Xenoblade Rebirth Chapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Thirty Nine




“Lance, I think you have a little someone stuck to your leg.”  Lance glanced at the Machina man who had entered his home before glancing down at his foot and then promptly lifting his left leg up.

“She won’t let go.” There, clinging to Lance’s leg for dear life was his young daughter Meyna. The child had just turned five but with how small she was her weight was anything but a small notice whenever Lance walked around the home. But he knew why she was clinging so much. When he lowered his leg the Machina man went down on his knees and spoke softly to her.

“Meyna, you know it’s going to be hard for your father to go to work with you clinging like that, don’t you?”

She shook her head furiously. “I don’t wanna!”

“Why not?”

“She has to go with Igholt to Colony 6 today.” Lance’s wife, Isha said as she came from the kitchen and offered the Machina man a smile. “Hello Styx, how are things in the mines?”

“Things are normal as always.”

Isha placed her hands on her hips while smiling at him. “So they still look to you when it comes to dealing with monsters when my husband isn’t around then.”

“Pretty much,” Styx then smiled at Meyna. “You don’t like Igholt do you?”

She puffed her cheeks and scowled angrily. “I don’t like it; he uses those sharp pointy things and always pokes me over and over. The only one who ever seems not happy about it besides me is that Homs man in the Colony. But I still don’t want to go, it’s scary.”

Lance reached down and ran his large hand through her hair, when she looked up at him he scooped her up into his arms and hugged her. “I know it’s scary, to tell you the truth Meyna I don’t like it ether. It’s not often that you have to go there but Igholt just wants to be sure that nothing strange is happening to your body, even the Machina worry about you.”

Styx stood and folded his arms across his chest as he stood up. “Well her growth is rather… different. We all just want to make sure that she grows up healthy and strong.”

“That makes all of us,” Lance said softly as he continued to hold her close.  He kept Meyna’s head resting underneath his chin. He and Isha wanted Meyna to grow up without worry of prejudice and discrimination of what she was or what she might become. “Meyna?”

She looked up at him with wonder. “Yes?”

“I don’t like doctors’ ether, they can be mean or scary but you know what they care about most in the world?”

Meyna shook her head.

“You’re health, they do all those things because they don’t want you to get sick or worse. And your mother, brother and I don’t want to lose you. Even though Igholt might seem mean sometimes he only wants to be sure that you’ll be okay.”

“Can you and Mommy come with me?”

He shook his head, feeling upset at himself that he couldn’t go, he too had a job to do here in the Colony, along with Isha, and he regretted that. But it was the way of being an adult sometimes. “I’m sorry sweetie, we can’t we would if we could. But I will promise this, when you return home we’ll all go out to eat to that shop that you love so much.”

She lit up instantly. “Really?”

He smiled but then his wife wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck. “Now don’t go planning for things without me.” Isha smiled at Meyna. “But I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to that tiny place, I still can’t believe you like it so much Meyna.”

“But it’s nice, the trees are close, I like it when they change color before falling. And the food is good too.”

Isha tucked some of Meyna’s hair behind her ear. “Well there is that. Alright, sweetie you have my vote, and when Grithiff is home from school we’ll see if he wants to go. But knowing how much he is like your father I think I already know his answer.”

Lance looked back to his daughter. “So you’ll be good until then?”

Meyna gave him a big happy smile. “Yeah!!”

“Lance…”

Lance’s eyes opened instantly when he heard the sound of his wife’s voice, the first thing he saw was the glow of the fire with Eira and Styx conversing quietly before his gaze focused on his wife. “Isha,” he sat up, his hand resting firmly against the bed of rock that was in a sea of sand. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A few hours.” She said before leaning against his arm. “You were talking in your sleep.”

“I was?”

“Yes, you were talking with Meyna. Back before she was…”

He clasped his hand over her’s and squeezed lightly. “We’ll get her back Isha, no matter what. We will get our daughter back from the men who took her.”

When Meyna was returning with Igholt from Colony 6 there transport ship was attacked and Meyna was taken from Igholt and the others aboard. Igholt had returned, injured and bloody, and told Lance and Isha what happened.

Grithiff, who had overheard what has happened went to rush to get a weapon only his father stopped him.

“I need to help Meyna!” he told him. “Meyna, whatever they are planning to do to her… she… what she is… what if they hurt her… what if they…” tears were threatening to fall from his eyes as his whole body shook.

Lance rested his hands on his son’s shoulders. “I know Grithiff, but that’s why we’re going after them. We’ll bring your sister home, but you need to stay here. Your mother and I will bring her home, no matter what.”

No matter what... Lance thought when he saw the the sun beginning to rise making the sky a burning red like crimson fire. “We should get going.” He told her.

“Right,” she nodded. “Dear?”

He turned to look at her. “Yes?”

Isha kissed his lips and smiled at him. “We will succeed, I promise you that. My hunches on things like this are never wrong.”

Lance smiled at her. “I know you were right when we were going to have Grithiff after all. Let’s go get our daughter back.”


