Alphen had died.
He knew that. He'd lived out a good, happy life.
But something even greater than Chronos wanted his friends and him, and for what, he didn't know.
"What happens now?"
Chronos took a step forward, the clock behind him spinning rapidly. The numbers etched upon each sphere glowing with a reality-bending light.
"Now…" Chronos raised a hand at them, a beam of light building within his palm, "…you start over."
Time-Travel Fix-It AU
AN: Lemme know any spelling or grammar mistakes and I'll get around to fixing them.
Chronostasis - Chapter 1
"Uh… Hello?" Alphen couldn't help but questioningly say to the one being he really hadn't wanted to see again in a place he really hadn't wanted to be in.
Chronos look down at him dispassionately, a glimmer of malevolence or perhaps something closer to annoyance in its Primordial eyes.
"The only reason I have not erased all of you from the flow of time is because you have so far kept your word," Chronos uttered imperiously. "That can be changed."
"Nonono… I mean- wait…" Alphen began, worriedly waving his hands in front of him before his mind caught up to the words of the Primordial spirit of time and space, "…all of you?"
Silver eyes whipped and took in the form of his dearest friends.
Friends who all looked suspiciously younger, and some of whom he was pretty sure had passed away some years ago.
"Alphen… i-is that you?" a familiar voice resounded. Young, feminine, hesitant, hopeful, and most of all familiar.
"Shio-" Alphen's eyes landed on a certain pink-haired woman "-nne?" he trailed off as he took in the sight of a woman, he hadn't seen in well over forty years. His own wife looking the same age as when they'd gotten married and looking at him with the same confusion he felt while he looked at her.
"You… look younger?" Alphen said lamely as he processed what he was seeing. "Shionne, is that you?" he couldn't help but ask.
"I look young? Alphen, have you seen yourself?" Shionne rushed over, soft hands touching him gently all over before finally cupping his cheeks between them. Alphen leant into the familiar warmth as he grasped her hands, for some reason a small sense of loss and nostalgia filling his heart.
He shook his head, looking deep into her eyes.
And recoiled as he saw the faint reflection of himself in her bright azure orbs.
"What the hell?!" Alphen groped at his own face, gloved hand feeling the lack of time-worn leathered skin, wrinkles, and general signs of old-age. Never mind Shionne, the reflection of himself he'd seen in Shionne's eyes was the same as he had been when they'd gotten married.
He looked down, finally taking in the clothes they were wearing. Familiar white cloth accented by red, gold, and blue looked back at him from his own body. White pauldrons and greaves adorned his feet and shoulders while the familiar comforting weight of a sword sat across the length of his back. He was clad in the Gahm Arthalys, armored clothing for the Spirit Channeling Ceremony that he was pretty sure was meant to be gathering dust in a closet with the rest of his and Shionne's gear.
He didn't only look younger, he felt younger.
He no longer felt the aches that had developed from years of sword-fighting and exploring the new land of the fused twin planets and Lenegis. The aches that developed from injuries gained from fighting Zeugles, Lords, Great Astral Spirits, Primordial Spirits, Power-Crazed Sovereigns, and Phantom Memories. Alphen shook his head and focused on the here and now.
He looked at Shionne and took her in. She no longer looked as he remembered, aged with warmth, blue eyes filled with content and pink-gray hair tied in a braid as they lived together in their home in Ganath Haros. Instead, she wore the L'Aze Phiarquis, the Maiden counterpart of the Sovereign's Gahm Arthalys.
A cream-white dress with a shining blue hem that connected to her neck via a white choker. Dark blue svelte gloves covering her arms and boot-stockings of the same material snug against her legs reaching all the way to her thighs. Two glowing feather-pieces, one as a should-guard and the other used as a headpiece for her light-pink hair free of greying. Two azure blue eyes looked at him between pink bangs with worry and love.
"Uh… I really hate to be the guy to break up the reunion but… can someone fill me in on what's going on, cause I'm pretty sure I'm meant to be dead," a young male voice asked, Alphen and Shionne separating to look over at a purple-haired youth, Law.
