Return Of The Group Fanfic!!!

[Wilfredo Martinez]

(OOC: Here's the summary, folks! I hope this helps us get back into things! BTW, if I left something out (or misremembered something) please let me know and I'll edit it!!)

(Oh yeah: Weiila, can you please Stick this?)

The story begins in the World of the Chrono Trigger characters (whom we have named the Chrononauts). The CT heroes (Crono, Marle, Lucca, Frog (back to his human form, Glenn), Robo and Ayla, plus Glenn's fiancé Rhiannon (Magus never joined the heroes in our continuity) were adventuring together (AFTER the events of CT- apparently, it was a friendly reunion) when they were attacked and defeated by a Mysterious foe (later revealed to be the Sorcerer, Gunti) who kidnaps Rhiannon and demands that Marle's pendant be given to him in exchange. The heroes are then contacted by Magus, who reveals that Gunti is his son by Ultimecia, a Sorceress from another World (that of Final Fantasy 8) conceived as a way to "get back" at her former lover, Squall. Magus explains that Gunti wants the pendant because it is the same that his sister Schala once wore, and it is the key to absolute power over time, same as Ultimecia now has. Since Schala is also Gunti's prisoner (and Gunti hates Magus?s guts) he proposes that they work together. Reluctantly, the heroes agree, and decide that they need more information on Ultimecia first.
At the End of Time (or more exactly, the Stone Plaza built by their ally, Gaspar the Wise Man) Lucca and Magus fix the Epoch to be able to travel across dimensions, and they set out for Gaia 8. But Gunti had forseen this, and put a barrier that caused them to be detoured into Gaia 5 (home of the Final Fantasy 5 characters.)

The Epoch crashes, and the heroes are met by Bartz, one of the Dawn Warriors (FF5 heroes.) He arranges for the heroes to meet his friends (Reina, who?s now the Queen of Tycoon Kingdom; her Sister Salsa, still pretending to be a male pirate named Faris; and teenage Kryle, successor of her late grandfather, Galuf) hitting on the CT girls in the process- particularly poor Lucca. The local geniuses, Cid and Mid, help repair the Epoch, after the heroes recover some Adamantite. When the Chrononauts are ready to leave, Bartz asks to join them, looking for adventure (and not realizing Reina's feelings for him.) They allow him to come along.

The flight is uncontrolled at first, causing the ship to strike two wandering interdimensional Warmages, Robert and Aurora (from Starstorm's fanfic, "Enter a Warmage") and to enter Gaia 7 (home of the Final Fantasy 7 characters) and crash into the FF7 heroes' ship, the Highwind, pulling it along with them back to The End of Time. This leads to a fight between the CT and FF7 heroes (Cloud vs Crono, Tifa vs Ayla, Red XIII vs Bartz, Barret vs Lucca, Yuffie vs Marle, Cait Sith vs Robo, Cid vs Glenn and Vincent vs Magus.) (THIS WAS A GREAT FIGHT! TOO BAD WE LOST IT.) >_<
The fight is interrupted by Robert and Aurora, who, on being informed of what is going on, decide to take over and lead the heroes. Joined by the FF7 heroes, the Chrononauts (plus Robert) head back to Chronia to rescue Rhiannon, Schala, and Magus (who was captured by Nar, Gunti's demon underling) while Aurora, Lucca, Cloud and Reeves (Caith Sith) head for Gaia 8.

The heroes pretend to storm Gunti's castle from the front, to distract him; while the heroes fight Gunti's pet monsters, Yuffie, Ayla and Vincent infiltrate the castle and free the prisoners. Robert takes on Gunti personally, actually hurting the Sorcerer before escaping once the hostages are safe. Gunti swears vengance on the Warmage for the humiliation.

The heroes return to The Plaza at the End of Time, and Robert decides to evacuate it, knowing Gunti's forces will attack the place soon. They decide to gather at Castle Tycoon in Gaia 5, without waiting for Lucca's team to return.

Meanwhile, in Gaia 8, Aurora and her allies end up rescuing Selphie and Irvine, who explain their World's story: after the events of FF8, Squall was killed by a trap of Seifer's. This drove his lover, Rinoa, insane with grief, which eventually causes her to become... Ultimecia! They decide to try to change history, to prevent that from ever having happened. They enlist the help of the Sorceress Edea, and, after a struggle inside Rinoa's own soul, seemingly succeed. Afterwards, the heroes return to Gaia 5, accompanied by the whole FF8 cast (Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis)

But when the heroes are reunited in Castle Tycoon, they realize the timeline is somehow still in place!
Also, Schala and Magus have a long-delayed reunion, and Robert begins thinking about Magus' potential as a Warmage.

Back at the Plaza, Gunti has his forces take over, after he defeats the "war god" (Spekkio) in combat (who escapes him, however.) Before Gunti can order an attack on Gaia 5, Ultimecia appears, and explains that SHE is holding her reality in place, by sheer force of will- and the power of LAVOS, who is elsewhere in the End of Time, evolving into the Timedevourer (see Chrono Cross!) Ultimecia claims to want to join forces with Gunti and help him achieve a similar state of "godhood". Gunti has no choice but to agree.

Robert attempts to investigate matters by projecting his spirit where Ultimecia (who is revealed to be a former pupil of his) is, but is accidentally pulled by her link to Lavos into the Timedevourer. There, he finds out that Lavos is a mindless Old One, who feeds on souls in an attempt to achieve sentience.

Unknown to EVERYONE, all these events are being watched by the Immortals (among them, The Sage, The Tiger, The Goddess, and the Kaiser) godlike beings who keep order in the Multiverse, by manipulating events behind the scenes (any similarities between them and this story's writers are NOT a coincidence! ^_^ .) But now, they fear that these events might escalate into a conflict that could destroy all realities! However, because Lavos is connected to the Old Ones (from the Cthulhu mythos) they fear that if they interfere directly, they might break the spells set in place by their predecessors, that keep the other Old Ones contained.

Meanwhile, Robert's soul manages to free itself from Lavos, but part of him -the dark part- is left behind, possibly giving Lavos what it needs to become sentient...
Robert's spirit travels back Ultimecia, and is surprised to find her within Rinoa's body, in order to spy on the Heroes' emergency meeting in Castle Tycoon, where they're trying to discuss what to do (Aurora has taken over leadership, since Robert is believed to be "brain dead".) The meeting is joined by the Warmages' Queen, Rydia (of FF4 fame) at the behest of Phoenix (who is secretly the Tiger). Rydia and Lucca figure out that Rinoa is Ultimecia, and decide to try to separate her from the others without her suspecting a thing, and then capture her.

Meanwhile, the Sage decides to call his chosen champion, Sijo the Worldswalker (a fanfic character of mine) to help, since he's among the few beings who knows about the Immortals' existence. Reluctantly he agrees, and infiltrates Gunti's forces by replacing Nar.

Robert's spirit, convinced Ultimecia is not beyond redemption, tries to convince her to change her mind, but she might not get the chance, as she is attacked by Lucca, Aurora, Rydia and Quistis. Squall, who knows about Rinoa's possession (but wasn't able to tell because she kept him under her control) apparently decides to side with her, and prepares to fight his allies!

And at the same time, a mysterious voice contacts Gunti, to help him plan how to get rid of Ultimecia, and, FINALLY, get the Dreamstone Pendant...!

[Thursday]

The world explodes. The End.

[Valkyrie Esker]

Wil, just wondering: what's with all the question marks?

[Thursday]

I should win a pullitzer for my ending.

[Weiila]

Stickied, complete ;-)

You can have a cookie for attempting, Shinobi :o

[StarStorm]

Actually the current state of Ultimecia is that she's in her Suspire. After an argument between Robert and Ultimecia, Robert "left" her (not for long, just staying quiet and observing). Squall right now is preparing to defend her (she is now out of Rinoa's body, unconcious, and Rinoa's state is unknown)... but Aurora seems determined not to let anyone attack, even though she's as mystifed as anyone else.

So Robert thinks she's ready an now she has choices to make, on the most traumatic and defining moments of her life. At this point she WILL begin to remember.

Figured you might have missed my last post, I don't know if anyone saw it.

[pokefreak_85]

Apparently Wil's 's turned into ?s...

Anyway, just a quick question:
Is everyone in the same room now, or is someone outside?
EDIT: Oh, and what did that voice say?

*has finally got som ideas to post at this fic* :D

OK, pr33r my sadistic ideas!



As everyone stood there; wondering what was going to happen to Squall, Ultimecia, and the world in general, the door suddenly exploded in a spray of splinters.
There was a shocked silence, but the shock soon turned into surprise, surprise and fear, as Gunti walked in through the smoking hole that had been a door.
They had barely been able to get Magus, Shala and Rhiannon from his keep.
But then they were prepared. And they had Robert's help.
This time they were the one's who had been surprised. And Robert wasn't here.
"Did you think that I wouldn't find you here?" Gunti snorted.
"But, how." Marle started.
"Easy." Gunti interrupted her. "With the help of the power my mother was using. I simply followed it here.
And this time you haven't got help from that Warmage so now you die!"

Meanwhile in the realm of the Immortals.
Everyone was very upset except for a blue haired young man.
"Freak!" The Sage said. "Was that really necesarry?"
"Relax." The blue haired one answered. "I was just Poke-ing around a bit."
The Kaiser shook his head. "That pun was even worse than what you just did."
"Well, excuse me!." The Freak said. "But even if all of you was to busy eavesdropping at the meeting, Gunti wasn't just sitting there practising his evil laugh, or something."
There was an embarrased silence. Everyone <I>had</I> been too busy looking at the meeting to see what Gunti was up too.
"Anyway," the Freak continued, "now I've solved that problem for you. They're all at the same place now."
Some of the Immortals smiled at that, because they knew about the Freak's odd sense of humor, but their smiles soon faded when they realised that he would leave it up to them to sort out the mess.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got another world to care about."
And then he left the pool to the next Immortal.

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Well, that certainly shakes things up, Eh, Poke? :)

Don't worry, we can write around it. It's the whole idea of this being a GROUP story! And, it DOES speed things up!

And yeah, for some reason many of my " ' " turned into "?" when I posted. Happens often when I copy/paste stuff into my posts. That's why I prefer writing stuff IN the posts in the first place. But, I didn't want to risk another board problem interrupting me. I'll edit the extra ? out later.

And StarStorm, I THINK I saw your last post, but I may have misremembered something. Please be sure to clear up anything that we might need to know before we continue.

I'll post more later, I'm slightly burned out from remembering ALL that stuff! :thud:

[pokefreak_85]

Well, the whole point was to make people remeber that even if something really big is happening, it doesn't mean that everything else stands still.

Besides, I thought it would be fun to add a little twist 'cause they were talking way too much. :p

[Kaiser]

Meanwhile, in Gaia 8, Aurora and her allies end up rescuing Selphie and Irvine, who explain their World's story:


Actually, it was Ellone and Irvine (I 'member cus I wrote it!) that they rescued.

But great job, Wil.

[LunarCry]

Ultimecia stood in a vast, lonely grey void that she recognised, in a strange sort of way. Time had been compressed and held for too long – apparently, her collapse had initiated this reaction. She wasn’t a scientist, but she knew that, before everything fell back into place, there would inevitably be a period of existence where everything was jumbled together. The Powers that Be were probably, right now, trying to unravel the tangle of Time. She didn’t know how long she had left, either, before time snapped back into place and, since Rinoa had been saved, she simply ceased to exist. Or perhaps Rinoa hadn’t been saved? Perhaps she, Ultimecia, was inevitable . . .

Causing such chaos didn’t warm her inside as it might have done once. The emphasis was on loneliness; Ultimecia could see endlessly in any direction, but there was nothing to see. Just grey nothingness, spanning the universe itself, or so it seemed.

She didn’t regret what she had done. In fact, that brief period of time with Squall had been worth every second of sacrifice. Ultimecia had forgotten how much she loved him . . . no, that wasn’t exactly right. Her love for him had just withered away into bitterness, hatred and anger at his death. A death he could have avoided if he had only listened to her!

Aware that her mind was now a confusing mix of Ultimecia and the Rinoa she had evolved from, she sighed. Robert had mentioned trials. Well, she’d never been a patient woman. Where were they? Pushing slightly into the nothingness with her unusual powers, a brief moment of clarity was granted to her, and she saw, to her complete disgust, Gunti standing over Squall and the others.

“I’ll deal with you later, you ungrateful little wretch,” she said through gritted teeth.

Well, she’d have to be quick. Her lion and his friends were strong, but Gunti had been gifted with both her and Magus’ commendable powers of magic, a combination that was daunting, to say the least.

“Ultimecia!”

Ultimecia whirled at the sound of her own name hissed so sharply. There was nothing but grey, but she could sense an odd presence surrounding her.

“Ultimecia!”

“Who’s there?” she yelled into the abyss. And then a silhouette could be discerned in the swirling nothingness, walking towards her. She was very surprised when Rinoa walked into view.

“Hello, Ultimecia,” she said softly, eyeing her future self with a kind of awe and disgust that had been lacking when they had fought before. Well, now that she knew her own fate . . .

“What are you doing here?” Ultimecia snapped, her heart aching at the sight of herself so young and untainted.

Rinoa regarded her sadly. “Robert asked me to help you. Well, he said it would help us, if I help you overcome the trials ahead.”

“What about Squall?”

“Probably frantic with concern, since both of us are currently out cold. Come on, Ultimecia.”

Rinoa reached forward, and took the woman’s hand firmly in her own.

The nothingness began to blur into colour and stretched sounds. The environment seemed to focus in on them, and they were suddenly standing in a SeeD dormitory. Squall and another Rinoa were talking . . . no, they were arguing, just off to the left. Ultimecia and the real Rinoa watched intently as Squall, determined to leave, mercilessly massacred Rinoa’s feelings in the process. Her bitterness and vicious anger at him leaving her when he would inevitably die were tangible in the air.

“How could he have been so cold?” Ultimecia said, shuddering with those same emotions. “He didn’t even say goodbye, or sorry, or those three little words that could have made everything so different!”

Beside her, Rinoa chewed on her lip. “I know. I remember how much it hurt. But . . . I think he wanted to say those things. You forget that this is Squall we’re talking about; he has so much trouble expressing his emotions. Maybe it wasn’t his fault. Maybe it was my . . . our . . . fault for being so selfish.”

“Selfish?!” Ultimecia clenched her teeth. Just seeing this made her remember how she could hate and love him to the same intense degree at exactly the same time. “His first priority should always have been his Sorceress!”

“That’s what I mean. There was no reason for him to stay, when he wouldn’t know what his actions would cause me to become, but there was every reason for leaving to attempt to save his other friends.”

“But, he . . .” Ultimecia tried to find a fault with her logic, and was incredibly frustrated that she was unsuccessful in that task. “He could have been more sensitive,” she finished lamely.

Rinoa nodded. “I know. The thing with Squall is that he doesn’t know how to be. I never realised that until I saw this again, as an observer. I always thought he did it because he was a heartless bastard – the very attitude, I suppose, that led me down the twisting path to you.”

Ultimecia remained silent, but felt some of her anger abate. True, they both loved Squall, and that meant accepting his faults as well as his better qualities. She watched as the scene began to fade – it was making way for the next trial.

Does anyone mind if I deal with Ultimecia's trials? I already have plans for the other two, but I think it would be better if they're spaced out with the scene with Gunti. So, I'll wait for the next post before I add anymore - that's if no one objects?

[StarStorm]

Go ahead, I'm out for a little buit right now.

[Weiila]

It looks great LunarCry, keep going!

[Wilfredo Martinez]

I think you're handling the Ultimecia plotline wonderfully, Lunarcry! Don't worry, we'll handle the other events. I might post something tonight (too busy right now.)

[wingnut]

I think I've got most of the story, actually. >_< No idea who wrote what though, I'm afraid…

[LunarCry]

Really, wingnut?! You'd make a lot of people very happy :)

[Kaiser]

Originally posted by wingnut
I think I've got most of the story, actually. >_< No idea who wrote what though, I'm afraid?

Really? If so, woo hoo hoo!

Don't worry about credits, we'd all likely recognize our styles and parts. That can all be sorted out later, and isn't really as important.

Yeah, if you've got it and can find it, that'd be awesome. Especially since *ahem* I wasn't too attentive after I dropped out of contributing.

And LunarCry: Great segment (yeah, I dallied on reading it until now).

[StarStorm]

*happily prods the fic*

[Wilfredo Martinez]

(OOC: Before I can continue writing, folks, I need to know a few things:
1) Ultimecia has been pulled out of Rinoa, right?

2) Nobody knows that, except maybe Robert, correct? So, the heroes will likely attack Rinoa anyway?

3) Aurora, however, won't permit it?

4) Gunti doesn't know his mother isn't inside Ultimecia either, right?

5) Present at the moment are: Rinoa, Aurora, Squall, Gunti, Rydia, Lucca and Quistis?

6) The rest of the Heroes haven't yet noticed the attack?

I think I know the answers, but if you can clear them up for me, so much the better.)

[StarStorm]

1) Ultimecia left Rinoa's body, at Robert's request.

2) Irrelevant, both are on the ground, out like a rock.

3) No, but they have more pressing matter. (I.: Gunti)

4) Huh? If you meant that if he knew Ultimecia was in Rinoa, yeah.

5) Everyone is there. Rather crowded actually, they followed Aurora and Squall in.

6) Chances are they noticed. Heh. I doubt they have much room to manuever though...

[wingnut]

*cut* *copy* *paste* *post*
Computer: *bings*
That's how things have been going... looks like 8 parts or more... O_O

[Weiila]

Keep on fighting, wingnut!!

