Hey everyone, I had a little trouble trying to post the next chapter, but I got it done. We head back to the present in this chapter to find out something strange is going on. In the proluge we we introduced to a mysterous narrator to these events. In this chapter he steps out of the shadows to try and change the fate of the universes. Meanwhile a familiar character to many final fantasy worlds arrives to shake things up. I hope ypu all enjoy and if you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, reviews, etc. send them to me.

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the knight was lost.

For want of a knight the battle was lost.

And so it was the kingdom was lost."

Ancient Proverb

The place was barren, no traces of life, just an endless desert. Harsh, scorching, unforgiving sand. A figure cloaked in a garish red garment watched as three sets of eyes opened to find themselves alone and lost. He bent down to pet his faithful dog, who had followed him through out his travels to various lands. These three didn't seem like much now, but maybe they could prove to be able to test his meddle. For now he just kept a watchful eye.

Chapter 3: The Departed

Rekks' head ached, his throat felt parched and scratchy. The sand underneath him felt hot and irritating. Suddenly the memory of what happened to him flooded back. His eyes shot open and he pushed himself up checking his chest for signs of a wound. There was nothing. He looked around; he knew for sure that he had been killed. He memory of having his head chopped of was burned into his mind. But this wasn't the Farplane.

Alex and Brandon woke up with similar reactions. Each of the three trekked through the desert only to find it futile. There was only sand, no rocks, no cacti, no desert life, only sand. Scorching hot, dry sand. There weren't even traces of anything else in the horizon. Just the desert, the sky, and the blazing sun over head.

Back on Martyr's planet, Martyr sat upon his throne staring intently at the beam of light. He noticed a slight flicker in the beam causing him to straighten up in his seat. Cautiously he pushed himself out of the chair and slowly approached the beam. He didn't quite know what, but he had feeling that something was wrong, almost like things were out of ailment. His eyes opened wide when the realization finally struck him. Martyr held out his hand and a small stone with a red crystal appeared in it. As the stone began to glow Martyr held it up to his mouth to speak into.

"Seymour, Kuja we have a problem. Don't inform the others, but I need you two to take care of something." He commanded.

The sun was high overhead bearing down on Rekks. Wiping the sweat of his brow he looked up in to the clear blue sky. No clouds, no relief.

"This is definitely not the Farplane. This place is even worst than Bikanel." Rekks groaned.

Brandon was feeling the effects of the scorching desert as well. He removed his short sleeved jacket and wrapped it around his head to keep the sun out of his eyes. His mouth was dry and his thirst seemed to increase with every step.

"What did I do to deserve this?" he relented.

Alex too felt the heat of the desert bearing down upon him. His muscles started giving way, his breathing becoming ever more shallow. His eyes searched the horizon for any sign of salvation, but there was nothing but sand.

Each of man was reaching their breaking point. It had been 7 hours since they awoke and for as far as they had walk all they continued to find was more desert. Brandon collapsed to his knees to take a break. Each man fought to stay conscious. Just then they all noticed a shinning object in the distance. Using all the strength they could muster they ran to the objects and found them to be their individual swords. Looking up each man saw two others standing a few feet away.

Their heads ached the other men's appearances began to shift. Alex saw standing before him Rufus Shinra and the man he had fought before he ended up here.

"Rufus…..you bastard! What do you have to do with this! Who the HELL is that other guy?!?" Alex roared.

The same thing was happening to Brandon. Standing right in front of his was Marco and the man who he had fought in Deiling. He slipped back on his jacket and took up a defensive pose.

"Marco? What the hell is going on man?" Brandon called out.

Rekks's vision became blurred for a moment. He shook his head to get things straight, when things came in to focus he saw Lee and the man who killed him standing in front of him.

"What are you two assholes doing here?!?" Rekks called out.

Each man felt a stabbing pain in the side of their head. Grabbing their weapons from the sand they charged the figures before them and started fighting. On a nearby dune a grey skinned man in garish red clothing watched the three heroes battle each other in a crazed stupor. Beside him was his faithful dog. The man carefully observed the battle, examined their swords, and gauged their ability.

"Yes Enkidu, these men seem like the perfect targets. Defeating them will gain me much honor and their blades will make fine prizes." The man smiled as he petted his dog.

The three men continued to battle, throwing every last ounce of their anger at the other two men they were fighting. All three men lifted up their swords, but as they brought them down a six armed man dressed in red landed between them. In each of his hands was a different type of sword which he used to block the blades of the other men. The man spun around knocking Alex, Brandon and Rekks to the ground. They shook off their confusion to see their swords turn to dust and that the other men weren't who they thought they were.

"Who are you?" they said in unison.

"Blasted, this wasn't even worth my time." Growled the man.

