Chapter Two: The Other Side The sand was fine and actually kinda soft. How long had he been lying there, trying to piece together what had happened? A few days? A week? Sitting up, Crowe shook the sand out of his hair and looked around before getting up. The area was nice, and his translator allowed him to understand the local people. In a short time, he'd managed to get some clothes that looked a bit more like the local attire, not only for himself, but also for his wife, Elena. The pair lived in a small house just outside of Peterney, and he fished. "Crowe." Elena stepped out of the house, placing her hand on the large belly on her front. She looked a little tired, and pale. "Another vision, love?" Crowe asked. Elena nodded. "It was about that little green friend of yours, Faize. He'll be arriving here at some point, but not in Peterney." Crowe nodded. "Do you have an idea where?" "It was near a city with snow." Elena said. "He wasn't wearing his cloak, and someone walked over. From what I saw, it was the wicked one." She took Crowe's hand. "There is some slightly good news." "And that is?" "I also saw your friend Edge, and his friends. They will be coming, near here, but not inside Peterney like we did." Crowe nodded. "I'm just afraid this will cause more harm than good, Elena." He walked her back inside. "Now rest, love. I'll listen around for any news of the others, alright?" Elena nodded. "Take care, Crowe." Crowe wandered into town, taking with him a net of fish. Might as well sell some of his surplus catch. The town of Peterney was nice, but far from what most people back on Earth would call civilized. He liked it like that. His understanding of what had happened to him and his wife was still shaky, but he did know one thing: what he'd seen in that looking glass of the professor's hadn't shown him anything that had been happening right then, but rather in this planet's past. As for the planet, that was still a mystery. "Hey, can I buy some of those fish?" asked a young man with blue hair. "Sure." Crowe replied. He blinked at the kid. The boy was dressed like the other people around, it was the fact that the kid also carried something on his waist that looked vaguely like a translator. "Oh, it's ten fol for each fish." "I need twelve." the boy smiled. Crowe counted out the fish. "That's my whole catch." he smiled. "Hey, um, quick question." "Ok." "You're not from here, are you?" Crowe asked. The boy shook his head. "I'm from Earth." "You too?" Now it was the blunette's turn to stare. "You're an Earthling?" "Yeah. I'm Captain Crowe F. Almedio . . ." "He died." the blunette said, cutting Crowe off. "Hundreds of years ago, before the UP3 was put into place." Crowe gave him a look. "My friend Edge made the UP3 only two years ago." The boy looked at Crowe. "What year do you think this is?" "S.D. 14." The blunette snorted back a laugh. "Ok, something in that program is busted, somewhere at some time." He looked back at Crowe. "You're on Elcoor 2, in the year 772." Crowe blinked. "So, I'm considered dead?" "You can think of it that way." the youth smiled. "By the way, I'm Fayt Leingod." "You don't seem that phased by my being here." Crowe said. He followed Fayt over to a camp just outside of Peterney. "Why are you camping out here?" "Albel got us thrown out of the only inn." said a brunette girl. She scowled at the man in the belly-top and skirt with the twin pigtails. "Sophia, don't blame him. It was my fault." Fayt said. He looked back at Crowe, then to the girl. "By the way, Sophia. You remember your big hero in history?" "Crowe F. Almedio, the youngest person to ever hold a captain s rank in the SRF, and pioneer of the space exploration." Sophia returned. "So?" "Nice to know I have a fan." Crowe said. "But still, I was wondering why you weren't phased about my being here." "Oh, you're not the first." Fayt replied. He walked over to a larger, circular tent, and peered inside. "Hey, you awake?" "Yes." came a soft voice. There was a sigh and some movement from in the tent, and Fayt gasped. "You lost it?" "More like he grabbed it when I pushed him out of the way." The figure stepped into Crowe's line of sight, and his breath caught. "Crowe?" He moved closer, and Crowe could see the slight figure, dressed in brown robes, and hood over his head. "You know me?" he asked. The figure stepped out, pulling the hood back. "I'm surprised. You came here, even after I tried to keep you away from that mirror." "Faize?" Crowe had no idea what do say. He'd been sure he was seeing things when that strange glowing entity had tried, several times, to call him away from the mirror, and had almost pushed both him and Elena away from it before the crazy doctor had forced the pair to go through. "How can you be here?" Faize shrugged. "I fell through." he replied. "When Edge and I slipped, I was able to call Arumat's Sol to save him. I tried to cling to the bottom, but I fell again, and was swallowed up in a meteor fragment that sped through time until I got here. But . . . other things keep happening. I'm not the same as I once was." "No kidding." Crowe replied. "You look different." "I can go back to that planet with the mirror, but only when I'm in a trance." Faize explained. "That mirror is actually part of the meteor I was in. But something happened when I crashed, and it formed a time connection. As of yet, I'm the only one that's able to go back and forth." "But, Elena said you weren't here yet. She said you were going to be picked up by 'the wicked one'." "Oh, she meant Albel. And yes, he's the one that found me." Faize smiled. "You can let her know I'm alright. But if I can't watch the mirror, Edge may befall your fate as well." He turned back to the inside of his tent. "Should I, um . . ." Fayt asked. "It's up to him if he wants to stay tonight." Faize replied. "But I would welcome his company." With that, he slipped back into the tent. "Was he referring to me?" Crowe asked. Fayt shook his head. "Something happened between him and Albel, and the two spend most nights together. I'm not upset, I just wish my cousin would stop hitting on me." "Oh. Is there someone you like?" Crowe asked. He looked up at the sunset. "Yeah, but she's not with us right now." Fayt replied. "Something wrong?" "I just have to get back to Elena." Crowe replied. "She's going to need me to help feed the cat, anyway." He smiled. "So, how long are you going to be here?" "About a week." Fayt replied. "You coming back?" "I might." Crowe replied, heading off. He just had to tell Elena about this. A.N. - Ok, another short update on the game. I made it to Limerus, and came across a few realizations. Because I have the game set to classic mode, which shows the animated icons, I realized, Faize doesn't smile. He tries his hardest to remain expressionless, and this shows in his character menu model. Neither does Lymle, but she pouts in order to try and look cute, in my opinion. The other thing is that on Limerus, after Faize gets knocked down by Cerberus, Edge looks at Faize as though to help him up, and Faize makes a motion to take Edge's hand. However, Egde just leaves him there to go talk to Lymle and introduce himself. Faize is left to pick himself up, and is quite shaky after. Even Reimi only looked his way slightly before going over to talk to Lymle. So I can see where the animosity at first comes from.