Chapter VIII: Yume no Sukoshi Ato (A Little After the Dream)

"Strange, isn't it?"

This chapter was going to be sad an' coincide with the song that plays during the credits of FF X, but I changed my mind (again), so it's not sad, but it DOES coincide with the song or a while. A couple pages, maybe... Ah heck, who cares?!!!

I'm BACK!!!! YES!!! The internet exists again in our household... I've actually written up to chapter #14 or so, but... I need to reread it all to make sure NOTHING contradicts anything else, 'cause it probably does. The lack of internet and/or cable has made my writing a whole lot longer, but sadly a whole lot stranger and confusing (you'll see why later, I've confused myself as to some things). And you can guess that I'm mad that I haven't seen the last four episodes of Zoids, but probably everyone else has. So... if you know where I can download them (I can probably find 'em on KaZaA) do tell. PLEASE!!!

In other news, my brother (Ragnorok) is leaving for DeVry in July... that's a college. And I finished Kingdom Hearts (while crying through the ending sequence, the credits, and the never-ending version of "Dearly Beloved" and the never-ending cover picture). And I beat another game, "Threads of Fate," a zillion time making me hyper... okay, enough of this.

My ideas about what's gonna have changed a little... be prepared for mass confusion... and I've finally found a good place to introduce Faye, who I've promised for a while now. Not that you care, but hey! The internet's back! That makes me incredibly happy!

BTW, my file containing all the written chapters of this story is now 94 pages long.

***

Dive into the mind...

Shadows... there were too many Shadows these days, now that others had discovered how to use them for their own benefit. Bit and Leena, for example, using the transformation to win battles until the ZBC banned it from organized battles. Eventually the Shadows would become too hard to control, giving the Shadow Emperor more power over his unknowing servants, who didn't even suspect that they were being used for a greater but much more evil cause. And history would repeat itself again in another variation.

Vivian knew this. Not many people knew the history of their planet Zi, but Vivian did. She also knew that the Kaiser did, too, and would use this to his advantage. They both knew how small the difference between Zoids and Zoidians were. There was always a side effect created from using things abnormal to Zi, but native to another planet- such as Earth, where all humans originated. Vivian knew of this as well. In fact, she knew it better than anything else.

That was the downfall of actually BEING one of these side effects- you knew exactly what you were and you could never forget it. You also knew that, in some cases, the Kaiser Kage was right; emotions were nonexistent in most things. Such as Shadows that had always been Shadows and would always be Shadows. Things that didn't have hearts (oh no... playing Kingdom Hearts is effecting this) and would never have hearts. Though they might try to convince themselves that yes, they WERE capable of creating their own emotions, it would never work.

Humans, on the other hand, were very capable of emotions, as were Zoidians. Sephiroth would never know or understand that his assistant had only existed for about the amount of time she had BEEN his assistant. Vivian would never tell him, of course. She was still trying to tell herself that she COULD have feelings for Sephiroth or anyone else, no matter what her unintentional creators would ever say.

***

A beam of light flew through the Whale King wreck, destroying what was yet to be destroyed. It went on to pierce a wrecked Ultrasaurus nearby (the Ultrasaurus used against the Deathstinger in Guardian Force, the wreck Liger and the Berserk Fury fought on in the Royal Cup). It singed the Ultrasaurus' armor, but nothing more. "Ambient..." began the person piloting the Deathstinger. Apparently, the organoid understood. The Deathstinger burrowed underground. It had just now awakened- of course it wasn't strong enough to destroy either the Ultrasaurus OR the Ultimate X yet! But in time it would be ready, and Ambient would no longer be necessary. The organoid limited the Deathstinger's true potential. There was plenty of time left for the world. Until the Deathstinger destroyed the Ultimate X. Then Zi would be shrouded in darkness, an ultimate ragnorok! The Zoid's shadow would-

Enough of that. Revenge first, boasting later. There was one person to start with, one Zoidian, one organoid, and one Zoid. A trio, broken apart, with two different masters.

***

Twilight growled softly and looked up at Zi's two moons, waiting for Sylvia to wrap up her conversation so they could go home. Obviously that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. It was driving the organoid crazy. These relationships between beings got in the way a lot. Conversations were very droll. Who cared about what another being had been up to for the past two years? The only thing that needed to be focused on was the present, not the past. And besides, Sylvia knew that the Deathstinger had reawakened, so why bother with anything? There was no way all of them would survive whatever epidemic that was soon to happen.

