DISCLAIMER: This is a novelization-in-progress of the masterpiece Xenogears from SquareSoft. I do not own the content of this, save for maybe the way I described "how" something happened. All characters, speech, and storyline are exclusive property and copyrighted by SquareSoft.

The Mountain Path

Fei walked across the grassy plains as he headed towards the trail that would lead him up to Citan Uzuki's cottage. It was around noon, and the sun still shone brightly in the sky. Prairie dogs popped their heads out of random holes as Fei strolled towards the path. The terrain was starting to get a little hilly, so he knew that he was fast approaching. On the right he saw the tree that he, Alice, and Timothy had spent so many afternoons together, lazing underneath the comforting bows of the old shade tree. They had talked about a variety of things from ranging from life, death, love, and war. All of which, they knew nothing about, but spoke of anyway. The wedding tomorrow marked an end to those afternoons, as Alice and Timothy would be too "grown-up" to do such things anymore. Fei felt a light stab of grief at the thought. He wouldn't be allowed to just hang out with Alice anymore. It would be inappropriate. In all of this thinking, Fei almost didn't notice when he arrived at the fork in the path on the mountainside.

Fei stopped to look at a sign that he must've read a thousand times before. There were two arrows pointing to the left and right on it. The arrow to the right read: Walking course. Watch out for the cliffs! Meanwhile, the arrow of the left read: Doctor's house. ...Right after the bridge.

"Alright! Let's go" said Fei to himself. "Doc Uzuki's house is over the bridge and up to the north." He walked a little up the path and then surveyed ahead of him. The path itself was a twisted, crazy thing that overlapped itself. Up ahead he could see that some of the path had collapsed, and there was a boy standing there. Apparently he couldn't jump across. Poor guy. Fei couldn't do anything about it however. Further along the rope bridge was suspended over a wide chasm.

Fei continued along the worn, beaten path. On the way, he passed by a berry bush, and a nest with some eggs in it. He plucked a few berries from it, and stole an egg. The berries would make a nice, quick snack on the way to the Doc's house.

The rope bridge was an old, almost ancient thing. Fei never liked it when he was younger, and the resentment of the thing remained. It always creaked and swayed when he went across it, and it gave him the feeling that it was going to snap. Which, one time, it did. He, Alice, and Timothy were playing on it a few years ago when one of the supporting ropes that had been attached to the guide-on snapped, making the bridge list to a crazy angle. Alice had slipped and almost fallen off, had it not been for him and Timothy. Warily, he crossed it without incident.

He could see the Doc's house now. It was rather large for being a simple cottage nestled in a cove on the mountain. It had a large telescope sticking out of the uppermost floor, which Fei thought was kind of cool. He could spy on the village below if had really wanted to. In the back there was a large crab-looking contraption nestled over the roof of a shed. That was were Citan usually worked at, but since there was no noise emanating from it, Fei decided to go inside to check if he was with Yui. He walked up to Citan's front door and let himself in. Yui was in the kitchen cooking the dinner for that night. Her daughter, Midori, was hanging about in the corner coloring in a coloring book.

"Oh Fei, welcome" greeted Yui.

"Hello, Yui. Where's doc..."

"My husband is tinkering with his junk out in the backyard."

"I should have guessed! Doesn't he ever get sick of playing with that stuff! Well, okay then, I'll go out into the backyard and see if I can find him." Fei turned around to walk out the door when he remembered the egg he had snatched. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to Yui. "Oh, I nearly forgot! Yui, I found this on the mountain path...Please use it to make a tasty egg dish for doc and Midori."

Yui took the egg and examined it. She seemed satisfied with it. "Oh, what a nutritious looking egg! Thank you. I'll use it for dinner."

Fei nodded to her and tried to walk out the door when he saw Midori by herself. He walked up to her, and bent down to a knee. She looked up at him, but said nothing. "Hi, Midori. It's a nice day to play outside. How about we feed the birds later" Midori didn't say anything. She never talked that much, and Fei never could quite understand why.

Fei was on his way to the shed in the back when a glint caught his eye behind a nearby bush. He walked over to it and knelt down to examine it. It was Midori's ring. Apparently she had lost it. Fei picked it up and slipped it into his pocket. He could give it back to Midori later as a surprise. Fei got up, dusted off his pants and walked over to the door of the shed. He knocked on it and called out for Citan.

"Where are you, doc" he called.

There was no reply. Then all of a sudden a resounding explosion shook the frame of the shed, sending plumes of smoke out of the crevices in the structure.

Fei was taken aback. "W, what's going on" he asked himself.

