I know this is awfully late, but I've had writer's block, midterms, and of course, my hand, as well as Xenogears and BoF 3 intoxication. Onward ho!

Ramza eyed Kain warily. He was... odd, to say the least. He was not very charismatic, and he had an... almost evil aura to him. But Ramza shook it off as paranoia. Cecil was chatting with him rather nonchalantly.

"Kain, please, tell me where you've been these twelve years." Kain grinned something Ramza interpreted as sadistic.

"Well, I went to Mt. Ordeals to become a Dragoon of Light. It was treacherous to say the least. I made it to... the room of the Ankh, where the spirit of your father, KluYa, resides. I... failed. I tried again. I failed. KluYa gave me one last try. I was extremely tired, and did not have the will to fight. I took attack after attack. Soon, the light spoke. The evil me disappeared. I... was changed." Kain bent his head down, but Ramza could see his face. That same sadistic grin.

"Kain... I never thought you would do that." Kain shot his head up and saw a smiling Rosa. The sadistic grin left for a moment, but returned immediately. "I... don't know what to say. You are a changed man." Kain still had the grin.

"Yes, Queen Rosa. A very changed man." Ramza heard a quiet laugh. It made her shudder. Nate must have seen or heard her, because he put his hand on her shoulder. He had a loose but firm grip. It comforted Ramza in a sense. Kain turned.

"Cecil, I will go to my old room. If you need me... I'll be there... Heh, heh, heh..." Kain walked out of the room, and Cecil couldn't say goodbye, because Kain left swiftly. Cecil shook his head.

"Kain's changed, but he feels... the same." Rosa nodded silently. Rydia, on the other hand, folded her arms across her chest.

"There's something wrong about him this time. I saw the grin. It looks... sadistic. And his story sounds so... fishy." Well, at least these two women were on the same wavelength. Cecil sighed.

"Well, it's better to have him here in case trouble comes. He _is_ a powerful dragoon," Cecil noted. Everyone nodded on that point, mainly because it was true.

Elly turned around when that Kain fellow left. Kain... that name sounded familiar. Kain... Cain? Kain... Cain! He has the same name as the Heavenly Emperor! Does this have any meaning...? Elly pondered this strange coincidence, then wandered out of the King's chamber. She felt a pang of premonition. Something was going to happen. She felt it. Elly ran into her room (well, it wasn't really hers. It was the one Ramza and Nate were staying in) and grabbed her rod and some other equipment. She ran down the steps into the courtyard. It must be some sort of ceremony. Some man was being knighted or something. Cecil strolled out of the chamber talking to Rosa and Rydia.

Ramza walked out alone.

A solitary pebble on the ground jiggled.

The western tower blew to bits. Stone hailed on all of the citizens, and screams started to ensue. Panic was running amok, and Cecil wasn't going to take that in his castle. He unsheathed his sword, and called to Rosa and Rydia.

"Hey! Come and help me!" The girls nodded to each other and ran off after Cecil. Ramza followed them in case they needed backup. Cecil wound up finding a solitary person standing at the West tower. It was Kain.

"Kain! Who did this?" Kain turned around. His helmet disappeared in a flash of light. Blood red locks of hair flew down, and the sadistic grin returned, complete with maniacal laughter.

"G'heh... the one you know as Kain is dead. I'm not one for introductions. And that, I leave you on a rather unpleasant note." Cecil was breathless as... no, this wasn't Kain... this was a demon! Suddenly, out of thin air a giant robot came out. At first Cecil thought it was a reincarnation of the Giant of Babel, but it was smaller. It had six wings, white paint and red and blue markings. The impostor Kain floated into the robot.* * *

Elly stared. No, it couldn't be. Was it...? A giant white, red, and blue robot...

"Xenogears! How can this be?!" Elly started to run to the Gear. But she was too late. Xenogears looked like it was changing. A few of it's wings folded back, and the white color started fading into a shade of... red. Elly now knew who was here, and ran towards the Gear. She saw Cecil, Rosa, Rydia and Ramza standing there, as if in a trance. "Guys!! Come on! He's gonna obliterate this place in that Gear!" The rest of them snapped from their trances, and ran after Elly.

