I don't own anything except Victor Corvin, Tamara Klein, and James MacPherson

-----------------------------

It took another day to reach the Second Miltian star system. The Durandal alone could probably have made it in less time, but the Kukai Foundation was a great deal larger, and thus slower.

I stood on the Durandal's bridge with Shion and Gaignun as we approached. "Approaching Second Miltian star system," Shelley announced. "We will arrive in orbit at approximately 1400 hours, local time." She activated the comm system. "Second Miltia spaceport control, requesting permission to dock."

I frowned. "There's a Federation fleet approaching. I wonder why?"

"Are they escorting us in this time?" Mary wondered.

"They're blocking the way!?" Shelley exclaimed. "This is no escort."

I stiffened as I checked the sensor data on the nearest ship. "Photon torpedo...?" I whispered.

The Foundation was rocked by a blast. "Confirm photon torpedo detonation off the port bow!" one of the 100-series Realians reported.

"What do they think they're doing?"

My rhetorical question was quickly answered as a voice came over the comm, announcing that we were under arrest for a variety of charges, including the destruction of a Federation fleet. "What Federation fleet?" Shion demanded.

"Take a look at the news feed on the sub monitor!" Mary said. "You're not gonna believe this!"

As a newscaster spoke in the background, I stared at the image: the Durandal, blowing apart a ship I remembered all too well. "What the blazes!? The Woglinde was hit by Gnosis, not the Durandal! What are they trying to pull!?"

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Gaignun said.

Jr. had arrived by then. "That's from when we fought the U-TIC!"

"That explains why the absolute coordinates match. Anything else, I expect we'll learn shortly."

------------------------------

By the time the Federation forces arrived, our entire group, except for KOS-MOS, was on the Bridge. "Think U-TIC has anything to do with it?" Jr. asked.

He didn't get an answer, as the Marines reached the Bridge at that moment. "My name is Captain Lapis Roman," the woman in the lead said. "I hereby place this vessel in the custody of the Galaxy Federation." She turned to Shion, Allen, and I. "I understand you're survivors from the Woglinde. I'll take you in as witnesses."

"Here's the 100-series under warrant," another soldier reported, dragging MOMO by the arm.

"Don't hurt her!" Jr. broke away from his guards, trying to reach her, but was quickly clubbed to the deck, with a rifle aimed at his head.

My reaction was swift. In an instant, my USP was in my hand, pointing at Jr.'s captor. "Let him up," I said in a quiet, deadly voice. "Let him up, or I will kill you where you stand."

The Marines glanced at each other uncertainly for a moment, then the one holding Jr. down laughed. "You're bluffing!"

Eyes cold, I shifted my aim to his knee and fired, the gun roaring in my hand as the bullet slammed into the guard's leg. "I never bluff," I said coldly, then adjusted my aim to his partner. "He will just need a new kneecap; the next person who tries it will need a new head." I smiled thinly. "If you pull that trigger, I will fire. If I even think that you're going to pull that trigger, I'll splatter your brains over the deck. Do we understand each other?"

Even as one Marine knelt and gave the injured man a painkiller, another came at me. "Drop that gun!" He reached for it, wrenching it out of my grip, and then went flying, slamming into a bulkhead as I drove a booted foot into his chest.

"You can't stop me," I said in an almost normal tone. "I'll go along with this farce, if only to avoid providing more fodder for the propaganda mills, but if you continue to proceed in this manner, you will find yourself with several injured Marines on your hands. Do we understand each other?" I repeated.

Roman finally nodded. "Very well. But surrender your weapons now."

I nodded. "Very well." Reaching up, I unslung Lady Vivamus and carefully laid it on the deck, then flicked a knife out of my sleeve.

"Put them all in the same room, under guard," she continued.

A Marine glanced at her. "All of them?"

"If we separate them, it'll only serve to underman our guard posts," Roman replied. Then she turned to Gaignun. "Gaignun Kukai, you'll have to come with me."

"As you wish."

------------------------------

We were locked in one of the rooms in the Residential area, with two guards outside the door, as we awaited Captain Roman. In the meantime, we tried to figure out what was going on.

"When you make enemies, you really make enemies, Victor," Tamara commented. "People always seem to either like you or try to kill you, did you notice?"

