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Vanishing Time

The scholars recorded the events of Midgar with uncertainty, as it seemed on the surface that there was no one left alive within the city. Or more correctly it was impossible to enter through the thick stone that had swarmed down on the artificial city to lock it away. There were stories told of a thousand different coloured souls rising out of the depths one night and soaring high into the sky to disappear but many saw this as simply an old wives tale to entertain the children and stop them worrying too much. However the rocks were unyielding, no matter what was thrown at them, trapping their carefully guarded secret beyond the reach of even the strongest man, woman and child in the lands.

The Scholars made up several theories of what happened, how in one version the reactor had gone nebular on itself and imploded, taking the city down into the depths of the planet and throwing up vast miles of steaming hot molten lava which steamed for days on end before finally cooling enough to become solid rock. A quaint little idea that went around for a few days was that an Ancient had summoned the ultimate Weapon which had cleansed the vile work of Shinra but at a horrendous price, though this was discredited quickly because Ancients were not exactly the easiest of peoples to confirm the existence of.

The third and fourth stories were brushed aside by the scientists for being wilful fantasies or more correctly due to the fact that they all felt that same fear whenever the tales were told. The first version of this fantastical event was that two great beings from beyond the stars who had been trapped within the planet's core several millennia ago had been unwittingly unleashed by the work of Shinra and Avalanche. The pair had resorted to fighting one another for dominance over the planet which had swept up the entire city into an endless duel that was only locked away by something far greater than the two and under the rocks there was still a battle raging on that would never end as the two combatants would never realise it was a useless folly they had gotten themselves into.

The second version of events was generally left to those quiet folks who wisely kept their mouths shut when talking about such things. It was also the closest to the truth, as far as anyone could confirm of course, but it was always carefully whispered about in order to keep the balance between the light and the darkness. This tale spoke of a brother and sister who were not meant to be, and how through a simple act of kindness the minion of Chaos nearly brought two worlds crashing together in a torrid of sparks that would have destroyed the entire world. The brother and sister had meant initially to rid the world of the evil forces that had caused them so much pain over the years but neither realised that they were both supposed to be a small fraction of this deadly darkness however far spread across the multiverse on different worlds. Their battle to be champions of light quickly turned to the darkness within their hearts and they found themselves locked in a vicious battle as the realm of Chaos attempted to swarm over the beautiful light that Cosmos had created.

Turning on friend, foe and family alike, the pair struggled back and forth for an untold length of time, attacking, counter-attacking, and throwing dangerous spells across the length and breath of the city until there came a point where both struck a final death blow. Before either could emerge victorious, there was a sudden bright swirling black, red and grey light that attempted to engulf the world in its entirety. The two fighting beings shoved aside their arguments for a brief time in order to stop this greater evil and for a time afterwards there was only darkness.

"Sephiroth?"

"Yes?"

"You do realise what will happen now?"

"Of course, but it is a price that I am willing to pay."

"You are prepared to surrender yourself eternally to the realm of Chaos?"

"If that is to be my fate, then that is what I must do. Hero's are born; they are not made in this world. Whatever force managed to change that fact has been responsible for the near destruction…I loose everything that I gained in this life but sacrifice is the better part of valour."

"If only this realm could withhold you, you would be the greatest hero in the known universe."

"I'm not meant for this realm, just like she is not. But she has a stronger chance at redemption than what I do. The Lifestream must be prepared and the world must play out as it always has done and always will. Thank you, Cosmos, for showing me this life…even though it was not entirely of your design. I am ready to go back and be what I am meant to be."

"Wouldn't you like one last word with her? Once you return your paths will not again cross until the end of days when all of the worlds must battle to defeat the true darkness."

"No, it is better that I do not. Though part of me wishes for such a thing…her fate is out of my hands now, she must find her own path, in her own world, away from me."

"Very well…Let the battle begin once again."

The End

Authors note: Well folks, at long last we've come to the end of this very long journey which simply began with me querying What If all of those years ago. Thanks to all of you who had read this fic, reviewed it and put up with me taking forever to update it.

Feels a little like a copout at the end, even I'll admit that, but with my life full of many different things now I thought it would be best just to get it all nicely rounded off and at least finished coherently.

I hope you have enjoyed the ride and will keep this one in your good fanfiction books for a long time to come.

Yours truly,

Wacky Walnut