Prologue

"Wake up, you little shit!" a harsh voice yelled as water was splashed in Russel's face, rousing him from what restless sleep he had been able to get. The young boy spluttered in response to the water entering his mouth, but couldn't wipe his face on account of the rope trapping his wrists behind the pole he was leaning against. Shaking his head to move his dirty-blond hair out of his eyes, a difficult task considering the water matted it to his face, he looked at his surroundings, and remembered where he had spent the last three days. The cloth walls surrounding him indicative of the storage tent near the edge of camp, and the wooden pole he was tied to was directly in the center, serving as the central support beam for the whole tent. He sent a frightened look at the figure holding the now-empty bucket, who was sneering at him derisively. It was a man, Ardainian, not that it mattered much in this camp.

"Well, have you learned your lesson yet, fleabag?" the man asked Russel, the light of the only lamp in the room glistening off his dark armor.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Russel pleaded with him, the feline ears that marked him as Gormotti flattening against his head in fear. "I'll never do it again!"

"And what won't you ever do again?" the man goaded.

"I'll never take extra food again!" he shouted desperately. The bandits barely fed him, so he thought to try to sneak some extra food. As a punishment, they kept him tied to the support column in the food storage tent for three days, not giving him a single meal in all that time. He was starved, and surrounded by stored food that he couldn't physically get to just to remind him how hungry he was.

"That's right," the man snapped back. "You take what we give you, and not a fucking scrap more. Understood?"

"I understand."

"Good." The man said, walking around the column to untie Russel's hands. "Now then, we've got a camp that needs cleaning, and we've gone three days without our best cleaner. Get to it. And no food until the place is spotless." Of course, the bandits were more than capable of cleaning the camp themselves, but this was just more of his punishment, letting three days' worth of grime build up just so he'd have more to do than usual, and of course he still couldn't eat. Russel slowly shuffled himself out of the tent, his head hung low. "Move it!" the bandit roared, and Russel moved as fast as his small, malnourished body could carry him.

How long? Russel thought to himself as he scrubbed a bloody chest plate with a rag. He had been at it for hours, and there always seemed to be more to clean. How long have I been here? He had been taken by this particular bandit group when they attacked and destroyed his village, somewhere on the outskirts of Gormott. He had stopped counting the days after his ninth birthday, which had been over a year since they had taken him. They had moved around so much that he didn't even know which Titan they were on now.

He kept scrubbing for a few minutes when he roughly felt a boot connect with the side of his head, sending him painfully sprawling to the ground. He looked up at the one who kicked him with tear-filled eyes. A large Urayan man judging by the scales on his face was holding a large crate that was giving off a blue glow. He unceremoniously dropped the crate in front of Russel's face, sending a loud thud resounding through the air.

"Get these over to the chief's tent," the large man ordered Russel. Holding the side of his head, the Gormotti boy sat up and looked down at the crate, getting a good look at its contents. It was filled with identical-looking diamond-shaped stones, each one giving off a pale blue glow.

"These are Core Crystals," Russel observed.

"Yeah, they are," the bandit responded. "Tristan wants these in his tent for transport before he gets back, so be fucking careful with them, brat." Russel had no idea what the tribe did with all the Core Crystals they stole while out on raids, but the chief, Tristan, always handled them and sent them out somewhere. "And it goes without saying, but don't even think about touching any of them. Even if it doesn't kill you, we will." They couldn't have their only slave try and become a Driver, after all. In fact, none of the bandits beside Tristan himself had any Blades for some reason. "Got it?"

"I understand," Russel said quietly, picking up the crate despite the protests of his aching muscles and growling stomach.

Tristan's tent was on the opposite side of the camp, so Russel had a bit of a trek to get there, cutting straight through the center of camp, looking down at the box full of Core Crystals. Curious things. Apparently, if a human touched one, they had the possibility of awakening a Blade, a being that granted awesome power to their Driver, the one who awakened them.

Could I become a Driver? Russel thought to himself as he looked down at the haul. If he had a Blade, maybe he could finally escape. But he had heard that if you failed to resonate when you touched a Crystal, you might die. Was it worth it? Before he could think any more on the subject, he tripped on a rock, and in his exhausted state, he was in no shape to correct himself, causing him to tumble to the ground, the box falling in front of him, a single Core Crystal bouncing out and landing in front of his face.

"Oi!" he heard a voice yell behind him. "I said to be careful with that, you little shit!" The Urayan that gave him the task in the first place yelled as he stomped towards the young Gormotti, who was lying prone on the ground. "I swear if any of those crystals are damaged, it's coming out of your flesh!"

Russel looked back at the man in terror, and back at the Core Crystal in front of his face. If he was a Driver, he could escape, right? No one else in this camp was a Driver, so it would be easy. But what if it failed? It would kill him, right? What could he do?

Resonate with the Crystal and risk death for a way to escape?

Or do nothing and face the wrath of the Urayan and possibly Tristan himself?

The decision was an easy one, if he was being perfectly honest.

He reached out and grabbed the Crystal.

Instantly, the crystal lit up a bright white, causing even the man approaching him to stop to shield his eyes. Russel felt energy pour into his body. After a few seconds, the light died down, and a figure was kneeling down where the crystal once was.

