Disciple of Zero: Branch E

by SH_the_Writer

Summary:

Times contained, fates seemingly decided... or so he'd at least thought. But now, there's one more chance. A chance to try again, to do so with new power and the memory of what could be... and maybe find a better fate than the one that had awaited the Intoners in their previous lives, even if it means tearing at the weave of fate entirely, throwing themselves headlong into a new, unknown possibility none could expect.

Chapter 1: Verse 0: Remembrance

He felt two things when consciousness phased him back into feeling. The expected grogginess of just waking up, and the feeling of a plush bed beneath him. Aside from those situations, everything in his head was fuzzy. Not a thing to remember at all. All except a name: Nier.

“Where am I anyway?” His eyes cracked open, revealing that above him was a deep red canopy, and glancing around, a red silk screen surrounded the large bed he was outright sinking into. The bed was soft enough it was actually a bit hard to move off of it too. But, kicking off the equally plush bed sheet covering him, he threw the curtain aside to see more.

The room was itself warm, giving off a homely air in the dark, well kept wood of the walls, and his feet brushed down onto soft, white carpet. All around him, right up to the ceiling, the walls were lined with filled to the brim bookshelves, every book on them being all sorts of sizes and colors.

“Weird,” Standing up and stepping over, his hand brushed against a nearby armoire. The mirror quickly caught his reflection, letting him see his appearance in full, at least from the waist up.

His face was thin and somewhat soft in look, skin so pale only the faint flush of blood provided any color to him. His hair was also pure white, falling to his chin at longest and messy in the manner of just having nothing but fingers run through the comb it, while the cloud-colored strands fell around and between eyes a bright, pure colored shade of blue, over his left eye being the pale remains of a scar that left a nick in the eyebrow.

He ran a hand over his chin, feeling not even a hint of stubble, just smooth and clean, quite like the rest of his body actually. Not feeling like standing around naked was too good an idea as well, and with the armoire right there, he chose to investigate.

Weirdly, it was like the clothes were for him anyway. Randomly grabbing some things, he threw them on. A black jacketed with elegant patterns stitched at the cuffs and tails of it in lighter black thread, a simple white shirt, and dark pants. Also in the armoire that he pulled out were fingerless gloves he slid over his hands, and he found a pair of black boots not far off, putting those over his feet as he went to the door.

He did take the time to look over the room more. It was rather large now that he was past the bed, but still clearly just a bedroom. At the other end of the room was a large, comfortable looking couch and a table with even more books stacked in front of it.

“Whatever. But that name… Nier… is it mine? Has to be,” Deciding it was, Nier opened the door, wincing a bit as harsh light met his eyes immediately. When he passed the door, the upward gaze he had showed him a clear glass ceiling above him, showing a bright blue sky with sparse, thick white clouds, yet no sign of the sun despite the fact he could feel it beating down on him. Lowering his eyes, the sudden blinding from the light faded and revealed to him the rest of the location.

The space he’d entered was huge. Counting up, he saw that above him from this foyer were several more floors from the grand staircase that went out before him, numbering six floors in total, while at the end of the first set of stairs was a massive, ornate door covered to the brim in engravings of all sorts of things, a constant motif on it being a peculiar flower that ticked at Nier’s mind.

“Is this… some kind of library?” Nier’s voice echoed a bit in the grand hall as he walked out, his boots moving over soft carpet that was spread over fine wood floors. Each wall was, just like the bedroom he’d left, lined to the brim with filled book cases. “And what the hell is up with the glass ceiling?”

“Ah, so, you’re finally awake,” A girl’s voice made Nier turn to his right. Just across the way, seated at a table and surrounded by stacks upon stacks of books, with a large travel bag near her seat, was a girl in simple white and black clothes with brown hair and green eyes behind rimless glasses. Something was familiar about the girl, who was currently turning the pages of a book merely marked with an “A” engraved into a flower shaped plate on the front. “You at least remember your name, I hope? Getting you here was a rather trying thing to do. I hope it didn’t cause much damage.”

“Nier. That’s what I remember. Nothing else,” he answered, approaching the girl, who sighed in relief. As he approached, Nier raised a brow as he noticed the book she was holding was marked in a script he couldn’t read, yet that was also oddly familiar all the same. “Where is this place… and who the hell are you?”

“Easy answers. My name is Accord. I’m a Recorder, an android who, well… I suppose I watch over time and how it branches,” The girl answered, though that only added on more questions about her. “And as for this place, it’s known as the Foyer. It’s a place… between existence and nonexistence, I suppose.”

“That answers two questions and adds a whole lot more… and what’s with that book?” Nier asked, Accord clapping the book shut.

“That is an excellent question. This book is special, as it is in fact the record of a timeline. A world, in a sense. Its scripting is in the Old Language,” Accord opened the book again, opening to the first page, which bore elaborate ink art of a flower, and the words ‘Verse 0.’ “The book begins here. You said you don’t remember anything right? Well, what if I told you starting to read this book would help you remember more?”

“… huh?”

“Just give it a read and see for yourself.” Accord handed the book to Nier, who turned it around in his hand, giving a cautious look to Accord. With a shrug, Nier turned the page of the book… and that was when it began glowing, the light getting brighter and brighter until it outright enveloped him within it…

---

Long ago, in an age tarnished by endless conflict, five beautiful goddesses descended upon the land. The goddesses sang mystical songs that restored peace and harmony to our broken world. The people began to worship these holy songstresses and came to refer to them as “Intoners”. Thanks to the efforts of these Intoners, the chaos of war became a distant memory. And as a result, mankind enjoyed an age of sweet reverie, basking in the newfound light and beau—

A sword shot through the writer’s chest, interrupting his monologue as his pen clattered to the ground, blood dripping from the old man’s mouth as he stared down at the black blade protruding out of him. As his blood dripped down along the sword’s edge, running over the silvered reliefs of dragons done along its flat, the old man looked back, his gaze falling on the face of a hooded Nier behind him.

“Hey Partition. Been a while,” Nier spoke wryly with sarcastic amusement in his words, the old man coughing as his eyes filled with shock.

“N-Nier!? But you… back then I swear you…” The old man spluttered, Nier shaking his head, lowering his hood so his hair fell loose. Realization crossed the old man’s face as he looked into those pale blue eyes. “Ahhh, I see… no wonder you were around them… it was all-”

With a swipe, Nier ripped his blade free of the body, blood splattering out and across the wall behind him, “Sorry, but rest in peace… though I’m pretty sure hell is waiting for you.”

“Wait, how the heck did you know that guy?” Nier turned as he wiped his blade off on the body, approaching from the other room being a girl who didn’t look any older than Nier, someone who couldn’t be more than seventeen. The girl was equally pale as Nier, her white hair having a vaguely pink tint to it. Her clothes were white in color and rather exposing, not leaving much to imagine about her incredibly slender body’s surprisingly good curves. And over her shoulder was a long, white sword with a black edge, the sword ornately decorated with flower designs.

“Remember when you had me keeping an eye on the Intoners? This guy was a mage serving one of the old lords. Traveled with us for a while,” Nier said, jamming his sword into a sheathe at the back of his waist. “Probably better off dead anyway, take a look, he was chained up to the table.”

Nier’s foot brushed against a nearby chain, the girl just humming and stepping near the window, pulling aside the curtain and looking across the city before them.

“So, Zero, how much of a mess did you make on the way here huh?” Nier asked, Zero closing the curtain and stepping back from the window. “I’ve got a bad feeling… what did you do?”

And before anything else could be said, cannons could be heard firing, and the room was soon blasted away by an explosion, smoke filling what was left. Nier coughed as he waved it aside, though Zero was quick to leap out, and Nier let out a groan.

“Gagh… here we go again,” Nier growled, rubbing his eyes and following Zero out, swinging himself off of a protruding rod from the wall, landing and driving his sword through the chink of one soldier’s armor, and when others tried to strike at him, Nier raised his left arm, flames kicking up from his palm and flying back across his arm. A ball of fire released from his hand and blasted through the oncoming soldiers with ease. With that done, Nier ripped his sword free and flipped to avoid another, descending from the upper pathway and landing next to Zero, who was standing among a slew of bodies and blood.

“Michael,” Zero spoke, and from nowhere, the soldiers above the two were blown away by a gout of crimson fire. Through the smoke and embers, a dragon landed behind the two, fire broiling at his maw as he roared, “It’s time… to put an end to the Intoners.”

“Then let’s get down to business,” Nier spun his sword while fire licked across his free hand, smirking as more soldiers arrived, Michael taking off as the two began fighting again.

“Your graves beckon, apostates!”

“Die you damned traitorous Intoner!”

“I might take you seriously if your voice wasn’t quivering!” Zero scoffed, one slash being all she needed to kill the soldiers, Nier skidding past and cutting down several more, flicking the blood from his sword as Zero dashed through the next set of doors.

“Well, that’s one issue with these guys! They’re a bunch of quivering weaklings!” Nier snapped, blocking two swords and sending the soldiers flying, another ball of fire launching from his left hand and incinerating them in seconds. Zero took the chance as other soldiers screamed in terror at the sight to lunge at them. “And why the hell are there so many here already?!”

“I got impatient!” Zero snapped, looking back at Nier as her sword left another set of soldiers.

“Is that what you were doing after we split up!? Getting every damn soldier in the city to follow you?!” Nier yelled out as he also swung his hand and set the area near them ablaze to drive off the soldiers following them along the path, Zero just rolling her eyes. “I am just all of your impulse control, aren’t I?”

“Michael! Take em’ out!” Zero yelled, swiping her sword down from above.

“As you wish,” Michael rumbled, his voice reverberating as did most dragons, sweeping down and blasting the soldiers that were above the Intoner and her partner into nothing more than ashes.

“That’s one method of mass slaughter,” Nier hummed, kicking a soldier off and leaving a nasty dent in the armor, casually blasting another with a quick flick of his hand.

“Why is an Intoner killing her own?!” One soldier snapped, and Michael hummed.

“Shall we tell them? They seem genuinely curious,” Michael quipped.

“Why bother? They’re about to die anyway!” Zero responded, a spinning slash bisecting more enemies, the walls of the steps she was on splattering with red. Nier then shot past and grabbed another soldier, stabbing him and tossing the body to his comrades.

“The end of the world is nigh…”

“They… they told me Intoners were supposed to be peaceful!”

“What kind of crap are they teaching you people these days?!” Zero growled, cutting down the shrieking soldiers, but this time with a much harder slash as her expression grew angrier.

“Obviously some bullshit that’s no doubt gonna piss you off,” Nier muttered, kicking a cannon to turn it around and then striking its trigger, blowing away a crowd of shield holding soldiers and their allies.

“Get a medic! This crazy Intoner and her servant are gonna kill us all!”

“Sure, why not, I haven’t killed any medics yet,” Zero chuckled, already cutting apart the next group of quarry, while Nier stabbed the soldier who’d spoke out.

“Partner is the term I prefer,” Nier grumbled, kicking the body off his sword.

“You seriously let these guys hit a chord with you?” Zero scoffed, amused.

“Hey, closest thing to servant I’ll tolerate is Disciple… other than that, yes, they did,” Nier responded, turning around and slamming his hand onto a soldier’s helmet, the blast of flame that followed turning the man’s head into nothing but ash before he let go, the two continuing on until running into an even larger group of soldiers, “Do they just breed these guys like rabbits or something?”

“Get out of my way dammit!” Zero growled, sweeping her blade through, blood caking her as she cut down the soldiers in droves, Nier at her heels and picking off stragglers.

“And here she goes again…” Nier sighed, and Michael swooped back over.

“Be calm Zero, anger will only slow your sword,” Michael cautioned, Zero letting out a breath.

“Look, I know that it’s just… Ah, forget it!” Zero snapped, “Where the hell are my sisters?”

“I’d wager and say at the center of the city. At the cathedral,” Nier quipped, swiping his blade past a row of archers.

“Are you certain about this Zero? About slaying all the Intoners?” Michael asked, and Zero nodded as she drew her sword out of the last soldier in the swarm she and Nier had ran into before a large pair of doors.

“Of course. Why else would I be stabbing everyone?” Zero scoffed.

“Because you enjoy killing things,” Nier scoffed.

“Nier, don’t make me stab you as well,” Zero bit, Nier chuckling.

“Couldn’t help it,” Nier responded, Zero sighing.

“Fine… the way they scream is pretty fun, I’ll admit that,” Zero muttered, kicking open the doors, which led to a large courtyard, and standing there, seemingly waiting for the two was a massive, mechanical looking beast wielding a sword just as big as it was. “Oh hell, what’s this thing?”

“I bet money Three made this sucker…” Nier quipped, he and Zero dodging the massive sweep of the thing’s sword.

“It’s no human… and yet, not quite a beast. Likely some sort of automaton devised by the Intoners,” Michael stated, Nier humming as he landed on the sword of their foe, Zero jumping and slashing at its head.

“So, definitely something Three made,” Nier muttered, cutting the joint of the automaton’s arm, landing behind it and stepping back from its stamping legs. “She got way too interested in dolls.”

“Just what the hell happened when you were with them?” Zero asked, Nier sighing as he avoided the automaton’s sword again, Zero slamming the massive weapon aside when it came near her, Nier getting up onto the thing’s head and blasting flames down it’s front. “Crafty little bastards though.”

“Zero, don’t tell me you’re actually impressed by this.” Nier chuckled.

“What? No, of course not. Let’s just kill the thing and be done with it!” Zero snapped, jumping back from the titan, skidding back and barring her sword, Michael landing and blasting a gout of fire at the machine, only for it to lunge down and drive its sword through the dragon’s wing, and Zero went to make a move, but the dragon spoke.

“Zero, go! Defeat your sisters!” Michael demanded.

“No! You don’t have the strength for this!” Zero snapped, and Nier grimaced as two more of the machines appeared.

“Hahaha.” Michael scoffed, “These puppets are no match for a dragon!”

“I trust that, Zero. Come on, we should be close to the center now! We need to go if we’re going to do this!” Nier stated, and Zero sighed, giving a nod.

“Fine. Just don’t die on us,” Zero stated, turning, “Nier, let’s go.”

“Right behind you!” Nier responded, the two running past the dragon, who pounced at the automatons, his jaw snapping at their limbs, the dragon looking back to the two as they ran through the closing doors before them.

“Farewell, fools…” Michael hummed, roaring as he turned back to his foes.

---

“And right up there… I bet your sisters are waiting for us right on top of that hill,” Nier looked over the edge of the walkway and up at the top of the mountain like hill that held the old cathedral this city was named after, and Zero simply growled as she turned to face the soldiers.

