A/N: Aiaiai I'm your little butterfly! Green black and blue make the colors in the sky!

Kioko: Please stop singing that!!!

XP

"Just who said you could come back to life!?" I demanded, trying not to let my nervousness and slight panic show. What was she doing here? How did she come back? Why was she here, when, so recently, she's only been in my dreams?

She chuckled at me and crossed her swords in front of her, "Your predecessor sent me."

"Kaileena!?" I exclaimed, "What? Why? And why you?!"

"Isn't it obvious? She cannot transverse the worlds in her original form, but she can send me. Originally she sent me to warn you, but I would just assume kill you before it happens!" She said, crossing swords with me.

"Before what happens!?" I demanded, pushing her back.

"What's going on!?" Exclaimed Aizira as she and Tormal appeared on the scene.

"Your fate is to die, Empress, and you will. The only question is when!" Shahdee exclaimed, throwing me off and doing a backflip in the air.

"Everyone dies eventually, it's simply how they die and when they die that is the question. I choose to die of old age, Shahdee, and there's nothing Fate can do about it." I said.

"You honestly think you're a god, don't you!?" Shahdee laughed, cold and mirthless, her smile was malicious and slightly deranged, "But you haven't seen what your predecessor has, that bit of your future is being blocked from your sight! You cannot escape your fate, so I am going to bring it to you before it can happen!" Our swords locked, and the real combat began.

"Before what can happen!?" I demanded, jumping over her and slashing at her back. She huffed out her pain, but spun around and continued going, her body, made of sand, wasn't prone to open wounds, and so bleeding wasn't an option.

"Your fate is to die, but before that something more will happen, something truly terrible! And it will be all your fault!" She exclaimed, laughing like a lunatic, "It will be just like it was all those years back! It will all be because of you, and there won't be anything you can do about it. But it'll be too late then! It'll be much too late! You cannot change your fate, but if you died now, before it has the chance to happen, then it will be prevented!" She declared.

"No, Shahdee, I can change my fate! And I will! I have done it before, and whatever you may think—" But Shahdee was still laughing, and I stared at her.

"You fool! You idiot!!! You didn't change anything!!! You only thought you had changed the fate of your predecessor, because you were so sure that, to die, was her fate! But you were wrong! You were all wrong!!! Everything that has happened, it has been foretold in the timeline! Your predecessor saw what she was meant to see, so that it would prompt her into setting the stage. Your prince was meant to be chased by the Dahaka to urge him into finding the Island of Time, and the Dahaka was meant to become one of your own personal devils! Don't you get it!? You're being manipulated!!! The cloaked figure both you and Kaileena have seen, he's pulling the strings and you don't even know it! Everything that's happened, all of it, from the moment you were brought into this world in the body of a sand goddess you were being pulled along by his strings! And you're giving him every tool he needs! That sword you have, the Dahaka, the Dark Prince, even the Indian princess that you're rushing to save! You gave her the key to unlock her own fate! The copy ring has turned her into another tool! And you've been doing all of this thinking that you're acting alone when he's been hovering in the shadows all the time, watching, waiting!!! Zervan is just a pawn for him, Empress! And you are his puppet! Even meeting these three sand rats could have been apart of his plans! He's going to use you to achieve his goals, Empress, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Oh yes there is!" I snarled, and in my anger, I unleashed the daggertail. Shahdee didn't even have a chance to defend herself, she was thrown back and beaten down. It sang into the air, cutting off her every move so that she fell to the ground and was only just able to struggle to her feet, holding herself, her legs shaking. "I didn't come to this world by choice! I will not be used like this! I will not just sit back and allow myself to become a tool like Kaileena was! I am the Empress of Time! I am the keeper of the Mask of the Wraith, and I will change my fate! Whether you believe me or not!" I cried, and with my left fist, I plunged my blade deep into her heart, and sliced upwards so that from her chest up she was cut clean in half.

"You…cannot…change…"

"Tell someone who cares, Shahdee." I said, and she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"Amo—Kaida, who—what was that?" Aizira asked in a hushed voice.

"A sand monster, one I've met before. Listen," I turned to the three of them, "I—"

"No." Aizira said flatly, her hands on her hips.

"What?" I blinked, surprised, and her brothers looked at her as well.

"You're about to tell us that we can't keep traveling together, that it would be too dangerous and you don't want us to get involved. Well, I say no. I'm not going to just let you run off like this. If you do, we'll follow you. Besides, it's so late, you could at least get some sleep before running off!" She said.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and then opened it again to say, "You're likely going to have questions that I won't answer." I told her.

"What, like being from another world? Like being the Empress of Time? Well, what if I don't give a d(beep)?" Aizira asked hotly.

