- Final Fantasy III - Final Fantasy VII - Breath of Fire III - Megaman X - The Little Mermaid -

Chapter Four

Flight of the Magician

X and Ariel approached the airship with caution. X viewed it as a highly primative aerial vehicle, and Ariel viewed it as an oddity of nature- it looked a lot like Eric's seagoing vessel, only with small wings and aerodynamic features.

"Well, Ariel, this is our stop."

Ariel, still gasping in awe, said, "How do you know?"

"I scanned this city for people who's lifeforce matched that of Goloros. And there is such a being aboard this vessel. Either Goloros, or someone like him, are here."

"But... we have never actually met Goloros."

"I know. I ran a search for spiritual beings of any kind. Follow me."

Ariel shook her head. "What... are you?" she asked. X just laughed. "Given your time period and capabilities, Princess, I am the equivalent of God."

X found what seemed like the main entrance to the vessel, a long wooden ramp that led straight into the side of the airhsip. In large, violet, gothic letters on the side of the ship was painted the word, "Magician," and just under that the signatures of Setzer Horatio Gabbianni and Edgar Roni Figaro.

"Magician..." read Ariel to herself.

"Yep. If there is a way home, it is through this Magician."

"What an odd name for a ship..."

Accustomed to life in a port city, Ariel was used to such ship names as "Windflight," "Anenome," and "Black Pearl." But then, this ship didn't travel on the ocean. It's name suggested it travelled magically.

The entryroom to the ship was like a vast casino. The room was empty save for a young woman, around the age of 20, sleeping on a sofa near a roulette wheel.

X walked over to the woman and snapped his fingers loudly.

The woman awoke with a start, and nearly screamed at the sight of this man, covered in metallic armor, and his companion, a woman with the longest, reddest hair she had ever seen.

"Oh, God. Who... are you! Who are you!

X shook his head. "We ain't here to hurt you. I'm Megaman X and this is my friend Ariel"

Ariel nodded politely. She didn't realize she was playing with her hair, a sure sign that she was overly-nervous.

"You said... you said Ariel?"

"Yes," replied Ariel, holding her hand out.

The woman squinted and accepted the handshake. "Say, is that spelled with two L's and an E?"

Ariel shook her head. "Er, no, I spell it with one L and no E's."

"Name's Relm Arrowny..." said the woman. "Uh, wait here."

Relm jumped the back of the couch and took off up some stairs, screaming, "Strago! Terra!"

Before X and Ariel had a chance to exchange looks, Relm returned, this time followed by an old man wearing a red cloak and a woman with a black cape whose hair was the oddest shade of pale green...

This new woman walked straight up to Ariel with confidence. "Ariel. So it was a name after all."

X nodded. "I suppose you have heard of us. You... aren't a human girl, are you?"

Terra took a step back. "I... No I am not. But..."

Instantly, X morphed his hand into his arm rifle and aimed it at Terra's head. "Are you working for Goloros? And if so, why!?"

Terra didn't even flinch. "I have the blood of Espers in me, but have never heard of Goloros, save from ancient Esperian writings. What are you?"

Relm, believing that her friend was in peril, suddenly intervened. "Terra, this guy's name is Megaman X. And that is Princess Ariel. With one L and no E's."

Terra nodded. "I know."

"You had better have answers," threatened X. Ariel shook her head. "X, it will do no good if you kill everyone we meet."

Hearing that, the Reploid lowered his gun. "Kill everyone? Princess I am incapable of killing everyone. I cannot kill humans. But since she is not a human..."

"Then you threaten her life? We don't even know if they are enemies."

Terra braved another step towards this metal man. Strago and Relm took a step back. "I am Terra Branford. These are my friends and allies, Strago Magus and Relm Arrowny."

"You aren't human," X said, confused. "I don't understand. What are you?"

"I believe, Megaman, that if you gave me and my comrades a chance we would be able to learn a lot from each other. We are being threatened by a true disaster called the fictional death."

X nodded once. "Terra Branford... damn! The Esper girl from Final Fantasy 6! The girl who Kefka brainwashed with that crown do-dad! The one who went babbling on to everyone she saw about love!"

Terra was taken aback, and felt somewhat hurt. After X realized that the Terra that stood in front of him was of flesh and blood, and not a character from one of Zero's video games, he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that how it sounded. It's just that, in my world, you and Strago and Relm and your friends and enemies are all part of a very popular video game."

Terra shook her head. "Video game. I don't know what you are talking about, X."

X, remembering the time period he was in, said, "Like a book. Kind of."

Suddenly, X felt a sharp pain in his head. "Uh, we'd love to stay and chat, but can we get this thing moving? I am sensing that Goloros' henchmen are moving in on us."

Terra nodded once. "Okay. follow me,"

Together, the five coaxed Setzer into takeoff. Once off the ground, X peered over the side of the deck to see Vincent standing below him, his long black hair and red cape blowing in the winds of the Magician's lift, his gun pointed in the sky. Rei was there too, but leaning against a tree, half- heartedely.

