Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean.

Chapter 8: Memories

That night I didn't sleep well at all. Those images of the Earth getting destroyed by Omega kept on haunting my dreams. I woke up several times and I would try to go back to sleep but it was no use. I got out of bed and left the room. I have started to grow a hobby of looking out at space through the windows.

"Can't sleep?" Asked a voice. I looked to my left to see Peppita.

"Yeah," I said. I looked out the window. "Those images of seeing Earth destroyed, they kept on haunting my dreams."

"Because you had a part in creating them, right?" Asked Peppita as she walked over to me.

"Yeah, and now I regret every second I spent helping Luther make those monsters." Suddenly the ship went out of Gravitic Warp.

"It looks like we are getting close to Styx." Suddenly I sensed an energy source nearby. Within a few seconds I recognized what the energy source was.

"Dammit, it's them!"

"The Executioners?"

"Yeah, about three of them. Among them is the leader Executioner that destroyed Earth."

"That's not good," said Peppita with a tone of worry. Suddenly there was a beep sound.

"Personnel from the Diplo, please report to the bridge," said Commodore Wittcomb. I looked back at Peppita.

"Let's go to the bridge, I am sure that what Commodore Wittcomb wants to say is related to the Executioners," I said. Peppita nodded.

"Okay," said Peppita. We walked over to the bridge and within a minute everyone else had come as well.

"What is it Commodore?" Asked Maria.

"We are 16 minutes away from Styx and we have picked up an energy source nearby. It's none other than a group of Executioners," replied Commodore Wittcomb.

"Oh great," said Cliff.

"I am sorry, I wasn't able to take you all the way."

"What? Are you saying that we should give up?" Asked Maria.

"I said nothing like that. All of you will take a shuttle to Styx."

"What about you guys?" Asked Fayt.

"Even if we were to go on a shuttle and you wee to turn back there is still the Executioners we have to worry about," I said.

"We have already decided what we are going to do. We are going to lure the Executioners away from you with the Aquaelie," said Commodore Wittcomb.

"That's suicide!" Exclaimed Fayt.

"Is there no other way?" Asked Sophia.

"There is no other way," said Maria.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to stand down without a fight. They shall face the power of the Federation!" Said Commodore Wittcomb. "Now go." We started leaving the bridge. I looked back at Commodore Wittcomb.

"Good luck," I said. I turned back towards the door and followed the others to the hangar. We got onboard the Calnus and we left the Aquaelie. Our ship slowly started moving closer to Styx. The Executioners were flying towards the Aquaelie which was leading them away from our direction. Within a short minute Maria lowered her head.

"I am no longer picking up the Aquaelie's signal," said Maria.

"Dammit," I said as I clenched my fist.

"Let's go down to Styx. It's the only way to end all of this," said Dr. Leingod.

"He's right. I am going to land us one kilometer away from the Time Gate," said Cliff. I looked up as I sensed something from outside of the ship.

"What the?" I asked as our ship started getting closer to Styx.

"What's wrong?" Asked Fayt.

"There's something weird going on with the last Executioner. I can't describe it."

"Is it coming towards our ship?" Asked Sophia. I shook my head.

"No, it's something else. The energy source of the Executioner is changing somehow. Like I said before, I can't describe it."

"So you can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing," said Maria.

"Yeah, that's right." We went through the atmosphere of Styx and we landed on the ground. We got out of the ship and looked around. All over the place was Proclaimers and Enforcers.

"Here's the welcome wagon," said Dr. Leingod.

"I thought there would be some of them here, but I wasn't expecting this many," said Maria.

"If they get in our way, I will kill them all," said Albel as a grin appeared on his face.

"If we are lucky they won't all attack at once," I said.

"And what are the chances of that?" Asked Peppita.

"It's safe to say that they are pretty low."

"We'll just have to proceed to the Time Gate carefully," said Fayt. We started walking away from our ship and closer to the Time Gate. As we were walking there was a sudden change in the behavior of the Executioners.

"Say, is it just me or are the Executioners retreating?" Asked Cliff. Cliff was right, the nearby Executioners were starting to fly away from us.

"What is going on?" Asked Sophia.