[Wilfredo Martinez]

-"You must be INSANE to just drop in here, Gunti!" Aurora snapped, assuming a combat position.
-"My reasons are my own, wench! I need not explain myself to the likes of you!" the long-haired, blonde Sorcerer growled back at her, as he lifted his schyte, as if to strike at her.
-"HEY! What's going on here??" Cid growled, as he tried to run into room, spear in hand, only to trip with Bartz, who was also trying to run in before everyone else (to impress the chicks, of course!)
-"OFF!! Watch out, you sky pirate!!" the young warrior snorted.
-"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, TWERP??" was Cid's retort, as the two of them tumbled into the ground- momentary obstructing the doorway into the room, preventing the other heroers from massing in to the rescue.
This forced Lucca, Rydia and Quistis to join rush to Aurora's side to help her.
-"I'll handle Gunti!" she snapped. "You take Rinoa to safety!"
Quistis rushed to her friend's side, and found her unconscious, but apparently all right. Good, because right now, she didn't know if she could trust her anymore.
Meanwhile, Aurora wondered exactly what Gunti was up to; why was he attacking alone? Why right NOW? It made no sense!
Before anyone else could act, Gunti swung around his scythe... but not to attack!
He was casting a spell!
-"Oh, so the heroes come all at me at the same time, do they? Think you can overcome me with numbers? I think not! Instead, why don't you play with some more of my pets? Come, my Kuribos!!"
Suddenly, out of thin air, several furry creatures -only their huge eyes and their stubby legs visible from under their huge manes- started to appear, floating on the air before Gunti!
-*Kuribos?* Aurora thought, *Those are very weak creatures! He can't hope to beat us with those, can he?*
But in the blink of an eye, more Kuribos appeared, doubling their number. And then, more appeared! And more! And MORE!!
Soon, a veritable furry wall had appeared between Gunti and the heroes!!
-"NOW!! ATTACK, MY KURIBOS!!" Gunti screamed, and the flying furballs surged forward, attacking everything in their path!
-*NOW I remember!* Aurora realized, *Kuribos are particularly susceptible to summoning magic! A mage as powerful as Gunti can probably summon hundreds at once! But still, this isn't a very effective attack- WHAT is he really after??*
She received her answer a moment later, as a scream pierced the halls of the castle!
Turning around to look, the heroes saw a familiar, sickenly-green humanoid form- that of Gunti's right hand "man" Nar the Demon, holding Marle against her will!!
-"I HAVE HER, MASTER!!" the demonling shouted!
-"THEN FLEE, YOU DOLT!!" Gunti shouted back!
-"LET ME GO!!!" the blonde princess screamed!
-"NOO!! MARLE!!" Lucca screamed, and ran towards her, but didn't dare shoot, for fear of hitting her friend!
Before anyone could reach them, a portal opened in thin air behind Nar and Marle, and he dragged her thru it with him! It then closed, in the blink of an eye!
Crono, Marle, Robo, Ayla and Glenn stared at each other in shock- and then turned around, to look for Gunti, with murder in their eyes!
-"HAA HA HA!!" the mage mocked, "That's right, fools! It was ALL a trick to get my hands on my ORIGINAL goal- Marle and her pendant!! And you fell for it!!!"
Crono, katana crackling with electricity, charged at Gunti, but the Kuribos closed in on him, forcing him to hack his way thru- but this slowing him down, giving Gunti time to open his own portal. "So long, fools!" the mage cried in thriumph, before vanishing as well.

Leaving the heroes in shocked silence....

Meanwhile, in an empty, white dimension....

A portal opened, and Marle and Nar spilled in; he let her go, and she started thrashing wildly, which causes her to go bounding around in the gravityless place!
-"Ayeeee!!" she screamed!
-"Relax, you'll only get lost here if you keep doing that!"
-"SHUT UP, YOU HELLSPAWN!!"
-"Ohh, such language for a princess!" Nar said, sarcastically.
Something about his tone struck her as odd. She managed to twist around to look at him-
-And saw ANOTHER Nar, floating not far from her!
-"Huh? What's going on here?"
-"About time you noticed Floating Ugly there. Makes what I'm about to reveal more believable" 'Nar' said, and then began to change!
Before her eyes, 'Nar' became a 20-something, human boy, with dark hair and eyes, thick eyebrows, and a green costume, complete with a high-collared cape.
-"Sijo, interdimensional superhero, at your service!" the young man said, bowing.
-"What? I still don't get it..."
-"Isn't it obvious? I've replaced greenpuss over there, in order to infiltrate Gunti's forces!"
-"You- you're on OUR side?"
-"Bingo! Sorry about the kidnapping, but I had to pretend that I was going along with Gunti's plans. You see, I'm trying to find Ultimecia's weaknesses, but I need more time to do so, and I have to go along with Gunti's plans until I do. Now, I need you to cooperate with me, to pretend that you're my helpess prisoner. Don't worry, I will make sure nothing happens to you, you have my word on that. Can I count on you?"
-"W-Well- this is very sudden..."
-"We don't have much time. Gunti must be back at the End of Time by now. I probably will have to come up with an excuse for not having arrived already. Trust me, if I could do this without you, I would, but even your allies must believe you're in Gunti's power."
-"...Very well. I want to see this nightmare end. I'll follow your lead!"
-"Attagirl! Now, let me change back into uglypuss there- " (with but a moment of concentration, he does) "-one final thing. Give me your amulet."
-"Eh? What for?"
-"Gunti is REALLY obssessed to get it, thought I have no idea why. Can't be for anything good, thought. Better not risk the chance of it falling in his hands."
-"But- won't he notice it gone?"
-"Not if you wear THIS!" Sijo said, smiling, and used his power to conjure a duplicate!
-"This is one is powerless, but completely identical. Just make sure it stays in my sight at all times, or it'll vanish!"
Marle took the necklace, and quickly put it on. Meanwhile, Sijo hid the real amulet in one of his pockets. -"The Master will make you both pay for thiiiiisss!!!" The Real Nar, still drifting nearby, screamed.
-"Who asked you?" Sijo retorted, and with a flick of a finger, sent the demon careening into the white infinity.
Sijo then put his arms around Marle again, and said,
-"We'll go now. Remember, you are my unwilling prisoner, so struggle!"
-"Understood!" she answered.
And then, in a burst of light, they were gone.

(OOC: More later!)

(BTW: 10 brownie points to whomever can tell me what game the Kuribos are from! ^_^)

[Weiila]

Neat, Wil.

Though I've been thinking about one thing when you write:

-"Not if you wear THIS!" Sijo said, smiling, and used his power to conjure a duplicate<b>!</b>

It's a good idea not to use exclamation marks in the text itself, it creates a feeling that the narrator is screaming like a sports commentator. No biggie though :-)

No brownies for me...

[LunarCry]

The walls of the first trial seemed to expand, and fill with other people. Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Quistis . . . all that had remained after Squall’s death had thrown the Garden into turmoil and caused Rinoa’s fall from humanity. Oh yes, and Rinoa too, standing with her back to them all, her shoulders trembling as they apologised, so tired and weary from that bout of imprisonment that they could barely stay on their feet.

Rinoa hadn’t seen this, because it hadn’t happened yet. Which is possibly why she screamed denial and fell to her knees when the version of herself in the vision turned on Zell first . . .

Fairly soon, everything became red. After Zell and Quistis, Irvine took his unnecessary punishment in sad silence, while Selphie screamed and wept, held back by the Sorceress' sheer force of will. The Rinoa in the vision killed him slowly, hating him for still being there for Selphie, feeling that the annoying little bitch deserved to feel the anguish of losing a lover. After all, it was their fault!

Vision-Rinoa dropped Irvine’s corpse and turned on Selphie, who slid to her knees and continued to sob, the vibrancy gone from her lithe body. Seeing her so empty prompted the real Rinoa to throw up.

Selphie’s death was the only one Ultimecia couldn’t recall. Indeed, for a long period after killing Irvine, she could remember nothing but darkness. And now she relived the events with her eyes, watching as Vision-Rinoa attacked Selphie, blind with grief and insanity.

Just before she dealt the final blow, both of them saw Selphie, tears and blood streaming down her face, whisper a single word:

“Why?”

And then she too was dead.

The vision faded, and the nothingness returned. For a long moment, both Rinoa and Ultimecia sat and stood there in stunned silence. Rinoa broke it first, staring at her hands as if she could see the blood on them.

“I . . . I did that?”

“You do that, if Squall dies.” But Ultimecia’s words were hollow. The violence with which she had slaughtered her best friends had chilled even her.

“Selphie . . . oh Hyne, did you see the look on her face? Oh Hyne, how could I have even . . . HYNE!”

“Stop it, Rinoa,” Ultimecia ordered softly. “After that . . . I fled the Garden. With its best SeeDs lost, it couldn’t follow. That’s where it all started. I changed my name to rid myself of any association with my past.” The Sorceress looked at her own hands, and could remember doing exactly the same thing after killing Selphie. She could even remember the slickness of the vermilion blood that had covered them . . .

“You must have been so full of hatred and anger,” Rinoa said in disbelief, “to have even thought of doing that to them. I remember the anxiety I felt when Squall left, and my bitterness at him leaving, but I couldn’t begin to understand the complexities of the grief when you heard he was dead . . . I never experienced that. Hopefully, I never will.”

“Happiness was always denied me,” Ultimecia said bitterly.

“Tell me, Ultimecia. Tell me about Gunti?”

Ultimecia bristled. “Let me guess. This is the final trial, right?”

“Possibly. But that’s not my concern. I just want to know . . .”

“Well, then, I suppose I have nothing to lose . . . ”

I've been waiting to put that part up ;)

[StarStorm]

Actully I was more thinking Rinoa would hunt them down, seeing as Irvine was still alive (he and Ellone were fleeing the Galbadian troops when Lucca, Cloud, and Reeve ran into them), but that's good regardless.

Nice Lunar! I think I'll finish it off when you are done.

[Weiila]

Nice work LC, it's looking good. :-)

[LunarCry]

Originally posted by StarStorm
Actully I was more thinking Rinoa would hunt them down, seeing as Irvine was still alive (he and Ellone were fleeing the Galbadian troops when Lucca, Cloud, and Reeve ran into them), but that's good regardless.


Eep! I TOTALLY forgot about that part >_< Darnit, now I'm consumed with the desire to change it. If you guys want me to, I'll edit it ^^

[Kaiser]

Originally posted by LunarCry
Eep! I TOTALLY forgot about that part >_< Darnit, now I'm consumed with the desire to change it. If you guys want me to, I'll edit it ^^

Should still be fine.

I mean, say, supposedly, when Irvine and Elle were being hunted, the idea was to be taken alive (and, presumably, at the same time, comparable hunts are going on for Zell and Selphie) and captured, and then gathered for the execution scene.

I think I had the G-soldiers shooting to kill in that passage, but then, since that bit is gone now ;) we can "revise" history a bit.

I don't think I ever specifically committed to either a "shoot to kill" or a "shoot to capture" anyway...and so we can now go whichever way we need to go...

[LunarCry]

Phew! Thanks, Kaiser :p Now it sounds almost feasible ;)

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Good work, Lunarcry. Sorry if I haven't been posting, but, Fatal Fantasy is in its FINAL stages, and it's taking a LOT of my energies. I'll see if I can continue here this weekend. I expect FF to end next week, which should give me even more free time to work on THIS one! :victoly:

BTW, check out FF, everyone, it's a GREAT piece of work from everyone involved! :p

[LunarCry]

“When I took Magus on, I didn’t plan for Gunti to happen. But Magus was so easy to manipulate and a child by someone else seemed like a wonderful way of getting back at Squall for leaving me. But . . . I think there may have been too much magic involved between the two of us. Not good for the child. As a result, Gunti is very powerful . . .”

“That’s not what I want to know, Ultimecia. I want to know why . . .”

The nothingness began to warp again. Rinoa, her hair now silvering and her wings – a permanent fixture from staying in Sorceress form so much – blackened, was lying on an indefinable bed, her body contorted with the pain of labour.

“I didn’t allow Magus to be there,” Ultimecia said harshly. “After all, it wasn’t him I wanted. All I could see throughout the labour was Squall by my bedside, with one of those awful disapproving frowns on his face. I took pleasure from that disapproval, from the sense of betrayal I thought I saw in him. The labour was arduous and lengthy, and by the end of it, I was almost too tired to go on. But Gunti was, despite what you may think now, my object of vengeance against Squall. That was all I saw him as. I never wanted a child if it wasn’t with Squall.”

“You can’t just bring a child into the world for a selfish reason like that!” Rinoa snapped.

“You will never have to go through what I went through. You will never understand. Despite that, I cared for Gunti eventually. He was my son, after all. And now he repays me like this? I will make sure he never crosses me again, the ungrateful weakling. He thinks he knows the extent of my power?” Ultimecia smiled. “I will show him. A mother always knows best.”

Rinoa’s expression brightened. “You will stop him?”

Ultimecia sighed briskly. “I believe I have taken up enough of your time. I’m tired, Rinoa. The thing is, you see . . . if you don’t become me, then everything on Gaia 8 will be thrown into turmoil. You may not ever meet Squall. You may not ever inherit your sorceress powers. I believe the Powers that Be call it a ‘ripple’, but . . .”

Rinoa sighed, but nodded dejectedly. “I understand. This is for the good of the whole, right?”

The gloom around them began to clarify.

Ultimecia straightened, and the resumption of her towering, formidable appearance made her past self shudder.

“Of course, there’s always the chance that I am inevitable,” the Sorceress smiled. “Sometimes Time does not always work the way we’d expect it to.”

Clenching her fists, Rinoa nodded again, with more strength this time. “I have faith in fate, that it will do what is best.”

“Fate!” Ultimecia laughed, her former arrogance restored once again. “Such a whimsical force to have faith in!”

“It’s better than no faith at all, right?”

The Sorceress’ delighted cackle followed them back to the land of the living . . .

[StarStorm]

I'll have another piece later, once I've had some decent sleep.

[Weiila]

Great work LC! Beautiful!

[wingnut]

I have some bad news... it seems I don't have the last few posts... (well, not in existance, that is...) Still, I'll put up what I've got, yeah?

[Weiila]

WHO CARES ABOUT THE LAST FEW POSTS? :D :D Wingnut, you're an angel!!! Lemme just try to figure things out here ^_^ It's rather clomped up.




Clouds clogged up the autumn sky like wet, torn paper. The air smelled of watery earth after the last rain, and another was on its way. One couldn't even really say that the first rain even had stopped, it had just drawn back a little to regain its breath for the next round. Yellow and red leaves fell damply from the trees; their golden glory lost in the lack of sun.

A city in the distance seemed to have crawled into a tight lump to keep the warmth, yesterday’s blue sky completely forgotten.

A small group of travellers were hurrying down the road towards that town, silently cursing the change of weather and hoping that they would make it to the houses before the next flood from the heavens hit them.


He had been hiding out underneath the boroughs of a massive tree that laid in the middle of the forest, trying to escape the onslaught of rain droplets. He was quite happy to see the rain had finally died down and soon began to venture out onto the road as well, wanting to find the nearest place of real shelter.

He glanced to the sky, noticing that it loomed over him in it's raw self, taunting and waiting to wash over him once more.

The caped man simply stood and looked at the sky menacingly, even daring it rain on him once more.

A hand revealed itself from beneath his cape, a slight glow emitted from his hand and a small flame soon erupted. It floated there for a while until a gust of wind blew it out.

The gust of wind picked up and tossed his cape some as he looked out to the direction the wind was blowing.

That was when he noticed the wandering travellers, on the verge of running straight towards his direction. It was a party of three weary travellers soaked and drenched from the previous rains.

"They're probably going to seek shelter in that nearby town." he muttered. "The bane of my existence… This will be my chance to rid them once and for all."

The caped man quickly ran back into the forest off the side of the road from whence he came from and floated to the top of a nearby tree. Perching himself on top a branch, he held both his hands out and allowed balls of fire to generate and float from his hand. The size of the fiery balls grew until they merged and the size was bigger than a coconut. His eyes glowed a bright green in anticipation as the weary travellers soon passed him.

Waiting, waiting, waiting, the first one came into view, a young man, with spiky red hair, a short blade sheathed to his side. The caped man couldn't wait any longer and sent the ball of fire hurling at the hapless young man. A girl walking behind the young man watched in horror as a huge ball of flame came and struck the young man, knocking him over, slipping him immediately into unconsciousness. That's when her senses went into overdrive, though it was too late.

A foot landed across her face. She sprawled on the ground as she placed her hand on her crossbow. Struggling to stand, the caped man punched her in her stomach, causing her to reel over. A firm back slap caused her to fall to the ground once more, completely knocking her unconscious as well.

The man then turned his attention to the third traveller. A small smile crept over his face as he revealed his scythe. He spun it over his head for a while before striking it on the ground. The third traveller took out his sword, shocked and amazed at who this man was before him.

He revealed his broadsword and held it in front of him as he spoke evenly, "Gunti, son of Magus. I thought you to be dead years ago." Gunti brought his scythe up from out of the ground, shucking off any clogs of dirt that remained on it.

Letting the massive blade rest on his shoulder, he replied, "Yes. You would have liked that, wouldn't you? But, now I'm just going to try to fulfil my lifelong dream. Of killing you, Frog."

He smirked at that last comment as Frog replied, "That moniker was for thy former self. Thy name is Glenn, warrior and protector of the kingdom of Guardia. And thou will not leave this place alive, Gunti."

“But that is the beauty of it all!” replied Gunti slyly “You would not dare deal a single stroke upon me, Glenn. I have her…you know who…”

Glenn’s teeth clamped together and his pupils shook with silent, but passionate thunder. At any moment, it seemed that great saline cataracts would erupt from his eyes. His heart beat fiercely like an engine driven to the point of exhaustion. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, ever driven by the bloodthirsty desire which would inspire his arms to make a quick, fatal slash to Gunti’s neck.

“Rhiannon!” he cried “Knave…thou durst not deal any measure of hurt upon her sweet heart, for I will smite thee…”

“Very persuasive,” interrupted Gunti sarcastically “but I have no time for your idle threats. I will make myself clear, Glenn. I want the pendant. Bring it to me and very unpleasant things will not befall your damsel.”

“Wh…what wouldst thou have of the maiden Marle’s necklace?! Un…unfold thy will anon!”

Gunti exhaled slowly and shook his head.

“Poor pathetic knight.” he said mockingly “It must be so hard to live knowing that at any given moment, I could signal to my faithful retainers that ‘playtime’ with your dear Rhiannon may begin and…”

It was too much to bear. Glenn’s mind was drowning in the temptation to attack, but his reason proved victorious and brought him to a float.

He cast his mind on a memorable moment earlier that year. It was when he had sworn his love before Rhiannon’s gentle hazel eyes on that warm evening in late spring, in the royal gardens at Castle Guardia, Her safety and health had been entrusted to him. He had not broken that oath of love to this day and, as a true and worthy Knight of the Square Table, he was not about to place his honour in jeopardy. He exhaled and then looked direct into his adversary’s malevolent visage.

“I…I will make good deliverance of the necklace…Speak thus whereof thou and I would meet and whereof I would give that treasure unto thee.”

“Good,” replied Gunti in a ghoulish, greedy tone “You shall meet me in the before the Great Blasted Oak in Gloamrows Wood at dusk two days hence. Come alone and with the pendant, if you ever want to see your dear damsel again.”

Powerless, he nodded. “I will do as thou chargest of me, if thou wilt not deal wickedly upon my lady.” His eyes trembled like a dam whose strength was weakening against the pressure of the tempestuous floodwaters which it held back.

“But of course.” said Gunti, stepping back from Glenn and his two unconscious companions, away from the road. His dark cloak began to blend in with the cold darkness which hung about the trees near the weather-beaten road. “You know where the Oak is, correct?”

“N…nay…” replied Glenn weakly.

“Well, then!” cried Gunti, his face filled with fiendish glee “I shall grant you my blessing: Happy Hunting!!!”

With that, Gunti’s mouth let fly a great fiendish laugh, which echoed throughout the trees like a thunderclap.

Above the trees, Glenn hear the din of cawing crows, eager to contribute their voices to the cacophonic symphony. Gunti had now retreated back into the first line of dark trees, and all Glenn could make out was his deathly-white face, as if his head were without a body and was floating in mid-air.

Then there was the rustle of a cloak and the face vanished. The howling laugh slowly faded from Glenn’s ears and he heard nothing except the bitter silence which prevailed over the scene.

Then the dam burst.

It was only when his eyes had spent their whole reservoir of tears several minutes later, that Glenn noticed the downpour of autumn rain.


"So, what are you going to do?" asked Lucca.

Glenn had dragged the two warriors all the way from Guardia Forest. As Crono's mother would have gone into sheer shock at the sight of her son's condition (Glenn didn't even want to consider what King Guardia would do), Lucca's home was the only place he could turn to. Although both had been seriously hurt, Lucca assured the noble warrior that the Princess and her love would both recover. The same could not be said for Glenn, however.

