Due to the nature of this fanfic, it's impossible to talk about it without revealing massive story spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It's recommended you play the game first before continuing. All spoilers for the Xenoblade-series will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
"I had a daughter in that other world I mentioned. She called me 'mam', and could sit on my lap for hours reading or just watching me work. Well, except when her 'da' came home. She'd spring off my lap and run to him, an' he'd just lift her up like she weighed nothing. She'd pretend she was a star. He'd always make a wish... I'd go over to welcome him back. Then he'd just kiss me and say his wish came true."
— Queen Nia of Agnus
A Xenoblade Chronicles 3 fanfic by Rozteka.
Queen Nia has spent countless years watching Mio dying and being reborn. All she wants is to spend a little more time with her, to protect her and care for her.
It doesn't take long for everyone to realize Nia is Mio's mother.
The first series is a number of mostly unconnected vignettes about Nia traveling with Ouroboros, with special focus on Nia's relationship with Mio and how that affects the others. Endless Strength is about what happens when the Endless Now ends, and the world of Alrest has to deal with the consequences.
Can be found here.
This fic provides examples of:
- Adorably Precocious Child: Milly and Vahn act as such regularly, though Vahn is more successful due to being a Gentleman and a Scholar, compared to Milly's temperament and repeated insistence on being almost an adult (despite being 9, almost 10).
- Ascended Extra: Dafydd, a young White Castle guard that Milly got attached to, eventually went from a Mauve Shirt doomed to be Stuffed into the Fridge to one of the protagonists by virtue of becoming Milly's second in command.
- Backup from Otherworld: In Endless Strength, Nia finishes processing all the data from Aionios right as their enemies are staging their final assault on the castle. She has to put the City people somewhere, and summons most of the Lost Numbers right in the central chamber, ready to fight.Monica: For the true Queens!
- Back from the Dead:
- During the Big Damn Heroes moment in the castle battle, not only does Nia summon Monica, Ghondor, Gray and the rest of the Lost Numbers to help, she also summons Guernica Vandham, who died at the start of Xenoblade 3. Nia explains that, due to him touching the Ouroboros Stone and being off-seen by Noah and Mio, she had the opportunity to create a partial record of him in Origin.
- Due to being added to the flame clock system before dying, and the length of time from her death as Moebius not exceeding the point that her data would be corrupted beyond repair, Shania is also resurrected in Alrest, though relocated far away from Gardell for her safety.
- Bait-and-Switch: Sena refers to a "Papa," implying that Brighid married a man. Turns out, no, she did marry Morag, Morag just thought it would be less confusing to be called "Papa."
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Downplayed with the Gardelli triplets, since none of them are particularly lacking in any area, but certain characteristics end up being more emphasised for each one.
- Mio is the Beauty, due to taking more supportive roles compared to her siblings, even being a healer in Alrest compared to her defensive class in Aionios. On a more comedic note, she's the only Gormotti between her siblings, and thus more likely to weaponise her adorableness.
- Vahn is the Brains, being a bookworm with a distinct love for reading and research, and regularly giving reports to Adenine. Fitting his more tactical mindset, his blade weapon is a shield with a counterattacking ability.
- Milly is the Brawn, frequently performing acrobatic maneuvers and the most enthusiastic with combat training, even taking her dad's suggestion with training the guards seriously, and eventually turning that into an official arrangement. Her more aggressive hand-to-hand fighting style leads to her blade weapons manifesting as Wolverine Claws and combat boots.
- Cannot Spit It Out: For reasons unknown, Mio is the only one that can see that Origin is still where it was before the Intersection, but has a mental block preventing her from telling anyone else. The same applies to Nia and Poppi, after they reawaken, and the three of the are the only ones that can tell each other about Origin.
- Continuity Nod: Nia has the surname "Echell," the surname of the bankrupt noble who adopted her prior to the events of Xenoblade 2. Her spouses and children take this name as well.