"What's that? What's going on!?" Rydia managed to yell over the commotion.

"It's a very powerful robot called a Gear! It's going to obliterate this castle!" Elly sprang out of the main gate, followed by Rosa. Rydia called the Mist dragon to fly Cecil, Ramza, and herself out. They managed to get a distance away.

The castle exploded in rays of light. A shockwave flew through the area, incinerating trees and the town of Baron. Cecil watched in despair as his homeland was wiped off the face of God's green Earth in a blink of an eye. Cecil saw the red... "Gear" fly slowly into the air, and then flew into the heavens, apparently headed for the new moon.

"...No... no! Amber! Neila!" This hit Cecil hard. He fell to the ground, and punched it with his fists. "WHY!? Kain, you betrayed me!" Cecil stood up, and Rydia could feel the darkness and hatred in him swell. Cecil took his sword and started slicing up local shrubbery. Ramza wasn't going to let this happen any longer. She pulled out her lightsaber and ignited it.

"Cecil, stop this madness!" She jumped and hacked at the crystal sword. A blinding flash of light ensued and the sword shattered into millions of pieces. Cecil fell to the ground in shock. The crystal sword was unbeatable! How could this... girl shatter it?

"Your children may be dead, they may not. There certainly has to be survivors, right?" Elly reasoned. Cecil was still in a state of shock, staring at the sword made of energy. Elly turned around. "That man... is supposed to be dead. He is truly a demon. But I'll explain more about him later. Let's return to the castle." Cecil got up and nodded weakly. Rosa went to his side to comfort him.

"Yes, lets... return."

The castle, or what was left of it, was deserted. All Cecil could see in his area was black. Only a solitary tree remained. Tears whelmed in Cecil's eyes. His home. His castle. His daughters. All gone. But something wasn't right.

"Ramza... where is Nate?" Ramza gasped at hearing his name. Where WAS Nate?

"...He... wasn't with us? He's not here! No! He would have gotten out, I know it!"

"Oh..." Nate groaned. He was insanely tired. He opened his eyes slowly. He saw himself shackled on some sort of vertical wall. He saw two young girls in similar apparatus. They looked familiar, but Nate couldn't place who they were at the moment. A light was amplifying itself in the center of the room. It looked like a star shape in a circle. After the room was sufficiently lighted, a man sort of phased into the room. His hair was blood red, and he wore a black set of armor that would make the night look bright. "Who... are... you?"

"Feh. No need for you to know. I assume you've met my business associates, Liquid Snake and Neomus." Nate managed to muster a gasp unconsciously. This man was with them! Now that he was fully conscious, he saw what appeared to be Amber and Neila on the apparatus. "Although I may be of no more existence in my world, I managed to get... transport here when these time rifts occurred. Young man, you have no idea what you caused." The man formerly known as Kain managed a maniacal laugh. "You... are a hostage. I assure you, I am a personality of my word. If I and my associates get what we want, you and these two girls will be released."

"And if they don't...?"

"You'll live a life of torture and despair. Trust me, torture is much more fun than killing. It lasts much longer, and it's more fun! Fun, fun, fun!" More maniacal laughter. This was definitely a sadist. He vaguely reminded Nate of Kefka, but Kefka was more so than this. This man was more like... a person's Id, the primitive person within them.

"Now, I'm not planning on being Goldfinger, describing each and every bit of my... or our scheme to you. Although I will give you some information. Every person has their dark side, or their Id. I happen to be someone's Id who split away from the whole. Now, you appear to be a very useful tool. Kain was useful. To a point. You will serve my purposes... mwha, ha, ha!!" Nate called the person Id in his mind. Id moved to the center of the pentacle (He was pretty sure it was a pentacle. He recognized it from a religion of some sort), and was engulfed in the light. Id became an aura, and flew towards Nate.

