Part 2. The Cloud Descends

Disclaimer still applies.

I hope you like action 'cause there's not much else in here. XD

I will be following FF3DS canon because the characters have more personality. Also, I have taken liberties with the gameplay. ... Considerable liberties.

Squall lay on his back, hands clasped and pillowing his head.

Castle Sasune was drafty, and an insistent cold breeze was chilling his fingers despite the roaring fire in the grate.

There was a flurry of activity at the corner of his eye, a crash, and over the clatter of scattering crockery, there was a heartfelt groan.

"Bartz!" the Onion Knight protested.

"Sorry! It was an accident!"

Squall directed a baleful eye at the hyperactive youth, who was trying to chase down an earthenware plate before it rolled into the fire.

A musical giggle.

Squall huffed and swung his legs down off the bed. "Don't bother, kid," he said. "He'll always be a klutz."

The Onion Knight rolled his eyes. "My name is Luneth, you know. Not 'kid'."

Terra laughed again, covering her mouth with a thin hand. "It's alright, Luneth. Nothing is broken."

"Better not be. Princess Sara will have my head..."

Bartz flung himself down onto the bed next to Squall's, and a wayward flying boot narrowly missed his shoulder. "Don't let your girlfriend hear you talking about another woman like that!"

Luneth reddened like a Wisp. "Refia's not my girlfriend!"

"Sure seemed like it when she scolded you today. It was a labour of love!"

Luneth growled and crossed his arms, turning his back resolutely to Bartz. "I refuseto let you provoke me, you oaf."

And over Bartz's raucous laughter, a rumble sounded from the far end of the room, sobering as a splash of icy water.

Bartz looked over cautiously, as if to see if there would be any further movement, but Exdeath was still and silent.

Bartz and Luneth exchanged an apprehensive glance, and much subdued, Bartz leaned forward to speak.

"So what, our worlds are merging?"

Luneth tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "I believe so. Or at least leaking. You said you have been seeing into Cloud's world, right Squall? Before you came here?"

Squall nodded curtly. "And I think he was seeing me."

"I have been seeing a different world, as well," Terra said. "I did not see anyone I recognized, but it was beautiful despite the heavy Mist clinging to the land."

"And in each of our worlds, monsters have been going berserk and changing." Luneth thought for a while and shook his head, sighing. "Here, it almost looks as if the Dark and Light Crystals have fallen out of balance again, and it seems like the Dark world is overpowering the Light, but how can that be? My friends and I had restored the balance so recently..."

Bartz's head shot up, eyes sparkling as if he had been struck with an idea as bright as a chocobo feather. "What about your crystals?"

"Crystals?"

"Yes, you said they were sentient, right? Maybe they know something!"

Luneth gave Bartz a slow, thoughtful look that had him shrinking back. "What?" Bartz said defensively.

"That's actually a good idea."

"You don't have to sound so surprised!"

Terra had appeared first, rattled and alone. It was Cid who found her and brought her to Castle Sasune, because Cid had some sort of strange idea that Luneth was supposed to deal with mysterious strangers stepping half-dead through breaches in the universe. It was probably Refia's fault.

Not that he was complaining, really. He was glad to see Terra again. There had been an uneasy feeling in his gut for a while now, quite aside from the sudden pressures and the strange visions of dark forests and towering metal structures. If something was happening to his world, then it was quite conceivable that the same could be afflicting other worlds. Terra could have been in danger, and, well, he swore he would protect her, didn't he?

Squall was next. Luneth admired Squall to some extent, even if he kept his distance and called him "boy" all the time. It wasn't as if he was much older. No, what he admired about Squall was the way he could keep it all together and remain stoic despite having just hopped to another world altogether. Squall didn't even look confused (although Luneth did have his doubts about the long-term effects of keeping all his thoughts and emotions bottled up like that).

And then Bartz had showed up (the impact and the shouting still rang in his head), and behind him, dogging his every step, was the Chaos warrior Exdeath.

Luneth had switched to ninja class and kept his weapons close to hand for three full days, but Exdeath hadn't made a move against any of them. He ignored them, actually, but he was always there, and Luneth didn't want to attack him just for being an unknown quantity. He'd asked Bartz about it.

