soup but it tastes bad

[bloodyashes]

The forest is quiet, and almost trackless - who needs a trail, after all, when the only person who ever passes this way is a single flesh eater, coming and going from the tower in the distance?

(But this story does not begin with Kratos Aurion was a blade.)

It begins, instead, with two blades in a remote forest, the same way another one ended, in the distant past. A blade of justice, and a flesh eater driver, seeking audience with the Aegis who is rumored to reside in the tower. And the story starts, just as the other ended, before they ever reach the tower.

Ether flows through the air - light-aspected, with hints of water and wind - and converges on a point. The crystalline structure doesn't look so different from the trees and underbrush that surround it, save for the fact that it glows white with a brilliance that's visible even in the direct light of the sun.

(The last story began, Van Grants was a blade.)

(It was not a happy story.)

Near the 'roots' of the tree, there is another core crystal to be found. Although it seems broken, it pulses with a dull red glow, indicative of the blade inside being ready (perhaps more than ready) to manifest again. Equally clearly, it has not been disturbed in a very long time - only the glow separates it visually from the natural stones around it, moss and dirt breaking up the too-square outline.

To those who can sense ether, however, it is practically a beacon. And to those who can see the threads of fate...

(This isn't the story of the Aegis. But there's a thread tied here, nonetheless, that hasn't disappeared.)

Comments

[bloodyashes]

He shakes his head, firmly. "Not unless they talked to the same after-the-fact researcher that I did after I was gone." He can't entirely rule it out, especially in Luke's case since Guy and Tear knew well enough who Dist was and why Asch went to speak with him, but...

There's an unpleasant roil of anxiety in the emotional bleed.

"Other than being able to use multiple elements, we're just too-strong blades. I might be somewhere closer to an Aegis in power, but I can't do most of the things that they can."

There. That should divert from the questions of why he wanted his memories for a little while.

[photonedge]

Mythra successfully pulls the worst of her horror and anger (on Asch's behalf) out of the emotional bleed, though it's hard not to stew in it a little. Architect, that's fucked up. It's not exactly a comfort that what they got must not have been what his creators were after, but - at least they'd probably stopped there. Or sought some kind of method that didn't require that much death.

"We can look for them, after this," she offers. "I know it's been a long time, but..." She trails off, because they must be somewhere, right? Right. Maybe one of their friends would have heard of some other blade with too many elements and a misshapen core crystal - it's not like it'd be a surprise at this point, if Anna turned out to be familiar with Asch's twin or their counterparts.

[crimsonsnow]

"Interesting," Jade says, about Asch's memories. Not too much different from the memory patch his friends worked out for Mythra, he supposes. At least, in theory and implementation -- something added after the fact, not part of the build. He wonders how much Asch's apparent memory patch differs from Mythra's, if they differ at all.

(Quite honestly, the fact that Asch cared enough to seek someone out to patch his memories doesn't even register as important to Jade. Of course he would. What blade wouldn't?

Some of them just have a more complicated relationship with their memories than others.)

"Too-strong blades seems to be the theme, with artificial Aegises," Jade comments, adjusting his glasses. It's not quite telling Asch the experience they have with it -- only Poppi, but, still -- but there's no reason to keep that a secret, is it? Jade wonders what Asch will think of the irony, when he finds out. Two blades involved with humanity's last attempt at recreating an Aegis, finding a previous attempt...?

Anyway.

"I'm certain we can dig up some information, if you want us to," Jade finishes Mythra's thought. He figured if Asch wanted to find his twin, or the others, he'd ask, but there's no harm offering, either.

[bloodyashes]

"The strength of an Aegis is what most people fixate on," Asch agrees. "Unfortunately, there's too many people who only care about that."

He lifts his head in the direction of the tower, still easily visible against the sky. "I'm sure the Aegises have their own stories of what people will do for that kind of power."

Another one of those intuitive truths that come tumbling out of his mouth before he even really registers them. He makes a face, and deliberately doesn't think further on the subject, because he doesn't really want to know what those stories are, at least right now.

But focusing on the offer made to him doesn't make him feel any better.

