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Chapter Text

Rosa’s eyes were closed, but the light outside was so bright she had to shut them tighter. She didn’t know where she was. The world was spinning, spinning, the air whipping around her so hard it hurt.

She tried to open her eyes, even a little, but the gold light assaulted her, forcing them shut. The air grew thick. She couldn’t breathe, dizzy and disoriented.

There was one final flash, sparking behind her eyes.

And everything was still.

She didn’t know how long she lay there afterwards, waiting for her head to stop spinning. When movement occurred to her she stretched out her fingers and felt cool, soft dirt underneath her ring finger and pinkie. Wondering where her first three fingers were, she ripped her eyes open in shock and realized she was just wearing a brown half-glove that covered her thumb, index, and middle finger. The last two on the glove were fingerless.

Rosa couldn’t see much from where she was lying. Without moving her head, she roved her eyes around what she could see. A large stone archway that blocked everything behind it, patches of tall grass, and some stone structures she couldn’t identify. She stretched her legs out and her foot touched something that scraped against the ground. Rosa shot up and scrambled away from it, afraid of whatever it was. She looked closely and saw three weapons carefully laid in the dirt - or, they had been, before she kicked them. Ignoring the weapons, Rosa stared at the brown boots on her feet that she didn’t recognize. She flexed her feet, as though it would confirm that they were in fact attached to her. She looked down her arms, at the white, spiked pauldrons on her shoulders. Her right arm was bare except for the glove on her hand, but under the pauldron on her left side was a leather guard that covered from her shoulder to her bicep. Her entire forearm was wrapped in a buckled bracer, and the glove on her hand was completely fingerless except for her thumb.

Her halter top was a pale yellow, almost gold. A patterned brassier-like top covered her bust, but the rest of the material was thin, shiny mesh, not quite see-through. With green ribbons that wove around her - like vines, she thought absently. White thigh-high stockings trailed up her legs, ending with a gold trim and a pink jewel. The jewel matched the guards she had over her knees. Shaped like shields, and the pink jewel in the center. She wore a deep, wine-red skirt, longer on one side than the other.

The weapons caught her attention again. Lying skew, the one she kicked was a gold staff. At the very top, framed in a gold setting, was a large diamond-shaped crystal. At the very bottom, a pink ribbon tied in a perfect bow, and up the whole length of the shaft were sculpted vines and roses, complete with thorns to make them look authentic. There were also gold accents that wrapped around the shaft. Beside it was a small dagger with an ornately decorated hilt. Diamonds, rubies, pearls, gems of every color covered nearly ever part of it except for the leather grip. The small scabbard was attached to a maroon belt, which she snatched up and clipped to her own belt.

The last weapon was a bow of beautiful craftsmanship. It appeared to have two sets of arms, one set within the other. The grip was attached to the outer set, of simple leather. But the arms of the bow had intricately carved swirling designs within them. The outer edges were painted with gold accents, pink flowers, and even blue butterfly wings. The inner set had a recurve shape, covered with carved thorns and roses. Complete with a brown belt quiver and gold-plumed arrows.

She didn’t recognize the clothes. She didn’t recognize the weapons. She didn’t know where she was, and as the realization crashed down on her, panic set in. Her breath came faster and faster, and she started to tremble when she realized:

She didn’t know anything except for her name.

Chapter Text

She looked around frantically, taking in as much of the world as she could. Hoping to recognize something - anything from the scene around her. She quickly realized she had nothing to use in comparison. She had been lying in dirt, she knew that at least. It was small, but having something sure to cling to pushed away some of the panic closing in on her. Rosa took a few deep breaths and twisted around to look behind her, noting the land as it came to a small taper. Beyond that was water. A large lake. She could see mountains and crags on the other bank, but they were small and far away. The land wrapped around the lake on her right side, and just off the shore where she lay was a thick, rocky pedestal standing straight out of the water. Rosa craned her neck and tried to see what was at the top, but she couldn't see from her angle. All she could see was that it was something white.

She turned back around and looked again at the archway and the grass around it. Except for the gentle lap of the water and the slight sound of moving wind, it was quiet, like it hadn't been disturbed in years. Immediately her heart clenched with the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be there. She felt as though she was interrupting the tranquility of that place, and panic shot down her hands and froze them, clenching them in tight, trembling fists at her sides.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud, and her voice disappeared, swallowed by the silence.

She climbed to her feet. Slowly. Unsteadily. Feeling like she wasn't connected to her body. Her arms and legs moved at her command, but it didn't feel real. She felt placed there in her skin rather than belonging there from the start. And she was trembling. She heard a soft sound behind her, like a small ringing, and when she turned, a yellow stone had appeared there. Rosa grabbed the bow on the ground and strapped the quiver around her waist, then snatched the staff and slung it around her back as well. It felt right before she faced whatever the stone was.

It looked like a yellow diamond, encased in spiraled stone. She took a step closer and realized it was crystal. Just like her staff. Crystals must have been important there. The stone pulsed once, its yellow light flaring, and Rosa scrambled away, afraid of what it could mean. She didn't know if it was dangerous. She didn't know what could happen to her if she touched it. And yet, looking into the soft yellow light, she felt somewhat drawn to it. Something was grabbing onto her hand and pulling her towards it, urging her to touch it. She blinked, and stepped away again when she realized she had actually been pulled towards it. She tried to turn away from it, from the glow, but her eyes refused to look away. Something about it held her gaze. She felt that something on the other side was leading her there. Her trembling legs inched her closer and closer to it. She watched her fingers stretch out, and the very tip of her gloved finger caught the stone.

The crystal pulsed again, and the light flew out towards her. It wrapped around her, holding her tight, and the floor dropped away from her. It solidified under her feet again before she could flail her arms. She opened her eyes, and her surroundings changed.

She was standing at the edge of a flat, round plain, with crops of white crystal formations rising up from the ground all around her. Rosa looked behind her, at the same yellow stone she had touched. It must have been a teleportation device. She inched around the stone, careful not to touch it again, and peered over the edge as far as she dare. She was about a hundred feet in the air, at the top of the pedestal she had noticed from below. She could see straight down to where she woke up. That archway. The mountains and grass, and a bit of the lake. Rosa returned to the front of the teleport crystal and stared down the seemingly empty area in front of her, crossing the plane to investigate. She took about twenty paces forward when something stopped her, and she bounced right off of whatever it was, momentarily confused. She didn’t see anything in front of her when she was approaching. Rosa placed her hands out, and sure enough, her hands stopped again, pressing flat against . . . something. Before her eyes, it rippled under her hands, and suddenly a pattern of transparent hexagons materialized. It was some kind of barrier.

Rosa huffed in frustration, and reset her hands further apart for better leverage. She braced one foot behind her and shoved with all her might. The barrier crumbled with much less force than she thought, and she phased right through it. She staggered into the dome, running forward to catch her balance.

Rosa shielded her face from the bright white shine of the area inside the barrier. She blinked rapidly until her eyes adjusted, then she took a look around. She was standing in a shallow pool of water, no more than an inch or two deep. Rosa kicked her foot and picked some of the water up, watching the droplets as they splattered feet away from her. There were clouds above her, but instead of the ominous, rolling grey of the clouds outside, these were of the purest white. Moving across the sky, but calmly. Combined with the soothing splash of the water, the place felt peaceful. She could feel it ebbing away at her anxiety. Her breathing came easier, her shoulders relaxed from their tense positions, and her fists unclenched at her sides.

All around her there were pieces of rocks, stuck randomly around the dome. In the center of the dome was one particularly flat one, slightly elevated on two steps that rose out of the shallow water. It wasn’t the particular stone that drew her attention, but the figure lying on it.

Her back was to Rosa, but from what she could see, the woman had on a white dress that matched the pure white of the whole area. She had golden-blonde hair, perhaps a shade or two lighter than . . . What color was her hair? Rosa reached behind her and took hold of her hair, loosely gathered off to the side. She pulled it out in front of her face as far as it would go and saw that her own hair was a pale, straw-blonde. The fact that she didn't even know her own hair color frightened her, but she left it alone for the moment, more concerned with the woman. The woman had a veiled tiara in her hair, and that was all the more Rosa could see of her. She was lying on her side on the pedestal, facing away.

Rosa approached slowly, trying to assess the situation but not knowing how. What if the woman was a threat? What if she wasn't? Rosa wasn't sure what she would do in either situation. She had the weapons but had no idea how to use them-

The woman stirred. She positioned her arms underneath her, and when she tried to prop herself up, Rosa saw her arms shake. The woman looked around, but hadn't seen her. Frightened by her indecision, Rosa tried to retreat away from her, but her foot splashed in the water and the woman startled. Her head whipped around and she gasped, and Rosa froze, unsure if she should run. The woman raised her eyes and looked into Rosa's. The brightest blue eyes that Rosa had ever seen stared into her, set within tired, puffy sockets. The woman's face was young and beautiful, with a sharp nose and slender jawline, and when she saw Rosa she relaxed and smiled softly, tilting her head in sincerity. All the fight drained out of Rosa quickly. The woman's eyes felt impossibly deep, like she had all the knowledge and wisdom of the universe packed into them. They were not young eyes, burdened by experience, but still peaceful. And Rosa felt warmth and tenderness spread through her whole body from those eyes. She felt the magic and serenity that seemed to halo around the woman in a wide aura.

"Rosa. Rosa Joanna Farrell."

Rosa blinked. She had said something. "W-what?"

"You are Rosa? Rosa Joanna Farrell?"

"Y-yes. Who are you?"

"Cosmos. I am the one who summoned you to this world."

Chapter Text

Cecil chose to watch Shinryu's coming from the Lunar Subterraine.

The arrival marked the end of the fourth cycle that he had seen, though he only arrived at the number after some difficulty. He easily lost track of how long he spent in Cosmos's world, fighting a war that wasn't his. Without any real marker to pass time, the days blended together, and so did the repetitive missions, and so did the normal happenings of each cycle. Fighting over the same locations with the same group of Chaos warriors created a specific monotony that was easy to float through with no real mindfulness, so he had to carefully recreate his circumstances around large-scale events, and remember where he was and who he was with for the last three times he had seen the dragon if he wanted to be accurate.

The numbers didn't mean much to him anyway when he compared them to the knowledge that all of it would be repeated. All he cared to know was that he survived long enough to reclaim his entire memory, and his recollection of Baron and the Overworld and Rosa was complete.

The Warrior of Light shifted next to him, sniffing slightly in the silence, and Cecil listened to the echo as it crept through the stiff air. The sound wrapped around his mind and tugged him back to the present, and immediately his eyes burned. He didn't even realize he had been staring. He pressed his palms to his eyes and blinked away tears and stars, thinking anything else he could to plant himself back in that line of thought. Sometimes, if he was lucky, remaining in the Subterraine managed to coax a last memory or two out of hiding, and Warrior was always nice enough to extend their patrol. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't seem to lose himself again.

Just as he moved to stand, the whole place brightened. Before his eyes the colors of the world around them blanched into varying shades of gold - the grey dirt became a gritty brown, the crystals growing like fungus on the bottom of each platform glittered a garish lemon, the stars darkened from white to a sweet honey, and the clear sky morphed from violet and black galaxies to the colors of yellow sand. The air itself thickened and shimmered, uncomfortably coating Cecil's throat and lungs with each pull of breath as if he were inhaling the color itself. It startled him for a moment, until he remembered that it would be over soon. As soon as Shinryu unapologetically graced this world with his presence for a few seconds and then left again just as suddenly, retrieving and restoring the fallen, then offering Cecil's friends back to him again and again like recycled presents.

Warrior sighed, a very uncharacteristic sound coming from him, but it represented everything Cecil felt. Cecil glanced at him, squinting from the tangible glow around the gold plating on his armor. Warrior's eyes remained wide and fixated on the sky with his eyebrows furrowed, as though he couldn't decide between sadness or awe. The two of them shielded their eyes as the sky emitted one last bright flash of gold, then it was gone as suddenly as it came. Warrior was the first to break the thick silence.

"Come. Let us return to Cosmos. Our patrol is over." Anticipation crept into his normally controlled tone, and he led the way out of the Lunar Subterraine. Cecil always felt anxious at the turns of cycles. Were there any new warriors? Who survived Purification? Who hadn't? For the 'seasoned' ones, as they were called, it was as easy as looking around. Who was there before, that wasn't there now? Who had memories, who did not? And who were the new warriors, freshly plucked from their probably wonderful lives?

Cecil cared deeply for his companions' states at the turn of a cycle. Each time someone woke with no memories of themselves or their comrades, it wrenched his heart, and pity ached in his gut like a sword blow. He always did what he could to help those who had forgotten. Their apparent relief at the thought of a friend warmed him, and typically replaced the sadness with a feeling of obligation - that he had to help his comrades. That was usually enough to take his mind off of all he had remembered, all that he had left behind due to Cosmos' need of him.

"I'm a coward," he said to her. "A coward who cannot even defy orders he knows he ought not follow." 

He dare not look at Rosa. He dare not look into her face, not after what he just did to the people of Mysidia. He was ashamed. Disturbed. The guilt gnawed at his heart like a worm that wouldn't stop squirming. He stared out the window to the turrets and ramparts of the castle below.

"Cecil of the Red Wings is many things," she said, "but he is no coward. Not the Cecil who I love . . . " 

"Cecil!" Warrior's deep, deliberate voice broke through the fog of the fresh memory. He blinked and shook his head. The memory of her, his wife, his Rose, his everything, still swam before his eyes.

Rosa.

Just the mention of her name had his heart sinking in sadness.

"Cecil," repeated Warrior, once again cutting through his thoughts. "We are here."

He hadn't even realized they reached Sanctuary.

Cosmos sat at her usual position on the throne, but it was the woman beside her who garnered Cecil's attention. A tall warrior, with golden-blonde hair. She had it loosely gathered to one side over her shoulder, and secured down its length with several pink bands. A two-layered cape covered her back: the bottom layer was floor-length, of sheer white cloth. Hemmed with roses in gold embroidery, while the top layer was waist-length, thick gold cloth, affixed by white spiked pauldrons. The remaining wisps of hair cascaded gently between the spikes as she brushed a few pieces behind her ear. From under the sheer cape Cecil saw a red skirt that was short on one side and longer on the other, short, heeled boots. A knife was strapped to her belt, a staff across her back, a quiver of arrows down near her hip, and a bow in her hands.

"A new warrior?" Cecil asked, still in a bit of a daze from his memory. "Just one?"

Warrior frowned, understanding Cecil's implications. He tactfully ignored them. "Let us meet her," Warrior said confidently, striding forward with Cecil in tow. He stood before the goddess and dropped to a knee. "Cosmos." He bowed his head to her. "My lady," he added to the unknown soldier. He looked up into her face and faltered momentarily, then hastily stood.

Cecil stepped up to pay his respects when the woman spun, her green eyes locking directly with his blue.

His breath caught in his lungs. His jaw fell open as he choked on his polite introduction. His eyes captured every inch of her. Lacy tights running up the smooth lines of her legs. The same white and gold knee guards that he remembered. Same leather belts that she used to wear - gold, brown, and maroon. He zig-zagged his gaze along the green ties up the front. The brasier, solid gold with yellow lace over top and thin straps that wrapped around her shoulders.

No. No, it couldn't be.

Slender neck and sharp, contoured jawline. Thick lips, defined, her nose equally as slender and sharp, and her hair framed her face nicely. He staggered back several steps as his eyes reconnected with hers. Hooded, slightly downturned eyes filled with the most dazzling and familiar shade of green Cecil ever remembered seeing.

His lips mouthed her name but no sound escaped, and he melted beneath her powerfully beautiful features, just as the first time they saw each other, when she stole his affections.

"R-Rosa!"

Chapter Text

"Rosa!"

Warrior knew the name. Cecil had said it hundreds, if not thousands of times over the course of his tenure in the war, but in his shock it sounded clumsy and unpracticed, even awkward off his tongue. Warrior quickly analyzed the woman who would be Rosa. Just as beautiful as Cecil described. Just as womanly as he made her out to be. Elegance floated about every one of her lines, and her beautiful features were so stunningly eye-catching, Warrior nearly abandoned decency and stared. With effort he tugged his gaze from her, roving his eyes back and forth between her and Cecil so he didn't feel so inclined to stare.

Cecil stood, frozen and dazed. His wide, but glazed over eyes stared at her in disbelief, his forehead and eyebrows creased, and his lips parted. And, Warrior noted, looking closer, his bottom lip quivered gently.

He looked horrified. He looked absolutely stricken.

"Cecil?" Warrior asked, edging closer to him. "Are you-"

"Rosa," he breathed. At the mention of her name Rosa's eyes narrowed. She gave Cecil a once-over, scrutinizing him from the beads in his white hair to the gold plates on his greaves. Warrior knew she did not recognize him in the slightest. Too shocked to notice, Cecil's eyes never left her face. His fingers stretched out towards her. "I- I ne-" He shook his head. "I never, u-umm . . . " he uncharacteristically stuttered. One of Rosa's eyebrows lifted. "I never thought I'd see you again," finally crawled from his throat. Relief colored his flushed face. His shoulders relaxed, his face softened, and he smiled at her. "I'm so glad to see you!" He started towards her.

Alarm flashed in Rosa's eyes. Warrior stepped forward and intercepted him, half-placing himself between them. "Cecil," he warned, halting him with a hand to his chestplate.

She forced a small laugh. "Yes, I am Rosa," she said quickly. "Who are you?" Warrior turned away from him to watch her. Her eyes flicked towards Cosmos over and over, pleading for help. Cosmos missed it. She was looking at Cecil with an odd mix of interest and something else - something deep-rooted in her frown that Warrior couldn't place. On her own, Rosa faced Cecil, crossing her arms.

Cecil paused, his smile faltering. "What?" he asked. "You know me."

"I can say with certainty that I do not."

He stepped forward again. "Rosa . . . " Warrior reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Cecil," he pressed evenly. He stared hard down at him, placing the warning in his eyes. Cecil's eyebrows furrowed. He didn't understand. He shook Warrior's hand off of his arm, and strolled confidently towards Rosa. She backpedaled away from him furiously.

"That's close enough, sir!" she yelled. She grabbed her knife and slid the blade a few inches free of the scabbard on her belt. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

"Rosa!" Cosmos started. "Stay your hand!"

"You are among friends," Warrior said, careful to keep his voice as calm and level as possible despite the rising tension. "I would prefer we discuss this civilly. Without weapons." He nodded to the knife. Rosa acknowledged him with a sidelong glance, but made no move to sheath the knife.

"Friends or not," Rosa huffed, "I just do not recognize any of you."

"You don't recognize me?" he whispered, dropping his gaze to the water. "D-do you jest? Rosa-!" Without realizing what he did, Cecil took another few steps towards her.

Rosa's eyes flared in anger, and the knife snicked the rest of the way free. "I do not! Please understand that I do not know you," she insisted, practically snarling the word. At the sight of the knife, Warrior stepped in between them again. 

"That is enough!" he said, hoping the authority in his tone would be enough to shock her out of her rage. Rather than back down, Rosa leveled her glare and squared her shoulders. He put his hand up, palm out to her. "That's enough," he said again, calmly. Warrior swiveled his head back and forth between them, and could see the realization sinking in to Cecil. He could see it dawning in his eyes, could practically hear Cecil's heart shatter in his chest. He drew himself to full height but his shoulders slumped, and he raked a hand slowly through his hair.

"What is this?" he asked suddenly, turning to Cosmos. She only smiled, with a deep sadness that Warrior could feel in his own heart. "Cosmos!" he yelled at her. "What is this?" Her sad smile faltered. A pained look crossed her face, and she gathered the shawl around her.

" . . . I'm sorry," Cosmos said, shaking her head.

 Cecil's normally pale complexion reddened with anger. His hands clenched at his sides. "But why?" he screamed at Cosmos bitterly. "Why her?!" Of all the worlds she had to choose from, Cosmos had chosen his. Of all the heroes scattered across their many realms, she chose Rosa. She chose the woman he cared for more than anyone in the worlds to fight in the cycles.

"I never meant to hurt you-" Cosmos tried.

Suddenly, Cecil called his spear. Rosa brandished her knife, but Cecil disregarded her completely, instead making his way straight for Cosmos. Panic flared in Warrior's heart, and his sword and shield were in his hands before he could register what Cecil was doing. "Lower your weapon!" he yelled.

Cecil's anger drove him forward, and he took a swing at Cosmos.

Chapter Text

"My lord, Chaos," Garland said softly, falling to one knee.

The Emperor almost snorted in disgust over Garland's affectionate tone. It made his skin crawl, the way Garland spoke to Chaos like a doting parent to a child. He long thought Garland incapable of such emotions, but either way, the Emperor swallowed down his nausea and begrudgingly knelt with the rest of them. He cast discreet, side-long glances all around him, checking the others' faces for any shreds of respect for Chaos, or even deference. He barely found tolerance. Hardly any of them lowered their eyes. He certainly did not.

It was pathetic. And mildly amusing, he thought, but he suppressed the grin, unwilling to draw attention to himself while mocking Chaos. The only one kneeling in true servitude of their 'master' was Garland. He clung to the monster's every word as though his very being depended upon Chaos' advice. The rest knelt in bored compulsion. Even Kefka, who had a comment for everything, remained silent in Chaos' presence, hoping for a quick end to the meeting.

"I have gathered the others as you commanded. You wished to speak with us?"

Chaos didn't immediately answer, slouched sideways in his throne. His top set of arms rested heavily on the arm rests of his throne, right fist jammed into his cheek to support his head, pulling his lip up into a sneer, left hand draped daintily over the front edge. The lower set of arms were crossed loosely over his stomach. Displaying a hilarious combination of 'bored out of his mind' and 'mildly interested'.

The uncomfortable silence seemed to thicken with each second they waited, clouding in the air like humidity. "Chaos?" Garland asked.

A distant grunt and a dismissive wave of one of his hands, and they all rose.

"A new cycle dawns in this world," Chaos rumbled. "Cosmos's pawns scrabble for a foothold in this conflict, still under the impression that they can somehow win these battles. Cosmos is weak, she is desperate, and she is acting foolishly. Just today, in fact," he said, moving his arms. He clasped the upper set over his mouth and leaned forward, as though sharing some dark secret. "She expended almost all of her energy in the summoning of a warrior. Just one."

Chaos' lips curled away from his teeth in a grotesque version of a smile, as though Cosmos' weakness was some running joke. In his silence, the Emperor checked his periphery again. Garland's eyes were fixed on Chaos, the Cloud of Darkness looked as disinterested as he felt, slowly stroking her snakes. Golbez's shoulders were tense - they weren't normally so close to his helmet. He couldn't possibly guess what Exdeath was thinking, hidden behind his armor. Kefka looked like he was bursting to say something, anything, and was practically quivering trying to hold it in, while Sephiroth kept his thoughts perfectly concealed, unreadable as per usual. Ultimecia had a playful glint to her eyes, obviously calculating for some plan of hers, while Kuja checked his nails and Jecht idly fiddled with the straps hanging from his uniform. They couldn't have cared less.

"We are on the brink of absolute victory. Your task remains unchanged: extinguish the light. Only then can you claim this world to Discord."

The Emperor choked down his scoff to a mild huff.

Garland's head immediately snapped in his direction. "Problem, Emperor?" he challenged.

The Emperor sighed loudly, reclining back in his place. He called his magic to catch him, his invisible throne floating just slightly higher than Chaos's elevation."These cycles already drain my patience, and this is what you've wasted my time to say?" he asked. "Truly, Chaos? We must extinguish the light?" He let the sarcasm drip from his voice. "My sincerest apologies, I had mistaken our goal all this time. I believed it to be more amiable than that!"

A soft growl grumbled in Chaos's throat, and he slowly slid back to his slouched position, lower than the Emperor. His eyes narrowed and his head tilted to the side, calculating the Emperor's audacity. Next to the throne, Garland shifted, tightening his grip on the huge greatsword he rested on the ground behind him.

"You will mind your tongue," Garland threatened.

"You strike no fear in me, subservient dog," the Emperor retaliated. "How ridiculous, bringing us here for that speech when he has not even called new warriors. For all the cycles we have seen, we have heard it enough. This was nothing more than a waste of my valuable time-"

"A waste, is it?" Garland snapped. "Any time taken away from your scheming and conniving and plotting of Chaos's downfall is time well spent! Don't think we don't know of your constant dissent."

"That 'scheming and conniving' has done more for Chaos and for you than he has done for himself!" The Emperor pointed down at Chaos, his lip curling. "Pitiful god, barely peeling himself from the throne. Remember well whose actions bought you enough time to rebuild yourselves in the second cycle!"

Garland stepped down from the dais next to the throne, dragging his sword behind him, and Chaos did not stop him. The Emperor lifted his head, staring down his nose at Garland to show how beneath him he was. Golbez quickly stomped forward, placing himself between Garland and the Emperor, stopping his advance. "I have no wish to see comrades cut each other down before this new cycle has even begun," Golbez said quickly. He spread his hands, palms down towards the floor in a gesture of peace. He turned towards the Emperor and whispered down at him, "You have a death wish, I presume."

"Chaos and I have already discussed your future in this war, Emperor," Garland said, speaking over Golbez's shoulder. "We cannot deny that you are a brilliant strategist, but your constant machinations against us are burdens we can no longer justify bearing. Antagonize us further, and you only make our decision easier. It will be Sephiroth or Exdeath we send to hunt you down!" he said, gesturing to them in their place in the ranks.

"Baseless threats!" the Emperor shouted back. He called his staff to his hands and swept it to the side, sliding Golbez across the floor and out of the way with his magic. "I've yet to hear one worthwhile bit of information from either of you, and I severely doubt one is coming. If you are finished wasting my time-"

Chaos raised a hand.

An electric shock jolted right through the center of the Emperor's mind and spread furiously through his body in an instant. His limbs went dead, his sight went black, and no sound reached his ears. Nothing reached him, except for the screaming of the individual fibers of his nerve endings. He tensed from the mental attack, collapsing to one knee, and sucked in painful breaths as his sight re-colored. The deafening sound that returned was filled with the chuckles and snickers of the others.

Chaos heaved himself to his feet and lifted a new hand, then swept it to the side. The Emperor was pulled up from the ground and thrown flat against the hexagonal wall of the realm. His diaphragm collapsed, his breath rushed out of him, and with an ear-piercing clang, his staff fell to the grey slate. Chaos kept his hand raised, suspending the Emperor. He stomped over to him, bent down, and peered face-to-face with him.

"I dislike when my warriors trade blows," Chaos hissed calmly, as though he hadn't just felt enraged enough to attack the Emperor. "You lack . . . restraint. Any battles between you would quickly descend into bloodshed. I also will not abide another civil war. Not when we are so close to victory. You will not engage him further, Garland," he said, and Garland backed away with a bow of his head, relaxing his grip on his greatsword. "As for you, Emperor," Chaos growled. "Challenge me as you see fit! Fight me to your heart's content!" His hot, rancid breath hissed in the Emperor's face as he leaned closer, his fangs inches from the Emperor's nose. "In the end . . . " Chaos clenched his fist. An electric charge rocketed through the Emperor. His muscles clenched uncontrollably, he struggled and jerked in his frozen prison, unable to move as the shocks tore through him.

Finally, Chaos released him. He plummeted to the floor and landed on a knee before him.

" . . . you will always lose." He spun around to face the others, his voice booming. "You will do as I command without question! Or the consequences will be . . . " He turned back to the Emperor as he fought to catch his breath, " . . . severe. Let this be a lesson to all of you."

He peered into the face of the Emperor.

The Emperor stared back in defiance.

"Is that clear?"

" . . . P-perfectly, Chaos," the Emperor choked, still fighting for air. He picked up his staff, dropping his gaze to the floor. Chaos' hand shot out and gripped his chin, forcing him to look into the face of the wretched creature.

"Lord Chaos," the god sneered.

"Lord Chaos."

Satisfied, Chaos backed away from the Emperor. "Begone, mortals. Haven't you tasks to complete?" He lowered his massive frame into the chair.

The Emperor stood and dusted himself off, feeling the heat of humiliation rise in his cheeks. It was quiet, and he could feel everyone's eyes on his back. He refused to move. He didn't want them to see his face. And yet, he felt obligated to walk away with every shred of his pride he could find. As soon as he felt ready, he turned around. And met a gloved finger in his face.

The clown attached to the finger let loose the earsplitting fit of cackles he'd been restraining during the whole meeting. "WAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Emperor fought another wave of mortification but it won, coloring his cheeks again. Slapping Kefka's hand away, he pushed past him, and forced his way through the other warriors and their laughs. Ultimecia's tinkling chuckle was the worst to him. The most assaulting to his ears and the most stirring of his embarrassment. Out of all of them, he hated looking weak in from of her most. He hated looking weak in front the only other strong warrior who could potentially contend with him. He didn't want her to think she was at all above him.

The Emperor reached the back of the group only to have his path to the exit blocked by Golbez. He strode up to the huge man expecting him to move, but Golbez merely crossed his arms in front of him, shoulders heaving with repressed laughter. The Emperor maneuvered around him. As soon as he passed, Golbez teleported away and vanished.

"Let them laugh," he thought bitterly, "When I rule this world, and all their pitiful lives, there will be no place for their laughter!"

He only needed to start planning.

Chapter Text

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 . . . "

Chapter Text

"Cecil Harvey, at your service," he said, kissing her knuckle like a gentleman. With the smoothness and fluidity that came with formal training. He carried himself like a king, Rosa observed. Elegance and natural grace floated about every one of his lines, amplified by his perfect posture. Back ram-rod straight, chin up and shoulders back. His lavender armor added another layer of awe and majesty to him. The deep purple patterns, the jagged pauldrons, and the sharp-edged greaves mixed brilliantly with the swirls and free-flowing patterns of the light purple, the cloth draped over his hip, and the gold accents. It all gave him a sort of effeminate beauty that reminded Rosa of a star-lit luminescence. Every one of Cecil's weapons - his spear, the knife on his hip, and even the sword on his back - were polished to a near perfect shine, showing his care for them. Sharp. Pristine.

He carried himself tall and his very air exuded authority, but from his sweet smile and honest, innocent looking eyes, it was an inviting and approachable authority. A gentle modesty that wasn't at all condescending or arrogant. He had thick silver hair that framed his face, strung with lavender and deep purple beads. And a purple and gold headband that exaggerated the sharpness of his features: pointed nose and chin, slender jawline, wide-set eyes and delicate eyebrows. Thick lips, tinted purple. Balanced blue aura circling him.

His whole look, pulled together with the paleness of his complexion, gave him an other-worldly quality that Rosa couldn't place.

Only when Cecil gave her hand a soft squeeze did she realize she was staring. She quickly pulled her hand from his, blinking her way back to Order's Sanctuary and everyone else in the area. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she offered. A token response. She prayed he didn't take it to be any more than that. And to her relief he simply nodded. The gesture seemed to hang thick in the air. Staring into his eyes felt awkward to her after staring so obviously for so long. Instead, she directed her gaze down, pretending that the ribbon on the end of her staff needed re-tied. She stepped back to slide it over her right shoulder. Nobody was talking. Everybody was watching her. It felt like it, at least. A tingling prickled in her face, where they were looking. She chanced a glance up through her lashes to check, and she met Cecil's eyes again. She averted her gaze again.

The silence still felt like it was kind of directed at her. Choking her. She opened her mouth to ask him something, anything, the first thing that came to her mind. Cecil beat her to it.

"That's a beautiful staff."

"Thank you," she said, presenting it out in front of her. She gently rested the top in the water to finish tying the knot in the ribbon. Once she was finished, she twirled it around and tapped the bottom into the water to show him the top.

"A Crystal," he said. "Fitting."

Fitting? "How so?"

"The Overworld - our Homeworld, is powered by the four elemental Crystals. It's reminiscent of our origin." The way he roped her in still made her mildly uncomfortable. She didn't like that he knew more about her than she knew about herself. She hoped he didn't notice her unintentional grimace.

"I didn't arrive here with this," Rosa quickly told him, so he didn't get any ideas. "It was at my side when I awoke."

"That was my doing," Cosmos said. "When I called you here, I had the Moogle Cid craft you new weapons."

The pure white crystal at the top of her staff was about the size of a fist, set against a gold rim. A pair of crafted roses rested against the bottom, with thin gold ropes spiraling down and around the shaft on either side. A few times they curled around each other, setting a few other gems between them. About halfway down, the gold ropes faded to green, and turned into a stem. And small roses circled around the top of her ribbon.

"May I see your knife as well?" Cecil asked. Rosa unclipped the entire hilt from her belt and tossed it to him. He turned it all around, admiring the intricacies and the colors of the jewels. He slipped the blade from the hilt and checked it. "Very wide crosspiece. Beautiful cut to the blade. Nice shine. You haven't used it yet?"

"No. I just got here!" she said, holding her hand out to take it back.

"Oh. Oh, right," he chuckled. "It's beautiful," he said, handing it over.

"Thank you." She slid her staff back over her shoulder and replaced her knife to her belt. She looked up and made direct eye contact with Cecil, who was staring once again. Though, whether it was at her or through her, she couldn't tell. His eyes had a kind of distant look to them. She looked away. Nodded slowly, unsure of what else to do.

"Do . . . " she began, trying to come up with a question, "Do you know everyone here?"

"Yes. I've been here a while, and you were the only new warrior summoned."

"Ah. How long will this- How long have you been here?" She let her real question slip. How long would this 'defeat Chaos' mess take? Cecil's face fell for a moment, but he still answered her question.

"I've been here for . . . " He paused and tried to think through it. Finally, he settled on, "A while. I can't even remember."

For that long? So long he didn't even remember? Rosa wanted to end the conversation. So many things just didn't seem to sit right with her. So she left it at his answer. She turned and decided to talk to some of the others while waiting for Warrior to return with the rest. Who was that brown-haired man? The one who walked in with Zidane.

Cecil beat her to that, too. "Well!" he said cheerily, "I'm going to . . . talk to some of our friends."

Despite their horrible introduction, Rosa admit she still followed Cecil around. Even as he gravitated to each of the warriors to chat superficially. She didn't have anyone else to talk to, even though he was slightly off-putting. He knew her world, he knew her, and he seemed to know a lot about this world and this conflict. And, despite the sometimes awkward turns of their conversations, she felt like she could talk to him. He was approachable.

He introduced her first to Tifa, who she liked, and Squall. Tifa was confident, cheery, easy to talk to as well. She asked Rosa a few questions about her and about their world, but when Rosa couldn't answer she didn't pry. Rosa was more grateful for that than she realized. She didn't like feeling stupid, standing next to Cecil who knew everything, and she didn't like not knowing so much about herself. She didn't like not knowing things in general. Squall simply stood and listened intently to their conversation, occasionally nodding his ascent or frowning his disagreement.

The Onion Knight vaguely irritated Rosa. He seemed overly confrontational. Arrogant, and quick to defend himself even when no one was attacking him. Always boasting his skills when they never came into question. Yuna, who he was standing with, was sweet. A kind-hearted summoner, always willing to put others before herself. When asked about her Eidolons she commanded Ifrit, Shiva, Bahamut, and a few others Rosa had never heard of before. Still, though, the thought of those few seemed familiar to her. In her mind she could see a face. A blurry face. Against a green background.

"Did . . . Did I know a summoner?"

"Yes!" he said, nodding enthusiastically. "We both knew her."

"She was . . . green. Or, something about her was green. I can't remember what she looked like, but I associate her with the color green."

"It was her hair. Her hair was green." Rosa framed the picture in her mind with curly, green hair, but it didn't make the picture of her face any clearer. It frustrated her, and she sighed exasperatedly before casting the image away.

Yuna smiled at her, gently reaching out for her arm. "Do you remember anything?" When Rosa told her no, she gazed sympathetically with her two colored eyes. "Don't worry. I know it's frustrating. But you'll remember everything soon, I'm sure of it!" She sounded genuine.

"Thank you," Rosa said, smiling back.

Firion took her hand and kissed it upon their meeting. He had every kind of weapon strapped somewhere on his body. And, according to Cecil, he knew how to use them. He was tall, he was obviously strong. He complimented the roses all over her weapons. And he asked to see her staff and bow, gently tracing the carved thorns as though in awe.

"You favor roses?" she asked. She had to. He was glancing far too intently at them.

"I do," he said. "They're my favorite flower. And they're part of my dream- my goal," he quickly remedied.

"Your dream?"

His face grew red. He blushed and looked down, handing her staff back to her. "I'll tell you about it some time later. Thanks for introducing us, Cecil."

"You're not embarrassed of it, are you?" Rosa asked. A feeling of pity spread through her heart. "You shouldn't be embarrassed, whatever it is."

"I know. But still. I'll tell you later."

As they walked away, Cecil leaned down and whispered to her, "He's sheepish about it because he's afraid it's too childish of a dream to have. He is proud of it, but afraid of the judgment in its wake."

"But what is it?"

"It's a dream to create a world of wild roses. A world of peace where flowers can grow."

"It's beautiful."

"Yes. And roses are his favorite. He'll definitely take to you. Come on, I think you already met Zidane and Bartz, but Vaan has yet to meet you." He led her over to their group, and Zidane immediately interrupted whatever he was saying.

"Heyyyyy," he purred, running a hand through his hair. "What's up, Rosa?"

He was trying so hard. It made Rosa smile. "Hello."

"Vaan, have you met Rosa?"

"Oh! No, not yet," he said. "Hiya! I'm Vaan." He was tall and lanky, like he didn't quite know what to do to handle himself. He had sandy blonde hair and a tan skin tone, obviously spending a lot of time in the sun. His vest barely covered his chest, but his waist-high pants and metal boots hastily covered the rest of him. It was an odd juxtaposition. He looked young. No older than eighteen.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rosa."

"Rosa, huh? Makes sense, I guess, with all the roses on your weapons."

"I thought it was because you're beautiful, but feisty like a rose," Zidane tried. Bartz scoffed.

"Wow. Don't listen to him, Rosa. He's a hopeless romantic."

"You talk about it like it's a flaw!" he argued. He let out an exaggerated sigh. "You see what I have to deal with?" Rosa kept seeing the flash of tanish brown behind Zidane - his tail. It flicked back and forth vigorously, seeming to match his excitement and pattern of speech. The movement kept drawing her eye, to the point where she couldn't decide what to focus on, his eyes or his tail. Was it even real? It looked like it was real, but she was skeptical to believe it.

"So, Bartz," she questioned, changing the subject to keep attention away from her staring. "You don't remember anything, either?"

"Uuuh," he said. He crossed his arms, glancing up into the air to think through it. "Nnnnope. I don't think so. I'm in the same boat as you. Freshly called here, don't remember anything."

"You're a new warrior? Cecil told me I was the only new one-"

"I must have made a mistake," he interrupted. "Sorry, Bartz, I forgot about you. Please accept my apology."

He laughed, waving his hands. "It's fine! Don't worry about it!"

"It's alright, Cecil. I know I forget about Bartz all the time," Vaan joked.

"Ouch. Get outta here, Vaan!" he said, pushing him lightly.

They continued their banter, so Rosa took it as the opportunity to leave. She walked back towards Cosmos, and Cecil followed a close distance behind her.

"So this place acts as our base?" Rosa asked him.

"Yes. This is Cosmos' throne. Her strength replenishes here."

"Are you our leader or something?"

"No. Warrior is - well, I try to help as much as possible. I feel confident in my knowledge and skills, and my ability to judge a situation. If I had to make a decision, I feel I could do so. Warrior's our leader in name and in practice."

"Question: is Zidane wearing a tail?" she asked, pointing back to Zidane.

"Oh, he's not 'wearing' it. It's real. Don't pull on it," he said. "Another warrior found out the hard way once."

"Hey! There he is!" Vaan said, pointing to where Warrior entered Sanctuary. He led a crowd of people behind him. It was almost comical. They looked like the most informal, patched-together group of people someone could stumble upon. Some were in full armor, some were dressed down. Some were tall, some were short. Most were men, Rosa observed. There was one girl, no, two. What was shocking about one of them towards the front was that she had pink hair. Speaking of hair, one of them had blonde hair that stuck straight up in gravity-defying spikes. As they drew closer he happened to raise his eyes, and Rosa met with the most striking blue eyes she'd ever seen in her life.

"Kain!" Cecil yelled next to her.

Rosa saw a purple dragon head perk up in the crowd, mostly because it belonged to the tallest warrior in the crowd. She tried to look collected, but despite herself, her curiosity got the better of her. She leaned this way and that to try and get a better view of the rest of the man under the dragon, but he was impossible to see through the crowd. Luckily for her, he pushed his way to the front, bolting ahead of the rest of them to catch up with Cecil.

He towered a full head over her, and a bit over Cecil, and he has to lower his head down to look at everyone properly. The dragon head was actually his helmet. The nose of the beast rested just above his nose, so when he was looked at full-on it looked like his opponent was facing down a real dragon, complete with glowing red eyes. The curvature of his helmet arched down his cheeks, ending below his eyes, making his sharp nose and frowning lips the only visible part of his face. The rest of his armor was purple and scaly as well, with spikes, fins, and even purple claws on his hands.

He made her wary. He was so tall and imposing, with broad shoulders and well-defined muscles, that she instantly felt belittled. She wanted to see his eyes and know what his face looked like, if only to appease her inexplicable fear.

"Kain, I want you to meet someone," Cecil said, gesturing to Rosa.

His face turned towards her. He walked up to her, bearing down on her with his wide shoulders. Leaning down slightly, unconsciously, boxing her in. And before she could help herself she made herself smaller, cursing the fact that she didn't even know him but he still made her feel small. His lips parted when he stopped in front of her as if in shock, then abruptly snapped shut.

"Does he know me as well?" she thought, as Cecil cleared his throat.

"Rosa, this is Kain Highwind, my lifelong friend. Commander of the Dragoons of Baron, and my right hand. Kain . . . Rosa."

Kain Highwind. Something about him unsettled her. She couldn't place it. He bothered her.

Kain knelt, reached out, and took her hand. He raised it to his lips. "My lady," he said.

Then he kissed her hand.

She gasped. Like a spark, a flicker of a memory flashed before her eyes.

Her shoulders ached. Her back ached. Everywhere she moved she lay uncomfortable on her arm. The ropes were starting to chafe, wrists stinging every time she even tensed them. How long had she been laying there in the dark? She shivered; the cold rising off the metal had seeped into her bones and blood and skin. Metal, metal everywhere. Had she been asleep? Or just lost track of time? She had no idea. All she knew was that this time Kain and another figure stood before her. A huge man in black armor.

Her heart dropped into her stomach with dread. "What are you going to do to me?" she asked. Her voice came out in a whisper.

Kain turned towards her. His lips stretched over his teeth. And he smiled at her.

She ripped her hand from Kain's and stepped back, a small cry escaping her lips. Cecil gripped her arm.

"A memory?" he asked excitedly.

She nodded, just as Cosmos addressed the crowd. "My warriors."

Chapter Text

Zidane inched closer and closer to Cecil, hoping Cecil would see him before he had to say anything. He never even noticed. His full attention remained politely on Cosmos, even though he had a troubled frown on his face. Zidane waited another second, then looked up at him and whispered, "So . . . that's Rosa, huh?" The noise startled him. He tensed and looked down at Zidane, looking him up and down with his eyebrows furrowed as though he couldn't quite remember who or where he was for a second. "Hey! Hello, hi!" Zidane said, waving slightly. "So, Rosa?" He could't wait for Cecil's answer. His tail flicked back and forth, faster and faster and out of his control with his rising anticipation. "So? What did you think? Did you have a good first interaction? Do you know how pretty she is? Well, I'm sure you know, but do you know?"

Cecil blinked, bombarded by the questions. He started answering the first one. "Oh! U-um, yes." Pride showed through his new smile as he returned his gaze to Cosmos. "Yes, that is her."

"And so . . . "

"So what?"

"I don't know, just . . . what do you think? Are you happy she's here? Sad? Both? Did you miss her? Did she remember that you guys are married? Did you guys have a good first interaction? I remember you telling us about her. How beautiful she was, and stuff. And all of a sudden, I was walking with the others, and the tip of my tail started twitching. Right here!" He grabbed it from the air behind him, anticipating its next flick, and pointed right to the end. "It's kind of like my sixth sense. I can tell where pretty girls are. And all of a sudden, it was just on fire! So I knew somebody pretty was gonna be here. And then I met her, and found out that she the sexy woman you never shut up about! And, just . . . damn! She's beautiful!" He couldn't think of the words to describe her. She looked like a goddess.

"Yes, she is, isn't she?" Cecil followed his gaze to Rosa.They met eyes, and she blushed and looked down, idly playing with the ribbon tied to her staff. He stared at her for a moment, then looked back down to Zidane.

"I don't often get jealous, but . . . Man." He couldn't think of anything more to say. He shook his head, throwing his hands on his hips while his tail slumped in the water of Sanctuary in defeat. He hissed a breath out through his teeth. "Lucky bastard," he muttered.

"I - I beg your pardon?!" he asked.

Zidane trudged back to Bartz's side.

 Cold metal on her skin.

Shivering.

Grey tinted room.

Black armor, gold accents.

Kain. Blue armor, red accents.

Rope burn.

Kidnapped.

Rosa returned to the present, but even as Cosmos addressed them, the memory still hadn't completely faded from her senses. She continued to receive quick, sporadic flashes of unconnected details. The warriors around her and her surroundings faded in and out, back and forth between the metal room and the water of Sanctuary. She couldn't root herself there with them, and when they quieted down and gathered around Cosmos, Rosa felt cornered and threatened. Unsure of their surroundings or who was really there with her. As quickly as she could, she ducked and dodged and slid to the back of the group, staying far away from both Cecil and Kain. Knowing she was drawing attention to herself but unable to care at the moment.

"Introductions are first in order . . . summoned two new warriors . . . in your campaign against Chaos."

Rosa shook her head, blinked hard, and luckily, the residual sparks stopped right in time. She took a quick glance at Sanctuary, at all the warriors around her, at Cosmos up on her throne, and knew she was back for good.

"Quick with knives, a talented archer, and an extremely good mage. Rosa Joanna Farrell," Cosmos said, gesturing towards her. Every one of the warriors in front of her swiveled and turned to look at her. Rosa made sure to meet eyes with every one of them. She wasn't sure why - to assert herself? Or maybe to ensure she was really there. Either way, she glanced at each warrior in turn. Some were stern, some were happy, some wore no expression. None seemed angry or distrustful, which made her feel a bit more at ease. She smiled, nodding her thanks at Cosmos. "Rosa is one of the most powerful White Mages that I have ever encountered. No doubt she will be instrumental in keeping us healed and healthy during our battles. And Bartz Klauser, who is a . . . jack of all trades?" She said it like a question, and looked at Bartz to confirm.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, that's what I'd call myself! Hi, everybody!"

"You will most likely find him watching you spar for the first few days he is here. He can copy your skills and weapons and replicate them."

"Wow. Bartz is a Mimic? He'll be a powerful ally," Rosa thought to herself.

"You all will have the chance to introduce yourselves, and some of you already have. I trust you will make them feel welcome, and I trust you all will help them gain their bearings and learn all they can about this world and how we work to end this war. In the meantime, listen close, all of you. Those of you who have been fighting this war for a while know that Chaos' forces have been quiet for some time. I fear they are plotting extensively, and I fear something large is about to transpire . . ."

As soon as the attention left her, Rosa let her focus wander. She couldn't take her mind off of the flashes in her memory, knowing they had something to do with Kain. She wondered if he had been on Chaos' side at any point. Any rational person would think that he was working with the armored man in her dream. And the way he smiled at her was unsettling. Like he knew something she didn't. Like he was going to prove her wrong about something. She resolved right then and there to leave the instant Cosmos was finished speaking. She had to get away from Kain, and from the memory flashes, and from Cecil and his hopeful expectations.

Things were moving too fast. Too much information had come at her with too little context, and she had been interrupted too many times by Cecil and the other warriors. Almost none of her questions had been answered, and though she knew the basics, that they were fighting for Cosmos and against Chaos to keep the world from plunging into darkness, she was still missing many of the intricate pieces: how long had the war lasted so far? What was Cosmos's role, besides calling the warriors and overseeing them? What were their odds? How many on Chaos's side were they meant to fight? How powerful was Chaos, and how did he get so powerful? "There's some information I'm missing. There're some crucial details I have yet to receive. Otherwise, this world makes no sense. These people make no sense. This war makes no sense."

It could be her lost memory. That was a huge variable that needed filled in to solve the equation. She blamed all of her confusion on it, hoping it would be all she needed. Cosmos told her earlier that battle was a way to bring some recollection back. How did it happen? A little sparring, then it all came back? Or was it a much slower process, one memory at a time like she experienced already? If so, how long would it take before she remembered everything? She didn't want to think about it anymore.

She returned from her thoughts and gazed at all of her surroundings, only to see Cecil staring at her. Had she been staring back? Her cheeks colored in embarrassment; she looked down quickly and absently fingered the ribbon tied to the bottom of her staff. He was still looking at her. The weight of his gaze on her face forced her to look the other way, only to meet eyes with a purple dragon. Kain. The fear she felt in her memory twisted in her gut, but she forced herself to stay strong and hold her gaze with him. His lips pulled up into a slight smile, though, with his eyes covered, it was impossible to tell if it held any meaning. She shivered with a sudden chill that shot down her back, and returned her attention to Cosmos.

" . . . must always be aware of your surroundings. Look after each other, and support each other. You never know what those on the side of Chaos have in store for you, but if you protect each other, trust in each other, no obstacle will impede your way to your goal. Thank you all, and you may be on your way."

The crowd dispersed as everyone clustered in individual groups. Almost instantly, both Kain and Cecil closed in on her. No way. She was leaving. Rosa spun on her heels and strode away from the group, anxious to be rid of the prying eyes, away from the attention, the unanswered questions. Her image of Kain left her shaken, and she was desperate to have some time to herself to think things through.

Chapter Text

As soon as Cosmos ended their meeting, Cecil watched Rosa spin on her heels and run to the edge of Sanctuary.

"Where's she going?" Onion Knight asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's a little rude, isn't it?"

"She's probably overwhelmed. Give her some time," Kain said, staring after her as well.

"Wait, did anyone warn her about the manikins?" Firion asked, glancing wide-eyed at Cecil.

"No," he said. She needed to know or she could get hurt. He took off after her, calling her name. "Rosa! Rosa, wait! There's something-" She already pushed through the barrier.

She paused at the edge of Sanctuary's platform and stared, probably surveying the world below. Cecil pushed harder, sprinting to catch her before she left. By the time he reached the barrier and pushed through, she had already touched the yellow Teleport Stone and was gone. He slowed down and jogged to the platform's edge, staring over the side until he saw her appear in a flash of gold light at the very start of the Cornelia Plains. She looked around, left and right, before deciding on a direction - left, towards the Melmond Fens. Then she took off.

"You're not going after her?" Kain asked behind him. Cecil didn't even realize he'd been followed.

"I'm not sure. Clearly she has some reservations about us, and I don't want to make her uncomfortable. But she could get hurt."

"She's strong. Smart. And skilled," Kain said. "She should be fine on her own."

" . . . Sure," Cecil said. "I believe in her."

Rosa ran to the outskirts of Sanctuary, praying the protective barrier she encountered on the way in would let her through. She placed her hands flat against it and gently pushed, and luckily it unfolded around her. When she stepped outside its confines, a burst of chilled air cut through her and she shivered, hugging her arms over her chest. She imagined Sanctuary was like a perfect little bubble. So removed from everything, so protected and cocooned, it was easy to forget that an entire world existed around it. The crystal platform that Sanctuary's dome rested on extended out for fifty or so feet in any direction and was sprinkled with sharp crystal formations, and Rosa weaved in between them and ran to the edge of the platform to peer over it. She received a perfect bird's eye view of the tiny, but admittedly beautiful, world.

It looked to be split into two horizontal halves. An ocean spread from left to right and separated two landmasses across the middle, and an extremely narrow path connected them together on the right hand side. Rosa traced the path with her eyes as it weaved back and forth over the water until the curve of the land carried the path beyond what she could see. The differences between the two landmasses were striking. Order's Sanctuary was white and clean, sitting directly in the middle of the southern landmass, and the world around the pillar was flat and calm. Rosa spotted gently rolling plains stretching to her left, peppered by the occasional mountain peak or plateau that looked mild and unthreatening. The beginnings of soft, snowy mountain caps lay on her right, just outside of her vantage point, and the sky above was the constant cloudy grey that she assumed was the norm. Sanctuary's whole side of the map possessed a softness that gave it a remote, undisturbed and peaceful look. In contrast, the sky over the northern landmass looked angry and red, so bright it looked almost apocalyptic. Occasionally a ball of flame or two rained down from the sky, and the clouds above were black and rolling violently. All she could see were harsh lines, jagged rocks, dangerously steep mountains, and black, choking smoke that barreled into the air from a volcano to the left. It constantly spit lava and rock into the air, and the roaring fire made it seem loud and hostile.

"Rosa, wait!" she heard behind her. Cecil. She didn't want to talk.

She touched the Teleport Stone, and its light grew brighter and brighter, blinding her. She shielded her face and turned away while a feeling of weightlessness lifted her feet off the ground. She flailed, feeling like she was going to fall, and then the ground underneath her solidified once again. When she opened her eyes, she was standing at the bottom of Sanctuary's pillar, where she was just looking a moment ago.

She had two choices - left through the plains, or right to the snowcapped mountain ranges. Rosa considered both for a moment, then on a whim decided to go left. She only made it a few steps before hesitation stopped her. Perhaps running like she was, without anyone with her, was a poor decision. She did not know the world except for where she was standing. She didn't know what the specifics of the terrain were, or what kinds of enemies may be prowling about, or what kinds of tactics she needed to defeat them. She wondered if she truly knew what to do if she encountered a warrior of Chaos. Or worse, Chaos himself. Cosmos rarely left the throne, so she was told, but in the event that Chaos prowled around the world seeking to destroy her warriors, could she truly assume to engage in a battle?

"I should go back," she thought, and she even stepped in front of the stone to do so, but she had her bow. She had her bow, she had her staff, and she had her knife. And based on her encounter with Cecil earlier, she remembered how to use them. Or at least she remembered how to use the bow. The natural skill she knew she had gave her confidence that she could hold her own. She summoned the bow, feeling the weight of the wood in her hands and the draw weight, and she checked to be sure her quiver of arrows was full. She drew the string a few times and mimicked some practice shots before she decided she'd be fine.

Directly in front of her, Rosa saw a cluster of shattered, deteriorated, and broken boulders that she had missed when she first woke up. Rosa inspected them closer, and realized they weren't boulders at all. They were bricks, with some built up in a cylindrical shape, and some square. They had small holes in them that looked like arrow slits, as well as other battlements. It looked like the remnants of an old castle, and it provided the world with a bit of lived-in ambiance that it had lacked when she woke up before. Lived in, but abandoned. If any people had ever lived in the world, surely they had been driven out by the destruction created by a war of the gods. She found herself idly wondering what the history of the castle had been, but it made her feel strange about being in a foreign world and fighting in a foreign war in a way she couldn't quite source or pin down. She continued along the path she chose, trailing to the left of her starting point. The utter blandness of the terrain amplified the abandoned sense and made the world feel as dead as it looked. It gave her the impression of apathetic cruelty. She had called it beautiful when she could see it from above, but she didn't feel that way anymore. It was empty and tense, waiting for destruction at any moment. Regardless, she pressed forward, pushing through brush, fighting through fine sand, and crunching over rocks and dirt.

At one point she came to another circle of castle remnants and a yellow crystal. For the sake of exploration, she kept going, circling around the back of a line of rocks to cross under an archway. On the other side was a circular area completely surrounded by rocks. The dense brush grass was arranged in a circle around a standing archway in the middle, and in the archway itself was a glowing blue sigil. Unsure of what else to do, Rosa held her hand out to it, hoping some sort of magic would let her through like the Teleport Stones. When nothing happened, Rosa simply tried to walk through it. She heard a whoosh, felt the rush of air, and once again the ground spiraled away from her. There was a flash and she was back on the ground, on a dirt path of sorts that looked to be shaped in a cross.

It was completely abandoned, just like the world around it. There were tiny shards of crystal of all different colors that littered the trail at certain points, but otherwise it was empty. Rosa looked ahead, spotting a black statue sitting at the very top of the cross. The center looked like a horned face, circled in by a swirl. Rosa figured she had to touch that, and it would transport her to wherever she needed to go since she couldn't see any other way to exit. All around her was grey swirling - the clouds above Sanctuary. She must be extremely high up. She didn't want to step off the path and fall, if that was even possible.

Leaving was a poor choice. Back at Sanctuary she had sparring partners, opportunities for practice, people to answer questions and quell her concerns. Leaving was rash, and from what she wanted to assume she wasn't a rash person. She liked thinking she was level-headed, but could she even say that when not two hours ago she didn't know her own name? She didn't know her name, she didn't know her own temperament, she didn't know a thing. The person who did know was Cecil, and she didn't want to talk to him. A brief flare of rage festered in her heart, at herself and her memory and her situation, but she quickly tried to keep it contained. Rage would do her no good. She needed to take a few minutes, maybe even a few hours, and sit and reflect. Lay down everything she learned and everything she knew, and line up some questions she could ask her comrades or Cosmos when she got back.

When she touched the black symbol, she appeared in another unknown realm, and a brief flash of panic crossed her mind. It hadn't taken her out, it had taken her further in, and she still couldn't see an exit. In the new location, there were columns so close together she nearly felt claustrophobic, and the sky held a purple hue. In the center of the grey transparent floor was a bright swirl of blues and lavenders and whites. Magenta chords of light arched overhead and coiled between the pillars. Rosa took in her surroundings, then sat with her back against a column and stared into the empty sky. She felt like she could think there.

"Alright. Time to assess things," she thought to herself. "I know my name. My name is Rosa. Rosa Joanna Farrell. I am an archer, and a White Mage." What else did she know about herself? "I hail from a world called the Overworld, and from a town called Baron." Cecil told her that, when she first met him. "Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind hail from Baron as well. We grew up together." She had no memories of it, but she felt like she could trust Cecil based on his reaction when he first saw her, and based on the fact that he knew a lot about her. He didn't seem like the type of man to be purposefully deceitful. "At one point, Kain Highwind betrayed me." That's what she saw in the memory. Why else would she have been tied up? And why would Kain smile at her like that, with that empty grin?

Regardless of what happened then, she was there now. "I am in this world because I was called by Cosmos, the goddess of Harmony. I am here to fight for her against the god of Discord, Chaos, and his warriors. I am fighting alongside sixteen allies. The Warrior of Light is the leader, then there is Firion, Tifa, Laguna, Vaan, the Onion Knight, Squall, Lightning, Yuna and Tidus, Zidane, Cloud, Bartz, and Terra, as well as Kain and Cecil. Cosmos told me that Chaos summoned one person from each of our worlds for us to fight specifically. She told me my nemesis's name is Golbez. He wears black armor, and I believe I saw him in my memory." Also, Cosmos told her that her memory would return with time. Cecil and Kain had to have been there and fought there for a long time since they remembered so much. Rosa couldn't tell if she wanted to be there long enough to remember as much as they did, or if she wanted to end the war as quickly as possible and just go home.

"My plan is to find Golbez. Cosmos said that he is friendly, and a spy for Cosmos. He will probably help me. In the meantime, I will engage and fight any other Chaos warrior that I encounter, so that I can retrieve my memory and end this conflict." Laying it all out in such a linear and clear-cut fashion brought her comfort. It made her feel more grounded, less frantic, and it made her breathing come easier and her nerves detangle. She felt more organized, and she felt that she had some semblance of a plan.

Rosa stood to explore the area, hoping to find an exit to head back to Sanctuary, but she heard a noise like a whoosh from behind her pillar. Angry, stomping footfalls from heeled boots paced back and forth, and the person they belonged to growled through their teeth, their heavy breaths echoing over the air. Whoever they were, they were clearly upset. Rosa leaned around the pillar to get a better look at them, and she caught a quick glimpse of a purple cape. The man slammed his weapon on the ground and drug it behind him with a shrieking scrape, leaving sparks behind it. He turned around in his pacing, but her angle was just off. She still couldn't see his face. He rolled his hand around in the air, and a purple pulsing light appeared in his hand. Rosa didn't know what it was, but she didn't have time to figure it out. He spun and threw the light at one of the standing pillars. It exploded, and bits of rock blew out from every direction. Rosa cried out and retreated behind her pillar again, shielding her head and watching bits of stone ricochet from around her cover. When it was quiet, she leaned over again and peered at the man, holding her breath.

He was hunched over, with a hand to his ear. The explosion must have harmed him as well. He was thrashing, spinning around and groaning in pain and rage. If she moved just a bit closer, she would see his face so she kept watch, leaning farther and farther. With obnoxious clacks, the arrows in her quiver shifted, hitting against one another and betraying her position. The man straightened up and whirled around, and Rosa dashed back behind the pillar praying he hadn't seen her.

"Who's there? Is it Exdeath? Sephiroth?" The man's nasal, haughty tone hissed the second name, sounding more like a snake than a man. "Where are you, you pathetic coward? So Chaos sent you to destroy me already, did he?" The message was clearly not intended for her. She didn't answer, didn't even breathe in the silence. "You should know that I am still in an extremely foul mood! Show yourself, and face my power!" A chill spread down her spine as she realized the voice was getting closer. He was walking through the world, peering between the pillars. And he was blocking her exit. She would have to face him. "Whoever dare challenges me, the Emperor Mateus of Palamecia-"

There was no way out. Rosa's heart leapt into her throat as called her bow, and stepped out from behind the column.

Chapter Text

The Emperor's nerves still buzzed violently from Chaos's attacks, lingering at the base of his neck and spreading all the way to his fingers and knees. His armor clung to his tingling skin from an enraged sweat that had broken out over him, and his face, neck, and ears burned hot, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. His heart beat wildly out of control inside the tightness of his chest, and the embarrassment he suffered played over and over in his mind. Chaos's attack, the pain he felt, the others' gleeful reactions, and his vicious and unforgiving shame replaced any coherent thoughts he might have had. He traveled the world blindly, his only goal to be entirely alone. Cosmos's realm or Chaos's, he didn't care, but he could barely contemplate going anywhere familiar, where any of the other warriors could find him and gloat.

Pandaemonium was out of the question, then. He instead teleported to a Gateway in the Melmond Fens that he was sure was abandoned by both Cosmos and Chaos - deemed too unimportant to defend or fight over.

A single manikin appeared in the Gateway while he crossed the floor, and the Emperor didn't even break stride. He lifted his staff with his power, vibrating fingers so tense they were locked, and he reared back, hurling it towards the manikin with a throwing motion so hard he staggered through it to keep his balance. The sharp barb on the end of his staff screamed through the air and punched straight through the manikin's stomach, and it doubled over with an empty, warbled sounding grunt. Chunks of grey crystal broke off and scattered with a satisfying clatter, spilling like blood over the ground. The Emperor then slammed the manikin to the ground with force magic from above, and the manikin crumbled entirely, unmoving. He walked past and grabbed his staff, wrenching it free without bothering to note who the manikin had been.

He touched the Stigma of Chaos and was teleported to his destination, the Realm of Darkness, to wallow in his fury. He was too upset to stand still. Pent up antagonism and hostility twitched beneath his muscles, so he paced angrily, dragging his staff along the ground behind him so hard that the metal howled and left a trail of sparks in its wake. He put no faith in gods, let alone a god as weak and ineffective as Chaos. The Emperor's magic had sundered mountains and broken entire worlds, and Chaos could only pretend to it in this world of his. The Emperor knew if he had been prepared and not distracted by Garland's challenge, he could've embarrassed Chaos in the same way that Chaos embarrassed him without raising a finger. It made Chaos's insult all the more upsetting and embarrassing. Chaos deigned to rise to the Emperor's station and attack him, make him look so weak in front of the others, because he was threatened. There was no other reason he could fathom. If any of the others feared the Emperor and his obvious power, surely they were cleared of those notions after Chaos's demonstration, and that was another layer of affront.

He wasn't accustomed to failure. He never put himself in a position to even consider it an option. He moved pieces into place so far ahead of time that no situation was ever out of his control.

"Rrgh!" he growled through his clenched teeth. He called a purple bomb to his hand and hurled it at the nearest pillar, not realizing how close he was to it. The explosion roared in his ears and knocked all other sound away, and the force blew his hair back and threw him to the side. He cried out, staggering back, and quickly touched a hand to his ear to deafen the ringing. Rocks rained down around him, and he was showered in pellets and stones that pinged across his armor and stung his exposed skin. Another silly, uncharacteristic mistake that he made. He threw his staff to the ground so he could hold his head and steady himself, but didn't hear the clang above the roaring in his ears. He had to wait until the ringing died down to move again. Just as he began to make out the natural sounds of the realm, he heard something else clatter over the wind.

Clacking. He heard clacking. Like wood hitting together.

Someone was there.

"Who's there? Is it Exdeath? Sephiroth?" Chaos decided to finish what he had started after all. Take out his biggest competition. "Where are you, you pathetic coward?" he yelled, sweeping his staff threateningly. The silence went unbroken, and he quickly tried to pick up on the presence near him. He was still a bit disoriented from the explosion, and this wasn't his world, it was the Cloud of Darkness's. His power of perception quickly diminished, seemingly sucked into the grey void in the center. "So Chaos sent you to destroy me already, did he? You should know that I am still in an extremely foul mood! Show yourself, and face my power! Whoever dare challenges me, the Emperor Mateus of Palamecia-"

The threat died on his lips as a woman emerged from behind a column near the center of the room. A woman he had never seen before. He paused, momentarily confused out of his anger, and assessed her. Her face was slender with a sharp, contoured jawline. Her lips were arced into a slight frown, and her wide, piercing green eyes were hard and full with a hesitant challenge. She had long, blond hair gathered in a braid over her shoulder, and it framed her face well. The woman was admittedly beautiful. Incredibly so. Almost distractingly so. As he looked more deeply into her eyes he saw dark green with flecks of lighter shades that had a natural magnetism, drawing him into staring. She was dressed in light colors, and had a bow in her hands that she kept low and ready.

When the Emperor regained his senses, his anger returned. He left to prevent the others from gloating. He refused to be embarrassed again, no matter what form the others took. He looked the woman over from head to toe once more before he spoke. "Trying out a new form, Ultimecia?" He squared his shoulders to her and called his staff from the ground, snatching it out of the air. "And who is this?"

She only stared, mouth opening as though she wanted to reply, but out of Ultimecia's character she seemed to be struck speechless. Her lack of response didn't bother the Emperor. It was irrelevant who she was meant to be.

"No matter. You cannot intimidate me with her image. I know you cannot use others's powers in battle, so this woman cannot help you." The Emperor raised his staff and pointed it at her, and she took a step back. "Already afraid? I admit, I was not expecting you to be my assassin," he continued. "Chaos has taken leave of his senses, sending one so powerful to rid himself of me. And I'm surprised you agreed! You know of my power, and you know I will give no quarter, especially to you! It only works out in my favor! Eliminating you would surely remove you from my opposition!"

"I am not Ult- . . . Ultimecia," the woman said carefully, her voice light and smooth despite her tension. Nothing like Ultimecia's rattling purr that grated on his nerves. He scanned her closer, and sure enough her very energy was different. Her aura was one of magic like Ultimecia, but gentle and pink around her, not red or purple. In her heart there was White Magic, and it was powerful. Far more powerful than Ultimecia.

" . . . No, it appears you are not," the Emperor sighed. He would've like to tear her soul from her body. He lowered his staff, resting the tip on the ground. The woman shifted, eyes flicking over his shoulder to the Stigma of Chaos behind him. He was blocking her exit. "If you wish to leave, girl, do so quickly. My quarrel is not with you." He sat back again on an invisible throne made of his magic. The woman took a few steps to the side, intending to give him a wide berth, and he watched her, staring at her hands as one clenched around the grip of her bow and the other trailed to her back, where he saw for the first time that she had a quiver of arrows. She didn't trust him not to attack her as she passed. His patience quickly evaporated, and irritability and rage surged in his heart. He decided not to let her go. This warrior was new, inexperienced by the look of her, and he wanted an easy battle. He wanted to work off all of the pain Chaos caused him and win a battle in the new cycle. She would do. "Stop," he said, throwing his staff to the side and blocking the path she intended to take. The woman gasped and jumped back.

The Emperor stood from his throne and strolled towards her, and the woman stepped away from him in sync, keeping the distance. "What is your name?" he asked her. She darted to her left and the Emperor disappeared and reappeared in her path.

Her face went white and she swallowed hard, realizing he wasn't going to let her walk away. "Rosa," she said, adjusting her grip on the bow. She finally dragged an arrow from the quiver and rested it on the bow. The alarm sat thick in her eyes, no longer wide with challenge.

"Rosa," the Emperor repeated. "Welcome to the war of the gods," he said, spreading his arms. He took a few more steps towards her, intending to get close enough to look into her eyes when he trapped her and destroyed her. He could imagine she was Chaos, or even Ultimecia. It would bring him joy to destroy Ultimecia.

"No closer," the woman warned him, half-drawing her bow but keeping it low. Too hesitant to raise it, like she wasn't confident enough in her skills to be able to use it. "Who are you?"

"Mateus, Emperor of Palamecia, my dear," he said, dropping into a low bow. "And unfortunately for you, you've caught me in a rather poor mood. I am in need of a warrior to destroy, and I've decided that you will be an adequate diversion." Her eyebrows furrowed and she shuddered violently, fully understanding his intentions.

"P-please do not do this," she stammered, and her palpable fear empowered him, bringing a rare smile to his face. This was the sensation he craved, making others who were beneath him realize their place. He would demolish her, if only to relieve the humiliation he felt. Then he would begin planning against Chaos. "I have no quarrel with you either," she tried. "Just let me go."

"I think not, Rosa."

"I do not want to hurt you. Or anyone," she added. He flourished his staff, twirling it through the air with his magic to watch her reaction. She finally raised her bow, holding the string taut. She was physically strong, it seemed, the muscles in her arms clenched and unwavering.

"Unimpressive," he taunted. "Indulge me, if you would, and try to put up somewhat of a fight."

Chapter Text

He wasn't letting her go.

Rosa understood the minute he teleported to block her escape that he was going to fight her, for no apparent reason other than he simply wanted to. Her heart leapt up and pounded in her throat, and her breath couldn't seem to come fast enough. It seemed those were the kinds of warriors that Chaos employed - arrogant people who destroyed on whims and used others' lives for entertainment, then discarded them. He was going to be ruthless, then, and she faced him with her bow raised, spine going numb at the thought of his attacks. She didn't know what to expect, and she didn't know what to do. She thought she was practiced and prepared. She didn't realize until now how pathetic her knowledge of battle really was.

She thought she saw the Emperor's body tense for an attack, and rather than wait for it she rolled to her right and took cover behind a pillar, while she knew she still had time. Her stomach tightened, a ball of stress and dread knotting tighter and tighter. She felt light-headed, like she would be sick.

"Oh, no, girl, you'll not escape me now!" she heard him yell. "You cannot hide forever!"

Rosa took a deep breath to calm her nerves, but it was no help. She side-stepped to step out from behind the pillar to survey the area and find the exit, but when she turned her head she came face-to-face with the Emperor. She let out an involuntary shriek and loosed her arrow straight for his face. He turned at the last second, and her arrow just grazed his cheek before clattering loudly to the floor. The Emperor recoiled with a grunt of pain, hand flying to his cheek. When his hand came away, his mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of blood on the palms of his gauntlet. With a small growl he rushed at Rosa, using his magic to swing his staff for her head. She ducked beneath the blow, and he used the arc of the swing to bring it back over his head. He slammed the end down into the ground, throwing bombs in her direction. Unsure of their path and unable to calculate it in the moment, she lurched clumsily to the side but the shock of the blasts threw her backwards.

Something clicked inside of Rosa while she was in the air. Something natural, and calculating. She made a split-second decision to tip her head back and arch her back, throwing her feet over her head in a back flip. She landed on her feet and slid backwards to a stop, pausing to assess her situation. He was still directly in front of her, blocking her exit. From what she could see, there were no other escape routes. He was a distance fighter, using magic to control his staff and throw bombs at her. He probably had other magics as well. Rosa quickly listed her advantages and disadvantages: she was ranged, mid-ranged, and close-ranged - completely versatile with her knife and her bow. She had White Magic, so she could protect herself. She was at a disadvantage because she did not know what kinds of tricks he may have up his sleeve. She also had an advantage in the Emperor's ego. He was cocky, overconfident. Easily flustered.

Her sense of battle startled even her. Her mind moved at an impossible rate, fueled by adrenaline and instinct, Until the memory came. Like a portal she was whisked away to another dimension as the flashback played out:

"Oh, you cherish this one, do you?" a thick, deep voice asked. His dark tones reverberated off the glass all over, making it seem louder than it was. The owner of the voice stepped closer to Rosa. "Then let me take her along as well . . . to hold in trust until we are graced with the chance to meet again."

He wrapped his massive arms around her, pinning her arms in place. She struggled and kicked, but he held her too tightly. He began to drag her from the room, and she screamed and fought. Cecil was defeated, lying on the cold floor of the glass room, and Kain was nowhere near her to help.  With a sweep of his cape, he teleported, cackling as the world spun away from her eyes.

She was snapped out of the memory by a mild blow to her middle. It barely hurt, but it knocked her off-balance. Staggering back, she focused once more on the Emperor, who waved his staff in the air and drew another crest of purple light. Five orbs of purple magic shot out of the sigil, heading straight for her. She leaned to the side to dodge the one heading directly for her, but the orbs had fanned out. She stepped right into another's path. It hit her shoulder so hard she almost spun completely around. She used the momentum to turn away and cross the floor, intending to circle him and finally have a clear path to the exit, by using the pillars around her, but the Emperor guessed at what she was doing. He materialized directly in front of her and she crashed straight into him. He caught her by the arms, trapping her bow between the two of them. On impulse Rosa stabbed the arrow tip right for his abdomen, but he caught her wrist. A cry of fear tore itself from her throat and she struggled to tear herself free in the direction of the exit to her right. The Emperor cocked his head in that direction, and a series of circles appeared on the ground in a line, each crackling with lightning magic in the center and completely blocking her in.

Rosa pulled and tugged with all of her might, finally tasting adrenaline on her tongue. Her sweaty hands shook on her bow, so violently she saw the string tremble and the Emperor's hands shake around hers. She felt like she couldn't quite get solid leverage to pull away, and her chest tightened around her heart, making her pant harder just to breathe. The sweat beading on her hairline was already gently dripping down her face and she just wanted to run.

The Emperor smirked down at her and let out a laugh, her pathetic efforts entertaining him. He clicked his tongue. "Ah, I now wish you were slightly more experienced," he taunted. "This is far too easy." He turned, pulling her with him so her back was to the exit, and he shoved her away straight into the crests on the floor. She stumbled into one and a strong force that she wasn't expecting pulled her down, forcing her to her hands and knees. She braced her palms against the floor and resisted to keep from falling completely face down on the floor, but the electricity in the trap hummed to life. The bolts shot into her hands, searing her skin and contracting her muscles beyond her control. She fell flat, and the trap held her fast. "You are an unworthy opponent."

The traps disappeared, and Rosa found herself able to move again. She clamored to her feet and immediately took off for the exit, free from obstruction in front of her. She didn't get two steps away before something glinted on the ground in front of her, like a spark. Brown spikes rose up around her, looming over her and blocking her in. She skid to a stop, and pink orbs suddenly appeared above the spikes. The orbs charged up, throwing sparks all around her. She cringed and shied away, and the trap detonated around her. An orb exploded near her side, knocking the breath out of her. She choked, then careened right into another, and the fire engulfed her right shoulder. For a moment, all she felt was white-hot, excruciating pain. A weak, breathless scream ripped from her throat while her skin sizzled and burned under her pauldron, and before Rosa could even pull away on her own she was thrown back around, onto her knees. With a resounding boom, somewhere around her another went off. She didn't know where anymore. She couldn't see. Her ears rung. She was dizzy, and disoriented, and she couldn't breathe. Rosa dropped to her stomach and curled up, trying to make herself as small as possible to protect herself.

"Protect!" she yelled to herself.

The spell suddenly came to her, rising from deep inside her mind as though it had always been there waiting for her to call upon it. She simply knew it, and knew how to cast it, where there had been no concept of it before. Without thinking she reached over her head for her staff, but the burn on her shoulder halted her. Instead, she used her hands, clasping them over her heart. The warmth built in her chest and she tried to speak the word, but her breath still hadn't come back properly. She barely managed a quick Protect barrier, blue and hexagonal-shaped, before the rest of the mines went off. She braced herself and held it until the smoke cleared, but when she lowered her hands, the Emperor was nowhere to be found. A chill went down her spine and she whirled around but couldn't find a single trace of him. Shaking, her shoulder throbbing, she felt utterly exposed, and the hair on the back of her neck raised at the thought that he could attack at any moment without warning. She inched for the exit, picking up her bow - she hadn't even realized she dropped it - pulling the string to mid-draw. Her shoulder twinged, her skin ached hot, and she could even feel the heat from her red, blotchy skin rising off of the wound. She bit her lip and swallowed down the scream she wanted to let loose.

When she didn't feel the arrow rest on her hand, she looked and realized she never nocked another one. Growling in frustration, she grabbed one and slammed it in place.

His laugh resonated through the world, a haughty, condescending sound that bounced and echoed off the columns, making it seem like he was everywhere at once. The small of her back tingled and tightened. She felt like she was being stared at. Rosa jumped, spinning around. Nothing. She pulled the string to full draw, faltering for an instant as her shoulder pulled and tore with it. The wet, warm blood that had dripped to her fingers made the string slippery, and she had to take an extra second to get a firm hand on the string for full draw.

"Hahahaha!" His warm breath trickled down her neck and she cast her bow away to reach for her knife. She swiped at air behind her.

If she didn't figure something out, he was going to toy with her forever, then kill her. Her stomach hurt, her shoulder hurt. She couldn't run. She knew if she did he would be right there with her to push her back. She didn't know what kind of magic he was using. Maybe she could dispel it. Like the Protect spell, the Dispel magic suddenly entered her mind. She thought of the word and pooled the magic on a fixed spot in front of her, even imagining the painful warmth from her shoulder powering into the spell. Rosa clasped her hands around it, hoping to draw more power. Cursing her shaking hands, her shaking knees, the blood on her fingers. She would have to cast this to the entire reaches of this place to find him. When she felt it was powered up enough, she threw her hands out, imagining a purple wave shooting out from her to all sides. She pictured it pulsing to the edges of the world and filling the space.

Rosa stood and waited for him to appear for several seconds.

Right when she thought the spell didn't work, she heard a whoosh behind her. Rosa took the knife in her left hand and spun over her left shoulder, hurling her knife overhand towards the Emperor. He appeared right in its path, and it embedded to the hilt into his collarbone.

"Agh!" he yelled, and Rosa felt a wave of morbid relief wash over her. She landed a hit. The blow threw his shoulder back, and she rushed after him as he rushed her before. She recalled her bow as she approached and parried a swing from his staff. With a sweep she hooked it in the arm of her bow and ripped it from his hands, throwing it to the side. Her second swing back collided with the Emperor's jaw, and she went for a third, but he grabbed the bow, halting it. Rosa reached behind her back, grabbed a gold plumed arrow and the string, and leaned back on her heels as far as she could go, pulling the string with her weight. She snapped the arrow into place and let go. It pierced his shoulder, landing within inches of the knife wound, and she let her momentum carry her through a back hand-spring. She then slid forward, ripping her knife from his shoulder to jam it into his exposed ribs. Rosa pushed down on the handle and forced him to a knee, then she jumped away. Rosa retreated and ran along the wall, finally placing herself in front of the exit. She shot arrow after arrow with a satisfying Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! All five hit their mark, and five fresh shafts protruded from the Emperor's chest. Finally, Rosa drew one last arrow, landing before the Emperor. Rosa channeled newly remembered Holy magic from her body straight through to the arrow, so powerful that the tip glowed white from it. The heat burned her fingers but she held it, afraid that if she even twitched, it would slip. A snarl of power and rage escaped her lips as she put the tip to his throat. He lifted his chin and stared up the shaft at her, wide-eyed and panting.

There was a long moment of silence, of nothing but the two of them breathing hard, Rosa staring down the arrow at the Emperor and him staring up in disbelief and pain and rage. His lip curled and his nose crinkled, and he snarled, " . . . It appears . . . I misjudged you . . . Rosa."

At the mention of her name, Rosa blinked once. Twice. Her eyes were open, but for a moment she wasn't sure she was seeing anything, or feeling anything other than a desire to end the cruel, arrogant man in front of her, who thought himself infallible and only chose to fight her because he had nothing better to do. Like waking up, time seemed to slow down, and things started to pour into her senses from all over. She looked around and remembered the pillars, the magenta ribbons around her. The pain of her shoulder returned and she winced, skin aching as her fingers clenched the string of her bow too tightly. The Emperor observed her, chuckling humorlessly. He glared up at her.

She didn't want to kill him. She never wanted a fight. She never asked to be called to a world that wasn't her, or take part in the war. She never would have encountered the Emperor if any of this wouldn't have happened, and he didn't deserve to die because of it in her eyes. She just wanted to leave. Rosa lowered the tip away from his neck and cast her bow away, but kept one hand braced against his shoulder in case he tried anything. She never took her eyes from his, begging him wordlessly to stay there. She was sure hers looked as wide and fearful as his. Even as she leaned down and touched the hilt of her knife. He squirmed, pursing his lips together and muffling his noise of pain.

"Mmf!" She tugged her knife from his side and he gasped, throwing a hand to his side. "Ah!" he growled. He looked up at her, eyes taking in every inch of her face and features, and she knew he was committing them to memory. "I will not forget your face," he warned, and Rosa's heart sank.

Everything in her was telling her to run, now impossible to ignore. She slowly backed away from the Emperor before finally turning around and running from the battleground when she felt it was safe to.

Chapter Text

Ultimecia picked the perfect day to eavesdrop.

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

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

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

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

Time to gloat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"She was inexperienced, and weak-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter Text

Rosa broke through Sanctuary's clear hexagonal barrier, bracing for pain when it brushed across her shoulder. Luckily her pauldron protected the wound from any physical sensations. The air inside Sanctuary was gentle and warm, utterly removed from any of the turmoil she had gone through outside. It should have been comforting to her, marking Sanctuary as a refuge from her troubles, but it only felt sweltering. She was sweating, she was bloodied, and she panted Sanctuary's warm air back into her lungs from the sprint back.

She stopped just inside of the barrier and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She raised her head to see who all was there, and who all would hear the news about Zidane. Cosmos was on her throne still, like she hadn't moved. Rosa looked around for Bartz, Zidane's best friend as far as she could tell, and she didn't immediately see him. His absence helped her breathe a bit of a sigh of relief. Someone else could bear the burden of telling Bartz after she told Cosmos the news.

When she felt she could speak easily, she ran towards the throne. "Cosmos!" she yelled. "Cosmos!"

Cosmos smiled in her direction, but when she saw Rosa's singed shoulder her face fell. "Rosa-"

"No, no! Zidane!" she screamed, pointing back the way she came with her good arm. "He was- He - I found - he-" Her thoughts tangled. She couldn't decide between starting with her battle with the Emperor and ending with how she found Zidane, or starting with finding Zidane and then revealing the circumstances around it. She took a deep breath. "I found him just outside, and he was-" The word 'dead' rang hollowly in her head, but the word refused to form around the lump in her throat. "Crystal! He was purple, and he looked like crystals had grown all around his body, and he- . . . Someone attacked him, and-" Rosa forced as deep a breath as she could muster into her lungs, and she practically screamed out what she wanted to say. "He's dead!"

She wasn't sure what she expected, but she expected some kind of reaction from Cosmos and from the other warriors around her. She expected solemnity and violent grief, she expected tears, perhaps, if they knew Zidane well, and she expected at least shock and surprise. She received nothing, not even from Cosmos. A dead and bored silence from everyone greeted her in the wake of her announcement, and she let the confusion cross her face.

"I tried to revive him, but . . . " she continued, uncomfortable with the silence.

"Your shoulder is injured."

"Are you listening?" she asked, knowing it was a rude way to ask but too taken aback by their lack of reaction. "Zidane is dead! He's been turned into crystal! Aren't you upset? Any of you?"

"Fear not, Rosa," Cosmos said calmly, with the grace of a queen. "The warrior you saw wasn't the real Zidane."

" . . . What?" Rosa asked.

Before Cosmos could continue her explanation, Cecil's voice called above the crowd, "Rosa!" He pushed his way to the front, and his face paled when he saw her shoulder. The small trickle of dried blood down her arm. "By the gods, Rosa, are you alright?"

"Yes, yes," she said quickly, waving him away irritably. "Who was that, then, if not Zidane? What do you mean?"

"Rosa, at least heal yourself first-" Cecil tried to press. She shook her head and held her hand up to him, palm out.

"Shh! Cosmos, what do you mean, that wasn't Zidane? Is he gone, or isn't he?"

Cosmos gently shook her head, answering Rosa's question, and when she looked up her crystal blue eyes were flat and emotionless. Different from her usual warmth and motherly tenderness. "What you encountered is the monster of this world. They are imperfect replicas of the warriors who are called here, formed of crystal. We call them 'manikins', because they are mindless. They know only fighting, and they know only destroying those of you who fight for me."

"Manikins," she breathed, testing the strange word. "It's a copy?" she reiterated, just to make sure she was clear. "It's a crystal copy of Zidane? It's not really him?"

"It's not," Cosmos said, nodding to affirm Rosa's understanding. She clasped her hands over her heart and closed her eyes. "Zidane is still well," she said after a pause. "He travels with Bartz, the Onion Knight, Vaan, and Squall near the Bahamut Isles." Rosa didn't know where the Bahamut Isles were, but she nodded as though she did. "I'm sorry," Cosmos continued. "We would have warned you about the manikins, but you left so quickly-"

"'We'?" Rosa asked. "They all know about them?"

"My other warriors? Yes," Cosmos said. "The manikins have existed in this world since its dawn. All those who have fought with me for any length of time have encountered them."

Rosa looked around, to all the faces who were staring at her, mostly expressionless. Some looked upset for her, but Rosa knew it was regret that she had to find out the way that she did, by encountering one and believing her friend was dead for a period of time. Shame and embarrassment heated her cheeks, and she looked down before any of them saw how embarrassed she was. She hated not knowing anything about the world. She hated wandering around blindly, just taking things as they came. Rosa supposed she wasn't reacting properly to the news either. At knowing Zidane was probably fine - or at the very least the real Zidane wasn't lying out there turned to crystal - she should have felt relieved. Instead all she felt was a disturbed confusion, and an anger at feeling slighted. Cosmos clearly knew about the crystal manikins, and hadn't told her. None of them told her. Her heart burned, but she tried not to take it very personally. It was unlikely that they had intended to be malicious.

"Did the manikin injure your shoulder?" Cecil asked.

Standing still for so long, Rosa very nearly forgot about it. Aware of it again, a heated itch sparked along the edge of it, and Rosa winced, resisting the urge to scratch it. "Ah, no. That was from a real person."

Cecil reached out to grab her hand, but she backed away from him. His shoulders slumped the slightest bit, but he backed away a step. "What happened?" he asked, dropping his hand to his side.

"A Chaos warrior threatened me, and attacked me. We fought, but I ran when I wounded him."

"Who was it?" Warrior asked, barely after she finished her sentence.

"He called himself Emperor Mateus."

Firion perked up from near the back of Cosmos's warriors. "You fought the Emperor?"

She nodded. "Is he yours?"

"Yes. He's a power-hoarding tyrant."

"I gathered as much."

"You wounded him, you said?"

"Yes. Not fatally," she added. "I shot him five times, but I wasn't intending to kill him. He landed a few hits." Rosa glanced at her painful shoulder, gently undoing the buckle for her pauldron on the underside of her bicep. It was hard with only one hand, and Cecil watched her fumble for a second or two before offering his hand. Rosa shook her head. She didn't want anyone's help. She already looked ignorant a moment ago with news of the manikins. After a minute, the buckle came off, and the pauldron slid off her shoulder, grinding against the whole burn. Fiery pain radiated over her shoulder. Rosa pursed her lips, managing to quiet down her cry of pain, but she wasn't able to stop the tears from welling in her eyes. She froze and breathed the pain away until she could move, sniffing in its wake.

"I can help you-" Cosmos started.

"No," Rosa insisted. "I remember that you were weakened by calling me. Save your strength." Hovering her hand over the sticky, oozing patch, she could still feel the heat from it. She closed her eyes and called the Curaga spell, guiding it straight into the wound. Like before, the warm tingle grated on her nerves for just a moment before turning into soothing relief. Before her eyes the red skin healed into healthy pink, stretching over and closing the wound.

Rosa openly sighed. "See?" she said, to Cosmos, Cecil, and anyone else who was still listening. "Good as new."

"Yes," Cosmos said, smiling down at her. "Well done. Your magic is extremely powerful, Rosa Farrell. Every moment you are here, you validate why I called you." Rosa saw Cosmos's eyes flick to the side, and when Rosa followed her gaze, she realized Cosmos was glancing at Cecil. In turn, Cecil's eyes flared - the only visible sign that Cosmos' words meant something to him. Rosa couldn't even begin to guess what their interaction meant, unless that was why Cecil had attacked her before. Rosa quickly put the pieces together in her head: he became irate with her calling, and that was why he attacked Cosmos before.

Cosmos was possibly offering him a subtle dig. Cecil raised his chin, as though raising himself above her words, before turning and walking towards the edge of Sanctuary.

"You've earned a rest," Cosmos said to her. "Please spend some time here. And speak to some of your comrades. They may offer more insight as to the ways of this world, and they may be able to answer your questions."

Rosa hoped her indignation didn't show on her face. "I had assumed that to be your job," she thought to herself, "since you are the goddess here." The goddess, and an architect of the war they were fighting. Regardless, Rosa turned away from Cosmos and took her advice, walking over to Firion.

Chapter Text

It wasn't that the Emperor welcomed other Chaos warriors into Pandaemonium, but he didn't mind if the occasional warrior passed through to plan, to pass information, or even just to chat if the mood struck him. Then again, after thinking harder into it, he supposed that depended on both the warrior, and the time. At that moment he still loathed the thought of interacting with any of Chaos's other warriors. They were no doubt laughing at him still over Chaos's attack.

"Have you ever though about Exdeath's helmet? I mean really thought about it."

"Kefka," the Emperor sighed, "I granted you permission to stay in my presence. But if you do not close that cavernous hole you call a mouth, I will step down from this throne and close it myself."

Of all the warriors that could have wandered into Pandaemonium, of course they had to be Kefka. "Luck does not favor me this cycle," he thought to himself. First Chaos, then Rosa, and now the ridiculous clown to annoy him. 

Kefka snorted, crossing his arms tight over his chest like a defiant child. "Hrmp! Why? Are you brooding?" he leered, saying the word in a low register that cracked his voice.

"Planning."

"As if there's a difference with you," he grumbled.

Every word frayed the Emperor's nerves. He could feel them unraveling one by one. His fists clenched so hard his nails cut into his palms. "Do you want to be a part of this, or not?"

"I. don't. know," Kefka enunciated slowly, pointing each word in the air. "You. haven't. told. me. what. we're. doing."

"I'm trying to formulate the plan, but you find it convenient to distract me!"

Kefka turned away, sticking his hooked nose in the air. "Well maybe if you concentrated better, I wouldn't bother you." He continued to grumble under his breath, and the Emperor figured that was the best he was going to get.

Chapter Text

Twenty minutes passed without a response from Ultimecia or Exdeath.

Twenty minutes stretched into thirty minutes.

Then thirty five.

He was a fool to trust Kefka, even with something as uncomplicated as playing messenger. Either the clown had disregarded him entirely, or he had delivered his summons and then all three of them loitered about, mocking him. The latter was far more likely, and the realization weighed down on his shoulders, pressing him into his throne. They were probably gathered in Ultimecia's castle, laughing about Chaos's attack on him, and about Rosa's attack on him, and about his summons. Kefka was probably throwing himself around the room, howling while Ultimecia told them of what Rosa did to him. How she humiliated him. She probably told them how she had to rip the arrows from his chest, one by one.

He could do nothing about their mockery. He needed them. If he attacked them or threatened them they would not agree to his plans, and he would be saddled with all of the grueling labor that was miles beneath him. He was effectively at their mercy, and he hated being indebted to people, even for as small a task as the one he was asking of them. Debt was a snare - for those who set the trap, it was an asset, and an extremely effective leveraging tool. For those who ended up trapped, it could be as dire as a death wish.

The sound of moving wind echoed through Pandaemonium, and the Emperor scrambled to sit up straight in his throne despite the pain in his side, thinking that Exdeath and Ultimecia had decided to show. Instead, his heart sank as the gaudy white of Kefka's face paint grinned up at him.

"Hello-o-o!" Kefka yelled, waving with his arm straight out. He hoped Kefka hadn't come alone. Ultimecia and Exdeath were probably right behind him. The Emperor waited for them to follow, growing irritated as the minutes stretched on.

"Well?" he eventually asked Kefka.

The clown's deranged smile dropped as much as it could, still maintaining the ghost of its shape due to the paint. His eyes flicked to the side once. "Well what?" he asked back.

"Well?!" the Emperor asked again, sweeping his arm to the side to gesture wildly to the otherwise empty room around them. "Where are they?"

"Pfft!" Kefka snorted, shoulders shrugging so high they nearly touched his ears. "How should I know? I gave them the message, and then I left!"

The Emperor's jaw clenched. "You need him, unfortunately," he reminded himself. "I don't like to be kept waiting," he growled through his teeth.

"How is that my fault? Maybe they don't like you that much. Or, I know: maybe next time you should get off your butt and gather them yourself!" Kefka's voice grew louder and louder until he screamed the last word.

The headache that had faded after Kefka left sprouted above his brow again, and the Emperor pinched the bridge of his nose to ward it off. "I gave you one task. One measly task: fetch Ultimecia and Exdeath. And you failed, even at that. How . . . dense can you be?"

Kefka scoffed, throwing a dramatic hand over his chest and splaying his fingers. "Dense? Well ex-cu-u-use me! You told me to tell them that you needed them here so you could reveal your 'very important plan!'" he said, putting it in air quotes.

"No, you stupid clown! You were told to bring them here!" he yelled back, emphasizing the word.

Kefka stared, mouth open, eyes flicking above the Emperor as he mapped out the conversation they had in his head. "Oh," he finally settled on.

The Emperor silently cursed his error in judgment to depend upon Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath. He regretted engaging them at all, but it was far too late to discard their involvement if his message had been delivered. He needed people who would destroy without question, even if those people were erratic. "No matter," he said, sighing out the rest of his frustrations. "We will have to wait here for them. And if they do not come, we will have to go search for them. You are responsible for this delay, you obnoxious clown," he tacked on to the end.

The Emperor thought Kefka would take offense again, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Kefka tossed his head back and cackled. His feet lifted off the ground and he floated several inches in the air. "'Obnoxious', he says!" Kefka yelled, as though to a crowd. "I believe that was one of the adjectives Chaos used when he tossed you into the wall! Aaaaahahahaha . . . "

"Silence-!" the Emperor yelled, leaning forward in his throne to sneer down at Kefka. The motions pulled at his side and chest and he gasped, clutching at his ribs to steady himself as best he could. Kefka didn't seem to notice, still stuck in the throes of his own revelry to the Emperor's relief, but a rage bubbled up inside the Emperor, so potent that his fists clenched and shook, claws cutting into his palms. His heart caught fire, pumping harder and harder, nearly beating out of his chest. The heat rose in his cheeks and his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ground together.

"Aww, you look upset! What's wrong, Emperor? Still trying to nurse that bruise your ego took earlier-?"

The Emperor called his power, lifting his staff, and he hurled it as hard as he could towards Kefka, aiming the little metal ball for his teeth. It was inches away from connecting when a harsh, throaty laugh resonated through the entire room, so loud it set the crystals rumbling. Kefka ducked from the sound instinctually, and the Emperor's staff sailed harmlessly overtop of his head. It grazed the feathers of his hairpiece, then clattered lamely off the floor.

Exdeath decided to show. The Emperor's relief at the thought of intelligent company distracted him from Kefka and he gathered himself, sighing out the rest of his emotion. He called his staff back to him and attempted to act causal, twirling the weapon in the air with his fingers next to the throne. A pocket of space in front of the thone wobbled, like heat lines rising from a hot road, and Exdeath materialized next to Kefka.

"Deathy!-" Kefka yelled, but Exdeath cut him off with a raise of his hand.

"How amusing," Exdeath rumbled. "I rather wish the blow would have connected." The Emperor stared at him in confusion, before realizing he was referring to his attack on Kefka. He smirked, nodding his agreement, and Exdeath continued. "Such trivial beings, you are. You argue and squabble amongst yourselves as though your quarrels possess any meaning in this world. Or in the Void," he added, and the Emperor felt that if Exdeath could have shaken his head, he would have.

"I suppose you presume your own quarrels have value, hm?" the Emperor countered.

