Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alrest, moments before The Intersection

The weather in Tantal was always cold, that much was certain. However there was a certain cold breeze that seemed to waft throughout Theoscaldia Palace. Only one person seemed to be bothered by it though.

Zeke shivered slightly as he stood on the balcony, staring off into the sky with his arms crossed. He had been quiet, staring at the sky as if he were looking out for something. He seemed lost in thought, but he was quickly broken out of this trance as he heard a familiar voice.

“Aren’t you a little old to be brooding?” Pandoria made herself known.

Zeke blinked and turned to look at his Blade. “I’m not brooding,” he replied. “I’m just… waiting.”

“Waiting?” Pandoria questioned. “Oh, you mean for that big disaster to happen?”

“You seem oddly calm about it,” Zeke pointed out.

“I mean, you’re the one who kept saying we should trust Nia’s plan,” Pandoria reminded. “I’m surprised you’re not trying to act more calm about this whole thing.”

“There’s a chance the whole world ends, Pandy,” Zeke explained. “Sure, I don’t really get the specifics of everything, but the end of the world is still the end of the world. You can’t blame me for feeling a little on edge.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Pandoria leaned against the stone wall of the balcony, deciding to join her Driver as they stared into the sky together.

“So,” Zeke spoke up, “you’re not scared at all?”

“Oh, I’m terrified,” Pandoria admitted. “But I’m trying not to dwell on that. Besides, didn’t Tora say it would only last a second before the worlds fix themselves?”

“Something like that,” Zeke responded. He stared down. “I hate standing around like this, doing nothing,” he muttered. “But… we’ve gotta have faith in our friends, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed with a nod. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, smiling as they seemed happy to just have the other at their side. Pandoria’s gaze then shifted as she noticed something appear over the horizon. Zeke’s attention seemed to have been caught by the exact same thing and the two of them stared into the sky as what looked like another planet had just appeared, looming over them. This was it. It had to be.

“Pandoria…” Zeke said.

“Yeah?”

______________________________________________

“My Prince? Hey, can you hear me? Zeke?”

Zeke slowly started to wake up, blinking a few times as his eyes readjusted. He quickly began to make out the blurry image of Pandoria leaning over him.

“Finally you’re awake,” Pandoria said, leaning back to give her Driver some space once he had started waking up.

“Ugh…” Zeke groaned as he sat up. “Couldn’t have let me sleep in a bit longer, could you?”

“Um, my Prince?” Pandoria questioned.

Zeke looked at Pandoria, waiting for her to continue her thought until he realized why she sounded so confused. Zeke looked around, finally noticing that the two of them were sitting in an open, grassy field.

“How… did we get here?” Zeke asked. “Also, where exactly are we?”

Pandoria shook her head. “No idea. I just woke up, too.”

Zeke started to stand up before looking around the area some more. “Guess we wound up knocked out on one of our adventures, huh?”

Pandoria stood up as well. “Yeah, but I don’t remember leaving Tantal,” she responded. “Do you?”

“No, I guess not,” Zeke admitted. “Although… I’m struggling to remember what it is we were doing exactly…”

“Oh no, you didn’t hit your head, did you?” Pandoria asked. “You’re enough to deal with as is, I don’t wanna know how you’d act with head trauma.”

“Oi! What’s that supposed to mean?” Zeke questioned angrily.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Pandoria assured. “Seriously though, does your head hurt or anything?”

“I’ve got a bit of a headache from being woken up,” Zeke admitted, “but other than that, I feel just fine.”

“And you don’t look like you’ve got any injuries on you,” Pandoria pointed out. “So I guess that rules out us getting attacked.”

“Plus you’d think we’d remember getting attacked,” Zeke replied.

“Yeah, that too.” Pandoria took a moment to examine Zeke further, more specifically his clothes. He had a flared vest coat on as well as his armored boots. He wore a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up as opposed to his navy blue sweater and warm coat. This outfit was what he always wore when the two of them left Tantal for adventures fighting monsters and stuff like that. Pandoria herself was also wearing a different outfit than the one she’d wear for non-adventurous get togethers or average days in Tantal. They were both clearly dressed for a dangerous outing.

“Well,” Pandoria said, “standing around here isn’t gonna help us. I say we try and figure out where in Alrest we are.”

“Good idea,” Zeke agreed. “Shouldn’t be too hard for us.”

The two of them started to wander around the grassy field. There didn’t seem to be any distinct landmarks around, just long fields and rocky cliffs in the distance. The wildlife also didn’t appear too hostile as there were mainly just Bunnits running around as well as a few calm Camils. Nothing stood out, but that didn’t stop Zeke and Pandoria from theorizing their location based on what they could see.

“Hm…” Zeke thought for a moment. “My best guess is that we’re somewhere in Gormott.”

“Yeah, but where in Gormott?” Pandoria asked.

“That I’m not too sure about,” Zeke admitted. “But these grassy fields scream Gormott to me.”

“Alright, whatever you say,” Pandoria replied.

“Well then,” Zeke continued, “if we’re in Gormott, maybe we should try and head for Torigoth, yeah?”

“Torigoth?” Pandoria questioned. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near Torigoth.”

“Oh come on, Torigoth’s always been easy to find,” Zeke dismissed. “Kinda hard to miss it.”

“Yeah, but again, we don’t know where we are!” Pandoria argued. “It’s weird… We’ve been all over Alrest. It’s not super common that we find a place we don’t recognize.”

Zeke looked around the surrounding area for a moment. “Yeah,” he agreed. He thought for a moment. “Well, maybe we’re just dealing with some brain fog. After all, we don’t know how long we were out cold for. I’m sure our heads will clear after a while.”

Zeke continued walking across the grassy fields, Pandoria quickly following him. The two of them continued wandering the area, waiting for something to show up that they’d recognize. But still, nothing. Everything still seemed new to them. Sure, it was possible that this was somewhere they hadn’t explored before, but that was still extremely unlikely. Zeke and Pandoria had spent most of their lives exploring Alrest. They knew many locations like the back of their hands. Even after returning home to Tantal, they still spent a lot of free time traveling. They should know roughly where they are, even without a map.

“Hmm…” Pandoria said. “I guess maybe it has been a while since we visited Gormott.”

“What? No,” Zeke argued. “We just visited Gormott last…” Zeke went quiet for a moment as he recounted their last visit before his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Oh wow, yeah maybe it has been that long.”

“Yeah, so maybe that’s why we’re still not recognizing anything?” Pandoria suggested.

Zeke shook his head. “No way, I couldn’t forget the area that easily.”

As they kept journeying, they began to make their way towards a valley. Things were just seeming more and more unfamiliar as they traveled, but the two of them weren’t going to give up just yet. After walking around for what Zeke had to guess had been at least an hour, he finally stopped.

“Ok, this is starting to get ridiculous,” he admitted.

“Maybe we’re not in Gormott after all,” Pandoria suggested.

“I can’t think of what other Titan we’d be at,” Zeke replied. “If we were in Uraya, you’d think we’d run into some Saffronia trees. Mor Ardain isn’t nearly this green, Leftheria doesn’t have cliffs like this. And I know for a fact that this isn’t Tantal. The only other place we could be is somewhere between the Titans…”

Pandoria shook her head. “Yeah, I’m stumped.”

The two of them pondered their predicament, standing in the middle of the valley until they heard the sound of growling. They both immediately became alert as they recognized the sound of an angry Volff and it didn’t take them long to notice the small pack of them approaching.

“Well, this is just grand, isn’t it?” Zeke said sarcastically. “Guess we’re about to have a scrap.” Zeke was about to reach for his sword when he realized it wasn’t on his back. “Crap…” he muttered. “Pandy! I’m unarmed!”

“I’m on it!” Pandoria assured. She immediately prepared to create her Blade weapon, but she was caught off guard when her wand appeared in her hand. “Huh?” she questioned as it didn’t feel quite right. Instead of appearing from her core, the wand simply formed itself in her hand, like it just manifested from nothing.

“Pandy?” Zeke questioned, turning towards Pandoria as he was still waiting for her.

“My Prince! Look out!” Pandoria warned.

Zeke quickly turned back towards the Volff that was lunging towards him. In a panic, Zeke reached for his sword, even though he knew it wasn’t on his back. However, just like with Pandoria’s wand, the large sword appeared in Zeke’s hand anyway and he quickly knocked the Volff away.

“Huh?” Zeke questioned. “How did I…?”

“Hey!” Pandoria yelled. “The fight’s not done yet! We’ll have time to be confused after we finish these guys off!”

“Right,” Zeke agreed with a nod. “These ruffians want a fight, we’ll give it to ‘em!”

The Volffs were quick to try and lunge at the duo again. Zeke quickly swung his sword at each of their attacks to keep them away. Meanwhile, Pandoria used her wand to shock them from a distance. However, the Volffs refused to back down just yet. Their growls only got more aggressive as they tried to swarm the Driver and Blade. After a few more attacks, the Volffs began to circle Zeke and Pandoria, completely surrounding them.

“Ha!” Zeke exclaimed. “It’s like they don’t know who they’re messing with!”

“Show ‘em what you’re made of!” Pandoria encouraged.

“Hi-yah!” Zeke yelled, raising his sword into the air as lightning sparked from it. The Volffs backed away slightly, their fear seeming to grow at the sight of the lightning sword. In one swift move, Zeke swung his giant blade in a circular motion, easily knocking back the entire pack of Volffs.

The Volffs all yelped as they landed on the ground. Once they got back up, they whimpered and made a retreat, deciding this fight wasn’t worth it.

“Ha ha!” Zeke laughed. “We sure showed them!”

“That’s weird…” Pandoria commented.

“Huh?” Zeke questioned. “What’s weird about me looking awesome?”

“No, I’m talking about your weapon!” Pandoria clarified. “How are you using your sword when I still have the wand?”

Zeke blinked. “Oh yeah,” he realized. “That is bloody strange.”

Zeke looked at the sword in his hand. Using it in battle felt exactly the same as the weapon he was used to, but now that he was looking at it, he realized it wasn’t the sword he was used to. The hilt of the sword was fully attached to the blade, and although it looked similar to Pandoria’s wand, it wasn’t exactly the same. The other main difference was that there was no hollow space within the sword for the wand to click into place. The whole sword was… well, just a sword, no wand to detach from it.

Zeke glanced over at Pandoria who was still holding her wand. The wand looked exactly like it was supposed to with no noticeable differences which just made Zeke feel more confused.

“What in Alrest?” Zeke questioned. He motioned to sheath his sword onto his back, but the weapon simply disappeared in the same fashion that it had appeared in the first place.

“Woah, what the?” Pandoria reacted. As she went to put her weapon away, it disappeared in the exact same way.

“Wait wait, hang on a second,” Zeke said. He went to grab his sword like normal, and once again, it simply appeared in his hand. Zeke then motioned to put it away, and just like before, it quickly disappeared.

“What is going on here?” Pandoria asked.

“No clue,” Zeke replied.

Zeke placed his hand on his chin as he tried to think. It seemed like every attempt they had made to find answers so far just left them even more confused. However, after thinking over a few things, Zeke thought of something.

“Hey, you don’t think this has something to do with that big machine Tora was working on, do you?” Zeke asked.

“You mean the thing that was supposed to stop the world from ending?” Pandoria questioned.

“Yeah, that thing,” Zeke confirmed. “Do you think… I don’t know, something happened and that’s what caused all these weird things that are going on?”

“Well how the hell should I know?” Pandoria replied snarkily. “He told you about that whole plan, not me.”

Zeke let out an annoyed huff. “You expect me to pay attention to every little detail he gave me?” he asked. “Tora’s hard enough to understand as is, let alone his mechanical jargon he was trying to explain to me.”

“Yeah, well it was kinda your job to understand the mechanical jargon he was explaining to you!” Pandoria argued.

“I did my best!” Zeke defended. “Don’t try and pin all of this on me!”

Pandoria opened her mouth to argue further, but she was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion. Zeke and Pandoria both jumped at the sudden sound.

“Wh-what was that?” Pandoria asked.

“Not sure,” Zeke replied. “But whatever it was, it didn’t sound like it was too far away.”

Pandoria looked around until she noticed something in the distance. “Over there!” she pointed.

Zeke looked over and spotted smoke rising in the distance from behind a massive cliff. It was a decent distance away, but from the sight of it, they could tell the explosion must have been pretty powerful. Without another word, Zeke started walking towards the smoke.

“Wha- where are you going?!” Pandoria asked.

“I’m going to check out what caused that explosion,” Zeke responded.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Pandoria questioned.

“Look,” Zeke explained, “we’ve got no idea where we are or what’s going on. There’s a chance whatever that explosion was could help explain our situation.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that…” Pandoria replied. “Any information’s better than what we’ve got now. Which is nothing.”

With no other ideas, the two of them started making their way towards the smoke. They were going to have to hike up a large hill in order to get a view of anything, but they were determined for answers at this point. It didn’t matter how steep of a climb, they were going to climb it if it led to any answers at all.

Zeke and Pandoria were getting slightly worn out as they climbed, but they also started to hear much louder noises as they got closer to the top. There was definitely some type of commotion going on nearby, that was for sure.

Once Zeke and Pandoria finally reached the top of the hill, they looked down at the field below and were immediately filled with shock. There was an entire warzone down there, multiple giant machines on each side along with entire armies of soldiers. One side had their army dressed in black armor and the other side in white.

“What the hell?” Pandoria questioned.

“It’s full on war down there,” Zeke commented in surprise.

Pandoria continued watching the fighting before turning towards Zeke. “What’s the plan now?” she asked.

Zeke was quiet as he shook his head. “We can’t just jump down there,” he said. “We’ve got no clue what this fight is for or who any of those people are.”

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed. “We should probably just get out of here.”

Zeke nodded.

The two of them began to back away from the edge of the cliff, both of them finding it difficult to look away from the fighting. However, their retreat seemed to be cut short as they heard voices from right behind them.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Zeke and Pandoria both froze slightly before they turned around to see a group of soldiers wearing black armor.

“You Agnians aren’t going anywhere!” one of the soldiers yelled.

“Crap,” Pandoria said. “So much for an easy retreat…”

Zeke held his hands up. “Hey, we don’t want to cause any trouble,” he tried to assure.

“As if we’d believe that!” another soldier shouted before they ran at Zeke with their sword.

Zeke was quick to summon his Big Bang Edge, using it to block the attack. With a little bit of force, he pushed the soldier away from him, before tightening his grip on his weapon.

“Looks like we don’t have a choice here,” Zeke said.

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed, summoning her wand. “Get ready for another fight.”

Chapter Text

The sound of weapons clanging together filled the air as the group of soldiers swung their Blades at the two strangers. Zeke and Pandoria were holding their own pretty well. The two of them were used to fighting against greater numbers, so it wasn’t like they were out of their element. The soldiers seemed somewhat surprised by how fierce their enemies were in combat.

“These Agnian scum are tougher than they look…” one soldier commented, slightly out of breath.

“Agnian scum?” Zeke questioned. “Look, I’ve got no idea what that means but I have a feeling it’s not a compliment!”

Pandoria shot out a jolt of electricity at one of the soldiers trying to attack her. “Would you guys just calm down and let us explain ourselves?”

“And let our guard down?” the soldier replied. “Not a chance!”

The soldier ran towards Pandoria again, readying their weapon for a big attack, but Zeke quickly stepped in, blocking the strike with his sword.

“Woah!” Pandoria yelped. “Thanks for the save, my Prince.”

“No need to thank me,” Zeke replied, “I’m sure you’ll return the favor soon enough.”

“Ugh!” one of the soldiers grunted angrily. “Come on, we outnumber them! This should be easy!”

“Easy, huh?” Zeke mocked. “I’ll let you know that we’ve been going easy on you lot!”

Zeke and Pandoria both raised their weapons into the air and a massive amount of lightning began to spark from them. The soldiers stared at the beacon of electricity, gasping in shock at the sight of it.

Zeke smirked as he readied his sword, swinging it around before running towards the group of soldiers. Pandoria stayed back, twirling her wand before sending out a massive blast at the soldiers, briefly stunning them. While the soldiers were caught off guard, Zeke slashed his sword at them, knocking them all onto the ground in one swift move.

The soldiers closest to the attack remained on the ground, completely knocked out cold. Meanwhile, a pair of soldiers who were in the back, started to sit up. They gasped as they looked over at their teammates lying motionless on the ground. They then looked up at Zeke who was standing over them, his sword resting against his shoulders.

“Alright then,” Zeke said, “maybe now we can actually get somewhere, yeah?”

The soldier let out a frightened mumble before turning towards their ally. “R-Retreat!” they ordered.

The two soldiers quickly scrambled onto their feet and ran away as fast as they could. Zeke just stood there, watching them run away.

“Huh, guess they were pretty quick to leave after realizing who they were messing with,” Pandoria commented.

“Guess so,” Zeke agreed. He turned his attention towards the group of soldiers who were still on the ground. “They left their buddies behind, though.”

“Eh, they probably just panicked,” Pandoria dismissed. “I mean, these guys’ll be fine after that zap I gave ‘em wears off.”

The two of them watched as tiny sparks shot off of the soldiers. They were still breathing, but other than that and the occasional twitch, they didn’t move at all.

“Yeah, they’ll be fine,” Zeke insisted before sheathing his sword. “Right now we should focus on actually making our retreat.”

“And hopefully we don’t get interrupted this time,” Pandoria agreed.

The two of them began to make their way back down the large hill. They were hoping no other soldiers would show up to try and ambush them, and it seemed like they had gotten lucky this time around. They managed to escape the warzone without being spotted by anyone else.

Zeke and Pandoria had no idea how spread out the fighting would be, so they made sure to get as much distance as they could. The last thing they wanted was to get involved in a major conflict that they knew nothing about, especially when they were still utterly confused by their current predicament.

By the time the pair found a place that they could rest, the sun was getting ready to set. They found themselves in a more forested area, which would hopefully help them stay hidden as opposed to being out in the open.

Pandoria let out a sigh. “Guess we’re camping tonight…”

“Nothing we’re not used to,” Zeke reminded.

“Yeah, just ‘cause we’re used to it doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Pandoria complained.

“Hey, less complaining, more preparing, yeah?” Zeke replied. “We’re gonna need to set up a campfire. And I don’t know about you, but that fight made me bloody hungry.”

“I can get the fire going if you wanted to go find some food,” Pandoria suggested.

Zeke nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’m sure I saw some Bunnits on the way here, that would be easy enough to nab.”

“Alright, get to it then,” Pandoria ordered.

Zeke didn’t argue further, he just smiled and walked off to go hunt down some dinner. He could tell Pandoria was feeling a bit agitated over the events of the day, which he couldn’t blame her for. They were both completely confused and weren’t getting any answers. That would be frustrating for anyone.

After wandering the forest for a while, Zeke eventually spotted a pair of Bunnits. They hadn’t noticed him yet. Zeke froze for a second, trying to remain as still as possible as he readied himself. He grabbed his sword, waiting for his moment. The Bunnits still seemed completely unaware of Zeke’s presence, so he decided now would be his time to strike.

Zeke swung his sword, sending a jolt of electricity towards the Bunnits and stunning them. They were aware of Zeke now, but they had no time to run as Zeke rushed in to finish them off. Once they were dead, Zeke grabbed them by their long tails, smiling at the successful catch. Zeke’s gaze then shifted towards his sword again.

He had already had time to examine the sword before, but staring at it again still felt weird. It was sort of uncanny in a way. It looked like his usual weapon, but it still wasn’t quite the same.

“What’s the deal with this thing?” Zeke questioned. “It’s clearly my sword, but… it’s not?” Zeke narrowed his eyes as he thought more about the fights against the Volffs and those soldiers. “Pandy wasn’t giving me any power back there…” Zeke realized. “So… where was that lightning coming from? Maybe…” Zeke continued pondering for a while before shaking his head. “I’ve been out here long enough, I shouldn’t keep Pandy waiting any longer.”

When Zeke got back to their camping spot, he saw that Pandoria had already gotten a decently sized fire started. She also had a small pile of extra kindling sitting next to her.

“Might need a few more logs,” Zeke pointed out.

“Think you could grab some?” Pandoria asked. “I’m pretty sure there’s some over there.”

Zeke looked over to where Pandoria was pointing and saw what indeed looked like a few small logs. Although it was hard to tell for sure since the sky was starting to get dark.

Zeke walked over, relieved once he saw they were indeed wooden logs and not a sleeping monster that would attack once approached. He had dealt with enough of those in his time. He grabbed the logs and headed back towards the fire, throwing them in.

Once the fire grew, Pandoria grabbed a pair of long sticks that she had found. She handed them to Zeke who took them and immediately got to work preparing the Bunnits to cook.

“Bunnits for dinner, huh?” Pandoria said.

“Can’t be picky when you’re out in the wild,” Zeke reminded.

“Yeah, yeah,” Pandoria replied. “I’m surprised we didn’t pack any food with us. We’re usually more prepared.”

“Maybe we lost it all,” Zeke guessed. “I mean, we were completely knocked out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe we ran into some bandits who stole our gear?”

“Ugh, I hate bandits…” Pandoria groaned.

“Yeah, I think most people hate bandits.”

Pandoria gave Zeke an annoyed look at that comment. “Still though,” she continued, “if it were bandits, why weren’t we injured at all? Most bandits don’t hesitate to kill, or at least try to.”

Zeke shrugged. “Maybe they were too scared to. Some bandits get cold feet after all, especially if they’re new to it.”

“I’m still not too sure…”

Zeke finished skewering the Bunnit meat onto the sticks and handed one to Pandoria so she could cook hers to her own liking. They both held their sticks over the fire to start cooking them.

“So,” Zeke said, “now that we have some downtime, we can get back to figuring out what the bloody hell is going on.”

“Haven’t we been trying to figure that out this whole time?” Pandoria questioned.

“Well yeah, but now we have time to actually think,” Zeke clarified. “There’s definitely something wrong going on.”

“Very good deduction skills you’ve got going on over there,” Pandoria teased.

“Oi! I don’t hear you coming up with anything!” Zeke yelled.

“Alright, alright,” Pandoria assured, “I’ll stop being so cheeky.”

Zeke stared at the fire for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts. “How about we start off with what we know?”

“Well we don’t really know anything at all,” Pandoria reminded. “That’s kind of the problem.”

Zeke let out a long sigh. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “But maybe we can figure some things out with that little we have seen.”

“Maybe if we can remember what we were doing before we ended up in that field,” Pandoria suggested. “Let’s try recounting our steps.”

Zeke’s face scrunched up as he struggled to remember. “Ugh! I’ve got nothing.”

Pandoria was clearly deep in thought as well until she lightened up, seemingly remembering something. “Oh yeah!” she exclaimed. “We were in Tantal and we were waiting for that big collision thing to happen.”

Zeke blinked as that seemed to jog his memory a bit. “That’s right,” he agreed. “We were waiting for that big machine to kick in. Um… what was that thing called again?”

“I don’t know,” Pandoria replied. “Again, you were supposed to remember these things, not me.”

“Are you seriously gonna yell at me every time I forget what Tora said?” Zeke questioned, clearly annoyed.

“I wouldn’t have to yell at you if you actually remembered these things,” Pandoria retorted.

“Well then, maybe Tora should have told you instead.”

“Maybe he should have.”

The two of them went quiet as the argument died down. Zeke rotated his stick, trying to make sure the meat cooked evenly.

“Say, those soldiers we fought earlier,” Zeke commented, “did they look… strange to you?”

“What do you mean?” Pandoria asked.

“I mean, most of them looked normal,” Zeke explained. “But one of them had what looked like bird wings on their head, poking out of their helmet.”

“Oh, now that you mention it,” Pandoria responded, “that was kinda weird looking. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that before, but then again, Blades come in all different shapes.”

“Right, like how you’ve got a tail,” Zeke replied.

“Exactly,” Pandoria said before pulling her stick out of the fire. She examined it for a moment before deciding it was done, so she blew on it to cool it down and started eating. After her first bite, she spoke again. “Why’d you bring that up anyway?” she asked. “Doesn’t really seem like an important detail.”

“You’re right, maybe it’s not important,” Zeke replied. “But then again, maybe it is important. We don’t know. Until we get solid answers, we’ve gotta use every piece of information we have.”

Zeke finally pulled his stick from the fire, deciding that it was cooked to his liking. The two of them were relatively quiet as they ate their dinner. Despite the fact that Pandoria finished cooking her Bunnit first, Zeke ended up being the one to finish eating quicker. Although Pandoria wasn’t too long after him. 

Once Pandoria finished eating, she looked up at the starry night sky. “We really have no idea what’s going on,” she said.

“Nope,” Zeke replied bluntly.

Pandoria let out a long sigh. “Today’s been a lot,” she remarked. “Maybe we should just sleep this off and try and figure things out tomorrow.”

“I’m fine with that,” Zeke insisted. “I’ll go ahead and take the first watch.”

“No way,” Pandoria denied. “You went out and got dinner for us. You get some rest, I’ll take the first watch.”

“Are you sure?” Zeke asked. “Because I can if you-”

“My Prince, I’m a strong Blade,” Pandoria reminded. “I can handle it.”

Zeke sighed, smiling. “I know you can.” He laid down on the ground, trying his best to get comfortable. “Thanks, Pandy.”

“No problem,” Pandoria assured. She smiled at him, watching as he tried to get comfortable before turning her attention back to the fire. She let out a quiet sigh before grabbing a stick to stir the fire so it wouldn’t die out.

______________________________________________

Alrest, about 1 year before The Intersection

“Your Majesty?” one of the guards spoke. “It appears you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” Zeke questioned.

“They say they have urgent news,” the guard explained further.

“Yeah yeah, I got it,” Zeke dismissed casually. “Bring them here.”

The guard nodded before leaving to go retrieve the visitor. It wasn’t too often that the Tantalese royal family got visitors like this, even after opening their kingdom up to other countries. It seemed most people still weren’t too fond of the cold climate. Still though, royal matters were important. And even if Zeke didn’t like these royal duties as much as he liked fighting monsters or roaming around Alrest, it was still important and he knew to treat these matters as such.

Zeke was expecting to see a special envoy from another Titan, or something along those lines, so he was pretty surprised when he saw one of his old friends walking into the throne room with the guards.

“Meh!” the Nopon engineer greeted. “Good to see Zeke in palace and not wandering around.”

“Tora?” Zeke questioned, immediately perking up. “Ha! I didn’t think you’d be the special visitor.” Zeke walked down the stairs to meet up with his friend. “Also, what do you mean exactly, ‘good to see me in the palace’? Why wouldn’t I be in the palace?”

“Zeke not exactly known for staying put for very long,” Tora commented.

“I’ve got things sorted out,” Zeke assured. “Besides, I’m always here when I need to be. Anyway, what brings you here in Tantal? The guards told me it was urgent news.”

“That right!” Tora confirmed. “Tora have BIG news for Zeke and people of Tantal!”

“I see…” Zeke replied. “You know what, why don’t we take a walk? I’m sure you’ve got a lot to talk about, and I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get some fresh air.”

“Sound good to Tora.”

The two of them left the palace and walked around Theosoir. Even if this was important business, Tora was still a close friend to Zeke and he wanted to treat him as such. The two of them were nearing the rear gate when Zeke spoke up.

“So, what’s this big thing you need to tell me about?” he asked.

Tora looked up at Zeke. “Has Zeke heard of the Intersection?”

Zeke’s eyebrows furrowed. “The Intersection?” he repeated. “I’ve heard rumors of it. People all over Alrest are talking about the end of the world, saying we’re going to collide with another world or something like that.”

Tora shook his head. “Not rumor,” he said. “It true.”

Zeke’s eyebrows raised. “What?”

“Friend Nia has been in contact with other world for long while now,” Tora explained. “Nia ask help of Tora and many others to help create solution for big problem. And after much work, solution finally complete! Meh, well, almost complete.”

“Hang on,” Zeke interrupted. “Nia?” Zeke was quiet for a moment. “So that’s what she’s been busy with this whole time…”

“Not just Nia,” Tora said. “Rex-Rex, Pyra, Mythra, Poppi, many friends help out!”

“Ah, but you left me out of this one?” Zeke questioned, a somewhat teasing tone to his accusation. “What about Mòrag, is she involved too?”

Tora shook his head. “Mòrag and Zeke busy helping run entire counties. Not want to bother until now.”

“Ah, I see,” Zeke replied. “Guess that makes sense. Well, I’m also guessing you didn’t come here just to tell me you figured out a way to stop the end of the world. What else is there?”

“Nia wanted to make sure friends knew what go on,” Tora explained. “When worlds collide, two halves of big machine called Origin come together. Mechanisms clicky-click together and function to override destruction and make sure worlds can reset just like they were before. Origin hold data of every living thing in Alrest and other world as well! With that, both worlds can be saved!”

Zeke had a look of bewilderment as he tried to wrap his head around the explanation. “Ok, so this Origin thing is gonna make sure we don’t all die?” he asked.

“Meh, not exactly true,” Tora clarified. “Worlds colliding cannot be stopped. Both worlds will be destroyed as opposing matter collides. Origin simply recreate worlds to make sure life can continue like nothing go wrong.”

Zeke was still struggling to comprehend the concept. It didn’t help that Nopon could be a little tricky to understand sometimes, not to mention the fact that Zeke was nowhere near a mechanical genius like Tora was. Trying to understand big machines and how they functioned was not one of Zeke’s skills.

“Ok, so let me see if I’ve got this right,” Zeke said. “The end of the world is coming, and we’re all going to die, but this machine you’ve built will just… bring us all back like nothing happened?”

“Yes!” Tora confirmed. “Whole thing should only feel like one blip of second.” Tora seemed very proud of himself afterwards, but his smile quickly turned to a frown as he noticed Zeke still seemed unsure. “Zeke… still not understand?”

“No, I think I’ve got it,” Zeke assured. “It’s just… Well, you can’t expect me not to be a little bit worried.”

“Meh, Zeke have no faith in Tora and friends?” Tora interrogated, his voice sounding a bit offended.

“Of course I have faith in you!” Zeke quickly insisted. “Tora, you’re the best damn mechanic in Alrest. I’ve got zero doubts in you.”

“Then… why Zeke seem so unsure?”

“I don’t know,” Zeke admitted. “I guess it’s just… a lot of information to put on someone all at once.”

Tora frowned. “Tora tell Zeke this because it very important. Zeke already know about rumors spreading of world ending. Tora and friends want Zeke to let people know that there no need for fear. Origin will save both worlds! No reason to be afraid!”

“Ah, I see,” Zeke responded. “You want me to relay the information to the people of Tantal, do you?”

Tora nodded. “Other friends go to other Titans to give same information. We want to calm fears, that all.”

“Heh, a noble cause,” Zeke commented. “I got’cha. Although, I’m not sure how I’d go about explaining all of this.”

“It easy!” Tora assured. “Inner mechanisms of Origin work together with other half when worlds collide. All data of living things on both worlds reform after worlds get destroyed, and then life return like normal!”

“Uh huh,” Zeke nodded. “Ok, I think I’ve got it…”

“Very good!” Tora exclaimed. “Tora will trust Zeke to relay information, meh. Now, Tora need to return back.”

“Leaving so soon?” Zeke asked.

“Tora still have much work to do to make sure Origin function at best quality before Intersection,” Tora explained. “Sorry that Tora cannot stay longer.”

“No, I completely get it,” Zeke assured. “You’ve got important work to do. You go on and get going, I’ll get to work figuring out things on my end.”

“Thanks much, friend!” Tora replied. He happily waved goodbye to Zeke, Zeke returning the wave as the Nopon began to make his leave. After Tora was gone, Zeke frowned.

“Bloody hell…” Zeke mumbled. “I had no idea things were so dire…” He shook his head. “No matter. Things’ll work out with all of them in charge. We’ll just have to wait this out it seems.”

Chapter Text

Zeke and Pandoria made sure they were awake nice and early in the morning. There wasn’t really time for sleeping in when you were in the middle of the woods after all. Zeke was giving a quick survey of the area while they prepared to head out again.

“Alright,” Zeke said, “I’d say our best bet right now is to continue looking for Torigoth.”

“How can we be sure Torigoth is even around here?” Pandoria questioned. “We still haven’t been able to actually confirm whether or not we’re in Gormott. Don’t you think we should maybe rethink our plan?”

“Listen, if this really is something to do with that big machine, then the best option we have for answers is Tora,” Zeke explained himself. “And we’d most likely find Tora out in Torigoth.”

Pandoria still had a skeptical look on her face, but she just sighed and walked over to join Zeke. “Any idea where we should start?” she asked.

Zeke let out a sigh. “Really our best option is to continue wandering around aimlessly until we find something. Who knows, maybe we’ll run into some people who can help us.”

“Hopefully that and not more of those soldiers who attacked us,” Pandoria said. “I don’t know what their problem was, but I’d rather not get roped into another fight like that.”

“Same here,” Zeke agreed.

The two of them started walking through the forest. The entire area seemed pretty barren of any human life. There were plenty of monsters roaming around that they had to fight off occasionally, but there definitely didn’t seem to be any actual civilization nearby. As they kept walking, Zeke and Pandoria eventually reached a more open area with the trees a bit more scattered now. They took a brief moment to look around, but stopped once they heard some noises.

Zeke and Pandoria noticed a large rock and immediately dashed to hide behind it. Until they knew what was making that noise, they knew it was probably best to stay hidden. As the sounds got louder, it became apparent that they were footsteps as they rustled through the grass and stepped on fallen leaves and twigs. Zeke quietly poked his head around the corner of the rock to try and get a view of things and he was able to see a small group of people who seemed to wear the same black armor as the people who had attacked him and Pandoria before. Zeke then quickly hid behind the rock again before he’d be spotted.

“What did you see?” Pandoria asked in a whisper.

“Shh,” Zeke hushed her.

The two of them kept their ears open as the soldiers walked past.

“Man, I’m starving,” they overheard one of the soldiers say. “I miss having actual good meals to eat.”

“That’s just what happens when you don’t put effort into anything,” another soldier argued. “Sparks though, can’t believe we actually fell rank…”

“We’ll just work harder,” a third soldier assured. “We’ll keep taking out Agnus colonies and eventually we’ll have to get Gold Rank. Then this war will be over for us.”

Zeke and Pandoria both quietly looked at each other as they processed the information they overheard.

“Hey, can we stop talking about it?” one of the soldiers asked. “Let’s just focus on getting that supply drop so we can get back to the colony.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re coming.”

Zeke and Pandoria remained silent as they waited for the soldiers to leave the area. Once things sounded quiet, Zeke poked his head out to see whether or not the coast was clear.

“They’re gone,” he announced.

“What was that all about?” Pandoria asked. “You heard that, right? They mentioned some war that’s going on.”

“Which is exactly what it looked like yesterday,” Zeke added.

“Those guys mentioned something called Agnus,” Pandoria said. “What do you think they meant by that? I’ve never heard of a place called Agnus.”

“I assume it’s a faction or something,” Zeke theorized. “Probably a small one. That would explain why we haven’t heard of it before.”

“We’ll have to talk to the other nations about this,” Pandoria commented. “I mean, if there’s a war going on that places like Uraya or Mor Ardain don’t know about, then that could definitely mean trouble.” Pandoria went quiet as she thought for a moment. “You don’t think Mor Ardain knew about this and didn’t inform Tantal, do you?”

“Of course not,” Zeke insisted. “Mòrag would’ve told me personally if Emperor Niall didn’t.”

“Hm, fair point,” Pandoria agreed. “Although I guess that wouldn’t stand the same for Uraya…”

“Alright, come on,” Zeke instructed, quickly changing the subject. “We shouldn’t stand around for too long, we’re wasting daylight.”

Pandoria nodded and the two of them continued navigating through the area. The two of them were pretty quiet, neither of them really having much to say. Long walks in silence wasn’t normal for the pair, unless they were traveling somewhere where they needed stealth on their side. But this didn’t seem like it was that drastic enough for complete silence.

Pandoria couldn’t help but notice Zeke’s furrowed brow. She had spent enough time with her Driver to know when something was bothering him, and this time was no different.

“What’s on your mind?” Pandoria asked.

Zeke was quiet at first, almost like he was trying to figure out how to put his thoughts into words. “Those soldiers,” he eventually said. “Did they sound… young to you?”

“Hm?” Pandoria questioned. “What do you mean?”

“They didn’t sound very old,” Zeke reiterated. “Definitely not little kids, but definitely too young to be fighting in a war.”

Pandoria thought for a moment. “I guess they did sound pretty young,” she admitted. “But just because someone sounds young doesn’t automatically mean they’re a kid. Some people just have naturally high voices.”

“A fair point,” Zeke replied. He paused for a brief moment. “I think I noticed another soldier with those wings on their head.”

“Another one?” Pandoria questioned.

“Yeah,” Zeke affirmed. “And I highly doubt that it was the same person we fought before. And sure, it could be another Blade with that trait, but that itself seems very unlikely.”

“Yeah, most Blades are pretty unique,” Pandoria agreed. “I guess… unless they’re related in some way, but even then that sounds like a pretty big stretch. Maybe they’re just a race we’ve never met before?”

“That’s probably it,” Zeke concurred.

“Yeah, so maybe that’s why they sounded so young,” Pandoria guessed. “It could just be a thing with their race. It’s not out of the question, I mean, Indoline have really long lifespans. Maybe it’s like that?”

“Maybe,” Zeke responded. He held onto that theory, but the thought still lingered in his mind. Even if that’s true, Zeke thought, that wouldn’t explain the ones without those wings sounding so young… Whatever the explanation, I’m not sure I like it.

They continued wandering the area. At this point, they sort of gave up on looking for familiar landmarks. They just had to accept that they weren’t going to find anything recognizable to them for a while.

“See anything that might point us in a good direction?” Zeke asked.

“Not really,” Pandoria answered. “There’s nothing here that points us to-”

A loud blast sounded out of nowhere, cutting Pandoria off before she could finish her sentence. Zeke and Pandoria both looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint where the sound came from. The two of them managed to figure out the general location of the sound and realized it came from below a nearby cliff. They rushed over to get a better view and saw a group of those soldiers surrounding a single target, some of them holding gun-like weapons that were most likely the culprit of the blast they heard. It was hard to make out specific details, but the lone enemy looked pretty young.

Zeke’s eyes went wide at the sight. “That kid’s in danger!” he yelled.

“It’s more of those soldiers!” Pandoria pointed out. “Looks like they’re about to finish that guy off.”

Zeke was already getting his sword ready, much to Pandoria’s dismay.

“My Prince, you’re seriously not planning to-”

“Jump in there and save that guy?” Zeke finished. “Come on Pandy, it’s like you don’t even know me!”

Pandoria sighed, summoning her wand. “You never change, do you?”

Zeke smirked at Pandoria before he prepared his ambush on these attackers. “YAH!” Zeke yelled out as he jumped down the cliff, Pandoria following close behind.

Zeke’s yell caught the attention of the soldiers and they all turned to look up at the strange pair of people jumping down towards them. They landed on the ground, taking a moment to readjust as they stood back up. Zeke swung his sword dramatically, pointing it at the soldiers while Pandoria mimicked him.

“Why don’t you lot pack it up and run off?” Zeke threatened. “Don’t you have anything better to do than gang up on someone?”

“Who are these guys?” one of the soldiers asked.

“Probably more Agnians.”

“Ha ha!” Zeke laughed dramatically. “Are you telling me you’ve never heard of the mighty Zeke von Genbu? Bringer of Chaos! Mostly known as-”

“Get them!”

The soldiers immediately rushed towards Zeke and Pandoria before the former could finish his spiel. 

“Woah! Hey!” Zeke yelped as he did his best to block the sudden attacks. “Didn’t even let me finish, did you?”

“My Prince, please don’t get in over your head!” Pandoria warned as she tried to blast the soldiers with her wand.

“When do I ever get in over my head?” Zeke retorted. “Watch this!” As soon as Zeke had an opening, he prepared his grand attack. “Hi-yah!” Zeke yelled as he raised his sword in the air. “Bringer of Chaos! Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash! MAX!” Zeke jumped up, twisting in the air as he slammed his sword back onto the ground. The entire group of soldiers were blown back with ease. The intense attack was enough to make a few soldiers retreat, but there were still some of them who refused to back down.

“Ha, not finished yet?” Zeke mocked. “Can’t blame you, most people would give a lot for the chance to fight the Zekenator!”

The remaining soldiers didn’t seem too amused at Zeke’s banter as they continued trying to attack him without saying anything, only letting out angry grunts and yells. After a bit more of a tussle, it became obvious that the few soldiers remaining couldn’t outmatch Zeke.

“Come on! Let’s get out of here before we end up as fuel for them!” one of the soldiers decided. “This fight isn’t worth it!”

The other soldiers nodded and they ran away, all except for one who still refused to back down. He glared at Zeke, pointing his sword at him.

“You don’t scare me!” he insisted. “I don’t care how strong you are, you’re not winning against us!”

“Look, either way I’ll probably beat you in this fight,” Zeke said. “Why don’t you just give it up and make this easier?”

The soldier gritted his teeth, still refusing to back down. “GRAH!” he yelled as he ran towards Zeke, readying a strike. However, before he could land the hit, someone else jumped in, striking them directly in the back with a naginata. The soldier let out a pained grunt as they fell forward, the weapon still stabbed in their back.

The person the soldiers had been ganging up on put his foot on the soldier’s back, sticking his weapon further in to make sure they were dead. The soldier’s body froze up, turning completely black as red motes of light began to fly off from their lifeless body.

“Alright, at least we got one of them,” the attacker commented, his voice sounding extremely disinterested for just killing someone.

Zeke and Pandoria were both in complete shock, their mouths wide open at the sight.

The attacker turned his attention towards the two strangers. He narrowed his eyes as he pulled his weapon free from the back of the dead husk. He pointed his naginata towards the Driver and Blade. “Now, who exactly are you two?” he interrogated. “You’re not dressed in Agnian armor, but you’re clearly not Kevesi either. Unless you just felt like attacking your own allies.”

Zeke stared at the young attacker, still in shock. His outfit was mainly white, similar to the other soldiers they had seen in that first battle. The main parts of color in his outfit came from his golden headband and long, teal scarf. The boy’s blonde hair and golden eyes seemed oddly familiar to Zeke, but it wasn’t until his gaze shifted towards the Core Crystal on his chest that he realized who he was looking at.

Zeke gasped. “Milton?”

Pandoria let out a gasp as well as soon as Zeke said that name. The boy on the other hand seemed caught off guard as he pulled back slightly.

“Wha- How do you know my name?!” he questioned, quickly getting more aggressive and pointing his weapon a lot closer to Zeke’s neck.

“Please, I’d recognize that Core Crystal anywhere!” Zeke defended. “The Core Crystal of the Aegis…”

Milton stared down at the green crystal exposed on his chest before glaring back at Zeke.

Zeke frowned. “What, you seriously don’t recognize your Uncle Zeke?”

“Shut up!” Milton snapped. “I’ve never seen you in my life! Either of you!”

Pandoria stepped forward. “Hey now, we just saved your butt, didn’t we?” she reminded. “So how about you put your weapon away and stop threatening us, yeah?”

Milton stared at Pandoria, narrowing his eyes before he begrudgingly lowered his weapon. It disappeared from his hand and he crossed his arms.

“What colony are you two from?” Milton asked.

“Colony?” Zeke questioned.

“Yeah, what colony?” Milton repeated. “I need to know what Consul has you dressing like that. Is it to throw off Keves? Because I definitely could have mistaken you for Kevesi soldiers wearing those dark colors like that.”

“Keves?” Zeke continued questioning. “What are you- Look, I have no idea what any of that means.”

“Zeke and I are from Tantal, remember?” Pandoria said.

“Tantal?” Milton replied. “Never heard of it.”

“Never heard of- oh come off it!” Zeke complained. “I know you didn’t come around to visit all that often but you definitely know about it!”

Milton continued staring at the two of them with narrowed eyes. He was very clearly still weary of them. “Ok then, next question,” he continued. “Why’d you two save me? You didn’t really have a reason to, did you?”

“As if I needed a reason,” Zeke dismissed. “We helped you because you needed it. What more reason do we need?”

Milton didn’t seem too pleased with that answer.

“Look, I couldn’t just leave a defenseless kid alone to get killed,” Zeke reiterated.

“Tch. I’m not defenseless,” Milton dismissed.

“Fair point I guess,” Pandoria replied. “I mean, you just killed that guy like it was nothing.” There was a layer of uneasiness to Pandoria’s voice.

Milton let out a quiet snicker. “See? She gets it.”

“Ok, can we back up the conversation real quick?” Zeke said. “Milton, where’s Rex?”

“Who?” Milton questioned.

“Your dad,” Zeke clarified. “Or your mum, Mythra? Or the rest of your family?”

Milton gave Zeke a look of utter confusion, like Zeke was speaking a completely different language. “Um, if you’re asking where my colony is,” Milton replied, “then you shouldn’t be worrying about that. It’s gonna be a while until I go back there.” Milton turned around and began walking away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Zeke asked.

“I appreciate the help back there,” Milton insisted, still walking away, “but I’ve gotta get moving. It’s not safe to stay put for very long.”

“Hey!” Zeke quickly ran ahead of Milton, easily cutting him off. Milton flinched in surprise as Zeke appeared in front of him. “You can’t just leave after making things more confusing!” Zeke argued. “You’re coming with us.”

“Go with you guys?” Milton questioned. “Why the spark would I do that?”

“I mean, you don’t have anything better to do, do you?” Pandoria questioned.

“Well those Kevesi soldiers got away,” Milton reminded. “I was planning on going after them to finish them off for good. I mean, I guess if you two wanted to help you can, but-”

“Ok, we’re definitely not letting you do that,” Zeke insisted.

