Final Fantasy Infinite Loops
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: All of the Final Fantasy characters belong to Square Enix. The original idea for the infinite loops comes from Innortal and later was codified by Saphroneth. OathtoOblivion started the Final Fantasy Loops thread and was the first compiler. I think that's everything...Oh yes Spacebattles is who hosts the Infinite Loops threads.
-o-
10.1 [Tovath]
She walked along the busy street with Zest. So many people going every which way. The only time she had seen this many being before was a manikin attack. She moved closer to Zest.
"Don't worry, milady. We'll be there soon." They turned down a side street that was less crowded. "There, Vaan always buys the same building when there are this many Loopers." The sign over the door of the building Zest pointed to said 7th Heaven. "Well, Tifa seems to be looping at least if they have that sign."
Cosmos felt unaccountably nervous about meeting her warriors again. Zest said that none of them were quite the same and they had many friends that she hadn't met, but they were still her warriors.
The room had a bar along the shorter wall. The rest of the room was filled with round tables that had a great variety of beings at them.
-o-
10.2 [Tovath]
Minwu blinked. The last thing he remembered was unsealing Ultima, or was it defeating the Emperor in the afterlife? Was this this another level of the afterlife or was he back in the past?
"Are you alright?" asked Târî. Târî was dead. Minwu had seen him die. Were they all dead here and being forced to relive their lives? Looking out over the war torn landscape he could believe that, but there was no point in saying it. "I'm fine. There is fighting ahead, we better see what help we can render."
They came to the clearing where 'before' they had found Firion and his two friends half dead from the wounds that the Imperial Knights inflicted on them. This was not true now though. This time Firion and another man, who he guessed was Maria's missing brother were still fighting and doing a pretty good job of it. Maybe this wasn't the afterlife, Firion had still been alive last he knew.
The man who Minwu guessed was Maria's brother killed the last knight and looked like he wanted to rush off to find more soldiers to kill. Firion grabbed his arm. "Don't Leon."
"Why shouldn't I they killed..."He started sobbing
Firion glanced in Minwu direction before putting an arm around Leon's shoulder. "Minwu could you see to Maria?" He said that with such force that Minwu started looking around for her. He soon spotted her body. Looking over it, He could see it was a mess. Her arm was broken and bloody, she had been stabbed in the gut and she wasn't breathing.
He cast Life. Her wounds started to close and she opened her eyes. She had the most beautiful violet eyes. It was then that Minwu knew for sure that he was in the world of the living. He focused his magic on a Cure spell next, for Life might be able to fix mortal wounds, if the soul hadn't departed, but it didn't do much for non-mortal wounds; More than one white mage had their patient die after using Life because of that.
Târî interrupted his thoughts when he said in a tone that conveyed 'we need get out of here' without having to say anything so impolite. "Sir, the other is unconscious but able to be moved."
Minwu nodded. "Let us return then."
They were most of the back to Altair before Minwu realized that Firion had called him by name. How could that be? If he had been moved backwards in time then Firion hadn't met him yet...unless... He went to do talk to Firion.
It took a little while before he was able to do that. Which was only to be expected, but the exact reason was a surprise. When he approached the four friends after Guy had been healed, the first thing that happened was that Maria kissed him. A beautiful woman kissed him. She said it was to thank him for saving her life. Then he had to deal with her brother making sure he knew what would happen if anyone made Maria cry.
After all that Minwu was finally able to talk to Firion alone. "I notice that you seemed to know my name."
"And you know mine." replied Firion, there was so much tension in his shoulders. "Is time repeating for you?"
That was was not a reply that Minwu had been expecting, although he should have been, "Yes."
Firion smiled and relaxed. "Man am I glad there is someone else now. So here is what's happening...
-o-
10.3 [FTKnight]
Cloud awoke mid-battle with Sephiroth, as the pair locked sword in power-stand off, it became clear to each the the other was awake. as loop memories kicked in they disengaged, and looked down, at the own well stacked status.
" Strife. " Sephiroth said, overcoming his gender switch first. " Let's agree not to mention this loop. "
" Yeah, good idea. "
-o-
10.4 [Tovath]
Terra woke and Awoke. The first thing she noticed was the lack of a bed underneath her. When she opened her eyes she saw a man in Imperial armor trying to start a fire. That woke her up the rest of the way quickly. What happened to Arvis? She called a fireball into existence. She might not be at her best right now for the usual reason, but she could fight if she had to.
