Rosa was in the gardens when she noticed the change. Her flowers wilted and the air turned warm like summer overtook them in an instant. Then it turned cold again.
"Rosa." Kain joined her. "The Void is near."
"Of all things?" she asked.
"We should sound the alarm."
Rosa turned to the stars and found them flicking in and out of sight. Shadows passed over them, but she saw nothing in the sky. "And Cecil?"
"He'll handle his own."
The moon turned dark and Rosa stood. "We've already waited too long."
Kain nodded and offered his hand. She took it and he leaped. They rushed back to the castle and Rosa found Ceodore in the main foyer, dressed in his armor.
"How ready you are," she said. "Now come. We must summon the guard and ready for battle."
"It's bad, isn't it?" he asked.
"It seems so."
Kain worked with them and they barely got the barracks mobilized before a great wind almost took them from their feet. Rosa hurried everyone into formation, but she didn't know what against.
"It's a rift."
Alphinaud peered through their small windows. "The castle, Alisaie?"
"What else could it possibly be? There's nowhere else you'll find that darkness."
"Not darkness."
"You know what I mean. The Void has claimed the place."
"It has laid a claim to it. It is not yet lost."
"You don't need to clarify my every word, brother. I might cleft you in two if you keep it up."
"… Understood."
Alisaie huffed. "Apologies. The journey has left me tense."
"Us both." Alphinaud joined her at the window. "All of Baron, it looks like. Golbez feared this."
"He did. But I imagine he's learned to keep his head in such times."
They drew closer and paused at the edge of the Void's plague. They touched down near the edge of that poison and Alphinaud disembarked with his sister.
"Can we do this?" Alphinaud asked when they faced that swirling, growing mist.
Alisaie lit her hands and reached toward that vast nothingness. "Guess we'll find out."
He felt a rush of strength at that and joined her. They combined their life aether and targeted the Void with all they had. Alphinaud felt Alisaie's support as a great beam beside him despite the shaking of the ground and the rumbling of the skies.
With great effort, they injected life and things into the Rift. It recoiled at their touch and Alphinaud swelled with satisfaction at its hatred of them.
"Back to whence you came!" yelled Alisaie. "This world is not yours to take!"
"Yet it is." A stained man of black and white formed from the nothingness.
Alphinaud tingled with dread. "An emissary? You send one to such a scene as this?"
"Do not presume to know our workings," it said. "The lord and steward over this realm has promised us a feast of such a size as you will never satisfy. The law of justice swore your worlds to us long before you were born."
"Now who presumes overmuch?" asked Alisaie.
Alphinaud strengthened his channel, and it strained against his veins. Aching pain reminded him of his limits. "Take your argument to the heavens where it belongs!"
"Stay careful of your words," hissed the emissary. "You'll never know what you bring."
With a cry, Alisaie dealt the final blow, and they broke the Rift's barrier. Baron cleared. They returned to the ship.
Terra surged with the clash of magic and mist between worlds. Souls and mystic friction collided to fill her with the cries of dying stars and blooming trees. She connected with her esper side and transformed to find the limitless freedom of the skies and wind.
She launched. Under the swirling of breaking day and encroaching night, she flew.
Desert sand with lush forest. Mountains melted into rolling hills and towering heights broke through ponds and lakes to form cities. It slowed as she moved until she found the growing nothingness of the Void. And at its edge stretched the circle of her Dissidian friends.
Terra landed with a thud and joined them. She felt the change of her presence before she laid power against the pulling of the Void.
"It's not enough!" cried Zidane. "We're losing too much too fast!"
"Then which one of you isn't pushing hard enough?" Squall asked.
The Warrior of Light released magic that sparked against the sky and marked twisting borders of clashing realms. "We must call on the God of Space! He's within reach if we but pull him from his entrapment!"
"Anyone know how to do that?" Tidus asked.
"Pass!" Bartz said.
Onion Knight stuttered in his link. "I might! But it would mean leaving you guys!"
"Do it." Terra took his hand. "We'll manage without you."
"But will the worlds?"
"You're not the only one of us. We'll manage."
Onion Knight gave her an intent look before nodding and breaking off. Terra felt his departure as a weight dropped on her back. Terra didn't turn to see him disappear, much as she ached to. She had to trust him to make it out.
A high-pitched whine joined them, and a shadow enveloped them. Two strangers stood near it as they and the ship faded to view. Time resumed and Rosa felt it as a surge in her veins and a pulsing in her heart.
"The Lunar Whale?" she asked. "What are they doing, returning at a time like this?"
"That's not the same as what left," Kain said.
Ceodore swallowed hard. "Is it Father?"
"I doubt it." Rosa left the others to greet the Whale. If they received more intruders like before, then she'd use some choice words and magic.
An exit ramp descended, and Rosa readied to attack. Kain joined her.
"Stay your hand!" A white-haired man in dark clothes left the ship and brandished his empty hands. "It is I, Golbez!"
Trailing after him came oddly dressed vagrants, colored and styled after many kinds. None even matched the two already waiting outside. Rosa didn't think she'd see such different people in her lifetime.
"I apologize for our intrusion," said one of the vagrants, dressed in blue and like Cecil in pallor. "But Hydaelyn cannot refuse the struggle any longer. We offer our assistance. I hope by our dispelling of the Rift that took you, we prove our trustworthiness."
"For as much good it'll do," said one identical aside from attire. "It seems we came almost too late."
Their mystic friend shook her head. "Not yet. Come. Let's make quick work of it."
Rosa couldn't think past the haze brought on by shock. "Golbez. You're alive."
"Enough of that!" A gruff man in tough clothing joined them. "Are we gonna deal with this, or aren't we?"
"What can we do?" Ceodore asked. "Are there enemies to fight? I don't see any monsters."
"There are monsters plenty," Golbez said.
A girl behind the gruff man yelled, "We just gotta find them! Come on! We know the way!"
Golbez claimed her correct, so Rosa reluctantly complied. "But first," he said, "there is someone with whom we must speak."