Sorry. The word echoed hollowly inside Cecil's ears. Sorry. Sorry.

The word was so weak and so inadequate that Cecil doubted for a moment whether Cosmos even meant it, or whether she was simply saying it to soothe him. He searched her face and found no remorse, only reluctant resignation in the face of his emotional wounds. There could be no remorse over the need to uproot strong warriors from their lives and call them to her world, only to have them fight and die again and again. Cosmos wasn't sorry for calling Rosa and destroying any chance she would ever have at a life beyond this world, she was only sorry that it caused them pain. A blind rage he never felt before bubbled inside of his heart. His fist clenched around his spear so hard that his skin chafed on the metal. A breath hitched in his chest, and his jaw clenched so forcefully, his teeth ached. Sorry wouldn't atone for the situation Cosmos had forced upon both him and Rosa.

They were both forced to die in this world.

The nature of the conflict dictated ruthlessness. He never imagined it would be directed at the two of them.

Without thinking, Cecil hefted his spear back. Cosmos's eyes widened as the only indication that his attack surprised her. She otherwise sat still, her arms resting in her lap and crossed loosely at the wrist, not bothering to mount any visible defense. She even straightened her back and lifted her chin, awaiting the blow with perfect control and composure. The lack of reaction charged Cecil's fury with electricity. At the last moment, his blade inches from slicing over skin, a flash of gold slashed across his vision, and a stabbing pain shot through his whole hand. He cried out in surprise, dropping his spear where it was. Cecil turned away from Cosmos, cradling his hand against the residual flares of pain. Sticking straight out of his hand was a gold-tipped arrow, with a silver shaft and gold fletchings. His blood welled around the arrow shaft and spilled out the side and down his fingertips, and he stared at the droplets in shock as they stained the perfect water pink for a moment before dispersing back to the clear crystal pool.

At the creak of Rosa's bow, he turned back around. The string gently pulled her cheek as she lined up her next shot. "Don't move," she warned him, speaking out of the corner of her mouth, "or this next arrow goes between your eyes."

"Rosa, no," Cosmos said calmly. Rosa ignored her.

"You, warrior," Rosa said, addressing his rank without realizing it was his name, "get his weapon."

Cecil's eyes flicked to his spear, in the water where he dropped it. He had no intention of going for it again. He took a step away from it, but Warrior still ran forward and kicked it away, out of his reach.

"Cosmos, how could you?" he asked her before anyone else could say anything. "She is my wife! How could you do this to her? To me?" He winced as his hand clenched accidentally.

"You take this as a personal attack against you." Cosmos's voice cut through the tension in the air like a silky knife. "That is not the case." She shook her head to impress her sincerity upon him. "I am tasked with protecting the balance of this world that Chaos tries so desperately to destroy. I cannot accomplish this alone, and I need your help. I only call the people I believe to be strong enough to help me combat Chaos and his chosen, and end his schemes."

"But this is a cycle!" Cecil hissed, lowering his voice so Rosa wouldn't hear. He wanted to protect her from that information, at least for the time being. She was a new warrior, and if she had any hopes of returning home, he wanted her to be able to hold on to that. He stepped closer to the goddess, hating the fact that he was so obviously hiding a secret. "Once we are called, we can never leave! Don't you understand what you've done to us? You called her from our world to help you, but you pulled her from her life in Baron!"

Cosmos sighed and closed her eyes. "I know, I . . . I am sorry. Truly, I am. I understand your frustration, but I only did what I knew was best for the future safety of this world."

Cecil dropped his gaze, "I-I understand, but . . . " He hated it, with every fiber of his being. The bitterness hurt his heart, weighing it down inside of him. "Forgive my outburst," he muttered pathetically. "My reaction was inappropriate."

Cosmos held her hand out to Warrior, and he offered his arm to her. She linked hers in his and he practically hoisted her to her feet. As soon as she was upright she leaned heavily into him. Cecil hurried forward to offer his help as well, but she shook her head.

"Are you weak?" he asked her. She nodded.

"Summoning warriors takes more out of me than it used to. My strength will return in time." Warrior helped her over to Cecil and she gingerly took his injured hand, closing her eyes.

"I- . . . Should you be healing me?-" The arrow gleamed, then dissolved into a wisp of gold. The hole in his hand gently tingled, then closed smoothly, with no evidence of any injury.

"Of course. And do not apologize. There is nothing to forgive. You were upset. Rosa, lower your weapon," Cosmos said over his shoulder.

