Author's note: I do not own Xenogears or any of the characters from it. I simply own this fanfiction, which was based on the second episode of Xenogears (hence, 10, 000 years before the game takes place and 5, 000 years after Xenosaga.) I'm doing this for fun and for fun only. Those who -dare- rip off my fic will be maimed. This fanfiction is written by Évelyne McCauley AKA Evy-chan/Hawk of Death/Banshee. Blah blah blah. Et voilà tout.
Xenogears Episode II: The Begining of The End
'... I am Alpha and Omega,
The Begining and the End,
The First and the Last...'
Chapter I: Genesis
"Happy Birthday, Abel!" cheered a woman, smiling brightly as she placed a cake on the table's flat, white surface.
Abel smiled widely in delight, gazing upon the large strawberry and vanilla cake reading 'Happy Birthday, Abel!' in chocolate with seven lit candles scattered across the pastery, standing erect as the wax slowly melted due to the tiny flames' heat.
"Quick, make a wish and blow out the candles before the wax gets in the cake!" his mother warned teasingly, standing next to him with a pair of plates and a knife in her hands.
The dark-haired boy paused to think, bringing his finger to his chin and looking up at the ceiling. "A wish, a wish, uhm..." How hard could it be to have a wish? Although he had pretty much everything he wanted... a brother or sister? No, he didn't even have a father, so he already knew that would be impossible, unless his mother would adopt a sibling, but the chances of that happening were slim to none. A new toy? Neither, he already had plenty of toys he would get bored with after a week. Oh! Wait, maybe...
'I wish to stay with mom forever,' he said to himself mentally. He took in a deep breath and quickly blew out all seven candles. The flames winked out of existance, leaving behind slowly rising trails of grey smoke.
"Good job!" applauded his mother. Abel gave her a cheeky grin of mock arrogance.
The boy watched as she placed a plate in front of him and the other in front of herself. She proceeded to cutting the cake as her son eyed her from head to toe, taking in her appearance.
She was just above average human female height, her long, dark red hair cascading down her back and past her knees. Her dark brown eyes were busy watching every movement she made, and Abel knew he got his eyes from her. She was wearing a simple green dress, open in the front of the lower half and showing a skirt underneath with a lighter shade of green, and a pair of white pants under the skirt. The sleeves ended at the elbows, and around her neck was a tiny, golden rosary. She was a young mother, twenty-six or twenty-seven at the most. To her son, she was the symbol of all happiness.
Abel gazed down at the piece of cake in his plate as his mother put a fork down for him. Before she had the chance to sit down, he flung his arms around her neck in a tight hug. She was slightly surprised at first, but smiled and returned the hug before being freed from her tight restraint and got to sit down. Abel picked up his fork and cut off a small piece, stuck the teeth of his cutlery in it and popped it into his mouth.
"So, Abel," his mother started, looking up from her piece of cake. "What did you wish for?"
Abel took his fork out of his mouth and rested it in his plate, being careful to chew properly and swallowing before answering. "I'm not supposed to tell you, or else it won't happen," he said, "but I guess I can. It was--"
The buzzer sounded, hence interrupting little Abel. The boy frowned as his mother stood from the table and walked to the door, pushing a button to make it slide open with a mechanical sound. A man stood in the doorway, wearing a typical crewman's uniform.
"Your father needs a word with you, ma'am," he said, standing straight.
"Oh... well, ok, just a moment." she walked back to Abel, who was watching them with his fork in his mouth again. "I'm sorry, Abel, I have to go. I'm going to see grandpa for a little bit, I won't be long, ok?" the boy nodded in response. "That's a good boy," she mumbled with a smile, kissing her son on the forehead and walking through the door with the crewman.
The door slid shut. Abel pouted. He was alone now. Again.
[...]
It was around ten past six. Abel hurried down the corridor, or else he would be late for his karate lessons again. In his whole seven years of existence and of living in the Eldridge, Abel could never remember the way to the room in which the lessons were held. The ship was huge, though, so it would be kind of normal if he would get lost.