"There be little choice in the matter. If I fail to present the Lady Marle's pendant to that fiend two days hence, my love shall suffer untold hardships by his hand." replied the knight wearily. "My skills are but a trifle, compared to what that demon canst do. Alone, I could do nought against him."

"I'm not suggesting that you do this alone! I… we would do anything in our power to help you."

Glenn merely shook his head.

"Even if I wouldst allow thou and thy allies to come with me, it would do no good. Gunti hath the ability to sense us all. That is how he found me. Ere thou couldst strike, he wouldst have noticed the presence of thee already, and killed my fair Rhiannon."

"Then what do you propose we do?" asked Lucca.

Glenn merely stared into the crackling fire, watching embers rise and extinguish in the cool air.

"Glenn, you killed Magus. However powerful his son is, there's no way he could be stronger than Magus."

"Magus was to Gunti, as a twig is to a tree. Though I am loath to admit it, Magus would not have survived even a single spell cast by his progeny."

A figure in a shadowy corner of the small front room chuckled.

"They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead…" he said, as he moved forward into the light the fire provided.

"Especially when they are not as dead as believed." finished Magus.

Stunned, Glenn reached for his sword which lay against the wall.

"What dost thou want, sorcerer?"

"The same thing the girl wants, Glenn. To help."

"Why would you help us?" Lucca warily asked, "we've been trying to kill each other from all angles!"

"So I've noticed," Magus said with a smirked grimace, rather gracelessly plopping down on a chair, "and you almost got me too. Luckily, you fell for a few simple tricks."

"I dost not trust thee," Glenn coldly said, "and I dost not plan on doing so either. Why wouldst thou now return in thy shame, and attempt to twist our minds with lies of alliance now?"

Slowly Magus raised his gloved hand and massaged his forehead. "Do you want to have your pretty little wench back alive or not?" he emotionlessly said.

If Lucca hadn't held Glenn back he would have attempted to behead the slightly crouching warlock without a second thought.

"Stop it!" the young inventor snarled, "fine Magus, talk!"

During the whole struggle between the woman and the swordsman the blue-haired man hadn't moved an inch, almost seeming oblivious to the danger Glenn embodied.

"Very well, let me tell you about Gunti," he said upon Lucca's demand, "doesn't it appear strange to you that I even would consider having a child?"

"I have fought to keep my mind pure of the foul images," Glenn growled.

"Foul indeed…" Magus bitterly smirked, watching the fire. His gaze was absent however, and the flames painted his face with hollow expression. Enlightening every visible scar. In normal light one couldn't see them on his pale face.

"As you said yourself Gunti is much stronger than me," he muttered in a rather lifeless voice, "this is the result of his inheritage from both me and his mother. She was a very powerful woman, maybe her skills even overpowered mine. In fact, her magic powers were different from any I had ever experienced. This was explained by the fact that she wasn't from our world."

For a moment everything was silent apart from the crackling fire and the slightly wheezing breathing of Crono. Lucca and Glenn said nothing, frowning as they awaited the rest of the story. Magus suddenly stood and started pacing.

"It was even before Cyrus went to find the Masamune," Magus growled, "I could blame my youth, or the fact that I myself had not reached my full potential. In any case… she came through a Gate, but a red one at that. I learnt that she was from another dimension, seeking ways of preparing for the assault of heroes destined to defeat her."

"Sounds familiar…" Lucca murmured under her breath.

It seemed like Magus didn't hear her, he didn't even seem to be in the same world anymore.

"She stayed in the Mystics castle with me for a while," he continued, "I really couldn't protest. In fact, I never could protest about anything. It wasn't until later when I talked to Flea about it that we realised that she must have controlled all of us, to a certain degree. In any case, during the time she was there she took out her rage of a lost lover by taking me as one. I don't remember much of that, which I am grateful of."

He shook his head and kept pacing.

"I didn't even know that she got pregnant until a few years ago when Gunti showed up. He explained the situation and scorned me for being so weak. I had to flee, still trying to recover after my battle with you."

At this point he did look up and glared at Glenn, who sternly glared back.

"He is stronger than me, and he's got a great chunk of his mother's powers as well," the warlock grimly continued, "and I don't want him alive more than you do. He's a danger to all living beings, and that includes me. With mine and his mother's powers he can go through time as easy as he flies."

"Flies?" Lucca said, knowing Magus' floating style of running but feeling something different in the word the warlock used.

Magus nodded.

"He keeps his wings hidden," he said with a ironical, bitter grimace, "yet something more from his mother. She's got more influence over him than I could ever dream of."

"Who was his mother?" Lucca impatiently asked.

"She was a sorceress from another dimension," Magus emotionlessly repeated, "and her name was Ultimecia."

"Who?" Lucca asked, fixing her slouching glasses.

Magus glanced over his shoulder to look at the confused girl. He scoffed and then turned back to face the fireplace. How the flames danced about. So free to do as they please. He knelt over and picked up one of the embers. It shone a bright red, cracks racing through it's course as small traces of steam soon rose from his hand.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Lucca asked plainly.

"You beings sicken me." Magus muttered.

"Enough of thy's senseless acts. Tell who this Ultimecia is." Glenn spoke up.

"Calm down, toadie." Magus retorted.

Nostrils flaring, Glenn spat back, "I am no longer under thy spell. And thy will never again suffer such a abominable fate!"

Throwing the ember across the room, Magus swirled his cape around him as he turned to face the man he lifted the curse from.

"A man you are. Weak, but a man you are."

"Dost thou wish to feel thy blade across thou's neck and see how weak thee is?!!" Glenn yelled, only being held back by Lucca.

Magus only chuckled and walked over to a small window and peered out.

"Anyway, to answer your question, inventor, Ultimecia is a being from another time and another dimension. She is able to move through each time period as she sees fit, just as I see fit to light this lantern."

Placing his hand out, he lit the small lantern that stayed off to the side with little effort. The light illuminated the darken area where Magus stood. Chanting a few words, soon the flame snuffed itself out and he was once again shrouded in darkness.

"She's the only answer to our current problem, of course. Ultemica. She could tell us exactly how to counter act this force, how we can contain it."

"Then let's find her!" a new voice to the conversation exclaimed. Looking behind them, they saw that Marle was now awake and had seemingly heard enough of the conversation to comment on.

"Hi guys!" she smiled, waving weakly.

"The room just got dumber." Magus moaned.

"Watch thy tongue, warlock." Glenn commanded. "Never speak to royalty in such a manner!"

"Whatever." Magus simply said, waving his hand.

Moving the conversation along, he continued, "But, princess if it were so easy to find her, do you think I would be here, conversing with the likes of you?"

Glenn itched to make a reply, but Lucca's calm hand which rested on his shoulder helped him to hold back any comment he might make.

"Ultimecia moves to quickly for me to track her. I only know of one device which could track her down, kids. And I'm sure our little engineer can guess what I'm hinting at."

He let that last thought linger in the air, waiting to see how witty the young scientist really was.

"Of course!" Lucca moments later exploded. "The Epoch!"

He tipped his head slightly at the young inventor and clapped his hands very lightly, a small smile even creeping on his face.

"The room just gained some more smart points." he finished, glaring at Marle.

" I swear, Magus, if we didn't need your help…!" Marle growled at the lanky mage.

-"Who sayest we do?" Glenn interjected, eyes staring icily at Magus, hand still in his sword's pommel. "Sayest I: This fiend's help, we need not. Masters of time, we have proved ourselves. With Lady Lucca's fine mastery o'er the timestream, fine we should be, in tracking this Ultimecia on our own. "

At the comment, Magus merely closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and faintly laughed. "Oh, Frog, you may have regained your human form, but your brain is still primitive. Not that it was that bright to begin with…"

At that, Glenn almost pulled out his sword, only Lucca's standing (nervously) on the way preventing him from striking Magus.

- "ACCURSED FIEND!" Glenn shouted. "Thine nerve is unbelievable! How darest thou, who killed mine friend, who cursed me to wear such a frightful visage for so long, now pretend not only to gain our trust, but to mock us whilst ye do it? I shall not stand for it!"

Magus merely chuckled again. "You just don't get it, do you? In your "righteous" rage, you're forgetting one thing: only I know what Ultimecia looks like. Even more, I know how she thinks; only I, then, have a chance of finding, and dealing with, her."

-"He's right, Glenn" Marle said to her friend, but without taking her eyes off Magus. "But I wonder: what do YOU gain from helping us, Magus?"

Magus unfurled his arms, placed them at his hips, and, smiling, stared back at Marle, and said:

"My reasons are my own. Revenge, perhaps. Regardless, you need my help and you know it."

-"I don't suppose this would have anything with your search for Schala, would it…?" Lucca joined in, with a knowing look in her face.

Magus obviously got irritated at Lucca's clever comment.

"Enough. Are you going to do it or not? Time's awasting."

"True. Lucca, you work on the Epoch. We will check to see how Crono is doing." Marle said, taking charge of the situation.

Hmmph, I don't know why you even bother with the punk." Magus said, turning sideways so as not to look at the others directly, but still keeping them in his line of sight. "He'll probably just end getting himself killed… again."

- "ENOW, Magus!" Glenn snapped again, pointing at Magus with his unsheathed sword. "Thine help, it dost seem, we truly need now. For mine fair lady's sake, thine odious presence I shall stand. But, push thine luck not, ere thou dost provoke mine knightly rage such, that I strike thee down before even thinking about the consequences."

-"…Have it your way." Magus said, still defiantly- but now, with a, perhaps, more cautious look in his eyes.

"So," Lucca asked, both to get some information and to abate the rapidly thickening tension in the room, "what does Ultimecia look like, and where is she from? And, for that matter, when is she from?"

"I presume you're directing that at me," the platinum-haired wizard answered, punctuating his declaration with a contemptuous snort of his nose as he leered at the youthful princess and the man he had turned into a frog on a fleeting whim years ago.

"Apparently, MISS Lucca, I need to repeat myself; If I knew those answers, do you honestly think I'd go through the excruciating exercise of recruiting you and your…" he paused, curling his lips into a vomitous sneer, "…companions?"

Lucca frowned. So much for relieving the tension.

"She can move to anywhere, and anywhen, and do it at the speed of thought," Magus lectured. "She can, literally, be anywhere, at any time."

"How's that possible?" Lucca asked.

Magus replied by holding up two fingers, but he quickly pulled them down, as if he realised he was giving Marle an irresistible temptation to ask if he was trying to incite a game of charades.

"One: She has almost unfathomable magic power. Two: She exists at the End of Time, or at least very close to it, in her home dimension. It seems that at the end of time, dimensions that normally run parallel to each other get bent, or twisted, and run into each other. Gaspar probably has a better grasp of how this works than I do. I really never cared much for the science of it. Or science in general."

Magus split his lips in what could possibly be construed as a perverse approximation of a smile as he looked in Lucca's direction, hoping to see an offended face looking back at him. But it was one vision the wizard could not conjure.

"So," Marle interjected,"Lucca gets The Epoch ready to go, we go check on Crono, and then we go to The End of Time to consult Gaspar!"

Magus, being the child of a monarch himself once, long ago, couldn't resist a cruel bit of royal humour. "Who died and left you in charge?"

"If thou hast aught positive to contribute to our discussion of strategy," Frog cut in, his bulbous amphibian eyes locked in on Magus, "Then speaketh. But elsewise, I suggest thou holdst thy tongue. And if thou willn't, then my blade and my hand most eagerly will. Lady Marle, thine judgement is sound. I endorse thy plan most fully."

Magus coughed demonstratively.

"Now, for what Ultimecia looks like," Magus continued, snarling "Which I was about to go into before I was so rudely interrupted, by the way."

Magus exhaled deeply. He stood up to his full height and began to pace around the room, making a complete circuit, and eventually returning to his seat. He had to sit down for this task. Ultimecia was still a difficult topic for him to discuss.

And, for some reason, he was now steeling himself to discuss a woman he was loathe to discuss at all, and describe her to the people he was most loathe to discuss anything with. But what must be done, must be done.

^^FLASHBACK^^ He, Janus, Last Prince of the Lost Empire of Zeal, had been seventeen years old, on the verge of manhood and poised to fully awaken, when she had come.

Ozzie, Flea, and Slash, the archlords of The Mystics, had meant to make him into an unstoppable juggernaut, a walking, thinking, breathing weapon of mass destruction that would purge their planet of the plague known as the human race once and for all, and had reared him well.

Slash, the swordsman, had trained young Prince Janus' wiry physical form and made him lethal with his weapon of choice, a scythe.

Flea, the androgynous magician, had tutored Janus in the ways of magic, showing him the way to unlocking a magic potential long laying dormant within him. A power that, it soon became clear, exceeded that of the teacher.

Ozzie, that which could only be described as a beast, trained Janus' mind and soul. Or, perhaps, programmed was the more appropriate term. Power was all well and good, but without purpose and direction, it goes unspent. Ozzie gave Janus direction. Ozzie tortured all sympathy, all compassion, all tender feelings out of him, in increasingly brutal "tough love" sessions. Ozzie gave him the gift of ruthlessness, hatred for humanity. Ozzie gave him a craving for genocide. Ozzie created Magus in the body where Janus had once been.

If Magus the ultimate weapon in the coming war against humanity had one weakness, it was that his education had conditioned dependence on his tutors. He could level villages and forests, but he could not do it without being ordered.

They had always been their to provide the answers to his questions of the world. They had also demanded absolute fealty and obedience. And so the newly christened Magus, not yet a man, not yet a full and mature warlock, not yet fully aware of how greatly his power exceeded theirs combined, was by nature a follower.

Thus, he had no ability to resist when she came.

Magus was fashioned into a cruel, ruthless, creature with the blackest of hearts. But that black heart was still a heart, and a human heart at that. And the human heart is created knowing what it wants, craves, needs.

He was struck dumb when he first saw her. At the end of a training exercise, Magus was summoning his psychic reserves, preparing himself to cast the most powerful spell in his repertoire, the horrific "Dark Matter Ultra" and erase a small village of putrid human beings from the face of the planet.

He began the incantation, and as the last syllable left his mouth, the village was gone, swallowed in a dome of fire, accompanied by the haunting, yet musical to his ears, chorus of One Hundred Seventeen human voices screaming in abject agony for a second, before being permanently silenced.

A powerful magic had destroyed the village completely, in one sweep, but Magus Immediately realised that it had not been his magic. Dark Matter Ultra was based in the element of Shadow; it bent, warped, twisted, melted, dissolved, withered, and drained, but it did not burn. Burning was the territory of the Fire element. The village was burning. Almost as soon as the flames appeared, they dissipated, and their demise was also the clear result of powerful magery. An arm of water literally arced out of a nearby lake, reached out to the conflagration, and squished it down flat and into nothingness, like a giant fist flattening uncooked dough.

In the wake of the fire and water were a myriad of small hills of soaked ash. And a lone, bipedal figure, slowly and inexorably walking towards him.

Magus stood rooted to where he stood, transfixed by this being unlike any he had encountered in his short life. It seemed to be half a mile away, yet it moved towards him so rapidly he must either have grossly overestimated the distance between him and where the village had been, or she was capable of superhuman speed. Before he was aware of what was happening, she stood inches from him, her gaze driving straight into his eyes. He had not seen a female of his species since he was a small child, in the Kingdom of Zeal.

"I am Ultimecia," she cooed to him, in a hypnotic lullaby of a voice that only an insane mind could link with the destruction she had just wrought.

"Your name is Magus," She continued not a question but a statement.

How, Magus wondered, could she know his name? He was certain he had never met this being before; he'd remember someone like this.

Magus simply stood, motionless and noiseless, able only to stare helplessly at what stood before him. She wore a silver robe that reached the ground, wrapping closely around and outlining her bosom but leaving all other anatomical details to the imagination. Vibrant streams of red and purple and black ribbon shot from the robe and from her hair, which was itself a solid, flowing mane of raven-black hair that jealously guarded her ears, neck, and shoulders, and which smelt of sulphurous decay and yet still enchanted and enraptured the young warlock. The skin of her face was as flexible porcelain, a near perfect facsimile of a seductive someone young cheerful and full of life, and yet clearly a mask, covering a a spiritual core that was ancient, cold, ungiving, and full of death. Nevertheless, the power to seduce still emanated with stellar intensity. The eyes -- eyes upon which Magus' own eyes became helplessly locked as he looked into them -- were darkest brown and glittered like gemstones. They seemed to peer past his eyes, into his mind, and read it for all the information she wished to obtain. And, in fact, that was precisely what she was doing.

"We have much to perform, Magus," she purred. "Komm with me."

Magus, knowing no better than to take his direction from others, complied unhesitatingly. She led, and he followed. Back to the Castle Stronghold of The Mystics.

"Your body Kontainss great power, Magus," she assured him. "Far greater than that of your lowly instruktors."

She stopped, in turn compelling him to stop. She turned to him and spoke again. "With your power, you are destined to kommande them. It is you who shall teach them the true definition of power. After I komplete your edukation."

Only now could Magus summon the power to enunciate words.

"Great Ultimecia," he said, "I will learn all that you will teach me."

If what she said was true -- and he was incapable of doubting her -- than he was truly more powerful than Ozzie, Slash, and Flea. Which meant that several instances of "tough love" during his formative training could be reciprocated.

"Yes, Magus," she encouraged. "Good. Remember. Remember the unnecessary suffering. Remember! And cherish your memory, for it shall direkt you."

"Make me stronger than them," he insisted. "Complete my growth."

She glared at him, and immediately Magus was forced to clutch his ears, as a cacophony of sound emanated from her mouth. It was laughter, but only barely recognisable as such. It was a multitude of voices, cackling in laughter, but out of sync with each other, discordant, each going by their own separate rhythm.

"How, Magus, kann one so powerful as you be so blind?" she taunted. "First, you must demonstrate your devotion to your new instruktor. I have a task for you, warlock. A kommande."

"Give it, and I'll follow it," he stammered. She smiled triumphantly at him.

"I have attempted to edyukate others before you, Magus. To extrakt their maximum potential. There is one student, however, who iknored my lesson to him. He remains kold and rigid as a stone, in spite of me. And he was my most cherished of projekts. So…enraptured…was I that it was I who did as he would bid me do. Yet he kould not appreciate his fortune, no matter how I worked to teach him how."

"He's a fool!" Magus exclaimed. "I'll destroy him!"

"Indeed you will, Magus," she reassured him. "Indeed you will. But not as you now konseive. I have another way in mind. You will destroy him simply by allowing me to make a true man of you, in front of his very eyes."

"As you wish, Ultimecia," Magus conceded.

"Very well. Let us visit this akkursed ex-student of mine."

What happened next was a blur in Magus' memory. He recalled that he and Ultimecia travelled what must have been a great distance, for it seemed to be eternal. The end of the journey found them on a strange world. Amazingly, there were human beings crawling all over this world too, but it was clearly not the world he knew. The buildings were strange. Strange shapes, fashioned of strange elements. There were machines that operated without any input from their human creators. He would not see such advanced technology until many years later, when he glimpsed the remains of such an advanced society on his own world, in the year 2300 AD.

