Converging Fates/Prologue

Foreword
There are those who would say, there are worlds separate from our own. Different, but similar in many ways. They have many names. Alternate universes, parallel worlds, separate dimensions... But any sane person knows they don't exist.

...Or do they? What if, there was the smallest possibility that they did exist? Worlds where fiction becomes reality, and reality is a nightmare, or a dream.

But what if the occupants of several of these worlds came together at one meeting point, one world, where the future is to be determined by the ones taken from these worlds?

And what if, together, they all had to face an evil so great, it threatens the very existence of all their worlds...?

The fates of seven worlds will hang in the balance between life and death. Fifteen heroes will have to prove themselves, or die.

This is the story fifteen fates, converging as one.

Prologue: Maelstrom
Date: June 6, 1999 3:46 P.M.

From the pages of the journals of Dr. Sarah Hanson.

The Quantum Transport has been successful. Margaret, the Chimp in the San Francisco facility was teleported here no problem, and I'm proud to say, I think it's ready for human testing. I've already arranged for a prisoner on death row to try the experiment. Gordon Colen, in fact. The so-called San Francisco Slayer. The bastard killed 13 people before making a special presentation on Court TV, and then heading straight for the pen. Anyways, the General has ordered extra security for the duration of his stay in both facilities.

There was a divergence field found in the transport log, but it seems to be nothing to worry about. Genetic tests on Margaret have returned as %100 percent clean. But we'll find out tonight. Colen should arrive here at any moment. If this experiment goes through all right, the public will be treated to an extra special press release in the morning.

On another note, James is supposed to pick me up tonight to go out for a drink or two, but after what happened today, it looks like it isn't going to happen, since its obvious I'm not leaving the facility (or anyone else for that matter), until every aspect of the experiment is confirmed by the General. I'm not even allowed to make phone calls outside of the facility.

I swear, one of these days I'll meet General Leonard and give him a piece of my mind. We may be under contract of the United States Defense Department, but we're also civilians!

Anyways, I'll give a brief update tonight sometime. In the meantime, we've got to prepare...

Date: June 6, 1999 8:20 P.M.

Ten minutes. I know I'm cutting it short, but ten minutes until history is made. A little ironic that the man who single-handedly killed over 13 people should be the one to make the jump. But if it does fail, it won't be much of a loss.

But then again, I'm so sure it won't fail. In fact, I'm positive there's no way for this to go wrong. Screw Murphy's Law, Sarah Hanson is in charge here!

"Quantum fields clean, Doctor."

"Generators at 80% capacity."

"Fifty seconds to primary transference sequence, Doctor."

"Are you ready to make history, Mr. Colen?" Sarah asked the man sitting inside a small structure in the center of the room through the intercom.

"Anything's better than that hell-hole..." he said with a sneer pointed towards the several armed guards in the room.

And you deserve every bit of it, you bastard! She thought to herself, lingering her gaze on Colen for a few moments longer.

"Thirty-five seconds doctor."

Sarah walked back to the control panel, glancing at every readout at least twice... *Any second now...* she told herself.

"Thirty", she could hear the excitement in the lab assistants voice as well.

"Quantum nodes still clean!"

"90% Capacity!"

"Twenty-five."

"Life signs?" She asked the medical assistant.

"His pulse rate is a little high, but its otherwise alright."

"No need to ask the ‘prisoner', doctor!" Colen grinned.

Sarah felt a chill run up her spine as she continued, visibly disturbed by the look Colen was giving her.

"Fifteen seconds!"

"95% capacity!"

"Initiate the transference program on my mark."

"Ten seconds!"

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"FULL CAPACITY!"

"Zero."

"Initiate!"

As the sparks of electricity showered the area around the transference structure, every one could feel the tension in the room building. It was that moment that the quantam field analyst noticed something.

"Wait!", he cried. "The other facility is sending a feedback loop! There's a field divergence!"

Sarah froze in panic. She knew exactly what to do, but the excitement of the moment had overtaken her senses, and by the time her brain had processed the information needed, it was too late.

"Shut down the transference! Get the--", the explosion knocked the wind out of her. The three armed guards by the structure were killed immediately, thrown back towards the outer walls of the lab. It was then that Doctor Sarah Hanson realized that something went wrong.

"HIRYU GYOTEN HA!"

Ranma's powerful ki blast hit the dragon faucet with amazing force, causing it to realign, with the dragons head pointing up into the sky, or more importantly, directly towards Ranma and Akane.

Akane regained her form as Ranma fell to the ground. Cloaking his shirt over Akane's naked body, he began to try and wake her up. With no success.

"Akane?", he asked.

No answer.

