"For starters, how about where you have been Pascal?" Hubert turned and glared at Pascal "And why you need us here."
"Yeah, ignore the monsters falling out of the sky, time warp, emissaries from the future and world changing discovery of zero eleth." Fara reeled off as she threw her hands up in the air. "Where have you been Pascal? Clearly that's above everything else."
Lion lightly dropped a closed fist on Fara's head. She silenced herself. They all turned to Pascal.
"That's the thing, I don't know." Pascal said scratching the back of her head. "One of those black portal things opened up in front of the tower and I thought I'd poke it a little. And then broop-I got sucked in, I fought off some monsters in this timey-whimy pocket like when we fought the dragons, then Cheria found me down an alley way and it seemed like a few hours had passed. Then, ya know, monsters." Pascal paused and thought for a moment. "I don't remember sending anyone any messages."
That was a small link. Lion thought glancing at Fara. She shrugged, almost being able to hear his thoughts. I wonder who needed to be a few hours into a future.
"Pascal, we all got messages from you." Hubert said opening the communicator. "It told us to be here. See?"
"And I have your weapon." Fourier said producing Pascal's shotstaff. "How can you fight anything without it?"
"What are you talking about?" Pascal looked confused as she reached behind herself. "I have it right here."
They all stared as Fourier and Pascal pointed the same weapon at each other. Banana marks, name, design, everything. Exactly the same.
"What is going on?" Asbel asked looked at the two of them.
"How is there two of them?" Cheria, stunned as everyone else, circled around them like sharks to get a better look.
Fara moved between the two staffs and made them touch. A bright clash of white and black ribbons appeared for a brief moment before she ripped them apart.
"Same object." Fara said calmly. "Two different points in time."
"What?" Malik shook his head. She could hear the disbelief send more of a message then the question itself.
"Let me demonstrate." Fara swallowed her emotions, took Pascal's staff and tossed it to Lion. She then held both her index finger and thumb on both hands together to create a square in front of her as they moved away from her for safety sake.
"Oh spirit of life, of time, of space, of the everything and all!" Fara's incantation moved the wind to spin around her and the earth to shake. "Hear my call! My we run faster then the wind, the earth shake with our movements, and the fire hear us roar! I am the guardian that offers my heart and my soul as I wait for your answer to open to a time and another place!"
As she moved her hands apart, still keeping her thumb and index finger in the same position, a black vortex appeared and got larger until she dropped her hands to her side. She turned around and faced the group. "Someone should right something down."
Sophie raised her hand as high as she could.
"Go ahead Sophie." Fara crossed her arms. Sophie quickly produced a piece of paper and scribbled something down on her knee.
"It says 'We should all get crabblettes.'" Sophie nodded in approval, as it also had quick doodle of Sophie with a crabblette.
"Cool." Fara took the paper and rolled it up. She exchanged it for the staff from Lion, and popped open the top to reveal an empty compartment.
"Your staff comes apart?" Asbel asked looking at Pascal.
"Well of course, that's usually were I keep my spare banana!" Pascal cheered
Lion placed the note inside and Fara closed the top. She then tossed the staff through the portal and snatched Hubert's communicator.
"What are you doing?" Hubert watched as she stuck her arm with the communicator though the portal.
"Preventing a paradox." She said pulling her arm and the communicator back through the portal as it slowly closed behind her. (Huh. It didn't want to send.)
She handed the communicator back to Hubert.
"Okay, Fourier, open the top off the staff." Fara said crossing her arms.
"It should prove we're time travelers if there's a note at the top of that staff." Lion said."If not, we'll be out of your hair."
Fourier shifted uncomfortably as everyone turned to her. Being stared by everyone at is possibly the most ridiculous concept made her want to chuck the staff back at Pascal out of sheer embarrassment.
"C'mon Fourier, open it up!" Pascal cheered as she did that stupid monkey dance.
"Ugh, fine." Fourier popped the top of the staff back open the same way Fara had. She raised an eyebrow as she looked inside.
"Is it in there?"
Fourier maneuvered the staff to turn the shaft upside down while trying to still hold the top. Malik seamlessly took the top away from her as she slid a piece of paper out of the shaft in her hand.
It was the same rolled up piece of paper she had just seen. Her heart raced as she just stared at the possibility that Fara was telling the truth. She looked up to see Fara had changed her stance from a polite level of informal to having her arms folded, eyebrow arched, and smirking like she had outsmarted a God.
"Fourier, hurry uuuuup!" Pascal wined as she crept in closer to sister to get a good look at the paper.
"We should get crabbettes." Fourier gulped as she held the paper. Sophie's messy writing and drawing staring back at her. She looked back at Fara with wide eyes.
Fara tried to hold back her laughter as Lion dropped another soft fist on her head to silence her.
"Okay, now that's over with." Fara smiled "I got a question. Where was that portal that you stepped out of?"
