Draco: Hello! I've been in a Dissidia mood for a while and I figured it might clear up some of the writer's block I've got if I did a little something short on it. So, let's see how it works then, yeah?

Dissidia Final Fantasy and all related properties © Square Enix.

A Talk of Memories

The roar of wheels on track echoed through the car of the Phantom Train. His gaze fell idly out the window, watching the endless trees zip past. What hellious loop did it run? It could not be something so simple as a small circle, for he could not see tracks between the trees.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Huh?" The Onion Knight turned to see Terra standing next to her seat, curious. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just... drowsy, is all."

A small smile rose on Terra's face. "You should rest," she insisted. "I can keep guard."

"No, no, I'm fine," Onion insisted, pushing himself off his seat.

Terra sat down next to where he had been as he stepped away, trying to keep his body moving. Through the corner of his eye, Onion could see her smile falter, becoming a concerned frown. "What about you?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm okay," Terra assured him.

"You sure?" Onion set a hand on her arm. "If you're hurt, just let me know."

Terra shook her head. "I'm not hurt," she insisted. "I'm just..." Her voice trailed off, and she gazed out the window, as he had been before.

"What is it?"

"Do... do you remember anything?" Terra asked, turning towards him. "From before all this?"

Onion went rigid at that, his muscles tensing. The tail of his hair wavered as he glanced up and down the car.

Terra felt like she had intruded on something. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's alright," she assured him. "I was just curious."

"Why do you ask?" Onion prompted.

A sigh passed through Terra's lips, and she raised a hand before her as a small flame lit up in her palm.

"None of my memories holds any comfort," she murmured. "The only thing I can ever remember is battle. It's not just Cosmos and Chaos - every time I glimpse my past, I only see fighting. Blood, and bodies, and I can hear people screaming..." She winced, the flame flickering. "Every time I use my sword, I have horrible visions of it goring into people. And when I use my magic... when that Trance takes me... my body just starts to burn."

The fire in her hand petered out.

"What if that's all I have? What if there's nothing for me... but war?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I don't know what I'm going to do..."

A hand on her cheek caused her to turn as the Onion Knight brushed the tears off her face. "It'll be alright," he assured her. "Every fight has to come to an end some time. Even if you do end up fighting when you get back home... there's gonna be an end to it sometime."

He sighed, sitting down on the seat opposite Terra's. "At least you have some clue as to what you're gonna be doing," he added.

"What do you mean?" Terra asked, confused.

Onion hesitated. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone about this," he prompted.

Terra nodded.

The youngling grit his teeth, uncertain.

"The memories I've got of home... they're... divided. I have this image, of four kids my age, and the memories won't focus on whose eyes I'm looking through. Sometimes I'm this... adventurous bully-beater. Sometimes I'm a bookworm, sometimes I'm a... I dunno, a soldier in training, or something." He glanced around again before beckoning Terra closer. When she approached, he brought his lips close to her ear.

"Sometimes I'm a girl."

The spellcaster couldn't help herself - a fit of giggles passed through Terra's lips, and she tumbled back into her seat to find the Onion Knight blushing bright crimson.

"I know, it's stupid and funny and it doesn't make sense," Onion admitted, "but those are the memories I have. It... I try to make sense of it, and... and I can't. What's gonna happen to me? Am I gonna be split into four people? Am I gonna end up in one of those bodies and have the other three be people I know, who don't know me? Or..." He shook his head worriedly. "What if the memories just... aren't mine?"

"Are they good memories?"

Terra's question caught Onion off-guard. "What?"

She gazed at him with a look of concern. "The memories you have. Are they of good times?"

Onion glanced down at himself. "Well... yeah. I guess... they are... good memories."

"Then you'll be fine," Terra assured him, a smile rising on her face again. "It won't matter who you are - if you keep your spirits up, then you'll get those good times back."

There was a moment of silence; then Onion only smiled back at her.

"Thanks, Terra..."

+x+x+x+

Terra opened her eyes.

She was lying in a bed within the Falcon. Glancing out the floor-to-ceiling window nearby, she could see Phoenix Mountain pass below. Slowly, she rose to a sitting position.

"Another dream about him..."

Draco: Alright, that came out short and sweet.