When I started this, the first Dissidia was still shiny and new, and I was including all the 1st Dissidia's characters pov. It was too huge; I sat down and had a serious think and decided to limit it to my two favourites: Cloud and Squall. I haven't progressed further than this. But I thought I'd throw it up and see what people think. Just gonna stress it right now: no idea where this is going.

The Path to a New Dream

Bonds forged between comrades in battle and through seemingly endless journeys are not to taken lightly. More often than not, they create ties of fate that last beyond the mortal life. The conflict between Chaos and Cosmos had raged for infinite centuries on World B. With the conflict's end, the crystals guided Cosmos' warriors back to their original worlds. Unbeknownst to the warriors, the crystals had blocked the memories and knowledge of that world. A safeguard installed to ensure that the memories of that great conflict would not hinder or damage those warriors. Such is the way of gods to act without obtaining the input of the mortals their actions directly affect.

The warriors awaken in their home worlds, however, with a sense of loss. In their hearts, they know something is missing but cannot conclude what. Their hearts are conflicted, the discoveries and revelations of their journey to obtain the crystals blocked from their mind, hindering their ability to move forward.

This is the story of two of these warriors, how they moved forwards, and their journey towards a new dream.

The Lion

Something didn't feel right. He felt like he was missing an important memory. But the guardian forces weren't the cause of it. It didn't feel the same as the memory loss caused by them. He'd contacted Laguna to get in touch with Sis. But even her powers were unable to help him see the memory. She'd been able to confirm something was blocking a part of his memory, but it was truly beyond the powers of a sorceress to undo it.

So, Squall was alone with the feeling that he'd forgotten more than one friend.

That thought set his teeth on edge. He'd only recently let the Orphanage Gang get close to him. With decreasing reluctance, he could admit they were friends. The thought that he'd forgotten others he admitted to being friends rattled his cage severely.

Gun-metal eyes swept away from his paperwork to the half open drawer where a strange silver crystal sat sparkling. He'd woken up with that crystal hugged tightly to his chest the day these odd feelings emerged. Something about it…Squall just couldn't let it go. It wasn't made from anything he'd ever seen before and the sense of camaraderie it invoked….

The others had noticed his increasingly pensive mood over the past week. Rinoa didn't like the way he was walling himself off from them. Whatever. If she didn't like the way he was, why did she persist in proclaiming herself his girlfriend? Irvine seemed to share his thoughts on that matter too, if the way he lectured Rinoa to give Squall space was any indication. Rinoa had pouted but relented, soon departing for Galbadia, where she was meeting her father and attempting to make peace with him. He wasn't proud to admit it, but Squall had been relieved to see her –and her insistence on breaking his door- go.

Rinoa was a good kid (Emphasis on kid, Squall thought, not even a war could make that girl mature), he knew she'd make some guy a good girlfriend. But that guy just wasn't him; his heart wasn't hers. He felt like his heart was with someone else. Glowing blue kept flashing through his mind late at night. And then that strong sense of friendship connected to a dirty chocobo feather, and a long yellow tail. He wished he knew what it all meant.

The crystal called his attention again. He picked it up and walked over to the window. They were over Winhill at the moment and his office had a good view of the site where Raine was buried. Something tickled his mind, teasingly darting in and out of reach until words formed, so clearly, he could almost read them in the air. If only they could form clarity that clearly instead of the dark wall blocking his efforts to remember.

"We may be apart, but we still fight together."

The SOLDIER

He could see Tifa watching him worriedly from the corner of his eye. She was doing that a lot lately. Though, in her defence, Cloud had been brooding a lot more than usual.

