Sage Frontier Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of two Fakes! ❯ Two Brothers are Better than None! ( Chapter 47 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they revoked my deed after I decided to give Fuse a girlfriend. Fuse needs love, too.

 

Blue had prayed that whatever he'd thrown Rouge into didn't kill his baby brother in any way. And when he himself went leaping through those doors into the unknown, he prayed doubly hard that nothing would kill him as he went to look for Rouge. But when he finally landed - and it wasn't even a five-second journey! - he quickly realized there was no need to pray. Nothing waited to eat him on the other side, and there was no evil to be vanquished. There were no monsters, mobsters, criminals, or ne'er-do-wells. In fact, there didn't seem to be much of interest at all.

 

Blue wasn't sure what time period they'd gone to, but he knew it was their world; more specifically, their series of worlds, but at least it was a place he recognized. Sort of. It was a town he visited just once on his journey, three years ago, when he desperately needed teammates to help him achieve his goal and not be slaughtered by everything that wasn't a bunny rabbit. It was a town, but at that same time, it wasn't a town, either; there were buildings and establishments, like the pub or the general store… but there was also a lot of junk littering the streets, as well. Literal junk, like strips of metal, old sheets of aluminum, car parts, gears, basically anything mechanical that wasn't recycled by Trinity. `Junk,' Blue decided, was a nice word to use. To him, there was nothing but piles of shit, everywhere!

 

“Where the hell did you send him!?” Zozma asked, as he fell right through the portal, only to slam into a pile of said junk, “OH SHIT! What just stabbed me!?” Blue ignored him as he tried to remember just what this town was called. It seemed so familiar, yet it was so… unimportant at the same time.

 

“Junk… Junk…” Blue murmured, looking around for any clues to his whereabouts, or to Rouge's, “Junk… there's a city named Junk… but it's cleaner than this… Junk… Scraps of metal… Scrap… Scrap?” It hit him just where he was, “Scrap!!” Zozma threw off a big piece of metal sliding as he listened. Then he shook his head, as much to clear it as to tell Blue he had no idea what was being said.

 

“What are you mumbling about?” the red-head asked, as he heard Ildon crash into another pile some few feet away. Blue turned to them both with a smile that told them he was obviously pleased with whatever was going on.

 

“I know where we are!” he exclaimed, almost excitedly, “We're in a town called Scrap! I've been here… good lord, our friends are here!” Zozma blinked. As far as he knew, it was really hard to get Blue excited about anything at all. He must've been hurting to see anyone from his own time zone.

 

Unfortunately, before Zozma could stop him, before the Mystic could so much as respond, Blue turned and ran right for the bar. Zozma's mouth dropped. Forget hurting; Blue was absolutely desperate! Scrambling, Zozma threw every piece of garbage off of him and leapt onto the pathetic strip of dirt that constituted the road. But Blue was already near the doorway. God damn it all, how was he so fast!?

 

“Blue, I wouldn't go in if I were you!” Zozma tried to call, but he saw Blue vanish in a swirl of dust emanating from the bar's front door, “Blue! They might not recognize you! BLUE!!”

 

“That's the problem with humans,” Ildon said, shaking his head as he watched, “They're too sentimental. Chances are, once we walk in there, we're going to have a nice, little mess to deal with.” Normally, Zozma delighted in nice, little messes to deal with. But he just felt so damn old in that instance. Maybe it was because they'd been traveling through God-knew-where. He didn't know, and in that moment, he didn't care.

 

“Goody gumdrops,” Zozma mumbled, rubbing his face, “Okay, should we both go in, or should one of us stay here in case the others decide to run off, too?” Ildon wasn't sure just how likely the others - save for Fuse - would just `run off,' but he understood the point. One Mystic would be hard enough for the citizens of the town to swallow. Two would most likely scare the living shit out of all of them. He grinned.

 

“After you,” he said. And for the first time in what felt like too long a time, Zozma grinned right back. It was the grin of an idiot who knew he might just be making the biggest mistake in his life. And it felt wonderful.

 

Blue walked into the bar, wondering who of his friends would be there at this time. But when he stepped in, the place was… different. He'd felt a sort of stagnation in the air when he'd been outside, but he had figured that was just the way of the city. Now he knew something was wrong. The bar, from what he remembered, was bright and cheerful compared to the rest of the dingy city. It was a dive, no doubt, serving nothing but alcohol and food that wasn't fit for a dog, but it had been almost refreshing to be there. And there had, at one time, been a brilliant band playing jazz music almost continuously.