"Hmm, well, I kind of think he's gone back to just being a tree. And who knows what trees are thinking?"

Succinct. Leave it to Bartz.

It had taken them two days to set out for the caves near Ur, while the cooks piled them high with travel rations and Refia threatened to whack him with her hammer if he wasn't careful and died on her. It felt strange, setting out to seek out the crystals without his friends at his side, but Arc could not leave his job teaching books (and magic, when they protested long and hard) to the children in Sasune. Refia had returned to her apprenticeship, and Ingus's duty was to his people.

Sometimes they reminded him that he was the only who hadn't moved on.

Luneth led the way, Bartz chattered Terra's ear off, and Squall walked a little away from them, keeping an eye on Exdeath's trailing bulk. Misfits, all of them, he thought fondly.

They were travelling the grasslands just past the desert when Luneth stopped, looking about suspiciously. Bartz caught his eye, quiet and grim.

There it was again. A shuffling sound.

Luneth waved at the warriors, signalling that they should spread out. He drew his sword, and when the first Werewolf leapt at him, snarling, he was already slashing up and around.

He saw a flash of sunlight on steel and heard a bang. Squall had thrown a Revenant back, its rotting flesh squelching unpleasantly when it hit the ground. Two Werewolves lunged, and Squall's gunblade was a blur of movement.

A whompof Terra's fireball exploding on his other side distracted him for a moment, and Luneth staggered back, leaning out of reach of a Werewolf's claws scrabbling blindly at him while its jaw was impaled on his sword, forcing its head up and away. He ripped his sword away and hacked down at the monster's shoulder, its fur matted down with blood.

Bartz tumbled past behind him, easily dancing out of reach of an enraged Werewolf. Seeing his opening, he lunged in until the Brave Blade had sunk in to the hilt before jumping back out of reach again.

There were so many of them... Luneth blocked another clawing slash and shoved his sword into the beast's eye socket.

They were surrounded.

Luneth ducked under a Revenant's outstretched arm and rolled behind it before it noticed he was gone. He concentrated, and there was a flash of light under his feet as he switched jobs. Summoning up his HP and shearing a portion off the top to forcibly power up his blade, he swung.

Most of the enemies had been wounded already, and they fell under his Souleater immediately. The others were severely weakened, and quickly dispatched by the other warriors.

Luneth shifted back from his Dark Knight form, smiling at Terra in relief.

Terra's eyes widened, then. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream, and she pointed behind him.

Dread pooling in his stomach, Luneth spun around, raising his sword. He wasn't going to make it. He was too slow, he knew.

There was the slick sound of a blade parting flesh and a dull thud. Luneth looked down at the corpse of the Cyclops that had been sneaking up behind him, cleaved almost in half.

He looked up at Exdeath, wondering if those were eyes he could see in the slit in the helmet.

"Uh. Thanks," he said.

Exdeath turned away without giving the slightest indication of hearing him.

Well. That was different.

After Terra had healed everyone (she had been initially appalled that she would need to relearn her magic, but it quickly became obvious how enormously many eighth levels casts she had, and Luneth had given her all of his spells without hesitation before relearning his spare Curaja and Flare), they arrived at the Altar Caves without much further incident, although there had been a "What the heck is that!" moment when an enormously bloated Killer Bee chased Bartz half the length of the woods by Ur.

"So..." Bartz said doubtfully. "We have to fall down this hole."

"Yeah." It sounded stranger now that he thought about it.

"How do we get back up?"

"Well, the wind crystal usually warps me out."

Luneth resisted the urge to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. He hadn't come back to see the crystal since the first time he was transported in with his friends.

Squall shook his head. "Let's go." He leapt, vanishing quickly into the gloom.

Bartz pumped his fist. "Okay! Let's do this!" He jumped, shouting "look out below!"

Luneth rolled his eyes. What would he have done if Squall hadbeen standing directly under the hole? He peered down, braced his arms against the sides of the hole as he swung his legs down and dropped, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.

He wondered if he should offer to catch Terra, but she stepped down beside him out from a gentle float.