"This way!" Pascal took Fara's hand and dragged her off with vigor. Fara struggled for the first few steps as Lion just shrugged and followed the rest of the group. "So Zero Eleth, huh? C'mon, you havta explain!"
"It's base eleth." Fara steps fell in sync with Pascal's. "All eleth is derived from Zero Eleth. You all have been unwittingly manipulating it by-"
"Fara!" Lion shouted, which made Fara groan as they passed though the center of town.
"Monsters get stronger and smarter the more they possess." Fara's thoughts swam with the reasons. "For a whole mess or reasons. Feel free to figure them out."
"There certainly is a lot that you can't tell us." Asbel commented
Lion's eyes shifted up and down at Asbel, then to Cheria, then over the rest of the group. He shook his head. "You have no idea."
"And trust us, we are more then happy to give you everything." They turned a corner and stopped at one of the many walls of pipes "If it wasn't for the fact it would probably destroy us."
"Destroy you?" Cheria gasped. "That's awful."
"Well, it only makes sense." Pascal commented as Fara and Lion inspected the pipes. "If they are from the future, then telling us how to get to that future would alter the course of how we actually got there, which would kill these two."
"...What?" Asbel scratched his head. "I'm lost. How did we get from talking to murder?"
"Don't worry about it Asbel." Richard smiled. "It's simply a matter of cause and effect."
"We have to make our own choices if they want to live, basically." Malik simplified.
"With our own knowledge." Hubert glared at Fara as she dropped to her stomach to see if anything was on the floor. "Which honestly Fara seems to be very bad at."
"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner." Fara jumped to her feet "And I'm not bad at it, you guys are just slow."
"Excuse me?!" Hubert took the challenge as Fara held her ground.
"We are not!" Pascal puffed up her cheeks. "Hu's one of the smartest best-est people I know! Fourier too!"
"...Really?" Hubert stopped to look at Pascal. Fara smiled out of the corner of her mouth. "You...?"
"Fara!" Lion gripped her shoulder and she turned around. "Do I have to watch you every second?"
"You don't have to do anything." She scratched her head and sighed. "Whoever opened this one knew what they were doing. You want to open it up?"
"They could be on the other side." Lion looked over at the group behind them.
"I don't think it's wise either." She reached for her weapon.
"You plan on running in there?" Hubert's disapproval hit them. "The two of you against all those monsters?"
"You have a better idea?" Fara turned back. Beneath the dark glasses there was distinct level of frustration. "Because I don't. I can't you put you all at risk."
"Basic causality." Lion nodded, causing Fara respond with a nod.
"We get hurt." Asbel tried to put it together. "You two get hurt, right?"
"Something like that." Fara sighed. "It was really nice meeting all of you."
"Take care." Lion smiled. "I don't think-"
"Wait, you can't just-" Hubert looked over at Pascal.
"Someone tried to hurt Pascal." Sophie took Fara's hand. "Tried to hurt everyone. You can't just leave."
There was a silence as Fara's demeanor softened. She hugged Sophie and put a small smile on her face. "I'm sorry Sophie, I can't let-"
"Where is my son?"
The group started looking around confused as the distressed female voice came over them. Lion reached for his weapon and moved to one side of the group while Fara moved to the other. Her voice broke as she held her staff in front of her as a shield.
"...You?"
Lion moved to Fara's side as the woman approached them, her small weak steps shuffled toward them.
"Where is my son?" She repeated as Fara kept her weapon up.
"You...?" Fara shook her head a little bit. "Why are you here?"
The woman stopped, dropping her head, her long purple hair covering her face. She was weak and frail, somewhere between being inherently small from the way her white labcoat pink shirt, and grey skirt fit her from to the way her face seemed to have lacked a few meals. She dropped to her knees making sounds like she was crying, but no tears fell to the ground. She looked up at Fara with puffy red eyes, the purple pupils stabbing the group with her loss.
"That's the question...isn't it?" Her voice sounded like a scratched record.
"What's...going on?" Sophie moved pass Fara and Lion. Fara traded glances with Lion. "Why does she look exactly like me?"
The woman watched Sophie come right up to and kneel down to her.
"Proto Heis." The woman took a deep breath.
"How do you know my name?" Sophie tilted her head to one side. She offered her hand to the woman.
"How do you not know mine?" She shook her head. "Just kill me. Please."
"No." Sophie shook her head and took the woman's hand. "We're going to find your son. Okay?"
The woman's despair turned briefly to horror then to anger. "No." She kicked her self away from Sophie. "Not you." The woman raised her hand, it glowing with black and white ribbons.
"SOPHIE!" Fara shouted. "GET DOWN!"
Sophie shielded herself as three eleth burst came from one of Fara's handguns, knocking the woman back. The group charged to separate the two of them with Fara pointing one of her guns at the woman.
"Amethystia." Fara sighed. "You don't even know who I am, do you?"
