XENOGEARS: POWER, TRUTH AND LOVE
by: Joshua Loomis (jeloomis@planetx.bloomu.edu)
DISCLAIMER
This fic is being written without the consent of
Squaresoft or any of it's affiliates. I am making no
money from this endeavor, so I am in no way
compromising their copyrights. I'm simply doing
this for fun, and because I have far too much
free time on my hands. -_^ Here endeth the
lesson.
NOTES
-C&C is very welcome. I accept all comments that
come my way about my work. So don't be shy, please
tell me what you think.
-This fic is, obviously, based on the Square RPG
'Xenogears'. It's no problem if you haven't played
it, but you'll certainly enjoy it more if you have.
-This fic refers to incidents that took place in
Amber Michelle's wonderful fic, "Shadows Falling."
Go here to read it. http://www.zenogias.com/fanfic.html
* * * * *
CHAPTER FOUR
* * * * *
"Uuuuugghh..."
-Don't sturggle. It will only hurt more.-
"What..."
-Stay calm. For both our sakes.-
"Id...? What is... going on?"
-That... person. Weaver. He... divided us.-
"How?"
-I don't know. To be honest, I don't
remember much. I woke up very angry... I hadn't
expected to awaken again so soon. To tell the
truth...-
"Truth?"
-Yes, 'Fei'. The truth. You realise the
truth, don't you? You still haven't figured out
that the life you're leading is a gift.-
"I know... I fought long and hard to..."
-Yes, yes... how heroic of you. You saved
the entire world. With my strength, of course.-
"We've been over this, Id. We are one and
the same..."
-In a way. But the truth is, you're the
weak persona laid over myself, and the Coward.-
"No. The truth is, we'd become one soul.
We've shared all the memories, spanned the
chasms between us, made ourselves whole. Don't
you remember?"
-...Yes... Yes, I remember... and now I
remember what it's like to be divided agian...
and... it ... makes ... Me ... sO ... AnGrY...-
"Calm down... your anger is just what he
wants. He wants you angry, to cultivate the
power of your rage. Don't give in to him, Id...
think of Elly."
-Elly... yes... she could...-
"What? What is it?"
-Go back to sleep.-
"What? I..."
WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP?
"Augh...!"
-That was unnecessary.-
HUSH, ID. AND COME ALONG. WE HAVE A LOT
OF WORK TO DO, YOU AND I...
* * * * *
"Emmy, wait!"
Emeralda was beyond hearing Citan. For a
breif moment, the nanotech colony saw red. She
*had* to destroy Grahf and the True Weltall.
Her father somehow hadn't finished the job. She
would. She owed Fei that much.
Crescens slammed into the other Gear, the
razor wings tearing into armor and shredding
interal systems. As she pulled back, in
expectation of retaliation, she was puzzled
by the lack of movement. Also, the True
Weltall wasn't in it's usual pose... it
simply hung there, now a bit more limp than
before. It began to list a bit, and
Emeralda moved to finish the villian.
Regrs suddenly moved in her way.
"Elly!"
Crescens screeched to a halt in mid-air.
"Have you gone nuts?? Let me finish that...
that *thing* off! It must have hurt Fei!"
"Emeralda... look at it. It's not standing
like Grahf. And would a single attack from
you have felled him like this if it really was
Grahf?"
Emmy looked past Regrs. The True Weltall
was again on the floor of the cavern. It
looked helpless, like a small child curled up
after an unwarranted beating from an abusive
parent. Citan ran over to the gray Gear and
popped the hatch open.
Sitting in the command couch was a young
man, about Citan's height, his face slightly
obscured by his long dark hair. For one moment,
Elly caught herself thinking this man resembled
Id. But it wasn't Fei... he was dressed in the
uniform of the Solaris military. Citan hefted
him out of the broken Gear.
"There is nothing more we can do here,"
said Citan as he pushed the unconscious pilot
behind Fenrir's seat. "We should return to the
Yggdrasil."
Fenrir stood, placing its sword across its
back and magnetically keeping it there. Citan
picked up the broken Alpha Weltall and took off.
Elly followed. Emmy didn't follow for a long
moment.
