Me: And here it is! Part/Chapter Thirty-four!

April: Yup! And you now have over 4090 hits! –Applauds-

To Understand: Part Thirty-four

Kaleidoscope

By Harmony283

Reviews:

Alaia Skyhawk-Yup, it's an evil version of Martel (I've actually got a pic of her up on dA--it's my home page--if you wanna know what she looks like) and is it bad? Hmm…I wonder…well anyways, here's the next chapter so enjoy:D

Azure-chan/Hiranieas-Yes Neo does look like Martel—there are some differences though—but as for if Mithos and Genis know it or not, well, you're right they don't know. Now then here's the next chapter so…enjoy!

Takokinoko- I'm glad you liked the 'trap' idea, I kinda came up with it from stuff running around inside my head (which is where most of my ideas come from for this fanfic) but yeah, I'm actually surprised it turned out okay (I went back and re-read the chapter). As for if Aprils' mom is dead or not, well, I actually based what happened to her kind of on what happened to Igaguri. So Aprils' mom is more of in a coma, and she still has on the exsphere/Cruxis crystal Pronyma gave her 300+ years ago. And yeah, Neo does look a lot like Martel (her hair color's darker though). And thanks for the good luck! I'm almost done with the project (I did most of it on Sunday and some of it Monday and yesterday--todays Wednsday) but yeah, thanks! And don't worry about how long it takes for the 'present' to get done…I'm just happen that you're making something for me! And here's the next chapter so enjoy:D

DraNKa-Yeah there's gonna be a lot of action in the next few chapters. But don't worry! Just wait till they get to Exire and then there'll be some fluff! Oh yes, and there's also going to be an awkward scene coming up soon involving Raine and Mithos…-snicker/cough-Anyways…here's the next chapter--Enjoy!

April: That's an interesting title.

Me: Yeah, I got the idea for the title from those kaleidoscopes people usually sell at county fairs and stuff. I never bought one but the glass inside makes it look all pretty and everything.

April: So first our trap has to do with frosted glass and now it has to do something with a kaleidoscope?

Me: Yup! In case you haven't noticed there's a theme of mirrors and glass used throughout this fanfic…and, well, I just wanted your trap to have something to do with glass since Sheena and Colettes trap had to deal with a mirror.

April: Oh…I see. But still, dragging my mother into this…? What are you planning?

Me: You'll just have to find out for yourself!

April: -sigh-okay then, I won't ask. And now I'll do the disclaimer: Harmony283 doesn't own ToS! Namco does! She also has never owned a kaleidoscope but she has looked at one before…so yeah. But she does own me, Feral, any OC's, and the Plot! So please don't use us without permission.

Me: That was a longer disclaimer than normal…

April: Yeah…it is. But I just felt like talking today -smiles-

Authors Note: -sweatdrop- uh, okay…? -cough- well then, putting that aside, in this chapter, like the last one, it'll start off with the trap April and Raine are stuck in. Only this time it'll be in Raine's POV. Then, also like last chapter, it'll go back to what Mithos, Genis, and Neo are doing.

April: …that about says it all. But where did you get the idea of making Neo Martels alter persona?

Me: …actually I don't know. Eh, heh, heh, I just noticed that she looked similar to her (or at least in my mind she looks similar) and thought 'hey if Martel's good in Tethe'alla/Sylvarant then wouldn't she be bad if she were in this world?' and…it just took off from there.

April: So you didn't intend for Neo to look anything like Martel but she did?

Me: Yeah. That basically sums it up.

-----------------------------------------

Raines POV

I groaned and sat up.

For the love of the goddess I felt horrible. I shook my head from side to side, trying—to no avail—to get this horrible migraine to go away.

Actually, I think I'm making it worse.

I sighed then, straightening up so that I was now in a sitting position. I shivered lightly, covering my bare shoulders. Now I wished I had my old outfit on.

But why was it so cold?

I looked around me.

I was in a glass dome looking thing. But…the glass was shifting, or at least, the colors in the glass were shifting, like ripples on the calm surface of a pond.

Just then I saw an image flash across the glass, along with the colors.

But it faded just as quickly

I rubbed my eyes and crawled closer to the dome.

I placed a hand tentatively onto the glass, but just as I did that, pain surged through my hand and I jerked it away.

"Wha…?" I looked down at my hand, and at the burn that had formed on the pale skin.

I looked back up again, watching the glass to see if I saw another image.

And I did.

This one was…one of Genis and it was blue in color.

But he looked younger…and he was crying.

Then, just like that, it was gone.

But it made me feel bad.

Was I the one who caused Genis to cry? I couldn't remember but this feeling…told me that I had.

