The War of Life and Death

By JapanManiaz

Cosmos is a goddess of harmony. She is the opposite of Chaos, the god of discord. They had been fighting for millennia, though they had once lived in harmony. Their raging conflict had managed to attract the attention of Shinryu, who agreed to judge who would win their fight. But because they're opposite of the same thing, they could not attack each other directly. They had to find another way.

So Shinryu suggested that they started a war.

Each would call to their side some warriors of their own choosing.

If Chaos' warriors managed to kill Cosmos, then it would be his win and the land would be ravaged by discord. The fights would never end and eternity of violence would take over.

If Cosmos' warriors managed to take out Chaos, then it would be her win and harmony would once again descended upon the land. The warriors would be returned to their rightful place and eternity of peace would come.

At the beginning, Cosmos called forth thirteen groups to her side. They all, despite their very young age, had been heroes who managed to save their own worlds from great dangers. They're all strong individuals and stronger yet as a united group. Each group was victorious in their struggle against impending doom and death threats, yet remained kind and just.

But as Cosmos had relied on numbers and unity, Chaos had chosen his warrior based on slyness and power. The Chaos Warriors were few in number and loath each other too much to work together, but they do not hesitate to use whatever mean necessary to win. That included, among many others, the use of trickery, lies, and manipulating people like they're puppets, both fellow Chaos Warriors as well as Cosmos Warriors.

The Chaos Warriors proved to be too strong for the Cosmos Warriors. Their numbers, slowly but surely, dwindled every cycle. What used to be a whole group turned into lone survivors. At first Cosmos thought it to be wiser to not erase their memories of the previous cycle, as they may learn something from the experience. Wise people learned from past mistakes, she used to think.

What a very careless and cruel mistake she had made.

Cosmos quickly realized her huge mistake after the third cycle. Thief's unexpected suicide, along with the gloominess of the perpetually smiling Rydia and Aerith, had shaken her to the core. She saw, for the first time, that they're not unfeeling. They are people, who would grieve for the death and weep each other. Surely, they would not accept one of their own's death so sparingly.

So she, with her limited capability and yet unlimited guilt, had pleaded pitifully to Shinryu. Shinryu, the holy dragon, was the judge and overseer of their never-ending war. He was the one who decided everything in the war, including how every cycle was restarted.

Cosmos pleaded to him so that her warriors' memories of the previous cycle would be erased. It was not going to help them win the war, but at least it would lift some of their burden. The cycles would only get tougher and crueler with each rewind; memories of the past would only cause them to carry painful thoughts of souls who had passed on.

Shinryu granted her request, but also granted Chaos a request. He, after all, was a judge and it was his job to be fair to both parties involved. For Cosmos, he would erase every warrior's memories of the previous cycle. For Chaos, he would let him unleash a huge amount of Manikins when every Chaos Warrior had been killed.

She loses far too many people on the end of every cycle because of that. The stronger her warriors got, the less likely that the Warriors of Chaos would kill them. It would only mean that they would be killed by the army of Manikins at the end of the war. Being killed by a Manikin, as opposed to being killed by another warrior, would mean a true death. They couldn't be revived for the next cycle.

Her warriors, who couldn't even defeated their enemies as a united group at the beginning, grew stronger each cycle. They do not carry their memories, but their growth remained. They slowly become strong enough to match their opponents on one on one combat.

Their growth, however, was a double-edged sword. More people managed to survive until all Chaos Warriors had been killed, but that also mean that they would face the army of Manikins Chaos had called forth. She loses almost all of her warriors because of that. But she also gained some warriors from Chaos side, though she also loses some to him. Some warriors had been indecisive in their choice of side and continue to switch back and forth.

After the twelfth cycle, a disastrous one even among others, she had enough of the war. She only had ten warriors left, the same amount as the one on Chaos side, and she decided that she didn't want to see their number dwindled again. The only reason she had that much was because of Kain's rather sharp intuition and phantom memories of the previous cycle. Had it not been for him killing his own comrades out of mercy, some would be as lost to the Manikin as he had been at the end of that cycle.

