Irvine twisted rope around itself in circles and formed a coil about… an inch tall? The lacing they provided only stretched so long. Around him, Quistis and Selphie talked about Zell while the newcomers talked about some "paradox energy" that encircled the planet. Honestly, Irvine only cared about what Quistis and Selphie had to say.

Selphie shook her head. "Still not talking. I hoped you would change that."

"I already tried and failed."

"This kind of thing takes more than one try, you know."

Irvine undid the coil and started again. Zell remained in the hospital, cold and bitter from the betrayal. Or so Irvine assumed, given that Zell seemed plenty capable of coping when Irvine visited him the other day.

… Or week. He lost track of time in that cell.

"Hey," said one of the newcomers, a girl with curled bangs and a ribbon in her tied hair. "You seem troubled."

"Why ever would that be?" Irvine asked and failed to keep the bite out of his voice.

"It's a sucky situation for your planet, but we're here to help!"

"I don't care about the planet."

"Oh." The girl took a seat beside him. "Then what is it?"

Irvine kept twisting. "I care about my friends that I hurt. You wouldn't happen to cure that kind of thing, would you?"

"I don't think so. But we can take you with us?"

"Dare I ask what good that would do?"

"Clear your head. And keep you safe while your friends deal with everything here. They said you have a price on your head, so maybe it would be easier for everyone if you disappeared for a bit. As a friend would say, run now and face it later."

"I'm not a big fan of running."

"And that makes it the wrong choice?"

He paused his string-fiddling and remembered meeting Zell. Remembered not wanting to feel the pain he felt at Zell's introduction of himself. Selphie's warm welcome like she spoke with a stranger. "Not necessarily."

"Do it, Irvine," Quistis said. Irvine looked up to see her watching them. Selphie spoke with Cater and a handful of newcomers. "Let us handle things here for now."

"I want to help."

"I know you do, but this is something you'd best stay out of for all our sakes. We'll avenge you and Zell, I promise."

"It's not about vengeance." Irvine stood. "It's about justice."

"We'll make it happen regardless." Quistis came over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You handle you."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Selphie said. "We've got something!"

Cater turned to her friends. "We're gonna steal Noel's body from Galbadia. What about you?"

They said something about researching the time damage. Irvine pulled the lace out again and Quistis put a hand on his to stop him. "We'll figure it out," she said. "Trust me?"

"I trust you, Quistis. Don't need to ask."

"And yet you show a certain determination to be sullen and I've never seen that before. Not in you. What's wrong?"

Irvine paused in his twisting and heaved a sigh. "I can't not blame myself for what happened and if Zell blames me, too, then I can't live with this. I'm supposed to protect the country, not tear it apart like a hooligan."

"Squall will clear your name if it's the last thing he does."

"Maybe officially, but people are always gonna wonder. This'll follow me the rest of my life no matter what I do."

"So, go with Cater and the others. Maybe you'll find a world better suited to you."

"No way am I leaving you guys."

"If it'll make you happier—"

"It won't!" Irvine shoved the lace back in his pocket. "I'm not going without you! Any of you!"

"It's the best thing, Irvine."

"I know that, I just—I don't want to."

"From the looks of things, they can take you back whenever you want. Who knows? Maybe hanging out with these travelers could do you good. If it doesn't kill you, of course."

There was no humor to her voice and every word sounded forced, yet there was a determination to her eyes that told him she wouldn't back down. "Is it that bad?" he asked.

She nodded. "I don't trust the gardens, even if I trust Squall. Things are about to get messy and I'll rest easier knowing you aren't at the center of the storm."

"I'll leave you all to handle it alone."

"We all didn't get framed for murder."

"Not just framed."

"And you're not helping your case. Go with Cater."

Irvine found no words to argue further, so he slid her hand from him and gave a flick of a salute like it didn't pain him to give in. "I'll trust you to hold the fort for me."

He didn't give Quistis time to retort before he slipped away and steeled himself for the coming war.