"Maybe at some point," he says. "I'm not sure I could handle it right now, remembering when they don't." Well, not Sync, he could deal with Sync fine, they weren't close by any measure. But he can't imagine seeing Ion outside of the church that meant so much to him, the place where he was always helping people, and Luke...

What would he even say?

[photonedge]

Mythra exchanges glances with Jade over Asch's head. it's not a secret, exactly, but sharing that one feels... worse, somehow. well. She's probably overthinking it. If Jade thinks sharing it is a good idea, she trusts him on enough things to take his lead on this one.

"You're right," she says. "Otherwise they wouldn't keep trying."

She just nods at Asch's rejection of her plan. He has a point - one she does not want to think about, thank you very much. "That's fair," she says after a moment, a little softer than she meant to be. "Not like we can't look later, if you change your mind." She pulls her legs in closer to her, resting her chin on them.

It's quiet after that, the conversation more or less over. Jade settles down first, but Mythra's not long after him; so close to the Aegis's tower like this, all three of them as jumpy as they are, there's no point in keeping a real watch.

(If Mythra wakes briefly in the night to see Asch off towards the edge of the clearing, she doesn't say anything about it. He's only just woken up and they'd thrown a lot at him, after all.)

Eventually, though, morning comes and they set off, clearing the final bit of distance to the tower. It's even more imposing up close, somehow, the Aegis's power almost palpable in the ether levels. All that light (and the fact that they're finally here, finally going to fix things) has Mythra bright and impatient as she stares up at it.

"So do we just... knock?" she asks, reaching out to do so. Here goes something.

[crimsonsnow]

"I don't see why not," Jade says, letting Mythra go ahead and do so.

He's not exactly intimidated by the tower, though it's certainly impressive. The residual ether here is overwhelming -- it was bad enough in the field, but now at the tower itself it's so thick it's a wonder anyone around here can breathe. But then, he suppses the Aegis who lives here doesn't mind it, so much. And the Aegis' driver...? Well, who knows anything for certain about them.

There's no answer to Mythra's knock. And the gathered ether makes it difficult to gauge whether or not there actually is a blade in there or not.

"I wonder," Jade says, taking a step back and craning his neck up to consider the tower. There's a few windows and balconies, much higher up, but each is absent of anyone, Aegis or otherwise. "If anyone's home."

[bloodyashes]

The tower isn't particularly intimidating to Asch, either. More than anything, he finds himself comparing it to the cathedral at Daath, and it's the tower he finds wanting. It's an impressive structure, to be sure, but there's not feeling in it, the way there was in so many carefully fitted panels of stained glass.

(He wonders if the cathedral is still standing, and immediately discards the notion. No point getting his hopes up.)

Even as Jade wonders aloud, his intuition swings into action. No, the Aegis isn't here. Unfortunately, there's no way to express that certainty without explaining where it comes from, and he's not ready to do that, yet. Instead he turns his eyes up at the windows as well, and says, "Well, I doubt the Aegis is deaf, so if anyone's here, they're ignoring us."

[crimsonsnow]

Jade hums in agreement with Asch's observation. "Which is it, I wonder? Is the Aegis not home, or is he simply pretending he isn't?"

Jade isn't exactly against breaking-and-entering, if they must (just to be sure), but first:

"Any pings from Foresight, Mythra? Surely if we were destined to see an Aegis within the next few minutes, it'd tell you."

[photonedge]

Hmm. That's a fair question. She was probably going to get there in a second, too, but she just hums in response, closing her eyes so she can focus.

There's nothing in the next few minutes, Foresight wastes no time in telling her, and Mythra frowns. Did they seriously come all this way for the Aegis to not be home? That's bullshit, and more importantly, she doesn't want to leave without being definitely sure that's not the case.

Well, Jade's never minded her borrowing a little ether for Foresight. But she might not even need that, this time; the air's full of it, singing in a key she doesn't even need to adjust to work with. So she reaches out, letting the ether pool brightly in her hand as she pushes Foresight harder.

And then a bit harder, just to be really sure.

... Ow. Maybe that was a little far.

