Beginning Author Notes:

I wanted to see if how I plan on going about this would turn her into a Mary-Sue, and this is what I got:

"Nikki is suspiciously similar to you as you'd like to be. She isn't really very cool: she blends into crowds, she hangs out on the fringes at parties, and wearing shades after dark makes her run into things. She may have sometimes thought that she was special, or destined for greater things, but probably dismissed the idea as a fantasy. She's come in for her share of hurt, but gotten off with minor damage. And she's gotten no slack from you.

In general, you care deeply about Nikki, but you're smart enough to let her stand on her own, without burdening her with your personal fantasies or propping her up with idealization and over-dramatization. Nikki is a healthy character with a promising career ahead of her."

So, hopefully, she doesn't turn into too much of a Mary-Sue, and this turns out okay.

Lots of thanks to Regal Bryant Lover for the review. Keeps me hoping, and the advice is good.

Wait...everything's dizzy now...it's blurry...it hurts...I don't want to be here anymore...I just want to go...home...

And then...nothing.

Chapter Two. Dark Discoveries

"...he...ake...t...?...drasill...in...ause...on't...disap...im..."

Slowly, everything was returning.

I could hear bits and pieces of conversation.

I could feel cuts all over my back, and the metal holding my wrists up to the ceiling.

I could taste dried blood on my lip.

I could smell my blood, as well as the stench of death and decay.

I wasn't in a cell, I don't think, but a small room filled with bright lights.

I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was hungry. I just wanted to sleep...

I guess the Cruxis Crystal hasn't taken my humanity yet...

Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. ...Pause.

"Speak wench!" A sharp voice demanded, before the whipping increased.

I was held up against a wall by chains, and my head continuously hit the concrete wall.

My face was blank, my eyes were half-lidded, and my mouth was open slightly, my breathing harsh.

"Hey Charlie, go easy on her man. You heard Lord Forcystus' orders. He wants her in one piece, not the two he'll get her in if you keep this up." A second voice remarked dryly.

"It's not my fault this stupid inferior being won't talk!" The first voice responded, cracking the whip one last time.

I moaned in pain.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"She awake yet?" Forcystus' voice asked, his tone flat.

"Yes, Lord Forcystus. She's just waking up." A Desian replied quickly.

"Good. Charlie, come here." The half-elf hero motioned for one of the two Desians to move closer to him.

"Uh, yes sir." The Desian walked closer.

"Why are there so many whip marks on her?" The Grad Cardinal asked dryly, motioning to my back, already knowing the answer.

"She wouldn't speak, sir." He answered, hesitantly at the look of murder that had briefly passed over the Cardinal's face.

"So you disobeyed a direct order from myself, and Lord Yggdrasill, by whipping her so much, that the damage will take several days to heal, even with Gels?"

"Umm...y-yes, Sir." Charles stuttered.

Forcystus let out a sigh, his eye narrowed at the man, "You!" He pointed to the only other Desian in the room, "Place him in one of the cells. If he's lucky, his punishment will be a quick death."

"Sir!" The other replied automatically, pulling the shaking Charlie out of the room and away.

Forcystus waited until the doors slammed, before turning to me. I had lifted my head up slightly, the blood dry, and holding my hair to my face.

My eyes stared pathetically into his single eye, the eye patch hiding his other from me.

At this point, I had just given up. I knew what would probably happen to me. I'd probably become an experiment. Get shipped off to Kvar, maybe.

"You're an odd one..." He murmured, but I thought I had imagined him speaking, until he spoke again. "Who are you." It wasn't a question.

"...Nikki..." I rasped, my voice cracked.

"Why is there a Cruxis Crystal attached to you? You aren't any of the experiments, or a member of Cruxis."

"I don't...know...it was...there when I...woke up..." I coughed, blood dripping down my chin, but my eyes never left his face.

"Were you beaten by those pathetic humans before you came stumbling to us? You're pretty beat up." He asked evenly, his eyes sharpening.

"Why do...you care?" I asked, my eyes losing focus for a moment.

"You're a half-elf." He replied, as though I should already know that. "Unless you directly oppose us, I don't hate you for what you are."

"How...could I...hate...you...? All we want...is for...dis...discrimination...to end...is that so...bad...? ...To want...want to be..." My voice faded as I blacked out for a moment, "...be...cared for...despite our curs...cursed...blood...?"

