A/N: I didn't forget to finish crossposting until this was up to date, not at all. :x I've got nine chapters in total posted on ao3 if y'all don't want to wait until I get myself to deal with fixing the formatting for all nine chapters lol

Rex can't tear his eyes away from Malos's back once he finally collects himself enough to continue to Torigoth. Even the thought of eye contact is impossible, and not just because of their height difference.

He could have tried to move past Malos's involvement in the war. After all, he'd been trying to help. Countless people dead, but more would be if not for him. But Rotbart…

He's grateful for Malos saving his life (twice now), and he won't forget it, not with the core crystal thrumming with energy in his chest, but the power he used was… gruesome. Is that what he'd done to the tree before? How many people have died like that, watching their bodies disintegrate before their eyes, powerless to stop it? How many living things has he used it on? How is—

"—your ankle?" Malos's voice cuts through his thoughts.

He stumbles in his surprise. "Sorry, what was that? I was thinking." He quietly wishes for the conversation to be short. The more he talks to Malos, the more he gets stuck on Rotbart. Were he not Malos's Driver, would he have run from him? Would he be more scared than he is now?

"You twisted your ankle when you fell, didn't you?" He nods to Rex's foot.

Come to think of it, he had, but he doesn't remember mentioning it. Malos must be pretty observant to notice something like that. "Yeah. I'm fine. We're almost to Torigoth, anyhow. By the way, Gramps, are you alright?" He'd be surprised if Gramps hadn't gotten hurt somehow, and any topic that took the focus off him was one Rex would bring attention to right now.

"I'm alright. Thank you for your concern." Come on, Gramps, you were supposed to have more to say. Now he's got to continue the conversation somehow.

"Yeah, of course," he says. Mercifully, Malos's attention leaves him.

Gramps, however, continues to talk. "Are you sure you're alright? You appear to have quite the tangle of thoughts."

He has to ask. "Do you think Malos has used that power on people?"

"That's not a question I can answer. You'd have to ask him yourself," Gramps says. He's right, but Rex was hoping for more reassurance.

"I do not think, however, that Malos would have done so if he didn't feel it was necessary to."

The answer only turns his stomach. "That doesn't make it right. How do you think it felt, for Rotbart to…"

"He must have been in a lot of pain, by the way it sounded."

Rex falls silent. He doesn't like the sound of that.

"He did save your life, Rex," he continues gently. "You should probably thank him."

"I know! It's just... Can we stop talking about this?" He's certain Malos can hear them, and he's not wanting to have that conversation yet. Not before he can process his thoughts. Not that he has any idea how long that'll take him.

They come to a stop at the gate to Torigoth. Nia climbs off Dromarch's back and turns to the others, stretching languidly. "Alright. I can take you to the inn, and then it's goodbye from there."

Rex considers trying once again to change her mind, but who's he to force her into something she clearly doesn't want?

He keeps his mouth shut and follows her into town. Torigoth bustles with people. It reminds Rex of Goldmouth, how everyone had somewhere to be or something to do, only it's somehow both more relaxed and more rigid than Goldmouth. He can't remember the last time he saw so many soldiers in such a short span of time.

"What's with all the soldiers?" he finds himself asking.

"Gormott's a province of the Ardainian empire," Nia answers. "If I had to guess, they're probably setting up for Driver recruitment. Probably running out of potentials to recruit from their own ranks. Come on, no sense staying to watch. We can avoid the crowds this way."

She weaves her way through the outskirts of the crowd. Thanks to Malos and Dromarch, who are naturally intimidating, people are quick to make room for them to get through.

Nia looks around restlessly as she leads them to a backstreet—does she not like crowds or something? Come to think of it, she had been avoiding drinking with most of the crew back on the Maelstrom, maybe that's why?

"Nia, are you sure about going off on your own?" Malos asks. "Not sure that's the greatest idea for you."

Huh. Never expected him to be the one trying to keep her on board.

She snorts. "What, you don't think Dromarch and I can handle ourselves?"

"To be frank, you haven't convinced me. You'd need a bit more than climbing trees to survive on your own you know, especially since you seem keen to avoid people."

She crosses her arms across her chest. "That's not—"

"Stop right there!" A voice cuts through Nia's indignant response. She freezes. Rex immediately looks around. Other than the three soldiers at the other end of the street, there's no one around that he could be talking to.

"Are you talking to us?" He tilts his head curiously.