"You—"

"I'm with Aizira." Alzik said, to the surprise of all of us, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave me a stern look, "You're not running off and leaving us behind just because it's dangerous." He said.

"This is not something you need to get yourselves involved in!" I argued.

"And if we told you the same thing, would you listen to us?" Asked Tormal.

"I—"

"You risked your life for us, we're going to return the favor, whether you like it or not." Alzik told me firmly.

I stared from determined face to determined face, they'd all ganged up on me, not one of them was going to listen to my reasons…and I felt the resolution of my decision melt away and become a wide smile, "Thank you, thank you all."

XD

"So, so you're saying that, that you're the Banana Queen!?" Exclaimed Aizira, there were tears in her eyes she was laughing so hard.

"Me? Oh no, certainly not! I'm the girl that came afterwards and tried to eat the real Banana Queen in order to become her, it didn't work too well, but I did manage to get the red hair. Still, don't tell the prince, he's not suppose to know!" I said, putting a finger to my mouth. We had decided that I would continue to take on the appearance of a masked man, because, as Alzik said, I did a very good impression, and I was somehow very intimidating like this as well. I also stuck out like a soar thumb without the mask, so I probably would have kept it on anyway.

"Where did you learn to tell stories like that?" Asked Tormal after he had finally managed to calm down.

"It's actually a talent I only just found out about recently, I'm not sure what to make of it. Want to hear another one?" I asked.

"Yes!" The two of them exclaimed immediately.

"Uh oh." Alzik said, pulling Bano up short.

"What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly alert.

"D(beep)," He muttered, "Go, go, go!" He hissed to Bano, ushering the horse into the shade of a small patch of forest stationed around a large oasis.

"Alzik?" Asked Aizira, pushing to the front so she could see around the wall of the cart, but Alzik put his hand on her head and pushed her back in.

"Stay hidden, you. You too, Kaida." He said.

"Um, I'm not a woman right now, remember?" I pointed out.

"No, but you look like one of them." He answered.

"One of who?" I asked as Tormal looked around the corner, and then pulled himself back, white in the face.

"It's the cultists…" He murmured.

"The culti—you mean the Order of the All-Seeing Eye?" I asked.

"You know of them!?" Hissed Aizira.

"I overheard a conversation between Malik and someone else about them, and that someone else took one look at me and said I was one of them. So I pretended I was. I honestly didn't know I looked like them with this on, I just wanted to look, you know, male." I said. "So what's so frightening about them that we have to hide?" I asked.

"Last time we saw them…a few of them sort of threatened us for no real reason, and their leader woman had her eye on Aizira. They said some really strange things to us, and we just decided to get away without even bothering to try selling anything to them anymore." Alzik told me.

"They were really creepy…I almost thought they were going to eat us." Said Tormal, looking quite faint.

"I do not want them to recognize us, and if they see you they might come over and ask questions. So you let me take care of Bano for the time being. Let's just hope that they—oh hell." He hissed, and I didn't second sight to see that we had been spotted, and we had become persons of interest.

Thinking fast, I somehow knew what I needed to do. "Listen to me, I'm going to go with them to get their attention off you, you keep on moving and I'll catch you up later, understand? Don't question what I say or do anything to show you have anything more to do with me than what I say. Alright?" I murmured swiftly.

Aizira's eyes widened, but she bit her lip, and nodded.

Taking a deep breath, I made sure my second sight was working with me so that I wouldn't screw this up, and I got out of the back of the cart to meet with those that were approaching us.

They were right, I looked exactly like them. There were, of course, variations here and there, but the two that had approached us had these same variations with each other. No one was going to look twice at me when I walked into their encampment.

The two stared at me, clearly not expecting me to be there, I held a hand out to them and said, "Hold brothers, these merchants have done me service, and in return I wish them to be left alone. I seek an audience with our Great Lady Mychala. Assuming that she in the Sight that was bestowed upon her by our Empress does not already know all, I have important information for her." I said.

Their eyes widened, and they looked at one another, "Yes, of course." Said the one on the right, "We will lead you to her dwelling, follow us, Brother."

Across the sand to a great congregation they led me. I saw the tents pitched like a portable village, and so many men and women alike moving around amongst themselves, speaking in hushed whispers, all of them with their faces hidden one way or another. There was one tent which was the most grand of them all, the one that I didn't doubt belonged to Mychala, and that was exactly where the two others were leading me.

Few paid me any mind, and I was free to glance around as much as I dared, trying not to stare, trying to act as though I belonged here, but it was hard, especially when I noticed that there was one thing that all the women had in common with their outfits.

They all had an eye-shaped mark in red upon the chests of their tops, large and detailed, so I could see exactly what it was. It was the same mark that was upon my own chest, that same eye-shaped symbol which showed me my health and sand tanks. The men didn't have them which was odd but encouraging, because I certainly didn't have it on my clothes.

