Part of the process

by terrabunny

Summary:

They planned it all out, and worked hard to make it happen: Origin would keep everyone safe while the worlds intersected and rebooted, then put everything back just as it was. So why have Rex and Shulk – their adventuring days behind them, and attentions turned to raising their families and building their communities – found themselves dumped unceremoniously into this confusing, broken, patchwork world of child soldiers and annihilation events? And how are they supposed to fix it when they don’t understand what went wrong?

A story that fills in the gaps in Future Redeemed with found family, found purpose and little wins plugging the leaks in the sea of losses.

Notes:

I know I'm late to the party but I sure hope I'm not the only one still afflicted by rex/shulk disease.

Chapter 1: This too shall pass

Summary:

They planned it all out, and worked hard to make it happen: Origin would keep everyone safe while the worlds intersected and rebooted, then put everything back just as it was. So why have Rex and Shulk – their adventuring days behind them, and attentions turned to raising their families and building their communities – found themselves dumped unceremoniously into this confusing, broken, patchwork world of child soldiers and annihilation events? And how are they supposed to fix it when they don’t understand what went wrong?

A story that fills in the gaps in Future Redeemed with found family, found purpose and little wins plugging the leaks in the sea of losses .

The first thing he becomes aware of is the cold, hard ground underneath him. He’s no stranger to sleeping on the ground, but if it’s this cold he should be wrapped up in a nice warm bedroll instead of under a thin blanket.

The second thing he becomes aware of is the fact that he has no idea how he got here. So perhaps he’s concussed. A head injury would be an alternative theory for why he’s on the floor. 

He rolls onto his back, and the third thing he becomes aware of is that his head is swimming and his stomach churning. It feels like he’s still rolling for long, nauseating seconds after he’s stopped moving. More evidence for a concussion…

It takes an effort to open his eyes, and when he does, everything is a blur. Wherever he finds himself is dimly lit, flickering, as if by a fire somewhere nearby – or maybe his eyes aren’t working right. He blinks hard, trying to focus on something, looking around for something to focus on . He’s in a cavern, maybe, and there’s a fire in the next chamber? Something is approaching, a shock of golden hair reflecting the firelight, ah – 

“Mythra?” he attempts to say, though it comes out garbled.

“Ah, Rex, good, you’re awake,” says a vaguely familiar man’s voice. The figure kneels down on the ground beside him.

He blinks some more until his vision comes into focus at last. A man about his own age, hair the same colour as Mythra’s framing a pale face with blue eyes, wearing a red coat over a turtleneck jumper. He clears his throat, licks his lips. “You’re not Mythra,” he says stupidly.

The man’s lips press together in a weak smile. “No, sorry, I’m not.”

Rex blinks a couple more times. “Eh, you’re kinda cute as well,” he hears himself saying. He cringes inside, but before he can apologise the other man’s smile grows wider.

“Hah!” The man looks away briefly. “Well, I’ll take the fact that you’ve woken up with your sense of humour intact as a good sign. Though you might want to get your sight checked. I’m Shulk. We’ve communicated before, but only through the light relay.”

Rex rolls back onto his side, starts to sit up –

“Easy,” Shulk starts, “take it slowly, most of us –”

– before his stomach seems to turn inside out and he starts dry retching.

“-- yeah, that. The vertigo soon passes, thankfully. I’ll fetch you some water.”

Rex finishes sitting up, more slowly this time. He crosses his legs and closes his eyes while he waits for his head to stop spinning. He shivers with the cold, and feels goosebumps when he rubs his hands over his arms to try to warm up. The vertigo has just about stopped by the time Shulk’s footsteps return from another chamber of the cavern. Rex takes the proffered flask and drinks a few sips, cautiously in case his stomach revolts again. The water is cold, too, almost icy.

“So, ah.” Rex pauses to clear his throat. “I gather it didn’t work like we planned. Since we’re not supposed to be in the same, uh, universe.”

“Indeed, it appears not. Although we’re not sure yet what went wrong. We’re not even sure where we are. To me it looks like we’re on Valak Mountain from my world, but some of the guys from your side say it’s a place called Tantal.”

“Well, that would explain the cold. Wait, you said guys from my –”

“Uncle Rex! Uncle Rex!” 

Rex turns his head (too fast, spinning again) to see a trio of little girls running towards him. His green-haired niece is in the lead. He opens his arms and Linka runs straight into his hug, almost knocking him onto his back, before immediately bursts into tears. “Hey, hey, Linka, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Rex tells her. “I’m here, it’ll all be okay.”

“I want my mommy and daddy,” Linka says between sobs.

“They aren’t here?” Rex asks, more to Shulk than Linka. One of the other girls grabs a fistful of Shulk’s coat. Shulk lifts her into his arms, then reaches down to hold the third girl’s hand.

“Girls, you need to stay with the others where it’s warmer,” Shulk says. He turns back towards the other chamber and calls, “Narine! Would you mind coming here, please?”

“But I want Uncle Rex,” Linka sniffles into Rex’s neck.

“It’s alright, I’m not going anywhere,” Rex tells her, as if he knows what’s going on.

A woman, presumably Narine, appears and apologises for letting the children out of her sight. Shulk hands the child he’s holding to her, then kneels down next to Rex and Linka.

“Linka, I’m sorry but I need to borrow your uncle for a few minutes. Can you go with Narine for now, please? We’ll be with you soon.”

Linka looks between Shulk, Rex and Narine, as if weighing up whether they can be trusted. “Promise?” she asks.

“I promise,” Shulk says.

Reluctantly, Linka lets go of Rex and follows Narine and the others. Once they’re safely out of earshot, Rex says, “So Linka’s parents really aren’t here? Pandoria and Zeke?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Are my kids here? Mio, Glimmer and Glitter?”

Shulk shakes his head.

“My wives?”

Shulk lays his hand on Rex’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“I see.” He reaches for the flask and takes another drink. He shivers again, and pulls the tatty blanket that had been covering him around his shoulders. He tries to think how he’s supposed to feel about being in some unknown place without his family. But maybe they’re somewhere else here, maybe somewhere nearby . He tries not to think about the possibility that they might be in danger without him there to protect them. 

“Are you alright?” Shulk asks. He’s frowning.

“Yeah, just…you know. Disorientated.” He takes a breath and tries to gather himself. “Okay, give me the sitrep.”

Shulk nods. “There’s twenty seven of us here. Sixteen from Alrest, eleven from the world of the Bionis. Five children. None of the adults know each other more than in passing, except that the children each have an adult who is close to them, but isn’t a relative – as if someone planned this, even if we didn’t. But other than that, I can’t see any connections between us…” he trails off for a moment. 

As Rex listens to Shulk speak, his brain itches with a vague sense of familiarity that he can’t quite place. 

“It seems we each have the clothes and belongings that we had on us when we were transferred to Origin,” Shulk continues. “We have a dozen or so bags of belongings between us, and some of us were travelling, so there are a few spare clothes and blankets and things – though far from enough. As you can see, we’re sheltering in a cavern in a cold place at high altitude. We’ve found enough firewood for now, and we’ve got people out hunting for food, though their catches so far are sparse. What else do you want to know?”

“Are you sure we haven’t spoken before?” he asks.

“Quite sure.” Shulk studies him for a moment. “How are you feeling? Are you experiencing déjà vu?” 

“I don’t think so,” Rex scratches his chin, and finds a day’s worth of stubble on his face. “I just feel like I recognise your voice from somewhere. Guess I’m thinking of someone else.”

“Maybe.” Shulk mirrors Rex, scratching his own chin. 

“Anyway, you wanted to borrow me?”

“Mostly to give you a while longer to wake up properly. How’s the vertigo? Any headaches?”

Rex takes stock and realises the vertigo seems to be gone. “Nope. I’m a tad chilly, and I’ve a feeling I’ll be ravenous in a little while, but that’s all.”

“That’s good. Waking up here has had some odd side effects in the first few minutes for all of us, but it seems like you’re coming round faster than most. The other thing is that, well, everyone from Alrest knows who you are. I think they’re expecting you to lead them to safety. I just wanted to give you a minute to prepare for that.”

“Right. That figures. Hey, aren’t you pretty famous on your side?”

Shulk looks uncomfortable, his nose wrinkling slightly. “I’m not sure I’d say famous…but yeah, I guess I’m well known. And yes, they’re expecting the same of me. So, it’s good to finally meet you properly, Rex of the Aegis. I hope we can work well together,” Shulk says with a smile.

Rex returns his smile. “I don’t foresee any issues on that count,” he says. “Uh, about what I said when I first woke up –”

“Don’t worry about it. Already forgotten,” Shulk says far too fast for it actually to have been forgotten.

At that moment, movement from the other chamber catches Rex’s attention: three little faces peering towards them. Shulk follows his gaze, and chuckles. 

“I guess I should return you to your niece,” Shulk says. “You’re the last of us to wake up. Linka has been worried about you, to say the least. Are you feeling up to joining everyone?”

“Sure,” Rex says, “especially if it means I can warm up by the fire.”

Shulk stands and offers Rex a hand to help him up. 

“Whoa, you’re taller than I realised,” Shulk says with a laugh. Rex isn’t sure, given the dim light, but he thinks he sees Shulk’s cheeks flush. 

Rex grins awkwardly and scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah, I get that a lot. But what was that about waking up, how long was I out?”

Shulk checks the watch on his wrist. “Well, about 36 hours longer than me. I was the first to wake up. We were all in this chamber, just…lying here, unwakeable, unconscious.”

“Waking up amongst a bunch of unrousable people in a completely unfamiliar place. That must have been weird.”

“Yeah, it was…not pleasant. Thankfully I only had the place to myself for a couple of hours. Anyway, let’s join the others.” Shulk heads towards the other chamber, gesturing for Rex to follow. 

Linka lifts her arms to be picked up just as soon as Rex has passed through the opening into the other chamber. Rex obliges, lifting her up above his head and spinning around a couple of times, making her laugh gleefully, before settling her on his hip and tucking her under the blanket still around his shoulders. This chamber has a wide opening to the outside world as well as a crackling fire as its centre, so the light is better here, letting him get a better look at Linka’s complexion. There’s still some colour to her cheeks, though she is paler than usual, and her eyes are red-rimmed from tears and have dark circles underneath. 

“Are you all better now, Uncle Wex?” she asks.

“Yes, sweetheart, I’m fine. I was just having a lie-in.”

“You always get up too late and miss breakfast and sometimes lunch as well,” she berates.

“Shh,” he presses a finger to his lips. “We don’t need to tell Shulk about that, do we?”

But Shulk isn’t listening. He’s on his way to investigate something going on at the cave entrance. Rex takes stock of the rest of the group. Narine, another woman and a young man barely out of his teens are looking after four children. There are two people grilling some small pieces of meat on skewers over the fire, and a number sitting alone or in twos and threes talking in hushed tones. A few are sleeping, making themselves as comfortable as possible without bedrolls on the cold, hard ground. All of the faces he can see look cold and hungry, scared and subdued – not that different to Linka, all told. 

Most of those who are awake are watching the half dozen people standing at the cave entrance. It looks like three people have just returned from venturing outside; they are wrapped up in layers of warm clothing and dusted with snow. Two have hunting bows strung from backpacks, and quivers at their hips. All three have their hands full with boxes.

Rex picks up on the conversation as he makes his way towards them.

“...from a crate. It looked like it was airdropped some time ago, though it wasn’t completely buried in the snow. We found the remains of a parachute nearby.”

“Was there any sign that anyone else might be taking things from it?” Shulk asks a young man whose face is red with the cold. The man pushes his hood back, and Rex does a double take at the small wings emerging from the man’s black hair, before remembering about the existence of such a race on the Bionis. He tries to remember their name. High something.

“No,” the man says, “no footprints, and the seals on the crate were intact. It had the same crest on as these boxes.”

Shulk rubs his chin as Rex comes to stand beside him. 

“Rex, sir!” one of the other adventurers exclaims: a man about his own age with reddish hair and a strong Gormotti accent. He extends a gloved hand to shake Rex’s. “It’s an honour to meet you, sir. I’m Owen.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, Owen,” Rex shakes his hand. “No need to call me sir.”

By now a few of the others have come over to see what’s going on, and start taking it in turns to introduce themselves to Rex. There are too many for Rex to remember everyone’s names right now, especially with one ear tuned into Shulk’s conversation. The third member of the adventuring party, a middle aged woman with orange hair and Tantalese tattoos on her face, is opening the boxes and handing out bars of some kind of food and little pouches of something drinkable. Someone hands a few bars to Rex. He peels back the wrapper of one and hands a square of it to Linka to try, then pockets the rest. She wrinkles her nose a little at the flavour, but that doesn’t stop her from munching on it.

“More food and drink, some clothes and blankets,” the man with the wings is telling Shulk, evidently listing off what they found in the crate. “A decent amount of what appears to be medicine, though who knows what for. A lot of parts that we don’t have any use for right now. And a lot of stuff that I didn’t recognise, too.”

“How many people do you think we would need to bring the rest of the useful things back?” Shulk asks.

“If we can take all the bags we have here, then maybe half a dozen – if we have enough cold weather gear for that many to go out at once.”

“Good thinking about the bags. And good work. This will make things a lot easier; you’ve likely saved some lives by finding this. Warm up and get some rest, and we’ll go get the rest tomorrow.” Shulk turns his attention to Rex. “Fancy a little trip in the morning? The crate is only a couple of kilometri away, but walking in the snow is slow, and the sun will be setting soon.”

“Sounds good,” Rex says. “What’s a kilometri?”

Shulk frowns. “A thousand metri. A metri is about this far,” he gestures with his hands.

“Looks about the same as a ped,” Rex says.

“A couple of thousand peds, then.”

“A couple of titanpeds.”

“Right. Titanpeds. I knew we’d find some linguistic differences eventually.”

Linka tugs on Rex’s jacket collar and whispers in his ear, “I’m cold.”

“Sorry, sweetie, let’s go back inside,” Rex says. And then to Shulk: “Come find me if you need me?”

Shulk nods, then returns to logistics, unpacking a box of blankets and taking them around to those currently without.

Rex takes Linka to the make-shift crèche, tucked away in a little cove at the back of the chamber. It’s still cold, especially near the ground, but a couple of blankets have been layered on top of each other to give the children somewhere a little less cold to sit and sleep. Rex sits down on the blankets and puts Linka beside him, tucked under his arm for warmth. She is worrying her lower lip between her teeth, like she always does when she’s anxious.

“What’s wrong?” Rex asks her.

“I miss my mommy and daddy,” she says, clearly trying to hold back more tears.

“Yeah, I miss my family too. But I’m sure your mum and dad are fine, and hopefully we’ll see them again soon,” Rex says, because it’s all he can say.

“Do you have to go away tomorrow, Uncle Rex?” she asks. “With Mr. Shulk?”

“Just for a little while. We’ll go out for a walk after the sun comes up again, and we’ll be back before it gets dark.”

Linka considers this. “Promise you’ll come back?”

“Promise.”

She nods, apparently satisfied.

“Why don’t you introduce me to your friends?” Rex asks, since all four of the other kids are looking at him, slightly wary. He knows his size often unsettles small children at first.

“That’s Georgie, and her mommy’s friend Miss Narine,” she says as she points to the blonde girl with glasses and the woman sitting next to her.

“And that’s Murray and his brother’s friend Mr Harris.” Harris seems barely old enough to be called a man himself, but he looks protective of Murray, as if they were brothers themselves. 

“Those are Gareth and Miss Wynne.” The two Gormotti nod to Rex. “Miss Wynne is Gareth’s, uh…”

“We were raised in the same orphanage,” Wynne supplies. “I go back there to help out when I can.”

“And that’s Panacea,” Linka finishes, pointing to the dark-haired, red-eyed girl. “Mr. Shulk is her mommy and daddy’s friend.”

Rex repeats everyone’s names back, then introduces himself: “I’m Rex. I’m a friend of Linka’s mum and dad. Pleased to meet you all.” With a grin, he produces the food bars from his pocket. “I can’t promise that these taste great, but is anyone hungry?”

Eyes go wide all around the little circle of children, so he starts handing out squares of the rations to them – only Murray turns his nose up at the taste, but even for him, hunger eventually wins out over flavour – and then whole bars to the grown ups. Finally he opens one himself. He takes a nibble, finding it doesn’t really taste of anything: slightly sweet, vaguely salty. But it’s at that moment that he realises he’s starving hungry, and he finishes off the whole thing in three bites. 

He’s debating whether to eat a second bar or ration himself when Shulk sits next to him with an armful of the little pouches. “Anyone want juice?” Shulk asks, handing them out to the children first and helping them pierce the pouches with the straws. To Rex, he says, “I see you’ve managed to break the ice with them much faster than I managed.”

“Normally cake or chocolate works best, I find,” Rex says. “Not that it’s a good thing that they’re hungry enough to eat ration packs.”

“No,” Shulk agrees. Then Panacea comes and sits herself next to Shulk, demanding his attention.

Rex looks back over his shoulder at the rest of the faces scattered around the chamber, scanning them for someone who looks even vaguely familiar. But there’s no one he can recall ever seeing before. The arrival of food and warmth has improved the general mood, though. There are more people talking, even a few smiles. Rex sees that two women have scrunched up some of the food wrappers into little balls and seem to have re-invented boules.

Later that evening, after the children have been coaxed to sleep, Rex is trying to get comfortable, wrapped up in one blanket and lying atop another. Even though he’s surrounded by other people – Linka to one side and Panacea to the other, and strangers scattered all around the chamber – he feels alone. It’s hardly as though he never sleeps away from his wives, but before, he’s always known where the three of them are and when he will see them again.

Poor Rex , he hears Nia say in his head. Our beloved has forgotten how to be on his own . He smiles at the imaginary-Nia’s jibe. 

He rolls over. There are three people standing at the entrance to the cavern, keeping watch. Shulk is amongst them. When Shulk turns back to look over everyone sleeping and attempting to sleep, he looks so sad that Rex can barely stand it. He considers getting up to keep Shulk company; but then, one of the other guards says something to Shulk, and Shulk says something back with a quick, if forced, smile.

Rex rolls back and ruffles his fingers through little Linka’s hair. He fills his mind with thoughts of his family and waits for sleep to come.

 

---

 

It’s almost noon of the next day by the time the party reaches the airdropped chest. First, there was difficulty in finding sufficient warm clothing large enough for Rex. He has to settle for layering up clothes from the crate that were designed to fit someone similarly tall but less sturdily built under his own clothes, then fashioning a hooded cloak out of blankets knotted together. After that they’d had to wait for a snow flurry to stop. Finally, Linka had needed a lot of reassurance that Rex would be coming back soon, only calming down when the pair who had reinvented boules last night – Mathea, a builder from Leftheria, and Sinta, a tailor from Colony 6 on the Bionis – came over and taught their game to the children. But eventually, Shulk, Rex, and the three who found the crate yesterday head out and further up the mountain.

The snowstorm in the early morning had covered up the tracks from yesterday, but it turns out that Aquillan, the half-High Entia (Rex had to ask Shulk to remind him of their name) who found the crate, is a keen tracker and was able to trace the previous day’s route easily. Rex thinks they underestimated the distance yesterday – either that or titanpeds and metri aren’t actually the same – and it’s all uphill. Either way, there’s plenty of time for Shulk and the others to bounce ideas around about how they might possibly get everyone down the mountain to more hospitable climes. Nobody wants to say it, but they all know it’ll be a challenge to keep everyone safe.

Once they reach the crate, Aquillan and Demetria – the Tantalese hunter – brush the fresh snow off the crate’s lid and throw it open, then stand back so that Shulk can get a look at the contents. Shulk pulls out the boxes one by one, checking what’s inside and then sorting it into one of three piles: essentials, take if we have space, and not needed. Food and drink all go into the ‘essentials’ pile, and Shulk asks Aquillan to sort through the clothing to find the most suitable items. First aid supplies, and some of the medicines that they can identify go into the ‘essentials’ pile as well. Rex offers to help sort out the rest, although a lot of it is parts that are no more identifiable to him than the scrap he used to salvage as a kid; that is to say, only useful if you already know what you need it for. But there are a few obviously useful things: ropes, flashlights and lanterns, flares, binoculars and the like. Meanwhile, Owen and Demetria pack what they’ve decided to take into the bags they’ve brought with them.

“These clothes are an odd design,” Aquillan says. “They’re like a military uniform – a lot of it has this same crest on it – but many of them are sized for children.”

Rex picks up one of the garments to take a closer look. It’s a black tactical jacket – almost all the clothes are black – but sized for a twelve year old. “None of this stuff is warm weather gear, either,” he says. “I don’t think this was meant to be dropped near here.”

“No weapons,” Shulk says.

“Huh?” Rex asks.

“There aren’t any weapons in the crate. I was hoping there would be some, in case we need to defend ourselves on our way down the mountain. Demetria and Aquillan have their bows, and we have a few utility or hunting knives to go around, but it wouldn’t be enough to defend us from a serious threat.”

Rex rummages through the parts, looking for anything that might plausibly serve as a weapon, but comes up short. Then Shulk comes over and picks something up: a small black disc with a groove running around the edge that lights up blue when Shulk touches it. The light gets brighter when he holds it close to his body. 

“What’s that?” Rex asks. “A weapon?”

“It’s a power frame. They concentrate ether from the air and infuse it into your body to make you physically stronger.”

“Huh. That sounds pretty useful.” Rex picks one up and holds it close to its chest, but it doesn’t do anything. He tries another, with the same result. Shulk hands him the one he’s holding, and it goes dark.

Shulk picks up another, and it lights up. “Well,” he says, “that’s strange. I wonder…” He picks up three more and hands them to the others. 

Only Aquillan’s lights up, though not as brightly as Shulk’s. “I’ve already got one on my belt,” Aquillan says, and Shulk nods as if that explains it. 

After rubbing his chin for a moment, Shulk asks, “do you humans from Alrest need ether in order to live?”

Rex looks to Owen and Demetria, both of whom look just as nonplussed as him. “Not that I’ve ever heard,” he says. “I think it’s just Blades who need it.”

“That’s probably it, then. All life in the world of the Bionis is predicated on the flow of ether. Your bodies aren’t drawing any in, so the power frame won’t operate.”

“So we don’t get the strength bonus?” Rex asks.

“Or maybe you’re stronger by nature,” Shulk says.

“I don’t follow.”

Shulk thinks for a moment. “Imagine being optimally fed all the time, because you photosynthesise and it’s always sunny. You wouldn’t need to eat any food. An ether flow is just a physiological need that you don’t have, so you’re always at full strength.”

“Whereas you need to take in ether – to eat food, in your analogy – in order to stay alive?” Rex says.

“Yes, that’s right. Anyway, let’s put some of the power frames with the essentials, and figure it out properly when we get back.” He clips one to his belt and goes back to sorting the crate. Rex gathers a couple of dozen out of the pile, handing them to Owen to put in a bag.

Once the packing is finished, the group decides to eat some lunch before starting back. While they have found some more interesting food than the ration bars and juice packs amongst the supplies, they decide against taking any on the grounds that they don’t have the capacity to carry any cooking equipment. Rex does sneak a tin of tea into his pack, though, to give himself something to look forward to.

“Are you sure we can’t take some pans and some real food back with us?” Owen asks. “I’m not sure I can stomach eating nothing but these bars.”

“Sure, if you want to carry them,” Aquillan says. Their packs are already stuffed full.

“They’re not that bad,” Shulk says. “They don’t taste much different to bread and cheese, really.”

“You what? I think there’s something wrong with your tastebuds,” Owen says amiably.

Shulk gives a little shrug and takes another bite, washing it down with some juice.

When Rex finishes eating he picks up a pair of binoculars from the crate. “Mind if I trek up to that outcrop? I want to try to scout out a path down,” he says.

“Mmm”, Shulk says, his mouth still full. “Wait a minute, I’ll come with you.” He wolfs down the rest of his food and grabs his own pair of binoculars. To the others he says, “If we’re gone longer than an hour, you should head back without us.”

“But what if –” Aquillan starts.

“They’re expecting us back before it starts getting dark, and I don’t want them to send out a search party if we’re late. We’ll be fine. Leave some of the bags here for us to carry, and we’ll pick them up on our way back.”

Demetria nods. “We’ll do as you say.”

It’s only half a titanped or so to the outcrop, although slow going due to the snow getting deeper as they ascend. The weather remains clear, though, and they get fantastic views down the mountain to the lands beyond.

“This would be beautiful if we were here to see the sights,” Shulk observes once they’ve reached the top of the outcrop. The icy wind here is ferocious, and they have to raise their voices to make themselves heard.

Rex is struggling to focus the binoculars with the thick gloves on. Huffing, he decides to take them off for a few minutes and tucks them inside his coat. 

After watching him, Shulk does the same. “We’ll have to be quick, so as not to get frostbite,” he says.

Rex scans the terrain back down to the cavern, then looks for a possible route down the mountain. When he sees what looks like some ruins, he frowns, and increases the zoom for a closer look. “Huh. Do you see that ruined cathedral? That’s from Tantal. This place obviously is at least part Tantal, but I didn’t expect entire buildings just to be…here.”

Shulk follows his line of sight. “I see it.” And then, a few seconds later: “I wonder what that cavity beyond it is. It looks spherical. Are there places like that in Alrest?” 

Rex zooms out a little to take in the feature. “No, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“There’s more ruins beyond… Wait, can you see movement in them?”

Rex finds what Shulk is looking at then zooms back in. “Yeah, I can. Looks like a village or something.”

“I hope they’re friendly. But this looks like a viable route down. Beyond that village, there seems to be a cliff, but if there’s a village at the top then there must be a way down. After that, it looks like it’s a clear descent. This is better than I was hoping for.”

Rex scans back up the mountain path, checking for any possible barriers. They can’t see the whole route from this angle, but hopefully, if they make judicious use of scouts –

“Rex, look!” Shulk exclaims. “Is that a Nopon caravan? Near the village, before the route disappears behind those peaks.”

Rex follows the route. He’s starting to shiver a little and it’s hard to hold the binoculars still enough to see anything at full zoom. But then he sees it, a group of multicoloured shapes and what could be a luggage train. “Well, it looks like Nopon have caravans in all worlds,” he says.

“We should get back and set off a flare at the cavern.” 

“Good idea,” Rex says, already putting the binoculars away and stuffing his hands back into his gloves.

He turns around and finds himself face to face with an enormous ories.

“Shulk,” he says, keeping his voice calm and quiet, “we’ve got a problem.”

“Wha – oh.” 

The ories isn’t moving, so Rex doesn’t move either. They both stand their ground, the ories aiming the points of its curled horns straight towards him. Rex doesn’t even dare to blink. The only sound is the ories’ loud breathing; the only movement is the clouds of water vapour dispersing when it exhales.

“Stop looking it in the eye,” Shulk says, voice low.

Rex does as he’s told, but the creature lets out a growl, and it scrapes one of its front hoofs into the snow. Looks like it wants a fight , he hears Mythra’s voice in his head. You can take a single ories . The Mythra-in-his-head doesn’t seem to know he’s unarmed, save the utility knife strapped to his thigh.

Long seconds pass. Out of the corner of his eye, Rex sees Shulk sidestep cautiously away from the beast. The ories can still see Shulk, of course, but the movement doesn’t redirect the creature’s attention away from Rex. Shulk slowly shrugs the backpack off his shoulders and brings it in front of himself. Rex thinks he sees what the other man is trying to do. Rex knows, as must Shulk, that it’s a gamble. But Rex doesn’t see any better alternatives.

Shulk swings the pack by its straps and sends it flying through the air. The distraction does grab the ories’ attention, and it turns and chases the pack faster than Rex would have guessed such a large animal could move. Rex takes the opportunity to run for it, but when he looks back over his shoulder to Shulk, the ories has changed direction again and is now headed straight for the other man.

“Shulk!” Rex shouts, already running back. Shulk has pulled out a knife and is bracing himself to slice the ories’ face with it, but the thing’s horns are so long that it could easily knock Shulk off his feet before the blade makes contact. Rex yells again: “It’s me you wanted, you little shit!”

Shulk ducks and rolls to the side just before it can gore him, but it takes less than a second for the thing to turn and charge again. Rex has almost reached Shulk, and he instinctively reaches for his Aegis swords –

– just as he realises that Pyra and Mythra aren’t here –

– yet there’s a flash of ether and the familiar weights of the weapons appear in his hands anyway. And that does catch the ories’ attention.

“Not feeling so big now, are ya?” Rex shouts.

But the ories apparently is still feeling big, as it doesn’t stop its charge, now directed back toward Rex. Rex jumps out of its way and lets Pyra’s sword cut down the ories’ flank, hoping to make it reconsider its attack. But the injury only seems to enrage it further. It charges again, and this time Rex waits, and drives Mythra’s blade directly into its skull. The creature dies instantly, though inertia carries it forward far enough to knock Rex off his feet. 

“Rex! Are you alright?” Shulk is at his side, pulling him away from the growing puddle of red slush forming around the creature’s head.

Rex tests his limbs. They all still work, though there’s a pain in one of his legs where the ories’ horn struck him as it fell. He can’t tell whether it’s cut or just bruised, but given that it’s not pouring blood, it doesn’t seem worth stripping his clothes off to find out. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”

“Yes, it didn’t hit me. But how did you… Where did those swords come from? And where did they go?”

