Disclaimer: I do not own Dissidia or any of its characters...
Final Fantasy Dissidia: Scents & Spices
CHAPTER TEN
By Traingham
A.N/ Squall, the man guided by fate. Lightning, the woman who fights against it...
A.N II/ This chapter takes place in a previous conflict, by the way...
"This castle just keeps going, doesn't it?" Cloud remarked to Lightning, bringing his forearm to wipe away the accumulating sweat in his brows before it could sting his eyes. He stopped counting how many battles with manikins and monsters they had been engaged into since they entered Ultimecia's castle through the entry hall. They ventured through a dark hall to the left of the staircase when Lightning took point, mistakenly got lost in the wine cellar, (Where does she get the time to collect them? Pun unintended.) retraced their steps to the entry hall again to take the stairs to the second floor room on the right side to find themselves in an art gallery guarded by some nasty high level manikins, and hit a dead end that forced their way back to the entry hall to take the stairs to the doorway at the top where they had a near death experience with the large chandelier, which left them in the great hall below, beside the trap door to the wine cellar again.
"This world favors Chaos a little too much." Lightning responded, doing little to hide her malevolent feelings for the death trap they had volunteered to venture, or rather she had volunteered for. Warrior of Light wouldn't allow her to go it alone for obvious reasons so Cloud joined up in the crack operation, if only to keep the sergeant from physically hurting the radiant warrior for interfering with her plans.
"Let's take that way." Cloud pointed to the doorway under the chandelier flanked by the remains of what used to be a set of arching staircases. "We haven't tried that way yet." His suggestion didn't get a verbal response from the L'Cie, but she lead the way through his suggested path after walking around the underside of the chandelier, of which they suspected would have crushed them beneath it after their experience beforehand. Upon opening the door they found themselves in an outdoor section of the castle; a dreary looking courtyard dominated by a large circular water fountain in the shadow of what appeared to be a large chapel. The courtyard diverged to a path right of the ominous Gothic structure, but whatever it was, it was gated shut.
Lightning raised her head to gauge the height of the chapel and turned her head right of its highest spire when she sighted an even larger structure towering behind it, a clock tower from the looks of it. "That looks important." She thought out loud, drawing Cloud away from his admiration of the chapel carvings and statues to bring his attention to the clock tower when she pointed to it. "We should be able to get there through the chapel."
"It's worth a shot." The SOLDIER concurred with a slight nod, following the sergeant into the chapel through the heavy double doors. The service chamber was in ruins similar to just about everything else in the castle. Lightning detected the remains of destroyed pews on the ground brought from the veil of darkness by the thin rays of light that penetrated through the dusty stained glass windows to the left of the chamber and behind the large organ at the very end of the hall. They took to the stairway in the far right of the chamber that brought them outside the building onto a rickety looking wooden bridge crossing a fog filled drop that appeared to connect the chapel to the clock tower, however, at the other end of that bridge... ["The Troops Advance" Dissidia Soundtrack–playing riiiiiight now...]
"I expected more of you guys." Squall Leonhart remarked from the other side, revolver resting upon his shoulder in his usual laid back manner. "Two people storming a castle. That's original."
Lightning drew her blazefire from its holster and readied herself, inciting Cloud to do the same with his buster sword. "I knew I'd find you here."
"You." The black lion's eyes focused on the sergeant, bringing a slight twitch to his left brow. "I was hoping I wouldn't see you again, sergeant."
"End of the line, merc." Lightning replied, the ghost of a smirk on her lovely lips as she spoke her terse line. "If your witch is here, which I'm sure she is, then you won't be retreating from this fight."
Cloud frowned to himself at the numbers present in this battle. "Two against one, huh?" The Soldier mused unpleasantly, getting a grunt from his companion. "Even I don't like these numbers..." His words served as the cue for the arrival of another warrior of Chaos, via a void of darkness that tore open beside the black clad swordsman. A sultry figure passed through accompanied by the alluring sound of her haughty laughter.
"We think not." Cloud of Darkness quipped, whipping its arms out to unfurl its majestic cape with threatening snaps from the two tentacle creatures that protruded from its back.
"What are you doing here?" Squall turned to his partner with narrowed eyes. "I could handle them on my own."
