All right, so here we are with the next installment of Legend, where things take a turn for the past and we're thrust back into time. So without further ado, the next chapter of this epic!

Ike, Maria, and Fiordiligi made it out of the underworld with their lives intact, despite all of the dangers thrown at them.

Upon arriving back in the world of the living, they were met by Cecilia and Calvin, two people that were journeying across Elibe for religious reasons. Ike and his two friends tag along, hoping to find some answers to the questions at the back of all of their heads.

Also, they looked for a good opportunity to head to the past without disturbing the two people that they had joined on travels.

Chapter 2: Back to the Past

When the caravan arrived at a small border town in Bern, they were almost shocked to find the streets devoid of any sign of life. The buildings, too, had taken quite a bit of damage, as if they had been burned out. As the group looked on this scene, the priest of Elimine looked forward, his eyes scanning the place around them with its eerily deserted streets and its buildings that were now little more than burning piles of cinder on the side of the road.

"My Goddess..." said Ike, looking around him in wonder at the destruction. "Who could've done this?"

"I dunno," said Cecilia as she too looked around, amethyst eyes hiding a bit of anger. "I'll bet it was those goons from the two armies!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was, I can tell you that much," said Maria as she led Fiordiligi along. "Now what're we going to do?"

Fiordiligi simply aimed her head up, confused. "What is the matter?"

"Oh, nothing, we just walked into a destroyed village, nothing we can't figure out!" replied Cecilia sarcastically.

"I'm blind, damn you!" retorted the lady angrily. "At least have a little respect for those who can't see what is going on!"

This effectively shut Cecilia up, and so she did not reply to this bit of reason as they trudged further into the town.

"My God..." said Calvin, shaking his head. "How... How could anybody have let this happen?"

"Who knows?" asked Ike, shrugging as he said this. "Anyways, I don't think it's a good idea to dwell on it all that much. Let's just make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

The priest of Elimine nodded briefly, looking around with a doubtful look in his eye.

"So...?" asked Maria as she looked around. "Where are we going to set up camp?"

This question got nasty glares from everybody around her except Calvin. She was surprised to find Ike staring back at her in an appalled manner as well. She simply stepped back and held her hands up in the air defensively.

"Why are you asking that?" asked Ike. "Let's see if there's anybody else here who survived and then we'll set it up!"

Maria simply said nothing to this, and then Ike and the gang began to inspect the burned buildings to make sure there were any survivors.

When they had found no survivors in the town after a few hours of searching, Calvin, Cecilia, and Ike had set up camp within the city. Calvin had started a fire with which to cook dinner from what good timbers remained from the old inn while Cecilia had gone off to hunt. That left Fiordiligi, Maria, and Ike to sit around the fire as the priest prepared it.

"You know, you're the first people other than Cecilia that I've met on my travels," said the priest softly.

"Really?" asked Ike.

"Yes," said Calvin, having lit the fire at the moment of saying this. "Am I the first holy person to travel with you?"

Maria and Ike both looked at each other before shaking their heads. "Not exactly," replied Maria truthfully, holding her hand out flat in the air. "We had a friend who could... communicate... with the spirits..."

"Really?" asked Calvin as he sat down in front of the fire. "I met somebody who had a similar power during my travels."

At this, Ike's eyebrows perked up. "You did?" he asked. "What happened to him?"

"He got claimed by the war..." replied the priest, looking up to the sky as he spoke. "The poor man was on Bern's side, and he got killed by his own friend who was on Lycia's side..."

"I see..." said Fiordiligi a little glumly.

Calvin shook his head at this truth. "It was terrible, too," he continued. "He was such a nice man. Always kind, always honest, and quite knowledgeable about spirits. He was the only person ever to defeat Cecilia in an argument about spirits..."

Calvin said this last tidbit with a slight chuckle, Ike looking at him solemnly. There was a brief pause as Calvin looked back up to the sky and shook his head.

"But there was always something about him I could never figure out," replied the priest. "You see, he always looked so sad."

At this, Maria's expression perked up a little, but Calvin took no notice of this as he continued. "It's like... how do I describe it...? Like... he was atoning for a past sin of some nature. I was never able to figure it out in the time I knew him. The poor man..."

Maria shifted where she sat, the expression she had picked up earlier gone from her face. Ike shifted a little as well, his gaze fixed on Calvin.