They looked up, and there was a flash of blue up above the hole, but no giant suit of armour descended.

Bartz looked at Luneth, and he shrugged.

"Think he's too big to fit down the hole?" Bartz suggested.

"Oh." Luneth looked up at the hole again. It was rather narrow. "Hey, uh, we'll go ahead and talk to the crystal, and then we'll come back for you, okay?" he called up.

There was no response for a moment, and then footsteps receded towards the entrance to the cave.

That was probably an 'okay'.

"Right. That way."

It may have been a feeling, or it may have been the lingering heat suffusing the cave, smelling of fire magic. Luneth sped up as he approached the room housing the crystal's platform, Onion Sword fairly vibrating in his hand.

He turned the corner, and skidded to a halt on the lower platform. All around them, it was impossible to see the bottom of the yawning chasm below, and the slightest noise reverberated and amplified, bouncing back from all directions.

Luneth stepped forward, and his heart sank into his gut as he stared at the broken shards of crystal huddled pathetically in the centre of the crystal platform. Some pieces had melted, it seemed, and fused to the ground from the heat of a spell.

"Who—"

Terra gasped and clutched at her head, and Luneth reached out to catch her.

"It's him, isn't it?" he said.

She shuddered, her voice a faint whisper. "I can feel it."

"Who?" Bartz said sharply.

The shrieking laughter seemed to come from everywhere. Luneth saw a flash of red, and then the huge, upside down grin was hanging from above, inches from his face.

Luneth swallowed a shout and sprang back, Onion Sword coming around in a sweeping slash.

"Kefka," he said through gritted teeth.

The clown twisted in midair to avoid his attack and landed lightly on the platform, his blood-red back facing the warriors of Cosmos.

"Hmm..." The sound buzzed all around them. "It seems we have a rat problem!" He brought a hand up to one side of his face, miming speaking into some kind of handheld device. "Hello, hello! Exterminator! Whaat? No vacancies? I guess I'll just have to..." Kefka swung around, then, twisting his upper body as he raised a knee high in a caricature of a dash, and there was a horrible leer on his face. "...do it myself, then!"

Luneth dived to one side to avoid the spray of fiery arrows, scrabbling and clinging hold to the edge of the platform as his legs tipped over and swung over the void.

He heard the bangs of the Lionheart over his head as he hauled himself back up. He dashed in, blade stabbing forward in a flurry of strikes, and Kefka hopped up and back, cackling the whole way, before winding up his arm, an inferno blazing and growing in his hand.
Just as the clown was about to launch it, a hissing, spitting fireball rammed into his face and exploded. He staggered back, but it was immediately followed with sharp crystals of ice that accumulated like a morningstar, freezing patches of his skin dead white. A rumble, and a crackling bolt of lightning pierced down and earthed itself through Kefka's feet.

Luneth shouldn't have been impressed by now. He always knew he couldn't quickcast nearly as well as Terra just managed on foreign spells.

Kefka screamed and clawed at the air over his face. White glitters of Trine appeared under him and shot outwards in every direction.

Luneth leapt and tumbled out of the path of the spells. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bartz score a deep, bloody gash over Kefka's leg before pulling away and shielding his face as a spell erupted under his feet. He bounced once, back thudding against metal, and vanished over the edge of the platform.

He knew why Bartz had done it. To hinder Kefka's movements. But he hated it: this kind of suicidal, blind courage.

He was yelling something now. He didn't know what.

Squall twisted up above Kefka, bringing gunblade and heel down to drive the clown into the ground. A ring of explosions blasted out from the circle his blade had traced.

And then Kefka was under Luneth, writhing and blinded by smoke, and Luneth dived. Drops of blood stung against his skin. Good, that had hit. He kicked off and up, a sense of weightlessness merging unpleasantly with the distortion he felt from shifting jobs.

"Flare," he whispered, and his vision went white.

The metal platform had buckled and cracked, and it shifted ominously under his feet.

Kefka was flat on his back, and he thought the broken pieces of the wind crystal had pierced through the clown's back. Mangled limbs twitched once.