“All of you… Women, children, the elderly… It doesn’t matter. If you stand in my way, you’re gonna die,” Zero’s words were cold and harsh as she cut through the soldiers in her way, Nier keeping pace and matching her blows as he faced his own enemies with flames flying over the place from his hand, “If that’s what you want, then get in line!”

“As bloodthirsty as ever,” Nier sighed, the carnage the two brought out keeping up as they rushed along the bridge, bodies being left in their wake, the ground stained crimson by the blood of the soldiers and covered by dark scorches from Nier’s flames.

“Men, take your positions, stand strong!” A soldier shouted… only to get caught in a blast of flames.

“Get. Out of. MY WAY!” Zero shouted, one heavy slash cutting through multiple soldiers.

“You guys have pissed her off now, sorry, but there’s no mercy with this Intoner!” Nier shouted, launching a flying kick at a barricade and sending it careening down on the soldiers behind it, crushing them under its weight, their screams being cut short before their splatter burst from below the barricade, “And you’ll get none from me either.”

The two continued along the bridge, the cowering soldiers screaming in terror, and Zero was getting fed up with it as she cut down more and more.

“Shut up with the bullshit already, would you?!” Zero snapped, blasting through an oncoming group of swordsman, “Move, move, move, MOVE!”

“It’s Zero, Zero the betrayer!” That soldier didn’t last more than a second before getting barreled through by Zero.

“Get the hell out of my way!” Zero roared, and Nier simply followed suit, though he kept a much calmer air around him as Zero cut down the soldiers in a complete rage, and once they reached the gates to the cathedral, Nier put a hand on the seething Zero’s shoulder.

“Zero, come on, calm down, we’re almost there,” Nier murmured, Zero’s breathing soon becoming lighter as she took longer breaths, “You need to stay calm when we fight them, we don’t want to end up failing, not when Michael is waiting for us to end this.”

“I know… sorry… I lost control,” Zero replied, standing straight, Nier taking his hand off her as she looked up towards the central cathedral, “Hold on my beloved sisters. I’m coming to kill you all.”

---

Once the Intoner and her partner had made their way to the top of the hill, the cathedral of the city, they were met by five others as they reached the entrance of the chapel, the five standing atop the entrance and looking down at the two. Zero’s five sisters, the other Intoners who ruled the lands… the five they were here to kill.

“It’s been a long time, Zero.” The Intoner in the center was the first to speak, a small girl in white with short blonde hair, a mark of the Roman numeral for one on her forehead, her red eyes staring down at the two with disdain.

“Has it? I didn’t notice,” Zero scoffed in reply to the Intoner.

“You haven’t changed a bit. You’re still insane,” The Intoner scoffed.

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing me.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“One, don’t even try,” Nier muttered, and One hummed as she saw the young man near Zero, finally drawing her attention to him.

“Nier… so, you’re alive after all. And with the traitor… why am I not surprised about that?” One hummed.

“Heh, that was then, and this is now,” Nier sniped, flames coursing from his left hand as he flexed his fingers, and next to speak of the Intoners was the one with blue hair and eyes, a mark for two on her forehead.

“Hey, it’s Zero! Hey, Zeroooo! And Nier’s with her too! Cool, good to see you again!” Two called out, and the purple haired girl to Two’s right, who bore a mark for three, simply laughed in a mildly disturbing manner.

“Three’s just gotten disturbing I see,” Nier grumbled, and he let out a sigh when the Intoner marked four spoke up, “And que Four…”

“Zero, this fighting is pointless! We have to stop, we’re sisters!” Three shouted, Zero just rolling her eyes.

“Oh don’t be such a prude Four.” The blonde one marked five chirped, “A good catfight really gets my juices flowing… and such a fine specimen of a man she has with her… hello again Nier! It’s been so long since we last saw each other!”

“Not mutual,” Nier growled, and Zero simply chuckled in sick amusement.

“Wow, I sure am popular around here,” Zero scoffed.

“Enough talk Zero, this is the end,” One scoffed in return… and then a fireball slammed into where the Intoners were, Zero snapping to look at Nier as he lowered his left arm as the flames around it died down.

“It was taking too long,” Nier muttered, though the smoke was swiped aside by One, and the other Intoners dropped down in front of Nier and Zero. “Of course, that didn’t work.”

The four Intoners shot after them, Nier blocking Five’s spear while Zero swatted Two’s blade to the side, Four throwing a punch that Nier dodged past after pushing Five back, Three lunging at Zero only to get kicked aside.

“Hey, Zero, guess what? Next month, I’m goin’ on a trip!” Two cheerily stated, “So, actually, I really don’t have time for this right now!”

“I wouldn’t bother packing up for you trip Two,” Zero scoffed, backing away and ending up back to back with Nier as he was shoved back by a kick from Four, though both shot back into the clashing of weapons just as fast.

“Huh? Why not? Are you gonna pack for me?” Two asked, even as she was being slashed at by Nier while he also blasted at them all with fireballs.

“No, I’m gonna kill you!” Zero snapped, shoving Three away and lunging at Two, who dodged the slash.

“Cheery as ever I see!” Nier growled, skidding back as he stopped Five’s spear again.

“A caged bird cannot be free, even if it flees the cage,” Three murmured, her scissors stuck on Nier’s blade, and the young man growled as she had an all too eerie grin on, even when Zero landed a solid kick to the head on her. “A bird without freedom doesn’t have any place in the skies.”

“Tch, you never did make any damn sense, Three,” scoffed Zero, stopping Four’s gauntlet with the guard of her sword.

“She’s a creepazoid, what do you expect?!” Nier snapped, ducking Two’s sword and kicking up to knock her back.

“Perhaps restraint is a source of happiness itself,” Three hummed.

“Would you just shut up and die already?!” Zero snapped, landing a blow to Three, who chuckled as she skidded back. Four shot in next, Nier attacking as she threw a flurry of punches, though Four knocked him aside without so much as a care.

“Please, Sister! Reconsider your actions!” Four shouted, “The real Zero would never do anything like this! We’re a family! Whatever’s troubling you, I’ll help however I can!”

“You say as you try to kick our faces in!” Nier snapped.

“And Nier, what happened to you?! You were so kind when you helped us defeat the Lords, what happened to you and Zero?” Four was sent flying back as Nier blasted her, lowering his left hand as he gave a scoff.

“As I said, that was then, and this is now… and just what the heck has the Flower been filling your head with huh?” Nier said, stopping a punch from Four, grabbing her arm and wheeling around to kick her to the side.

“You’ll help huh?” Zero hummed, dodging stabs from Five, “Well, I suppose there is one thing you can do for me… You can curl up and die!”

Four was knocked aside next, Nier skidding back as she got one last kick in on him, and Five chuckled as she attacked him again, Nier dodging the spear, parrying and growling as sparks flew off his blades when he caught it, the blonde than turning to Zero.

“Are you really about to get ravaged by your own sisters Zero?” Five mused, shooting away from Nier’s sword as he attacked her again.

“Whatever. Stop leering at me,” Zero scoffed, Five licking her lips.

“I just love a sore loser… and I am quite surprised to see Nier with you, dear sister… quite the shocking development, we thought he’d died! Oh I bet you have such amazing times in the bedroom, don’t you? It just makes me all the more curious to what you’re really like,” Five hummed in a manner that seemed aroused, and Nier shuddered, a disgusted growl coming from him.

“Again, fuck off.” Nier snapped, ducking attacks from the other three Intoners, “Lay off me will ya?!”

“Ugh, I get the worst headaches from listening to you. And he’s useful in a fight, that’s why he’s here.” Zero responded, Five chuckling while Nier rolled his eyes.

“I understand that, but honestly, there’s surely another reason. You are an Intoner after all. If he can manage you, I can only wonder what he’s like… makes me want some myself,” Five mused.

“FUCK OFF!!!” Nier shouted, still stuck fighting Two, Three, and Four, forcing them back by sweeping flames between himself and the group.

“And so what if we do? None of your business to know what I do with Nier, so shove off and die already!” Zero snapped, and Five chuckled again.

“Oh my… did I just hear a hint of possessiveness in your voice right then?” Five chuckled, “Ah, such an amusing sight…”

“Just shut up already!” Nier shouted, breaking free of his engagement and lunging with his sword trailing flames, Five dodging and sweeping her blade up, knocking Nier back and to Zero’s side again.

“What do want from us, Zero?” One demanded, still above the fight down below.

“What do you think?” Zero replied, “There’s only enough room in this world for one Intoner.”

“And you’d kill your own sisters for that right?” One demanded, Zero simply scoffing in reply.

“That’s kind of what I’m doing, yeah.”

“…Traitor,” One growled.

“Can’t really betray someone you were never on the same side as,” Nier said in addition, and One scoffed at the Disciple, snapping her fingers, her sisters pulling back and returning to her side. One then stepped forward, raising a hand up.

“Gabriel!” One commanded, a magic circle forming above her, and dropping from it came a large beast of a dragon with armor over its face and ominous purple scales, it’s jaws slowly opening as it growled, then letting out a roar at Zero and Nier as they readied their weapons again.

“Hey Gabriella… been a while,” Nier murmured, a grimace coming to his face. “The hell did you do to her One?! Transforming a dragon into a daemon… are you trying to stain Gabriella’s pride?! After everything else she did?!”

“Hah, rare to see you being mad about something!” Zero said, dodging the stamps of Gabriel as the dragon lumbered about, Nier jumping onto the beasts back and driving his blade in, keeping a hold as Gabriel tried to shake him off. “That’s no longer a dragon you’ve got there One. It’s just a monster!”

“A shame, I actually liked Gabriella too! But now we’re here!” Nier snapped, rolling in the air as he was thrown off, using his sword as a brake as he landed. “It’s a dying goddamn shame.”

“Shut up!” One snapped, genuinely angry, “I’m not subject your judgement, Sister! And you Nier… a traitor like you has no right to pass judgement on our actions! We Intoners swore to keep the world in balance! And now you seek all our power for yourself? It’s shameful!”

“What’s shameful is what you’ve done to your supposed ‘friend’!” Nier snapped, dodging the beast’s maw.

“SHUT UP!” One roared, and Zero shook her head.

“Yak yak yak yak. Shut up and DIE ALREADY!” Zero roared, Gabriel then swiping his tail, sending both fighting him flying to the edge of the cliff. Nier and Zero shot back in as Gabriel tried to spear them by launching glowing, sword like projectiles at them with swipes of his tail, though Nier and Zero closed the distance again, but, their attacks didn’t seem to have any effect on the daemon dragon.

Eventually, Gabriel growled, sweeping Zero and Nier back again, Nier landing further back than Zero, and Gabriel then fired a blast from his maw, Zero caught in it, her effort to dodge falling short, and the blast took her left arm, and Zero struggled as she couldn’t stay up, blood spurting from her wound, and Nier’s eye widened.

“Zero!” Nier yelped, running back to Zero’s side, snarling as he turned to face One, who was now in front of her daemon, a stoic expression on her face.

“Finish them,” One ordered, Gabriel charging another blast, Zero struggling up.

“You…” Zero growled, “Will DIE!”

As Zero shouted, Michael shot up from below, his wings flaring out as he rose up despite the wounds on him.

“Zero, Nier!” Michael shouted.

“Fire!” Zero and Nier shouted, Michael firing his own blast at one, and the other four sisters rushed down near one, combining their Songs to form a barrier to stop the blast, though Michael maintained it even amid the barrier holding it back.

“How can he still have so much strength…” One murmured, looking to Nier and Zero, the Disciple now helping his Intoner to her feet. And Gabriel then released his own blast, Michael shooting down and shielding Zero and Nier with a wing, but the blast sent him flying and tumbling down the side of the cliff, and with him, the Intoner and Disciple were gone, but certainly not dead, leaving the other five Intoners to overlook where they had fallen.

“They fled.” One scoffed, though her sisters visibly exhausted, “You truly thought to kill the Intoners? Silly girl.”

---

And just outside the city, the wounded Michael collapsed on the plains, falling from his grasp being the now unconscious Zero and Nier, who was breathing heavily as he got up.

“Michael?!” Nier went to the dragon’s side, immediately getting blood on his hands when he touched the white beast, Michael’s breathing shallow, “Hey, come on! You can’t die dammit! Zero told you not to die on us!”

“Hehehe… Sorry… but… I don’t think I can… keep to that,” Michael weakly replied, “At the very least… I’ll reincarnate. The new dragon… will be in your care, Nier. So long as a dragon is with you two, you… can fulfill Zero’s mission.”

“I’m not going to need to because you’re not dying on me! We’ll make a Pact; I’ll give up something of mine to keep you alive! Zero needs you around!” Nier shouted, Michael shaking his head.

“You… cannot… Zero… would never forgive you… if you did…” Michael stated, Nier growling as he slammed a fist on the ground, “Once I pass… you need to hide Zero… somewhere safe. Take my reincarnation… and raise him… to be strong.”

“Dammit Michael… don’t ask me to do that. I don’t care what I have to give up, I’m not letting you die! Zero would never be able to let it go if you die!” Nier snapped, tears falling from his eyes.

“Do not… cry for me Nier… we only knew each other… for a short while, but… I am glad I got to call you and Zero friends… she’s going to need you just as much, if not more, than ever… watch after her… and my reincarnation… please, promise me that.” Michael asked, Nier nodding, wiping his eyes off.

“I will… I swear… and this time, when I meet your reincarnation, I’ll make sure he sees things through! Once this all ends, he’ll still be there, I promise you that. I’ll take care of Zero to. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she sees her goals to the end… I’m her Disciple… it’s my job to do that anyway,” Nier declared, Michael nodding.

“Good… then… I will see you… in my next life. Farewell… for now… my friend,” Michael let out one final breath with those words, his head sagging down as the breath left his body, and Nier clenched his teeth as his fingers dug into the ground.

“Goodbye, Michael,” Nier said, the dragon’s body beginning to glow and bits of light fading off, until all that was left was a much smaller, barely cat sized dragon with scales a very dull grey, and with barely a nub of a tail and horns. Zero took off his jacket and wrapped the small dragon in it, hefting it up in his arms, a small quail coming from it. “Mikhail… that’s your name?”

It was an immediate sense. Like the moment the dragon moved with any life, he just knew what to call it. The tiny dragon quailed again, Nier smiling as he pulled the coat tighter to cover it up more, and with another move, lifting the out cold Zero up and onto his back.

“Ngh… good thing you’re light as hell Zero, else this’d be annoying. Though the missing arm probably helps…”

---

It suddenly felt like he’d been released from something as his vision faded back to looking at the book. Nier immediately stumbled back as if he’d been released from a hold of some kind, falling to his rear as the book fell, the pages whirling and then the book slammed shut.