"Did I kill him?" she thought. "I didn't
mean to... I thought maybe it was..."
"Emmy!"
In response to Elly's voice, Emmy rose
slowly into the sky and flew after them. But
Crescens' wings had a definite limpness to
them.
* * * * *
"Hell no!"
Sigurd sighed. Bart was, once again, being
far more exuberant than the situation warranted.
He traded looks with the other former Element,
who returned the look and adjusted his glasses.
"I have already told you, Bart... this is
not Grahf. I have examined the Alpha Weltall
thoroughly, and there is no evidence..."
"What if that's only what that masked
monster wants us to think??"
"Bart, calm down," Sigurd said.
"I'll calm down... once I've blasted that
evil Gear to smithereens!"
"You're not usin' yer head, Barty-boy."
The third former Element downed the rest
of his drink as the younger man turned to
look at him.
"What d'you know, man? You didn't...!"
"Nah, I didn't," Jesiah Black replied.
"But, I do know for a fact, from all Doc and
Elly told me, that the guy in your sickbay
ain't the same joker that tried to waste y'all
a few months ago. Besides, if this Grahf was
as powerful as y'all claim, Emeralda couldn't've
skewered him so easily."
"My father's right," Billy concurred
quietly. "I don't believe Grahf survived his
last encounter with us and Id. Besides, he
gave his life to protect us from Deus'
scrutiny, so even if that is Grahf in
sickbay, I doubt he'd wish us harm."
"You've got a smart boy there, Jessie,"
Sigurd said. His friend grinned.
"Blast it..." Bart murmured. "There I
go again..."
"It is all right," Citan replied with a
soft smile. "If you will excuse me, I believe
I shall look in on my patient."
Citan padded out of the room. Sigurd and
Jessie watched him, Billy looking from one to
the other.
"What?" the former Etone asked.
"The man hasn't seen his wife and kid
since this whole mess began. Billy, why
don't you go relieve him so he can head
back to Shevat real quick."
Billy nodded, standing and heading
out the door. In the corridor outside, he
found Emeralda, sitting in a corner.
"You all right, Emmy?" he asked.
"I feel so bad," she replied, wiping
her eyes. Billy sat beside her.
"I didn't even want to figure out what
was going on... I just laid into him. I'm
glad he's all right, but I wish..."
"You wish you could at least apologize
to him?"
The nanotech colony nodded. Billy
thought for a moment, then coughed.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Sure, just a little throat trouble,"
Billy fibbed. "I was supposed to go tell Citan
to head to Shevat to see his family, but I
wouldn't want to infect our guest..."
Emeralda suddenly brightened and leapt
to her feet.
"I feel great! Not sick at all! Why don't
you go lie down and I'll go relieve Citan!"
Billy smiled, coughing again. "Thanks,
Emmy. I owe you one."
Emeralda smiled her beautiful, innocent
smile and skipped off. Billy felt a hand on his
shoulder. He looked up to see his father.
"That was very sweet of you, son," Jessie said.
"I know I haven't had much of a chance to say it...
but I'm proud of you."
Billy smiled and nodded his thanks as he stood
and followed his father back into the Gun Room.
* * * * *
Emeralda slipped into the sickbay, taking in
the scene with golden-hazel eyes. Sitting beside
the bed where the mysterious rider of the Alpha
Weltall lay, Citan Uzuki looked down at a small
silvery object in his hand.
As she approached, Emmy could see it was a small
folding frame which contained pictures of Citan's
wife and child.
"Yui's very pretty," Emmy said. To her relief,
Citan didn't jump out of his chair.
"Yes," he replied, "and so is Midori. I hope
all is well in Shevat."
"I'm sure it is... I think Maria's getting ready
to head back and help finish the outer work on Shevat.
I think Billy might be going too, and they could use
an escort... besides, you could enter all this in
your new computer!"
Citan nodded thoughtfully. "Yes... the 'Ignas
Database' could use an update..."
"And while you're there, you could check up on
Yui and Midori!"
The gentle doctor smiled at Emeralda.
"Thank you, Emmy. I shall go make my
preparations to leave. Please keep an eye on the
patient."
