The prince of Tantal felt his lungs burn inside his ribs, a sheer wave of determination mixed with panic flooded his entire being. He had dealt with kidnappings before, but never for a child. It was barbarous! His teeth never stopped gritting as he quickly paced himself through each island, looking closely for clues of where the bandits were off too next.

"I can't believe this…they would take a child just for her Driver's resonation skill?" Zeke grumbled as he searched every nook and cranny, finally discovering a fresh footprint in the sands leading towards a densely forested island that looked writhe with cliffs and hills.

Pandoria gasped as she saw something flying in from overhead. "Look my Prince!"

Zeke stared up and felt his mouth go lax at the sight of an Indoline carrier ship smoothly flying in from the skies. It appeared very similar to a dragon, wings aglow with the warmth of ether. "Why are Indol soldiers here?" He felt his eyebrows knit tightly together.

"Perhaps they are making a visit…there was an orphanage. And those kiddos have got to go to school too right?" Pandoria suggested with a tiny shrug.

"Well then we probably should hurry. We don't want Corrine to look like a fool in front of important figures, now do we?"

Zeke leaned over the edge of a cliff, spotting an old campsite below. One of the bandits was keeping watch. He appeared to be of Urayan descent with deep blue skin and craggy rocks scattered about his skin. Pandoria nervously held her tail close, trying to calm her ether so her glow wasn't so obvious. The forest was so dense that the shadows suffocated the daylight. "The thugs must be around this area."

"It feels different than from before…" Pandoria muttered back to him, clutching onto his side. He tried to calm her down all while glancing about between the trees. "The ether they're giving off is almost suffocating. Either they're really strong or there's a lot of them…and either option makes me scared my prince."

"Us scared? We have the Thunder on our side!" He triumphantly rose his fist up. A twig snapped nearby and the two flinched, watching as the hulk of a Driver emerged. He was a human, looking fierce with a twitch in his eye and scars littering his body. The Blade he stood by was a massive four-legged beast with sharp rings tightly clung to its body.

Another Driver emerged of Gormotti descent, bearing a Blade that was as tall as it was wide and two swords closely clutched to its side.

The last was a woman, looking perhaps to be from Mor Ardain with black hair and extremely tanned skin. She covered her face with a mask, and wore a sinister looking cloak. Her Blade was a bird-like quadrupedal monster that Zeke put bluntly: "Looked like a tiger had one too many with a crow".

The three gathered and whispered among themselves. Pandoria lifted her ear, trying to listen. Zeke patiently awaited her response but she shook her head, "They're too far…" She quietly told.

His eye widened when he spotted a plethora of Core Crystals and the Gormotti retreated for a few brief moments. When he returned he had the little girl, of dark skin and blazing red hair come before the group. Shivering, her Blade was nowhere to be seen.

The woman slapped the back of her head, and threatened her loudly while pointing at the crystals. Nervously the little girl plucked them up, but after she focused for a few moments the glow of the crystal died. Just as the woman was going to raise her hand again, with her whip in hand Zeke charged forward. He caught it just in time from behind and huffed, "Let her go you fiends!"

"Who are you?" The woman scowled, as she slashed her whip-like sword towards him. He managed to dodge in and Pandoria got in range of him, their ether connecting and the power flowing to his blade.

"Don't you know lady?" He chuckled, "I am Zeke Von Genbu! Also known as the Zekenator! I am the Bridger of Chaos! And I will bring justice to your group!" He stood protectively in front of the girl all while his sword chaotically charged with the electric storm inside.

"Your legacy will end here, pathetic Driver!" The woman cackled as she whistled, and the two men got into a formation behind her.

Pandoria urged the little girl to run, and she did without question far away into the distance.

"Boss! She's getting away!"

"Forget her! She could barely resonate with her first Blade, let alone another. We'll get her yet, after we kill this pathetic fool!"

Zeke smirked, "Unlikely!"

He exchanged blows with the Gormotti coming after him. The man scowled, "I've heard of you! You were the one that destroyed my brother's Blade!"

"And I'll do it yours if you don't back down!" Zeke managed to push him away and slashed threateningly at his clothes. The impact left him sizzled a bit, and he yipped softly. "N…never!"

The human roared as he jumped above the two, and slammed his feet down on Zeke's chest. The prince fell, but quickly stood all while deflecting blows with the broad side of his sword. The man tried to scurry away in between trees but Zeke eventually learned his tactic and slammed his sword into a trunk. The respective tree came barreling down and slammed onto the back of the Driver.

The prince bit his lip with guilt as he watched the feline Blade return to its core crystal. He breathed out, reminding himself that this was for the sake of justice. The woman leading the trope yelled with agony at his defeat, and pushed her team member out of the way.

She slashed violently and quickly at him, even landing a few blows onto his exposed body. Pandoria tired to break the opponent's earth-like defense but nothing seemed to fully hit. Zeke focused hard on her, trying his best to dodge and weave from her moves but she was almost far too quick for his clunky sword. He gulped a bit. She was different from the rest…but why?

For what felt like hours, the two raged against one another in battle. Zeke had promptly taken the other Driver out, this time only knocking the member unconscious with a well-timed zap.

As much as he hurt her, she just seemed to keep getting stronger.

And then he felt his foot slip off the edge of a cliff. His whole body felt numb, eyes wide with fear. Even as Pandoria held out her hand to catch him, the Driver woman bolted at the two. She seized her opportunity and with precision made a deep wound in his chest. He clutched at it, and fell backwards while Pandoria held tightly to the hem of his jacket.

