Xenogears and all associated characters are the property of Square. All original characters are my property, all rights reserved.
This is a sort of alternate universe story. One year after Deus's fall, something good begins to happen.
THE OTHER WAY
Prologue:
Another Sunny Day
________________
Kim Kasin sighs, looking up at the clear blue skies over Valeria as he walks down the street of the Zeboim city.
The sun is shining, the wind blowing through his dark hair, and work today went very, very well.
The war ended ten years ago, when the Prime Minister called for a cease fire and complete disarmament. The missiles were dismantled, the armies cut back, and the gears deactivated. And only the Mass Driver was left as a monument to the stupidity of the war.
Through use of his nanoassemblers and nanomachines, the entirety of the damage to Earth was more or less healed. The skies were cleared, the radiation cleaned up, and the damage to people repaired.
And someday, someday soon, he will finally fix his wife's problem, and they can have children of their own.
But for now, their daughter will do.
He slides his card into the apartment building door, jogging up the three flights, sliding in his card and opening the door.
The amber haired woman is waiting on his couch, smiling sweetly to him as she walks over.
He smiles, wrapping his arms around her, the two slowly kissing as the green-haired child walks out from her bedroom.
"Kim!", she yells, running over.
He smiles, lifting her up, Elly sighing before walking to the kitchen.
"Hello, Emmy," he says, "How was your day?"
"I graduated up to seventh grade, Kim," she responds.
"And how was work?", Elly asks from the kitchen.
He smiles, widely, carrying their daughter to the kitchen.
"Wonderful," he says, "Everything is wonderful."
Chapter 1:
Benevolence
____________
Sigurd Fatima silently leans on the wheel of the Yggdrasil, flicking away a lock of white hair as he watches the man, dressed in green and white, a long ponytail going past his waist, constantly pressing buttons on the sensor controls.
"Hyuga," he groans, "At what point will you be done? You've been at this for three hours. Trips from Aveh to Lahan, taking the long way around the world, take less time."
"I'll be done soon, old friend," Citan Uzaki responds, "Wait...there."
Sigurd climbs over the railing, effortlessly landing on his feet and walking over to his old friend.
"And that would be?", he asks, seeing a wave go past on the sensor screen..
Citan narrows his eyes, placing his index finger on his chin.
"I'm not sure," he says, "But I swear I've seen that wavelength of energy before..."
Which is when every screen on the ship becomes active, the engine humming like they haven't heard in over a year.
"...the Hell?!", Sigurd asks, "Citan, what's that?!"
"It's...it's all the generators coming online."
"Half the generators are Ether power, Citan. They're not supposed...to...work?"
Citan runs over to another screen, his eyes widening as he sees the information.
"Ether generators running at 55%...75%..."
He turns to Sigurd, slowly.
"Ether generators are at full power."
Fei Fong Wong awakens with the sound of a knocking on his cabin.
He smiles, sitting up, throwing back on his tunic over his black trousers, retying his ponytail as the door knocks again.
Elly was due back today from a small political meeting in Nisan, anyway. But apparently he's overslept. She was due back at about 3:00, and he was going to wake up at about nine to get everything ready to surprise her...
He doesn't bother with his watch, figuring it has to be her. Has got to be her, because he can't remember asking anyone else over before three.
He walks across to the door, smiling as he opens it...and his jaw drops, his eyes going wide.
"Oh, hello Fei," he hauntingly familiar, black haired woman says, "...is Elly still out?"
He absently nods, his heart beating faster and faster. The woman, a good twenty years elder to him, smiles, folding her hands in front of her.
"Well, let's get to work, then.", she says, "I know you usually don't need my help, but considering tonight, I'll just help you fix up everything and then I'll be out of your hair."
He nods, stepping back, his body shaking, his hand bracing against the small table which he never remembers buying or building.
"Fei?", she asks, walking through the door, "Fei, is something wrong?"
