The Bahamut drifted through the vast blackness of space, uninterrupted during this week voyage back home. It was no doubt a blessing that the ship was attacked by a horde of Heartless, it was much harder to fight off Heartless in space, but the week voyage did not go quickly. A small sacrifice to pay for a short period of peace.
Captain Sazh Katzroy of the Spaceship Bahamut strolled down the ships corridor on the third day of the voyage back, making his routine inspection of the entire ship and his crew. He had served with most of the current crew for several years now, and he considered them all his friend, some-like Ikari-even something akin to family. He knew a lot of captains in the Keyblade Order preferred the stricter, business-like relationship with his crew, but the way Sazh saw it, the life they were living was too grim to have few friends, so Sazh opted for any chance to make new friends.
It helped that more than a few people on his ship were…bizarre to say the least.
The ship itself was like an old friend to Sazh as well. Like all Order ships, it was a pure white vessel, but as an older model, it had its fair share of marks and dents, and a less refined look to it. Still, there wasn't a ship Sazh would rather be on. He knew every square inch of the ship and just what it was capable of. He felt comfortable with the ship and its crew.
Granted, it could've done with some repairs, but considering the Order would be busy dealing with a planets worth of refugees soon, those repairs wouldn't be seen for a while.
As Sazh walked down the corridor, he looked directly at the ship medical bay, and as per usual walked in to check up. What he saw as he entered was the Keyblade newbie Yen Sid, lying on one of the beds, his expression a mix of confusion and worry. His eyes were staring intently at the man-no, creature-on the other side of the room, rummaging through the draw.
The said creature had light red skin and a round figure. He had blue eyes and his upper lip had lobster-like frills that dangled over his mouth. He rummaged through the drawer, not with hands, but with two large claws. Were he not wearing a Doctors uniform, people would've thought a rather large infestation had entered the ship. Fortunately-or arguably unfortunately-he was known by everyone as ship as Dr Zoidberg, the ships medic.
Zoidberg proceeded to take out a saw, and Sazh began to worry.
"Aha! Found you old buddy!" Zoidberg laughed triumphantly. He turned around and stepped up to Yen Sid "now then Mr Ten Rid-"
"I-it's Yen Sid."
"Silence! Do not question the doctor!" Zoidberg scolded. He held up the saw and lowered it directly above Yen Sid's right leg "now, I do believe we need to amputate this off."
"Wait! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! My leg injury has been healed now!" Yen Sid cried out "...And it was the other leg!"
"If you don't fix that mouth of yours, I'll amputate both legs!" Zoidberg threatened, waggling his right claw "Okay, on three. One, two-"
Sazh quickly grabbed Zoidberg's wrist and lifted the saw away from Yen Sid "T-that's quite all right Dr Zoidberg. That's all for now. I hear they're serving Salmon at the canteen right now."
Zoidberg gasped, his frills jumping around crazily "who's having a party and not invited me? I shall go at once, thanks Captain!"
With surprisingly quick haste for his large frame, Zoidberg ran out of the medical room, leaving Sazh alone with the still shocked Yen Sid. After a few moments of silence, Yen Sid turned to Sazh and almost yelled "is that…THING even a Doctor?"
"Haha…I'm not too certain myself." Sazh chuckled nervously, taking a seat beside Yen Sid's bed "but forget him if you can. How're you feeling kid?"
"Emotionally, still in shock right now." Yen Sid gulped, sweat rolling down his forehead "but all my wounds have healed up. Thanks for saving my life."
"Ah, don't thank me kid. Thank the cryogenic bed, it healed up your wounds whilst you were sleeping in it." Sazh explained. He smiled and sighed deeply.
"And of course, thank Ikari. Whilst you were knocked out, he fought off hordes of Heartless for nearly an hour. He was a right mess when the Ed's got him on the ship."
"Y-yea, I'd heard." Yen Sid mumbled, looking down at his hands. Sazh could see the look in his eyes and understood how he felt. It was disappointment at himself, something Sazh felt many times in his life.
"Don't feel bad about falling unconscious kid" Sazh said, patting Yen Sid on the shoulder "Ikari told me you took out a pretty impressive number yourself, for a newbie."
"H-he did?" Yen Sid said obvious surprise on his expression. His expression seem to light up a little, albeit one of confused amazement. Sazh could tell this guy was far from the arrogant type.
"Speaking of Ikari…where is he? I'd like to go see him and thank him personally." Yen Sid asked Sazh. Sazh shifted uncomfortably in his seat, scratching the back of his head, and said.
"We put him to sleep as well. Truth is son, his injuries were actually worse than yours."