I leaned back. "Who says this has anything to do with me? The only times I've ever had any dealings with U-TIC were during the incident two years ago and rescuing Ziggy and MOMO from the Auto-Techs. I wouldn't really call them my enemies."

"This comes at an odd time," Ziggy observed.

"What do you mean?" Shion asked.

"It's beginning to feel as if this was all part of the plan, from the very beginning. Possibly from the time I was given the mission."

MOMO looked at him. "You mean when Mommy sent you to rescue me?"

"Yes. Perhaps this 'Commander Margulis', who was in charge of the base at Pleroma, had this as a contingency plan."

I glanced up sharply. "Did you say Margulis?" I demanded.

He looked at me. "Yes, why?"

"That bastard," I hissed. Then, noting the puzzled looks I was getting, I explained. "I didn't know he was with U-TIC, but I've met Margulis before. An accomplished swordsman, I ran into him a few years ago, slaughtering people on some backwater world. We fought then, but he was just good enough to survive. Haven't heard of him since."

"Maybe one of the members of the Subcommittee is working with them," Allen mused. "Possibly even the person who arranged for MOMO's rescue, Dr. Juli Mizrahi herself."

"No! Mommy would never do something like that!" MOMO cried.

"Allen!" Shion said sharply.

"I... uh... sorry." He lowered his head.

"I've known Dr. Mizrahi for years, Allen," I said. "She's something of a cold fish, perhaps, but she has nothing to do with her late husband's former organization."

"Late husband...?"

I grimaced. "Joachim Mizrahi."

"That's just great," Jr. said, shaking his head. "If we don't do something, U-TIC will get MOMO, and soon."

"We'll make it," I said confidently. "It'll be explained, I'm sure, when Captain Roman arrives."

------------------------------

A little later, the door slid open, and Captain Roman entered, with a guard. "The preliminary inquiry will now begin," she said, and sat down. "I'm Captain Lapis Roman, of the Galaxy Federation's Special Ops Headquarters. I'm an agent of Representative Helmer." She glanced at the guard that had entered with her. "He's also with us."

I smiled. "Glad you're here, Captain. We'll need all the help we can get."

Shion looked at me. "You know her, Victor?"

"Of course," I replied. "Do you think I'd have taken the kind of chances that I did on the Bridge if I didn't know that the person in charge of the Marines here wouldn't have me blasted out of hand?" I turned to Roman. "I hope I didn't do that Marine too much damage; it just made me angry."

"He'll be fine within a few weeks. But I'll get straight to the point," she said, and looked at MOMO. "As things stand, within a few hours she'll be turned over to anti-Miltian forces. We need conclusive proof of your innocence."

"That won't be easy," I said. "Not with that doctored tape."

"What about the Woglinde's black box?" Shion suggested.

Roman shook her head. "We've already recovered that. Unfortunately, some time after the final gate-out it was altered to be identical to the tape, down to the time axes. Whoever it was did a pretty thorough job of setting it up."

Jr. shook his head. "And I shot up the database on the U-TIC ship. Oops."

"What about the Durandal's database?" chaos said. "It should still contain a record of the battle against the U-TIC."

"Is that a standard database?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jr. replied.

Roman sighed. "Is that a problem?" chaos asked.

"Yes. Standard databases are too easily modified. We need something that even the owner couldn't modify, something with a AAA-class encryption, maybe."

Jr. shot to his feet. "Triple A!?" he exclaimed. "You don't just find that kind of encryption lying around! You'd need the Federation government's motherframe, or the U.M.N. operating system!"

Shion glanced up. "We-" She started. "We have one!"

I could almost see the light bulb that turned on in Allen's head. "Oh! KOS-MOS!"

"KOS-MOS?" Jr. asked.

"KOS-MOS has a record of the battle with the Gnosis aboard the Woglinde," Shion explained. "If we enter that as evidence..."

"But we'd need the keys from the Federation government and Headquarters," Allen protested.

"Not necessarily," she replied. "If we dive into the Encephalon and experience the record ourselves, we can make a copy through the Connection Gear."

"But without the Dive Equipment-"

"What about the Service Module's Simple Dive Unit?"

