Summary: The Goddess Etro from Gran Pulse (FFXIII) decides to meddle in the affairs of the Planet (FFVII). In her infinite wisdom, she give Zack, Aeris, Cissnei, Angeal, Genesis . . . and yes, Sephiroth, a second chance at life. The catch, until they discover peace, they'll be randomly thrown around the FF universe.

Author's Note: This story will be in the form of interrelated short stories set in various FF worlds. Each will advance the overall storyline. I have the basic plan in my head, but requests for particular encounters are acceptable.

Incidentally, I just played Crisis Core after playing Final Fantasy XIII-2. And the references to the 'goddess' in both were what triggered this little idea.

Final Fantasy Worlds included: 7, 8, 10, 12, & 13.

Please read & review.

Three from Heaven, Three from Hell

Story One: Etro's Mercy

She likes to meddle. That's how it all started and ended for the goddess Etro. It started with Caius. He'd shown such devotion to the seeress that Etro's chaotic heart had broken at their eventual parting. So she gave him her heart and immortality. That way he could be the seeress's eternal guardian. Perfect plan. Only it backfired. Caius went insane, watching the one he loved die over and over and over again. The seeress was blessed to see the entire timeline, but when things changed, well, the visions were overwhelming and the poor girl would die. Etro always took mercy and let her be reborn the same as before, so she honestly didn't see what Caius's hangup was.

And she even thought that he was okay with everything. Then she took mercy on a group of l'cie who risked everything to free humanity from fal'cie rule. She was particularly proud of that one. She'd saved from certain death six brave humans. Except that act had contorted the timeline and the seeress started dying like crazy. That made Caius more bat-shit crazy. And it culminated in his plan to kill her, Etro, the goddess.

She never imagined he'd get so close, but when her heart in his chest stopped beating, she was blown away. And when she finally yanked her particles together, she was in a field of beautiful, heavenly flowers. And she wasn't alone. There was a man with spiky black hair and eyes the color of an autumn sky. He was doing what appeared to be squats, facial expression lost in thought. He didn't appear to recognize her arrival.

She frolicked over to him, curious to see what he was doing. Standing beside him, she tried a few squats. They hurt her legs. Hmmm. Humans were so odd. "Hellloooooo?" she called out.

"Aeris?" he asked, glancing around. When he spotted her he frowned. "You're not Aeris."

"Actually, I'm Etro," she said. "I'm the goddess."

"Oh. Okay. Zack Fair," he said. He seemed less than impressed with her proclamation than she expected. "What are you doing here? Is there a LOVELESS convention or something?"

"I was killed," she said. "Well, since I'm a goddess I can't really die, but I think I came pretty darn close." She giggled. "Silly Caius, I'm going to have words with him when I get back."

"Riiiight . . ." Zack said. He returned to his squats.

"So . . ." Etro said. "I'm wondering what your story is. You know everyone has to have one."

"No story. Just dead," he said. "Story over."

"I see," Etro said. But she really didn't. So she reached out and touched him. His skin was translucent and cool. When she touched him, she got snippets of his life, like watching a movie on super-fast-forward. He was in a small village, doing squats, dreaming of being in SOLDIER, of being a hero. Then he was in a life-forsaken city, training. A man with dark hair took him under his wing, trained him. There were many battles and to Etro's delight he was heroic. He threw himself at his enemies, defeating them with ease and yet still capable of showing mercy and empathy.

Then there was the girl. A pretty little thing with green eyes, brown hair, and a sweet smile. Etro saw their relationship blooming. It made her happy. Etro loved happy endings more than anything. His memories skipped to another battle. Standing in a wasteland. Standing against him was an entire army. "Boy oh boy, the price to freedom sure is high," he said. Then charged forward. By the end, he'd dwindled the numbers to three. Three nameless army guys with guns. They shot him. Over and over and over. And he never saw his beautiful girl again. She was just gone, stolen from him.

Etro let go, swearing.

"Hey, you alright?" Zack asked.

She shook her head. "You died," she sniffled. "You were going to your girl and you died. After all that. It isn't fair."

He almost smiled. "It happens. Anyway, that was a long time ago –"

"No. No no no no!" Etro stomped her foot for emphasis. "It isn't okay. And I, Etro the goddess, will make it okay."