The last thing she was expecting was for the man to ask if she was going to help light the fire. "Who are you?"
"Wedge Antilles, from the Star Wars Loops."
Terra gently set the fireball down on to the kindling. The use of magic had made her post Slave Crown headache even worse. As her headache eased something else occurred to her. "So if you replaced one of the imperial soldiers, what happened to the other one assigned to the mission?"
"I don't like people who are alright with the use of mind control." replied Wedge, "By the way, do you know anyone who can repair Magitek. I need some more practice. "
-o-
10.5 [tovath]
"So I like him, but I think he likes her instead..." gobbled the chocobo Vaan was talking to. Vaan wasn't sure how he had ended up agreeing to this, at least he was being well paid. Bartz and Cloud were giving him Death Penalty, Ultima Weapon, the Chicken Knife and some Triple Triad cards for acting as marriage broker, or would that be Love Doctor for a bunch of Chocobos.
It had all made so much sense when they had first explained it. They wanted to set up a breeding program between their chocobo flocks to prevent inbreeding. That made sense so far, but then they decided that the chocobos should have some say in the process. Vaan was the only one they knew who could speak to animals.
Right now he was wondering if he should curse PenPen for giving him dragons blood. He had spent the last four damn hours talking to chocobo about their love lifes.
-o-
10.6 [Tovath]
Celes was unsure if she should do this. It would be so easy to just stealth this loop. It was more peaceful loop than her own and one that had most interesting technology. Edgar would love it...and maybe Professor Cid would be able to do his research without hurting anyone.
Celes squared her shoulders. She had to do this. The Count and Countess were good, honorable people. Their honor and mercy had been proven during the Pretender's War. She opened the door.
"Are you feeling a bit loopy?" asked Cordelia Vorkosigan, taking a good long look at Celes
"I am in need of an anchor." said Celes.
"Well I am one, but I doubt that you knew that when you asked to see me."
"You and your husband appear to be honorable people, so I felt that I should warn you that I have broken oaths of loyalty before."
"Can you tell me about your home loop is like?"
That was not the question that Celes was expecting, but she tried to answer it the best she could, "A mess, the world gets destroyed halfway though the loop. We have only been able to prevent that from happening a few times..." Celes ended up telling the whole mess to her. How Gesthal had researched magic, how the first attempt at infusing a human ending up driving the man, Kefka, insane and Gesthal made him a general anyway, how the second set of experiments was done on children. There was only one success in those., or should that be survivor, Celes herself. She had been made a general at sixteen. The energy for the magic infusions had been torn out of espers. But that was not enough for Gesthal and Kefka, they wanted the power of the Warring Triad.
-x-x-
Cordelia was glad that she had decided to get that degree in psychology a few Loops ago. Most Loopers needed therapy, often for things that they couldn't talk to a normal therapist about. Any conversation that started with 'Well I'm looping though time' would likely end with being dragged away for some involuntary chemical therapy. As least Celes' problems were all ones that Cordelia knew how to help with. She was only one person though, so she had started to look for other loopers who were interested in being therapists and making sure they got some training.
-o-
10.7 [Facepalmist]
Cloud stood outside the temple as it began to collapse, shrinking in fits and starts into its true form. The crude robot he'd left at its center was nothing near as sublime as Cait Sith ('sublime' being merely a measure of its engineering advancement as opposed to its personality), but it was easily sufficient to perform its job - namely, to complete the puzzles which would revert the Temple of the Ancients into the Black Materia.
Soon the metamorphosis was complete. He squinted down at the ominous crystal, resting at the bottom of the depression the temple once occupied. Cloud concentrated, and...
Success. It was a bit of a mental strain, but he'd managed to Pocket it into safe containment from all that distance. The Black Materia was no longer a factor for this loop. The Planet had been saved from Meteor before it could even happen. Cloud smiled, producing and remounting one of his Pocket-stored gold chocobos and heading off for his next destination.
Meteor was far from the only threat, of course. 'Sephiroth' might have only killed President Shinra two days ago, but Jenova and her catspaw would still need to be wiped out properly (or at least thoroughly enough to belay any more of its shenanigans for the next few years). So Cloud would head to Junon next and run into 'Sephiroth' coming the other way, then head up to the Northern Continent and collect Sephiroth's original body - though not without a short trip to Costa del Sol to see if Hojo was there on vacation yet and kill him if he was. Then over to Rocket Town, where Cid could easily be offered the right incentive to fix up the old rocket enough to load Sephiroth and the Jenova-bits for a one-way launch in a generally sun-ward trajectory. Back to Midgar to smash up Deepground, kill Hojo if he hadn't already, and... Well, that would be enough to go on with in the short term. After several dozen mostly lone runs in a row (except twice with an Awake Tifa), he'd pretty much got the pattern down to a rough art at this point.