“Good question,” Rex says, letting Shulk help him to his feet for the second time in as many days. He dusts the snow off his clothes and takes a few steps back, then reaches again for the swords.

Nothing happens.

He frowns, and tries again. He looks inside himself, finds that connection with Mythra and Pyra, lets the warmth of their love flow through him, and reaches.

Still nothing.

He tries for Nia’s scimitar as well, for good measure, with the same result.

“What’s happening?” Shulk asks.

“Not a lot, looks like. I was trying… When that ories charged you, muscle memory made me reach for my swords, and they just…appeared. And then disappeared when I didn’t need them any more, it seems.”

“But now you can’t do it?”

Rex shrugs. “Seems not.”

“Hmm…” Shulk folds one arm across his chest and rests his chin on the other hand. Rex is already noticing that it’s a habit of his. “I wonder…”

Shulk checks the space around himself, then raises his right arm.

Nothing happens.

Shulk laughs awkwardly. “I don’t know why I thought that might work,” he says.

Rex looks at him, eyebrows raised.

“There was a time, a long time ago now, when I manifested a sword with my will. Well, with a lot of help from my friends as well. I gave up the ability to do that, though, so…” Shulk trails off with an embarrassed shrug. “But what you did looked a lot like that.”

“I gotta say, in my world, manifesting weapons is something that Blades do a lot of. But you don’t have Blades – like, Drivers and Blades – in your world, do you?”

“No, though I’m familiar with the concept. But it’s interesting that you say that.” 

Rex waits for him to expand further, but he doesn’t. Instead, he turns to look at the ories’ corpse. “It’s a shame we had to kill it,” he says.

“I’m pretty sure it was going to kill at least one of us if we didn’t.”

“Oh, I know. But we were the ones invading its territory. And we can’t even make use of its body. It’s too far to drag it back to camp.”

“You don’t like killing?” Rex asks.

“I don’t like needless death,” Shulk says. “I’ve seen too much of it already.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

Shulk is silent for a few moments, then says, “we ought to be getting back. Aquillan and the others will have set off already.”

“Yeah,” Rex says. “There’ll be hell to pay if we don’t catch them up.”

“Oh?”

“If they get back to camp without us, Linka’s going to completely freak out.”

 

---

 

Rex and Shulk fail to catch up with Aquillan and the others. Rex’s injured leg bothers him, doubly so once they pick up the remaining bags from atop the supply crate. Shulk is flagging as well, unable to suppress yawning even as they walk. To add insult to injury, Shulk’s face is turning red with sunburn – “I’m not surprised,” he says when Rex tells him. “I always did burn easily.” 

They manage to make good on Rex’s promise to Linka to be back before sunset, but only by a few minutes. 

Panacea turns out to have been just as anxious as Linka about the party’s return. “They were getting each other wound up that something bad had happened to you,” Narine explains. So debriefing and setting off flares has to wait until Rex and Shulk have reassured their respective honorary nieces, and seeing to Rex’s leg has to wait until later still. It’s fully dark – and the girls finally calmed down enough to sleep – before Rex limps into a secluded corner of the second chamber with a first aid kit and strips his lower half down to his underpants.

His leg is a mess of black and blue with an impressive lump, but there’s no bleeding, so there’s not much to be done. An ice compress doesn’t seem worth it when he’s still warming up from being out in the cold all day, but wrapping a bandage tightly enough to prevent further swelling seems sensible.

“That looks painful.”

The sudden sound of Shulk’s voice from next to him makes Rex jump nearly out of his skin. “Do you make a habit of sneaking up on people in a state of undress?” 

“Sorry. I brought you some anti-inflammatories from the supplies we brought back,” he says, handing Rex a bottle of pills. “Do you need a hand with the bandage?”

“Nah, I’m good. I think it looks worse than it is. Thanks for the meds.”

Shulk nods, but doesn’t say anything, so Rex resumes applying the bandage. When it’s done, the end tucked in neatly, Shulk is still standing there just staring at his legs. He does look tired, but Rex isn’t sure if he’s just phasing out or if he’s waiting for something.

“Did you need something from me?” Rex asks.

“Oh. Sorry. I realised I didn’t thank you.”

“For what?”

“For stopping that ories from goring me.”

“From where I was standing, you stopped it from goring me first. And you’re the one who actually had a plan.” Since it doesn’t look like Shulk is planning on leaving imminently, Rex pats the ground next to him. “Sit down, will you? You’re looming,” he says amiably.

“Sorry,” Shulk says again, and sits down. “It wasn’t a very good plan, though. And I shouldn’t have let us both let our guard down at once.”

“That’s on me as well. The important thing is, we’re both fine, so don’t worry about it.”

“Other than your leg.”

“Other than my leg, which will heal just fine, don’t worry. And as for stopping that thing from attacking you, helping people is what I do. So don’t worry about that either.”

“Alright,” Shulk concedes. “But again, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They lapse into silence. Rex is still struggling to place Shulk’s voice; he’s so sure he’s heard it before, but he just can’t figure out where. 

After a minute, Shulk’s eyes close, and Rex assumes he’s thinking, but then his head starts falling forward. Rex touches his arm to rouse him, and he jolts back awake. “Shulk, when was the last time you slept?”

“Erm…”

“Have you even slept the whole time we’ve been here?”

“Sure, a few hours, at least?” The way Shulk says it like a question makes Rex suspicious. “I’ve been busy. We need to get off this mountain before we run out of food or firewood – and I know the Nopon can help us, but we need to make sure they’ve seen us – and other than you and the guys we went out with today, no one else is used to long journeys, especially in inclement conditions like –”

Rex raises a hand to cut him off. “I know. But it’s not just your job to –”

“But it’s what I do , Rex. If you’re a helper of people, I’m an organiser.”

Rex puts a hand on Shulk’s shoulder, but he flinches, so Rex removes it again. “You can’t do any of that stuff without looking after yourself, though. I’m gonna bring through a bunch of those blankets, and you’re going to get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll meet with those Nopon and figure out how we’re going to get everyone to safety. Okay?”

“I need to organise the watches –”

“I can do that. Then I’m going to rest too. I get that you want to fix this, I really do. But first of all, exhausting yourself won’t help with that, and second of all, you don’t have to do it all on your own.”

For a moment Shulk looks like he’s going to argue some more, but in the end he only nods.

 

---

 

Mathea, one of the night watch, wakes Rex and Shulk at first light. “The Nopon have struck camp and are continuing their ascent,” she tells them. Shulk jumps into action, setting off another flare to make doubly sure the Nopon know where they are, then waking Aquillan and Demetria – Owen had begged off going out for a third day, citing a minor ankle sprain. Shulk wants to head out immediately to meet the Nopon half way. “I don’t want to risk them not being able to find us,” he says. 

“It’ll be safer to wait until there’s a little more light out,” Rex says. “Besides, I’m sure the Nopon know this mountain far better than we do.” 

Shulk wouldn’t have remembered even to eat breakfast had Rex not physically put it in his hands.

Rex’s leg is stiff and sore even with the anti-inflammatories, but loosens up a little with walking, and the cold makes a good painkiller. Or maybe it’s just that the adrenaline rush from having to make their way down a narrow, snowy ridge distracts him from it for a while. “It’s going to be a challenge to get everyone down this path,” he notes.

They meet up with the Nopon by the obviously Tantalese ruins. There’s a stone chair, incongruously intact amongst crumbling pillars. “Friends have arrived,” one of the Nopon says. “Nopon come to meet. Assumed friends need assistance.” 

“Yes, you’re right about that,” Shulk says, and offers his gloved hand. “I’m Shulk. This is Rex, Demetria and Aquillan.” 

“Kitsutsu,” the orange-furred Nopon who had spoken before introduced herself, touching her winghand to Shulk’s glove. She then points her way around the rest of the group: “Nanomo, Dabalo, Zoonin. We leave Doronga and Mimo behind with luggage train for faster walking.” Indeed, the Nopon have only small bags and their personal weapons with them.

“Pleased to meet you all,” Shulk says. “You said, ‘friends have arrived’. Were you expecting us?”

“Kitsutsu know friends looking for safety,” she says as if that answers Shulk’s question. “Friends not know route down mountain, and need supplies. Therefore, Kitsutsu find friends.”

“I see,” says Shulk, scratching his chin. 

“Friends taking Kitsutsu to others now,” Kitsutsu instructs. “Can tell about friends on the way.”

Rex frowns and scratches his head. “How did you know there’s more of us?” he asks.

“Friends here not complete,” Kitsutsu says.

The green-furred Nopon, Zoonin, adds, “Cannot be leaving any behind.”

“Nopon may be having business interests first, but also having obligation to help travellers,” says Nanomo, the smallest of the Nopon.

“Helping friends good for business also,” pink-furred Dabalo says. The Nopon all agree with this.

Rex looks to Shulk, who only shrugs.

Kitsutsu walks past their group and starts following the four sets of footprints back up the ridge towards the cave. “Come,” she says. “Not waste time. Snow coming.”

Rex can’t see any storm clouds building; he can only assume that the Nopon are more familiar with the mountain’s weather patterns than he is.

Shulk falls into step with Kitsutsu, with the other Nopon following close behind and adding to their conversation. Aquillan and Demetria scout ahead without needing to be asked – the two seem to have become fast friends and an effective team already – and Rex himself takes the rear, checking back over his shoulders regularly after yesterday’s encounter with the ories.

Rex listens in as Shulk tells Kitsutsu about their group. Somehow the Nopon don’t seem surprised about their origins from two different worlds. In fact, the only things that seem to surprise them are that they had found the supply crate – Rex gathers that while airdrops aren’t unusual in this world, there’s no obvious reason for them to be dropped here, so it must have been a mistake – and the fact that their are children in their group. 

“Friends’ littlepon very cute,” Nanomo says, “but very soft. Get ill or injured easily. Usually keeping in cradles then training camps. Why bring along?”

“Well, it’s not that we chose to,” Shulk says. “None of us chose to come here.”

Rex sees the Nopon all exchange glances. “Friend correct. Nanomo know this,” Kitsutsu admonishes. “No one choosing to be, only to do.”

“What did you mean by cradles and training camps?” Shulk asks. “What is this world?”

“Friends learn later. For now, more important problems. Keeping safe of littlepon, and passage through Tirkin village.”

“Right,” says Shulk. “I wondered what that village was. The Tirkin are hostile?”

“Only if not respect or not pay tax.”

“Tax?”

“Offering of currency, goods or services in return for safety of passage.”

“I see. That might be difficult, as we have very little, and even less of value.”

“Friends not needing to worry.  Kitsutsu pay tax on behalf of friends.”

“That’s very generous,” Shulk says. “I assume this is a loan?”

“Naturally. We discuss terms and interest.”

This earns a laugh from Shulk, and Rex can’t help but chuckle as well. “Of course,” Shulk says.

Rex’s attention drifts as Shulk and Kitsutsu negotiate the terms of this loan. Rex doesn’t understand how they might make repayments, but then, there’s very little he understands about what’s going on at the moment. He decides he’ll think about it when they’ve dealt with the task at hand.

As they approach the cavern, heavy cumulonimbus clouds are building, just as the Nopon promised.

The arrival of the Nopon creates a great deal of excitement within the camp, but the Nopon’s primary concern seems to be finding the children. After the rounds of cooing about how cute everyone is and the rounds “can I touch your fur” that always happen when Nopon and human kids meet for the first time, the Nopon produce candy from their packs and offer it to the ‘littlepons’ (biggipons who want some must pay).

Once Rex and Shulk have stripped out of their outdoor gear, they join the group around the fire.

“Aren’t you cold?” Linka is asking Nanomo. “Daddy always says little people get cold easily.”

“Nopon superior design,” says Nanomo. “Maximum roundness and thick fur good for keeping warm. Only needing windproof jacket and hat even in coldest of weather.”

“I wish I had fur,” Linka says. The other kids nod and concur.

“Is silly to be having fur only on top of head,” Nanomo agrees.

Kitsutsu, meanwhile, is looking around at all the other faces, finally settling on Shulk’s, who she stares at for a few seconds. “Friend Shulk look so old,” she says matter-of-factly.

Shulk splutters into the flask that he’s holding. “ Old ? I’m only thirty three!”

“Kitsutsu not see such old hom-hom before.”

Rex laughs loudly, until Kitsutsu turns her attention to him. “Friend Rex look old too. Maybe little less old than friend Shulk, but still old.”

“You’ve really never seen adult homs before?” Shulk asks. Rex assumes that homs is the word for humans in the world of the Bionis.

Kitsutsu shakes her head. “Have other question. Why littlepon so little? Especially those three.” Kitsutsu points to where Linka, Panacea and Georgie are sharing candy with Nanomo.

Rex frowns. “They’re pretty average height for four and five year olds.”

“Kitsutsu know cradles and term limit not natural, but never see naturally born hom-homs or humans before. How big when born?”

“Kitsutsu, you’re going to have to explain what you mean by cradles and term limit,” Shulk says quietly.

“Kitsutsu do as friend ask. But not suitable for ears of littlepon.”

“There’s a quieter space through there,” says Rex, and leads them through to the deeper chamber. He grabs a couple of blankets on the way, suspecting this might take a while, and Shulk does the same.

“Friends sit,” Kitsutsu says. “Looking up at hom-hom and human make Kitsutsu’s neck hurt.”

Rex and Shulk exchange a look before spreading out the blankets and sitting down cross-legged. Rex ponders how Kitsutsu can tell the difference between homs and humans; he can only guess that it’s due to the ether thing, though he didn’t know that Nopon are ether-sensitive.

“Now, Kitsutsu explain to friends about world of Aionios.”

Rex and Shulk listen quietly as Kitsutsu tells them about Agnus and Keves, about the vat-grown child soldiers forced to fight in the Consuls’ war, who know nothing but war, about the two queens who rule over it all. Rex can feel his face falling; it isn’t long before Shulk buries his face in his hands.

“This is awful,” Rex says when Kitsutsu is done. “How did they even come to be here?”

“Kitsutsu, do you know how this world came to be?” asks Shulk.

“Kitsutsu not know.”

“We’ve noticed that this place – you called it the Black Mountain? – seems to be a mixture of places from both Rex’s world and mine, as if the two collided. Is all of Aionios like this?”

“Kitsutsu not know this herself, for Kitsutsu too young, but Nopon histories say yes, is collision of Alrest and world of Bionis.”

Shulk crosses one arm across his chest and the other hand comes to rest on his chin as he closes his eyes.

“What are you thinking, Shulk?” Rex asks.

“I’m thinking that that’s impossible. My world is made of antimatter. They should have annihilated each other in the instant of intersection.”

“World is annihilating,” Kitsutsu says, “but slowly.”

“How do you mean?”

“Kitsutsu not understand it. Black fog appears as warning, then part of Aionios disappear. Sometimes big part, and sometimes small, but always in shape of Nopon.”

“That explains that spherical landform we saw, Rex,” Shulk says after a moment. “Kitsutsu, how long ago do your histories start?”

“First history written by Kitsutsu’s great-great-great-great-grannypon, Tuzu,” Kitsutsu says, counting off the generations on her fingers.

Shulk’s eyes widen. “Tuzu the archaeologist, from Frontier Village?”

“One and same.” 

“I know – knew? – her. I helped her find some ruins one time.”

“A great honour. Tuzu was belonging to first generation of Aionios Nopon,” Kitsutsu says.

“First generation…”

Kitsutsu nods. “Some from Alrest, some from Bionis.”

“Architect,” Rex says, “I hope the soldiers aren’t people from Alrest and Bionis as well.” 

A few seconds later, Shulk asks, “Do you know how many years ago Tuzu wrote her history?”

Kitsutsu shakes her head. “Kitsutsu familiar with concept ‘year’, but have no meaning here.”

“No meaning?”

“Aionios not orbit sun.”

“ What ? But there is day and night – so the planet is spinning – but physically it must also be orbiting.”

“Kitsutsu not have knowings. Kitsutsu not sciencepon, though Kitsutsu not think sciencepon understand either.”

Shulk takes a deep breath. “Okay. So assuming normal generation times, your family has been here for – what, a couple of hundred years? Meanwhile mere miniscule fractions of a second have passed for the planet, otherwise it would have been annihilated already, yet somehow there’s a day cycle that’s the same in length to that of my world. Assuming something strange hasn’t happened to my watch.”

Shulk looks to Rex as if for confirmation or explanation. Rex can only raise his hands in a shrug. If it wasn’t for Shulk’s summary, this whole conversation would have gone over his head.

“Do you know why – or even how – there are people here at all?” Rex asks Kitsutsu. It’s the only thing he can think to ask.

“Histories not say.”

There is silence again. Shulk is clearly processing everything they’ve just learned. Eventually, he says, “Alright. Thank you Kitsutsu. I need some time to think. Kitsutsu, you and your companions should make yourselves at home. If there’s anything you need, just ask. Assuming the weather is good, we’ll start our descent tomorrow.”

Kitsutsu nods, and heads back into the main chamber.

“Rex, would you please get Panacea off to sleep?” Shulk asks without looking at him.

“‘Course,” Rex says, and follows after Kitsutsu. 

The atmosphere in the cavern is much changed compared to when Rex first awakened; understandably, since they now not only have food and warmth, but people to show them a path to safety. There is chatter and laughter all around. One of the Nopon must have brought some dice because there’s a game in progress. Building the bonds between these people will bring out the best in them, and that will help to keep you all safe , he hears Pyra’s voice say in his head. But you don’t need me to tell you that . Rex smiles to see Aquillan and Demetria sitting with each other, foreheads touching as they speak quietly to one another. 

When he looks back over his shoulder, Shulk has that look on his face again, the one of sadness so deep that Rex’s heart hurts in sympathy. He wants to go back, to comfort him, and tell him things will be okay, even though he has no way of knowing whether it’s true. But Shulk asked to be alone, and Rex doesn’t feel he knows the other man well enough to go against his request. So he busies himself with getting the girls to sleep, and making sure the Nopon are comfortable, and making small talk with those still awake around the fire.

When he eventually settles down to sleep himself, Shulk is still in the other chamber, sitting on his own.

 

---

 

Shulk wakes Rex early the next morning, eager to go over the plan for their descent. Rex’s bruised leg has stiffened up once more, but Shulk seems to have put what was ailing him last night to one side, at least for now. 

The Nopon unroll a map, and mark their proposed route down the mountain. The route will take them down some steep slopes next to sheer cliffs and across rope bridges built and maintained by the Nopon. “Littlepon require close supervision,” Kitsutsu tells them. “Suggest carrying in dangerous sections.” She peers at them curiously, as if studying their anatomy. “Hom-homs can carry littlepon, yes? Even though not having fur to hold onto?”

“Yes, we can,” Shulk says, “though we’ll need to make some carriers for them, to keep our hands free.”

Kitsutsu thinks they can manage the journey in three days, perhaps four. She points out where the Nopon usually camp overnight when they visit the Tirkin village, and the cave where Doronga and Mimo are currently waiting with the luggage train.

Shulk asks Kitsutsu about weapons, still concerned about the party’s ability to defend itself. “We have only a couple of bowmen, and a few knives to go around,” he explains.

“Luggage train have good supply of weaponry and armour,” Kitsutsu says. “Most of creatures between here and there not bothering large groups. Arachnos, vollgulls. Solitary predators hunting for solitary prey.”

“We encountered a large, angry ories a couple of days ago,” Rex says.

“Friend travelled further up peak? Foolish. Known ories territory.”

“Well, we didn’t know that,” Rex protests.

“And now friends know,” says Kitsutsu. “Anyway, no ories between here and Befalgar caves. If make friends feel safer, Nopon will lead group.”

Rex balks at the idea of four Nopon protecting a group of twenty seven humans – the only Nopon he’s ever seen fight is Tora, except that was technically Poppi doing the fighting – but Shulk puts out an arm before he can speak.

“Thank you, Kitsutsu. We accept your offer.” To Rex he says, “We’ll take the rear. We’ll ask Owen and Demetria to guard one of our flanks, and Aquillan and Agathocles the other.”

“Better to pair Aquillan and Demetria together, I think,” Rex says quietly.

“Oh? Something happening there?” Shulk asks with a little smile.

Rex nods. “Agathocles – that’s the Tantalese carpenter, right?” As the only other Tantal native in their group, it makes sense that Shulk would assign him to guard duty.

The rest of the group stirs as the sun rises. There’s a mix of nervous and excited energy, as everyone eats another breakfast of bars and juice, then packs up their meagre belongings. People help each other wrap up as best they can in their own clothes, those taken from the airdropped crate, and blankets tied around their bodies. A number of makeshift bags are made from folded blankets as well.

Shulk starts fashioning some carriers out of rope and blankets, so that Linka, Panacea and Georgie can be carried through the more dangerous sections of the path. Gareth and Murray protest at the idea, and it is decided that they are big enough that it would be safer for all involved for them to walk than be carried. Rex, meanwhile, busies himself with making sure the children themselves are ready for the journey, and understand to stay with their assigned adults at all times. Mathea and Sinta volunteer to stay with the kids, and after a few tears, Linka and Panacea acquiesce to having the pair look after them, so that Rex and Shulk are free to guard the rear.

Once Shulk is satisfied that everyone is as ready as they can be, the Nopon lead everyone out of the cave. Rex is grateful that the sun is shining, and the wind less severe than yesterday, although the Nopon have warned to expect to hit a storm at some point in the journey. 

The first part of the journey retraces their steps from yesterday, across the flatter part of the peak of the mountain that the Nopon inform them is still called Valak, before they come to the narrow ridge. Understandably, many of the group balk at this, with the steep slope and sides that fall away to nothing. “This scariest part of journey,” Kitsutsu tries to reassure. “Even bridges we cross later have ropes to hold on to.” 

It’s safest to walk this section in single file, so the idea of guards for the flanks falls apart here. The Nopon descend first, seemingly surer of their footing than any of the rest of them. Then Aquillan and Demetria start heading down to demonstrate that it can be done. Rex is pleased to see some of the more confident members of the group pairing up with those less sure of themselves, offering moral support and physical guidance.

Panacea in particular is scared, and in the end, Shulk has to be the one to carry her down. Linka and Georgie also look like they want to cry, but they put on brave faces and allow themselves to be put into their carriers without tears. “You girls should keep your eyes closed and sing some songs to take your minds off it,” Rex says. The girls say they can’t think of any songs, so Rex launches into ‘The Hero of Mor Ardain’ – a song from one of Cole’s plays. Linka sings along after the first couple of lines, and it doesn’t take long for Panacea and Georgie to start joining in with the chorus as well. Some of the other Alrestians decide to join in as well. After that, Rex sings ‘A Titan’s-A-Coming’, an old call and response song from Leftheria; and then Sinta sings another call and response song from the Bionis that Rex doesn’t know but is happy to join in with. 

Singing seems to ease the journey down the ridge for many of the group. When they reach the base, they take a break near the stone chair where they met up with the Nopon yesterday. Food and drink are passed around while some of the more nervous people take the opportunity to calm their nerves – although Rex notes that some of those who had been scared now seemed rather elated at their achievement.

Aquillan and Demetria have already walked ahead a little while waiting for everyone else. They have discovered that the gap through the enormous stone doors up ahead has become blocked with snow overnight, and return to ask for help with excavating it. Shulk volunteers, of course, and Rex does the same. 

“You have a beautiful singing voice, Rex,” Shulk tells him while they work.

“Oh! Uh…thanks,” Rex says, wondering why he feels caught off guard by a simple compliment.

The next part of their journey is much easier. They travel through the ruins of what Rex is fairly certain is Tantal’s Argan Cathedral, already abandoned and left to rot even before the intersection of worlds. This seems to be vollgull territory, so the group sticks close together with all the guards reinstated to prevent any stragglers from being picked off. The children in particular are kept at the centre of the group.

The last part of the day’s walk is across the first of the rope bridges. Rex is surprised by just how long it is – it’s hard to see how the Nopon could have stretched the rope so far across to build it in the first place. It’s in good condition, with no sign of fraying of the rope, or rot in the planks tied between them as a walkway. Shulk confers with Kitsutsu, and they decide based on the Nopons’ design specifications that it’s safe for ten or so people to cross at a time. 

The Nopon and six more cross first, uneventfully. It seems that after the travails of the ridge this morning, crossing a rope bridge feels a lot easier, even if there are some yelps as it sways side to side in the wind. Even Panacea acquiesces to be carried across by Sinta with the second group. Shulk follows Rex at the back of the last group.

They’re about half way across when Shulk swears loudly. Rex turns, and follows Shulk’s line of sight. There’s a vollgull perched atop one of the turrets of the ruins, and it’s looking straight at them. It raises its wings, and then lifts itself into flight. After flapping its wings to gain height, it tucks them in and swoops itself into a dive aimed directly at the group still on the bridge.

Shulk launches into a run back towards the ruins, screaming at the top of his lungs to attract its attention. Rex shouts to the rest of the group to hurry across the rest of the bridge before following him, but between the vibrations from the suddenly panicking party and Shulk’s running and the swaying from the wind, he almost loses his balance. He grabs tightly onto the ropes and stops himself from hitting the ground, but he loses precious seconds righting himself, and he’s lost his confidence to move at a full run.

He reaches for his swords again. This time he’s half aware of what he’s doing, and isn’t especially surprised when there’s a flash of light and they appear in his hands once again. He holds them high above his head and tries to shout even louder than Shulk, but the vollgull is still aiming at the other man, armed with only his knife. 

Rex is only vaguely conscious of his incoherent swearing as he watches the vollgull swoop down, but he’s too slow, he can’t reach Shulk in time. Shulk is now back on solid ground, still going at a dead run straight at the thing even as it descends in its hunting stoop. Then, just when Rex thinks all is lost, there’s another flash of light and a red broadsword appears in Shulk’s hands. The vollgull screeches and takes evasive action, so it loses only the tips of its flight feathers from one wing when it passes Shulk before flapping its way back up into the sky. Both men slow to a halt to watch as it circles above. After a belated volley of arrows from the other side of the bridge, which it narrowly avoids, it seems to reconsider its dinner options and flies back in the direction of the mountain’s peak.

The two men just stand and stare at each other for a moment, panting hard. Then Shulk’s sword fades back into light, and Rex lets his go as well. 

“I guess you didn’t need saving this time, huh,” Rex says when he’s caught his breath.

Shulk frowns at his empty hand, shaking from fear and spent adrenaline. “No, I very much did. If that had happened even a split second later…”

“Best not to think about that. But will ya stop running off on your own, Shulk. I can’t help you if you’re half way across the mountain.”

Shulk inspects his hand some more, as though he expects to see some trace of the sword there. “Sorry,” he says. “I wanted to lead it away from everyone.”

“Are you both alright?” a voice calls from part way across the bridge. Rex looks back to see Owen making his way towards them.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Rex shouts back.

“Where did those swords come from?”

“That’s a really good question,” Shulk says. “I’d like to know, myself.”

“Come on, let’s go,” says Owen. “Kitsutsu says we’re almost at tonight’s camp.”

 

---

 

At the end of the day, the children are the only ones who have any energy left, and are re-enacting what they saw as Shulk and Rex’s great victory over the vollgull. Rex is glad that they aren’t aware of how much danger Shulk had really been in, but they’re too excited to settle down to sleep readily. General morale in the camp seems good, as well, especially when the Nopon cook a hot meal of spiced beans and rice for everyone. The fact that the air here is noticeably warmer than in the cavern at the mountain’s peak isn’t hurting, either.

Several people have been bartering with the Nopon for goods from their luggage train – more appropriate or better fitting clothing, personal items, and some weaponry for those able to use it – all bought on loan, of course. All three of the tents that the Nopon had for sale have been purchased, as has their entire stock of bedrolls. Rex hopes that it’s enough to help people sleep comfortably tonight, as they’ll need to replenish their energy for at least two more days of walking.

Shulk is still visibly shaken from the battle, so Rex offers to get Panacea to sleep as well as Linka. After the girls are finally settled, Rex borrows a kettle and uses it to brew up some of the tea he took from the crate. He pours it out into two mugs – also borrowed – and goes to find Shulk, meaning to ask him about the swords. He eventually finds him sitting on a blanket a short distance away from the cave’s entrance, looking up at the stars.

“Mind if I join you?” Rex asks, making Shulk jump. “Sorry, I thought you’d heard me.”

“I was lost in thought, sorry,” he says, shifting to one side of the blanket to make room for Rex.

“Do you like tea? No milk or sugar, sorry.”

Shulk’s eyes light up. “I love tea. I must admit I drink more coffee, because I don’t get enough sleep, but there’s just something about sipping from a warm mug, even if it doesn’t have stimulants.”

Rex nods as he hands over one of the mugs before sitting down. He finds himself smiling at Shulk’s habit of using twenty words when two would do, especially when his guard is down. “It’s soothing, right?” he says.

Shulk takes a sip, then sighs. “Mmm, that’s good. Thank you, Rex.”

“What were you thinking about, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“My family,” he says, “and whether I’d prefer it if they were here or not.”

