Welcome to our world! This fic is a three-way collaboration between Refugee (A Knight of Spira, Orphans of Time), Pierson (Diamond Dust, Darkness Falls), and Rinoa Heartilly (Bitter Dawn, Unintentional).
There is a saying that goes; 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. We will disprove it. We hope you will be there when we do. ^_^
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Convergence of Destiny
Prologue
They stood there, in a line, pointing their weaponry at the man who had destroyed their lives, and his agent.
He stared back, smirking. "Did you seriously think I wouldn't be prepared for this?" he said acidly.
Squall just looked at the man, and wondered how it had come to this. They had been happy; they had been praised and honoured for their deeds. After Ultimecia was killed, it had been supposed to be over, no more evil, no more pain and suffering, everything should have been fine.
Instead here they were, standing here, battered and bruised, but not broken. Staring down the men who had branded them criminals and had them hunted down by their own people. This man.
Squall glanced across at the others. Rinoa didn't return the glance, but just looked straight ahead at their targets. Selphie and Irvine stood side-by-side, guns aimed at the figure before them. Zell was furious beyond words, and would have gladly jumped the man before them had it not been for Rinoa whispering into his ear. Quistis stood behind the others, still on some unconscious level of her mind refusing to believe what was happening. She took one step forward.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, desperation in her voice.
The man smiled and shook his head. "I wouldn't expect the likes of you to understand."
Squall stayed silent, and just looked at the man. Even in a world of plenty there are always some who want more than their fair share. Was that it? Was all of this, the entire last year, a grab for glory? He hoped it was. It would have made it all much simpler. Squall hated complicated reasoning. This was the man who had destroyed his live, killed his friends, and sentenced them to a life on the run, never stopping, never knowing rest. For that he has to pay, regardless of what reason he gave.
"Try us,' Zell said dangerously.
The man smiled at him, the way a man might at a little boy who has said something amusing and useless. "Does it matter?" he asked rhetorically.
"It matters to me." He replied, flexing his fists.
Rinoa stared at the man who had turned her into an animal. Hyne how she wanted to kill him now. After twelve months of running and hiding she was tired, and her supply of patience, understanding, and willingness to forgive had finally hit rock bottom. She stared at the man, and then she looked across at the other man, who had helped him do it.
"And you believe him?" she asked softly.
"He gave me everything I ever needed," he replied, as if that explained everything.
"I trusted you, Quistis trusted you, we trusted you!" she shouted at him.
"More fool you," he said, and winked.
Squall's eyes widened, and he took one step forward. Instantly guards surrounding them clicked off their safeties. Squall growled and stood down.
"You'll die for this," he said, glaring at the man.
The man just smiled back. "We all die, but my destiny is to rule first," he said, eyes staring at something only he could see.
"We'll stop you!" Selphie shouted.
The man laughed. "With what? How? Six SeeDs can't fight an army."
"We'll find a way," she through gritted teeth.
Irvine looked across at Selphie, the determination on her face, the unwillingness to back down. Hyne how he loved this woman. If anything, if just one faint scrap of hope could be drawn from this nightmare, it was that. If this was it, and they died in a hail of bullets fired from their old friend's weapons, then at least he would die with that knowledge.
"No, you won't," the man said, and turned to walk from the chamber.
"Wait," Quistis said. The man turned back to look at her. "Don't do this," she asked. The man didn't reply. He just walked out of the room, leaving them with the guards and the traitor.
Zell glared daggers at the guards stationed around the chamber. He had fought with them, laughed with them, and now they would kill him. He looked straight at their leader.
"Put down your weapons, it's us. Let us explain," he asked the woman.
"Nothing needs explaining Zell," Xu replied, face devoid of any emotion anymore.
Quistis looked ahead, but her attention was not fixed on the others, but on the person who stood between the exit and them. She just stared at the man, as if by staring she could turn back the clock and make everything right again. She thought about the events that had brought them here, and the one thing that had drove them from their home, made them outcasts from society, made their comrades hunt them down mercilessly, made even their own family turn against them, had separated them from the world.
She thought back, to the first day, the beginning of all this, this bad dream from which they had tried to awaken from, but had persisted in keeping them from doing. But the past cannot be changed, and not even Hyne herself could alter what had already come to pass.
One day that had broken their lives and shattered their dreams, one year that had rebuilt their resolve and gave them hope.
Sometimes, in retrospect, even the smallest events can take on new meanings...