Exdeath chortled in reply. "No more value than yours, Emperor. To what do I owe this . . . assembly?" Exdeath asked. "Surely you do not intend to involve me in some petty scheme. Was Chaos's little threat not enough for you? Ohohoho!" he laughed, throwing his whole back and shoulders into it. His armor clinked together with each heave of his massive shoulders and the sounds grated on the Emperor's ears. Every mention of Chaos's attack dug under his skin, and Exdeath used the most smug tone possible, intending to humiliate him into submission. Exdeath never held any respect for him or his plans, and he hoped he could provide enough of an incentive for Exdeath to agree to them.

The Emperor held eye contact with the slit in Exdeath's helmet, where he assumed his eyes were. There was little else he could do to physically impose on him. He lifted his chin but otherwise kept his face as neutral as possible. "I was hoping Ultimecia would be here. I have a . . . business proposition for you. All three of you."

"Hmph! 'Business'," Exdeath echoed. "What manner of business?"

"Ultimecia-" he started, but her cat-like purr filled the air, echoing around them.

"-is right here," she finished for him. She appeared beside Exdeath, stepping out of a pocket of darkness. "My, you're desperate to see us. This had better be a plan worth our time."

"I can assure you, it will be worth your time. I have . . . payment."

"Of what nature?"

"Don't you think you should hear the proposal first?" he asked her. He didn't want to give the prize away first. Otherwise, the two of them might form their own ideas of the difficulty of his task, and refuse before he even offered it to them.

"I suppose we should," Ultimecia said. "I'm terribly curious."

"I need someone taken care of. A Cosmos warrior."

Ultimecia's lips twitched in a haughty smile, but for whatever reason, she contained it. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and let a knowing look glint in her eyes. Of course she knew to whom he was referring. As an extra jab, she still asked, "Anyone in particular?"

"Yes. A new warrior, called only days ago. Rosa."

"What quarrels have you with a days-old warrior?" Exdeath asked. "Or does your cowardice in preying upon the weak know no bounds?"

"This has nothing to do with cowardice!" the Emperor hissed. "Call it . . . a grudge. Regardless, I want her dealt with. I want her destroyed so thoroughly, she won't be able to return to the cycle."

"I'm in!" Kefka yelled, throwing his hand in the air.

"This warrior . . . she is from your world?" Exdeath asked.

"No, she is not."

"Then I ask again - what quarrels could you possibly have with a days-old warrior?"

"My quarrels are neither of importance nor relevance! All I need for you to do is to destroy her. Make use of your role as the enforcer of Chaos's will."

"Oh yeah!" Kefka interjected. "I forgot that you're the expert on Chaos's will, Emperor."

"Be silent, or be gone, fool!" he snarled, pointing at Kefka. "You've heard my offer, accepted it, and can now have no more reason to be here!"

Kefka sneered in reply, grumbling under his breath. The Emperor swore he heard him say something about 'making him wait for something like this'. Finally, Kefka let out a dramatic sigh. "Well fine! Whatever. I'm in!"

The Emperor nodded his approval at the answer he expected all along. It wouldn't do to show them he was anything other than in control despite his attack on Kefka earlier. Every part of his body language needed to be calculated, and every word needed to be carefully spun into thread. He looked to Exdeath next, lifting his head and raising his eyebrows to force an answer. Without being able to see Exdeath's face he had no way of knowing if the tactic had any effect, and it was jarring compared to the concessions he was used to forcing. The Emperor let the awkwardness hang thick in the silence, resisting the urge to look away simply because there was nothing else to do or say. Exdeath's huge breaths were the only sign that he was alive.

After what seemed like forever, Exdeath answered him. "What will you give me in return?"

"Aren't you impatient, Exdeath?" the Emperor replied, shaking his head to imply the very concept was a travesty. "If you intend on waiting for the natural turn of the cycle to swallow Cosmos and her warriors and this world, you will be waiting for eternity! I present to you the opportunity to usher Rosa to your Void. What else could you desire? Your single-minded desire to see everything returned to the Void is rather common knowledge, and I know you have little desire for material things. This is exactly the job for you."

" . . . I also accept your offer. I suppose it is of no larger effort to me to see this warrior destroyed. She would, no doubt, fade in time." Without another word, Exdeath disappeared. Kefka quickly followed suit, offering the Emperor a mock salute.

"Goodbye, Superiority Complex!" he said, and disappeared as well.

Ultimecia waited for a long while and stared hard at the Emperor, waiting for him to give something away. He stood just as still as her, staring her down. "And me?" she asked. "What could you possibly have that would interest me?"

"I'm glad the others have left. I meant to speak to you about it privately. I have a number of relics of the Eidolons-"

"Worthless," she said, crossing her arms and turning away.

"A swatch of Shiva's veil? Worthless? I hardly think so. Monetarily, it is a tremendous prize."

"I have no use for the item, or the Gil it could earn me, and so to me it is worthless. You'll have to do much better than that."

"Time Compression, then. On this world." Her eyes flared. He celebrated his small victory, at having garnered her attention. "I am planning something big. The details are not yet worked out, but my ultimate goal is to destroy Chaos, which will create a certain . . . power vacuum, if you will, that I intend to fill. I had every intention of saving all of the spoils of this world for myself, taking his place and amassing power, but if that is the payment you'll require, I will allow you to share in the world after. We can split it equally between the two of us, and you can do whatever you'd like - be it destruction, be it Time Compression, be it anything - with your half. Time Compression still is your goal, is it not?" The Emperor already knew that it was.

Ultimecia crossed her arms again and narrowed her eyes in distrust. "And you'll reward me that, just to kill Rosa?" Ultimecia laughed, and the tinkling sound of it seemed to hang in the air over the Emperor. He kept his face as hard as he could, as still and as resolute against her taunting as possible. "She made a lasting impression, didn't she?" The Emperor said nothing, and waited for her to have her fun so he could hear her answer. "Hm. I'll join, I suppose. But don't think for a minute that I don't know that you're hiding something from me. I may not know what it is yet, but believe me, I'll sniff it out." Her condescending sneer dropped into a frozen glare before she disappeared.

"Wait!" he yelled, before she completely faded from Pandaemonium. He thought she hadn't heard, but she returned, still with that frosty edge to her eyes. "If I were you, I would refrain from antagonizing me. I reserve the power to retract my offer at any point - even after Rosa is dead."

Ultimecia scoffed, blinking her surprise. "And I reserve the right to refuse to go on your little revenge tangent!" she yelled incredulously.

"Get it done, and you will be given all that you were promised."

"I don't believe you," she answered coldly. "I'll do it, but not for you. With Rosa gone it only weakens Cosmos, and that is one less obstacle to my own goals. Your own be damned," she spat. She disappeared again, and the Emperor knew that even if he wanted to get the last word in she wouldn't have returned.

He hated having to depend so much on her and the others. Distrust ran rampant among Chaos's warriors which left him a minuscule amount of room to act without scrutiny. Fortunately, his skill in strategy was unmatched, and the time they realized he would be excluding them from their prizes, he would have already crushed Chaos. Perhaps even crushed Cosmos.

They all would bow to him.

Chapter Text

"There he is, Rose," Cecil said, pointing over her shoulder.

'Rose.' The nickname sounded odd and too intimate for her ears, but her need to see Zidane quieted down the protest. Rosa turned and sure enough, Zidane was strolling through Sanctuary's barrier like he didn't have a care in the world. He had his hands clasped behind his head, and his tail swung low, close to the water. No purple crystal anywhere. No lifeless eyes. No holes in his chest. Not in any immediate danger. All the tension she felt rushed out of her, and Rosa found the reassurance she was looking for, knowing Zidane was alive and seeing him with her own eyes.

"Thank the gods," she breathed. "I feel so relieved. I thought he was dead," she told him, and Cecil nodded his understanding.

"Of course. No one warned you about the manikins, and they are . . . jarring . . . at first."

“Hm. 'Jarring,'" Rosa repeated. Rosa wondered what her own manikin would look like. She imagined her crystal to be purple, like Zidane's, and her own dull and empty eyes. “Imagine seeing a manikin of yourself, with no warning,” Rosa suddenly thought. She thought she was upset before. She couldn’t imagine the kind of panic she would have felt if she ran into herself.

Behind him came Bartz, Squall, the Onion Knight, and Vaan, just like Cosmos said before. So Cosmos could tell the locations of all of her warriors at any given moment, and yet she had no concept of the fighting? Rosa inwardly scoffed as another feeling of irritation rose up inside of her. Irritation at being passed around to the other warriors to get answers to her questions.

Perhaps she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe Cosmos kept tabs on her warriors from afar, and that was why she stayed out of the fighting.

“Are you satisfied?” Cecil asked, and Rosa nodded back.

"Yes," she answered honestly, and sighed out all of her frustration. "Yes, I am. That was scary." She thought of the dead manikin again, and couldn't stop the shudder from trickling down her back.

"I'm sure it was," Cecil said, "but now you know about the manikins. Right? You can turn this into a learning experience. And the bright side is that Zidane is alive."

Rosa looked into Cecil's eyes, which always seemed to have a spark of innocence and amiability. He was always positive, and always seeing the best in everything. At least, that's what she had learned from her short time around him. She tried to imagine his eyes without that glint. She tried to picture what they would look like, glossed over and dead. "What does your manikin look like?" she asked him, since the thoughts had her wondering. "Have you seen yourself?"

"I have. My manikin is white - all white - when in Paladin form. When it is a Dark Knight, it is some shade of purple. Or perhaps a navy."

"So your manikin can switch freely between the two jobs as well?"

"Yes. Manikins possess all of the abilities that we possess."

"If you kill your manikin, will it come back?" Rosa asked. "Will I see that Zidane manikin creeping around Sanctuary again?"

Cecil paused to think, but Rosa could tell it was not the careful sort of thinking she knew him to be capable of. He was looking for the best explanation, not attempting to hide anything. "Manikins . . . " he began, "Manikins are never-ending. The world simply makes them, at random we assume, and continues to make them. You will not see that particular manikin any more, but you may see another copy of Zidane that the world has made lurking about."

"Oh," she said, unable to think of anything else. "Why? Where do they come from?" she asked, half-expecting him to be unable to answer just based on her general luck.

"There is a place somewhere, on the outskirts of a very far gateway, that contains a dimensional fracture. They spill forth from there." He paused, then added, "At least, that's how I had it explained to me."

"Who told you? Maybe I could ask them to tell me."

"Warrior did, a while ago. But he told me he received the information from Cosmos after his own encounter with them."

"Oh. Of course," Rosa said. The trail, once again, ended at Cosmos. "Why are they being made? Why do they look like us?"

"That, I do not know," Cecil said. "Nobody knows, really. Not even Cosmos. After a while, though, you don't question it. Because in the end, it doesn't matter. They are just something else trying to kill you."

Rosa realized that Cosmos's warriors not only had Chaos warriors to worry about, but also manikins - which spilled forth from a broken part of this world for no particular reason. No reason other than the universe's arbitrary decision to make and dump them. And they carried a bloodlust for no reason, other than the universe's arbitrary decision to make them want to kill Cosmos warriors. "So they're volatile," she said. She never actually encountered a live one yet.

"Yes. They will attack, and attack until defeated. Or until you are defeated."

"And everyone has one?" she asked. At his nod, she asked, "Does Cosmos?"

"No. Cosmos and Chaos do not have manikins. But Chaos's warriors have copies of their own."

"Oh! Well, at least they have to deal with them too," Rosa offered. "We aren't the only ones with an added burden-"

"No. They do not attack Chaos warriors."

" . . . What?"

"They do not attack Chaos warriors. Chaos warriors can summon them at will."

" . . . That makes no sense. Chaos must have had a hand in creating them, then!"

"We don't know. All we know is that they creep into this world from the fissure and attack Harmony's ranks. But like I said, in the end it really doesn't matter. All you have to do is stay alive. Defeat the manikins, defeat the Chaos warriors, and stay alive."

Rosa supposed he was right. Did it really matter that much to her what form the threats took? Did it really matter in this instance where the threats came from? She shrugged her concession, and decided it was time to change the subject anyway. She could quiz him later. "How about that sparring match?” Now that the Zidane fiasco was settled, she had a chance to regain huge chunks of her memories that were missing.

Cecil's face lit up in a wide smile. “Absolutely!" he said, nodding eagerly. "Let's get someone . . . Bartz!” he called, and when his head perked up, Cecil beckoned him over.

“Why do we need Bartz?” Rosa asked, but Cecil only smiled knowingly at her. Bartz finished his conversation with Zidane and quickly crossed the distance to the two of them, jogging with a happy bounce in his step.

"Hey! What's up?" he asked.

"Rosa and I were just preparing to spar. We need a referee. Would you be so kind?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"Thank you. You've never seen the two of us spar before, so you will be an impartial judge. Also, this is a good chance to really watch both of us, so you can copy our skills."

"Oh, right!" Rosa said. "You're a Mime!"

"Yep!" he said, pointing finger-guns at her. "Good idea. Thanks, Cecil!"

"Thank you for agreeing. Follow me," he said, leading the two of them to the center of Sanctuary, towards Cosmos's throne. "The rules of sparring are simple. Keep it clean, and keep it safe. All of the weapons, skills, and powers you naturally possess are at your disposal. You may use anything, at any time - but in a fair, and honorable way. No trickery, or dishonorable action. It won't be an issue," he said, turning to Bartz, "but if you see something, don't hesitate to call it out."

"You got it."

"And never aim to seriously injure your opponent. Sometimes matches can get intense, but they should never grow angry enough to bring us to harm each other. We're all friends, first and foremost, but we also don't have the supplies or the time to continuously heal each other if we're injured. Make sense?"

"Yes. Keep it clean, and keep it safe," Rosa repeated. Despite her excitement earlier, she could feel knots beginning to twist in her stomach. It was only a casual fight but a fight nonetheless. The same sensations she remembered from her fight with the Emperor threatened to overtake her.

Breathing in short gasps, unable to catch her breath. Adrenaline, sharpening her senses. Fighting the urge to run.

"Right," Cecil said. She took as deep a breath as she could muster, and tried to huff out the rest of her tension. Why was she so nervous? Cecil turned and looked out at all the other warriors gathered in Sanctuary, and Rosa followed suit. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sparring match!" he yelled out as loud as he could. "Clear the field!"

Warriors got quiet. Heads snapped in their direction, looking to see who was going to fight, and an energized intensity rippled through the people in Sanctuary. Rosa could feel its energy, but all it did was electrify her already frayed nerves. Her heart dropped into her stomach, rolling with her building nerves, as she realized that all of them would be watching her. When they saw it was her, Rosa detected a mix of everything in their eyes and faces: interest in the new warrior and what her skills would be, expectations of her strengths, skepticism in case she didn't turn out how they expected her to. And something else Rosa couldn't place, as she saw eyes flick between her and Cecil over and over again. She felt like an animal, on display for their watching.

All together, they made their ways to the edge of Sanctuary, lining along the barrier and giving her and Cecil all the space they needed. Even Cosmos gave the two of them a soft nod before disappearing in a flash of light. She reappeared next to Warrior. Cecil reached out for her hand and she obliged, feeling her hand shake as she pressed it into his. She prayed he didn't notice, but he must have, because he hesitated just long enough to give her hand a small squeeze. "Don't be nervous. It's a small sparring match - just to see if you remember anything. Good luck, my lady," he said, and he brought her hand to his lips for a quick kiss.

Her heart started to beat out of her chest. Her breath felt ragged and out of control. What if she lost? What if she looked silly in front of everyone? What if they thought she wasn't skilled?-

A loud shring!, and a flash of light, and Cecil's purple and yellow spear was in his hands. She pictured her bow, holding out her trembling hand, and willed it into existence until she felt it press into her hand. She felt like it took her forever to drag an arrow from the quiver, and she almost dropped a few as they tumbled out with the one she selected. Her fingers felt cold and numb. Clumsy and unpracticed.

"Okay! Ummm, at the ready!" Bartz yelled, putting his arm up.

Rosa nocked the arrow, and held her bow down in a low ready position. She watched as Cecil's back straightened. His arm came up, held across his chest, with his spear behind him. Poised and elegant. Confident. It only made Rosa even more nervous.

They waited for Bartz's mark in the dead silence.

"Don't go easy on him, Rosa!" Zidane yelled, earning a muffled chuckle out of everyone. Zidane was rooting for her, at least.

She was unprepared, and she knew it. A brief thought of, 'Maybe I should back out' crossed her mind.

Too late. Bartz took one last look at both sides. "Ready, set, GO!"

Cecil's weight rocked forwards, and Rosa's nerves jolted. She flinched before he could even take a step. In a second her bow was up, aiming for his chest. The motions were so natural to her, and at the same time they felt so foreign. She knew the arrow would fly true. She knew she sighted it perfectly. She didn't know how she did it. She didn't even know how she knew. But she knew.

At the last second, she hesitated. "Don't aim to injure," she told herself. She purposefully lifted her bow, aiming somewhere random over his head. By then, he had stepped towards her. She let the string slip through her fingers and Cecil didn't even break stride, didn't even have to duck. He knew the shot was too high. Still, though, he paused after the arrow sailed and slowed down to a standstill, lowering his spear.

"Don't overthink it!" he yelled to her. "And don't hold back! Fight as you normally would! We know when to yield. You won't hurt me." He flourished his spear, twirling it around his hand before standing at the ready again. He waited another second, giving Rosa a chance to draw and nock another arrow, before he ran forward again.

The second time, she drew and aimed high on his chest, determined to let it fly as it would. She allowed him to draw nearer, waiting for him to get as close as he would before firing. He closed the distance, running at her in a dead sprint. He ate up the distance so quickly she nearly missed the opportunity she was giving herself. He realized her play, and when he saw she wasn't shooting he tried to stop, but his feet skid in the water. Cecil's arms pinwheeled and he tried to change directions. She waited for the perfect moment while he was off-balance, for his most defenseless point.

Rosa waited.

Rosa waited until the light of the two moons shone through her window. She waited until the little square-shaped moonbeams sat right in the center of her floor. By their location, it was two in the morning.

Time to get out.

Rosa returned to the present, with her bow still held at full-draw and with Cecil still staggered and off-balance. As though no time had passed at all. More out of surprise than purpose, she loosed the arrow. It careened towards him, so fast that Rosa's eyes lost track of it. Despite being so close, Cecil threw his arm to the side and deflected it with his bracer. She went for another arrow at her hip, but Cecil bore down on her. He closed the distance too quickly, and she didn't have time to even pull the arrow before he was swinging at her. The blade of his spear glowed pure white as he tried a weak, one-handed swing at her middle. Rosa shoved her bow between the two of them, and his blade thwacked against the wood, jarring up her arms.

She was expecting him to pull away and take another swing at her, but instead he planted his feet and pressed into the block, putting all his power behind his arm. He brought his other hand up and pushed down on his spear too, so hard that Rosa's arms nearly buckled. If she fell, she'd be defenseless. She wouldn't let it be over that quickly. She planted her own feet and pressed back.

"You hesitated," he said. "Did you remember something?" His eyes were alight with something genuine and happy. He probably loved watching her remember something about their shared past. Especially since he seemed to know her so personally.

"Y-yes, something small," she stammered. "I ran away," she told him. "Or, I left the castle, or something." At least, that was the feeling she had from it. She could feel the purpose in her heart, and the nervousness of getting caught.

"To follow me," he confirmed, voice tight from holding the press. "After I was sent away to-"

Mist Village.

"Your Majesty, why have you sent Captain Cecil to Mist Village?" Rosa asked as she dropped to a knee. "He has just returned! Why are you sending him away again?"

"Cecil," he snarled, so loud and so nasty that Rosa flinched, "is no longer a Captain, and he is no longer in command of the Red Wings! He has been stripped of his rank and all of his honor! He should be executed for treason." The King paused. "But I, in my immense generosity, have instead sent him on a delivery to Mist Village."

"You always had a bit of a stubborn streak in you! Much to the chagrin of my nerves," Cecil continued. "If you need a moment, I will yield." Cecil broke the block, pushing Rosa's bow and all of her weight to the side. She stumbled past him and spun around ready to re-engage, but Cecil stepped away from her, arms up in a gesture of peace.

Rosa quickly shook her head. She wanted more memories. She wanted more pieces to connect. The fact that they were returning, no matter how small and insignificant they seemed, was relieving and exciting to her. "No. I'm fine. Let's go," she said, fingers twitching against the plumage of the arrows at her hip.

"As you wish," he said, smiling sweetly at her in a way that was so gentle and proper and Cecil that it drew a small smile from her as well. It looked to her like there was even a bit of affection, but o even think it registered something hesitant inside of her heart. He was drawn to her, but she thought of him as nothing more than a helpful comrade at this point.

"You guys want me to reset you?" Bartz asked.

"No!" Rosa said, a little too quickly. "We'll start from here. Ready?" she asked Cecil.

"Ready. By your mark, Bartz."

Bartz put his hand up again, and Rosa quickly surveyed her surroundings. Sanctuary had a barrier that was almost the same as the one where she fought the Emperor. If she had to, she could use it to jump or run away. She could also use it to gain height over him if she needed it. There were crops of white stone - natural barriers all around. She could use them for cover to shoot from or heal herself.

Cosmos's throne could also act as an obstacle, if she managed to maneuver him to one side and her to another. And, she saw, there were blueish-green ribbons that arched all above and around them. They matched the red ones that were in the room where she fought the Emperor. She didn't know what they were, or how to use them-

"Go!" Bartz said, throwing his arm down.

On instinct, Rosa pulled four arrows at once. She nocked the first one and held the shafts of the rest between the last fingers of her draw hand. She drew and shot at Cecil again, before he even had time to step. Rosa didn't wait to see if he deflected it before she had the next arrow in her hand prepped and sailing. She shot the third and the fourth within seconds and snatched another cluster of four from her quiver. As she loosed the next round, she began to slowly circle him, hoping he wouldn't notice the change of angle while he was blocking.

He hadn't so much as moved from his spot. The arrows were coming too fast, and she had him pinned down. She figured she could hold him there indefinitely until she came up with something new to do, and she felt a surge of pride rise up within her. Rosa was holding out longer than she honestly expected herself to, and she hoped the others around her were pleasantly surprised. At least she hadn't done anything to embarrass herself, yet.

The arrows were gone before she was even done thinking, so she grabbed another bunch and continued to shoot, one right after the other. Rosa didn't expect him to do anything other than stand there, so when Cecil dove and rolled to the side, she was caught off-guard. Rosa was forced to pause and aim at his new position.

Cecil completed his roll, landing in a crouch, and right as Rosa drew to fire again, he popped up, jumping a few inches off the ground. He threw his fist up in the air, and when he gently opened his hand, it was like he clasped a small light. The light pulsed, flashing white.

Right in front of her, from thin air, another light appeared and pulsed, so bright that Rosa flinched away from it to shield her eyes.. It fanned out into a sigil, spinning inside of itself. Rosa didn't have time to react before a white laser shot out from it. It launched and collided gently with her shoulder, knocking her left shoulder back. She staggered and caught herself, but another laser connected just above her opposite collar bone, knocking her around the other way. She eked out a small squeak of surprise, her legs tangled, and she toppled to the floor as the last laser shot above her, where she had been standing a second ago. She staggered to her feet, momentarily forgetting to be aware of her surroundings.

She didn't notice that Cecil had dashed towards her. Something flat and metal - the flat of his spear blade - slapped into her back so hard, her head whipped back and she saw stars. A sting like no other erupted across her shoulder blades where he hit her, burrowing deep in her skin, and she screamed in pain. Cecil pulled up on the blade and lifted Rosa off her feet, and she froze, winded, for she didn't know how long. Gravity started to pull her down towards the floor but Cecil's blade slammed down vertically across her back and threw her to the floor.

She crashed to the ground, landing on her stomach so hard that she rebounded off the floor and landed again. Her chest collapsed, her breath left her. She tried to suck air in but her chest refused to expand, and panic set in, even more potent than the pain as she realized she couldn't breathe. A small squeak crawled from her throat as she tried to pick herself up, and right herself to give her chest more room.

She practically forgot she was supposed to be in a battle until she heard footsteps splashing in the water behind her. Rosa quickly flipped over, drawing her knife from her belt as she realized she was completely defenseless.

Cecil ran up on her, but then stopped a few feet from her. "Sorry! Are you alright?-" Rosa threw a hand to her chest. "Breathe through your nose," he told her, as soon as he saw that the wind was knocked out of her. She sucked in as big a breath as she could through her nose, and was surprised when it pulled in easily. She instantly relaxed, and he allowed her to sit there in the water for a few more seconds as she caught her breath.

"Geez, Cecil, don't hurt her!" Tidus yelled.

"I wasn't trying-" he started, sending Tidus a completely distressed glance.

" . . . I'm fine!" she yelled as soon as she could, but even to her her voice sounded hoarse and small. Rosa sheathed her knife and looked around for her bow and realized that she must have sent it away without even knowing it. Well, fine. She figured it was time to change tactics anyway. She was breathing easier, and she let out one last, huge sigh to let him know that she was alright. But she still didn't get up. While she sat there, she tried to remember some of the spells she knew. She had Cure and all of its levels. Protect. Shell for magic. She knew Libra, which was an informational spell. She remembered Raise and its higher version, Arise, from her encounter with the manikin that she tried to revive. Dispel.

Rosa blinked and looked to the side, but when she opened her eyes, she didn't see Sanctuary around her. Instead, her surroundings were dark and grey, and she was in a cave.

The Cait Sith opened its huge jaws and snarled, flaring its antennae around it in a clear threat. The Lunar monsters were strong. Incredibly strong, and much more vicious than anything on the Overworld, and they were only making it angry. Edge's shurikens barely even sliced its thick skin. Palom's Black Magic disoriented and confused it, but did little else to actually damage it. Cecil and Kain could barely even get swings in. Instead they were continuously blocking the swipes from its claws and from its antennae. Rosa was spending all of her magic just keeping everyone healed and strong when they took serious hits.

Its antennae started to glow dangerously white, and Rosa knew its Blaster attack was coming. Kain wisely backed away, leaping back several feet in one bound. Cecil watched him retreat in confusion, unaware that the Cait Sith was charging up.

"Watch out!" Rosa tried to yell.

The antennae lashed out, slapping against Cecil's armor on either side of his chest. Yellow charges pinged and jolted off his armor, and he stiffened from the electricity. He collapsed to the ground, lying completely still. So still, Rosa thought he took a fatal blow. She instantly took off towards him, but the Cait Sith snarled again and whipped its antennae around it, keeping her at bay. Suddenly, Cecil's form shuddered on the ground and dragged itself to a sitting position. Rosa could see that something wasn't right. His back was to her, but his motions were slow and sloppy, like he didn't quite have control.

"Cecil!" she called.

He turned towards the sound of her voice, and Rosa saw what the problem was. His eyes were black - completely black. The Cait Sith had Blinded him. He opened his mouth and looked like he tried to scream, but nothing crawled from his throat. He was Silenced, too. He dragged himself to his feet, but wobbled and collapsed again, swinging his sword wildly around him.

"Cecil!" Kain yelled, and ran forward to help him, but when he got close enough, Cecil jabbed his sword at Kain. He crawled after Kain on his hands and knees, too dizzy to stand up, and continuously swiped at his legs. "Rosa, he's Confused!" Kain yelled.

The Esuna spell was already tumbling from her lips, and the warmth was already starting to build in her chest. It needed to be powerful to heal all of his ailments-

Rosa opened her eyes, finished the blink, and looked around for the Cait Sith. Expected to be on the dark moon's surface. But instead, she was surrounded by all white, sitting in Sanctuary's water, and Cecil was in front of her, already healed. She had a Silence spell, that could inflict or heal. She didn't know if Cecil had any magic to him, but if she got the chance to try it, she would. She remembered Blind, but she didn't have a spell that inflicted it or healed it, except for Esuna.

And there was a Confuse spell as well. If she could get Cecil close enough to her, she could try that one. "N-next time, don't stop!" she told him, trying to hide the fact that she just remembered something. "If this were a real battle, my opponent wouldn't stop." The Cait Sith certainly didn't. The Emperor didn't stop for her.

"Friends wouldn't hurt each other in a real battle," Cecil said. "I'm sorry." He stepped towards her and offered his hand.

"You're the one who said to fight like we usually would!" she fired back. She slapped his hand away, and called her staff to her hands, using it to drag herself to her feet.

"True, but I'm not going to attack you when you're completely defenseless! We aren't trying to harm each other here!"

"Says the man who just hit me twice in the back."

"I used the flat of the blade so I wouldn't stab you, Rosa."

"U-u-ugh, stop fighting and- . . . fight already!" Tidus yelled from the sidelines.

Rosa rolled her eyes, exasperated with the fact that they got so off-topic. "Bartz," she called.

"Yeah?"

"Offensive white magic is allowed, right?"

"Mmm," he hummed, eyes flicking up in the air. "Yeah! I don't see why not! As long as you know the spell, Cecil said that every skill . . . "

Offensive magic felt different. While healing magic was a soft warmth, offensive magic felt cold and heavy. Like there was snow piling up inside of her. And while healing magic seemed to come from her heart, the offensive magic pooled lower, near her stomach. Rosa let the chill build while Bartz was talking, and when she felt it was built up enough, she let it build in the crystal on her staff, too. It flashed, and Rosa thrust it forward like a spear and slammed it into Cecil's chest plate.

"H-hey!" Bartz yelled. "I don't know if that's-"

"Anything at our disposal!" Rosa countered.

The blow had staggered Cecil back, but the Confusion had held, so he dizzily splashed to his backside in the water. He blinked hard, but his eyes were glassy and wide, like he could only see very far into the distance. They flicked around wildly until they locked on Bartz. Cecil dragged himself to his feet, never taking his eyes off of him. When he was upright, he wobbled a bit, then ran towards him.

"W-woah!" Bartz yelled. "Cecil, stop!" He backpedaled wildly as Cecil stumbled towards him, swinging back and forth at him. "Ah!" he called a copy of Firion's small round shield to his wrist and blocked an overhead swing. "C-call him off, Rosa!"

Rosa gasped and ran forward. She hadn't thought that through. Confuse caused the afflicted to attack anybody, enemies and friends, at random. It didn't occur to her that he'd consider Bartz at all. Rosa slid in between the two and pushed Cecil back with her staff braced across his chest.

"Oh no! She didn't!" Zidane yelled. He grabbed the Onion Knight next to him and shook him, pointing towards Rosa and Cecil. "Look, look! She Confused him!"

"Get off!" Onion yelled, throwing him off. "I think it was a cheap trick."

"It wasn't cheap," Warrior said. "It is well within the rules to use whatever you have at your disposal. And Cecil let his guard down."

Rosa ignored them.

Cecil ran forward again, and thrust the tip of his spear at her stomach. She wormed to the side and planted her foot on his hip, pushing him back again. While he was at a distance, she recalled the spell and cast it towards him, removing it. He blinked the bleariness away from his eyes and saw Rosa, and ran forward as though nothing had happened. He probably didn't even realize he nearly killed Bartz, she realized.

"Mental note: be careful with Confuse," she told herself.

She figured that was enough of her magic. She sent her staff away and called her bow again. He seemed to be breathing easily while her breath came in deep gasps - though she figured a portion of that was from having the wind knocked out of her. Cecil sprinted forward. She watched the form of his body. Slightly leaned forward, eyes up and intense, sword behind him.

Twenty feet from her.

Ten feet from her.

She heard a heavy sound behind her. A dry rustling, like someone was dragging something heavy in the dirt. She whirled around, thinking someone was attacking her from behind.

She whirled around, glaring into the blackness of the Cave behind her. Hoping to ambush them, six Black Lizards scuttled and crawled out from the shadows of the cave. They skittered forward on stubby legs, and their bodies shuffled through the dirt.

The one in front reared up on two legs and squealed in a clicking sound, and Rosa turned to alert Cecil. "To arms!" He turned, made a noise of alarm, and sprinted to engage, almost running straight at her.

The Cave rippled and shimmered around her. Water lapped at her boots, and for a second everything was white.

Cecil was still running towards her-

He brushed her shoulder as he ran past her.

"No!" she screamed, turning with him. "There are too many!" Cecil froze where he was, skidding in the dirt while his eyes surveyed the six Black Lizards around them. "I've got it."

She pulled an arrow from her quiver, already calling a Holy spell into existence. She sent it into the arrow, building it and building it until the tip glowed white-hot. She aimed at the nearest wall, well away from any of the enemies.

"What are you-" Kain yelled, but Rosa ignored him to loose the arrow.

When it hit the wall, it ricocheted, and the tip burst apart into six shots.

A perfect combination of a Holy Arrow and a Ricochet Shot. Each one bounced randomly off the narrow cave walls, and all of her party members ducked and dodged until all six found their marks in a Lizard.

Rosa opened her eyes, and Cecil was still coming in quick. She gasped, dodging to the side to give herself more time to draw. She pulled an arrow and nocked it, and turned to the side to aim it at the cave wall around her.

There were no walls in Sanctuary.

Cecil changed directions on the dot, still bearing down on her. He was close, incredibly close. Quickly panicking, and with nowhere to shoot the arrow, Rosa aimed it straight at the ground instead. She loosed the arrow, and when it hit the ground and burst open into three shots. She half expected him to stop and at least try to deflect all three. They fanned out, one coming at him from head on, one bouncing to the right, and the other bouncing to his left.

Cecil jumped into the air and twisted, swirling his blade around him in a visible arc. The spin of his attack simply powered through her arrows, and they glanced harmlessly off of his armor. He twirled again, landing one swing against her left pauldron. The clashing sound rung in her ears as her arm jammed straight into her side, jarring her entire frame. An ache erupted in her chest from when she was slammed to the ground, but before she could even react or recover, Cecil was circling again. The second swing hit her pauldron again, harder, and she felt all the bones in her arm and shoulder gnash together. Tears sprang to her eyes and she yelped, unable to quiet the sound before it left her.

His third strike to her shoulder shot stabbing pain up and down her arm. So intense she froze, clenching it to her side. It only lasted a second, and after it faded, pins and needles replaced it, into each of her fingers and all the way up to her collarbone. She lost feeling, her arm grew weak and slumped to her side, useless. She was thrown up into the air, and Cecil soared after her, surrounded by an aura of gold. Everywhere he followed, he left forms behind him - insubstantial golden transparencies that froze in the air and held his pose. They drew Rosa's eyes, and she lost sight of the real Cecil.

There was a flash of white light. A strike collided with her left pauldron, her already injured shoulder. The pins and needles gave way immediately for blinding pain, and she spun dizzily around with the swing. She caught sight of Cecil for a second, but there was another flash and he was gone. Another of his gold forms was all she saw before another strike slammed into the small of her back, curling her up in the air. Cecil appeared below her, and she watched him dash straight up one more time, then flip downwards, plowing the flat of his blade between her shoulders again.

Rosa was hurled to the ground again and lay there, too dizzy to even try to get up, her arm too weak to even move. Her right arm moved slowly, robotically, like she wasn't the one controlling it. It hovered over her left shoulder, shaking, and she held it there waiting for a healing spell, any healing spell, to wrap around her. It took a few seconds before she was coherent enough to realize that she hadn't actually spoken any spell.

She blinked hard and fast, bringing her eyes into focus, and when Sanctuary finally stopped spinning, she spoke a real Curaga. The warm light in her chest spread over her shoulder, banishing the pins and needles. Like a jolt, her strength returned to her arm and fingers, and she clutched her bow tightly to her.

She was losing, badly. She hadn't managed a single hit on him. Only a silly Confuse spell that did more harm to Bartz than it did good for her. She dragged herself to her feet, and spun towards him, not even caring if her fear showed on her face. She didn't have any more tricks. Nothing else had come to light yet from her memory. All she had was what she knew, and she didn't want to just defend with White Magic the whole time.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Wh-what was that?!" she sputtered. "I didn't even . . . see you. Only gold images of you."

"Firion named it Radiant Wing for me. Much more poetic than anything I could have come up with. Sorry, if it hurt you."

She didn't answer. Only lifted her bow to start the fight again.

Cecil paused, lowering his spear from his upright position. "This is only a sparring match. It's supposed to be helping you. Don't take it so seriously."

Rosa bristled in anger. "I won't lose," she growled to herself. She didn't know why she couldn't relax. The desire to prove that she had some sort of merit, maybe, and that she wasn't just ignorant or helpless, or a burden to them until she remembered something. And plus, she thought bitterly, for something not meant to be taken seriously, Cecil hit pretty hard.

She didn't even know how to fight back. And it wasn't to hurt him, she just wanted to feel like she was doing something.

Cecil reset, but before Bartz called the battle, he raised his spear across his chest. It glowed pure white - Cecil's trademark as a Paladin: white light. He lifted it straight up above his head, brighter and brighter, and Rosa expected another flash of light. Perhaps a dormant power, or something. Instead, a wave-like pulse burst out from his body, and it was purple.

Menacing, powerful in an uncontrolled kind of way. It dissipated, and all around Rosa saw more dark energy swirling and dancing around him and glinting like crystal shards. Darkness had clung to his Paladin armor. Instead of the glaring whites and soft purples, he was wearing black armor, adorned with deep purple and gold accent colors. Where his Paladin armor looked smooth and fluid in its design, and even a bit ornate, this armor looked more simple and functional.

His Paladin shoes, which had been shaped into a point, had a gold, metal, crown-shaped plate over the front of his ankles for protection. But his black shoes now were rounded, with diamond-shaped guards on either side of his ankle rather than in the front. His greaves were plain in the front and had four purple spikes poking out on both of his calves. Matching diamond guards covered his knees, and as Rosa's eyes trailed up further, she noticed that his armor had muscle definition carved into the shaping where his Paladin armor didn't.

His belt had a purple 'x' outlined in gold on it, and the accents and colors wrapped around it in a waving design as well. The abdomen and chest were well-defined, and his giant pauldrons were flat and round, outlined in gold with one curved spike that stuck straight up from each of his shoulders. Matching spiked gauntlets and a high collar nearly completed the set.

Nearly startling Rosa was the helmet that had formed over Cecil's face.

A grimacing, nasty face sneered back at her. The features of the face were slumped downward. The eyebrows were furrowed deeply, the eyes themselves were narrowed and completely white, like dead eyes. White and empty like that manikin of Zidane. It had six horns, three on each side, that trailed off both sides of it, making him look like a demon.

It was such a startling contrast to his usual emotion. He seemed generally pleasant, usually smiling when she looked at him. Always bathed in the purest of radiance and elegance in his Paladin armor. His light was the pride in his eyes and his stance, gentle and ethereal, and with it he floated above the world around him. Now he looked enraged. All the light was gone from him, and it looked like the armor was specifically built to keep it out - that, or lock every mote away tight, never to reach the surface again. He looked unrefined and rugged. More grounded and fierce, but at the cost of the light that he took so much pride in.

Even his battle stance had changed. He wasn't standing straight anymore, with his chin elevated, standing firm against his adversaries. His stance in the dark armor was hunched over. Low and threatening, with his spear back behind his left side. He was looking up at her through the helmet's furrowed eyebrows like a rabid animal about to attack.

Feral, Rosa realized. His dark armor looked feral.

"This is my Dark Knight," Cecil said, after a while. He must have caught her staring. Rosa quickly closed her mouth and blinked herself back to her surroundings. They still had a battle, after all. She quickly reached behind her to grab a few arrows, but Cecil lowered his spear and stood up straight. "Wait," he said. "Do you have any . . . questions, or anything?"

"Questions?"

"Oh . . . No, nothing. I was hoping that seeing the armor would help you remember something." He went to scratch awkwardly at the back of his head, but when his hand came into contact with the metal helmet, he simply dropped it back to his side.

"Nothing specific," she said. "All I know is that . . . you were the King's ward in Baron. He had you become a Dark Knight as he had been." She knew that from the memory she had of their discussion under the tree. She had asked him then if he even wanted to be a Dark Knight. By then, he was very nearly at the top of command.

He nodded. "Yes. I suppose it makes sense that you have few memories of this armor. I only wore it on missions during my time with the Red Wings, and His Majesty never sent you on any missions with me. You were only an Apprentice, and he only allowed Mages to accompany us- Well, I still had it when we went to Mount Hobbs. You, me, Rydia, and Edward."

A brief thought flashed in her mind, of the green-haired girl, of a blond man in a red and orange outfit holding a lute. Cecil, frowning at them from under his black helmet. She could remember standing on an orange raft-like vehicle, the propeller whipping the wind all around them, blowing Rosa's hair around her and tangling it all up. She stared over the side, and as they crossed the shoals and the shallow rocks on the water, a huge, rising mountain loomed overhead, growing taller and taller and taller the closer they got.

She supposed that was Mount Hobbs.

"Let's keep going," she said. The respite was nice and she felt like she was ready to continue, at least physically. The healing she performed earlier had removed the heaviness from her arm and from her muscles, and just to double check, Rosa called her bow and experimentally pulled the string as hard as she could a few times. Perfectly fine to keep shooting, she just hoped she wouldn't be sore later. In a way, she realized she could continue to battle indefinitely, or at least, until she lost all of her magic power. Either spending all of it or just being too physically weak to call upon the power.

Or mentally weak, she added. She could feel the battle's tolls on her mind. The memories were powerful, random, and completely overbearing, and Rosa could feel a bit of fatigue set in. She felt slow and tired, like she couldn't be bothered to muster the energy to be as high-strung as she was at the start of the battle. More fighting seemed like a momentous undertaking - but she quickly realized that her desire to remember more, to not be completely in the dark, sort of quieted some of her exhaustion.

At Bartz's call, Cecil started towards her, and Rosa noticed he was moving much slower than she had seen before. His dark armor must have been heavier. If she had to guess, his attacks would be stronger, but less quick as well. Rosa realized that's why the armor was so much more rugged in its design. It was built for durability. For slow, heavy-handed, deliberate skill.

If he was Slowed, she could definitely use that to her advantage.

Rosa called upon the cold, tingling power of offensive White Magic, and shuddered as it pooled down near her stomach. She whispered, "Time, hasten to my aid." Second nature to her. As though she never forgot. The piercing chill spread through her whole body, into her chest, her legs, her arms, and fingers.

From within, the chill touched her muscles, and everywhere it went she was left with a slight buzz. An intense vibration that awakened her senses and shivered up and down her body in waves. The Haste spell spread itself through her, and all around her, Sanctuary seemed to slow down. Cecil's slow and controlled run seemed even slower. Bartz's blinking face looked robotic and methodical. Rosa looked around - she knew she had time - and took in her surroundings. There weren't any white barriers around in this area of Sanctuary, but one of the green bands that she saw earlier curved and touched the ground not far from them. The course of the battle had sent her close to some of the arrows she shot earlier, so she circled around and picked some of them up. Her quiver wasn't close to empty, but it never hurt to keep a few extras. She could even use magic arrows if she had to. She turned back to Cecil and he was halfway to her, still running at her.

Nocking the first of the arrows she picked up, an idea came to her. With no barriers, she needed something to distract him with. Or something she could use to give herself the upper hand. She held the next arrows in her draw hand and prepared for another Rapid Shot, but before she shot the volley, she aimed the first arrow far over Cecil's head. Not even close to him. Her eyes scanned the area over his head, trailing a wide path through the air then crossing it back to Cecil.

She loosed the arrow, and it sailed far over Cecil's head. He paid it no attention, still running towards her at a slow and steady pace due to her Haste. She then finished her Rapid Shot, shooting arrow after arrow after arrow, one right after the other at him. Cecil leaned to the side and dodged the first one, but the second one came too fast for him. It pierced his right shoulder, punching through the thick pauldron. He grunted in pain, stumbling as the cadence of his sprint was thrown off. The next arrow stabbed just above his collarbone on the same side. He backpedaled away, and happened to dodge the third arrow by chance.

She kept them away from the left side of his chest, away from his heart just in case the arrows buried too deep in him and actually drew blood. The other two sailed for him, too fast for his eyes, and while he handled them, Rosa kept her eyes on the arrow she sent through the air before the Rapid Shot. It slowly trailed up and up, along the path Rosa drew with her eyes. It curved along the wide arc, seeming to slow to a dead stop before circling back around and swept back down towards Cecil's back and honed in on him, picking up speed and power.

He was still reeling from the two shafts that managed to pierce into his shoulder and arm, and didn't even notice the arrow coming for his back. It slammed straight into the center of his shoulders and threw him down flat to the ground. Flat on his stomach. His weight snapped the two already in him, and Rosa panicked for a brief second while he slid forward in the water from the force of her Homing Arrow. She started towards him, afraid that his fall had buried the arrow tips even further and potentially caused him more damage than she intended.

To her relief he slowly dragged himself to his hands and knees, and it looked even more slow and labored to her because of the spell. She went to call out to him, and waved her off. "Good shot," he said.

"Did those arrows hurt you?"

"No. They're just stuck in my armor. Keep going!" he said, trying to reach around to grab at the other one. He couldn't get to it in his armor, and resorted to leaving it there.

The tingle Rosa had felt from her spell was growing more and more faint, fading away from the fibers of her muscles. Occasionally a residual twitch came to her, or a pulse, but gradually the world around her seemed to speed up as she slowed down. Cecil used his spear to haul himself to his feet, groaning with the effort. He continued to run towards her, and a cold chill spread down Rosa's back as she realized how quick he seemed now that she no longer was Hastened.

She called upon one of the spells she knew from her memory of the Cait Sith, and sent a Paralyze spell his way. She actually positioned the magic in front of him, so that he would run right into it. To her relief, his path carried him straight through the center of its concentration, and immediately she watched the effects set in. He stopped exactly where he was, with his body leaned forward, poised for the next step. His body started to tremble with the effort of trying to break through the spell and move. With tremendous strain he picked his foot up and it inched forward, almost painfully, but before long he froze like that. He struggled, growling low in his throat - Rosa could see the occasional jolt of his body.

She froze, unsure of what to do next. If she attacked him now, he would be defenseless, and after her accidental stunt with Confuse she didn't think that would be very sportsmanlike. In the same breath, she didn't want to just sit and watch him struggle. If this were a real battle, she wouldn't watch her enemy, gloating like that. She couldn't even remember if the spell faded or if she had to remove it herself, like Confuse.

Thankfully, Cecil saved her from her conflict. He yelled out again, and with a bright flash of white light, he shifted back to his Paladin armor. The shift allowed him to break through the spell, and Rosa could feel it collapse pathetically around him. He only spent a second back in his Paladin armor before he stood up on his toes, raising his spear straight up with both hands, as far above his head as he possibly could. He shifted back to Dark Knight, and slammed his spear to the ground.

A column of crackling, black and purple flame spouted out from the spear with a boom that sounded like an explosion. It shot up high, flickering and spitting, and before it fully dissipated another shot up in front of it. Then another, then another, coming towards her in a line. All thought left her, awestruck at the sight before her. She had no idea Cecil could be that powerful.

Rosa staggered to the side at the sight of it, and to her horror it seemed to track her movement, inching to the side after her. Her panic swelled and her heart jumped into her throat as she realized to completely dodge this she would have to time it exactly right. The closer and closer it drew, gaining speed and power with hit, the more she felt it. It shook the ground it was so powerful. It shook her, rattling her bones inside of her.

The Tower of Zot shook around them, so hard that it rattled the bones inside of her. The walls visibly trembled, and bits of concrete, glass, and crystal rained around them as it broke free from the ceiling.

"The tower's collapsing!" Cecil yelled.

"Look out!" Kain yelled next, head reclined to stare straight up at the falling debris.

A single, forceful crash shook the entire tower further, and Rosa knew that the upper floors and the tip of the tower were shaking loose and collapsing. As if to confirm what she thought, larger chunks of the tower fell around them. She had to get them out of there. She pushed her way to the middle of their little group. To the middle of Cid, Cecil, Kain, and Yang. "Hold on to me!" she yelled, throwing her hand out, Cecil was the first to grab it, and Kain held on to Cecil while Yang grabbed her other hand.

They had seconds, maybe.

Rosa called as much of the magic she possessed inside of her and focused it straight from her heart. She pictured Baron. The castle. The West tower. Cecil's bedroom in the West Tower. She surrounded all of them with the power and yelled, "Teleport!" as loud as she could.

The Dark Flame drew closer and closer to her, only feet away. She could feel the heat. Radiating off of the flames and scorching her face. Scorching her entire body. Her cheeks burned, her eyes felt hot, instantly tearing up.

She had seconds, maybe.

Rosa called the same power, picturing the other side of Sanctuary. "Teleport!" she yelled.

The warmth enveloped her whole body. The world fell away from her. Sanctuary's light blacked out instantly, as though she had gone blind. The floor collapsed away from her feet and she flailed, thinking she was going to fall. A sound like moving air whirred in her ears for just a second, before everything stopped. The ground slammed against her feet and the light came back.

She was where she pictured, on the other side of Sanctuary. Far away from Cecil and his attack.

It faded away, with the column shrinking and shrinking until it disappeared, and Cecil looked around in confusion before spotting her on the other end of the battlefield. The heat from it . . . She felt like she could still feel it on her cheeks. She felt like her eyes were burning hot, like her skin was on fire. The very air felt dry and hot, and she gasped-

She staggered again, nearly face-planting in the sand. So hot . . . she had to be close to Damcyan. Or Cecil - she wasn't even that far behind Cecil. He only left . . . three days before she did. Word only reached her that he perished hours ago. Or was it a day?

The sun beat down on her skin, and she felt like she could feel the waves of its heat beating down on her face. She was dehydrated. She knew she was. She was dehydrated, and had probably taken a wrong turn in the endless dunes. The sand blew again with a dry gust of hot wind and her eyes blurred, burning her vision-

Rosa blinked hard, wiping furiously at her eyes, to clear the memory's searing sand.

She trudged through the endless sand, each new step like a leaded weight upon her legs. She shivered again. The dull throb of simple fatigue had long since subsided to a feverish ache in every single muscle. Her foot sunk in the soft dune, and she lost the effort to lift her boots from the suck of the sea.

She collapsed there, shivering uncontrollably with a chill as the sun glared down at her. Burning her skin. Drying her out. Leaving her there, without mercy. Weakly she lifted her head and tried to call out, but her parched, swollen throat failed her. She only managed a hoarse whisper as the desert fever took over her completely.

"Cecil . . . "

"Cecil," she whispered, and she paused in embarrassment as she realized she said his name out loud. She spun around, hoping nobody heard, and sighed in relief when she saw that Cecil was still across Sanctuary, headed towards her, and the others were lined over by where he was.

"Well done!" Cecil yelled to her loudly. He closed the distance quickly and smiled at her, but when he saw the seriousness in her eyes, he broke stride and hesitated. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just remembered something that really . . . I tried to follow you, and got sick."

"You got desert fever."

"I collapsed in the middle of a desert? How did anybody find me?"

"You weren't minutes from Kaipo before you collapsed. Luckily, a traveler found you and took you to their home. They let you stay there while you recovered."

"Oh," she said, unsure of what else to say.

"I was worried sick about you. Rydia, Edward, and I were able to cure you, but it was close. Your fever was far too high, and wouldn't break." His voice grew distant, and Rosa couldn't see his eyes. But imagined that if she could, she'd see them fixated on the ground in front of him. He was remembering his part of the experience. "You wouldn't stop calling for me. It was heartbreaking. But," he said brightly, breaking himself of the solemnity. "You were fine! The three of us went and found what we needed to cure you. Almost immediately you insisted upon coming with us to our next destination. I refused, of course, but that stubborn streak . . . " he said, allowing the smile to cross his face. "Are you good to keep going?" he asked, reaching out and gently touching her arm.

Leaving it there as he peered down into her face.

She noticed he had kept his hand on her arm.

For far longer than was proper.

He was still smiling at her. For far longer than was proper.

She noticed that about him, lately. They'd spent day after day at the tree and behind the waterfalls. She was starting to feel a change in him.

He had begun with glances. Keeping his eyes on her for longer than was proper while he bowed, before finally lowering them to the floor. Smiling at her when she caught him staring. Roving his eyes over her face.

Then it was hand kisses. His lips would brush her knuckles first before the most gentlest of touches to her hand. He wouldn't exactly clasp her hand in his, but he would open his hand and allow her to rest it there for as long as she would.

She had started to notice she didn't always want to pull away.

And he had no doubt noticed her own stares. Her own smiles.

And then he moved on to gentle touches. Holding her hand, hooking his arm in hers. Maintaining that contact.

His touches had started to burn her. When she reciprocated his instances of contact, he would light up in joy that was nearly blinding.

Sometimes she wished he'd hold her closer.

Touch her longer.

Steal a kiss already-

Rosa shook her head violently, as though to shake the memory from her mind. Her cheeks heated in embarrassment, and when she raised her eyes and saw his look of genuine peace , her cheeks reddened, even hotter.

"A-actually," she stammered. "I think I'm done."

"Oh!" he said quickly. He shifted back to the bright white of his Paladin armor, and his face looked dejected and a little bit hurt. "Okay. Are you alright?"

" . . . Fine. I'm just tired. The memories hit me hard," she told him honestly. "I need to rest. And to think."

"Yes, of course," he said. "If you have any questions, please let me know."

"I will," she told him, nodding to him. He held his hand out to her and she pressed it into his palm. He pulled her hand to his lips, gently kissing her knuckle. "You did well, Lady Rosa. I look forward to our next encounter."

"Thank you," she said. She waited patiently for him to release her hand so she could curtsey. She waited. Smiled at him, and he smiled back. Finally, she pried her hand from his and offered a shallow curtsey. "Until our next encounter."

Chapter Text

If prompted to tell of it, Exdeath could make an excellent story out of his own origins.

It was a fantastical tale in and of itself. Eons and eons ago, before the worlds ever existed as these warriors knew them, there was a Sorcerer-King named Enuo. Already the most powerful being in his own world, he constantly sought even more power. He wanted dominion over all worlds, not just his own. Dominion, even, over the Void, the nothingness that all Life returns to upon its death from its mortal prisons.

In his pursuit, Enuo targeted the four Elemental Crystals. Essences of Life itself - Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. He planned to use the Void to suck all power from the Crystals, absorb it into himself, and drain the world of all life until it perished. Exdeath was one of his soldiers. A powerful fiend, one of thousands, who fought and killed the humans and their worlds for Enuo.

But the humans, seeing the threat to their worlds, fought back. They used the power of the near-drained Crystals to seal Enuo away in the Void he so desperately craved. And all of his ranks were sealed away as well, in the trees of the Great Forest of Moore. Exdeath's body and his consciousness were crammed into the bark. He and many others were seeped into the roots, twisted around the branches. Eventually, all of those souls congealed and morphed, twisting together to form individual and sentient beings within the trees of the Forest themselves.

Exdeath was the only one powerful enough, and consumed with enough hatred to ever break out of his tree.

He remembered his time as a tree. He remembered being unable to move his painfully twisted and gnarled limbs for millennia. Being unable to speak to another soul, only able to push against the other consciousnesses crowding around his until he finally consumed them and amassed their power. It was torture. He pulled them into himself until their essences disappeared and only he was left. He planned his ultimate escape from the tree. For millennia he planned how he would exact his revenge upon the people who sealed him there. He planned his ascent to become the next Enuo, the most powerful being in all of the worlds.

He would rather go back to being sealed in a tree than spend any extra and unnecessary time with Kefka. The jester followed him to the Rift, rather than follow Ultimecia to her castle or stay and bother the Emperor.

Exdeath resorted to ignoring him. Completely, blatantly-

"You sure you don't wanna show me what's under that helmet, Deathy?"

Exdeath slowly turned towards Kefka, even leaning slightly downward to try and make him feel small. Usually it worked, but Kefka was brainless. He couldn't even glare at him with his helmet in the way. It prevented any sort of emotional display.

"I won't laugh, I promise!"

He could feel the rage climbing. His fists clenched so hard that they trembled, as he imagined how much pressure it would take to crush Kefka's skull with his bare hands. It was by sheer force of will he restrained himself.

"Ple-e-e-ease-"

"You ask me that again at your own peril." His voice came out clipped and tight through his clenched teeth.

"Deathy-y-y-"

"No, no, NO! For the last time, you cretin, I will not remove my helmet for you!" To drive his threat home, he summoned his sword to his clenched fist, then allowed it to hover in the air between him and Kefka as a last warning.

But of course, Kefka found a way to ignore it.

With a screeching yowl, Kefka sprang from the ground and leapt straight over the sword, straight towards Exdeath. He latched on, wrapping his legs around Exdeath's torso like a leech. He tugged and pried at the helmet, attempting to detach it from Exdeath's shoulders.

"Come on, come on! It's gotta come off, somehow!" Kefka jabbed his fingers into the slit, and tried to brace it open.

"RRRRAAAUUUGH!" Exdeath roared, as Kefka's fingers stabbed and clawed at his face. He back-pedaled as fast as his trunk-like legs could carry him. He writhed and thrashed as much as he could in his armor. He could not detach Kefka from his face.

The Emperor was a fool.

Even after Chaos's direct threat, the Emperor was still trying to overthrow him. His tenacity was commendable, Ultimecia thought as she left Pandaemonium. Unfortunately, he was too arrogant to realize he was an insect under Chaos's boot. Even at his full power, the Emperor could never hope to contend with Chaos. And if he thought she honestly believed his promise of payment, then he was an even bigger fool. He had outright admitted that he had no plan to realize his ambitions, only ideas, yet he was willing to send her on a petty errand in the meantime while he figured it out. It was probably to keep her distracted from him while he acted against Chaos so she didn't capitalize on his efforts, whatever they were. He didn't feel threatened by Exdeath or Kefka, so he had probably asked them to participate so she would be forced to babysit them. Another layer of distraction to divert her attention.

She wondered what Kefka and Exdeath thought of his little plan. He hadn't promised them anything tangible like he promised her, so they had agreed on principle - Chaos warriors destroying Cosmos warriors. But she still wondered if they saw through it just as she did and if they knew it was a cover up for other major plans. The most likely place to find Exdeath was the Rift so Ultimecia called a pocket of darkness. She pictured the Rift down to the exact platform she wanted and willed another opening into existence, stepping through. There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, then a rush of air, and she traveled there right as a demonic roar reached her ears.

"RRRRAAAUUUGH!" Exdeath's sword clattered to the ground and he clawed at Kefka, who was wrapped around his face like a pastel-colored vine. "GET OFF OF ME, KEFKA!"

"I JUST WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE!"

"KEFKA!"

The clown even called a fire to his palm, seconds away from blowing the helmet off of Exdeath's face.

These imbeciles were to be her partners in crime.

"Excuse me!" Ultimecia yelled in between Exdeath's cries. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Kefka froze, arching his back and craning his neck to peer at Ultimecia upside down. Exdeath still struggled but he did it silently, scratching at Kefka's clothes and back. "Put that away, Kefka, and stop acting like a fool!"

Reluctantly, Kefka closed his fist over the fire. "Nice to see you too, deary."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Have you truly considered the Emperor's proposal?" she asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Exdeath grabbed a fistful of the feathers in Kefka's hair. "I have," he said, a little out of breath. He yanked and peeled Kefka away and threw him to the ground, and Kefka yelped in protest. "There is something amiss," Exdeath continued. "Either this Rosa is powerful and he is afraid of her, or defeating her is some small part of a larger scheme."

"I came to the same conclusion. Any idea what his real plan is?"

"None," Exdeath said. "But I do not care to know it. It is of no consequence to me. Whether he succeeds or not, all will return to nothingness. He will lose in the end."

"Will you still go through with helping him?"

"Kill Rosa?" Exdeath asked. "Yes. As I told the Emperor, it is of no extra effort on my part to send a warrior to the Void."

"I'm still helping because I've been craving some fun!" Kefka yelled from the ground as though anyone had asked him. By then he was reclined on his side, with his elbow on the ground to support his head.

"Let's agree to keep an eye out for her then," Ultimecia said. "If any one of us spots her, we will alert the others."

"Agreed," Exdeath said. "Until then, do not contact me, Kefka." Exdeath called his sword back with his magic and disappeared in the next blink, leaving Kefka and Ultimecia together in the Rift.

Kefka stood up from the ground and leaned in to her, as though about to share a secret despite being the only two people there. "You can't tell me you've never wondered what his face looks like."

Ultimecia waved him away and sighed. "While you ponder your profound thoughts," she sneered sarcastically, "keep an eye out for Rosa." She left Kefka to return to her tower.

Chapter Text

For Kain, the worst part of being called to the cycles was forgetting, and then remembering, his betrayal.

The very first memory that ever returned to him was one from their childhood. It was when the King of Baron called Cecil and him into the throne room so they could publicly declare the job classes they would select. The King turned to Cecil first, and he proudly announced, "I will train as a Dark Knight, my lord!" The King's face lit up.

At perfect Cecil.

His Majesty turned to Kain next, and though it was only a memory, the emotions in it were so powerful that Kain's heart started to beat out of his chest in the present day. He resisted the urge to look at his feet and he cursed the heat in his cheeks that revealed his embarrassment. He announced that he would be a Dragoon, after his father, and the impulse to run from the room nearly overtook him when the King's bright expression fell into a disappointed frown. It was only on His Majesty's face for a second before he remembered himself and managed a pained smile.

He turned back to Cecil, and started to praise him for his choice.

Cecil, the King's favorite. Cecil, a Dark Knight, pride of Baron. Pride of His Majesty. Cecil could do no wrong in the King's eyes, while all Kain received was his reprimanding and scorn. Perfect Cecil.

After that, the memories of Cecil started to trickle in, one after the other. Cecil, who wore light and happiness around himself like a crown. Perfect Cecil. Who walked in the favor of the gods and who carried all the luck and who garnered the love of the whole kingdom for simply existing while Kain was forced into his shadow.

The resurgence of rage and jealousy he felt alarmed him. Before he even knew himself in this war, he knew that he was capable of hatred and contempt. They were so natural to him, like returning to his own bed after a long journey.

Memories of Rosa naturally followed alongside his recollection of Cecil, only solidifying his emotions and hardening his heart further. Dazzling, dizzying glimpses of her, sometimes so beautiful he had trouble breathing. He knew her tender, healing touches like they were burned into his skin. He memorized the tones in her gentle voice, that sometimes sang bard songs around the campfire. Rosa was so selfless, she would drop everything if someone was injured, even if it meant endangering herself. She was undemanding of others around her. She was understanding and empathetic. She was soft and nurturing to the younger members of their group.

And she was fierce and fearless. She had a fire behind her green eyes in the heat of a battle. She could bare her teeth and growl with the angriest of wolves, and she could harm without mercy. It was amazing to watch her flip personas in an instant.

He loved her from the moment he saw her, when she broke up his and Cecil's fight. And he was forced to feel his heart sink into his stomach all over again, when he remembered the way she immediately turned and spoke to Cecil. He tried, over and over again, to get her to notice him and get her to feel something for him. She only fell further and further into Cecil's embrace. She only offered her smiles to Cecil.

Of course she should like Cecil more than him. Of course she would be more drawn to Cecil. Perfect Cecil, who was better in every way. She wore a crown of stars and Cecil wore a crown bathed in the light of the two moons, so of course they would be drawn together. Kain could never be worthy of being her friend, especially not when Cecil was there. Even when he was a Dark Knight he outshone Kain.

He could try and blame Goblez all he wanted for his betrayal, but that was only the half of it. If he said that he was forced to do anything that he did, he would be lying. Golbez's influence was only that - an influence - and Kain still acted as he pleased. He still understood and recognized that he wanted Rosa, and he knew that to get to her, he had to get rid of Cecil in the way. He knew that he was jealous. He knew that he was doing something awful.

He didn't care. He wanted her.

He could add selfish to the growing list of character traits he made for himself.

That was the worst of it. Finding out, memory by painful memory, that he used his emotions to betray his friends. Watching, mortified, as Golbez manipulated him and made him want to bring harm to Cecil. Kain felt all of it, all over again, and he watched himself kidnap Rosa. He relived looking her in the eye as though he had any reason to be prideful, and act like he was finally proving to her he was better. He told her how much he loved her, how much he envied and loathed Cecil, and how much better he was than Cecil as though it would draw her to him. Rather than brighten his own image he only worked to tarnish Cecil's, and under Golbez's control it seemed right.

And then the spell was broken in the Tower of Zot. And he had to admit to Rosa that his actions were his own. His shame was insurmountable, and he couldn't look her in the face. He turned away from her then, even when she tried to look into his eyes. And he told her he just wanted to be close to her, with the unspoken words hanging in the air that Cecil was the barrier. He had to admit to everyone there, people he didn't even know, that he was jealous and he just wanted to be with her, even if it meant killing his friends.

He felt his shame still, always in his chest. It hurt him to remember, bit by painful bit.

How cruel of the world, that now that Rosa was there he would have to go through recalling it for the third time. Once by himself, once when Cecil was called, and a third time as Rosa's memory completed itself. She would alienate herself from him. As the intimate details returned to her she would inevitably start to look at him differently, with shock and injury in her eyes. And she would know everything about him. She would learn everything he felt about her and about Cecil. She would know everything he did to her, and everything he said to her.

She would cling to Cecil. Cecil, now wearing Paladin armor. Whose light was so bright he was blinding.

Rosa didn't remember yet. But when she did, she would seek out Cecil’s comfort. She would be drawn to the light, so similar to her own radiance. She would turn away from Kain and never turn back, and if she did, it would destroy him.

Perfect Cecil.

He could never wash away what he did. He could never undo it. It would be with him forever, and soon it would be between her and Cecil too, like a secret they could share in order to laugh at him.

If shame itself had a face, surely it was Kain's.

He knew he wore it well.

It crossed his mind, more than once, that since she had forgotten, he had a second chance. He had two options: he could slot himself between her and Cecil's already-growing friendship. He could be as nice as possible to her, make her grow to like him to any degree at all compared to Cecil, and then when she did remember his betrayal, it would be harder for her to hate him. Perhaps, if he was lucky, harder to believe at all. He could try to protect his image as much as possible and potentially begin some sort of road to redemption, and he could also be closer to her. Whether or not it ended in his favor anymore, he didn't care. He knew she would always choose Cecil over him. The two were fated to be together. But at least he could be closer to her.

Or, he could just let it be what it was, and face her scorn and her pity and her distancing like he knew he deserved. That would certainly be the honorable thing to do, not that he had much to spare. It was certainly what he deserved. He was a traitor. He deserved no less than however she decided to react.

Take advantage of her, or face her judgment for the second time? It would ruin everything he could ever hope to have with her. Chance her friendship in a dishonorable way, or chance losing her forever?

He was still pondering one over the other, when he decided to return to Sanctuary.

When he touched the signet in the Cornelia Plains, he was whisked upwards, to the outside of Sanctuary's barrier. From where he was, he could see the most, if not all of the warriors, lined up along the invisible wall. He immediately looked for Cecil and Rosa, but neither of them were anywhere to be seen. Perhaps they were at the front of the group.

Kain jogged lightly to the barrier and pushed through it, but when he raised his eyes, he found the two of them. Cecil was clad in his Dark Knight armor, crouched low and squaring off with his spear at the ready behind him. He was looking for the sparring partner when he saw Rosa. She had her eyes glued to the ground and was quickly picking arrows up off the ground around her. From the speed of her movements, she was Hastened. Rosa drew an arrow and held the bow, charging up the arrow. Then she raised her bow and loosed it far over Cecil's head. In the next instant, she was shooting arrow after arrow at Cecil, so fast Kain's eyes couldn't follow them.

The rippling of her muscles under her skin was mesmerizing. The form of her body so beautiful to watch. The fire he remembered was there in her eyes, burning hot and bright, and Kain was content to simply watch her until Cecil cried out.

Kain blinked himself back to awareness and realized that two of the shafts had embedded into Cecil's shoulder. The one she fired over his head was arcing around and racing back for him too. He couldn't even imagine what happened between them that was serious enough to escalate into a fight. Perhaps Cecil tried to push her to remember too much, too fast. Maybe he tried a romantic advance and she refused him. Either way, he didn't want them hurting each other.

Kain pushed forward to the front of the crowd of warriors, but when he moved to take a step out into the battlefield, Cloud stepped up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "They're just sparring."

Cloud removed his hand and Kain stood there, watching the two of them. The arrow coming from behind punched into the middle of Cecil's shoulders and sent him sprawling to the ground. She ran forward a step or two, said something to him, but he waved her off.

" . . . Is she doing well?" Kain asked. She seemed to be. Her movements seemed to be natural enough, with the occasional calculation's hesitation. She had Hastened herself, so perhaps she remembered some of her magic.

Rosa planted a Paralyze spell in Cecil's path, and it held successfully, trapping Cecil where he was. He struggled and grunted with the effort of breaking it.

Zidane answered his question. "Yeah, I think so! She's really powerful with that magic. Oh, man!" he yelled suddenly. "You shoulda seen her, Kain! She hit Cecil with this Confuse spell and he almost killed Bartz! It was amazing - scary, but amazing! What a lady, huh?" he asked, elbowing Kain in the hip due to their height difference.

The gods were toying with him. " . . . Yes," he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest to keep his true emotions locked down. He watched the rest of their fight. Every memory that caused her to stumble made his heart jump into his throat. Every pause Cecil gave her to recover tightened his chest. Every memory she received, he would be walking on eggshells.

He never decided what he wanted to do. Did he try to befriend her? Perhaps charm her out of a startling revelation later? Or did he let things play out as they would, and let her react as she would? At the end of their battle, he made his choice, and walked over towards her, even after Cecil sat down next to her and they started talking to each other.

Chapter Text

Cecil released her hand, and it felt like the world crashed around her. Adrenaline trembled in her hands and ankles. Its fists squeezed her heart, tighter and tighter, and she realized she was still gasping from stress and exertion. Her heightened senses could still see the patterns of the color in Cecils' irises, and the exactness of the sharp angles in his features. Details on the others, who were halfway across Sanctuary. She could hear each breath he took, the slight vibrating hum of the light ribbons that arced around them.

It made Sanctuary look fake. The water, the white rocks, the throne, all too crisp to be real.

The wave of physical exhaustion washed over her, and the trembling grew more forceful. She sat down right where she was before her knees could give out, curling her legs underneath her. Her limbs felt dead, her hands disconnected from the rest of her. Just keeping her head level was testing her. She sighed and flopped in the water, lying flat on her back so she could breathe.

"Are you alright?" Cecil asked, awkwardly standing over her.

She nodded, closing her eyes. "Two battles and that bad scare with the manikin are starting to catch up to me," she told him. "Please don't sit down with me," she silently begged him. She needed time to rest. And then she needed time to process everything that she had just remembered. She entertained a brief thought of moving if he sat down, but immediately rejected the thought of getting up. Too much of a chore. She focused again on her breathing, listening carefully, but she didn't hear Cecil's footsteps splash away or leave. She cracked open her eyes just to check and she could still see his armored feet. He was half-turned away from her, probably in awkward politeness, but he was still there.

She debated on telling him that she just wanted to be alone, but she was finished with confrontation for the day. She didn't want to emotionally reengage him anyway. Instead, she kept her eyes open, and watched as the fine details and textures of Sanctuary blurred with her dulling senses. When she felt okay enough, she pushed herself back to a sitting position, surprised at how quickly stiffness set in her muscles. When she was situated, she scooped a few handfuls of water, splashing it on her face and over her shoulder. Was it acceptable to drink the Sanctuary water, she wondered. Her throat felt dry and swollen, and the air only seemed to make it worse. Luckily Cecil moved and saved her the trouble.

He sat next to her, plopping down with a tiny grunt, and from somewhere in his armor he produced a tiny water flask. He handed it to her and after she nodded her thanks she drank several gulps, nearly draining it before remembering it was his.

"Mm! Sorry-" she said, quickly holding it out. She wasn't even thinking, acting like a heathen in front of him.

"Take as much as you need," he told her, gently pushing it back towards her. She thanked him, but still took careful, self-conscious sips. The two of them sat in what she felt for the first time was comfortable silence, and he waited calmly and patiently for her to relax. She was grateful for it, but at the same time she could feel the quiet, urgent undertone of unasked questions hanging in the air, just on the tip of his tongue. She could feel his eyes on her, so she kept her own eyes on the ground, on the flask in her hands, on Sanctuary - anywhere but him.

After what seemed like forever, she was breathing normally again. He finally asked, "What did you think of your first sparring match?"

She nodded, but still kept her eyes on the ground. "Good! It was good. I did okay . . . I think."

"You most definitely did," he told her. "Your accuracy with your bow was incredible. I don't think you misfired once. Your magic was well-executed, your battle sense and instincts are strong, and I felt a true challenge."

That made Rosa feel better, she supposed. She didn't feel as though she had done anything special, but if an experienced warrior told her she was a challenge, then maybe she had done better than she thought. And, she had already beaten the Emperor. "Thank you. Much of that I just did on the spot. I didn't have to think much about it." She was a little distracted by the memories forcing their way into her mind.

"I could tell. And the things you did think about were not selected arbitrarily."

" . . . Except a bit of the magic," she told herself, but didn't say it out loud. She didn't know how he would react to being Confused and almost hurting Bartz. She could tell him eventually.

"Before you left Sanctuary earlier, I was worried about you going off on your own. Nobody told you about the manikins, or the other Chaos warriors for that matter. I was going to go after you but Kain stopped me. He said you'd be fine on your own, and he was right."

"Oh, really? What did he say?" she asked. Rosa had to stop herself from thinking of the worst case scenario, that Kain wanted her to be alone in a dangerous situation just because Kain was the one who said it. After she talked to Cecil earlier, she knew she had to give him a chance. The odds were he was just incredibly embarrassed by his betrayal. She locked down any negative thoughts before they could intrude.

"He said not to worry. That you are strong, you're smart, and you're extremely skilled. And he's right. I always knew it, even when we were children. But after sparring with you I've reaffirmed it. Strong, beautiful, smart . . . " Rosa didn't know what to do with the compliments, so she didn't respond. He waited another second and changed the subject, perhaps sensing her discomfort. "So, what all did you remember? Want to share?" There was the true questions he wanted to ask.

She didn't want to share yet, and especially not with him. Thoughts were still swimming in her head, and she felt as though she hadn't quite come back fully. The last memory she had confused her. Clearly her and Cecil were at the very least better friends than she had originally thought, but more feelings just weren't there. When she started to remember bits of their childhood she had felt a soothing familiarity that allowed her to trust him more than before, but in the wake of the battle and the extra memories she felt uncomfortable all over again. His constant presence had been a relief in her first hours here, but they were now a little strange, and they mildly unsettled her once again. He was clearly waiting for her to remember something, but there wasn't anything there to remember yet. In the meantime she was supposed to entertain his company.

She met his eye, intending to find an excuse to ward him off. But he looked so enthusiastic, like a child about to receive a present. She didn't quite have the heart to tell him no.

"Well, I saw the King of Baron after he sent you away to Mist. I sought an audience with him and asked him why he sent you there. He was pretty angry with you."

"Yes. He was not himself. Golbez controlled him, too, but I didn't know that at the time. I could just tell that something wasn't right. After I questioned him, he grew enraged. He stripped me of my rank and of my command of the Red Wings, but rather than jail me for treason as he should have, he sent me away to Mist Village."

"That's what drove me to leave Baron and follow you, which is when I ended up in Kaipo. I remember staying awake and getting up to run away." They were tiny clarifications, but already she could feel the knots unraveling in her mind. As much as she thought she didn't want to talk about it with Cecil, it actually felt relieving. "A-a-and," she trailed, trying to recall the next thing, "I remembered some magic - a lot of magic, actually. I knew Cure after battling the Emperor, but now I know Esuna, which is really powerful. I remember Paralyze, Silence, Confuse- by the way, I don't know if you knew, but I used a Confuse spell on you because I didn't know how serious it was and wanted to try it out. You should probably apologize to Bartz because you attacked him." She looked up at him to gauge his reaction.

"What?!" Cecil snapped, lowering his head to stare hard into her face. He immediately looked for Bartz amidst the other warriors on the other side of Sanctuary and went to get up, but Rosa grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Leave it. You can apologize later. It was an accident on my part, and you didn't know what you were doing. Bartz is fine. Anyway, I remembered Paralyze, Silence, Confuse, I already knew Protect and Shell and used them against the Emperor, Slow and Haste, Dispel and Libra, Teleport, and Holy."

Cecil nodded approvingly. "That's almost every spell. There are still a couple left, but they're not commonly used. I'm sure you'll remember the rest later."

Rosa took another drink. As her eyes roved around Sanctuary, she noticed that none of the other warriors had tried to make their way over to talk to her. They were speaking to each other, and some of them cast intrigued glances their way, like they were wanting to say something, but they all remained politely on the other side. Even Cosmos looked like she wanted to talk to Rosa, staring at the two of them from her throne, where she returned to after the battle. It looked like Warrior had stopped everyone. He was standing in front of the group as though to shield Rosa and Cecil from them. Perhaps he said something to the others and asked them to give the two of them privacy.

"I remembered a lot of my skills, too, like that Homing Arrow, and the Ricochet Shot. Then . . . I remembered us traveling to Mount Hobbs, but I can't remember why. I can just see the image in my head. We went on some kind of raft-like craft. It took us across the shoals on the water and helped us reach the mountain."

"We went with Edward, and Rydia," Cecil confirmed. "Do you remember them at all?"

The name Rydia was familiar to her.

"Rydia," Rosa said, kneeling before the child in front of her. "We need you now," she said, and she could hear the plea in her voice. She didn't try to mask it. "You're the only one who can melt this ice," she said, gently patting Rydia's tiny shoulders.

Rydia shook her hands off, lip curling out in a pout. "I can't! I hate fire! I hate it!!" Her voice grew more and more frantic. She shook her head hard, refusing to look into Rosa's face, and her eyes began to glisten with tears. Rosa tried to lean down and make eye contact, but Rydia stared straight down at the ground and even turned away from her.

Cecil took a step forward, probably to say something to her, but Rosa waved him off. He was wearing his Dark Knight armor. His face looked like a frown, and he had horns coming off his helmet like a demon. Rosa knew he looked the same as when little Rydia's village burnt down. From what Cecil told her, it was his own fault. And though he was a caring person, Rosa knew it would be harder for her to listen to the comforts of the man who hurt her so grievously despite earning her trust afterwards. She could feel the panic rising up in her chest, making her heart flutter. They needed to get through this ice now, or more people could be harmed, and the crystal could be stolen if Golbez reached Fabul before they did. She swallowed thickly, literally swallowing down her fear, and smiled sympathetically at Rydia, hoping that even though she was only seven, she would catch the emotion Rosa placed in her eyes.

"Rydia, if we can't get through to Fabul, more people will be in danger."

Rydia blinked heavily, and silently the tears started to fall down her cheeks. Rosa was losing this.

" . . . Please, Rydia," she pleaded, one final time. She made her voice as soft as possible. As motherly as possible. As tender as she could be, as tender as she remembered her own mother could be when patching a wound, or caring for a sick person, or comforting her children.

" . . . " She didn't answer. Not for a long while. Just continued to cry silently. And even though she was crying, Rosa could see the struggle within her. It was one of the strongest things she'd ever seen. Rydia was battling something fierce inside of her. She was coming to terms with something that hurt her before.

Even Edward tried to help. "Rydia," he started. "You've helped me, you've helped Cecil, you've helped Rosa . . . You have the power to help many more people. Please, we need your strength and courage." He met eyes with Rosa and raised his eyebrows, searching for approval, and Rosa nodded.

" . . . "

Suddenly, she whirled around. She shoved past Rosa and strode right up to the ice, as forcefully as her little legs could carry her. She raised her hands in the air, and screamed, "FIRE!"

The ice in front of them burst into flames and melted.

Rosa's heart leapt for her, and for all of them."I knew you could do it!" she yelled, running forward. She and the others gathered around her, offering their praise as well. Rosa gently wiped the tears from her cheek and pulled her into a tight hug. Despite her tears, a small smile crossed Rydia's cheeks, and she even giggled at all of the attention.

"Well done! Let's go!" Rosa said.

The four of them turned and continued on their way up the mountain path.

"I remember Rydia and Edward," she told him. "Rydia was a child. With green hair and pale skin. The four of us needed to get to Fabul to try and protect the crystal from Golbez. There was ice in the way of the mountain path, and we needed Rydia to clear it. She was the only one who knew Black Magic."

"Yes - well, she was actually a summoner," he said. "She just also happened to know Black Magic."

"Yes. Something happened to her," she continued. "She hated fire, passionately. Her village burnt down. Right?" His smile fell instantly. He seemed to shrink down upon himself, and even leaned away from her as though she said something terribly grating. "What?"

" . . . What all do you know about that?" he asked her. Even his voice had gotten quiet.

"Not much," she offered hesitantly. "Her village burnt down, and you were there when it happened. That's all I know. I know from the memory that you told me about it, but I don't remember what was said, or the time surrounding when you told me." She wanted to add, 'You blamed yourself for it,' after it. But he had such a horrible reaction to her very mention of it that she didn't want to upset him any further. She bit her tongue and held it in, unwilling to harm him.

"I . . . " he started. "I wasn't just there. I was responsible for it. Kain and I were sent to Mist Village with a ring. A Carnelian Signet. After fighting our way though the Mist Cave, Kain and I encountered the Mist Dragon, which we battled fiercely. We killed the dragon, we arrived in Mist, and the ring activated. It was . . . actually a Bomb Ring," he spat bitterly, eyes rolling and looking at the ground. "The Bombs set fire to everything. Every building, every home, blowing things up and even . . . people. A lot of people . . . a lot of people in Mist Village burned that day."

She looked up into his face, but his eyes were distant, like he himself was being overtaken by the memory of it. He looked so heartbroken, and Rosa pitied him. He clearly still held on to a bit of the guilt, even after all this time. She pitied the fact that he was involved, and she pitied his remorse. He couldn't even look at her, and she understood the full extent of how much it weighed on him.

"You blame yourself," she said, out loud this time, and the sorrow she felt for him seemed to make her heart heavy.

"I do," he said. "I blame myself for the village and for . . . murdering . . . all those people in the King's name. And I blame myself for Rydia's mother. The Mist Dragon was her Eidolon. When we killed it, we killed her as well."

"I'm sorry," she said, unsure of what else to say.

"I don't want you to think any less of me," Cecil replied quickly, spitting the words out as though Rosa had already made up her mind. "And that's why I didn't tell you everything about Mist Village right away, only that we were sent there. It was the driving reason behind why I became a Paladin. To me, the Dark Knight armor was the pride of a heartless King, and the symbol of a man who would kill on an order, even if he knew it was wrong. Becoming a Paladin was about shedding my guilt and atoning in any way I could."

She felt the urge to comfort him, but when she tried to think of the right thing to say, the words didn't come to her. She settled on, "I don't think less of you. You're a good man, I think."

She didn't know why, but that only seemed to make him sadder. "I was too weak to disobey back then. So I rid myself completely of the Dark armor and the weak man I was. Imagine my surprise when I awoke here with it. Cosmos returned it to me."

"She probably did not know what it meant," Rosa tried.

"I know she didn't. But I still thought that surely it was a punishment for something. Or a sign that the man who I was hadn't disappeared, or that there was darkness in my heart, or something."

". . . Yes, but . . . " she started, trailing off to make sure she was saying the right thing. "Armor is only a casing for your body. All you do is wear it for protection. It doesn't define you. Especially not if you've made the efforts that you have. I think that . . . who you are now-" No, that was fairly presumptuous. She only knew a little bit of him. "From what I know of who you are now," she quickly remedied, "you have atoned. You've surrounded yourself with light, and you now have a connection to this Paladin armor. The Dark Knight represents who you were once and maybe you're not proud of that person, but the current you inside of it isn't bound by it anymore. You just need to wear it sometimes for protection."

"Thank you," he said, but from the tone of his voice he didn't actually feel any better.

"Do you regret even wearing it again? Even though it doesn't mean anything anymore? Even though it's just a power you sometimes employ?"

"I don't know. Sometimes."

She didn't know what else to say to that. She hummed a sound of acknowledgement, and let the conversation drop while he fought through his internal struggle. After another few moments, he sighed heavily and shook his head. "This took a serious turn. I did not mean to make it about me. Sorry."

"That's okay!" she told him honestly. "Either way, I learned a little something about you. And maybe that could bring back some memories, too." The corner of his mouth upturned into a half-hearted half-smile.

"Still, let's backtrack," he said. "Tell me more. What else do you remember?"

"I remember the Tower of Zot collapsing around us. That's how I remembered Teleport."

"Do you remember how you got there?" Cecil asked. She didn't. Rosa looked away and took another glance at the rest of Sanctuary when she noticed Kain striding forcefully towards them. He was the only one who had broken away from the crowd. He sported a frown that seemed to always be there, and he was coming over to talk to them.

"No. I don't have any of the details. Only that we had to escape. And the last thing I remembered was . . . Hi," Rosa said curtly.

"Lady Rosa," Kain said, nodding his head. "May I join you?"

"Of course!" Cecil said, gesturing to the other side of Rosa. She shot him a glare, hoping he would see her distaste for Kain's presence. Cecil didn't catch it. Kain sat down next to her, but as though he felt the awkwardness of the interrupted conversation, he put a small bit of distance between them.

"You did well in the fight, Rosa," he said.

"Thank you. Cecil was a tough opponent. He landed a few solid hits."

"Yes, and you hit me back, just as hard," he countered.

"I was lucky, a lot. And it wasn't a real fight. Not like with the Emperor."

"You battled the Emperor?" Kain asked.

"Ah, you weren't here when she got back, Kain," Cecil said. "She did battle with the Emperor and won."

Kain nodded approvingly. "I don't doubt it. Your magic is very powerful. Even when we were children it was powerful. I'm sure that you will be integral to our success in these battles," Kain said. To Rosa it sounded stiff and formal, like necessary small-talk. He had something else he wanted to tell her, but she couldn't even try to guess it. The conversation lulled for a moment, and to fill the silence Rosa took another long drink from the flask. She emptied it, handing it back to Cecil, and he muttered his thanks.

" . . . Anyway, you were saying . . . ?" Cecil asked, prompting her to finish.

She staring hard at Cecil and when he met her eyes, and she shook her head 'no' as subtly as possible, hoping not to alert Kain. Cecil's eyebrows furrowed and he cocked his head to the side like a little puppy. He didn't understand her hesitation.

She couldn't come up with an excuse quickly enough. She sighed heavily, and finished what she was saying. "The last thing I remember is collapsing from the Desert Fever. And that last one about Cecil," she added silently, but that memory would never see the light of day if she could help it, until she was ready to work through it. She equated the feeling to knowing someone for days, and then forgetting their name. Which, she supposed, happened to her but throughout a longer time period.

"I wasn't there for that, was I?" Kain asked. Rosa didn't know what he was talking about for a second, before she realized that the last thing she mentioned was the Desert Fever.

Cecil paused to think about it, then shook his head. "No, that's right. You weren't. It was after Mist Village. I was only with Rydia, and then we brought Edward back with us."

An idea sparked in Rosa's mind. There was one memory she still hadn't told anyone about, because she never had the chance to mention it: the one she had when she was battling the Emperor, of Golbez taking her away. The images looked blurry around the edges and the panic she felt was distant, but she knew that Kain had been there for it. She had seen him there, in that glass room where she was standing.

She wanted to know more about Kain and his betrayal. She wanted to mention it, just to see how he reacted.

"There's one more."

Kain and Cecil both perked up, but while Cecil popped up with interest, Kain's spine seemed to stiffen. Cecil looked excited to hear it while Kain's frown deepened.

"It came back to me when I was fighting the Emperor. We were in a completely glass room, and it was very bright. Cecil, you were injured, I think. I remember you lying on the ground in front of me." She paused to watch their reactions. Cecil's happy face fell, but more in caution than in pain like when she mentioned Mist Village. He nodded once, slowly. Almost carefully. He maintained her eye contact, but then his eyes flicked briefly to Kain and she had her answer. It had to do with his betrayal. "Kain, you were on the other side of the room, near a crystal." His mouth opened, like he wanted to say something, then decided against it. "I don't really remember right before that," she continued, "but all of a sudden I heard a voice behind me. He said something about you cherishing me, and then he grabbed me and took me away. Kain, you were there, right?"

"I- . . . "

"Do you remember?-"

He stood up so fast Rosa didn't see it until he was towering above her. "I must go. You did well, Lady Rosa." He offered a slight tip of his head and spun on his heels, walking away. She got up too, dragging herself to her feet despite how sore she felt from the battle. When she was upright, she swayed against a momentary dizzy spell but pushed through, chasing after him.

"Wait, Kain!" she yelled, and she let a bit of the frustration she felt for it all darken her tone and empower her voice.

"No. I know what you're doing!"

"I don't know what-"

"Do not feign innocence! You're trying to corner me. You asked me about that on purpose," he snarled, without looking at her.

"So what if I did? It's not the first thing I've remembered about you! I know you betrayed us once!" He didn't reply, but lowered his head and tightened his shoulders, like he was trying to duck away from her. She took two more steps, then yelled, "You helped Golbez kidnap me! You owe me an explanation!"

He recoiled like he was struck, but finally paused. He glanced over his shoulder and stared for a moment. " . . . I owe you nothing. I live with the shame every day, and I will not suffer under your deliberate hand. Not yours, nor anyone else's. Ask Cecil if you wish to know. I'm sure he can provide you with every little detail."

"He told me to ask you. Refused to tell me," she countered evenly.

Kain rolled his eyes. "Forgive me. Of course I would need Cecil to preserve my image," he muttered under his breath, but Rosa heard all the same. He turned fully towards her. Took a small step and leaned towards her with his shoulder, like he still couldn't fully face her. "Cecil would never say anything bad about anyone, no." He took another step. "He would prefer I ruin myself." His voice deepened into a low growl, like a threatened animal. With each word his lips pulled back to bare his teeth. Just like that awful sneer he made to her in her very first memory of Kain. Instinctually, she took a step back, thinking for a moment he would attack her. Her hand snuck towards the knife on her hip, but in three more steps, he completely closed the distance between the two of them. He reached out and snatched her wrist hard, keeping it still between them, just as the Emperor had during their battle. "He would've wanted me to say it myself, so I could tarnish my own reputation. What else do you remember about me, hm?" he yelled.

They were chest to chest, with him leaning down over her, and he was breathing hard enough that she could feel it on her face. "Let me go," she whispered, articulating every word. She didn't try hide the fear in her eyes or the tiny tremble in her voice.

He swallowed hard, adam's apple bobbing from the force of it. He froze, and Rosa could feel the hesitation in his aura. On his next exhale he sighed. His shoulders relaxed, he straightened his back and his head and stood up straight, backing off of her. He released her wrist and Rosa held it close to her chest.

"Perhaps you're doing yourself a favor. By not remembering me." He turned and walked away, and she let him go, thinking there was nothing else to be said at the moment.

At the last moment, she yelled, "Cecil is not the one to blame for what you did, and neither am I for remembering it!"

The silence after felt deafening, roaring in her ears as the other warriors looked on. She didn't know if anyone heard anything except for the last bit that she yelled, but either way they were trying to listen. She watched Kain as he left, leaving Sanctuary's border.

Rosa returned to Cecil's side, and he glanced apologetically up at her. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't," she cut him off, "Don't apologize for him. He already resents that enough, and besides he doesn't deserve it."

"What did he say?"

"That it figures he would need you to preserve his image. He said you'd rather him tarnish his own reputation."

Cecil looked away, to the spot where he disappeared, and sighed. "I've never done anything to purposefully-" he started, to defend himself to her.

"Oh, I know," she told him. "He was jealous ever since we were children. I think," she said. That was just the feeling she got from it, but Cecil's small nod confirmed it.

"You know we forgave him, right? You did, first. He told us he was under Golbez's spell, but all he wanted was to keep y-" Cecil cut himself off, realizing he was doing the very thing Kain was upset about.

"Tell me."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I cannot. Please, I really don't want to speak poorly of him."

"Fine, then," she sulked. "I don't feel it's relevant that I forgave him then." She couldn't control what came back to her piece by piece. Cecil didn't feel she had the full story, but he refused to provide it to her. "What I remembered is upsetting to me now. And I don't feel he has any right to be upset that I'm remembering something negative about him-"

"Well think about how that makes him feel, Rosa! He did an awful thing, that he feels awful about! One moment he's forgiven, and the next you're trying to trap him. Or force him to admit to it all over again after he already did and was forgiven once!"

"I wasn't trying to trap him-"

"Yes, you were! By purposefully telling him just to see how it would affect him? Rosa, that was a bit cruel."

"I just wanted him to talk about it and explain to me what happened!"

"Then you went about it poorly, with no thought to him. You knew he was struggling with it - I told you he was when we spoke before we sparred. I told you he was ashamed."

"He didn't think about us when he was-"

"Controlled, Rosa. When he was controlled. You've probably really hurt him."

She didn't want to purposefully hurt anyone. She wanted the truth, and as she replayed her words and the ferocity with which she said them back, they left a sour taste in her mouth. She had been devious and spiteful, and she knew in her heart that she had done something wrong. Even though she felt slighted by Kain she didn't want to seem like the kind of person who emotionally manipulated others to seek recompense. "I understand what you are saying. I shouldn't have said what I said, in the way that I said it. I regret putting Kain in that position. But all I'm doing is trying to remember. I don't know you, I don't know him, I don't even know myself. Don't you understand how frustrating it is? Didn't you both go through this, too? Or am I the only one who has felt this way? I feel like I've been stolen away from myself. I feel cheated." She stood up and went to pat herself a little bit dry, but she was surprised to find that her clothes were already dry. The water didn't saturate. "I am going to do whatever it takes to remember everything I can, as quickly as possible. Either help me with it, or don't. Thank you for the information you've provided so far. I'd like to talk to the others now."

She started walking back towards the rest of them, and when she met Warrior's eyes he lifted his eyebrows to ask if she was ready. She nodded slightly in response. He nodded back and spoke to the others, then gestured to Rosa. They all made their way over to her, with Firion intercepting her first.

"Well done, Rosa!"

"Thank you!" she said brightly, attempting to smile, but she was so upset and remorseful she couldn't even manage a false one.

"I loved what you did with the ricochet arrow. That was clever!"

"Thank you. I really didn't have to think about it. I just remembered it, and it was like second nature."

Warrior nodded is head, as though to agree. "We could tell. Your natural battle senses were strong, as was your decision-making. Your confidence and lack of hesitation is reassuring."

Rosa hadn't felt like she was confident at all. But she still humbly accepted the compliment. Everybody seemed to think she did well. Watching a fight was most definitely different than experiencing it. Still, their comments were reassuring. From what Cecil and Warrior said, her translation of action-to-reaction was quick, and smart. Her skills, as they came to her, were accurate and well-placed.

"I wanna know what you were thinking when you Confused Cecil," the little Onion Knight asked.

"What do you mean?" Rosa asked him.

"You didn't think it was cheap?" He crossed his arms and rested his finger over his chin, like he was contemplating something very deep and philosophical. Either he didn't realize how rude he was being, or he was trying to berate her. Rosa bristled against it.

"Bartz and Cecil both said anything at our disposal."

"Yeah, but he wasn't ready. That's dishonorable."

"Dishonorable-?" Rosa started, but Warrior came to her defense.

"He let his guard down," Warrior defended again. "Had it been a real battle, a slip like that could have cost him his life. He is lucky they were only sparring."

" . . . Well I still think it was a cheap shot," Onion grumbled.

She didn't want to deal with this. Her character had come into question once over her confrontation with Kain and she did not take well to having it called into question a second time. "Well next time you spar with Cecil, don't use Confuse against him," she snapped back, matter-of-factly. She turned away from him, and met eyes with Yuna who stepped forward with Tidus.

"Rosa, you must show me how you make your spells so powerful! I know some White Magic myself, but it's nowhere near your level!"

"You're very sweet, Yuna. Thank you. The words of the spell call up the magical energy I need. I concentrate and build it up, and then I direct it. The crystal in the staff helps channel it, too. In all honesty, I remembered much of how to do it on the fly during the match."

"You couldn't even tell," Tidus said, and she nodded her thanks. "Seriously! I woulda guessed you've been here for a while. You looked totally comfortable out there. Can't wait til you start scouting with us!"

Zidane pushed his way through everyone and slid next to her grabbing her hand. "Dare I say it, Rosa, but you . . . are one powerful woman." He offered a charismatic, smoldering smile and kissed her hand before she could pry it from his grasp, but after he did she shook him off.

"Zidane, please," she chided. "Your charm has no effect on me." He didn't seem bothered by it, and simply cocked an eyebrow up as though she was just playing hard to get. He threw his hands up and casually backed away from her, clasping his hands behind his head. "Where is Bartz?" she asked, looking around the crowd for him.

"Yeah?" he said, emerging suddenly.

"Did you learn anything? Weren't you watching us so you could mime our skills?"

"Oh, yeah! I learned a bunch! Check this out." Bartz held out his hand, and a weapon took shape in his fist. It solidified, and Rosa saw that he was holding an exact replica of her own bow. Complete with the two sets of arms, and the roses and thorns tangled around it. He pulled the string back and an arrow formed on the string. Bartz loosed it in perfect form - no, she realized, perfect copy of her form.

The arrow flew and hit the ground, bursting open into two. Her Ricochet Shot.