The second the door to the cryogenic beds were opened, Yen Sid felt the rooms temperature plummet. He rubbed his arms vigorously, getting as much thermal heat as possible. He sat on a wheelchair as Sazh carted him into the cold room, and both looked directly at the cryogenic beds. There were four in total, each a large, white, rectangular shape with various cords attached and a small terminal on the left side of each bed. The door to three were lifted open, signifying that they weren't being used, but the one at the far end was closed, and Yen Sid could see small traces of ice near the door.
Ikari was inside it, sleeping.
Both Yen Sid and Sazh saw that they weren't the only ones in the room, as Double D was standing beside the closed cryogenic bed, seemingly typing something into the small terminal. The two walked up beside Double D, who turned to them and saluted "greetings Captain! And greetings Mr Yen Sid! I hope you're feeling much better today."
"I am, thanks" Yen Sid smiled "Captain Sazh told me you and two other guys helped me onto the ship. I owe you my life."
"Oh I did nothing, it was my friend Ed who carried you on board." Double D shrugged. He then smiled and patted the bed "and of course, it was Mr Ikari who fought off all those Heartless for an hour."
"Yea, I'd…heard about that. I was hoping to thank him when he woke up."
"I'm afraid he'll probably be asleep for a few more days. His injuries were pretty numerous." Double D explained. He seem to ponder for a moment, and said "on the other hand though, that may happen again…"
"Um…what will happen again?" Yen Sid asked, confused. Sazh pushed Yen Sid's chair forward, just so that he was looking down at the sleeping Ikari. He admittedly could only see the shape of his body, the glass was fogged up and incredibly hard to see through. Yen Sid could however make out the images of several wires, seemingly attached to Ikari.
"You see those wires kid? The ones that are directly attached to his forehead are there to help him sleep peacefully" Sazh explained "so that the Keybearer is in the right frame of mind when waking up, we use this technology to put his mind in a calm state whilst his wounds are being healed. I bet whilst you were sleeping in one of these, you had good dreams, right?"
"I…yea, I did." Yen Sid remembered. He remembered he'd dreamt about a lot of good things, back on his home world. The day his family went on a picnic, the day he passed the test to be a certified mage, the day he danced with an old crush of his at a dance. Happy, almost perfect moments in his life.
Yen Sid sighed sadly. Moments he would probably never feel again.
"Well, that was thanks to the cryogenic bed. It's able to bring up good times in the sleepers past and make them perfectly relive it. It means when they're woken up, they're not shaken from a bad dream or memory." Sazh explained.
"I see! Though…why did Double D say something might happen again? What happened?" Yen Sid asked. At this, Sazh face seemed to sink, and he became frighteningly quiet. Even Double D seemed to be uncomfortable at the mention of this topic.
"Kid." Sazh said finally "I'm afraid it's not my place to explain, but…well, Ikari's been through things no one deserves to go through, especially as a child."
"I…I don't quite follow."
"I'll just say this. If his heart rate on the terminal starts to accelerate…then it means he's reliving that day again."
Soran opened his eyes, and he was no longer on his own world.
As he stood on the perfectly clean and intricately designed carpet, he took in all that was around him. It was night time in the city known as Rabanastre, and in the royal palace, everything was almost deathly silent. Soran held in his right hand a small pyramid-like ornament that was glowing intently, but the said glow was slowly dying out. Still, Soran held onto it intently.
After all, he lost the teleporter, known by many A Gate, and he would never be able to go back to his own world.
"Soran!"
Soran turned his head to look towards the large bed in the room, and saw sitting in the bed, a young girl-the same age as Soran-of medium size and of slender frame, garbed in a blue sleeping gown. She had sandy blonde hair cropped just above her shoulders, and looked happily at Soran with her blue sparkling eyes. She smiled deeply at Soran, who felt his face go red, happiness surging through him.
"Hey Ashe! Sorry it's been a while since I last came!" Soran exclaimed, running up to her. Ashe quickly threw over the quilt and jumped out the bed. She looked directly at Soran, crossed her arms and smiled smugly.
"That's 'Princess' to you commoner. Did you already forget that I'm the Princess of Dalmasca?" Ashe huffed sarcastically.
Soran scratched his cheek innocently "well yea, but I'm not from Dalmasca, or Ivalice, so I don't need to be formal."
"How rude! I should have Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg place your head on a spike for me!" Ashe pretended to be offended, but her façade quickly ended and she giggled. She grabbed Soran by his hand "come on, let's go on the balcony."
Princess Ashe took Soran to the balcony of her bedroom, where they could overlook the entire city of Rabanastre. The city at night was beautiful to behold, with every inch of the city lit up like the stars, and the bustle of the city could still be heard. Soran and Ashe stared out into the city for several serene minutes, each just glad to be in each other's company again.
He remembered the first time he'd 'borrowed' the Gate from his father's study and used it, one year ago. He admitted now it was an incredibly stupid to do, but in his defense, he was 9 years old at the time. Soran had heard his dad explain how to use it, by simply placing in certain coordinates into the machine, and then using your own spiritual energy to activate it. Soran remembered that he'd just put in random numbers, and thanks to his training at school, he could easily activate the machine.
