One Year Later

"You're kidding me, right?" Ifrit snorted.

"You're the only one around with opposable thumbs." Leviathan calmly answered, before proceeding to gesture to one portion of the ruined wall with the end of his tail. "I put the outlet over there. Just move it there and plug it in. The satellite dish should get signals so we don't have to worry about programming or cable or anything digital."

Ifrit frowned and scratched his head. "Say what?"

A loud sigh suddenly went out, but it came from neither Ifrit nor Leviathan. Instead, both espers…or, more appropriately, guardian forces, turned and looked to see a new arrival coming in. A haze of frost and mist surrounded her as her body gracefully flew between two of the columns of the main chamber, and her body swept around once inside to reposition so that the feet were toward the ground. After that, she came in for a landing silently, and proceeded to shake her head as she walked over toward the large television set that Leviathan had been talking about for the past few minutes.

"If you would study as much as the rest of us, you'd understand what those things are." Shiva answered as she went. "Honestly, Ifrit…you're going to be the only creature left on Gaia who doesn't understand how electricity works."

Ifrit, seeing that Shiva was about to take his job away from him, and further make him look incompetent in the process, let out a growl. Immediately, he spun around and rushed past Shiva, getting to the television much faster than she did and seizing it. "I know about those lightning cords and all that!" He grumbled as he picked it up. "I just don't see why we need one of these stupid talking boxes up here!"

"It's called a 'television', and I want to try it out for a few weeks." Leviathan calmly answered from his side of the chamber. "It might make information gathering simpler since we can't just blend in with humanity anymore."

Ifrit merely let out another snarl as he picked up the box and began to carry it over to the place Leviathan had indicated. Now the sea serpent only had to hope that he had been right with the system called "wiring" and that he had managed to follow the directions in the schematic closely enough so that they could generate power and get one of those "signals" circulating around Gaia. He almost sighed at the thought of it. His brain felt fried from all the new knowledge he had to assimilate…

He did have to admit that putting this device in the middle of their new "central chamber", was a little unnerving as well as odd and impractical. The place was suspended hundreds of feet off the ground, right in the center of the city the humans had once called Midgar before a Meteor spell of catastrophic proportions had destroyed it and nearly the rest of Gaia along with it. Leviathan was stunned that such power was capable of being generated even now…but that was in the past. At any rate, about half of the central building had remained, and its current "upper floor" retained a sort of circular arrangement with metal braces of steel the humans called "girders" stretching up like old columns used to do in their own chamber. The result created a sort of ampitheater that was similar to the tastes of the old espers. And, always wanting to remain in contact with the outside world, it seemed fitting that only half of the ceiling of this floor remained, leaving half of it exposed to the sky. Of course, that also meant that the television would be exposed to the elements…and from what Leviathan had gathered that wasn't such a good idea. But for now, it could stay put.

Even with most of the building destroyed, the height offered an impressive and commanding view of most of the ruins of Midgar. For now, most of it was highly opposed to esper tastes…cold, mechanical, and lifeless. Yet they knew better. The series of events that had impacted Midgar over the past decade had altered the underground patterns of the Lifestream in such a way that this place would one day be the most fertile and life filled place on Gaia. Even now, the level of contact between it and the Planet was very strong. The strongest point appeared to be at that one church that was now the site of the Baptismal Garden. However, they couldn't very well settle there. It was too high traffic of an area. Although they had made their existence public knowledge, for now Leviathan was maintaining not to make it well known where they were living. In fact, he thought it might be wise in the near future to not have a central dwelling place for their kind as before. That was…until they at least were sure the remaining espers were under control…

On that thought, a stiff gale suddenly blew through the interior of the meeting chamber. Leviathan actually winced a bit, and Shiva shielded herself. Ifrit growled angrily himself as he closed his eyes while carrying the television. However, it died down quickly, as a twisted, multi-colored, purple individual suddenly dropped from the sky and touched down in the middle of the room.

Pandemona's air sac fluttered behind him as he crosses his arms and turned his bulbous eyes over toward Ifrit. The fire esper let out another snarl as he began to walk toward the outlet again. "Ah…" He remarked in his airy, almost irritating voice. "We got the TV. I have to admit, I have sort of a thing for them since coming back."

"Well this one's going through your head next time you land without warning me." Ifrit growled as he finally got it to the spot and put it down. Muttering, he went to the back and took up the plug. He immediately went for the outlet and tried to shove it inside, but after several unsuccessful attempts he began to grumble again. "Stupid thing… It's too big. I'm going to have to shove it in…"

Leviathan suppressed a sigh on hearing that. "…Try flipping it over first, Ifrit."

The fire esper paused momentarily on hearing that, but then did as he was told. As expected, it went in easily now. Apparently, Ifrit didn't realize that plugs had a "thin end" and a "thick end". At any rate, once it was in, Ifrit quickly backed away from it, like it was some sort of diseased object.

Yes, Pandemona was now officially "one of them". He was an independent spirit and it wasn't easy, but alone he could do little more than be a nuisance. After having a run in with one of the human's new airships and discovering that the weapons on human craft could now seek him out, he had come back to them. Apparently, he preferred to be "on the winning team". Leviathan sensed that motive and wasn't too keen on it, but it would be alright for now, he supposed.

It had turned out to not be hard to recruit the Gigantuar and the Tonberry King either. The Gigantuar was very easy; as it turned out the creature was injured, confused, and miles from an appropriate climate (resulting in it feeling ill and sick). Simply helping "deport" it to an area where Cactuars still lived was enough to make it agree to behave. The native Cactuars practically bowed down before it (as best as a Cactuar could), and he said he wouldn't cause any more trouble so long as no humans came around and tried slaughtering his kind. For the moment, no one seemed foolish enough to try picking fights with Cactuars, and so Leviathan assumed it was safe.