He gives out a choked scream, backing away and tripping himself on a slightly loose board, falling to the floor and slamming his head.
He lies there, twitching, still seeing her walking to him.
The woman there isn't Ellyham Van Houten.
The woman is Karen Wong.
Yui Gasper Ricdeau Uzaki hums to herself as she checks the soup boiling on the stove, nodding to herself, satisfied.
She walks over to her icebox, absently eyeing the inactive, either-powered refridgerator, taking out a bag of vegetables and walking over to her counter.
She takes out three stalks of celery, chopping them with a large knife.
And nearly cuts herself as she hears a loud hum. She walks over, cautiously, touching the fridge door...and pulls her hand back when she feels that it's cool. She pulls the door open, a slight gust of cool air hitting her face and slightly blowing her flaxen hair.
"Hm...", she says, "Citan must have hooked it up to that generator..."
But no extra cords are there. No special attachments...
She shrugs, walking over to the unchopped vegetables, smiling as she sees the door open.
"Mommy?", Midori asks, walking over.
Yui looks down, smiling.
"Yes, precious?", she asks, "What is it?"
"Mommy...look outside.", the young girl says, pointing over to the window.
She nods, walking over...and she gasps, her eyes going wide.
A massive, green-white gear is walking outside. When it's supposed to be inactive and lying on the ground.
And the supposed to be inactive gear is fixing Citan's work shed, rounding up the chickens, and basically doing the outside work.
"Fenrir...?", she asks.
"It just started moving, Mommy.", Midori says, "It's happy."
Which is when Yui rolls her eyes up, and collapses to the floor.
"I don't get it," Sigurd says, he and Citan in the ship's bar, "One second we're at half power and the next second we have Ether! Doesn't this sound a bit strange?"
Citan nods, sighing.
"Yes. Yes, it does. Ether was supposed to be eliminated with the destruction of Zohar. Maybe this is just a residual, and won't last..."
"Mr. Citan?"
He turns over to the bar, Maison, the elderly caretaker of this part of the ship holding out a phone.
"Yes, Maison?", he asks, walking over.
"It's your daughter."
Citan nods, taking the phone, smiling slightly.
"Midori?", he asks.
"Daddy? Mommy fainted."
Citan narrows his eyes, turning his back to Maison.
"She fainted?", he whispers, "Why?"
He knows one thing. It takes something completely unexpected to even rattle Yui. Much less disturb her to that point...
Much like the reason that her daughter tells him.
"Fenrir's doing the gardening."
It's one thing to come down to the former gear hangar of Aveh to pay respects to the omnigear that saved your bacon more than once.
It's another thing to find the omnigear fully active.
And it's a complete extreme of that positive way of thinking to find your many years dead father, hearty and hale, looking over the gear as if it's something that happens every day.
"D...Dad?!", Bartholemew Fatima asks, wide eyes...and smiling.
The slightly aged man turns, smiling widely.
"Sorry if I'm intruding on your space, Bartholemew," the supposed to be dead king of Aveh says, "You're keeping Andavari in good condition. It looks like it was freshly built."
Bart nods, absently walking over to his father.
"I got a message from Sig," he says, "Said he should be back in a couple of hours."
"It takes that long from the old artifact cave?"
"Nah, but he needs to drop of Citan," Bart responds, "So...how's everything up above ground?"
The old king smiles, slightly, clasping his hands behind him, and begins to talk.
And only one thing goes through the prince's mind.
Screw probabilities.
Ellyham Van Houten closes her eyes, looking down as she walks to a cliff overlooking a massive crater that was once the capital of Solaris.
Her home. The pace where her mother died, her father died, and countless others as Id unleashed his rage on the closest possible target.
And still, they didn't stop the bad guys one bit...
She opens her eyes as the ground rumbles. Looks up as she sees a pink-white wave of energy streaking across the skies...and falls to her feet as the rumbling becomes louder, the tremors stronger.