"Law… is that really you?" Shionne asked shakily, a dainty hand reaching out ever-so hesitantly.
Alphen couldn't believe his eyes.
Law was alive.
Considering everyone sans Dohalim had gathered together to cremate Law's corpse in Calaglia to reunite him with his mother and father, to see him standing in front of them was startling.
"I mean… I think so?" Law said questioningly, giving himself a once over, "Uh, is it just me or are all of us younger? Cause I remember being heck of a lot older when I finally kicked it."
"I cannot say for everyone else, however, to me you each look just as a last saw you. Which reminds me, why, pray tell have we returned to the rift between time and space?" Law's youthful sixteen-year-old face, a sight strange to see since the last time Alphen had seen Law, he'd been in his early thirties being burnt away into ashes by the Blazing Sword, looked around before landing on the ex-lord of Elde Menancia that had failed to attend his funeral.
In true Law-fashion, he visibly recoiled. "Gah! Dohalim, you're alive?!"
"Am I not meant to be? I'm in perfectly fine health," the red-haired Renan gave Law a strange look, "I was eating a new exotic spiked fish being served in Thistlym before finding myself here."
"Do…" Kisara's shaky voice left her throat as she slowly walked up, a mailed hand reaching out clasp the Renan's shoulder in a firm almost-reprimanding grip. "Dohalim…. That was over thirty years ago. You died consuming an improperly prepared pufferfish."
Dohalim looked at Kisara silently, a moment of silence stretching between them. "I see… that's a shame. Next time, I'll see to it that this 'pufferfish' is prepared properly," Dohalim mused, a hand stroking his chin thoughtfully, "Perhaps you can assist with preparations Kisara?"
Alphen and Law gaped at Dohalim. "Well… damn, guy doesn't even care that he died…" Law muttered in shock, Alphen nodding beside him.
"That's Dohalim for you at least..." Alphen muttered with a wry grin, shaking his head still trying to take in the fact everyone was somehow all in one-place, alive.
The sound of sniffling drew everyone's attention to the last member of the sextet.
Rinwell looked at the five of them, now looking just like the fourteen-year-old she had once been when they first started their journey, tears glistening in her eyes as she visibly tried to hold in tears while she glared at Law.
"Uh, Rinwell?" Law asked hesitantly, backing away from girl who was moving from a standstill to a trembling step and progressing to a full-blown sprint at the young male.
Rinwell lunged.
Law reflexively opened his arms to catch her. He failed, however, to take into account that a young girl moving at a sufficient speed would be more than enough to topple him to the ground. "Hurk!" Law grunted in pain as he hit the ground, Rinwell sprawled atop him sobbing.
"You absolute idiot!" Rinwell wailed into his shoulder, "You promised you'd come back! You promised…"
Law froze.
Then, hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Rinwell.
"I'm back…" he whispered hoarsely, throat clenching as he realized he must have been dead for a long, long time. Dohalim gave off that feeling as if he wasn't aware how much time has truly passed between him and his death, much less the fact that he'd died. Law, on the other hand, knew he'd died.
The fact that Alphen and Shionne had asked if it was really him was what nailed it in.
He'd died
He'd died, and he'd broken the promise he'd made to Rinwell and Hootle to come home.
"…I don't know how long it's been, Rinwell, but I'm back."
Slowly the sobbing came to a stop, as the young girl quieted down atop him.
Rinwell sat back up on his stomach, tears still streaming down her face but a wobbly smile and hopeful eyes looking down at him. "I've been waiting thirty-six years to hear you say that…" Rinwell sniffled with a smile.
Alphen, Shionne and Kisara smiled at the heartwarming scene. Behind them Dohalim look at the two with a curious gleam in his eyes.
"Wait…" Law's brow scrunched up as he looked at Rinwell before his eyes shot open and his jaw dropped, "Holy crap, you got old."
Alphen, Shionne, and Kisara grimaced as Rinwell shook with ill-concealed fury.
"HOOTLE!"
"What the-?! The little feather-ball's still alive?!" Law gasped, miming pain as the tiny snow owl pecked at him.
Law stopped his fun just as everyone did as well, all to stare at Hootle.
