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Rex was leading the girls and a bunch of City survivors to the base, occasionally glancing over his blind shoulder for Shulk. He had felt something that reminded him of the visions he had while on Bionis, and had gone to investigate. But sadly, there was not enough time to wait for him, or even to follow him. Night was already upon them, and the starlight was only mostly enough light in this part of the Aetia region.
“You are the one they call Stoutheart, correct?” Linka asked. Rex jumped, turning to Linka with his hand on his chest, breathing as if he had run the length of Aionios at light speed.
“...Wait, what?” Rex asked, realising the question hadn't quite made sense. He thought he had just heard his niece ask… who he was.
“Stoutheart Rex, Hero of Alrest. Fancy words that fall on deaf ears,” Panacea said.
“Well, it's not like I call myself that!” Rex snapped, as Panacea blinked in confusion.
“...The heck are you yelling at me for?” Panacea asked, her hand at her hip at a moment's notice.
“I've been looking for them, you know. The survivors,” one of the City survivors said, and the rest of them knew to bunch up. The guy who had said the words, meanwhile, wasn't quite sure if he should follow.
“Wait a minute… that's a Moebius, isn't it?” Linka asked. Rex tapped into the part of him he inherited from Pyra and Mythra, and reached out to his surroundings.
“Yeah… yeah, it is,” Rex said.
“Clever. But you know I cannot come closer unless invited, as per the accord,” Linka said. Or rather, the Moebius who could speak through her did.
“Then I suppose you should get over here and start talking,” Rex suggested. In between Panacea and Linka, a girl appeared in silver armour. While the design matched the familiar red design other Consuls wore, the head was nowhere close. Instead of a helmet that made it difficult to determine if the wearer was even human, the only thing this woman wore to conceal her identity was a flat mask over her golden eyes. Zeke probably would have thought it cool, but Rex wasn't so easily swayed. The white hair and Gormotti ears, however, looked more than a tad familiar…
“Wait… no!” Rex said, stepping back several paces. It couldn't be… not after all this time…
“I am M. I have come to seek answers,” the Moebius said, using her own voice this time. Rex gasped- the voice wasn't close enough to his baby girl's to be familiar.
But it was close enough for Rex to realise just how much misery she had to have gone through.
“Who hurt you?” Rex asked, the Firelight Blades in his hands before he had time to mimic the motion of unsheathing them. Panacea leapt back, nearly nicked by the light sword.
“...I'm afraid I'm the one asking the questions here,” M said, trying her best to figure out what to even say if she were to answer it.
“I've got way too damn many to let you get away with that, sweet-pea. Now, who hurt you? ” Rex asked, glowering with a force that would probably have killed the Moebius by itself, if it wasn't for who she was.
“I am unharmed. I have little need for most forms of healing, since as a Moebius, I draw from the motes of the fallen to ensure eternal life. Now then, what happened to destroy the old City so thoroughly?” M responded, more angry, but not actually yelling. Linka couldn't tell if she was just irritated or this was as angry as she got.
“Don't take that tone with me, young lady-” Rex started, before a black ring appeared at his throat. Scratch that last thought. M could get angrier.
“I obey no one's orders,” M told him. Strangely, it sounded less like she was angry at him and more that she had… something to prove.
“How long have you been Moebius?” Linka asked, in spite of herself. She hoped the answer would soothe Rex's temper.
“I have not started counting yet. I don't suspect I will ever wish to,” M said, not even looking at her. Linka had to look over her shoulder to make sure it was still M speaking and not her stealing bodies again.
“Look, all we know about the City is that Moebius attacked it. We were too busy looking for-” Panacea started, trying to get the conversation back in a ‘get M away from this situation’ direction. M grunted, turning to the people of the City. Most of them had been outside the City's borders at the time too- it was how many had survived.
“I suspect Alpha was also there… but I can't say for sure what he was doing. I was following a lead he was in Pentelas at the time,” Rex suggested.
“Alpha? I suppose that is N's problem. Very well… it seems my worst fears have been realised,” M said, her weapon disappearing as she stepped back from Rex. She seized up suddenly, and the people of the City started looking around each other with confusion. So that was what it looked like when she…
“Mio…” Rex started. M resumed her normal body, and frowned.
“That name is no longer mine,” she spat.
“I don't care. But if you have any second thoughts about this whole Moebius lark, any at all… you go straight to the Queen of Agnus. And I mean the real deal. All right? ” Rex asked, putting on a paternal act he hadn't practiced in years. M made no indication she had even heard him as she disappeared into her purple motes.
“...What has Z done to you…” Rex asked no one in particular, turning around to hide his tears, before he started bawling anyway. Linka sighed, turning back to the refugees.
“We might as well wait for Shulk now, he'll be like this for a while,” she told them.