Um, does everyone remember Kelger from the V prologue? Well… it turns out he's sort of dead. I blame Wikia for this, because on the page about Bartz, not once did it mention Kelger dying in-game! I apologize that I brought back someone from the dead that should not have come back.

But I have to admit Final Fantasy Wikia has made me love Bartz so much more now that I know his past! And Duodecim… I love it. Simply amazing… BECAUSE LAGUNA IS IN IT! Ahh, I love Laguna! I'm almost glad Rinoa isn't in it because of him! Now we get double the daddy-son action! I think in the new Jump Festa trailer it showed Yuna and Edea, too. Finally, a new villain to add to the mix!

Isan means Legacy (in honor of Bartz's father, Dorgann), and the quote is by Ramza, from Tactics: War of the Lions.

Chapter 28- Isan

If you need someone else to fulfill your dreams, it looses its value, wouldn't you agree?

((((()))))

It was one of those times when Bartz had absolutely nothing to say. Not one little peep of a joke, or the makings of a story to pass the time. Ever since Lenna had met him, Bartz had only gone into this kind of silence a few times. Those times were usually when he was up high somewhere or the subject of his family came up.

The wanderer despondently patted Boco's neck, the chocobo curious about Bartz and Lenna's three new friends. Boco let out a happy kweh behind him, cuing a smile and small giggle from Maria, who promptly scratched his back.

"So, Boco, what've you been doing around here?" Bartz finally said, scratching his companion's neck. "Hanging around waiting for us to show up?"

Bartz laughed as Boco nipped at his hair. "Hey, hey, none of that! This style takes a long time to master, you know."

"You wake up with it," Lenna chuckled, messing it up further by ruffling it.

"It worked for Cloud, didn't it?" he swiftly countered.

Another bit of silence fell over him. Already the others from Dissidia were starting be referred to as in the past. "It still does," Bartz quietly corrected himself with another sigh. He shook his head, putting up a perky front, and turned around. "Tycoon Castle shouldn't be too far off, if we're in the right forest. Just a little while more and we'll run straight into it."

Lenna smiled and sang, "I hope Faris is there! My dear sister," she explained to Firion, Maria, and Leon.

"Your dear mean sister…," Bartz muttered.

The princess rolled her eyes and exasperatedly said, "The airship was the only way we could escape, Bartz."

"But she didn't have to push me on it! What if I fell off the side?"

"We weren't even airborne."

"Th-that's not the point!" Bartz stuttered, sullenly throwing an arm around Boco's neck. "You agree with me, don't you, Boco?"

In response, Boco nuzzled his cheek. Bartz stuck out his tongue at Lenna. "There. The chocobo has spoken. Faris is a mean woman."

"Are you afraid of heights, Bartz?" Firion asked in surprise.

The wanderer went pale. "Uh, well…. Yeah. See, when I was a kid, my dad and I were working on the roof- we were pretty stupid to be out there in the middle of winter, anyways- and I fell off the side. I broke my arms and leg in a few places and since then, I can't hardly remember half of my birthdays."

Maria winced. "Oh, that had to be painful."

"It was," Bartz dryly replied.

They finally broke through the forest, a white castle in front of them. "See?" Bartz boasted happily. "Tycoon Castle!" Boco echoed happily with a kweh! and took off into a nice run towards the castle. "Go ahead and announce we're coming, Buddy!" Bartz called after him.

Bartz broke into a nervous laugh. "Now we've just got to get off this nice, tall cliff."

((((()))))

"Um, don't we have a job to do?"

Faris let out a loud yawn, reaching her hand out. Krile hesitantly handed her a glass of iced lemonade. "Eh, if that Cosmos chick said they'd show up, there isn't a need for us to go out and find that stupid Bartz. He'll take care of my sister, no matter how unorthodox the way is."

Krile sighed, dropping down into her seat next to the pirate captain. "But your father told us-"

The pirate turned to Krile and placated, "Krile. We're just the welcoming committee, interrogation team, and, probably, a sink to catch the tear-fest over Bartz's homecoming. Like I said, they'll both be okay. Besides, it's too hot to do anything, don't you think?"

The Bal princess was silent a moment, then she shivered and pulled up her knees. "Faris…," she slowly began, "I…."

Faris sat up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright, Krile?" She looked up as a cloud covered the sun, a wide shadow falling over them. A foreboding hit Faris and a sour taste filled her mouth. In a low voice, Faris murmured, "It's not him, is it?"

Krile suddenly looked up, light coming back as the cloud moved away. "Boco?" she asked, standing up. The excited chocobo skidded to a stop in front of the two. He bobbed a red scarf in his beak at them.

They recognized it immediately. "Bartz's scarf?" Faris wondered, taking it in an attempt to soothe the ruffled chocobo.

"Come on, Faris!" Krile cried in glee, jumping on Boco's back. She held her hand out to the pirate, who had a smile inching on her face. Faris took her hand and jumped on Boco's back. "Take us to Bartz and Lenna, please!"