Once all that was out of the way and he'd ferried Nanaki, Tifa, Aerith and Barret to Cosmo Canyon from Kalm, he could more-or-less get back to Vacation Time (a.k.a, Learn How To Build A Rocket-Ship By Helping Cid Build His) and also back to his latest long-term project. Last time he'd run into Squall Leonhart in a Dissidia loop, the Garden Branch's Anchor had mentioned some interesting things about learning various common spells and abilities without using intermediaries like GFs, and Cloud was making steady progress in learning how to perform the same feats without materia. Really, it was just too useful an idea not to explore, and he could only wait to show the other Lifestream Loopers the next time he ran into them Awake.
In all honesty, he'd be just as happy to see someone else Awake. It had been a pretty long string of lonely loops at this point...
-x-x-
A continent away, in the depths of Nibelheim's mansion, there was a locked mausoleum. And in that room, from within its central coffin, there was a sigh.
"...Enough."
Said coffin's lid promptly flew off with enough force to lodge itself in the door.
The first time Vincent had found himself awakened by memories of a seemingly impossible future, he had written it off as a strange dream and went right back to his nightmares. The second time, when he'd found himself with those same memories and the additional recollections of several more years sleeping in his coffin, he was suspicious...but not enough to return to the world. Much the same with the third time, despite his mounting irritation.
This was the fourth time. And it was becoming increasingly clear to him that for all he could sleep here for the next century, his past and that odd dream was just going to keep waking him up every few years. As such, there were better things he could be doing. Such as investigating any truth to these strange memories of an adult Sephiroth, and AVALANCHE, and Deepground. Of Lucrecia, and Chaos. Of Hojo.
It was time... to find Hojo. And shoot him in the face, as many times as necessary. And maybe a few times more.
Before that, he was going to visit Lucrecia's grotto. That would be the simplest, if not the most satisfying way to verify any truth in these odd dreams. If she was there... if even just the cave was there, that would be enough to at least merit further investigation.
But first, the door. Vincent stood and strode over to the door, ripping the coffin-lid out of its grasp. Getting out would not be a particular problem; while the door was locked, he wasn't a Turk for nothing - and the hinges were on this side in any case. Although... he studied the door's panel, which now had a foot-long gash all the way through to the other side. There was that one trick that the dream insisted he was capable of. Was it worth a try...?
Well, he doubted that the cloak-form could fit through a gap barely two inches wide. So he tapped the pins out of the door-hinges - really, his own lassitude had been the most potent ally on Hojo's side in keeping Vincent contained - and then slipped into cloak-form. Through the open door...then down the passageway, up the spiral staircase, into and out of the decrepit mansion.
He reverted to form at the entrance to the grounds. That, he reflected, was one question answered.
Beyond the rusted gates, Nibelheim stood. Due east, over mountains and river, the grotto awaited. His cloak-form could probably make it, but...
Chaos emerged, though not without a great deal of effort. He could just fly there.
An ominous roar reverberated across the surroundings, from no throat human or monstrous.
Vincent shed Chaos' form and clutched his abdomen. On second thought, perhaps he should visit the town and eat something first. He hadn't broken his fast for four decades*, after all...
(* Four-ish decades subjective, anyway.)
-o-
10.8 [tovath]
Terra placed down her last card and two of Squall's cards changed to her color. The grid was full; there were more cards of her color than of Squall's.
"You're getting better."
Terra shook her head. "I only won because I had a rare card."
"A win is a win and you always have rare cards." Squall said leaning back in his chair. "So where did you get that Hrist card?"
"Valkyrie Profile. Hrist was going to kill a man right in front of his daughter. We fought. They kept talking about how beings of the divine race were different than humans, so I thought I would see if it was true."
"Surprised that you didn't trip up any other problems." Said Squall,
"I had a few backup plans."
"Of course," Squall cleared off the table. "Another game?"
Yes, please."
