It started off a day like any other...

The town of Vale had been decimated with the rising of the Golden Sun, the reawakening of the power of Alchemy. Though the villagers had hidden away, all their worldy goods had been taken from them yet a second time. A depressing blow, or it would have been had they not shrugged it off and optimistically decided to rebuild the town slightly away from it's former resting place. The cleared area of the mountainside was a veritable hive of activity, with adepts of varying degrees of proficiency working to make habitations for each of the families now stranded under the elements.

One of the first buildings to be erected was a rather large, single room 'shelter' (for lack of a better term). It's purpose was to provide shelter from the rainfalls that tended to frequent the area on occasion. All the inhabitants of Vale could fit inside it's walls; though no hotel, they would at least remain dry. Once everyone had their own house again, it could be used as the town meeting hall...

Several smaller structures were appearing around the central building under the watchful gaze of the town elder. The seemingly feeble old man leaned upon his staff as he wandered slowly in circles, speaking quietly to most, shouting at a few. His wife followed him, trying to get him to sit still and let others do the work.

Nearby, working on one of the new houses, two lads labored to build the walls. Stripped to the waist, sweat poured down their bodies as they lifted the wooden planks and fastened them to the sides of the house. The taller boy swiped at his eyes for a second, succeeding only at mixing a little dirt in with the perspiration, before running a hand through flame colored hair.

"Hey Isaac! Doesn't this remind you of the times before our adventures?"

The brown haired swordsman looked up and grinned suddenly. "Yeah, it does. Although I would admit that it was easier to replace the thatch when you were on the ground."

Garret groaned a little at the prod, remembering his own clumsiness, which still plagued him at times. "I guess I deserved that... not that I tried to ruin the roof, mind you!" He shifted his weight as though to lean against the wall and then warily stepped away to sit on the grass. "Jenna was in a hurry that day."

Isaac nodded and looked about to reply when another voice came from behind his ear. "Jenna was what?" Isaac jumped and turned to find Jenna standing behind him, her hands on her hips, smirking. Garret opened his mouth and shut it abruptly, blushing furiously. "We were, um, just remembering the events of a few months ago."

The fire adept shook her head at them, raised eyebrows in mock disbelief. "You rememiniscing? Unthinkable!" Stepping forward, she laid her hand on Isaac's shoulder, smirking as he shifted uncomfortably at the close contact. "Anyways, since you guys are finished with this job, maybe you'd like to come over to the shade and get your lunch?" Another squeeze, this time her hand moving down to the boy's upper arm.

Garret watched the little display between his friends with a frown. "Yeah, sure. Let's go Isaac." She'll never look at me like that, even though I like her a lot. She has her eye on Isaac. Why him? Why not me? Jealousy boiled through his veins as he gathered his shirt and strode off towards the central building; jealousy that he barely managed to keep contained. After all, it wasn't Isaac's fault that Jenna was taken with him...

A hand clapped on his shoulder, and he turned his head to see the Isaac looking at him with a worried frown. "What's eating you Garret?"

The fire adept shrugged his shoulders and then visibly deflated. "Jenna."

"Oh..." That one word brought realization and a dead silence to the swordsman as he let his arm fall back to his side. "Garret... you do realize that there is nothing going on between us, right? For the present, all of us are 'just friends', and I don't want that to change until everybody is back on their feet." He gestured to the Valeans scattered over the hillside. "It's not time for anything like that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The fiery haired youth stopped for a moment to pull his shirt on. "Anyways, it's time to eat, so..." He let his words trail off into a sly grin. "Let's go!"

Jenna watched as Isaac hurried off after a miffed looking Garret and sighed inwardly. She realized at the end of their quest that the fiery-haired warrior wanted a more personal relationship with her, but having just received her parents and brother back from the dead, she was too busy to really think about such things. Now, with some thought behind it, a relationship of that sort really didn't appeal to her.

Garret was a great guy and all, but he did tend to be rather blunt and hasty - a manner that some would have ascribed to Jenna as well. It just wouldn't work out between them. Isaac however... Now that was a topic!

Isaac was dependable, level-headed, and well... attractive. Honest almost to a fault and fiercely loyal to his friends, all of which bode well to any potential partners that he may aquire in time. Although, come to think of it... Her thoughts trailed off as her brother stepped in front of her and waved a hand in her face. "Hello to Jenna! Wake up!"

"Felix! I am awake!" At his disbelieving snort, Jenna crossed her arms and fixed him with a glare. "I was just thinking."