 

Now, however, Blue didn't recognize the place, and if the doors hadn't been left wide open, he'd have thought it had been closed down and abandoned. The bar had always been a dark, gloomy place by its own right, but when Blue ran in, it was pitch black. And it smelled terrible, with scents that he couldn't even identify. It ranged from stale wine, to warm beer, to urine and, to his horror, vomit. Blue might not have been able to see, but he had the feeling his skin was green when the putrid smell finally assaulted him. The only thing that possibly made it worse was the fact that the air was heavy, humid, and warm. If anything lived here, at one time, it either died here, or it fled.

 

“Hello?” Blue called, moving slowly for fear he'd run into a table, or worse, a corpse. But there was no response; his voice was muffled by the heavy air. He glanced around, though he knew it was useless. He could see nothing in the dark.

 

“Rouge?” he called, a little more hopeful. But there was still no response, and now Blue wondered if maybe walking in there had been a mistake. His lips pursed and he took a tentative step forward. With nothing but stifling silence and darkness, he had to be careful. Any step could lead to…

 

Blue had no idea what happened the next instance. All he remembered was that his foot was slightly caught on the end of something, and then he felt himself flip in the air just once before he came crashing down, slamming his head hard against the cold, dirt floor. He wasn't sure if he felt blood run down his skull, but he did feel incredibly dizzy when he tried to get up, and he had a feeling his vision was just mildly blurred. He heard the sound of shoes tapping distantly, and wondered if maybe Rouge had heard. A minute later, the lights came on. And as Blue suspected, his vision was blurry.

 

“Who the hell's here!?” came a female voice he recognized. He couldn't see anything beyond a blur, but he knew that voice. It was Mei-ling! But… what was Mei-ling doing in an abandoned bar?

 

“Mei-ling?” he called, “It's me! Blue!” Mei-ling, gun fully loaded and ready, looked down at the young mage. It took a long minute for his vision to clear, but when it did, and he looked up at her, he saw that clearly she did not recognize him. Her eyes narrowed, her face screwed up in an expression he couldn't quite read.

 

“Blue!? I don't know anyone named Blue,” she snapped, and turned, “Now get out of my bar. We're closed!” Blue blinked profusely, trying to make sense of what he was just told. Mei-ling did not own this bar, from what he remembered. And she didn't appear to know him at all, despite being a more or less important part of his team. Just what in hell was going on?

 

“B-but… but what about Riki? Where's Lute?” he asked, hoping someone could clear this up for him. Mei-ling stopped, and turned toward him again. She didn't look any happier by the names. In fact, she looked even sourer than before.

 

“Who the hell are they?” she demanded, and then sighed and shook her head, “Look, I don't know what other bar you dragged your drunk ass out of, but we're closed. Take your psycho-babble and move on, little boy. I've got a shit ton of taxes to take care of before the Cabellero family comes.” Blue's eye twitched. Considering that he didn't drink, and that she looked as if she hadn't been sleeping for two months, he didn't like being accused of being inebriated. But he had a feeling things were no longer like he remembered. He could think of only one person to blame for that, too.

 

“Okay, look. I'm just looking for my friends,” Blue said calmly, getting off of the dusty floor, “We were separated, and the front doors were open…”

 

“Of course they're open, you idiot. We can't afford locks in this hellhole,” Mei-ling interrupted, and Blue's lips pursed in annoyance before he continued.

 

“….right. Anyway, I thought one of them might've run in here. I wasn't trying to break in, honest,” he told her. It was somewhat truthful, anyway. He did come here looking for his friends. Given that explanation, Mei-ling seemed to have calmed down a little bit. She glanced around the dirty room. Stained chairs and cracked tables adorned the place, and there was a thick scent of smoke Blue only just noticed, now that he wasn't in pain. He resisted the urge to sneeze.

 

“Well, since you're not one of Cabellero's boys, I'll let you off,” she said, distantly for a minute before her eyes snapped back to him, “But I haven't seen your friends. Hell, haven't had a customer for nearly three years now.” With the filth and stench, Blue didn't need to ask why that was. He bid Mei-ling a farewell, and left the room as calmly as possible. He didn't really want to offend her by running away as fast as possible.