“You’re not my commander!” Milton argued. “I don’t take orders from you!”

“Are you crazy?” Pandoria questioned. “Those guys would have killed you if we didn’t show up! If you go after them, they’ll probably actually kill you this time!”

Milton shrugged. “Yeah, I’d probably die,” he admitted. “But that’s just how it goes out here. As long as I fight them off the best I can, it doesn’t matter what ends up happening to me.”

Zeke was completely flabbergasted. “Do you even hear yourself right now?” he questioned. “What has gotten into you that’s got you acting all bonkers?”

“Look, I’m just stating the obvious,” Milton defended. “A lone soldier is pretty useless and won’t survive for long. It only makes sense that I’d die out here.”

“Alright, I’m done hearing this,” Zeke decided. Without any warning, Zeke grabbed Milton, throwing him over his shoulder to carry him.

“Wha! Hey!” Milton yelled. “Put me down!” He immediately started kicking and squirming to try and free himself from Zeke’s grasp.

“No way,” Zeke denied. “You’re coming with us whether you like it or not!”

Zeke started walking away, Milton still trying to escape from him. Pandoria let out a long sigh as she followed. It was hard to tell if things were better now or not, but at the very least, they had more company now. Whether or not Milton would be good company was up for debate, but he was company nonetheless.

And even so, maybe Milton would be able to explain some things. After all, he seems to know about this mysterious war that was going on. But why didn’t Milton seem to recognize or remember anyone? Was this also something to do with Tora’s big machine?

Chapter Text

The group had continued wandering around the forest without much idea of where they were headed. Zeke was still carrying Milton over his shoulder, and though Milton had struggled to try and free himself, he eventually just gave up. He still wasn’t happy about being carried around like a prisoner, but he knew better than to waste his energy. However, his patience did eventually reach its limit.

“You know, we’d probably get around a lot faster if you put me down,” Milton suggested. “Seriously, you’ve got to be getting tired by now, right?”

“Nonsense,” Zeke insisted. “This is nothing! You’re actually very light weight. Although I guess that makes sense for a tiny guy like you.” Zeke then let out a pained grunt as Milton slammed his fist into Zeke’s back in response to that comment.

“If we put you down,” Pandoria said, “how do we know you’re not just gonna try and run off again?”

“Well even if I did try to run off,” Milton replied, “you guys seem like you’d be fast enough to catch me again anyway.”

“Hm, you’re pretty observant,” Zeke pointed out. He thought for a moment before finally making a decision. “Alright then, I’ll put you down,” he agreed, doing exactly as he said and lowering Milton onto the ground.

“Thank you,” Milton responded. “Honestly I wasn’t sure if you guys were gonna be reasonable or not.”

“Well we’re not monsters,” Zeke insisted. “But if you do try to run off, we are just gonna have to carry you again.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Milton assured. “Again, I’ve got no reason to run.”

Zeke and Pandoria both felt a bit skeptical. They didn’t fully believe if Milton was being honest as he could easily be trying to get their guard down. But, they had to at least try and trust him.

“Righto,” Zeke said as he began walking again with Pandoria and Milton both following behind him. “Where should we head to next?” Zeke asked.

“I think we should try getting out of this forest,” Pandoria suggested. “We’ve been wandering around here forever and have gotten nowhere. That way over there looks like it clears up.”

“Are you kidding me?” Milton asked. “Are you trying to get yourselves killed?”

Zeke and Pandoria both looked at Milton, confused.

“What do you mean?” Zeke asked.

“That way goes straight into Keves territory,” Milton explained. “They’ve got a colony set up there. I’m pretty sure it’s where those soldiers from before came from.”

“Well then, since you seem to know the area,” Pandoria replied, “why don’t you tell us where we should go?”

“Gladly,” Milton responded. He put two fingers near his left eye, making a clicking motion before his eye started to glow a strange yellow-green color. Zeke and Pandoria looked completely perplexed at the sight of it.

“According to the map,” Milton explained, “this way should be safe.” He pointed towards a path that led deeper into the forest. He then did the same motion towards his eye as before and the glowing stopped.

“Hang on, what was that?” Zeke asked.

“What was what?” Milton replied.

“That thingy with your eye?” Zeke clarified.

“Yeah, why’d it glow like that?” Pandoria asked as well.

“You mean my Iris?” Milton questioned, his tone sounding very aloof. Milton stared at the two of them before realizing that they were genuinely confused. “Snuffing hell, you two don’t know what Irises are?” he asked. “Are you stupid or something?”

“We’re not stupid!” Pandoria argued. “We’ve just never seen anything like that before.”

Milton shook his head and started walking forward. “Whatever,” he dismissed, “let’s just get moving before more Kevesi soldiers show up.”

Zeke and Pandoria looked at each other, Zeke shrugging before the two of them began following Milton. Despite not wanting to stay in these woods, Milton seemed to have other plans. But if he said that this way was safer, then they had to trust that. And even if this was a trap somehow, Zeke and Pandoria would probably be fine. They’ve dealt with much worse in their many years traveling Alrest.

“So,” Pandoria said, “where exactly are we going?”

“Just somewhere that should be a safe place to set up camp for the night,” Milton explained.

“Huh?” Pandoria questioned. “But it’s still broad daylight out. We don’t need to be setting up camp yet.”

“Well by the time we get there, it’ll definitely be dark out,” Milton replied. “If you guys don’t like it, then we can just keep wandering around without a plan like you’ve been doing.”

“Pfft, we had a plan,” Zeke argued.

“It didn’t look like it,” Milton retorted.

Zeke frowned. “Ok, fine, maybe we were a little bit lost,” he admitted. “You can go ahead and take the lead here. But, when we do get to this campsite, you’ve got to start explaining things.”

“Sure, works for me,” Milton agreed. “You guys clearly need some things explained if you don’t even know what a damn Iris is.”

“I don’t appreciate that tone,” Zeke scolded, crossing his arms.

“And I don’t appreciate…” Milton paused, staring Zeke up and down. “Just… all of that.”

“What does that mean!?” Zeke questioned.

Pandoria couldn’t help but chuckle at Milton’s comment. “I kinda like this kid,” she admitted.

“Oh buzz off, both of you,” Zeke said.

Pandoria laughed again. She always enjoyed teasing Zeke, but she also loved seeing other people poking fun at him as well. With an ego like his, he sort of needed to be knocked down a peg every now and then. At least that was one of the reasons Pandoria mocked him so often.

“So, you still wanna look for Torigoth after this?” Pandoria asked.

Zeke nodded. “We’ve got to.”

“Torigoth?” Milton questioned.

“Yeah,” Zeke replied. “Wait a minute… Milton, think you could take us there? You seem to know the area pretty well.”

Milton shook his head. “I’ve never heard of a place called Torigoth,” he admitted. “I highly doubt it’s anywhere nearby.”

Zeke blinked in surprise. “Ok, now you’re really pulling my leg!” he replied. “You don’t know Torigoth?! There’s no way Rex never took you there!”

“Again, I don’t know who this Rex guy is,” Milton reminded. “Why do you keep bringing them up?”

Zeke was at a loss for words. It seemed like Milton truly didn’t remember anything. But that didn’t make sense. Zeke and Pandoria still had all their memories, so why would Milton be different? Although Milton did seem like he was older now, so maybe that had something to do with it. But even so, things weren’t quite adding up.

The group continued to travel through the forest all day. It seemed Milton wasn’t lying when he said it would be nighttime by the time they arrived at the campsite. There was still a little bit of sunlight shining, but night was fast approaching. When they finally arrived, it seemed to be the perfect spot for setting up camp. In fact, there was already a camp set up.

Zeke and Pandoria immediately froze up as they saw two lifeless bodies laying in the campsite. Milton’s eyes went wide, but he seemed a lot less shocked at the sight.

“Hm… a couple of husks, huh?” Milton commented, his voice slightly quiet. He walked over to one of them, kneeling down to examine them. “Shame. I guess they were out on patrol and just… didn’t make it back to their colony.” Milton remained quiet for a moment before turning towards Zeke and Pandoria. “Well, guess we can take their supplies.”

“Wha- huh?” Zeke questioned.

“Those people are dead, Milton!” Pandoria pointed out. “And you’re fine just taking their stuff?”

“Well it’s not like they’re using it,” Milton defended. “And besides, these guys were from Agnus. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us taking their stuff if it means we can survive for a bit longer.”

“Well, I guess that’s fair,” Zeke replied, “but still. Why are you so calm about this?”

“Stuff like this happens all the time,” Milton explained. “You tend to see a lot of husks out on the battlefield. You just get used to it.”

“Get used to it?” Zeke questioned.

“That… that’s awful!” Pandoria added.

“No, it’s just life,” Milton denied, still sounding completely nonchalant. “Hey, if you guys don’t want to deal with this, I can move these husks out of the way while you guys look around for some food.”

Zeke and Pandoria didn’t reply, but Milton took their silence as agreement and started dragging the husks away. Zeke and Pandoria just watched, completely distraught by the sight of Milton dragging away a pair of dead bodies so casually.

“This is…” Zeke muttered, unable to finish his sentence.

Pandoria just nodded quietly, unable to say anything or make any comments.

Milton returned and noticed both Zeke and Pandoria still standing there, not doing anything to help. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before walking over to a burlap sack sitting nearby. He opened it, taking a look inside.

“Alright, looks like they still had some food leftover,” Milton commented. “And it doesn’t look like it’s gone bad yet. This should last us for a while if we’re smart about it.” He looked over at Zeke and Pandoria again and frowned. “Hey! Are you two gonna do anything or are you just gonna stand there and make me do everything?”

“Uh, right,” Zeke replied. “Pandy, think you could grab some firewood?”

“On it,” Pandoria agreed.

Zeke grabbed a few sticks that were already sitting nearby and started setting up the campfire. Pandoria came back with more sticks and a few logs and put them into place as well. She then used the electricity from her wand to spark a flame. Zeke and Pandoria sat back as they watched the fire start up.

“Hm. Nice work,” Milton complimented. “Now then, what are you guys feeling for food?”

“You need to start explaining things,” Zeke reminded, his voice a bit more stern than usual.

“Huh?” Milton replied.

“Food can wait,” Zeke insisted. “We need answers right now.”

“Uh, ok then,” Milton said. “What do you want to know about?”

“I don’t know, everything?” Zeke answered. “I’ve got a lot of bloody questions, I don’t know where to start!”

Milton had an annoyed expression as Zeke wasn’t giving him much to work with.

“Ok,” Zeke decided, “how about you start with explaining this war that’s going on?”

Milton sighed, rolling his eyes. “The war between Agnus and Keves,” he started. “The war’s been going on for decades now. Just constant fighting between the colonies. It’s all everyone knows, all they do.”

“Ok, but why?” Pandoria questioned. “What’s everyone fighting for? Like, is it over land disputes? Or is it something else?”

Milton stared at Pandoria like she was crazy. “It’s to fill our Flame Clocks, duh.”

“Flame… Clocks?” Zeke questioned.

Milton shook his head. “You’ve gotta be sparking kidding me…” he muttered. “You don’t know what Flame Clocks are either?!”

Zeke and Pandoria were starting to get annoyed with Milton’s attitude, but they remained quiet for now so Milton could continue explaining things.

“Flame Clocks are what give people life,” Milton said, his voice making his annoyance quite apparent. “Collecting lives from soldiers is what fills up the Flame Clocks. It’s the reason we fight, the reason we’re able to survive. It’s the whole reason for our existence.”

Zeke had a look of disgust on his face. “Survival?” he questioned. “All that fighting is just for survival?” He shook his head. “I mean, dumb politics are bad enough, but this?!” He then pointed at Milton. “And you’re way too young to be fighting in a war! Who the hell is making children fight like this?!”

Milton looked extremely offended by Zeke’s comments. “Hey! I’ll have you know I’m almost at my seventh term!” Milton snapped back. “I’m plenty old enough to join in the fight!”

“What does seventh term even mean?” Zeke asked.

Milton let out a frustrated grunt before twisting his body, showing his exposed shoulder. “This!” he yelled, pointing at a strange marking on his shoulder. “This is how long I’ve been alive! This is how long I’ve been fighting for! So don’t you dare tell me I’m too young to be fighting!” Milton went back to his original position, shaking his head again. “Sparks… You guys don’t know about Irises, you don’t know about Flame Clocks, and you don’t even know about terms!” he complained. “I mean, how are you two even alive when you don’t know anything?”

“Hey!” Pandoria shot back. “Just a few days ago, the world wasn’t all messed up like this! We just woke up and everything was suddenly different! So maybe give us a little leeway for not knowing things!”

Milton blinked. “What?” he questioned. “What the hell are you talking about? What world do you remember?”

“Well for one, there’s no war going on!” Pandoria explained. “There aren’t people fighting for their lives constantly! And these things like Irises and Flame Clocks aren’t a thing either. People just… live their lives like normal.”

Milton looked utterly baffled as Pandoria explained everything.

“And another thing,” Pandoria continued, “you were just a little kid living in Fonsett Village with your family! Probably the furthest thing away from a soldier in a war that you could get!”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Milton insisted. “I’ve spent my entire life fighting this war. I don’t remember anything even remotely similar to this world you’re describing.”

“Well it’s the truth,” Pandoria stood firm. “You have a dad and three moms who love you dearly. And two sisters as well.”

“That’s not-” Milton started, but was quickly interrupted.

“Hey now,” Zeke interjected. “It’s getting late. We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow after we’ve eaten and gotten some rest, ok?”

Pandoria didn’t say anything at first, but she eventually nodded. “Sounds good,” she agreed.

Milton was quiet as well, eventually just reaching for the food supply and pulling out some large pieces of fruit. He threw two of them over to Zeke and Pandoria who caught them with ease.

“There’s not a whole lot,” Milton explained, “at least if we wanna make this last for a while. We’ll have to eat smaller portions to make that happen.”

“Ok,” Zeke replied with a nod. “This will do for now.”

Milton nodded as well and then took a big bite from his fruit. Zeke also took a bite, Pandoria being the only one to actually examine the fruit before eating it. The three of them ate their small dinner while occasionally tending to the fire. It didn’t take very long for everyone to finish eating.

Zeke stared at Milton for a moment. “Why don’t you get some sleep, Milton?” he suggested. “Pandy and I can stay up and keep watch.”

Milton narrowed his eyes. “I’m not a first termer,” he reminded. “You don’t need to treat me like one.”

“Hey, you almost got killed today, remember?” Pandoria mentioned. “If it weren’t for my Prince and I, you probably wouldn’t be here right now, so maybe lose the attitude.” Pandoria then sighed and her voice softened a bit. “Today must have been rough for you, so you should probably get some rest.”

Milton was still glaring. “How do I know I can even trust you two?” he asked.

“Alright then, you want to stay up?” Zeke responded as it was clear Milton wouldn’t listen. “Then go ahead and stay awake. But we’re not going to sleep anytime soon either.”

Milton refused to take his eyes off of Zeke or Pandoria, however it was pretty obvious that Milton was very tired. He tried his best to stay awake, but eventually he did find himself slowly drifting off to sleep. Milton was still sitting up, but his head was slouched forward as his eyes were closed. Once he started snoring was when Zeke and Pandoria knew he was actually asleep and not just faking it.

“Huh, thought he’d never doze off,” Pandoria commented. She got up, carefully moving Milton onto one of the sleeping mats that were left behind since he’d have a sore neck in the morning if he slept all night sitting up. Pandoria then heard a sigh of grief and quickly looked over. Zeke’s face was planted in his hands as he leaned forward.

“Zeke?” Pandoria questioned, quickly walking over to sit next to him again. “What’s wrong?”

Zeke sat up, the look of utter anguish and heartache on his face. “Pandy…” he said. “How long were we knocked out for?”

“I…” Pandoria replied, clearly unsure of how to respond. “I don’t…”

“Look at Milton,” Zeke continued. “He’s gotta be at least sixteen or seventeen years old, maybe older than that. Last time we saw him he was still just a kid.” Zeke shook his head, lowering it again. “The world is completely different. We don’t even know if Torigoth still exists or not! And we have no way of knowing if anyone else we remember is still around!”

“Yeah, but we also don’t know if those things are actually gone,” Pandoria tried to be optimistic. “I mean, Milton said Torigoth’s not around here, but he didn’t say it didn’t exist at all, just that he hasn’t-”

“Pandy…” Zeke said again, his voice still filled with pain. “What about Linka?”

Pandoria’s heart immediately sank and her eyes went wide. She turned away, looking over towards Milton. “You don’t… You don’t think she ended up the same as Milton, do you?” she asked, her voice a lot more worried and somber sounding now.

“We have no way of knowing what happened to her,” Zeke replied. “She could be fighting in this war, she could be dead, we don’t know.” Zeke buried his face in his hands again. “This world is all messed up… We have no idea what’s going on or how to fix it… All I can remember is learning about that big machine and waiting for things to happen… It was supposed to fix everything, right? Not… do whatever all this is.”

Pandoria was quiet for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. “I thought getting an explanation would make things easier, not more confusing…” she commented. She thought for a moment before sitting up. “Our plan hasn’t changed, though,” she decided. “We’ve gotta find Tora. If anyone would know what went wrong, he’s probably our best bet.”

“Would that even be helpful at this point?” Zeke asked. “Even if we can find Tora, what if he’s lost his memories just like Milton?”

Pandoria didn’t have an answer for that. She just sat quietly. They both sat in silence, the only sound coming from the fire as it crackled and burned the wood. The conversation had died completely as the two of them began to grasp just how dire this situation was. Eventually, Zeke was the one to break the silence.

“Why don’t you… get some sleep, Pandy,” he offered. “I’ll keep watch.”

“Are you sure?” Pandoria asked. “I can stay up with you if you want.”

Zeke shook his head. “One of us should get some rest,” he insisted. “If I need a break, I’ll wake you up and you can take over.”

“Ok,” Pandoria agreed. She leaned in, giving Zeke a kiss on the cheek before she laid down on the ground to get comfortable.

Zeke watched Pandoria quietly, waiting for her lightbulbs to dim down as that was a sign that she had fallen asleep. Once she dozed off, Zeke looked over at Milton again who appeared to be fast asleep as well. With both of them clearly comfortable, Zeke grabbed a nearby stick and used it to stir the fire to make sure it wouldn’t die out on them. The last thing they needed right now was to lose their source of heat.

Chapter Text

Alrest, X years before The Intersection

“You know, if you really want to learn about ruling a kingdom, we could take a day and head to Mor Ardain,” Zeke said. “That’s how I learned about these things.”

“That’s ok, Papa,” Linka assured. “I like reading these books.”

“Ok,” Zeke replied. “I just want to make sure you’re not bored to death.”

Despite her young age, Linka had taken quite the interest in her royal studies. Usually, children of the Tantalese royal family wouldn’t have to attend their studies until they were a bit older, but Linka had insisted. She said numerous times how she wanted to be prepared and wanted to learn more about the world.

Zeke sat quietly as Linka tried her best to read the book. He noticed how she was often squinting to try and see better.

“Still struggling to read properly?” Zeke asked.

“A little bit,” Linka admitted.

“Remind me to talk to your mum about that,” Zeke said. “I fear you may have inherited your Dad’s bad eyesight.”

“Wait, but Mama wears glasses and you don’t,” Linka pointed out. “I thought she had the bad eyesight?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised how much worse my vision is compared to hers,” Zeke commented. “I mean, why do you think I wear this eyepatch all the time?”

“To conceal the Eye of Shining Justice?” Linka replied.

“Well, yes, but also so I only have to wear one contact lens.” Zeke’s smile made it apparent that he was very proud of himself for this work around. “And also because eyepatches are cool. If you want, Linka, we could get you an eyepatch as well and then you’d also only need one contact lens to see properly.”

Linka giggled. “I think I’d rather have glasses,” she responded.

“Ok, whatever you prefer,” Zeke assured.

Zeke was always amazed at how sophisticated his daughter seemed at this age. She spoke with a very proper tone and actually enjoyed studying. That couldn’t be further from what Zeke had been like as a little kid. He started to wonder if Mòrag and Brighid had begun to rub off on her. He did spend a lot of time in Mor Ardain for royal duties, so Linka got to visit them quite often because of that.

Linka seemed to be enjoying herself, but Zeke was doing his best not to feel bored out of his mind. He always hated studying, and it seemed now that he never truly grew out of that.

“Papa?” Linka spoke up, catching Zeke’s attention.

“Hm?” Zeke responded. “What’s up?”

“What does this word mean?” Linka asked, pointing to her book.

“Acquiescing,” Zeke read. “Ah, that basically means you give up something that you don’t want to, but you also don’t really put up much of a fight for it.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to fight for it?” Linka questioned. “If you don’t want to give something up, you shouldn’t have to.”

“Well, that’s just one of the complications that comes from royal duties,” Zeke explained. “You see Linka, it’s all about give and take. You want to keep your allies, so you make sure to give them things to keep the peace. But you also don’t want to look like a total pushover, so you’ve got to stand your ground as well.”

“Oh, ok,” Linka replied. She quickly went back to reading the rest of the page she was on.

She’s picking up on this way quicker than I ever did, Zeke thought. He felt a wave of pride rush over him as he realized just how smart his child was. However, he quickly went back to boredom as Linka silently continued reading. Zeke leaned back in his chair as he waited for her to finish. He glanced at his daughter.

“If you want,” Zeke said, “we could, I don’t know, walk around the Genbu Drifts and chat about what we learned today.”

“Aren’t the Genbu Drifts filled with scary monsters?” Linka questioned.

“Nothing you’re Dad can’t handle,” Zeke assured.

“No, I’m ok,” Linka replied.

“Are you sure?” Zeke asked. “I just wanna make sure that this is interesting for you.”

“I like reading,” Linka reminded again.

“Right, right,” Zeke replied. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop trying to push you.”

“Besides,” Linka continued her thought, “if we got attacked by monsters, I wouldn’t be able to help you if you got hurt. I don’t know how to fight.”

“Well maybe tomorrow I can start giving you some lessons, yeah?” Zeke suggested.

Linka giggled again. “Ok, Papa.”

A knock on the door caught the attention of both Zeke and Linka. They looked over as the door opened and Pandoria walked into the room.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” she asked.

“Mama!” Linka greeted, jumping down from her chair and running over to give her mom a big hug.

“Linka here’s been doing a great job with her studies,” Zeke complimented.

“Wow, a good student,” Pandoria replied. “Maybe you should take some pointers from her, my Prince.”

Zeke’s face quickly shifted to an unamused look. “I’ll have you know I did just fine as a student,” he insisted. “And besides, I’m a grown man, why would I need to take pointers for studying?”

“I’ve had a really good teacher helping me out,” Linka assured. “I don’t think I can take all the credit.”

“Are you referring to your Father or me?”

Zeke and Linka both looked over as they heard that voice and were surprised when they saw Mòrag walk in behind Pandoria.

“Mòrag!” Linka cheered.

“Mòrag? What are you doing here?” Zeke asked.

“Pandoria asked me personally if I had time to visit,” Mòrag explained. “She said something about Linka needing a proper tutor.”

“Oi! What’s wrong with me being her tutor?” Zeke questioned, looking over to Pandoria for an answer.

“Nothing really,” Pandoria replied. “I just know how much you despise studying and reading and everything that goes into all that stuff. This is for your own wellbeing, really.”

“It’s ok, Papa,” Linka assured. “I still like studying with you. But Mòrag also knows a lot about these things.”

“She sure does,” Zeke agreed. “Although I’m not sure how other countries would feel about the Tantalese Princess being tutored by Mor Ardain’s Special Inquisitor.”

“It is no secret that Mor Ardain and Tantal hold a close alliance,” Mòrag reminded. “Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve given her some lessons.”

“Uh, what?” Zeke questioned.

“Well when you left her with me to watch her all those times in Mor Ardain,” Mòrag explained, “she took an interest in my line of work. And then it turned into a whole lesson about how different countries are run.”

“Wow Mòrag,” Zeke commented, “you sure know how to let kids have fun, don’t ya?”

Mòrag narrowed her eyes, but she kept quiet as she didn’t want to start an argument in front of Linka.

“Oh, you know I’m only making fun,” Zeke reassured once he noticed Mòrag’s scowl. “But on a more serious note, I guess I owe you for this, don’t I?”

“There is no need,” Mòrag insisted. “I have no problem spending time with Linka.”

“Nonsense!” Zeke replied. “I’ll make it up to you. Next time you need someone to watch your little girl, just let me know and I’ll be there.”

“I… appreciate the sentiment,” Mòrag responded, sounding a bit unsure of the deal, “but aren’t you usually busy running this kingdom?”

“I have work arounds,” Zeke assured. “You’re a dear friend, Mòrag. I can make exceptions for you.”

“I’m not sure I agree with the way you do things, Zeke,” Mòrag replied bluntly. “But, I guess I can’t argue. I’ll let you know whenever Brighid and I need some help.”

“And I’ll be there,” Zeke insisted. “Anyway, I guess I’d better leave you two to it, huh?”

“Yeah,” Pandoria added, “we gotta get you out of here before you die from boredom!”

“I’m not going to- ugh, whatever,” Zeke dismissed. He turned towards his daughter. “Now you be good for Mòrag, ok Linka Bug?”

“I will, Papa,” Linka assured.

Zeke smiled, ruffling up Linka’s hair before he and Pandoria left the room.

“That was a close one,” Pandoria continued teasing. “I wasn’t sure how much longer you’d be able to hold out.”

“Oh shuddup.”

______________________________________________

Milton was woken up by the smell of food. He slowly opened his eyes before sitting up and staring at Zeke and Pandoria who were cooking some type of meat over the campfire.

“Well now, look who’s awake,” Zeke greeted. “And just in time for breakfast, too.”

“Breakfast?” Milton questioned. He had a confused look on his face as he stared at the unfamiliar meat as he had no idea where they had gotten it from or what it was.

Pandoria quickly noticed Milton’s confusion. “It’s Volff meat,” she revealed, her voice pretty blunt sounding.

Milton’s face scrunched up slightly, but he remained quiet. Once breakfast was finished cooking, Zeke handed him a plate with the slab of meat. Milton stared at it for a moment before looking back at Zeke and Pandoria.

“Well, aren’t you gonna eat?” Pandoria questioned.

“How do I know you didn’t poison it or something?” Milton asked.

“What? Why would we do that?” Zeke questioned.

“I don’t know,” Milton shrugged. “You guys seemed pretty annoyed with me, it would be an easy way to get rid of me.”

“Oh for the love of,” Zeke responded. “Here, we’ll switch plates, that way you know it’s not poisoned.”

Milton seemed a little surprised by Zeke’s decision there, but he still didn’t seem like he wanted to touch the food even after Zeke switched their plates. Milton continued just staring at his plate, refusing to eat it. That was, until his stomach began to growl.

“Oh, see? You are hungry, aren’t you?” Pandoria said.

Milton still didn’t say anything, he just quietly glared at Pandoria. He then started to actually eat the Volff meat. His face scrunched up again. “Why’d it have to be Volff meat?” he asked. “I can handle just about anything else, but Volff meat?”

“You’re saying you’d rather eat a Skeeter than a Volff?” Pandoria questioned.

Milton didn’t respond, he just took another bite.

“Well, you don’t seem that upset about it,” Pandoria pointed out as Milton continued eating the Volff meat with little issue. “Me on the other hand, I could really go for some fried octomayo…”

“Well as soon as we get to a town or something, we’ll cook up a proper meal,” Zeke insisted. “Then you can both stop complaining.”

“I’m not complaining that much,” Milton insisted. “The people from my colony though, they’d be talking non stop about how shitty this food is. They always talked about that, about how they were so glad to not have to eat gross stuff like Volff meat or fruit that you couldn’t even recognize. I was the only one who didn’t see much of an issue with it. If it’s edible, then what’s the problem?”

“Opening up finally, huh?” Pandoria commented with a somewhat teasing tone.

Milton blinked in surprise before he went back to quietly scowling as he ate another piece of the Volff meat.

“What did you mean by that?” Zeke asked. “About having to eat crappy food before, but not needing to anymore?”

Milton’s mouth remained sealed shut as he frowned at them and continued eating.

“Ah, I guess we got lucky last night when it came to getting information from you,” Zeke responded.

“I’m not giving important information to two strangers I just met!” Milton argued. “Everything I told you last night was just common knowledge that you should already know about. I still don’t understand how you’ve never heard about Irises or Flame Clocks.” Milton’s tone was pretty harsh as he spoke.

“You should be a bit nicer to your Uncle Zeke, ya hear?” Zeke warned.

“Why do you keep calling yourself that?” Milton asked, getting more annoyed. “What does that even mean?”

“What, you don’t know what an uncle is?” Zeke questioned.

As usual, Milton didn’t respond. But Zeke could tell by his lack of a response that he in fact didn’t know what an uncle was.

“Ok, how to explain this…” Zeke thought. “So, your dad and I were pretty close. So close that I sort of started seeing him like a little brother in a way. And so even though we aren’t actually related by blood, when you and your sisters were born, we started referring to me as your Uncle Zeke. So yeah, that makes me your uncle.”

Milton looked completely confused at what Zeke was saying. “Uh, ok then,” Milton responded. “What exactly is a dad? Or a brother? Or like… half of those words you just said?”

“Milton, do you not know what a family is?” Pandoria questioned.

Again, Milton didn’t respond to the question, but his silence made the answer very clear.

Pandoria let out a short laugh. “Well, who’s the one who doesn’t know common knowledge now?” she teased.

“Shut up!” Milton yelled. “That’s not common knowledge! I doubt anyone knows what that stuff is other than you two! You guys probably just made it up anyway.”

Zeke couldn’t help but laugh as well. After he finished laughing, he decided to try and explain things a bit better. “Ok, family…” he started. “It’s sort of tricky to explain when you don’t know anything…” He went quiet as he thought about how to continue. “I guess I’ll just use yours as an example. So parents, they’re sort of the adults who raise and take care of you. Most people have a mum and a dad, but that’s not the case for everyone. And in your case, you’ve got three mums. But only one of them actually gave birth to you. Wait, do I need to explain where babies come from?”

Pandoria sighed, shaking her head. “Remind me not to let you be the one to have the talk with Linka,” she said.

Zeke looked offended by the comment, but he didn’t actually respond to it. He turned to Milton again. “So yeah, your mum gave birth to you, that's where you came from, and then your two other mums also had kids, and with all of them along with your dad, you’re a big happy family.”

Milton was quiet at first as he seemed dumbfounded by the information Zeke just gave him. He then burst into laughter, much to Zeke and Pandoria’s surprise.

“That’s not how things work at all!” Milton said after he finished laughing. “I don’t know what any of that nonsense you just said was, but we’re all given life by the Queen, and then we immediately start training. We start at our first term, and if we’re lucky, we can make it all the way to tenth term where we get our Homecoming and we return to the Queen at the hands of the Consuls.”

“What?” Pandoria questioned, her voice sounding completely puzzled. “You get ten terms… What does that mean?”

“Ten terms is how long a person lives for,” Milton explained. “Well, assuming you don’t get killed before reaching your tenth term.”

“So these terms, are they like… years?” Pandoria asked. “Like, one term would be one year?”

“Yep,” Milton replied.

Pandoria’s eyes went wide with shock. “You only get to live for ten years?!” she questioned. “That’s terrible!”

“It’s not terrible!” Milton snapped back. “It’s an honor to reach your Homecoming! And sure, they can be a little hard to watch sometimes…” Milton went quiet for a moment before shaking his head. “But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s what every soldier aspires to reach!”

“What sort of way of thinking is that?” Zeke questioned. “You soldiers, you’re literally born to fight, you spend your entire lives fighting only to die after ten measly years, and that’s considered an honor?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Milton confirmed.

Zeke shook his head. “Pandoria’s right, that’s bloody terrible.”

Milton looked slightly disgusted by his response and he looked away. “You two have such a backwards way of looking at things…” he muttered.

The conversation went quiet after that. Everyone just decided to finish eating their breakfast without speaking that much, Zeke and Pandoria being the only ones to talk at all and only with small comments. Once they were done, they began to pack up everything. Although Zeke and Pandoria hated the idea of taking these supplies, they had to agree with Milton that it was the smart thing to do, even if they were taking it from people who had died.

Milton finished cleaning the dishes and began putting them away. “So,” he said, “what exactly is your guys’ plan now?”

Zeke thought for a moment as he hadn’t properly considered a definitive plan until now. “This world is messed up beyond belief,” he said, somewhat quietly. “We don’t know how to fix things either.” He continued thinking things over for a bit as he decided what their next course of action should be. “Well then, I guess the best we can do is continue to wander around and help out in any way we can,” he decided.

“Just like the good old days, eh?” Pandoria commented.

Zeke chuckled. “Yep, just like the good old days.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan,” Milton agreed.

Zeke and Pandoria both looked surprised that Milton didn’t have any arguments for them. He didn’t seem like the type of person to go along with such a simple plan.

“I figured you’d have a problem with that,” Zeke said. “After all, you’ve seemed to have a problem with literally everything that comes out of our mouths.”

“Yeah, why don’t you have a problem with following us?” Pandoria asked. “You've been acting pretty rude towards us, so why stick around?”

“Look, it’s just the smart thing to do,” Milton explained. “Even if you two are annoying as spark, it’s better than me wandering around by myself. And you guys aren’t from Keves either, so there’s that.”

“Oh, so if we were from Keves you’d have a problem?” Zeke teased.

Milton shot back with one of his signature scowls, causing Zeke to chuckle.

“Relax, I understand,” Zeke insisted. “Feuding factions and all that. Believe me, I’ve seen it before. Now then, I’d say we better get a move on, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to get going,” Pandoria agreed.

“Milton, think you could try and lead us out of this forest?” Zeke asked. “Since you’re the one here who seems to know how to navigate the area and all.”

“I can do that,” Milton assured before he activated his Iris to look at the map of the area.

“Cheers for that,” Zeke thanked.

Milton examined the map thoroughly before finally coming up with a path to take. “Alright, follow me,” he instructed as he started walking past the two of them.

Zeke and Pandoria both followed Milton without any qualms. They had argued with him quite enough today and the sun was just barely up. They were hoping they could start to actually build some trust with him. Even if Milton didn’t see it, Zeke and Pandoria did care about him and wanted to look out for him. But it was clear that they had a lot of work to do when it came to breaking down Milton’s barriers.

Chapter Text

Zeke and Pandoria were quickly learning that letting Milton take the lead was a good idea. Although they had no way of knowing for sure, they did feel like they were already covering a lot more ground than they were before. It didn’t take super long for them to finally find their way out of that forest.

“Alright, out in the open,” Milton commented as they left the woods, “just like you guys wanted. For whatever reason.”

Pandoria let out a sigh of relief. “Man, I was really starting to think we’d never get out of that forest!”

“I don’t think it was that bad,” Zeke commented. “But yeah, it is nice to get some new scenery.”

Milton nodded quietly. “If we keep heading this way, we’ll reach Melnath’s Shoulder shortly.”

“Ah, ok,” Zeke replied before quickly doing a double take. “Wait, what? Melnath’s Shoulder?!”

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Milton replied. “I think the nearest colony here is probably Colony Theta, so-”

“This can’t be Melnath’s Shoulder,” Zeke interrupted.

Milton looked annoyed that Zeke had cut him off. “Well like I said, we’re not at Melnath’s Shoulder,” he reminded. “We’re just close to it.”

Zeke’s face mirrored Milton’s annoyed expression. “Oh, technicalities,” Zeke dismissed. “Point is, I know where Melnath’s Shoulder is and this isn’t it.”

“Are you really gonna argue with the person you put in charge of navigation?” Milton questioned. “If you really have a problem, why don’t you try and lead the way from now on, huh?”

Zeke shook his head. “No, you go ahead,” he assured. “I’m just saying that I don’t recognize this place, that’s all.”

“Well, assuming Milton is right,” Pandoria chimed in, “then that means you were right the whole time, my Prince! We really are in Gormott!”

“Hm, I guess you have a point, Pandy,” Zeke agreed.

As usual, Milton gave the two of them a baffled look. He sighed, shaking his head. “Ok, I’m just gonna skip past the questioning part and get straight into correcting you two,” he said. “Melnath’s Shoulder is in the Aetia Region, not whatever Gormott is.”

Zeke was struggling a lot to bite his tongue as he was getting really sick of Milton trying to correct him over everything. Luckily for Zeke though, Pandoria had no problems telling Milton what she thought.

“You sure do sound like a know-it-all despite being completely wrong about the world,” Pandoria remarked.

“You guys are the ones who are wrong!” Milton quickly argued back. “I thought we already talked about this!”

“Yeah, you may know about this world here, but this isn’t what the world is supposed to be like,” Pandoria explained. “Which means we’re still right and you’re wrong.”

Milton grumbled angrily, but before he could continue the argument, Zeke started walking away. Pandoria almost immediately started to follow him, leaving Milton the only one still standing there until he decided to catch up to the group.

“Going back to what you said earlier, Milton,” Zeke said as they walked, “this Colony Theta, would that be a good place to go visit?”

“Probably,” Milton decided. “They’re Agnian so we wouldn’t be considered enemies.”

“ We wouldn’t be considered enemies?” Pandoria questioned. “Or you wouldn’t be considered an enemy?”

“Huh?” Milton replied. “What are you talking about?”

“Pandoria has a point,” Zeke agreed. “You’re the one with a stake in this war, not us. The only reason you decided to stick with us is because you were out on your own. I have a feeling if you were with a larger group, we wouldn’t have had such a warm welcome.” Zeke paused for a moment. “Well, not exactly a warm welcome, but you know what I mean.”

Milton furrowed his brow. When he stayed silent and didn’t actually respond, Zeke turned to look at him.

“Am I wrong?” Zeke asked. “I’ve been around long enough to know how these things work. You’re either an ally or an enemy. Anyone not directly on your side gets put on the side of the enemy. At least that’s how the average person tends to see it.”

“You two aren’t from Keves,” Milton reminded. “That should be enough for them.”

“And if it’s not?” Pandoria pressed further. “I mean, when we first met you, you said we looked like Keves because of our clothes. And then you threatened us even after we had already saved you. So yeah, we might be a bit skeptical.”

“Look, if you guys don’t feel safe going there,” Milton said, his voice a little more calm now, “then we don’t have to. It was just a suggestion.”

“If you don’t mind, I think I want to explore this ‘Melnath’s Shoulder’ for a bit,” Zeke replied. “Because if it really is the same place…”

Pandoria nodded. “Good thinking,” she agreed. “Maybe we’ll finally get some real answers.”

Milton was confused as to what they meant exactly. The two of them weren’t even elaborating on their thoughts, but they somehow seemed to understand each other anyway. Milton struggled to decide if that felt impressive or a little unsettling.

After they continued walking for a while, Milton decided to check the map again. He took a quick glance before he clicked his Iris away. “We’ve officially arrived at Melnath’s Shoulder,” he announced.

“Got it,” Zeke replied. He looked around the surrounding area, taking everything in. “Yeah, this does not look like the Melnath’s Shoulder in Gormott.”

“Agreed,” Pandoria said. “Although I guess some of those larger trees over there feel a little reminiscent of Gormott.”

“Seriously, is it really that hard to believe that this is a completely different place than the one you remember?” Milton questioned.

“Uh, yeah, seems a bit hard to believe,” Pandoria replied bluntly. “I don’t think ‘Melnath’s Shoulder’ is a common name.”

Milton rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s keep moving,” he insisted. “We should be looking for a spot to set up camp soon.”

“Any particular places you had in mind?” Zeke asked.

“Nothing specific,” Milton explained. “I haven’t been to this part of the Aetia Region before, so I don’t know any good areas off the top of my head.”

“Uh oh,” Pandoria commented. “Well then, guess we should keep an eye out for danger if we’re in unfamiliar territory.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Milton said. “This area is mainly Agnus territory. It’s not like Kevesi soldiers are gonna pop up out of nowhere and kill us.”

“Yeah, but what about monsters, huh?” Pandoria reminded. “Those actually do pop up out of nowhere quite often. At least they do for my Prince.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure they do,” Milton replied sarcastically.

“I’m being serious,” Pandoria insisted. “Although I guess if things do get really bad, they’ll probably attack Zeke first and then we’ll be fine.”

“Using me as a shield?” Zeke questioned. “That’s so low, Pandy. And here I thought we had a stronger connection than that.”

“Oh relax, you know I’d never actually leave you to die,” Pandoria assured. “That would spell disaster for both of us.”

The journey for the three of them continued to be relatively uneventful other than the group banter. However, Zeke eventually spotted something strange in the distance. Pandoria was very quick to pick up on him staring off.

“What is it, my Prince?” she asked.

“What is that thing?” Zeke questioned, pointing ahead.

Everyone looked towards what Zeke was pointing at. It looked like a strange, glowing orange orb floating above the ground.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Milton admitted.

Zeke thought for a moment. “Something about it seems a bit familiar…” he commented.

“My Prince?” Pandoria questioned.

“Come on, let’s check this out,” Zeke instructed.

“What?!” Milton questioned. “Why?”

“Just come on,” Zeke replied. “We’ve got to get a good look at this thing.”

Milton wanted to argue further, but Zeke and Pandoria were already walking towards the strange orb. He just groaned as he realized he didn’t have a say in the matter so he ran after them to catch up.

As they got closer, the orb remained still, only sparking slightly with a strange energy. Milton was still confused as to why Zeke seemed so insistent at looking at this thing, but he got even more confused when Zeke summoned his weapon, Pandoria doing the same.

“What the?” Milton questioned. “Why are you-”

“Yah!” Zeke yelled as he swung his sword at the orb.

Milton blinked in surprise, but his bewilderment still remained. He was fully ready to chalk this up to Zeke just being an idiot, but he was soon caught off guard as three strange beings appeared from the orange orb. Milton’s eyes went wide as the strange creatures formed to appear like large Volffs.

“Yep, just as I thought,” Zeke said. “Pandy!”

“On it!” Pandoria assured. She twirled her wand to shock the three beasts that had appeared, briefly stunning them. They all now had their attention on her, allowing Zeke to focus his attacks on the orb they came from.

Milton was still overcome by his confusion and shock to do anything at first. He was struggling to wrap his head around these monsters suddenly appearing as well as why Zeke had attacked the orb in the first place. One of the Volffs turned their attention towards Milton as they realized he was an easy target. However, Zeke also noticed this.

“Not on my watch!” Zeke yelled before he dashed towards them. In a blink, Zeke positioned himself in front of Milton, blocking the Volff before it could hurt him. Zeke struggled for a moment to hold the beast back, grunting slightly.

Milton quickly snapped out of it, unsheathing his naginata and running to the side of the Volff. He jabbed his weapon into the beast, getting it to back off from Zeke.

“Cheers for that, Milton,” Zeke said. “Now, think you can help me take out that rift?”

Milton looked towards the orange orb as it sparked with more energy. Deciding he didn’t have time to question things, he simply nodded and the two of them ran over to continue attacking the orb. While they took care of that, Pandoria continued distracting the three Volff beasts with her nimble lightning attacks.

Milton glanced over at Pandoria for a moment. “Will she be ok?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry about her,” Zeke assured. “If we can take out the rift, that should stop more of those beasts from appearing and then we can take them all out!”

Milton decided to just trust Zeke’s judgment on this one. He put all of his focus on attacking the strange orb, using multiple Arts along with Zeke. With just a few more attacks, the rift finally exploded, disappearing in a burst of energy. Without wasting a moment, Zeke quickly turned his attention towards the remaining beasts. They were surrounding Pandoria and were just far enough away to where Zeke couldn’t easily slash his sword at them. So, he chose a different tactic.

“Heads up, Pandy!” Zeke shouted. He readied his sword, but instead of using it to slash at the Volffs or shoot out some lightning, he surprisingly just threw it over in Pandoria’s direction. Pandoria responded by raising her wand up towards the sky. A swarm of electricity surrounded Zeke’s sword, and with a flick of the wrist, Pandoria used her wand to maneuver the sword through the air. She easily slashed through each of the beasts, doing quite a lot of damage to them. However, they still weren’t down.

“Back to you, my Prince!” Pandoria called out, throwing the sword back into the air.

Zeke smirked, running towards the fight. He jumped in the air, catching his sword with ease before slamming the weapon back down with immense power. Milton shielded his eyes for a moment as the blast of lightning filled the area. When Milton looked back, the Volffs were all on the ground, defeated, until they disappeared completely.

“Woah…” Milton mumbled.

“We did it!” Pandoria cheered.

“Our bond proved too powerful once more,” Zeke bragged, resting his sword over his shoulders. He then looked over towards Milton. “How was that, Milton? Was that cool or what?”

“Was all that really necessary?” Milton questioned, not sounding too impressed.

“Of course it was necessary!” Zeke argued. “What’s the point of defeating your enemies if you can’t look awesome while doing so?”

Pandoria snickered at Zeke.

“I’m just saying,” Milton continued as he walked over to regroup with the two of them, “that could have given away our position.”

“I thought you said this area was safe?” Pandoria questioned. “Why would giving away our position suddenly be a problem now?”

“Well what if we weren’t in Agnus territory?” Milton retorted. “If you use that same line of thinking while in enemy territory, then there goes any advantage you had.”

Zeke shook his head as he sheathed his sword. “You have no idea how to have any fun, do you?”

“I know how to have fun!” Milton argued.

“Well I can’t wait to see your idea of fun,” Zeke continued mocking. “I’m sure it’ll truly blow me away. Now come on, let’s get back to finding a spot to camp out for the night.”