"Could work," I mused. "But there's still the problem of getting to KOS-MOS in the first place. She's still locked down on the Elsa."

Roman rose then, and hit a key on the Connection Gear she carried. Ziggy's arms popped free from their restraints, and Roman tossed the unit to Shion. "That will get you past any locked doors you encounter," she said. "I'll say we were careless." She grimaced. "But in order for it to be believable, you'll have to knock me out."

"You're sure?" Ziggy asked.

"Otherwise, no one would believe it, right?"

He glanced around. "You have a point."

I stood. "Let me. It'll still be believable, but it won't hurt as much." I walked over, then pinched the proper nerve in Roman's neck. As she collapsed, I turned back to the others. "A trick I picked up early in my martial arts training. Pinch the right nerve, and you cut off blood flow to the brain just long enough to knock your target unconscious." Quickly, I incapacitated the guard, as well.

When the door opened, the two outer guards just had time to notice me rushing out before I gripped the first man's rifle, twisted, and slammed him into the wall. His partner I dropped with a quick judo move, slamming him into the floor. "The guards are down. Now we need to find our equipment. It can't be too far."

------------------------------

After hunting down our weapons in another room, we fought our way through several more Federation Marines, as well as a few robotic guards, and made our way to the Durandal's intra-ship train. From there, we headed to the Elsa's dock.

The guards in that area didn't seem to realize who we were; a fact that I found decidedly strange, since we were supposed to be semi-infamous prisoners. It did help, though.

Unfortunately, the Elsa's airlock refused to open when we reached it. "It seems to be locked from the inside," chaos said. "The captain, Tony, and Hammer are probably still alright."

"But how do we get in?" Tamara demanded. "As long as this 'KOS-MOS' is locked in with them, their safety doesn't matter to us. It's just another problem."

I raised a hand. "Calmly, Tamara, calmly. We should be able to reach Hatch Seventeen from the service dock, below us."

We had to take out another robot along the way, but we reached the service dock easily. From there, we were able to jump to the Elsa's hull, near the cargo elevator. Then it was a simple matter to gain entry, using access codes chaos provided.

"We have to get to the Maintenance Lab as quickly as possible," Shion said. "The sooner we get that data, the sooner we get out of this mess."

"Agreed." Despite that, however, I moved ahead rather cautiously, katana held in one hand. If we could get in, it was entirely possible that Marines had gained access as well.

There was no further incident, fortunately, and in less than five minutes we were in the Lab where KOS-MOS had set up her service module. She was still there, sleeping within, when we arrived. "Okay, here we go," Shion said quietly, slipping the Simple Dive Unit over her face. "Allen, handle backup for me, okay?"

"Right." Allen activated a hand terminal, linked to the dive unit. He looked very nervous, then shook himself. "Come on, get a grip," he muttered. "Don't worry," he said to Shion. "I'll back you up no matter what happens."

"Thanks." She activated the dive unit. "Ready, KOS-MOS?"

I was standing guard near the door, keeping an eye on things, when I noticed the room start to warp around me. "What the-" My surroundings were appearing to drain around me, until there was just blackness. Oddly, only Jr. and I appeared to notice at all. And then I could no longer see even my companions...

------------------------------

I was standing on a skyscraper roof, looking down on New York City. I had no idea how I had gotten there, but I was not alone. Standing on the other side, toward the opposite edge, was a young man wearing some kind of uniform, with a pair of pistols holstered on his belt and a katana slung across his back, with the hilt protruding over his right shoulder. He seemed familiar.

But before I could identify him, I was suddenly elsewhere, in a park. The sky was not quite the same as Earth's, and the architecture that was visible was from a different, more modern style.

There were voices behind me. "I've been waiting for you all for a long time," one said.

The other I recognized immediately. "You've been waiting... for us?" Shion and I turned at the same time, facing each other, and we were not alone. "chaos... Allen... Victor... What are you doing here?"

"I don't know." I glanced once more at the strangely familiar sky. "What planet is this, anyway?"

She didn't answer. The girl who had spoken earlier touched her hand. "Who are you?" Shion asked.

"I am... Nephilim," the girl replied. "That is what I have been called, ever since I existed in this form." Nephilim turned. "We have much to talk about."