The four of them walked through the desert, facing a number of different monsters along the way, before the one who took Meyna Igholt had managed to put a tracer on the person’s cloak. Though now as Lance looked at it, he knew exactly where this person was headed. But as to why whoever this was taking Meyna to such a place he couldn’t understand it. that was a place that he and many others had gone to train in the past when dealing with large monsters or other types of things that would attack the Colony.

“Lance,” Eira’s voice drew Lance out of his thoughts as he looked at the Machina woman, she had deep lilac colored eyes and a lighter shade of hair that peaked out of her bionic helmet that she wore. Lance never really understood why they would wear such a thing when he had seen many without them but it was not something he would ask, it wasn’t his place too. Yet those who never seemed wear them always looked out for Meyna, almost as if she were their own, in his Colony and others that Meyna had gone through on her travels to Colony 6 and back.

Then again…

He shook his head and responded. “Yes Eira, what is it?”

“About this rescue…” she hesitated. “Is it really such a good idea to go in head first into this place? It’s one we all know well but it might be a trap of some kind.”

“I know,” he said. “But even if that’s the case we can’t let them do whatever they want with Meyna. I’m not about to lose my only daughter to these bastards…”

“But is there another way into the fortress, I hadn’t heard of one if there is.”

“There are a few who do know a secret entrance; they’ll help if I ask them.”

Eira frowned slightly but then knew who Lance was speaking of. “Are you sure they will Lance? Aren’t they…”

“They are good people, don’t judge solely on appearances. If people did that they would label the Machina with ill intentions.”

She made a face at him. “You’re not funny, but I do see your point. I just hope things go as well as you hope.”

As do I…


It took them several hours to reach Lamorak Fortress, a large hulking building that protruded out of the sand. It was the place that Lance, Styx and many others came to train or practice new techniques in fighting and the door that they now stood at was locked, a door of which was rather large and currently closed with heavy looking locks and seemed impossible to remove by hand. Could it have been something for a second loading bay?

Lance looked back and saw the shadowy figures of those who had helped them in their time of need before disappearing into the sand like shadows that were never there.

“So how do we do this?” Styx asked.

Isha stared up at it for a bit before responding. “Hmmm, well I’ve never really been through this door so I wouldn’t know.” she looked to her husband. “What do you think?”

Lance took his gun-blade and aimed. “Something like this,” he then shot off rounds, firing many at the locked hinges of the two doors before shooting the one dead center with an explosive round before running at the door taking his blade and slicing through the metal and twisting his body and using all of his strength to punch it as hard as he could.  

The double doors let out a heavy groan before falling back slowly and landing on the ground with immense boom that echoed through the halls.

Styx was the first to speak. “You know there are times where I forget that you can do that sort of thing.”

“Only when I’m angry.” He stated back.

Isha on the other hand smiled happily. “And this is why I love him.”

Lance shook his head at his wife at her random attempt at some form of humor. “Come on, that sound along will have alerted that we’re here.” he said as he shook his hand to remove the numbing sensation that began to send jolts of pins and needles through his nerves.  

“I don’t think Giant of the Homs is a good enough nickname for you anymore.” Eira said to him. “If the others knew like Styx that you can punch solid metal down they might start calling you Lance of the Iron Hand. Or something along those lines...”

Lance gave her an unamused stare. “I didn’t just punch the door Eira, you saw what I did don’t start making up stories for the mere fun of it.”

“It’s just an idea.” She told him as he walked in.

They walked a slight distance, confirming Lance’s suspicion of it being a loading bay, only to stop when they reached what looked to be a far drop below.
Lance looked down seeing the lift was all the way at the bottom with a frown. The drop itself was rather far one of which that could easily shatter bone and kill someone dumb enough to actually make that jump. “It looks like this leads deep into the ground.”

“That’s odd,” Styx said as he looked down. “This wasn’t on the map for the fortress; could someone have built it recently?”

Lance folded his arms over his chest. “If so then why weren’t any of us notified of this type of extension or change? Something like this… there at least has to be someone who would know of it.”

“I don’t like this,” Eira said softly. “Something about all of this… feels wrong.”

Lance had to agree, this was definitely strange. How no one would notice this type of change, including the Machina with their immense hearing was a feat within itself. “Is the power running then?”

Styx walked over to a nearby terminal and typed the keys as a small screen came on. “There is, but not by much. It looks like the power here is being diverted to another location within the fortress itself. It’s taking a lot of power as well, makes you wonder what’s down there waiting for us.” he then continued to type and the lift groaned to a start before rising to them. “With any luck, whose ever inside wouldn’t have heard you shooting the doors off.”

“But then wouldn’t an alarm go off?” Isha asked. “In certain areas an alarm would go off.”

“I don’t think it can,” Eira said, drawing everyone’s attention to what looked to be an electrical box that was nearby. “Someone’s tampered with the system here; none of the alarms seem to be working anymore. Just what in the world is going on?”