"Akane, wake up, its over!"

No answer.

It was then that Ranma feared the worst. ''When she closes her eyes, it is too late.''

"No," he said as he said he checked her pulse. There was a pulse, even if a faint one, but she wasn't breathing.

"Akane?" he said. "This is all because you pulled that dumb stunt to try and save me..."

"Damn it Akane! Why did you have to be so stupid!?", he yelled at her. A moment later, he realized what he did.

He hit himself hard on the side of the face. "I'm sorry.", he said. "That was wrong of me."

He cradled her closer into his arms and looked towards the sky. "I wish...", he began. "I wish I wasn't so awkward with my feelings."

He brought her closer, bringing her into a deep hug. "I wish I could have another chance... To tell you how I really feel.", he smiled out of the edges of his mouth. "I always manage to goof it up, somehow."

"Akane?", he asked.

"Akane, please wake up... You can hear me, can't you?"

There was no answer.

Feeling the tears start to stream out of his eyes, and in one final attempt to do.. Something, anything, he held her as deep as he could and screamed.

Whatever it was that he had done, somehow, in some way had reached into her and pulled her out of the state she was in. A low moan was heard from her lips as Ranma felt the air rush back into her lungs.

Her movement, barely noticeable caught him off-guard. Her hand reached up and stroked his face. She managed to open her eyes.

Ranma was overcome with emotions. His reply, the only reply he could think of was to embrace her again, deeper than ever and mutter her name. Akane did the same.

Somewhere above the embracing couple, a bluish energy field appeared, and dropped down on them before they could even notice. As it disappeared from sight, Ranma and Akane involuntarily did the same.

Her hand came up and stroked his face. Shinji didn't know what to make of it. He had been so angry at Asuka that he was sitting there, strangling her while she was unconscious. Mad at Asuka, mad at the world, what little of it was left, and mad at himself.

The look on her face somehow managed to convince him that he was crazy. He slowly began to loosen his grip, staring into her cold eyes. Asuka could only stare back, neither saying a word. Whether from choice or necessity, Shinji slipped off of her and began to let his tears flow freely.

How many things had happened in the past... What was it? Thirty minutes? A mere six hours earlier, he could recall himself beggin Asuka to wake up in her hospital room.

The events kept unfolding themselves, piece after piece. A minute seeming like a lifetime of events.

What could he remember? He looked to the sky. It was clear. He frowned inwardly as he realized there were no clouds. Only stars, and from what he could tell, it was only six o'clock in the evening.

The last thing he remembered before retreating into his mind was seeing Kaoru. His friend, the only one who could seem to understand him in all of Tokyo-3. He frowned again. The friend he had been forced to kill.

But there was something... Different about him. He knew he could remember, if he could be given a bit more... Wait...

That was it. He remembered! Kaoru, and Rei for that matter, were over 100 kilometers tall. He remembered screaming as he realized the gigantic form in front of his Eva was Rei. He could vaguely recall what he felt as Rei's red eyes focused on him with a sudden gasp.

He shook his head. Better not to recall that, he was barely able to hold onto his sanity as it was, and if he went back to that, he would have a problem.

He looked over at Asuka again. She had slipped under again, but at least this time he wasn't trying to kill her. He was torn between feelings of anger and happiness that Asuka was again unconscious. He knew he would need to talk to her soon, but he also felt he needed to think by himself for a little while.

There was something else. Shinji felt... Different. There was no other way to explain it, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He leaned back again to stare at the sky again, vaguely making out the crucified Eva's in the corner of his eye.

Shinji squinted as he could see something in the distance. A light. He tried to make out its distance, but to his surprise, it had been closer than he thought. He barely managed to stifle a scream as the light engulfed he and Asuka, and left just as abruptly. The last two living beings on the planet Earth, taken without so much as another word.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Zelgadis asked.

"Believe what you want", Lina shrugged, "That was only my theory."

Zelgadis shook his head. "I just don't think Shabarnigdo was the one controlling Rezo's actions. It's too easy."

Lina managed to smile.

"Well," Zelgadis said, pausing. "That looks like Atlas City.", he pointed at the city in the distance.

Recalling something quickly, Lina looked towards Gourry. "Remember, you promised only to take me as far as Atlas City!"

Gourry looked confused. "Did I say that?"

Lina frowned. "Ooh, just like a man to forget a promise!"

Gourry shrugged, "Well, alright then. If I promised."

Trying to take advantage of the situation, Lina continued, "remember you also said you'd give me the Sword of Light!"

"Now I KNOW I never promised you that!" he said, protecting his sword.

"Well, I must go now", Zelgadis remarked to the two arguing people in front of him, "it would attract some unnecessary attention if I were to go with you."

