Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: Okay, nothing much to add here. Why do I even add an AN anyway? I dunno. Well, um yeah. I just hope that the dividers carry over on FF.net. For some reason, it does not like to carry over symbols. I would pout, but I think I'm a little too old for that. Err... never mind. I'll pout anyways! lol

Right, onto the next chapter! Enjoy!

Wes sighed and paced around the work area. The Professor was busy at work with what he called their greatest invention. In other words, it was suppose to be a giant robot that was based on some ancient blueprints that dated back to the Age of Heroes. He thought that the Professor had finally lost it, but then he saw the work in progress.

The thing was massive. Before him had been a giant humanoid 40 foot robot. It was black and silver metallic and had a giant green orb in the center of its chest. It had metallic wings coming out of the back, too.

What he couldn’t figure out was what the Professor wanted to do with such an object.

Wes grunted and stopped pacing. A white and blue light shimmered into existence behind him. He jumped around and stared at the green haired woman that appeared out of nowhere.

“Ah?” Wes stuttered. “Ah, um may I help you?”

Sari glanced around the office. “Yes. Is the Professor here?”

Both turned towards the Professor’s office. The door opened and the old man walked out and into the lab area, where Wes and Sari were standing. Sari gave the Professor a once over and walked over to him. She held out her hand and offered the black box over to him.

The Professor took the object and turned it around in his hand. He grinned slightly and nodded.

“Oh, yes. I have been waiting for this,” the Professor said.

Sari raised an eyebrow. “Then, you know what it’s suppose to go to?”

The old man nodded. “Yes, I have the model ready. Took a long time to finish, it did. But I am the great Professor! There is no piece of machinery that I cannot fix! And if there is, I will find a way to fix it!”

Sari nodded slowly. Unlike Wes, she could see the look in the old man’s eyes. She could see the power that lay beneath all that insane ramblings. She could see the power of the Kaiser. What she couldn’t figure out, though, was how. She knew that Gideon took Ryu’s powers, Kaiser Dragon and all. So, how could this old man be a Kaiser, too?

Unless…

“Hey! Kid!” The Professor snapped his fingers in front of Sari’s face.

Sari blinked and frowned. “Oh, yes. One more thing.”

The Professor merely smiled all knowingly. “I know. But that’s only if the kid lives. There would be no point in trying if the body dies.”

Sari nodded. “Then, you will accompany me back to Shevat?”

The old man nodded. “Yes.” The old man turned his attention to Wes. “Come, Assistant #1. We have a job to do!”

Wes pointed to himself. “What? What’s this about? What’s going on?”

The old man laughed. “We are going to save the world, that’s what!”

Sari merely rolled her eyes and placed her hands on their shoulders and teleported them back to Shevat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So far, Nina was not having a good day. Even though they had three Goddess Keys in their possession, it cost them the lives of Wyatt and Yuki… and possibly Ryu’s life as well. Nina had no idea what had happened when Sari appeared and took them back to Shevat.

She didn’t know that Yuki had died, but before she had done so, she had transferred the last of her powers to Sari and Ryu. So now, on top of Sari’s rejection/“objection” powers, Sari could now teleport, summon objects, and throw lightning. Just what Yuki did. Ryu was left with Yuki’s healing abilities.

It was those abilities that kept him from dying.

When they had arrived at Shevat, Ryu had already been taken to the labs to be worked on. The only problem was, was that Yuki’s spell was quickly wearing off and Sari was having trouble rejecting the crystallization.

Jin had quite refused to see a healer about his injuries. Yui had protested, but one look from the irate doctor had stopped any further objections from anyone else. Currently, Jin, Salla, and several others were behind the large double doors trying to save Ryu’s life.

Nina sighed and placed her head in her hands. Nothing was going right. This was not suppose to be how it turned out.

Nina glanced around the room and spotted Manna standing by a large window, looking out onto the street below. Troy was sitting down on one of the chairs, playing what appeared to be some kind of hand held game system. Momo was seated right beside Nina. Yui was currently being examined by some of the staff in another room.

