No More Dreams
The roadside barrier dented in a screech of metal, the rivets holding it together popped. Emerging from the sea with a tidal wave of water, Sin clambered on the bluffs and pieces broke, falling into the ocean with gigantic splashes. The grey whale heaved on asphalt, cracking roads beneath its bulk.
Several cars flipped over, bodies flattened into shiny pancakes. Sin continued roaming, using its great fins to uproot traffic lights, gouge through concrete and flip street signs, sending them whizzing across the air. It left a glistening trail of water and as the sun appeared from the blue-grey outline of distant mountains, the water evaporated.
The stench of seaweed and ocean spray infused Zanarkand; people melted, their forms replaced by Jecht's bandanna clad, shimmering manikins.
A burst of tropical bird call woke Tidus.
Sitting on the beach and getting soaked, Cosmos listened to the individual cries.
The twitters called for food, it warned of dangers and staked boundaries. Chicks demanded for their parents and their terrified screams echoed from leafy canopies as they dove for their first flight. Sunlight struck the surface of the sea, painting it to pale gold and deep cyan. The goddess rose, hem of her jacket dripping pearls of water; a crab, clicking scarlet pincers, scuttled past her and she walked on the damp beach, stopping to pick up a pastel pink seashell. Bleary eyeing the darkened surroundings, Tidus wiggled comfortably on the deck chair and closed his eyes to sleep. At once, the gritty surface of a shell pressed against his cheek and the smiling face of Cosmos filled his vision.
"Five more minutes..." the teenager mumbled and a dry petal flaked from his hair.
"No." She stood tall, her form outlined by the dawn rays. "We do not have time. Sin invites destruction as we speak."
Grumbling, the younger blonde rose to a seated position. "So he's already on the move..." Tidus held his arm out and after several tries; Brotherhood materialized. "But getting there...it's going to take time. I know he's coming here, he's coming after me," he stated and jumped up from the deck chair, working the stiffness out of his muscles.
"He desires the Crystal." Cosmos marched to the beach and he followed. "However I have reclaimed my power, Hwit was right." Her toes dug into the sand and the waves rushed in, sweeping white foam over the beach front.
Keeping well away from the freezing water, Tidus asked, "What's the moogle to you?" He passed a rock pool studded with clams and small pieces of emerald seaweed.
The goddess stopped and her scythe materialized into a blinding flash of light. She pressed it against the wet sand and spirals of light converged into a magic circle.
"He taught me all the things I know," Cosmos answered, her mind far away. "Everything." The circle blazed. "Although, now...he seems distant and different." Smiling, she beckoned to Tidus and he stepped into the glittering sigil. "Let us hold hands, teleporting through dreamland is very unpleasant."
Keeping a firm grip on Brotherhood, the boy nestled his hand into hers, surprised by how clammy and cold his fingers were compared to Cosmos. She squeezed reassuringly but the smile on her face dimmed in warmth and was replaced by burning conviction. Swallowing, Tidus screwed his eyes shut and his stomach did a little backflip. The space compressed, his ears popped and when he opened them again, the sad state of Zanarkand reflected in the glassy pools of his irises.
An empty food tin sailed on the stiff breeze and nailed him on the forehead. Irritably throwing it to the floor, he stared in dismay at the destruction left behind by Sin. In the distance, the great whale demolished a building, ploughing through it like a bulldozer. Kneeling on the ground, Cosmos scooped a pile of dirt and glass fragments in her hands and let them trickle through her fingers. She shook her head and fixed her stately blue eyes at the roaring Sin.
"I want to stop him," Tidus declared, pupils narrowed against the sunlight, somehow, a gut feeling told him Cosmos would not allow this. "You told me..." he broke off, "you inspired me to rise over his shadow. He's not my father anymore." He pointed a quivering index finger at the whale. "Now he's just a mind scrambled monster of destruction. He is Sin. Sin is going to destroy MY city and I'm having none of that!" Yelling, Tidus brandished Brotherhood in the air and tore after the slowly advancing whale. His overconfident shouts echoed off empty building faces and Cosmos watched his hair turn gold under the light of the sun. A car cannoned towards him and tottering on his feet, Tidus sliced it in half with Brotherhood. "Take that you lump of lard!" he screeched and continued careering.
Hwit bled into view, his wings limp. "Like father, like son," he muttered darkly. "Such braggarts." Turning to Cosmos he continued, "What will he do with that blue toothpick?" She remained standing, hood shading her expression. "Why did you incite him?"