Nia grabs his arm. "Are you okay to run?"

"What? Why would we—"

"Don't ask questions," she hisses. "There's no time for that. They're after me—this is what I was talking about when I said I can't stay with you guys."

"After you? Nia, what's going on?"

"Stop talking! Nobody moves!" The soldier in the center approaches, and Rex instinctively backs away. A turn of his head lets him see another several soldiers approached, guns at the ready. It's just one thing after another today, isn't it?

"That fugitive in your company is a member of the terrorist group Torna," he continues. "Gormotti driver, white beast-form Blade." It's as if he's checking items off a list as he inspects their little group. What does he mean, "terrorist"? Nia saved his life, she's not some murderer.

"Rex, Dromarch and I are going to make our move. If you want to run, do it when we attack." Nia hisses her plan just loudly enough for him to hear.

"We're not gonna run, you know," he says, shifting into a battle stance.

"And you, boy." It's really hard to focus on anything this soldier is saying when he's got a gun pointed at Rex, but somehow he manages to pay attention. "What's your Driver registration number?"

"My what?" What the hell is he talking about, registration number?

"New Drivers need to register with Indol by law. We'll see what the consul has to say about an unregistered Driver running around."

Nia slowly shifts into a battle stance, hands on her weapons in preparation. "Well, guess now you don't have a choice. On my count, be ready to attack."

"Right." For all his bravado, Rex isn't sure how this is going to go. He's not thrilled at the thought of battling alongside Malos. What if he uses that power on someone else?

"No use resisting," one of the soldiers taunts. "We have you outnumbered."

Malos laughs at that. Does he realize the situation? "I've taken on a lot worse than a few imperial soldiers. Try us."

"Malos, don't taunt them," Rex scolds. He's trying not to get into an unnecessary fight, thank you very much.

"Not sorry. Worst comes to worst, I can always—"

"Don't." Rex cuts him off before he can even think about it, horror seeping into his voice. It's not hard to pick up that Malos is talking about using that power again.

"Now!" Nia says. Rex draws his sword, going for the nearest soldier, but he doesn't feel the rush of ether that he'd been getting used to when battling alongside Malos. A quick glance shows that Malos is trying, but the link isn't reaching him for some reason.

"Malos, what's going on?" Rex asks as he slides past a soldier's attempts to grab him. He makes a swipe, but the sword is still dormant.

"Why are you asking me? It's stopping at you." Even without ether, the sword is still a sword, right?

"Why would it stop at me?" It's not like he's trying to stop it from forming, in fact, it would be really helpful to have right about now. The hit he lands on a soldier does almost nothing, only sending the man stumbling backwards.

"I was afraid of this," Gramps says, gripping the helmet to avoid falling out. "Rex, how are you feeling about Malos after seeing him kill Rotbart?"

What's that got to do with anything? He's already talked to Gramps about this. "What do you mean?"

"If you're afraid of Malos's power, you may be rejecting it without realizing. The affinity link between Driver and Blade relies on your relationship to one another. If you can't trust your Blade, he won't be able to transfer ether to you."

Malos effortlessly pushes a soldier to the side, swooping in to take care of one who's going for Rex. "We can talk about this later. Since we can't link, we'll have to improvise. How are you with that sword?"

"I can handle this without ether, if that's what you're asking." As if to prove a point, he lands a well-placed blow on a soldier's arm, sending the man in question stumbling backwards.

"Good," Malos says. "Then I expect you to handle it."

"As if you had to tell me." As long as it stays like this and no one else shows up, there's no way they won't be able to deal with these guys.

Like they've been cursed, a wall of blue flames erupts around them, stemming from the opening of the alleyway. Walking towards them is a woman in a form-fitting purple dress. As she gets closer, it becomes evident that she's a Blade—her purple hair is tinged with the same blue flames that entrap them. At her side, she carries a pair of segmented swords.

She doesn't need to open her eyes to look right through them as she comes to a stop at the sight of Rex. Or, now that he thinks about it, it's more probable that she's looking at Malos, who stands behind him and doesn't seem even slightly intimidated by the fact that their only hopes of an easy escape are currently being burnt by this Blade.

"Keep your guards up," Dromarch says. "That's Brighid, the Jewel of Mor Ardain. She's known as the most powerful Blade in the empire."

"Brighid!" Malos holds his hands up in an almost welcoming manner. "I take it you don't remember me?" Remember him? Have they met before?