"Forget about that, we have a bigger problem," said Fayt. We all looked over at him to see that he was looking up at the sky. We looked in the same direction as well. My eyes widened in shock.

"What? Omega? The space units aren't supposed to land on planets! That is the job of the terrain units! They can't act on their own accord like that" I exclaimed. Omega was flying down towards us at high speed. "And what is with this energy I keep on sensing from Omega?" Omega landed on the ground in front of us and let out a roar.

"It's HUGE!" Exclaimed Peppita. I pulled out my swallow and looked back at the others.

"Be careful everyone! The space units are a lot more powerful! It's like fighting a battle ship!"

"Oh man, this isn't going to be easy," said Cliff. Omega raised one of it's claws and slammed it down onto the ground, causing it to break apart into slivers of rock. We had all managed to jump out of the way of the attack. Maria looked back at Peppita.

"Go with Dr. Leingod and find somewhere away from here to hide," said Maria. Peppita nodded.

"Okay," said Peppita. She ran over to Dr. Leingod. "Come on, let's go." Dr. Leingod nodded and he ran off with Peppita looking for somewhere to hide. Everyone else pulled out their weapons and charged towards Omega. Maria stopped and fired several shots at Omega, they managed to stun Omega long enough for it's guard to drop down. Fayt slashed at a soft part of Omega's skin, cutting it. Cliff jumped up and dealt Omega a blow to the face. Albel slashed at Omega's right arm. Sophia shot off several fireballs at Omega, causing some damage on it. I rushed in and stabbed Omega in the ride side of it's lower torso. Omega let out a roar and shot an energy wave at us. We were all sent flying back and we landed on the ground.

"Ouch, that smarts," said Fayt as he slowly got up.

"I don't remember Omega having an attack like that," I grunted as I got up.

"If we rush in again we will only be kicked back. We need to come up with a plan," said Maria.

"Good idea, but it seems like Omega has a plan too," I said as I looked up at Omega. It was flying up into the air and it was charging a blast of energy. Omega shot off the blast directly at us.

"Hit the deck!" Exclaimed Cliff. We started running back from Omega trying to get away from the blast. The blast hit the ground and caused a huge explosion. We all fell to the ground again.

"That maggot is dead," said Albel as he got up.

"Is everyone okay?" Asked Sophia.

"If we can all stand up then we are probably fine," said Maria.

"Yeah, other than the fact that I almost went deaf from that explosion," I said. I looked over at Maria. "So what's the plan?"

"I want you guys to distract Omega, while you guys are fighting it I will charge my gun up to max energy and then I will blow it's head off."

"You have made another good plan as always," said Cliff.

"Okay everyone, let's go!" Maria pulled out her gun and started charging it while we rushed towards Omega to distract it. "Alex!" I looked over at Maria. She was running towards us with her gun ready. I nodded as I understood what I was supposed to do. I need down and put my hands together. Maria stepped onto my hands, I moved them up and she jumped high into the air. "Take this!" Maria fired her gun directly at Omega. Before it could look up there was a huge hole in it's head from where the blast had hit. Omega fell to the ground and disappeared.

"Oh yeah, good job Maria!" I said as I gave her a high five. Peppita and Dr. Leingod came out of there hiding place and walked over to us.

"Wow, that was amazing," said Peppita.

"I thought that the Executioners would be able to take more damage than that," said Dr. Leingod.

"The programmers thought that there was no way a being from this universe could defeat an Executioner so they gave it very little endurance. A major careless mistake," I said in my thoughts. "So shall we get going?"

"Yeah, let's go," said Fayt. We continued walking towards the Time Gate. Within thirty minutes or so we had finally found the Time Gate.

"So this is the Time Gate," said Cliff. Maria looked over at Dr. Leingod.

"According to what you said in that video, Sophia has the ability to open the door to 4D space. Right?" Asked Maria.

"That's right," said Dr. Leingod.

"But Uncle Robert, I don't know how to use my powers," said Sophia.

"Seems like her powers haven't manifested yet, Dad," said Fayt.

"Yes, her powers haven't manifested yet. But it will happen sooner than you think," said Dr. Leingod.

"What's that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Right, in the meantime let's go check out the gate," said Cliff.