"That's incredible!" she said, and she meant it. "You don't even have to have a basis for the skill. What else?"

"Oh! Watch this!" he pulled his hands to his chest, closing his eyes just like she did when she powered up a spell. His stance matched hers exactly, with her left foot slightly behind her right. Bartz spread his hands and a faint green light wrapped around him.

"That's Cure!" she said, and he nodded.

"Yep! I know all the levels, but I don't want to use up all my magic."

"Nah, he just didn't want to show you up, Rosa," Vaan joked, gently punching her arm. "You did great out there!"

"Yes, well done," Cosmos agreed. "Your magical talent is a true gift to this world, and to your allies."

Lofty praise from the goddess of Harmony, who was no doubt powerful. Rosa didn't know what to say. "Thank you, for those . . . kind words," she said awkwardly. "I will use my talent to the best of my ability." It would be interesting to know exactly how Cosmos thought she measured up. Surely, as a goddess, she'd been there since this world's creation. She was the one who summoned warriors, so she would know if she compared to the others. "And," Rosa thought suddenly, "she'd have to know enough about us to deem us worthy of being called." Rosa had chastised Cosmos for her lack of knowledge about the fighting, but maybe all she did was oversee the warriors. She could ask Cosmos about Kain, since Cecil refused to tell her and Kain was too ashamed to admit it himself. "Cosmos, I was hoping to speak to you about something, privately. Do you mind?"

Cosmos smiled sweetly and nodded once, the corners of her blue eyes crinkling. "Of course. Everyone, away," she said, gently shooing those closest to her with small waves. Rosa kept her eyes on everyone, and though they received some curious glances, everyone ambled away without lingering for too long. As soon as they were a safe distance from them, Cosmos looked up at Rosa.

"How may I be of assistance?"

Chapter Text

The Emperor had only released Ultimecia a short time ago, but already his distrust and suspicion were forcing him to reconsider employing her. She was far, far too sneaky for his comfort, and though she had never successfully outmaneuvered him he hardly put it past her to try over and over again until she succeeded.

She had agreed to kill Rosa without payment. He hadn't questioned it at the time, delighted by her appeasement, but the more he considered it the more suspect it appeared. Had she agreed so she could keep her eyes on him? Had she agreed so he would feel comfortable moving the pieces into place for his actions against Chaos, only for her to slot herself in at the last moment and profit from his hard work? He resolved to keep an eye on her while he concocted his plans, and he could, now that she had personally agreed to free up some of his time.

Ultimecia, Exdeath, and Kefka. Three of the most ruthless within Chaos' ranks. Rosa would be dead within days, assuming they upheld their end of the bargain.

The Emperor uncrossed his legs and inched forward to the edge of his throne. He slumped forward to rest his elbows on his knees, but the slight tug on his side where Rosa had stabbed him caught his breath again. It was still tender and bruised, and the skin wasn't quite healed yet. He jerked upright, then placed a hand over the wound to steady it as he jammed his elbows on his thighs and propped his chin up on his fist.

"Dead within days," he said to himself again, reaffirming that she would be punished for the pain and inconvenience she caused him. Just as long as Ultimecia did what he pretended to pay her to do.

He roved his eyes across the room, noting the same crystal shapes in all the same positions they'd been in since he awoke for his very first cycle. He looked up at the black, star-peppered sky, with all the galaxies in all the exact same positions. The gods' unchanging world almost wasn't worth the effort it would take to defeat them and conquer it. The power he would absorb from the gods was worth it, he thought, but not their world itself. Once he defeated Chaos and replaced him on the throne of Discord, he would be the one calling warriors, and he would be the one amassing power with victory after victory. He would have an unlimited source of energy, and they would fear him and cower. No one would ever belittle him the way that Chaos had. If they did, they would suffer.

Especially Rosa. As long as Ultimecia stayed occupied.

He growled out his frustration. He shouldn't have roped Ultimecia in to anything. At best he would need to watch her carefully and at worst he had backed himself into a dangerous corner, stuck between Chaos and Ultimecia both, hackles raised and teeth bared like a threatened animal. It was a kind of misstep he rarely made, which only added to his frustration. Strategy and anticipation was his strong suit, but he had allowed himself to become blinded by immediate rage and instant gratification. It made him short-sighted and one-track minded, and that lack of forethought created too many situations that couldn't be planned for. It was out of his character, and surely he would pay for it.

He stood up from the throne with difficulty. He needed to spy on Ultimecia. To find out how seriously she treated his offer, how urgently she desired to see it through, and how invested she was going to become. He hoped that by having those answers he could either relax his grip on her or retract his offer, vowing to ignore Rosa entirely if it meant he could begin planning against Chaos.

The Emperor called his staff from where he rested it against the side of his throne, and as soon as it sailed into his hand he teleported away from Pandaemonium. As he phased between dimensions and Gateways the beacon that was Order's Sanctuary shined and drew his eye. Its light was easy to spot from any place on the world map, and its aura of peace and harmony was easy to sense from any Gateway. Compared to the intensity of the blackness and silence that the Edge of Madness emitted at any given time, glancing at Order's Sanctuary was like passing through clouds.

He thought about stopping at Sanctuary. Just once, for strategic reasons. No doubt Rosa would be there, and despite the revulsion he felt at even seeing her again, he almost felt obligated to watch her. He could pretend to be invested in the little diversion he created for Ultimecia, Kefka, and Exdeath, and he could warn them of Rosa's strengths and weaknesses. He could gather a true inventory of her powerful magic, and of her skills with the bow, both for his information and for theirs. He couldn't deny that she was strong, and as if to remind him, his chest ached gently, where each of the five arrow shafts nearly punched through him. But was she strong enough to take on three of Chaos's most unscrupulous destroyers? He could learn for sure if her besting him had been a trick of Fate, or if she genuinely needed destroyed before she turned into a major problem. He could track her patterns and know how often she rested or patrolled and if it was at the same time every shift.

He almost phased through Sanctuary's barrier, already masking his presence so that the other warriors of Cosmos wouldn't notice him. But at the last second he reconsidered. There was nothing to be gained. He would have his satisfaction when Ultimecia, Kefka, and Exdeath destroyed her, and he wouldn't have to lift a finger. Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath would make sure that she felt the same shame and humiliation she forced him to feel, and it would be the last thing she felt before her very existence was erased.

Ultimecia was his foremost concern.

He traveled instead to Ultimecia's Tower and cast several shrouds around his silhouette so she wouldn't detect him. He found her on the centermost platform and he perched on the level above, looking down on the scene. He hadn't been there long before the Signet of Chaos rang at the very topmost level of her Tower, signaling someone else's arrival. A chill shot down the Emperor's spine at being caught eavesdropping, and he dashed behind one of the large gears that clanked and spun, hoping they would help to hide him. Several heavy, clanking steps pounded forward and the Emperor assumed it to be Exdeath until he heard a grunt, then an earth-shattering slam as the intruder jumped down to Ultimecia's platform. He peeked around the gear and found Garland, and his frustration built. He was a fool to believe that Ultimecia had any intentions of completing his task in a timely manner.

"Garland," Ultimecia said, without turning to look at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, at this very moment. Clearly," she said. She threw her arms to the side and gestured to the empty castle around her.

"You know my meaning. What are you doing with the Emperor?"

One of her thin, painted eyebrows lifted, and she turned to look at him, crossing her arms like an indignant child. "Now, now, Garland, isn't it rude to pry into another's business?"

"Not if that 'business', in any shape or form, threatens Chaos."

"Of course. Did he send you out to come spy, or are you just on your way to tattle?"

"That is none of your concern."

She dropped the innocent look and glared at him with all the force she could muster. "Then I suppose my business is none of your concern."

Garland growled his frustration before he could help it. Then his back straightened, armor clanking together harshly. " . . . You two are on thin ice. If the Emperor's schemes lead you to cross either of us, it will be the end of you."

She chuckled once, and waved dismissively. "It always is. Are you finished?"

"We're watching you. Tread lightly." He left without another word.

Ultimecia rolled her neck and dusted some imaginary specks from the front of her dress. Then she spun around to stare directly at the Emperor's hiding spot despite all of his shrouds. "You can come out now!" she called out. "I know you're there, Emperor. You cannot hide from me in my own Tower."

The Emperor sighed, then flicked his hand and removed all of his shrouds. He walked to the ledge of the platform and stepped off of it, floating down to her. "I thought you'd be tracking Rosa down with Kefka and Exdeath by now," he said, staring hard at her. The implications hung heavy on the ends of his words, that he thought she was stalling in order to upset him and keep a reverse eye on him.

Ultimecia rolled her eyes and ignored his statement. "I'm trying to decide which situation is more appropriate. Do you feel pressured by Rosa staying alive and possibly plaguing you later, or is it me you feel pressured by since I will not allow you to keep me easily distracted?"

Shocked into speechlessness by the accuracy of her questions, he quickly tossed his head and snorted. "Don't be ridiculous!" he chided. "I don't find it at all unreasonable to expect that you would get it done immediately. We made a deal."

"Indeed we did, but I cannot have you breathing down my neck at every opportunity. Then I won't be able to do my work." She crossed her arms again, tapping one finger on her arm. "Hmm," she hummed. "How about this: I planned on skulking about Sanctuary to perform some reconnaissance. Would it pacify you if you accompanied me? Just so you can have peace of mind that I am indeed completing the task you set for me?" she added, tilting her head and blinking slowly, the corners of her mouth turning up into a beguiling smile.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons of accompanying Ultimecia to Order's Sanctuary. Reconnaissance wasn't the same as completing the task in full, but it was a start. Ultimecia valued her time and almost matched the Emperor in strategy, so she would be loathe to let the work go to waste once she spent time and effort on it. By forcing her to participate it would ensure her total involvement. He wasn't fond of wasting his own time doing it since the entire point of employing Ultimecia was to keep her distracted and allow him time to plan away from her prying eyes, but it seemed a small concession in the wake of his greater goal.

"Very well," he finally decided.

It seemed he would have the opportunity to see Rosa after all.

Chapter Text

"How may I be of assistance?" Cosmos asked, smiling sweetly at Rosa.

"Rosa, please," Cecil said behind her. She hadn’t even realized he had followed her after she spoke to all of the other warriors. "I think you’re making this into a much larger issue than it is-"

Chapter Text

Impulsivity did not become the Emperor. He knew that of himself.

There was a certain feeling of domination that accompanied a carefully thought-out plan that he relished in. In the grand game of chess that was the war, he loved anticipating moves and manipulating behaviors and events. He loved being several steps ahead of the others, then cornering them before they even realized what was happening. And he loved the calm, cold, and deliberate confidence that came with it.

That sort of planning meant that he rarely ever lost control of situations. Losing control meant acting rashly, and acting rashly disrupted all of his careful calculations. If he acted rashly he could no longer anticipate the consequences of everyone’s actions, and he could no longer react accordingly.

All of those thoughts did not stop him. Not when he had an opportunity to put on a show in front of Rosa and Cosmos and all of her warriors, and especially in front of Ultimecia. Kain’s proclivity for betrayal made him the perfect target for the Emperor’s forceful and concentrated Curse magic. And Kain’s prior connections to Rosa would make his attack all the more fun to watch.

He and Ultimecia applied the necessary shrouds to mask their presence then arrived in Sanctuary, and together they watched Rosa and Cecil talk to Cosmos, both squirming all the while. He kept his eyes on Kain, glad he hadn’t left Sanctuary completely. Ultimecia noticed his interest.

”Rosa is that way,” she said, pointing to Cosmos’s throne.

”Indeed she is.”

” . . . I thought we only came here for reconnaissance,” Ultimecia said, “but I can see the gears in your head turning. What are you planning?”

The Emperor didn’t answer. He assumed she would follow if she was interested. He trailed after Kain slowly, relishing in the thought of stalking his prey. He kept enough distance that he was sure he wouldn’t alert him, and to his surprise Ultimecia kept pace with him. She crossed her arms and tilted her head, tutting and checking the sharpness of her claws and doing everything to seem disinterested.

The Curse spell that he was planning to use would hopefully lower Kain’s physical and mental power, and after all his defenses crumbled, the Emperor figured he could implant a thought or an order and watch it play out. If Golbez was to be believed about his exploits in their Homeworld, then he had already accomplished it once, and the Emperor was a far more powerful mage than Golbez would ever be. He assumed he could do it as well.

All pure speculation. No plan, no escape route. The thoughts just didn’t cross his mind against the potential payoff of his success. He wanted Rosa to suffer as immediately as possible, and Kain would be his agent. He should’ve known it wouldn’t work. He should’ve told himself to wait, to think, to plan it out.

Kain paced angrily, still fuming from some emotional injury he had recently suffered. Occasionally his head would snap up, like he thought of some witty and crushing retort, and he would glare in Rosa’s direction with his face twisted into a frown. And then his shoulders would slump and he would sigh or growl or make some noise of his disgust.

While he watched, the Emperor called upon the Curse, tied to the deepest parts of his mind and soul. The magic was strong, kept in old reserves he kept locked tight for when he truly needed them. He drew it from hiding in his heart, and already his chest started to tingle with the sensation of raw power.

”What are you doing?” Ultimecia hissed, eyes widening. She glanced around frantically, watching for if any of the other warriors noticed the sensation of power around them.

The Emperor planted the Curse his chest and let it grow, buzzing stronger and stronger as he poured more and more of his thoughts and energy into it.

”Our shrouds may not cover this!” she warned, taking a few steps back to distance herself from him. “If we’re spotted, I’m leaving. We can’t take on seventeen warriors!”

“Then go!” he snapped back. “But our deal still stands if this fails.” The Emperor allowed the power to manifest outside of himself, and when he held out his hand, it congealed there in his palm. His hand, then his entire arm trembled from its energy and the Emperor eyed Kain from where he was. If he misfired, the spell wouldn’t catch. Then Kain and all of Cosmos’s warriors would be alerted to his presence.

”You’re a fool,” Ultimecia sputtered, taking another step back.

Doubt threatened to overtake him at Ultimecia’s skepticism. "It won’t work. This is rash, and foolish." The Emperor dismissed it just as quickly. If Golbez could do it, surely he could too.

He decided to walk right up to Kain and physically touch him with it to ensure without a doubt that it would take. He doubled his efforts to mask his presence and teleported there, mere steps from Kain. In his efforts to keep the masking spell, he lost some of the power in his Curse and he had to pause and let it build up again.

Kain knew something was there, right in front of him. He froze exactly where he was and looked around, staring straight through the Emperor. He reached out into the open air, and the Emperor leaned backwards and away from him, clutching the spell close in case Kain touched it prematurely.

”You have fun.” With that, Ultimecia rolled her shoulders and shook out her crow wings, then disappeared.

”I certainly shall,” the Emperor whispered.

Kain must have written his odd feeling off, because he dropped his hand and his head moved like he rolled his eyes behind his helmet. He rolled his weight back onto his heels and crossed his arms protectively over his chest.

It was the perfect opening.

The Emperor inched the Curse closer and closer to his face, hoping to get as close to his temples as he possibly could with the helmet in the way. He wasn’t inches from Kain when he heard a voice right behind him.

"Hey." He flinched, whirling around and blocking his body with his staff, just in case he was attacked. Rosa’s green eyes missed him once again, staring through him to Kain.

She had interrupted him again. All the more reason to destroy her sooner rather than later.

"Hey," she repeated, "I’m sorry I said that earlier. Sorry for cornering you like that."

Kain didn’t answer. He stared down at her and didn’t move.

"If you’re willing, I’d like to talk about what happened. I genuinely believe it to be a large piece of my memory, and-"

"No."

She paused, processing his response. "No?" Her eyebrows lifted and she lowered her chin.

"No," he said, standing taller to brace himself. "I will not be used. By you, or by anyone. Not ever again."

"I don’t want to use you, Kain."

"You do. For information, you do."

"How else would I learn anything about my memory, then? I admit that what I did earlier was cold. It was deliberate and I apologize. I didn’t understand the full weight of what I was asking of you. But why, when I ask you to explain, would you then hide it from me?"

"You don’t deserve it after what you did. At least, not yet-"

She scoffed, mouth dropping open in shock. "I do not deserve information about my memory?-"

"Not from me, you don’t."

It seemed Rosa was not used to being told no. Her eyes hardened for a moment, like she was about to press the matter, but then she decided against it. She stepped away, and the Emperor slid into the space where she was.

Before he could second guess again, and before anybody else could interrupt him, he clasped the Curse in his hand and touched it to Kain’s cheek.

It seeped into his skin, straight under his helmet. Kain recoiled so forcefully he staggered back to keep his balance, as though the Emperor had hurled the spell at him rather than touched it to him. He shook his head hard as the Emperor's spell took effect, forcing and burrowing its way into his mind, shutting down his thoughts and faculties.

"Submit to me. Attack!" he hissed to him urgently.

Kain screamed out as the command dug into his consciousness. His hands flew to his head and he doubled over.

"Kain Highwind, attack Rosa!" he whispered again. “Kill her!” Kain winced again and grabbed at his helmet, tearing it from his head and throwing it violently to the ground. He stood there, frozen, panting, and in his anticipation the Emperor's whispers faded from his lips as he stared.

"Rosa!" Cecil yelled from the other side of Sanctuary. "Rosa, get away from him!”

Kain called his lance and the Emperor nearly shouted in exhilaration. His poorly-planned, impulsively executed plan had actually worked. Even if Rosa didn't die, the emotional cost of this would be heavy for all of Cosmos's warriors, but especially her. And that was enough for him. Just to hurt her.

Her death could always come later, at Ultimecia’s hands.

"Kill her!" he screamed one last time at Kain, and his hand raised, pointing his lance at her. She gasped and backpedaling away furiously, but Kain’s hands were trembling so hard he couldn’t have been considered a threat. He dropped his lance after another moment, and the Emperor’s spirit sank.

"No!" he yelled aloud, rage surging. All thought left him, and replaced by pure, anger-driven impulsivity. He appeared right where he was, jabbing Kain with the end of his staff and shoving him back. “I’ll end you myself!” he yelled, spinning to face Rosa.

"Protect Cosmos!" someone yelled - probably the Warrior. "Terra, Yuna, Vaan, Zidane, with me!" The Emperor could have laughed at him. Cosmos wasn't who he was after. Rosa already had her bow in her hands. They weren’t feet from each other but she still drew and shot an arrow at him. He ducked, and the arrow tip pinged off the decorative cobra in his hair, spiraling away. The Emperor circled his staff in the air and began a Thunder Crest, and with his other hand he called a blue Flare, throwing them both at her at once.

Rosa blocked and braced her bow across her body to guard against the Flare, but the Thunder Crest sailed across the ground and sparked under her boot. She screamed, her entire body stiffened, and she fell to her knees. Her bow fell from her hands and clattered away from her then faded from existence with a flash. She writhed and twitched, gritting her teeth, and her eyes tracked the Blue Flare that crept closer and closer to her.

From his right, he heard a yell, and Cecil sprinted forward. The Emperor expected him to attack, but instead he dove into the Flare's path, taking it for Rosa. He was thrown onto his back, and he slid backwards in the water, armor smoking from the heat. The Emperor turned back to Rosa but by then his Thunder Crest had dissipated. He growled his frustration through his clenched teeth.

There were too many distractions. Too many warriors to interrupt. He should have planned. He shouldn't have let his rage control him.

It was too late. He'd have to do the best with what he had.

Rosa scrambled to her feet, staggering forward on trembling legs to keep her balance. He needed her to stay there until he could concentrate. The Emperor lifted his staff in the air and summoned a cluster of mines to surround her on every side.

"Emperor!" Firion yelled, and the Emperor glanced around to see him and nearly every single warrior in Sanctuary running towards him from every direction with weapons drawn. They were still relatively far away, but Cecil was close and had recovered. The Emperor looked over his shoulder to check on Kain, but he was still on the ground where the Emperor had pushed him over, either unconscious or exhausted from his harrowing experience. Either way, he wasn't a threat.

The faster warriors would reach him first, he knew, before he ever got the chance to attack Rosa. He glanced at her and happened to meet her gaze. He saw her wide-eyed, pained and exhausted stare, and the thought of the pain he would inflict as soon as he was able brought a smile to his face. He smirked, placing another set of mines all around her to be certain she wouldn't escape, enjoying the way her eyes widened further and flicked from mine to mine, no doubt searching for a way out.

He couldn't enjoy it for long. The small Onion Knight broke away from the crowd and was quickly approaching. He slashed his sword through the air twice before aiming for the Emperor's knees. The Emperor floated backwards, and the Onion Knight followed through and swung again. The Emperor blocked with the lower part of his staff, then used his magic to twirl it in the air. It ripped the Onion Knight's sword from his hands, tossing it across Sanctuary, and he called a normal Blind spell, casting it on the Knight.

"No, no, no!" he cried, wiping desperately at his eyes, but the spell held. The Emperor grabbed his staff from the air and swung it into the Knight's chest, knocking him away. The tugging sensation on his ribs had him squirming in pain and he winced, clamping his arm against his side before he could help it. With his other hand, he called two mines behind the Knight and they exploded, tossing him into the air. From the sound of the Onion Knight’s breath being knocked out if him, the landing had hurt.

One of the mines exploded behind him as Rosa tried squirming her way around them. The Emperor drew another Thunder Crest underneath her and watched as she grit her teeth, refusing to cry out this time as the shocks tore through her, keeping her in place.

Knowing she was blocked, he turned right as Tidus and Cecil both approached. The two of them stopped and circled the Emperor together, weapons raised and at the ready. Looking for an opening or perhaps planning Rosa's rescue. The others around Sanctuary had either slowed down or stopped a safe distance away, unwilling to overcrowd but ready to jump in if necessary. The Warrior and those he called for had only strayed a few feet from Cosmos, guarding her like dogs in case he decided to make an attempt on her life.

He could take on two.

Just until he could snap Rosa's neck.

"Ah! Jecht's boy," the Emperor sneered, putting as much malice into his tone as he could.

"What, you hate my old man too? Well get in line!"

"Hmph!" he snorted. "And Cecil. How very fortunate for you to have Rosa returned to you. I hope the process of regaining her memory hasn't been too difficult for you, considering she remembers your fall from grace."

Cecil paused, even taking a step back. "How do you know about that?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Golbez can be loose-lipped under duress!” he jabbed, enjoying the way Cecil’s face lost its color. In truth the Emperor acquired Golbez’s knowledge over cycles and cycles. “How many people have you murdered?"

"Don't listen to him, Cecil! He's full of it!" Tidus warned, turning his sword in his hand threateningly.

Cecil shook off the Emperor's comments. He switched to Dark Knight and set his spear behind him. "Let her go!" he yelled.

The Emperor looked into where Cecil's eyes would be under the helmet and smiled spitefully, letting the sentiment in his eyes drive his point home. He never shifted his gaze away from Cecil, even as he lifted his staff and slammed the end into the ground. A storm of purple lightning appeared over her head, and Cecil made a small noise of alarm. Rosa backpedaled away from the bolts, right into one of the mines. It exploded and threw her forward onto her hands and knees. The lightning bore down on her.

Cecil lifted his spear up near his ear and it glowed purple. The Emperor readied himself to block, expecting him to throw it. Instead, a black and purple orb of power shot from the tip. Before he could even react, it collided into his chest and he was tossed backwards. His breath hitched, and the almost-healed puncture wounds of the arrows in his chest burned evilly. The Emperor pushed the pain away from his mind and scrambled to a sitting position, just in time to see Cecil take off towards Rosa.

He couldn't allow Cecil get to Rosa. From his sitting position, the Emperor grabbed his staff with both hands and pointed it in Cecil's direction, a little behind him. He tried to charge up a Dynamite spell to draw Cecil away from Rosa's prison. The tip of his staff flickered to life - a dreary, yellow light - but before he could finish it Tidus's boot slammed down on his staff, pushing it down into the water. It dissipated quickly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that," Tidus muttered, watching him closely.

For the first time, the consequences of his excursion weighed down on him. He had Rosa trapped well enough, but he himself was stuck. A formidable warrior stared down at him in a vulnerable position. Even if he somehow escaped, there were eight others ready to jump in. One of those eight was less inclined towards mercy than the others in the Emperor's case.

He needed to think of something. Slow down and plan in his usual manner. But Cecil had reached Rosa. He inched his spear forward and touched one of the mines around Rosa experimentally. It exploded, not close enough to do any harm, so the Emperor shifted a few mines closer to her and detonated them as well to injure her more. One of them, placed in the small of her back, collapsed her forward, flat on her stomach with her face turned away from Cecil.

She didn't immediately get up. She probably assumed it was better to simply stay still than it was to try and escape.

Cecil knelt on the ground and said something to her, so low he couldn't hear it. For a moment, the Emperor thought she was dead already, and his pride nearly collapsed. But then he saw her chest rise and fall. He could attack her yet as long as Cecil didn't find a way to break her out. He needed to get him away from her. He needed to get rid of all of them.

The Emperor's staff was still stuck under Tidus's boot, and his sword was still at his throat, but Tidus was almost completely turned away from him, watching Cecil and Rosa. The Emperor wiggled his staff experimentally and Tidus's head snapped back towards him.

"Hey," he warned. "Watch it." The Emperor thought he would continue to watch, but instead he turned back again to suggest to them, "Maybe she should try a Protect spell and force her way-"

The Emperor tugged on his staff as hard as he could, and Tidus's foot slid out from under him. He slipped and the Emperor teleported behind him in a flash, already calling a Tornado. His aura surged, flaring out around him, leaking into the air in all directions, and the Emperor curled up to call it back, resisting the pain in his ribs. The pressure in Sanctuary shifted and the very wind drew towards him. He poured the power into his staff and it trembled violently, even shooting small sparks of lightning from the strength. It circled the air, spiraling faster and faster as it charged, and the air around the Emperor spiraled as well.

The Emperor raised his arms, and he couldn't keep his cry of pain contained. He clutched his side, but managed to keep his concentration. His staff soared upwards, drawing the winds with them, and the spell finally manifested. A greyish-brown maelstrom of power rose from the ground, so powerful it whipped his hair around him and his staff continued to spin. The Emperor let the attack loose, and it fractured into three smaller Tornadoes. He grabbed his staff from the air, panting, and floated backwards, away from the carnage they would cause.

Tidus hesitated, clearly unsure of how to handle the crackling, whirling spell hurdling towards him. He blocked, holding his sword straight out in front of him, but the Tornado still circled around him. He cried out, and the Emperor lost sight of him in the dust and magic. The other two storms trailed slowly towards Cecil, so strong the Emperor could feel the ground shake, and to the Emperor's relief the winds pulled Cecil away from Rosa. His feet dragged, he lost his balance, and Cecil put his hand flat on the ground to try and gain extra purchase. But the closer they drew, the stronger he was pulled away. Cecil lifted his spear over his head and slammed it into the ground of Sanctuary, digging it deep into the crystal under the water to keep him still.

It also anchored him to the spot.

The Emperor drew a Dreary Cell with his staff and planted it directly under Cecil. It exploded and the Tornadoes dissipated, tossing both Cecil and Tidus away from him.

The Emperor whirled around, expecting another attack. But to his surprise, no others were immediately ready to engage him. They were coming, crashing towards him, but they wouldn't reach him in time. He would make sure of that. To keep them distracted, the Emperor cast a red Cursed Flare, using both hands to concentrate its power. He let it build and build, growing larger and larger, until it was almost as large as his wingspan. He let it loose, and sent it forward towards the largest concentration of warriors. It spun, hurling fireballs from within itself into all of the warriors. They all dodged or blocked, but either way they were distracted.

He finally had no obstruction to Rosa.

He floated towards her. Circled around her so that he could see her face. She stared tiredly up at him. Her green eyes looked dead and defeated, and the sight was exactly what he wanted. "How unfortunate. We were interrupted. But I'm really going to enjoy this," he told her. She simply closed her eyes in response. His heart leapt in his chest, pure delight at the thought of finally ending her, once and for all. "Dear Rosa," he added, a final term of endearment.

He let go of his staff and it crawled upwards, laying flat over his head. It spun slowly, teasingly, as though it had a mind of its own and was just as spiteful as he was. It drew the sigil for his Starfall - a series of interwoven triangles, circles, stars and pentagrams, sealed together and circled by ancient, eldritch runes meant to be sealed away. The largest triangle provided three root points, and as his staff powered the spell, three bolts of lightning shot from it and connected to the points.

It shone brighter and brighter, and the Emperor watched Rosa while it charged. She didn't even move, didn't even flinch, not even when the glyphs began to hum with energy. A matching sigil appeared underneath Rosa and her traps, and above her, Sanctuary's clouds swirled together and congealed before spreading apart to reveal the meteor storm.

He was seconds away from releasing the attack before something metal pinged off his back. It wasn't even strong enough to stagger him, but the loss of concentration was enough to cast away his whole attack. The Emperor's rage boiled over, and he snarled through his clenched teeth. He turned, and the weapon that struck him lay harmlessly on the ground. Kain's lance. The Emperor kicked it away and followed the direction it came from. Kain was on his feet but nearly doubled over, chest heaving from the effort of getting up. The lance disappeared and reappeared in Kain's hand and he staggered forward, clearly ready to engage.

All the other warriors were ready as well.

The attack, if he could call it that, had completely backfired. He was exhausted and exasperated. He would never get to Rosa. Not in a way that he would enjoy it.

He realized he would have to abandon any theatrics. The Death spell was already tumbling from his lips, the power coming from his heart. He was close enough that Rosa could hear him, and her eyes opened wide when she realized what he was doing. She stared up at him but didn't move from her spot. The Emperor hoped it was because she was accepting what was coming.

"Rosa!" Cecil yelled.

"N-no!" Kain tried, but his strength left him. He collapsed to a knee, using his lance to keep himself upright.

She was as good as dead.

He cast the spell in her direction, and the Emperor traced its path with his eyes towards her, glee rising in his chest. But at the last second, Rosa held her hand up, palm out towards him. He didn't see any sort of barrier appear around her. He thought she was too weak.

Rather than bleed into her skin, killing her instantly, the spell ricocheted away from her, bouncing off a Reflect barrier she had managed to put up. The spell spun wildly towards the crowd of Cosmos' warriors, straight towards Firion. Either he didn't see it, or did not react in time. The moment it touched him, he dropped.

Either Fate despised him, or it favored Rosa. Perhaps both. Either way, he knew it was time to abandon his ridiculous effort before he ended up seriously injured. The Emperor did not stay to see the aftermath of his spell. He disappeared to nurse the wounds to his pride.

Chapter Text

Her injuries weren't serious. Rosa knew that.

She felt pain - every muscle in her body ached from the Thunder magic. Sore from the shocks and from the repeated, prolonged, uncontrollable tension that came with them. The small of her back felt hot, tender, and bruised. A combination of the sharp pain of impact and the burning of her skin from the explosions.

Mild injuries. Pin-pricks. Lingering nuisances, and nothing more.

The Emperor hadn't wanted to kill her. Not until the very last moment. He had only been toying with her.

She knew that.

But her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Her breath shook in her chest. She felt sick, her stomach roiling and turning inside of her. She lay in the water with her eyes closed, and couldn’t quite seem to remember what happened. It happened in a dream, to someone else. It wasn't real. She was watching from someone else's point of view, lying in someone else's body, controlling someone else's limbs without the sensations involved like when she first woke up. Sanctuary's water lapped at her but she couldn't feel it. Someone said something far away, but she couldn't hear it.

Yet her eyes were open. They were open, and she was staring at Sanctuary. The mines that the Emperor placed peppered her field of vision, standing in defiance of the fact that he himself was long gone. Was he even gone? How long had he been gone?

The mines blinked faster. They read her mind. Perhaps they would explode, with Rosa right there in the middle. She couldn't quite bring herself to care. It was a dream. She couldn't connect herself to any of it. Rather than detonate, the light inside the mines grew dimmer and dimmer with each pulse until they faded, like they had never been there in the first place. The free air felt lighter in her lungs, easier to breathe, but her back felt open and exposed. Vulnerable to whatever the Emperor decided to do to her when he came back. Rosa's chest tightened, and to protect herself she curled up, turning on her side and tucking her knees to her chest.

From somewhere behind her, footsteps splashed in the water towards her. She curled tighter, afraid of the incoming attack, but it was Cecil who popped into her field of vision, not the Emperor. He dropped to his hands and knees next to her. He said something. A series of sounds that made no sense to her, in a language she couldn't identify. His eyes looked wide with panic and worry, and seeing him like that shot cold fear down her spine, numbing her nerves further.

"Rose," he said. "Are you alright?"

Yes. No?

"Rosa!" Cecil said again, more urgently. "Rose. Are you alright?"

She opened her mouth and drew in a breath, but the air hitched in her throat. Instead of words, a choked sound sputtered out.

"Are you hurt? Rosa, please! Are you injured?"

"N-no . . . " she whispered. It was as loud as she could manage.

Cecil whispered something under his breath, and the warm, green light of Cura wrapped around her. It tingled gently, working itself into her body. It eased the aching, but not her fear. Not her shaking.

"I'm not injured," she managed. "Is everyone else okay?" She tried to think back, to remember exactly what happened. Where the Emperor had been, where she had been, what happened to Cecil, and to whomever else tried to help, but there was nothing there. As though she wasn't even conscious or present during the whole attack. "Who else . . . ? Did he . . . ?"

"Yes, but you-"

"What's wrong? Who is it?"

"It doesn't matter, Rose. You need-"

"Tell me. I can help," she said, and she didn't even try to control the panic.

"It's Firion. The Emperor's Death spell hit him, and he needs revived. Onion’s been blinded, and Kain . . . but we will care for them. You need to-"

As disconcerted as she felt, the thought of others suffering for her disturbed her more than anything else that had happened. None of these people had any sort of obligation to her - not even Cecil had an obligation to her. And they had been harmed because of the Emperor's inexplicable vendetta. No matter what happened to her in this ridiculous world, she couldn't accept that others who she just met were being forced to endure it. They didn't deserve it.

"I'll help them. I should help them." Rosa moved her stiff limbs, moved the hands that weren't hers, the legs and feet that weren't attached to her. She placed them under her and struggled to coordinate them to sit herself up. They quivered so violently they couldn't support her weight. Cecil's hand clamped around her arm and he pulled her up. Her numb legs stayed under her, to her gratefulness, and she was finally upright. She looked at Cecil. Words tumbled from his mouth. Words left her mouth. They were having a conversation but she couldn't hear any of it. "I should help them," she said again, the only thing she knew for sure she wanted to say to him. She said it on repeat, unsure if anything else would leave her mouth correctly. His hand stiffened around her arm and anger flashed across his face for a second, but Rosa pulled away before he could protest any further. "I should help him. I should help Firion. I'm fine, I promise. I need to help Firion."

She looked around, having no idea where he was. No idea where she was in Sanctuary. The battle had completely disoriented her. Cosmos' throne sat to her left, but that was all she could see apart from the white crystal rocks. No warriors, no enemies, no Cosmos. Rosa looked to her right and found most of them, kneeling or standing around a pair of blue boots poking out from underneath them. Even Cosmos herself knelt over the figure, who Rosa guessed was Firion. Cosmos sat by his head, with her legs tucked underneath her and with Warrior standing over her shoulder.

Rosa took a step, and her legs held her. She walked the short distance to where they were. She couldn't even see him. Everyone was crowding too closely.

"Move," she said. "Let me through." Warriors shifted, but nobody made any true effort to move. They couldn't tear their eyes from Firion, lying limp in the water. "I said move!" Rosa said, a little more forcefully. "Everyone. Everyone, move."

Cosmos looked around at the crowd around her. "Warrior, Cloud, and Squall," she said, calling their names as she saw them. "Bring Kain to us. Yuna, Tifa, fetch the Onion Knight. Quickly." Her tone was calm but her delivery was urgent, and when she gave the final command the five of them took off. "Everyone else, back away, please." They didn't go far. They stayed where they could see what Rosa would do.

"I cannot heal him," Cosmos said to Rosa, shaking her head sadly. "I am still too weak for something of this magnitude-"

"Just hold his head," Rosa said. "I don't want him tossing it back and hitting it off the ground."

Cosmos inched herself over behind his head and gently lifted it, cradling it in her lap. Rosa knelt down next to her.

"What about a Phoenix-" Cecil began, but Laguna cut him off.

"None of us have any. Otherwise, we'd have revived him already."

"You can help him, right, Rosa?" Tidus asked. She didn’t look at him when he said it, but she heard the heaviness in his voice. The tension in the air was thick and choking. They all waited for her - silently begging her with their eyes and their hopes to help.

She didn’t answer. She instead concentrated on the warmth building in her chest as she poured energy into the Arise spell. It was the first thing she truly ‘felt’ since the battle was over, and it came with an immense grounding sensation that eased many of her nerves. A sharp awareness that she herself created, that worked to root her back in her body. Her hands, which felt like they were hers, still trembled but not as terribly. This world was real, she was real, the attack had been real, but she was alright. Firion, lying dead in the water, was real, and she had a real obligation to help him.

With the Arise spell charged and ready, Rosa placed her hands on Firion's chest, over his heart. She gently pressed down, and the magic leaked from her hands into his skin. It drained from her and filled the space in his chest. The yellow-orange glow enveloped him, and Rosa made sure to hold her hands over him until the very last ounces of magic transferred.

She hadn't moved her hands before Firion't eyes flew open wide and he shot awake, lifting his head and gasping in as large a breath as he could take. Sure enough, his head flopped weakly back into Cosmos's lap. Cosmos sighed in relief and leaned over him, but Firion's unfocused eyes flicked around wildly. It was clear he had no idea where he was or who was around him. He panted breath after labored breath in, squirming impulsively against the discomfort.

Cosmos lifted his head and moved from under him, lowering him back to the water. She moved back to his side and placed her hands on either side of his face to turn him towards her, shielding his eyes and forcing him to focus on her. She stared into his eyes, and whatever peace and serenity Firion saw in the crystalline blue relaxed him. His breath came easily and he returned to awareness.

"C-Cosmos?" he asked.

She whispered softly, "Shh. Be at peace." He looked around and when he saw Rosa, his eyes hardened.

"Where is the Emperor? What happened?"

"He's gone," Rosa said.

"Gone? He just attacked and . . . left? But why-"

"Does it matter?" Rosa answered curtly.

Firion pulled himself to his feet and helped Cosmos up, and Rosa stood as well. Warrior and Cloud staggered over, dragging a nearly-unconscious Kain between them. His helmet was off from when he threw it down into the water. His head hung low, his chin rested against his chest. And his long, blonde hair spilled down over his shoulders and around his face, barring her view. A tiny jolt of nervous anticipation shot through her at the thought of seeing his face for the first time. What would she see? Would it bring back any memories? Would his eyes be the cold, harsh ones she suspected were under the dragon?

Rosa stepped closer, almost bending over to peer up into his face, but she stopped herself. She had already exploited his weakness once, out of ignorance and selfishness. The kind of selfishness she accused and attacked him for - using others and harming others for a selfish purpose. Kain still fought to protect her despite what she did, and that spoke far more for his character than anything else. She decided to bury her quarrels with him, at least until they needed to work it out. When they were on equal footing and both willing to engage in the dialogue.

Warrior grunted under his dead weight and cocked his head to Cosmos' throne. "There, to the steps," he said. "We can sit him up."

Rosa followed behind them with Squall, who carried his lance. They climbed the two stairs and lowered Kain to the ground. He sighed, leaning heavily against her throne, and he leaned his head back. When Rosa knelt in front of him, he opened his eyes and looked into hers.

They were evenly set, with an almond shape that matched the sharpness of the lower half of his face. Rosa saw a soft purple. Almost like an opaque lavender. He had a high, chiseled brow bone, and his brows themselves were sharp and angled as well. It was difficult not to stare. Without his helmet he looked remarkably less . . . enigmatic. Less like a sinister, traitorous dragon and more like a man.

"Are you injured?" she asked him.

"No. Weak," he said softly. Rosa watched the way his eyebrows furrowed, the way his eyes flicked back and forth. The flare of his nose. His whole face, visible and working together to show a range of emotion she had never seen him use before. "All my strength is gone."

"The Emperor Cursed you," she said. She paused, knowing that her next sentence could lead into dangerous territory. "I need you to tell me what I need to do to remove it. I cannot remember what a Curse is." If a Curse had anything to do with Kain's betrayal, it could quickly become volatile.

To her relief, he did not put up any sort of resistance. "Esuna should do it."

Rosa pulled her hands in and clasped them over her chest, drawing power into the spell. Before she could complete it, Kain reached out and gently touched her wrist. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, I should apologize. The Emperor's vengeance was directed at me, but he dragged you into it."

"I wasn't referring to the Emperor. I'm sorry for keeping your memory from you."

"At this particular moment, nothing could be further from my mind," she told him. "Tell me later, when we've all recovered from this and both you and I are ready to face it." She cast Esuna on him, and he perked up instantly. He rolled his shoulders back, his eyes blinked with the sudden influx of energy. "What does a Curse do?" she asked.

"It's a kind of sapping magic. It steals away almost all of your physical and mental strength. Thank you," he said, staring at her, translating his sincerity through his eyes.

"You don't have to thank me. Should I retrieve your helmet?" she deflected.

Kain's eyebrows twitched downwards in confusion before his lavender eyes widened. He dragged his hand down the side of his face, like he forgot what his own face felt like. "In all honesty I forgot I lost it. I'll retrieve it. I believe you're needed, anyway." Kain pointed behind her, and Rosa turned to see Tifa and Yuna ushering the Onion Knight with them, clutching his helmet with white knuckles. Tifa had a tiny vial of Eye Drops in her hand and a cloth tangled around her fingers. Rosa wouldn't have to get them herself.

The Knight clutched at his face, scrubbing furiously at his eyes, and when Rosa approached he heard her. He looked up and his eyes were black. Pupils, irises, and all.

"Wh-Who's there?!" the Knight asked, panicked.

"I told you, it's Rosa," Tifa said.

"Yes. I'm here to help," she told him.

He reached out with one hand for her, swiping at the air to find her. With the other, he still rubbed his face and eyes. Rosa grabbed his hand and gently tugged him closer to her. She grabbed both of his wrists and pulled both hands away, holding them at his side so she could look at the severity of the spell. The Knight resisted her, ripping his hands from hers to wipe at his eyes. She tried again, two more times, but he couldn't keep his hands away from his face long enough for her to look.

Rosa grabbed his chin instead and tilted his head up, but he panicked. He backpedaled away from her, making Rosa walk after him. "Stop! Come back." He didn't get far before he tripped on his own feet, landing on his backside in the water. She didn't touch him again, only sat next to him. "Onion?" she said, using the pet-name before she thought to ask if she could. "I need you to calm down."

"It- it hurts!" he cried. "What if I'm Blinded forever?" He blinked rapidly, and tears, both from irritation and fear, spilled down his face in trails. He reached to scrub his eyes again, but Rosa stopped him.

"Stop. You won't be. Eye Drops," she said, reaching behind her. "And cloth." Tifa put both in her hand and she tilted his head straight back, nearly stretching his neck. He moved his hands but Rosa lightly slapped them down. "Ah! Don't touch!" Before he could protest she opened the tiny vial, pried his lids open with her fingers, and poured the liquid straight onto his face. Almost immediately the solution that entered his eyes worked to wash away the irritation. Black sludge flushed from his eyes with his tears, staining his cheeks black. Rosa used the cloth to wipe it away and quickly flushed his other eye as well.

As soon as his eyes were clear he squinted and blinked from the brightness of Sanctuary. He sucked in a huge breath and let it out, calming himself down. He focused on Rosa.

"Better?"

"Much better," he said, sniffling thickly. Rosa tried to smile at him, to reassure him, but he looked straight down at the ground. His cheeks, and even the tops of his ears turned red from his embarrassment.

Rosa's heart twinged in pity, and she grabbed his shoulders, pulling him close into a hug. "You're okay."

She wished someone would tell her that. She wished someone would hug her and tell her that she was okay, and that everything would be okay.

She wouldn't believe them if they did.

The emotion that she was blocking from the entire ordeal seemed to spring up from within her, and her eyes welled up before she could control it. All the security she thought she had was gone. Sanctuary was no longer safe for her or for anyone around her. She was no longer guaranteed the protection of her fellow warriors' numbers. Her heart clenched, her throat tightened, but she knew she couldn't let go in front of everyone. She pulled in a trembling breath and let it out slowly, clearing her throat.

"M' not a little kid," he muttered, gently resisting her hug.

Rosa released him. "I know. That was for me, because I'm grateful to you. I'm so glad you and Cecil and everyone came to my rescue," she told the Knight. How many more times would they have to before the Emperor left her alone? Left her alone or killed her?

What did she do to deserve any of it?

She held him at arms' length and smiled as well as she could, but it came out more like a grimace. If the Knight noticed, and she suspected he did because his eyebrows furrowed in concern, he didn't say anything about it.

"Thanks," he said.

Rosa stood up, looking all around her to make sure everyone was healed properly. Firion was already up on his feet, and so was Kain. The Knight could see again. No one else was injured or actively dying.

She could be alone.

"Rosa," Cosmos said. "Thank you-"

"You don't have to thank me," she said, avoiding looking at her. She hoped to avoid conversation. She wanted to be alone. Every word she said weakened her fortitude, and she risked breaking down right there in front of everyone. "I'm tired. Do you people even sleep?"

Cecil chuckled, but Rosa couldn't bring herself to."Oh," he said when he realized she wasn't laughing. "Um, yes-"

"Where?"

"Anywhere, really. Pick a spot where you feel you won't be disturbed, and-"

"These are Tifa's," Rosa said, and she handed him back the Eye Drops and the soiled cloth. She noticed one tall, curved rock that she liked, perfect for her to curl up next to and protect her back.

"Here, wait," Cecil said. She stopped and turned, and Cecil reached up over his shoulders. He fiddled with something on his pauldrons, finally unclipping his long, purple cape and tugging it over his shoulder. He balled it up, handing it over to her. "Use this as a pillow. And you can use your own as a blanket. Or vice versa."

"Thank you," she said. She took the fabric from him, but when she turned to walk away he held on to it. She turned back to him and he looked at her with pity.

"I'm glad you're alright. May I hug you?"

She wasn't sure why, but the fact that he felt the need to ask permission made her even more sad. Tears welled up and she nodded, stepping closer so he could wrap his arms around her. He put one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head, pressing her close. His rested his chin and his cheek against her hair, and Rosa wrapped her hands around his back, pulling him just as close as he pulled her. She trembled in his grip and realized she was already crying.

Cecil felt it, too. He released her and cupped his hands around her, placing a quick kiss on her forehead. "We will protect you should he return." She nodded, but didn't believe him. She felt like nobody could protect her. "You're strong, Rose. Stronger than him. And he's frightened of you."

"Thank you," she whispered, voice thick from her tears. She wiped them from her face and left, walking to the white rock and laying his cape down. She reached over her own shoulder, but she couldn't find any sort of clasp for her cape. It was fused to her pauldrons. Rosa instead slid both of her pauldrons off and rested them on the front of her shoulders instead. She lay all the fabric evenly over herself before laying down.

She was finally alone.

She turned away from Sanctuary and curled up. And as soon as she did, all the emotion in her heart welled up and spilled out. More of her hot, angry tears rolled down her cheeks instantly, dripping from, her nose and into Sanctuary's water. She pitied herself, called to this war without warning. Why her? Why did this have to happen to her? Even though she couldn't remember some of it, the loss of everything precious to her from her home weighed down on her heart.

This world would never provide her security anymore. As long as the Emperor made specific attempts on her life, she could never rest easy here. One single chance encounter ruined everything. Cosmos couldn't protect her. Her other warriors couldn't protect her. The Emperor had shattered every illusion of safety she thought she had, and she knew that from then on, she wold have to look over her shoulder.

Why couldn't she go home?

Rosa lamented everything she had lost, and cried until she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Rosa's feet dragged on the ground as she trudged to the crystal. Her head hung low; her very aura looked wilted and small, dimmed down to half its normal brilliance into a dull yellow. She looked broken, and Cosmos's heart weighed heavy in her chest at the sight. She knew Rosa would need time, but she suspected Rosa would not have the luxury. Not for Rosa’s own sake, or for her sake.

She waited until Rosa settled before she sat down on her throne, sighing out her frustration. She smoothed her white dress down her legs and clasped her hands in her lap, but her emotions compelled her to wring and knead them.

"What's wrong?" Warrior asked. Of course he picked up on her nervous tics.

"I do not know what to make of this," she told him, referring to their discussion of Rosa's role in the long-term. "And I am sad for her." She met his eyes and held his gaze, and he nodded his understanding.

Cecil crossed his arms. "I know what to make of this. I think it was revenge, and nothing more," he said.

Warrior pulled his helmet from his head, letting his silvery hair loose. He gestured next to Cosmos and asked, "May I?" At her nod he sat next to her. "The Emperor always has ulterior motives," he said. "I have a difficult time believing this was only revenge, without some secondary purpose."

"I feel the same," Cosmos said. "What do you think his purpose was?"

"To strike down our White Mage. He had a previous encounter with Rosa, so he experienced first-hand how powerful she is. The Emperor is gifted enough in strategy to know that to cripple a battalion the most, incapacitate the mages."

"Then you believe this to be motivated by the cycle, and not by Rosa herself?" Cecil asked.

"I cannot say for sure, and neither can you. Though I believe so, yes. Should Rosa fall, it would be devastating to us. She is the only primary White Mage in this war. The Emperor saw an opportunity and tried to take it." It was a truncated version of what he and Cosmos had discussed. Warrior stared at her, perhaps searching for validation that he said the right thing, and she figured he had. She affirmed it with a gentle tilt of her head.

"Well, regardless of his motives," Cecil said, "that was one of the most reckless things I've ever seen a Chaos warrior do." He curled his finger around his chin and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, thinking through the Emperor’s attack. “Let alone the Emperor.”

"Agreed," Warrior said. "Brazen is the word I'd use. Apparently, his desire to attack was strong enough for him to infiltrate Order's Sanctuary, with Cosmos and all seventeen of her warriors in the vicinity, just to attack one person."

"Not just one person," Cosmos said. "Rosa." Arguably the most essential warrior in her ranks at the moment. Doubt and uneasiness balled in Cosmos's stomach, turning it around inside of her. Without Rosa, all the hopes she had of turning the tides in her and her warriors' favors were lost. All the security she thought she had in a White Mage was gone. And she had no way to project exactly what it would mean for her and her warriors if Rosa fell. The only broad conclusion she could come to was destruction.

It was extremely out of character for the Emperor to go so far out of his way and endanger himself to harm her. The fact that he was ready to abandon his tendencies made him far more unpredictable than he already was. Any other Chaos warrior, and Cosmos would have felt inclined to tell her warriors to keep their guard up. But this was the Emperor.

Though she knew to hide it, the attack had shaken her.

"At the very least," Cosmos added, hoping to change the subject, "it proved exactly why we need her. She reversed an advanced-level Death spell without a hint of difficulty. Firion owes her his life, and we owe her our gratitude for reviving him."

"To be sure . . . " Cecil started, but his distant voice trailed off. "But why? Why go after Kain?" Cecil blurted out, still stuck on the Emperor. "He Cursed Kain before the battle even began. If he wanted to harm Rosa, why Curse Kain first? Why Curse Kain at all? That seems a bit superfluous. It is the only part of this that I cannot fit into any sort of rationale."

She shook her head. "I do not know, Cecil." Maybe the Emperor already knew of Kain's betrayal. From the way Rosa asked her about it earlier, Cosmos could guess it affected her greatly. The Emperor may have known that, and may have wanted to punish her in the harshest way he could think of.

Cosmos took a deep breath, huffing it out through her nose. "He was gloating," she said, voicing her thoughts.

"Gloating? How so?" Cecil asked.

"Before the battle, Rosa asked me about Kain. She told me that Kain betrayed his allies before. Perhaps the Emperor knew of this betrayal?" Cosmos asked. "And perhaps he was trying to parade the fact that he knew? The Emperor has a flair for the dramatic."

"I don’t know how he could possibly know anything about that, unless my brother accidentally mentioned something at some point-" He froze, eyes going wide with his realization. "He said something to me, when we were battling. Tidus and I faced off with him, and he made a comment. He said that Rosa being here was 'fortunate' for me, and that he hoped the process of remembering everything wasn't too painful for me since she remembered something that happened to us while at home in our worlds."

"How would he know about that any more than Kain’s betrayal?" Cosmos asked.

"He said that Golbez is loose-lipped when under pressure, or something to that affect. You don’t think he tortured Golbez for information on Rosa, do you?”

"I doubt that,” Cosmos said quickly to ease Cecil’s fears. “His light bears no hints of dimming or flickering which would indicate as much. It’s rather more likely the Emperor has gathered that information over many cycles.”

"I think the questions now are will he strike again, and how,” Warrior stated, staring hard at Cosmos to initiate a discussion.

"I was hoping to speak to Firion about that," Cosmos told him. "I am sure that he can provide insight on the Emperor that will help me form an appropriate response to this." Bold retaliation had already briefly crossed her mind, but she dismissed it just as quickly. She would have to ask Rosa to be responsible for her teammates once again while they attacked the Emperor, and to ask that would be incredibly insensitive. He could - probably would - have any number of traps and snares ready for a response like that.

Warrior hauled himself to his feet with a small grunt and set his helmet back down on her throne. He walked away, and Cosmos watched him stroll up to Firion and gesture back to her. He followed Warrior back, and when he came to rest in front of her, he stood casually, with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Like he hadn't died not minutes ago.

"How may I be of assistance?" He asked. Cosmos always thought of his voice as velvety. Smooth one way, and coarse the other.

"How are you feeling?" Cosmos asked first.

Firion nodded. "I am well, thanks to Rosa. I was hoping to thank her, but . . . " he said, turning and staring at her sleeping form across Sanctuary.

"She needs the rest now. When she awakens I am sure you will be able to speak with her. In the meantime, the Emperor orchestrated this attack. We are questioning his motives, and considering our next moves. I value your thoughts on this, Firion."

"With the Emperor, who can say for sure what his motives were? For all we know, it could have been some small part of any number of larger schemes.”

“But what do you believe it to be?” Cosmos asked.

“This attack feels . . . different. I'm not sure that he had any motive. I think this was out of the blue."

"Why do you say that?"

"First, he has reason for cold revenge, and it’s not unheard of for him to lose his temper. Just very rare. Second, for the Emperor, it seemed rather . . . spontaneous. Or sloppy, like he didn't have a plan. And he loves to plan," Firion said dryly.

"What if he did plan it out," Cecil countered, "and it just went horribly wrong?"

"I don't think so. He's more careful than that. He moves his pieces into place far ahead of time. When his schemes are set into motion, it's nearly impossible to stop him. If he had this all worked out, he'd have had both Rosa and Kain alone."

"What do you think we should do?" Cosmos asked. "I think some sort of response is required, but I do not favor direct confrontation with him."

Firion shook his head. "I don't either. He’ll be expecting that. He will have no doubt surrounded himself with traps and defenses by now. By the way, did he seem . . . injured to you?" Firion asked. "I noticed during the battle that he was favoring his left side. He kept his arm down, and when he did lift it, it seemed to pain him."

"I noticed that as well," Cecil said. "That was Rosa's doing, probably. She told me that when she battled him, she had stabbed him with her knife in the side. But anyway," he said, turning to Cosmos. "Should we mount some sort of indirect counterattack, then? Or perhaps round up some protection for Rosa? What say you? I think Rosa is in real danger, here. If the Emperor is targeting her, as Warrior said, he could be planning another attack as we speak. We need to keep her safe, especially if she is that important to us. Right? Don't you think we need protection for her?"

His tone rose steadily with each sentence until it sounded like he was panicking. Cecil looked down at Cosmos, almost pleadingly, as though he was begging her to say yes. Cosmos averted her gaze, pretending she didn't see the weight there in his eyes. She couldn’t commit to anything right away. She needed time to think through all of her options. If she could spare the manpower, then perhaps she could protect Rosa, but she would have to leave other defensive opportunities weak-

"What say you?" Cecil asked again, stepping closer to her. "We have to do something!"

"I’m not sure yet, Cecil. Please give me time to think this through."

"If he strikes again, Rosa may not have time."

"There is more to think about than just Rosa, Cecil-" Warrior started, but Cosmos stopped him by placing her hand on his arm.

"I agree that Rosa must be protected. She is too important to us. My concern is how we will do it. Ideally, I'd have enough protection for Rosa and for Sanctuary both."

"We should start with Sanctuary," Warrior said. "We should fortify our defenses here in case of another attack by changing our patrol numbers and our patrol schedules. It would allow for more people to protect you at any given time."

"In case of another attack . . . " she repeated. The Emperor may not attack Sanctuary again. If he didn't, they'd be wasting their efforts. "Firion, do you think he will attack again?" Cosmos asked. "If not, I will focus on Rosa's protection."

"Cosmos-!" Warrior started, but she placed a warning in her blue eyes and looked up at him.

"You know why she needs it," Cosmos said, lowering her tone. "Do not challenge it."

"Your protection must be paramount. If you are injured or killed, then we are all doomed to fade. Rosa is important, yes, but so are you."

"I grow stronger by the day. Soon I will be strong enough to defend myself, and with a few warriors, I will be fine." Cosmos ended the discussion by turning back to Firion. "I apologize. Do you think the Emperor will attack again?"

Firion paused for a second to consider, then he answered, "No. I don’t think he will. And even if he does, it won’t be in the same way. He won’t make the same mistake twice."

Cosmos nodded. "Then we will organize around Rosa."

Cecil jumped on her decision. "A protection detail, first and foremost. We should limit her patrol rounds, and give her extra protection when she goes out. And when the rest of us patrol, send less groups, but more people," Cecil added. "Just in case Rosa wasn’t his only target."

"That would probably be best," Cosmos said, pausing to weigh the positives and negatives of each. By sending more people out on patrol, the chances of another random ambush or sneak attack diminished. By sending out less groups, even if there were more warriors on patrol, there would still be warriors left in Sanctuary to protect her. She wasn't sure if Rosa staying close to her side would afford either of them any safety considering the nature of the Emperor's first attack, but at the moment she couldn't foresee any other encounter. "I value Rosa's thoughts on this as well. We may decide something, but if she disagrees, we will respect her wishes. Warrior, I entrust you with the organization of the details of our new circumstances."

Warrior's discomfort was evident on his face, and he bristled against the order. He grudgingly agreed. "When I complete it, I will relay it to everyone."

"Thank you. It is imperative that Rosa stay safe. We need her."

Cecil nodded, clearly grateful for any extra efforts, no matter their reasons. "Warrior, I request permission to accompany her as often as possible. Even if it means I pull double shifts on patrol."

"I will do my best to see that you are together. However, if circumstance demands that you part I will separate you," Warrior said.

"Understood. Thank you."

"Very well."

After talking through it with her warriors, Cosmos felt a bit of the pressure lift from her shoulders. She had a plan, and she trusted her warriors enough to do whatever they had to do for a fellow Warrior’s safety, and for her safety. Her immediate panic was gone, but instead it was replaced by a slow-eating dread. Something was not right about the Emperor’s attack. All was not as it seemed, and the Emperor was planning something. She couldn’t fathom what it could be, but no matter what, she and her warriors needed to put a stop to it. Especially if it endangered Rosa.

There was only one thought that kept the Emperor from seething:

His back-up plan was still in motion.

For a refreshing change of scenery, rather than return to his throne in Pandaemonium, the Emperor opted instead for the decrepit throne in the Chaos Shrine. He always liked how bland and quaint it was. He always liked the shredded, dirty cloth draped over the back. Probably pristine and colorful in its prime, but no longer. The red carpet that led upwards to the throne, elevated above everything else.

He sat down in the throne gently, slouching back to a comfortable position that didn't pull at his side. He rested his elbow on the armrest and leaned his head on his fist, sighing in relief.

The odd, old-fashioned, and simple aesthetic of the basement throne suited his unnaturally calm demeanor. He couldn't muster up the rage that normally would have plagued him over this disaster. The embarrassment was there - it seemed to be his constant companion of late. But he wasn't angry.

His back-up plan was still in motion.

Ultimecia, Kefka, and Exdeath were still hunting her, after all. And when they found her, they would eviscerate her. They would flay her, hopefully quarter her, murder her. His little excursion didn't work out, but it was fine. Her head would decorate Pandaemonium soon enough. And they would destroy her so completely, Shinryu wouldn't be able to collect enough of her pieces to revive her. Rosa would end up dead in the end, no matter how many times she managed to best him.

Yes, his back-up plan was still in motion.

Back-up plans were there for a reason. His hastily-made plan failed, but his back-up plan would not. He was certain of it. All that he could think to do now was check in on the three of them. He wanted to be sure that they were still in agreement. But he could do that later. His side ached, and what was left of the arrow wounds throbbed with his heartbeat. The Emperor tried another healing spell on his side, hoping the wound had healed enough on its own to close completely, but he didn't feel like checking it.

His entire attack had been a disaster, but no matter.

His back-up plan was still in motion.

And it would not fail on his watch.

Chapter Text

Rosa tugged at the bindings around her wrists. The irritation and the rope burn brought tears to her eyes, but she ignored it. She wiggled and struggled, bracing her feet against the stone pillar she was suspended from, but the ropes were too tight. Even with all of her weight hanging from her shoulders, her hands wouldn't slip through.

She felt stiff and sore, and exhaustion waned at her willpower until she couldn't fight any more. She let herself hang limply against the pillar, panting her breaths. She craned her neck upwards and caught the glint of the blade hanging above her, gently swinging on its chain. Taunting her.

It knew she was finished just as much as she did.

Her heart pounded in her chest, her tears fell freely again at the thoughts of death. She heard the sounds of Cecil's struggles in the floors below her feet, but knew he'd never reach her in time. She wondered if it would hurt. When the peg, stuck in one of the rungs of the chain, retracted and let the blade fall like Golbez said it would. If she would die instantly. If it would hit its mark, coming down on her neck and arms, or if it would miss. Just in case, she entertained thoughts of lowering her head to make it quick. She wondered what would happen if it didn't slice the whole way through.

She let out a sob, tugging at the ropes again, but it felt hopeless to her. She couldn't muster up the fervor she had before, knowing she was going to die there.

The sounds of her rescuers quieted down. No more spells, no more sword clashes. Sealing her fate. The blade trembled, almost shaking loose of its support. Another tremble or two, and it would be over.

She would die here.

Rosa's thoughts trailed to Cecil. She would never see him again. She would never feel his embrace again. She would never feel his soft kisses. Share his gentle glances. They were supposed to grow old together. They were supposed to live their lives. And the wave of hopelessness escaped her in more sobs.

"Cecil!!" she yelled. One final time, as the blade shook again.

Suddenly, the doors across the room burst open, thrown so hard they crashed against the walls. He sprinted in first, and his royal blue eyes locked with her wide green. Everything happened in slow motion. His eyes widened, he never broke stride. He reached down and ripped the knife on his hip free. The blade above her groaned, metal scraped on metal. The peg retracted, sending the blade down on her.

She closed her eyes.

The tower blinked, a flash of white light pulsed, and Rosa opened her eyes in surprise to see that her surroundings changed. No longer in the tower of Zot, she instead lay in the water of Sanctuary. The Emperor's mines were all around her, and he stood a few feet away. The Death spell tumbled from his lips, and Rosa saw the ripple of power form in his palm. He charged it up and tossed it towards her.

She raised her arm, and her Reflect appeared, but quickly fizzled from existence.

She was defenseless-

Rosa flinched, jerking herself awake.

Sanctuary's ambient white light glowed peacefully, covering up the attack. Spiting Rosa's feeling of danger.

She pulled her pauldrons and cape off, dragging herself to a sitting position. Her eyes still felt heavy and tired, and she scrubbed some of the sleep from them. She rested her back against the crystal she slept next to and looked around, taking in the sights around her. Cosmos on her throne, but without Warrior. Firion was there, in his place. Vaan, Bartz, and Zidane sitting in a circle on the water. They had what looked like cards laid out between them. Onion stood off to the side, watching them intently, cupping his chin as though deep in thought.

Cloud and Laguna stood side-by-side behind Cosmos. To Rosa, it looked like they were guarding Cosmos' back. Cloud certainly looked like a body guard, with his arms crossed and his sword on his back. Laguna looked like a sentry, too, with his machine weapon in his hands.

Yuna was the last person Rosa saw.

No Cecil, and no Kain. Rosa admit, she was a bit disappointed. It was a drastic contrast from when she first lay eyes on him. Back then, which already felt like weeks and not imperfect 'days', she would have adamantly denied any sort of emotional connection to him. He was pushy, and generally overbearing. She knew now that it was genuine concern for her. And with each memory that returned she realized that their friendship was deep enough to warrant such concern. She couldn't muster up the pure emotions associated with that friendship yet, but she could feel herself growing more comfortable and relaxed around him.

She would have felt more secure with Cecil there. Someone she knew, that knew her. At the very least, she knew she could count on him for the utmost protection.

Speaking of Cecil, she had borrowed his cape. Rosa grabbed the little ball of fabric and pulled it close. She rolled it around in her hands and felt something inside of it, like a thicker piece of cloth. Rosa found a corner of the thin, lavender material and pulled the bundle open, holding it up to unravel it. Out tumbled a second piece of fabric. It was a thicker material, lined with fur. It was a pale gold color, with diagonal purple stripes. Each stripe had a red trim. She had seen it before, trailing behind him when he wore his Paladin armor, but she never took notice of it. It was just a part of his armor. She was curious to know if it had any significance, so she promised to ask him later about it. And about the cloth he wore on his hip.

Rosa folded the cloth into a neat square, then stood so she could do the same to his full cape. As she pulled the corners together and folded it, she noticed that Vaan, Bartz, and Zidane had paused in their card game and were all staring her way. Rosa met their eyes and smiled gently to let them know she saw them.

Zidane and Bartz averted their gazes, but Vaan returned her smile and waved. Zidane leaned over and slapped his hand down. It was comical, and Rosa allowed herself to chuckle at their silliness. The three of them leaned into the center of their circle and whispered amongst themselves, occasionally sending glances her way. Finally, the three of them nodded to each other, and they all stood up. Rosa sat back down and waited for the three of them to approach her.

"Hey," Bartz said, sitting next to her.

"Hey," she repeated back to him.

"You okay?"

"Yes," she said, but she could see on Bartz's face that he didn't believe her. He still nodded.

"Sorry about the Emperor."

Rosa shrugged. She was hoping nobody would mention it. She wasn't quite ready to think about it yet. She couldn't say why, but she knew attacks of that nature were not the norm. She could feel the shift in Sanctuary's energy, and the fact that Cosmos now had posted guards told her as much. She knew that the implications of the Emperor's attack were heavy. Things were going to change, and she knew it. "It's alright," she said, mostly because she didn't know what else to say. In truth, it wasn't alright. She was still scared, and she was still upset.

"Do you want to be alone?" Zidane asked. He pointed over his shoulder, and his tail flicked slowly from side to side, uncertain. "We'll go, if-"

"No, I'd actually enjoy the company," she told him. "To be honest, I . . . " she trailed off, debating on telling them the whole truth. " . . . To be honest, I'm not sure I want to be alone right now."

"Well! We can keep you company," Zidane said, flopping down in front of her. "Just until Cecil gets back, of course," he added, winking coyly.

"Hm," she hummed, glancing at the capes she had folded in her lap. When Cecil got back, she had questions for him. "Thank you."

"There's nothing to thank us for," Bartz said. "We had an excuse to come over here anyway, 'cuz we got you something."

"What? A gift?"

Zidane scratched at the back of his head. "No, no, not a gift. More like, something we got that we thought you'd find useful."

"You really don't have to give me anything-"

Vaan cut her off. "Sure we do! Besides, none of us have any use for it." Vaan held out his fist, and Rosa held out her hand under his. He dropped a pair of earrings into her hands. They were gold studs, fashioned into stars. "These are Star Earrings, and they'll increase your magic power by a bunch! So when you need to heal someone, it'll be even stronger. Or, when you need to kick the Emperor's butt next time."

The act was so . . . pure and unburdened. A nice gesture for the sake of a nice gesture, and Rosa was touched. "They're beautiful!" she said. "Thank you so much!" She touched her ears and felt a pair of earrings already hanging from her lobes, so she quickly unclasped them to put her new pair in. She tucked her old pair into a small pouch on her brown belt.

"It was Zidane's idea, really," Bartz said. "After the Emperor left, we were just kinda sitting around. He kept staring at you, all weird. I asked him why he was being creepy and he said, 'That lady needs some cheering up. Let's get her something.'" Rosa blinked at him in surprise as he imitated Zidane's voice perfectly. As though Zidane had said it himself. "We went out and found a moogle and got them. Sometimes his knowledge of women is a little . . . not good, but we figured we'd trust him on this one."

Zidane rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I'm so flattered that you would think of me. And I did need some cheering up. Thank you." She paused, then added, "For a self-proclaimed 'lady's man', I do have to say you are perceptive, Zidane." He always seemed to know when someone needed help, and he was always the one to help them. She saw it in the way he interacted with his friends. Bartz was probably just as scared as she had been when he awoke, but Zidane befriended him right away. He tried to befriend her right away, and tried to introduce her to Cecil so she could make friends on her own.

Zidane scoffed, feigning insult. "Just because I know how to treat the ladies!"

"Is there a woman back in your home?" Rosa asked, genuinely curious. "Surely by now, with your charm, you've found someone to direct your energies towards."

Zidane's tail perked straight up into the air behind him. "Ha! Oh yeah!" he said. "Her name's Princess Garnet, and she's the most beautiful woman in Alexandria."

"A princess?" Rosa giggled, intrigued.

Zidane waved dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're gonna say. 'Aiming pretty high, aren't ya,' or something like that. Even if she wasn't a princess, I'd still be aiming high. She's smart, and beautiful, and so far out of my league it's crazy."

"Does she return your love?" Rosa asked.

A genuine smile creased his face, only for a moment, before the playful glint returned to his eyes. "She denied it for the longest time," he said smugly, "but she came to her senses soon enough."

Vaan puckered his lips and made a kissing face, smacking his lips together loudly. He leaned close to Zidane, aiming for his cheek. Zidane leaned away, toppling over into the water. "Get away from me!" he yelled.

"What about you, Vaan?" Rosa asked, laughing.

"Me? Do I have a girl, you mean? Just my friend Penelo. I love her like a sister, though, so that'd be weird."

"Bartz?"

"Hmmm . . . I don't know. I still only remember a little bit from before being called here. Ummm . . . " he hummed, thinking through it. His face lit up, for just a moment, but he deflated a second later.

"Who are you thinking of?" Zidane asked. He saw it, too.

"It's not a some-one. Okay, this is gonna sound really weird, so don't judge me. Alright?" he asked, pointing at Zidane and Vaan.

"Psh! What about Rosa?" Vaan asked.

"Look at her. She'd never judge anyone. Okay, so, I remember this chocobo-"

"Oh, gods-" Zidane groaned.

"Ah! Ah! I said don't judge! You don't know where I'm going with this!"

"That's why he's afraid," Rosa quipped.

"Stop making fun of me! I don't know if it's my chocobo, just a chocobo. And we were the best buddies in the whole world, I think."

"Oh, thank the gods," Zidane breathed. "'Best buddies.'"

"Ew, Zidane! That's so gross!" Bartz's face went a shade red as he realized what Zidane thought he was going to say.

"I think it's sweet," Rosa said. "A chocobo can be a real friend," she said, hoping to defend Bartz. "You must miss him, Bartz."

"Yeah, but I think that's where my feather good luck charm came from, and as long as I have it with me . . . It's one of those, 'he's always with me' things."

"Feather good luck charm," Rosa repeated.

"Yeah. I have this feather." He called the charm, and it flashed into his hand. "I think it came from him. Whenever I have the feather on me, it brings me good luck." The feather was creased and weathered in some parts. It wasn't exactly in peak condition, but Rosa figured that meant it was well-used.

"And what about you? Do you remember a certain man friend yet?" Zidane asked. His tone suggested he was clearly leading somewhere. Cecil was the first person to come to mind, but she truly wasn't sure. He felt important to her, and so did Kain. But perhaps it was due to the fact that they were the only people here she should know. As she said before, she just couldn't piece things together on her end.

"And how do you know I have a 'man friend'?" she asked, teasing back. Dodging the question.

"Oh, come on, Rosa. Someone as beautiful as you would've had half the kingdom asking for her hand. Also, you have a ring on your finger."

"Hey! You do!" Vaan said, pointing to it. "I never noticed that before."

Rosa held up her hand and spread her fingers, turning it this way and that to inspect the ring. The rose gold band. On a very important finger. She twisted the band with her thumb, turning it all around. "I don't know if it's a wedding band. I don't remember the man who could be my husband - if it is a band," she added. And it was true. She didn't feel anything special when she looked at the ring. And she supposed that if she was wed, her husband would be one of the first things she remembered if she truly loved him. She resolved that the ring simply ended up on a wrong finger. Rosa pulled the band off and tried it on the rest of her fingers, but it refused to fit. Even on her other hand. The fingers of her right hand were thick and strong from drawing a bow string for years and years.

Cecil was the closest thing to a 'man friend' she had, but she didn't think of him that way.

"Well, I'm sure he'll come back to you," Zidane said. He stared at her for what seemed like longer than he had to. Even his tail froze in the air, and then returned to its normal waving. She liked noting its movements. She suspected it always betrayed his true feelings, but the words he spoke and the sentiments he conveyed tended to match it. It led her to think he was genuine. If she wanted a purely honest opinion, even if it wasn't what she wanted to hear, she felt as though Zidane would tell her.

"What about Cecil?" Vaan asked.

Rosa looked up sharply, before she could control her reaction. "What about him?"

"Nothing!" he said quickly. "Just . . . uh, want to know what you think of him."

" . . . Oh," she finally said. "I thought you meant . . . never mind." She thought he meant in relation to her ring.

"Nice one, Vaan," Zidane said, elbowing him in the side. "What are you trying to do, freak her out? You can't just ask her that!"

"What? It was a simple question," he argued back. "He was the first person you talked to when you got here. I was just wondering what you think of him. Do you like him?"

"Yes, I do. I . . . Actually don’t know that much about him." Which surprised her, now that she actually thought about it. She constantly asked him for information and he (almost) always gave her answers. He told her things about herself, about their home, and about this world and this war. She realized that she never actually asked him about himself, aside from one time after she remembered something he needed to explain.

She spent almost every waking moment of her time here with Cecil, but still didn’t feel like she knew him.

Perhaps that was why her memories and feelings for him were being so stubborn.

"Well, that’s easy to fix. Just ask him!" Vaan said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. His big, blue eyes stared innocently at her. "Try to get to know him!"

Rosa sighed, unsure of how to voice her reluctance. "I don't know if I . . . I don't think he understands . . . that when he . . . um," she stammered. "He's . . . he's a little off-putting sometimes." That seemed to be the best way to sum up how she felt. From their very first interaction he tried to get too close, too quickly. "When he expects me to remember things, I feel pressured. And when I disappoint him, it weighs on me - which is frustrating because he's unintentionally obligating me to have an emotional tie to all of this. I know we were friends in our home world, but I don't have any memories on my end to back him up. I don't know how to feel about him. Does any of that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does," Zidane said. "Cecil is . . . just Cecil. He's an honorable guy, really pure of heart, honest, really genuine and stuff. He's the kind of guy who knows what's right and wrong, and he'll stick to it no matter what. Even if sticking to it is bothersome for him. And he cares about people, like, a lot. Everything he does, he thinks about his friends before himself. He's always supporting us, and I've heard him say that caring for people is a source of strength for him."

"Is that so?" Rosa asked. "Now that you mention it, I've never heard him speak poorly of anyone. He had an opportunity before, to tell me something bad about a friend because it would benefit my memory. He wouldn't do it. At first, I thought he was being self-preserving and malicious in deliberately keeping it from me. But now that you say that, I realize that it would have ruined our friend's image. I realize how important it truly was to him to not speak poorly on a friend." It felt like a weak example, but either way it supported Zidane's point. "And . . . there's something that happened in our home world that he blames himself for. Ever since that day, he vowed to be a better person. It's why he's a Paladin."

"Yeah, he just cares a lot about everyone. He listens and empathizes with people. Here's how good of a person he is!" Zidane said. He hopped up onto his haunches, and his tail flicked faster in the air behind him. His eyes lit up, like he had the greatest story in the world to tell. "I remember this one time, a really long time ago. Like around when I first woke up here," Zidane said, waving his arms to emphasize how long ago. Rosa still couldn't fathom how long it could be. "Something bad went down on Chaos' side, and it sparked a civil war among his warriors."

"What happened?" Rosa asked.

"Okay, saddle up, because this story is a wild ride!" he said, hopping to his feet. "Chaos' warriors are obligated to fight, just like we are, right?" He started pacing slowly, cautiously, like a teacher to his students. Setting up his story. "Only, a lot of them don't really see it as a moral obligation like we do. You can probably guess that, I mean, some of them have the moral compass of a drunk Wyrm. Anyway, Sephiroth - Cloud's enemy - decided that he wasn't fighting. Instead, he went off to do his own thing. Like, he still attacked us, but only if his plans led him to cross us, you know? 'I do what I want, when I want' kind of thing."

"How did it lead to a civil war?"

He stopped pacing. "Garland, who's like Chaos' Warrior, confronted Sephiroth about it. A fight broke out," he said, miming sword thrusts and swings, other hand poised in the air behind him. "But both of them left before they could really injure the other. Chaos doesn't allow his warriors to fight each other for real, so Garland took Kefka and Ultimecia and squared up against Sephiroth, Golbez, and Jecht. They were the only Chaos warriors who were called at the time. Jecht and Golbez came to Sephiroth's defense, asking why they were fighting, saying they didn't want to be there, et cetera, et cetera."

"I don't remember this," Vaan said.

Zidane waved him off. "No, you wouldn't. You hadn't been called yet. Where was I going with this?"

"Cecil," Rosa reminded him.

"Oh yeah. In the fight, Sephiroth, Golbez, Kefka, and Garland got really messed up. Nobody held back, so they really needed help. Golbez dragged Sephiroth - and even Jecht who wasn't that injured - to Order's Sanctuary for Cosmos' help."

"Are you serious?" Vaan asked.

"Dead serious. As serious as your life. When they got here, Golbez staggered in practically carrying Sephiroth." Zidane took a few steps back on his 'stage' and hunched over. He swayed on his feet, he let one arm dangle loosely and clutched at his side with the other. He staggered forward, limping heavily on one leg. For a moment, Rosa thought he would actually collapse. "Golbez had his arm under Sephiroth’s, holding him up. He took so many hard hits that his armor was all broken. He had bruises everywhere. He was stabbed and slashed, and he had burns and he was all sweaty and gross. He couldn’t even talk, he was so out of breath. Sephiroth was even worse. He had, like, broken ribs, he had a couple of Ultimecia's arrows in him, he had claw marks on his leg and stuff." Zidane touched and pointed to each part of his body as he listed it. "Both of them were bleeding everywhere. It was crazy.

"Here's the Cecil part: by that point, Cecil had only been in the war for a short while. He didn't really know Golbez well yet. He knew that Golbez had done some bad stuff, and he knew that he had to defeat him. When they got here, we were all caught off-guard and Warrior thought it was an ambush. ‘To arms! To arms!’ he yelled," Zidane said, waving his arms in a beckoning motion. Acting it out like a true storyteller.

"Warrior drew his sword," he said, pulling his imaginary sword from his hip, "and charged, whether the rest of us were ready or not. Everyone who wasn’t wounded on Chaos’ side, which was actually only Jecht, got ready to throw down and they were about to start swinging when Cecil stopped them. He sprinted in front of Warrior and threw himself between him and Golbez." Zidane switched positions, facing the spot where he left his imaginary Warrior, and threw his arms to the side protectively, guarding Sephiroth and Golbez. "‘Warrior! Can you not see that they’re wounded?’ Cecil yelled. I’ve never seen Warrior look so pissed off. He pointed his sword at Cecil," Zidane said, switching back to Warrior, "and said, 'Out of the way. Wounded or not, they do not belong here. They are harbingers of Chaos!’ Cecil drew his spear and got down and the two of them squared up. Cecil said, ‘Be that as it may, how could you kill wounded warriors in cold blood? Is that who we’re meant to be as warriors of Cosmos?! Would she condone such an act of violence?! We would not be any better than those who fight for Chaos!’ Warrior paused," Zidane said, pausing himself for dramatic effect, "and slowly lowered his sword." Zidane's arm dropped to his side.

"Warrior turned back to Cosmos and said, ‘It is your decision, my lady.’ Cosmos didn’t answer right away, and we all held our breaths to see what she would say. Would Cosmos really condemn them right there? That wasn’t very Harmonious. And yet, it woulda been super advantageous if we wiped out half their ranks right then. Suddenly, the weakest, most pathetic sound I ever heard came from Golbez. He normally has this deep, gruff voice," Zidane described. He growled the words low in his throat. "But all he said was, ‘Please.’ That was it. Just ‘Please.’ Sephiroth was out cold by that point, limp in Golbez's arm. He, like, hoisted Sephiroth up, and Cosmos watched them. She had the saddest look that I’ve ever seen on a woman on her face. And she finally said, ‘Very well. You have asylum here.’ Cosmos, and those of us who knew any semblance of White Magic at the time, which was basically Yuna and Paladin Cecil, had to heal Sephiroth and Golbez. Here's the real Cecil part," Zidane said, holding a finger up to indicate it. "Cecil - who didn’t know a damn thing about Golbez, I might add - sat with him. For days on end. Golbez was unconscious most of the time but Cecil was right there at his side. He healed him, expending all of his magic power every time it replenished. When Golbez woke up for short periods of time, Cecil was there. He didn't sleep, he didn't go on patrol, he didn't do anything but sit there with Golbez. Warrior asked him after a couple of days, 'Why are you so keen on helping your enemy? Why do you insist on healing those of Chaos' ranks?' And you know what Cecil said?" Zidane asked, leaning forward. Unconsciously, Rosa, Bartz, and Vaan all leaned forward as well.

"What?" Vaan asked.

"I'll never forget this. He got really serious. More serious than I've ever seen Cecil. And he actually glared at Warrior. And he said, 'No one, not even Cosmos, will ever order me to murder in cold blood again. I have done so in the past, and I refuse - I refuse - to ever do so again. This is right. This is the right thing to do. Mercy and compassion are the right reactions.'"

Zidane sat back down in the water, effectively ending his story.

" . . . Wow," Rosa said after a while. Unsure of what else to say.

"Yeah," Zidane said.

Cecil was so righteous, he was ready to go up against his friends if it meant he did what he thought was right. He was so caring of a person, he was willing to oversee the care of someone, even if they had directly wronged him in the past. Rosa was able to understand more fully how much his friends - and even his enemies - meant to him. How much his disgrace weighed on him, and how much his repentance healed his soul. She suddenly felt incredibly small compared to him. Like she would never achieve that level of selflessness, or that level of care for another person.

Zidane's story also gave Rosa some information on other Chaos warriors - not just the Emperor. They sounded just as ruthless, if not more ruthless, than the Emperor. Garland, Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath teamed up with him and were willing to harm those on their own side if it meant Chaos' will was satisfied. She already knew Golbez was a comrade of sorts, but knowing that there were others questioning their roles here validated a bit of her concerns.

"Or, yeah! This one time," Vaan began, "I was on watch, but I was really tired and I accidentally fell asleep. I woke up to Cecil telling me to wake up. I thought he would be really angry with me - well, maybe he kind of was. But he didn't yell at me. He was like, 'Falling asleep on watch is extremely dangerous! Next time, if you're too tired, make sure you ask for someone to relieve you! Allow me to take your watch tonight so everyone is safe."

Compared to Zidane's story, Vaan's was a bit unrelated and weak. But, it got the point across.

"Okay, so he's gentle, too," Bartz said, rallying it back to the point. "Add it to the list!"

"Yeah, he's a really good guy," Zidane said. "So, you said he makes you a little uncomfortable? It's just him showing you that he cares, trying to get close to you. If you want my advice, try to think of it like that. Try to look for those moments where he's showing you he cares."

She felt compelled to apologize to Cecil. That, or hug him. Her heart felt full in awe of him, and he felt a bit embarrassed of her treatment of him. He was only trying to care for her by helping her regain her memory, and she repaid him with coldness and withdrawal from him. In the future, she vowed to view his actions differently. She would still not allow him to overstep her boundaries, and vowed to reprimand him if he did, but rather than grow angry with him she would treat him with patience.

"I will," she said. "Thank you for the advice."

"No problem," he said, clasping his hands behind his head. He rolled back and flopped into the water. "Next therapy session, I'm charging five Gil a minute." Rosa laughed, and they let the conversation lull for a bit.

"How long was it before you remembered everything, Zidane?" she asked after their silence. "You've been here the longest out of the three of us."

"Hmm . . . Good question . . . Well, it felt like forever, I'll tell you that," he settled on.

Rosa sighed. She didn't know what she expected at this point. "So, what did you do in your home world? What was it like?"

"Home for me was this city called Lindblum. I was . . . sort of abandoned as a kid? I don't know, I don't really feel like getting into it. But this guy named Baku 'adopted' me. I became part of his band of thieves that doubled as a theatre troupe to cover up our illicit activities." He said the last two words with a posh accent, briefly showing off a piece of his acting skills.

"So you're a thief. And were you successful?" Rosa asked, genuinely curious.

"With the thieving, or the acting?"

"Either. Both."

"Yeah. We made a lot of Gil on the productions and stole lots of stuff, and we sat on a lot of treasure. The most successful thing I stole was Princess Garnet."

"You stole your princess?!"

"Well, she sort of asked me to take her, but still, I'd consider it a success considering we got her out of there. Wrecked the stage ship really badly, though, 'cuz, you know, we were attacked and stuff. Haha!" he barked, perking up again. "So I had this friend, right? And he was this little Black Mage, like, no more than yea tall," he said, holding his hand up in the air. "Well, his hat made him, like, yea tall." He lifted his hand a little higher. "And one time he was going through some troubling times, right? I felt like he needed some cheering up, so I took him outside and we both sat out under the stars and-"

Vaan cut him off. "I don't think Rosa would appreciate that story. So I'm gonna tell one instead. I did hard time in prison, once."

"No you didn't," Rosa countered, but Vaan insisted.

"Yeah! I did! I snuck into the royal palace using the sewers, and-"

"You climbed through the sewers?" Bartz asked, crinkling his nose as though he could smell the water.

"Yep. Not my proudest moment. Anyway, I snuck into the palace and snatched a piece of treasure. On my way out I met two sky pirates who were also trying to snatch that piece of treasure. On our way back out through the sewers, we met our princess and got captured by some guards. I was thrown in prison with them, got in a prison fight, and escaped."

" . . . That's crazy," Zidane finally said.

Rosa felt like it was her turn for a harrowing tale. " . . . I was kidnapped for ransom?" she tried.

"That sounds exciting! Do tell!" Zidane said.

"Um, so Golbez wanted all the crystals of our world for power. Cecil had one in his possession for safe-keeping, and Golbez kidnapped me in exchange for the crystal. He tied me up, and hung me by my wrists from a pillar, and he put a blade over me. After a certain amount of time the blade was supposed to drop and kill me."

"Was Cecil the one who saved you?" Vaan asked.

"He was." She didn't have the details of the actual rescue, but she remembered seeing him in the dream. She remembered feeling his arm around her waist.

"That's a crazy story. Bartz?" Vaan said.

"Hmm . . . okay. So, this one time, when I was little, we were playing hide-and-go-seek. Me and my friends. And I was looking for the perfect hiding spot. And I looked up and my eyes locked on the roof of the chocobo stables. And I thought, 'Yeah! That's it! I'll climb on the roof!' Genius level idea, right there, and I thought I was the brightest feather on the chocobo-"

"You're not in love with that chocobo too, are you?" Zidane asked, teasing him.

"That chocobo is metaphorical, and no I am not. Anyway, I used the hay stacks and the window ledges to get up on the roof and I buried myself in a bit of the thatch and stayed really quiet and nobody found me for a really long time. Eventually, they quit calling for me, too. I got up to see if they were still looking for me, and I went to the edge. On my way down my foot slipped. I fell off a two-story roof and hit the ground and broke my right arm and collarbone, split my head open, ever since I've had a bad fear of heights. Like, really, really bad fear of heights. My mom had to heal me. That was before she d-"

Bartz cut off. His eyes glossed over, his face went blank, and he stared into the abyss. After only a moment, he blinked himself back to awareness. His shoulders slumped, his aura shrank.

"What's up?" Zidane asked.

"Ah, nothing. We should get everyone to tell a story. It'll be like campfire tales."

Zidane was about to add something, but Firion called her name from over by Cosmos' throne. "Rosa!" he yelled. She turned and looked at him, and he beckoned her over.

"Oh. Firion's calling me. Thank you so much for the advice and for the company. It means a lot to me," she said, placing her hand over her heart to show them her sincerity.

"No problem - oh!" Zidane yelled. "Wait! I wanted to teach you something that I taught Vivi and Princess Garnet if they were ever in danger. The next time the Emperor comes stalking, you should try screaming back. If you ever see him again, you should yell, 'Get off me, you scumbag!' It surprises your attacker and empowers you."

"Get off me, you scumbag." Rosa had never heard the word 'scumbag' at all, let alone as an insult. When she pictured it, calling the Emperor a bag of scum, she couldn't contain her laughter.

"No, no, louder! More forceful! Pretend Bartz is about to grab you!"

"What-?" Bartz yelled.

"Just pretend! So Bartz tries to grab you, so you yell . . . "

"Get off me, you scumbag!" she yelled. The scenario was so ridiculous, Rosa couldn't say it with a straight face. Her smile ruined a bit of the effect.

"Yeah! That's it! Sort of. You'll get it. Just keep practicing."

"You're all ridiculous," Rosa laughed. "If ever the Emperor attacks again, I'll be sure to call him a scumbag."

"You won't regret it," Zidane said lightly, crossing his arms.

"Thank you again!" she said again, and she ran over to Firion and Cosmos.

Chapter Text

His brief rest over, the Emperor slid to the front of the Chaos Shrine throne. He reached for his right gauntlet, sliding the finned metal down his arm, but it caught on the tight purple leather of his glove. He snatched the claw of his thumb between his teeth and tugged his glove off one finger at a time, pulling the whole gauntlet off. He set it down on the armrest and probed at his side, pressing and prodding it over the repair in his armor. Finally, it seemed, the tear in his skin healed completely. All he had to show for it was a bit of tenderness. Probably a large bruise that would no doubt plague him for a bit. At least he could use his arm again.

Ultimecia was the first stop on his itinerary.

He needed to reassess her involvement in his plan. The fact that Rosa wasn't dead yet led him to believe his offer wasn't very high on her priority list. He needed something better to offer Ultimecia. Something that would mean enough to her to compel her to complete his task, but he struggled to think of anything that fulfilled the criteria. She knew he was lying about her inclusion in final plans, so the threat of retracting his offer completely wouldn't faze her in the slightest. He couldn't threaten her with violence; threats would only anger her - and he needed her if he didn't want to dirty his own hands.

No, he needed something real and tangible, not just contingencies. He needed to assure her he possessed something ultimate. Something she wouldn't be able to acquire or achieve on her own, that only he could provide if she did this for him. He needed a deception that he could insure, just for this task. Once the deed was done he needed nothing more to do with her, and would actively try to avoid having anything more to do with her.

Until then, he had to up the ante in their little game. He had to throw more chips in the pile and bluff his way around her despite what he had in his hand. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to have something real in his hand.

But what?

This world was so unbelievably removed from the rest of the known universe that he couldn't fathom any particular thing that could work. There was nothing that could grant her power that she didn't already have.

He could resort to the offer of Squall’s life. An eye for an eye, a life for a life. Rosa’s life for that of Squall’s. But the thought of going after Squall himself didn’t appeal to him, and he was loathe to employ even more of his fellow warriors for another side-scheme.

Perhaps a miracle would happen, and asking her would be enough.

Perhaps a Tonberry knife would fall from the sky and kill Chaos.

He teleported to Ultimecia’s castle. If she wasn’t already there, she would be there shortly. She had a habit of knowing when warriors stumbled into her castle. The Emperor appeared on the topmost platform and peered over the edge, hoping to at least spot her before she spotted him. He didn’t immediately see her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t waiting in the wings and recesses.

"Ultimecia!" he called. He waited for a few seconds, listening for any sound other than the soft clanking of the gears. The Emperor lifted his feet off the ground and floated up and over the balcony, down to the center platform so he could check every part of the tower. "Ultimecia!"

She phased into sight next to him. "Oh," she said flatly, wrinkling her nose. "It's you. What do you want?" she asked. And with that, his jaw clenched in frustration. She had a talent, a natural talent of getting under his skin. With the smallest of gestures or the slightest of utterances, she could set his teeth grinding and his wear his patience thin. The added stress of her inadvertently threatening his plans, teetering them on the brink of collapse, put him further on edge. He had to tread carefully, and it was infinitely more frustrating that he had to tread carefully around her. His fists clenched, and all the careful control he thought he had crumbled.

"I have neither the time nor the patience for your posturing. I am here to reaffirm our allegiances."

"Is that so?"

"This Rosa operation is time-sensitive, Utimecia. I suspected you of all people would understand the importance of that."

"Hmph!" she snorted. "I control time, Emperor. I can work at my own pace-"

"I am not interested in playing around with you!" he said. "Chaos' teeth," he cursed, "what will it take for you to do this for me, and within a convenient amount of time? If it is more that you desire in order to kill Rosa, and kill her soon, then name your price!" The words slipped out in his aggravation, but he couldn’t snatch them back once they were out. He had just backed himself into a dangerous corner. If she listed a price he was unwilling or unable to fill, he would have to refuse. She very well could back out of the deal entirely, leaving him with only Kefka and Exdeath to depend on. Though the idea wasn’t entirely distasteful, he enjoyed keeping Ultimecia in his employ, where he could more closely monitor her. "You have not held up your end of the bargain," he continued, trying to dodge his slip and gain the upper hand again. "As long as it remains unfulfilled, I may yet withdraw my offer," he tried, hoping a subtle threat would corral her back in.

"You may do whatever you like, of course," she said cooly. "I recall you saying that you would retract it anyway the last time we spoke." She paused, clearly waiting for him to fill the silence, but he refused with a flare of his eyes. "My price," she said, emphasizing the word, "is for you to fulfill your end of the bargain. You offered me a place in your world after your overthrow of Chaos. Hah!" she laughed. "I knew instantly that you were lying. You are a talented liar, Emperor, very talented, but I saw through your ruse the moment it left your mouth. You were not planning on including me in your end game. That is my price. I want to hold you to it. I want you to swear to me, by every throne upon which you claim to sit, that you will give to me all that you already offered me when you are successful. My price is your word, that you will offer it to me in earnest." The corners of her lips twitched upwards into a condescending grin, but the Emperor met her gaze evenly.

"And if you're hesitant, think about this," she continued, "this world has nothing else to offer me," she told him, voicing his earlier thoughts. "Chaos himself has nothing more to offer me. You have nothing else to offer me. No more items, no more power, nothing," she hissed.

Quickly, the Emperor analyzed her response. He started to pace, turning a wide circle around her. She wasn't asking for anything more tangible, only that he keep to his word? He vastly over-compensated for her response if that was the case. Her logic was sound: this world offered only fighting, and death at the hands of Cosmos' warriors. The eventual destruction of this world if Chaos was to win left no spoils for their efforts. The only way to achieve something higher was to do exactly what the Emperor was planning, and overthrow Chaos. Lord over the world rather than destroy it. It was the same logic he used in the first place to concoct his plan to destroy Chaos and replace him. Then again, she could be trying to persuade him to lower his guard. She could be asking for very little to deter him from an ulterior motive or personal agenda. Perhaps, when he was least expecting it, she would take whatever she wanted anyway.

As for his personal agenda, a betrayal - one which he was already planning - would be so much easier if she was unsuspecting. If she believed he would actually agree to her terms rather than continue in his deceit. He would have to break his word if he agreed, but deception for political gain had always been a necessary part of rule. A price he gladly paid, and would continue to pay as long as it earned him what he wanted.

"If I agree to your terms, will you prioritize Rosa's attack?" he asked her. "Destroying her and removing her entirely is an important piece of this plan to reach the gods."

"Why is that? You truly are obsessed, Emperor!" she said, turning with him as he circled. "Surely you've cooled off by now! Or did something else happen between you two?" Her tone suggested she already knew the answer.

There was no point in lying to Ultimecia. She had already seen him at his worst, by Rosa's hand. Plus, he knew, if he humbled himself before her for just a moment, that small moment of sincerity and candor would translate to the rest of his scheme. It would make his entire plan easier to believe in. "Yes," he said. "Something else. I had another brief, but unpleasant encounter with her. It was foolish," he admitted, and his heart squirmed in his chest for telling Ultimecia. He wanted to cringe. But, her eyes widened in surprise and her cocky aura dropped, and he knew he had her. "When I thought you hot on her trail, I returned to Order's Sanctuary to . . . gloat upon a final farewell." To his surprise, she didn't mock him. "I masked my presence and caught the end of a sparring match between her and Cecil."

