"Ah, did I used to be this small?" An armored man asked as Rex Crozzo opened his eyes to reveal a throne surrounded by nothingness. "And that whiny voice..." 

"Where am I?" Rex asked as he looked around, trying to make sense of everything. 

"You are in our soul," The man said with an apathetic look on his face yet Rex knew. This man was mad. Completely and utterly mad. Recoiling in fear, the young man took a step back, only;y to feel the tip of a sword pressed lightly on his throat. 

'I didn't see him move!' Rex thought as he looked at the Crystal sword and blinked. It was familiar. 

"You will be inheriting my memories and skills. Try not to go mad," The older man said with a shrug. "Well, not too mad," 

Confused at this, Rex's eyes widened as centuries' worth of knowledge was hammered into his brain, body, and soul. 

"You will now mantle me as the defender of the Shivering Isles, the second divine Crusader, and the world dragon of the eternal Cycle," The older man said as his form started to disappear through countless motes of light of differing colors. "You only need the will to live, to survive." 

-=--=-=-=-

Beep

Beep

The sound of the machine echoed in the room as Dark orbs, now a bit duller and more cynical opened to the sight of a white ceiling and the smell of alcohol. 

"Where...?" as if a truck hit his head, the young man sat up and his eyes widened as he saw Reve and Rex fast asleep in their chairs. Elysia, a possible Crozzo family matriarch through Rein, leaned on the shoulder of his older brother, their hands intertwined. Reve, on the other hand, had his head on the lap of Rita, self-proclaimed maid of house Crozzo. 

The youngest Crozzo removed the covers, noting how he made no sound before feeling something. Over his heart, on his chest. Dark eyes widened as he saw it. 

His body, now covered in scars, was different. Tracing the scar over his heart. 

'Take up arms, Inheritor. For our kind do not heed the toothless,' The voice of the old man echoed in his soul, and for a split second, a diamond soaked red with blood appeared in his mind as a light enveloped it. 

"Rexie!" Big sis Elysia's voice echoed in the room as she hugged the young man. "You're awake!" 

At that moment, a pair of dark orbs gazed at a pair of mismatched blue. A girl around his age with blue-ish white hair dressed mostly in blue surrounded by nothing. 

'Why is it so cold?' Rex thought to himself as he felt something on his body. 'Warm...' Looking down on himself, he found himself covered in plate mail head to toe in blood and gore. Unable to stop himself, the young man hurled but did not vomit. 

"Are you okay?!" Feeling a pair of soft warm hands. 

'Huh? why is everything...' Kneeling on a puddle of his own bile, the bloody young man found a pair of mismatched blue filled with worry appeared in his mind. In a split second, the image of a pair of mysteriously familiar blue with a curtain of silky pure white hair appeared over the girl. 

"Easy, take some breaths." The girl said as she frantically squeezed his face to try and calm him down. Following her advice, the young man felt a warmth on his chest.

=-=-=-==

Furina opened her eyes as she looked into her hand. It was just a dream, yet... here she was. Her dream...

A mop of dark hair with dark eyes filled with innocence for the second they met yet... the sudden change of his attire to bloodstained armor. She approached and tried to calm him down but the moment she saw his eyes. 

"It was just like mine..." The Hydro Archon whispered as she remembered those dark orbs filled with loneliness and a conviction to continue no matter what. "I wonder... what is his name?" 

-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-==

A song of steel echoed in the courtyard of the Crozzo estate as the youngest Crozzo effortlessly used technique after technique to keep up with the best swordsman of the trio, the Sword Saint Reverre Crozzo. 

For his part, Reve gritted his teeth as he felt the shield his brother used to slam on his stomach several times before he felt it on his face. 

"I lost," Rex suddenly said as he showed it. A sword was pointed at where his liver would have been. 

"Well, that's good enough, you two!" Elysia said with a smile as she looked at them after flipping some barbecues. 

"You got a whole lot better," Reve said with a smile, ruffling his younger brother's hair. The youngest Crozzo pouted with a soft blush at the show of affection. It was not fair! True, he might have the memories and skills but he had no experience and his body was too weak for his tastes. 

"Yeah!" Reinhardt Crozzo said as he wrapped his arms around Elysia's waist, resulting in a squeak from her. "You got a whole lot better." The oldest Brother said, taking a bite from the barbecue on Elysia's hand. The duo lost themselves in each other's presence.

"Hey! We're here!" Siegfried Kaslana said with a grin. "We brought beer!" 

"Hell yeah!" Suddenly, the second Crozzo brother turned pale as he felt the soft yet firm hands of Rita. 

"Master Reve, need I remind you that you are forbidden from ingesting too much alcohol," Rita said with a pout. 

"Hah! Whipped!" Rex said with a smirk as he went ahead of his brothers before taking a stick of barbecue from Elysia. Biting into a part of his barbecue, the young man smiled as he felt the juices on his tongue, it was so delicious!

Opening his eyes, the young man found himself looking at a girl his age with long white hair braided into a pair of twin tails and blue eyes filled with... relief and happiness. She stood in front of him while dressed in a white sundress and she had an Ahoge. Chomp. 

Dark eyes widened as the girl stole a bite from his barbecue. A pair of beautiful blue opened like a cat filled with mischief as she winked at him. 

'What the fuck?!'  

Pulling away, the girl gave him a bright grin and smiled. Blue eyes with a pink glow looked at him with warmth. "Found you, Rexie," He heard her whisper. A pair of soft arms wrapped itself around his neck as he felt the body of the girl on his own. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Omake: 

Bronya: Rex-Onii-sama is mine! 

Furina: Lol no! 

Mei: please stop fighting.

Rin: Okay, get your bets here! 

Kiana: Amateurs! *actiivates time travel portal*