"That's the only thing we can do at the moment," said Albel.

"What's wrong Sophia?" Asked Fayt. I turned around to see what they were talking about.

"My hand, it feels hot," said Sophia. Suddenly sparkles of light appeared around Sophia's hand and within a few seconds they turned into blue, glowing rings of symbology symbols.

"Her powers are manifesting," said Dr. Leingod. He looked over at his son with a grin. "I told you that you would find out soon enough." The Time Gate rotated into it's active mode.

"What's happening?" Asked Cliff.

"The Time Gate is activating," I explained. A large screen appeared inside of the Time Gate. It had a bunch of info and pictures of places on it.

"What's going on?" Asked Sophia. Suddenly a large sphere of light shot out of Sophia's hand and hit the screen of the Time Gate. She stumbled back and fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Asked Fayt as he bent down towards Sophia.

"Yeah." The screen had turned into a portal to Arkives. Finally, I was able to go home.

"Well done Sophia, you have opened the way to 4D space," said Dr. Leingod.

"So you have made it this far, impressive," said a voice behind us. We turned around to see Vox. I hadn't detected him, I must be losing my touch in sensing auras and energies.

"Vox? What are you doing here?" Asked Albel.

"I see you have joined this battle, somehow that doesn't surprise me," said Vox as he looked over at Albel. He then turned his gaze on me. "And you have decided to turn your back on your own people. Now, how will you tell them the truth? Or will you let them figure it out on their own?"

"I'll tell them everything, they have the right to know," I said. "By the way, how did you know that we were here? Why are you here? How did you figure out that I wasn't from this Universe?" Vox chuckled.

"My, my, so many questions. I have my ways, that's how I figured out who you were and where this place is. But basically, I came here to congratulate all of you for making it this far." He then looked around at all of us. "Are all of you ready for the truth on the other side?" Vox looked at me again. "And are you ready for what you will find out in your home world?"

"What are you talking about?" Vox smirked.

"That's something you'll have to find out for yourself," said Vox as he disappeared. There was total silence, no one spoke a word.

"How does he know all of this? The only ones who should know about the 4D beings and the purpose of the Time Gate are Dr. Leingod and his team and us," said Albel.

"That's what I would like to know. It doesn't make any sense," said Dr. Leingod.

"Alex, what did he mean by: 'the truth'?" Asked Maria. I looked over at her.

"There is something on the other side that I will be able to explain to all of you. I can't exactly explain what it is if we stay here," I said. To be honest I was a little worried, how would they react when they found out what the Eternal Sphere was?

"Then let's go find and defeat the Creator!" Said Fayt.

"Right, let's go," said Maria.

"Here I come Luther, and you had better have a damned good explanation!" I exclaimed. We all ran into the portal and once we crossed through we were in the town of Arkives. "Good to be home."

"Wow, this place isn't what I was expecting it to look like," said Dr. Leingod.

"Yeah, isn't the enemy home base more evil looking usually?" Asked Cliff.

"This is a normal town that has nothing to with the creation of the Executioners," I said.

"A town? What's this place called?" Asked Sophia.

"This place is called Arkives. I used to live here with my parents before they died."

"Hey Alex! Your back!" Exclaimed a familiar voice. I looked over to the right to see a young boy running towards us.

"Hey Flad," I said.

"I heard from Blair, she said that you got stuck in the Eternal Sphere. Are you okay? How did it happen? What was it like being in the Milky Way with the Executioners?" I started laughing.

"Whoa, whoa, one question at a time."

"Who is this?" Asked Fayt.

"Oh that's right, this is Flad. He is a friend of mine."

"Did he help make those Executioners?" Asked Peppita.

"No, I'm not one of the bad guys," said Flad.

"Hey, we aren't bad guys. We just do what we are told," I said. I looked over at Flad. "I think we should go to your house and explain the situation to these guys, they need to know the truth."

"You mean they are from the Eternal Sphere?"

"Yeah."

"Beings from the Eternal Sphere popping into real life? That is amazing! Come on, follow me!"

"Where are we going?" Asked Maria.

"I'm taking you over to Flad's house. I will be able to explain everything there," I said.

"Um, okay," said Cliff. I looked at everyone, few to none of them seemed to trust Flad that much.

