I don't own Xenosaga or any of the characters except Victor Corvin and James MacPherson

***

As usual, the awakening from death was less than pleasant. On the other hand, the fact that I'd awakened at all meant that I'd been picked up by some ship or other.

I gasped, coughing as air flowed into my lungs once more. "Victor!" My eyes weren't focusing quite yet, but I recognized the voice.

"Hey, Shion," I coughed, then took a normal breath. "I told you I'd be fine." My eyes finally began tracking again, and I took stock of the area. I seemed to be on some kind of launch deck, near an escape pod. Shion, Allen, and KOS-MOS were standing nearby.

"I thought you were dead," Shion said. "But chaos here insisted we pick up your body, and he said.... he said that you're immortal."

I sat up, glancing at the last person in the room. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit, and had white hair. "Hey, chaos. Didn't see you. So it was the Elsa that picked us up?"

"So you do know them," Allen said.

"That's right," I replied. "I know them, and I know their bosses, and I know a whole lot of other people. So tell me, Shion, just how did I happen to wind up here?"

"All it took was your name," Shion began...

***

(Flashback, to shortly after Shion, Allen, KOS-MOS, and Cherenkov arrived aboard the Elsa.)

"Were there any other survivors?" chaos asked.

"There was one other," Shion said, voice breaking, "but he... he died, keeping the Gnosis off us while we escaped. Another Vector engineer, Victor Corvin."

chaos' expression brightened. "Victor Corvin?" He turned to the ship's captain, Matthews. "Captain, can we make a brief detour to pick him up?"

Had the request been from anyone else, Matthews would have refused it. But when chaos asked for a favor, there was a reason for it. "Yeah, sure, if it's that important. Tony," he said, turning to the pilot, "find the guy's corpse. If it's out there at all."

"It will be," chaos said.

Shion looked at him, uncomprehending. "Victor was killed by the explosion. There wouldn't be anything left!"

"It's all right, Shion. Victor is an Immortal. As soon as we get him inside, he'll come back to life."

"What!?" Allen stared at him. "You can't be serious! People don't just rise from the dead!"

"Some do," chaos disagreed. "I've seen Victor dead before."

"Then... you knew him?" Shion asked. "He never mentioned this ship or its crew."

"He wouldn't have. Victor will tell you the rest himself, but take at look at these." chaos held up several holographs. "The oldest of these is from three hundred years ago."

"The information appears to be correct," KOS-MOS said. "Comparisons show that they are all Victor Corvin."

"She's right, Chief," Allen said in confusion. "How is that possible?"

"Victor said he'd explain after we'd escaped the Woglinde," Shion murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "He must have known that there weren't going to be enough escape pods, yet he fully believed he'd be around to explain." Her expression turned hopeful. "Victor..."

(End of flashback.)

***

"I see," I said, when Shion had finished the account. "And Commander Cherenkov made it off, too?"

"Yes," chaos answered. "He had a brief encounter with a Gnosis, but I dealt with it."

"Of course you did," I murmured, then turned back to Shion. "Okay, I promised you answers. Let's get someplace more comfortable and I'll give you the full story." I smiled. "Or at least as much of it as I can tell you without taking the next century."

Once we'd reached the cabins, I sat on one of the couches. After taking a few minutes to collect my thoughts, I began abruptly. "From the beginning of time, we've been among you, but our true origins are unknown. We simply are. The Human race at large has never realized that we walk among you, and this has been our desire. We have our own battle."

"But.... what are you, Victor?" Shion asked. "What is it that you do?"

"Not even we hold all the answers, Shion. What we know is that we are Immortal, that the only way to permanently kill us to cut off our heads." I sighed, realizing that I needed to reveal all of our secrets. "As to what we do, we battle each other, one-on-one, until there is only one of us left. Once an Immortal has triumphed in the Game, the survivor receives the Prize. And that is the second greatest mystery surrounding us, for not even we Immortals know what the Prize is. What we do know is that if an evil Immortal should prevail, the universe will be plunged into darkness." I paused, thinking of the great evil Immortals of the past. The Kurgan, Kalas, three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Silas, Caspian, and their leader, Kronos. "The meaning to our existence can be summed up by the one saying that has been passed down through the ages, to every Immortal: In the end, there can be only one."

"That's all you do? Run around cutting each other's heads off?"

"Not exactly," I replied. "The decent ones among us have little use for head-hunting at all, in fact. I've made it a practice not to go for anyone who hasn't either tried to kill me or harm innocents. But despite the danger, Immortality is a blessing. We can aid mortals, in our cautious way, and experience more than any mortal could. But it is also a curse."

"A curse?" Shion asked. She was sitting on a chair across from me. "How?"

"For one thing, we're incapable of having children. That's never bothered me, though." I paused, then continued in a quiet voice. "No, the problem is that we can never let ourselves form close attachments. Or we try not to, anyway. Mortals die so very young," I added, voice barely audible.