Milton continued grumbling under his breath as he followed Zeke and Pandoria. They weren’t traveling for very long before they found a nice spot to start setting up their camp. Now that they weren’t dealing with fighting monsters or trying to find a place they’d be able to sleep, Milton figured it was a good time to start asking some questions.

“What was that thing back there?” Milton asked.

“Hm?” Zeke replied.

“That thing we fought,” Milton reiterated. “It seemed like you recognized it.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Zeke said. “I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely know what it was. But a long time ago, something like that appeared in our world along with those weird looking monsters. We dealt with it, stopped it from becoming a bigger issue, but I don’t think we ever got an answer for what that thing actually was.”

“Sorry for the anticlimactic answer,” Pandoria apologized, somewhat jokingly. “But he’s right, we never really figured out what those things were exactly. Although I think Rex and the others had some theories…”

“No, it’s fine,” Milton insisted. “I was just wondering how you knew how to deal with it, that’s all.”

“I’m still not sure what it was doing there in that field,” Zeke replied. “I mean, it was a jolly long time ago since last we dealt with one of those things.”

“Maybe it has something to do with everything else that’s different around here?” Pandoria suggested.

“That’s the best theory we have right now,” Zeke agreed.

Milton was quiet as he didn’t really have much else to contribute to this conversation. If he was being honest, he was still feeling a little tense from the fight.

Why’d you freeze up like that? Milton thought. You should have jumped into the fight as soon as those monsters appeared…

“Hey Milton, how’s the food supply doing?” Pandoria asked.

Milton blinked, breaking out of his train of thought. “Oh, I’ll check.”

“Thanks,” Pandoria replied.

Milton walked over to look inside the burlap sack to check what they had. Zeke glanced over at him while he was distracted counting their supply of food.

“That kid’s got a lot on his mind,” Zeke commented, keeping his voice low so Milton wouldn’t hear.

“Hm? You think so?” Pandoria replied.

“Can’t imagine why he wouldn’t,” Zeke said. “Although I guess I don’t know for sure, I can just make an educated guess.”

Pandoria was quiet for a moment as she thought it over. “You were always better with people than me,” she admitted.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Pandy.”

“Who’s selling who short?” Pandoria questioned. “Just because you’re better with people doesn’t mean I’m automatically bad at it.”

“Ah yes, that’s why so often I’m the one dealing with negotiations and not you,” Zeke teased.

“Oh quiet! That’s completely different!” Pandoria argued. “You just have more political leverage than I do, that’s all.”

“Yeah, and it has absolutely nothing to do with that sharp tongue of yours.”

“Oh I’ll show you just how sharp my tongue is if you don’t quit it!” Pandoria threatened.

Zeke let out a hearty laugh. For as often as Pandoria teased and mocked him, he was still perfectly capable of shooting back with his own observations and remarks. It made sense considering how long the two of them had been partners, but sometimes it was hard to forget when Pandoria was always the one with a snappy comeback.

“We’re still good on food,” Milton informed. “We’ll probably have to gather more fruits and stuff like that in a couple of days, but for now we should be fine.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Zeke replied. “Pandy, you wanna take the reins for dinner tonight?”

“Sure thing,” Pandoria agreed. “I’ll get started on that right now.”

Zeke nodded. “Looks like the two of us can just take a moment to sit back and relax, Milton,” he said.

Milton didn’t say anything, but that seemed to just be how he normally responded to people. And Zeke couldn’t blame Milton for keeping his distance. From his perspective, Zeke and Pandoria were still strangers.

Milton glanced away for a second. “I’m gonna go scout out the area for a little bit,” he insisted. “I just wanna make sure everything’s actually safe around here. I’ll be back.”

“You want some company for that?” Zeke offered.

“No, I’ll be fine,” Milton assured. “I just wanna do a quick look around and then I’ll be right back.”

“Alright then,” Zeke said. “Let us know if you see anything worth mentioning.”

Milton nodded before leaving the camp. Pandoria gave Zeke a concerned look once Milton was gone.

“Are you sure we should be letting him wander off on his own?” Pandoria questioned. “He could easily just leave and not come back, you know.”

“We gotta have some faith in the kid,” Zeke replied. “If we don’t trust him, then how’s he supposed to trust us?”

Pandoria shook her head, but she decided not to argue further. She had grown to trust Zeke’s judgments on things, even if they weren’t always correct every single time.

“You’ll see, Pandy,” Zeke assured. “I’m sure he’ll come around eventually. We've just gotta give it some time.”

Chapter Text

The night was pretty calm. Due to the surrounding area being deemed safe, Zeke, Pandoria and Milton were all able to get some sleep. Zeke and Pandoria were both definitely thankful for that since they had been the ones to keep watch for previous nights. And although they could have let Milton keep watch, it didn’t feel right making him do that when he was still just a kid in their eyes.

Pandoria rolled over while she slept. Her long ears twitched as she heard some rustling. It was relatively quiet, but it still managed to wake her up.

Pandoria slowly opened her eyes, looking across the campsite to Milton’s sleeping mat. However, the mat was empty. Pandoria sat up, sleepily rubbing her eyes as she woke up. She glanced over at Zeke who was completely passed out and snoring. Realizing he probably wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, Pandoria knew she had to deal with this herself.

Pandoria stood up and wandered away from the campsite. It didn’t take her very long to find where Milton had gone as she saw him standing by a large rock formation. He had his back to Pandoria and hadn’t noticed her yet.

“Are you taking a bathroom break or something?” Pandoria asked, causing Milton to jump slightly.

“Pandoria?” Milton questioned, turning around to face her.

“Well that answers that I guess,” Pandoria commented as it was clear Milton was just standing around instead of going to the bathroom. “What made you wander off? Isn’t this area supposed to be safe?”

“It is safe,” Milton assured. “At least it should be.”

“Should be isn’t the same as definitely is,” Pandoria disagreed.

“It’s probably safe,” Milton reiterated. He crossed his arms and turned away from Pandoria again.

Pandoria quietly sighed and walked up closer to Milton. “What’s up?” she asked. “Is there something on your mind?”

“I just wanted some fresh air,” Milton expressed. “That’s all.”

“Fresh air? Really?” Pandoria questioned. “Hate to break it to you, but we’re outside. There’s fresh air everywhere.”

Milton looked annoyed at Pandoria’s comment, but annoyance also seemed to just be his default. Pandoria noticed that Milton still seemed upset and thought for a moment about what she should say next.

“Hey,” she said, “you did great in that fight back there.”

“Hmph. You don’t need to coddle me,” Milton replied. “I was sloppy in that fight.”

“Really? Could have fooled me,” Pandoria dismissed it. “You helped my Prince get rid of the rift, that was pretty impressive.”

Milton was quiet. It seemed pretty clear that this was a topic he didn’t want to talk about.

“You know, you’ll have to open up eventually,” Pandoria commented. “Being unhelpful and grumpy all the time won’t really get you anywhere in life.”

“Oh, and you know so much about that type of thing?” Milton retorted.

“I may not look like it,” Pandoria said, “but I’m pretty old. I’ve been around for a while so I think I know a thing or two.”

Milton raised an eyebrow. “You’re not a tenth termer are you?”

“Ha! Way older,” Pandoria denied.

“That’s not possible,” Milton quickly disagreed. “Everyone in Aionios knows that there’s nothing past tenth term.”

“Aionios?” Pandoria questioned. She then shook her head. “Look, I know we’re never gonna be on the same page,” she said. “You see the world one way, my Prince and I see it a completely different way. We’re just gonna disagree, that’s inevitable. But if we wanna work together as a team, then you gotta learn to drop these arguments, ok?”

“You seem pretty eager to argue all the time,” Milton pointed out.

“And I’ll work on that,” Pandoria promised. “Just as long as you work on it as well.”

Milton didn’t respond right away, probably because he was thinking over the proposition. He eventually shook his head. “I can survive without you guys.”

“If that’s the case,” Pandoria remarked, “then why haven’t you just gone back to your colony?”

Milton immediately froze up, his eyes going wide.

“From what I’ve gathered, it’s pretty weird that you’re not with a colony right now, right?” Pandoria continued. “So why aren’t you with your colony? Hell, why haven’t you taken me and Zeke back to your colony?”

“It’s…” Milton started, although he didn’t finish that thought. He shook his head again. “There’s no point right now,” he decided. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m sure you do,” Pandoria replied.

Milton shot back with an angry glare.

“Hey, I was being genuine that time!” Pandoria insisted. “You seem like a perfectly capable person who knows what he’s doing.”

Milton was still scowling at Pandoria, her words not doing much to make him feel better.

“Look, you’re just gonna have to learn the difference between my sarcasm and me being genuine,” Pandoria said. “I don’t really have a great filter for those things.”

“I guess I’ll try my best,” Milton replied, although he was sort of mumbling.

“Good,” Pandoria responded. “Now come on, let’s get back to the camp and get some sleep. Unless you want to be extremely tired tomorrow.”

“I’m coming,” Milton assured. The two of them made their way back to the camp where they’d be able to get more sleep for the night.

______________________________________________

A few days went by as the group continued traveling around and exploring Melnath’s Shoulder. Both Zeke and Pandoria were amazed at the rocky structures they had encountered. They were definitely reaching more precarious areas as opposed to the forest they had been in before.

They had reached a large lake, so the group decided to make a quick stop to try and get some fresh water for their travels.

“Make sure you don’t drink the water straight from the lake,” Milton advised. “Otherwise you’d get sick.”

“I know how to get fresh water,” Zeke replied, annoyed that Milton assumed he didn’t know. Zeke was filling a pot with the water, making sure to strain it the best he could before carrying it over to the fire that Pandoria had set up. Zeke placed the pot over the fire so it could start boiling.

“Make sure to actually let it boil this time,” Pandoria reminded.

“It was one time, Pandy!” Zeke argued.

“Yeah, and I wanna make sure you don’t make that same mistake,” Pandoria assured.

“Pandy, stop making me look like an idiot,” Zeke said somewhat quietly as if he didn't want Milton to overhear.

“Oh, you don’t need me to make you look like an idiot,” Pandoria reminded. “You do that enough on your own.” She then started snickering as she teased Zeke.

“Oh laugh it up,” Zeke replied. “Do I need to remind you that I was feeling delirious from battle when that incident happened?”

“Sure, you were totally delirious,” Pandoria remarked. “And it definitely wasn’t because you were just too impatient to boil the water first.”

Milton stood to the side while Zeke and Pandoria continued their banter. He never knew what to do when they started talking about their previous adventures together, so he usually stayed quiet while they talked. While they were still talking, Milton walked over to look at the water in the pot. Even though he knew it wouldn’t even be close to boiling yet, checking it at least gave him something to do.

“It’ll be a while until the water’s good to go,” Zeke said as Milton was looking in the pot.

“I know that,” Milton insisted.

“Well I’m just saying,” Zeke reiterated, “that maybe we should do something to pass the time while we wait.”

“My Prince, it only needs to boil for like… five minutes,” Pandoria reminded. “You can sit patiently for that long.”

“I could,” Zeke agreed, “but why would I do that when I can do something more interesting?” Zeke looked over at Milton. “How about we go and do some hunting, eh Milton?”

Milton was surprised to hear an actual reasonable suggestion from Zeke. “Uh, yeah, sounds like a smart idea,” Milton replied.

“Oh, you two are gonna make me wait here all by myself?” Pandoria questioned.

“You can come with us,” Zeke offered.

“Then who’s gonna watch the water?” Pandoria reminded.

“Fair point,” Zeke admitted. “But hey, we won’t be going very far, I promise.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Pandoria replied. “You two go ahead, I’ll be fine, really.”

Milton couldn’t tell if this was Pandoria being sarcastic or if she was genuinely fine with them leaving, but Zeke seemed confident that she was ok.

“Come on Milton,” Zeke gestured. “Let’s see what monsters we can find around here.”

The two of them walked away to explore the area a little bit. Just as promised, Zeke made sure that they didn’t travel too far away. There were quite a few monsters roaming around, but none of them really caught Zeke’s eye.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to find anything worthwhile,” Milton commented. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of monsters with much meat around here. Although I’m fine settling for eating Blant for dinner if we find some.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Zeke questioned.

“Look, Blant isn’t that bad once you get used to it,” Milton argued. “And it’s basically the same thing as eating a vegetable so-”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Zeke dismissed. “You’re weird tastes aside, we’re not hunting for food.”

“What?” Milton questioned. “What do you mean we’re not hunting for food? Why else would we be out here looking for monsters?”

“We’ve got plenty of food already,” Zeke replied. “I mainly wanted to test my abilities against something strong to make sure I haven’t gone soft.”

Milton shook his head, letting out an annoyed groan. “I should have known this was another one of your dumb ideas…”

“Milton, shh!” Zeke quickly hushed him. He knelt onto the ground, pushing Milton down with him as well. “Look at that!” Zeke said in a hushed voice.

Milton looked ahead and saw a swarm of small sized Skeeters over near the cliffside. He looked around the area more, trying to see what else was there since he assumed Zeke had spotted a more impressive monster with how excited he sounded, but Milton didn’t see anything else.

“I don’t get it,” Milton said. “It’s just some Skeeters.”

“Don’t be so quick to dismiss them,” Zeke replied. “Sure, they’re pretty small and can’t do much on their own, but that’s why Skeeters like these travel in swarms. Groups are always stronger than a single target.”

Milton was impressed by that statement. And it was true, in fact Milton was often the one mentioning how staying in a group was safer than being by yourself.

“So, what do you say?” Zeke asked. “You want to help me fight these nasty bugs?”

“I guess if it makes you shut up quicker,” Milton replied.

“Ha! Sure, whatever gets you motivated,” Zeke responded, deciding to brush off Milton’s harsh comment.

Both Zeke and Milton got their weapons ready and jumped out towards the Skeeter swarm. It didn’t take long for the bugs to notice them and they all quickly got aggressive. Zeke’s bright and flashy lightning attacks made it easy for him to take all their focus while Milton was able to get his own attacks in.

“Ha ha!” Zeke yelled. “That’s right, come get a piece of the Zekenator!”

Milton quickly started to wonder if Zeke acting so loud was intentional. After all, he was continuing to keep the swarm’s attention by doing so. Milton didn’t have time to fully process whether or not Zeke was secretly a genius though, as he was still in the middle of a fight.

Milton slashed his naginata towards the swarm of Skeeters, his Blade creating particles of light that sliced through the bugs. He kept attacking them, but unfortunately, that caused the Skeeters to start noticing him more. With Milton doing a lot of damage to the swarm, most of them turned their aggression towards him instead of Zeke.

Milton froze up slightly, but quickly got his head back into the fight. He raised his weapon in the air and a ball of light formed above him. He then swung his arm forward, and the ball shot out smaller bursts of light at the Skeeters. The bugs were easily stunned by the blinding attack.

“Nice work there, chum,” Zeke complemented. “Now, watch this!”

Since the Skeeters were distracted by Milton, Zeke could easily prepare a larger attack. His sword began to spark with immense electrical energy. He readied himself before dashing towards the swarm at lightning speeds. Milton was quickly caught off guard as Zeke easily sliced past each Skeeter in the blink of an eye. Zeke then finished his attack by slamming his sword onto the ground, creating one last blow to finish off the swarm.

Milton shielded his eyes from the attack for a moment. When he looked back, he saw Zeke standing proudly at the cliffside where the swarm of Skeeters once were. Although the attack was more extravagant than Milton would have liked, it did do its job of defeating the monsters.

“Well then, looks like the Zekenator’s still got it,” Zeke complimented himself. He looked over at Milton who just had a blank expression on his face. “A loss for words, huh?” Zeke questioned. “Yeah, that reaction is pretty common when people get to see a smidgen of my power.”

Milton blinked as he heard the sound of rumbling. He took a step backwards as he saw the ground around the cliff shaking slightly. “Uh, Zeke?” Milton said.

Zeke looked down at the ground where he was standing, quickly realizing that his massive attack had made the rocks unstable. “Oh crap,” he said, somewhat nonchalantly. Before he could do anything else, the entire chunk of ground crumbled beneath Zeke’s feet and he immediately started to plummet down the side. “WHYYYY?!” Zeke yelled out as he fell, his voice getting quieter and quieter the further he dropped.

Milton rushed over to the side of the cliff, looking over it to see if he could spot Zeke. However, there was too much dust in the air to get a clear view. At the very least, Milton could see that there was land below the cliff, so it was possible Zeke had landed there. Milton then realized he’d have to break the news to Pandoria. Milton took in a deep breath before he rushed back to camp.

Pandoria was still keeping an eye on the pot of water when she noticed Milton coming back. She was also quick to notice that Zeke wasn’t with him.

“Got bored of my Prince’s antics, huh?” Pandoria questioned. “I don’t blame you, it takes a lot of willpower to deal with him sometimes.”

Milton was somewhat out of breath, but he managed to find his composure. “There was an accident,” he revealed.

“What?” Pandoria questioned. “What kind of accident?”

“We were fighting a swarm of Skeeters,” Milton explained, “and then Zeke finished them off with a big move, and then the cliff crumbled and he fell!”

“Oh,” Pandoria replied, sounding surprisingly calm. “Yeah, we should probably go get him then.”

Milton was prepared for Pandoria to immediately get moving, but to his surprise, she was still focused on the pot of water. She moved the pot onto the ground and continued staring at it, absolutely no urgency in her actions at all.

“Pandoria, Zeke could be dead right now, you realize that, right?” Milton asked.

“Oh, he’s fine,” Pandoria insisted. “We’ll go after him as soon as the water gets done.”

“Wha- bu- huh?” Milton questioned, completely and utterly baffled by Pandoria’s lack of concern.

After the water finished cooling off, Pandoria pulled out a canteen to fill up with the water. She then took a drink of it and filled up the canteen once more.

“Pandoria?” Milton questioned again.

“Alright, now we can go,” Pandoria decided, standing up. “Show me where he fell.”

Milton nodded and he started to lead Pandoria towards the area where he and Zeke had found the Skeeter swarm. When they arrived, there was still some dust in the air, but it seemed like it had cleared up quite a bit. Milton walked over to the side of the cliff and tried to see if he could spot Zeke now, but he didn’t see anything. Pandoria walked over to the cliff to take a look as well.

“Ah, I see him,” she commented.

“What? You do?” Milton asked.

“Yep, see him down there?” Pandoria pointed.

Milton squinted his eyes, but he still couldn’t make out anything exact. “Nope, I still don’t see him.”

“Eh, that’s ok,” Pandoria replied. “Come on, let’s find a way to get down there.”

Milton was still confused by Pandoria’s calm response to this whole ordeal, but he decided to just follow her for now. He was still feeling a little bit frazzled from the cliff crumbling in the first place, so maybe it was a good thing that he had someone more calm with him right now. Still though, Zeke fell from a crumbling cliff and it was from a pretty substantial height. Something like that could be life or death, and Pandoria didn’t seem to see it that way. Milton just couldn’t understand why she was so calm about this, especially when she and Zeke had made such a big deal about death so many times before.

Chapter Text

Pandoria and Milton were navigating the cliffside, trying to find a safe way to get to the land below so they could meet back up with Zeke. Their first step came when they found an incline in the path that led downwards. While they were traversing, Milton stayed pretty quiet. Pandoria on the other hand was humming a little tune to fill the silence as they walked. Milton still didn’t quite understand why Pandoria seemed so calm about what happened to Zeke, but he also didn’t really want to ask her about it directly.

“You’ve been pretty quiet over there, Milton,” Pandoria pointed out.

“I’m not really great at conversations,” Milton replied.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed that.”

Milton was quiet for a moment as he thought about something he could say. “Do you need me to tell you more information about what happened?” he eventually asked. “You know, so we’ll have a better chance at finding Zeke?”

“Oh no, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened,” Pandoria dismissed. “My Prince wanted to look cool so he used a big, bombastic move that was probably overkill, and then he caused the cliff to crumble because he wasn’t thinking.” Pandoria glanced over at Milton. “How was that, pretty spot on?”

Milton looked very surprised at Pandoria’s guess. “Uh, yeah, that’s pretty spot on,” he confirmed.

Pandoria smiled. “I swear, he can be so predictable sometimes.”

“Hm,” Milton replied before going quiet again.

Eventually, the two of them reached the end of the path they were on. However, they still hadn’t reached the level they needed to be at. Pandoria looked around for a moment until she noticed some vines on the side of the cliff.

“Over here!” she called over.

Milton walked over to see what Pandoria had found and stared at the vines.

“We can use these to climb down,” Pandoria informed.

Milton raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” he asked. “That doesn’t seem very safe.”

“Oh please, my Prince and I have climbed vines like these all the time,” Pandoria assured. “It’ll be fine. Here, I’ll go first if it makes you feel safer.”

“Hm… ok then,” Milton agreed, although he still sounded unsure.

Pandoria began climbing down the vines and Milton watched, waiting to see just how safe it was before he followed her. After Pandoria was about halfway down, Milton decided that she was probably right and he began climbing down as well. Pandoria reached the bottom and stood there as she waited for Milton to join her.

“See? Not so bad,” Pandoria said once Milton reached the bottom. She waited for a response from Milton, but he didn’t say anything. She decided to just brush it off and turned her attention elsewhere. “Come on, let’s get back to finding my Prince.”

Milton followed Pandoria and the two of them continued down the path. They walked for a little bit without conversation, but eventually Milton was the one to break the silence.

“You know, I’ve been wondering this for a while,” Milton spoke up, “but why do you refer to Zeke as your Prince?”

“Hm?” Pandoria responded. “Oh, that? That’s just a nickname I call him.”

“Just a nickname?” Milton replied.

“Yeah,” Pandoria confirmed. “I’ve always called him ‘My Prince’, so calling him anything else just felt weird.”

“Feels like a weird nickname,” Milton commented. “I mean, he definitely doesn’t come off as royalty.”

Pandoria giggled at Milton’s comment. “Yeah, he definitely has a more… rugged persona than you’d expect from royalty. But, that’s just how he likes to present himself. It's actually pretty admirable.”

“Hmph,” Milton scoffed quietly. “Still think it’s a weird nickname.”

“Yeah, I guess it is a little weird,” Pandoria admitted. “I mean, he’s not even an actual prince.”

“Well yeah, I gathered that much,” Milton replied.

“Yeah, he’s been King for years now.”

Milton immediately stopped in place at Pandoria’s comment. “I’m sorry, he’s what?” he questioned.

Pandoria stopped and looked back at Milton after hearing his confusion. “Oh yeah, I forgot you wouldn’t remember,” she said. “Zeke’s the king of Tantal. Took over for his dad quite a while ago.”

Milton still looked completely shocked. “I don’t think I want to know what kind of place this Tantal is if Zeke is the ruler.”

Pandoria laughed. “Oh, don’t be so judgmental,” she reassured. “Tantal’s actually a pretty noble place. A lot of the people there act quite differently from my Prince. Zeke’s sort of the outlier within his own kingdom.”

Milton didn’t make any comments as he was still trying to wrap his head around the concept of Zeke being a ruler, or the fact that he was royalty in general. The only royal that Milton knew about was the Queen of Agnus, and from what little he knew about her, she was much more graceful than Zeke. The conversation didn’t continue for much longer as Pandoria spotted someone off in the distance.

“My Prince!” Pandoria called out as she saw Zeke over by a rocky wall. He was still laying on the ground and Pandoria rushed over towards him. Milton followed behind her at a slightly slower pace.

“Ugh…” Zeke groaned as Pandoria approached him.

“Are you ok?” Pandoria asked, kneeling onto the ground next to him.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Zeke assured as he started to sit up. “Nothing I’m not used to.” His voice made it apparent he had been roughed up pretty badly from his fall.

“You’re hurt,” Milton pointed out as he noticed some small cuts on Zeke’s arms.

“Huh?” Zeke questioned before looking down at his arms. “Oh, this is nothing,” he assured. “I’ll be dandy.”

Zeke tried to stand up and Pandoria quickly started helping him. Zeke winced as he moved, but it seemed like he was fighting through the pain relatively well.

“We’ll find a place to set up camp,” Milton decided. “Then we can check for any more severe wounds.”

“What did I just say?” Zeke asked. “I’m fine, we don’t need to-”

“We should listen to Milton,” Pandoria interjected. “You do look pretty rough from that fall. You’re durable, not invincible.”

Zeke let out a sigh. “Fine, if it eases your worries, Pandy, then I’ll try and take it easy until we find a place to rest.”

It took a while for the three of them to find a safe enough spot to rest up. With the cliffy area they were navigating, it made sense that there wouldn’t be many safe places to set up a camp. And with Zeke’s injuries, they weren’t exactly moving as fast as they usually did. But eventually they did find a nice spot that was away from any dangerous cliffs or aggressive monsters. There was even a small pond nearby if they needed more water.

Zeke sat down, Pandoria staying right by his side. Milton walked over to the two of them and Pandoria looked up at him.

“Here,” Milton said as he handed her a roll of bandages. “You might need these.”

“Thanks, Milton,” Pandoria replied. “Didn’t realize you had these on you.”

“Always gotta be prepared,” Milton insisted. Pandoria noticed a faint smirk on Milton’s face after giving that comment, but it quickly disappeared as he went back to serious mode. “I’ll start getting the fire set up,” he assured. “I assume you can get Zeke patched up on your own?”

“Please, I’ve been patching him up for decades now,” Pandoria replied.

Milton’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, but he remained silent as he turned his attention to setting up a fire.

Pandoria grabbed one of Zeke’s arms to look at the scratches.

“Pandy, it’s fine,” Zeke tried to assure.

“Well I can never be sure with you,” Pandoria argued. “You do tend to understate your injuries, so I have to double check them all the time.”

Zeke just let out a sigh, deciding not to argue further. Pandoria was quick to examine both of Zeke’s arms, and it seemed like he was right this time. Both arms weren’t scratched up that badly. It appeared that any scratches that fully broke the skin had stopped bleeding a while ago and he only had one or two bruises that were relatively small.

“Alright, arms are good,” Pandoria informed. “Now we gotta check the torso.”

“Alright,” Zeke conceded. He took off his vest before taking his shirt off so Pandoria could examine any other wounds on him. It quickly became apparent that he had a large scrape on his right side.

“Ok, we’re probably gonna need to bandage that up,” Pandoria commented.

“You think so?” Zeke questioned as he looked at the injury. “I think it’ll be fine.”

“Well knowing how much you like to show off, I think we should play it safe,” Pandoria replied, a slight sharpness to her voice.

Milton had gotten a small fire started and looked up to see Zeke’s injury, but his gaze quickly shifted over towards his chest instead. Milton’s eyes went wide as he noticed the crystal Zeke had in his left pec. Crystals in people’s chests was a common occurrence, Milton had seen it plenty of times, including himself as an example. But he had never seen one quite like Zeke’s before. For one, everyone who had a crystal on their chest had it in the middle of their chest, not on the side like Zeke had. But more importantly, Zeke had a lot of scar tissue around his crystal. The scars definitely looked pretty old, but they were still hard to miss.

Zeke looked over as he noticed Milton staring. “Oi,” Zeke said, “most people don’t really appreciate being stared at like that, Milton.”

“Oh, sorry,” Milton apologized, quickly looking away.

Zeke chuckled. “Relax, I’m not bothered by it, really.”

Milton looked back at Zeke again. He tried to stay silent as he stared until he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “What happened to your crystal?” he asked.

“Hm?” Zeke replied. “Oh, this thing.” He looked down at the Core Crystal embedded in his chest. “Sort of a long story, this here. But to keep it short, I found myself on the verge of death. Miraculously, someone found Pandy and I and took pity on us. He saved us both, took half of Pandy’s Core Crystal and used it to save my life.”

“Half of Pandoria’s…” Milton replied. He glanced over at Pandoria’s crystal, realizing that Zeke’s triangular crystal seemed like it would fit perfectly with Pandoria’s oddly shaped one.

“Zeke’s lucky to be alive,” Pandoria commented. “I mean, I was sure that we’d be goners…” Her voice trailed off.

Everything was quiet for a moment while Pandoria continued patching up Zeke. Milton found himself continuing to stare at Zeke, and it was at this moment that he began to realize something else about him.

“Where… where’s your term marker?” Milton asked.

“My what?” Zeke asked.

Milton quietly placed his hand over his shoulder, the one that had the strange marking on it. Zeke took notice of this.

“Oh, that thing?” Zeke asked. “I’m afraid I don’t have one of those.”

Milton then looked over at Pandoria and she shook her head.

“Nope, I don’t have one either,” she replied.

“But…” Milton responded, “that… that doesn’t make sense.”

“Look, I know you explained these term things before,” Zeke said. “They’re a common thing to you, right? Well, it’s another thing Pandy and I have no clue about.”

Milton looked down, not knowing how to respond. He looked over at Pandoria again. “So… you were telling the truth before?” he asked. “You two… really have been around for decades?”

“Yep,” Pandoria replied. “And normally, that’s not a weird thing. Most people get to live pretty long lives.”

Milton went quiet again. This didn’t make sense to him. He had never heard of someone living for longer than ten years except for maybe the Queen, but Zeke and Pandoria were giving him some pretty good proof that they were telling the truth. He didn’t even know if he wanted to believe them or not.

“You ok, Milton?” Zeke asked. “You’ve been acting pretty different.”

“How so?” Milton replied.

“I don’t know, you’ve been a lot nicer,” Zeke explained. “A little less aggressive maybe? Just… not like yourself.”

Milton narrowed his eyes slightly. “You literally fell off a cliff,” he reminded before he crossed his arms and looked away. “I was just… a little shaken up by that whole thing, that’s all.”

“And here I thought you were a hardened soldier,” Pandoria commented. “I figured you were used to people getting hurt like this.”

“Well yeah, I’m used to people getting hurt or killed in battle!” Milton argued. “Not people spontaneously falling from cliffs!”

“Yeah, and my Prince and I are used to falling from cliffs and stuff like that,” Pandoria insisted. “Unfortunately.”

“Yeah, that’s the life of the Zekenator,” Zeke agreed. “I’m pretty used to getting banged up like this. It happens more than I’d like to admit.”

“Yep, nothing new to see here,” Pandoria added.

“So that’s why you weren’t worried about him,” Milton realized. “Snuffing hell, how unlucky are you guys?”

“Hey, Zeke’s the unlucky one here, not me!” Pandoria argued. “He’s got an endless supply of bad luck! I just have the misfortune of getting in the crossfire of it all.”

“If his luck is that bad, why stick by his side?” Milton questioned.

Zeke and Pandoria both gasped dramatically.

“Leave my Prince?” Pandoria asked. “Do you have any idea how hopeless he’d be without me?”

Zeke blinked. “Ok, I wouldn’t be completely hopeless,” he argued, “but I-”

“You’d never survive without me,” Pandoria cut him off.

“Oi! Let me finish!” Zeke yelled. “The Zekenator’s got plenty of power on his own, but I’d never abandon Pandoria! And she’d never abandon me. We’re a two person deal, can’t have one without the other.”

“Yeah, so don’t even think about suggesting we split apart!” Pandoria insisted.

“Ok, ok, sorry I said anything,” Milton replied. “You two definitely make an… interesting pair.”

“I’m gonna go ahead and take that as a compliment,” Zeke responded. “But moving on, what do we have for food? I’m starving.”

Milton sighed. “I’ll check.” He began to look through their sack of food. With the way Milton was rationing their meals, there wasn’t a whole lot to pick from, but he managed to find some fruits and vegetables that were still good. Pandoria sighed once she saw Milton pull out the small amount of food.

“We gotta get an actual meal one of these days,” she said.

“We can restock stuff when we need to,” Milton insisted. “But for now, we can survive on this stuff for a long time, trust me.”

Zeke shook his head. “If I weren’t injured right now, I’d go out and hunt for something bigger to eat.”

“No, you’d do that regardless of if you’re injured or not,” Pandoria said. “You just aren’t doing so because I told you to rest.”

“Hey, enough arguing!” Milton demanded. “It’s either this or nothing. Now do you guys wanna starve or not?”

Pandoria and Zeke both sighed, but they made no further arguments.

“Ok then,” Milton said. “Eat up.”

______________________________________________

Alrest, XX years before The Intersection

Zeke stood at the balcony, staring down at the vast Genbu Drifts that lay below Theosoir. He was doing his best to decompress after a long day of filling out paperwork for new trade offers with other nations. Tantal was still relatively new to having their borders open, so the other Titans were quick to try and form their alliances, especially now that they had a new King.

“There you are, my Liege.”

Zeke looked over as he heard Pandoria’s voice.

“I figured I’d find you out here,” she said. “Long day, huh?”

“Yeah,” Zeke confirmed.

“I can tell, you look tired.”

Zeke sighed. “Who knew being the King would mean so much work to do, huh?”

“I mean, I could have told you that much.”

“I was joking, obviously,” Zeke replied.

“Jokes are usually supposed to be funny, you know,” Pandoria teased.

“Oh whatever,” Zeke dismissed.

Pandoria quietly laughed to herself before letting out a long sigh. She was quiet for a short moment before continuing the conversation. “I should probably inform you that the guards wanted to have a meeting with you,” she said.

“Do they now?” Zeke asked.

“Yep,” Pandoria replied. “It was something about new training regimens. They said they wanted your advice since you’re such a skilled Driver.”

“Well then, I’m glad my skills are still being recognized,” Zeke said with a smirk.

“Yes, you’re just as strong as ever, my Liege.”

Zeke’s smirk quickly disappeared. Pandoria was quick to notice his immediate shift in expression.

“What? You suddenly don’t like getting compliments now?” Pandoria questioned.

“No, it’s not that,” Zeke insisted. “It’s just…”

“Just what, my Liege?”

“That,” Zeke replied. “It’s that. I… don’t like it when you call me ‘Liege’.”

“Why not?” Pandoria asked. “I mean, you’re the King now my- er, Zeke,” she quickly corrected herself. “That means a new title that I’ve gotta call you.”

“I mean yeah, I get that,” Zeke replied. “I just… I don’t know. It feels too formal.”

“You never had a problem with it before,” Pandoria pointed out. “I called you Prince all the time and you never cared.”

“Yeah, well it didn’t feel weird before,” Zeke said. “I don’t know, I’m not explaining it well.”

Pandoria frowned and she sighed. “This is… a lot to readjust to,” she admitted. “I mean, if I’m being honest, it feels weird not calling you ‘Prince’ anymore.”

“You think so, too?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah,” Pandoria replied. “I mean, you’ve always been ‘my Prince’ to me. And I don’t think either of us ever expected you to actually become the King of Tantal. We were both sure that ship had sailed a long time ago.”

Zeke chuckled. “Heh, you’re bang on with that, Pandy,” he said. “This is a big shift for both of us, I’m sure.”

“Mm-hm,” Pandoria agreed.

The two of them went quiet as Zeke started thinking. “You know,” he said, “why do you even need to be so formal with me anyway? I mean, it’s not like we’d expect someone like Nia to start referring to me as ‘Your Majesty’, right?”

“Yeah, that would be extra weird,” Pandoria concurred. “But, what exactly is your point?”

“My point is, you shouldn’t have to be overly formal with me,” Zeke decided. “I mean, for important meetings, yeah it would probably be a good idea, but not all the time. I think… I don’t know, I’d rather have you refer to me in a more… casual way.”

Pandoria’s eyes lit up, a smile appearing on her face. “Oh wow, you have no idea how grateful I am to hear that,” she said. “I was struggling a lot to remind myself to use the right title.”

“Really now?” Zeke asked. “Why, were you worried you’d anger your King?”

“I was worried about looking like an idiot,” Pandoria clarified. “You know how stupid I’d look calling the King a prince?”

“Like anyone would have the guts to insult my Blade,” Zeke dismissed. “Not only am I the King, I’m also the strongest Driver in Tantal. They’d have quite the storm to deal with if they said anything bad about you.”

Pandoria couldn’t help but blush. “Oh come on, you wouldn’t start a fight over something as trivial as that!”

“Like hell I wouldn’t!” Zeke argued. “Anyone disrespecting my beloved Blade would be disrespecting me as well!”

Pandoria’s face turned even more red and she tried her best to hide it in embarrassment. Zeke grabbed Pandoria’s hand, causing her to look up at him.

“Pandy,” Zeke said, his voice a lot softer now. “You’ve been by my side for longer than I can remember. I just… I don’t want what we have to change just because I have a fancy new title.”

“My Prince…” Pandoria replied.

Zeke smiled. “And you know what, I really do miss hearing you say that.”

“Huh?” Pandoria questioned. “You… you want me to keep calling you ‘Prince’?”

“Only if you’re fine with it,” Zeke assured. “Just… I don’t want you acting too formal with me, you know? It feels wrong…”

Pandoria nodded. “Ok, my Prince. I totally get it.”

The two of them smiled at each other before turning to stare down at the Genbu Drifts. It truly was a beautiful sight, despite the colder temperature of the area making it unbearable for most people.

“You’ll always be my Prince, Zeke,” Pandoria commented.

“I’m glad,” Zeke replied. “And I’m also glad that I at least got lucky to have a Blade like you, Pandy.”

Pandoria immediately started blushing again. “Stop with that!” she insisted.

Zeke chuckled. “I’m sure I will one of these days.”

Chapter Text

The group had just finished eating dinner and were preparing for the rest of the night. Milton was keeping an eye on the fire. He noticed the flames were just starting to die out, so he threw a few more sticks in to give it more fuel. Meanwhile, Zeke and Pandoria were discussing plans moving forwards.

“I’m still not too sure about this place,” Zeke commented. “I mean, nothing we’ve encountered feels quite like anywhere we’ve been in Alrest.”

“Well that’s probably because we’re not in Alrest,” Pandoria replied.

“Hm?” Zeke responded.

“Milton, what was it you called this place again?” Pandoria asked.

Milton looked up from the fire at the mention of his name. “What, Melnath’s Shoulder?”

“No, not that,” Pandoria denied. “There was another name you used. You said something along the lines of everyone here knowing that there’s nothing past tenth term. What was the name you used for this place when you mentioned that?”

Milton tried to remember the conversation Pandoria was talking about. “You mean Aionios?” he replied.

“That’s the one,” Pandoria confirmed.

“Yeah, Aionios is the name of the world as a whole,” Milton explained. “It’s split up into regions. Right now we’re in the Aetia Region. It connects to a few others, but I think the closest one would probably be the Cent-Omnia Region since that one is located in the middle of Aionios.”

“Cent-Omnia Region, eh?” Zeke replied. “Maybe we should head for that.”

Milton’s face shifted slightly. It was hard to make out the expression exactly, but strangely enough, it looked a little bit like disappointment. Whatever it was, Zeke was able to pick up on Milton not liking this idea.

“What about you, Milton? What do you think we should do?” Zeke asked.

Milton blinked. “I…” he started. “If I’m being honest, I’d rather not leave the Aetia Region.”

“How come?” Pandoria questioned.

“I don’t want to travel too far away from my colony,” Milton revealed.

“Oh, you suddenly care about your colony, do you?” Zeke asked which resulted in one of Milton’s signature scowls. “Joking, I’m just joking,” Zeke insisted. “I understand, I guess I’m just a little bit confused is all.”

“Yeah, I mean you never really talk about your colony,” Pandoria added. “I just figured you were a runaway and you never planned to go back.”

“I never said I didn’t plan on going back,” Milton argued.

“Yeah, but actions speak a lot louder than words,” Pandoria said. “And you’ve seemed pretty hesitant to go back. I mean, you’ve been wandering around with us for a while now.”

Milton’s face scrunched up slightly but he made no verbal response.

“Ok, give the kid a break,” Zeke stepped in. “It’s clearly something he doesn’t want to chat about right now.”

“Hmph… thank you, Zeke,” Milton said.

Zeke nodded before he sat down. “But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a tad curious about this colony of yours.”

Milton once again started glaring at Zeke.

“So, what kind of things did you get up to there?” Zeke asked, clearly refusing to drop the subject.

“Nothing,” Milton replied harshly.

“Nothing?” Zeke responded. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing of interest,” Milton reiterated.

“Oh right, I guess I forgot,” Zeke said. “You’re boring. That fact must’ve slipped my mind.”

“I’m not boring!” Milton argued. “You’re boring!”

“Ha! I’m the complete opposite of boring,” Zeke shot back.

“He’s right,” Pandoria agreed. “My Prince is a great source of entertainment.”

Milton grumbled something under his breath, but it was pretty unintelligible.

“Ok, go on then,” Zeke said. “If you’re not boring, then what kind of things did you do for fun?”

Milton glanced at Zeke, but he didn’t say anything.

“Come on, I’m sure you’ve got something,” Zeke insisted.

Milton looked away for a moment. “I didn’t really… have a lot of time for fun,” he explained. “Most of my time was spent fighting against Keves.”

“Ah,” Zeke replied, leaning back slightly.

“But…” Milton continued, “I guess when I did find the time for leisure, I liked to play music.”

“Music?” Zeke questioned. “You?”

“What kind of music?” Pandoria asked.

“Nothing much,” Milton admitted. “I had this small hand drum I would play. I mainly just played it for myself, no one else really cared too much. Occasionally some of the younger soldiers would stop by and listen, but that didn’t happen all too often. A lot of people just… left me alone.”

“Well, I never would have pegged you for a musician,” Zeke confessed.

“You’ll have to play something for us sometime,” Pandoria encouraged.

“I can’t,” Milton denied. “My drum was- er, I left my drum behind at the colony.”

Zeke and Pandoria were quiet for a moment until Zeke spoke up. “Maybe we’ll have to stop back there so you can grab it,” he suggested.

Milton stared at Zeke. He initially assumed that Zeke was trying to make fun of him, but the genuine smile on Zeke’s face said otherwise. Milton looked away again with narrowed eyes. “It would take a few days to backtrack there,” he informed. “That would take quite a bit of time to-”

“We’ve got plenty of time on our hands,” Zeke interrupted. “I mean, it’s not like there’s much for Pandoria and I to do around here anyways.”

Milton didn’t know how to respond. Getting a simple little hand drum was such a pointless task. It had no real purpose. Yet, Zeke seemed overly focused on it now. And as much as Milton wanted to argue with the plan since it seemed like a waste of time, he also found himself not wanting to simply say no.

“If… you guys really don’t mind,” Milton said.

“I mean, you’ve sort of been leading the way this whole time,” Pandoria reminded. “It’s your call.”

Milton paused for a moment, almost like he was still trying to decide whether or not he wanted to go through with this plan. “Ok,” he finally agreed. “We’ll start making our way back towards the colony.”

______________________________________________

The journey was indeed a long one. They began to backtrack towards Milton’s colony and had already been traveling for a few days. They hadn’t run into anything super threatening and things were relatively uneventful, but they were back in the woods at this point. If anything, this trip just let Milton learn how quickly Zeke could recover from an injury. He still wasn’t back to one hundred percent, but his main injury from the fall had healed pretty fast already.

“How much further, Milton?” Pandoria asked.

“Still a few more days of walking,” Milton responded after he checked his Iris. His face then turned a bit gloomy.

“What’s the matter, Milton?” Zeke asked. “Aren’t you excited to get back to your colony?”

“It’s nothing, really,” Milton insisted.

“You’ve been saying that this whole trip,” Zeke pointed out. “And every time, you say it in a tone that tells me it’s not just nothing.”

“Why do you care so much?” Milton asked, his voice sounding a bit harsher now.

“Is it really that hard to believe that I’m just looking out for you?” Zeke responded. “I mean, I’ve barely seen you smile since we’ve met. In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t know if I’ve seen you genuinely smile at all.”

“I smile all the time!” Milton yelled.

“Says the grumpiest guy in the world,” Pandoria mocked.

“Look, maybe I’d smile more often if I had things to smile for!” Milton continued arguing.

“Oh, if that’s the issue,” Zeke said before playfully smacking Milton on his back, “then I’ll make sure to find something that gets you to smile. Promise.”

“Don’t smack me like that,” Milton grumbled.

“You know, Milton,” Pandoria said, “if you really don’t wanna keep going, we can always change the plan.”

“No, it’s fine,” Milton insisted. “It’s just…”

Zeke and Pandoria both waited for Milton to continue speaking, but he remained silent for quite a while. Eventually, Milton took in a deep breath.

“When we get there,” Milton started to explain, “just… don’t be surprised if-”

“Well, what do we have here?”

The group immediately tensed up as they heard an unfamiliar voice speak. They all looked around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

“Who’s there?” Zeke demanded.

The group looked over as they noticed strange particles in the air and a person appearing from seemingly nowhere. She was short and wore red armor with a cape. She also had a mask in the shape of a large X that covered her face.

Milton’s eyes went wide at the sight of this newcomer. “You…” Milton muttered, his voice suddenly filled with fear.

“Ok, time for you to pack it up,” the stranger spoke with a nonchalant voice. “You had your fun, but now it’s time for you to go.”

Zeke and Pandoria both looked confused as this stranger spoke. Neither of them had any clue what she was talking about, or who she even was.

“Milton, do you know this girl?” Zeke asked. He turned to Milton for an answer, but Milton appeared to be frozen in fear.

“Oh, I’m sure he remembers me,” the stranger said. “Although I’m not sure if he knows my name.” She removed her helmet, revealing her face underneath. She had short, white hair and what looked like a purple scar across her face. Her eyes were an ominous red color and she had purple energy in her hair in the shape of a butterfly. “My name is Consul X,” she introduced. “But I guess introductions don’t really matter at this point.”

“What do you want?” Pandoria asked.

“Oh that’s simple,” X responded. She pointed at Milton. “You see, that little runaway is the reason I’m here.”

“Little… runaway?” Zeke questioned, looking over at Milton again.

