A/N: Part one of "Gamer Within" is coming to a close! Only one, maybe two chapters to go! It's been so much fun to write and I would like to thank all loyal reviewers for bearing with me XD. I just hope I can pull off a decent "grand finale". The pressure… the pressure! XD

P.S: Part one may be coming to a close, but the story is far from over. A sequel is in the making!

Chapter 35: Equinox

"Do you believe this human is the girl?"

I heard a distant voice and groggily opened my eyes. Ugh… did someone get the number of that bus!?

"I'm not sure," another voice said. "Her clothes do look rather odd, as if she does not belong in this timeframe."

"Hey!" I protested, now fully awake. "Jeans never go out of style!"

"It's her alright," the voice I now recognized as Prince said dryly.

"What happened?" Crow asked, looking at me as if not quite sure what to do. I just hoped my human appearance wouldn't trigger some kind of dormant sand creature killer instinct or something like that.

"Isra happened, that's what," I said grimly, getting back on my feet. "She escaped, using my sand to form a body of her own."

"The curse of the Mask has been lifted," Crow noted. "Did my past…"

"Yes," I cut him off, sounding harsher than I had intended. "I don't want to talk about it."

I felt horrible for letting his past self die and wanted to hug the avian demon, but on the other hand I was still a bit jumpy, seeing as his mirror image had tried to kill me, making me relive a rather dark chapter of our odd relationship. It was just too weird…

"Isra is on the loose with a body of her own," Prince recapped, furrowing his brow. "This does not bode well. What is she planning?"

I sighed, telling them what happened, though leaving out certain details. I really did not want them to know I had cried like a baby. These two were strong, seasoned warriors! I already looked enough like a total wuss as it was. I didn't want them to think I couldn't be tough like them. I guess part of me still was afraid they would decide I was nothing but a fifth wheel on the wagon, only slowing them down or getting in their way. I would prove my worth even if it killed me!

At the rate things were going, it probably would… But there was something I needed to say first before kicking the bucket. Something I had been putting off for way too long.

"I love you," I mumbled quickly, my face bright red.

"Did you say something?" Crow asked, but instead of gathering the courage to repeat my words, I worked up a forced smile and shook my head. I couldn't do it…

"Nothing," I answered, sighing inwardly. I'd tell him later, when the time was right. When that would be, I had yet to figure out.

"She is searching for another 'dark half' to become complete," Prince spoke up. "Who could that be? It can not be the demon, she wishes to kill him. And I highly doubt it is me."

"Everyone has a dark side, Prince," I reminded him. "Why can't it be you?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe it's more likely she'll seek out someone of her own gender."

"But then that just leaves…"

Another vision flashed before my eyes. I could see that women from before, the one in the white jeans and red blouse. My vision blurred and she was suddenly sitting on what looked like a throne, dressed in ocean blue robes that, other than the color, looked exactly like those of the Empress of Time. I suddenly heard her screaming, saw a dark figure smiling cruelly in the shadows, and was faced with a pair of warm, gentle blue eyes, slowly turning green and filling with a cold evil that made my skin crawl. Oh no… no, no, no!!!

"Kaileena…" I choked, all blood draining from my face. "She's after Kaileena!"

"But how do you-"

"I don't know! I guess we still share a link or something until the separation is complete! But we have to stop her! Now!!!"

"Isra knows better than to kill Kaileena," Prince disagreed. "Destroying the Empress will give birth to the Sands of Time. There is no way she would risk that."

"Isra doesn't want to nuke the Empress, she want to merge with her dark side!" I argued, then made a face when I realized just how gross and incredibly wrong that had sounded. "I believe… I believe that the Empress has an 'Isra' of her own, and that maybe we haven't even seen the real Kaileena yet."

"But even if that's true, Isra would have to find a way to forcefully separate the Empress' dark side without killing the host and freeing the Sands. That's impossible!"

"No, it is not," Crow said hoarsely, his face white as a sheet. I took me a moment to realize that he wasn't just grossed out like me… he was downright terrified!

"Crow, what… dear god, you're shaking!"

He was swaying and I barely managed to catch him as he fell to his knees. He was uttering gibberish, his eyes clouded and wild with confusion.

"Prince, he's ill!" I panicked, holding the convulsing demon as tightly as I could. "Do something!"

"Like what?! I am not a mage! I do not know how to treat a creature such as him!"

I looked back at Crow, staring directly into his eyes.

"Crow," I addressed him sternly, "look at me… look at me! Focus on the sound of my voice! Stay with us!!!"

"I… I am back," he suddenly sighed, going limp in my arms.