He could run one more time.


Quistis worked with Irvine to convince him to leave and Eight watched them argue until the latter reluctantly agreed and spoke with Cinque. They broke rules to smuggle people like him off-world, but if it was to slow down Bhunivelze's progress, then it was a price Eight was willing to pay.

Cater, on the other hand, remained quiet as they discussed tactics to find and resolve the paradox issue. Eight never knew Cater to be so sullen, so he pulled her aside and said, "You're upset."

Cater cast him an annoyed look. "So what?"

"Is it about Noel?"

"What if it is?"

"We have a long and difficult journey ahead." Eight gestured about them. "We're surrounded by paradox energy and there's no telling how we're going to save this planet from itself. If something is eating at you, we should get that resolved."

"Thanks for your consideration."

"I'm worried about you, Cater."

She regarded him with surprise. "Are you really?"

"Again, we're facing a lot of complications right now. Is this about Noel?"

"… Yes."

"What's bothering you?"

"He's dead is what's bothering me."

"Even though we can bring him back?"

"Keyword being 'can.'" Cater folded her arms and watched the others hunt for clues. Mog zipped about the place faster than a dog faced with dinner. "Even if we get him back, I could have prevented this whole fiasco in the first place. Now, I don't blame myself like Seven, because I know better."

"Good."

"What bothers me is that I couldn't give that spirit a piece of my mind!"

Eight hesitated. "What?"

"I'd kill for a chance to turn her inside out and wear her for a glove." Cater punched her open palm. "Shoot her in the eyes first, then make her into a freaking honeycomb starting with the feet and saving the face for last!"

"Spirit. Cater, it wasn't Bhunivelze that killed Noel?"

"Oh, it was Bhunivelze, alright. But I could have worked around it if it was just him! No, there was someone else working with him! I saw the body of the girl they used and now she's nowhere to be found!"

Eight frowned. "How? Did you get to the pawns?"

"Seifer's gang. You don't know them—I think they disappeared recently, too. But that bitch wreaked some havoc before running off with Bhunivelze! The guy's connected to the Void, by the looks of it!"

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Because it's bad!" Cater shoved away from him. "Because the Void means we're screwed! Because we're in way over our heads and Mwynn was an idiot to think we could do this!"

"We can still fulfill our objective."

"How? How? It's the Void and it's just merged with Bhunivelze's chosen vessel! We're fighting a broken target without a full roster!"

"One step at a time." Eight noticed Serah react to something he didn't see. "We'll do what we can here and update Queen as soon as we get back to Valhalla."

"For all the good it'll do," Cater said.

"Yes. For all the good it will do. Cater, do you remember when Queen skinned her knee in the Skirmish of the Hills? She didn't stop moving until we finished because it doesn't matter if we can or can't. Overthinking it will just distract us from—"

"What are you talking about?" Cater asked.

"I'm saying that you shouldn't worry about whether we can do it or not because that's pointless in the end. All we can do is try our best regardless."

"No, what are you saying about Queen skinning her knee?"

"Maybe you didn't notice, but—"

"It would be impossible not to notice Queen taking any hit. Eight, you have to be remembering wrong, because she came out of that untouched."

"I doubt it. But that's beside the point."

"Fine. What's your point?"

"That we have to focus on what we can do, not what anyone else thinks we can do."

Cater nodded, though she didn't look convinced. Eight knew better than to push it, so he let her leave, but not without wondering how she managed to miss Queen skinning her knee.


He stumbled through a haze. He gave up on finding clarity again because every time he thought his view might clear, someone poked him again and he descended further into confusion. He couldn't think straight through the fog and he wondered why Bhunivelze's power didn't break him free of it.

"Five minutes," said someone beside him. "That's a record."

"Whatever it is that burns that stuff," said another, "I'd love for the Headmaster to encapsulate it into a vial of super serum or something."