 

It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. Ildon and Zozma were coming in just as Blue was about to leave, and the three slammed right into each other. To Ildon, it was like walking into a sandbag. And to Blue, the resounding crack from smacking into the green-haired Mystic was about ten times louder than it humanly should've been. Blue fell down on his back, and could only stare up as Ildon looked down, Zozma next to him and grinning all the while. Ildon's brow rose as he studied the mage. Was he amused with Blue's uneasiness? Or was he just pissed off?

 

“How's the air down there, Blue?” Zozma joked, as Blue grumbled and pushed himself onto his feet. He had the distinct impression the two were not here to see the surroundings. He had a feeling he was about to either be scolded or laughed at, and it was hard to say which one annoyed him more.

 

“What're you doing in here?” he asked sharply, rubbing a thick patch of dust off his arm. Ildon's amusement merely seemed to grow.

 

“We were going to ask you the same damn thing,” he replied sarcastically.

 

“I'm going to ask you all that question!” Mei-ling exclaimed hotly, “What are you idiots doing in my bar!? I said we're not open!” All three of them turned to stare at the purple-haired woman, who looked ready to personally toss them all out on their asses if they didn't answer her within ten seconds. Zozma grinned; he felt he was the most qualified to answer her. And frankly, that terrified the other two.

 

“Look, sweetie, we don't care if you're open or not,” he said to her sweetly, almost patronizingly, “We're trying to save our friend from making a fool of himself. Why don't you go and brew us some tea?” Mei-ling's eye twitched furiously, and she stormed up to Zozma. Then, she did something Ildon only wished he'd thought of for the past six centuries. She brought her knee up and smashed into Zozma. The red-headed idiot of a Mystic went down with a groan.

 

“You two have six seconds to get out or I'm doing the same to all of you!” she shrieked. Neither Blue nor Ildon felt the need to test her patience. They grabbed Zozma, and ran out of the bar like two bats right out of hell.

 

They didn't stop running until they were well outside, away from the bar, and about one mile south of said establishment. By then, Blue was panting furiously, and Ildon was exhausted from the effort needed to carry Zozma's semi-conscious form. But at least they were far away from Mei-ling; or rather, whatever version of her lived in this weird reality. When they finally crossed through two gates, one of which was broken, the other unguarded, they finally stopped, and Ildon slid Zozma off his back and onto a grungy mattress that had been lying on the ground. Then, he collapsed against the wall, wings shaking as he gasped for breath. Blue, for all he was worth, was doing only marginally better.

 

When he was feeling rested enough to get his bearing straight, Blue did Ildon the kindness of taking the scene in for them both. The town was full of junk - this much neither denied. But where they had run looked as if all of the garbage in the city had been doubled, then tripled, and then blown up by multiple bombs, letting all of the scraps and pieces pile up accordingly, with only a mildly pathetic attempt to clear a road for any person to try and get through. Aside from the piles of discarded papers, plastic bottles, cracked pottery, and various amounts of sheet metal and plaster, there were also scrap heaps full of car parts - some broken and some still new - and various discarded metallic weapons. If he didn't know this was place a trash pile to begin with, Blue would've thought he'd walked into a weapons factory. At least there wasn't too bad a smell.

 

“I… I think we're in the junkyard,” Blue told his companion, though he felt distinctly that what he said was both an understatement, and redundant. The whole city was technically a junkyard. This just happened to make that city look… almost clean.

 

“Really? I never would've guessed,” Ildon commented sarcastically, brow arching as he looked over at the young mage, “Now, why are we here?” Blue's glare told the Mystic that he was on thin ice. Technically, Ildon didn't have to follow Blue there. He simply did because he had nowhere else to go to.

 

“Did you really want to stay with Mei-ling?” Blue asked him, and Ildon could honestly say he did not. That was enough reason to run right into a dump. At least he knew that Mei-ling would never go there, no matter what reality it was.

 

“You know, I kind of did want to know what made that chick so crazy,” Zozma stated casually, lifting his head up to look at his two friends, “I mean, yeah, she kicked me out of that shithole once, but she didn't own it. What gives? Was the economy in Scrap that bad?”

 

“I don't think this is the world we think it is,” Blue said grimly, and both Mystics stared at him incredulously. When they urged him on, he continued, “She is… was a good friend of mine. But she didn't recognize me, nor did she recognize the friends she's normally with. Does that not strike you as odd?” To Ildon, it did. Then again, most humans struck him as being strange. And the feeling, he knew, was mutual. Zozma, of course, had a much more simplistic, human response.