The Tonberry King was harder, but not so much as one might think. When he finally dragged himself out from under the ocean a month later, waterlogged and almost out of breath even for one of his size, he had run into all of the espers gathered together. He had been willing to fight them all…only to discover that his torch had long since been doused and that Carbuncle immediately threatened to send him into one of the abyss portions of the ocean next. Realizing even he couldn't survive a trip that long, he calmed down soon after. They argued a little, but eventually the Tonberry King agreed that if he was allowed a free reign of the land he wouldn't go out of his way to molest humans. As it ended up, he moved right into the ruins of Midgar. Somewhere below them, he was shifting about with his new lit up torch and scoping the ruins for any intruders. Luckily, he was large enough to cause most drifters or thrill seekers to run in terror before he could catch them.

The others dwelled in the tower now, save for Alexander. Seeming to be content to act more as a sentinel than a leader, he stood among the ruins of the smaller skyscrapers surrounding them, blending in rather well with the towers and waiting for trouble to occur. None had happened yet, but after a few months Alexander was back to full strength and the strongest of all of them. No one would risk causing any harm anywhere near his range, and he was more than capable of supervising all of the Midgar area. That caused a measure of stability, and at least some insurance that the Tonberry King wouldn't act up.

That left three espers still to be considered "rogue". Cerberus wasn't causing much problems…yet. His head was still regenerating even a year later, and so mostly he hid and endured his pain and suffering in silence. Leviathan didn't care for that. All this would do would nurse greater bitterness for the ones who wronged him. He had been working hard to try and find him, but Cerberus was still a creature of speed, and even if they managed to catch him they never managed more than a few words before he simply warped out of there. All they had heard from him in the past year was an order of "leave me alone" before disappearing, assuming they could even get that out of him. Leviathan hated it, but next time they encountered one another he realized he had to set some sort of a binding trap. There was little doubt in his mind that Cerberus would go on a mad rampage once he was recovered, and they had to stop him first before he hurt others or himself and in the process ruined any chance of fostering peace between guardian forces and humans.

The Doomtrain was another. Again, not many problems there…almost surprisingly. That Guardian Force had possessed considerable power, the potential for widespread destruction, and a hate for former espers as well. Finding him had been nearly impossible. It might not have been a creature of speed, but there were numerous ruined track lines throughout the world for it to hide on as well as the tracks it could create of its own making. Plus, due to its own nature and appearance, it could have been hiding right under their noses…on Edge or Midgar's own old train tracks masquerading as a phantom train once again. So long as it kept out of trouble, there was no pressing need to find it just yet…but Leviathan had a fear that the train would not remain underground forever, and on resurfacing it could wreck havoc on a city-wide scale once again…

Then there was Siren. She had gone back to her old tricks. They found signs of her time and time again. In one town, a quiet boy had robbed a bank at gunpoint and shot and injured two. In another town, a mother had abandoned her family and husband and run off with a young drifter/drug runner she apparently had no knowledge of beforehand. These and other cases were marked with the perpetrators appearing to "come out of a daze" once the crimes were accomplished and didn't know what possessed them to make them do these things, but always they had a memory of dark desires in their hearts coming out and driving them to do it.

Siren hadn't done anything on a large scale yet or caused any permanent damage, but this was bad enough. Leviathan and Alexander alone had to search for her, and unfortunately they weren't as fast or inconspicuous as the others. They lost track of her time and time again, and when they did catch her she would always manage to elude them, since she only was worrying about avoiding two different espers. When Leviathan had demanded explanations of her behavior, she would always just laugh in his face and say she was having fun like old times. She didn't seem to care if this hurt the relations of the guardian forces for all others…she just liked to play her little games and pooh-pooh the notions that Leviathan and his brethren tried to promote. The esper was foolish as well as sadistic. She should have known this sort of behavior was what had gotten her killed ages ago… Yet for now, she was still at large and nowhere near apologetic.

Ifrit finished plugging it in and leaned up. "I don't see why you needed me for that." He grumbled yet again. "You could have done that with your tail well enough."

"That wasn't the problem." Leviathan answered. "My coils are a bit too awkward to put in that coaxial cable, however. It should be on the ground next to it. Could you screw it on over the tab in the back of the TV?"

Ifrit's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding." He snapped around and resumed complaining as he bent down to get it. "How many things get attached to this damn box?!"

"Oh, stop complaining." Shiva answered as she leaned against one of the support girders and crossed her arms. "And Leviathan…just let me do it next time if he's going to whine like a sick puppy."

The fire esper bristled on hearing this. After grumbling under his breath again, he proceeded to snatch up the cord and begin to tie it once again.

"Feh…I bet he'll be crashed out in front of it every day once it's done."

Leviathan turned his eyes slightly downward, not at all surprised that a voice suddenly came from his feet. By now, he and the others were used to how easily and quickly the guardian force Carbuncle made his way around. After all, when he was still an esper he was in the habit of using teleportation quite frequently. Apparently he was done with his morning visit. Now, a small aqua green creature with big ears, sporting a disposable cup of water, was seated at his feet.

Carbuncle took a sip of his cup, and then turned around to Leviathan. After a pause, he held the cup up to him. "Want a sip? I think I actually managed a weak chicken broth this time…"

Leviathan sighed in response to this. "I've told you a hundred times. Don't bother trying. It won't work."

Carbuncle merely waved a paw at him in a dismissive gesture before he took another sip.

To tell the truth, Leviathan hated being reminded of the fact that their rebirth had made them lose their ability to transfigure objects or shapeshift. He hadn't had nearly enough time to research it, but his current theory was that their bodies, however magical, were no longer made out of any special material or magicite. Now they were the same flesh, blood, and bone as everything else, since when they were reborn they essentially possessed current normal bodies and then altered them. Although there had been a transformation influenced by magic to better match their outward appearances of their old bodies as well as their abilities to use magic, they were nevertheless still using "inferior materials". As a result, Leviathan supposed that they were no longer using the "proper equipment" to facilitate such matter reorganization, whether of themselves or anything else.