"The woman who just shot me?" Amethystia asked weakly. The three shots burned holes in her shirt, which were now wrapped in black and white light.
"Yeah..." Fara nodded her head. "Yeah. I guess that too."
"Amethystia...?" Lion looked down at her. "No way."
"Who is she?" Cheria asked as the three wounds vanished the clothes repaired themselves.
"You two both know who I am...?" Her sight bounced between the two of them. "And I don't know who you two are. Ha...the irony. Haha. Hahahaha!" Her laughter gained momentum and the dark light started illuminating her.
"Everyone get back!" Fara put herself between Amethystia and Hubert as he grabbed Pascal. Lion shuffled the rest of the group as Amethystia rose to feet with the black light levitating her.
"Stand down Oswell." Amethystia's eyes switched colors between black and white. Something it Fara skipped a beat as she saw Hubert stand besides her with his guns pointed. "I have looked into the vortex and it has consumed me. Stand down."
"Hubert, run." Fara commanded "This is more dangerous then you can even imagine. Get out of here."
"What is she?" Hubert matched her voice. They watched as Amethystia raised her hand, black and white eleth swirled around it and created something solid extention of it.
"Damnit Hubert, think of Pascal!" Fara pushed Hubert away and changed her weapon to staff to protect herself as Amethystia came down on her. The eleth rippled under their feet as Fara gritted her teeth and Amethystia stared blankly at Fara.
"FARA!" Lion shouted as Hubert wrapped himself over Pascal to protect her from the clashing eleth. The air around them rushed like a hurricane. "Don't even think about it!"
"Too late!" Fara shouted "Oh spirit of life, of time, of space, of the everything and all!"
"Damnit!" Lion turned his head to the group behind him, holding on to the rails and walls. "Get ready something even bigger!"
"Get m-" She gritted her teeth. She swung the staff up though Amethystia, making her vanish for second "Hubert, move!"
Hubert grabbed Pascal and dashed toward the rest of the group before Amethystia reappeared and came down on Fara with a crash again.
"Holy bananas, look at all that eleth go!" Pascal looked over Hubert's arm when he got a solid grasp on both her and a pipe.
"Where is she getting all that power?" Hubert questioned, watching Fara move with efficiency trying to block every blow. The ground ripped every time they made contact and the wind burst.
"I'd tell you but you'd kill me." Lion grunted and shoved his sword into the ground with a translucent blue wall appearing in front of them. "Everyone hang on!"
"-to a time and another place!" Fara shouted, her staff turning black and a bracelt she was wearing turning into a ring of right light. She shoved it into the ground and the ground opened up below her and Amethystia. An uncontrollable rush of wind wrapped around them and gripped both, dragging them down. The gang could feel themselves lift off the ground and Lion pressing up against the blue wall as Fara calmly sank into the abyss and Amethystia struggled to break free.
"Fara!" Lion pounded his fist against his own wall.
"I'll be fine!" She turned to Lion and smiled. "Take care of them!"
Lion hung his head and watched as Fara and Amethystia disappeared and the ground returned to normal. The wind gradually settled with them vanishing and Lion pulled his sword out of the ground. Everyone scattered to take in what was around them.
"You alright Pascal?" Hubert asked as they broke apart. He felt a tad bit embarassed for holding on to her that long.
"Yup!" Pascal said brightly. She dashed away to check the ground. "You're alirght, right, Hu?"
"Yes, fine, fine." Hubert regained his posture and shifted his attention to the surroundings.
"Now, that was impossible!" Fourier voiced her opinion. "How can they just vanish? Just what are you people?!"
"It certainly was something." Malik walked over to where the two had vanished.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this." Lion put his sword away. "I...I have to go find a way to find Fara now. Excuse me."
"We'll go with you." Asbel stopped him from leaving. "I don't know what's going on, but you guys came back to this time for a reason, right?"
"Yes, but," Lion searched for the words. "Not for this. We were just suppose to come back, find the source of the portals, seal the source of portals on this side, and go back. Now, I..."
"Your friend in is trouble." Asbel asserted. " You don't have to do this alone. We can help."
"And you look about as lost as we do about to what to make of this." Malik put his hand on Lion's shoulder.
"You said you know us from the future." Richard stepped up. "You should know we don't stand down so easily."
"That woman knew my name." Sophie grimaced. "My old name."
"That is troubling." Hubert thought about it. "Fara recognized the woman too. Amethystia, she called her?"
"And she still hasn't explained zero eleth!" Pascal danced a little then jumped up and down on the ground where they vanished. "It would be weird if we didn't chase after her."
Cheria stood infront of Lion, which made him take a step back. "We're going to find her. She just sacrificed herself to protect us, and we don't take that lightly. No argument, alright?"
Lion smiled a bit and nodded. "Yes ma'am." He took a deep breath and calmed himself. "I don't know where to start, though."
"How about something simple." Richard tapped his foot against the ground where the girls had vanished. "Who was that woman?"