The Headmaster. Maqui was supposed to kill him, but the man up and vanished before he got the chance. Oh, he was supposed to do that. He was Maqui. But how was he supposed to cause panic in the Gardens without Aquamar's consent?

Not consent. Cooperation. Right?

No, he doubted he'd cooperate. He just needed the dude's body because even a splash of his blood would do the trick. Something to match up on the scanners or whatever it was that people used in this old-timey place.

Man, he didn't want to see what their doctor offices looked like.

"That wasn't even one minute… what is wrong with this guy?"

Maqui thought to respond, but his mouth didn't move. That wasn't fair—they talked about him like he wasn't there!

"Maybe he's adapting," said one of them. Maqui couldn't keep them straight. "Try switching it up."

"Give him some of the H32?"

"Sure."

"Wouldn't that cause a reaction?"

"Does he look like it'll stick?"

Maqui blinked against the pulsing lights. Asked someone to turn them down, but it came out in a slurred mess.

"How cute, he's trying to talk."

"Doesn't sound like he needs H32. Kid can barely speak!"

"You're not the one carrying him. Just shoot him, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah."

His arm hurt again and numbed over—that was new. His head cleared enough for him to remember Bhunivelze taking Ellone and how his vessel's skin looked so twisted and purple now from the Void making good on its side of the contract with Bhunivelze. That wasn't going to happen to Maqui, was it?

"It didn't work. Try the 71G."

"Of course, it didn't work, it was a numbing agent. I thought you knew that?"

"You're the pharmacist."

"What, are you just spouting random drugs for me to stick in him?"

Maqui found enough footing to push against the guy holding him. He couldn't topple the dude, but it made him not feel so much like he might fall at the slightest misstep.

"Agh! He's trying to kill me!"

"I don't see any of that."

"Quick! Use the K6!"

"That'll kill him!"

"Better him than me!"

"The Headmaster has orders, idiot! We kill him and we get expelled!"

"My graduation isn't worth this!"

"Ugh!" Another needle in his arm. "OP94. That's the right one for knocking someone like this out."

Their words blurred together and he lost himself again to swirling color. Squinted against the mad dance of shapes before shutting his eyes to stem the building headache. Something didn't sit well with his stomach.

When he opened again, he sat in an enclosed room. It was dark, but his eyes adjusted faster than they should and he made out the shapes of a table on one end and bookshelves along the other. He couldn't turn all the way around though because his arms were too heavy to lift.

Looked down and found iron manacles on each wrist. Not manacles—restraints. Metal restraints bound to a metal chair. Like the ones they had in the doctor's offices back on Cocoon, only there they didn't have restraints. Just comfy cushions.

… He missed Edge.

A man's voice slurred nearby, and he pulled his head up to see a man with weathered features lean toward him.

This vessel blinked spots from his eyes. "Do I know you?" Hey, that made it out of his mouth for once!

"You should." The man brought a chair over and sat facing him. "You meant to kill me."

"Oh, yeah. Is that why you're hiding down here?"

"I figured it'd be better for all of us if I disappeared."

"Wasn't better for me…"

The man grabbed Maqui's shoulder and inspected the spot where they kept injecting him. Wait, did they take his jacket?

"You don't heal much faster than normal," the man said before dropping his arm. "And yet you shrugged off a bullet?"

"You saw that? Dang, that was, like, a week ago."

"You're easier to keep tabs on than your friend. Why is that?"

"I don't know. I think he was a merc or something before joining our ranks. Is that really relevant right now?"

"You don't act very human." The man pulled out what looked like a small rod and pressed a button that caused a slight buzzing sound. "And that makes me wonder about how you're connected with Noel and the rest."

"I've got some help from the other side."

"Other side… meaning spirits?"

"Sort of. Those guys need super weak minds, though. Mine only needed slight seeding to get the prime level of possessability. Wait… that's not something to brag about, is it? Anyway, I don't know that we are connected, Noel and I. What, have you been stalking me?"

