Hello, Baten Kaitos fandom! I come here with a story that is obviously canon, if the player didn't turn the Gamecube off ahead of time in order to rage/cry incoherently without further distractions (and I am not blaming anybody here, I really really wanted to).
So, how come no one has written this yet? What the hell is the matter with this fandom? Unless somebody has. If that is the case, please give me the link to that, because, goddamn.
Oh! Beta readers wanted.
Background music recommendation:
Mythos - Reality of a Dreamer - Requiem
On youtube, pasting any of these after v= will work:
idoekQ1td9E
Y7PRZIyU1is
1TsXVNwdZNE
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Power sources that were no longer there, having been intentionally released; weakened, misaligned steel support structures that now bore more weight than they were ever intended to; poor visibility, not only because of the lack of light, whether natural of artificial, but also because of all the smoke generated by the malfunctioning electrical and mechanical equipment; the lingering smell of burning plastic and the occasional yell of pure panic of another lonely member of the security personnel on-board after it had become every man for himself. Any of these were good signs of the impending absolute break down and collapse of the once sterile, gleaming and beautiful Tarazed.
Was this the natural result of the hubris of a broken man in the verge of despair? If it hadn't been the three of them, would somebody else have considered the cost of such a life of luxury to be simply not worth it? Not only the loss of wings of the heart, but all that this entailed. Because really, those that reassured themselves by pretending to be the happiest, were the ones with the saddest gaze, the emptiest laughter.
By the time that the three of them set off on this last mission, Sagi felt that he understood enough about human suffering. He had started this journey, way back at the dark service, well aware of how his mother, Gena, struggled to make ends meet at the orphanage, and how the children there still missed their families. But then he saw the contrasting quality of lives that the people of Alphard and Azha led -to this day, Jack, the spirit living inside him, still disagreed with the three of them about the righteousness of the Mourning Mistral's actions-. After that, he was offered a place as a field agent of the Quaestor. From that day on, Sagi had vowed to help as many people as he could, and not just himself and those he considered his. He had kept such a vow throughout his travels. But now...
Now he hoped that both the wingless civilians and the military personnel got away safely, yes. But he wasn't going to stop and make sure. He wasn't going to lose anybody else. Especially when there was the possibility that the one they were grieving for could come back. He felt more than a little selfish, but, well, he'd allow selfishness this time. Grief and shock does that to a person.
"Come on!", yelled Milly, as she yanked on the wrist of a dazed Sagi, "What did you go back there for?! He's- He's already-"
"Milly...", but now was not the time to explain, he didn't want to get her hopes up in case he was indulging in too much wishful thinking. They set off running again, through the collapsing metallic behemoth of a floating continent, avoiding most of the falling debris.
She nearly yelled, eyes alight, "He's dead! Do you want to be dead too?"
"Of course not! There was something I had to do." he looked behind him, briefly, unintentionally.
"Was it Jack's idea? Your face had that weird look..." She heard rumbling above them, looked up, put two and two together, and cursed, in her mind.
"Not this time, I just-"
"Look out!" Milly pulled Sagi out of the way of a glass panel twice his height and very thick. She probably saved his life right there. Instead of getting crushed, he was merely hit on a leg and knocked down. "You okay?"
Sagi tested the limb by holding it and then putting some weight on it, "Nothing broken, at least, I'm pretty sure I can walk".
His guardian spirit piped up, "that panel was the first of many, you two need to get out of here!".
"No need to say that twice, Jack" Sagi replied to him.
Milly picked up Sagi's right arm and put it around her shoulders, "Here let me help you up".
"Right after you", and off they went again, this time climbing the remains of a long ago malfunctioning set of electric stairs.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Having gotten through the nightmarish labyrinth that was an escalator area in which, by now, most things electronic were broken, but any of the even partially organic foes that were after them were, of course, mostly okay, they had decided to take a small break to patch up injuries and holed up in the first relatively safe place they found.
"How is it? I hope it's not too tight", asked Sagi, tying the last knot to secure a set of bandages around Milly's arm.
"It's- ow- it's all right. And thanks. I hope there won't be any lasting muscle damage, though. That could make fighting with clubs impossible", they began storing whatever medical supplies they had left inside magnus, as the small locker room they were currently hiding in to patch up injuries wouldn't shelter them much longer.
