Chapter Three: The Underworld
There were mirrors everywhere leading

Her to the end and they alone wanted her

Even the floor was her mirror

Singing into her from underground
-- Julia Story "With the Time She Had Left"

Bleu found herself facedown in an unexpectedly verdant -- and, thankfully, plush -- mound of greenery. She pushed herself up on her elbows and took a deep breath. It smelled amazing; fresh and crisp, mixed with the delicate scent of some unknown flower. She opened her eyes, then sat back on her knees with a hiss. "This is the Underworld?!"

"Sure is," Karina said. She crouched down next to her and grinned. "What the hell were you expecting?"

Bleu narrowed her eyes. "Did you make a list of puns before you set off, or is this just your annoying special talent?"

"Sorry. I was just trying to make a joke." Karina stood back up. "Let me know when you want to talk," she said with a dismissive handwave as she walked off to where some of the others were.

"Ugh," Bleu groaned.

"That's family for you," Magus said. Bleu looked to the left, and saw him standing on the lush ground. They were in some sort of meadow, surrounded by tiny, emerald-green leafy plants and small, strange flowers. At first glance, the flowers appeared white, but a closer look revealed that they were some color between blue and white and purple and that they were softly fluorescent. They reminded her of lilies, somewhat, except that the petals were serrated on the edges and indented in the middle to form a scoop. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Bleu said. She held out a hand and he helped her up. From her new vantage point, the meadow opened up to reveal that it was surrounded by a mountain's peak on three sides. The remaining side eased into a gentle, downward slope that presumably led to civilization. She looked up at the calm, cloudless, and brilliantly turquoise sky. "This really isn't what I was expecting. At all."

"I think we made a wrong turn... maybe?" Marle wondered aloud. She scrambled to her feet and playfully nudged the prone figures of Crono and Lucca with the toe of her sandal. She stifled a squeal when Crono grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back down on her behind. "You're lucky this ground is soft!"

Crono let go of her and sat up, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. Lucca soon followed, then stood up to get a better look around. She rolled her eyes when Marle pounced on Crono and the two wrestled playfully, flattening the nearby flowers. Their short tussle ended when Crono succeeded in pinning Marle. He kissed her, then stood and pulled her upright.

"Real mature, you two, now I feel scandalized," Daria muttered. "It's weird enough knowing that I'm --" She pointed at them. "-- your descendant without getting an idea of how my ancestors came about."

"Speaking of that," Lucca said. "I don't see anything resembling birds or bees here."

"But I do see a certain hunky knight." Marle winked at Lucca. "Hey! Frog! Robo! Over here! I've got questions!"

"Yeah, so do I," Rydia mumbled, looking at her flustered ancestor.

"You were right," Cecil said as Karina approached. "I don't look as out of place here as I had imagined."

"Yeah, this realm is certainly lacking in the fire and brimstone," Kain agreed. "As well as the terrible beasts."

"Mm, so far it has," Rosa said. She looked over at Karina. "I don't recall you correcting us on that detail."

Karina laughed. "Why should I? To most of your kind, all demons -- myself included -- are monsters."

"I wouldn't call you a monster," Kain said. "Merely... otherworldly."

Rosa smiled knowingly at Cecil. "Should I be jealous?" she whispered, then laughed softly. Cecil cleared his throat.

"That over there --" Cecil pointed to a formation of black spikes higher up on the side of the mountain. While the surface of the metal was unnaturally smooth, it glistened like oil instead of sparkling or gleaming. It was the only threatening thing in the otherwise idyllic landscape. "Is that a crystal or a metal?"

"It's thorn," Karina replied. "It's a metal that grows like a crystal. It's really the only metal we have here, so it's used for practically everything. Thorn jewelry, thorn armor, thorn weapons... especially weapons."

"I used to be a dark knight," Cecil said. "The King told me that my armor came from the Underworld, which I always thought to mean it was dwarven-made. Now, I'm not so sure..."

"Cecil..." Rosa laid a hand on his arm.

