FFLover: Thanks for the comment, don't worry the story isn't over yet. But this is probably the second to last chapter in all honesty. Erm…something like that. I'll have to figure it out. Anyway, the story's coming to an end.

Puck of Cleyra: Summoning won't play a big part in this story either I'm afraid. I have one idea, and whether or not I use it I haven't decided. But summoning is just a cool thing that I like to bring up from time to time. Don't hate me, I just like the idea of it.

Kingpin: I agree with that excerpt you posted! Sometimes you have this huge macho card and then someone's Fang card somehow beats it out. I don't know why or how, it just does.

Oblivion Viruses: You know what they say, "If it isn't bigger than you wheel, just run it over," but that's slightly more dangerous with a motorcycle. So, Ryuu did the right thing…in his own panic-stricken mind.

CrimsonCobwebs: Thank you so much for your beautiful artwork! I'm going to post it tonight if I can get onto the website! There's been somthing wrong with my computer but I think we've got it all fixed now!

All readers: Please visit our website and look at the art for yourself! We have quite a collection of some really neat art!

Chapter 12

"Mikoto? Oh shit, Mikoto, are you okay?" Ryuu asked desperately. "Everything happened so fast, and it's my fault. I should be the one hurt. What happened?" Though he tried to hold them back, tears were welling up in the corners of his almond-shaped eyes.

"I'll be fine," the Genome reassured to the best of her ability. She tried to sit herself up just enough to prove her point, but the pain in her legs was almost unbearable. She clenched her eyes shut, and hissing through her gritted teeth, attempted again to sit up. This time she managed, but she knew there was no way she would be able to get to her feet. She also realized to her horror, that both of her legs were broken and sitting at angles legs shouldn't make.

"How far are we from Treno?" she asked, trying not to think of the pain that was so noticeable.

"A few miles," Ryuu replied quickly. "Come on, I'll carry you. You need to see a doctor."

Before she could answer, the brunette bent own and helped the immobile girl onto his back. She screeched in pain when he grabbed her legs so that he would be able to carry her piggy-back.

"We can do this, Mik," he said.

"No, Ryuu, you can't take me to a doctor!" she pleaded with him.

"Why not? I have enough money, I'm sure and if we don't we can always ask Kashiya to spot us some. You need a doctor, Mik, you should see yourself."

"Ryuu, please, don't take me to a doctor. I'll be fine."

"Your legs are broken!"

"I promise I'll explain everything," she said, almost to the point of tears. "I promise. But please, don't take me to a doctor, they'll never understand."

"You must be delirious, you don't know what you're saying," Ryuu picked up his pace in order to reach town faster.

"NO!" she screamed, tears now rolling freely down her face. "RYUU! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" She began to pound on his back with her fist, despite the shooting pain in her shoulder.

He stopped momentarily and looked at her over his shoulder. "What am I supposed to do then?" he asked, Mikoto could tell that he was beginning to get upset. "I don't know what else to do!"

"Let's just find an inn. I'll explain everything." She buried her head into the area between his shoulder blades. "Just please, you have to believe me, going to a doctor would be a bad idea."

With a sigh, Ryuu shook his head and continued toward town. "I don't understand you, Mik," he said shakily. "I'm worried…"

"Don't be, you'll just have to trust me."

"Okay, we'll go to an inn tonight, but if I don't agree with your explanation you're going to a hospital."

Her heart was pounding. If he didn't believe her it might as well be all over for her anyway. "If you can keep an open mind, then you'll have to agree with my explanation," she said through tears. There was no other way to get around this. He was going to find everything out. And he was going to find it all out that night. Putting off telling him could be hazardous to their life in Treno.

Just when Ryuu though that they would never find a place to stay for the night he came across an old tavern. Tired from carrying the extra weight of Mikoto, he rapped loudly at the thick wooden door. He stood there for a few minutes before an old woman missing several teeth opened it up. Face dripping with water from the pouring rain, Ryuu yelled over all the hubbub inside, "We require lodging for two. Do you have any room?"

"Just two 'o yee, eh?" the woman asked eyeing them both. "Aye, laddie. We 'ave a spare room. Come on in." She held open the door for them and led them through a dimly lit room where several of the townsfolk were gathered and drinking. Several drunken stares followed the two teenagers.

The old woman continued to lead the laden Ryuu up a long, and rather unstable, flight of stairs. Every step he took Ryuu heard the stairs creak ad groan as if warning him that they were ready to give in at any second.

Finally the woman unlocked a room with a giant ring of keys and opened the door for him. "Thank you," he muttered.

"Dain't say nuttin' 'o it," she gave him a toothless grin. "Sleep tight."

Once he heard the door close behind the woman Ryuu sat Mikoto down on the floor as gently as he could then sat behind her so that she could lean on him. "This may hurt," he warned, "But you're going to have to change before you use the bed. We both are wet and covered in blood."

She gripped Ryuu's arm as if was a lifeline, because she knew what was coming. As carefully as was able, Ryuu undid the button on her jeans and slowly pulled them off of her. Despite his caution as he worked, Mikoto squeezed his arm as the pain shot through her legs. He could see that her legs were mangled and turned in painful angles. Horrified, he turned away at the sight. "God, Mik…" he breathed out.

"Don't lose your nerve yet, you're going to have to help me set them, otherwise they'll heal that way," she managed to say through her gritted teeth.

He threw her tattered and blood stained jeans to the side. "How am I supposed to set them?" he asked. It wasn't as if he was trained in that sort of thing. "If only Kashiya was here…"

Ryuu's nervous eyes glanced at Mikoto then, he looked back at her legs. He looked around helplessly as he thought of something he could give her to bite on. With nothing else to offer, he ultimately took off his shirt. He rolled it up and stuck it in her mouth. "It might not taste great, but bite on that," he said kissing her forehead, "I wouldn't be able to stand it if I heard you scream."

She did as she was asked. Ryuu moved her to so that her back was against the bed and he stood in front of her, nervously wringing his hands. "Are you ready?" he asked. Mikoto nodded, clenching her eyes shut.

Biting his lip, Ryuu reached for her left leg. This one wasn't as badly mangled as the other. Before he lost his nerve, he twisted the leg back to the position it was supposed to be in. Mikoto screamed and flinched, but the fabric in her mouth muffled the sound. Ryuu's heart sank; he didn't want to cause her any more pain than she was already feeling.

She looked helplessly up at him and through her tears nodded for him to set the other leg. He could hear the bones in her leg pop and move around as he twisted it back into position and Mikoto's muffled scream echoed in his ears.

