Amanda: I AM BACK! :D So apparently, I'm starting my Spring Break today and I thought that I should celebrate by starting Part II of the Juxtaposition Theory fanfiction!
First things first, before Dragonite and Klee come to hear the story, my responses for readers who left me reviews:
Starlight AT; thank you and Marta for your oncoming reviews! Yes, I will admit it again that Mephistopheles had a little influence from Touhou, in fact, now I think about it, I reckon that she and Remilia Scarlet would make great girlfriends (not yuri). Maybe I can make a little short story about it in the future if Touhou got my interest again.
Crap, could've swear that there was another reader who is one of my followers (couldn't find the penname), but I thank him/her for supporting and reading.
*door opened, enter Dragonite and Klee with popcorn and drinks*
Dragonite: Heya Amanda, Klee and I are ready for hear more of your story!
Amanda: I'm glad! I just hope that the drinks are not alcoholic.
Dragonite: No worries, it's Hawaiian Punch and I didn't even buttered the popcorn.
Amanda: Sweet! *takes bowl of popcorn* Would you like the start the disclaimer, Klee?
Dragonite: No offense here, but don't you think that it's getting old-
Klee: *to reader* Dear Readers, while you read my guardian's first ever long-planned fan fiction, please keep in mind that she never, or never tried, claimed all Final Fantasy characters or the concept and creation of Final Fantasy Dissidia. Those belong respectively to the Square Enix Company who brought her great inspiration of doing this fan fiction. However, her story timelines, plot and original characters (aka OCs) respectively belong to her for she creates them in order to strengthen her ideal theory.
Dragonite: ...Never mind, BEGIN ALREADY!
Amanda: Once again Drag, no patience whatsoever...
Final Fantasy Dissidia 014: Juxtaposition Theory
Part II: The Certain Fate Repeated
Chapter 1: Beginning the First Mission
Mid-afternoon, and yet the sun begins to cast down to the horizon. Amanda, in an uncertain manner, thought about the people in the Dissidia world, if there are other people living there, who familiarize with daylight savings time. Currently, as she checked her watch on her left wrist, it would be a hour faster. Thus, nighttime will come about before she knows it. The fanartist however, knows for sure that she and her group of friends, which she called the 589 traveling group, will fulfill their mission for the goddess. That she guaranteed.
Like last time, Amanda grows with excitement for having another adventure, consisting of manikin-hunting and perhaps encountering another Chaos Warrior, hopefully not Garland. Even if that's the case, at least she'll know what to do now that Krystal will help her avoiding the wrongful fate. She prepared her provisions and followed the Onion Knight's advice for double-checking. He had said before, "better be safe than sorry". Still clique, but still true when one's preparing for another mission.
When she finished her preparations, the fanartist meets up with Bartz and Zidane who waits for her at the Lobby Hall, and together walk their way to the Southern Hall Entrance. Bartz dresses in his causal clothes; a sporting light blue capri-top with belts wrapped around his chest that holds his cape and golden shoulder-pad. His slender legs covered with a pair of black-white stripe leggings, resembling the pair for any running athlete. From what Amanda remembered, Bartz is known as a running man, getting into any sort of trouble he might encounter, and possibly, running away from, depending how strong the manikins are. He summons his red-orange sword, the Brave Blade, in his hand, as a signal for Amanda that the mime is ready to go whenever she is.
Zidane, the womanizer monkey-boy, is also covered in his causal clothes, but only a bit pirate-like than Bartz's. He wears a teal polo-vest with golden jewelry accents around his neck. His wrists wrapped with collar wrists while his series of belts wrapped about his hips. He wears grey gloves and grey-toned boots, and his blonde-hair tied comfortably behind his head. His pants are baggy-looking, but not so loose or tight, which tells Amanda the basic garments of a typical thief. And Zidane was well known as a highly-experienced thief in his home world.
When he sees Amanda entering, Zidane greeted her with a lady's welcome: a kiss on her hand. "It is good to see you again, my lady," he said after the greeting.