"Hm," she hummed. "He's Golbez's, isn't he?" she asked.

"So is she," he told her.

"Really?" she said, crossing her arms. "Interesting." The calculation returned to her gaze as she considered the significance.

"They knew each other in their home world. I listened to their discussion and learned some very interesting information about all three of them. Cecil has murdered in cold blood before, and has since atoned to become a Paladin Knight. Kain betrayed them, most atrociously, under Golbez's direct control. I thought to use that information to my advantage in an ill-conceived revenge attempt. I Cursed Kain and forced him to submit to my control to attack her, but it went awry. I was unable to bind him.

"Cosmos' warriors, all sixteen of them, were alerted to my presence, so I thought to attack Rosa outright before they had a chance at me. It did not go well. I was unable to harm her severely, and had to retreat. As I said, it was foolish."

Ultimecia lifted her chin and stared down her nose at him, but the Emperor sensed that it was out of interest, not condescension. She nodded slowly.

"Rosa is a powerful mage. I experienced first-hand how powerful she is. She is incredibly capable. My very obvious grudge is the primary reason I want to be rid of her. I would also relish in the chance to do serious damage to Cosmos' ranks by erasing her White Mage. Cecil and Kain would suffer an incredible emotional blow as well, which could very well remove two of her powerful warriors from the fight." Time to pour on the charm. "If you do this for me," he purred smoothly, "if you kill Rosa and deal a severe blow to Cosmos, I will agree to give you all that I promised you." He stared hard at her, looking straight into her eyes. "We have a deal."

In her eyes, the Emperor thought he saw respect. It flashed for just a moment, as her eyes drifted back and forth, staring into his eyes. " . . . Excellent," she said, dropping her arms to the side and shaking out her crow wings. "I will rally the troops."

"I need this done as soon as possible. I care not how you do it. Just make it hurt." He put all of the sentiment he could in his eyes. 'Make her hurt the way she hurt me. Humiliate her the way that she humiliated me. Cause her pain so immense, she forgets how to feel anything else. Rip her apart.'

"Oh, I will," she said.

" . . . Thank you," he said, nodding his sincerity.

Ultimecia stared at him for a long while, then disappeared.

The Emperor sighed all of the tension out of his shoulders that he didn't notice was building. "And that is how it's done."

Chapter Text

Together, Cosmos and Firion filled Rosa in on the new patrol schedule that Warrior drew up.

He re-classified missions, no longer using 'patrol' as a blanket term. Instead, it referred only to the defensives - the periodic circling of Sanctuary and of Cosmos' domain to keep Chaos' warriors at bay. Then there were stealth missions, which included reconnaissance and the gathering of intel. Then gateway clearings and targeted item retrievals. Lastly, there were offensive maneuvers, like seizing or guarding territories, destroying or commandeering enemy resources and items, fixing enemy positions, or 'disrupting enemy coherence', as Warrior put it.

When on missions, they would go in larger strike teams of seven, eight, or nine depending on the mission. Patrols and stealth missions would take seven warriors. Gateway missions would take eight. Offensive maneuvers would take nine. There were exceptions depending on Cosmos' judgment and the fluctuating threat levels of the missions, but for the most part, they would keep to those numbers.

No more than one mission was to be undertaken at any time, except in dire circumstances. After completing a mission, the warriors involved were allowed a shift of rest while another mission was carried out. After resting, three were selected to guard Cosmos. Everyone was required to pull a double mission shift at least once every three shift cycles.

Rosa suspected the changes were made to directly benefit her, but Warrior disguised it well under the guise of protecting Cosmos. It didn't make her feel so singled out. If she was resting in Sanctuary, both she and Cosmos would have warriors around them for protection. If there was an attack while she was guarding Cosmos, she would be armed and ready. When out on a mission, she had the protection of a larger group. The other warriors were in the exact same situations she would be in as far as numbers and shifts, and Cosmos had the extra protection that Warrior supposed she needed.

Cosmos also strongly suggested that Rosa stay within the Cornelia Plains if she chose to leave Sanctuary on her own. Otherwise, she was advised to take at least two other warriors with her in case of another direct attack against her. She couldn't be angry with the order, even if she wanted to be. She was grateful for the extra efforts made on her behalf, and she knew the suggestion wasn't an attack on her skills, or her ability to defend herself. Mild confinement was the price she would have to pay for safety and security.

It wasn't long before Cecil's group came back from whatever mission they were sent on. Rosa saw the flash of the teleport stone and watched as the group crossed the land bridge to Sanctuary's barrier. She could tell from their silhouettes that Cecil and Kain were in front, walking side by side. But another figure who towered over both of them caught Rosa's eye.

As they drew closer, the details became clearer. He looked to be over eight feet tall, if she compared him to Kain. His body was massive; he dwarfed everyone around him, even the largest and tallest of them, and the glances she caught of his chest, his arms, his forearms, his calves, and even his hands had her instantly wary of how imposing he was. He wore a full set of thick, navy colored armor that she could hear scraping together, even from so far away. It sported gold, silver, and royal blue accent colors - the same as Cecil's Dark Knight. He had a giant belt around his waist that held up thick cloth skirts, and the giant pauldrons on his shoulders were larger than her head, with spikes poking off of them - also the same as Cecil's Dark Knight, Rosa noted. The largest difference was in the helmet. While Cecil's featured a lifting face and cheek plates, the large man's helmet was a narrow slit. Two spikes, one on either side, zagged through the air, and a decorative sun motif sat atop in the center.

The armor had to be heavy, but he didn't seem to be struggling under its weight. He walked beside Cecil and Kain, and though his steps were heavy and loud, he moved with ease and a poise that was startling considering the size of him.

A motion from Cecil broke Rosa's stare, and she focused on him to see that he was waving cheerfully. She waved back. He said something to Kain and the large man and broke away from the group to jog to her, Firion, and Cosmos.

"Rosa," he said, holding his hand out to her, but she lifted her eyebrows to communicate her obvious question. And in case it wasn't clear, she flicked her eyes over his shoulder to their new arrival before placing her hand in his. He nodded his understanding, bowing slightly to raise her hand to his lips. "Cosmos, Firion," he said, with only a nod of his head towards them. He turned and beckoned the large man forward, and he spared a glance around Order's Sanctuary before stomping forward.

Rosa knew from his aura he wasn't a warrior of Cosmos. Though not as menacing as the Emperor, he still had an air of mild nefariousness - or perhaps a mean type of cunning. Despite his obvious allegiances, she noticed that no others in Sanctuary were alarmed by his presence. None made a move for their weapons, none were on guard, they all regarded him with familiarity, if not friendship.

The man paraded straight up to Cosmos, sweeping his cape behind him and dropping into an extremely low, reverent bow.

"Divine Goddess of Harmony," he said. He stayed low, head down, until Cosmos addressed him.

"Rise, friend," she said pleasantly. "You already know there is no need for such formality. What news?"

"Normal news," he replied. "News I will be more than happy to report, as soon as I extend to this fair lady a proper greeting." He gestured to Rosa.

Rosa blinked in surprise at the unexpected attention. He gave no indication that he even noticed her before, as he strolled into Sanctuary. She turned to Cecil for help but he was no longer at her side, making room for the newcomer. She stared at Cosmos instead, but Cosmos only nodded to the man, giving him her permission. He turned his back to her to face Rosa fully. The large man stared down at her, the light in his helmet that she hadn't noticed before stayed glued to her. He made no attempt to move towards her, and instead dropped into another low bow.

"Lady Rosa," he said.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

"You may not remember me, but I-"

"Then let me take her along as well . . ." Golbez said, wrapping his massive arms around her in a tight bear hug. ". . . to hold in trust until we are graced with the chance to meet again." He dragged her away and she struggled, wiggling and squirming as hard as she could against Golbez's hold.

The last glimpse she had of Cecil was his wide, horror-filled eyes, lying wounded on the floor.

The Fabul crystal room spun away from them, and before she could blink they landed again. Somewhere dark. Pitch black compared to the white radiance of the crystal room. Her eyes were unadjusted, and she couldn't see anything. It only renewed her panic. Rosa screamed, twisting twice as hard, but Golbez simply let her go, dumping her unsympathetically on the metal floor. She scrambled to a sitting position and scuttled as far away from him as the wall would allow.

"Where am I? Where have you taken me?!" She wanted her voice to sound strong, but the trembling in her tone betrayed her. He stomped to her and leaned over her, cupping her chin. The cold metal of his glove startled her, freezing against her face. She jerked away, but he only grabbed at her neck instead, holding her in place while he turned her face this way and that. Inspecting.

"You are indeed beautiful. I see why Kain fancies you - why they both do!" Golbez said. He threw her down, backing away from her. Rosa pulled the knife from her belt, but Golbez only waved his hand to the side. An invisible force slammed her wrist backwards against the wall, so hard she felt the bones in her hand gnash together. She cried out, the knife tumbled from her grip and clattered against the ground.

"I wouldn't," he said.

She glared at him and prepared a nasty retort, but the more her eyes adjusted to the dark the more she saw of her captor. He was hugely tall, with black armor darker than the room, and a helmet covering his face. It wasn't his physicality that frightened her tongue dead.

It was his aura. Pitch black and swirling around him was hatred in its most pure form and every variation of it. Hatred of everything and everyone. She felt bitterness, she felt violence, the intense desire to destroy and make others suffer without mercy. Notions of jealousy and contempt, images of choking the life out of the crystals and draining the world dry until not a single living thing was left alive. With it mixed a fiery-red rage that boiled inside of him. It was so strong she felt suffocated. He radiated an iciness that reminded her of death. She shuddered against it, all of her fight suddenly drained out of her as she realized the true evilness of the man in front of her. Without realizing it, she curled up, hugging her knees tight. He released her hand and she left her knife where it was.

"Where am I?" she asked again, but it came out as a choked whisper. He laughed at her, his aura surged, and her stomach sank.

"Golbez," she said, impulsively taking a step away from him, not bothering to hide the fact that she was wary of him. Almost instantly she reminded herself that something was different about him. About his aura and energy that she caught a glimpse of while he approached. Instead of rolling around him, it was immensely calm and steady. A silver that mostly sparkled, but was stifled by a fuzzy grey overlay - he held on to insecurities and past experiences that prevented him from reaching his full potential.

What she saw in the memory was pure evil. This was very obviously not the same man who kidnapped her and controlled Kain.

Still, though, he saw her retreat. He drew himself to full height and nodded once, as though to proudly resign himself to her reaction. "At your service. And," he said, turning back to Cosmos, "at yours. As I said, no news but that of Chaos' normal dealings. He maintains his normal distance, and still relies on Garland to devise and implement strategy. All ten of us are permitted to roam the lands indiscriminately until called upon for another purpose-"

"All ten?" Rosa blurted out, pushing her thoughts on Golbez to the side for the moment. "There are only ten Chaos warriors?"

" . . . Yes," Golbez said. "Only ten-"

"There are seventeen of us!" she yelled incredulously. "Fifteen before Bartz and I arrived. And this war has been raging for a long while - at least, that’s what I can infer considering no one can tell me for certain. Fifteen warriors, over the course of . . . however long this war is, couldn't overwhelm ten warriors?"

Warrior’s eyes hardened, as though Rosa attacked him directly. And perhaps she did, she realized, considering Warrior implemented strategy. Rosa turned towards him and directed her question at him. "Warrior? We haven't been able to defeat ten warriors yet?"

"No, we have not," he answered simply, matching her challenge. "You do not know the ways of this world, or this war. You do not know the means and strategies that Cosmos and I use, nor do you know the powers of those on Chaos' side. I suggest you refrain from commenting on matters you do not understand-"

Rosa prepared a nasty retort, but Cosmos yelled out first. "Warrior!" she scolded, and Rosa was glad for him. She wasn’t sure what she would have said, but she knew Cosmos would be considerably less harsh.

"Cosmos, why haven't we defeated ten warriors yet, after all this time?" Rosa prompted, dropping her tone low. "Why haven't we been sent home by now?" There had to be a specific reason, she knew it. Highly strategic people like Warrior, or Cosmos for that matter, wouldn't sit back and wait for a war to turn in their favor. "Tell me why."

"Rosa, there is more to this conflict than simply defeating Chaos and his warriors outright," she said hastily. "While it would be the fastest way to victory, it is not nearly the safest, nor the most tactical. They are too strong for an assault like that, and too many of us would pay the price." Cosmos met Warrior's eyes, and hers filled with a suddenly deep sadness that nearly pained Rosa's heart. Though Warrior's gaze never wavered, he slightly rolled his shoulders back and stood taller, resolute against the emotion. Rosa knew it meant they had lost people.

"This is a war," Warrior said, as though she didn't already know. "Gateways play as large a role as the battles themselves. They act as territories, and influences on the world. Every Gateway we lay siege to and claim for ourselves gives Cosmos a bit of strength. It is why we patrol so often," he said. "We are not only keeping Chaos warriors away from Sanctuary, we are also keeping them away from our Gateways and territories so they can't reclaim them."

"Not to mention the manikins," Firion addd. "When we take a Gateway, the manikins that respawn are weak against us. When we enter a Chaos-claimed Gateway, they are much stronger."

"That doesn't change the fact that fifteen warriors have been unable to accomplish this," Rosa argued, unready to let it go. "Do you not measure your own progress in this war? Do you not know your own strategies, and do you not care whether or not they are effective against ten warriors?"

Cosmos' eyes shifted to the side towards Warrior again. When she caught his eye, she looked up at him. Her eyebrows furrowed, her mouth parted slightly, and Rosa could feel the unspoken cry for help in her energy. Her plea bled through her eyes into the air and seemed to choke it.

"Why are we still here, Cosmos?" Rosa asked again.

Warrior stepped down from her throne, descending the stairs and placing himself between her and Rosa. Shielding her from additional interrogation and scorn.

Rosa scowled up at him, and he stared back, his face an unfamiliar mixture of emotion that Rosa didn't care to interpret.

"Pardon me. I do not mean to intrude . . . "

She blinked, the deep, grumbling voice cutting through the tension like a knife. She forgot there were others present in the midst of her anger. Rosa turned to the source, staring at the odd light in Golbez's helmet. 

"Of course, Golbez," Cosmos said. "Continue, please. I apologize for the divergence." Her eyes flicked to Rosa, but she met her eyes and returned her gaze with as much resolve as she could. Hoping Cosmos realized Rosa wouldn't let it go until her questions were answered.

"My apologies," Golbez said. "If I stay for a long while and Chaos or Garland notices I am here, it could spell danger. As I was saying, Chaos maintains his normal distance from the fighting, and he relies on Garland to devise and implement strategy. All ten of Chaos' warriors are free to roam the world as we please, until we are called upon for a specific purpose. As before, I am usually trusted with counter-intelligence and espionage. Ultimecia and Kuja survey the land and search the Gateways for strategic positions and valuable items, and the three of us are meant to report to Garland. Sometimes, to Chaos directly. If the items are truly important, the Cloud of Darkness is sent, either to retrieve them or booby trap them so that you all do not come across them. Garland then uses the information we gather to synthesize a course of action. Kefka, Exdeath, and Jecht are typically chosen to lead our direct attacks and confrontations. Finally, Sephiroth completes the most important, most challenging and high-risk missions, whatever they may be."

Rosa tallied them off in her head, but she only counted nine. She felt who was missing rather than thought it. "What about the Emperor?" she asked.

"Previously, he would help Garland with strategy and the handing out of orders, but I have neither seen him nor heard from him since Chaos called our last meeting. They . . . had a bit of a falling out." Golbez paused, glancing down at Rosa. The emotionless light in his helmet offered no reaction. "I understand you're having trouble with him."

"A bit," she admitted, but at the same time Warrior spoke as well.

"No. Whether we are, or are not is none of your concern-"

"I was speaking to Lady Rosa. Cecil and Kain told me of his attack on you here in Sanctuary. If it would ease your mind, I could surveil him for you. I could watch him, note his movements, alert you to any deviations . . ."

Cecil jumped on Golbez's offer. "Yes, thank you! We could very well know the Emperor's moves and react accordingly before he has the chance to strike at Rosa again. Or the rest of us," he added.

The thought of having a pair of eyes specifically on the Emperor eased Rosa's mind considerably, and she could feel her heart lift. But Cosmos' head tilted to the side.

"I don't think it will accomplish anything significant. We would lose the intel you provide us about Chaos' side as a whole, Golbez."

Cecil snapped back, "He just told us that Chaos hasn't made a significant move in well over two cycles. With our new schedules and the numbers we send, we can very easily defend against his normal dealings."

Cosmos wrung her hands, shaking her head harder.

"Firion?" Cecil asked, abandoning his hope of convincing her. Rosa could tell how much stock he put into the idea of Golbez watching the Emperor for them. Firion’s eyes squinted in thought, and they all sat in silence while he mulled it over.

"I . . . agree with Cosmos," he decided slowly. "I want the Emperor watched just as much as you do, but Golbez’s talents for espionage and misdirection are better used elsewhere than focused solely on the Emperor. To ask that of him underestimates the Emperor’s abilities to plan around it, and undervalues Golbez’s usefulness in our military pursuits."

"It is not a matter of one, or the other," Golbez said. "Not either the Emperor, or the whole group. Both are perfectly feasible with how the Emperor spends his time. He is not so far in seclusion that to keep my eye on him would draw immediate suspicion. As your informant already, Cosmos, it would be very easy for me to keep my eye on him."

"You contradict yourself," Warrior challenged. "You said he was keeping to himself this time, did you not? It very well may draw suspicion."

Golbez’s shoulders tensed. "And what of it, if it does?" he asked. His silvery aura surged, and Rosa could tell he was growing fed up with Warrior’s challenges. "The Emperor is so untrustworthy, it wouldn’t be strange of me to say that Chaos asked me to keep an eye on him." Golbez suddenly chuckled, and his armor clanked together with every heave of his shoulders. "Ah, how I do enjoy these meetings, Warrior. Your full confidence in me is inspiring," he quipped.

Warrior’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t grace Golbez’s sarcasm with a reply. Golbez stared at him for an extra second, then turned back to Cosmos. "It would add another layer of protection for you, and for Rosa. You should consider it."

"I will," Cosmos said, but her voice didn't have her soft but steeled conviction. "Thank you for offering, Golbez."

"Of course. There is nothing more to report, my lady," he said, bowing his head to Cosmos. "I must be going. I shall not pursue the Emperor, but if I happen upon him, I shall note his dealings and report them to you, Lady Rosa."

"Much obliged. Thank you," she said. "I'd . . . I'd like the opportunity to speak with you again." The request felt awkward off her tongue. She knew that what she was asking was highly personal despite them just meeting.

Golbez understood her meaning. "Of course, my Lady. I don't doubt that I could help you regain pieces of your memory. The Eastern portion of the Cornelia Plains is often considered a neutral zone. Warriors of both sides often trade with the Moogle that resides there, and with each other - Items, summonstones, and other goods. If you would seek me out, wait for me there."

Golbez grabbed the edge of his cape, and swung it hard around himself. It made a whoosh through the air, and his form shifted before her eyes. Before she could blink he was gone.

Watching Warrior, it was as though someone uncoiled a spring. His jaw unclenched. All the tension drained out of his shoulders, his hard glare relaxed, and his usual mask of stoic professionalism materialized on his face. Even his aura, brilliant and yellow, calmed around him. Back to business as usual, despite the ferocity of their discussion.

Rosa was not about to let it drop, but Golbez's interruption diffused much of her initial anger as well. All of the fight drained out of her, and she no longer wanted to bother mustering up the energy to continue.

"Cosmos," she said, "I apologize." She took a deep breath, and exhaled the lingering dregs of her anger. "I don't mean to attack you, or appear as though I am. In truth, there is much I want to know, and not knowing frustrates me. You said you may have underestimated Chaos' warriors?" she repeated. The words felt awkward and weak off her tongue. She nearly stuttered at Cosmos' weak defense but at her slow olive-branch of a nod, Rosa swallowed her hesitation "I know full well how ferocious they can be - the Emperor, at least. I want . . . I want our next step to be a plan of action. I want to defeat these ten warriors as quickly as possible so that we all can go home. I want you to know that I am here to help. I'll do whatever you need me to do." A small, but necessary concession. She could feel in the air that an argument for the sake of an argument would be a poor choice. Cosmos was not willing to divulge anything more, and to probe her would only anger Warrior.

She resolved not to let it go, but rather put it on hold until she could get Cosmos alone. Until they could discuss it without growing angry.

Cosmos smiled, and it crinkled the corners of her eyes in the first genuine expression Rosa could remember seeing on her face. "Thank you, Rosa. We have been in dire need of a White Mage for some time. When I had enough power saved, I searched the realms, and you were an easy choice. You are extremely, extremely powerful, Rosa. More powerful than you realize. The best thing you could do to help us is keep your companions healed and healthy. Focus on them, just like you did for Firion after your battle with the Emperor. Keep us in this fight, and I'm sure with your efforts we can begin to move more fiercely against Chaos' ten warriors."

"Fine," Rosa said, dragging a hand down her face. Displaying her exasperation and discontent to all who saw it. Projecting that she was finished with this discussion, but the issue wasn't resolved for her.

As she said: a necessary concession.

She decided to leave the conversation where it stood, and bowed in a low courtsey to signal her departure.

"Wait," Warrior said, holding up his hand. "You're scheduled for patrol next." Back to business as usual. Either that, or impervious to her display. "Gather your belongings and prepare yourself."

"Where are we going?" Cecil asked, his overly-polite tone forcing the conversation to turn.

"The Northwest Melmond Fens, with Firion, Yuna, Bartz, Cloud, and Laguna-"

"Cecil just went on a patrol," Rosa said, interrupting him.

"Oh! I requested to pull double patrol shifts," he said, stepping forward. Stepping between her and Warrior. Well played, Cecil, Rosa thought. If any one of them spoke out of turn again, a fight could ensue.

"Why?"

Cecil paused, "Well, I wanted every chance I could get to go on missions and patrols with you, Rosa. They're perfect opportunities for us to discuss memories and other things." He put his arms up, palms out in a gesture of peace. "If you'd rather not, I can always-"

"No, that's perfect, Cecil," she said. "I do have some questions I was meaning to ask you." The patrols would give her the chance to get to know him the way Vaan and Zidane suggested she did. It would be her chance to ask him questions deep-rooted in his caring nature. She could start to find out for herself the kind of person he was, and how deeply their ties of friendship ran.

"Excellent. Thank you." He smiled so widely, his eyes crinkled in delight, and the positivity of it melted away her negative emotions. He wanted the chance to talk to her just as much as she wanted to talk to him. "Before we go, we'll need supplies. Let me show you where our stock-pile is." He reached out, to take her hand-

The two of them ran towards their secret place, and he held her hand while she crossed the broken bridge.

She took his outstretched hand and walked with him to a free spot on the dance floor.

The rocks of the mountain were loose and the footing was perilous. "Let me go first," Cecil said, "and I'll help you across once I know it's secure." He scaled the face of Mount Hobs slowly, carefully, ensuring the strength of each foothold before he planted himself there. Once he crossed the ravine, he beckoned her forward. When she was close enough, he leaned far over the edge and reached for her hand, hauling her over and catching her.

Tons of little flares of memories, not large enough to give her pause, but small enough that she blinked rapidly. Suddenly, taking his outstretched hand felt incredibly natural to her, and she placed her hand in his without hesitation.

"Lead on," she said.

Chapter Text

"Cecil, do you honestly believe Cosmos?" Rosa asked, walking in stride with him.

"Believe her about what?" he asked innocently, but Rosa sensed the careful shift he was about to use in his tone, even before he used it.

She shrugged, gesturing to the world around them. "Everything. All of this. Where do I even start?"

"Wherever you'd like," he said politely, concern heavy in his eyes. "Tell me what you're skeptical about. Perhaps I can put some of it to rest."

"I doubt that," she thought to herself, but immediately reconsidered. It couldn't hurt to talk through it, from beginning to end, with someone knowledgable. If Cecil couldn't explain it, then at the very least he could help her rationalize through it. He could offer an opinion or perspective she had never considered before. "Alright," she said. "Here's why I'm skeptical. I'll start from the beginning. Cosmos is a goddess. Is that not so?"

"It is so," he replied, nodding once. His eyebrows furrowed, confused about where she was leading him.

"Right. As a goddess, she has probably seen this world from its beginnings. She has probably also seen this war from its beginnings. I think it's safe to assume that. What say you?"

" . . . I think it's safe to assume that as well," he confirmed after thinking through it.

"And yet, despite seeing the beginnings of this war, she cannot tell me how long she has been fighting it. I find that strange. Don't you?"

"I never really thought about it," he told her in that careful tone. She looked over to him, but his eyes were straight ahead on the path before them.

"Now that you have thought about it," she challenged, "what do you think about it? During all that time, however long it was, she had fifteen warriors to go on missions and report to her. That, and inside information from a trustworthy spy. Do you really believe her when she says she 'underestimated Chaos' warriors?' And even if she did, why hasn't she adjusted her strategy with the knowledge she has now?"

There was a pause. Without looking, Rosa could tell Cecil was calculating the careful answer - the answer that not only conveyed how he felt, but also ruffled as few feathers as possible. " . . . Well first, let me make something clear," he said. "She hasn't always had fifteen warriors. When I first awoke, Zidane, Firion, Yuna, Onion, and of course, Warrior were already here. Squall, Cloud, and Tidus were new with me. You . . . you sound as though you're implying something. What are you getting at? That you think she's lying?"

"No," she said. "Maybe? Ah, no," she sighed again. "I'm just confused."

"About what?"

"About why she doesn't have answers. She can analyze the war enough to determine that she needs help, and she can call warriors, but she can't- . . . She can't properly analyze the threat that Chaos warriors pose? She can't talk about the nature and history of the conflict? Despite all that she is supposed to have seen, she doesn't have any answers. I find that odd."

"Rosa, believe me when I say that she is doing her best-"

"But it doesn't make sense, Cecil! How could she not know those things?" she said, more loud than she intended. Her voice carried over the flat, dirt ground where their small group tread, and a few heads turned in her direction. "Sorry," she quickly remedied, lowering her voice. "I don't know if I think she's lying, but something doesn't match up."

"You cannot fault her for her lack of recorded time. Time is strange in this world," he said, going to Cosmos defense. "Unless you meticulously measure it, it's not very easy to keep track of. If I had to guess, that's all it is. She's lost track of time. And gradual things are much harder to analyze unless in retrospect. It all looks the same from day to day, and she probably did not realize the mounting threat of Chaos' warriors until it was right in front of her. Like I said, when I first awoke here, Warrior was already here. You could always ask him."

"No," she said immediately, shaking her head. "I don't want to ask Warrior."

"Why not?" he asked, and from his tone he seemed surprise at her anger.

"He won't allow me to prompt Cosmos at all. It sometimes feels as though he's hiding something from me as well."

"That's not true," Cecil said quickly. The carefulness dropped away. To Rosa, it was a refreshing show of true emotion, not calculated or filtered. "Warrior wouldn't lie like that, and neither would Cosmos. He's just . . . loyal. Very, very loyal. Loyal to a fault, even."

"And what fault would that be?"

" . . . He will not question Cosmos the way that you do. Probably not at all." Rosa caught his eyes, and put the obvious question there in the air. 'Why not?' Cecil understood. "It's trust. Warrior and Cosmos trust each other. Completely," he said sternly, slashing his hand through the air. "Warrior was one of the first Cosmos called, if not the first. And when he arrived, he arrived with less than most. He had no purpose, he had no memory of any place to call home - he did not even have a name, which is a grace we're usually awarded when we wake up here. Cosmos gave him all of that and more. She gave him a name, first and foremost: the Warrior of Light. She gave him a sense of home in this world and a friend that he could confide in. She gave him a rank among her champions as her right hand, and she gave him a purpose for which to fight. By that alone, his connections to her run far deeper than that of simple duty. Think," he started, circling his hands as though to conjure up the depth of emotion. "Think of what they would both lose if we lost this war."

"They'd lose everything," Rosa confirmed. "It reminds me of you, and the King of Baron."

"It's . . . exactly like that," Cecil said. "The King did the same for me when I had nothing. So, Warrior won't question Cosmos because he trusts that she's doing everything she knows how to to protect everything he cherishes. She trusts that he's doing the same for all that she cherishes. It's mutual."

"I understand," Rosa ceded. Of course, Cecil would never speak poorly of a friend. But even if he was being generous, he did allow Rosa to consider Warrior differently. Just as she had friends and family she held dear, so too did Warrior. The only difference was that those he cherished and the things he valued were here in this world and directly involved, not far away or removed from the fighting. "Perhaps I was too presumptuous. I will . . . observe patience, I suppose, now that I understand more about him. And if we ever get the chance, perhaps I will ask him some of my questions." It was a token response. She didn't have any plans to ask Warrior anything at that point. Not after the nature of their last exchange. She had personally attacked him with a criticism of their battle strategy, and he had literally stepped between her and Cosmos, preventing her from asking any questions.

"That's what I would suggest," Cecil said. "And even express your concerns to him. He may have some insight on Cosmos that may explain things better than any of us ever could."

Rosa decided to drop it, and instead turned her gaze from the ground to their rapidly changing surroundings. They headed in the same direction Rosa took when she first fled Sanctuary, following the path in an arc to Sanctuary's left. Their group skirted around a ridge of mountains where the path narrowed between an empty stone gateway. They filed through one-by-one, and Cecil gestured for her to go first. With every step they took, the clouds seemed to congeal, thicker and darker. The air chilled, and Rosa could feel and smell moisture in the air.

"It smells like rain," she observed. "Warrior said we're going to the Melmond Fens," she said. "Where is that?"

"Technically, that empty gateway we passed through back there marked the beginning of the Fens. But the area we're going to is West of here," Cecil said. "There are two areas that comprise the Fens. The area where you fought the Emperor is the Southwest Fens, and they lead around Sanctuary. There’s another area that leads to a dead end that is the Northwest Fens. We're to patrol the Northwest Fens."

"Patrol. So we're looking for Chaos' warriors?"

"Yes, just to make sure they're not skulking about, trying to ambush us any time soon."

Rosa looked behind her, and saw that they were already some distance from the pillar. She’d been talking more than paying attention, but when they came to the fork in the path where Rosa had veered left before, it looked familiar. She couldn’t see over the rising rocks, but she could feel the Gateway where her encounter with the Emperor happened. It felt threatening, like she was lucky it let her out unscathed the first time. If she dared to go back again she would receive a worse fate, she knew. Firion and Laguna headed their small group, and led them down the right hand path instead, through a patch of soft sand. Rosa looked around, calmed by the untamed feeling of nature. The scenery was odd to say the least, now that she had the time to look. There were mountainous rocks everywhere, sand, hard dirt, grass, barren dust, and all manner of terrains. Like the world couldn't choose between all of them so instead it went for a random fusion. No one terrain was constant for very long before it changed again.

From their path, Rosa looked to her right, to the vast expanse of ocean. Across the water, she could barely make out the outline of another land mass.

"What's over there?" she asked, stopping.

"The realm of Discord. Chaos' domain. Do you see the volcano peeking up above the mountains?"

She couldn't see it directly, but the unmistakable cloud of grey smoke and ash told her exactly where it was. She nodded. "I see it."

"There's a Gateway there, and at the end of the Gateway is Chaos' throne."

"He has a throne, too?"

"He does. In a place called the Edge of Madness. I myself have only been there once."

"I see," she said. "I would assume his warriors all congregate there, just as we do in Sanctuary."

"I'm not sure what it is that they do. But if I had to guess, based on what I've seen and what Golbez has told us, probably not. I believe they prefer to spend as little time around each other as possible. Which reminds me: what did you make of Golbez?" Cecil asked her.

Rosa mentally reviewed her entire interaction with Golbez. It wasn't a particularly deep conversation. "He seemed . . . nice. Polite and cordial. Very professional."

"Is that all?" he joked, chuckling slightly.

"I didn't really get the chance to talk to him. I did recall a memory of him. Right after he took me from the crystal room in Fabul. His aura was pure evil. But the man I saw today was not the same man. He had a very different, nonthreatening air about him."

"That sounds right," Cecil said. "The Golbez that you remembered was under someone else's control, just like Kain was. The being that controlled Golbez was evil, not him."

"But . . . Golbez controlled Kain," Rosa countered. "Right? Someone controlled Golbez, and compelled Golbez to control Kain?"

" . . . When you say it like that it sounds so . . . undignified. But yes."

"It is undignified," she said. "To have someone infiltrate your thoughts and feelings and exploit them from within . . . It's horribly undignified."

"Yes. Are you aware that Golbez is my brother?" Cecil continued.

She mentally cursed her tongue. "Oh . . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude-"

"No, not at all. I don't think he would take offense, and neither do I. Our parentage make us more susceptible to magic and influence."

"You're Lunarian," Rosa said. She didn't have a specific memory to tie to it, but she knew it to be true. "Half-Lunarian, on your father's side."

His face lit up, as though Rosa told him the best news of his life. "That's right! I'm so happy you're remembering more about me! But anyway, Golbez is a good person, I assure you. He had a difficult life, and despite being on Chaos' side, he is a remarkable individual."

"I don't doubt it. He offered to meet with me again to discuss memories and things like that. That was very nice of him. Especially if it comes at personal risk."

She continued after her team with Cecil in tow, and at the edge of the sand, she felt a drop of water fall on her hair. Then another, then another. "It is rain!" she said, holding a hand out to catch some. It started slow, but quickly grew to full-sized drops, falling straight down on her and hitting her clothes and hair. It was a warm, comfortable rain, and she watched it patter steadily on the ground. "I didn't think there'd be rain in this world," she said. She conceptualized the world in a vacuum of sorts. Anything that reminded her of its potential independence disconcerted her a bit. None of the other warriors seemed worried about the rain, strolling clamly through it. "Won't we get wet?"

"A bit, but not much. It's almost like the water in Sanctuary. But still beautiful, isn't it? It never rained in Baron because of the crystals. They kept nature in balance. But when it did rain, it was beautiful like this," Cecil told her. She glanced over and saw a glaze over his eyes that could only be from a memory. "One night," he said, voice quiet, "it rained so hard His Majesty grounded all of the Red Wings' airships. You and I spent the entire day on the parapets, in the rain and soaked through, watching the storm pass."

She didn't remember the moment specifically, but after hearing him talk about it, it felt right in her heart. She felt as though she could piece the memory together herself despite not actively experiencing it. He smiled, as though the memory meant the world to him despite being so small, and it was incredibly endearing. She thought about her conversation with Zidane, and her vow to view Cecil differently. To view him as someone who cared about her and was simply trying to help her. She thought about her promise to ask him more about himself, simply to hear him demonstrate the care he had for the world and for his friends. "Tell me more," she said in earnest. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to hear him speak his sincerity about everything.

"More about what?"

"Anything," she said. "More about Baron, or our experiences in the castle, or our adventures - or even the civil war on Chaos' side." He blinked his surprise down at her. "Zidane told me about it. He told me that Sephiroth and Golbez were seriously injured in a civil war amongst Chaos' warriors. He said that you were heavily involved, and you almost fought with Warrior over it. He said you cared for Golbez as though you were a White Mage."

" . . . Yes. It was definitely the strangest thing to ever happen."

"What do you remember about it?"

"I remember Golbez carrying Sephiroth in. Dragging is perhaps a better word. Sephiroth was barely conscious, and Golbez looked ready to drop as well. Warrior wasn't . . . " Cecil paused, and the sound of the rain filled the silence until he gathered his response. " . . . He wasn't trying to be harsh or cruel, but he is a man of principle. I'm sure he saw that something was wrong, but because of his nature, he thought it was a ploy to cover an ambush." They crossed over a small puddle, and Cecil kicked at the water. "He wanted to attack them right then and there, even though they were almost defenseless. It would have been a slaughter. It was almost right after I was called, and when I saw Warrior draw his sword, it stirred horrid memories in my heart. I remembered drawing my sword against the Mist Dragon. I heard the King's orders in my head, to kill it without mercy. And then I watched myself stand in passivity while the Bomb Ring destroyed Mist Village - which not moments before had been in peace. I felt the same despair watching Warrior attack Golbez and Sephiroth, the way the Bombs went after the helpless villagers.

They skirted around a small mountain range, emerging on the other side at a narrow strip of sand. The water lapped calmly at it, making it look more like a beach than anything else. He gestured for her to go first, and as she crossed with him close behind.

Back on wider ground, Cecil continued his story. "My heart went out to them. Golbez brought his injured comrades to the only place he could think of for refuge, and was met with instant scorn. I made up my mind. I remembered who I wanted to be, and why, um, why I had become a Paladin, and I put a stop to Warrior's attack.

"Despite my dissent, Warrior kept the Chaos warriors under lock and key. He had us stand with blades at their throats, and Cosmos refused to roam around Sanctuary without armed guards."

"So what happened?" she asked. "When you healed Golbez? What did you do?"

"I just . . . cast the strongest Cura I could. That's the extent of my White Magic, and I can only cast it when I am a Paladin. There was no familiarity that I could sense when I looked down at Golbez, but . . . something in me would not let me rest until I saw them healed. Both him and Sephiroth."

Her heart swelled again with the awe she felt after Zidane's story. He spoke about it with true emotion, and she could sense the way his heart bled for them and the resolve he had to make the choice to save them.

"Every time I had enough strength replenished to cast, I cast again. I kept them healed until I overextended myself and passed clean out. By the time I woke up, Golbez was awake and sitting up."

"You're a good man, Cecil."

"You're a good man, Cecil."

"I'm a coward," he spat bitterly, shaking his head. "A coward who cannot even defy orders he knows he ought not follow."

His down-trodden despair was so unlike his normal self that Rosa felt herself growing scared for him. "Cecil of the Red Wings is many things, but he is no coward!" she asserted. "The Cecil I know would never whimper like this!" She hoped it would rally him, but his frown only deepened. "Not the Cecil-"

" . . . I'm so glad you're here, Rosa. I'm not glad that you're fighting this war, but I'm relieved that someone as skilled as you will be with us. If you would have been there instead of me, you would've had Golbez and Sephiroth back on their feet in mere hours, not days."

"I don't know about that . . . I don't know what I'd have done in that situation," she said distantly, trying to recover the memory that his voice cut through and interrupted. But it was gone.

"You'd have done exactly what you were supposed to do. You're a wonderful ally to have around, and a great friend. When Baron used to wage wars under the old King, you were his premier healer. You were said to bring men back from the throes of pain and death, and send them on their way like they were never wounded."

Rosa felt the edges of another memory creeping into her vision. When she was fifteen and still a mage-in-training, Baron went to war with its western neighbor, Troia. Baron had incredible military superiority, and when His Majesty received word that a Troian army was marching on the border, he had almost all of his forces mobilized within days. He sent his army west to meet Troia on a large clearing situated directly between the two nations.

The White Mages marched in front of the troops, and the moment they reached the clearing Rosa and the other mages-in-training were set to work. Pitching medical tents, designating treatment areas, unloading, organizing, and piling Potions, Phoenix Downs, Elixirs, and Ethers - what seemed like billions and billions of Ethers. Even non-magical tasks, like equipping their assigned Mage with rods, staves, and multiple back-ups, gathering bandages, tourniquets, drawing water and hauling it’s back to the tents.

Rosa could feel the tensions rising with each task she was set. Some of the Mages were anxious, twitching nervously, assisting the mages-in-training to avoid idleness. Some were heavy and sad with dread at what was to come. Rosa only felt jittery. A neutral kind of anticipation that urged her to run where she was told and hurry through the tasks she was given.

The Baron army arrived and sat camped for mere hours before the Troian army broke the tree line on their side of the clearing. Men started shouting, forming up, preparing for the battle. The two armies stared each other down. The first BOOM of a Troian cannon caused Rosa to drop everything in her hands. The ball whizzed through the air and Rosa watched as it pounded into the ground. Meters short of the Baron soldiers but kicking up rocks and earth as high up as the trees. The battle began.

At first, men were brought in to the Mages at a slow trickle. They worked seamlessly with their mage-in-training, treating men and sending them on their way if they were well enough.

When the order for a full-on charge resonated through the camp, all hell broke loose.

"Bandages!" Rosa's Mage yelled, unnaturally shrill against the deep, white noises of soldiers in pain.

"Mage!" Rosa confirmed.

She turned away and took off through the tent, weaving in and out of Mages, other mages-in-training, and wounded people. Knights were still pouring in, carried in in twos, threes, sometimes tens, and dropped wherever there was room next to a Mage's station. They piled up, brought in faster than the Mages could work. Rosa hurdled bodies left and right. She bolted past men screaming. Men moaning. Crying. Men covered in blood, covered in cuts and bruises, covered in their own gore.

"Bandages, now!" her Mage yelled again, now alternating between two men at once, one on her right and one on her left. Pouring magic into wounds and pouring Potions down throats.

Rosa tore through the stock-pile and tucked as many rolls as she could in her arms, but when she spun around she almost collided with two men, dangling an unconscious knight between them. His arms had been clasped at a growing red stain on his chest plate before he passed out. Stabbed through.

"Mage!" one of them yelled, and they dropped the man in front of her. "This man needs assistance!"

She couldn't. She was only a mage-in-training. The only spell she knew was Cure. And she was supposed to be helping her Mage-

"Rosa! Bandages, please!!"

"Are you deaf, girl?" the knight asked, and Rosa shook her head. Right as she knelt next to the man and raised her hands, another knight was placed in front of her. His entire arm was almost shorn through - only a small shred of skin attached it. It spurted blood, and he writhed on the ground, howling. Making inhuman sounds of pain, terror, rage. Rosa froze.

"Aaaaaargh! Ngh- gah! RRRRRrrrrngh,"

"I need some help over here-"

"No- noooo, no, no!"

"Hrgh!"

"Rosa, I need those bandages!"

Suddenly the tent was too loud. The screaming she had drowned out in her busyness now drowned out her thoughts. Cries and wails coiled and recoiled on the air and in her head. Voices hoarse and shrill. Rosa stared at their wounds, but all of her training flooded out of her head, replaced with the sounds of pain, death, and dying. The metallic scent of blood and the cloying scent of rot suffocated her, and everywhere she looked there was carnage. Dying men, men who she didn't have the skill to help.

Another was dragged in and placed in front of her. She was expected to heal them. Three men, four, five. Someone behind her tugged on her skirts where she sat, and when she turned there was another. Clutching at her. All of them begging her to help.

"These men are dying, Rosa! I need bandages, now!! Rosa!!" Her Mage was frantic.

Rosa's hands felt cold. Her breath started to come faster at the weight of what she was expected to do. One needed healing, one needed Items, her Mage needed bandages - Rosa felt pulled in every direction. The pressure mounted in her chest until her heart beat furiously, and the sweat poured off of her. She felt surrounded. She couldn't breathe. Her stomach twisted. She panicked.

Not knowing what else to do, Rosa held her hands over the first man and repeated the only Cure spell she knew over and over again, until her voice was hoarse.

Cecil didn't seem to notice her momentary pause. " . . . Just like you did with Firion," he continued.

"Yes?" he called, hearing his name.

"Oh! Nothing," Cecil said. He quickened his pace and led Rosa over to him. "I was just saying how great it was that Rosa healed you." He was clearly opening the door for praise.

Firion nodded. "Yes. I'm very grateful to you. When I saw the Emperor's Death spell coming towards me, I thought for sure I had reached the end. I know I wouldn't be standing here today if not for you. Also," he added before Rosa could try and deflect his thanks, "I'm sorry you got tied up with the Emperor."

"Bartz already said something. You all do not need to apologize for him."

"I'll never apologize for him," Firion snapped. "His actions cannot be forgiven. But I am sorry for you."

"Don't be," Rosa assured him. "I'll be alright. Especially with this new patrol schedule. I know it's probably not ideal for any of you, but thank you. I'm grateful to all of you for all your efforts to keep me safe."

"You're being modest, Rosa," Cecil said. "I know you're not particularly keen on Warrior's schedule."

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked defensively.

"I know you," Cecil said. "You're self-sufficient, independent, and incredibly selfless. You don't like that we're reordering things just for you. It makes you feel conceited, or self-important."

Rosa stuttered, unsure of how to react to being called on her bluff. He said it like she had it written on her face. "N-no, I truly am grateful-"

"Well of course you're grateful, but if it was up to you, you wouldn't have anyone change anything just for your sake."

"Well- . . . Of course not! I've been here for all of . . . days, and just because I was attacked twice we have to render our entire system around me! It's inconvenient!"

"But necessary," Firion assured her. "We need you here, Rosa. After experiencing your power first-hand, I can attest to it. We'll do whatever we have to do for you, and I can promise you that it's not a burden."

"Well thank you, but . . . "

"None of us blame you, Rosa. Not in the slightest. Don't think about it like that," Cecil said, "like we're doing you a favor. Like Firion and I said, we're grateful to you."

She felt her cheeks heat, but it didn't exactly bother her that he seemed to know her so well. "I suppose you would know that about me, since we've been friends for years. I anxiously await the day I remember enough about you to know your mannerisms like that." She smiled at him to show her sincerity, and the way he smiled back at her made it seem like she had solved every single one of his problems.

"With numbers this big," Firion started, a new excitement coloring his voice, "I hope we see the Emperor-" He caught Rosa's eye and seemed to remember what seeing the Emperor would mean for her. He looked down and awkwardly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Sorry."

"Cosmos said we directly oppose someone on Chaos' side. I'm assuming he's your opposition."

"Yes. He's an awful man."

"To say the least," she huffed. "What can you tell me about him?" Firion's jaw clenched. Even thinking about the Emperor had an effect on him. "I'd like to be prepared the next time I see him," she explained, hoping he didn't think she was purposefully bringing it up to anger him. "I will not have a repeat of our last two encounters." The Emperor would not catch her off-guard for the third time. She would make sure of it. Rosa rallied around the thought, and already it stirred up anger and thoughts of retaliation where previously there was none.

"No, I understand. He . . . I don't even know where to start. He's a tyrant in every definition of the word. He's cruel, and narcissistic, and selfish, and . . . awful. He is directly responsible for the destruction of my home world."

"What did he do?"

"Before he ordered his forces to invade, there had been peace for hundreds of years. And then his army marched on the entire land. He invaded my town, and he burned everything. He took my home, he killed my parents - I was adopted, so they were the second set of parents I lost in my life. His troops almost killed me and my friends. And then when he was finished raiding the towns and villages, he kidnapped people and sold the men into slavery, to harvest Mythril for his weapons and ships. He toys with others and uproots lives because they mean nothing to him. He uses people, and discards them like trash when he is done. I . . . I hate him. I cannot say that I truly hate anyone, except him."

The language Firion used mixed well with her anger, and she rallied around it. She tried to picture what would happen if she ever saw him again. Her fingers twitched at the thought of drawing her bow. Her heart felt cold with the magic she would use against him. He would not catch her off-guard for the third time. She would make sure of it. "I hope we see him, too," she said.

"He needs to be defeated. He stands against everything I fight for. Peace, and justice - and not political or military peace. I mean true, pure, uncorrupted peace."

"Where wild roses can grow?"

He blinked in surprise. " . . . Did Cecil tell you?"

"He only mentioned it. I remembered that you favored roses because of the similarity to my name."

"I . . . I know it's childish, but flowers are pure and beautiful. They are also fragile. If a flower can grow, it means it's been undisturbed. They can only thrive in times of peace. The wild rose is my favorite because it was the symbol of our resistance effort-"

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!" Laguna yelled, pointing furiously. "We got company!"

Chapter Text

"Stop fidgeting, Kefka!" Ultimecia snapped.

"I'm bored, Ulty. I can't help it. You pulled me away from some very important business, you know." Kefka craned his neck and smoothed out his cravat like the tie of a business suit. Ever the professional.

"Blowing up manikins in your tower is not 'important business'," she scoffed.

"I was testing the traps! Once I was done with that," he said, miming flipping open a book. He pretended to thumb through the pages until he pointed at the air. "After that, I was booked for tea with Chaos." He snapped the invisible book shut. "And what am I doing now? Nothing! Except sitting here alone with you, getting rained on, and waiting-"

"It's for the Emperor, remember? Last he mentioned it, you were all too eager to join-"

"Because I wanted to destroy something!"

Ultimecia rolled her eyes. "This is your chance. And a real warrior will be much more fun than a manikin, don't you think? The Emperor said that that girl is patrolling the Fens. As soon as she emerges into the clearing, we're going to snatch her." Ultimecia stood up and shook out her wings, dusting off her dress. She left their hiding place - a high set of plateaus that bottle-necked the pathway through the Fens - and walked out into the open area.

The clearing was no more than a long, wide strip of open land, completely clear except for a separate plateau that encumbered a small part of the left side. The rain fell hard in large drops, and there were puddles everywhere. At the clearing's very center, there was a patch of tall grass. The water surrounded either side of it, closing the warriors in unless someone decided to take a dip.

It was the perfect position. There was nothing for Rosa to hide behind, and there was nowhere to run once she entered. The path behind her would be narrow and dangerous in the middle of a scuffle. There was a teleport stone near the warriors' end of the clearing that somewhat bothered Ultimecia, but she was confident she'd be able to keep them away from it. Especially Rosa.

Ultimecia teleported back, next to Kefka. "Where is she, Ulty?" he asked without looking up. He was distracted with drawing patterns in the dirt.

"She's coming, Kefka!"

"But when?"

"I don't know. Soon."

"What's her name again?"

"Rosa. Rosa Farrell."

"Where's Exdeath?"

"Gods, it's like I'm baby-sitting a child!" she said, glaring at him. Kefka grumbled something under his breath, but Ultimecia didn't exactly care to pry. "Exdeath is waiting for us, after we take her," she said, answering his question.

"I could've waited for you. In my tower."

She took a deep breath. "If you want to leave," she started slowly, to keep her patience, "then go. I only invited you so that you could have some fun. After all, we are going to annihilate her completely once we take her. But fine. If you'd rather go and do . . . whatever it is that you do, I'll not force you to stay. You'll just miss all this fun," she purred smoothly.

He paused, clearly weighing his options. He shrugged his shoulders and reclined in the air, propping his head up with his elbow. " . . . So why are you doing this?"

She sighed loudly, showing her annoyance. "I can't believe I'm indulging you. What do you mean?"

"We all know why I'm here. But you? What did he say to you? You're pretty self-involved."

Ultimecia quickly thought through all that the Emperor told her. Rosa defeating him, his disastrous return to Order's Sanctuary, both of which were fueling his current vendetta. Was there any harm in telling Kefka? If the Cosmos warriors talked as much as she assumed they did, word would have already spread. " . . . If I tell you, will you be quiet?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

"Chaos' attack on him wasn't the only embarrassment he experienced this cycle. After he left the Edge of Madness to lick his wounds, Rosa chanced upon him. They clashed - briefly - and she shot him five times. I saw the whole thing."

Kefka opened his mouth, but she cut him off with a finger. "That's not all. He followed her back to Order's Sanctuary and tried to finish the job, but all seventeen of Cosmos' warriors put a stop to that very quickly. Of course he was mortified, so he came to me to ensure she was taken care of quickly. That's why I'm here."

He stared at her, mouth hanging open. With the smile painted on his face, it looked grotesque and twisted.

"Close your mouth. You'll get flies," she said.

He obliged, blinking once. Twice. "So . . . let me get this straight. We're here now because she kicked his butt twice?"

"You said you'd be quiet."

"Did she actually-"

Ultimecia floated up and stood on the lower tier of the plateau to rest her elbows on the higher tier.

She pressed her fist into her cheek and wondered idly how much longer she could deal with Kefka before the urge to tear his head from his neck overtook her. She planned on saving that rage for Rosa when she arrived, but he was making it harder and harder to restrain herself. She could always verbally put him down in the meantime, she supposed. There were few who could match her in a sparring match of words, but Kefka was an entirely different beast, that needed dealt with in an entirely different way.

She didn't have to think long. Soon, the unmistakably sweet smell of Cosmos' warriors reached her, and she could feel their energy growing closer and closer. She lowered herself down, keeping her eyes on the spot at the corner of the mountains where she knew Rosa would emerge. She swatted at Kefka and pointed to the ground, to signal for him to get down as well. "There they are," she said, pointing to the base of the mountains.

Kefka's face lit up. He put his hands on the rocks in front of them and shrank down, immediately interested. The warriors' group emerged one-by-one. Out first from the narrow path was Laguna and Cloud on the point, followed by the summoner and the tall, brown-haired boy she sometimes saw with Squall. No Rosa. She thought perhaps the Emperor was mistaken, that she wasn't with this particular patrol group. But then, they emerged. At the back of the group and trailing behind was Cecil, Firion, and the girl Rosa, all together.

Ultimecia forgot how beautiful she was. Her golden-blonde hair spilled thickly over one shoulder. Her features were sharp and contoured, beautiful, but Rosa wore them softly, with an otherworldly grace. She had a genuine tilt to her head and an amiable light in her eyes that outshone everything around her. Her aura of White Magic was powerful, and Ultimecia no longer felt the need to laugh at the Emperor for losing to her. Ultimecia hated her, too. She needed to be destroyed.

Kefka tensed beside her, ready to strike and blow their cover. She reached out and held his arm. "Not yet," she said.

"Why not? You said-"

"I want to tire her out first. Watch this."

Ultimecia focused her power, and it manifested on the ground behind their cover. Two manikins appeared from the air, crystal weapons already in hand. She looked at who the world decided to send her: an orange copy of Jecht, and, ironically enough, a copy of Rosa. Even the manikin was beautiful in its off-kilter way, with the girl's bow and knife. Pink in color, or perhaps a rose gold, that shimmered even under the overcast above them. Ultimecia called three more manikins, figuring that would be enough. She could always add another wave later. She received Bartz, the Cloud of Darkness, and Golbez at her call.

She waved her hand and let them go, and they all dove for the entrance to the clearing at the same time, jostling off of each other to get through first. She heard that fool Laguna yell, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey! We got company!"

They watched the battle unfold.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! We got company!"

Rosa could only make out an indistinguishable mass of color at the opposite end of the clearing. Tangles of blue, orange, yellow, green, and black rolled and struggled and fought to squeeze themselves out of the narrowing in the path. The heap of orange managed to break free first, elbowing the others behind it, and when the rest followed and split up, Rosa realized they were meant to be people.

Manikins.

The ones that she recognized looked just like her friends. A giant Golbez manikin floated above all the others, crystal as black as the armor he wore. The blue she recognized to be Bartz. If they weren't so garish in color, she could've mistook them for the real things from a distance. They were nearly exact in shape, down to the beads hanging from Bartz's pauldron; but they lacked any fine details in the armor or the clothes. The sharp angles of their crystal bodies and their unnatural, jaunty movements reminded her that they were only meant to be mockeries of her friends. Three other manikins she didn't care to identify came forward as well and followed the orange manikin that led the charge.

From the back of the group, Rosa pulled an arrow from her hip and nocked it before her mind could catch up. "Laguna, with me!" she yelled. She lifted her bow high above her friends, aiming for the Golbez manikin, and the other manikins towards the back. If she didn't bring them down completely, she could at least wound some of them. The arrow flew and embedded in the arm of the Golbez manikin, punching through the crystal. She pulled three more arrows and loosed a Rapid Shot, sending all three towards the crowd. They hit their marks, staggering the different splashes of color. Laguna stepped forward and raised his weapon close to his face, staring down the length of it. He fired on the two manikins near the front, clipping the orange one's shoulder. Shards of orange crystal broke off and glittered in the air, but the manikin refused to fall. It continued its charge, half-running and half-stumbling, towards their group its bare crystal feet pattering on the ground.

Cloud lifted his sword from the holder on his back and took off towards it. The manikin looked strong. It sported a sword was almost as big as Cloud's Buster Sword, but more flat and with an oddly-shaped blade. Its heavily-muscled, heavily-scarred chest and arms looked formidable, and its tattered-looking appearance and dead eyes gave it an unnerving quality that left her uneasy. Rosa began a Protect spell, letting its warmth build in her heart before she cast. The blue shield wrapped around Cloud and she held it, just in time for the manikin's attack. They swung at each other, both of them throwing their entire weight into it. Their blades connected with a deep, metallic clang, and the manikin surged forward to throw its shoulder into him. Cloud side-stepped and pushed it away.

Rosa assumed the other manikins would break apart and choose one of the others to engage, but instead they drew straight to Cloud, the one closest to them. Rosa was about to drop the Protect spell and distract some of them from him, but Bartz joined the fight. He glanced to Firion and summoned a copy of his rope knives. He tossed them forward, aiming for his manikin, and when the blades chipped into the crystal, Bartz tugged as hard as he could. He pulled his copy towards him and dragged it to the right side of the clearing to put some distance between them and the other fights. All around Rosa, her patrol group chose an opponent - Firion squared off with a floating manikin that had two tendrils coming from somewhere on its body; Laguna fired upon the distant copy of Golbez, hanging towards the back of the clearing. Yuna lent her aeons to everyone, surveying the scene and helping where she was needed.

Rosa's Protect spell flickered with her waning attention, so she reinforced it and turned her attention back to Cloud and his manikin. She cast again on top of it and it glowed a brighter, more vibrant blue. The manikin threw a punch, but its fist bounced weakly off the barrier and it retreated. Cloud briefly nodded his thanks to Rosa before rushing it again. He landed a downward swing that crushed the manikin's injured shoulder, and it shattered in a shower of crystal. He followed through, jumping and turning in the air for an overhead swing next, landing on its back. He twisted the other way for a finishing move and tossed the manikin across the field.

Rosa released the Protect spell, and Cloud ran after his opponent. She meant to move closer to the battle, near the grassy patch in the middle where Firion and Laguna were fiercely holding their manikins back, but someone pushed into her and nudged her to the left instead. She recovered and faced Cecil. She was about to ask what he was doing, but he threw his arm up and blocked a flash of light aimed for the very spot she was. Rosa followed the object as it spun through the air and knew it was an arrow. It looked like one of her arrows. Rosa followed where it came from, near the rocks that blocked the right side of the area, and found a manikin copy of herself.

Despite Cecil's block, the manikin's head was turned in her direction. It stared directly at her. Rose-gold in color, its dead and empty eyes were a lighter shade of pink. Rosa felt it was like looking through a broken mirror. She saw her own features - her own nose, her own eye shape, her own face, her own hair as it fell down her shoulder. The manikin wore her pauldrons and the same bracer, it wore the same halter top and skirt. It had an exact copy of her bow in its hands, and she knew that's what she would look like if she could see herself in a low ready position.

She couldn't have said it looked threatening to her. Perhaps she herself didn't appear threatening. But it didn't look to be any type of compassionate, either. She knew it didn't have the capacity for empathy that a White Mage needed. Rosa hoped it was too mindless to realize what it could do for its allies.

She pulled an arrow from her hip and nocked it on her bow. "Let me-" she started, but Cecil shifted to Dark Knight and charged before she could draw. He crossed the center of the battlefield, slipping between Bartz and Cloud as their battles carried them around the field. Rosa's manikin moved to draw again, but Rosa sighted first. She aimed for where she knew its hand would be when it drew, and sure enough her arrow flew and shattered its draw hand in a shower of pink crystal. Cecil thrust his spear towards it, but the manikin dodged and twirled to the side. He chased after it, but when he was close enough to swing again, the manikin dodged again.

Rosa followed them both, running around the right side of the area to steer clear of the other battles. Her manikin snatched the knife at its hip with its left hand and slashed wildly every time Cecil made a move to get close to it. He instead lifted his spear high and shot a dark orb at it, but it ducked below the attack. He swapped back to Paladin, and Rosa tugged her own knife from the sheath. She ran forward right as Cecil swiped again at its abdomen-

Cecil and Kain circled each other, both with weapons at the ready. Cecil looked confident and relaxed while Kain looked threatening and fierce in the Dragoon's familiar fighting stance.

"It's only a sparring match!" Cecil said lightly. "No need to wear that frown, Kain."

"Don't taunt him, Cecil!" Rosa yelled from the wooden stands that circled the field. While the sparring match started amiably, as they always did, it already morphed into something more critical. They both always ended up angry, panting, and tired in what always became a real and violent fight.

"It's not a taunt, Rosa. Our sparring matches almost always-"

Kain Jumped straight into the air, taking advantage of Cecil's diverted attention. His eyes flew wide and he threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding Kain's lance as it slammed into the ground where he had been.

"Easy!" Cecil yelled.

"It was not strong enough to kill you," Kain said simply. He stabbed his lance into the ground and hoisted himself up, swinging around to try and knock Cecil into the air. Cecil rolled backwards and popped up, thrusting at Kain with his sword. Kain wormed out of the way, but Cecil swiped at his abdomen and Kain took the blow against his armor. He slammed his sword down on Kain's lance and twirled, slinging it from his grip. He placed his blade to Kain's neck and applied pressure until Kain was forced to a knee.

Both men were breathing hard, close enough that their faces were only mere inches from each other as Cecil leaned down into his face.

'This is the fourth time, Kain. Do you yield?" Cecil asked. There was nothing in his tone, but Rosa knew immediately that Kain would find some smugness there. She sensed what would happen before it did.

"Wait-" she tried, but Kain swatted Cecil's sword away with his bare hand, leaving a long slice on the length of his palm. He lunged forward and barreled into Cecil's stomach, tackling him to the ground. Cecil cried out in pain as his head made contact with the ground. His sword clamored from his hand and landed in the dirt.

Rosa lifted her skirts and stepped down from the stands. "Stop it! Stop it, you two!"

Cecil freed his hands and pushed Kain's weight away from him. He rolled onto his stomach in an attempt to crawl towards his sword, throwing elbows behind him wildly to knock Kain off of him. Kain caught one of Cecil's arms in his and tugged backwards, wrenching his shoulder. Cecil yelped and rolled again, throwing Kain to the ground.

Rosa needed to get between them before someone got hurt. Kain stood up, already sprinting towards Cecil, and Cecil had just reached his sword, picking it up with his right arm while his left hung limp at his side. Rosa was only a fraction behind them, but she could tell she wouldn't reach them in time. She reached towards them.

"Stop!" she yelled.

Cecil whirled around and sliced upwards, dragging his blade from Kain's hip to his shoulder. The strike was so strong, it cracked and broke the armor, and within seconds red blood seeped through the crack. Kain gasped and fell back, hands clutched at the wound. The swing carried him around so far, the very tip of his blade brushed across Rosa's arm and sliced her as well.

She screamed, snatching her arm back.

"R-Rosa!" he startled. "Rosa, I'm sorry-"

"Cecil!" Rosa screamed. "What have you done?!"

Kain moaned from the ground, and Rosa pushed past Cecil to kneel beside him and peel apart the broken pieces of armor. The cut was not deep, but was long and jagged from the jarring in Cecil's swing. It looked painful, and Kain winced as it was exposed to the open air. Her own arm forgotten, Rosa pressed her hands to the wound to start healing him.

"I-I'm sorry," Cecil stammered. "He attacked me-"

"Well YOU taunted him! You know him better than that!" she yelled. "Just go!" She pointed violently towards the castle, and drops of blood flew from the cut in her arm.

"Kain, I'm so sorry-"

"Cecil, GO!" she yelled again, starting her healing spell.

Rosa blinked herself back into awareness to see Cecil use a Searchlight to distract her manikin. It dodged again, but as soon as it did Cecil landed two slashes in the shape of a cross to knock it back. It slammed into the rocks behind it and fell to the ground.

Rosa continued her pursuit to help, but towards the middle of the battlefield she heard someone cry out in pain. She turned and watched the Golbez manikin launch a flaming attack under Laguna. He was tossed into the air, and the manikin teleported directly in front of him. With magic, it hurled its hand to the side and threw Laguna to the left, far over the edge of the land and into the water on the other side of the area from her. Rosa chanced another glance at Cecil and saw him still playing tag with her manikin, but she assumed he would be alright on his own. She sprinted back the way she came, towards the back of the clearing and around the left side, staying as close to the side as she dared without risking falling in herself. She skirted around the Teleport Stone, dodged Cloud when his manikin drove him back, and stopped by where she saw Laguna's head poke out of the water.

"Man, that's cold!" he yelled. Rosa nocked an arrow and half-faced the battle in case a manikin decided to come after her. She kept her eye out for the Golbez that didn't have an opponent anymore, but luckily Yuna stepped forward and was battling him with her summons.

"Here!" Rosa said, kneeling by the edge. Laguna swam over to her and grabbed her hand, and Rosa helped to haul him over the side. "Are you injured?"

"I'm good!" he said, shaking the water out of his hair in a way that reminded Rosa of a dog. "Save your magic." Just in case, Rosa cast a Cure on him, watching the light envelop him.

"Oh! Thanks!" he said, rolling his shoulders. Another type of weapon appeared in his hand, and he ran past Rosa to keep fighting. She spun around as well, and took quick stock of everyone. Firion and Yuna were holding their own against their manikins. Cecil was blocking some shots from her manikin, and didn't look to be in any peril either.

Bartz, however, had taken a heavy hit. She heard him grunting in pain, limping away from his manikin on the other side of the clearing. He had one hand clamped over his leg, and a steady stream of red blood oozed between his fingers and ran in rivulets down to his knee, staining his blue tights. His face was twisted into a wide-eyed grimace. He called a copy of Warrior's shield to defend himself, and his manikin used Kain's lance to jab at him furiously. Unrelenting, with no sense of technique or reason. Just pure drive to kill. Bartz ducked behind the shield, deflecting right and left, barely fending it off. The manikin Jumped in an exact replica of what she saw in her memory, and when it descended down on him, it kicked the shield to the side before digging the lance into Bartz's side. It slammed him to the ground and stood over him, forcing the weapon as far into his flesh as it would go.

Panic stabbed into Rosa's spine, and the magic she needed began to build in her without her realizing it. She ran towards them while she charged her spell, and watched the manikin lift the lance again. Her heart dropped, she felt a scream pull from her throat.

She wouldn't reach him in time.

Rosa released the magic before it was ready, but luckily it still worked. One moment she was across the clearing, and the next, her feet landed behind the manikin in a perfect Teleport. Rosa dragged the knife from her belt and reached around, jabbing the knife into its chest where she assumed its heart would be. It disintegrated and crumbled into a pile of crystal shards.

Bartz's breath came in short, wet, ragged gasps, and he dropped Warrior's shield into the dirt beside him. He used his uninjured leg to push himself to a sitting position, but Rosa stopped him. "No, no, no! Don't aggravate the wound!" She pushed him back to the ground, flat on his back.

"Agh!" he gasped. "Oh, gods. Holy shhhh . . . " he trailed off, and Rosa thought he would mutter something offensive. At the last second he backed off. "Holy flip." His eyes flicked around wildly, and when she dropped to the ground beside him he clutched at her skirt in panic.

"Stop," she ordered. She knew she sounded cold, but she needed him relaxed. "Stay calm, okay? I've got you. You're going to be fine."

"O-okay," he sputtered weakly.

She had done this hundreds, if not thousands of times back in Baron, and on her journey with Cecil. She had healed countless men in wars, and healed her companions countless times as well. Their lives were in her hands many times, but she still felt a jittery type of nervousness as she started the spell. She couldn't stop a twinge of doubt from interrupting the fluidity of her experience, and had to forcibly remove it before she could let the warmth of the Curaga build in her heart, filling the space in her chest. She clasped her hands over her chest to concentrate it. She let it build and build, spreading down her arms and into her hands, before closing them over his stab wound.

She pressed down and he groaned in pain, but she felt the healing move from her body into his, leaving her chilled as the green light glowed around him. The deepest parts of the wound closed under her hands, but she could tell it was more serious than what she could do in that moment. It required more than White Magic alone. The wound would need to heal somewhat naturally, before White Magic would continue its improvement. She healed the slash on his leg next, and asked, "Can you stand?"

"Probably," he nodded.

"Get behind the mountains behind you," she told him. "You're done."

"What?" he tried, but she could tell in his eyes he was putting up a front. He was still in pain, she knew. "I can still-"

"You can't. Trust me. You'll only injure yourself further. The rest of us have it under control."

"Alright," he said. "Yup! Yup, yup!" She pulled him to his feet and saw him off, hunched over to protect the wound.

"Be careful on your way to Mist," she told Cecil as they walked through the castle corridor.

"I will," he said. "As I told you, there's no need to worry. Kain is with me. The two of us will be just fine."

"Did you pack enough food? Do you have supplies? Items and whet stones and whatever else you'll need?"

"Yes, Rosa," he chuckled. "And I'm sure," he added before she could ask. "You know how meticulous I am in my preparations. Almost as meticulous as you!" he joked. She nudged into him, and he smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Kain and I can hunt in the Mist cave if worse comes to worst."

"And eat goblins?" she laughed.

"Yes. Goblin is a fine meal. Especially roasted on a fire," he said, laughing along with her. The guards opened the doors for them to the front antechamber, where Kain was waiting to meet him. He was leaned casually against the wall, and at the sounds of their steps he pushed off of the wall and faced them.

Rosa broke away from Cecil and hurried her pace. "Did you pack everything you need?"

"I did, Rosa," Kain said, nodding once.

"Are you sure?"

"I am, thank you."

"Be careful, okay?" she said, reaching out and taking both his hands. "Come back safe."

"I will," he said, giving her hands a slight squeeze. He leaned down towards her, and she stood up on her toes to kiss him once on each cheek. She turned back to Cecil and clasped his hands as well. He paused to stare softly into her eyes and face.

"You look tired, Rose. Get some rest," he said.

"It's what I get for staying up to see you off."

Cecil pulled her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "We'll be back in a few days."

He released her, and he and Kain turned their back on her to leave the castle.

Left without an opponent, Rosa looked around again for Cecil. He couldn't seem to land a hit on her manikin. With its draw hand damaged, her strong hand, it could do little else but run. It had carried them back and towards the middle, where Firion battled with his manikin. No matter what attack he tried, or how fast it was, he couldn't catch it. Rosa prepared a Haste spell, and the tingling, snowy feeling pooled in her middle. She cast it on Cecil when it was ready. His back stiffened in surprise, and he looked around to see where the spell came from. When he saw it was from her, he attacked immediately. He used his Saint's Fall, and dashed forward so quickly Rosa lost sight of him. She only saw a flash of white. A second later the manikin crashed to the ground, defenseless.

Rosa prepared another arrow and aimed for its ponytail - the manikin's neck.

The string slipped through her fingers, but a rogue spell collided with her arm and knocked her bow down. The arrow tumbled away, and Rosa turned to see three more manikins spilling from the bottle-necked path. A copy of Cecil in its navy blue armor, another manikin she did not know that carried what looked to be magical orbs in its hands, and-

Rosa had to do a double-take. There, in all its gaudy yellow and orange hues, was the Emperor. From the horns on its head down to the heeled boots it looked exactly like him, though it lacked the finer details she had come to know well like the beads in his hair, the patterns on his armor, and the make up around his eyes. What gave her pause was the same haughty nothingness in its eyes that she remembered in the real Emperor's eyes. The manikin and the real man both looked at everything as though it meant nothing to them, just more to be destroyed. Rosa remembered him looking down at her the same way as he charged his Death spell.

She knew she needed more space. Rosa crossed the field again, careful to dodge Firion, Laguna, and Yuna near the grass patch in the middle of the clearing. She splashed through puddles and wet dirt, and the two manikins stalked after her despite their proximity to the other warriors around them. Rosa had half a mind to abandon them, simply to go after the Emperor. Though not as gratifying as the real thing, she could still find it in herself to enjoy destroying a lookalike. She recalled what she had told Firion before, how she would relish in the chance to strike him down the way he tried to strike her down. She nocked an arrow and drew her bow slowly, making sure to sight her shot perfectly. She wanted to bury it right between its eyes, and take it out quickly.

It seemed to know her plan. It stayed where it was and allowed its companions to inch closer to her, forcing her to take her eyes off of it in case they attacked. They spread out, cornering her on the left side of the clearing near the rocks of the bottle-neck. When they had her cornered, with the rocks blocking her escape to the left, and the water closing off her escape behind, it teleported to her right.

They took a step towards her in unison, closing her in.

Rosa felt a twinge of panic creeping up on her. She only knew two of the manikins out of three. She struggled between keeping her bow at such a close range, or using her knife and working her magic as much as possible. Her adrenaline surged and she shot at the unknown manikin, weakly hoping she could intimidate it or get it to move. It side-stepped and moved back into place.

She cast away her bow and drew her knife, holding it in front of her.

In the Emperor's own ironic version of a warning, he touched his staff to the ground and a group of mines appeared behind him, completely isolating her from the rest of the group.

All three of the manikins attacked at once.

The orbs in the unknown manikin's hands glowed bright, and he threw his arm out, launching them towards her. She ducked underneath them, but was unprepared for the next volley from his other hand. They clipped her shoulder, phasing through her, searing her skin and muscles, and she yelped in surprise. The ache that radiated down her arm was almost instantly debilitating. Caught in the cross-fire, she was unable to block as the manikin sent another wave of orbs after her. They shot into her stomach and sent her rolling backwards, straight into the Emperor's minefield.

They exploded at her back, the whiplash catching her breath in her chest, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. Choking, disoriented and in pain, she raised her head to see the Cecil manikin throw its own dark attack at her. Four dark spheres spiraled towards her and wrapped around her, dragging her on the ground towards it. She meant to call her bow, if only to have something to put between her and it, but she couldn't concentrate well enough to try. The manikin slashed up with its spear, and Rosa felt the sharp pain of tearing skin as it slashed from her hip to her chest. The dark fire that cloaked its blade seeped into the cut, and burned her raw skin. Its next downward swing caught her injured shoulder, and though her pauldron saved her from another cut, she felt her arm pull painfully. It's last thrust jabbed into her stomach, and she flew backwards again, landing on her injured shoulder.

She screamed as her arm was wrenched again, throwing a hand to her stab wound, already trying to gauge how bad it was. She needed help.

"Cecil!!" she screamed, as loudly as she could, hoping he would hear. "Cecil, help!"

"Cecil!" she yelled, as loud as she could over the crowd. "Cecil!!"

He heard his name. He turned towards the sound of her voice, eyes scanning the crowd in confusion. Rosa pulled her token, a white handkerchief, from her sleeve and waved it in the air to catch his attention. When he saw it, his face lit up.

"Rosa!" he yelled. She beckoned him forward. He steered his chocobo away from the other champions and left his place in the parade to walk over to her place in the stands.

"Wear this!" She had to yell, even as close as he was. "Wear my token!"

"Of course, my lady!" he said, bowing his head. He drew his sword and offered her his hand so she could tie it around his wrist. She leaned down over the wooden rail to tie it, but he stopped her. "Wait."

He held out his hand and she pressed it into his palm. He lifted it high for those around her to see. He pressed it to his lips and kissed it, then untied the chain mail at his neck to tuck it into his chestplate. "I will wear it close to my heart!" he said. He placed his hand over it and bowed again. "I vow upon this favour to win this tournament for you, fair lady!"

Cecil turned his chocobo around and rode back to his position in the parade.

Later, before his round in the joust, Rosa saw him struggle to pull it from his chestplate again. Before the flag dropped he kissed it again and tucked it back in.

She was too dazed to try and look for him. She scrambled to her feet, wincing as every movement jarred her injuries. Wet blood was seeping from the cut on her middle, and each breath sent a wave of agony from the stab wound. Clutching her arm to her chest, she watched the unknown manikin float above her and drop its next attack on her from above. It let its magic loose, and as each sphere hit the ground it exploded in a large burst. Each one drew closer and closer, and she knew she would be stuck if she didn't find a way out.

She stepped to the left, closer to the edge of the water, contemplating her chances of escape if she jumped in the water. It would only slow her down. She looked past the Cecil manikin and saw a small patch of shallow water that she hadn't noticed before, to the left side of the rocks. She wasn't sure what it was like behind the rocks, but if there were shallows, there was probably beach. It could be a path of escape for her. She felt as though it was her only chance. Rosa dashed towards it, nearly dodging the blast radius of one of the manikin's attacks. The heat seared her face and bare arms, but she pushed through. She blew past the Cecil manikin, calling a Protect barrier to deflect its swing. Her wounds slowed her down, and after a few steps she was doubled over from them.

She leapt off the edge of the land and splashed into the shallows, and her knees buckled. She collapsed to her hands and knees and spared a glance to see if they were following her. The Emperor didn't follow, and instead planted three Thunder Crests at the edge of the shallows, blocking her again.

She realized that it was trying to corner her. A cold chill stabbed into her spine as she staggered to her feet, and when she circled around the rocks to the beach, she understood her mistake. She was completely closed in to a small inlet. There was no way back.

The two manikins splashed after her, and she sheathed her knife, calling her staff instead. She held it across her body with her left hand, her only good arm, and pushed the pain away to complete another Teleport spell before the manikins reached her. The crystal on top of the staff began to glow, but she didn't get the chance.

The Emperor manikin teleported in front of her and pushed her staff down with its own. It cast a blue Flare at her right side, and she was defenseless. It exploded and tossed her far over the water. She expected to hit the shallows and even braced for it, but someone caught her. Someone real, with warmth and skin. It snatched her arm so hard, its nails - no, claws - stabbed into her skin and drew blood, and it cackled in a way that sounded too deranged to be a warrior of Cosmos coming to her rescue.

The warrior used her momentum, already flying towards the water, and spun around again, hurling her further through the air.

Rosa's eyes were closed, but she heard a sound like a whoosh. The world spun again behind her eyes, there was a feeling of weightlessness, and all sound spiraled away from her ears. She had a moment of nothingness before she heard another sound. Cold air hit her face, she finally hit the hard, stone ground and rolled, and the pain nearly knocked her unconscious.

She moaned and breathed as well as she could, banishing the blackness away from her vision.

When she opened her eyes, she knew she wasn't in the Fens.

Chapter Text

Rosa opened her eyes, and immediately her injuries started to sting. She clutched at her shoulder, rolling it as gently as she could, groaning from the stiffness that already set in. She only made half way around before the searing hot flares of pain shot from the top of her collarbone down to her elbow and back again. It already sported a nasty bruise from where the manikin's magic phased through her. Dropping her arm, she looked instead to the wounds on her middle.

They hurt worse than they looked, she knew. The cut wasn't deep and wasn't bleeding as terribly as she had thought, but her yellow top was still stained in streaks from the trails it left. She took a few deep breaths, as deep as she could muster. When she was ready she heaved herself up to a hunched over standing position.

A small rush of blood poured from the stab wound on her stomach and she reached for it to probe it with her fingers. She determined it wasn't serious. Nothing she couldn't heal in a pinch. With that thought, she pushed the injuries to the back of her mind. She had larger problems at hand.

She stared at her new location, taking in every detail in the hopes of identifying anything about it she could use. She saw purple. Black, and blue, glittering stars, and the formations of galaxies. The floor was hard but translucent and she could see stars and galaxies below her, too. For a moment, she thought herself on the Moon overlooking the Overworld. Her hopes crashed down around her at the sight of an unfamiliar crystal mass in the very center of the area. It was bright orange, and lit the place with a warm glow, humming with the energy it possessed.

This place was not familiar to her in the slightest.

Feelings of panic tightened her chest, and her heartbeat pulsed in her throat. She didn't know who brought her there, either. She glanced down, at the claw marks perfectly visible on the flesh of her forearm. Ten pokes - four fingers and a thumb on her wrist, four fingers and a thumb underneath. Someone with clawed gloves or gauntlets.

The Emperor.

Of course. At the very mention of him, her breath caught in her throat. Alone, in an open and unfamiliar area, exposed from every angle. The panic she felt intensified. the hair on her neck stood on end as though he was already casting his Death spell behind her. She whirled around, and even though she didn't see anything, the overwhelming urge to sprint as far away from there as she could overtook her. She ran with her hand in front of her, looking for the barrier.

She eventually hit the clear wall, and pounded her fist against it fruitlessly. Realizing there was no exit on this side of the area, Rosa kept her hand on the wall and followed it around, circling the giant crystal hanging from the sky.

"Hello?!" she called, desperate for something familiar. "Cecil! Cecil, help!"

"He's not here!" a voice answered her, startling her so fiercely that she flinched away from the wall. She whirled around but saw no one. She couldn't place where the voice came from. It was echoey and insubstantial, and Rosa remembered the Emperor using a similar trick when she battled against him. He used his teleport abilities so she couldn't pinpoint his location.

"E-Emperor?" she called, cursing her stutter. Her throat felt dry and her breath felt short. "Show yourself!"

"Hahahahahaaaaaa! Not even close!" came the crazed reply. The voice was high-pitched and whiny, with a tense edge to it. Too shrill to be the Emperor. While that thought brought her some relief, she now needed to assess the new threat. A man appeared in front of her, dressed like a court jester. He wore an eclectic mix of colors, patterns, and feathers that swirled together too tightly for her to begin to describe. The feathers in his hair stuck straight up behind him, completing his look. His face was fully painted white, with a purple grin that stretched from cheek to cheek. It wasn't a real smile, she knew. His eyes were cold, and Rosa could only grimace. They were wide and crazed, and the red paints he used to accent them that should have looked silly only made him look more sinister.

"Do I look like him?" the clown asked. "I hope not." He threw a hand over his chest. His eyes widened and he wobbled forward until he hunched over. "Ungaaaaaaaaaah! Eh? Eh?" he prompted, leaning towards her. He spread both arms and bowed, and Rosa realized it was supposed to be an imitation of sorts. Perhaps the Emperor and this jester weren't friends, but it didn't bring her comfort.

Rosa summoned her bow, more than sure she wouldn't be able to draw it, but she hoped to at least intimidate him. The jester laughed and faded from view, his obnoxious cackle dwindling with him. When it reached her ears again, he reappeared behind her. She backpedaled furiously, towards the crystal.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

"Oh, I'm nobody you need to know," he told her, waving dismissively, "considering you won't be around for much longer." Rosa's heart dropped into her stomach at his threat. She pulled an arrow from her hip and nocked it on the bow, gritting her teeth against the pulling of her shoulder. She briefly imagined how badly it would hurt if she pulled it to full draw. She questioned if she would even be able to do it. At her warning sign, the clown threw his head back and cackled, so hard his feet lifted off the ground. He floated there, suspended in the air.

On impulse, Rosa drew her bow as far as she could and loosed the arrow before she could question it. The clown's face fell and he disappeared, reappearing a step to the side. The arrow made a hollow tchink!-tchink! as it bounced weakly on the clear crystal floor, and Rosa screamed. Fiery agony punched through the deepest layers of her skin down to the bone. An ache so intense that black creeped into her vision erupted in her shoulder and ran down the length of her arm. She dropped her bow and pressed her arm to her side, holding it still with her other hand.

"Mwaaahahahahaha!" echoed another laugh, too deep to be the jester's. She heard another sound behind her, and spun quickly to face the new arrival that flanked her on the left. The man was at least seven feet tall - taller than Golbez. He wore a full suit of teal-tinted plate armor that covered his body and face so completely, she couldn't even make out a pair of eyes between the slit in the helmet. The skirts around his waist were brightly colored and intricately patterned, and they may have looked pretty if not for the maniacal laugh and curved sword in his vice grip.

"Well, look who it is!" the clown shrieked. His tone changed a second later, his face slumped into a frown, and he grumbled, "Weren't you supposed to be waiting here?"

"Do not question me, Kefka. We each have a role in this little game, and I intend to fulfill mine." He lumbered forward, entire body involved with moving himself one slow step at a time. He reminded her of a Demon Wall, she realized. Slow, creeping, inching at a snail's pace with every intention of crushing her like a bug if she gave him the chance. He looked around, though he had to twist his entire body in the suit of armor. " . . . Where is Ultimecia?"

"Mmm!" Kefka hummed, shrugging his shoulders. "She was supposed to follow me here. But I guess not. Wanna start without her, Exdeath?"

A low growl rumbled in Exdeath's throat, and he stared at Kefka. "I suppose," he said, but he sounded less than enthused. He released the sword clutched in his fist and it floated in the air next to him. Rosa assumed he was a mage of some sort. Kefka, she had yet to see. If he was an unpredictable as he looked, this would not be easy. They both inched towards her, closing her in.

She wanted to look for the exit, but she was too afraid to tear her eyes from either one of them. True helplessness set in. Crippled by her shoulder and unable to use her bow; horribly outmatched already and with a third opponent on the way. Rosa's hands trembled, and hot tears of fear and anger seared her eyes. She blinked them away, channeling her emotion into the fire she would need to fight. She drew her knife with her left hand and brandished it in front of her. They approached one step at a time, and when Kefka was close enough she took a swipe at him. He whooped with joy and flipped backwards to dodge, then kept advancing.

"Come on," he taunted, beckoning her forward. "Come on, come on! Let's see what you got!"

She flipped the knife in her hand and tried a backhanded swing, but Exdeath held up his hand. An invisible force grabbed her wrist and tossed her to the side. She slid on the ground, curling up to protect her injuries. She crawled to her feet and squared off with them again, staring down the clown. He smirked, then leaned backwards and reclined in the air, laying with his hands behind his head. He kicked his foot lazily and Rosa froze, unsure of what he was doing until the tip of his boot glowed blue. He flipped in the air and kicked, and huge geysers of Blizzard magic crystallized on the ground, shooting towards her.

Rosa dodged, then side-stepped again as Exdeath's sword cut the air where she was standing a moment ago. She ducked under the next slash, and dove to the side of his last thrust. She popped up from her roll, wincing from the tugging on her wounds. Her adrenaline dulled her to the ache, pumping through her body, and on a whim she decided to lunge for Kefka first.

He put one hand in front of him in a half-hearted block and took the cut across his glove to snatch her arm with his other hand. He dragged her close, pressing his sliced palm to her middle, and let loose a Thundaga that threw her on her back. Her whole body tensed, twisting uncontrollably from the residual shocks, and she felt the long cut she had tear and pull. Fresh, wet blood welled up as they burned and throbbed and Rosa curled around them. The shocks faded, and Rosa relaxed against the crystal with an audible sigh, panting in her breath.

She looked around for Kefka, and saw him dancing towards her. He hummed some cheery tune to himself, he twirled around, he kicked his feet up and over, while the armored man simply watched her. Vainly hoping that perhaps he would leave her at the clown's mercy, she flipped over and boosted herself up, ignoring the slight tremble in her arms. Instead, a white circle appeared beside her, and Exdeath appeared inside it. He threw his arm to the side and a white arc of power slammed into her back, pushing her back to the ground. Her chest collapsed, her breath caught in her throat, and she choked on the air. Black creeped into the edges of her vision, and she could only lay still waiting for it to clear.

A weight pressed down on her entire body, pinning her in place. She wheezed in breath after labored breath, squirming as much as she could. She blinked the dizziness away and looked around for the exit from her place on the ground. Her spirit sank as she realized how similar it all looked. She wasn't sure where she had already been. "No," she thought. "No! Where's the exit?" Despair welled up inside her chest, and tears welled up in her eyes. If she couldn't find it . . .

"I may not make it out of this." It crossed her mind before she could stop it, and the tears spilled as she choked down her sob. She called the strongest Shell spell she could manage, focusing it around her body. The barrier glowed green around her and fortified, and Rosa felt it break whatever magic Exdeath used to hold her. With a burst of strength she scrambled to her feet and took off towards the wall, praying with all of her that the exit would be there. "Please," she begged, "Please be close! Please."

She was steps from the wall when a rogue wind picked up around her. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw Exdeath with his hands outstretched. His sword floated in front of him, spinning faster and faster through the air, picking up momentum until a large grey tornado manifested in the center of the area under the crystal. Rosa's hair whipped across her face and neck, and she braced her arms across her face to block it. Her foot was picked up from the force and she slipped, dropping her hands to the ground to keep her balance. Her shoes squealed along the crystal and she was dragged backwards.

Her knee buckled and she collapsed to her hands and knees, losing all the purchase she hoped to have against the smooth floor. She grit her teeth and flipped over, facing her opponents, and let the spell drag her back towards them.

Kefka wound his arm and threw a Firaga like a pitch. Her momentum almost sent her careening into it, but at the last minute she called another Shell. To her relief, she didn't need it. The Firaga veered wildly off-course and the Maelstrom faded, and Rosa was able to surge to her feet. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her, her heart beat wildly in her chest and her hands started to shake. Her chest felt sore with every breath and her wounds burned hot, but she pushed it away from her mind. A searing heat radiated across her back, and when she turned, Kefka's Firaga had turned and was on its way back, nearly three times in size. Rosa fortified her Shell and waited for the spell to connect.

It touched to her chest, and the intensity pulsing off of it like a star nearly made her recoil. Her Shell flickered, wrapping around the spell to keep it still, and Rosa poured more energy into it, a grunt of exertion escaping her throat. She changed the energy, morphing it instead into the cool, glassy energy of Reflect. Her gamble paid off - the green of the Shell changed to translucence, and the Firaga suddenly jerked away from her, ricocheting and angling back towards Kefka.

Kefka's twisted smile collapsed and he screamed, turning and floating away from his own spell. "Woah! Woah! No, wait! Come on!" he whined, waving his hands wildly to try and deflect it as though he still had control. She blinked and tried to track the Firaga as it trailed after him, but a sudden dizzy spell threatened to tip her over. She stumbled, wiping the sweat that trickled from her forehead down the length of her face. A distinctly vague feeling washed over her, and her hands felt weak and cold. The spell combination used too much of her energy at once.

She turned and checked for Exdeath, hoping to hide her weakness. He didn't seem to care, she realized. He had barely moved from his last spell. She took a step towards the nearest wall and he turned with her, watching. She took another step and saw his shoulders tense as he probably prepared another spell. He was the guard dog, Rosa realized. He was only there to make sure she couldn't escape.

She clutched her knife tighter in her slick palm and ran towards him, hoping for a final blow to end it. It was another gamble. He had thick armor on, and she was using her weak hand, but she felt the desperation in her tight chest and the shortness of her breath that told her she needed to end it soon. She was only steps from him when she raised her knife, and she thought he wasn't going to move, even as she drove the knife down towards him.

Another warrior appeared directly behind Exdeath, stepping out of a portal. She caught sight of Rosa, and raised her hand. Before she could pull away, the air around her shimmered and the pressure dropped, sucking the already choked air from her lungs. The charged air pressed in on her, stopping her in its depths. Her arms moved slower and slower towards Exdeath until she stopped completely with her knife inches from his neck. The spell set in to her bones, locking them up with pins and needles and freezing her painfully in place. It crushed down on her chest, her throat, her face, and she couldn't cry out. She squirmed, but the Stop spell held her fast. Only her eyes were free, and she watched Ultimecia stride forward past Exdeath towards her.

She was dressed in a crimson red dress, with an immodest neckline lined with feathers. The bottom opened in a large slit that left her tattooed legs and black feet visible. Crow wings attached unnaturally to her back and extended out from either side of her, and her hair was pulled into two gilded horns atop either side of her head. Her bangs fell to her thighs and her irises were a rich gold, seemingly infinite in depth and cold as ice, and Rosa found herself unable to look away from them while she bent to look into her face.

She stared down at Rosa with an odd look in her eyes. A hungry look, and a shudder shot down Rosa's back despite being unable to move.

"And where were you, young lady?" Kefka scolded. He threw his hands on his hips and leaned towards her like a parent to his child. His voice sounded warped in the Stop spell, like she was hearing it from under water.

"Spare me, Kefka," she hissed, waving him off. "So this is Rosa," Ultimecia said.

"The Emperor sure knows how to pick 'em!" Kefka howled, slapping his knee.

Ultimecia reached into the spell around Rosa and tugged on her fingers one by one until she could rip the knife from her fist. Rosa struggled again, fighting through the pins and needles that stabbed into her whole body with each tiny movement. Ultimecia only chuckled and inspected the jewel-encrusted hilt, a look of disgust on her face. Then she tossed the knife away.

She looked to Exdeath and cocked her head towards Rosa. He disappeared, and his imposing presence teleported directly above her. He reached into the spell's field and grabbed a fistful of her gold cape, and with a loud grunt, he lifted her from the confines of the Stop spell and tossed her into the air. The spell broke, and sensation hit her all at once. Everything was too fast for her eyes to follow. The sound of air whirring in her ears was deafening and disorienting. The pins and needles seized her, and she didn't even see Kefka hop into the air below her and make a quick motion. Large, iridescent triangles materialized as she tumbled through the air, and without warning they attacked, jerking through her like sword blows.

They phased through her, cutting into the wounds she already had. They dug into the layers of skin, scraping and tearing the already raw flesh. Blinding pain brought tears to her eyes and loosed them immediately. The blood that was nearly staunched flowed freely again, and after an eternity she fell and hit the ground hard on her right side. Her hip cracked off the ground and her shoulder twisted at a horrible angle.

Her head ached. She felt blood trickle down her face, too. She must have hit her head and didn't realize it. Her double vision spun the world around her and she shook her head. Slowly, dizzily, she crawled for where she imagined the wall was on one trembling hand. Her shoulder screamed.

Exdeath teleported next to her and stomped on her hand, and she felt the bones in her wrist and fingers gnash together, perhaps snap. She knew she screamed, but couldn't hear it. Exdeath tangled his hand into her hair and pulled her to her feet, pushing her towards Ultimecia. Rosa collapsed, unable to hold herself up, so Exdeath approached again. He grabbed the back of her neck, claws digging into the skin, and held her upright.

"It's really nothing personal, deary!" Kefka taunted from somewhere behind her. "We just want to have some fun."

Ultimecia clicked her tongue and leaned down to trace a purple claw down Rosa's jawbone. She dug it under her chin to tilt her face up towards her. "Tsk! The Emperor thought you a worthy opponent?" Ultimecia teased. The mention of his name brought a bit of clarity to her, and the alarm she felt had her writhing in Ultimecia's hold. She dug her claw into Rosa's chin, and the pain worked to ground her further. She was able to focus on her eyes, and Ultimecia smiled down at her. "Did you think this was some random attack?" she asked.

Rosa tried to consolidate her power so she could scan for his presence, but the warmth refused to build. Her entire body was shaking from exhaustion and pain and blood loss, and she was too weak to call that kind of power anymore. Exdeath threw a punch into the soft of her spine, and Rosa stiffened against it. Ultimecia jerked her chin up again. Rosa felt a chill build in Ultimecia's hands instead and draw straight to her throat, and the noise of discomfort stopped dead.

Ultimecia Silenced her.

"Don't worry, he's not here, dear," she said.

Rosa's sob refused to escape and died on her tongue, but the tears continued to fall freely. She struggled in Ultimecia's grip, and her face fell in a scowl. She clawed at Rosa, and she threw her arms up as far as she could to block with her forearms. Ultimecia leaned over her and pressed against Rosa's weak defense, and with her other hand, Ultimecia waved. A reddish-black dart of magic energy appeared in the air. Before Rosa could react, it shot towards her and embedded to the hilt in her thigh.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream and her defense crumbled. Ultimecia's claws scraped across her cheek and Rosa fell to the ground. She braced her hands around the knife as though to stop the pain. She lay there, head swimming as the pain became overbearing. The blackness appeared around the edges of her vision, and her tears salted the new wounds on her cheek. She could only hope the knife missed everything major.

"I like her!" Kefka yelled. “It's just so cute the way the wittwe giwl tinks she can fight back! You're jush too adorable, yesh yoo are!" he cooed, pinching Rosa's cheeks. She smacked his hands away. Rosa crawled away from him, dragging her leg behind her, but her racing heart and her trembling arms made it difficult. She finally pushed herself to her feet. "Look at her go!" Kefka cheered.

She limped for the wall again, but Exdeath teleported in front of her, blocking her exit once again. She skid to a halt as he aimed a Delta Attack at her. A sigil of blinding light appeared in front of her and she shielded her eyes, nearly toppling over from the brightness. Exdeath pierced the shield of light with his sword and the light shot towards her, catching her in the stomach. She landed on her back once more, so dazed she barely felt anything.

Kefka pranced back over to where she lay and stood over her. "Just so you don't get any more bright ideas . . . " He cast a fire in his palms and pressed it to her ankle, jabbing his knee into the flesh of her calf to keep her leg still. She shut her eyes and allowed her silent shriek of pain as she felt the skin of her ankle singe and blister inside her boot. Kefka cackled in delight. "Oh, this is SO FUN!"

He stood and kicked Rosa, and it connected with her cheek, over the cuts Ultimecia gave her earlier. She could feel it swelling immediately. Kefka grabbed her outstretched leg and pranced around, dragging her across the ground. Her nails scraped uselessly off the ground, and Kefka spun around with enough force to pick her up off the ground, and when he built up enough momentum he threw her across the world.

She landed in a heap in front of Ultimecia, and she grabbed Rosa's hair and pulled her up onto her knees to stare into her face again. "Poor girl," she drawled sarcastically. She wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of a clawed thumb, leaving a stinging red scratch from her nose to her earlobe. Rosa couldn't focus her eyes on her. The black spots were growing bigger. She silently urged them along, praying she would fall unconscious before they decided to end it. "Look at me," Ultimecia said, and Rosa blinked, head lolling forward. Ultimecia shook her slightly, calling another arrow, this one purple in color. She pulled Rosa to her feet and back handed her hard enough to bruise her cheek. Blood burst in her mouth as her lip split. "Look at me!" she said again, and pushed Rosa back into the wall of the realm. She drove the purple arrow into her wounded shoulder. "Hold her down," she snapped to Exdeath.