"It was horrible; black as cast iron and the edges of the plates were sharp enough to cut. Wearing it, I was a veritable killing machine... I could even behead a man with my shield. Wearing it felt like it had been forged directly onto my skin." Cecil shuddered and Rosa rubbed his arm. "It drove me to bloodlust and nearly to madness."

"Not only does that sound like thorn armor, it sounds like it had been cursed as well," Karina said. "Someone must've summoned its original owner to your world once... You're lucky to be rid of it."

Cecil nodded, a faraway look on his face. Kain turned to say something to Karina, but she had already walked away.

"We made it here in one piece," Celes said. She looked around, frowning as she did so. Everything was too lush and too green, and the sky was the wrong color. Even the flowers were wrong; it was all too perfect. Bile burned in her throat until she saw the cluster of black spikes on the mountainside. Those, at least, were ugly and horrible and glimmered like poison. "...I guess I wasn't expecting the Underworld to look better than our world."

"The house would've won that bet, that's for sure," Setzer agreed, squinting up at the sky. Terra stood beside him, swaying on her feet. She stared at everything like she was looking through it and Celes knew that, despite her proximity, the other woman was too far away for anyone to reach.

"Yeah, maybe I should 'thank' Kefka for that when we get to the Land of the Dead." Sabin boxed the air, but stopped when he noticed the way that his companions were looking at him. Even Terra, whose eyes were filling with tears. "What?"

"He would be there, wouldn't he," Terra said flatly. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "I... hope he stays away from him."

Sabin wrinkled his brow in confusion and Celes felt her shoulders sag under the weight of her own guilt. Setzer started to reach out to either touch Terra's arm or pull her close, but slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat instead. "You mean General Leo?" Sabin asked.

"Him too."

Skye sputtered. The ground was lumpy and she'd apparently landed on her hair, which was currently occupying her mouth with gusto. She pushed herself up and heard the ground groan and felt it shift. All the wooziness that accompanied the jarring trip to the so-called "world below all others" promptly vanished, especially when her now-opened eyes revealed two things: that she had landed on Edward and the hair in her mouth was his. She spat the rest of it out and scrambled off of his back.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Um, are you okay?"

Edward nodded, then sat up and pulled a lacy handkerchief out of the pack he carried. "I could ask you the same, but I think I broke your fall," he said as he wiped at his hair.

"Yeah... sorry about that." Skye stood up and brushed at her shirt, dislodging a few blond hairs that she was pretty certain weren't her own. At least she hadn't landed on Setzer. She glanced around while Edward collected his lute and checked his pocket-watch, then stepped back onto someone's foot. She stopped mid-step. ...Great.

"Hey there," she heard Ashlynn say. "I wanted to make sure you two were okay. Usually Karina gets us all closer to the ground."

Skye took a deep breath, then spun on the ball of her foot to face him. He looked even better up close and, once again, Skye felt her heart sink. She knew he was probably taken, but she also noticed that his smile faded a little, just for a moment, when she took a step backwards. Though that, she reasoned, could've just been her imagination. It had to be, in fact. "I'm okay."

Behind them, Edward picked out a few notes on his lute. "I'm okay, too, thank you. Is this the Land of the Dead?"

"Not quite, but we're right outside it. Karina'll be around to give you a tour soon. So, Skye, what do you think of our world?"

Good question. Skye realized that she hadn't actually looked the place over yet, or even taken in what she had seen so far. She took another small step back and looked around, first at the ground, which was covered in little plants the color of finely-cut emeralds and dotted with flowers that glowed like the light through the Ice Country's stained glass windows, and then up at the cloudless, blue-green sky. That look around also afforded her a better look at Ashlynn; she blushingly noted that his belt buckle was dragon-shaped and that his face was absolutely flawless. His eyes, which she had previously thought to be merely red, were actually a fascinating shade of reddish-orange.

She realized that she'd never seen a demon up close before; all of her glimpses of Sheex had been from a regrettable distance, and the form that that monster Thanatos wore had been stolen from her ancestor. Ashlynn's skin was as pale as Setzer's -- but lacked the other's scars -- and his hair looked like it would be soft to touch. His lips looked like they would be wonderful to kiss and... Skye stopped, now firmly aware of just how much she was blushing and how obvious her sight-seeing must be to him. Just tell him it's nice, she told herself. "Very nice."