Rosa relaxed her bow, twirling the arrow once around her fingers before returning it to the quiver near her hip. She rested the tip of the bow in the still water, sending hundreds of ripples through Sanctuary, and for the first time, Cecil noticed the designs on the weapon. It was much more extravagant and beautiful than anything she ever had on their adventures back in Baron. There looked to be four limbs to the bow, not just two. An inner, smaller set with its own recurve shape that attached to the outer, longer set and diverged away at the grip. The inner set was the functional set, with the notches for the string, and the outer, longer set was more decorative, with the elegant arch of a longbow. He traced the shape of the outer set with his eyes. The grip was a thick, spiral-bound brown leather, and the limbs were fashioned to two spikes around it. Gold illuminations and swirls adorned the lengths of them, with painted images of flower petals and other accents so intricate he couldn't even see them. The inside set, he realized, were for the string and the arrow shelf. The inside limbs even had designs of their own, but the show piece was a wooden vine of red, thorny roses woven around it.

"Tell me what's going on, now!" she said to Cosmos. "I don't know where I am! I don't know who you are, or who you are!" she said, flicking her hand wildly between Cecil and Warrior. "I awoke here with no memories - nothing! Except for my name. And before you two showed up, she was trying to tell me I've been called to some kind of war of the gods-"

"That is true," Warrior told her. "You speak to Cosmos, the goddess of Harmony. She called you here, to fight for the Light against the darkness."

"What manner of realm is this? This is not my home."

"Do you remember your home?" Cecil asked before he could stop himself. She paused, her eyes seemed to gloss over for just a moment before her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"N-no. I can't. Why can't I remember?" Her voiced gradually grew higher and higher. Her green eyes were wide with fear and desperation, a look Cecil had only ever seen on her face once before, when Golbez took her captive in the crystal room of Fabul castle. He wanted to comfort her somehow, but he knew he couldn't. Not right then, when she was still trying to orient herself in this world.

Not when she didn't even know him.

A burst of sadness threatened to overtake him once more, but he quickly banished the feeling.

"This is not your home," Cosmos told her. "This is not, what is it, Baron?" she asked Cecil. He nodded quickly, hoping the name would help her somehow.

"Baron," he confirmed for her, staring at Rosa. She simply stared skeptically at him until Cosmos spoke again.

"This is not Baron. This war is fought in a collection of worlds, existing in a realm separate from the one you knew," Cosmos said. "Please, I know you're alarmed and scared. All of your questions shall be answered. What do you want to know?"

"So I hail from Baron. My name is Rosa Joanna Farrell, and I hail from the Kingdom of Baron."

Cecil nodded. "Your job class and rank?"

"I . . . White Mage, I think," she said, gesturing to the staff on her back. She grabbed the pink ribbon trailing from the bottom of it and fiddled idly with it. "And archery. I'm an archer as well."

"And a good one," Cecil said, rubbing the spot where her arrow went through his hand.

"And now I'm supposed to fight for Harmony in a war. Who are we fighting?"

"Chaos, the god of Discord," Warrior said. There was a palpable bite to the way he said Chaos' name. "He means to destroy this world and sink it forever into Discord, along with everyone in it. That is why Cosmos called us," he said, leading Cosmos back to her throne. "We are to fight him and his chosen, defeat them, and claim this world for the Light."

"Uh-huh," she grumbled. "Who are you?"

"I have no name. Those of Cosmos' ranks call me the Warrior of Light, by my class."

"So you don't remember either?" she said quickly. Cecil could tell she was searching for validation.

"No, I never had a name."

"Oh," she said, obviously disappointed. "Who is he?" she said, pointing to Cecil.

She didn't even look at him. He hoped the signs of his hurt didn't show on his face. "Please, Rosa, try to remember," he said, stepping towards her. This time, she let him approach but he still remembered to leave a safe distance between them. "I am Cecil Harvey. Former Captain of the Red Wings of Baron, now crowned King of Baron."

"Baron. That's how you know me."

"Yes," he nodded. "You and I are from the same world. We're married," he intoned silently. By withholding it, he felt like he was cheating her out of something important, but that bit of information would be too much for her to take in, at least right now. He held his tongue.

"Cecil Harvey," she whispered, finally looking him in the eyes. He smiled stiffly, caught somewhere between showing welcome and ensuring he did not ward her off.

"Class and rank?" she asked, mirroring his questions from before.