When he had finished setting the bones in each of her legs, he sat down beside her and put his hands on either side of his head, as if holding his ears would stop the ringing. Beside him, Mikoto's breathing began to slow again and she was finally calmed. He looked up and pulled the t-shirt from her mouth.

"I'm sorry," he apologized; though he really had nothing to apologize for.

"Help me to the bed," she said, very shakily.

Ryuu picked her up and upon doing so, realized something that almost caused him to drop her. "Y-You have a tail!" he exclaimed as he laid her on the bed.

She nodded solemnly. "Yes…I'll explain everything. But before I do, you had better change also and sit down. It will take a while."

Ryuu nodded and threw a small bag he had packed prior to the journey onto the bed. The bag had mainly just necessities, toiletries really. But, however he did manage to pack two fresh shirts. He threw one to Mikoto and took the other for himself. After changing into the clean shirts, Ryuu bent down and picked up the random articles of bloody clothing thrown across the room. He carried them into the attached bathroom, filled the tub with cold water and soap, and threw the clothes in there, hoping to get the majority of the stains out that way. From within the main room he could hear Mikoto softly speaking to Kashiya on the phone.

"We had some problems, we'll be a little late getting to Treno. …No, everything's okay. …I'm telling you the truth, everything will be just fine, I promise I'll call when we reach Treno…"

Her voice steadily got softer, or maybe he stopped paying attention. His mind was too fogged up with questions and worries to multi-task enough to listen and put on a new pair of pants. Once changed he paused before re-opening the bathroom door, then, preparing himself for the worst returned the room.

Mikoto was sitting on the bed, propped up by pillows, looking sadly at her bare legs. Though now they were straightened out, they were still bruised and dry blood covered them from various injuries she had sustained.

She switched her saddened gaze from her legs to Ryuu and motioned for him to sit on the bed next to her. He did just that and put an arm around her shoulder upon taking the offered seat.

"You know what I told you about my life?" she started very slowly.

"Yes…"

"That's not entirely true," she admitted, afraid by that point to do so much as even make eye contact with him. "The truth was so far fetched, I knew you wouldn't believe me. And if you did, you'd probably be scared of me."

"Not likely," he said quietly. "What happened?"

"When I said that my father was a scientist, that was true for the most part. But he is not technically my father. Yes, he did give me life, but I was never conceived. I never had a mother. I was born out of a grouping of cells, starting in a test tube. Both of my brothers and I were given life this way.

"You know that 'second moon' that you heard had life on it? Well, it did. If you can even call it that. Garland, the name of my creator, built an entire race of his own up there. We all looked identical. The only thing that differentiated my brothers and myself from our peers was a very simple thing, we had souls. All of the other 'Genomes' as Garland called them were empty vessels waiting for a single thing, when all life vanished from Gaia, the souls would be collected through the Iifa Tree and sent directly to Terra to inhabit the empty golems that haunted that planet. Terra was dead in all other aspects.

"My eldest brother was notorious down here on Gaia. He was a weapon's merchant, and he single handedly brought chaos across the great nations. He used Alexandria's Queen Brahne at the time as a pawn."

Ryuu looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "Queen Brahne's reign was…"

"I know, let me finish…

"After Brahne died in a ship wreck, he continued to wreak his havoc wherever he could, not realizing that the entire time he was doing this, he was really doing exactly what Garland wanted him to do.

"My other brother Zidane, was lost by Kuja in one of his extremely early journeys to Gaia and was raised by a popular theatre group that was also a group of thieves: Tantalus."

Ryuu stared at her in disbelief as she relayed these things to him.

"Zidane was raised from a very young age by the leader of this group, Baku. So young in fact that he did not know who Kuja was. By the time he found out who he was and what he was up to, he declared himself Kuja's rival. He would not allow someone to destroy a world that he had been raised to love.

"His pursuit of Kuja lead him back to Terra after almost fourteen years of being away. I recognized him the moment he set foot onto our soil. He was with a large group of his friends, seven to be exact. I led each and every one of them into Bran Bal, the main city in which I lived.

"After much difficulty, I finally got to speak with Zidane alone. I tried to tell him that he had been in fact created, just as I had, and that his place was here with me and everyone else. He wouldn't have it. The thought that he had not been conceived by a woman like he had been brought up to believe made him very upset. He ran away from me, and all of his friends that he loved so dearly.

"While trying to run away from his problems, he only ended up meeting them face-to-face. He ran into Garland, who tried to tell him the same that I did. But after Zidane showed his disobedience to a man who was such a control-freak, Garland decided to try and deactivate him by taking his soul and making him just a regular vessel. Something went wrong however, and that didn't happen. Zidane's soul was just too strong.

"Zidane's friends managed to find him before he went off the deep edge, and they all confronted Garland at once. They, however, did not kill him. Rather, Kuja did. Kuja had come back to Terra (against his will) to settle his score with Garland, which he succeeded in. However, none of the three of us knew what destroying Garland would lead to.

"Kuja used his legendary power of Trance to destroy Bran Bal completely. Zidane, in an attempt to flee the chaotic city, got me and all of the other genomes onto his airship and we crossed through the barrier that separated our two planets, the Shimmering Isle.

"The Genomes and I were dropped off in the Black Mage Village to stay until everything was over. Zidane literally went through hell and back trying to save Gaia from its demise, and in doing so he did manage to spare the planet. When he got back from his travels he knew that it was with Kuja's help that he survived a very important battle, and thus he began to look for his brother.

"Kuja had secluded himself in the Iifa Tree so that he could die alone, a broken and tormented man. Zidane was there with him for his last few words. After Kuja perished the Iifa Tree collapsed on top of Zidane.

"He was trapped under the branches for several months, in a coma. He awoke and found his way back to Alexandria where the woman he loved lived. She was the new crowned Queen, as her adoptive mother, Brahne had indeed died. He married her and inherited the crown of Alexandria.

"But something was very odd with him, as he found out. He managed to survive several life-threatening situations, not to mention the fact that he never aged. Meanwhile, I was experiencing the same thing in the Black Mage Village, yet so were all of my peers. I found it abnormal that the Black Mages were dying, or 'stopping' as they called it. I didn't understand that that was what organisms on Gaia were 'supposed' to do.

"Zidane and I weren't reunited until almost one hundred and fifty years later, after his wife had died and he had been exiled. Together we pieced together many things. What made us different? Why couldn't we die? And we found it out."