X had a wide smile on her face as she continued speaking. “He’s the only one from his colony who missed out on the golden reward! And I’m sure the rest of Colony Nu would be very upset to learn that he was left out.”

“Golden reward?” Pandoria questioned. “Milton, what’s this girl talking about? Who is she?”

“I-I don’t know!” Milton replied, still clearly shaken up. “I mean, she’s one of the Consuls, that much I know. But…”

“Milton,” Zeke said, his voice stern, “what is going on here?”

Milton stared at Zeke with fear still in his eyes. But before he could try to explain anything, X began speaking instead.

“Oh, Colony Nu,” she started. “They really were a great colony. Always did what they were told, fought tooth and nail in every single battle. Their fights against Keves really did give us a lot of fun. It was no surprise that they reached Gold Rank in no time. And that’s why I’m here.”

Zeke and Pandoria still looked confused.

“Milton?” Pandoria questioned.

“My… my colony,” Milton explained, “Colony Nu, we had just reached Gold Rank. And when a colony reaches Gold Rank, they’re promised that they don’t have to fight anymore! We were all preparing for our reward, but then…” Milton pointed at X. “That Consul showed up with a terrifying monster! The two of them started wiping out every single soldier in the colony!”

Despite the horrifying words coming out of Milton’s mouth, the smile on X’s face remained. In fact, she seemed very smug about what Milton was saying. Meanwhile, Zeke was staring at Milton in disbelief as he continued explaining things further.

“I… I panicked,” Milton kept going. “I ran away. The only reason I was able to escape was because of all the chaos going on, it distracted everyone… But everyone else…”

Zeke turned back towards X, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. “So this ‘golden reward’,” he said, “it’s nothing by a mass execution?!”

“Wow, you’re smarter than you look, Eyepatch,” X admitted.

“Hey!” Pandoria yelled. “Don’t talk to him like that!”

“Oh whatever,” X dismissed. “Look, I don’t plan on staying here long.” She summoned a large scythe with a blade of purple energy and smirked again. “I’m just here to finish the job.”

Milton was visibly shaking as X stared him down. However, before he could do anything, Pandoria swung a protective arm in front of him and summoned her wand. Zeke was also pulling out his weapon.

“Like hell you are!” Zeke yelled as he readied his Big Bang Edge. “You’re not laying a damn finger on him!”

X let out a sigh of disappointment. “This was supposed to be quick and easy,” she complained. “But no, you two nobodies just have to get in my way.”

“Zeke! Pandoria! What are you two doing?!” Milton asked, panic in his voice. “Trying to fight one of the Consuls is a death wish!”

“I don’t care!” Zeke retorted. “If she’s willing to threaten you right in front of me, then clearly she’s got a death wish of her own!”

Milton stared at Zeke in shock, unable to say anything in response to that. He then looked over at X again.

“Oh come on now,” X groaned as she rolled her eyes. “You really think a couple of stray souls are enough to get in my way?” She readied her scythe, getting into a battle stance. “So be it I guess.”

X dashed towards the group, slicing her scythe towards the closest person, which just so happened to be Zeke. Zeke was quick to block her attack with his sword, so X jumped back. She attempted again to swing her scythe at Zeke, but the Driver was able to continue blocking her attacks. Since she was so focused on Zeke, Pandoria was able to sneak behind her and prepare an electrical blast. However, X noticed and quickly dodged out of the way right before the blast could hit her.

X narrowed her eyes at Pandoria. “You two really are just wasting my time, you know,” she commented as she rushed towards the Blade.

Pandoria let out a yelp as X slashed her scythe. Pandoria managed to protect herself with a quick barrier, but with one more strike, X was able to shatter the shield which knocked Pandoria back slightly.

“Pandy!” Zeke yelled out.

Right before X could land another hit on Pandoria, Zeke rushed in, swinging his sword at the Consul. X was caught off guard for a brief moment, which seemed to give Zeke an opening.

Zeke’s sword began to spark with lightning before he let out a yell. He raised his sword up, but before he could land his strike, X hit him with a backswing with her scythe, interrupting the attack. Zeke grunted slightly before X swung her scythe at him again, actually knocking him back this time.

“My Prince!” Pandoria screamed. She then glared at X and quickly shocked her with a blast from her wand.

Milton was still standing off to the side, paralyzed by fear as he watched Zeke and Pandoria attempt to fight off X. What the sparks is wrong with them?! Milton thought. They’re gonna get themselves killed!

Pandoria managed to get a few more jolts in, briefly stunning X, but her attacks didn’t seem to be doing too much substantial damage.

X snickered. “Aw, I almost felt that,” she mocked. She readied her scythe once more, smacking Pandoria away with the blunt side of the weapon. X used enough force to send Pandoria tumbling onto the ground, catching the Blade completely off guard. Pandoria quickly sat up, trying to get back into the fight, but X was already standing over her, readying her scythe. “Guess this’ll be quick and easy after all,” X taunted as Pandoria stared at her in fear.

“NO!” Milton shouted. Without thinking, Milton readied his naginata and dashed into the fight. Right before X could strike Pandoria down, Milton jumped in, using his weapon to block the attack.

“What?” X questioned in surprise.

“Erg! Don’t hurt her!” Milton yelled as he struggled to push X back.

“Ok, now you’re starting to get on my nerves,” X commented. She swung her scythe back as she prepared a new attack. But before she could follow through, she was stunned by a lightning bolt from the side.

“Forgot about me, didn’t you?” Zeke reminded as he pointed his sword towards X.

X was clearly getting annoyed as this fight continued. “You humans really are idiots,” she insulted. “You never know when to back down, even when you know you can’t win.”

“I’ve seen no signs yet that we can’t win,” Zeke argued. “We outnumber you.”

“Ha!” X laughed. “It’s funny how you think that’s enough!” She twirled her scythe around, almost like she just wanted to show off. “Well the fight’s not over yet,” she reminded. “Let’s see how much longer you dolts can last.”

Chapter Text

Zeke and X’s weapons clashed together as the fight continued. Even though she was fighting against three other people, X was holding her own very well. It was clearly no secret that she was a highly skilled fighter. However, it was also clear that her frustration was growing as this fight went on.

X twirled her scythe around, creating a blast of purple energy that pushed Zeke, Pandoria and Milton away from her. “How long are you pathetic worms planning on keeping this up?” X asked.

“How can we be pathetic,” Zeke replied, slightly out of breath, “when we’re still standing?”

X had an annoyed expression, but before she could respond, she noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned around as she saw Milton running towards her, jumping in the air. He slashed his naginata towards her, but the Consul quickly moved out of the way.

“Oh, you were so close,” X mocked before she violently smacked Milton away with her scythe. Milton was sent crashing into a nearby tree by the force of the attack.

“Milton!” both Zeke and Pandoria yelled. The Driver and Blade both looked at each other, neither of them needing to say a word as they simply nodded and understood what their next course of action would be.

“Every time I think there’s no way humans can get any stupider,” X commented, not paying any attention to Zeke or Pandoria, “they try and pull something like this.” X walked up towards Milton who was struggling to get back up from that massive hit he had taken. He looked up at X.

“Was it worth it?” X asked. “Was it worth wasting your time just to live for a few more days while every other person in your colony died?”

Milton said nothing, the only sound he made came from his heavy breathing. He then tensed up as X held the blade of her scythe up against his neck.

X smirked as she could feel Milton’s fear. “Maybe all this trouble will be worth it in the end.” X then suddenly felt a massive jolt of electricity shock through her body. “ACK!” she grunted. Once the shock wore off, she turned around to see which of her annoyances had attacked her. She saw that Pandoria had her wand pointed towards her, which gave her the answer she was looking for. Zeke was right at Pandoria’s side and his sword was shining with immense electrical energy. The two of them then dashed at X, catching her completely off guard with how fast they moved.

“Woah!” X yelped as she was knocked onto the ground.

“Supersonic Thunderbolt Slash!” Zeke and Pandoria yelled in unison as they surrounded X, slashing towards her at lightning speeds. 

X grunted at each slash she took. It seemed like Zeke and Pandoria had finally incapacitated her, but X wasn’t ready to give up just yet. She managed to charge up another blast, releasing a burst of purple energy from her body. Zeke and Pandoria were both blown back, their attack interrupted with ease.

“Zeke! Pandoria!” Milton yelled out as he watched the two of them tumble onto the ground. He stood up, continuing to stare at the two of them before looking over at X again.

“You guys are tougher than you look,” X commented, “I’ll give you that. I almost need to use my true power.”

“True power?” Milton questioned. “You mean… you’ve been holding BACK this whole time?!”

X snickered. “You’ve barely seen anything,” she informed. “That big monster you remember that attacked your colony? That was the true power of Moebius!”

Zeke pushed himself off of the ground. “Moebius?” he questioned. “What is she going on about?”

X began laughing again. “Oh, I just love seeing how clueless you humans truly are,” she continued mocking. “It really gives me a good laugh.” She then turned her attention back towards Milton. “It’s almost as amusing as seeing you soldiers struggle to live only to die over and over again.”

“Huh?” Milton replied.

“That’s the idea with you pawns,” X continued. “Your lives are nothing but little toys that we Moebius use for our own entertainment. And when you’ve proven your worth, it’s bye-bye to make room for the new ones. An endless climb with no real goal. That’s the entire reason I created the rank system, so you soldiers would have actual motivation. Because if you’re given a reason to fight, then you’ll kill anyone who’s in your way without question.”

Milton was still at a complete loss for words. His mind was running wild and he found it impossible to focus on anything. So when X readied her scythe once more, Milton remained still.

Zeke and Pandoria struggled to get back on their feet. It was clear that X’s blast had done a lot to them, but they were still filled with a desire to protect Milton. However, it seemed that no matter how much they wanted to protect him, they simply did not have the strength to get back into the fight fast enough.

“Milton!” Zeke yelled. “Watch out!”

Milton still refused to move. The only thing he managed was lowering his head and shutting his eyes tight as he prepared for what was next.

X began to swing her scythe towards Milton, but right before she could land her strike, someone appeared behind her, grabbing the scythe and stopping the attack.

“What the?” X questioned.

“That’s enough, X.”

Milton, Zeke and Pandoria all stared in shock as another stranger stood behind X, completely towering over her. X also looked up at the newcomer.

“Y?” she questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“Z sent me to retrieve you,” Y explained. “He wants you to spare these mortals.”

“What? Why?” X questioned, clearly upset about Y’s response.

“It is not your place to question Z’s orders,” Y reminded. “He has his own reasons for keeping these specimens alive. I suggest you follow along, lest you wish to anger Z.”

X let out an annoyed scoff. “It’s one soldier!” she argued. “Not killing him would be a complete waste!”

Y glanced over at Milton, his eyes fixated on the term marker on his shoulder. “From what I see,” Y said, “he’s only got a few years left. And with no colony, he’ll likely die out here on his own anyway.”

Zeke finally managed to get back onto his feet. “Hey!” he yelled. “Do you mind telling us what the hell is going on here? Who are you? Why are you so intent on killing an innocent kid?!”

It was hard to make out Y’s expression as he was still wearing his mask, but his eyes showed general disinterest in Zeke’s questions. “Lost souls like you are not to be tampered with,” Y said. “A shame if you ask me, I would have liked to see what makes you tick.”

“Stick around long enough and we’ll show you!” Pandoria responded, standing up as well.

“Hmph,” Y dismissed. “We have no more quarrel with you. We shall be on our way.”

“I’m not done yet!” X continued arguing.

“I’m sure Z would be very displeased to find you disobeying him like this,” Y replied, his voice sounding a bit more threatening.

X’s eyes went wide for a moment. She then let out an annoyed groan and put her scythe away. She crossed her arms and angrily glanced back at Milton.

“Don’t think you’re safe just yet,” X warned. “You got lucky this time. And the world of Aionios won’t be any nicer to you just because you’re on your own. You of all people should know how bloodthirsty soldiers can get.”

Milton remained silent as he stared at X. He was filled with disbelief and was still overcome with fear.

“He’s not on his own,” Zeke reminded, walking up to stand next to Milton, Pandoria joining as well.

“Whatever,” X dismissed. “Although I guess getting to see you all struggle for a bit longer will be enjoyable.”

“You’ve got a sick sense of humor you know!” Pandoria said, but it didn’t seem like X cared at all.

X continued standing with her arms crossed. She looked up at Y. “Are we leaving or not?”

Y nodded before looking over at the group. “I would suggest you stay out of Moebius’ way,” he advised. “You may not be shown mercy next time.”

With that, X and Y both disappeared, leaving behind particles of that strange purple energy as they seemingly teleported away. Zeke, Pandoria and Milton were left in a state of bafflement as they didn’t quite understand what had just happened.

“What was that all about?” Pandoria questioned.

“I have no idea,” Zeke admitted. “Milton?” He turned towards him, looking to see if he had any answers as to what was going on, but Milton still seemed to be lost in thought and in complete shock. Zeke placed a comforting hand on Milton’s shoulder, which caused Milton to jump slightly. He broke out of his trance, staring up at Zeke before moving Zeke’s hand off of his shoulder. Milton then crossed his arms, but he didn’t seem angry, just uncomfortable and upset.

Zeke frowned, but he didn’t say anything else to Milton. He didn’t know if he could say anything to help ease Milton’s mind at this point. The only thing he could think of was to come up with an idea on what to do next.

“We should find a place to rest,” Zeke suggested.

“Good idea,” Pandoria agreed. “We’ll all need a break after that fight…”

______________________________________________

X and Y both arrived back at the Amphitheater where Z was waiting for their return, although he made no attempt at acknowledging the two other Moebius entering the room.

“Why did you have to call off the fight, Z?” X asked angrily. “I thought we wanted to reap the souls of soldiers! Not let them roam free!”

“Do you remember the truce we made, X?” Z replied.

“We made a truce with those Liberators,” X responded. “I’m pretty sure those two with that Agnian soldier weren’t part of the Liberators. They have no idea what’s actually going on, so I think they should be fair game.”

“Have you forgotten how dire the situation is?” Y questioned, stepping in to scold X as well. “You have been acting far too reckless, X. Your purge of Colony Nu alone resulted in heavy damage to their Flame Clock that I put all of my hard work into. It’s like you didn’t even care to keep it intact.”

“That only happened because those idiots in that colony decided to try and fight back!” X argued. “The Flame Clock wouldn’t have gotten damaged if they just sat down and accepted their deaths.”

“Enough, X,” Z ordered, although his voice remained calm. “Those souls you encountered are no longer targets of interest.” Z turned his attention towards the main screen as images of Zeke, Pandoria and Milton played. “Besides, I’m intrigued to see where their stories go. I wonder, how they will react when they see the true state of this world? What will they do when faced with countless adversity?”

Both X and Y were quiet as they both stood by Z’s side. They both turned towards the screen as well, all three of them now watching the memories playing back to them.

I doubt it’ll be long before they crumble, X thought to herself. Humans always do when they’re subjected to such things.

______________________________________________

The group was sitting around the campfire, Milton sitting across from Zeke and Pandoria. The sun had been down for a while and everyone had been relatively quiet. Zeke and Pandoria were waiting for Milton to say something, to explain anything about what they had encountered, but he had remained completely silent. He sat on a knocked over log, staring directly into the fire. His expression was difficult to make out as he just seemed completely lost.

Zeke and Pandoria were still looking over at Milton, both of them visibly worried. Pandoria thought of a way to at least get a conversation going, even if it wasn’t related to what happened earlier.

“Do you think we should get dinner started?” she suggested. “I think there were some Bunnits nearby, we could go-”

“Why did you guys protect me?”

Pandoria and Zeke looked over at Milton, both of them surprised to hear him speaking up after staying silent this whole time.

“Do you really need to ask that?” Zeke questioned, his voice calm. “I think the answer should be obvious at this point.”

“My Prince just likes to help people,” Pandoria added. “That’s just the type of person he is.”

Zeke looked at Pandoria as she spoke before looking over at Milton again. “You’re just a kid, Milton,” Zeke reminded. “That girl was trying to kill you for no reason. We had to step in.”

Milton suddenly slammed a fist down, hitting the log he was sitting on. “My colony was sentenced to death!” he yelled, catching Zeke and Pandoria off guard. “I only survived because I was the coward who ran away! If Consul X really did show up to kill everyone in Colony Nu, then I ran away from my duty!” Milton lowered his head, scrunching up his face. “You two should have just let her kill me…” he muttered. “I’m not worthy of this life…”

Zeke immediately stood up. “Nobody deserves to die,” he argued. “Especially a not kid like yourself. Milton, you didn’t do anything wrong. You had a completely normal response, a lot of people probably would have run away like you did. That doesn’t make you a coward.”

Milton looked up at Zeke, but he remained silent. His eyebrows were still furrowed so it seemed like he didn’t agree with what Zeke was saying, but he also didn’t seem to have the energy to argue with him any further.

Milton looked over at the fire once again. “You two keep talking about your world,” he said. “About these things… these… ‘families’, the idea that you don’t have to fight every day just to survive…” Milton shook his head. “But look around!” he snapped. “That fantasy is not what the world is like! You two want to preach about what the world is ‘supposed’ to be like, how it’s supposed to be a happy place for everyone, but that’s not the world we live in! When are you two going to see that?!”

“Milton,” Zeke replied, his voice stern but still calm, “think about this world. Everyone lives as a soldier, fighting in an endless war with the hope that one day, they won’t have to fight again. And the only reward they get for fighting is their own deaths. Milton, is that truly the world you want to live in?” Zeke asked. “Do you really think that’s fair?”

Milton was completely silent. Zeke continued to wait for a response, but Milton never gave one. He simply turned to stare into the fire once more. With Milton seemingly not wanting to continue the argument, Zeke sat back down. Silence had filled the air once again, making things feel even more awkward. Pandoria watched as the fire burned before she stood up.

“I’m gonna go look for more firewood,” she offered. “Maybe I’ll try and grab something for us to eat, too.”

“Sounds good,” Zeke agreed.

Pandoria excused herself, walking off into the woods and leaving Zeke and Milton alone. The two of them remained silent for a while, but eventually Milton finally broke. Zeke looked over as he heard a quiet sniffle. One sniffle quickly turned into multiple snivels, and then full on tears. Zeke stared at Milton, full of heartache as he watched him cry.

“I don’t want to believe everything is a lie,” Milton rambled through his tears. “I worked so hard for everything! My whole life, I spent it fighting for my colony! We wanted nothing more than to reach Gold Rank! It… it can’t just be one big lie! It can’t!”

Zeke calmly stood up and walked over to sit next to Milton. “That girl…” Zeke said. “She confirmed it herself that this rank system was just an excuse to execute soldiers.”

“That can’t be all there is to it!” Milton yelled. “There has to be more! Our lives can’t be that worthless!” Milton’s breaths began to grow more sporadic. “My life… it has to have meaning to it, right? If the only reward we get for fighting is dying, then what’s the point of anyone’s life? What was the point of my entire life? Six years… all for nothing…”

Zeke was at a loss for words. He had no idea how to comfort Milton right now, but he knew he had to think of something. Zeke took in a deep breath. “You’re going through a rough time right now,” Zeke said in a quiet voice. “I mean… your whole life was a lie, wasn’t it?”

Milton looked at Zeke. He was unsure if Zeke’s words were supposed to make him feel better or not, but they certainly didn’t lighten the mood.

“It’s hard,” Zeke continued. “You’ve spent your entire life thinking you knew the truth, but then one day you find out that no, none of it was real. It was all one big lie. It’s difficult to readjust, having to rethink everything you thought you knew. But you will learn to move on, Milton. You can still find new meaning in your life. It’s never too late for that. And even if the truth hurts, you can learn to accept it and grow from it. Trust me.”

Milton shook his head. “How can you possibly say that?” he asked. “How can you say that it’ll be ok?”

“I’ve got more life experience than you think I do,” Zeke replied. “I’ve seen a lot of terrible things in my day, things you can’t possibly imagine. And I’ve dealt with lies before. Not to the same extent as this, but still big ones that… changed how I viewed certain things. How I viewed certain people.”

Milton was quiet for a moment. “And… you were able to move on?”

Zeke nodded. “It was hard, I bloody pissed for a while, but I did move on. I know you can, too.”

Milton sniffled again, wiping his face to try and dry it. He tried his best to calm down, but there were still a few tears running down his cheeks. Zeke sat next to him, wanting to put a comforting hand on Milton’s shoulder, but he knew Milton probably wouldn’t have appreciated it. So, Zeke just sat quietly as Milton tried to calm himself down.

“Woah!”

Zeke and Milton looked over as they heard Pandoria’s voice.

“My Prince, what did you do that made him start crying?” she interrogated.

“I didn’t do anything!” Zeke defended. “He’s had a rough day, Pandy, give him a break.”

“I don’t know,” Pandoria replied, “you’re not known for having a way with words. What did you tell him?”

“Please, you’d be more likely to make the kid cry than me!”

“You wanna make a bet on that?”

Milton sat there, watching the two of them bickering. He was caught off guard by the way they suddenly changed their demeanors, but oddly enough, it felt comforting in a way. Surprisingly, Milton found himself laughing at the two of them. His laughter quickly caught the attention of Zeke and Pandoria.

“What are you laughing at?” Zeke asked. “What’s so funny?”

“You two,” Milton replied. “You guys really do just argue over the dumbest things, don’t you?”

Pandoria smiled. “It’s good to see you actually being happy for once,” she pointed out. “Are you ok? I was under the impression you didn’t know how to be happy.”

Milton immediately frowned, his face returning to his usual grumpy look.

“Ah, there’s the Milton we know!” Pandoria joked.

“Yeah, good to see you back to normal,” Zeke teased as well.

“Ok, both of you can shut up now,” Milton said, crossing his arms.

This time, Zeke and Pandoria were the ones laughing. They were glad that they managed to lighten the mood, even if it wasn’t their initial intention.

Milton glanced over at the food Pandoria had gathered. She managed to catch a pretty big Bunnit which would easily feed the three of them, as well as a small pile of berries that he was hoping weren’t poisonous. Seeing such a large meal made Milton smile again, although it was faint and only lasted for a few seconds. He looked over at Zeke and Pandoria.

“Once we finish eating dinner,” Milton said, “I want to take the first watch tonight.”

“No way,” Pandoria denied. “Milton, you’re a kid and you’ve been through a lot today. You should get as much rest as you can.”

“You guys keep treating me like I’m not a soldier,” Milton remarked. “And it’s not like I haven’t kept watch before.”

“Pretty sure my Prince and I have been the ones to keep watch,” Pandoria reminded.

“Well before I met you guys I’ve had to stay up and keep watch plenty of times,” Milton stated. “Besides, this is the least I can do after you guys risked your lives to protect me…”

Zeke and Pandoria both blinked in surprise at Milton’s comment. Pandoria opened her mouth to try and argue against Milton, but Zeke stopped her, speaking before she could.

“Ok,” Zeke agreed. “You can take first watch.”

“Really?” Milton asked.

“You said it yourself,” Zeke replied. “You’re a soldier, not a little kid. I trust that you can handle it.”

Milton’s eyes lit up and he nodded. “Thank you, Zeke,” he said. “I promise you two will be safe.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Zeke assured.

Chapter Text

Alrest, XX years before the Intersection

Zeke had been spending a lot more time in Tantal lately, which felt a little bit weird for him. He had spent a good chunk of his life exiled from his kingdom, so the fact that he was welcomed back and was sort of expected to perform the duties of a prince felt a bit off for him. However, his responsibilities didn’t stop him from going out on adventures. He was around when he needed to be, for the most part, but otherwise he was still traveling Alrest with Pandoria, fighting monsters and helping people in need. That was just the type of person Zeke was and he wasn’t going to change that for anything.

The biggest thing that Zeke had to readjust to was his relationship with his father. It was no secret that he and Euligomenos had a bit of a strained relationship. Things had gotten better since Zeke returned to Tantal, but they still clearly disagreed on many things. Zeke had sort of accepted that he and his father would rarely see eye to eye, but he also knew that they both wanted what was best for Tantal. And in recent years, Euligomenos did actually listen to what Zeke had to say about the kingdom, well, sometimes. At the very least, he seemed more open minded than he was before.

Zeke had just arrived at the market of Theosoir with Pandoria. The two of them still weren’t used to seeing the normal shops opened up so regularly, and it put a smile on Zeke’s face as they walked past. Ever since Tantal opened up trading agreements with other countries, their economy began to flourish which was something Zeke had never witnessed in his lifetime. His home was finally learning to grow and improve after centuries of isolation.

“We gotta restock on food before we head out again,” Pandoria said. “And I’d like to have some actual variety this time.”

“Last time wasn’t so bad,” Zeke dismissed.

“Maybe for you,” Pandoria replied, “but I like eating things other than just spicy food.”

“Agree to disagree I suppose,” Zeke responded. “But we definitely need some spice to keep us warm out in the Genbu Drifts, especially at this time of year.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pandoria dismissed. “But try using that argument next time we visit Mor Ardain and you won’t get very far.”

The two of them continued looking around the market when they noticed one of the castle guards approaching them.

“Your Highness,” the guard greeted, bowing his head. “There you are!”

“Is something wrong?” Zeke asked.

“I was ordered to retrieve you,” the guard informed. “The King wishes to speak with you.”

“My dad wants to have a word with me, huh?” Zeke replied. He thought for a moment, trying to figure out what this could be about, but his mind was drawing a blank. “I’ll ask again,” Zeke said, “is something wrong?”

“I was simply told to retrieve you,” the guard explained. “I was not informed about any further details.”

“I guess this is probably important then,” Zeke decided. “My old man's not one to send a guard out just so he can chat about the weather.” He turned towards Pandoria, but before he could say anything, she spoke first.

“Go on, Prince,” she directed. “I’ll go through the market and get everything we need while you deal with this.”

Zeke nodded. “Hopefully this doesn’t take long.” He turned back towards the guard who nodded at him before leading him towards the palace.

The two of them arrived at the throne room where Euligomenos was sitting. He raised his head as he saw his son walking in behind the guard.

“Thank you,” Euligomenos said to the guard before waving his hand. The guard quietly nodded and he, along with all the other guards in the room began to leave.

Zeke looked around, confused as to why everyone was vacating the room. He then looked towards his father again. “Something going on?” he asked.

“Zeke,” Euligomenos spoke, “we need to talk.”

“I assumed that much,” Zeke replied, crossing his arms. “Usually you send guards to fetch people because you need to tell them something, not so you can just say hello and be done.”

Euligomenos stood up from his throne. “Follow me,” he instructed.

Zeke was still confused as to what his father wanted to talk to him about, but he obeyed and followed him. They walked through the palace, eventually arriving at the storage room where the lies of the royal family’s past were kept away.

Zeke narrowed his gaze slightly. “What are we doing here?” he asked.

“Tantal has changed a lot in these recent years,” Euligomenos said. “Things now are nothing like how our ancestors ruled the kingdom. Our lineage has come a long way.”

“Is that why you kept all this old stuff?” Zeke questioned. “To remember the past?”

“We must remember the past,” Euligomenos replied. “We must remember it so we can learn from it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zeke agreed. He stared at all the crates in the room, thinking for a moment before shaking his head. “Dad, I still have no idea what this is about. Did you need something from me or did you just feel like reminiscing?”

“Zeke, I am getting old,” Euligomenos said bluntly. “Tantal is a different kingdom than it was just a few years ago. We have had our borders open for years now, yet it is still a lot for many people to readjust to.”

“Makes sense,” Zeke concurred. “Tantal has always lived in isolation. And not everyone likes change, even when it’s for the better. So what, you want me to rally the people for you or something?”

Euligomenos shook his head. “It is time for you to take the throne, Zeke.”

Zeke’s eyes went wide in shock. He then abruptly let out a chuckle. “Wow, I didn’t know you had a sense of humor, old man,” he dismissed.

“I am serious, Zeke,” Euligomenos insisted. “As I said, I am getting old. Many people in Tantal are still trying to readjust to the borders being open despite how long it has been. But many people still aren’t too happy with this change. Truthfully, I believe they need a ruler who understands what the outside world is like. Someone who has spent years traveling that world.”

Zeke was utterly surprised as he realized that his father truly meant what he said. “You… You’re actually giving up the throne? This is real?”

Euligomenos nodded. “You have grown up a lot, Zeke,” he admitted. “I truly believe you will be the king that Tantal needs right now.”

Zeke looked away. “Don’t try and butter me up,” he said. “You and I both know that the way I’d run the kingdom would be far from the way you’ve done things.”

“I am well aware,” Euligomenos replied. “And I doubt that I will agree with every decision you end up making. But I must have faith in my son.”

Zeke still wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Although he now understood why his father wanted this conversation to be private. “So what,” Zeke said, “are we going to have a grand coronation or something?”

“We can make arrangements,” Euligomenos replied. “The people will want to see their new King after all.”

Zeke started thinking for a moment. “Hm… King Ozychlyrus. Eh, I’m sure it’ll grow on me,” he admitted. He was quiet for a moment, still trying to come to terms with what his father’s decision truly meant. “Assuming you don’t back out of this at the last minute,” Zeke said, “then I promise to be the best king I can be.”

“I have faith that you will do what you think is best for Tantal,” Euligomenos replied. “You will be a far greater king than those of our ancestors.”

“Ok, now I really am starting to wonder if you’ve lost it,” Zeke joked. “You’re not ancient enough to start getting delusional, old man. You’re worrying me here with these comments.”

Euligomenos sighed, shaking his head. “I suppose there are some things about you that will never change, will they?”

“Not too late for you to change your mind,” Zeke challenged.

“No, I have made my decision,” Euligomenos assured. “I don’t know yet when the throne will officially be yours, but I want you to be prepared.”

“Well thanks for the heads up I suppose,” Zeke replied, still not sounding too enthusiastic.

Euligomenos nodded before turning to leave the room. “I hope you make me proud, son,” he commented before leaving.

“Ah, there it is,” Zeke responded to his father’s slight backhanded compliment. He was now standing alone in the storage room. He glanced over at all the boxes, his expression narrowing as he stared at them. He then let out a long sigh as he still wasn’t sure how to feel about this big decision. But no matter how he felt, he knew that this was a huge responsibility. And he'd have to be prepared whether he liked it or not.

______________________________________________

A few months had passed since the group’s encounter with X. Everything that X had revealed left Zeke, Pandoria and Milton pretty shaken up, but they had done their best to move on and continue traveling Aionios.

Milton was standing near the small lake that the group had set up camp next to. He had finished washing his clothes and was now just staring at his reflection. To be more specific, he was staring at his shoulder. His term marker had turned more grey, a cruel reminder to Milton of how many years he had left.

“What are you doing?” Pandoria asked, catching Milton off guard.

Milton blinked. “Nothing,” he insisted. “I’m just finishing cleaning off.”

“Good, because we’re about ready to head out again,” Pandoria replied.

Milton nodded and gave one last glance at his reflection before following Pandoria.

“About time you finished up over there,” Zeke commented as the two of them joined up with him. “Did you have a bunch of stains you needed to wash out?”

“Excuse me, is there something wrong with wanting to be clean?” Milton questioned.

“There’s nothing wrong with your clothes getting a bit rugged and worn out,” Zeke argued as the group started walking. “It builds character.”

“If that’s how you build your character,” Milton replied, “then I think I’ll be extra thorough with my laundry.”

Pandoria laughed, much to Zeke’s annoyance. If there was one thing Zeke disliked about letting Milton join up with them, it was the fact that now he had two nay-sayers instead of just Pandoria.

“Whatever,” Zeke dismissed. “You’ll learn soon enough that I’m right.”

“Don’t worry my Prince,” Pandoria assured. “I know there’s some people out there who appreciate your… strange sense of fashion. We’ll meet them eventually, I'm sure.”

“It’s not even a fashion thing,” Milton argued. “It’s just a Zeke thing I think.”

“What does that mean?” Zeke asked. “What the hell is a ‘Zeke thing’ in your eyes?”

Milton shrugged. “Anytime you do anything that I don’t understand or bothers me, I just view it as a Zeke thing.”

Pandoria once again started laughing and Zeke’s displeasure just grew even more.

“I suppose me calling myself your ‘Uncle Zeke’ is another Zeke thing to you, huh?” Zeke commented.

“Yes, that’s number one on the list of annoying Zeke things,” Milton agreed.

“Do I at least get a pass with Aunt Pandoria?” Pandoria asked.

“What was aunt supposed to mean again?” Milton questioned.

“It’s like uncle but for ladies,” Pandoria explained.

“Ah, right,” Milton nodded. “And uncle was…?”

“Brother to a parent,” Zeke explained in simple terms.

Milton let out an annoyed groan. “See, that’s why I think this ‘family’ nonsense is stupid,” he insisted. “None of it makes sense and it’s too hard to remember what everything means.”

“Oh, and Flame Clocks and Irises are so easy to remember?” Pandoria shot back.

“Yeah, it is easy to remember,” Milton argued. “They teach you that like… first day of training.”

“Yeah, and most kids learn about families when they’re newborns,” Zeke retorted.

Milton rolled his eyes. “You guys are lucky to have me around you know,” he insisted. “Without me, you’d be lost, confused, and probably dead somewhere.”

“Wow, thanks for that assurance, Milton,” Pandoria remarked, somewhat sarcastically.

“Again, we’ve got way more experience than you give us credit for,” Zeke insisted. “I mean, I’ve been doing a great job at laying low.”

“Last week we had to run from a Kevesi Levnis because you got spotted,” Milton reminded. “All because you had to use your super ultra whatever move.”

“It’s called a Super-Ultra-Mega Move,” Zeke corrected, “and you should show more respect for your uncle and his Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash.”

Pandoria was once again laughing, although this time she was mostly laughing with Zeke rather than against him. That was one thing Pandoria greatly enjoyed about letting Milton tag along; the bickering between him and Zeke. They always got into amusing arguments and it was also nice to have someone else humbling Zeke every now and again. Although it definitely seemed like Milton could use some humbling from time to time as well.

“You know, Milton,” Zeke said, “maybe you wouldn’t find my Arts so obnoxious if you knew the true skill that went into them.”

“I mean, your Arts fit you perfectly,” Milton replied. “It makes sense that someone as snuffing loud as you would have loud Arts to match.”

“You really just have no filter for criticism, do you?” Zeke questioned.

“No, I don’t think I do,” Milton responded with a blunt tone.

The group continued wandering around for quite some time. Despite the conversation dying down a while ago, Milton was still thinking about his own Arts. He always prided himself on his combat skills, so the fact that Zeke always bragged about his own overly enthusiastic Arts really irked Milton.

“Do you guys think we could stop and do some sparring?” Milton asked out of nowhere.

“Really?” Pandoria questioned. “Milton, you want to stop and spar all the time.”

“Not all the time!” Milton argued.

“It has been a lot of times recently,” Zeke pointed out.

“I just like making sure my skills never get rusty,” Milton insisted.

“I get what you mean,” Zeke agreed. “You never want to get sloppy in a fight.”

“See, you occasionally say something smart that I agree with,” Milton said. “Now can we please do some sparring? Maybe just fight a couple of monsters or something?”

Zeke looked over at Pandoria for an answer. Pandoria met Zeke’s gaze and sighed as she knew Zeke also wanted to do some sparring. He always did.

“Fine, go for it,” Pandoria gave in.

“Ha ha!” Zeke cheered. “Come on Milton, I’ll show you how a real swordsman fights!” Zeke pulled out his Big Bang Edge and immediately ran off to practice his moves.

“He realizes I use a naginata and not a sword, right?” Milton questioned.

“I’m sure he does,” Pandoria insisted. “He’s just not always smart with his choice of words.”

The two of them stood back as they watched Zeke practicing his moves. His commotion eventually caught the attention of a small flock of Skwarors who immediately swarmed him. They didn’t seem too threatening, so Pandoria and Milton continued staying back while Zeke fought them off as they knew he could handle this on his own.

“You see, that’s the thing with Zeke’s fighting style that I don’t get,” Milton pointed out. “He clearly values style over substance. Doing that is gonna get him killed one day.”

“My Prince is a lot harder to knock down than you’d think,” Pandoria commented. “I mean, you remember the cliff incident, right?”

“Ok yeah,” Milton admitted, “but that’s different.”

“Well again, it’s not the first time he’s fallen off of a cliff,” Pandoria commented. “Actually, the first time we met your dad he ended up falling off a cliff.”

“Did he cause the cliff to crumble?” Milton asked.

“Yep,” Pandoria confirmed. “I was actually caught up in the crossfire that time, falling down with him.”

“Yikes,” Milton commented.

“And then the next time we ran into your dad, we got chased by a boulder,” Pandoria reminisced.

“Did Zeke-”

“Yes, he caused the boulder to fall,” Pandoria responded before Milton could even finish his question. “You’d never believe how unlucky that man can be until you’ve seen it yourself. Oh, one time, he almost caused some political tension because he was late to a royal summit. The reason he was late was because he got ambushed by a swarm of Vangs and ended up lost in a cave for hours. That wouldn’t have been a problem if he had actual guards with him, but he insisted that he didn’t need any and he could handle things on his own. We got everything sorted out though.”

“Oi! Are you telling him about the Vang incident?!” Zeke questioned, turning his attention away from the Skwarkors for a brief moment. He then quickly returned his attention towards the monsters so he could keep fending them off. “Why do you always have to yap about my mishaps?!”

“Well I’m always getting dragged into your mishaps!” Pandoria replied, speaking loudly so Zeke could hear her over the Skwarkors. “If I gotta deal with your crazy adventures, then I’m gonna tell the fun stories that come with them!”

Zeke struck the Skwarkors with one last attack, and they seemed to back off. They stared at Zeke for a moment before turning and fleeing. Zeke sheathed his weapon and wiped some sweat off of his forehead.

“Alright, how was that?” Zeke asked.

“You did great, my Prince!” Pandoria complimented.

“Except for the part where they got away,” Milton disagreed.

“Hey, there’s no shame in showing mercy,” Zeke argued. “Although I suppose you were never taught to show mercy, were you?” his voice went a bit quieter.

“Of course not,” Milton replied. “Mercy is just another word for weakness.”

Zeke sighed. “Those Consuls or whatever really did a number on the minds of you soldiers, huh?”

Milton looked away at the mention of the Consuls. Part of him regretted telling Zeke and Pandoria more about the colonies and the Consuls, but he figured they needed to know more about how things worked in Aionios, especially after their encounter with X.

“Whatever, we won’t talk about it right now,” Zeke quickly changed the subject. “Milton, why don’t you show off your moves? You were the one who wanted to spar in the first place after all.”

Milton blinked, staring at Zeke for a moment before summoning his weapon and walking forward. “Gladly,” he said.

Zeke stood back, standing next to Pandoria while they waited for Milton to show off his abilities. It was the closest thing they found to something Milton had fun doing, so they figured indulging him a little bit would be good for him in the long run.

“Get ready to see what actual skill looks like,” Milton insisted as he readied his weapon and prepared to show off his Arts.

Chapter Text

Zeke and Pandoria waited quietly for Milton to demonstrate his moves, but Milton was just standing still, holding his naginata. Neither of them knew if he was intentionally making them wait or if he just needed time to prepare, but they were starting to get a little impatient.

“Are you gonna do anything or not?” Pandoria asked.

“Give me a second!” Milton replied snappily. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before he started swinging his weapon around elegantly. His strikes were quick and precise, despite him not really having an actual target. It almost looked like a performance with how nimble Milton moved on his feet. However, there didn’t seem to be much power behind Milton’s strikes. Instead, they appeared quick and small.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Zeke asked. “Where’s the oomph?”

“The oomph?” Milton questioned. “Tch, unlike you, I care about the practicality of my attacks. Getting in multiple quick moves is more important than one large attack that might not even kill the enemy.”

“Boring!” Zeke groaned. “What about your Arts? Those are pretty flashy.”

“My Arts are not flashy!” Milton immediately got defensive.

“Really?” Zeke questioned. “Because I seem to remember you creating a ball of light that shot out bursts of energy, and if that’s not flashy then I don’t know what is.”

“It’s practical!” Milton continued arguing. “Flashy is you yelling the dumb names of your attacks as you slam your bright sparking sword down onto the ground!”

“My names are not dumb!” Zeke retaliated. “They’re cool.” His tone shifted to match his confidence.

Milton looked extremely annoyed with Zeke at this point. He looked over towards Pandoria for some support. “Pandoria, help me out here.”

“I have to side with my Prince on this one,” Pandoria decided. “You don’t get Arts as cool as his. Although his names for things can be a lot sometimes…”

“You know what your problem is, Milton?” Zeke asked.

“Oh, please tell me what my problem is,” Milton replied sarcastically. “I’d love to know what you think it is.”

“Your problem is that you don’t have an awesome finisher move,” Zeke explained. “You need to have a big move that you use to show off your incredible power! That way you can instill fear into your enemies!”

Milton looked completely disinterested in Zeke’s advice. “I don’t think I need anything like that.”

“No no no,” Zeke denied, “I’m not sitting back while you make yourself look like a weakling. Come on, I’ll show you how I do my Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash. Maybe then you can get some ideas.”

“I do not need to learn how to do your Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash,” Milton continued trying to oppose.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, Milton,” Zeke insisted. “Not just anyone gets the luxury of being taught by the Bringer of Chaos, Zeke von Genbu himself.”

“I can’t believe you’re teaching Milton how to use the Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash before your own daughter,” Pandoria said.

“I would have gotten around to teaching Linka if this whole mess didn’t happen!” Zeke asserted, gesturing his arms out wide. He then put his hands on his hips. “Besides, I taught her the basics, didn’t I? Anyway, Milton,” Zeke turned his attention back towards his newfound student. He unsheathed his Big Bang Edge as he prepared his demonstration. “It’s all about keeping your balance.”

Milton rolled his eyes before crossing his arms as he watched Zeke. It seemed like the disinterested look on his face wouldn’t be going away any time soon, but Milton also knew that Zeke wasn’t going to back down at this point. He very rarely did.

“You’ve got to make sure your stance is proper, otherwise you won’t get enough air when you jump up,” Zeke continued instructing. “Although your weapon seems a lot lighter, so you probably won’t have as much trouble with it.” Zeke glanced over at Milton for a moment. “We really should work on building your muscles sometime.”

Milton’s face recoiled in offense to Zeke’s out of nowhere comment.

“Anyway,” Zeke continued, “once you put it all together, it should look something like this!” Zeke raised his sword into the air as it sparked with lightning. “Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash! MAX!” he yelled as he jumped into the air and slammed his sword back down, just like he had instructed. The bright burst of power shook the ground slightly, but luckily they weren’t around any cliffs or unstable ground that would cause concern. Zeke then turned back towards Milton. “See? Just like that.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll be sticking with what I know,” Milton replied.

“What was that? Did you hear that?”

The group all tensed up as they heard someone in the distance. They didn’t recognize the voice, so they knew it probably wasn’t a good sign.

“Crap!” Milton muttered. “Sounded like some soldiers! We gotta get away from here!”

“Over there!” Pandoria pointed. “We can hide behind that rock!”

The other two nodded and the three of them rushed over to the hiding spot. As soon as they were hidden, they could hear the sounds of footsteps running around. It definitely sounded like it was a pretty big group of people.

“Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself, Zeke,” Milton said in a whisper. “It’s almost like everything I said about your obnoxious moves being loud enough to give away our position was true!”

“Hey!” Zeke snapped back, also in an angry whisper. “You cannot stop the Zekenator from Zekenating!”

“What does that even mean?!” Milton questioned.

“Would both of you shut up!” Pandoria hushed them. “Do you guys want to be found?!”

“Over here!” one of the soldiers called over, causing the group to tense up again.

Looking around, the group realized they didn’t really have anywhere else to hide. They’d have to run for it, but even that would be risky.

“We’ve gotta split up,” Milton decided. “It’ll be easier for us to escape if they have three different targets to chase down.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Zeke agreed. “We’ll all split off in different directions to confuse them and then meet back up once everything clears, got it?”

“Are you sure?” Pandoria asked.

“We’ll be fine, Pandy,” Zeke assured. “Just don’t get caught.”

“That's easier said than done…” Pandoria muttered.

The footsteps started to get louder, so the group realized they didn’t have any more time to argue about the plan.

“Run!” Milton ordered.

The three of them all ran out from behind the rock, each of them going in different directions.

“What the?” one of the soldiers questioned. Their whole group was caught off guard as these three strangers suddenly sprinted away.

“After them!” one of the other soldiers demanded. “Don’t let them get away!”

Milton refused to look behind him as he kept running. He knew that if he looked back, it would just slow him down. However, he did notice that he didn’t hear the soldiers as much anymore, so it seemed like he was making a good escape. There weren't a lot of places to hide within this open field, but Milton did spot a tree that he would probably be able to climb and hide in. Once he got closer, he jumped up, grabbing onto a low branch and swinging himself up into the tree.

Milton took a moment to catch his breath as he looked around. He pushed away some leaves to get a better look at things and managed to spot the soldiers. He quickly noticed that they all wore Agnian armor, which probably explained why they weren’t chasing him. They clearly wouldn't have had as much interest in one of their own as opposed to possible enemies.

I wonder if they thought Zeke and Pandoria were from Keves… Milton thought. He tried to see where Zeke and Pandoria had run off to, but it was difficult to tell with how spread out the soldiers were. Milton then took a moment to check his Iris to try and get more information on this colony and where they were set up.

I’m guessing this is Colony Iota, Milton theorized. But I don’t think their base is nearby… 

Milton noticed that the group of soldiers seemed to be moving out. He couldn’t tell much from a distance, but they definitely seemed like they were leaving the area. Milton decided to climb down from the tree and head back. It didn’t take Milton very long to run into Pandoria. As soon as Pandoria spotted him, she started running over.