"NO!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Nate screamed. Suddenly, he couldn't feel Id at all. He knew Id was in him. He had to keep him away at all costs until he got rid of him. The shackles unhooked. He only had a short amount of time. "Girls! Come on!" Nate blasted the locks off with his magic, and the unconscious girls fell into his arms. "Hurry..." Nate kicked the door open and ran down the hall. He came to the giant robot. It wasn't blood red this time. He jumped into the cockpit, and put the girls behind him. "Wait a minute. I don't know how to drive it!" Nate discovered what appeared to be a control stick.

"bzzt.. Xenogears Help Mode enabled. Lamb, Piloting level 0. Use control stick to maneuver. Depress flight button to go to flight mode." Nate shrugged and hit the red button labeled flight. Xenogears lit up, and blasted out of its hangar. It was almost... too easy. He looked around and saw the blackness of space. The robot flew to earth. Nate passed through the atmosphere onto the green grass. His mental energies fluctuated. He couldn't think. Id was going to break free shortly. But he was strong. He HAD to keep Id out!

"Computer. Set course for Baron area." The computer beeped, acknowledging his request. Xenogears jumped off the ground and the rocket boosters sent it flying towards Baron. The clouds whipped around. Nate found what appeared to be the ruins of a castle. "What happened here?" Nate jumped out of Xenogears and started to wander around. Only a solitary tree remained in the middle of the rubble. "This tree...?" No time to play question the quarren. Nate grimaced and climbed back into Xenogears. Where were they?

"Computer; enable scope mode." When the people wanted to look around in the war movies, that's what they said. It appeared to work here too. Nate maneuvered the control stick to look around. The computer beeped to signal life forms. Five, to be exact. It has to be them! "Computer! Lock on those people and move forwards!" This computer must have a natural language processor or something. The computer acknowledged and Xenogears flew towards the five. It was them. Ramza's long blonde locks were unique to themselves. Xenogears flew ahead of them.

* * *

"Oh no! It's Id again!" Elly yelled.

"Id? Is that his name?" Cecil inquired. Elly nodded.

"Wait! It's not red! Something's up!" Ramza ran after the giant robot. Rosa withdrew and started muttering something. She flew her hand out and blue bolts of light flew from her fingers and into Ramza. She felt invigorated, full of adrenaline. Her feet ran faster and faster. The robot appeared to be slowing down. It skidded to a halt and landed facing Ramza. She gasped and hit the brakes. Ramza tripped and flew right into the ground. With a face full of grass, she stood up. What nerve. The cockpit of the robot opened up to reveal... Nate!

"Nate!" Ramza ran forward to the robot. Nate had two... things in his arms. He jumped to the ground. "I'm so glad to see you! Why are you in that robot?" Nate let out a heavy side.

"I can't stay for long. Amber and Neila are right here. Tell Cecil I'm sorry." Nate grasped his head as he jumped back into Xenogears. Ramza was now completely distraught.

"No! Nate! Stay!" The cockpit closed as Ramza finished pleading. The back of Xenogears lit up, and it flew into the air. "Nooo!" Ramza knelt as the other four ran over.

"What happened?" Rydia asked. Ramza stood up. Rydia felt something in Ramza. It was if someone else was trying to break through, to become another psyche in Ramza's body.

"Nate's gotten a hold of Xenogears. Neila and Amber are right here." Ramza held back a sniffle. Cecil was almost overcome with joy.

"Girls!" He and Rosa ran towards their daughters. They were still unconscious.

"We have to get them somewhere. Black chocobos live in the forest below. Let's hitch a ride on one to Toroia. They can get to there." Rydia and Rosa nodded in unison. The five of them turned around to head to the forest.

"It seems your little ace in the hole has failed, Liquid Snake." Liquid growled. Kain was being used by ANOTHER person at the same time! It was getting worse by the minute, and Liquid knew it.

"Kain was useful earlier to your father. He is much more powerful as Id, but Id has possessed that Nathan boy now. Now, this could be good and bad. Id cannot be controlled by us, so he is virtually acting on his own. And that machine..." Liquid Snake turned in thought.

"It is time. I will equip my mask, and we will go to the surface of Earth. I know of a certain... something." Neomus let out a roaring maniacal laugh.

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Author's notes

Not much of a groundbreaking chapter. But, there are some clues to the future. Can you pick them out?

Kefka Floyd