Ch 20 – Is That You, Hyne?

Zell spoke in spluttered words, the blood flowing from his mouth running rivers down his chin and neck. "I'll…be back…just you…wait…"

Azel sighed. "No…not this time, my twin…"

Before Azel's flat hand slashed across, effectively cutting Zell's head off from the neck up.

*          *            *

It is said that, after the human head is cut off, it can survive on the oxygen supplied to the brain for up to thirty seconds.

Zell found this out the hard way.

His head flew from his shoulders like a bullet being launched from the barrel of a gun. Everything became topsy-turvy, the world spinning in tumbles, a myriad of colours – red, blue, green, brown, black – and the roar of the ocean in his ear.

Zell didn't feel his head hit the ground, but he did notice when the world suddenly stopped and he was looking up at Rinoa. He had tried to speak, but he found that Azel had seemed to have crushed his larynx, making speech impossible. Besides – the fucker had seemed to have severed all his muscles on his neck too.

The thought of decapitation hadn't even occurred to the brain of Zell Dincht as it slowly ran out of oxygen to live on, and as the edges of his vision slowly became darker, Zell wondered just how long it would take the others to put Azel down before they revived him…

*          *            *

Zell woke with a start, sitting up in his chair. "Whoa!!" He cried – before rubbing his face with his hands, looking into his bare palms with shock. "That was a scary dream…"

"Yeah? Well, you'll have to tell me about it then."

"Maybe later, pal…" Zell replied to the stranger, turning - to gasp.

This wasn't the Immortal Ruins. This wasn't another alternate universe either. These were the Pearly Gates – the entrance to heaven. White, fluffy clouds covered the ground and flanked the Gates like walls, blocking what seemed like a radiant light that shone from behind the Gates. The sky was a radiant blue, the bluest a sky could ever look like. The cloudy walls leading up to the Gate were lined with strategically-put seats, and no matter how long Zell sat in one of the tiny, cushioned benches, it only became more comfortable the longer he sat in it.

When a person dies, they immediately awaken at the Gates, usually not knowing where they are. The first time Zell came to the Gates he had been met by a dude who looked a lot like his Grandpa and told to simply wait outside until he fell asleep again.

Another thing about when a person dies – all memories immediately come back to them. Zell's head swam like a bass as a flood of forgotten memories thanks to years and GF usage came flooding back – his first high-school sweetheart – the time he broke the world record for circumnavigating Gaia using My Final Heaven – the first time he had seen Angel – the second time he had seen Angel – Angel giving him the magazine in Balamb…

He suddenly wanted Angel to be with him so badly. He felt his love for her stab his heart painfully, so painfully it made him wince.

He looked around, seeing a lot more people hanging around the entrance of the Gates then usual. The last few times he had been here he had been the only one, with the odd person appearing and going straight through into Heaven – or, at least what he considered Heaven. What else could it be?

The person standing beside him was one that he hadn't seen before, old and wrinkled, unlike the usual dude who told him to keep put until someone revived him. The man was garbed in an old robe which smelled like musty mildew, and his hands held a gigantic book, huge and thick, the tome looking to weight a ton in the frail man's hands.

Zell felt his helpfulness kick in, and he stood. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you want this seat?" He asked. "Go ahead, you can take it, I'll probably be leaving in a few minutes anyways."

The old man smiled and sat down in Zell's chair. "Maybe not, son." He said gently, gesturing up to Zell's head.

Zell looked up hesitantly – to see a halo hovering just above the top of his head. He jumped a foot in the air in shock, starting with surprise. "But – but – that hasn't been there the other times!!" He cried.

The old man frowned. "You've been dead before, I take it?"

He hadn't wanted to hear the words, and had almost blocked them out as he slammed his fingers into his ears, but the words slipped into his ears before his fingers did. "I'm dead!!" Zell cried, sinking to his knees slowly in distraught, something more powerful then he had ever felt kicking him in the stomach.

The halo said it all.

He was really dead.

The old man looked down at the warrior with pity and patted him on the shoulder. "Come, come, it's not all bad. At least you don't need to go to the toilet anymore!"