Luneth grabbed at Kefka's jacket. "Why did you do this? Why break the crystal?"

Kefka barked a laugh, and it changed into a hacking cough from seared lungs. "We knew you would come here."

"We? Who is 'we'?"

Kefka shuddered so hard it looked like a convulsion.

Luneth shook him hard. "Tell me!"

He thought he would shake the clown again, but Squall's hand dropped heavily on his shoulder and tried to pull him back.

"Hey, he's dead."

Luneth sat back, staring at the blackened walls of the cave. He had failed. Bartz's sacrifice was...

"Bartz," he said, and it was almost a whimper.

"What's up?" Bartz responded.

He thought it was a ghost for a wild moment, but then he saw the glow of Terra's trance, rising slowly from the chasm.

Bartz collapsed to the floor as soon as his feet touched solid ground again, and he tried to hug the platform. "I thought I was a goner!" he said, wild relief in his voice.

"You almost were! You idiot!Don't ever do that again!"

Bartz turned his head, face still plastered against the floor of the platform. His eyes were solemn and soft.

"I'm sorry, Luneth," he said.

Luneth stretched out next to the fire, enjoying the wandering breeze over his face.

None of them had wanted to stay in the cavern for more time than was necessary, but without the crystal, and without the warp it maintained, Luneth had wondered if he could perhaps convince Exdeath to let down a rope for them.

"Luneth," Terra had interrupted, "I have your Teleport spell."

He sighed, looking up at the night sky, and let himself feel stupid for a moment again.

The urgency had set in once they had retrieved Exdeath and left the cave. If the crystals of light were being broken, that would explain why darkness was overpowering the light world again. Luneth had to know if the other crystals were safe.

As for the wind crystal... Terra had said she could hear it whispering to her, that it would regrow through the power of the four chosen warriors, in time. It couldn't tell them anything else. It was too weak, it had said.

Luneth didn't like leaving it, even so, but the other crystals...

He sat up with a gasp. The earth was shaking under them.

"What's going on?" Bartz pitched against him when a particularly strong quake tossed him forward.

What looked like giant red orbs whistled through the air, and a dozen Grenades spun and landed, weaving about as they surrounded the warriors.

"Something is happening in the Molten Cave! We have to go in now!"

A slash of his sword tossed one of the monsters back, and it shuddered, growing twice as large as before.

Cursing under his breath, Luneth spun around. If one of them blew, then the others would too. He tried not to imagine the crater that would be left on the ground.

"Terra!" he called.

And suddenly, he could see his breath in the air before him. The Grenades hung like crystalline decorations ringing them, each frozen solid in glittering ice.

Starting from one end, the Blizzaga spells shattered, sprinkling snow on the ground while the monsters screeched and wisped away into nothing.

"Thank you, Terra," he said, his heart still hammering in his chest.

Squall nodded beside them.

"Let's go in," Squall said.

Luneth tore past the monsters in the cave. He dimly registered slashing into the enemies that sprang out at him as he sprinted, but all he could think about was the fire crystal.

He thought he could hear Bartz yelling at him to slow down and let them look at the burns on his arms, but he ran on, and when he entered the crystal chamber and the fire crystal glittered, whole and pulsing with power, down at him, he let out his breath in a hard whoosh and sagged.

Pain seared through his shoulder, and Luneth gasped, looking down at the purple-black barb piercing through his body.

"Luneth!"

Terra slid to the ground beside him, her hand glowing. The barb ground itself slowly out of his shoulder, the skin healing in its wake and red with irritation.

"Oh good. An audience. I shall enjoy this."

Luneth glared up at Ultimecia, eyes stinging with pain, as she turned gracefully in the air and extended an arm towards the fire crystal.

"No! Don't touch the crystal!"

He heard a snarl behind him, and there was a blur of black.

Squall flew at Ultimecia, the Lionheart held up high. A beam of light blazed from its tip, and he swung it downwards. The air glowed in its wake, as if the beam was boiling it away.

Ultimecia pulled away, clasping her arm like it had been burned. She hissed.

"You do not have a place here!"

She waved her hand, and more barbs shot toward Squall.

