Disclaimer: I do not own Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Just As Planned

The General examined his surroundings, the fake core of the Planet was now calm, it was hard to believe there had been a massive confront there just a few hours ago. Chaos' powers were indeed great, no matter how much damage he made the area would soon heal of any battle scars. He was particularly grateful for that, with all the dark auras in this dimension it would be just a matter of time before they obliterated all material existence... Specially now that they could not lay a finger on Cosmos' warriors. Thankfully the ever regenerating battlegrounds proved to be rather strong.

"Cease all offensive actions against the enemy for now." Those had been his orders.

As a former SOLDIER Sephiroth could control himself, as for his fellow warriors however... Well, they were less disciplined. Specially the clown-like creature, that thing had been wrecking chaos and causing troubles for everyone as of late.

The God of Discord had his reasons, but his orders were driving his troops insane; the clown was causing senseless destruction, the half dressed bird wouldn't stop reading that senseless gibberish he liked to call art and Sephiroth himself had to admit that spending this much time without hurting his puppet was starting to become uncomfortable. This lack of activities to distract the troops was truly unbearable.

Sephiroth closed his eyes letting the power burst from the fake core pass through him. He was beginning to lose interest in this place, it was simply annoying how it had the power to bring back memories. He did not wish to remain in the core, but if he left he would surely find one of Chaos' soldiers...

Despite fighting for the same side most of the soldiers of darkness had not attempted to know each other better. The other warriors were just unpleasant presences in this war so Sephiroth wasn't particularly thrilled to interact with any of them.

'Why is Chaos stopping now? We have the upper hand, Cosmos' troops are at their limits.' the former soldier folded his arms keeping his eyes shut as he so often did back when he was being lectured by Angeal about pride and honor 'This cease fire and his sudden departure... Is he attempting to reach an agreement with the Goddess...?'

"You can come out now. It's hard to go unnoticed when you exhale so much power." Sephiroth waited patiently but there was no movement, he was still alone. "Do as you wish."

As Sephiroth was about to continue his musings the ground beneath him disappeared turning into nothingness. While some might have been engulfed by the mysterious hole the general simply narrowed his eyes and destroyed the annoying emptiness with his Masamune that had materialized in his hand the moment that pesky little thing appeared.

"I said do as you please, however, I never gave permission for you to attack me," he scanned his surroundings again, yet he was still alone. Physically at least...

"You misunderstand us," the cold yet seductive voice that belonged to the embodiment of the Void echoed throughout the fake core of the Planet "It was not our wish to destroy you."

It would be an easy task for the former SOLDIER to find and eliminate the source of a voice if he was dealing with a normal being. But the one who called herself Cloud of Darkness was everything but normal. It was already hard to pinpoint her location when she was physically present, this way all he could do was feel her power emanating from every conceivable direction.

"The truly mighty must be leashed," a couple of warm hands grabbed the general's shoulder pads from behind "Do you not remember?"

'Those words..'. She had said the same thing when they first met. When the warriors of darkness first met all hell broke lose. With most of them confused by what was happening around them there was an almost immediate battle, and in the midst of such an intense battle Cloud of Darkness had turned to fight him and that was when those same words came out of her pale lips.

"I don't understand your words, woman." remaining still Sephiroth waited for Cloud of Darkness to remove her grip on his shoulders.

Almost as if she could read his mind the silver haired being softly floated back to the shadows releasing him.

"..."

For whatever reason she was gone, and Sephiroth was left alone again. The peace he required to continue returned, but the General was now incapable of thinking, these 'assaults' were becoming more and more frequent, and he couldn't help but wonder if the she was finally snapping.

He did not wish to face that woman, she was powerful, maybe even more so than him... But despite her frequent visits it did not feel like she was trying to hurt him. Whatever her reasons Sephiroth wouldn't say he disliked her presence, he rather enjoyed it, she was deadly and probably as insane as that clown thing, but thus far she seemed to be the most interesting individual present in the war.