“What… what the hell happened?!” Nier shook his head as he felt it throb, Accord picking the book up and dusting it off, opening it and humming as it fell to a particular page.

“You just relived the events recorded in that Verse,” Accord stated, Nier looking confused as he stood up. “These books are special. Reading them lets you relive the events contained within as if they were happening all over again… but I feel you’ve already remembered more than just that.”

“Yeah… a lot more…” Nier put a hand to his head, that throbbing downright unbearable as it felt like a floodgate had opened. Memories were simply pouring back in, almost overtaking his mind as it attempted to process all of it. “Accord… what the hell is going on? What are you planning?”

“You want the long version, or the short one?”

“Short… my head’s a mess right now.”

“I want to make a new ‘ending’,” said the girl, Nier raising a brow. She then held up the book that lacked a marking on its own flower plate. “This book is blank. But… if you wish it, you could fill it with the passage of a new story. One that could be different than the one I pulled you from.”

“Hah, and how?” Nier scoffed, a bitter tone to his words, “You know damn well what happened last… in the end all Mikhail and I could do was seal them away. That was the extent of what we could do. So, what else is there?”

“What if I told you there’s a power inside of you that the end of the final Branch finally undid the lock on?” Accord’s statement didn’t help Nier feel any less confused. Giving a sigh, the girl stood and strolled over to Nier, placing a finger on his chest. “Dwell on it for a moment. The feeling should be there. Something… like a flame. Ah… right, I think he said the incantation was this: Blood is sound. Sound is words. Words are power.”

“Huh?”

“Just say it.”

“Fine,” Nier shut his eyes as Accord backed up. He then began to think inward, plumbing his mind for that sensation in his body. He was used to the sensation of magic, how to use it, how it felt. So, finding that sensation wasn’t hard. But this was different. It was faint at first, but then… something began to rise. A heat from deep within, ebbing and pulsing like it was ready to burst. “Blood is sound…” that heat then became more intense, something within feeling like it came undone, “Sound is words…” he could feel the blood in his veins quickening as his heartbeat pounded in his ears, “Words are power!”

The dam burst apart.

Nier felt a rush of heat from within, rising through his entire body in an instant. He was used to feelings like it, as versed in magic as he was. But this was different than that. The heat was more intense, as if his very blood was being lit aflame. And all around him, swirls of white and black rose upwards in a torrent, the swirls marked in the same lettering that had been within the book. Accord had an arm lifted as the air buffeted about, the sudden storm of power dying down as quickly as it had burst into being.

“… the hell?” Nier could only stare at his hands, a quick flex of his hands causing that same energy to briefly spark across his fingers. “What just happened?”

“In another world, what you just unleashed is referred to as Maso. Or Demonic Element, if you want other terms,” said Accord, sitting back at her desk. “And the type you just called on was spawned from the power of a dragon.”

“What?! That’s… the only way I could use draconic magic would be if I’d formed a Pact with one! And I very obviously never did that.”

“You didn’t… but there was an ember of one’s power left resting deep within you,” Accord mused, “Considering things, of course you never would have noticed it. It was small, barely noticeable, but a fragment of Michael’s former power did come to rest within you, unwittingly so. How else could you have explained your unique bond with Mikhail?”

“That was…” Nier stopped himself. With the evidence right in front of him, there was no use trying to argue or deny what Accord was saying. “Alright, fine. I’ll accept that this is a thing. But so what? Zero and the other Intoners are already sealed, and as far as I know I’m dead. So what use is there in awakening this power if I can’t even use it?”

“The reason I had you awaken it is exactly what you can do,” Accord chuckled as Nier only looked confused. Again. “For now, rest a bit. I’ll explain the rest once you’ve had the time to collect your thoughts and allow your body to adjust to its new power.”

“Tch, fine… is there food in this damn place? I’m fucking starving…”

“Cafeteria is past the door over to my right.”

“Good…” As Nier stepped off, he couldn’t help but stop to turn to that door at the top of the staircase. He felt as if something was dwelling beyond it, and he could swear he heard the faint echoing of a song from within. But only briefly, that feeling then leaving his mind as he turned away from it.

Whatever it was, he could dwell on it later. He had other things to be concerned about.

Chapter 2: Verse 1: The Voice and Dragon's Might

After getting a surprisingly decent meal and some rest in, Nier made his return to the room Accord was still waiting in. The brunette was absentmindedly flipping through the book marked with a B, a somewhat sour expression on her face as she browsed its contents. Noticing Nier approaching, she looked up from her reading for a moment to acknowledge his presence, then back to the book.

“Let me ask, do you by any chance somehow remember the events of this Branch?” asked the Recorder, Nier raising a brow. He took a moment to ponder it, his pale brow knitting as he dug through his own memory. For as much of it had regained clarity after reliving the events that ultimately led to things as he recalled, there were also parts that were blurry, hard to parse and recall in truth. But amid the slur there were also things that were much clearer.

And those things, as he was finding, all brought an unpleasant sickness to his stomach.

“Remind me. Need to parse some of this crap I’m remembering.”

“This was a Branch where I directly interfered,” Accord stated, “The deviation was a short time after your group had dealt with Four and were after Three in the Land of Forests. To see the results, I had planted Cent with your and Zero’s party, also erasing his memories of Two.”

“Right…” Nier shut an eye as he dragged through his mind for that, “That was… that was the one where the Flower took over Two. And at the end… only me, Zero, and Mikhail were left… and Zero made a Pact with Mikhail to save him. After that… it’s just a blur.”

“That Branch was sealed off for containment,” Accord said, “The end result was… acceptable, but not quite what we were aiming for. So, I looked at another deviation,” she held up the book marked with the C. “Care to recall this one?”

For a moment, an image flashed through Nier’s mind. One that ended in the sharp pain of a sword through his gut, and the final image of Zero in his gaze, a faint smile on her face as she leaned into what he had done to them both.

“… I’d rather not,” shaking his head, he couldn’t remove the feeling of disgust in himself from that memory. “So… what’s the long version of this plan you have in mind? It can’t be just throwing the me of right now into some other deviation you found and hoping it works out better than the last one.”

Now moving onto the D book, Accord hummed, “True. The end result of this Branch was perhaps the most satisfactory conclusion that we were able to find. But admittedly, it only came about because of the wild deviations that did occur that caused the Branch to become unstable.”

“… so what’s your new idea this time?”

“Once you’ve grasped the basics of your new abilities, my aim is to send you further back,” Accord set the book down, pulling up the one Nier knew to be blank. “Since you wanted the long version, I will give you the long version. I suggest you take a seat; this will take some time.”

“Alright,” Nier sat in one of the plush lounge chairs before the desk, deciding to turn about so that he would be laying across its arms. “Let’s start with this idea of sending me further back.”

“The plan is to send you back to the furthest point of the timeline we are able. In doing so, overwriting the abilities and memories of the you of then with the you of now,” began the Recorder. “To before the battle at the Cathedral City with you, Zero, and Michael.”

“Before that?” Nier blinked a few times, “I thought that was the inciting incident of this whole thing? I mean, yeah obviously a lot happened before then, but… ah, whatever. How far back are we talking?”

“I would say… a short while before you began keeping an eye on the Intoners while Zero located Michael,” hearing that made Nier sit up, his eyes wide in a tense fashion as Accord tapped a finger on her blank book. “The idea is for you to see what can be changed from that early on. The foundations for what set events in motion began a lot sooner than that battle, and you know it. What made the Intoners who they were before then…”

“You’re talking about the Mercurius Gate,” Nier interrupted, getting a nod from Accord. “The Gate, that Balthas guy… the Black Flower! Are you saying that had something to do with all of this too? Michael blasted that thing to hell!”

“But only after…”

“… only after it had used the power of the Intoners for itself,” Nier let out a curse as he finished the thought. Suddenly Accord’s idea was making a lot more sense with that in mind. “And it only did that because the Lords killed four of them.”

“You seem to be getting it.”

“Then let me guess: The plan is that, while I’m traveling with the Intoners… to stop them from ending up in the situation that causes the Black Flower to be let loose?” Nier guffawed when Accord nodded. “You’ve got to be kidding! What good would that do? It’d make the job me and Zero would have to do later harder, I fucking bet! One was on par with Zero until she nicked her power in half by making a Pact with Gabriella. And that barely changed anything in the end! You’re saying she should stay there? What about the deal of actually being able to stop the Flower?”

“One was always an abnormality,” Accord admitting, “You yourself saw how one of my others chose to directly intervene to ensure Zero could finish her in the final Branch. However, I suppose we could say the thought process is as follows: If the Intoners could be given even just slightly different mindsets, shifted to be ever so slightly more aware before they were truly lost to the Flower… what could it change?”

“So, you’re telling me to pull at every thread and hope to the gods it doesn’t backfire?” Nier pulled a hand down his face when Accord’s silence became all the confirmation he needed. “I seriously wish you were fucking with me…”

“I’m not Zero.”

“You know damn well how I meant that,” Nier raised his middle finger as Accord gave him a wry snigger. Giving a dry sigh, Nier folded his arms. “I mean… it’s not like I hated them for real. Sort of… Just… it’s hard to let yourself by super sympathetic for a bunch of girls you knew damn well were gonna be dead at your feet within the next year or so, depending. And harder still to think that way when I now have four examples of how horribly it can go.”

“Now why do you think I had you awaken the ability to control maso?”

“To kill them faster?” Nier snarked. For that, Accord tossed an entirely different brook at his head, which he avoided with a slight shift. “Okay, fine, educate me. Why, o’ great and powerful Accord, is me being able to use a dragon’s magic so important to this plan?”

“Can you ever not speak in anything but sarcasm?”

“You try living with Zero for two years and not learn how to verbally spar with anything and everyone.”

“Fair enough,” Accord tapped a new book against the table as she gave a hum. Nier was wondering where she was pulling the things out from, since it clearly hadn’t come from the stacks near Accord. “As you know well enough, the power of a Dragon is anathema to the Watchers. Anything even originating from a Dragon in some form stands in direct counter to it.”

“Of course. Zero and I used swords made from dragon claws for a reason. But what does the magic have to do with this?”

“As you are also familiar with, every Intoner bears within her a copy of the Flower, its power split between the six of them. Zero’s attempt at removing hers is what created the other five Intoners to begin with… yet as I believe it could be, the Intoners do not necessarily need those copies to exist, no? Zero never relied on its power if she could avoid it after all.”

“You want me to pull out each of their Flowers…” Nier felt his thoughts trail off as he realized Accord’s intent. Suddenly the reason he would need a Dragon’s power clicked into place. Wielding a weapon made of dragon bone or claw was enough for merely killing an Intoner.

But to somehow claim, or even rip out, the copy of the Flower within each of them?

That would require something else.

“I do seem to recall you stating you at times felt an urge to rip the very flower blooming from Zero’s eye right out, did you not?”

“I was…” Nier looked to the side. He wanted to say part of him had been joking each time he said it. But if he were to be honest, every time he had thought it, he very much wanted to do so. He only didn’t because he knew he and Zero might have needed its powers at some point. “Do you even have any clue what the results of that would be?”

“Off of intuition alone, I could surmise it would sever the Intoner’s connection with the Flower.”

“And their powers?”

“I cannot say. Whether they would retain them or lose them is one of those things that can’t be surmised until the result has been achieved.”

“Okay so… we’re just taking a giant shot in the dark!” Nier straightened out, throwing his arms up as exasperation took a hold of him. “Pulling threads out of a tapestry and praying the consequences work out in our favor instead of accidentally screw us over entirely. It’s one thing to somehow convince the Intoners to give up the Flowers… the other question is what the consequences of doing so would even be. For all we know, stopping the Flower would just bring something worse down on the world, hellbent on taking its place!”

“That isn’t quite what happened in the last Branch, was it not?”

“That entailed letting the thing manifest completely so Mikhail could finish it off!” Nier countered, “We’re talking about foiling the plans of who knows what, coming from who knows where! We don’t know what that path of dealing with the Flower would even do!”

“Which is why all we can do is see what happens,” Accord said. Nier opened his mouth and closed it several times, the words he wanted to counter the Recorder with failing to leave his throat. “Allow me to effectively detail what the plan is: Starting from the period of just before your travels with the Intoners, the first things to accomplish should be instilling new ideas into the minds of the Intoners, of seeing, with their earlier stage of growth, if you cannot alter their mindsets just enough to change what kind of rulers they become.”

“And then what about the Mercurius Gate? Leaving that thing shut would just leave the Black Flower sitting there to potentially be busted out if the Song ever goes out of control. Not to mention that Balthas guy. I’m sure you’re aware of how stupid strong he was.”

“There are some things that will need to be dealt with as you go,” Accord said, “One thing at a time as it is. Begin with the Intoners and the Lords of the Land. Balthas and the Mercurius Gate can be dealt with when needed.”

“This is going to be one of those things that has to be done over a long time, doesn’t it?” The nod he got from Accord brought a sigh out of Nier. “Alright. Considering it isn’t like I have much of a choice of what to do anyway. But is tossing me back to that point with new powers I barely know how to use much of a good idea? And what is it gonna mean for my state then? Whatever I was, wouldn’t it change?”

“Effectively, yes,” Accord confirmation was more of a confusing point than anything. “In short, what will happen is an overlay. The current you, with all your memories and new power, will be placed into and combined with the you of that ‘past.’ Considering you lack a body outside of this space, it’ll be quite easy to manage.”

“Oh, so I am dead,” Nier’s dry words brought a chuckle from Accord. “Is there at least a place I can adjust to this new magic a bit? Going into this blind about how to use it until I get into a scrap doesn’t sound fun.”

“I wasn’t about to do something that silly,” Accord hummed, standing from her desk. Stepping beyond it, she strode past Nier and to a wide set of double doors at the opposing wall from her desk. “Through here, if you would.”

Nier stood and followed Accord through the doors, finding himself being guided into a large, pure what chamber. The sheer contrast of it to the rather homely, library like room just beyond was starting to say the least. The room would have perhaps felt like it went on forever were it not for the shadows being cast on the walls from the similar glass ceiling above him. Once more, Nier observed how despite the passing clouds and the cast shadows, there was no sign of the sun to be found in that sky. It gave him the impression that whatever this place was, it clearly wasn’t anything he would call normal.

“Hello?” Accord called out, Nier glancing at her. “You wouldn’t happen to be around, would you? He’s finally ready!”

“Is he now?” Nier looked around when he heard a voice seemingly from right beside him. What he heard was the voice of a stuffy, uptight sort of man. Yet only him and Accord were in the room, but somehow he could now feel there was indeed a third presence with them. “Looking around like some shocked deer won’t do you any good, boy. Fortunately, or not, I’m quite lacking in what one would call a corporeal form. But I am certainly around, you can be assured of that.”

