A.N: This story contains spoilers. Under NO circumstances should you read it if you have not beaten planet Styx for the first time. So if this applies to you, stop. Right now. Click the back button on your web browser of choice, and go read some other Star Ocean fan fiction. May I suggest Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell by EvilEatingSanta? Or better yet, fire up your PS2 and play some more. J If you are one of the intrepid who have already reached this point and beyond, please continue.
When Fayt and company found out that they were, in essence, virtual reality characters, I felt that they took it very well. Too well, in fact. So this story is my version of how I felt that the average person would react to such a revelation.
How it SHOULD Have Been
Reality, it seems, is highly subjective. You cut yourself, it hurts, thus you are real….right?
Fayt and his traveling companions were about to find out just how wrong this was.
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Fayt looked around at all his friends and traveling companions, then back at the portal and swallowed deeply. A small sigh caught his attention, and he looked over at Sophia. She was paler than usual, and looking more than a little scared. However, she met his gaze and smiled slightly, and nodded at him. Fayt smiled reassuringly in return.
"Okay everybody…let's go!" Fayt shouted. Cliff pounded his fists together, and grinned in anticipation. A sharp whine pierced the air as Albel quickly drew his sword. Taking a running start, the entire party leaped through the portal, ready for whatever horrible creature should meet them at the other end…
And they found themselves in a city. Several surprised people stepped back, and stared at Fayt and his companions, muttering something about people appearing from within the Eternal Sphere. Albel growled menacingly, and one of the men let out a high pitched squeal before turning sharply on his heel and dashing away.
"Um…guys?" Cliff said, glancing at Maria, Fayt and Sophia. "Where the HELL are we?"
Sophia shook her head, and looked around, eyes widened in confusion. Fayt merely stammered and stuttered, while Maria shot back sharply, "How the hell should I know?"
"But…the Executioners….where are they?" Fayt asked aloud, to no one in particular.
"Oh WOW!" piped up a small, strangely dressed boy. "The stories really ARE true! NEAT-O!"
Fayt, Albel, Cliff, Maria and Sophia turned around and stared at the little boy. He grinned a toothy grin at them, and continued. "So you're lookin' for the Executioners, huh?"
"Speak up, maggot! Do you know where they are?" Albel snapped. He had no patience for anyone, particularly children.
The little boy laughed, the first time anyone had ever had that sort of reaction to Albel. He snarled, and leaped forward to teach the insolent fool a lesson, but was restrained by a frowning Cliff. Albel glared evilly at Cliff, then jabbed him in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. Cliff made a satisfying "oomph"-ing sound, and released Albel, doubling over and rubbing his stomach.
Fayt groaned, and spoke up quickly before all hell could break loose. "Do you know of these executioners?"
"Yeah, I do…I ain't one of them, if that's what you're thinking," the boy answered.
Maria was going to point out that no one in their right mind could confuse the small child with the evil monsters that spread death and destruction everywhere they went, but decided not to bother. "So…can you tell us anything about them?" she asked slowly.
"Sure I can!" the boy said cheerfully. "How 'bout you guys come over to my place? We can talk without anyone interrupting. Besides…you're attracting too much attention. You're dressed pretty funny," the boy said, staring at Albel. A sudden gust of wind ruffled the swordsman's two-tone hair, and sent his purple skirt ruffling prettily about his shapely, remarkably hairless legs. Goosebumps broke out over his naked stomach, and he crossed his arms in front of his matching, skin-tight, purple tank-top as he glared at the small child.
"Do you think it's a trap?" Sophia asked in a shaky, uncertain voice. The rest of the party turned, and looked at her incredulously. Cliff smacked his forehead, and Albel looked at her as one would look at a retarded puppy that just pissed all over its own head.
"No, Sophia," Fayt answered gently. She was, after all, his best friend. "I don't think it's a trap." Turning to the boy, he added, "Sure…we'll go with you."
"Super!" chirped the boy. "This way!"