 

“Alcohol will do that to you, eventually,” the red-haired Mystic said, and shook his head, “Why, on the last episode of Alkarl's Stream, Alkatratz got so drunk that he burned down Alkuna Matata's trailer and tried to sell the remains off on Lee-Bay.” Blue's eyes went flat. That sentiment would have been nice, if it hadn't been based on their world's most dramatic sitcom. And by dramatic, Blue meant `ridiculous.' He looked at Ildon, and then just shook his head. He knew better than to listen to the garbage dribbling out of Zozma's mouth.

 

“You're an idiot,” he mumbled, and heard a chuckle close by. He turned, grabbing a broken bottle off of the ground. He was surprised to see that the sound came from the Time Lord, who was accompanied by Orlouge and Rouge. Fuse, however, was not with them.

 

“Both statements are quite true,” the Time Lord said gently, his face set with an amused, and handsome expression, “We are in the correct era, but the wrong reality.”

 

“Wrong reality?” Blue repeated, and Zozma arched a brow and asked, “You telling me there are other realities we could fall into!?” Blue could tell there were over a thousand ideas popping into the mischievous Mystic's head, but he was most intent on hearing the Time Lord's explanation. The older Mystic in question just smiled serenely. Considering that he controlled time itself, it stood to reason that he personally had nothing to fear from this revelation. Lucky, little bastard…

 

Dusting his coat and tapping his sword on the ground, the Time Lord said, “When space was ripped apart, Kylin and I literally had to patch it back together again. There is a chance we didn't quite knot the timeline the right way.” Judging by the fact that Mei-ling tried to kill them, that chance was incredibly high. The only new question Blue had, aside from asking where Rouge was, was how many other realities the Time Lord managed to screw up. He had a feeling he'd be finding out soon enough. He could barely believe it!

 

“So is there a way to return to the right reality?” he asked, and the Time Lord's mouth went thin. That meant that if there was, he didn't know of it. He did know he screwed up royally. At least that was better than nothing.

 

“Splicing things like time and space is delicate work,” the older Mystic said as calmly as he could, but it was clear he was bordering on slight worry, “Ciato has managed to severely damage the frames that hold all of the planes together. I think we should be happy we still exist.”

 

“Can we actually prove that?” Zozma asked, and everyone stopped and looked at him. For the second time, he looked serious about what he was saying. “No one remembers us. Can we actually prove we exist in this reality?” For once, the Time Lord looked just as stumped as Blue was.

 

Then it dawned on Blue why he might not be able to find Rouge. If there was truth to Zozma's words, then Rouge didn't exist, either. Going even further, it stood to reason that the ceremony which split Aubergine up into two people had never been performed. It was never said which brother was the actual master, though Blue had always been curious about it himself. But if the experiment didn't happen in this reality, and Rouge wasn't the original child…

 

“Where is my brother!?” Blue furiously turned on the Time Lord, with a viciousness that he didn't know he had in himself. It was clear the anger scared the Mystic, as well. He nearly stumbled backing away.

 

“I… I assumed Rouge was with you,” he answered nervously, and now seemed to understand Blue's sudden fury. But Blue was far faster than the Time Lord. He reached out and grabbed the Time Lord's ascot, dragging the man close to his face.

 

“He wasn't,” Blue growled, and then pushed the lord away, “Where is my brother!?”

 

“I-it… Blue, you need to settle down,” the Time Lord insisted, and it was clear he had never dealt with such fury in his immortal life. Blue's eyes seemed to start turning red, and even Zozma began to realize that they were about to lose the mind of their best thinker.

 

“WHERE IS ROUGE!?” Blue finally yelled, and both Fuse and Ildon rushed over to restrain the frantic mage. The Time Lord took a shuddering breath. The answer, he knew, would possibly end both brothers' lives, as well as his own.

 

“There is a chance that in this reality, he has either died or simply does not exist,” the Time Lord replied softly, and Blue's shoulders slumped in defeat, “Or it may be that you did not meet him in this reality, that neither of you know of each other's existence.” Blue knew the second answer was just a pile of bullshit. To hell that he didn't `know' Rouge. He remembered his brother well enough. He just didn't ever think they'd be separated like this.

 

“Are you telling me… my own brother is dead?” Blue whispered, and the Time Lord took another deep breath. Then, he nodded. And Blue collapsed. Dead! Rouge was dead. It couldn't be. It just couldn't possibly be true!

 

“I'm so sorry, Blue,” he heard the Time Lord say, but it sounded so distant, almost watery amidst his blurring mind, “We knew there were consequences with what we had to do, but we never thought it'd be like this.”

