Ch. 2

Chilling screams of agony and unspeakable horrors threatened to break the Warrior of Light's mind and crush his sanity like a ten-ton anvil falling onto a single grape. The pain in his ears combined with that of the goddess tore into his abdomen, slashing away within him. A great dizziness befell the Warrior, who clenched his gauntlet-bound hands into tight fists and pounded them into the ground in an episodic fit of overpowering mania.

A tear slipped past one of his wide, dilated eyes as the Warrior fought a losing battle against the massive surge of strenuous emotions raging within him. But when he reached his limit and it seemed he could no longer continue the struggle to remain conscious, the noise ceased. Silence filled the hollows of his ears and his body restored itself to equilibrium.

The Warrior rose to his feet, and without pause, continued on his journey as if nothing had happened. Indeed, as far as he was aware, nothing did happen.

Cloud sat with his legs hanging loose over a floating bit of Gaia overlooking the Lifestream. "Where's your posse?"

"They're not my posse," Squall growled irritably. Although in truth, his annoyance lay with the Warrior, and not with Bartz and Zidane. Standing on the opposite end of Cloud, he waited at attention for the arrival of the Warrior as per his grudging promise to the man. All the while he wished he could ditch his post in favor of tracking down the two good friends he remained reluctant to call his "posse".

"If you say so." Scooting further back towards the center of the floating rock, Cloud leaned back to lay his back flat on the ground with his hands cushioning his head. As he gazed up into the endless spiral of green that flowed in all directions, a thought occurred to him. "How long have you been here?"

"You know that 'posse'?"

"Yeah?"

"I left them because they talked too much."

"You've been here ever since?"

"Can't you take a hint?"

"Humor me. Need something to keep me awake while we guard this post."

"Whatever." Squall shook his head and sighed. "Made a round trip. Cosmos told me to tough it alone from right over there." He nodded with his head to the centermost platform of floating rock—the largest and most circular of them all from which all other masses seemed to spiral out of.

"She said something like that? Doesn't sound like the goddess I know."

"That's because it wasn't. Ultimecia made her eyes three shades of blue too dark."

Cloud chuckled.

"You think it's funny?"

"How'd a guy who can't stand socializing with a couple of enthused adventurers—who makes as little effort as possible to know the people around him—notice that the phony goddess had eyes not one, not two, but three shades of blue too dark to be the real deal?"

At first, Squall wanted to ignore the remark, taking it as a damaging insult to his pride. But he couldn't stop his mind from trying to answer the question. It was then, as his urge to defend himself worked itself into overdrive that he realized the startling truth.

"It was…instinct."

"What?"

"It's like…I've seen her so many times that I just knew."

"Who, the fake?"

"No… Both of them."

"So she's been playing you this whole time and Cosmos never said anything?"

"You don't understand. It's…it's almost like a dream—as though I've seen it happen in a dream before Ultimecia ever approached me."

"Like Déjà vu?"

"Maybe…"

Cloud pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself clean. "Let me get this straight," he said, now looking Squall in the eyes. "You've met Ultimecia disguised as Cosmos over there on that same platform more than once."

"What's it matter?" Squall closed his eyes and adverted his head to the side. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

"I need to know."

"Why?"

"To know if we're the same."

Squall opened his eyes. "What?"

"This…" Cloud reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing, red rose. "I've always been angry," he said, holding up the rose for Squall to see, "but this time, it was different. It wasn't just personal anymore. When Sephiroth first came at me, I knew he had Firion's rose—even before he showed it to me."

Squall narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'this time'?"

"Like you said: it's like I saw it in a dream before it happened. Every emotion, every feeling, every thought—all the knowledge involved, experienced in a dream before the actual events."

Squall folded his arms and tossed his head back. "What does this mean?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Cloud hummed as he tucked the rose back into a safe place.

"Ho, there! Comrades!" the Warrior of Light called as he jumped down several platforms. "What news have you? What is your status?"

"I've got my crystal," Cloud announced, producing the pale green orb for the Warrior to see.

"Excellent work, Cloud. And I see the Manikin forces have been purged from the field."

"For now."

"Yes, they will likely replenish within the hour," the Warrior noted while taking careful observation of the area. "And what of you, Squall?"

"I waited here like you ordered me to do."

"Your crystal?"

Squall pulled the silver crystal from his pocket.

"Very good. You may accompany me to the Rift where the enemy has fortified their forces to impede our progression towards the Shrine."

"Whatever." Tucking away the crystal, Squall shouldered his Gunblade and marched his way towards the center platform.

"As for you, Cloud, set course for the Tower where our forces are spread far too thin."

Cloud started for his given path, but stalled in his movement to look back towards the Warrior. "Do you ever dream at night?"

"We've no time for petty chat, soldier. There is a war to fight."

"It's not so petty when your dreams show you the future."

"The future, you say?" the Warrior asked, his interest in the topic not at all what Cloud had anticipated. The tone he conveyed hinted at an underlying automatic dismissal of the subject as if it were too ridiculous to even entertain for a second.

"Everything I'm going through—it's like I've done it before multiple times. The same actions with the same people yielding he same results—I know things that I shouldn't know. You ever experience something like that?"

"That is a symptom of battle fatigue. You must take care to rest more in the future or else the enemy will have no trouble in destroying you." Without looking at Cloud, the Warrior walked passed him and jumped to the center platform. He marched on, his armor clanking with every step, until everything that remained of his presence drifted far out of the Lifestream's boundaries.