“Great… so first turns out I can draw on a dragon’s power, and now a disembodied voice,” Nier shook his head and sighed. “I’m way too used to things being weird as hell to even be that surprised.”

“I’d like if you showed some more respect to your elders,” The voice bit. “When it comes to magic, I can assure you I am far more experienced than you could ever wish to be. Were it not for me you wouldn’t have even tapped into the power to wield Maso at all, so be a bit grateful if you could.”

“I don’t like him,” Nier turned to Accord with his eyes lidded, the Recorder chuckling.

“Like me or not,” and now Nier could swear he felt something get closer to him. And now, he could actually see there was something before him. It was faint, but a small, pure white orb of light was there before his face. It had all but blended into the space around him until it got closer. “If you wish to learn how to properly wield these new powers and actually succeed at this hackneyed plan, you will require my guidance. So, I do hope you can learn to be more cooperative.”

“Well hopefully you won’t be an ass the whole time,” Nier countered with a dry response and smirk, and the light gave a huff.

“Perhaps we will get along better than either of us think. Alright then. Accord, if you would? Might as well get this lesson underway… hardly thought I’d ever be a teacher of all things.”

“Of course. Begin testing setup,” With a clap of her hands, Nier saw the air of the room flicker.

The pure white space then changed, turning into the marbled halls of and richly decorated walls of some grand royal chamber. Weapons lined the walls to his left and right sides, while a division of the floor formed a clear zone of ornate stonework and soft carpeting. If there was one thing Nier could recognize, it was a room meant for sparring. And with a couple more flickers, the all too familiar forms of the armored soldiers of the Cathedral City appeared. Yet they were also completely different. Their bodies were more like shadows, flickering in form with bright red orbs for eyes and portions of their bodies lacking proper shape, broken or filled in with flecks of gold that faded into that all too familiar lettering.

“And things continue to get weirder,” Nier hummed, his eyes turning to the ball of light. “You…”

“Not you. If you must call me something… hmph. You may call me… no, perhaps not that name. For now, you may refer to me as Vox. And I suppose calling you ‘Boy’ will not be fitting either.”

“Nier. My name’s Nier.”

If it was possible for a ball of light to look surprised, then Vox certainly did. “My my… what a coincidence. Not the first time I’ve known someone with that name. At least… some version of me did. Alright then, on with the lesson. Now that you can channel Maso, summoning it should be as simple as the thought. See if you can’t just… fire some of it off at these convenient targets.”

“So, a bolt spell? Easy enough.”

Nier lifted his left hand, drawing on the memories of using magic he already had in mind. Welling up from him was that familiar heat that soon pooled into his hand and out through his fingers. White and black then flowed around his arm, and with a quick flex of his fingers, a burst of that energy flew from his palm, rushing through the air and slamming into one of the specters, tearing a rather sizable chunk from its shoulder.

“Perfect,” Vox said, sounding almost impressed Nier had done it his first try. “I can see that Accord’s statement of your knowledge of handling magic wasn’t for nothing. At least I don’t need to teach you the very basics. That would just be a trifle. Alright then… something a tad more complex. Here, I’ll share the knowledge with you.”

Nier saw flickers of that ancient lettering fly from the light and enter him. And the moment they vanished, he felt a sudden sense of understanding hit him. It was simple, merely a moment of it. But it was an understanding, nonetheless. Setting his eyes onto the already damaged specter, Nier raised his arm again.

This time, as that power gathered around his arm, he began to pull it back as if he were drawing on a bowstring. And as he did, that power swirled out and gathered near his arm, forming into a spear-like structure that began to spin as he held the stance. And with a rapid thrust of his arm, that spear of power flew forth, ramming into the shade and slamming it into the opposite wall. The dark spear faded, and the flickering shade vanished into sparks of darkness as it fell from the wall.

“Huh, I shared little more than the idea of the spell with you, and you produced a nigh flawless execution. Still, it’s only the basic version of the spell. But you’ll have time to learn more and adjust as we go along,” Vox’s statement brought a smug grin from Nier, “Oh stop it with the mugging. You’re only just grasping the basics of how to use this magic. And you will need to learn far more than just this if you desire to combat that blasted Flower.”

“Perhaps we should do something a bit more… difficult?” Accord snapped her fingers, and four more specters appeared alongside the remaining one. And with a second snap, the static figures suddenly took life, shuddering about for a moment before they all drew the shadowy swords at their hips. “Don’t worry too much about being harmed. So long as you’re in this space death isn’t a problem.”

“Well, always did learn best when in the heat of things,” As Nier rolled an arm while striding to the center of the room, the shades circling around him as he took his place. He then took note of his lack of a weapon. “So uhm… a sword would be nice!”

“Just image it,” Accord stated.

Sighing once more, Nier shut his eyes. He drew on the image of the sword he was so familiar with from life. The weight of the blade in his hands, the feeling of its worn wrappings beneath his fingers. The imagery of the reliefs done into the blade. When he opened his eyes, an amused grin spread on his face as he saw that weight simply hadn’t been imagined.

The very blade had come to form in his right hand, his fingers resting in those familiar, worn in grooves such long times of usage had created in the hilt.

No sooner was he armed than the first of the specters struck for him. Stepping to the side, Nier deflected the shadowy blade, quickly bringing his blade back and cleaving through the shade’s torso. He was almost surprised how the strike felt exactly the same as doing the same to the soldiers he’s grown so used to cutting down alongside Zero.

But perhaps what did surprise him was how the torrents of blood that spewed from the shade didn’t merely splash across the ground. Instead, the streams flowed to his body and were absorbed into it just as quickly.

The next shade struck when Nier was processing the sensation. Instinct made his left arm lash out and slam into the helmet of the shade, while in the same instant his arm was coated with dark power, forming claws along his fingers as he slammed the shade into the floor, the helmet screaming under his fingers as he crushed it in short order. And once more, the blood that flowed from the injury was absorbed into Nier as he pulled his hand away, sinking through his skin and leaving not a trace of its presence.

“Just like them…”

Remembering he still had three more enemies to deal with, Nier stepped back as two shadowy blades tried to come down on top of him. Swinging his sword upwards, he brought it over his back as the third shade tried to strike him, the slam of metal hitting metal ringing in the air. As the shade pulled away, Nier whirled around, his sword cleaving downwards through the shade’s shoulder, his left hand shooting up and blasting it away with a dark burst to the chest.

When the remaining two charged him, Nier drew his arm back and formed a new dark spear in the air. But this time he held it for a moment longer, a second forming next to the first. And when he let them loose, both spears flew for individual targets, ramming through the final two shades and sending them careening out of the sparring area.

“So, how did it feel? To wield these dark magics in actual combat?” Vox floated over as Nier flexed his left hand. “I’m sure you may be curious as to why you absorbed their blood, no? You do remember the incantation, I am sure…”

“Blood is sound, sound is words, words are power,” Nier repeated the phrase as he turned to Vox, the orb chuckling. “Almost weird magic made from a dragon’s power would take a form like this. But maybe it’s fitting… Intoners weren’t the only ones who relied on blood to power themselves.”

“I’m surprised you improvised that claw in the heat of the moment,” Vox hummed. “That may come in handy for later, when it comes time to rip the seeds of the Flower from the Intoners… who I still know little about, to be honest.”

“Heh, and here I thought you were some all-knowing voice going by your grand way of speaking,” Nier scoffed, getting a huff from Vox.

“I will have you know that much like yourself I was pulled to this location by the Recorder. She filled me in on the basics I would need to know about you and those Intoners while we waited for you to awaken. Frankly I find the notion of them absurd, but considering what I have faced before, absurd is something I am quite used to.”

“Well then, if both of you are satisfied, let’s convene back in the main room, yes?” Accord tilted her head to both, Nier nodding to her as the room then shifted back to its former, pure white blankness. When they entered back into the main library, once more Nier cast his eyes to the flower marked door atop the stairs, still wondering just what was beyond it as Accord took her seat once more.

“Alright I’m just gonna ask, what’s with that door?” Nier pointed his thumb off to the object, Accord casting her gaze towards it.

“That would be your entrance to the new Branch I hope to make,” Accord state, Nier raising a brow. “Were you assuming that, perhaps, it was sealing the Intoners as you remember them being left off?”

“I’d be lying if a part of me didn’t think so,” Nier admitted. His eyes snapped to Vox when the orb chuckled.

“For all your intuition in battle, it seems in other ways you’re a fool,” Vox snarked, Nier rolling his eyes. “But I suppose a bit of sentimentality for one’s beloved is not ill placed. Though considering what I heard I feel the need to question it… truly an odd relationship, between you and that woman.”

“Things with the Intoners are odd in general,” Nier countered. “Alright, if that door is the way through, then what else do I need to know before we just toss me back to start ripping at fate itself?”

“Hmmm… I would suggest you capitalize on the Intoners’ memories,” Accord got a raised brow. “You know, their fake memories of a life? Having been spawned from Zero, their minds were given fabrications of…”

“I know that!” Nier bit. “Just tell me what you meant!”

“Lean into the fact they clearly have some attachment to you,” the clarification about made Nier flinch. “If you wish to change the fates of all of them, the best to do would be to change how you treated them during your travels with them. As you yourself said, knowing they would be dead at your feet in a brief time meant you treated them almost indifferently. So, this time… why not be the friend they believed you to be, if not more?”

“In short, she’s saying to be nice,” Vox chuckled, “Though I wonder if one of your disposition can handle that. You seem quite intent to be a cantankerous sort.”

“I can do nice, just not soft,” Nier growled. “Like Accord said, I had a hard time being nice with people I knew I’d probably have to kill.”

“Including Zero? I know little of how events played out in those timelines, but I do know you were the backup plan.”

“That…” Nier thought back to one of those memories, the one that sent that sick feeling through him just to think about it. “Tch… touché. No matter how I felt about any of it, at the end killing them all was always the purpose I was supposed to play. Quite the bastard, right?”

“A bastard who clearly feels regrets for what he was forced to become,” Vox almost sounded like he was being reassuring. “And now, you have a chance to avoid doing so. Along with saving the ones who you were also assured had to die. I’d say go for it. Changing cruel fates seems to be a thing I get caught up in often enough.”

“Wait, you’re going with me?”

“Of course! As I said, I have more to teach you about this magic. I can’t imagine the thing that sent the Flower unto your world will simply be idle if you start going about screwing with its plans… or whatever counts for a plan that some sentient eldritch flower can cook up. And besides, it’s been ages since I had a good adventure.”

“Then I believe that settles things, does it not?” Accord hummed, gesturing with an arm towards the flower marked door. “Do know, this space will remain open to you to return to as potentially needed. Consider it a place of rest and recovery on your new journey. You can access it through this,” Accord shifted her hand, sending a small, leather-bound journal to Nier, the item marked with a silver flower emblem on the front. “This journal will act as both a key and growing summary of your new journey. Consider it a smaller version of the blank book I have.”

“Handy,” Nier slipped the book into a pocket, then turning to the large door as he set his sword across a shoulder. “So, just go through that thing huh? Heh… almost too easy. Well then, hope you’re ready for somethin’ new, Vox. Though it’s also probably gonna be messy. The world I’m from isn’t a nice one.”

“Hah, neither was mine. I’m no stranger to witnessing wanton death. Well then, let us be off.”

With a nod, Nier strode towards the large door with his new companion floating behind him. When he reached the large doors, it took a surprisingly soft push for them to open, the air beginning to howl as it opened to a yawning light beyond. Moving through the doors and into that yawning maw of light, Nier walked until all become nothing but white and silence… and eventually, the blinding white faded into black.

---

The first thing he heard was the crackling remnants of a dying fire.

And the first thing he felt was a sharp pain in his side as something slammed into the space just under his rib cage.

“Fuckin-OW!” Nier yelped as he sat up, any drowsiness that could have been there gone from the sudden bout of pain to his side. “Who the hell wakes someone up like that?!”

“Sun’s starting to rise, so quit complaining.”

That all too familiar, light voice quickly snapped Nier’s attention. He first registered the fact he was seated before the smoldering remains of a campfire… and not much else. The clearing was as standard as clearings went, with only a couple of fallen trees serving as something to sit on or lean against for sleep. The annoying dullness in his back definitely said he’d slept anything but comfortably, not helped by the kick to the side.

And when he looked to his left, the source of said kick, he was greeted to the all too familiar sight of Zero’s rosy eyes glaring down at him, her lips pursed in a scowl as she tapped a foot, looking about ready to kick him again if the mood struck her. Absent the flower in her eye, and no dragon in sight either. And the lack of anything resembling proper camping equipment. So it really freaking worked, huh? Nier had to suppress a wry smirk as he stood up, Zero’s glare following him as he did. Really sent me this far back… alright then Accord, let’s see how things go this time. One final shot at changing this damn story…

Chapter 3: Verse 2: From the Beginning

“Didn’t take you for an early riser, Zero.”

“Being funny in the morning, huh? Or did you forget what we’re supposed to be doing like some idiot?”

Yeah… this is already familiar. Nier let his head tilt as Zero’s biting words rang through his head. This situation was all too familiar to his memory, the only oddity being the sense of déjà vu accompanying it all even if he knew what was going on. Not like I can let on about that so soon. Need to just play along.

“Not at all!” so, Nier carried on speaking in his usual manner. As his memory served, he was likely at some point just before he and Zero were bound to split off so that he could keep an eye on the other Intoners. But before that… “We’re trying to find a dragon, right?”

“Only been looking for a month since we went on the run,” Zero dryly commented, kicking out the remains of the fire. “Ending up all the way here in the Land of Seas definitely isn’t helping in our little hunt.”

“Right, no thanks to the Lords…” Right… Zero and I were on the run from the Lords of the Lands right about this time. Looking for a dragon at the same time certainly wasn’t making things easy. And about now… those five would just be starting to get self-aware enough to start having ideas… which means first… we need to find Michael. “If it’s the Land of Seas then we’re dealing with Lady Caerula.”

“Don’t care.”

“It helps to know who we’re dealing with, y’know. At least when it comes to the soldiers who’ve been chasing us all over the coast for the past few days!”

“Lord or soldier, they’re all going to die the same in the end,” Nier could only click his tongue at Zero’s all too harsh commentary. This was Zero at the height of her misanthropy, all too angry with the world for what it had put her through before all of this and all too pleased to make it clear to anyone and everything near her. “Right now, we just need to find a dragon that’s strong enough.”

“And besides that?”

“Whatever my sisters,” Zero said the word with venom dripping off her tongue. “…are planning to do, it’s gonna take those little brats time to get anywhere. So, there’s time to search… but not much.”