She walked with Shion over to the nearby swing set, where they sat. "So this really is Miltia?" Shion asked.

"Yes," Nephilim replied. "A sea of unbroken memories slumbers at the depths of your consciousness. KOS-MOS has sensed this, and recreated them."

"KOS-MOS?" I frowned. "What the blazes is going on here?" I wondered quietly.

"They are KOS-MOS' memories' as well," Nephilim went on.

"KOS-MOS' memories?" Shion repeated. "But that's-"

"Memories do not belong solely to one person," Nephilim said. "Nor are they fixed to one location."

"No, that's not..." Shion paused for a moment, evidently collecting her thoughts. "The original KOS-MOS was-"

"Was destroyed," Nephilim nodded, "during the incident, two years ago. And... you lost someone dear to you, as well."

What does Kevin's death have to do with this? I wondered. Sure, it was a tragedy, and Shion's still grieving, to a certain extant, but...

"Joyful memories make up only on half of the whole," Nephilim continued. "In order to be complete, they must join with the other half. You must accept the entirety of your memories."

"Accept... our memories..." Shion repeated, confusion evident in her voice.

"To do that, you must return to Miltia, once again,"

Shion stood abruptly. "Why? Why must I go to Miltia?" she demanded.

Nephilim pointed toward the exit of the park. "Only KOS-MOS knows the answer to that question. She is waiting for you there."

"KOS-MOS is... out there?" Shion gazed in that direction for a moment, then began running, Allen close behind.

"Are you sure that this is what you want?" I heard Nephilim saying to chaos. "Once you have chosen, there is no turning back."

"I know," chaos replied. "But Shion... is vital to her."

"And to you as well?" She gazed at him. "What will you do?"

As I watched in confusion, Nephilim faded away, while chaos gazed after Shion. I walked over to him then. What the...? What was that about? And chaos obviously knew this 'Nephilim'. Who is he, really? "Come on, chaos," I said. "We'd better go if we're going to catch up with her."

He looked up. "You're right. Let's go."

------------------------------

After catching up with Shion, I turned to her. "Shion, do you have any idea what's going on? Who is this 'Nephilim'?"

She shook her head, still moving. "I have no idea. But I've seen her before; several times, on the Woglinde, she appeared briefly. I guess we'll know more once we find KOS-MOS."

"I guess... Whoa!" I dodged to the side, drawing my blade as a nearby "statue" started moving, revealing itself to be a Gnosis. I quickly sliced it in half. "What the blazes? What are Gnosis doing in KOS-MOS' head? Don't we have enough trouble?"

"I think this is from fourteen years ago," chaos said. "When the Gnosis first entered our world in large numbers. It would explain their presence here."

"Bloody..." I muttered. "Nothing to be done about it, I suppose, except to keep going."

Not far from the Miltian Park area, we came across several open manholes, leading into the sewers. "Think this is a hint?" Allen asked. "May be we need to go down one."

"Maybe," I replied, and walked over to one. "Let's try this first; I have an odd feeling about it. Something's going to happen down there."

"Okay, Victor," Shion said. "Let's go."

All that section of sewer lead to was a set of steps, leading out, but I had the feeling that was where we needed to go, at least for now.

There was a door at the top, which gave me pause. It wasn't Miltian architecture. When opened, it revealed a rooftop, under a night sky that I found very familiar.

"Where are we?" Shion asked.

"If I'm not greatly mistaken," I whispered, staring at the figure near the edge, "this is August 5th, 2085 A.D., in New York City, Earth."

"Earth?" Her eye's widened. "Lost Jerusalem?" She spotted the person I was looking at. "Who is that?"

I didn't answer. My attention was fixed on the lean young man, wearing the uniform of a British Army captain, with the winged dagger of the Special Air Service patch on his shoulder. On his belt were two autopistols that I knew, without even a closer look, would be Heckler & Koch USP Tactical .45s. On his back was a straight-blade katana. It was the same man from my earlier vision, and I knew him very well indeed.

Then, another man came up the stairs behind us, oblivious to our presence. Shorter, stockier than the other man. He wore a heavy broadsword in a jeweled scabbard at his hip, and I sensed him. An Immortal.

