Hey everyone! Yes, I am back! (Stop booing please…thank you.) and yes, the short hiatus this story has suffered as finally ended. Now a warning. I have no clue at all of what I was thinking when I wrote this part so if it weirds you out too much…I really can't do a thing. As always I DON'T OWN ANYTHING IN THIS STORY! Except for Ariadne and the bunch of OCs that I have introduced into the original plot. See? No need to send those nice lawyers after me. Besides my money disappears faster than ice in hell. No one would be able to get much from me…(Rea sighs heavily). But let's get this party going.
Answers to my dear reviewers:
Meepills – Hey again! Really glad you think this to be a good chapter. Those words are music to my ears…that sounds weird cause I read them…paintings to my eyes then? (Reyavie shrugs). Anyways I wanted to do something different with Ultimecia than just get there and kill her. Hence the whole sad episode. You'll get a small part of the answer to your question in this chapter but the rest depends a lot on how the rest of the plot will go. I'm continuing, really I am, and no more glares (Cheers echo from somewhere behind Rea). That's my ghost. The only thing he haunts is my wallet. (yes, it is that empty). No need to be sorry and I really hope you like this chapter. Enjoy.
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DarthStriker – And hello to you! Wow! Best ever? You really think so? Wow…wait a bit cause my words ran away (Ghost is seen floating around while grabbing words. Rea raises eyebrow with the weirdness of it all). Evil cliff-hanger? (Reyavie hides slowly under desk) It had to happen. If I didn't stop there you would have a more evil cliffy on this chapter…wait a sec. (Rea looks at the end of the chapter and winces). Can you consider not hating me? Please? (Ghost begins to write Rea's will donating everything to his name…Ghost.). Ok, let's continue. Believe that I still have a lot to write before I finish this and the romance will be very definitive. Not so sure about the sequel though. I was thinking about continuing it with a crossover, maybe with another FF. But that depends a lot. Why don't you tell me your opinion on that? I'll probably put it up for voting on one of the next chapters. No loose ends I promise and I am not evil (Ghost scoffs in disbelief.) Can you believe that I miss Thanatos? (Older Bro that's now in one of the summer rock festivals we have on Portugal…lucky $&/#$). Well, that's it. If you want to reread it go ahead but I'll have to warn you that I'm still not finished with this. Expect a lot of craziness before I do. Well gotta go. Read on.
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Rayne Sarazaki – Hey! And welcome to you! Nice to know that you think my story is nice. Believe that I'm not going to give up on it so you can keep following it cause there will be a chappie every week. So hope you like this chapter.
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Rae Anderson – Hey Rae! Still with the pesky problem with your fanfic huh? You shouldn't worry about your ideas some times being similar with other author's. On the end different authors will always find a way to make their stories unique. As always I'm very happy to know that you love my story and really liked your comment about the magic. Yes, I'm aware that there are other authors that also use it frequently but each in is own way. But I'm glad you like the way I use it nevertheless. And not having your own computer is really a pain…but why would I want to yell at you. First I love reading your reviews cause they help me to correct certain aspects of the story or realize that others are working well and second…how do you yell by email…? (Ghost hits Reyavie on her head). Darned spirit…anyways I'm still writing and it seems that I will be for some time as I had some additional ideas during my holidays…no, they weren't alcohol induced. If they were caused by something that something was sugar. Can you believe that every food, every one, on the Netherlands has something sweet on it? Dear God where is salt when you need it? (Rea winces remembering particular bad meal). Consequences of living all your life with a Mediterranean diet…well, I think I have babbled enough for today and I'm sure you're nearly asleep. So go on and read the chappie. When you reach the weird parts remember…sugar induced ok?
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A.N – This is just to explain something that will be said ahead in this chapter. I used the direct translation of a Portuguese sentence which I'm not sure if it's used in English. Basically "Eight or eighty" translated from "oito ou oitenta" means that one passes from one extreme to the other with no middle term. It can be used like when you see a person acting on a certain way and the next day the same person will be acting completely opposite. Hope this will stop any confusion. So everyone can keep on reading now.
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And welcome to the twenty-ninth chapter of Second Life. Rea goes back to do nothing at all…
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3rd Person POV
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Ariadne looked around to her surroundings with a frown on her face. White could get really old, REALLY fast. She placed her head on her hand with an audible sigh as she felt the begins of a headache.
– "Now, how in the seven levels of hell do I go home?" – The question had been a let's-say-this-out-loud-so-I-can-find-a-solution. So she wasn't really expecting an answer…
- "Well I think I can help with that" – Which explained the way she turned around sharply, a hand already rising and a spell about to pass by her lips.
