Clandestine Affair

AN: I own nothing in this story. This is for GuardianFarron so enjoy! Please R&R.

Lightning shivered a bit from the blast of cold night air coming from the east and once again took in her surroundings. A sprawling castle lay before her and her companions. A full, pale, moon illuminating everything with a surreal silver glow.

The design of the castle was the furthest thing from uniform. It looked like it had been cobbled together by a bipolar architect with a taste for all of the genres of architecture there had ever been.

It looked like the home of a madman.

Or a witch.

Lightning took the lead, Tifa and Vaan following after her as they ventured inside, certain a Chaos warrior was here. As they passed over the drawbridge and through the immense doorway the sound of turning gears and ticking clocks came to their ears.

"Be on your guard," Lightning said.

"Of course," Tifa replied.

Suddenly a loud clanging sound rang out and both women turned towards the source of the noise. It was an overturned suit of armor, Vaan looking incredibly guilty as he pouted at the two of them.

"Wasn't me," the sky pirate mumbled.

Lightning sighed and continued on ahead.

"Idiot," came her stern reply.

Tifa, after giving Vaan a slight glare followed by her usual smile, went after her. Finally Vaan continued on as well as the three went deeper into the castle.

On and on the three warriors of Cosmos went until they found themselves in a large room, at least eight stories high with a spiral pathway leading upwards, most of the pathway destroyed but the rails were still intact. The gears they had been hearing were visible now, the objects immense. Each gear looked like it had been crafted with great care.

"My, my, who have we here?"

The voice that spoke these words was exotic, elegant, and sent a shiver down Lightning's spine. She went to turn but her body wouldn't move. It was then that she realized the ticking of the clocks and the rotations of the gears had completely ceased.

Time had frozen.

"A knight," that voice whispered in Lightning's ear and Lightning would have struck out at the speaker if she could.

The voice vanished only to speak again behind her, where Tifa was frozen.

"A pet."

Again it vanished, this time sounding farther away as Vaan was bringing up the rear.

"An annoyance." This time the voice did not sound elegant. Instead it sounded incensed.

The gears moved, the clocks ticked, and time started once more as Lightning sprang into action, drawing her gunblade and striking behind her.

She was met with air only.

Tifa bounded past Lightning, fist primed as she lashed out with a powerful punch, Lightning following the arc of the blow as she finally got a glimpse of their enemy.

It was a woman but the most bizarre woman Lightning had ever seen. Her hair was silver, two long strands of the stuff were formed into the shape of horns while a single strand hung low, almost to her feet. Her hands were more like claws than digits. Strange markings adorned her face and the one leg Lightning could see that wasn't covered by the red dress she wore. A collar of fur framed the woman's bare cleavage and as Lightning followed the fur she saw that wings grew from the woman's back, black and silver as she steadied herself from Tifa's punch, the blow having done no visible damage to this woman.

But it was those golden eyes of hers that made Lightning pause for the briefest of moments. They seemed to see down to her very core and they gleamed with a supernatural glow.

The enemy smiled.

"Was that supposed to hurt me child?"

Tifa's response was another punch but the foe just teleported, appearing behind the stunned martial artist as a blast of energy hit her square in the back. Tifa slammed against one of the nearby walls as Lightning struck out again with her gunblade.

This time she hit her enemy and sent the woman flying towards the left. Sprinting after her, Lightning readied a ruinga blast but was interrupted by a ghostly ax flying towards her face. Dodging out of the way, she fired some bullets at the woman but the enemy teleported out of the way again.

Lightning lashed out behind her but met only air and was about to strike again when she was hit by a blast of magical energy, the force of it great enough to send her smashing through several of the remaining platforms on the spiral pathway.

Vaan stepped up to the plate and managed to land his own blow on the Chaos warrior, sending down his Torrent spell. He only had a few moments to celebrate his success however, as the enemy sent him flying through several walls in return.

Lightning ran ahead, Tifa right by her side, when time froze once more.

That woman was before her, those golden eyes alight with mirth and something else, something that would normally make Lightning shiver if she wasn't frozen.

"Yes...such a good knight you'd make though I suppose you want to know my name. I am Ultimecia. Mark that name for soon enough I will rule over the past, present, and future." One of those clawed hands cupped Lightning's bottom then, a few fingers softly tracing an odd pattern as Ultimecia spoke. "Liberi Fatali. I suppose I'll let you live for now. When next we meet I won't be so forgiving. Farewell my knight."