- Convenient Coma: Following Intersection, Nia falls into a coma. Eventually, Tora and the others realize that she and Poppi are trying to sort all the information in Origin, of which there is much more than there should be.
- Cute Bruiser: Milly, eldest of the royal children, inherited Mythra's personality, an Aegis constitution, and Rex's dedication to training. She is therefore far more skilled than most of the soldiers at the palace, and proves it when she decides to take over their training for the day.
- Didn't See That Coming: After the events of Xenoblade 2, Pyra and Mythra became the sole controllers of the Blade network. What they didn't realize was that this could have some side effects. In particular, the reason Blades can now breed with humans is because their own desire for children created a virus that spread throughout the network and granted every Blade that ability. People only started to notice when Blades started getting pregnant.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Milly takes over the training of the guard for a day, insisting that they follow the normal exercise routine she does with her father every day. One young guard (Later identified as Dafydd) chuckles that this will be an easy day. Another guard points out that she's the daughter of the most powerful, dedicated people in the world."He..." The guard gasped, trying to get his breath. "He puts his own daughter through that?!" Water skins were being passed around the training grounds after she let them take a break, though she was still hopping about checking in on the soldiers.
"Like I... like I said. Paragon's daughter. Daughter of an... phew, an Aegis... they're not like us." His colleague had taken her helmet off, mopping her dark hair back.
"At... at least the drill is over..." He took some relief in that, watching as that blonde demon passed out little bowls of dried fruit and mixed nuts for them to snack on.
"She'll be sparring with us next." - Elective Mute: Juniper in Endless Strength doesn't speak to others, only conveying their feelings with hand gestures. The exception is Vahn, who resonates with Juniper's Core Crystal and thus is able to hear their thoughts.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Vahn and Milly have their in None, then Three, when begging their mothers to stay up for the Intersection: While Vahn is polite about his pleading, Milly is far less patient and immediately insists on them being almost adults.
- Juniper's introduction in Endless Strength has them immediately panic at the thought of being taken away against their will, only to calm down after some reassurance from Vahn. This hints to both their Dark and Troubled Past and their immense trust in Vahn.
- Played for Laughs with Ghondor, who, in the midst of an awesome climatic moment, has her first words upon arriving in Alrest be swearing at the top of her lungs about her name.
- Eye Scream: Milly's eye is burned out by the Blackblazes during the assault on the castle. Nia is able to regrow it (partly due to Milly's bond with her new Driver), but it comes back slightly... altered. In addition to being violet instead of gold, now her Foresight sees the past instead of the future.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Vahn combines both Rex's friendly nature with the knowledge that comes with being the child of a Aegis, being unfailingly polite and adorably enthusiastic with learning.
- Had to Be Sharp: Vahn is a little disappointed that he can't summon his Blade weapon yet, especially since his friend Juniper, who is about the same age as him, can. Morag and Brighid point out that this is probably because Juniper needed their weapon at some point, given that Vahn's parents aren't around. Milly, Vahn, and Mio all manage to summon their weapons for the first time during the attack on the castle.
- Heroic RRoD: During the attack on the White Castle, Rex had to command and fight an entire battle against the numerous dangerous enemies he and his family had acquired over the years, with Morag and Brighid needing to leave to prioritise their niece's safety, and most of the White Castle's Blades, including his wives, out of commission, leaving only Tora, Zeke, Zuo, Yew, and the White Castle guards as his allies until the Lost Numbers show up. He is understandably exhausted after the whole fiasco, and after the dust clears and his family is reassured, immediately takes a nap, not seen in person until the next chapter.With a great flump the Hero of Alrest, the Paragon of Gardell and the Prince of the nation sprawled out on his wife’s bed. “I need a nap. Wake me if th’world needs saving.”
- Honorary Uncle: The XC2 protagonists act as such to each other's kids, most notable with Zeke and Pandoria due to their lack of kids.
- It's All My Fault: Following Nia's coma, Mio is convinced that it's her fault, but can't find the words to explain why. She even offers up her core crystal to wake her up, to the horror of her parents.