Mikoto paused and looked at Ryuu to make sure he was listening. His eyes were fixed on the corner of the room and he looked as if he was contemplating something very important. The Genome sighed and tapped him on the chest.

Looking startled, he glanced back down at her. "I'm listening, I promise."

"I know you're listening. But do you believe me?"

"It's hard to, but then again it's hard not to. Your story fits perfectly into what I learned in my history class. Finish telling it."

"There is a porthole that appeared over the site of the Iifa Tree called Memoria. This place was constructed out of Zidane's memories. We had one clue, and that was that the truth lied in Memoria. Therefore the two of us flew there. I was supposed to wait in the airship while he went in, but I was far too stubborn to listen. I snuck in behind him.

"This place was absolutely dripping with Garland's spirit. We could hear him talking to us, even though he was definitely deceased. I continued to sneak around behind Zidane, trying not to give away my position, and I was listening into what Garland had to say.

"He said a bunch of things that didn't make much sense, but then something that did. We couldn't die until we'd completed our purpose. 'Everyone has a purpose,' he said to us, 'And no one is able to die until that purpose has been completed.' So of course, Zidane, desperate, asked him what his purpose was.

" 'Destroy Gaia' is what Garland said. Of course Zidane wouldn't destroy Gaia after he fought so hard to protect it. But Garland continued to try to soothe over his mind, manipulate him into doing it anyway. He told him things like, 'They think you're a freak anyway', and 'Why not kill them?' or 'What more do you have to lose?'. Zidane still refused.

"Garland then told him that there was no other way for him, if he wanted to die he'd have to destroy the world. Then he paused for a second before saying, 'One angel of death can kill another, but the purpose is passed down.' I took this to heart, even though the thought of losing my only connection to the world was very upsetting to me. One night while he was sleeping, I came in and gave him an injection of Malboro poison. He didn't suffer long, and he thanked me in his last words for doing him the favor. But since then I have been alone.

"His purpose was passed on to me. I was Garland's last hope for succeeding in transferring life back to Terra, therefore he did everything in his power to make sure that I succeeded. He gave me the ability to Trance and named my attack 'Kamikaze'. If set it off, I will blow up and take everything with me.

"I'm Garland's last resort. He didn't even want to make me, he was so sure that Zidane would do it. Zidane this and Zidane that, you should read his lab notes. Because I wasn't as important, I still can't die, but instead of my healing powers being instant, like Zidane's, it takes more time for a full recovery, and I can still feel pain. You can tell that he never really anticipated ever really using me…"

She stopped, wiping the tears from her eyes. She had basically finished telling her story. Everything was now out on the table and now it was up to Ryuu to decide whether or not he was going to believe it.

The anticipation was making her sick and now that she was sobbing didn't help make her feel any better. She was sure that Ryuu was going to deny her all that he had once shown her, spit on her, and abandon her. But instead she felt him pull her into a gentle and warm embrace, his nose buried deep into her thick blond hair

"But you know what?" he said softly into her hair. "I'm awful glad that Garland decided to make a last resort." She turned to look at him, her eyes brimming with tears, and Ryuu merely rubbed them away with his thumb, smiling sadly.

As always, the sun rose the next morning, and as it peeked over the small town outside of Treno, it spread its rays of light through every facet that it could. The morning light made its way through the several cracks in the Tavern's shutters, resting warm upon the inhabitants.

Mikoto stirred at the sudden presence of light. Ever so slowly her eyes fluttered open and she breathed in the smell of Ryuu's cologne, mixed with the sweet smell of lilacs just outside the window. Stretching her arms up over her head, she rolled over and to her surprise found the other side of the bed empty. Alarmed, Mikoto shot up and looked desperately around the room. There was no sign of the brown haired boy anywhere.

Despite the fact that her legs were still sore from the previous night, she got up and immediately was hit with a wave of dizziness. Holding her head, as if to keep herself from passing out, she stumbled into the attached bathroom. She leaned against the wall for support and saw only her ruined jeans swimming in a tub of tinted red water.

Feeling more vulnerable than ever, the upset Genome managed to stumble back into the main room and find a robe hanging in the closet. She tied it around herself and ran downstairs to the bar area. Already townspeople were gathering for a few drinks, despite the hour of the day. She pushed her way through them, looking around desperately for Ryuu's familiar face.

"Have you seen a boy? Around seventeen, he has brown hair…" she would ask the bar-goers if they looked sober enough to be coherent. Most just shook their heads or said they hadn't seen him since the previous night.

Finally, the Genome ran into the woman who owned the Tavern. "Excuse me, ma'am…have you seen Ryuu? The man I came here with last night…"

"Aye! N' good murnin' to ya, lassie! Don't yee look a lot better'n yee did last night. Yee looked tarrible, yee did. Good ta see ya up an' walkin' 'bout."

"Thank you very much, ma'am, but please. I am looking for my…" she stopped and thought for a moment. "…husband," she finally lied.

"Aye, that strong young lad tha' carried yee in last night, I kin…" she said slowly. "I saw 'im not too long ago… Said 'e was goin' somewhare, 'e did."

At that moment in time, Mikoto's heart felt as if it filled up with a substance heavier than lead and dropped into her gut. "Oh…th-thank…you…" she said, looking down at the aged hardwood floor.

"Don't warry, lassie. If 'es your 'usband, I reckon 'e'll be comin' back for yee."

Mikoto nodded and slowly walked back to the stairs that lead up to their room. Each step creaked maliciously as she progressed up the staircase, which only seemed to grow as her worry deepened.

Emotionally exhausted, Mikoto threw open the door of the room and ran in, falling face-first onto the bed. More than anything she wanted to be strong and not cry, but she still felt the sting as tears gathered in her eyes.

"There you are!" she heard Ryuu's voice exclaim. "I swear, Mikoto, I leave for two seconds and you disappear all together!" he laughed.

She lifted her head to see him standing in the bathroom doorway, a tray full of food in his hand. "I left to get us some breakfast…but it's cold now," he laughed again, then sat on the bed beside her, showing off the tray of food, which included pancakes, soggy with syrup from the long wait.

Sheepishly, Mikoto tried to wipe the embarrassing tears from her eyes. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry," she said quietly as she sat up.

"So I got it for nothing? And I waited for you to come back, allowing it to get cold in the process, and now you're not going to eat it?" he pretended to be stunned, then he shrugged and sat the tray down on a table in the room. "Oh well, I'm not all too hungry myself. We need to leave soon anyway. How are your legs?"

"Sore, but I'll be fine," Mikoto replied. "But Ryuu…what are we going to wear into Treno?"

