mòrag kept her tone even. "I haven't forgotten, no."

"So can I really trust what's written here? That's the only remnant of who I was back then. What if it's untrue, a part of who I am now comes from that. What if it's wrong?"

"Brighid…"

"I know it's unlikely," Brighid threw her arms up, the blue flames on her side buns flaring briefly, "it's just frustrating."

"Tell me. Do you remember the promise we made after we put down the insurrection you spoke of?"

"Of course I do. I wrote it in my current journal. One of my first entries. 'To look towards a brighter future for the empire together, no matter what came before.'"

Mòrag nodded firmly. "Exactly. So, forgive me if I sound callous, but even if your journal from the Aegis war has been edited, it doesn't change what the organization of Torna is doing right now. They are slaughtering innocents - our countrymen - hunting down core crystals, and have awakened and seemingly turned the Aegis to their side."

"But-"

"Brighid." Mòrag gently laid her hand on her cheek, smiling. She could feel the gentle heat radiating off of her, could feel the worry through their resonance. "You are you. You are beautiful, talented; the best partner I could ask for. Regardless of what was written in a journal centuries ago, we've made contact with the Aegis in our time. We can use that to make judgments right now. We would be remiss not to do so."

"Lady Mòrag, I…"

"Even though what happened during the Aegis War is important, don't let that cloud your thoughts on what's happening in front of us right now. Our duty is to the future of the empire, and the safety of its people who are living right now. Not to the shoulders of the departed on which our world is built."

Brighid crossed her arms, looking at her, face to face, a long moment passing. "Hmph. You always did have a way with words."

"I was trained to be emperor before Niall was born, if you remember."

"I haven't forgotten." She turned away briefly, as if considering something. "Even so, I still worry. All of this has me thinking more about this than I normally do."

"Naturally. I can have someone investigate the matter for you, if you'd like?"

"You needn't waste the resources. I'll do some digging on my own time. Besides, if there is something going on, there's no reason to alert anyone about it."

"That would be wise."

She nodded, though her expression told Mòrag that this wasn't the end of the matter, but it was the best they could do right now. After a moment, Brighid, gently affixed her cap onto Mòrag's head, fussing with it until it met her standards.

Mòrag gestured to the door. "Shall we? It wouldn't be prudent to keep the Senate waiting any longer, would it? I imagine they won't be pleased about the Aegis' escape."

"The Senate is full of people who wouldn't know what happiness is if a gogol charged in and slammed them over the head with it. Personally, I think they could use a little time to squirm."

Mòrag let out a soft laugh, and they walked out the door to their suite together, as it had been for a long time.

Azurda perched on the edge of the chair the staff of the main military base in the capital had given him. He was wary of fully trusting his weight to it, so he leaned forward, elbows perched on his knees, and hands supporting his chin past the stony protuberance Rex had taken to calling his 'beard.'

His eyes fixed on his charge, his Driver. He looked even younger than he was, laid out on the medical bed like that.

It had been a small miracle that his Driver survived facing both of those members of Torna with nothing but bruises and a few broken ribs. The healer Blades had already mended the worst of the injuries over the course of a few treatments over the night. Now he simply needed rest and allow for time to heal the remainder.

Azurda might have dozed once or twice during the night, but he kept his vigil over Rex. It had given him plenty of time to ponder the day's events. And what an eventful day it had been.

Arriving in Alba Cavanich, the salvage bulge, taking on a job - without knowing it - from Torna, the Aegis and her Driver, the fights. He shook his head. Rex never seemed to stop, did he?

But thinking back on the members of Torna brought up a disturbing thought.

When he'd first seen it, he hadn't known what it was when the expression had crossed Mikhail's face But when the same happened with Lora, and then finally the Aegis, Pyra, he understood.

Each of them recognized him.

Or rather, they recognized the Titan from which he came, whose name Azurda shared. Each, like Rex, expecting someone else in his place.

He had insisted to Rex that he was his own person, made sure that he understood that he was not 'Gramps.' But it did make him wonder. What sort of being was the Titan, Azurda? What sort of impact had the Titan had on the members of Torna that they reacted like that?

It wasn't as though he had memories he could go searching through for answers. And he suspected that with how the conflict at the hot springs had gone that he might never get those answers. Not from them at least.

Perhaps he should ask Rex more about him, when he woke.

Azurda's eyes bolted open when the door to the room burst open, and he stood, his hand poised to summon his greatsword and defend his Driver.

But he relaxed when it admitted a small familiar figure, white cap flopping back and forth as she carefully closed the door. It was simply Poppi coming to visit in her usual rambunctious - and at the moment, welcome - manner. At least this time she wasn't slicing through the wall.

A smile graced his face as he greeted his first friend.

She made a slight bow in response. "Good morning." She tilted her head to the side, cap flopping with the motion. "Did Poppi wake Azurda? Azurda look very tired."

He let out a soft chuckle, carefully sitting back down. "I'm afraid I haven't gotten much sleep, watching over this one. But I admit, I'm glad to see you."

She beamed, planting her hands on her hips proudly. "Poppi does what Poppi can to be of service." She then reached behind her red cape, pulling out a small wrapped parcel, and presented it up to him, cradling it in two hands. "This is for Poppi's friend, Azurda!"

He carefully plucked the parcel out of her hands and unwrapped it. Steam wafted out, revealing a handful of buns of some sort.