The man in the SAS uniform turned as he, too, sensed the new arrival. I heard Shion gasp behind me, for the face was my own.

My younger self spoke to the other Immortal. "Sean? What are you doing here?"

Sean Corvin, my long-dead younger brother, smiled fiercely. "What do you think, Victor?" He drew his sword. "Draw, Brother."

"My" jaw dropped. "Sean, are you crazy!? I know we've never gotten along, but how can even you challenge your own brother!?"

"That's your brother?" Shion whispered.

"Yeah," I replied, voice equally quiet. "We are witnessing my past, the day I killed my brother. It should be somewhat interesting, if nothing else. But I do not understand why this is being shown to us. I found the memory somewhat traumatic for years afterwards, but I've long since come to terms with it."

Sean was replying to my doppelganger. "'Who dares, wins', right? Isn't that the motto of your vaunted Limey SAS? Besides," and he chuckled, "there can be only one, right? I think I'd have more use for the Prize than you."

His opponent drew his blade, identical to the one I carried. "I can't let you do this, Sean. If you win, mortals will always be tormented by you. With no Immortals left, you'll just kill them for the fun of it."

"So what, Victor? What do mere mortals mean to us?" He spread his arms. "We're gods, Victor! We're born to rule them! Humans exist for us to do with as we will!"

"You're insane, Sean. If I'd known what a monster Immortality would make you, I'd have killed you myself the day you gained it." He flowed into a fighting stance, left leg slightly behind right, sword gripped in both hands and held canted the right in front of him. "I'll just have to rectify that error now."

Sean laughed. "If you think you're good enough, brother. I've taken a lot more heads than you, and I'm stronger, besides."

"It's not always strength that wins battles," "I" replied. "It's skill, not brute force, that will win this battle. There can be only one," he finished.

As the battle began, it became evident that the Encephalon wasn't showing us the entire duel; it made sense, given that the actual event had taken over eight hours, the first time. But the battle was fierce, nonetheless, with my dead brother delivering slow, powerful strikes, and my younger self, dodging and weaving with the grace of a long-practiced dance.

We watched in silence as the battle raged, watching a duel that had occurred millennia past but was still as fresh in my memory as if it had happened yesterday. My psychopathic sibling had underestimated me that day, I remembered. Sean had tried again and again to hit me, but the only time he connected was on the toe of my right boot, when I leapt back from a strike. They were steel-toe, and the blow glanced off without penetrating. The only reason the battle had taken as long as it did was because of Sean's berserker tactics, keeping me from landing a blow of my own.

But, though I was never certain afterwards of exactly how long it had taken, my younger self got through Sean's guard, first costing him an eye, then cutting downwards and lopping of his hands. As Sean screamed, he raised his blade for the killing stroke. "I'm sorry, Sean. But I can't let you live." He struck.

When his image faded, leaving only my brother's headless corpse behind, my eyes widened, for the tell-tale mist came forth from the body anyway. And I was the only Immortal in the vicinity. "Oh, man, this is gonna hurt!" I screamed as the expected Quickening hurled me back through the door with its lightning, body spasming as I absorbed the energy.

After a couple of minutes of bizarre lighting, the Quickening was over, and I collapsed to the ground, exhausted. I was also confused. This was the Encephalon; any reconstruction shouldn't have had the Quickening energy at all, particularly not the spirit from someone I'd killed already, four millennia before. Possibly the phenomena was due to Nephilim; in any case, it wasn't something that I needed to worry about just then.

Shion helped me to my feet. "Are you okay, Victor? That must have hurt."

I winced. "It did. The sensation of a Quickening is quite literally indescribable; it doesn't hurt, exactly, but it's not the most comfortable feeling in the universe, either. Being hurled through a door, down a set of stairs, and into a sewer pipe, on the other hand, is very painful." I straightened. "I'll be alright. You know how fast I heal."

"It must have been hard, watching that again," she commented. "No one should have to go through that."

"I won't deny that; I've done my best to forget the incident, over the years. I've come to terms with it, but that doesn't mean I like it."

"Maybe that's why you had to go through it again," she mused. "Nephilim said that we need to accept the 'entirety of our memories'; maybe that's what she meant."