Zell looked up at the old man as if he was crazy, the tears running down his cheeks.

The old man seemed to either not notice the look or ignore it as he opened the book he rested on his lap and began to turn the pages. "Okay, lets just get the formalities out of the way so we can get you in…name?"

Zell, composing himself, sniffed and stood weakly on trembling knees, looking down at the old man. "W-what happens if I don't wanna go in? W-what happens if I don't w-wanna give my name?" Zell asked quietly.

The old man looked up at Zell with a sigh, before pointing down at the ground with a finger.

A small hole opened up in the cloudy ground, revealing WARNING! THIS DESCRIPTION HAS BEEN CENSORED TO SAVE YOUR SANITY! WARNING! jumped back into the hole, the clouds covering the opening once more.

Zell blinked several times before his brain screamed at him. JUST TELL THE OLD DUDE YOUR NAME FOR THE GODS SAKES!! "Z-Zell D-Dincht."

The old man flicked through his book until he came to the Zs. "You just had to be a 'Zell' didn't you?" The old man muttered, sounding somewhat peeved. "They're harder to sort then the 'Smiths'." He sighed, before looking up. "I'll have to know your birthplace."

"Uhhh…154 Choco Way, Balmab."

The old man searched the giant tome once more, flicking through the pages seemingly at random but with some plan of action.

As the old man searched diligently, Zell looked down at his body – to see that he was naked. He wasn't surprised. The first time he had been. The second time he had felt slightly weird about it. After the fourth time he had just grown to accept it. But this old guy looked like he knew what was happening around here, so there was no harm in asking. "Hey, old man…"

"You're not wearing clothes because you must present yourself to God without shame or discretion."

"Ah." Zell said, sighing and placing his hands in his hips. He looked down at his wrist, but realised that he didn't have a watch on, so he talked to the old man once more. "Hey old man, is this going to take any longer?"

The old man looked up at Zell with something that resembled annoyance on his elderly face. "I'm having trouble pinpointing the place where your soul is supposed to go – which has become a bit of a nuisance lately, but we're still able to find it. You'll just have to patient, that's all."

"Alright." Zell said meekly, leaving the old man to his own devices and walking away a little.

He walked up to the Gates, examining them for the…seventh time? He wasn't sure. They were tall, really tall, taller then even he could jump, and wide enough to let Eden in. The poles that the gate was made of was a pearly white – hence the name – and were thicker then a bottle of soda. Although the spaces were even, Zell could not see anything beyond the Gates – he could only see a bright light in a faraway distance.

He looked to his left to see another person standing beside him, this one also looking in. "Hey there." Zell said. "How are you?"

"I'm dead, obviously." The man muttered, pointing up at the halo above his head. "What's it look like?"

Zell smiled. "Well, it's not all that bad I suppose. Although I will miss my girlfriend and my mum and my friends and…Hyne, now I think about it, it kinda sucks, huh?" Zell said quietly, his smile drooping.

The man simply rested his head in his hand and looked at Zell. "You've just come to my level of realisation, pal."

"Mr. Dincht!" The old man suddenly called.

Zell looked back at the old guy, before waving. "See ya, dude."

"Yeah, whatever…" The man muttered back.

Zell walked back to the old man, kicking a few fluffy clouds up like dust as he went. "So, you figured it out yet old man?"

The old man seemed to be getting agitated. "My name is Peter, Mr. Dincht. In several worlds I am considered a Saint. Please refer to me by name, please."

Zell scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Aw, Hyne Pete, sorry, we didn't introduce ourself, huh?" He held out his hand. "Me handle's Zell. Nice to meet you Pete."

Saint Peter looked down at Zell's hand but didn't accept it. "If it's alright with you, Mr. Dincht, I'd rather skip the formalities and get you through the gates as soon as possible so I can keep the flow of souls going."

"Alrighty…Hyne, even in Heaven people don't shake my hand…" Zell muttered to himself as he sat down next to Saint Peter.

"Believe me, Mr. Dincht, if you're who I think you are – and considering you've been calling God Hyne ever since you awakened, I'm pretty sure it's you – you'll be getting a lot more then a handshake from the people within Heaven."