Only after another hour of walking up and down corridors and riding elevators did he find the room. He really needed a map. He checked his watch and his eyes widened. "Awww man, the lesson's already over at this hour," he whined. Oh well. Now that he was out, he could probably head to the Bridge to see if his mother was there. Knowing his mother, she normally spent alot more than 'a little bit' talking with her father, the Captain of the Eldridge. Generally she would spend three hours there, excluding the time it took to walk there from their apartment and back.
Unfortunately for Abel, he didn't remember the way to the Bridge either. He sighed and walked on.
Taking an elevator down to an inferior level (the Bridge was the highest level of the ship, but the place was a maze, so he had to take several elevators and stairs up and down), the boy leaned against the wall in wait. After a while, the elevator began to slow down, but jerked to a sudden stop and the lights went out. Abel lost his balance and fell flat face- first on the floor.
Looking up while at the same time rubbing his forehead, Abel groaned, "What was that?". He stood up and pushed the emergency shaft door button, but got no response. "That's weird..." he pushed it again, but nothing happened. Putting his bag on the floor, he cracked the bone in his fingers and slipped them between the small gap between the door and the frame. His mother told him that long ago, elevators used to have two doors and they were harder to force open. 'Consider yourself lucky, Abel,' his mother used to say, 'if you ever had to pull an elevator shaft door open, it'll be easier for you than for the people way back then. But, considering the good condition of this ship, that shouldn't happen in a long time.'
Ah. Well, there's a first time for everything.
Putting all of his strength into his arms, Abel pulled on the side of the door, trying to force it open. Despite only being a child, he had quite a bit of strength, higher than average. In the end, he managed to pull it open.
The shaft still had half a door's height to go down until the doorframes would've met in perfection, which thus meant that Abel would've had to jump down from inside the shaft and on the floor a meter below.
Leaving his bag inside the shaft, Abel dropped down and landed on the floor on his feet. Straightening himself up, he walked down the dim-lit hallway. He eventually walked past an open doorway where he heard something drop on the floor. Peeking inside, he conclured that that something was a phone. The line had literally been cut off. Feeling uneasy, Abel continued his walk down the hall.
Strange sounds crept around the corners. Abel shivered. He hurried his pace, unconscious of where he was going. He could heard thousands of footsteps echoing from the floors above as well as an alarm siren, while a female voice over the intercom was instructing the passengers to evacuate the ship.
Where could his mother be? He needed her. He wanted to be in her arms more than ever before in his life. He was scared. Cold sweat ran down his back as he began to run down a staircase. Under his accelerated breath, he sung a lullaby his mother would sing to him whenever he was scared.
"Run through the cold of the night, as passion burns in your heart,"
The stairs came to an end, leading to a wide hallway with a pair of huge, metallic doors in the wall.
"Ready to fight, a knife held close by your side,"
He ran to the doors, uncertain of what would be behind them, but he didn't care.
"Like a proud wolf alone in the dark, with eyes that watch the world,"
The doors automatically slid open, slowly.
"And my name like a shadow on the face of the moon..."
The room on the other side was very bright. Not even bothering in shielding his eyes from the light, Abel walked in, gazing up at the tall, golden monument at the end of the room. He stopped at the middle of the room as he continued his song automatically. His sight focused on the large, emerald green eye in the middle of the golden monolith.
It seemed as though there was something inside the eye... like a machine... and inside the machine it appeared like there was something else there... focusing his sight further on, Abel realized that inside the machine-like thing in the eye was a woman, who seemed to be somehow sleeping, smiling, with her arms crossed in front of her nude self. Her long, red hair flowed down her back...
'That looks like mom...!'
Finally, he had found her. She was there. He didn't care how she got there, but she was there. He ran up to the ever-so-tall golden object, wanting to be with his mother. He wanted her to hold him again. A tear flowed from his eye as he rested his palms against the golden monolith's surface.