A piece of jagged metal sliced her feet and the wound knitted immediately. "Dreams have feelings too," she said and the moogle snorted contemptuously. "It is no use telling you Hwit. You are unable to feel as you are."
He seized up, wings suddenly pulling taut. Glowering, he vanished and only the glimmering, after image of his soulless eyes remained behind.
Twirling her weapon, Cosmos launched from the ground, leaving two green saplings in her wake. She blurred past Tidus, who paused and sputtered indignantly and rocketed straight on Sin's head, crushing its flat skull beneath her feet. The monster emitted a high pitched squeal and the surrounding windows shattered. A traffic light above the goddess' head rained multicolored glass and she wiped a trickle of ichor oozing from her ear and staining her fair cheek. Pushing her wild shock of hair backwards, she raised Cierr Harmonia and bashed its blunt end on Sin's head. The whale flapped and rocked sideways, trying to dislodge the menace. A leathery tail lifted off the ground and speared into Cosmos. She gasped as silver stained the inside of her jacket. Sin lifted her and she kept a firm grasp on Cierr Harmonia. As the beast flung her to the outskirts of Zanarkand, the scythe fell and cut the tail into ribbons.
Tidus stopped running and dashed for Cosmos, flying through the sky like a shooting star. He held out his arms and before she crashed into them, the goddess landed on the ground and he stood there, feeling sheepish. "Why are you doing this?" he asked and pointed to the whale. "Sin can regenerate you know, cutting its tail isn't gonna..."
"I know." She clapped her hands and Cierr Harmonia returned. "However when Cierr Harmonia cut it, time stopped. The wounds will not regenerate." Tidus folded his arms over his chest, unhappy. "Tidus, I need you to keep the manikins occupied for me."
"What? But I thought you...this is not fair!" He stamped his sneaker on the ground. "I was supposed to fight Sin. I want to!" He balled his hands into fists. "This is my chance to bury all those terrible memories." The teenager grasped a fistful of his hair. "I need to forget them...and you! How can you do this to me?"
"Life is not fair Tidus," Cosmos declared, her voice grating unpleasantly against his ears. "You cannot defeat Sin. You cannot fight. You are in a dream." He staggered back, jaw clenched and accusing gaze drilling holes in the goddess. "I shall appreciate your help, but despite your brave words, you do not have the heart to face your father." Tidus opened his mouth to argue and she cut him off. "Even if he is Sin."
Head hanging low, he begrudgingly summoned Brotherhood. The boy still fumed, blood roared in his ears at the unfairness of it all.
Cupping his sun kissed cheek, she smiled. "I apologize; but I did not deceive you. We both know what is in here." She pointed to her chest with her free hand. "Life is not fair," Cosmos repeated and her arms dropped. "People wept when one as young as you, sacrificed your life for others. And some of these people...are ungrateful. That is not fair is it?"
Frown easing into a half smile, Tidus shrugged. "I suppose," he muttered and the goddess turned, facing Sin. "One more question," he breathlessly added. "Am I gonna disappear after this?"
She did not give him an answer.
And Tidus marched off, smiling and Brotherhood raised high in revolt.
Crouching in the colossal monster's dented head, Cosmos touched the leathery skin. Wails thrummed in her head and deep between the masses of pyreflies condensing to form Sin, she glimpsed Jecht, hacking at the crystal manacles shackling his scarred ankles. He briefly looked up, wine red eyes narrowed in suspicion before lunging for the individual standing opposite him.
Who?
The man collapsed on the ground and swore. Spitting fire and curses. He got up, clawing the pitted earth and mechanically moved backwards, into a group of manikins. A bronze claw gifted him a sphere and curious, he looked into it.
"Do it for him." A timeless voice echoed in his head. A terrible command.
A binding contract.
Inside the sphere, a small, dark skinned boy with a head of straw hair waved a stick around. He grew older, twisting through time and kicking Blitzballs into goals. Seeing him induced a wave of pride in Jecht.
Mine...
This little bundle of flesh and drool was all his.
"Do it for him." The voice echoed in Sin's core. "Do it for the son who will never love you."
Take the Crystal.
The resulting roar sent Cosmos sliding over the whale's spacious back and she tripped, falling backwards near the non-existent tail. Wiping a streamlet of sweat from her forehead, she considered its size.
Cutting it up will require too much effort. Casting death may not work, the millions of pyreflies making up Sin might not all be killed. With an almighty groan, the whale flapped its fins and rose into the sky and Tidus, battling the manikins on the ground, looked up in panic.