For months, Leviathan had tried private experiments to regain this ability, but to no avail. He hated it. He had been able to alter objects since he was twenty. To be unable to almost felt like being disabled, despite the fact that the far, far majority of living creatures on Gaia had gotten away without it for a long time. There was only one glimpse of hope in this regard now. Since their bodies were immortal, over time (unlike the case of regular mortals), all cells would be completely replaced. Perhaps, when that happened, their bodies would be reconstructed to no longer be purely "mortal" but to match their spirits better so as to enable the old abilities. Of course, there was no way of knowing if this would happen or if that ability would ever return again. In any case, it would require time…longer time than they had been alive again, thus far. A few months ago Leviathan used to jump at any experimental result he or anyone else had conducted to see some signs of recovery of this old ability. If it was still that time, he would have immediately leapt at the chance to sample the water and see if Carbuncle's claim was true. However, he refused to now. He had many letdowns and disappointments in the past, and frankly his mind had wanted to believe that there was some sort of recovery going on so much that he had imagined that he was seeing some change that wasn't there. Hence, he planned on at least waiting a few more years before trying again, when he should definitely see something…assuming his theory was right.

Yet seeing that Carbuncle had returned, Leviathan soon forgot about that annoying facet and instead asked about a topic of more interest to him. While Ifrit continued to mumble and complain around the TV, he focused on the new arrival. "So how are things at the orphanage?"

Carbuncle grimaced. "Terrible. They all tried to pet my head and pull my ears and pull out my ruby. And then there was that one who tried to rub my belly." The green creature groaned. "Why do they all think I'm a dog? Besides, you know how violated that makes me feel? Next time they try that, I ought to tell those kids that I could sue for sexual harassment for something like that."

Leviathan wished he could turn into a human at that moment…so he could cross his arms. "That's all very interesting, Carbuncle, but I hope that you actually were paying attention to something besides how the children were reacting to you."

"You'd think you'd be used to it by now…" Pandemona mused from the side, casting a bored glance in their direction.

Carbuncle turned to him momentarily with a frown. "If I had fingers, I'd flip you off."

"Damnit, go in you little…" Ifrit swore from the TV as he wrestled with the coaxial cable.

Ignoring this, Carbuncle turned back to Leviathan with a frown. "And yes, I was paying attention to that." He sighed soon afterward, his face turning grim (as grim as it could) before continuing in a down tone as he leveled his eyes on the sea serpent.

"Another act of vandalism. This time, two windows got broken out. And worse. One of the teens told me he heard one of the vandals fire off one of those gun things into the air."

Leviathan stiffened on hearing that. One very popular item that had been invented in his absence, and one he was quickly growing to hate based on how often it was pointed at them, was the gun. Essentially, they were like miniature personal cannons, only meant to kill single people instead of blowing away groups or putting holes in enemy ships. However, humans had grown quite sophisticated with their ability to make guns now. They made things called "bullets" instead of shot that already had the right amount of powder put into each one, and only required a tap of a hammer to ignite and fire. They put special heads on others to pound through layers of armor. Some guns had long barrels and could shoot from far away, while others had short ones and sprayed out rapid fire shots…so quickly that you could kill a dozen people in seconds. Although they themselves could be used for good or evil, just like any other weapon, Leviathan was also quickly learning that they could be used for another purpose…generating fear.

Needless to say, Leviathan and the other guardian forces had become friends with Aerith and her assorted friends and family. Leviathan himself was rather impressed with her husband, Ragnar, despite the fact that he had played only a small role in the events that occurred with Diablos. He was a good individual for "bridging the gap" between their species…being the only one on Gaia at present who had extensive historical knowledge of their day and could understand where they were coming from. It never ceased to amaze…the ability of humanity to forget their past and be doomed to repeat it. Even what records had been made of the previous millennia were mostly reduced to rotting tomes of legends and unorganized dead language ramblings. Ragnar himself had gotten most of his knowledge simply due to the Planet revealing the secret of the Cetra language to him. Nevertheless, he still made for good company.

The orphanage was doing well enough. The children were back and it had taken some time, but the place had been rebuilt and repopulated by the combined families of Aerith and Tifa. Shelke had ended up agreeing to Aerith's proposal and had stayed on there for a time. During that period, despite her level of maturity and actual time on Gaia, she attempted to "pick up" from her current physical age, now that she was growing older again. However, she must have known, just as Leviathan had known, that things were not so simple. She couldn't simply revert back to the way she had been before, not after having spent decades in a place that could only have been a Hell on Gaia for humanity. Shiva had healed her deep wounds, but unfortunately even her healing power couldn't remove the deepest scars that had been left in her.

He supposed she only was able to stay when things were still "in flux". Diablos had left many scars of his own. The area known as Deepground took weeks to evacuate the remaining people there, although, on the very first day she was able to use her power again, Aerith had gone in herself and not rested until every last bit of Diablos' shapeshifting evil was gone. But even she couldn't remove the multitude from down there so simply. It ended up requiring human effort to pull them out. Once they were gone, the remaining mako reactor was shut down and all cleared out regions were collapsed with explosives. They couldn't destroy it completely yet, for fear that some survivors might still be down there. However, its progressive demolition continued from day to day.

It is always easier to destroy than to create, and such was the case for Kalm and Edge…towns turned upside down by Diablos' influence. Rebuilding took months, and it was compounded by the lack of the citizenry to be able to return to their old jobs. There was an aura of unsettled mood and fear among all, including those who had been memory wiped. They had no idea what had happened to them over the past few days or what had occurred in their towns. Some of them had been in broken up families that needed to be reunited. Others…had family members that had been killed in self defense. It is not an easy thing to have your life suddenly taken from you and thrown into chaos in such a way. There was a great deal of psychological issues to resolve before resolving the problems of rebuilding the city and returning to the former way of life could occur.