The man turned away from Alex, Brandon and Rekks.

"It's time I find a better place to test my mettle, goodbye." The man hopped up into the air only to land flat on his face.

The three heroes blinked in confusion. The man sprung up again and began hoping up and down.

"Damn it! I'm supposed to be transporting to another dimension!" he started flapping his wings trying desperately to activate a portal. "Why….won't…..this….work." he fell over again this time landing right on his backside "This has never happened to me before."

Rekks looked toward the other two men.

"Okay, I'm lost." He relented.

The man stood up and once again began hopping in attempt to teleport away. His dog came running up and with a cheerful bark tackled him back down to the ground.

"Let's start by finding out who the hell is that?" Alex remarked pointing at the man.

He pushed off his dog and stood up once more. Dusting himself off he did his best to maintain a regal composure.

"I am the great transdimensional Warrior Gilgamesh." He introduced

Brandon eyed him suspiciously.

"Wait a minute you're that GF that my dad used to own!" Brandon accused.

"No body can own the great Warrior Gilgamesh." He retorted.

"Yeah……great warrior. You wouldn't know by any chance……WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Rekks cried out.

Gilgamesh shrugged his shoulders. The four men began to traverse the desert together searching for signs of life. Along the way they began to inform each other on how they each died. After passing through the initial shock they started to sort through the whole affair and tried to make sense of things.

"So let me get this straight three guys who were dead and buried came back to life and killed us." Rekks stated.

"Sounds kind of retarded when you say it out loud." Brandon quipped.

"You're enemies conquered death then conquered you. A sign of your weakness." Laughed Gilgamesh.

"Shut up will you." Alex stopped dead in his tracks. "This is getting us no where. Something is obliviously up and we're f*cked until we learn what it is."

The others stopped walking as well.

"If we're going to accomplish anything, we need to work together." Rekks stated.

"First things first let's introduce ourselves. I'm Brandon."

"Alex."

"Rekks. And big red over there is Gilgamesh. What I want to know is if I died then why aren't I in the Farplane?"

"Come to think of it, this isn't anything like the Lifestream."

"Lifestream, Farplane, what the hell are you two talking about?" questioned Brandon.

"The Lifestream is where people go to die."

"No the Farplane is."

"Different worlds……..we come from different worlds. That's what you meant interdimensional you can travel between the worlds. And somehow……so did we." Brandon realized.

"Correct, this is the Void." Replied Gilgamesh.

"What's the Void and why did we come here instead of where we were supposed to go when we died?" Alex inquired.

"I…….don't know how you got here. But the Void is a place of nothingness." Gilgamesh answered sheepishly.

"That's great." Rekks snickered.

Suddenly a man in a black cloak appeared before their eyes in a flash of green light. The heroes jumped back then moved into a fighting stance, ready for anything.

"Actually you're only in a small part of The Void. It works in a whole layers concept." The cloaked man remarked.

"For the love of GOD, SERIOUSLY WHAT"S GOING ON!" Alex demanded to know.

"Calm down, Calm down. I'm not here to fight. I am not fighter, trust me." The cloaked man assured them.

"Then who are you?" asked Rekks.

The man pulled off his cloak to reveal a dark green haired man with whitted out eyes wearing a black shirt with white pants and a long Silver overcoat complete with silver gloves.

"My name is Chaos, last of the Varis." He introduced himself.

"Riiiiiiiggghht. Please explain?" urged Alex.

"I'd love to…..but not here. We kind of need to leave now." Explained Chaos.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers." Declared Brandon.

"No, you don't understand. We need to leave now." Said Chaos.

"Why?" asked Rekks.

An explosion rang out nearby, knocking back the heroes and scattering sand everywhere.

"You missed." Came a voice.

"They shall not be that lucky again." Replied another voice.

The heroes peered through the sand to see Seymour and Kuja standing a few feet away from them. Seymour readied another Flare spell, the heroes scrambled out of the blast.

"This is kind of what I was worried about." Chaos called out.

"We shall send your souls to the lowest depths of The Void." Warned Kuja.

"Can they do that?" Rekks asked Chaos.

"Yeah….kinda. I think now is a good time to get out of here." Chaos replied.

"Do you have a way out?" questioned Brandon.

"Yup, but we're going to need a distraction to keep these two off our backs." Chaos answered.

"Run? That is foolish, now is a time to fight." Gilgamesh drew his swords and charged at the villains.

Seymour fired two blasts of Blizzaga. Gilgamesh deflected them with a couple of swings of his sword. He lunged forward to slash at Seymour when he was hit by a powerful blast of dark energy from Kuja. Kuja followed up rushing toward Gilgamesh and giving a bone crushing punch to the gut combined blast of energy. Gilgamesh went flying through the air before landing with a thud by the other heroes.