Zell grinned. "A celebrity even in Heaven. Sweet…"

Saint Peter simply shook his head and looking down at his tome once more, his finger at a certain place. "I seem to have found your soul's destination, Mr. Dincht – but according to my records, it's not where it was supposed to be when you finally pass on."

"Really? Well, where's that supposed to be?"

Peter began to speak – before stopping himself and looking at Zell. "I've fallen for that a few times, but not with you, Mr. Dincht."

"Drat…"

Peter chuckled as he continued. "No, your body was almost completely destroyed, thus making you valid for passing on within your universe…but for some reason your soul continues to stay on the planet which you were on at the time."

"You mean the Immortal world?"

Saint Peter looked up at Zell with wide eyes – before seeming to deflate a little, his wither features seeming to sag with defeat. "Yes, that would explain it. I hate those Immortals. They can't seem to let go of life. They're worse at accepting death as your own universe! Don't you people know that when you die you're not supposed to come back?!"

Zell placed a hand on the old man's shoulder, his words soft. "Well, sometimes we die before our time, but still have things to do…"

"That's not the point! When the body is damaged enough to release the soul, then the soul must either ascend or descend, that's the way the universe works!"

Zell smiled at Saint Peter and shrugged. "Not my universe."

Peter looked at Zell for a second, seeming to reappraise the blond-haired warrior – before shaking his head with a soft smile. "You know, Mr. Dincht, I think I will be looking forward to seeing you meet God. I think he would regard you as…a breath of fresh air."

Zell frowned and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I suppose that's a compliment…I guess. Anyways, does this mean I get to go back to the Immortals now?"

Saint Peter shook his head again in exasperation and slammed his book of names shut, the pages slapping closed dustily. "Very well, if your soul cannot meet you here then I have no choice but to send your ethereal impression on the afterlife back down to the world that you inhabited before you died. But I must warn you – if you go down, and you are not revived, you will haunt the place of your death as a wandering spirit, unable to be revived ever again."

Zell nodded slowly and bit his bottom lip – before looking at Saint Peter. "I got a lot of unfinished business, Pete. A lot of people are depending on me and my friends. And I'll do whatever I can to finish my work – even if it means haunting the bastards until they're sick of me."

Saint Peter's smile grew larger as Zell's vision began to swim. "Yes…a breath of fresh air. I like your tattoo, by the way."

Zell frowned at the last comment – before the edges of his sight began to cave into themselves, the white clouds turning grey, then black, Peter seeming to shift and change as Zell's afterlife-imprint suddenly teetering between the world of the dead and the world of the living.

For a split second – a millisecond, a nano-second – the figure that stood before Zell, withered and aged, suddenly glowed with a bright light, six white-feathered wings flexing out from it's back as it looked on him with clear blue eyes and smiling a smile that seemed to light up it's surroundings…

…Before Zell was suddenly pulled roughly away from Heaven and tossed into the universal equation once more.

*          *            *

Feeling.

Zell had forgotten just how weird the feeling of a physical body was, the feelings that most people don't even feel in their everyday life.

The strain of lifting a hand.

The muscles of the face moving in unison to allow the eyelids to move, blink, stay shut.

The weight of his muscle as it seemed to crush down on his skeleton, his bones seeming to be buckling under the weight of skin, flesh and meat.

And then the feeling went away and he was wondering just where he was.

Blinking in the bright light, Zell squinted as he tried to sit up – but found himself too weak to even do that. It was like someone had severed every muscle from the neck down and left him for dead.

He vision swam with dizziness, and as he tried to sit up once more, his strength a flicker of what it once was, his mind took it's bearings from his immediate surroundings.

Bed…smooth sheets, white. Frames…metal, shiny, cold. Room's…white. Light's brighter then usual. He sighed and allowed his head to fall back onto his pillow graciously, the effort to keep it up any longer too much for him to bear. The Immortal world. I'm…back.

*          *            *

In a small room just at the entrance of the Reborn facility a nurse manning the monitoring instruments regarding the Reborn frowned slightly as a small light blinked at the edge of her terminal. Pressing several buttons and switching on a viewing screen, the room containing Zell flashed on-screen, various displays suddenly flashing onto the screen, informing the nurse on the patient's condition.

