Neo Dissidia Final Fantasy: New World, New War

Chapter 1: A Cosmic Beginning

Author's Note: I can't express how happy I am now that I am finally starting this thing! I've had the ideas flooding through my head for years and now it's finally here. I want to thank many of my new peers for giving me the inspiration I needed through their work!

With that out of the way, lets begin!

Edited: 12/1/2012

After the Conflict of the Gods had ended, Cosmos had chosen to reign in World B until its inevitable collapse.

However, she clearly hadn't thought about what that meant very clearly.

Ever since the first Cycle, the only actual residents still left were Moogles, and weren't exactly the best conversationalists.

Thus, Cosmos had spent most of World B's remaining days trying to stave off her boredom...

To limited success.

"1,000,000 bottles of beer on the wall, 1,000,000 bottles of beeeeeeeeer. Take one down; pass it around, 999,999 bottles of beer on the wall."

Much later…

"Ku-kupo!"

Cosmos sighed. She and this Moogle had been playing thousands of rounds Tic-Tac-Toe for what felt like forever now, their games marking every inch of the Earth.

And the Moogle had beaten her every time.

'Me-damnit! Why can I never beat this bastard Moogle?' Cosmos glared at it as it flew off happily with the millions of KP it won off her. 'Look at him. Thinks he's so smart because he always goes for the…center…after…I…go, Goddamnit! So much for infinite wisdom.' Cosmos sighed. 'I guess that's what happens when it goes largely unused for what feels like centuries.'

Time in World B was incredibly warped and twisted beyond measure. It was like it barely existed at all. This would have made it hard to tell when the world would sink into the Rift had Cosmos not been connected to the land itself.

And she could tell it was coming soon. Something Cosmos was actually excited about this after the years of boredom she's had to endure.

Much LONGER later…

The time had come. World B was now finally sinking into the Rift. Cosmos sent off the Moogles to other realms and awaited her demise.

'I guess this is the end.' Cosmos sighed, a solemn look in her eyes. All around her the Earth was falling into the seas of the Void. Only a small stretch of land was left in this forsaken world.

"My warriors, I wish you well. I truly hope that someday, we may meet again, in the afterworld…"

Despite the fact that her warriors were essentially lambs for Chaos's slaughter, she still thought of them as family and was sad when they had to leave. But she knew it had to be done, and wanted them to be happy in their own worlds.

"Especially you..."

After those last words, she closed her eyes as nothingness consumed her.

When she next opened them, Cosmos found herself in empty black space, unable to even see herself in it.

Darkness

Utter darkness

Pure Nothingness

It was within this void Cosmos reflected on her life thus far...

"Professors Cid and Harmonia, I am happy to inform you that the specimen is complete."

Cid and his wife, Harmonia, stared at me in fascination as I took my first breath. I will always remember the looks on their faces. I was in my test tube, staring blankly at them while I floated in a strange kind of liquid.

Cid looked at me with a look of satisfaction in his eyes. With his wife's memories, he had finally succeeded in creating a perfect replica of a living thing- a perfect Manikin.

His wife, however, seemed very uncomfortable at the sight of me- understandable, since I was a perfect Manikin of her.

Cid was a man who strongly resembled my Warrior, which isn't surprising because my hero is an almost-perfect Manikin of the professor. He had the same bluish silver hair, basic build, and well-tanned skin. The differences between them were that Cid was older, had a lankier- less combat worthy build, and had a thin beard. Cid generally wore a plain white lab coat over a bluish-grey robe.

Harmonia, as I said before, looked exactly like me in every way- except for clothing. She also wore a lab coat and wore it over a pale green dress).

Both she and Cid also wore a silver necklace with a half of a golden heart attached to it that created a single whole when put together. These were essentially the Lufenian equivalent to wedding rings.

There was another scientist in the room, but he was so pointless to events that would come forth that I can't even remember what he looked like- not that I cared very much.

Manikins are creatures made from a special crystal ore capable of growing as a living creature. Though they could take the shape of other beings when approached, they we mindless puppets. Thus, Cid and Harmonia were brought in to try to give them a sense of self by infusing them with memories. However, almost all subjects failed, the only change being that they permanently took the shape of the subjects memory from which they were derived.

However, there were ultimately two successful subjects. The first was, believe it or not, the future God of Discord, Chaos. He was made by infusing a Manikin with the memories of ten different people. The result was a monstrous being that acted like, and was the size of, a small child.

But the researchers weren't satisfied with stopping at him, though his great power would lead to Chaos being used as a tool of war in the future, which I would later have a part of.

That is not something I am proud of, believe me.

After Chaos was left in their care, Cid and Harmonia continued to experiment with the Manikins. It eventually became clear that only a subject with an unclouded mind could complete a full memory transplant with a Manikin. Harmonia, being such a individual, reluctantly offered to have her own memories infused.

The result was…me.

"Wonderful! What have you named her?" Cid asked, unaware of his wife's discomfort.