"Broken mirror, a million shades of light, the old echo fades away, but just you and I, can find the answer and then, we can run to the end of the world..."
'Mom!'
Everything disappeared. A flash of bright white light covered up everything but a deafening sound, and Abel's voice.
"We can run to the end of the world..."
[...]
She slowly stood up, gazing up just as slowly and letting her arms fall to her sides as the winds blew her very long, deep violet-blue hair back. Looking above the ocean and into the sky, her dark blue eyes watched as a yellow sparkle glided down from the heavens and down far away in the horizon.
Turning back ever so slowly, she walked to the masses of wrecked metal and blasted fuses. "It is time..." she whispered, placing a hand on her heart.
She glowed faintly for an instant. During that instant, another glow grew before her. As the glow died out, there was a child before her. The child was bald and appeared somewhat skeletal. He sat up, already dressed in red robes with golden linings.
"Mother." the skeleton-like boy whispered.
"... Cain." the 'Mother' said, in turn. "I... am presently 'Miang'. 'Elhaym' is... asleep... but it won't last for very long... step aside..."
'Cain' stood up and walked away before stopping and looking back at the 'True Miang'. She glowed again and another being appeared before her. She repeated the process several times, until there were twelve new children, each looking somewhat healthier and fuller than Cain, yet still cryptily skeleton-like.
"Remember the... mission..." moaned the 'Mother', as she glowed one last time. A brighter, white aura surrounded her whole body.
The light finally faded, and in her place were two little girls. They were identical, save color-wise. One had long, red hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a pale dress, the shade between creamy white and light pink, which was open in the front of the lower half and exposed a deeper pink skirt undearneath with a pair of white pants, and a white sash tied around her waist.
The other girl, one the other hand, had dark violet-blue hair, but had the same dark blue eyes. Her dress was white, on the border of blue, her skirt was a darker shade of blue and the pants and the sash were also both white.
Their faces were lightly different. The redhaired girl's face appeared gentle and delicate, innocence and purity shown in her eyes. The blue- haired girl had fuller lips and her face frame seemed slightly somehow straighter, and her eyes were narrower, showing a solid and firm, perhaps even cold personality.
The redhead, however, was the only one to be wearing a rosary around her neck. The rosary could easily be the length of an average adult's opened hand, colored black with a red gem incrusted in the middle.
The blue-haired girl glanced over at her 'sister'. "Elhaym."
Elhaym looked back at her. "Miang... what are you going to do?"
"Stay with them." Miang replied, nodding in the new children's direction. "You?"
Elhaym looked down at her feet hesitantly. "Find 'him'."
"You mean the 'Contact'?"
She nodded.
Miang sighed. "I guess you should, then, since you are the 'Antitype' now. Well, do as you wish, while you can." she flicked a strand of hair back as she turned her back to her sister, walking towards the group of children. "I will remain with... the Emperor, and the Gazel." she smirked.
Elhaym frowned. She watched Miang lead the thirteen kids elsewhere. Her face loosened as she sensed something.
'He... he's that way, too.'
She walked after them from a distance, hoping to find this 'him'.
[...]
Abel stared down at his hands, his sight unfocused as the tears flowed from his dark eyes and down to his chin. He didn't know where he was, or how or when he got there, but he didn't care.
He had lost her again. He was so close to being reunited with his mother. So, so close. Why? Why did he always have to be seperated from the only person in his life? The person he cared for the most...
He looked up and scanned the horizons, overlooking the countless dunes of sand. He thought he saw two silhouettes walking in the distance. He rubbed his eyes and wiped away the tears, trying not to get the sand that stuck to his sweaty palms in his face. He looked back up. Nothing. Nothing but endless grains of sand in the scorching desert heat. It was probably just his imagination.
The tears renewed themselves. He was all alone. Where did the Eldgridge go? What happened to it? Where was he? How did he get there? Those questions rushed through his mind, but he ignored them. The only ones he focused on were: Where was his mother? Why was he always all alone? And why did she always leave him?