"Futile….what can a foolish weakling ever hope to accomplish?" mocked Kuja.

"Let's go pretty boy." Alex rushed toward Kuja and delivered a spinning back kick.

Kuja blocked the kick then fired out another blast of energy. Alex ducked it then moved in for a punch, when he was suddenly struck by a bolt of lighting.

"If you wanted to be sent further into Void you should have just asked us." Chuckled Seymour.

Seymour readied another Thundaga spell. Alex was pushed out at the last moment by Rekks. Afterwards Rekks sprung up to his feet and moved in to kick Seymour only to receive a brutal punch Kuja. Brandon attempted to use his own magic, but nothing happened.

"Why can't I use my spells?" he asked Chaos.

"You're dead……what spells?" he shot back.

Brandon gritted his teeth and charged toward the villains. Brandon threw a punch at Kuja who caught his fist and tossed him back with the others. The two villains cast a simultaneous Ultima spell. The spell caused a massive explosion incinerating everything in its wake. A smile spread across the villains' faces.

Their smiles quickly faded when the dust settled to reveal a green energy barrier surrounding the heroes. Alex, Brandon, Rekks and Gilgamesh looked up to see Chaos standing in the middle of the barrier supplying it with energy. He waved his hands causing it to lower and gave a sigh of relief.

"I thought you said you weren't a fighter." Questioned Rekks.

"That wasn't fighting…..it was more like guarding. It's what I do. And this is running." Chaos held up his hands causing a massive sandstorm to kick up.

The Villains shielded their eyes as the sand whipped around. Soon everything became obscured behind the veil of sand. Becoming infuriated the villains pushed through and used a powerful blast of combined energy to quell it. As things settled the two villains realized that the heroes were long gone.

On a small chunk of rock in the middle of the endless black of space, a portal appeared spitting out Brandon, Rekks, Alex and Gilgamesh. Chaos was the last to step out of the portal landing gracefully on his feet. He dusted himself off then took a casual seat on a nearby rock.

"That went well." Chaos joked.

The heroes begrudgingly picked themselves off the ground. Each of them shot Chaos a look of disdain.

"Okay answer time." Brandon ordered.

"Okay, I owe you guys an explanation. But your going to have to stick with me here, because some of this is going to sound……..pretty out there." Chaos replied.

"Try us." Alex chuckled.

All the heroes began to ease up. Chaos pointed up at the dark planet over head and begun his story.

"That world, this chunk of rock and that mausoleum were once all in the same place." Chaos pointed out the giant white mausoleum standing near them.

The other three heroes moved in closer.

"Welcome to a part of The Void known as the Centerpoint. A planet once existed here called the Guardian's planet. Obliviously it was inhabited by a race of people who guarded one of the biggest secrets ever: The Hall of Infinity. The Centerpoint is in the middle of The Void, but The Hall of Infinity and more importantly what lies inside is at the center of everything."

"What's inside it?" asked Gilgamesh.

"The nexus……….something that lies at the heart of all reality. Nobody has ever seen it before, but it is the source of everything. Our people guarded the Hall, but a couple Billion years ago we got into a bit of a tiff. Our job was to guard the Hall and watch over the various worlds. Half of us wanted take a more active role and the others wanted us to stay in the background."

Chaos shifted positions on the rock, taking a deep breathe.

"Things got heavy……he split into two groups. The Varis and The Garrick. Then war broke out. I joined as solider against the Garrick with a good friend of mine. The Civil War brought out the worst in us, no race is perfect. Not even a race of semi-immortal guardians. Eventually it got so bad….I got out….but Martyr stayed."

"Why did you get out?" asked Alex.

"I just couldn't fight anymore. Something happened and I just lost all my will for it."

"What happened?" inquired Brandon.

"I don't want to talk about it. The thing is Martyr was devoted to the cause and his was an amazing solider. Then he developed his power."

"Power?" questioned Rekks.

"Each of our people can develop a special unique power. Mine is the ability to commune with The Hall. Martyr's was the ability to gain power from death. The more who died the stronger he grew, he became the perfect solider. He killed and he killed, until no one on the other side was left. Soon the power became intoxicating to him, he became fixated on death. He lost it……and when the other side was gone…..he turned on his own people. And when everybody was dead…..he finally snapped out of it. He saw what he had done. He found that evil had not only poisoned the people who were his enemies, but also himself. Then he came here looking for the power of the nexus to undo all the wrongs. Luckily there is a barrier around it and even with all his power he penetrates it. I was there to make sure of it. He got angry and used all his power to create the dark planet, the Hall wouldn't go and it got torn from his planet."