An eyebrow went up as her brother surveyed her for a long moment. "I can guess what it was already." A quick wave of his hand dispelled any protest that she tried to make, and he shook his head at her, allowing a slight smile. "You are my sister, after all. But that is beside the point. I've decided to take a trip to Contigo."

Jenna blinked at that. "What?"

"I'm going to Contigo. Ivan and Sheba are there, and we haven't seen them for a while, so I wondered if you wanted to come along? It would be for a couple of weeks at least." Felix looked slightly amused at the expression that came over his sister's face. "Your mouth is hanging open sis."

Rolling her eyes, Jenna turned away in feigned disgust. "Why on Weyard would you want me to come with you? You know that you're just going away to see Sheba..." Her brother blushed crimson at the revelation and winced, although no one was within range of the conversation at present. "Not so loud, please!"

The girl laughed at that and turned back to him with a dangerous sparkle in her eyes. "No, I won't come. But you could find another travelling companion; someone like, say, Garret. I mean," and here her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "he really needs to get himself a girl, and maybe one of the maidens down there will whisk him away; say like Sheba is doing to you."

"Which would save you the trouble of telling him no." her brother put in wryly as he closed his eyes. Sighing and turning to survey the breadth of Vale, Felix pondered the idea. It did have some merit, and he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts too much right now anyways. He'd had rather too much of that in the previous year's sojourn. Besides, he reminded himself, it's time to start rebuilding some of the old bridges in my life.

"Thanks Jenna, I just may do that."

With that, he walked off towards the crowd gathered on the grass under the shade trees. Leaving a blinking Jenna in his wake.

A normal morning, a normal day... at least, that's how it usually went. But today was not ordinary, and definitely not the norm. As dawn broke upon the universe, it found the slightly damp form of a lad upon the beaches of Guardia. Tangled red-gold bangs fell haphazardly over the kerchief worn to keep the hair from falling into his eyes, Chrono felt particularly solemn and upset this morning.

Perhaps it was the wind, the little breezes that sprang up to tease the sand and water before dashing out of sight. Or maybe the damp chill that seemed to cling to everything within sight, bringing discomforting moisture and cold.

It could have been the dream. Chrono mused idly, while watching the sunrise turn the waters of the sea a light crimson. A dream so real, and yet it came back to him only in ghostly fragments that danced on the edge of his awareness. Scenes returning from the nightmare that had been Lavos, the falling fire that had tried to destroy a world. Of the battles that had taken place to defeat the creature once and for all. And a lurking menace, as though perhaps the deed had not been entirely done...

Strange though, his eyes closed in thought, listening to the lapping of the water on the shore, Chrono failed to pick up the whispers of sand behind him. I could have sworn that I felt another presence reaching out to me while I was fighting. Was it good? Evil? Does it exist outside my dreams?

A sigh broke him out of his contemplation. Lucca gave her friend a sideways glance as she sat down on the sand next to him. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Chrono shook his head as he shifted position to stare at her. "Nope." He wondered at the weary look that passed over her face at his response.

"Dreaming? Nightmares?"

The auburn haired swordsman nodded absently. "About that last battle with Lavos. And yet, something was wrong. It was as though something outside was trying to get into my head..." His voice trailed off into a companionable silence, broken only by the crashing of the waves on the beach.

A sudden stillness shocked the pair out of their silent contemplations. The noise of the waves was gone, replaced after a moment by a trembling of the earth beneath. The sand shifted on the beach, knocking Chrono back to the ground as he tried to stand up. Fifteen minutes later the ground stopped shaking, and the world resumed it's normal routine... with a small exception. Lucca gasped and pointed oceanward. Chrono stared for a moment, then grabbed his friend's arm and hastened off of the beach. The tidal wave hit land with a resounding roar.

Chrono gasped for air as the water swirled around him, still struggling against the ocean. He lost his footing and his hold on Lucca as the rebounding of the wave knocked him off his feet. Light became a distant memory as he was swept out to sea under the surface of the water.

"Lucca...Marle...Mom!"

Light (and memory) returned to slowly. The light hurt his eyes as he opened them, then squinted at the brightness. His head throbbed, and sitting up made him dizzy - not to mention nauseated. Drawing a deep breath started him coughing, and he lay back down for just a moment.

How did I get here? Last I remember was getting sucked under by that wave... Gods! I hope that Lucca got away. And the village...! Wearily Chrono opened his eyes again and looked around. Nothing appeared familiar. He groaned at his predicament. "Just my luck. Get sucked under the sea and pop up in provinces unknown. Well, I won't get back by staying here." With a sigh, the half-drowned swordsman staggered to his feet and started away from the beach.

Unseen eyes watched from the water. So you'll survive... Good luck, then.