"Nothing for at least three days," Mythra reports, cracking her eyes open and regretting it. Her head's pounding, the emotional bleed crackling with frustration. "So if we are being ignored, he must really not want visitors." That's probably not the case, though.

[bloodyashes]

"So we're probably banging on an empty building," Asch says, looking at the doors again. "Somehow, that feels typical." Getting all the way here only to slam into an obstacle that he has no control over and no way to overcome? Yeah, that sounds like his experience with the whole of the blade system, in general.

He folds his arms, gives a single brief glare up at the tower, and then turns back to them. "I'm guessing you can't stay here forever and have somewhere to get back to, so any ideas on how to leave a message?"

[crimsonsnow]

"Well, I have one idea," Jade says, sighing dramatically, mostly just for show. He's not thrilled, exactly, but it's just resources, and one piece of paper out of the back of his journal isn't going to hurt anything. So tears out the necessary paper and writes a note, and then he sticks it to the door.

(If his blades care to read the message, it says something like:

We wish to speak to the Aegis, regarding ideas on how to change the blade system, and grant blades the freedom they deserve.

We will return in two months' time to seek audience with you again. Or you can find us at

And then the address of Malik's bar, as well as the date.)

"There," Jade says, then turns to his blades. "I suppose there's nothing to do now but head home. Shall we?"

[photonedge]

"Ugh, I can't believe this," Mythra complains. "He's been holed up in this tower for hundreds of years, and we pick the one time he's not here?"

But okay, a note. That's better than waiting around for the Aegis to come back. She peeks over Jade's shoulder as he writes to read it.

"We should probably leave something to prove we're blades, though," she says, once he's stuck it to the door. "Otherwise, how's he gonna know we're not just more asshole humans?"

[bloodyashes]

Asch, at least, has the manners to not crowd Jade, though he doesn't really need to. A guess at what their driver would write serves as well as actually reading it.

"Other than the fact that only blades ever try to change the system?" he asks. "Humans might disagree with it, but it's pretty rare that they actually help out. A human who actually began something like this on their own, without being pushed by a blade for one reason or another..."

It's hard to imagine, and probably the same for the Aegis. No doubt plenty of people have come looking for him... Hell, the fact that someone was coming might even be the reason he's gone. Can't get used horribly by what can't find you; that's why he killed Van out in the wilderness.

Asch looks back up at the tower. "...It's all light ether," he observes. "So anything that isn't would stick out."

[crimsonsnow]

"Well, some extra credibility couldn't hurt," Jade admits.

He hums for a second, considering Asch's observation. Excluding light, that leaves seven elements, all of which Asch has granted him control over. Of the remaining seven he can only think of two elements that would leave any kind of lasting impression, and he doesn't see the point playing with earth when ice is the other element in question.

Jade takes a deep breath, gathering his ether. Considering how rich the ambient ether is, he almost doesn't even need to pull from Asch or Mythra-- honestly, a trick like this he could probably pull off with his own reserves and nothing more. He touches his fingers to the door, and underneath his fingertips grow a thick sheet of ice: one that will essentially seal the door shut.

Obnoxious? Perhaps. But surely the Aegis will have no difficulty getting rid of it.

"There," Jade says, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "Too much?" he asks, smirking, as he turns to his companions for their opinion.

[photonedge]

"We could be lying to get his guard down," Mythra points out to Asch. Someone who wanted to get to the Aegis badly enough to lie to him could pretend they wanted to help blades, after all. But Jade's planning something, so she stops, looking over to him. Her ether probably won't be helpful here - Asch is right, there's nothing around but light ether - but she's ready to offer it if he needs the raw power anyway.

She snorts in laughter as she realizes what Jade is doing. "Well, no mistaking us for humans now," she says when he's done. "Should be good."

[bloodyashes]

Asch shakes his head slightly. "A liar would say they need the Aegis, not that they just want to discuss things with him." Discussion implies viewing the Aegis as a person in his own right, a potential equal partner. If even Van, a blade himself, viewed the Aegis as only a means to an end instead of a person who might have his own desires, well, Asch's opinion of humans on that front isn't very high.