The nurse noted the information on a clipboard, her writing tiny and neat as she scribbled down the data, keeping an eye on the figure tucked neatly into the hospital bed.

The figure didn't seem to move, and the data onscreen signified a slight change in mental health – nothing more.

The nurse lifted her hand to switch the screen off – before she looked a little closely at the screen…

To watch as the figure threw off his sheets lethargically and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, the various status measuring tabs popping off his body.

Blinking in surprise, the nurse immediately reached for the phone by the screen, typing in a number as the only male in the known world pushed himself to his feet and began to stumble towards the door.

*          *            *

As Zell moved along the corridor he felt his strength begin to return to him in boringly slow amounts before being eaten away by fatigue and pain, each step seeming to take more effort then it took to remain upright. He felt a distinct feeling of deja vu as he suddenly stumbled against the wall of the corridor, sliding into it before losing his balance, crashing to the floor painfully.

Gritting his teeth, he willed his arm to move, reaching up to grip the railing on the wall and using it to pull his body up slowly, using it to balance carefully as he positioned his trembling legs underneath him.

"Okay guys…" He found himself muttering to his limbs. "…right now…we aren't exactly getting…along very well. So…here's the plan." He began to pull himself across the railing, taking tiny steps each time, using his quivering arms to hold his body up as he forced his legs to remember to move. "We…get back on…good terms with…each other…and then I'll…get Angel to…massage each of you…twice…when we get back home. Sound good?"

His left leg suddenly creaked to the side erratically as his weight shifted dramatically, causing him to fall to the floor once more. He cried out in pain as his bashed his head into the railing that was supporting him and landed on his right leg in a wrong position, the newly repaired bone suddenly snapping with a brittle crack.

His bellow of agony seemed to echo all throughout the facility.

Sweating profusely and now bleeding from a cut to the forehead, Zell twisted his face into a grimace as he reached for the railing once more. "Fine…new plan." He muttered slowly, pulling himself painfully to his feet once more. "We get…to the holodeck…or I break the other leg. Got that?"

His body wobbled threateningly as he held onto the railing as hard as possible – but remained upright.

"Good choice."

*          *            *
As Aries walked through the entrance of the Reborn facility the nurse ran up to her. "He's just gone from his room to the holodeck once more, ma'am. He's in there now, just sitting there, staring at a lake he created for himself."

"How's his condition?" Aries asked, walking briskly past the nurse, the woman having to walk alongside her to continue talking. The nurse suddenly became aware of the second woman walking beside Aries – but concentrated on the Grand Mistress instead.

"His vital signs are almost off the charts – heart beat's erratic, his brainwaves aren't reading properly – and physically he shouldn't be up and moving. The muscles and tendons haven't fused properly yet, and it's likely they're only holding to the bone by a few strands. Not only that, but his bone structure hasn't completely solidified yet. He broke his left leg trying to stand from a fall, and his left arm popped out of socket as he tried to open the holodeck's door. He's a wreck."

"Anything else?"

"No ma'am…he's just staring at the water."

Aries bit her bottom lip as she reached the elevator, pressing the button for the Recovery floor before looking up at the nurse. "Sent a stretcher and a medical team to the holodeck in a few minutes. I have to talk to him first." He said as the elevator doors shut slowly, blocking out Aries and the mystery woman as the door shut with a click.

*          *            *

Zell's mind was fogged by fatigue and pain, his body seeming to not want to move even to allow himself to breath. It had become dark as he finally reached the stone steps of the Tomb, falling to the stones weakly, unable to continue walking any further, and through use of sheer will, pulled himself up onto the stone rocks on which he had sat before, when he had talked to Aries, and stared down at the tiny stream bubbling past him.

He felt like he should have been remembering something, something important, something vital that he was doing – but he couldn't think straight, couldn't push past the mist in his memory, couldn't take his mind off the pain.

To tell the truth, he didn't know why he left his hospital bed, didn't know why he felt this sudden urge to move. Nothing seemed clear, nothing made sense.

