Author's note: I don't own Star Ocean Till The End Of Time

The True Nature Of All

Chapter 19: New Foes and A New Mission

When they arrived back in the Spacetime Station, they found themselves alone with the station personnel. He smiled politely as he said, "Where would you like to go?"

Fayt looked at everyone as he nodded, "We would like to go to the Lost City."

The attendant looked startled as he asked for everyone's names. Once he took everyone's name, he bowed as he said, "Thank you. Please wait one moment." He inputted something into the console next to her and nodded his head before he turned around. When he faced the group, he said, "I'm terribly sorry, but you do not have the proper access privileges to travel to the Lost City. The Lost City is off-limits for transportation by those without access privileges, for security reasons. I'm sorry. Do you have some business there?"

Fayt shook his head, try to rid himself of the disappointment that he felt, "No, thank you for your time anyways."

The man turned to go back to his post as Fayt kicked at the ground, "Damn…"

Cliff shrugged his shoulders as he said, "So what'll we do?"

Airlia grimaced as she said, "Do? What can we do?"

Maria seemed to think for a moment, "Get the station guy out of the way and force our way in? I think I may be able to rewrite our access privileges."

Fayt seemed to think about it when the station personnel came back up to the group, "There you are!" Albel and Airlia looked at him with hidden suspicion. He was smiling genuinely from ear to ear, "I just got word from the Lost City! You have been given access privileges!" No one in the group could contain their surprise at this development. The man continued, "Someone going by the name of 'B' at Sphere contacted me. Is this person an acquaintance of yours?"

Fayt felt that he had to enquire for everyone's sake, "'B'?"

The man nodded, "Yes, that's what they said. They said you'd know who they were if I told you it was an acquaintance of Flad. That's all I know…"

Cliff turned to the rest of the group, "Flad?"

Sophia nodded as she said, "That boy we met in Arkives."

Cliff thought for a moment before he nodded, "Oh… oh right!"

Fayt pondered the thought as Maria spoke up, "Well, he did mention that he knew somebody at Sphere. 'Blair,' or something like that. That's who it must be, don't you think?"

Everyone agreed that it had to be the person who gave them the access so suddenly. However, Airlia had to voice the obvious questions, "Well, we can trust this person, can't we? This could be a trap."

Cliff nodded, "Right, we should probably play it safe and assume it is a trap."

Albel nodded as Maria spoke again; the voice of reason, "Right. These are the people who run the Eternal Sphere so there's a good chance they know what we're up to."

Airlia shook her head as Fayt chimed in, "It's not like we have any other way of going to the Lost City. Even if it is a trap, we have little choice. Maybe we should just be grateful for the invitation, and go."

The attendant tried to not listen in on the conversation, but the moment Sphere was mentioned, he couldn't help but try to listen in, now he felt compelled to join the conversation, "Did you say 'Sphere'…? That's that company that developed the Eternal Sphere, isn't it? I play that, too. It's pretty fun."

Fayt and the others forgot that he was even there for the time being, and he tried to turn the conversation away from what they were talking, "Okay, so we're allowed to go to the Lost City now?"

He nodded as he spoke, inputting the data in, "Yes, you are indeed. Your access privilege codes have already been rewritten. Go through the gate, and you'll find yourself at Sphere, in the Lost City."

Sophia found her interest peaked as she asked, "We can go directly to Sphere?"

He grinned and began to explain, "That's right. The Lost City is full of leading companies, mainly developers in the field of information technology. Travel is basically restricted to one destination in order to prevent spying."

Peppita asked offhandedly, "Is that right?" He nodded as she seemed satisfied with that response.

Cliff grimaced as Albel spat, "That also makes it easier to ambush us."

Maria nodded as she spoke again, "Exactly. If they block off the gate, it will be easy for them to cut off all avenues of escape."

Airlia grimaced as Adray spoke next, "Sounds pretty dangerous." Everyone nodded as they hid their new weapons within their new armor/shields.

Airlia spoke next with such conviction that everyone knew she wanted the threat ended, "Let's go." They walked to the transporter and emerge in a large room with a man and several soldiers surrounding them, their weapons at the ready. Cliff growled, "Grr! I knew it, a trap!"

Airlia knew she recognized his face from somewhere, but she couldn't place where she knew it from. He, however, seemed as shocked to her as she was to see him, and then he spoke, "Welcome to the Sphere Company, anomalies. I am Azazer. I manage the Security Department and report directly to the Owner. I don't know how you managed to outsmart station security, but nevertheless, I bid you welcome. Of course, I cannot even begin to comprehend how characters such as yourselves were able to cross through to the real world."

Cliff was about to say something when Airlia politely stepped on his foot, ending the conversation, "Don't give anything away to them, we may have allies after all…" She hissed almost inaudibly, and Cliff then understood, while the enemies couldn't hear their conversation.

The dark haired man known as Azazer was the same exact height and appearance as Cavan! That was where Airlia recognized him from… Her breath hissed in surprise as Azazer began to speak, "I must show you all some of our hospitality."