Somehow, he and Ultimecia came to an expansive flower field by a large white stone house. Magus remembered that he and Ultimecia came face to face with a young man, about his age, yet the similarity ended there. He had dark hair that fell in and out of his eyes, and a hideous scar above the bridge of his nose. He wore black clothing made of a curious, unrecognisable fabric, and in his gloved hands he held a curious weapon, much like a sword but different in a way Magus could not described.

Ultimecia changed her appearance with a wave of her hand in front of this man. Magus was transfixed and amazed at her transformation, to be sure, but his reaction paled to that of the young man he was here to help destroy.

Ultimecia simply willed her silver, streamered robe and the ribbons and bangles adorning her hair to remove themselves from her body. Underneath the robe lay the body of a gorgeous young woman, and the beauty of her face was now clear to see. She glared defiantly at the other man. Magus remembered the way she tauntingly flaunted her physical form at him. The foolish boy in black with the odd weapon bellowed something at her, something that sounded like a name, it began with an "R" sound, but Magus couldn't recall it. It wasn't an important detail, to remember the ramblings of a doomed man. Magus did remember snarling back at the man that the name he gave was wrong, and that "Her name is Ultimecia!"

What he also remembered was that Ultimecia extended the fingers of her hand as far from each other as possible, held her palm up at the boy, and with pure magic energy lifted him up into the air, and dangled him, like a marionette. She made him twitch and move in a series of morbidly comic gestures. He tried to shout but his mouth was fixed. He tried to close his eyes but his eyelids were in her control, and she most definitely wanted him to see what was about to occur.

Still holding her prey in mid-air with the strength of her will, she guided the young wizard, beckoned him to her, and before Magus realised what was happening, she had wrapped herself around him in a smothering embrace. She kissed him, as Magus later discovered people named the act. But it was no normal kiss. He could feel her energy flowing into him. Her strength, her knowledge, all that she had promised, was becoming his.

Something else was happening, too. He was giving something back. Something deep within him was bursting forth, throbbing, pushing, forcing its way out. Somehow, he recalled, Ultimecia had disrobed further, as far as possible, and she had convinced him to do the same.

The boy dangling in mid air, the victim, was screaming on the inside with jealous denial and desperate helpless rage. Being muted, he couldn't make himself heard, but Magus could feel the man's anguish, and he smirked as he realised that he was aiding Ultimecia in putting this boy through an excruciating torture that truly did surpass the pain of any magical attack at his disposal. Even Dark Matter.

Then, Ultimecia permitted the boy to have his voice back, simply so she and Magus could hear the symphonic sound of his screaming out in emotional torture. Then, with the act of man-making complete, she stood up, bobbed her head down violently, and in so doing flung the tortured boy to the stone ground. He slammed against it with a sickening thud, but Magus knew that his physical injuries would prove negligible. It was Ultimecia's design that he would live a long, long life, with the knowledge that his worst nightmare had come to fruition.

"I Kurse You," she bellowed at the boy, and concluded with something that must have been the young man's name, but Magus had brushed the precise name off, as it wasn't important. He wasn't important. What was important to Magus was that he had blossomed into a man, and into a mighty wizard, and now, nobody could hold him back.

* * * * * * *

Will fix the rest later, promise ^_^

[StarStorm]

((Now, to get to work on the present))

Rinoa opened her eyes, slowly. She wasn't very sure she could trust Ultimecia now, with her last words unsettling her.

She sat up and allowed everything to come into focus. Somehow... just somehow she could recall every one of Ultimecia's memories, over centuries of a life lived in despair. A life she would have lived without the intercession of the woman standing above her.

Aurora looked down at her, obviously pained, but unwilling to give up her watch. The only other one there besides Ultimecia and her were Squall... everyone had left.

She hadn't been sitting for three seconds when she found herself squeezed very tightly. Aurora just smiled softly. "He missed you, I think."

Squall seemed unable to speak or even cry as he held onto Rinoa. For her part, Rinoa had quite a few questions in her mind. <i>They can wait.</i> She thought happily, circling her arms around Squall.

Aurora sighed. "Gunti and Nar came, and took Marle and the Dreamstone Pendant. I'm afraid we don't have much time, you two should join the others. I'll be with you once..." She looked at Ultimecia.

Rinoa felt a wave of sorrow wash over her... and perhaps pity. <i>I could have been her. I could have killed everyone I cared about. All because I couldn't appreciate Squall...</i>

Wordlessly, she stood up. Squall followed her through the doors, and down to the throne room where everyone was waiting.

Meanwhile, Aurora kept her vigil, alone...

---

<i>She's gone. Finally.</i> Ultimecia thought to herself. She couldn't bear to have Rinoa see the rest of her memories, now she could remember each one in painful detail.

She was exhausted, miserable. For some time, she considered it a curse that she couldn't remember her life. Now she would have given anything to be ignorant.

But now she was alone. Everything she could remember, before Squall's death. She was alone. Alone to brood on her despair. Alone to scream to the world that it wasn't fair. She didn't deserve this.

"And what made you think the world was fair at all?"

She whipped around. There, in the gray landscape of her mind, not ten feet behind her, was Robert.

For a moment, she felt overwhelming rage overcome her. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME? I DON'T WANT THESE..."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Of course you don't. But you need them anyway." He sighed softly. "The truth is a terrible thing, Ultimecia. It can be beautiful, enlightening us, or it can be horrible, bringing us into despair."

Ultimecia struggled for something to say, but Robert just went on. "I know you've wanted the truth for so long, Ultimecia. And yet you kept hiding from it, decieving yourself. But there's always a time when we have to face the truth. That moment will make or break a man."

Ultimecia nodded once, wondering what he was leading to.

"I have a question Ultimecia. Just one. For now at least." Soon, visions started overcoming her. Her final battle with Squall. When she killed Seplhie. The birth of Gunti and her betrayal of Squall's memory. And finally, the event that started it all...

Which froze in place. A bright flash, and then...

She wasn't looking through her own eyes anymore. Glancing down, she saw her hands... youthful, small again. Looking up, she was gazing into Squall's face. It was so obvious now that he didn't want to leave her. But his expression was frozen in time. Turning to the side, she glanced into a mirror... but it wasn't her face looking back at her. It was Rinoa's.

"One single opportunity Ultimecia..." Robert's voice whispered into her mind. "You can stop him, you see? Right now. Do you know what that would mean?"

She did. She wouldn't have to kill her friends. She wouldn't have to give birth to Gunti. She wouldn't have to cry or grieve.

She could be <i>happy again</i>!

And yet....

"You know what the price would be, Ultimecia."

Yes... yes she did. <i>Either way, they die. If I don't kill them... Seifer will!</i>

"That's not all Ultimecia..."

<i>But what else could there be?</i> Then she returned her gaze to Squall, still frozen in time. Then she knew.

Squall wouldn't allow her to come with him, because he cared for her. He didn't know, he just wanted to keep her out of harm's way. He didn't know what would happen.

But... if she could stop him, certainly he would let it become heavy on his conscience. Soon that weight would turn to resent of Rinoa's selfishness...

Just like it did her. Rinoa was hell-bound anyway.

It wouldn't stop a thing. She could see it now, as clear as glass. Eventually he would hurt her, horribly... even more than his death would hurt her.

She never trusted fate. And she could understand why now. Fate would deal her a cruel blow either way. She was destined to become Ultimecia.

And yet...

"Yes. I can change it."

Robert looked surprised. "You can?"

"Yes. But not... not like this."

"Really now? How then?"

"I can't change it as Rinoa. But I can change it as myself."

The memory changed. It was now the previous night. The last happy memory she had. Rinoa was laying in a bed alone: Squall was in the bathroom. If Ultimecia could recall, this was a very happy one.

Suddenly she felt very grateful that she picked this time, and not an hour before. She was pretty sure Robert wouldn't be too interested in seeing that.

"Now would be the best time." She whispered to herself.

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Look at her... at me. I'm happy."

"And you would take her happiness away?"

"Yes. But now... I could be warned. I could warn myself. And perhaps I could stop this... I can't stop him, Robert. But I can stop myself."

"What makes you think she'd believe you?"

"I don't know... but perhaps, if a little earlier, I could stop Seifer from kidnapping my friends..."

"Do you know what the price of that would be, Ultimecia?"

She nodded. She knew. She would cease to exist. And yet... Rinoa could live her life... and perhaps be happy.

"You would give your very existance.. or even throw time into another loop, just to see her happy?"

Robert looked disapproving. "You can't change time Ultimecia. Fate has it's way sooner or later. Either way, you'll exist."

Ultimecia laughed. Everything turned gray once again. "Robert, if I recall, you never trusted fate yourself."

Robert smiled now. "Very true. But could you honestly do that? I could wake you up right now, you could steal the Epoch. You could do everything you said you could do right now. But can you?"

Ultimecia looked down at her feet. It was quite concerting to see no floor under her. "I... I don't know."

Robert's smile broadened. "You never know Ultimecia. That's one of the things that makes life so wonderful. We never know. Our ignorance of the future, others, and even ourselves allow us to explore the world and it's consequences in ways we cannot forsee. We never know. And yet... we will have regrets. We will cry and grieve. And yet... it all comes to experience, making us who we are. The choices of our loved ones, the way of life, but most importantly, our own choices."

"I understand."

Robert nodded. "Very good. Because you need to know something now."

Ultimecia raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Then from the gray, became light.

((Not done yet, but will get to it shortly. Note: I DID NOT PLAN IT LIKE THIS.))

[StarStorm]

"What is this place?" Ultimecia wondered aloud.

It was a place of neverending light. And yet she could see everything. She could hear nothing and yet joyous sounds tickled her hearing. If she strained her ears...

"This is what our patron, Phoenix, calls 'the Lookout'. We cannot see it in its entirety, but perhaps one day we will. I've been here many times before... in dreams."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been here once, for my becoming. And many more times, with each Apprentice I have taught, although I do not remember. Nor will I remember this."

"You can't remember being here?"

"Just once. Each becoming is personal, and while I, as your mentor, can bring you here, I have no right to be here. Thus I will not remember this when we leave. But I can imagine it has always been uplifting each time I come."

"It's beautiful..."

"Imagine it in its entirety. With our limited, mortal minds, we could never hope to percieve it's true form."

Ultimecia fell silent. Robert walked over to a pool nearby and knealt by it, looking in and beckoned her to follow.

"Life... "An image of a woman in childbirth flitted by... "And death." An old man was on his deathbed, breathing weakly. He would not last long. "War..." A pitched battle was taking place, with sword and arrow. "And peace." The pool showed a vision of a quiet land, where people worked and played without fear.

"We are masters of each. For to know death is to know life, and to know war is to know peace. Everything has it's opposite, Ultimecia: Love and Hate, Joy and Sadness, Good and Evil. So it has been from the beginning of time. We are the masters of that balance." Robert looked up at her, and continued.

"In this balance, everything exists. To remove one is to remove the other... after all one cannot hope to have light without darkness. There are those who would destroy the darkness, fearing what it hides. They are simply fools."

"To master Light one must know Darkness."

"Yes. Darkness is not inherently evil, as I have told you many times. But it can corrupt, as the Light does. But the darkness serves to make the light brighter, as evil serves to make good more beautiful."

"Are you saying that by being evil... you're not being evil at all?"

"Not... exactly. Evil is evil. Evil likes to extend itself, and we are called upon to beat it back into it's proper place." Robert laughed softly. "But ultimately, we are the guardians of that balance. Other people... not even my comrades truly understand. They look at us as friends, and warriors who will do anything to win. The perfect foil for rather... unethical missions that while distasteful, must be done."

Ultimecia nodded again, and waited for him to continue.

"But everything exists in a delicate balance. To give life, you must be willing to take life. As I have done many times, and no doubt you will to. To take life though, without a just reason, is a trap. I'm sure you know of that trap."

Silence. Ultimecia knew well...

"People hate us, because we are ruthless. Willing to do anything for our ends. They believe us sadistic, evil. While evil we are not, we do love war... if only for the reason we love peace as well. We end conflict where we go, by any means available to us... even through death. And yet, as willing to kill as we are, our greatest weapon is fear. Those who fear us will not fight us. At the same time, we must bring hope... hope of a time where one need not fight again."

"Then what would happen to us if noone needed to fight?"

"We would not be needed, and we would move on. But it will never happen. Humans, Elves, or what have you... Violence is too much a part of the intelligent creature's mind. A person who loses his capacity for violence will only be slain, and yet one who gives in to that violence will be slain as well. But I digress. Ultimately, we would never disappear, because human anger, hatred, lust... will never disappear."

"So you see Ultimecia, we are to maintain the balance. And through that, perhaps bring what we desire: our obsolesence." He smiled. "A futile battle, but one worth fighting nonetheless. And as such, we learn to give life as well as take it, and master the dark part of ourselves and turn it to better ends. There is no point in denying it, but to allow it some reign... As you will soon learn. And everything I have taught you to this point, will lead to that."

Robert looked thoughtful and peered down into the pool again. "For now, I will leave you. I will not be with you when you return, but back within Lavos. I do trust you'll be able to extricate me from my little... predicament."

And suddenly she was alone. But not for long in any case. A hand fell upon her shoulder, and she looked back to see a young, slim woman with fiery red hair. This must have been Phoenix.

Phoenix just smiled. "It took you long enough to come here, but I see my trust has not been misplaced."

((Geez have to finish this later too Tell me what you think of it, I'm kinda in a block))

[Weiila]

Looking sweet hon. Very nice wording and imagenary as well as philosophical :-)

[Weiila]

<b>This is the rest of the OLD fic and not a new part. </b> Don't get confused.



"So that's how Gunti came about?" Marle asked, shattering Magus' cocoon of memory and bringing his mind back to the room where he was relating the story.

"Congratulations, it appears that you paid attention when your fancy tutors were explaining the birds and the bees." Magus snidely replied. "Now, if you'll be a good little girl and keep quiet. We're talking about matters that are important, and we won't have time to use small words so you can understand."

"Magus! Hold thy tongue!" Glenn roared, once more firmly gripping Masamune.

Though he would never strike directly at Magus due to Lucca's request, that didn't mean that he would allow continued slander of his liege's descendant. Besides, the feel of Masamune at his side was a calming feature in such trying times.

"I shall hold my tongue only when it suits me. I trust that there is not a problem with that?" Magus said.

Lucca sighed. The way things were going, those two fools were going to kill themselves, and everyone foolish enough to stand between them - and that meant her.

Trying desperately to get those two away from mutual annihilation, Lucca pressed on in her quest for information.

"Magus, you said that Ultimecia gave you extraordinary power. But when we fought you, though you were a formidable challenge, we never saw even a glimpse of this power. Where did it go?"

Magus chuckled. "It went to where it still is, where it shall remain evermore. Quite ironic, though. I expended all that energy to break it, only to find that it was sucking up my power the whole time. Almost as if it was… purifying me, purifying the evil that had been placed inside and converting it into holy energy. Of course, I didn't realise it until you people showed up."

"Thou speakest in riddles. Where didst the power the sorceress gave you to do ill end up?"

Magus pointed a single finger.

"In there." He was pointing at the Masamune.

"You mean… The Masamune?" A confused Lucca asked.

"But, I don't understand." A confused Marle also chimed in.

"How surprising." Magus moaned, looking down and shaking his head.

He then moved his hand and waved it about for a moment before Glenn's sword was unsheathed and floating in the air, slowly twirling, light streams dancing off the metal.

"Return thy brand immediately, foul being!" Glenn howled, surprised he had let Magus get the better of him so easily.

"Like I said earlier, calm down, toadie." Magus huffed as he fixed one of his gloves, staring at the man about to charge him. Walking up to the weapon, he started up again, "Look at it. Suspended in air. Like my powers, my precious powers are suspended from me."

"Enough of thou's empty words!" Glenn spat.

Only glancing at Glenn, giving a somewhat careless expression off, he resumed once more, "I'm not too sure how this weapon is able to absorb my powers as well. I recognised the fact while fighting along side you. The most powerful of all magic's I had reserved seemed to be blocked, the words not coming to my senses. Incantations are nothing but second nature until that day when they soon blocked my perceptive powers. Some of them I was able to learn later on, but many more are locked away, seeming to never return to my psyche."

"Why hadn't you said anything before?" Lucca inquired.

"And let killie toadie over here think about running me through even more so? Letting him know I'm weaker than I let on??"

Smiling, Magus waved his finger.

"As much as it may surprise you, I like my life."

Glenn only narrowed his eyes at the comment.

Turning his attention back to the Masamune, Magus continued, "The only ones I know for sure who can answer the question as to why my powers are being absorbed, locked away within this weapon is Masa and Mune. And we're all looking at their "active" self's right now."

"Well, there's no question. Let's all head to the End of Time and see if Gaspar can't help us out with our little predicament." Lucca offered. "He's the only one I know who'll have the best answer for us."

"As you wish, milady." Glenn said, never locking eyes off Magus.

"One of the best idea's I've heard all evening." Magus agreed.

"See? Girls aren't stupid as you make them out to be." he said, directing his attention to Marle.

Just about fed up with all the comments, she replied, "Magus, just shut up! You think your better than me cause you can use magic and can fly and stuff. Well, I'm also good at things and just because your jealous of me doesn't mean you have to make fun of me. Is it my jewels? My kingdom? My stunning body that has you always poking fun at me? Well, is it?"

Magus only looked on at the child trying to defend herself. A million remarks came flooding to his head, damaging things that could cause her to feel worthless for the rest of her life. But, he couldn't do anything but laugh. And what a hearty laugh it was.

"Stop laughing at me!" Marle yelled. "Stop it! Your just hate what I have! It's like your a… a hater!!"

This only caused Magus to laugh even harder, which also in turn, relinquished his hold on the Masamune as it once floated in the air. Glenn dove and caught the blade before it could hit the ground. He immediately thought about slicing the magus where he stood, but realised he needed him to retrieve his love, Rhiannon. So, he only sheathed the brand instead.

"Okay, okay. Let's all get out of here." Lucca started as the front door gave way to a loud thud to the floor.

All the heroes turned around to see a band of thugs, weapons at the ready standing at the door. One of them stepped forward, donning a tattered tunic and hole filled pants. His face looked as pale as a dead man and his expression remained expressionless.

"Gunti requested our services. It seems that you have a pendant that he needs. Now. So we will be taking it. Now." the man spoke, his voice a drone, echoing and distorted.

Marle gasped in horror as she realised that it was her pendant whom the henchmen were referring to and could only grasp what laid upon her neck. One of the ghoul looking men realised she had the pendant they needed. He grumbled some inaudible words at the one whom spoke earlier. Once realising she did have what it was they needed, he commanded. "Advance on her. Now!"

The ghouls rushed forward with a speed that seemed impossible for such hideously twisted creatures. The small group quickly formed a defensive wall in front of Marle to stop the monsters from getting her pendant. Glenn cut down several of them with the Masamune and Magus' spells burnt, froze or just destroyed an equal amount.

One of the monsters managed to push through but Lucca and Marle shot it simultaneously. Somehow there seemed to be an infinite amount of the ghouls even though they weren't that many to start with. The group realised why when wounded ghouls got up again, some who had lost arms or legs and some with hideous burns.