Brighid ignores his question. "Interesting. I'd heard that there was a commotion with some Drivers, but I wasn't expecting to find the Aegis among them."

"We're just passing through," Malos says. "Really, all this bravado is getting annoying."

"I'd have expected you to be used to this kind of treatment by now," she says.

"If she's a Blade, where's her Driver?" Rex keeps his eyes locked on Brighid.

"My Driver is otherwise engaged at present. I will handle you alone."

"She's not got a Driver? How can she…" She shouldn't be able to battle them without a Driver, right? Then again, Malos could handle everything without him, and Dromarch had helped him in fending off creatures while looking for Nia and Malos in the forest, but even so…

One of the soldiers laughs. "The Jewel of Mor Ardain doesn't need a Driver to crush the lot of you!"

"Captain Padraig. We are to take them alive." Brighid draws her sword. Can she seriously fight in a dress like that? It can't be easy for her to move around in, especially when she's in heels like that.

Then again, he supposes you don't need much movement when you can create fire. He's got to commend her control, really, the flames don't seem to be burning any of the wooden architecture.

"Roger, Lady Brighid!" One soldier—Captain Padraig, apparently, nods to two soldiers, who salute and run off. Are they bringing reinforcements?

For a brief moment, Rex's sword sputters to life. Has Malos been devoting energy to trying to form the link even knowing that Rex is the problem?

He shakes off the thought and prepares himself as Brighid approaches with swords at the ready. She's made her intent clear, and like hell if he's going down without a fight and letting anyone get to Malos, Nia, or Dromarch. Malos may be able to handle almost anything on his own, but that doesn't mean he should have to.

Brighid attacks mercilessly, with quick movements and blazing fire that seems fake until she cracks a sword into a whip and it leaves a nasty burn on his arm. He retaliates, striking the moment even a bit of ether manages to seep its way through the weak link he holds with Malos.

"Rex," Nia says when they end up back to back, "can you and Malos keep focus on her? Fire's not a good matchup for me an' Dromarch."

He's not sure, honestly. He knows for fact that Malos could take out Brighid with no issue, after seeing what he's capable of, but…

"You can't beat her without ether," Malos says. He's still doing what he can to maintain any semblance of a link, but he's forced to handle some of the soldiers with his fists so Rex can focus on Brighid. "There's a reason they say she's the strongest in Mor Ardain."

"In the past?" Right, he's at least five hundred years old. He dares to look over his shoulder at Malos mid-battle to speak. The moment he does, a flame licks at his cheek, dangerously close to his eye.

"Eyes on your opponent," Malos chastises immediately. He hadn't even been looking, how had he known— "I can get us out of here, but I'll be using that power—"

"No!" Rex says, horrified. "We'll find some other way. Just… not like that."

"I get that you're a good kid or whatever," Malos says, "but we don't have any other option here. Stop wasting time or you'll get yourself killed. There's only so many times I can save your ass."

Maybe he's being ridiculous. Malos could get them out of this easily. "I know, just give me a chance to think of something!" He swings his sword in a wide arc, scanning the arena Brighid's created with her flames in hopes of finding an opening. The only area she's left without a wall of fire to block their escape is the city wall, which doesn't look very climbable if you don't have claws.

Before Rex can find a solution to this predicament, Malos shouts and shoves him. He hits the ground shoulder-first. He's ready to say a few choice things to Malos, but then he sees Nia get entangled by some strange net, which wraps her up with enough force that she hits the ground.

Moments later, a second net hits its mark, wrapping Dromarch up just as efficiently as Nia is. Before Rex can find the source of the nets, which appear to pulse with some unknown light, a nearby pipe just above Brighid suddenly explodes, drenching her with water.

For a second, he thinks she's hissing, but when the flames surrounding them fizzle out, he realizes that he's hearing the steam from the water. She looks around for the source, but it's not clear if there even was one.

Nia, however, is actually hissing. Whatever the net is, it doesn't give to any amount of struggling, and Dromarch's attempts to use arts fizzle out much like the fire has.

"Rex, you and Malos need to run," Nia says. "I don't care about your sensibilities or whatever, leave Dromarch and me behind! We'll make it out somehow."

Dromarch grunts as he fights against the net. "Whatever these are, they appear to be absorbing ether between me and my lady."

"I can't just leave you behind!" Rex says, placing himself between them and Brighid. Now that he has a free moment to look, he can see the two soldiers from earlier, each holding a launcher of some kind. Rex assumes they used the launchers to fire the nets at Nia and Dromarch.