Nina looked back down at her lap. She wondered what was going to happen to Nunnally. She remembered that Leon had been there to greet them after they teleported in. Nunnally had recognized Leon as Demus and he had taken her off to a side room to talk to her and explain what was going on.

Apparently, the girl was handling what was happening much, much better than she was. Hell, a four-year-old was handling it better than her. She glanced back down at the child, who was merely staring straight ahead. Nina started to say something, but Momo cut her off.

“They can still be saved,” Momo said quietly.

“What?” Nina asked in confusion.

“Wyatt and Miyuki,” Momo said. “They can still be saved.”

Troy looked up from his game and turned it off. He placed the game back in his trench coat and turned his attention to Momo and Nina. Even Manna glanced over. Nina cringed at the attention on her and Momo, but quickly shook the feeling off.

“How?” Nina finally asked.

Momo glanced up and Nina. “There’s a plan.”

“What kind of plan?” Nina muttered.

Manna grinned slightly and crossed her arms. “Its all a part of the Grand Design. If they are to return, then they will return.”

Nina stood up and stalked over to Manna, her hands balled into fists. “One of my best friends is dead and another might die yet. And a twelve-year-old is already dead. How the hell can you be so calm about this?”

Manna looked down at Nina, cool purple eyes meeting blazing blue. Manna cocked her head and gave Nina a serious look. “Wyatt wasn’t even human. He was an android, Fate. Yuki saved the black box that basically served as his brain. As long as that thing is in tact, all some one has to do it place it into another robotic body, one that’s compatible with the box. Ryu’s not dead yet. You must have faith in him. As for Yuki… well… there are certain things that I cannot reveal yet.”

Nina glowered at Manna. “What do you mean, you can’t reveal yet? Just what kind of person are you?”

“One that knows more than she would like,” Manna said. “If I told you everything that would happen, then Myria would find out about it, and if she found out, then Legence would find out. And then what? Everything that we have been trying to do would be known to the enemy and all would be lost.”

Nina clenched and unclenched her fists. “We? What’s with this ‘we’ bit? Who else knows about all of this?”

Troy was about to raise his hand, but thought better of it and merely watched the two women argue back and forth with each other. Momo glanced over at Troy and nodded in agreement.

Manna merely gave Nina a cool look. “Who else do you think?” Manna said as she placed her hands on her hips. “Who do you think that the Overseers get THEIR marching orders from?”

Nina gave Manna a bewildered look. “Are you saying that Myria and Ladon know about this?”

“No, I already said that Myria knows nothing of this. And… I don’t think that Ladon’s in any position to know anything,” Manna smirked slightly. “If there are gods of order and chaos, then shouldn’t there be a god of balance as well?”

Nina blinked once. “Another god…? Who?”

Manna grinned. “Who do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Nina admitted.

Manna waved her arm in a wide arc. “If Myria is order of the cosmic scale and Ladon is chaos, then there must be one that was created along side of them that would represent balance. We overseers were created to watch over the Grand Design and protect it from those who would wish to disrupt the natural flow. Think of us as gods of destiny. We aren’t always gods, some of us started out as normal humans. Humans that gave their lives for the greater good. But, the main question remains, who had the idea for the overseers in the first place?”

Nina merely glanced at Manna in confusion. “I still don’t get it. I have never heard of a god that would even come close to Ladon and Myria’s powers.”

Manna winked at Nina. “Of course not. Would such a god want their identity known? It his identity was known, could he then help out directly?”

“Is this god a male then?” Nina asked. “You are using male pronouns.”

Manna’s eyebrow twitched. “That’s not what I meant,” Manna said with a sigh. She started to say something else, but was cut off when the double doors opened and Jin and Salla walked out.

Jin and Salla both had grim looks on their faces. Everyone turned this attention to the duo. Salla held up her hand and started crying. She turned her back to the group and silently excused herself. Jin watched her exit through a side door before turning his attention back to the group.

Jin sighed and glanced at everyone. “We… did what we could,” Jin started. “We gave him the cure… but…” Jin glanced at Momo. Momo merely glanced back at her father. Jin gave a mental debate and walked over to Momo.