- Killed Off for Real: Any member of Moebius, with the exception of N and M, had their data corrupted over time. As a consequence, for any Moebius that lived for more than 10 years, their data would be irreversibly damaged, and thus would not return after the Intersection, permanently killed off. The only members of Moebius that are confirmed to not be dead are Joran, Crys and Shania.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: During the assault on the castle, Vahn manifests a shield as a Blade weapon.
- Mama Bear:
- It doesn't take long for people to notice that Nia tends to glare at Noah when he spends too much time with Mio... or when he doesn't spend enough time with Mio.
- Upon finding out about Milly losing her eye, Mythra's immediate reaction was to attack the subdued Blackblazes, only stopping by Nia's order to stand down.
- Morag is very protective of her daughter Sena and her niece Isla, to the point that she heavily injured Ghondor after she upset Sena by constantly running from her without explanation.
- Moment of Weakness: As the title implies, everything started when Nia couldn't help but ask to travel with Mio, since she wanted to stay close to her daughter. From there, it was inevitable that people would start to notice the similarities.
- Parental Substitute:
- Played for Laughs. Eunie mentions she was going to ask Gray and Rozana to be her parents, but after hearing about Mio's situation she decides she'll hold out for more.
- It's mentioned in the sequel series that Gray and Rozana did, in fact, adopt Eunie. Unfortunately, Nia had to summon most of the City characters to Alrest due to being in the best position to rescue them, leaving them on the wrong planet from their daughter with no easy way to reunite.
- Power Perversion Potential: Apparently Nia's divine-level healing powers can give her and her partners extreme stamina.
- Rings of Death: Mio, unsurprisingly, manifests her twin blades from her default Zephyr class as her Blade weapon during the assault on the castle. They can also unfold into sabers like her mother's Catalyst Saber.
- Smarter Than You Look: Milly might be hot-headed and impatient, but she is the daughter of a supercomputer. She finds fraudulent data in some paperwork at a glance.
- Spotting the Thread: Nia's adventures with Ouroboros lead to them all inevitably realizing that she's Mio's mother due to their Shared Family Quirks. Lanz notices that they cook and burn their tongues on their tea in the exact same way, Sena notices that they borrow her burning hair for warmth in the exact same way, Taion notices that she seems overprotective whenever Noah gets too close to Mio, Eunie notices that Sena is attracted to both of them because they look practically identical, and Noah notices that she seems angry when he gets too close to any girl besides Mio. Mio herself, on the other hand, has to have it all but stated outright before she gets it.Eunie: I love her just like I love all of you, but I ain't callin' her a snuffin' princess.
- Succession Crisis: Tantal is coming dangerously close to one. Zeke has to have a child, but it turns out that a Blade Eater is biologically incapable of having children with their donating Blade. Zeke isn't interested in finding a concubine, so they're stuck.
- Suicide Watch: Mio begs that her parents take her core crystal (which would kill her) to revive Nia. Pyra immediately calls for Rex, who busts down the door of the bath to help. After Pyra and Mythra's attempted suicide in 2, none of them are taking any chances.
- Twincest: A source of much speculation among the people of the kingdom. Pyra and Mythra are sisters and are part of the royal marriage, so what exactly does that mean for their relationship? Their friends have decided it's best not to ask.
- Wistful Amnesia: Mio only has vague memories of Aionios after Intersection. This, unfortunately, leads to some dark places; she knows she did something, and she knows that Nia is now in a coma. She assumes that she did something horribly wrong and keeps desperately searching for ways to fix it.
- Wolverine Claws: Millicent manifests these as a Blade weapon. She uses them to kill one of the Blackblazes by carving out his core crystal.
- You Need to Get Laid: Played for Drama. When Nia falls into a coma following the Intersection, her spouses decide to hold off on sexy times until she can join them. After a few weeks, their friends point out that the huge amount of stress from the whole situation is not being made any better by their chastity. They get back to a regular schedule, promising that once Nia wakes up they'll make up for it.
