Disclaimer: Okay, so I don't own FF:U, and I was thinking about it, I might not own the main story line for FFU:AC because from what I've read, and shaped the fanfic around, is the story of FFU:After Spiral. But, I think I do officially own this fanfic... I think...
Chapter 2:
Home at last.
It was a great morning for Mary and Joe Hayakawa this morning. In some ways, for Lisa Pacifist too. It was finally time to leave all the bad memories behind, but in Lisa's case, the good ones as well.
For Ai, Yu and Lisa they left the memories of their departed savours, their wonderful journey, their friends and fellow comrades. For Mary and Joe, they left the horrible thoughts of what they had almost done to their beloved children.
Yu wiped the tears building up away, as he hugged Chobi, saying his final goodbyes. Ai was lucky, she could take Poshiepocket with her to the Outside world.
Lisa stood before Knave, Miles and Cid, thanking them for all their help throughout the journey, and that she would miss them.
"Don't worry Yu," Mary whispered, hugging the distort boy "We can come back to Wonderland on the new train, then you can see Chobi again."
Yu tried to wipe the tears that were now falling down his face, but Chobi wasn't the only thing he would miss. Now he finally began to realize, Moogle, Lou, and Kaze were really gone, he could never travel around Wonderland with them again, even if he and Ai went with their parents, I would never be the same.
"Hey, cheer up Yu, we can always travel around together!"
Joe suggested at an attempt to make him feel better. That's when Ai came over, standing close by Yu.
"That wouldn't be the same! Lots of our friends died, and what if we get into trouble, who will save us? Lisa won't be there, and Mister is gone, as well as that Makenshi guy!"
At the mention of 'Mister' Lisa turned, staring at Ai. No one had said anything about Kaze, at least not when she was around.
"Who's this 'Mister'"
Mary asked, curiously.
"He's the guy in the black cloak, who-"
Ai suddenly stopped in mid sentence, looking over to Lisa.
She was trying to fight back the tears, and the lump in her throat, but even at the mention of Kaze vivid memories of him telling her to fire the Magun and dispersing before her eyes flashed through her head.
Noticing everyone staring at her, Lisa put on a half-hearted smile.
Meanwhile, under a seat of 'Naomi', Crux lay, waiting for them to board and leave. From there she would follow them, then back in Wonderland, she would find and report to Makenshi.
As Lisa and the Hayakawa's finally boarded the train, Fungo came over to Knave.
"Boss, I'm going up to the surface."
Knave nodded
"But first say goodbye."
he told him. So Fungo waved out to them.
"See ya guys! And next time, bring a bigger backpack!"
Ai growled, and Yu laughed a little, although he still didn't feel any better about leaving Chobi. All he could do now was hope they came back some day.
Fungo then left the crowd of Comodeen members, and walked up through the main entrance of the base, up a long, twisting spiral path to the surface of a dimension.
Kaze walked slowly up a seeming never ending, spiralling staircase, to a distant white light at the top. For a moment, he stopped, looking around him. It was dark, and he could see nothing but the stairs he was climbing, and a few strange red bubbles floating aimlessly in the atmosphere.
All of a sudden, the tile of a step, two stairs ahead of him began to move and wobble. It gave a lurch upwards and a pink head, with a flower popped out.
It was Fungo. He gave a short, stunned gasp, and stared at Kaze for a long moment.
"I heard you were dead!" he began to laugh, then stopped abruptly, starring intensely. "You'd better come down quickly, before the train leaves!"
"Train..?"
Kaze muttered. He remembered the train being destroyed by Omega.
"Yeah! Cid built a new one, now hurry up before it leaves!"
Fungo lifted a few more tiles, before rushing back down the spiralling path.
Kaze considered. There was a great chance Lisa and the others were down there. He slowly, hesitantly followed.
Down in the base, Fungo came stumbling in.
"Has the train left!"
he asked, yelling out across the base. Knave came over to him.
"It left about five minutes ago, why?"
Just then Kaze emerged. Everyone in the base froze at the entrance of the man assumed dead. He stood with a slight look of disappointment evident on his face. One Knave was very surprised to see.
"Your... your not dead...? And you want to... actually see them..?"
Kaze stood silently and calmly.
As Cid got over his temporary shock, he came straight across the room, over to where Kaze, Knave and Fungo were standing.
"That's impossible.." he mumbled to himself, inspecting Kaze "How could you come back to life...? Well we know one thing, Lisa sure will be glad to see you." his face brightened to a smile. "You can ride Naomi too, when she comes back! I've programmed her to come back to the base in three days from when she left, which was only a few minutes ago, it's really a shame you missed them!"
Kaze stood there, barely listening. He still had no clue why he was looking for them... really he was looking for Lisa. But he had no idea what he would do once he found her, or once he even got to the Outside world. But it seemed to be the one thing important left in his life, and he never gave up his pursuits. He would find her. The person who had seemed to care so much for him. The one who fired the Magun: His heart and his life.