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Fayt really needed to sit down. Right now. The blue-haired teenager collapsed to the floor, and whimpered. In a corner of the room, Sophia sobbed loudly, sucking in huge gasping breaths of air as she shook all over. Fayt thought briefly of attempting to comfort her, but then realized there was really nothing comforting about the entire situation. In fact, Sophia probably had the right idea. Tears welled up in Fayt's eyes, and he began to bawl. Flinging himself face down on the floor, he began to kick and scream, ignoring the pain, because after all, the pain wasn't really real. It was just simulated pain for a simulated character, living his whole simulated life in a simulated world in a stupid simulated galaxy that was now being deleted by some geeky computer programmer with zits and coke-bottle glasses. Simulated life sure was simulated-ly unfair.
Maria stared off into nothingness, in shock. As if in a daze, she pulled out her pulse gun, and slowly raised it to her head. She pulled the trigger. There was an explosion, and simulated gore flew everywhere. Maria collapsed to the floor, only to rise again when the player at the other end of the screen selected "load" from the camp screen. Maria looked around the room, realizing she wasn't dead, and began to swear loudly.
"Well, SHIT!" Cliff swore loudly. "This is probably the gayest plot device that I've EVER heard…uh, no offense, man," he said, glancing sidelong at Albel.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING, WORM!" Albel roared. Pausing, he added, "Although, regretfully, I must agree with you." Turning on the little boy, Albel drew his sword and pounced. Holding the sharp edge up to the child's throat, Albel said evenly, "All right, maggot. Who's responsible for this? Who do I have to kill to pay back for this travesty?"
"That would be the Japanese," a female voice from above said cheerfully.
"…" said Fayt, although how he spoke an ellipsis no one will ever know.
"The HELL?" Cliff shouted, crouching into a fighting position. Sophia stopped crying, and stared at the ceiling, petrified with fear. Maria continued to swear, while Albel released the boy (who had wet himself) and yelled back at the voice,
"What are you talking about, fool? And who are you? Show yourself!" Albel sliced his sword threw the air menacingly, and arched his back like an angry cat.
"Oooooo, that's hot," said the voice. "But don't tell my little sister I said that. She might kill me."
"I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF IF YOU DON'T REVEAL YOURSELF THIS INSTANT!" screamed Albel, crimson eyes blazing in a mad rage.
"If I don't show myself, how are you going to kill me?" the voice asked in a placating, logical tone. "But sure, if it'll make you happy."
A young woman materialized out of thin air. She looked like she was in her late teens, although in truth she was approaching her mid-twenties. She was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of blue pants made from a thick-looking material. She had long reddish hair, and a smattering of freckles. Her hazel eyes sparkled merrily, as she looked up and down at herself. "Wow, that's pretty cool!" she cackled merrily. She glanced over at Cliff and Albel, and her jaw dropped slightly. "Wow! You guys are even more gorgeous in person!"
Cliff blushed slightly, and ran his fingers through his blonde locks. "Thanks…" he muttered, then shook himself. "I mean, hey! Who the hell are you? And what the hell are the…Jap-An-Eez?" he asked, tripping over the name slightly.
"Screw the girl!" Albel growled. When her eyes lit up, he added, "I didn't mean LITTERALY, fool! Tell us about the ones responsible for this!"
"Ah, well," she said, sounding more than a little disappointed. "The Japanese are a group of people. From a country called Japan. They gave earth many cool things, like sake, pocky and anime. They also are responsible for TONS of technological gadgets, like the Nintendo and the Playstation 2. Those are gaming systems."
"Like battle simulators?" Fayt looked up, suddenly cheerful. Video games made him happy. He jumped to his feet, and looked at the strange woman expectantly.
"Kind of, yeah," the girl replied. "Only instead of actually running around and fighting things, you sit on your ass and press small buttons on a remote control to make the characters on the screen do things."
"Oh," said Fayt, sounding slightly disappointed. "That doesn't sound like as much fun."
"Eh, what can you do?" the girl shrugged. "The technology in the real world is nowhere NEAR as advanced as the technology in our video games."