After a while, he growled and used the universally understood gesture of hitting his forehead with an outstretched palm, "If we ever do something like this again, I'm bringing a cartload full of cancerite booze magnus"
"What do you mean again? Nobody's doing this ever again".
"No, we're not, are we?", he sighed.
"Hm..." was all she could answer that with, then, seeing how moody the conversation was turning, "Hey. What was the thing that you absolutely had to do earlier, anyway?"
He slowly looked towards the exit, away from her, "I, uh, that was- are you sure that bandage wasn't too tight? That could cost you the whole arm, you know".
"You can't do that", Milly challenged.
"What?".
"You can't avoid the question if it makes you uncomfortable, that's my thing". She stared at him, dead on.
"That's not very fair", he pointed out, but he turned back to look at her, "And you're going to think I'm crazy, if I tell you", and what if he really was crazy?
"Did I think that when you told me you could hear a disembodied voice?"
"No, but you already knew about disembodied voices, you personally knew a spiriter".
"Daddy... I didn't know he was a spiriter, though. I don't think he ever told anyone. And I still won't think you're crazy".
"Fine". And instead of telling her, Sagi picked up his travelling rucksack, unzipped the biggest compartment and pulled something covered up in one of his brown shirts, "Be careful", he handed the bundle to her and went back to prepare for the rest of the journey.
She was careful when unwrapping, but couldn't conceal the shock when she asked, "Sagi! Why?", now holding Guillo's head in her arms.
"You said you wouldn't think I-"
"I don't. But, why?"
"I wanted to bring him, or his- his body with us. But most of it was melted and stuck on that machine. This is all I could get", he answered, going a little teary eyed.
Milly bundled up Guillo's head again and gave it back to Sagi, who put it back on his bag.
"He'd hate it if we were to bury him, you know. We can't do that, Sagi."
"And we won't!" he yelled, "We won't cremate him, either".
"But then-"
"We won't, because he's coming back".
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As the Sfida flew through the sky, away from the fortress that was soon to collapse completely, at by far the quickest speed it had ever reached, two of it's passengers were still catching their breath. Milly still couldn't believe they had made it. Sagi was too exhausted to think right now.
"Here," she handed him a glass of fresh water from the ship's storage room, and drank her own right after.
He smiled, took it gratefully and downed it as well.
"Are you going to tell me what you meant now?", she asked, when they could both speak in more than monosyllables, some minutes later.
"I could feel him, Milly, even when he couldn't talk any more. I still can. He did come with us. It's a lot like what happened when we were trying to get through those annoying block puzzle rooms, or, or when we were fighting the Quaestor and Wiseman", he took Guillo's head out of his bag again and placed it next to himself, on the bed, "Neither of you left me since then". He looked at the floor, with a wry grin on his face, "and, yes, I was thinking about both of you".
"Do you... do you think he can hear us?", she asked, going a little red in the face.
"Yeah. And, you know what? Even if he can't, yet, I have a few ideas about that".
She thought about the implications of what he said, and then sighed, "I hope you're right, Sagi".
Sagi frowned when he heard that, "I was expecting a little bit more support, or maybe even cheer", he decided to deliberately provoke, "don't tell me that the war between you two has escalated this far".
"What? What an awful thing to say!"
"...Sorry, I know it's not like that. But that was an odd reaction".
She herself didn't understand very well why, until she considered for a while, until, "now it's your turn to promise you won't call me crazy".
"After you believed me? Why would I?", he replied, dreading her confession when he saw her expression turn even grimmer.
"I still think it should have been me..."
"Milly..."
"I can't stop thinking about it. The three of us would still be talking right now. I was already planning to go in, machina half first! I could have taken control of the ship. Maybe even stop the self-destruct mechanisms. ...As long as my nerve ending ports weren't damaged, It'd be a matter of recruiting a team of the people who helped me last time. They WERE sworn to secrecy, but, how many seconds would the empire's best engineers wait before they offered help to the Emperor's daughter?!", her hands were shaking by the time she was done.
Sagi put a hand on her shoulder, and said, "Please, stop".
"But, Sagi...".