I shrugged. "I don't know; I've got a degree in psychology, but that just means that I know how much of that stuff is mere psychobabble. I don't know if this is or not, but right now I'm not really interested in why we're doing it; I just want to find out what's going on and get back to the real world. This is part of the reason I don't like direct-linking: as far as your brain can tell, what you are experiencing is real. If you're killed here, you die in the real world, for the body cannot live without the mind."

"How many degrees do you have, Victor?"

I smiled. "More than I can recall, off the top of my head. When I wasn't fighting in some war or other, I pursued education, in the most prestigious universities of the times. How else do you think I could have gotten into Vector's First Division?"

"We'd better get going," chaos said. "The others are probably in here somewhere, too. The sooner we find them, the better."

"You're right," Shion said. "There's nothing more in this direction, anyway."

------------------------------

After going down another manhole, we fought our way through several more Gnosis and shortly entered a forest. "Do you recognize this place, Shion?" I asked.

She frowned. "I don't know... It seems familiar, but I can't place it. It is on Miltia, though. The flora and fauna are right, and it's the same sky we saw earlier."

"At least we have some frame of reference," Allen said. "But I don't think the sewer lead into here on the real Miltia."

"It didn't," I agreed. "I've been to that park we started in, during my tour of duty on the planet. I also fought an Immortal duel in the sewer we just left, and it didn't connect to this place, wherever it is." I turned at a noise, put a bullet into a Gnosis, and continued. "This forest isn't from my recollection, that's for sure."

"A buried memory of yours?" chaos suggested to Shion. "You were only eight when the Miltian Conflict erupted; it might simply be a place you only visited once or twice."

"Maybe..."

"Or maybe not," I said. "I hate to say this, but this seems more consisted with memory suppression due to trauma than simple forgetfulness. I'm not sure that we'll like what we find here."

"You're probably right, Victor," Shion sighed. "You usually are."

"An inconvenient talent, at times," I said ruefully. "Sometimes, you don't want to be right."

------------------------------

After battling our way through several more Gnosis, encountering a strange mascot-rabbit with eyes in the back of its head but not the front, and several other bizarre happenings, we reached the edge of the forest.

To our surprise, Jr., MOMO, Ziggy, and Tamara were already there. "Jr.?" Shion asked in surprise. "What are you guys doing here?"

He shrugged. "Beats me." Nearby, MOMO seemed to be crying. I assumed that she, too, had seen something from a memory that disturbed her.

"Did we all get pulled into the Chief's Encephalon dive?" Allen wondered aloud.

Shion shook her head. "That's impossible," she said. "None of you were connected."

"Not necessarily," he replied. "The ones we use are non-contact types, after all."

"But the Simple Dive Unit isn't built to handle that kind of load. There would have to have been some external force..." She trailed off, and I realized she was recalling Nephilim's cryptic statement that she had been waiting for us for a long time.

"Does that mean this is all... an illusion?" MOMO asked.

Shion slowly shook her head. "There's no difference between illusion and reality, to the person experiencing it," she said. "This is... no illusion."

"Is that a church?" I wondered aloud, pointing to the east.

"Likes like it," Shion answered after a moment. "Maybe we're supposed to head there?"

"Whether we are or not, it's a good idea," I stated. "At the very least, I'll be safe from any remembered Immortals there."

"What do you mean?"

"Something I never got around to mentioning earlier," I replied, "because we didn't encounter any such places before now. But holy ground is the only refuge of an Immortal; if we take a head there, Very Bad Things are supposed to happen. Case in point: on Earth, about six thousand years ago in the city of Pompeii, legend says that two Immortals fought on holy ground. Immediately thereafter, the volcano called Mount Vesuvius erupted, wiping out the entire city and burying it so deep that it wasn't rediscovered for millennia. I don't know for sure if the duel actually occurred, but the volcanic eruption is a fact. Personally, I'd rather never find out if taking a head on holy ground will really do that, and even the most evil of us tends to feel the same."

"Then we'd better go," Jr. said. "The sooner we wrap this up, the sooner we clear the Foundation of all charges."

"And ourselves, too," Tamara added.

