"Xenogears: Return to Genesis"

01: Waking Memories

Fei Fong Wong stared up at the mouthpiece of humankind with a broken mind and weary brown eyes. The naked preserved woman sleeping inside the green translucent capsule was indeed a person he knew. Everything here was familiar to him, in a sad, horrible way.

He was lonely. To the extent where shedding tears did nothing. Nobody knew what he was about. Where he had come from. Nobody would understand. They were all created here.

He had come from somewhere else.

Maybe Deus could have had some answers, but he was an overgrown pain in the ass that was now dead.

The Wave Existence had returned to Fei’s original home. And it killed him that he would not be able to set foot on the place his soul was born.

Fei sat down on a near by boulder and stared at the wreckage of the ancient ship. It was where the land genesis ‘Kadomony’ created the very signature of life.

Even Elly, his life-long love, was an illusion.

Crap, my head hurts...

Clenching his fists, he smashed the rock beside him in frustration. It exploded like a miniature time bomb, sending small grey pebbles to cushion the air around him. He coughed up a lung as the debris settled.

"That wasn’t too bright..." he remarked.

Bright whiteness.

From above?

Fei shielded his eyes with his hands, but the light pryed through his fingers and into his naked eyeballs.

"You are confused?"

That voice. It triggered something, like a song that reminds one of a certain period in their life. Fei couldn’t quite put a finger on where exactly he had heard this voice before.

"Who the hell are you...?" he asked.

He heard her smile. It wasn’t something that was humanly possible, but the level of communication she was using was beyond human. It scared the crap out of him. It was much like the...

"Wave Existence? No, I am not that. I came for you, Fei..."

"I’ve come to take you home..."

Elly was tired. She was sick and tired of being avoided by the man she loved. He looked so nerve-wracked the other day, she just wanted to hold him, and comfort him. But the look in his eyes told her that he didn’t see her. In his own little world, Elly did not exist. And it made her angry and sad.

And tired.

"Elly?"

"Yes, Citan?" She forced a smile as he came into her room aboard the Yggdrasil. They were on their rounds, searching for orphans and other survivors. They were also out for materials. The world was slowly getting back on its feet, and many towns needed supplies. It was physically tiring, but the war was over and now it was time to clean up the mess.

"Elly, I know this may not be a good time to talk, but I feel it is a important issue that must be discussed."

"It’s about Fei, isn’t it?" She looked up at him with haunted liquid blue eyes. Citan nodded uneasily.

"...Yes. Yes it is. And it is also about you. You’ve seemed depressed lately. Is something wrong between you and Fei? The whole ship is worried."

Elly paused.

"Tell them to save their energy for the other people in the world. Really, me and Fei will be fine." She smiled. "We’ve been through a lot together, nothing can pry us apart."

Citan walked towards the window. He stared out at the land below them, the sea of forest and meadow, and the blue sparkling ocean.

But the beautiful world was the last thing on his mind.

"Are you aware that everybody but Fei was created on this planet?"

The question took Elly off guard. She sat silently, watching the older man who was staring blankly out the window. Clutching her skirt, she looked away.

"Yes. Yes, I am aware of that."

Citan sighed. "I do not think I should be telling you this. But I will."

Elly smiled.

"Citan, I’m not a little girl. I’m a woman. You once thought I was your mother... Of course I can handle it."

Citan laughed. "Yes, that’s right isn’t it?"

Elly stretched out on the bed, and propped herself up against the wall. Citan took a seat on the wooden chair beside the bed. Clearing his throat, he began.

"I overheard Fei one night. He was in the gun room, talking to himself. I did not mean to eavesdrop, but I was concerned about what he was babbling about."

Citan paused.

"He was... He was questioning his origins. He was questioning reality and illusions. It was actually quite disturbing, I had never seen him that low."

Elly blinked. "Oh? What was he saying?"

Citan though for a moment. He opened his mouth, but he looked unsure. He closed his mouth, losing himself in thought. It was the first time Elly had seen Citan do that. As if he wasn’t sure how to assemble his words. Which was strange coming form the wiseman of the planet.

"Fei was... He kept cursing himself for doing something. I couldn’t catch what. I believe he knows something and he will not tell us. In fact, I believe its something he could not tell us."

Citan caught Elly’s eyes. She blinked, they were so serious, they were almost cold.

"He said he wished to return to the place where he was created."

Elly was shocked. Shocked to tears. She felt the warm spill of tears track down her cheeks. Alarmed, Citan came to her and hugged her shoulders.

"There, there Elly. There is no way Fei would want to leave you behind. You are his everything."

"No Citan..." She brushed away her tears with trembling fingers. "It’s, it’s just that Fei is such a complicated person... I, I wish to comfort him... But nobody knows him well... Not even me. And it hurts that I can’t help him find out who he truly is..."