Maybe Twilight could just go back to Neos, seeing as the Zoidian was just across the gorge, waiting for her to come back and raise the chances of him being any match for the Ultimate X. Or waiting for something else; who knew? He didn't have any relationships. Well, he hadn't really even known about this type of relationship until he saw the look on Fiona Alissi Lynett Flyheight's face when...

What was the point? You weren't supposed to dwell in the past, or the future. Just the present, which was why Twilight decided to stay with Sylvia for the time being. She needed an organoid. Hers was gone forever.

In the darkness a shadow crept by, running away from the light. Twilight looked down at it, cocking her head. In a flash she stomped on it. The Thing squirmed to get away, and in a moment it stopped bothering. Giving up on life? Twilight moved her metallic foot, allowing it to get away. These "shadows"- there were more and more of them every day. No one seemed to notice them. And if someone did, they wouldn't understand how a shadow can actually live. That was the price of using Shadow Mode whenever you liked, and it was a very big price.

Vivian- Twilight could tell that she had something to do with these shadows, and she knew that others did as well. They were hiding it, though, because they were only human. Well, not necessarily human, but because they were only living beings and that's what any normal being would do if they suspected any of these relationship things between the accused and someone else.

Twilight was very glad that she wasn't a human or a Zoidian. She didn't have to put up with any feelings being directed towards her.

***

Dive into the heart...

"Sephiroth, what's wrong?"

Sephiroth Adrian Donovan turned around from staring across the gorge at New Helic City and smiled at Sylvia. "Nothing, really..."

"No sad faces, okay (more Kingdom Hearts-influenced stuff!!!!)?" asked Sylvia, smiling back. Sephiroth laughed and nodded a little.

"It's hard to believe we're both twenty, huh?"

"It's even harder to believe that I should be a whole lot older than that," added his friend, also laughing.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad you're not."

Sylvia stopped smiling and looked to the ground. "You know, I sometimes wonder what would've happened if the Wind Colony wasn't destroyed." She sat down with her legs dangling over the edge of the vast chasm. "Bit probably wouldn't have ever found the Blitz team and piloted the Liger Zero. The Backdraft probably would have been successful in most of their plans. And that Harry kid probably would've gotten his wish, for Leena to love him... No one would ever know how special Bit really is! And the general public wouldn't know what the term "Ultimate X" means! And..."

"You and I wouldn't have met." Sephiroth sat down next to her. "I think fate would have found a way to work things out just the same. Maybe you're right, though. Maybe- just maybe- all of our families would still be alive, and maybe if the Deathsaurer had never gone berserk no one would ever have equipped weapons on Zoids, maybe all of us humans would have stayed on whatever planet we originally came from, maybe Shadow mode never would have happened. Maybe Van Flyheight and Fiona never would have met. Zoidians would live in a whole different world, Bit never would have been born and neither would Kylie, and if she was never born, hey, I'd still be in the Backdraft- wait, if humans never came to Zi then the Backdraft wouldn't exist..."

"You know, Sephiroth, if you love me all you have to do is kiss me."

And of course he complied.

***

Dive into the core of Zi itself... Zoids... Eve...

"Harry?" asked Nanase. She turned around, only to realize that no, he was gone, probably forever. That kid wasn't coming back. So Nanase would have to figure out some way to get the Backdraft off of her trail by herself. Ah well, if the Backdraft was after you, then why not just destroy the Backdraft itself?

Harry's eye twitched as he watched the Whale King slowly land, its mouth opening. He hoped that neither the Backdraft nor Nanase would do anything rash. He also hoped that HE wouldn't do anything rash. It was very likely that Harry would just end up making a fool of himself again and become the laughing stalk of the entire academy. His peers, his instructors...

Who cared what they thought, anyways?!! It only mattered what Harry thought right now! And Harry thought that Nanase wasn't stupid enough to be involved in the Backdraft. He thought that, despite her strange abilities, she deserved to have a friend. He thought that she was a very, very special girl and that...

Harry watched in sheer amazement as Nanase fused with Leena's Dibison yet again.

*"Why won't you just leave those poor kids alone?" came a shout from Commander Altiel's room.

Nanase was walking down the hallway of his personal Whale King when she overheard an argument. She placed an ear against the door and closed her eyes.

"Please, don't..." murmured another girl from inside of the room. "I don't mind..."

"No, I won't take this anymore," said a man sternly. "And you won't either. Neither will Nanase, or Vega, Yoko, Sayo, Taro, or poor Faye, or Eira, or Adrian, or Ayumi-"

"Enough of you ramblings, Scott..." began Altiel.

"Children aren't to be simply experimented with!" shouted Dr. Scott.

Nanase opened her eyes to make sure no one was coming and catch her eaves dropping.