-o-
10.9 [tovath}
The tides were calm in the bay of Altissia, but Leviathan knew they would not be for much longer. There were two things bothering him. One was that there was someone calling to him. "Who dares break the slumber of the Tide?" he called out.
"It is I, Lunafraya, blood of the Oracle. Goddess of the Seas, I beseech you; Enter into this covenant that the King might reclaim the Stone."
Leviathan now knew where he was. He had wondered when he would show up here. Hopefully there would be no problems with delivering Cecil's letter and gift.
He burst up out of the water changing into human form as soon as he was far enough out to do so. His breasts bounced. That had been the other thing that had been bothering him, hadn't it? Maduin had not been kidding about not noticing physiological changes right away, but really. He pulled a cloak out of his Pocket to cover up a bit more. "I will be glad to help, but could you please use masculine pronouns to refer to me."
Despite what was no doubt a great amount of bafflement, Lunafreya said "Thank you sir." and bowed.
Noctis came running up. He looked around as he caught his breath. "What?"
Leviathan looked straight at him. "I'm looking for an Anchor."
Noctis mouth dropped open, but what he said was, "Welcome to the Loop. We are about to be attacked."
"Ah, yes, of course." Leviathan sent up a circular tidal wave and froze it in place, so to speak. From the outside it would look like a giant ball of water. It would stop all attacks.
"You're Leviathan."
"Yes and before you ask, this is not a fused loop, but I am not exactly from your loop. I will explain how that is possible, but first you need to explain what is going on to your fiance while I set up some chairs."
As he pulled three enchanted oak chairs and a matching table out of his Pocket, Leviathan kept an ear open to make sure that Noctis understood the basics of Looping. It never hurt to be sure. He then put everything he would need during this discussion on the table.
"Sit, sit." he said as Noctis finished up his explanation. "Now there are a number of Loops that are called collectively the Final Fantasy Loops that are all connected the easiest way to tell if you are in one is the presence of chocobos and moggles. The magic system is mostly the same in each world, including the ability to summon powerful beings to aid their summoner. These beings include Ifrit, Shiva, Titan,"
"The Astrals." said Luna
Levithan nodded. "We are called many things. There are others that you have not heard of as well. The thing is that we can start looping the same way that a human, or any other race, can. But since we exist in more than one Loop, we cycle through being Awake in every loop that we exist in." He took a sip of his drink as a blast of demonically tainted magic rebounded off the modified Exdeath deterrent woven into the tidal wave. "Now I have here a letter for you from Cecil Harvey, the Anchor of the Mysidia Loop." He held up a piece of parchment sealed with red wax bearing the royal arms of Baron "If you wish to write a reply I will see that he gets it. This binder contains a political overview and other notes for each of the other Final Fantasy Loops. You will be expected to write one for this loop.
"This," he said picking up the slim book with a picture of Noctis and his friends, weapons out, on the front cover, "is the Final Fantasy XV strategy guide. All of these have translation charms on them, so you should have no trouble reading them."
-o-
10.10 [Flametusk]
"Why is the chocobo eater a behemoth this loop?" Tidus asked.
"It's not that uncommon." Yuna reminded him.
"Alright, let me rephrase my question. Why is it stronger than a behemoth king this loop?" Tidus asked.
-o-
10.11 Final Fantasy IX / Digimon Frontier [Opus J]
Final Chunk.
Memoria was... Blue. It was also odd, twisted, filled with monsters, and teleporters. It wasn't for the faint of heart. Tommy found it to be a bit dull, honestly, compared to the Digital world. Even the monsters didn't really bug him that much, since none of them really felt like they were more dangerous than a Mega-Level Digimon. He watched as they forged a path through the lost world of Terra, and into the world's heart. "Anything I should be worried about?" He asked Steiner quietly.
"Not really. Just... be ready to run." Came the reply. Noticing the askance look the Moogle was giving him, he shook his head and explained. "Garland, creator and caretaker of Terra, is going to screw everything up. He tends to tell Kuja that he's dying-" he ignored the startled jerk form the boy, "-And Kuja is the epitomy of 'Not Taking It Well'. He absorbs most of the Power from this world, and tries to destroy everything, because if he isn't going to live through this, neither will anybody else." He finished.
