A/N: This is my first attempt at writing a Final Fantasy Type 0 fanfiction since I dislike the ending so much. Talk about tears I wept when I discovered that my favorite characters die and the ones who get to live, well, I question whether they deserve the chance. I want Ace, Deuce, Eight, Seven, Trey, Queen and the other official Class Zero members to live. Thus, I decided to write my intake of the game. There's going to be room for slight change or at least I hope so. Enjoy reading and if you do leave comments, please no flames. Thanks. Now, on with the story.


There were some things worth fighting for no matter the cost. Even if one's life was on the line. Because seeing someone else's happiness was better than seeing to your happiness.

I knew this better than anyone.

But I never acted upon it.

Instead I lived with the same events going on and on again. I watched it from afar and up close. And there was nothing I could do but let the events take their course.

Just like how we all, Class Zero, used the last our strength to hoist our weapons into a standing position. We leaned our weakened, bloodied, and battered bodies against the weapons like some podium. Then we waited for our end. Already King, Queen, Sice, Eight, Seven, and the others drifted into their endless dreams. Ace and me were the only ones left. He was holding on for their sake, seeing that they didn't die alone. Even in death, he was seeing to their happiness, like he was seeing to mine.

He was waiting for me to forever shut my eyes.

Little did he know that I wasn't like him or the others.

I won't die here and now.

I was only an observer, watching the events play over and over again like some twisted game. But I was forced to live the events with them and keep all the knowledge about what was going to happen to them a secret.

There was nothing I could do but hear the howling of the wind outside. I slightly shifted my bloodied hands through the crumbles of debris on the floor. I wheezed in air into my lungs and coughed as some blood trickled from the side of my lips. Ace slightly angled his head to me. His pale eyes flickered to mine with pain and concern. He flinched and dreadfully coughed as he struggled to breathe. He was trying to hold on for my sake.

I winced as I strained to smile at him.

'It's almost over,' I reminded myself. 'This is nothing new.'

I shifted my gaze to the sky. The heavy weight on my chest pressed down, taking the little air I had left. I took in the sky; noted it was cloudy and grey. A cry pierced the quietness of the room and I saw a black bird soaring high in the sky through the broken roof. It was my queue to close my eyes and let Ace take his last breath.

My eyes drifted shut as tears fell from my eyes down my blood streaked cheeks. My breathing halted...

And then I was standing before Class Zero in an uninjured body and in a place that used to be our classroom. Quickly, I glanced down at my body, noticing the long black cloak that hid my figure beneath the long folds. I opened my hands so that my palms faced me to notice they were free from blemishes. I raised my eyes to him and saw him staring at me with a shocked expression on his handsome face. Then the light faded from his eyes. His hands fell limp at his sides as the dust drifted in the breeze.

More tears pooled in my eyes. They were all sitting next to each other, in their bloody and torn clothes. Some of them held hands. Others leaned against each other. They fought together and they died together as Class Zero.

I couldn't watch the scene anymore and I turned away from the gruesome sight. It was one I would never get use to no matter what.

"Good job, dear sister," a male's voice broke out from next to me. I lowered my head to cover my tears. My hands clenched into fists while I bit my lip with my teeth to hold in an outburst. The last thing I needed was for Joker and Tiz to know how much Class Zero deaths affected me. None of them deserved to die. I didn't deserve to live.

"Are you sure? This is something I'll never get use to," replied a feminine voice from my other side.

"Oh, come on Tiz. How many times have we watched this?" Joker asked. I could imagine him crossing his arms over his chest. Although he wore a cloak similar to mine, his was more pronounced in the Academy attire whereas mine was just a normal one.

"Let me guess," the girl answered him. She was dressed in the same attire as him. I knew how she thought about things. She would put a finger to her lips while she pondered.

"One hundred and nine times," I answered for them.

