Sorry this took so long. I'll leave the majority of the notes for after the chapter; for now let's just say that I had planned this out the day after I posted the prelude, but then life happened, and then writers block happened. I should also note that, for reasons you may have already calculated based on my AN at the end of the prelude, this chapter will be marginally different from the last. I have finished editing for now, and hope it is acceptable. If you see flaws of any kind, please don't hesitate to point them out to me.

In regards to modifications to my previous version, it has mostly just been extended, with the occasional spelling correction.

Please Enjoy.

Forsaken Kingdom I

Thus Prophesied - Destiny

They were standing in a large field.

He didn't really know why. Goddess knows how the gateways actually worked. He found it confusing, to be perfectly honest. One minute they would be walking through the top floor of a ruined and dimly lit castle with frankly unnecessary gears strewn about as ornamentation, then the next minute they would walk through a doorway and find themselves in one of the cars of a speeding train. It didn't really make sense. Of course, observations about that could wait for another time. Right now?

They were standing in a large field.

Not that there was anything particularly wrong with that: The field left nothing to be desired in the department of scenery. A hilltop with vibrant and beautiful trees overlooked a wide expanse of vividly green grass. A large, sparkling channel of water could be seen, and a big and extravagant stone castle completed the set. To him, it seemed very much like an artistic painting come to life.

(If his world had the technology, he would have compared it to a photograph straight from a brochure. It was that scenic.)

No, nothing was wrong with the field at all. It was quite perfect; maybe even a little too perfect considering the war. But who was he to complain? He should just have been grateful that he and his companions could take the time to appreciate what was around them.

Life.

Life was around them in full bloom. It was a strange sight to see and consider during the conflict of the gods, and he found himself hoping that this locale would not be ravaged by it as so many other places already had. It then occurred to him that it might not matter: all of the areas seemed to restore themselves somehow, and it wasn't uncommon to come by the same place more than once in two separate geographical spots either.

Hmm. Gateways.

Whatever the situation with the backdrop was, the fact remained that he and his group should be taking the time out of their busy schedules to relax on the sunny hilltop. He should be taking the time to appreciate it. Come to think of it, he was appreciating it.

Before the 'beautiful' grass and dirt had started to rush towards his face.

At first, he didn't even realize it had happened. He was far too busy focusing on flashes of pain in his head... and strange images that came with it: A woman in a white mage's cloak, whom he felt had left much behind to go on her journey. A silent and stoic young man with a headband, whose calm wisdom remained a constant well of strength from which to draw upon. And a young boy with a green bandanna... who would close his eyes (Yellow, and pulsing with an unearthly glow) as he gave a wide and mischievous grin that the warrior found both infuriating... and endearing. It was only when he had heard a loud cry of "Cid!" and the rush of footsteps did he really look in front of his face and think:

"... I am on the ground. When did this happen?"

As he made to lift himself to his feet, he found another pair of arms was aiding him. He was lifted to a standing position as a voice reached his ears.

"Cid? Cid can you hear me? Are you all right?" The warrior glanced to his side in order to get a look at the one who supported his shoulder. A young man was the one who was looking back at him in a concerned manner. His blonde hair had been put into a ponytail, and his eyes were a deep brown. He wore a set of armor with a blue tunic, and the scabbard of a rapier was at his waist. The warrior couldn't help but give a small smile: this particular comrade of his had always be quick to help people.

"Do not worry for me Ramza, I assure you, I will be quite fine." Slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, his companion released him.

"Are you certain?" The youth looked at him cautiously, as though he expected him to fall over again at any moment. The warrior nodded in confirmation at his younger companion. However, another voice had decided to join in; a voice that did not promise a change of subject any time soon.

"You don't need healing of any sort? Than what made you fall?" Cid turned to see his other companion: a younger girl with strawberry-blonde hair and piercing red eyes. She wore a white blouse with a blue vest and a cross shaped broach. On her legs were a pair of long boots, the foot of which she was tapping against the ground impatiently as her arms were crossed over her chest.

Convincing Refia could take some doing. Especially since he wasn't too keen on the details of his sudden black out himself. Though he also felt for some odd reason that he wouldn't tell them if he did know.