During this time, everyone was so worried about their own problems and at a loss of what had happened to their world that the Cetra family and their circle of friends were able to pretty much look to their own affairs, and it seemed that was the way they were used to anyway. Initially, the human at the start of all this, Horus, as well as her two friends, restored to humanity, stuck around the orphanage to get their bearings. They had managed to survive all of the chaos, although at one point, no doubt, they had been turned into minions of Diablos. They came to them because they had nowhere else to go. However, they only stayed for about two weeks. After that, they left without so much as a word of goodbye. Leviathan couldn't say he understood it completely, but from what he had learned they were still criminals, and they didn't exactly have the best past with Aerith and her friends. They couldn't have had an easy time with the guardian force spirits living in their bodies either. They were probably eager to go. However, they did manage a thank you, and they had thanked Quetzacoatl personally, in the end. They avoided the minotaur brothers, however. Apparently, they were still a bit too frightening or offsetting in their personalities. At any rate, they hadn't been heard from since.

Rex ended up staying for a month…as long as it took to get the airfield operational for commercial travel again. He could have probably gotten a ride sooner back to his own hometown, but he decided against it, leaving the airships of the world to work on ferrying relocated passengers or hauling construction materials and relief supplies. Leviathan had taken a bit of a liking to him after all this, and had offered a chance to share some of his wisdom with the young man if he decided to stay in the Edge area. In the end, however, Rex had refused in favor of going back to work. And when he did, Leviathan could tell that in spite of all that happened he was still nervous around the guardian forces.

That was about the time the Turks had broken away from them as well, returning to their own lifestyle in Junon. They wouldn't have even stayed that long if it hadn't been for Krystea, who wished to remain with her "sister" a bit longer. That wasn't all she did while she was there, however. For the first time in her life, Krystea began to attempt to commune with the Planet. By now, Leviathan had the details of Krystea's true origins. He still was getting a grasp of modern technology (and the notion of cloning in the first place was amazing to him), but he had a feeling that by "skipping" early development Krystea had allowed whatever aspect of her mind or spirit that allowed her to talk with the Planet to atrophy, and for a while he thought that it might never recover, and that she would live more or less as a regular human being.

Such wasn't the case though… It was true that she got nowhere in her personal sessions with Aerith, but as she continued to work and struggle and try to "awaken" that part of her psyche, something had occurred. Almost right before she left, Leviathan had received word that Krystea had begun to talk coherently while falling asleep. Not while asleep, mind you, but while falling asleep…in the few brief moments where the mind is cleared before falling into REM. It could have been mistaken for dreams regardless…except that Krystea herself recalled vividly these moments…that she was seeing some sorts of ribbons of pale green light dancing before her, and that she could hear murmurs coming from it. She had spoken in an attempt to call out to them, or for one to "speak up" so she could hear it better. Aerith herself noted that she vaguely remembered doing the same way back when she was three or four, right as her power began to mature. It seemed as if that power would come to the forefront after all…

Leviathan was interested in Krystea. His early theory regarding her had only been supported by the fact that he learned of her special conditioning during development as well as the "Aleron" incident. Some of her faculties appeared to be above normal…or even human. Parts of her had been "enhanced" that she never knew about. Her potential was even greater than he had initially theorized. If she ever became a Sorceress as well…Leviathan could only imagine what she would be capable of…

At any rate, Shelke stayed on through all of this. There had been word a few times that it was actually Azure who encouraged her to remain with them, and Leviathan hadn't been around for thousands of years to be so blind as to not realize that the young man stared at her a bit longer than normal…changed his tone of voice around her every once in a while… He had a feeling he was attracted to her. However, at six months, she had finally packed up and left, despite his protests or insistences. Part of it was unfortunately due to the fact that no matter how much she tried, she was not a child anymore. She could never get that back. She did have friends now, which was a great step in any direction, but she seemed to realize that she wasn't going to find a new place for her in the world on the surface with them. She had to try and find her own way for a while. Based on her past, Leviathan imagined that this was for the best. After all…right now, what she had to do next was learn to forgive herself for all that she had done. Yet unfortunately…this wasn't the only reason.

At the end of six months, life had started to return to normal…save for the unknown about how this had all taken place. And while Leviathan and his brethren had learned to be patient with the unknown in their own long lives, humanity hated it more than anything. And to find an explanation for the unknown, they would resort to anything…but usually panic, fear…and hate.

Hundreds of people knew that Leviathan and his group had come to their aid. Unfortunately, thousands had only seen huge monsters tearing up the city. Leviathan had made his "public announcement", but it hardly seemed to matter. They had still destroyed a good portion of the city themselves just from collateral damage from battling Diablos and his own minions. Alexander alone had leveled seven blocks despite the fact that he had managed to do so without killing anyone. And as for those who had seen them, they were already terrified of the massive creatures. Therefore, their minds had seen them destroying, and their own fears and lack of knowledge filled in the rest: they had all been tearing the city apart, not just some. As for most other people, there was no such thing as "good monsters" and "bad monsters". There was only monsters. They were stronger, taller, and more monstrous than humans. They had to be bad. Even if they weren't, they were something that wasn't understood or controlled. They were free, destructive entities roaming around the world. People didn't want that. They didn't like the thought of large guardian forces with enough power to destroy entire city blocks running around free, regardless of whether or not they were "nice". Sure, they might have come to help out in a time of crisis…but why take a chance on them turning mean? The average person would feel a lot safer if they simply weren't around at all…

Unfortunately, before now, there had already been some talk of the return of "magic" into the world, whether it was called magic, witchcraft, gifts, or demon possession. And one thing was undeniable. Whatever had happened in Junon and the rest of the Eastern Continent had been a result of this new power. Some doubted that the creatures they saw had been real at all, but instead that the destruction was caused by humans possessing this strange new ability. But whether they thought that was the case or not didn't matter. Almost all survivors had witnessed the floating throne of Diablos and the cult he had there. Whether the magic used came from Diablos or another person, the fact was that it had come. Magical individuals had rallied against people and used their craft against them. That, in the eyes of almost everyone, made magic and magic casters the enemy.