 

“Consequences?” Blue snorted, and then glared up, “YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!” His fury tripled and he nearly slipped from Fuse's grasp, but his collapse sapped most of his strength. Fuse held him back, at least physically. Hatefully, Blue screamed, “Why aren't you arresting him!? He murdered Rouge!”

 

“Son, he didn't do a damn to your brother and you know it!” Fuse yelled back, and succeeded in throwing Blue onto the ground, stunning the magician, “Now sit. I know you're pissed off, but slaughtering our team ain't going to make anything better.” Blue knew this was the truth, but damn it all, Rouge was gone! He wanted to get angry… but in the end, he ended up just burying his face in his hands and crying. Fuse turned toward the Mystics and said, “Tell me this shit can be fixed.”

 

“Realities are not like the fabrics of time,” the Time Lord explained slowly, “In fact, they rest almost directly between time and space. It's out of both mine and Kylin's hands now.” Now it was Fuse's turn to get upset. That was an awfully convenient excuse for all involved, but he wasn't going to buy it. He just lost Rouge, and now he was going to lose Blue, too. No way in hell he'd lose both his surrogates in one day, not without kicking and shooting all the while.

 

“Don't you dare give me that piece of bullshit,” he growled, his own glare hardening to rival Blue's, “You two made this mess, you better do what you can to clean it up! Now, how the hell did you screw up our reality!?” He barely noticed how his tone made this seem like an interrogation. In fact, he already planned to make it that way. The Time Lord's face went grim, his lips even thinner. He suddenly looked very old.

 

“Like I said, when you're patching up the entirety of time itself, things like this can happen,” the older Mystic repeated, and then added, “Think of this as patching a quilt. You take the wrong piece of material without knowing it, and the whole thing will be different when you're done. We didn't even realize we had grabbed the wrong reality until after the fact. And if we try to do it again, there's a chance we'll fracture time even worse than it is now.” Put that way, it was little wonder nothing had been said until now. But why did he feel the need to wait so long? It was pretty important for someone to know if their brother was dead, or would be when they walked through a door.

 

“So I should just accept Rouge is dead, and that's it,” Blue concluded bitterly, and it was pointed when he didn't even look at the Time Lord. The latter could only look down; he had much sympathy for the man he was destroying, but there was absolutely nothing to be done. Their only hope was to find Kylin, and he too might not exist now.

 

“What else do you want me to say?” the Time Lord asked him, and Blue stood up so quickly that the Mystic was worried he might truly be strangled this time. But Blue merely stood - there was no reaching out this time.

 

“I want you to tell me you can get my brother back!” the young mage cried, and his tone was bordering on complete panic, “Why didn't you even warn me!? Why didn't you tell us this could happen!?”

 

“We did not know the repercussions until…”

 

“Like hell you didn't!” Blue snapped furiously, and the Time Lord fell silent, “You knew exactly what you were doing, just like Ciato knew what he was doing. You just didn't have the balls to tell us we didn't have a home to return to. You just couldn't find the courage!”

 

“Blue!” Fuse exclaimed as Ildon growled, “Shut your damn mouth, you idiot.” Blue snarled at them both like a rabid animal, but there was a voice in him that told him they were right. It wasn't unlike Rouge's voice. Did he exist… somewhere?

 

Blue forced himself to sit down, and when he did, Fuse looked him over very carefully before turning back to the Time Lord, who had paled considerably during the conversation. Maybe it was the raw emotion Blue was showing, or maybe there were other ill effects to what he'd done, but it was clear the Mystic was aging a bit. Fuse almost felt bad for the man. But he had questions that needed answers, and one mage that had to be accounted for. For all the talk of memory splicing and patching, the Time Lord did not specifically say `Rouge is dead.' He merely said `Rouge might be dead.' And though Fuse believed it to be true, he learned that in criminal investigation, might be meant nothing at all. Only hard facts won the war against death.

 

Taking a deep breath, Fuse slowly advanced toward the Time Lord, who was supported by Orlouge. He didn't mean to intimidate the Mystic, but he knew he was scaring the lord. Hell, he was probably scaring Orlouge as well. The closer he got, the weaker they both began to look. Was it a ruse? Or was this truly tugging on the Time Lord's heartstrings?

 

“Are you going to arrest him for this?” Orlouge asked softly, and Fuse shook his head. Honestly, there wasn't much point. What had been done wasn't murder. And even if it was, the most he could do was charge the Mystic with manslaughter.

