Author's Notes
I could be splitting hairs, but I am compelled to express something outside the work here. I provide some form of glossary with certain chapters as a sort of bonus, the unrestricted information that would otherwise not fit into the proper story. In my mind, it's this analytical outlook most everywhere as I observed the game and as I wrote this fanfiction. It was simply too cold and disruptive to explain what Freya is doing in the scene, yet I felt it was still worthwhile to learn. So with the glossary, it's similar to giving both sides of the same coin. The glossary isn't a sum at the end, but dispersed where appropriate breaks in the story occur. Although the chapter presentation this site provides would make such glossary appear at either end of the chapter, and not at all in the midst of the whole story if presented in a single document.
Burmecian Outskirts, 15 years before present
"This is how you've been instructed all this time. Why do you hesitate now?" Fratley looked on at his pupil, a child of 15 years... only a couple of years younger than himself.
"Sir Fratley, I don't know if I can learn this technique."
"Don't be silly Freya. It's the same as always. I bean you with the technique until you figure it out and use it yourself." Freya slightly scowled, suspicious that he was just picking on her. "And don't be like that. It's worked all this time, because that's how you learn best. Now, let's review this one more time. What you will learn is Cherry Blossom. It was designed to attack all directions of the opponent at the same time; a technique that cannot be blocked. To deliver this technique, you must release your willpower towards the opponent, focusing your energy upon it." He raised his bardiche, the afterimages of it echoed the spirit energy he intended to use. Before Freya appeared a dragon wisp, then a spread of blossoms flew about her. Some of the ones that breezed over her had cut at her clothes.
Realizing the potential of this technique upon her, the fear in her welled up. With emotion came retort, and with retort came intent, and with intent came the ability to emulate the technique. She raised her javelin and aimed it at Fratley. As the blossoms around her faded, a faint image of a dragon appeared before Fratley. A small cluster of blossoms harmlessly breezed over him. For a moment she disoriented.
"Now you just need to refine it. I'm going to use a real one this time, and you will too. This is the moment of truth." His stance turned serious after being slackened.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood. She was full aware that if she couldn't learn it now, she might die. The thought of death had loomed before her now. How was she to make it? Her stomach groaned, and she remembered the promise Fratley made before this training. He was going to eat lunch with her for the first time. There was no way she would miss this, and the anticipation rose within her. Her javelin reached forwards when she thought only about the date they'd finally have. She wasn't even aware of the amount of blossoms flowing from her direction. Her blossoms met with Fratley's, and they clashed. Fratley's attack overpowered hers, and the rush of blossoms swept her back. She recovered, having only taken minor cuts. Did she just live through a real contest of the technique?
"I guess it's to be expected. You learned it, but when our two Cherry Blossoms compete, mine will always win."
Hopes of finally being acknowledged were dashed by him. Was she to forever remain in his shadow, without him ever looking back? "Why... why will yours always win?"
"Because it's my ultimate technique. When our attacks meet, the willpower behind mine is greater than yours. It's impossible for anyone to break through it."
"So... that's it... " She slowly stood up. "I've failed at mastering the ultimate technique."
"Don't be silly! I still have to teach you the final technique."
"The final technique? You mean Cherry Blossom isn't the final technique?"
"No. What gave you that idea?" Freya remembered his words, and realized he never explicitly stated Cherry Blossom was the final technique.
"But you said nothing can break through it. What could possibly be greater than that?"
"I said it's impossible for any one to break through it. There's a limit to what a person can do, but not to what he accompanies with him. Yes, my Cherry Blossom is unbeatable by you, but you're going to realize that you need more that yourself to get past it. Use your head. What do you know of that can overpower the ultimate technique of one man? When you have found the answer, you will have learned the ultimate technique of the dragon knights. I will deliver another Cherry Blossom. If you haven't figured it out before it hits, then you will die."
At first Freya was baffled, having been given a mystery to an impossible challenge. There was nothing in her power to do the trick. It's as if she needed something more than herself, something beyond her scope. Then it clicked. She needed the aid of a higher power. But what higher power did she know? Even worse, what higher power would hear her plea? She thought hard on getting this supernatural help.
"Time's up." He began his technique, and pink petals appeared everywhere.
What counted as supernatural? Anything not of the physical plane? The spiritual plane? If there was anything from the spiritual plane, it was the dead. Whom did she know that died? The only creature she remembered to have died was that one small dragon. Of course! That thing was her only connection to the other side, maybe this connection is what Fratley mentioned. Her eyes closed with resolve.
"This is the moment of truth!" He unleashed the full power of Cherry Blossom. The dragon apparition this time was vivid, and the swarm of petals like a cloud that flooded at her.
With sudden instinct and heart, her soul cried out to the spirit of the dragon. She remembered when it was alive, and felt the same surge of emotions she did then. When she opened her eyes, she saw the little dragon hover before her. A second passed when it vanished, but a flat image of a dragon's face appeared in its place. The image was tiny, and the small head it portrayed burst into form. The small apparition dove into the petals, and broke the current. Freya was shielded from the deadly technique. Cherry Blossom ended, and the image also faded.
Fratley saw the end of the rather tiny final technique. Both stood, frozen in the aftermath of her discovering the technique. Frey's eyes widened, excited that she would finally gain acknowledgement. Fratley, however, burst out in laughter.
"That was your Dragon's Crest? It was so... so tiny!" It was rather rude, but then again, Fratley was still a teenager and not a mature adult. "What did you do? Underfeed a pet lizard?"
"Hey! Don't you make fun of Midgar!"
"You even named it!" He fell over in laughter.
Glossary
Cherry Blossom is a nonbiased spread of attack. It's similar to the black magic, Flare, but unfocused to an advantage. Normally, an attack strikes at one place at one time, but by dispersing an otherwise intense attack, it can strike at multiple places at many times. Ideally, this technique attacks everywhere all the time, and cannot be defended against. This was thought to be the supreme form of attack until the Dragon's Crest was developed. 1) The improved version Freya developed is far more cruel, butchering the target with the petals, then hardening the drawn blood into more razor-sharp petals with which to further butcher the target. By this logic, the technique will not end until the victim is reduced to liquid. Even still, the haze of the technique once finished with its victim can be directed to a new target, beginning the bloodshed anew. 2) The second stage of the move, which occurs anywhere in the first stage, draws some of the carnage into a whirl, with Freya rendering herself as the eye of this storm, becoming a bloody tornado. She can repeatedly strike her tornado and self against the victim. 3) The third and final stage of this technique is compressing the tornado into a drill-like form. Freya will then fly up, and corkscrew-dive her shrouded self into the hopeless target.