I remembered the first few times I had gotten mad at him I had whacked him on the head and he had cried.

But that was back when he was 7 years old.

Back when we first arrived in Iselia.

I shook my head once more, and turned my gaze back to the glass, it was like a kaleidoscope almost.

But except for showing the different patterns it showed different images.

Another image, this one along with the color red, was one of…was that man…my father?

And who was that young girl with him? She looked to be around twelve years old.

And she was yelling at him…it looked like they were in Ymir Forest.

But why?

And that girl…looked so disturbingly like Genis--but she wasn't.

And, just like the last time, the image disappeared.

"Wha…What's going on…here?" I whispered, finally getting the courage to stand up and look around the room.

Of course there was this glass dome ceiling, and then the floor…either it was clear or…

No.

How can we be suspended in mid air?

Well, this was a trap.

Hmmm, fascinating! Did Magitechnology help in this creation? Or was it by some other form of magic?

The archeologist side of me told me to stay and conduct more research, but the sane part of my mind--or rather, the normal side of my mind--told me that I had to find a way to get out of here.

It wasn't only because of my well being--since I felt myself weakening due to the loss of blood from that wound Pronyma had inflicted, but also because of Genis and my fear for his safety.

Yes I knew that Mithos was probably already where he was, and that he had probably already taken care of Pronyma…but he did used to be our enemy.

But Sheena had told me to trust him in that letter she sent.

And Lloyd and the others had said that it was fine. Or at least they seemed fine with it. So I guess I should be too.

I sighed softly to myself, "This isn't going to get me anywhere--especially when I need to find the exit to this…thing." I shuddered at the thought of what might happen to me if I stayed in here too long.

Then I just had to wonder what everyone else was up to.

Well, whatever it was, I hoped they were okay.

I shook my head and turned away from the images in the glass surface, facing the rest of the seemingly endless trap.

How far did this really go?

Or did I really want to know?

"Well, as long as I find an exit I know I'll be--"

Suddenly the air rippled, seeming to tear apart for a split second.

Then it closed back up.

"Raine! I finally found you!" A familiar voice cried out.

Before I had even the time to blink I was tackled to the floor.

"Ack--April?" I looked down at my childhood friend, who was currently latched, around my waist.

"Oh my…are you okay? April, I think you should get up." A woman with green hair and purple eyes smiled at me.

Wait…she…did I know her?

"You're--?"

"Yup, she's my mother." April said, looking up at me happily.

Though she did have tears in her eyes.

"What…? But I thought--"

"That I was dead?" Aprils mother asked, walking over to me, looking sad as well.

"Truth be told, I'm not too sure myself. Pronyma told me that I'm alive--in a sense. But it's been so long now that I can hardly remember."

"I see." I studied the woman in front of me for a few moments.

The first thing that I became aware of, though, was the fact that she was fading, like a hologram.

Hmm…now I had to wonder…

"Do you have an Exsphere?"

------------------------------

Genis' POV

I watched Mithos' face turn from hatred

To confusion.

And finally to shock.

Now I had to wonder what was going on in his mind.

"M-Mithos…?"

He snapped out of whatever thoughts he had been caught in and turned to face me.

"Yes, Genis?" He sounded so formal and yet…somewhat scared--no scared wasn't the right word for it.

Maybe startled, or, well, shocked.

But what could he have been thinking of?

"Mithos…? What's wrong?"

"It's Neo."

"What about her?"

"She reminds me of--"

A flash of silver caught my eye, "Wha--?"

Then I felt the cool metal of a blade against my throat.

"Ah--?"

"Now, now, I believe you two have talked long enough." I felt the cool metal dig into my throat.

But it didn't hurt.

Of course it wouldn't! For one we were in a dream, and two, well, I was probably not even born yet!

And I don't live in Reti'thera anyway…

She noticed that I didn't flinch and I felt her move away.

I watched, still in the paralyzed state I arrived in, as Neo made her way over to Mithos.

"I wonder, will you flinch?" She asked almost in a joyful tone, like a child asking the always-asked question of 'why'.

Mithos glared at her, "And why would you want to know?" His voice was even, showing no signs of the shock and scared look he had worn on his face a few seconds prior.

"Because it seems your friend here," she motioned to me with the hilt of her sword, "Can't move. Pity really, I actually like you."

Mithos just stared at her, "So? Your point is?"

Another flash of silver and the blade was pointed at his neck.

"My point is this--" She swung the sword and, just like last time, it seemed to be just a blur of silver.

Yet again I heard Mithos cry out in surprise.

But this time instead of appearing--he disappeared.

"Mithos!"

--------------------------

Aprils POV

I watched as my mothers face turned from confused to knowing as she removed the cloth band she wore around her left hand.

