Ultimecia picked the perfect day to eavesdrop.

On any other day she wouldn't bother with the Emperor. She found his unsubstantiated arrogance too stifling and exasperating to navigate. But Chaos's little attack was so glorious, and the Emperor's embarrassment was so delicious, that she immediately wanted to gloat. She relished every chance to watch him fail, and it was so gratifying to have his ego shredded before her eyes. She desperately wanted to know how he would lick his wounds and regain any semblance of the pride that Chaos demolished.

After he had shoved and stomped his way past all of the warriors in the Edge of Madness, she trailed him at a distance, masking her presence so he wouldn't know she had followed him. He soared across the world with such fervor that she had a hard time keeping up with him, almost losing him when he entered the Gateway in Melmond. She entered the Gateway herself to find a Kain manikin utterly dismantled, and she passed through to the Realm of Darkness just in time to see the Emperor injure himself with one of his own bombs.

A gleeful warmth spread through her entire body, and she had to press her hands to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He was like a child throwing a tantrum. Not at all the picture of imperial control that he tried so hard to project. She then watched his entire interaction and battle with Cosmos's new warrior, Rosa, in an elated state of happy disbelief, silently cheering Rosa on with every blow and wishing she could be the one to inflict them upon him. At the end of the battle she counted five arrows to the chest, two stab wounds - one in the front of his shoulder, and one in his side - a major laceration to his cheek, and his pride in complete tatters. The girl Rosa took a few hits herself, but absolutely destroyed him in the end. Not a half hour ago, Ultimecia would have argued that Chaos destroying the Emperor was the best thing she ever witnessed. She didn't think it could get much worse for him.

She'd never been more happy to be proven wrong.

Time to gloat.

She cast away all of her shrouds and appeared behind the Emperor. He had both his feet under him, wobbling on his ankles. He tried to stand, but his legs failed him and he fell back to his knees with a small grunt of pain. Ultimecia circled around to see his face, but he had his eyes glued to the floor and his hands pressed to the bleeding wound in his side. When he caught sight of her he tried to straighten up, to look unfazed and strong, but the wound pulled and he winced, doubling over again. He looked to be panting, taking tiny, shallow breaths. Her heart clenched in delight, and she couldn't keep the smile from her face.

"Poor, poor Emperor," she sulked. "You look absolutely pathetic."

"What are - you - doing here, witch?" he asked through ragged breaths. The arrow shafts rose and fell with his chest, taking small circles in the air.

She could only imagine how embarrassed he was, and it brought her even more joy to rub it in. "That was probably the most pathetic battle I've ever seen."

The Emperor's chin dipped down, touching his chest. "Leave me be-"

"And that was the worst attempt at courting a woman I think I've ever seen as well," she joked. His eyes widened, whatever color was left in his face quickly blanched.

"That was not my intention-" he tried to defend himself.

"She took to you, didn't she?-" she continued.

"Silence!" he yelled. He braced his staff against the ground and leaned heavily against it to stand. Ultimecia watched him struggle to a hunched over standing position before he threw his staff down and gently closed a hand around one of the arrow shafts. Preparing himself with as deep a breath as he could muster, he yanked on it, only to snap it. "Nrgh!" he cried, staggering forward. His panting intensified, chest heaving faster and faster. His eyes were wide and he was blinking heavily. "Damn!" he hissed through his teeth. He threw the shaft to the side next to his staff.

Now she could make him feel worse. "You shouldn't do that," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You'll break every single one of those before you ever get them out." He glared up at her.

"Thank you. I'm so happy you told me now. I couldn't have used that information earlier," he sneered back.

Ultimecia stepped forward and gestured to the arrows. "Allow me?" she asked. He opened his mouth for a nasty retort, probably something along the lines of, 'No, I don't want your help!', but he must have remembered his predicament. Ultimecia saw the glow of pride dim in his eyes, and he nodded.

She grabbed the broken shaft right where it entered his chest and braced herself to pull it out. "Ready?" she asked. Before he could reply she counted down, "Three, tw-" She ripped out the arrow. It came out easy - the tip itself was only buried an inch or two in his skin under his armor. He collapsed to his hands and knees, and she inspected the tip of the arrow for any bits of flesh she may have ripped out with it. "I do have to say, she was one of the prettiest warriors I've ever seen." she said, kneeling next to him. She grabbed another shaft close to his chest and ripped it out before he could even prepare. "And you're lucky the shafts aren't that deep. Either she was inexperienced, or she wasn't aiming to kill you."