"Your unyielding devotion to your sorceress is admirable, black beast." Cloud of Darkness replied with her usual flourish. "But we find your preferred methods reckless. We will assist you in this fight with or without your approval."
"Whatever." The mercenary relented. "Just don't get in my way."
Lightning and Cloud exchanged a look while the two came to an agreement.
"Unless we split those two up this is going to be a mess." Cloud told the L'Cie, tossing his chin to the fragile looking bridge. "I'll take dark and brooding." He glanced at Squall to make it clear who he was referring to, but–
"Back off of him." Lightning stopped him with a sharp glare. "He's mine. You can take the schizo."
Cloud held eye contact with her for a moment when she claimed the mercenary for her own, but he looked away before the sergeant could snap at him for hesitating in protest. "Yeah, alright."
Meanwhile, Squall and Cloud of Darkness claimed their opponents.
"We'll take the branded one." The void incarnate told her partner. "Do what you will with the fowl headed creature."
"No." He shook his head. "She's here for me. Let her pursue me into the clock tower and you can take on blondie here where you have the advantage. If we all try to fight here on the bridge this will turn into a bloody mess."
"As you wish, black lion." Cloud of Darkness concurred, though Squall detected the strangest sliver of hesitation in her voice. "However, heed our warning. Whatever it is that you and this woman share, do not allow it to dull your blade."
"What are you talking about?"
The alluring abomination hesitated in her reply, vexing the dark mercenary. "...We confess, there is obviously something faint present between you two and we feel that leaving the two of you alone to develop it further would be...unwise. As we stated to you in the past, you have caught our interest. It would be unfortunate to lose you here before we personally assimilate you with the void."
"Don't let it distract you." He snapped at his partner. "This isn't the end for me, and it won't be the end for you either. We'll meet up at the top of the tower when this is over, understood?"
The man was intriguing, Cloud of Darkness inwardly noted before it allowed the corner of its lips to twitch ever upward. "You have an unusual tendency to disturb us with your words, but enough of that." The humanoid void turned its attention back to the SOLDIER and sergeant with a declaration of, "Your pitiful existences end this night, pawns of Cosmos!" The moment she finished uttering those words Squall turned away and proceeded to the door of the clock tower.
"No!" Lightning bared her teeth angrily when she saw her target leave, and she glanced at Cloud. "Do it!"
"Right!" The SOLDIER nodded, bringing his buster sword over his head to wave it around. "Stars–" He brought it down to bear in the direction of Cloud of Darkness. "Rain down!" At his command a volley of flaming rock came shooting down from the sky at the void incarnate. Cloud of Darkness reacted by whipping its tentacles around itself in a blur, deflecting the meteor rock that rained upon it while Lightning took the window of opportunity to run across the bridge and enter the tower through the door Squall had taken his leave.
"Where are you?" The sergeant demanded upon getting inside.
Her answer came from above, "I told you not to come after me!" Squall fell upon her, swinging his blade down. Lightning rolled aside, having the silver blade bite into the floor upon his landing.
"Dodge this!" She retaliated with a blitz, charging him and whipping around with her blade to strike him. Her blazefire met his revolver when he brought it up to deflect her attack, striking his gunblade to the side with the force of her strike. Seeing him stagger from the block Lightning followed up with a quick slash to his arm, but she was pushed back with a quick kick to the stomach from the mercenary, throwing her off balance. She used the sudden knock of balance to her advantage, back flipping away and putting a distance between Squall and herself with two cover shots to keep him from pursuing before she landed. The two bullets were deflected left and right by the lion's blade when he pursued anyway, whipping around with a diagonal upward slash when the distance was closed between them.
"Ugh!" Lightning leaned back on reflex, letting the tip of his blade carve a notch in the metallic pauldron on her left shoulder. She responded in kind with a roundhouse, stunning Squall when the heel of her boot struck his chin. She dipped low with another turn to sweep him off his feet with her leg, but both of his feet evaded her with a quick jump.
"This is it!" Lightning heard an explosion discharge from the barrel of his gunblade and his body spun in mid-air, coming down on her with a heel drop to the top of her head which she narrowly avoided with another dodge roll. This time he didn't pursue her, allowing his gunblade to rest on his shoulder as he regarded her with a cool stare.