One cackles. "How are you finding those ether nets? Try resisting when you can't get any ether flow to your weapons."

"Listen, Rex, we need to get out of here," Malos says. "I don't say this, ever, but we can't fight her like this. We can come back for Nia and Dromarch, but no one can help us if we get captured."

He hates to admit it, but there really is no help for them if they manage to get Malos caught up in one of those nets. With a deep breath, he relents.

"We'll be back for you, okay?"

"Not counting on it," Nia says as Rex and Malos run past them.

They follow the dirt path into a wooden area, past an open door where a Nopon begs their attention. "Friends come in here! Tora help you escape!"

Rex glances at Malos, who nods. The Nopon swings the door shut behind him and locks it just in time.

They listen for several moments as the thudding of feet echoes through the corridor. Rex holds his breath as he waits for silence. The moment it comes, the Nopon releases his own breath and speaks. "Friends come this way. This back door to house of Tora!"

They're in too deep now to have another option, so Rex and Malos follow him down the hallway. At the end is a cozy little house, probably the perfect size for a Nopon. From where Rex stands, he can see what can only be described as a mess. The kitchen and dining area are relatively clean, but everywhere else has some kind of clutter, namely papers and various tools.

"Thank you for saving us," Rex says. "So you're… Tora, you said? Why'd you help us?"

"Tora never like those big bully soldiers, and, meh…" Tora turns away from them bashfully. "Always think Drivers are so cool! Driver and Blade make big power when join spirits! Want to be like cool Driver!"

Malos sounds less amused. "You saved us because you think Drivers are cool?"

"That right!"

"Well, I'm Rex, and this is Malos and Gramps." Rex gestures to the two respectively, prompting Gramps to wave. "It's nice to meet you, Tora." There are worse reasons to save someone, anyway, and Rex really doesn't think there's room to complain when they could also have gotten captured.

"Rex-Rex is so lucky to have powerful Blade!" Tora flaps his wings feverishly, his feet barely leaving the ground. Rex isn't sure, but he thinks he can see stars in Tora's eyes.

His words leave a bitter taste in Rex's mouth. "Yeah, lucky." How lucky can he be? He can't even properly link with Malos, and so far all he's managed to do is get saved by Malos.

Malos glances at Rex. He's thankful for the fact that he chooses not to address it while Tora continues to gush.

"So, Tora, d'you have any idea where those soldiers might have taken someone they've arrested? You probably know Torigoth much better than Malos or me."

Malos crosses his arms. "We're going to rescue them, then?"

"Of course. Can't just leave her there, after all."

He smiles. "Finally, you're making good decisions."

Tora quieted for a moment. "No idea where big bullies take friend. Tora have to ask around town for that!"

"Maybe it's not in town…?" Gramps hums as he considers the thought. "Can't say I have much experience in breaking people out of jail."

Rex sighed. "Makes sense. Haven't been here long, but I haven't noticed any place like a jail here."

"Hmm… Tora and friends think about it later! Now time for food!"

"Can't we handle that later? I'd like to find Nia and Dromarch as soon as possible." He gets that people have needs, but shouldn't they be more urgent about this? There's no telling what could be happening to Nia and Dromarch right now, after all, and…

"You haven't eaten anything yet today, kid. Can't do anything for them like that. I can cook something for everyone if it's going to be an issue."

"Malos, you can cook?" He shouldn't even be surprised anymore. Is there anything he can't do?

He scoffs. "Of course I can cook. You act like it's hard."

"Tora not have skills for complicated dish, so may have to clean things for cook." Tora walks over to a box in the kitchenette and points to it. "Ingredients in box!"

Malos walks over and begins rustling through the box. "Yeah, I can work with this."

"Well, while Malos cooks, may I speak with you, Rex?" Gramps climbs out of his helmet and flutters over to Tora's dining table to sit. He stretches out a bit while waiting for a response.

"Oh, yeah, no problem. Is this meant to be private?" He can't say he's thrilled at the prospect. This is about the closest that Gramps ever gets to a serious "we need to talk" moment, and he's pretty sure he knows what it's about.

"No, here is fine. It's for the best that Malos hears it, seeing as he's your Blade."

That's enough to confirm Rex's suspicion about this chat. He takes a seat nearby and nods for Gramps to go ahead. Malos is chopping some kind of fruit in the background, but it's not hard to tell that he's listening. Not like there's anything else to listen to.