"Elly... It is not you’re fault that Fei is different from us. That is something that can’t be helped."

Her shoulders slumped forward like a tonne of bricks had landed on them. Her movement reminded Citan like a puppet released from its strings.

"Citan... All I want.. is to be with him. Is that too much to ask?"

Citan looked at the ceiling. He closed his eyes.

"No, Elly... It isn’t."

Home?

Fei was so excited, he could feel the adrenaline pouring out of his ears. It had been nearly ten thousand years. But something struck him as a little odd...

Who was this thing? And how did it find him?

The crystalline voice chuckled softly.

"I have been searching for you ever since you left, Fei. Fei, that is an odd name... As is Abel, Kim and Lacan."

"Do you know my first name?" Fei asked. Even he did not remember that.

"Of course I do. But you should find out for yourself. Shall we be going now?"

The air shook before Fei, the fragments of blue sky falling apart like a jigsaw puzzle. On reflex, Fei jumped back and squatted to the ground.

Then she came.

The woman flowed together like sand. Like painted grains, her form came to life. Piece by piece.

Fei stared at her in amazement.

It was Elly.

The same auburn hair, the same liquid blue eyes.

"You’re not screwing with my head are you?" Fei plainly asked.

The woman smiled, her auburn hair and ankle length pale green dress floating in the air.

"You believe that I am Miang?"

"No. But you’re not Elly. Elly is onboard the Yggdrassil, looking for orphans and...."

Fei lost himself in total confusion.

"I am not Miang, or anyone else on this planet. I come from the same place you come from. Earth."

"Earth?"

The word struck a cord deep in his heart. A blue and green planet, much like this one. In a sea of stars called the Milky Way. It was slowly coming back to him.

"Why... Why do you resemble Elly so much?"

She came towards him, a slight glow emitting from her body.

"Is it I who resemble her? Or she that resembles me?"

Fei looked at her, confused. She smiled and gently stroked his cheek. Her touch was wonderful. It excited every pore in his body.

She watched him with tearful eyes.

"I’m so happy I found you..."

He would’ve loved to give himself up in that moment, but the question still lingered in his mind.

The woman smiled again, something that could make his heart melt like butter.

"When you came in contact with Zohar, you incited everything. All the people that were created were people you designed. You were only a child, so you asked Zohar for a mother. The mother figures Miang and Elhaym are people from your head. People you remembered from the past..."

It hit him, just then...

This woman, was an angel.

From a storybook he read when he was on board the Eldridge. She was a beautiful goddess. A goddess of hope and light.

"Yes." the woman nodded her head. "I am a goddess from your fairytale. But that fairytale is actually a myth..."

Her eyes grew weary and sad.

"Our paths have linked before, Fei. And we were separated for a very long time..."

Fei shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean..."

The woman smiled.

"Yes. I am the original form from which you created Elhaym."

"Fei?"

Emeralda felt odd. A gut feeling that something was happening.

She bounded down the hall, her bare feet slapping against the cement floor of Yggdrassil like thundering hooves.

She rounded the bend and headed towards the gun room. Dropping to the floor below, she banged open the door to Elly’s room.

"Elly!" Citan screamed.

She had collapsed to the floor, clutching her heart and crying freely into one hand.

"Fei... Fei!!" Elly cried out. She began coughing, her chest shaking as she did. Emeralda’s eyes widened as she saw droplets of blood escape Elly’s lips.

"Emeralda!" Citan addressed Emeralda firmly. "Go and call the doctor from the infirmary, tell him to prepare the respirator and the painkillers!"

"Yes!!" She ran up the staircase, and thundered towards the infirmary, causing commotion to stir on the Yggdrassil.

"What’s going on?" Bart asked as he entered Elly’s room. Citan ran past him, carrying an unconscious Elly in his arms.

"Citan!" Bart followed quickly in suit. "What’s happened to Elly?"

"Young one, you must take the Yggdrasil to Kadomony and pick up Fei. Hurry!"

Bart skidded to a halt behind Citan and ran down the opposite corridor. He didn’t know what the hell was going on but the tone in Citan’s voice told him that something horrible was about to rear its ugly face.

And Fei was in danger.

He entered the bridge, barking orders as he did.

"Sig! Head North to Kadomony! James, engage the shields. We need full throttle! Juice it!"

"Bart, what is going on?" Sigaurd asked as Bart initiated the Code signal. The bridge was immediately bathed in red light.

"Fei might be in trouble. Elly’s hurt."

"What do you mean, young master?" Old Maison came up behind them, alarm clearly weaved into his old voice.

Bart shook his head. "I don’t know..."