 

“No, but I do want some answers,” the cop replied just as gently, and both Mystics looked relieved. At least he didn't blame them. Smiling uncomfortably, Fuse said, “First, I need to know what happened. There was probably a little bit of time before you managed to find Blue and Rouge. What happened before then?” Now, the Time Lord smiled, too. That was probably the best question to ask, and the one he was willing to answer the most.

 

“That was when we actually had to fix time,” he began, “We had to work quickly so that none of you were lost in the Endless Abyss.”

 

“Endless Abyss?” Zozma asked skeptically, though his tone also indicated a deep interest. The Time Lord nodded slowly, sitting down on the dirt. He did not seem to mind that it stained his robe.

 

“The Espers, one of the oldest races in existence, sometimes name places of extreme importance to them. One of those places was the Endless Abyss - they called it `Ewigen Abgrund' - which is a place where lost souls go when no other plane will hold them,” he replied thoughtfully, “It was what was there before Oblivion was even formed. And maybe it still exists, drifting just below the surface of our universe.” So there was something before the beginning of time. Fuse found that pretty interesting, and if he currently wasn't trying to find Rouge and save Blue's sanity, he'd have tried getting there himself. He nodded and wrote that on the pad he kept with him.

 

“Okay, the Endless Abyss,” Fuse repeated, and looked up from his pad, to the Mystic he was speaking to, “What happens when you get there? Is it another plane entirely?”

 

“No one knows what it is,” the Time Lord informed him, and it felt as if a crackle of thunder shuddered through the cop, “It is literally nothing. Like space, but there is nowhere to go to or return from. Once you are there, you are gone forever.” Fuse had a suspicious feeling that he knew where Rouge might be, if anywhere. Rouge technically should exist, but no longer did - and he wasn't dead. But he did not say a word to Blue. He simply wrote down what he was told.

 

“What do you need to do to get there, first off?” Fuse asked, and was glad when he saw that Ildon was catching onto his question, “Does your soul need to be split apart, or do you simply not exist even if you're alive?” The Time Lord gave him a knowing grin. He was catching onto something important.

 

“Yes,” came the serene reply, “You see, there is a difference between a soul that is dead and one that simply no longer exists. Dead souls have no energy to them anymore, and they simply vanish. But souls that are forced out of one's body have incredible amounts of life left. Well, did you ever wonder why we cannot see them?”

 

“Because the Endless Abyss mirrors Oblivion, but with nothing in it,” Blue said emptily, and the others turned to him. They all had thought he'd be down for the count after what had happened, but he had been listening after all. Fuse didn't know if that was good or not.

 

“Exactly. There are no people, and there is no color or sound. Just a grey, bleak world with nothing in it,” the Time Lord agreed. Which wasn't exactly the truth - there were still buildings and landmarks in the Endless Abyss. But that was all.

 

Blue wondered what that had to do with anything at all. To him, it barely answered Fuse's questions of what happened before they had met up. But then, as the Time Lord actually did explain, he thought about what had been said. Souls that no longer existed… a world that was empty of all life… he wondered if there was indeed a correlation to what happened to Rouge. Rouge wasn't exactly dead. He just didn't exist. And it hit Blue now why Fuse had changed the direction of the questioning. Because Rouge was not dead. He had fallen into the Endless Abyss. And it was Blue who had thrown him there.

 

“…and that's why I had to come back,” the Time Lord finished, as Blue realized this thought, “We knew what we'd done shifted reality badly, but I had to know if Blue and Rouge were truly all right.” Blue was barely listening at that point, but those words rang out like a church bell. The Time Lord knew something was wrong, after all.

 

“Why?” Fuse asked him. Blue knew why instinctively. The Magic Kingdom hadn't groomed him for nothing. There weren't many figures in the history of Oblivion that were crucial to its unstable timeline, but he knew one of them. It was Aubergine.

 

“Because we did not want to kill off the most powerful magician in existence,” the Time Lord confirmed, and he said it bitterly, almost as if he blamed himself for this. Well, he screwed that up royally. Rouge was gone. But then, what did that mean for Blue? Was he Aubergine now? Blue looked down at his robes. Still blue and gold, and his hair was still blonde, not purple. He was still him. He just no longer had a twin.

 

“Rouge is in this abyss, isn't he?” Blue asked suddenly, and the Time Lord stared down at him, “That's why I'm not dead, and that's why no one remembers me, isn't it?”