"Kinneas didn't take kindly to your stealing his kill."

"He wasn't gonna kill Noel."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause that Kinneas guy's a big baby. I got impatient is all."

"And what did you have to gain from Kreiss' death?"

"Only my life, man! Not that it mattered for any of us in the end, though. God had to take that vessel the hard way cause Alyssa couldn't give it up."

"Vessel?"

"Ellone. She's special, you know."

"And what's your use for her?"

Maqui drew up short. "I can't tell you that, man! You might try to stop him!"

"Why? Does it threaten my students?"

"Well… not really. It's actually for their good. But you won't like it."

"Tell me why."

"I can't!"

The headmaster poked him with his stick. "Try again."

"Uh, no? I told you why I can't—"

Dude shoved that rod into Maqui's chest, causing a small shock. "Try again."

"Answer's still no, man. Saving eternity's worth a bit of—"

Aquamar hit him with a bigger shock, this time in the stomach, and pulled away. "I know you don't wear as easily as normal people do, but you're still mortal. I'll cut you into pieces if I have to."

Maqui blinked against the forming pain and found his eyes wet. "Bhunivelze prepared us for this, you know. I've felt a lot worse than you'll ever experience."

Shock in the forearm and Maqui bit his tongue. He felt worse.

"Your friend," Aquamar said before standing and moving to the desk. "Has he been doing this longer?"

"How am I supposed to know? He doesn't talk much."

"Yet you've been working together for the past month. Did one hear anything about the other before you paired up?" Aquamar pulled up a razor that flashed in the light.

Maqui grit his teeth. He could take it. He saw worse. He did worse…

Well. Maybe not did worse. Bhunivelze didn't bother corrupting people so much anymore like he did with the first vessels. And when he did that, it was more emotional than physical. But he could take it. He had other memories… "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Hm. Pity." Aquamar took slow, agonizing steps closer. "I prefer not to get my hands dirty, but better that than let my students get terrorized by a being from another realm."

Maqui took a breath and closed his eyes and tensed.

It didn't end as easily this time.


Rydia waited in the lounge Al-Cid left her in and tried to not think of home. They would manage without her a little longer and it looked like she had to manage without them. She had to find out what that god intended. Why it targeted her.

A knock sounded at the door and Rydia yanked herself back to the present. Al-Cid or an attendee would not wait to open it.

"Come in," she said at length.

The door opened and a young woman stepped through, hands remaining on the door. She wore a red dress that stood out like Leviathan on land, likely not dissimilar from how Rydia herself appeared to the inhabitants, but what struck Rydia was that unearthly grace to her stride and the smell of must. "Excuse me," the girl said, "are you Rydia?"

Rydia stood and gestured in greeting, though not without arming herself with as much mist as she could breath. "I am. And you are?"

The newcomer shifted, still obviously not sure what to do with the door. "My name is Terra. I was told that you might be interested in joining me as I speak with the Espers."

Rydia nodded to the door. "Go ahead and close it."

Terra shut the door. "Al-Cid was the one who said you'd be here."

"Espers must be reclusive if they're anything like our Eidolons."

"That's one word for it. The Espers of my world vanished a while ago and I want bring them back."

"And how is it you would know how to speak with them?"

"I'm sure you have your reasons not to trust me. Everyone does. But I am searching for the Espers because my world needs them. I need them."

"What for?"

"Without their magic flowing through my world, I cannot survive. I admit some of my reasoning is selfish—"

"I don't care how selfish you are. I care about the name in which you act." Rydia found no sign of checkered cloth on her person, nor scars caused by Bhunivelze's careless abuse. "You work for your own world or yourself, either way I rest assured."

Terra pressed her lips together and let out a shaking breath. "You're the same?"

"I am. Know how you check?"

"Yes."

"Marks. You don't reach for your back like it itches and you don't scratch at healing veins. There's also a little something—"

"—To the voice, yes, I've noticed that one."