"Come on, he isn't with the people who are trying to destroy your galaxy. Like I said before, not everyone is working with the Creator."

"We don't know anything about this world," said Sophia.

"Meaning that guiding us to where we need to go is up to you," said Cliff.

"With what's at stake we can't afford to mess up, so lead us in the right direction," said Dr. Leingod

"No pressure or anything," said Maria.

"I won't let any of you down," I said. I looked back at Flad. "Show us the way."

"Okay, follow me," said Flad. We started walking towards Flad's house. People in the area stopped what they were doing and were either starring at Fayt and the others or starring at me. News of my sudden disappearance must have gotten out all over the place by now. As we crossed one intersection I stopped walking and looked at one of the houses.

"Wait," I said. Everyone stopped, Flad looked up at the house and then back at me. He knew very well why I had stopped walking.

"What is it?" Asked Fayt.

"You know someone who lives there?" Asked Sophia.

"That's where I lived with my parents, before the fire."

FLASHBACK

I had come back from doing some shopping. Mom had sent me to the store to get a few items she need. As I arrived back home I gasped. I dropped the bag and ran towards my house. The whole building was on fire and the fire fighters had arrived and were trying to put out the fire.

"Mom! Dad!" I exclaimed. I tried to run towards the door but the nearby security guard stopped me.

"No! It's too dangerous to go in there!" Exclaimed the guard.

"But my parents are in there!" I protested .

"We are putting out the fire as quick as we can, but first we have to break open the holographic door, it seems to broken and sealed the exit tight," said a nearby fire fighter. For the next hour the fire fighters struggled to put out the fire. They finally managed to get it out and they broke the holographic door open. I ran inside but I stopped as I saw the sight in front of my eyes. Mom and Dad were on the ground and they weren't showing any signs of being alive.

"NO! Mom, Dad!" I exclaimed as I ran over to them. Tears started forming in my eyes as I started shaking their bodies. "No, you can't die! You can't!" I looked over at the nearby fire fighter. "They aren't dead are they?" The fire fighter lowered his head.

"They were trapped and they caught on fire. They were burned alive," said the fire fighter gravely. Tears started pouring down my cheeks as I heard him say that.

"No! This can't be happening! No! Mom! Dad! Don't leave me all alone! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I collapsed and started sobbing. Within a few days there was a funeral. Mom and Dad's bodies were burned to ashes and they were put into memory vases and put in the shrine where everyone else who dies is put.

I remained on the streets of Arkives, cold and alone. I didn't have any other family members like uncles and aunts. What would I do from here? How could I live my life alone like this?

"Young Rothrock, I presume?" Asked a voice. I looked up to see a man standing in front of me. He wore a white outfit decorated in gold designs. The sleeves were black with two gold rings at the bottom part of the sleeve. The skirt like part of his outfit was black on two sides. I recognized this outfit, it was the outfit that the owner of the Sphere Company has to wear. He had long brownish blonde hair and grey eyes. He had a very rough look to his face.

"Yes, I am Alex Rothrock," I said slowly.

"I was looking for you. You see, in your father's will he said that he wanted you to take his place in the Sphere Company. With the laws of this world, since you come from a wealthy family you will be sent to work at the Sphere Company. But you are too young to take the job yet. You will join the other young children and will be trained until the day you are ready." The man held out his hand towards me. "Come with me." I reached out for his hand and he picked me up off the ground.

END FLASHBACK

"Alex?" Asked Sophia. I looked over at her.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you ready to go yet?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I looked over at Flad. "Lead the way."

"Okay," said Flad. We continued walking towards Flad's house. Within ten minutes we had arrived at our destination. "I'm home!" Said Flad as we walked through the door.

"Welcome home," said Flad's mother. She looked from her son over to me and the others. "It's been awhile Alex, who are those people behind you?"

"They are both friends and comrades of mine," I said.

"I see..." Based on her expression it seems that she wasn't too happy about this. But somehow that didn't surprise me. Flad led us to the next room where there was several couches, chairs, and various machines. Flad sat down in one of the seats and pulled up a holograph screen. He looked up at Fayt.

"So what's your name? Where you from?" Asked Flad.