"She was inexperienced, and weak-"

"Clearly," she muttered sarcastically. A bead of blood that had welled up in the cut on his cheek dripped down his face. The Emperor's eye twitched, but otherwise he gave no outward sign that he noticed. Ultimecia reached out and grabbed his chin, gently tracing her claw under it. "Tsk! Awww," she pouted, clicking her tongue.

He swatted her hand away. "I had her right where I wanted her."

"Of course you did." He was so pathetic. She chuckled at how ridiculous he sounded, trying to defend himself with a flimsy lie.

"I-I swear, if you tell anyone of this, I will drag you down to the deepest pit of Hell and-"

Ultimecia grabbed the third arrow shaft a little too hard, and twisted it a tiny bit. The Emperor cut off to cry out and brace his arm on her shoulder to keep from pitching forward. She raised a thin eyebrow. "Oops. I'm sorry, you'll what?" Rip. "Don't make threats you can't keep, Emperor." Rip. She eyed the last shaft, then his side where blood still leaked from the hole in his armor. "You'd best keep pressure on that," she told him, raising her chin to his side. His lips curled up in a sneer, but he did as she said. He pressed both hands to the wound, closing his eyes to concentrate his power.

"That wound is too deep to heal completely-" she argued, but he cast the Curaga before she could finish. The light poured from his hands into the wound, and though the light seeped into the cut, it didn't leave any outward signs of healing. Only the deepest layer of skin patched itself together. The blood flow slowed significantly, to his credit.

She smiled coldly down at him, hoping he realized exactly what she realized: "I know I've got this over you, foolish man. And I intend to use it to my full advantage." He winced, but to Ultimecia, it didn't seem to be out of pain. With a chuckle and a final tug she ripped the last arrow from him.

"Shall I fetch the surgeon?" she asked jokingly, laying out a hand to help him up. He snorted, instead picking up his staff and using it to stand once more.

"This stays between us," he warned once more, holding his side even as he lifted his staff in the air and disappeared.

"Hmph! My lips are sealed," she said, drawing a zipper across her mouth.

Rosa's sweat salted the burn on her throbbing shoulder as she ran, reigniting the searing pain with every drop and bringing tears to her eyes. The watery seepage from the few blisters that had formed had fused her pauldron to the wound, and every pump of Rosa's arms tore the armor free and snapped it back in place, shooting fire down to her fingertips. Heat and itchiness radiated all the way to her neck and face, and she could barley focus on anything else. At one point black splotches appeared in her vision, threatening to take her down, and she was almost forced to stop several times in her escape just to clutch at her wound and do anything she could to stop the pain. She could heal it, she knew. All she had to do was cast a few spells on it, but she couldn't stop yet. She didn't feel safe.

She left the way she came, traveling back through the Gateway floor. The dizzying sight of the world falling away from her nearly knocked her off her feet, and she collapsed to a knee to keep her balance, shutting her eyes against the lights and the whirring sound. After what seemed like forever, she phased through the blue sigil. When the ground crashed under her feet again her shaking legs failed her. She collapsed out of the gateway, sprawling on her face and stomach in the tall grass. She didn't know how, but she had the presence of mind to roll to her side a bit and protect her injury.

The air was cool, just like when she left Sanctuary hours ago. If it had even been hours. It felt like hours to her, but she couldn't have been sure. The fight, the adrenaline, and the pain were distorting her sense of time. Either way, just the cool air on her shoulder was enough to soothe it a bit, and she sighed in relief. She only allowed herself a moment or two of rest before she dragged herself to her feet. The Emperor could've chased her. He could've been right behind her. The second Rosa had the thought, she felt fear creep upon her, pressing against her back and urging her forward in panic. She staggered towards where she could see Sanctuary's pillar over the mountains and ran back the way she came, but after the relief she felt, the tugging and ripping of the wound instantly brought tears to her eyes again.

"Go, just go!" she yelled to herself, pushing herself harder and harder. She wasn't far from Sanctuary. She could make it. If she got to Sanctuary, then she could stop.

Unfortunately, Rosa tired out quickly, only making it back to a narrow land bridge before her legs were too heavy and her throat was too constricted. White began to creep into the edges of her vision and dizziness overtook her, the sound spiraling away from her ears. She collapsed to her knees, dropping her bow so she could catch herself with her good arm. Rosa reached over the side of the land and scooped water in her hands, throwing it all over herself - her face, what she could stand of her shoulder, her mouth. It was clumsy, she couldn't quite see, and her limbs felt weak and disconnected, but it felt good to just lay there and breathe.