He watches Jade's icing-over of the door with a nod of satisfaction, and then, so inspired - "Stand back a bit. I'm not particularly familiar with earth artes."

Once they've taken a few steps back from the door, he closes his eyes, concentrates, and slams a foot into the ground. A cluster of stones rise up in front of the door - not enough to block it, only about a foot or so, but enough that you can't really miss them. He's confident Jade's ice will last a while, but it's not exactly permanent.

That done, he turns back to his driver and co-blade. "What about the other Aegis?" he asks.

[crimsonsnow]

Jade hums, appreciative of Asch's work. He supposes he could have just asked Asch to do that to begin with, and gets about as far as considering saying as such aloud when Asch asks his next question.

Ah. "I suppose you wouldn't know, given how long you've been away," Jade notes. It's basically common knowledge by now, but... It happened hundreds of years after Asch's time. Well, nothing else to do but tell Asch.

Jade immediately turns to Mythra. "Mythra, do you think you could explain?"

[photonedge]

Mythra watches Asch work with interest, the way his ether shifts from one element to the next almost as fascinating as what he does with it. She'd kind of like to leave her own calling card to match, but light's a little too transient for that, even in a better environment for it. His question is enough to distract her from that train of thought, pausing because that's right, he wouldn't know before Jade chimes in.

"Bastard," Mythra says, with no heat to her tone or the emotional bleed, even as she crosses her arms over her chest. "There's not that much to tell, though. About three hundred years back, there was a war, and during it... someone shattered her core crystal." Which is... a lot to think about, really, there on its own. "Apparently, Sylvarant has some of her shards." Almost definitely, actually, if Jade's right, which he probably is. "That's pretty much it."

[bloodyashes]

"What kind of an idiot would..." He's asking more because he's angry than because he really wants an answer. The low order disgusted rage shifts in the emotional bleed for a moment before it fades.

"...Damn it. Can we even do anything with only one Aegis? Can anyone?"

[crimsonsnow]

Jade exhales, tight. Asch is right. There's no telling whether or not they need both Aegises to get anything done. In fact, by all accounts, it would only make sense if they need both. Standing in the shadow of the Tower of the Aegis, Jade pinches the bridge of his nose.

"I suppose that's something we'll have to ask the Aegis himself, if we can get a hold of him. And if we do need two..."

Jade doesn't finish that sentence. He hates that he could say they could make a second, and it would be entirely true. (At least if Myyah has her theoretical notes still, and if they're as accurate as she claims.) He hopes it doesn't come to that. They've brought enough blades recklessly into this world.

[photonedge]

Mythra just shakes her head in response to Asch's anger, because it's a good question, if one they'll obviously never have the answer to. She's not dumb enough to ask the Aegis about his other half's death, whenever they do wind up meeting him.

She pauses for a moment, because she can guess what Jade's thinking of, and... it's not a plan she dislikes, exactly. Any Aegises they created would be as safe as possible, with all of the protectors they'd have. Maybe it's just the knowledge of what it had taken to make Asch, who had technically been a failure, weighing on her. Of course her family would never, but...

Mythra pulls herself back abruptly, realizing she'd gotten lost in thought. "Even if he just helps us figure out how to make more memory chips and get them to blades, that's still something," she says. Not enough, but preventing what happened to Jade from being possible for other blades is something.

[bloodyashes]

"...Worry about it when we get there, I suppose," he says. Asch's shoulders have only fallen slightly, as tense as he usually holds himself, but in anyone else it would probably be a slump. "Can't plan anything when we don't even know yet if he'll speak to us."

He runs a hand through his hair and looks back the way they came. Really, he's glad he managed to not blunder into that one in front of the Aegis himself. Maybe his intuition would have kept him from asking something stupid, but he can't be sure and isn't going to count on it.

"Let's get going."

[crimsonsnow]

The trip home is largely uneventful, slightly shorter than the trip out here. After all, they don't need to wander around the wilderness to find where they're going. They know where home is. The most exciting events are the spar Mythra talks Asch into -- they look like they had fun -- and the local monsters being just territorial enough to give Jade an excuse to test out some of his new powers.