Rex’s thoughts immediately go to Nia, Pyra and Mythra and their little ones. The busyness of the past three days since he awoke has kept his mind occupied with more immediate problems, but whenever things quieten down, he’s missing them intensely. “Why wouldn’t you want them with you?”

“I mean, if they were actually here with us, that’s one thing. But if they were out somewhere in Aionios, caught up in this endless war…”

“Huh, I guess I was trying not to think about that.”

“My Nikol is ten. Just old enough to be part of these armies, if Kitsutsu’s description of the accelerated growth is accurate.”

“Same age as my three girls. That’s not a good thought.”

“No,” Shulk agrees. “And of course Fiora could be out there, too, and all my friends. It’s possible that everyone here has been taken out of Origin – or never made it there in the first place. And just because we’re all the age we should be, doesn’t mean the people co-opted as soldiers are, since they’ve got some reincarnation thing figured out here.”

Rex gives it a moment for that to sink in. “Do you think the soldiers remember their lives before? If they’re really from Origin?”

Shulk considers for a moment, and sighs, and looks sad. “I think I hope they don’t.”

Rex tests his tea. It’s not the greatest, especially without milk and sweetener, but it gives comfort nonetheless. Eager to change the topic, Rex says, “Mind if I ask you about that sword?”

“The Monado?”

“That’s its name? What does it mean?”

“Something like ‘the one’, according to Alvis.”

“Who’s Alvis?”

“That’s a story for another time, I think. That sword’s full name is the Monado Replica EX+ – I know, engineers and their naming conventions – and I assume what I manifested today was a replica of that . A replica of a replica.” Shulk lets out a short, bitter laugh. “I wonder what the generation loss of a Monado is.”

“You’ve lost me, Shulk.”

“Sorry, just thinking out loud. My thoughts aren’t very organised right now. I’m still feeling shaken.” He takes another sip of the tea. “What did you want to ask?”

“Any idea how you did it?”

“I had the image in my head of dying and leaving Panacea on her own, then it was just…there.”

Rex nods. “And my swords came when I needed to help someone, too. Specifically you. But also all these guys,” he says, gesturing back to the camp. “Alright, I think I know how to summon them. Hold my tea?”

Shulk takes the mug from him, and he stands and walks a dozen steps away. Closing his eyes, he brings to mind all those he loves – his wives, his children, his friends – focusing especially on little Linka, since she’s the one who’s here and who needs him right now. Then he tries to imagine them being in danger. He thinks of the vollgull specifically, since that was the most recent tangible danger – imagines it aiming its beady eyes at Linka – imagines himself standing between the two –

A warm vibration flows from his centre and down through his arms, and when he opens his eyes again, his two Aegis swords are in his hands.

Rex sees the light from them reflecting in Shulk’s smiling eyes. “Very good,” he says. “Tell me about them?”

“Well. You know my wives are all Blades, right?”

“I don’t think I had put that together, but go on.”

“Pyra and Mythra, they’re the two parts of one of the Aegises. Pneuma, to be precise.”

“As in the trinity processor core?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. The Aegis swords are the weapons that they manifest. Mythra’s sword’s attacks are infused with light, and Pyra’s with fire.”

“I see. Your Firelight Swords, then.”

“Firelight Swords,” Rex tries out the name. “Yeah, I like that.”

“They’re very big swords,” Shulk says. Rex laughs at the double entendre. Shulk realises it too, and quickly adds, “Um, that is, they look heavy, I mean.”

“Yeah, they are,” Rex says, still laughing. “So it’s fortunate that I’m big too, then, right?” 

Shulk looks away and busies himself drinking tea. 

Rex grins. “Your sword isn’t exactly small, either.”

Shulk’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times. 

He’s too easy to tease , Rex thinks; in his head, he hears Pyra’s voice say, Don’t be mean . He dismisses his swords and decides to ignore the voice. “Want to try summoning your big sword now?”

That earns a laugh from Shulk, who is definitely blushing now. “Um, not with an audience, I think,” he says. “I'm not an exhibitionist like you.”

Rex laughs and slaps his thigh, and Shulk is chuckling too. Titan’s tits, he is really cute when he smiles , Rex admits to himself.

“Stop it,” Shulk says somewhat half-heartedly.

“Hey, you said it, not me. Besides, it made you smile.”

“That it did.”

Rex sits back down and takes his tea from Shulk. It’s getting cold, so he finishes it in a couple of gulps. Ooo, someone’s got a little crush , Nia says in his head. Shush , he tells imaginary-Nia. I just think he’s cute. Besides, I only just met him .

“The problem is,” Shulk says, apropos of nothing, “that I don’t want to have to fight any more. Like I said, I willingly gave up the ability to use a real Monado; I didn’t want that kind of power. I only made the replica out of sheer necessity.”

“You made that yourself? I’m impressed.”

“I made the replica, yes. But the original… originals , I should say, because I used two. One was a god’s sword…and then when I lost that, my friends helped me will another into existence.” He pauses a moment. “Can we talk about something else, though?”

Rex has a dozen more questions now; he adds them to his mental list for later. “Sure. Anything in particular?”

“Tell me some more about your wives?” he asks.

“Well…that’s a long story,” says Rex.

“Seems to me like we’ve got a long time. Two or three days at least,” Shulk says, gesturing at the mountainside before them.

“I guess you’re right.” 

 

---

 

The start of the second day of their journey is delayed by a snowstorm, although nobody particularly seems to mind, given how long and hard yesterday’s walk was; there are a lot of late sleepers. The Nopon cook up a huge pot of porridge to share.

So the sun is already high in the sky by the time they break camp and head back out. Unfortunately, the first challenge is getting everyone across another rope bridge. This time, though, they’re prepared for any vollgulls that threaten to attack. Three more of the party have purchased bows and quivers of arrows from the Nopon, and two of the Nopon themselves have little bows of a construction that Rex doesn’t recognise – Shulk calls them compound bows – so they make sure to have archers with arrows knocked and ready to go at the fore and aft of each group as they cross. Fortunately, though, there aren’t any vollgulls hungry enough to try to hunt their group today.

After the bridge, they make their way down an arachno-infested slope. Kitsutsu suggests that they “make racket like yesterday on ridge” to discourage the loud-noise-averse arachnos from attacking. So they break out into song again, and their singing does indeed clear the slope of arachnos in short order, leaving the sometimes-poor footing the main hazard on the path.

It’s mid-afternoon by the time they reach the Tirkin village, which Rex recognises as the Banerro Ruins. The Nopon instruct the “non-pons”, as they have taken to calling the group, to wait a “respectful” distance from the village while they negotiate. It takes an hour or so, at the end of which they see a sizable number of goods being removed from the Nopon’s luggage train and taken into the Tirkins’ tents. The party is then free to pass through the village, and into the giant elevator – somehow large enough to fit all thirty three of them at once. The contraption makes some alarming creaks as it descends slowly, but they make it to the bottom of the cliff without incident.

They make camp in a sheltered crevice between the cliff and a pile of snow-covered fallen rocks, erecting the three tents they’ve purchased from the Nopon around a campfire. The Nopon decline to allow the non-pons to share their own tents: “noisy sleepers with stinky bodies,” Mimo protests, which makes Shulk laugh out loud.

Later on, Shulk asks Rex to resume his story. Last night he’d only made it to the part where he got to Gormott with Pyra, Nia, Dromarch and Azurda before they decided to get some sleep – mostly because of Shulk’s habit of interrupting frequently to ask questions – so he picks up at Torigoth with their first encounters with Mòrag and then Tora. Shulk seems quieter tonight, listening attentively as Rex recounts their rescue of Nia, their adventures through Uraya, and that awful battle with Malos and Akhos in which Vandham sacrificed himself and Mythra awakened for the first time in 500 years.

Shulk then comes alive with questions: about Mythra’s splitting herself in two, about Malos and his driver, about the differences between the Aegises and other blades. The answers to those lead in turn to questions about the World Tree and the Architect.

“You seem really interested in the Aegises,” Rex observes.

“Well, I suppose it’s as much the trinity processor cores as the Aegises themselves. But it’s an interesting subject, isn’t it?”

“Sure. I still struggle to get my head around it, though, even now.”

“I’m not sure we will ever understand it fully. Even though we reverse engineered Ontos’ architecture to build Origin, it would have been impossible to design it from scratch with the level of technology in my world…and in yours as well, it sounds like.”

Hearing Shulk speak about the trinity processor, it finally hits Rex why Shulk’s voice sounds so faintly yet so maddeningly familiar to him. “Shulk,” he says.

“Yes?”

“Your voice.”

“What of it?”

“You sound like the Architect.”

“Ah.” Then, a few beats later: “Did the Architect happen to go by any other names?”

“He said his name was Klaus, in the world he was originally from.”

Shulk nods. “I did wonder. The half of him that ended up in my world was called Zanza, though it sounds like we got very different sides of Klaus. Zanza was a god, in essence, in that Ontos granted him the ability to shape the world. To make a very long story short, Zanza’s soul – that is, his Monado – ended up sealed inside a tower on Valak Mountain.” He scratches his chin and scowls. “Not far from here, actually. Anyway. My parents were researchers, and when I was four they took me with them on an expedition to study the tower. Zanza drained the ether from everyone in the expedition team, killing them all to replenish himself. Then his soul possessed my body, reviving me and keeping me alive for the next fourteen years. I can only assume that having him inside of me influenced my development – including, apparently, my voice.”

“Whoa.” Rex struggles to think of anything eloquent to say to that. “What a mindfuck. How do you deal with not knowing how much of you is you and how much is the god who killed you?”

“Well, indeed. With difficulty, I can assure you, and very deliberate exercising of my own will. I was very glad last year when I finally reached the milestone of having been alive without him for longer than he lived in me.”

“I can imagine. But I guess it’s something we have in common, though. If Zanza got his power from Ontos, then we’ve both been brought back to life by trinity processor cores.”

“That’s true.” Shulk sighs. “I do hope we can find out why we’re here.”

“You think there’s a purpose?”

“I think it would be too much of a coincidence for you and me, who surely know more about Pneuma, Logos and Ontos than anyone else alive, to end up here together by chance. I think this is Alvis’ doing, and if I know one thing about Alvis, it’s that he doesn’t do anything without a purpose.”

“Sounds like you know Alvis well,” Rex says.

“Oh, I did. But I only knew him for a few months. He disappeared after we defeated Zanza. The first I knew that he was still out there somewhere was when I found his core crystal. Right before we realised we needed it, I should add.”

“Right. But something tells me that all of this,” he gestures broadly, “and the stuff with the child soldiers – something tells me this wasn’t his doing.”

“I agree,” Shulk says.

They lapse into silence for a little while. Rex warms his hands over the embers of the fire, turning everything Shulk has told him over in his mind. “Shulk, I have so many questions about your world,” he says.

“I’ll tell you everything I can. But, can you finish your story first?”

“Tomorrow, Shulk. I need to get some sleep.”

<hr> 

The third day of their journey looks set to be the longest, but easiest. The slope of the mountain has flattened considerably below the cliffs, and while it’s still steep enough to make knees hurt after hours of walking, there’s less danger of injury, and no risk of falling down cliffs or banks. The children are clearly flagging after two full days of walking, though, so Linka, Panacea and Georgie are bundled up into their carriers, where they mostly sleep the day away.

They see a few herds of aries as they descend, with huge ories protecting their females and young. Thankfully there’s enough space on the mountainside that the party can keep their distance. At one point a taos circles overhead, but a couple of volleys of arrows are enough to discourage it from getting any closer. Meanwhile, the air continues to get warmer, and people start shedding some of their layers of clothing. Eventually the snow starts to get softer and even slushy underfoot, slowing their pace somewhat.

So there’s plenty of time for Rex, walking with Shulk at the rear of the group, to continue his story. He recalls the journey through Mor Ardain, then Leftheria, Indol and Temperantia. The fond memories of Mòrag, Brighid, Zeke and Pandoria make him smile, though he finds he has to stop when he gets to Pyra’s kidnapping by Jin and Malos in Tantal. The desperation he had felt about failing Pyra and Mythra and not knowing how to make it right, about thinking he had lost them forever, threatens to overwhelm him.

“You miss them,” Shulk observes.

“Yeah. With my entire being. Maybe it’s pathetic, but I honestly hate to be apart from them even when I know where they are and when I’ll see them again.”

Shulk softly touches his arm in sympathy. “It’s not pathetic at all. It’s only natural to want to be with one’s loved ones, and to want to be able to protect them.”

“I guess it’s just hitting a bit close to home, talking about when I thought I’d lost them before. Especially while we’re here, in kind-of-Tantal, where it happened.”

“That’s understandable. But you rescued them, right?”

“Yeah. We found where Addam had sealed away the third Aegis sword, although that was something of a false lead. We eventually found them, though, and Pneuma as well…well, it turns out I had the power in me to find them all along. It was my faith in them that brought them back.”

Shulk looks at him pointedly. “A bit like when I manifested my own Monado,” he says.

“Another thing we have in common.”

Rex continues his story, fielding many questions from Shulk about the ruins of Morytha – he’s curious about Klaus’ world – and then the World Tree itself. He’s getting close to the part where they find Elysium, and the Architect himself, when Shulk interrupts him.

“Am I getting snowblindness, or is there some fog in the air?” Shulk asks.

“I see it too. Weird coloured fog, though.”

“Didn’t Kitsutsu say that black fog is a precursor to an annihilation event?”

Rex takes a moment to process that; by the time he has, Shulk is already jogging around the group to find the Nopon at its head. Rex considers following him but decides he’d better stay at the back, just in case. Maybe half an hour passes before Shulk returns, looking uncomfortable.

“Apparently it was just starting when they came this way. They reckon there’s a couple of weeks before there’s a risk of an annihilation event actually occurring, so we’ve got plenty of time to cross.”

“You don’t look happy about that, though.”

“Are you?”

“Not if I think too hard about it, but the Nopon have been here much longer than us, and they aren’t stupid.”

Shulk huffs. “You’re right, of course. But I still don’t like the risk.”

Something occurs to Rex. “Hey, how come we don’t annihilate each other when we touch? How come we can both touch the same mugs and things?”

“I wish I knew. Another question for Ontos,” he says with a scowl that wrinkles his nose.

“And how are the Nopon going to get back when they come this way again?”

“I suppose they’ll build a bridge,” Shulk says with a shrug. “Please don’t ask me how. Nothing makes any sense around here.”

Rex hears Mythra’s voice in his head: He’s behaving like a tired and hungry child . The thought makes him smile, but she has a point. He digs in a pocket and pulls out two of the ration bars, handing one to Shulk.

“I’m not hungry,” Shulk says.

“Need to keep your strength up,” Rex tells him. 

“Fine,” he says grumpily. “Thank you.”

After finishing off his own bar, Rex goes back to his story. Unsurprisingly, Shulk’s demeanour improves once he has some food in him. Note to self , he thinks. Keep Shulk well fed .

 

---

 

As they cross the soon-to-be-canyon, the party also passes across the snow line. The air temperature increases dramatically even as the sun drifts lower in the sky. They pause for food and drink – and taking off of more layers of clothes – atop a cliff overlooking a lake.

Shulk points out the bridge in the distance. “This is Raguel Lake, right? In my world this was a great place for camping.”

“Friend Shulk correct,” Kitsutsu confirms. “Much fish and game here also. Friends should try to reach lakeside tonight.”

“Oh?”

“Kitsutsu wanting fresh fish for dinner.”

“That might be pushing it, though. We’ve already walked a long way today.”

“But easy walking from here.”

In the end, they put it to a vote, and nearly everyone wants to get to the lake tonight. The allure of freshly cooked fish and the opportunity to bathe in the morning is enticing enough for people to push through their fatigue. The girls, having slept most of the day, wake up and want to walk for a while. They’re excited at the lack of snow and freezing temperatures, making it a struggle to stop them from running off, lulled into a false sense of security. 

The sun sets as they cross Raguel Bridge – an impressive feat of architecture even in its current dilapidated state. Shulk tells the girls a story about how it was built by giants in ancient times. When Rex questions him about how it was really built, Shulk insists his story was all true, leaving Rex nonplussed. 

The light slowly fades as they descend a long slope down to the lakeside. They have to scare off a few roosting flamii before building a fire and erecting their tents, which they do while the Nopon wade into the waters to fish. Then the catch is grilled over the fire, and another cauldron of beans and rice boiled up, and what Rex can only describe as the sleepiest feast he's ever seen takes place. People are doing their best to make a show of joviality but they’re just too tired. As soon as their bellies are filled, they head off to sleep in ones and twos. Some choose to sleep in the tents, while others, stifled by spending a week in close proximity to strangers, find quieter spots on their own.

Of course, having slept most of the day, Linka and Panacea are still wide awake. Rex and Shulk decide they might as well take first watch since the girls are up anyway, so they stay by the fire to wait for their charges to get sleepy again.

“Uncle Shulk?” Panacea asks. 

“Yes, Panacea?”

“Is this where daddy goes fishing with Uncle Juju?” 

“Well…I suppose it kind of is. But it's been taken from the Bionis and been sort of stitched into this world, like a patchwork. There are parts of the Bionis all around, and parts of Rex and Linka’s world as well.”

Panacea and Linka both frown as they take this in. Rex realises that Linka, for her part, had never seen the exterior of Tantal except in books, so she had no frame of reference for where they were. He suddenly feels he should have taken the time to explain properly –

“Does that mean that we'll see daddy soon?” Panacea asks, inevitably.

Shulk puts an arm around her shoulders. “The truth is, I don't know. I hope we find your mum and dad here, and if it's possible to find them I promise I'll do everything I can to bring you to them – but they may not be in this world.”

Panacea bites her lip. “Does that mean they're dead?”

Linka gasps when she hears this.

“I don't think so. I think that, if they aren't here, then they'll be in Origin – do you remember about Origin?”

“Yes, I remember your lesson about it.”

Shulk looks to Linka. “And do you know about Origin as well?” 

Linka nods that she does. Rex had been there when Zeke and Pandoria explained it to her, as simply as they could, although none of them knew how much of it a four year old could understand.

“So you remember that we built it to keep everyone safe while the two worlds collided, and put everyone back afterwards?”

“Yes,” both girls say.

“I think that your mums and dads – and all your friends and everyone else – I think that they're all safe and sound inside Origin.”

The girls are both quiet while they think about it.

“Do either of you have any questions?”

Panacea raises a hand.

“You don't have to raise your hand here, Panacea. Just ask.”

“How long are we going to be here for?”

“I'm afraid I don't know. If I learn the answer, I'll make sure to tell you. Do you want to ask anything, Linka?”

She’s silent for a moment, biting her lip. Then she quietly says, “I miss my mommy and daddy.”

Shulk nods. “I miss my family, too. It's okay to miss them, and it's okay to feel sad about it. In fact, it's good to talk about how you're feeling. So any time you want to talk, or if you're feeling lonely, you can come and talk to Rex or me – right, Rex?”

“Ah, yeah, that's right.”

“We'll always do our best to help you,” Shulk says. He hugs Panacea close to his side; Rex does the same with Linka.

Once the girls are back to sleep, and Rex and Shulk are walking the perimeter of the camp, Rex asks, “Shulk, are you a teacher?”

Shulk smiles. “Yeah, I am. I teach maths and science at Colony 9’s school. It makes me kind of happy that it's obvious.”

“Yeah, it's obvious. I mean, I already knew you were good with Panacea, but you did a really great job explaining that to them.”

“Thank you. Honestly, teaching is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Teaching, research, and looking after my family. I didn’t want any more of this stuff,” he gestures vaguely. “Being a leader, and all that.”

Rex touches a hand to Shulk’s arm in sympathy, forgetting that it makes him flinch. “Sorry,” he says quickly. “I understand what you’re saying. I hoped I wouldn’t have to see something like this again, too.”

“Sometimes I wish that Alvis…” he trails off.

When he’s sure Shulk isn’t going to continue his thought, Rex says, “Do you believe that, about everyone else being safely in Origin?”

“I don't lie to children. Simplify, yes, but never lie. They're smart, and they always know if you're not being honest with them.”

“Well, ain't that the truth. I hope I can do a decent job of raising her on my own, ‘til we figure all this out.”

“Neither of us were raised by our parents, were we? And I won't speak for myself, but you seem to have turned out alright.”

Rex scratches at the back of his neck unsure of how to respond.

“Besides, you won't be raising her on your own. That offer goes for you as well. Any time you need to talk about anything, I'm happy to listen.”

“Well, thank you. Same goes for you.”

“Thank you, Rex. One thing I've learned the hard way is that friends are there to support each other.” 

Rex tentatively extends a hand to touch Shulk’s arm again. He doesn’t flinch this time. “You’re right. And, Shulk…I’m glad that we’ve met.”

 

Notes:

Generation loss
A-Train's-A-Coming sung by Ella Jenkins (bastardised here to 'A-Titan's-A-Coming')
This Too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt

Chapter 2: Codes and keys

Summary:

The stranded citizens of the Bionis and Alrest get to work on establishing their new community on Aionios. Rex makes himself useful to Shulk, and gets a little more than he bargained for.

Rex sleeps in longer than he intended to. Though that’s no surprise, really. The sun is already high in the sky by the time he awakens, feeling warmed through for the first time since he found himself in Aionios.

There’s a prod in his ribs, and the reason for his waking becomes apparent. “C’mon, sleepyhead, it’s time to get up.”

“Mornin’, Linka.” He rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Did you sleep well?”

Sitting up on his bedroll — he’s managed to unzip the thing in his sleep; also not surprising — Rex realises there is more than one pair of eyes on him. Panacea and Georgie are there too, and Narine, watching over the girls. Rex catches Narine’s eye, and maybe gives her a meaner look than he intends.

“Sorry,” Narine says. “Linka insisted that if she didn’t wake you up, you’d sleep all day.”

“That is a risk with me, yeah.” Rex pauses to yawn. “‘Specially after the few days we’ve had. Did I miss anything?”

“The Nopon left this morning,” Linka says. “They gave us some candy before they went.” She pulls a few boiled sweets out of her pocket to show him.

“Oh, well aren’t you lucky. Can I have one?” Rex reaches out to take one.

“Nope!” Linka giggles, pulling the candy out of Rex’s reach.

Rex pouts playfully at her, then gets to his feet and stretches. He’s stiff and sore, which, again, is not surprising given how strenuous the past few days have been. He looks around the camp. The three tents are still up, and some provisions have been laid out on a blanket near the now-extinguished fire, but there are fewer people around than he’s become used to. “Where is everyone?” he asks.

“Well, you’re not the only one sleeping late,” Narine says. “Some of the others are out exploring or foraging, and some are washing by the lakeside.”

“Uncle Rex, you should go and wash too. You smell bad.”

“And you smell of roses, I suppose? Alright, I can take a hint.” And then, to Narine: “You okay to keep watching them a bit longer?”

“Of course,” she says with a smile. “They’re no trouble. Come on, girls, let’s leave Rex in peace while he gets up.”

Rex nods his thanks. Once they’ve left, he tentatively sniffs at his armpit and immediately regrets it: Linka hadn’t been lying. Breakfast first, then a wash, he decides. He wanders over to the blanket with the food laid out. There’s a big pot half-full of water and some mugs next to it. He dips one to fill it and drinks deeply, then grabs one of the ration bars. Next to the blanket, someone has left a small pile of soap bars, which he assumes are also for communal use, so he takes one of them too. He pauses to gather up the rest of his clothes then munches on the ration bar while he walks the short distance to the lakeside.

Rex spots a large boulder on the lake’s shore and ducks behind it, checking no one can see him before stripping down to his underpants. His bruised leg is still wrapped in the bandage from a few days ago, so he unwinds that and adds it to the pile of clothes to be washed. The flesh underneath has turned variously purple and that sickly shade of yellow-green that bruises always go before they heal. The swelling has gone down, at least. It hits him for the first time how lucky he was to avoid more serious injury. His flesh could have been ripped open, or his femur straight up snapped in half, and then he'd have been screwed. He says a little prayer of thanks to whichever god or gods rule over this place, promising to be more careful in future — for Linka's sake, if nothing else, he thinks.

He gathers his clothes up into a bundle and wades into the water. The water is chilly, but in a way that’s a nice contrast to the warm sun. Once the water comes up past his ankles he squats down and begins the process of washing his clothes as best he can, saving the soap only for the smelliest bits. He then lays the clothes out on the boulder to dry. With that done, he wades out deeper and washes himself, lathering up the soap to strip away accumulated sweat and grime.

Figuring it’ll take a couple of hours at least for his clothes to dry, he lays himself down on the sand to wait. He closes his eyes, intending only to rest them while he waits for his clothes to dry, because surely even he can’t go back to sleep so soon after waking; but it doesn’t take long for him to start drifting off. At some point after that, images of his wives appear before him.

You’re going to have to figure out some way of maintaining everyone’s privacy, Mythra says. Just because we like to see your booty, doesn’t mean everyone else wants to.

Hey, I did my best to preserve my decency, he says.

Says the man lying on the beach with approximately three percent of his body covered by a scrap of wet cloth, Nia says.

Point taken. I’ll speak to Shulk later about sorting out a rota or something. But we literally just got down from that mountain last night, and no one’s washed in almost a week.

It isn’t just privacy when you’re washing that you need, Pyra says. Not everyone is as gregarious as you. Some people value their alone time.

Nia adds, There’ll be a lot of trauma for everyone to deal with, too, what with being separated from everyone and everything they know. People are gonna process that in different ways. Not all of them healthy. Nia glares pointedly at Pyra and Mythra.

I know, Rex says. I’ll talk to Shulk about it.

Mythra puts her hands on her hips. Shulk this, Shulk that. She points a finger at him. You’re an experienced leader too. You’ve got a responsibility to these people. Don’t put it all on Shulk.

Rex raises his hands defensively. Hey, I wasn’t trying to —

And you’ve especially got a responsibility to Linka, Mythra continues. Architect knows where our girls are but your best friend’s daughter is right there.

Pyra frowns. You’ve got to look after all those children. You of all people know what it’s like to be orphaned, Rex.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Rex protests. As far as we know, Zeke and Pandoria and everyone else are still in Origin. Hopefully we’ll figure out what’s going on and the kids will be back with their parents soon —

You shouldn’t rely on that assumption, Rex, Pyra says. This might be how things are from now on.

Rex feels his stomach sinking. He’s used to his wives teasing him, of course, but it’s not like them to gang up on him like this, especially when — as far as he can see — he hasn’t actually done anything wrong yet.

You’ve gotta look after Shulk, too, Nia says. She has her hands on her hips as well. I know the sort that he is. He’ll work himself to death if he can’t solve everyone’s problems. And it’ll be on your head.

Have I done something wrong? Rex asks. He’s running through the past few days in his mind but he genuinely can’t think of anything he would have done differently in the absence of Mythra’s foresight. Oh, wait — is it what I said to Shulk when I first woke up? Are you pissed off with me because I think he’s cute?

The three women exchange looks. If we were bothered by you crushing on other people, Rex, I don’t think this marriage would have worked, Mythra says.

Pyra shakes her head. If you don’t know what you’re doing wrong, well, I don’t think we can help you.

Rex looks between the three of them, jaw hanging open, bewildered. As he watches, Mythra’s body deforms into the shape of a lexos, then Pyra’s into an aspar, and Nia’s into a feris. Then he wakes up with a jolt, heart racing.

“Well, that was unpleasant,” he says to no one. Then, to his absent wives: “Ladies, I hope that was just my subconscious working out its anxieties, and not what you all actually want to say to me. But, ah — I’ll do my best to make you proud. You know I always do, even if I’m not up to scratch sometimes.”

He gets to his feet, tests his clothes, finds them still wet. He doesn’t want to go back to sleep and risk another encounter with his subconscious, so he figures he might as well take a swim to keep busy.

First, he swims out towards the largest island in the middle of the lake. As he gets closer, though, he can see that it's already occupied by two people who look like they'd prefer not to be disturbed right now. Rex is fairly certain he knows who it is but he keeps a polite distance and pretends he hasn't seen. Looking back from where he came he can see a few more people spread out along the strand in ones and twos, some fishing, some resting, and some splashing in the shallows.

Rex decides to swim parallel to the shore for a while. The cool water soothes his aches, and the unhurried swim stretches out his muscles nicely.

A titanped or so down the shoreline he spots a head of blond hair by the water, and a red garment strung out on the branch of a nearby tree. Rex changes direction to head towards Shulk. As he gets closer he sees that Shulk is occupied with washing his own clothes. He’s wearing shorts and a tight vest, both black — presumably taken from the crate — and he’s scrubbing at the faded jumper that Rex is used to seeing him wear. Shulk stands, wrings out the jumper and walks over to the tree to hang it up beside his coat, then wades back into the water with his trousers.

It’s the first time Rex has seen Shulk without his usual layers of clothes. Unlike Rex, it doesn’t look like Shulk has kept up with his physical training: his arms and shoulders don’t look like those of a swordsman, and though he has strong legs, there's just a hint of softness around his middle. He just looks like a dad, Rex realises. Not someone who killed a god; just a dad, or a teacher, or a mechanic.

It's rude to stare, he hears Mythra's voice.

Ooo, but someone's thirsty, Nia joins in, and it's not even been a week yet. He does have nice legs, though.

“You aren't helping,” he says out loud, though he’s glad to hear them back at their usual jibing.