"To put it simply, you need to work on your relationship with Malos."

Simply, right. "Work…?"

"As I was saying during battle, the reason Malos cannot transmit ether to you is because you don't trust him. A Driver needs to trust his Blade, and the Blade, the Driver." Gramps crosses his arms as he speaks. "Are you sure there's no problems you may have with him?"

"Problems?" Maybe he should have taken this somewhere private, after all. "No, no, nothing of the sort!"

"Are you sure? If I recall, you had no problems fighting with him against Mythra." Gramps peers right past his facade.

He flounders for a moment. "Well, that was before—"

"Are you seriously going to try to pretend like nothing's wrong?" Malos chops through something especially hard, sending the slice to the floor. "Your Blades can tell when the affinity link dies because of the Driver, you know. I don't know what the hell is up with you, but I know that you've decided that you don't trust me." He looks over his shoulder at Rex, whose posture stiffens accordingly.

Rex tries to redirect his attention to anything else, which results in him watching Malos's impressive knifework. Shouldn't he be looking at the knife when he's cutting so qui—

"Can't you be bothered to look at me when I'm talking to you?" Malos snaps. "Whatever problems you have with my power, I'm going to need you to get over it. Your friend was captured because you refused to let me use it, and had I not used it on Rotbart, we'd all be dead right now."

"Mehmeh, Tora go clean up now! Friends not mind Tora!" Tora, smart Nopon that he is, makes the decision to bow out before he somehow gets caught up in the conversation.

Rex is a bit too scared to say anything for a moment, but he at least manages to look Malos in the eyes now. "…Have you used it on people before?" He asks finally.

"I don't use that power on living beings unless I don't have another choice. Believe it or not, you're not the first Driver that wasn't necessarily fine with the thought of a power that destroys everything it touches." He turns back to his knifework. "Had there been time to figure out how to get you out of that situation without using it on that thing, I would have, but fact is, you were moments away from death."

Gramps leans forward. "Rex, if you can't yet move past Malos's power, maybe it's better for you to resonate with a second Blade."

"A second Blade?" The subject change is a nice distraction. "You mean like, resonating with another core crystal?"

"Yes. Many Drivers choose to resonate with more than one Blade," he says. "For various reasons, but you may find it easier to build affinity with another Blade instead of having to rely on Malos."

"It's not like with Malos, right? I'm not sure if I know how."

"You're a Driver. Whether or not you had the potential before, you do now," Malos says. "It's not hard, just grab the thing and focus."

"Okay, next question. Where do I even get a core crystal to resonate with?" They're not exactly common if you're not looking to join the military.

"Tora can help!" Now that Malos is calm, or at least quiet, Tora's ever eager to be useful to the conversation. "Tora have crystal from try to be Driver! Tora give to Rex-Rex since not have potential anyway."

"That's very kind of you, Tora," Gramps says.

Tora shuffles around the clutter on his desk. When he finally finds the glowing blue crystal, he bounds over to Rex with it. "Meheh, not big deal! Man at shop wouldn't give refund, so Tora hold onto it just in case!"

"Tora, why can't you resonate with it if you want a Blade so much?" He's never really known much about Drivers and Blades, but it seems strange that he wouldn't be able to. Come to think of it, Malos did mention something about "potential"...

Tora frowns. "Not everyone have potential for become Driver. When Tora try to become Driver, Tora's nose bleed like fountain for three days straight! Others have much worse, though."

"So not everyone can become a Driver?" That makes sense. Didn't Nia say something earlier about the empire running out of people to recruit as Drivers, too?

"It's becoming increasingly rare to find potential Drivers in Alrest these days," Gramps says.

"Rex-Rex already have Blade, so should have potential for another!" Tora extended the wing holding the core crystal expectantly. "Go on, Rex-Rex, Tora want to see crystal become Blade!"

"I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'll give it a go." The moment Rex's hand closes around the crystal, it washes over the room with a bright light. Rex feels, rather than sees, the core crystal morphing in his hand to form the handle of something heavy.

He braces himself against the unexpected weight of the weapon as the light clears. Once it's faded, he can see the greataxe that's been formed. The wind whips around him almost violently. Is it supposed to do that?

The wind stills after a few moments as the Blade slows to a stop in front of him. Was she just showing off? The Blade, along with her hair and shawl, defy gravity as she floats before Rex. She's not exactly well-covered, but… that's normal for Blades, right? He tries not to think about it.