"I see..." said Ike. "Do you meet a lot of people on your travels?"

"Usually," replied the priest. "But only a few have ever left lasting impressions on me. And the only person to have truly bonded with me was Cecilia..."

Maria raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?" she asked.

"Ah, yes!" said the priest, smiling a little. "I remember when I first met Cecilia. She was laying passed out in the plains of Sacae, so then I nursed her back to health. She says she can't remember what was going on that got her there, although I still doubt that to this day."

"Really?" asked Fiordiligi. "If I may ask, why?"

"Well, Cecilia was always something very exotic," began the priest. "She was always a little wild and always doing very, very crazy things when I first met her. Also, because she hasn't aged much in the ten years I've known her."

This was enough to cause Ike and Maria to send a baffled look at the priest, Fiordiligi trying her best to do the same but aiming in a wrong direction.

"What?" asked the priest, noticing this.

"Well..." said Ike. "We also knew someone who ages slowly..."

"Ah," said Calvin with a shrug. "Perhaps it is something you might know about?"

Maria nodded. "I'm not sure we should tell, though," she said. "I mean, if we explained it then we'd be here forever. So anyways, what else is odd about her?"

"Well, she keeps this strange jewel attached to her hand," replied Calvin in a half-whisper. "She says it's a memento of her mother, but I think it might be something else..."

"Well, if you have so many suspicions about her, then why not leave her where she is?" asked Fiordiligi.

"H-how dare you!" stuttered Calvin angrily. "Cecilia may be a mysterious character, but she has a kind heart! I've never met a soul with such an intrinsic sense of kindness!"

This short rant left Fiordiligi just short of speechless. The woman said nothing at all for a few seconds, Calvin letting his anger vent out as well.

"Apologies for the outburst," said the priest after a short while. "I am just very defensive of Cecilia. She has been my best friend for years, you know."

"I know the feeling," said Ike with a shrug. "I wonder... Who else left impressions on you on your travels?"

"Oh!" said Calvin excitedly, raising a finger in the air.

The priest then proceeded to tell stories of the people that had left impressions on him during his travels across Elibe, Ike, Maria, and Fiordiligi all listening intently to the man tell his stories.

Later that night, Maria, Ike, and Fiordiligi had snuck away from Cecilia and Calvin's hospitality for a brief period of time into one of the burned down buildings. Maria was glad to be away from them for at least a short period of time, although she would miss their hospitality greatly.

"So there's some kind of war going on," said Ike. "So... Any ideas?"

"I don't think we have the whole picture," said Fiordiligi with a shrug. "So I guess we'll just have to ad lib everything and see how it all goes..."

"I hope it's not too rough," said Maria, her hand on her belly as she looked down at the bulge that had formed there. "I think the baby might come soon..."

"Hopefully, we'll be ready for it when it comes," said Ike.

"Yes," replied Fiordiligi. "Do you think Cecilia is one of the branded?"

"I don't know," said Maria with a shrug. "I can't see any kind of brand on her body anywhere."

"We shouldn't worry about it now..." said Ike. "Maria, you have the time crystal?"

"Of course," said the cat, holding the strange crystal up.

The crystal in question gave off an ethereal blue glow that casted itself upon the burned timbers of the old inn. The crystal itself was a strange sea blue, the shine from within giving the effect that it should have.

"Okay..." said Ike. "So, we bang it against an object and we're sent back in time to twelve and a half years..."

"I just hope this goes well..." said Maria, checking the place one last time to ensure that it was enclosed.

When she had made sure of this, the cat laguz struck the crystal against the side of one of the timbers that was jutting out of the ground. The trio suddenly found themelves travelling within a tunnel of impressive lights and colors, and that was all they could see for a few short seconds.

After those seconds had passed, they suddenly found themselves standing in an open field far from where the village they had set up camp in had gone. Ike looked at Maria and Fiordiligi and nodded, not noticing the shocked expressions on their faces.

"What the hell?"

At least, not until he heard the voice of Cecilia coming from behind him. Whipping his head around, he found the figures of both Calvin and Cecilia staring right at them, the both of them very confused and shocked.

"Oh, boy..." said Ike. He knew the instant he saw them there that explaining the situation was not going to be easy.