Jumping from the airborne whale, the goddess landed on the broken street. A pipe burst, hosing her with a shower of water and raining on the plants growing near her feet. "Are you alright?" the boy asked and decapitated a manikin without looking. "You can handle Sin...right?"
Bahamut rose behind the goddess; a contrasting jet black to her pearly white. Blinking at the menacing dragon and remembering his fair share of meeting Bahamut in battle, Tidus shifted away, blanching when a second dragon towered over Cosmos. Both of them lowered their spike covered necks and rubbed their horned heads against her cheek.
"Okay...you are covered; I'll just be there and contribute as your lackey." Tidus grinned and hopped off when one of the dragons turned to him. Its onyx eyes bored into his soul, much like Cosmos', and he fled.
The dragons stamped the earth impatiently, growling at Sin flying high above them. Webbed wings of tough silk beat the air and they rose, careful not to whip their summoner with a wayward tail.
"Fly." Cosmos commanded and directed them with her hand. "And put an end to Sin's misery."
She raised her arms, clenching her fingers and obeying, Bahamut shot off, stirring mini tornadoes as they rose. On the ground the goddess observed them circling Sin. They struggled against its gravitational pull and constantly flew in a circle. Their mouths opened and twin Megaflares streaked across the sky, brighter than the blinding sun.
Sin degraded and the twin Bahamut vanished, but not before asserting their aerial supremacy with a series of defiant growls. Footsteps echoed behind Cosmos and instead of facing her warrior, she stood with her hands folded at her chest whilst Zanarkand evaporated. Squares of colored matter broke off, dissolving the dream city and spiraling to a crack in the sky. The fissure will spread across, revealing the Void and so she walked whilst the dream city degraded around her.
"Lady Cosmos," Tidus softly called and she stopped. The goddess rotated to see half of the smiling boy streaming upwards. "Take this," he pressed a pastel pink shell into her palm and his hand degraded. "It's for remembering me by...I want to be remembered you know!" He laughed.
His laughter lingered in her ears long after she woke up.
The Void stretched, infinitely black no longer. In one corner of the vast nothingness, light bloomed and Hwit toyed with a pastel pink shell, throwing and catching it in a furry paw. Contemplatively circling the tree, Cosmos mentally reviewed the Crystals she obtained. Power and life thrummed at the tips of her fingers, the luminous balls of light she left behind now sprouted into tiny saplings, their leaves silver. They cast a glow in the dim Void and kept shadows from creeping closer to Cosmos. The shell fell from Hwit's careless tosses and instead of picking it up, he stared at it. The goddess walked and picked the seashell, she put it against her ear and closed her eyes.
"I can hear Zanarkand," she tenderly murmured.
Hwit rolled his eyes. "That's your ear's blood vessels," he huffed and flew around, agitated for reasons unknown. "So?" he barked. "Found the next Crystal yet?" He watched Cosmos walking around with the shell clamped to her ear, she ran her fingers over the patterns and marched towards the door. "Cosmos," the moogle warned. "We have no time for-" the door opened and shut after her with a bang, "-detours," Hwit finished flatly and smoldered. Alone in the Void with nothing but the screaming voices in his head for company, he reluctantly vanished.
Besaid tinged vivid pink, similar to the shell burrowed in her palm. Colors danced on the sea and beneath the water's surface, tropical fish swam in and out of brightly toned coral reefs. A couple of beachgoers eyed the figure standing on the beach. They muttered to themselves, feeling overwhelmingly underdressed next to the fair, tall woman. Moving in groups, the sun tanned guests shuffled away from her; taking their gossip and chatter with them, they receded in the huts' cool interior. Thankful for the measure of silence, broken by cries of wild birds, Cosmos searched for another shell, her hood whipped backwards and ocean spray dotted her face.
The goddess left the beach after the first stars emerged. Pale, like scars pockmarking the heavens.
Stalking away from the beach, Cosmos turned to the village, snuggled between rings of palm and weeping cherry trees. A mountain shielded the hamlet at the back and the thundering echo of a waterfall was heard for miles. Deserted streets, strewn with yellow and decaying leaves, often lead to dead ends and the villagers lived a simple life, nodding to the figure in white and gold striding towards the Temple. A modest building constructed out of lacquered wood, it spoke of power and ancient magic. Catching a whiff of sandalwood incense, Cosmos mounted the short flight of steps leading to the temple and ducked as she passed a red arch gate.
