I do not own Final Fantasy 13 or any of the characters.
Nightmare
Daniel crashed down on the hard-packed dirt of the Void Beyond, groaning and looking around slowly. He remembered finishing off Aloeidai with Etro's help, but he didn't remember going through a gate. He pushed himself unsteadily to his feet, summoning his gunblade and leaning heavily on it.
"Noel!" Daniel called out. "Serah! Mog?"
Nothing. He began to make his way along the ledge he was on and toward a path on the far side just as a sphere of darkness appeared and left Caius in its place. Daniel stooped, eyes wide as Caius raised his sword.
"When are you?" Daniel demanded.
"Lightning sends her regards," Caius said. "Specifically her last regards."
Daniel growled in rage, charging as Caius met his charge. Daniel ducked under a slash, slashing at Caius only for Caius's foot to crash into the side of his head, throwing him sideways into the wall. He pushed himself up slowly only for Caius to kick him again, throwing him backward.
"You have my congratulations for killing Aloeidai," Caius said. "However, using Etro's strength took more out of you than you thought, didn't it?"
He stabbed downward at Daniel who rolled to the side then back the other way, slashing Caius's side, making him stagger sideways with his sword.
"Less than you think!" Daniel snarled, pushing himself up.
"Lightning fought valiantly," Caius said, holding his sword up. "But, in the end, once you had abandoned her, she simply wasn't strong enough."
"We'll see!" Daniel shouted, sprinting forward, raising his sword.
Caius grinned as Daniel's legs gave out mid-step. Daniel's eyes widened as he began to fall, then Caius caught him using the tip of his blade. Daniel coughed up blood before Caius kicked him off of his blade, stalking after him, sword out to his side.
"And now, all of the loose ends have been tied up," Caius said. "Tell your mother I said hello."
And then, he drove his sword down into Daniel's face.
Daniel's eyes opened slowly. Where was he? What had he been doing? He looked around slowly. There was a room filled with weapons and armor, with a large flag on the wall over his bed that was entirely black except an odd-looking skull in purple in the center. Daniel looked down, staring at the pinkette lying on his chest, who was staring up at him.
"Hello Daniel," she smiled. "It's about time you woke up, it's almost noon."
"Sari?" Daniel asked, voice hoarse. "What...where...are we?"
"Our room dummy," she smiled. "Where else would a couple wake up the day after their wedding?"
"Our...wedding?" Daniel blinked, looking to her hand where a gold band was around her finger, a matching one on his.
She sat up, cocking her head to the side.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"I don't..." Daniel trailed off, feeling his chest.
For some reason, the fact that he was perfectly healthy felt wrong. He began to get up, Sari hopping off his legs to allow it, then pulled his abandoned clothes back on, walking to the door and grabbing his gunblade, stepping outside. Outside, there was an army of people waiting, all of whom began to cheer the moment he stepped out. He stared in shock before they parted and a massive black dragon landed, roaring. Daniel found himself tensing, before the dragon was enveloped by a sphere of darkness, which then faded to leave Caius.
"My son," Caius said, striding forward, two women at the edge of the crowd nearest Daniel joining him as Caius stopped before him. "I hope you slept well, for it will be the last time you sleep for some days."
Daniel lost the ability to breathe, his hand closing around the grip of his gunblade, ready to react to anything Caius might do. But why was he so afraid of his own father? What was wrong?
"After all, the hero who single-handedly ended the war cannot sleep through his own celebration!" Caius said, loudly enough for the crowd to hear, his hands resting on Daniel's shoulders. "Nor can he sleep while we celebrate his marriage!"
The crowd erupted into cheers, going out of their minds at the thought of celebrating. Daniel stared at Caius.
"Ended...the war?" Daniel asked. "Then...Etro is..."
"Alive and well," Caius smiled. "Thanks to you, and your timely defeat of that monster Aloeidai. All of Time is in your debt."
"I defeated...what about...my brothers?" Daniel asked, somehow still tense and gripping his gunblade.
"Recovering," Caius said. "They'll be unable to be there for the celebration, I'm afraid. Or, at least, the first two days. But this celebration will last days, won't it?"
The crowd again erupted into cheers. Sari stepped up beside Daniel, pulling his hand off of his gunblade, lacing her fingers with his.
"Come!" Caius shouted, turning to the crowd. "Let us show my son our appreciation!"
The crowd erupted into cheers yet again before music began to play and Caius led Daniel and Sari to a pair of thrones, Daniel all but being forced into Caius's throne. The citizens began to bring gifts to him, things like weapons, armor, food, even livestock. After a while, a woman held out a small black, rectangular box to Sari, saying it was a wedding present. Sari opened the box and Daniel spotted a silver chain with a feather pendant.