The truth was, he didn't feel like lying in bed. He didn't want to lie about waiting to heal. His mind, confused as it was, was subconsciously pushing his body to complete his mission – kill Azel and defeat the Sorceress.

For now, however, he simply sat and looked down at his reflection, allowing the pain of his body to surround him like a warm blanket. He felt the cold wind on his naked body, felt the hardness of the stone on which he sat, and for a second, his mind let go of all probability and transported him back to Galbadia, back to Gaia, back home.

He could hear the roar of the ocean below, just over the cliff-edge, and could also hear the flow of spring-water coming from the Tomb Of The Unknown King, the sounds of the trickling water and the mighty crash of the waves smoothing out the edges of his mind. He looked down to see his reflection once more, and smiled.

That's the face I know. That's the person I am. He thought to himself as he raised a weak hand to feebly scratch over the stubble of his left cheek, his fingers tracing the black tattoo on his face as if it had never left.

He looked up suddenly as a sound jarred him from his thoughts, and gasped – to see Angel.

He could not move, could not speak – he could only sit and stare, bewildered by the appearance of his love. She was dressed in what looked like a flowing white gown, the moonlight seeming to illuminate her body as she stepped through the moss-covered rocks towards him, glowing like a ghost. Her hair was blond for some reason, but was in it's usual little pony-tail, which flapped in the wind erratically, and as she reached him he felt the overwhelming urge to stand and embrace her, pull her into his arms and say that he would never let go.

But all he could do was croak in exhaustion as she knelt down next to him and looked up at him with shatteringly blue eyes, the most light blue Zell had ever seen.

His fatigued mind suddenly clicked the pieces into place, and as the storm-clouds grew in the sky above them and the wind began to grow in power, he felt his tongue suddenly resurrect itself. "You…you're not…Angel…" Zell whispered, his words almost drowned out as the rain began to fall, lightly at first but growing in tempo, soon slashed down around them with a fury.

"No." The woman replied, reaching out and grasping his hand gently. "I'm not."

Zell looked up once more to see Aries walk out from behind a giant statue of a knight holding a sword, the knight's head seemingly disappeared somewhere. "You still amaze me, Zell." She called, her long locks of blond hair whipping around her face in the wind and rain, her words sad as they reached his ears. "When we brought you in your were nothing, not even a shadow of your former self. And to begin with, we weren't even sure we could revive you."

Zell blinked hard, ignoring the rain dripping off his face and focusing instead on the Immortal approaching him. "What…what do you…mean? What…happened to me?"

"When we left you we came back here immediately, but kept tabs on you via satellite feed." Aries said, walking up to the warrior and the woman and placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, squeezing it through the soaking silk. "We witnessed everything that took place at the Ruin, including your entrance into the Arch-Room, the fight with the Heart warrior – and your death."

Zell blinked at the mention of his death – but listened on.

"You were utterly defeated, Zell. Everything you threw at this man was no good. It looked like you were fighting a demon, a person not of the physical world. I've got to tell you – I've never seen anything quite like it." Aries sighed, looking down at the stone floor – before looking up into Zell's eyes. "Then I watched as he cut your head off your shoulders and destroyed your body with nothing more then a wave of his hand."

The news blew the breath out of Zell, his body expelling his wind half out of fatigue and half out of incomprehension, and the Angel impersonator tightened her grip on his hand as his face caved into a grimace. "You've…got to be…kidding…"

"I am not joking, Zell. He blew your body into atoms, effectively destroying almost any way anybody had to revive you – almost. Thanks to your selfless act of donation before you left, we were able to revive you – in a way that we had thought impossible. We took your sperm and, drawing out your genes from your DNA, recreated your body to the state it had been in prior to your death. Unfortunately, we had hoped that you would rest until the final stages of recovery were complete before we woke you and gave you this news – but it seems you have a perchance of leaving when you're not supposed to."

Decapitation and atomisation…the ultimate way to kill a Gaian… Zell's mind whispered. You should be deader then dead. You should be dust in the wind. But, as usual, you've survived. You always survive.

"Wait a second…" Zell interrupted, shaking his head to rid his hair of excess rainwater as well as shake his thoughts into place. "What…what about the others? Squall, Rinoa, Jules…where…where are they?"