Rosa flattened against the wall as a Constrict spell pressed against her and held her. Ultimecia grabbed the arrow, jerking it. She felt muscle tear under the point and Rosa sucked in a breath through her teeth, expecting pain but too dazed to feel the full extent of it. Kefka kicked the side of Rosa's knee, breaking the spell, and she collapsed. Ultimecia bent over her and summoned another arrow.

She jammed the arrow into Rosa's side under her ribs. The icy crystal pierced into her. Her breath caught and she froze in pain as a fresh wave of agony crashed over her, bringing her back to sensation. She coughed weakly in shock, but sucked in a sharp breath, grimacing at the strain it caused on her wound. She let Rosa go, and she lay still against the ground. The blackness almost overtook her.

Ultimecia smiled coldly as blood began to seep from the wound and over her fingers, onto the crystal floor. She turned to the others. "I think we're done here. Wouldn't you say?" Ultimecia asked them. "Exdeath, the floor is yours. End her."

"Woah, woah, woah! I'm sorry, but I distinctly remember you fighting with me over the chance to kidnap her! And now you're backing out last minute?!" Kefka wailed. "Didn't any of that mean anything to you?"

"I told the Emperor I would lead our little excursion. You and Exdeath both said you would love the chance to destroy her, and I provided you with it." She gestured to Rosa, shivering on the ground. "She's there for the taking. If you'd rather not," she said casually, "those wounds will kill her anyway. But how could you pass up this chance? Clean up when you're finished." She walked over to where she left Rosa's knife and picked it up off the ground. "Souvenir," she said, before teleporting away.

Kefka huffed. "I hate it when she's right. Oh well, more for us, right, Deathy?"

"No. It is finished." Exdeath strode forward, drawing his sword. He stood over Rosa and raised it over his head to crash down on her.

"What have we here, Exdeath?" The voice was so deep and familiar that it startled Rosa, and dragged her back from the edge of unconsciouness. It resonated through the area before the owner appeared. She heard the whoosh of rushing air from his teleport. She knew who it was. She wanted to turn towards him and let him know she needed help, but she was too injured and exhausted to even try.

Exdeath tensed and fully faced him. She felt his footsteps as he turned inch by inch, stomping on the ground next to her and jarring her injuries. He blocked his view of her on the ground.

"Golbez! Come to join in on this fun?" Kefka squealed.

Exdeath held up a hand to silence Kefka. "No. We are finished-"

Kefka pouted, slapping Exdeath's hand away. "Awww, come on! Not sure when torture became your style, Golby, but hey, we'll let anyone in on this party!"

Exdeath growled softly, but Golbez laughed. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Of course not! Torture is far beneath me." A direct jab at the two of them. "I could hear your . . . 'party' . . . from some ways off. I decided to investigate. Who, may I ask, has the misfortune of being your target?" Rosa could feel his armored footfalls crash towards her and she braced for the arrows and wounds to shake and tremble. He approached until he was face to face with Exdeath, then waved his hand. His magic knocked into Exdeath's shoulder and pushed him gently to the side.

She couldn't see his face from her position on the ground, but she heard his gasp. She felt his cold, metal hand on her injured shoulder and she felt him turn her towards him, though she couldn't see him. His hand was trembling - or was that her?

The man straightened quickly, staggering back a few steps. "Rosa!" he said.

The blackness finally overtook her, and she let the world fade away as Golbez spun on Exdeath and Kefka.

Chapter Text

"Warrior," Cosmos called.

Though it was his resting shift, Warrior stood near Cosmos with his shield in his hands and his eyes on the horizon, watching intently for some far away threat. Standing guard over her alongside Vaan, Zidane, and the Onion Knight.

He was at her side in moments.

"Cosmos?" he asked.

"Walk with me," she said. He offered her his hand and she accepted, unable to hide her prideful smile as she lifted herself to her feet with little help from him.

"Your strength is returning."

"It is," she said.

"Ah, then something else has you uneasy."

She blinked at him, too caught off-guard to immediately deny it. She didn't think he was even watching her, standing sentineled and half-turned away from her.

"You wrap your shawl tighter around yourself when troubled," he explained, like it was the most obvious tell, "almost as though to protect yourself from your worries." She smiled, flattered by his attention.

"I sometimes forget how well we know each other," she said. "It is only a small battle. Rosa's patrol group encountered two Chaos warriors and some manikins." Cosmos focused her power inward and pinpointed each of their energies, like colored dots on her heart. All alive and healthy. She locked on to Rosa's energy and felt her surges of power and magic, contributing comfortably to the battle. "All are well."

"I am glad to hear it."

"Yes. Walk with me," she said again, inviting him with a sweep of her arm. Rather than start ahead of her, he stopped next to her and offered his arm. She looped hers in his.

"Where are you going?" the Onion Knight asked her, eyes flicking between her and the Warrior. He walked up the stairs on the other side of her throne, and an air of uncertainty flared around him. "I know that Warrior's capable, but . . . the three of us are supposed to be guarding you. Should we follow?"

"We only pace around my throne. There is no need to follow." The Knight shared a glance with Vaan and Zidane, clearly unhappy with her decision but unsure of how to express his displeasure. Cosmos met eyes with Warrior, and without even so much as a sign he understood what she wanted.

"In the meantime," he offered, "would the three of you be willing to gather the items we've set aside for sale and trade? That will be our next mission."

"You got it, boss," Zidane said, offering a sloppy salute with knives in his hand. He wrapped his arm around the Onion Knight's shoulders and led him away from the throne. Cosmos turned and Warrior turned with her, and they ambled slowly around Sanctuary.

"Your new patrol system is working well, from what I see," Cosmos began.

"Yes, it is," he affirmed, nodding once, "So long as you feel that your protection is assured."

"Undoubtedly. Three posted guards at any given time is more than enough."

"Perhaps, but I’d much rather err on the side of caution."

"As would I, I suppose," she mused. "I'm going to call a new warrior soon. I value your insight as the leader among you. What kind of warrior do you feel you most need in your ranks?"

"What kind? Do you mean class? Another White Mage is paramount-"

"Yes, and I plan on calling one immediately. But so much of my strength has returned, I feel I may be able to call another. What could you use?"

Warrior's mouth parted, and his eyes shifted down into the water. "Give me a moment," he said. "If I may be frank, I had not thought past one warrior."

"Of course."

His eyes scanned Sanctuary, stopping at each of the warriors resting there. She followed with him. Lightning and Squall were both sitting by themselves. Both trained soldiers, both accomplished swordsmen, and they both possessed Black Magic capabilities, though they were secondary abilities. They were effective and balanced - trained to not only deal damage, but also know when to stay back and support their allies. Cosmos would trust Vaan with the same responsibilities, considering the sheer number of weapons he knew how to use. Though, she added, Vaan lacked the same intuition that Lightning and Squall were trained to have.

Tidus, Kain, and Tifa were hard and heavy battlers. They all had great strength and speed, and they knew how to use them. Almost no magic between the three of them. Cecil and Firion and Cloud only had secondary magic abilities. Laguna and Zidane almost had no magic between them whatsoever. Even Warrior only had secondary magical abilities. Bartz was the exception, though his copies of everyone's skills was limited by his personal physical strength.

Perhaps a Black Mage to help Terra and the Onion Knight in his Sage class.

"Perhaps a Black Mage?" Warrior said, repeating her exact wording.

"I came to the same conclusion," she said.

"Who are your candidates?"

"I have a few in mind," she said. "This feels different than other summonings. I have at least one warrior from every world of which I am aware, so I am less concerned with the new warrior's adjustment to this world and to me. I really only have cause to worry about the character of the person I call. I remember a light from when I selected Rosa. A girl named Krile, from Bartz's world. Like Bartz, she can mimic many classes, but if I call her I would select Black Mage for her - or perhaps Red Mage. Her light is softly pink, and beautiful. She has an optimistic and hopeful spirit that would most definitely brighten our morale. She also has special abilities in addition to her skills in battle. From what I could sense she can speak to moogles, chocobos, and even spirits.

"But, she's only fourteen. Can I justify calling a girl that young in the first place? In my panic of earlier cycles, I selected the Onion Knight and Zidane, but I now have the luxury of strategy- I'm sorry. I lost myself in my own thoughts."

"It's alright," he assured her. "Continue. Who else?"

"There is a Black Mage from Zidane's world who is almost as young. There's an older gentleman that has familial energy with the girl Krile - perhaps they're related? There's a mage from Ivalice, where Vaan hails . . . I have much to consider."

Chapter Text

"Regroup!" Firion yelled. "Is everyone alright?"

"J-just a moment!" Cecil yelled back, breathless from chasing the Rosa manikin.

She looked just as exhausted and ragged as he did, if that was at all possible. Her chest heaved as though she could breathe and needed air like a real warrior. Her right hand was dismembered at the wrist from when the real Rosa shot her, but if she was in any pain she didn't show it. On her back, arms, and legs, she sported a number of slashes and stabs and wounds that would have done in a real warrior, but instead she staggered and dragged herself around the battlefield like a wounded animal.

She was the only one left. Cecil watched around him as the rest fell or were destroyed under his allies' blades while he played cat and mouse. Every time he had a go at her, he went full-force - a mistake that he knew better than to make after years and years of ingrained training and experience. As all of his sword masters warned him, all he did was tire himself out. His breath came short, burning in his dry throat. His spear felt heavy in his hands, and his limbs felt shaky and weak. "A little help here!" he called, hoping someone from their patrol group was well enough to help. Hopefully, Rosa was already working on them and sending them on their way.

"Here!" a light, higher-pitched voice answered him. For a moment, he thought it was Rosa, but one of the glyphs Yuna used to summon her aeons appeared beside him. Her aeon Valefor emerged from under the symbol and spiraled upwards, shooting pulses of light from its wings to overwhelm the Rosa manikin. Cecil groaned, pulling on a final reserve of strength to charge it a final time.

The manikin dodged, slipping in between Yuna's attack, but didn't have time to dodge Cecil as well. He focused all of the light energy he possessed, channeling it into the blade of his spear for a Zantetsuken slash. He ran as fast as he could carry himself, and his knees threatened to buckle more than once but he powered thorough it, cloaking himself in the light. When he was sure Rosa's manikin was off-balance he let loose, the light carrying him past her. He cut clean through her, and as the top half of her tumbled from the bottom she shattered, sending pink crystal in every direction.

He sighed, collapsing to his hands and knees.

"Are you okay?" Yuna asked, bending over him and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"F-fine," he panted. "She was tough."

He looked around at his companions. Firion looked ragged after his bout with the Golbez manikin. His breath was labored too; the skin on his arms was shiny and slick with sweat; and his hair, though always a touch unkempt, was half-plastered to his face and half-stuck up wildly around the bandana. Laguna was drenched in water and shivering, hugging his arms tight around himself to preserve heat.

But where was Rosa? Cecil rolled over onto his backside and looked around, but he didn't immediately see her. Her, or Bartz. "Rosa?" he called. "Rosa, you alright?"

No answer.

"Rose?"

"Where is she?" Firion asked, his eyebrows furrowed. His eyes glanced around the field, locking on each of the piles of colored crystal left by the manikins. He walked past Cecil, and Cecil turned with him to watch him peer between the bottleneck, squeezed by two plateaus on either side of the path. He emerged a second later, looking even more confused.

"Rosa!" Cecil called again. "Answer me!" He dragged himself to his feet, muscles straining in stiffness. He fended off the dizzy spell and the twinge of concern burrowing its way into his heart. Perhaps she was healing Bartz, he thought quickly, and latched onto the rationale. Of course she wasn't answering, because she was concentrating on healing Bartz.

"Bartz!" Firion called, clearing following the same line of thinking that Cecil was.

"Yeah?" he called, from somewhere behind Cecil. He glanced over his shoulder and only saw a low mountain range.

"Where are you?" Cecil called.

"Back here! Behind the mountains!"

"Is Rosa with you?"

"No, she healed me and then got back in the fight!"

The little twinge of concern was turning into an overwhelming, heart-fluttering panic. His own pains forgotten, he ran past Firion and checked the bottleneck himself. The path beyond curved sharply to the left, then back to the right so he ran a few paces through just to check the way beyond.

There was nothing beyond. It looked untouched by anyone, let alone by a full-on battle. He retreated back to the open battlefield and ran to his right, to the little inlet he knew was hidden behind the rocks. Rosa wasn't there, either. The only evidence of anyone having been there was a spatter of crimson blood, a shocking red against the light tan of the sand.

Manikins didn't bleed.

"Whose blood is this?!" His heart thudded against his chest and his stomach twisted tight inside of him. "Was anyone bleeding over here?"

" . . . I wasn't over there," Bartz's distant voice called. "And I think I'm the only one bleeding."

"Rosa?!" he yelled again, growing frantic. Had she run? If she ran, it probably meant she was overmatched. What if they injured her? What if she was mortally wounded and alone? Bleeding out somewhere, hunted down by manikins and brutally murdered. At the very least she was gone.

Before he could stop the mental images, they attacked him. Rosa lying on the ground, surrounded by manikins. Bleeding, lying in a puddle of her own blood. Her arm outstretched, reaching for any kind of salvation that wasn't there. Reaching for him. Completely alone. Crying, screaming, manikins forcing noises of pain and fear out of her.

And he wasn't there to save her.

"Has ANYONE seen her?!" he screamed.

"Not since she healed me!"

A small spark of a thought followed on the backend of those images. A thought that burrowed its way into his consciousness until it was the only thing he could think. And it played on repeat in his head, even working its way down into his heart. His chest clenched around it, constricting his throat and threatening to bring tears straight to his eyes before he could control them.

She was dead.

There was a flash of gold behind him, so bright that Cecil saw it gleam off of the rocks and sand around him. He turned and ran back around the rocks to the main area where they battled, and saw Cosmos standing there in the middle of their group. The other warriors gathered around her, already asking questions.

"Cosmos?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you supposed to be guarded in Sanct-"

"Where is Cecil?" she asked, spinning around.

"Here," he said, and when her eyes met his, the fear and concern he saw there froze his soul. The little spark embedded deeper, and his heart collapsed into his stomach. He knew it was bad news, he just knew. " . . . Where is she?"

Her mouth opened. He stared pleadingly into her eyes. "Please don't say she's dead. Please." The tears welled up, and Cosmos tilted her head in sympathy.

"They took her."

"Who did?"

"I don't know - three Chaos warriors-"

"Where are they now?!"

"They took her to the Eastern Mirage gateway in the Mirage Sand-"

"Is she injured? Is she-" He choked on the word.

He didn't wait for her reply. He was nearing the Teleport Stone before his mind caught up. Warriors yelled things at his back, but he couldn't hear them. They didn't mean anything. He reached out for it.

Someone grabbed him. "Hey! STOP! We gotta figure out a plan!" He violently ripped his arm out of Firion's grip, but he moved and placed himself between Cecil and the stone. "There's at least three Chaos warriors there already, if not more by now! We can't just chase her into a potential ambush!"

"You don't think we can handle it?" Laguna asked. "'Cuz we're obviously going with him! Right?" he asked, appealing to the other warriors around. They all agreed, and Cecil even heard a tiny, "Yup!" from where Bartz was secluded.

"I'm on board," Cloud said, stoic as ever. He shrugged his shoulders. "Just make sure you know what you're doing first, Cecil."

Every precious second that ticked by solidified the fear in his heart that she was being injured. Being injured, or being killed. And they were standing around talking. He bounced on the balls of his feet, unsure of what else to do to urge them on. "We need to go, NOW! We're wasting time, and who knows what they're doing to her?"

Cosmos nodded. "I will take Bartz back to Sanctuary. It's not far, and it won't use too much of my strength. Another Chaos warrior has already shown up to Rosa's location. You need to go now-"

He reached around Firion and touched the teleport stone. The world spun away from his feet, but not nearly fast enough. He fell, weightless, and when his feet hit the ground he was already running. The sandsea dunes rose and fell around him, and he oriented himself while he ran. The Teleport Stone rested on the north end, closer to Chaos' throne than to the path leading to Cosmos' domain. He faced the entire expanse of sea, and the gateway closest to him on his left was the one he wanted. The other was at almost the other end. The free-roaming manikins in the sea, four or five in all, all turned towards him in one eerie swivel motion, but Cecil knew he would get to the gateway before they would get to him. He ignored them, pushing on, resisting the sand as it sucked his metal-clad feet down, slowing him.

He ran so quickly, the wind on his face made his eyes water. He had never run so hard in his life. Not even in battle. But he knew time was of the essence, and he knew he would run to the farthest reaches of the Underworld if it meant Rosa's safety. His foot slipped on a dune and, and his weight slid out from under him. He threw his hand to the ground and maintained his balance and pushed onward.

His blood pounded in his ears. The ragged huffing of his breath echoed across the sand.

His side already hurt. His chest hurt, never recovered from its exhaustion of the battle.

But he would keep going.

For Rosa.

He reached the gateway and practically dove through the sigil. He leapt over manikins, he tore through entire floors in mere seconds, and each one he encountered weighed heavier and heavier on him that he was too late. He was probably too late for her. He wouldn't be able to save her.

Finally, he broke through the last floor, touching the Chaos sigil. He was transported to the outside of the Empyreal Paradox and saw a figure lying on the ground.

Lying on the ground, and bleeding.

"Rosa!"

Chapter Text

"Rosa!" Her name left Golbez's mouth before he could bite it back.

Exdeath's shoulders heaved with a large breath. "Ah. Then you know this warrior, Golbez," he sighed, impatient from the interruption.

"I- . . . I do." He said her name. It would do no good to lie.

"Aww, what a shame that you missed out, then!" Kefka shrieked, shaking his head. "You coulda helped us! I wanted to drag it out a little longer, but I think she had enough when . . . "

Kefka rambled on, but Golbez stopped listening. He quickly noted her injuries - slashes, stab wounds, burns and bruises, scratches on her cheek - all bleeding with different ferocities. She looked pale already from the blood loss. Pity welled up in his heart, and he forced himself to ignore the realization that she was dying. He had to remove her. Ideally, return her to Sanctuary if he could. With Cosmos being as weak as she was, he knew she may not be able to help in her healing, but hopefully Cecil could help.

Golbez cut Kefka off. "Who ordered this attack?!" he boomed, voice echoing through the area and swallowing Kefka's tinny sound.

"It is none of your business," Exdeath answered.

"She is a warrior from my world. She is my business. Who ordered this?"

Exdeath crossed his arms and stood unmoving, staring from the slit of his helmet into the slit of Golbez's. Neither intimidating the other. In the silence, Golbez tried to put the pieces together himself. It wouldn't have been Chaos. Though he kept tabs on the war, he rarely became so involved as to target a specific warrior on Cosmos' side. As a new warrior, Rosa wouldn't have had the opportunity to build any sort of notoriety.

Kefka and Exdeath could have taken on this venture themselves, but it was strange for them to band together. It was no secret that Exdeath did not prefer Kefka's company and actively avoided him if he could help it. Exdeath did not counter him when he asked if someone else ordered the attack. The clues pointed to someone on the outside, pulling strings to force these two into working together. Ultimecia, perhaps, or the Emperor-

Of course. The Emperor. Cecil told him that he was after her.

"Did the Emperor order this attack?"

" . . . If you must know, it was the Emperor," Exdeath eventually relinquished. "What made you suspect him?" Golbez read his tone, aware that Exdeath was fishing for information. Hoping he'd reveal a source of information.

"Who else would orchestrate it in this way?" Golbez said, quickly enough to mask the search for a coverup. "It very obviously was not Chaos, and therefore not Garland. This type of attack doesn't suit you, Exdeath, and he lacks any power of forethought whatsoever." Golbez pointed to Kefka, hoping the dig would endear Exdeath to him to any degree. "He did not premeditate this. It is much the Emperor's style to pull the strings from afar while his lackeys do the work."

Rosa twitched on the ground. Her face twisted into a grimace and she moaned softly, briefly returning to some form of consciousness. Golbez decided that a distraction would take too long. He needed to take her somewhere safe. He turned towards her and knelt to the ground, scooping her up as gently as he could.

"What are you doing?" Exdeath asked. Golbez ignored him, lifting her off the ground. Her head lolled against his chest and he cradled her tight, careful to keep her injuries as still as possible. He called his power around himself, ready to teleport, when a force slammed into his back and knocked him forward. He stumbled, dropping Rosa, wincing as she hit the ground hard and rolled once onto her stomach. Golbez turned back to Exdeath, and he lowered his arm.

"Choose your next steps carefully, Golbez. I have not forgotten your past betrayals."

"You speak of betrayals after raising a hand to your comrade? Chaos forbids even sparring amongst-"

"'Comrade?'" Exdeath mocked. "You and I are barely allies."

"Leave now, and I will not tell him of your transgression-"

"Run and tell Cosmos for all the value it would hold!" Exdeath sneered.

"Hahahaha!" Kefka howled hysterically. His feet lifted off the ground and he lowered his chin, glaring at Golbez like a rabid animal. "Is widdle Golby gonna tattle?" he cooed. His face fell a second later into a slumped version of his smile. "I really don’t like tattletales," he growled. Kefka said, floating slowly towards Golbez. "We're not going to go run to Chaos, are we?" Kefka trailed closer and closer to Golbez, so slow that if he wasn’t watching carefully he would have missed it.

Exdeath matched Kefka's threat, spinning his sword in the air before drawing it back to his clenched fist. Golbez's eyes flicked between the two of them. Rosa was behind him. At the very least, he only had to hold them off for long enough to gather her up and teleport away. Easier said than done, he thought woefully. Both his opponents were long-rang mages, as he was. They could do their work from afar when he needed to be close to Rosa. All that mattered was that he got her out safely, however he had to.

Golbez's senses heightened, and his heart beat harder in his chest. Sensing a battle, the Shadow Dragon's dark power awakened in his mind and heart. Its influence pushed its way into his thoughts and impulses, and its aura surged, adding an energizing pulse to his own magic. It materialized in the air and coiled up over his shoulder, snaking around his waist and coming to a stop in front of him. It opened its mouth and a breathy hiss escaped from its snout as it bared its teeth to his attackers.

" . . . Do not interfere," Golbez said to them, lowering his voice to a near growl in his throat. He called his power, lifting his feet off the ground to float. He raised his hands and slowly crossed them in front of him, ready to cast.

Kefka sighed loudly, slumping his shoulders. He tossed his head back and mimed a yawn, flapping at his mouth with his hand. The Dragon took its chance. It twisted and rolled around, body glowing with black, crackling lightning. Golbez added his own energy to the Cosmic Ray and pushed his hands towards Kefka. The Dragon held him in the spell while Golbez blocked a swipe of Exdeath's sword with a forcefield. He threw Kefka to the side and launched a volley red lasers at Exdeath.

He deflected all three with a sigil, and Golbez readied a Thundaga. He clasped his hands together and drew them apart, focusing with the Dragon. It grew larger and larger until his hands trembled from it. Exdeath dropped the block and Golbez drew back to throw it, but Kefka staggered to his feet out of the corner of his eye, ragged and panting. He called some sparks of his own to his palms.

"Nyeh!" he huffed, flicking his wrists and throwing them in a line at Golbez.

The Dragon reacted before Golbez could and threw itself in its path, curling up to withstand the shocks. It jerked and twisted, hissing in pain. When the charges faded the Dragon righted itself and slithered back to Golbez, coiling again around his body.

Golbez whirled around and made another move for Rosa. He turned his back on them and was less than careful as he turned her over and wrapped one arm behind her back and the other around the back of her knees. The Dragon snapped a warning and cast its own Reflect barrier around him, in time to deflect a Firaga from Kefka. He moved to lift her from the ground, but Exdeath's imposing presence teleported in front of him, already swinging his sword. Golbez withdrew from Rosa and blocked with his forearm. The dull crash echoed in his helmet and the clash jarred up his entire arm. His fingers went numb inside his glove and his elbows threatened to crumble, but the Shadow Dragon cast its own Wind spell. It collided with Exdeath's shoulder and broke them apart.

Exdeath backpedaled, catching his balance quickly despite his size. He raised his hands, and the magic tugged Golbez off-balance. He was lifted further off the ground, legs kicking wildly as he struggled in its hold. Exdeath sweeped his arms to the side and threw Golbez clear across the Empyreal Paradox until he crashed into the wall. His own weight worked against him and he choked before sliding down the wall onto his backside.

Not used to being thrown around, Golbez could only sit and blink dizzily for a few seconds as he reoriented himself in the world. The Dragon echoed his confusion, writhing in the air as though it couldn’t figure out where it was. When the world finally stopped spinning, Golbez searched for Rosa, glancing between her, Kefka, and Exdeath. Calculating the distance, judging to see if he would have another chance to get to her.

Exdeath followed Golbez's gaze, twisting his entire body to stare down at Rosa. His shoulders heaved and he droned out a low laugh. "I shall end this charade." He lumbered towards her, step after deliberate step. Golbez's panic flared and he pushed himself to his feet. He prepared an Earth spell, drawing the rock shards up from the ground itself. The Dragon twirled a figure eight and added its energy, and the pieces nearly doubled in side. Before he could cast, Kefka shifted out of view. Golbez's heart jumped and he hesitated, afraid of a surprise, and his focus dropped. The rocks tumbled to the ground before disappearing. He turned to look for him, spinning as much as he could to keep Exdeath in his line of sight. Exdeath laughed again, and Golbez knew he was gloating, deliberately going slow to draw out his anguish. And, he knew, what would be Rosa's anguish.

Golbez blinked, and Kefka's painted face suddenly popped up from below him. "Hah!" he screamed into his face, and Golbez startled. Kefka whipped his leg back, ice magic already building on his toes. He kicked Golbez's hands apart and one of them froze in a casing of ice. The Dragon snorted in surprise and lashed its tail towards him, but Kefka ducked under it. With his left hand he summoned a dark, black, fizzling orb that caught the Dragon and exploded, tossing it to the ground. With his right hand he called a large Firaga and threw it straight into Golbez's face.

Golbez recoiled from the heat, wiping at his face. His helmet protected him from the worse of it, but some tongues of flame still slid into the slit of his helmet, licking and lapping at his face and stinging his eyes. Golbez's gloved hand scraped uselessly on the metal before he cleared it away with his own magic. Golbez ducked away to protect himself but everywhere he moved Kefka turned with him and blocked his view, like it was a game. Golbez threw a punch with his iced hand and shattered the block on Kefka's face. He screamed and collapsed back, and he and the Dragon dually cast a Nightglow underneath him. The geyser caught Kefka and lifted him up, tossing him a safe distance away.

"Where is Exdeath?" It echoed in his head, over and over. "Find Exdeath! Find Exdeath!" He looked near Rosa, to the last place he saw him, and did not immediately see him. Golbez decided not to question it. Thinking perhaps that Exdeath had abandoned the fight, he knew his window of opportunity was slipping away. He teleported over to her and knelt down to gather her up once again.

A noise like moving air hissed near him, and Exdeath appeared in one of his circles of light. Golbez straightened and threw himself back, but Exdeath reached out for him. The air around him thinned and bore down in on him from every side, pressing on his chest and sucking the breath from his lungs. He froze stiffly in place, unable to move as Exdeath brought his hands together. Between them a black mass of energy formed. It grew larger and larger, and bolts of electricity and other charges of power leapt wildly off of it, searching for places to ground to. Some of them jolted up into Exdeath's hands but he paid them no attention.

He slowly closed his hands around the ball.

The Void magic compressed harder and harder into Golbez with each inch Exdeath crushed. His armor grew stiff and tight around him, squeezing around his body, and he heard tiny clicks and cracks as it gradually gave way from the pressure. It dented; a sharp end punched into his chest and he choked, unable to take air in. He couldn't move, couldn't cry out. The Dragon twitched next to him, and Golbez could see its long body and tiny arms buckle and mangle, too tight to be natural. A thick pop and an unnaturally shrill noise of pain from the Dragon, and Golbez knew one of its arms was broken. He could feel his own bones bending, knowing he'd be crushed soon as well.

Suddenly, Exdeath loosened his hands. The pressure released, just enough for Golbez to breathe, and he gasped in as large of a breath as he could. He and the Dragon both, panting and sweating in the air. Exdeath pulled him in, closer to Rosa until he was close enough to touch her if he could reach out. "You will watch this," Exdeath grumbled. He called his sword and moved it above Rosa, the grip inches from Golbez's face. He touched the tip to Rosa's chest, over her heart. Golbez struggled as hard as he could and his heart leapt into his throat. He groaned with the effort, resisting the pins and needles sensation.

His power surged with his panic, and the Dragon latched on to it, letting out a roar. Together the two of them broke through Exdeath's hold with a powerful Shell. Golbez fell to the ground and the Dragon instantly led another spell. He sensed what he was to do, and the familiar chill ached in his heart, so strong it sent a shudder down his back. He knew the spell. Knew it well, like it was etched into his being.

"Such is your power?" Golbez asked, standing over Cecil and his entourage. With each missed attack, each deflected spell, his corrupted glee built inside of him until it bubbled out in a huge laugh. "A pity. I expected more!"

He called his power and cast, and the Binding Cold swept through the crystal room and stabbed into each of them. They collapsed, one by one, until Cecil was the only one standing. Struggling immensely, knees trembling, straining from the effort, but standing. Golbez stepped up to him and peered down into his face, then clamped a hand down on his shoulder. He stared down into his eyes and applied steady pressure until Cecil was on his knees as well.

"Your eyes should still be free. Open them, and gaze upon true terror!"

He clasped his hands over his chest to focus it. The Dragon swirled and traced patterns in the air, doing its own little dance, and when it had built enough Golbez spread his hands and pushed the Binding Cold into every stretch of the Paradox. Exdeath cast a block of his own but the chill bit straight through his defense and every layer of him, as it was meant to. He grunted and froze in place, paralyzed by a layer of frost. Golbez knew Kefka was frozen as well.

He only had a few precious seconds. He used his own magic to lift Exdeath off the ground. With a grunt of effort he threw his arm to the side and tossed Exdeath into Kefka. The two went tumbling across the ground in a tangle of blues and garish pastels, unable to catch or brace themselves.

A sudden dizzy spell forced him to brace his hand on his knee to stay upright. Spells like that were powerful, effective, and draining, and he was reminded why he used them sparingly. Though he wanted to use the time he earned on himself, he knew Rosa was in more danger. A quick glance to the Dragon showed that it was in poor condition as well. One of its arms was twisted violently from Exdeath's magic. It was panting hard, and its normal rage-filled glare was tired and weak. It would have to endure.

Golbez floated over to Rosa, and she looked worse for wear as well. Her hair was matted with blood, her clothes were almost completely stained with more red than yellow, the bruise on her cheek was spreading wide, and the scratches all around her body looked red and angry. He decided to carry her with magic instead of lifting her himself, to keep her more steady. He wrapped his power around her, taking care to lift her slowly. A weak, but firm spell knocked into his back and rage flared in Golbez's heart as he was knocked to his knees. He kept his hold on Rosa and ignored it, grabbing his cape to teleport.

He was moments away from freedom, but Exdeath appeared in front of him, so close that Golbez cried out in alarm. He raised his hand to cast but Exdeath pushed his arm down, grabbed the knife at his hip, and drove it under Golbez's arm and into his stomach, into the crack in his armor. The cold metal cut into him, slicing through skin and tearing muscle, and he gasped. Exdeath tugged the knife out, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him forward for another jab under his ribs. While he held him there, Kefka took a running start and dove on the Shadow Dragon, dragging it to the ground. Kefka wrestled on top of it and it rolled and hissed and snapped its jaws like a snake in danger. He straddled it, curling his legs around its middle and wrapping his arms around its neck, holding it still. He looked up at Exdeath like a dog begging its master for a treat.

Exdeath hummed out some kid of acknowledgment and waved dismissively, and Kefka smirked. He winked to Golbez and summoned a Hyperdrive spell that opened under both of them. At the last second Kefka relinquinshed his hold on the Dragon and dashed away, and the light of the Hyperdrive pierced up from the floor and stabbed through it. It howled, and Exdeath shoved Golbez away to use a Delta attack on it.

The Dragon writhed one last time then disappeared in a fizzle of darkness, and Golbez felt its accompanying strength leave him. He instantly grew shaky and weak, and his knees buckled. The sound faded away from his ears and blackness threatened to overtake his vision. He couldn't breathe well, and he pressed a hand to his wounds, more than sure he would pass out as every movement pulled and tugged on the severed flesh. He looked up, craning his neck to look at Rosa. Still on the ground where he had dropped her. Kefka and Exdeath still between him and her.

"What’s wrong?" Kefka taunted. He placed his hands on his knees and bent over Golbez, like an adult to a child. "Did Golby get a boo boo? Poor Golby!"

Golbez lowered his gaze. Exdeath knew what he was after Rosa, and they would only continue to get in his way. Perhaps, if Exdeath had been alone, he could have done it, but not the two of them together. He needed extra hands to keep them busy.

The only Archfiend whose summonstone he still held on to was Barbariccia, and only because she refused to leave. She had a fancy for him, to his chagrin, and stayed even after Golbez had traded Cagnazzo away and released Scarmiglione for someone else to find. Rubicante had left him of his own accord long ago, and Golbez had not stopped him. He drew Barbariccia's stone from within, and the red hexagonal crystal manifested in his outstretched hand. He clenched his fist, crushing the fragile stone with little effort.

As soon as it shattered, the stale wind that existed in the Paradox picked up dramatically. Golbez and Exdeath’s tails and skirts billowed around them, and Kefka had to hold on to the feather piece he kept in his hair so it didn't blow off. The air and pressure dropped to the floor and gathered in a single spot. Golbez’s limbs felt heavy, the change made him light-headed, but he followed the energy as it swirled around and around that one spot. Over and over, rising up into a tornado. The dust and particles gathered, making the whirlwind cloudy before dissipating. The wind died, everything quieted down, and in the tornado's place was a woman crouched on the floor.

Barbariccia giggled, smiling seductively up at Golbez through her thick lashes. Her face was strikingly beautiful, with a soft jawline and contoured face. Clad in nothing but a loin cloth and two strips of cloth over her breasts, she was well-endowed, and it was obvious she knew it. As she stood she trailed her hands up her legs and caressed them over her belly, rounding her chest. She tucked her hands behind her neck and flipped her long, wild, straw-blonde hair. The ends of her hair were constantly moving, swirling and reaching around her like the hair of a naga, with lives of its own. Her eyes ruined the image. When she looked into Golbez’s helmet her piercing yellow eyes glowed unnaturally with her power, reminding him how cold she was.

". . . hhhh My love hhhh . . ." she said, the breath of the wind on the front and back of her words. Her voice drifted in and out with the strong breeze she emanated. She ghosted over to him and reached out, drawing a finger down his cheek to cup his chin lovingly. ". . . Hhhhhow I’ve missed you!"

He swatted her hand away.

A spasm of pain ripped from his wound, and Golbez winced, clutching it tighter. She knelt down next to him and traced around his hand with hers, and when she pulled away her hand was stained red with blood.

" . . . oh, but you are wounded!-"

"It is none of your concern. I . . . I call upon you for aid once more, Archfiend of Wind." His voice trembled in his weakness, and she shook out her wild, wind-swept hair.

"Sssso formal! You know there is no need for that. Not after all of our battles. Who would stand against us? Is it them?" she breathed, facing Kefka and Exdeath. Her sharp eyes roved around the area, and her bewitching smile dropped when she saw Rosa lying on the ground.

" . . . I know this girl, do I not?" Barbarccia drifted closer, to get a better look. "Yes, she was captive in my tower, my tower of Zot. Toying with my darling Kain, if memory serves. Distracting him from me! Yes, I wanted to keep him for myself, but she stole him away. Very well. If you wish for me to finish what I started, then I shall lay waste to herrrr . . ."

"You will not! I am not here for her, I need to take her to safety. I command you, Archfiend of Wind, keep those who oppose us at bay. That is my order."

"Hhhhhhow ironic. Very well . . ."

Exdeath and Kefka readied themselves, but Barbariccia didn't immediately make for them. She twirled once, slowly, winking at Golbez on her way past, then rolled her head and whipped her hair around her. It came alive, fanning out on every side of her and flipping harder. It raised the wind with each whip, growing stronger and stronger until another tornado flared up around her. She drew her knees to her chest and curled up, tucking herself safely inside it until she was no longer visible. She let out a piercing shriek, like a banshee, and finally rolled towards Kefka and Exdeath, trailing on the ground closer and closer to them. They shielded their faces from the wind and debris, momentarily blinded. When Barbariccia was close enough, pieces of her hair lashed out and cracked painfully down on Kefka's shoulder. He fell back, and Exdeath blindly shot a small Fire at her. Barbariccia's strong winds deflected it, and it glanced harmlessly to the side. Kefka stood and wildly threw one spell after another - fire, blizzard, thunder - at random, but each one was whipped or tossed away. One of them was so off-target it missed Barbariccia entirely and flew towards Golbez, but he cast his hand to the side and Reflected it.

He only felt safe enough to turn his back and go to Rosa when he saw them giving ground to her, backing towards the wall. He attempted to pick himself up to float over to her, but his weakness and pain prevented it. He crashed down to his knees and moaned when his wound was tugged, throwing a wave of pain and dizziness over him. He instead limped and crawled pathetically to her.

He was only steps away when his path was blocked again.

He raised his hands, growling in frustration. He expected to see Exdeath's blues, or the wild patterns of Kefka's clothes. Instead, a small blur of white and purple flashed across his vision, flying straight past him to kneel over her.

"Rosa!" he said, and Golbez instantly knew the voice. He blinked the world back into focus, and found Cecil, panting from what could only have been a mad sprint to get there. Cecil's eyes widened and tears immediately welled up. "No . . . no, no, no . . . "

Golbez read her life force, flickering and nearly out but still alight. "Take her and go!" he yelled to Cecil. "She has not yet fallen!"

Cecil glanced to his right, eyes flicking around as he noticed everything and everyone else for the first time. Barbariccia's tornado, Kefka and Exdeath trying to break through, Golbez on his hands and knees only feet away. His eyes hardened and he didn't ask any questions. He gathered Rosa up.

"'Scuse me!" Kefka's whiny voice called. "She's ours!" He managed to fight his way past Barbariccia and hurled huge geysers of ice in a wave towards them. Golbez mustered his strength and teleported behind Cecil, grabbing his cape an pulling it across his body to block.

"Cecil, go!" She'll not make it. Get her to Cosmos, NOW-"

Another shower of ice shards rained across his cape, and a white circle appeared under Cecil's feet. He gasped and shifted to Dark Knight, curling around Rosa in his arms as though it would protect the two of them any better. He braced for the attack, shutting his eyes tightly, but Golbez lunged forward. He clamped his hand down on the back of Cecil's armor and he flinched, expecting it was Exdeath.

Golbez tugged him backwards out of the circle, and used his momentum to spin and grab his cape to teleport. One last glancing blow from Exdeath crashed into his back but he was able to finish the spell. A weightless feeling and a rush of air, and the Empyreal Paradox spun away to black.

Chapter Text

Cecil's feet splashed in Sanctuary's water.

Someone was already yelling. "I need some help here!" He didn't realize it was him until the words were already tumbling out. "Please! Help me!"

Cosmos vaulted to her feet and motioned to her throne. "Lay her here!" she yelled.

Cecil ran past her and climbed the two stairs. As he passed, Cosmos reached for Rosa and read her energy. Whatever she felt, it clearly wasn't good. She whispered softly, " . . . By the Great Will . . . " and the tears that had been waiting pricked Cecil's eyes. Utter dread welled up in his heart, aching through him like someone was crushing it with their fist.

He swallowed down the sob and sucked in as deep a shaking breath as he could muster, blinking the tears away. "Do not listen to her," he told himself. "Rosa is in bad shape, but it's not over yet." He wasn't supposed to give up on her yet. If only for the principle of it, he was meant to hold on to her. Hold on for her, no matter what anyone else believed.

He lowered Rosa's limp body to the throne as gently as he could. Her head rolled as he slid his arms out from under her, so heavy and loose that he thought her already dead. All of the hopeful sentiments he struggled to believe crumbled pathetically, and a chill so deep he couldn't breathe shot down his spine. He shifted to Paladin and leaned over her, pressing his ear to her chest while Cosmos handed out orders.

There was a heartbeat. It was slow and faint, but it was there. Her breath was wet, thick, labored, uneven and hitched, but there. He couldn't pull away right away. An odd logic weaved its way into his head that if he stopped listening, then the heartbeat would stop. She was only breathing because there was someone there to listen to her. He kept his ear there. His cheek was becoming wet. He ignored it.

"Zidane, Vaan, bring the items!" Cosmos called, and they appeared from somewhere in the wings carrying a mess of Potions, Ethers, and Elixirs in their arms, as well as conventional bandages and medical supplies from their stock pile. They unceremoniously dumped them on the throne next to her. "Lightning!" she yelled next, and she was at her side immediately. It was obvious Cosmos had everyone briefed and prepared. Lightning grabbed a few Potions and went to work. She sat by Rosa's head and dug through her matted hair, jerking her head this way and that to find where she was bleeding from.

"Be careful!" Cecil snarled before he could help himself, picking his head up from her chest.

She barely acknowledged him. Apparently finding the source, she uncorked one of the Potions and sprinkled a generous bit on her hand, tracing a line somewhere under Rosa's hair. When she was done she took Rosa's chin, tilting her head back and pulling her lips apart. She poured the rest of the Potion into her mouth, little by little, even when Rosa's throat didn't move to swallow it down on reflex. The Potion somehow still did its job, and Rosa's skin glowed with a tiny green light. Lightning unrolled a long strip of bandages and wound them around her head with better care to soak up some of the bleeding.

Cosmos went to work as well. She straightened Rosa's leg out and closed her hand around the hilt of the reddish-black sword stabbing it through. She tugged and it came free easily with a wet sucking sound. The moment it was free of her skin, it shimmered and melted away, dissolving in Cosmos' hand. "How very clever, Ultimecia," she said dully, frowning into her palm with distaste. She clasped her hands over her chest, and a warmth that was so powerful Cecil could feel it emanating off of her built in the air. Her gold aura surged and Cosmos pressed her hands to the slice in Rosa's leg, pouring the fully powered Curaja directly into it. The bleeding slowed and stopped, the exit wound on the back of her leg closed smoothly, but the hole remained open and angry. When she pulled her hands away, they came away red. Lightning's hands were red. Rosa was covered in red.

His hair was covered in red, the white waves clumped together and stained from where he rested his head on her chest. He looked down, knowing it came from the thick scratch that stretched from her hip to her shoulder. Or, had it come from right from her shoulder? It was bleeding just as terribly. It could have been the stab wound on her side. All of them looked bad. All of them were bleeding. He needed to make it better.

"Make it better. Just make it better!" he urged, and his hands moved of their own volition. He called the minuscule White Magic he held in his heart and blindly cast Cura on her, stretching it from her head to her feet. "Make it better." Not focusing on anything specific, because he didn't know what to work on first. She was in bad shape. She was dying. He just needed to make it better.

He cast again, two, three times, and stared at the wounds. He waited for the Cura to go to work and stop the bleeding like Cosmos' did. Stitch the wounds closed before his eyes like it was supposed to do. Heal her cuts and bruises and bring her back to consciousness. Mend torn flesh and muscle. He cast again, but the wounds went unchanged. His anger flared, his tears burned, and he cast again and again until he spent his magic. When it refused to spark again in his heart and build into a spell he reached over and snatched an Ether, draining it in one gulp. He called on his magic again and spread his hands over her to cast another Cura, but Lightning grabbed his wrist.

She scoffed. "You gotta slow down! You're not helping her."

His heart sank. "Then what can I d-do?" He choked, and more tears.

"Focused healing. Stop casting on her whole body and focus on one wound. I got her head and face. Cosmos is working on her legs. Pick something - pick the injury on her ribs." While she directed him, she grabbed another Potion and poured it into Rosa's mouth again.

Her ribs. Cecil stood up on weak, shaky legs and stumbled around to the other side of the throne to get a better look. One of Ultimecia's blue crystal arrows stuck out of the side of her chest. Her blood was leaking onto the throne, discoloring the pure white that had gone undisturbed for cycles.

"Get some bandages ready," Lightning told him, snapping him back to reality. "If you pull that out, she may bleed a lot." He reached for them and found his hands shaking. He took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself, but instead it hitched in his throat. His heart started to race and he looked down at her. At a bruise that covered the entire side of her face and crept up over her eye, painting it a nasty purple. Four deep claw marks, thick with congealing blood, tearing the skin in uneven, jagged lines over the bruise. Even when Lightning poured another Potion over them, only one barely closed. There was blood everywhere. Blood on her head, on her face, on her torso, seeping down her neck, on her shoulder and down her whole body until one wound seemed to merge with the rest and he couldn't differentiate them. The bones in her shoulder jutted out at unnatural angles under her skin, bruised and swollen and dislocated, pushed further out of place by a red and black knife-looking projectile. That long cut that stretched from her hip to her shoulder, and two stab wounds - one under her ribs and one in her stomach - with three smaller cuts that appeared to be placed randomly around her body. Her right hand was swollen to twice its normal size, her fingers and knuckles fat and bruised, and all around she had scrapes and cuts from being tossed around. Her tights were burned away at the ankle. When Cecil looked closer, he could see red, blistered flesh peeking out from under her boot.

There was no question in his mind that she was going to die, and the realization busted through every shred of control he tried to maintain. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and white crept into the sides of his vision. The tears fell freely. He felt faint. "O-oh, gods-"

"Hey!" Lightning snapped. "You gotta get a hold of yourself. Okay? She needs help, so do what I tell you, or back off. Take care of her ribs!"

He couldn't respond. His throat was closing with a building sob. He shook his head, and blinked hot, angry tears down his face.

Someone approached from behind and touched his shoulder. Tugged him gently away from her. "Maybe you should come away," they said, and he heard Kain's voice. It cut through some of his panic. "Cecil?-"

"Ah! N-no!" he sniffled thickly, throwing Kain's hand off. "I need to sa-" He swallowed thickly. "I need to save her."

"Then focus," Lightning said, in a way that would have sounded nasty coming from anyone else. "Calm down, and help." He took a broken breath and sighed out the rest. The tears were there and wouldn't stop, so he worked through them. Another Curaja from Cosmos wrapped around Rosa's leg, and the raw power near him worked to ground him further. Even in what would have been a 'weakened' state, Cosmos' magic still dwarfed all of theirs. Would have potentially dwarfed Rosa's, and even that worked to dissipate some of the emotion in his chest so he could focus. Cosmos moved on, sliding down to her ankle and taking off her boot. Lightning had given up on the scratches on her cheek, and had moved down to her shoulder wiggling her pauldrons to loosen them off.

They worked in relative silence, and when Cecil was ready he grabbed the piece of arrow that he could see and swiftly tugged it out, holding his breath. A thought he never considered briefly flashed across his mind - that she could feel everything they were doing, and was in excruciating pain. He had to dismiss it as well. He couldn't allow those kinds of thoughts to impede him again. Lightning tossed the roll of bandages at him and it bounced off his chestplate before he could snatch it. He trailed a thread out and tore it, quickly pressing it to the wound, but the blood didn't pour out as she thought it would. She peered over and checked it alongside him.

"You need to make sure there aren't any remnants of that Azure Axe in there," Lightning told him. He slid from the throne and knelt next to her, peeling the skin apart so he could look inside. The cut was smooth and even, and he couldn't see any other pieces of the axe that could have been doing more unseen damage.

"I don't think so," he said back, and his voice sounded small.

"Heal it as much as you can."

He called the Cura, closing his eyes and pouring as much mental energy as he could into it. He tried to copy the spirit and vitality he felt in Cosmos' magic. He strained, his chest warmed, and he was about to cast it.

"Hey, is . . . is she gonna be okay?" Tidus yelled from somewhere in Sanctuary.

His concentration broke. Cecil opened his eyes, thinking that perhaps she was crashing. He gasped, nearly jumping out of his knelt position to lean over her. He didn't see anything different. She was just as pale, and just as still as she was before they healed her. His rage flared, and he whirled around to face him.

"No, she won't be okay, unless you let us concentrate!" he yelled, and Tidus flinched back, too shocked to come up with a response. His face slumped into a frown, he shook his head and shrugged, clasping his hands behind his head and pacing around Sanctuary.

He healed Rosa again, but it wasn't the same. Even trying like he did before, the spell didn't feel as charged up as the one before would have been. He cast three more times on the wound. Already, fatigue was starting to set in. His panic was starting to feel fuzzy around the edges. His head was just starting to swim, and concentrating was getting harder. He grabbed another Ether and drained it, restoring his magic power. Right as he tried to call another spell, a crowd of people splashed through Sanctuary's barrier. He looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his patrol group. Firion, Laguna, Cloud, and Yuna.

Yuna made a beeline for the throne. "I'm here to help!" she said, breathless from running back to Sanctuary. "How can I help?" She looked to Rosa, and her naturally bright disposition fell immediately. She quickly hid her reaction, hardening her eyes and bracing her shoulders. Her hands tightened around her staff, as the only outward sign of her fear.

"Heal her ribs and stomach," Lightning said. Cecil paused. He was already working on her ribs, but when he glared up at Lightning she was staring straight at him. He knew she told Yuna to take over his job to push him out. Yuna slid in next to Cecil, but he refused to move and even pushed against her. He called another Cura and poured it into the wound, noting the small trickle of blood growing smaller, slower. The wound closed a tiny bit, and his heart sank as he realized it wasn't much. He cast several more times, until his magic was drained again. His magic, and more of his physical strength. The dizziness was growing stronger, harder to ignore. A small headache sprouted in his right temple, pounding its pulse into his brain.

Yuna nudged him slightly. "Cecil, may I sit there?" she asked politely, if a bit strained.

Kain grabbed his shoulder again. "Cecil, it's alright now. Yuna's here. Come away now, and let her work. She and Cosmos are far more powerful than you, and they-"

"How dare you, Kain! I will not leave her! Any help is better than no help!"

"Then go help Golbez," Lightning offered, cocking her head towards where he stood hunched over. "He's still here, and he's wounded."

"He's wounded?-" Cosmos asked, turning to look at him.

"It's nothing!" he yelled up to them, but his voice was clearly strained from pain. He kept his hand clasped tight to his side, and his breath seemed shallow and weak. "A scratch. A small price to pay for Rosa's safety."

"Vaan, Zidane," Cosmos said, "take some Potions and Ethers to Golbez-"

"I assure you, I'm fine. Help Rosa, please. Her condition is dire. Tend to her." His knees were visibly shaking, and the last of their strength failed. He sighed and collapsed to one knee, then dropped his other knee to the ground, letting out a small noise of pain. He collapsed back until he was flat on his backside with his legs curled up under him. He clutched at his side with both hands. "I will accept no offer of help."

Warrior stepped towards Golbez and adjusted his grip on his sword, the unspoken threat. "If you'll not accept healing, that is entirely your prerogative. However, you'll not linger here in the meantime. We are grateful to you for rescuing Rosa from her captors, but if you have no further business here, perhaps you should move along."

Golbez chuckled, cutting the noise off before it turned into a cough. " . . . You would throw me out?"

"I'd rather not risk an attack should Rosa's attackers be chasing you."

"I'll not leave until Rosa's well-being is assured."

"Be sure that it is!" Warrior snapped. "She is in Cosmos' care now-"

A rogue wind that never existed in Sanctuary's perfect dome rose up and fluttered around them. It picked up Cecil's capes behind him, and even picked up Rosa's hair, plastered to her head and face. A small brown tornado picked up next to Golbez, and some water picked up with it, thickening and muddying the dirt and dust until Cecil couldn't see into it anymore. A wave pulsed from the tornado and when it cleared, a scantily clad woman stood in its place. A woman with glowing yellow eyes and hair as wild as the wind itself. He knew instantly who it was.

"Barbariccia?" he asked.

She ignored him completely and floated over to Golbez, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him from behind.

"HhhhhI drove them from the world, my dear- Oh! Hhhhhhello," she hissed, spotting Warrior. Kain, Cecil noticed out of the side of his eye, had half-ducked behind him so she couldn't see him. She smiled and her eyes roved from the horns on Warrior's helmet down to the armor on his shoes and back up. "What's your name, sir?" She toddle-oo waved, and his nose curled up in disgust.

"This is unacceptable! Your fiends are not welcome here!" Warrior yelled. "Her presence will not contaminate Sanctuary. You both will leave, now!"

Barbariccia pouted, detaching from Golbez. "Hhhhhhhe's so mean!" she said in a whiny voice. He flourished his sword and she giggled, pretending to hide behind Golbez. "After all I did for his friend!"

"Warrior, enough!" Cosmos said after she completed another Curaja on Rosa's ankle. "Golbez, you are always welcome." Her tone, and the emphasis on 'you' was the unspoken order for him to dismiss Barbariccia. Golbez reached out towards her and clenched his fist, and she sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes to the heavens before disappearing.

Cecil looked again at the burn marks Cosmos was working on, and it seemed like the only injury that looked almost completely healed. Cosmos drew on another spell, and Cecil felt another wave of her absolute power flood over Rosa as she directed it over her whole body. Cecil's Cura didn't even compare. Every wound over Rosa's body seemed to lighten, lessen, and even though it wasn't exactly visible, he could tell that Cosmos made them better. Better than he ever could make them.

It was enough to make him grudgingly realize that Rosa was indeed in more capable hands than his. That, coupled with the knowledge that he was already nearly completely spent, allowed him to move over and allow Yuna access to her. She immediately began to cast on the cut to her body and the stab wound on her stomach right as Lightning finally slid her pauldron off down her arm. Lightning tugged the arrow out and it disappeared like the other two. She dabbed at the blood with bandages, waiting until they were saturated before discarding them. She tossed them aside and reached for an Elixir, spritzing it across Rosa's entire body and pouring the rest directly into her cut. The yellow light worked to close the more shallow parts of the wound, sealing the ends of the long cut and shrinking the holes. When she was finished, she probed the bruise on Rosa's shoulder. She found the source of the dislocation and took Rosa's elbow and wrist, turning and twisting. When she got it into a position she seemed to be happy with, she lifted Rosa's arm up and over her head. A sickening pop echoed over their little group, and Cecil winced as her arm slid neatly back into place. Lightning picked up her wrist and inspected her broken fingers last. "We'll need to splint this as we heal it." Cosmos nodded. Yuna cast until the wounds refused to close any more for her. Cosmos gestured for her to finish, then followed up with several more Curajas.

After her last one, she sighed and leaned back. "We've done all we can do. Magic can only do so much before a wound must be left to heal naturally. Her fate is in the cycle's hands now." Cosmos stood up and blinked rapidly, nearly toppling over before Warrior sprinted forward and steadied her. He helped her to the stairs and lowered her down to sit. She slumped over and cradled her head in her hands, and Warrior fetched her an Elixir.

The dread that had slowly abated while Cecil concentrated on her healing surged back, dropping his heart into his stomach. He wanted to cry again. He wanted to scream, or curse, or do something that would alleviate some of the emotion lingering and thickening his heart again, but he couldn't bring himself to cry anymore. Only a frightening resignation that he was meant to prepare to mourn her coursed through the back of his head and wouldn't go away. It pulsed louder with his headache and he couldn't ignore it. Even though Rosa's body was on its way to healing, if all her strength had been spent Shinryu would still decide to not return her to the cycle.

She would be lost forever.

He took stock of all of Rosa's injuries. Her ankle was only slightly red. Cosmos was able to heal it completely. Her random scrapes and cuts were all gone, giving her body a more 'clean' appearance. The hole in her thigh was still large and open, but he only caught a glimpse of it before Yuna had it covered with bandages. She probably would not be able to walk until it was healed. The stab wound on her stomach and the cut across her body were closed, with only a small circular scar and a long thin scar to show for them. They hadn't been as serious as he thought. His magic was simply too weak to help at all.

Her shoulder wound was still red and angry, and looked worse with the bruise from its dislocation. The gauze Lightning had covered it with were already wet and stained with Blood, so Lightning took more and wrapped them as best she could around it. The bruise and scratches on her face were there to stay for the time being as well, as were the bandages wrapped around her head where she had been cut.

This would be it for her, he knew. He never had the chance to help her remember their relationship. He never was able to experience her at her best - at her most compassionate and at her most loving and at her most bright and enriching personality. The hope that she could be alright and that he would yet have a chance at them refused to build in his heart.

He stood from his kneeling position to sit beside her and nearly toppled over as well. The dizziness overtook him and the black in his vision prevented him from reorienting himself right away. He flopped down and luckily he guessed right. The throne was there to catch him. He leaned over his arm to wait for the dizziness to go away, but when it did his muscles felt cold and tired. Heavy, like moving them at all was a monumental effort he lacked the mental capacity to undertake at that moment. He managed to reach out, dragging his hand across the throne rather than pick it up, and grabbed her left hand. Her uninjured one. And he squeezed it. He was too tired to do anything else.

He looked down at her face, staring again at the cuts along her cheek, the large bruise purpling them. She had patches of blood in her hair that turned it pink in streaks and knots. She still looked beautiful. She still looked strong.

He prayed she would be strong enough to endure.

He lay his upper body down on the throne, careful not to touch her shoulder. Just to rest for a moment, he told himself.

He was out the moment his eyes closed.

Chapter Text

The wait for Ultimecia was agonizing.

The Emperor wasn't sure what she meant by 'rally the troops.' Were Kefka and Exdeath already ready and waiting and she only had to go and retrieve them, or would she have to find them both? How much time did they need to prepare, if they weren't already? They'd also have to seek Rosa out in the meantime, and she could have been anywhere if she wasn't in Sanctuary. He had no idea how much time had already passed before it occurred to him to watch the clock. If Rosa put up any kind of fight, that would prolong her destruction.

The minutes crawled by, to the point where he had to occupy himself. He created some manikins and escorted them to their positions in the floors of the Pandaemonium gateway. He procured a cloth from his personal stock of items and cleaned and buffed his staff until it shone.

He quickly ran out of things to do.

When Ultimecia appeared there in the top floor of Pandaemonium, he all but leapt out of his throne.

"Is it done?" he asked her, uncrossing his legs and sliding to the front of his throne.

"It is."

At last, he was rid of her. For a moment, the nasty relief he felt at the thought of her brutal demise bubbled in his heart and lifted his spirits and brought the smallest ghost of a smile to his face. He would never have to see her face in the world or the cycle ever again. She'd never be able to humiliate him ever again. Almost as soon as it came, however, a small worm of doubt wiggled through his thoughts. "She's lying," it told him, and it killed his mood quickly.

"I need proof," he told her. He didn't put it past her to only say that Rosa was dead in order to claim her reward, then allow her to pop up on him later.

Ultimecia rolled her eyes. "I knew you would. Will this suffice?" She held out her hand and he saw a familiar knife. A familiar gold handle and silver blade, with multi-colored jewels in the crosspiece and pommel. That very knife had been jammed between his ribs if he remembered correctly. Ultimecia's hands and claws were covered in blood, and she had stained the knife with it.

He wanted it to suffice for his own sake, but that last shred of doubt once again prevented him from believing her. He needed one last test for her. He decided to question her, hoping to pick a lie out of her body language and facial expression.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing for the knife.

She shrugged and shuffled it in her hand, and he lifted it with his magic, drawing it over to himself. He snatched it out of the air and turned it this way and that, pretending to inspect it so his question did not appear so judgmental.

"I hope she did not give you too much trouble," he said, and he looked up suddenly, watching her face.

"Not at all. She struggled, of course, but no more than you would expect." If he didn't know any better, he would have thought there was a dig in there. A subtle but well-placed jab that implied that Rosa had struggled, just like she did against him, and yet Ultimecia had been able to do what he couldn't. She didn't deliver it any differently than he said anything else, with that tilted-head, smirking tone, so he decided to let it be.

He finally allowed that emotion to build again, and what he would call joy, something he hadn't felt so purely in a long while, allowed him another smile.

"Excellent. I . . . appreciate you taking on this task." They weren't the right words, but it didn't matter. It was over and done with, and he didn't have to be bothered with any of it again. Not Ultimecia, or Kefka, or Exdeath, but more importantly, not Rosa.

He assumed Ultimecia would know that was her cue, but when he returned from his reverie she was still standing there, staring at him. He stared back, to the point of awkwardness until he finally asked, "Yes?"

"I know payment can only come in due time, but do not think I've forgotten our agreement."

"Nor have I." He leveled a hard glare at her. Not this again.

"You'll forgive me if I'm not quick to be at ease. You lie well and you lie often, Emperor. I expect it. You have a savvy for politics and I respect your mind for the manipulation of events. However, you'd best not lie to me. This is one debt that will not go unpaid. I will see to that."

'Debt.' Interesting choice of word. The Emperor could not recall if he ever shared his philosophy about debts with Ultimecia, but either way her use of the word was strategic. It was a very obvious reminder that he owed, and the next step was collections. It was also a word that lowered him beneath her, reminding him once again that she had done what he was unable to do.

His nose crinkled into a sneer. "I'd rather not use that nasty word."

"No? Then what would you call it?"

" . . . Investment. A commitment to see my plan brought to fruition, and a commitment to also deliver on your portion of it."

She raised her eyebrows, impressed with his turn of phrase, nodding slowly. After a moment her face fell. She deadpanned, " . . . Call it whatever you want. To me, it is a debt."

He sighed, crossing his legs. "Very well, if you intend upon difficulty."

"It's only semantics. I don't want there to be any kind of misunderstanding as to the nature of our deal."

Another presence appeared in the bottom floors of Pandaemonium, and the Emperor knew the presence immediately. Though Garland had a distinct spirit, he spent so much time around Chaos that he was beginning to blend with him.

"I have a visitor," the Emperor said, waving his hand. "You are dismissed."

She cocked her head to the side. Is that how you plan to address me? The unspoken question hung in the air, and the Emperor rolled his eyes, deciding to indulge her. It would only look better in the long run, offering her a sincerity no matter how surface-level.

" . . . Thank you," he tacked on to the end. The words soured in his mouth. He didn't mean it.

The corner of Ultimecia's mouth quirked up into her version of a smile. She bowed her head and opened a portal, stepping through it to leave.

Garland climbed the floors of the Emperor's gateway slowly, no doubt reveling in the destruction of the manikins and gateway fragments. When he finally arrived to the top floor of Pandaemonium, he walked through the barrier and dragged his sword in behind him, scraping it on the purple crystal floor. The Emperor noted it with a tilt of his chin.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked.

"No." Garland said. The Emperor shrugged.

"Well, the strongest manikins wander the world outside of gateways. If you're looking for a challenge I'd seek those ones out. Or, you could perhaps make a target of our opposition-

"I am not here to idle, or chat. I am here on Chaos' business."

"Whatever could he want with me?" the Emperor snarled, instantly angry. He was actually in some semblance of a good mood, and the fact that Garland stomped in to his throne just to mention one of the worst moments of his entire career in the cycles did not sit well with him. He slapped his palm against the armrest and stood from his throne. "He made his point quite clear if you recall, and I've made myself scarce since! He should have nothing more to say to me!"

"You scheme against him constantly! As he said before, we are not oblivious. And yet you act indignant now? Your sights are far too high, set on him. Even if Chaos was to fall, you'd fall victim to the cycle along with him over and over again, lowly emperor. We are watching you and Ultimecia both. We know she is involved somehow, as she always is. Tread lightly."

"Well thank you for your message, little dog. I'll be sure to tell Chaos how well you barked his message to me, so he may give you a treat. Perhaps even an extra scratch or two! And you may take this message back to him: I am doing nothing out of turn. I did entreat Ultimecia, Kefka, and Exdeath to dispose of a specific Cosmos warrior-"

"Which warrior?"

"That new girl, Rosa. Our associations end there, entirely. If destroying a warrior we oppose has become somehow frowned upon between now and when Chaos . . . reprimanded me, then I will await your return with that addendum. Until then, I gleefully adhere to my duty."

"Ensure that you do. One mis-step . . . If we even suspect you of treachery, you will answer to me, and by extension to Chaos. This is your last chance. Prove your loyalty without question, or be destroyed with the turn of the cycle. In fact, I task you with it. I'm sure Chaos would not object to a test of loyalty."

"Of course, I would expect nothing less from Chaos and his pet. Now run along home to your master."

Garland turned away, but paused halfway as though an extra thought occurred to him. He turned back and said, calmly, gravely, "He is your master as well."

He disappeared with that.

The Emperor sighed out his breath and sat back down on his throne. So, it was to be a task, was it? And it could not have come at a worse time. He'd have to put his ultimate plan on hold, and to do so would put his payment on hold. It would not endear Ultimecia to him.

At least Rosa was dead. He allowed her to side-track him for too long already. He took her knife in his hand and turned it around, inspecting the jewels on it. Now he could focus on other things.

He needed a new plan. Something that would satisfy both Chaos in the short-term, and his goal in the long-term. Something just violent enough against Cosmos that Chaos would lay off, and something insidious enough that Chaos would rot from the inside out.

He needed to make it big. A large to-do that many people knew and saw him working on. It needed to be obvious, like a parade or a show. Large events always overshadowed and distracted from the smaller deals. He could use it to cover up additional preparations for his eventual goal. In the meantime, he would lie low. He could not risk anyone's wrath while he worked, least of all Chaos and Garland's. He was oddly excited for it. He had a talent for manipulation, as Ultimecia pointed out, and these kinds of plans were his specialty. He lived for planning, and now that Rosa was dead he could use his talents for better pursuits.

He leaned back and rested his back against the throne. He would need time, and now that Rosa was good and dead he felt as though he had it.

Chapter Text

Cecil never moved.

Kain went on patrol and back twice, taking well over an hour each time to thoroughly search for any evidence that Kefka, Exdeath, or Ultimecia would return to finish what they started. Both times he returned, he found Cecil in the exact same position, knelt on the ground next to Rosa. Elbows resting on the throne, with his hands clasped so tightly around hers that his knuckles were white. Head bowed, shoulders slumped down as though he was praying.

Kain realized that he probably was praying, maintaining his constant vigil at her side. He could see from where he was across Sanctuary that Cecil needed rest. The more he stared at his back, the more he saw the tremble in the backs of his knees and the slight swaying of his form.

He already knew it was futile to even try and convince him to come away now, even if it was for Cecil's own sake. Cecil had already done this once before. His involvement in the event known by Cosmos' warriors as 'The Chaos Civil War' was practically legendary, and was still talked about as the representation of Cosmos' values and what it meant to be one of her champions. Kain had heard the story more than once from those who were there, and even those who weren't there but knew. Back then, they were unable to pry Cecil from Golbez's side, a man that he barely knew at that point. Now that it was Rosa who was injured, there was little point in even trying. Kain could tell how much it meant to him to stay with her.

Still, he knew Cecil needed rest. He resolved to bring him food, water, or any other aid that he sorely needed. He wouldn't even ask Cecil to move.

He crossed Sanctuary and headed for him, but before he got far Tidus and Yuna intercepted him. And, trailing behind to his surprise, Lightning.

"Hey. You're gonna go talk to Cecil, right?" Tidus asked.

"Yes."

"Is there anything we can do for him? He probably hasn't slept or anything . . . Should we go tell him to rest?"

Kain shook his head. "Unfortunately, he won't listen. He cares too much about Rosa to leave her side. He'll stay there, either until she wakes up or the cycle ends. Whichever comes first." Tidus looked away, and Kain realized how pessimistic and apathetic his words sounded. He added, "I was actually about to go ask if I could bring him anything. I'm sure he could use it."

"And what about Rosa?" Yuna asked. "How is she doing? We did all that we could for her, at least until the White Magic stopped working. Has she gotten any better?"

" . . . I'm not sure. I haven't been to see her yet. I'll check on them both, and I'll let you now if there's anything you can do. I appreciate your concern, all of you." Kain remembered Cecil telling him at one time that he and Tidus had been called at the same time, and ever since were steadfast friends. One of Cecil's best friends in the conflict, if Kain remembered correctly. It showed how much Tidus cared, despite Cecil snapping at him earlier in the confusion.

Lightning stepped forward and held out her hand. "Can you give this to Cecil?" She handed it over to him, and he cupped the small item in his hands. It looked like a small, purple teardrop fashioned out of a crystal-looking material. "It's a Purple Drop. It's supposed to help regenerate power faster. I don't know if it'll even help him at this point, but it's practical. It may help later."

"Thank you," Kain said, closing his fist around it, touched by their display of solidarity and compassion. He nodded his leave and continued his trek across Sanctuary to Cecil. He stepped up the stairs behind him, and felt the air of Rosa's presence stretched out on the throne in front of him. He kept his gaze strictly on Cecil, and away from her. He wasn't quite ready to face what she looked like. If he looked at her, at her injuries, he knew he would lose every piece of his fortitude and break down too.

Even Cecil's shoulders trembled, and Kain thought it exhaustion, bolstering his resolve to pressure him into caring for himself. A quick sniffle told him otherwise.

"Cecil," he said. He took an authoritative tone, hoping to convey that the issue would not be up for debate. "I have water. Can I bring you anything else? Any rations? More Items?"

Cecil raised his head but did not raise his eyes. Kain noticed with a pang of pity how red and puffy his eyes were from his constant tears, and how sunken in and gaunt his face looked from exhaustion.

"Cecil?" he said again as a question, hoping it would warrant him a reply. Instead, Cecil raised one of his trembling hands and touched her shoulder, sending her the most pathetic dregs of a Cure spell. The light barely shone at all over her. His arm flopped back down onto the throne and he blinked slowly, methodically, not quite focused. He nearly toppled to the side into Kain's legs, and he reached down to steady his shoulders after the spell faded.

"That's enough," Kain said. "You've done all you can for her. You're completely spent. I'll not ask you to leave her side, but at least let me bring you something to eat. And here," he said. He took the canteen he brought over and held it out to him. "Drink something." Cecil didn't move his hand from Rosa's. Kain shook the canteen in front of his face, allowing him to hear the water sloshing around inside of it.

"I - I'm fine," he stammered, his voice thick and hoarse with tears. "I don't know if I can even stomach anything right now." His eyes welled up all over again, and he crumbled in front of Kain. "I'm so nervous. I can't lose her."

Kain couldn't keep his eyes from her any longer. Though most of the smaller cuts and scrapes were completely healed or mostly healed, the largest of the cuts on her torso and legs were still openly bleeding, saturating the white bandages with varying shades of red. The bruise on her cheek was still blooming, sporting every color from the most sickly of yellows to the most horrific of blacks. Her eye down to her jaw was discolored, and the scratches on top of it were angry and coarse. Her lip had a small split in it, and as his eyes trailed downwards over the rest of her form, lying limp on the throne, he made sure to catch just one shallow, hitched rise and fall of her chest, if only to ensure it was still there. To ensure that they hadn't lost her while he was gone.

Her clothes and hair were still covered in combinations of dried blood and fresh blood, and some was still smeared on her skin. They hadn't yet had the chance to clean her up. Her right hand and fingers were crudely splinted, placed in a glove and tied with Ribbons to the curvature of some beast's claws that Kain couldn't identify. While he was gone, the other warriors must have made a call for Accessories. They had outfitted her with healing crystals, drops and gems of different colors for regeneration, safety rings and bells, Iifa leaves, and other knick knacks they had collected and used in battles. They displayed them around her and laid them on her, looking like offerings at a shrine to a fallen goddess.

He was reminded again of everyone's concern and generosity.

Cecil sniffed and blinked again, and Kain saw a fresh track of tears spill from his irritated eyes. He wanted to say something hopeful and encouraging, but looking at Cecil, he wouldn't believe him anyway. He wasn't even sure if he'd believe himself. Charisma and eloquence weren't his strong suit, and they both already knew her recovery would be nothing short of a miracle if it happened at all.

He settled on, " . . . You won’t lose her-"

"I can’t let her die here, Kain. Not in this conflict, and not like this."

"I understand, but you’re no help to her like this."

"Of course I am! If I can at least heal her enough to be Purified, then she’ll wake up next cycle and we can - we can start all over again. I could accept that as long as she returns to the cycle. I just have to make sure she does."

He couldn't immediately find anything to say that could even attempt to address the depth of emotion Cecil just reached. " . . . At least drink something. Eat something." He looked over his shoulder to Tidus and Yuna, and gave them a large nod. 'Food,' he mouthed to them, and they gladly took off towards the warriors' stock pile for food and rations they traded from Moogles. "And this is from Lighting." Without asking, he took one of the strings of beads in Cecil's hair, gently pushing them up the lock. He took the leftover string and looped it around the tip of the drop several times until he was sure it would hold and let it dangle there.

"Thank you," he whispered. And that seemed to break some of the spell. When Kain held out the little canteen, Cecil actually let go of Rosa's hand long enough to take it from him and take a long drink. His face scrunched up, throat probably raw and sore from crying and from whispering spells nonstop. Kain circled around to Rosa's right side and sat down near her hip. He reached over her and brushed a piece of her golden hair away from the bruise on her cheek. He looked at the wet, stained bandages and briefly thought to change them, if only to do something of value for her. He quickly rejected the thought. Though he knew basic first aid and battlefield care, he knew Lightning and Squall were far better equipped to care for her in conventional ways.

Cecil's words echoed in his head as he looked down at her. "If I can at least heal her enough to be Purified, then she'll wake up next cycle and we can start all over again." It made him embarrassed that he even conceptualized taking advantage of her lack of memory. "I can't lose her." Neither could he, in his own way. She didn't love him romantically, and probably never would. Despite that, a platonic love could be just as fulfilling as a romantic love, if he only thought it was. She loved him with all that she could with what she felt for him - and though it was not the way he wanted, he wished he had cherished it.

He had not appreciated it nearly enough, allowing his stubborn jealousy to impede in their relationship. Now, any kind of love they had to offer each other was gone for good. He was supposed to be hopeful, but he knew deep down that she was gone, and all of the sentiments with her.

He touched Rosa's wrist, keeping away from her injured hand. He would only be able to touch her until Shinryu came and whisked every trace of her away from the world and never returned her.

The weight sank into his heart, and painful emotion twinged. It radiated into his whole chest, and he couldn't stop his tears from finally welling up and spilling down his cheeks.

Chapter Text

On the fourth day into Rosa's recovery, Warrior prepared a trade mission in an attempt to instill an air of normalcy. When Rosa returned injured, he cancelled their mission schedule to allow everyone a brief rest. He understood now that it only afforded them nothing to do but stare at Cecil and Rosa and wait. Morale and energy had taken a large hit, and he knew they needed a distraction.

He waited until after Cosmos completed Rosa's daily healing so that they would know her efforts would be maintained, then he organized the small trade mission. As a courtesy, he disqualified Kain, Yuna, Lightning, Bartz, and Cecil (who would't have left her side for Chaos himself). He instead chose Squall, Tifa, Vaan, Zidane, Terra, Tidus, and the Onion Knight to take the items and Gil they had set aside days ago for buying and trading.

"We first need Items to replenish the stock," he told them when he had them all assembled. "Elixirs, Ethers, and Potions mostly. Buy as many as you can, and use the rest of the items and Gil to barter for some summonstone contracts. I'm planning for extra security around Sanctuary."

"I've got a couple summonstones," Tifa immediately offered. "I've got Titan, and Shiva. I've been saving Shiva, but I think she could really be used for this situation if we need her."

"Yeah, and I've got the Iron Giant," the Onion Knight said.

"A Moogle, a Chocobo, Ramuh, and Bahamut for me," Terra said.

"What?! How'd you get Bahamut?" Vaan asked, and Terra brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I found him," she said simply, "and asked him if he'd aid me. He said yes."

"You've always had a way with the Eidolons," Tifa said, and Terra nodded.

"Well, I do not want to ask you to relinquish them," Warrior said, rallying them back to the point. "If you acquired them for personal use, then they are yours."

Tifa held out her hand, and Titan's summonstone appeared. "You should take them anyway. They'd be of much better use for something as important as defending Sanctuary. Don't you guys think?"

They nodded, but Warrior didn't take Titan's stone from Tifa. "Thank you. If you choose to give them up, then leave them at our stock pile. Use the money to reimburse yourselves or get more for yourselves. Any questions for me before you depart?"

Nobody offered anything else, so he sent them on their way. He crossed Sanctuary and walked to where Cosmos stayed while Rosa took her spot on the throne, off to the side. She sat with her back against one of the crystals with her legs tucked under her, dress flared all around her like the petals of a flower. She had her eyes down, staring into the pool as he approached, and when she heard his steps splashing in the water she looked up and smiled. It was a strained smile. She rested between every healing session, but still looked tired. She had the slightest of dark rings under her eyes, and a troubled look to her deep, crystalline blue eyes.

"How do you feel?" Warrior asked, already knowing the answer.

"I am well," she said, but refused to look into his eyes. He knew she was not speaking the complete truth, but he didn't press her further. She was clearly physically tired and probably mentally tired as well. If he knew her as well as he thought he did, she was probably thinking about the future - now uncertain once again. They leaned so heavily on Rosa and now that she was gone, their future dangled precariously on the edge.

"Probably gone," he added, since there was a slim possibility she could be alright. Cosmos was hopeful for her, but Warrior felt it was more realistic to prepare for the worst. She told him there was a small shred of Rosa's life force holding on, but Warrior knew that if it wasn't enough for Shinryu, he wouldn't return her to them.

"What will you do if this turns out less than favorable?" Warrior asked her. "Will you call another White Mage?'

"I'll have to," she said, trailing her hand in the water and watching its wake. "But it'll have to wait. I used too much of my accumulated strength to heal Rosa."

That was why she didn't look rested, Warrior realized. She was pulling from the reserves that she'd been saving and had yet to replenish them. The situation was looking more and more distasteful, and Warrior couldn't keep the frown from his face. Cosmos' healing may very well end in naught, and if it did, they had nothing else. Warrior had no back up plan prepared. Neither did Cosmos. " . . . I suppose you should rest as much as possible."

Cosmos sighed. "Yes, I suppose I should. I was so close to calling another warrior."

"I know," Warrior said. "But for now, just recover, and we'll be able to do it again soon." They'd be back to square one: struggling, and without Rosa. As though she had never been called in the first place.

Chapter Text

"Rosa," her mother said, resting her hands on her shoulders. "I'm so proud of you!" She pulled her into a warm, tight hug. "A White Mage in record time!" When she released her, Rosa smiled back, but noticed something in her mother's eyes. Something unspoken and hesitant.

"What is it?" she asked. Her mother's usually open, kind, and supportive eyes were creased in what looked like worry. Rosa's nerves built slightly from the shift in tone.

"I want to ask you something."

"Anything."

"Why? Why did you decide to become a White Mage?"

"Why?" Rosa asked, almost incredulously. She forced a chuckle. "It's a little late to be asking me why, don't you think, mother? I've just completed training today! . . . You are still supportive, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! But I want to make sure you're doing this for you, and not for anyone else. You didn't become one just because of me, right?"

"No, of course not!" she replied, with absolute certainty. "Sure, you let me help you with healings, but that only allowed me to take an interest in it. I . . . I chose this because . . . " She paused, ensuring she came up with the right words to convey her emotions. "I genuinely enjoy helping people. When I see someone hurting, knowing I can help means a lot to me. It fills my heart with joy and fulfillment to offer relief to suffering bodies and ailing souls. I have a purpose when I can heal a wound or offer protection, and . . . there are those I want to protect in my life."

Her mother didn't immediately answer. Rosa waited patiently for her reply, hoping she said everything in the right way. She felt very strongly that kindness was owed to everyone, whether or not it was reciprocated. To heal was the physical representation of that kindness.

Her mother finally nodded. " . . . That's exactly the selfless answer I was hoping for. You have a kind, happy, gentle, and generous heart-"

"Just like you."

Her mother was far too humble to accept the compliment, and it was something Rosa learned from her. "Twice as much as me. Your genuine care for others will take you far as a White Mage. It will be hard. Some poeple's wounds are invisible in their hearts, and you already know that there are some who cannot be saved. But if you keep your values strong in your heart you will find those people to be few and far between." She paused again, and a knowing smile creeped up her face. Her eyes lit up. "Who is it for?" she asked coyly. "Is it Cecil?"

"Mother!" The hot blush covered her face, and she tried to cover her face to hide it. But at the very mention of him she smiled as well.

"Thought so," she said. "I can see the same love in your heart when you look at him. He looks at you the same way, you know. He loves you very much."

"Yes," Rosa said. "We tell each other almost every day."

"I did the same thing for your father - became a White Mage."

"I know. I care about him so much that I can't bear the thought of anything happening to him. I feel like I would do anything to keep him safe."

Chapter Text

If Rosa hadn't spoken to Cecil herself when she first awoke, she would have thought he never moved. When she and the other girls returned to the center of Sanctuary, he was perched exactly where he was before. He was knelt on the ground, weight rocked back on his heels, with his upper body resting on Cosmos' throne. His arms were crossed, and his head lay in the crook of his elbow.

She climbed the stairs and sat opposite him, watching his face. He never twitched, not even his eyelids. He was fast asleep once again.

People tended to look softer and more vulnerable in their sleep, but he looked the same. She knew, both from her memories and from how he treated her when she arrived in the war, how gentle and caring he truly was. It was his natural disposition. The sharp features that she couldn't recognize before - his bright eyes, pointed nose, and contoured jawline - now belied a sweet, honest, genuine nature that she remembered fondly, and the thoughts brought warmth to her heart and a smile to her face. His ability to care for others that he loved was a sentiment that they both shared, and she found everything about his personality terribly endearing now. Elegant, graceful, majestic, and modest. He sported all of them whether awake or asleep.

She almost lamented waking him again to talk to him. He deserved his rest, for how hard he worked to keep her alive, and he looked so completely exhausted and drained before. Already, the circles and bags under his eyes were beginning to fade with the little rest he caught.

She brushed some of the soft, silver strands of hair away from his face, and he stirred. He lifted his head, blinking hard against Sanctuary's bright light.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh! No, no, I'm glad you did," he said. He scrambled up to sit next to her on the throne. "I didn't expect you to be back so quickly. I, uh-" His eyes focused on her, all cleaned up and good as new, and he paused mid-sentence. " . . . I, um . . . " He blinked, and she watched his eyes flick to every part of her face. " . . . Um, I . . . " Her eyes, her lips, her hair. She smiled, tilting her head to politely say, 'Go on,' and it only flustered him more. His cheeks turned a violent shade of red that looked ridiculous against the normal paleness of his face. He shook his head. " . . . I'm sorry. I lost what I was going to say. I'm struck by you."

She couldn't help but laugh, and he chuckled in embarrassment. "Thank you. Do you like my hair?"

"I do! That looks like one of Tifa's braids. And I also recognize that outfit." he said, reaching out and grabbing the lace on one of her sleeves. He rubbed it between his fingers.

"I do as well! I wore this when we went on our adventures together. I'm so excited to tell you all that I remembered."

"I am, too. Do you still want me to get Kain?"

"I want you both to be here to hear it. There's a lot I need to say to him."

He stood up from the throne quickly and took a few steps, then his knees wobbled threateningly. He blinked rapidly and threw his arms out for balance. Rosa couldn't get up and circle the throne fast enough to help him, but luckily he recovered.

"We're both worse for wear," she teased, and he chuckled. She said, "I'll go to get Kain."

"No, I can fetch him," he said. "You shouldn't exert yourself."

"Me?" she asked incredulously. "You told me you barely slept since I was brought back here."

"I haven't, but I don't mind," he said. Before she could protest, he ran around Cosmos' throne, behind where she was facing, and she found Kain resting with his back against one of the crystals. Cecil knelt down next to him and touched his shoulder, and when Kain lifted his head, Cecil pointed back her way. He vaulted to his feet, and the two of the were back at her side in an instant.

She stood up from the throne and he bowed stiffly, but she rolled her eyes. "Come here," she said, and she opened her arms for him. He stepped into her and she hugged him as tightly as she could.

"How are you?" he asked her when they pulled away.

"I'm fine. A bit sore, but I'll be fine. I remembered so much about us. I wanted you both here so I could tell you." She gestured to the throne for all of them to sit, and when they took their positions with her in the middle, she launched into her retelling. "It's silly how so much of us is built on our experiences. The more I remember, the more I learn about myself. There are things I now know inherently to be true that I had no way of even conceptualizing before. And now that I remember more I realize I haven't been acting like myself.

"On the day I completed my Mage's training and was inducted into the Guild, my mother reminded me of why I became a White Mage, and of all the values I hold because of her. Charity, love, loyalty, and others. If I ever have the power to make a difference then I have an obligation to, and that obligation brings me great joy. I want to always be kind and respectful to others, and I know I owe you both a few apologies for falling short of that. Sorry," she said, even though she knew neither of them would hold her to it. "There are people I want to protect, and I know now that I should always give my best effort in that. I will, from now on, no matter where I am or for whom I fight." She gave a pointed glance to the two of them, so they would know it was them.

"My mother was my most avid supporter, and she would have loved and supported me even if I had chosen a different path. Come to think of it," she said, the sentiments suddenly appearing to her, "I think she wished I would have chosen something else towards the end. But she was still proud of me, and I am glad I chose to be a White Mage and live the life I chose. I feel grateful to her for being the one to instill those values in me."

"Lady Joanna was well-respected in and around Baron," Cecil said, "both for her talents and for her virtues. Before you, it was she who was the kingdom's premier healer."

" . . . She's still alive, isn't she?" she asked. Rosa felt as though she was still alive in her heart, but she asked quietly, afraid of the answer should it be negative. She wasn't sure if she would even be able to grieve properly if she hadn't remembered everything.

"Oh, yes!" Cecil said quickly. "Yes, when we went on our journey across the Overworld, she was well."

She sighed her relief. "I still don't know much about my father."

"He was a Dragoon," Kain said. "And was also well-respected. He was high up in the chain of command, only a few ranks below Commander." Kain paused. "He, unfortunately, fell in the service of the Kingdom." She felt a burst of sadness when he told her, but it felt faint and distance, like the wound was old.

"He died when I was very young, I think," she said. "I feel sad, but it feels . . . faded."

"Yes, we were children. Five or six, I think," Cecil said, and with it came a small flash of the funeral procession, with six Dragoons in full ceremonial armor hefting her father's wooden casket on their shoulders. Her mother, inconsolable, walked and wept next to him, occasionally peering down at him. Rosa was too short to see inside. Instead, she kept her eyes on Cecil, who was walking on pace with her but in the crowd. Luckily, the memory fizzled out quickly.

"I remember much of the time we spent together," she said. "We used to have this game, you and I. A question for a question. But they couldn't be normal questions. They had to be meaningful and comprehensive. Something about the most deep parts of our souls, so we could know each other." Kain looked away, and Rosa realized with a start that he must not have been in on their little game. Her heart sank as she realized she probably inadvertently hurt his feelings again. "And Kain, she tried to salvage before it was too late, "on days when Cecil was called away for the Red Wings, you and I used to . . . " She trailed off. No memories of just her and Kain alone had come back to her yet. She panicked. "Well, we would . . . " she stammered. She stared hard at where his eyes would be under the helmet and to her embarrassment, no new ones surfaced either. She wanted to make him feel included. "Help me remember," she said. "What would we do?"

Kain's back stiffened. He was clearly unprepared for the question. He took a few seconds to think it through, then chuckled. "I think I spent most of my time with you being scolded."

"Well, if you didn't do so many things that got the two of us in trouble, I wouldn't have-" she huffed impulsively, the words escaping like she had been ready to say it. She made a show of shaking her head, letting him know there were no negative feelings. "You told me one day as a joke that the library Tome Room was open to visitors and I believed you! I wanted to go in there to read, but got angry when you had to sneak us in through a window by Jumping up to it! The Tome Keeper caught us and chased us out, throwing Toad spells at our feet!" It was scary at the time, but she remembered it fondly. It was a funny story, and she told it more than once to make others laugh. "You constantly played pranks on the both of us!"

"They were well-mannered," he insisted lightly. "Cecil eventually found all of his left shoes."

"That was you?!" Cecil yelled, lowering his chin to stare hard at Kain. He scoffed, but the slight smile on his face ruined the show of his outrage. "I was punished for that! I showed up for training with one shoe on, and my commanding officer put me on gate guard that night with no shoes on!"

Rosa snorted, picturing Cecil standing guard at the castle gate in full plate armor from his head to only his knees. Only his shins and his bare, pale toes poked out and glared in the sun. She watched his face, and his mouth was locked open in shock, utterly betrayed. Kain smirked, one corner of his lips turned up, and his eyes flicked between the two of them. Rosa dissolved into laughter, curling protectively over her aching ribs. She quickly winced from the pain and was forced to cough, but when she recovered she still couldn't stop giggling.

"And you!" Cecil said, pointing at her. "You were involved! You were complicit!" Rosa glanced at Kain and the two of them laughed even harder. Cecil couldn't maintain the façade. He chuckled once, hanging his head. "I can't believe that was you making me suffer. I never suspected you two."

"Well, don't get too worked up about it," Rosa said. "In fact, you should be thanking us. A little bare-footed shame does wonders for one's character. I think it made you into the man you are today."

"Perhaps, if I hadn't been so bitter for so long!"

"Our friends used to prank each other, too," Rosa said. "Rydia and Edge fought constantly. Edward and Yang were often the peacekeepers of the group and would try to separate them or calm them down."

"Palom and Porom used to make me so angry," Cecil said. "They would fight about anything and everything. Just constantly in each other's faces. I had to remind myself that they were children to keep myself from yelling. If Porom was right, Palom would stop talking completely and wait for her to lower her guard. Then he'd get her back somehow. If Palom was right, Porom would find a way to tell him he was wrong. 'You cast that spell wrong!' 'You should know that if you're so smart!' What made me the most angry was that they would nearly trade blows and then be best friends again, less than two minutes later. They were good fun."

The conversation lulled, and they shared a comfortable silence. There was one more memory she knew she had to mention, but she struggled to come up with the most tactful way to do so. "I said earlier that I owe you both an apology. And I do. I'm sorry for treating you both so poorly. Especially you, Kain." She reached towards him and covered his hand with hers. "I remembered what happened in the Tower of Zot, right after you rescued me." His face crumpled and his shoulders slumped down, but she gave his hand a slight squeeze. "I remembered that you helped to rescue me, and I recalled how grateful I was, and how hurt you were by . . . everything that happened. I know I forgave you - you were our friend, and I wanted nothing to disrupt that. All I wanted was for you to fight alongside us again, and I harbored no ill feelings towards you then. None at all. What I said before, the way I drudged up old wounds like I did . . . I had limited memories, but I should never have done that to you. That's not how I felt when it actually happened, and that's not how I feel now. That's not the person I am, and I hope you can forgive me. I promise, I'll never do that to you again."

She was staring down at his chest plate, but she forced herself to stare up into his face despite her embarrassment. He took a short moment, unmoving, and her heart jolted at the thought that he wouldn't forgive her. Then, after a moment, he turned his hand over and squeezed her hand back. "Just as you forgave me, in the same spirit I forgive you. I know you did not know what you were doing, and I would not want something so insignificant to come between our friendship."

"Thank you."

Out of the corner of her eye, Cosmos raised a hand to signal her approach. At Rosa's nod, she and her guards crossed the water again towards them. The rest of the warriors took that as their cue, and approached as well.

"Welcome back," Cosmos said, and Rosa could tell how tired she was as well. She had a muted sense to her powerful gold aura, as though she had poured some of her very essence into a strenuous task. Rosa knew instantly that Cosmos had used much of her power to heal her.

Cosmos smiled, with a genuine light in her eyes. "I'm so pleased to see you awake."

"Yes, awake by your providence," Rosa said, staring into her crystalline blue eyes. "Thank you," she said, clasping her hands over her heart and bowing her head to show her sincerity.

"Not just mine," Cosmos said. "Cecil stayed by your side for the duration of your peril."

"I know," she said, and she reached for his hand. He clasped his other hand over hers and squeezed it tightly. Cosmos beamed down at the two of them, and Rosa remembered that they had commandeered her throne. "Oh!" she startled as soon as she realized it. "I'm sorry. Would you like to sit?" She pushed herself off the throne with a quiet groan, working out the stiffness of her joints.

"No, thank you."

"Cosmos and I wanted to ask you about some details of the attack so that we could start to develop a plan moving forward," Firion said.

Kain crossed his arms. "I think, based on the frequency and ferocity of the Emperor's attacks, that we need more than a mere schedule change. Another course of action entirely-"

"And that will come," Cosmos said. "I previously wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with him, but it is now something I am open to considering." Rosa's eyes widened, and she stared at Cosmos. It seemed odd and out of character for Cosmos to launch the same vicious attack that had almost killed her. "I do not want a drawn-out or cruel attack," Cosmos said at Rosa's quick glance. "I will not support or condone the same violence that he inflicted upon you in this attack. But we've suffered enough by his hand. We very nearly lost you, and I expended too much of my power to revive you. If the Emperor persists, it will only grow more difficult to keep you safe."

"Actually, he had help this time," Rosa said. "I was fighting in the Fens with my party, and I chased a manikin behind some rocks to a little inlet. That manikin and two others cut off my escape, and I took some damage. I was thrown over the edge of the path and over the water, and the next thing I knew I was being tossed through a portal."

"Where did you go?" Firion asked.

"I woke up in a dark world. The floor was glass, or maybe crystal, and I could see stars through it. There was a large orange crystal hanging from the ceiling that lit up the entire world." Firion nodded, and she knew that he recognized the place she was describing. "Three warriors appeared, and from their talking I found out they called themselves Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath. We fought for a bit, I took some blows, and . . . " She could only remember bits and pieces. She remembered her heart beating out of her chest. The panic and the tears that nearly fell as she waited in suspense for someone to show themselves. A harsh Thundaga that contorted her muscles, the Shell she used to break some kind of hold over her, a back-handed slap that stung her cheeks. The rest was a blank slate. " . . . I don't remember anything after that. How did I get out? I remember seeing someone appear before I lost consciousness."

"Golbez saved you," Cecil said. "He held them off so that I could get you out of there." Cecil craned his neck and peered over his shoulder, pointing somewhere across the room. Rosa followed his gaze to see a familiar set of jet-black plate armor, lurking timidly at a distance. Close enough to hear the discussion, but far enough away to not be noticed. She beckoned him over, and Golbez stiffened, standing up straight. His hand immediately went to his side, and as he lumbered forward she realized he was limping heavily, covering a wound with his hand.

"Are you wounded?" Rosa asked him.

" . . . N-" he began, and then paused. "As I said before, it was a small price to pay for your safety."

"Did no one offer to heal you?" Rosa asked.

"I refused. I did not want to take up any more time or magic than necessary. Your condition was far more dire than mine. I have more than enough potions and supplies to care for myself in the Realm of Discord, but I wanted to see to it first that you recovered. I'm glad you are well."

With that, Golbez turned and began to slowly trudge to the edge of Sanctuary.

"Wait! You're leaving?" Cecil asked, launching to his feet.

Golbez chuckled lightly, cutting the sound off before it turned into a groan. "Would you have me stay here any longer?"

"Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath will be after you for saving me," Rosa said. "And, perhaps, the Emperor. You'd be safer here. I can heal you, too."

"Safer?" he repeated. "You think remaining here will keep them from hunting me down? No, the only thing I would do is lead them to your doorstep. . . . To not return would be worse. I'll not be seen by them as a coward. A fool, perhaps, stubborn in morals, but not a coward."

"But-" Cecil tried, but Golbez cut him off.

"Cecil, I condemned myself from the moment I raised a spell against a fellow warrior. I am prepared to suffer whatever consequences Chaos deems necessary - I assume he's heard by now of what I've done. I do not regret my actions. You will not sway my judgment."

"At least let me heal you," Rosa suggested, one last time.

"No. You and Cosmos both need to save your strength. As I said before, I have enough Items in my personal stock to care for myself."

"How can I repay your kindness?" Cosmos asked, but Golbez grabbed the edge of his cape and swirled it around himself, disappearing from Sanctuary.

"So . . . was the Emperor there, Rosa?"

"Firion, you take yourself far too seriously," Rosa sighed.

"Only when the Emperor's involved."

Rosa tried to recall if the Emperor ever made an appearance at the end of the fight. She was certain he hadn't been there at the start, but she faded fast in the last few moments. "I don't know. I don't think so, but my memory is hazy. Did Golbez say anything about what happened once he showed up?"

"Golbez said he didn't see the Emperor either, but he arrived late," Cecil said.

"He most likely wasn't there at all, then," Firion said. "It would align more with his normal dealings if he wasn't there. Remember how I said before, after his first attack, that he never makes the same mistake twice? Instead of risking another direct failure, he most likely hired Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath to do it for him."

There was a small snort from somewhere in the group, and Vaan poked his head up from behind Cosmos. "Haha, the Emperor's gonna flip his lid if he finds out that she's alright, won't he?"

"If we're launching a direct attack as you say," Kain said, "he won't live long enough to find out." He looked directly at Cosmos. "I'm going on this mission." He said it like a challenge, as though she had any reason to object and he was already ready to fight anyone about it. "Rosa, let me fight for you. I owe you as much."