Of all the places it could've took him, it took him to the bedchamber of a Princess.
He remembered just how frightened she'd been when he'd suddenly appeared in her room. It had been a night like this, and she had shouted at him, during which she'd called him a thief, a kidnapper, a Sky Pirate and Archadian scum. She had ran out into the balcony as he'd tried to explain the situation to her, but she just kept on screaming and stepping backwards.
Until she fell over the railing, about to plummet right to the bottom of the palace.
Soran however, being the incredibly awesome guy that he was, had quickly ran up and caught her hand, pulling her back onto the balcony and saving her live. She had been horribly shaken from her near death experience, but as the shock wore off, she realized that Soran was not a threat to her at all. In fact he was now her savior.
The two quickly became good friends.
Soran guessed that his world and Dalmasca had the same hours in a day, so after that day he would use any chance he could get to 'borrow' his dads' Gate and meet with Ashe in her bedroom. They would talk for hours, telling each other about their world and about their lives. They'd sometimes play games, while other times they'd be like they were today and simply stare out into Rabanastre.
Despite the trillions of miles that probably existed between them, the two almost became inseparable.
The two must've stared out into Rabanastre for five minutes, before Ashe sighed and looked uncomfortably down at the ground "I…I came back from Nabradia a week ago."
"Nabradia? That's…the neighboring country, right?"Soran asked. Ashe nodded
"Yes. Since my father is king here, he's an old friend of Nabradia's king. They introduced me to his son, Rasler, and we're…" Ashe swallowed, before saying "…gonna get married when we're older."
"Oh, that's cool. What was he-WAIT WHAT?" Soran shouted in shock. Ashe quickly put her finger over her lips and shushed.
"Shh! Don't be so loud!"
"S-sorry, but still, they're gonna make you marry a complete stranger? Why would they do that to you?" Soran exclaimed. Ashe looked down at the ground again.
"My father…he and a lot of people are afraid of Archadia. Every day it seems more likely that they'll invade Nabradia and Dalmasca. Our marriage is supposed to cement an alliance between our nations for when Archadia invade us."
"You mean they've gotta marry two strangers just to make them work together?" Soran snorted "that's stupid."
"Maybe, but that's how politics work in Ivalice." Ashe looked at Soran and faked a smile "I did speak to Rasler. H-he's really nice."
Soran didn't reply, and everything went quiet once again, only this time the silence was uncomfortable and almost painful to stand. With a heavy sigh, Soran faced Ashe and raised his right arm.
"I…have something to tell you as well." Soran said slowly "a few days ago, some weird people from a different world came to our school. They…made us all do some weird tests, and…well…"
A grey Keyblade with a gold handle appeared in Soran's hand.
Ashe gasped, staring down at the Keyblade as she covered her mouth with her hands "what is that?"
"It's a Keyblade. I told you about this before, they're these weapons that are used by people called 'Keybearers' to take out this black, weird looking creatures called the 'Heartless'."
"Oh yes. They are those creatures that attack worlds, right?"
"Yep. I was the only person in the entire school to pass the test. They're going to take me to their homeworld in three days, after the Golden Solstice."
"So…so you're going to become a Keybearer? You're going to fight off these Heartless and save worlds!" Ashe smiled joyfully, and suddenly hugged a surprised Soran "Oh Soran! I always knew you were a hero!"
"H-hey, I haven't saved anyone yet" Soran laughed nervously. Ashe released the hug, but kept on smiling at Soran.
"Not true. You saved me, remember?" Ashe reminded him, giggling. Her smile slowly faded though when she saw the anxieties on his face "what's wrong? Are you frightened?"
"N-no! It's just that…"Soran bit his lip "…when my mum found out…she broke down in tears. Whenever she sees me now she looks like she's about to start crying again. It's sorta the same with my dad. It's like they're afraid instead of happy for me. It's like they're…it's like they're…"
Sora couldn't say it out loud. He couldn't say his parents were acting like he was dead.
Soran was snapped out his brooding when Ashe grabbed his hands, looking him dead on in the face "Sora, I…I don't know exactly what you'll go through, but…I believe in you, okay? If there's anyone who can save every world, it's you."
"You…you think so?"
"I do" Ashe stated. Blushing slightly, Ashe said "in fact, I've got a proposal for you. If Dalmasca…no, Ivalice is attacked by the Heartless, and you come and save it…I'll...I'll marry you instead!"
"M-m-m-marry me?" Soran stuttered. He was at a loss for words, though part of him couldn't help but notice how much the idea appealed to him…
"That's right! If the Heartless are really a big threat, and if you did save us, then you'd be the greatest hero in all of Ivalice! My father would beg you to marry me. So how does that sound to you, Soran of the Keybearer?"