Setzer, still dazed by the whole ordeal, was on deck with X. Everyone else, save Candi and Terra, were downstairs where they could easily fend off any enemies.

"I think we're gonna make it," said X. "So long as Goloros hasn't updated their weapons, we'll be fine."

Just then, Vincent began shooting his gun, rapid fire. Instead of the bullets X would have expected, beams of light came hurtling towards the ship.

"Dammit!" screamed Setzer. "Enemy fire!"

Setzer and and Terra hit the deck of the airship, but Candi was terrified of the shots and froze solid. X began to fire beams of his own cannon back.

"Get us higher...!" X screamed.

Bolts of energy whizzed by X's head, missing him by mere inches. The airship began to rise quickly, drawing Candi down to her knees. She screamed and lost control of herself, sliding to the back end of the ship. "Setzie!"

Setzer spun his head around and saw Candi helplessly falling towards the thrust propellers below her. "Candi! No!"

Setzer leapt to his feet and ran (or rather stumbled) towards Candi as quick as he could without losing control himself. The airship's rapid ascent made it difficult to maneuver at all.

As Setzer gained momentum, he felt his feet giving way to the steepness of the airship's back area. The Magician was somewhat leveling out...

Setzer had to stop himself by grabbing hold of a side banister for fear of flying off of the deck himself. His hand flew downwards, toward his fiance.

Setzer felt his hand catch thin air. Candi's screams filled his ears.

"Candi noooo!"

Before he knew what had happened, a trail of blood smacked the ship's deck, splattering onto Setzer's boots...

"Caaaaaandiiii!!"

The wind whipped at Setzer's loose clothing and long, white hair. He stared in utter disbelief at the blood on the deck. He felt his own grip on the pole weakening...

Just as Setzer's fingers refused to hold the wooden border any longer, X lifted him up in his strong arms. By use of levitational boots X was able to withstand the pressure of the air.

Setzer closed his eyes. He didn't want to believe this...

"Can..." he muttered, unable to speak.

Vincent watched the airship leave from his view. The body of a young woman fell with a heavy thud about ten feet away. She had been badly mutilated by the propellers of the airship. Vincent kneeled next to her. "Pity," he said. "I was hoping for the red-headed one."

Love's Life Lost

Setzer had spoken to no one for the entire next day.

No one could look at him. Everyone aboard hated Candi and her unintelligent quirks, but she didn't deserve the death she received. Even Goldilocks seemed depressed.

Terra was sitting in her room. Over the past three days she had kept mostly to herself. But late one night there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," said Terra, laying in her bed, facing the ceiling. The door opened and Ariel walked in. She sat down in a chair next to the bed.

"Oh, hi Ariel."

Ariel shook her head. "I've been talking to everyone on this ship. And I still don't understand. Untill a few days ago when all this started, I thought that either you wer human, or you weren't. But some of the people I've met..."

Terra sat up, to be polite. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Rei is a weretiger... and I know X is some sort of machine... and Vincent seems human enough but his eyes have a strange glow..."

Terra smirked to herself. "And me, right? You want to know what I am."

Ariel nodded. "I'm just not clear on what Espers are..."

"It's okay. I'm used to humans who know nothing of magic."

Ariel giggled silghtly.

"You... are human, aren't you?"

Ariel shook her head. "Not... exactly. In fact, for a long time my father refused to allow me to speak to humans- or interact with them... I even got in trouble for saving a human's life."

"Then..." said Terra, coaxing Ariel to finish the story.

"Well, you know what mermaids are don't you?"

Terra nodded. "There are writings of Nuptune, the Ocean Esper, in the ancient Esperian writings. He had the upper torso of a man and the lower appendages of a fish. I suppose that would be a merman."

Ariel nodded. "Well... until I met Eric I was a mermaid."

Terra didn't seem to be shocked. "He was in a shipwreck... so I had to save his life. And after I did... I sold my voice to an evil magician to be with him."

"That is, to be a human."

"Yeah."

Terra shook her head. "But I can hear you plain as day. I'm guessing you defeated the mage and got your voice back."

Ariel nodded. "There's more to it than that, but it's the basic story."

Terra sighed. "Well. Let me tell you about my father then. And what I am." She reached into her shirt and drew out her pendant. It was a beautiful gem, in which was etched the likeness of a humanoid man. Ariel looked at the stone. "Is that an Esper?"

Terra nodded. "When Espers die, their bodies are crystallized into shards of gem called Magicite. This is my father. His name was Maduin. The Lost Esper."

Terra sighed to herself. She had gone over this story in her mind a million times, and every time she weakened and started crying. "He was called the Lost Esper because he was always lost. He had dreams he knew he could never achieve. He saw something in humans not many other Espers did.

"One day, a human girl found her way into the Esper world. The Espers all wanted to kill her, being a tresspasser. But Maduin wouldn't let them. He took her in and took care of her... and a year later I was born to them."

"So you are half human, and half Esper!"

Terra nodded. Suddenly, she perked up and smiled slightly. "Thus my green hair.