Even though she only had ten warriors now, they were far stronger now than they were when they first arrive to her call. They can match the Chaos Warriors on fair ground, though their strength had been gained over the sacrificed of many others. It was heart-wrenching for her to watch their continuous struggle.

So she had created a plan, one that makes use of a loophole in the rules of their war. She sacrificed herself and divided her power into ten crystals to protect her warriors. Just like she planned, Chaos had come to her side to kill her once she lost all her power and protection. He thought he had win then, and the army of Manikins was never brought forth. He forgot one thing; Cosmos must be killed by one of his warriors for him to win the war. Because he had killed her himself, Shinryu did not approve of his winning.

Cosmos ten remaining warriors had lost their guiding light, but in the end had managed to find their way to Chaos' lair. They fought the god of discord together, uniting their incredible power into something indescribable, and won. They slew the god and ended the war in Cosmos' favor.

Cosmos had won the war through something akin to trickery, but it was a win after all.

Her warriors were sent home smiling and she too, lonely as she is, smiled for the last time at them. The souls of the people who died because of the war are released, returned to their respective world unscathed.

Chaos, despite what her warriors may think, is a god of life. Because only the living can sow discord and caused violence. Only the living can move around to cause ruckus. The lost of Chaos, the god of life, means that there was no more life.

Cosmos, above all, is a goddess of Death. Because harmony and peace are not something that can be achieved by the living, for living beings are still moving. She did win the war, and it did brought peace into the land, but harmony and peace for the land means that nothing will ever lives there again. The land is forever silent. The land is forever lost to death.

A/N: Finished! This is just something I thought of during class today. In Dissidia 012 we clearly see that there was once a lot of Cosmos Warriors and those who are killed by the Manikins couldn't be revived for the next round. Hypothetically, that means all the characters from each game could be there during the first cycle and was mowed down to what we see as the war continues.

Of course, that also means that our favorite characters are all dead.

This is just something I personally believe, since I don't think Cosmos would randomly choose her warriors that come out in Dissidia 012. It's a very sad theory, since it means everyone from every game was killed during the course of the war.

Anyway, my writing is mediocre at best. I'm not doing this for anything but fun. Comments are welcomed and critics will be taken gratefully as long as they're polite and reasonably.

I'm also searching for a beta for this fic.

By the way, below this is a small AU omake that I wrote to connect FF, Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts.

OMAKE

"Shinryu, what do mean you could not return them to their own world?" Cosmos asked, her voice sharp and hold a hint of anger. Her warriors had fought far too much and yet, they couldn't even rest after it was all over?

Indeed, Cosmos, I could not return them to their respective worlds.

"But why? The war was already over." Cosmos grew worried at the dragon's answer.

There are no worlds anymore, Cosmos. They had been eaten by Darkness when you sacrificed yourself.

Cosmos was speechless. Her warriors couldn't even have the rest they deserved because of her? Because of her rather foolish and careless idea?

"Then what should we do? Please don't tell me to let them float forever in the between dimension…"

Perhaps there is something we could do to help them. There was still a world, no, a series of world left standing after the darkness attacked. We could send them there."

"Why would it survive what other worlds don't?" Cosmos asked curiously. Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope in those worlds to restore what had been her mistake.

They were protected by the Light of Kingdom Hearts. There are some people in those worlds, warriors, called the Keybladers. They can push back the darkness and restore the worlds. But they will need help, and are your warriors not the most perfect help they could get?

Cosmos is reluctant to let her warriors fight for her again, to right her wrong, but there was no other choice. She gathered what left of her energy and sended them to Shinryu.

"Please make sure they got there safely."

The ethereal dragon nod and closed his eyes. He then shined brightly as he focused his whole being into transporting all the warriors summoned to the land. One by one they disappeared and turned into light. After a while, all the warriors were gone, sent to another world.

Our energy was not enough to perfectly send them over. Something may happen to them, but I assure you that they're safe. Perhaps… something changed…

"As long as they're safe…"