"Ha ha, you can't catch me!" Nanase heard a shout from down the hall and looked for a place to hide. She wasn't fast enough. "Oof!" cried Nanase as someone ran into her.

"Oh!" cried a boy a few years older than her. "Vega's sorry, aren't you, Vega?"

Vega, the young one with the longer black hair, wasn't listening. "Not again..." he murmured.

"If you won't ease up I'll take them out of here myself, to find some real and deserving parents!" shouted Dr. Scott.

"Zoids Eve knows when they'll stop or how it will end this time," added the youngest girl, who had pink hair and eyes. "I'm glad that at least I have parents. Too bad for you bunch, though."

"Faye!" cried two others, about Nanase's age, who looked to be twins. "What if they abandon us..." murmured the boy, "...like Mom and Dad?!!" finished the girl.

"Just stop it..." said the oldest, apparently called Faye. She ran her fingers through her hair and stared back at Nanase with big silver eyes. "What's you're name?"

"I don't know- I mean, Nanase, I guess..." answered Nanase.

"You should get back to your family."

"I don't have one..."

"Welcome to the club."

"Fine!" shouted Dr. Scott. "Keep this up and I'm out of here! You can't afford that, and you know it. I'm only staying because you're my brother." The door shot open and the group immediately shot behind it, leaving Nanase to stand there perplexed. "Oh, hello, Nanase. If my brother tells you to do something stupid don't listen to him. And don't let that Adrian get into trouble, okay?" He managed a small smile and shot off down the hall, pulling a girl about Nanase's age behind him. She looked dazed, and stumbled. Dr. Scott stopped and simply picked her up. "It's okay, Koko..."

She sighed and remembered what Faye had said: "Welcome to the club."

The group of children came back out after Altiel left the room to go after his brother and the girl. "They just turned back on that generator," mumbled Yoko, the oldest boy who also had black hair. "D***."

"Yoko!" shouted Faye. "You know you're not supposed to swear in front of the younger children!"

"But he's right, they did turn on that generator," countered Vega. "And you know what that means..."

"What generator?" asked Nanase.

"It's like his signature," explained Faye. "Most every time he wants his enemy to know that he's coming he turns it on, and then BANG!!! Artificial thunderstorm. Usually it kicks up a sandstorm, too. Of course, we're usually the ones who go after the victim, whether we like it or not. He should do his own dirty work."

Taro and Sayo, the twins, nodded in agreement. Nanase shuddered. She hated storms more than Altiel himself.*

***

"Bit?" Bit stopped fiddling with Liger's controls and looked up, opening the cockpit. "Leena?" he asked. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering..." began Leena, "...do you think Dad will live?"

Bit sighed. Was there nothing that could get her mind off of this? "Is this a trick question?"

"No... I just want an honest answer."

"Uh..." Bit hesitated. He didn't want Leena to feel bad, but he didn't want to get her hopes up for nothing. "I'm not sure. We'll just have to wait and hope the Doc'll be okay."

"Oh..."

BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! A screen popped up on Liger's monitor: (blinking) incoming message... incoming message...

"Huh?" asked Bit. "No one's at the base... who could be contacting us..."

"Extraterrestrials?" joked Leena.

"Seriously..." grumbled Bit. He pushed a button, hoping it would turn on the comlink screen. It did.

"How does this thing work- oh!"

"Harry?!!" asked Bit. "What the-?!!"

"Dang, wrong com," said Harry, lowering his eyes. "Do you know Commander Altiel's-"

"Harry, you joined the Backdraft?!!" asked Leena, alarmed.

"N-no, of course not!" answered Harry crossly. "Why would I do something like that? I'm not a complete idiot, you know- duck, Liger!"

Liger Zero X crouched as Harry told him to, and a beam of energy passed just over them. "Who the..." asked Leena. "Th- thanks, Harry. That was close..."

"And very strange," added Harry. "This is urgent, so do you have Altiel's com or not?"

"Why would we?" asked Bit suspiciously. "Are you SURE you didn't join-"

"Bit, I joined the ZBC, okay? This is a matter of life or death for someone..."

"A GIRL?" asked Leena happily, suddenly forgetting about whoever had shot at them.

"Yes, a girl already!" shouted Harry. "Now do you have it or not?!!"

"No." Leena shrugged. "We could search the database-"

"How long would it take?!!"

"A minute or so. Longer if we have to fight someone. It'll transmit automatically, so whatever's wrong, stall for time."

***

"Okay, stall for time. Like I didn't already know that," scoffed Harry Champ, turning his Dark Horn. It ran up next to Leena's old Dibison and another comlink popped up.