"You try not to?" Shion leaned forward. "But it doesn't work that way, does it?"

"No. We can't live our lives completely without human contact, and we can't usually afford to form close ties to other Immortals. In the end, there can be only one," I repeated. "But we do what we can. For the past four thousand years, I have spent most of my time in various militaries, where people tend to die before you can get to know them. Until fourteen years ago."

"Fourteen years... You were on Miltia?" Shion asked, surprised.

I nodded. "Yes. The Miltian Conflict was my most recent tour of duty as a soldier. Afterwards, I felt I needed a break from the killing, so I joined Vector." I smiled humorlessly. "My mistake. When I became involved with the KOS-MOS Project, I formed friendships for this first time in a hundred years. It'll come back to haunt me, I'm sure, but for now, I suppose I need it." The bleakness left my face. "It is nice to be able to trust people sometimes."

"Four thousand years..." Allen mused. "Just how old are you, Victor?"

"Well, when you combine the change of standards by which the date is judged with the sheer amount of time that has passed, I can't be entirely sure. But I do remember that I was born in the year 1990 A.D., by old reckoning."

"Then you were born on Lost Jerusalem?" Shion asked incredulously. "The world that we left behind?"

I nodded again. "Yeah. But don't bother asking me where it is; I don't know either. Coordinate systems have changed, and the last time I was actually on Earth was the mid-twenty-third century. I do know that it's not in this galaxy, but other than that, I'm just as much in the dark as you. Oh, Allen" I added, turning, "did the gear you took off the Woglinde for me make it?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Here it is." He handed the case, katana, and pistol to me.

"Thanks." I slung the sword over my shoulder, then opened the case and began removing its contents.

"One thing, Victor," Shion said. "Just what happened two years ago? First you were late for work, then when you finally arrived, it was with a missing arm and just in time to kill that gunman before he could kill me."

"Chief!?" Allen clearly hadn't heard about that particular part of the incident. "You never mentioned that!"

"I insisted," I told him. "Revealing it would have lead to awkward questions, like why my arm had been cut off. To answer your question, Shion, an Immortal named James MacPherson, also of Earth, challenged me just as I arrived for the test. He's been a thorn in my side for over two millennia, and I thought to end it that night. But I underestimated him." I flexed my arm. "He cut off my sword arm, and was just preparing for the kill when the archetype arrived and blew MacPherson off the roof. Since KOS-MOS wasn't supposed to be active yet, I decided to ignore my injury and check the lab. By the time I found the right room, I'd already found a bunch of corpses, and you'd destroyed the archetype. I just happened to get there at the right time."

"But you saved my life," Shion said. "Seems to be a habit of yours. Thanks for what you did on the Woglinde, by the way."

I smiled, recalling the tackle I'd used to get her out of harm's way. "I just happened to see what was going on, that's all."

"Right place at the right time?" she said, with an answering smile. Then she frowned. "But you didn't 'just happen' to have the marksmanship skills that saved me at the lab. Even most soldiers can't shoot like that, especially with the wrong hand."

I sighed, then began field-stripping the H&K. "About a dozen lifetimes ago," I began, cleaning the automatic, "I was an assassin. A government assassin, to be sure, but a specialized killer nonetheless. In that capacity, I learned to out-shoot the best. But before that even, in the twenty-first century, I was with the British Special Air Service, an outfit with a misleading name. The SAS was primarily counterterrorism, and that job requires near-perfect accuracy. Often, a terrorist would take a hostage as a human shield, and if we didn't shoot straight, that hostage was dead. Sometimes we failed, but more often than not it was the terrorist who wound up lying on the ground as a bleeding corpse. It was there that I got this," I added, motioning at the disassembled handgun. "A friend by the name Seth Connors died in the line of duty, and left me this weapon. Since then, it has never been far from my side."

"An assassin," Shion murmured. "No wonder... But why join Vector, if you're a professional soldier?"

"Because even soldiers wear out, Shion. Even we tire of the killing. I have served in more wars than I can remember, with militaries, special forces, and even mercenary companies. I have killed, in single combat, more than a thousand people in my time. I make no excuses for what I am, but the fact remains that I am a killer. If anyone here has a problem with that, then feel free not to associate with me. I can understand that, even if I think every one of the bloody bastards deserved it."

"There's nothing wrong with what you've done, Vic," Shion said. "You've been protecting others."

"Not everybody thinks like that," I replied quietly, reassembling the USP. "Some people call my kind monsters. That goes for being an Immortal, too, by the way. Before I became Immortal, renegade members of a society called the Watchers, dedicated to observing and recording, without interference, the lives and battles of Immortals, tried to hunt us down and kill us all."

"Others may call you a monster, Victor," Shion said firmly, "but I don't. Just remember that you have friends, whatever the rest of the universe might think of you."

"Thanks, Shion." I glanced at chaos. "You've been quiet, chaos."

"I already know all this," he replied. "I don't need to ask questions."