Soran wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but her expression seemed to very much say the latter, which made the whole situation even more uncomfortable. It was all happening so fast, but none of it felt…wrong. That was the weirdest part. In the end he could only say one thing.
"Er…sure."
Ashe seemed satisfied with the answer, as she clapped her hands and cheered "excellent! Now we just need to seal the promise with a kiss."
"…Eh?"
"A kiss! That way the promise is sealed, and our vow will last a lifetime. No matter how far we are from each other, it will remain true always." Ashe explained. She slowly closed her eyes, opened her mouth slightly, and slowly leaned in.
Soran gulped and felt his whole face sweating, but once again he found himself wanting to partake in this. He closed his own eyes, leaned forward and-
Yen Sid jolted as the cryogenic bed began to make an alarm-like noise that radiated through the room. Double D quickly jumped to the small terminal and typed in a few buttons, his expression becoming more and more worried by the second.
"Captain! His heart rate is accelerating rapidly, and his brain waves are going berserk!" Double D cried out "I think he's…he's…"
Sazh bit his lip, looking down at Ikari "he's reliving that day…that nightmare again."
Soran opened his eyes, and he found himself back on his home world.
Only it was in ruins. Giant buildings that had once stood tall were collapsed. Everything was flooded with a dark ocean which stuck to the land like fungus. Soran looked all around him. He was alone on the ruins of the place he once called his house, alone.
Soran felt like he had lived this day several times, but like always he did the same things. He cried out frantically for his mother, his father, his sister, his friends, for anyone, but nobody answered. He felt his eyes go wet with tears, and his body go cold, but he was alone, and everything around him that he knew, that he was familiar with, had been destroyed.
Soraheard footsteps ahead of him. He looked up and saw the figure once more, standing but a few feet away. The same one he saw in the nightmare every time. It was shaped like a man, but it was completely black like a Heartless, with the same yellow eyes that a Heartless possessed. Deep down, Soran knew this creature was responsible for all of this. It was the one who had taken everything away from him.
The man-like Heartless raised its human-like arm, and reached out for Soran.
Soran screamed.
The door to the cryogenic bed flew open as Sazh, Yen Sid and Double D forced it up. Almost instantly, Ikari opened his eyes, his body jumping up, and he gasped desperately for air. His body sweated from head to toe, and he kept on breathing heavily for air. Trembling slightly, his body jumped slightly when Sazh placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ikari! You feeling okay?" Sazh asked slowly. After taking a few more deep breaths, Ikari nodded.
"Yea…yea I'm okay now. I just…I just had that nightmare again." Ikari muttered. Double D stepped forward beside Sazh.
"If you're okay for walking Mr. Ikari, we should go the medical room and check everything went correctly, besides…well, you know…"
Ikari nodded "sure thing Double D. You go ahead, I'll catch up after I've gotten a few more breathes."
Double D nodded, and turned and left the room. Sazh patted Ikari again on the shoulders and said "it's good to have you back up Ikari. You kicked a ton of Heartless ass out there on Gerrade."
"Don't I always?" Ikari smiled slightly "speaking of Gerrade, has it…"
"It's gone…yea." Sazh nodded, sighing "another whole planet, taken by the Heartless. It's gonna be hell to set up living quarters for all those we evacuated."
"Makes me kinds happy my only job is to smash Heartless." Ikari joked. He looked to his left, and finally noticed Yen Sid, who had sat back down into the chair.
"Um…thanks for saving my life back on Gerrade, Mr Ikari." Yen Sid bowed nervously. Ikari stared silently for a moment, before nodding and smiling slightly.
"No need to thank me kid, it's what comrades do. It's good to see you're doing well yourself." Ikari said "now that you've survived a mission like this, things are only get tougher, and I won't always be there to save your ass. Got it?"
"R-right."
"Good." Ikari stood up and stretched his arms, letting out a few groans "well, best let Double D check everything's okay. At least before Zoiberg gets a chance to interfere."
As Ikari started to walk out, he gave a quick glance at the cryogenic bed he had slept in. He recalled the dream he had before the…nightmare. The happy memory that lied deep in his mind, of a promise he had once made with a good friend that Soran had once had.
A promise he would never have chance to keep. After all, Soran was dead.
Ikari however, was alive and still fighting.
CROSSOVERS USED IN THIS CHAPTER.
Final Fantasy XII- The game takes place in the fictional land of Ivalice, where the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are waging an endless war. Dalmasca, a small kingdom, is caught between the warring nations. When Dalmasca is annexed by Archadia, its princess, Ashe, creates a resistance movement.
During the struggle, she meets Vaan, a young adventurer who dreams of commanding an airship. They are quickly joined by a band of allies; together, they rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.
Futurama- The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
Final Fantasy XIII
Ed Edd n' Eddy