“Milton! You’re safe!” she said.

“Yeah, I don’t think they chased me at all,” Milton explained. “They were from Agnus, so I don’t think they saw me as a threat.”

“I had to shock a few of them to get them off my tail,” Pandoria revealed, “but I got out just fine.” She then looked around. “Did you see Zeke nearby?”

“No, just you,” Milton replied.

“Hm…” Pandoria responded. She noticed a nearby hill and decided to head towards it to try and get a better view of the area. Milton followed her so they could both scope things out. As soon as they reached the top of the hill, they could spot the group of Agnian soldiers making their retreat. Pandoria let out a gasp.

“They’ve got Zeke!” she yelled, pointing at the soldiers.

Milton looked over and realized Pandoria was right. Somehow, the soldiers managed to capture Zeke and were now leading him away, seemingly towards their colony. It was hard to get a clear picture as the soldiers had already made good distance, but Milton had to assume that Zeke’s arms were tied up, otherwise he probably would have tried fighting back.

Milton sighed, shaking his head. “He’s a goner.”

“What was that?” Pandoria asked.

“Well they’re definitely not keeping him alive,” Milton explained. “If they think he’s from Keves, then they’re gonna kill him. I’m sorry Pandoria, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“Nothing we can do?!” Pandoria questioned, clear anger in her voice now. “We’re not sitting down and giving up! Zeke is in danger!” Pandoria quickly turned and started stomping back down the hill.

“Pandoria, come on,” Milton tried to stop her. “This is a pointless mission! I wouldn’t be surprised if they kill Zeke right now while we’re not looking. Again, no reason for them not to if they think it will fill their clocks.”

“You shut up right now!” Pandoria immediately snapped back. “Zeke’s not dead. If I’m still alive, then so is he.”

“Huh?” Milton questioned.

“I don’t have time to explain,” Pandoria replied. “Let’s just say that my Prince and I have a deep, special bond with each other. I know when he’s still alive.”

Milton was still confused, but he also realized Pandoria had other things on her mind right now, so continuing to ask her for an in depth explanation wouldn’t be a smart idea. He just decided to keep quiet about his curiosity for now.

“Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Pandoria started planning. “We’re gonna follow those soldiers back to their colony, and then we’ll bust in there and rescue my Prince!”

Milton shook his head. “For the last time, there’s no point,” he argued, starting to get annoyed. “Zeke is as good as dead, and if we wanna stay alive then we should-”

“I’m not taking any sass from you right now, Milton!” Pandoria yelled sharply. 

Milton froze up, clearly caught off guard by Pandoria suddenly snapping at him like that.

“You got to deal with your fun Uncle Zeke, yeah?” Pandoria continued. “Well now you’ve gotta deal with your pissed off Aunt Pandoria, so you better get your ass in gear and stop complaining! We are saving my Prince, end of story.”

“Uh- yes ma’am,” Milton agreed, quickly standing straight and nodding. He wasn’t used to seeing Pandoria act this serious and forceful, so it was clear to him that he needed to listen to her.

“Good,” Pandoria said. “Now, any idea where these guys’ are headed to?”

Milton clicked his Iris to check the surrounding area. “My best guess is them being from Colony Iota,” he informed. “Their base is pretty far from here, but they’re the closest Agnian colony.”

“Think you could lead the way there?”

Milton looked over the map in more detail. “Yeah, I can find a path,” he insisted. “Although going on the main trail might take a bit longer. It’ll be risky, but we might be able to get there faster by taking a shortcut.”

“Shortcut it is then,” Pandoria replied immediately.

Milton was a little worried as Pandoria hadn’t even asked for extra details before making her decision, but he also didn’t want to argue. And it wasn’t like the risk was too high, they would just have to navigate some tricky territory and maybe deal with a few more monsters. It wasn’t anything that the two of them couldn’t handle.

“Alright, let’s head out then,” Milton decided.

Pandoria nodded and the two of them started their chase, trying to move as quickly as they could. After all, they didn’t know how long those soldiers would keep Zeke alive for or whether or not he’d be able to defend himself against all of them at once.

______________________________________________

Zeke felt extremely humiliated that he managed to be captured by these soldiers so easily. He was usually better than this, but maybe he was just having an off day today. He liked thinking it was that and not because he had managed to trip on a rock while running from them. There were also a lot of them, so that didn’t help his chances either.

The soldiers had tied Zeke’s wrists together with his arms behind him so he couldn’t fight back. One of the soldiers had a lance pointed at the back of his head the entire time while two more walked on either side of him. The rest of the group walked ahead or behind, making him completely surrounded at every angle.

“So,” Zeke spoke up, “what’s your deal? What do you want from me?”

“Quiet!” the one holding the lance ordered. “You keep your mouth shut or else we might change our mind about keeping you alive.”

Zeke decided to play by their rules, keeping silent from now on. He was smart enough to know when he was in a dangerous situation. He was just hoping that he’d be able to find a way out of it so he could get back to Pandoria and Milton. He had no idea if the two of them had made it out safely or not, but he was trying his best not to dwell on those negative possibilities. He needed to keep a level head right now.

“Why is it that we’re taking this guy prisoner again?” one of the soldiers asked. “Why not kill him now and take his life for our own?”

“He had an Agnian with him,” the other soldier reminded. “I'm sure the commander would be curious about that. We’ve got to be smart about this. Besides, if we can interrogate him and get answers out of him, we’ll have a much bigger advantage against Keves.”

So that’s what this is about, Zeke thought. I guess I should have figured. From what I picked up from Milton, this war is all these children ever think about… Zeke’s brow became furrowed as he thought about it more. Any time this war between Keves and Agnus was brought up, it just put Zeke in a sour mood.

“I still think this is a dumb idea,” the soldier commented. “I mean, why would a Kevesi soldier give up intel?”

“That’s why we’ve got to make them give us intel,” the other soldier replied.

“And what if we don’t get anything out of him? He looks like he’s pretty tough…”

Zeke couldn’t help but smirk slightly at that small comment.

“Then we kill him, simple.”

Zeke’s smirk immediately went away. “You lot realize I’m not from Keves, right?” he questioned.

“What did we say?” the soldier asked with a threatening tone. “No talking until we take you to the commander!”

Eh, worth a shot, Zeke thought. But I guess it really is in my best interest to keep my mouth shut for now… Zeke narrowed his gaze and stared at the ground while he continued walking with the group of soldiers. I just hope Pandy and Milton are safe…

Chapter Text

Pandoria and Milton climbed over some rocks as they continued heading towards Colony Iota. The terrain was pretty rough, but it was a much quicker route compared to the main path. Milton had expected Pandoria to complain, even just a little bit about some of the rough terrain, but she remained fully focused on the main goal. Milton still wasn’t used to seeing her this serious and determined about something.

The two of them were at the top of a hill that overlooked a lot of the surrounding area. They could easily spot Colony Iota’s base nearby and were also able to see the soldiers they had encountered before. They still had Zeke with them as they arrived which meant they still had time to rescue him.

Pandoria narrowed her eyes slightly. “Looks like we’ll have no choice but to break into the base,” she said. “Milton, where do you think they’ll be keeping him?”

“I’ve got no clue,” Milton admitted. “My colony never took captives, we killed on sight. It’s possible they’re taking him to their commander, but I’m not sure.” Milton placed a hand over his mouth as he started thinking of a potential plan. However, Pandoria already had something in mind.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” she started. “We rush in there and try to overpower them with a surprise attack!”

“That’s a stupid plan,” Milton immediately shot down. “Do you realize how outnumbered we’d be?”

“That’s why we gotta surprise them,” Pandoria insisted. “Besides, you haven’t thought of anything yet, have you?”

Milton opened his mouth to object, but he quickly shut it as he didn’t actually have a rebuttal.

“See? Just as I thought,” Pandoria said.

“Why are you so worried anyway?” Milton asked. “I thought you said Zeke was a lot harder to kill than he looks.”

“Yeah, but I’m not there to keep an eye on him,” Pandoria replied.

“I mean… you weren’t there when he fell off that cliff,” Milton reminded. “You didn’t seem too worried back then.”

Pandoria shook her head. “That was different.”

“How so?”

“Milton, we really don’t have time to argue over this!” Pandoria reminded. “My Prince is in danger!”

“Right, sorry,” Milton apologized before he went back to thinking of an actual plan. His eyes focused on the main gate of the colony. That was the only easy entrance as the base was pretty well protected by the rocky environment surrounding it.

“Our only way in is through the main entrance,” Milton began explaining. “We’d have to take out the guards, but seeing how there’s only two of them, I think we can easily deal with them.”

“I agree,” Pandoria replied.

“But once we’re in the base itself,” Milton continued, “there’s no telling what could happen.”

“So, what do you think we should do?” Pandoria asked.

Milton thought for a moment. “If we just start causing a huge commotion, that could distract everyone long enough for us to find Zeke and break him out. It would be risky, but it’s probably our best chance since we don’t know the layout of their base or where Zeke would be.”

“Alright then,” Pandoria agreed. “Guess we’ll go with that.”

“Ok, you can try to distract the soldiers while I look for Zeke,” Milton offered. “I’d have a better chance figuring out where things are, so I should be able to find him easier.”

“No way,” Pandoria denied. “I’ll find him.”

Milton blinked. “What?” he questioned. “I literally just explained why I’d be better at finding him.”

Pandoria shook her head before she placed a hand over the crystal in her chest. “I’ve got a special connection to my Prince,” she explained. “Even if I don’t know the layout of the place, I should be able to track him down.”

Milton was skeptical, but he also felt like he could trust Pandoria’s judgment here. She had been acting extra serious this whole time, so he figured she had to actually mean it when she said she could track Zeke down.

“Besides,” Pandoria added, “you’re great at fighting. You can probably handle fending off those soldiers better than I could. And you’re an Agnian like them, right? That should help.”

“Huh, I guess you have a point…” Milton admitted. He looked towards the base again. “Alright, just to recap,” he said, “we take out the guards up front and rush into the base. Then I start causing a mess to distract everyone while you look for Zeke. Got all that?”

Pandoria nodded, and Milton nodded as well.

“Ok,” Milton said, “let’s bring them some chaos.”

Pandoria blinked, giving Milton a surprised look before smirking. “I like the sound of that!”

______________________________________________

Zeke wasn’t given much time to look around this colony base as he was immediately led towards a big tent. He had to assume this tent was important due to how much larger it was compared to everything else, but he really had no way of knowing for sure.

“Commander!” the soldier leading Zeke around spoke. “We found this Kevesi scum wandering around with an Agnian soldier and someone else.”

“For the last time, I’m not- oh whatever,” Zeke started, only to realize how pointless it would be to continue trying to argue his allegiance.

“Weird…” the commander commented. “I’ve never seen a Kevesi soldier looking like this… You lose your helmet or something?”

Zeke glared quietly at the commander.

The commander stood straight and crossed her arms. “What colony are you from?”

“I’m not from any colony,” Zeke answered. “Although I doubt you’d believe that.”

“Well you’re right, I don’t believe that,” the commander agreed.

“Look, I’m not like you,” Zeke insisted. “I’m not part of this war. I don’t even have one of those… what did Milton call them? Term markers?”

The commander and the soldier looked at each other for a moment. The soldier then looked at Zeke again, glaring at him.

“You could easily be hiding it,” the soldier argued.

“Go ahead and check if you don’t believe me then,” Zeke responded.

“Hm…” the commander replied before she shook her head. “Next question,” she said, “what were you doing with that Agnian soldier?”

“You mean Milton?”

“Is that his name?”

“Look, Milton’s on my side,” Zeke explained. “My partner and I found him alone in a forest. We saved him from some Kevesi soldiers who were giving him a rough time. Seriously, I don’t mean any harm to you or your colony.”

The commander had a perplexed look on her face as she thought about Zeke’s story. She let out a sigh. “Look, I want to believe you,” she admitted, “really I do. But I can’t.”

Zeke was taken aback. “Why not?” he asked.

“Because it doesn’t make any sense,” the commander explained. “Why would a lone Agnian soldier just abandon his colony to follow a pair of strangers with no stake in the war?”

“Milton didn’t abandon his colony,” Zeke corrected, his expression turning more grim. “They were wiped out completely.”

The commander blinked. “What do you mean?” she asked. “What colony was he from?”

“Colony Nu.”

Both the commander and the soldier gave Zeke a shocked expression. They both turned to look at each other before looking at Zeke again.

“Colony Nu?” the commander questioned. “What do you mean they were wiped out? Didn’t they reach Gold Rank a few months ago?”

“How could Keves overpower them like that?” the soldier added.

Zeke shook his head. “It wasn’t Keves that wiped them out.”

“What?” the commander replied. “What are you going on about? What else could have wiped out a colony like Nu?”

Zeke had a stern expression on his face. “You have absolutely no clue what’s actually going on around here.”

______________________________________________

The two guards standing outside of Colony Iota didn’t seem to be very alert. Not that they weren’t scanning the area for possible dangers, but they weren’t as observant as they probably should have been. Without warning, a massive blast of electricity shot down from above, knocking both the guards out in an instant. Pandoria and Milton stepped out from their hiding spot, Milton completely shocked at the guards being taken out so easily.

“Wow, you didn’t even need me,” Milton commented.

Pandoria smiled. “I’m a lot stronger than I look,” she replied.

Pandoria and Milton walked up to the entrance, poking their heads in to get a better look at the general area. Things seemed pretty open inside the base and there weren’t a lot of people walking around.

Milton took in a deep breath before he turned to Pandoria. “You remember the plan?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” Pandoria assured. “I’ll find Zeke, you just keep everyone else distracted.”

Milton nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Milton readied his naginata and rushed into the base. Pandoria waited for a moment before she snuck in after him. Milton immediately shot out a blast of light towards a nearby container, blowing it up and quickly drawing attention from everyone around.

“Intruder!” someone shouted, causing all the nearby soldiers to grab their weapons.

Milton became surrounded by soldiers who quickly attacked him, but Milton was able to easily dodge their attacks. He proved to be quite nimble on his feet, which is just what this plan needed.

One soldier jabbed their weapon towards Milton, but Milton used his naginata to block the attack before twirling it around to disarm the soldier. Before the soldier could react, Milton pushed him away with the blunt end of his weapon.

Another soldier ran at Milton, so Milton stabbed his naginata into the ground and used it as leverage so he could spin around and kick the soldier away from him. As more soldiers surrounded him, Milton raised his weapon into the air, creating a large ball of light that briefly blinded his attackers.

“Agh!” the soldiers grunted as they flinched away.

As the soldiers’ eyes readjusted, one of them was able to finally recognize Milton. They let out a gasp. “It’s the Agnian soldier!” they revealed. “The one we saw while scouting! What are you doing? We’re on the same side, why are you attacking us?”

Milton was slightly taken aback and wondered whether or not he should try to explain things. But he remembered that his main goal right now was to distract them. Milton narrowed his eyes and readied his naginata again, pointing it at the soldiers.

“You assholes took an innocent person prisoner!” Milton interrogated.

“We took a Kevesi soldier prisoner,” one Agnian argued.

Milton shook his head. “You idiots! He’s not from Keves or Agnus!”

The group of soldiers all let out confused mumbles as they looked at each other. They then readied their weapons again.

“He looked like he was from Keves.”

“Yeah, I know,” Milton admitted, “his clothes aren’t doing him many favors. But believe me, he’s not your enemy.”

The soldiers still looked skeptical. “What colony are you from?” one of them asked.

Milton narrowed his eyes. “I’m the last survivor of Colony Nu,” he said coldly.

______________________________________________

The commander was pacing back and forth as Zeke watched her.

“No…” she muttered. “None of this makes any sense!”

“It’s the truth,” Zeke insisted. “This whole war is just a game created by a bunch of lunatics taking pleasure from everyone dying. I mean, this colony is filled with kids scrambling to fight a pointless war! You lot are fighting for no real reason!”

“You really think we’d believe that?” the commander questioned. “You’re meaning to tell us that the Consuls are the enemy and not Keves? Do you truly think that we’d believe you when you say that the ranking system is a lie? That everything is a lie?”

“Maybe he really is from Keves,” the soldier suggested. “He’s trying to confuse us from the inside.”

“Ok, before you jump to any drastic conclusions,” Zeke said, “let me ask you one thing. Why exactly are you so against Keves anyway?”

“Because Keves is the enemy,” the commander replied without hesitation.

“Right,” Zeke responded, “and who was it that decided they were the enemy? And for what reason?”

The commander remained silent. Eventually, she simply shook her head and pulled out her weapon.

“If you continue to give us useless lies,” she threatened, “then we’ll just end your life right here, right now.”

“Oh, I’m not ready to die just yet,” Zeke retorted.

The commander’s grip on her weapon tightened, but before she could decide anything, she was interrupted as a soldier rushed into the tent in a panic.

“Commander! We’re under attack!” the soldier informed.

“What?!” the commander questioned. “What’s going on? Who’s attacking?”

Before the soldier could respond, a massive jolt of electricity shot through them and they fell over, unconscious. The commander stared at their comrade in surprise before looking over at his attacker who was still pointing her wand forwards.

The other soldier that had been with the commander quickly rushed towards Pandoria, but she easily zapped him as well, knocking him down. Pandoria then ran into the tent, quickly shooting a blast towards the commander, but she quickly dodged out of the way.

“Pandy!” Zeke greeted excitedly. “Oh, I’ve never been more happy to see your face!”

“Happy to see you too, my Prince,” Pandoria replied as she continued fighting the commander. “But I’m also sort of busy right now.”

“Right, I’ll let you deal with that,” Zeke assured, sitting back and watching the fight. Not that he could join in anyways as he was still tied up.

The commander sliced her sword at Pandoria, but the Blade quickly recovered after wincing slightly. She shot a quick jolt towards the commander and successfully stunned her for a moment. She then smacked her away with her wand to get even more distance between the two. After that, Pandoria quickly turned towards Zeke and began untying his restraints.

The commander shook her head, recovering from Pandoria’s attack, but her eyes went wide once she realized Zeke was now free. Zeke pulled out his sword, pointing it at the commander.

“Now, you can make this easy and just let us walk away from here,” Zeke offered, “or, you can drag this out and make it longer than it needs to be.”

The commander narrowed her eyes and she readied her sword. She yelled out as she rushed at the duo.

“Doing this the hard way I see,” Zeke commented. His sword clashed against the commander’s, the two of them quickly getting into a full fight. Their swords continued clanging together aggressively, the commander managing to give Zeke some trouble. However, the fight didn’t last very long as Pandoria sent out another large blast from her wand. The commander was shocked once more, and in an instant, she was knocked unconscious along with the two other soldiers.

Zeke and Pandoria took a moment to catch their breaths as they stared at the soldiers laying on the ground. They weren’t dead, Pandoria made sure they’d only be incapacitated, but they still looked pretty roughed up.

Zeke was still staring at the soldiers when he was caught off guard by Pandoria suddenly wrapping her arms around him. Zeke was stunned for a moment, but he managed to catch Pandoria as she lunged at him, spinning with her as she cheered.

“I was so worried about you!” Pandoria admitted as they hugged.

“Really now?” Zeke asked in a teasing tone. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

Pandoria chuckled and stared up at Zeke. The two of them leaned in, kissing each other for a moment before a loud blast from outside interrupted the moment.

“You know, now’s probably not the best time for that,” Zeke realized.

“Yeah, that can wait,” Pandoria agreed.

______________________________________________

Milton continued fighting off the group of soldiers while still arguing against them.

“Would you listen to me?!” Milton yelled. “Everything we knew before was a lie!”

“You’re the one who’s lying!” one soldier argued. “The Consuls wouldn’t just wipe out their own colony!”

Milton shoved the soldier back with his naginata. “I saw it with my own damn eyes!” he shouted. “This entire war with Keves is pointless! We have no reason to fight them other than dying!”

The soldier shook his head. “You must’ve been fed lies by that Kevesi soldier!”

Milton grunted angrily as he wasn’t getting anywhere with these soldiers. No matter what he said, they wouldn’t listen. Milton pointed his naginata towards the ground before spinning in a circle. A wave of light appeared around him and knocked all the soldiers away. Milton then took this moment to make an escape.

He kept his eyes on the soldiers for a moment before looking ahead where he saw Zeke and Pandoria. His eyes lit up and he started running faster to catch up to them.

“Woah there, Milton,” Zeke said as the group reunited. “You’ve made a proper mess out here!”

“Whatever, they deserved it!” Milton argued.

“Uh, guys?” Pandoria said. “Not to ruin the reunion, but we’re not exactly out of the woods just yet.”

A large group of soldiers were running towards the group, blocking off their path to the exit. Every soldier had their weapons ready and they all looked extremely pissed.

“Hey, come on now, we don’t need a fight,” Zeke tried to reason with them.

“Then how come that asshole ran in and started one!” one of the soldiers yelled, pointing at Milton.

Zeke looked over at Milton. “Really? Wow, everyone’s acting out of character today, aren’t they?” he joked. He then let out a sigh and pulled out his sword once more. “Well, looks like the Zekenator’s gotta clean things up around here.”

Zeke ran towards the hoard of soldiers, preparing to clear a path for everyone. He readied his sword, but the soldiers quickly surrounded him and easily knocked him back with their weapons. Zeke tried to recover, but he was far too outnumbered. 

“My Prince!” Pandoria yelled out, her voice full of worry. She quickly prepared her wand for a counterattack, but stopped as she saw Milton was already running towards the soldiers.

Milton’s face was full of determination and his naginata began to glow with power. Milton jumped up into the air, raising his blade above his head. “Blinding Heaven Slash!” Milton shouted before swinging his weapon back towards the ground. As soon as his naginata hit the earth, a giant blast of light erupted from the weapon. All the nearby soldiers were either knocked away or blinded by the attack, creating an opening for the group to escape.

“Come on!” Milton ordered before he began running.

Zeke ended up stunned by Milton’s attack, but luckily Pandoria was quick to help him back on his feet. Zeke shook his head to clear his mind before the two of them ran after Milton. By the time the soldiers recovered from Milton’s attack, they were too late. The group was already reaching the exit of the base and they continued running further.

Zeke’s eyes were locked on Milton as the group continued sprinting away from Colony Iota. Blinding Heaven Slash, huh? Zeke thought before smirking. The kid really is a fast learner.

Chapter Text

Alrest, XX years before the Intersection

Zeke’s feet slid across the dirt as the powerful attack knocked him back. However, he wasn’t down and out just yet. As his attacker jumped towards him, Zeke blocked him with the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher, sparks flying off the sword as the weapons clashed together.

“Urgh-” Zeke grunted. “You’re getting a lot better at dual wielding those Aegis swords there, chum.”

“Hey, I’m still getting warmed up!” Rex replied.

Zeke and Pandoria were in Leftheria paying Rex and the others a visit. It was meant to be a calm, casual get together, but it was no surprise that Zeke ended up asking Rex to spar with him. And Rex had happily agreed, saying that it would be smart to test his skills against such a powerful Driver.

Zeke readied his sword, slashing it towards Rex, but Rex held Zeke’s weapon back with both Aegis swords in a cross formation. He then abruptly moved out of the way, catching Zeke off balance.

“Woah!” Zeke yelped as he stumbled. “Heh, did Mòrag teach you that one, too?”

“Nah, that’s something I picked up on my own,” Rex responded.

“Ha ha! You’re a tricky one, you know that?” Zeke replied. “Although maybe I’d be holding my own better if my Blade were by my side!” Zeke turned to look over at Pandoria sitting at a nearby table, watching the fight along with Pyra and Mythra.

“You know fully well that if you guys had us lending our power then you’d go completely overboard and cause a bunch of damage to the village!” Pandoria argued.

“Besides,” Mythra added, “it’s actually kinda fun to sit back and watch the fighting for once.”

“Whatever, your loss,” Zeke dismissed. “Say chum, ready to get back to it?”

“Sure thing, Zeke,” Rex agreed.

The two of them went back to swinging their swords at each other while their Blades sat back to watch the show.

Pandoria let out a sigh. “So much for peace and quiet,” she said before taking a sip of her tea.

“Were you expecting anything less with Zeke around?” Mythra questioned. “I don’t think that guy knows anything but loud.”

“I’m sure Zeke isn’t loud all the time,” Pyra insisted.

“No, Mythra’s right,” Pandoria disagreed. “If he’s not yelling from the rooftops, then there’s probably something wrong with him.”

“Pyra and I are lucky,” Mythra commented. “I don’t think I’d be able to handle being Zeke’s Blade. I’d get a headache every day having to deal with him.”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it, Mythra,” Pandoria replied. “The only reason I haven’t completely lost it is because I’m used to his antics. I’ve had years of practice.”

“It really is admirable,” Pyra said. “You’ve stuck by his side during everything. I’m sure he appreciates that a lot.”

Pandoria smiled before taking another sip of her tea. “He doesn’t always show it super clearly,” she admitted, “but yeah, I know he loves me.”

“You two are honestly adorable,” Pyra complimented.

“Stop it, Pyra,” Pandoria dismissed. “You’re not usually the one to start teasing.”

“I’m not teasing,” Pyra insisted, immediately getting worried that she had come off the wrong way. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Oh, relax,” Pandoria cut her off. “You didn’t mean anything by it.” Pandoria went back to watching the sparring match for a moment before she continued the conversation. “Oh, I was meaning to ask,” she said, “but where’s Nia at?”

“Nia’s out in Gormott,” Mythra explained. “Her and Dromarch wanted to take a trip there, they won’t be back for a few more days.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Pandoria replied. “Shame though, I haven’t seen her in a while. And I know my Prince would have liked catching up with her, too.”

“You can always come visit when she gets back,” Mythra reminded. “There’s really nothing stopping you.”

“Uh, there is when you’re the King of Tantal,” Pandoria responded. “Zeke’s a lot busier than he used to be.”

“He can find time,” Mythra argued.

“Yeah, yeah, I know he would,” Pandoria agreed. “I swear, sometimes it feels like I care more about his royal duties than he does… But I guess since I’m the Blade of the King, that does give me some authority around Tantal.”

“And you’re sort of the Queen as well, right?” Pyra asked. “You know, since you and Zeke are-”

“Ha ha!” Pandoria laughed nervously, interrupting Pyra. Her face turned red and she quickly drank more tea to avoid the topic. Sure, the relationship that Pandoria and Zeke had together was no secret, but Pandoria still felt weird whenever anyone tried to refer to her as the Queen of Tantal. After all, she was still Zeke's Blade, and not everyone would accept her as true royalty no matter what the King said.

The conversation went a little quiet after that as the Blades started watching their Drivers again. Mythra looked a little upset about something, but it was unclear what it was. Pyra was the one to notice her discomfort.

“Mythra?” Pyra questioned.

“What?” Mythra responded.

Pyra frowned. “You’ve still got that on your mind, don't you?”

“Wh-what? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mythra denied, although it seemed clear that she did in fact know what Pyra was talking about.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Pandoria asked.

“Pandoria, maybe you could help,” Pyra suggested. “Lately, we’ve been discussing whether or not we… want to have kids with Rex.”

“Woah, really?” Pandoria questioned. “You guys would be great parents!”

“That’s what Mythra’s been worried about,” Pyra replied.

“How do you know I’d be a good mom?” Mythra questioned. “I don’t know how to take care of babies!”

“That’s why you’d have me, Nia and Rex to help you,” Pyra assured. “I mean… I’m still not sure how great I’d be at parenting, but I know I’d have all of you by my side.”

“Yeah, Mythra, you wouldn’t be alone,” Pandoria agreed. “Although… can humans and Blades even have kids together? Like, biologically?”

“I’m sure it’s possible,” Pyra replied. “With everything we know, it makes sense.”

“I mean… I’ve just never heard of that before,” Pandoria admitted. Her gaze then shifted back towards her Driver.

Pyra continued staring at Pandoria, noticing her fixed gaze. “Would… you ever have a kid with Zeke?” she asked.

“What?!” Pandoria questioned, immediately getting flustered once more. “Where’d that come from?!”

“Well, I think you two would make great parents,” Pyra assured.

“Plus, don’t you guys need an heir to the throne?” Mythra asked.

Pandoria crossed her arms. “Uh, I don’t think Zeke cares too much about that,” she argued. “And besides, we don’t know for sure if humans and Blades can have kids together. And I mean…” She glanced over towards Zeke again. “How would I bring that up with him?”

“I guess when you think about it,” Mythra said, “you two are already parents to Turters. Maybe a second kid would be too much.”

“That’s not-” Pandoria argued. “You know that’s a different situation!”

“Pandoria, if this is something that’s important to you, then you should talk to Zeke about it,” Pyra assured.

Pandoria looked away, a hesitant look on her face. “I’ll think about it,” she said quietly.

Mythra looked over at Rex and Zeke and noticed the two of them had stopped their fight and were catching their breaths. “Well, looks like they finally tired out,” Mythra commented. “Let’s make sure they didn’t actually hurt each other.”

“They’re grown men,” Pyra reminded. “They know how to be careful.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Pandoria replied.

______________________________________________

Zeke, Pandoria and Milton had made quite the distance and were pretty exhausted from running for so long. It didn’t take them long to set up their camp and sit down to try and relax. Pandoria was patching up Zeke while Milton was busy pacing back and forth while ranting.

“Sparks, those guys were so stupid!” Milton complained. “They wouldn’t listen to a single thing I told them! It’s like they were completely brainwashed!”

“Well, they kinda were brainwashed,” Zeke replied. “It’s understandable why they didn’t believe you. You got to see firsthand what the Consuls are truly like. You learned the hard way that these colonies and war are all a big sham, meanwhile they still have no reason to believe that everything they know is a lie.”

Pandoria nodded as Zeke spoke. “Plus, don’t forget how far you’ve come, Milton,” she commented. “You’ve grown a lot these past few months. You were pretty adamant about everything in Aionios being normal, and now here you are calling people idiots for believing the same thing you did.”

Milton rolled his eyes. “Well just because the Consuls orchestrated the war doesn’t mean your guys’ ideal world is real. Your world is stupid, too.” Milton sat down. “But… I do think that this world could be a lot better…”

“You’ll come around eventually,” Zeke insisted.

Milton still had a grumpy look on his face. “The whole concept of ‘families’ that you guys like to bring up is the big thing I don’t agree with,” he explained. “It’s confusing and doesn’t make any sense.”

“The only reason you think it doesn’t make sense is because you’re not used to it,” Pandoria argued. “Back in our world, you would have understood it completely. I mean, especially with a family as big as yours, I know you wouldn’t be confused.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Zeke agreed. “Oh, and your parents absolutely adored you. There’s not a chance you wouldn’t understand familial love if they were still around.”

Milton shook his head. “No matter how many times you bring up the word ‘parents’, I’m never gonna understand what that actually means,” he grumbled. “Every time you explain it, it just makes less sense to me.”

“We haven’t done that bad of a job explaining it,” Pandoria replied defensively.

Zeke thought for a moment. “Well, if you need a better example,” he suggested, “then I guess Pandy and I have sort of been stepping in for your parents.”

Milton raised an eyebrow, clearly making it known that that didn’t help explain things in any better way.

“Well you know Milton, Pandoria and I do have actual experience as parents,” Zeke reassured.

“Oh yeah, you guys have a child, right?” Milton questioned. “Was child the right word for that?”

“Yep,” Zeke confirmed. “Our little girl’s named Linka. Although, we don’t really know what happened to her…”

“We don’t know what happened to Turters either…” Pandoria added. “Although he was getting a little old to be going on big adventures. It would make sense for him to be left behind.”

“Turters is as tough as they come,” Zeke defended. “There’s nothing that could stop him. He gets it from me.”

“Wait a minute, are you implying that I’m not tough?” Pandoria questioned.

“We’re both tough,” Zeke argued. “I’m just a bit tougher. I’m sure Linka would agree with me as well. She did always say I looked mighty and powerful when fighting off monsters.”

“Well if we find her, we’ll have to ask her,” Pandoria replied. She let out a sigh. “If she is in Aionios, I hope she’s ok…”

“Hey, don’t dwell on that,” Zeke said. “We’ve got to believe that Linka’s safe. Wherever she is…”

Milton stayed quiet as he listened to their conversation. This was the most he had heard about Zeke and Pandoria’s child, they didn’t really talk about her all too often. Milton looked down at his hands before deciding to finally speak up.

“So… what were my parents like?” Milton asked.

Zeke and Pandoria looked at Milton, both of them surprised by the sudden question.

“Huh?” Pandoria responded.

“You guys said you knew my parents,” Milton explained. “Or, you know, the people you claim to be my ‘parents’. So… what were they like? What kind of people were they?”

Zeke and Pandoria were still caught off guard, but Zeke managed to gather his thoughts.

“Well to start,” Zeke said, “your dad was a real hero. Quite literally, he saved the entire world from destruction. I mean, Pandy and I were there too, but he did most of the work.”

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed. “Rex could be kinda oblivious sometimes, especially when he was younger. But he was always super optimistic. No matter what, he’d always see the good in people. And he always just wanted to put smiles on people’s faces.”

Zeke nodded. “I guess that’s why we’re always trying to get you to smile, Milton,” he added. “We know that’s what your dad would want.”

Milton narrowed his eyes. “What about my other parent?” he asked.

“Your mum?” Zeke replied. “Well she was rather aggressive at times. Or rather, most of the time. Definitely a lot different from your dad.”

“Mythra always told it like it was,” Pandoria agreed. “And she was a fierce fighter, too. She still cared a lot about others, she just went about showing it in a different way. Oh, terrible cook though. One time, my Prince made the mistake of eating some food that she made, and he was bedridden for a week!”

“How was I supposed to know it would be that bad?” Zeke questioned. “I figured everyone was over exaggerating!”

“Yeah, and then you learned the hard way not to trust Mythra’s cooking,” Pandoria replied.

Milton’s face looked somewhat somber. “They sound like really nice people,” he commented. “I… would have liked to meet them…”

Zeke and Pandoria both went quiet, staring at Milton. Zeke stood up and walked over to him before kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Milton,” Zeke said, “if there’s any chance we find your parents out here, then I’ll make sure you get to meet them.”

“You can’t promise that,” Milton argued. “We have no way of knowing if they’re even alive or not.”

“True, we don’t know for sure,” Zeke agreed, “but Pandy and I managed to make it here. And if there’s even a small possibility that your mum and dad ended up here as well, we’ll find them. I’ll make sure we do. After all, that’s what an optimist like your dad would probably say.”

Milton shook his head. “You realize there’s a difference between optimism and stupidity, right?” he questioned. “Oh snuffing hell, was my dad also an idiot like you?”

Zeke laughed. “Ha! You know, you really do sound like one of your mums with that potty mouth of yours.”

“Who, Mythra?” Milton questioned.

“Eh, I had a different mum in mind, but yeah, you remind me of Mythra, too,” Zeke replied. He then let out a yawn. “Well, we’ve had a pretty long day. How about we get some shut eye, eh?”

“I’ll take the first watch,” Pandoria offered.

“Sounds good to me,” Zeke agreed. “You fine with that, Milton?”

“Yeah,” Milton nodded.

“Alright,” Zeke said, turning towards Pandoria again, “just wake me up when you’re ready for me to take over.”

“Sure thing, my Prince,” Pandoria assured.

Zeke and Milton got their sleeping mats ready for some well deserved rest, Pandoria watching them for a moment before staring up at the night sky. She let out a long sigh, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing to quietly stare up at the stars above.

Chapter Text

It was always uncommon for Zeke to wake up in the middle of the night. He was the type of person who would fall asleep and wouldn’t get up until either the sun was up or someone else woke him up. Perhaps it was because his body was still sore from the fight with Colony Iota, but Zeke found himself in the rare moment of actually waking up on his own while the moon was still shining bright in the sky.

He slowly sat up, letting out a yawn before looking over at Pandoria who was still awake since she had been keeping watch. It seemed like she was unaware of Zeke waking up as she was staring directly into the fire and didn’t appear to react to him at all.

“I thought you were going to wake me up when it was my turn to keep watch,” Zeke spoke, catching Pandoria out of her trance.

Pandoria looked over at Zeke. “When’d you get up?”

“Just now,” Zeke replied.

“On your own?” Pandoria questioned. “That’s not like you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zeke agreed. “But now that I’m up, you can go ahead and get some sleep. I'll take it from here.”

Pandoria shook her head. “I’m good.”

Zeke blinked in surprise. “Good? Are you sure?” he questioned. “I imagine you’re probably quite tired after today.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty exhausted,” Pandoria admitted. “But still, I don’t think I can sleep.”

Zeke was growing more and more concerned for his Blade. He could have pushed further to try and convince her to get some rest, but he knew how stubborn she was. There was no way he could get her to budge on this. So instead, Zeke just scooched closer to her.

“Fine, if you’re not gonna get any sleep,” Zeke decided, “then the least I can do is keep you company while you stay up.”

Pandoria leaned in, resting her head on Zeke’s shoulder. “Thanks,” she said. “Today’s been a rough day…”

“Yeah, it sure was,” Zeke agreed. “Although it was quite the adventure, wasn’t it? Our first time in a colony. I was kinda hoping it would have been more welcoming, but I guess that would probably have been asking for too much.”

“Yeah, they were pretty ruthless,” Pandoria agreed. She scrunched up her face slightly. “I was really worried about you…”

“You could have fooled me,” Zeke responded. “You put on quite the brave face today.”

Pandoria looked up at Zeke. “I’m a mother, of course I know how to put on a brave face,” she argued.

Zeke chuckled quietly. “I know, I know,” he assured. “But I guess it makes sense. You were probably terrified today, weren’t you?”

Pandoria nodded. “But I didn’t want Milton to see that,” she admitted. The two of them glanced over at Milton who was still fast asleep.

“I got’cha,” Zeke agreed. “The last thing we’d want is our kid seeing how scared we are about something. If we can’t seem strong, then how will he?”

“You realize Milton’s not our kid, right?” Pandoria reminded.

“He’s our nephew,” Zeke corrected. “And for now, he is our kid. We’re the ones watching him, aren’t we?”

“I guess you have a point,” Pandoria replied. “But remember, you’re not Rex.”

“I know that,” Zeke insisted. His expression narrowed slightly as he stared at Milton. “But when you think about it, Milton’s not really… the same Milton,” he said. “The Milton from Fonsett Village doesn’t exist anymore, does he?”

Pandoria raised an eyebrow, giving Zeke a confused look. “Are you starting to get existential on me?” she asked.

“No,” Zeke denied. “Or at least I’m not trying to. It’s just… We’ve been in Aionios for quite some time now. Things here are jolly different from Alrest, that much is for sure. And no matter how much we talk about our past, Milton doesn’t remember any of it. And if you don’t have any memories of your past, can you truly say that you’re the same person?”

“Ok, what are you, a Blade?” Pandoria teased. “Now you really are getting existential. And you’re starting to talk like an old man again.”

“Some day I actually am going to be an old man and you’ll still mock me for my wisdom,” Zeke retorted.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Pandoria admitted. “But where would you be without me at your side, mocking you whenever you need to be knocked down a peg?”

“I think I’d be just fine,” Zeke joked. “I mean, we’ve got Milton around now, don’t we? Your job’s become a bit obsolete with him here.”

Pandoria punched Zeke in the arm while Zeke laughed it off.

“Oh, you know I love you, Pandy,” Zeke reassured.

Pandoria crossed her arms. “Yeah, yeah,” she dismissed. “I love you too, ya idiot.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Ok, you’re on thin ice now!” Pandoria shot back.

“Well you’re kinda stuck with me,” Zeke said. “Apologies, but you also knew what you were getting into.”

Pandoria sighed and rested her head back on Zeke’s shoulder. “I really do question myself sometimes…”

Zeke wrapped an arm around Pandoria, holding her close while the two of them kept watch over the camp together.

______________________________________________

The soldiers of Colony Iota were all doing their best to recover from the recent attack on their base. Everyone was worried about the worst, but they were surprised to find out that no one had actually died in the attack from yesterday. Most people brushed it off as the three attackers simply being incompetent, but not everyone was convinced, one person in particular being the commander.

“I’m telling you, it’s not that serious,” one soldier argued. “They had no clue what they were doing. That’s the only reason no one was killed.”

The commander shook her head. “Those guys were tough,” she said. “They had me up against the wall and overpowered me pretty easily. There’s no way their mercy was an accident.”

“What are you saying?”

The commander remained quiet for a moment. “Perhaps…” she spoke as she gathered her thoughts, “there was some truth to what that prisoner said.”

Nobody responded to the commander’s comment, everyone just staring at her silently. It was possible that anyone who did disagree was simply too afraid to argue with their commander.

The conversation was cut short as a pair of Consuls suddenly arrived at the colony.

“Wow, this place is a real mess,” X commented as she walked through the base. “What happened here? A storm or something?”

“O-one of the consuls?” the commander questioned before straightening her posture. “We were attacked by-”

“It was a rhetorical question,” X interrupted. “I know exactly what happened here.”

The commander blinked in surprise. “You do?”

“Some idiot with an eyepatch was here with a lone Agnian soldier and some girl with a tail and glasses, right?” X asked.

“That… that’s right,” the commander confirmed.

“Just as I thought,” X replied. She turned towards the other Consul. “V, you can handle your own soldiers, can’t you?”

“Yes,” V replied with a nod. She walked up to the commander. “What did these strangers tell you?”

The commander froze for a moment before finding her composure again. “The one with the eyepatch said… that the war with Keves was…” She went quiet.

“Was what?” V asked once the commander didn’t finish.

The commander seemed very hesitant to respond.

X stepped in again. “Look, we don’t have time to deal with an entire colony going rogue,” she said bluntly. “These little ideas that those strangers gave you, you can go ahead and just forget about them.”

“How do you know what…?” the commander questioned.

“If you don’t forget about it,” X interrupted, “then we’ll just have to kill you all so you don’t get in the way of anything.”

All of the soldiers gasped in fear, some of them stepping back. Silence filled the air until one soldier decided to step forward.

“What’s going on here?” he interrogated. “You can’t hide stuff from us! We fight for you, we deserve to know the truth!”

“V,” X sighed, snapping her fingers.

Consul V nodded, pulling out a sword and dashing towards the rogue soldier. In an instant, the sword stabbed straight through the soldier’s chest, immediately making them go quiet. V pulled the sword back out and stepped away as the soldier fell to the ground, red motes beginning to fly off of his body. Everyone else stared in horror at their comrade who died so abruptly.

“Now, are you gonna ask more stupid questions?” X said. “Or are you gonna get back to the usual and pretend like none of this ever happened?”

The commander was frozen in fear, but she eventually just nodded quietly. “We don’t know anything. We haven’t heard anything,” she assured.

“Good,” X praised. “Now then, you should all get ready for the upcoming battle. I’ll let you handle the rest, V.”

“Of course,” V nodded.

X walked away before disappearing completely, teleporting away in a burst of purple motes. As soon as she was out of Colony Iota’s base, she let out an annoyed groan.

“Those annoying stray souls are making things more difficult,” she muttered. “Well then, if they’re going against Y’s warning, then I guess it really is fair game.”

______________________________________________

Alrest, X years before the Intersection

Zeke had been a mess for days now, something very out of character for the Bringer of Chaos. Even Pandoria had noticed him acting off, and she tried her best to ease his worries, but there was only so much she could do.

“Obviously it worked for Rex,” was what Pandoria always brought up to calm Zeke down.

“Yeah, but he’s a special case,” Zeke would argue. “His wives are both Aegises and a Flesh Eater! How do we know it’ll be the same for you?”

“Everything will be fine, my Prince. I’m sure Pyra or Mythra would have said something if it wouldn’t be fine.”

Once the day had finally arrived, Zeke’s worries had boiled over. He kept pacing around the room while he and Pandoria waited for the news. As much as Pandoria wanted to try and talk him through this, she already knew that it probably wouldn’t help. And she was tired and nervous too, even if she wasn’t showing it as much as Zeke was.

Zeke’s head quickly turned towards the doorway as the nurse returned.

“She’s a perfectly healthy baby girl,” the nurse informed.

Zeke and Pandoria’s eyes lit up as the nurse handed the bundled up baby to Pandoria. The baby was crying, something normal for newborns, but that didn’t stop her parents from staring at her like she was the only thing that mattered in all of Alrest.

“She’s perfect,” Zeke commented.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” the nurse assured. “Just retrieve me if you need anything at all.”

“Thank you,” Pandoria said before the nurse left the room. She turned her attention back towards her child as she held her close.

“Our little Linka,” Zeke said. “I know most parents probably say this, but everyone else is wrong. This is the most beautiful baby that this world has ever seen.”

Pandoria couldn’t help but laugh. “How many newborn babies have you seen?”

“I don’t need to see any other ones,” Zeke denied. “I already know this one is the best.”

Linka finally started to calm down, no longer crying and just making quiet, calm noises. 

Zeke smiled softly at his daughter. “She really looks just like you,” he commented. “She’s got your hair, your pointed ears.”

“She’s got your shoulders though,” Pandoria joked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zeke dismissed.

Pandoria looked up at Zeke. “Here,” she said, handing Linka towards him, “why don't you hold her for a bit?”

Zeke hesitated for a brief moment before carefully taking Linka from Pandoria. He held her close to his body, making sure her head was supported properly. Linka mumbled slightly before she started crying again.

“Oh, looks like you disturbed her,” Pandoria commented. “Off to a great start.”

“She’s fine,” Zeke reassured. “She’s just not used to her dad, yet.” Zeke gently rocked Linka, trying to calm her down. “Shh, don’t worry, Linka Bug, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Zeke’s voice was very soft as he spoke, something that wasn’t heard very often from him.