Momo merely held her hands up. Jin looked at Momo and nodded. Nina was wondering what the two were doing. It then hit her. Whatever Jin was about to say, he didn’t want Momo to hear it. Momo merely stood up and walked over to Jin and held her arms up. Jin sighed and picked Momo up and swung her around his hip before continuing.

Jin frowned. He looked right at Nina. “We tried… but by then his internal organs had already crystallized. Ryu went into cardiac arrest right there. His entire body shut down. We tried to revive him, but there was nothing we could do.” Jin looked down at the floor. “I guess we were just too late.”

Manna frowned at the news and Troy could only shake his head. Nina blinked once, unable to process what she had just heard. She rapidly shook her head in denial.

“No… that… can’t be right,” Nina mumbled. She blinked back tears and shook her head again. “No… not again…” Nina looked right up at Jin. “I can’t lost him again!” Nina yelled, her voice taking on a hysterical edge to it.

Jin frowned. Momo laid her head against Jin’s shoulder. “Something’s not right,” Jin finally said. “The antidote should have worked immediately. We did everything that that damn notebook said.”

Nina wasn’t sure if Jin was talking to her or himself. All she knew was that Ryu was dead. That was just something she could not deal with. She looked up at Jin. “Can… I go see him?”

Jin’s head snapped over to Nina’s direction. “Of course,” Jin said. He gently placed Momo back on the ground and gestured Nina over to the door. “Come with me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jin led Nina through a series of hallways, before they came to Ryu’s room. Jin opened the door and let Nina enter in before him. Jin followed Nina through the door and then shut it. Nina covered her mouth. She glanced over at Ryu’s unmoving form lying on the table. His body wasn’t even crystallized. He looked like he was just sleeping.

Nina glanced up at Jin for an explanation. All Jin could do was shrug. “It was the strangest thing. The crystallizing stopped with just his internal organs. The outside of his body is completely normal.”

“Is… his internal organs still crystallized?” Nina asked. She walked over to Ryu and brushed his long bangs out of his face.

“I’m not sure. If that cure acted like it was suppose to, then yes. I think that when Gideon took his powers, the regeneration that I placed on him was taken as well. If that was the case, then his body started to crystallize at that moment. From what Saria told me, she and Yuki were able to halt it for a moment, but it must have started back the second Saria left.”

“So, there’s no chance…?” Nina asked. She clenched her eyes shut as tears threatened to spill over.

“I don’t know,” Jin muttered. “I honestly don’t.”

Nina rapidly shook her head. “That is NOT what I want to hear Jin!”

Jin sighed. “I KNOW that Nina, but I don’t know what else to say. I can’t understand why his body shut down right after we gave him the antidote. It SHOULD have worked.”

“Then WHY DIDN’T IT?!” Nina shrieked. She collapsed to her knees and started sobbing. “Why didn’t it work?!”

Jin knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. Nina shook her head and grabbed onto Jin and started to sob harder. Jin awkwardly placed his arm around Nina’s shoulder. A soft light caught Jin’s attention.

Jin looked up at saw a transparent figure standing behind him and Nina. Much to Jin’s surprise, however, was that it was not Mary that stood behind them, but Miyuki. Or, at least someone that looked an awful lot like her. Jin gently prodded Nina, who raised her head and looked up at the ethereal woman.

The woman smiled. Nina, why are you crying?

Nina merely stared. The woman sounded like Yuki. “Yuki?”

The ghost nodded slightly. In a way. She looked over at Jin. She looked down and clenched her hands into fists. Brother, I’m sorry.

Jin gave Yuki a confused look. “Sorry? For what?”

Yuki couldn’t look at Jin. Sorry for making your life so difficult.

Jin frowned. “Nonsense. Since when did you ever give me any trouble?” Yuki looked like she was about to say something, but Jin cut her off. “Miyuki, you are my sister, my family. I love you. You have never made my life difficult.”

But, if it wasn’t for me…

“If it wasn’t for you, far more people would be dead right now,” Jin said. Nina noticed that he had a blank look in his eyes.

Yuki only nodded. I… you know that I can’t stay, right?

Jin nodded. His face was unreadable. Nina frowned. What was going on here.

Yuki smiled slightly. She turned her attention to Nina. Nina and Jin cautiously stood up. Please don’t be sad, Yuki said. It’s not over yet.

