Chapter 1

Counting Down To Zero Hour

The world blazed as Cloud looked at the golden gates that opened in the sky. The world he knew seemed to be tearing itself apart. Lightening blazed as he simply watched as people and creatures came through them. As entire walls that appeared to be made of liquid appeared and he saw lands behind them that he was not familiar with. Cloud watched as beings walked through the walls and watched as the skies grew dark in cloudy with lightening in some areas but where clear and blue in others. What was going on?

Miles away Kefka laughed at the destruction that was being caused. The pathetic Returners thought they could destroy him, but somewhere in some time or dimension he would always exist. There was nothing that would stop him. Now all he needed to do was restore the power of his God status. That meant a lot of work. Fortunately he still had some of his magicite. Soon he would destroy his enemies himself. First though he had to figure out in what time or possibly dimension he had been able to awaken in as they all seemed to be merging into one. He saw a village and smiled. Perfect.

He rose his fist into the air and attached the Ifrite Magicite to it. With little concentration the beast appeared and flew down attacking the village and burning all who lay down there. He laughed his evil laugh.

"Well," he snickered, "That should catch some ones attention."

Little did he know it had. No so far from him an old enemy and a new one had been in an area where two worlds or times had merged. One was the treasure hunter Locke Cole. The other was a master of the gun blade Squall Leonhart. They had both ported in the same spot and had stared each other down. Both had though that the others clothing was outdated. Both couldn't tell if the other was trustworthy and both did not know what to make of the landscape.

After a brief confrontation that had still been going on when the Esper attacked the village only a mile or so away from where they where did the stop. Locke first. He had been in mid attack/thievery as he had pinched Sqalls money pouch and a potion. Squall had stopped when he heard Locke shout, "NO!"

They stood there for a brief moment before they looked at each other and started running toward the point the fire beast had come from.

"There's no way that he could be here," Locke said as he ran.

"Who?" asked his new ally.

"Kefka," replied the thief, "I thought we had killed him but right now it looks like he's still here."

"How bad of news is this guy?" asked Squall as he panted a little.

"Bad," replied Locke, "My friends and I barely survived. Fact is he was a god then. Right now I'm hoping he has been reverted. If he has then we might stand a chance."

"Great," replied the gunblade master, "Squall Leonhart by the way."

"Locke," answered the adventurer, "Locke Cole."

As they rushed forward Squall stared loading his weapon. He knew he would need it. It had not failed him yet. He hoped it would not fail him now.

Kefka watched in delight as the town burned to the ground. A wicked smile crossed his face as Ifrite returned to his stone prison. If nothing else it had allowed the evil clown to stretch his legs. It had seemed like eons since he had be able to do anything like that. He had lost track of time when trapped in the time/dimension stream. He was not sure what it was but he had learned much about other times or versions of his own planet there. He had learned that there was so much to destroy, so many to punish, and so many to make bow down and worship him like the God he truly was. More over there was so much hope to diminish.

"Wonderful simply wonderful," he laughed to himself, "If that is the only resistance that this place with offer up this will be all to easy."

"I doubt that Kefka," came a familiar voice behind him.

He turned around to see an old enemy of his. Locke. Next to him was a man he did not know with brown hair and a long trench coat. No matter the two of the would be little of a challenge.

"Mr. Cole," he said with could laughter, "how nice it is to see you again. Especially since it will be the last."

With that he a ball of fire left his hand and went straight for Locke and Squall. Both dodged out of the way. Squall pulled out his blade and started firing shots at the evil jester.

Kefka watched as the shot went flying by him, and winced as one grazed his face. He gave and evil look to the young man and fired another blast of fire his way. This one did not miss it's mark.

Squall felt his body start to burn in pain. Fire. He had felt the spell before. It was never pleasant and this time was no different than any other. In fact it might have been more painful than normal. This mad man had to be strong.

While Kefka was distracted by Squalls pain Locke pulled out two knives and charged his old enemy. With a could of quick slashes he felt his knives cut through some of Kefka's armor and slightly pierce the flesh.

The former god cried in pain and back handed the hero out of the way. Squall used the opportunity to get down and dirty with a quick charge. He went for a strike with his blade but this time Kefka was ready. He drew his sword and blocked Squall's attack and kicked the young warrior away.

Squall stumbled next to Locke. Locke had just pulled himself back up and knew that his old enemy had gotten better. Much better. He may even be able to Cyan and Shadow a run for their money. Though in all fairness he had not been training to fight as hard as he use to lately. Still Kefka had not been this well trained to fight before. He had gotten a lot better. Good enough to hold both him and a guy he knew from personal experience to be a very skilled warrior.

Kefka smiled, "I know what you're thinking. You don't know if you can beat me. You wonder how I got so good. I'll let you in on a little secret. Time doesn't exist where I was. I had all the time in the universe. I doubt the two of you can defeat me. I doubt there is a soul around that can."

"I doubt that," can a calm and cold voice.

Kefka turned around to see standing in the distance a man with a large sword. A man where a black uniform with the words Shenra on the sides and with spiked blonde hair. Kefka was now face to face with the warrior Cloud Strife.