Well, this sort of smashed the theory that it was Kaileena whom they were expecting as the Empress of Time. Kaileena did not have that mark, and, of course, there was only one way they could have found it. Seers, actual prophets and prophetesses that foretold of my coming.

I suddenly found myself wishing, hoping, even praying that this Mychala, whom I was now very sure was, in fact, a prophetess, did not realize just who was seeking an audience with her.

I was not, of course, planning to tell her who I was. Oh no, these cultists could go on for a thousand years waiting for their empress so far as I was concerned. No, what I wanted to tell her was about Malik, and about Zervan's treachery, and warn her about the attack. But I especially wanted to tell her about Zervan, because I knew that she, at least, would have more power than Farah to convince the king about him. Or rather, she would have the power to do it in a way that he didn't really have a choice.

If Zervan was just the pawn in all this, then getting rid of him first would be the best course of action. I doubted whether Zervan knew that he, too, was being manipulated by that cloaked entity, but he had to go one way or another.

I was relying very heavily on my powers of Sight to get me through this, glad that they had decided to cooperate with me and worked to tell me how to act the part of a cultist so that not even Mychala would know. If her powers really did come from me, then they weren't about to tell her who I was, not when I did not want her to know.

"A brother to see the lady, he claims to have important information for her, assuming she has not already foreseen what he has come to tell her." My companions told the guard at the door to the grand tent. The guard nodded silently, and then he entered the tent for a moment. We waited, and a moment later he pulled the flap back and gestured for me to enter.

"The lady will see you." Said one of the two women who were standing before the doorway into the tent's second room, they pulled the curtain back, and I entered the room with my head bowed, not looking at Mychala at all, as I was being told to do by my second sight.

I kneeled before her and waited. I could See her considering me for a moment, and then I heard her say, "Tell me your name."

"Amon, My Lady." I answered in a hushed voice.

"Very well, Amon, speak."

And so I did. I told her what I had overheard, that I had left the encampment to seek out the Kardassian Ruins for a reason I could not explain, even to myself, and it was there that I learned of Zervan's treachery, and his plans to send the bandit summoner Malik to kill her. That it was he who stole the Dagger of Time from India, and blamed the theft on the Prince of Persia, while making sure the dagger was planted somewhere in Persia in order to better implicate the Prince.

When I had finished, Mychala did not speak for a moment, and then she said, "Rise, Amon." And I did so, finally allowing myself to look at her.

She was a very beautiful woman, with fair skin and long black hair, she was dressed in blues and violets with sky blue eyes, and jewels all over her body. I was almost jealous, but reminded myself that this was most certainly not the time for that.

She smiled at me, and I understood myself to be very honored indeed, "You, Amon, have done a great service to us. The Empress herself visited you the day you sought the ruins, she recognizes your skill, your bravery, your loyalty, and your willingness to serve her to the end of your days. If this were not the case, she would not have led you to this knowledge. Take this," She said, taking a dark violet ribbon from her hair and giving it to me, "Take it as a symbol of honor, for you have been exalted by the Empress herself." She said.

I bowed to her, "I am undeserving." I murmured, knowing that was what I had to say.

"You were undeserving, but now you are worthy." She said, and she called in the two women guards, "We are to prepare for attack! The treacherous vizier of the Maharaja has sent a summoner to get rid of us! Prepare for our defense and counter attack, also prepare our own summoner for the ordeal she is to face." She said.

"Our summoner, Lady?" I murmured, for some reason my gut twisted up inside at this, and I couldn't quite understand why I felt so much trepidation at this, "Surely your warriors can defeat a common bandit summoner without so much trouble." I said.

She smiled at me again, but this smile was slightly frosty, and I felt I was treading on shaky ground, "Undoubtedly, she will be a last resort, Amon. Go now, and prepare yourself for battle." She told me, and I bowed to her and dismissed myself into the encampment.

This time when I came out, murmurs and fingers followed me, fingers which were pointed at the ribbon in my hand, murmurs of awe and of respect. I pushed the ribbon into my pocket, and went to find the scouts that were going to be sent out in order to see where the attack will be coming from.

I saw the setting sun in a haze, though it was still only just evening, I saw the blue dragon rise from the west and come down upon us…

And I saw a child, a girl no older than 3 or 4, being carried out, kicking, screaming, and crying. Her hair white, and her eyes golden. She screamed, in pain as she was raised up into the air by Mychala, and a white gold light burst from her, becoming a gigantic form of some golden armored beast with wings and a tail like a dragon. It reminded me of Bahamet from Final Fantasy X, only greater, golden, white, with bits of coloring here and there.

