The Y-Data: Apocrypha

by Moonstone 04

Author's Notes: Heya! This is my own personal attempt to fill in the blanks left in Xenosaga's past and future. All fics within this particular fanon continuity will be labeled "The Y-Data". The entire series potentially contains SPOILERS for all Xenosaga games and related media.

The Apocrypha is where I'll collect the one-shot stories I want to do within the Y-Data continuity. They might be in a chronological order to begin with, but I doubt they'll stay that way. Essentially, shorts and ficlets will roam here.

Big thanks to Jinx for helping me beta "Pendant"!

All things Xenosaga are copyright of Namco Bandai and Monolithsoft. I don't own it, I just fangirl endlessly over it. XD

Break this bittersweet spell on me
Lost in the arms of destiny
- "Bittersweet" from Apocalyptica

"Pendant"

The chain snaps easily.

The small crystal pendant glimmers brightly beneath the light of Zarathustra. Looking down upon it, I wonder how many had held it to their breast, and felt their hearts break beneath its weight. In my outstretched hand, it appears to be such a small and insignificant thing. Yet throughout history, all who possessed it had lost everything they held dear. It is a cursed object.

Now I am coming to face the man responsible for the pendant's creation and its curse. He stands there so calmly, completely detached from his own feelings and the feelings of others around him. He doesn't listen to their pleas anymore than he listened to mine over six thousand years ago. He doesn't care about the suffering he's brought upon us all, he only cares for whatever greater good he proclaims. Or so it would seem.

Wilhelm, as he calls himself now, has received many names and titles over the eons, and "Prince of Lies" was not least accurate among them. Long ago, I learned that he could never be trusted to tell the truth about anything. He is eternally playing a part in the stage called life. I have never seen his true self, but I know where the echoes of his heart are hidden. Since the dawn of time, his true feelings have resounded within that small crystal keepsake, a symbol of every selfish desire he ever cast aside. The power of those emotions, while sealed in his heart, remained echoing within the pendant, bringing passion and despair to everyone who inherited it.

Even my beloved Yeshua fell to its dark power. Wilhelm, an emperor in those days, gave it to Yeshua as a token of goodwill. He hoped of swaying us to serve him in his cause, but Yeshua and I would not join him. In the following years, I watched Yeshua struggle, until finally his own pain and loss echoed that of the crystal he bore. During the short time I too carried the pendant, my own suffering was added to its brilliance.

In my last days, I returned it to the emperor, my final desperate call for truce falling on deaf ears. Even now, I still remember how he lovingly cradled the crystal and chain in the palm of his hand, while smiling at me with those cold ruby eyes. As he spoke of irony and inevitability, somehow his expression never wavered, just as tranquil as he was now. We had fulfilled his prophecy, and he was pleased. In our despair, we had confirmed his own existence.

In yet another time, closer to the present, Wilhelm returned the pendant to its original owner. What exactly conspired, I know not, but since then the crystal's spell has more than doubled its original influence. By the time it was thereafter passed onto Kevin, it was something unspeakably terrible. And unlike other humans, he saw it for what it was. Even as it branded him, he sought to use it, just as Wilhelm had.

The small pink petals tucked into the deep recesses of the crystal had not escaped my notice. They were the efforts of a human man to twist the power of fate into his own favor. It was an innate talent of blood and misery, which worked only too well. When Shion came into possession of the crystal, the pain it delivered onto her was twicefold. Even beyond death, Kevin held sway over her heart, forcing fate to twine them together for all time.

Or so he had thought.

Now, Kevin is cowered on the floor behind Wilhelm. He has lost his sway over Shion, and all his personal designs on this world have failed. No matter how talented Kevin was, the true nature of the pendant has once again proven itself.

As the key to Zarathustra, it holds no real power. In another time, Yeshua had chosen it to be the symbol of humanity's will, a gesture to be offered up by the Maiden. Only by that gesture could Zarathustra's function be ignited. Such a significant act would never be performed upon the universe without that agreement. We decided that long ago...

But now, I am prepared to do the unthinkable. Holding the terrible thing at arm-length, I walk onward only because I no longer know what I should do. Should I go against Shion's will? If I don't, can I risk losing everything all over again? Do I have a choice, as long as Wilhelm holds sway over our wills?

'Yes.' Yeshua's voice echoes in my mind. Without turning around, I know he is far behind me, still prone on the floor. 'There is always a choice. Wilhelm's control is nothing but an illusion. If our hearts were swayed by echoes, it was our own fault. We must not let ourselves despair, we must not lose faith! Shion is right. We must take a stand, even if it may cost us everything. Do you remember...'

How could I forget? At once, I stop where I am. 'We promised to make our own future, our own destiny. Yes, I remember. But in the end...'

'You saved me. You all did. The world could have ended that day, but it didn't. It all made a difference, Mary, and that's why all of us can be here now, the same as before. Because of that, we have a second chance.'

'Yeshua...' I want to believe him. It is the same sweet talk on which I had pinned all my hopes and dreams, so very long ago. But could humanity ever walk free of Wilhelm's web of sorrows? Was there nothing in this world that could sway his own heart?

"Very good. You have done well." Wilhelm says softly to me. His eyes become strangely affectionate as he gazes on the crystal hidden in my grasp, as though he is speaking to it. "With this, we will be able to live forever."

Gently opening my hand, I look into the small crystal. Yeshua is right, I know he is. The wills of Shion and the others are already decided. They're ready, and we must do everything in our power to support them. As my resolve strengthens, the crystal gleams brightly, and for a moment, it reveals everything hidden within. Facets upon facets into eternity, and standing in the deepest depths is a smiling girl with short dark hair, wrapped in a scarlet cloak. A Maiden of a distant age. Suddenly, I understand. Even Wilhelm was bound to this universe, his existence shaped by it. The girl doesn't speak, but I know what she wishes of me. A gesture that only she can request. I am only too happy to comply.

With a silvery death cry, the pendant is crushed in my hand. The sound echoes faintly before falling silent.

The crystalline dust and light flash through the air, and there is shock and anger in Wilhelm's voice. In the twinkling of an eye, the fragments scatter to the depths of Zarathustra, save for what was not mine to destroy, the soft petals in my fist. Although quickly composing himself, Wilhelm's wavelength is now visibly distressed and distracted, so much that I don't think he notices that he has weakened his grip on Kevin. There is no turning back for any of us, that door is forever sealed. Humanity is ready for change, whether that change is good or bad. Just as Shion gave me a new beginning, so too has Wilhelm's heart opened a new door to him. If he can be convinced to walk through it.

The chains have been broken. The curse is no more.

"...I am... KOS-MOS!"