"This is all VERY facsinating," Albel said sarcastically, "But where does it get to the part where I kill these Jap-An-Eez?"
"Well, see that's the thing…" the girl said. "You can't."
"Do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do, maggot! I kill who I want, when I want!" Albel yelled at her.
The girl giggled. "That is SO cool," she said, referring to Albel's little outburst. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. See, the thing is, this is all a video game…"
"We know that already," Maria said. "The boy told us."
"Yeah, but see, the thing is, all of 4-D space is a video game too. Made by the Japanese. For the Playstation 2," the girl said, slowly so that they would all grasp the magnitude of the situation.
"So you mean…?" Maria asked, massaging her temples slowly.
"Yes," the girl said. "You were living in a video game within a video game. I think the whole idea was that it was supposed to be deep, and make those of us playing it question our OWN existence, but really, it was quite cheesy and disappointing. The Japanese usually have some pretty cool concepts, but I think they let us all down on this one."
"You mean…I'm a simulated character too?" sniffed the little boy.
"'Fraid so, kid," replied the girl.
The little boy started to bawl, and ran out of the room screaming for his mother. The girl sighed. "Oh dear. I suppose they're gonna call the cops on us. And video game or no, if I don't have a weapon on me, they're gonna p\/\/n my shit if they catch me." (How the girl was able to speak in l33t is another one of those mysteries that is likely to never be solved).
"What are you going to do about it, worm?" Albel sneered.
"Return to the real world, of course," she replied.
"So…any chance of taking us with you?" Cliff asked.
The others looked at him in astonishment. He shrugged. "I don't know about the rest of you, but frankly I'm tired of all this simulated bullshit. I just want to be in a place where life makes sense."
"Well, if that's your objective, then you aren't any better off in the real world than in here," the girl said. "But I got no problems taking you along for the ride. In fact, I'm sure my sisters would llloooovvveeee to meet all of you," she said, shooting a grin at Albel in particular.
"All right," Fayt nodded. The others looked at him in surprise. "Well…Cliff does have a point," he said.
"Don't leave me behind!" Sophia wailed, rushing over to Fayt and burying her face in his chest, clinging tightly to him.
Maria sighed. "Well, as the leader of Quark I don't suppose I could abandon my number one subordinate," she said, glancing at Cliff. "So I guess I'm in too."
"Number one subordinate? Gee, that's sweet," Cliff said, with more than a little sarcasm.
"The real world is where the Jap-An-Eez are, correct worm?" Albel asked the girl.
"Yes, but good luck GETTING to Japan" she replied.
"I'm coming as well, then," Albel grinned wickedly.
"Great! So everyone's in then!" the girl said cheerfully. "Hang on tight…"
Two weeks later…
"Albel! Would you PLEASE stop destroying things every time you don't get your way?" the girl sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you that customs is NEVER going to let you on the plane with all those weapons?"
"How am I supposed to destroy those maggots without my sword, fool?" Albel growled in frustration.
"Well, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but they DO make rather nice swords IN the country itself," the girl said.
"Reeeaaallllyyyyy…" Albel drawled, a grin slowly spreading on his face as he grabbed the phone and dialed the number for the airport.
Fayt wandered into the room. "Has anyone seen Maria or Sophia?" he asked.
"They're still at the mall," the girl told him. "Maria found out a way to hack into some rich guy's bank account, and they decided to go on a little shopping spree."
"Ahhh." Fayt paused. "Ummm…could you help me get Cliff off the Playstation? He's been playing it FOREVER, even though I told him a hundred times it's my turn," he added a bit petulantly.
The girl sighed, and made her way to her room. She pushed open the door, and found Cliff planted firmly in HER recliner, staring with rapt attention at the television screen, mashing the buttons of the controller furiously. She glanced at the screen, and sighed when she saw he was still playing, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time. On the screen, a buff blonde male in a tight, black leather outfit ran up to an enemy and rained a furry of blows down onto it. The monster disappeared in a red haze.
"Ha ha!" laughed Cliff. "I'm bad! I'm bad!"