"Back?" Prince asked, ignoring my glare. "Where have you been?"

"The past," he said weakly. "The girl…she triggered another vision."

"That was no normal friggin vision!" I all but yelled at him when he slowly got up again. "I thought you were going to die on me!"

"The Water Sword," he suddenly exclaimed, getting up and ignoring my outburst. "We must not allow Isra to obtain it! It will be the end of us all!"

"The Water Sword!?" My eyes bulged out of my head. "What the hell does she want with that thing? Fight the Dahaka herself!?"

"That sounds like fun, but I think I'll pass," a voice suddenly came from above, freezing us all.

"What the… KAILEENA!!! NO!!!" Prince gasped when we looked up and saw Isra standing on a cliff above us, holding the Empress in a headlock, like some kind of sick, twisted parody of the Lion King.

"LET HER GO!" I yelled, my heart skipping several beats when my eyes fell on the Water Sword she was holding against the woman's neck. Don't ask me how I knew that thing was the Water Sword, I just did. How had she gotten to Kaileena and the mystical blade that fast? Had I been unconscious that long?!

"You don't know what you're doing!" I shouted when a malicious smirk appeared on her face. "If you kill Stumpy, you'll free the Sands of Time! Let her go, you moron!"

"You forgot what was in the book, didn't you?" Isra smiled cruelly. "The Water Sword defies only the Sands. It does not affect the mortal flesh."

"Oh… okay then," I shrugged, then blinked when I repeated her words in my head again. "Hey, wait a minute, is that good or bad news?"

"I believe it may be bad," Crow said when Kaileena suddenly flashed us a smirk similar to Isra's. Uh oh… definitely bad.

"I am in control of this body again," she stated and I nearly fainted when my dark side let her go just like that. Isra and Kaileena had teamed up?! What the hell was going on?!

"My human half has been quite stubborn lately," Dark Stumpy continued. "I believed she had given up on struggling a few thousand years ago, but apparently the woman still has some fight left. No matter, I shall have my new dark half soon. Isra, if you would be so kind as to rid me of this human shell?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!!! Stop!!! Rewind!!!" I exclaimed, my head reeling. "What the flying monkeycrap is going on here?! I'm not following!"

"You'll see soon enough," Isra smirked evilly… a split second before plunging the Water Sword in Kaileena's heart. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!!!!!

"Going to wake up now, going to wake up now…" I mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the ominous dark cloud that escaped from the wound in Kaileena's chest. I was forced to look away when Isra lost her solid form as well and the two energies combined, exploding in a blinding flash of light that was too intense to bare.

"Gods be with us…" Prince whispered when the artificial heavens of the Garden Tower turned pitch-black and the wind began to howl as lightning flashed through the sky. It was as if the world itself was coming to an end, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

"Empress… NO!!!" Crow flew towards the cliff, defying the dark bolts of energy that flashed all around him, leaving burns wherever they made contact with his robes. It took me a few moments to realize that he wasn't heading for the inky black ball of darkness that was crackling with demonic magic in its rawest form, and slowly taking on a single, feminine shape. Instead, he raced for a human-like figure that was falling from the cliff, barely catching her before she crashed into the ground.

"Empress…" he kept whispering as he returned to us, carrying a tall, but very frail woman in his arms. "Empress… I am so sorry… how could I forget? How could I forget? I vowed to… How could I forget?! I nearly killed…"

"I hold no ill will, Crow Master," she whispered hoarsely. "The loss of your memories could not have been prevented. Let us just thank the gods she survived your onslaught and the worst did not come to pass."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but Crow kept shaking his head and begging for forgiveness. Normally this would have scared the absolute crap out of me, but something told me this wasn't the same Stumpy that had tried to cut my head off. She barely looked like her anymore: this woman… was the same from my visions.

Long blond hair, blue eyes and matching robes. She looked weak and frail, her skeleton showing through her pale skin. She wore a necklace with almost unearthly looking gems; the same necklace I had seen her buy on the market. Her glazed, but gentle eyes met mine and suddenly… suddenly everything made sense. Memories of when I was too young to even talk, suddenly came to the surface of my mind. My dad broken down in tears on the kitchen floor, clutching me against his chest. A photo of a young woman in the newspaper, the line 'Have you seen her?' imprinted on my two year old retinas, though the letters made no sense to my young mind. Policemen and women fruitlessly scouting the marketplace for even the slightest trace.

I felt a tear slide down my face as the fragile woman smiled weakly and reached out, her hand grasping my own. I wanted to say so many things, ask so many questions, but all I could do was utter one single word:

"Mom…?"

A/N: Bet you didn't see that one coming, did ya?