The fanartist blushed slightly at the contact along with the smile from that greeting. She got no clue why she reacted that way, but instead of figuring out, she calmly and politely replied back, "Why thank you, gentleman."
"Zidane, you better give me some tips when all of this is done," Bartz said after seeing the display, almost filling green with envy.
"No worries Bartz, I promised," the monkey-boy responded. "That is, if Amanda doesn't mind of being a lady-test for you."
"Oh, I don't mind that at all, I'm happy to help. I had to let Rosebud know beforehand. And we can possibly get Terra involve too…" Getting slightly off topic, Amanda looks around. There are supposed to be three Cosmos Warriors to accompany her on this mission. Bartz and Zidane are here, that's two. There is only one missing, the brown-haired mostly anti-social gun-swordsman.
"Where is Squall?" she finally asked.
"There he is! He's behind you," answered Bartz.
The fanartist turns around and glued her eyes upon the gun-swordsman. Squall, like Bartz and Zidane, dressed in his causal clothes but they are not so colorful and detailed as his allies. Squall is dressed, from Amanda's understanding in color jargon, in an achromatic color scheme, without color. He covered his body along with his feelings with black leather jacket and pants, and a black slash covering most his right thigh. The white feathers on the collar of the jacket cushioned his neck and his brown side bangs framed his somewhat emo face. Around his neck holds his Griever necklace and the Griever buckle secured his belts around his hips. He is not so talkative, especially when Amanda first arrived at the castle, expect for the battle preparations meetings. Even if he talks outside of business, he'll only replied with his causal responses like "Whatever" and "Not interested". Not able to talk with others will make Amanda work hard to get him along with her and the team, or otherwise, failure would only them to the manikins' mercy.
So, Amanda got to try, no matter what difficultly tries to weigh her down. She started with an icebreaker, "Oh, hello there Squall. I take it you slept well?" she said to him, with her causal normal British-accent voice.
Squall, emotionless, changes no face expressions. Nevertheless, he replied back to her. "Yeah, whatever."
Amanda will not allow the gun-swordsman to damper her spirits with his worn-out catchphrases. "Hmm, I'll take that as a yes. In that case, is everyone here ready to go?"
"As ready as you are!" exclaimed Bartz.
"As do I!" answered Zidane as he summoned his dual cutlasses, which he called them the Mage Mashers.
Waiting a reply from Squall, he didn't reply back but rather nodded his head.
"Alright boys! Let's go manikin-hunting! We got not all day!" Now excited as a teenage girl leaving her parents's house for the first time, Amanda jolted out the southern gate doors of Cornelia Castle and enter the green fields surrounding it. Bartz and Zidane whose feets provided them great speed and agility, run behind her to catch up. Squall, on the other hand, just jog-paced behind them, putting a good distance between him and his allies.
The Dissidia Fields, conceived as the Dissidia World formed an eon ago, covered with thick grassy plains and short-heighten rocky mountains, scarred with beautiful flowing streams and gentle rivers, and the beaches contained their amount of sand from the non-calamitous waves. Knowing the distorted copycats will soon that roam upon them, the geographical continent with open-wide fields enjoyed their last moment of peace before it was soon to be taken away. As Amanda ran across the grass, she felt her boots making sight crushing grounds, leaving behind barely a footprint for any predators or stalkers to follow. Running toward a short stream, the fanartist kick up her speed and like a profession racing horse she leaps in the air over the stream, and landed without any injuries. Still running, she come herself at an area of tall grass, taller enough to hide her from the outside world. With a short idea lighted from her mind, and remembering what Cecil had taught her, Amanda immediately summons her sword and cast it with a smear of forest green. She hold it in front of her horizontally as she keeps on running. The Charcoal Blade with many green tints and shades reflects the tall grass away, breaking them away and forming a simple pathway for its welder(Monochromatic Scheme) to swiftly ran across them.