A sudden sense of dread gripped Lance, something here was definitely wrong. “Styx, can you make that lift get up here any faster?”

“I can try.” Styx went back to the monitor and typed along the keyboard, the sound of the lift changed and sped up to reach the top. All four rushed over onto the lift and Styx typed again this time bringing it down as quickly as he could without overloading the system or the power. “Hopefully we’ll get down there soon.”

Styx would have said more but they were soon greeted with what looked to be robotic drones of some kind.

“Not soon enough,” Lance muttered as everyone pulled out there weapons. “They don’t look to be Machina made.”

“Certainly not,” Styx responded as he pulled out his rifle and aimed. “And they aren’t High Entia ether.” A shot went off but it wasn’t from the Machina man’s gun, he looked to see Isha holding duel-guns with one arm pointed at the enemy.

“Right now I don’t think it matters which race built them. They are in our way of our objective and we will deal with them. Let’s make a point to these people that we are ones that should not be messed with when it comes to dealing with our children.”

“And this is why I love her,” Lance said with a hinting smile and Isha rolled her eyes at him for it. “Come on; let’s show them what the people of Colony 4 are made of.”
“I guess that means I can test out my new weapon.” Eira flipped a mechanical device in her hand before it extended into a double-ended laser staff.

The robotic machines came forwards, darting through the air like mechanical bugs, firing off shots at them; the four darted back, the lift was large enough for them to move around and fight both independently and together as a unit. It was something that they had done several times in the past, and this was no different.

Isha and Styx worked together for distance while Eira and Lance were mid to close range taking the full brunt of their attacks before pushing them back.

Suddenly in the midst of it all the groan from the lift began to change the closer they began to reach the ground. Soon followed with that of the brakes snapping off.
“What the hell?” Eira snapped as she gripped the metal so not as to fall off. “What happened to the breaks!?”

“They must have been tampered with.” Styx said as he griped the railing while still firing off rounds at the odd looking machines.

Lance looked down, seeing how fast they were now going, and how soon they would hit the ground. “We need to jump!”

“What?” Styx looked to the Homs man. “Is that really the wisest choice here?”

Isha covered her husband’s hand with her own. “Are you sure?”

“I am,”

She looked at his eyes for moment, as if searching for something to see if there was doubt in his gaze. She then called out to Styx. “Calculate how far we have to jump!”

“Wait what?”

“The distance!” Isha repeated. “Calculate the distance from when we should jump!”

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing you two,” he said before looking down at the ground while Lance and Isha fired off at the enemies as Eira used her staff to deflect the attacks from the enemies so not to hit Styx. He counted down the meters of when they would jump before reaching two meters. “Now!” he commanded. And all four of them jumped off just right before the lift hit the ground into a burst of flames and smoke. Styx coughed a few times before calling out. “Is everyone alright?”

“No damage,” Eira said.

“I’m fine.” Lance said.

“All good up here!” the three looked up to see Isha hanging on to a metal pipe. “Looks like I jumped too far and missed the landing, sorry about that.”

“Are you alright?” Lance asked.

“Yes, I am. And actually it’s probably good that I did, I can see what’s ahead. There looks to be a corridor and a type of door, we can probably use that to get out of this area. Hold on,” she began to swing her body back and forth before letting go and catching another pipe. “I’ll swing across and meet you guys---” the rest of her words broke off when one of the pipes she grabbed broke making her lose her grip and fall towards them.

Without a word Lance rushed forwards with his arms out stretched and caught his wife before she hit the ground. He let out a relieved breath before putting her down. “Guess you’re sticking with us.”

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I don’t mind, besides now I owe you for later…” she began to walk away only to stop and point at him. “When we’re alone.” she then continued onwards with Eira asking if she was okay, while using a small scanner to check for damage as Isha kept telling her that she was fine that something like this wasn’t anything new for her.

“No wonder you’re such a hit with the ladies,” Styx said as he stood be Lance’s side. “I remember when you were younger; all the girls seemed to want to be with you, now I get why. With how you look people can tend to forget just how nice you can be.”

“I’m told I can be nice to a fault, but Isha was the only person I’d ever want to be with when we were growing up. And she’d be the person I’d want to remain with even if we were to die someday.”

“I’m just surprised you both didn’t have more kids.”

Lance laughed slightly, but there was a tone that Styx caught that almost sounded sad. “Yes well, if we were able too we would but… wouldn’t most people say that two are enough?”

Styx placed his hands on his hips. “Perhaps, but I heard that years after the battle of the Bionis Ryen and Sharla had a number of kids, in fact I think one of their descendants might be moving to Colony 13 or so I hear.”

“Is that so? Anyway, let’s keep going, we need to find this bastard before he does anything else to Meyna.”

“Right,” he rested a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You know I’ll have your back no matter what when it comes to the safety of your child, even if the world ever comes to an end.”

Lance smiled at his friend’s remark but his expression turned grim. If this person so much as harmed his little girl it would be the end of the world. The end of the world for him and anyone and everyone who so much as worked for him.