Zack quirked an eyebrow at her. Clearly he didn't know her power. She reached out, touching him. "This will be your chance, Zack Fair. Your chance to get back with your girl."

"She died –" he started to explain, but then Etro's power hit him full on. His head was flung back, skin glowing with hot silver light. His eyes blazed like liquid fire, mouth open in a silent O of surprise. Etro watched him start to dissolve and was completely surprised when someone kicked her to the ground.

She disappeared and reappeared behind her assailant. "What are you doing?" she asked, unable to hide the hurt.

A tall, muscular man whipped around, blue eyes narrowing. "What did you do to Zack?" he demanded.

Etro stuck her tongue out at him. She didn't have to explain herself.

The man tried to stop Zack from vanishing, but Etro had already done her spell. He was on to his Second Chance at life. She meant for him to enjoy it. And she did understand that his girl was dead. But seriously, she was going to rescue her too.

Someone stuck a red rapier through her.

"Ouch," she said, grateful that she'd loaned her heart to Caius. That could have seriously messed her up otherwise. "How dare you poke me like a pin cushion?" she demanded. "I am the goddess Etro and –"

"You're not the goddess," the rapier wielder snapped. "The goddess isn't real. It is just a play . . . a book of poems. An ideal. I have lost faith in you, goddess."

"Eck!" Etro squawked. She spun around, turning intangible to avoid the sword. Then she hugged him. "You poor faithless creature. I'm sorry I didn't help you."

The other guy hit her again, sending her flying. She got up, confused. "Okay, so what is the deal with you two anyway? I've introduced myself and the two of you haven't."

The dark haired one looked pretty murderous. "Angeal Hewley. That guy you just . . . " he motioned to where Zack had been standing . . . . "he was my friend."

"Oh," Etro said, enlightenment dawning on her. "Why didn't you say so, silly Angeal?"

The other man, the rapier wielder, scowled. "He isn't 'silly' Angeal. If anything he's overly serious. And you just disintegrated his puppy."

"Puppy?" Etro asked. "Well, nevermind. Let me just see what your story is Angeal." She appeared behind him, catching his wrists. The rapier guy grabbed her. She got their memories together. Angeal grew up poor. He joined SOLDIER because Genesis, the rapier guy, joined. They were friends. When he joined SOLDIER, he father spent a lot of money getting him an impressive sword: Buster. He carried it as a symbol of his family's honor. Only he was the only one in his family with honor. His mother had experimented on him – implanting him with alien cells. Then, when the Degradation started, she'd killed herself rather than helping him deal with it. Monster. She'd called him monster and he'd never shaken it. Mothers could be so cruel. He had no cure. No salvation from the pain wracking his body. He'd aged decades in months. But he never did lose his honor. Instead he forced Zack to kill him, destroying all viable samples and thwarting some stupid fat guy. So tragic! Etro's heart broke.

And Genesis, the wealthy man's son. He tried so hard to be perfect. A hero. His dream was to meet Sephiroth (whoever the hell that was) and be friends with him. She could see his trials through SOLDIER, making the other boy recognize him as worthy. And then, the increasing bitterness at Sephiroth's assumed greatness. Genesis trained so hard – tried so hard. Etro imagined he would have beat his rival if not for Degradation. Because he'd been experimented on too! Unlike Angeal, he did not go quietly into the night. He raged like a tempest, fighting until his last breath against Degradation and those who'd inflicted him. She saw his last battle with Zack. Saw his capture by Deep Ground. Saw the horrors they'd inflicted on him. And her heart broke again.

It honestly couldn't hurt anything to give the two of them another chance. Seriously. They needed it. So she changed her touch to one of sending. And their skin infused like Zack's had. And they vanished from the field.

Etro jumped in the air, clicking her heels together. She was sooooo cooool! Honestly. What would these people do without her? Now all she had to do was find Aeris and make sure she got to Zack. Easy.

Aeris was in a cold dark place. A cave deep in the Northern Crater. She was talking to the Sephiroth guy. Genesis's friend and rival. Etro crept in to eavesdrop.

Aeris held a handful of lilies. "Hello, Sephiroth," she said. "All alone?"