"That's Sick." Tommy said in a horrified tone of voice. "What kind of Psyco-"
"Kuja - For all of his evil - isn't near as much to blame as Garland." Steiner's voice was hard as he thought about the root of his Loop's issues. "Garland created Kuja, and all of the other Genomes as his personal pawns and toys. And when Kuja became self aware, and began to make his own choices, he threw him aside like a cheap toy, never realizing that he was letting
loose a sociopath on this world. Or perhaps..." He paused for a moment and glared into the distance. "Perhaps he did know what would happen, and didn't see himself being caught in the crossfire." He looked over at the contemplative face of the boy with the orange hat.
Tommy's mind wandered over his own cast of miscreants, both his friends, and the enemies that often tried to kill them. He thought of the Insane Knights. He thought about Lucemon. "Why do all these people keep trying to become Gods? Can't they just leave well enough alone?"
Steiner grimaced. "Probably not. Megalomania seems to dominate Yggdrasil, doesn't it." He sighed, stretching in his armor. "No use now but to press on into the future, wherever it takes us."
Tommy nodded - then shifted his gun towards the right. It was time to throw down with another dragon.
-x-x-
The ensuing Chaos was a sight to behold, as the world's largest temper tantrum tore the dying world apart. It was both impressive, and sad. Even most Mega level Digimon would have had issues destroying a world by themselves. Sad - because it all was because a childish fit tore apart the whole mad mess, and made everything worse. The Mist now engulfed the world, making monsters stronger, and ruining lives. It didn't stop them from taking the Airship, however, and charging into the void above the world tree.
A final showdown awaited.
-x-x-
As guns went, it was a glorious example of power, speed, and silence. The gun, labeled 'ICE-G5000', was a Gauss Gun, which fired projectiles made of ice at ridiculous speeds, capable of punching holes in Battle Steel. It was going in his pocket before the Loop ended. Before then, however, it had a number of Behemoth, Iron Giants, and Crystal entities to smash through. Not that he was alone in removing the obstructions that littered the path. Zidane was cutting his enemies down, Dagger Summoning Titans that ripped through the field, Freya, Amarant and Steiner were pretending to be a meat grinder, and Quina... Tommy shuddered as he tried to forget s/he swallowing the Behemoth whole. that was a memory that wanted brain bleach.
Soon enough, they had reached the Crystal - and Kuja. As he opened his mouth to rant, Tommy began to prepare an attack. "Such foolishness, to challenge me. But it matters not. Soon enough, all will be united in the Abyss. Soon all will-" Kuja's monologue was cut off as a sliver of ice tried to bury itself in his stomach, and the momentary hesitation cost him as light and shadow both engulfed him, and rivers of energy tried to tear him apart.
He snarled and gestured, and orbs of violet energy flew at them. they were intercepted and returned, and the melee became general.
-x-x-
The attack - Ultima - had sent all of them to the ground. The next battle was... a bit Psycadelic. Fighting an entity of entropy near a crystal that sustained all life was weird no matter how many times Zidane went through it. Still, he had done this by himself a time or two, so it wasn't the absolutely terrifying experience of their first run through.
Tommy had been freaked out (Because no amount of warning could prepare for this moment,) but he had powered through. After they had been deposited outside the tree, Zidane grabbed the two of them and got in a few final words. "Well, this loop's almost finished." He said with a smile. "Rusty will help you out with the last month or so -" He ducked a swat for his head with practiced ease, "So try to enjoy yourself."
"And where are you off to?" Tommy replied.
"To save Kuja." That declaration got reactions out of most of them - Though the Moogle simply looked down for a moment, then nodded. "Leaving him isn't something I can do."
There was a moment of commotion, then Tommy spoke up. "Go save your brother." He walked off after that comment. It stymied the others as well, and after a moment of silence, the rest began to wish him good luck - and insist that he come home safe.
-x-x-
Bonus
Tommy woke up to the familiar scene of a Train station falling far into the distance, and a smile appeared on his face. It had been fun, but he really had missed Takuya, JP, and all of the others. Even Zoe... though he needed to sit down and have a discussion with her when she was Awake. He felt a Ping, and returned one to whomever else was there. He pulled out his phone and pulled up one of the many apps on it.
Time to plan a new Loop.
-x-x-
"So you ended up as a Moogle?" The sound of disbelieving laughter made Tommy blush, but he handed across the photo to the Loop's Anchor. "Awesome! Did you pick up any other tricks?"
"A few." The blush faded as he grinned. Pulling a Gun from his Pocket, he took aim at the approaching Ogermon, he shot it's leg - and the digimon froze, unable to move. The next shot encased it in ice. "One or two."