The one who had managed to get past Glenn and Magus gout up again even though it had a serious bullet wound in the chest and a crossbow bolt sticking out of its eye. It's hand moved forwards with incredible speed towards Marle's throat, apparently the creature didn't care if it just grabbed the pendant or if it tore Marle's neck apart. Just as its claw like nails were about to dig into the flesh on Marle's throat the ghouls hand was severed from its arm and a thick lightning bolt slammed into its chest, throwing it backwards into another of the creatures. Crono appeared in the doorway behind Marle and quickly stepped forward to stab his katana into the heart of the ghoul so forcefully it went straight though it and sliced though the guts of the monster underneath it.

"Crono! You're all right!" exclaimed Marle with glee, momentarily forgetting the horror that unfolded around her. She rushed to hold him, but a decaying hand grabbed her ankle and began pulling.

"These foes are undead, Sir Crono. They need not a heart to continue. Make thy strikes upon their limbs and head!" panted Glenn between slices.

Crono nodded, and thrust his Katana right into the offending monster's skull. Picking up the now-fainted Marle, he rushed upstairs, quickly followed by the others.

"As long as Marle remains here, the ghouls will continue attacking. Get her away, quickly! The Epoch should be hidden a few miles north of here." cried Lucca.

"And how doth thou propose we get there from here?" asked Glenn.

"Why not jump? You have enough experience with that, I presume." Magus said, sending a bolt of flame down the staircase, incinerating the misshapen humanoids in its path.

"Thou speakest as if thou shalt not join us." said Glenn, searching for a window to use.

"That's because I'm not."

"And neither am I." added Lucca.

Crono stared at her in shock.

"You need someone to cover your back while you get to the End of Time, don't you?"

"But to remain here alone, with only the wizard as thy assistance… mayhaps it would be better to join us, instead."

"Just shut your trap and get out of here! The longer you stay, the worse it's going to be for all of us!" cried Magus, his scythe slicing into the throat of a ghoul who had gotten too close for comfort.

Sighing, Glenn and Crono leapt from the nearby window and began their desperate run to the Epoch. As soon as they were out of sight, Lucca turned to Magus.

"All right, what do you propose we do?"

Magus, breathing heavily, thought for a second. "How much do you value this house?"

"Most of my research is kept elsewhere. There are only a few odd trinkets worth keeping. Why?"

As a response, Magus lit the staircase on fire. "Because it's going to save our lives."

The ghouls slowly moved through the rapidly rising flames, seemingly untouched by the heat. But they quickly caught fire and started falling apart, though they wouldn't stop until they reached the still faraway point of crumbling to dust.

"Duck Magus!" Lucca shouted and threw something down the stair. The projectile sailed about one inch above the blue locks. A bottle with a big, red sign with "WARNING! Keep away from heat!" smacked onto it. It landed on the floor among the ghouls and a transparent liquid and shattered glass splashed around the rotten.. feet.

With a devilish sneer Magus hurled another fireball at the wet floor. The result was very colourful. Magus smirked for a moment until he looked down the stair.

"Are those the same bottles?" he hissed, pointing at a box of transparent containers at a step near the top of the stair. The flames and ghouls were rapidly moving towards that point.

"Bloody hell!" Lucca screeched, "we have to get out, NOW!"

She turned her heel and rushed towards the open window, but the flames were now licking the wooden box.

"This is a one timer, inventor," Magus snarled.

"Wha?!"

The warlock threw the young woman over his shoulder and dashed into the night. Two seconds later the darkness was lit up by the exploding house.

"Art thee well Lucca?" Glenn shouted, he and Crono coming running back as they had heard the explosion.

The younger man still carried the unconscious princess.

"Apart from feeling rather sick I'm fine," the inventor grunted, scooting away after Magus pushed her off.

It seemed like everyone was unhurt.

"We better get away from here in case your kid sends something more at us," Lucca grimly said, glancing at Magus.

Crono nodded.

"How are we going to fight Gunti's beasts if they're all like that?" Lucca wondered while they hurried away from the burning building. Magus shook his head, frowning.

"I don't know. I only have a theory on how we can get better odds against him and his mother. Does any of you happen to have my amulet?"

"Crono has it, I think," Lucca replied.

"I'll take her," Glenn kindly said as the spiky-haired young man looked around.

Gently Crono placed Marle in Glenn's safe grip and started digging through his pockets. Finally he produced two small things. He kept one in his fist while holding up the other; a small note. With a grunt Magus held up his pointing finger and lit a small flame just above it; the fire from the house was too dancing for him to see properly. The small note just said "Why?" Magus just twisted his hand and Crono grunted something as the amulet flew from his grip.

"Schala gave this to me," Magus said, a faint softness momentarily entering his voice as he mentioned his sister's name, "it's made in the same material as the Masamune and the pendant belonging to my sister; all that is left of the Dreamstone now."

"Gunti wants the pendant," Lucca slowly said.

Magus slowly nodded, once again concentrating on the flames.

"I'm sure you remember how the pendant was used in Zeal," he said.

"Schala operated the Mammon machine to suck up Lavos power…" Lucca said, beginning to catch up with where Magus was heading.

He nodded again. "And what did Gunti want?"

"To have Glenn bring him the pendant…"

"That would bring him the tool for sucking up his mother's refined power," Magus emotionlessly said, "and the storage of it."

"He has the mind of a praying snake," Glenn growled, "not unlike his father."

This had not the desired effect. Instead of scowling Magus actually smirked, though bitterly.

"True," he said, "then at least he got something from me more than the looks and way of battling. Enough."

He straightened up properly.

"We have things to do and little time," he said, holding up his amulet, "I believe I can use this to add a little of the Dreamstone's power to everyone's weapon. That would give us greater chances in a battle against Ultimecia and Gunti, though I highly doubt we'd survive either of them."

He paused for a moment, then darkly glared at the humans watching him.

"And before we even attempt to do anything against those two I have to warn you."

"We need no warnings more than thy foul presence," Glenn grunted under his breath.

Magus ignored him.

"If we do meet Ultimecia," he said, "don't let me out of your sight together with her. This is in all our interest."

He scoffed, obviously not fond of letting the request out.

"I'm stronger now than when she first met me, and my mind is my own," he continued, "but I'm not sure if I'm stronger than her, and she could be able to regain control of me. I think that's one thing we can all agree on wouldn't be too pleasant."


"More tea?"

"No, thank you." Taban replied.

Though Katrina made exceptionally good orange tea, there was only so many cups one could withstand. It wasn't often that the Ashtears paid a visit to their closest friend. Between Taban's tinkering and Lara's cleaning up of the charred remains of said tinkering, they pretty much kept to themselves. But when Katrina had invited them to dinner, they couldn't find it in their hearts to refuse. After all, only a few short weeks before, Katrina had finally returned from shooting off through who knows when. Since Crono was too busy "protecting" Princess Nadia, the Ashtears (meaning Lara, dragging Taban unwillingly) took it upon themselves to help in any way they could.

Tonight, this meant allowing her to serve them a delightful roast duck with orange tea.

"Any tea for you, Lara?"

"No thank you, Katrina."

The front door burst open, with Lucca at the forefront.

Gasping for breath, she stammered out, "Hi Mom, hi Dad. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be going off with Crono and the others for a few days. Well, I better get going!"

And with that, she rushed off as quickly as she had arrived. For a few moments, there was silence amongst the adults. Then, Taban spoke.

"We raised a strange girl, Lara."

Katrina looked out the front door, in the direction of the Ashtear's home.

"Well, isn't that strange. Someone decided to set your house on fire. Would either of you like dessert?"

"On fire!?" Lara and Taban rushed out the door, not even bothering to say good night.

"Oh dear, and I was looking so forward to chatting." sighed Katrina.


That's all we've got. Too bad about the FF7-CT fight, but this is more than we ever hoped to get back :D Thanks a lot, Wingnut!

[wingnut]

Actually, Weilla, I have more than that, it's just that was all I could put into one post at the time... and my laptop's screen went blank 72 hours ago, so it's in for repairs... temporarily... I *will* get around to it, really...

[Weiila]

Sweet ^_^

[wingnut]

And the next (former) part.

***

The Epoch was parked exactly where the team had left it the last time they'd used it: in the middle of the forest north of Crono's hometown, well-hidden among the trees.
Not having used it since the last battle against Lavos, the ship had suffered some damage, in fact, Lucca thought, it was a miracle it was still working. Lucca had, from time to time, come back to fix it, so it should work fine. Still, she decided to climb inside and check out all the systems, just in case.
On the ground, only a few feet below, Glenn paced about nervously. "Milady Lucca, be not offended by mine haste, but, shall the waiting be long?"
-"Don't worry, Glenn, I'm just doing a systems check. You wouldn't believe how many of those a time machine has! It'll only take a few moments more, honest."
*Poor Glenn* Lucca thought, *It's easy to understand why he's so desperate, with Rhiannon in danger… * she couldn't repress a little giggle; she loved it whenever he called her "milady" although she insisted on telling him to call her just Lucca. *And when will MY knight in shining armour ever arrive?* she wondered. Sometimes, she had the awful notion that she was going to grow up to be a spinster…
*Snap out of it, girl, the others are counting on you* She returned to her work.
A few feet away, Marle was talking to Crono. "I'm so glad you're ok" she said, with lovesick eyes. "You were out for so long, I was afraid…"
“That he was going to die again?" Magus, leaning against a tree, interjected maliciously. "Don't worry… if the fool gets himself killed again, you can always change history and save him… again."
-"Why, you…!" Marle began to say, but Crono stopped her with a wave of his hand. With a look of determination in his face, Crono stepped forward, coming near Magus, who, upon seeing him approach, got off the tree, and stood ready for battle, if needed.
But Crono did not make a hostile move. Instead, he passed one finger along his throat, one of the simple gestures he had learned from childhood to make himself understood: "zip it."
Anger began to rise in Magus at Crono's boldness. "Why should I?" Crono brought his hands together: "teamwork".
-"Hah!" Magus laughed. "So, NOW you are you taking charge? We will follow a leader who can't even speak?" Not only that was an insult, but an implication that HE should be the one to lead this mission.
Both Marle and Glenn were enraged at his disrespect, but, to everyone's surprise, Crono merely smiled. He pointed to one of his eyes, then to Magus. "I see through you."
-"Eh!? What do you mean, commoner?" Magus snapped.
Crono touched his forehead, then pointed to Magus again, then held his right hand, palm down, at level with his waist, as if patting an unseen child on the head. And he continued to smile . "I remember you as a child."
Magus snarled. Memories came back to him. Memories of his unhappy childhood at Zeal. Of how most of his fellow sorcerers looked down on him for his having so little magic talent, back then. Which was particularly embarrassing for the son of the QUEEN of Zeal. To make matters worse, there was his gift- his curse- the ability to feel what he called "the dark wind"- premonitions of doom.
He had also been the only one to realise the depth of the insanity that his mother had fallen into because of that accursed Lavos.
Yes, his had been a miserable childhood. Only one point of light illuminated it: his older sister, Schala. She understood him, was besides him whenever he needed her. Even after all this time, her presence remained one of the few calming aspects in his mind.
What did the commoner mean, by reminding him of all this? He remembered now, they had indeed met him as a child. And he had foreseen that Crono would die. But why bring that up? He became angrier.
-"So what, punk? You think THAT gives you any insight on me?" He snarled again.
Crono merely continued to smile, in a defiant way.
-"STOP THAT!" Magus cried. "You CANNOT possibly understand what I went through! Don't even pretend to judge me! You, of ALL people, are unworthy of judging anybody. You ARE a nobody! A commoner! All the rest of your little insipid band, are, at least in some people's eyes, some sort of personage in their own time and place; even Lucca has proven herself a master of time. But YOU? The ONLY reason you even got involved in this at all is because of your friendship with Lucca. An accident of fate!"
“Mayhap,” Glenn interjected with a smile, enjoying seeing Magus being the one squirming now. "But Sir Crono hath proven himself, in the field of battle, to be e'er worthy of our trust, in fact, more so than many a knight I fought besides of."
“More than that" Marle joined in,"He has proven himself our FRIEND. Do you know what that means, Magus? It means he would die for us, and indeed did. Just as we would die for him, or challenge the very Laws of Time to bring him back. THAT is the reward of friendship. Have you ever known it?' Magus bared his pointed teeth at the girl; for once, his snake tongue failing to come back with an appropriate retort. Because, no matter how much he hated to admit, he KNEW he'd never had a friend, besides Schala. Nor could he deny the power of Crono's friends, a power that had saved the world. -"ENOUGH!" a voice said from above. Down came Lucca, jumping from the Epoch's cockpit. "Magus. Let's stop this argument once and for all. If we are going to battle Gunti, we have to work TOGETHER. Now, the Epoch's ready to leave; we will leave with or without you. And we all KNOW that the real reason you want to come along is to search for Schala. So, are you with us or not?"
*Damn it, the girl has a point* Magus reflected. *I have need of these simpletons. For Schala's sake… I'll play along… for now.*
Instead of answering directly, Magus looked away and wrapped himself in his dark cloak, in a royal manner. "Let's go." was all he said.


The Epoch hadn't been originally made for more than three people, but somehow they managed to cram themselves into it without getting into too many fights. To everyone's relief Magus kept his mouth shut for most of the time.

"Okay, here we go!" Lucca said, starting the engine.

The world around them seemed to buzz, not the machine they were in. Then the area outside of the cockpit turned into a streak of colours, stretching into eternity.

It lasted for a lifetime, and yet only a second. Suddenly the lights faded and the glass bubble protection them went up by itself. Everywhere was only a dull darkness.

Except for up.

Lucca didn't even bother to say anything; she just stood and jumped. Floating through the air as if she had been falling upwards in slow-motion she reached the stone square and easily landed on top of it.

"I was expecting you," Gaspar mildly said, standing in the light of the lonely streetlamp.

"I'm not surprised. How have you been?" Lucca politely asked.

"Oh, well and about. Your Highness."

The old guru momentarily took off his hat and Magus' voice muttered something behind Lucca's back. She didn't catch what however.

"You can relax here for some time while His Highness and miss Lucca works on the Epoch," Gaspar kindly said, talking to the other tired warriors, "I promise you sir Glenn, no time will pass while you are here, and so Gunti will not harm your lady."

"I thank thee," the knight said with grateful relief.

Lucca could swear that the eyes shadowed by the derby hat went to Magus for half a second, but wasn't entirely sure. She was starting to feed a stronger suspicion however…

"Well then, let's get started," the warlock's rash voice said.

He turned his heel and leaped back into the nothingness, his cloak flowing dramatically behind him.

"Wilst thou be safe with him?" Glenn asked, darkly glaring in the direction of the man's exit.

"Yes," Lucca slowly said, "I think I will."

She flashed a smirk.

"In any case, it's not farther than that you'll hear him scream if he tries something funny."

And with that she walked over to the halved bridge and jumped.

Landing safely in the cockpit she found Magus sitting cross-legged, waiting for her.

"Well, this thing is powered by magic," she said immediately, "I'm not entirely sure how that part works but you're probably the only one able to figure it out and change it from time to dimensions."

"Just show me where the power source is already," Magus emotionlessly said.

Lucca bent down and picked up her box of tools from the floor of the cockpit.

"Say, Magus…" she carefully begun, fiddling with a screwdriver.

"What is it?"

"It seems a bit vague."

His head snapped up.

"What?"

There was something peculiar in his voice though, hardly noticeable.

"You said you'd help us for revenge on Ultimecia and because Gunti's dangerous to you," Lucca slowly continued, "still… I don't know you well but it seems a bit strange to me."

He growled something, watching the darkness surrounding them.

'Bingo…' Lucca grimly thought.

"So…" she said, her hand ready to grab and fire her gun any second, "if we're going to work together, why don't we be honest with each other?"

No reply.

"Tell me Magus," Lucca said, and suddenly her voice had a sharp edge, "where is Schala?"

Silence.

Then Magus slowly shook his head.

"You guessed it already," he darkly told the nothingness, "she's wherever Rhiannon is."

[Weiila]

Great wingnut :D Once again, it's wonderful that you managed to salvage so much of the old stuff!

[wingnut]

"But wait! There's more!" *attempts to pull rabbit out of hat and fails* Drat.

***

"I did indeed guess that. Otherwise you wouldn't have been so eager to join us" Lucca said as she continued to readjust the Epoch's systems to follow the flow of Magus' mystical energies.
"How did you find that out, by the way?"
Magus actually hesitated before answering. "Gunti told me- by way of one of his minions."
“? Why would he do such a thing?"
“Because he knew it would hurt me" Magus sombrely said. "He does revel in evil for its own sake… I guess he learned only too well from his parents."
For perhaps the first time, Lucca felt sorry for the evil wizard. She almost said something comforting, but decided that he wouldn't accept her pity.
“I guess that means Gunti is expecting you too… too bad, I was hoping we would have an element of surprise there."
For a moment, neither spoke, the two of them focusing in their respective tasks.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the stone plaza that floated in the utterly silent darkness that was the End of Time, the others tried to relax and rest as best they could.
Crono and Marle sat on a bench, basking in their mutual love, allowing it heal and comfort them.
Glenn, unable to truly set his mind at ease (especially with his friend's actions reminding him of his own lost love) paced around the small plaza, finally deciding that conversation might take his mind off things. So, he approached the old man in the brown suit and derby hat: Gaspar the Wise Man.
“Sir Gaspar? May I inquire something of thee?"
“Why, certainly, Sir Glenn."
“Please pardon mine boldness, but… why dost thou stay here, in this ne'erending darkness? With all the portals in time at thine disposition, surely thou couldst find places better suited for a better life?"
The old man smiled, in the amused way that a teacher does when asked a clever question by a child. "Indeed, I assume it must seem strange to most people. But, you see, Sir Glenn, my experiences in Zeal taught me many things. One of which was, that everything has its time and place, and its best not to tamper with fate, lest terrible things happen. It was fate that sent me here. Had I not been here, you and your brave friends might not have received the help you needed in your previous adventure. Besides, I've grown to like the peace of this place. So different from all the responsibilities I had back in Zeal…" He trailed off for a moment. Then, he gave a small laugh, and added: "Then again, I do NOT stay here all the time! Occasionally, I'll go out to get some resources. How do you think I built this plaza? Magic helps, but I still need materials to work with! I also sometimes go out just to stretch my legs… a favourite period of mine is the 1920's. Ever been there?"
-"Err, can't say I have."
- "You should, one of these days. It's where I found these nice clothes."
Glenn smiled, hard pressed not to say he found Gaspar's clothes very odd. It just wouldn't be polite. But the old man smiled back, as if guessing what was in the young knight's mind.
Crono and Marle, hand in hand, approached the pair, having heard part of their conversation.
-"Say, what about your friend? Umm…?"
This time the old man laughed out loud. "You mean the God of War?"
-"Er, yeah, him."
-"If you're trying to ask me who or what he really is, I'm afraid I can't help you, Your Highness."
Gaspar continued smiling. "He just showed up here one day. Didn't say who he was or what he wanted. I guess he just likes this place, like I do. By the way, he's still in his room… if any of you feel like fighting him again."
All three heroes shook their heads. "Err, not right now, thanks" Marle said, echoing the trio's feelings. The "god" had been a good sparring partner while all of them were first starting out. But every time they met him, he was in a new, stronger form. They shuddered to think what he might be like now!
The sounds of steps attracted their attention: Lucca and Magus had returned. Everyone gathered in a small circle to get the news.
-"Okay, it's done!" Lucca said with her usual cheer. "The Epoch's guiding systems are now calibrated with Magus' mystical energies. We can now jump now across dimensions as well as across time!" She said with real excitement; the prospect of exploration had always fascinated her.
-"Wait. We should decide what exactly is it that we're going to do first" Marle said. Although she felt that Crono was their leader, she also felt it was her duty to speak for him, to make things easier for everyone.
-"Simple" Magus said, arms crossed, and back to his these-fools-don't-know-what-to-do-without-me attitude. "We'll head to Ultimecia's homeworld."
-"Pray tell: why?" Glenn asked, suspiciously, but deciding not to further antagonise the mage… for now.
Magus sighed, as if what he said was obvious. "Ultimecia is the real threat here. This *isn't* just a matter of rescuing our loved ones. Gunti by himself is too powerful for us; but, and I'm willing to bet my life on this- his activities will surely attract Ultimecia's attention, that's for certain. Against her, we have ABSOLUTELY no hope. To beat her, we MUST find out more about her. Her bringing me to her world all those years ago was a mistake; I still remember how that world's mystical… "vibes" for lack of a better word, differed from ours. I've now "programmed" the Epoch to carry us there.
Before Glenn could say anything, Lucca interjected: "I know you're worried about Rhiannon, Glenn, but remember the way time travel works: when we return to the present, we can choose to re-enter at any point after we left. No matter how long our research takes us, it will be just af is we had never left."
-"If I may make a suggestion" Gaspar said, touching his cane to his lips, in a curious gesture of meditation, "Against such powerful foes, you'll need all the help you can get. Perhaps it is time to renew old acquaintances."
- "Robo and Ayla!" Marle snapped, happily. "Yes, they'll certainly come in handy! And it'll be good to see them again, too!"
Lucca looked at Magus, who, if not exactly excited at the idea, at least didn't protest, either.
-"Okay, then, it is agreed: First, we go pick up Robo and Ayla. Then, we head to this new universe to gather intelligence on Ultimecia. THEN we plan our next step."