Nia snickers.

Rex opens his mouth to call out to Shulk, then reconsiders. The other man seems in a world of his own, and presumably came all the way out here to be alone. Suddenly Rex feels that he's invading Shulk's privacy even by watching him from a distance. He's not sure what he would do if Shulk were to ask for his companionship right now anyway: as nightmare-Nia pointed out, he's not exactly dressed for company. So he turns around and begins the swim back to where he left his clothes.

As he swims, his thoughts turn back to the situation they've found themselves in. He has to admit that nightmare-Pyra was right. There's no way of knowing how long it's going to take to find and complete their purpose — assuming that Shulk is correct about there being a reason for their presence here, or that there is even an ‘out’ for them at all. If they work on that assumption, they're going to need to build sustainability and resilience for themselves. Rex feels almost certain that Shulk must already be thinking about how to achieve this; and if prior experience is anything to go by, Shulk will be trying to figure out how to organist it all on his own. So Rex needs to figure out how he can best make himself useful, both to Shulk and to the group as a whole.

He’s not immediately sure what the best way to go about that is. Unless someone can furnish him with a diving suit it doesn't seem like he'll be able to go scavenging any time soon, though it would be a good way to build up a collection of valuable items to pay off their loan from the Nopon. He catches himself thinking that he'll have to ask Shulk if he has any ideas on the repayment front — then remembers he's meant to be coming up with ideas for what he can do, and not more for Shulk to do.

On the other hand, he's a good hunter and decent fisherman, for starters, and he knows how to smoke and cure meat for preservation, so he can contribute to their food stores. Pyra's patience over the years with teaching him to cook did eventually pay off, as well. He’s no stranger to general adventuring, exploration and survival. And of course, if there's a need to fight, he'll be there on the front lines. He reckons he can probably train up others, too, if that turns out to be necessary.

He knows he's weaker on the skills that might be needed to build the infrastructure of a new community. He doesn't know much about carpentry, or smithing, or farming, though he has the strength and stamina for manual labour and the willingness to learn. And everyone’s always telling him that he’s good at building rapport with people and getting them to work together.

That thought gives him an idea for how he can make himself useful to Shulk specifically, as well. If he can scrounge up some paper and a pen from somewhere, he can start talking to everyone and ask them about their backgrounds — a kind of census of skills and knowledge that they'd each be willing to contribute. They’ll need to take stock of their supplies, too, and what they should try to acquire; though Rex isn’t so naive as to think he’s suited to that kind of work himself, at least not without Pyra there to help keep him organised.

The longer he thinks about it, the greater he realises the task before them is. His brain presents him with a series of escalating what-if’s: what if they can’t find or create enough of value to continue trading with the Nopon? What if the supply crate on top of the mountain was a one-off, and they aren’t able to find any more? What if they encounter one of the colonies that the crate was intended for, and they’re hostile? What if Aionios annihilates while Rex is still on it, and he never sees his wives or children again? What if they fail at whatever task Shulk thinks that they’re there to complete, causing Origin itself to fail in its purpose?

Rex shakes his head to clear the thoughts. The fact is, he realises, that he’s felt so secure in his future for so long that he’s forgotten how to live with uncertainty. “Seems a bit ironic for someone who grew up in a dying world,” he says to no one, thinking of the Titans, their life cycles interrupted by Amalthus’ schemes. And, as his wives — subconscious? Anxious self-talk? — has already noted, he has forgotten how to be on his own for any length of time. The disquiet in his mind seems evidence enough of that.

By the time he reaches the boulder where he left his clothes, he understands why Shulk sleeps so little.

---

The next week passes in a mess of activity that Rex throws himself into to avoid having to feel too much for too long. After a couple of days of rest and recovery, most of his companions seem to be doing the same.

The Nopon left instructions that the group should stay at their lakeside camp for the time being, so that the next caravan could be sent their way. Upon learning that another caravan would be coming by soon, several people had placed orders for various items — clothing, tools, favorite foods and so on. Rex wishes he had woken up before the Nopon had left that first morning, belatedly thinking to ask them to try to source some coffee as a gift for Shulk.

Everyone seems to have realised that this is their home at least for the short term and have begun making an effort to make it feel more like a functioning community. One of the tents is now solely for the children and their guardians to use and sleep in. One of the others is for use by women and the third by men, though it’s currently on a first-come-first-serve basis, which has caused some friction on the couple of nights when it’s rained. Likewise, they’ve established separate times for men and women to bathe at the lake, with the kids getting their own time as well. There’s a volunteer rota for cooking, which is working well so far. They implement another rota for night watches, though the area seems safe enough, and the still-unfamiliar surroundings and less than ideal sleeping arrangements are causing enough cases of insomnia that there’s always someone awake anyway. There’s currently plenty of interest in hunting and fishing and gathering, as well, though Rex wonders if that might peter out as everything stops feeling so new or they deplete the supplies in their immediate area.

Rex himself spends a few days out scouting the region with Demetria and Aquillan, who are definitely now a couple. They have a rough copy of the Nopon’s map of the area, but it seems there’s not too much in common between what travelling Nopon merchants think of as places of interest, and what’s important to a group of humans trying to establish a settlement. They mark down where they find colonies of kapiba and bunnits, where to avoid due to nests of aligo or aspar, and spots where tuberous plants and fruit trees grow in abundance. One day they swim out to what turns out to be an old shrine nestled under the cliffs across the lake. They spot a hoard of chests, and get as far as opening one — finding it full of gold coinage that none of them recognise — before they’re chased off by an angry gogol.

Once he’s back at the camp, Rex makes sure to take his turns at watching the children. While Narine and Wynne seem happy to take on the job full-time, Rex doesn’t want to take advantage, plus he feels an obligation to Linka — not that he has any resentment over it.

The five kids seem to get on well enough, even though Gareth and Murray are a few years older than Linka, Panacea and Georgie. He finds looking after them to be more emotionally difficult than he expected, because the three girls remind him of his own daughters at that age. That said, his own girls have always been more prone to fighting than these three are. Panacea in particular seems very mature for her age, doing her best to hide her tears from the other two so as not to set them off, and showing an awareness that even that adults are having a tough time right now.

Though it’s clear that some of those adults are finding it tougher than others. Of all their companions, Aquillan and Demetria seem to be having the easiest time adapting to their new situation. They’re clearly both used to spending extended periods of time away from home, and the blossoming relationship between them is bringing them joy. Rex only hopes that it doesn’t go sour. There’s no easy way to escape a bad breakup in these circumstances.

Narine and Wynne seem to be doing comparatively okay as well. Narine, it turns out, ran a nursery in Colony 9, and Wynne is a newly qualified midwife who worked at the clinic in Torigoth, so they’re happy to take the feris’ share of the childcare. The two of them seem to be coping well. Rex hasn’t seen either of them looking wistful or plaintive, which he suspects is because they’re able to channel a sense of purpose into looking after the children.

One of the people who surprise Rex the most is Harris, Murray’s big brother’s friend. He is one of the keener fisherman, and he often takes the boys along with him. Harris seems to be taciturn by nature, or so Rex gathers from what Murray says; and the way Murray talks about his brother and Harris makes Rex think that the two were in a relationship, so presumably the separation isn’t helping in that regard. Still, Harris’ stoicism and determination to care for Murray despite being only nineteen years old inspire respect in Rex. Rex isn’t sure how he would have coped with this kind of separation from his loves at Harris’ age. He just hopes that Harris finds a way to process his emotions before they turn too dark inside of him.

At the other end of the spectrum there’s Sabina, a Homs woman who spent the first four days rarely emerging from what became the women’s tent and snapping at everyone who tried to speak to her. Rex remembers seeing her on the way down the mountain, always towards the back of the group, head down, not talking to anyone. Rex doesn’t have any luck trying to talk to her, either, but he eventually Sinta — another woman from Colony 6 — manages to get her to open up a little. It sounds like she’s using anger to cover her fear, which Rex understands, but he also knows that hiding away from everyone else isn’t going to help her. He gets Sinta to talk her into joining the cooking rota, and after an emotional meltdown she eventually agrees. After that her mood seems to lift a little — as does the quality of the meals, because it transpires that Sabina is a professional cook.

It’s in this way, little by little, that the dynamics of their group start to become clear. Friendships start to form in earnest, and some friendly rivalries as well.

As for Shulk, after that first day when he disappeared off to the lake on his own, he throws himself into work with abandon. He's always awake before Rex, which Rex will be the first to admit isn't difficult; but he always goes to bed later as well, and only makes time to eat if food is physically put into his hands. He fills pages of a notebook requisitioned from the Nopon with lists of what they bought from the caravan, what they brought down the mountain with them, the food that people are managing to find and catch, and calculations of how much they need in order to keep everyone fed. When Rex mentions his idea to take a skills census, Shulk uncomplainingly adds it to his own to-do list. It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that Rex and some of the others are happy to help out with these tasks. Rex points this out, and asks Aaron, a city administrator from Mor Ardain, to take the lead on stock taking; while Rex takes another notebooks and starts work on the census.

Rex decides to start with Demetria and Aquillan, since he already knows them better than most of their company. And the first few conversations do end up being awkward, feeling too much like an interview to set people at ease. Some of the people from Alrest still seem somewhat starstruck to speak to him one-on-one, as well. In the end it’s Owen who helps him refine the process of getting people to speak about themselves. The young Gormotti man is a herbalist, so he has some skill in the art of building rapport and trust with his clients.

With the awkwardness of the first few conversations out of the way, Rex starts to enjoy the process more. He ends up reciting an abbreviated version of his journey to Elysium more times than he can count. He doesn’t mind, though: he’s been accused of enjoying the sound of his own voice on more than one occasion. Plus he already knows from long experience that if he throws in some of the more humorous details, like about Gramp’s larval form and the saga of Turters, then it makes for a good ice breaker with people who are nervous about talking to the Driver of the Aegis.

There is sorrow in the process too, of course. He learns about personal tragedies, loved ones lost to Amalthus’ madness and the destruction of the World Tree on Alrest and to what sound like similarly destructive events on the world of the Bionis — Rex makes a note to get Shulk to recount his own tale, as he said he would, rather than ask the others to give him an impromptu history lesson — as well as raw emotions from this new separation from families and friends.

He shares tears with Mathea when she tells him about the loss of two of her children fifteen years ago. They had been on pilgrimage to Indol, and presumably were stranded there when Amalthus launched his offensive. Mathea never found closure: her daughters were simply never heard from again. And now she’s here, with no idea whether her surviving daughter remains in Origin or is one of the child soldiers Aionios.

Agathocles tells Rex about everything he has been ripped away from: his wedding to his second wife was supposed to happen in just a couple of weeks, his daughter from his first marriage had just gotten engaged, and he had just received a promotion to deputy manager of the carpentry workshop where he works. So many things to celebrate, now on hold indefinitely — maybe forever. Rex brews up a pot of congratulatory/conciliatory tea, in lieu of something harder. Agathocles wonders out loud how long it'll be before they're brewing their own alcohol here on Aionios. Rex doesn’t think it will be long, and suspects they’ll have a still set up soon enough as well.

Others, like Harris and Sabina, are more reticent to share details of their personal lives. They answer Rex’s questions, but without superfluous detail, and they show little interest in learning about Rex. He doesn’t push the issue, but he does make a mental note to keep an eye on them.

After each conversation, Rex makes neat, careful notes. Three days later, after double checking for spelling mistakes and making sure he hasn't left out anything that seems important, he goes looking for Shulk to show him the results of his work. On his way he grabs a mug of water and a bowl of leftover stew, figuring it’s unlikely that Shulk has eaten recently.

He finds Shulk sitting cross-legged on a blanket at the edge of camp. He’s surrounded by pieces of paper, but doesn’t appear to be paying attention to any of them. Instead, he’s staring off into middle distance, a frown wrinkling the bridge of his nose. As always, there are dark circles under his eyes.

“Something bothering you?” Rex asks.

Shulk comes back from wherever his thoughts had led him and forces a smile onto his face. “Sorry, Rex, I didn’t see you.”

“No worries.” Rex takes a seat next to the blanket, and hands the food and water to Shulk, who nods his thanks. “What’s up?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about the children caught up in the endless war that the Consuls have instigated.”

“D’you wanna talk about it?”

Shulk sighs. “It’s just so sad. The Consuls must be using some kind of brainwashing on them.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I know lots of stories start with two countries locked in a war that’s been going on for so long that neither side remembers what started it, but that’s not what happens in reality.”

“Weren’t the Bionis and Mechonis locked in one of those endless battles?”

“They were for a very long time, but you can’t compare them to Homs — or human — or even High Entia timescales. And they did eventually run out of steam. Anyway. It's not natural for war to have no end. If one side doesn't win a victory, or if the conflict doesn't fizzle out on its own, then eventually a critical mass of people decide it's senseless and push for a ceasefire, even if the ceasefire is itself achieved by violent means. At least, that's what Melia articulated to me.”

Rex thinks about that and nods. “It checks out with what I know of Alrest’s history.”

“I assume that's why they take impressionable children, and at least part of why they have the ten-year, what did they call it, term limit.”

“So they don't have time to get any grand ideas about stopping the war?”

“Yeah. And if the Consuls have made it so that the soldiers don't get a chance to develop their own ideas about the world, or about what they want from their lives, then there's so much they're missing out on. I mean, I know the two of us are outliers here, but think about what people in general have often achieved by the age of nineteen or twenty.”

“Leaving home and finding their own friends, starting a job or two that interests them, supporting their family,” Rex lists off. “Falling in love for the first time. Architect, do you think they don't know what it's like to be in love?”

“I don't know,” Shulk says, “but if I had to guess, I'd say they didn't. Love gives you something to live for.”

Rex had never really put that into words before, but instinctively knows that it's true. It's not just his wives who he lives for, not just his kids, but his friends as well, and everyone he grew up with in Fonsett.

“Surely there must be some people who escape the system,” Rex says. “It can't be that easy to stop people from loving.”

Shulk gives him a mysterious smile that he can't quite decipher. “Maybe. I hope so. And I hope we find them. Anyway, you didn't come here to hear my depressive musings. How can I help you?”

“I've finished speaking to everyone about their jobs and skills. Here,” Rex says, handing over the notebook.

Shulk studies the pages one by one. He takes a pencil from a pocket and adds notes of his own in a scrawling hand that’s illegible to Rex. At one point he pauses to scratch his chin, then pulls a face and makes a disgusted noise.

“What’s wrong?” Rex asks, wondering what in the notebook might prompt that response.

“This facial hair, it’s slowly driving me mad,” Shulk says. “It itches my face and it scratches my hand when I touch it. It’s not even as though I can actually grow a proper beard like you,” he gripes.

Rex rubs a hand over his own chin, where his usual goatee is indeed growing somewhat wild. “I guess you forgot to pack a razor, huh?” he says.

Shulk rolls his eyes.

“I'd lend you mine, but it seems I forgot mine too,” Rex says with a shrug.

That earns him a short laugh.

Rex smiles. “I thought for a moment it was something I'd written that upset you.”

“No, not at all. This is really useful, Rex. Thank you,” he says as he turns the pages. He goes to scratch his chin again, then catches himself. “What’s your overall impression of the group?”

“My impression?”

“Do you think we’ll be able to continue working together? No major conflicts?”

“It seems like everyone is getting on well enough. Even Sabina is integrating better now. I think the first thing that might become an issue is personal space. We need more tents, and maybe a bit more space to spread out. But for the most part, everyone is pulling together the way I saw them do after the World Tree fell — they’re helping and supporting each other.”

“I saw it too, after…well, after a few things, actually,” Shulk says. “It’s encouraging that it’s happening here too, even though we’re all complete strangers to one another. Hmm…interesting. We don’t seem to have too much duplication of professions. We have two farmers, but otherwise everyone comes from different backgrounds.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Yes, it should help us form a community without too many skills gaps. And it also adds to my suspicions that we were somehow selected to be here on the basis that we would form a functional unit to achieve…something. Although, it’s interesting that we don’t have a doctor, but we do have a midwife.”

“Someone or something thinks there will be babies?”

Shulk shrugs. “Nobody said they were pregnant, did they?”

“No,” Rex confirms. Then, a few seconds later, “What do you think it all means?”

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” Shulk looks up from the notebook and smiles. “Thank you again for this, Rex. It’s very helpful.”

“No worries. Like I said, whatever you need from me, you just let me know.”

“I appreciate it. To be honest, though, I’m feeling rather lost myself. I’ve never had to organist people like this before.”

Rex nods. “I can understand that. Organising an adventuring party is a bit different to this. It’s one thing to provision a group of friends and figure out how to get where you need to go. This is something else entirely. If it helps, I think you’re doing a grand job, and it seems like everyone has confidence in you.”

Shulk laughs nervously. “Nothing like other people’s expectations to load on the pressure. He sighs, running his fingers back through his hair. “It would help a lot if we knew what we were here for. It can’t be just to establish a village, even though it looks like that’s something we’ll have to do in the medium term. I just hope that the next Nopon merchants can put us on the right track.”

“Assuming they actually tell us. I swear Kitsutsu and the others knew more than they were letting on.”

“In my experience, that’s not uncommon when dealing with Nopon. Oh, I’ve though of something else you could do, if you’re amenable?”

“Of course! What do you need?”

“You said we need more tents, right? I don’t think we can make those right now, but perhaps we could build some additional temporary shelters.”

“What are you thinking?”

Shulk pushes the scraps of paper around until he finds a few blades of a grass-like plant. “Have you noticed these sedges growing in the shallows of the lake? They seem to be pretty tough. I think it should be possible to weave them into mats and tie them onto square wooden frames to build panels that can be used as screens or roofs.”

“Good idea. Maybe Agathocles can help with the frames.” Rex scratches the back of his neck. “Not that we have any tools beyond knives right now, but hopefully he can help find the right sort of wood. Mathea might want to help, too, since she’s a builder. I’ll go and see what they reckon. In the meantime,” Rex points at the untouched bowl, “don’t forget to eat.”

“I won’t. Thank you again, Rex. Let me know how it goes.” Shulk yawns and returns to his work, continuing to ignore the food.

The full extent of Shulk's capacity for single mindedness becomes clear when Owen returns to camp one day having discovered a vein of ether at the ground's surface. Shulk spends all evening and all night fashioning a crude storage cylinder out of power frames and foil wrappers from the ration bars, then insists on hiking to the channel himself the next day to be the one to use it — “In case something goes wrong, like an explosion.” In the event, there’s no explosion, but the cylinder doesn’t hold the ether as well as Shulk had hoped. He hooks it up as a battery to a few lanterns to provide some light around the camp, but it’s almost discharged by morning. He goes back to the drawing board, but eventually decides that they’ll have to wait until they find some proper scrap metal, or perhaps they can ask the next Nopon caravan if they can source cylinders.

Despite his long hours and days of work, Shulk still manages to find time to spend with Panacea and the others. The children start to have more questions about their surroundings — do their homes still exist in Aionios? If their homes have likely fallen into disrepair, as Shulk guesses, just how much time has passed since they went into Origin? Did all the animals come directly here from Alrest and the Bionis or did Origin put them here as well? Shulk answers as fully as he can, taking care to make sure they understand his explanations, even though the only question he truly knows the answer to is “when will the Nopon come back?”

“Soon,” Shulk tells them. “They said the next caravan would come by in a week or two.”

---

There are a couple of evenings when Shulk disappears off on his own. Rex wants to ask if he wants company, finding that he misses their nighttime conversations from the journey down the mountain. He’s also eager to hear more about the Bionis and the Mechonis, and about Shulk’s journeys and battles. But in truth, Rex finds that he needs some time alone as well.

On the rainy evenings, when the kids go to sleep early rather than get cold and wet playing outside, Rex takes his bedroll and treks over a rolling hill so he’s just out of sight of the camp but close enough that he’s in earshot in case there’s any trouble. He summons Pyra’s Aegis sword, and lets the heat of its flames warm his face while he listens to the hiss of the raindrops evaporating as they touch it. Then he summons Mythra’s sword and basks in its light, a miniature sun tinted the emerald colour of their core crystals. And in turn he summons Nia’s scimitar and lets the healing ether flow through him, tingling in his thigh where the bruise isn’t quite healed. When he first tries to call the weapons to him he still has to think of those he loves being in danger, but the process quickly becomes as familiar to him as reaching for his bonded blades ever was.

Holding his wives’ weapons in his hands helps him to feel closer to them, but if anything, it makes the physical longing well up within him even more intensely. On these rainy nights, after he settles down in his bedroll, he pushes his underpants down and wraps his fist around himself and imagines that it’s his wives’ small, soft hands on him instead of his own calloused fingers. He recalls the feel of their lips pressing kisses to his skin, their voices offering up sweet nothings alongside the praise that always gets him going. He pictures the curves of their bodies as they stretch languidly alongside him, then on him, under him, moving with him. He sees their faces as they take their pleasure from his body and his ministrations, and he spills over his fist, catching the mess in a sock that he’ll take to the lake to wash the next day.

Then he lies back, feeling just as alone as before. Then he wonders how Shulk is doing, and tries not to think too hard about why his thoughts keep going that way.

On the third rainy night, Rex has just finished putting the girls to bed when Shulk intercepts him on his way out of the tent. “Come walk with me?” he asks.

“Sure,” Rex says. “What’s up?”

“I want to show you something.”

Rex grabs his jacket and follows Shulk northeast from the camp. Rex knows there’s a gibbous moon tonight, but it’s hidden behind the rainclouds, so once they leave camp the only light is from the flashlights they use to find their way. The flashlight beams reflect in a thousand directions on the falling raindrops. It’s quiet, too; most of the local wildlife is sheltering from the rain, so once they’re out of earshot of the camp, all Rex can hear is their footsteps rustling through the long grass and the occasional call of a brog.

“It really is peaceful out here tonight,” Rex says.

“I suppose it is,” Shulk says after a moment. “Sometimes I forget to listen.”

“Too much going on inside your head?”

“Something like that.”

Rex waits for Shulk to elaborate, but he doesn’t. “Okay, so I have an odd question,” Rex says.

“Go ahead.”

“Does Fiora…talk to you?”

“Talk to me?”

“I mean, do you hear her voice in your head? Except it’s not really clear whether it’s in your head, or maybe…” he trails off, looking for a way to describe it. “Except it’s almost as though she’s right next to you, if only you could see into the dimension she’s in?”

“Hmm,” Shulk says. Rex can almost see Shulk rubbing his chin, even though he’s in complete darkness, and the slight wrinkling of his nose when he feels the scruff growing there. He wonders if he always learned his friends’ body language so soon after meeting them, or if this is something new.

A few second later, Shulk continues. “I don’t think so. I mean, there’s always a lot of chatter in my head. Sometimes it seems like it’s other people talking with me, but I always assumed it’s my brain’s way of distilling the wisdom those people have given to me. I’ve not experienced anything out of the ordinary for me. Why do you ask?”

Rex scratches the back of his neck. “I keep hearing my wives talking to me. I dunno how they could be, but it doesn’t feel like regular imaginary conversations.”

“I wonder… The only time I’ve experienced something like what I think you’re describing is when Alvis first started speaking to me. Is it just Mythra and Pyra?”

“Nope, Nia too. You were thinking it’s a trinity core thing?”

“Yeah, but it can’t be if Nia is doing it too.”

“So you reckon it’s actually them?” Rex asks.

“I’m not sure how they would be doing it, but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, given that there’s so much we don’t understand about this place.”

“Or maybe I’m just going mad. Or maybe I’m just feeling lonely.” Rex notices the sound of the rain change into a hiss; he stops walking and lifts his flashlight to look further ahead. “Look, we’ve reached the lake,” he says, watching the seemingly infinite ripples from the raindrops colliding almost before they’ve formed. He hears his friend’s breath from next to him. He wishes he had some way to capture the feeling of the scene in the same way that it captures his attention in this moment of peaceful companionship, but he knows he doesn’t have a poetic soul.

Shulk breaks the spell of the moment, probably unaware there was even something to break. “Right. Let’s head east to the cliffs. Where were we? Oh yeah, it could be a trick of the mind from loneliness, too.” Then, after a beat: “I do miss her. Fiora, I mean.”

“Would it help to talk about her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? She was my childhood friend. We grew up together. I can’t remember a time before I knew her.”

“What’s she like?”

“Kind. Endlessly and infectiously optimistic. Really good with people. One of the strongest people I know.” Shulk stops walking for a moment. “Rather like you, actually,” he says, then carries on.

That stops Rex in his tracks. He know he’s good with people, of course, but has no idea what he's done in the past couple of weeks that demonstrates any of those other qualities.

“Okay, we're here,” Shulk says, apparently oblivious to the fact that he's just favorably compared someone he's known for a fortnight to his wife of over a decade.

He's right, though, Mythra-in-his-head says.

You're biased. And you can't just drop that on someone.

Unless you're trying to hit on them, Nia supplies.

He was literally just telling me how much he misses his wife.

“Everything okay, Rex?” Shulk calls back to him.

“Yeah, sorry.”

Rex jogs over to where Shulk stands, shining his flashlight into the entrance to a hidden cave in the cliffs. There's a very faint greenish light come from somewhere inside.

“What's this?” Rex asks.

“Welcome to my secret ether cavern,” Shulk says. “Just a moment, I’ll turn the lights on.”

Shulk steps into the narrow gap in the cliff face, then disappears into the darkness. A few moments later the green glow intensifies. A couple of peds into the cliff the space opens up into a wider cavern. Rex makes his way in, having to turn sideways to fit his shoulders through at the narrowest point.

“Wow,” Rex says when he steps through into the cave. “I like what you’ve done with the place.” There is an ether channel in the floor, and next to it are Shulk’s failed ether cylinder and several half-dismantled flashlights, their reflectors removed and internal wiring hanging out and attached to the cylinder. It’s bright enough that Rex can now see that the full size of the cavern, maybe twenty peds in diameter and half as tall at the highest point.

“Thanks,” Shulk says. His skin looks a rather sickly green in this light. “I thought the cylinder would at least make a decent transformer, even if it’s not much good as a battery.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about electronics, though I’m glad you found a use for it. How’d you find the cave? Was it here on the Bionis too?”

“No, I think it was formed from an annihilation event.” Shulk sketches out the hemispherical shape of the cavern with his hands. “The rocks around it must have shifted after the event, creating the entrance. There are a couple of chimneys through to the ground above, too.”

“So no risk of the air fouling. Are you thinking of using this for housing?”

“Ah, no, at least not yet. It might not be safe with the ether channel in here anyway. I don’t know yet how they behave — if their flow can increase in a way that might poison us.”

“Good point. What do you want to do with the space, then?” Rex asks.

“Well, that’s what I wanted to show you. I thought I could use the channel and the cylinder to concentrate the ambient ether in here just a little bit — enough for — well,” he trails off and takes a few steps backwards. Then he closes his eyes and extends his arms, and a peaceful expression falls over him in the moment before all the green light converges on the space in front of him, and his Monado appears in his hands.

Then he opens his eyes and smiles.

Rex finds himself smiling back. “Nice! That’s really good work, Shulk.”

“Thank you. I saw you practicing summoning the Firelight Swords in the evenings, so I thought I should figure out how to call the Monado. So that I can, you know, pull my weight, if we need to fight.”

“Shulk, if anyone tries to tell you you’re not pulling your weight, you send them my way and I’ll give them a good talking to.”

Shulk chuckles. “Thank you. I wouldn’t feel right if I wasn’t fighting alongside you, though.”

“I know I keep telling you, but you don’t have to do everything around here,” Rex says gently. “If you don’t want to fight, that’s okay.”

“I want to do whatever it is we’re here for, so if that requires fighting, I’ll fight. Anyway, I know it’s not a lot of use just to be able to summon it in here. But I’m still getting better with it. I might need to make some tweaks to the power frames we found, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to use it away from ether channels soon enough.”

As Shulk speaks, Rex takes a few steps sideways to get a better view of the Monado. Its light is the same shade of blue he’s used to seeing from Blades’ weapons — Mythra and Pyra’s excepted — but the circular panel in which a symbol appears is something he’s never seen before, on a weapon or elsewhere.

“What does the symbol mean?” Rex asks.

“I never actually figured it out. Alvis intimated that it’s the script from some long-lost language, but he would never tell me what it means. Other versions of the Monado had different default symbols, and it changes when I use its arts. Here, come behind me and I’ll show you.”

Rex moves closer to Shulk, standing a couple of steps behind his right shoulder so he still has a good view of the weapon. Then Shulk shifts the Monado in his hands and the symbol changes. Its colour shifts to yellow at the same time as a honeycomb of golden particles coalesces around them. Even if Rex hadn’t known Mythra to use a similar art, it’s clear that the pair of them are now enclosed in a protective sphere of ether. And from the way the air vibrates around them, it’s clear that this is no ordinary defensive art, either.

“Very, very nice,” Rex says admiringly. “Are all its arts this powerful?”

“It’s a very good ether concentrator. I daren’t use its offensive arts in here for fear of causing a cave-in. Of course, I don’t know how it compares in strength to the Blade weapons in your world, which I assume function similarly.”

“This is far more powerful than your average Blade weapon, that much is obvious. This might be more on a par with the Aegis swords, Shulk. And yet this is something that you made yourself. No wonder you were able to kill a god.”