A woman was in front of her.
Dark brown hair shone softly with its own light framing well designed features. She had light blue eyes that seemed, at the moment, faintly amused and extremely pale skin as if it had been long time since it had seen the sun. For someone that looked all too perfect she was dressed plainly in a pair of black slacks and a white shirt. A small smile was curving her lips.
– "This is a nice welcome" – Ariadne raised an eyebrow still in attack position.
– "And should I have any reason to welcome yet another sorceress?" – She asked coolly – "What is it this time? Another hissed "bearer" before trying to slit my throat?" – The woman crossed her arms, the veiled amusement that Aria had seen now plainly showing.
– "Well you are the Bearer" – She said as if it was obvious – "It should be normal for you to be addressed that way. Yeah…but you are in everything but in a normal situation. I keep forgetting that." – Aria gave her a very odd glance.
It seemed that if her future was in an asylum this woman's wasn't too far off.
– "You are so creeping me out" – She muttered – "Care to tell me who the hell you are?" – The woman uncrossed her arms before smacking her forehead.
Aria had reached a conclusion. The woman was totally nuts and there was no way in hell they would share an asylum.
– "Forgot about that" – She confided grinning – "Pleasure. I'm Hyne." – As much as it seemed impossible Ariadne's eyebrow rose even more with that.
– "Sure. A pleasure to meet you…Hyne" – Sarcasm dripped from her tone as she grabbed a katana. The woman may have been nuts but a dangerous nuts was dangerous all the same – "I'm the Easter bunny." – The woman's smile changed. It seemed more serious…
- "Afraid not." – Her light blue eyes were beginning to appear all too knowing for Aria's liking – "According to what I heard the little guy is about twenty cm high and likes to give chocolate eggs away. A real idiot if you ask me. Give away chocolate…"
Aria was not hearing someone insulting the Easter bunny.
– "No…" - The woman smiled again. – "You are Ariadne Scylla Beckerman, daughter of Kenneth and Igraine Beckerman, sister to Lugh." – Only a great deal of self control kept Aria's jaw in place.
– "You are an Earthling by birth but a Gaean by right since you have helped protect the planet and its people for the last years. You are a spy, a Seed, a warrior. You are a friend, a sister…and several other things if one cares to count them" – The Galbadian cocked her head slightly to the side, her eyebrow still firmly glued upwards.
– "You are not Hyne" – She declared calmly – "You are a freaking FBI agent." – The woman shrugged.
– "I have too much free time I guess" – Aria wasn't sure if she should be more afraid of her than of Ultimecia. What did she think Gaea was? Big Brother? – "And yes I am Hyne. Sit." – An order if Ariadne had ever heard one. And as usual her eyes narrowed and her annoyance boiled.
– "Excuse me?" – She would have crossed her arms if she wasn't still holding her katana – "I really don't care if you're Hyne or not but my friends are out there, I have no idea if they're okay and I want to go home to sleep possibly for a decade." – Another evaluating look. Another smile.
– "They are alright. You can trust me on that. And time does not matter in here." – Hyne sat on the "floor" instigating Aria to do the same. The girl gave her a wary glance as she slowly placed the blade on its place.
– "What do you want?" – She asked sitting very slowly.
– "To talk" – And it had to be done in the middle of nowhere. Aria fought not to roll her eyes. – "I am sure you would like to know why you were brought to Gaea. And why Ultimecia called you bearer?" – From that moment on Hyne had all her attention.
– "Understatement" – Said the dual voices in her mind. She scowled mentally and they shut up. They could easily understand that that was not a good time.
– "I better begin from the beginning" – Aria bit her lip to keep the comment that was struggling to get out.
– "Be my guest" – She said simply, Taur snickering in her mind as he heard what she really wanted to say. If she smiled again Aria would probably enter a killing spree.
– "This will take a while though." – Hyne's eyes carried a tired glint but the Seed chose to ignore it. While she did that she could also ignore the way her own limbs were begging for sleep.
– "Before I can answer your questions you will have to understand what happened before. What has led to this moment" – She sighed, for moments the happy-go-lucky façade she had showed disappeared into nothing.
– "I am old Ariadne. Older than you might possibly think. When I was born I was the first on this world. I had no future but the one I would make for myself. I had no guidelines, no rules." – Aria pulled a knee to her chest now even more interested.
– "I didn't make life" – Hyne continued – "Evolution is a beautiful thing and I simply watched as it took its course."