 

“No one remembers any of us, dude,” Zozma pointed out, but Blue shook his head. This was different for him. So far, all they had was Mei-ling for an example. She had only met Zozma once, and Ildon never at all. And she did not remember Blue at all, despite being one of his closest friends.

 

“Rouge was the original magician, wasn't he? I'm the byproduct of that experiment, aren't I?” Blue asked the Time Lord, “Without Rouge, I'm as non-existent as he is. But he's not dead, is he? Tell me the truth.” The Time Lord looked at him with a mixture of pity and of sadness. He had said the truth for himself. And by that look, Blue found he was hurt. He really only lived because Rouge wanted him to. Rouge could've ended his existence all too easily, and he nearly ended it himself when he killed Rouge. It was Rouge's will that let Blue live through it at all.

 

“Rouge loves you regardless of what you are,” the Time Lord told him, and Blue looked down, tears threatening to spill out of him, “It is true, you do not exist without him. But the very same is said of him, too. He no longer exists without you.

 

“You see, Blue, when they performed that experiment, those foolish people were trying to be gods,” the Time Lord continued gently, “Trying to manufacture a powerful avatar instead of waiting for one to come into existence.” Blue blinked. Put that way, now he understood the regret in their voices when he returned to save his homeland. They all knew exactly what they'd done.

 

“An… an avatar?” Blue could only ask, “Us?”

 

“Rouge was born with amazing potential, more than any child born into the kingdom,” the Time Lord told him, “Only some worlds give birth to an avatar. The Magic Kingdom wanted to birth our avatar.” And they had used Rouge, and in effect Blue, to do it. When he saw the look of anger on Blue's face, the Time Lord grinned and said, “They never once thought you two would ever develop a bond. They were sure one would absorb the other.”

 

“In the end, Rouge screwed their plot over,” Blue concluded, and was rewarded with a nod, “Rouge couldn't kill me. I am his brother, as much as I could ever consider myself now. And when I won, I revived him because I am him.” The Time Lord's grin softened a bit, and he looked sympathetic again. That was almost true. But Blue, by being separated from Rouge, had developed his own personality and his own judgments about the world. His memories were different from his twin. He was different from his twin. That made all the difference in the experiment, and that was what made Aubergine an avatar. Two sides of a coin.

 

“Because you both saw each other as family instead of rivals, you both became powerful together,” the Time Lord explained to him, “That is why he exists only when you both combine your energy. You both lived - it was the only way.” Now he saw why the Time Lord had to come back. If Aubergine was comprised of all the magic he and Rouge both learned, then that meant he was on par with the gods, even Esper gods. And if he were to disappear… Hell would break loose, and not just the one he'd sealed up.

 

“How do we get into this abyss?” Blue asked forcefully, and the Time Lord fell silent. There was no way to do it, of course. When one died unnaturally, they simply went there. There were no gates to go in. Or… were there? He didn't know of one, but that didn't mean no one else would. There were other avatars besides Aubergine, and one of them was an Esper herself. And she had been alive before Oblivion was Oblivion.

 

“There is one person who may know a way in,” the lord explained thoughtfully, “Another avatar, an Esper.” Blue stared for a long moment. Espers were almost non-existent; how could he believe one was alive, and would even help them? When he asked that, the Time Lord merely said, “She will help us.” Blue wanted a more convincing reason than that, but he knew he wouldn't get one.

 

Looking to Fuse, he said, “What do you think?” Fuse perked a brow, as if saying he were surprised he was even being asked. The answer was obvious.

 

“Ain't no reason not to trust an Esper's word for it,” the cop told him simply, and then added, “Assuming she's real.” Blue didn't think the Time Lord would lie. He knew this Esper of theirs was real. It was knowing if she'd actually get his brother back that really made him wonder. If it weren't their only option into getting into the abyss, Blue would've asked for a better one. He turned back to the Mystics.

 

“How do we find her?” he asked. This time, the Time Lord wasn't smiling. Zozma was. Blue watched him suspiciously. Did that mean he knew this Esper, and the Time Lord only heard of her? Somehow, that didn't seem right at all.

 

“We'll need access to her world before we can talk to her,” the red-headed Mystic said, and his grin was more profound, “See, Espers are few, and any subspecies of theirs live in only a few worlds. So, anyone got any ideas?” So much for an easy journey. Blue's lips thinned, and he was torn between wanting to punch Zozma, or wanting to throw himself clear off a cliff. This was just a nightmare, and this Esper sounded like more trouble than reward. But he had to remember that Rouge needed this chance.