That's classic survivor's guilt, Sagi thought. He had experienced it a few months ago, after their last visit to the Dark Service's headquarters. His guardian spirit explained the concept to him, "No, seriously, stop that", he took a deep breath and then let it out, "Okay. I get what you're going through right now... really".
"You can't deny I have a point", she insisted.
"Dammit!...", he tried a different approach, "Look, do you think I'm perfectly okay with the way things are?! If there's anybody to blame, that's me! I'm the reason any of this happened in the first place! If I hadn't been so stupid, if I been paying attention then nothing of this would have-", he breathed in slowly, again, remembering a useful coping mechanism, "Instead of beating ourselves out pointlessly, why not do something actually useful?".
"What can we even do, though?", she asked, frustrated.
"I think that if he were here, he'd whack us both on the head and accuse us of being less rational than a pair of panicking fantail ducklings waving their wings and running in circles".
She sighed again, "...he would, wouldn't he?".
"So let's just focus on how to bring him back, we can start by asking those engineers you mentioned".
Milly perked up a little, "Well, if you're thinking about people who could help, we could even go back to the time of the gods, somebody there must have some ideas".
He nodded, "Exactly! My point is: we will see him again, so don't let the guilt keep you from finding out how".
Right after that, a voice could be heard through the intercommunication device on the ceiling, "The Sfida will land in Hassaleh shortly. We need the secondary pilot in the captain's cabin, post-haste".
"Come on then", he said, then he picked up Guillo's head once again, "and... please don't whack ME on the head. I'm trying my hardest not to lose it, okay?", he added quietly.
He knew he wasn't crazy when he felt warmth spread through his chest, after he said that.
o0o
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It was really just his luck, that after drifting in and out of consciousness -or some sort of ghostlike awareness, of which he couldn't remember much at all-, when Guillo could finally focus enough to think concrete thoughts, it would be, naturally, well after everyone had gone to sleep. Not that he expected anyone to be able to hear him in his current state, but it would have been nice to at least see what was happening, or what they were planning. He hoped he'd be able to stay aware for longer this time.
Looking around a little revealed that he was at the orphanage at Sheratan. All of the beds were occupied, with Sagi and the Wench were sleeping each in one of the double beds to his left. Looking out through the window at the night sky revealed that it was a few hours after midnight and that not a lot of time had passed since they defeated Verus-Wiseman. He looked back to the sleeping area and-
Well-
That was certainly something he wasn't expecting. Why was his -detached and poorly covered up- head lying there on the night-stand? He had felt himself melting when he was dying back there. Even if only is head avoided the damage, why would his friends think to go back and retrieve it, when the sane thing to assume would be that he was -completely- dead, especially considering that the man-made continent was about to explode on them? When he tried to approach it, he saw his eyes lit up with a weak red glow and heard somebody yell, "Hell no! Not again. Step away from it!"
As soon as he did, the glow got dimmer and then fully stopped. He turned to where the yell came from and saw a blurry, vaguely humanoid shape.
"I swear if you fade out again- wait, you can HEAR me?" the being asked.
Guillo replied, "...for the most part. Who are you and what do you mean by 'fade out again'?", feeling oddly compelled to reach for what was left of his body, once more.
"That's what happened last time. You went straight for your head, it seemed to be absorbing you but then it stopped and you faded away. Your eyes only lasted lit up for a whole instant", it answered.
"So, will they glow longer the next time if I stay away for a while?", he wondered, before he remembered, "and you still haven't told me who, or what you are".
The shape moved what would have been its head to the side, "I'm that one invisible buddy of Sagi's whose chronic inability to say 'no' contributed to the end of a sizeable chunk of humanity once".
"...Jack!?", he shouted, shocked, "is that you?".
"I'm not even offended that you didn't recognize me at all at first", the ex-god laughed a little.
"Why should I? I have only heard your voice once, millennia ago", Guillo pointed out.
"Well... hm, well, that's a very good point, actually", Jack then said, "...we've all missed you, you know. I'm glad you're back here".
"As am I, but how long have I been gone?"
"Two weeks, three days. Most of that time we were back at the time of the Gods, but we were going to head off for some other continents very soon".
"I take it that wasn't just casual tourism", Guillo commented.