Warm candle light lit the interior and a single priestess knelt at the altar, her staff next to her. Sparsely furnished, the temple contained no elaborate statues and admiring the simplicity, Cosmos glided to a stop before the priestess and pressed her palms together, praying. Her mind tumbled, sweeping back to the barren plain she often glimpsed in the fallen warriors' minds. Eyebrows drawn together, she concentrated, forcing every inch of her power to show her the place.
A hissing sea of static buzzed in her ears and she held her breath. Whomever governed the land with two moons, they did not want her meddling in their affairs.
Resolve renewed, she pushed forward. The throne of black iron lay bare in front of her, so close she could touch its soul chilling surface. Tormented wails of the undead rose in her ears. Begging. Begging her to set them free. They lifted themselves, clutching her white jacket, tearing it into a dress and thereafter seizing her translucent, saffron scarf.
Her eyes opened when a sharp throb of pain shot across her skull. The priestess, who was at a loss for words, bowed politely. "Lady Cosmos," Yuna whispered. "What brings you here?"
Grasping Yuna's hands, the goddess gave her the pink shell. "This," she stated. "It was given to me by Tidus. It is the ultimate fruit of sacrifice." The priestess' breath caught in her throat and Cosmos smiled knowingly. "I want you to have it."
"...He...you met him?" Yuna asked and examined the shell, the bracelets on her arm reflecting orange firelight. "He gave this for me?"
Hesitating, the lady nodded. "Yes. He wanted to be remembered." Whilst Yuna held the shell in her hands and recalled the journey with Tidus and her friends, Cosmos walked past her, she placed a red hibiscus flower on the altar and when the priestess turned to talk, she found no one.
A breeze gusted through the temple's open doors and candle light flickered. The hibiscus waved fragile petals in the breeze and swept out of the opposite window.
Ruin and decay.
Once the tower thrummed with life. It belonged to an empire long destroyed for its futile efforts to create a superior race. Now the empire lived between the musty pages of history books where very few laid eyes on.
The tower, reflecting Cosmos' reflection in tubes of Plexiglas, whirred tinnily and despite the apparent ruin, she materialized Cierr Harmonia and angrily clubbed the tubes. Jagged pieces of supposed shatterproof glass rained at her feet and gritting her teeth, she dented the metal ends, rendering them useless for eons to come. The scythe tip plunged into a bank of equipment and she swiped the blade across, tearing the electrical wires like she gutted a monster. A leather-bound journal caught her eyes and without sparing it a proper glance, Cosmos slammed her hand on it and it burst into flames.
Pushing her hair back, she climbed the top towers where the hum of machinery grew louder in her ears. Ignoring the black-hole like presence near the top of the tower, the goddess stepped into a long, rectangular room of dirt encrusted walls and surprisingly functional screen type things. Cameras swiveled towards her and she remembered the lenses from Balamb Garden. Her feet passed over a clean floor and she stopped at the first tube filled with light yellow liquid. An amniotic fluid. Looking at the sorry creature floating in a fetal position, Cosmos shattered the glass and gently cradled the slime coated individual to her chest.
Dead.
She laid the Halfling on the floor and observed the others floating listlessly.
All dead.
Inhaling deeply, she torpedoed across the room, slashing everything in her sight. Her breath came in gasps of fury and her hair stood on end. The screens, displaying data and charts she could care less about, erupted in a flurry of hissing flames and singed her jacket sleeves. Twelve naked creatures lay in mixture of yellow water, glass fragments, bits of plaster and hissing electrical wires. Whirling around, Cosmos marched to the exit and a figure materialized in front of her.
Taking in the destruction of his semi-functioning laboratory, Kefka grinned, his lipsticked smile inching wider than possible. "If it isn't Cosmos," he jeered and spread his arms, "the powerless goddess without a memory!"
She stood tall, head raised. "If it isn't Kefka," she mirrored his sneering tone. "A lowborn jester pretending to be a God." Cierr Harmonia flashed dangerously. "You believe you can create?" She hefted the scythe and pointed it at his chest.
Kefka's blood roared. Who did she think she was?! Cackling maliciously, he teleported to one of the dead experiments and hefted one by the hair, snickering louder when Cosmos' eyes brimmed with horror.
"Someone told me you call yourself the goddess of death." He flung the Halfling, watching it tumble across the floor and towards Cosmos clutching her scythe. Her knuckles stood out, white. "Let's see if you live up to your name."
A/N: Kefka...crazy clown. He was a pleasure to write, being a psychopath and all. Hope you all enjoyed this story and some feedback would be nice, honestly.