No doubt, she was interesting, and then there was her enigmatic words, her intentions were never clear. 'The truly mighty...' it sounded like she saw him as a threat '...must be leashed...' yet she had not tried to eliminate him.

Sephiroth sighed loudly, there was definitely something wrong with him, that woman was just a comrade in this battle, he would eventually return to the Planet where he would resume his plans, there was no reason to develop an interest in her... Yet he wished to find out more about her reason of being. She was like a puzzle, he wanted to know what made her tick, he wanted to know more...

"Ya know Seph, you might not be entirely human and all, but that is a pretty human emotion right there."

Sephiroth calmly turned around and was greeted by that boy, Angeal's little puppy... Zack.

It was doing it again, the core was reviving his lost memories... It wasn't natural! He was sure that there was something wrong with this dimension. Was Chaos toying with him? Were the others experiencing similar situations? His head was filled with questions to which he had no answers.

"Come on now, tell me your heart. Is this all new to you buddy?" the very realistic hallucination of Zack Fair continued to stand in front of him acting all friendly like the real 1st Class SOLDIER used to. "You know, I always wondered why you didn't have a different girl every day... Guess you liked them more evil-ish huh?"

He refused to give an answer to that, not only was a ridiculous question but it was also a ridiculous question asked by an hallucination.

The General closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wander off, he had to find a way to release himself from those damned visions. It wasn't uncommon for soldiers to start hallucinating when they were in particularly brutal wars, although the former 1st Class had never experienced said delusions he had witnessed a few of his men lose their minds. Allowing himself to admit that he wanted to talk to the hallucination was the first step towards lunacy. He was already seen as a deranged monster back on the Planet but that didn't mean he was one.

"Sephiroth... Oi! Sephiroth!"

Although it was not real and it had no power whatsoever it still managed to be an extremely irritating hallucination. It seemed that Zack was trying to force the silver haired warrior into admitting his presence through an argument... Sephiroth himself would already have told him to shut up, but he refused to lose his composure due to a tired and hallucinating brain.

"Seriously, not cool. I thought we were friends... Ya know, until you went nuts."

He had to think rationally, no matter how irrational the situation was; his brain was hallucinating, and for some reason it provided him with a walking and talking imaginary 'friend'. There was no denying it that subconsciously he wanted something. Somehow this place was causing this whole situation.

"You wish to talk," Sephiroth finally reopened his eyes allowing this insanity to continue "Talk."

"Now we're talking!" the fake-Zack raised his fist claiming victory "So, what are you going to do about this Cloud of Darkness busyness?"

"This is the reason you appear? I do admit it was interesting to see the movements of that individual. I am not, however, preoccupied by it." the general narrowed his eyes at the delusion hoping to intimidate it. "Now, disappear."

"Okay, let's assume I'm not real and that I am here to talk to you about you inner preoccupations," Zack lost his trademark smile replacing it by a very serious expression, one that could be called Sephirtoh-worthy "If I am here don't you think that you might actually need to discuss this? I mean it isn't often that your brain sends delusio-messenger."

"You are not sounding like my brain at all." Sephiroth calmly stated "I don't remember wanting to cut my own brain."

"So you're admitting I am real?" Zack asked arching an eyebrow in surprise.

"I am merely pointing out that I have no such thoughts. Therefor I assume you are simply a vision created by this unstable 'dimension party' that is called Dissidia." closing his eyes again Sephiroth readopted his strategy of ignoring this thing.

"I see... That sounds like you, if something doesn't please you either ignore it or go genocide-psycho killer all over it." it was hard to notice but the General twitched trying his best not to draw the Masamune, he knew full well it would be a waste of time to charge at the image of his dead colleague "You might not like it but I ain't leaving until I hear what I came here to hear."

Sephiroth sighed silently, this torment was like no other. A physical enemy could be dealt with but an image created by his mind was a whole different matter, unless he gave it what it wanted it would not leave him alone... It would be so much better if he was dealing with a killable opponent.