Something felt like it was missing. He wasn't sure whether to trust the feeling of loss, particularly since it involved his memories. The mess of memories created after Zack's death still impacted his trust in his own mind. But he felt like something important had been forgotten. A strange yet comforting sense of family and friendship, similar to what he had in Edge but so different. When he wasn't brooding, he was out travelling, delivering or searching. He couldn't answer the others when they asked what he was searching for; only that he'd know when he'd found it. 'It' felt very important and perhaps linked to the odd unusable Materia he'd found in his pocket (So useless in fact, that even Yuffie didn't want it!). He'd found it the day he'd started feeling like something was gone. The answer wasn't here in Edge, nor the Northern Cavern, or Aerith's church (though he had the oddest feeling she was watching his search with amusement).

Patting Denzel on the shoulder, Cloud strode outside to his bike. The answer had to be somewhere. He just had to look harder. He stared down at the strange Materia again and sighed, muttering a phrase that'd popped into his mind as that odd feeling of missing something important surged again.

"So be it, if that's my destiny. I live in my reality, not yours."

Balamb Garden

The corridors were eerily silent for the middle of the day, the few walking down the long halls were accompanied only by the loud echo of their own footsteps.

In contrast, Squall's office was crammed with people, arguing so loudly that Squall couldn't even hear himself yell.

Hyne, he wanted to get away from it all. This wasn't how he'd imagined his life; stuck behind a desk, performing one bureaucratic task after another and trying to keep people satisfied. It might have been a little easier had Squall any social competency and thereby able to determine what was needed to make people satisfied. No, Squall Leonhart was out of his depth; he may be able to command on the battlefield and in wartime…but peacetime was a very different beast. And he doubted he was made to be a peacetime leader.

No, someone else would be a better fit, he decided resolutely as someone's suggestion was ruthlessly shrieked into oblivion by a furious diplomat. Hyne knows he much preferred the shrieks of monsters to the shouting matches of this lot.

Quietly he typed out a message to the head of the Training Centre. He was going to require a lot of high-level monsters to kill after this.

XxX

It was almost a relief when the invitation to visit Laguna in Esthar came. Squall didn't even think to hesitate; he was quick to send a response in the affirmative. A short meeting in which he delegated responsibilities later, and he was on an airship to Esthar before Garden could even blink (Though, Quistis and Irvine were definitely blinking bemusedly as he all but sprinted onto the airship).

...it was soothing in Esthar, something he hadn't experienced since his days in the orphanage with Sis. Ellone had been a welcome surprise for Squall, in the form of his welcoming committee (Laguna was stuck in a meeting). She'd latched onto Squall as soon as he'd walked off the airship, the petite woman all but dragged him across the tarmac to the limousine Laguna had sent to fetch him. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a harried worker running after them with his single piece of luggage.

At the presidential palace, Squall had no itinerary, no duties to carry out and it took a while to adjust to not needing to hit the ground running upon awakening. Instead, his days visiting Laguna were mostly filled with listening to Ellone and Laguna talking (Ellone too respectful to force Squall to talk, and Laguna too enchanted by tales of Squall's childhood pre-Garden to make him join the conversations), reading in the impressive Library, or in the garden where the flowers produced a calming aroma, which when combined with the warm summer sun was perfect for napping.

…and if he awoke from a nap with Laguna and Ellone curled around him, that was no one's business but his. And if he happened to feign deep sleep until the pair had reawakened and left again…well, he wasn't known for social aptitude and faking sleep was good for avoiding things one didn't know how to handle.

It was also worrying how quickly he adjusted to this semi-civilian lifestyle; the panicked calls from Garden were very few, and the number of politicians able to barge in and demand things of Squall dropped to nil thanks to the watchful eyes of Kiros and Ward. All in all, Squall thought, this break was exactly what he needed.

The only concern now was the ever-growing reluctance to return to Balamb Garden.

XxX

Banora

The mines beneath the ruined village were filled with secrets; not in the least the Emerald Weapon still slumbering there. Zack had mentioned the village in passing once, but beyond that, Cloud had had little knowledge of Banora. He'd had not interest in the place either until running into Bugenhagen, who had informed him that maybe he'd find whatever he was seeking there. And Cloud did find that the mines were giving up a new secret. One relevant to him.