"I don't want to tell them." He realized, somewhat shocked at himself. He couldn't really fathom what reason he could have not to not share information. What possible connection could he have to the people in his vision that would prevent him from doing so? Or was that it? Did he have some kind of personal relation to the people in that vision; a recollection? When he focused on them, he didn't feel as if he knew anything in particular about them. Yet, there was still... something; some reason he felt that he should not tell.

"I... tripped?" The warrior cursed himself silently as what he had intended to seem as a statement came out as more of a question; and Refia was obviously not falling for it.

"Mhmm..." She grunted rather doubtfully as she carefully scanned him from head to toe. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, she spoke up once more. "Are you poisoned per chance?"

'Oh, Cosmos, here she goes.'

"Was it an attack from one of Chaos's minions?" He could only stare blankly as she continued her questioning. "...I wouldn't put it past them, but it could just have easily been caused by one of the local flora. You didn't eat or drink anything suspicious lately, did you? You really should be more careful! I swear you bo-"

He honestly wasn't listening much beyond those first few sentences. There was no explanation in his mind as to why: normally he was very respectful to his companions. But right now he felt strangely tired and impatient. He couldn't think of any real reason to hide his vision, the worst they could do was think he was crazy. So after staring silently at Refia for a few moments as she went on to him about proper outdoor safety, he decided to put a quick end to the conversation.

"I saw some form of vision." He cut off rather strongly before abruptly turning away and walking down the hill. Refia and Ramza could only glance at each other in concern and confusion as Cid left them in the dust. His behavior was extremely out of character and he was more than a little aware of it. The fact was that right now he simply didn't care, though he would probably regret it later. For now, he just wanted to get away. He didn't know why, but he felt… upset. He supposed that meant that there was probably something wrong with him after all, and he had confirmed it to the others. He gave a resigned sigh when it occurred to him that he would have to have a discussion with Prishe about this later.

Enjoying the rare calm seemed to have gone out the window.

After that day, no one ever saw those plains again; or at least, not for the remainder of the cycles. Here one day, gone the next. It was certainly a strange occurrence. But perhaps stranger still was the fact that the warrior's vision never came to be. No one ever saw those he had seen and they could not have come from his past, for he had not one to speak of. No one ever saw the woman in a white mage's cloak, whose beauty was befitting of a princess in an outlandish fairytale. No one saw a young man whose fist and resolve were as solid as the earth itself. And certainly no one had seen a young boy (Infuriating and endearing) whose sheer intelligence could be terrifying.

At least, not for the remainder of the cycles.

But perhaps it didn't take long after the wars end for history to come to pass. Perhaps Lukahn knew of even this. The figures may not have been privy to this world at all, but were born of the future.

Perhaps their meeting with the Warrior of Light was destiny.

In these ANs I'll be writing information about characters, stages, and other elements that are new to the fic, or that I feel just require some explaining. The most prominent of which at the moment is:

Cid/Warrior of Light - Square Enix seems adamant that we not know the name of this particular silver haired individual, but my personal head cannon is that his name is Cid. Mainly because the Dissidia games leave enough evidence for it to be a possibility at the very least.

Refia - I was absolutely certain when I started writing this chapter that I wanted one of the characters to be one of the Onion Knights. I considered it for quite a bit, but ended up choosing Refia in order to give the party some variety.

Ramza - I actually chose Ramza for this role before he was announce for the new dissidia. (Which tells me it has been WAY too long since I wrote something for this.) I wanted to put him in this fic really badly because he's one of my favorite characters. I'm going to have to work on the authenticity of his Speech though.

Stage: Cornelia Plains -I originally came up with this chapter as a whole because I saw that this stage had been announced for the reboot; that didn't make sense at first. The gateways reflect memories based on who has entered them, but the only people who would know of Cornelia lived on an entirely different continent. That's not even considering the fact they lived 2000 years before the events of the first game. I really don't believe that the field could stay exactly the same for 2000 years, though I could be wrong. Of course later I found out the new Dissidia was a reboot with no story to speak of. However, a phantasmal stage remained an interesting concept to use.

Well, that's the end of it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It'll be awhile before I get another one of these up, but I hope to write ahead so that I can get a more regular update schedule. Till next time.

UPDATE: I had a naming scheme for certain types of chapters... and I changed it. So the title is a bit different now. I also added the gateway label, which just wan't there before for some reason.