“What do you mean?” Nina asked.

Yuki walked over to where Ryu’s body lied. She closed her eyes and held out her hand. A faint white and gold orb appeared in her hand. She held it out to the body. There’s a reason that Ryu wasn’t revived immediately. His soul was lost from his body. I… retrieved it and now I am returning it.

Yuki placed her hand over Ryu’s chest and let the orb sink down. A bright light engulfed the entire room. Nina and Jin had to shield their eyes from the sudden brightness. When the light died down, Ryu’s body jerked. Nina ran over to Ryu and grabbed his wrist. She could feel a faint pulse in his wrist.

“Ryu…?” Nina whimpered. She blinked back tears when she felt Ryu take hold of her hand in his. Ryu’s grip tightened slightly. Nina shrieked in joy and gripped Ryu’s hand.

Yuki looked over at Jin and smiled slightly. Jin sighed and nodded. “Did it really have to come to this?”

Yuki nodded. Yes. But… you knew this would happen, didn’t you?

Jin grimly nodded. “But… it doesn’t mean that I have to like it.”

Yuki nodded in agreement. This is the only way I can monitor Myria without her knowing about it.

“I know,” Jin said with a sigh.

I… have to go now…

Jin looked at Yuki. He cleared his throat. “…okay. Until we meet again.”

Yuki nodded. Just remember. You better not die on me, Brother.

Jin gave Yuki an odd look as she vanished. Jin turned his attention back over to Ryu and Nina. Ryu opened his eyes and looked up at Nina.

“What’s wrong?” Ryu whispered. “You look like you lost your best friend…”

Nina shook her head rapidly and started crying all over again. Ryu reached up with his other hand and wiped her tears from her cheeks. “Come on now,” Ryu said, grinning slightly. “There’s no need to cry.”

Nina shook her head and threw herself against Ryu’s chest. Ryu wrapped both arms around Nina’s back as she cried into his chest. Jin crossed his arms and smiled slightly. A blue and white light caused him to turn around. Standing before him was Saria, a young man with brown hair, and some old man.

Nina turned around and Ryu slowly sat up. The old man hobbled over to Ryu and grabbed his head. The old man placed his hand against Ryu’s temple and closed his eyes. Finally, the old man grunted and let Ryu go.

“What’s the deal, old man?!” Ryu barked.

The Professor shook his head and crossed his arms. “This will not do. This will not do at all! How could you have lost it?”

“Lost what?” Ryu growled.

“Your powers! The Kaiser power! How could you have lost it?” the old man said. Ryu was about to open his mouth and protest, but the old man held his hand up and silenced him. “No, say nothing! Jono would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what had happened!”

“Who’s Jono?” Jin asked. Nina gasped and covered her mouth.

“Oh, he’s a dragon elder…” Ryu mumbled. “A former dragon elder… the one that held the Infinity Gene… the power of the Kaiser.”

The Professor nodded. “Yes, and you seemed to have lost that power. But, that’s what the old lady would say would happen.”

“Old lady?” Ryu asked.

“Deis,” The Professor said. “She said something to this effect. So, we are now going to have to fix it.”

“What? You know Deis?” Ryu asked. “Wait, how are we going to fix this?”

The old man smiled. “That idiot king only has two pieces of Ladon. He’s going to need the third in order to have completely control of the power.”

“Old man?” Nina asked. “What are you saying?” Realization dawned on Nina and Ryu. Ryu mumbled something to himself and slapped his hand against his forehead.

“Shit! You’re a dragon elder!” Ryu muttered.

“No,” the old man said. “Not like that. I’m just an old man that builds robots. But, if you want to put it that way…”

Even Jin was curious by now. “Ah, Professor? Just how old are you?”

The old man smiled. “Oh… give or take… five hundred years old… or so.”

Nina blinked. “Just… who are you?”

The Professor only smiled. “The only one that can get Ryu’s powers as the Kaiser Dragon back.”

Ryu glanced over at the bedside table and picked up his Tear. The stone was rapidly flashing rainbow colors. “You’re… a Destined?”

 

To be continued…