“So, we’re just going to wing it and hope we run into a dragon somewhere around here? By some divine chance? If not the gods being funny about it?”

“They teach you mercs to talk as sharply as you keep your swords?”

“I’ve been travelling with you for over half a year at this point. I’ve gotten a lot better at this than I already was,” Plus tack on several extra timelines worth of experience and I am about done with all this nonsense. “Look, all I’m saying is the odds of a dragon conveniently appearing when we need one most are pretty low. I’ve got a fair share of monster hunting under my belt thanks to my old band, and dragons are pretty seclusive. Not to mention prone to killing everything they come across.”

“Well then it sounds like I’d get along well with one.”

“That’s the problem…”

Zero huffed and turned on her heel, setting off out of the “campsite” without another word and back to the coastal path they had left the night before.

Since Zero clearly wasn’t going to be making small talk, Nier elected to further recollect the situation and get his bearings.

---

His former life had been that of a mercenary, which had its own complicated story behind it all. At some point during that, some months before the current time, his band had, in what he considered a rather annoying tradition after some big job, gone and paid a visit to a brothel.

Nier had, admittedly, never been fond of such trips. Setting aside the fact he was barely even eighteen-years-old at that point, but also some general disinterest in workers of the night, to put it a certain way.

But that trip in particular had come with a certain meeting. His band’s leader had decided to be cheeky and, despite Nier’s grumbling, arranged him a night at that brothel same as others. The girl in question had been called “Rose”, thanks to her eyes. The girl who was now walking in front of him with a burning fire in her eyes.

Nothing had happened, because Nier had frankly not been in the mood for it. But they had spoken since a mercenary whose band was going to be miles away a day later was someone who could be told some plan and expected not to spill it. That plan being that Rose and another girl, Indigo, had a plan to steal however much money they could carry from the brothel and flee.

Nier had found the story all too familiar, in all honesty. Many a person caught in the worst lines of work often made plans to escape it while also screwing over their oft harsh employers in the process. A tale as old as time, really.

But for a while that was where Nier’s knowledge of the girl Rose had ended. A night pretending to follow through on his boss’s whims while advising her on how best to rob a brothel blind while he was at it.

And it had stayed that way… for a while at least.

Eventually the stories began reaching even the roving bands of mercenaries. Of a wandering murderer with rose colored eyes, going from town to town leaving corpses everywhere she went.

The price on her head was quite hefty for sure, but mercenaries like Nier’s band had better things to do than go after some girl racking up a body count that’d make a veteran blush.

And then there was what had led him to the situation he was in now.

It was quite well known throughout the Lands that the Lords ruling over the people were, for lack of better words to be had, right bastards. Extortion through absurd taxes, doing as they pleased with the people of their domains, what have you.

If it fit the notions of “corrupt” or “depraved”, most were assured the Lords had done it, were doing it, or were going to do it. And they had all the authority in the world to do it with impunity and no one to tell them otherwise.

So, just as fittingly, there ended up a band of people who were unsatisfied enough to band together and start plotting to fight back. Perhaps it was some amusement of fate that the ones leading the charge was a band of five young women, the sorts to inspire people with their natural charm and drives for justice.

Figures to rally behind that weren’t the men who were behind most everything else. All the makings of a right and proper revolution of the people. Too bad for them all though, the world they lived in wasn’t kind to people whose hearts burned for justice.

Despite rallying people, even getting mercenary bands like Nier’s group to join them, those girls had been sniffed out before the fire could truly be ignited. Sold out by one of their own for what Nier could have expected to be some paltry few coins and a decent meal.

Last he and his band had heard, the poor girls had been dragged off to a fort for summary torture and execution for their “crimes” against the lords.

A fate Nier would admit he’d wish on few people in life… but then again, most people in life he’d wish that level of pain on, he had found long dead by other means. But that was a different story for another time.

Though fate had a way of being funny about things. Nier perhaps had the misfortune that his band’s leader was a person who did seek justice in their cruel world where he could find it.

He’d been a good man, like a father to Nier in every way but proper blood. A man Nier would admit he looked up to. But a fool of a man as well. Cynical, but just righteous enough to loath the corruption of his rulers.

Enough that, when sparked by the desires of others who could seemingly rally people behind them, well… such a man would have been loath to leave those girls to their horrible fates.

So, like the inspiring, righteous fool that man was, he’d rallied whoever he could to lead a charge on the bastille in the Land of Mountains, where the Lords’ soldiers were all too happy to declare the news of the girls’ capture from.

And quite conveniently, so too were they boasting about capturing the “rose eyed witch” who’d been terrorizing the Lands for months by that point. Nier found it to be a rather amusing coincidence.

The girl he had almost jokingly advised on robbing a brothel, ending up an infamous mass murderer and now captured and no doubt made to pay for her crimes alongside innocent girls her own age who, by comparison, had only good intentions.

The universe truly was funny that way.

But, if only they lived in a world where the rallying cries of heroic souls was worth more than the vileness of the corrupt souls they burned to bring justice towards.

Nier wouldn’t have called the attack on the bastille anything other than a disaster. Perhaps the rolling in of an all too biting storm should have been the indicator of the fortune their bands of would-be revolutionaries would face that day.

Nier was someone who, through circumstance, was long accustomed to carnage and death. But even he would recognize a madhouse of death for what it was.

The battle within that storm had been vile and cruel. Bodies of both the Lords’ soldiers and the mercenaries had piled high amid the storm, blood and rain mixing into stone and mud that seeped into the battlefield.

Fires burned so hot from what ensued not even the rain would put it out. And as if the heavens themselves were deigning to be as cruel as possible, for those who had managed to breach the bastille, they only arrived to find those they intended to save long dead.

And so, they took their revenge on the remaining soldiers in a blood-crazed fury. Nier had, by sick fortune more than anything, found himself the last one standing among the slaughter. Wounded, sure, but still holding to life.

Long enough at least, to find the body of his band leader and surrogate father. Still standing, sword in hand, rigid against the world itself with the bodies of his slain foes around him. If Nier hadn’t himself been on the verge of death, perhaps he would have found that sight inspiring.

But his worn-down heart wouldn’t allow even for such a thought that day. All he had been able to do was curse their fortune, curse the world for taking away such an honorable man and those who had been inspired by him. Curse it for letting him live while that man had to die.

Nier honestly knew he should have known that the world wouldn’t be done with him that easily. It seemed to hate him far too much to allow him an at least somewhat dignified death near the man who’d given him a life.

His childhood prior should’ve been enough of a lesson about this world’s refusal to let him die easily.

Because as his life was finally fading away, he saw her: The girl with rose color eyes. The haze of near-death had made it hard to tell what her expression was, or even if she had cared to notice. But he couldn’t help but mutter her name when he’d seen her.

“Rose,” uttered in a haze of memory, yet seemingly enough to draw the girl’s attention as she waded through the countless bodies towards him.

And the next he’d awoken, it was back in the camp that had been set up by the mercenaries to assault the bastille. And waiting for him was the girl, eyeing him with annoyance.

“I don’t know why I saved you… but now you owe me. So, you’re sticking with me while I figure out what the hell’s happened to me. Or I kill you, your choice.”

Was what she had told him. She had saved him on little more than a whim, perhaps some brief feeling of paying back his advice. Or maybe not even that. Maybe it was a test of some kind, seeing what she could do now that she had, in her own words, “changed.”

Now calling herself Zero, Nier finally learned what happened after their chance meeting at that brothel. Attempting to escape with her friend only to find out she was being used. Barely escaping with her life only to be retaken by the guards who’d chased after them.

Then some months later, slaughtering everyone in that brothel and pilfering the place wholesale, only to then be robbed blind by some bandits as she was leaving town. Afterwards ending up in another city, living with one of her former patrons for a time before coming down with the scourge that had plagued the Lands for a time.

The man’s betrayal, her murder of him, and the spiral that followed it. A life of endless killing for no real reason but her own survival. All of it eventually leading to her capture by the soldiers and ending up in that bastille with the would-be revolutionaries. Lashed to the point of near-death and left to die alongside the other five, only to somehow escape death itself after she had seen an odd yet beautiful flower.

Zero had assumed it was just something she was seeing in death, some final mercy. But of course, it wasn’t. It was something else, and she intended to find out what. It just happened that whatever this Flower was, it also gave her the power to heal Nier’s wounds… and so she decided to drag him along or just kill him herself if it turned out that disaster had robbed him of the will to live.

She said it’d have been the only mercy she’d offer someone.

And so, with nowhere to really go, the two had ended up traveling together from there. Nier had taken what he could from the camp, but Zero’s habits refused to let them travel with anything other than some packs for supplies and bedrolls, refusing to carry even a single coin or care much for things like rations and other travel necessities.

“I only ever took what I needed from others as I went. Learned the hard way what happens when I keep things on me.”

Was her reasoning for it all. Sound reasoning, in a perhaps twisted way, but sound reasoning nonetheless.

It didn’t take long for Nier to start taking note of things about his newfound companion as they had begun traveling. Outside of her lackadaisical attitude about wholesale slaughter and looting that shut down all his attempts to be practical about traveling from place to place with gods knew what destination in mind.

He at least convinced her to let him bring along a tent so that they weren’t spending most of their time sleeping under trees or other natural cover.

A shame said tent had been lost a few days ago while getting away from some soldiers. Along with their travel packs as it happened.

Frankly put though, Nier had a hard time believing Zero was a girl barely a year younger than he was. Her attitude was of someone far more world weary than people their age had any right to be. Bitter and cynical, her hatred of the world around her all too clear in how she spoke and even moved.

But sometimes, during the few moments of quiet they had while traveling, some of it poked through and he was able to remember that, indeed, Zero was still young like him.

Their conversations rarely lasted long, though Zero had a penchant for not liking quiet so would often start up inane conversations to fill the air with something. Usually, it was demanding Nier tell her about life on the road as a mercenary.

And then it was filled with her biting sarcasm and critiques of his now departed comrades.

Any attempts by Nier, in contrast, to dig into Zero’s past usually proved fruitless. All she’d said was that her mother had been horrible and sold her into whoring when she was old enough. For a pittance as she’d soon put together after enough time in that business.

When at camp, she had an interesting preference for balling herself up in the fetal position at the fire, making her look shockingly small even as she merely glared into the flames. Nier would have called it cute if not the fact it would have probably earned him a broken rib or two as retaliation.

But by contrast she was a horrible sleeper. Nier learned that one by being woken up one morning by way of Zero’s fist slamming into his gut. She was sound asleep as it happened, far more deeply than he had been since years as a mercenary had drilled it into Nier to be ready to wake at any moment.

But Zero tossed and turned with abandon, and that first time had not been the last time her thrashing about had found Zero removed from her bedroll and somehow finding her way by Nier to then smack him awake in her unconscious swinging about.

So, his impressions grew to be around this: Zero was crude, violent, caustic, and all to bitter with the world. Shockingly short of life yet with all the weariness of someone three times her age. And as a fighter she knew how to use her few advantages.

She wasn’t very tall, around average height for a girl her age, and while it seemed her "rebirth” had taken Zero from the frankly frail girl Nier had recalled meeting, he also wouldn’t call her anything close to having the body of a warrior. She was far to waifish to really be called one. But whatever Zero had become, she was far stronger than she appeared despite what her slight – if admittedly well proportioned – frame would suggest.

Nier had seen her crush through armor with her sword enough times by then to realize that.

But there were also rare moments during those months of traveling he could see somewhat past that outer shell of violent bitterness. Moments where the broken, sad girl beneath it came through in brief moments of quiet melancholy.

Simply finding a place to stare off into the distance and not say a thing. Someone who was looking back on their life and, while knowing there was no changing it, somewhat lamenting the way it had turned out.

Zero didn’t seem the type to really hold any regrets, and she’d said plenty about how she never blamed those who wronged her for doing so. She considered it natural of anything. They acted in their own self-interest, and in turn so did she.

“Sounds more like you’re just stuck in a painful cycle.”

“Maybe… but it’s the life I know. It’s all it is for me. Doesn’t matter.”

Of course, in his recollection, Nier of course then could recall the first time that happened.

As Accord’s ever so witty remarks had been, Nier had become no stronger to the insatiable sex drive Zero possessed during his time with her, both before this and during his experiences in the Branches. As he recalled it, it seemed to be some extension of Zero’s past made manifest by the Flower in a more extreme way.

The first time Nier had been subject to that however, well it certainly stuck in his memory for all the wrong reasons.

It had been perhaps a month or so after he and Zero had started traveling together. Nier had managed to rope Zero into making camp not too far from a town so that he could make use of some recent lootings of coin to buy some actual supplies, mostly a bow and a stock of arrows so he could do some proper hunting while on the road. He’d used whatever was left on some other necessary items to keep in their packs for use.

Zero had griped about the trip while Nier had been cooking their dinner, a thing he had to ardently convince her about letting him do since Zero’s lack of care meant she’d have willingly eaten raw meat if given the chance.

He probably should have noticed it during his cooking that Zero had been acting a bit off. Shuffling about in place, a flushed face and constantly grumbling to herself out of some kind of frustration he had passed off as more of her usual complaints.

But nothing had happened until after they had gone to settle down to sleep that night.

What woke Nier up then wasn’t getting smacked by Zero’s tossing and turning for once. But rather his own instincts of some kind of danger rousing him, only to wake up to being straddled by a very troubled and flustered looking Zero, her hands fumbling at his belt and her eyes a certain kind of desperate he really didn’t have the mind to quickly piece together unlike some others probably would have.

“Uhm… the fuck is going on?” Nier probably had to bless that sheer confusion had shut off any instincts of retaliation as he registered that situation.

“The fuck does it look like?!” Zero’s voice had a certain desperation in it as she snapped back at him, Nier having also stopped her attempts to remove his belt in the process. “I’ve been putting it off for too long and I can’t stand it anymore. So shut up and let me use you to calm myself down.”

“Calm yourself how?!”

“What, your head so jumbled you can’t tell when someone wants to fuck? Now shut up and help me with this damn belt!”

“When the hell did I say I agreed to this?! And in case you recall, I’ve also never done this before!”

“Then get ready to learn. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do quickly enough.”

“Not reassuring!”

Nier had admittedly found a part of him trapped by that point. Sense made him protest but then there was the part of him that had other thoughts on seeing a woman burning with desire demanding that attention – admittedly probably on pain of injuring him if he didn’t comply – he caved not long after.

And all he remembered after enough of Zero’s complaining to him to relent was almost a haze, a rush of being wrapped up in desire and pleasure until they saw the sun rising through the crack in the tent flap.

