"Each battle brings me closer to my goal."

Cosmos was now seated on her throne while a very annoyed, confused, and frustrated Squall did his best to organize his thoughts to ask the questions that needed to be asked. He was still struggling with everything he saw and was still seeing. He prayed he was dreaming. He tried several times to wake himself up only to be met with the same surreal setting. He wanted to be back home with things and people he knew. He was trembling. He wasn't sure what world was real and what one was the illusion anymore. He even wanted to hug his father and cry, anything to bring him back to reality.

Cosmos looked at him with a mother's concern. She had feared his inflexibility would make it difficult to accept the other realities that were slipping in through the cracks. She bowed her head in shame. "Squall, come here," Cosmos said gently, scooting over to allow Squall to sit next to her.

Squall, numb from his entire reality shattering around him, did as he was told. He sat down next to Cosmos, though his expression was blank and his eyes were hollow, unable to cope with the truth. Cosmos pulled Squall close and gave him a gentle hug, a hug that made Squall feel nostalgic.

Squall flashed back to his last clear memory of his mother. They were playing in a field of yellow flowers, though the memory was so old and hazy, he couldn't clearly remember what kind of flowers they were. He could see the face of his mother, but her face was blurry as he couldn't fully recall her features. He assumed she said something to him since he found himself running toward her outstretched arms. When she made it to her, she hugged him in a gentle and soothing manner and whispered in his ear, "No matter what, I'm always right here. Just think of me when you see these flowers, and you will never be alone."

The memory ended. The tears began to well up in his eyes as he struggled to fight them back. The hug was just what he needed to make him calm down. He rubbed his eyes to fight off the building tears and snorted back the mucus running from his nose.

"S-so, where am I?" he asked, though is voice was hoarse and scratchy from fighting off the urge to cry.

Cosmos smiled gently seeing as Squall had calmed down enough to ask where he was. "You are in my Sanctuary that rests between the various worlds. I can travel to and from the various worlds from here, though I am forbidden to interfere directly in their affairs. The world you all hail from is new, born from the many clashes of harmony and discord in this world between. There, magic does not exist naturally. The people who populate your world are people formed from the memories of the various fighters in the forbidden war, though you live completely different lives. People who were once your enemies live as your neighbors, colleges, peers, and even your leaders. You would have continued to live blissfully unaware of the worlds beyond if something did not… change."

"'Change'?" Now Squall was curious. "What changed?"

Cosmos's eyes narrowed, showing concern and fear. "Someone brought magic to this world. Magic from this world between that is causing many of Chaos's forces to Awaken, or become aware of the worlds beyond and who they are in those worlds."

Squall sat quietly listening to Cosmos's explanation. "I had sensed your world's presence some time ago, but decided to leave it be seeing as it was free of the strife that plagued the other worlds. However, a dark shadow had crept upon your world from this world between and began to restart the forbidden war. I began to frantically search for my old Warriors in hopes they could help. I had first managed to find Cloud and brought him here. However, I am afraid I was too hasty in bringing him here. His mind could not handle Awakening, and he fell into a coma."

"Cloud? He was a Warrior too?" Squall starred at her with his mouth agape. Who else did he know were Warriors in this "forbidden war"?

"And, I am afraid that was not all the consequences of my actions caused, but I think that is not my place to tell. I decided to try and find Warriors who were more flexible, more accepting of their memories from the other worlds."

"And, is that why you turned to those three?"

Cosmos nodded. "Yes. Those three with their flexible minds and open hearts accepted Awakening quite well and have been fighting the Waking forces of Chaos for six months of your time."

Squall shot up on his feet when Comos told him that. "Six months? They've been fighting for that long? How come I've never noticed before?"

"I have enchanted the town so that when someone Awakens, they are transported here, in this world between where no people exist and time does not flow normally, to do battle. The Crystals that the three hold allow them to access their other memories and this realm to fight. When they are victorious, they seal the Warrior of Chaos's memories again, heal them, and return them to your world unaware that anything transpired in the first place."

Squall found himself having new found respect for those three. They were fighting a war against people they knew, people they probably cared about, constantly putting their lives on the line while everyone else around them were ignorant to the harsh reality they knew all too well. And, now, he was aware of it though he wasn't sure for how long.