Hence what was happening at the orphanage. Early on, when people were still trying to rebuild, no one had the time to be fearful or hateful of the children or their matron. Either that…or they were simply too scared of them to risk anything. But now that things were going back to the way they were before, a new surge of hate was arising. Leviathan had learned before now that there was some fear and distrust of the orphanage before, but it was growing now. Vandalism had grown on the orphanage, and was now almost a weekly occurrence. This latest episode was just one of many in a long chain. Two weeks ago, when the children had been out for outdoor play time, a mob had begun to gather. There were just a few at first, but they soon increased in number. Some of them brought bats. Another brought a broken bottle. They stared hatefully at first…but then a few started murmuring vulgar insults to those who got to close to the fence. They grew louder, and soon became outright profanity. Then that started to turn into threats. The children were brought in after that, but the crowd continued to grow until Azure and Denzel had stepped out to try and disperse them. Even then, they started to grow violent. A fight might have broken out that could have resulted in human authorities invading the orphanage and doing who knew what…if not for one individual. For once, Leviathan was glad for Carbuncle's mischief. The green creature had been dropping in for a visit, and on seeing the situation going out of hand, he teleported the entire mob five miles away. The action had been so surprising and shocking that they had broken up soon after…but the children hadn't been outside to play since.

That was one reason Leviathan had tried to get the TV hooked up today. Normally, he couldn't make visits to the orphanage. Talking with humans for him normally required the cover of darkness and prearranged, secluded spots. Going there for a "news bulletin" was out of the question. Therefore, when one of the local news network talk shows announced that they were going to have a closed forum from two "specialists" on the subject, he wanted to make sure he caught it.

Unfortunately, Leviathan realized as he looked at the time, it was taking Ifrit so long that they were already missing it.

I think I will just have Shiva do it next time…

Ifrit let out a large exhale, and finally leaned up and back from the TV. "Alright…I finally got that damn thing on there. So how does it work now?"

"Just stand back from it, Ifrit." The sea serpent answered.

The guardian force immediately obliged, glad to be rid of the thing. The moment he had stepped away, Leviathan began to slink forward toward it.

Pandemona leaned up in response. "Alright, we're set! Can we watch 25 first? That's a movie channel."

"Get real, purple." Carbuncle scoffed as he began to near the TV himself. "There's things called cartoons on 14. They draw thousands and thousands of pictures and then they have this guy move them so fast it looks like they're coming to life…"

"We're watching 5. That's the one with the forum." Leviathan answered as he reached the television. Soon after, he reached out with the tail end of his coils and grasped the set, shifting it so that it faced them. Pandemona gave a "hmf" in response, but everyone else quickly began to gather in and around.

"Shall we call in Quetzacoatl and the brothers?" Shiva asked. "This does pertain to all of us."

"That's alright. We can give them the main details later." Leviathan responded as he moved his tail off again. Actually, the main reason he didn't want the brothers there was because he wasn't sure of how they'd enjoy the response. Although, after a year together, he was fairly certain that the minotaur brothers would stick with their kindred for good, he didn't want Sacred to blow his stack if they said something here he didn't like. He had enough problems corralling Ifrit…

Once at the television, Leviathan gave a moment's pause. After all, he wasn't too used to operating machines even if he knew more about them than most other espers. He looked over it a bit hesitantly at first, but in the end reached up and mashed the "power" button. Sure enough, a clicking went off somewhere within the machine followed by an ultrasonic whine. A few moments after that, the sound of talking began to come through the speakers. A picture popped up a moment later (causing Ifrit to actually leap back a bit in surprise, and forcing Shiva to calm him down). Leviathan took a moment to analyze what was on, and it appeared to be one of those paired "morning talk shows" that humans were so fond of now. He swore…all they cared about sometimes was talking. At any rate, this was channel 2. He moved the tip of his tail over to the channel buttons and quickly pushed it, changing it to 3 and some sort of image of various bits of information slowly cycling on the screen rather than humans talking. He pressed it two more times after that, moving it to 5.

The moment he had done so, a somewhat familiar image, at least to Leviathan, came into view. It was of a red creature that appeared to be a mixture between lion and wolf, put up in front of a background that appeared to be some sort of chamber for relics or antiquities, like some sort of museum. Leviathan recognized this as well. It was a chamber in the place the humans called Cosmo Canyon. He had been there many times in secret as well as open, digging for clues about what had happened to the espers and their memory following the War of the Magi and the Collapse. As for the creature, he had met him before. In older times, the espers had named his race the Maestrocoerul, or "Masters of the Coerul". They were related to them distantly, but distinct in that they appeared to be fully sentient. There were very few of them left, apparently, in modern times. In fact, Leviathan himself was only aware of this one. His name was Nanaki. He was the custodian of Cosmo Canyon and one of its more learned scholars working there, as well as a veteran of the recent Volunteer War and a friend to Ragnar Vice.

There was some text on the bottom of the screen that went on to attribute to him both that name and the title of his position at Cosmo Canyon. Leviathan himself was aware that Nanaki was not only of great assistance in helping the former espers discover their past, but he had been one of their advocates. There was little doubt what side he would be representing in any debate regarding them. However, there was little time to think on this. Whatever was happening was already started. Nanaki was already speaking as soon as he landed on the right channel.

"…It is a well known fact that the far majority of people tend to think that the human race is the only sentient one on Gaia. I may be living proof to the contrary, yet the myth still persists." He continued from whatever point he had begun. "The truth of the matter is that Gaia's history is rich with many varieties of races…all of which had different philosophies, concepts of life, insights into the world's nature, knowledge of history, etc. The fact that we have made contact with a new race such as these guardian forces could represent a new era in civilization for mankind. I think it would be over simplistic at best and foolish at worst to just so easily arrive at one conclusion so soon after making contact."

A bit of a chuckle came from Pandemona. "He makes me feel like one of those alien visitors in those things called 'fiction scientific' movies."

"You'd better hope not." Shiva coldly answered as she kept watching.

Soon after that, the screen switched, this time showing a split of two different faces. Nanaki was on one side, while on the other was an official in some sort of suit that most "upper" humans seemed to wear nowadays to show their standing. Leviathan recognized this particular one. He believed his name was Mr. Farthing. He was currently one of the city council members for the town of Edge, and was currently the largest "anti-magic" advocate in the city proper. Like most of the other people in Edge and Kalm, he had not escaped the last incident unscathed. No doubt, at one point, he was likely transformed into one of the monsters Diablos employed in his army. Unfortunately for them, the homes of their greatest current human friends were in a place in the world most negatively impacted by negative actions.