Her eyes are sharp as she inspects Rex. "I take it you're my Driver? I'm Zenobia." She extends a hand to Rex, who hurriedly moves the axe onto his shoulder and shakes her hand.

"Yeah. My name's Rex," he says as he shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"I won't pretend I was hoping for someone less scrawny, but you'll do! Who're your friends?"

"This is Malos, Gramps, and Tora," he says, gesturing to each of them.

"Malos, huh…?" Zenobia floats over to the man in question, looking him over once, then a second time. When she spots his core crystal, she gives him a sharp-toothed grin. "That's not a normal core crystal, Malos. Are you Rex's Blade, too?"

He nods, eyeing her. She bursts into laughter, leaning up against the counter.

When she stops laughing, she wipes at a tear and meets his incredulous stare with an even wider grin. "What's the Aegis doing cooking for a bunch of guys?"

Malos moves to the stove. "I was hungry, and I doubt any of them can actually feed themselves."

Rude. He's fed himself for five years without a problem before Malos.

"Um, Zenobia?" Rex steps towards her cautiously. "Malos and I are going to Elysium. Will you come with us?"

"Elysium, you say?" She considers it for a moment. "How refreshing. Drivers usually don't bother asking their Blades about stuff like that. I'll come with you if I can fight Malos."

"You want to… fight him?"

Zenobia laughs again. Is everything amusing to her? "Of course I want to fight him. The Aegis is supposed to be ultra-powerful, right? The strongest Blade in existence? I'm going to surpass that."

"I suppose if he's okay with it, there's no reason for me to say no…" Rex rubbed the back of his neck. It should be fine, right?

"Great!" Zenobia floated back over to Malos, draping an arm over his shoulder. "What do you say, Malos?"

"Get off of me. I'm busy." He adjusts his posture to push her off without even looking up.

She reluctantly backs away so he can move around. "Well, obviously we wouldn't fight now. But come on, it'd be great practice! Unless you don't think you can take me?"

"Are you done?" Oh, Malos is getting irritated now. Well, he was pretty irritated before, but Zenobia is pushing him to new heights.

"Nope! I'm gonna keep pushing until you fight me!"

Malos chooses not to respond to that. "Tora, where are your plates?" Tora bounds over to the kitchen to show him where things are kept.

Maybe Rex should step in. "I'm not so sure pushing him like this is a good idea, maybe you should—"

"Zenobia, was it?" Malos is adding what appears to be final touches now as Tora sets the table silently. "Care to take a guess what I did this morning?"

"I have no idea! Did you get to kill something awesome?" Her face lights up at the thought.

"I killed a gogol the size of this house by punching it a single time," he says. Rex flinches. "Maybe later I can take you to see what's left of it."

"What? I don't believe you. How is that even possible?" She appears hooked on his every word. "You're bluffing."

"Ask the kid if you don't believe me. Unless you can stand up to something that powerful, I'd abandon any hopes you have of fighting me, shut up, and eat lunch. That goes for the rest of you, too. We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to go rescue Nia."

Zenobia glances at Rex with her head tilted as if to ask, is this guy serious? Rex only nods, stomach turning again at the thought of Rotbart.

She breaks into a grin. "Well then! You've given me a goal, is that a promise?"

Malos heaves a sigh as he starts serving whatever it is he's made. "I'll consider it if you can ever make it that far."

"Great! It's a deal!" Zenobia laughs, taking a seat at the table. "Don't forget me, okay?"

"Like you'd let me," he says.

As everyone sits down to eat, a thought occurs to Rex. "Come to think of it, Mythra's an Aegis too, right?"

"Right."

"But if the Aegis is a Blade, how can she have Sever? Is it possible for Blades to be Drivers, too?"

Malos entertains the thought for a moment. "You've got a point. Normal Blades can't become Drivers. The core crystal just doesn't respond."

"But," Gramps says, "an Aegis is not just a normal Blade. It's quite possible that Mythra and Malos both may have the ability to become Drivers."

"There's another Aegis?" Zenobia asks.

"Yeah," Malos says. "Not sure you want to fight her, though. She's not going to put up with you at all."

"You're going to have to get to know me better, Malos. I absolutely want to fight her."

"I don't think Mythra is interested in some friendly battle."

"You're not a very fun person, are you?" Zenobia teases. "Say, Rex, do you think we'll get to fight this other Aegis sometime?"

