Funny story about this chapter actually. I wrote it in about…oooh…February and I battled with it for a long time. I originally was going to make this chapter the start of Part II of Remembering Rachel before I came up with the idea of mixing the 'in game' and 'before game' chapters. Heh, that was A LONG TIME AGO! Of course, I added more onto it, but that's beside the point. It's so weird to think I wrote this that long ago and it's chapter 40. Yikes! Anyway…I like the way this chapter turned out, so that makes me happy.

40. A New Hope

It had been a little over a year since the world fell and since then, nothing had been the same. The few who remained to roam the world wished for death due to the fact that there wasn't much to live for. The few trees left were dying, the grass turned to brown patches of earth, the water transformed into a sickly shade of purple, and most of the towns were leveled. The houses that remained were in poor shape, many unstable and dangerous to live in.

Kefka was now in complete control of the world, and bringing it down to what the name of the new world suggested; ruin. He built himself a multistory tower in the middle of the southern continent, and burned cities with the Ray of Judgment whenever he felt like it. Although Locke hated the Empire before the rise of Kefka, he vowed that he would do everything in his power to make him pay for the hell that he put himself and everyone else from the world through.

Of course, he knew that he couldn't do it by himself. When the airship broke apart after leaving the floating continent, he woke up in a strange area. Although he soon found that it was near Narshe, he was still alone and, for the first time in his life, hated it. He missed his friends that he traveled with for so long and every day he prayed that they were alive and well. He devoted himself to hunt for treasures again by himself, mostly to search for hints that everyone was okay and to once again search for a way to revive Rachel. He sat at the bar of the café, his drink in front of him, and stared off into space as he was lost in his thoughts.

Man, I hope everyone's all right…He tapped his fingers against the hard wood and sighed. It's been so long…and I haven't heard from anyone. Am I…the only one who survived? It was a rather long fall from the airship to the ground…

"I don't know about you, but I have been raking in the treasures that have been dug up by the continents rearranging." Locke rested his elbows on the bar and held his drink close to his lips as he overheard a conversation that several men were having at a table close by. He didn't want to eavesdrop, but knowing that the men were being rather boisterous, it was hard not to hear their conversation.

"Me too, man! I heard that was some glowing rock in the mines!" A dark haired man exclaimed as he slammed his now empty beer mug onto the table. Locke whipped his head up started to realize that the man was talking about magicite. Or maybe it's still in Esper form…He had heard so many people gossiping about magic and magicite recently that it usually didn't faze him anymore. However, this specific occurrence grabbed his attention as he drank from his glass. Who would've thought that all this would be brought back into existence…He thought as he listened more attentively.

"Wait, wasn't there some big controversy about that thing last year or something like that?" Another man asked as the rest of them shrugged their shoulders.

"It sounds vaguely familiar," the dark haired man said as he rubbed his scruffy chin with his hand. "I actually think it's what started this whole mess with Kefka anyway."

"I wouldn't speak so loudly, my friend," the man to his left warned with a gentle nudge from his elbow. "Kefka's spies are everywhere. This town is barely standing on its feet as it is. We don't need that Ray of Judgment thing to fry this town down to nothin'."

"Okay, new subject then." Locke had to chuckle to himself as the men all awkwardly looked around to make sure Kefka's men weren't watching them. You can never be too careful anymore…He thought with another drink from his glass. Nowadays it seems as though the walls have ears and whisper secrets to the Empire…

"I heard that there was a cave in some mountains to the south that is supposed to have something quite valuable in it." Locke figured they were treasure hunters by the way they were communicating, so he felt it would beneficial to keep listening. Maybe I can find something that'll occupy me for a while…

"Whaddaya suppose is in it?" One of the men asked as the rest of them shrugged. "How come I haven't heard about any findings from it yet?"

"Who knows? Maybe no one can find the entrance," a red haired man said as he ran his fingers through his greasy long hair. "I would like to find out more about it though. I'm kind of intrigued now."