Maria spat back at him, "Hospitality. Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll be very hospitable."

Azazer grinned maliciously as he spoke again, eyeing the Princess, "Yes, of course. Then again, the direction our hospitality takes depends on your willingness to cooperate."

Fayt growled low, he hadn't missed the glance, nor had Albel by Fayt's hearing as the knight had stepped closer to his Princess, he was also growling low, "What do you mean?"

Azazer continued not even remotely fazed, "I'll be brief. We won't delete you if you agree to assist us."

Airlia spat out next, "Assist you?!"

Azazer nodded as he spoke on more than one level, "We find you extremely fascinating. Many of our developers over at the research division are deeply interested in studying you."

Maria spoke next, her voice cold and condemning, "So we're to become your guinea pigs then?"

Azazer nodded with a feral grin, convincing Airlia more than ever that she was correct in her guess, "Correct." Fayt knew the answer he would get before asking the question, however, he had to try, "If we agree to be your test subjects, will you stop the Executioners that you released into our galaxy?" He grimaced as he shook his head, he knew this response would forever keep the woman from him willingly, he regretted his boss's firmness on the topic, "No, that's simply not possible."

He grimaced as he continued, "The Milky Way has already been contaminated. That partition must be completely erased. You will be all that remains. There will be nothing left of your galaxy."

Everyone was about to say something when Airlia hissed, "Hold on, I have an idea, and it may get us both in and out of here alive and without having to shed needless blood. As crazy as I may sound for a short time, bear with me… Please…" Everyone nodded, knowing that she was a very tactful negotiator.

She stepped forward slightly, remaining near her guard, "We will go to this research division on a few contingencies…" When he motioned for her to continue, she began to list them, "With the exception of the research division the following applies: Number one. No one from your people may talk to us. Number two. No one is to look at us and… Number three. No one is to touch us in anyway…"

Azazer seemed to think it over, for he knew how strong they were, even if they were just data, and agreed to it. "Very well, come this way." He led the way to the transporter. He took them through several transporters and they eventually arrived on a floor that was noted to be the 5th floor. They walked over to the room that the researchers were in. Airlia smiled with relief when a woman opened the door.

She motioned for the group to enter; however, she placed her hand up to stop Azazer, "Only they may pass through here. They won't hurt us, I know that." Airlia smiled with relief, the woman had caught her glance with a slight wink. With the group safely inside, the door slid shut and locked.

Airlia blew out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding… Airlia looked at the woman, "You must be Blair, Flad's friend!"

When Blair nodded, Sophia bowed, "Thank you so much for helping us."

Airlia nodded, "I didn't think I could stomach him anymore when you arrived. Even though he wasn't talking to us directly, I knew he was trying to get us to hear more about all of his 'accomplishments' as head of security… What a braggart!" Blair let out a chuckle as if understanding the woman's predicament.

Blair led the way to a room beyond where they were, "It's not quite safe to talk yet, I have no doubt that they're trying to listen to every word that goes on here. Come with me this way please…" When they arrived, the researchers turned to look at the large group.

Fayt had to ask the burning question on his mind, "Would you please explain to us what's going on? What are you going to do to us?"

Blair indicated everyone in the white coats, "These are the others who are in charge of the Eternal Sphere. Now, I'll get right to the point. We'd like to offer you our help."

Albel looked at her suspiciously, "Offer your help?"

She nodded as she continued, "Yes. Management has made a decision recently, to which we're opposed."

One of the researchers came forward, "We don't think it is wise to directly intervene in the Eternal Sphere, even when unexpected situations arise."

Another researcher came forward, and he said, "That's right. Sending in the Executioners like that is a needlessly violent solution."

Blair explained, "We think of the Eternal Sphere as a parallel world—one we created with our own hands. But the life-forms there now think and act on their own. Now that it has become a reality that exists on its own terms, we do not believe we should interfere. The only difference between you and us is the dimension we live in."

Maria spoke next, almost laughingly, "I can see you've had a major influence on Flad."

Blair nodded as she spoke next, "I believe so. But I don't think his mother is very pleased."

The first researcher spoke again, trying to get the story out before losing his thoughts, "We propose that the Eternal Sphere data should be placed in a museum where it will be kept safe from interference."

The second researcher then spoke again, "We were discussing what to do about the Executioners. We felt something must be done with these entities bent on destroying your galaxy."

Airlia spoke next, "I think I get it now…"

Cliff nodded, "It all makes sense in a way."

Maria wanted to end the Executioners as she got the topic shifted back to the more important topic at hand, "You were saying the Executioners must be dealt with. Do you have an actual plan for doing so?"

The first researcher explained a little more as he handed Sophia a disc, "Yes. We've already prepared an uninstaller to remove them. This attack program will not affect the indigenous life forms of the Eternal Sphere, only foreign entities like the Executioners. Despite their grandiose name, they, too, are nothing more than a type of program. We expect the uninstaller to work."

