Before anything else, I want to make it clear that I don't want anyone to badger me about the next Chaotic Illusion chapter. I'm working on it, I swear.

What you see here is the next project in the little oneshot binge I'm going on right now. (Damned plot bunnies…) This oneshot is much more lighthearted than my Tales of Symphonia oneshot (Farewell) which is nice. And though this story is kind of dialogue-intensive, I like it, and I'm happy with the way it turned out. Though I'm pretty sure I completely inaccurate with many parts of this fic, especially the last part, which is supposed to be an actual scene from the game. (I'm too lazy to go and check the game and find out what everyone actually says.)

So no one is confused: This fic is about when Sagi first meets Guillo. (So it's Baten Kaitos Origins), and Callisto is the name of Sagi's spirit in this story. (It's also what I called the spirit when I played through it. Callisto also happens to be one of the moons of Jupiter, but I don't think anyone really cares about that.)

Oh well, enough rambling. Onwards….

Disclaimer: Baten Kaitos Origins and all of its characters, locations, and plotline are property of Namco-Bandai, and only Namco-Bandai.

Dig Me Up

A little blue butterfly flitted around the soft blue flowers of the thorny plants that dominated the forest. It landed delicately on one of the blooms, spreading its tiny wings. A little boy of about seven knelt down by the butterfly, and watched the insect with great interest.

"I don't think Gena will be very happy if you don't go home soon,"

The little butterfly, as if hearing the strange voice, beat its wings suddenly and flew away. The boy frowned up at a space somewhere above his green-haired head, "Awww… you're no fun!" he complained, "Mom doesn't mind if we come here!"

"Yes, but it's getting dark," replied the voice in a stern, but kind tone, "See, there isn't as much sunlight filtering through the thorn plants. We should go back before dusk, you know how worried Gena gets if you stay out after dark."

The boy was silent for a minute, then he gave in. "Okay fine," he said, "Let's head home." He stood up and started to walk away, until –

"Look! Look Callisto!"

"What is it now Sagi?" said the spirit Callitso impatiently.

"There's something sticking out of the ground over there!"

The spirit sighed, insomuch as a spirit that could not breath could sigh, "Is it another thornflower?"

"No!" said little Sagi, "It's a pretty rock!"

Oh well, little kids will be little kids. Thought Callisto. "Sagi, we don't have the time for this. Gena is going to be really really worried if you don't go home soon. You know how the poor lady gets."

The boy ignored the spirit, crouching down to examine a dark blue rock buried in the ground, with only a small part exposed to the air. Then he started digging around the rock. "What are you doing now?" said Callisto exasperatedly, though he could already guess.

"I'm digging the rock out!" said Sagi.

Callisto, deciding that trying to argue with the little boy would be futile, watched silently as Sagi dug around the rock. After a few minutes if digging, the spirit commented, "It looks an awful lot like a hand."

Sagi stopped digging and examined his find. "It does look like a hand…" he agreed. The rock had turned out to be a large, blue hand, caked in dirt and other grime. "I wonder if there's more?" Sagi speculated aloud, beginning his labor anew.

"I'm not so sure about this now…" said the spirit, feeling uneasy, "You don't know what it is. It could be something that we shouldn't dig up."

Sagi ignored his guardian spirit. Using another rock as a shovel, the boy eventually dug down to a forearm, then to a shoulder, all made of the same blue material. Callisto no longer thought that it was stone, it looked more like some kind of blue metal he could not identify. He urged Sagi to stop digging two more times, but both times, he was called nag before the boy returned to unearthing his prize. Time passed.

The sun had set, and stars were beginning to shyly come out into the sky, when Sagi found a head. It was shrouded in red and orange cloth, like a veil, but with a slit where the eyes should be. Sagi, now covered in dirt, said, "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know," said the spirit, "But we should leave now."

"Why?"

"Because… I think I just saw the hand twitch."

Sagi looked down at the blue hand. He stared intently at it, waiting for something to happen. The middle finger twitched. Sagi squeaked in terror (something he would deny doing for the rest of his life) and scuttled away from the thing buried in the ground. "It's… it's alive!" he said, his voice about half an octave higher than normal.

Callisto didn't say anything, but rather watched the blue thing his charge had just uncovered. The hand twitched again, and the head started to move, like the figure was nodding. Then two little lights flickered into life inside the thing's head, as if two candles had just been lit. It turned its head to stare at Sagi, who could barely breathe for terror. Its one free hand clawed at the earth, as if trying to pull itself out of the ground. Finding that this did not work, it started to dig itself out, clawing at the earth around its shoulders.