"When I was 2, however, soldiers from the Vectorian Empire, led by Emporer Gestahl, rensacked the Esper world. Believing my mother had led them there, the citizens wanted to lynch her... and me. My mother ran away, carrying me in her arms... but my father couldn't bear to see her go. As the doors to the Esper world slammed shut, my mother handed me to the emperor... and died. My father was abducted by the soldiers, and spent the next 16 years in their Esperian jails, where they were slowly drained of their power."

Ariel listened intently, barely realizing what she heard were the actual events from Terra's life, and not some storybook.

"I spent the next 16 years being raised as a Magitek Knight, that is, an imperial soldier who had been injected with Esperian energy. Celes is one of those knights."

"They kept your Esper heritage hidden from you?"

"Until I was 18. After I found out, one of the Imperial generals brainwashed me with some kind of memory erasing control crown. I was forced to go to a small industrial city, where a live Esper had been found frozen in the ice."

"These generals sound... sound purely evil. Were they who you were up against?"

Terra shook her head. "No. You have met Celes Chere. She had changed a lot in the past few years. While an Imperial general, she would form huge armies consisting of well trained warriors to completely eradicate a city that stood in the empire's way. But when she found out about the Espers and Gestahl's plans she began leaking information to rebel groups. They would have executed her as a traitor, but Locke saved her life.

"Then there was Kefka. He used other, more cloak-and-dagger type tactics. Like brainwashing, bribery, blackmail, that kind of thing. Once he even poisoned an entire river to wipe out a small border country. He is the one who killed off all the Espers, and was drawn into insanity by their power. Because of Kefka, the world is so desolate... it will take a long, long time before anything is back to normal.

"The third General was Leonard Terrance Kaporei. Leo was humane. Instead of attacking rebel villages, he would bargain. Hold meetings. He truely epitomized what the empire should have been like. I know I loved him, at one time... but he was killed by Kefka when he tried to protect the Espers."

"I... I'm sorry, Terra. I know you don't want to talk about all this."

Terra shook her head. "You have a right to know. If you are forced into all this, you should at least know what we're up against."

Ariel nodded. "But, Celes told us that the Espers had all been destroyed. Is that true?"

Terra nodded. "Undoubtedely. But I guessed Kefka missed one. Either that, or Goloros came back somehow."

The Truth of the Matter

Vincent flung Candi's lifeless body onto the floor at Nicholi's feet. "There you are, the first casualty. An unimportant kill, but at least now those imbicils know the force Goloros is capable of."

Nicholi shook his head. He ran his finger alongside of a deep slice on Candi's back. "She was Setzer's girl, Candi Elfin. She would have been killed sooner or later. But your primary targets are X, Ariel, and Terra... have you forgotten?"

Vincent shook his head. "I know. I might have killed X as well... he was on the deck of the ship. If only Rei had been more helpful."

Nicholi shot an icy glance at Rei, who was sitting against a wall of Nicholi's house in Thamasa. The tiger didn't even flinch at Vincent's comment.

Nicholi sat back down in his rocking chair. "Well, they have been here. I know that because many of my books are missing. It is only a matter of time before they learn about you and Rei to the point where they can counter your attacks with ease. In the meantime we know nothing of X and Ariel's abilities- if any at all."

Nicholi lit his pipe and puffed contently on it. He blew a smoke ring into the air. "Say something, Rei. You're making me think that you don't care about our mission."

"All I care about is gettin' back home, see?"

"I'll send you home in pieces if you don't shape up, you hear me?"

"Shut yer blinkin' rat hole. I ain't eaten anything since this whole damn gyp started, aye?"

"You don't seem to understand, Rei. In this world, I am your superior."

"In any world you are his superior," mumbled Vincent. "That's no real accomplishment."

"Bite me, fag boy. Don't ferget I gots the ears of a feline."

Vincent calmly left the room.

"All I'm saying, Rei, is that for some reason or another Goloros has chosen you to help me in this cherade. And if you refuse I have all rights to kill you."

"So kill me an' get it over wit', big boy. No one stoppin' you."

Nicholi sighed and knelt by his associate. "You would do well to train that tongue of yours to stifle itself in my presence."

"An' you would do well to..."

"I said shut up!! "

Rei instantly sunk backwards.

"You will obey me in this realm. If I say kill, you will kill. If I say jump, you will jump. If I say drop your pants, stand on your hands, and sing, you will do just that. Do I make myself absolutely, positively, 100 percent crystal clear?"

Rei looked at Nicholi without seeing him. "Crystal."

"Good. I'm going to buy you some food, you ungrateful swine. While I'm gone get rid of this carcass. I don't want it rotting in my living room."

With that, Nicholi stood and set his pipe back into his mouth. "Good day to you, Rei."

Rei watched Nicholi walk out the door, then turned his attention to the corpse laying on the floor. "Hey Vinnie!" he called. "Nick wants ya to get rid of this damn body!"

"Bite me, cat man. I have the ears of a bird of prey," yelled Vinecnt from another room.

Rei cursed under his breath and set about hiding Candi's body in the surrounding woods.