Zeke's body hit the cliff twice on the way down, and finally he lay facing the afternoon sky with breath starting to hitch. Pandoria pulled herself together quickly shaking the dirt from her hair and body. She felt herself go into a panic seeing Zeke lying before her, bleeding and coughing.

For the first time in their career together, in their relationship Pandoria felt helpless.

The sound of crystals returning to their cores echoed in the distance as well as the scream of the woman they were just fighting. The Blade refused to question this, only focusing on Zeke.

All she could do was kneel next to him and hover over his head. She clenched her teeth and pushed him gently. He responded but barely.

She dragged his body a little bit, and could hear the sounds of someone approaching. They were close to the pier…maybe they could get help there.

"My prince…we can go get help!" She begged almost, her voice cracking. Zeke only breathed, a heavy dying breath. He didn't even have the strength to look at her.

"My prince! Zeke! Not like this! Not here!" She shoved him a little and felt her vision become misty with tears.

"Not far now! Just a little further…I know you can do it!" She stared at his legs, praying to the Arcitect that they would twitch and move and he would rise like a hero and lick his wounds. But still he lay.

He finally opened his eyes and stared to the ceiling of leaves. His eye was less shiny than usual, and he gave her a small glance. "Just…leave me…Go on…without me…"

"No!" She slammed her fists into the earth and her voice almost failed her, "If you die, I'll turn back into a Core Crystal!" She shook her head with the threat of it finally starting to hit her, "I don't wanna forget everything!"

He opened his eye again and smiled still even with the pain. Her heart broke. "Pandy…I'm sorry…" He was starting to sound more and more wheezed. "I hope…your next Driver…is better…than me…"

She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks as she tried to roll him over, "I don't want another Driver! You're…you're good enough!"

He tried his best for the last of his strength to hold out but his hand fell to his side and whatever words he was about to state were lost to the final strangle of death. His body went limp.

Pandoria could feel her whole body tremble, "Prince! ZEKE!"

She struggled but felt a determination swell inside her. She managed to roll his limp body over and with all of the strength remaining inside her, she propped him onto her shoulder and dragged him through the forest. She could hear the ships starting to become docked, the calls and whistles in the distance. He was heavy but she powered through. She wasn't sure if he could even hear her anymore but grunted through, "I refuse to forget our 10 years together! It's not going to happen!"

But something was starting to go wrong. She could feel her ether well drying up almost, and her lights started to dim. She fell to her knees, "I'm not…letting you die here…"

Her chest hit the ground, Zeke's body piled atop hers. The sound of footsteps made her open her eyes once more. She gazed up and could only feel a sense of grief, disappointment and pain. A man who had features she wasn't able to distinguish in the last blurry moments of her existence here stood over her.

"Bandits?" She weakly asked, shaking her head gently. "Sucks…I don't want to be a bandits Blade. But…I guess I won't remember it anyway…"

The world became dark.

Pandoria awoke with a jolt, her breath returned. She stared at her fingers and looked at the soft bed underneath her. They were not on Letheria any longer that was obvious…everything was so white and clean here. With a confusion she concentrated and could recall every detail of her long partnership with Zeke vividly. The first time they met and she had thrown him into the wall, the clumsy long years before his banishment from Tantal, their first mission together, the date, the kiss…the confessions…everything.

"Prince?" She begged to the empty room, getting up as quickly as she could. She noticed another bed nearby and surely enough Zeke was there. He was not moving but his chest fluttered up and down every now and again. She walked over to him, a smile of relief spreading across her face. It was soon soured by an unknown voice emerging from behind her.

"Fear not." The man's voice was booming and demanding attention…but it was also gentle and calming. "He is going to be fine."

She turned around and stared up at the tall man, who had a gray-blue tint to his skin. His features were long, with strange triangular ears and a long white goatee. He had a large hat and a flowing white robe with golden streaks. A ring seemed to caress each finger.

"You…you saved him?" She had so many more questions than just this but for the time being it was all she could muster to ask.

He opened his arms with a warm smile, "The fact that you're alive is proof of this, is it not?"

She finally noticed what was different. Her fingers gently moved to her core crystal and she gasped, noticing the shape was off. A triangular piece of it had been somehow removed.

The strange man placed his hands behind his back, and lowered his head to explain, "I had to transplant part of your Core Crystal into his heart. His wounds were grave, it was the only way to save you both."

She stared back at her Driver longingly…and waited.

She waited nearly three days for him to emerge from his bedroom. But he was there, he was alive and she embraced him with every ounce of strength she had in herself.

While they walked out to speak to the Praetor Amalthus, the man who had saved them, Zeke faced away from her and placed his hands on his hips. "I'm sorry…It's all my fault."

Pandoria shook her head while her tail sadly wiggled, "Actually I'm glad."

"What? Why?"

She leaned towards him and giggled, "Knowing that a part of me is keeping you alive…I dunno it's just nice?"

He gave her a determined look, but it softened. "Pandy…"

"What is it?"

He turned away from her to hide his blush a little and cleared his throat out, "Once long ago, it was said that Drivers and Blades would…do things such as this to announce their union together as one so…perhaps it is the same for us? All I know is, I want you to be happy, and if that means sharing my life with you then so be it."

Pandoria was speechless, and her heart started to warm. Every part of her lit up with the largest, biggest smile she could muster at him.

It didn't matter what would come after all this.

She was with him, and he was with her.