Aries looked down at the ground once more, her reaction to the question obvious.

Zell looked at her dumbly, his words tumbling out, fatigue no longer a p[problem. "They're…they're not here. They've left. They thought I was dead." He said, his voice as monotone as a certain gunblader. "They've abandoned me…abandoned me in a foreign universe."

"They didn't abandon you." The Angel impersonator said quietly, continuing to squeeze his hand gently. "They thought you were dead. What else were they supposed to do?"

Zell frowned down at the girl, bewildered at her words and his grief. It was standard procedure to bury a SeeD where he falls if possible – but the least they could've done was…was… "Dammit, they've left me! They've abandoned me!!" Zell suddenly screamed to the weeping heavens, falling back from his seat as he threw his head up to crash to the stones.

The two women were immediately at his sides, looking down at his with wide-eyed concern like two drenched angels looking down at a fallen soldier.

Zell looked down at Aries with tears in his eyes, his body too heavy for him to pick up by himself, the drops of rain hammering into his flesh seeming to rip away any semblance of strength he had left. "Why, Aries? Why did you revive me?" He croaked, the ability to speak all he had left as he closed his eyes to the thunderous skies. "What can I do now? I'm stuck here now. Rinoa was the one who could activate the Arches. I don't have the power to Multi-Cast. I cannot proceed with my mission. I can't follow my friends. I'm useless now."

Zell heard Aries' voice through the sound of the rain falling, distant and sad. "You…you can't simply give up, Zell. You've got a job to do, a big job. You mustn't let this stop you." He felt her hand on his chest as she placed it gently onto his heart. "Your heart is still beating. And according to your SeeD code, you cannot give up on a mission until you have no more breath left in your body, and now way for your heart to move."

"My mission is null and void now, Aries." Zell whispered. "I'll never get back to Gaia. I'll never see Ma again. And I'll never see my Angel again. I should have been left dead."

Zell felt the feminine hand withdraw from his chest and sensed Aries standing, and as she spoke he heard something in her voice he had never heard before. Anger. "You think you're finished? You think that you cannot live now? Fine! Die here, alone, broken and bleeding, like the arrogant, stupid male you are! I should have left you alone, I should have left your head in that icy tombstone! What was I thinking, to think that you could have possibly helped defend us when the Hearts come for our world! Or is that too much for you, Mr. Dincht?"

Zell took the barrage of words without one sound, not bothering to defend himself. He simply allowed the rain to hammer into his soft flesh and tenderise the weak muscles underneath.

*          *            *

Aries threw her hands up ion the air, her patience tried to it's lengthy limit, before addressing the woman still crouched beside Zell's supine form. "Come on, Dee. Obviously Mr. Dincht doesn't feel appreciative of our hospitality. We'll send the cleaning crew in after the computer signifies his death."

The woman called Dee looked down at Zell, before looking up at Aries, before looking down at Zell once more – before standing and following Aries as she alighted the steps and went down them, walking onto the fields of Gotland.

Dee ran up to Aries, placing a hand on her shoulder and spinning her to face her. "What's wrong with…" She yelled – before pausing.

Tears running down Aries' face mingled with the rain as it smashed into her, making her long blond hair matt down around her face. She was sobbing openly as she looked at Dee – before looking down at her hand, realising that they were shaking. "I…I couldn't think of anything else to say…he's a man and a soldier…he runs on warriors pride…but he wants to stay dead…and now I realised I've hurt him more then I could have if I had left him dead!"

Aries sank to her knees slowly, hitting the lush green grass soaked with rainwater with a soft squelch. "I have never seen anybody act like that…now he has almost no hope left, no hope at all…"

Her voice trailed off as she blinked, her teary eyes clearing to look up at Dee. "No hope…" She whispered again, the cogs of her mind twisting and turning in unison, a plan forming within her mind.

"What? What is it?" Dee asked – before being shoved roughly to the side, Aries bolting from her seat to the Tomb, hitching her robes up to alight the stair quickly, slipping and correcting her step as she reached the top – to pause, horrified.