"If my father asks," Faris told Krile as she put her arms around both her and Boco's neck to make sure the girl didn't fall off as Boco ran, "we found them and we deserve a reward for doing so. My ship needs an upgrade."

Krile's laughter was left on the wind.

((((()))))

"There are two other worlds connected to yours?" Firion asked in surprise upon hearing Galuf and Krile's homeworld.

Bartz nodded. "And an Interdimensional Rift, but that may or may not be the Void. You'll have to ask Krile about that. We're not sure why, but Krile can talk to the dead and all sorts of crazy stuff."

The three siblings exchanged a wary look. Maria slowly started, "This… Krile. She can really talk to the dead?"

"Yep," Bartz replied, slipping slightly on the gradual slope they were climbing down. "She talks to her grandfather, Galuf, all the time. Crazy stuff."

Firion frowned. "Maybe not so crazy. After all, Josef was there with us after we defeated Mateus and went back to visit Hilda…."

"Heeeey!"

Bartz and Lenna's faces lit up. "Krile!" Lenna burst, running to meet the two and Boco. The girl jumped off of Boco and ran to meet Lenna, laughing all the way. "I can't believe you're back!"

Faris actually smiled at Bartz without even realizing it. "I see you're back, Feather Brains."

"Is that sarcasm I detect?" Bartz joked, grinning back at the pirate. He turned around to Firion, Maria, and Leon. "This is Captain Faris, and that's Princess Krile. We're the amazing Warriors of Light when together. And we all have cool titles."

"You don't," Faris pointed out.

Bartz frowned. "Yeah, I do. 'Wanderer'. Isn't it mysterious?"

"That's… not a title."

"Well, my dad was a Warrior of Dawn. Your dad wasn't."

"My father is the King of Tycoon, I'm the rightful heir to the throne, and I'm the youngest and only female pirate captain in the world." She smiled mockingly at Bartz, who had a massive pout on his face. "I think that's a bit better than you."

Bartz turned back to Lenna with a scowl. "Told you so."

Lenna rolled her eyes and moved over to her sister. "Bartz thinks you're a cruel, evil witch."

"HER WORDS NOT MINE!" the wanderer yelped, ducking for cover behind Boco.

Krile suddenly sobered the moment by clearing her throat. "Um… I think we should head back to the castle. We some things we have to… discuss."

Bartz and Lenna exchanged worried looks. Bartz helped Krile back up on Boco. "We can talk on the way. We'll be up all night if we wait until we get to the castle to talk."

Faris nodded to her, signaling it was okay.

"I feel Exdeath here." Krile hugged Boco's neck, hiding her face from everyone. "He's back and he brought an ally. There's so much malice on the wind… Exdeath and that man cannot be up to any good."

"Chaos must have sent them after us…," Leon guessed, kicking a loose rock at his feet. "That means Chaos isn't strong enough to reach us. Their plan worked."

"Of course it worked," Bartz said quietly. "Kuja was smart, and Astos knew how to get a job done. Neither of them, I assume, were the type to die in vain. At least from what Zidane told me about Kuja, he definitely wasn't."

Leon sighed. "Astos wasn't either. But he told us he had a son that Garland killed back in his world because he hadn't been able to defeat Light, Mage, and the others in battle. I think he died partly to avenge his son, too."

"Who were Kuja and Astos?" Krile asked. "Friends?"

Bartz nodded. "They were two warriors from Dissidia, this crazy place Cosmos took us to so we could fight off Chaos and keep our worlds from falling apart. We fought a lot, and…. Gilgamesh was there. But he died in battle."

Krile looked back at Boco, a frown starting to form on her face. "Gilgamesh…." she shook her head. "I just can't believe that he'd stay behind in the Void like that in order to let us go."

The Dissidia warriors suddenly stopped, realization hitting them like a wild chocobo. Bartz turned around to Firion, who nodded in agreement. "If the Gilgamesh from your world is still in the Void, maybe he could help Rinoa find her way out. Maybe they could both find their way out."

Lenna tapped her chin. "I think there's hope for Rinoa yet, actually. Exdeath and Enuo were only able to send her spirit to the Void. Squall still has her body, though, right? So if we could find a way to contact her spirit…."

"…We could tell her to find Gil and work together to find a way out," Maria finished with a snap of her fingers. "Krile. Bartz and Lenna told us you have ties to the Void, right? Could you tell us a bit about it?"

She thought a moment, trying to decide what would actually make the most sense. "The Void is sort of like an afterworld of sorts," the Bal princess finally said. Krile picked at Boco's feathers and continued. "Not necessarily like limbo, but like it, if that makes sense. It's a realm of indecision and complete and total nothingness. You can bend it however you want, if you had the power to. I guess that's what Exdeath was- is after. If the Chaos fellow you all talked about was to gain control over the Void and this Dissidia place, a realm that connects all worlds, then he would have complete control over everything in existence."