The unseen announcer soon spoke. "Mr. Farthing, your response?"

The camera proceeded to put him in full screen.

"No disrespect to Mr. Nanaki or his service in the Volunteer War…" He began. "But frankly I am shocked that a person of such apparent brilliance and skill in terms of logic and reasoning, who knows better to deal with facts rather than suppositions or 'warm feelings', is taking his current stance. The fact of the matter is that we were attacked. No amount of good faith or hopes is going to change the fact that these creatures, monsters, or 'guardian forces', whatever they want to call themselves, made themselves hostile from day one. Entire city blocks have been devastated and people have been murdered. That doesn't even begin to get into whatever sorts of horrible abominations occurred to the people of Kalm and Edge, myself included, or what was going on beneath the area of former Midgar. I'm wondering if Mr. Nanaki has seen some of the photos that were taken of that underground facility and how it seems to be something from some sort of demonic horror film. Not to mention the fact that if just half of the eyewitness stories coming in can be confirmed to be true, we are looking at something so terrible and abominable that it defies any act of terrorism, bio-terrorism, or the like that we have ever encountered."

A snarl from Ifrit. "Sure…so long as you ignore the Emperor of Palamecia, the suspension of time, the Giant of Bab-Il, the opening of the Void, the invasion from Terra…"

"Shh!" Leviathan hushed, for once a bit of emotion in his voice. He wanted to hear this.

"I am not disputing the facts regarding any of those events." Nanaki began to speak up, first while Farthing was still on the screen, but continuing as it quickly shifted to him. "What I am saying is in the same vein as the one called Leviathan announced publicly at the onset of this…that it would be unfair, when there is so much to be gained, not to mention immoral in terms of violating justice, to simply lump all of these so-called 'guardian forces' together into one category to be summarily judged. This is especially in light of the fact that I can produce at least 200 documented testimonies of individuals in the city of Junon observed incidences of guardian forces acting in protective or counter-offensive roles."

"Your response, Mr. Farthing?"

"First of all, the reports coming out of Junon are so conflicted to this day that at least 26 percent of the testimonies coming from eye witnesses in Junon have since been considered unreliable or falsified and many are still subject to verification. But second of all…I would like to know why Nanaki would consider a mass-scale violation of laws…a massacre and a terrorist action…exempt from any sort of legal reciprocations or judgments simply based on the fact that the perpetrators are not human. I mean, you talk to me about showing equality. Alright…should these creatures not be considered equal to all other humans, then, in being punishable and accountable according to law?"

"In that case, Mr. Farthing, I should remind you that until about fifty years ago marshal law was still the law of the land in most districts and city-states on the face of Gaia. In my hometown alone the locals were forced to band together to fight off wild bandits and even warring tribes from time to time with little regard to any higher legal authority or law of the land. I should especially remind you that, to this day, the entire Volunteer War's first year and a half was fought outside of the involvement of any internationally recognized governments. Furthermore, the claim that was made that the innocent parties would be lumped together with the guilty has historical evidence to back it up…"

"Alright, alright…" Farthing cut off in a sighing voice, causing attention to shift back to him. "Mr. Nanaki, allow me to pose to you a question. Let's say you had a brother, and they decided to steal from me. I catch them in the act and I desire restitution. Which of these two options makes more logical sense to you? Holding him accountable and trying him as a regular criminal punishable by law…or having you come before me, essentially telling him to stay away from your brother, to leave you to handle it according to whatever justice system you feel is fair, and then go into hiding along with them? Which of these two sounds more logical? Which of these two makes you look like a criminal yourself?"

"What you're beginning to hint at, may I remind you, is exactly what Leviathan hinted at in his statement to the press, Mr. Farthing."

"What I'm hinting at, Mr. Nanaki, is the accepted international statue that would immediately charge Leviathan and the other guardian forces with him with assisting and abetting a group of international criminals…assuming that they meet the legal definition for criminals and not simply monsters…and saying that they should either side with the law of the land or bear that status with all consequences. If they want to be considered innocent, then they should start acting like it. Otherwise, I think their notoriety is perfectly justified."

"So you do, in fact, believe that the just punishment for protection for life, for acts of heroism, is to find yourself judged and condemned as well? To be condemned before bestowing any measure of equality or justice, as you are suggesting right now?"

"They certainly didn't consider us very equal or worthy of justice when they attacked. And that is a surefire mark of not only a terrorist but a murderer."

"I am quite skilled at picking out defining 'marks' of my own, Mr. Farthing. And I must say that much of what you are saying at this moment seems to not only be catering to the fears of much of the public, but catering to them. You appear to be appealing to the current public senses of fear and uncertainty in the wake of this incident…and may I note that it has helped you out considerably. Your name is far more well known as of late. Your own prestige is beginning to increase to that level of the mayor of Edge's. And as food for thought for the viewing audience…I would encourage them all to be aware that there have been numerous politicians throughout history who played off of fear and panic among the general population by making themselves heads of 'witch hunts' that led to the destruction of much innocent life…"

"Mr. Nanaki, I do not appreciate what you are insinuating in the least, and unless you have anything concrete to back up what you're implying I will consider it potential slander. That said…neither I nor my comrades have done anything to create this fear. We didn't try to make people afraid or uncertain, as you put it. The ones you're trying to defend did that. And may I note that they didn't do it alone. In addition to them, the reports of incidences of non-materia magical abilities awakening within certain individuals and being demonstrated in secret…things you also defend…have done far more to motivate the fears of the populace than any comments I have made. People are not scared or wanting action due to me telling them, Mr. Nanaki. They want it because that is what is needed. Over the past few years, our world has been turned upside down by news of these guardian forces and things we can only term as innate magical abilities. We tried doing it your way once, Mr. Nanaki, and letting it slide. The result was what happened in Kalm, Edge, and Junon. These phenomenon are dangerous. Extremely dangerous. They have to be dealt with now before more loss of life occurs. Strong action must be taken now before we suffer again."