Bonus Two
"So my replacement..." Vivi's disbelieving voice echoed as he stared at the picture of the orange hat wearing Moogle.
"Yep. He was a gunner. kind of like you in some ways." Steiner replied with a smile. "So, you ready for this Loop?"
"What do we have planned?" Vivi asked, pulling out a notepad.
"Well, Zidane wanted to try out a Play revolving around Son Goku..."
-o-
10.12 [Jeanne Summers]
Diaspro awakened in a kitchen, in a rustic looking house. She turned, observing the furnishings, her dress and apron, and the cold, somewhat desolate mountainside outside the window.
'Where the heck?' She felt a Ping go off, she sent one back. A second unidentified Ping followed a few seconds later, as did the clatter of small feet down the stairs.
The boy who emerged couldn't have been older than twelve, he stopped short at the sight of her, blonde hair in gravity defying disarray and bright blue eyes which stared at her, alarmed and confused. Diaspro stood awkwardly, awaiting his judgment.
"Well... you're not my usual mother."
"Moth-" Diaspro's loop memories hit her all at once, one in particular standing out. "OH! Wow... birth is a messy and terrifying procedure."
"So I've heard... and seen, I occasionally grow up to be a doctor. Hi, I'm Cloud."
"Diaspro, I'm from the Winx Club Loop, I don't know if you've heard of it."
"Can't say I have, what's it like over there?"
"Fairies, witches, magical battles for the fate of the universe. What's the story here?"
"Alien parasite-virus Hel-bent on destroying the world and riding it around the cosmos like a rocket ship, evil corporation literally sucking the life out of the Planet for fuel, Elite augmented SOLDIERs who tend to end up unstable, and wanting to eradicate large swaths of life... also lots of killable monsters," he shrugged, then added "we're a 'Video Game' in the Hub Loops." as if that explained a few things.
Which it kind of did, Diaspro had notice about twenty Laws of Reality, for which existence changed from universe to universe, that could be predicted with 98% accuracy for any given universe, based on the world's main 'media format' in a hub loop.
"Oh... mine's a cartoon... so are you the Anchor?"
Cloud nodded.
The duo stood there awkwardly for a while.
"So..." Diaspro twisted her apron in her hands, "you mentioned killable monsters?"
"Yeah... did you want to fight some after breakfast?"
"Yes please."
-x-x-
Diaspro sunk her blade into a monster, she had no idea what it was, though she was certain Cloud had told her at some point. They'd been traveling upwards to the mountain's summit, Cloud told her the evil alien parasite-virus was sleeping at the top.
He had a list, he'd said, of things he liked to get out of the way when he woke for an early Loop. Top three were killing Jenova (the evil alien parasite-virus), waking up someone named Vincent (and she should feel free to make as many vampire jokes as she wanted), and burning down an old mansion.
"Damnit!"
"What's wrong?" Diaspro made her way to the (not as young as he looked) boy's side, before them was a vast expanse, a factory of some kind on the far peak.
"Bridge is out," he grumbled.
"Lovix," Diaspro let the transformation wash over her, squashing a tiny smudge of irritation. 'Seriously, you join the 'main cast' and you get all the useful and cool transformations, how is that fair? It's like 'being a Winx' is a prerequisite for levelling up.'
Ignoring Cloud's surprised look, she picked him up and cradled him to her chest as she flew across the gap.
Setting him down on the far side, she huffed.
"What?"
"That is cool, and I want one," he said appraising her form. "So is Lovix like a spell or the form or what?"
"It's the name of this form, we tend to use the name of the transformation as an incantation to focus, but it's really not needed. It's mostly just a 'battle cry' thing."
Nodding his head in understanding, Cloud led the way into the building. There were tubes filled with glowing green liquid – Mako, he'd called it, the literal blood of the planet – with creatures floating inside. At the top of some stairs was a room, the word 'JENOVA' hung on a plaque over the doors.
"Oh that is heinous!" Diaspro exclaimed when she saw the thing inside the tube at the end of the room.
"Not for long," Cloud countered, pulling explosives out of his Pocket.
"What are you doing with those?"
"I'm going to blow up Jenova," he gave her a look like it should have been obvious.
"I am your mother young man, and I'm not about to let you play with explosives until you're older," Diaspro propped her hands on her hips and gave her best 'stern mother' face.
"Are... are you serious right now?" Cloud looked more and more confused. Diaspro held her pose a few seconds longer before letting it go with a scoff.