"But we won't be able to fit into the epoch if we all go." Said Lucca.
"Hmmm… I guess you're right, so do you want to go pick them up Lucca" Answered Marle.
"Yeah, it will be really fun to see them again. I'll go get them." And then she jumped down to the epoch and shouted "See you later!"
After that came the sound of the epoch starting up and shooting away through time.
'Hmmm… I think I'll go to Robo first.' Lucca thought 'It'll be a lot more fun seeing him again than Ayla.'
Said and done. In no time at all she had stopped at 2300 A.D., the land was a lot different from when they first came here, but they had stopped Lavos from destroying the world so it didn't really surprise that the world was different. What surprised her was the colours and diversity. Now there was green plants everywhere, multicoloured birds were singing in the trees and small fuzzy animals were running around in the high grass. She went to the nearest dome and asked if they knew where Robo was. She didn't even have to explain that it was a robot since Robo was actually at that dome at the moment. Even if he was a robot and not fully capable of emotions he was really happy to see her again.
She quickly explained why she was there and what had happened.
Robo just made a beeping sound as he recorded all that into his memory, and then he said "Then it's very important for us to hurry. If Gunti is as powerful as you say, then Glenn will surely be very worried about Rhiannon."
"Yes. He's worrying non-stop." Replied Lucca. "So I guess we should go to Ayla, even if we're not gone more than a second at the end of time, it'll probably feel as an eternity for Glenn."
They boarded the Epoch and left for 75 000 000 B.C.
There they went straight to Ayla's hut and Lucca quickly repeated he summary of what had happened and why they must hurry.
Ayla nodded and said "Me understand how Glenn must feel. Ayla would feel same way if something happened to Kino." And then she went outside and went to Kino's hut to tell him that she was leaving again and that he should take care of the village. Kino had no objections. "Kino knew that you would go help them when Kino say big flying thing from many days after tomorrow. Ayla not worry. Kino take good care of village."
Ayla smiled and said "Ayla know. Kino strong like Ayla. Good bye." She ran out to Lucca and Robo at the epoch and they all went back to the end of time.
There was a brief period of happiness that even Glenn couldn't avoid. At least not for long. But he soon started worrying again and the others agreed that no matter how fun it was, seeing each other again, they had to save Rhiannon.
Somehow everybody was able to fit into the epoch, but it was very tight, they would probably need a crowbar to get out again.
"OK. Let's go then." Said Lucca and pressed the button.
This time it wasn't like travelling through time, an infinite number of shapes and colours swirled past them.
"Something is wrong." Magus said. “We're not going to get into Ultimecia's universe.”
They heard Gunti's voice. "Did you really believe that I hadn't thought of this?" he laughed.
"Even if it wasn't likely that someone like you would be able to travel between dimensions I just had a feeling that this little barrier would be useful.” He was silent for a moment.
“And now I think I'll send you off somewhere… Unfortunately, I can't send you wherever I want, but I guess a random universe will have to do."
And then the Epoch spun round, or maybe the shapes and colours were spinning, but suddenly whatever was spinning stopped and the Epoch rushed forward towards one of the shapes, and into it.
The last thing they heard before crashing was Gunti laughing and shouting "Have a not so nice trip!"

The Epoch spun out of control as it hurled through infinity; the rush of colours and bizarre sensations as one dimensional barrier after another was shattered and left behind, only made things worse for the its passengers. All of them, except for Robo and Crono, screamed- mighty heroes they may be, but they're still human.
Suddenly, the swirl of colours changed, and became a mix of blue and brown. The heroes quickly realised that they were now spinning in a planet's atmosphere, and that they were now looking at a sky and a ground- but they were STILL spinning.
"Luuucaaa stooop thee Eeepoooch!!!" Marle screamed.
"Whaaat doo youu thiink III'm tryiiiiing too doooo???" she retorted, as she struggled with the controls.
Suddenly, everyone (except again, Robo) felt their stomachs lurch, and they saw the brown replacing the blue in the swirl around them.
They were falling!
"Oooohhh Craaaap everyyyooneee HOOOLD OOONNN!!!" Lucca screamed.
CRASH!!
Bumpity bump bump!
Stop.
A few moments later, Crono, using all of his strength, popped the Epoch's cockpit's crystal dome open, and stood, quickly assessing the situation. The Epoch was tilted, but still right-side up, at the end of a long trench made on the soft earth by their crash landing. Luckily, they had (just barely) avoided a copse of trees! However, there was shattered glass and metal pieces everywhere, and the smell of burnt wires stung his nose.
He turned to look at his friends. He saw no blood, but was still afraid for them. DAMN, he thought, it's moments like this that REALLY make me wish I could scream!
Marle was the first to speak: “Is… everyone … OK?” she asked dazedly. She looked up to see Crono smile at her, relieved that his beloved was alright; the feeling was mutual.
“Ayla… strong… she alive" the blonde cavewoman said, although she too sounded dazed (and it was almost comical to hear the usually tough warrior speak like that.)
“I, too… appear to be unhurt" Glenn said. "Milady Lucca, art thou-?"
“…Yeah, thanks, Glenn. My eyes are still spinning, but I'll be okay… we have our seatbelts to thank for that.”

(*PLONK!* Wilfredo hits everyone on the head with a NOT-subtle-at-all safety message! Sorry, sorry! Just a little humor, the story was getting a little dark. Now back to the story.)

“Dammit… should've known… Gunti would try something like this…" Magus groaned, to no one in particular.
-"Robo? Are you OK? ROBO??" Lucca screamed, afraid for her mechanical friend.
-"*Bzzzt* Affirmative, Mistress Lucca. Gyroscopes at 69% of normal operational functions- correction protocols running, calculated return to normalcy in 3.2 seconds" it responded, in its typical mechanical voice.
Crono let out a sigh of relief at seeing his friends were alright. He helped everyone out of their seats and down upon the prairie floor (except Magus, who stubbornly refused any help.)
Once on the ground, Lucca took one look at the disabled Epoch- and went ballistic!
“OOH SH*T!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, shocking everyone, especially poor Glenn, who actually blushed at hearing such language come from a lady.
“Dammit dammit DAMMIT!!" she continued to curse, jumping up and down in her rage.
“Lucca, CALM DOWN!" Marle said, holding her still. "Losing your cool isn't going to do us any good."
“You don't get it!!" Lucca snapped back. " The Epoch is BADLY damaged! Without the right pieces, I might not be able to fix it! We might be stuck here- WHEREVER in the multiverse ‘here’ is- FOREVER!!!"
Shocked silence fell upon everyone, as the reality of the situation sunk in on them all.
Suddenly ashamed of her behavior, Lucca looked away, coughed, then thought of what to say to fix the situation.
“Ahh, sorry about that… it's just that… The Epoch was my- OUR- most treasured property… seeing such a work of art ruined like this…" she trailed off.
“Ahem. Well,” she continued, turning to her friends and trying to cheer them up, as she usually did. "Okay. First thing we do, is explore this place, find were the nearest civilization is and find out if the materials we need are available. I guess we're lucky not only to have survived, but to land on a world with a breathable atmosphere, eh?"
Before anyone could react, Ayla spoke : "Shhh! Someone coming!!
Everyone stood silent and still. Indeed, what appeared to be the steps of some creature could be heard coming from the nearby trees. Everyone steeled themselves for the possible attack of some fierce beast.
Instead, after a few moments, a young man, riding atop what looked like a- giant chicken?- emerged from the trees and headed toward them.
Everyone waited until he was close enough to do anything. As he came closer, they saw he had brown scruffy hair, and wore blue clothes not unlike their own.
“Holy…! Is that a FLYING machine??"
the boy asked, as soon as he stopped his strange mount a few yards from them.
“YES! Yes it is!!" Lucca said with emotion. There were PEOPLE here! Who spoke THEIR language! And who KNEW what machines were! Maybe, there was hope for fixing the Epoch, after all!
“Amazing! I thought ours was the only one!" the young man said, as he dismonted and approached them.
"What happened to you folks?"
“Turbulence" Magus said, before anyone could speak. He gave the others a harsh stare, but this time for a reason: he was warning them from giving too much away, at least until they knew more about their situation.
“Err, that's right" Marle said, quickly taking over the conversation. "Do you know where we could get help fixing our vehicle?"
“As a matter of fact, I do" the stranger said in a friendly manner. "I happen to know a pair of geniuses than can fix just about anything. They live not far from here. Follow me, and I'll take you to them."
“Thank you, Mister…?" Marle asked.
“My name" he said, smiling at her, "Is Bartz."

"Pleased to meet you, Bartz" she responded, smiling as well. "My name is Marle." Funny, she thought, how she still referred to herself by that name, when there was no longer a need to hide her identity as Princess Nadia; but, somehow, it had come to mean more to her than her real name- perhaps because she felt that it was while using it that she'd truly grown up as a person.
-"This is my friend Crono?" she continued. Crono stared at the newcomer with intense eyes; he didn't like the way he was staring at Marle. Still, he stretched out his hand.
Bartz took one look at the red-haired warrior and almost gulped out loud at his intense stare; obviously, the message was clear: Marle was off limits. Bartz smiled at him awkwardly, but shook his hand.
-"This is Lucca, our resident inventor" Marle continued, oblivious to the subliminal exchange that had just taken place.
-"You have NO idea how glad we're to have run into you!!!? Lucca said excitedly, grabbing Bartz's hand and shaking it violently in her glee.
-"Err, pleased to meet you too" Bartz responded. He looked at her- hmm, mousy girls weren't his type, he thought. His eyes naturally gravitated to the next female. Whoa! It was a hot-looking blonde! Tough she looked too muscular- even more than Faris! And, why was she wearing furs?
Noticing his stare, Marle proceeded to introduce her. "This is Ayla." Before she could continue, Ayla grabbed Bartz's hand and squeezed it so hard, it made him yelp!
-"OWW!"
-"Hah! Ayla sorry! Ayla keeps forgetting, other people not as strong as her!" she said with a wicked smile.
-"Th-that's alright…" Bartz said, rubbing his hand. Definitely NOT his type! The mousy girl looked like his best bet…
-"*Ahem*" Marle said, a bit embarrassed by Ayla's manners, "and this is Sir Glenn."
Glenn stepped forward, slightly bowing his head in a gentlemanly manner, then extended his hand and said "An honor to meet thee."
A bit trepidant after the last handshake, Bartz extended his hand again, but Glenn's grip was firm and friendly. "Wassup, dude?" he responded, which made the knight blink in surprise at his speech.
Bartz's eyes next rolled over to look at what he'd mistaken at first for some kind of metal statue- but it moved!
-"Whoa! A robot, too?" he gasped in surprise. He eyed it suspiciously- the only robots he'd met before where hostile monstrosities left from an earlier age.
-"Yeah!" Lucca said, proud of the mechanical marvel that was also her best friend. "His name is Robo."
-"Robo. Right. A very… adequate name" Bartz responded, but also thought, *Laaaame.*
-"*Beep* At your service, Master Bartz." Robo said, in his metallical voice, with no show of emotion. He did not extend his hand in greeting, which Bartz was glad for.
-"And this is…uhh…" Marle hesitated a moment, realizing who was left to introduce. "…Magus" she finally decided to say.
Bartz looked up to the tall man's face. He had long silver hair, pointed ears, pointed teeth, and slight blue tinge to his skin. Worst of all, he was giving Bartz a you're-an-insignificant-insect kinda look.
-*Whoa, UGLY dude* Bartz thought. For a moment, they just stared at each other, since Bartz didn't feel like squeezing Magus's hand but felt it was impolite not to greet him somehow.
Lucca came to the rescue. "Ahh, these people you spoke about, how do we get to them?"
Bartz turned at her, glad to avoid Magus' gaze. "They live in Tycoon Kingdom, which by the way is where you are, in case you didn't know" he explained. "You can walk there, but it's a fair way off, and the forest is full of monsters… although you guys look like you can handle them. Tell you what: Why don't you ride with me on my chocobo into the Royal Palace? Then we'll ask the Princess, who happens to be a friend of mine, to send some soldiers with chocobos to pick up your friends. Meanwhile, I can take you to meet my inventor friends."
“That would be great! Thank you!" she responded, excited to explore, and to meet fellow inventors.
The men in the group exchanged glances; they weren't sure they could trust this guy, especially after the way he'd stared at the girls.
-"Umm, art thou sure thou woulds be alright on thine own, Lucca?" Glenn asked, a bit nervous.
-"Sure! Why wouldn't I be? I can fight monsters on my own, you know!" she answered.
Monsters were NOT what the guys were worried about. But Marle, who was no fool, either, said to them: "It's alright, guys. Lucca can take VERY good care of herself"- with a wink.
-"Alright, then, let's go!!" Bartz said merrily, jumping astride his chocobo's back with practiced ease. He then helped Lucca get up on the huge yellow bird as well.
-"The soldiers should pick you people up before nightfall" Bartz explained to the group.
-"Good! We'll camp here until then" Marle responded.
-"Giddyup, Boco!!" Bartz shouted to his mount.
-"WAARK!!" it crowed out, then took off with surprising speed.
-"W-w-whoa!!" Lucca gasped, as the chocobo's powerful strides bounced her on its back. She had to reach forward and throw her arms around Bartz for stability.
Which only made his happy grin broader.
As the group watched them disappear in the distance, they couldn't help but wonder if letting Lucca go with Bartz was a good idea. Once they were gone from sight, they set about making camp…

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Yeah, Wingnut, thanks for saving our stuff!

And before anyone asks: yeah, I'll be writing more NEW stuff soon! As you know, the finishing of Fatal Fantasy (and my vacation in Florida) kept me busy, but now I'm back and I intend to continue this story.

One thing, tho: posting the reprints along the new segments confuses the reading. Maybe we should start SEPARATE threads for each...?

[StarStorm]

"So you are Phoenix?"

Pheonix nodded. "One of my many appelations. Rather fitting in your case."

Ultimecia looked confused for a moment. "Why?"

Phoenix knelt by the pool, inviting her to sit down. "What does the Phoenix signify?"

Ultimecia closed her eyes in thought. "Rebirth, I believe?"

Phoenix nodded. "Exactly... Ultimecia... welcome to your rebirth."

The pronouncement startled Ultimecia. She was expecting something... flashier. "My rebirth?"

Phoenix just gazed over the pool. "Yes. I was expecting you here when Robert told me about you. It surprised me as much as it did Rydia. He also spoke very highly of you. I am grateful though that he was correct."

"But you are..."

"A god? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I am not omniscient. Well perhaps I am, but I choose to limit my perceptions somewhat. I rather like being suprised by humans..." She sighed wistfully. "As I was one myself. All Immortals were human once before."

"It's nice to know you're not perfect."

"I wouldn't dare claim perfection. Even I understand humility. And who knows? We may have someone above us, who is above them.... and so on."

"How did you become an Immortal then?"

Phoenix shook her head. "I died."

"You WHAT?"

"That is the only way to become an Immortal. My lover, Weiila "The Goddess" died sacrificng herself for others... she was a great priestess in her time. I was a demon hunter myself. Now I am the patron of several demon hunters... soon to include you." She laughed heartily at the look on Ultimecia's face. "Before you get any thoughts, this is not my true form, but it doesn't matter. The Sage, Wilfredo Martinez, was a great warrior-scholar who died in his battles with the Old Ones... perhaps he best understands..."

"I see... What does he understand?"

"He fears the Old Ones, and rightly so. They outmatch us in power. But still, we must fight. That is why the WarMages were created. To me, they are a threat... and when they come, someone must fight. Wilfredo fears the destruction of Lavos may wake them up before we are ready. Perhaps he is correct. I still believe that it is better sooner than later. Later... there will be more to destroy. Not to mention Lavos is an affront to all I stand for."

"Why is that?"

"Lavos is a soul refinery. It is unable to be sentinent without the souls of other intelligent creatures, but for every soul it takes, it becomes more powerful."

"Robert told me."

"Yes. Well, I believe Lavos was meant to be the ultimate weapon of the Old Ones. And eliminating it..."

"Would severly weaken them."

"Exactly. But with Robert's dark half, it's power has grown. It will be difficult to destroy... but that is why you are here Ultimecia. You would not be brought here unless you were needed. And you are needed. There will be other missions yes, but..."

"I'm the only one who can destroy Lavos?!?!"

"Heh. You will certainly help. I don't know if you will, perhaps. I do not doubt your abilities... or the abilities of your soon-to-be allies. And I am sure once you are revealed to the Islanders, they will welcome you with open arms. Perhaps then... with people who will care about you..."

"My friends... Squall... they care about me."

"In a way they do. But you realize that you can never have Squall, do you?"

Ultimecia bit her lip, she seemed to be on the verge of tears. She knew this already, but to have it confirmed... It only broke her heart anew. Phoenix seemed to sense this, and hugged Ultimecia... finally the dam broke.

For the first time in many, many years, Ultimecia truly cried.

It seemed like an eternity, even more so in a place where time held no sway. But Ultimecia cried. The sorrow, the despair, everything welled up to the surface.

Finally, Phoenix spoke. "Someday yes, you may find another... but for now... it is alright..."

Ultimecia slowly stopped weeping, and looked up at her. "Why... why does it have to hurt so much?"

"Because you are human. And you will carry your pain for as long as you live Ultimecia. It is your greatest weakness. But remember, your greatest weakness can be your greatest strength..."