She picks herself up to her knees, dust covering her solarian uniform as trendrils of light rise from the ground, wrapping themselves around each other as they form into a shape two miles high.
They flash, brightly...
And on the ground, upside down....
Is the slightly ragged city that she called home.
She rises to her feet, slowly, her mouth absently opening as she stares in something between shock and complete confusion.
She steps back, slowly, her breath rattling in her throat as she turns about...
And sees a fully powered Vierge kneeling behind her.
She shrugs, still shaking, climbing up the hand and into the cockpit, giving off a small sigh of relief as it rises into the air and shoots off into the distance...
The first thing they notice as Citan and Sigurd pass the fence is that the grass is perfectly mowed, the flower bed arranged, and the chickens are all in their coop.
The second thing they notice is the Gear walking past them, holding several pairs of hedgeclippers in its massive hand.
"I don't think this is temporary.", Sigurd says.
"Me neither," Citan says, and runs to the house, opening the door and running to the kitchen, where he sees Yui sitting absently on the floor, Midori standing next to her.
"Yui!", he says, "How long has Fenrir be walking?"
"Before I called.", Midori says.
Citan nods, helping his wife up as he watches through the window as Fenrir straightens out the spider-mech lying on his workshed.
"Forty-seven minutes," he says, "That's....about two minutes after that wave passed us."
"Think it's related?", Sigurd asks, standing in the doorway.
Citan nods, adjusting his glasses.
"I'd place money on it-"
He looks down as something bleeps.
He rumages around his pockets, taking out a small, flat black object.
He shakes it, the object snapping out into a small phone, putting it to his ear.
"Yes?"
"Figures that this's still working,", Bart says, "Hey, Doc. My omnigear is working, Aveh's completely rebuilt and bustling despire Deus leveling it to a village a year ago, and I just had a long, heart-to-heart conversation with my dad, who was assassinated a long time ago. Any ideas?"
"I've got some. I'm on my way."
He turns to Sigurd, sighing.
"Aveh.", he says, "We're going to Aveh."
Sigurd, shrugs, nodding.
Citan turns back to his family, sighing again.
"We need to go to Aveh."
"And what about the giant gear?", Yui asks.
Citan walks over to the window, opening it.
"Fenrir!", he yells, "Sit!"
The gear freezes for a moment...and calmly sitting on the ground.
"Good. That still works."
He takes his wife's hand, picking up his daughter, and they follow Sigurd out of the house...
Billy Lee Black twirls his handgun, checking to make sure the chamber is empty before pocketing it again. He looks up, smiling as he sees the orphanage in front of him, cracking his neck slightly as he walks through the gate...
And narrowly avoids the two little boys running past him, playing a fast-paced game of tag...
Which shouldn't be happening, because after the Deus incident, the children either disappeared, mutated, or were evacuated...
He quickly walks to the door, cautiously opening it and walking into the building.
"Prim?!", he yells, "Prim, what happen-"
What he'd expect at this point is for her solemn sister to walk out and give him one of those 'whoops' looks. Although she can't exactly gather thirty or so children to surprise him...
"Billy!", the now-exuberant, platinum blonde haired girl yells, running through the door across from him, "Billy! Billy, she's back!"
His eyes narrow, an eyebrow raising as he freezes in place.
Prim is speaking. Prim is speaking and had suddenly become a chatterbox as she wraps her arms around his torso.
"Billy, she's back!", Prim yells, "She's back I don't know how but she's back!"
"Prim, who?", he asks, "What happened here..."
"Took your time getting back, son," Jessiah Black says, smiling widely, "I'm sure Sig would've been happy to give you a ride."
Billy looks up...and his mouth slowly opens, his eyes going wide as he sees them.
Not just his grizzled, smirking father. More like the person he has an arm around.
And for that moment, Billy smiles, seeing his father, Jessiah.
And his mother, Racquel.
And, for the first time in a while, he starts to laugh.