Linka stopped crying again, going back to her quiet mumbles. Pandoria stared at the two of them in amazement. “Wow, you really are surprisingly good with kids,” Pandoria complimented.

“Was there ever any doubt?” Zeke questioned. “I’m good at anything I put my mind to!”

“We’ll see about that when she becomes a teenager,” Pandoria replied. “If she’s anything like you were, then she’ll be a real handful.”

“Please, there’s nothing I can’t handle,” Zeke assured.

“Well if that’s the case,” Pandoria said, “then I’m sure you can take diaper duty.”

Zeke blinked. “Well, I mean, there’s things that I could always have help with,” he backtracked. “I mean, what is companionship for if you can’t ask for help every now and again?”

“Oh how quickly you change your mind when you have to deal with something like a dirty diaper,” Pandoria teased.

“Oi, we’re in this together,” Zeke argued. “And together, we’ll be the best parents in all of Alrest! The world isn’t ready for the Linkanator!”

“Woah, calm down there, my Prince,” Pandoria opposed. “Maybe wait until she actually learns to walk before giving her one of your dumb nicknames.”

“I will not stand by while my daughter doesn’t have a cool title!” Zeke insisted. He held Linka up, staring at her as he continued rambling. “I mean, she is my daughter so she could easily be Linka von Genbu, Bringer of Further Chaos, but I think she’d want something more unique to her, ya know?”

Pandoria rolled her eyes and Linka began crying again.

“Ok, give her back,” Pandoria directed. “Clearly she’s already smart enough to know that you’d only give her the dumbest title in the world.”

Zeke handed Linka back to Pandoria, but the scowl on his face remained. “She’ll appreciate it when she’s older, I know she will,” he argued.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Pandoria replied sarcastically.

Zeke sat down next to Pandoria, continuing to just stare at Linka. The room grew quiet as the two of them decided the only thing they wanted now was to take in the moment. They were officially parents now, and there was nothing else more beautiful to them than that.

“Never thought you’d see the day, huh?” Zeke asked.

“Nope,” Pandoria replied. “But… I’m so happy that we did this. I’m so happy we have Linka now.”

“Nothing could ruin this for us,” Zeke agreed. “She really is just the perfect little baby.”

Chapter Text

The group had gotten used to wandering around Aionios without a distinct goal in mind. Zeke had wanted to help people in need, but that was increasingly hard to do as everyone they ran into acted quite hostile. Pandoria just went along with whatever Zeke wanted, and Milton mainly just wanted to survive. After all, survival was all he really aimed towards his whole life.

After the group’s mishap with Colony Iota a few months ago, they had tried harder to lay low, Zeke especially as he didn’t want to get Milton or Pandoria in danger like that again. But laying low was also something that Zeke wasn’t the best at. 

Right now, the three of them were walking along a path near a cliffside. It had a beautiful view of the area, but they didn’t have much time to take it all in. Although that didn’t stop Zeke and Pandoria from trying to enjoy the view anyway.

“Hey, do you two want to be left behind?” Milton questioned as Zeke and Pandoria stopped to look around.

“Come on Milton,” Zeke retaliated, “you can’t tell me you don’t enjoy this view.”

“It is really pretty,” Pandoria agreed.

“Yeah, nature’s beautiful,” Milton replied sarcastically, “now can we please get moving again?”

“We’re coming,” Zeke assured as the group continued down the path. “But you really need to learn to slow down every once and while.”

“I’d rather not get ambushed again,” Milton denied.

“You’re always worried about something, aren’t you?” Pandoria pointed out. “That can’t be healthy.”

“Well I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Milton challenged.

“Sure, you’re alive,” Zeke replied, “but just because you’re still alive doesn’t mean you’re truly living.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Milton questioned.

“You’ll understand one of these days,” Zeke responded.

Milton shook his head. He always got annoyed with Zeke’s overly positive outlook on life. Pandoria was less annoying about it, but she tended to agree with Zeke on a lot of things. Still, Milton was glad to have them around, even if he’d rarely admit that to them.

The group stopped when they heard the sound of a loud explosion. Everyone looked around, trying to pinpoint where the commotion had come from.

“Over there!” Pandoria pointed.

Off in the distance appeared to be a big battle between Keves and Agnus. The large Levnises were visible, but everything else was hard to make out because of how far away it was.

“Well, they’re all the way over there,” Milton said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about that. Come on, let’s keep going.”

Zeke frowned as he watched the warzone in the distance. He stood still while Milton and Pandoria were getting ready to leave.

“My Prince?” Pandoria asked once she noticed Zeke wasn’t following.

“I’m coming,” Zeke assured. He gave one last glance at the fight before turning around to follow the rest of the group.

Pandoria frowned as she saw the dark expression on Zeke’s face. She knew him well enough to know he was probably beating himself up for being unable to help in that battle. But Zeke knew better than to run off into a warzone like that, especially when it was so out of the way. Not to mention Milton would complain about it the whole time if they did do that.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen a full on battle,” Milton commented as they traversed.

“Hm?” Zeke responded. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“I guess we’ve just gotten lucky,” Milton continued.

Zeke’s expression narrowed again. “Just because we haven’t seen those battles doesn’t mean they’re not happening.”

Milton looked over at Zeke, surprised as he heard the serious tone in his voice. “Well obviously,” Milton replied. “I’m just saying it’s a good thing we haven’t run into any. Less trouble for us is a good thing.”

Zeke shook his head. “I just can’t get the image out of my head.”

“What image?” Milton asked.

“Of all those kids fighting to the death,” Zeke explained. “Of those Consuls orchestrating the whole thing for their own damn amusement. It’s disgusting.”

“My Prince…” Pandoria said.

“Yeah, I hate it too,” Milton agreed, although his voice didn’t show as much concern, “but it’s not our problem anymore.”

“Maybe it should be,” Zeke argued, crossing his arms.

“No, it shouldn’t,” Milton quickly denied. “Every time we get involved with Keves or Agnus, one of us almost dies.”

“And when we don’t get involved, countless people die instead,” Zeke remarked.

“My Prince, maybe we should listen to Milton,” Pandoria stepped in. “I know you want to help, but what can we do? We don’t have the power to stop an entire war.”

“If Tantal still existed, maybe we would…” Zeke muttered.

“Zeke?” Pandoria questioned.

Zeke shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I need to stop thinking like that. Let’s just keep going.”

Zeke began walking ahead with Pandoria and Milton being the ones to stay behind for a moment. Milton rolled his eyes and he shook his head, something Pandoria noticed.

“Give him a break, Milton,” Pandoria scolded. “My Prince has had it pretty rough in the past.”

“I know, you’ve told me stories,” Milton dismissed.

“I haven’t told you everything,” Pandoria replied. “Just… maybe don’t be so tough on him about this, ok?”

Milton still seemed skeptical, but he had grown to trust Pandoria. At the very least, he trusted her more than he trusted Zeke. Milton sighed. “Ok,” he agreed, “I’ll drop it.”

Pandoria smiled. “Thanks, Milton,” she said. “Now come on, we don’t want him getting too far ahead.”

Milton remained silent as the two of them caught back up with Zeke. They didn’t talk very much after that and stayed pretty quiet while they walked. Eventually, the group encountered a cave, so they stopped and looked into the entrance.

“Doesn’t look too dark in there,” Zeke commented.

“Well even if it does get dark,” Pandoria said, “I can help light things up.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Zeke agreed. “You light up any room you enter, Pandy. Quite literally.”

Pandoria giggled to herself at Zeke’s joke.

Milton was checking his Iris to get a better idea of where this cave led. “It looks like there’s an exit at the end of the cave,” he explained. “The path does curve around, but I don’t think we’d get lost.”

“Well if you don’t have any issues with it, I say we go in,” Zeke suggested.

“Seems like a good idea,” Milton agreed. “Just watch out for Vangs or Ignas.”

“Oh, my Prince and I can handle those just fine,” Pandoria assured.

“Yeah,” Zeke agreed, “maybe you should be watching out for yourself, eh Milton?”

“Shut up,” Milton replied.

The group began to make their way into the cave. It remained pretty light inside to start, but it did grow darker as the group got deeper. Luckily, Pandoria’s lightbulbs were able to light up the area a little bit. Milton pulled out his naginata, raising it up to create a small ball of light to help out as well. He then continued carrying around his weapon like a torch.

“Man, you two really are handy to have around,” Zeke commented.

“You could probably light up the place too with your lightning attacks,” Pandoria assured. “It’s just that it would probably also cause a cave in.”

Milton blinked. “Zeke, please do not cause a cave in!” he quickly opposed.

Zeke turned towards Milton with an extremely offended look on his face. “I didn’t even do anything!” he argued. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about me. I’d only use my powerful attacks if we run into trouble.”

Milton turned to Pandoria. “If we run into monsters, how about we just handle it and have Zeke sit on the side?” he suggested.

“As much as I’d love to do that, he wouldn’t want to sit out of a fight,” Pandoria insisted.

“Hey!” Zeke called over.

“You’re a liability!” Milton argued. “Pandoria and I can handle some Vangs if we-”

“No, come look at this!” Zeke interrupted, making Milton realize he wasn’t actually angry about his previous suggestion.

Milton and Pandoria walked up to Zeke who was staring at the wall of the cave. As they got closer, so did the light source which revealed some strange scratches in the wall.

“Scratch marks?” Pandoria questioned. “Probably a monster.”

Zeke shook his head. “These aren’t normal scratch marks,” he commented. “These look man made.”

“Zeke’s right,” Milton agreed. “This was made from a sword, or some other weapon like it.”

The group suddenly heard the sound of a pebble being kicked and they all turned around in a panic.

“Who’s there?” Milton demanded.

“Wah!” they heard a yelp.

The group could make out a humanoid figure, but it was too dark to see any distinct features other than the fact that they appeared to be holding a sword.

“Hey, we’re not here to hurt you,” Zeke assured. “Who are you?”

“What colony are you from?” the voice questioned. The group quickly picked up on how young the voice sounded.

“We’re not from a colony,” Pandoria revealed. “Whether you're from Keves or Agnus, we’re not your enemy.”

The figure hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. As they entered the light, the group could make out his features more and saw he had strange, grey skin and dark colored armor. He also appeared quite young, which seemed to match with his voice.

“You’re from Keves, huh?” Milton commented.

The boy glared at Milton. “You’re from Agnus.”

“Technically yes,” Milton admitted. “But I don’t belong to any colony anymore. I’m sort of on my own now.”

The boy’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t make any further comments.

“Hey, what are you doing in this cave?” Pandoria asked. “This isn’t your colony base, is it?”

“No,” the boy explained. “I came here to hide.”

“Hide?” Zeke questioned. “From what?”

“I was with a few other soldiers,” the boy continued. “And then suddenly, a lone Levnis from Agnus showed up and attacked us! I managed to hide out in this cave, but I don’t know if any of my other friends made it out…”

Zeke and Pandoria looked at each other for a moment. 

“How long ago was this?” Zeke asked.

“Not too long ago,” the boy replied.

“So, can you take us to your friends?” Zeke asked.

“Um, yes, I could do that,” the boy agreed.

“Zeke, what are you doing?” Milton questioned angrily in a whisper.

“These chaps need our help,” Zeke responded. “It would be wrong not to lend a hand.”

Milton let out an annoyed grumble and turned away.

“Follow me,” the boy instructed. He walked past the group, leading them further into the cave.

Milton was extremely on edge as this seemed like it could very easily be a trap. At least he already had his weapon out, so he’d be able to quickly defend himself if it came to that.

Eventually, the Kevesi soldier led the group to the other side of the cave. Almost as soon as they exited, the ground began to rumble and shake. Everyone struggled to keep their footing for a moment before things calmed down.

“Over there!” the boy shouted. “There’s the Levnis!”

“I see it,” Zeke confirmed, already pulling out his weapon. “Pandoria, get ready.”

“I’m right behind you!” Pandoria assured.

The two of them ran ahead, leaving Milton alone with the Kevesi soldier.

“Hey! Wait!” Milton yelled, but it was clear that they weren’t going to slow down for him. Milton groaned and turned towards the soldier. “Um… Stay out of danger, or whatever.”

The soldier gave Milton a confused look, but before he could question anything, Milton ran off.

Zeke and Pandoria reached the top of a hill where they could look down at the Agnian Levnis. They were able to see three other Kevesi soldiers trying to fight off the giant machine, but they were clearly struggling.

“This shouldn’t be too hard for us,” Zeke commented. “Ready to show this bucket of bolts what we’re made of?”

“Always ready,” Pandoria agreed.

The two of them jumped down, readying their weapons. Pandoria shot out a jolt of electricity, briefly stunning the machine before Zeke slashed his sword at one of the arms. The Kevesi soldiers froze in disbelief as the two newcomers jumped in so suddenly. Zeke and Pandoria landed on the ground, Zeke resting his sword over his shoulder while the Levnis’ arm fell to the ground.

“Having trouble here?” Zeke asked.

“Don’t worry, we’re here to help,” Pandoria assured as well.

The soldiers still seemed confused, but they decided not to question anything and just go with this.

The Levnis started charging up a blast, so Zeke got ready to dodge.

“Heads up, Pandoria!” Zeke warned. “We’ve gotta be quick on our feet here!”

“Got it!” Pandoria replied.

Zeke and Pandoria dashed out of the way as the Levnis shot out a laser. They continued to put all their focus on fighting this Levnis, neither of them noticing when Milton arrived.

“They didn’t even wait for me…” Milton grumbled.

“Agnian!”

Milton quickly looked over as he heard the other soldiers shout. Without hesitation, they rushed at him with their weapons. Milton was quick to block their attacks, but he was still caught off guard.

“Woah!” Milton yelped. “Hey idiot! I’m not here to fight you!”

“Like we’d believe that!” the enemy soldier yelled. “You probably came with that sparking Levnis!”

Milton continued fighting off this small group of soldiers, although he was mainly just trying to defend himself. He already knew trying to explain himself wouldn’t get him anywhere, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. Luckily, the boy they had met in the cave finally arrived and saw the commotion.

“Wait!” he yelled. “This Agnian soldier is helping us!”

The other soldiers all stopped their attacks, staring at their friend in shock.

“What?” one of them questioned.

“I’m with those guys over there,” Milton explained, gesturing towards Zeke and Pandoria who were still fighting off the Levnis.

The other soldiers seemed to have calmed down for the most part, but one of them shook their head. “Spark that!” they yelled. “Agnus is the enemy!”

They lunged towards Milton again, but Milton was prepared. After a few attempted strikes from the Kevesi soldier, Milton was able to easily disarm them. He could tell this was a younger soldier who was probably inexperienced as well, which made it easier for Milton to overpower them. Milton knocked the soldier on the ground and readied his naginata once more, only stopping after he heard the other soldiers gasp.

Milton looked over as the soldiers readied their weapons again. Milton then looked at the soldier he was fighting once more, seeing the fear in their eyes. Milton sighed, putting his weapon away. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to cause any harm.”

The soldiers all stared at Milton, eventually putting their weapons away as well. It seemed like none of them knew exactly what to do about this situation.

“Hey! Milton!” Zeke called over. “Mind lending us a hand over here?”

“On it!” Milton replied with a nod. He got his weapon ready again and dashed to join the fight.

“He… he really wasn’t trying to kill us?” one of the soldiers questioned.

“Hey, as long as we’re alive, I don’t care what happened,” another one commented.

As Milton joined the fight, he could tell that Zeke and Pandoria had already done a lot of damage to the Levnis. He wondered if they even needed his help, but since he was here, he’d lend a hand anyway.

Milton jumped up, slashing his weapon towards the Levnis, slicing it with a burst of light. He then created a shining orb, and with Pandoria helping to shock the Levnis as well, they were able to stun it. With that, Zeke ran in to finish it off for good.

“Stratospheric Thunder!” Zeke shouted as he sliced his sword up into the Levnis.

The immense force from Zeke’s attack knocked the Levnis back and it slowly began to fall over. The ground shook slightly and dust filled the air as the Levnis landed. The lights on it blinked for a few moments before they shut off completely.

“A job well done,” Zeke complemented, sheathing his sword.

“We were awesome!” Pandoria cheered as well.

The small group of soldiers ran up to Zeke, Pandoria and Milton.

“Wow, you really did it,” the boy said. “You took down that Levnis all by yourselves!”

“I’ve dealt with worse things in the past,” Zeke shrugged it off. “This was nothing.”

The young soldiers stared at Zeke with pure amazement in their eyes.

“You kids should probably get back to your colony,” Pandoria advised. “It looks like it’s gonna be getting late real soon.”

“Yes, thank you,” one of the soldiers replied.

“As thanks for saving us,” the boy said, “you could come with us to our colony and rest there for the night. I’m sure our commander wouldn’t mind.”

Zeke blinked. “Well, that sounds jolly-”

“No,” Milton immediately shot down the request.

“Milton, come on,” Pandoria insisted. “It’ll be fine.”

“No,” Milton repeated. “We helped them, that’s it. We’re not staying any longer than we need to.” He turned and immediately began walking away.

Zeke sighed. “I suppose we’ll have to pass,” he said. “Cheers for the offer though.”

The soldiers nodded while Zeke and Pandoria walked away to go catch up with Milton. Once they regrouped, they made no effort to start up a conversation as Milton was clearly too angry to talk right now. However, the silence did eventually reach its end.

“You didn’t have to be so rude,” Pandoria commented.

“I wasn’t rude,” Milton denied. “I was being safe.”

“Those soldiers were pretty young,” Zeke pointed out. “And they seemed genuinely thankful. I don’t think we would have been in danger.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Milton replied. “I mean, I’m an Agnian soldier. How do you think that would go if I just showed up at a Kevesi colony?”

“I guess you have a point,” Pandoria admitted. “You know what, if you really feel safer out here in the wilderness, then we can stay out here.”

Milton was guessing that Pandoria was being genuine, but it was difficult to tell. Either way, he remained quiet. He knew he had to trust his gut, even if Zeke and Pandoria didn’t agree with it.

______________________________________________

That night, Milton had decided to keep watch. He still seemed to be a little on edge from the recent encounter, but he insisted that he would be fine. He sat quietly, staring at the fire while Zeke and Pandoria slept. He noticed how the two of them were huddled together for warmth which confused Milton. He assumed that the fire was giving enough warmth to stay comfortable, but maybe those two were just sensitive to the cold.

Milton’s attention remained on the fire until he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, unable to tell if he was seeing things or not. At first, it seemed like there was nothing out of the ordinary, until he noticed a small spark of purple ether in the distance.

Milton blinked, looking around cautiously. He stood up, throwing an extra log onto the fire before going to investigate further. He walked towards the strange purple light he had seen, following the path until he was a decent distance away from the campsite.

“Well, you sure are easy to lead away.”

Milton jumped as he recognized the voice. He turned around, pointing his naginata towards the newcomer.

“Consul X,” Milton grumbled. “Here to finish the job?”

“Nah, I’ve been given orders to keep you alive,” X informed.

Milton raised his eyebrows for a moment before he began glaring again. “I don’t believe you.”

“Well if I really were here to kill you,” X replied, “then you’d be dead already.”

Milton flinched, but he tried his best to remain brave.

“Are you having fun traveling with those two dolts?” X asked.

“Leave them out of this,” Milton warned.

X snickered. “You can stop trying to intimidate me,” she insisted. “We both know if it came down to a fight, you wouldn’t stand a chance. But again, I'm not here to fight. I’m here because I'm curious about you, that’s all.”

Milton was trying his best to read X, but he couldn’t understand what her motives were or why she was even here, despite the response she gave. To be fair, he still didn’t fully understand the motivation of the Consuls, just that they were bad news.

“You’ve gotten soft, you know that?” X accused.

“No I haven’t!” Milton argued. “Wait a minute… Have you been watching me?!”

X snickered again. “Wow, I forget just how little you mortals know about Moebius.” she said. “But as I was saying, just today you spared a Kevesi soldier who was in the perfect position to have their throat sliced open. That sounds like someone who’s gone soft to me.”

“They weren’t a threat.”

“After they were the one to attack you first?”

Milton narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” he shouted as he ran at X. He swung his naginata towards her, but X dodged the attack with little effort. She then grabbed the pole of Milton’s weapon to stop him from any further attacks. Milton stared at her in shock.

“See? Soft,” X mocked. “It’s like you don’t even know what it’s like to be in the middle of combat anymore. I mean, do you even remember what it’s like to watch someone die?” Her grasp on Milton's weapon tightened before the naginata suddenly disappeared.

Milton stepped back in shock before he shook his head to recollect himself. “Of course I do!” he argued. “Do you know how many people I had to watch die when I was in Colony Nu?! Every single day I was prepared for someone to die, hoping that it wouldn’t be one of my friends.”

“Yeah, but those days are long behind you now, aren’t they?” X asked.

“You’re not going to convince me to go back,” Milton denied. “I know that you Consuls only see us soldiers as little play things. I want nothing to do with that!”

“I’m not trying to convince you of anything,” X insisted. “I just wanted to know if you have your priorities right.”

“My priorities?”

“Are those stray souls really worth your time?” X questioned. “Does staying by their side really extend your life that much?”

“What do you mean?” Milton asked.

“I’m just saying,” X replied, “that you could easily leave them. You could always find a new path, something that doesn’t involve dealing with those two idiots. Maybe you could even find a way… to live for far longer than any soldier from Agnus or Keves.”

Milton’s eyes went wide, but he stepped away. “I… I don’t trust anything you have to tell me!” he argued. “Why would I ever trust you?!”

“You don’t have to trust me,” X assured. “But I hope I gave you something to think about. A soldier like you is wasted on pacifist souls like those two. And I think we both know that fighting in bloodbaths is what you’re really best at.”

Without another word, X disappeared in a burst of purple ether. Milton stood alone, attempting to process what X was trying to tell him. He stared down at his hands which were trembling slightly before eventually looking back towards the campsite in the distance.

Chapter Text

The next few months were relatively kind to Zeke, Pandoria and Milton. Well, as kind as Aionios could be. The group continued trying to stay out of trouble, although it was a bit difficult with Zeke constantly insisting on being a hero. As much as Zeke’s attitude annoyed Milton, he had also gotten used to it. It made sense though, months of traveling together would make anyone get used to someone’s antics.

“Keep your eyes out everyone,” Milton advised. “Things have been quiet lately, so it’s possible the Consuls are preparing for a big battle soon.”

“Are there any nearby colonies we need to look out for?” Pandoria asked.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Milton replied. “But still, you never know when disaster will strike.”

“Oh, you worry too much, Milton,” Zeke dismissed. “Then again, we’ve gotten out of quite a few difficult situations due to your quick thinking.”

“Thank you for finally acknowledging that,” Milton responded. “Seriously, it feels like you guys always mock me for over planning, but then my plans actually turn out to be useful more often than you’d probably like to admit.”

“We never said your plans weren’t useful,” Pandoria argued. “We just think that you should try and chill out more often.”

Milton didn’t have a response to that and remained quiet. Even after all this time, Milton never told Zeke or Pandoria about his surprise encounter with Consul X. He figured they didn’t need to know about their conversation. And even now, Milton still didn’t understand what X was trying to gain from that encounter. Was she just trying to get into his head, or was it something else? He tried his best not to think about it, but he still found it lingering in his mind from time to time.

“Hey,” Zeke called, pointing into the distance. “Is that what I think it is?”

Milton squinted as he tried to make out what Zeke was pointing at. “Looks like it,” he replied. “Although a supply drop out here seems weird. I don’t think there’s anyone nearby who would be able to benefit from it.”

“Maybe it’s an old one?” Pandoria suggested. “Either way, it’s worth checking out.”

The three of them made their way over to the large, unopened crate. From the looks of it, it appeared pretty old. The group had to assume that it was simply never picked up, but for what reason, they had no way of knowing.

Milton attempted to open the crate, but struggled as it was shut tight. “Erg! Come on!” he grunted.

“Step aside, Milton,” Zeke insisted. “Let the Zekenator handle this.”

Milton quietly stepped out of the way. He crossed his arms, but he did realize that Zeke had a lot more muscle than he did, so he’d definitely have a better chance at getting the crate opened.

“Hurgh!” Zeke grunted, struggling just like Milton. “I think I almost got it!” he asserted, despite the fact that he hadn’t made any progress.

Pandoria shook her head. “Come on, let a professional look at this.” Zeke moved out of the way while Pandoria knelt down to examine the crate, quickly seeing the lock on it. “Seriously, did it cross either of your minds that there might be a lock on this thing?” she questioned.

Zeke and Milton both looked at each other nervously before staring at Pandoria again.

“I mean, not every supply drop has had a lock on it,” Zeke argued.

“Yeah, and this one’s old,” Milton agreed. “It was a fair assumption that we could pry it open!”

Pandoria sighed. “You two really are starting to sound alike, aren’t you?”

“No we’re not!” both Zeke and Milton denied in unison.

Pandoria stifled a laugh before focusing back on the crate. “I’ll get this cleared up quick, don’t worry.”

Zeke and Milton stood back while Pandoria worked on picking the lock. Just as promised, she got through the lock pretty quickly and the crate finally opened up. Zeke and Milton walked over to check out what was waiting inside.

“Well any food that’s in here probably went bad a long time ago,” Milton commented, “but there’s a few things here that are still salvageable.” His eyes lit up as he pulled out some nutrition bars. “Score!”

Zeke had a disgusted look on his face. “Those things?” he questioned. “They have absolutely no flavor to them!”

“But they last for a long time,” Milton challenged. “And taste isn’t as important as not starving.”

“I suppose,” Zeke admitted, crossing his arms. “What else is in here?”

“A lot of it looks like junk,” Pandoria commented as she pulled out pieces of scrap metal.

“Hey, maybe we could forge some armor with that or something?” Zeke suggested.

“I don’t know how to make armor,” Pandoria replied. “And I doubt you do either.”

“Hm… Maybe we could throw it at some enemies to cause a diversion?” Milton recommended.

“I like that idea!” Zeke encouraged.

“Then again, it would be annoying to drag this scrap around all the time…” Milton realized.

“Another fair point from Milton,” Pandoria said.

“Ugh, fine,” Zeke replied begrudgingly.

“I swear, you can act like such a child sometimes, my Prince,” Pandoria mocked.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, Pandy,” Zeke insisted. “Otherwise I’d be as dull as my old man.”

Pandoria couldn’t help but laugh at that comment. Meanwhile, Milton was still digging through the crate.

“Well, looks like this was mostly a bust,” Milton said. “Sucks, but it makes sense considering how long it’s most likely been sitting here.”

“At least we got those nutrition bars,” Pandoria commented.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Milton agreed. “It wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

Zeke smiled. Even though this supply drop didn’t prove very fruitful, Milton hadn’t complained much, something Zeke noticed. It seemed Milton had grown a lot less pessimistic lately. Not to say he was a complete wide-eyed optimist, but it was a start.

“Come on,” Zeke instructed. “We’d better get moving again.”

The group gathered the small amount of supplies worth keeping before they began walking away. Milton took the lead as they were in unfamiliar territory, and he was the one with an actual map of the area.

“We’re on our way to the Urayan Trail,” Milton commented. “Hm, we’ll probably get to see the Urayan Mountains.”

Zeke let out a quiet chuckle. “Ah, Uraya, good times there, eh?”

“Let me guess,” Milton said, “Uraya’s another place from your world?”

“Yep,” Zeke replied. “We visited there quite a few times. Very snazzy place.”

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed. “They’ve got these trees called Saffronias, they’re beautiful.”

“I’ve heard of Saffronia trees,” Milton replied. “Although I’ve never gotten to see them before. If I’m being honest, I’ve always been curious about the Urayan Mountains.”

“Ah, but you never got to leave your colony before, right?” Zeke said.

“Nope,” Milton answered. “We always stayed put, only really moving around for battles against Keves.”

“Well, glad that we’re able to help you explore the world more,” Pandoria cheered before quickly realizing her slightly poor choice in words. “Or, uh, I guess that’s not really a great thing considering…”

“It’s fine,” Milton assured. “I… I’ve come to terms with what happened to Colony Nu…”

“Have you?” Zeke questioned. “Because that’s an awful lot to deal with, especially for someone of your age.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Milton insisted. He let out a deep sigh. “But… maybe we can change the subject?”

Things were quiet for a moment as everyone thought about how to shift the conversation. Eventually, Zeke was the one to speak up. “Anywhere you think we should head towards, Milton?” he asked.

Milton gave a quick glance to his Iris. “I think as long as we follow the main path, we should be fine,” he explained. “From what I can see, there’s no nearby colonies to worry about for a while.”

“Righto, sounds good,” Zeke agreed.

The mood remained in high spirits as the group traveled. They weren’t having any troubles, aside from a few aggressive monsters, but that was normal. However, as they continued down the path, they noticed a group heading towards them. It didn’t take long for them to recognize this group to be a bunch of Tirkins.

“Wah!” one of the Tirkins squawked. “More hoomans!”

“Woah, what’s going on here?” Zeke questioned.

“Kraw! We not go down with no attak!” another Tirkin yelled.

The group of Tirkins immediately readied their weapons and rushed towards the group, completely unprompted. It was clear that these Tirkins wanted a fight, so Zeke, Pandoria and Milton quickly readied their weapons as well.

Multiple Tirkins jumped at Zeke, but he was able to knock each of them back with ease. Pandoria and Milton were both having an easy time as well, but still, the Tirkins refused to back down and continued their ambush. One Tirkin smacked his weapon over Milton’s head, a thud sounding as it hit him.

“Ow!” Milton yelled, taking a moment to rub his head. “That’s it!” Milton swung his naginata towards the Tirkin, blasting them away with a slash of light.

“Kraw!” the Tirkin yelped.

“These hoomans just as rude!”

“If we quik, we can make run!”

“Fleeing after you started the fight?” Zeke questioned. “That’s not very noble now is it?”

“Quik! We run!” the Tirkins insisted, and just as they said, they began to sprint away. Milton attempted to chase them for a moment before deciding it wasn’t worth it.

“What was their problem?!” Milton questioned angrily.

“No clue,” Pandoria replied. “Tirkins are just… kinda weird like that.”

Zeke began to think for a moment. “Say, those Tirkins,” he said, “they were saying something about other hoomans, er- humans, yeah?”

“What are you saying?” Milton asked.

“Well, they were clearly running from something,” Zeke explained. “You don’t think there’s an enemy colony nearby that chased them off, do you?”

Milton shook his head. “For the last time, there’s no colonies nearby,” he insisted. “If there was one, I’d know.”

“It does seem weird though,” Pandoria agreed. “Maybe-”

Before Pandoria could finish her thought, the ground began to rumble. The group started to look around frantically as they heard something loud, and it was growing louder and louder. Zeke turned around and stared in shock as he saw a large Levnis approaching, along with a group of soldiers.

“Kevesi soldiers!” Zeke shouted.

“What?!” Milton questioned. “Where’d they come from?!”

“There!” one of the soldiers shouted, pointing at the group. “That’s our target!”

“We need to get out of here now,” Pandoria decided.

Right as the group prepared to make a run for it, the soldiers began shooting at them.

“Agh!” Zeke grunted as he narrowly dodged the ether bullets. “Run!”

The three of them began to sprint away, but they weren’t able to get very far as the Levnis shot out a large blast towards a nearby cliff, causing a rockslide to block off the group's escape path.

“Whah!” Milton yelled as rocks fell in front of him. “Now what?!”

Zeke shook his head and began to pull out his Big Bang Edge. “Guess we have no other choice but to fight.” He turned around, ready to face the soldiers while Pandoria and Milton prepared for the fight as well.

Zeke used his sword to block all the bullets shot towards him. Pandoria kept her distance, trying to shoot her electricity towards the soldiers. Milton ran forward, slashing his naginata in the air to shoot out bursts of light at his enemies. He was doing a great job at taking out the soldiers in the front and knocking them onto the ground. He then looked up as the Levnis prepared another blast.

“Watch out, Milton!” Zeke yelled, rushing in to push him out of the way. The two of them tumbled onto the ground as the Levnis shot a laser past them. They coughed as dust filled the air.

“You alright?” Zeke asked.

“I’m fine,” Milton assured.

Pandoria ran over to meet up with the two of them. “We’re not gonna get far with that thing still standing!” she said, pointing at the Levnis.

“Right,” Zeke nodded. “Milton, fend off these blighters here while Pandy and I take out the Levnis.”

“On it,” Milton agreed.

Milton ran back towards the group of soldiers, dodging their attacks to his best ability while getting in small jabs when he could. Meanwhile, Zeke and Pandoria focused on the larger target.

“This could be tricky,” Zeke commented.

“Yeah, could be,” Pandoria replied, “but you know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!”

Zeke smirked. “That’s what I like about you, Pandy.”

Pandoria charged up a massive blast with her wand before shooting it towards the Levnis. She stunned it, allowing Zeke to get in a massive hit. He ran forward, jumping up as he slashed his sword through the metal of the Levnis, leaving a large gash in it. He landed back on the ground, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“My Prince!” Pandoria called over. She didn’t say anything else as she simply pointed towards one of the Levnis’ legs.

Zeke smirked. “Great thinking, Pandoria,” he complimented. He ran towards the Levnis, charging his sword with lightning, before slashing right through the leg like a hot knife through butter. The Levnis stumbled back, unable to stay balanced now. Pandoria shot out another burst of electricity, giving the Levnis the extra force it needed to completely topple over.

As the Levnis crashed onto the ground, the soldiers all looked over in surprise. However, Milton refused to look back as he had all of his focus on the fight. While one soldier was distracted, Milton smacked them in the face with the blunt side of his weapon. The force was enough to knock the helmet off of the soldier. When the soldier looked back at Milton, their Iris was glowing a bright red color.

“What the?” Milton questioned. While he was caught off guard, another soldier shot at him. “Agh!” Milton yelled out, wincing in pain and grabbing onto his arm. He quickly got back into the fight, continuing to fend off the soldiers the best he could.

With the Levnis defeated, Zeke and Pandoria turned their attention back towards the group of soldiers. They ran over, knocking back a bunch of them in one swift move. Milton blinked in shock as Zeke and Pandoria returned to the fight.

“You ok there, chum?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Milton assured. “But the soldiers… I think something is up with them.”

“What do you mean?” Zeke questioned.

“Their Irises… they look wrong,” Milton explained. “Just… something about the way they’re glowing doesn’t feel right.”

“I think see what you’re talking about,” Zeke agreed once he noticed the faint red glow coming from the soldiers’ visors.

“Hey!” Pandoria yelled at the soldiers. “We took out your Levnis, why don’t you guys back off?”

The soldiers remained silent, readying their weapons again almost like they were mindless machines.

“They’re not gonna listen, it seems,” Zeke replied. “I’ve got this, don’t worry.” Zeke’s weapon began to charge with immense electrical energy once more. He raised his sword into the air for a moment before using both arms to slam it into the ground with great force. The impact caused a giant shock wave, not only knocking the soldiers away, but even causing Milton and Pandoria to struggle to keep their footing for a moment.

The soldiers all grunted as they fell onto the ground. A few of them blinked a couple of times, almost like they were just in a daze. Once they saw the image of Zeke standing with the wrecked Levnis behind him, many soldiers scrambled onto their feet in fear.

“Retreat!” they yelled. However, not every soldier ran away. A few of them still seemed intent on staying in the fight, their glowing Irises remaining and shining ominously.

“Really? Not done yet?” Zeke questioned. “Look, I really don’t want to hurt you lot.”

There were three soldiers remaining, all of them frowning. But then, they recoiled from some unknown source.

“What’s going on here?” Pandoria asked.

“Are you guys ok?” Milton said, stepping forward slightly.

“We… we were given specific orders,” one soldier spoke. “But the enemy…”

“It’s ok,” Zeke assured, sheathing his sword. “Look, we’re not the enemy. If you listen to us, we can explain everything.”

“Explain?” another soldier questioned.

“Yes,” Zeke continued. “Things aren’t what they seem. Just ask Milton over there.” Zeke looked over, gesturing towards Milton who in return, blinked at Zeke as he wasn’t prepared to be dragged into this conversation.

The soldiers seemed like they were still completely lost, like they had no idea what was going on. Things seemed like they were calming down, but one soldier began to frown again. He readied his gun, aiming it towards Zeke. Pandoria quickly took notice.

“My Prince! Look out!” Pandoria shouted. 

Zeke turned around, but before he could react, Pandoria ran in front of him. The soldier shot his weapon, the bullet hitting Pandoria right in her chest. She stumbled back, putting her hand over her Core Crystal.

“Pandy!” Zeke yelled, catching Pandoria as she fell back into his arms. The two of them dropped onto the ground, Zeke continuing to hold Pandoria. He stared in horror as he saw the massive crack in Pandoria’s already fragmented Core Crystal.

The three soldiers readied their weapons again, all of them seemingly wanting to continue the fight. Milton ran in front of Zeke and Pandoria, slicing his weapon to keep the soldiers away from them.

“Pandy, are you alright?” Zeke asked, his voice in a complete panic. “You- you’re gonna be fine, ok?”

Pandoria gave Zeke a weak smile. She slowly lifted her arm up, and Zeke grabbed onto her hand. “We had fun… didn’t we?” she asked, her voice extremely weak. “Shame… it had to end like this, huh?”

“Don’t say that,” Zeke insisted. “You’re not down and out just yet. Please, just hang on, please!”

Pandoria’s smile slowly faded as she closed her eyes and went limp, her arm falling to the ground.

“Pandy! PANDORIA!” Zeke cried out.

Milton pushed the soldiers away before looking back at Zeke who was now cradling Pandoria’s body. Milton’s eyes went wide in shock, but before he could process what had happened, the soldiers quickly reminded him that he was still in the middle of a fight.

“No…” Zeke muttered as he held Pandoria’s body as close to himself as possible, his eyes shut tight. “No, Pandoria, you can’t…” He opened his eyes as he noticed motes of light beginning to fly off of Pandoria’s body. He looked up, watching in disbelief as the motes flew off into the sky. His heart then sank as his arms suddenly felt empty. He looked down again to see Pandoria’s body had completely faded away, only leaving her clothes behind, not even her Core Crystal. Zeke’s distraught gaze remained frozen on Pandoria’s clothes now sitting on the ground in front of him.

Milton grunted as he struggled to fight off the soldiers. “Zeke!” he yelled out. “A little help here?”

The soldier pushed Milton to the ground before approaching Zeke from behind.

“Zeke! Look out!” Milton warned.

The soldier attempted to stab her weapon towards Zeke, but without even looking, Zeke pulled out his Big Bang Edge and blocked the attack. The soldier gasped in shock as Zeke quickly pushed her away before getting back onto his feet. He shot out a burst of lightning from his sword at the remaining soldiers, knocking them all away.

Milton remained frozen on the ground as he watched on. Zeke readied his sword again, slamming it onto the ground to create another powerful shock wave. All the soldiers tumbled over, coughing from the dust that began to fill the air. The soldier with the gun reached for his helmet that fell off after Zeke’s attack, but he immediately froze as the large sword became pointed right at him.

Zeke glared daggers at the soldier as he pointed his weapon directly at the soldier’s throat. Zeke’s silence spoke volumes, nothing but pure hatred in his gaze. However, his scowl softened as he saw the terrified look on the soldier’s face. Despite it all, this soldier was still just a kid, about the same age as Milton. And right now, all Zeke could see was a terrified child, staring right at him.

Zeke looked away, lowering his sword. “Get out of here,” he ordered, his tone sounding very direct and emotionless.

The soldier refused to move for a second, still paralyzed by fear.

“Go,” Zeke repeated, his voice more stern this time. “Run back to your colony. All of you.”

Realizing that they were truly being shown mercy, the three soldiers scrambled onto their feet and began to run away. Zeke watched them flee before turning back towards Milton who was staring at him with a look of anguish and shock. Milton then quietly looked over at Pandoria’s belongings that still remained on the ground.

Zeke walked over to the clothing, completely falling onto his knees. He picked up the clothes of his Blade, holding them close and closing his eyes. Milton simply looked away, not knowing what else to do at this moment. They both just remained there in complete silence for what felt like an eternity.

Eventually, Zeke stood up, still holding onto Pandoria’s belongings. “Come on,” he said quietly. “Let’s keep moving.”

Milton nodded silently and the two of them walked away without saying another word.

Chapter Text

The campsite was deathly silent. The only sound that filled the air was the quiet crackling coming from the campfire as it burned. Both Zeke and Milton had been quiet for the rest of the day, neither of them talking at all since the fight with those soldiers. Milton would occasionally glance over at Zeke, and every time he did, he saw a look of despair that he had never seen on him before.

Milton gave Zeke another glance before looking down at the ground. “I… I’m sorry…” he muttered, not knowing what else to say, but also not wanting to stay silent any longer.

Zeke blinked slowly and looked over at Milton, but he still didn’t say anything. Instead, Milton continued talking.

“I thought I was used to this…” Milton said. “I thought I had gotten used to this, seeing my friends die in battle. I thought I was numb to it, but when Pandoria…” He went quiet for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m sorry…”

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” Zeke replied, his voice sounding tired. “If anything, it’s my fault.”

Milton looked over at Zeke, confused as to what he meant by that.

“I was supposed to keep her safe, protect her,” Zeke continued. “But I failed her… And now she’s gone…”

Milton hated seeing Zeke like this. For as much as he complained about Zeke’s overly enthusiastic nature, he’d take that any day over Zeke sounding so exhausted and utterly defeated like this.

“You were right, Milton,” Zeke said.

“Huh?” Milton questioned. “About what?”

“The world is a cruel place,” Zeke responded. “I had convinced myself that there was hope, that there was still a light at the end of this dark, endless tunnel. But this place, Aionios… It’s nothing but a black void that saps away any sign of hope. It had been so long, I forgot what the world is truly capable of. What people are…” His voice trailed off.

Milton continued feeling uneasy as Zeke spoke. He wanted to try and tell Zeke that things would be ok, to try and help him in the same way Zeke had helped him in the past, but Milton didn’t know how to do that. He continued sitting quietly, not knowing what else to do in the moment.

“I… I really thought that I’d always have Pandy by my side,” Zeke continued. “That no matter what happened, at least I’d have her. Even after we woke up in this place, even if we had no idea if anyone else was around anymore, at least we’d have each other. But now I’m alone…”

“I’m still here, Zeke,” Milton reassured.

“How long will that last?” Zeke asked.

Milton flinched and it seemed like Zeke immediately regretted his choice of words. Zeke shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I shouldn’t say that.”

“It’s true though,” Milton replied. “I know that I’m going to die one of these days. But… I’ve got to keep fighting with the life I have, right?”

“Keep fighting just so you can survive, eh?” Zeke responded. “As if that’s any way to live.”

Milton was silent for a moment. He thought about what he wanted to say next as he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He took in a deep breath. “Even if Pandoria’s gone,” he eventually spoke up, “she did help teach me one thing.”

“What’s that?” Zeke asked.

“That… maybe the world can be a better place,” Milton explained. “You and her both taught me that.”

“Well,” Zeke replied, “sorry for giving you false hope.”

Milton felt even more anguish as he realized just how far Zeke had fallen into his own despair. It felt like talking to a completely different person. Milton closed his eyes. “I think I get it now,” he said. “I understand what you were trying to teach me this whole time. You just… you wanted me to be happy. You wanted me to learn how to love life and smile, right?”

Zeke didn’t respond.

“Well…” Milton went quiet as he could feel tears beginning to form in his eyes. “I… I want to be happy.” Milton’s voice began to crack. “So even if we lost Pandoria, I want to keep fighting so I can be happy. And so you can be happy, too.”

“Me?” Zeke questioned. “You want me to… be happy?”

“You were the one to tell me that you could always move on and find new meaning in life,” Milton reminded. “Well it’s the same thing now. Even if Pandoria is gone, we’ll learn to continue living. We’ll keep fighting, because she wouldn’t want us to give up. That’s what I think, at least.”

Zeke raised his eyebrows slightly. He looked up at the sky, staring at the stars. “I reckon she’d be kicking me in the arse right now for feeling so sorry for myself…” he mumbled. “Life was never easy for the two of us, but we kept at it no matter what.” Zeke shook his head. “Sorry, you don’t want to hear my ramblings.”

“No, it’s fine,” Milton assured. “Do… do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know what I want,” Zeke responded. “If I’m being honest, this still doesn’t feel real. I’ve had Pandy by my side for longer than I can remember. I guess I just… I don’t know what life is supposed to be like without her…”

Milton thought for a moment. “It’s probably not gonna be as fun,” he replied, “but it’ll keep going.”

“Yeah,” Zeke agreed. “Life doesn’t stop for anyone, even if your wife dies.”

Milton had only heard the word ‘wife’ a few times and he didn’t remember what exactly it meant, but he also figured now wasn’t a great time to ask. At the very least, he knew it meant something important.

Both of them went quiet as they stared at the fire, sitting there for what felt like hours. Despite how late it was getting, neither of them decided to get any sleep. They continued to stay up, because how could they possibly get any sleep after what happened? 

As the fire continued to crackle, Milton eventually spoke up. “So…” he said. “What do we do now?”

Zeke was quiet at first, almost like he was thinking of an answer. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted.

Milton didn’t like that response, but he also didn’t blame Zeke for not knowing. Milton’s expression narrowed. “I’ll take charge from now on,” he insisted.

“Milton, you don’t need to-”

“I’ve been the one leading us around Aionios this whole time,” Milton reminded, cutting Zeke off. “Whether you like it or not, I’m a soldier. Today won’t happen again, I’ll make sure of it.”

Zeke gave Milton a worried expression. “What happened today wasn’t your fault, Milton,” he reassured.