Meanwhile, Cloud held the rose once again in his hand and stared at its brilliant red pedals in wonder. "Battle fatigue, huh?"

"It didn't used to be this way," Tidus muttered as he trudged on alongside his companions. They wandered along a cold, stony corridor with lighting so poor they resulted to conjuring a quick fire spell to guide their passage.

"What are you talking about?" Firion queried, swerving the flaming torch in his hand to get a better look at Tidus.

Tidus wrinkled his forehead in thought, slowing his pace to better arrange the words buzzing madly within his head. "It's been eating at me this whole time, but now I'm sure of it. This isn't how it used to be—none of this is how I remember it." A star athlete from his world, his credits lay more with his agility and hand-eye-coordination on the field than with thoughtful introspection. Every action and reaction was carried out as reflex, never taking much time to process any detailed and complex thought. In essence, thinking was seldom his strong point, thus it came as surprise to the others, as well as himself, that he would even take into serious account a string of words whispered to him only in a fleeting dream.

"You're worried about what the Warrior said, aren't you?" Cecil noted.

"He said I was in his dream! That doesn't exactly happen everyday. I'd remember if it did."

"It's nothing to get worked up over," Firion assured, placing a hand on Tidus' shoulder to help ease his racing thoughts. "We all dream about our comrades from time-to-time. It's perfectly natural considering the circumstances."

Tidus shook his head and groaned. "No, that's not it! It was real—I'm sure of it! That wasn't just an ordinary dream."

"The what would you have us do?" Cecil stopped and leaned forward to look Tidus in the eyes through the dim flicker of light. "Our mission is to secure the crystals and defeat the forces of Chaos. Even if we were to believe the Warrior, we don't have the luxury of time to sit around pondering over his meaning. He's the only one who can explain himself to you, and right now, he's nowhere near this area."

"Don't you think I know that?" Tidus snapped, now getting riled and agitated.

"Hey, now. There's no need to get snippy," Firion said. "Getting upset at your friends doesn't help any."

Tidus let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Yeah, you're right. No point in worrying about it 'til I see the guy, right?"

Firion opened his mouth to answer, but the words were stolen from him by a Manikin crafted in his image. It broke through the wall and slammed into Cecil, clearing the way for a small battalion to flood the corridor. The battle was on, and the three warriors of Cosmos rose to meet the challenge.

Light exploded into the small area as Cecil shed his dark armor. He propelled himself into a group of Manikins and swept them away into the adjacent hall. Tidus and Firion split the remaining foes, one of which was a speedy, little Onion Knight that pick-pocketed Firon's axe and sword before the warrior could react. Chasing after the little scamp, Firion led a Manikin Golbez and Emperor away with him, leaving Tidus with the last person he wanted to see.

"Figures I'd get stuck with you," he grumbled, twirling a blitzball on his finger. "I'll show you who's the best!" In one fell swoop, Tidus spun around and kicked the ball straight at the Jecht Manikin, who let out a boisterous laugh as the ball bounced off his abs.

"You can't do it, kid," the Manikin mocked in its muffled, crystal tone as it swung its humongous sword like a baseball bat and struck Tidus straight into the next field.

Landing in a crater on the Lunar Subterrane, Tidus quickly bounced back to his feet and spiraled out of the way of the Manikin's follow-up attack. Keeping in rhythm, he dodged another string of blows before strategically positioning himself with his back to a large cliff. When the Jecht Manikin swung his sword in full force, it got stuck in the solid rock long enough for Tidus to slide behind it and unleash his Overdrive on the Manikin's exposed back. "You picked the wrong day to mess with me!" he hollered as he slashed into the crystal copy of his father without mercy.

The Manikin shattered and Tidus landed back on his feet panting for air.

"Why is this the wrong day?"

"Huh?" Not even given a moment's rest, another presence appeared behind the Warrior. Tidus swerved around on his heel, sword at the ready to cut down whoever dared sneak up on him. But the second he saw who the person was, he felt embarrassed for reacting so rashly. "Oh, it's you!" he exclaimed with a sheepish hand rub to the back of his neck. "Hiya, Cosmos. What's up?"

"I could not help but notice your anxiety," the golden-glowing goddess noted. "Speak your mind."

"Oh, well…" Tidus trailed off, not sure if he wanted to waste the goddess's valuable time with tales of his peculiar dream. Maybe Firion and Cecil were right in saying that the whole ordeal was a waste of time and nothing to worry about. But if he didn't tell Cosmos now, he would miss a prime opportunity to seek advice from an omniscient deity. He decided to tell her. "Cosmos, I had a really weird dream last night…"

The goddess listened to her warrior detail everything that transpired during his dream. Her facial expression, like always, remained unchanged. When Tidus finished explaining his plight, Cosmos took a moment to consider his words before replying.

"The voices—what were they saying?" she asked, to which Tidus wrinkled his forehead with reluctance to answer. "Forgive me, I realize it must be difficult for you to relive."

"Yeah, it is, but…" He closed his eyes and shook his head to free it of the dreary aura amassing around it. "I can't tell you exactly what they said since I couldn't make out any words. All I can say for sure is…that I recognized some of the voices."

"I see."

"And…"

"Yes?"

Tidus paused for a long while, daring to replay the orchestra of chaos in his mind. He allowed the voices free passage back into his ears and relived the last few screams just to make sure of what he had heard. "One of the voices…" he said softly, "was yours."