"I heard it was another one of those shiny, glowing rocks like the one that was found in the caves here," a fourth man said as Locke swallowed. More magicite…"It's supposed to have some kind of power to it or something."

"A diamond or something similar?" The dark haired man questioned as he waved the barmaid over to refill his drink.

"Diamonds don't have power, ya moron," the fourth man clarified. "It's supposed to do something. Not sure what, but I'm pretty damn curious."

"Why hasn't anyone gone down there and looked yet?" The third man narrowed his eyes at his own question. "You would think that if there was something of great worth down there, people would've gone looking for it already."

"There is a rumor," a man began to say from across the room, the other men unaware that he was listening to the entire conversation. He had his arms on the table with his hands folded together and was wearing a cloak with a hood that covered up most of his face. The part of the hood that didn't cover his face was shrouded by the shadow, completely masking his face. Locke looked over at the man and sensed a kind of familiarity from him. No, it can't be…he thought as the four men at the table turned their heads toward the suspicious man. The mystery man chuckled slightly as he stood up and started to walk over to the men at the table. The man had a slight limp to his stride and used a cane for support, causing Locke to narrow his eyes.

"It's a cave that contains a treasure worth more than life itself," he continued as he leaned rested one of his hands against the men's table. The men were so interested in the story that they put their glasses down and gave the man their full attention.

"Why's that?" The red haired man asked.

"Because…" There was a dramatic pause as the man walked away from the table and over to Locke. Locke was slightly hesitant to why the man was walking over to him, but gasped when the man put down the hood, revealing his face. "It contains the power to restore."

"Xane!" Locke cried out as he recognized the man's face. He hopped down from his seat and gave the older man a hug as he felt his eyes tear up. The other treasure hunters started to discuss the recent news amongst themselves as Locke and Xane talked.

"Hey, Locke," Xane replied as he hugged his old friend tightly. "How have you been?"

"I haven't seen you since that day in Jidoor," he answered as his eyes went downcast at the memory. "I wasn't sure what happened to you and no one seemed to have any answers."

"First off, they shipped me to Vector right away so I could speak with Gestahl and Kefka. Well, in case you haven't realized it, Gestahl and Kefka are very smart, but they completely believed me when I apologized and said I wanted to work for the Empire again. Dumbasses. Anyway, they didn't waste any time with giving me a new assignment. They wanted me to go look for the young woman that had escaped," Xane began to explain as Locke's eyes went wide. "Yeah, I knew that the Returners knew about her, but I wasn't sure what happened with that."

Locke exhaled in small puffs as he took a sip of his drink. When he put the glass down, he looked straight ahead and spoke. "Her name's Terra." When Xane nodded, he continued. "Basically the second I reached the Returners' hideout, Banon had me go out and look for her. Well, I found her and managed to protect her for a while, but…yeah. Then the world fell apart, and I guess that's that."

"I figured the Returners had it under control," Xane said with a chuckle and drummed his fingers against the bar. "Well, when I 'went out to look for her,' I took two soldiers with me. When we got out of Vector, I kicked their asses and used my Imperial identity to get on a boat and sail to the Kohlingen area. I went to Quantz, spoke to Vaughn, and then we decided that it would be the best for me to stay there."

"Wait a second," Locke chuckled at Xane's story. "You're telling me you've been out of the hands of the Empire for an entire year because you knocked a couple of guys out?"

"Damn straight," Xane replied with a smile. "I was able to hide from the Empire for a long time while I was at Quantz the first time, so I assumed it would be safe the second time as well. It was."

"I'll be damned," Locke said with another sip of his drink. "And here I was thinking that you were being brutally tortured or something like that. I should've known that you would be able to weasel your way out of it."

"You know me," Xane said with a confident laugh as he patted Locke on the back. "I'm proud of you though; you didn't do something stupid like try to rescue me."