“I was the one who kept insisting that there weren’t any colonies nearby,” Milton continued despite Zeke’s attempts to change his mind. “If I had been more prepared, we wouldn’t have run into…”

“You made a mistake,” Zeke replied. “It happens to everyone.”

“This was a mistake that got your partner killed!” Milton argued, which made Zeke flinch ever so slightly. Milton looked away. “It’s a mistake that I won’t make again.”

Zeke didn’t respond initially. If there was one thing he had learned about Milton, it’s that he was extremely stubborn. He was also very hard on himself, which was a bad combination. But still, Zeke knew breaking through that barrier would be extremely difficult.

“I want to protect you,” Milton insisted. “I don’t want to be a liability.”

“And here I thought you saw me as the liability,” Zeke commented, somewhat jokingly.

Milton frowned, but remained silent.

Zeke let out a long sigh before glancing over at Milton. “You’ve got a lot of courage, kiddo,” he said. “And you’re bloody tough as well. I have no problems with you wanting to protect me. But I have one condition you’ve gotta follow.”

Milton grimaced slightly. “What’s that?” he asked, clearly expecting to hear something terrible.

“You can’t do it on your own,” Zeke replied. “You’ll protect me, but I’ll be protecting you as well. We’ve got to look out for each other in a world like this. Can you promise me that?”

Milton was slightly surprised to hear Zeke’s request as it was far from what he expected it to be, but he nodded. “I promise.”

Zeke smiled. “Good to hear,” he said. “Glad I’ve got the Beacon of Light looking out for me.”

“Beacon of Light?” Milton questioned. “What’s that, a dumb title you came up with?”

“Suits you, doesn’t it?” Zeke replied.

“It’s stupid,” Milton denied.

“Alright then, how about… Bearer of Radiance?” Zeke suggested.

“That’s somehow worse.”

“Emissary of Daybreak?” Zeke replied. “Honestly, I could keep going all day.”

“Luckily it’s nighttime,” Milton pointed out.

Zeke chuckled. “Speaking of which, why don’t you go ahead and get some rest?” he recommended. “I can take first watch.”

“Are you sure?” Milton asked. “Because it’s fine if you want me to-”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Zeke replied, interrupting Milton. “I’ll wake you up when I need some shut-eye.”

Milton thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Ok,” he agreed.

As soon as Milton laid down to fall asleep, Zeke’s smile faded away. For as much as the mood seemed to lighten up, Zeke couldn’t help but let the dread of what happened linger in his mind. Zeke let out a long sigh, burying his face in his hands. He was truly at a loss for what to do next. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, he just knew he wasn’t ready to face a new day without Pandoria by his side.

______________________________________________

Alrest, XX years before the Intersection

It was late when Zeke and Pandoria had arrived back in Tantal. They had just returned from a trip meeting up with the others. It was pretty casual, and everyone seemed like they had a good time, but Zeke seemed to be upset about something. However, he never said anything about it directly the entire trip back.

Zeke and Pandoria were both preparing to go to bed after the long day, but Zeke’s attitude was beginning to rub off on Pandoria as she noticed he had something on his mind.

“How long are you gonna keep that look on your face?” Pandoria asked.

“What look?” Zeke questioned.

“That worried one,” Pandoria pointed out. “You’ve looked like that ever since we left. What’s on your mind?”

“It’s nothing,” Zeke dismissed.

“Well I know that’s a lie,” Pandoria replied. “I can tell when you’re upset about something. And you know I’m not gonna drop it, so you should just tell me what’s bothering you.”

Zeke thought for a brief moment. He knew Pandoria was right, he was just thinking about how to go about explaining things.

“Pandy,” Zeke eventually spoke, “do I… look old to you?”

Pandoria blinked as she didn’t expect that to be what was worrying Zeke. “ That’s what this is about?” she questioned. She then playfully placed a hand on her chin as she examined Zeke. “You know, now that you mention it, your hair does look gray,” she joked.

Zeke did not look amused. “That’s not-” he replied. “Ergh… I’m being serious here, Pandy!”

“Sorry, you’re right,” Pandoria apologized. “But honestly no, you still look really young for your age.”

“That’s exactly what I was afraid of…” Zeke replied.

“Huh?” Pandoria questioned. “You’re… upset that you don’t look old? Like… you want to have wrinkles and stuff? I don’t get it.”

“Tora was the first one who made a comment about it,” Zeke started to explain further. “He pointed out how much older Rex had started looking, and then mentioned how I didn’t look like I had aged a day. That’s when Nia chimed in as well, suggesting that I might age slower because I’m a Blade Eater or whatever.”

“Huh, guess I missed that,” Pandoria admitted.

“You were busy chatting with Mòrag and Brighid,” Zeke replied. “You probably weren’t paying attention.”

“I mean… I don’t really see what the big deal is,” Pandoria said. “If being a Blade Eater means you get to look younger, shouldn’t that be a good thing?”

“That’s not everything,” Zeke interrupted. “I asked Nia what she meant, and she mentioned that when she was still part of Torna, she had overheard Mikail talking about the Aegis War, like he was there when it happened, or something along those lines. I don’t remember what she said specifically. But she did explain that Mikail was a Blade Eater, not a Flesh Eater like the rest of Torna.”

Pandoria’s eyes went wide. “Wait, so then…” She thought for a moment. “He was alive for a LONG time.”

“Mm-hmm,” Zeke nodded. “And it got me thinking… How long am I going to live for? We really don’t know much about Blade Eaters. The only one who did know about these things was Amalthus, and he’s long dead. And even if he had like… notes or something, those would have been lost when Indol fell.”

Pandoria could tell Zeke was getting more and more worked up over this, but she decided to let him continue ranting for now. She figured he really just needed to get this off his chest.

“I mean yeah, I did ask him about any side effects after he did the operation,” Zeke continued, “but he didn’t give me any bloody details! He never thought to warn me that I might live for hundreds of years!”

“Well, we don’t know for sure that you’re gonna live for that long,” Pandoria finally gave her input.

“But it’s a possibility,” Zeke argued. “I mean… what’s going to happen to all of our friends? One by one, they’ll all die of old age, but then I’ll still be hanging on because I have a Core Crystal in my damn chest!” Zeke went quiet for a moment. “There’s a chance that I’m going to outlive every single person I care about…”

Pandoria’s heart sank slightly as she heard the genuine sadness in Zeke’s voice. She walked over, grabbing his hand. “Hey, look at me,” she said.

Zeke listened, turning his head to look at Pandoria’s face.

“We made a promise. Wherever you go, I go with you,” Pandoria reminded. “Even if you outlive everyone else, I’ll always be by your side. I’m your Blade after all, as long as you’re alive, I’ll be there, too.”

Zeke managed to smile at that. “Thanks, Pandy…” he replied.

Pandoria smiled back at him. “Now come on,” she insisted, “let’s get some sleep before you start to spiral into a deeper existential crisis.”

“Wait, but what if I’m just kept awake all night still thinking about it?” Zeke questioned.

“Well just don’t think about it,” Pandoria argued.

“Telling me not to think about it is just going to make me think about it even more!” Zeke replied.

“Well then distract your mind with something else,” Pandoria insisted. “Think about… I don’t know, Turters or something.”

“How is it that you can be very helpful and not helpful at all at the same exact time?” Zeke questioned.

Pandoria chuckled. “I could say the same about you, my Prince.”

The two of them finally finished getting ready for bed, both of them laying down. It didn’t take long for Pandoria to get comfortable, but Zeke was struggling to fall asleep, just as he had worried. He took in a deep breath.

No matter what, Pandoria will be by my side, he tried to remind himself. Even if everyone else is gone, I’ll still have Pandy…

Chapter Text

The first few days without Pandoria were a lot for Zeke to readjust to. Nothing felt quite right anymore, but he couldn’t give up. Not when he had Milton to look after. Milton was also upset about losing Pandoria, but he seemed to have accepted it a lot quicker than Zeke did. Milton was more used to this type of thing, as sad as that fact was.

Losing Pandoria was tragic for both Zeke and Milton, but they had to carry on. Life would continue whether they were ready for it or not, so they had to endure. And as the months went on, endure was what they did.

It was early in the morning. Milton was already awake while Zeke was still fast asleep. The two of them had a rough fight against some Brogs the other day, and Zeke was still recovering from some injuries from the scuffle. It wasn’t anything too serious, but it would still take a few days for Zeke to be back to one hundred percent. The main issue was that Zeke seemed to have gotten sick from one of the Brog's attacks. Both Zeke and Milton knew it would probably pass after the night was done, but it was still something to keep in mind.

Milton was cooking up some breakfast while he waited for Zeke to wake up. He heard a quiet grunt and looked over to see Zeke stirring.

“Ugh… what’s that smell?” Zeke asked groggily.

“You’re finally up,” Milton replied. “Just in time for breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” Zeke said, slowly sitting up.

“Yep,” Milton confirmed. “I decided to cook up those Brog legs we grabbed.”

“Brog legs?” Zeke questioned. “I don’t remember picking those up.”

“Ok, let me rephrase,” Milton responded, “I picked up the Brog legs while you were busy throwing up. I figured they’d make for a good meal.”

Zeke still looked baffled, but to his defense, he had just woken up. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to focus. “Were those Brogs we fought even edible?” he doubted. “They had some pretty rancid breath.”

“If you cook them long enough, then they’re fine to eat,” Milton explained. “Trust me, I know a lot about this type of thing.” Milton grabbed some plates and began to divide the food up for Zeke and himself. He walked over to Zeke, handing him one of the plates.

Zeke didn’t know how to respond to the food he was given. The Brog legs were completely burnt to a crisp and were as black as charcoal. There was also what looked like some cooked vegetables on the side that looked tasty enough, but Zeke didn’t recognize what they were exactly.

“I think you may have overcooked the legs a bit there, chap,” Zeke commented.

“Did you not hear what I told you?” Milton asked. “You gotta cook them enough to make sure they’re safe to eat.”

“Yeah, but this?” Zeke picked up the Brog leg and smacked it on the plate. “Pretty sure you turned this into a rock.”

“It’s a bit crunchy, that’s all,” Milton defended himself. He picked up his own burnt Brog leg and effortlessly bit into it, making a loud, audible crunch as he chewed it. 

Zeke tried to bite into his Brog leg, only to find it way too hard to get his teeth through it. “Think I’ll just stick with the veggies for now,” he decided. He scooped up the mysterious vegetables and ate some. He didn’t recognize the taste, but he wouldn’t say it tasted bad. If anything, it was just bland.

“Make sure to eat it all,” Milton advised. “It should help you heal up better.”

“Hm?” Zeke questioned. “What kind of vegetable helps with that?”

Milton raised an eyebrow. “That’s Blant meat,” he revealed before going back to eating like normal.

Zeke’s face grimaced. “Where the hell did you…? Why did you- couldn’t you have just cooked up some carrots or something normal?”

“You think carrots are easy to come across?” Milton questioned, pointing his Brog leg towards Zeke. “They're not exactly easy to find in the wild.”

“Uh huh,” Zeke replied. “You know, I don’t think I’m that hungry.”

“Coward,” Milton commented, which immediately caught Zeke’s attention.

“A coward?!” Zeke questioned. “You’re really calling me a coward?!”

“I mean, if you can’t even handle eating some Blant then yeah, that sounds cowardly to me,” Milton explained himself.

“I’ll show you!” Zeke retaliated. “There’s nothing in this world that I cannot handle!” Zeke immediately started eating the rest of the cooked Blant he had on his plate.

Milton continued eating his own breakfast, a faint smirk appearing on his face as he watched Zeke.

Zeke grimaced a few more times, but he managed to finish his breakfast, setting his plate down afterwards. “There, done.”

Milton glanced at the plate. “You still didn’t eat the Brog legs.”

“I draw the line at rock-hard, burnt Brog legs,” Zeke dismissed.

Milton sighed. “Fine, suit yourself I suppose.”

Once Milton finished up breakfast as well, the two of them got to work packing up all their supplies so they could continue moving. That was one thing they had grown accustomed to; staying on the move. They didn’t risk spending too much time in one spot, it was far too dangerous. It was especially risky for their current location as they were traversing some pretty open fields. They wouldn’t have many places to hide if they needed to, but luckily, they hadn’t run into either Keves or Agnus in quite a while.

Zeke and Milton started walking. The two of them didn’t really have a goal or destination in mind as they just continued wandering Aionios somewhat aimlessly. All they were really focused on right now was surviving, as they didn’t really have any other goals.

Initially, things were quiet. Neither Zeke nor Milton seemed to have anything to say, but Zeke wasn’t enjoying the silence very much. They hadn’t run into any trouble, which was good, but it also made things pretty dull.

“Tell me, Milton,” Zeke spoke up, “when did you even find the time to snag some Blant meat?”

“Hm?” Milton replied. “Oh, that happened when you passed out after the Brog fight.”

“Passed out?” Zeke questioned. “I didn’t pass out.”

“Oh yeah, you did,” Milton insisted. “You probably just don’t remember it. That Brog breath messed you up pretty bad.”

“Wha- Then why am I just now learning about this?!”

“You weren’t out for that long,” Milton replied. “I didn’t think it was necessary to bring it up so I didn’t.”

“I figured you’d be more paranoid and worried about that type of thing,” Zeke pointed out.

“Normally, yeah, I probably would,” Milton admitted, “but we had already defeated the Brogs and I knew you were gonna be fine. Dealing with monsters is less stressful than fighting people. Monsters are easy to predict. People on the other hand…”

“Can be extremely hard to read…” Zeke finished Milton’s thought.

Milton nodded in agreement. “But wild animals? Those are easy to handle.”

“I suppose so,” Zeke replied, crossing his arms. He then let out a quiet chuckle which caught Milton’s attention.

“What?” Milton asked.

“Nothing,” Zeke responded. “It just fills me with pride to see how much you’ve grown.”

Milton raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know,” Zeke said, “you’re less negative, you know how to handle yourself in a fight,” he listed off.

“I’ve always known how to handle myself,” Milton argued.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Zeke replied. “Still though, I’m proud of you.”

Milton blinked, not knowing how exactly to respond to that. He still wasn’t quite sure how he viewed Zeke. He was definitely able to call him an ally, but that didn’t feel quite right. The closest thing Milton could think of was that he saw Zeke sort of like a mentor, but he was unsure about that as well. It's not like Zeke taught him that much, but still…

Milton shook his head. “For a second I thought you were talking about me being taller or something stupid like that,” he dismissed.

Zeke laughed. “Well, I’m pretty sure you have gotten taller, too,” he assured. “If you’re anything like your dad, then you’ll be quite tall once you’ve finished growing.”

“Rex was tall, huh?” Milton questioned. “Taller than you?”

“Eh, not quite,” Zeke denied. “Last I remember, Rex and I were about the same height. It’s hard to tell.”

“I see,” Milton replied. He was quiet for a brief moment. “Speaking of family,” he eventually said, “I was wondering… what was your kid like?”

Zeke blinked. “You mean Linka?”

“Yeah,” Milton confirmed. “You… haven’t talked about her much. I was just curious.”

“Ah, I see,” Zeke replied before smiling. “Oh, Linka Bug. She was my pride and joy. I would always take her out on adventures when I could, despite the castle staff advising against it. They always said she was far too young, but it’s not like I took her anywhere super dangerous. I knew what places were safe and what places were off limits. And I always kept her safe. Pandy and I did, that is.” Zeke went quiet for a moment. “Linka also spent a lot of time with Mòrag and Brighid. You remember those two, right?”

“I think I might remember you mentioning those names,” Milton agreed. “Were… they also part of the family?”

“More or less,” Zeke responded. “Anyway, being the king of a kingdom meant I was pretty busy a lot. And sometimes when I was too busy, or if we were visiting Mor Ardain, Linka would get to spend some time with those two. At least when they weren’t busy. But I always liked having close friends watch her compared to the castle staff. But anyway, I think those two really rubbed off on her because of that. Not that I’m complaining, I love Linka no matter what.”

“No matter what?” Milton questioned. “Even if she… I don’t know, killed someone?”

Zeke shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that,” he denied. “I taught her better than that.”

“But still,” Milton continued, “if she ended up in Aionios as a soldier, then there’s no doubt she would have killed someone. If not that, then she would have been killed. That’s just how things work in this world.” Milton glanced over at Zeke and noticed just how uncomfortable and somewhat angry he looked. Milton flinched slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s quite alright,” Zeke cut him off, although his voice did sound upset. “I just… don’t like thinking about the idea of my little girl being one of those soldiers…”

“I- sorry…” Milton apologized again. An awkward silence filled the air as they continued walking. “So uh… anything else?” Milton eventually asked.

“Hm?” Zeke replied. “About what?”

“About Linka,” Milton clarified. “Like… I don’t know, what kind of person was she?”

“Oh,” Zeke responded, “Linka was always very smart. She liked reading a lot and learning about different countries and all that. I think you two would get along great.”

“Really?” Milton questioned. “I find that hard to believe considering… well, you being the way you are. Aren’t kids like… tiny versions of their parents or something?”

“Ha!” Zeke laughed. “Actually, Linka was a lot less bombastic than me. That’s why I figured you’d enjoy her company more than mine.” Zeke paused for a moment. “Well, I guess technically you two did get along,” he clarified, “but, then this whole mess happened so you wouldn’t remember any of that.”

Milton thought for a moment before asking another question. “What would you do… if you did see Linka again, and she was a heartless soldier? Like I was?”

Zeke didn’t respond initially. He looked away, clearly not wanting to think about that.

“What if…” Milton continued, “what if we’ve already run into her before and you just never noticed?”

“Not possible,” Zeke denied. “I would have recognized her in a heartbeat.”

“You realize most soldiers wear helmets with visors, right?” Milton questioned. “We easily could have-”

“Not possible,” Zeke repeated, his voice much more stern this time.

Milton immediately decided to back off. He had learned when Zeke was being serious, and this was definitely one of those moments. Milton realized his curiosity was beginning to cross a line, so he decided to change the subject.

“Didn’t you used to have a turtle companion?" Milton asked.

“You mean Turters?” Zeke replied, his tone immediately shifting.

“Yeah, that one,” Milton said.

“Oh, Turters was the best mascot you could ever ask for,” Zeke began to reminisce. “He was the cutest little guy and always cheered up Pandy and I on our adventures. We’d do anything for him.”

“Really?” Milton questioned. “You’re saying you’d do anything for a tiny little turtle?”

“Hey, if you saw him, you’d understand,” Zeke insisted.

“Guess I’ll just have to take your word for it,” Milton decided.

The conversation went quiet after that as the two of them noticed a group of people off in the distance. They both froze up as they were used to people meaning trouble. They couldn’t tell if these people were from Keves or Agnus, but that didn’t stop Milton from pulling out his weapon.

“Cool down, Milton,” Zeke said in a low voice. “We can avoid them if we find another path.”

“Avoid who?”

Zeke and Milton both jumped as they heard a voice behind them. They turned around, both of them readying their weapons.

“Woah, calm down there,” the stranger reassured. “I’m not here to start any fights.”

Zeke and Milton stared at the stranger, still unable to tell where this person was from. His clothes didn’t look like the standard Keves or Agnus outfits, so they couldn’t use that to go off of. And appearance wise, he seemed like a regular human. 

Milton narrowed his eyes. “Are you with a group?” he interrogated.

“Yes,” the stranger replied. “They’re right over there.” He pointed towards the people that Zeke and Milton had already spotted. “Follow me, I can introduce you.” He began to walk away, leaving Zeke and Milton confused.

Milton looked to Zeke for an idea of what to do and Zeke simply shrugged. “I suppose we should check this out,” he decided. “But stay on your toes, Milton.”

“Obviously,” Milton replied, somewhat snappily.

The two of them begrudgingly sheathed their weapons and followed the stranger towards the rest of his group, making sure to keep some distance. The group looked over as they saw the others arrive, one person waving them over. Another person looked a little displeased.

“Oi, who are these two?” he asked.

“I don’t think they’re a threat,” the initial stranger informed. “I mean, they’re clearly on their own. I think they might be… rogue soldiers.”

“You realize we can hear you, right?” Milton questioned snarkily.

“Don’t mind him,” Zeke assured. “He’s got a bad case of sharp tongue. Sadly, there is no cure.”

That comment got a chuckle from some of the strangers. The one skeptic lowered his shoulders, seemingly growing less wary of the two of them. “So, who are you two?” he asked. “What’s your story?”

“The name’s Zeke von Genbu!” Zeke introduced. “Or you know, just Zeke. And this here is Milton, he’s… sort of my nephew.”

Milton glared at Zeke, scrunching up his face slightly.

“Although I suppose you lot wouldn’t know-” Zeke continued.

“Nephew, eh?” one of the strangers replied, interrupting Zeke. “What happened to the kid’s parents?”

Zeke’s expression turned to disbelief. “Wait, you know about that?” he questioned. “About… parents and nephews and stuff?”

“Of course we do,” another stranger explained. “We’ve all got them. Well, maybe not nephews, but parents for sure.”

Both Zeke and Milton looked utterly shocked at this revelation. Neither of them had encountered a single person in Aionios who knew the concept of family, yet these strangers immediately knew what Zeke was talking about when he called Milton his nephew.

“Oh, apologizes,” the stranger said. “I bet you two aren’t used to hearing stuff like that with the way the colonies work, huh?”

Milton was growing more and more suspicious of these people. “Where… are you people from?”

“We’re from a place called the City,” one of them explained. “It’s a place that doesn’t concern itself with the war between Keves and Agnus. We're currently scouting out for extra supplies or anything else that could be of use, and then we’ll be making the trek back.”

“A place… without the war?” Zeke questioned. “I’m sorry, I’m just struggling to wrap my head around this.”

The group of City people looked at each other until one of them spoke up.

“We could take you there.”

Zeke and Milton both blinked.

“What?” Zeke questioned.

“We take in former soldiers all the time,” she explained. “In fact, the City was originally founded by former soldiers who wanted out of the war. Assuming you two are in a similar situation, you could go there as well. I can assure you that you’d be welcomed.”

“Yeah, most people just try to stay as far away from the war as possible now,” another one commented. “I mean, the war shouldn’t be an issue for those who don't have a stake in it, right?”

Zeke didn’t know what to say. He looked over at Milton who still looked extremely distrustful of these people.

“Could you give us a moment?” Zeke asked.

“Of course.”

Zeke and Milton walked away so they could talk in private. As soon as they were out of earshot of the City people, Milton decided to speak his mind.

“I don’t trust this one bit,” he said.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Zeke replied. “I’ll admit, it’s sort of freaky seeing people act this calm and cheerful. Like there’s not a bloody war going on.”

“Right?” Milton agreed. “They’ve got to be hiding something.”

Zeke narrowed his gaze slightly. “Still though,” he said, glancing back towards the City people, “they know about families, they’re clearly aiming towards peace, and they don’t seem like enemies at all. But then again, hiding away while those soldiers kill each other? Not sure I like that…”

“Zeke?” Milton questioned.

Zeke was quiet as he thought it over before he turned towards Milton. “I won’t make any decisions without your input,” he assured.

Milton immediately shook his head. “I don’t care how nice this sounds,” he denied. “I don’t trust these people. Aionios is a brutal place. There’s no way that this place of peace they’re talking about actually exists.”

“No faith at all, huh?” Zeke replied. “I don’t think it’s too far-fetched.”

“Well even if it is true,” Milton argued, “how long would it last? If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that nothing good in this world lasts forever.”

Zeke gave Milton a concerned look, but didn’t say anything.

Milton shook his head. “Why get our hopes up?” he continued. “We have a good thing going on. Even if it’s difficult, it’s what we know. And we don’t know these people.”

Zeke thought about Milton’s argument. It was true, they didn’t know these people at all. And while it was possible that they were genuinely kind people, Zeke knew all too well how rare that truly was. There were a lot of selfish people in the world. And it was possible that this really was too good to be true, that there was a downside that they weren’t seeing just yet.

Zeke nodded. “I trust your judgment, Milton.”

“Thank you,” Milton replied.

Zeke walked backed towards the City people, Milton following on the right side.

“So, what’s your decision?” one person asked.

“We appreciate the offer,” Zeke replied, “but we have to decline.”

“Are you sure?” someone else questioned.

Milton tensed up, something Zeke noticed out of the corner of his eye.

“We’re sure,” Zeke replied. “But hey, we won’t cause you any trouble, yeah?”

“Of course,” the city person responded. “We wish you the best of luck out there.”

“Cheers,” Zeke said. He gave a nod before looking over at Milton. “Come on, chum. Let’s get moving.”

“Right behind you,” Milton assured. He gave one last glance at the group of City people, narrowing his eyes slightly before turning to follow Zeke.

It was hard to say if they made the right choice. But in this world, all Zeke and Milton had was each other. It was hard to trust anyone else, especially after all the torment they had been through. Even if it was tough, they’d endure it together. That’s what they had to do.

Chapter Text

Zeke and Milton were starting to get low on food, which meant they needed to take a day to gather up more. Meat was always easy enough for them to get, they just had to go out and hunt some monsters that were edible. They usually did that right before preparing a meal though as they didn’t want the meat to end up going bad. But as for things like fruits or vegetables, those did need to be gathered ahead of time.

They hadn’t run into much luck so far. They eventually came across a grove of trees, but many of them didn’t appear to bear any fruit.

Zeke shook his head. “It’s not looking good, Milton,” he commented. “We may just have to eat a bit less for a while.”

Milton didn’t respond to Zeke at all as he was still looking around at the trees. He eventually spotted something in one of them and walked closer to examine it further.

Zeke looked over at Milton. “Spot something?” he asked.

“Yep,” Milton replied. He grabbed the small fruit and pulled it from the tree.

Zeke walked over to examine the mysterious fruit Milton had found. “What is that, a plum?” Zeke questioned.

“Looks like it,” Milton responded.

“Is it edible?”

“Not sure.” Milton sniffed the plum before abruptly taking a bite out of it.

“Wha- Don’t just take a bite out of it!” Zeke yelled. “You don’t know if that thing is poisonous or not!”

Milton chewed for a bit before swallowing. “No, this is good,” he explained. “They’re safe.” Milton began picking more of the plums and putting them into the food sack.

Zeke crossed his arms. “For such a worryguts, you sure do throw caution to the wind when it comes to food.”

“I mean, people have to find out if food is edible one way or another,” Milton defended. “Besides, you can usually tell if it’s poisonous just by the taste alone.”

Zeke's face suddenly became filled with much more concern than before after Milton’s comment. “Well I suppose we’ll see if you end up throwing up later.”

Milton rolled his eyes as he picked more of the fruit. “I think that’s enough of those for now,” he said once he finished grabbing the plums. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to find anything else around here, so we might just be eating plums for a while.”

“Better than nothing I suppose,” Zeke replied. “Come on, let’s look for anything else we can find.”

Milton nodded and the two of them continued looking around for anything they could forage. Just as before, they were struggling to find much. It was just their luck that they began to run low on food while in an area that didn’t have much to pick from.

Eventually, Milton spotted something again and walked over to investigate. Zeke followed him, wanting to keep an eye on him before he put another mysterious fruit in his mouth to test if it was edible or not. Zeke then felt his panic rising as he saw that Milton had spotted a bunch of mushrooms.

“MILTON!” Zeke yelled suddenly.

“Yeah?” Milton replied nonchalantly.

“Milton, do not mess around with mushrooms, those things can actually kill you,” Zeke advised.

“I know that,” Milton assured, slight annoyance in his tone. “But not every mushroom is deadly. Some of these could be used for food.”

“Milton, no,” Zeke ordered. “We are NOT messing with these.”

“Would you relax?” Milton shot back. He picked one of the mushrooms, examining it thoroughly. “I recognize these ones. They’re pretty common, we can eat them.” He started picking the other safe mushrooms in the cluster. He then looked at a different bunch of mushrooms. “Hm. I don’t recognize these ones.”

“Don’t eat the mystery mushrooms!” Zeke demanded.

Milton had an annoyed look on his face. “I’m not gonna eat the mystery mushrooms,” he replied. “But I might grab some just to see how they cook. You kinda have to cook the mushrooms to tell if they’re gonna be edible or not.”

“Milton, you are going to give me an aneurysm,” Zeke said.

“Funny, you do that to me all the time,” Milton shot back.

“I’d like less attitude out of you!” Zeke argued. “Food poisoning is not a joke!”

Milton chuckled quietly to himself.

“What are you laughing at?” Zeke questioned.

“I don’t know,” Milton replied, “it’s just funny seeing you be the one to freak out for once. And you call me paranoid.”

“Oh, whatever,” Zeke dismissed. “Hurry up with those mushrooms so we can get a move on.”

“I’m working on it,” Milton assured.

As Milton continued grabbing the mushrooms, he started to notice some of the strange rocks nearby. It wasn’t impossible to find mushrooms in a slightly rocky area, but he still felt a strange sense of weariness. Milton slowly stood up and backed away towards Zeke.

Zeke raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong, Milton?” he asked.

“No, we’re good,” Milton replied, “but I think we can get ready to-” Milton went quiet as he saw one of the rocks begin to move.

Both Zeke and Milton froze up as they noticed that multiple rocks jutting out of the ground were beginning to move. One by one, they popped out of the ground, revealing themselves as a nest of Ropls. And they seemed pretty upset about their rest being disturbed.

“I think we’re good to go, how about you, Milton?” Zeke asked.

“Yep, I’m good!” Milton replied.

The two of them turned around and immediately began sprinting away. The Ropls all let out some growls as they chased after the duo.

“Crap! Why didn’t I notice the Ropls sooner?!” Milton yelled. “I’m usually better at scoping out surroundings!”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Milton!” Zeke assured. “You were just so distracted by those mushrooms that you didn’t notice the obvious monster nest nearby!”

“Shut up!” Milton shouted. “You didn’t notice them either!”

“Yeah, because I was focused on making sure you didn’t eat deadly mushrooms!” Zeke retaliated.

“We can bitch later, let’s just keep running!” Milton yelled.

Zeke and Milton stopped their argument for now as they kept trying to run from the angry Ropls. They were able to keep their distance, but the monsters were still close behind. It seemed like they weren’t going to stop chasing them any time soon, and there were also too many for them to safely fight them off.

Zeke scanned the area for a bit before he spotted what looked like a small cave. “Milton! Over there!” he pointed.

Milton looked over and saw the cave entrance. “Sounds good!” he agreed, and the two of them turned and sprinted towards the cave. The Ropls continued their chase as they growled and hissed at the two of them.

Zeke and Milton finally reached the cave entrance, running inside before stopping to make sure the other made it in safely as well. They both took a moment to catch their breath while the Ropls clawed at the cave entrance. Luckily, it was too small for them to get inside, meaning Zeke and Milton were away from the danger for now.

“Heh… Ha ha!” Zeke laughed, still out of breath. “Take that you… rocky, reptile things!” He took another moment to catch his breath. “I am too tired for creative insults right now…”

“Well as long as they can’t get in,” Milton said, “then we’ll have plenty of time to rest.”

“Yeah… sounds dandy,” Zeke agreed. He looked around the cave, but was unable to make anything out as it was pretty dark. “Say Milton, do you mind lighting this place up a bit?”

“Sure thing,” Milton replied, readying his naginata to create a ball of light. As soon as the light filled the cave, Zeke and Milton looked up to see a massive colony of Vangs sitting on the roof. The Vangs all opened their eyes and they stared at Zeke and Milton.

“Oh shit,” Zeke mumbled.

The Vangs all screeched and flew towards the two of them, Zeke and Milton yelping in fear as they were ambushed. A few Vangs flew out of the cave and actually scared off the Ropls outside, but Zeke and Milton were too occupied at the moment to notice that.

“Oh yeah, let’s hide out in a cave!” Milton yelled sarcastically as he slashed his naginata at the swarm of Vangs. “That’s a great idea!”

“It was a great idea!” Zeke argued while he swung his Big Bang Edge at the Vangs. “I’d rather deal with Vangs than Ropls!”

“Why do we always get into situations like this?!” Milton asked angrily.

“You should be used to this by now!” Zeke replied. “This type of stuff is normal for me!”

The two of them continued fighting off the aggressive Vangs until they all fled or were defeated. Once all of the Vangs were gone, Zeke and Milton once again attempted to take a breather. Silence filled the cave for a while as they stood there, processing everything.

“Well, that was fun,” Zeke commented as he sheathed his sword.

“You would find that fun,” Milton muttered angrily.

Zeke took a quick peek outside and saw that it was beginning to get dark. Zeke then looked at the surroundings of the cave again. It was pretty small and didn’t go very deep. It was the perfect size to set up camp.

“Well, now that we’ve cleared out any pests,” Zeke suggested, “why don’t we set up camp here for the night?”

“Seriously?” Milton questioned. “There were like… a million Vangs living in here!”

“I think a million is a bit of an over exaggeration,” Zeke dismissed, “but even so, they all left so we should be fine.”

“This is quite literally a monster’s den!” Milton argued. “How is this safe?!”

“Now who’s being overly paranoid?” Zeke teased.

“I- ergh…” Milton failed to come up with a rebuttal. “You’re a maniac.”

“I’ve been called worse,” Zeke remarked. “Anyway, I’ll head out and grab some firewood. You stay here in case some of those Vangs come back.”

“Ugh, giving me the difficult job…” Milton mumbled.

“No complaining,” Zeke scolded. “Besides, it’s only difficult if those Vangs come back. They may not.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Milton dismissed. “Just go get that wood so we can get a fire started.”

“On it,” Zeke assured. He left the cave and began walking back towards that small grove they had encountered before. He managed to gather a few sticks and logs from the ground, but it wasn’t quite enough for Zeke to be satisfied. He set the kindling he had gathered aside and pulled out his sword. He shot out a bolt of lightning into one of the trees, knocking down a few branches, one of them being very big.

“Yeah, that’ll do,” Zeke commented. He grabbed the large branch and dragged it away from the rest of the pile before gathering up the leftover sticks and twigs. He stared at the pile, thinking it was good enough for now. If they did need more, he could always come back and get more. And he didn’t really want to leave Milton alone for very long either.

Zeke’s satisfied smile slowly faded into a frown. “Am I… doing a good job with him?” he asked himself. “I mean, he’s still alive, but… is that enough?” Zeke looked over, almost like he was expecting someone to respond to him. But there was no one else around. Zeke was all by himself in this grove. “Perhaps I’m just worrying too much. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, haven’t I?” Zeke chuckled quietly to himself. “So much for the mighty Bringer of Chaos, huh?”

Zeke stood quietly by himself until he heard the sound of rumbling. He looked up into the sky and noticed dark clouds beginning to roll in, a clear sign of a thunderstorm.

“Damn, I better get this stuff back to the cave before the rain hits,” Zeke commented. He picked up the large pile of firewood as well as the large branch and began hauling it back towards the cave. He was still tired from all the running around, but Zeke pushed through it anyway. He’d have time to rest once they had a fire going.

Milton was starting to feel boredom settle in, but he looked up once he noticed Zeke returning. His eyes then went wide when he saw the giant branch that Zeke dragged in.

“What the hell?” Milton questioned. “Why’d you get such a big branch?”

“Hey, I wasn’t going to waste perfectly good kindling,” Zeke argued. “Now come on, let’s get that fire going. We’re going to need one to stay warm with that storm coming.”

“Storm? What storm?” Milton questioned.

Zeke had a smirk on his face. “Well now, it seems like it really was a good call to stay in this cave, eh?” he bragged, completely ignoring Milton's question. “You can thank your Uncle Zeke, I’ll wait.”

Milton looked completely unamused by Zeke’s comment. “You are insufferable,” he said.

“Again, I’ve been called worse,” Zeke dismissed. He sat down and started setting up the campfire so they could get a flame going. As soon as everything was set up, Milton pulled out his firestarter. He was glad they managed to pick one of those up in a supply drop they came across, as otherwise starting a fire would be much more difficult. Zeke had tried getting a spark going with his sword in the past, but it was hard for him to be precise with his strike and he always ended up completely destroying the wood instead of lighting a fire. Zeke would brush it off as him just being too mighty and powerful, but Milton always noticed a strange sense of sadness in his gaze whenever it happened.

Once the fire got going, Milton sat back and watched it for a while. “So,” he said, “you’ve been called worse than a maniac, and insufferable?”

“Oh yeah,” Zeke replied. “I’ve been called an idiot plenty of times.”

“You think being called an idiot is worse than being called a maniac?” Milton questioned.

“Well yeah,” Zeke responded. “Do you know how frustrating it is constantly being called a spanner? Believe it or not, I’m actually a pretty smart person.”

“So do you just act stupid on purpose to make people think you’re dumber than you actually are?” Milton asked.

“Oi, watch it,” Zeke warned.

“It’s a genuine question,” Milton replied.

Zeke had a skeptical look on his face, but he could tell from Milton’s tone that he probably wasn’t joking and was in fact being genuine. Zeke crossed his arms. “You know just because I go about presenting myself a certain way doesn’t mean I’m a complete moron,” he explained. “The real idiots are the people who think I’m one just because I like to be loud and boisterous. I know how to cool it when things get serious, you know.”

Milton opened his mouth to object, but he knew that Zeke was right. “You do make some dumb decisions, though,” Milton said.

“Ok, but who doesn’t?” Zeke asked. “Everyone makes stupid mistakes. Some more than others, but still.”

Milton seemed a little bit uncomfortable, but Zeke didn’t seem to notice. “What other things have people called you?” Milton asked.

“The Prodigal Prince,” Zeke replied.

“The… prodi-what?” Milton questioned. “What's that mean?”

“Basically I was a disappointment to the entire kingdom,” Zeke explained nonchalantly. “Not that I really cared, but you know. Titles like that make some uppercrusts look at you with slight disgust. And it definitely made things a bit difficult when I became the King, because there’s always people who disapprove of change. There were people who swore that I stole the throne from my father when he made the choice himself to give up the throne. I wasn’t even ready for that! But, here we are.” Zeke looked over at Milton and blinked as he realized he said more than he meant to. “Ah, sorry about that,” he apologized, “you don’t care about my old ramblings.”

“No, it’s fine,” Milton assured. “If I’m honest, I kinda like hearing you talk more about your past life.”

“Really now?” Zeke questioned. “Well not to burst your bubble, but royal duties are a lot more boring than stories of my grand adventures and battles.”

Milton narrowed his eyes. “My whole life has been nothing but endless battles,” he reminded. “To me, hearing about ‘boring royal duties’ feels like more of an exciting adventure.”

Zeke raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had to admit, he never thought of it that way before. But from Milton’s perspective, it made perfect sense.

“Well then,” Zeke said, “maybe I should tell you more stories about being a King.”

Milton looked up. He didn’t say anything, but Zeke could tell by his face that he was eager to hear more.

Zeke snickered quietly. “Let’s see,” he started, “growing up in Tantal, things really were boring. I hated studying, I hated living isolated from the world, but that was how we did things.”

Milton continued staring at Zeke in pure amazement as he told the story. The two of them didn’t even notice when it began to downpour outside. Milton was having fun listening to Zeke’s stories, and Zeke was just happy to make Milton happy.

Chapter Text

Zeke and Milton’s travels throughout Aionios often brought them back to areas they had been before. They had been in just about each region within Aionios, but there was one that they hadn’t returned to in quite a long time.

Milton was busy looking at his Iris while the two of them were walking. He was a little bit distracted, but luckily Zeke was leading the way so he could inform Milton of any possible dangers ahead.

“I think we’re coming up on a new region, Milton,” Zeke spoke up.

“Yeah, I know…” Milton replied.

Zeke immediately recognized the hesitancy in Milton’s voice. He stopped and turned around to look at him. “Everything alright?”

Milton stopped as well as he didn't want to bump into Zeke. He clicked his Iris away so it would stop distracting him. “I’m fine,” he assured.

Zeke crossed his arms and glanced ahead for a moment before looking at Milton again. “We don’t have to go this way, you know,” he suggested. “We can find a different path.”

“No, it’s fine,” Milton insisted. “There’s no problems here.” He began walking forward, but Zeke stood still.

“You sure you’re up for it?” Zeke asked. “This is where your old colony was.”

Milton stopped, freezing up. He then slowly nodded. “Yeah, the Aetia Region,” he replied, covering his voice with a layer of snark. “I’m the one with the map, obviously I know where we are.”

Zeke’s expression narrowed slightly, but he decided to drop the topic for now. “Alright,” he agreed, walking over to finally join Milton. “But if this place brings up any bad memories then-”

“I’ll be fine,” Milton interrupted, his voice stern and harsh. “And that happened years ago now, it’s not a problem.”

“I was gonna say that I’ll be here to listen,” Zeke said before shaking his head. “You can be so dramatic sometimes.”

“Wha- I’m not dramatic, you’re dramatic!” Milton deflected.

“Come on, enough arguing,” Zeke insisted. “We gotta keep on the move if we want to find a good spot to rest by nightfall.”

Milton let out a deep breath and followed Zeke as the two of them officially entered into the Aetia Region.

It was hard to believe that they hadn’t been back here since the start of their travels. But after the initial fight against Consul X, Milton had avoided the place, either intentionally or not. Despite how long it had been, Milton was surprised by how familiar the place still felt to him. However, he wasn’t the only one reminiscing.

Zeke was looking around the area, remembering back to when he had first woken up in Aionios. Things were so much simpler back then, if more confusing. Although, Zeke never truly got answers to any of his questions. But that almost didn’t matter anymore. Sure, he missed Alrest and everyone he knew more than anything, but he had one job now; protecting Milton. As long as Milton was around, Zeke had that one goal. That was all that mattered to him.

______________________________________________

The two of them had continued traveling through the area for about a week now, stopping and resting whenever it got dark. As they were walking, the conversation remained pretty quiet as the two of them wandered around. Although Zeke had taken the lead to start, Milton quickly took over, walking ahead. Zeke didn’t argue though, this was normal. Milton did like to remind him that he was the one with a map, so he would take the lead without saying a word quite often.

“Any plans for where we’re headed?” Zeke asked.

“Hm?” Milton replied. It seemed like he had been lost in thought for a while. “Oh, no, I don’t really have anything planned.”

“Wandering around blindly then,” Zeke responded. “Sounds good to me.”

“We’re not wandering blindly,” Milton argued. “We’re just… walking without a distinct goal.”

“Pretty sure that’s the same thing, chum,” Zeke pointed out.

“Shut up!” Milton snapped back.

Zeke chuckled quietly but he stopped the teasing there.

The rest of the day was spent like most days, the two of them walking around, taking in the sights and staying out of danger. As the sun was getting close to setting, Zeke looked up at the sky. “We should probably get ready to set up camp soon,” he suggested.

Milton was silent as he seemed to be lost in thought again. As he looked around, it became more and more obvious that he recognized the area. He was staring off into space when he suddenly started walking away.

Zeke blinked in surprise. “Milton? Where are you going?”

“Hold on,” Milton replied.

With Milton refusing to explain himself, Zeke decided he’d just have to follow him in order to get answers, and also to make sure he didn’t wander into any trouble. He let out a quiet sigh of annoyance as he followed the young soldier through the forest.

Milton could feel his heart begin to race faster and faster, but he tried his best to ignore it. He didn’t understand why he was so focused on going this way, but he had to. He had to see it.

Eventually, Milton arrived at a large opening, and his eyes went wide at the sight. Zeke caught up with him and gasped once he saw the area as well.

It appeared to be a colony, or rather, what remained of one. Everything was in ruins. It looked like all the structures had been burnt down a long time ago, but the most disturbing sight was all the black husks scattered around.

“What… what is this place?” Zeke asked.

“Colony Nu…” Milton answered.

Zeke blinked. “What?” he questioned. “Why the hell did you come back here?”

“I don’t know,” Milton admitted. “I just… it didn’t feel right to just not come back to see everything, you know? To see what was left behind?”

Zeke didn’t respond. Milton was quiet for a moment as he stared at Zeke before he walked into the ruined colony. Zeke hesitated for a moment before following him.

Milton looked around at the husks of his former allies, his face scrunching up slightly. “They all stayed behind to fight,” he commented. “I was the only one who ran away…”

“Hey, don’t start feeling guilty over that,” Zeke assured. “I’m sure if they were still here, they’d be proud that you managed to survive.”

“Heh, that’s a fun idea to think about,” Milton replied. “I… I’ll pretend I believe that…”

They continued wandering around until Milton spotted a specific husk sitting on their knees. His heart sank at the sight. “Lizza…” he muttered before walking over to look at her more closely. He knelt in front of her so he could see her at eye level.

“Someone you were close to?” Zeke asked.

“You could say that,” Milton replied. “She was an off-seer, and she was the closest thing I had to a friend. She’d let me play my drum with her when she practiced. Although we didn’t really talk much, I… think we appreciated each other’s company…”

Zeke remained quiet as Milton talked. He hadn’t heard much, or really anything, from Milton about his time in Colony Nu, although he understood completely why he wanted to stay quiet.

“I… didn’t really have many friends,” Milton admitted. “Sure we all cared about each other, but our only focus was on fighting and training. And I think some of the other soldiers… looked down on me because of that.”

Zeke raised an eyebrow. “They looked down on you? Seriously? But you’re one of the toughest chaps I’ve seen.”

“Not compared to everyone else,” Milton replied. “Sure, I focused a lot on training, but I liked stopping and enjoying the peace when we had it.”

“Really now?” Zeke questioned. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“Yeah, I… grew out of that…”

Zeke’s heart sank after hearing Milton admit that. He always saw Milton as a hardened soldier, he never took the time to think that he may have been different before they ran into each other. Zeke walked over, kneeling down next to Milton.

“Sounds like you had it rough in every part of your life,” Zeke said.

