Author's Note: Ragnarok! Armageddon! It's an update! I'm very sorry for not touching this story in so long, but I tend to go on month-long bouts of working on a book non-stop then dropping it for a month or longer to work on another one. I got writer's block with Xenosaga IV an picked up Valkyrie's Favor, my Valkyrie Profile fan fiction and then my own original book, Past Incarnation. I got the cold from hell in the middle of October and barely turned my laptop on (I write all my stories on my laptop and use the family computer for internet) since then. While it's been really lame of me not to update, I apologize and present unto you, my fan, a new chapter. bows head

You may thank KH Insider for letting me download Pain from Xenosaga Episode I, which rekindled my desire to work on this book.

Xenosaga IV

Chapter Seven

Voices of The Past

In the morning, around ten AM, Midori had evidently come looking for us in our rooms and found us missing. She entered the lab, and observed the scene of Airi typing rapidly and me reading the document.

"When did you two start?" She asked irritable. "I thought you'd spelt in."

"We didn't sleep." Airi replied.

"You've been at it all night?" She demanded, "You better be ready to leave for the Middle East, we're leaving in a week!"

She paused a moment and I felt her eyes settle on me. I usually would engage in an argument filled with wisecracks every chance I got. By my silence, she must of reasoned that something had changed.

"Did something happen?"

"We opened the document on Archetype KOS-MOS' construction." I replied.

"What?" She demanded, "You seriously got the password? We've had professionals picking at every possible entrance into that file and you opened it and didn't tell anybody?"

"Pretty much." Airi said.

"We've used hundreds of data-hacking programs at that file! Surely it required more than just one password. Their file-protection technology back then couldn't of been so slack if we weren't able to open it. Did you unlock a menu to open other password-protected sections?"

"It is in sections." I replied. "But they all have the same password."

"But the password choice is controlled by the one making the file." Midori objected, "If Kevin Winnicot was intelligent enough to construct such a high-caliber android he must have had enough sense to protect the information."

"This is the first and most basic blueprint." I said irritable. I was getting tired of her distraction. "It's one hundred and seventy-two years old, it was saved shortly before the Miltian Conflict. Winnicot was younger than me when he made this file."

"If Shion had that kind of data, why isn't there more updated information on the android's current configuration?"

"This is the last question I'm answering." I said firmly, "Shion obtained this data in the last year of T.C. even though it was fifteen years old then. Shion had no data on Kosy's core before then. Kevin Winnicot brought it with him to his grave."

"Then how'd she get it?"

"That was the last question." I said, tuning her out.

"When Shion and the others entered the encephalon of memories that formed an Old Mika, she got it off Kevin's computer there." Airi replied.

"There's no proof-"

"Yes, yes, we know." Airi said, cutting her off. I smiled silently thinking Airi picked some of my bad habits. "We only have Shion's word, and the time gap doesn't match perfectly, but it makes sense. If you trace the data provider of the file it's from the U-TIC organization."

Midori sighed and crossed her arms saying, "I'll alert Mr. Uzuki now. Or would you rather do that, Hikaru?"

"Two extra questions." I remarked. I could feel her scowl on my back as I said, "You owe me a pizza if I answer."

Midori threw her hands in the air in defeat, and groaned as she left the lab saying, "I'll do it myself!"

Airi and me exchanged smirks and I continued making the comparison from the Archetype KOS-MOS, to KOS-MOS Version Four, and then to Eleutherios KOS-MOS. I was surprised to see how much of Archetype KOS-MOS' power had been sealed or removed in the first, second, third, and forth major alterations to KOS-MOS. While there was only one KOS-MOS, her frame underwent extreme changes a total of five times. This was the sixth time she got serious repairs.

Archetype KOS-MOS generated extreme power but most of it was sealed and slowly released. The power of all KOS-MOS configurations before Version Four kept the power she could summon up at will minimal. Since KOS-MOS was known for awakening at unpredictable times and not always following orders, I couldn't blame them for wanting to keep her power in check. Especially since the Archetype was forced to awaken prematurely and killed half the researchers on the original KOS-MOS project.

The current KOS-MOS configuration, Eleutherios, didn't have any limitations to how much of her true power she could draw from at any given time. Shion had a lot of control over her actions in the past, but I wasn't stressing that factor. Should the need arise that she needed to operate at maximum output, I wouldn't need to confirm letting her power levels go above the normal limit. I was more than aware she was still a machine, but it didn't change much.

The control system to overdrive her own judgment was also close to nonexistent. My goal in repairing her was to return her to her pervious state and make sure her body could handle all the power she could create.

If there were too many limitations, how could I call her 'Eleutherios'?