She smiled to herself at the irony of him asking her that. In her memory, after his betrayal, he didn't find himself worthy to be in their party. She and Cecil both had to beg him to team up with them again. "You owe me nothing. But I'd be honored nonetheless. I can only assume that you'll be going to valiantly avenge my untimely demise as well," she said, looking to Cecil.

He laughed. "Absolutely. I would consider it the highest privilege and honor."

"Not yet," Cosmos said. "This is not an attack that will happen in the near future."

Kain's head snapped to the side and he shared an incredulous look with Cecil. "What?" he asked. "But you said yourself that we've suffered enough by his hand. We need to act fast, before he-"

"Yes, we do, but I want to discuss it with Warrior first," she said. "I will not send warriors out on such a brash offensive mission without first considering the consequences."

Cecil bristled, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders to Cosmos as though to stand firm against her reasoning despite not verbally fighting it. His jaw clenched and his eyes flicked to Kain, and something there in the royal blue color changed. A spark of resolution that Rosa knew well glinted there, and he raised his chin as though asking Kain a question. Kain casually tossed his head back and the corners of his mouth flattened into his own resolved look. They shared the same opinions on Cosmos' order, and Rosa knew they had just resolved to fight it as much as they could. They had just agreed not to fight it at that moment. Rosa looked back to Cosmos and Firion, and from their faces she knew they had seen it too. But Cosmos dutifully ignored it, lowering her chin in her own form of a challenge. 'You will not change my mind,' the look said, 'but you're certainly welcome to try.'

She would not hear their protests until Warrior returned.

"Man. This is gonna make for a great story!" Zidane said. "I can see it now, on the stage of the Prima Vista, the most premier stage in all of Alexandria! Brave knights, charging into battle for their woman! An Emperor, slain in the name of love," he said, clasping his hands over his heart. He suddenly clenched his fist and yelled, "And retribution! The fair maiden," he emphasized, winking to Rosa. She rolled her eyes. "The fair maiden waves her token at their figures, growing smaller on the horizon as they leave for battle. I, of course, play the brave knight who comes away victorious and wins the heart of the maiden," he added at the end.

"Zidane, if you produce that play, I'll gladly play a part," Rosa said.

"Okay," Vaan said. "But you have to play the maiden, Rosa," Vaan said as though it wasn't obvious. Rosa paused, thinking he was only joking and waiting for a punchline. But when none came and they all sat in awkward silence, she cleared her throat.

"Yes. Thank you, Vaan. Anyway, when were you planning on launching this attack?"

"We first want to strategize with Warrior," Cosmos said. "I value his insight on a plan of attack, and potential challenges he may foresee. In the meantime, Rosa-"

"I know. I wasn't planning on leaving Sanctuary by myself any time soon."

"Whoever goes and messes the Emperor up has to bring back something to give to our fair maiden," Zidane said, still stuck somewhere between his play and the discussion. "A trophy, or a token. Oh! His staff! Bring back his staff, someone."

" . . . Could Rosa use it?" Firion asked, already thinking of the practicalities. "It's probably tainted with bad magic."

"No, no, not to use. As a trophy! We can mount it in Sanctuary or something."

"Zidane, we have to defeat him first," Cecil said. His tone changed suddenly, adopting a dark, almost antagonistic sound. "This will be dangerous, and we can't plan too far ahead."  He shared another long, meaningful glance with Kain, and then the conversation died completely.

Chapter Text

Emperor, go and set traps around the Forsaken Lands Gateway, which has been dead and disused for three cycles.

Go and collect a summonstone that we already negotiated for from the Moogle near Mount Gulg.

Go stand guard over territory that has been solidly in Chaos' possession for several cycles.

It was grunt work. They had the Emperor doing grunt work.

And he knew why.

The Emperor could trace the origins of their suspicions back to his involvement in the entire war, since his first day in the 2nd cycle.

Garland was the first warrior that Chaos ever "called" - if his existence in this endless loop could be referred to as a "calling". He fought fiercely against Cosmos' Warrior of Light, but could only force an impasse between them. When Cosmos called three more warriors in rapid succession at the turn of the 2nd, Garland needed assistance.

The Emperor was the obvious next choice. His power was beyond question after splitting his soul to conquer both heaven and hell, ascending over them to rule them both. He already knew the nuances of war and of peace; when to lead and when to command; how to bluff and how to strategize. It all came naturally with sovereignty. Back then, Chaos revered his abilities and trusted him implicitly. He allowed the Emperor unlimited freedom to do all that he had to do to defeat a force they were overmatched against. It required immense strategy, one of the Emperor's gifts. They retreated back while the Emperor watched Cosmos' pawns, noted their comings and goings, analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, formed offensive plans, and handed out orders - even to Garland.

Chaos even entrusted him with analyzing his own weakness as well and formulating defensive plans. It was far more difficult then, back when warriors were passionate about the fight and the battles were over every other Gateway. Fueled by personal vendettas and events long forgotten by the newly called warriors. When carnage reigned over the land and the entire map was destroyed before it all reset.

The simple answer was that Garland and Chaos were keeping him busy because they were afraid of him. They were afraid of his mind for strategy and for the plans he could possibly make. And they knew he was planning something, as Chaos and Garland both so kindly pointed out on two different occasions. Because they knew he was too valuable to dispose of but too dangerous to be left alone they kept him around, but disallowed him a single second to himself to plan.

He was now on his fifth, perhaps his sixth "mission", as they called it, and he had yet to have a break. The moment he completed a task they had him report directly to them. They confirmed it was finished, then they sent him on another without any time to rest in between. Every single menial task they set for him, he had completed no matter how beneath him it was.

Their little plan was working. The Emperor had appeased Garland, and by extension Chaos, and in doing so he hadn’t completed a shred of work to further his own plans of cyclic control.

On the third or fourth mission, he had tried to plead his case to them, reminding them he was better suited for tasks of higher importance and intellect. He tried to reference the Evacuation of the 3rd Cycle. When Garland, the Emperor, the Cloud of Darkness, and Goblez wound up trapped behind enemy lines, deep within Cosmos' territory. They launched an attack at the Emperor's suggestion on the goddess and on her four warriors: the Warrior of Light, Firion, the Onion Knight, and Cecil. They were surprised to find that Cosmos had called two more warriors they weren't prepared to face. They were quickly overtaken and were run out of Sanctuary but couldn't teleport out of Cornelia - Cosmos' warriors had sabotaged the Teleport Stone and locked down Gateways and trapped them there. The Emperor adapted immediately. He used his powers to hide and reveal them as they traveled around Cornelia. He feinted attacks at Gateways to draw Cosmos' warriors out in a certain direction then led the Chaos warriors the other way. He chanced across Chaos' Gateways and holed them up for hours to rest, setting up traps and defending them there. It took cyclic days for them to make their way back to Chaos' territory and they had barely made it. The Warrior of Light and Cecil nearly ran the four of them down east of Mount Gulg, but it was during a time they still respected the borders to the Realm of Discord. They stopped on the border line and refused to cross into Chaos' territory without Cosmos' permission.

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

Despite all he had done for Chaos and for Garland, he wasn't allowed a single slip up or a falter. He couldn't shirk the responsibilities and work on his own plans despite how much they should have owed him. As Garland reminded him countless times, he was poised and ready to dispose of the Emperor at a moment's notice, with Chaos' approval.

Then again, he would think in retrospection, perhaps it was just as well he was out and about the Realm of Discord. He may not have run into Cecil and Kain otherwise.

He was on his way to the empty Dreams of a Flying Castle Gateway in the Mirage Sandsea when they showed up. Cecil's stride was aggressive. His shoulders were back and perfectly aligned, but he had his spear in his hands and was nearly stomping across the sand. His eyes were bright and alert, with an uncharacteristic rage lighting the blue color of his irises. And there was something else there, too. Something deep-set and exhausted that in no way diminished the clear anger there. Kain was less forceful, but was clearly on guard and poised for an attack like a cat curling up to pounce.

A sort of bubbling joy fluttered the Emperor's heart in his chest at the sight of them. They were looking for him to avenge their dear Rosa, no doubt. His fingers twitched and a smile crept up his face in the anticipation of having to defend himself from this particular ire. He couldn't wait to see the pain on their faces, or the ferocity with which they would go after him. He could already picture toying with them, egging them on and stringing the battle out while they slowly crumbled under the emotion of her death. He regretted not being the one to kill her himself. He almost wished he had a taunting piece to use against them - her breath leave her, or perhaps watching the light fade in her eyes and the warmth of her body bleed out.

He thought about ignoring them for now and hiding for a bit to watch as they stomped and fumed and huffed through the sand, letting their anger run its course while they looked and looked and never found him. Unfortunately, there weren't many places to take cover in the Sandsea, and he couldn't put up a shade in time. He was spotted quickly and Kain alerted Cecil, pointing over to him.

The Emperor let them approach. He quickly analyzed the fight in front of him. He noted Cecil's speed coupled with Kain's outright strength. Both had the experience and capacity to be strategic if they so chose, but their actual attacks and fighting styles were straight-forward and solid. Misdirection and cunning would be his key to victory against them. He could toy with them as he intended and tire them both out. He could take them on and most certainly win.

He drew his staff from the air and it appeared in his hands. He twirled it and smirked at them in a way he knew was perfectly smug. "I know why you're here," he hoped it said, "and I'm not afraid to do to you what I did to her." He wanted them to know he wasn't afraid of their challenge. They slowed and stopped, leaving about twenty feet between them. Just to bother them before they fought, the Emperor thought of a quick taunt.

"My sincere condolences on your loss. I heard your girl Rosa fell not long ago. I assume you're here for revenge-"

"You need better informants!" Cecil yelled across the dunes. "And better assassins as well, it seems! She survived. Barely, I'll admit, but she survived."

The Emperor scanned Cecil's face and eyes for the tell. For the proof that he was lying. In Cecil's eyes there was the rage that the Emperor reveled in, but as he looked closer the rage was proud, clear, and sharp. He couldn't sense a lie in Cecil's words. He even carried himself with the same pride and conviction in his words.

"You jest-" the Emperor spat.

"I promise you," Cecil growled so quickly he nearly cut the Emperor off, "I promise you if she had died, that smile would have been your last."

All the excitable energy in the Emperor's heart seemed to bleed out as Cecil's words sank in. In its place, a feeling of exhaustion burdened him, weighing down on his shoulders. He was struck for a loss of words.

He had gained so much freedom from knowing she was gone. Knowing she was the only one who could encounter and destroy him before he accomplished his goals, and knowing she was unable to do so ever again was an extreme relief to him. She had stopped occupying his fears at all. The knowledge that she was still alive was so instantaneously draining, all the will to engage Cecil and Kain on her behalf again flooded out of him.

He would have to readjust his entire focus to accommodate her once again. He'd have to try to fit her into his planning in between the menial tasks Garland and Chaos set for him. The thought of it was so undesirable to him. He let Garland and Chaos distract him for far too long already. His plans were damned if she were to get in his way again.

That, and Ultimecia was another matter entirely.

He let his shoulders deflate, and Cecil caught the action.

"Not expecting that?" he taunted right back.

The Emperor restored his façade as quickly as he could, hardening his eyes and setting his jaw in his usual mask of confidence and control. He had nothing left to be confident in, except that he could still win this fight. He clenched his staff in his fist.

"Then surely if she is alive, you have no reason to seek me out! You're smart enough to know that attacking me is unwise." Perhaps he could avoid the fight altogether if he made them see how outmatched they were. His exhaustion turned to rage that manifested in his clenched fist as the purple power he commanded. It crackled and grew in his hands forcing them to tremble, and he shot an orb of power to the side that exploded in his version of a display of power.

"I did not come here to fight you," Cecil said evenly, suddenly cool. "I came to level a threat."

The Emperor saw Kain's head snap in Cecil's direction. From the way his frown deepened, that wasn't what he and Cecil had discussed before coming after him.

"I'm here to tell you," Cecil continued, ignoring Kain's reaction, "that if you attack her again, or target her again, or come within any distance of her, if you even look at her, if you so much as sniff in her direction, we will hunt you down and we will destroy you. We will end you just like you tried to do to her. And where you failed, we will not."

The Emperor watched Cecil's body language change with each level of the threat. His shoulders rolled forward and he bristled, looking more like an enraged animal than a man. His fists clenched so hard they shook and his voice trembled, strained through his clenched teeth and set jaw. Cecil lowered his head, glaring up at the Emperor so he could see every rage in his eyes.

"Clearly," the Emperor said, blinking methodically and shaking his head. He made a show of tossing his head once and lifting his brow, staring down his nose at Cecil. "You mean what you say." He lightened his tone into a haughty, belittling pitch and let Cecil know how beneath him he thought the threat was. How unafraid he was. "Is that all?"

Kain inched forward, drawing level with Cecil. He kept his eyes on the Emperor while he said, "We're not going to destroy him now? Isn't that why we came here?"

" . . . No. Not now." The way Cecil said it, while staring the Emperor in the eye, sounded like they were going to do it later. Cosmos and her warriors were planning his demise just as Garland and Chaos were.

"That's not what we planned."

"I know."

Kain scoffed and twirled his lance back to a ready position. "No. I will not let him go."

The Emperor listened to their exchange, and thought to rile them up a bit. "Of course. How could you live with yourself if you did? How could you return to your dear, dear Rosa, look her in the eye, and tell her you let me walk away?"

The taunt was enough for Kain. He charged forward, crossing the distance to the Emperor with his long, deliberate stride. The Emperor waited until he was close enough to strike, drawing back his lance, before he teleported ten feet away, to his left. Kain stumbled through the lunge and stabbed his lance down into the sand, using it to swing himself around and change direction. He charged at the Emperor again.

He created a purple hexagonal Protect barrier that glowed brightly around his form. Kain landed an overhand swing that clanged off the panels, then fell harmlessly away. He recovered, jabbing for the Emperor's chest. He lifted his hand, and when the lance stopped at the barrier again, he reached through and grabbed the lance. He tugged Kain forward until their noses were almost touching through the barrier.

"I have no more interest in fighting you. Leave now, and I will-"

Cecil half-heartedly ran forward, if only to help Kain. The Emperor released Kain's weapon and the two of them swung together, a streak of scorching-hot white light arcing after Cecil's blade. The Emperor held his staff across his body and blocked them both overhead. He pushed them to the side and teleported a safe distance away.

Kain was very serious about the fight, and would probably run him down if he could. Cecil and the Emperor seemed to be in agreement: a fight at this moment was inopportune. For the Emperor, he wasn't emotionally invested any more. He wanted nothing more to do with Rosa or her retinue or entourage or whatever Cecil and Kain wanted to call themselves. For Cecil, it was a matter of principle. If the Emperor had to guess at the sentiments, this possibly felt cold-blooded to him. He hoped to play on those emotions.

Cecil ran forward while Kain crouched down and Jumped directly overhead. The Emperor planted a Dreary Cell on the ground in Cecil's way to halt him, and it worked. Cecil ground to a halt in the sand, kicking up a bit when his armored feet sank. The Emperor turned his attention to Kain, descending down on him at murderous speed. Lance lifted over his head and pointed down in front of him, straight for the Emperor. From the way his teeth were grit, clenched in a silent snarl, he was intent on ending the Emperor.

The Emperor once again waited until Kain was close enough, then deposited a few blinking purple and yellow bombs directly in his path. Kain's eyes widened and the Emperor thought he saw him lean back and away from them. He drew his arm back and hurled his lance down at the Emperor, through the bombs. They detonated each other from the impact of the weapon, and though the Emperor deflected it easily enough, Kain finished his descent. He planted his feet on either side of the Emperor's chest, and with the full power of his legs kicked the Emperor back into the sand. The Emperor's back slammed against the ground and he slid backwards, picking up sand that grated on his skin and gummed in his hair. He clamored to his feet while Kain searched around for his lance. When he found it picked it up out of the sand and faced the Emperor again for another round.

Kain was far more serious about this fight than the Emperor could afford. He quickly thought to stall him, long enough to give him a chance to leave safely. He threw his palms out in a gesture of peace, letting his staff float behind him. "Alright, alright! Wait!" he pleaded.

"Give me a reason not to destroy you!" Kain yelled back, brandishing his lance. He twirled it twice around him and held it poised for the Emperor again. The Emperor ignored him, glancing instead to Cecil to manipulate the emotions he identified earlier.

"Cecil! You wouldn't be so cruel as to kill an unprepared man in cold blood!"

"Cold blood-" Cecil hissed, forcing an incredulous chuckle.

"Yes. Think on that poor, defenseless village you destroyed!" The knowledge he had learned during his and Rosa's sparring match emerged suddenly from the deepest parts of his mental reserve. He silently thanked himself for thinking well enough ahead to save the information. "Think on your vows as a Paladin-"

"Do not seek to play on my sentiments! You don't know what it means to be a Paladin. We act on what is just, and the situation calls for your demise!!"

It was the Emperor's turn to laugh. "Two against one?! That's hardly fair-"

"I think Rosa would agree it's hardly fair! I think you even sent three to try and destroy her!"

The Emperor cursed the hole he had talked himself into, and couldn't immediately think of anything to talk his way out with. Instead, he changed tactics and went for another half-honest approach that could stun them out of their anger and earn him some time. Cecil would appreciate an honest man.

" . . . I cannot deny that I was the one to orchestrate the attack on her." He stared into Cecil's face, into the deep blue. He softened his eyes as much as he could. "I was . . . unreasonable." He sighed, letting his staff fall to the sand behind him. It was a small gesture and he could easily call it back, but if it made him look less threatening, he would sacrifice it for the time being. "When Ultimecia informed me, when I thought her dead almost immediately after, I thought to be done with her entirely. I had no additional plans to attack her again or send others after her. If it would abate your anger, I can assure you now that I have far, far more important things to do now that I've abandoned the very thought of her."

Cecil squinted his eyes, no doubt trying to gauge if the Emperor was lying. There was nothing for the Emperor to hide, and he hoped he translated that into his own gaze.

"I'd prefer not to fight you. But if it would appease you, then destroy me. Kill me, as you did the villagers! I only warn you I will not go willingly."

Cecil paused for a long time. After what seemed like forever, he sighed. " . . . I did not come here to kill you."

"Cecil," Kain hissed. "Finish him! For Rosa!"

"No. His fate is sealed," Cecil whispered, though the Emperor heard it still. "Cosmos and Warrior are already planning it. I'm only trying to protect her in the meantime. But let me repeat," he said aloud, shouting it to the Emperor, "if you even look at her again-"

"I understand. I will not pursue her further, I give you my word. Just know this: if the natural turns of the cycle lead us to cross paths . . . I will not pledge the pacifist. Only then will you see me raise a hand against her again."

"I would expect no less," Cecil said dully. "Leave, now."

"Ah," the Emperor thought. "There is His Majesty the King. It is you who trespasses in the Realm of Discord. But I will do as you ask."

The Emperor disappeared from the Sandsea, having left his task incomplete. Despite that, he couldn't muster up the energy to care about Chaos or Garland at the moment. He was still reeling from the news that Rosa was alive and well, and able to get in his way once again. He also knew it meant that Ultimecia had betrayed him. For some reason, she thought to lie to him about her. He would have to concern himself with that as well.

He would not let her transgression slide.

Chapter Text

Rosa saw Cecil and Kain return to Sanctuary with a different energy than when they left. Kain's dark purple aura pulsed vehemently, and his rage was nearly tangible. It swirled and festered to where she could see it from across Sanctuary. Cecil's looked subdued, like he was so deep in thought contemplating something that he wouldn't be roused for anything. They weren't speaking to each other and to her it looked like they had an argument.

Out of curiosity, Rosa stood and walked over to them to greet them. She forced a smile even though she knew something was terribly wrong between them. "Welcome back!"

"Rosa," Cecil said dully, nodding his head to her in acknowledgment. He, at least, stopped in front of her. Kain kept walking past her.

"Where did you go?" she asked. "Cosmos wanted you both here with Warrior to plan our attack on the Emperor but you both left so quickly."

Kain snorted and threw his lance down into the pool. It clanged off the crystal and splashed water a foot into the air. "Ask Cecil," he said, pointing towards him.

Cecil frowned and rolled his eyes, turning his sour gaze away from Kain. He kept his eyes on the water.

"What? What happened?"

"Nothing," Cecil muttered.

Rosa blinked, flicking her gaze between the two of them despite the fact that neither would see her do it. There was something wrong with them, and she knew there was something wrong since before they left. When they reacted so negatively to Cosmos' order-

"This is about the Emperor, isn't it?"

Cecil winced as though he was in pain, but still refused to look up at her. Kain didn't answer either. He was working on his gauntlets, pulling at the clasps and tearing them off his arms.

"You two went after him, didn't you?"

After an eternity, Cecil sighed and lifted his gaze to meet hers. She saw the unspoken, half-ashamed 'yes' there in his still exhausted eyes.

Rosa wasn't immediately sure how to react. Her first reaction was mild anger. Not because they disobeyed Cosmos - she could understand. She remembered sneaking onto the Lunar Whale to accompany Cecil in saving the world. Cecil must have thought it important or he wouldn't have defied her. Kain would have done it for her sake as well. Her anger stemmed from them putting themselves in danger so recklessly when the reason Cosmos forbade them was to make a plan, to avoid putting themselves in danger. Her second reaction was relief that they survived the attack and seemed unharmed. Her third and final reaction was . . . apathy. She could say with cold certainty that she would not miss the Emperor, and his demise left no remorse whatsoever. At least the Emperor was a danger she no longer had to calculate for.

"Well . . . I can't say I'm angry about what you did - or your reason for doing it. I should probably thank you for taking care of him for me-"

Kain shook his head, slamming his gauntlets to the ground too. "We didn't."

His venom towards her made her instantly defensive. "I don't know what that means, Kain. And whatever you're mad about, I can assure you it has little to do with me. Direct your anger elsewhere-"

"Ask Cecil what it means," he said again, rolling through her deflection.

"What is he talking about?" she huffed, turning to Cecil.

"We discussed attacking the Emperor before we left, Kain and I," Cecil said. "But I ultimately decided against it."

"Oh," she said, unsure of what else to say. "Why?"

"Well . . . because I realized we were already planning his demise with Cosmos. I was only trying to keep him away from you in the meantime. Not to mention I have a moral compass that I adhere to." He looked at Kain when he said the last line. When Kain lifted his head and caught Cecil's eye he sneered and turned his back to them, working on the clasps of his chestplate. Cecil turned his gaze back to Rosa and his eyebrows were pulled together in concern, as though he was about to implore her to understand. Like he was about to plead his case before a judge. "I'm sorry-"

Rosa stopped him before he could. "It's alright! I know how important it is to you to do the right thing. I admire that you adhere to it even when it could be a detriment."

"You always take his side, don't you?" Kain said. "Don't you see that we had an opportunity to end him, and you didn't take it? He let him go, Rosa! Don't you want him gone?"

"Of course I do, but he's right! I didn't ask you to do it in this way! Not when Warrior, Cosmos, and Firion are actually planning the exact same thing, which would give all of us an edge. Of course I want him gone, but I'll not get angry over you both essentially doing us a favor on your own that went awry!" Rosa took a deep breath to calm herself down. She was far from angry, but she didn't want to fuel either of their fire by reacting poorly. "When we decide on a course of action - all of us - then all bets are off." She slashed her hand through the air to emphasize her point. "No holds should be barred against him. We will deliver his retribution without question then. That was always the plan."

"Be sure to keep Cecil away, lest he spare him again."

Cecil's defeated expression darkened to anger, and his shoulders tensed. "Have care how you speak of my graces, Kain. My willingness to forgive should not be something you question."

"Cecil, stop!" Rosa said. "That's not fair." She was surprised Cecil would stoop so low as to bring it up to Kain, but she supposed they were angry with each other and saying things they both didn't mean.

He paused. "You're right. I'm sorry, Kain."

He shook his head, and Rosa wasn't sure if he was accepting the apology or blowing it off. "I did it for you, Rosa, awry or not."

He gathered up the pieces of his armor and stormed away before anyone could say anything more. 

Chapter Text

"You went after him, even when you knew what we were going to do?" Firion demanded. His hand flew to the hilt of his sword like he wanted to draw it, and attack the Emperor for them. Instead he composed himself, but pushed it back and forth against the straps, flexing out his anger.

Firion was the most upset compared to Warrior and Cosmos. Though, Rosa realized, Warrior's anger was a close second. Despite maintaining careful control of his body language, his face was angry. His jaw was set and tense, eyebrows were furrowed down, and Rosa could see the gears turning behind his eyes, processing Cecil's news.

"It wasn't to attack him," Cecil repeated for the hundredth time. "I only warned him to stay away from Rosa."

"By saying what?" she prompted. "I want to know everything that was said. What you said, what Kain said, and especially what the Emperor said."

Cecil blinked once, methodically, restraining his own frustration. He shook his head, as though it was obvious. "I said just that: stay away from her," he enunciated, his tone changing into something tense.

"Verbatim?"

"No, not verbatim. It's not that important-"

"But it is," Cosmos insisted. "He may have let something slip about his future plans in the verbiage."

Cecil sighed, throwing his hand out. "We tracked him to the Sandsea. We saw him, and we faced each other. He tried to taunt me, and said he was sorry for our loss - meaning you, Rosa." He paused, letting out a deep breath and looking down at the water. He shuffled some with his feet. " . . . Please," he said, looking up at Rosa. " . . . I don't . . . feel right about it." He turned his gaze to Warrior and Cosmos. "Please excuse me . . . "

It was a half-hearted attempt to leave without Cosmos' permission. Rosa's heart twinged at the propriety of his plea. Like a revelation, the signs of his discomfort were suddenly so clear to her. He could barely look them in the eyes. He kept his head down, allowing his hair to spill partly over his face. He had his hands clasped in front of himself but was wringing them so hard she swore she heard some of his knuckles crack. He looked like a child being reprimanded. She hadn't seen such a visceral reaction from him since Mist Village. She should've seen the signs, and known them to be what they were since before she dragged him over to talk to them. She suddenly understood how bad he felt about the situation, and that she was putting him in a terrible position. She was partly responsible for making him feel worse, dragging him in front of Cosmos and Warrior to be berated.

She decided that his emotions were more important to her than any information about the Emperor.

She quickly relented. "I'm so sorry. I didn't understand that you felt so strongly about this. Let's go. We can discuss it later." She made sure to lean down and catch his eye, placing her apology there. She reached out and placed one arm around his back, then she stared up at Warrior, Firion, and Cosmos, hoping they understood. She moved to lead him from them, vowing to ask him later, when he was feeling ready.

Firion looked to Warrior and Cosmos as well, probably seeking their opinion while he shared his. He softened his voice and said, " . . . Forgive me, Cecil, but I'd really like to know what was said."

Rosa pressed her hand into Cecil's back, a firm affirmation that she was there and on his side. " . . . We can discuss it later."

"Stay," Warrior growled. It was clear he didn't care for Cecil or Rosa's pleas. Rosa understood his position as well. He was meant to lead this group, and they had information that could be helpful. "We will discuss it now." It was already given as an order, but Warrior still deferred to Cosmos. "Will we not?" At her nod, he asked, "After the Emperor offered his condolences, did you tell the Emperor that she wasn't fallen?"

"I did."

"How did he react?"

"From his reaction, he truly wasn't expecting it. He paused for nearly a whole minute, and I could tell he was processing the information. I asked him if he wasn't expecting the news. He responded, enraged, that surely if she was alive then we had no more reason to seek him out."

Rosa no longer wanted to contribute to his interrogation, but she couldn't stop the question from tumbling from her mouth. "How did he look when you told him? What did he do?"

"He was shocked, mostly. His eyes grew wide and he scrutinized me, no doubt trying to detect a lie. Then he . . . just deflated. He didn't say anything more, but it was like a large burden was placed upon him."

Rosa laughed dryly. "Well. That is a burden I am happy to be."

"What then?" Firion prompted.

"That was when I told him that I wasn't there to fight him, I was there to level a threat."

"Of course," Warrior noted dully. "After we agreed to devise a plan against him, and Cosmos disallowed you from interacting with him. And what was the threat?"

"I told him . . . Give me a moment, I need to remember the words." He collected his thoughts, took a deep breath through his nose and huffed it out from between his teeth. "I told him that if he attacked you again, or targeted you again, or came within any distance of you, if he even looked at you, if he so much as sniffed in your direction, we would hunt him down and we would destroy him. We would end him just like he tried to do to you. And where he failed, we would not. That is word for word."

"What did he do?" Cosmos asked. "Did he seem to take it to heart?"

"Ah, no, he barely reacted. Like it was beneath him. Perhaps it was a front, but he seemed as though he couldn't have cared less. He asked if that was all we went there to say. I confirmed, but Kain disagreed because we discussed attacking and ending him before we even left. We briefly traded blows with the Emperor-"

Cosmos' eyes widened. "You both charged? Without provocation?"

"No, no, the Emperor instigated. He said something - after Kain said he would not let him go, the Emperor said something like, 'How could we live with ourselves' . . . Or, no." Realization and shame crossed his face. "He asked, 'How could we return to Rosa, look her in the eye, and tell her we let him walk away?' Then Kain attacked. We traded blows briefly, but he wasn't fighting with his full ferocity. He stopped the fight before long, probably when he realized how angry Kain was, and he gave his word that he would not target you again, Rosa, except during the natural course of the war. He disappeared after that."

"And you trusted his word?" Firion snapped.

"Of course not! But the point was made, and the threat delivered. At the very least, he will think twice. Is that not the goal?"

"He'll think twice?" Firion repeated. "Cecil, this is the Emperor!"

Before Cecil could try and defend himself again, Warrior held his hand out to silence him. He shifted his weight, and the plates of his armor scraped together, harsh and discomforting. "I need not say how rash and ill conceived your actions were. We were planning a pre-emptive strike that would have caught him off-guard and unprepared. It would have given us an advantage. But now his guard will be higher than ever. By disobeying a direct order from Cosmos, and for disrespecting her and all of your fellow warriors, you've turned a simple attack into a high-risk one. Now we will have to budget more time for a more complex plan, and more warriors for the increased difficulty."

Cecil wilted even further, hunching his shoulders and lowering his head further. Rosa slid her hand down to circle his waist and half-stepped in front of him before he realized what she was doing. She squared her shoulders to Warrior, okay with challenging him for the sake of Cecil's pride.

"Believe me," Cecil mumbled. "I regret my decisions as much as you do."

"As well you should," Warrior scolded. "You and Kain both face confinement and mission restrictions at a minimum."

Rosa didn't know what confinement or restrictions meant for them, but she knew they couldn't be good. "Is that really necessary, Warrior? No one was injured in this situation-"

"I am not punishing them for endangering other warriors, and they are lucky no one else was endangered. Others can be injured when the chain of command is broken. The punishment is for the disobeying of a direct order, and for the apparent disrespect they showed Cosmos and their fellow warriors."

Rosa stared at Cosmos, mouth open, waiting for her to say something. Anything that would discredit Warrior's assumption of her anger and save Cecil and Kain the punishment they were about to be doled. But apparently Warrior had correctly guessed what she was feeling. Cosmos said nothing. Perhaps it was not Rosa's place to argue. Warrior was their leader, after all, and had been fighting the war for far, far longer than she. Judging by his character, he seemed like he would be extremely fair no matter who he was leveling a punishment against, but she still felt the need to protect Cecil from their ire. "Then is a punishment wise? Can we spare the warriors when we're already on a modified schedule?"

"Cosmos and I will determine the full extent at a later time."

"Understood," Cecil snapped quickly, before Rosa could say anything further. "Please excuse me." This time, he did not wait for Cosmos' permission. He bowed to her, sent one last long, sorrowful glance to Rosa, and walked away. Rosa looked back to Cosmos, once again expecting her to say anything in his defense. She was usually comforting at the very least from Rosa's experience. Though Cosmos looked regretful, she didn't say anything to either of their aid.

Rosa's heart sank in disappointment and hurt on Cecil's behalf, and she turned to follow him.

"You don't want to stay?" Cosmos asked. Rosa nearly balked at Cosmos' audacity. "With this new information, we are going to reevaluate and come up with a new plan for the Emperor."

"No. I don't. I regret bringing Cecil over here in the first place. It's not like I would be allowed to assist in the actual attack anyway." She kept her anger over Cosmos not offering any assistance to Cecil to herself, and carefully concealed the signs. She relaxed her face when she bowed to Cosmos.

As she followed Cecil, she considered all that she had said in his defense. Asking Warrior if a punishment was necessary, asking if one was wise, and trying to get them to discuss it later after Cecil had the chance to process his emotions. She felt as though she articulated her position well despite not reacting angrily, and she didn't feel as though she said anything particularly rude or out of turn. She was glad for that, but she wished she had said anything of more substance, to at least force them to consider an alternative to punishment. She simply hadn't had the chance to think of anything else.

It occurred to her that she had changed since she first arrived to the war. Before, she wouldn't have hesitated in challenging Warrior and Cosmos. She would have displayed her anger, and let them know how badly she disapproved of their decisions. Now that she had more of her memories and her sense of self, she knew herself to be better than that. More careful and controlled. She did not want to be that angry of a person.

Though she felt emotion fiercely, she knew to maintain a clear and level head as often as she could now. She was mature enough to understand that in this situation, Cecil and Kain were in the wrong. Warrior and Cosmos were the ones in charge. They could levy whatever penalties they wanted to, and it was only detrimental to constantly be angry about things beyond her control. "Emotion is natural, dear Rosa, and you should never stop yourself from feeling any sort of way," her mother told her at one point in her life. "But after it's acknowledged, it needs to be sent away. Actions are far more direct and effective when emotions are handled appropriately."

Rosa followed Cecil to an empty part of Sanctuary, away from all the other warriors. She sat down next to him with a loud, dramatic sigh, drawing her knees up to her chest. He didn't react to her. In an attempt to lift his spirits she leaned over to him and stared up into his face with the goofiest, lop-sided smile she could muster. He smiled slightly, though she could tell he was trying not to. She couldn't keep a straight face, thinking about how silly she looked, and accidentally barked out a laugh into his face. He blinked and finally laughed as well.

"Thank you. I needed that. And thank you for trying to defend me."

"I didn't do a good job," she mumbled. "What was Warrior talking about? What is confinement and restrictions?"

"It's nothing. We're just forbidden from going on missions for a while."

"Oh! Lovely," she commented. "It's nice to know that I've been getting the equivalent of a punishment all this time."

"No, no, yours isn't like that," he said. "You're stuck here out of necessity. Restrictions are different. You still have to contribute to the missions. You do things like gather Items, polish armor and weapons for everyone else, fill water canteens, help comrades suit up. But you yourself cannot participate."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Rosa said.

"It wouldn't be, if groups weren't cycling in and out constantly. You're stuck here so you're not exerting yourself, but you don't get a break either. Except when a group takes longer than normal to get back, and that can be nerve-wracking. You have to hope no one was hurt because you weren't on the mission with them. You're not allowed to do anything else in the meantime, either. No sparring, no caring for your own equipment, or anything. It's . . . withering, and condescending," he sighed. He pulled his knees to his chest to match her position and rested his forehead on his knees.

He was downcast again. Rosa paused, but decided now was as good a time to ask as any. "What are you so upset about regarding the Emperor? Is it me?"

"Yes . . . No. It's not about you. Just . . . did I make the right choice?"

"To let him go?" she asked, ensuring she understood what he was asking her. "Did what he said bother you? About looking me in the face? Is this about my reaction to you letting him go?"

His head snapped towards her, shock on his face. "How did you know-" He quickly chuckled, calming himself. "You were always so good at that. Sometimes you were better at articulating my feelings than I was."

"Well, we know each other well. To answer your question, yes. You made the right choice to let him go."

"How can you say that, after what he did to you? He wronged you, Rosa, and I let him go. It's as though I didn't care enough about you or your safety to-"

"You know I don't think that," she insisted.

"But what did it accomplish for your sake? You're no safer with him in the world, and Kain is angry with me for it, and you should be angry with me for it, and now I've ruined our real plan to be rid of him!"

"You expect me to be mad at you for doing the right thing? The honest thing? Regardless of at whom it's directed?"

"No, but the Emperor was right. I let the man who harmed you go. I almost can't look you in the face, knowing I betrayed you like this." To make his point, he shifted, half-turning away from her and looking away. "I haven't felt this terribly about something since Mist Village."

She felt so sad for him her chest ached. She reached over, placing her hand on his cheek. She turned his face back towards her, forcing him to look at her. She made her eyes as soft as possible, letting him know she was not accusing him of anything. She allowed her lips to turn in a small smile, and he returned the stiff gesture as much as his emotion would allow, but it did not reach the rest of his face. She stroked his cheek with her thumb, and he leaned in to her touch, closing his eyes.

"This is not the same as Mist Village. You were faced with a choice this time - to do the merciful thing, or the cruel and heartless thing. You chose mercy, as per your conscience, and I will never, ever fault you for that. Whatever the Emperor does after this, we will face it together, as we always do."

"You're right, of course," he said bitterly. "But it still hurts my very soul."

"I know it does."

" . . . I should apologize to Kain."

"I agree. What you said to him was not right."

"I know. I was angry and said something I shouldn't have. I'll go now. It's not like waiting will make it any easier."

He touched her hand and clasped it in his, raising it to his lips for a long, slow kiss. He tugged on her arm and pulled her into a tight hug, and he squeezed her so tightly, she imagined pressing all of the negative emotion right out of him. After he released her he stood and Rosa watched him leave, sighing the heaviness out of her body.

She allowed her gaze to scan Sanctuary, noting who was there at the moment. Warrior and Firion were Cosmos' posted guards, leaving Bartz, Cloud, Terra, and Lightning to relax in Sanctuary while the Onion Knight, Vaan, Zidane, Laguna, Tidus, Yuna, and Tifa were out on the next mission.

She would have liked to talk to Firion or Zidane alone about the situation. She valued Firion's opinion, both on Cecil's actions considering how close they were, and the consequences they would have on the Emperor. Cecil told her at one point that Firion was one of his oldest friends in the war. Surely when alone, Firion would tell her the truth about whether or not he disproved, regardless of whether or not they matched the outcome. She would have liked Zidane's input on what to do in the wake of this. No doubt he would have some piece of wisdom that would help her in understanding and caring for Cecil better, or responding to Warrior and Cosmos better.

She lamented them not being available, but figured talking to Bartz would be just as fulfilling. She could use his upbeat, carefree attitude at the moment, and perhaps he had gained more of his memories back. The last time she talked to him, he barely remembered anything.

She stood and walked over to him. He was parked between Cloud and Squall, who stood on either side of him like he was the one with posted guards. He sat in the water, legs crossed, fiddling idly with the chocobo feather he carried with him. He was running it between each of his fingers, tracing it across his palms, and drawing it through the air. Cloud watched Rosa approach with his unnaturally bright blue eyes, and nodded his greeting to her. She nodded back, and asked Bartz, "May I?"

He looked up, startled, and squinted up at her. From the glazed, lost look in his eyes, he had been far away in a memory. "Yeah! Sure!" he said brightly, scooting over to make room even though there was plenty. She sat next to him.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Mm," he hummed, "my dad."

She was about to ask him to elaborate when someone said, "What's up with Cecil?"

She never heard Cloud speak before. Him, or Squall. She looked up to find which one the voice came from, but from Squall's disinterested eyes it wasn't him. She stared up at Cloud. Him and his spiky hair. "He did something he regrets."

Cloud's expression changed. His lips pursed and he cast his vibrant blue eyes to the water. His very energy shrank and when he raised his eyes again it was a look of understanding. He empathized, she knew.

"What did he do?" Bartz asked. "Kain looked angry as a Bomb when they got back."

"Cecil and Kain disobeyed Cosmos' orders to wait, and they threatened the Emperor. Warned him to stay away from me."

"He regrets warning the Emperor away from you?" Squall asked. His voice was tight and nasal, and his words slow. Cloud's voice was more smooth but had an edge to it she couldn't place.

"No, no, he regrets only warning the Emperor. Of course, the Emperor taunted him over it, and now Cecil's second-guessing if he shouldn't have done more."

"Why would he regret not killing someone, even the Emperor?" Cloud said. "He's pretty set on doing the right thing most of the time."

"The Emperor pointed out that he'd be doing me a disservice. The thought plagues him, even though I insisted I'm not upset. Kain was angry because he thought they were going to finish him off, but Cecil disagreed."

She glanced across Sanctuary to the two of them. Cecil stood, straight-backed and resolute and formal. It was a distinct contrast from when he was around her a moment ago. She knew it was because he had no qualms about apologizing to Kain, and he likely wanted the apology to be as formal and proper as possible. Kain was also standing tall, giving him a good few inches over Cecil in height, but he was throwing his arms out, pointing sharply at the ground and at Cecil, pounding his fist into his palms and gesturing towards himself. Rosa cringed, not wanting to guess what Kain was saying.

"Yikes . . . " Bartz mumbled, following her gaze. "What did Cosmos say about it?"

"Cosmos . . . I don't really know how Cosmos felt about it. She didn't say anything, really. Warrior and Firion were the ones upset."

"Restrictions?" Squall asked.

"Yes. Both of them."

She looked back and watched them argue more. It was Cecil's turn, but he wasn't nearly as animated in his reply. He slowly moved his arm and placed his hand flat on his chestplate over his heart. He bowed slowly and his hair spilled forward covering his face. She couldn't see his lips. Kain crossed his arms.

"Cecil's gonna beat himself up pretty bad for this," Cloud said dully.

"Yes. He will," Rosa said. "Do you know him well?"

Cloud shrugged. "He's a straightforward person. He's pretty honest about what he wants and how he feels. We all respect him a lot. Just . . . make sure he forgives himself. Especially if you forgive him. Guilt's a . . . heavy burden and Cecil doesn't bear it well."

Rosa nodded. "I'll try." It was endearing to her how much they all seemed to care about each other and know each other. From Cloud's words, he knew guilt as well. "Have you been here long?"

"Long enough. But not as long as Cecil."

"Have you struggled with guilt?" She paused, and immediately remedied, "I'm sorry, that was intrusive."

He still answered her question. "There's a lot of stuff I still blame myself for. I let a lot of people down and let a lot of people get hurt. I know none of them blame me, but it's hard to remember that sometimes when you miss someone and when you think about your actions."

"I think I know the feeling, too. Or at least, I know something similar," she said. "I'm sure it's much, much different when the people involved are your close friends," she said, acknowledging Cloud's point, "but Mages see both friends and countless people we don't even know wounded and screaming, at their weakest and their most desperate moments. The expectation is that with a wave of our hands or a simple touch, we pull people away from death and that is simply that. People don't understand the gravity of that until the hand wave no longer works. There are some people . . . you can't save. Those alert enough to look at you do so with such fear and they beg you to help, but you have to look them in the eyes and betray their trust and desperation. I know it's not me they blame in particular, but the betrayal ate at me for a long time. I almost quit being a Mage when I was younger."

"Yeah, we don't want Cecil to fall into that trap. Not when he's already prone to it."

Rosa nodded. "I'll make sure he doesn't stay there for long."

Squall lifted his chin in acknowledgment. "He's lucky to have you."

"It is me who is lucky." She said it on impulse, but it still made her heart full to know it was true. She blushed before she could help herself and smiled down at her feet. To change the subject, she asked them, "Have you ever been on restrictions?"

Squall and Bartz shook their heads. Cloud actually chuckled.

"Yeah, once. Zidane and I were supposed to trade some weapons for Items and on our way, a manikin dropped a little orb-looking thing." He circled his thumb and forefinger to show her the size. "About that big. We took it with us to the Moogle and he told us it was called a Mindcrush. We asked how much it was worth and the Moogle said not much since they were pretty common, so we kept it. Later, we were sitting in Sanctuary and Zidane and I realized we never found out what it did from the Moogle. He wanted to play around with it and try to use it to find out, but he couldn't figure it out. He asked me to try it, and I said no. It looked a lot like the materia I use from my world, so I thought it would be easy, but I still refused because I didn't want to accidentally hurt anyone. He insisted I try it on him, because he could handle it, so he said. I used it on him, and I thought I killed him. He dropped immediately and wouldn't wake up for a few hours. The item actually crushed his mind for a while. We both got put on restrictions for playing around with it."

Bartz snorted a laugh. "Of course it was Zidane."

"Yeah, Zidane gets hit with restrictions all the time."

Rosa chuckled, imagining the kinds of shenanigans Zidane was involved in on the regular. His theatrical, almost childlike sense of adventure no doubt led him down some precarious paths.

She looked to Cecil and Kain again, and saw that Cecil had finished with his apology. He ambled towards her, still downcast, but she could see in his aura that a significant burden was lifted. The colors were less muted and grey. Apologizing made him feel slightly better. "Oh, he's done," she said, hopping to her feet. "Let's see what he said." From the vehemence of Kain's reaction he didn't take the apology well, but from Cecil's demeanor he had said all that he felt was right to say to Kain.

"Oh! Rosa, wait!" Bartz said. "Can I ask you something, real quick?"

"Of course."

"You remember a lot of stuff now, right?"

She nodded, considering all of the things she both directly and indirectly recalled. Her largest and smallest memories, her better sense of self, the way they shaped her relationships with those close to her. "Yes, I'd say so. I don't get those large . . . crippling memory flashes anymore, which I assume means the majority of important things have come back to me. And I've changed - like I've remembered the kind of person I want to be. There are things I know to be true about myself and those closest to me that I didn't know before and had no way of guessing."

"Oh, okay," he said. Clearly that was not the answer Bartz was looking for. "I'm still getting really big memory flashes. Were any of yours . . . weird?"

"Weird, how?"

Bartz took a long minute to search for the word. " . . . Incorrect? Or, were there any details that were wrong?"

Rosa wasn't sure how to answer, not entirely sure of what he meant. Everything she remembered, it was as though she watched it all play out in front of her eyes. She had no control over the situations, watching them happen in real time. She was simply staring through her own eyes, moving her own body in the way that it happened then. She wouldn't have known any better if there was something incomplete or wrong about her recollection. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. Wrong, how?"

"Most of the big memory flashes I'm still getting are from my home world. The things that happen to me in the memories happen the same way they did then, and the things I said are the same. I remember the Rift and what happened there, Exdeath, my chocobo, my friends, things I've already seen, and things I know to be true too. But I also keep getting these short bursts of stuff that's . . . wrong. There's one detail that seems incorrect about them. I'll remember what happened in the memory, but it'll be placed somewhere here, in this world instead of home. Or, I'll remember a place from home and I'll remember something I said correctly, but it wasn't what I said to the people in the memory at that time. Did that happen to you?"

"No, I'm sorry. All of my memories have been my own, as far as I know. I didn't see any places I didn't recognize, or say anything I didn't remember saying."

"Right. Okay, thanks."

Rosa shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it's a sort of side effect of re-experiencing your own memories. Maybe I just wasn't affected that way."

"Yeah, maybe." Bartz rolled back onto his back in the water, sprawling out and spreading his arms to the side. "I'm not really worried about it," he said, but his furrowed eyebrows and troubled expression told a different tale. "I'm sure whatever it is, it'll sort itself out."

"I'll ask Cosmos," Rosa said. "I'm going to talk to her again after I talk to Cecil, and get the plan for the Emperor."

"Alright. Let me know what she says."

Rosa nodded her goodbyes and turned around, meeting Cecil halfway across Sanctuary. "What did Kain say?"

"He said that if I had always thought to only threaten the Emperor, I should have told him. Only, I didn't always think to do that. I only thought of it after we left. I apologized for misleading him nonetheless, and he eventually accepted. Though, he'll probably stay mad at me for a while."

"Will he?"

"Undoubtedly. I deserve it, I suppose."

Cloud was right, she noticed. Cecil would to carry this with him for along time unless she intervened and tried to make him feel better. Being quick to admit fault and to forgive were not bad traits to have, but he was extremely self-reflective, and was constantly evaluating himself and his actions to make sure they followed the path he wanted to tread. He held himself to a higher standard and took it personally when he fell short, no matter how impossible the standard was.

"Cloud says that I should make sure you forgive yourself."

"You didn't tell them, did you?"

"I gave them a vague description."

He sighed. "Rosa-"

"What? People were curious - Kain came back in a poor mood and you looked like someone kicked your chocobo! People asked questions." She paused, deciding to voice her thoughts. "I know you hold yourself to a higher standard, and as I said before, I admire that. But you're not inflallible, and people make mistakes. I've made a few here, too."

"This is different. This wasn't a mistake, this was . . . inaction. He wronged you, Rosa. I had a chance to deliver justice, and I refused to take it. The more I think about what the Emperor had to say, the more I wonder if he was right."

"He was only trying to manipulate you. And besides, I'm not angry with you! The person who should be the most upset," she said, gesturing to herself, "isn't angry with you. Forget about what the Emperor said. He was only trying to bother you."

"It worked."

"I know. It's because you're such a kind person. Anyone else would have destroyed him and not thought twice. Kindness is not a bad trait to have."

"Not when you know where to draw the line."

Rosa paused. She was running out of comforting things to say. Like flipping a switch, she knew she had to change her tactic. She remembered doing the same thing to him after he confronted the King of Baron. Now was the time for her to draw the line. He needed a firmer hand. "Fine," she said, turning away from him. "Mope, if you want to."

"What?"

"I've tried to insist that you've no reason to be so angry with yourself. But if you'd rather sulk and feel sorry for yourself, I'll not stop you. I've remembered enough to know that that's not the Cecil I know. The Cecil I know would never doubt doing the right thing - no matter who it was directed towards. I'd rather not be here while you pity yourself. So I'm going to go and talk to Cosmos again and see what the plan is. Let me know when the Cecil I know comes back."

He blinked and sputtered out his surprise. "I- I don't . . . Rosa!"

She held out her hand and stopped him, then left him there, crossing Sanctuary to stand before Warrior, Firion, and Cosmos again. "Did you come up with a plan yet?" she asked before anyone could say anything to her.

"We unanimously agree that we will not pursue him further," Warrior said. "Cecil's point - if successful - will keep the Emperor away. If it was not successful, then we have already taken the necessary steps to combat him with the modified schedule. You will be protected, Cosmos will be protected, and we'll have to protect each other on missions as we always have."

"But we will consider other options if you want," Cosmos said quickly. "I feel it is only right that you are involved in the decision, and we also developed a plan in case you wanted to pursue him. The choice is yours."

"I don't want to reinvest time into him," Rosa said. "If his decision is to be done with me, and he means it, then my decision is to be done with him."

"We shouldn't trust him," Firion said.

"I know, but Cecil's description of his reaction tells me that he's done with me. I'm okay with that."

"Very well," Cosmos said. "Then we needn't change anything about our current organization-"

"However," Rosa added quickly, the thought coming to her suddenly. "I would propose that if we do not go after him, then Cecil and Kain don't go on restrictions. If you would accept the results of their confrontation, then you shouldn't punish them for it."

"Their punishment is not levied based on the outcome of their offense. It is the offense itself, betraying Cosmos. You cannot bargain for their punishment."

"Then I think we should ask Cosmos," Rosa said, glancing past him to her. "What say you? Are you even as mad as Warrior assumes you to be? Do you even want to punish them?"

"Warrior is my right hand," Cosmos said, "and the leader of my warriors. He is the general, and you the army. If he deems it necessary to hand down a punishment, I need not interfere. I trust his judgment completely. I'm sorry," she said, at Rosa's obvious disappointment. "We cannot make exceptions when others have served reprimands for lesser offenses."

"Hm. I understand, I suppose. I doubt Cecil would accept a lesser punishment anyway," she added dryly. "Alright, then. That's all I wanted to know. That, and one more thing. Bartz and I were comparing the process of regaining our memories, and he mentioned to me that some of his were being blended and confused with places and people and experiences here. I didn't experience any of that. All of my memories have been exclusively of my home world. Is that normal for him to experience that? Should I have experienced that?"

Cosmos looked to Warrior, and Warrior shook his head. "I will defer to Firion. I cannot offer any insight into memories."

Firion's eyes widened at the sudden attention. "Oh, I . . . It's been a long, long time since I've experienced a memory like that. I'm not sure if I can even remember what it was like. Cosmos?" he asked.

"Each warrior experiences their recollection differently. If the memory was not clear to begin with, it makes sense that they may become blurred and confused with events that happened in this world. I don't believe it is anything to be concerned with, especially if it is not interfering with the process as a whole. Even remembering pieces at a time should be something to celebrate."

"Right. Thank you for your insight. I will relay this to Bartz." A muted sense of disquieting, nervous energy overtook her at Warrior and Cosmos' dismissiveness. It sparked the same angry feelings she felt when she first arrived in the world: feelings of being deceived and lied to, like they were deliberately withholding information from her again. Though, she couldn't pinpoint why she felt that way. Cosmos hadn't said anything that indicated she knew more about the memories, and neither had Warrior. Perhaps it was because she had simply left without a definitive answer again.

She had nothing more to say to any of them, and she knew what they were going to be about the Emperor. She left once again, eager to release the tensions she felt. The last time she felt this way, she had left Sanctuary entirely and ventured out on her own into a world she was unfamiliar with, surrounded by warriors she was unfamiliar with. It was what led to her first encounter with the Emperor.

She felt the tug to leave again. To be on her own, to look for the answers to the things that were bothering her. She had done the same after Cecil and Kain were sent to Mist. She had talked to the King, he had dismissed her and refused to help her, so she gathered her belongings and traveling necessities and went after the two of them herself. She felt the urge to do something, anything, to make her feel like she had control of the situation and of herself. So she found an empty part of Sanctuary where there were plenty of crystals and rocks to aim at.

She called her bow to her hands and experimentally tugged the string once, twice, feeling its weight and pull. It had been so long since her fight with Ultimecia, Exdeath, and Kekfa, and though her wounds were healed her loss of practice was not. The fingers of her right hand curled around the string, stiff and unfamiliar, unable to retain their flexibility after they were broken so violently. She drew and her shoulders hitched, wobbling on their once smooth path. With all her might, she couldn't yet make it to full draw, and her wrists, elbows, and shoulders trembled with the force of trying to maintain the position. The string accidentally slipped through her fingers and loosely slapped against the guard on her white lace sleeves.

She sighed, visualizing the grueling struggle ahead of her to get her skills back to where they had been. She would have to nearly start from scratch, first focusing on basic technique and then finesse. How to hold it, how to draw it, how to nock an arrow, how to aim, and then how to position shots, imbue the arrow with magic, shoot on the run, and other tricks she learned.

With nothing else to do, she practiced drawing the bow and miming firing with no arrow until her shoulders screamed and she could barely even lift the bow, let alone draw it. She vowed to practice as often as she could and continue to work out the kinks and her anger. This was a war, and though she was condemned to be an inactive participant, she wanted to be ready to fight as a whole. Now that the Emperor wouldn't be as large of a problem to her, she wanted to prepare for the other Chaos warriors. She didn't want to be bested so easily again.

Chapter Text

Rosa didn't get the chance to talk to Zidane when he returned from his last mission.

As soon as he saw who was going on the next outing - Vaan, Squall, Bartz, and Warrior - he eagerly volunteered for a double shift. Rosa tried to flag him down before he left, but all she received was a half-hearted, "Sorry! I'll talk to you later!" before he bounded off after them and was gone again.

She couldn't talk to Cecil or Kain, either, stuck as they were with restricted duties.

And when Firion took over for Warrior as Cosmos' primary guard, he dashed her hopes of discussing anything with him regarding Cosmos and her punishment, the Emperor, or their plan for him.

Rosa was disappointed, but content to spend the time sparring with Lightning. She briefly thought about asking anyone else for their opinions on everything, but of those remaining in Sanctuary she didn't care to know what they thought.

"Pay attention!" Lightning was already sprinting towards her when she yelled, jarring Rosa out of her thoughts. Lightning swung at her, and Rosa parried with a halfhearted swing of her staff, pushing Lightning back before her mind wandered away again.

Maybe Yuna. She would have liked to know what Yuna thought about everything. She was like Cecil in that she would do the right thing no matter what or who was standing against her. If she asked Yuna and Yuna sided with Cecil's decision, it would reinforce that he and Kain were unjustly punished. If Yuna agreed with Warrior and Cosmos' punishment, then perhaps Rosa needed to reconsider both their decision to confront the Emperor, and their effects on future encounters.

The flat of Lightning's gunblade crashed against the guard on Rosa's shoulder, not hard enough to do real damage, but hard enough that the jarring shot pain through her still-healing frame. Rosa faltered and winced, retaliating with a weak thrust of her staff, but Lightning slashed down. The metal vibrated evilly in Rosa's hand and she barely managed to hold on. She pressed back with all her might, but Lighting slid her blade down the shaft until the crystal splashed into the water of Sanctuary. She threw her shoulder into Rosa's chest and she staggered back. Before she fell, Lightning grabbed a fistful of the cape clasped to her shoulder and jerked her forward, sword tip inches from piercing her throat.

"You're not focused!" Lightning hissed.

"Sorry, sorry!" she stammered. "I'm really not. I've got a lot on my-"

"You act like that in a real battle, and it's game over."

"I know. I'm sorry," she said again. "I'm sorry for being such a poor sparring partner."

Lightning released her, practically planting her back on her own two feet. She positioned the gunblade behind her back and the pieces moved and spun, compacting into the pouch she kept hanging from her back. She crossed her arms, turning away from Rosa as though to walk away from the severely lopsided match. Rosa sighed and opened her mouth to apologize again when Lightning regarded her with a lazy tilt of her head.

"What's up?" she asked. Her tone sounded disinterested, almost annoyed, but she stared at Rosa expectantly.

"Do you really care to know? I didn't think you were the kind to concern yourself with others' internal conflicts."

"I'm not. Usually I tell people to get over whatever it is before it becomes an issue. But I can tell this is really weighing you down. You gotta let go of it before it becomes another battle to fight."

Rosa nodded, sitting down in the water and drawing her knees to her chest. "That's an interesting piece of wisdom."

"It's not wisdom. It's common sense. Your attention can't be divided in a battle."

"Right . . . What do you think about what Cecil did? About disobeying Cosmos and warning the Emperor?"

Lightning responded immediately, staring over Rosa to glance around Sanctuary while she answered. "I don't see anything wrong with what he did. He saw a problem, and he took care of it. I would have handled the actual encounter differently, but . . . he took care of it." She shrugged one shoulder.

Rosa almost laughed at how simple Lightning made it sound. All of her thinking and re-thinking, questioning Cecil's actions and the outcome over and over again, when Lightning could have made her feel better about it in two sentences. "But what if he didn't take care of it, exactly? Since he let the Emperor go. Did you hear about that?"

Lightning paused, sparing her a hard stare. "What do you mean, he let the Emperor go?"

"When Cecil and Kain left to find him, they had intentions to attack him, not just threaten him. Cecil only changed his mind when they actually found him and confronted him. Cecil delivered his threat, they left the Emperor unscathed, and then they returned here. Do you still think he did the right thing by him and by me?"

Lightning took a deep breath through her nose, blinking slowly. Her fingers tapped against her arm as she processed the new information. " . . . If it was me . . . " she began softly, as though unsure. Then she shook her head. " . . . I would have ended the Emperor. I wouldn't have stopped until he was dead and gone for good. But what difference does it make?" Lightning dropped her arms, waving a dismissive hand at her side. "Cecil chose a different route. The Emperor stayed away since, so technically it worked. And it's not like their punishment would have been different if they killed him. Warrior still would have put them on restrictions for disobeying Cosmos."

Rosa nodded. "True, I suppose." As Warrior said, their punishment fit the severity of their transgressions, not the outcomes of them.

"If you're asking because you feel bad about the restrictions, then don't. I guarantee Cecil knew full well what would happen before he left, and he did it anyway."

"That's probably true as well. He wasn't even worried about himself when he got back. He was worried about my reaction to the change of plans. What I'm truly asking is if I should be mad at them for doing it or mad for them for being punished. Were they right to do it at all? To disobey Cosmos' orders?"

Lightning snickered and rolled her eyes, resting her hand on the handle of the blade behind her. Her voice grew quiet, distant. "You don't want to know what I think about gods and their 'orders'." She stared at Sanctuary as she said it, eyes slightly glazed with what might have been a memory. Her mind went miles away for a second. "Like I said," she added, nodding to Rosa over her shoulder, "he took control and he did what he felt he had to do to keep you safe." Lightning pulled her weapon from the pouch and the blade slid free of its mechanisms. She drew it through the air with a flourish and reset to her fighting stance, effectively ending their discussion.

"Are we gonna keep sparring? You won't rebuild your skills if you don't."

Rosa jammed the end of her staff into the ground and used it to haul herself to her feet. She groaned with the effort, flexing the stiffness and aching out of her hands and once-wounded shoulder. She spread her grip on the staff and aimed the crystal towards Lightning, dropping her left foot behind her in her own form of a stance.

She was two syllables into a Protect spell when an unnaturally cold, misplaced wind blew through Sanctuary, lifting the hair from her shoulders and the cape from behind her. Like a cloud blotting out the sun, the rolling clouds thickened, plunging Sanctuary into a dim, oppressive light. They crept towards the edge of a storm, with brief flickers of lightning pulsing behind their wisps - even inside Sanctuary's perfect dome.

The energy shifted, and the hair on Rosa's arms and neck stood on end. A sudden and violent chill wracked her spine. She faltered and the staff slipped from her hands, splashing into the water. Her limbs and shoulders dragged downwards, her mind grew vague and her body weak. She looked around in confusion, meeting Lightning's matching expression. The other warriors stood locked in their confusion. Cecil froze where he was, bent over, hands reaching for the next piece of equipment he was meant to wipe down. His eyes scanned the clouds, eyebrows furrowed, mouth open.

"Cosmos?" Firion asked, and the very sight of her on the throne overwhelmed Rosa with the white-hot sensation of pain, radiating outwards from Cosmos' aura. The immediate urge to help moved her body before she did, and Rosa staggered towards it on impulse, mindlessly trying to place herself between the person in pain and the cause. The gold that normally surrounded Cosmos was dulled, edged with pitch black. It rolled off her and into the air around her in tendrils, choking Sanctuary with its flares. She doubled over with a soft cry and Firion pitched forward, catching her shoulders before she tumbled from the throne.

"What's wrong?" he pressed, leaning down to peer into her face, but she only gasped in reply, choking in halting breaths.

Rosa snatched her staff from the water and pushed through the pain rolling off of Cosmos' aura. She stumbled towards her, already preparing some healing magic. Rosa climbed the stairs to the throne right as another flare of agony struck Cosmos. She screamed again, her voice breaking, the smooth, melodic pitch rasping in a way Rosa had never heard before. Cosmos shrank down, legs lifting from the throne, hands curling protectively over her chest. Her curtain of gold hair spilled in front of her face, and when she lifted her head her eyes were wide, flashing a rich, powerful gold instead of their usual crystalline blue. They flicked wildly back and forth, but from the glassy film in them Rosa could tell she wasn't seeing at any of them in Sanctuary. She was far away, inspecting the source of her pain.

The edges of panic filled Rosa's chest. Cosmos was being injured in a way that Rosa had never experienced before, and her mind was uncharacteristically blank on how to help. There was no physical injury that she could see. Cosmos was being injured from the inside out, by something that was miles away, that only she could experience. For a moment, Rosa was sent back to her days in training, when all she could do was cast Cure over and over again despite the nature of people's injuries.

Rosa glanced to Firion, hoping he knew what to do to help Cosmos as one of the longest tenured warriors there. But when she met his eyes, she saw the same fear and confusion there, silently hoping that she would know what to do. She turned and looked at the others over her shoulder, most standing and drifting in Cosmos' direction. She found Yuna somewhere in the crowd, but she looked just as scared and lost as Firion, wringing her hands in the pleats of her skirt. With nothing else to do, Rosa cast Curaga on Cosmos. The light wrapped around her and the sensation seemed to pull Cosmos away from whatever she was seeing. She blinked and shook her head, and her eyes faded back to their bright blue. She looked around again, finally seeing Sanctuary and Firion and all the other warriors who had trailed in her direction, wondering what the commotion was about.

Cosmos' entire body trembled, rigid and frozen in pain. She folded her hands over her mouth, closing her eyes, and despite the pain, Rosa felt her draw some of her divine power, building it in her chest. Cosmos spread her hands, and five orbs of golden light separated from the halo around her. They shot away, sailing straight up into the air until Rosa lost sight of them. Cosmos kept her eyes closed and her hands outstretched for another moment before she relaxed against her throne with a sigh, shoulders slumping. She eased her breath, and the pain faded from her aura.

"Where is Rosa?" she asked, her voice back to its normal, calm, silky tone.

"I'm right here."

"Prepare yourself. Another of our warriors is in danger. I brought them as close as I could."

Rosa didn't have time to ask any questions. A bright flash from the Teleport Stone outside Sanctuary drew her attention. Two hunched figures ran awkwardly towards them, weighed down by a third form sagging between them. The horns protruding from Warrior's helmet identified him immediately on the right of the wounded. He held his left arm and shield straight out to counterbalance the warrior hanging off his right shoulder. The other warrior - Bartz, she realized the closer they drew, had his left arm behind the wounded's back and his right arm holding the warrior's arm around his shoulder.

A gasp sounded from behind her. "Oh, geez - that's Squall!" Laguna yelled.

Squall's head lolled, dark brown hair spilling down on either side of his face. He slipped in and out of consciousness; his legs caught the ground and he half-stumbled one minute and the next his feet dragged limp behind him.

"Hold on, buddy-!" Laguna called, and he took off towards him. Rosa immediately followed, knowing she would be of use, but Firion lunged forward. He grabbed her shoulder and snatched the back of Laguna's jacket, holding them still.

"Wait!" he yelled. "Wait until they cross the barrier! We don't know if they were followed!"

As though he heard, Warrior's head whipped around. He stole a glance over his shoulder with such purpose she would have sworn that Firion was right. Rosa turned her gaze to the horizon, but only Zidane and Vaan backpedaled behind them to watch their backs.

Laguna craned his neck, trying to catch a better glimpse of Squall. He bounced from foot to foot. His lips pursed in a thin line and his face was an uncharacteristic picture of worry.

"Come on, Laguna," Rosa said. "We can at least go to the barrier."

Rosa ignored Firion's pleas and grabbed his hand, and together they ran to the barrier, standing just behind it. Rosa shouted back to anybody that would listen. "I need supplies - Items, bandages, anything we can spare!" A rush of adrenaline surged through her, coursing through her blood and her nerves, sharpening the world around her. With it came a heavy, dark, but familiar dread that she remembered from years of Baron's wars and all of her adventures with Cecil. It plunged her heart into her stomach like a stone. The very air in Sanctuary changed, and she knew what it meant: she was about to be solely responsible for saving their friend. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but one that she bore countless times before and one that she knew well. She was prepared this time, and had the strength and the skills to combat her own doubt, and it worked to push many of her fears to the back of her mind.

It was an unfortunate way to finally show her skills.

They drew closer, and Squall dangled between them. The white shirt he wore under his jacket was charred black and burnt through in several spots, and if the light was angled properly, tendrils of steam rose from the fabric. She didn't yet see any other wounds, but Squall couldn't stand on his own, like all his strength had been drained from him.

"Hurry," Laguna muttered under his breath, willing Bartz and Warrior to carry him in faster.

"Hurry!" Rosa yelled out, both to Warrior and Bartz and to whomever was bringing the supplies.

"I got them!" Cecil huffed, cradling them messily in his arms. "I got them."

She called upon the healing power in her heart. Though the dread was something she knew well, so was the warmth that spread through her chest. Calm but energizing, strong and sure, white in color and sensation. She focused the power through her staff and the white crystal shone brightly. She placed it there and held it, concentrating and watching while they drew closer.

They crossed the barrier, and as soon as they did Laguna accidentally shouldered her to the side to get to Squall. Rosa barely minded, more concerned with holding the magic in place. She cast a strong Curaga on Squall, using a large portion of her reserve of power. The green light enveloped him. He lifted his head and the one eye that wasn't swollen shut fluttered open briefly as the only sign that he felt anything. But then his face twisted in pain and he groaned. His head sank down again, and he slumped against Warrior and Bartz.

Laguna tried to position himself underneath Squall's arm to relieve Bartz, but he shook his head. "Just let him down," Bartz gasped, knees trembling under Squall's dead weight. "Let him down." Bartz and Warrior lowered him to the water, laying him on his back. He squirmed on the floor, like the touch of the ground against his body pained him. Laguna knelt at his side. He reached for Squall's face, perhaps to cup his chin, then froze. He touched his jacket, perhaps to check for his injuries, but he paused. Squall grimaced, and Laguna's movement became more jerky and frantic.

"Uuuuh," Laguna uttered, turning back and forth over Squall. "It's gonna be okay, Squall-"

"S-stop it," Squall growled through clenched teeth. "I'm fine," he added, in his tight voice. He curled up onto his side away from Laguna and Rosa let him, watching for if he reached for an injury or protected any part of his body. Underneath where he lay, the waves he made in the water stained a very slight pink, marking blood from somewhere. As she looked him over she couldn't find any on the front of him or on his jacket. And then Laguna jumped to his feet and ran around him to see his face again, blocking her view.

"Here, to the throne!" Cosmos called from her spot. Out of the corner of Rosa's eyes she stood up and trailed towards them.

"It's too late," Rosa called back. "I'm not moving him again!" Rosa circled Laguna to face Squall again, scanning him to find where to start. He was shaking against the floor, but was breathing and talking easily, even on his side. It afforded her a moment of calm, knowing he wasn't struggling to gather air. She moved to kneel down next to him, but Laguna was there again, blocking her, hitting into her to find his own way to help. She didn't blame him, but his blind panic had interrupted her twice now.

"Laguna!" she yelled, louder than she intended to, but it was enough. His neck snapped towards her, and he looked up at her with a look she was intimately familiar with - a look of terror at the sight of a loved one injured, and the heart-wrenching feeling of being powerless to help. "I need you to back away, please."

His panic changed to a silent, wide-eyed plea, to not force him away. She immediately changed her posture, standing square to him, hardening her gaze to quiet down any verbal protest. "Please," she silently implored him back, "please let me do my work." He understood, and she released the air she was holding, hoping she looked resolute. The plea died in his eyes, replaced with resignation to the idea that he would only interfere. She gave a strong nod, holding his gaze, assuring him that Squall would be fine in her care, as long as she was allowed to work.

He didn't move for another second, staring at her with that look, a look she sympathized with but was unshaken by at this point in her career as a White Mage. Having lived through many battles and having healed so many wounded men with so many violent injuries, she knew the weight of what she would undertake.

Laguna backed away but only a few steps, still close in the event that he could help in any way. Rosa sighed, deciding that was good enough. The Libra spell she wanted was already tumbling from her lips. One of the most simple spells she knew, and one of the first spells she ever learned in training. She directed the energy over Squall, and a single, debilitating wave of numbing weakness spread over her body. She felt all the physical and magical energy in her body drain, and she gasped in alarm, forgetting for a moment that they were Squall's ailments, not hers. Her arms slumped to her side as thought she couldn't manage the power to lift them, and her knees wobbled, toppling her to the ground. Clearly, the Emperor had managed some kind of Drain or Osmose spell that had sapped most of Squall's energy, to the point where even his aura was near non-existent. No more than a weak glow around him. A bad ache sparked in the small of her back and spread out, radiating across the entirety of her back, and she felt the pulses of residual lightning spells clenching her joints and muscles. A violent, excruciating pain erupted on her right arm, above her elbow and she froze, unable to do anything but clutch at it. The remaining wounds were small and insignificant in comparison to her arm. Just a small, mild stab wound somewhere on his lower back, and a splitting headache over her left eye.

Rosa released the spell and the magic faded, taking Squall's aches with it. She regained her own energy and her sharpened senses returned to her, propelling her to her feet with its potency. "You're not dying," she announced, and at her words Squall breathed what he could of a sigh. "But I can tell you're badly injured."

She knelt down next to him, unimpeded, and dropped her staff. She tugged his jacket open as much as she could. "What hurts you the most?" she asked. Since he wasn't in immediate danger, she had the liberty to heal him based on comfort. She half-expected him to say his arm, since that was the most serious injury she felt in her Libra spell.

"My back," he stammered, twisting on the ground.  His already nasal voice pinched tighter through his teeth. "My skin feels like - like it's still burning." The lightning spell. Rosa turned him to his left side, ignoring his groan. She rolled up his shirt and was disturbed by the extent of the injury. Webbed patterns of hard, scarred skin sat raised and white in sharp relief on his skin. The paths originated in one circular, bleeding patch in the small of his back then trailed outwards, wrapping around his shoulders, his ribs, his sides, branching into smaller and smaller fractals as they traveled. The rest of the skin that wasn't scarred was every shade of red, purple, and yellow, covering him from the tops of his shoulders down to the waistband of his pants. She thought he had been trembling, but before her eyes bright purple charges still leaped from bruise to bruise, contracting muscle and breaking his skin in small lacerations. Everywhere they touched he jerked and twisted, his muscles still affected.

Normal lightning spells, spells that were cast quickly and in the thick of battle, didn't cause that kind of severe scarring. These were the scars of prolonged exposure, perhaps even akin to torture. He needed deeper, more powerful healing to avoid permanent damage to his muscles and skin. She built a Curaja, the only spell she knew would be enough to heal both the existing damage, and the damage that would become permanent soon if she did not act.

It was a larger, stronger magic than the power she regularly used. She drew it from within her very soul and aura, and its warmth radiated outwards from her body. Her hair billowed gently around her, and her nerves tingled with the raw sensation of power. She clasped her hands over her heart to focus it, balling it up in her hands like something tangible she could hold. She touched her hands to the small of Squall's back, the origin point of the wound, and worked the magic into his body. She imagined pushing the energy into the scars and dissipating the remaining magic, easing the strain on his muscles, calming the cramps and spasms, repairing broken, cracked, charred pieces of flesh and mending muscle fibers and tissues. As she worked, the purple charges leaped onto her skin, curling her finger, but she powered straight through it. Before her eyes, the healing light illuminated the scars from the inside out, and they glowed translucent green while the skin healed. The branched edges of the scars receded, re-tracing their patterns in his skin like snakes, until only a small jagged white patch rested in a circumference around the initial wound. The bruising cleared up as well until only the worst remained, and even they had healed to a sickly-looking green and yellow.

Squall let out the breath he was holding and sank back against the water, finally able to relax his muscles. He lay there with his eyes closed and breathed. The warmth faded from Rosa's skin, immediately replaced by a chill in her fingers and hands, trailing up her arms. In the aftermath of such powerful magic she felt cold, slightly drained, her energy partially depleted. Her breath came heavy and labored and her heart pounded in her chest, like she had just climbed the entirety of Mount Ordeals. A trickle of moisture trailed down her face, and realized she had broken a sweat from only one Curaja.

She refused to even acknowledge that anything was wrong in front of Squall and Laguna. Or Cecil, for that matter. Or Warrior and Cosmos. Nobody could know that she wasn't feeling her best still, two or three 'days' after she awoke. Warrior and Cosmos had made it extremely clear how important she was to the war. And there was no doubt that the others were aware of it as well. She couldn't afford to look weak in front of them and dash their hopes and expectations. And yet, before the Emperor's attack, before she had almost died, she could have managed at least four or five before she felt even slightly tired. Rosa couldn't help but release a small huff of frustration. Normally, she could easily power through it. It seemed she would have to take longer to recover her energy from the Emperor's attack than she initially thought. It was another thing that he had taken from her.

Rallying herself back to the task at hand and calming her breathing, Rosa inspected the remains of the lightning spell damage. The place where the bolt struck home was still broken open and bleeding slightly, and the skin around the wound was charred black. There was a small scarred ring around the point of impact, but the rest had healed nicely. Rosa prodded and poked at his upper back, and when he didn't tense under her touch she sighed in relief. She silently thanked the gods from the Overworld that he wouldn't need anything larger than a Cura to heal the rest of the wound.

She wasn't sure she could have managed anything else at the rate she declined from one powerful spell.

The Cura came easily to her compared to the laborious effort she had to make for the Curaja, and before long Squall's back was freshly healed, with only old scars and the ending stages of a bruise to speak of.

"Squall, I need to sit you up. To take a look at your arm. Can we do that?"

He pursed his lips and nodded, but kept his eyes closed. She scooped her arms under his left shoulder and hauled him up to a sitting position. He used his left arm to push himself off the ground. His right arm had been resting against his side, but when his weight shifted it slipped and smacked hard into the water. Rosa winced and Squall froze, mouth open to scream in the agony he was feeling, but at the last second he grit his teeth and choked it down to a few quick hisses of air. His left hand clenched against his thighs, clutching a section of his pants. Squall blinked rapidly, and from the way his wide eyes flicked randomly back and forth, he was dangerously close to passing clean out. Rosa held him there, allowing him the chance to recover.

"He's tough," she thought to herself. Unfortunately accustomed to pain. If the old, long-since healed scars on his body were anything to go by, he'd had far, far worse than a broken arm. If she wasn't in the middle of healing him, she would have questioned the kinds of adventures he went on to cause the wounds.

Rosa released his shoulders but as soon as she did he fell backwards, unable to hold himself up. Laguna lunged forward and caught him, crouching down and leaning him against his leg.

"Let's get his jacket off," Rosa said to him, and he nodded. He held Squall still while Rosa threaded his left arm through the sleeve, weaved her way around Laguna, and slid it down his right arm. When she maneuvered it over his right arm, she accidentally jerked it. Squall's reaction was immediate. He threw his head back against Laguna's chest. He tensed and his back arched, and he screamed out his first true sound of pain since he was brought back to Sanctuary.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she stammered, dropping the thick jacket into the water. The flesh just above his elbow looked distended, swollen, and he sported a nasty bruise in the crook of his elbow. The bone in his upper arm looked like it was going to pop out the front of his arm, and the other bones in his elbow looked too far back. She visually tried to identify its severity so she didn't have to touch it. From her knowledge when she was in training, he had taken a violent blow to his arm. She had no way of knowing if it was a clean break without cutting into his skin, and she had no desire to do that.

"Can you feel your hands?" she asked, picking up his right hand and holding it in hers. "Can you feel me touching all your fingers?" She tapped her fingertips against the ends of each of his fingers, and he nodded.

She touched his shoulder, pressed the muscle and palpated the bone, feeling for any injury to his arm above the elbow. Squall sucked in a breath and held it, bracing himself for more pain, but she could tell his upper arm wasn't injured in any way. She slid her hands down, to his bicep, just above the break. His legs kicked, sending water splashing. Squall lifted his uninjured arm up, threw his gloved hand to his mouth and bit down on the leather, probably chewing through the fleshy part of his thumb. His entire body trembled, and Rosa vowed to make it quick.

"Your arm is badly broken. I'll need to reposition it. This will hurt," she warned him. He braced himself against Laguna and held his breath, nodding to her when he felt he was ready. Despite the small thought that it was a bad idea, she took his upper arm in one hand and his elbow in her other hand and braced her feet. She pushed his upper arm back and his lower arm forward until she felt a sickening snap under her hands. The grotesque misshaping of his skin was gone immediately and she froze, praying that she had done it right. Squall sighed in near immediate relief, which was a good sign, but she would have no way of knowing for sure if it was right until he felt ready to use his arm again.

She prepared another Curaja, drawing her power around her. With it came another strong, radiant warmth, rivaling that of Cosmos' energy. Her chest tightened, building it up, but as though her body sensed the beginnings of her fatigue it refused to build beyond a weak Curaga. Rosa released the spell and looked around for her staff. She left it in the water when she initially sat down next to him. She pointed to it.

"Someone bring my staff to me," she ordered, and Cecil scooped it up. She clasped it with two hands, closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against it. With something to focus her power into, it made building the spell easier. The crystal glowed dully, and Rosa imagined filling it to the brim with the warmth and light of her healing aura until it shone bright enough for a glare. She tapped into the deepest strength, dragging more and more energy to the surface that she felt she should have there, guiding it up and through her and into the crystal. As before, her aura began to glow and the feeling of power surrounded her, absorbed by the crystal. When she was ready, she pointed her staff down towards Squall and released the magic on him. This time, she facilitated the muscles to repair their tears, the bones to mend as they could, and any other damage to right itself. It was incredibly powerful, but this was a wound that magic alone would not fix, even if she had been at full strength. He would still need a few days of conventional healing as well as magical.

Rosa released the spell and in its wake she stumbled backwards, suddenly dizzy. Her breath came harder and faster than before, beads of sweat rolling freely down her face and the back of her neck. The nagging, dull, freezing sensation doubled and sent a shiver down her spine. Her limbs felt disconnected, her thoughts grew vague and distant. The white light that surrounded her during the drawing of her power darkened into a threatening grey, clouding over her eyes, and she wavered on her feet.

"Take it easy, Rosa," Cecil warned her, placing a hand to the small of her back to steady her. "You don't want to drain yourself. You're still recovering," he added softly, mirroring her earlier thoughts. He said it with the same tone that she felt it, like he was lamenting the loss of her former strength. She maybe had enough energy for one more huge spell to help Squall, when she normally could withstand five or six more before she felt the effects on her body.

She reached behind her for an Ether, and without having to ask for it Cecil pressed one into her hands. She uncapped it and unceremoniously drained it in one take. She perked up, shaking her head and shaking the cold out her hands.

Rosa stood again, but the change in elevation made her light-headed. The sound spiraled away fro her ears and a mild headache sprouted at her temples, and when she raised her arms to steady herself, they felt heavy and uncoordinated. Rosa let out a long sigh, closing her eyes and waiting for Sanctuary to stop spinning behind her closed lids. For a terrifying moment, she thought for sure she was going to pass out. She froze where she was until the sound faded back in and the color returned to the world around her.

"Maybe you should-" Cecil started.

More angry at her situation than at him, she still didn't stop a monstrous glare. He threw his hands up, palms towards her in a gesture of peace, then stepped towards her. He softened his face, returning her venom with kind eyes and a concerned tilt to his head. "I just mean that he's not dying. You have the freedom to take it easy."

Shame for her reaction and regret for directing it at him filled her tired heart, and she relaxed her features as well. "You're right," she said to him, then said to Squall, "I'm finished." Her voice sounded weak, breathy. Winded from her trials. "That's . . . " 'All I can manage', she almost said. "That's all that will help at this time. You'll need conventional healing over the next few days." Squall blinked up at her through his one eye, placing his gratitude there to be read freely in the shine of his eye and the way he held eye contact as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his left hand.

Rosa tilted her chin and acknowledged it, then knelt down one final time despite the screaming in her knees to take his face in her hands and probe around his swollen eye to make sure no bones in his face were broken. He half-turned away from her, and she was reminded of when her and Cecil were young. The way Cecil used to fuss and sputter when Rosa would lick her fingers and scrub mud from his face, or the way Kain used to chide her for 'mother-henning' them. After ensuring that his face wasn't damaged, she straightened up slowly, desperate to keep another dizzy spell at bay.

"Do you want to rest there?" she asked him. "Otherwise, we will move you somewhere else in Sanctuary."

Squall sighed, the signs of his exhaustion in his only visible eye. He shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "I don't really care."

"Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Better. Much, much better."

"Good. I'll make a sling for your arm, but let me know if you're uncomfortable."

Rosa took a roll of bandages and pressed his arm to his chest. "Hold it there," she told Squall, and Laguna reached to help, holding his arm still while she made a makeshift sling for him. She coiled the loops of bandages around and around his shoulder and arm, allowing enough padding for a slight cushion. When she finished Rosa tied off the bandage and nodded to Squall, and he pushed himself away from Laguna. He collapsed down onto his left side again, protecting his injury.

Rosa spared Squall one final look-over. The worst of the lightning scars were completely healed, no further action needed. His arm was slinged and in a proper healing position, which she would have to follow up on with magic over the next several shadow times. The thought of it and the amount of energy it would take exhausted her, like a weight piled on top of her shoulders and weighing her down. As long as she would be able to rest in the meantime, she could manage. Rosa wiped her freezing, trembling, clammy hands on her thighs, then wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. She touched her own cheeks, more to make sure her hands were still attached than to feel her skin. She sighed and fell back, landing unceremoniously on her backside.

"Wait - what about the Drain spell?" Laguna asked.

Rosa could have groaned. Like a child asked to complete a chore she had no desire to do.

"He just needs one more Esuna spell," she said, masking her discomfort. The effort of a single spell more felt exhausting. Before she could help it, she felt her shoulders slump, and a sigh leave her lips. She jumped at the chance to cover it up, turning the sound into as deep a breath as she could muster. The cold air burned all the way down her dry throat, and the shallow breath did little to bring her comfort. It only reminded her of how tired she was. She drew on the dregs of magical energy she had left despite the trembling in her legs and the feeling of being seconds from passing clean out. The Esuna spell she wanted was another simple one.

She closed her eyes and willed the magic to come to her.

Nothing.

She strained, gripping her staff tightly as a way to centralize the power. Despite her urging, it refused to come when she called. "I need another Ether," she muttered, knowing it wouldn't help her. When she cast the Curajas she had taken magic and power from pieces of her very being. It wasn't power that could be regenerated by taking an Item. She knew that. But still she looked to Cecil to bring her one, silently praying it would be enough for her to continue her charade of strength and ease. He fetched one for her, and despite draining the entire bottle she didn't feel a shred of magic come back to her. Not even enough for a meager Esuna spell.

Rosa dragged her hand down the side of her face. " . . . I can't," she finally admitted. "I used too much of my power to heal his severe wounds." Rosa looked around the circle of warriors for someone who could help her, deliberately ignoring anything that she thought could look like fear or disappointment or pity. She held eye contact with Yuna who looked ready to step in and help her, but Rosa decided against asking her. Yuna had helped Rosa when she was close to death, and it would be unfair to ask her for help again when she herself knew what being burnt out felt like. Cosmos seemed like the next logical choice to her. Esuna was an easy spell - a first level spell. Cosmos held enough power to cut through the fabrics of dimensions and tug souls through those fabrics. Surely she could easily manage a small Esuna.

"Cosmos," she heard herself saying before she finished rationalizing it, "All he needs is an Esuna. I have reached my limit - would you please help me with this?"

"Absolutely not," Warrior snapped, his strong, solid voice cutting through her weak breaths.

Rosa could only blink. Blink and stare as her slow mind caught up. She hadn't thought she said anything out of turn. The severity of his tone felt unwarranted and out of place next to her kind request. " . . . Sorry?"

"Cosmos is still recovering her own power from healing you. She needs to preserve the rest and allow it to regenerate-"

A sardonic laugh bubbled out of Rosa's mouth before she could stop it. She doubted that Cosmos was feeling how she felt now. Bone-weary, to such an extent that lifting her arms was an effort. Knees weak, body trembling from overexertion. Mentally and magically tapped out, unable to even call the simplest of spells. Sweating and breathing hard, unable to catch her breath. Warrior's ability to step in between her and Cosmos in every single situation grated on her frayed and worn out nerves. "I was not addressing you!" she sneered before she could collect herself. "And her well-being is not for you to say, Warrior. I assume she can speak for herself, and she can tell me how she feels." Casting the weariness from her mind, she glared at him with all the power she could muster.

To her frustration, the vehemence of her words didn't even seem to make him upset. He maintained his calm, stoic façade and didn't wither under her gaze. "Cosmos is not your subject to be spoken down to. She is not a warrior to be ordered about. She is your goddess. And as her right hand, I have the authority to speak for her. She cannot help you." Before Rosa could protest any further, he waved over Rosa's shoulder. "Yuna! You will finish Squall's healing."

Rosa didn't watch Yuna step forward to help, but she felt the warmth of Yuna's healing magic build in the air behind her as she cast the remaining Esuna on Squall. Bitterness and embarrassment at her own weakness brought heat to her cheeks, but she continued to hold angry eye contact with Warrior. "We're lucky, aren't we?" Rosa asked. "It truly is a blessing that Squall wasn't dying like I was after the Emperor's attack. If he would have needed any more powerful spells I wouldn't have been able to do it. What would Cosmos have done, I wonder? If I had not been here to save Squall, what would she have done, according to your assessment of her strength, Warrior?" She let the implications of her questions hang unspoken in the air, thick and heavy. Would Cosmos have left him to suffer under her less powerful healers? Would she allow Squall to stay incapacitated and out of her own ranks for who knows how long? Just in case Warrior missed them or tried to ignore them, she finished aloud, "Would she have let him die?"

The idle noises and shuffling of seventeen warriors stopped abruptly. Even the water felt suddenly calm, coiling with tension. Warrior's professional mask cracked. His set mouth dropped open and his eyes flared, angry on Cosmos' behalf. "You forget yourself!" he sputtered. "To insinuate that she could be so heartless is cruel and unfounded. Especially so in your case, after putting herself in this position for your well-being. Just as you used all of your energy to heal Squall, she used all of her energy to heal you!" Warrior's unspoken message trailed on the end of his words, back to her. Be grateful to her that you still stand. "Do you understand how important it is that she stays safe, and that she heals as much as possible? Do you understand what happens if Cosmos falls?"

"No, I do not understand - because you will not allow her to tell me!" Rosa replied. "I've asked Cosmos many things about this war, and about this world, and you find it convenient to interrupt me or speak on her behalf at every turn. So either you explain it to me now, or let her. Give me something to work with - anything!"

From the way Warrior's normally sure and steady eyes flicked to Cosmos, she knew she scored a point in the little game they were playing. She finally felt as though she had backed him into a corner, and that he would have to start explaining things if he wanted out of it. She raised her eyebrows in expectation, urging him to go on, but Zidane stepped forward, deliberately placing himself between them.

"Listen, I really hate to break up what I'm sure is going to be a great argument. But I have more information for you two." He pointed to Rosa and Cosmos.

"It can wait," Rosa hissed.

"No, it can't. It's really important."

Rosa sighed, and all at once the exhaustion she had forgotten in her momentary rage rushed back to her. She braced her hand against her forehead, and Cecil was at her side immediately. He steadied her shoulders. She didn't realize she started to topple over.

"You're spent," he said. "You should rest, now-"

She knew she should as well. But she wanted to hear their account of the Emperor's attack. Driven to know by something deep inside of her, some morbid curiosity, and a slew of negative emotions that she hadn't truly acknowledged towards the Emperor before now. It sparked in her heart, calling up rage at everything he did to her and her fellow warriors, bitterness for all the power that she lost at his hands, regret for ever having encountered him, even blame. Blaming herself for not fighting back hard enough and for letting Cecil and Kain distract her in the meantime, blaming herself for being so complacent in his torment of her and for allowing him to lull her into some sense of security after his words with Cecil.

"I want to hear this," she said, cutting Cecil off. It sounded as though she was directing her anger at him and she didn't mean it anymore, but she couldn't be bothered to correct herself.

"Okay. Let me start over," Zidane said. "So, we were heading through the Snowfields, going towards Mount Gulg." Rosa had no idea where those places were, but she nodded as though she did. "We got to that one mountain in the Snowfields, and a bunch of manikins appeared - maybe eight or so. We all went after a couple. The Emperor didn't actually appear until a little ways into the battle. Squall killed both his manikins first, and then the Emperor went right after him. It didn't look like a targeted attack, it just looked like he was waiting for the next available person."

"But did he fight with intent?" Cecil asked, referring to their confrontation. "When Kain and I fought him, he didn't seem to take the battle seriously."

Zidane nodded fast. "Oooh, yeah, he fought viciously. I think more violent and . . . what's the word . . . erratic? More erratic than what I think is normal for him. Squall was fine, though. He held his own."

"How was Squall injured?" Rosa asked. "What did he do?"

Warrior answered for Zidane. "Unfortunately, the Emperor's gift for strategy allowed him to position the battle well. He managed to separate Squall from the rest of us, and when he did, he trapped him in a Thunder Crest."

"I killed the manikin I was facing," Zidane continued, "and tried to go to help him. He was stuck in the Emperor's hold, but when he saw me try to get to him he called more manikins. I had to keep fighting. When I was able to get over there again, the Emperor was standing over him. Squall tried to block him, but the Emperor swung his staff and hit his arm, knocking his weapon away. He attacked Squall with lightning. And then he hit him again with his staff, probably three times across the face. I think Squall was dizzy because he stopped fighting. The Emperor cast lightning on him, and held him in it for a long time." Zidane's tone was dark and somber, without a flair or a hint of theatrics he normally told stories with. His tail, usually flailing with energy, hung low, brushing Sanctuary's water. It was a sharp contrast from when he told her of the Chaos Civil War. No levity to be had.

"We all freed up and ran at him, but the Emperor kept us back with another of his spells. And then he cast some other kind of spell on Squall - that Drain spell."

The implications of a Drain spell sat thick in the back of her mind. If the Emperor was trying to absorb power, it wouldn't be good. "I'm assuming it was a manikin that stabbed him," she said, avoiding having to give a voice to her suspicions. "The Emperor doesn't carry knives so I know that wasn't him."

Bartz and Zidane shared a glance. They looked at Warrior, as though to ask his permission to tell her. At Warrior's nod, Bartz took a knife from his belt, holding it out to her.

Confused, she took the knife and inspected it closely, turning it around in her hand. Knives weren't weapons the Emperor normally carried. There wasn't any distinct color scheme to it, like he liked to wear either. There were plenty of jewels on the crosspiece and hilt, too many to count. And it was covered in Squall's blood, taking any shine out of the blade. It was so out of the Emperor's normal dealings that she took a while to comprehend what she was looking at, and why it was significant.

Like being struck, the realization of the knife hit her so hard that she almost threw it away from her. It clattered and splashed into Sanctuary's water, and she stepped away from it on impulse.

It was her knife.

The one Ultimecia took from her, and had stabbed her with.

" . . . I see," she said.

" . . . He said something else," Bartz said. "He said to give you a message directly. He said that. . . Squall was a . . . a present."

Rosa's mouth dropped open at the audacity of the wording. She stared at Bartz and Zidane, but neither of them would look into her face. They stared at Squall, or down at the water. Rosa looked to Warrior to confirm that it was true, and at least he was able to hold her gaze, resolute. He nodded, fists clenched at his sides.

Bartz cleared his throat. "He said Squall was a present, and that you shouldn't get comfortable, Rosa. He used your name. He said that there would be more where Squall came from, and that you should be careful that you don't use all your power too soon, or you won't be ready for the others."

"But he didn't hurt any of the rest of you, did he? Everyone else is accounted for-"

"He said he wouldn't hurt anyone else yet. He said that we wouldn't be able to guess when he would strike next, and that you had better be ready to heal us."

A chill spread down Rosa's back at the words. She couldn't help herself - she looked around, half-expecting to see him lurking in the shadows of Sanctuary and ready to strike now that she was weak. She had done exactly as he predicted, using all of her energy in the healing of one warrior. She would have been enraged at herself for being so unprepared and unguarded if she could have mustered up the energy. She shuddered, turning to Cecil.

"We need to fortify Sanctuary. He knew I would do this. He knew I would try to heal Squall-"

"Well of course you would!" Cecil said, coming to her own defense. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I know, but he could be watching me right now, waiting for me to use up all my energy! He probably planned all of this! He probably planned for Cosmos to bring you back here, and he probably followed you back!" The semi-safe walls of Sanctuary's border were beginning to close around her, feeling like a prison rather than a place of refuge. She felt out in the open, exposed, suddenly unsafe and about to be attacked once again. Her breathing quickened, the blackness that had been creeping at the edges of her vision started to close in. The trembling in her knees grew stronger, more violent, and luckily Cecil managed to slide his arm around her waist before she collapsed. "We - we need to be ready. He could attack at any second!"

"Rosa, stay calm! He's not here right now, right?" he asked Warrior.

Warrior's eyes scanned the air above their heads, and he adjusted his grip on his shield, as though preparing to defend them. Rosa held her breath, and the others around her did their best to check the surrounding areas.

"The Emperor is not here. I sense no warriors of Chaos anywhere near Sanctuary."

"But we'll keep our eyes out, right?" Cecil asked quickly, turning and gazing hard at everyone in turn. She knew he was doing it to ensure he didn't dismiss her feelings. Rosa couldn't see what their reactions were, she was trying to keep herself standing. "Right? Cosmos?" Cecil asked. "We'll do whatever we have to do to keep him away!"

"Of course!" she said quickly, nodding. "I will work with Warrior to ensure that we stay safe from the Emperor."

"He said something to you, too, Cosmos," Zidane said, like the mention of her name brought back the memory. "He said to tell you - and this is a direct quote - that the next time you beg him for something, it will be for a merciful end compared to what he has planned for you."

Cosmos paled, all the color draining from her already fair complexion. Her eyes widened and she stepped away from Zidane, as though the Emperor had been the one to say it from his mouth. " . . . He is going to target me directly?"

Zidane shrugged. "I don't know. That's just what he told me to tell you."

Rosa watched Cosmos' eyes widen and they scanned the horizon as well, like she was expecting him to be there too. Watching them. She scanned the horizon, Sanctuary, and each of her warriors, and when her eyes met Rosa's she could see real fear in the goddess's eyes.

Cosmos was afraid of the Emperor. She was afraid, and she had no idea how to combat him and his new strategy now.

New anger at him mixed with her panic. Everything had been fine. He was just another enemy to watch out for and be slightly wary of, but now? Now he was a real threat to all of them, and he knew it. She turned to Warrior again. "This is your fault."

"My fault?"