"You didn't see the potted Heartembrace on the night-table, did you?", Jack pointed towards the table, "That's probably the only reason we can talk right now".
Guillo wondered out loud, "that would explain why I feel it drawing me in, together with what remains of my body. It's like a spirit magnet".
"Either that, or a spirit energy charging device", Jack nodded, "There's a little of each of us in that Heartembrace too, since we did go to look for it, and, ehh... This is getting kind of awkward..." he quickly looked at what would be his right hand.
"Hm, maybe you should add 'uncomfortable with emotions' to your simplistic autobiography." Guillo asked, amusement poorly hidden in his voice, "it adds some personality".
"Hardy har har. I'm only reciting facts, that was more of an arbitrary occurrence", Jack said, "And anyway, the important thing here is that, if all goes according to plan, it shouldn't be too long before you can talk to everyone again. We're considering ways to restore your whole body, too. But that's obviously going to take a lot longer".
"I'll wait until sunrise before trying again. What do we do meanwhile?"
"Chat some more, I guess. It gets surprisingly boring when you can't interact with solid matter, but we'll manage".
"I guess we will. Speaking of the skills of the intangible... are you aware of how the human eye works?", and at Jack's confused nod, Guillo brought up something that he had been wondering for a while, "how exactly is it that you, and now I, I guess, CAN see? We don't possess eyeballs with which to absorb light particles". It was really maddening, he was now a ghost himself, more or less, and still didn't understand that.
Jack laughed out loud after he took a moment to think about it, "Huh, well, shit. It doesn't make any sense, now that you mention it...".
o0o0o0o0o0o
Dawn came soon enough, although Guillo wondered how Jack had managed to avoid insanity if he was really unable to interact with the physical world at all every night. He at least could amuse himself reading, looking through one of their magnus decks or, one of his personal favourites when they were exploring in the wilderness, hiding behind a tree or a rock formation whispering in a unique sound frequency that was guaranteed to make both unwitting travellers and monsters run for their lives. He wondered if Jack followed him around, sometimes.
"Well, want to give it another go?", asked Jack, signalling the bed-side table.
"I don't suppose we have a way of knowing for sure that this is going to work", Guillo wondered aloud.
Jack shook his head, "if it doesn't, the worst that could happen is that we're back where we started, here", he replied "...probably", he added more quietly.
Guillo snorted, "That's deeply reassuring, thank you".
"And yet, you're going to try. I know you already miss them like crazy", Jack would have been smiling, if he could, "I'll explain everything again if it all goes to hell and you end up forgetting. Promise".
Guillo nodded, "Here it goes, then".
He approached the remains of his body and fell the familiar pull. The closer he got, the stronger it became. Soon it seemed to be absorbing not just himself, but, oddly enough, the light surrounding the area. He wondered if this was how the very beginning of being pulled into a black hole felt. Sure enough, he heard a high pitched whir and, in an instant, he was gone.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"-was that-"
"-ouldn't been dreaming the same-"
"-gi, look! To your right! He's-"
Pain. Guillo was certain he had never hurt so much before. Fortunately, it didn't last long. As it faded enough for him to focus on anything else, he first heard a sound like an ocean wave crashing inside his head and then another one. Then he felt his eyes lit up. He saw the bed near he table, lit up by the soft red glow he used to emit when he was either exhausted, or livid.
He never thought he would miss such an obvious give-away for his current ability to keep fighting, before.
And then, he saw two figures, both speechless, shocked expressions in their faces.
"Sagi, Milliarde...", he half stated, half asked.
They came closer, Sagi picked him up, and somehow they both hugged him at the same time.
Milly whispered, "Guillo, it's really you...".
The Heartembrace had withered away, purpose fulfilled.
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AN: And there you go. I understand now why I had been weary of writing before. This WILL be edited in the future.
I do have a surprisingly detailed idea of how everything would fit into Baten Kaitos canonical continuity just right, but that will be the subject of possible future updates. I just had to post this before wussing out. Heh.
AN2: The only reason I even use the pronoun "he" is because that's what everybody uses in the game, and he never complains. Hell, I'm pretty sure he constantly refers to himself as a guy in the original Japanese, too.
Thank you for reading. Criticism is welcome.