Twisting and dodging, Squall flicked the projectiles away with the gunblade. He stood between Ultimecia and the crystal now, and Luneth saw the cold twist of his lips, and he shivered.

"Time's up," Squall said.

He leapt up, pushing Ultimecia back into the shadowed arch of the high ceilings, and Luneth couldn't see them anymore but for the sprays of sparks scattering in the wake of the crashing blows.

A flash, and Exdeath appeared, teleported directly under Ultimecia. She screeched, tumbling through the air at his slash.

"What do you think you're doing? Who brought you here?"

And she screamed again, a streak of blood splattering to the ground, and reeled away from Bartz, shooting black, shrouded spells back.
Bartz swung the Brave Blade quickly, and ricocheting spells exploded against the walls of the chamber, knocking chunks of rock loose to drop down into the spitting lava below the crystal platform. The force of the spells knocked Bartz back, and he dropped down onto the platform below, landing and rolling.

"How dare you!" Ultimecia raged. Squall was diving down toward her, Lionheart extended and glowing white. She raised her arms over her head, black roiling power gathering between her hands. "Time!"

Luneth watched in horror as Squall's descent seized and stopped, and Exdeath's raised weapon stilled as well, freezing like a macabre tableau.

Blood sprayed wide. Luneth cried out, watching Squall's body hang in space, not even jerking at Ultimecia's blow.

Laughter filled the air, heavy as lead pressing down on his head. Ultimecia raised her hand, black spears forming and hanging beside her. She plucked one out of the air and held it thoughtfully in front of Squall's throat.

"Hmm. Reality is harsh, is it not?"

She reared back to strike.

Crackling white light crawled over her body like ropes, pinning her arm in place and pulling her backward. As Ultimecia screamed and struggled, Luneth saw Squall begin to move by the tiniest increments.

He looked up at Terra, standing beside him, her arms thrown up at Ultimecia and shaking with tension. She was biting her lip so hard that the flesh had gone white, and a droplet of blood welled up slowly.

"I can't..." Terra shook her head. "I don't have enough power..."

Luneth grasped her hands with both of his own, opening deep inside and pouring every bit of his power into her.

The white light glowed brighter and constricted harder, and Squall sped up, raising the blazing Lionheart over his head with eyes wide and focussed.

He pulled at his magical reserves viciously. He was running dry, he knew.

A warm hand landed on his and squeezed, and Luneth felt Bartz's power streaming through his hands and Terra's like wind.

He looked up into Bartz's cheery smile.

Above them, Ultimecia screamed again, long and grating, as sixteen blasts of light flashed in quick succession, filling the cavern.

It was silent afterward.

A thud and a skid, and Squall was leaning heavily against Luneth's side, his right arm dripping blood from fingertips like long red nails.

Luneth pushed back, bracing himself to keep them both standing. His magic casts were gone, he knew. Digging through his inventory, he poured a hi-potion over Squall's arm. Pale mist wisped, taking the worst of the injuries away as they dissolved.

"Thanks."

He smiled. Squall nodded at him, testing his right arm.

Chosen Warrior

Luneth jumped. The voice of the crystal entered his head without passing through his ears. The others straightened as well, faint puzzlement on their faces.

I thank you and your friends, Chosen Warrior.

"Oh. Yes, no need. I'm glad we made it in time."

The water crystal remains safe and untouched, but the earth crystal has sent images to me of a cloud of darkness gathering once more in Xande's lair.

Luneth's eyes widened. "It's back?"

It is likely that the cloud of darkness was sent to the lair because as the place of its rebirth, the barrier between light and darkness is at its thinnest.

"It must have returned with me, after the war."

Be wary, Chosen Warrior. The cloud of darkness must anticipate your arrival.

Luneth clenched his fists. He would never run away again. He promised Terra.

No, he promised himself.

"It's okay," he said, and he was proud that his voice did not waver. "I have some unfinished business with it, too."

His friends were watching him.

"Let's go," he said. "We have to leave the floating continent."

Luneth stood at the prow of the Airship Invincible, looking down at the world spread before his feet. The sun was rising, casting long, sharp shadows over every mountain valley.