Something in the corner of his eye made him look back up. Several new silhouettes, each ressembling one another, walked in a straight line, up and down the sand dunes. This time it couldn't be his imagination.
He picked himself up quickly and ran after them, extending a hand in front of himself and hopelessly groping the air.
"Hey! Wait!"
The beings continued walking, as though they were moving faster than he was, distancing themselves from him faster than him closing in on them.
"Don't leave me here!"
They ignored him.
"Come on!"
It was useless to try anymore. He slowed down to a stop and dropped back down, hanging his head as he started to cry again.
A shadow neared him, hiding the sun as a figure towered over him. Abel looked up again.
The girl smiled at him tenderly, extending her hand out to him. The red jewel on her rosary shone brightly.
"You must be lonely here all by yourself." she said.
She looked... familiar...
Abel smiled faintly in return, holding up his own hand, reaching for her's slowly. They gripped eachother's hands tightly and the girl helped him up, still smiling at him. Now Abel was able to see her perfectly. Looking her up and down, he couldn't help but think of her...
"... Mom?" he whispered almost automatically.
The girl chuckled in an amused way. She was so cute. "I'm afraid I'm too young to be your mother."
Not at all disappointed, Abel asked, "Are you an angel?"
"Excuse me?" she inquired, giggling.
"Never mind, uhm," Abel said quickly, rather flustered. "My name's Abel. What's your's?"
"... Elhaym." she answered slowly, looking somewhat distant.
"Elhaym...?" he repeated, sounding like he wanted to ask her a question.
"Yes?" she said as her smile came back.
"Can I call you 'Elly'...?" he asked shyly.
Elhaym appeared surprised, but gave him a delighted, warm smile. "... I would love that. Thank you, Abel."
"You're thanking me for... the nickname, right?" he asked nervously, rubbing the back of his ponytailed head.
Elly nodded. Abel couldn't help but reflecting her smile back at her. She shifted her hold on his hand and entwined her fingers with his. "Come, I'll... show you around."
As they walked across the desert, Abel kept staring at her. He was amazed how much he looked like his mother and at how much she didn't at the same time. She wore the same clothes, save the sash, and had the same hairstyle... only the colors and the atmosphere was different. She was a different person, anyway. Somehow, he felt as though he didn't need to be with his mother that much afterall...
Finally snapping back to reality, he noticed that Elly was singing. To his astonishment, he recognized the song.
"Cold fire clenched to my heart, in the blue of knight, torn by this pain, I paint your name in sound... and the girl of the dawn, with eyes of blue, and angel wings... the songs of the seasons are her only crown..."
Something told Abel that Elly was the girl from the song. His voice came in synch with her's as the song went on.
"Broken mirror, a million shades of light,"
Elly looked over her shoulder at Abel, who smiled at her. She smiled back at him as he picked up the pace for just a few steps in order to walk right next to her, still hand in hand.
"The old echo fades away, but just you and I, can find the answer and then, we can run to the end of the world, we can run to the end of the world..."
The desert was finally coming to an end. The two could see grass replace the sand in the distance and grow into a forest further on.
"We met in the mist of morning, and parted deep in the night, broken sword, and shield, and tears that never fall, but run through the heart... washed away by the darkest water, the world is peaceful and still..."
Their feet stepped on lush grass, finally, instead of the rough sand. They closed in on the forest.
"Broken mirror, a million shades of light, the old echo fades away, but just you and I, can find the answer and then, we can run to the end of the world, we can run to the end of the world..."
Abel and Elly looked at eachother once again and renewed their smiles.
"Run to the end... of the world..."
[...]
Author's note: I'm sorry if this chapter is kinda half-assed. I had many distractions while writing this, like my brother playing Medieval: Total War on the other computer and my other brother watching TV behind me... and then a good (and hella funny) movie was playing on TV (Dogma weeeeeeee!)... well anyway. I did the best I could, relying on the game and translations of Perfect Works for information... sorry if I got anything wrong... durr o;;;