 

“We could try Devin,” Fuse said, and when they all looked back at him - and they obviously felt he was being a moron - he said, “Remember the rocket we found that took us to space?”

 

“You mean the piece of shit that started this little train wreck of ours?” Zozma corrected, and gave the thumbs up, “Yeah, we all remember, copper. What about it?”

 

“I was going to say we could take that and try to get into her world with it,” Fuse suggested. It was clear no one wanted to try that. For a multitude of reasons, as well. For one, none of them piloted the first rocket well. And for second, they had already used the rocket. It was currently crashed out on a meteorite, and broken beyond repair.

 

“Didn't we crash that pile of crap?” Ildon pointed out, and Zozma was more than willing to side with him. But they didn't account for the fact that they were arguing with Fuse, and Fuse did not give up, even when judgment told him to do otherwise. Fuse crossed his arms and turned around with a childish huff.

 

“I don't see you assholes coming up with anything,” he spat sarcastically, “Besides, we saw plenty of worlds in space. She might be on one of them.” That was another reason Blue didn't want to bother. There was a chance they'd miscalculate, and end up in the wrong world. And he didn't want to go on another wild goose-chase. Not when his brother was running out of time.

 

Luckily, conveniently luckily, he didn't need to make that choice. Right as Fuse spoke, a portal had formed behind him. It rippled at first, and Blue wasn't sure it wasn't the heat coming off of the concrete under them. Then, it began to grow black, with tendrils of purple energy spiraling inside of it. He knew that sign. Someone was tapping into the void itself to travel to them. And he knew it was toward them simply because there was no other reason for anyone to head to Scrap. That, and it was awfully convenient. When they saw Blue's expression, everyone else turned toward that portal as well.

 

Aeon stepped through the portal. At least, Blue thought it was Aeon - except that this time, he looked like he'd been roughed up quite a bit. His hair was messier and streaked with dirt, and his monocle was cracked. His ascot was torn up and his tailcoat was unbuttoned. A bruise was on his left cheek. Last time Blue saw him, he was the picture of nobility. Now, he looked like a noble who'd been tossed clear on his ass.

 

“What the hell happened to you?” Zozma asked, and saw clearly that Aeon was no happier to see them, either. His glare was painfully apparent.

 

“Someone spliced up time, and now whole eras are disappearing before our very eyes!” Aeon all but shouted, and was looking directly at the Time Lord as he spoke, “Worlds are falling apart, Time Lord, and do you wish to know why!?” His tone said he knew exactly what had happened, and that he did not approve in any way. But for all of his anger, the Time Lord remained calm.

 

“I understand we made mistakes, Aeon,” he replied firmly, “That is why we're trying to fix it.”

 

“You had better, or we're going to have one bloody mess to clean up,” Aeon growled, and he didn't sound like his normally formal and cordial self, “I barely got my friend out before she was swallowed whole. You know what will happen should she die, right? You remember, don't you?”

 

“I remember this, Aeon. I know what she is,” the Time Lord sighed. Then he turned away and shook his head. It was clear he hadn't known the true extent of the damage done. Whoever they were speaking of, she was both important and in trouble. Blue had a feeling immediately she was also exactly who they were looking for.

 

“Who is she?” he asked, and by the flinch Aeon gave, he hit the mark. The Time Lord gave him a sly smirk. It looked unusual on his serene face. Almost sinister. And judging by Aeon's expression, it was clear he had no intention of letting anyone see her. Not like that mattered, because if he meant to protect this woman, he'd have to battle the Time Lord to do it. And more than likely, he'd lose.

 

Turning to face Blue fully, the Time Lord's face was almost completely obscured by the shadow. The sun was eternally setting in Scrap, and the deep orange disk sunk behind the Mystic, sending blinding orange rays out around where it reflected off of his shimmering cape. Still grinning, he said, “She is the one we're going to see.”

 

That seemed to seal whatever secret conversation he and Aeon were having. More so than the miserable groan Aeon let out as everyone went from looking at the portal, to looking at him.

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

With the horrifying truth about what truly occurred while Blue and Rouge were stranded in the past, Blue must now find a way to save his brother from the Endless Abyss and restore the future to what it should have been. And despite his one-time appearance, Aeon has returned, conveniently in time to help our heroes out. Even if he really rather not! So, who is this woman he and the Time Lord are muttering about, and how is it she can help them? Can Aeon lead them to her safely? And has Rouge truly fallen into the abyss? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!