Eventually, she calmed down. Her breath came easy, the white faded and sound returned to her, and she stopped shaking. She was able to drag herself to her feet again, certain she was going to be sore later but too concerned to worry about it at the moment.

"I just fought a Chaos warrior." The thought struck her harder than she was prepared for, planting itself in the forefront of her mind. It repeated, over and over in her head. "I just attacked and harmed a Chaos warrior. I shot him five times." She had just made an enemy in this new world. A powerful enemy, who clearly didn't much care for who he engaged. The Emperor probably had friends, meaning she could very well become a target for their entire side. Perhaps even a target for Chaos himself, if Chaos was the kind to engage directly in the fighting. The small, abandoned world suddenly felt even smaller to her, and she looked around, feeling as though there was no place she would be able to hide. "It was in defense," she told herself. "He attacked you, and not the other way around. You were only defending herself." The words didn't bring her any comfort, no matter how many times she repeated them to herself. She felt isolated and scared, like she had just done a terrible deed and was waiting to be caught, and an intense dread rooted itself in her heart. The urge to get to Sanctuary, where she could be surrounded by people who called themselves friends, was suddenly overwhelming again, and she stumbled and trudged all the way to where the path curved around and led straight to the pillar.

When she turned the corner, her eyes locked on a still form to her right. A man with lilac purple clothes on, lying motionless in the dirt on his stomach. Despite her exhaustion and her desperation to get back, her compassion took over. She gasped before she could help herself, and ran over to them, ignoring the groaning of her joints and muscles.

"Are you okay-?" she asked. She reached out with her shoulder - her bad shoulder - and her flesh screamed in protest. Rosa froze, hissing a breath through her teeth, and touched his shoulder with her other hand. She rolled him over onto his back, and withdrew in horror.

She was looking at Zidane. She could tell it was him by his tail and the shapes of his features, but it was a grotesque, crystalline version of him. The contours of his face were shaved fractals, and even his skin and lips were purple, making what she could see of his cheeks seem puffed and suffocated. His neck had craned towards her when she turned him over, and she came face to face with milky, iris-less, cream-colored eyes, locked open. Lifeless and staring straight through her. She touched the skin on his cheek and could feel how cold and hard it was, and she finally looked closer and saw the shardy, chiseled look the rest of his body had. It looked like purple crystals had grown out over his entire body. Even his clothes, his hair, and his tail seemed hard and frozen too, stuck in a half-curled position behind him.

Someone had slashed him, right across his chest. The crystal was broken and chipped around it, and when she took a peek inside the wound it was crystal inside, too. Her breathing quickened at the thought of a Chaos warrior possessing the power to crystallize someone from the inside out. "Zidane?" she asked, bending over him again. Maybe she could revive him. She quickly thought of the Life spell she wanted, and focused on sending the warmth towards him. She placed her palms on either side of his cut, and the warmth made its way up through her chest. It touched her shoulder, and the tingling grated on her nerves for just a second before traveling down her arms and circling around Zidane's purple form, seeming to draw straight to the hole in his chest.

She waited a few tense seconds, but Zidane didn't even twitch. Her chest tightened around a panic that took root, and her stomach knotted. If he had been dead for too long, the spell wouldn't work. He'd be gone for good. She would have to try and explain to everyone, especially Cosmos. She would have to face their grief. "Zidane, wake up! Please!"

She tried the spell again, focusing harder for longer, but even after the light enveloped him for the second time, he didn't move. She sat back on her heels and stood from him, looking around the small area. It was as quiet as she had always experienced it to be. It didn't look as though anyone had been through there since she had been. Nothing had changed, except for Zidane lying there.

Sanctuary was there, right there, but Rosa didn't want to leave Zidane. She couldn't heal him, but it still felt cruel and cold of her to leave his body there. Being crystal as it was, it wouldn't decompose naturally. He would stay there forever. After debating she knew it was the better choice to go to Sanctuary. Cosmos needed to know about the Emperor, and the others needed to know about Zidane. The pillar loomed overhead, bathed in its white light like a beacon, and Rosa pressed the last quarter mile to the sigil, teleporting up to the top.

A/N: I love being mean to the Emperor, and I love making Ultimecia be mean to the Emperor even more. The two of them are in perfect competition, always at each other's throats even in Dissidia - his quote to her when they're going to battle is, "Let us crown the real master." They see each other as their only true competition, so any chance they have to one-up the other, they're going to take it!

Leave a review if you have the time, and let me know what you think of Petal!
~Keyblader