DISCLAIMER: Dissidia: Final Fantasy is the property of Square Enix; I do not own Dissidia: Final Fantasy or any of its characters. This is a purely fan-made Fiction.
Takes place during the Thirteenth Cycle of Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Contains slight Dissidia: Duodecim material if you squint enough. YAOI/MINOR INCEST! Do not like, do not read. Flames will be thrown to my Firedogs.
Also, my first attempt on a Dissidia: Final Fantasy fic, so please tell me what you think.
"Finally. I get to see my brother again." Cecil told himself as the Dark Knight strode through the vast, empty plains of their Lunarian battlefield. He had finally overcome his inner darkness, proven his brother that he is capable of putting his negative thoughts aside, and in the end, managed to defeat him. Yet, he and Golbez, like all the others, were still trapped in these never-ending cycles, always returning to fight in the name of the two Gods. Cecil had grown weary of it. Always having to face his brother, and always having to fight for life or death, only to be reformed again after a certain time passed. It was not fair! Golbez was – no matter how much darkness the Thaumaturge warrior had been consumed with – his brother. He could not carry on these endless fights any longer, lest they would consume him.
"Still having doubts of your current state, I see, Cecil?" a dark, omniscient voice echoed as from a dark warp hole, Golbez appeared in front of him, clad in dark armor and his blackened cape. Cecil gasped a bit, taking a step back as his dark armor erupted into light, and his Paladin form emerged, coated in silver armor, a white cape, and revealing his light-skinned face along with his shoulder-length silver hair. He pulled up his lance-sword, facing his brother and nemesis with a grim look on his face.
"Brother!" he called out, as Golbez prepared himself, hovering into the air above him. "We have to stop this! Don't you see that the Cycles will just keep us fighting each other? Over and over, until one of us gives in!" he dashed upwards, flying towards his enemy as he lunged his lance at him, but the dark knight dodged with an aerial sidestep, drawing a contemned sigh.
"Don't you think I know it, brother?" he demanded, lashing his arm out and forming an arc of magical energies, sizzling with arcane lightning as Cecil narrowly dodged it. "We will keep fighting, until the Gods find us unnecessary, and only then will we have freedom. That is the will of Cosmos and Chaos alike." Cecil snarled a bit from his dodge, and he dove down with his lance aimed at Golbez, only to miss as his brother flew aside again. "But like you, I do not wish to fight you." His darker brother added, lashing his arm anew and catching the Paladin in an arc of lightning, which tortured his body before he was flung away like a glove, crashing into the ground.
"Agh! N-No… please, there has to be another way!" Cecil begged as he stood up weakly, his strain clearly showing as he had been fighting for a long time against Chaos's manikins; crystal-like mimics of both his fellow comrades, and their enemies. He changed into his Dark Knight form, the dark armor clothing his skin once more. "There has to be!" he lunged at his brother with a stab of his dark lance, but Golbez dodged anew. Cecil then tried to trick his brother by launching a multitude of black orbs at him, to which he naturally dodged anew, but now Cecil managed to lunge at him and slash him with his blade, giving him a slight cut across his chest armor. Grunting, the greater dark knight grabbed Cecil by his throat, and even if he changed to his Paladin form, he was kept in a firm grasp by his older brother.
"Why won't you stop being so NAÏVE?" Golbez roared and flung him up in the air, preparing to fire an array of magical projectiles at him. "There IS no other way for us to stop this meaningless struggle! We just have to endure it for as long as we can, even if it will tear on our bodies and bonds until the very foundations of both of them breaks!" Cecil could not believe what his brother was telling him. Was this really the Golbez he once knew? The one he… secretly admired? It could not be. He had… changed. "WAKE UP, CECIL!" but with those words, his resolve was made up, and turning about in the air, he saw Golbez release his full powers against him. The Paladin dove towards him to his position, ready to stab at him, but as he finally had dodged all the knight's projectiles, had him pinned down while straddling over his big, armored chest, and had a clear shot at him… he could not do it.
He could not kill his own brother.
"Cecil… do it." His older brother mustered him on, seeing that he had been defeated once again. He was just waiting for the fatal blow to be delivered, to feel that lance pierce his chest. "You know you have to. The Cycle has to continue…" but just then, he felt the lance, thinking his life would be over shortly, only to be returned to this endless Cycle in a matter of years… but he did not feel the cold embrace of death. He saw Cecil had stabbed his lance into the ground near him, and could see his younger brother… crying. "Cecil?"