Noticing that she is farer ahead than everyone, Amanda stopped for the moment to let the others catch up, along with her breath. She stabbed her Charcoal Blade on the ground to not only steadied herself, but maintaining a clear open path for her friends to follow. When was the last time she had jogged a mile with the energy that she had never thought she had? Not so recently, but she knows she must pace myself to save energy for the manikins. "Save your energy for the bigger foes," Onion had told her. She took her friend's advice accordingly and decided to save her artistic means for battling purposes.
Looking back, the fanartist noticed that the mime and the monkey caught up with her, pausing for a brief rest. Relief follows. She also noticed the gun-swordsman, as she had expected, lagging behind them. A few minutes later, he finally caught up.
Amanda couldn't help but to let her curiosity overtook her. Given at the right time, she asks, "Is something a matter Squall? You seem kinda quiet. But if it's about us going a bit faster, we can slow down for you and even rest-"
"No, nothing's a matter..."
The fanartist stopped her sentence short when she heard Squall answered bluntly with a different sentence, almost rudely. Amanda was silent with her mouth closed and a concerned expression decorated her face.
"Don't worry about it, Amanda. He always act like that, and we don't mind it," said Bartz.
"Yeah, but Squall, do you not want to do this mission with us? I can understand your reasons if you explain to us-"
"Whatever…"
Once again, Squall's interruption decorated the fanartist's face with shock and confusion. Why he is always this mean? anguished she thought, What's the story behind his attitude? He wasn't all that mean to Bartz and Zidane during the last Cycle, but why to me?
Amanda was not the only one shocked by that exchange. "Squall!" exclaimed Zidane. "That's no way to talk to the lady like that!"
"Yeah, he's right," Bartz butted in. "At least show politeness to Amanda here. What had she ever done to you to display that kind of behavior?"
"Guys, it's okay. There is no need for a meaningless fight here," said Amanda who decided to take action to avoid a not-so-friendly-fire between allies. "I had dealt with troubled boys before. They often tease me, made fun of me, and always finding ways to put my buttons in a worst situation possible. But I am not saying that Squall is really one of those boys. Just to be clear, he has a right to not talk to me unless there is something important he wanted to acknowledge, like a manikin's approach for instance. As long he is working with us, I have no problem of him being valiant and quiet.
"However…" the fanartist continued as she turns her attention to Squall. "I would like to stress my reaction to your behavior Squall. You are rude to me when you interrupt me. And Bartz did brought a good point: What did I do to upset you or influence you to behave this way? I barely knew you personally because we had never engage in a friendly conversation. I think we can get along well Squall and I hope that we can, but unfortunately, I can't cooperate with you and the rest of the group if you continue tp reinforce your current behavior. So, what say you? Are you willing to improve your attitude for the sake of saving the worlds from eternal distortion, and return back home for good? Remember, we are all involved in this, and depending on our teamwork it will only lead us to either victory or defeat."
When Amanda finished her oral speech of concern, everything went silent. The mime and the monkey just stood where they stand, dumbfounded and astonished. They look at Squall who's still displaying his straight face, once again no emotions had surfaced. Nevertheless, the gun-swordsman had no thoughts of how to react to the fanartist's concern. He was not expecting her to react that of way. Not bothering to counter back; however, Squall just simply said, "Yeah, whatever…"
Without intention, Amanda puts up a small assuring smile. "I'll take that you are willing to put our differences aside despite the fact we barely know each other. That's all I really want Squall."
She didn't bother waiting for the gun-swordsman to reply. "Okay, now that's settled," she said with a tone that signified moving on. She retrieved her sword and continued, "Let's get a move on. I think I spotted a few manikins up ahead."
Hearing tracing steps from far ahead, Zidane climbed an inch higher on the rocky mountains to get a better view of their targets. "Right on the nose, Amanda," he said agreeing with his lady-friend. "In that case, let's make no haste." He dashes beside Amanda, acting like a gentleman protecting his lady as they made their way through the mounts.
Bartz and Squall followed them. As they are preparing for the fight, Bartz asks the gun-swordsman, "What's gotten into you Squall? This is so out of your character."