"I soaked our clothes from yesterday overnight. They're not the cleanest that they could be…but they're better than nothing. They will be fine until we get to Treno and we can buy new clothes, right?"

"…Right…" she said slowly. She was still unsure, but Ryuu's smile seemed to erase all doubt from her mind. "Your clothes are waiting for you in the bathroom. Get changed and then we can leave"

Mikoto nodded and walked into the bathroom, peering over her shoulder at him, as inconspicuously as possible. She felt silly doing so, but the last thing she wanted was for her worst fear to become reality. She couldn't imagine being betrayed or abandoned by Ryuu.

Sure enough, resting on the toilet seat was a pair of her ruined jeans as well as her just as ruined shirt from the previous night. Both were folded and still damp.

After pulling her tattered and stained clothes on, Mikoto peered through the crack between the door and its frame to see Ryuu sitting on the bed, playing absent mindedly with a lose thread in his shirt. She couldn't help but smile, then she went back to getting ready. She peered at herself in the mirror, ran her fingers through her short blond hair and with a sigh walked back out into the main room.

"Well don't you just look lovely," Ryuu smiled with a wink. His clothes, though not as torn, were still muddy and his shirt had quite large unmistakable bloodstains from where he had carried Mikoto.

"Are you going to need me to carry you today?" he joked as he threw his arm over her shoulder and they walked out of the room.

"Well, this is the Treno Mansion," Mikoto announced, when the two weary travelers had finally reached their destination. Ryuu stared in awe at the spectacular architecture that stood in front of him. "My brother designed it himself."

"Which one?" he asked as he studied the gothic style gargoyles staring down at him.

"Kuja," she smiled, "If you knew him you'd be able to tell that he designed it in a heartbeat."

"Why is your house glowing?" Ryuu asked upon further observation of the building.

"It's a spell to protect it. For such a beautiful building, he wasn't thinking of the location when he built it, and building it so close to the slums has its consequences. So Kuja put a very strong protect spell over it to preserve it."

The wrought-iron fence groaned as Mikoto pushed it open. Upon approaching the door, Mikoto realized that she didn't have her keys on her. "Cover me really quick," she whispered over her shoulder.

Ryuu did as he was asked.

Mikoto pointed a single finger at the doorknob and muttered a spell. A tiny beam of bright yellow light emanated from her fingertip and went into the keyhole. There was an unmistakable chinking sound as the door unlocked itself and swung open.

"Mistress Mikoto! You're back, kupo!" Moogerz exclaimed from the top stair.

Its counterpart, Mogzika soon accompanied it. "We tried to keep the mansion clean, kupo, but it has a mind of its own!"

"At least it's not as dirty as it was the last time I left you two alone in it for a long period of time," Mikoto said jokingly. She moved through the foyer and Ryuu followed her in.

The two moogles, who had been making their way down the stairs stopped momentarily and exchanged confused glances.

"This is Ryuu," Mikoto said, motioning to him. "He will be staying with us."

"A human? Ick!" Mogzika exclaimed, sticking her tongue out.

"Yes, he's a human," Mikoto announced with a smile, "Will you two start cleaning out the spare bedroom so that he doesn't have to sleep on a mound of dust?"

"Dust is comfortable, kupo," Moogerz whined. But without saying anything else, the two moogles flew upstairs to do as they were told.

"How come your moogles are perfectly functional and the one I have at my place is a total loon?" Ryuu laughed as he watched the creatures' retreating figures.

"Just lucky I guess," Mikoto shrugged. Then, putting a finger to her lip, she picked up the phone and dialed Kashiya's number.

The phone rang and rang, and then finally someone picked up.

"Hello?" it was Kashiya and she sounded very frustrated.

"Hey, Kash, it's me, Mikoto…"

At this the woman sounded a bit surprised, "Oh! Mikoto! Hi!"

"Hi, look, I'm just calling you to let you know that we made it to the mansion and we're safe."

"You're never completely safe in Treno. You have no idea how worried I'm going to be."

"I have an idea…judging by how paranoid you sound right now."

"Are your walls sturdy? Where is this mansion located?"

"You can rest assured that this building is impenetrable."

Kashiya was quiet for a while, then finally she sighed and said. "Okay. Call me and let me know if you need me, okay?"

"We will. You and Seth are welcome to come and visit once we get settled in."

"Well you just let us know when then."

"Alright, bye Kashiya."

"Bye."

Mikoto hung up the phone and then smiled at Ryuu. "So, are you ready for the tour?"

"I'm going to need one," he laughed. "I think I might get lost coming downstairs for breakfast!"

Mikoto led him upstairs and down a long hallway. "This is the storage room," she said, holding the door open so that he could look in. "It's a mess, the moogles and I tried cleaning it earlier this year and were unsuccessful."

"That's amazing," Ryuu breathed, looking at all of the weapons, armor and various add-ons on display everywhere. "Where did you come across all of these?"

"A lot of them belonged to my brother and his friends. As a matter of fact, I believe they all did."

She took him into the next room, "This is my room," she said leading him in. "Nothing too interesting in h-"

"Aw! You have a teddy bear!" Ryuu exclaimed, taking an old and worn teddy bear off of her shelf.

"Actually, it's not mine."

"Whose is it then?"

"Zidane's eldest daughter's, Amethyst. It was her bear when she was little."

Mikoto took the bear from Ryuu and looked at it affectionately, stroking its soft brown coat. One of its button eyes had fallen out and a seam was coming undone on its belly. "I keep him in here for nostalgic reasons. As a matter of fact, almost everything I keep in here is in memory of someone else."

"Oh…" Ryuu said looking at his feet.

Gingerly, Mikoto replaced the bear on its shelf and led Ryuu away from her room.

She continued to take Ryuu on the tour, getting him acquainted with the different rooms of the house and the history of some of her belongings. She ended the tour of the top floor up with Zidane's room, the room that Ryuu would inhabit. Apart from many photographs and broadway posters, the room was very plain. The bedspread had been a solid white at one point, but had yellowed due to age and lack of use.

Ryuu began to walk around the room, as if observing every facet. Recording everything that he was seeing into his memory. Mikoto watched as he walked around the room, "We'll wash the bed sheets for you of course…" she said as he circled the bed, like a bird of prey.

Finally he looked at her and smiled the biggest he had in a long time. "I love it."

She smiled back at him and led him back down the stairs. Just as she was getting ready to initiate the tour of the second floor, the sound of a very loud crash interrupted her. Both she and Ryuu traded worried glances and ran to the where the sound had come from, the basement.