"Why do you ask?" Asked Fayt with a tone of confusion. Flad simply shrugged.

"Just curious."

"I'm Fayt Leingod and I am from Earth." Flad started typing something in and he looked back up at Fayt.

"Oh, so you live in the Milky Way sector. Wow, things sure are chaotic in there right now." What Flad said seemed to have interested Fayt and the other's because they moved in closer to watch what was happening on the screen. The Executioners were flying around destroying anything they found.

"Hey, those are the Executioners," said Cliff.

"How can you see events going on in our galaxy?" Asked Dr. Leingod.

"Simple, I just access a terminal to the Eternal Sphere and I can watch the events going on in it."

"The Eternal Sphere?" Asked Sophia.

"Hey kid, what the hell is the Eternal Sphere?" Asked Cliff. I looked over at Flad.

"I'll explain it to them. Back me up if I miss any details," I said. Flad nodded.

"Okay, the floor is yours," said Flad. I cleared my throat and started talking.

"It's time I told you the truth. The Eternal Sphere is a simulator of a universe, you could call it a universe of virtual reality. The Milky Way galaxy, which is where you are from, is part of this universe. To sum it up: you and everything else in your universe is nothing but data in a computer program. The beings of this universe created the Eternal Sphere." There wad dead silence amongst Fayt and the others. I was half expecting for their jaws to drop down onto the ground.

"You mean that..." Started Peppita.

"We are nothing more than just..." Continued Dr. Leingod.

"Programs?" Finished Sophia.

"That can't be true! There's just no way!" Exclaimed Fayt.

"It is the truth. All of you are characters from this simulator," added Flad.

"So we are just puppets for you people to manipulate?" I shook my head.

"No, we do not control your minds. We let you live your own independent lives. However we do occasionally interfere with events of the Eternal Sphere. But now something has gone wrong with the Creator and he made us create the Executioners," I said.

"And you all have individual AI programs unique to each and every one of you alone. So you can't be controlled with a joystick or anything," said Flad.

"Alex, does that mean that the Executioners are programs too?" Asked Maria.

"That's right, that's all they are. Just deadly programs that shouldn't exist," I said.

"Did you help create the Eternal Sphere?" Asked Peppita.

"Yeah, I helped Luther create the Eternal Sphere. I was a top member of that project."

"But if we are just data, how can we exist here?" Asked Sophia.

"Now that I don't understand," said Flad.

"It stumps me too," I said with a shrug.

"It's because of the Alteration gene inside of Maria, it allows us to exist in this universe," explained Dr. Leingod.

"I still find the whole idea hard to believe," said Cliff.

"I agree," said Albel. Flad looked over at me.

"I don't think it is possible to convince them of the truth here, they have to see it for themselves. You should probably take them to the terminal in Gemity," said Flad.

"Good idea. By the way Flad, have you talked to Blair lately?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just curious. I figured that you would have been one of the first people to know since Blair usually tells you news like that when ever it happens."

"Yeah, she told me everything. That reminds me in Gemity they are offering the new upgrade to all of their weapons, including swallows. You should upgrade your swallow while you are there."

"Okay, thanks for the news."

"No problem. Well, I wish you luck in stopping th Executioners."

"Thanks, well see you later Flad."

"See ya." We left Flad's house and we stopped to talk about what to do next.

"In order to get to Gemity, we have to use the Space-Time Transporter. It's this way, follow me," I said.

"What kind of city is Gemity?" Asked Sophia.

"It's an amusement city, a city created for only one purpose: Entertainment." I grinned. "I can't exactly describe the place, you'll have to see it for yourself.

"Lead the way," said Fayt.

"Alright, follow me." We continued walking until we found the entrance to the Space Time Station. We walked through the doors towards the transporter.

I was glad that Fayt and the others would get this chance to see my world, to see that not all of us are bad guys. It was also for the better that they learn the truth about their universe. What Vox told me earlier troubled me a little bit. But a lot of the time I just cast it aside as if it wasn't important at all. If I had known the truth back then I would n't have thought so little of it. How could I have missed something THAT big?

I should have the next chapter finished in the next few days or so. Even as you are reading this I have part of the next chapter finished already. Anyway, please review.