"Hey, that looks just like Lumina's..." Daniel trailed off, his hand rising to his neck, feeling for Lumina's necklace.
Nothing. He looked down, panicked before the music suddenly distorted and one of the two women that had been attached to Caius's arms so far, his mistress Yeul, turned to Daniel, suddenly a young girl.
"Yeul?" Daniel blinked. "What's...what's going on?"
"If you do not wake up, the dream will never end," Yeul said. "But in this place, you can see all of your dreams come to pass."
Then, she was back to normal, once again attached to Caius's arm.
"Is everything alright?" Sari asked.
Daniel turned to her and his eyes widened. There was a gaping wound through her torso, like a massive flat object had impaled her. He jumped out of his chair, knocking over a servant with a platter of wine and food. The music stopped, Sari was fine. Daniel felt his own chest, suddenly in pain, and felt Lumina's necklace. He looked down, the pain was gone. He was fine. He looked around, everyone was staring.
"What is wrong my son?" Caius asked from behind Daniel.
On instinct, Daniel spun, drawing his gunblade and backing away, stumbling over a fallen bowl before catching himself, sword trembling. Caius had only been helping the servant up, and now had his hands raised in an innocent gesture.
"Daniel," Caius said. "You need to calm down. No one is going to hurt you."
"I...I don't..." Daniel trailed off, looking to Sari again, except, she was different.
Her hair was over the other shoulder, and her clothes had changed. They were a different color, and looked like a uniform.
"What's wrong Daniel?" Misaki asked. "Are you alright?"
"Misaki?" Daniel asked, before rubbing his eyes, which burned.
"Daniel-"
Caius began but stopped as Daniel spun back to him, raising the sword to his throat.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Caius said.
"What's going on!?" Daniel demanded.
"You're tweaking out, idiot," a familiar, taunting voice spoke up as someone leaned on his shoulder.
He staggered to the side, turning, only for his sword to drop as Lumina grinned at him.
"What?" Lumina asked. "Aren't you happy to see your wife?"
"My..." Daniel trailed off.
He had married Lumina? But, what about Sari? And Misaki? They had been killed. He closed his eyes, groaning, struggling to remember. Who had killed them. He remembered an eye. Purple, glowing with dark power.
"Daniel," Caius said, Daniel's eyes flying open, seeing Caius holding his sword out to his side now. "Put your weapon away. you're scaring the people."
Daniel looked to the sword, a purple eye staring back. Suddenly, he remembered. Caius had killed Sari. Ryuu and Daisuke had killed Misaki. Crow had killed Lumina. His gunblade dropped again and he turned to Lumina, finding Lightning standing there, wearing an odd military uniform with a white jacket, a singe pauldron, and a brown skirt.
"Your father's right," Lightning said, holding out her hand. "Relax. Sit down, enjoy the celebration. Today's your day."
Daniel slowly began to raise his hand. Before he could, however, his necklace began to grow warm. Lumina. He blinked. Lightning didn't wear the uniform anymore. She had armor now. She was Etro's champion, alongside Daniel. And they were defending Etro from Caius, not Aloeidai.
"I'm sorry," Daniel said, turning back to Caius. "I am scaring them. But this will be worse."
He stepped froward, driving his gunblade through Caius's chest. Caius dropped his sword, staring at Daniel in shock before turning into a shadow and fading, the people around Daniel doing the same, even Lightning. Then, the area around him began to grow distorted, as though heat waves were rising from everything.
"It's not real," Daniel breathed. "It's a dream. Caius killed me in the Void Beyond. I'm not here."
"There you go," a voice behind Daniel spoke.
He turned, eyes widening as Fang and Vanille both appeared in two flashes of light.
"Fang, Vanille!" Daniel gaped.
"Good to see you," Fang said. "We're back in that blasted pillar again. So, we're able to project our consciousnesses to your head. Of course, we weren't able to interfere until you denied the dream. Glad you did, too."
"We already woke up Serah," Vanille said. "You'll have to go and help her save Noel. He's still asleep."
"Alright," Daniel nodded. "If we fix the timeline-"
"We remember the original," Fang said. "Even if we do end up in that crystal again, you can just come get us out again."
Daniel nodded and looked between the two as Fang's bladed lance materialized.
"Now, let's get you outa here," Fang said before leaping into the air, slashing downward with her lance as she fell, tearing a rift into the air. "Your new friends are right through there."
"Save us soon if you can," Vanille said.
Daniel nodded and the two faded. Then, Daniel stepped through the rift.
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