"Tales of Dissidia"
By DarkCyradis
Edited: 8.25.09
Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns Dissidia, Final Fantasy and all the wonderful games, characters and derivative works thereof.
Note: Luneth replaces Onion Knight as the FF3 hero b/c I started writing this before that particular announcement.
Warnings: AU story. General silliness, doses of OOC-ness and extreme crack! Please take it all with a grain of salt. ^^; PG-13 for language. Some BL. Mild spoilers for FFI – X.
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TALES OF DISSIDIA
Chapter 4f: Battle 5— Cloud vs. Cloud of Darkness
[In Arena V, a makeshift amphitheater carved straight out of the stone of a shallow gorge, Cloud stands with his sword drawn against Cloud of Darkness, who is casually looking him up and down. A cruel, lascivious smirk stretches her face.]
CoD: Ohhh, I'm so glad I was the one who got you…
Cloud: [guardedly] Why's that?
CoD: Oh, darling, don't tell me you're that dense. Haven't you noticed that all of us villains have been eyeing you since we arrived? After all, you're the famous Cloud Strife.
Cloud: Why do you— [breaks off as a column of thick vines suddenly shoots up out of the ground behind him and slams him against a nearby pillar of stone. The vines splinter off and wrap securely around his arms and legs, binding him to the rock.]
CoD: Oops, didn't I say "start?" Silly me~
Cloud: [struggling against his bonds] Cheap…shot…
CoD: [laughs] Oh, poor baby. Haven't you learned by now that villains never play fair? You shouldn't expect any mercy.
Cloud: [glares] Believe me, I don't.
CoD: [charmed] Well…! What pretty, pretty eyes—they almost glow when you're angry! [strides over and leans in very close, a seductive smile on her lips] Goodness, you are a dish, aren't you? You know, this doesn't have to be such an unpleasant encounter between us, my sweet. What if I… [She reaches a gloved hand toward his cheek but Cloud turns his face away.]
Cloud: Don't touch me.
CoD: [laughs mockingly] So shy, my pet? I thought you didn't mind a villain's touch…
Cloud: [gaping] What?!
CoD: Now, now—oh! [leaps back hurriedly as Cloud tears free of his bindings in fury]
Cloud: [flushed and furious] How did you— What has he been saying about me?!
CoD: Oh, calm yourself, my sweet. It's not like your feelings aren't painfully obvious anyway.
Cloud: [shaking his head fervently] No! I'm not—You've got it all wrong! I—
[In Cloud's moment of distraction, Cloud of Darkness manages to teleport directly behind him and wraps her clawed hands around his torso. The dark, sickly sweet-smelling miasma of her mind control magic spreads into the air around them.]
CoD: [whispering in his ear] Don't fight, my pet. Stop denying yourself your deepest wishes. Don't you see? You want to join us, to lose yourself in the soothing oblivion of the Darkness. And we are all waiting for you, Cloud—he is waiting for you. Come, lose yourself in the sweet embrace of the Darkness.
Cloud: [struggling to fight the spell's effects] No…!
CoD: [whispering] Come, give in. Give in like you want to. It will be so easy, so nice. No more sadness. No more regret.
Cloud: N-no…! I won't—
CoD: No more solitude. No more longing.
Cloud: I-I'm…
CoD: Everything will be better, Cloud.
Cloud: [slipping into the trance] Everything… will be better…
CoD: That's right… It will feel so good… So safe…
Cloud: So good… So safe…
CoD: That's right. Come, let go. He is waiting for you… Only for you…
Cloud: He— [eyes suddenly regaining clarity] No, he's not!! [elbows CoD in the stomach and breaks free of her grip]
CoD: You little wretch!! How did you break my mind control?!
Cloud: [scooping up his sword and leveling it at her] Luneth warned me about you, but I didn't think you'd try to come at me that way.
CoD: [sneering] And why wouldn't I? It's always worked so well on you in the past, hasn't it?
Cloud: Well, it won't work on me anymore!
CoD: Yes… your will is stronger than I had thought it would be. But it is no matter!
[She launches a storm of ice shards at him with an elegant wave of her arm. Cloud swipes them clean out of the air with a few slashes of his blade and then counters immediately with a blazing Blade Beam limit break. CoD leaps high into the air to avoid it and shoots an endless rain of fireballs down on Cloud in the same instant. Cloud throws up a fast barrier spell to block them.]
CoD: Your pathetic, little soul is at its breaking point! Drowning in your regrets, your misery, your despair, you have but a paper-thin screen left between you and the Darkness. What do you have left to live for, anyhow? You have exiled yourself away from your friends, your world—from love, from happiness! How could you even want to live anymore?!
Cloud: [struggling to fend off her magical onslaught] I have to live…! To make up for…what I've done… For Zack's sake—
CoD: Oh, for Zack's sake, is it? [scoffs] I've heard all about your heroic, little friend Zack. You say you're a replacement for him?
Cloud: No! I didn't say that!
CoD: Since you stole his life from him, I suppose you must think you've inherited his heroism as well, hm? Well, tell me—if he had lived instead of you, would he have fallen under Sephiroth's will?
Cloud: …No…
CoD: Of course not. Because he's strong.
Cloud: …
CoD: And tell me this—if it had been Zack in the City of Ancients that day—would he have let the girl die?
Cloud: [visibly struggling] …No…!
CoD: That's right! He wouldn't have stood there gawking like an idiot while she died right before your eyes. He would have saved her!
Cloud: [crumbling further] Stop…please…!
CoD: [laughs] Face it, my pretty fool—you're no replacement for him! You've only botched up everything he would have done right!
Cloud: Stop…!
CoD: You're a failure—a complete failure at everything you've tried to do! All you've ever succeeded in doing is getting innocent people killed.
Cloud: Stop it!!
CoD: [hissing] Killer!
Cloud: No! No, I didn't mean to—
CoD: Give yourself up to the Darkness now! It's where you belong!!
Cloud: ...
CoD: [mockingly] Oh, and it is his will as well, you realize? You'll do it if it's what he wants, won't you?
Cloud: …!
CoD: Hmm, little puppet?
[With a sudden roar, Cloud's shield bursts outward as he casts a ferocious Thundaga spell at her. Caught by surprise, CoD dodges frantically and gasps aloud as Cloud—having leapt up at her in a blinding-fast vault—catches her point blank with a deadly rain of meteors from a Meteorain limit break that sends her hurtling to the ground. She lands with a resounding crash, and before she can react, Cloud slams his massive blade into the ground a bare inch from her head.]
Cloud: [harshly] I'm not a killer, and I'm no one's puppet. Don't any of you ever forget that!
[Before CoD can even catch her breath for a retort, Cloud withdraws his sword, sheathes it with his usual flourish, and turns briskly on his heel to stalk toward the exit. As he passes under one of the floating robot cameras near the arena's gate, he mutters shortly into its video screen, "Victory, Heroes," and the machine beeps affirmatively.]
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Next Battle: Tidus vs. Golbez—GO!!!