"Alright, boys and girls, everyone safe and sound? Good?" Karina looked around at the assembled group. There were a few nods and a small murmur of commentary, as well as some sarcastic comments about the rough landing. "Okay, I'll admit that the trip wasn't perfect, but at least we're all here in one piece. Which brings us to our next destination: the Land of the Dead."

"Yippee," Bleu deadpanned, under her breath.

"Right. Follow me and watch your step," Karina said. She turned around and started towards the farther end of the meadow, away from the slope and towards the mountainside. The uneven ground by the rockface revealed the mouth of a subterranean cave. The rock at the entryway was worn smooth and the ground around it was covered in those glowing flowers. Karina flashed the group a wan smile, then ducked into the darkness. The others followed.

"Oooh, it's dark," Daria squeaked as they continued their descent.

"It's a cave," Magus grumbled back.

Bleu ignored them both as she walked, her attention turned to the cave walls instead. It was hard to see, but she swore that it looked like people were watching them from just beyond the walls; like the cave was made out of glass, and there was a crowd standing almost out of view.

Eventually, the narrow tunnel they'd been walking through widened into a huge, well-lit cavern. Bleu hissed at the sudden stab of light, squinting until her vision adjusted to the new surroundings. She glared up at the elaborate thorn chandeliers and her eyes widened at the way that the cavern's pearlescent ceiling collected and reflected the light. The walls and floor held the same shimmery gloss, and the room was bisected by a roughly-made metal gate and crude metal fencing. The view of the rest of the cavern beyond the gate faded into an impenetrable fog.

"Cecil, look!" Rosa pointed at the floor.

Bleu looked down. She could see herself reflected in the strange surface, along with the misty silhouettes of others. It was, she realized, exactly like what she saw during their descent.

"Forget that, look at this!" Sabin exclaimed. He stood facing the wall, with his reflection looking back at him. Standing behind him was a richly-dressed young man and woman, and behind each of them were two more similarly-attired couples, and so on. "That's me... and my parents back when they were young, and... I guess, my grandparents and their parents and..."

Skye walked over to another section of the wall and looked at it. Sure enough, there were her parents -- looking as they did when they were younger -- and behind them the youthful figures of her grandparents. She studied the distant figures on her father's side, her gaze finally settling on two dark-haired people that may have been Kirine and Slade Scorpio. All those Scorpios, all those generations, and it was all down to her. She sighed.

She stepped away and an eager Rydia took her place, followed by Lucca. They both yelped when Karina pulled them back by their shirt collars. She led them back to a safe distance, where only vague shapes could be seen on the wall. "That goes for you three as well," Karina said to Marle, Crono, and Daria. "I don't want any of you peeking at your presents, so to speak. I'm not sure what it would do... but let's not chance it."

"I guess that makes sense..." Rydia glanced towards Lucca.

"Yeah, no use spoiling a good mystery!" Marle said, giggling.

"A real whodunit," Crono agreed.

Lucca groaned. "Invent the Telepod, I said... it'll be great, I said," she muttered.

Robo approached the wall as well. He wasn't sure what he expected to see there, nor was he sure he should feel disappointed when he just saw himself. Theoretically, Mother Brain would be there, as would the R-50 series that preceded him, and so on back to Lucca's early robots, but his own image -- solitary and alone -- told him that the Land of the Dead was for organic life, both the living and the once alive. "Atropos..."

Celes looked blankly at the faces of her parents. She knew they'd existed -- they had to -- but she'd come to Vector Lab as an orphan. Objectively, they were an attractive couple; both were pretty and blond, and she could see what features of hers favored them. It was like looking at portraits of strangers. She turned away.

Bleu approached the wall warily. She almost hoped it was some sort of demon trick, especially once she saw her mom standing beside the same handsome, black-haired man from the locket. "That's Mom," she said to Magus, who stood behind her.

"She's beautiful," Magus said softly. "She looks like you."