– "How were…"
- "How was I born?" – Finished the older woman – "Magic. I am an embodiment of magic. Born in the magic pool that you thought to be a myth." – The Seed smirked a bit when she realized the scientists she had protected would probably give an arm and a leg to be in her place.
– "After long years, and I mean long" – Hyne's grin made another appearance and Aria muffled a snort. She could almost see the Gaeans' reactions to this Hyne.
– "Humanity appeared" – Her smile turned wistful – "At that time they couldn't access the magic pool. They just existed. They lived and died and that was all. And I watched for a long time protecting them from all that I could. Taking a place as a guardian I guess. But I couldn't protect them from themselves." – She sighed deeply.
– "War began. Millions died even with my intervention. The Earth was covered in blood, cries wherever I walked. And I cried with them. That was the first time I dealt with death. And I lived through it all." – She made a pause that the girl didn't even dare to break.
Her hands were twiddling with the end of her shirt in a surprising human attitude. For a daughter of magic and the first sorceress alive she was nothing like Ariadne had been expecting. And she wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not.
– "That was the first but it wasn't the last" – Another sigh. Deeper if that could be possible. – "I grew tired." – Aria smiled dryly.
– "I got tired with just this one. I think I can understand your point of view." – Hyne stood from the "floor" walking a few feet away.
– "I was so tired then. Seeing everyone die around me was hard and soon enough I found myself not wanting to see it anymore. So I chose to go back "home". Become a part of my "parents" once more. But…" - She turned once more, a thoughtful look on her expression – "I couldn't leave my people alone. So I…"
- "Created the sorceresses" – Interrupted Ariadne – "That really worked." – Of all the things the woman could have done she grinned sheepishly.
– "This is the guardian of Gaea" – Commented Sacred – "Somehow I think I should be scared."
– "Make that terrified" – Added Minotaur.
– "It seemed a really good idea at the time" – Aria was ready to agree with her guardians.
– "Yes, I did create the sorceress" – Hyne continued now serious – "I imparted part of my power into three humans, all women. They would take my place as guardians. And when they died the power would pass on to another." – Ariadne nodded in comprehension before wincing as her injured hands reminded her of what had happened barely half an hour before.
– "But I knew that even sorceresses were humans. So I made a safeguard." – Sea green eyes widened in a mix of surprise and confusion. And for some reason their owner didn't like the piercing look that was fixed in her.
– "I created an artefact that if broken would cut the links between the sorceresses and my powers, rendering them to normal persons, and entrusted it to another human. One I knew to be open-minded enough not to abuse the power it would give him. And when he died another would be chosen and so on and so forth. Only he, or she, would be able to break it and therefore break that link." – Somehow Aria thought she was missing something really big.
It was then that Hyne dropped the bomb.
– "They were called the bearers."
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- "Come again?" – The first sorceress gave her an exasperated look before kneeling in front of her and touching something on her neck.
A beautiful red phoenix amulet that she had bought more that five years before. Ariadne looked at the amulet and then at Hyne and all her expression was pure shock.
– "You have to be shitting me. This cannot be…" - She shook her head again. Denial.
– "This is my artefact Ariadne. The Meva Ysimad, Life Amulet." – Hyne's voice was assured. – "Built as a last resource, as a last hope when all failed. And you are the Bearer. Ultimecia knew this and even Edea would have, had she been a sorceress after she had been possessed. If she had met you before she would have known…"
Aria stood up, emerald eyes confused but fierce. She shook her head somewhat violently before turning once more to the much older woman.
– "This cannot be yours" – She declared firmly – "I bought it on Earth. It was gift from a friend. It cannot be yours" – The stern look returned to Hyne's expression.
– "Yes it can. Now sit Ariadne. I am not finished." – The Seed did so. Slowly and cautiously but she did so.
– "Continue then" – Aria frowned slightly suddenly looking around for something. She could have sworn someone was calling her name…Hyne smiled again when she saw that.
– "Time has no meaning here Ariadne" – She repeated – "Now listen to me." – A small pause, marked by the vague glare in the emerald eyes in front of her, before the story was picked up once more.
– "It didn't take long for the sorceresses to find out about the Bearers and what they meant to them. As I said before they could feel them easily. My stone was like a crossroad between their powers and mine and that was hard to ignore. And soon enough one sorceress feared the Bearer enough to do something about it." – Another pause, this one longer.
– "Even I don't know well how the Bearers are chosen." – Hyne continued softly – "I gave the stone a kind of guidelines and it simply follows them. It chose a young boy. He was barely fifteen." – Aria's eyes narrowed in anger.
– "She killed him" – It wasn't a question. Hyne nodded.