"Fine. State your busyness." he finally gave in opening his eyes after a long pause to ponder his choices.

"Again, what are your thoughts on Cloud of Darkness?" the image of Zack returned to his happy look again smiling brightly at the increasingly darker General.

"She is a formidable warrior." he curtly answered.

"And?" Zack asked looking at him expectantly.

"Is that answer not satisfying?" Sephiroth asked starting to remember just how much he found the boy irritating.

"... You think of her as a female, what are your thoughts on that matter?"

That was a strange question, he was sure that not even the real Zack would be bold enough to inquire him about his personal thoughts and views on a specific individual. It would be very uncharacteristic of him to answer a question such as that but more than to keep his composure he wanted the damned thing gone so the former SOLDIER answered the question.

"She is, perhaps, pleasing to the eyes." he answered rather comically. Comically because even against all his wishes he was aware that his cheeks had turned red; he could practically feel them burning.

This was frustrating, either he continued to answer the pathetic questions or he would be stuck with a roommate for the rest of the war, and that would be less than advisable. He would not get killed in the battlefield because of an hallucination asking him what undergarments he was wearing.

"Yes, and?"

"Perhaps she might have been a suitable queen for the bright future I plan to create once I return to the Planet..." Sephiroth was about to explode, he didn't care anymore that it was a delusion. He was going to slice it to shreds, hallucination or not!

Then, the most amazing thing happened! As soon as it had appeared it was gone and Sephiroth could only sigh in relief.

xxx

The next day the warriors of evil joined up yet again in Pandemonium, expecting to see the God of Discord back and ready to wage war. But again, the demon-like God failed to be present, it seemed his absence would be longer than expected.

It didn't take long until Ultimecia saw the crimson eyed lady of the Void float her way until she reached the time witch, her face adorned with a rather large grin. "Well aren't you looking happy?" Ultimecia grinned evilly at her company "Your little mind rape session with Sephiroth went well I assume?"

As soon as Ultimecia finished her sentence a rather tall and handsome general arrived at the meeting place making the usually icy lady of the Void blush furiously answering her question immediately.

It was quite the entertaining sight, the almighty Cloud of Darkness almost looked like a regular girl with a crush, and every time the usually calm Sephiroth looked her way he would blush ever so lightly and initiate a conversation with Kuja who seemed confused every time the general addressed him.

xxx

A few days later there was still no sign of the God of Discord. But Sephiroth and Cloud of Darkness had been getting rather close.

After a while Ultimecia saw them together passing near her and all she could hear was the soft voice of the lady of the Void.

"... Thank you..."

Ultimecia couldn't help but laugh.

It had been a few days ago that Cloud of Darkness, despite her ever calm demeanor had started to demonstrate strange behaviors, Ultimecia wondered if spending too much time without fighting her archenemy was finally taking its tool on her.

Even though the time witch didn't consider the woman her 'friend' one had to find allies in this war. She soon found out that the woman that so often claimed to be interested only in the Void actually had an interest in one of their comrades. Ultimecia was shocked at first but she ended up trying to help her anyways.

A being as powerful at Cloud of Darkness could gain control over minds. Although Sephiroth was much too powerful to have his mind read he still had holes in his defenses. His old memories were the best way to get him to talk.

And so, reluctantly, Cloud of Darkness had manipulated the silver haired general's memories until he showed his true feelings to her, just as Ultimecia had instructed her.

"Just as planned" the time witch mumbled chuckling as she watched the general wrap his arm around the lady's waist.

The End

Author's Notes: Okay, not what I am used to writing, but I actually had a fun time writing this story. So, yeah. Fun stuff!

Originally this was supposed to be called Alluring Darkness, but I changed the story so much that in the end it didn't really make much sense...

I had this idea quite some time ago but only got time to write it down now. It has been a while since I last slept... So I apologize for any inconvenience in my writing. I guess I don't have that much more to say about this... So huh... Yeah. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks to all who read this all the way to the end! You are awesome! And thanks to the OST of Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 for the inspiration.