Mirrored from AO3 (because nobody's there apparently...)

Some light crossover elements, but overall not enough for me to stick it in something like the Dissidia crossover section. Onion Knight is the other character obviously, but he doesn't have a character tag in this section.

Also, people need to wake up to the fact that Onion Knight and Luneth are two different characters. Maybe then, we'll get some meaningful interactions between the two sets of protagonists that Square-Enix is taking their sweet time on giving us (though Record Keeper gets points for actually trying). Not really relevant to here and moreso for the Dissidia section, but you know.

The rain in Zozo continued to be oppressive as the waitress returned with the drinks that the patrons ordered. Two glasses, one with milk and the other with red wine, were placed on the table.

"Thank you." One of the customers said. The waitress looked like she had been insulted and slapped the blonde-hair man. The child at the other end (his son?) looked slightly amused.

"You did it again" the kid said.

Ingus groaned. Due to a number of complicated factors, Zozo wound up being the place where the two knights were to eat lunch. And, in-spite of Onion Knight bringing up Terra's warnings, Ingus couldn't quite grasp that people spoke with opposite meanings here. Which is why it took ages for them to finally get as far as placing orders for, and receiving, drinks.

Onion Knight idly swished his milk around, a disappointed look on his face.

"Are you sure we can't switch?" the younger knight asked. "Just for a sip?"

"I doubt King Sasune would approve of such a thing," Ingus answered as he tasted the wine. Onion Knight pouted in response.

"I doubt he would approve of bringing a child to a seedy bar..."

"Which is why I was hesitant to do so."

"And yet you still did."

Ingus lowered his wine glass and massaged his temples. He came here to ask Onion Kid some questions and he was hoping that he could get answers to them without getting a headache.

"You lived on the floating continent, correct?"

"Yes."

"Did Cid tell you anything about being from the surface world?"

"No..."

Ingus began mumbling to himself. Onion Knight looked unamused by it.

"I assume he told you that?"

"He did. I found the idea ridiculous, but I found myself with a strange sense of nostalgia when my companions and I reached the village of Falgabard."

"Falgabard..." Onion Knight muttered the name to himself for a bit before realization struck. "Oh, you're referring to Fargabaad? The village with the Dark Knights and the Ninja?"

Ingus nodded whilst sipping some wine. Onion Knight himself took a swig of some milk and looked thoughtful. "I can kinda see it. Your eyes look kinda like the ones the Dark Knights from Fargabaad have." It was Ingus' turn to look thoughtful. Onion Knight noticed. "...I suppose I'm not the first to tell you that?"

"That was what Doga said."

"Peculiar."

"Very." Ingus sipped some wine in thought. "It would seem that there are some slight differences in the course of our journeys."

"But, other than that, your journey was the same as ours?" Onion Knight asked.

"I would believe so." Ingus said in response.

"Even the Cloud of Darkness' appearance?"

"Yes. Our initial attempt went as well as your own most likely did."

"Even... Aria dying?" Onion Knight asked a bit more carefully. There was a brief pause. When he spoke again, Ingus' voice was softer.

"Luneth... took it the hardest."

"Even... Doga and Unei's..." Onion Knight couldn't even bring himself to finish the question. There was an even longer pause. Just as Onion Kid figured Ingus had justifiably dropped the question, there finally came a very quiet "Yes."

Silence hung over the two knights. The situation itself was rather uncanny, Onion thought to himself; Here he was, reminiscing a man whom he shared experiences with... even though they both shared said experiences with totally different people and not with each other.

"Still," Onion Knight finally said. "It doesn't seem like anything vastly different occurred. You guys fought the sorcerer Hyne, right?"

"Yes. The Evoker job proved surprisingly helpful in piercing Hein's Barrier Shift."

Ingus noticed Onion Knight's eyebrows lift in curiosity. He sighed.

"Luneth rushed ahead and got us captured. He got assistance from a man named Falb and freed us one by one. I don't know how, but he somehow got a crystal fragment containing the Evoker job. I presume," Ingus sighed. "That that didn't happen in your world?"

Onion Knight shook his head.

For a moment, Ingus simply frowned deeply and said nothing. Then, he motioned for the waitress to bring him more wine. He wasn't a heavy drinker by any means, but it was becoming clear that he was not mentally prepared for this conversation.

That stuff about Ingus (possibly) being from Falgabard? Yeah, that came from the unused Japanese text strings, so that's 'canon' in the sense that SE has neither confirmed nor denied it. So I'm running with that. And, oh the marathons I will run...

On a similar note, the stuff about Hein/Hyne's castle is also a reference to a scrapped scenario from the remake of III.