– "And did the only thing she could do to ensure that no other Bearer would be chosen. She sent the amulet away…to any dimension, another world...never expecting it to be found…or to choose a Bearer in a magic less world. But it did." - The girl grabbed the amulet that was still shining faintly on her neck, pale green eyes blank besides the confusion underneath.
– "So you're telling me…" - Aria whispered – "That the reason for me being here…for all the shit I've been through…is because I was vain enough to buy a fucking necklace!" – Rarely she had felt so angry in her life. Or so stupid.
– "No" – Hyne shook her head slowly – "No. The Bearer is called to the stone. And even if you had ignored it, it would have found its way to you. It chose you Ariadne. Level-headed, open-minded, cunning…free. The one that does not let herself be blinded by prejudice and pain. You are a Bearer. The Bearer." – Ariadne didn't answer.
Even her guardians were silent, respecting the mood that their charge was showing. She stood once more, arms crossed, emerald eyes returning with her stern expression, teeth biting her lip as she paced from one side to another. If the situation wasn't so grave both brothers would be laughing their heads off with her attitude. Hyne didn't interrupt her.
But she did jump when Aria stopped abruptly, eyes widening in sudden realization.
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My POV
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This was everything I wasn't really expecting to happen. Just think with me for a moment.
I was brought to this world because of a trinket the size of a cookie.
I have been through hell cause no Bearer ever thought of destroying the stupid thing. That was what Ultimecia wanted me to understand. She knew this would happen. I had to learn and somehow she foresaw that I would. But what she said…Would I give her a second life? What kind of question was that after all?
But then a thousand light bulbs resolved to make themselves useful in my head. And I got it.
I finally got it.
A second life…a second chance…She never had one. A normal life. They never had one. And sorceresses and Bearers were sacrificed because there was no one to say "This is enough". And I…
I was caught in the crossfire.
A girl that knew little of this world besides its future. A girl that had been raised without the magic of the world around her.
And Ultimecia let us kill her…cause she wanted me to do something about what she had to live through. She was innocent as well.
I have to give to Hyne. Besides being obviously nuts she has a strange tendency to make a really bad situation worse. Yes, I understand why she did it. Hell, I wouldn't exactly love living forever while watching humans make fools out of themselves.
But where in Gaea did she go to think all of this stuff up? Cause I don't think there were any drugs a couple of millennia ago.
So I'm a Bearer.
I have a duty.
And I have promised an enemy to help her…I always keep my promises.
To paradox or not to paradox? That's one hell of a question. This is enough then.
Someone better thank me after this. A lot really.
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3rd Person POV
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Aria turned the first sorceress, emerald eyes showing that she was already nursing a half baked plan.
– "What will happen if I break it?" – She asked gravely – "The past will be changed will it not?" – If Sacred had a physical jaw it would have been broken by then.
– "So to make her use correct grammar we only need to place her in life or death situations" – Commented Minotaur – "It's eight or eighty with her isn't it?" – His brother forgot to scold him into submission. Ariadne chose to ignore them both, all her attention fixed on the smiling sorceress.
As to why she was smiling the Galbadian had no clue and little will to find out.
– "Yes…and no." – Aria's eyebrow twitched, a sure sign that whatever patience she had left was disappearing quickly.
– "Care to continue?" – The smile softened but the girl could still read the amusement on the light blue eyes. That was proving her, time and time again, that the older woman had a really odd mind…that or she had spent too much time alone with a little too much free time.
– "I told you that there are different dimensions" – Hyne began calmly as if she wasn't concerned in the least with Aria's annoyance – "And two in question walked side-by-side for a long time. In one of them you never came to Gaea and the story you have known from that piece of wonderful, yet too creative, seer's thoughts kept itself more or less the same." – The Seed was about to open her mouth but the sorceress continued knowing what was coming.
– "Yes, that's the origin of the story. Just because Earth is essentially magic less that does not mean that there aren't a few odd ends here and there." – Aria sat again, head lightly supported in the knee that she was hugging to her chest.
– "So someone got high and dreamed all this?" – She asked dryly. – "Just my luck. So what else? I did notice you said more or less" – She could have sworn Hyne's glance had turned slightly scolding before she continued.
– "Vincent did rule Galbadia and Seed was called to fight a sorceress. Edea." – She made a small pause so that Ariadne could assimilate the information. By the pensive look, she had.
– "But that means…"
- "Wait" – Interrupted Hyne – "Let me finish. Edea was defeated by her own students and that was that. The power passed to Rinoa and then to another woman and another and another until a young woman named Lyanna became a sorceress."