"Yes! This is exactly why I asked you if it was wise to punish Cecil and Kain with restrictions. Because if more people would have been on this mission, they could have neutralized the Emperor's threat. They could have more easily destroyed his manikins and went after him as well. He very well might have already been killed if you sent more than five people against the biggest threat in this war right now!"

"I punished them because they broke the rules - rules which were in place long before you arrived here, Rosa Farrell. If they would have obeyed Cosmos' decision to wait, then we would have organized by now and destroyed him. Instead, they gave me cause to punish them, and allowed the Emperor a chance to harm more of our ranks. This is what happens when the chain of command is broken, and when Cosmos's orders are not followed."

Rosa opened her mouth to fight back, but Lightning's voice cut through Sanctuary's air. "They were stupid orders!" Shock spread down Rosa's spine and she spared a glance at Cosmos for her reaction, but she only looked sad about the fact that they were arguing. "If we would've rounded up a posse and destroyed him right then and there like Rosa and Cecil and Kain wanted to, then we wouldn't have this problem, Cecil and Kain wouldn't have had to disobey, and Squall wouldn't have gotten hurt. How long are we expected to wait on her whims? Just because she's a goddess doesn't mean she's always right."

Warrior shook his head. "I refuse to argue correctness. Regardless of who was right, an order was given. Cosmos' order, the highest among us and to whom we should defer. And we must be held accountable for our actions. I will not take the blame for punishing them, and I will not take the blame for this attack."

"Hold on," Cecil tried, stepping forward as well. "I'm not upset that Warrior put us on restrictions-"

"You shouldn't be!" Firion snapped.

Suddenly, Kain's imposing presence prickled the hair on the back of Rosa's neck, and she turned to see him standing at her side. He had been silent the entire time, watching her do her work and listening to the fight unfolding before him. He crossed his arms, staring down at Cecil through the eyes of the dragon on his helm. "We shouldn't be upset, Cecil," Kain said, and Firion blinked his surprise at Kain's agreement. Then he added, "We broke the rules, after all. You know of my tendencies towards the errant." Rosa flinched, anticipating the attack before it came. "But if you would have allowed us to kill the Emperor when we had the chance, then perhaps I could bear this punishment."

Cecil's innocent defense withered pathetically and anger immediately replaced it. "I've already told you," he emphasized, throwing his hand out to the side. "I only did what I thought was right!"

"And what a job well done!" Kain sneered back.

"No, what you did was rash and unwise," Firion chipped in again. "What made you think it was wise to go after the Emperor in the first place-?"

"Interesting take, Firion," the Onion Knight muttered, crossing his arms, "considering he's your villain, and all. I would have thought you'd jump at the chance to be rid of him."

"That's enough!" Cosmos said, but her voice echoed with power that made it sound both far away and right in Rosa's ears. She flinched, hands flying to her head to cover them, and as she looked around wincing, she saw the others have the same reaction. Some covered their ears, some hunched their shoulders up. " . . . That is enough!" she said again, and the echo boomed around them. "Cloud, Tidus, Tifa, Terra, Onion Knight. You five will be our strike team. You will make a plan and attack the Emperor as you see fit. As soon as possible."

Even though she knew she wouldn't have been able to help at this point, Rosa still felt indigence rise up in her heart and leave a bitter taste in her mouth. All it took was a direct threat to herself, and suddenly Cosmos was willing to do whatever it took, as fast as she could. Malice sparked inside of her, and so did the brief thought that they were not important to her, proving her own point that Cosmos may not have chosen to save Squall if it meant to sacrifice herself. Only keeping herself safe was important, no matter who she had to throw at the Emperor now to do it. "You're leaving me out?"

"By your own admission, you are too weak." Rosa cursed her tongue. "And I don't want anyone with extremely personal ties to be involved any longer. Rosa, Cecil, Kain, Warrior, and Firion, you five are forbidden from engaging with him any longer. The strike team will remove him from this fight, and we will finally be rid of him."

Warrior looked incensed for only a moment, but he bowed his head nonetheless. "Of course," he said. "I will ensure that this order does not go disobeyed."

Rosa could have thrown her staff at him. She didn't offer any parting words. She simply spun and left their circle to find a quiet place near the edge of Sanctuary. She took a step and her knees buckled, but Cecil threw a hand around her waist to keep her standing. Her cheeks burned again, but if anybody saw it they didn't say a word. He led her away, and though she could practically feel the questions and discussions bubbling inside of him, she had no energy left.

Chapter Text

So Squall was her 'present'.

Though Rosa was loathe to admit it, the Emperor's 'present' had its desired effect. She was irritable and frustrated by the initial surprise, and genuinely nervous for its future implications. She was nervous for herself and how much aid she could reasonably give, and she was nervous for the other warriors. There was no way to plan for whom he would target next. It was no longer safe for them to go on missions. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if any of them fell for good. What would happen to Cosmos and her already-weak power, and what would happen to morale if any of them was too injured to save?

She felt like she was winding up a Jack-in-the-Box. Unable to relax in case she was caught off-guard when the Emperor leaped out, but drained from the feeling of constant vigilance that ground against her nerves while she turned the crank.

What else was she to do in the meantime, besides worrying? She couldn't train anymore, not if she had to be ready. Did she simply bide her time and wait until his next attack? Stay confined to Sanctuary at all hours, the only White Mage on call, with no hopes of leaving? What could Warrior do? Would he still send mission groups out, knowing the Emperor would be there ready to attack?

"It's a perfect plan," she thought, snorting to herself as she ran her hand through Sanctuary's water. She pushed it a little harder than she intended, and a small splash picked up, sending ripples through the pool. Cecil shifted beside her, disturbing her place pressed up against his side, and she lifted her head from his shoulder so they could face each other.

"What's wrong?"

"Where do I start?"

Cecil didn't answer. He put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close to him again. A simple, reassuring gesture, offering support regardless of if she shared her pain aloud with him. It normally would have been enough to bring her comfort - even his very presence in a time like this would have brought her comfort. She was too on edge for his unspoken solace to take root in any form.

Rosa sighed instead, placing all of her frustrations into the sound. She imagined expelling all the tension in her body and it worked, for a few moments. The second her mind wandered away from staying calm, the nervous anticipation crept up into the back of her neck and the dread lay itself over her like a blanket.

She didn't have to tell him how relieved she was that Cosmos was finally building a team to strike the Emperor directly. He was probably relieved too after his perceived slights against her. Perhaps she should start with how upset she was that she was unable to be a part of the strike team.

"No," she thought, "not just unable. Actively forbidden against it." Cosmos forbade her from engaging the Emperor of her own free will. Not that she would or could at this time, but Rosa's previously burnt-out indifference towards the Emperor was gone, replaced by a vehement wrath that she couldn't ever remember feeling in her life. She wasn't a vengeful woman. She knew that about herself now. But she couldn't stop a deeply personal rage that sparked in her heart from the feelings of being violated on several different fronts. He had first attacked her with no provocation. Then he had invaded what was meant to be their Sanctuary, disallowing her the chance to feel safe anywhere in the world. He had rounded up assassins to destroy her, and they had almost succeeded, stripping her of all of her strength in the aftermath. And now he was targeting those around her. Assuming she was at full strength, she would love the opportunity to be the one to see the light in his eyes dim.

"This has to be bigger than me," she stated aloud, filling the world with the ends of her sentiments. "He can't hate me this much. Not after losing one battle with me."

Cecil nodded. "I think you're right. If I know anything about the Emperor, and I think I do, there is probably something else he's trying to achieve." He sighed heavily, uncurling his legs and stretching them out in front of him. He leaned back on one arm, facing her to open up the discussion. "He's been planning the downfall of both gods since he arrived, it's just his methods that change each time. Whatever his goal is, either he's afforded himself enough time to indulge himself and not affect his real plans, or he thinks tormenting you will directly contribute in some way."

"I can't possibly imagine how," Rosa said. "I know I'm important to the war, based on what Cosmos and Warrior have both told me. Something like this would have made sense right after we fought, when I was just a powerful warrior to be rid of. But now, I can't for the life of me understand why he would do this in this way. If he wanted to weaken me and weaken Cosmos, he should have just killed me when he had the chance. He should have killed Squall outright - not stolen his power and then waited for me to heal him."

"He did very much try to kill you, and have you killed," Cecil said. "I think it's important we remember that just because he didn't succeed doesn't diminish the fact that he tried. But those are very good points." Cecil shook his head, staring out over the water. "His plans are so convoluted. It'll be nice to be rid of him after this team destroys him."

"Yes, it will," she said, with all the sincerity she could muster.

She looked around their idle little group. With Cecil at her side and Kain standing over Zidane and Laguna, playing another round of Zidane's card game that she had seen him play before. Yuna and Firion chatted with them while they played. He was smiling, speaking easily, but Rosa could feel a mix of conflicting emotions clouding his aura. He was bothered, and he was trying to hide it - or at least seem as though he wasn't as bothered as he truly was. Lightning sat close but was turned away.

Rosa craned her neck over her shoulder to look back at Squall, his arm still slinged as he sat against a piece of white crystal. At least he was upright, but he hadn't moved since they ushered him over there. Probably still weak, as she was from the Emperor's Drain spell. Cosmos sat on her throne in the middle of her strike team. Warrior was notably absent from his normal position at her side, cast away to the far side of Sanctuary's barrier, watching them plan with disdain that rose from him in nearly visible waves. From his reaction before, he hadn't expected to be excluded from any planning either, and in Rosa's bitterness it brought her a bit of satisfaction.

She wondered how Cosmos could live with herself amid their predicament. How she could morally be fine with potentially sending warriors to their deaths in this war, knowing she couldn't help to heal them when they came back wounded. She looked genuinely upset over Squall before, from what Rosa could remember, though it was hazy. Warrior was yelling and she was exhausted.

"Do you think Comsos should have helped me with Squall?" she asked Cecil, turning to look at him again.

It was Kain who answered her. "Absolutely, she should have helped you," he snapped without turning to look at her. "Without question." She didn't realize he had been listening. Rosa watched as Yuna and Firion turned to look as well, to join the discussion. Even Zidane had paused in throwing a card down on the water. They all had been listening, it seemed. "A warrior needed help - two warriors," Kain continued. "One tiny spell. One that she could have cast in her sleep. It's true she's recovering, but it wouldn't have done a shred of damage to her power."

"I think she should have helped as well," Cecil said. "Though, I can justify her reasons for not helping. I've been here long enough to remember when she was strong. When we were on the cusp of victory, she had power to spare and would gift it to us on the regular. There were more of us, too, and we were a more powerful force as a result. Compared to now, I understand her reservations. But I absolutely think she should have helped you."

Rosa smiled, more than sure the majority of his judgment came from a place of fondness for her and protectiveness, let alone what was right. She nudged into him with her shoulder. "Aren't you two a little biased?"

Cecil shrugged, chuckling. "Maybe I am. But if I was in that situation, whether I was Squall or you, I would want her to help. And help anybody else, if they needed it."

Rosa watched the others for their reactions. Laguna, who had an obvious connection to the situation since Squall was the one injured, nodded in agreement. "My mind keeps going back to what you said to her, after you made sure Squall was okay: What if you hadn't been here, Rosa? What would Cosmos have done for him? Or, been able to do for him? And what if he had more serious injuries? I think she should've-"

"We should stop talking about this," Firion snapped quietly, eyes flicking to Cosmos and her group as though she could hear.

"We're too far away-" Rosa said, following his gaze.

"I know, but we still shouldn't talk about this." He said it with the velvety side of his voice, but it was laced with the tension he was no doubt feeling, like it was just on the edge of tipping into the rough side of his tone. "It sounds like . . . like treason." The frown that had constantly marred his face since Squall was brought back seemed larger now. She could feel the same types of emotions that she felt. Rage over what the Emperor had done and for the ways that he had made them all feel in Sanctuary, and an intense disappointment over not being allowed to assist. "Warrior said she couldn't help."

"Right," Rosa said quickly, curling her legs up underneath her to sit up straight. "Warrior said she couldn't. It made me upset that Cosmos couldn't speak for herself."

"You don't trust Warrior?" he asked, staring incredulously down at her.

"That is not what I said," Rosa stated firmly, shaking her head.

"No, but it's what you've implied. I trust Warrior, and you should too. You should know by now why he can speak for her as he does. They are closer than we can know. And you, Cecil," he said, staring down at him from his standing position, "know why they made the choice they did. You've been here just as long as me, and you said so yourself - you've seen the decline." He paused, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. He half-turned away from them, watching Cosmos talk to the strike team. His hands clenched and his jaw tightened, and Rosa understood why he had been so irritable. "You'll talk yourselves in circles if you keep ignoring their motives like that."

"What are you angry about?" she asked.

"What? I'm not angry-"

"Yes, you are. Something is upsetting you. You're upset that you can't partake in the attack on the Emperor, aren't you?" she clarified, already knowing the answer. She wanted to hear him say it. Firion always spoke about his emotions like he had a fire in his belly, like he would burst with it. Before the natural course of the cycle distanced them, Rosa had always intended to befriend him closely. They shared a few connections over roses, the Emperor, and now their wrath.

"I'm- . . . I understand why-"

Zidane cut him off. "But are you upset? We all understand why Cosmos forbid you guys from it. But Rosa's question was are you upset. You're allowed to be both."

Firion inhaled sharply. His voice darkened, and he growled out through his teeth, "I'm livid."

"We have that in common," Rosa said purposefully, extending the invitation to share his frustrations with her. "I'm upset, too."

"Yes, and you have a right to be. But he's my enemy, from my world. You don't even know half of the horrible things he's done to me and to so many innocent people."

"Tell me," Rosa said. She didn't need any more examples of the Emperor's treachery or the depths to which he could sink, but it felt nice to commiserate with someone else who had also been directly affected by his atrocity.

"The Emperor's power is severely limited here. Consider that a blessing," Firion muttered. "He was powerful enough to summon demons from hell to take over most of the kingdoms across our lands. He poisoned water supplies, and those cyclones he can summon? They were big enough to uproot whole towns and kingdoms." Firion braced his fingers against his forehead and closed his eyes, like the memory was giving him a headache. "It was a massacre. More than half the map wound up either on fire or razed to the ground. The landscaping was destroyed by the scars of his war. Peoples' homes and livelihoods were demolished, and many, many people died!" Each sentence had grown louder and louder until he was almost growling it. He paused, closing his eyes. "It may be selfish, but after all he's done . . . Being told I'm not permitted to attack and depose my own enemy, who I vowed my opposition to and was called to directly oppose here . . . it's hard to swallow. And that's only what he did in my home world. That doesn't include all he's done to us here."

"What did he do, before I was called here?"

"Too many things. I guess I should pick a bad one." He thought for a moment, then decided on what to tell her. " . . . When I was a new warrior, I used to be in charge of maintaining a Gateway in the Realm of Discord. There's a strip of land that, without teleportation, is the only means of travel between the landmass that Chaos calls home and the landmass where the Mirage Sandsea spreads. It was extremely pivotal to the function of either side of the war, since it could allow Chaos's warriors to move across the entirety of the Realm of Discord. We needed it if we ever wanted to make a push into enemy territory."

Zidane stuck his finger into the air, adding, "Uuh, it should be mentioned that Firion determined the Gateway's importance by himself. He traveled into the Realm of Discord and fought his way through to it, then cleared the entire Gateway himself." Zidane turned his attention back to the game to throw another card down. "To this day I've never seen anything more daring than that. Or more strategic, in my opinion. It's how he cemented his position as second in command."

Firion kept his eyes down, cheeks flaming at the praise and attention. "It wasn't . . . I only did it because I thought it would help. I didn't do it for the recognition."

"Yeah, but it was brilliant!" Zidane said. "You know how much trouble you caused for Chaos's warriors after that? There's only one Teleport Stone on that entire landmass, and it's not anywhere convenient. If they wanted to get through they either had to clear out the Gateway again themselves, or travel out of their way to get to the Teleport Stone. And most of them were too chicken to try and clear the Gateway themselves."

"We talk about the Emperor's gift for strategy," Cecil added, "but Firion could rival his. Give him a map and a little bit of time, and Firion could make a lot happen. He has our utmost confidence and respect."

"Thank you," Firion said, hand flexing around the hilt of his sword like he couldn't quite figure out what to do with it.

"If I may ask," Rosa said, "Why aren't you first in command, above Warrior?"

"Warrior is an excellent strategist also," Firion said. "I am skilled in logistics. Mapping and territories and movements. As skilled as you believe me to be, Warrior is better. In addition to all that I can do, he knows the mechanics of this world and the strengths and weaknesses of our opposition better than anyone. He was here first, and so I deferred to him."

"Alright, alright! Back to the Gateway story!" Laguna whined. "I wanna hear it!"

"Right. The Emperor tried to conquer it back from me a few times, and each time I managed to keep him at bay. Eventually, he stopped trying. Instead, he brought a horde of manikins with him to keep me distracted, and then destroyed the Gateway entirely. He created an explosion and knocked the pillars down, almost pulverizing them in one blow. And the sigil flickered out of existence, with me still in it."

"'If I can't have it, no one can have it'," Rosa muttered.

"Exactly. I had to wait until Cid and Cosmos rebuilt the Gateway. Wounded, without any Items or supplies or rations, or anything. The Emperor couldn't bother with the inconvenience anymore. He forced the Chaos warriors to use the Teleport Stones or their own powers if they wanted to move around the world, and he placed alarms and traps around the one near Chaos's throne so they would be alerted if any one of us teleported in. We conquered another Gateway close to it, on the Forgotten Trails near Lufenia to try and keep them bottle-necked, but he destroyed it too. He would rather not let us have something to use against his side than maintain the benefits it could bring them. And if that isn't a solid example of his character, I'm not sure what is."

"He needs dealt with," Rosa said with a deep breath. She looked into Firion's eyes, full of a familiar pain she had felt herself. She pitied Firion for how much he had suffered at the Emperor's hand, and pitied herself for the pain he had caused her and caused all of them. She steeled her anger and nodded her resolve to him. "He will be dealt with."

"Yes," Firion said dully, with a slight roll of his eyes. "And I won't even be there to see it."

"Well, maybe . . . " Rosa started, but thought better of it. Cosmos hadn't listened to any of her pleas, in any situation.

"Maybe Cosmos will let me? Not a chance. If she won't even allow Warrior in on something . . . "

Laguna laughed despite the somber mood. "Yeah, when's the last time that happened? Cosmos kicking WoL off a mission? Soon as she did that, I knew she was serious. I was like, 'Oooooh, crap!'"

"'Wall?'" Rosa asked, thinking she misheard him.

"No, WoL. W-o-L: Warrior Of Light. I call him that behind his back. But not in a mean way! It's just an abbreviation." His eyes grew wide, realizing perhaps he had done something wrong. "Do not tell him I call him that please."

Rosa smiled, drawing a zipper across her mouth. "My lips are sealed."

"Anyway, like I said," Firion said, rallying it back to the point. "I understand why she did it. We're too emotionally invested now, you and I," he said, pointing between Rosa and himself. "As if my emotional involvement has changed at all since I began my time here," he said, bringing back that uncharacteristically sarcastic edge. "Cosmos needs people she can fully rely on without having to worry if they'll lose their head during the battle."

"'Losing your heads?' I think all bets should be off at this point," Zidane said. "Emotional investment or not. He's attacking us at random, now. Not that we cared any less when it was just you, Rosa, but now . . . "

Firion nodded, understanding his point. " . . . I still trust her, and I still trust Warrior," Firion said again. "If she says she can't help from here on out, then we'll just have to plan around it. If she doesn't think I belong on the strike team, then . . . "

Lightning scoffed, scooting around to face the rest of them. "Is that really the only answer you two can give?" she asked Firion. "All day, you and Warrior. 'Cosmos says, so it is.' 'Warrior says, so it is.' What kind of an attitude is that to have? Especially when their strategies are not working?" she slashed her hand through the air.

"They're working," Firion argued, but Lightning cut him off.

"No, they're not. It's her long-term planning that has her in this weak situation, and I'm expected to just go along with it just because she's a goddess? Cosmos has been losing power for a lot longer than the Emperor's been a direct problem. Killing him is the right thing to do, but it's too little, too late. She's doing damage control, and doesn't plan well enough in the long-term to sustain herself!"

Firion opened his mouth to argue, but Rosa caught Lightning first, hoping to probe her for more information. "Do you remember the height of Cosmos' power? What Cecil was talking about?" At her nod, she asked, "What happened? What changed?"

Lightning rolled her eyes. "We got lazy."

"That's not true, Light," Zidane said. "You know that." He sifted through the cards in his hand and picked one out, throwing it down. "Gotcha," he said to Laguna, whose mouth dropped open.

"Is that legal?" he asked, but Zidane already stood from the ground and abandoned the game behind him. He stretched lazily, throwing his arms up then crossing them behind his head.

"Alright so, I told you about the Chaos Civil War, right?" Rosa nodded. "That wasn't the end of it." He cleared his throat as though about to deliver a monologue in a stage play, and Rosa couldn't help the smile of delight that spread across her face. If Zidane was preparing himself to tell or act out a story, they would be entertained. Already she felt the pull of childlike anticipation stealing her attention and she felt herself pulling away from Cecil's side to face him more fully.

"The Rise and Fall of Cosmos and her Warriors, by Zidane Tribal," he announced, sinking into a humble bow, folding one hand in front of him and one hand behind his back. "This work is copyrighted by me, Zidane Tribal, and any resemblance borne to any persons is purely coincidental. We open our scene in Order's Sanctuary," he said, spreading his hands to gesture to the water around them, "in the immediate aftermath of the Chaos Civil War. The warrior Golbez has been nursed back to full health by the extremely powerful goddess, Cosmos, with hardly an effort on her part. The warrior Sephiroth is still in dire straits, and it is unclear if he will survive the assault. The last warrior, Jecht, left the fight relatively unscathed. Curtains, rise!" he announced, throwing his arms up and lifting his chin to the clouds. He paused, eyes flicking around as though realizing he didn't have an actual curtain that lifted around him. Sighing, he lowered his hands.

"Okay, but in all seriousness, the Civil War really weakened Chaos, to the point where he didn't even punish those who had come to Cosmos for help. Didn't, or maybe couldn't. We don't know. We were a little on edge because we thought that Chaos was gonna rain hell itself down on us, fire-and-brimstone style like in Imteus' Perfection of Ancients. That's one of my favorite plays, by the way," he added, breaking his story-telling for a moment. "At that time, there were only nine of us. We weren't too organized yet, but none of us left Sanctuary anyway, just in case. We wanted to be together and have all of our might ready in case Chaos's warriors showed up to finish what they started, or in case Chaos himself showed up which was entirely likely to us. But nothing ever happened. All we know now is that Chaos, the god of destruction and ruin, evil incarnate, just sat back in his throne and let everyone lick their wounds, in their own ways. Even though some had fought against their purpose and fought against him."

"What about the wounded warriors who returned to him?" Rosa asked. "Didn't he try to ensure their survival?"

Zidane shook his head slowly, pursing his lips. "Not even Garland."

"Who is like Chaos's Warrior of Light," Rosa said, remembering how Zidane described him before, during his last story.

"Right, right! Somebody really important to him. Chaos made him recover in his own time, which was wild. Instead, Chaos called four more people to fight us and keep us at bay while those that were wounded recovered: Kuja, the Cloud of Darkness, Exdeath, and . . . actually . . . That was when the Emperor showed up, ironically enough. Right?" he asked, turning to Firion for his confirmation. At his nod, he continued. "And actually, looking back, it kind of . . . worked." He scratched the back of his head, eyebrows furrowed as he recalled it. "After we realized that Chaos wasn't coming to get us, we still wouldn't leave Sanctuary because the Emperor would do stuff like plant explosive traps that would detonate at random times around Cornelia to make us think we were under attack. He used to let us spot him from up here, and even if he didn't have any traps set he would make us think that he did. He had us pinned for the equivalent of days. And then - oh, man!" he said suddenly, tail perking up and waggling to match the fervid change in his tone. "Then this one time, me, Firion, Warrior, and Tidus mustered up the courage to finally leave, and he didn't attack us. Like, at all. We saw him in Pravoca, and we know he saw us, but he just let us go. After that we thought he was bluffing! Like all the traps had been fakes. So another small group went out after us, thinking the coast was clear, and the Emperor wrecked them. Luckily, Cosmos was powerful enough to help Yuna heal people!"

Rosa looked to Cecil and Firion, and from the murderous look in Firion's eyes and the tormented look in Cecil's, it still hurt them both to think on it. Firion because the Emperor had been allowed to outsmart them, and Cecil because he had been allowed to hurt them.

"But anyway," Zidane said, "Cosmos was able to help them because she gained a lot of power from the Civil War. Ridiculous amounts of power - way more than we could ever generate for her by destroying Chaos's warriors ourselves. To the point where she used to hand out little helpings of it to make us more powerful. When a new . . . battle . . . started, and when we felt ready with Cosmos's help, Warrior took me, Cloud, Kain - freshly called," he said, pointing them out in Sanctuary as he said their names, "Tidus, Lightning and Tifa, who were new, and Squall . . . " He looked down, recounting them on his fingers to make sure he included everyone. "We all got ready, and we went out." He said the last two words with some weight, looking up and meeting her eyes with an intense gravitas that did not match the rest of the story. Rosa was pulled even further into his tale.

"What did you do?" she asked, afraid to pitch it above a stage whisper.

He dug his hands into the pouches hanging from his belt and dumped the contents into the water in front of them. Little trinkets of his time here splayed out before her - a colored sphere that looked like it belonged to Cloud or Tifa (perhaps stolen), a long, tangled length of string that could have functioned as a rope if it would have been thick enough, a card from the game he liked to play, folded in on itself and fraying at the edges, what looked to be 15 gil in coins, a whet stone for his knives, and a few other miscellaneous things that she couldn't place. He shifted through the pile, crouching down in front of them, and then began to rearrange the pieces, using the string as an outline and placing some coins, the sphere, the card, and the other trinkets in strategic places.

While he worked, Rosa asked Cecil, "Why did you stay behind?"

" . . . You should hear the story first. Then you'll understand why what we did left a bad taste in my mouth."

Rosa felt her mood sour at his tone. Her enthusiasm ebbed into dread, fearing that they had done something immoral. Her immediate thought was something akin to torture. Something out of character and egregious, something unforgivable. But she couldn't picture Warrior or Zidane, or Tifa, or anyone for that matter doing something like that. So she sat quiet in her dread, waiting for Zidane to finish his setup so he could continue his story.

When he was satisfied, he gestured to Rosa.

"Look - this is the map. Sanctuary is here." He pointed to the 5 gil piece that he used. "Then this region's Cornelia, Melmond, the Snowfields, Mount Gulg, and up there is the Realm of Discord. And all these little things are Gateways. We've got Cavern of Earth, we've got the Ice Cave, Frozen Continent, et cetera. Our posse went out," he said again, emphasizing it, "and we swept the world from left to right. We teleported here, to the furthest west reaches of Melmond, and entered Gateway after Gateway and . . . the best way I can describe it is we hunted. We destroyed the manikins in the Gateways if we couldn't find any Chaos warriors, and when we did find Chaos warriors . . . we took them out. Period. I can't say we enjoyed it, because we didn't. But they went down quickly, and the fights were as brutal as they had to be. We went through Melmond, then down through the Snowfields, then around Gulg. We circled back around and cleared Cornelia, and after that we went up into the Realm of Discord and did the same from right to left. We destroyed the Teleport Stones behind us so they couldn't outrun us. We had the entirety of Chaos's side on their asses in the equivalent of two days. It was . . . It was kind of awesome to have that much power at our disposal and at Cosmos's. That was the strongest we've ever been. That she's ever been."

She couldn't tell from his tone if he was proud of what they did or not. He said those words the same way he said everything else, just with the emphasis to help her understand that it was different, and they hadn't done anything like it since then with the exception of what they were gearing up to do to the Emperor, if she could consider it the same thing. She supposed the verbiage he just used was important - he was proud of the power they possessed, but not necessarily proud of how they went about using it. She knew it didn't sit well with Cecil because he would have seen it as harassing those weaker than he, who had little hope of defending themselves. And he may have seen an issue with the outright destruction of another in a situation outside of a one-on-one fight to the death.

"Why couldn't we clinch the victory if we were so powerful?" Rosa asked.

Zidane paused, and regardless of whether it was for dramatic effect or not, the silence lay thick in the air like a blanket. "After that, Chaos got involved. Directly involved. He went crazy, like all the anger and energy and power he wasted by sparing his own warriors was cut loose. For the first time, he stepped off his throne, and started to attack both sides. He started with his own dissenters, who fought against him so long ago because he never forgot about that, and then he came after us. Just like we did to his warriors, he combed the world, which we were wandering freely at that point, and he picked us off one-by-one as he found us." Zidane's eyes stared through the water, through the world around them as the memory glazed them over. "Brutally, just like we did to his warriors. We were crazily outmatched - even though he was weakened, Chaos still held more power than we ever could. And one-on-one like that, we never stood a chance. He got me when I went into a Gateway to look for some super-rare Megalixers to try and revive some of us. He appeared directly in front of me and before I could even try to pull my knives, he had me by the throat." His hands lifted, resting above his collarbones. "He threw me back against the wall of the Realm of Darkness, and the last thing I saw was, like, a bunch of swords made of fire coming at me."

"That's . . . " Rosa started, but couldn't find a strong enough word. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "I'm fine now!" he said brightly, but there seemed to be a hollow look to Zidane's eyes. "Clearly," he added.

"I can understand attacking us. But why would he do that to his own?"

"I don't know - this is Chaos we're talking about. But either way, we didn't now what to do. We were frozen. Cosmos couldn't react in time to combat his new techniques, and with all of her warriors falling one at a time, she was losing power too."

"So what happened at the end? How did you all survive?"

"We didn't." Rosa blanched, and she felt the chill spread down her spine. She shuddered from it. "We got our asses kicked. When I say we lost everyone, I mean we lost everyone. There wasn't a single one of us who survived, on either side. The gods could've gone after each other right then and there if they thought it would've solved everything, but Chaos was placated by the vengeance. He enjoyed the hunt, I think. Unlike us." His voice grew quiet, and distant again. "It makes me shudder when I think about it. How ruthless he was." He shook his head as though to shake himself out of the reminder. "Cosmos tried to save us. She used all that extra power she had and did for us what she did for you - healed wounds and revived us, cared for us by herself when magic alone wasn't enough to do it. She was so strong then, she almost brought all of us back."

"How many did we lose?" Rosa asked. He had said 'almost'.

"Five total, after all was said and done."

"Was it anyone we knew?" she asked Cecil, before she was even sure if she truly wanted to know. She remembered her friends from her home world. Rydia, Edge, Cid, Edward, Yang, the twins Palom and Porom. For the first time it was starting to occur to her that they had lost people before, and if Cosmos called the strongest from each world, it was entirely likely that they could be among the fallen. There had to have been others before her, and though it was hard to conceptualize, almost intangible to her, like hearing about a tragedy from afar, the dread was still real.

"No," Cecil said quickly, definitively.

"Five . . . " she said again. Who were they? She wanted to ask, but it felt insensitive. Especially since she would not know any of them. How could anyone recover from something like that? Even if she survived something like that, she wasn't sure she could convince herself to willingly remain in the fight. The thought of Chaos, who she had never even seen yet, waiting in the wings to hunt her down made her tension around the Emperor feel weak and misplaced. Mild doubt crept into the back of her head, forcing her to think for just a split second if this strike team truly was the right thing to do when it could possibly incite the wrath of a vengeful being like Chaos.

"Yeah. She managed to save most of us, but it took a lot out of her," Zidane said. "We've been on the decline ever since. She's never been the same and she's never gathered as much power as she had when she started that battle. Chaos hasn't gotten involved since then, either. He said back down on his throne, and from what I hear he rarely leaves it. Ever since then, Garland took over again as his right hand, and the Emperor as his second."

The Emperor, who had planned Chaos's way out of certain destruction, single-handedly. The Emperor, who had the confidence and the skill to attack them when there were sixteen warriors and a goddess around. Who worked around his disadvantage off the cuff, and yet still managed to manipulate the battlefield with enough cunning to trap her.

She was about to send a group to him to hopefully succeed where several failed before. And what about Chaos? The emperor had to be important to him. What were they to do if Chaos became involved again.

" . . . I . . . I don't know if attacking him is a good idea anymore. Not after hearing all of this."

"Why?" Zidane asked.

"For several reasons! The Emperor has scared me. He harmed me, he harmed our friends, and if he is to be believed, he won't desist until we are destroyed. Clearly he needs dealt with - Firion's testimony and my own experiences make that clear. But I'm concerned about Cosmos's methods here. If this strike team is injured, I won't be able to help. Cosmos is sending a group out with an extremely thin safety net. That doesn't sit well with me morally, or practically. And what if Chaos becomes involved again? Someone this instrumental in several of Chaos's successes would be sorely missed. If what you say is true, we won't survive another direct attack from Chaos. Or the other warriors, for that matter. What if someone dies in my care? And I'm unable to help? I don't think we should become involved again." Her voice cracked, and the weight of her fears pressed in on her. Cecil's hand tightened on her arm and he gently stroked it.

"Then . . . don't become involved," Zidane said, staring hard at her. The words were callous, but based on the look in his eyes it had a deeper meaning.

She couldn't immediately figure it out. "But-"

"No offense, but it's kinda not up to you. Not anymore. Maybe back when he was only attacking you, but he's gone old school with it. Hunting us down one-by-one like this. He hurt others now. Now it's an 'all of us, including you' problem. So, since Cosmos sees it right to exclude you anyway, then don't be included!"

"But what if people get hurt?"

"Listen, we know the risks here. And what do you think we did without you?"

She had no answer to that.

"We know what we're walking in to at any given time. This is a war, and we all signed up for it. So if you don't want to worry about it, then don't worry about it. Just worry about the other issues at hand."

"Isn't the Emperor the issue at hand?" Rosa asked.

"No, the issues at hand are things like getting yourself back to full strength. Or, the fact that there's no coffee here. We should fix that. Or, I don't know," he said, flapping his hand in an attempt to get something to come to him. "Finding new ways to hang out with Cecil. Anything! Just leave the Emperor to the experts."

Zidane stretched again, scratching the back of his head. He scooped up his cards and the items he used for the map and dumped it all back into its pockets before lazily strolling over to where Bartz and Vaan were standing.

Rosa met Cecil's eye, lifting one eyebrow in a mock question. " . . . I can't tell. Was that some kind of hint? Apparently, Zidane thinks we should spend more time together?"

Cecil laughed. "Yes, well. He is a romantic, if nothing else."

They lapsed into comfortable silence, and Rosa lay flat, staring up into the calm, rolling clouds drifting over the entire land. Always on the brink of a slow, peaceful storm. The kind that misted over the land and washed it clean. "They make this place sound so violent."

"Isn't it?" Cecil asked, following her gaze.

"Yes, of course. It's a battleground. But it's hard to believe that when it looks like this most of the time. It belies a history that was written in blood." She was glad she hadn't been around to see much of that history. "I can't wait until I can explore this world without worrying about if I'm going to be assassinated. You know I've barely seen anything here? I've seen Sanctuary, and had a brief foray into Melmond, but that's all. Everybody talks about the Snowfields, Mount Gulg, the Mirage Sandsea. I'd like to see them sometime."

"And you will," Cecil said, in a way that didn't sound like token hopefulness. He said it in a way that was true and real, like he believed it with his entire heart.

"Will you show me?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, smiling down at her. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

Chapter Text

The boy, Squall, was strong.

Strong, the Emperor thought, but not strong enough. His Drain spell had done its job wonderfully, absorbing all of Squall's strength and magic. His own attunement to the basic elements magnified with Squall's proficiency in them, and the slight effort it previously took to focus and cast first and second level spells was nonexistent with their combined might. After sampling the power Squall possessed, it was clear to the Emperor why Cosmos chose someone like him. He was strong, determined, focused, with a fighting spirit that would do whatever was necessary to accomplish his goals.

And yet, the entirety that Squall had to offer would never even compare to the single iota of Cosmos' divine essence the Emperor stole from him.

The Drain spell had coursed through Squall, and there at his center, glowing in the core, was an ethereal, otherworldly mass. Divine magic, buzzing with power. Just from being in the magic's proximity alone the Emperor felt his senses heighten and his nerves tingle. Like tugging a flower's roots from the earth, the Drain spell wrapped around the shreds of Cosmos's power and ripped it from Squall. It felt like touching a piece of infinity. Infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite fortitude, adding entire battles to his limits. A white beacon of immeasurable strength, lying dormant until Squall called on it to manifest.

It was his to call on, now.

That single scrap of Cosmos's energy was more than any warrior could ever give, and it spread through him like an electric shock. Whole limits to his own abilities became instantly unlocked. Spells of a divine nature that he had been unable to cast since before arriving in this world returned to him, and at far higher levels than he thought possible.

These were the spoils from only one of Cosmos's warrior! One who wasn't primarily a magic user. This was from only a sliver of Cosmos's power. This raw potential . . . The thought of how he would feel and just what he could do after attacking a magic user next very nearly sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine and brought a smile to his face.

With the same effort now, he would already be casting third and fourth level spells. And, most likely, he would be able to cast far more spells before feeling deprived. With enough patience and enough warriors' energies, he would see his plans for the gods and their warriors come to fruition. Rosa would have to watch all of it.

At the thought of her, the Emperor sat back in his throne and crossed his legs, softly kicking the leg he placed on top. What had dear Rosa thought of his gift to her? He severely regretted not following the group of warriors after Cosmos whisked them away. He wished he could have seen the way Rosa responded to the crisis. She would have been in her element. All the training she no doubt received in her life should have shone through, and he would have liked to watch her take control in a situation where she was meant to be at her strongest and most capable.

He also wished he could have seen her reaction to his threat of future violence.

What did the terror and the dread look like on her? What would the pressure do to her, after she saw first-hand the kind of damage he could deal? It would've been such sweet revenge to know, but he was content to simply imagine her reaction to it. He knew he would get to see it first hand later, since he intended to deliver on his promise. Especially now that she and Cosmos sent their response - the charming little group making its way across the world at that very moment. Who better to choose from as his next victim than the nice offering they were sending directly to him?

They used the Teleport Stone in Lufenia, already close enough to warrant the Emperor's attention. He operated out of the Forgotten Trails, the second Gateway to the north of the Teleport Stone. No doubt Firion told them where to find him before they set out. Firion understood the importance of strategic placement, and the Forgotten Trails was the important juncture between the Land of Discord and the small strip of land that connected it to Cosmos' domain. Who was in this little party? Who were the best of Cosmos' champions, tasked with bringing low the great Emperor?

He stretched his awareness over the land and read the energies, matching them to the Divine energy he had stolen from Squall to ensure recognition: the Onion Knight, poor child, Tidus, with whom he briefly struggled during his attack on Rosa in Sanctuary, Cloud and Tifa, Sephiroth's quarry, and Terra.

Terra.

If Kefka's perpetual whining was anything to note, Terra was the perfect target for the next reaping. A powerful Black Mage, the most powerful Black Mage of all of Cosmos's warriors. Not to mention the extra power that she possessed, lying dormant for if she was in a pinch. No doubt that would help him exponentially, and especially once he stole the next piece of Cosmos's power.

Noticeably, the two warriors he would have liked to see the most were absent. In a way, Firion's absence surprised the Emperor more than Rosa's. Firion would hardly have voluntarily passed an opportunity to confront him, so if he was absent, it wasn't of his own volition. If he knew Cosmos and her antics as well as he supposed he did, Cosmos forbade him from participating. Why, he couldn't begin to guess, but Firion was a tough battle. It only improved the Emperor's odds. And Rosa, well . . . either she had done what he expected her to do and used up all of her energy in the healing of one warrior, or she was too afraid to face him directly. Either one bode well for him.

No Rosa,  no Firion, no Cecil or Kain either. The sweet taste of spite rose into the back of his throat forcing a smirk from him. Cecil had been so passionate when he threatened him. Kain would have killed him without a second thought if he had gotten his hands on him. It was almost disappointing that now they were too frightened to even deliver on their own threat. He wouldn't be able to show them just how little he cared for them, and show them what a real threat looked like.

He let his newfound power surge and let it energize him. Let it mix with his malice. The thought of how swift and how easy he could rain ruin upon their heads brought another smile to his face. Poor Cosmos wouldn't be able to counter this one.

He checked on the group of warriors heading towards him. They were getting closer to the Northern Lufenia Gateway, the only one they had to pass to reach him in the Forgotten Trails.

Time to play.

From his position on the throne he called on his natural abilities, amplified by the thousands with Cosmos's addition. Opening his palm on the armrest of his throne, he let it build in his hand, and it manifested so quickly and so powerfully he almost lost control and loosed it on himself. He was forced to dial it back, practically holding it at bay and only allowing trickles of concentration through. His staff glowed instead, a black and white energy swirling around it, and it rattled in the air from the strength. The Emperor pictured the map of the world in his mind, marking Terra's position near the back of the group to ensure he didn't damage her accidentally. He imagined the exact place he wanted the trap to detonate and placed the spell between the Lufenia Gateway posts, straight in their path. He waited until they closed in, clustering together to enter the Gateway, then clenched his fist. The magic materialized, and shimmering black thorns burst outward from the focal point, four or five barbs stabbing into one of the warriors. He didn't bother to find out who. As long as it wasn't Terra. The warrior's existence flickered in his awareness, and he knew he had done serious damage.

Their little group stopped in their tracks and made a hasty retreat from the spell. The Emperor left the barbs floating there, effectively barring their way towards him until he released it. Two warriors - one of them Terra, the other the wounded - broke away from the group and they slowly made their way towards the Teleport Stone. The others stayed where they were, so he turned his attention to Terra. He couldn't let her leave. Now was the perfect time to display the rewards he earned from Squall.

He summoned a normal Cyclone, circling his finger in the air. Even holding back, the winds in the world around them responded immediately and changed direction at his slightest command, growing much larger than he intended. His staff mirrored his motions, this time glowing purple with his usual power. The air spun and spun, picking up loose dirt and even large rocks. The Emperor called on the powers he borrowed from Squall and eased a touch of Fire into it. The swirling dust caught like tinder, and a raging column of whirling smoke and angry flames appeared from the clouds. Before the Emperor could try and maneuver it, the magic slipped from his control and stabbed into the ground several feet from the Teleport Stone with a massive crack of thunder, shaking the ground. Terra and her friend quickly skirted around the Cyclone, and the Emperor struggled to contain it. He nudged the energy to the side and traced a path through the air. Luckily, the Cyclone heeded him and careened into their path, encircling the Stone and blocking their way to it.

The tornado almost forced its way past his intentions. The Emperor struggled to keep it contained around the Stone, and while he did, he felt a sudden sensation of Blizzard magic colliding against the own magic. The Emperor stood from his throne and held the spells, teleporting to the warriors to watch them struggle. He hovered above all five and perched gently on the top of the Lufenian Gateway, safe behind the barbs that were still shimmering between the Gateway's pillars. Terra and the Onion Knight had their backs to him, standing near the Cyclone. She had her hands raised in front of her, head lowered, straining against the strong winds, her own Blizzaga spells swept away as she lost the battle. At Cloud's shout, they turned.

The Onion Knight had taken the damage from the thorns. He was bleeding from a deep gash that spread across the bridge of his nose and to the very corner of his right eye, like he had barely turned at the last second to keep from being impaled. It had knocked his helmet askew, and it perched precariously on the top of his head, ready to fall at any second. Another spike had caught him across the right side of his neck. He had one hand pressed there to the wound, and when Terra turned to face the Emperor she rushed to his side and covered his hands with hers to place more pressure on it. A vibrant red spilled between their fingers and down his arm, dripping quickly into the dirt below. As the Emperor looked more closly he saw two more holes bored clean through the exposed part of his right arm, just below his elbow, like he had been reaching for the Gateway sigil when the thorns struck. His left hand was clasped to the fleshy part of his right side, to a growing red stain leaking from a hole punched into his armor.

The wounds weren't fatal, but the Knight wouldn't be able to hold a sword, let alone fight - not if he wanted to keep from bleeding out. That was one less warrior between him and Terra.

"These are to be my executioners?" he called out to them, yelling over the roar and crackle of the flames, sweeping his arm to gesture to all of them. "This meager group?" He stared pointedly at Terra and the Onion Knight, hunched over and breathing heavily. "This is the best that dear Rosa and dear Cosmos could muster? A message directly from me certainly deserved a better reply! How pathetic."

"Pathetic?!" Tidus yelled, dropping to a low ready position. His sword appeared in his hands, and he practically bounced from foot to foot. "Come down here and we'll show you how pathetic!"

"Don't, Tidus!" Terra warned, glancing over her shoulder at the Cyclone. "Don't talk to him, remember? We should get Onion to safety-"

The Emperor calmed his voice despite the electric anticipation coursing through his nerves. He so desperately wanted this fight, but not yet. "You won't make it to safety," the Emperor assured her, shaking his head emphatically. "Surely you know this world well enough by now."

Terra peeked over her shoulder again, no doubt trying to plan how to get around the spell.

"How did Rosa find my warnings?" he asked Tidus.

"Hah! Squall's fine!" he yelled back quickly, with a haughty tone. "You didn't kill him! Rosa healed him!" Tidus leaned into her name, like the name alone would do damage. The Emperor lifted his chin, waving him away.

"You ignorant worm! If my intention was to kill Squall, then Squall would be dead!" Tidus's confident smirk dropped, and he looked back to the others.

"She still took care of your 'warning!'"

"Did she?" the Emperor mocked.

Tifa's breath caught and her eyes widened. She lowered his fists and looked to Cloud next to her. "Wait . . . he said there would be more-"

"Brave, brave Squall was only the beginning! I warned Rosa there would be more, and I warned Cosmos that I had a plan for her, did I not? And Cosmos has done exactly as I wished - more, in fact! She sent you to me! My next victims, served on a silver platter by the goddess whom you so dearly love! Poor Rosa," he sneered towards Tidus, "had better be prepared to care for you!" The Emperor raised his hand, intending to herd them together with a few bolts of Thunder from the tornado. Instead, the Thundaga appeared directly over Terra and the Onion Knight. The Emperor tried desperately to rein it in, not wanting to harm her, but it refused to heed him. Terra cried out a small squeak of alarm and tugged the Onion Knight to the side, curling over him to protect him. She lifted her hands and swept them to the side, and a violent gust of wind blew the bolts wildly off-track. They exploded a safe distance away. On impulse Terra dragged the Knight towards the stone, but the column of fire blocked their escape route. Their only escape route.

The Emperor laughed at the sheer scope of his new power. "Surely Cosmos knew where my Gateway was on the map! At the least, Firion did! Surely they accounted for the fact that there would be no viable exits. And she sent you anyway!" the Emperor taunted again, and with each word, Terra grew more visibly frantic. Her eyes slid to the left and to the right, to the Gateways behind her and the lack of exits to the side. "Surely she knew you'd be trapped!"

Tifa and Cloud shared a glance, and he knew they understood their predicament as well.

"I will let you go, of course," the Emperor said cooly, and he dispersed the Thorns that he planted in front of the Lufenian Gateway. "I will even lay out your path through the Forgotten Trails Gateway. It's a short climb to my Pandaemonium, only a few floors. I'll be waiting there for you, since you no longer have a choice but to pass through. Then we will see the true mettle of Cosmos's assassins. And I sincerely hope you make it to me," he said, looking directly at Terra. "If you do not, well . . . a shame. I'm afraid the best that Cosmos had to offer was not enough. She will simply have to come and attack me herself!"

He met eyes with each of them in turn, smiling at their growing fear. Watching the helplessness rise in their eyes as they understood their fates were dependent entirely in his whims, and that Cosmos had been the one to pit them against him. As a final farewell, the Emperor called another column of purple lightning above Terra and the Onion Knight, this time purposefully looking like he intended to strike them. His staff twirled once in the air. The bolts cracked and writhed, poking towards the ground, but with much better control he held the spell in place. The other warriors turned, and together they all crashed towards them, hoping to protect them. Instead of releasing the spell, the Emperor called another slow-crawling Blizzaga spell he learned from Squall. He changed the energy in it, adding a touch of his own Hellish powers before hurling it towards Tidus's back. The chunks of ice collided between his shoulder blades and he stumbled forward, but they quickly broke apart and glanced away, not doing any real damage. Still, the Emperor's magic clung to his body, and a layer of frost crystallized over the area. The longer they waited to dispel it, the further it would spread until he would be nearly encased in ice.

That would be another warrior down in his battle with Terra.

The Emperor dispersed the lightning and teleported away from them, to the bottom floor of the Forgotten Trails Gateway. He traveled floor to floor, laying traps behind him as he went - false floors they would fall through to lower floors, triggered explosions, holding spells and Dreary Cells, homing magic. Those, combined with the manikins from both Gateways, would be enough to weaken them by the time they reached him.

And they had no way out. Not without Cosmos's intervention like the last time. Though, he doubted she would help them. They weren't meant to need her help. They were meant to hunt him down, put him down, and return to Sanctuary with little more than a few scratches. They weren't meant to return to Rosa and need extensive healing magic, and even if they did return to her, Rosa would be unable to help if she did what he had planned for her to do.

He returned to his throne and lay a few more traps. Dreary Cells and mines that he hid under the crystal crops, among others. He sat down in his throne and crossed his legs, resting his cheek on his fist.

And he waited.

Chapter Text

A single flash from the Signet of Chaos announced their arrival, and there they stood before him.

The Emperor smiled, standing gracefully from his throne and making a point to look over each of them. The Onion Knight leaned entirely on Terra, his arm over her shoulder the only think keeping him upright. With each passing second his eyes glazed further, blood still oozing from his wounds. Together they struggled into Pandaemonium, nearly veering into a trap he hid just off the side of the path to his throne. If they managed to activate it, he couldn't be sure it wouldn't kill the Knight outright.

The crawling Blizzaga he cast on Tidus had spread up his back and was curling over his shoulders, crystallizing, breaking, and re-crystallizing with every movement. White frost rose off him like a cloud. He squirmed, writhing in place and rolling his shoulders constantly, groaning through his chattering teeth. His skin appeared greyed and broken in several places, some from manikins and some from the cold, the blood freezing in a dull maroon.

The girl, Tifa, looked as though she had a particularly bad encounter with an Exdeath manikin. Eyes unfocused and bleeding from somewhere on her hairline, she had taken some force damage and a blow to the head. Covered in bruises and in dust and soot, like she had crashed through a wall. Cloud looked mostly in tact, barring a few cuts and scratches.

Terra, he thought, looked terrified.

"Cosmos's assassins!" he sneered. He laughed, calling his staff from its resting place next to the throne. "I'm glad you could make it!" Removing Cloud first would be the most important thing. That, and deflecting Terra's magic.

Cloud lifted his sword behind his head and slashed it down, and an arc of power careened off the blade towards him. The Emperor slammed the end of his staff into the ground, a cluster of purple mines swiftly appearing in its path. The Blade Beam collided with the mines and they detonated on contact in a cloud of smoke, the sound booming through Pandaemonium.

The Emperor side-stepped the explosion to keep Cloud in his sights, and he watched two Firaga charges emerge from under the smoke, exploding where he had been standing a moment ago. The Emperor shielded his face but the force knocked him to the side, and he lifted his feet from the ground and levitated in the air to keep his balance. The smoke cleared, and he quickly searched for Terra, expecting another few spells. Luckily, she had kept to the back to set the Onion Knight down.

Rather than attack her, the Emperor allowed Cloud to advance freely, still intent on taking him out first, with Tifa behind him on unsteady legs. Together they charged while Tidus strained to break the ice that spread over his arms and hips. He groaned with the effort, muscles flexing, and finally shattered enough of it to swing his momentum forward in a slow path towards him. The Emperor eyed the distance between them and Terra, watching it grow, playing it to his advantage. The further he kept them from her before he took them out, the easier it would be when he targeted her.

Despite her injuries, Tifa breezed past Cloud and reached the Emperor first, throwing her fist at his face. The Emperor ducked and swung his staff to the side, knocking her arm away. She immediately threw a second punch and the deflected it the other way. She crouched down, drawing back for a powerful uppercut, but the Emperor slid backwards and dodged as she spiraled upwards. Tifa landed lightly on her feet and dashed forward again, and he released his staff to float freely,  controlling it from afar. He braced it diagonally across her body and slammed it into her, forcing her away. Her chest collapsed and she choked out a cough, and she grabbed hold of the staff on impulse. She shoved it away from her and the Emperor pressed back, both holding steady.

Glancing over Tifa's shoulder, the Emperor saw that Cloud had almost caught up to them. He calmly called a normal Red Flare spell and planted it directly in Cloud's path to keep him at bay. The magic surged within him so fast and so much more powerfully than he anticipated that when he built the spell in the air it simply formed around Cloud, twice as large as it used to be and impossible to escape. Cloud's feet skid on the crystal as the surprise registered on his face and he tried to change directions, but he was a second too late. The tendrils and wisps of fire appeared and congealed into a sphere around his form and exploded violently in a hot blast. Cloud was tossed backwards through the air, and Tifa was thrown forwards, falling back into his staff from the force.

The Emperor cursed softly, watching Cloud land on his back and slide, coming to halt only a few feet from Terra. He had intended to stall Cloud, not cast him between real target. His newfound strength was fantastic - intoxicating, even - but he didn't yet have control. He wouldn't until he tested its real depths.

The Emperor locked on to Terra, finally joining the battle after situating the Onion Knight. She left him to the right of the door of Pandaemonium and was floating through the air, inching towards him with her hands clasped to ready a spell. She coasted past Cloud as he scrambled to his feet, smoke rising off of him from the Flare. The Emperor almost overlooked a sliding attack from Tidus and barely dodged at the last second, missing his ankles by mere inches. He simply spun and swept his staff around, clipping Tidus's chest and knocking him back into a trap he had placed before they arrived. Loops of white energy emerged from the ground and tangled around his limbs, snapping taut against the floor and holding him in place. The moment he was secure, the Emperor moved to cast another Flare spell, but it never landed.

The tension and pressure in the air around him rapidly increased, the ends of his hair raising in the growing static. The Emperor threw himself backwards and called his staff to return to him but Tifa grabbed it with both hands and held on tight, still half-slung over it from the Flare before. He ripped it from her grasp with his magic and she staggered forward to keep her balance right as five Thundaga bolts struck in a circle around him, one of them hitting her directly. She stiffened and fell to the floor, screaming as her muscles tensed. The other bolts squiggled along the floor and drew towards him and the Emperor braced his staff in front of him, casting a Shell spell to protect him. The solid purple Shell froze the bolts in place and the Emperor circled his hand. His staff revolved around him and absorbed each bolt of Thunder as it passed, first glowing and then sparking with each one it picked up. He poured his own Thunder magic onto it and Terra's pure white energy turned purple and sinister, hissing and spitting out tiny bolts that grounded themselves around him. He lifted his hands and dropped the Shell spell, then threw Terra's Thundaga back at all of them as a purple, crackling web along the floor.  Some sparks disconnected and arced through the air, powerful enough to slam into the opposite wall of Pandaemonium. Tidus was caught defenseless, while Cloud and Tifa dropped like stones to the floor, convulsing from the energy.

Terra was unharmed floating in the air, but she still cowered away from a few stray bolts that leapt up to latch on to her shoes. She curled up, tucking her knees to her chest, and the Emperor used her distraction to move towards her unnoticed. He checked on the other warriors - Tifa looked to be down for good after two Thundagas and her previous weaknesses. Tidus looked able to continue the fight, but likely wouldn't be able to break free in time to reengage if the Blizzaga continued to slow him down. Cloud, ever-resilient, struggled to his feet again, already charging the Emperor.

He clutched his staff with both hands and aimed it at Terra, charging a Dynamite spell. As before, the spell started out far stronger than he intended, and he released it quickly, more concerned with pinning Terra down than harming her. She twirled to the side and easily dodged, but the spell landed as he intended. The orange ball sailed through the air and planted itself into one of the crystals behind her. She was immediately pulled backwards towards it, her feet sliding on the ground. Her arms pinwheeled and she battled to stay in place.

The Emperor left her for a moment and turned back to Cloud, resolved to finally remove him completely. Cloud lunged towards him, sword poised for an overhead strike, and the Emperor called a purple hexagonal Protect barrier that solidified around him, so strong the light was nearly blinding. He braced for Cloud's swing, and when the heavy sword collided with the barrier it glanced harmlessly to the side, throwing sparks. Cloud swung again, slashing across the middle the other way, and the Protect barrier flared, staying strong. He readied a third strike and the Emperor pressed into the Protect, reenforcing it. Cloud's sword collided with it and the spell flashed. The ricochet jarred up Cloud's arms so forcefully that he recoiled, dropping the blade with a cry. The Emperor morphed one of the hexagons of the Protect spell into a light crest, and a barrage of white orbs shot from its center, all striking Cloud's chest. He rolled back, vaulting quickly to his feet, and the Emperor placed a Dreary Cell around him before he could react.

The spikes rose up around him and when the large orbs appeared above them, crackling with the energy they possessed, the Emperor lost sight of him. He clenched his fist and they erupted, several different explosions firing off within seconds of each other. He waited until the smoke cleared and he saw Cloud motionless on the ground before he turned on Terra.

Finally free of the other warriors, the Emperor dispelled the Dynamite, and Terra collapsed forward. She looked up with a gasp, eyes widening as she saw him drawing closer and closer.

"You're the only one left, my dear," he told her, relishing in the way her she looked to the other warriors she arrived with. Tidus behind him to his right, squirming in the trap he placed, fighting the Blizzaga. Tifa discarded somewhere behind him to his left, and Cloud in front of him, gasping for breath as he tried one last time to drag himself to his feet. He grimaced, clutching at his side at some unseen damage to his ribs. He raised himself to his hands and knees but collapsed back down to his elbows with a deep growl, head down. Eyes still on Terra, the Emperor trailed to his left, directly in front of where Cloud lay. She didn't seem to realize what he intended, and simply circled to the right to keep her distance. But before she could react he spun and faced Cloud.

"Stay down!" the Emperor hissed. Taking a page from Squall's book, the Emperor imbued the end of his staff with a bit of Fire energy and swung it down on Cloud, catching the small of his back. On impact the Firaga exploded, forcing Cloud flat to the ground and flattening his chest to the floor again. He was completely still after that.

The Emperor whirled back around, pointing his staff at Terra. She froze in her advance, arms outstretched as though to run to her fallen friend. "Do try to make this enjoyable for me," he added, lowering his head and staring at her in a way he knew was predatory and threatening. He smiled, laughing, allowing a surge of his full power to flare around him, rising off of him dangerously in waves.

Terra flicked her wrist and a weak, almost tentative Fire spell flew at him. He raised his hand and easily deflected it to one side, barely feeling its heat. She hastily threw another one with more intent, and he allowed it to strike his side, heating the metal and burning his flesh, but not enough to cause him real pain. She withdrew, clearly intimidated by his display of power and he laughed again. Her eyes roved around the room and she drew a circle in the air to cast something behind him. Without turning away from her, the Emperor called another Shell, and the five Blizzaga projectiles she called shattered on impact with the barrier.

Before she could call another spell, the Emperor teleported directly in front of her, towering over her small frame. He sneered down at her as she startled, and she raised a hand to his chest to cast. He snatched her out-stretched wrist and pushed it aside, deflecting a few hot bolts of Holy Magic that sizzled in the air past him. He clenched his feist until he felt the bones in her wrist gnash together. Terra yelped and jerked away from him but he held fast, and she clawed at him with her other hand, working to pry his fingers free. After a few seconds she simply grabbed his wrist in return and her hands lit up, glowing red with fire and super-heating his skin under his gloves.

The Emperor winced and fought through the pain, gripping her tighter. Her mouth opened in a silent scream and the fire suddenly flared into open flame, burning even hotter. A surge of blinding pain washed over the Emperor and he recoiled. Terra called her sword to her injured hand, gripping it with both as she slashed down across his chest. He dodged backwards, but quickly realized she hadn't been aiming for him. Her sword clashed with his staff, throwing sparks as his staff was thrown away, our of his immediate influence. It crashed to the ground, the sound ringing in his ears, and Terra threw her hands in his direction. A tunnel of wind spiraled at him and lifted him off his feet. He clawed at the air, calling for anything to help. Before he could focus long enough, he was against the wall. His spine and head cracked against the back wall of Pandaemonium next to his throne and sharp pain lanced through his body. He fell and couldn't catch himself. His legs crumpled and he collapsed dizzily to his hands and knees.

He raised his head and stared at the girl in front of him until the image stopped spinning. He quickly struggled to his feet, ignoring the pounding in his temples and the weakness in his limbs, and he teleported to his staff where she had thrown it, keeping her in his sights as she whirled around to follow him. He picked it up near the bottom and lifted it straight over his head. He called on more of Squall's unfamiliar power and his staff charged, glowing red and then yellow, extending straight up like a blade. He lunged towrads Terra and slammed the blade down on where she stood. She clasped her hands and a green shield flickered to life around her. It looked so fragile that he thought it would shatter on impact. But when the blade crashed down on her shield it held steady, enduring the force of the blow and an explosion that blew his cape and hair back. The Emperor pressed, forcing more power into the attack and forcing all of his weight down onto his arms.

Terra curled up and clenched her hands tighter, and her shield fortified, pressing back against the Emperor. He quickly tried to imbue the attack with Silence magin in an attept to weaken her, but a small light glowed in between her hands. She straightened up and spread her hands, and the attack was reflected back at him. The power of his own attack slammed into his stomach, so strong the air was pushed from his lungs and his legs were taken out from under him. His defenses crumbled and he was knocked onto his back. For the second time he dragged himself to his feet, this time much more slowly. The second he put weight on his left leg, heavy pain burst through his hip and his side. He hissed through his teeth and clamped a hand to his side, and blood sat thickly on his gloves. The attack had punched straight through his armor and caused some damage, and even standing caused him pain, every little movement sending shockwaves up and down his leg.

Luckily, the Silence spell didn't take.

He limped to keep his balance and Terra stared him down, face hardened, jaw clenching, nostrils flaring like a bull readying a charge. Her power surged, an aura of white around her, volatile and swirling, displaying Cosmos's power at her center.

He knew she was strong. It was why he targeted her. But he certainly didn't expect to take a shred of damage. The realization that even with all of his power he could still lose this battle frightened him, sending a chill down his spine. If he continued to play around with her, he could lose. It was time to end this.

"Now you suffer!" He snarled all the pain and rage he felt into the word. The Emperor called on the Starfall, lifting off the ground. His staff spun around him, and rather than having to put energy into crafting the spell the sigils appeared instantly, one above Terra and the other below. Still, the Emperor called on his deeper strength and focused on the spell. The sigils charged and glowed and Terra tried another shield, but the spell anchored around her and completely closed her in. The meteors appeared from above, beating down on her over and over again, and the Emperor lost sight of her. Finally, the final meteor descended down. It exploded, throwing fire and chunks of molten rock and hot debris and smoke out. The floor and walls of Pandaemonium shook, the crystal crops that hadn't broken in the battle before shattered on impact, and the other warriors were cast aside, torn asunder by the power of his spell.

The smoke cleared and Terra was flat on the ground, unmoving. The Emperor floated over to her to keep weight off of his leg. He raised his staff over her and gently touched the end to the small of her back. The Drain spell came easily, and as it connected to her energy it shot straight to her center, to the roots of power in her heart. The same sensations he felt when he stole Squall's power overwhelmed his senses - immense, ethereal, otherworldly power, white-hot and divine in nature, buzzing against his awareness. He wrapped the Drain spell around that source and scooped it from its perch, drawing it back into himself.

If it resisted him at all, as Squall's had, he did not feel it.

Terra's magic flooded into him, so quickly and so strong that he staggered back, head spinning. He landed on his heels and tripped. Pain stabbed through his hip but it was distant, even as he fell onto his backside next to her. If there had ever been a limit on the spells he cold use, it was demolished. Even defensive spells swelled in power. It surrounded him and rolled off of him, in an arc so wide he couldn't contain it. It swirled in the air, and like being zapped with a spell he felt alert. Powerful.

He dragged himself to his feet and hovered again, and Terra didn't move. Dead or just unconscious, the Emperor neither knew nor cared. He got what he wanted from her.

He looked to the others, and at the Onion Knight still wounded and barely conscious, leaning back against the barrier across the door. The Emperor floated over to him next, and when the Knight spotted him, still coherent enough to feel threatened, he called the sword to his hand. He swiped blindly at him, blinking to resist the glaze in his eyes, but the Emperor was safely out of range.

"No, I'm not after you. Not yet. I need a message delivered, and you're the only one conscious to hear it." The Emperor lifted his uninjured leg and stepped on the Onion Knight's sword, leaning down over him. The Knight groaned, turning his face away. "Tell Cosmos that I will not tolerate such blatant disrespect again. Tell her that it seems her little group wasn't enough, and it will take much more for her to destroy me."

The Knight shifted, and the Emperor thought he was going to fall over, unconscious. He quickly grabbed the Knight's shoulder and shook him, and his bleary eyes cleared enough to stay awake. "Tell Cosmos that I hope to see her soon. And tell Rosa that I look forward to seeing her again as well."

The Emperor prepared his Teleport magic, targeting all the warriors - Tidus, frozen solid in a layer of ice, Cloud and Tifa, unconscious and scattered, the Knight, and Terra. He teleported away, to the most logical place to flaunt his victory.

The center of Sanctuary.

With a whoosh, a gust of air, and a flash he appeared, not feet from Cosmos, the injured warriors displayed around him as art. Time slowed down. Cosmos's back straightened and her eyes widened. She moved to stand. The Warrior of Light blinked, then his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth dropped open to yell a command. He spun and his shield loosed from his hand towards the Emperor. He drew the other warriors' attentions, and half of them leapt to their feet or called their weapons.

The Emperor placed a Protect spell around himself, deflecting Warrior's shield away. He bowed low to Cosmos, dropping his eyes to show he did not feel threatened by them any longer.

"Another present!" he said, throwing his arms wide. Then he disappeared before anyone else could attack.

Chapter Text

There was a hissing sound directly behind Rosa. The sound of rushing air, a sound she learned to associate with the comings and goings of one particular warrior. She felt all the blood drain from her face, and her body moved of its own volition. She shot to her feet, her bow materialized in her hands before she even realized she called it, and the world around her slowed to a painful crawl. Rosa's vision tunneled and the sounds of Sanctuary faded away into the empty, white noise of free air.

She drew a breath to scream a warning to the others, pulling the air in so fast that it caught in her chest. All that left her mouth was a choked cough. She turned, straining to peer over her shoulder faster, but like trying to run in a dream her body refused to respond, suspended in her little temporal window. She dragged an arrow from her quiver and slapped it into place, notching it on the string while she turned.

His form crawled into her peripheral and then into her full field of vision. His back was to her, but he was so close she could’ve reached out and touched his leg. His purple, three-pronged cape billowed elegantly behind him, the ends of it caressing her cheek. And then, like an electric shock jolting through her senses, the Emperor's aura of power struck her, overwhelming her. His power was amplified so intensely, he almost looked to be vibrating with energy. It rolled off of him in thick tendrils and clouds, visible even to those who were unable to see auras before. Raw, feral, ancient power, more than Rosa had ever experienced in her life except for within Cosmos, collided with her awareness and choked her. The arrow slipped from her fingers. Her spine stiffened, a chill rocketed down her back, and her muscles locked in place. Her stomach rolled, her hands and feet grew cold and numb, her heart leapt up into her throat and beat away at the base of her neck in real time. She was knocked back into the water.

"I'm going to die," her mind screamed with ferocious clarity, and the world darkened, pressing in on her from every side. "He's going to kill me now." Right then and right there, in the middle of Sanctuary, surrounded by everyone who could have possibly had a chance to help her. All it would take was a single spell with how strong he appeared, and she wouldn't even stand a chance with how weak he had forced her to become.

Tears of helplessness and outrage and indignant surprise immediately sprang to her eyes, blurring his figure in a panicking moment of blindness. He looked around, the movement slowed and exaggerated. To the left, to the right. Looking for her, she realized, and her first instinct was to hide from him. Hide from him, force him to ignore her and go away, and force the other warriors to make him go away. But she couldn’t move, still frozen in place by her shock and by the display of power she witnessed. She knew if he saw her she’d never get the chance to flee. Instead she froze, a deer spotted by her hunter, unable to come up with anything else to do. Someone yelled something, deep and throaty in her bubble of time, and as the Emperor prepared a spell Rosa shrank back against the water and blocked with her arms, shielding what she could of herself. There was a bright, methodical flash.

She flinched, bracing for an impact into her body and the pain to follow.

And then Warrior’s shield glanced off of the Emperor’s protect barrier with a low-pitched, mechanical clang. The Emperor, utterly unfazed, calm and confident with the arrogance of his strength, bowed low, spreading his arms and dropping his eyes to the water.

The atmosphere of sound slammed back to her ears. Time and movement sped back to real time. She heard his voice loud and clear announce, "Another present!"

And then he was gone with that horrible whoosh of air.

The Emperor’s visit to Sanctuary lasted ten seconds, maybe fifteen. For Rosa, it could have been an hour. Sometime during that span, she stopped breathing, and only after an intense fluttering in her chest did she remember to. All the breath she collected in a scream finally tumbled from her vocal chords in a strangled, horrified cry. As she raised her hands to her head to steady herself and process the fact that she was still alive, she realized she was shaking. Trembling all over, like a leaf.

His absence left a vacuum in her body and awareness, the ridiculous amounts of power he possessed still resonating emptily in the space he occupied.The breath entered her lungs but it was as though it wouldn't satisfy her caving chest. She drew her arms in and wrapped them around herself in a half-hearted and mindless attempt to comfort herself, and process the fact that she was alive. He hadn't destroyed her.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head. "No, no." She lowered her hand and covered her mouth, silencing the protests.

She couldn’t have said she was terrified of the Emperor before. She hadn’t been afraid when she first fought with him, just inexperienced. She hadn’t been afraid of him when he attacked her in Sanctuary, just resigned to her own demise in this foreign world before she ever had a real purpose here. Not even when Ultimecia, Kefka, and Exdeath were attacking her did she fear him. But this encounter was different. He hadn’t even attacked her, hadn't even seen her, as far as she knew. He knew that his presence would be enough, and he had let her live. He intended to make good on his promise to make her suffer. He was going to force her to live in fear of him until she drove herself insane with the dread of awaiting his attack, absolutely terrified by the magic he displayed, the seemingly limitless strength he now possessed. Without creating a single spell he made her painfully aware of how dangerous he was. He could and would find her anywhere. And when he did, there would be nothing she could do as he crushed the life out of her-

"Rosa!" Laguna yelled, ripping her from her thoughts. She lowered her hand and looked around, seeing for the first time the bodies strewn about around Cosmos and her throne, unmoving. Pink rings of stained water lapped and waved around them, spreading in the pool. She blinked. Those weren't there before. She stared, trying to piece together what happened, but her faculties weren't working. "We'll need your help!" From her position on the ground, every warrior in Sanctuary was running in, crashing towards her and the wounded to try and help.

They didn't look wounded. They looked dead.

There was a flash of purple movement out of the corner of her eye. Rosa whirled around, thinking perhaps the Emperor came back to finish what he started, but it was Kain, sprinting to her. He laid a heavy hand on her shoulder, jarring her in her spot on the ground.

"Are you alright?-"

"Rosa, what should we do?" someone else asked. Someone with a rough, scratchy voice. Firion. Or had it been Kain? Both were staring at her. No, everyone was around her and was staring at her, with the use of her name. For once even Warrior was silent mid-crisis, seeming to defer to her, but she was paralyzed. Unable to understand what was happening, let alone make a decision on it. "Onion needs help! Tell us what to do!" She couldn't immediately recognize anyone on the ground. Everything sounded dull and distant. People were flying around her, left and right, kneeling and standing, turning and shouting. Looking at her, shouting at her, and it was too much to process.

"I-I'm fine," came from one of the people on the ground. "I'm just frozen. Go help Onion-"

"She's . . . she's not breathing!" Vaan screamed frantically, leaning over one of the bodies. He gathered the woman into his arms and lifted her up so he could lean his ear to her chest. "Rosa, hurry! What do I do?!" Zidane stood at Vaan's shoulder and was staring too, awaiting her answer. Kain's hand tightened on her shoulder. He leaned down and looked into her face, the only one who looked concerned for her.

She couldn't. Couldn't hurry, couldn't think.

Her body moved before her mind caught up. She couldn't bring herself to answer but she still crawled to Vaan and the woman. Something he said, no, the way that he said it, with gut-wrenching devastation, drew her attention there first. Arm over arm, on her hands and knees, she numbly made her way over to him and to the person in his arms. She sat up and tucked her legs underneath her.

A girl lay there stretched across Vaan's lap. Limp. Her neck stretched back over his arm and her arms dangling lifeless into Sanctuary's water. Eyes staring beyond Vaan's face into the sky. Mouth slightly agape, white teeth poking through between pale white lips. Blond curls, a red dress and flowered tights over her legs, curled up underneath her.

Terra.

"Rosa," Yuna begged in her light voice, "I'll need your help over here!" A second went by, and Yuna hastily added, "Please!" at the end. But she was over by another warrior in the water. Red clothes with yellow and orange accents, body still squirming and legs kicking, but visibly growing weaker with each passing second.

They needed help. The one thing Rosa couldn't give - one of the things she had been nervous about. One of the things the Emperor had warned her about. He had warned her to be prepared to help them at a moment's notice-

"Do something!" Vaan ordered, eyes wide with terror as they flicked between Terra and Rosa. "Please!"

"I can't," rang in her mind, echoing back and forth, but the sounds necessary to release the words from her mouth wouldn't build on her tongue. She stared at Terra, and couldn't even remember the spells that should have been at her disposal. The ones the Emperor had taken from her with his plans and his attacks and his cruelty.

"Rosa, what's the matter with you?" Zidane screamed. "Wake up!" She lifted her trembling hands over Terra.

She had no idea where to even begin.

Vaan waited one more moment, staring into Rosa's eyes. Her open mouth. The slight shake of her head.

The Emperor had warned her not to use all of her power, but she still hadn't recovered from healing Squall, only a day ago. She hadn't been able to muster a single Esuna spell then, and still couldn't now. The Emperor had forced her into this position. He had planned out the entire thing, and she was no match for any of it. She fell exactly into his trap. She was as weak and ineffective as he predicted she would be.

Vaan huffed, eyes welling up, and he turned to someone behind her. "Cosmos!"

Cosmos had been staring down at the Onion Knight and at Yuna's ministrations. At the crack in Vaan's voice, her head whipped around, and when she caught a glimpse of Terra her set jaw and alert gaze collapsed. Her shoulders slumped and her furrowed eyebrows relaxed and she clasped her hands over her chest as though to protect herself from seeing Terra.

"No . . . " she whispered, but rather than hurry to them, she scanned the situation around her. Warrior stood with his back to hers, barely paying attention to the wounded, but protecting Cosmos in case the Emperor came back. Bartz, Laguna, Lightning, and Firion were running between each person on the ground, relaying conditions to anyone who would listen or could help. Yuna was knelt over the Onion Knight, acknowledging each shout from them as she received it, but staying there to help him first. "Everyone stop!" Cosmos commanded, her voice taking on the edge of power that made it sound both far away and screamed directly into their ears. They all startled, covering their ears or flinching away from it, and Rosa withdrew again, expecting to be hit with the same kind of power that the Emperor now possessed. "Rosa . . . " Cosmos began softly, losing the edge, but when she made eye contact with Rosa, she stopped.

Rosa didn't bother to hide the mind-numbing terror she felt over the Emperor. She let Cosmos see the tremble to her lip and to her hands, the helpless tears in her eyes over the fact that she couldn't help and the emptiness she felt within herself without her magic. She wanted Cosmos to know how defeated she was at the Emperor's hands. She hoped Cosmos realized that they had all been played, outmatched by his planning skills.

Whatever Cosmos saw in her face, it made her change directions, and tone. "Yuna," she snapped instead, tense and urgent in her delivery. "Go to Terra. Her situation is most dire. Bartz, mimic Yuna's spells. Cecil, I need your Paladin ability's healing magic." She cooly handed out orders in a way that Rosa had never heard before - edged with a tightly controlled rage that was uncharacteristic in her, like she was barely on the edge of losing control of her emotions. "Cecil, Bartz, pair together, and the two of you continue to heal the Onion Knight." With each word, Cosmos's voice thickened, like she was speaking through clenched teeth and jaw.

"How do I . . . ?" Yuna began, and Cosmos cut her off.

"The most powerful Life spell you possess. Terra's power has been stolen." Cosmos dropped her hands to her sides and they balled into tight fists. She swallowed, face turning a slight shade of red. "She will need her very energy restored, or she'll be lost to us, forever."

"O-okay," Yuna stammered, hesitating, and when Rosa looked into her face, Yuna was staring at Cosmos with intense apprehension. Nervous at the state of Cosmos's rage, which she had clearly never seen before. Cosmos's nostrils flared and before she could say anything else, Yuna stood and started towards Terra. She thought Cosmos would follow, but like she was afraid to see Terra, Cosmos stayed where she was, standing but close to her throne. Staying above the situation so she could hand orders down.

Cecil shifted to his Paladin job, and he and Yuna switched. The water splashed around her, and suddenly Yuna was at her side, staring down at Terra as well.

"Is there anyone else who can use White Magic?" Warrior cried without taking his eyes off of the horizon. "We need all hands on deck-"

"I got it!" Lightning yelled, and she leapt forward, sliding on her knees next to Onion. She took over where Yuna left off and pressed her hands to his neck, the source of his bleeding, while Cecil and Bartz began their attempts to heal him.

"Firion," Cosmos called. "Bring us as many restorative Items as you can from the stockpile." He nodded and sprinted past Rosa's other side, accidentally clipping her body with how close he passed to her. Rosa fell to the water, but barely felt the pain from it. It was far away from her dulled mind.

"I can't," someone said, and she realized it was her. The thoughts she wanted to say earlier finally managed to string together well enough for her to say it. "I can't," she said again. And she latched on to it. Those words, negative though they were, seemed to ground her to the moment. To Sanctuary, to the situation, and seemed to draw her away from her numbness and fear of the Emperor. "I can't," she said again. The pull was stronger. "I can't, I can't."

"I know," Yuna said, though she wasn't looking at Rosa. She was leaning over Terra. "It's okay." Her tone was subdued and quiet. Flat with nerves and stress compared to her normally airy voice.

"I'm sorry," Rosa managed next. "I'm sorry, I can't. The Emperor, he- I still can't-"

"I know," Yuna said again. "It's okay. But I would still appreciate as much of your help as you're able to give. I don't know if I'm strong enough for this." And then she was silent. She closed her eyes, resting her staff across her lap. The warmth of White Magic filled the air around them, and it was something Rosa recognized. She reached out and touched Terra's arm, dangling dejectedly in the water, sensing what was wrong as best she could without a Libra spell. But there was nothing there to sense. Terra's spirit was gone, utterly drained out of her, and there wasn't even a shred of vitality for the spell to latch on to.

Yuna wouldn't be able to bring her back.

Neither could she.

Still, Rosa fought the tears of dread and closed her eyes. She touched Yuna's arm with her other hand, working as an anchor between the two of them. She maintained a shred of hope that Yuna's magic would awaken some of her own - some secret reserve of strength that she had hidden away for these situations.

Yuna built layer after layer of the spell, straining with the effort. Her eyebrows furrowed and she curled up, focusing the energy. Rosa tried the same, but it was like reaching into an empty bag. She scrabbled desperately for any shred of power to contribute but nothing was left to pull from. She was entirely tapped out.

Yuna spread her arms wide, raising her face to the sky, looking like a priestess, calling upon her gods' favors. Before Rosa was ready Yuna released the energy over Terra. The heavens opened above them, Sanctuary's clouds pausing for the moment to allow it. A warm, serene, white light beamed down from the heavens and encircled Terra. Tiny glowing orbs appeared in the air above her, benevolent and kind in their energies, and suddenly a bright yellow light burst outwards from Terra's form, the ends reaching up to the sky and the source of the light.

Yuna sighed, the lights and the orbs faded, and together they waited, watching Terra for any sign of life.

Vaan gently shook her. "Terra!" he tried. "Terra, come on! Wake up!"

There wasn't even a shudder. Rosa knew it didn't take.

"It's not working!" Vaan wailed. "Try it again, Yuna!"

"I-" Yuna started, her voice breaking. On the verge of tears, she closed her eyes and turned away, trying to collect herself as she said, "I don't think it'll help." The last word cracked. Yuna pressed her hand over her mouth, shaking her head.

"Why isn't it working?" Vaan pressed. Then he glared at Rosa, enraged. He gestured wildly to Terra, jarring her lifeless body in the process. "Why isn't this working, Rosa?-"

"I don't know-"

"Try something else-!"

"We're doing the best we can!" she shrieked back, and Vaan blinked in response. "Just . . . please . . . " she begged him. "Please, don't . . . " She wasn't sure what she wanted to ask him. Don't ask her to fulfill her role as the only White Mage in the war? Don't ask her to confront the fact that she fell for the Emperor's schemes that left her so powerless?

"Cosmos!" Vaan called again, not waiting for her response. "Cosmos, please help! They're not strong enough!"

Cosmos lurched forward, lips pressing together and eyebrows furrowing. Her eyes flared, her rage pulsed outwards into her aura, and Rosa's despair heightened with a feeling of indignation. How could Cosmos possibly dare to be annoyed with the fact that one of her warriors was wounded, and she was being called upon to help? How could she possibly dare to be upset that the Emperor had ruined five of her warriors when she was the one who sent them, after his warnings?

At the last moment, Cosmos called out, "Laguna and Firion, take over for Cecil, Lightning, and Bartz. Use Items to help the Knight. You three, assist Yuna-"

"It won't be enough!" Rosa protested. "We have to raise her! Her life force is gone. I can guarantee that Yuna's fullest power won't be strong enough, even with everyone's help! Cecil and Lightning don't have those capabilities. Why can't you just help us?" she exploded. Her voice broke and thick, hot tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Her face heated in immediate embarrassment at her outburst, but worse than that she hated that she sounded like she had given up on Terra. She looked down, unwilling to meet Cosmos's gaze or face her rage. Especially not after bringing up what was probably still an extremely sore subject.

Still, Yuna and all the others around Terra swiveled and looked in Cosmos's direction, and Rosa was selfishly grateful that the attention was off of her again. Faced with all of their expectant faces, either waiting for an answer or waiting for her to take action, she jerked back as though Rosa suggested something appalling. She looked away, lips moving, though words didn't immediately form. She shook her head. "I-I'm so sorry," she said. "I truly am, but I cannot." The power was gone from her voice. She wilted under their gazes - Vaan's wide-eyed desperation and panic, Yuna's tear-filled despair and powerlessness, the others' shock at her refusal. Even the others who were assisting Onion seemed to be tuning in. "It's as Warrior said before, I'm not- I can't-" She spoke quickly, trying to come to her own defense but losing her normal articulation.

"Why won't you help us?" Rosa said, but her voice refused to build over a whisper. "Terra is dying. Cosmos, please!"

"Th-this is not a choice I make lightly!" she insisted, and the admittance stunned everyone into silence. Cosmos lowered her eyes, wringing her hands together in front of her.

" . . . That's it?" Rosa questioned after a moment of heavy pause. "That's all you have to say for yourself? The one time you can speak for yourself, and that's all you can say? That you are going to let your own warrior die?"

Cosmos's eyes flicked to Warrior. He met her gaze and straightened his back, rolling his shoulders back. He swallowed once, took a deep breath through his nose, and said, " . . . This is the nature of fighting in a war."

His simple acquiescence made Rosa's heart sick. "I knew we were expendable to you," she said to Cosmos. "I knew it when you refused to help me with Squall. I still didn't think it would hurt this much to have it said to our faces." She wanted to add something else that would hurt Warrior, something to let him know not to expect special treatment from Cosmos if he was ever in a bind. But she knew that no matter what she said, he was ready and willing to die for her and for this world. He had already accepted the risk and didn't care that he could be expendable to her.

"Tch!" Lightning snickered, rolling her eyes. "Alright. Let's go," she said, gripping Yuna's shoulder and forcefully turning her back towards Terra. She snapped her fingers and Rosa felt a change in her energy, shifting towards the warm magic of healing. "Try it again," she ordered Yuna. "Our window's almost closed." Yuna bowed her head, leaning over Terra again. Vaan loosened his grip slightly, turning Terra towards them as though to give them more access to her.

Yuna started the spell, building it up, and Lightning clung to her shoulder with both hands, breathing slowly to focus and mix her energies with Yuna's. Cecil did the same, mimicking Rosa's form of clasping his hands over his heart. Bartz copied Yuna, the matching magic increasing its power tremendously.

"Please," Vaan whispered. "Please let this work."

Rosa's teeth dug into her lip and her heart fluttered anxiously in her chest. She shivered, and silently prayed to whatever gods she revered back in Baron to assist since Cosmos refused to. Her stomach churned and her mouth went dry and she tried desperately to not immediately wonder what to do if they failed.

Yuna released the combined spell over Terra, and the light broke through the clouds above them again. This time, it was so bright, it was nearly blinding. Everyone around their circle gasped and shielded their eyes. The light encircled Terra, and rather than shine down on her it also seemed to be shining from within her, pulling at her so strongly that her back arched and she lifted from Vaan's grip slightly. The light flared once, twice, and then shot upwards back towards the sky, and then it faded.

Terra gasped in a rickety, stunted breath, and her chest rose and fell evenly afterwards. Yuna fell back into the water, hand reaching up to squeeze Lightnings', still clasped to her shoulder. Her eyes lit up, and a relieved smile spread on her face. Cecil exhaled, looking up to the sky like he had been praying as well. Even Lightning lowered her head, shaking it in slight disbelief.

"Are you alright?" Rosa and Yuna asked in unison. Rosa immediately deferred to Yuna, knowing she'd be unable to help anyway if Terra needed additional healing. She leaned back on her haunches, and Yuna noticed the gesture, nodding her thanks in Rosa's direction without looking at her.

"Terra," Yuna said, "Are you okay?"

Her eyes fluttered open, and she squinted against Sanctuary's bright light. "Wha . . . ?" she began. "I . . . I think so." She rested her hand on her chest to calm her breathing and looked around. "This is Sanctuary. Where is the Emperor?" Suddenly she gasped, shooting upright into a sitting position. "And Onion?!"

"He's okay, too," Yuna said. Terra looked around as though she didn't believe her, noting Cloud and Tifa as they were helped to their feet. She sighed in relief when she was Laguna wrapping the Knight's neck with roll after roll of bandages. Firion's hands glowed with the small Black Magic energy he possessed, waving them over Tidus as he worked the chill out of his freed limbs.

"What happened to the Emperor? We were fighting in Pandaemonium. We were losing. How did we end up back here?"

"The Emperor brought you back here," Rosa said, quickly wiping her eyes and scrubbing her hands down her face. He brought them back as her next present, but she didn't offer that information up. It still had her shaken up, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to talk about it.

"He brought us back?" she echoed in disbelief, staring hard at Rosa with her wide-eyed, child-like innocence. "But . . . he trapped us. We couldn't get out, and he said we'd have to fight our way through. He set traps everywhere," she said, spreading her arms to indicate the battlefield. "He blocked our way to the Teleport Stone behind us and set traps to wound us on our way up to him. He used . . . I've never seen the Emperor with that much power. He used spells and attacks I didn't even know he could use, in combinations that I've never seen before. It was almost like he was having trouble controlling it-"

"Firion," Cosmos said dully, her voice taking on a deep, tired tone. It was clear that everyone was going to be alright and she did seem relieved, but she had to have realized she backed herself into a dangerous corner. Rosa felt oddly proud of herself for being the one to do it. Her opinion of Cosmos, lukewarm at its best, had slowly frozen until she harbored nothing but cold disinterest in her or her plans for the war. She had no interest in fighting for anyone who considered her fellow warriors throwaway lives, but not her own. "Continue to work on unfreezing Tidus. Tifa, Cloud, use as many Items as you need to restore yourselves. We're . . . going to need a new strategy if we're going to overtake him now."

"If I may," Warrior cut in, "We should discuss it later, once we are sure of everyone's health-"

"No, I . . . I need to plan now." Her voice grew distant, her eyes already miles away from them and Terra's near-miss brush with death. "I need to prepare. I need to strike back. Pre-emptively, before he has the chance to attack again."

"I don't think you should!" Terra said. She struggled to free herself from Vaan's grasp. "He's too strong, Cosmos!"

"Too strong for you, perhaps," Cosmos said, and her voice began to shake, the rage from earlier making a comeback. She closed her eyes, and a frown marred her normally pleasant and sweet face. Her aura pulsed, like a wild bull readying a charge, and even her pale complexion turned another shade of rosy red. "The Emperor probably was having trouble controlling his strength because it was divine energy he was attempting to harness. Stolen energy. My divine energy, and it magnified his powers beyond a level he was accustomed to."

"How could he possibly have acquired some of your energy?" Firion asked.

"Can you not guess?" Cosmos asked. She pointed behind her to Squall, arm still slinged but at least on shaky legs. He stood when the Emperor arrived.

"So that's what he's doing," Rosa said quietly. "He is hunting us down and stealing the divine shards of power that you imbued us with. He is coupling it with his own, and he is growing stronger and stronger."

"Yes," Cosmos said. "And he's bringing them back to you to gloat. That's what he meant when he said he had something planned for me - he plans on defeating me with my own warriors' energies. He must be expecting you to heal everyone when he's done with them, Rosa. Or perhaps he is hoping I will replace the power so he could steal it a second time."

"Sure, but that doesn't make sense!" Tidus yelled. "He had all of us down and vulnerable. Why didn't he steal all of our energies? Why did he only take Terra's?"

"Because I'm too weak," Rosa said. "I don't think he expects me to heal everyone all at once. I can't be sure, but I think he simply wants me to suffer as much as possible, knowing I can't assist. If he incapacitates a warrior too badly for me to revive, then he can't drag this out."

"When would that plan end?" Warrior asked so quietly that he could've been talking to himself.  "Eventually, stealing from us won't be enough if he grows powerful enough.  And then . . . "

"Then he'll target the gods directly," Cosmos said, "rather than these indirect games.  Chaos and I both will be at risk against the kind of power I can imagine him amassing if we don't stop him."

"What would happen if he did defeat you?" Rosa asked.  "What would happen to the world?  Or Chaos?  If we're meant to prevent its destruction and prevent it from sinking into Discord, and the god of Discord is destroyed, then what would happen?"

"I am not sure he is looking to outright destroy Chaos," Cosmos said, not answering her question.  "Or me for that matter.  He absorbed Squall's energy by Draining it out of him.  If he was powerful enough to do it to Chaos or to me, he could even amass our power.  He could potentially call warriors to this world just as Chaos and I do.  But rather than have them fight for him, he could simply use up their energy until there was nothing left."

The thought of the Emperor being that powerful, that cruel, sent a chill down Rosa's back, and she felt her stomach churn.  It was all too easy to picture the Emperor standing in Order's Sanctuary where Cosmos stood, a violent gold aura surrounding him that didn't belong to him, tainted an odd greyish-black from Chaos's corruption.  She pictured him lining them up in a line and binding them where they stood, touching his staff to them so their power drained out of them.  The harsh crack of their knees against Sanctuary's crystal floor and the splash of water as they collapsed.

"It doesn't matter," Cosmos said eventually.

Rosa scoffed. "I think what he's planning matters a lot-"

"No, it doesn't. I need a different approach entirely, and I will find one," she said, soft voice hardening. "He will torment me no longer. If he wants to use my own energy against me, then I will show him what the full extent of my power can do."

"Cosmos," Warrior said carefully, staring hard at her. "You're not planning of attacking him yourself."

"Yes, I am. Since five of you were not enough." She closed her eyes for a moment, as though deciding if she should say what she wanted. But holding it in was hurting her. "I am incredibly, incredibly disappointed in all of you."

"What?" Firion snapped, even though he wasn't one of the five who went after him.

"I called each and every one of you because you are champions. All of you strong, all of you full of light and hope. The best fighters, the best Mages, the best of everything that your worlds had to offer. This was a simple task: kill the Emperor. How many of you do we have to send before someone destroys him? How long are you going to allow him to continue to be a problem for us?"

Warrior blanched, face going pale. His mouth dropped open and even he looked shocked at her uncharacteristic display of disgust and impatience. "C-Cosmos," he stammered, shaking his head. "I can tell that you are under duress because of the Emperor. His cruelty knows no bounds and these actions are frightening and inexcusable. But it's wrong to lay blame upon those you sent." He roved his eyes around the circle, possibly hoping for back up from the others. The only sound was the lap of Sanctuary's water around them. The others looked just as shocked as he did.

Cosmos opened her mouth to reply, but Tifa scoffed once. "Yeah, wait a minute. You're blaming us?" she asked, raising the end of the sentence high in an incredulous question. "After what the Emperor did to Terra, to Onion, to all of us, and knowing that he's stealing your divine energy from us and is ridiculously over-powered now, you're still blaming us?"

"When you're the one who sent them?" Light snapped. "Unbelievable! You knew where the Emperor was on the map, and that the five of them could be trapped there. I know you're smart enough and you know the map well enough. And you knew he was stealing power after what he did to Squall - don't tell me you didn't! You can sense where your warriors are in the entire world. You won't force me to believe that you just lost track of Squall's presence when you felt that the Emperor was attacking him - that's why you brought him back here, isn't it? That's the first time I can remember you intervening in forever!"

" . . . My point still stands," Cosmos said. "I called you because you are capable. Capable enough to handle extremely powerful monsters and adversaries. The Emperor is no different here. You have failed, and now I must take matters into my own hands."

Tifa shook her head. "No, no, no-"

"Teef," Cloud warned, lifting his arm towards her. Though his eyes remained accusatory and guarded and he stared at Cosmos angrily with his bright blue eyes, he pulled Tifa's attention from the fight.

"Cosmos," Warrior said again. He seemed wounded by Cosmos's words, and it was hard not to stare. Warrior's normally stoic facade rarely cracked, and it was as if he forgot to put it up entirely. His eyebrows were furrowed in concern and injury. "Placing blame is not at all the response we should have to this. The plan was carefully thought out, and five warriors is a sufficient number in normal circumstances, but this is not normal. Clearly the Emperor outplanned us. It was a failed mission, one that we organized, but that had drastic consequences. We should be reorganizing. Replanning. We will need more firepower and a new strategy."

"Yes, and I will provide both," Cosmos replied. "He possesses two small shreds of my divine energy. Energy that I will hopefully be able to manipulate as long as he hasn't corrupted it beyond my reach. So I will seek him out and destroy him myself, with the full might of my power."

"No!" Warrior yelled over the gasps and whispers. "Y-you can't! Your powers are dwindling-"

"The strength that I reserve for battle is not the same that I need to support this world and support you. You know this. If I cannot trust you to do this, I will have to do it myself."

"Cosmos, we can do this-"

"Do not argue with me, Warrior," she said. "You have failed. I must do this."

Cosmos turned away from them, and Rosa shared confused glances with most of the others. Warrior ran after her, still trying to argue his case quietly. Her reaction was entirely uncalled for, but if Rosa didn't stop her own trains of thought, she couldn't help but feel like the entire thing was her fault. If she had just killed the Emperor when she first met him, he would have been dead and gone and she would have never lost her strength to his team of assassins. If she was still strong, she could've been able to heal anyone who was injured. She was confident enough in her own abilities to believe it entirely that she could've handled anything that was thrown at her, if only she was as strong as she had been when she arrived.

And so it was her fault she couldn't help, and Cosmos was mad at her personally for having the gall to ask her for her divine intervention.

If Cecil had only killed the Emperor earlier when he and Kain had the chance.

"Cecil, why didn't you kill him?!" she asked before she thought it through.

"What?"

"Why didn't you kill the Emperor when you had the chance?"

"Are you - I - I just - what - " he sputtered. "Are you trying to blame me, now? For all this?"

"Are you not to blame?" Kain asked, immediately teaming up with her against him. Finally, she understood Kain's point of view after their encounter with the Emperor. Cecil had the chance to be rid of a nuisance, and because he made a selfish choice, she was suffering the consequences. "Rosa is now paying the price because you couldn't put aside your own self-centered morality for one second!" Kain added, mirroring her thoughts exactly. She nodded quickly.

"Exactly!" she said, pointing to Kain.

Cecil stared hard between the two of them. "I thought you didn't mind that I did what I did," he said quietly to her. "You told me you didn't blame me."

"I didn't before, but now . . . look at this!" she said, gesturing around her to the Onion Knight, still being bandaged, and to Terra, still recovering in Vaan's arms. "Look at what he's done to us! To me!"

"This is exactly what I warned you would happen," Kain said. "You took him for his word, and look where it brought us."

Cecil shook his head, squaring his shoulders to them. "I didn't take anything-" He paused, sucking in a deep breath. He raised his head, slashing his hands through the air. "I refuse to accept this blame. Not from either of you. I am not any more responsible for the Emperor's actions than anyone else here. Cosmos was wrong to suggest it, and so are you!" He spun on his heels and took a few steps away from them.