He couldn't help the sense of vastness that seeped into his bones, making him feel tiny in comparison.

It wasn't fair. He thought it would be over after the first time he was "chosen". He thought he would live in peace after that. Maybe take up some fishing. No more enemies he thought he could not beat even if he ripped up everything he was inside. Ingus had tried to protect him. Tried to give him part of his childhood back.

But then the war happened, and it was so long that when it was over, and he was back, he didn't know if he remembered how to do anything else but fight.

He rubbed his eyes hard. He was tired.

He wondered what his mother was like. Would she have known everything, like Princess Sara sometimes did? Would she have been able to tell Luneth what he needed to do?

He felt like he had jumped into decisions headfirst so many times that he didn't know how to get back. What would Ingus have done? At what point should he have made a better decision?

"Luneth?"

He jumped. "Terra! What's wrong?"

Terra shook her head, her hair shining almost white in the morning light. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Oh, I..." Luneth scratched his head, laughing awkwardly. "I was too wired. You know how it is."

"Maybe."

He watched her for a moment, looking down and around at his world.

"What do you think?" he said softly, gesturing down at the scene.

"It's... beautiful." Terra gave him a hesitant smile. "It's almost frightening, seeing all of it like this."

Luneth shook his head earnestly. "There's no need to be afraid. I will always be here, and I will protect you."

"That's what you said last time, too."

Luneth winced, looking away. "I'm sorry. I couldn't protect—"

"No! That's not what I meant!"

Her arms were tight around his shoulders, and hot tears soaked through his hair.

"You're always promising to protect someone, even when you're so scared you're shaking. It's not fair! I want to be stronger. I want to be able to protect you, too!"

Luneth stood still. "You arestrong, Terra," he said in a while. "We couldn't have beat Ultimecia without your Holy magic. You saved us all."

"Stop it!"

He stared up at her, taken aback. "Wh—what?"

"Stop feeling responsible for me! For my feelings! I want to be strong so that I can stand next to you, to all my friends, and you will not look back at me to see if I'm okay, because you can trustme."

The ship had sunk into the dawn out of the shadow of the floating continent now, and light was all around them.

Luneth smiled so brightly, he thought he might blind the sun.

"Yeah," he said, "let's get strong together."

Flashes of Holy whipped over his head as Luneth flanked the Bone Dragon with Bartz, both stabbing for the weak hollows between the segments of its spine, and he did not look around to check on Terra. He could picture her narrowed eyes and raised hands as she focussed and swung out spell after spell.

He ducked and dashed under a swiping claw, hurriedly rubbing the sweat from his eyes. Leaping up, he dived, the Onion Sword thudding into the monster's exposed neck and sinking down to the hilt.

It screeched, thrashing underneath him, and he clung to the smooth bone, trying to dig his fingers in between the cracks.

Finally, it tilted sideways and clattered to the ground, nearly burying him with falling bones. Coughing at the dust that the beast raised, Luneth accepted Squall's hand and pulled himself up out of the pile.

Even with the earth crystal's repeated warnings that the Cloud of Darkness was waiting for him, he wondered if they would even make it to the Crystal Tower past the monsters, which were stronger than he ever remembered them.

He snuck a look at Squall, and found him looking straight back at him.

Squall nodded decisively. "We're gonna make it. You've defeated it before."

Luneth laughed helplessly. "But my friends were there with me the whole time. They're so strong."

"And what are we, chopped liver?" Bartz said indignantly.

Luneth accepted the punch to his shoulder, laughing and raising his hands placatingly. "Sorry, sorry. You're right. We're going to do this. Because we have to."

Terra's smile was warm, and he held that feeling in his chest as he spun around and swung hard, shearing off the head of a Bluck before it had the chance to even think of summoning anything.

And then they were in the sunlight again, looking up at the Crystal Tower as it faded and disappeared into the white clouds torn and swirling around its spires.

Luneth stared at the door, gaping black and huge against the shine of the tower.

"Is this it?" Bartz said, mouth wide as he leaned his head back to look up the length of it.

Luneth nodded.

"Yeah. Let's do this."

TBC – And then there was FF10.