Dahnan Owl's were long-lived creatures capable of living at least a hundred years. The most unique aspect of them is that they absorb the astral energy of whatever place they visit during their formative years, and their plumage uses that astral energy to change colors. Hootle, due to the group's adventures in fighting lords around Dahna, and even the great Astral Spirit on Rena, had absorbed equal amounts each elements Astral Energy. His plumage had gained majestic shades of red, green, blue, yellow, white, and purple to reflect the elements.
Except now, he was back to white and looked the exact same when they'd first started their journey.
"Okay… what's going on guys, seriously," Law asked as he stood up, Rinwell clambering off his stomach as everyone slowly realized the severity of the situation. All of them had had regressed in age, some having even been bought back to life.
"I'm not sure…" Alphen admitted, everyone looking at him, "The last thing I remember is… well I'm pretty sure I died as well."
Shionne looked at Alphen before nodding in confirmation. "Your heart stopped beating. I woke up one morning and you were still and cold… the doctors said you died of old age," Shionne explained, hands wringing together subconsciously but stopped when Alphen grabbed them and squeezed comfortingly. She gave him a small but dazzling smile before looking back at everyone else.
"That was a year ago for me."
"I see…" Dohalim nodded. "So that would mean I was the first of us to perish, unsightly might I add, in my case."
"No kidding," Law murmured which earned him a sharp elbow to the rib and an eye roll from Dohalim and Kisara.
"As I was saying," Dohalim continued, "I was the first to perish, and from my assumptions followed, by Law, Alphen, Shionne, then Rinwell… however, what occurred to you, Kisara?"
Everyone looked at the armor-clad woman who looked at them all before giving out a quiet sigh. "I also died of old age… the life expectancy of a Dahnan is not particularly long, even with the merging. I remember there last being maybe three years since Alphen passed and two when Shionne did as well." Kisara explained solemnly.
"I see… so we all perished… and now we are all here in the rift between time and space, looking the very same as we did all those years ago when we first gathered the six keys." Dohalim gathered before looking at Chronos, "The only question is why?"
Everyone looked at Chronos.
Chronos stared back impassively.
Alphen took a step forward in the face of the Primordial spirit.
"Were you the one who brought us here? Brought us back from the dead? Turned back the clock?"
…
…
"You humans ask too many questions."
…
…
Chronos stopped for a moment, head tilting ever so slightly as he seemed to listen to something only he could hear. "Not willingly," the Primordial relented, almost as if he were being pressured into answering. The group looked at him taken aback, wondering what in the world could force a Primordial ruler to unwillingly bring them here, bring them all back to life, and turn back their age.
Chronos stared at them impassively. "Maxwell, Origin, and I, Chronos, are Primordial Spirits with control over the very essence of reality…" Chronos' otherworldly eyes stared through them. "The ones who created reality brought you here. The ones that created us Primordial Spirits. They are the ones who brought you back."
Alphen recoiled along with everyone else.
"There's something greater than you?" Dohalim's voice wavered the slightest bit in shock but he powered through to ask his question.
"Yes."
Dohalim looked at everyone, a tension settling on everyone's shoulders. "Why were we brought back? Why here? Why as we are?"
Chronos stared through them.
"I do not know. I do not ask. I do."
"But…" Dohalim stared, and even though he risked sounding repetitive, he and the other had to know. "…why?"
Chronos looked at them. "They can wipe reality clean and start over. For them, reality is but a page to rip out or to write on."
"That is why."
A moment of silence swept through the dimension, everyone processing the information that there were being even greater than Chronos, the sheer difference seemed unfathomable.
Dohalim looked at Alphen before nodding, Alphen nodding back.
The white-haired man looked at Chronos. He had so many questions to ask, but he could feel the pressure settling on their shoulders become stifling, the very essence of Chronos bearing down at them. They may have beaten Chronos once but Alphen wasn't so sure they could do it a second time.
In the end, he decided on a single question.
"What happens now?"
Chronos took a step forward, the clock behind him spinning rapidly. The numbers etched upon each sphere glowing with a reality-bending light.