"Harry!" cried Nanase. "I thought..."

"Didn't you just fuse with that thing?!!"

"Faster way to get in the cockpit." She shrugged.

"Sorry about earlier, but we can talk about that later. First..."

A few Zabats flew out of the Whale King's open mouth, shooting at them. Both pilots braced themselves and then shot back, hitting one of the enemy Zoids and narrowly missing another. More of this went on for a few moments when Bit and Lena's comlink reappeared on Harry's monitor.

"It's not in our database, Harry," said Leena. "Have to go, sorry." She closed the comlink hastily.

***

"Sylvia?"

Sylvia Minogue turned around from watching the moons and stars, and occasionally mentioning something to Adrian. She looked down at Spring, surprised. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Ptolemy at-"

"I never told you."

"Huh?"

"We disbanded. The Zoidian Guild... no longer exists."

"Wha?!" cried Sylvia. "But why? Why wasn't I-"

"They thought it would be better, because Kage wouldn't be able to wipe us all out with one blow. Yoko knew you would protest." Spring looked to the ground, having had her say.

"And Ptolemy?"

"There was a small dispute... he went to look for Zoids Eve and left me with Yoko."

"Oh." Sylvia sighed. What to do? Why now?! Why did Spring come to her instead of someone else?!!

"There's something about him I just don't understand," hesitated Spring. "Yoko always seemed to like you... please, talk him into finding Ptolemy and-" She stopped suddenly and stared out over the gorge.

"Into what? Spring?"

"It's coming."

***

*"It's coming, isn't it..." Thirteen-year-old Faye stared into the dark forest, searching every shadowy place for that Zoid she had heard so much about. "It's coming and you knew it."

"Maybe I did... so what?" grumbled Hitoshi. He turned around and started to walk away.

"Why don't you just face it?"

"Huh?" He twirled back around.

"It's pointless to run away."

"Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"Of course I do... that Liger. It's coming to destroy our simple lives once again. Only this time, it'll finish the job. The village doesn't stand a chance."

"What are you talking about?" lied Hitoshi, pulling her away from the trees. "Who'd want to destroy your little village? I-" He stopped and shuddered. What was the point of even trying to lie? It was so easy to tell when someone was doing that. "Come on..."

Faye followed him off to his Zoid, taking one last glance at the forest. She saw a pair of huge blood-red eyes staring back at them for just a moment. That Liger...*

"You're doing it again."

"Hito- wha-?!" Faye shot up in bed and turned on her lamp, trying to find who had interrupted her dream.

"You're talking in your sleep again."

She looked up to see Vega Obscura staring at her. "Right, err, thanks," she murmured.

"Why don't you just leave the Backdraft?" asked Vega. "You're what, like, twenty-something?"

"Oh, Vega," Faye laughed. Always so cheerful. "You're so lucky that Sarah took you in. I've been with the Backdraft for so long, I just don't know what I'd do if I ever managed to get out of Altiel's grasp. Seeing as I'm the last of us, he's determined to keep me here..."

"Did you hear about what happened to Nanase?" asked Vega. Perhaps this would persuade her to get out while she still could.

"No..."

"She found out that the Backdraft was the reason that she'd suffered so much... And she found out that she still had a family. That someone out there cared for her. You remember her little locket?"

Faye nodded.

"She found out that it really was hers, that the family on the picture inside was her family... and that it was Commander Altiel who destroyed the Wind Colony, where she lived, in the first place."

"I know that the Backdraft isn't the reason I'm here... it was just a black Liger. But that Liger didn't kill my family because they were already dead. Maybe it was the Backdraft that killed them."

"Or maybe you do still have a family, like Nanase."

Vega stood in silence, thinking. Maybe he, too, had a family out there. And Sayo, Taro, Yoko, and all the others...

"Maybe, just maybe, our 'gifts' are natural. Maybe the Backdraft didn't 'give' them to us..."

"Yeah right, and maybe Dr. Scott is still alive," laughed Vega.

"I guess I shouldn't wish for too much. I probably shouldn't take naps, either."

"They turned the generator on again," said Vega flatly. Faye sighed.

"Yeah, well... off into my Zoid, huh?"

"Yeah. Later. And if you see an opportunity..."

"I know already," mumbled Faye, getting up. She wasn't a kid anymore. There was no reason to take orders from Altiel. A little after her dream she found herself walking off to her Zoid, thinking of the one person she thought and hoped cared for her. She could be wrong, but that look she had seen on his face when...

It wasn't a good idea to think about that right before a battle. She should be thinking of how on Zi she would ever escape the Backdraft...