In hindsight Nier definitely questioned the fact he had to basically be coerced into it, but after it was said and done, he frankly had stopped caring about that fact. Of anything, after he and Zero had finally stopped and he’d been allowed to rest, Nier’s concern had been downing the contents of his waterskin to ease how gods forsakenly dry his throat had gotten.

And the cleaning up had been enough of a nuisance the thought had slipped from his mind. The smell of a bed roll post-coital was not a thing Nier liked to remember.

Zero for her part afterward had, of course, complained. Not moving the way she’d liked most of the time, grumbling about “inexperienced virgins” and what not. But some other, more positive remarks… if a bit on the raunchy side. “At least you’re a good size… to my surprise,” or “don’t you learn a bit too quickly?” were a couple of things he’d caught Zero saying under her breath as she’d gotten dressed following it all.

It was after that point it ended up becoming a normal part of his and Zero’s travel routine.

By day, moving along roads as Zero learned more about her new abilities while Nier hunted for their food. All too often dealing with roving bandits and other such scum of the earth along the way. And then by night, indulging in the carnal pleasures of each other’s bodies.

To Nier’s credit, he was the type of person who picked things up quickly, and he had to admit there was an amusement over time in seeing Zero being quietly annoyed that each time she dragged him into her lust fueled nights that he simply improved at sating her more and more.

It did at least lead to Nier finding the best way to keep Zero from thrashing about at night was to simply hold her in place after she’d exhausted herself. Took a few attempts, since Zero’s wariness made her dislike the idea of being held in her sleep.

But eventually the girl seemed to find some kind of comfort in it and seemed to quietly welcome being able to sleep soundly near another without having to toss and turn.

Nier wouldn’t have called it a fast process, but as the months went on, it was only natural their trust in each other grew. Trust formed out of constantly fighting alongside each other, gaining an instinct for how the other moved and thought when in the heat of battle.

A bond Nier was a lot more familiar with thanks to his mercenary life. Forged in the fires of combat, it was a kind of bond that went past simple companionship. But for them, also a bond slowly formed out of intimacy, of a trust that had to be lent in each other to engage in such desires.

But Nier could tell Zero was all too cautious about it even as she seemed more willing to trust him. He couldn’t blame her – amusingly finding himself echoing Zero – since her life was one that had little room for trust in others. Someone she had regarded as a friend had betrayed her.

And the one other man she had let herself trust, have a quiet life with, had also done the same as soon as some kind of risk came unto himself. So it wasn’t hard to imagine Zero was unwilling to let herself trust Nier beyond anyone other than a handy companion in a fight and a good partner in the bedroom for a certain use of the latter term.

And for a while, that was their life. Simple, but not something one could maybe call meaningful.

And then… Zero found out what the Flower was. At first it didn’t seem to be much of anything. Zero had at first found her newfound power to be something of a liberation… but that didn’t last long at all. Soon enough, Zero found that something in her mind was slipping. Like a gnawing, biting sensation picking away at her mind. The main thing was the Song, a core part of the power Zero had gained from that Flower.

What at first seemed to be a kind of powerful magic, one that allowed Zero’s very voice to harness power and focus it, was quickly turning out to be something… not quite what it seemed.

Zero seemed to have realized it on some implicit level after she had begun making use of its power. That it wasn’t just gnawing away at her, but whatever was around her as well. And, well, Zero wasn’t really fond of the idea of being used as something else’s tool. So, one day, Zero decided to spite that Flower like everything else in the world.

Nier of course hadn’t been given any warning about it. He’d woken up to the sounds of Zero screaming as she was driving her own sword into her chest, intent on ripping the Flower out of her body by force. But it seemed the Flower hadn’t been keen on letting that happen either.

So not only did Zero fail to remove the Flower, but to ensure its own survival, from the bloom that had risen from Zero’s self-inflicted wound, it had spawned five new buds. Buds that became small girls, who had run off together while Nier was pulling Zero from that same flower, her body forcibly healed from the self-inflicted damage like a snake being forced out of a shed skin.

That had been the birth of the Intoners, of Zero and her sisters. And somehow, by divine humor, Nier found himself caught up amid all of it because of his and Zero’s unorthodox bond.

Which of course, finally led back to where they found themselves: On the run from soldiers in the Land of Seas with the runaway Intoners being who knew where. And trying to find a dragon somewhere within that mix of things.

---

If Nier had any pity to give, he was certainly giving it to the soldiers pursuing him and Zero along the cliffsides at this moment.

[What are we even fighting for?]

[Is Lady Caerulea aware of our current situation?!]

[How the hell could she be?!]

[Dammit, we’re throwing our lives away here!]

And of course, Zero paid absolutely no mind to the panicked cries of the soldiers as she cut them all down without a shred of care in her expression. After all, as far as she cared these men were just bodies getting in her way, and nothing more.

Nier did have to admit though, the tenacity of the soldiers… if mostly because he knew well enough disloyalty was often harshly punished among their ranks no thanks to the Lords. Still though, from what they were saying, one had to wonder what the Lords could be getting up to if one of them apparently wasn’t aware of the situation going on in her domain.

Or at least, Nier would have been wondering, if it wasn’t for the fact he had a decent enough memory to know exactly what Lady Caerulea’s absence was for.

Digging their way to the Mercurius Gate in the Cathedral City, was the recollection, the main thought Nier had as he and Zero found themselves on a beach, only for another gathering of soldiers to be waiting in their path from the landing boats they had used. But digging the thing up is going to take plenty of time… time I know I have for now. Best thing to do is to let things play out like they did until Zero and I split off so I can keep an eye on the Intoners…

“Hey, dumbass! You zoning out or what?!”

As Zero shouted, Nier gave a sigh, flipping his sword around and stabbing it behind him. Metal screamed as the black blade drove through the helmet of a soldier trying to leap on Nier, another swipe tossing the fresh corpse off the blade and barreling into his companions.

“Care to repeat that?” Nier remarked, Zero rolling her eyes as she turned back to the remaining soldiers.

“These guys are way too tough for grunts,” she growled, Nier cracking his neck with a quick press of his free hand.

“Like I said, we’re smack in the middle of Lady Caruelea’s territory. These ain’t your average army mooks, they’re homeland defenders. Not quite rank and file.”

“So? They die all the same.”

“… we’re not getting anywhere talking like this.”

As the soldiers renewed their charge, before a melee could begin, a roar split the air. And a moment after that roar, a ball of flames sailed down from above, crashing into the soldiers. And as the now thinned crowd was sent running in fear as the smoldering flames spread across the beach, a shape shot by like a blur.

“Is that…?” Zero murmured.

“A dragon,” Nier couldn’t hide the smirk on his face as the shape swooped back around.

An all too familiar body of white scales, a powerful tail ended by an axe-head like tip, head bearing crown-like horns. Michael, just as Nier remembered him before his reincarnation into Mikhail.

“Well… consider my words about this not going our way eaten,” Nier chuckled, glancing at Zero as the Intoner was also smirking at the sight of the dragon arcing through the air above. “This one going to be good enough?”

“We’ll just have to see.”

“Right…” As if I don’t already know he’ll be fine, thought Nier, giving a chuckle. If this had to be how I restarted… I think I’m fine with things going this way for now.

Chapter 4: Verse 3: First Steps

Once more, Nier found his situation was best kept to merely allowing events to play out as they had before. His and Zero’s encounter with Michael, of goading the Dragon into chasing them alongside the coastal cliffs only to receive the Dragon’s aid once they proved able to manage such an encounter. Informing Michael of Zero’s plans, of the Intoners and the Flower… once more, Nier going through the motions for some time, repeating events as they were in something close to a countdown as he waited for the proper time to come for him to really act on the divergence Accord intended to create.

All a trip down memory lane for him. Everything from Zero’s griping to Michael’s oh-so-thinly veiled excuses so that he’d have some traveling companions for once while guising his “tests” for Zero and Nier as finding proof of their strength… which was at the least half correct.

Be it running from the peak of an old mountain temple-of which Nier was the only one who remembered its actual name-or all the way to the deep ruins of the desert to test them himself. Months more of travel, of going from land to land, observing the world as it was, all under some pretense of “the Dragon killing the Intoner.”

But, the day Nier had been waiting for was finally near. The day he and Zero, with their Dragon ally found, would split off for the first time since they’d begun traveling together. So that Nier could find the Intoners while Zero continued to gather her strength in preparation for killing them herself.

But, Nier had something else to cover before then. It was all too convenient they had returned to the border of the Land of Sands and Forests, where things remained stony, brown savannah before leading to the rolling sands of the desert beyond.

About stumbling out of his and Zero’s newly acquired replacement tent, Nier couldn’t help but grumble a bit as he finished putting the lighter parts of his clothing back on, sighing as he tugged his head through his shirt.

“Maybe it’s just the whole change, but she’s way more relentless than I bothered to remember…” Nier stretched his arms as he stepped over to the still burning fire, glancing over when he heard stomping. Michael lumbered out from behind an outcropping that shaded the small oasis they’d made camp at.

“Finally finished with making so much blasted noise?” Michael huffed as he laid at the edge of the water, Nier giving a hum. “Honestly, what is it that makes you two engage in such acts so annoyingly often? Nary a day has past since we began traveling that woman has not pulled you aside for such… engagements.”

“Just be glad I was able to convince her to wait until we had a new tent… or really anything we’d lost when we got jumped back in the Land of Seas.”

“Well it’s aggravating at times,” Michael stared as Nier stoked the flames, a flick of his fingers increasing the flames with a mere bit of magic. “I have held off on asking for some time… but why do you restrict your magic so much? In the months since I began traveling with you and Zero, you have nary used even a portion of the magical might you seem clearly apt at using.”

“When’d you catch on?” Nier chuckled as he picked his sword up, palming the black edge as he checked it over for any new damage or need to sharpen it up.

“The moment we met,” Michael’s eyes narrowed, a rumble leaving the dragon’s throat. “I refrained from mentioning it out of caution. I was sure when I challenged you directly that perhaps you would bring such power to brace.”

“To bear.”

“Huh?”

“The phrase is ‘to bear’,” Nier snickered as Michael grumbled at being corrected. “And as for why… first, tell me: What kind of magic do you mean, hm? The normal kind I use… or a different kind?”

“Don’t go playing coy with me, dragon-hearted,” Nier smirked as Michael let out a growl. “I know not how or why you exist as such, but I would never mistake the power of mine kin within somebody. So, tell me… how?”

“Is this when we’re finally going to explain to somebody the plan we have going on?” Nier angled his head as a familiar white ball appeared in the air, Michael rearing his head up in surprise.

“You’ve been quiet for a while, Weiss.”

“Hm! Too long I’d say. Honestly, to think that we’d arrive and no sooner spend several months flying to whatever end of the lands this dragon decides! I almost wish Accord had started us after all of this. Honestly, the silence I’ve maintained so the hussy doesn’t catch on has been agonizing. Besides, it is not as if we haven’t discussed much in private during this time either.”

“Fair enough. Did have to get you up to speed.”

“I am… sorry… what?” Michael could only stare in bewilderment. “Is that… no, not a fairy. You are something else…”

“If you must refer to me as anything, refer to me as Weiss,” said the orb. “I am Nier’s mentor in magic, and accomplice in this scheme we are part of. Should I explain, or do you believe yourself capable of remembering the jargon?”

“We’ll trade off. I can at least explain my end of this,” Weiss gave an affirming hum, Nier looking back to the bewildered Michael. “Michael, what if I told you I knew what was going to happen within the next few months, or even a couple years from now?”

“Are you suddenly claiming yourself to be an oracle?” Michael gave an unimpressed scoff, Nier shaking his head.

“What if I said I know you die in the Cathedral City a little over a year from now?”

“Preposterous! You’ve seen my power, and you think some petty battle able to kill me?”

“I’d bet a Daemon Dragon would be able to… especially if you were defending a certain couple of idiots,” Nier’s tone dropped a bit, tinged in some regret as his right hand tightened up. Michael still looked more than a bit inflamed. “Let’s frame it this way. Say my soul is… heavier. A soul bearing the collective experience and power of different iterations of the person called ‘Nier’ from across multiple branches of time.”

“And how can you prove that to me, hmm?”

“I can prove it because you can tell what my magic is,” Nier stood, raising his right hand and producing a ball of raw magic power at his palm. That pulse of black tinged white drew the dragon’s eye. Nier snuffed the magic out, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the book Accord had given him. “And then this: A book given to me by a Recorder.”

“You think some paltry little tome is enough to convince me of this?”

“Alright then, how about this,” Nier cleared his throat. “In a few months from now, the Lords of the Land are going to head to the Cathedral City in an attempt to open a relic known as the Mercurius Gate. Behind that Gate is something known as the Black Flower… something connected to the same one that’s empowering Zero and her sisters currently. Far as I know it’s the thing that spawned what she calls the Flower.”

“… how do you know of the Gate and way lays beyond it?” Michael clicked his tongue as Nier chuckled. “Alright, fine, maybe you know some things. But perhaps that is merely because of your… odd nature, to put it a way. Why should I believe you somehow have gone beyond time itself?”

“The fact he is accompanied by an entity such as I as well isn’t enough for you, oh lord Dragon?” Michael growled at the dripping sarcasm Weiss spoke with. “As I believe it is now my turn, as a Dragon, is it not possible for you to peer into the shape of one’s soul? I can understand some healthy skepticism, but all it should take is a deeper glance to see the truth in the boy’s claim. Look deeper than that outer layer you can see, and you will see a soul bearing more than you know.”

“Hmph, fine… don’t feel too uneasy boy. I’ve heard mortals aren’t fond of feeling their souls be touched on,” Michael faced Nier, the young man shifting to face the Dragon head on. As Michael gazed deeper, a rumble passed through the dragon.

Before the beast, the world shifted, taking on duller colors, wisps of vibrancy ebbing about in the air. Weiss remained as was, a bright being of pure white. Yet in this “sight”, Michael was able to make out a human shape surrounding the orb, but not much more than the silhouette of a man.

And then there was Nier.

Surrounding the boy was something more than a human soul. Bright white in color, ebbing around him in a way that mimicked wings, some wisps forming horn-like shapes around his head. It was the same shape Michael had felt, the shape of a Dragon. But the deeper he peered into that white, a flame of blue took shape. And it was dense, far denser than the soul of a human, even a magically powerful one like Nier, should have been. Michael reeled in surprised, his vision returning to normal as his brow twitched and his tail lashed the ground.

“What in the hell… I thought your soul merely unusual but this… no human has a soul like this.”

“It is a soul born of the collective experience of multiple iterations of the self,” said Weiss. “Not to mention, further modified to try and pull the weave of fate apart as much as possible. You have yourself to thank for that, Dragon, even if you don’t know it.”