Zell's muscular form stood, framed by lightening, at the edge of the Tomb's cliff, looking out at the ocean as it tumbled and fell into itself, eating itself up and spewing itself back out in an insane struggle for power.

*          *            *

Aries ran up behind him, calling his name as he teetered at the edge of the cliff, the wind blowing at him from all directions. "Zell!! Wait!!"

Zell turned his head slightly at the mention on his name, his face unseeable from Aries' position.

"I've just figured it out! We have a way to get you to where your friends are going – and maybe even a way to send you home!!"

Zell didn't turn. He didn't move. He simply stood, looking out at the ocean, the rain and wind still slashing against him painfully, his broken leg only barely propping his body up, his right arm holding onto his dislocated left.

"Don't you understand Zell? We can get you home!" Aries shouted over the wind and the rain and the ocean, approaching Zell slowly. "Doesn't that make you happy?"

Zell's words were barely audible because of the sounds of the heavens and the earth as they battled against each other – but Aries heard them all the same. "His name was Azel…"

"Who…?"

Zell turned slowly, his back now to the cliff-edge, his ankles on the very lip of the cliff as he faced Aries – and smiled. "I've just remembered everything. I can't die now – not now. I've only just begun to understand. Understand what everything means."

Aries frowned. "What do you mean, Zell?"

Zell simply smiled mysteriously. "I'll tell you when I've completed my training."

Suddenly a gigantic gust of wind blew up from the base of the Tomb, blowing Aries to the ground – and sending Zell hurtling off the edge of the cliff, pushing his weakened body off the lip and tumbling out into space…

*          *            *

As suddenly as the wind came up it died down, and Aries watched as Zell, his look of mysterious contentment suddenly turning to horrified surprise, disspeared off the edger of the cliff. "Nooooo!!" She screamed – before another gust of wind blew her down, this one different from the last.

*          *            *

As Zell fell off the edge of the cliff, three thing entered his mind.

Thought number one – You're going to die, idiot. Way to stand on the edge of a cliff.

Thought number two – At least this time you wont be revived. You'll just have to wait up in Heaven for Angel to come to you.

Thought number three – "OWWWW!!"

Zell screamed as something suddenly grabbed onto his dislocated arm, pulling the weakened muscles in his upper arm and shoulder almost to tearing point as he looked up – to see the Angel impostor gritting her teeth in effort, one hand grasped onto his wrist firmly in a white-knuckled grip. "Hang on! I'm going to try something!" The woman called Dee shouted down to Zell, her voice strained with the effort of keeping a hold on his heavy body…

…Before she literally threw Zell's body up and over her head, Zell's limbs flailing wildly as he spun through the air – to be caught by the woman, the girl back flipping back and catching his body in her arms - before falling onto the ground, unable to hold up his sheer weight any longer.

Zell was breathing as heavily as the girl, and he looked down at her with a surprised look on his face – before bursting out into peals of laughter. "I thought my chocobos were really grilled then!! Thanks a bunch!" He said after bellowing to his hearts content.

The girl shoved him off her body roughly and pulled him up to his feet, throwing his arm around her shoulders for support. "Don't mention it." She muttered, looking down at her robes to see that they were now covered in mud and grime.

Aries ran up and, applying the correct pressure, popped Zell's left arm into socket before throwing it over her shoulder, sharing the weight. "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine, Grand Mistress." Dee said, the two woman beginning the long haul to the holo-deck's entrance. "And you should be more careful in the future, father. The holodeck is a very dangerous place if you don't watch what you're thinking."

Zell was still chuckling, amazed that he was still alive after that daring rescue. "Well, I was beginning to think that you Immortals weren't all that powerful, but obviously I was off – way off!!" Zell suddenly frowned, running the words that Dee had said in his mind. "Hang on – what's with calling my yer dad?"

"Haven't you realised, Zell?" Aries said with a growing smile, looking up at the warrior. "This is the result of your donation."

Zell looked down at the pony-tailed blond carrying him on his right side and watched, horrified, as she flashed a smile at him.

Then everything went black.