Lina snapped out of her reverie over the Sword of Light and looked around. She felt something. She knew she did. To her surprise, she also saw Gourry looking around suspiciously. Zelgadis seemed to have shut his mouth as well.

"What is it?" Gourry asked, feeling the presence descend to their location.

Zelgadis was the first to see the source, a bluish magical field appeared above them, and consumed the three Slayers as gravity pushed it down upon them. A minute later, a man on horseback walked down the road, receiving no indication that anybody had been there minutes earlier.

In the darkness he stood, a lone figure amidst a sea of black. He had succeeded, he told himself. He had defeated Sephiroth, at long last. He was dead.

He could recall his final attack. The Omni-slash. It had seemed to come out of nowhere, a vicious attack which required much of Cloud's strength, striking Sephiroth sixteen consecutive times.

Cloud looked down at the lifeless body before him. It had only been a few seconds since he had been put down, but it seemed like a eternity in the blackness. Where was he, anyways?

He could recall getting to where he was. He tried to picture it in his mind, vaguely getting the details he needed. He opened his eyes again and saw it.

A swirling green mass had appeared. Surrounding him, it seemed to rise up above him and converge at a single point.

"Lifestream..." he muttered.

As he stared in awe and wonder at the sight before him, a hand started to appear from inside of the mass. Not knowing exactly what to make of it, he reached for it. Filled with an unknown happiness, he closed his eyes again.

That was when he heard it. A rumbling. He shot his eyes open again quicky to realize he was back in the northern cave.

"Cloud!", Tifa yelled from a ledge above him, hand outstretched.

The granite platform Cloud has been standing on started to rumble and shake, frantically, he reached for Tifa's hand and managed to climb up just before the platform gave way.

"Look out!", a gruff voice yelled from the other side of the room. Cloud and Tifa looked over to see Cid frantically pointing towards the entrance to the cave, hundreds of feet above. What they saw was the Highwind, falling into the crevice and threatening to crush them. However, something else got to them first.

The bright blue light appeared above Cloud and Tifa and engulfed them just as the Highwind was going to crush them under its weight. When the dust cleared, they were nowhere to be found.

"So, what now?" Setzer asked nobody in particular.

"Well, I'd like to return to Mobliz. But maybe we should sort out what to do about the world first", Terra replied.

Sabin nodded. "Hmpf. Changing the world seemed so hard to do before, but now we've done it. Twice."

"The first wasn't our doing, but that doesn't excuse the fact that we were partially responsible for it", Celes shared.

Locke walked to the head of the ship. "Look. No grass. No plants, few trees. The first thing we've got to do is take care of--", he stopped mid-sentence. He felt a presence, and it was beginning to confuse him.

Celes felt it to as she walked up towards Locke, followed by Terra and Sabin.

As they discovered the source, the last thing Locke, Celes, Terra and Sabin saw was a very confused looking Setzer, standing right on the edge of the energy field.

"Fei!" Citan called out as he reached the ridge.

"He'd better come back! He promised!" Bart yelled, clenching his fist.

"Chu Chu! Chu!" Chu-chu jumped about, pointing towards the sky. There, high above the clouds, a single figure could be seen in the distance.

"There he is!" Bart exclaimed, pointing into the distant clouds.

The Xenogears descended down from above, as Citan and the rest of the group smiled.

"He did it.", Citan said.

Rico grunted. "What's that?", he pointed towards the sky above the Xenogears.

The first thought that came to Citan's mind was ‘Deus', but as the light engulfed the Xenogears, along with the two very confused pilots, he realized that whatever it was, he didn't want to mess with it.

A place of entities.

Entities without bodies, neither gaseous, liquid or solid.

How it existed, those who knew of it couldn't explain. However, those who did know of it were no longer alive, being long since dead, consumed by it. It had no name, no sex, although it preferred to be known as male.

It travelled from system to system, searching for new ‘conquests', new feeding grounds. It was an eater of lives. Plant and Animal, and it some cases, Mineral. As it slowly left the atmosphere of his latest conquest, he began to think. During the billion year voyage to the next system, it was all he could do while he let his food digest.

Sometimes he would get lucky. He would come across a two planet smorgasbord in one system. It only took him a short while then, and by the time he was complete, he was twice as powerful.

But such was not the case here. He would be traveling for a long while before he found the next system, and even then it wasn't a guarantee that life existed in the system.

Nothing really surprised it. There was nothing to be surprised by in his previous conquests, but what was happening at that very moment, did surprise him. The blue light came down on it from above and consumed his formless existence. A moment later, he found himself someplace completely different.