“What do you…” Michael peered at Nier again, focusing now on how that Draconic essence felt. And, startlingly so, the Dragon felt it akin to himself. “How has… no, impossible… to hold such power would require the use of forbidden magics, and yet I feel myself in that power. What madness is this?”

“To be honest, I don’t really understand the full details. Accord said it was because a fragment of your power found it’s way into my body at a… certain time a year from now. The time when you’d die and then reincarnate.”

“Pah, when would I…” Michael fell silent, letting out a sigh. “I see no point in asking further questions. What I have seen is proof enough. Fine then… what is this plan you two have?”

“I’m so glad you’ve come around,” Weiss’s snark got a snapping growl from Michael.

“Do not test me, magus.”

“To make it simple, we wish to save the Intoners,” Weiss chuckle as Michael balked. “I know the hussy has been saying this whole time she wishes to kill them, but Nier and I have other plans. The boy seems to believe you trustworthy, so I suppose I shall as well. Nier?”

“Tomorrow, Zero’s going to tell me to break off from our group and find the Intoners. They’re not too far from us here in the Land of Sands, likely already making their way to the Lord’s castle. Zero has… something of a sense of where they are most of the time. Not a precise idea, but enough she can track them down pretty easily.”

“Then why not simply go after them now when they are still weak? Or… is this tied to that Flower?” Michael hummed, shifting when Nier nodding.

“As it occurs, the Flower has distributed its power among these six girls,” said Weiss. “While it is an uneven distribution, simply taking on all that power at once would have disastrous consequences were Zero not prepared. It’s why she sought you out, Michael. And why she yet waits to gather more strength, recovering what she lost when the Intoners were created from her bungled attempt at suicide.”

“And you wish to save them? When they present such a danger to the world if allowed to continue existing?” Michael balked again when Nier nodded. “Do you even have a notion of what consequences this plan of yours could have? If you truly do know of the possibilities ahead, then why even risk it?”

“Too see what does happen,” Nier said it so simply, so easily. “I can’t know the results until I do it. For now though, I’m sticking to the basics until I find the girls. After that? Hmm… I’ll have to wing it.”

“You, boy, are as reckless as they come.”

“I’ve been told it’s a good quality of mine sometimes.”

“Peh, fine… then let’s see if what you said will happen in the morning comes to pass. Perhaps then I will fully trust this idea of yours and not believe this some mad happening.”

“Heh, alright,” As Michael lumbered off again, Nier turned back to the tent, shaking his head as an amused chuckle left him. “Skeptical ass Dragon… same as always.”

---

“Nier, I need you to do something for me.”

That next morning, as Nier was putting out what was left of last night’s fire, Zero’s request brought about a smug smile from the boy aimed right at Michael.

“And what would this something be? Hope it’s not something too stupid,” now that Michael knew the gist, the fact Nier was clearly acting surprised by this request was all too obvious. Perhaps Zero could tell as well.

“Funny. I need you to find the Intoners and keep an eye on them for a while,” Zero clicked her tongue when Nier raised a brow. “Look, they’re nearby and I still need a bit more time before I feel ready to go after them. I need to make sure they’re still around, because anything else that might try to kill them will just make problems for me later if their Songs are allowed to get too strong to fast.”

“So…” Nier started, Zero already groaning at his tone. “You want me to find the five girls you explicitly want dead… just to be sure it’s you who kills them?”

“You know damn well why,” Zero dryly snapped back, stomping to the fire and kicking some of the ashes. “The only thing that can put an Intoner down for good is either a dragon, or weapons made from dragon parts. Who knows how the Flower fragments inside of them would react to being killed by something else.”

“And I’m guessing I’m not allowed to do it myself despite having a dragon clow sword,” Nier palmed the pommel of his sword, Zero nodding. “I got it, gotta play things carefully to make sure it doesn’t go to shit.”

“Is it truly wise to let them run around freely?” Michael said, his tail swishing about in the air, it’s spade-like tip threatening to gouge the earth at any moment. “I understand the need to accrue power, but why wait so long to act?”

“Wise? Probably not, but I’d also rather not start a fight in some village for no reason,” Zero sat down, leaning on a hand. “If I had to guess, those brats are probably gonna make their way to the Cathedral City eventually. I’ll go after them there since those old ruins barely have anyone living in them. More space to go wild.”

“I did not take you for the type to actually consider civilian lives,” Michael’s statement drew a bitter laugh from Zero.

“Hardly! If they’re between me and my targets, I don’t care who I kill. But between soldiers and people just trying to make their way out in the country? May not be my concern but I’ve got no reason to kill them unless they got something I need.”

“… you see why I’ve told her we’re sticking to killing and looting bandits?” Nier sighed and looked at Michael. “Weirdest standards for why she does or doesn’t kill people I’ve ever seen.”

“Says the ex-mercenary,” Zero spat. “You’ve probably done worse for a decent set of coin.”

“I’ll remind you my band was led by a guy who had some actual morals… for a merc.”

“There it is,” Zero scoffed as Nier relented on that. “Now let’s get a move on. Michael, let’s get closer to the town and drop Nier off. After that, you and I’ve got training to do.”

“Well, least this will lighten my burden,” Michael huffed as he shook his back. “Honestly, carrying two people and their supplies is exhausting work even for me.”

“Well hey, enjoy the vacation from us two being annoying,” Nier’s snark got Zero to start swinging at him, the mercenary snickering as he stepped around Zero’s punches.

Michael just sighed. He would indeed be glad to be down to just one for a while.

---

The Land of Sands was a harsh place to live. Most of it was covered end to end in sand dunes as far as one could see and what usable land it had was hardly suitable for farming. As such most towns stayed near the edges of the harsher desert were land was more solid and they were at least in close proximity to trade routes.

Being a rather central locale in Midgard, it did mean the land was something of a central road connecting the other Lands to one another, be it through its coastal ports to reach the Land of Seas, or directly bordering the Lands of Mountains, Forests, and having the single largest road to the Cathedral City.

Yet ironically, it was far from a rich land, with its only real export being the Magnetite metal mined in it’s border regions. Aside from that was also the ruins that dotted the desert, something that drew in merchants and Cathedral City scholars eager to study them.

But such a place was not Nier’s current locale, instead it was the rocky, dry lands of the desert coast. The sea was still some miles away, but he knew from his maps and prior trips to this Land that the Lord’s castle was on the road he was following, right after the next town along the road.

“Haaagh… could’ve dropped me off a bit closer, not like anyone would flinch if a Dragon was nearby,” Nier sighed as he folded his map back up, tucking it into his jacket and adjusting his rucksack.

“At the least now we are free to actually enact this plan,” Weiss appeared beside Nier, the boy nodding along. “Before we reach our destination, I’d like to ask another question.”

“Go ahead, you’ve asked me so many already.”

“What exactly are the Intoners? And I do not mean the obvious. I am curious as to why they are… well, they way they are. I understand they are creations of the Flower spawned from Zero’s oh so bungled attempt to kill herself. But I don’t quite understand how they even came to be. I too have seen that battle at the Cathedral city, but you never quite delved into it when telling me of the other Branches.”

“Ah… right…” Nier sighed. During the months spent traveling with Michael, he’d gotten the magic spirit caught up on what he knew from the other Branches and what not, but it had all been summaries more than anything, that and some details to get Weiss up to speed on general concepts native to Midgard he was unfamiliar with. “We’ve got a bit more of a walk so why not? What questions you got?”

“My first one is their forms. Despite being what one could call clones, not a one truly resembles Zero. Why is that?”

“Hmm…” Nier put a hand to his chin, giving it a bit of thought. “I think I remember that… Zero mentioned it to me not long after they were ‘born’. She recognized their faces from her past, back when she was a wanderer.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Zero thinks the Flower based the Intoners appearances off people she met back then. She never really placed them in particular, that or just didn’t care to fully remember the details. She did mention that Five looks like a nun she killed.”

“How ironic that the Intoner you’ve described as the most grossly sexual would take her appearance from some poor holy woman. It’s almost worth a laugh. What of the others, do you have any ideas there?”

“Not really. Well…” Nier paused as he thought, his eyes widening a bit. “Actually… yeah. One. One has the same face as the girl who led that revolutionary army the Lords put down half a year ago. Hah… she was the spitting image of that girl for however brief her body was actually fully matured. But as for the other three? No idea.  But… One’s eyes are different. Hers are the same color as Zero’s, but that girl had blue eyes.”

“Hm, perhaps Zero’s memory was incomplete. Or she simply never saw that girl’s eyes.”

“Considering the state her body was in when we found her? Probably,” Nier grumbled a bit at remembering that day.

After Zero had healed his body, he had returned to the remains of that fortress so he could at the least give the bodies of his mercenary companions some proper respect, even if it was cremation. He still remembered the body of that girl, the marks of the torture they’d inflicted on her. From gouged out eyes, ruined hands and feet, and even more. It was genuinely sickening what the lord’s soldiers had done to that girl and her companions. And all too make some twisted point to onlookers.

“Well, that answers why they look nothing like Zero,” Weiss said. “Then what of their personalities? I understand their lustful sides are universal thanks to that hussy’s past. Yet not a one acts like her in any other way.”

“That’s the easy one,” Nier chuckled. “Zero’s running theory is their personalities were based on fragments of her own. Five got her greed and want for more, Four the remnants of her childhood when she was thrown into that brothel. She said Two and Three were the odd ones… Three may have gotten the first bits of her own madness, and Two whatever desires for a better life she might have wished to have.”

“And One?”

“Zero figured One is the Flower’s defense mechanism. Her opposite in every way when it comes to mentality. Someone who strives for justice, while also being serious and intelligent. Zero’s equal and opposite.”

“I see. No wonder she’s the one Zero aims to leave for last. In a certain way, I suppose she’s the most annoying one of the lot.”

“One’s an anomaly in and of herself. The only reason we took her down in Branch D is because Accord intervened at the last moment. And for me… she might be the biggest hurdle in getting those Flowers out of them all. She’s prone to realizing the truth… but One’s biggest hurdle is her pride.”

“I see. The kind of person who can agree with one’s goal but will only allow herself to be the one to carry it out. Going by your recollections, that’s what seems to be the case,” Weiss let out a hum. “I see another problem. If they are merely fragments of Zero’s personality, then it means these Intoners are mentally fragile at the base of it. It was… Two, yes? The one you said who was regularly reduced to an almost catatonic state across the Branches. The second strongest of the Intoners but also the most fragile… it’s a recipe for disaster waiting to happen. You have your work cut out for you if you plan to prevent these Intoners from falling down the roads that lead to their ordinary fates.”

“Well then it’s a good thing we’re starting out early. Step one is finding them…”

By now, the two had finally reached the town that was serving as their starting point. It was a quaint place, quiet and dour. The people were left shuffling about their business, some of them eyeing Nier as he passed. Barely any paid mind to Weiss either, probably just assuming the magus was some sprite lingering around the boy.

Stopping when he found what had to be the local tavern, Nier came to a stop, smirking to himself as he placed a hand to his sword.

“Let’s get it started… this mission to tear fate apart.”

Chapter 5: Side Verse: Branch A

Notes:

Okay so this is a REALLY experimental idea and scheming it/writing it is why this took so dang long. The format is... perhaps a bit strange so bear with me and lemme explain. The concept is what'd be presented as some kind of special cutscene in a "game", visualized in that pop up story book style from Drakengard 3. You'd get Nier and Weiss talking over the pages as Nier narrates these summaries of the original four Branches, and frankly this is something I'd LOVE to be able to visualize but really can't lol... I pray I got Nier and Weiss' speech patterns different enough it's not hard to catch who's who during the "commentary" parts of this idea. Tell me if it works in the comments. If not I may remove this and just focus on the central story above everything else.

[Well, since it seems we’re going to be taking our time, Nier, you mind doing something?]

[Doing what, Weiss?]

[Getting me up to speed, obviously! I’d quite like to have context about what to expect from here now that we’ve encountered your dragon friend.]

[Context about what?]

[The other Branches, to start! Sure, we may be at a time well before them, but I feel I’d be better served a proper explanation of their events.]

[From me? You seriously think I can give a good explanation about those Branches?]

[You DID live through them after all.]

[Agh fine… just don’t expect full details. I’ll just summarize the important parts.]

[As long as it’s something.]

[Sheesh… alright, let’s start with Branch A, since it’s the core one here…]

After the battle at the Cathedral City, Zero needed time to recover from her wounds. And with a baby dragon in tow, it wasn’t exactly an easy escape. Once we got away, we took shelter in the Land of Seas, well and away from the eyes of the Intoners.

It took a year for Zero to recover to a combat ready state, and for the new dragon, Mikhail, to grow enough to fight with us. We hid out in this cabin in the Land of Seas. Old fisherman’s place, nobody would even notice with how out of the way it was and no tenant in sight.

In the year that followed, the Intoners had gotten to managing the territories previously overseen by the Lords of Land.

Five in Land of Seas.

Four in Land of Mountains.

Three in the Land of Forests.

Two in the Land of Sands.

And One in the Cathedral City.

[Ah, classic numerical arrangement. Keeps things nice and neat.]

Five was of course the first one we went after. Closest one, easiest target.

Among the sister’s Five was… well, I think hussy is pretty accurate in fact.

[HAH!]

[Shut up.]

Five is greedy and hedonistic. She wants anything and everything and will do just about anything to slake her own curiosity. Of course, her problem is taking everything to the extreme. If she had a hidden side… never got a chance to find out what it was. And at the time, I didn’t exactly care.

But that was me with a lot of things.

Only wrinkle was finding Five at first. Guess she somehow found out how to hide a whole small city under the coastal waters Didn’t even know the old ruins in the Land of Seas had a trick like that until then. Not that it matters much. We trashed her Angel, Phanuel, and Zero killed her… well, sort of.

Intoners are an annoying kind of sturdy, and the only way to keep them down is either through the power of a Dragon, or a weapon made from their bodies. Five took some extra effort even after a good two dozen stabs from Zero… and then there was Dito.

[Dito? I wasn’t under the impression any other Intoners had companions as well.]

[I’ll get there! Ahem…]

Dito, Five’s Disciple, basically a being who can channel the Intoner’s magic to regulate it… among other things. He was the one who finished off Five. After that, he joined Zero, Mikhail, and me as we headed for the Land of Mountains after Four.

[Regulate… hah, I assume this includes certain duties of the sexual kind as well. But where did these Disciples come from? They were not present at the Cathedral City…]

[It’s… complicated. But they were made by Zero to make sure the Intoners were kept in check until she was ready to come after them. The only Intoners with Disciples though, are Five through Two… as for why, well… better saved for later.]

[Alright, be cryptic, if you so wish.]