Shulk gives an embarrassed laugh. “Like I keep saying, I had a lot of help.”

Rex takes a step closer to Shulk’s shoulder. “Still a most impressive feat, Godcleaver Shulk.”

Shulk laughs again. “You can’t call me that.”

“Just did. Look, I restrained myself from making more big sword jokes. I’ve got to make you laugh somehow.”

Shulk huffs. Rex grins, out of sight behind Shulk’s shoulder.

“Speaking of big sword jokes,” Rex goes on, “might I, uh, hold it?”

Another snicker, but then Shulk is quiet for a moment. “The original Monado was pretty harmful to other people,” he says, “but given that this one is activated by my ether flow and not Zanza’s, it should be okay. We can test by both touching it at the same time. If anything unexpected happens, we’ll know it’s not safe and I can take it back. Also, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it active when I’m not holding it, but let’s try.”

“Sounds like a high maintenance sword,” Rex says. “Then again, the same could be said of the Aegis swords.” Rex comes up alongside Shulk and takes the Monado’s hilt in his left hand while Shulk still holds it in his right.

The moment Rex touches it, Shulk gasps, his spine straightening.

Rex lets go again. “Is something wrong?”

“No, ah — that just felt a bit strange.”

“Strange how?”

“Strange like you were touching me.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Rex says, knowing that Shulk doesn’t like unexpected touch.

“It’s no problem. Did it feel okay on your end? No pain, no loss of motor control?”

“Nope, all fine for me.”

“Do you want to try again?” Shulk asks.

“Yeah,” Rex says, and reaches out for the hilt again. There’s a soft intake of breath from Shulk, but he doesn’t flinch like the first time. “Okay, I’ve got it.”

The moment Shulk lets go of the hilt, its blade of glowing ether disappears and some hidden mechanism closes the two sides into a single, inert metal blade. Other than the fact that the symbol has also disappeared, it’s the same as how the Aegis swords deactivate.

“Ah, sorry,” Shulk apologies. “Let me see if I can activate it again.”

Shulk moves to stand closer to the ether channel and cylinder. Then he extends one hand towards it and the other towards Rex. He frowns, closes his eyes, but nothing happens. “Come closer?” he asks.

Rex stands directly next to Shulk, who reaches out to lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Ready?” Shulk asks.

Rex nods. A moment later, the Monado activates, its sudden harsh ether glow blinding him for a moment in the dim cavern.

“Oh,” Shulk murmurs.

“Everything okay?”

Shulk nods. “I’m going to see if I can stop touching you and keep it active.”

Rex feels Shulk’s hand fall away from his shoulder. The sword remains active. He whistles his appreciation. “Very good,” he says.

“Try walking away from me a bit,” Shulk says.

Rex takes a few steps away, then turns around to look back at Shulk, whose eyes are still closed. Rex’s jaw drops when he sees the narrow ribbon of faint blue light running between them. All of a sudden he has a feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He goes to say something, can't find the words, realises it might be better not to say anything anyway. Shulk, are you a Blade? would be a weird and probably unanswerable thing to say.

Nia’s voice sounds in his head. Sure looks that way, doesn't it? You always did have a thing for Blades, after all. Figures your new crush would turn out to be one too.

Rex's eyes flick between the ribbon of ether and Shulk's face, and the butterflies turn into the heat of desire. Shulk’s eyes are closed, his lips parted, and there’s a flush high on his cheeks. It looks like this is a lot of effort for him, but Titans below does he look beautiful to Rex in this moment.

Architect, you and your crushes, Nia says. Rex can feel her rolling her eyes.

“See if you can use the armour art,” Shulk says, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Rex brings to mind the feeling of using a new art with a Blade, and focuses on the connection between them and the weight of the Monado in his hands. He grunts, and at the same time as the Monado’s symbol changes, the ribbon of light between them grows brighter, the golden honeycomb appears again — though not quite as solid as before — and Shulk lets out a whimper that goes straight to Rex's groin.

A moment later it all disappears. The Monado returns to its inert form, and then dematerialises entirely, and Shulk’s shoulders slump.

“Sorry,” Shulk murmurs, opening his eyes. “That was difficult to keep up.”

“No, that was amazing,” Rex says. To himself he says, Get a grip for goodness’ sake. He has no idea if Shulk is aware of the implications of what just happened between them; he decides to keep it to himself, at least for now. But he can’t resist the desire to experiment some more. “Do you want to try out mine?” he asks.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Shulk says. “Just one of the swords, though — I won’t be able to hold both.”

Rex smiles. “Let’s try with Pyra’s.”

He summons Pyra’s sword easily enough, but when he hands it to Shulk he understands what the other man meant about the strange feeling. It’s not a distinct feeling, not like a hand on some part of his body; it’s more as though feathers caress the entirety of his being. “Oh,” he says, “this really does feel odd.”

“Does it feel bad to you?” Shulk asks.

“No, it’s fine,” he says with a shake of his head. “It’s weird, though. It doesn’t feel like it’s any effort for me to keep it active.” There’s no ribbon of ether flowing between them, either.

“Maybe you’re just better at it than me.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it. You said that life on the Bionis depends on a flow of ether, right?”

“Right. Yes, I see. Whereas you have no innate ether flow. Your Blades power their weapons through their own ether. So even though Pyra isn't exactly here, she's still powering the sword somehow. Yes, you’re probably right.”

Rex can’t help but feel a little thrill at helping Shulk figure that out.

Shulk runs through a few drills with the sword. Each time he swings it, it sends a not-unpleasant shiver down Rex’s spine. It's like the soft touch of a loved one reaching out to caress him in passing. Rex has to bite down on his lip so as not to make a noise.

It’s not long, though, before Shulk’s breath starts coming harder and his form starts to fall apart. “Here, can you take it back?” he asks, panting, his face reddened from physical exertion this time, but just as pretty as before. “It’s heavier than the Monado, and I’ve not trained for years.”

Rex takes the sword back from Shulk before dismissing it. They hold each others’ gaze for a long moment, and Rex feels a blush threaten to spread on his cheeks as Shulk's eyes seem to search his own.

It's Rex who looks away first. “Well,” he says, “you got any more surprises up your sleeve?”

“Actually, yes. Do you have any minor injuries — scratches or minor bruises or anything?”

“Now that you mention it, I gave myself a paper cut when I was writing up those notes. It’s really nothing, though. Why?”

“Let me see?” Shulk asks.

“Sure.” Rex offers his hand, showing Shulk the scabby line across his index finger.

Shulk extends his own hand until their fingertips almost touch. Then his lips move wordlessly and a field of healing ether flows from his hand to cover Rex’s. It only lasts a second, and then it's gone; and with it, any trace of the cut is gone too. Rex inspects has hand as well as he can in the pale light. There's a faint pink line of new skin, just like when Nia heals his injuries.

“You’re a healer?” Rex asks.

“Oh, I'm certainly not worthy of that title,” Shulk says. “I have some very small skill with ether healing — as many Homs do — but even when there's a proper ether flow I can only handle minor injuries.”

“Oh,” is all Rex says, because he can't think of anything else to say.

“Would I be correct in surmising that humans on Alrest can't do that?”

“You certainly would.” He can't quite bring himself to say that ether healing is something that only Blades can do. “Well. This has been an enlightening evening.”

Shulk nods. “I, uh, I have something to ask of you, as well.”

“Anything,” Rex says.

“Would you train with me? I’m not going to be a lot of use until I get stronger, and as you can see, I’m entirely out of practice.”

“Of course!” Any excuse to see him out of breath, Mythra whispers in his ear. Rex ignores her. “Just let me know when,” he says to Shulk, “and I’ll make sure I’m available. In return, though, you have to tell me your story, okay?”

“Ah, yeah, of course. Sorry. It slipped my mind, what with, you know,” Shulk gestures broadly. “Not tonight, though. I’m rather worn out from all that.”

“I’m not surprised. Let’s go get some rest.”

After walking back to camp with Shulk — doing his best to hide how tense he suddenly feels — Rex takes his bedroll to his usual secluded spot just out of sight. He skips summoning his wives’ Blade weapons, instead stripping straight down to his underwear and crawling into the bedroll. He unceremoniously shoves his hand into his boxers and wraps his fist around his cock. This time, he doesn’t even try to keep his thoughts away from Shulk as he seeks his release.

Oh, Rex, he hears Pyra sigh. What are we going to do with you?

There’s a haze of guilt floating in the back of Rex’s mind but it’s not enough to stop him. He can still see the look on Shulk’s face as he concentrated on keeping his ether flowing to the sword in Rex’s hand, the ribbon of light that connected their bodies. He still hears the Shulk's whimper when Rex used the Monado’s art, and the quick pants as he gripped Rex's sword in his hands. He doesn't find it hard to imagine Shulk's fingers around him in place of his own, or the sound of his voice whispering encouragement. In his head it gets mixed up with the beauty he found in the rain hitting the lake’s surface, and before long his mind fragments into a million shards just like the ripples reflecting his flashlight as he comes, hard, an unsuppressed moan leaving his lips.

He would be embarrassed about how quickly he spills, but, well, he knows himself too well to expect anything else.

It's in the clarity following his orgasm that the guilt really hits him.

Predictable, Mythra says.

You know we don't mind that you get crushes on other people, Pyra tells him.

I’d be more concerned if you stopped crushing on your friends, Nia adds.

But that's not really the issue here, is it? Pyra says. The issue is that this is no way to be thinking about Shulk.

Please don't gang up on me again, Rex asks. I'm doing my best, but it's hard, being away from you three and the girls.

What, that nightmare you had? That was mostly your mind, not us, Mythra says.

Mostly? Rex asks.

We don't want you to mess this up, Mythra says. Then, more gently than is characteristic for her: It's really important, for the girls and for everyone, that you do what needs to be done.

And what needs to be done? Rex asks.

Pyra and Mythra both look at Nia. I wish we could tell you, Pyra says.

Is it that you don't know, or you won't say?

In a way it’s both, Nia says. Origin's a mess. I don't know exactly what happened in there, except that something went very wrong. As for the rest, well, you'll find out in the fullness of time. Some of it quite soon, if all goes to plan.

Rex realises that he must be falling asleep, as he sees his wives curled up alongside his body. What plan? he asks.

Mythra kisses him. Patience, love, she says as she pulls herself closer into Rex's side. But about Shulk.

Yes, Pyra says, pressing her body against him. About Shulk. You're supposed to be helping him, not getting horny for him.

I know a good shag is basically always helpful for you, Nia puts in, crass as ever. But let's not make assumptions about Shulk, eh? He seems a tad more prim and proper than you.

Most everyone is more prim and proper than our Rex when he's got the horn, Mythra says.

Hey, Rex starts to complain, but he's silenced by Nia pressing a finger to his lips.

All we want to say, says Pyra, is that you need to look after him. He's important.

Yeah, Rex agrees, he is.

It's only as he drifts into true dreams that he realises Nia is wearing a jeweled tiara. He wants to ask where she got it, ask why Shulk is so important, but it's too late; and by the time Rex awakens, the memories are lost to wherever forgotten dreams go.

---

The next morning, Aquillan finds Rex and asks if he wants to accompany Demetria and himself on another scouting trip, this time to the place marked Colony Kappa on the Nopon map. Rex is feeling guilty and somewhat embarrassed about last night, so he’s grateful for the opportunity to make himself scarce at camp for a while.

The map indicates that there will be some climbing, so they pack some ropes along with their provisions. Linka — far more relaxed about Rex going away now that she's settling in with her new friends, and with Narine and Wynne — waves them off as they set out towards the southeast.

The first part of the walk retraces the end of their journey down from the mountain, to the natural staircase that ascends to the path marked as Magwall Road on the map. From there they continue east until they come up against the cliffs. They aren't very tall, about ten peds, and there are plenty of hand- and footholds. Aquillan volunteers to free climb it and secure a rope for the others.

Rex crosses his arms. “It's plenty high enough to break your neck if you fall,” he says. “Too dangerous to free climb.”

“Look at dad over here,” Aquillan jibes. “I'll be fine. I could climb this in my sleep. You don't need to worry your old self about it.”

Rex frowns. “First, you're older than me and should know better. Second, you'd understand if you had kids.”

“Maybe, but I don't.” Aquillan puts his pack down and fishes out a coil of rope, which he slings over a shoulder.

“Don't you have anything to say about this, Demetria?” Rex asks her.

“Not really. He can look after himself,” she says in her strong Tantal accent. “Besides, I like a capable man.”

Rex sighs in exasperation as his companions share a look.

True to his word, Aquillan makes the climb look easy. At the top, he ties one end of the rope around a tree trunk then throws the other end back down. Demetria barely uses the rope as she ascends, only shimmying up it for a couple of sections where the handholds are too far apart for her shorter arms. Rex makes more extensive use, even though he doesn't have that same excuse.

Eventually Rex manages to haul himself over the ledge, and immediately flops over onto his back, panting.

“You alright, dad?” Aquillan asks.

“I'm just out of practice,” Rex says.

Aquillan laughs, though not unkindly, and helps Rex to his feet. “Should we take the rope with us?” he asks.

“Nah, might as well leave it. We'll be coming back the same way.”

Demetria has pulled a pair of binoculars out of her pack. The colony is visible in the distance, a collection of white tents and several taller structures. “It's larger than I was expecting,” Demetria says. “And there’s more Tantalese architecture.”

Rex grabs his own binoculars. There are at least a dozen tents, possibly with more hidden behind, set in front of what Rex recognises as the Old Gelgemos Gate. Three of the tall structures are sentry towers, each with a pair of soldiers atop them. Rex can make out a couple of more humanoid-looking structures as well. He pans up a bit, trying to look further into the camp, and —

“What in Melnath’s name is that giant robot thing?” he asks.

“Where?” Aquillan asks.

“Back from the main camp.”

Aquillan starts when he sees it. “Is that a bloody Mechon?”

“A what now?”

“Weapons made by the Machina. Bionis below, it's so big that I straight up missed it.”

“Do you think it moves? Or is it some kind of statue?” Demetria wonders.

“The fact that Mechon could move was definitely one of their bad features,” Aquillan says. He sounds agitated; Rex guesses this is bringing up some bad memories. “It doesn't look like any of the models I remember seeing, but I never went to Sword Valley, which is where the biggest ones rallied. I really hope it's not a face Mechon.”

Rex makes a note to ask what a face Mechon is at a more convenient time. He studies the rest of the camp some more. “Well, one of the smaller ones is definitely moving around. And given both our worlds have giant humanoid structures that can move…”

“Seems safer to assume this one can too,” Demetria finishes for him.

“Right. Though it could also be some kind of massive idol, if they have myths here about the Titans.”

Aquillan shakes his head. “Damn, but this place is strange. When I wished for new frontiers to explore, this isn't what I meant.”

“I completely agree,” Rex says.

“So what's the plan?” Aquillan asks. “Do we try to make contact?”

“I think that decision's already been made,” Demetria says, still looking through her binoculars. “We've been spotted.”

Rex hurries to refocus the binoculars, scanning across the sentry towers. Indeed, a soldier atop one of them is pointing directly at him. “Ah, crap. Should have been more careful to get into cover. Still…got to start talking to the natives at some point, right?”

Rex stands and raises his hands over his head. “You two stay here,” he tells the others, and walks forward twenty paces.

It doesn't take long for a unit of four soldiers to start running towards him, and another four hot on their heels. Not ten seconds later one of the smaller robots rolls into view in front of the tents — quite literally rolling on a large ball, above which the torso levitates via some sort of ether repulsion.

As the soldiers approach there are flashes of ether that Rex knows signifies the summoning of weapons.

“We don't want to fight!” Rex shouts, his hands still held above his head. “We just want to talk.”

An ether bolt flies wide.

“Please! We aren't your enemies!”

“Rex,” Aquillan warns, “that robot is about to open fire.”

“Shit,” Rex swears. He has to throw himself sideways to avoid a better-aimed bolt. He rolls quickly back up to his feet. “Plan B: tactical retreat,” he says, but Aquillan and Demetria are already over the ledge of the cliff.

By the time Rex reaches the edge, Aquillan has his feet on the ground. Demetria jumps the last couple of peds; Aquillan helps her steady herself. Rex yells “catch!” and throws the packs down, hoping that nothing breaks. “Run! Don't wait for me!” he calls, then grabs the rope and starts abseiling down hand-over-hand.

Going down is a lot faster than climbing up, especially with the amount of adrenaline now coursing through Rex. He makes it to the ground before any of the soldiers reach the cliff, or at least before any of them think to cut the rope; he doesn't look up to find out if they’re there, just grabs his pack and starts running.

Demetria and Aquillan are maybe fifty paces ahead, keeping several paces apart and zigzagging to make themselves harder to hit. Rex follows suit, and is glad he does because it's not long before the ether bolts start chasing him. When he risks a look back, some of the soldiers are descending, making use of the rope he had no choice but to leave for them. The robot, thankfully, seems to be staying up top.

It’s been a long time since Rex has had to run any distance at full pelt. Most of his running these days comprises chasing kids around, and there’s neither speed nor danger involved in that. There are a couple more ether bolts that scorch the ground a few peds to his left. He looks back over his shoulder, sees three of the child soldiers in pursuit. Ahead, Aquillan and Demetria are running faster than him, increasing the gap between them. He can hear his heart racing in his ears, his breath coming fast in time with his steps. In spite of the peril there’s something about the chase that makes him feel truly alive in a way he hasn’t experienced since the escape from the World Tree, aware of the brevity and fragility of life and how dearly he loves it.

Another hundred paces and he looks back again. Only one of the soldiers is still chasing, and they seem to be losing ground. His companions disappear over the top of a rolling hill ahead of him. Another fifty paces and the last soldier gives up. Just as well; Rex isn’t sure he could have kept up that pace any longer. He drops to a jog but keeps moving to discourage the soldiers from picking up the chase again. He crests the hill where Demetria and Aquillan disappeared from sight and nearly trips over them lying in a depression in the ground.

Once he’s sure he’s out of view from the soldiers, he drops to he hands and knees and gasps for breath. He wants to laugh with how alive he feels, but he doesn’t have enough air in his lungs for that.

Aquillan claps him on the back. “Good running, dad,” he says, still out of breath himself. “Wasn’t sure you had it in you. Glad you did.”

Once his lungs no longer feel like they’re on fire, Rex rolls over onto his back. “D’you think they’re always that friendly?” he asks.

“Hard to say, given that we made a fatal error ourselves,” Aquillan says. “We’re all wearing black and dark colours.”

Rex claps his hand to his forehead. “They thought we were from Keves. They didn’t wait to get close enough to see that we’re too old for that.”

“Or that may just be how they greet strangers,” Aquillan says.

“Don’t they realise that this war between black versus white is a bit…” Demetria trails off.

“On the nose?” Aquillan supplies.

“Seems they don’t teach subtlety at child soldier school,” Rex says, shaking his head. “I guess Shulk was right.”

“Right about what?”

“About these kids never getting a chance to learn what life it really like. Learn about the shades of grey. Learn about figuring things out for themselves. Learn about figuring themselves out.”

“This is a damned depressing world someone’s set up here,” Aquillan says.

“Do you see movement over there?” Demetria asks.

Rex sits up quickly enough that his head starts spinning, hoping it’s not the soldiers coming for them, but Demetria is looking the other way. If he squints, he can just about make out some shapes moving in the far distance.

“Probably just a herd of armu or something,” Rex says.

Demetria and Aquillan are both already looking through their binoculars. It’s only then that Rex realises he no longer has his on the strap around his neck. “Damn, I dropped my binoculars,” he says with a tut.

“It’s a Nopon caravan,” Demetria says.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rex exclaims as he jumps to his feet, still on a high from the chase. His legs protest after the hard run, and threaten to wobble underneath him, but he does his best to hide it from his evidently much fitter companions. “Let’s go meet them!”

After checking that the Agnian soldiers have definitely given up and gone home, Rex waves his arms in hopes of attracting the Nopon’s attention, but to no avail. They seem to be headed in the direction of Raguel Lake, so Rex and the others start walking in a direction that should intercept them en route. About forty minutes later, one of the Nopon spots them and calls the caravan to a halt; another ten minutes and they come face to face.

This caravan is smaller than the first, comprising only four Nopon. The obvious leader of the group is the most serious Nopon who Rex has ever seen. They have sky-blue fur, dark blue eyes and big cheek-tufts, and wear a black jacket with a power frame on a belt. Their head is covered with luxurious brown fur, though Rex can’t tell whether it’s hair or a hat.

Rex extends his hand to the Nopon. “I’m Rex. Pleased to meet you. Did Kitsutsu and her caravan point you our way?”

“Riku pleased to make acquaintance, friend Rex,” the Nopon says in a distinctively deep voice. “Friend Rex know Shulk?”

“Yeah, Shulk should be at our camp, near Raguel Lake.”

The Nopon nods. “Please to take Riku to Shulk.”

Notes:

Codes and Keys by Death Cab for Cutie

Chapter 3: Ashes of death

Summary:

Riku tells Rex and Shulk the truth about Aionios and their purpose on it. The group comes up with a plan to re-take Colony 9 from its Kevesi Consul, but the mission doesn't go quite as planned.

Notes:

CONTENT WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER: This chapter includes a non-graphic description of the death of a Kevesi soldier at the hands of a Consul (both original characters), and the subsequent death of that Consul. The level of detail is consistent with what's typical for canon (think Joran's death or Shulk being shot by Dickson), and the story is more concerned with the effects of these deaths on the emotions of the main characters. The section that deals with the death of the soldier and Consul, and the off-seeing ceremony for the soldier, is marked with the character sequence *** at the start and end so anyone who doesn't want to read it can easily skip past it. There's a very brief summary of what happens in this section in the end notes for anyone who would prefer to read that.

When Rex, his companions and the Nopon caravan approach the camp, it’s the kids who notice first. Rex waves his arms over his head; in the distance, he sees Linka, Panacea and Georgie all waving back. A few moments later Narine appears too. Linka starts running out to meet them, but Narine must call her back, because she stops and returns. Rex cups his hands around his mouth to shout, “Wait there, we’ll be there soon.”

By the time they arrive half the camp has gathered to meet them. Of course, three of the Nopon — Oulou, Mamina and Lokani — make a beeline for the children. Riku hangs back and looks around. “Where is Shulk?” he asks in that disarmingly deep voice.

“I dunno. I’ll go find him,” Rex offers.

While Rex has been out scouting, Agathocles and Mathea have finished another of the crude shelters that they’ve been working on to ease the lack of privacy at camp, making three in total. This one is smaller than the others, and as Rex approaches, he sees that it only has one wall, the other corners of the roof being supported by sticks. It’s under this shelter that Rex finds Shulk.

Shulk is sitting cross-legged on the ground with what appears to be the parts of several dismantled power frames in front of him. He’s absorbed in his work, as usual, and doesn’t notice Rex approach.

“Knock knock,” Rex says quietly, wincing when Shulk startles despite Rex’s efforts not to alarm him. “Sorry.”

“Oh, Rex, you’re back already. Is everything okay?”

“We just got back with the next Nopon caravan — we spotted them en route. One of them is asking for you by name.”

“For me? I’d best come meet them, then.”

When Shulk catches sight of the Nopon he stops in his tracks. “Riku?” he asks uncertainly.

Riku looks at Shulk and nods.

The widest smile Rex has yet seen from him spreads across Shulk’s face. “Riku!” he says again, already closing the distance between them. He drops to his knees and hugs the Nopon.

Riku looks singularly unimpressed by this show of affection, though he tolerates it, patting Shulk on the back with one of his wing-hands. The scene makes Rex smile, too, but that only earns him a glare from Riku.

Shulk pulls back and looks at Riku again, as if to make sure that it’s really him. “How is it possible that you’re here?”

“Riku has been here much longer than Shulk.”

“What do you mean? There was another group that came here from Origin before us?”

“Yes. But Riku explain later. Please to get faff of meeting celebrations out of way. Friends will not listen well otherwise.”

Shulk laughs. “You always did find this stuff annoying,” he says.

“It superfluous to business,” Riku says, crossing his wing-arms in front of him. “Riku came quickly, as soon as heard from Kitsutsu that Shulk arrived, but now Riku must wait for pomp and ceremony to finish.”

“I’d hardly call a little getting-to-know-each-other gathering pompous. That said — we had to rely on Kitsutsu and her companions’ generosity to feed us. We’ve managed to start building up some food stores of our own now. Let us repay the favour and cook up a little meal to celebrate your arrival?”

“See? Pomp and ceremony. However…Riku suppose good meal would be appreciated after long journey. No self-respecting Nopon turns down offer of food, after all.”

“Great! Now why don’t you introduce me to your companions?”

“I’ll make a start on food while you’re doing that,” Rex offers, and goes to find some volunteers to help him cook.

By the time dusk falls, Rex, Sabina and Harris have cooked up a small feast. Rex does his best to approximate an acqua pazza, making a broth from wild onions and herbs gathered by Owen, and using it to poach some of Harris’ catch from this morning. Harris himself roasts the rest of the fish over the fire, while Sabina stews some roots and nuts with some chopped plums added for sweetness. Rex is grateful for Sabina’s help — he has no idea how to cater for more than a handful of people, so cooking for thirty one would be rather stressful for him without Sabina’s knowledge of cooking and organisational skills to keep him on track.

Rex sits to eat with the kids. He’s pleased with how the acqua pazza turns out. It’s certainly a different dish from the one he’s used to eating, the broth more bitter and with depth of flavour, but it’s passable and complements the fish nicely. Rex makes sure to remove the heads, tails and skin of the fish in the children’s portions before giving them their meals — he’s learned that lesson the hard way — and he carefully de-bones them as well. He’s mostly just grateful that the kids aren’t picky eaters; none of them have complained about all the new foods they’re having to eat now that the supply of ration bars is nearly gone. The five of them are in good spirits as they question the Nopon and answer their questions in turn. Oulou in particular seems eager to earn the children's’ favour, and after the main meal she shares a bar of chocolate with them.

The children’s normal bedtime comes and goes but they’re too excited for sleep. Georgie comes up with the idea of a game of tag, which Rex initially resists, but eventually gives in when he realises it might tire them out. And he can’t deny that five small children and three Nopon running around together is quite entertaining.

The last of the sun’s light is fading on the horizon when Shulk taps him on the shoulder. “Riku wants to speak to us now,” he says. “Is it a good time?”

“Sure,” Rex says. “Let me just find someone to watch the kids.”

After handing over the childcare to Wynne, Rex joins Shulk and Riku in the new shelter.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he says, taking a seat on the ground next to Shulk.

“Riku has three things to tell friends,” Riku starts without any preamble.

“Ah, good,” Rex says, “we were hoping you would be able to clear up —”

Riku clears his throat loudly. “Please not to interrupt.”

“Sorry.”

“Before telling, Riku must confirm that Kitsutsu convey information correctly. Please to repeat what Kitsutsu told friends.”

Rex looks to Shulk, feeling a little intimidated by the Nopon, but Shulk tilts his head a way that suggests Rex should go first. He takes a few moments to collect his memories, then repeats as much as he remembers about the child soldiers grown in vats to fight for their seemingly arbitrary sides in the endless war confected by the Consuls. Shulk has to fill in a few of the details that Rex doesn’t remember so clearly.

Riku nods a few times as Rex is talking, but when Rex is finished, he says, “That all Kitsutsu say?”

Shulk says, “I don’t think we left anything out. Or maybe we forgot some of it — it’s been a stressful time.”

Riku tuts. “Riku thought Kitsutsu more reliable. No matter. Riku can fill in gaps. First of all, people not randomly assigned to Keves and Agnus. Keves soldiers of Bionis and Mechonis origin. Agnus soldiers of Alrest origin.”

“They’re annihilating each other just like the land,” Shulk observes. “But unlike the land, the soldiers keep coming back to do it all over again, with no memory of their prior lives.” He fixes Rex with a meaningful look. “Just like the Blades awakened from Amalthus’ cleansed core crystals.”

“Shulk understand,” Riku says with a nod. “This Z’s plan to prevent cultural and societal development, while world itself stagnates from slowing of time.”

“Stagnation,” Shulk says. “The world of the Bionis and Mechonis was stagnant as well. And Rex, you said that Alrest was too. This seems to be a common theme.”

Rex takes a moment to think. “I understand that Amalthus had his reasons for wanting to stop Blade and Titan development, even if they were ardunshit reasons. What are Z’s reasons?”

“Z born from fear of future,” Riku says.

“Fear of the future? What’s in the future that he’s so scared of?” Rex asks.

“That is point exacting,” says Riki. “Future uncertain. Z is virus created by fear of uncertain future in souls uploaded to Origin.”

Shulk actually laughs at this. “You’re kidding me.”

“Riku never kid.”

“You mean to say that collective anxieties about what the future holds caused all this?” Shulk says, gesturing at the landscape around them. “I know we didn’t know for sure that Origin would work, but the people of Bionis have weathered far worse threats without something like this happening — I’m sure the people of Alrest have, too.”

Rex nods. “More than once,” he confirms.

“Peoples not previously stored in hardware controlled by trinity processor core.”

Shulk wipes a hand across his face. “Of all of the contingencies we planned for… How were we supposed to anticipate this outcome?”