Immediately when Mikoto opened the door that led to the basement, the smell of rotting wood and stale air came to her nose, the Genome turned her head and coughed. "I can't even remember the last time I had to go into the basement here!" she said.

Still coughing, she used a fire spell to light a torch hanging on the wall, then carried it down with her. Ryuu followed close behind her. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs she heard a sound that made her blood freeze, a low growl.

She turned to look at Ryuu, and in the flickering light of the torch she could see that he was just a terrified as she. "I don't know…maybe we shouldn't go any further…" she said, her heart pounding.

Just as she said that, she saw something that rooted her to her spot. At that point, it didn't matter how much she wanted to run back up the stairs, her legs simply wouldn't move. Two yellow slitted eyes were peering at them, and that low growling sound became more prominent.

"Mikoto…do you have a monster living in your basement?" Ryuu asked, sounding remarkably calm for someone who seemed to be at his breaking point.

The Genome shook all doubt from her body and willed herself to take a few steps toward those eyes, waving the torch at them. "Hah! Hah!" she yelled, as if threatening it to move back. Still those eyes merely peered at her, as if daring her to continue forward.

Finally, the light managed to hit the owner of those eyes and Mikoto gave a giant sigh of relief. Ryuu on the other hand felt as if he could've passed out. After all, not many city boys could say that they've come face to face with a silver dragon before.

"It's only Kirai…" Mikoto sighed, clutching her chest.

"Right…Kirai…just Kirai…" Ryuu stuttered, "Who the hell is Kirai?"

Ever so slowly the Genome reached her hand forward. The dragon snapped at the gesture, but Mikoto managed to pull her hand away fast so that it missed. She tried again. This time the dragon sniffed her hand. Almost immediately there was a noticeable change in the creature's eyes.

"We need to get him some food…" Mikoto announced.

"Mikoto, I don't think you have people food in this house, let alone dragon food."

"We need to go to the store anyway, don't we?"

Ryuu laughed and shook his head. What a day it was turning out to be.

"So…who's Kirai?" Ryuu asked as the two walked back up the stairs.

"An old friend of Kuja's. As a matter of fact, Kirai was Kuja's only friend for a very long time." When they reached the top of the stairs again, Mikoto drenched the torch with a water spell and placed it back where she had found it.

Ryuu shivered as he looked down the long wooden stairway at the two yellow eyes staring up at him. He laughed nervously, gulped, and began to pull on the collar of his shirt. "That thing's going to kill me in my sleep…" he thought aloud.

A week passed and Mikoto and Ryuu were busy adapting to their new lives in the Treno mansion. Across the street from the mansion there was a construction site, a new apartment complex was going in. Luckily as the noble funding the build was in dire need of workers, and Ryuu was in dire need of a job, the teenager's job search didn't take long.

Every day he left for work fairly early in the morning and would return in the late afternoon, typically around five. Mikoto spent her days either at the auction house or cleaning up the mansion, with the not-so-helpful "help" of the two moogles who inhabited the building.

One morning in particular Mikoto awoke and jumped out of bed. She always liked being awake before Ryuu left, not to mention she needed to get Ryuu out of bed, otherwise he never had a prayer of getting to work on time, even if it was right across the street.

Quickly, she dressed, brushed her hair, and walked down the dark hall to Zidane's old room. The door squeaked as it opened, and she looked in on his sleeping figure and couldn't help but smile. He had the most child-like face when he slept. When she realized that she was staring, she blushed and quickly turned on the light in the room.

Ryuu flinched and opened one of his eyes. "Time to get up," she cooed at him.

He muttered something incoherent and rolled over.

"Yup," she smiled crossing her arms. "Time for you to go bring home the bacon."

"You bring home the bacon…I bring home the fun money."

"Nonetheless…" she laughed.

Ryuu groaned again and pulled the covers over his head. "Come on…" Mikoto sighed. She walked over to the bed and attempted to pull the sheets away from him. "If you get up, I might make muffins…" she bribed.

Suddenly Ryuu's hand shot out from under the comforter and pulled her down onto the bed. "Did I hear you say muffins?" he asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"You sure did."

"That's incentive enough. All right, I'm getting up."

"Good," she patted his chest and pulled herself up from the bed. "Sounds like I'm making muffins now."

She left his room and walked down the spiralling staircase. On her way down she almost stepped directly onto Moogerz, who had been sleeping curled into a ball on one of the stairs.

"Kupooo!" the moogle exclaimed, "You could warn a moogle before you come parading down the stairs, ya know, kupo!"

"Sorry Moogerz," Mikoto blushed, and hurried into the kitchen.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I'm making muffins," Mikoto announced over her shoulder.

"Oh! Kupo! I wanna help!"

"Can we put Kupo Nuts in a batch?" another voice inquired. Mogzika came flying around a corner.

"I guess," Mikoto sighed.

"Kupopo!" both the moogles exclaimed together.

"Come on and help me make them then!"

The moogles followed after the Genome in an excited frenzy.

A while later Ryuu came down the stairs, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a white tee shirt. Mikoto was just sitting down at the table when he sneaked up behind her.

"Guess what!" he asked as he snatched her around the waist.

"What? You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Not possible," he beamed at her.

Mikoto pretended to glower at him, then asked, "What?" again.

"Kashiya and Seth are coming to visit."

"When?"

"Today!"

Mikoto fell silent for a moment. She wasn't sure of what she could say, so Ryuu only continued. "Seth and I have been keeping in contact with each other, and I told them that they should come up once we were all moved in."

Mikoto was still speechless.

"You don't want them to come over?" Ryuu asked.

"No, it's not that…"

"Then what? You love Kashiya, it'll be fun."

"Okay…" Mikoto smiled weakly. She wasn't sure why she was so upset at the fact that they were coming over. You're just being silly, she told herself.

"Guess I'll have to really hurry up on this whole cleaning project," Mikoto sighed.

"The mansion is looking great. You're doing a wonderful job."

"Thanks."

"What all really needs to be cleaned?"

"The basement. I haven't even started on it," Mikoto groaned.

"You're actually going down there with that thing?"

"It's just a dragon, Ryuu, honestly. And he's tame."

"He's terrifying, that's what he is."

"Regardless, I need to clean out the basement."

"Why? No one will go down there."

"They might. Not to mention I don't think I've ever even been down in the basement. Don't know what I might find."

"Oh, well from the sounds of it, you might want to take your daggers with you when you go down."