"True." I buckled on a spare gunbelt I'd taken from the case. While small, it used space-compression technology, and held a lot more than it looked. "So where are we headed now?"

Shion looked at KOS-MOS in apparent exasperation. "Second Miltia. KOS-MOS threatened to blow up the ship in order to get aboard, then ordered the crew to take her there. I had to threaten to open the escape pod to space just to get her to let us aboard."

"Threaten!?" Allen yelped. "Victor, she actually started to let the air out just to prove she was serious!"

I nodded approvingly. "You do know how to make your point, don't you, Shion?" I reached into the case once more, this time removing a seat of camouflage fatigues and an old Miltian-issue military beret.

"Victor, what are you...?" Shion looked at the military gear. "I thought you said you were out of it."

"I am." I tossed the fatigues on a nearby bunk, then put on the beret. "But Miltia was my last military tour, and if I'm going to have to fight again, I might as well look the part, even if most people will think me too young to have fought in the Conflict." I paused, then met her eyes with a serious expression. "One more thing: if an Immortal challenges me, do not interfere. The rules of the Game require them to be one-on-one duels. If I lose, feel free to fill him full of holes, but don't interfere during it. Okay?"

She nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

***

Once properly equipped, I headed for the Elsa's Bridge with the others. I'd had enough rest, having been dead, and needed to see the crew.

"Corvin, ain't it?" Captain Matthews said as we entered. "Guess chaos was right after all. I suppose you're going to Second Miltia, too?"

"That's right. Hey, Hammer, Tony," I added, greeting the navigator and pilot. "Still busy trying to keep this rust-bucket in space while simultaneously attempting to pay off the Kukai Foundation? Good luck; I'd hate to see a perfectly good junk heap like this turned into a profitable ship." I meant none of it, of course; the Elsa, while certainly crewed by misfits, had originally been a luxury passenger ship, and still had the accommodations to match in the quarters.

"So what's on Second Miltia that you need to get to, Victor?" Hammer asked. "I mean, I know Vector's Second Division is based there, but-"

I shrugged. "Beats me. But KOS-MOS is going there, and she won't tell anyone why, so we're just kind of following along. I imagine we'll find out when we get there." I glanced around. "So, where's Cherenkov?"

Shion shrugged. "I don't know. He's been acting strangely ever since the Woglinde was attacked. Why was he in the hanger, anyway? And wearing a spacesuit?"

"Beats me," I said, though I had a fair idea. If U-TIC really is back, then it stands to reason they'd want an Emulator. And since Cherenkov was near the Zohar, instead of on the Bridge, where he should have been, it stands to reason that he's a U-TIC operative. But unless he does something to threaten us, I'm not going to mention it. No point in making him suspicious if he is a traitor, and no reason to cause any problems if he's innocent. But I think I am going to keep a close eye on the Commander for a while.

My thoughts were interrupted by Tony. "Still wearing that antique?" he said, motioning at my USP.

I laughed. "You think this is antique? I once knew a fellow, back in the twenty-first century, who favored the Colt Single-Action Army. A Russian, with a taste for cowboy movies and torture. In short, he was a very strange sadist, but there were few deadlier with a handgun. He had the misfortune to end up on the opposite side of a covert op from me, and wound up dead, with a shot through the forehead. He was just as accurate, and actually better than I with ricochet shots, but my reflexes were better." I thought back to those long-ago days on Earth. "I don't remember his name, but I'll never forget his personality. Bloody sadist."

"Don't get him started," chaos said. "If given the chance, Victor'll tell old war stories for the next week. He's got a lot of them."

I turned a brief glare on him. "Thanks a lot, chaos. I'll have you know that they're not merely stories to me. They actually happened, and there's usually one that fits a given situation. It's called knowing the past in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. I may look twenty-two, but I was shot dead in 2012, four thousand years ago. That's a lot of experience to draw on."

From the looks that got me, it occurred to me that chaos had been trying to get a rise out me. And I had risen to the bait. "Yeah, sure, go ahead and laugh. Maybe you'll think differently the next time things get wet. For now, though, I'm just going to get some sleep."

"Probably a good idea, Victor," chaos said. "Dying takes it out of you, right?"

"Yeah. See you in the morning, Shion. Whenever that is, Elsa-time."

"Goodnight, Victor."

***

Author's note: I realize this chapter was a little short on action, but there isn't much happening at this point in the game anyway. I also felt that a lengthy explanation was in order, since Shion and the rest wouldn't have encountered an Immortal before.

I do intend for MacPherson to make an appearance eventually; it's just a matter of finding the right place. Before the Kukai Foundation, it simply won't be practical.

There should be more action next chapter, since Ziggy and MOMO will be debuting. It should be interesting.

Thanks for the review; I was beginning to think there wouldn't be any. Let me know what you think of this chapter.

That should about cover the notes for this chapter. I'll have the next one started soon. ~Solid Shark