It was unenviable there was going to be an argument in a few hours…I thought and rolled over. Despite the sun streaming through my window I felt like a zombie. Rukiro had come been here Saturday, I stayed up for a full twenty four hours (if not longer) and was asleep most of Tuesday. I was poked awake reminded even though I pulled an all-nighter I still had to work on KOS-MOS for six hours that day or else I'd be in deep shit.

The morning went painfully slow. I figured it was the first time I had dreaded Rukiro coming to see me. I yawned as I typed, tired of typing names of programs so many times over in the progress report. Airi took care of the progress reports basic stages and edited my completed versions, but it still left me to type all the technical information.

With the assistance of my research, Ormus' medical department was working on healing with nanomachines again. Currently, they'd gotten as far as having creams that could heal even nearly-fatal wounds in a few hours without stitches. It was expensive to make and had bad side-effects for some people, but they were slowly getting close to the basics of past technology.

Airi suddenly burst into my office squealing, "Hikaru! Guess what? Guess what we're going once Kosy is complete?"

"Where?" I asked without looking up from the screen of my computer. When she came in squealing it usually meant that there was a new desert in the cafeteria. I picked up my water bottle and took a large slug of water, waiting for her reply.

"The Dammerung! We're going to the Dammerung!"

I choked on the water I was slugging down, most of it getting expelled though my nose as I turned around in my chair demanding, "The Dammerung?"

"Yes! And then it's going to land on Earth for the first time since the planet was first colonized again! We'll be going to Lake Turkana when that happens!

"Lake Turkana? Isn't that were the Zohar was found?"

Airi nodded saying, "But the Dammerung is much more interesting! It's been missing for years, who knows what kind of information they've brought back!"

"After half the crew decided to stay on Earth, didn't the Elsa and Dammerung stay in contact for fifty years before they losing the ability to communicate?"

Airi was nodding the entire time I was talking saying, "Right! The Dammerung has countless examples of technology from T.C., they're still manufacturing Realians!"

"Realians?" I demanded, "All the early colonists were so dead-set against restarting the mass-production of Realians…"

"Really! They might even have information on Kosy!"

"And we're going after going to Jerusalem?"

"Well, Midori said once Kosy has awoken. I think if your asked you dad we could go once they were close enough for us to get out there."

"I can't believe it's back…" I said without making any attempt to hide the awe in my voice, "The ship is huge, so I suppose I can see how…but wait, they're landing? Does the country even have a place large enough for the to land?"

Airi giggled saying, "They're going to land in some large fields in the center of the country. But that's beside the point! Think of all the technology we lost when we lost contact with the Dammerung, they weren't able to leave that much behind."

"Nobody ever thought the ship might still be functional…I wonder if it's still operating properly." I said thoughtfully. "The main two reasons we lost so much technology was because the Dammerung disappeared out of contact with Earth, and people didn't want things as complex as they were. Even if it was for peace reasons, it was taken too far."

"Recreating the U.M.N. is their main pick." Airi added, "I wonder how far along the Dammerung crew is with that…"

"Who knows? The Dammerung was understaffed when they left Earth shortly after finding it again since half the crew stayed behind, so it's hard to say how far along."

Airi had a dreamy smile plastered to her face as she added, "And think of all the cute Realian-guys that must be up there."

I sighed and shook my head as she added, "Well, you don't have to worry about that since you've got Rukiro. Isn't he coming to bid you bon voyage tomorrow and try sneaking aboard?"

I gave her a sour look saying, "The first part is close enough, second part I'm trying to stop. Now sit down and get to work or bounce down to the cafeteria and bring some sweets back."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n! Anything chocolate, right?"

"Yes, yes, now go." I said waving her off as I spun around in my chair and returned to work at the computer. While the repairs on KOS-MOS' main system were just about complete, there was still coordinating everything that was taking the most time. It was slow work, but just as important as actually fixing her frame.

And the day passed with a few arguments with Midori, dampening Airi's hyperactivity, and working on KOS-MOS. For the most part it was normal procedure, but half the Ormus employees were talking about the Dammerung. The halls and cafeteria were abuzz with conversation, especially around the higher-ups. I eavesdropped on some of their conversations when I got the chances, but it wasn't much new information.

While I didn't know if it were true or not, I did hear two mechanics I'd worked with briefly saying the one communication link they opened with the ship seemed to have been opened by a Realian. Since the transmissions with the Dammerung were being kept top-secret, not even a few trickles of information reached Midori's feelers.

At least I think have leeches have feelers… I thought sardonically as I headed down the hall after dinner back to KOS-MOS' lab. When we got back from Jerusalem, I was going to be given a new lab and complete crew of workers. But when I entered the current lab, while it was very spacious, the lack of seating was more than apparent. I thought the workers I'd been assigned showed up early for a moment.