"I see."

"But now...It is time."

"Time for what?"

She soon got her answer, as she felt as if something... something dark and poisonous, was extracted from her. A dark orb coalesced in Phoenix's hands, which quickly disspated. "You are a Sorceress no more Ultimecia. You are now a WarMage, perhaps one of the most powerful alive, just out of your Apprenticeship." Ultimecia smiled slightly at this. "I know you will make Robert, Rydia, and I proud. But before you leave..."

A scythe appeared in Ultimecia's hands. "This is your weapon, Ultimecia. And to truly make it a part of you, to truly signify your mastery of life and death... it needs a name."

Ultimecia nodded, and only thought for a few seconds. "Hopebringer. A symbol of a new hope, what I will bring, to myself and others."

"A fine name, Ultimecia. And now... it is time for you to awaken."

Ultimecia vanished from the Lookout, as Phoenix smiled. "I think she will do admirably, don't you agree?"

The Sage stepped out, frowning. "It is impossible to know for now, StarStorm. But for your sake... for our sake, you had better be correct."

"And next time, when yuo tell someone you're my lover, at LEAST look like a man?" SMACK! Weiila's hand struck StarStorm's nose lightly, just after he changed to his true form.

"ACH HEY! Cut it out!" He was silent for a moment. "I hope so too Wilfredo. But as she said... she is a new hope. Let us pray it will not be dashed. Soon it will be time."

----

Ultimecia opened her eyes, looking up at a smiling Aurora. "You made it, I see..." The weight of the scythe in her hand was proof of her accomplishment. Ultimecia used the scythe to help herself up, muttering irritably. "Yes, I have passed." Her irritation vanished quickly however.

"Squall and Rinoa left, they're holding another meeting..." Aurora rolled her eyes, "Over the new developments."

"I know about them..."

"That's good. You don't need to be filled in. Let's go and greet your new Queen, shall we?"

The meeting was interrupted when Ultimecia walked in, accompanied by Aurora. Magus' eyes widened when he saw her weapon, but kept silent as Ultimecia strode up to Rydia, and to all suprise, kneat deeply in front of her.

"I, Ultimecia, WarMage and Apprentice of the Master WarMage Robert pledge my service and alliegence to you, Queen Rydia."

That drew some raised eyebrowed. Rydia looked startled for a moment, then beamed. "I accept your service, WarMage Ultimecia."

Ultimecia stood, looking around as Rydia took her hand and smiled.

"I will admit to having my doubts, but I see I was wrong in them. Welcome home Ultimecia."

----

((Now the Chrononauts and thier friends have a great new ally! What will become of this development? Stay tuned for the next episode of... (whispers of to the side* What the hell is this fic called again?

Anyways, If I messed up n Ultimecia's speech... well it happens, just point it out and I'll correct it. I like what I wrote, and now this plotline is offically finished.

Keep the resoration up Wingnut. I'm REALLY wiating for the fight between CT and FF7!

Thanks to: Weiila mainly. If it wasn't for her support, I would have never finished this! I love you Weiila!!!))

[LunarCry]

It liiiives! :D

Great part, SS. Hopefully that will motivate us more now ^^

[Weiila]

Love you too darlin' *laughs* And glad you included that "lover argument" :o And I think you forgot Ulti saying K instead of C all the time, but since she was kinda slipping at Rinoa it'll pass methinks.

Yep, now things are on a roll again, whee!

Oh, and...
The Old Ones killed Wil! Oh, the irony is kiiilliiing meee... :o
Sorry Wil, just had to :) No offense, just thinking about your tendency to pull 'em into your stories.

[Wilfredo Martinez]

The irony may kill you, Weiila, but SS killed ME! HAR!

Good work, SS- another unexpected twist, and great handling of the characters, including mine.

(But honestly, guys, I'm not obsessed with the Old Ones, I've only mentioned them in two stories! Coincidence, is all.)

But I wonder, how will we keep Ultimecia the Warmage around if we restore reality? Ah well, we'll work something out!

And yes, I AM working on my next segment, which is basically Sijo vs Gunti. Just gotta go back and reread the last few segments, to make sure everything fits.

And BTW: WHEN are we going to name this story?? :)

[StarStorm]

YAY! It's loved. In any case, Wilf, get that part coming. LC, WEiila, get to writing! YAY!

[pokefreak_85]

Hmmm...
I feel like writing something to add more to this fic...
But I can't even remeber what happened when anymore ^^;; and with the restored peices of the fic scattered a bit, I'll wait until something more happens so there's some more stuff written before I write something...
So keep writing, I want stuff to happen so I can write some. :p


Btw Wilf... I don't really think you are obsessed with the Old Ones... I mean, <I>I'm</I> the one who has Chtulhu in my bathroom, so you're not obsessed with 'em at all. :p

Anyway... *goes back to sitting and waiting for more stuff to happen*
(And I just happen to sit by the GC while I wait, so I'll probably won't be around for a while anyway :p (and I've still gotta work too :())

[wingnut]

There were a few names suggested in the old thread, but I can't remember all of them. I have 'Dimension Dementia' as the name of the document the story's in, though you guys might want to choose something different.

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Gunti's Room (actually, Spekkio's) in The Plaza at the End of Time:

The blonde, long-haired sorcerer paced the room impatiently. He would ocassionally stop to gaze at his magic mirror, but there was still nothing but static there; it still couldn't penetrate Aurora's anti-scrying spell over Castle Tycoon.

Watching the angry Gunti pace were two figures: A hand-bound Marle, and the ugly, green-skinned Nar (or rather, his stand-in.)

*WHERE is she??* Gunti silently fumed. *Where is mother?? She should've been back by now. Could it be that those heroes managed to capture her? No, not with her power! Could it be she's- TOYING with me???*

Gunti was more nervous than he'd ever been. He had infinite power -in the form of the Dreamstone Pendant- within he's reach; all he had to do was use it to link to Lavos, and he would get the same power over Time itself that his mother boasted. But, he had decided to wait for her to return from her little expedition inside Rinoa's body before he would begin. The LAST thing he needed was to make HER angry.

As Gunti continued to pace, "Nar" continued to watch his "Master." And think.

For, in reality he was Sijo, the Worldswalker, an interdimensional champion of good, brought into this whole mess by his "patron" the Immortal Sage, to try to stop all this mucking around with time before reality collapsed. But, he needed information to do so; he needed to know Ultimecia's and Gunti's secrets. Which is why he had taken this debasing form for.
But so far, he'd found little. Gunti may be a gloating villain, but he kept his secrets very private. And he'd not even met Ultimecia yet.
In fact, what was that commotion in Castle Tycoon when he'd helped kidnap Princess Marle? He didn't get a chance to see things straight. And he had not had the chance to speak to Marle about it, either.
Oh well, nothing to do but wait and see- and be ready to react at any moment...
Marle was scared. And for once, she wasn't afraid to admit it to herself.
After all, she was in this madman's clutches again. Surrounded by an army of monsters (outside) and with Ultimecia about to show up as well.
Her only hope was that this stranger -Seeho, was his name?- knew what he was doing. If not...

Suddenly, Gunti froze in place. Sijo and Marle did as well, expecting something to happen-
-but what happened was inside Gunti's head:
-*Gunti.*
-*Eh? Who??*
-*It is I.*
Oh. The mysterious voice that had contacted him before, and promised him that it would him gain Ultimecia's power- and get rid of her.
-*Ultimecia has lost the power.*
-"WHAT??" (He actually said that aloud.)
-*Her link to Lavos has been severed.*
-*How??*
-*Doesn't matter. You're now free to become the Avatar.*
-"YES!! Finally!!" Gunti shouted in glee. Somehow, althought he had no proof of it, he knew it to be true; it was almost as if he could feel his mother gone.
-"NAR!! GIVE ME THE PENDANT!! NOW!!"
-"Umm-" (the Nar-disguised Sijo hesitated; he had created a duplicate Pendant, but althought it was identical in appearance, it wouldn't likely work for Gunti's purposes. Plus, if Gunti took it out of the range of his sight, it would vanish!
What to do now? This might expose him! And he STILL didn't know enough about Gunti and Ultimecia!)
-"What are you waiting for, dolt? GIVE IT TO ME!!!"
-"Yipes! Yes, Master!!" Sijo/Nar said, and snatched the (fake) pendant off a stunned Marle, and handed it over to the sorcerer. No time to plan now; he'd better be ready for anything.
-"YES! YES!!" Gunti gloated. *Now what, voice? How do I use this??*
-*That is not the real Dreamstone Pendant.*
-"WHAT?? NAR!!!"
-*Uh-oh* Sijo gulped.
-"This isn't the pendant!! Are you trying to turn on me??"
-"Umm, no no, Master! I swear, I don't know what you're talking about! P-perhaps it was changed by the heroes??"
-"Is that true, wench??" Gunti spat at Marle, almost berserk in fury.
-"Ahhh! Stay away from me!!"
-*Aww, crap, I can't keep this up without endangering Marle!* Sijo thought. "You heard the lady." he finally said aloud.
-"EH!? What did you say, you piece of ectoplasmic filth??"
-"You heard me, you overblown stage magician!" 'Nar' retorted. " Stay away from the lady or prepare to get your butt kicked!"
-"W-w-" Gunti was both confused and angered.
-And suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light!
Gunti: ARRGH!!
When his sight came back, Marle was no longer besides him; instead, she was standing behind a young man, one with short, slick black hair, dark eyes, thick ayebrows, and a green costume with a high-collared cape.
-"WHO are you??"
-"Sijo, Interdimensional Adventurer, at HER service, not yours!" Sijo mocked, taking a bow.
-"Another of you 'heroes'! BAH! I don't care. You HAVE the real pendant, don't you?"
-"Maybe, maybe not. What are you going to do about it, Leonardo Dicapuccino?"
-"GUARDS!!" Gunti roared.
-"Oh, no no no" Sijo mocked him again. "I'm afraid your forces won't help you now. You see, I'm keeping them from hearing anything inside here. So, you either run outside like a chicken, OR, you stand on your own, for once."
-"You think I need help to deal with the likes of you???" Gunti roared again, and produced his huge scythe out of his cloak.
-*Whoa, must be a magic cloak* Sijo wondered for a moment. But then he went back to business: His plan to infiltrate Ultimecia's forces had failed, but he still had the chance to finish Gunti off. That might do some good. Should he take it?
-"DIE, INTRUDER!!!" Gunti screamed, swinging his scythe. But he missed- Sijo teleported away to the other side of the room.
-"Stay here, OK? I'll deal with Happy Boy over there" Sijo told Marle.
-"O-Okay" she managed to mutter. Then Sijo turned to Gunti.
-"You wanna tango, Gunhead? Ok, let's tango!" Sijo laughed, as he summoned his weapon, a Staff.
Gunti lunged, and Sijo blocked; but Gunti's scythe went right thru the staff, cutting it in two.
-"HAH! Your weapon is pathetic!!"
-"Is it, now?" Sijo retorted, as he twirled the two halves of the staff in his hands, brought them back together-
-and a chain appeared between them! It had changed into a nunchuks!
-"EH!?" Gunti gasped. Before he could react, Sijo used the nunchuks to tangle up the scythe!
Now neither of them could attack!
-"LET GO OF MY WEAPON!"
-"Frustrating, isn't it?" Sijo gloated.
Gunti let go of the scythe. "BAH! I don't need a weapon to finish you off! THUNDER!!" He screamed, and a bolt of lightning escaped his outstretched hand-
-And went right thru Sijo!
-"Eh??" Gunti gasped again!
Sijo smiled. His mastery of reality -while not on a par with Ultimecia's- certainly gave him quite a bag of tricks to pull on the likes of Gunti!
Unfortunately, the lightning bolt kept going, all the way to the side of the room where Marle hid.
VOLTHOOM!! It shattered a stone wall to pieces!
-"AIIEE!!" Marle screamed!
-"PRINCESS!" Sijo screamed, when he realized his mistake. In the blink of an eye, he was next to her.
-"You alright??"
-"I-I think so" she responded.
SHRRAKK!! Another bolt flared thru the air!!
But Sijo was not taken by surprise. He raised an invisible wall that stopped it- just barely.
-"Damn! He's VERY powerful!" the hero realized.
Suddenly, noices came from outside. All three of them could see monstrous forms approaching from the outside, alerted by the destruction of the wall.
Sijo realized that it would be too much even for him to fight Gunti AND his troops- especially with Marle in the way.
-"Fine, Gunti, you win this time. But, there'll be a reckoning" and with that, both Sijo and Marle blinked out of existence.
-"NO" screamed Gunti. They'd escaped- with the Pendant!!
-"GUARDS!!" Gunti roared, "Prepare to depart! We are assaulting Castle Tycoon! NOW!!!!"

(OOC: Ohh, I think The End is coming closer! More later!!)

[StarStorm]

((Oh you have just given me an idea WM!))

----

The group was sullen as they met. It wasn't the arguing groups that met Rydia when she first arrived. Everyone seemed subdued.

Even Yuffie. Which was a first.

The only ones who did not seem to be affected by this contagious sullenness were Squall, Rinoa, Magus, Ultimecia, Aurora, and Rydia.

Rinoa and Squall were cuddled up against each other. While they shared the concern about Marle, it seemed that the trail renewed thier relationship. Perhaps they couldnt' get enough of each other. Who knew?

Magus was stealing glances at Ultimecia. He was, to put it simply, distrustful. He was not sure about Ultimecia's loyalties. Or what she would do.

Ultimecia kept stealing glances at Rinoa and Squall. She tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible, but inside she felt a twinge of jealousy and regret, over what she could have had, and yet lost... and yet still had.

Aurora kept her face neutral. It was hard to know what the young Princess was thinking.

Rydia seemed deep in thought.

Perhaps the two most upset were Crono and Lucca. They both knew her best. It was understandable actually.

The only sound was low muttering. They were upset that they had been taken by surprise so easily. They were angry that Gunti had escaped so quickly... and they could do nothing at all.

It had taken Ultimecia a few minutes to explain what happened to Robert. That only made the situation even more hopeless.

It was a very quiet group.

Until Rydia spoke. "Ultimecia, what exactly were you trying to do?"

The muttering stopped as Ultimecia tore her face away from Rinoa and Squall... Rinoa couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for her future, darker self... and faced Rydia. "Simple. My power was... shall we say... not komplete in my mind. Even with my formidable abilities as a Sorceress, and with what Robert taught me, I wanted more."

"The nature of power," Vincent spoke, "is that when one tastes it, one will always desire more."

Ultimecia nodded. "Exaktly. As I wandered through each world, I happened to kome upon Lavos... well its' spawn to be exakt. I could feel it's power, and I realized I kould harness it properly. Not just bekome the Mistress of Time, but the Goddess."

Lucca looked thoughtful. "Through the spawn's connection with Lavos."

Ultimecia nodded again. "The theory of Magical Sympathy is a simple one. By establishing kontrol over the spawn, I would have a foothold in kontrolling Lavos."

Rydia pursed her lips. "I see. Go on."

Ultimecia hung her head, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It was always the promise of bekoming a goddess. I had certainly not thought of it before I kame in kontakt with Lavos. I was quite happy being the Mistress of Time. I wanted more power, yes... but it had never okured to be until I started to harness the spawn's power."

Reina looked over at Ultimecia. "So why did you..."

Ultimecia cut her off. "From what Robert had told me, I believe that the thought was planted in my mind by Lavos through our shared connection. I wished to bekome the Avatar. A goddess on earth. This Avatar would be so bekause they had absolute kontrol over Lavos' power. Robert... wasn't amused when I told him this."

"Why was that?"

"I don't know. He only said one word. Levana."

Both Magus and Schala stiffened at the word, and stared hard at Ultimecia. She could swear she could feel the heat of their gazes.

Bartz raised an eyebrow. "What is it with you two?"

Schala wasn't able to speak. All Magus could do was choke out, "L-Le-Levana?"

Rydia blinked. "You know Levana?"

Magus nodded, clearly upset. "We should. She's our mother."

This pronouncement didn't seem to phase anyone. Outside of Lucca, Crono, Ayla, and Glenn. This got everyone's attention.

Lucca blinked. "Queen Zeal?!?!"

Schala nodded. "She was a good woman once. A very good woman. But she changed... we both felt it. She became much more powerful one day. But she seemed... empty at the same time."

Magus nodded. "I always wondered why she was so fanatical about following Lavos. Before she changed... she could be very angry, very bad... but she would never lift a finger to harm us. We were her children. But..."

Schala nodded, as if cofiming her thought. "She was too different. It was like another, different person... Like she was taken from her body and..."

Glenn shuddered. "Filled with Lavos."

Ultimecia stared. "You mean to say that if I bekame this Avatar, my body would have been just a vessel for Lavos?"

Magus and Schala nodded. "It's a possiblity."

Ultimecia freaked. "And this is what will happen to Gunti?"

There was silence at this answer. Ultimecia just continued. "I know you kare not for our son Magus, but he is still my flesh and blood! I will NOT allow this to happen to him."

Magus smirked. "Despite that he is one of the most evil cratures to walk the worlds?"

Ultimecia narrowed her eyes. "Despite that, yes."

Magus nodded. "He is my son too, even though I loathe to admit it. And besides, with Gunti's power at his disposal..."

"As well as Robert's..." Aurora continued.

A KA-CHAK! got everones attention. Barret just smiled grimly as he loaded his gun-arm. "Then it's time we get some action."

Edea nodded. "I'll do what I can to help." Schala, Rhiannon and Ellone nodded. "Us too."

A chorus of agreements came rose from everone present. Rydia nodded. "Now is the time to attack then. Let's not waste any..."

CRACK!

Everyone turned around, weapons at the ready.

"Gunti wasn't so hot was he?"

"We only escaped him..."

"Well that... WHOA!"

Sijo had gotten a good look at the room he had taken Marle to. With a large assortment of weaponsaimed at him...

Marle jumped in front of him. "Wait everyone! He's a friend!"

The first to lower his weapon was Crono. No, scratch that, he dropped it. He practically ran to Marle and embraced her tightly. It was obvious how much he had missed her.

Marle let herself he held for a inute before pushing him away reluctantly when Rydia spoke. "It is good to see you again Marle... but who is your rescuer?"

Sijo bowed. "I am Sijo, Worldswalker."

Rydia bowed in return, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "Well met. I am Rydia, Queen of the Islanders."

A bit too firmly, as Sijo winced. Rydia blushed as she pulled back her left hand. "I'm sorry. My mechanical arm doesn't know it's own strength."

"Uhhh yeah."

Sijo looked around, and finally his eyes focused on Ultimecia. "What.... is she doing here?"

Rydia smiled. "Ultimecia is my new WarMage, fresh from her Suspire." Noticing the slight apprehension on his face, her quick mind quicky deduced why he was here. "I get the feeling our aims are the same, noble Sijo. But Ultimecia is now our ally."

Sijo nodded, slightly confused. "What were you doing?"

Ultimecia smiled. A bit of her old self showed. It was unsettling to watch.

"We are about to destroy Lavos."

----

((You all forgot that Ellone and Edea came too! *laughs* Anyways, maybe they, allong with Schala and Rhiannon, can fight. You never know. The more the better.

Tell me what you think! I think I did Ultimecia's speech better.