Lightning righted herself to a standing position and took on a stance with her blazefire. "So, I guess you're ready to talk."
"No." He shook his head. "Just giving you a chance to turn back."
"Keep your generosity." She snapped at him. "I'm not leaving here until I find out why you're on the wrong side."
"I'm on no one's side." Squall retorted. "My loyalties are only to Ultimecia."
Lightning smirked. "So that's the name of that witch." She pushed on with her words. "And why would you stay loyal to her?"
"I promised that I would stay by her side and protect her." The black lion replied, preparing to lunge at her. "And I'll see her through until we return to our world."
"I don't believe that."
"What?"
"The truth is you bound yourself by a promise so you wouldn't kill her yourself." Lightning accused, pointing her blade at him. "Everyone else here has an enemy, and so do you! The problem here is, you're sleeping with her!"
For the first time she saw Squall scowl openly. "You shouldn't have come here."
"The only way I'm leaving this castle is dragging you out the front door with me." The sergeant rushed forward to meet him. "You want to fight against your own fate? Then do it from the right perspective, idiot!"
END
Evening guys, and thanks once again for reading another installment of this weird series. (Weird for me, anyway) I appreciate all the support that you've all given me, support that I hadn't been expecting to be honest. I suppose I could place the blame on a certain someone who keeps advertising my story in their author messages, for which I'm grateful. Lol
Anyway, this chapter is a bit of build up on what Ultimecia hinted at all the way back in chapter two. Squall pledged himself to her as her guardian knight in one of the previous conflicts, but his reasons for doing so weren't completely honest. I'm referring to the theme of fate that plays a tragic part in Final Fantasy VIII, you know, the story–and don't read on further if you're only familiar with Dissidia–about a bunch of orphans who separate in their childhood and somehow come together again through unforeseen circumstances to wage war against their foster mother who became a sorceress (and got possessed by Ultimecia to change the past) because Squall caused a looping time cycle in the future by killing Ultimecia, who resented humanity because Adel put the fear of sorcery into the heart of mankind with the sorceress wars. This lead to Edea meeting Cid at some point and creating SeeD through Squall's unknowing suggestion when he met her in the midst of time compression. Of course, I'm sure Laguna taking down Adel also had a part in SeeD's eventual expansion into a fighting force that would eventually come to hunt down sorceress of all ages like a twisted version of minority report. That would eventually haunt Ultimecia in the future, forcing her to become the evil sorceress we all know and have mixed feelings about. No matter how things might have gone, Squall was always destined to create the cycle because fate already chose him to be the one who affects history by killing Ultimecia, hence the ominous lyrics of "Liberi Fatali". (What a cluster fuck)
That being said, even in the world of Dissidia Squall Leonhart is destined to pierce Ultimecia's heart with his gunblade. It controls him and influences his actions without even his own knowledge. So, what would happen if by some strange coincidence Squall and Ultimecia met in a new world as companions, formed a relationship and fell in love, or just became friends? Well, Squall has to find a way to keep their friendship/ love safe by denying his own unexplainable urges to kill the sorceress, so he pledges himself to her as the knight that protects her from his own blade. As we know promises are the chains that bind Squall (It binds him to Rinoa and plays a major role in ensuring his return to her), so he shackles himself with his own personal code.
Makes for a convoluted relationship, doesn't it?
By the way, there was obviously a lot of build up before this final showdown between Squall and Lightning. You know:
1. Lightning and another warrior of Cosmos (Let's say Firion, for the hell of it) come across Ultimecia on their travels and engage her since she's a warrior of Chaos. This pits Lightning against Squall when he comes to defend her.
2. They fight to a stand still. This starts a personal rivalry between them as they encounter each other a few more times.
3. Cosmos hints to Lightning that Squall isn't what he seems. (Leads to her own investigation on him. She comes across Ultimecia again and the witch lets vital information mistakenly slip.)
4. STEP ONE...STEP TWO...SQUALL AND LIGHTNING HAVE A TENSE MOMENT...PROFIT!
5. This chapter happens.
5.5: I won't chronicle the other parts because I'm not about to send this fic on a plot tangent.
Take care,
Traingham...