There was, of course, Airi sitting in her usual seat acting like a ring-leader ranting about the Dammerung, Realians, and KOS-MOS, with five mechanics that helped me construct KOS-MOS' limbs, the specialist that helped with the construction of nanomachines, and the girl who send our progress reports to Midori and my father. I inwardly noted out of all the people that helped with KOS-MOS, the only ones that fell for whatever Airi had planned weren't more than twenty-five.

My eyes settled on Midori after scanning the crowd, who quickly jumped to her feet and ran over to me.

"Hikaru! You have perfect timing! I gathered some of the people who've helped us with Kosy to collectively ask you something!"

"And what is this something?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips stubbornly.

"To ask your father what the Dammerung crew has said in their transmissions." Airi said confidently. Any idle chatter among the group of young men and women died down as they heard Airi, their eyes redirected toward me.

"No." I said flatly, "We'll all find out soon enough when the information trickles down, so there's no point in forcing it."

"But Hikaru…" Airi whimpered, "Everybody wants to know! And he's your father, he'll tell you before Midori or any of his colleagues!"

"No. I'm not dealing with that asshole. Now get out of my lab and leave me alone." I said with finality, nothing Airi or the group was going to accept.

"She's right though, if he were going to tell anybody early it'd be you." The brown-haired female nanomachines specialist added.

"And it'd really boost the moral of all your underlings like us." A male mechanic added hopefully. A few others said things along the same lines, and while it did make me feel a little guilty, I still shot down their suggestions while waiting for the group to disperse.

"For the last time," I started but stopped abruptly.

A wave of lightheadedness passed over me, my vision blurring and hearing abruptly changing. It vision was less clear than reality, but the lab of people was gone and the figure of a blue-haired android appeared before me, a large blurred device behind another two human forms. When I saw a tall and slender man at the top of a stair case, I felt a chill run down my spine.

What color are his eyes? I wondered as the last of reality slipped away. Chaos had blue eyes…not that it matters. He's not Yeshua.

KOS-MOS' hand suddenly closed around the pendant, shattering the fragile jewel with a crunch. The small pieces drifted to the floor as she lowered her hand.

Wilhelm's eyes widened in surprise as he demanded, "What are you doing? Mary! You fool! Now this universe will be completely destroyed."

KOS-MOS turned around, walking down the platform back to Shion.

"Even Yeshua will perish." Wilhelm said, desperate to make her realize the depth of her actions. "Mary, is this what you really want?"

The scene was only clear for a few moments, and left as abruptly as it came. I was back in the dark lab in a split second, my head swimming. I felt myself fall forward and succumbed to the peaceful darkness.

The moment I started feeling again I started to grope for the last clear memory in my mind. I hoped to keep my consciousness but elude reality a few moment, but the voices of the past wouldn't return. I gave up on holding on to the darkness and opened my eyes, expecting to see either my room at Ormus, the lab, or even the hospital.

I blinked, unsure if what I was seeing was correct. I was in a large cavern with tall ceilings, walls far apart, and burning torches on the walls illuminating the area. The stone had a orangey gold glow to it, allowing the fire to illuminate it effectively. The torches themselves were mounted on the walls with metal brackets and seemed to still be relatively high.

The room was huge and the ceiling sank down into a hallway. I sat up and turned around, seeing large stone double-doors on the other side of the area. The ground had a straight stone path, perfectly new feeling though it's design was that of ancient times. I was sitting on the path and looked over to the indentations in the ground. They were all fairly large rectangular boxes set into the floor. While there wasn't much of an alteration in flatness compared to the floor, but I could tell they were stone lids.

"Asher…" I muttered aloud, remembering there had been an E.S. by that name. "Shion's records didn't mention anybody or anything else with that name though…"

I got to my feet and scanned the other names on the stones, recognizing almost all of them to be E.S. names. A few I wasn't sure of, but the feeling of familiarity reassured me. I walked down the path toward the large stone coffin above the ground in the hallway. It was made of the same orange-gold stone and seemed perfectly new. I looked up at the cross not far behind it, wondering why it hadn't been crafted with perfect edges like most crosses.

I stared at it a long moment as I approached, stopping at the top of the small stairs. I went to take a step forward when a sharp wall of pain filled my mind, a memory coming with it. It was more of a single vision than an actual scene, and depicted KOS-MOS in her first configuration bound to an older gray-blue of the same cross.