Oh, and I jsut got a VERY evil idea for an epi-eplogue involving the Old Ones. You'll have to wait till the end though!))

[Weiila]

Great job, hon :yipee:

Now, FINAL BATTLE! Let's FINISH THIS, guys! We can do it!

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Once again, a great handling of the characters, SS. You know, we haven't explained why Ultimecia talks like that (I always figured it was an act.)

One thing to keep in mind, folks: Sijo won't mention the Immortals. Their existence is supposed to be a secret that only a select few might know.

As for the Final Battle, we all get a chance to write our own parts, since it's gonna be Big and Chaotic. So, anybody who wants to join in, pick a character and go crazy!!

You know, I STILL hope I can still establish a continuity with Chrono Cross AFTER this!
I think I have an idea about that, I'll start working on it. Nobody do anything that might contradict that, OK?

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Hey, guys. Sorry I've been away for a few days. I'm afraid I had some health troubles... nothing too serious, and I really don't want to go into them. Just wanted to assure you, I haven't forgotten about this story, I'll soon contribute more.

And sorry I missed your birthday, StarStorm. Hope you had a good time.

More stuff soon, folks. Those of you with ideas, get ready...

[StarStorm]

Hmm deadness. I bid thee to live!

[Wilfredo Martinez]

DAMN, I have been hit with a writer's block! But, I can feel it wearing off. Expect more REAL soon!

[wingnut]

*pokepoke* Writer's block gets annoying real fast...

[StarStorm]

I suppose you don't have anything else, do you Wingnut?

[wingnut]

No, no plotty stuff, nuthing. 'Cept a minor side fight, but as we're not up to the fight... blargh.

[Wilfredo Martinez]

(OOC: YES! It seems I'm FINALLY over that stupid writer's block that kept me down for so long (yeesh, longest period ever I go without writing!) I started to write my new Origin Story precisely as a test of my disposition, and it seems to be OK again. Not only that, but I actually came up with a way to not only revive this story, but to bring everyone back up on who's who and what's going on. You'll see. Onward...)


Tycoon Castle had become, rather quickly, a hot nest of action. It's stony halls were full of people coming and going, everything from warriors getting ready for combat, to peasants trying to get out of the way.

For, the enemy was finally coming -they knew it, even though there was no especific indication, because Ultimecia was now with on their side, and Gunti had been cheated of his prize yet again. Surely, THIS time he would not wait any longer to unleash his monster armies upon them!

...In a corner of the palace, unwatched, a young man, with dark hair and eyes, thick eyebrows, and a caped green uniform, laid against a wall, in what to any casual onlooker would look like an unpreoccupied pose. In truth, he was very concerned, but hid it well.
For this is Sijo, the Interdimensional Adventurer, a hero from a faraway dimension, commisioned by the Immortal called The Sage to help with the crisis currently affecting this corner of the multiverse.
He wasn't very happy about this situation at all; he was almost literally dropped into the whole mess, although with all the information that the Immortal had figured on giving him, but not enough for his tastes.
For example, he still didn't know what the sorcerer, Gunti, wanted the Dreamstone Pendant for. Power, probably, but not exactly what kind. He knew very well, that the details always made the difference.
He'd battled Gunti, and found him a worthy adversary, but hardly an undefeatable foe. Further, Gunti's most powerful ally -and the real cause of this mess- his mother, Ultimecia, had now apparently given up her powers (supposedly supplied by Lavos the Timedevourer, one of the Immortals' ancient foes, the Old Ones) and was now actually working FOR Rydia, Queen of the Warmages, the local Guardians of Reality. How did THAT happen? And can she be trusted? Rydia and her agent, Aurora, believed so, and therefore, the other heroes gathered here accepted her, although with reservations. His gut feelings were, however, that she might still be too unstable, and could tip the coming battle either way. He was DEFINITELY going to keep an eye on her.

The other heroes... that was another thing that bothered him. Not that he had a reason to doubt their valor, it's just that he didn't like going into battle not knowing the strengths -and the weaknesses- of his allies.
He decided to mentally review what he knew of them all.
Let's see, there's, of course, the heroes of THIS world, Gaia 5. They called themselves the New Dawn Warriors (thought Sijo had no idea who the previous Dawn Warriors might have been). Their leader was, precisely, Queen Reina, the young ruler of this kingdom; also included in her team were a somewhat clownish young man named Bartz, an effeminate pirate -or was it a woman?- named Faris, and a bratty teenage girl named Krile.
...Not exactly the most conventional group of heroes, but Sijo knew better than to judge them by their looks.
About their powers, all that he knew was that they'd received the powers and weapons of ancient warriors. Damn, I wished I knew more about those, he thought.

Then, there was the group from Chronia, the aptly named Chrononauts. From what the Sage told him, this group was the first to encounter Gunti, and they were central to this conflict. No wonder, since one of them, Princess Nadia, better known as Marle, had in her possession the Dreamstone Pendant. He had already met her, when he rescued her from Gunti. He wasn't too impressed with her, but again, wasn't about to underestimate her either.
Right now, she was in the arms of her lover, a spiky-red-haired guy named Chrono. The two seemed to be deeply in love with each other. Funny, but while she hadn't stopped telling him about her ordeal, he hadn't said a peep. Maybe he's mute...?
Another important person -perhaps THE most important- among the Chrononauts, was a bespectacled girl named Lucca. According to the Sage, it was her scientific knowledge that had allowed them to discover the secrets of time travel, and had led them to save their world from Lavos once already. He'd love to speak with her, but that probably would have to wait until the coming battle was over. Next to her was a robot named- Robo- Gee, how ORIGINAL- who was apparently very faithful to her.
Also part of the group was a handsome blonde knight named Glenn, who also had a lovely girl in his arms, a maiden named Rhianon. Man, all this pre-combat huggling was making Sijo miss HIS girlfriend Mako, back on Earth. But, he wasn't the only one feeling lonely, from the looks of the muscled, bearskin-wearing blonde woman named, who was also hanging near the group, yet apart from it.
Also hanging near them, but DEFINITELY not happy, was some blue guy with white hair and a cape, called Magus. Looked more like a villain than a hero to Sijo. But there was a pretty maiden, Princess Schala, hanging protectively next to him. His sister, he was told. Funny, they don't even seem to be of the same race. Ah, well...

There was one group present here that particularly worried Sijo: Ultimecia's friends. Well, they weren't actually HER friends- they were the friends of her younger self, one Rinoa. A pretty girl, to be sure, but one that seemed to be tormented. Well, I guess anyone would be, after meeting someone who claimed to be not only your future self, but had gone mad, killed all her friends and become a menace to the multiverse. She insisted she was OK, and wanted to help, but she was another person he was going to definitely keep under watch.
Sijo wondered how, with what they knew about her, her friends could still hang around her. They MUST very true friends, indeed. There was a guy named Squall, who must be her lover, given the way he hangs around her all the time. Also present next to them were: a blonde who has "teacher" (or maybe dominatrix) written all over her, named Quistis; Zell, a blonde guy who looked like he thought more with his fists than his brain; Selphie, a very ditzy-looking girl (nice triple-iron weapon, thought); and cowboy-type named Irvine. The vibes he was getting from this group, is that they were young, and impressionable.

The final group of heroes present was, from what he'd been told, not really involved in all of this, except for the fact that the Chrononauts had crashed into their ship and accidentally pulled them along. They were from the planet Gaia 7, and, ironically, looked more rugged than the group from Gaia 8.
Their leader was a spiky-haired blonde with a ridiculously big sword, named Cloud; his obvious girlfriend was a busty, but muscular, brunette named Tifa. There was one guy in the group that looked a LOT like Mr. T, if Mr. T had a machine gun for a right arm- his name was Barret; a ciger-chomping, unshaven guy named Cid was also hanging around with them, and so was a bratty girl who claimed to be a Ninja, named Yuffie.
...The rest of the team was- really odd. One looked like a vampire with long hair; his name was Vincent, and he was as creepy as he looked. Yet, he looked normal next to the rest- a red wolf with tattoos and a glowing tail- he SPOKE, so he wasn't just an animal- named Red XIII, and finally, a HUGE moogle, with a CAT on his head -actually, a robot being remote-controlled by a guy in a business suit. Okay, now THESE were the weirdest heroes he'd seen in a while- and yet, they were nice enough to offer their help, even thought this wasn't really their problem at all.
Well, not unless it started spreading to ALL worlds, which was likely to happen if the Timedevourer wasn't stopped.

Yes, Sijo certainly wished there were time to get to know all of them better- but he knew there wasn't going to be.
And he was proven right, and a scream was heard from outside the castle:
"The MONSTERS! They're HERE!!!" somebody screamed.

Time to go into action....

(OOC: OK, Guys, now THIS is were all of you who have wanted to write for this story -or all of you who might want to so now- get your chance, even if you don't know the story, or feel that you don't have anything to contribute: In the following battle, you can pick any of your favorite characters from above, and have them fight ANY monster from any RPG that you want to! Remember, this story was started by Weiila so we all could add something to it, so don't hesitate!)

[StarStorm]

YAY! finally. I think I have something forming in my head now, so.... let';s go!

[StarStorm]

((I have an idea for Rhiannon... heeeeee Glenn's going to get a shock. Hey, one would wonder how some would perform in a fight...))

Up on the tower, a pair of eyes peered through a pair of binoculars.

"Hmmm... I've never attacked a castle before, but I get the feeling Gunti's more of a guerilla fighter than a siege warrior. His army could use a bit more orginization."

Marle handed the binoculars to Glenn, who looked through them himself. "'Tis true, but with so many monsters..."

The first wave of Tycoon soldiers was about to leave the castle. As much as the castle would be more defensable, there were too many innocents about. Reina would have to find a better way to protect them.

But there was not enough time.

"Hey, if you have a big enough hammer, that's all you need." Aurora remarked grimly. Marle nodded and sighed as Aurora and Glenn left the tower to join their friends and allies, who would be with the first wave.

Reina frowned. "I should be down there, helping. I'm good in a fight as well!"

Rydia nodded as the two joined Marle. "I don't doubt that. But we can't afford it. You're the Queen, Marle has the pendant, and I probably have the longest range here." Rydia shrugged. "You're not the only one itching, my whip could use some excersize."

"Your whip?" Marle raised an eyebrow as the first call rang throughout the castle. The enemy army would be coming from their camp, perhaps a half mile to the southwest. Now was the call to battle.

"You know something?" Rydia asked, offhandedly. "They say war is hell. Want to make it that way?"

Marle shook her head. "My spells don't have that range."

Reina grinned slightly. "We'll have to be careful not to hit any of our guys."

Rydia chuckled. "Well accidents happen, but we'll have to if we want to win."

Edea and Reeve joined them a moment later. Like Rydia and Reina, Edea would supply spell support. Reeve couldn't fight well himself, leaving Cait Sith to do the job. Understandable really.

---

Glenn smiled slightly as he marched along with the Tycoon soldiers. Most of his friends, perhaps, were not used to the military life, so they were spread out in something more or less like a formation.

Glenn was used to it, and actually admired the soldiers: no special powers, just a weapon and their skill between them and death.

One could not help but admire them.

One thing worried him though. Rhiannon had insisted on coming along. He loved her dearly, and quite naturally, protested when she, Schala and Ellone insisted on coming. He wondered if Ellone could fight, although admittedly she did seem to have some experience with the mace in her hand. Schala would not part with her brother (to his objections), but the staff was primarily defensive in nature.

And Rhiannon just... vanished.

To say he was worried was an understatement. At least Magus shared his concern. If there was just one thing that they would share in their lives, it would be that.

The first monsters appeared and the archers within the unit started to fire, allowing them to approach while the hail of arrows rained down on them. The first monsters they would meet were led by a trio of what seemed to be minotaurs.

Bartz, Squall, and Aurora nodded toward Glenn, and the four broke from the group to engange the minotaurs, as planned. As the soldiers and thier friends began to engage the enemy, they leapt forward to take down the leaders...

Or two of them anyway, as the remaining two were suprised to see a pair of daggers poking out of the throat of the one farthest away, only to pull apart, nearly severing it's head.

As the minotaur fell forward, it was quickly obvious who caused the near decapitation.

Bartz looked shocked. Squall just blinked. Glenn's mouth just hung open. Aurora just smiled as Rhiannon rolled under the blows from the other two minotaurs. "Get ready for more."

Bartz shook his head and blinked. "That's one hell of a woman you're going to marry."

Glenn threw off his surprise as Rhiannon joined them, wielding the twin daggers quite expertly. All he could do was mumble, "You have a lot of explaining to do..."

Rhiannon nodded again as she practically vanished right in front of them, as silent as the wind...

[Wilfredo Martinez]

(OOC: What? Nobody wants to post? OK, I guess I'll continue the story. I have been TOO focused on my Origin Story, but I can at least advance the plot a little... )

Back by the Immortal's Scrying Pool, the one known as The Sage focused hard on the images in the waters, which showed the mayhem of the battle going on around Castle Tycoon. He was worried; he could feel that the moment of truth was coming closer. Soon, the fate of the Dreamstone Pendant, Lavos, and ultimately Reality Itself, would be determined.

Suddenly, he was surprised, by a disruption of his ultra-senses. "What is this? What is this I feel??" He was baffled, and he HATED being baffled.
"Stop..." a disembodied voice suddenly whispered in his mind.
"Who? Who is it??"
"I am... or I was... Princess Schala" the voice said. It sounded in pain.
"That cannot be true!" he retorted. "Princess Schala is in Tycoon Castle at this moment, I feel her presence!"
"I am the Schala... of the future."
"The FUTURE??" he gasped.
"Yes. I... have already set events in motion... to stop Lavos... but... this battle... will disrupt them... you must... stop..."
The Sage tensed. This could be a trick... but what if it wasn't?
"Tell me EVERYTHING first" he insisted.

*******************************

Meanwhile, back in Castle Tycoon, Sijo watched the events unfold from atop one of the castle's turrets. He ached to join the battle... but his instincts told him that the REALLY important events would not happen there.
It was just TOO obvious; he knew Gunti's type, and he wouldn't waste time in a direct assault. No, this was a distraction- a way to keep the heroes occupied while he struck elsewhere. Marle was the obvious target, since she had the Dreamstone Pendant. But right now, Marle was surrounded by some heavy protection- Edea, Rydia, Aurora, even Ultimecia. He could see them from up here, in one of the lower balconies, watching the battle.
Ultimecia. He STILL didn't trust her. Better keep an eye on her... no, he should keep an eye on the pendant first. Well, he could do BOTH things at the same time.
With but a thought, Sijo altered his own personal reality. He flowed INTO the castle walls, moving inside them like a worm thru wet soil. And he headed downwards...

(More later.)

(P.S. Anyone who wants to post a battle scene, you still have a chgance!)

[Weiila]

Merry Christmas.


The Sage sagely leant against the wall of the castle, listening with concern growing on his features.
But suddenly...
"OW!"
"I swear to God!" the Goddess snarled and smacked the Sage's head again, "you are a magnet for trouble!"
"What? What?" the Sage protested, backing away with a confused look.
The angel creature's wings bristled in frustration as her fists hit her hips.
"This is complicated enough as it is, if you bring in ONE MORE CHARACTER, I SWEAR..."
"But... but..."
"Yeah, yeah," the woman scowled, "I know, she's here on her own accord and from the future. But one would think you'd know better than brood right now, you know this kind of things always happens in critical moments."
The Sage just stared at his friend as if she was insane.
"I can't believe I'm doing a cop out like this for the story..." the Goddess muttered.
There was a distant crash and a green-haired wizard cursed loudly as he realized that he had to fix the fourth wall AGAIN.
The angel turned upwards, her anger melting as she scanned nothingness.
"Schala of the future, listen to me," she said, gently, "I know that you fear for your plans, but you have no reason to worry. This messed up dimension is an alternate story - if it wasn't then we all know that your own plans to fix the timeline would have been smashed to bits long ago just by Gunti's existence. You are looking at the wrong dimension. The power surge from it probably brought you here, you must return to your right stream and await the fruit of your efforts there. We'll deal with this world, worry not."
With a good deal of confusion - and a good push from the power released from the Goddess' fingersnap - the future and tired soul left the world she had stumbled into.
"There, wasn't so bad, was it?" the angel smiled and offered the staring Sage a hand to get back on his feet.
"What was that all about?" he blankly asked as he stood, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Simplifying things, it's the least we can do, my friend," the angel merrily informed.
She poked the tip of his nose with a fingertip, playfully.
"And some constructive critisism in all friendliness, too," she added with a chuckle, "one questionmark is enough, you don't need two. It just looks cramped."
The Sage regarded her for a moment. Then he took her hand and patted it gently.
"I'm sure, I'm sure," he carefully smiled, "now let's go inside and throttle the Joker until he tells us what he put in your drink, alright?"
"What, I'm PERFECTLY fine, silly!" the Goddess smiled.
She cocked her head slightly.
"Say... isn't that crocodile a little heavy to carry on your shoulder?"
'I'll KILL Charle...' the Sage thought, but nodded and smiled at his friend even as she scratched the invisible crocodile behind its ear.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by Weiila
'I'll KILL Charle...' nawww, naw, dont kill Charle...

[Weiila]

Don't worry, I don't think the crocodile will let him ;)

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Veeeery funny, Weiila. Sorry I have abandoned this story for now, but I'm focusing ALL my writing powers on the Xmas story. But I'll come back to this as soon as I can, promise.

[Weiila]

It's okay Wil, take the time you need.
The reason I wrote this part like this was 1; to get the story going again of course, and 2; rereading it all made me realize the big problem with this, it's too darn complicated and that's probably a major factor to that it's dwindled. Thus why I interrupted future Schala from screwing things up even more.

[Bookbagninja]

*peeks in* Wow. Chrononauts? What... the... well, I won't say that last word.

Hey guys. Did you guys ever get anything final, like a .doc I we can look at to read at least the progress thus far? Or, is this thing dead?

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Whoops, I'd forgotten about this, I have been terribly busy (gotta pay the bills, prepare the next FF Conpendium Update, etc. etc...) but I WILL get back to this when I can.

Which reminds me, Weiila, we gotta talk about your last story post, contact me when you can (Email, not PM, please!!)

Oh, and remember people, this is STILL open to EVERYBODY (that's why I set up a big fight scene, so people could write in simple action shots of their favorite characters if they wanted) so if you have an idea, go ahead and post it!

[Weiila]

I sent you a mail, then immediatedly realized that that might not be a good point for this. Since it is a group fic, it's better to discuss what you feel need to be discussed here on the board :)

[Weiila]

As much as I hate to say it, this thing is dead. We have to deal with that fact. I'll post what's here in the fanfic update and then let this slide down into the rest it deserves. It was great fun, but I belive that I can safely say that we're not going to finish this.

[StarStorm]

Considering when we started it, it's VERY safe to say this is dead.

[Wilfredo Martinez]

Well, I REALLY wanted to see this finished, but events in my life have conspired against my writing anything lately. Honestly, we should've finished it long ago, but I guess we really wanted to keep it going on and on... I'll say this: This was my FIRST story writing attempt here in the boards, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Thanks, Weii, for providing the opportunity, and everybody who contributed to writing it (StarStorm, Kaiser, Poke, etc) as well. It was great, and I hope someday we do something like this again.