"What does this have to do with us?" asked Alex.

"Martyr searched for another way in……and then he found it. A way to create another way in. Our people have access to all other worlds and can travel between them, except for the nexus. There has always been a block there and the only way to the nexus was the Hall. But that barrier can be broken with the keys."

The others looked at Martyr dumbfounded.

"The powers of Spirit, Time, and Reality are the keys to breaking the block and opening a gateway to the Nexus. Before the war started the only thing the two sides agreed upon was that the three powers were too much for either side to have. So we put them in safe keeping on other worlds, but we broke them up so that they could never fall to the wrong hands. The Cetra, The Sorceresses, and the Fayth. The powers was broken up and given to a select groups of people in the hopes of their save keeping. But after the death of all my people, complications arose. You three were born."

Chaos pointed at Brandon, Alex and Rekks. Each of them blinked in confusion.

"Alex your parents were bombarded with Mako over the years. You were born a Neo-Cetra, able to commune with the Lifestream and conduct spiritual energy. The power of Spirit is in you. Brandon your mother was a powerful Sorceress and your father her knight, the most powerful warrior on your planet. The power of time is in you, time compression is just one manifestation. And you Rekks……where do I start. Your father isn't even real. You're the son of a powerful former Summoner and a dream, the power of reality as in you. You three are the keys. Martyr killed you and took the power to open the door. It will take him three days, maybe less, to fully brings these keys together and open the pathway. Once he does, he walks in, he remakes everything."

"And we have to stop him before he does or we all lose." Rekks chimed in

Chaos began laughing.

"We've already lost. But there is still time to change the rules of the game." Chaos replied.

"But like you said we're dead. So what help could we be?" questioned Alex.

Chaos stood up and smiled at the heroes.

"I don't have power over death like Martyr. But I have the next best thing, using my power I can commune with The Hall and make you Spirit beings, you won't be completely alive, but you won't be dead. However if you are killed, your souls will head deeper into The Void."

"Back to the desert?" chuckled Rekks.

"No…..to a place where your soul will be devoured and turned into nothing."

"Sh*t." groaned Alex.

"But what about our powers, our weapons. How are we going to fight?" asked Brandon.

"Your powers are tied to souls, which are here. I just gotta inject a little life in you. As for your weapons I'll take care of that in a little bit."

"Wait this is crazy what about our families, what happens to us if we win." Alex demanded to know.

"He's right there are just so many questions. I died last night and now I have to choke down all this and save the world again. This is a little much." Rekks added.

"I agree. We got our asses beat by these guys…..twice. What can you expect us to do?" Brandon retorted.

"You complainers." Snorted Gilgamesh.

"Look who's talking? You got the biggest ass kicking out of all of us in that desert." Brandon chided.

The four heroes began arguing. Chaos rolled out his eyes then let out an audile whistle to quiet them down.

"I know this is a bit much, I can't answer everything now. We only have so much time. If Martyr gets to the Nexus then nothing will matter. I've watched you guys, you're good people. You have the ability to become stronger and get through this. Your families, Your worlds, All worlds are counting on you."

All the heroes hung their heads low.

"Besides you won't be alone."

The heroes turned their heads up to look at Chaos.

"You'll help us?" asked Rekks.

Chaos stammered for a moment.

"I……..can't. Like I said I'm not a fighter. But I know you're going to need help. I know an old spell I used to use on the battle field. It's known as The Call. It sends a distress call to your allies then brings them to the point of The Call's origin. I was meant for my people, but with a few tweaks……I can get you help. So are you guys in?"

The heroes sat their silently. Soon one by one the each stood up and faced Chaos.

"I'm in." said Alex.

"Count on me." Smiled Rekks.

"Do I have a choice?" Joked Brandon. "I'm in."

"I wouldn't miss this fight for anything." Declared Gilgamesh.

"Thank you. Now let's call in the Calvary." Smiled Chaos.

Chaos took a few steps away from the others. Raising his right hand up in to the air, a ball of dazzling yellow energy appeared in his palm. The energy swirled around before shooting up into the sky twirling in the air then disappearing in a flash. Everyone held their breaths. A few seconds later the lights returned crashing down into the ground. The heroes eyes widened, standing before them were three people. One was small child with a shadowed face, large piercing yellow eyes wearing a floppy wizard's hat and a blue coat. One was a spiky, blonde haired man wearing a gold vest and carrying an elegant Silver pistol at his side. And one was a man wearing a black dragon styled armor and carried a lance with him.

"……Fran I……." The blonde haired man froze when he noticed he was no longer in his airship, he turned to face the bewildered group of heroes before him "Oh Bother." He sighed.

To be continued………………………………………….