Nanaki began to open his mouth again to speak, but before a word could get out, the unseen announcer's voice cut in.

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid that's all the time we have. I'd like to thank you both for taking time out of your busy schedules to come here." Soon after, the picture of the two men disappeared, and switched entirely back to the until now unseen announcer. "Still to come…mysterious electrical storms have been plaguing Nibelheim for the past two weeks now. Is this a sign of more latent magical abilities arising, or one of the guardian forces? We'll…"

Abruptly, the face of the man distorted and appeared to bloat, turning into a lumpy, twisted version if its previous self. As it did, the sound he was making appeared to twist and grow slower and more drawn out as well. This was before the man, his studio, and the rest of the television he was on began to glow red. It quickly built up in the same red glare…before suddenly exploding in a flurry of sparks, completely blowing out the screen. As soon as that was done, the rest of the TV began to quickly shrivel and slump, literally melting down into a puddle.

Pandemona, Carbuncle, and Shiva turned to Ifrit, seeing him still growling and fuming at the TV as he lowered his hand from it. Smoke was pouring from his mouth and the air around him rippled with heat.

"You're getting a new one." Shiva flatly told him.

"Worthless piece of garbage…" Ifrit snorted as he turned away and began to fume off, his footsteps creating melted pieces of iron against the floor as he walked away.

Pandemona let out a sigh. "So much for the movie channel…"

"Maybe Leviathan can fix it." Carbuncle suggested hopefully. He quickly began to turn around. "Hey, Lev-"

However, as he turned behind him, he suddenly cut himself off. The other two quickly turned as well to see why he had done so, and saw why.

Leviathan was gone.

It was about thirty minutes later when Shiva, walking for once and not just gliding, made light noises as her footsteps lightly rapped against the metal ground of the structure. She was in one of the "wings" of the building at the moment, which really wasn't a wing at all but rather simply some of the building that had been hit harder than the rest of it, ripping off more floors than in the central portion, and in effect creating a sort of "side chamber", where one could go off and be alone if they so wished, having a look of the city all to themselves. At this level, one still commanded a good view of the ruins despite being lower than the central chamber. It seemed a bit windier here…cooler than normal. However, that was fine with Shiva, who would have no problem with this entire area being an arctic waste. It was merely a refreshment to her.

However, it wasn't to satisfy her own desires or sensations that she now walked out onto this wing. It was because it was where she figured she would find her father.

Shiva came to a halt at first as she spotted him. Her body remained in the semi-wrecked archway that led from the central building to this small overlook. She leaned against the wall for a few moments, crossed her arms, and silently stared out in front of her.

Framed in front of the skyline was the sinewy, long body of Leviathan. He "posed" as he normally did, with most of his coils beneath him and the short length of his body including his head extended upward at about slightly greater than human level. He was silent and still, as he often was when he was contemplating. He always desired to be off by himself to do this. Long respected as the wisest of the espers, no one could ever truly fathom what he was thinking of on any of his outings. Well…in older days, there was one who could…the queen mother herself. But she had passed now, and that left Leviathan with just a handful of his old acquaintances and offspring to speak with.

Shiva wasn't nearly so good at guessing Leviathan's mind. However, she had a pretty good idea of what it was this time. After all, it was on all their minds now. The ice woman let out a sigh of frosty breath, turning the air in front of her into crystals, before finally breaking the silence.

"…I've told myself…'How did you expect it to go? Did you really expect them to take to you?' This generation has even less knowledge of us than the post-War of the Magi generation did." She hesitated at that, and frowned slightly. "…And look what they did to me and Ifrit during that time…" She murmured slightly under her breath.

Leviathan didn't answer. He continued to stare.

Shiva slowly pulled herself off the wall and began to walk toward him. "The more we try to deny it…the more Ramuh's old philosophy beats us over the head. Humans and espers weren't meant to live together. Espers…guardian forces…whatever we are now… There will never be a world where they can see us as equals. It's the old adage. Humans always feared what they couldn't control, and the more they control the more they see what's beyond their control. In all honesty…I can't blame what that human was saying. It did make logical sense…if only from the philosophy of self-preservation. Selfish and cowardly, perhaps…but true, none the less."

Leviathan didn't respond.

Shiva exhaled another sigh as she came up behind him. Finally, she slowed to a halt once she reached there, and placed her arms at her sides. She could tell this wasn't working. Like their old lord, Leviathan had unshakable faith in humanity, even when it bordered on insanity or stupidity. Sadly, she could not perfectly share such sentiments. For every Rydia or Locke, there always seemed to be a hundred Zemes or Kefkas. At any rate, she would continue as she had always done…even if it did get harder with the passing centuries.

"Who knows? Perhaps they will eventually learn from history…" Shiva spoke up in a somewhat more helpful voice. "Maybe things will somehow come through their time. We do have advocates now…small in number though they be. Just the same, perhaps we should make a contingency plan of some sort. Perhaps we should separ-"

"I fear there is no contingency plan for what I sense."

Shiva immediately went silent. Leviathan had spoken at last, and his voice was very somber and grave. However, she had not lived alongside him for thousands of years and not been able to realize at a time like this that she had been mistaken once again in guessing Leviathan's mind. Something else entirely was on it…and from his tone of voice, it sounded far more serious.

"I was hoping that things would calm down now…" Leviathan continued, his voice still slow and fearful. "Create some sense of balance…but no. More chaos from order is decreed, it seems. The humans will only escalate it, as they have always…"

Shiva's brow furrowed. "What do you speak of?"

Leviathan drew in a deep breath and exhaled it again, not turning around as he kept looking over the city.

"I can feel her…with more chaos inside than an old body, wracked by the pressures and energies of years, until all things begin to wear out and erode…and all processes that are natural and true become befouled and confused…giving rise to disease…cancer…" Leviathan sighed. His head slowly shook. "…She is not the mother I knew at Ultima Nexus…"

Shiva blinked. "I still don't understand."