"You mean this?"

I gasped at what I saw there. It was indeed a Cruxis Crystal--whitish blue in color. But…it seemed…strange almost.

Or maybe it was the key crest that it was on.

Raine nodded her head, "I see. You have a Cruxis Crystal. That must be…from the project."

"Yes it is. I still have it. Pronyma told me, right before she took me here, that if I took it off now, I would die."

Raine nodded her head again, "Yes that's true. Your…key crest--which is what your Cruxis Crystal is on--needs to be replaced by a normal one, so that we can remove it without you having any…side effects."

She paused a moment, looking warily at my mother.

"By the way, do you know what happened to you?"

What?

"What?"

"I mean, I just explained that we needed to remove your Cruxis Crystal--but do you know why?"

"Well I'm assuming it would help in some way…? And it also hurts sometimes, when I'm like this for too long."

I watched as Raines stormy blue eyes glazed over in deep thought, obviously contemplating on how she was going to voice her next choice of words.

"Well yes I suppose it would hurt in the form you're in now."

What was she talking about? Is something wrong with--

"What are you talking about? Mother…is normal isn't she? She's alive right?"

Raine turned to me and smiled, "Yes your mother is alive. But right now she," She turned to face mother, "You are in a coma."

"C-Coma…?"

"But how is that possible? How can she be standing right in front of us when she's in a coma?" I gripped Raines arm, staring up at her.

I had been confused when she was asking mother those questions, but now I really was confused.

Raine sighed, "It's because that's one of the effects of the exsphere."

"Huh?"

"It helps elongate the time one can stray from their body."

"That's…I don't think that's helping any…"

Good, at least mom was just as confused as I was.

Raine sighed yet again, though this time she had a smirk on her face, "I mean that you can stray from your unconscious body for a longer while than you ever could had you not had a Cruxis Crystal--an Exsphere."

So, wait, so mom basically was asleep somewhere--like she told me earlier--but her Cruxis Crystal made it so that she could leave her body on a whim? That still doesn't explain why she's here besides the fact that she said she wanted to see us.

"I-I see. So that's why I can move around so freely even though my actual real body is asleep right now."

Raine nodded her head, "Yes, but it's not healthy to stay like this. You need to get back to your body as soon as possible." She seemed worried as she said this.

"I--well, I suppose I should be getting back, but as you can probably see for yourself, you're stuck in this…trap. I want to help you find a way out so that you don't have to worry about waiting for your friends."

"Our friends…? Oh! How are they anyway? Do you know if they've found everyone--well except for us of course--yet?"

Mother shook her head, "No I don't. Pronyma told me that I could come here to meet you two she never said anything about what your friends were doing."

Raines face fell, "I understand. So that means you don't know if they've found Genis yet."

"I doubt they have. From what Pronyma told me--I think it was before you came here because she was talking about traps and things--it sounded like he's here, in Venheim."

"We're in Venheim--Mithos' castle?"

"Yes."

"But how? Everyone else is in Derris Kharlan! They won't know where to look!"

I watched as my mothers' face saddened, "You're right on the fact that they might not know where to look. This room that we're in, this trap, hangs suspended, though not seen, over the outer balcony of this castle."

I gulped nervously, "So if we fall we--"

"You will most likely not fall, but if you do you will land either on a small passage way with a teleporter on each end that goes to the lower level of Venheim. Or you fall onto the actual balcony where you have to walk down the stairs to reach the same destination."

"And the lower level of Venheim contains the warp ring that leads to Derris Kharlan?"

"Yes. Or at least that's what I…overheard Pronyma saying."

Raine sighed for the third time, though this time she seemed relieved. She really must be worried about Genis.

I mean, Sheena sent her a letter saying the Mithos had gone after Pronyma to get Genis back and not to worry.

But how can she not worry?

Genis is her younger brother! Of course she'd be worried. Not to mention the fact that Mithos—up until recently—used to be their enemy.

But right now it seems that Pronyma…my half sister…is their main target.

And it still hurt.

Yes it was true that I didn't get to know her that well, but when I did get to know her she was kind.

"April?"

I snapped away from my thoughts, looking back at Raine and my mother, who both seemed worried, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just, um, we should be getting out of here, right?"

Raine gave me a questioning glance, but nodded her head. She then turned to my mother, "You said that you knew a way out…ah..."

"You may call me Rachel." (1)

"Rachel, then. You said you knew where the exit was?"

"Yes. I think all we have to do is…well…oh…what is—?" she lifted a finger and pointed to the glass behind us. I turned around and gasped as well.

There, on the surface of the glass, was an image.

Or should I say an image in a color.

The color was purple and the…wait, was that Lloyd? Where were they?