Cliff instantly became suspicious, "If you've had such a handy little tool, why didn't you use it right away?"

Blair felt the need to explain the exigent circumstances, "This uninstaller has some limitations. It will only work if it's run within the Eternal Sphere. The Executioner project was programmed in a manner that makes it impossible for us to interfere with it directly."

Sophia nodded as she asked, "So is that the only limitation? If so we should just take it back to our dimension and use it."

The second researcher explained again, "Entry into the Milky Way partition of the Eternal Sphere is currently not possible. Access from general terminals will be blocked until the Executioner procedure is complete."

Sophia nodded as Fayt explained, "Yeah, but we were able to enter the Milky Way through the large terminal in Gemity."

The first researcher felt the need to try and explain a little better to everyone evident by the number of blank expressions… "Yes, you are unique. I don't exactly understand the mechanism, but you seem to have the power to break through the barrier separating your dimension and ours. It's incomprehensible to me, but the fact remains: it seems to work."

Maria nodded as Cliff still had the blank expression on his face, "Care to share, Maria?"

Maria shook her head, her hair swaying from side to side, "You're pretty dense. In short, we need to take the uninstaller to the Eternal Sphere, because we're the only ones that can go there right now."

Blair nodded as Fayt asked, "Will using the uninstaller really destroy the Executioners?"

Everyone in white lab coats nodded as the second researcher explained, "After all, Blair programmed it. She is the best—or at least second best—programmer in the Sphere Company."

Blair tried to hide the blush as she explained, "I don't know about best or second best, but I try to create the best programs I can."

That was good enough for Fayt, "Okay. You have our trust." Blair nodded with a smile, "Thank you."

Cliff had to ask, "So how do we get back to the Eternal Sphere? Should we head back to Gemity?"

The first researcher smiled, "It's possible to travel to Gemity. Seeing as everything went peacefully, we could simply explain that we want to see how you interact with others in a more relaxed environment, as a way to try and determine how it is that you're able to be here right now…"

Airlia grinned, because she knew that going peacefully in would help them long term. Fayt was nearly cheering aloud as he said, "Okay. Everybody, let's go!" Blair smiled as she led the way to the door. When it was unlocked, there wasn't just the posse from before, for two more had joined the already large group of soldiers.

Airlia recognized the platinum blonde as being the man known as Cassius from her world. Her blood was boiling by that point. She kept her expression neutral and guarded. They stepped closer to the group, "Where do you think you're going Blair?"

The man let out a chilling chuckle. Sophia who remained hidden amongst the group hid the disc carefully where it wouldn't get scratched or discovered… Blair remained calm and collected as she explained, "Berial, Belzeber, and Azazer, why am I not surprised that you're still here? I'm merely taking the test subjects to Arkives to see how they react with others in a more natural environment. It's hard to gauge a proper reaction when everyone's all wound up and agitated here."

Belzeber grin was positively feral as he and Azazer tried to test their luck, "Mind if we go with you? We wouldn't want them to just take off on you…"

Blair shook her head, "Azazer agitated them enough, thank you. This is to see how they react without the stress that you give them. It may make the difference of why they were able to come here and exist outside of the game that they lived in." Their looks turned blacker than black as Blair led the way away from the nasty group from upper management and security.

They went the way that they came; back down the elevators to the first floor and to the transporter. When they went through, they arrived at their destination, Gemity. They proceeded to the terminal that would lead them back to their world. Blair spoke as she activated everything, "I'll configure it from out here; get ready everyone!"

Airlia bowed to the great woman, "Thank you for your help Blair, I'm sure that we can save everything and everyone we know…"

Albel grinned as he went after his Princess, "…We owe you one."

Adray bowed to her, "Thank you for all of your help."

Maria smiled brightly, "Thanks, Blair. We'll save the Eternal Sphere. Don't you worry." She walked to the area where Albel and Airlia were already standing.

Cliff smiled as he spoke next, "You really saved the day. I think we can pull this off, thanks to you. …See ya soon."

He waited for Nel as she bowed and said, "We won't forget your kindness… Leave the rest to us." The pair got into the transporter range.

Peppita spoke up next, torn between jumping with excitement and just yelling it out, "Hey, thanks. Sorry for all the trouble. We'll give it our best shot!" She joined the others who were waiting for them.

Roger smiled as he explained, "Thanks. I don't really understand, but it looks like our world might be saved thanks to you." Roger walked over to where everyone was standing.

Sophia smiled brightly as she explained, "Um, Blair… Thank you for all you've done. We'll never forget it."

Fayt just said simply, "Blair thanks for everything."

He shook her hand as Blair explained, "Give it your best shot. Only you can save your own reality." Fayt nodded as Blair continued, "Farewell. Goodbye…" Fayt bowed before going to the others waiting for him. She inputted something on the console that was waiting for her as they disappeared and arrived back on Styx at the Time Gate… They never heard Blair's final words as she raced to get back to her post to wait for the future developments…

…Good luck.