"Squall, I must ask – Would you want to be Awakened?" Squall looked at Cosmos like she had two heads or something. To be asked so suddenly, especially after he heard what could happen if it went completely wrong, he wasn't sure how to answer. "I understand if you do not want to. It is a terrible burden to bear, and there is no telling if you could handle it. Before you decide one way or the other, at least watch their battle." Cosmos waved her hand. In response, the water from the ground at their feet rose and formed a liquid sphere. In that sphere, Squall could see Bartz, Zidane, and Vaan squaring off against the Awakened Warrior of Chaos…

"CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAAAAAP!" Vaan screamed as he rain from a rain of purple arrows homing in on himself and Zidane. He held is shielded arm above his head to protect himself as he held a sword in his other hand.

"You just had to ask her age!" Zidane said while trying to evade the purple arrows with artful dodges and a few swipes of his pink daggers. "Damnit, Vaan, how many times do I have to tell you? You never ever ask a woman her age! Just be glad it wasn't Shantotto, or else she would have used you as her new lab rat to test her ultimate spell!"

"Sorry, but curiosity got the better of me! I couldn't help it!"

The purple arrows were soon followed by a giant, cerulean axe homing in on Vaan. He barely managed to dodge to the right and out of the way. Fortunately, he was fairly familiar with the location they were fighting on: The Sky Fortress Bahamut. He remembered this place from his other set of memories. It was here that he faced off with Vayne and the stray Occuria as they attempted to stop the fortress from destroying Rabanastre and stop the tyrannical ambitions of Vayne and the Occuria. Though he could see his other home below, he knew that this was just a fabrication of the battle arena he knew from the memories of himself and the other fighters from his world. Still, the air above his other home gave him a sense of nostalgia and filed him with energy and confidence.

Squall gasped as he looked through the globe of water at the person they were facing. She had long silver hair that was styled into long horns with her bangs hanging down to her chest. She wore a blood red dress with a v-cut very low to the point it was even showing her naval and a slit that came to her upper thigh. Her red sleeves seemed to merge into purplish, clawed gloves. She wore what Squall thought at first was a feather boa until he realized that that boa was just an extension of her pitch black wings. Her yellow eyes and tribal tattoos topped her sinister appearance. But, that wasn't why Squall gasped. He knew this person.

"Th-That's Ultimecia! That's Rinoa's mom! She's a Warrior?"

Cosmos solemnly nodded. "In your world, she is just a simple mother trying to raise her daughter on her own, but in her original world, she was a powerful Sorceress who could manipulate time. She could send her consciousness through time and possess other Sorceresses, so that her consciousness could exist in three different points of time. In doing so, she could achieve Time Compression, a powerful magic that would have condensed time and space into a single point inside of herself. Fortunately, the efforts of a brave soldier and his allies stopped her from completing her spell. It is ironic, but her own meddling in the time stream causes her persecution and even her destruction at the hands of this soldier."

"A-And, who was this soldier?" Squall asked even though, somewhere deep down, he thought he already knew the answer.

Cosmos turned to look at Squall. Squall could see the answer in her eyes. She didn't have to tell him. "That soldier was me, wasn't it?" Cosmos silently nodded, affirming Squall's suspicions. This was getting to be too much. First, he saw a glimpse of the real world which was a fantasy world. Then, being told he's some sort of soldier and, apparently, a hero in his "original" world? He began to see why Cloud was in a coma. Squall feared what else his other memories had to share. Maybe it would be better if he woke up thinking this was all a dream…

Bartz was dealing with the crystal life-forms that Ultimecia summoned to gain superior numbers in their battle. Cosmos told Squall that they were called Manikins, and they were failed attempts to clone the Warriors of the many worlds to use in the Cornelian army against their enemies. They had no mind or soul, so they were not very smart nor had any will of their own. They were nothing more than sacrificial pawns in this game of chess. Bartz was using their lack of intelligence and will to his advantage. He would trick many of them into forming a line, then would summon various weapons from thin air and attack them, causing them to shatter upon "death."

While Bartz was dealing with the army of crystal, Vaan and Zidane concentrated on Ultimecia to keep her attention on them and off of Bartz. Zidane attempted a graceful spinning approach from below while Vaan summoned a spear and rapidly twirled it over his head. Ultimecia dodged backwards and summoned three magical, pinkish-purple spears around her catching Zidane and sending him flying. Vaan retaliated by summoning a greatsword and charging up a mighty swing. Ultimecia shot out several orange swords, but Vaan dashed through them and swung hard at her twice, knocking her through a pillar and into the wall of the cockpit. Zidane was now stuck in the throngs of the Manikins and had no choice but help Bartz break every last one of them while Vaan now had to deal with Ultimecia alone.