“Hey now,” Rex says, “you can’t go blaming yourself for this.”

“Rex correct,” says Riku. “Emergence of self-aware virus not predictable consequence. Even greatest Nopon engineers not foreseeing. Trinity processor technology simply too far beyond current knowledge. No point in berate self.”

“I have a question,” Rex says.

“Please to ask.”

“So Z emerged from a collective fear of the unknown. Why then take people out of Origin? I’m guessing that Z is responsible for pausing time. Why not just stay in Origin, where nothing can happen?”

“Boredom,” Shulk says. “Being scared of the future doesn’t stop you from being dissatisfied with the status quo.”

“Spoken like true student of mistake of Klaus. Shulk correct once again,” Riku confirms.

Rex feels his shoulders tense and his jaw clench at this idea. “Z put on a war to stop people from getting bored? This is meant to be entertainment? Those are children whose lives he’s playing with. Titan’s balls, just wait until I get my hands on him, I’ll —”

He stops short when he realises that Shulk is staring at his outburst. He takes a deep breath. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” says Shulk. “I feel the same.”

“Riku agree. Z call this Endless Now. It most unsatisfactory situation.”

“Understatement of the century,” Rex says.

“In the end, he’s not even going to succeed,” says Shulk. “He’s slowed time to a tiny fraction of its normal speed, but as we’ve seen, the worlds are still annihilating. In the end, all of this will be gone.”

“When scared is never good time to make big decision,” Riku says.

“Right,” Shulk agrees. “In trying to put off the possibility that Origin might not work as planned, he’s ultimately just sabotaged it working at all.”

Riku nods. “Now friends have full understanding of Aionios situation, Riku has three things to tell.”

“Please, go ahead,” Shulk says.

“Thing the first. Z not greatest threat to Aionios.”

Now it’s Rex’s turn to laugh at an inappropriate moment. “Of course that’s not the worst thing going on,” he says sarcastically. “Why would it be?”

Riku gives him a glare for interrupting. “When Ontos fail to contain Z virus, started countermeasures. Avatar of Ontos activated.”

Rex raises a hand. “What’s an avatar of Ontos?”

“Alvis is the avatar of Ontos, I think,” Shulk says, “the same way that Mythra and Pyra are the avatars of Pneuma, or Malos of Logos.”

“Avatar attempt to restore original directive of Klaus. As Riku and friends already discuss, Klaus activate Conduit due to dissatisfaction with stagnation of humans.”

“So Alvis is trying to put an end to the endless now, as it were?” Shulk asks. “I think we'd like that too, so what’s the problem?”

“Problem is method. Avatar determine that source of problem is souls of Bionis and Alrest. Avatar plan to remove all traces of these.”

There’s silence for a few seconds, and then Shulk says, “Oh.”

Rex frowns. “I don’t understand.”

“Alvis…Ontos…isn’t trying to correct whatever happened to cause Z to emerge. He’s decided that it isn’t a fixable problem, so the only way forward is to get rid of people from Alrest and the world of the Bionis. He thinks there’s no place in the future for us — that we’re irredeemable.”

“Oh. That’s…drastic.”

“That…also really doesn’t sound like Alvis. I wonder what’s happened to him. But…that doesn’t quite make sense. Klaus wanted to advance humankind, so Ontos wouldn’t destroy it in its entirety. That implies that there are other people, not from the Bionis or Alrest.”

“Once again, Shulk correct,” Riku says. “There people here not of Origin origin.”

Rex shakes his head in bewilderment. “How are you figuring all this stuff out, Shulk?”

“Deductive reasoning. It’s like a puzzle. You’ve just got to figure out how the pieces fit together. But Riku, who are the people who didn’t come here from Origin?”

“Small number of soldiers escape control of Consuls. Most find way to settlement called Hope’s Rest. There, find partner, have children, and children have children, and so on.”

“So there are people who have escaped the system,” says Shulk. “That’s…something, at least. Can we make contact with them?”

Riku shakes his head. “Not at present. Important not to draw attention to Hope’s Rest. Now to move on to thing the second. Ruins of Colony 9 nearby and should be used by friends as base of operations.”

Shulk sits up straighter at that. “Colony 9 is near here? I suppose that makes sense…Raguel Lake is on the Bionis’ Leg, after all. But we came straight from Valak Mountain to the Bionis’ Leg, so I assumed…anyway, sorry. Please carry on.”

“Colony 9 was your home, right?” Rex asks.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Please not to get over excited,” Riku says. “Riku said ruins of Colony 9. Also, area currently inhabited by Keves Colony.”

“Ah,” Rex says. “We’ve already had a run-in with an Agnian Colony and it didn’t go well. I assume we aren’t going to get a friendly reception from Keves, either?”

“Rex correct,” Riku confirms. “Friends must eliminate Colony.”

“But those are children, Riku,” Shulk interjects. “I don’t care if they’ll be reborn. We can’t hurt them. Why do we need to interfere with them, anyway, if we’re not here to stop the Endless Now?”

“Because friends need allies to achieve goal of defeat avatar of Ontos. Also, no reason not to free soldiers opportunistically, where does not interfere with friends’ primary purpose. Also, Shulk please to listen properly. Riku said eliminate Colony, not soldiers. Colony based around Ferronis. Friends familiar with Ferronis?”

Rex and Shulk both shake their heads.

“Large mobile military base. Can transport all Colony personnel and materiel. Also hold Colony's Flame Clock.”

“We saw one at the Agnian Colony,” Rex realises, “though we didn't know what it was. So we destroy this Ferronis and its Flame Clock, and then what? The soldiers will magically all join our side?”

“Friends likely to encounter resistance. But once freed from Flame Clock, soldiers have no more need to fight.”

“So you think we’d be able to talk them round?” Shulk asks.

“Riku expect this easy task once Flame Clock destroyed. Beside, Riku have confidence in friends Shulk and Rex.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, but I’m not sure how we’d approach that problem. Or how we’d approach the Ferronis, for that matter, when it’s guarded by an entire garrison.”

“Not to worry. Riku have plan. Riku tell later. Now for thing the third.”

“Wait, Riku,” Shulk interrupts. “Can I ask a couple of questions first?”

Riku nods.

“How do you know all of this?”

“Riku has been on Aionios since start. Riku have much time to figure out.”

“Since the start? But wasn’t that a couple of centuries ago?”

“Two hundred and thirty nine years, seven months and sixteen days.”

“But Riku, you don’t look any older than the day I last saw you.”

“This, Riku cannot explain — perhaps it secret gift from Masterpon. But Riku does not lie.”

“No, I believe you.”

“So you arrived here with Kitsutsu’s great-great, uh, however many greats, grandmother, what was her name?” Rex asks.

“Tuzu,” Riku supplies. “Also Yusa, Npa, Hoko, Norara” — these he says looking at Shulk; and then turning to Rex — “Niranira, Chocholo, Foorara, Bipopo.”

“Niranira? Chairman of the Argentum Trade Guild?” Rex asks.

“One and same. Chocholo and Foorara and Bipopo knew Rex also.”

“And I remember Yua, Npa and Norara from Frontier Village,” Shulk says. “Who is Hoko?”

“Chef migrant to Colony 6.”

“Ah, that’s right. And they’re still alive, too?”

Riku shakes his head. “Friends live long lives, have many littlepon, and pass into afterlife of natural causes,” he says, matter-of-fact.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Riku,” Shulk says. “You’re the only survivor from back then?”

Riku doesn’t answer immediately, instead looking between Rex and Shulk. “No,” he eventually says. “But friends must promise not to…overreact.”

Rex raises an eyebrow. “Overreact to what?”

“Three others survive also.”

“Who are they, Riku?” Shulk prompts.

“Melly,” Riku says carefully. Shulk’s eyes go wide at this. “And Poppi.” Rex feels his jaw drop. “And Nia.”

Rex is on his feet before he knows it. “Nia’s here? You clearly know who she is to me, and you didn’t tell me ‘til now? Is she safe? Where is she?”

Riku holds out a wing-hand to try to quiet Rex, but it’s too much. He’s pacing back and forth, hands on his hips. “I need to see her,” he goes on. “I need to know she’s okay.” He needs some air. He marches out of the shelter and keeps pacing outside. There isn't enough air out here, either, it's too hot and too humid and full of smoke from the fire. He stops moving, puts his hands on his thighs and tries to suck air into his lungs. “Nia…I need to…I have to…know if she's safe,” he says between gasps. There's something squeezing at his chest and the edges of his vision are going dark.

Shulk is in front of him, putting his hands on Rex’s shoulders. He says Rex’s name a few times before Rex actually registers it and hears what Shulk is saying. “Deep breaths, Rex,” Shulk says. “Follow my breathing.” Rex does his best to slow his breathing to Shulk’s pace, though it takes a few cycles of inhalation and exhalation before it feels like the clamp on his chest is lifting. “That’s it. Good. You're alright, Rex. You're safe.”

Rex wipes a shaky hand over his face and is surprised when it comes away wet: he didn’t realise he was crying. “Titans, I… She’s been here two hundred and thirty-whatever years, and I haven’t been here for her. I've failed her.” The pressure on his chest starts to build again. He grabs hold of Shulk's wrists. “What's wrong with me, why can't I breathe?” he demands.

“You're having a panic attack, Rex. It's a completely understandable response to this situation. Look at me, and keep following my breathing, and it'll stop.”

Rex blinks away more tears and focuses on Shulk's concerned eyes and the gradually slowing rhythm of his breath. After some time — probably no more than a couple of minutes, though it feels far longer — Rex is able to breathe normally again.

“Sorry, Shulk…sorry,” he says quietly.

“No need to apologise.” Shulk’s own voice sounds a little shaky. “I know it’s a shock to learn that Nia’s here, but let’s listen to what Riku has to say, and then we can figure out what we need to do.”

“Yes…sorry,” Rex mumbles again.

Shulk keeps one hand on Rex’s upper arm and uses it to guide him back into the shelter. Rex half expects Riku to make some snarky comment, but instead he only presses his lips together and gives a slight nod of understanding.

“Please, Riku, carry on,” Shulk says.

“Nia, Melly and Poppi arrived with Riku and other Nopon two hundred and thirty nine years ago, at top of Black Mountain — same as friends here. War already in progress, but fewer soldiers then, fewer Consuls. Nia and Melly concocted plan to free soldiers and eliminate Consuls. First, created weapons. Melly and friends forged sword of Origin metal and resonance of friendship between Melly and Fiora. Sword able to defeat Z.” Riku looks at Shulk as if considering his next words. “Sword contain…fragment of soul of Fiora.”

“Fiora,” Shulk gasps, one hand covering his heart. “Resonance of friendship. Is that…is that…similar to how I made the third Monado, when I fought Zanza?” He shakes his head. “I don’t know why I’m asking; neither of you could know the answer. Sorry, Riku, please continue.”

“Other weapon made by Nia, from Origin metal, piece of own core crystal, and resonance of friendship with Mythra and Pyra.” Riku pauses, waiting for Rex’s reaction.

“Ah, is that how they’re speaking to me?”

“Speaking to Rex? Who speaking?”

“Oh, it’s not important right now. I’ll tell you later.”

Riku nods, and carries on. “Weapon of Nia — Ouroboros stone — not offensive weapon in and of self. Stone confer power to forge true bonds between people, even mortal enemies. This necessary because no person alone strong enough to defeat Z. Defeating require type of strength formed from closest of friendship between several persons.”

“Sounds like how you needed your friends’ help to defeat Zanza,” Rex says to Shulk.

Shulk nods. “Same with your friends and Malos,” he says. “Especially your bond with Mythra and Pyra…and Pneuma. A strong bond —maybe one could say a resonating bond — sounds like how you awakened Pneuma, too.”

“Exacting correct,” Riku says. “Nia and Melly understand importance of bonds between friends in defeating enemy such as Z, born of fears of individual persons.

“Nia and Melly planned to free soldiers of Flame Clocks and form community that, with help of sword and stone, have combined strength to overcome fears fuelling Z. Melly infiltrated Keves, while Nia go to Agnus. Both successful in freeing few soldiers. However, plan discovered by Z.” Riku pauses for a moment. “At this point Riku must emphasise Nia and Melly both alive and unhurt. However, circumstances of both…less than ideal.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Rex says. He forces himself to keep his breathing slow, to quell another panic attack.

Riku turns to face Rex. “Nia escaped would-be captors. Nia now in hiding, in stasis. Poppi protect Nia and keep Nia informed of events. Nia waiting for day when people capable of defeat of Z appear.”

Now Riku looks at Shulk. “Melly not escape captors. Melly kept also in stasis, but by Z. Z use Melly as admin key to maintain control over Origin. Riku say again, Melly unharmed. Z not allow harm to come to Melly as Melly necessary for maintaining power of Z.”

Rex swallows hard. He glances at Shulk, who looks like he's also struggling to contain his emotions. He says, “But you can…you can take us to them, right? We can help them, right?”

“Riku afraid that Riku must answer no.”

“But surely this is why we’re here, Riku,” Shulk protests, his voice a tad louder than Rex is used to hearing. “To defeat Z and return the soldiers’ souls to Origin so that the intersection can complete properly. Why else would Rex and I have been brought here?”

Rex nods. “We must be the people able to defeat Z, right? We’re what Nia is waiting for!”

“Again, Riku must answer no. Friends here to defeat avatar of Ontos. Defeat of Z…must wait for later time.”

“But…” Rex starts, but trails off.

“Who else is supposed to defeat Z?” Shulk asks, sounding frustrated. “With Melia and Nia out of action… And I can’t just leave Melia in the hands of Z.”

“Key to defeat of Z is weapons of Melia and Nia. Weapons both safe,” Riku says. “Protectors will ensure given to correct people at correct time.”

“Who are these protectors, Riku?” Rex asks.

“Ouroboros stone with citizens of Hope’s Rest. Sword — name of Lucky Seven — under protection of Riku.”

Shulk looks up at this. “Is it,” he begins. “May I…”

“Lucky Seven not for use of Shulk,” Riku says. Then, more gently: “Riku apologise, Riku realise this must sting.”

“Yeah, it really does,” Shulk says, dejected. Rex can see the glint of tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

“I'm not gonna shoot the messenger,” Rex says, “but this whole situation stinks.”

Riku nods. “Riku apologise for being bearer of bad news. Just one more thing important for friends to know. Z created mechanical facsimiles of Nia and Melly to serve as figurehead queens of Agnus and Keves respectively. Riku thought friends should be aware, before further encounters with soldiers. Now Riku will leave friends to process this news. Riku speak with friends again tomorrow.” With that, Riku takes his leave from Shulk's shelter.

Shulk doesn’t move, just sits there staring at his hands.

Rex gets to his feet and paces back and forth. He runs his hand through his hair a couple of times. “I thought it would be better to know, but…”

Shulk looks up to meet Rex’s eye. “So did I. It’s really not, is it? Over two centuries on their own.”

Rex sits back down. “D’you think —” he starts, but Shulk cuts him off.

“Sorry, Rex. I think I want to be alone.”

“Oh. Yeah. Of course. I’ll be around, if you want me.”

Rex doesn’t much feel like rejoining the gathering around the fire, so he decides to take a walk around the perimeter of the camp. The night is still warm, though it’s overcast. He can see wisps flying low over the lake. A lone volff howls somewhere in the distance.

“Let Riku guess,” the deep voice suddenly appears beside him, startling him.

“Titan’s tits, Riku, you made me jump out of my skin.”

“Shulk want to be by Shulk’s self.”

“Yeah. He’s always been like this, huh? Is he okay, or is he sitting and stewing on his own? Should I go to him?”

“Riku recommend Rex to leave Shulk for tonight. Shulk is hom-hom who feel emotions very strong, but not always knowing how to name emotions. Shulk need time to process. If Shulk still want to be alone in morning, then Rex — or Riku — intervene. But Riku predict Shulk return in morning.”

“But he’s still not okay, really, is he? He’ll just throw himself into his work without ever really working through it all.”

Riku is silent for a moment. Rex feels like he’s being studied. “Rex has learned ways of Shulk quickly.”

“That’s a weird way of saying we’ve become friends, but yeah. He’s a great guy. But he always seems like he’s trying to carry everyone’s burdens on his own. I wish I could help him out more.”

“This sound like Shulk. Riku not knowing Shulk during time of crisis, but heard stories from dadapon. Riku pleased that Shulk has found good friend.”

That warms Rex’s heart a little to hear. “Tell me about him?” he asks.

“That not Riku’s place to say,” Riku says firmly. “But Riku will say: do not let Shulk become hungry hom-hom. Also give coffee in morning.”

Rex barks out a laugh. “Yeah, I already figured out the first part. And, we haven’t found any coffee yet. Did your caravan bring any?”

Riku hums an affirmative. “Riku not daring to come to Shulk without coffee. Oh, Riku remember, bring message from friend Narine. Littlepons asleep so Rex not need to hurry back to camp.”

“Thanks, Riku,” Rex says. “But actually, I think being with the kids is exactly what I need right now.”

“Rex misses family,” Riku states.

“Yeah. It’s hard to be without them.”

“Riku understand. Riku also miss family of Riku. Rex go to littlepons.”

Rex makes his way back and slips between the flaps of the children’s tent, making as little noise as possible. Narine stirs at the disturbance, but all the kids are blissfully asleep. Rex sits next to Narine’s bedroll and whispers to her, “I can watch them tonight, if you want to get a proper night’s sleep.”

“Sure?” Narine asks. She waits for Rex to nod before she gathers up her bedroll and quietly steps out of the tent.

Rex didn’t bring his own bedroll, but it’s fine. The blankets spread over the groundsheet are enough for him. He ruffles Linka’s hair. “I’m glad you’re here,” he whispers, barely audible even to himself. “Not sure what I’d do without you.” Then he settles down to sleep — he has to curl up quite tightly to fit in the tent amongst the five kids all wrapped up in their own blankets — and closes his eyes.

---

Rex is awoken at dawn by Linka shaking his shoulder and whispering his name dramatically loudly. “Okay, okay, I'm awake,” he says. He opens one eye, then the other, and blinks a few times while his eyes adjust to the morning light. There's a chorus of hushed giggles from the other girls when he opens his mouth wide in a yawn.

“It's time for breakfast, Uncle Rex,” Linka tells him.

“Is that so,”Rex says. He sits up and sees that the boys are still sleeping. “Alright, let's go outside and let Gareth and Murray sleep in.”

The girls creep out through the flap in single file. They're each dressed in several layers of shirts taken from the crate they found atop the mountain, all coming down past the knees of these four and five year olds, but they keep the kids warm overnight and in the sometimes-chilly mornings. They also have the added bonus of being easy to clean.

Rex, meanwhile, is aware that he needs to wash his own clothes again. That panic attack last night left him stinking of fear. Remembering that brings the conversation with Riku rushing back to him, as well; but he can distract himself for now, at least, having the girls around to keep him occupied.

The rich aroma of coffee draws him to the fire pit at the centre of the camp. He isn't surprised to find that Riku and the other Nopon have stoked the fire back into life to heat a pan of rolled oats and a kettle of water. He is surprised, though, to find Shulk there quite so early. He doesn’t look like he’s slept, but he looks content nonetheless, newly clean-shaven and sipping from a steaming mug, speaking in quiet tones with Riku.

“Mornin’, guys,” Rex says to the Nopon. “Mind if we join you?”

“Friends welcome,” Oulou says. “Plenty of porridge to feed littlepon too.”

“I love porridge!” Panacea announces. “Does it have honey in?”

“Panacea, it's rude to ask guests for —” Rex starts, but is interrupted by Memina.

“Honey in porridge sound like excellent idea,” the pink-furred Nopon says before running off, presumably to fetch some honey.

Rex is sure he sees Riku roll his eyes.

Rex sits down next to Shulk, leaving the kids and Nopon to entertain each other. “Am I interrupting?” he asks.

“Shulk being stubborn about accepting gift from Riku,” Riku says.

“You know I don’t like accepting charity,” Shulk says. “I really appreciate your gifts to me, of course — you have no idea how much better I feel after a shave and some coffee — but paying off my loans is another matter. We’ll figure out a way to repay Kitsutsu and her caravan.”

Riku waves a dismissive wing-hand. “Riku take care of repayment.”

“That’s mighty generous of you to offer,” Rex says, “but I’m not sure how I feel about just having a loan forgiven, either.”

“Humans always so peculiar in pecuniary matters,” Riku says. “Friends can remain in debt if friends want. But Riku has been jobbing engineer and smith for two hundred years. Riku has earned much money to spend and has little to buy.”

“Well…maybe let’s talk about it later,” Rex says, wanting to avoid an argument.

“Would friend Rex like coffee?” Memina asks, proffering a small mug in her wing-hands.

“Would I ever,” Rex says gratefully as he accepts the mug. He inhales the complex aroma before taking a sip. It’s black, and he usually takes it with sugar, but it’s been long enough that he’s just glad to have any at all. He lets out an appreciative sigh.

“Thank the Titans for caffeine,” Shulk says.

“I’ll drink to that,” Rex agrees.

“Riku, do you still want to discuss your plan for retaking Colony 9 at some point today?”

Riku nods that he does.

“I’ll need to wait until Narine or Wynne or someone wakes up and can watch the kids before I can join you,” Rex says.

“Riku will wait,” Riku says.

Rex plays hide and seek with the girls around the camp until the Gareth and Murray crawl out of the tent, and then takes them all down to the lake to do some washing up. By the time they return to camp, Wynne and Narine are emerging from one of the newly built shelters. They’re holding hands and smiling at each other, which takes Rex by surprise; though after a moment’s reflection it doesn’t seem that much of a revelation. After giving the pair a chance to properly wake up and get some breakfast, Rex lets them take charge of the kids, then meets Riku and Shulk inside the same shelter as last night.

“Plan of Riku have four steps.” Riku is standing opposite Shulk and Rex with a map and a few papers arrayed in front of him. “Step the first is making sleeping draught. Step the second is sneaking friends into Colony 9. Step the third, Riku make sure all soldiers have sleeping draught. Final step, friends defeat Colony’s Consul and destroy Flame Clock.”

“So we’re going to knock out the soldiers. It’s a better plan than going in guns blazing,” Rex says. “But how do we make enough sleeping draught to knock out, what, a few dozen teenagers?”

Riku unfolds a piece of paper, revealing a carefully pressed plant specimen. “This herb called swepwort. Native to Melnath’s Shoulder. Swepwort is strong soporific.”

“But it doesn’t have any side effects?” Shulk asks. “No toxicity?”

“Toxic only in high overdose,” Riku says. “Small overdose cause extra good sleep.”

“How do we make sure everyone gets the right dose? I won’t risk the soldiers’ health.”

“Bake draught into cakes,” Riku says, as if it’s obvious. “Offer cakes to soldiers as free sample, one per person.”

Rex has to chuckle at that. “Good idea. Growing kids can never resist cakes. Have you spoken to Owen yet? He’s a herbalist from Gormott, funnily enough. I bet he’ll recognise this herb, uh, what was it called?”

“Swepwort,” Shulk supplies. “There’s still a risk that the children might use the cakes as barter, so some people end up with more than one and some might not get any…but this is probably the best plan we can come up with. What about the next step — getting us into the Colony?”

Riku smooths the map out on the ground. Rex recognises the Black Mountain stretched out to the north. The increasingly familiar outline of Lake Raguel is close to the centre of the map, with the Agnian Colony that Rex encountered to the east. Further south is another large lake with some inorganic-looking landmasses marked out, all straight lines and symmetries. It’s this latter area that Riku points to. “This Colony 9,” he says.

“It certainly is,” Shulk says. “Is it as well preserved as it looks in the map?”

“Stone and brickwork largely intact. Structural steel also mostly sound. Wood, roofing, so on — fallen to disrepair.”

“That’s a shame. But I suppose it’s to be expected after two centuries without maintenance.”

“And with occasional battles,” Riku adds.

“No, that won’t help matters, either.”

“Route to Colony 9 goes southwest, past Keves Colony 17. Caravan of Riku expected here. Friends must sneak past while Riku distract, then wait for caravan to finish business. Then south, past area composed of Gaur Plain and remnants of Lumos Pillar. Riku expect Rex recognise this area. Finally southeast to —”

“To Tephra Hill,” Shulk finishes for him. “I recognise the contours.”

“Tephra Hill,” Riku confirms. “Top of Tephra Hill within view of Colony 9, as Shulk know. Friends remain out of sight while caravan enters Colony. Riku give cakes to soldiers as night falls. Once soldiers sleeping, friends hurry down hill. Then to final step of plan.”

“We defeat the Consul and destroy the Flame Clock, right?” Rex says.

“Correct.”

“These Consuls are powerful, aren’t they?” asks Shulk. “How do we defeat them?”

“Consul of Colony 9 not so powerful,” Riku says. “Consul fallen out of favour with leadership of Keves. This part of reason why Riku recommend taking Colony 9 as base, in addition to defensible position.”

“So, what, we just best them in a battle?” Rex asks.

Riku nods. “One day, Riku predict, Consuls will gain greater strength. That day not yet. Riku certain heroes of Alrest and Bionis can defeat singular Consul taken off-guard.”

Shulk pulls a face. “Don’t call me a hero,” he complains.

Riku ignores him. “Once soldiers sleeping and Consul out of picture, friends free to destroy Flame Clock.”

“And what about when the soldiers wake up?” Rex says. “How are we going to deal with a bunch of disorientated teenagers on our own?”

“This third reason why Riku choose Colony 9. Colony is small, only couple of dozen soldiers following recent defeats, so is not not priority of Keves. Also with Consul’s weak position within Keves, Colony has chronic undersupply problem. This lead to certain level of pre-existing independence from, and dissatisfaction with, leadership. More important, Flame Clock connect to soldiers’ Iris as means of control — friends know about Iris, yes?”

“Yeah,” Shulk says. “Kitsutsu said that they’re a means of long-distance communication, and in some circumstances can be used by the Consuls to control the soldiers.”

“Iris also have certain other benefits and…drawbacks. Connection between Iris and Flame Clock lead to certain psychosocial inhibitions. Once connection is broken, soldiers able to think in new ways.”

“Is that what happens to the people who end up in Hope’s Rest? Their Iris malfunctions, or they manage to break the connection to their Flame Clock on their own?”

“Yes. It experience of Riku that soldier freed from Flame Clock more interested in new pursuits than continuing of fighting. Riku does not expect resistance from soldiers once freed.”

“Even though we’re doping them up without their consent?” Rex asks.

“In spite of this. Friends should imagine sudden release from lifetime of enforced fighting. Fighting without reason rapidly lose appeal. However, one problem: Flame Clocks made of Origin metal. Origin metal can only be damaged by other Origin metal, or stronger material. Friends must procure such weapons.”

“Would the Monado do?” Shulk asks.

Riku blinks at Shulk a few times. “Monado would be of sufficient strength. But Monado not here.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, mate,” Rex says with a grin. “Why don’t you show him?”

“Oh, I’m not sure I can do it outside of that cavern just yet. But I’ll try.”

Shulk stands and takes a few steps away from the others. He fishes a couple of power frames out of a pocket, activates them and clips them to his belt. Then he takes a deep breath, and there’s that familiar flash of light heralding the appearance of the red sword in Shulk’s hands. He can’t hold it long, but it’s long enough for Rex to give an appreciative whistle.

“So,” Shulk says once the Monado has disappeared back into the ether. “Will that do? Assuming I can learn to keep it summoned for longer.”

Riku seems at a loss for words.

“Rex can summon his Aegis swords too,” Shulk tells him. To Rex, he asks, “Want to demonstrate?”

Rex switches places with Shulk and calls the Firelight Swords easily into his hands. He swings them back and forth a few times for effect. “I’m not sure what they’re made of, but they were made by a trinity processor core.”

“Trinity processor weapons should be stronger than Origin metal,” Riku says. He looks between Rex and Shulk, wing-hands on his hips and a frown on his face. “Can all friends here summon weapons?” he eventually asks.

“Just us, as far as we’ve figured out,” Shulk says. “Several of us have conventional weapons — knives or bows — but that’s all.”

“Riku did not expect… Riku mean to say, ability to call and dismiss weapons normal to soldiers and Aionios-born humans, but not to… Shulk, please to allow Riku to inspect Shulk’s eyes.”

“My eyes? Go ahead, but why?”

Riku approaches Shulk and peers into his right eye. “Please to open wider.” Shulk complies. Riku mutters something inaudible and takes a flashlight from his pocket, which he turns on and aims directly into Shulk’s eye. Shulk flinches back, but allows Riku to continue. Apparently satisfied with Shulk’s left eye, Riku moves onto the right.

“Rex please also to allow.”

“Um…okay?” Rex says, and submits to Riku’s examination.

“What are you looking for? An Iris?” Rex hears Shulk ask while he’s still blinking away the afterimage of Riku’s flashlight.

“Yes. Additional benefit of Iris is ability to etherise weapon.”

“And do we have them?”

“No.”

Shulk rubs his newly-shaved chin. “Any theories as to how we're doing it, then?”

“No. But Riku pleased to find friends already have suitable weaponry.”