Leviathan paused, but then finally addressed her. "…You remember what we learned of during the crisis known as Meteorfall, correct? About Gaia's WEAPONs?"

Shiva halted as, unbelievably as it would seem for an ice esper, an uncomfortable chill rippled through her. To the espers, Gaia was a source of life and bounty. She was the mother they all looked to and loved for having given rise to all of them through the original espers. To them, although she could constantly be victimized and assaulted, and might respond by acts of seemingly random chaos, that balance was always restored through such chaos, and that, inside, Gaia wished for life to continue to grow and be sustained within her.

Yet that changed when they learned of the WEAPONs. Knowing that such horrors had existed…swept over the world…they realized something quite fearsome indeed. Gaia herself had give birth to a new race. One of extremely limited number, yes…but one that was not meant for creation or life or any new wonders. It was meant for destruction. She created life forms for the sole purpose of destroying other life forms. Humans had done much to her, yes…but deep down in their heart of hearts, no matter even though her life be risked, the esper kind had never dreamed their mother would become so violent…so passionate…so angry…to actually attempt to fight back. To actually attempt to create the genocide of one of her own peoples… Even now, it shook the espers to the core.

"For lifetimes I considered Gaia to see us of such small matter…us and the affairs of humanity…" Leviathan continued. "But I was wrong. The countless horrors…bids for power…acts that ripped reality in twine again and again…the surges of death and life constantly straining her Lifestream…I was a fool to think they would be without consequence. Their trauma continued to pile on her again and again…their agony continued to fester in her mind as one scar after another was ripped into her… She weathered it all for so long…but it couldn't be forever. Any more than one can be continuously tortured for countless generations and expect to remain sane forever. The WEAPONs proved it…Gaia is capable of hate. Hate as strong and as violent as those who hated her. Perhaps WEAPON was meant as a slap across the face…something to awaken the world's creatures to being aware of her presence…but no longer. It failed. And now…"

Leviathan trailed off here.

Shiva, however, was engrossed at this point. She took a step forward. "…Now?"

"Now I do not know." Leviathan answered. "I haven't the wisdom. This is beyond what I understand. I have only what I can theorize…what I can see as a potential for happening…and pray does not."

Again, a foreign cold chill.

"And what do you see happening?"

Leviathan swallowed once.

"You understand what a cancer is, do you not, Shiva?"

The ice woman was taken aback at a question in response, but that was the way Leviathan spoke. And so, after a moment, she gave a nod. "The natural countermeasures inside the cell of a body become flawed. They turn off, and tell the cell to continue to grow and divide, although it should have stopped at that point. They grow uncontrollably, consuming the resources for all of their neighbors, and kill the body."

"An ironic thing." Leviathan answered slowly. "The cell that became 'cancerous' was only thinking it was creating more life…thinking it was doing the right thing. But it became perverted. It focused so much on its own task that it operated to the detriment of the rest of the body. It is life perverted…taking something beautiful and natural and shifting it ever so slightly so that it creates something that destroys all around it and itself."

Shiva stiffened again.

"…Are you saying that the Planet is doing the same?"

"The WEAPONs were an infection…an inflammation…a vicious but nevertheless somewhat natural response to Jenova arriving on Gaia. But if what I sense is what I fear…something…something cancerous, perverted, and unnatural even as it thinks it is perfectly natural…is now growing deep within Gaia. Whatever it is…if it is truly what I fear, then it will not be satisfied until it spreads its own cancer, its own thoughts of the way the Planet should be, into every area of the world."

The chill was gone. Now, it was replaced by true fear. The horrible possibility that Leviathan had presented now echoed through her mind. The ice woman stepped up behind Leviathan.

"…And how do we stop it?"

"If what Ramuh said was correct, as you say, it cannot be stopped." Leviathan grimly answered. "Whatever I sense deep within the Planet…the only chance we had at somehow arresting its progress or making it come to fruition was to give the world a few thousand years of natural order and peace. Even then, I figured it would be too late. Yet that will not happen. We've come to life only to fuel a new era of fear and hate for humanity. Magic-using humans, as well as us, will not be tolerated. And the fact that magic is ours indicates that we have a strong tie to Gaia. Our deaths, our anguish, our suffering…she will feel it strongly. This latest tension will be the last push…what will make this fully cancerous."

Shiva stared blankly on at Leviathan, these fearful possibilities escalating through her head. All of what the sea serpent spoke filled her heart with fear. The silence that followed only allowed the fear to continue to fester and grow within her heart.

However, after a time, Leviathan finally turned behind him. He spotted her. His face was blank at first, not as grim and somber as his voice. But on seeing Shiva like this, he twisted in place a bit before managing a small smile.

"It's only a possibility, Shiva. Not a reality." He finally spoke. "It could just be an old man's fears. And if it isn't, then we worry for nothing." He began to turn toward her again, nodding as he did so. "Forget about it. Your concern initially was far more better placed. We should indeed make a contingency plan for that arrival and continue to see what we can do to make peace between our races. After all, we've just come back to life. We shouldn't be so eager to return to the grave just yet."

A length of coils came forward, like a limb of some sort, which went out and gently touched against Shiva the way a man might extend an arm to a friend and try to turn her around, so that she could walk with him back the way they had come. Shiva was reluctant to go along with this. However, in the end, she did turn and went with him as he began to lead her back.

"Did you say we should separate?" He asked her. "Perhaps that would be wise. We can maintain contact with each other easily enough, and I'm sure you wish to go to the poles just as Ifrit wishes to go to a volcano…"

"You said there was no contingency for what might be coming." Shiva interrupted, her own voice still dark and grim and turning back to the previous subject. "What do we do if your theory comes true?"

Leviathan came to a halt after that, but only for a moment. Shiva looked to him. After a moment of a blank stare out into space, his own look became grave as well. He turned to Shiva in response.

"It's best not to think of that." Leviathan simply answered. "As I've told you time and time again…it does not do well to dwell on matters of which you are utterly powerless to stop or alter should they come to pass."

The End