"I'll be careful," she promised with a wink. "So what time are Kashiya and Seth coming over, exactly?"

"They left this morning, so they'll be here around two."

"Two?" Mikoto exclaimed.

"Is that a problem?"

"You could've told me sooner, I'll never have time to get the guestrooms ready!"

"Don't worry about the guestrooms," he said with a wink. "They can stay in my room."

"Where are you going to sleep?" He didn't answer, but flashed her one of his characteristic smiles. "Ryuu!" she laughed.

Dramatically, the brunette dipped Mikoto and was preparing to kiss her when the moogles began making as much noise as possible. "The muffins are going to burn! The muffins are going to burn!" they exclaimed.

Still laughing, Mikoto stood up and walked to the oven. The smell of the muffins had already spread across the entire kitchen, thus making it smell wonderful. She pulled the pans of muffins out and sat them on the stove.

"Getting a bit fresh with Miki, aren't you?" Mogzika asked Ryuu with narrowed eyes.

"Hey!" both Mikoto and Ryuu said at the same time. They locked eyes and laughed all over again.

"Take your muffins and get to work," Mikoto finally managed to say. Her sides were beginning to ache from all of the laughter. Ryuu chuckled, and grabbed three muffins and ran out of the door.

"As for you two…" Mikoto said, trying to regain her composure. "You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?" Moogerz asked.

Mikoto strapped her dagger sheathes to her belt, and scarfed down a few muffins. "The basement," the Genome smiled.

"No!" the two moogles exclaimed in unison. "There's a monster down there, kupo!"

The Genome sighed, "But I'd like to have some help down there." For a few seconds she thought, then she came up with something. "I have an idea! Come with me!"

Rather reluctantly, the moogles followed Mikoto up the stairs and into the storage room. "Let's see here…" the Genome mumbled as she looked through all of the armor there was to offer. "The closest armor I can find in your size would be Eiko's…I wonder if she took her things after the group split?"

She continued to rummage through the piles of armor and then finally found two small coats of mythril armor, as well as some simple daggers in which the moogles were able to brandish as swords. As the two moogles studied themselves in the mirror, Mikoto looked at them with a big smile. "Feel a little more safe?"

The moogles traded nervous glances, but didn't say anything. "Come on you two, I'm going to need some help. I can't clean the entire basement on my own."

"Get Ryuu to help you!" Moogerz complained.

With a sigh, Mikoto looked at them pleadingly.

"Gah! Okay…" the two creatures replied, looking at the floor.

"I won't let you get hurt. Or eaten," she winked.

Very slowly, the moogles followed her to the basement door. Upon opening the door, Mikoto lit the torch once again with a fire spell and descended the staircase, lighting torches as she passed them with the one she carried. Behind her she heard the frantic flutter of wings as the moogles followed her, as well as their hushed conversation.

"Where is that white demon?" she heard one of the moogles whisper.

"Are you talking about Kirai?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Whatever that monster is."

Mikoto shrugged. "He could be out hunting, or he could be hiding, just waiting for a tender little morsel like yourself to walk unsuspecting around a corner…"

"MIKOTO!" the moogles yelled at once.

"I'm just kidding," she chuckled.

Mikoto continued down the stairway, chuckling to herself. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell she looked around. The darkness was so thick that even the several torches illuminating the stairway didn't extend into the vast recesses of the basement. "It's so gloomy down here…" Mikoto said quietly, lighting more torches. Finally it was bright enough for her to see what she had to work with, and it astonished her.

"Where are we supposed to start, kupo?" Moogerz asked.

Mikoto merely looked around and then sighed, "This is going to be a lot tougher than I first imagined." She blew some of her bangs out of her face and dropped her bag on the ground. "What's in all of these boxes?" she thought aloud.

The moogles looked at each other and back at her, then shrugged. "What would Kuja keep in his basement?" she continued to ponder.

"I don't know, kupo, but I'm getting a bad feeling," Mogzika said with a shiver.

Using her dagger, Mikoto pried open the crate nearest to her. There was a horrible stench, like something she had never smelled before emanating from inside of it. After struggling she managed to pry open part of the box, and smell got a lot stronger. "Ungh!" she gasped and immediately covered her nose with the back of her hand.

"What is it?" the moogles asked together.

"I don't know yet, but it smells terrible."

"Are you sure you want to open it?"

"I want to know what's in it!"

"Curiosity killed the cat! Kupopo!"

"But I'm afraid it won't be able to kill me," she answered under her breath.

Holding her breath, she wrenched open the lid of the crate and was startled to see a pair of dim yellow eyes staring up at her, unblinkingly. She shrieked and accidentally knocked over the entire crate. Gasping to catch her breath and clutching her chest she stared in horror at the motionless Black Mage lying facedown on the floor.

The moogles both squealed and darted behind a barrel.

Once she had calmed down, Mikoto sat down on the floor, still clutching her chest. "It's not activated," she announced just loud enough so that the moogles would come out of hiding. She stood back up and walked next to the lifeless figure, prodding it gently with her foot. "As a matter of fact…I don't think it can be."

"Why not, kupo?"

"It's been over two hundred years since it was produced," she stated matter-of-factly. "Help me put it back in its crate."

The moogles merely stared at the Genome as she struggled to put the Black Mage away. As she attempted to pick it up its eyes suddenly lit up to a brighter yellow. The Genome gasped and dropped the mage in her shock. Upon hitting the floor, its yellow eyes dimmed again, and what 'life' it had had was gone.

"Why would he have mages stored in his basement?" Mikoto asked herself. Worriedly, she looked at the moogles and motioned for them to help her pick up the 'stopped' Black Mage. As carefully as they could, the three of them placed it back into its crate. "How are we going to get rid of them?" she muttered, lifting her sweaty hair off of her neck.

The moogles merely looked at her. "If I had an airship I could load them onto it and bury them outside of the old Black Mage Village…but I don't…"

"The best place to buy them is Lindblum, kupo!" Moogerz stated.

"Yeah, too bad I can't go back, hm?" she sighed.

After moving all of the crates against the wall and straightening up what they could, they moved further into the basement. Carrying a torch with her, Mikoto opened the heavy wooden door that led to the next room, she was astonished to find that it was a long and narrow hallway, covered in about a centimeter of water.

Each of the moogles grabbed onto one of Mikoto's pant legs and followed closely behind her as they all sloshed their way across. "There are only so many places for that demon to hide…kupopo…" Mogzika said shakily.