Ultimecia pealed herself off the wall and wiped the dust off her sleeve, as if she felt no pain. Vaan wanted to do nothing more than to wipe that smug look off of her face. "Kome now, child. Do you really expekt to harm me? I am a Sorceress! You are nothing more than a street rat that got caught up in some little adventure. You may have freed time from your Gods, but you will not free time from me!"

Vaan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Blah-blah-blah, I get it. You like time," he said as a light blue crest with runes in it appeared over his head. "SHUT UP ALREADY!" he exclaimed as he punched the crest which erupted in water. Huge spheres of water rained down over Ultimecia as she was pelted by the orbs before the last one burst and sent her careening into the floor. Vaan flicked his nose with his thumb in a cocky manner and pulled out his Crystal, thinking victory was his.

"Do not think you have won, boy," Ultimecia spat as she struggled to return to her feet.

"You can barely stand. What'chya gonna do? Bore me to death with your 'time' speeches?"

"Hmph," she snorted as she returned to her feet. "This battle is just beginning. I shall show you what happens to those who dare face a Sorceress during the witching hour!"

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" he asked sarcastically, noting her use of a time pun again.

"You won't be laughing when you see what I have in store for you!" She pulled out a white crystal in the shape of a bell with four wings sprouting all over it. Vaan knew what she was triying to do and tried to dash at the crystal to stop her. She crushed it between her hands and absorbed the energy from the crystal. Her entire being filled with strength. Vaan was too late as she junctioned Griever to herself, causing her power to grow and her appearance to change. She now sported a lion like mask over her face. Her wings changed from all black feathers to white inner feathers. Her normal arms were folded across her chest while she sported black lion-like arms where they once were. Vaan looked on in horrified shock. Ultimecia began to cast a powerful spell on Vaan, the Time Crush. Vaan desperately tried to get her to stop, but her increased power also allowed her to summon more Manikins. The Manikins absorbed every blow he meant for Ultimecia. He pushed hard against the hoard, but it wasn't enough. Ultimecia successfully cast her spell, and Vaan was trapped in a sphere of compressed time, completely defenseless. Bartz and Zidane tried their best to make it to their trapped "brother," but their own throng of Manikins made getting to him impossible. Ultimecia began to charge up a sphere of magical energy that took the shape of her original world. She allowed the energy to build and grow. She was going to obliterate Vaan in one, fell swoop.

"Vaan!" Squall called out, though it was as futile as his dad yelling at the TV telling people on game shows the answer to the question or the price of a prize. He looked on in horror as someone he was just getting to truly know was about to die a horrible death, and no one would believe him if they told him. He watched her charge the sphere of energy, completely powerless – or was he?

Squall turned to Cosmos. "Cosmos, Awaken me!"

Cosmos turned to Squall, scanning his steely-blue eyes for a sign of doubt. She could see that somewhere in his heart, Squall was unsure of his decision. "Squall, know this: Once you are Awakened, your life will never be the same. You will constantly put your life on the line here and fight at a moment's notice. Any semblance of a normal life will disappear, and your relationships with people will change. You may not be able to have a normal relationship ever again." She continued to scan the brunette's eyes, looking to see if the doubt still persisted. "Is that what you wish?"

Squall began to think heavily on those words. He recalled the times his father tried to get him to accept his new step-mother that always failed horribly. He remembered the many dates he had with Rinoa, his high-school sweetheart. He reflected on the many memories that he built there… Memories of a fake world and a fake life. He didn't want to live a lie anymore, even if it meant that everyone else around him still would. He didn't want to sit on the sidelines powerless as three of the bravest individuals he ever met had already agreed to the very thing Cosmos warned him about to dissuade him, not when all those three had left in the world were each other. He turned to her, all previous doubt gone. He was ready, ready to face the world for what it really was. "Yes. Awaken me."

Cosmos nodded her head, confident that Squall was, in fact, ready. She stretched her hand and concentrated her energies into it. A golden light began to well up and take the shape of a silvery crystal that looked like the many feathers of a folded wing. "Take your Crystal, Squall. It will guide you to your Awakening."

Squall reached out and touched his Crystal without hesitation. Then, everything went dark…

I think this is a good place to end chapter 2, no? Yes, Squall's Awakening! Team 5, 8, 9 reunion in the works! What's this? Squall has a step-mom and Laguna remarried? Ultimecia is Rionoa's mom? Cosmos tried to Awaken Cloud? Next, I'll be telling you Sephiroth's his dad and Jenova's his mom…

Next chapter, we'll see how Squall Awakens and his possible battle against Ultimecia!