"Poppi cannot eat, but they smell good to Poppi. Shop owner say they were called 'Sweet Lentil Buns,' and masterpon always say sweets can be good for waking up in morning. Even if scientifically inaccurate, Masterpon is happier after he eats, so Poppi bring them for Azurda and Rex."

For a moment, Azurda was lost for words, unsure of what to say. Even so, warmth spread out from his core. He plucked one of the buns with his fingers and placed it into his mouth.

It…really wasn't that good.

As he had been discovering over his short time being awakened, he wasn't the biggest fan of sweets. But he chewed and swallowed, giving Poppi a big smile in spite of the lackluster taste. "Thank you, my friend."

"Poppi is glad to be of service!"

He carefully rewrapped the parcel, setting it aside on the bedside table. "I would have thought you'd be with Tora. Where is the little rascal anyways?"

She drug another chair from across the room, climbed on top of it and sat proudly on it, legs straight out in front of her, but hands set primly in her lap. "Masterpon will likely not wake for a while. Stay up very late worrying about Rex after hearing he was here. Would not allow to visit during night."

"I see, so you came on your own this morning."

She bobbed her head. "Poppi was worried about Rex, but Poppi also worried about Azurda. Poppi knows how hard it can be to protect masterpon, and since Poppi's activation, Poppi has been consistently saving masterpon from himself. Does Azurda feel the same way?"

Azurda stroked his stony 'beard' in thought. "Although it's not exactly the same way, as you know Rex is quite a handful. Always jumping before he thinks." He sighed, looking over the still unconscious form of his Driver. "It can be admirable, and with what little I've seen of Alrest, I feel like more people could stand to be like him."

"Poppi knows what Azurda means. Rex has biiiig heart." She spread her arms wide to emphasize the point.

"Exactly."

He sighed, eyes drifting back over to Rex. It was that same big heart that he worried would get his Driver killed before his time.

"Initiating hug protocol."

He looked up in time to see Poppi take a small leap from her chair to his, landing on him and wrapping her arms stiffly around his neck. Azurda was shocked for a second, but after a moment, wrapped his arms around her.

The chair creaked and groaned, a dying wail as it was pushed well past its limit. It collapsed, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Poppi quickly got up, checking him over to make sure he was alright, but he simply stayed on the ground, pushing away the wrecked chair and pulling himself up to sit cross legged.

He chuckled. "I guess these weren't really made with us in mind."

"Does Azurda feel better?"

"Hmm?"

"Poppi noticed Azurda looked sad, so Poppi began patented 'hug protocol' to bring smile to Azurda's face. "

She was more observant than she let on.

"I suppose I am."

She stared long and hard at him, squinting, finger stroking her chin, almost like he did. After an awkward silence, she nodded decisively.

"Poppi has made a decision. Since Azurda is Poppi's friend, Poppi will watch over him like she does masterpon." She wagged a finger at him, and he wondered where she picked up the gesture. "After all, Poppi is older than Azurda, so it Poppi's duty to look after Azurda while Azurda look after Rex."

"I suppose I'll never live down those hours apart from our awakening, will I?" He shook his head, but found himself smiling. "I accept, but I'll be sure to look after you as well. It wouldn't do for this to only be one way after all."

Her face lit up with joy, and she stood on her tiptoes, holding out her hand in front of her. It came above Azuda's head. "Does Azurda promise?"

He eyed her hand.

"Is Nopon promise ritual," she explained cheerfully. "Hold hands out and 'boop' together!"

He held up his massive stony hand, which dwarfed her own. After a moment, he slapped it against hers.

"Promise ritual complete! Azurda cannot forget now."

"I surely won't."

Before long, she left, citing she would be back later with Tora. Azurda awkwardly explained the demise of a visitor's chair to the staff, and eventually he settled back into another one with a stern promise not to break it.

In the short weeks he'd been awakened, he'd only observed it, but maybe this was something of how being part of a family felt like. And if this was what it was like having Poppi be part of the 'family,' he'd take it.

He continued his vigil over his Driver, but this time, there was a smile lingering on his face.

# Warning: an attempt from unknown entity to breach data quarantine during manual override was detected. Running diagnostic on data quarantine.

# working…

# Data quarantine of corrupt data is intact. Run diagnostic on 'external memory bank': Y/N?

# Y

# working…

# Caution: several abnormal parameters detected in 'external memory bank.' Storing data for review.

# Alert: Communication file extracted from corrupt data. File patterns closely match the previous communication with unknown entity. Decode file: Y/N?

# Y

# working…

# Decoded. Review: Y/N?

# Y

#5768792069732065766572797468696e6720736fe280a6636f6c643f

# Respond: Y/N?

# Y

# What is your response?

#4920646f6e2774206b6e6f772c206275742049276d20747279696e6720746f206669677572652074686174206f75742e20446f20796f752072656d656d62657220796f7572206e616d653f

# Response sent.

# waiting…

# No further responses detected.

# Recommendation: discontinue data mining of corrupt data and purge data quarantine to preserve integrity of 'external memory bank' and prevent further abnormalities.

# Discontinue data mining and proceed with data purge: Y/N?

# N

# Are you sure you wish to continue data mining process of corrupt data: Y/N?

# Y

# Data mining process of corrupt data at 40% completion.

# working…

A/N: Nothing ominous about that at all. Honest.

If I were to separate this story into parts, this would mark the end of part two. (Part one ended at chapter 8).