"I-I can't… do it…" he said, his voice heavy with guilt and sorrow, as his tears fell down his light skin and down on the dark-clad armor of his brother. "I can't bear with it anymore… having to kill my brother over and over again, for a chance to reunite with my home world… I cannot do it! Not if you're not going with me!" he then did something he had wanted to do ever since the first time he and his friends ended one of the Cycles; he embraced his brother's thick, broad armor in a hug, clinging onto him as good as he could while his tears streamed down his face. Golbez was more or less thrown back by this display of affection; his brother, whom he had for so many cycles fought and scolded for relying on his friends and his darkness, was embracing him and crying to no content.
"Cecil…" his voice was also heavy with guilt, and with a sigh he sat up, letting his younger brother sit in his lap, and he embraced him with his left arm, his cloak shielding him as he gave him a half-hearted hug, yet it was filled with his affection for him. "I understand… your sorrow is a heavy weight which you have to carry alone, but it is never wrong to ask for help with such a burden. But do not cry for me, Cecil…" he said softly, wiping off the tears from his younger Lunarian brother. "I have since long ago accepted my fate here, in the Cycles… it is impossible for me to return to Earth with y-!" he was interrupted as he received a hard punch in the chest from his brother, which even managed to knock him down on his back again.
"E-Enough…" Cecil said, his voice shaken, yet firm at the same time. "Enough with your lies to yourself. You say that you are locked in these Cycles on your own accord. You say that it is impossible for us to reunite, because you've accepted your fate with Chaos… you're lying." He glared firmly at his darker brother. "Was it not you, that despite being under the darkness of Chaos, assisted and aided my friends, your enemies, as they had perils of their own? Was it not you that made Kain find his resolve and keep fighting, thus helping him break free of his Cycle? You are more good-hearted than you think…" he then offered a hand to Golbez, to help him up as he himself stood off of him. "My dark-clad brother." The elder dark knight was shocked and appalled by Cecil's claims; sure, they were true, but to have been taken to such account by the younger Dark Knight/Paladin warrior… he gave off a soft chuckle.
"I suppose it will take millennia for my darkness to fully affect you, Cecil. You are naïve…" he accepted the hand, which pulled him up on his feet, and then he looked down at Cecil. "But your heart is of pure light. You rely on your friends because you care for them, and want to protect them. Their strength then becomes yours, in due time. I am proud of you, Cecil." He was once again embraced by his smaller brother, and he returned his affectionate hug with one of his own, as Cecil had a big smile on his face.
"My brother… I am to blame for making you to be stuck in his nether Hell…" he said softly, sighing a bit as he slightly nuzzled the dark knight's armor. Golbez chuckled softly as his armored glove petted his brother's head, his fingers raking through his long, silvery hair of the Paladin.
"The fault is mine, Cecil, for having joined Chaos and his cohorts eons ago…" he admitted, holding his brother in his gentle embrace, his cape draping over both of them. "I should have known better than to let my darkness affect my mind and my heart, and thus leaving you in a world of discomfort and hurt. I am sorry, Cecil…" he was slightly interrupted as the Paladin's smooth lips kissed the cold surface of his armor, right over his chest plate.
"It is alright, brother. You made me stronger by leaving me in the care of the warriors of Cosmos." He smiled softly, making Golbez chuckle yet again. "What's so funny, Golbez?"
"Hehe, nothing…" he chuckled softly. "I just find it… ironic that I made you stronger by leaving you. I was worried you'd become weaker without me…" Cecil could not resist a slight chuckle as well, holding Golbez' unoccupied hand and kissing it softly.
"Don't worry, brother. I am fine, as you have seen time and time again." He smiled a bit smugly, to which Golbez chuckled again.
"Is that a dare?" he demanded, yet he ruffled his brother's hair a bit before letting him go. "Well, I must depart now… my shame of losing a fight might not be as big as being found with my sword enemy and brother. Fare thee well, Cecil Harvey." He said as he departed, leaving the Paladin with a smile on his face.
"Fare thee well… Golbez." He spoke solemnly, before turning back and returning to his friends… knowing he always had his brother's blessings with him.