"She has been given the name Cosmos, a name signifying order. Fitting since it has the power of harmony, the opposite of the monster's power of discord."

Harmonia turned her gaze from me to glare at the man, "I would prefer it if you didn't insult my son, thank you very much."

The scientist ignored her, "She should gain a consciousness soon. Wait…" He looked up at my test tube and noticed I had been following their conversation, "Amazing! She has surpassed one of expectations already!" He turned back towards the couple, who had also turned their attention back towards me. "You two have out done yourselves! Think of the possibilities this opens up! True, synthetic life…or rather, a true replica of a human being."

As he said these words, several memories started rushing through my head and with them a splitting headache. So many memories, but none of them my own. Pain filled my expression as I shut my eyes closed, trying anything to stop the pain.

Nothing worked.

Then I started screaming.

"P-p-professors! What's happening to Project Cosmos?!" the other scientist shouted in alarm.

"She must be reacting to the memories she is derived from! Let her out of the containment tube, NOW!" Cid ordered.

The lower-ranked scientist nodded, moving toward the release button.

As that strange liquid I had been surrounded by drained away, the initial pain began to fade. I collapsed as soon as was empty. I was still processing how movement was accomplished. Cid and the scientist looked worried (though mostly only because they feared I could have been another failed specimen); while Harmonia just kept staring at me for reasons I was soon to learn.

"Shit!" the scientist yelled, incredible frustration coming into his facial expression as quickly as one blinks, "IF THIS ANOTHER FUCKING DUD, I'M GOING TO-!"

"Relax, Ronald," Cid interjected, "It looks like she's getting up. It seems she was just having trouble adapting into non-suspended conditions." He turned to face him with an annoyed look on his face, "You been doing this the whole time we've been here. If you don't shut up, I'll have to call in Mr. Night-Night again."

"No, PLEASE, not the tranquilizer, anything but that!" the extremely bipolar scientist screamed in fear, cowering back into the corner of room.

Cid face palmed in annoyance, but decided not to go further since Ronald actually shut up this time, "Now then…where were we?" He turned backed to see me on my knees and clutching my head as the last of the memories finished flowing through it.

I could see myself playing with my sister at home-

-The day I first met my true love, Cid-

-First successful experiment-

-Marrying the love of life-

-Our new child-

I screamed in pain one more time, and then looked at Harmonia, then my own reflection on the glass.

That was when I snapped.

"Who ARE you?!" I cried, reaching out to Harmonia who recoiled in a fear of her own, "Who I am I?! WHAT am I?!"

It was at this point I broke down completely and fainted.

Though I knew what I sharing so much with her had to mean, I couldn't accept it at the time.

Being a mere copy is something that is difficult to deal with, but learning this in the first moments of you existence? The truth made me doubt everything about myself before I even had a chance to know who I truly was inside. My self-esteem was crushed in an instant before I could even develop some of my own.

The people that ruled over me took advantage of this and were able to make do whatever they wanted because I wanted to feel like I had I reason for existing.

This is what led me to obey when they asked me to make Chaos continue waging war for them, and I did it without guilt at the time as desired nothing put pleasing my masters.

It was also why I was the first to summon warriors and started the cycles; something that would come to haunt me when I moved beyond that phase and started to think for myself and began to truly care about my champions. It was after that I began to plan to end that conflict of sorrow and grief…

Suddenly, Cosmos's train of thought was abruptly interrupted by a series of glowing lights floating around her. She opened her eyes and identified the source as a giant sea of small crystals.

She touched one and suddenly had a vision of a hill with a lake and a castle in the distance. She touched another and saw the great ruins of what was most likely the most powerful institution in its world. Another one touched and she could see a mining town surrounded by snowy mountains.

Then it came to her, "These must be the memories of worlds our champions came from." She thought aloud.

She knew that it was the memories from other worlds that had flowed through World B that had allowed her and Chaos to bring their champions from those worlds, and gave birth to the gateways when Shinryu first appeared. After surveying her surroundings one more time, she deduced these memories were trying to fill the void World B left in its place

"If I could summon people from memories, then maybe if I only provide a little push…" again, thinking out loud. She wanted to be careful, however, be if she put too much of her power into this feat, this world could become irreparably linked to her- something she wanted to avoid after what happened to World B.

After calculating the right amount of power and influence she would need to give, she began to wave her hands through the air like a conductor would in an orchestra, guiding the memories into the desired positions.

Eventually, the memories clustered together into the hearts of worlds- at least 13 of them, maybe more. These hearts then combined further to one, giant mass (though she noticed some were struggling to fit in properly- she would have to fix that once the process was over).

To finish it off, the heart of this new world gave one giant, blinding flash of light, and Cosmos found herself atop the very same hill see had glimpsed earlier.

It had been done. The Final Fantasies had been brought together more directly than ever.

Cosmos allowed herself a smile- she had done the impossible and had given her warriors a way to see each other once more.

But that gift had come with an unfortunate price for the goddess.

Suddenly, she began to fade away, the light seeping away from her as she fell into a deep slumber...