The ride on the train was an extremely quiet one. Mary and Joe sat beside the twins, while they slept, and Lisa sat opposite them.
"Thank you for looking after Ai and Yu... and helping them."
Mary whispered to Lisa, trying not to wake the sleeping children.
"It's fine. It was my job, and besides, they are great kids. They never gave up, no matter how hard it got."
she said quietly, smiling.
After that they sat in dark, silence, until Mary and Joe fell asleep. Lisa didn't attempt to rest, she had got one almost full night of sleep, but was haunted by nightmares of Lou and Makenshi being impaled, then as Lou, Moogle and Kaze one by one turned to Soil, Kaze leaving the Magun to her.
Suddenly, she remembered something. After Pist had failed to fire the Magun, Kaze had said that it was very his life, and no one else could fire it. Then why could she? Perhaps because he needed someone else because it was no longer possible for him to?...
She sighed, it came out shaky, and she felt that lump in her throat again. She had to stop thinking about things like that. Maybe just a few moments of sleep.
Awoken by Ai, she found herself covered in cold sweat, and shaking. That same nightmare.
"Lisa, what's wrong!"
Ai asked urgently. Gripping her wrists. Taking a few short gasps for air, she answered.
"I'm fine, it was just a bad dream... that's all."
Ai sighed in relief.
"Okay, well we're here."
Lisa looked out the open door, to see a run down old subway station. They were finally home, but it just didn't feel right anymore.
Back at the base, Kaze waited silently for the train to return. He frowned. I was going to be a long three days. Three days of constant... whatever the Comodeen members were yelling as they punched the air, and ran on the spot. It looked idiotic. What did they plan to accomplish anyway?
Within only hours of Kaze's sudden appearance, another man spontaneously entered the base. Clad in a white attire, with a grey muzzle-like mask. Makenshi stood, looking hopefully around the huge base.
Knave approached him with caution, every weapon out at that time, to be fired on his command.
"You... are on our side... aren't you?"
he asked.
"There is only one side now." Makenshi spoke through his mask. He stood calmly. "I came looking for Crux, she's following Lisa and the twins."
Kaze stood up at that moment. Makenshi had gotten that doll to follow them? Why?
"I'm sure Cid would let you ride the train when it returns, as long as you and Kaze don't start fighting and destroy it." Suddenly Knave's facial expression changed to confusion. "Why haven't you two started fighting?"
Miles came up beside Knave.
"Don't worry about him, he's extremely dense." She turned to Knave, lowering her voice "Obviously they finished their fight when they defeated the Earl!" she hissed at him. "As long as you and Kaze don't cause any trouble, you can stay until the train arrives-ah! If that's okay with the commander of course!"
She looked at Knave.
"For your commander, you don't have much respect..." he pouted "I guess you can stay too."
As Lisa exited the rundown old subway station, she saw it was dark, apart from the street and sign lights illuminating the city.
"Lisa, do you want to come back to our house?"
Mary asked. Lisa shook her head.
"No, I'd better get back to my apartment, but thanks anyway."
she smiled, waving, before beginning to walk down the semi-lit ally towards her nearby apartment block.
The trip home was pretty safe, at least she wasn't mugged or raped. Arriving at the entrance of the apartment building, she opened the glass doors, walking up eight flights of stairs, and knocking on door number 52. Within a few minutes an elderly lady answered, dressed in a long pink dressing gown and worn slippers. Her greyish hair was up in hair curlers.
At first, she looked angry, but noticing it was Lisa, her expression turned to a warm smile.
"Oh, Lisa dear, your back, have you informed your agency?"
she asked.
"No, I just got back, I decided to first thing tomorrow." the elderly lady nodded "Um, I'm sorry if I woke you Mrs Sadoshima, the reason I came was I just need my keys to get inside."
The lady nodded once again, disappearing inside for a moment, and coming back with a set of keys.
"Thank you."
Lisa said, bowing her head slightly.
"That's fine dear, now you go get some sleep."
Unlocking her door, the first thing she noticed was the pile of letters at her feet. She went through them. A few bills, some letters from the agency, then she saw it. A letter from China. She read it.
Dear Lisa,
I have written this letter to inform you, I am being hospitalised, for I have been diagnosed with lung cancer. I am hoping you make it home to visit before I pass away, there is a number on the back of the letter. It is the number of the hospital I will be in from now on. Call that number.
In case I do not make it, I have inclosed my will within the envelope also. The part I want you to pay most detail to is that if you are not married, or plan to be married, I have chosen a husband to insure you are well taken care of and protected.
Take care, I will be sure to send your love to your mother.
From Uncle Takashi
Lisa stood frozen. More bad news. First it was Kaze, now her uncle was dying, if not already dead. And he wanted her to marry a stranger!