I felt myself falling backwards, inwardly managing to dread hitting the ground a few feet below through the pain in my head. The impact never came and I felt as though someone had caught me, but the headache made me question what had happened. I opened my eyes as the pain receded, finding myself kneeling on the floor with my legs under me. I was still on above the stairs, too.

I didn't feel any aches from a fall and examined my knees to be sure. I glanced back to the entrance, wondering what part of the 'fall' I'd hallucinated. I stood and took walked around the right side of the coffin, gently tracing my hand down the side of the cool stone. I looked at the letters on the lid, surprised to see they were in another language. I furrowed my brows and hurried down the stairs below, looking at the closest coffin below.

"What…?" I muttered, seeing the same types of letters on them. I ran down the length of the path to where the last coffin ended, unable to identify any of the names. "How the hell did I read 'Asher' then…?"

I walked down the path and up the stairs again, disturbed by what had changed. I looked at the letters of the coffin once more, before shaking my head and continuing toward the cross. I looked at the back of it too, just out of interest. The wall behind it was the same perfectly-carved stone that the pathway was made up of. Unlike all the other walls that were natural stone, the man-made appearance of this one caught my attention.

While it wasn't a distinctly strange design aspect, I wondered if there was anything beyond it.

I read too much fiction growing up…no professional is going suspect fake walls everywhere. I thought as I touched the stone. I knocked on it, surprised to hear a slight echo.

"All hail the fiction!" I exclaimed triumphantly.

I knocked again with more force, becoming more sure there was a room beyond it. Everything looked new, but I couldn't help but wonder if the wall was just a little newer. I looked around the huge cavern, doubting my guess.

I let my hand linger on the cool stone, impressed at the smoothness. A darker hand shot out from the wall enclosing over mine and jerking me forward. The movement wasn't painful, just abrupt. I felt a something between a squeak and squeal escape from my throat as I was pulled through the wall. I fell to my knees in the room, the apparition hand over mind disappearing as quick as it came.

While the hand had been warm, my hand tingled more than the rest of my body. I rubbed it with my other hand, examining the room. It was small with rougher and less-flat walls, bumpier floors, and a stone coffin in the center. The stone of the coffin seemed paler than that of the other coffin in the hall. I stood and touched the lid, surprised at how much colder it was than the

other stone.

The rectangular tiles on the floor didn't have even edges with specially carved pieces to meet the wall, adding to the feeling that the room had been added with lesser funds or importance. All the other coffins had the names of those below were indented to be higher than the rest of the lid, but this coffin only had one word scratched into the surface.

I squinted to make out the characters, curious if they looked like the shadows of English letters. The carving had been done with some precision since the letters were neat, but not very deep. The other coffins had the words so perfectly written it looked like something a computer would create. I blinked and when I saw them again the lines seemed more defined.

"Ah!" I exclaimer, more out of surprise as I recognized the English letters.

Yeshua

I swallowed, stepping back again. I blinked feeling disturbingly calm. Surprised; but otherwise at ease. I stared at the letters and glanced at the brick wall, silently wondering how I was going to get out.

Since I can't physically be here once my body at Ormus wakes up I should be fine…

But I've never been in a dream that felt as real as reality. And there's no promise I'll wake up if I'm awake here…would that mean I need to go to sleep?

"Waaaaaaaay too much fiction." I muttered, placing my hand on the wall that lead to the rest of the cavern. I felt my hand sink through the wall, and since I was still unaccustomed at the movement I tumbled forward, stretching my arms out so I didn't slam into the cross. I felt like I scuffed my knees a little as I did, but it was minor so I didn't pay much attention to it.

I stood looked at the wall to the back room again, wondering where I was.

I wonder if Yeshua's and Mary's graves would be together. It'd make sense, since Yeshua had the power of Anima and Mary Animus. But would the person in charge of making the grave know that? Yeshua did die at one point but there's no way to know how long after Mary…

I sighed and looked down at the coffin beyond the cross, tracing my fingers along what seemed to be the name, a feeling of familiarity filling me as I did. I tensed as I saw English letters under my fingers. The letters were easy to read now in English:

Mary Magdalene

"Mary's grave…they were buried in the same crypt…"

The tomb vanished before my eyes and I was pulled into darkness once again, but it was anything but peaceful.

Final Hikari: And there's the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and the next shall be out soon. I'm debating if I want to do adlibbing to some of the facts left unknown in Xenosaga…like the time after Mary's death, before Yeshua died, and potentially the 'Maiden of Mary'. I want to focus on where Xenosaga left off from here on out, but not only would it be fun for me to write all that I'm hesitant. So, what do you think? In a review, please tell me if you would like flashbacks. Also----oh shit! I need to make dinner tonight! Thanks for reading, please review!