“I need to get back into training before I can take it into battle. Plus, as you saw, I can't hold it here for very long yet. I found a cave with an ether channel inside and I set up some equipment to concentrate the ether inside, but —”

“Riku can help with ether concentration,” the Nopon interrupts. “Riku has improved Shulk's power frame design. Riku must go with caravan to Colony Kappa before go to Colony 9. Riku use time for modifications. Riku will supply improved power frame upon return.”

“That'd be great, Riku. Thanks. I’ll use the time to start getting up to scratch with my swordsmanship. It's been a while.”

“That's where I come in, right?” Rex says.

“Right,” Shulk says, and flashes Rex a grin. Rex can’t help but grin back.

Riku says, “Shulk not listen to Riku’s dadapon when say to keep up with training.”

“Serves me right for not listening to Heropon Riki,” Shulk says. “Should we bring anyone else to Colony 9 with us? I’m anxious not to leave the camp under-defended, but perhaps we should bring a couple more people, just in case we have trouble with the soldiers.”

“Demetria and Aquillan would be good to have along,” Rex suggests. “They seem to be incapable of staying in one place for long anyway.”

“Riku think this not necessary, but will leave decision to Shulk and Rex.”

“Thanks, Riku,” Shulk says. “I’ll speak to them and see what they say. And Rex, I’ll see you after the children have gone to sleep to start our training?”

Rex grins again. “You betcha.”

---

“That’s good, Shulk, really good,” Rex says. He’s just been knocked flat on his arse — Shulk had come at him with the Monado raised high, making Rex bring Mythra’s sword up to block while preparing to swing with Pyra’s. This left Rex’s left side open to a low attack, which Shulk took advantage of, ducking low to sweep a leg behind Rex’s knees to take him off balance.

“Thanks. I’m used to fighting enemies a bit bigger and heavier than me. The Mechon, I mean. Have to duck below their blades and go for their joints to get an advantage over them.”

“So I see.” Rex dismisses Pyra’s sword for a moment while he takes Shulk’s proffered hand to help him back to his feet, then drops back into a defensive stance. “Come at me again,” he says.

Shulk also resumes his stance, but it’s all wrong. “No no,” Rex says, dismissing both swords. “Your stance is getting sloppy again.” Rex comes up behind Shulk and adjusts his posture, with a hand on his knee, his elbow, his shoulder, to put the lines and angles of his body where they’re meant to be so he stays stable while wielding the Monado. “You need to use your core muscles to hold this form — here, here and here,” he says, with touches to Shulk’s back, abdomen and shoulders, “and also in your butt. They’re bigger muscles, a lot stronger.”

“I’m sure I didn’t have this much difficulty before,” Shulk says.

“You were, what, eighteen? Kids tend to pick things up faster. Besides, teenage boys in particular are naturally strong, and grow muscle so easily. Whatever tuition you got from Dunban or Reyn must have been pretty good, though. Seems like you, or at least your body, remembers it all pretty well, to say it’s been over a decade.”

“I’m sure Dunban and Reyn would be happy to hear you say that. Want to go again?”

“Sure,” Rex says.

Rex lets Shulk swing at him from various angles, blocking all his strikes easily enough. He waits until Shulk seems to have settled into a rhythm before deliberately breaking it, pushing forward while Shulk is recovering, but Shulk seems to have been anticipating it because he dodges behind Rex and uses an art that unbalances Rex then another that sends him rolling to the ground.

“You’re sneaky, you know that?” Rex says.

“I’ve gotta be. I don’t have your strength, or Dunban’s speed, and the Monado isn’t much of a defensive weapon, so I’ve gotta figure out an advantage if I don’t want to get knocked out in the first round.”

After that, Rex starts watching Shulk more closely. He doesn’t telegraph what he’s about to do, so Rex can’t use that against him, and he seems to have enough tricks up his sleeve that he never needs to use the same one twice in a row. He never seems to be in a rush, either, but that’s something that Rex can use against him. Shulk just doesn’t have the stamina to use that approach. That’s what Rex tells him, after carefully blocking and parrying all of Shulk’s attacks until he’s tired enough that his posture collapses again, allowing Rex to knock him off his feet.

Shulk lets the Monado disappear into the ether and lays back on the floor, breathing hard. For a moment Rex is worried that he’s injured, but then he laughs.

“What’s so funny?” Rex asks, dismissing the swords.

“It was my posture, again.”

“Yeah. You were trying to take all the weight in your arms, so they got tired, then your shoulders and back got tense to compensate, and then it was easy to unbalance you. You need to work on using your core strength. I’m still not seeing what’s funny, though.”

“It’s just that I’ve spent most of my life figuring things out with my brain. It’s so easy to get lost when you’re focusing on something like that. It’s a nice feeling to be in that kind of a state, where time doesn’t seem to exist and you lose track of your physical self. But this is kind of nice, too. I always forget just how much physical things like this forces you to be truly in your body and in the moment. And if you aren’t, the consequences of it are so immediate. Does that make any sense?”

“I’m not sure I’d describe getting knocked on my ass as ‘nice’, but… Then again, there was a part of me that enjoyed getting chased by those Agnian soldiers who were trying to kill me. It made me feel very alive. So I guess I do get it.”

“Yeah. Very alive. That’s a more eloquent way to put it.”

“Want a hand up?”

“Nah, I think I’ll stay down here a while.”

“Suit yourself.”

Shulk yawns deeply, stretching out his arms over his head. “This training is helping me sleep a bit better at night.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re working hard. You’re making fast progress, you know.”

“Really? It doesn’t feel that way.”

“Your form and control has improved a lot, to say it’s only been a few days.”

“But it’s my form that keeps collapsing,” Shulk says with a frown that wrinkles his nose in a way that makes Rex feel weak.

“Only when you’re getting tired. We’ll keep practising until you get the muscle memory to recruit the right muscles. And then you just need to work on your stamina.”

“Are there any shortcuts for that?”

“It’s mostly just training and then resting and then training again, like you’re already doing. I guess you could stand to eat a bit more protein. I don’t see you eating much meat or fish.”

“I thought I was eating enough, and I figured it was best to leave the rest for the people who really want it. You may have noticed, I don’t have much of a sense of taste. It doesn’t really matter to me whether I’m eating cake or hardtack, so I might as well eat what there’s plenty of.”

“That seems a shame. I can’t imagine not being able to enjoy my favourite foods,” Rex says, thinking of the spicy heat to Pyra’s tartari and the sweet, fruity taste of Gorg’s cakes.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy food, not exactly. You’ve also noticed that I get grumpy if I don’t eat enough, after all.”

“Yeah, it’s hard not to notice that. Anyway, it would probably help you get stronger faster if you ate more protein. I wonder if Riku’s new, improved power frames will help on that front as well.”

“I’ll just be glad if they let me use the Monado outside of this cave for any length of time. We should find out tomorrow or the day after, at any rate.”

Rex hums. “And then we’ll be off to Colony 9. Your home.”

“Yeah. My home.” Shulk sits up and draws his knees close to his chest.

“How are you feeling about that?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve already seen it half-destroyed once, when the Mechon attacked. I think it'll be worse to see it decayed and almost empty.”

Rex sits on the ground next to Shulk. “It was a busy place?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Shulk says, “especially after everything that happened. There were a lot of refugees, and a lot of them resettled in Colony 9. What about you? How are you holding up?”

“Eh, I'm doing okay. I mean I’m not really, not knowing that Nia is out there…but it helps to keep busy, especially with the kids. And these evening sessions keep me occupied when I might otherwise be sitting on my own, getting wound up.”

“Have you been getting wound up a lot?”

“I guess I have. More than I'm used to, anyway. Turns out I don't take life changing events as easily in my stride as I did when I was fifteen.”

“It's having a family that does that, I think. Gives you a lot more responsibility. More to protect. But look, Rex,” Shulk says, laying a hand on Rex's forearm. Rex looks up to meet Shulk's concerned eyes, tinged pine green in the light of the ether. “Please don't sit on your own getting wound up. Come and find me, any time of the day or night. Fiora suffered anxiety and panic attacks from the changes she went through, and I don't like to think of you going through that on your own.”

“Ah, so that's how you knew how to get me out of that panic attack. Thank you, Shulk. I really appreciate that.”

Shulk squeezes his arm. “You're a good friend, Rex. Don't think I don't see everything you do to help me.”

“I didn't think that,” Rex says. He pats the back of the hand on his arm, leaves his hand covering Shulk's for a moment, then thinks better of it. “You wanna spar any more tonight?”

“No, I think I've had enough.”

“In that case,” Rex says, playfully bumping his shoulder against Shulk's, “I think it's about time you actually told me about those changes Fiona went through. And you, and Reyn, and Dunban, and the rest.”

Shulk smiles. “I suppose it is. I'm not sure I'm as good at storytelling as you, but I'll do my best. Strangely enough, the story starts at Valak Mountain, and then leads us to Colony 9…”

Late that night, unable to sleep, Rex takes a walk to the shore of the lake. It’s a clear, still night with a near-full moon. He sits on a boulder and watches the wisps and their reflections on the water chase each other. There’s an occasional splash out on the lake, presumably from fish jumping to catch the wisps.

He feels wound up about Shulk: not just about his incipient feelings for the other man, but about everything he’s been through. Shulk is such a normal-seeming guy, aside from being a workaholic and a genius, to have experienced such loss and depths of betrayal.

Time heals many things, you know. Rex looks to his side; Mythra is sitting there beside him on the rock. Rex both sees her and doesn’t at the same time. As does love. You’ve done so much to heal me, after all.

“The guy who raised him shot him in the back, Mythra, and it’s what he was planning all along. It makes me feel sick.” There’s no one around to hear him, so he figures it doesn’t matter how loudly he talks. He’s sure he’s not the only one here showing symptoms of incipient madness, anyway.

Mythra threads an arm around his waist, her ethereal touch tingling against his skin, and pulls herself closer to him.

“He saw his childhood friend — his love, his future wife — murdered in front of him, or so it seemed. It was bad enough when you were kidnapped by Jin. Yet he found it within himself to forgive. How? I don’t think I could do that.”

Yes you could, she says. You forgave Jin, after all.

“And he spent fourteen years with the Architect’s evil alter ego living inside him. How do you even think about leading your own life after that?”

Mythra stifles a laugh. ‘The Architect’s evil alter ego’. Only you could phrase it like that, Rex. But to answer your question, I don’t think it matters. It only matters that he manages to. And does a rather good job of it, it seems. But you can talk to him about it, you know. It helped me to talk to you about Addam and Torna and all that.

“I love you,” Rex tells her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I wish you were here.”

I know. I love you too.

“And Pyra and Nia and the kids.”

They know and love you as well. She wipes away a tear from Rex’s cheek that he didn’t even know was there. I think you love him, too.

“Seems a bit soon to be saying things like that. I’ve only known him for… Huh, I’ve already forgotten how long we’ve been here.”

That’s just like you, she says with a smile. This is all just like you, in fact. But you know, it’s not really a great thing to get stuck on thinking about someone else’s trauma like this. It’s his lived experience, his pain. He faces up to it, and you should follow his lead. Your job is to show him compassion. Just like you did with me.

“Only after I cried about it quite a lot.”

You’ve such a big, soft heart, Mythra says, resting her head against his shoulder. It’s one of your best qualities.

“You’re biased.”

She shrugs.

“But you’re right, as usual.” He kisses the top of her head, nuzzles his face into her hair.

I know. She snuggles further into his embrace. Don’t ever let anyone turn your heart hard, Rex. I don’t think the world would survive it.

“I’ll do my best.”

---

Riku and his caravan return the next day. They insist on staying only one night before carrying on to Colony 17, else their tardiness might raise suspicion. Of course, Aquillan and Demetria volunteer themselves to come along even before they’re invited. Linka doesn’t seem overly concerned about Rex going away for a more extended period, although Rex himself finds it hard to say goodbye to her, just in case. Just in case what, exactly, he avoids articulating to himself. Panacea, on the other hand, picks up on Rex’s anxiety and gets upset. Shulk takes her for a walk around the camp and whatever he says to her seems to reassure her. All the same, he knows Shulk has left careful instructions with Narine and Wynne in the event that anything should happen to him.

It’s a fairly easy day’s walk from their camp at Raguel Lake to the Kevesi Colony to the south, situated at an area that Shulk and Aquillan recognise as the east (though now the north) of Gaur Plain. The Colony is tucked beneath the cliffs at the north side of the pass. Riku leaves the four humans in a copse of ash and hornbeam trees several titanpeds away, telling them to wait for the hour after full dark, then to hug the cliffs on the south of the pass until they come to the base of the old Lumos Pillar. Riku and the rest of the caravan will do their best to keep the soldiers distracted with demonstrations and samples of their wares; though it’s a large Colony, and there will be people on watch at all hours, so Shulk and the others should take care to stay under cover. Once they judge that they’re a safe distance from the Colony they’re to make camp for the night, and in the morning they should continue south past the pillar until they come to a pond, where Riku and the other will catch up with them in a couple of days after finishing business with the Colony.

“Friends understand?” Riku asks.

There are nods all around. “Seems like a simple enough plan,” Aquillan says.

Riku turns to face westward, looking up at the sky. “It look like another clear night, and full moon. Conditions not ideal for sneaking sneakily. Friends not to take any risks.”

“Don’t worry, Riku, we’ll be careful,” Shulk reassures him.

Once the caravan carries on towards the Colony, Rex and the others sit down to share a small meal. Rex finds himself yawning frequently, having been awake most of the previous night, and it isn’t long before he feels himself drifting off to sleep to the sounds of the others’ voices.

It’s a little disorientating when Shulk shakes him awake after what feels like five minutes, but it’s been long enough for the sky to darken completely. “Are you actually awake this time?” Shulk asks.

“I think so,” Rex says, propping himself up on his elbows.

“You’re hard to wake up, you know that?” Shulk says with an amused smile.

“So I’ve heard. In my defence, I hardly slept last night. Is it time to go?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, just give me a sec.” Rex pushes himself to his feet and stretches. He’s a little hungry, having fallen asleep before eating much, so he grabs a quick bite of bread to eat and swallows a few mouthfuls of water from his flask before packing everything back into his bag. “Alright, let’s go,” he says.

Just as Riku predicted, it’s another clear night, lit by a moon that Rex thinks will be full tomorrow. It’s good because there’s enough light for them to travel quickly and easily, but it also means they have to take extra care to stay in the shadows so that they aren’t spotted by soldiers on the watchtowers in the distance, just about visible in the distance without binoculars. They make it past the Colony without issue, though, and come around the corner of the base of Lumos Pillar a while after midnight.

Rex and Shulk are about to start setting up camp when Demetria says, “Listen, Aquillan and me are going to carry on for a bit.”

Shulk starts to protest, but Rex sees the look that she shares with Aquillan and puts out a hand to stop him. “We’ll meet you at the pond tomorrow, then. Have fun, kids,” he says with a wink.

“We will,” Aquillan says. He doesn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.

“What was that about?” Shulk asks once the other two have taken their leave.

“Well, when two people love each other,” Rex says.

“Oh,” Shulk says, looking away. “I guess I should have figured that out.”

Rex laughs, not unkindly. He looks up at the ancient Tantalese structure that towers over them. “You know, I don’t actually feel that tired. D’you fancy a climb? Looks like the staircases are mostly intact.”

Shulk follows Rex’s gaze. “Sure, why not. It’s not like we’ve got much to do tomorrow.”

“Awesome,” Rex says with a grin.

The base of the pillar isn’t quite how Rex remembers it. “I think parts of Tantal must be buried under the ground here. I remember the base being a lot taller than it is now.”

“That’s probably a good thing, because it’s tall enough as it is.”

The base is surrounded by a small mesa with bouldery cliffs. Rex scrambles up the first few to a ledge, then turns to offer his hand to Shulk. They lock their fingers around each other’s wrists so that Rex can haul Shulk up. They repeat this another two times until they reach flat ground.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already said this to you,” Shulk says. “But you’re very strong.”

“Thanks for noticing. It’s from having those big swords,” he says with a grin.

Shulk laughs on cue. “I feel like you could pick me up and throw me one-handed if you wanted to.”

“Would you like me to try?”

“Um, I think I’ll pass, unless you’ve got something soft for me to land on.”

There are too many steep steps for them to keep up a conversation while they climb the switchback staircases. “This seems like good stamina training,” Shulk says after catching his breath at one of the landings. “Who designed these? You didn’t have giants in your world, did you?”

“Nope,” Rex confirms. “I guess Genbu just built them different, back in the day.”

At the top of the stairs is a large platform that must once have had banisters, but these have been lost over the aeons to weathering and erosion. Rex drops his bag and sits right at the edge, dangling his legs into the thin air below. After a moment, Shulk, moving a little more cautiously, joins him. They’re rewarded with a view across the vast Gaur Plain, lit up by the bluish light of the brilliantly bright moon.

“Worth it for the view, right?” Rex asks.

“Yeah,” Shulk agrees. “It’s a shame the others didn’t get to see it.”

“I don’t think they mind missing out,” Rex says. “Demetria was looking, uh, pretty eager.”

“I can’t fault her. Aquillan is very pretty.”

Rex leans back and regards Shulk. He considers for a moment, then says, “You swing both ways, too, huh?”

“Yeah.” Shulk looks at him with a smile. “Is that such a surprise?”

“I guess not. It’s not like you’d specifically said otherwise.”

“In fact, when I was younger, I thought I was gay. It was only when I realised I had feelings for Fiora that I figured out I’m bi. For years before that, I had the most intense crush on Reyn.”

“Really?” Rex asks.

“Yeah.” Shulk lays back against the stone floor of the platform, cushioning his head with his hands. Rex follows his gaze up to the sky full of twinkling stars. “It seems silly now,” Shulk continues, “but I spent so long admiring him. He’s a big guy, a bit taller than you even, and with a similar build.”

Rex’s mind buzzes with the newfound awareness that Shulk can find his body type attractive. “Why does it seem silly?” he asks.

“Because he wasn’t interested in the slightest. I found that out the hard way.”

“Ah. What happened? If you don’t mind talking about it.”

“Well…we were goofing around one day, you know, roughhousing like teenage boys do. He had me pinned down like we always ended up, and he was giving me this really intense look and I just, I reached up and tried to kiss him. He laughed it off, said it was an effective way to get one up on him since I was physically weaker, or something to that effect. Fiora later told me he’d told her he knew why I did it, though. But he never mentioned it again to me, and didn’t behave any differently towards me afterwards.”

“Still stings, though.”

Shulk sighs. “Yeah, it did. It’s hardly the worst thing any kid in love has experienced, though — hardly the worst thing I’ve experienced in love even — and it was a long time ago. How about you, how did you figure it out?”

“I’m not sure I’d even use the word bisexual for me, honestly,” Rex says. “Gender seems entirely irrelevant to me developing feelings for people. I kind of had my sexual awakening with Pyra and Mythra and Nia. I guess I was a bit of a late developer in that respect. But it turns out it was coincidence that they’re all ladies. I’ve fallen for more than one guy since, but never acted on it.”

Shulk sits back up and studies Rex’s face. “Zeke?” he asks.

Rex scratches at the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah. What gave it away?”

“Just the way you talk about him.”

“Right. Like I said, I never acted on it though. He’s straight, and very happy with Pandoria. Did you ever hook up with a guy?”

“Yeah, I suppose I did.”

Rex looks at him, unsure if he’s going to say any more, and not wanting to press the issue if Shulk doesn’t want to talk about it. But Shulk is smiling shyly, looking down at his feet. “Oh?” Rex encourages. “But only if you wanna say.”

“No, it’s fine. It was with Alvis.”

“With Alvis!” Rex says, genuinely shocked.

“I only knew him a few months,” Shulk says, “but I loved him the first time I met him, at Makna Falls. Maybe before that, even. With everyone else, it’s always taken me a long time to figure out what exactly it is that I’m feeling. I was never much good at knowing the difference between love for a friend, romantic love, and sexual attraction. But with Alvis it was different. It was all of them at once, and maybe more.”

“Sounds intense.”

“It really was. Oh, Rex, the things he showed me…about love and love-making, of course, but about myself as well, and about acts of service.” Shulk’s lifts his hands to cover his cheeks. “You’d think that after fifteen years it wouldn’t still feel so vivid. Yet here I am, blushing so hard I feel like I might catch fire.”

“It’s alright, it’s dark, I can’t see,” Rex jokes. He smiles at how endearing Shulk is like this.

“Oh, well that’s alright then,” Shulk says sarcastically, though he’s laughing. “I have a question for you, if it’s okay?”

“Shoot,” Rex says.

“How do you…approach having a relationship with more than one other person? What did you call it; polyamory?”

“Yeah, polyamory. Well, it just kind of worked out that way with us. Obviously, Pyra and Mythra are two facets of Pneuma, so it was never an issue with them. As for Nia, she had already developed a deep, loving bond with Pyra and Mythra as well, so when my relationship with her looked like it might become something more it just sort of happened naturally. I’m not going to lie, it can be hard work to manage sometimes — not because of jealousy or anything like that, but just the regular stuff needed to maintain any relationship. Time management and logistics can get tricky, because it’s important for everyone to spend one-on-one time as well as time as a group.”

“And, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but has there ever been anyone else involved with your…”

“With the polycule? No. I don’t think the ladies would necessarily be against it on principle. It just never came up. Why do you ask?”

“Well…I wonder sometimes. About Melia. Apparently she was rather interested in me, before we found Fiora alive, but I was oblivious, and she decided not to pursue it as soon as Fiora came back. It’s fine, how it worked out. Fiora and Melia are best friends, and I’m really close to Melia as well. I think I could easily have loved her in that way, though, had things been different.”

“And how do you think Fiora would have felt?” Rex asks.

“I’m not sure, honestly. We didn't get together until after Zanza, but she said later that she wouldn't have been angry if I'd found someone else while we thought she was dead. And before she went into the High Entia regeneration chamber she said she definitely wanted me not to be alone if something happened to her. She never struck me as the jealous sort. She's more concerned that people are happy.”

“Given what you just said about Alvis, it sounds like it wasn't a hypothetical, about finding someone else while she was presumed dead.”

“Guilty as charged. But I never told her about what happened with Alvis.”

“Seems like a bit of an omission,” Rex says. “Not that I'm judging.”

“Well, for one thing, it never came up. For another…I've never told anyone until now, actually, though I think Duncan suspected.”

“Well, it's quite the honour that you've told me, then.”

“It feels easier with you.”

“Oh?”

“You already know what it's like, to love one of them.” One of the trinity processor avatars, the implication is clear.

“It is a pretty exclusive club, I suppose. What was he like?”

“Alvis? Mysterious. A bit superior, sometimes sarcastic with it, but not off-puttingly so. Very regal. Handsome, the same height as I was back then, quite androgynous, slender, with hips just so,” Shulk demonstrates with his hands as he speaks. “He had the smoothest, silkiest voice I've ever heard, and a way of talking that made me feel like I was being led by the…um, anyway,” Shulk pauses to clear his throat.

Rex laughs. “What were you going to say?”

“I just meant to say that I ended up feeling like I was doing exactly what he wanted, but that it was entirely my own choice. I don't resent him at all, though, because irrespective of how we got there…in the end, it was what I wanted too.”

“Since he was absent from the world you chose — the world without gods — it doesn't sound like he was pursuing his own power.”

“And he ultimately gave me his core crystal, and that's how we got Origin.”

“Yeah, for better or for worse. Okay, it's your turn to ask a question.”

“Oh, I didn't realise we were taking turns,” Shulk says with a chuckle. “Um, what was Malos like?”

“Ah, Malos. His is a sad story, really. He was shaped by Amalthus’ hatred for mankind in a way he never managed to overcome. He believed that humans were a mistake, not capable of anything other than destruction, and wanted to wipe us out entirely — like this Ontos avatar that Riku wants us to go after, I suppose. There were moments when I thought we might be able to help him change, help him realise that he could have a different purpose in the world. Just like Jin, though, he only changed at the very end, after he was beyond saving… Well, I suppose we should just consider ourselves lucky that he was estranged from his Driver. Unlike Pneuma with me, Malos never unlocked his true potential. If he had, it’s entirely possible that he might have achieved his goals.”

“And you’ve no idea what happened to him after you defeated him?”

“His core crystal shattered. I don’t know if a trinity processor core can come back from that. Regular Blades certainly can’t.”

“I wonder if Alvis has anything like a Driver. Klaus, maybe?”

“Maybe,” Rex says. He thinks about the ribbon of ether that appeared when he used Shulk’s Monado, and the way Shulk spoke about Alvis. Then he realises something, an idea that might explain the mystery of why two thirds of a supposed trinity fell to such strife in Alrest. But the idea isn’t yet fully formed in his mind, and there’s probably some obvious hole in it anyway. He doesn’t want to sound daft in front of Shulk.

“It was Jin who stabbed you, right?” Shulk interrupts his thoughts.

“Yeah, straight through the chest,” Rex says, pointing an index finger at the spot where Jin’s nodachi went through him. The memory of cold steel piercing his heart, the even colder aura of bleeding out, makes Rex shiver even now.

“Sorry, not a good question,” Shulk apologises, seeing Rex's reaction.

“No, it's okay. Although, I sometimes wish it had left a scar, just so my body carries a reminder of it to match how big of a deal it still feels in my mind.”

“I think I know what you mean. Although Dickson's rifle shot could have left a little less of a scar, honestly. It still gets so itchy sometimes. It itches on the inside, too. I’m not even sure how that works.”

“Oh, yeah, I know exactly the feeling you mean. I guess I don’t have any scars as major as yours, though.”

“D’you wanna see?” Shulk asks. “See maybe what your scar would be like, if you had one?”

“Sure, if you’re okay with showing me. I guess I am kind of curious.” He tells himself it’s not only for the excuse to see Shulk shirtless.

“People usually are.” Shulk stands and turns so he’s facing away. Rex looks away, giving Shulk what privacy he can while he strips off his clothes and folds them on the ground. “So this was the entry wound,” he says after half a minute.

Rex looks up to find Shulk facing away from him. There’s a fairly small, rounded scar maybe half an inch across, just to the left of Shulk’s spine.

“And this was the exit wound.” Shulk turns around and Rex’s eyes go wide as he sees the mess of scarring over his heart, almost as large as Rex’s palm, tendrils of keloid radiating erratically away from a large central hole.

“Titan’s…” Rex starts, but trails off. “How did you survive that.”

“I very much didn’t survive it,” Shulk says. “Sharla did what she could, and Fiora was pouring ether into me the whole time, but I don’t think I survived for even a minute. Still, it was their continued efforts and getting me quickly to the Machina’s part-functional regeneration chamber that meant I could be resuscitated and healed.”

“That’s…awful, Shulk.”

“It’s okay. I don’t remember any of it — not what was happening in the real world, anyway. I remember speaking to Alvis during that time, though, somewhere that my body wasn’t. But as for what was happening where my body was, from the moment Dickson’s bullet hit me until a little while after I woke up is all a blank in my memory. ”

“That’s a good thing, Shulk, believe you me.”

“Oh, I know. I know I got the better end of this deal — having the scars, and not the memories.” A shiver goes through Shulk’s body and he rubs at the goosebumps rising on his arms. He puts his shirt and jumper back on, and wraps the coat around his shoulders, before sitting back down next to Rex.

They sit in companionable silence for a minute, then Shulk shivers again. “Maybe that was a bad idea,” he laughs. “It’s not really that warm tonight.”

“Uh, I’d offer to put my arm around you, just to, you know, share body heat, since we can’t light a fire this close to the Colony. I’m told I run warm. But I know you’re not keen on being touched, so…”

“Oh, it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that I’m a bit over-sensitive, so if I’m not expecting it, it can be kind of painful. Or at least shocking.”

Rex nods. “You got too much of the touch sensitivity and not enough of the taste, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s right. But I’m, ah, kind of used to it with you now. You do a lot of the casual touch thing.”

“I hope that’s not a problem?” Rex asks. “I can stop if it is.”

“Oh, no, not at all. So, um, if your offer is still open…I think I’d like that.”

“Well, c’mere then.” Rex smiles as he shifts closer and slides an arm between Shulk’s coat and jumper. “This okay?”

“Yeah,” Shulk says.

Rex looks out over the plain, forcing himself not to read anything into the situation, telling himself that Shulk is just cold, and it’s nothing more. Looking for something else to focus on, he spots something moving in the distance. “I wonder what that is,” he says, pointing.

“Hmm…probably a pack of volff or feris hunting something,” Shulk says. “Did you see all the laia swarming around the Black Mountain?”

Rex follows Shulk’s line of sight and sees the dark shapes creating voids against the starry sky. “I see them.”

As they point out all the wildlife sharing the night with them to each other, Rex wonders if the other man is aware of the way he’s slowly relaxing against him.

---

Three days later, in the early afternoon, they reach the top of Tephra Hill. Riku goes through the plan once more, making sure that everyone has understood their roles. “Riku start giving out cakes at six of the clock. Riku expect not all soldiers eat immediately, and soporific not immediate acting, so may be wait of several hours. Other Nopon retreat to house of Dunban. This usual accommodation for Nopon in Colony 9. Riku continue patrols under guise of making sales. Once all soldiers, or as many as possible, sleeping soundly, Riku give signal from upstairs window of house of Dunban. Shulk, please to repeat meaning of signals.”

