Standard Disclaimers: All characters, except Vespera and the other deities, do not belong to me. They belong to blah, blah, blah. You know who. The song belongs to whoever wrote it and is sung by Celine Dion.
Warnings: A little OOC and maybe sap… anou, scratch that. It's definitely sappy. Angst heavy. Original characters.
"Blah" denotes speech.
'Blah' denotes thoughts.
(Blah) denotes the mind talking to the charas.
Note: This fanfic might have a few battle scenes, and they will be mostly magical based. As my muses are out of commission, I will be using the type of magic used in the RPGs that I play. For instance, the Final Fantasy series. The names of weapons and magic may be copied from the games. They do not belong to me. Gomen for any confusion caused.
Achieves: Here and anyone else who wants my fic! Just give me a call ok? ^o^
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Why the surprised faces? Don't wanna see me?" A dark figure inquired, amazed as she pouted slightly. It was a big blow to her ego that her friends didn't want to see her. She sat cross-legged on a desk, back facing the now opened window. A gust of ghastly wind pulsated in, blowing the curtains upwards. The only source of light in the dusky room was the glimmer of moonlight seeping through the window.

The two backed away, partly in shock, and partly in horror. Their eyes widened, and took in a ragged breath. They almost sank to the ground as their legs went soft.

"Now I'm surprised. You two are actually scared?" The dark figure asked, rather amused. She had never in her life, expected Shinigami and Yume, two of the most powerful dark deities in Utopia to feel actually fear. Moreover, it was her, one of the less talented deities! The girl would have laughed out loud if not for the fact that she fathomed that she could very well be skewed for gloating at the two. Even so, her lips twitched significantly. Apparently, this was a very capricious occurrence and was too hard for her to contain her laughter.

Duo Maxwell, also known as Shinigami, gritted his teeth in frustration. Slapping his head, he spoke. "Will someone tell me why does this scene look so familiar? I hate this déjà vu." Somewhere inside his mind, he vaguely remembered the same setting, the same words and the same mysterious woman sitting on his desk.

His sister, Vespera, also known as Yume, hissed exasperatedly, "Does my name mean anything to you?" What a scatterbrain her oniisan was. Aw hell, she should know better than that. What could she expect from the guy who couldn't even remember the test of love, which was supposedly one of the most important things in their lives back then?

"Oh yeah…" He muttered in defeat. The braided boy let out a huff of exasperation, his jagged bangs fluttering up. "I hate late night encounters! Nothing good comes out of it! It's like the last time I met Ves!"

Vespera frowned and sat down on the bed. Nodding in agreement, she sulked, "I don't care what it is this time, but I'm *not* going back! C'mon! I just came back Utopia last night! I don't know about you, but I need my sleep!" Seeing her friend still sitting on the table, she sighed exaggeratedly. "I know I'm good, I know I'm powerful, I know you guys need my help desperately. But I am *not* superwoman. I need my rest like any living thing!" Tiredly, she plopped onto the bed with her hands spread to get her point across.

On second thoughts, she pushed herself off the warm comforts and yanked her black headband off, throwing it onto a nearby table. Lying down again, she was thankful for the fact that her hair was already down. Ever since she had opted to stay behind in the human world almost seven months ago, she had freed her hair from their usual confining plaits, instead letting them stay free, cascading down to her waist in all glory. It was a sign to show that she was leading a new life, and partly to keep the others' suspicion at bay. Her clothing already bore a close resemblance to her brother, something that they decided to be discreet about. That was certainly the reason why she had to do without her usual plaits she liked so much. However, she felt kind of naked without anything on her hair, so Duo had suggested a headband and she heeded the advice, of course, in their favourite shade yet again. That went without saying. In addition, she changed her dress code too. She now wore a hooded jacket that was made from velvet with white furry edges, a mini-skirt that reached half-way down her thighs, and plain leather boots that came up to her knees. Of course, everything was black, with only a few patches of white.

The girl, Chandra, jumped down from the table she was sitting on, and landed lightly on her feet. She ignored Vespera's unruly comment and answered solemnly, "Something serious is going on."

Duo rolled his eyes. "How serious can it get, if you can come down here to talk?" He rebuked, then turned away and flopped down on his bed. It had been slightly more than half a year since that ordeal with Vespera. After so many months of peace, at least mentally, he had naively thought that he was indeed safe from his past duties as Shinigami and that he would finally be able to truly enjoy his life in the human world, a treat which his sister wasn't given. From time to time, she would be called back to help in some insignificant things. Both of them knew better though. It was just an excuse their father used to see her, for neither of them would go back willingly. Somehow, tonight was proving him wrong. So very wrong. 'I don't appreciate your weird sense of humour, Unmei.' He mused bitterly.

To their utter surprise, the girl clenched her fists, tight enough to draw blood. She forced through gritted teeth, "I'm not kidding! And neither am I here to talk! There's really something bad going on in Utopia!"

"So what is it?" Vespera asked finally, sensing the desperateness in her friend's otherwise sweet voice.

"It's…" She wavered for a moment, thinking what was the best way to break the horrifying news to her would-be comrades. Heart attacks were not needed and wanted, but time was an important factor.

Shinigami and Yume held their breaths in anticipation. Whatever it was, as long as it made their usually over-vivacious friend speak so gravely, it had to be really severe or sinister, even. And it didn't help when torrents of apprehension were washing over them.

"It's Andariel." Her voice was strangled, fraught with dismay and trepidation.

Horror pulsed through their bodies, as sheer realisation hit them cruelly. Darkness engulfed them, eating at them from their very souls. Tsunamis of unadulterated hatred and fear crushed into them, almost drowning them. At that moment, they both knew.

Things would never be the same again.

Sorceress Fantasia @ August 2000
Last revised 16th October 2001

Author's notes: Yeah, I know this came out very late. I finished this last year, but I wanted to make it a one-shot. However, the fact that I'll be getting extremely busy came to me and I decided to make it into chapters instead so I could post them sooner. I'll take a long time to finish the entire fanfic though. Gomen to anyone who is reading this!