"I'll keep both of 'em on him, if that's okay,"
Emeralda said with a wink. Citan chuckled and walked
out.
Emeralda sat, looking at the tall man laying on
the sickbay cot. His hair was dark and long, not as
long as Fei's but a bit longer than Citan's. He was
still in a Solaris military uniform, but it was torn
in places. Under the fabric, Emmy could see the bandages
that had been applied, as well as the small one applied
to the cut in the man's forehead. As she sat, her
mind began to drift... and she realised how long it'd
been since she slept last...
Izara came to slowly. He didn't open his eyes at
first. Instead, he replayed his last conscious moments
in his head. He had just been getting used to the
OmniGear's controls when another Gear, lacking arms and
sprouting emerald wings from its head, had assaulted
him, and control panels blew out all around him,
thrusting him back into the cold dreamless sleep
of unconsciousness.
Now he was on his back somewhere. He could hear
the soft hum of machinery, and the subtle feeling that
he was moving. In addition, he heard the telltale sounds
of slow breathing beside him. He was on some sort of
ship, then, and someone was watching him.
He opened his eyes, and found his extrapolations
correct. Above him was a ceiling of metal plates, panel
lights, and piping. He looked around. Beside him was...
His breath caught in his throat for a moment.
Dozing in the small chair beside his bed was undoubtedly
the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. Her skin
was the color of burnished gold, long emerald green
tresses spilling down her slender shoulders. Her head
rested against one of those shoulders, her features
tranquil and breathtaking as she dozed. Izara thought
for a breif, romantic moment, that this was an angel
and he was in heaven. Then he looked back up at the
austere ceiling and sighed. The sound caused the
girl watching him to awaken with a start.
"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"No, it's okay," she replied, her voice like
music. "I shouldn't be dozing anyway. I am supposed
to be watching you, after all." She rubbed her eyes,
then fixed them on him. He held back a gasp of awe.
They were like tiny plates of pure gold, glittering in
the light of the room.
"Where am I?"
"You're on the Yggdrasil, a sub-sand cruiser Bart
and Shevat turned into an airship. It's really cool!
It used to be able to link with this battleship from
Nocturne and turn into this super-dimensional Gear..."
"I remember that... I saw the vids."
"Oh right... you're from Solaris, right?"
"Sort of. Not originally."
"What do you mean?"
The Gear pilot sighed.
"I wasn't born on Solaris... My parents were from
a small town in Aveh. Solaris soldiers laid waste to
it when it began stirring up the locals. In the middle
of all the carnage, a man named Eldurim found a baby boy...
me. He and his wife were childless, and seeing me crying
there, alone and surely doomed before long, he scooped
me up and took me to Solaris.
"He didn't tell me I was a -Lamb- until I was about
twelve. I threw myself into my studies, to prove to him
and to everyone that I was just as good as they were. It
worked, too... I made it into Jugend."
"Citan was telling me about that once..."
"After that, I met a young records officer by the name
of Aiyuko. We... well, we fell in love. Turns out she was
a pretty fair Gear pilot, too. Anyway, we were, I believe,
about to get assignments together in Gebler when the red
Gear tore Solaris apart.
"Aiyuko and I managed to escape, and hooked up with
other Solaris military refugees to find and destroy that
Gear. But... the -Seraphs- had other plans."
The girl nodded, supressing a tremble. Apparently,
she'd had her run-ins with the so-called angels as well.
"But I'm rambling. Why don't you tell me about
yourself, miss..."
She smiled, an odd look in her eyes. One would think
she'd never been called miss before, Izara thought.
"Well... my name's Emmy..."
* * * * *
Joshua Loomis ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
English Major `6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`)
& (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
Jedi Master _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,'
(il),-'' (li),' ((!.-'
email: jeloomis@planetx.bloomu.edu
cougar_jel@hotmail.com
homepage: http://members.xoom.com/cougar_jel/
"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" -Percy Bysshe Shelley,
"Ozymandias"
"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact."
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
(Act V, Scene 1, l.7-8)
"Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda
"The worst foe lies within the self."
-Parasite Eve
"Don't think you are...know you are." -Morpheous
Follow your heart and you'll never get lost.