But the girl was screaming in pain as the creature was forced, by Mychala, to combat the dragon, and destroy it utterly. Once this was done, the creature disappeared, and Malik and his men ran for their lives from the cultists. The girl, was sobbing as Mychala handed her back to her keeper, and I heard her murmering to herself, I heard what she said, even though I knew the keeper wouldn't be able to understand it past the incoherent sobs.

"I want to die."

XD

As my vision came to pass I made myself scarce, watching from the sidelines, Seeing, once again, but in present time as that girl was used as a weapon against Malik. I was so filled with rage, I wanted to destroy them all myself, I wanted to swipe the girl right out of Mychala's hands, and let the blue dragon kill them all.

Her voice spoke in my ear once again, "I want to die." And my heart twisted up inside my chest.

I knew what I was going to do, and I didn't care if Mychala realized that it was 'Amon' who did it. I didn't care, I saw myself in that little girl, the pain, the wish to die, the prevention…being used. Used, like a weapon, treated like a weapon, not knowing why, not understanding why all of this was happening to her. She couldn't even control that great beast herself, it was all Mychala, Mychala, Mychala.

I wanted to kill that b(beep) for this! But I needed her, I needed her to get rid of Zervan for me. Afterwards though, that b(beep) was mine.

For the first time in a while, I utilized my teleportation ability. It was easier than I thought it would be, and I didn't even need to know exactly where I was going. I just needed a certain bit of information stuck in my mind. I could just say, okay, I want to be near this person, somewhere that I can stay hidden, somewhere I won't be seen when I appear, and not right next to them, just near them, and I would be there.

The girl was being kept in a room of the tent, and in a cage. She was very quiet, though the noise of the encampment made it hard to hear any one particular sound, but when I cut open the tent I saw she was wide awake, and had turned around to see what was going on.

She stared at me as I approached her cage, looked around to make sure that there was no one anywhere near us, and then took the lock in my hand, and began to age it so that I could snap it off without any trouble. I bent down and opened the cage, "Come with me," I murmured to her, "I promise you, I'm not one of them, see?" I said, and I pulled off my mask to show her my face. The fear in her eyes seemed to fade, and she looked at me in wonder. "I'm going to take you away from this, alright? Trust me, I won't let anyone make you summon that creature ever again." I said, pulling the mask back on.

"How can I trust you?" She whispered. "How do I know you don't just want me for yourself, just like them? Just like all of them?" She asked.

"Because I understand how you're feeling. You don't really understand what it is to die, but you know enough to feel it's your only way out. You feel trapped in your own body, forced to do something you don't want to. You feel guilty because of all the deaths you're responsible for, because of all the horrible things that they used you to make happen. You feel that if you were dead, everything would be better, they couldn't use you anymore, they couldn't kill people with you anymore. But they won't let you die, they simply refuse. They don't give you anything sharp to cut yourself with, if you try to bang yourself against the bars they tie you down, if you try to starve yourself they force feed you, and whenever you try to run away, they bring you back and beat you." I said. "I'm not a summoner like you, but you and I are not so different. When I was your age, I was just like you. I didn't understand what it was to die, but I wanted it, if only to stop the pain, and yet I was not allowed. I became stronger than my oppressors, but those years were full of suffering that I would rather live them over again myself than to let someone else experience them. Come with me, I'll find you a new place to live, where you can grow up as a child, and not a weapon." I told her.

There were tears in this girls eyes as she scrambled over to me, wrapping her arms firmly around my neck and her legs around my waist. I pinned her there with one arm and rocked her for a moment as she sobbed as quietly as she could into my shirt. "It's okay now, hold on to me tightly, and keep your eyes shut. We're going to get out of here right now." I said.

And I teleported the both of us to where Aizira and her brothers had set up camp.

XP

Kaida: O.O…Dude…

DP: Agreed.

Rhea: This represents my plot! (Pulls out previously twisted up silly putty, and begins twisting it some more) MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Kioko: I'm so happy for you.

Rhea: Okay, don't have much time today, so let's skip on to the FAQ! Princey, you do it!

Prince: YES!!! FINALLY!!!

Q: What in the world is suppose to happen with Kaida that's so terrible!?!?

A: Why do you even bother asking that? You know the authoress isn't going to reveal that kind of information.

Rhea: I'll tell you what will happen! THE MONKEYS WILL RISE UP AND TAKE OVER THE WOOOOOOOOORLD!!!

A: Told you.

Q: Is Kaida going to reveal herself to the Order of the…thingy?

A: If only to kill Mychala, maybe.

Q: Where'd the kid come from and why is she there?

A: I have no idea.

Kid: I'm cute!

Q: And?

Kid: (puppy dog eyes)

Q:…okay I'm sold.

Rhea: That's all for now!!! Until next time!

Kioko: R&R and all that crap.