"I don't know where he is…" Mikoto admitted. But in all honesty, she had other things on her mind. The hall that they just so happened to be venturing down gave her an odd feeling. She wasn't sure what it was, but she didn't like it.

The moogles were conversing frantically with each other behind the Genome, but she could no longer hear what they were saying. The world seemed to be on mute, and she was starting to feel dizzy. Memories from those dreams nestled their way into her mind and began to play tricks on her.

She stopped walking all together, causing both moogles to run directly into the back of her knees. "Why'd you stop walkin', kupo?"

"Yeah, you're the one who wanted to come down here, kupopo!"

Mikoto couldn't hear them, however. Even though she was staring down the hallway, directly at the last door, everything seemed fuzzy around the edges. Eventually, darkness overtook her senses and with a small splash she fell to the floor, passed out cold.

"Mikoto? Mikoto!" the moogles yelled in unison, but the Genome did not answer.

"Moogerz! Go get Ryuu!" Mogzika said quickly as she fanned Mikoto with one of her pink paws.

Ryuu was shingling the roof of a house when he saw a pink blur flying frantically toward him. He squinted his eyes and once he realized that it was one of the moogles, he knew that there was something wrong.

"What's wrong, Moogerz?" he asked the approaching pink fuzz ball.

"It's Mikoto!" the moogle said quickly.

Ryuu looked at the creature in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Several of the construction workers turned to listen in on the conversation.

"Hey, Ryuu! No pets allowed at the construction site!" Ryuu's boss barked at him. At this comment Moogerz seemed offended but said nothing.

"Sorry Mr. Hamilton," Ryuu blushed. "Moogerz, what's wrong?" he asked hurriedly.

"Mikoto! She fell! Kupo! She passed out in the basement!"

"She what?"

"Fainted!"

Worriedly, he looked his boss in the face. "I'm sorry Mr. Hamilton," he explained quickly. "My girlfriend is ill, I'm going to take my lunch break early."

"I want an explanation!"

"I'll explain it all when I get back," he said as he threw off his construction hat. Hurriedly, he jumped down the ladder and ran across the street to the Treno Mansion.

"Moogerz, you're going to have to lead me to her! Where's she pass out?"

"Down here, kupo!" the moogle exclaimed breathlessly, as she flew down the staircase. Ryuu followed after the creature relentlessly, and by the light of the torches he saw Mikoto just beyond the open door. She had fallen in a heap in the center of the hallway, Mogzika was still right next to her.

"Mikoto!" he exclaimed upon seeing her. Without hardly thinking, he ran into the hallway, splashing up water as his work boots smacked against the cement floor. After he finally reached her, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her back upstairs.

As he passed by the old grandfather clock in the living room he noticed that it was almost one thirty. "Kashiya and Seth will be here anytime soon…" he said to the moogles as they ascended the staircase. "Kash will know what to do with her…"

She was running through catacombs, and there was no light except for a faint blue glow. Where it came from, Mikoto had no idea. There were no torches, no candles, no source of light whatsoever, just a perpetual blue glow. Although her legs were tired and she was panting uncontrollably, she was being driven farther and farther along by some unknown force.

'What do you think you're doing?' a venomous voice echoed against the walls of her consciousness.

'I don't know,' she said, tears springing to her eyes.

'Why even try? It's futile!'

'I have to! I promised him!'

The cave went on and on; there didn't seem to be an end. Still she continued to run on.

'Go on, come with me,' Garland said teasingly, 'End your suffering, end your miserable struggle.'

She closed her eyes and ran on, all the while Garland's poisonous words echoed through the caves.

'You're weak, you'll give in anyway. Why not now? Why wait until you're hurt? Why wait until he dies? Why make yourself suffer?'

Mikoto wiped the tears from her eyes and ran on. The end of the cave was near! She could see it! Out of breath she came to the end, there was an intersection. Three paths that she could go down. But which one should she chose?

Panting for breath, Mikoto approached the first of three. There was someone inside there. She walked a little farther and the mystery person turned around. It was Garland. He grabbed her by the wrist. 'Just do it! Do you really expect to just live forever? Do you really think you're that strong? I'm going to win, it's inevitable! Why postpone fate?'

'No! I promised him! I can't!' she sobbed, trying with all her might to wrestle her arm away from him. For as thin and frail as he appeared, his grip was as strong as steel. She reached down and finally managed to pry his fingers away from her wrist.

'It's fate!' his words followed her as she ran into the next cave.

She was too busy looking over her shoulder, she couldn't see what lie in front of her, that is until she ran into it. She fell back, but was astonished to see a pale hand help her up. Her eyes went in and out of focus, and finally she was able to see clearly. The image brought tears to her eyes. She reached up and as if to reassure her that it was really him, and stroked his long silver hair.

'Mikoto…' he said quietly, his voice smooth as running water.

'Kuja?'

Her eldest brother smiled at her sadly. 'Mikoto, you do whatever makes you happy. If that means loving this stranger, then love him with all your might. Don't go halfway. Your life is up to you, no one else. Don't let ANYONE else dictate what you do, be it Garland or Zidane.'

'But…' she shook her head and slowly backed away. 'I promised him.'

'Are you happy with the promise you made? Don't you think that promise was a bit extreme?'

'I am going to keep my word!' she exclaimed.

Kuja touched her cheek lovingly, 'I want you to be happy. Not temporarily happy, I want you to be genuinely happy.'

Eyes brimming with tears, she backed away, sobbing uncontrollably. 'I can't break my promise to him!' she threw her arms down and screamed at the silver haired Genome. 'He deserves more than that! He trusted me with the fate of the world! I won't go back on my word, not without a fight!'

Kuja extended an arm to her, but she pushed it away, and ran back to the intersection of caves. There was only one left. Eyes closed, she ran down it, not sure if she could take whatever was waiting for her. She ran into something, but instead of falling she was met with an embrace. A strong embrace like one she could reca, from so long ago.

She looked up and noted that without a doubt, it was indeed Zidane. Sobbing uncontrollably she buried her head into his shoulder, and Zidane just silently stroked her hair. Gently he rocked her until her tears stopped.

'Mikoto,' his soft voice said into her ear, 'We worked so long and so hard to protect Gaia. I'm not asking you to live forever miserably. But there has got to be another way. There has to be a way out, a loophole. You're smarter than you think, you can figure it out. But whatever it is, protect the planet at all costs. You now know what it is to love, and to want to protect that love. Protect the world for your descendants, my descendants. We aren't going to let Garland win! Not after fighting him this long!'

Zidane was so impassioned as he spoke. 'I promised you I won't let him win…' she sniffed.