"Paladin Knight, and Dark Knight. I switch freely between the two in this world, but when we were together in Baron I was only a Paladin Knight."

She didn't answer, just looked at him. Piercing green eyes stared hard into soft royal blue for a long while. He felt like she was searching for something, anything. He hoped she was trying to recall anything about him. She looked down, staring down the length of her bow rather than at him. Her eyes softened, her stern face relaxed, and for a moment he thought maybe something came to her. Her eyes glossed over once again.

"Anything?"

Her eyes snapped back up. "No. I can recall nothing! This is so frustrating!"

"Please don't worry," Cosmos assured her. "Your memories will return in full. Through battle, and through existing in this realm. Each of you directly faces someone in Chaos' forces, and I selected you and your fellow warriors as a result. You and only you can match and defeat your chosen rival. Do battle with that rival, and many of your memories will return. Though, this should come as good news. The one whom you seek is an ally and spy for us. The Black Mage, Golbez. Seek him out, spar with him, and you may learn much about your past."

"I don't know how you can trust him," Warrior said to Cosmos. "He has betrayed us before."

"Only after Purification," Cecil defended. "He's had a change of heart every time. Don't forget he's my brother."

"I haven't," Warrior assured him coldly. "He longs for the light but I sense none inside of him. He will have to plenarily prove himself to completely gain my trust."

"He's more than proven himself," Cecil said. "Rosa, Golbez is a friend you can trust. Just be careful that he isn't around any of Chaos' warriors. He has appearances to uphold. While he won't necessarily harm you, he will not act as a friend around them."

"Golbez . . . okay," she said. "He wears . . . armor, right? Black armor?"

"Yes! He's-"

"Hellooooooo!" someone yelled out from behind them. A crowd of footsteps followed the voice that interrupted. Cosmos leaned around Cecil and smiled to everyone that entered.

"Hello, Zidane," Warrior said. "You brought other warriors with you."

Cecil turned, watching as Zidane led Bartz, Firion, and the Onion Knight, followed by Yuna, Tifa, and Squall.

"Wooow! Okay! So this is Sanctuary!" Bartz said, looking around in awe at the bright place, taking in every detail. "And I guess you're Cosmos!" Clearly, Bartz had received Purification. Cecil swallowed down the melancholy that sprang in his heart as she addressed the crowd.

"This is obviously not all of you," she said brightly, scanning the seven. "Where are the others?"

Zidane scratched his behind, just left of where his tail poked through his pants. "Eh, I don't know. All these guys I ran into on my way here." He winked at the goddess. "Of course, I only came here just to see your pretty face."

Cosmos turned to Warrior, rejecting him completely. "Have you any quarrels with venturing out and gathering all the others? I am too weak to call them right now, but I wish to speak to all of them. Seeing as how some introductions, and therefore instructions, are in order, I must address everyone."

Warrior placed a hand over his heart and bowed lightly to the goddess. "Of course. I will be back shortly."

Zidane noticed Rosa standing off to the side and smiled widely at her. "And hello to you, too! What's your name?"

"Rosa."

"Oh! Rosa!" Zidane said, glancing happily at Cecil. Just in case he let something slip, Cecil shook his head as subtly as possible. Zidane's eyes flared, the only visible sign that he understood. But his goofy, lop-sided smile never wavered, to Cecil's relief. "I'm Zidane Tribal. Wow. You're gorgeous!" Zidane managed to eke a small smile from her, and Cecil appreciated it. Zidane's personality had such a disarming, undemanding, and straightforward quality to it that won him many friends.

"Thank you," Rosa said, nodding her ascent. She said with a light chuckle, "I would take it to heart but it seems to me like you say it a lot."

Bartz burst into laughter. "Haha! Wow! She's already got you figured out, Zidane!"

"How would you know? You technically just met me. I like you, Rosa. Welcome to Cosmos's side! So, you've met my friend Cecil, right?"

"I should thank Zidane later," he said to himself. "Ah, actually, it was a little . . . I'd like to apologize for my behavior when we first met. Please allow me to reintroduce myself. Properly." He stood up straight and proper. He slowly walked towards her, chin up, eyes level but soft, as soft as he could make them. Doing his best to smile, when he was a step away from her he bowed low. "Cecil Harvey, at your service." He straightened up and offered his hand, and when she took it he pressed a soft kiss to her knuckle.

"Rosa Joanna Farrell."

"She'll remember . . . " he assured himself. "Eventually . . . "