"That's not good," Firion unnecessarily pointed out.

Bartz shook his head. "No, it's not. We need to hurry and restore power to our crystals so we can get back to Dissidia and tell this to the others. Or… if we could find some way to talk to Rinoa, we could tell her keep her guard up against Chaos if he's after the Void and Dissidia."

Silence fell over them all, the only noise coming from a happy trill from Boco when Krile scratched his head.

((((()))))

There was a lot to be done, but first they had to restore power to the crystals, however that worked. It would have been nice, Bartz figured, if Cosmos or Kuja or even Astos had given them any idea how to do that, but Chaos might have overheard and came up with a plan to stop the warriors.

But before they set out to do something about the crystals, King Tycoon treated them to dinner.

Bartz and Lenna sat on his right and Faris on his left at the head of the banquet table. Krile between Faris and Firion, who wanted to know more about her power to speak to the dead. Maria and Leon sat across from their adoptive brother.

Whether it was a good thing or not, Bartz started the first conversation. "Your Majesty?" he started politely, looking innocently to the king. "I have a bit of a favor, if you don't mind."

Lenna gave him an inquisitive glance, but Bartz only grinned. "Of course," Tycoon replied. "Anything you like, my boy."

"Can I call you Dad since Lenna and I are a bit of thing now?"

The King started to choke.

Bartz blinked and everyone froze, gaping as the king hit his chest, actually choking on his food.

Lenna shot up out of her seat and bolted to his side. "Daddy!" she burst, hitting his back. Faris rushed to the rescue and gave her father a solid punch to the stomach. Tycoon sucked in a breath and glared at Bartz, forgetting to give Faris a thank you.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Lenna groaned and dropped her forehead on Faris's shoulder as Bartz broke into a laugh. "I want to know if I can call you Dad!"

Tycoon went pale and unnervingly silent. Krile slightly gaped and Lenna's face was the same color as her pink hair. Like her father, Faris was just as dumbstruck at the smiling adventurer's face.

With everyone staring at him, Bartz slid down in his seat and obliviously asked, "What?"

And the royals exploded.

((((()))))

"Honest, I didn't know he'd start choking like that," Bartz swore as he unlocked the pen gate where Boco was.

Lenna rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, are you sure you can't wait until morning to go out riding Boco?"

"Ride him?" Bartz asked. He plopped down in the hay next to him. "Nope. I'm sleeping here."

"On hay in a barn out in the cold?"

"Boco's a good pillow. He'll keep me warm."

The princess failed at keeping her smile hidden. She shook her head in disbelief when Bartz laid back against Boco, wrinkling his nose when Boco nipped at his hair again. "I said to stop that! Geez, Boco!"

Lenna turned towards the castle. "I'll bring you down a blanket then, okay?"

Bartz grinned. "Thanks, Lenna."

When she was gone, his smile faded. "I'm glad to be back, Boco, but…. I didn't want to come back if it meant having to leave again. We've got all the worlds riding on us now, and people have already died."

He sighed and covered his eyes with his arm. "I don't want anyone else to die, Boco. I don't want us to have leave everything behind and come back to nothing."

Boco let out a quiet rumbling purr and settled his head on Bartz's shoulder.

"It's not just you and me anymore, buddy. I got tangled in with all these other people and… and I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I lose any of them."

Bartz shook his head, staring up above him at the starry sky.

"I just don't know…."

((((()))))

Rinoa and the woman in front of her simply stared at each other a moment, both startled to find one another. Rinoa looked at the yellow lily in her hands and asked, "Did you lead me here?"

The brunette shook her head, surprised. "No… who are you?"

"I'm Rinoa Heartilly."

The woman smiled and looked down at the lily in her hands. "You seem like a nice person, Rinoa." She looked up with worry in her eyes. "But you look like you came from a battle. Are you okay?"

The sorceress blinked, feeling like the battle had happened ages ago. It was pushed to the very back of her mind now. For what seemed like days she had wandered through the Void, following that lily, without any real thought besides finding a way out.

All the yellow lilies around her in this field reminded her of a special place.

But what?

"Oh! How silly of me," the woman suddenly laughed. "I forgot to introduce myself."

Rinoa saw her mouth move, but there was suddenly a numbness that washed over her. That place… that place- where is it? Why is it important?

Aerith cocked her head and frowned as Rinoa picked a lily and studied it critically. Rinoa finally shook her head, lips trembling. "I can't remember. I can't remember!"

"Remember what?" Aerith asked, alarmed as Rinoa collapsed on her knees. "Rinoa, what's wrong?"

"I can't remember who I was supposed to meet there!"

Boy, Bartz and the rest just keep this plot going, don't they? You have no idea how much I'm in love with Bartz after getting into V. He's my new little angst-weapon, like Zidane and Kuja are. They and Rinoa are just going to tear things apart and make such an angsty mess.

I love it. Please R&R!