When Squall knows for sure Amanda took no listening of their private conversation, he answers him without spamming his phrases. "Bartz, you know well I don't get along with others."
"Yeah, but not so to me and Zidane," the mime rebutted. "So, what in the heck is going on?"
"Like I said, I don't get along with others."
"Not even Amanda? Sweet Cosmos! She's one of the nicest girls I know, and she's nice to you, even respected you. You should at least return the favor by doing to same."
For the first time, Squall filled his face with his hidden emotions. As in right now, he felt a little guilty of treating his new ally like something less than dirt. In his mind, he admits there was something up with him, that causes him to behave before, but he didn't acknowledge that because he's not sure of the factor that triggers him so. He responded to the mime, "Yeah, you're right, Bartz. All after, she is our ally, our friend." He summoned his gun blade, the Revolver, which shines in sliver from the remaining sunlight.
"I will be expecting you to say sorry to her," said Bartz.
"I know, and I will when this mission's accomplished."
Bartz smiled as he summons his Brave Blade. "Alright then, let's go help our friends."
Together, the blue-white mine and the black-white gun-swordsman joined their friends and begin fighting off the manikins.
"Ah, at last, the show is about to begin."
"Yes, indeed. Soon, they will fall into our trap begging for our mercy."
The two warriors of Chaos spied on their targets from a safe distance, hiding away within the rocky mountains while watching their foes battling off the manikins. Instead of launching their plan right away, as told by the sorceress of time, they took the moment to enjoy to show. It was their strategy to wait their foes becoming weaker as every manikin fell in defeat.
Exdeath, the void-lover warlock in neon-colored armor, peeks at their target for any updates of the battle. He's more than blissful of seeing Bartz again within his grasp. With full certainty, he will send the mime into the Void where he belongs. He turns to his ally who said not another word and seems to spellbound himself as he focus upon the battle before him. "You remember of Ultimecia's plan?" the warlock asked.
The silverette mage with a feather on his head turns to him, almost annoyed. "Of course I remembered," Kuja answered. "I am not stupid."
"I'm not insulting your intelligence. I was to be sure this plan will go according to the witch's request."
"Hmph, if she ever wanted the spotlight, then she should've grab it herself."
"I would agree, but remember that she given us an opportunity to finally resolve our problems with our foes. Then, we will send everyone to the Void!"
"Yes, at least she given us that." Not amused with the overall deal, Kuja dislikes the idea of working with someone who would then backstab their employees. Though that may be, he cannot craft a rebuttal for his point of view. At least one of his interest was acknowledged. Since he knows that Zidane is in the mix, he cannot leave the deal just yet, and he was willing to face his brother more than dealing battles with that psychopathic clown who often gives him a major headache.
Slowly realizing the naysayer, the mage puts up a small but evil smile. "So, shall we start the grand opening?" he asked.
"We will soon," Exdeath assured him. "We still had to wait for her."
As if the warlock's words are on cue, Ultimecia teleports in their hiding space. The time-witch looks at her allies, her face painted with not only tribal make-up but also serious determination.
"Let us delay no longer. Time cannot wait no more," was all she said as she vanished behind a fog of black feathers, disappeared again. All Exdeath and Kuja had to do is wait for their cue. In the meantime, they are to watch the events before them.
End of Part II, Chap 1
Dragonite: You mean, wait, that's it?!
Amanda: You have to wait for the next chapter, Dragonite. I must show you how to be patience because this story will take a long while.
Dragonite: I shall bring you more inspiration then! Tell me what I can do Amanda and I will do it!
Klee: I think we all can do is to leave her alone and let her continue her work. I have homework to do and so do you.
Dragonite: Man, really?
Klee: Yes my big sister. C'mon, I need your help on something.
Dragonite: Alright, alright. See ya Amanda. Let me know if you need inspiration, I'm still here. *leaves with Klee.
Amanda: Don't worry, Drag, that is noted in my memory. *to readers* Thank you guys for reading. Make sure to leave behind a review and stay tuned for the next chapter.