It extricated itself from the ground in about five minutes, and stood on the ground, a little uneasily. Dirt and rocks fell off of its body with every movement. It brushed off some dirt and a particularly enthusiastic worm, before turning to the terrified green-haired boy, who hadn't moved in the last five minutes.

The golem of blue stared down at the boy. Then it tried to speak, "W… whe… ere… I… ere… am…. ere… am… I… am…"

"What's it saying?" Sagi asked Callisto.

"If I had to guess… 'where am I'?" said Callisto, "It has been buried in the ground, probably for quite some time."

"It sounds like it's two different people talking at the same time!"

"We should get out of here right now," said Callisto, "If it's angry then you could get hurt. When I give the world, you run for the village as fast as you can, got it?"

"But we don't know if it's okay or not!" argued the boy, "We should try talking to it."

The golem continued to stare at Sagi blankly, "Who… who… you… are… who… are… you?" asked the golem with some difficulty.

"Um… I'm Sagi," said the boy, "Who are you?"

The golem seemed to think about this question, the lights that were its eyes dimming a little. "Now's our chance to run away!" said Callisto hurriedly.

"No!" said Sagi stubbornly, "We can't just leave it!"

"Oh yes we can!"

"Gui… llo,"

Both spirit and boy looked at the golem, which had just spoken. "I… am… Gui… llo," said the blue golem, "That… is… my… name." It cocked its shrouded head to one side, "What… is… your… name?"

"I'm Sagi!" said the little boy cheerfully.

"Sa… gi…" said Guillo, as if experimenting with the sounds, "Sagi… Where am… I?"

"Hassaleh," said Sagi, "You're in the Thornflower forest on Hassaleh."

"Never heard… of Hassaleh," said Guillo, gradually becoming better at speech, "Are you from… Hassaleh?"

Sagi nodded, "Yup!" he said, "I live in a village called Sheratan outside the forest. Want to see my home?"

"Sagi!" objected Callisto, "This is getting out of hand! How are you going to explain this thing, Guillo or whatever, to your mother?"

"I'll tell her I found it up in the forest!" said Sagi, with all the confidence of any child his age, "She won't mind. I'll tell her it's my new friend!"

"Who are you talking to?" asked Guillo, looking puzzled, which was quite a feat, as it only hand two little lights and some body language to express emotion.

"I'm talking to my Guardian Spirit, Callisto!" said Sagi to the golem, "No one else can hear him, but he's there! He's my best friend in the whole world!"

Guillo seemed to consider this, but remained silent. "Can you show me your home?" asked Guillo.

"Sure!" Sagi got to his feet and took the blue golem by the hand, "I'm sure everyone back home will like you!" he said cheerfully, tugging on Guillo's arm.

"Who's everyone?" asked Guillo, as it was lead roughly away from its resting place.

"There's Mom. And the old Doc. There's Lilly, but she's annoying. There's Mike and Jack, they're twins! And there's – "

"Sagi, should we be bringing this thing home?" asked Callisto as he followed Sagi, "I'm worried about what it'll do when we reach the village."

"You worry too much!" said Sagi, with his trademark cheerfulness, "Everything is going to be just fine!"

Eight years later, Sagi stood again by that patch of dirt in the Thornflower forest where he had discovered his friend. Strange, if he had never spotted that 'rock', or decided to dig it up, he never would have met Guillo. What would have happened to it if he hadn't discovered it? Would Guillo had stayed in the dirt for the rest of forever, or would someone else have decided to dig it up instead?

"Hey, why all the long faces all of a sudden?" inquired a seventeen-year-old girl, the newest addition to the little group. She had been walking with Sagi and Guillo through the forest, and had noticed them become suddenly silent and thoughtful when they reached his particular spot.

Sagi looked up at the older girl and said, "This is where I met Guillo. I found Guillo buried here years ago."

Milly cocked her head to one side and gave Sagi a confused look, "Buried here?" she asked, "What was it doing in the ground?"

"Do you think I just took a shovel and buried myself?" snapped Guillo, its eye-lights turning red with anger, "I don't remember how I got here. My first memories are of Sagi finding me."

They were all silent for a moment as they contemplated this. "C'mon, we're almost there," said Sagi, "We've just got a little ways to go before we get to the village." He turned away from the spot where he had found his friend so many years ago, and walked off in the direction of his home, his friends, old and new, close behind.

The End