Disclaimer: I do neither own the characters nor the world of Final Fantasy IX. However I do own some of the characters that will appear throughout the story.

Enjoy!

Prologue

My soul begins to stir.

So it is true, what I was promised. I shall return to Gaia and gain a second chance at life. I will return to my old body and have the opportunity to take a different path this time around... or have I? Depending on where I will start, people will recognize me and they will punish me for the sins and crimes I have committed. Not that I could blame them, but what good would a life like that do? Why bother to return, when I will be killed as soon as I pass their way? Or worse, what if they make me live in full awareness of what I have done? If any chance I had in this next life would be out of my reach because of my past?

It is amusing, somehow. When I was still alive, I feared nothing more than my own death. I never imagined how death itself can alter one's own conception of the world. Now my past fear of dying seems somewhat petty. Still, I will have no choice. I did not choose to die, nor did I choose to return. They say that this is my fate. Now I have to wonder, between death and return, will I be able to make my own choices? Will I be able to act according to my own free will? Or is it my fate to become someone's puppet yet again? Is it my fate to be someone lesser who will be waiting for someone better to enter the stage and to be replaced by that very person? Or, will I be more of a vessel than a puppet?

Whatever fate has prepared for me, I am not looking forward to my future. I am not ready to meet, whatever the world has in store for me. What if I fail again? What if the pressure that the world will put upon me causes me to iterate all my crimes? I don't want to be the delinquent any more. I am willing to repent my sins, but will the world let me? The world will never forget, but I fear it will not forgive, either.

I am scared.

Slowly the nothingness around me dissipates, my fears however do not. The world of the living comes into focus, though it is still foggy. Or am I about to return to the mist? No, a small cabin materializes. My other senses seem to return, too. I can smell burnt oil and fresh herbs. And there is someone screaming. I cannot see her, as white fog is clouding my vision, but I can hear her. It is a woman crying out in pain. Will my return to life begin with the death of another being? No, I don't want it. Stop it! I don't want to come back, not at this cost. Sinned before I even had the chance to repent.

More voices, but they are not screaming. They try to soothe the woman, but to no avail. The screaming increases, but the fog vanishes finally. I am floating a few feet above the floor and my eyes are locked on the screaming woman. She is in labour and two other humans are helping her to give birth to her child. And then, the screaming of the woman is replaced by the first cries of the newborn baby.

Me.

The majority of my soul is still floating in the air, unseen by the humans, but there is no mistake. I recognize my own face at once. The midwife hands my new body over to the woman, who has tears in her eyes. I have never seen such tears before. They are tears of happiness. As soon as she has touched my skin, a jolt rushes through my soul. The crying stops and the woman begins to speak. Her voice is raw from screaming, but still I can hear the softness within.

When they had told me that I would return, never would I have thought that I would be born as a child. A child for the first time, protected by someone who cares for me. The fear and the despair I've felt before slowly ebb away as she is cradling me in her warm arms.

Mother.

I will not be alone. I will have my mother watching out for me. And maybe she will able to help me finding my own path. Not destiny's cobbled road of old despair and regrets, but a new one, a path no one has followed before. A path with an uncertain direction and a destination that needs to be uncovered.

My time in the abyss is nearing its end and in a few moments, my souls will unite and become one. Í am still anxious, but for the first time there is really hope in my life. My fortune seems to change once more and this time, for the better. I still don't know what the future holds for me.

Let's find out.