"Ohhh! This is no good! Why do they use such inferior parts? This is why their intervention strat..." said a voice from somewhere over Fei's head. He looked up to see a man in green on top of the crab-looking contraption over the shed.

"Doc! So that's where you were"

Calmly the man turned around and looked down at Fei. His face was painted black with soot. He seemed glad to have company. "Oh, Fei! Good to see you" He called out.

"Are you alright, doc? What are you doing all the way up there"

Citan paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about how to say what he was doing. He finally came up with an answer he was happy with. "I thought I would try to restore this Land Crab. Oh, and that explosion was nothing to worry about. It happens all the time." He laughed. Apparently explosions amused him or something. "Could you wait a while? I am just about ready to call it a day. Oh, yes. There is something interesting in the storeroom... Why not take a look"

Fei nodded to him. Doc always had interesting things to show him, even if he didn't understand what they were. "Okay, doc, I will. But please hurry up. It will get dark before you know it." He walked inside the shed. It was dimly lit. Light seeped in through cracks in the walls, and you could see the dust in the air dance in it. A yellow box stood out in the center of the room, about twice Fei's height. Fei walked up to it and examined the outside. There were carvings on the surface in a design Fei had never seen before. Below it, there were symbols that seemed eerily familiar to him.

"So this is what doc was talking about. Let me see... What's so interesting about it..." He reached forward to touch the surface of the box when it started suddenly started rumbling. The gears attached to it in the back started rotating. Slowly the box started to open. Fei jumped back in surprise.

"Wow!"

The box opened fully. Encased inside of had been an angelic looking statue with a sun hovering over it. Slowly, it began to twirl. A strange song started to seep from the contraption. It was a strange tune that Fei felt he had heard before. It filled him with a feeling of euphoria. The dust that had been caught in the shafts of light seemed to grow brighter.

"W, what is this..." said Fei. The tune sounded so familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it for some reason. "This music...? I've heard it before somewhere..."

"What do you think? Not bad, huh?" said a voice from behind him. He turned around to look at Citan.

"Doc..." Fei began, but he couldn't think of what to say next.

"Hello again Fei. Sorry to have kept you waiting." Fei stepped aside as Citan walked up to the box and ran his fingers over the angel's face. Fei looked at it with him. "Music is a mysterious thing... Sometimes, it makes people remember things that they do not expect. Many thoughts, feelings, memories... things almost forgotten... Regardless of whether the listener desires to remember them or not..."

Fei broke from his trance long enough to ask"Doc, what is this..."

Citan answered him while still looking at the pirouetting angel. "It was excavated from some old ruins, and is still under repair. Obviously it is an audio device of some type." He looked briefly at the floor before continuing. "Long ago people would listen to this melody, just as we are doing now... At times they would have been cheered up... While at times they would have been made to cry."

Fei looked at Citan briefly before turning his attention back to the music box. There was something about it that seemed so familiar. Citan broke his trance again.

"By the way, what brings you here today"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Alice asked me to borrow some camera equipment from you."

"Oh yes. Her wedding is tomorrow, right..." Fei nodded to him. "Understood. Well, we had better get them ready then." Citan looked at the wall tapping his foot. He had remembered something. "Oh, and dinner should be ready soon. Would you like to join us"

This was exactly what Fei had been waiting for. "Would I ever! I was hoping you would ask."

"I still have some cleaning up to do out here. Would you mind giving Midori some company back in the house"

"Okay. Take your time, doc. I'll go ahead and eat when dinner is ready"

Citan laughed. "Go right ahead. But, I will not be held responsible if you get a stomachache from eating my wife Yui's cooking."

Fei turned to leave, but when he got to the doorway, he turned around and looked at the music box. Citan stopped what he was doing and looked at him.

"Doc... I feel strange when I listen to this music... I feel something warm inside..."

"That just may be because you have someone living inside of you... ...And he too must have liked this music a long time ago before he became a part of you..."

Fei didn't say anything more. He just turned and walked out. Citan looked at the ground, deep in thought.

"Is Timothy and Alice's wedding really tomorrow... It might actually be better to live an ordinary life, in this condition... As a son of man..." He looked up and composed himself. "Well, anyway. I suppose I had better adjust the gyro at least..."

Citan walked to a different part of the shed when he noticed something strange. He stopped what he was doing and looked at the music box. Slowly the music slowed down and then died. The box started to rumble and then suddenly the statue of the angel exploded into a million tiny fragments.

"Huh...? This cannot be... Is... Is this... an omen..." Citan cautiously approached the box to examine it. "... Now, what is going to happen..."

Citan looked at the wall and thought on this.