Condemned to Dissidia

by Draconai

Images. Images of a war between harmony and discord. Images of the blackest hearts from across the Rift. And a voice; the voice of the maiden he had sworn to protect. Calling his name, in desperation. He awakens in one of the battlegrounds that the war had crafted - a war that he had escaped. So why was he here? And why could he not leave? Post-013, not 000.

1. Prelude: Awakening

Draco: What up, fool, it's Draco. I am the man! My Dissidia mood has been lingering, so I figured I would put it to use.

Dissidia Final Fantasy and all related properties © Square Enix

---

Prelude: Awakening

Fire.

And raw, unbearable pain.

He gave a shout as the inferno consumed him, the surge of the flame slamming him into that horrific plate of skulls that sat atop the throne of Discord. With a weak cry, he fell earthward, his sword impaling itself in the arm of the throne as his spine collided with the edge of the seat. He tumbled off, hitting the floor of the battlefield and struggling to rise.

She hit the floor before him, her claws digging into the earth.

"What's wrong with you?" Her voice, soft and caring, now seared from her lips like a disappointed parent. "You said you had the strength to protect everyone. Did you forget to leave any of that strength to protect yourself?"

He could not respond. His lips would not obey.

"Get up."

His body would not react so that he could obey that command.

"I said get up!"

Her foot skid across the ground, and another burst of flame ripped across the earth. It erupted as it collided with him, and he was propelled into the air; another inferno engulfed his flesh before her claws grabbed him, searing through his chestplate to grip him by the torso.

"Why did you do this?" The voice that he had grown to care for, the one who had cared for him in return, now attacked him like discord himself. "I thought you had changed, boy. I thought... you had grown strong."

Searing white magic wrapped her body as her grip tightened on his flesh, and he gave a cry of pain.

"I guess I thought wrong!"

She hurled him earthward, slamming him into the battlefield; and the magic focuses on her arms as she lashed them against each other, blades of light ripping towards him.

"Terra..."

Edges of pure arcana, from the one that he thought he could truly trust; now those blades tore to cleave his body in two like Catastro's blade.

"TERRA!"

He shot upright, his gaze wide, and for a moment he swore the Void had taken him.

Then he realized that this was not between light and shadow.

"What... am I doing here?"

The Onion Knight received no response - for the battlefield that the war of gods had crafted from the World of Darkness would not reply, in itself.

---

Draco: Well, let's see if anyone's going to notice.