*          *            *

The two Immortals and an unconscious Gaian emerged from the Holodeck, wet and cold, to meet the medics waiting for them to emerge. As soon as they had laid Zell down on a hover-stretcher and he had disappeared from view, Lorelei turned a corner with towels for the two soaked women. "So? How'd it go?" She asked as she passed the towels to the women, who began to dry themselves.

"I think he took it quite well." Aries said after rubbing her hair, whipping the towel off her head to reveal a messy clump of blond locks.

"'Well'? He shouted 'What the?' and then fainted! I'd hate to see what happens when he doesn't take things well." Dee murmured, wrapping the big fluffy towel around her almost protectively.

Aries smiled at the girls' negativity and drew her into a hug, squeezing the girl in a motherly embrace. "Give him time, Dee. He's still recovering from the medication he was on and was in a state of shock and depression when we talked to him. Obviously it was one more shock to a system that couldn't take anymore."

"But…what if he doesn't want to see me?" Dee whispered, on the verge of tears.

"You're his daughter. Why wouldn't he want to see you?" Lorelei asked, confused by the possibility.

"I think that, after Zell has recovered, he'll wont want to part with you. It's the way he is." Aries said reassuringly, looking down at the girl and brushing a lick of hair form her beautiful face. "Now, go and change and we'll meet outside his room, okay?"

Dee nodded with a small smile, her optimism restored, before walking briskly away.

Lorelei watched her move out of earshot – before turning to Aries. "I saw what happened on the screens in there. Her strength grows more and more every day. She's still having trouble controlling it."

Aries smiled at the red-haired woman before her and moved up to her, slipping her hands around her hips and pulling her close. "Zell will teach her to master her power. He's a martial artist of the highest order, that's what Trish told me."

Lorelei smiled back at Aries and kissed her on the lips – before pulling back. "What if she wants to go with him?"

Aries looked down uncertainly. "That's…for her to decide. We cant make her stay here if she doesn't want to."

Lorelei nodded slowly – before beckoning to the HoloDeck door. "You told me his world is beautiful. Do you want to walk?"

"It's still raining in there…" Aries said – before seeing the glint in Lorelei's eyes. "Okay…it'll be fun…"

*          *            *

There was a knock on the recovery-room door, and the door slid open to reveal Dee, her hair dried and re-applied to it's ponytail, her white silks changed for clean dry ones.

She walked into the room to see a nurse bent over Zell's sleeping form, re-applying the monitoring tabs onto his chest and arms. "Hey Trinity. How's he doing?"

Trinity stood abruptly and turned to a computer screen, tapping a few commands into the screen as she spoke. "Males are such idiots…you'd think that he'd want to stay in bed, seeing as how weak he would have been when he got out."
"Obviously he's not as weak as you think…" Dee said with a smile, moving over to the side of the bed and leaning her arms against it's placing her head down on her forearms to look down at his sleeping face. "I get this feeling when I look at him when he's asleep…he's so cute when he's like that…"

Trinity suppressed a laugh and turned to Dee with a half-smile. "When we leave I'll show you the tapes I have of him. He snores so loud it makes the glass in the camera vibrate."

Dee giggled at that – but immediately clamped her hand over her mouth as she watched Zell stir in his sleep. His body was covered from the waist down by bed sheets, and he raised his arms slightly, his face crinkling in a small frown as he murmured.

"I'm…taking you with me…Azel…"

Trinity looked at the EEG scans of his brain, before looking down at the warrior with a piteous sigh. "Poor thing must be having a nightmare…I'll increase his anaesthetics and give him something to calm him down."

Dee watched as Zell's face calmed down to the blankness of sleep, his arms slowly falling to his sides once more, and bent down to kiss him gently on his forehead before pulling a chair over to the side of the bed. "I'm not going to leave you, father…you'll be safe with me." She whispered as Trinity left the room.

*          *            *

Hello my loyal fans! I said I'd bring him back, didn't I? And now I hope you're all satisfied.

Anybody who was overtly offended by the Heaven scene, I'm sorry – but that's how I see heaven to be.

And Aries, if you're reading – remember to take heed of your character and Zell's emotions. As well as all the readers. Take heed of what you can accomplish with determination.