And with that Ultimecia was gone and time resumed its flow.

Lightning didn't move, merely blinked a bit as she tried to wrap her head around what had just transpired. A knight? What did that woman want with her? And why had she touched her like that?

Lightning would have explored these questions further when Tifa called out to her. Shaking herself from her stupor, Lightning went to her friend and healed their wounds with a cure spell, the pair then going to Vaan's passed out form.

After healing him all three found the exit to the castle but only Lightning turned to look back once they were outside again.

That was how it began.

Months passed with neither side claiming victory, though the crystals had been recovered and the manikins were still as numerous as ever. The dreams remained with Lightning.

And the nightmares.

All of Ultimecia.

They rooted inside Lightning's mind and became all she could think about. The way Ultimecia would kiss her in those dreams, the way she would hurt her in the nightmares, the way her golden eyes in all of those encounters still bore into her.

So she decided to return to the castle, to see those golden eyes in the flesh. The witch, Squall's word for Ultimecia, was waiting to greet her, a pleased smirk on her lips.

"My knight, it's a pleasure to see you once more."

"Cut the crap. What have you done to me?"

"Whatever do you mean? All we've ever done is fight, correct?"

"That's not it and you know it. You've been in my mind. I don't know how but you've been infecting me with dreams and nightmares since the moment we met." Lightning's hand went to her gunblade, swiftly drawing the weapon. "This is where it ends."

Ultimecia laughed then and bowed towards Lightning.

"Are we to dance then my knight?"

Lightning struck out, managing to hit Ultimecia but the blow only caused her to take a step back. With a teleport, Ultimecia was behind and to the left of Lightning, a charged blast knocking the warrior to the ground as the sorceress floated above Lightning's sprawled form. Lightning couldn't contain the cry of pain that escaped her lips as more arcane energy pulsed through her body.

"There's no running from this pain," Ultimecia whispered, tracing along Lightning's jaw before kissing her deeply even as Lightning arched upwards as the pain intensified, energy pounding into her as Ultimecia's tongue entered her mouth.

Embracing the Cosmos fighter, Ultimecia took to the air with Lightning in her arms.

"I'll never love you if that's what you're after," Lightning said. Ultimecia laughed at that response and hugged Lightning close, pumping more energy into her and causing her to scream in agony.

"Love? What do you know of it child? It's fascination that draws me to you and the fact that I need a knight to serve me."

And with that, Ultimecia returned to the ground, dropping Lightning before vanishing.

The third meeting was much the same as the first, only Lightning failed to land any hits and was put through even more pain as Ultimecia ripped her clothes off.

By the fifth she knew she was a lost cause. She was addicted to what was going on between herself and the time-bending witch.

Cosmos had tried to intervene, had sensed the doubt growing within Lightning, but it was too little, too late.

The balance of the war had shifted. Chaos was winning and Cosmos would be completely eclipsed.

The end came ten days later.

Continents were rent asunder, the seas boiled, the sky roared.

The world ended and was reset.

The young woman opened her eyes, noticing she wasn't alone.

A regal-looking woman was standing before her, dressed in red with wings sprouting from her back and a golden gaze that bore through her.

Beside the regal woman was another young woman, this one having long black hair and brown eyes. A collar was around her neck and the leash attached to that held in the golden-eyed woman's right hand.

"Awake are we?" the woman asked.

"Who are you?"

"Ultimecia and your name is Lightning, remember?"

"Lightning..." the pink haired woman replied, blinking a bit. Fragmented scenes played in her mind. A gun, a sword, a castle, the moon. All of this and more bombarded her and caused a sob to escape but suddenly Ultimecia took her in her arms.

"Shh...it's alright my knight. You are with me now. That is all you need." Her voice was soothing to Lightning and she nodded slowly.

"Who is that woman?" Lightning finally asked.

"This is Tifa. She is my pet and yours as well, isn't that right Tifa?"

Tifa nodded, her eyes gleaming with pleasure as Ultimecia stroked her face. Tifa then nuzzled Lightning's side and whined a bit before Lightning did the same, Tifa moaning in pleasure.

"She was as lost as you were when I found her. Now she is so much happier and you will be as well when I take you home."

"Where is home?" Lightning asked.

Ultimecia pointed and Lightning turned to see an enormous castle illuminated by the full moon.

The sight sent a shiver down her spine though she didn't know why and after a few moments followed after her new friend and pet, eager to be the best knight she could for Ultimecia.