"Now…" Chronos raised a hand at them, a beam of light building within his palm, "…you start over."
The hymn of desperation resounded through the air as steel met hardened gold, and astral energy built up within a room of marble.
Dohalim opened his eyes to see a familiar Pulque Shaft belonging to the family of il Qaras pierce his best friend's chest. His throat constricted, this very nightmare that plagued his every waking moment during his reign of Elde Menancia replaying again once more right in front of him.
This very moment was seared into his brain, every feeling within the marble walls forever ingrained into him. The feel of the Pulque Shaft of il Qaras settling within his hands before screaming out in rage, grieving at the death of his friend, and the way Fahria would rush over to him unaware of the way Tarnigen would continue to fight even after the victor had been decided, aiming to stab him straight the chest with zero remorse.
The hymn of desperation changed into a song of grief and rage.
Dexterous hands twirled the Pulque Shaft of il Qaras as its golden from smashed through the marble floor and erecting itself in a sign of victory.
"I am Dohalim il Qaras, heir to House il Qaras. I, who have won the right to become Lord, do so," the words of victory for those who become have gained the right to become a Crown Contest Lord left his lips just as it was seared into his memory. "I claim the land of Elde Menancia. I claim the position of Lord of Earth, so I swear upon the House of il Qaras."
He moved forward, failing to scream unlike as it had been ingrained into his memory.
He stood over Fahria, even as she screamed at him in grief, cradling the cooling corpse of her fiancée.
The weaponry he used in the fight against the Great Astral Spirit, Chronos, and even his fellow Lords sat within this astral space, waiting to be called.
So unlike what had been ingrained into his memory.
Dohalim could feel the last embers of life within Tarnigen fade away.
"From beyond, imbue this vanquished soul with light," the intonation of resurrection left his lips even as Fahria's screams turned into ragged gasps of awe and confused grief.
An astral arte to bring back the recently deceased of those fallen in combat worked it's way into Tarnigen, brining him back from death's embrace. The embers of life roared into an inferno as Tarnigen lurched up in surprise, sputtering in astonishment at his new lease on life. In a rare moment of stunned reflex, a near catatonic Dohalim's fist slammed into Tarnigen's nose, breaking the soft cartilage beneath his knuckles.
Tarnigen recoiled in pain and surprise while Fahria yelped in confusion, already beginning to fret over him yet unable to help due to her lack of skills in astral artes.
"That was punishment for continuing to attack the match was called," Dohalim hollowly uttered before standing back up, retrieving his Pulque Shaft, and leaving the marble combat rooms that held the fights between contenders of the Crown Contest.
He ignored Tarnigen's spluttering and Fahria's shouts, only stopping after a couple minutes of walking down the hallways aimlessly before looking up at the bright white ceiling lights that were so very common throughout Lenegis.
"What just happened?"
So… what the fuck is this? Time travel bitch, finished ToA, defeated both super bosses and now I have this fic idea which I have no idea where it's gonna go but I'm gonna make it work while fucking Canon over in the process. A main character might die, who knows, that tends to happen a lot in my fic ideas.
Don't expect updates, cause this is an Alt account that I made so I can enjoy making fics whenever I want instead of having people hound me for updates. Feel free to leave a comment tho, might answer, might not.
General gist of this is that everyone lived out their life following the events of the main-game, end-game, and post-game (including Chronos and Zephyr superboss fights), they're all level 100 with all weaponry and artes. They each die one way or another but return to the Vesperia Rift in their Canon ages. Don't get your hopes up though cause I'm already fucking with Canon, when the rest of the cast comes back some are going to be aged appropriately so it fights the timeline better. Only ones that will be Canon age is Kisara and Dohalim.
When everyone died:
Dohalim - 10 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Mid-40s
Law - 20 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Mid-30s
Alphen - 36 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Early-60s
Shionne - 37 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Early -60s
Kisara - 39 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Early 70s
Rinwell - 60 years after the events of Tales of Arise | Age: Mid-70s
Current Chapter – 7 1/2 years before start of Canon, 1/2 year before the start of the Crown Contest
Dohalim – Current Age: 22 years old