"We do look similar," Bleu said. "Except, she's beautiful."

"Bleu --" he began.

"That's Decamerone," Bleu interrupted, then shifted her gaze to the figures behind them. A dark-haired couple stood behind her mother; the man had the same sad, pale blue eyes as she, and the woman had the same sort of wildly-curly hair that Karina possessed. Behind Decamerone stood a haughty-looking woman with honey-blonde hair and brown eyes, and next to her stood a vaguely-humanoid shadow. She felt her mouth go dry as she stared at... her grandfather and the shadows that preceded him. She really was part-demon: no Mystic looked like that.

"Do you trust me yet?" Karina asked and Bleu jerked, startled. She hadn't heard her cousin creep up behind her, even with those ridiculously-high heels she wore. Without waiting for Bleu to answer, Karina took hold of her hand and held it tight.

Bleu started to pull away, but her protests died in her mouth as the image in front of her rearranged itself. There she was, hand-in-hand with Karina, with her mother standing above and behind her and a woman with long, curly black hair standing above and behind Karina. Above them were Orina and -- Bleu realized -- Ithonie's parents and their ancestors. It was strange to look at, really: a sea of human figures, bordered by shadowy things on Bleu's side and horrible, loping beasts on Karina's.

Karina pointed to the demon next to Ithonie. "Father. Kezmet. Whatever, just look at him. That's what you're going to be facing, and you'll probably be facing him like that."

Bleu nodded, mouth still dry.

Karina then pointed to one of the demons above Kezmet. It looked just as awful as him, but Bleu could see that it had a slighter frame. "And that's Korazon. See? Doesn't she look like Katra?"

Bleu started to reply that she didn't care, but was interrupted by a sudden cry from elsewhere in the room that soon devolved into gasping, guttural sobs. She turned around to see Terra on her knees in front of the wall, trying to grasp at an image. Setzer and Celes were crouched on either side of her, the former looked stricken and the latter looked like she wanted to throw up.

Rosa reached her first, and stopped Kain and Cecil before they came too close. Sabin soon followed, and stood looking confused. Even the normally-effusive Marle was shocked into silence. Bleu, with Karina trotting behind her, pushed her way through the forming crowd until she stood next to Skye, whose expression was unreadable.

"What hap--" Bleu began, then stopped.

The image on the wall was of Terra, standing, with her parents behind her and in front of her, at her feet, was a blond-haired baby only a few months old. Karina shoved the others aside and knelt beside Terra.

"Is your baby...?" Karina trailed off.

Terra nodded, her face blotchy and contorted.

"How horrible," Rosa murmured, placing a hand on her stomach.

"I'm so sorry -- I didn't know. I would've warned you if I had." Karina looked over at the others. "Kids show up," she added sheepishly. "The, uh, already-born ones."

Karina stood back up. "Crap," she sighed. "Right. Um, beyond the gates is the realm of the dead. Time... is different there. All times converge there; past, present, future... if they're in your heart, they -- I mean, you can find them."

"If Princess Marle and I were to venture forth into such a place, and she thought fondly of her fair ancestress Queen Leene... would she appear to us, despite her being alive in my time?" Frog ventured.

"I don't know," Karina said. "She might. It's not like we get a lot of time travelers here. I only know what I do because... nevermind. Basically, I wouldn't suggest going in there."

"Oh," Marle said quietly. "So I can't see my mom?"

"No, no, of course you can," Karina said. "You can definitely see your mom... just think only about her when you go in, okay?"

Marle nodded.

"So, we've got Edward, Terra, Marle, and I on the 'yes' list, who else?" Karina asked.

"I'm going," Setzer said.

"...I will, too," Bleu said. "Magus?"

"I don't think Mother would want to see me now, especially with how she saw me last." Magus shook his head. "And it's not like I exactly knew Father, nor do I care to. They're merely shades of my past; I'll stay behind and let them rest."

"Yeah, I'm staying behind, too," Sabin said. "I'd love to see Mom and Dad again, but I don't want to go without Edgar. Any chance of a return trip after this is all over?"