It was a woman, with long purple hair cascading down her back that turned blue towards the ends and a pale complexion. In the middle of her chest was a crystal shaped like a blue flame. Around it was the collar of an elegant purple dress that immediately split to reveal her cleavage and never reconnected, leaving the entire front of the dress open and her torso exposed. She wore a black mini-dress underneath it, not that it helped to cover anything up since it was entirely see-through. The entire ensemble left her back exposed, and her arms and legs were covered in blue flames resembling opera gloves and high-heeled boots with thigh-high stockings. A belt hung crooked from her waist, a dagger clipped to the left side. For some reason, her eyes were closed, and the most interesting thing about her was the two small hair buns on either side of her head, blue flames emanating from them. She had two very thin swords on either side of her waist.

In short, she was the most beautiful sight Russel had ever seen in his young life.

He didn't have long to appreciate it, though, as the Urayan's foot struck him roughly in the stomach, causing the boy to curl up in a ball in pain.

"What did I fucking tell you?!" the man screamed in Russel's ear. "I told you to not even THINK about touching that crystal! And now you've gone and woke up a Blade!" He kicked Russel again, in the face this time, and the boy could feel his nose break from the impact. The man stopped to get a good look at the Blade that Russel had awakened. "She's a real beauty, though. I'm sure Tristan would love to get his hands on her personally. I'll make sure to set her crystal aside for him. But first…" he looked back down at Russel, drawing a sword from its sheathe at his waist, "I just have to kill you, and she'll revert back to a Crystal." He took a step towards the young Gormotti, raising his sword above his head. "Don't blame me for this, kid. If you had just done as you were told, you wouldn't have to die right now. So long, you pain in the arse!" He brought his sword down, and Russel shut his eyes, bracing himself as best he could for the blow.

Only it never came.

Russel slowly opened his eyes, and saw that the Urayan's sword arm had been caught by the woman, who held it in a vice-like grip.

"I would thank you not to do that," she said.

"What, are you protecting him?" the man asked.

"But of course," she responded evenly, her eyes never opening. "He is my Driver, after all."

"Listen," the man said, a sick grin on his face, "a woman like you doesn't need a kid like him. I'm just making sure you end up with a man that can handle you." He tried to wrestle his sword arm away, but her grip held fast. "Let go!" he growled. "I need to give this little shit the punishment he deserves!" He tried struggling against her grip again, when they heard a sickening crunch sound.

"Argh!" the man screamed, dropping his sword and clutching at his wrist with his other hand. "You bitch! You broke my fucking wrist!"

"I'm going to do a lot more than that if you don't back down," the woman replied, reaching for the swords at her waist. The man growled, sending a hate-filled glare her way.

"Get them!" he yelled to the other bandits in the camp. "Kill the kid! We'll get her core later!"

"I warned you…" she said evenly, swinging her swords out to her sides. The blades separated into segments, with wire holding them together, revealing the weapons to actually be bladed whips. At the same time, brilliant blue flames erupted all around her. The man's eyes widened at the sight.

"Blue flames?" he asked, his voice shaking with fear. "You're…! But how?!"

She didn't respond, instead leaping towards the group of charging bandits, turning herself from a woman into a tornado of flame and death. Before long, the only thing that could be heard was screams.

Russel looked out at the blood-soaked camp in front of him, bodies both dead and barely alive strewn about, the flaming woman sheathing her weapons at her side. She walked towards him, kneeling down before the boy.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"Y-Yeah," he said nervously. "I think so." She reached her hand towards him, and wiped the blood from his broken nose off his upper lip.

"You poor thing," she said, finally opening her eyes, allowing him to see that they were as purple as her hair and dress. "What's your name?"

"R-Russel," he replied. "My name is Russel."

"It's very nice to meet you Russel," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "My name is Brighid, and I am your Blade."

"My…Blade?" he asked, his vision beginning to go foggy.

"As long as you live, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I promise."

Everything went black as the young Gormotti boy finally gave in to his exhaustion, falling unconscious.

AN: Welcome, one and all to a little side project of mine. I've been playing the hell out of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 during the shutdown, and I was hit with a sudden burst of inspiration to write a story like this. When I learned while playing the game that Brighid's Core Crystal was always in the possession of the Ardainian Empire, I got to thinking about if there was ever a time where her Core Crystal was lost and she was awakened by a random kid. After playing the Torna expansion and seeing Lora and Jin's story, the idea was cemented. I'm also taking a bit of inspiration from Crisis Core in terms of tone, which will be seen later.

This is going to be different from anything else I've written, because I actually have a finished plot before writing it, meaning I can write it like a story with proper build up to a planned ending.

Now, this is a side project because my main focus is still RWBY: Aqua's Mission, but I've been a real bad case of writer's block right now, and writing something else for a bit might help me there. If you came here because you follow me from that story, then it's good to see you again. If you stumbled on this story perusing the Xenoblade 2 stories, then give my other story a shot. You might like it.

And with that, we can wrap up the prologue. With that, I hope you all enjoy "A Jewel without a Crown". See you next time!