“One flash means we shouldn’t approach, but should keep watching for more signals, including the following night in case you need to delay. Two flashes means that the camp is quiet and Rex and I should approach, leaving Aquillan and Demetria in position just outside of the Colony to provide cover if we need to retreat, or able to give additional support if needed. Three flashes means we should all approach the Colony because more than a couple of the soldiers are still awake so we may need more manpower to suppress resistance.”

Riku nods. “Outstanding.”

“What about if something goes wrong and you need urgent help?”

“This not happen,” Riku insists.

“Well, four flashes if that happens, okay?”

“If it make Shulk feel better. Riku will monitor approach of friends from house of Dunban, and remain there for rest of operation. After entering Colony, Shulk and Rex to proceed directly to Flame Clock. Please to repeat where Flame Clock is located.”

“At the head of the Ferronis, which is parked next to what used to be the central plaza, and is accessible via the arms that are resting on the plaza.”

“Friends to destroy Flame Clock as quickly as possible, using Monado or swords of Pyra and Mythra. If Consul interfere before destruction of Flame Clock possible, then friends to overpower with no regard for life of Consul, as Consuls are servants of Z.” Riku sounds quite severe as he says this, his voice heavy with controlled anger.

Shulk sighs. “I really hoped I’d done enough of killing.”

Rex turns to look at him. “It’s the Consuls who are sustaining all this, Shulk.”

“I know, I know. Riku is right, of course.”

“Of course,” Riku repeats. “After friends achieve goal, please to return to house of Dunban. Riku and other Nopon wait awakening of soldiers and help to re-orient upon realisation of destruction of Flame Clock.”

Rex crosses his arms in front of him. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving you guys out there on your own, in case any of the kids take it badly,” he says.

“Friend Rex please not to worry. Attacks on Nopon by Keves or Agnus exceedingly rare. Nopon seen as harmless neutrals.”

“But they’ll figure out it was the cakes that caused them to sleep through everything.”

“Perhaps. But if difficulties arise, Nopon not so helpless in truth. Friends know this.”

“Maybe we can figure out a signal for if you guys need help?” Shulk suggests.

“Very well. If friends hear Nopon scream, then friends come.”

Shulk barks out a laugh. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Riku is dealing with colonies for over two centuries. This not be first time a customer becomes unhappy with wares. Please to trust customer service skills of Riku. Also, please to remember purpose of re-taking of Colony: to secure safe and defensible place for camp, and also to free soldiers from Flame Clock.”

“Right,” Shulk says. “Even if we aren’t here to defeat Z, doesn't mean we can’t help some of these kids escape his grasp while we’re here.”

“Precisely,” Riku says with a serious nod. “Each life given freedom…very important. More valuable than whole caravan of wares.”

Shulk and Riku take a moment to synchronise their watches before the Nopon caravan sets off down the hill. Aquillan accompanies them just far enough that he can take cover in the shrubbery at the top of the hill and watch their progress as they approach the Colony.

“Are you going to take a nap again?” Demetria asks Rex.

“Nah, I'm good today. I think Shulk might need one though.”

As if on cue, Shulk stifles a yawn. “I never do sleep well the night before something big.”

“Too many worst case scenarios running through your head?” Rex asks.

Shulk nods. “It makes me nervous, having all these kids involved.”

“I think we're about as prepared as we can possibly be,” Rex tries to reassure him. “Is there anything I can do to help? D’you want to spar for a bit?” They've done a lot of that over the couple of days spent waiting for the Nopon; Shulk is improving rapidly now, using the right muscles more reliably and learning to be more conservative with his stamina. Rex thinks it won't be long until he doesn't have to hold back when they practice together.

“Thanks, but I think I'd better save my strength for later.”

“That's probably wise.”

Truth be told, Rex is feeling pretty nervous as well. He confident in his ability to handle most enemies, but he couldn't forgive himself if he ended up hurting a child. He knows Riku is confident that won't happen, and Shulk trusts Riku, but Rex still feels like there's a lot that could go wrong.

He also doesn't like waiting around.

He gets up, paces around for a while. He finds a stick and starts drawing elaborate designs in a patch of dirt. He finds another stick and sits down with it, determined to whittle it down into spoon using his knife, but he abandons the project before it’s even half done. He asks to borrow Shulk’s improved power frame to see if ether concentration truly has no effect for him or Demetria (it doesn’t). He spends a while collecting daisies and threads them all together into a chain, just like he used to do for his girls, before they got big enough to make their own and stopped asking him. He asks Shulk how long until they go to wait with Aquillan, at least three dozen times. Each time, Shulk answers patiently but with an increasingly amused look on his face.

At half past five, Shulk announces that it’s finally time.

This spell of waiting is even more interminable for Rex, now that they have to stay in cover until Riku signals. Shulk tries to remedy Rex’s restlessness by putting him on binocular duty, watching the house that once belonged to Dunban and Fiora, but he can’t focus on the task at hand. He ends up rolling onto his back and using the binoculars to watch birds instead, the males perching themselves atop trees and singing out their dusk chorus. He spies a pair of birds flying repeatedly to a hole in a cliff face. He watches them arrive at the nest, looking around for danger before poking their heads inside to feed their young, then flying off again to find more insects...

“There,” Shulk says, “two flashes.” He checks his watch. “Earlier than expected. Riku’s plan seems to have gone well.”

“We’re good to approach the camp, then?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

They remain silent as they make their way down the switchbacks of Tephra Hill, cautious in case of stray soldiers patrolling around the Colony, but their only company is bunnits grazing in the dark. Aquillan and Demetria station themselves behind some bushes atop the last leg, leaving Rex and Shulk to continue alone. When they come to the bridge that separates the Colony from the land around it, Rex stops and takes a look around. It’s hard to see properly in the dark, but the architecture looks like a cross between that of Torigoth and Alba Cavanich; not like anything he’s seen on Alrest. It looks older than anything outside of Tantal, too, with eroded corners and rusted metal, and vines and lichen half-covering every surface. Even the bridge is mostly covered with a layer of dried-out moss, except for a path down the middle, presumably kept clean by the passage of feet.

He looks up at Dunban’s house. There’s a low light inside, and a round shape in the nearest window. He raises a hand to wave, then jogs to catch up with Shulk, who seems to have put sentimentality aside for his return to his hometown and is striding quickly onward. Rex stays just a step behind him as he leads the way between two terraces of buildings and into an approximately circular plaza.

They stand for a moment before stepping into the light of the lamps in the plaza, watching and listening for signs of life. There are a dozen or so large tents arrayed around the place, and what looks like a common area covered by a marquee. But there’s no movement, no sounds of anyone talking or moving around. Rex sees a couple of people sitting in the common area, but their arms and heads are resting on the tabletops and they aren’t moving.

“This looks like it was some kind of marketplace,” Rex says, keeping his voice low.

Shulk nods. “The mast in the middle was called the Ether Light. This place was always…so full of life. It’s all gone now.” His voice trembles a little as he speaks.

Rex puts a steadying hand on Shulk’s shoulder. “We should figure out where the soldiers are,” he says. “Looks like there’s only a couple asleep at the tables under the marquee. Feels indecent to check the tents, but…”

“It needs to be done,” Shulk says.

Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, they approach the nearest tent. Rex opens the flap just wide enough to see inside. “Two kids, fast asleep,” he whispers. “They’re just children, Shulk, they’re barely older than my girls.”

Shulk nods, a grim expression on his face. “At least, if we’re successful here, they won’t have to spend the rest of their lives fighting for no reason.”

“Right. Sorry. It just got to me for a moment.”

They check the rest of the tents. Several of them seem to have some kind of administrative function, and the largest of all seems to be a sick bay. In the rest, they find much the same as in the first tents: two or three, or once four children, all sleeping peacefully. They seem to have sorted themselves into different tents according to age, but with no regard for gender. Most of them seem to be somewhere in the middle of the age range.

“Well, that’s twenty-one accounted for. Not quite the two dozen Riku reckons are here,” Rex says.

“He wasn’t sure exactly how many there would be, but yes, there’s a good chance we’ve missed some. It wouldn’t be very good policy not to have anyone on watch at night.”

Shulk leads Rex out of the plaza and through empty streets. They check around the backs of buildings, and a few blind alleys, but the rest of the town seems entirely abandoned. Rex can tell from the set of Shulk’s jaw that it’s upsetting to him, but he decides not to offer his sympathies right now, not while Shulk is focusing on their mission.

Eventually they reach another bridge that leads to a square with some enormous towering structure built over it. Rex guesses that this is the old central plaza, as the Ferronis is situated behind the square, with its arms placed to either side, making convenient ramps that lead up into its body.

“What’s that big construction over the square?” Rex asks.

“Mechon defenses,” Shulk says. “Do you see any signs of life?”

“Nothing. I say we go straight for the target. We're close enough, now.”

Shulk shakes his head. “I want to get a bit closer first, and make sure we've got a proper view of the Flame Clock. It's hidden behind the tower from here. Let's keep it quiet — and not summon our weapons until we're nearer. They're pretty visible in the dark, and there might be someone in the Ferronis.”

“Gotcha.”

Half way across the bridge, a feeling comes over Rex that makes the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. “D’you feel that?” Rex whispers, coming to a halt and looking around.

“Feel what?”

“Like we're being watched.” For a moment Rex thinks he sees a shadow moving back near the buildings, but he blinks and it's gone.

“No, but I trust your instincts. Want to double back and check?”

“Yeah.”

They creep back, trying to walk silently. There's what looks to be an old storage area to one side of the bridge that they didn't check before. “You check it, I'll stay here and watch,” Shulk tells him.

Rex gives up trying to sneak around when he accidentally kicks a rusted metal crate, making a frustratingly loud clang.

“You okay?” Shulk calls, just barely audible.

“Yeah, just clumsy.”

There are a lot more old crates and barrels in this little alley, some still in tottering stacks, others in fallen piles. Rex takes care to look behind them all, but sees no one. But he can't shake that feeling…

He shrugs, and then calls out, “Kid, if you're here, we’re not going to hurt you. Keep hiding in here and it'll all be fine.”

“I don't like this,” he tells Shulk when he returns to the alley's entrance.

“Neither do I,” says Shulk. “Let's do what we came here for.”

They return to the bridge and cross onto the central plaza. As the Ferronis’ Flame Clock comes into view, there's a flash of light and a figure appears not ten paces in front of them. It's wearing a suit of red and gunmetal armour, a purple crystal embedded in the chestpiece. There are spurs at its ankles, wrists and and elbows, and a strange mask covering the face.

Rex has his swords in his hands even before the figure has fully coalesced. Shulk's Monado is barely a moment behind.

“Consul,” Shulk addresses the figure. “Please step out of our way and we won't hurt you.”

“What, and just give up everything I’ve worked for here? I don’t think so,” the figure says in a masculine voice that sounds strained or distorted somehow.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Rex says, stepping forward, “but if you won’t let us free these kids, then we will.”

“Am I supposed to think two upstarts out of nowhere pose some sort of threat to me and my little empire here?” the figure says.

Rex scoffs. “Two dozen kids and a few tents — you call this an empire? Whatever. An empire built on slavery needs to be destroyed. And yeah,” he brandishes Pyra’s sword, “we are quite dangerous, actually.”

The eyes behind the mask narrow. “You shouldn’t make threats that you can’t back up.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Rex snarks. He takes several steps towards the Consul until they’re almost face to face — or would be, if Rex didn’t tower half a foot over the Consul, forcing him to crane his neck back to look at him. Rex grins. “Let me repeat myself: we are quite dangerous, actually.”

Rex can see that the Consul is fighting the urge not to step back and put some distance between them. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Shulk taking advantage of Rex’s distraction to dash behind the Consul.

The Consul growls, trying to find some retort. “Not as dangerous as Moebius. Make an enemy of me, you make an enemy of all of us, X and Y and Z included.”

“Good, because that’s our plan. When you see them, you make sure you tell ‘em we’re coming to get ‘em.”

“You’d dare —” the Consul starts, but is abruptly cut off when Shulk swings a leg around to hit the back of his knees, knocking him to the floor.

Rex stands over him and presses the point of Pyra’s blade to the weak point in his armour between the mask and cuirass. “Yeah, I’d dare.”

“Oh, you’re going to regret this,” the Consul says. He lets his head roll back on the floor, and calls out: “Oh dearest loyal little soldier, won’t you come to your Consul’s aid?”

Rex instinctively spins around to find whoever the Consul is calling to. There’s a little kid — must be the source of the shadow Rex saw earlier — standing at the far end of the bridge. Rex realises the Consul’s distraction tactic, but too late, and it seems that Shulk fell for it as well: by the time Rex has turned back around, the Consul is on his feet and aiming a ether pistol at the soldier.

“Shit,” Rex spits.

“Soldier,” Shulk shouts, “get back in cover and you won’t get hurt.”

“That’s my soldier,” the Consul growls, “for me to command. You make a move against me and she dies.”

“You make me sick,” Rex says, positioning his body between the Consul and the child.

“I didn’t think you’d like that,” the Consul says. “You’re too predictable.” Then to the child he calls, “Come, my soldier. I need your help.”

Rex makes eye contact with Shulk, then looks up at the Flame Clock. He hopes that Shulk understands.

“Don’t do it, kid,” Rex yells. He risks a glance over his shoulder, but the soldier is still approaching, kind of stumbling. There’s a weird red glow in one of her eyes; Rex has no idea what it means and can only guess that it has something to do with her Iris. “The Consul doesn’t care about you, and you don’t need to care about him. There’s more to life than your army.”

The Consul has the temerity to laugh in Rex’s face. “That’s where you’re wrong, lad. This is all there is to life here, and that’s by very careful design.”

Rex is careful not to look directly at Shulk, who is now climbing the arm of the Ferronis as quietly as he can. “Why?” he asks, half to keep the Consul’s attention on him, and half because he still can’t wrap his head around what exactly Z is trying to achieve here.

“Because this is better than what came before.”

“Do you even remember what came before?”

“I don’t need to. I know the fear that came with it.”

“Why let yourself be ruled by fear?”

“Do I look like I’m ruled by fear? No, this is what conquered fear looks like.”

Rex resists the urge to roll his eyes. He needs to keep the Consul talking, just a little longer, while Shulk climbs the Ferronis’ head to reach the Flame Clock. “Do you even know what it’s like to make your own decisions, or do you just do what Z tells you to?”

“Didn’t I already tell you — this is my empire. I make all the decisions here.”

Rex can hear the tentative footsteps of the soldier behind him. He knows he can deal with the kid in short order, being easily twice her size, but he doesn’t know if he can do that while stopping the Consul from doing something worse. “Stay back, soldier,” Rex growls.***

Then several things happen very quickly. Shulk, atop the head of the Ferronis, draws the Monado through the Flame Clock and cuts it in two. Behind Rex, the soldier gasps and then cries out. The Consul’s eyes narrow into an expression of pure hatred and he pushes his way around Rex, takes a quick aim and fires. Rex leaps back, trying to knock the soldier out of harm’s way, but he’s an instant too late: the ether bolt has knocked her halfway back down the bridge.

Rex runs after the soldier, now flat on her back with all her limbs askew, and kneels down next to her. Her eyes are closed, her breath ragged. There’s no blood, but Rex knows there doesn’t need to be with ether. “Hey, kid,” Rex says softly, the Consul forgotten. He shakes her shoulder, but gets no response. When he pulls her up into a sitting position, cradling her against his shoulder, she cries out weakly. “Hey, hey, you’re okay, it’ll be okay,” he tells her, fingers searching for the pulse in her neck. He spots a name tag on her arm: Miri.

Her eyes flutter open. “Who…” is all she manages.

“My name’s Rex. I’m going to look after you, Miri. It’ll be okay.” From the threadiness of her pulse, he knows it won’t be.

She takes a couple of breaths before managing to speak again. “Different…something different.”

“Something feels different? You’re injured, but I’m going to look after you, Miri.” There are tears flowing from his eyes.

She finds the strength to shake her head. “Free. Thank you, Rex.”

Then she closes her eyes, and dies.

Rex lays her body gently on the ground as motes of light — red, rather than the familiar blue — start to rise. “Rest easy, Miri,” he tells her.

Rex wipes his eyes. Then he gets to his feet, summons the Firelight Swords and turns back to face the plaza. The Consul is once again on the ground, face down this time, with Shulk's boot between his shoulders and the Monado at the back of his neck.

Rex marches back towards them. Hearing his footsteps, Shulk asks without looking, “The girl?”

Rex shakes his head, not that anyone can see it. “Dead,” he says, voice thick.

Shulk's eyes narrow and his face twists into an expression of hatred that Rex can only pray is never directed at him; although he doesn't suppose the expression on his own face is any kinder. Without a word, Shulk raises the Monado and executes the Consul.

Both men stand in silence for a minute. Rex doesn't know what to say. Eventually Shulk dismisses his sword; Rex follows suit. Without warning, Shulk lets out an anguished cry that makes Rex jump, then abruptly sits down on the ground and looks up at the sky.

Rex doesn't feel he can be of any use to Shulk in this moment — honestly, he’s shocked that the man he knows was capable of what he just did — so he returns to Miri. He picks her body up in his arms, watching as the blood-coloured motes that are all that is left of her life rise and dissipate into the night. Something else strange is happening, too, her skin turning ashen, her hair as well, and her body is stiffening far to fast for this to be rigor mortis. It's frightening to witness, in a distant sort of way, a way he hasn't felt since the first few times he was present the death of another human: a process that one knows to be a wholly normal part of living but at the same time utterly unknowable. He recalls Riku mentioning something about off-seers; or was it Kitsutsu. Either way, he should take Miri's body back to her fellow soldiers and wait for them to awaken. One of them will know what to do with her body.

He makes his way back through the streets of Colony 9 with the small body in his arms. His legs feel as heavy as lead. He's almost back to the Ether Light when he meets Riku coming in the opposite direction.

“Oh, no,” Riku says when he sees Miri’s body. “This terrible. This work of Consul?”

“Yes. What happening to her body, Riku?”

“Turning to husk. This happen to soldiers when die before Homecoming. Need to find Colony off-seer to send on. Did friends succeed?”

“The Flame Clock is destroyed.”

“Shulk?” Riku asks tentatively.

“Alive. At the plaza. I think he’s…grieving.”

Riku looks behind Rex. “Should Riku go to Shulk?”

Rex shakes his head. “He killed the Consul.”

“In that case, Riku leave Shulk for now. Rex come, soldiers should be awakening soon.”

Rex follows Riku the rest of the way to the Ether Light. He’s at a loss for what to do when they arrive. He knows nothing about this off-seeing rite, but he has his own customs that his heart tells him to follow. He takes Miri’s body to the medical tent and rests her on one of the cots there while he sets about making a bier. She looks awkward, her now-grey body stiffened in the position Rex had been carrying her, so Rex does his best to support her with pillows.

Back out by the Ether Light, he drags one of the trestle tables out from the common area so that it’s in view of the moon and stars above, then goes through the storage crates strewn about the place until he finds a sheet of white canvas to cover the table with. At some point, Riku asks him to fetch Aquillan and Demetria, but he shakes his head. He searches the area for flowers in bloom and collects them up, scattering them over table.

Once his makeshift bier is prepared, he takes a bowl of water from the mess and returns to the medical tent. He carefully washes Miri’s face and hands, ashen though they are. He wants to use his fingers to tidy her hair, but it’s no longer possible. Finally, he takes her body out to the bier and lays her at rest there, using the cushions to give the impression that there’s merely propped up. Then he remembers something, and fishes in his pocket, pulling out the daisy chain that he made that afternoon. It’s somewhat crushed and wilted now, but he sets it atop her head nevertheless.

She looks peaceful: the ether bolt did no visible damage to her body, and the expression on her face looks almost like a smile. On Alrest, the blue motes would have left her body almost all at once; these strange red ones continue to rise in a slow stream, giving the scene an unworldly feel. Meanwhile, three thoughts chase each other around in Rex’s head. First, that this could have been one of his girls. Miri was only a few years older than them.

Second, her last words: “Thank you, Rex.” Rex hopes that meant that she understood that, in those last moments, she was freed from the Flame Clock and the needless warring that had defined her life, and that she was grateful for it.

Finally, the knowledge that, had he and Shulk not come here this night, Miri would still be alive.

Rex has no idea how long he kneels by the bier. At one point he looks up and sees Pyra, Mythra and Nia there with him, each laying a hand on Rex’s shoulder as they take it in turns to run a hand over Miri’s charcoal hair and say a silent prayer for her; but then they’re gone again, and he keeps vigil on his own. A while later, he becomes aware of activity around him.

“Why did he do that with the husk?” he hears a young voice ask.

Demetria’s voice answers, “He and I have different funeral rites to you soldiers. We won’t stop you from performing yours, though, now that you’re awake.”

In the end it’s Aquillan who pulls him out of his thoughts, kneeling down beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders. “Rex,” he says, “let me keep vigil for a while. You should rest.”

Rex nods, and thanks the man. He stands up stiffly. He looks around the Ether Light, which is starting to bustle with activity as the young soldiers continue to awaken, and Riku and the other Nopon hurry around to explain their new situation.

At some point in the night, Shulk has returned from the plaza. He’s now sitting under the marquee, hand clutching an untouched glass of water on the table in front of him. He looks a mess, eyes red-rimmed and hair all out of place as if he’s been tearing at it. There’s dried blood on his shirt and he winces a little when he moves his arm. When he speaks, though, his voice is steady enough, if a little flatter than usual. “It’s nothing, just a flesh wound,” he says when he notices Rex looking at his arm. “One of that thing’s armour spurs caught me when I jumped down from the Ferronis. Riku’s already dressed it.”

“Mind if I sit with you?” Rex asks.

“I’m not sure I’m good company, but be my guest.”

Rex pulls out a chair and sits down. Around half of the soldiers are awake now, so he watches them for a while. “They don’t seem angry, at least,” Rex says. “Just a bit disorientated.”

Shulk hums affirmatively.

Aquillan and Demetria are both standing by the bier, speaking with three of the soldiers. Children, Rex reminds himself. They’re just children now. Not soldiers any more. Two of them cry when they learn what happened to their friend, but again, there’s no anger in their body language or expressions — just resignation.

“Shulk,” Rex eventually says.

“Yes?”

“Did we kill her?”

“The Consul killed her.”

“She’d still be alive if we hadn’t come.”

“And these other twenty-one children would still be enslaved. She will be reborn, and all we can do is try to save her in her next cycle.” Shulk looks at him, and there’s a hard, detached look in his eye. “I need to believe this is the right thing to do, that it’s the greater good. Otherwise, I —” His breath catches, but he clears his throat and continues. “Otherwise I won’t be able to do what needs to be done.”

Rex nods, understanding what Shulk means: killing. “Do you want to talk about it?” he offers.

“No.”

In the hour before dawn, the freed colonists hold an off-seeing ceremony for Miri. They gather quietly in loose ranks around the bier. Rex and Shulk stand at the back, not feeling certain that they should be included in this ritual, but one of the older teenagers has asked them to be present. Rex had expected there to be some kind of speech or remembrance, but instead the older boy now takes out a flute and begins to play a melody that’s both sad and hopeful at the same time.

In the seconds after the off-seer begins to play, the red motes rising from Miri’s body are replaced by a stronger stream of blue ones that are far more familiar to Rex’s eyes. In the end, a minute or two is all it takes for her lifeforce to dissipate once the off-seer is there to help her. It’s not like any funeral custom that Rex has ever seen before, but it feels right nevertheless. Once it’s done, the ex-soldiers leave in ones and twos, until only Rex, Shulk and Riku are left.

“What will they do with her body now?” Rex asks.

“Husk usually disintegrate to dust rapidly,” Riku explains. “Then dust blow away in wind.”

“Alright,” Rex says, because there’s nothing else he can say. The off-seeing ceremony has lifted a fraction of the heaviness from his heart, at least. He looks to Shulk, finding the other man already looking at him, and tilts his head in an unspoken question.***

When Shulk speaks, though, it’s to Riku. “Is Outlook Park still accessible?” he asks.

“Paths still passable last time Riku checked, though dangerous in dark. Shulk intend to visit?”

“Yeah,” Shulk says. “Would you come with me, Rex?”

“Sure.”

Riku takes his leave to attend to the newly-liberated colonists, and Rex follows Shulk out of the Colony. He lets himself be led in silence down a path close to the cliffs leading south. As the skies are beginning to turn red in the pre-dawn they start climbing the first of several long stone staircases. Time has eroded some of the steps almost to slopes, and the rest are covered with the same slippery mix of moss and lichen as the bridge into the Colony.

Rex and Shulk are both a little out of breath by the time they reach the top. The staircase opens onto a clearing with a few half-rotten wooden benches around an ancient-looking tree. Rex assumes the benches, and the dilapidated fencing around the edge of the clearing, are of a more recent vintage than the worn stone steps, even though they clearly haven’t been maintained for some time.

“This is Outlook Park?” Rex asks.

“Yeah,” Shulk says, his voice still tight. Shulk chooses one of the more stable-looking benches that look out over the Colony and sits down.

Rex walks up to the edge and looks out over the lake. The sun is just about to show its first rays over the horizon. He takes a deep breath of the cool morning air. “The breeze here feels so good,” he says.

All at once, Shulk breaks down crying. Rex runs back over to him, kneels in front of him. Shulk is doubled over, face buried in his hands as he sobs freely.

“Hey, hey, Shulk.” Rex’s hands hover beside Shulk’s arms; he’s unsure whether the other man would appreciate being touched right now. “Talk to me, Shulk.”

“I’m sorry,” Shulk says between sobs. “It's just that's what Fiona, what she, the last time we were here, before, before —”

Rex can't quite make sense of what Shulk is saying. He decides to throw caution to the wind — surely he can't make the situation any worse than it already is — and pulls the other man into a hug. He feels Shulk's fists balling into his shirt, and makes soothing noises as he lets him cry.

When Shulk's sobs start to subside, Rex shifts so he's sitting next to Shulk in the bench, one arm still wrapped around him. Shall takes a few deep breaths before trying to speak again. “Sorry,” he says. “What you said, about the breeze — that's verbatim what Fiora said to me the last time we were here before the Mechon attack and…everything.”

“I'm sorry, Shulk. I had no idea, of course.”

Shulk shakes his head. “No, I know. It's just…a tough time to have that reminder.” His voice sounds more like his own, now still fraught with emotion but less he's trying to stop something from exploding inside of him.

“I get that. Shulk, listen. What you did tonight, you did because you had to. If you hadn't killed that Consul, I was absolutely ready to do it. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't sure whether you would…but we couldn't let him live, if killing these kids in retaliation was his goal.”

Shulk stands up abruptly, and Rex wonders if he's said the wrong thing, but Shulk takes his hand and leads him back to the ledge overlooking the Colony. Overlooking his home. Rex hopes that he’ll be able to help Shulk restore it to some of its former dignity, if only a little bit.

Shulk takes a deep breath before speaking. “I keep telling myself that it's my job to redeem this world, to get these kids back to Origin and then to the Bionis and Alrest with their families and friends. Even aside from what Riku said, it's my responsibility because I thought Alvis could handle this.”

“That's not true,” Rex interrupts. “You couldn't have known this would happen.”

“It's a moot point, because it has fallen to me.”

“To us,” Rex corrects. He looks down at their hands, still joined, and gives Shulk's fingers a squeeze. “I'm not about to abandon you with this.”

Shulk gives him a weak smile. “To us, then. It's clear, after tonight, that achieving our goal is going to achieve more killing.”

“I know you didn't want that.”

Shulk nods. “More than that, I'm scared of losing myself. I believe what you say about the Consul needing to be killed. But in the moment I got so angry that I…that I killed that Consul out of vengeance as much as anything else. The last time I was driven by revenge…well, I don't know how much of that was me, and how much was Zanza. Certainly, after Zanza left my body, my attitudes changed. And now, having done all of this work to figure out who I am without him…well, feeling that anger again, and acting on it, that frightened me.”

“I think I understand,” Rex says.

“How can I make sure that I stay…me?” Shulk asks.

Rex regards the man standing beside him, the first rays of dawn reflecting in his uncertain eyes and turning his blond hair a fiery colour. He feels it's a privilege that Shulk is allowing Rex to see him like this, not as a strong, composed leader who always knows what to do, but as just a man with fears and weaknesses of his own, exhausted and in need of a friend.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” Rex says. “But you truly aren't alone here, Shulk. So if you ever feel uncertain, come find me, and we'll figure it out together.”

Notes:

Shi no hai ('Ashes of death' or 'Radioactive fallout') by L'Arc~en~Ciel - Eng translation

 

Description of the death of the Kevesi soldier and Consul: Shulk destroys the Flame Clock, which both frees the soldier and angers the Consul. The Consul fires at the soldier in revenge. Rex comfort the soldier as she dies. Upon learning that the soldier is dead, Shulk kills the Consul. Shulk is upset at having had to do this. Rex takes the soldier's husk back to the Colony camp, and while he waits for the Colony's freed soldiers to awaken, he makes a bier for the soldier's husk and keeps vigil. Rex asks Shulk whether they are responsible for the soldier's death, but Shulk says the Consul was responsible. The Colony's freed soldiers hold an off-seeing ceremony for the soldier who died.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Part of the process