Is she crazy? "I mean, probably yeah, but not if we're lucky. She's ruthless."

"Oh, I like the sound of that!"

He gets the sense that there's nothing he can say that will change Zenobia's mind. He's not even sure they'd survive a second fight against Mythra. Rex returns to eating in silence.

"So, Rex," Zenobia says as she follows the man in question. "I'm curious. You've got Malos. Arguably the strongest Blade out there. Capable of pretty much anything."

"Yeah?" Rex says. They, along with Malos, are following Tora into town on a bit of a shopping trip while they try to gather information on Nia. Rex had offered to help Tora get the final parts he needed for this project he was working on, as thanks for all of the help he'd given them today.

"What did you resonate with me for?"

Of course she'd ask that. "Well, it was Gramps's suggestion, but…"

"More power, right? It must be hard to make it to Elysium with only one Blade on your side," she says. "You couldn't have picked a better Blade to resonate with! Between me and Malos, we'll get there for sure!"

"Actually, Gramps suggested it because I'm having trouble linking with Malos," Rex admits.

Her face falls. "Oh, well that's no good. You need to be able to trust all your Blades, Rex, not just one. Yeah, I'm pretty strong, but if you can't even use Malos… What's the problem?"

"It's just that… I can't move past the power he used against Rotbart. Er, the gogol he mentioned killing. It was… horrific. He didn't even seem to be bothered by it." He shudders at the thought. "And I can't help but wonder who he's used it on before." Everyone's right that he needs to learn to move past it, it's just so hard to think of it as a power for good when it acts so horrifically.

"So, you're afraid of his power, then. Why'd he kill Rotbart? Just because?" She can't understand where he's coming from. He gets that, though. Maybe Nia'd understand, but she's in a jail cell somewhere. He hopes she's okay.

Rex shakes his head. "No, he—"

"Actually," she cuts him off immediately, "I'm gonna talk to him about it and get the story from him first. You go handle this techno-stuff with Tora at the shop while I talk to him, 'kay?" Before Rex can even respond, she runs up to Malos and pulls him off to the side. Trying to listen to what she's saying to him is pointless, so Rex approaches the shopkeeper Tora's talking to.

"Don't suppose you've heard anything about that Gormotti Driver those soldiers captured this morning?" Rex asks tentatively as Tora shops.

He nods. "Nasty bit of business, that. The terrorist, right?" He's technically right, but that's not a word he'd apply to Nia. "Heard they're going to take her back to Mor Ardain to be executed."

Executed!? Oh no. They need to work fast. "Do you know where she'd be held, out of curiosity? I'm passing through, see, and I've always been interested in stuff like that." He's cautious about coming across as suspicious, but no amount of caution can prevent the subtle alarm that creeps into his voice.

The shopkeeper laughs. "Can't blame you for that. Seems everyone in town is interested in that girl, and for good reason. Torna's killed a lot of good people." Okay, now that's gotta be wrong. Nia's not a killer. Mixed up with a bad group, maybe, but there's no way she's a killer.

"If I had to guess, they might have taken her aboard that warship outside town. Can't imagine any place less secure would work for someone like her."

"Rex-Rex, Tora found parts needed for finish big project!"

Tora could probably use a lesson or two on how not to interrupt an important conversation. "Alright, how much for them, then?"

The shopkeeper looks over the items momentarily. "Three bion connectors, and one perfect range sensor… thirty-two thousand gold, I'd say."

"What? I've got money, but not that much." He'd sent most of his advance on the recent job home to Fonsett. "Is there anything we can do to maybe bring that price down a bit?"

"No chance. Not easy to get your hands on these, you know. At most I can go down to thirty thousand."

No matter how steadfast the shopkeeper is, it won't change the fact that that's still about twenty thousand more gold than Rex has to spend. He sighs, and just as he's about to tell Tora that he can't afford that much help, Zenobia slings an arm over his shoulder.

"Got anything you need killed?" She says, grinning wildly.

He looks shocked for a moment. "Are you…?"

"No, not people, if that's what you're thinking. This province has all kinds of creatures outside Torigoth, right? Some frightening, some maybe getting in the way of you receiving shipments…" Zenobia might be something of a genius.

The man thinks for a moment. "Well, you're right that there's this gogol that makes it hard to get deliveries from other villages, but you don't want to go near—"

"If you're talking about Rotbart, he's dead as of this morning, so that's not an issue. We can get proof if you'll sweeten the deal for us."