------------------------------

The church was not empty; at the far end, before the altar, stood a silver-haired woman, who looked like... "Those clothes," Allen murmured. "Is she a Realian?"

MOMO nodded. "Yes. She definitely seems to be a Realian, but... I also sense something else..."

The woman turned, and I saw Shion stiffen. "Are you... a Realian?" Ziggy asked.

The woman nodded. "Yes. My name if Febronia. I came to take care of this church because I dreamed of a world where Realians could live in peace."

Allen noticed Shion's paralysis. "Chief, do you know her? Chief?"

She shook herself. "I... know you. I... know... you..." Then she shuddered. "No! I don't want to remember!"

I looked at her in concern. "Shion...? Are you okay?"

"Come with me, Shion," Febronia said. She indicated a door.

"The moment you step through that door," Nephilim said, appearing suddenly, "you will come face to face with yourselves. It will be an experience full of sorrow, and pain. But it is, to both you, and to us, a very, very, important experience."

I touched Shion's arm. "Shion? Do we go?"

"Yes," she said finally. "We have to."

We found ourselves in some kind of corridor, once we went through the door. I didn't recognize it, but it appeared Shion did, and it was Miltian architecture.

At the last door, we halted. "The Acute Neurosis Treatment Facility," Nephilim announced. "A place that you know well."

"This is the room... where Mom was hospitalized," Shion murmured.

"A place which still contains tragic memories for you." Nephilim gazed at her speculatively. "I wonder if you will be able to face them?"

Suddenly, we were inside. Against one wall lay Shion's father, dead, and a nurse was sprawled on the floor. In the bed lay a woman I presumed to be Shion's mother. I didn't know what mental illness she'd had, but it appeared to be violence-related.

It wasn't long before Shion and Jr. started to show signs of fear, and they backed into each other, seemingly trying to escape something. "Jr., Chief!" Allen shouted. "What's wrong!?" Then his eyes widened as he spotted something I had already noticed. "What is that!?"

"A very good question," I said in a tightly controlled voice, "but not very pertinent at the moment. All that matters is that it's big, it's ugly, and I think it's about to try and kill us!" I swept Lady Vivamus from its scabbard, and noted peripherally Tamara doing the same with her wicked, curved blade.

Jr. had both of his autopistols out, aiming straight at the big, purple creature before us, while Shion leveled her MWS. Ziggy, chaos, and MOMO held back, for it seemed that this battle was meant for Jr. and Shion alone. Still, I did not let down my guard; I, too, had seen strange visions in this place. My turn might come.

Jr. started off the battle, raising his twin guns. "Eat this! Prelude to Battle!"

The monster reacted immediately; like the Gargoyle Cherenkov had become, it broadcast its attack. Berserker Fist!

The blow knocked Jr. off his feet, giving him numerous bruises in the process. But he wasn't seriously injured, and he quickly climbed to his feet.

Meanwhile, Shion had begun her own strike. "Take this! Spell Ray!"

Ruined Earth!

This was worse than its reaction to Jr.; the counterattack injured both of them, breaking Jr.'s right arm and gashing Shion's face. But chaos was right behind them, preparing an Ether spell. "Unleash some of thy powers!" It had a weaker effect than Shion's but it sufficed to get them back on their feet.

Jr. bared his teeth at it. "Eat this! Last Symphony!"

I blinked as Jr.'s guns fired off far more rounds than they should have had in their magazines, pummeling the Tiamat. And he wasn't done yet. "Moonlit Serenade!"

"Thermal Blast!" Shion got into the act once more, torching the thing, then using the electrical discharge function. "Lightning Blast!"

After a hard-fought battle lasting nearly an hour, the Tiamat was finally reduced to nothingness under the persistent attacks from ancient handguns and Miyuki's Monstrosity.

I don't know exactly what happened afterwards; the room went dark, and I dimly heard Shion and Jr. scream. But I saw nothing more until the surroundings brightened, and we were standing near the base of a hill, surrounded by endless plains. "What is this place?"

Shion was the first to spot the two children running around the tree on the hilltop, with Febronia watching over them. Yet Febronia was standing right next to us... "There are... two of you..." Shion murmured.