He sneered, turning his entire body away from her.

"Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo . . . they all moved on, you know."

"Weak puppets," he said, voice barely audible. "Leave me Cetra or I'll –"

"You'll what? Kill me again? I wouldn't mind if it would bring you some peace."

He didn't respond.

Aeris started humming softly.

"Stop that."

She paused. "You know, Zack says you're a lost cause."

"Zack the Puppy," Sephiroth mused. "Like I care what he says. He is nothing. A flea. A minor, dead inconvenience." He smirked. "I should know. I killed him."

Aeris shook her head sadly. "No, Sephiroth, you didn't. The army did. Zack . . . told me after I asked enough times."

Sephiroth didn't respond.

Etro got bored spying and popped up. "Hullo, I'm Etro." She paused, then added, "the goddess. I'm here to return you to life, Aeris."

Aeris looked horrified at the notion. "No, you can't. That's not how it works."

Etro looked dubious. "Sure it is. I can do it. I've already done it to a couple other people." She didn't say "Zack" because she wanted it to be a surprise when Aeris woke up with him and they were both alive again. She lunged forward, fully intending to touch the Cetra girl and blast her into her second chance.

Aeris dodged.

"Now hold on a second," Etro said, pouncing again.

Aeris dodged. "No, you hold on. Can't you see that I'm the only thing keeping Sephiroth from escaping as a wraith-like spirit into physical world?"

Etro paused, checked the situation out. "Well sure, but it really isn't nice to confine people like that. I'm sure he'll be fine without you." She lunged again and Aeris dodged again. "Seriously, I need to give you a second chance. The gift of the goddess is not easily refused."

But Aeris kept dodging. Etro got pissed. "Stupid little girl, don't you want the gift?"

"No!" Aeris snapped. "As long as Sephiroth is here, I won't go."

Etro considered that. She was a wise goddess, capable of highly advanced thoughts. "Okay," she said. And without hesitation, she reached out and touched Sephiroth. He was hot to the touch. She checked him over and saw that he had someone else – a parasite entity locked onto his consciousness, whispering in his ear. She couldn't send that back with him. It would make his second chance harder. So she separated the two and he vanished in a cloud of white light.

Aeris screamed something that could have been "no" but was probably closer to "go." Silly girl, she must have been afraid that if Etro didn't move fast she wouldn't get her second chance. She popped out of existence and then back into existence behind the girl. "Haha! I got you!" she crowed. "The game's over and I win." Her power flowed into Aeris. The young girl vanished.

Etro looked around the cave, spotting Jenova the parasite. She flinched away. "Ugly." She decided to return to the field of flowers before trying to return to her own realm.

When she appeared, there was a girl there. Wearing a black suit, red-brown hair and an angel's face. The girl eyed Etro warily.

"Are you looking for someone?" Etro asked.

The girl shook her head, the movement barely perceptible.

Etro glanced around. "Well, do you know who I am?"

"No."

"Etro the goddess." Again, nobody seemed impressed. "What's your story?" she asked the girl. "You a whatchmacallit?"

"Excuse me?"

"A crossdresser."

"No . . ."

"Oh, then what are you?"

The girl pursed her lips, but didn't seem the slightest bit interested in answering.

Etro, ever impatient, did her ole touch of knowledge. The snippets she got broke her heart. The girl had been born in an orphanage. She was taken and trained by ShinRa from a young age, trusting no one. But one day she'd met Zack Fair. And somehow the girl who knew love as nothing more than a word had fallen and fallen hard. But she'd never said a word. She'd stood by and let Aeris take Zack for herself. But Cissnei had tried so hard to save Zack. She wanted to tell him her real name . . .

Etro squeed. No way was she going to let love go unrequited. She touched the girl again, sending her off to join the Second Chance. Then she sighed with contentment. This Planet wasn't so bad. She could really get used to it. So many lost souls in need of her divine help. And this time she wasn't separated by the boundaries of Vahalla. She was perfectly –

Something green and water like (or was it smokelike) wrapped around her. Etro felt herself being lifted from the field of flowers and flung far, far away. Clearly the Planet's Lifestream didn't like her meddling. But honestly, she was just trying to help.