The shopkeep looks at her blankly for a moment before he shakes his head. "Can't believe I'm doing this. If you can bring me proof that he's dead, I'll charge you eight thousand for the whole lot. But it's got to be definitive proof, you hear? It won't be hard to tell if he's still out and about if you're lying."

"Consider it done, then!" Zenobia pats Rex on the back forcefully, causing him to cough.

Seriously? Eight thousand? He's dropping twenty-four thousand off the price over this?

Maybe Malos's power is more useful than he thought, if it means all they need to do to get past this is bring in some kind of proof.

"Are you going to stare at me all night?" Malos looks over his shoulder at Rex, who's been trying to say something to him ever since he woke up this morning. Honestly, he's not doing himself any favors by putting it off. Tora's in the other room, working on his robot, and Father only knows where Zenobia went off to. He's grateful for the privacy, though, as he's been trying to look over the map Tora gave them of the area and plan Nia's rescue.

Rex stutters as he's startled out of his silence. "No, I just… sorry. Wasn't tryin' to be rude." He focuses on the map in a poorly-concealed attempt to avoid eye contact. Honestly, they're going to have to work on his social skills. Does he treat everyone like this?

Malos sighs. "You know, you'd probably be better at talking to people if you started looking them in the eyes when it comes to important stuff."

"What?" Rex's eyes snap up to look at him. That's better.

"You want to say something to me, then say it. We've got time while the fuzzball works on his robot, and I'm not making much progress trying to find a route to that warship."

"It's just, I was talking to Zenobia and she was trying to, you know, help me see things from your perspective." He pauses to consider his next words. "You know how earlier, I was asking if you'd ever used that power on humans?"

Ah. So that's what this is about. He was wondering why Zenobia suddenly interrogated him yesterday over the stuff with Rotbart. He supposes she must have done something right, if Rex is talking to him about it now.

"You said that your old Driver didn't like your power either. How did you… you know, move past all that with him?"

He's almost proud of Rex managing to keep an acceptable amount of eye contact when asking his question. Almost. He's more concerned about the question itself. He has to stop to think about the answer—500 years ago is a lot of time to forget things, after all, and Addam didn't make nearly so much fuss about it.

"To tell you the truth, Addam and I just—"

The lights suddenly spark, then go out completely. The sudden darkness is enough to make Malos stop talking and listen for the others. Was the storm outside really that bad? Yeah, there'd been some thunder, but a power outage?

Zenobia's voice echoes out from somewhere above them. "Everything alright? I was trying to read!"

Huh. Didn't know she could read.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Rex asks.

"Friends need not worry! Lights back in just a moment," Tora calls from his workshop. Moments later, the lights flicker back on. "Poppi just needed big shock for wakey!"

"Did it work?" Rex gets up and walks into the workshop, maybe a bit too eager to see. Malos, although reluctant to admit his curiosity, follows, and soon the room is crowded as Zenobia joins in to see the unveiling.

"Come on, Poppi," Tora whispers. The robot's arms twitch momentarily before her posture straightens and her face comes to life.

"Greetings, masterpon!" The robot—Poppi—salutes flawlessly. She looks like a child, but more... rigid. "My name Poppi. Pleased to meet friends!" She waves to every person in the room individually, a bright smile on her face. He's gotta give Tora credit—it takes one intelligent Nopon to build something like this from scratch.

Rex lets out a low whistle. "Wow, she's really lifelike!"

"Meheheh, Tora spend years building Poppi!" Wow. Is he tearing up?

"Of course Poppi lifelike! Masterpon put lots of love into building of Poppi." She stands proudly. Is she taking credit for being built? "Poppi have no doubt that masterpon would not settle for less than perfect!"

"Poppi world's first artificial Blade!" Tora explains.

Okay, he'll admit it. If this "Poppi" functions like a normal Blade, that's one damn impressive feat of engineering.

"Artificial Blade?" Rex looks her over again, eyes wide. "You can fight with her?"

"That not all! Poppi programmed to do many things, even able to fly," Tora says. "Tora and Poppi would be very helpful in rescuing Driver friend of Rex-Rex!"

Rex looks shocked momentarily. "Wait, you want to come with us?"

"It least Tora can do to help friends!"

"Poppi will go where masterpon goes," Poppi adds.

"That settles it, then," Rex says, "we'll go rescue Nia and Dromarch together."