"That's not me," Febronia replied. "That's just an image, created for Cecily and Cathe. It holds them here, but as far as they know, this is reality."

"But... they look so happy," Allen said.

"Would you say that," Febronia asked, "if you were to see this?"

The area turned from bright to very dark; headstones were scattered about the hill, and the tree was dead. As was the "image" of Febronia. "Wha-" Allen jerked back.

"This is a binding spell, created by mankind to control the Zohar," Febronia went on. "I'm using KOS-MOS' Encephalon construction abilities to show it to all of you." She turned to us. "Please, free my sisters. For the future of the Realians."

"The future... of the Realians?" Shion repeated.

"Not just Realians," Nephilim said. "But for humans, non-humans, and all manner of living consciousness. So that you change the future."

"Change the future?" Suddenly, we were no longer on the hill; we were instead floating in space. Moments later, a planet appeared. "Miltia?"

A humanoid form jetted toward the world, which seemed to be covered in something. "That's..."

As KOS-MOS approached the world, Nephilim continued. "That is the conscious known as U-DO," she said, indicating the undulating waves covering Miltia.

Jr. and I turned to her in surprise. "What!? U-DO!?" Jr. exclaimed.

"U-DO will awaken soon," she said. "He feeds on the consciousness of those who intend to awaken him, and those who wish to seek him."

"It's gonna wake up... soon!?" Jr. repeated in alarm.

"This is a vision of the future," Nephilim said. "A future where U-DO encounters KOS-MOS in the form in which she was meant to be."

We watched as a thick tentacle of reddish... ooze, is the only thing I can call it, stretched toward KOS-MOS from Miltia. KOS-MOS studied it for a moment, then fired some kind of enormous blue beam from the apparatus she carried. The two tendrils of light met, and there was a bright flash. When it was gone, so were Miltia, U-DO, several neighboring stars... and KOS-MOS.

"But that is only one of an infinite number of potential phenomena," Nephilim went on. "Phenomena change with each passing moment, and even the smallest of ripples can start a great wave."

Shion turned to her. "Are you saying... that we're that wave?"

"But before it all begins, I wanted you all to face your memories," Nephilim said. "But I see that you are not yet ready. I am sorry." She gazed at us. "That is why..."

"That's why...?" Shion prompted after a moment.

"There will be a time when I can discuss why," Nephilim replied, "if you go to Miltia." She and Febronia faded.

"Wait!" Shion cried out.

A door appeared in space, hanging before us. Puzzled, Shion walked up to it, climbing an invisible set of stairs, and opened it. The world became bright...

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When I could see once more, we were in some kind of cave. At the far end, there was a cross, and tied to it, with various cables, was KOS-MOS.

Shion walked up to the android. "KOS-MOS..." she murmured. As KOS-MOS began to glow, Shion raised a hand. "Ye," she began, making the sign of the cross, "shall be as gods."

"Disarming subconscious domain protection," KOS-MOS said. Once again, the surroundings began to brighten, but this time it appeared to be electrical, with discharges going off all around us. Soon, the chamber faded...

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I opened my eyes. At last, we seemed to be back aboard the Elsa, standing around KOS-MOS' service module. Shion was just opening her eyes, and she removed the Simple Dive Unit.

As we watched, the module opened, and KOS-MOS sat up. "Good morning, KOS-MOS," Shion said quietly.

"Good morning, Shion," the android replied.

After a moment, chaos sighed with relief. "Well, it looks like we all managed to make it back."

"Yeah..." I said. And we got the data we needed. I wonder what U-TIC will try next...?

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Author's note: That would have to be the longest chapter yet. It actually took me longer to write this chapter than to go through the Encephalon in the game. Quite a feat, since it takes an average of three hours to get through, assuming I wish to be at high enough levels to survive the Tiamat.

Now you see the end result of the story of Victor's brother. This is pretty much what I had in mind when I came up with it.

Thanks for the review, by the way; and yes, I'm looking forward to Xenosaga II, myself. I will naturally sequel this story once the game arrives. My only problem is that most estimates for a US release that I've come across range anywhere from this fall to next spring, while the Japanese get it on July 31st. This irritates me to no end.

I shall begin on the next chapter shortly; please let me know what you think of this one. Solid Shark