[That’s my damn line…]

The hunt for Four in the Land of Mountains was… routine more than anything. As far as Zero and I knew, Four had taken residence in an alpine fortress there. Suitable enough, but nothing a Dragon couldn’t handle once we got close enough. Least it meant we could avoid having to pass by any towns and focus on navigating the mountain passes instead.

[I didn’t take you for the type to care about civilians.]

[I’m an ex-merc. We had strict rules about keeping civilians out of our jobs.]

[Hm. Alright, go on.]

Let’s cover Four. She’s… a bit different. “The Chaste Intoner” so she called herself. The sweet, angelic girl whom her people could look at as a shining beacon of purity and grace.

All absolute goddamn bullshit.

[Chaste Intoner? Considering what I’ve been able to infer that seems almost paradoxical.]

[Trust me, it is.]

Despite how she acts, Four is one of the nastiest of the bunch. Her entire schtick is trying to make herself look better than her sisters. So, if they’re unchaste then she must be chaste. If there’s something unjust, she must be just. You get the gimmick. She puts up a nice, cute little façade but underneath it she’s just as broilingly terrible as the rest.

Good actress though, I can give her that.

Then there was her Disciple Decadus. Not a bad guy I’d say just… well, leaned into his own fetish a bit too much for our liking. Decent cook though. Someone who isn’t on my dislike list.

As for how finding her went… turns out Four had gotten her hands on some airships and taken off from the fortress before Zero and I got there. So, once the place was a smoldering wreck thanks to Mikhail we took off after Four. You can guess what happened.

[Summoned her Angel, you defeated it, and she died? And then Zero claimed the Disciple.]

[Precisely. Not before falling for one hell of an act from Zero to boot.]

[Hah, I suppose I’ll have some reading to do.]

Zero was plenty happy to get her hands on an airship for us to use. Would save needing to run around on foot, and would even let Mikhail rest up. Honestly, getting one of the things was a boon and a half. It’d make travel easy, especially with the distances we had to cover.

[Airships? My, I didn’t think you had access to such technology.]

[You’d be surprised what people put together from the stuff they found in the Cathedral City.]

[I assume there’s going to be a catch with this.]

[Yep.]

Next on the list was Three in the Land of Forests. No sooner did we cross the border than our pretty new airship was blasted right out of the sky by Three’s soldiers. Zero was, as you can imagine, not pleased with this. We also got separated from Mikhail for… maybe all of 20 minutes? Not that big of a deal.

The Forests are a bit more interesting to talk about. They’re old and thick with ancient magic. Bad place to get lost, to put it simply. Lots of monsters, undead in particular. Also, the fairies-or as most of us knew them, those annoying little shits. The best response to them is to just punch their damn lights out and be done with them.

[Colorful description, Nier.]

[Trust me, you’ll find out why I hate them soon enough at the rate we’re going.]

The biggest wrinkle on the way to Three’s domain was her Disciple. Octa was his name, looked like a short old man. Also really liked to speak in euphemisms. Got a bit annoying at times, but like Deca I couldn’t really admit to disliking the guy. Turns out he wanted to help us. Never fully explained why, but knowing how Three is… the guess wasn’t hard.

See, Three is, or was… batshit crazy, for lack of better wording. It started when she was “younger” to put it a certain way. She took an interest in dolls. Not normal ones. One of the Lords of the Land I helped them put down was a real piece of fucking work, messed up guy obsessed with kids. Short end of it is he’d use them to make sick little dolls… and Three, not knowing much better, stole one.

She had this fixation on humans and how they worked since. And it only got worse over time. Half the monsters the Intoners deployed in their army were her doing… the worst kind of thing, honestly. Better to put those things down, put the people she twisted out of their misery.

[Driven mad by her own curiosity. To think that she would go so far as to twist men into monsters… I’d be remiss if I didn’t find such a concept familiar. Though perhaps not in the form you would be familiar with.]

[Hm, maybe.]

Three’s hiding place was deep in the forests, as far in as you could go. There’s this old shrine built in this ancient tree there, the kinda thing that towered over everything else around it. Not a bad place to set up shop, if I say so myself. Creepy as hell, but not a bad idea.

It was after we fought Three, where things got… interesting. First thing, she forced Octa to summon her Angel. The thing is, Disciples can’t defy their Intoner, so even though he turned to our side, ultimately Three’s will would force him to act, even if against his will. It’s why a guy as vicious as Dito, somebody who was Five’s total opposite never turned against her. He couldn’t.

But… that’s not the odd part.

After we beat Three’s Angel and left her spent, something… took over Mikhail. Maybe it was some kind of instinct a Dragon has towards the Flower, I’m not sure. But he snapped Three up like one of his meals all of a sudden. He didn’t even seem to be in control of himself when it happened. Even odder, after she made a meal out of Three, he changed. Suddenly, he grew into a new form out of nowhere.

[Perhaps Dragons, the natural antithesis to the Intoners, gain power by absorbing the shards of this Flower they hold within them?]

[Can’t say I’m too sure about the cause. All me and Zero knew was that now, Mikhail was a lot stronger and we’d dealt with another Intoner. Next was… Two…]

[Your tone tells me this isn’t a topic you’re fond of.]

[We’ll get there.]

 

Before we move on though, gotta explain the aftermath. While we were busy trying to figure out what happened with Mikhail, we got a rude interruption. It was Two’s Disciple Cent who barged in on of us with Two’s Angel in two. He took Mikhail and left us as we were… to follow him off to the Land of Sands that was now Two’s territory.

No Dragon, no airship, doing it the hard way.

[I take it you’re not fond of this Cent.]

[Let’s call it a long story and leave it at that for a minute.]

The Land of Sands is a rough place, and Zero’s preference for backroads that kept out of the way of settlements didn’t make the trek any easier. Didn’t take us long to find Mikhail once we got there, only to be met by Cent again after dealing with the guard detail he’d put up around the ruins being used by the army.

But… the off part was the fact Cent was out on his own to begin with. None of the others copped on, but I felt something was off from the second he dropped in to swipe Mikhail.

Least of all the fact he seemed aware why Zero and I even had Mikhail to begin with.

[Ah, yes… the Dragon was her final contingency plan after the others Intoners were dead. To ensure the Flower’s defeat. Such a shame to have to push such a duty onto a child, Dragon or no…]

[Yeah…]

So, we gave chase. Following Cent into the depths of the temple. Had to raid an underground base to clear out some soldiers first while Mikhail went looking. A Golem passed some info on Two’s location to him through… some method, telepathy? I dunno, I think it was something to do with how Dragons interact with souls.

Two’s location was deeper into the desert than most would go. She and Cent had made their home out of a shrine located in an old desert city. It was deep enough in the only real way to get there would mean you’d have to be tough as nails.

It was when we finally got there, after gods know how many more soldiers between us and them, that Cent being the on acting out came into perspective.

Two was… gone. Not dead but broken. At the time, I had no clue why, just that the Intoner before us, who a year a prior had been almost annoyingly full of energy, was little more than an empty shell who had to be coaxed into summoning her Angel. I may’ve been on board with Zero’s plan from the get, but… it’s not like I don’t have a heart. When I saw Two in that state… something in me already knew what had happened.

And who exactly was responsible for it.

[Is it fair if I ask we take an aside so you can explain this? Knowing what happens next makes this feel appropriate for a diversion.]

[I only know this because of Accord cramming all of those memories into my head. Some of it happened to include things I’d never be privy to otherwise. That happened to include what happened to Two.]

[Do tell.]

[It was her Song. You can probably imagine that as powerful as the Song is, there’s a price to using it. Zero rarely made use of its powers for that reason, and when she did it was out of necessity. The Intoners though, didn’t know this… well, all except One, the only other Intoner who knew what was going on. It can do a lot of things, powerful things. But that’s why it’s so dangerous… because people aren’t meant to be touched by that thing’s power, not in the way the Intoners were using it.]

[Were you not healed by its power? Wouldn’t this have touched on you as well?]

[I dunno. Never seemed to have any ill effects hit me despite being with Zero for a good while. But that makes me lucky. Soldiers who were enhanced by the Song were a lot tougher than ordinary humans could ever hope to be. They also didn’t tend to last long. The Song would eat away at their sanity, their bodies, until they were little more than ravenous animals.]

[I see… how then, did this end up causing Two to suffer the fate she did?]

[Two is… kind to a fault. Probably the only Intoner who was genuinely a good person if I’m being honest. But that was also why it happened. See, Two had taken in a bunch of war orphans as her own. And, well… Cent had used the Song not just to enhance her soldiers, but also to try and protect those kids. This, well… you can guess it didn’t go well.]

[I see… I won’t ask for the details, I’m sure you perhaps barely grasp them yourself. For a kindhearted person, having their good will backfire on them can be even worse than anything else in life. And considering the volatility of the Intoners, such a thing would be far more extreme than with anyone else.]

[Hit the nail on the head. Can’t say I doubt that kind of thing wouldn’t break anyone. But, for someone like Two… death probably would’ve been better than suffering that. The thing is, compared to the rest of the Intoners she was never really able to adapt to her Song well. Zero assumed she never fully developed her powers right, so her body just couldn’t handle it when it got out of control.]

[And thus her mind shattered when the repercussions of that power snapped back on her. Tragic indeed. All because her own Disciple was doing what he felt to be the best course of action.]

[Cent was an idiot. He admitted it himself. And idiots like him tend to be colossal fuck ups.]

[I think I see why you don’t like him much.]

 

With four Intoners down and our party at full size, the only place we had left was the Cathedral City, One’s new abode.

The City is… odd. Its architecture isn’t like anything we’ve seen, even from the ruins that already exist. All we know is, when it appeared, so did things like magic and other supernatural entities. It’s both a holy site and seat of power, be it for the Lords of the Land or the Intoners.

So, Zero and I led the attack, going in on Mikhail with the Disciples were on foot.

One was, perhaps luckily for us, choosing to be proactive, and came out to meet us on Gabriel.

[During that memory of your first trip, you mentioned another name… Gabriella, I believe it was?]

[Yeah… that was the name of the Dragon that became Gabriel. I won’t explain it now, we’ll meet her soon enough. Just know… I don’t exactly like knowing why this happened. Gabriella was a good friend.]

The fight with Gabriel went on for a good while, but it was Mikhail who landed a blow that sent Gabriel to the ground unlike last time. From there, the only path left was for us to get to the central Cathedral, One seeming to have run off after Gabriel fell.

Along the way, Mikhail had to split off to keep Gabriel off our tails while we fought through One’s forces in the city. It was about what you could expect, everything from soldiers to the monsters shoring up the forces. Block after city block, we tore through them all just to reach the core of the city and the palace one was using as her home now.

Just fighting and fighting and fighting… by the time we got there I’m pretty sure the city was littered with whatever was left of One’s army and the dregs of the other Intoners’ forces.

Once we got there… that’s where the first end began.

First, Zero reclaimed the power used for the Disciples, returning them to their original forms. Doves.

[Doves? You’re… Nier, is this a joke?]

[Nope. We’d actually made a trip to the Cathedral City before that other visit. The first time around, when I was keeping an eye on the Intoners. Things… happened, and Zero created the Disciples to regulate their powers. It’s also why One doesn’t have a Disciple. Zero didn’t need to make one for her. Granted they only became humans afterwards. Probably influenced by the connection with their Intoner.]

[I see… that makes for an interesting turn of events.]

[At this point it may not matter. Anyway…]

All that was left were me, Zero, and Mikhail. We stormed the Cathedral itself, knowing that at the end of it all was the final stop on this long mission of ours. Whatever soldiers were left didn’t matter. We stained the halls of that palace red from whatever got between us and One. And then… the end was there, the last Intoner we had to deal with.

One is smart, she was the only one besides Zero who copped onto what the Flower really was. If things had been any different, I don’t doubt she’d have made a good leader to try and bring the nation under a new age… but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. One was a lot of things, most of them positive. But most of all she was prideful. It wasn’t simply enough that she knew what to do, what had to be done.

One herself had to be the one to do them. In her eyes, nobody else had the right attitude or mind to do what she felt needed to be done. Not even Zero, even if they shared the same goal in the end.

[Pride cometh before the fall indeed.]

The battle was long… hard. Couldn’t even get to One directly at first, had to fight through a swarm of golems she had control over first. And after those, it was Dragon on Dragon as she summoned Gabriel back into the cathedral. Honestly, I’m surprised the place was left standing after how it got torn up from the two Dragons fighting the way they did.

Mikhail put a hell of a show for a child Dragon… he did Michael more than proud. But Gabriel… honestly still stings to know what One’s pact did to Gabriella even now. The only way Mikhail found to beat him was a method Dragons hold close: his Final Wish.

[Final Wish? With a name like that it sounds quite impressive.]

[Call it a form of higher magic. Most Dragons use their Final Wish to reincarnate. They lose their memories and most of their power, but it allows them to continue living again and again even if they’re on the verge of death. Or… they can use that life as one final burst of power to destroy an enemy.]

But even that wasn’t goddamn enough. Gabriel was weakened, so it was all up to me and Zero to finish this. And I’ll admit… I felt like I was doing more of a service by finally putting him down. Gabriella would probably have ripped me a new one for the sentimental attitude, but I hated seeing her turned into that thing.

And just when we were sure it was done, when Gabriel was dead, and One with him because of their Pact… one final damn twist of fate revealed itself: One had her own Disciple… a brother made from her own flesh and blood. Zero and I were too exhausted to fight back, and One was smart enough to give him a Dragon weapon to do the job.

Only condolence I got was burning his damn face in half before he got his blade out of me after Zero took it to the gut.

And that was it. A world where even if we got bit in the ass right at the end, the ending Zero wanted came about anyway… the Intoners were dead, and the Flower’s power with them. At least… that’s what she hoped for. What I hoped for. It’s not like Zero was planning to come out of it alive at the end.

[Well… I see now why Accord was making multiple attempts. True, this Branch ended with the Intoners dead, but neither was the Song truly lost with the survival of this brother of One. Not exactly the result one would be looking for if they hoped to seal the thing completely.]

[Far from it. Still chilling to think about… and while I’m curious what happened after all of that, I don’t think I want to know.]

[Well if our goal is to avert such an ending anyway, then no need for us to be too concerned with it. As it stands now, the only way is forward… as soon as Michael is done testing you and the hussy.]

[Would it kill you to use her name?]

[Hah! We’ll decide that once it’s time for her to meet me. Until then, hussy it is!]

[She reminds you of somebody, doesn’t she? You aren’t saying that like it’s a bad thing.]

[Perhaps, perhaps not… one day I may explain my own story to you in full. But, today is not that day.]

[Fine, keep your secrets, Weiss.]

[You’re lucky I’m so fond of being called that, boy.]