That useless Materia he found himself unable to throw away suddenly began to glow when he neared the former village. After parking his bike beneath the ruins of the town's water tank, he'd found that when he moved in a certain direction that the glow increased. Before too long, he was deep within the mines beneath the village, striding past the eerie statue to Minerva and squeezing through partially collapsed tunnels until, hours later, he found himself standing in a large cavern.

At first glance, it didn't look interesting. In fact, it looked like every other cavern Cloud had ever been in (And there had been a lot of caverns during his adventures!).

A second glance, however, revealed a circle composed of runes in the very centre of the cavern. With a cautious optimism, Cloud took out his phone and began to carefully photograph the runes. So, focused on this task, he didn't hear the faint clink of the odd Materia as it fell from his pocket. It wasn't until it rolled into view on his phone's camera that he finally noticed. Slowly the Materia rolled, following the lines of runic writing so perfectly, Cloud stopped photographing his find and instead watched it. Around and around it rolled, the cavern echoing with the sound of the crystalline Materia grinding against the stone floor as it moved. When it finally reached the centre of the runic circle, it stopped abruptly before suddenly rising to float at about chest-height from the ground, still glowing in a manner eerily similar to Mako.

Then it pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

With cautious curiosity, Cloud unholstered his sword and took a couple of assessing steps towards it. When nothing happened, he slowly made his way into the centre. Once there, he silently sheathed his sword again and reached out to grasp the Materia, idly telling himself to never let Yuffie know that the Materia did something. He'd never seen it again if he ever let this slip out.

In hindsight, though, Cloud would be too busy berating his hasty approach to care if Yuffie found out or not.

White-hot pain seared through his mind the moment he grasped the Materia. The runes began to glow and fairly hummed with power. With a grunt, Cloud fell to his knees, his hand flexing over the Materia even as his other hand flew up to grasp his head. It was like a dam had exploded; images and voices roared as they surged through his mind in a flash-flood. Glowing blue eyes rolled skywards, hand tightening over the crystal as his body keeled sideways, collapsing unconscious amongst the runes.

"A friend's dream is our dream... We'll defend it together!" A blonde youth, a blue and white ball almost eternally in his hands.

"We're not as weak as you might think! We've overcome a lot of hardships to get this far." Another blonde, short and with a long yellow tail.

"Whether he's a god or not- We've got to try. Even if our fate...is to disappear..." Gun-metal eyes which framed a scar.

"I'll fight! To make sure that everyone has a future... And for myself-to keep my dream alive!" Green hair and timid indigo eyes.

"Why Cosmos had to disappear... If WE have to disappear as well... We've got to get some answers!" A bouncy brunette who was always wandering.

"It's good to have you with us, Cloud. You've the sense to think things through." Silver hair with purple gems, and a wise voice.

"My friends give me the strength. I just need to follow 'this', and the path will open up." A child, too mature for his stature.

"But unless we defeat Chaos, they'll return again... They knew everything, right from the start..." A weapons master who sought a world where wild roses could grow in perpetuity.

"We will defeat Chaos, and stop the cycle of conflict. And that will be our final mission." The nameless leader with no memory of his past.

"Guess what? The story continues."

TBC?

Note 1: I wanted to show a different post-war Squall. A lot of fics have him owning peacetime leadership. Let's be clear: wartime and peacetime leadership is different, and this is a job that was pretty much dumped on him by Kramer in wartime. In wartime, you needed decisions made yesterday, peacetime -you can take the time for lengthy consultations, public submissions, and committees (In fact, peacetime if you don't do this, your career security is really bad). For me at least, Squall is not a bureaucrat, which is essentially what a peacetime leader is. My head canon is that post-war once all the furore, and post-war reparations and rebuilding is dealt with, he does struggle with leading Garden in what is comparatively a peacetime environment.