She rushed over to the phone, dialling the number given on the back of the letter. It rung, and the hospital reception picked up.
"Hello, this is Yantai Cental hospital, Meling speaking, please hold."
There was a beep on the other end of the line, and Lisa was left to wait for the news on her uncle. Within two minutes there was another beep, she was back.
"Thank you for holding, what is your concern?"
"I wanted to ring about a patent in this hospital, Mr Takashi?"
"Okay, now are you a relative?"
Meling asked over the phone.
"He's my uncle."
There was a faint sound of typing through the receiver.
"Are you by any chance Miss Lisa Pacifist?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, Mr Takashi has been asking after you."
Lisa was surprised a hospital in China could have so much information.
"Is he alive?"
she asked, urgently.
"Yes, but if you plan to visit I'd advise you do so fast, I'm sorry to inform he might not have much longer to live."
"Thank you."
Lisa answered, sadness evident in her tone.
"Will that be all?"
"Yes."
She hung up, heading straight for her bed and dropping heavily onto the duvet. She should buy a plane ticket first thing tomorrow.
It was dark and silent at the Comodeen's base, it was much better that way in Kaze's opinion. He sat in the same place against the wall that he had been since he had gotten there. Now Makenshi was resting against the opposite wall, he guessed he was asleep.
Every Comodeen member had left to their beds now. This was the time Kaze spent to reflect on his thoughts. Only now, it was different. He had no battles, rivalries or enemies to think about. The only thing in his mind anymore was finding Lisa. He had to finally admit to himself that he wasn't just looking for her and the twins because there was nothing else left for him, he wouldn't do that anyway , he would rather stay alone than follow them like some lost puppy.
He was looking for Lisa. The reason why he had no idea, but now that he wasn't blinded by anger and vengeance, which he would never admit to, he felt something he had never experienced before towards her. He felt a need to find her.
Lisa woke up in the morning, fully clothed. She was utterly surprised when she woke from a completely fearless night of sleep. She swung her legs tiredly off the double bed, and walked out to the small kitchen, flicking on the jug.
While she waited for it to boil, she decided to quickly change her clothes. She stripped off the orange dress and belt. Deciding against ever wearing it again. It brought back too many horrible memories. She searched through here closet, finding a short black skirt, a small button up white top, an orange blazer and red tie. She began dressing, although buttoning up the white sleeveless top she heard the click of the boiled jug.
She swung the tie and blazer over her shoulder and hurried out to the kitchen. She tipped a teaspoonful of coffee into a cup, and poured the water in, along with milk. While she waited for the coffee to cool a bit she put the tie and blazer on, and quickly tied her hair up. Then drunk it.
Deciding against breakfast, she brushed her teeth, picked up a handbag hanging on the bedroom door, packing it with her cell phone, money and keys. She slipped some tan knee-high boots on and rushed out the door, down to the subway station.
The streets were packed with people on their way to work, or school. Lisa fought her way though the many people to the right train that would take her to the Flights Centre. It seemed so normal. It was hard to believe this world was ever in danger of being consumed. Although, seeing it first hand, she knew very well how much danger this whole world had been in just weeks ago.
Getting on a train, she sat down, luckily getting a seat before it filled with people on their way to who knows where. She sat there on the sdway train for almost half an hour before finally getting to her destination.
She walked up the cold stone steps of the subway station, to the streets of Sadogashima. Then to the Flight Centre, where she bought a ticket for a flight to Yantai in two days.
Those two days before her flight flew by, and before she knew it, Lisa was sitting at the airport, waiting patently to board her flight to China. Hearing the flight calling, she stood up lugging the small amount of luggage to the security gates.
She was let though, and her bags were taken away. Then she was left to make her way to the huge plane.
Three days had finally past, now both Kaze and Makenshi keenly awaited the new train to arrive. Cid stood nearby, counting down.
"Any minute now..."
he murmured, just as the rolling of wheels was heard coming closer. Every member of the Comodeen froze as some sort of portal appeared, the train came bolting in and screeching to a stop. The doors opened, somehow moulding into the side of the train.
"I guess that means you'll be leaving now."
Knave said, raising his eyebrows.
Kaze stepped into 'Naomi' without any goodbye, and Makenshi sighed, following him.
"I thank you."
he smiled to the Comodeen, before getting into the awaiting train.
Within seconds the doors unmoulded from the side and the train began to slowly pick up speed. Another portal appeared and the train disappeared from the base once again.
Okay, this chapter is a lot longer than the first ones, and no really as great in my opinion, I know. I wanted to say: Don't worry, Kaze will meet up with the others, I'll try to get it in the next chapter, but if not then the one after that, so stay tuned lol! And yeah, I hate MakenshixLisa too, but my friends seem to LOVE it! I have no idea why...
I'll try to update as soon as I can, and please R&R