"I wanted to, all right," Locke admitted as he remembered the conversation that he had with Vaughn. "I was about ready to go right back up to Jidoor, but Vaughn talked me out of it. Like I said, I should've known that you would've been fine. I managed to get a little information from Celes Chere, but due to the fact that she wasn't sure of what happened, she wasn't much help."

"Oh, you met up with Celes again, eh?" Xane chuckled at the thought of his sister. "How did you manage that one?"

"She was proclaimed a traitor a while back and I happened to run into her. I helped her escape and she helped the Returners a great deal with some insight of the Empire." The grim look stayed on his face as he sat back down in his seat and looked down at the bar. "I, uh, haven't seen her since the world came undone. I haven't seen anyone that I traveled with."

"Ha, I warned her that the Empire was filled with a bunch of cowards, but did she listen to me? No, of course not. Very typical of Celes; she has to learn everything the hard way." He shook his head and tapped his fingers against his cane. "She's strong though. She'll be all right."

"I hope so," Locke muttered quietly. With a sigh, he decided to change the subject to a happier one and motioned Xane to sit next to him. Carefully, Xane hobbled to the seat, making Locke worry. "How about you, man? What happened?"

"Oh, my leg?" He let out a chuckle as he patted his leg. "It happened about a year ago when the continent came crashing down. I was on a hunt when a huge rock fell on my leg, fracturing it. The doctor didn't set it correctly, so it healed wrong and left me with this here limp."

"You're still alive though," Locke said happily with a smile. "It's been so long since I've seen you and I wasn't sure how you were."

"All right, Locke. We already went through this and heard my explanation, so enough with the sappy and heartwarming bullshit. Heh, you didn't even understand what I said about a minute and a half ago did you?" Locke gave Xane a blank look that answered his question. "I didn't think so."

"Xane, I was just so happy to see you that I wasn't paying attention to anything," he said honestly as he fixed the bandana around his head. "What did you say?"

"I said I knew what was in that cave that those guys were discussing over there," he started as he motioned with his hands. "You're still a treasure hunter, right?"

"Yeah," Locke replied as he took a sip of his drink. "I kind of put it on a temporary hold when I joined the Returners, but now that I don't know where any of them are, I guess I'm on my own. I'm not even sure if the Returners exist anymore. Therefore, I've been traveling around by myself doing the treasure hunter gig again."

"Good, you're going to want to do this hunt then." Xane quickly ordered a drink as he continued. "I know your grandma used to tell you stories about magic and things to that nature, correct?"

"Yeah, before she died. I was still very young so I didn't even think anything of it," he responded with a shrug. "It's funny because I became so in touch with what she was discussing. Magicite, Espers…they're all real."

"Of course they're real," Xane said as he took a few long gulps of his drink. "How else do you think I've been able to do magic for all these years?"

"At the expense of an Esper." He didn't say it as a question, he said it as a statement. He gasped as he had an epiphany. "It all makes sense now." Locke tapped his finger against his chin as he leaned forward against the bar. He smiled at Xane as he proudly announced, "I, uh, can do several spells myself, ya know. I learned from using magicite."

"Really?" Xane was intrigued from his friend's statement and chuckled. "Now you don't have to be so damn jealous of me."

"I was not jealous," Locke clarified with a laugh. "Okay, maybe a little bit, but now I can hold my own."

"Look, man," Xane said slowly, putting a hand on Locke's shoulder. "I know it might not mean much now, but I need to apologize for something."

"What's that?" Locke asked as Xane slowly exhaled.

"For telling you to leave Kohlingen the day that…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence. Locke didn't have to ask him what day he was referring to, for he knew. "I need to make it up to you."

He nervously shifted in his seat for he didn't like to be reminded of the memory. It was so long ago…it still shouldn't be this close to my heart… "Oh, look, you don't have to say anything. You were right in the long run and—"

"Well, I kept the promise that I made to you a while ago and I found something," he said as he interrupted Locke.

"What's that?"

"A way to bring her back."