Milton was quiet as he didn’t know how to respond to that. He closed his eyes for a moment before standing up. He looked around the colony again before he noticed something. He walked over to uncover the familiar object.

“What did you find?” Zeke asked.

Milton picked up the small instrument, brushing some dirt off of it. “It’s… my old hand drum,” he revealed.

“Really?” Zeke questioned. He immediately walked over to look at it.

“Crazy, it’s barely been touched,” Milton commented. As Milton stared at the old drum, he felt his emotions beginning to overflow. He couldn’t explain why, but he suddenly began to break down into tears.

Zeke wanted to comfort Milton, but he knew he wasn’t very fond of hugs and stuff like that, so he stood to the side and let Milton cry. Zeke assumed that Milton just needed to let his emotions out. Milton continued weeping quietly to himself, eventually shaking his head.

“Why are you like this, Milton?” he asked himself. “Seeing your dead friends didn’t push you over the edge, but a stupid sparking drum did?!”

“Hey, sometimes it’s just like that,” Zeke reassured.

Milton shook his head again as he wiped his tears. “I really thought I had gotten over it,” he said. “I really thought Colony Nu was behind me.”

“You can’t expect something like this to just be behind you,” Zeke explained. “You don’t just move on after something terrible like this happens to you.”

“So what… I’m just as pathetic as I used to be?” Milton questioned.

“No, not at all,” Zeke replied. “Having emotions doesn’t make you pathetic. It makes you human.”

Milton’s eyes went wide for a moment at that comment. He then looked down at the drum still in his hand. He thought for a moment before he quietly placed it back on the ground where he had found it.

“You don’t want to take it with you?” Zeke asked.

“No,” Milton replied, shaking his head. “I feel like it would be wrong to take it from here.”

“I gotcha,” Zeke assured. He looked up at the sky as it started to darken. “If you still need a moment, that’s fine,” he said, “but we should really be getting a camp set up soon.”

“I know,” Milton replied. He took in a deep breath, giving Colony Nu one last glance before turning and walking away. “I’m good now.”

“Alright,” Zeke responded, following Milton as the two of them left the ruins.

______________________________________________

Milton poked the fire a few times while Zeke was busy cooking skewered Bunnit meat over it. He examined both sticks of meat for a moment before handing one to Milton.

“This one seems cooked all the way,” Zeke said. “Go ahead and leave it on longer if you want it burnt.”

Milton shot Zeke a dirty look. “Thanks,” he replied somewhat harshly before putting the stick over the fire to cook it some more.

Zeke turned his Bunnit kabob before looking around at the surrounding area. He then glanced back towards Milton again.

“You doing ok over there?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Milton said with a tired voice. “I’m still just… processing.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Zeke assured. “Today was a lot.”

“It feels like it was so long ago when Colony Nu fell,” Milton commented. “I mean, it has been a long time.”

“Doesn’t seem like that long,” Zeke said. “A couple years now, right?”

“Almost four,” Milton replied.

“Really?” Zeke questioned. He then pulled out his Bunnit kabob to inspect it. “I mean, I haven’t really been keeping track, but that sounds like a lot.”

“It’s been just under four years,” Milton stood firm. He pulled out his Bunnit kabob and narrowed his eyes. “It’ll have been four years in just a few months.”

“You sound certain about that,” Zeke replied. “Eh, no reason to question you on it. I believe you.”

Milton went quiet as he watched Zeke eat his dinner before he started rubbing his arm nervously. Milton blew on his food to cool it off before taking a bite himself.

“I still can’t believe how different things are now,” Milton commented. “No colony, no war. Well, there’s still a war, but I don’t have to fight in it.”

“Yep,” Zeke agreed. “I mean, things have changed a lot for me, too. I used to rule a kingdom, Pandoria by my side. But now…” Zeke’s voice trailed off.

Milton was quiet for a moment as the air grew more somber. He then shook his head, not wanting to dwell in the sadness. “I always forget that you’re royalty,” he said.

“Oh come on, it’s not that hard to believe, especially after all the stories I’ve told you” Zeke dismissed.

“Well, from what I know of the Queen, it is hard to believe,” Milton argued.

“The Queen, huh?” Zeke questioned. “Don’t think you’ve talked about her that much, have you?”

Milton shook his head. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever really met her. She’s the Queen of Agnus after all. But I’ve heard stories.”

“What kind of stories?”

“Of how she’s so noble and refined,” Milton explained, “you know, what you’d expect from royalty.”

“Boring,” Zeke dismissed. “I’ve never been too fond of rulers who don’t know how to loosen up every once and a while. How are you going to rule a kingdom if you forget what it’s like to be a real person?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Milton argued.

“Really? You’re saying that to a literal king here?” Zeke questioned. “Also why are you defending the Queen of Agnus? Isn’t she part of this whole mess in Aionios, too?”

“Fair point,” Milton admitted, looking away. “Still though, I feel like you could learn a thing or two from Queen Nia.”

Zeke was about to take another bite of his dinner when he froze up. “What?” he questioned.

Milton looked over at Zeke. “Queen Nia,” he repeated. “That’s her name.”

“Nia?” Zeke questioned.

“Is… something wrong?” Milton asked, beginning to grow a bit suspicious.

“No, don’t worry about it,” Zeke denied. “Although I am still a bit curious about this… Queen Nia. You know, as fellow royalty.” Zeke tried his best to stay calm as he didn’t want Milton to question him further on this, but he needed to know more. “Um… what does she look like?”

Milton was confused by the question, but figured he could answer it anyway. “From what I remember,” he explained, “she’s got short, silver hair. Sort of like your hair color, but lighter. And I guess her most notable trait is her long, cat-like ears. Those stand out quite a bit.”

Zeke felt his heart immediately drop into his stomach. No… How could that…? Why would she…? Zeke’s mind began to run wild.

“Zeke?” Milton questioned, breaking Zeke out of his train of thought.

“Y-yeah?” Zeke replied.

“Are you ok?” Milton asked. “You look really freaked out.”

“N-no, I’m fine,” Zeke insisted. “I just…” he thought of a way to salvage this. “That Queen sounds terrifying. I mean, how long were her ears?”

Milton blinked in surprise at Zeke’s response. “Uh, pretty long. Like, up to here?” Milton gestured with his hand over his head.

“Yeah, freaky stuff,” Zeke lied. “Glad we never have to run into her.”

Milton was still confused, but Zeke said confusing stuff all the time. He decided to brush this off as another one of Zeke’s weird moments.

“Say, why don’t you go ahead and get some rest, yeah?” Zeke suggested. “I’ll take first watch.”

“Uh, ok,” Milton agreed, still feeling a little bit off from how Zeke was acting. But maybe he was just overthinking things. Again, Zeke was just a strange person in general.

Zeke waited for Milton to finish getting ready for bed. Once it was clear that Milton had fallen asleep, Zeke felt himself crumble. He put a hand over his mouth, hoping that would somehow keep himself from saying anything out loud.

Nia’s part of this whole mess? Zeke questioned to himself. Why would she do something like this? Zeke then glanced over at Milton. How has Milton not…? Have I not…?

Zeke’s mind was completely unfocused at this point. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to keep this to himself for now. Because if Milton knew the truth of who Nia was, then Zeke had to assume nothing good would come from it. Zeke just sat quietly, thinking to himself as he had a million questions but zero answers.

Chapter Text

Zeke and Milton remained in the Aetia region for a few days after their short visit to the ruins of Colony Nu. Milton still seemed upset about the whole ordeal, but he was doing his best to stay strong. Even if it was a lot for him to fully take in, Milton was glad that he went back. He figured it would be good for him in the long run and now he’d hopefully be able to put all of that behind him.

Zeke and Milton were once again preparing for their continuous travels throughout Aionios. They were just getting ready to leave as Milton checked through their supplies.

“Food supply is good for now,” Milton informed.

“That’s good to hear,” Zeke replied. “I’m not too fond of restock days.”

“I don’t know, I kinda like it,” Milton admitted. “It’s nice doing something that doesn’t require fighting.”

Zeke raised an eyebrow. “Do you remember how many monsters we’ve had to deal with while collecting food?”

“I still blame you for most of those,” Milton argued. “I swear, you’re always attracting monsters.”

“You say that like I do it on purpose,” Zeke responded, crossing his arms. “It’s not my fault that every living thing wants a piece of me!”

Milton sighed, turning away and closing the food sack. He remembered all the times Pandoria had mentioned Zeke’s horrendous luck, but now he was truly starting to see it for himself. Milton had never fully believed in bad luck before, but after dealing with Zeke for so long, he had to reconsider those beliefs.

“Heading out now?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah,” Milton replied. “I think we’re good to start moving.”

They finished grabbing all of their supplies and started heading away from their campsite. It didn’t take long for Milton to start feeling a little bit uneasy, but he couldn’t explain why. He tried his best to shake off the feeling, but he couldn’t help but think that he was being watched.

Milton quickly looked behind him which immediately caught Zeke’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” Zeke asked.

“It’s nothing…” Milton denied. “I’m just… on edge…”

“Because of your old colony?”

“Probably…” Milton assumed.

The two of them continued on and Milton tried his best to ignore that anxious feeling that kept nagging at him. As they were walking, Milton thought he noticed something purple flash in the distance. He blinked for a moment, panicking slightly as he tried to figure out if he was starting to see things or not.

Zeke once again took notice of Milton’s sudden change in behavior.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Zeke interrogated. “You’re acting quite jumpy.”

“I… I thought I saw something,” Milton admitted.

“What?” Zeke questioned. He looked around the area, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He shook his head. “I don’t see anything,” he said. “Are you sure you’re not just seeing things?”

“I guess I might be,” Milton continued trying to deny. “I don’t know what’s messing with my head…”

“Do you think you might need a day to rest or something?” Zeke asked.

“No!” Milton quickly shot down. “We can’t have a rest day, that’s too dangerous!”

“Ok, sorry,” Zeke backed off. “I just want to make sure you’re feeling ok. You’re not coming down with something, are you?”

“I… I’m fine,” Milton insisted.

Zeke’s gaze narrowed slightly. He could tell that Milton was keeping something from him, but he wasn’t going to press him further about it. After all, it’s not like Zeke was being perfectly honest with Milton. At least not when it came to Nia…

The two of them were suddenly caught off guard as they heard giggling. They both began looking around frantically.

“Who is that?” Zeke questioned.

Milton was quiet for a brief moment as he began to realize something. “That voice…” he muttered. “X!”

“Aw, you still remember me,” X replied, finally stepping out of the shadows and making herself known.

“How long have you been following us?!” Milton demanded, immediately pulling out his weapon and pointing it at X. It was clear he wanted nothing to do with her little games.

“Wait, this girl again?” Zeke questioned. “What the hell is she doing here?”

“I just wanted to come check in on my favorite little soldier, that’s all,” X insisted before looking directly at Milton. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Milton tensed up slightly, but his scowl remained.

“Look, I don’t have the energy to deal with this right now,” Zeke said bluntly, pulling out his sword as well. “So why don’t you scram before we make you?”

X laughed. “Seriously? Do you remember what happened last time we fought?” she asked. “You were no match for me, even with your greater numbers. Oh, that reminds me,” X gave a devious smirk. “What happened to your little partner, Eyepatch?”

Zeke tensed up for a moment before his face became filled with rage. Without another word, he ran towards X, swinging his sword at her. X summoned her scythe with little effort and easily blocked Zeke’s attack. The smirk on her face refused to go away as their weapons clashed together.

“It was a simple question,” X insisted, her voice sounding playfully innocent. “I just noticed she wasn’t around. I figured you two would have stuck together no matter what. You know, sentimental trash like that.”

“Don’t you dare talk about her!” Zeke shouted.

“I’ll talk about whatever I want,” X replied. She swung her scythe around, knocking Zeke away from her. She let out a snicker as she readied her scythe again, but before she could land the blow, Milton jumped in, blocking X’s attack and protecting Zeke.

“Why won’t you just leave us alone?!” Milton shouted as he pushed X away.

“Oh, I won’t be bothering you for too much longer,” X assured. “I mean, just look at that term marker.”

Milton’s eyes went wide and he placed a hand over his shoulder, almost on instinct.

X laughed again. “You’re time’s running out and you realize it,” she taunted. “But my offer from before still stands.”

Milton’s face immediately went pale as X mentioned the offer.

“Offer?” Zeke questioned. “What offer?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” X asked. “Milton and I had a little chat a while ago. I tried to offer him a way to live a longer life, but he wanted nothing to do with it.”

Zeke’s eyes widened before he turned to Milton. “You ran into her again and you never told me?!” he asked.

“I didn’t think I needed to!” Milton defended himself. “I handled it fine on my own!”

Before the two of them could argue further, X’s laughter interrupted them. Zeke and Milton turned to her again, both of them glaring.

“Wow, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time,” she admitted.

“Ugh!” Zeke groaned. “Would you shut your trap?!” He ran towards her again, swinging his Big Bang Edge with full force. X continued blocking and dodging his attacks, barely putting up a fight herself.

“You’re wasting your time, you know,” X commented.

“Shut up!” Zeke yelled as he continued swinging his sword.

X smirked again. “Harder to fight without her by your side, eh?” she taunted.

Zeke let out a quiet grumble as he readied his sword once again. He pulled his weapon back before shooting out a massive beam of lightning. X wasn’t prepared this time and was actually blown back from the attack.

X stumbled onto the ground, taking a moment to recollect herself. She narrowed her eyes. “Do you realize how lucky you two are?” she asked.

Zeke raised his eyebrows. “What?” he questioned. “What the hell do you mean by that?!”

“I could have killed both of you a long time ago,” X revealed. “But Z wanted you two alive. He’s really taken a distinct interest in both of you.”

Milton looked extremely confused and uncomfortable. “Wha… who’s Z?”

X smiled, but refused to elaborate. She swung her scythe, resting it across her shoulders as she began to playfully pace around. “Z gave me direct orders not to kill you,” she reiterated, “buuut, he never said anything about me messing with you guys. And technically, I haven’t gone against his orders. My hands are clean.”

“What are you going on about?” Zeke asked. “If you have something to say, just spit it out already!”

X’s smile widened. “I’m sure you two remember a group of Kevesi soldiers who were out for blood,” she started. “Somewhere near the Urayan Mountains, right? Now I didn’t give any direct orders, but I may have told their Consul to keep an eye out for a certain… trio of lone travelers.”

Zeke and Milton’s eyes went wide as X continued talking.

“No…” Milton muttered.

“You…” Zeke grumbled.

“I heard they failed in taking out all three of them. But they did manage to kill one of them, didn’t they?” X asked before snickering. “The Endless Now really is no place for the weak willed,” she continued. “Honestly, you should be thanking me. There’s no way you’d survive for long without-”

“GRAH!” Zeke screamed, rushing towards X. He cut her off completely, swinging his sword at her with his entire might.

X was quick to get back into a fighting position and blocked each of Zeke’s sporadic attacks. With each strike, lightning blasted off of Zeke’s weapon, lighting up the entire area as thunder boomed, and X was beginning to struggle slightly against his attacks.

“You KILLED HER!” Zeke shouted, his voice completely filled with rage. “She’s DEAD because of YOU!”

“Again, I technically didn’t-” X tried to argue, but she was cut off as Zeke’s sword suddenly sliced past her face. X stumbled back, placing a hand on her cheek, surprised that Zeke actually managed to land a hit like that on her.

Zeke was still steaming with pure rage. His sword shined bright as lightning sparked from it and he ran at X again, who quickly readied her scythe to block the attack.

“How many other things did you screw over?!” Zeke demanded as he pushed his sword against X’s scythe.

“Erk! As if I’d ever tell you,” X denied. “It’s much more amusing to leave you in the dark.”

Zeke pushed X back once more. “You destroyed Milton’s colony,” he said, “you got my wife killed! You’ve been taunting Milton for who knows how long!”

X rolled her eyes, clearly not caring about the pure, raw anger Zeke was laying out.

“Did you do something to Nia, too?!” Zeke yelled.

Milton blinked, completely caught off guard to hear Zeke mention that name. X also seemed just as surprised by Zeke’s sudden question.

“Nia?” X replied. “You mean… the Queen of Agnus?” X took a brief moment to think before things began to click and she started laughing again. “Oh, you’re buddies with the Queen, aren’tcha?”

“What?” Milton questioned. He looked over at Zeke, but it seemed like he was currently too focused on X right now to notice his gaze.

“Wow, that must really suck for you, huh?” X mocked. “Yeah, we totally have Queen Nia working for us, leading the troops of Agnus to go on a murder spree.”

“She’d never agree to do that!” Zeke argued. “What the hell did you do?!”

“Again, I’m not just gonna give away Moebius’ secrets,” X denied. “Especially to a nobody soul like you.” She snickered again. “Watching you continue to struggle over and over again is such great entertainment, I can’t just give you the easy answers.”

Zeke let out another yell of rage as he dashed towards X. Before he could land the blow, X teleported away in a burst of purple ether. She reappeared behind Milton, catching the soldier off guard. She gave a quick tap on his left shoulder.

“Not too late to get this thing over with,” she reminded. “Just a quick strike from my scythe and there’ll be no more worries.”

Milton quickly swung his naginata towards her, causing her to back off.

“I’m telling you, I’d be doing you a favor,” X insisted. “Both of you.”

“You’re not touching him!” Zeke yelled.

X shrugged. “Fine, if you say so,” she said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, X disappeared again as quickly as she had first appeared.

Zeke and Milton refused to put their weapons away as they didn’t know if she was truly gone or if she was just trying to trick them again. Silence filled the air, and after a while, it seemed like she really did leave. Zeke let out a deep sigh as he sheathed his sword, Milton putting his naginata away as well.

“So much for getting some rest…” Zeke muttered. He looked over at Milton and noticed that he still looked pretty angry. Zeke blinked, surprised to see that expression on his face. “Milton? Are you ok?” he asked, reaching a hand towards him. “She’s gone now, you don’t have to-”

Milton suddenly smacked Zeke’s hand away. “How do you know the Queen?!” Milton asked angrily.

“What?” Zeke responded.

“You know Queen Nia!” Milton shouted. “Why didn’t you ever say anything about it?!”

“I didn’t know Nia was the bloody Queen of Agnus!” Zeke retaliated. “You never brought up her name before!”

“Well neither did you!”

“I-” Zeke started to argue, but stopped as he realized he didn’t have a rebuttal. “I genuinely don’t know how I never mentioned your mum, Nia before.”

“Mom?” Milton questioned, his voice in complete disbelief.

“Yeah, I explained how you had three mums, right?” Zeke reminded. “Well… Nia was, or rather is, one of them and I guess I just never-”

Milton held a hand up, gesturing for Zeke to stop talking. He looked away, his expression showing a mixture of anger and pain.

“Let’s just… find a place to set up camp,” Milton said, his voice quieter now. “But when we do get to a campsite, you need to start explaining things.”

“I…” Zeke was quiet for a moment before nodding. “Sure thing.”

Chapter Text

Alrest, X years before the Intersection

The climate in Mor Ardain was always quite warm, but Zeke didn’t actually mind it too much. Even though he was dressed for colder weather, it was actually rather nice out today, so the extra layers weren't too bothersome. Zeke was standing at the balcony of the docks right outside Hardhaigh Palace, taking in the scenery.

“Is it safe to assume negotiations went well?”

Zeke looked over as he heard Mòrag’s voice. The Special Inquisitor walked up to stand next to the King of Tantal.

“Oh yeah, I’d say things went quite well today,” Zeke confirmed.

“I apologize that I couldn’t be present for the meeting,” Mòrag said. “I had other business to attend to.”

“Don’t apologize for that, Mòrag,” Zeke brushed off. “You can’t expect to be present for every little thing that goes on. And besides, we got everything figured out.”

“I see,” Mòrag replied. She crossed her arms and looked off into the distance.

Zeke glanced over at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. “So, where’s Brighid at?” he asked, continuing the conversation.

“Brighid is currently looking around the shopping district,” Mòrag explained. “I believe Pandoria is there, too.”

“Yeah, that checks out,” Zeke replied. “She did tell me she was gonna look around the stores, maybe pick up a little souvenir for Linka.”

“I’m surprised neither of them were accompanying you during the meeting with His Majesty,” Mòrag said. “I figured bringing Linka would be good for teaching her about leading a nation. And as for Pandoria, it is rare for a leader of a nation to not have their Blade close by for protection.”

“Come on now, Mòrag,” Zeke responded, “it’s not like I’m entirely powerless without Pandy. I’ve still got the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher with me, I think I could manage a fight if I had to. And as for Linka, she's still pretty young to be coming to these things, don’t you think?”

“I suppose you have a point,” Mòrag admitted. “And it’s true that you’re stronger than the average Driver, even without your Blade nearby,” she commented, “but still. It seems rather reckless to wander around without Pandoria with you.”

“Since when did you care so much about my safety?” Zeke questioned.

“Well, Tantal is a great ally to the Ardainian Empire,” Mòrag explained. “And… because you’re a dear friend.”

“Aw, how sweet,” Zeke replied, somewhat teasingly. “I appreciate the concern, but you really don’t need to worry about me. That’s Pandoria’s job.”

Mòrag couldn’t help but smile at Zeke's comment. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed. “I have quite enough to worry about already.”

The conversation died down after that, the two of them looking up at the sky. Zeke eventually turned around and leaned against the railing of the dock.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say you wanna know what Emperor Niall and I discussed, eh?” Zeke suggested.

“Hm?” Mòrag responded. “Well, His Majesty will inform me of everything as soon as I’m able to check in with him,” she reminded.

“Yeah, but I can tell you wanna know right now,” Zeke teased.

Mòrag let out an exasperated sigh. “Very well,” she agreed. “I admit, I am curious.”

Zeke smirked, letting out a quiet snicker. “Honestly, it wasn’t anything too interesting,” he admitted. “We were just talking about the distribution of Core Chips.”

“Core Chips you say?” Mòrag replied. “Is this about the shortage?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” Zeke responded. “Blades still require Core Chips, and Tantal is still the biggest export of Core Chips. But we’re still sort of working out how to go about extracting ether energy for them.”

“Still no progress after all this time?” Mòrag asked.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Zeke denied. “It’s just been… really slow.” Zeke let out a long sigh. “Genbu has suffered enough from years of extracting all that ether energy. We’ve tried out so many different methods, but we still haven’t settled on anything quite as efficient. The closest we’ve gotten is some Blades offering to give up a little bit of their own ether, but even that's been extremely slow. But luckily, that slow progress should change after today.”

“How so?”

“Emperor Niall agreed to lend his support,” Zeke revealed. “He’s going to be sending some of the best engineers and researchers in the Empire to help out over in Tantal. That should help speed things up a lot.”

“Yes, I imagine it would,” Mòrag agreed. “Although I do fear that we may be stretching our forces too thin.”

“Why’s that?” Zeke asked.

“Rex and Nia were here not too long ago asking for help as well,” Mòrag explained. “I admit, I didn’t get all of the details, but from what it sounds like, they’re working on something big.”

“I’ve heard about that,” Zeke said. “Not sure what it is they’re dealing with, but it must be important. They wouldn’t have asked for so much help otherwise.”

Mòrag nodded. “I just hope they'll let us know more when the time comes,” she said. “I hate being left in the dark about these things.”

“Oh, they’ll come around in the end. They always do,” Zeke assured. “We just gotta trust that they have everyone’s best interest in mind. Otherwise, we’d start spiraling in our own doubts.”

“You’re right, Zeke,” Mòrag replied. “You can be surprisingly wise every once in a while.”

“Surprisingly?!” Zeke questioned angrily. “What do you mean by that?!”

Mòrag just smiled silently before looking over as she noticed someone else approaching.

“There you are, Lady Mòrag,” Brighid greeted.

“Brighid,” Mòrag replied. “Is there more trouble?”

“No,” Brighid assured, a slight chuckle in her voice, “everything is fine. I was just wondering if you were going to be free for dinner tonight.”

“Oh, I-” Mòrag replied, caught off guard. “I suppose it is getting to be that time.”

“Ha! That’s just like you, Mòrag,” Zeke commented. “So worked up in your duties that you forget to eat dinner.”

“I don’t appreciate your teasing, Zeke,” Mòrag scolded.

Zeke chuckled again. “Say Brighid, if you don’t mind, how about Pandy and I join you?” he asked. “It would be nice to spend more time with you guys.”

“I have no problems with that,” Brighid agreed. “In fact, Pandoria already beat you to the suggestion. She agreed to wait while I came to retrieve you two.”

“Well then, that makes this much easier, doesn’t it?” Zeke said.

“Are you sure you’ll have time for this?” Mòrag asked. “I thought you’d be more busy.”

“Nah, I can take time to hang out with friends,” Zeke insisted.

Mòrag shook her head. “I will never understand how you manage to run your kingdom with that attitude.”

“It’s called having a work-life balance, Mòrag,” Zeke replied. “You should really try it sometime.”

Mòrag frowned. “I’m not even going to respond to that,” she said. “Brighid, shall we get going?”

“Of course,” Brighid agreed.

The three of them began walking away from the docks. For as much as Mòrag would question Zeke’s way of doing things, he had proven numerous times that it worked. Despite what his demeanor would make you think, Zeke did know how to run a kingdom. And although he did have his flaws, Mòrag had to respect Zeke’s confidence. He really did act as if he could do anything.

______________________________________________

Milton was quick to get a fire going. It was obvious from the way he aggressively threw the logs into the fire that he was still upset. Both he and Zeke had been quiet ever since their encounter with X. Zeke was waiting for Milton to get everything settled in before he started talking.

Once the fire was burning bright, Milton sat down across from Zeke. He still didn’t say anything as he just stared at Zeke with narrowed eyes.

Zeke let out a sigh. “I’m gonna guess that you’re ready for me to talk now, huh?”

Milton just continued quietly glaring at Zeke, but Zeke knew perfectly well what Milton’s answer was.

Zeke let out another long sigh. “So, I guess to recap everything,” he started, “your dad is Rex, and your mum is Mythra. But you’ve got a big family and two other mums, those being Pyra and Nia.”

Milton shook his head, closing his eyes. “Why didn’t you ever mention Nia before?” he asked.

“I already told you, I don’t know how it slipped my mind!” Zeke argued. “I guess I just… assumed I brought her up but I never did. In my defense, you only ever seem to ask about Rex or Mythra.”

“Because they’re the only ones you really talk about!” Milton yelled. “I barely even understand what a parent is supposed to mean! You expect me to ask about the two parents you don’t talk about?!”

“I don’t know, maybe!” Zeke retaliated. “You always seem so curious, how come you never asked about your other two mums?”

“Don’t turn this around on me!” Milton shouted. “You’re the one who knows about families and stuff like that! I’ve told you everything you need to know about Aionios, and you can’t even properly tell me about my family!”

“You didn’t give a crap about your family when we first found you!” Zeke reminded. “You think it’s easy to figure out what you do or don’t want to hear about?! You change your mind all the bloody time on whether or not you even want to have parents or a family!”

Milton shook his head again, looking away. “I should’ve known something was wrong…” he said. “I should’ve just pressed further when I brought up Queen Nia and you started acting weird! I should have realized you were hiding something from me!”

“I didn’t want you to get worked up over something when we don’t know any of the details,” Zeke explained. “We have no clue what Nia’s up to! Up until recently, I didn’t even know Nia was IN Aionios!”

“I don’t care!” Milton yelled. “You should have said something! You should have told me!”

“Maybe I should have, but I didn’t!” Zeke replied. “I didn’t tell you because I thought it would be better for you!”

“Well you were wrong…” Milton muttered. “You don’t know what’s best for me…”

Zeke went quiet. He stared at Milton without saying another word, until eventually he started laughing. Milton gave Zeke a confused look as he had no idea why Zeke’s attitude seemed to have changed so randomly.

“You’re right,” Zeke eventually said. “You’re right, Milton. I don’t know what’s best for you. You’re not my kid, I don’t know what to do with you!”

Milton’s confused expression slowly shifted to a more concerned look as Zeke continued.

“Do you want to know the truth, Milton?” Zeke asked. “The truth is I have no bloody clue what the hell I’m doing!” he admitted. “I don’t know if I’ve done a good job with you, I just go about every day happy that you’re still alive! And every day I get reminded that the world is in ruins! Is there anything I can do to fix that? Of course not, I have no idea what even went wrong in the first place! And just when I thought that I had a handle on things, Pandoria gets killed right in front of me! And then suddenly, I feel completely powerless all over again…”

Zeke finally went quiet after that. For a second, it looked like Zeke was going to start crying, but he just took in a deep breath and put his face in his hand.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Milton,” Zeke admitted again, his voice sounding more tired this time. “I never knew what I was doing…”

Milton felt all of his previous anger go away as he stared at Zeke. He never realized just how much stress Zeke was going through this entire time. He always did such a good job hiding it, so Milton never questioned anything.

Milton looked away and rubbed his arm. “I’m sorry, Zeke,” he apologized. “I…” he went quiet for a moment, not knowing what else to say. “I don’t think you did a… terrible job.”

Zeke looked up at Milton.

“I mean,” Milton continued, “I am still alive, aren’t I?”

Zeke didn’t respond to that, he just narrowed his eyes slightly and looked down.

Milton waited for a response, but after he didn’t get one, he let out a sigh. “X was right, you know….”

“Hm?” Zeke questioned. “About what?”

Milton placed a hand over his shoulder, the one with his term marker. “I… don’t have much time left,” he admitted. “I know you said you were happy just to see me alive, but… what’s the point of living when I know I’m just going to die soon anyway?”

“Milton, don’t you dare talk like that,” Zeke scolded. “There’s always a point to living. It’s your life for crying out loud!”

“But…”

“Milton,” Zeke said, cutting off Milton’s argument before he could even start, “you are a person. I don’t care how long you have left to live, you are still a person. And even if you think that your life is pointless and doesn’t matter, there are people who care about you. People who cherish you.”

Milton was quiet after that. He didn’t know what to say, and part of him wondered if there was anything to say. He thought that maybe silence was the best response he could give.

Zeke shook his head. “I don’t care what that X girl said,” he started, “you’re not dying anytime soon.”

“Zeke…” Milton replied, not really knowing how to go about explaining himself.

“I know you said soldiers only get to live until their tenth term, but I don’t care,” Zeke continued. “You should have an entire life ahead of you. You’re still so young after all.”

“You really don’t get it…” Milton denied.

“I guess I don’t,” Zeke said. “Even after all this time, I still don’t have a full grasp on Aionios or how things work here.”

“I guess… I don’t really either,” Milton admitted. “I still don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. All I know is that it sucks.”

Zeke let out a quiet chuckle. “You could say that again.” Zeke’s fleeting smile faded away and he frowned once more. “Milton,” he said, “I’m so glad that Pandy and I found you. I don’t know how long I would have lasted out here without you by my side.”

Milton smirked. “Glad to have the Beacon of Light around?”

“I thought you didn’t like that name?” Zeke questioned.

“It might have grown on me a bit,” Milton admitted.

Zeke chuckled. “Well it’s fitting for you,” he said. “Despite your aggressive attitude, you really have been a Beacon of Light in this dark world.”

“Not sure I’d go that far.”

“You don’t need to act modest about yourself, Milton,” Zeke assured. “Go ahead and praise yourself a bit more.”

“No thanks,” Milton denied. “One of us needs to act grounded in reality. And your ego won’t let you do that.”

“Always so harsh with you,” Zeke replied, a soft smile on his face. “You really do remind me a lot of Nia sometimes.”

Milton blinked in surprise before furrowing his eyebrows. “Don’t compare me to that evil Queen!”

“We don’t know that she’s evil,” Zeke defended. “The Nia I knew wasn’t evil. In fact, she was right by Rex’s side when he saved the world from destruction.”

“Yeah, but now she’s-”

“We’re not going to jump to any conclusions, ok?” Zeke insisted. “For all we know, those Moebius or whatever X called them could be like… mind controlling her or something. Or maybe she’s acting as a spy. Again, we don’t know so we can’t assume anything.”

“I… I guess,” Milton begrudgingly agreed. “But… you really think I’m like Queen Nia?”

“Oh yeah, especially in the way you talk to people,” Zeke agreed.

“Wow,” Milton commented, suddenly feeling filled with pride and honor. “Well… thanks I guess.”

As it started to get later in the night, Zeke and Milton began to grow tired. They both had a long day, so neither of them really wanted to stay up to keep watch. It may have been risky, but they didn’t really care at this point. They both decided that they should get some sleep as they definitely needed a good rest.

Chapter Text

“Are they gone yet?” Milton asked in a whisper.

“Quiet,” Zeke hushed.

The two of them were hiding behind a large, rocky formation as they waited for a group of soldiers to pass by. The two of them were being extremely cautious as they navigated through the Eagus Wilderness. There seemed to be much more colony activity than usual, so they had to remain on their toes. Luckily, Zeke and Milton had continued to remain hidden for now, but they still weren’t planning on taking any big risks.

Milton had been more on edge lately, and it was pretty obvious. Usually he’d never ask Zeke if the enemy was still around, he’d rather remain completely silent until the coast was clear. But even after asking, he remained completely still, refusing to move a muscle while Zeke kept watch.

“Ok, looks like they’re gone now,” Zeke informed. “We’d better get moving, too.”

Milton nodded and the two of them moved out from behind the stone.

“I think it’s safe to say this place is my least favorite in Aionios,” Zeke complained as they kept walking.

“Why? Is it the heat?” Milton questioned.

“Oh, the heat isn’t that bad,” Zeke insisted as he wiped sweat from his forehead. “I was mainly talking about how dangerous this place seems to be. We’ve already seen so many soldiers, and there’s also countless aggressive monsters around here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Ropls in one place before.”

“Not to mention all the rocky cliffs everywhere,” Milton pointed out. “Your sworn enemy.”

Zeke turned to shoot Milton a dirty look before Milton continued his thought.

“Still though, this many soldiers isn’t normal,” he admitted. “Not sure what’s going on with that.”

“We’ll just have to stay alert,” Zeke directed.

Milton nodded in agreement. They kept walking through the arid land of the Eagus Wilderness, continuing to stay out of any danger if possible. Milton jumped slightly as he heard the sound of a loud screech. Zeke and Milton looked up as they saw a Taos flying around, and it seemed like the feathered monster had also spotted the two of them.

Milton quickly readied his weapon, a panicked look on his face. But before he could prepare for the worst, a bolt of lightning shot down, stunning the Taos and bringing it to the ground. Milton blinked before he looked over at Zeke who casually had his Big Bang Edge pointed at the monster.

“I forget you can do that,” Milton admitted.

“Not sure why,” Zeke replied. “Lightning is sort of my thing.”

The Taos grumbled as it began to get back up. It screeched at the two of them again, clearly still feeling aggressive, possibly even more so after Zeke’s attack.

“Ah, looks like we’ve still got work to do,” Zeke commented as he readied his sword again. “Get ready, Milton.”

Milton’s grip on his naginata tightened as he stared at the giant bird. The Taos flew back into the air before preparing to swoop at its attackers. Zeke managed to dash out of the way, but Milton wasn't quite quick enough. The Taos knocked Milton away, causing him to tumble onto the hard ground.

“Milton!” Zeke called over. He readied his sword and ran towards the Taos. He jumped into the air, slashing at the monster. The Taos let out a pained cry as Zeke landed back on the ground to help Milton up.

“On your feet, Milton,” Zeke ordered.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Milton insisted as he prepared for his next attack. “I think it’s time to hit this beast with a Blinding Heaven Slash.”

“Go for it,” Zeke encouraged.

Milton twirled his naginata around as he got ready to move in. He began to sprint towards the monster, jumping up into the air and holding his weapon above his head. However, before he could finish the attack, the Taos retaliated, creating a gust of wind to blow Milton away.

“Agh!” Milton yelped as he crashed back onto the ground.

The Taos screeched again, lunging towards Milton and grabbing him with its talon. Milton let out another yelp as the Taos took flight again, this time with him in its grasp.

“Hang on, Milton!” Zeke yelled. He dashed towards the Taos at immense speeds, jumping up and readying his sword. He stabbed the blade into the back of the Taos, causing it to immediately begin plummeting back down. It also let go of Milton who began falling towards the ground as well.

Zeke quickly jumped towards Milton, grabbing him and holding him tight. Zeke landed back on the ground with Milton safe in one arm and his sword still held in his other. He turned around as the Taos crashed behind him.

The Taos attempted to get back up again, but it was clearly too weak to keep going. It screeched aggressively, but before it could even try anything, a burst of light shot towards the monster, finally finishing it off.

Milton was breathing heavily as his weapon pointed towards the now dead Taos. He appeared a lot less dignified than he usually did. Milton was never this sloppy during or after a fight, but this time he seemed very frazzled.

“Good job taking it out, Milton,” Zeke complimented.

Milton frowned but ultimately ignored Zeke’s comment. “Let’s keep moving,” he said, beginning to walk away.

Zeke raised an eyebrow as he watched Milton leave before following him. Zeke was quiet for a while as he watched Milton. It seemed like Milton was still trying to catch his breath, even long after the fight was over. Zeke then noticed him looking down at his hand which appeared shaky. Zeke blinked in surprise.

“That Taos really messed you up, huh?” Zeke asked.

Milton remained silent, lowering his arms.

Zeke waited for a response, but Milton refused to give one. “Come on, talk to me, Milton,” Zeke insisted. “What happened back there?”

“Nothing happened,” Milton argued.

“You got sloppy in that fight,” Zeke pointed out. “And you’re never sloppy in a fight unless something’s going on.”

“Nothing’s going on!” Milton yelled, getting extremely defensive. “Stop assuming that something is-”

Milton was suddenly cut off when Zeke grabbed him, covering his mouth with his hand. Zeke rushed the two of them behind another nearby rocky formation. Milton pushed Zeke away from him and opened his mouth to yell at him, but remained silent as he heard voices.

“Keep moving,” the sound of a Kevesi soldier spoke. “We’ll have time to rest when we reach the meet up spot.”

Milton suddenly felt a panic rising in him and he slowly started to hyperventilate. Zeke quietly tried to hush him, but it was clear that Milton was too freaked out to quiet down.

“Do you hear something?” one of the Kevesi soldiers asked.

“Sounded like it was coming from over here,” another one responded.

Zeke froze up slightly, and Milton’s fear only grew. They could hear the footsteps of the soldiers getting closer and they didn’t have anywhere to run without being spotted. Zeke could see the shadows of the soldiers and realized they were about to find the two of them. He quickly pulled out his Big Bang Edge and a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.

The soldiers all yelled out in pain as they collapsed. Zeke and Milton stepped out from behind the rock as they saw the small group of soldiers now unconscious. Milton was frozen in place and at a loss for words. He only snapped out of it when Zeke grabbed his hand and began to pull him away.

“We gotta get out of here before they wake up,” Zeke ordered.

“R-right,” Milton agreed.

They continued down their path, both of them remaining relatively silent. They kept walking, not taking any time for any breaks. It wasn’t until it was nearing sunset that they began looking for a spot to set up camp.

Zeke glanced around the area. “How’s up there look?” he asked, pointing up towards a cliff.

“Are you sure?” Milton asked. “I mean, you don’t tend to do well with heights.”

“It’s safe,” Zeke reminded. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m much more worried about you.”

Milton flinched in surprise before shaking his head. “If we keep going this way, I’m pretty sure there’s a lake ahead. It would be a nice place to-”

“It would be an obvious spot,” Zeke cut him off. “And with all those soldiers around, I figured you’d want to stop somewhere more discreet.”

“I…” Milton thought for a moment. “You’re right…”

Zeke nodded. “Come on then, we’ve got some climbing to do.”

The climb wasn’t actually too difficult. After some effort, both Zeke and Milton made it up to the small cliff. Even though it was small, there was still plenty of room for a nice camp, at least since it was just the two of them. It also gave them a useful view of the area in case they did need to flee from oncoming danger.

Milton took in a deep breath, calming down slightly as he realized how secure this place seemed. His stomach then growled. Before he could even say anything, Zeke already tossed a piece of fruit at him.

“Here,” Zeke said, “eat this while I go out and hunt something for dinner.”

“I can go with you to-”

“No, you stay here,” Zeke insisted. “You need some rest. I can handle hunting down something on my own.”

Milton wanted to argue, but his empty stomach said otherwise. Milton quietly took a bite of the fruit while Zeke walked off, carefully navigating his way down the cliffside. Milton noticed him stumble slightly on the way down and couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

Once Zeke was out of sight, Milton’s frown returned. He finished eating the fruit before wrapping his arms around himself. He glanced towards his shoulder, lifting his arm up slightly to get a better view.

“Not long now…” Milton mumbled to himself. His eyes remained locked on his term marker. It had gone completely dull, a cruel reminder of what little time Milton had left.

Milton’s face scrunched up as his thoughts flooded his mind. He knew he probably should have started working on getting a fire going, but Milton found himself completely paralyzed. He didn’t know how long he had sat there in complete silence before a shiver broke him out of his thoughts. He finally decided to get that fire set up. He only managed to get a small flame started by the time Zeke got back.

“Bad luck with the fire, eh?” Zeke questioned, catching Milton’s attention.

“No,” Milton replied, “just got a late start.”

“Ah,” Zeke responded. He sat down, setting the fresh meat aside while Milton continued getting the fire ready to go.

“Looks like we’re gonna have a bit of a late dinner tonight,” Milton commented. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries,” Zeke assured. “As long as we get to eat, I don’t care how long it takes.”

As soon as the fire grew, Zeke got to work setting up the cooking rack to begin cooking the meat.

Milton remained quiet as he watched the fire crackle and the food begin to cook. It was hard to tell what his expression was, but he definitely appeared upset about something.

“What’s on your mind, chum?” Zeke asked.

“It’s nothing…” Milton insisted, his voice quiet.

“I highly doubt that,” Zeke denied. “Come on now, we’ve been watching each other’s backs for forever now. You can tell me anything.”

Milton remained completely silent, not even giving Zeke any eye contact.

“Is it… about Nia?” Zeke guessed.

Milton shook his head, so Zeke thought it over again.

“Is it because of all the soldiers around?”

Milton was quiet for a moment before finally speaking. “Maybe…”

“They’ve got you on edge?”

Milton’s face scrunched up more. “What if X is sending them after us?” he asked. “We already know she sent soldiers after us to get Pandoria killed! What if she’s still trying to get us killed?”

“Woah, calm down there,” Zeke reassured. “Sure, I wouldn’t put it past that little blighter, but from what I overheard, none of those soldiers were acting weird. When X sent those soldiers before, they were like… being controlled or something, remember?”

“Yeah, I… I guess you have a point,” Milton admitted.

“Besides,” Zeke continued, “every time that X girl has shown up, she hasn’t actually succeeded in killing us. She likes to act all powerful, but I don’t think we really have anything to worry about.”

Milton wasn’t too sure about that, but he chose not to argue with Zeke. His mind was already filled with thoughts of dread, so he didn’t want to think more about X or what she was planning.

“So,” Zeke said, “is that why you’ve been so rusty lately?”

“Rusty?” Milton questioned. “I’m not rusty.”

“That fight against the Taos would beg to differ,” Zeke reminded. “You’re usually so much more capable in a fight, but today? That was a bloody mess back there.”

“I… I know, I’m sorry,” Milton apologized. “Today was rough, I know. But I’ll do better, I swear.”

“Wasn’t just today,” Zeke continued. “I’ve noticed you’ve been off your game for a few days now.”

Milton blinked, not knowing how else to respond to Zeke’s accusation.

“Normally you’re extra careful about… well, everything,” Zeke pointed out. “You’re usually not so jumpy or careless in the face of danger.”

“I… I guess I haven’t noticed,” Milton admitted. “Sorry…”

“Oh, enough with the apologies, alright?” Zeke responded. “You’re clearly having a rough time, you don’t need to apologize for that.”

“But if I’m not pulling my own weight,” Milton argued, “then I’m putting both of us in danger.”

“Hey, I’ve got enough strength to keep us both safe,” Zeke assured. “Like today when I saved your arse.”

Milton narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need you to remind me…”

Zeke chuckled at Milton’s grumpy response. “Already starting to act like yourself again I see.”

Milton’s scowl still remained. “Foods gonna burn,” he commented.

“Huh?” Zeke questioned before quickly remembering the meat that was cooking. He swiftly flipped it in a slight panic before letting out another soft chuckle. “Heh, nice catch. Maybe you’re not as terrible at cooking as I thought.”

“I mean I’m fine with burnt food,” Milton clarified. “I just know you’ll throw a fit if yours is overcooked.”

“I would not throw a fit!” Zeke argued. “You make me sound like a child!”

“Just saying, you don’t hear me complaining,” Milton replied.

“Oh shuddup,” Zeke responded. “One of these days I need to give you a proper cooking lesson.”

Milton smirked, happy to see the mood lighten up. However, his smile didn’t last long as his thoughts returned.

He’s not gonna have much time to give me that lesson… Milton thought to himself. He doesn’t even realize it…

Milton stared at Zeke who now seemed fully focused on cooking dinner. Despite the annoyed expression on Zeke’s face, Milton could tell deep down that he was happy. Their little arguments were normal for the two of them. It definitely gave Milton some strange comfort, and he had to assume it gave Zeke a similar feeling.

Milton wasn’t sure how to tell Zeke. He had tried numerous times to explain how terms work in Aionios, but it seemed like it never fully clicked with him. Milton knew he couldn’t remain silent forever, but he didn’t want to bring the mood down right now, so he decided to just keep his mouth shut. Zeke already lost Pandoria, and Milton didn’t want to see Zeke look the same way he did after they lost her. So if he could continue to let Zeke be blissfully unaware for a little bit longer, then Milton was ok with that.