'I know. But even if you can't, I just want you to know that I won't hold it against you. It's unfair for me to expect so much of you.'

Ever so gently, Zidane dried her eyes with one of his gloved hands and smiled reassuringly.

'Mikoto…' someone said from behind her.

Not wanting to look away from Zidane, she turned to see Ryuu. He was standing there, looking around confusedly. When they met eyes he smiled at her. 'What it all comes down to is…you need to chose your own path.'

Smiling sadly, Ryuu grabbed her by the shoulders and led her back to the intersection. 'But…' tears collected in her eyes once again, 'I don't want to make this decision alone!'

'It's your life, it's your ultimate decision.'

Almost blinded by her tears, Mikoto reached out to touch Ryuu, but he disappeared into a blinding flash of light. She looked at the three caves, and slowly the three figures immerged from each cave.

'It's inevitable…'

'…want you to be happy…'

'Don't let him win…'

'I don't want to make the decision!' she cried, collapsing in the intersection. 'I don't want to have to make it! Don't tell me that!'

By the time Mikoto awoke, she had an awful headache and was amazed to see Kashiya's familiar figure hovering over her. "She lives," she smiled. "I was starting to worry. You were crying in your sleep, but you wouldn't wake up. Either you're a heavy sleeper, or you were comatose."

"Kashiya…what happened?" Mikoto asked, grasping her hair and pulling it back.

"I can't say I know exactly. Ryuu said that one of the moogles came to get him at work because you passed out. Seth and I got here about ten minutes after he found you passed out in the basement."

"What?"

"You fainted while you were cleaning the basement according to Ryuu. Mik, you know you don't have to clean for us. Don't strain yourself, especially if you aren't feeling good."

"Why am I all wet?"

"Well, like I said, you were crying and sweating like crazy in your sleep, not to mention you passed out in about a centimeter of water."

Clutching her head, Mikoto tried to stand up. She felt a little wobbly, but with Kashiya's added help managed to stand. "I need something to eat," the Genome finally said.

Kashiya laughed. "Now there's the Mikoto we know and love!"

"Where'd Ryuu and Seth go anyway?"

They just left not too long before you woke up. Ryuu went to show him the building he's working on or something like that.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Well…it's almost seven…"

"FIVE HOURS?" Mikoto sputtered.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Come on! Let's go make the boys some dinner!"

Mikoto nodded, "Y-yeah…okay, just let me get cleaned up."

Kashiya ran down the stairs. "Okay, I'll scrounge and start on something!"

The Genome showered very quickly and put on some comfortable clothes. I don't think I'll be going to back down into the basement anytime soon, she thought to herself. When she had gotten all cleaned up, she ran down the spiral staircase and found Kashiya busy in the kitchen.

"What'd you find?" Mikoto smiled as she peered over Kashiya's shoulder.

"Chicken, potatoes and salad," the medic replied, surely enough she was busy mashing potatoes.

"And the chicken is already in the oven?" Mikoto said upon turning on the oven light. "You're really on top of things!"

"Come on, you can help me cut up veggies for the salad," Kashiya said pulling out two knives and a head of lettuce, some tomatoes, cucumbers, and green onions. "Do you have a cutting board?"

"Yeah, somewhere." Mikoto dug around in one of the kitchen drawers and finally brandished a cutting board.

Kashiya began cutting up the tomatoes in silence, all the while thinking to herself. Mikoto was either the luckiest girl ever, or something else. Kashiya had done research, quite a bit of research, and she had a few hunches. Something told her that there was something going on with Mikoto that the girl had no intention of ever telling the medic.

She survived a public burning, a severe motorcycle accident, not to mention she was extremely familiar with games and customs that were common two hundred years ago.

While all of these thoughts floated through Kashiya's head, she turned to look at the busy genome. "Mikoto, come here really quick, I want to give you something."

The blond turned from the stove to look at Kashiya. "What is it?" she asked, holding her hand out.

Quickly, so that she wouldn't lose her nerve, Kashiya picked up the knife and slit Mikoto's palm before the Genome could do so much as pull her hand out of the medic's grasp.

Mikoto immediately covered the open wound with a nearby washcloth. "Let me see it!" Kashiya demanded. Eyes full of confusion, Mikoto pulled away from Kashiya, the older woman however was not going to take that and instead reached across the counter and grabbed Mikoto's wrist. She forced the rag away from her palm and stared in amazement as the wound slowly, but surely, closed itself up. What little blood that was present resided on the rag. In utter disbelief, Kashiya threw the rag into the sink and slunk back to lean against the counter.

"Why would you do that?" Mikoto cried, feeling horribly betrayed.

"Okay, Mikoto," Kashiya said, looking at her with a new sense of knowledge. "Don't lie to me. Your brother was King Zidane of Alexandria about two hundred years ago. That's why you have a tail; you are a direct bloodline to the Alexandrian throne! Zidane married into the royal family by marrying the Princess Garnet til Alexandros 17th. He survived not only an airship wreck, but an assassination attempt. He was ultimately exiled from Alexandria in about his sixtieth year of rule by his own people because he still appeared to be a teenager. His own people thought he was a practitioner of black magic. His daughter, Amethyst assumed the throne after he was forced out of his country. No word was heard of him until about twenty years ago when his sister, who coincidentally looked just like a female version of him, brought his dead body to King Alexander for a proper burial."

"K-Kashiya! You're crazy!" Mikoto exclaimed.

"No! I'm not!" the medic yelled back. "I've suspected something like this all along, and now I know it to be true!" Kashiya dug around in her purse before displaying a newspaper clipping. Sure enough in the crumpled photo in the center, brown due to age, was Mikoto kneeling at Zidane's gravesite.

"Wh-Where'd you g-get that?" Mikoto stammered, trying to snatch it.

"The library," Kashiya answered simply.

Mikoto felt as if she could cry. "Ryuu already knows, Kash, please don't tell anyone. Zidane was thought a freak and a threat. I'm already considered a threat in Lindblum, and I won't get to go back until it's died down enough that it would be safe."

"I won't tell, but why'd you keep it from me? I thought we were good enough friends to be honest with each other."

"It's not something that would typically be accepted so easily."

"You're living in the middle of Treno! People are bound to notice!"

"I realize that. But we've already discussed it. We won't be staying here long. I have another house far away from any civilization. I just need an airship to get there."

"An airship huh?" Kashiya smiled and wrapped an arm around the Genome's neck. "There we can help you."

A/N: That's all folks!