By the time they're almost to Malik's bar (which is home, after all) Jade is just hoping that Asch won't mind how loud the place can get, and that Mythra's siblings will behave themselves. Once they're on the right street, Jade realizes that they have more pressing matters at hand.

Because the door of the bar slams open, and out storms one Aegis.

He stops on the stairs up to the bar, pinching the bridge of his nose like he's got a pounding headache. Following him like a shadow, is a blade that Jade doesn't recognize. Though, from the taste of his ether, he's likely a flesh eater.

"Mithos," the blade says. But by that point, the Aegis, Mithos, has taken note of the approaching party. His head snaps up to glare at them. He groans under his breath.

"Oh great, more of this nonsense."

[bloodyashes]

Asch, for his part, has gotten somewhat less settled as they approach the town - his eyes keep drifting off to the north, to a ruin that holds no Aegis or probably even anything interesting except to him. Aselia is so close to where Daath once sat that he can't think the two are completely unrelated, but he doesn't exactly have a history book in front of him to figure out the connection. Daath might have been much more open to blades, but they weren't any more welcoming to flesh eaters than anywhere else.

He's mostly managed to prepare himself, for a town with multiple flesh eaters just living their lives. He's not prepared for the taste of light ether and blood blowing up in his senses, the answer to the unsettled feeling in his intuition, just before the door slams open.

And oh, no, that's probably what the intuition was trying to warn him about. Unlike the others, Asch has seen, Asch remembers stained glass in a church, the image of a child-sized, blond blade in white -

If he were a more animalistic blade, his ears would definitely be laid back, not at the Aegis himself but at the driver, the flesh eater that he doesn't recognize. But the ether of the Aegis is pure, almost singing, and untainted by blood and so -

At least, whatever else is going on, Van's plans died with him. Asch wrenches his gaze away from the other redhead and focuses it on the Aegis instead.

(He should have asked Ion if there was an appropriate form of address, while he had the chance. Then again, the Aegises weren't actually a part of the church, so this boy wouldn't know the respect he's being given anyway.)

"Aegis Mithos the White," he says, tone sharply formal and the words in a cadence that pings as more than a bit archaic. (Very sharply, given the ether in the air, the ether around him. If it was visible, it would surely be drawn up into sharp points around his head, or at least as sharp a point as you can get with ether of dark or fire.) "You're early, and somehow I get the idea that you didn't beat my companions back here. Would you care to explain exactly what nonsense has so offended you?"

(frozen comment) mithos this wasnt even the problem we wanted you hear to solve

[crimsonsnow]

Jade resources eyebrows, surprised at Asch's use of Mithos' title -- a surprise which it seems the Aegis shares. (Of course he does, it's been centuries since he last heard it.) Jade also sends Asch a look, concerned. He's not good at this, but hopefully he sends something along the emotion bleed that speaks of I've committed murder once for my blade and I would do it again, Aegis or no. Undoubtedly, it is the man behind the Aegis who is causing Asch such distress, though. given what little Jade knows about Asch's previous driver. … it shouldn't come to murder, however.

"I--" Mithos starts, apparently caught sufficiently off-guard. It doesn’t last, though, because before long he's scoffing in anger. "Oh, don't act like you don't know! I'm sure you're in on it too!"

"In on what, exactly?" Jade interjects, though he has a feeling he knows what, exactly even before the Aegis opens his mouth.

"Your little human friends thought it'd be funny to create a pair of artificial Aegises like it was nothing." Mithos swipes his hands through the air, furious. Jade sighs very carefully, and wonders whose bright idea was to leave Myyah unsupervised. He doesn't even bother questioning why she did it. Of course she did. She'd been showing much too much interest in those theoreticals of hers. "I don't care how many blades are involved, I refuse to believe humans have anything good planned for any Aegises they create! If their driver had been human, I would have killed him on the spot."

...which means Malik is driving them. Wonderful.

"How can you even trust them?!" Mithos asks, with all the frustration of a blade who's asked this question three times today and hasn't gotten an answer he's satisfied by yet.