Moon Canyon
Sephiroth's plans with his puppet had failed. It seemed that his joining with Terra had caused some trouble. The prince suspected that it had something to do with Kefka. The clown seemed to despise the general, thinking of him as a "sissy freak with hair that needed to be burned!" There was another comment that he had made the centered around Sephiroth's mother, but Noctis could not recall what the exact words were. The general equally hated the clown, and avoided him at all costs.
So even though Lightning had disappeared, he figured that Sephiroth could teach him a few things. Yet most of the time the two men spent together centered on the general musing about certain events and trying to figure out how to get Cloud back.
"Sephiroth?" the prince finally asked at one point. "Whose side were you on in the last war?"
The general paused. "I have fought in many wars, prince. Once I was on the side of Cosmos, but when I learned the truth of my past…the light did not suite me anymore."
"What…what was it like fighting for the Goddess of Death?"
"Like fighting for Chaos, only there was a greater burden attached with fighting for Cosmos; there was a sense of respect and duty because you were fighting for the preservation of worlds."
Noctis looked down. The general was right about the burden of fighting for Cosmos. Her warriors, it seemed would do anything to see her side prevail. All that the warriors of Chaos did was scheme behind the god's back. They were more united than the fighters of Cosmos, but there were definite factions as to what to do after Cosmos was defeated. Some, like Ultimecia and the Emperor even planned to kill Chaos and assume his role.
"Noctis," the general collectively spoke, "I believe that I sense some doubt about Chaos." The prince shook his head to indicate no. "Hm. With an attitude like that, you seem more suited to fight for Cosmos than Chaos."
The prince's stoic face drained its color. No, I'm not a fighter for Cosmos. I do doubt, but I am fully for Chaos. Am I?
"Noctis, if you do become linked to the light, just remember to not get yourself burned by it."
With that the general left Noctis, alone in contemplation. Doubts began to rack through the young man's mind. All he had wanted, the reason he got into this war was to defeat death. Now he was ensnared by the side of Chaos, by his side wars and little quests for the crystals. Worse, if Sephiroth could sense Noctis' doubt, who else thought he was unfit to fight for Chaos.
If all else fails, I will go to the goddess directly, and then start my own life, free from this Chaos and his warriors. I do not belong to the light, or the darkness. Well, then I'll write my own story.
§————————————————————————————§
Ultimecia's Castle
What Cosmos had told her about Noctis was going through the warrior's mind. This whole battle in Dissidia was still confusing to her. She had hoped that her opponent would be someone from the Holy Government, but not some member of royalty. It also bothered her about what she would do exactly when she did encounter this prince. Would he just give the crystal or would she have to kill him. Lightning, although she had been in Cocoon's military and fought before, felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. It was all too much.
The world Lightning was in now consisted of a spiral staircase that appeared to be endless. Surrounding the stair were various clock like-instruments: large and small cogs, the behinds of clocks, and the like. The area seemed to be a monument to time.
"Lightning!"
The woman heard her name and turned around, only to have a smile form on her face.
"Terra!"
She went over to greet her companion, with a smile on her face. It was wonderful to see Terra again.
"How…how are you? How's the search for the crystal?" Lightning asked.
"I've been well…" Terra began.
"Where's Cloud?"
"Cloud?" Terra asked inquisitively. Her face showed the hints of confusion.
"Yes, Cloud. You two left to search for the Onion Knight after the fight with Sephiroth and you lost control of your powers."
"Oh, Cloud…he…helped me find my crystal and then decided to go off on his own."
Lightning sensed there was something terribly wrong about Terra. She began to think brainwashing or that she was being controlled by Kefka. As she was thinking, Lightning happened to look at Terra's lower arm, specifically at the bracelets. Counting in her head, she realized that all of this Terra's bracelets were still there! This wasn't Terra!
Without hesitation, Lightning drew her gun and pointed the mussel at the imposter. "Who are you and what have you done with Terra?!"