I did, actually, believe in Mithos' Age of Half-Elves. Just that he was going about it the wrong way. By creating the Desians, people would only hate half-elves more than they already did. I didn't, however, believe in his Age of Lifeless Beings.

Though, the fact that I was half-elf surprised me. I always did think that if I ended up here, I would be a half-elf. Because people that were like me loved me, but people who were different from me hated me.

"Hn." He mulled over the information silently for a moment. "Age?"

"Sixteen..." My head lolled as another wave of darkness swept over me.

"Hmm..." He turned, suddenly standing, and walked out. The door closed with a swish and locked with a gentle click.

Then, I let the darkness consume me.

"Your report?" Mithos Yggdrasill drawled, looking at Forcystus.

"She's a half-elf with no knowledge of what happened to her, or how she obtained the Cruxis Crystal. She does, however, believe in your ideals, my Lord." The leader of the Iselia Ranch replied.

"Oh?" The blond leader of Cruxis raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." He repeated firmly.

"I want to...meet...with this child. You will bring her to Derris-Kharlan immediately, understood?"

"Yes, Lord Yggdrasill." And then, the connection ended, leaving Forcystus alone in his office. He folded his hands over his desk, leaning forward slightly. "..."

My first meeting with Mithos Yggdrasill went...well?

"You're name is Nikki?" The blond leader drawled, crossing one leg over the other, his chin resting in his hand.

"...Yes..." I nodded my head gently, wincing in pain as my back throbbed in pain.

"And you say you don't know how you obtained a Cruxis Crystal?"

"That is correct..." I answered blandly, trying not to be intimidated by the Cruxis Leader. He was extremely scary...

"That is not a very likely story." He stated the obvious.

My eye twitched.

"I realize that." I replied, snapping slightly.

His eyes narrowed at me.

"You think I'm a liability. Because of this. Don't you?" I asked him, trying desperately to keep myself calm and from hiding behind Forcystus, who was still standing beside me, making sure I wasn't going to pass out.

His eyes narrowed further.

"But you don't want to do anything. In case I turn against you. Part of you wants to kill me...but the other part doesn't, because you want to see what I'll do."

I don't understand why I was still talking. I was just pissing him off. All the alarms were going off in my head. But, for whatever reason I won't understand, I kept talking.

Pronyma, Kvar, Magnius, Rodyle, Kratos and Yuan were tense, all watching me. Even Forcystus was tense next to me.

At this point, I think Yggdrasill wanted to cast Judgment on me.

"Shutting up now..." I murmured, finally tensing, and letting some fear crawl into my eyes.

"And what makes you think that?" He finally asked, his voice calm, but his eyes murderous.

"...Because I know about you and you know nothing about me...?" I muttered softly, voice trailing off into a question.

If anyone's eyes had been wandering in boredom, they were glued to me now. I tensed even further, really wanting to hide behind Forcystus and shrivel away.

"Oh? Everyone, leave us." The Five Grand Cardinals quickly teleported away, Forcystus giving me a longer glance than the rest, and Kratos and Yuan also left soon after. Leaving me alone. With Mithos Yggdrasill. "Now, do tell." He drawled.

I backed away a little, scared. "You're name is Mithos Yggdrasill...you had a sister, named Martel...she died 4000 years ago...killed by a human...you're companions were Martel Yggdrasill, Kratos Aurion, and Yuan Kafei...you stopped the Kharlan War after making a pact with Origin and splitting the world into two...your goal is to bring Martel back, by finding the Chosen with a closest mana signature to Martel's...hence the Journey of Regeneration the Chosen of the declining world goes on..." I quiet myself. "And you're goal is the Age of Lifeless Beings...to end discrimination..." I purposely left a few parts out that would make him want to kill me even more than he already does.

I cowered under his glare.

"How do you know all this?" He stood, walking towards me slowly.

I freaked out, and took three steps back for every single he took. I soon hit a wall, and tried to flatten myself against it.

"I don't know...I just do." I told him quickly, my voice was trembling.

"Are you afraid of me, child?"

"...Yes..."

"Good." He paused in his steps, crossing his arms. "I assume you know you're choices at this point?"

"Join you or die basically?" I smiled weakly, "As much as I want to die...I'd rather live. So...I guess...I'll...join you..." I spoke the words slowly, quietly.

Sealing the deal that would probably lead to my death one day.

Joy.

Jeez, I'm an idiot.

Ending Author Notes: Five almost SIX pages! Yay!