There was a moment of silence as I felt the weight of their gazes on me. I was aware the cycle Class Zero had; life and death happened numerous times, but Joker and Tiz lost count of it. I didn't. Their number of deaths was a countless reminder of how helpless I was while witnessing their deaths. Their number of deaths was a memory. It plagued me like a disease.

As Eight would say, their deaths could only serve as a memory.

"Sometimes you're scary," Joker told me. A strong arm wrapped around me. "But that comes with actually being with them."

"Unlike you who gets to stay with Mother," I retorted through clenched teeth.

"There is no need to get mad. We all are simply following Mother's orders, right Tiz?" Joker looked to the other female with us.

"Yes, and Mother demands that we get back soon. The others will wake up from their crystal state," she warned us. She unhooked Joker's arm from my shoulders and I was grateful to her for the action. Slowly, I approached the lifeless bodies. Each one of them were in a better place. The only one who had his eyes open was Ace. And he was looking at me before he died.

I reached his pale face marred with blood with trembling fingers. Carefully, I tried to close his eyes while holding back a sob. My vision blurred as I closed his dull eyes, realizing that in this timeline, there was a slight change. Ace never saw me before his death. He always died with his eyes open while staring into the sky. However, he saw me this time. There was no way I could let Joker and Tiz relay this small fact to Mother. If she knew, then she would watch me like a hawk. She would control my actions and dictate what I say to them. I couldn't let that happen.

Mother was not a nice person when she was vex.

And in Rubrum, Mother was a god. Control and seer of the Crystals. She was the one with power to free Rem and Machina from the crystals.

I stepped away from the bodies and lowered my head in respect.

'Please forgive me for the 109th time for being unable to save you,' I mentally prayed. 'I know your souls can never seek peace as Mother controls all of us but one day I will find a way to break all of us from her power, even if it means that I have to go against her alone. It's the only way I can protect all of you and atone for my sin of watching you die countless of times.' I lifted my head and watched each of them. My eyes lingered a few seconds longer on Ace. 'Especially you.'

"Come on Deuce, we don't have all day," Joker pitched in.

"I hate to agree with him, but we have to go. Mother is almost here."

"Goodbye for now but not for long. We'll be seeing each other again," I whispered as another breeze drifted by me. Only it was stronger and I saw the mark they left for anyone who stumbled upon Class Zero. A red flag raised and began to dance in the wind.

I turned away from the tragic scene with a heavy heart.


"Are you sure we can trust Deuce?" Joker asked his Mother, who was dressed in a tan slacks, a button shirt that showed her ample cleavage and belly button, and high heeled shoes. She was missing the usual smoke in her hand as she had her attention to the floor. "I don't mean any offence since she's our sister," he pointed to Tiz standing next to him and himself, "But I have this feeling she's drifting farther apart from us."

"And you say that, why?" Mother lifted her head to look at him. One perfectly dark eyebrow was raised in speculation.

"She tried to hide the fact that Ace saw her before he died," Tiz backed up Joker.

"Oh really?"

"Why would she do something like that unless she's rebelling."

"That's exactly what she's doing," Mother answered. The light from the ceiling gleamed on her glasses. For some reason, Joker was reminded of Queen. In many ways, if Queen got to live longer, she would have been the one to appear like Mother.

"You're aware of this?" Tiz asked with a shocked expression. Although the hood hid part of her face, Mother always knew her children's reactions.

"Of course," Mother said as she simply shrugged her shoulders. "Mother knows everything."

Joker took a step toward her. "Aren't you going to stop her?"

The beautiful woman merely shook her head while laughter bubbled from her. Joker and Tiz were more baffled at their mother's reactions.

"Mother?" They both questioned.

When her laughter subsided, her expression turned stoic. "Can you imagine being with your family knowing they're going to die a gruesome death? Their deaths weigh heavily on your sister and there's nothing she can do about it."

Joker bowed his head in shame while Tiz put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. She licked her suddenly dried lips before asking the forbidden question. "Why don't we stop this?"