The figure stepped back, hands in the air, a confused look on her face. "Lightning…why are you doing this? What are you doing?"
"WHERE'S TERRA? DON'T LIE TO ME!"
Terra dropped her hands and relaxed her whole body. She then dropped her head. The woman then began to laugh. It began sounding like Terra, but then it drew deeper in pitch, and more sinister in tone. Lightning clutched the gunblade harder, preparing herself for what could happen next.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ah! You're a smart little girl, aren't you?" The woman in front of Lightning raised her head. Purple tattoo lines had somehow materialized on her face, one above her eyes and another around her hairline reaching to her cheeks. "But unfortunately" the woman opened her eyes, which had transformed from blue to a sickly mustard, "you're journey ends here! TIME COMPRESSOR!"
Before Lightning could do anything, she froze in mid-air. She couldn't move. That was except for the woman. Lightning watched in horror as the Terra began to change: her red dress grew longer, black and purple claws replaced her feet and hands, the tattoos that were on her face began to appear on her legs and chest. Her skin paled and her hair turned to a silvery grey and two horns appeared on her head. As she was transforming, the woman walked toward the frozen Lightning, muttering "Such a pitiful creature."
Multiple long arrows, purple in color formed around Lightning. "Too bad you have nothing to live for. All that life is…is a continual flow of time. Meaningless. All of it is simply meaningless." Lightning still could not move; she was helpless against the mass of arrows that were growing around her.
The women continued to speak, "All of it…meaning…"
Suddenly, a barrage of sounds filled the air. "Master of Arms!" "Soul Eater!" "Blitz Ace!"
The woman screamed which disrupted her focus and caused Lightning to fall to the ground, as the arrows that had surrounded her disappeared. She watched as the sorceress backed away from her, trying to recover from the attack. Lightning was too shocked to attack, but she had no need to.
In an instant, three men appeared between her and the sorceress. One had a red sword and wore an orange bandana on his head. Another had silvery hair that was decorated with blue beads. The final had dirty blond hair. Lightning wanted to see what each looked like, but she was behind them.
"Ultimecia, what are you doing here?" one of the men asked.
"Why…why should I tell you, pitiful warriors? I fear that I must be going…" the woman then disappeared, fading into the thin air.
"Come back, you little witch!" yelled the blond man, rushing forward only to run right through the fading form of Ultimecia. "I swear, the next time we meet, I'll kick that woman's but all the way…"
"Tidus, you forgot about the young woman!" one of the men spoke, revealing a smiling face. The man with the orange bandana, which Lightning realized was used to cover a peppery mess of hair and grey eyes. "My apologies, Tidus is easily overexcited. I'm Firion, and the other traveler is Cecil."
Tidus walked up to Lightning, "Well…hello! I don't think we've met before. Heh, I'm Tidus. Blitzball extraordinare!"
"Tidus, she doesn't know what that is." Cecil exasperated, placing a hand to his forehead in embarrassment. "Besides, what would Yuna say if she found out you were hitting on another woman."
"You…you wouldn't DARE!" Tidus turned to look at Cecil. "And I wasn't hitting on…on…" he turned back to Lightning, "What's your name?"
"Lightning."
"Yeah, Lightning! Wait that's a weird name?"
"Perhaps" Firion spoke, "we should go on and converse as we travel?" Tidus suddenly appeared right by Firion, who then started to descend the spiral staircase. Cecil lagged behind for a moment, waiting for a still surprised Lightning to catch up. She took this opportunity to talk privately with Cecil.
"Cecil, I want to let you know that your brother, Golbez, saved me from a few of Chaos' warriors."
Cecil was surprised the news. "He did?"
"Yes. And he spoke very highly of you."
Cecil blushed. "Thank you. I care about him to. I just wish that he would fight for Cosmos. I have forgiven him for what he has done."
"I think he is on the side of Cosmos. Give him some time, and he'll come around."
Cecil looked at Lightning, and smiled. The two then sped up, catching up with the other two companions.
§————————————————————————————§