The scene then backed up, showing us a kind of overview.

It looked like he had found everyone else.

But now they were standing in front of a teleport ring that had a glowing beam coming from it.

And they were arguing.

Well, at least Zelos and Sheena were.

Colette was crying, Presea was trying to comfort her, and Regal looked sick.

Lloyd and Kratos just stood off to the side, watching the exchange, Lloyd looked worried while his father looked annoyed.

Then the image disappeared.

"Who…?"

"Those are our friends. You know, the ones I said I came here with?"

Rachel nodded her head in understanding, a smile gracing her lips, "I would like to meet them too. But like I was saying, I think the way we get out of here is, as you saw from that example there, that this glass can show images along with colors—kind of like a Kaleidoscope,"

"Yes I can see that."

"Well I'm assuming all we have to do is try to convey a message that we want to go to where your friends are."

"And how do we do that? I mean, it sounds like a good idea an' all but…"

"I'm guessing all you have to do is touch the glass." Rachel walked forward to study the glass. She then reached a tentative hand out to touch the surface.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" both Raine and say in unison.

"Why not?"

"It'll burn you."

"Yes, there's…some type of barrier…"

"Oh…well, maybe it'll work with me since you said that I'm, well, that this is my…uh…unconscious form…?"

"Your astrobody."

"Okay then, this is my astrobody, so I should be able to go through the barrier, right?"

"Well yes, ones astrobody resembles a ghost so…"

"Good." She then proceeded once more, in the same careful manner, to reach through the invisible barrier.

----------------------------------

Lloyds POV

"So this is…what we need, right?" I asked, holding up a key.

"Yes, that is the key to Mithos' castle—to Venheim."

"Wow, Mithos sure does like to hide things in overly obvious places…" Zelos muttered.

Kratos glared at him and he audibly gulped, "Not that that's a bad thing or anything! I mean it was protected by the Derris Emblem right?"

"Yes it was. Now I suggest you hold your tongue." Then Kratos smirked, "Or didn't I already tell you to do that?"

Zelos gulped again, stepping back away from Kratos, who now had his hand on the hilt of his blade.

"Uh…" Well this certainly wasn't going to be good if they got violent.

"Well it's not like you to listen to people anyway." Sheena commented, folding her arms across her chest with a smug look on her face.

Zelos turned around to face her, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean anyway?"

"Um…"

"Please…don't fight! It's not good to fight!" Colette said from her position next to Presea, who seemed worried about something.

"But it's true!"

"So? So what if it's true? You don't like listening to people either."

"Well at least I show people more respect than you do! You flirt with women every chance you get!"

"Um…"

"Well that's just the way I am, and you should know that by now."

"It wouldn't hurt you to change though, would it?" Sheena muttered, looking away with a slightly pained expression on her face, "Stupid Chosen."

"What was that?"

"Colette…is right. We must stop this internal conflict." Presea stated in her usual, emotionless tone, "We have to find Professor Sage and April remember?"

"I know that…but…ah, whatever." Sheena shrugged and then sighed, "Let's just go."

"Yes, let's." Kratos walked over to me, taking the key from my hands, before walking over to the base of the teleport pad and placing the key into a small hole, turning it and releasing some sort of mechanism, causing the teleport ring to start glowing.

I watched in amazement as a white beam shot up to the ceiling, "So this really does lead to Venheim, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does, now let's go." Kratos stated, this time his tone showing worry.

But why would he be worried?

What was there to worry about?

Or…could it be that…that Genis really might be in trouble? Or that Mithos really could hold himself up against Pronyma?

No, that couldn't be true! He was much stronger than her, heck, she's probably already dead!

But what if she isn't?

----------------------------------------------------

(1)—The reason I chose 'Rachel' for April and Pronymas mothers' name is because it's my older—and only—sisters name. She also acts like her, but you won't really see the resemblance (or at least I don't see it yet) until a later chapter (when she meets with Pronyma—which will probably be in the next chapter).

Me: there it is, Part/Chapter Thirty-four!

April: Yes! And you've completed your goal of getting exactly 300 pages! –claps-

Me: Yup! I've got three hundred pages now! Wow…that's as much as I'm supposed to read for an independent reading book (for English) in a nine weeks.

April: Really? Wait, don't you have to do another project on it this weekend?

Me: Yeah, originally it was due Thursday, but our teacher changed it to Friday—but we don't go to school on Friday, and she won't be here Monday, and on Tuesday we have something else to do (I can't remember what) so it's due on Wednesday! Yay!

April: Well that's good!

Me: Yeah! But, uh, I probably might not update this weekend (or I might…it depends). But that's beside the point! R&R and it'll make me want to do the next chapter even more:D