"Nooo, I just wanted to see what Fairy Dust does to an evil alien parasite-virus thingy. Enchantix," her body glowed as her form changed. She plucked the Fairy Dust bottle from her neck and, with a quick flick of her wrist, sheered the top of the container off without disturbing the contents. Cloud watched as an impossible amount of glittery dust poured from the tiny bottle, with the senses given to him thousands of loops before, he felt the flicker and pop of Jenova's alarm before she died.
The part of him that was Cetra – and hadn't that been an annoying loop – heard Gaia breathe a sigh of relief as the 'dust' spread through the Mako, destroying any and all trace of Jenova it found.
"I. Want. One." Cloud told his stand-in-mother.
"Visit our loop as a fairy and make it to Enchantix level," Diaspro flipped her hair over her shoulder with a trace of smugness. "Now, you said something about setting a mansion on fire, and a vampire friend?"
"Yeah, but you realize I have to blow the reactor anyway right, it's siphoning actual, literal 'Spirit of the Planet' Blood, without which the whole world dies."
Diaspro pouted, then grinned, magic flowing from her finger tips.
"I give you: Tecna's eco-friendly power station make over!"
"...Why is it pink?"
-x-x-
It had taken almost a year of whining by phone before Cloud gave into his friend's request to join him at ShinRa. Diaspro, tired of the town's views and pettiness, locked up the house behind them. Using her pre-existing reputation as the town witch, Diaspro told the town that any who tried to break in, would end up cursed in the worst possible manner.
Using her actual fairy powers and her extensive magical knowledge, she place protective spells and a few actual curses on the house just in case.
The pair took the long way around, stopping by several more reactors for Diaspro to change them - "But do they have to be pink?" - Diaspro enjoyed the opportunity to practice her photography on new scenery, new creatures, new faces.
The less said about Diaspro's first attempts at riding a Chocobo, the better.
-x-x-
To Cloud's dismay, Diaspro and Zack adored each other, and co-created Metal Chocobo, a fan club dedicated to Cloud. It wasn't the first time Zack had made Cloud a fan club - "It's good for your self-esteem!" - but it was the first time someone else was as enthusiastic about the club as Zack.
-o-
10.13{Tovath}
Eric was in a different wildness than usual. One that was full of monsters instead of dinosaurs. It was much harder to find food in this loop, because the plants just weren't growing properly. He had no idea of why this was and his in loop memories were no help at explaining anything.
It was four days before he met another person. He had set up a trap to catch game, but instead it caught a big green monster. A very mad big green monster that tried to kill him the minute he came to check on the trap. He tried to stop it with the cobbled together spear he had made, but that didn't work well. He got punched and then the monster threw lightning at him. Next thing he knew a young woman with green hair was leaning over him.
"What just happened?"he asked trying to sit up. His head was pounding and he almost didn't make it to a sitting position.
"You got into a fight with Phunbaba." Her hand started glowing with a white light and when she placed it on his forehead he felt much better. "Don't worry he is gone now."
"Good," what had Alan said to say when meeting a possible looper, oh ya, "I am feeling Loopy."
"Well, I will be an Anchor for you. I do believe you forgot to Ping."
"Sorry, I'm pretty new at this. I'm Eric Kirby of the Jurassic Park Loop."
"Terra Branford, Anchor for the Warring Triad Loop." she replied "Come on, we better hurry if we want to get to shelter before dark."
Eric nodded and got up only then realizing how much better he felt, oh and that his shirt was completely shot.
"Healing someone doesn't fix their clothes, but don't worry we have some spares where we are going." After hearing that Eric decided he really didn't want to know how badly he had been hurt and also that he really wanted to learn that healing spell.
After walking for several miles Eric saw a town in the distance. As they got closer he saw it was actually the ruins of a town. "What happened here?"
"Kefka. He turned his 'Light of Judgment' on it, Whenever we fail to stop him or awaken too late to do so, he does this to the world." Terra shook her head. "There are a number of reasons I'm grateful for the Loops, but I wish we could get rid of him permanently."
"Um," Eric gulped scared, "Do you need some help getting rid of him?"
Terra smiled, "Thank you, but my friend Celes is already taking care of him for this loop,"
A dog came up and Terra scratched it under the chin. She then took Eric into one of the least destroyed building and down the stairs.