- "She was too young. Too afraid of the power that she had received. And that fear only increased with the fear she had of death. Sorceress aren't rumoured to have a long and happy life Ariadne. And Lyanna turned then to Ultimecia. After quite a while she found the plans to a device that would allow her to go the past, to destroy her future but…she found another past instead."
- "Ariadne…do you remember what she told you first in Galbadia Garden?" – Aria frowned as she attempted to remember while shaking the chill that had been growing in her spine for some time.
– "Expecting." – She finally answered – "She wasn't expecting me." – Hyne nodded in satisfaction.
– "Correct" – She confirmed – "Lyanna wasn't expecting a Bearer to exist in that time because if it did…"
- "It would have to have intervened in the battles against Edea" – Completed Ariadne – "Which meant that the sorceresses would have ended and she would have been…normal. A normal girl." – She groaned loudly.
– "That was why she had it for me. She thought that I had stayed in the background while the others suffered." – Hyne smiled again with a hint of pride.
– "Which would mean" – Aria frowned deeply – "The future of this world would be changed drastically but not the past. But how can I give her a chance? Even if she's born in the future she will not be the same Ultimecia." – Her head was beginning to hurt with all the thinking she was doing.
It was too many considerations about the future for her poor mind. Too many problems about each decision she attempted to do. It was beginning to seem a life-sized chess game.
– "Believe in reincarnation? Life after death and so on?" – Asked Hyne out of the blue. – "Don't try to see all roads child. Most of them are closed until the right time." – The Galbadian gave her a small glare for the way she had been referred to but let it pass.
She was eighteen. The woman was older than dirt.
– "She will have her own chance." - The sorceress continued gently – "Just have faith that everything will turn out alright. Allow her to make her own choices." – Ariadne just nodded, a shuddering breath leaving her lips as she watched the woman, a thought she had ignored earlier dropping into her mind like a bomb.
- "Lady Hyne" – A formal address but the only one that seemed adequate. – "You told me that I was a Bearer, chosen by the Meva Ysimad...it makes sense that I was brought here then but... what about Josh?" - Hyne sighed, seeming as if she had been waiting for that question.
- "The amulet brought you here because it felt you in danger." – She answered sadly – "Your injuries were dangerous enough for it to consider that you would die if it did not intervene. Josh...he was by your side correct?" - Another nod as the girl remembered the seats they had taken that afternoon.
- "You touched him when you were hit."
- "And here I thought no one could be even blunter than you Aria" – Mumbled Minotaur – "Now I can understand why Gaea is so screwed up." - Sacred took himself out of his stupor enough time to begin bashing his brother quite loudly.
– "I would really like if you stopped that 'Red" – Ariadne hissed mentally – "I am in enough shit without having to deal with a headache." - And she proceeded to ignore them in favour of her enlightening conversation.
– "Can you..." - She finally took her head from her knee to face the blue eyed sorceress. – "Can you bring him back...if he wished that is?" - And yet another smile. Aria had reached easily the conclusion that the woman really missed human contact.
- "Yes I can Ariadne" – Hyne said even more easily – "And I will give him the choice...as I will to you. The moment you break the stone I will not be able to intervene in Gaea anymore so this will be a one-time chance." - Light blue eyes shone, a piercing glint that seemed to strange to the woman Aria had just met.
- "So answer me Ariadne Beckerman. Do you want to go back to Earth?" - Silence filled the whiteness of the place where they had been talking and the sorceress made no movement to break it.
Instead she chose only to look at the girl watching as she frowned at the floor, emerald eyes showing deep confusion for several moments. She was biting her lip apparently without noticing the action while she tried to read whatever answers the floor could give her.
- I... - She looked at Hyne and her eyes filled themselves with resolve. - Yeah...I want to go to Earth...
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Opps! I'm afraid (literally) that I'll end it here this week. So when all of you people that are reading this stopped with the homicidal thoughts involving me and a lot of weapons maybe you could…I don't know…huh…REVIEW! See the little button on the end of the page? You press it and let me know what you think of this. You do want to help me to reach the 100 reviews don't you? (Ghost makes puppy dog eyes while Rea raises eyebrow once more). And just when I thought my life couldn't get any weirder…nevertheless any errors and mistakes you found please warn me so I can correct them and comments and haphazard ideas are very welcome. So REVIEW EVERYONE!
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Next chapter: Relieving memories in the flesh, discovering changes and immutable things…
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See ya all next week
Reyavie (Ghost waves…). Thanatos will be back next week…is that good? (Ghost sniffles while going back to wallet. Rea looks at it strangely before shrugging). I really think so.