"Good." Rydia smiled and hoped it set Terra at ease. "Now, tell me about that Summon inside you."

"The what?"

"The Summon. I grew among Eidolons and I know inhumanity when I see it, and you admitted yourself when you said you wouldn't survive without magic."

Terra nodded in defeat and said, "I'm half Esper."

"And you plan to use that to communicate with those here?"

"Not just that." Terra retrieved a piece of parchment from her belt and unfolded it to reveal dark, precise inkings, carefully composed and symmetrical. "Al-Cid suggested I might contact them with these."

"What are they?" Rydia asked.

"Glyphs of the Espers. Those who can summon them do so with these. Maybe I can—"

Rydia tapped a glyph, one tiered with falling wings on the bottom, spikes growing from the center, and three blades pointing out of the top.

"Is there something special about that one?" Terra asked.

Rydia took a deep breath. Not of air, but of magic. It moved sluggishly compared to home, but also more viscously. The image reacted and black lines bled to green, then rippled in the air. But she hadn't earned the right to summon this one. She didn't even know its name.

Rydia sighed and released the image. It evaporated to nothing, the original untouched.

"What was that?" Terra asked.

"I thought I'd try summoning it."

"You can summon?"

"It is my birthright." Rydia forced down the pride. "What about you? There's something you can try, isn't there?"

"Oh. Yes." Terra drew her attention back to the glyphs. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Rydia lost her breath and found the taste of mist stronger, like the caves she wandered as a child in the Feymarch. It crawled through walls and wet the room with the mist that carried it, then gathered around Terra.

Terra's feet left the ground and she asked, "Can you hear me?"

I—~-Is? S-SEaRcH—

The voice cut in and out, like the roar of thunder. Rydia got a headache listening.

"I come seeking help," Terra said. "I'm looking for another gathering of Espers. Do you know them?"

-~-DIScONnECT-~-T-~—

Rydia tried to tune it out, but every syllable rang in her head and covering her ears did nothing.

EI—dO-~-LoN

Terra watched something Rydia couldn't see. "We need your help," Terra said.

"What was that about Eidolons?" Rydia asked.

Ei-~-DO-loN- Chi—~—LD—

Rydia pointed to herself.

Y-~-oU A-~-R-E-cHi-LD-ca-USE hEl-~-P—

Terra cocked her head. "How will we contact you when we need you?"

HE-Ar Me k—~-in.

The voice grew quieter and more distinct. Rydia leaned forward as if it would help and said, "I'm listening."

We search power.

"You're different from my Eidolons—"

We offer HEL-P- We request release from entrapment.

"I don't know if I can help you."

CANNOT- leave forever. Souls ONE—with the mist.

Terra said, "You won't regain your power. It will remain locked until summoned."

Esper-KI-IN- understands well. We approve S-SU-Mm-~-M-ON Un-DE-R conditions.

"Get to the point," Rydia said. "Or I fear I'll lose my head."

May choose N-OT to come. T-AKE us places far. S-EE MUCH—

"I'll see what I can do, but I won't make any promises."

Your Feymarch can release us.

Was it different voices? They modulated intonation and the voice shifted in tone, but…

The mist seeped back away as Terra dipped her head and dropped to her feet. Rydia wrapped an arm around the young girl's shoulder and helped her steady.

"Deep breaths," Rydia said.

A long moment passed before Terra inhaled and lifted her head up towards the ceiling. "Thank you," she said.

"Esper kin, huh?" Rydia asked.

"Half Esper."

Rydia had her own job to do. She needed to gather the information she needed and return to her home as soon as possible. But this girl with no color in her cheeks and that waver in her footing…

"Where next?" Rydia asked.

Terra rubbed at her arms. "There is a gathering of travelers on Blue Terra. I'll return there and meet back up with them."

"I'll join you."

"You really don't—"

"I'm going."

Terra pulled herself to her feet. "They'll be happy to have you."

"Great." Rydia moved to the door. "Then let's get going."