"Mommy" cried out a whole bunch of little kids. Terra got down on her knees to give each of them a hug and ask if they had been good. Typical kid stuff. At least he thought that until he realized that besides Terra there were only two people older then him in the room.
"So where did you come from?" asked the guy.
"Oh sorry," said Terra, looking up from the kids. "Everyone, this is Eric. He helped me get rid of Phunbaba."
-o-
10.14 [kaleidoscope89]
[SUB-BRANCH: FINAL FANTASY XIV]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH: ANCHOR: ALPHINAUD LEVEILLEUR]
[SUB-BRANCH: INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
When Alphinaud woke-up due to an attack alarm, his first instinct was to grab his grimoire... only to find it missing. Not only that but even his Tataru-tailored clothing had gone missing, leaving him wearing his old Sharlayan traveling wardrobe.
For some reason, he was traveling in a ship again without being actually aware why he was in a ship. Though it was a comfort he spotted his sister with him, albeit also dressed in their old clothing. While she too was awake, she made no motion to get up from her spot. Odd, as the last time their ship was attacked on the way to Doma, she was one of the first to head up deck. In the end, neither of them left their seats as a crew member announced they managed to flee the attacking ships and they would be making port in Limsa soon. Unfortunately the rest of trip was not as exciting. With his sister returning to her nap, Alphinaud was left alone with his thoughts, trying to remember how he ended up inside this ship. He vaguely remembered bidding farewell to his father before leaving Sharlayan, but that had been many moons ago. Nothing came to mind as another announcement rang out that they had finally arrived in Limsa.
Arriving back at the docks brought a lot of memories, from the first day arriving in Eorzea to coming back from successfully liberating Doma.
"Doma? What are you talking about brother?"
Alphinaud was not aware he was thinking out loud.
"You do love the sound of your own voice."
He was about to give one of his own retorts when Alphinaud spotted a familiar face disembark from the ship. Of course they would be traveling with the Warrior of Light. Though why they just came from the ship, he had no clue. The last time he remembered they were together was on top the Royal Menagerie after Ala Mhigo. Aplhinaud wondered if the Warrior of Light had gone back from another journey as there was something different about them. A new haircut? Haircolor? Scars? Alphinaud couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe it was the clothes they were wearing. Compared to the intricate robes and armors the Warrior of Light used to wear, the clothes they currently wore screamed green adventurer. A far cry from the battle hardened Hero of Eorzea.
When he saw the Warrior of Light finish talking with a merchant from the ship, Alphinaud called out to greet them.
Only to realize he could not remember the Warrior of Light's name.
Hand frozen halfway to a wave, Alphinaud never vocalized his greeting as the Warrior of Light walked past. During the short period they made eye contact, there was no sign of recognition in the Warrior of Light's eyes. Alphinaud was just another stranger to him.
What was happening?
"Something wrong there Alphinaud?" his sister asked.
-o-
10.15 [flametusk]
Luna looked around in confusion at her surroundings, which were reminiscent of Insomnia's ruins, right after the king died, and were definitely not in Altissia.
Nearby was Gentiana, and she could see Umbra approaching as well.
"Gentiana, I have received a vision of the future. Altissia will fall as it is attacked by the Empire when I awaken the Hydraean."
"So you have Awoken to the nature of existence, it seems. Noctis will be pleased to hear it. When you next write him, use the words "loop" and "awake", with awake, or any form of it, being capitalized." Gentiana told the Oracle.
"You... speak differently than you tend to. Why?"
"The Multiverse is broken, and time is looping. I'll leave this world's Anchor to tell you the details, Luna. But you will soon become the second oldest being of this world, relatively speaking."
-x-x-
Noctis took the book from Umbra, and saw that Luna had written more than she usually does at this time. Curious about what the change was this loop, he let out a laugh of joy.
"What's on your mind, Noct?" Ignis asked.
"You remember how I told you guys about the time loops, and how I'm the only one who remembers what happens?" The Anchor replied.
"Yes, what does that have to do with lady Lunafreya's message?"
"She's looping. She's finally looping! I won't be alone anymore!"
"That's good to hear."
"Since she used the code words, I'm guessing that Shiva is Awake this loop, and told her about the loops."
Looking back at the book, Noctis wrote to Luna, telling her to meet him in Lestallum in a few days.
When Umbra left, Noctis felt happier than he has since he learned that he wouldn't always be the only one traveling through time.
-o-
If anyone would like to write for the Final Fantasy Infinite Loops, please contact me.