Chapter Text
Alba Cavanich; the capital city, the city that’s always in the news, the city that’s lit. Big fancy streets with expensive restaurants and elaborate decorations, enormous networks of sewers and alleys, highways and traffic stops and broken lights – it was an old industrial town oozing with history, it was a metropolis with 3 million residents, it was the jewel of the Ardainian Empire. Back in Fonsett, everyone had wanted to move here…
-now that Rex is living here, he’s not so sure. He really needs to get home right now to finish his homework and cook dinner, and maybe shower, but instead he’s stuck in the underground with a very large and annoyed crowd thanks to ‘technical difficulties’. There’s not much to do apart from holding his bag and shuffling around in place, because there’s people and sharp elbows surrounding him on all sides.
Until there’s not.
The train arrives, and people flood toward it like an actual tide – Rex is born and raised in Fonsett, a fishing village, so he knows how tides swallow everything in their path, just like that.
-Of course it’s too crowded for him to actually get on this train. He’s left with a much smaller group of people to wait another five minutes or more. At least the trains are running again! He tries to cheer himself up with that thought…
It’s quiet except for the rumble of traffic above them, and people are either tapping at their phones or tapping their feet in impatience. Rex waits, adjusting the strap of his bag, and lets his thoughts drift away until-
There’s a shout from the escalators, and at least five heads whip around to stare, Rex included. The shout is soon followed by a brilliant flash of light, and then you can hear running footsteps and the voices of two people, taunting each other. The noise comes closer and closer, a teenager lifts his phone to start filming, and then two figures burst out of the corridor above the escalators.
(-this is the reason why Alba Cavanich is constantly in the news.)
The first figure is unmistakably the Aegis. Her white veil and shining green sword has in urban legend become a sign of hope, of resistance: our hero is here. She’s a vigilante fighting against the terrorist organisation known as Torna, which must mean that the second figure is…
Logos, her arch-enemy. Covered from head to toe in gleaming black armour, he wields a massive purple sword with a finesse that shouldn’t be possible while wearing that much heavy metal. He brings it up to block the Aegis’s sword, lightning-fast, and kicks at her. She dances out of the way and stabs forward only to draw back and slice his arm instead, and Logos’s sword clashes against hers with a sound that seems to rattle the whole room.
Rex is partly awed and partly terrified, and when the train slides into the station no one dares to move. The Aegis is gaining ground on Logos, but then he gets a lucky hit and the Aegis goes flying down the escalator-
Rex’s heart is in his throat, but then there’s a flash of blinding light-
-and when it clears, the Aegis is slicing away at Logos’s defenses again, at the top of the escalator.
It’s mesmerising to watch. And also very, really, ridiculously dangerous.
…Rex still takes out his phone for a video. C’mon, he’s a Fonsett kid. This is basically a child’s fantasy come to life, battling in the underground with swords as long as his arm…
-When Logos shouts, “This isn’t over, Aegis!” and retreats up the corridor, Rex cheers along with the rest of the station. People start to move again, remembering grocery lists or kids to watch, and the train starts filling up. Rex scrambles to put his phone away so he won’t miss this train too, but his bag decides to pull a prank and notebooks and papers spill out in an avalanche and onto the shabby floor of the underground. Dammit.
Rex crouches down and starts to hastily shovel papers into his bag, but the train pulls away as he reaches for the physics book. Architect dammit.
“Studying archaeology?” asks a voice, and Rex looks up with a retort not to touch his stuff-
-and swallows it. The Aegis is just crouching there casually, holding up his archelogy book. Her face is covered by an ornate white and gold mask, so he can’t tell her expression.
“Um, yeah. I’m studying at Ayvill University…” Rex trails off, and wonders what in Alrest he’s supposed to say now. Thankfully the Aegis hands him his book back, so he can busy himself with stuffing it into his bag. He puts away the last of the papers, and closes his bag.
He looks up, and tries asking, “So did you study at Ayvill University…?”
The Aegis hums noncommittally. “Yup. Cooking.”
“And then you… became the Aegis?”
“Something like that.”
Rex is like, 75% sure she’s lying. About at least one part of her story. Though he can’t even imagine just… picking up a sword, putting on a mask, and going out to fight terrorists. Making a change. So… she’s got her life, Rex has got his. And they’re vastly different. (he’s never thought much about what heroes do in their free time before…)
“Is that your train?” The Aegis asks, and Rex jerks to motion.
“It is. Thanks for your help, Miss… uh, Aegis.”
Beneath her mask, her lips pull into a smile, and Rex just looks at it, that small happiness. “No problem. It was nice meeting you-“
“Rex,” Rex says before he can stop himself.
“Rex,” The Aegis echoes, and Rex feels like some sort of deal has been sealed. “Don’t miss your train.”
“Yeah, right.” Rex grabs his bag and starts moving, looking over his shoulder, once. The Aegis is looking at him, still, so impulsively he raises his hand and waves goodbye. And the Aegis, champion of Alba Cavanich, hero of the defenceless, shining light of hope, waves back.
What a day.