She shook with fright as Mother's expression went from stoic to scary. Mother's dark eyes glinted with steel and hatred was evident. "Because that insufferable Machina insists to repeat everything. Stupid boy, he thinks he can save everyone when he only brings death and destruction to everything he touches. He can't be happy with Rem. He can't live with the pain of remembering the rest of my children. So I'll keep repeating the events and watch him suffer."

Mother turned her frightening stare on her children. Both of them winced as they were targeted by her dark side. She was one woman they never wanted to oppose.

Joker was the one to lift his hands in surrender. "We understand."

"Do you, my darlings?"

They both nodded their head.

"Good, now summon your sister here."

They both nodded again and left their Mother's office in a hurry to get their sister.


I was well aware of Mother's intentions when Tiz ran into my room, announcing Mother wanted to see me. Soon it was going to be the time when everything was going to begin; the first mission where Class Zero members were the only ones who can use their magic and summon an Eidolon on the field.

It was funny, Class Zero was a myth according to the Academy. But the number zero always meant who we really were. We were non-existent. Just a group of students who faded with time. Rem and Machina couldn't live with our memories.

And sometimes I couldn't help but think Mother was right. Maybe it was better if the Crystal continued to wipe the memories of the people close to us. It was always better moving forward than living with the past. Maybe Mother kept the Crystal intact because I was living proof that I couldn't live remembering the past.

I slowly got up from my bed and I grabbed the long black cloak beside my dresser. I put it on as I made my way down the hall to Mother's office. Tiz followed after me. Her heels clicked on the polished floors of the temporary mansion we were living in.

Joker casually lounged by the main doors of Mother's office. Even when we were on vacation, the time frame between Class Zero deaths and their rebirths, he still acted as Mother's bodyguard. If anyone needed protection, it was us. He uncrossed his arms from his chest and slightly shifted his feet so he was standing at his full height. His swift maneuver didn't bother me. I might not be a physical fighter like him but I was quite capable of holding my own with evasion. Besides, Mother would never let him physically hurt me. Mother needed me more than the others.

While Joker and Tiz were her observers in the Crystal Room, I was the observer on the field. I was the one who relayed all the happenings for each member in Class Zero. Mother didn't know one thing and I was fortunate that I was able to withhold the information as long as I did; my feelings for Ace, the leader of Class Zero.

"She's waiting inside for you," Joker informed me.

"I already know that," I huffed at him. Did he purposely try to annoy me?

"Then you already know what this summoning means?"

I was expecting something from Mother but I didn't have to tell him anything. I kept my expression blank as I lifted a large hood over my head. They followed my lead when the doors opened to the exquisite splendor of Mother's office. She spared no expense on the items and the furniture in her room. I only had time to take in the magnificent desk, the large window behind it and her womanly form before the window. The sunlight casted a halo around her. The carpeted floor encased her silhouette. Quickly, I averted my attention on the plush light red carpet, keeping my gaze on her shadow. Joker and Tiz stood patiently behind me.

As she approached me, I knelt down on my knees and waited for her to say something. Gently, her cold and long fingers curled under my chin and she gently raised my head. I had no choice but to look into her dark awaiting eyes.

There was flash of something in those dark depths. I couldn't place it but an uncertainty filled me.

"Do you know what I called for you, child?"

I kind of did, but I didn't want to assume. I would let her tell me. One thing I learned from replaying the events one hundred and nine times was silence was a way of telling the truth and a lie at the same time.

Mother took the hint and answered for me. "As you may know, it's time to start everything from the beginning."

I was right. She summoned me here to me know it was time to meet Class Zero again. I was going to see Queen, Jack, King, Sice, Eight, Seven, Nine, Rem, Machina and the others. And most of all, I was going to see him... Ace.

"Are you ready?" she asked me as she leaned closer to me.

My mouth was too dry to form words. All I could do was nod my head.