"How ironic," Kain said, crossing his arms over his chest. His lip curled into a sneer under the dragon helmet. "He blames himself for everything. And the one time that he actually should, he walks away."

Cecil whirled back around. "What?" he said sharply, the word snapping on the 't' sound. "What did you say?" Kain shrugged, acknowledging it without repeating it. "Do you think I don't how what to blame myself for? You think I don't know when it's appropriate to accept responsibility? You and I both should know what guilt is, and you and I both should know when blame is properly placed and when it's not. If I wanted to blame you for betraying us in Baron, I would've been justified. But I didn't. I forgave you! And now, when this situation is not my fault to begin with, you will not offer me the same courtesy?"

Kain leaned away from him, head turning slowly as though looking around to see if anyone was listening. Firion jumped in to the pause and tried, "Is this really what we should be worrying about right now? Don't we have a bigger problem-"

"You really think this is my fault? Fine," he said, spreading his arms to the side and slapping them down at his sides again. "I will take responsibility for my part in ending this." He spun again and followed after Warrior and Cosmos.

Chapter Text

Rosa was sure that she hadn't contributed anything meaningful to Terra's revival or healing. The knowledge left a sour taste in her mouth and left an insurmountable feeling of helplessness and vulnerability that she couldn't immediately rationalize away. Combined with the overall tension that blanketed Sanctuary and colored the warriors' whispers, the ordeal left Rosa feeling drained. She fount a nondescript section of Sanctuary and hunkered down, and the moment she was alone and comfortable, she slept.

When she awoke, she sensed a presence looming over her. Afraid it was the Emperor, she gasped and shot awake, calling her knife to fend him off hand-to-hand if she had to. She swiped the blade through the air once, and the person jumped back, spreading his arms.

"Stand down, Rosa!" Warrior said quickly.

" . . . Oh," she breathed. She threw the knife down into the water and rubbed her eyes, letting out her fear in a large sigh. Warrior took her sound as annoyance with him.

"My apologies," he said with a curt bow. "I will leave you-"

"No, you don't have to," she said quickly. "That wasn't directed at you. Just at . . . " She trailed off. Was 'everything' a good indicator of what she was frustrated with? "Did Cosmos finish planning already?" Rosa asked instead. She looked around, expecting Cosmos to be gone and on the case after the tone of her last scolding. Everyone had their full armor on. Firion was strapped to the nines with weapons, Tifa wore her gloves and the guards on her arms, and the Onion Knight had his helmet on despite his neck still being bandaged. "Everyone looks like they're ready to head out."

It was Warrior's turn to sigh, his shoulders slumping in his armor. "No," he said softly. "I advised everyone that we should stay armored and prepared in case of an attack." Advised, she noted. Not ordered. Warrior cast his eyes to the water and his very energy shrank as though he was ashamed. "Cosmos sent me away. She is committed to doing this on her own." Rosa surveyed Sanctuary again and caught a glimpse of Cecil as well, also banished from Cosmos's planning. "I think," Warrior said, and then he paused. " . . . I think my next strategy is going to be how I follow after her."

Rosa scoffed, thrown off by the admission. But as she searched his face and found only resignation and determination, she knew he was serious. Her mouth dropped open in shock. "B-but," she stammered before she could stop herself, unsure of how to articulate her surprise. The infallible Warrior of Light, who followed Cosmos's orders to the 'T' and who doled out punishments to those who didn't, was considering disobeying her? Apparently he had a bit of a mischievous side to him that she misread. Or, at least, mischievous to the point that it helped him do what was right.

Rosa wasn't sure how to say all of that without sounding either indignant over Cecil and Kain's restrictions or condescending towards him. She settled lamely on, "But . . . You?"

Warrior chuckled once, lips turning up into a smile. She was relieved that he hadn't taken it poorly. "Yes. And I will hope that whatever punishment she sees fit is fair. I'll gladly bear it. I just cannot let her confront the Emperor alone. I have a terrible feeling of foreboding about the entire situation. She is underestimating the Emperor now. I'm sure of it, after sending five accomplished warriors and having them come back to us in dire straits. She will get hurt."

Cosmos's rejection hurt Warrior deeply. She could see it on his face in the way his eyes narrowed when he spoke of it, and the way he winced as though in pain.

Warrior knelt down on one knee to be closer to her eye level. He shook his head softly, another sign of his dismay. "I owe you an apology. What she said to you while Terra was in need of assistance, and what she said to you after, was insensitive to your struggles and what the Emperor has done to you."

"You don't have to apologize for her," Rosa said. "Though I do appreciate it. I was angry and upset and weak - I still am! - and she offered me no assistance, or even solace. And then she threw accusations and she argued with us instead of-" It probably wasn't a good idea to air her grievances with Cosmos to her right hand man.

"It's alright," Warrior said as though he read her mind. "You and I are rarely in agreement, but we are in this instance."

"Sure, but don't apologize for her," Rosa told him. "I know that you're close to her, and I know that you two know each other well. You know her on a level much deeper than we know her, and these are strange circumstances. I'm sure Cosmos is probably feeling sorry as well if you're apologizing for her this way. But she's her own entity. She can do what she wants and say what she wants. She can make her own mistakes and form her own apologies. I don't care that she feels stressed. We all feel stressed," Rosa said, knowing she sounded bitter but unwilling to care. "Me most of all," she thought to herself. "She can apologize for herself."

"Yes, she can." Warrior rested his arm on his thigh, leaning over to stare at the water. "Then let me apologize on my own behalf."

Rosa paused. "I can't think of anything that you have to apologize to me for. You stood up for me against her earlier. So thank you for that. I'm sorry to you, Warrior. You've been here so long and have so much experience here. You all do - you, Zidane, Cecil, Yuna, Firion . . . I understand why when I came in and started to question your ways it was frustrating."

"I know now why you did it. Each of our reasons for fighting this war are only adjacently aligned at best and incredibly varied at worst. I'm not sure that you ever found yours," he said, looking to her for confirmation. Rosa nodded. "And when you asked Cosmos and I for our main goals, we were unclear. That is why I have to apologize to you." It sounded as though he was finally going to reveal something important to her. She kept quiet, afraid of interrupting him and losing whatever information it may be.

He reached up and pulled the helmet off of his head by the horns, letting his silver hair spill down over his shoulders. It fell in wild spikes that framed his face, and the top was raked back from the front of his face, flattened down by his helmet. He softly tossed his helmet down into the water and ran a single gloved hand through his hair in a rare moment of relaxed body language that she had never seen before. He didn't look any different to her with his helmet off. His sharp nose and frowning lips and alert eyes still held their standoffish appearance. But there was something different about him nonetheless when he wasn't wearing his helmet. He almost appeared more human and approachable, like he had shed a layer of emotion rather than a layer of armor.

It reminded her of seeing Cecil as a Paladin for the first time. Still the same man with the same features, but different in energy and in heart.

Warrior sighed, looking suddenly tired by the fight ahead of them in his sudden display of humanity. "I have been focused for so long on my own reasons for fighting and on the end result Cosmos and I wish for, that I sometimes lose sight of the fact that individual warrior's involvement is what makes it happen. I asked you several days ago, after you healed Squall, if you understood how important it was that Cosmos stayed safe and that she allowed herself to heal as much as possible. I asked you if you understood what happened if Cosmos falls. You told me you didn't understand because I would not allow Cosmos to tell you." He took a deep breath. "If Cosmos falls, then the rest of us fade away forever."

Rosa forced a chuckle. "Well, sure. I could've guessed that." Warrior blinked back at her, taken aback. "This is a war, and our side has to win-"

"No," he pressed. "This is different than a long-term loss. If Cosmos is defeated outright, then we all cease to exist immediately. There is a moment of pain and weakness, and then we fade into oblivion. Cosmos dies, we die, and then the world dies. And that's why it's so important to me that she stays safe. It's for her sake, and for ours. If Cosmos stays alive, then we allow ourselves the chance to fight at all, let alone win. That is what we're fighting to achieve, in our own ways."

"Was that so hard to do?" she wanted to ask, "Was that so hard of a concept to relay to me?" It wasn't exactly the earth-shattering piece of information she was expecting. But, she supposed, it was another puzzle piece she could lock into place. "I see. So that's what happens."

"Yes. It's a guaranteed loss."

"How do you know?" she asked, hating that she was doubting him in a moment when he was being very honest, but her stubborn disbelief of Cosmos refused to remove itself from her mind. "It's never happened, has it?" At Warrior's silence, she continued, "How can you be sure? How do you know that's what happens unless Cosmos tells you that's what happens? How does she know if she's never faded either?"

Warrior's face hardened at each of her questions, and she grew scared that perhaps she offended him. She retreated, tucking her knees to her chest and hugging them. Warrior still answered her question, but he hesitated. He was clearly trying to choose his language carefully. " . . . No, Cosmos herself has never faded. Not that I am aware of, anyway. But I believe her. She cares about this world. It's her world, battleground though it may be." And Warrior, Rosa remembered from her discussion with Cecil so long ago, had known no other world but this one either. He had known no other friends before Cosmos. His goals had to be so closely linked to Cosmos's, Rosa would have been amazed to find anything different. He was growing just as wearied as Cosmos with this fight, looking just as affected by the waning balance of Discord and Harmony as Cosmos looked. It was no wonder he was their leader and stood so close to Cosmos. "Without Cosmos, we can't go back to our world, and without us, she doesn't have a world to exist in. Even though she's weak, as long as she breathes and a single one of us still breathes, she has a fighting chance. She is meant to support us and we are meant to fight for her."

Cosmos certainly had her own intentions. If Warrior truly echoed Cosmos's sentiments and intentions, then Rosa had never heard her articulate them. Rosa instead had gathered snippets of everyone else's intentions, and heard everyone's interpretations of Cosmos's: bring peace to Cosmos's world so that wildflowers could grow from Firion. Do the right thing by Cosmos's world, from Cecil.

"I think . . . that's what I wanted all along," Rosa said, "was for Cosmos to state her intentions and her goals clearly. It wasn't to be defiant or cause trouble. I wasn't trying to undermine you or your authority. I think I just wanted Cosmos to lay down her own terms. I arrived here with nothing, and rather than get an explanation I get tied up with the Emperor. And after that, rather than get an explanation I'm waylaid by his lackeys. And then rather than get an explanation after that, I get involved with remembering Cecil - which I'm very grateful for!" she added as though she had to try and explain herself to Warrior. "And then I get attacked twice after. And in all that time, I never quite had anything explained to me."

Chapter Text

"When we arrive," Cosmos said calmly, leaning down, "you are not to speak to him, Cecil." He threw the chain mail skirt over her head and she straightened up, positioning it around her hips over her dress. She tied the strings without looking, tossing her head back so Warrior could slip a chain mail collar around her neck, over the padded capalet she covered her shoulders with. When she finished tying the skirt around her middle she gathered her long, blonde hair and tugged it over one shoulder. "We will not allow him a chance to stall, or to manipulate your emotions. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Cecil said, his tone flat. Warrior watched him carefully, noting the flare of Cecil's nostrils, the roll of his eyes, and the slight downturn of his mouth into a frown at being targeted. Warrior stared over Cosmos's shoulder at him until Cecil met his eyes, and then he shook his head softly, warning Cecil away from his anger. Cecil merely acknowledged it with a hardening of his eyes before pretending to be engrossed in dressing Cosmos. Warrior finished tying the collar and grabbed Cosmos's chest plate, holding it open for her. She slipped into it, and Cecil immediately clasped the buckles at her shoulder while Warrior worked on the ones at her side.

"I will attempt to influence my power that was stolen from Terra and Squall, but from a distance. The two of you will engage him directly." Warrior handed her the cuirass and she placed it on her hips, holding it in place so he could secure it. The front of the chest plate was solid crystal, painted gold and smoothed and shined to perfection, without a single scratch or mark on it. The sides were more ornate, glimmering in the light with iridescent Adamantite as its base, and overlaid with gold crystal, smithed to look like lace. The cuirass itself was comprised of three wide pieces of iridescent Adamantite, overlapping to allow compression and movement. Warrior buckled the belt for her, and she tested its fit, twisting her waist. "I care not for the honor of battle in this instance, Warrior. He will not offer us that same courtesy, so we will not offer it to him. Be relentless. Be merciless. Tire him out, and be as ruthless as he will be," she said, shaking her head emphatically. "If he offers you even a single chance to end this, no matter how deplorable, then take it. Is that also understood by the both of you?"

"Yes," Warrior and Cecil mirrored. He took up her gold crystal vambraces, overlaid with Adamantite in mesmerizing swirling patterns and tapered to a point as they trailed towards the outside of her elbow. An Adamantite fin fashioned to look like a feathered wing protected the crook of the elbow. Warrior handed one to Cecil, and they stepped to either side of her as she stretched out her arms.

With each snap of a clasp and each clink of a secured buckle, Warrior's nerves coiled tighter and tighter. His stomach churned inside of him with a doubt in Cosmos that he couldn't ever remember feeling before, in any situation. He doubted Cosmos's assessment of the Emperor as a weak threat, he doubted her ability to prepare for him accordingly, he doubted the soundness of her decision to even confront him at all, and he doubted that she was planning for the consequences should the encounter prove unfavorable to her. A feeling of dread he couldn't ignore pooled there with his doubt in the pit of his stomach like a steel ball, and a sense of impending doom made his breath come quick and his heart flutter. It hurt him to even think it when she was normally so safe and constructive and cautious, but in this case he was more than sure Cosmos was heading to her demise.

Hers, and theirs.

The decision to engage the Emperor was ultimately hers, and he hadn't felt the need to argue with her choice before, only her decision to try it alone. But now that the threat of the Emperor loomed ahead of them, and Golbez's warnings echoed over and over in his thoughts, he felt uneasiness creep up on him before he could stop it. More than once, he tried to catch Cosmos's eye to plead with her, over and over again in different ways, to reconsider. She found a way to avoid him every time. Refused to hold his eye for more than a few seconds. He worried that it was because she knew this was a poor idea, but didn't want to be talked out of it. He held on to the pieces of her armor for longer than was normal before he handed them to her or held them open for her, wordlessly reminding her that there was still time to think it over. She wouldn’t acknowledge the gestures. When he secured the vambrace over her arm and gently shook it to check its fit, he stared into her face the entire time. She looked up at him once, and an uncharacteristic scowl deepened the frown on her face, revealing her own insecurities and concerns. She immediately busied herself with smoothing her dress and readjusting the pieces of her armor, refusing to entertain him.

At the very least, he tried to make her see how much it was paining him that she was choosing to go down this path, but he was unable to continue that line of thinking for very long and abandoned it. It felt exploitative of their relationship, and it was his duty to perform these tasks for her even if they did pain him.

"Be more mindful of your surroundings than of him, even when you're close to him," she continued. "His play is strategy and controlling the field. It's why we're engaging him so suddenly," she said with weight, turning her face in Warrior's direction but still not looking him in the eye, "and it's why I want to keep him pinned down. I don't want him to have the chance to muster any kind of defense or plant any kind of trap."

She had picked up on his trepidation, it seemed, calling it out as easily as if she had directly read his mind. So that was her way of addressing his concern. Suddenly, Rosa's indignant reactions were beginning to feel more understandable. Warrior took both of Cosmos's gold crystal gloves and held one in the crook of his elbow while he extended the other out to her, bracing the leather cuffs open for her. Each of the knuckles was reenforced with more silver Adamantite, covering each of the spots where the crystal joined together. This time, Warrior didn't make any attempt to connect to her, but his discontent must have shown on his face.

"Do you not agree, Warrior?" Cosmos asked coldly, finally allowing for a discussion to his relief. "What would you have us do instead?"

"I would not be confronting him at all," he told her honestly, unable to hide the tired sigh he placed behind it. "With all due respect, it is unwise. I believe that you know this, despite feeling trapped into it by the Emperor. We should reconsider our options, and develop a different and safer strategy for all of us."

She did not address any of his points, did not agree or disagree. She said instead,"You did not disagree before."

"No, I did not," he said. "At that time, I was blinded to the misguidedness of this course of action by the oath I swore to you so long ago to protect you and keep you safe." Cosmos flexed her fingers in her gloves, tugging them on further despite their obviously perfect fit. Despite the sharpness of her actions, and despite their intention to make her appear annoyed, Warrior knew her well enough to know that she would not take offense to the frankness of his speech. "I promise to deliver on that oath no matter what you choose to do in this instance," he assured her. "If you intend toward your own demise, then my only obligation is to follow you there and defend you from harm to my last breath. But I have since changed my position on this course of action as a whole after Golbez's intelligence, and after more careful consideration. Both he and I believe that attacking the Emperor is not wise. Despite this, I know now after confronting your resolve that you have made your decision. My oath still stands, and I will follow you no matter your decision, but I would rather not have you in any position of danger at all. There is likely little I can say anymore that will dissuade you, except to ask you directly one more time to reconsider."

She took her time fixing the greaves she put on under her dress and adjusting her heeled boots.

"Cosmos."

She looked up into his eyes and held his gaze for the first time. Her tired resolve was the first thing he saw. The strain the Emperor forced upon her and how it pained her, and the feeling that this was the only option left, and that she would take it no matter what. Underneath that he found an uncharacteristically desperate, nearly hysterical kind of hope. The Emperor needed dealt with, and she would see it done as quickly and as sloppily as it had to be. The moment this was finished, she would be free of a massive burden.

He agreed with seeing it done and being free of the burden. He disagreed with this particular attempt. It almost felt crazed to him.

But her silence was an answer enough. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It did little to calm him. His nerves frayed even further, and he nodded his final concession in a way that he hoped didn't betray his doubt and dread. He would need a clear mind through all parts of the battle, if the Emperor really was as strong as Golbez claimed.

The last few pieces of her armor went on - circular Adamantite pauldrons, in three tiers that tapered into points as they hung off her shoulders. They were connected by a gorget that covered the top of her chest and her throat, five layered pieces that each tapered down towards her stomach. Cosmos took the long, sheer, floor-length gold cape embossed with silver swirling patterns and handed it to Warrior without a word. He attached it, and she rolled her shoulders when he was finished.

"Make your final preparations," Cosmos said. "Bring as many Items as you think you'll need. I trust your judgment, Warrior." He couldn't help but wince when she said it. She trusted him, and yet he did not trust her at this moment.

"I am ready," he said, more to mask his physical response than to actually reply. "All of the Items I am bringing with me are from my own personal stock. It won't do to deplete our group stock in case-"

"In case this ends unfavorably?" Cecil finished for him, an unusually sarcastic edge to his tone. "Like Goblez thinks? In case the Emperor destroys us, steals our power, and then sends us back to Rosa, who can no longer help us?" He said it to Warrior, who intended to come up with a pragmatic and utilitarian response. But Cosmos answered for him.

"It will not come to that," Cosmos said. "It pains me, Cecil, to hear you be so bitter."

"I'm bitter?-"

"We all are guilty of falling prey to the Emperor's machinations. He has made us all resentful, and he has made us quarrel with each other. Because of him, Rosa and Kain wrongly blame you for your earlier misstep, both of our hearts are spiteful, and Warrior's trust in me is waning."

"Cosmos, I do not distrust you-" Warrior started, but she cut him off.

"They are all the more reasons to end him," she said, "here and now. I will be waiting for your word. The moment you are ready, we depart. Give your final orders to Firion." She turned away from them, shaking out her gold curls. Each movement clanked and scraped with the plate armor, but Cosmos didn't seem at all encumbered by it. She wore it easily, and Warrior could only assume that she had probably worn it before, perhaps before a time when she called warriors to help her.

He found himself idly wondering if she had ever directly warred with Chaos. He couldn't picture it. He tried to imagine her fighting with golden armor on, sword in hand, slashing down manikins and blasting Chaos with beams of the pure, white light she possessed. The images wouldn't come. They seemed far too out of character to him. He had only ever known her to be calm, peaceful, kind, wise - all virtues that the Emperor was forcing her to abandon in order to compete with him.

Cosmos brushed her hair back out of her face and cupped her hand out in front of her. With a flash of gold, a single hairpin with a matching wing motif appeared in her hand and she pinned a large piece of her hair back. As soon as it was in place, a gold halo appeared around her, circling her figure and amplifying her power. With a start, Warrior recognized the armor set as Lufenian. According to Cosmos, the Moogle Cid had made only one set. It was extremely power and extremely rare, granting the wearer boosts to their strength and power. The pieces were scattered and hidden all around the world, only able to be found by the most adventurous of warriors. Apparently Cid had made another, and he had fitted it for Cosmos. Either that, or it had always been hers, and she had accumulated it over cycles and cycles.

The armor brought Warrior a bit of comfort, easing a bit of his nerves. If she was wearing such powerful armor, then surely she would be even safer during the battle with the Emperor. He still intended to keep himself directly between her and him during the entirety of their confrontation, but any extra defense that she could afford herself was to be celebrated.

He turned to Cecil, feeling the relief take a bit of the edge off of his nervousness. "Would you like to speak to Rosa before we leave?" he asked him.

Cecil, eyes hard and distant and lost in his own thoughts, blinked his way back to the world around him. "Hm? Oh, no."

"Are you sure?" Warrior asked. "If this does indeed go poorly for us, then she will not be able to assist us. If we are wounded, it very well may be the end. I assumed you'd want the chance to reassure her to not fault herself should it come to that."

"Do you think it will?" Cecil asked him.

"It is always a possibility, no matter who we face and in what circumstances."

"True," Cecil said, chuckling humorlessly. "True, but no. The last time she spoke to me was to team up with Kain and blame me for not defeating the Emperor before. I've decided that until I make this right, I shouldn't try and talk to her. It could be seen as an attempt to disregard her anger or brush it off, when in a way I suppose it is justified."

"And you believe she would think that's what you were doing?" he asked. All of them, and especially Rosa, knew better than to assume malice where Cecil was concerned.

"Probably not," he admitted. "But it's the right thing to do, is it not? Just because I don't agree with the reaction to the offense, I can still recognize that an offense was committed. She'll speak to me when she feels she is ready, and I will feel comfortable approaching her after all this is said and done."

Warrior nodded to him and gestured to the other warriors, and Cecil followed him over to the group. At their approach, they all gathered together in a half-circle around them.

"Firion," Warrior said, "Continue to only hand out defensive missions until we return - Item gatherings, summon purchases, territory defenses, and Gateway maintenances. If Cecil and I do not return," he said calmly, practically, "then assume command." He addressed the crowd, but mostly met eyes with Rosa. "If Cecil and I return wounded, then you are not to assist us. Save the supplies we have, and save your strengths. I don't put it past the other warriors of Chaos to be watching us, and to take advantage of the fact that Cosmos is away from her throne."

He held his hand out to Firion, and they clasped their forearms. Firion moved to pull away, but Warrior held on to him, squeezing his arm and pulling him close to speak low into his ear.

"After we leave, wait a half-turn of the shadow, and send five warriors after us - either to assist in the battle if it looks promising, or to get Cosmos out if it does not. Lightning, Kain, and Laguna, and two others. Those who you believe have a strong battle sense."

"Understood," Firion mumbled, just as quietly. “What if we’re too late?”

“There is nothing any of you can do for us. If Cosmos falls, we’ll all have faded by then.” The two stepped away from each other.

"Be aware at all times, and be ready for anything," he told all of them. And with a nod to Cecil he called out, "Cosmos. We are ready."

She was at Warrior's side in a minute. "I have located him. He is not in Pandaemonium, as I suspected he would be. He is in the Lunar Subterrane." Warrior saw Rosa perk up at the name, like it had struck a chord in her memory. She met eyes with Cecil, whose lips stretched into a stiff smile that never reached his eyes. He placed one hand over his heart and bowed his capitulation to Rosa's anger, and her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth parted slightly, like she was thinking of calling out to him. Regret flashed across her face, but Cosmos looked up towards the sky before she could say anything. The gold aura surrounding Cosmos glowed brighter with the surge of her power. It enveloped them, shining too bright for Warrior to keep his eyes open, but after a moment, it faded. The ambient splashes of Sanctuary fell away from his ears and were replaced by the echoing of open air. He opened his eyes and the soft brown lunar dirt of the Subterrane stretched out before him, the many rock formations and layers sporadically blocking his field of vision.

The Emperor was speaking to someone. His haughty, arrogant tones carried well over the emptiness.

"The first thing you are going to tell me is what Chaos said at his last meeting."

"If you had been there, you would know," the unmistakably deep voice replied. Golbez.

There was a sound like a crackle of lightning, and Golbez made a gravelly noise of pain, like he was trying to swallow it down. Cecil started, but Cosmos threw her hand out, blocking his path. Already, she was deviating from their plan of not giving the Emperor a chance to do anything other than defend himself.

"Do not play with me!" the Emperor yelled. "Answer the question, traitorous churl! What was the subject of Chaos's last meeting?"

Golbez's breath came hard, and he paused to recover from whatever attack the Emperor delivered. " . . . It was not about you, if that is what you're concerned with. To my knowledge, Chaos is not yet aware of your plan of stripping the warriors of Cosmos of their power."

A pause. "So you know, and you expect me to believe that you said nothing to him?"

"I did not!"

"No? Not even after, when Chaos asked you to stay behind?"

Golbez was silent.

"Chaos, Garland, his right hand, and you, our spy? Asked to stay behind after a meeting I did not attend? He told you to spy on me, didn't he?"

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

"I am sure that you do. And I'll tear it out of you, word by word if I have to. After that, you're going to tell me what you ran off to discuss with Cosmos after he released you!"

The threat of leaked intelligence and evidence of their attack forced Cosmos ahead. She strode powerfully into a small clearing between several rock formations, chin up, eyes down but flared in rage and locked on to the Emperor. He stood tall, with the end of his staff pointed down at Golbez, down on his knees and caught in the middle of a Thundercrest trap. The Emperor and Golbez both whirled around at the movement. The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock and his mouth fell open. He chuckled once, in disbelief.

All of a sudden all of Warrior's nerves returned tenfold. His stomach flipped inside of him, and a surge of fear spread down his spine as he realized how exposed Cosmos was out in the open. He quickly ran in front of her, stopping her advance, and called his shield, holding it out in front of him already braced for an attack.

"Cosmos-?" the Emperor breathed.

She raised her hand over Warrior's shoulder, startling him and rattling his already-skittish courage. A single flash of bright white light spread from her gloved palm, blinding both Golbez and the Emperor. The Emperor staggered back with a growl, one hand flying to his face to claw at his eyes. His staff slipped from his grip but stayed in the air, and he waved his hand behind his back frantically. The staff mimicked the jerky movement, drawing a sigil of purple-tinted light that webbed out from the end. Four spheres emerged and burst into green and purple flame, spiraling at Warrior and Cosmos. He braced himself behind his shield and deflected two of the orbs that would have hit her. The charges exploded on contact with the metal, so hard that it jolted up Warrior's arm and knocked him back. His solid block broke like it had been barely attempted and he slid backwards on his heels, kicking up moon dust and leaving tracks. He only came to a stop when his back collided with Cosmos's chest with a metallic clank. She gasped and placed her hands on his shoulders to steady him.

A freezing shock spread down Warrior's spine, and his heart beat faster than it did with battle adrenaline, shallowing his breathing further. His stomach dropped, making his nerves worse again, and through the strong emotional bond he had with Cosmos he was sure she felt his fear. The Emperor was never physically strong - his magic could hit hard but was never crushing like a swing from Garland or Cloud. This was Cosmos's power at work. He was using Squall's strength to give his attacks an extra, concussive and overpowering force that could split armor and crack defenses. Cosmos leaned over him, wordlessly asking if he was alright. Warrior hardened his eyes and nodded, hoping he hid his display of fear since he couldn't manage to stifle and bury it.

Cosmos's hands glowed, and a rush of her power flooded into him. His senses sharpened and his defenses heightened, his own aura surged to protect him against the Emperor's magic attacks, and his body felt re-energized. Cosmos imbued him and Cecil each with a bit of magic resistance to assist them.

In the pause that they took, opportunity registered in Golbez's body language. He still scrubbed at his eyes but his spine stiffened, and the hand that had been creeping to the edge of his cape suddenly snatched it and drew it across his body. He flickered out of sight.

The Emperor straightened up, blinking owlishly against the moonlight, and he barely recovered before Cecil rushed him. Cecil slashed across his middle and the Emperor swept his staff to the side, parrying the swing. He added an extra fiery blast to the parry, and the ricochet was enough to throw Cecil off-balance. The Emperor raised one hand and shot a bolt of purple lightning into Cecil's exposed chest. The charges struck and Cecil screamed, immediately dropping to the floor in violent convulsions. The charges balled around Cecil's form and glowed white, the tendrils mixing with purple and black electricity. The lightning drew back towards the Emperor, siphoning away Cecil's power.

"No!" Cosmos yelled stepping towards him, but Warrior ran forward before she could put herself in harm's way. He enveloped his shield with magic and threw it forward, forcing the Emperor to withdraw from Cecil to block. Warrior called his shield back and caught it, then he whirled around and dragged his sword on the ground behind him, picking up sparks as he launched a Shining Wave at the Emperor. The Emperor slid backwards, but a pillar of light erupted from straight underneath him and engulfed him. The Emperor simply braced himself and absorbed the attack, the damage negated by the natural shields Terra's power provided.

Cecil clawed himself to his feet and shifted to his Paladin class while Cosmos skirted to the right. The Emperor locked on to her, eyes flaring with the spark of an idea. He prepared a spell, and Warrior sprinted to the side before he even knew what it was. A circle appeared under Cosmos's feet before Warrior could get to her. A translucent lavender barrier rose up around her and walled her in. Warrior stabbed his sword into the wall and his sword point shrieked against it, but did no damage. Cosmos wheeled her arm around herself and a Protect shield wrapped itself around her, readying for any sort of attack. But Warrior's heart still soared up into his throat and he immediately panicked, slashing and hacking at the barrier indescriminately, desperate to free her. Afraid of a single attack from the Emperor with how powerful he was.

Cosmos pressed her hands against the other side of the trap wall and closed her eyes, and after a moment she opened them and looked around as though confused. Warrior doubled his efforts, his arms already growing tired from the ferocity of his swings. He even dropped his shield to swing with both hands. Cosmos placed her hands on the walls again and pushed, armor clinking as her muscles strained. Her halo shimmered and glowed bright with accumulating energy. She released, and a burst of her power flared out, blinding Warrior to the inside of the trap. When the light cleared, she was still confined, and the walls glinted playfully, taunting her.

The Emperor took a second to launch a few magic snares at Cecil in rapid succession. He twirled his spear in an 'x' and slashed through the first few, but an unlucky miss caused one of them to strike at his legs. The magic unleashed, purple loops circling around his already trembling legs and tangling him up. Cecil wobbled, doubling over, and had to use one hand to steady himself so he didn't fall, but the Emperor clenched his fist. The loops tightened, squeezing Cecil's legs and ankles together, and Cecil tumbled to the side, collapsing into the dirt. With the sound of screeching against his armor, tiny barbs shot out of the ropes and pierced into Cecil's amor, cutting into his skin. He let out a startled cry and dropped his weapon to pry at the barbs, hissing through his teeth each time his hands were cut on the sharp pieces.

The Emperor turned back to Cosmos and launched a flare from his palm. He called on Terra's power, adding it to the spell, and instead of its normal, slow-creeping pace the blue flames manifested at twice their normal size, launching at Cosmos as fast as a missile upon its release.

Warrior braced, wincing from the pain that was coming. He wouldn't be able to block in time, but at least it wouldn't hit Cosmos. That large, intrusive and unavoidable streak of terror poked at the back of his neck, growing ever-larger with the longer the battle dragged on. A flash of an idea shot across his awareness, that if this attack was strong enough to knock him out of the fight for good, it may still be powerful enough to harm Cosmos, even after hitting him. Warrior pointed his sword at the trap, silently pleading that his hunch was correct - Cosmos may have been barred from leaving, and physical attacks couldn't harm it from the outside, but magic attacks would be allowed in. He called on the light, on his connection to Cosmos and the crystal she imbued him with when she claimed him as her warrior, and he put up a Shining Shield of his own, manifesting the power inside of the Emperor's trap. The air around Cosmos wavered, and Warrior's barrier solidified, another layer of protection around her.

The Flare hit his back and exploded, cutting straight through all of Cosmos's defenses that she bestowed him like they had never been there at all. His armor immediately super-heated and singed his entire back, and like being slammed in the spine by a large fist, he was thrown to the ground, all the air leaving him as his chest collapsed. His vision was knocked away and stars burst across the darkness, and he could only convulse on the ground where he lay as his skin burnt in his armor. He writhed, gritting his teeth against every effort to display how badly the Emperor's attack hurt. The stars eventually leeched away from his vision, costing him precious, panic-filled seconds in which he couldn't see Cosmos or the Emperor. However, the blackness never diminished. Warrior staggered to his feet and scrubbed at his eyes, and a second explosion rocketed across the moonscape.

"Cosmos!" he cried, praying she wasn't the one engaging in the fight.

Her presence brushed against his awareness, still behind him and in the Emperor's trap. "You need to stop this!" she yelled back, a strain in her voice. "Let me fight!" Cosmos cast something, and the Blindness immediately cleared from his vision. Along with it, she gave him another Protect spell and another magic nullifying barrier.

Cecil still struggled in his bonds, but the Emperor ignored him, facing Cosmos down and smirking at her. He lifted his staff and pointed it in her direction and she flinched, balling her hands in front of herself. White energy glowed there between her hands and a tugging sensation erupted in Warrior's chest. His breath tightened of its own accord and his heart strained. He gasped in shock, a wave of dizzying weakness nearly bringing him to his knees. His body turned to lead, a heaviness suddenly attached itself around his wrists and ankles and forced him to drop the shield in his hands. He stabbed his sword point into the ground and leaned against it to keep himself upright. The Emperor made a half-choked sound, stuck in the middle of a breath, and clutched at his chest, doubling over. He blinked hard and his eyes widened, and he watched his own shield around Cosmos flicker once, then twice as Cosmos manipulated the energy he stole from her. Warrior's shield he created around her flickered as well, and both faded from existence.

Cecil curled up where he was on the ground, despite the Emperor's traps falling away. "C-Cosmos!" he gasped. "Ngh! Stop!"

Warrior's trembling knees gave out. He fell down to his elbows before Cosmos seemed to realize what she was doing. She held the spell for another second, but when power began to visibly bleed from all three of them, Cecil and Warrior included, she released the spell. All three of them sighed in relief, the Emperor staggered back even further to put more of a distance between him and the goddess. Cecil clamored to his feet for the second time, limping heavily on ravaged knees, and rushed at the Emperor again. Sloppily, nearly hunched over, panting for air and almost vibrating with rage, he careened ahead. Before he could reach the Emperor, Cosmos shot another flashy beam of radiant light in the Emperor's direction, so hot that it sizzled the air. It narrowly missed Cecil, who lurched away from it so violently he was thrown off-course and had to pause to correct. The Emperor ducked beneath the beam and it impacted into a rock formation behind him. A massive hold carved into the side of it, raining bits of rock and chunks of debris down on them. The Emperor glanced between Cosmos and Cecil, calculating his next moves, and Warrior chanced a peek over his shoulder, making sure he was still directly between him and her. He raised his shield as a nonverbal indication that he would defend Cosmos from whatever the Emperor had in mind.

The Emperor smirked again, but this time it didn't hold a single trace of amusement. His teeth flashed, he cocked his head to the side as though to address Warrior's challenge, then surprised all of them by launching himself in Cecil's direction. In a blink, he had teleported over to him and his face was inches away from Cecil's, sneering down at him in arrogant pride. Cecil made an inarticulate sound of surprise. His eyes widened and he reflexively crossed his weapon in front of himself, not expecting close-quarters combat from the Emperor. The Emperor grabbed his staff with both hands and jabbed the ball at the top at Cecil like a spear, and Cecil twirled his own weapon to deflect it to the left. The Emperor released his staff and let it spin, then grabbed it from the air and thrust the bottom end at him. Cecil leaned backwards, rolling back and rocketing to his feet, driven by a growing rage that Warrior could almost visibly see around him. The Emperor called on Terra's Meteor spell, but distorted it with his own energies. Rather than glow a normal fiery yellow, the flames around the rocks glowed a sickly red, imbued with Slow magic. He called two bursts, one over Cosmos and Warrior, and the other over Cecil.

Warrior darted to Cosmos and gripped her shoulder, dragging her down. He spun behind her and curled around her back, exposing his already singed and sore skin to the abuses of the spell, but lifted his shield over Cosmos's head. The flaming rocks rained down on them, pelting his shield, and each one that struck him was like he was hit with another hot poker. Searing, blinding pain erupted across his back and he groaned, arms nearly buckling. He held his breath, even as white spots pocked his vision, too afraid that it would only hurt worse if he gave it air to breathe.

The shards over Cecil slammed into his back and knocked him forward into the Emperor, who grabbed his spear and jerked it forward to keep him in place. The red Slow energy seeped into Cecil's armor, but for good measure, the Emperor tightened his grip on the weapon and cast his own Slow spell that spiraled upwards and into him.

The Emperor released him and threw him away and looked over his shoulder, checking on Warrior and Cosmos. The Meteor spell dissipated and they detangled, and the Emperor cast two Cyclones, injecting some of Terra's Blizzaga power into it. The two tornadoes crawled in their direction, hurling chunks of sharp ice and shards of crystal at random. Warrior stepped in Cosmos's way blocking some and whacking some away with his sword, and even taking the hits where he couldn’t block. The nullifying magic helped him absorb the damage for her.

With the two of them sufficiently distracted, the Emperor turned back to Cecil who had barely managed to lift his weapon in the time it took the Emperor to cast due to the Slow magic. The Emperor cast another physical spell to knock his spear away again, leaving him defenseless. He tried to recover, painfully slowly, like he was wading through thick mud, and the Emperor touched the top of his staff. A red blade of energy extended from the end and the Emperor spun, slashing across Cecil's chest. His armor took most of the hit but he still fell back, and the Emperor chased after him. Despite the Cyclones heading toward her Cosmos aided him. She cast, and a gold halo enveloped Cecil. A Haste spell, to counteract his Slow spell.

Cecil rolled back and nimbly vaulted to his feet, too fast for the Emperor to see. He lifted his spear and shot a single ball of light at the Emperor. The attack collided into his chest, too slow to react in any way. Cecil dashed after him. He swung to the left and the right, and the Emperor barely managed to parry by the luck of Squall's swordsmanship. He grunted in surprise and Cecil crouched down, jabbing the spear into the Emperor's side, punching through his armor. He cut upwards, dragging the blade straight up and leaving a long line of red from his waist to his shoulder. The Emperor screamed out, pushed back, and Cecil lifted off the ground. He opened his palm and a small light soared toward the Emperor. Cecil cut him three times with a Radiant Wing attack, then slammed him to the ground on the final cut with enough force to crack the ground around where he lay.

The Emperor was still for a moment before groaning. He lifted himself with shaking arms and staggered to his feet, visibly wounded for the first time that Warrior could see. Cecil soared back down at him, so fast it was more like a blink. But the Emperor raised his hands. A Stop spell collected around Cecil's form and solidified, halting him in place with the blade mere inches from the Emperor's face. He planted three mines around Cecil that exploded and slammed him to the ground, then he quickly cast another Drain spell. Another large piece of Cecil's health siphoned out of him and into the Emperor, and his wounds healed instantaneously, the cuts closing completely. He threw his head back, sighing in relief, then bent down over Cecil.

He grabbed a handful of Cecil's cape, lifting him off the ground, and sneered, "Now you suffer!" He cast a spell that Warrior didn't recognize, but all of the light that surrounded Cecil's aura flickered out. The ambient glow around his blade disappeared and when the Emperor released him Cecil stumbled, as though dizzy. He fell backwards, eyebrows furrowing. He shook his head, standing back up, but looking haggard. Breathing hard, shoulders slumped, and hunched over. Not a wound in sight, but exhausted still. Cecil raised his spear to shift to Dark Knight, but after a moment nothing happened. Cecil lowered it, lifted it again, and again he only stood in Paladin class. He lifted it for a third time and slashed down, and whatever attack he was attempting never manifested.

Cecil backed away, eyes widening in a panic. "Wha-?"

The Emperor dismissed the Cyclones, curling his lip arrogantly as though expecting Cosmos to watch.

"What did you do?" Cecil screamed, voice straining. "What did you do?"

”Did you know I used to employ Dark Knights?” the Emperor asked, smirking wildly at Cecil and ignoring his panic. “Their hideous powers struck fear across the entirety of my empire! Not unlike the fear you struck in that innocent village. I would use them to subjugate and control, with an iron fist.” He clenched his fist around his staff, gloves chafing on the metal. “Their cruelty once suited you, Cecil! No matter,” he said, tone suddenly changing to one of smooth consoling. “I still have use for you yet. I trust you have no qualms about being a tool for my ambitions.”

”Enough!” Cosmos yelled. “We are not here to converse!”

He laughed, waving Cosmos off. “You may outnumber me," the Emperor taunted, "but you will not overpower me. Not anymore. Isn't that right, Cosmos?" He sneered, lip curling, maintaining eye contact with her. As an extra provocation, he raised his hand and a white orb congealed in his palm. The shard of power he stole from Terra.

Cosmos's eyes hardened and she opened her mouth as though to respond, ignoring her own rules she set before they departed. Then she spread her arms and her power grew, filling the space around her. A powerful, almost heady warmth spread out from her form.

"Don't-!" Warrior tried, but a healing green light enveloped him and Cecil. It's warmth filled Warrior's chest. He felt the sore, singed patches of skin under his armor soothe and heal, and his coiled, strained muscles eased. His power built slightly, and with Cosmos's divine Blessing he felt stronger and more powerful. Cecil gasped as well, fully restored, and he stood upright, shifting easily to Dark Knight. The healing light faded and Cosmos sighed, staggering back. She braced her hand against her forehead like she was dizzy, but recovered quickly, shaking her head and staring him down.

He chuckled dryly. "Very well. Your warriors are restored to protect you, now. I still only need to target one of you." He pointed to Cosmos. "And I'll hit my mark eventually!"

The Emperor waved his hand and a small orb of physical magic launched at the two of them. Warrior easily cut through it, but the very act of touching it caused the strength that Cosmos granted them to leech from his body and absorb into the Emperor. His wounds remained healed, but the Emperor Dispelled Cosmos's magic like it was nothing.

"You're out of sync, aren't you, Warrior? Unused to her next to you, unaware of how to battle alongside her? Can't you feel it? She's playing catch-up with me! You're not too rusty, are you, Cosmos?"

Cosmos raised her hands to cast again.

"By all means, waste more of your power!" he called.

She faltered, hands curling into fists, but cast again a moment later, and as another round of Haste magic was about to empower Cecil and Warrior, the Emperor readied his counterstrike. He placed a cluster of mines next to Cosmos. Warrior whirled around, throwing himself between them and her. He recognized his error a second too late. The mines disappeared and the spikes of a Dreary Cell trap surrounded him, closing him in and cutting him off from her. Despite her earlier frustrations, Warrior saw a hint of fear wink in her wide eyes, and as she reached for him to help, the Emperor flicked his hand. Terra's homing Thundaga cracked through the sky and down on her, but Cosmos simply shielded herself, absorbing the damage. Still, Warrior's powerlessness leapt into his throat. He touched the sides of the trap and a blinding pain shot through him. He screamed and collapsed.

As he recovered, the Emperor placed another Dreary Cell under Cecil. The Emperor held eye contact with Cosmos and she froze, for the first time looking frightened. He lifted one hand, and the charges appeared around Cecil, buzzing with energy.

"There's one of you down," the Emperor said. He snapped his fingers and a Curse oozed through the sigil and into Cecil, immediately weakening his aura and connection to Cosmos. He fell to one knee, then Warrior lost sight of him when the Emperor detonated the charges. A massive rush of Cecil's magic and power and health drained from him and entered the Emperor. He rolled his shoulders, reinvigorated. The smoke cleared and Cecil lay where he fell, unmoving.

"Hm," he hummed, clicking his tongue. "I think I'll keep him. As I said, I have use for him yet, so he'll stay alive for now. Your warrior will not be so lucky."

He cast another spell, and the same red energy glowed through the confines of his trap. Warrior shut his eyes and waited for the weakening effects of the Emperor's Curse spell, but instead the magic touched his armor, then concentrated in the hazy outline of a skull above his head.

Warrior's panic froze his hands and feet. The Emperor had given him maybe a minute at most to finally destroy him. When the Doom spell timed out he was finished, with Cosmos unable to revive him.

A helpless cry tore from Cosmos’s throat and as Warrior made eye contact she held his gaze. They shared a moment, a wordless understanding, and it was the dread of understanding in her eyes that affected him the most. Her heart bled in sorrow, already lamenting the loss of him at the end of the battle, but he took as deep a shaky breath as he could muster, steeling his resolve.

“I will fight to my last for you,” he hoped he said with his eyes. “If I am to die so that he is destroyed, so be it.”

The Emperor disabled the trap, arrogant enough to feel unthreatened by him anymore. All the pain in Cosmos’s eyes solidified into rage. Her eyes narrowed, lines of her forehead sagging into a look of pure fury that he had never seen on her before. Without waiting for Warrior, she teleported across the battlefield.

"Cosmos!" Warrior yelled, charging after her.

She called some gold light to her palms, and it manifested into the shape of two sharp daggers. She gripped them in a backhanded ice-pick grip. The Emperor called a simple Protect barrier before she even struck, but Cosmos manipulated the energy inside of him, halting him just enough that he was a second too late. Warrior stumbled in his approach, also affected, only catching himself by leaning in and somersaulting back to his feet. Quick as a snake striking, Cosmos stabbed a dagger down into the Emperor's shoulder twice, then dragged the blade up and cut all the way through. The blade grazed his face and he whirled away, leaving a long scratch up his cheek that only barely missed his eye. Spinning away from her, he hissed out in pain, but she swiped her other arm across his back, slicing form shoulder to shoulder, magic cutting through his armor and cape and other decorations like butter. He turned back to her and raised his hand, but Cosmos batted it away by slashing into his forearm. He clutched it to his chest and continued to swing his staff using magic. Cosmos ducked under the blow, then called three more darts of light that arced around her head. The first slammed into the flesh of his side, and his leg buckled. He fell to one knee, and the second he deflected with a weak and nearly-missed Protect spell. Cosmos Dispelled his barrier with a flick of her hand, cutting him off from Terra and Squall's power, and launched the third when he was defenseless. It embedded into his chest, knocking him back. At the same unlucky moment, the small Fire spell that Warrior prepared faltered as well, fizzling out. From one knee, the Emperor muttered some kind of spell, and the yellow chains of a Paralysis effect surrounded Cosmos. She Reflected it away harmlessly. She twirled around and put two more gashes across his chest.

The Emperor teleported away again, reappearing at the top of a rock fomation, and Cosmos chased after him easily. He planted several mines around himself to block her way but she simply case a fire spell that fragmented apart like missiles, each one firing into a mine and detonating them before she approached. She launched one of her light daggers overhand at him and he blocked. She launched the other and it knifed into his stomach. He doubled over and she walked towards him, energy full. He backtracked frantically, teleporting back to the ground, but she was on him in an instant. She backed him into a stone formation, then called a bolt of light and pressed the tip into his throat, pressing his other hand to the pillar to keep it still.

Warrior chased after them as fast as he could. He ran around the rocks, but Cosmos threw a hand out behind her to stop him. "No closer," she said coldly.

"No?" the Emperor asked, lifting his chin in defiance. "Just as well. He has maybe seconds left. So which will it be?"

Not expecting the question, Cosmos's eyes furrowed and she paused.

"Kill me, or heal him? It cannot be both, can it? Not with how weak you are. At least," he hissed, the word snapping on the 't' sound, "you'll be consistent. Too weak to waste precious energy to heal Squall, or Terra. And now too weak to heal your Warrior of Light as well!"

Cosmos glanced over her shoulder at him. In her eyes the explosive anger he saw before was completely gone. All he saw was pure desperation, clouded with indecision but knowing her window of opportunity was closing. He thought he saw the spark of a plea there. A plea to him to allow his sacrifice, perhaps. Or maybe a plea to forgive her for the choice she wanted to make. He waved her off, no matter her intentions. "End it, Cosmos!"

"Oh, dear!" he pouted. "If that is to be your choice, I'll be sure to tell your other warriors how disposable they are to you, if they haven't already figured it out-"

Cosmos pressed the tip of the bolt in harder to cut him off. She called out to Squall and Terra's power one final time, pushing the Emperor to his knees when they buckled from the weakness. Warrior also fell, the squeezing sensation in his chest fading into a cold numbness.

Cosmos raised her eyes to the heavens, and above them the normally spotless, starry sky of the Lunar Subterrane darkened. A grey wisp of what looked like smoke appeared in the air, high above them. Before their eyes it grew in size. Another spot appeared, then another, all of them growing until they collided, pitching and rolling over each other like the clouds over Sanctuary.

Cosmos's form glowed and six orbs of light appeared around her. They lifted up, spiraling up and tracing seemingly wild, uncontrolled paths through the air, but all the while streaming for the clouds. They crashed together in a flare so bright that Warrior had to shield his eyes, and then the clouds erupted. A beam of Ultima magic, hot, radiant, super-charged by Cosmos's divine energy, slammed down like a laser, scorching through the Emperor. It dragged him to the ground out of Cosmos's grip, and as the final dregs of the spell dissipated and Cosmos backed away, the Emperor lay motionless. His armor sizzled, even popped in some places, and a dark halo appeared around him, rising off his form and evaporating into the world.

The Emperor's Doom spell timed out.

The sensation in Warrior's chest, the weakening, constricting feeling, multiplied intensely. His heart clenched and started to beat wildly. His head swam in a dizziness that overwhelmed him, and black spots spattered his vision. The feeling of a fist clenched around his heart, and the numbness spread through his body, weighing him down.

Cosmos's power, her warmth and light, was uprooted. Torn free of his body, leaving behind a freezing coldness. His entire body throbbed, unnaturally fast at first with his heart then slowing down beat by beat. He was aware of every ounce of his strength leaving him and entering the Emperor in a final Drain spell.

He was aware he was falling.

He was aware of nothing after.

Chapter Text

Something had gone horribly wrong.

Rosa wasn't sure what went wrong, or how she knew it had gone wrong. But she did. She could feel it in her heart, radiating through her chest. Not a pain, exactly. Just an odd sensation, like a heaviness. Bothersome, alarming, almost worse than the earlier feeling of Cosmos blocking their powers.

She immediately thought of Cecil, no doubt battling twice as hard as normal due to a misplaced thought of justice on her behalf. It was a thought she had probably solidified when she wrongfully blamed him for not killing the Emperor. It was an out of character moment of anger, and she desperately wished she hadn't said it. She would have liked to apologize to him before he left, which may have helped him go into the battle with a clearer head. If he wasn't careful, especially around the Emperor with how powerful he was, then it could only spell disaster.

Her thoughts constantly cycled to the worst-case scenario - something had gone terribly wrong. Someone was going to end up badly injured, and that someone was Cecil. There would be little she could do to assist. Warrior ordered them not to assist anyway, but it wouldn't make her feel any less guilty or ashamed, just as she felt when it was Terra who was wounded. It would be worse for her this time. Every negative emotion would be amplified a million times because it would be Cecil. Her heart pounded in her chest and her insides felt like they were twisting. She found herself pacing around Sanctuary with little else to do in order to keep herself busy. She replayed the argument she had with Cecil over and over in her head, and couldn't help but check the shadow on the ground every few seconds, wishing it would just be over and everyone would come back. Every time, the shadow was in the same position as she left it. Time was crawling.

Something was wrong.

She could feel it with her entire body.

They had been gone for what Rosa guessed was only a quarter turn of the shadow when the thing she both hoped for and dreaded the most happened. A familiar flash of gold originating near the empty throne lit Sanctuary, followed by a shimmering sound of glittering power. Cosmos returned, in all her shining gold and iridescent Adamantite armor, seemingly untouched from the battle in all her brilliance of aura and command of presence. Her face, however, looked ragged and wild. Desperate. Her flared eyes were red, the tear tracks on her cheeks perfectly visible and shining in the light. She was panting, each breath a strained sob that tore from a dry throat. She looked around at the warriors, who had all startled upon her return, her eyes darting from face to face and clearly searching for assistance. Her arms were outstretched before her, and floating there in the space above her hands, cocooned in a sphere of golden power, was a figure. He was laid out, head craned back and arms dangling limp in a way that would've been too uncomfortable had the figure been conscious. Rosa's spine seized, her fear and dread immediately believing it was Cecil until she spotted the horns trailing from the figure's helmet and armor.

Cecil was nowhere to be found.

Rosa's hands went cold. Her heart stopped beating in a terrifying moment of realization, and she couldn't bring herself to move, even as Cosmos walked Warrior to the throne. She lay him down gently, her power dissipating, and she sat next to him. The other warriors, out of shock or curiosity or maybe both, gathered as close as they dared with Firion at the front. For what felt like many minutes, no one said a word as Cosmos draped herself across his chest plate, crying freely.

It was the most emotive Rosa could ever remember seeing her. And from the others' faces, they were just as shocked and confused as she was.

"Is he . . . ?" someone whispered, breaking the silence, and Cosmos curled protectively around Warrior. She grabbed one of his hands so tightly his fingers splayed and she brought it to his chest, fast and hot tears falling from her eyes and softly plinking against his chest plate. She touched her forehead to his and closed her eyes, shoulders heaving in open sobs.

"Gods . . . " Firion breathed.

Rosa felt it, too. Warrior's aura, normally brilliantly white in color, calm and resolute, was gone completely from existence. Any essence of life or spirit that had animated Warrior had been snuffed out by a Death spell, and every shred of Cosmos's power had been Drained out of him by the Emperor. It was a different kind of emptiness that lingered in the spot where his heart should have beat. More absolute.

He was gone. They were too late to revive him.

Cecil was not even there to speak of. There wasn’t a single reason for Cosmos to leave him unless . . . She couldn’t bring herself to even think it. The words wouldn't come to her to even conceptualize it. But the disquieting feeling she had changed into a heartache, so sudden and so intense that she was forced to double over, hands curling together over her chest. Her world blurred at the edges and she could no longer feel her legs underneath her. She collapsed where she stood to the side of Cosmos's throne. Someone said her name, and the sounds of splashing crowded around her. Yuna knelt in front of her, sympathetic tears already falling. Yuna gathered Rosa to her, hugging her close, but her throat went dry and she was barely aware of her own trembling hand, lifting to cover her mouth. Her breath hitched and the lump in her throat kept her from crying out as loudly as Cosmos, but the tears fell freely. They had been overmatched against the Emperor. They had fought as hard and as desperately as possible, not stopping until they were completely spent. She pictured the Emperor sneering down at them, and Cecil staring defiantly into his eyes until the final blow. The Emperor had killed Warrior and Cecil both, and Cosmos fled. She had the decency to bring Warrior back, but had left Cecil to rot on the battlefield.

Others closed in - Zidane, who sat down beside her and crossed his legs, resting a hand on her leg, face pressed in obvious pain. He didn't say anything, just let her know he was there. Vaan and Bartz were quick to follow, standing to the side as though standing guard. Terra also rubbed small circles into her back.

"Cosmos . . . " Firion said softly, voice cracking with the emotion he wanted to share, but stuck looking professional in his new commanding role. "What happened to the Emperor? And to Cecil?" he added after a pause, placing his hand on Rosa's shoulder. All their touches felt intrusive. Too invasive, and too sensory. She felt overwhelmed. The pain was too great to bear.

Cecil was gone.

Cosmos did not immediately answer, and it only solidified in Rosa's mind what she felt was true. Cecil was gone. The Emperor killed them both, or perhaps Cosmos had left Cecil to die.

"Oh, gods-" Rosa croaked around her hand, and Firion's hand tightened around her shoulder. Someone had reached inside of her chest and gripped her heart, squeezed it, and then broke it straight in half. Bits and pieces of a full life with Cecil, a life lived together in love and respect, had worked their way into her memory over the course of their time here, and she mourned both for a friend and for a person she loved. His presence would never again bless her sights. His goodness to her and to the world was gone forever. And though she never had the luxury of imagining a time together beyond this world, when the battles were over and they could be together uninterrupted and unencumbered by strife, the knowledge that she would never get that chance sank deep into her mind. She had nobody else with which she wanted to spend her entire life. Her very soul felt torn into pieces.

Kain pushed through the crowd and reached for her, then hesitated. He swallowed hard, lips pressed tightly together below his helmet so hard they were trembling. They were the only visible signs of his strained emotion. He knelt down behind her, and she felt the displaced water lap at her legs and knees. "Move," he told everyone, and they all detangled from her, giving her space. She felt empty again. "Rosa . . . " he said, his deep voice shaking, and he swatted Firion's hand away to wrap his own arms around her from behind. He curled them around her shoulders and pulled her backwards towards him, snug against his chest plate. She felt his breath catch, and when she curled tighter he leaned forward as well. His body shuddered, a silent sob, and he rested his cheek against the top of her head. "I'm so sorry."

The words soured in her ears. Cecil was gone, and sorrow wouldn't get him back. Sorrow couldn't even soothe the heartache. Her entire world had stopped, and nothing would be big enough to set it back into motion.

"How could this happen?" she asked. And she realized with another pang that she bore some blame. "I did this."

"Of course not-"

"He wouldn't have gone- gods, he wouldn't have gone if we didn't fight! Cosmos would have gone alone! He- He wouldn't have been in danger, and we c-could've . . . gone home, and . . . I'm so sorry . . . I'm so sorry!" she trailed off, unable to speak anymore around he seizing throat. Kain squeezed her tighter.

"Cosmos?" Firion pressed again, more firmly. "What of the Emperor?"

" . . . " Cosmos only shook her head, still bent over Warrior. Her lips were quivering with her anguish.

"Still alive," Firion muttered, interpreting her signs and waiting for her to deny it. "The Emperor is still alive, and Warrior and Cecil are gone."

Rosa curled tighter around her heart, the source of her torment. The knowledge of the Emperor was another tide, throwing another wave of grief crashing down on her. Her chest ached so badly she thought for sure Cosmos dealt her a physical blow. Her body rocked, wracked with sobs, but it wasn’t enough to alleviate her pain. Thoughts of the Emperor continuing to menace her compiled like a weight on her shoulders, and Rosa moved her hands to grip the roots of her hair. The minuscule pain kept the edges of panic at bay. She felt like she’d be sick.

"Well, they- . . . they'll come back, right? With the cycle? Won't they be revived?" the Onion Knight rasped, and he garnered a few hopeful nods from some around him.

Cosmos shook her head again, hands clenching around Warrior's. She lifted her head and labored in a shuddering breath, and her cries renewed. "I'm so sorry," she said. Rosa wasn't sure if she was apologizing to Warrior, or to them. Maybe to her. "I'm so, so sorry."

"No," Firion corrected, continuing his interpretation. "We won't be revived if the Emperor gets to us. He drains that much power from our very energy . . . the power you imbued us with for our crystals, and it's over, isn't it? There's not enough left of us for the cycle to revive. That's why it was so important that you saw him destroyed yourself, isn't it?"

Rosa was barely listening. They were discussing something, using a combination of language she was unfamiliar with, and her numb mind couldn't keep up. Everything sounded far away, covered by a distant ringing that droned constantly.

"I'm so sorry," Cosmos moaned again, her voice thick with tears. "I can't. I won't allow it. You're not gone." Her voice grew loud in power, the gold energy in her unblemished, perfect aura picking up speed and ferocity, swirling around her. "I cannot do this without you. I will not allow it." Her voice took on an echoing quality, sounding both directly in their ears and far away. She looked angry, and the pressure in Sanctuary dropped, weighing Rosa's limbs down more, and the wind picked up, tossing the loose ends of their capes and hair around them. Cosmos reached down and took both of Warrior's hands in hers. A flash of thunder cracked in the sky above them and several of the warriors cried out in alarm, having never seen anything other than calm clouds.

Cosmos lifted her red-rimmed, tear soaked eyes to the sky, and they glowed entirely gold with power. The very light seemed to draw in to her, dimming the area surrounding them. A crack of lightning split the sky again, and every part of Sanctuary flashed with a gold hue. The water swirled like an opaque, glittering pool. The ropes of energy that ribboned around Sanctuary, and the crystal crops turned a shade of yellow. The sky inverted, and the grey clouds rolled and boiled.

"I call on the powers gifted to me by Cid of the Lufaine," Cosmos intoned powerfully, almost with indignation, a whisper on the front of her words and an echo on the back. Her lips continued to move but no sound escaped any more, her empty gold eyes shining brighter with each word.

Warrior's form began to glow underneath Cosmos. A halo surrounded him, and Rosa realized she was crafting one from her own power. The very air around them heated, the normal comfort and warmth of a healing spell amplified to the thousands from the magic Cosmos was shedding. A burning smell entered Rosa's nose, and heat lines began to rise off of Warrior's armor like cobblestones in the sun. Rosa's senses quickly became overloaded, and she shielded herself with her arms. Her skin quickly singed and she was forced to scramble backwards and away from Cosmos. Someone grabbed her arm, Firion, she noted quickly, and he half-dragged her away from Cosmos as he shielded his own face. The sensation of raw, divine power made Rosa dizzy and she stilled in the soothing water, head pounding.

Warrior's form lifted up off of her throne again, wrapped in that gold glow of power. Cosmos moved away from him, words still spilling silently from her mouth.

Without warning, a sharp pain slammed into Rosa's temples. She recoiled, crying out, but it was lost in the roar of energy around Cosmos. She ripped her hands away from Firion to grasp at the sides of her head, but was whisked away from the scene in front of her. She opened her eyes, and instead of Warrior lying lifeless before her, it was Cecil.

"No!" she screamed as he crumpled to the floor. His grip relaxed and his sword clattered to the ground, ringing in Rosa’s ears. "Cecil!"

The Beholder's death ray killed him instantly. His fell and and lay utterly still, limbs sprawled. His pale skin greyed, lips coloring a cold shade of blue, his mouth locked open in a cut-off cry of pain. His features relaxed but his wide eyes stared into the distant abyss. Somewhere in the Lunar ruins behind her, Rosa heard Kain's grunt of exertion, and the soft squish of his blade stabbing into flesh. The Lunar Beholder they had battled screeched out its final throes of pain and rage, and all of its eyestalks twitched at once with a sickening slap of wriggling flesh. She heard a thump as it fell to the floor, then heard Kain's sigh as he too collapsed to his knees, fighting to catch his breath with the others.

The air burned her dry throat, and every one of her limbs ached. She had dropped her bow at some point, too exhausted to even attempt to draw it any further. She dragged herself to Cecil, unable to muster the strength to stand and run to him. "No - no - no," she panted with each breath. "Cecil!" She threw herself over his chest plate, managing to lift herself enough to stare down at him."Phoenix Downs! Quickly!" She was too drained to heal him herself. She had used every ounce of reserved power she had to keep them alive while they were battling. Her power utterly gone, she still tried to cast the Arise spell she would need. Though the words formed easily, the power simply refused to build for her. There was no power from which to draw.

Her heart dropped and she yelled out again, "I need Phoenix Downs! I'm running out of time!"

"We're out!" Rydia yelled. "We used them all when your magic was depleted!"

"Someone has to have one!" she cried, growing frantic. "Fusoya! I need help!"

The old man shook his head, long white beard drifting softly over the ground where he was kneeling, catching his breath. "I am . . . powerful, but . . . too tired."

Rosa blinked. Cecil's silhouette changed briefly. Warrior's bulkier form and the shape of a helmet and horns protruding from that helmet appeared briefly around Cecil. Cosmos flickered in, then out of existence just as quickly.

Rosa cupped her hands around Cecil's face, unable to look away. His skin gave under her touch, and his head rolled with the slightest movement, all tension gone from him. She cradled his head, her body rocking uncontrollably. "No!" she cried, knowing she was unable to do anything else. The pain and sorrow built in her heart until she couldn't withstand it, and she screamed.

A single ball of white energy appeared over Warrior's chest, growing larger and larger with every word of Cosmos's spell. Even more white tendrils appeared in the air and trailed towards it, physically gathering power to it. The orb trembled threateningly under the vibrations of her power.

"Come away, Rosa," Edward said, but she jerked out of his grip. "It's been . . . too long. And we have to go."

"No! I can still help him!" It was only an idea. A crazed, desperate attempt to do the impossible. She gently moved his head to the side and reached down into the top of his chest plate, jamming her hand between his still-sweaty skin and his chain mail. Still tucked in the ties was a small piece of cloth. Her token that she had given him forever ago, when he was still courting her. He told her he always carried it on him, and before every battle, for luck, he would drag the fabric out and touch it to his lips.

She had no reason to believe it would work. There wasn't a single technique or basis for anything she was attempting. All she felt was that this would be her only chance, and it was the only thing she could think of. The hope was swelling in her heart and she latched on to it. Her body moved without her mind, taking the token and wrapping Cecil's hands around it, then clasping her own hands around his. She sent up a prayer to every single god that could have possibly been listening, giving it meaning with her entire heart, and then she launched into her spell.

"What in the heck is she doing?" Edge chided, but Rydia quickly shushed him with a smack upside his head and a hitched breath, holding back her own tears.

After a few rounds of chanting, nothing happened, but she refused to stop, knowing this was her only chance. She repeated the words of the Arise spell over and over again, using the cloth in his hands as the focal point of power rather than the power she would normally draw from within. She imagined the words swirling around the cloth and landing on it, soaking in to the fibers and filling it up with healing power, generating the energy that she lacked within herself. She began to shout the words of the spell, and they weaved their way around the two of them. A green atmosphere slowly coalesced around them, emanating from the token itself. It began to glow with the green light of healing, and the warmth built in their little bubble. Rosa's heart lifted and she renewed her faith in the words. The glow grew brighter and brighter until she was forced to close her eyes, and with a final push she finished the final part of the chant. The green light rushed into Cecil's body, the cloth dissolved, used up by the strength of the magic, and through his open mouth he drew in a breath.

"Cecil!" she screamed before he was even fully awake. In a rush of adrenaline she slid her arms under his back and hoisted him up, drawing him to her chest in the tightest hug she could manage."Cecil, by the gods!" He only lay there for a moment, still limp in her arms, body still warming up and mind fully coming to from having left the world of the living. Then he slowly, clumsily, wrapped his arms loosely around her back. "Gods, I lost you for a moment! I love you so much! Don't ever leave me again!" she babbled.

"Rosa," he breathed, and finally squeezed her against him with the same intensity. She nuzzled her face into his neck and he shifted one hand to her hair, as though he couldn't bring her close enough. "Thank you," he sighed. "Thank you, thank you." She felt his cool lips and his quick breath kiss up her neck, and then he withdrew, holding her at arms' length for a second before cupping under her chin and drawing her in to kiss her on the lips.

Rosa was too relieved and elated to say anything anyway. She was still crying, but it was the only way she could express the depth of her relief.

"What in the world - did she just bring him back?" Rydia shrieked, voice echoing through the cave.

"How the hell did she do that?" Edge asked. "Fusoya, how did she do that?"

"I haven't a clue. I didn't even know that was possible."

"That's because it's not!" Rydia gasped. "You can't just . . . I don't know . . . make White Magic out of thin air! That’s . . . gods-like power."

"Rosa," Kain asked, the seriousness of his voice prompting her to pull away. She still clung to Cecil, irrationally afraid that if she let go of him it would disappear. Like it was a dream, and she was watching herself accomplish this from another's point of view. "How in the world did you do that?"

"I . . . I don't . . . " Thoughts wouldn't come to her. She just wanted to cry, to release the tension and free herself from the thoughts of what could have been. She wanted to sleep, and with every second the adrenaline drained from her, shivers wracked her entire body from head to toe. "I just . . . wanted Cecil back. I . . . concentrated on the token and forced energy into it with the spell instead of drawing it from myself."

"My dear girl," Fusoya said. "From the moment I met you, I knew you were strong. I’ve been alive for a long, long time. But that was, without a doubt, the most powerful feat of White Magic I've ever seen. I've never even heard of Lunarians possessing that kind of power."

Rosa returned to the present, to the burning heat of Cosmos's Revivification spell. The air was so hot it simmered, and Warrior's armor crackled, expanding in the heat. The orb of power, fully charged and shining brilliantly, sank down into Warrior's chest and dissipated. Cosmos's eyes dulled into their crystalline blue color, still red from her intense crying. She trembled, falling to the side and catching herself with her arms. She sighed and her chest heaved. Her aura looked muted, almost entirely gone, like she had drained herself in order to help Warrior. Rosa shivered with the chill in the aftermath, wrapping her arms around herself, and the others reacted the same way.

There was a single moment where everything and everyone was frozen. Nobody moved, nobody breathed, not even Cosmos who a moment ago had been panting as though on the verge of passing out.

Warrior's chest moved. It rose once. An inch. Paused. Without exhaling he lifted another breath in. Air passed through his nose and then he sighed. As gentle as rousing from sleep his breathing deepened, and he opened his eyes.

Cosmos let out a huge, shaky breath. A single, hoarse but unburdened laugh bubbled out of her and she sagged down over Warrior. She rested her head against his chest plate and threw her arms around him. At that moment, Rosa understood two things at the exact same time. The first was that Cosmos had enough power to heal them the entire time, and she had been letting her suffer at the Emperor's hands.The second was that she had a way to save Cecil. Her thoughts spun, and she oscillated for a few paralyzing seconds between complete and unadulterated disgust, rage, and more heartache at the thought of her fellow warriors' suffering, and the cool, controlled, and hopeful feeling of needing to act immediately and having a plan. She remembered how tired she felt because Cosmos wouldn't assist. How drained of all of her resources and humiliated the Emperor allowed her to feel. She thought to herself that she could get angry later. Cecil needed her.

She climbed to her feet, gathering her wits and consoling herself. "Stay calm," she said. "Cecil needs you. Worry about Cecil. Gather your things." She began digging through her pouches and belts, taking inventory of the arrows she had and the other things she would need to venture out.

Warrior's eyebrows furrowed and he immediately tensed, arms lifting slightly to accommodate Cosmos. He craned his head down and saw the top of her head and her wild strands of blonde hair and he immediately relaxed in her hold.

"Oh," he sighed. "You're safe."

"Me?" Cosmos sniffled incredulously. She laughed once again, a fluttery sound of relief, and she sat up. She pushed his helmet aside, exposing his forehead and she leaned down and pressed a quick kiss there. Fresh tears spilled from Comsos's eyes but they were slow tears of relief. "I lost you. I almost lost you."

Warrior moved to sit up, moving easily and without any of the stiffness Rosa remembered from when Cosmos and Cecil healed her. None of the stiffness Cecil possessed when she revived him in her memory. It was as though Cosmos had restored every single mote of Warrior's health and strength, and he looked fit for another battle if one would have happened upon them at that very moment. Cosmos still pressed a hand to his back, helping him up. When he was upright she threw her arms around him again, so hard he leaned to the side.

Rosa turned to Firion, face red and his hands clenched at his side. She imagined he was feeling exactly the same way she was - under Cosmos's watch, they had been allowed to suffer at the Emperor's hands. She could have helped them much, much earlier, but had simply refused. The moment Warrior was wounded, there hadn't been a word of protest. Only a moment to mourn while she made her decision to assist. "Firion," she said, and he jerked his head in her direction. "I think I have a way to help Cecil. But we need to move as quickly as possible. Would you take me to the Lunar Subterraine?"

"I know you probably don't want to hear this," Lightning said. "This sucks for you. I know that. But it's too late. Your window for healing someone has definitely closed."

"Yes," she agreed. "But I still think I have something that can help. As . . . convoluted as this sounds, I had a memory of something that happened during our travels in Baron. We came out of the other side of an extremely tough battle, and I was completely depleted of all magical energy. Just as I am now," she said. "I didn't have enough energy to heal Cecil, and the opportunity to heal him passed. I did . . . something, using a token that Cecil had on his person. I just said the words of the Arise spell and . . . I don't even know if I can even describe it properly. I repeated the words of the spell, and used the token as the focal point of the spell. I . . . used the words to create a magical energy, then pressed the magic into the token. Instead of using power from my own energy, the energy that the words gave to the token healed Cecil for me. I think I can still try something like that again, even though it's already past the window to heal him."

" . . . I'm sorry. I don't understand," Yuna said. "You . . . created a magical energy?"

"Yes. It's a poor explanation," she admitted. "But I just said the words, and it was as though my voice was enough to provide energy to give to the token." She could see it on their faces that they didn't believe her. Not distrust, but simply unable to comprehend what she was describing.

"That breaks pretty much every rule I know about White Magic," Firion said.

"She speaks true," Kain said, coming to her defense. "I was there when she accomplished it. The Lunar Beholder," he said, and Rosa nodded.

"Yes. I know it sounds impossible, but it worked for me then. And I hope it may work for me now. I at least want to try it. And I am prepared to do whatever we need to do so that I get that opportunity. Please help me, even if you don't think it will work. I have to believe it will."

Warrior remained stiff in Cosmos's grasp, meeting Firion's eye over Cosmos's shoulder. "You alright?" Firion asked, nearly growling it through his teeth. Warrior nodded, and Firion turned to Rosa. "We're already ready to go, as far as armor. Lightning, Kain, Laguna, and Zidane, all with Rosa and me. Gather some Items. We're going to the Lunar Subterraine to retrieve- . . . to help Cecil," Firion said carefully, changing his words. Rosa didn't feel much like smiling, but she let the corners of her mouth turn up to acknowledge him. Retrieval implied he was already gone and they were collecting his body. Help was better. Help implied that he wasn't beyond saving, and based on her memory, she felt as though he wasn't.

The four warriors Firion enlisted took off towards their Item stockpile to gather what they would need. After they ran off, Warrior pressed his palm flat to the front of Cosmos's shoulder, gently pushing her away. She was hugging him too tightly to notice until he said, "Cosmos, did you heal me?"

"What?"

Warrior pushed harder. "Cosmos," he said, more forcefully. "Why?"

"Why?" she repeated. She finally withdrew from him, wiping at her eyes to dry them. She took a few deep, calming breaths. The subtle signs of her extreme reaction were still there, and Rosa felt every single one herself. Cosmos's still-shaking hands, shivering in her armor as though cold, still-shallowed breaths, and head shaking in disbelief, either from Warrior's words or the fact that he was breathing.

"Why?" Warrior pressed again.

"Why?" she echoed. "I couldn't let you die!"

"You used your power to heal me. I told you not to do that!"

"I- . . . I know that, but I couldn't . . . I just couldn't let you die! Not like that."

"You're supposed to. I thought we both understood that. I'm your Warrior of Light. I'm meant to defend you, even to my end. And I pressed that upon you before we even left! You were not to heal me, or Cecil. But especially not me." Warrior shook his head, guilt and hurt and disappointment thick in his eyes. "How could you do this?"

Cosmos did not respond well to Warrior's scolding. "How could I? How could I not?" Warrior waited for her explanation, but it became clear very quickly that she had thought that to be enough. Her eyes widened and she leveled a hard stare at him. "You, my first warrior, my first champion?" She sniffled, raising a hand to her chest and splaying her fingers. "I am the Goddess of Harmony. I hold this entire world aloft from sinking into Discord, and I am meant to use my power as I see fit!"

A wave of rage crawled from Rosa's heart into her throat, and she nearly snarled a biting reply detailing exactly how she felt betrayed by the way Cosmos used her power. She opened her mouth, but Warrior beat her to it.

"By healing me? That is what you consider using your power as you see fit? Healing me, without question, but not my comrades, your other warriors? You told us you were too weak! Did-" Warrior paused in an uncharacteristic stammer. He recoiled away from Cosmos, shaking his head quickly as though to shake the very notion from his head. Then he took a deep breath and asked his question anyway. "Did you lie to us?" he asked quietly, nearly whispering it as though he wouldn't believe it either.

"No!"

He blinked slowly, eyeing her critically. "Did you have me lie for you?"

"No! My power is failing, that is true! Ever since I called Rosa. I tried to conserve as much as I could, for as long as I could. But circumstance and the Emperor both worked against me, and this is no different! I needed you now just as I needed her then. And I'm so glad you're still here with me. You also said that you had a duty to me, and you can still perform it! I still need you!"

"You needed me so desperately? After our suffering, and yours? After Rosa's, or Terra's? Even Squall's?"

The delight at having Warrior back was quickly fading from Cosmos's eyes. Her mouth turned down into the start of a frown. "That was a different . . . "

"It wasn't. And I set up a chain of command after me so that you wouldn't need me in the event that I faded forever from this world."

"That's not . . . I just . . . " She touched his arm. He pulled away from her, and Cosmos retreated back the other way, shock and revulsion at Warrior's reaction on her face. She looked absolutely devastated, and Rosa could tell from the hurt in her eyes that Warrior had never chastised her that way. He had never rejected her before, let alone with such venom.

The splashing of footsteps in the water interrupted the incredibly awkward silence, and Lightning said, "We're good to go. Let's go." Rosa gathered herself, wiping at her own eyes. Before they could head out, Tidus stopped them by shouting out.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold on!"

"Tidus, we have to go!" Rosa insisted.

"Just wait one more minute! I wanna go get Cecil, too, and I think I'm gonna hop on board. But we should definitely talk about what just happened! She just healed Warrior! Completely! She just gave him another piece of her power! Just like that! Handed it over!" He gestured wildly to Cosmos. "She just had the power to heal us the whole time! What the hell is that?! Didn't anyone see that?"

"Yes," Rosa said quickly. "And I am . . . " She struggled to find the words that conveyed the depth of her emotion. In the wake of such powerful grief and loss, nothing felt quite appropriate enough to do her heart justice. "I am enraged by it. More enraged than I can say at this time. But I have a bigger issue that I care more about." She didn't care if Cosmos heard her imply she didn't care for her. But she looked her in the eye when she said, "Cosmos can wait her turn. We have to go."

"I'm going, too," Tidus said, and Yuna, who looked just as shocked and upset by Cosmos's actions as anyone, stepped forward too, hands clenching around her staff. Wordlessly, the Onion Knight stepped towards Rosa and joined her ranks, and Terra was quick to follow, then Cloud and Tifa. Rosa nodded her thanks to them.

" . . . Yeah," Vaan deadpanned, clasping his hands behind his head. He rocked from one foot to the other, lips puckering skeptically as he looked to Cosmos. He raised his eyebrows as though expecting an explanation, then he wheeled on his heels in Rosa's direction and strolled over to her. "I'm going after Cecil. Come on, Bartz."

"Right behind ya."

Even Squall, arm still in a makeshift sling from the Emperor's last attack, shifted in her direction. Not a single warrior volunteered to stay and defend Cosmos. It was clear to all of them that she could defend herself.

"I will accompany you as well," Warrior said, standing from the throne and away from Cosmos.

"Warrior, wait!" Cosmos pleaded. "All of you, please, wait!" She clutched at Warrior's arms again as though to prevent him from leaving. "Please do not confront him again! He's too strong, and I know that now. I've now seen with my own eyes the threat the Emperor is-"

"The Emperor?" Rosa yelled. "We're not going near the Emperor! We're going after Cecil, who you left to die in the Lunar Subterraine after the battle!"

She shook her head hard. "I did no such thing. I would never leave a warrior in such a manner. The Emperor has Cecil. He took him from the battlefield."

"So he's alive?" Rosa prompted, trying to work through both of Cosmos's conflicting messages at once. "Are you certain, Cosmos?" She was desperate for Cosmos to confirm it for her. Her earlier panic had been so devastatingly earth-shattering that she wasn't sure she could handle another heartbreak if Comsos was mistaken. At the same time, her heart soared again at the thought that he was alive, and that every single fear she had was entirely unfounded. She wouldn't need this desperate, last-ditch effort that had barely managed to work for her only once before. They only needed to retrieve Cecil, and she could figure out what to do from there.

Cosmos's eyes roved in the air above them, and Rosa could tell she was scanning the world for Cecil's presence. "His light still shines. The Emperor defeated Cecil and rendered him unconscious. He told me he was going to hold on to Cecil because he was still useful, and then he incapacitated Warrior before I landed a few blows. He fled with Cecil before I could finish him-"

"By the gods-" she hissed, momentarily angry that Cosmos had let her violently mourn for as long as she did. Then she stopped herself. "Left where?" Rosa snapped. "He took Cecil where?"

"Please do not go-"

"Tell me, now! Locate him! I know you can do that!"

"He's . . . He's still with the Emperor."

"In Pandaemonium, I assume? Let's go!" Rosa said, turning and striding for Sanctuary's barrier.

"Rosa, wait! He's too strong, and you're too weak-"

"She's only weak because you wouldn't help her!" Terra cried. Tifa immediately jumped to her defense as well.

"Yeah, she begged you for help when Squall was hurt, and then again when it was Terra. Apparently you could've helped the whole time but you refused."

"No . . . " she tried, in an attempt to defend herself.

"Let us go," Warrior said in a way that Rosa could only assume was the kindest way to end both the attack on Cosmos, and the debate about rescuing Cecil. "Please. Cecil deserves the same kindness that I was afforded once, and the same kindnesses Rosa was afforded once. I am not ungrateful to you for reviving me. But Cecil fought hard for you. As hard as Terra, Squall, and everyone here. Please, Cosmos, let us go. Cecil needs our assistance."

Cosmos's mouth hung open, but it was clear she could no longer think of an excuse to defend herself. Even her Warrior of Light had opposed her, and she seemed to take that as the utmost of betrayals. Her eyebrows furrowed and she closed her mouth. "Please . . . " she said, staring only at him. "I did not mean to . . . hurt any of you-"

"I don't have time to wait for your blessing," Rosa said. "I'm leaving."

"Then take this," Cosmos said, and she brought her hands to her chest, closing her eyes. Another orb of white power like the one she created to heal Warrior collected between her hands, and when she spread her arms the power rushed towards Rosa. It circled around her, and everywhere it touched she felt an energizing tingle, like a rush of adrenaline to her system. It absorbed into her, and the gaping hole she felt in her energy from being weak and depleted closed. Magical power filled her body to the brim, overflowing into her aura. Her coiled muscles unwound and her power surged. Her heart lifted, still sick and still afraid for Cecil, but with her magical reserves replenished in order to help him.

Cosmos collapsed, unable to hold herself up any longer. She lay on the throne, armor scraping, and stared up into the sky. Warrior ran to her, but she waved him off. "I'm alright," she said breathlessly. "I will recover more quickly if I stay here. And I am sorry. You are right. It shouldn't have been a choice between you. Please be safe."

"I do not want this," Rosa said coldly. She was glad she didn't have to look into Cosmos's sad eyes. She didn't want to pity her any longer. "It is only because I know I may need this, and because I feel it is the least you could give us in assistance that I am accepting your power at all."

"I understand," Cosmos said, her melodic voice returned to its normal melancholic softness. "Please be careful. I hope you recover Cecil soon. I need . . . to rest now."

Without another word, Rosa spun on her heels and let Firion lead the charge out of Sanctuary.

Chapter Text

Rosa's mind reeled in circles while they made the trek to Pandaemonium. The only thing she could seem to focus on for any length of time was a horrid, gut-twisting dread over Cecil's treatment in the Emperor's captivity, and a heart-pounding rage at Cosmos that left her teeth grinding and her fists clenching, blood pounding in her ears.

She couldn't fathom anything other than torture, simply because it would be the Emperor's whim. Everything now at the Emperor's disposal would make Cecil hurt - lightning spells hot enough to blister skin, Drain spells strong enough to incapacitate beyond the scope of White Magic, binds and traps to render him incapable of escape, as well as other borrowed, over-powered attacks that could stab, cut, rend flesh, and tear muscle. He could inflict mental pain as well. He would delight in it, and the mere thought was enough to make her sick. The more he delighted in it, the more he would continue, and the more agony Cecil would be forced to endure without respite. There was no other reason for the Emperor to hold Cecil indefinitely, except to prolong both his suffering and hers.

Cecil's very absence from her was an acute despair all of its own, and the only comfort brought to her was that he was still alive. She now had Cosmos's power to assist him, bestowed as an afterthought to try and save face. Hopefully, she would make it to Cecil before the Emperor grew bored and put Cecil on some kind of display for her like another present. Though her memory proved she may be able to heal him regardless, she did not want to depend upon it. The power she had manifested in her memory was a magical anomaly. She had never performed anything of the sort before that, and to her knowledge she had never performed any such feat again. She had no explanation for it then and still had no explanation for it now, except for a few reaching conclusions that could never be tested, proven, or disproven. She and her companions wracked their brains for some kind of explanation at the time for how she somehow created White Magic despite being totally depleted, and the only explanation she could manage to come up with was that she hadn't drawn on direct magical power as White Magic usually required, but on emotion. Many strong, beautiful, and heart-felt emotions that were based in their love for each other were tied to Cecil's token, and it was possible that those emotions became a sort of energy woven into the very fabric of the cloth. It could have built over years and years of devotion, and perhaps even the proximity to all the White Magic she had performed had somehow accumulated as well over their years fighting together. Coupled with Cecil's ritual-like habits of kissing it before every battle, the two of them had exclusively and inadvertently imbued it with its own healing power that she was able to focus on during a moment of high stress. It wasn't the kind of magic she would be able to direct at just anybody - only someone with whom she had such a strong connection, and a shared connection with the item in question.

Her heart twisted and her chest grew tight at the thought of being too late to heal Cecil and being forced to perform it again. At the worst, it wouldn't work again - maybe she wouldn't perform it right and would make a mistake that wouldn't allow the magic to manifest again, or maybe she would do everything right but the stars simply wouldn't align again and it wouldn't work, like shooting an arrow at a target with perfect form, but still missing.

Her nerves were so tangled that she was just short of her knees trembling.

Cosmos had undoubtedly lied to all of them about the state of her affairs, but she had especially lied to Rosa. She had forced Rosa to be their White Mage workhorse when she could have helped all along. Rosa couldn't find herself at all surprised considering her tumultuous history with the goddess. From the very start she felt that Cosmos was not being entirely honest with her, and that there was something simple she was missing that Cosmos refused to give her that would fit all the pieces into place and answer all of her questions. Why were they needed at all given that Cosmos apparently possessed enough power to dole it out and heal warriors entirely when she felt like it? Why would Cosmos force them to go through the summoning process, which wiped memories? They all suffered through the experience when they were called, and it was an especially cruel decision for Cosmos to make without consulting them considering they weren't needed if she was so powerful. Why hadn't Cosmos yet destroyed Chaos outright and ended the war? Why did Cosmos feel the need to lie, as if she would be in trouble over the truth that she was so powerful?

Not as powerful as the Emperor anymore. Rosa noticed the true fear that Cosmos felt at the mention of him, and the desperation she used to try and dissuade them from confronting him after first ignoring their warnings. That was clearly why Cosmos has been so dismissive. She had been sitting on heaps of power despite telling them she had none, like a dragon protecting its hoard. Either way, it ignited all of the indignation in Rosa's heart and left her mouth dry and her chest tight, heart beating wildly and bringing heat to her cheeks. For the first time, she felt that she despised Cosmos and despised her involvement in Cosmos's world and Cosmos's war. She lied to keep herself strong and keep Rosa weak, and she let Rosa believe her friends would be forced to die on her watch, not Cosmos's.

It was something Rosa would've expected the Emperor to do, not Cosmos. The Emperor was so tyrannical, so gluttonous for power and control, that if she replaced Cosmos with the Emperor but left everyone's actions the same, the situation still seemed entirely in character. The Emperor would lie about his power to mask another agenda without question and remove suspicion. He would force Rosa to over-extend to compensate for his unwillingness to help. He would watch friends and comrades come within inches of death and suffer in intense pain and not bat an eye.

That was the man who was holding Cecil. Torturing him.

Her thoughts cycled back to her absolute dread and fear for Cecil. It was like a tornado, spinning faster and faster out of control but still coming around to the same starting point over and over again.

No, Rosa wasn't at all surprised by Cosmos, but she could tell that Cosmos's actions devastated the others. Rosa led the group, but Warrior shambled right behind her, almost in a daze. With his eyes downcast and glossed over, looking around but clearly not seeing anything like a man lost in disillusionment. He was probably shifting through his own mental circles, and his shoulders slumped in a heavy downcast to his carriage that was normally so tall and proud. Firion looked furious - almost as furious as she felt. She and Firion always had an extra thread of similarity than the others. They both sported a particular hurt over being abused by Cosmos and the Emperor both. His cheeks were colored violently red and his weapons clinked together with more force than normal due to his stomping footfalls. The general air around their large party was an odd mix of hurt and betrayal and anguish and rage, and as a result the thick, blanketing silence was underlaid with an explosive tension, like a Bomb that was growing larger and larger and soon to explode.

"Got a lot on your mind?"

Rosa looked to her right to find that Zidane had wormed his way up to the front of the group and had squeezed himself between her and Kain to walk beside her. He asked it lightly, like he didn't have a care in the world, but his body language was rife with the signs of agitation and disquiet. His hands were jammed so hard in his pockets that his elbows were locked, and his tail flicked sharply back and forth without its usual fluidity.

"Too much," she mumbled. "I can't stop worrying about Cecil. The Emperor is going to torture him, if he isn't torturing him already. And I loathe that I am not there to put a stop to it and heal him. He's alive but I still feel like I lost him. I'm heart sick over it."

"Yeah. I understand that. I'm not gonna try to tell you not to worry, or anything, 'cuz I know that's not gonna help. But Cecil is strong, and I think you should believe that he's strong enough to hold out until we get there."

"Yes," she agreed, but all his words did was twist the knot in her heart. Her hands tightened around her staff and she couldn't stop the urge to rub her arms despite the fact that she wasn't cold. "Thank you."

"What else do you wanna talk about? You know, for distraction?"

"Distraction?" Squall asked, glaring hard at Zidane's back. "You serious?"

"Well . . . yeah! This sucks, sure, but we don't have to be all doom and gloom about it. It won't make Cecil's situation better or make us get to him any faster, and it won't make the Emperor harder to beat when we get there. So why not?"

"Thank you, Zidane," Rosa said again. "But I don't feel like talking. I can't pretend to enjoy myself when Cecil is most likely hurting. I just want him back."

They paused, walking in an oppressive silence that felt just as tense as before. At the mention of the Emperor, Rosa's thoughts spiraled back to thinking about him torturing Cecil. Horrific traps and spells, the sound of his laugh, staring down at Cecil. His taunts, and then more pain. Cecil's scream.

"I'm just . . . kind of in disbelief," Bartz said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I never really thought she could do something like that. She really strung us along, didn't she? No explanation, no nothing. I feel betrayed."

"You really that surprised?" Lightning asked. "The signs have been there for a while."

"No way, Light," Vaan disagreed. "I don't believe that. There's no way you could've guessed she was hiding power. There was no reason to even think that when she almost let Terra die."

"You know," Tifa said, "I'm still stuck on that. That was the most hurtful and upsetting thing that I think I've ever seen her do. She's never treated us that way before. And Terra's, like, the sweetest person out of all of us."

"I don't know if Cosmos ever even interacted with us in such an in-depth way before," Yuna said, and the others nodded their agreement. "She's never had the chance because we've always held our own, except during the Chaos Civil War. She was otherwise hands-off."

Kain snorted. "What a change of character," he muttered. "From healing us without question to picking and choosing who dies. How far has she fallen?"

"It is the Emperor that forces these hard times upon her," Warrior said. "I will not make excuses for her any longer. She is her own entity, with her own desires and motives." He met eyes with Rosa, using the same verbiage that she had used when he tried to apologize to her on Cosmos's behalf before. He had listened to her, and took her words to heart, it seemed, and it drew a small, appreciative smile from Rosa. "What she has done and not done with her power, and lying to us, was inexcusable, and I've never heard her be so ambiguous before. But I am sorry, everyone. I had no idea she was hiding that much power, and I am sorry that she was overly generous in her sharing with me, and no one else."

"You're not at fault," Rosa said. "No one blames you. And I'm sure I speak for all when I say that we are exceptionally glad and relieved that you are here with us and uninjured, even if the circumstances surrounding it are questionable. We know you did not want this to pan out as it did, but your leadership is important to us. We're glad to have it, now more than ever."

Now that they couldn't and wouldn't depend on Cosmos.

Warrior nodded his thanks, and Rosa returned a sympathetic smile.

"Doesn't that say something, that she didn't even tell Warrior what was going on?" Onion asked. "That's a big, big secret that she wanted to hide. Makes me question what else she knows that she doesn't want us to know."

Warrior winced, sighing out his discomfort, but he did not add anything or disagree.

"I just think . . . " Onion continued when met with the silence. "I'm not sure about anyone else, but . . . my whole entire image of her and this fight has changed. I don't want to fight for Cosmos if she won't be honest with us. And I don't want to fight for her if she's only willing to help when it suits her. Sounds like w're putting more into this relationship than she is."

"On that note, you wanna know what I'm thinking about?" Zidane said.

"Now's not the time to be thinking about women," Tifa sighed tiredly.

"I'm always thinking about women, Tifa," he replied quickly. "But no. I'm thinking that Cosmos had a pretty easy time letting us go, didn't she?"

Warrior lifted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Alright, think about this: we spend this entire cycle planning for her defense against the Emperor, who's attacking at random. Right? Cosmos's a-a-always gotta be protected. We made schedules - well, Warrior made schedules - we changed missions . . . Now, granted, it was kind of based on a lie since she coulda defended herself, but the whole goal was protecting her from the Emperor, even before she knew how powerful he was, right? We do all that this whole time and now that the Emperor's way overpowered and we catch her in a lie, she just . . . lets us go to confront him? With minimal resistance after he kicked all three of your asses? I don't quite know what to make of it. You'd think she'd be desperate to keep us there with her, even though we know the truth. Why would she want to waste more power to defend herself when we still could've done it for her? Something doesn't add up."

"She was remorseful over her choices," Warrior said. "She felt that letting us go to assist our friend was the best recourse."

"Maybe she was remorseful," Onion frowned. "But that's not the point. It's the Emperor that's the point. She's sending us out on what she thinks is a suicide mission . . . you'd think she'd put up more of a fight, remorseful or not."

"Right," Zidane said, pointing to him. "What happens if the Emperor wipes out half of us?"

Lightning scoffed. "Well, it's not like she needs to care. She doesn't need us at all. She had enough strength to heal Warrior, give some to Rosa, and defend herself. She could just send us to our deaths, and it wouldn't matter to her at all."

"That's what I mean," Zidane said.

"What is it you're implying?" Kain asked. "That Cosmos is hoping this goes awry? That she wants us to perish at the Emperor's hands?"

"I'm not implying anything yet, because I still can't figure out what she stands to gain. But nothing's out of the question at this point."

"No, she would never sink so low," Warrior said with certainty. "While it is true that she has been found to be withholding information in this instance, it is not at all that she wishes for our demise."

"I'm not sure you know her as well as you think you do," Lightning immediately snapped. "You're more shocked than the rest of us by all this."

" . . . I refuse to believe that we are expendable to her. This was one instance, and you're ready to turn on her?"

"You mean you're not expendable to her," Lightning countered.

Warrior's mouth snapped shut and he visibly recoiled. "I believe I've made clear to her her error. As well as my thoughts on it. But one mistake does not a terrible person make."

There was another long pause as they all considered what Zidane said. Rosa could sense that everyone's initial reaction was one of dismissive disbelief, as Warrior felt. She was sure that for the longest-tenured warriors, Cosmos had at one time been a beacon of hope, power, leadership, council, and light. Rosa had never seen it for herself, but Cosmos had to have been some kind of force for good for them to have trusted her so implicitly before this. She heard it in the way Warrior talked about her. She sometimes even heard Cecil speak of her with a tone of reverence. This had to be a large blow to all of them. But the more Zidane's idea was allowed to grow and fester in the silence, the more Rosa's felt apprehension and doubt layer in everyone's auras. Every step in the Emperor's direction felt pre-planned and laced with doom. Every action Rosa thought of taking was back-splashed with suspicion, and she actively had to resist the thought that if what Zidane was saying was true, they'd die before they ever freed Cecil, and it was by Cosmos's design.

"Mmm, I don't like that," Tidus admitted. "Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" Firion grumbled.

"Like . . . " he trailed off, frowning as he failed to come up with another topic.

"Do you think there'll be a trap waiting when we get there?" Onion asked with a forced calmness, his voice just barely squeaking on the edge of his upper register from the still-healing scratches on his throat.

No one immediately answered. Firion turned and glared at him, the red-hot waves of anger visibly rising off of him. Onion shied away from him, accidentally bumping into Terra. She put her arm around his shoulders and smiled apologetically.

"No," Firion growled. "He's only a 'Master of Traps'. That would be entirely out of his character."

Rosa groaned. "By the gods." She was terrified of when they arrived. Her heart began to flutter so fast she thought she would pass out. "We have to get to Cecil. We have to." She was terrified of the Emperor and how powerful he had become. If a fight broke out, she wasn't entirely sure they could handle it, especially after Cosmos couldn't. What chance did they have as normal warriors? Kain reached out and took her hand. He must have felt her fingers shaking, because he squeezed her hand tight in his and clasped it with his other hand. He didn't say anything, and with his eyes obscured behind the dragon on his helmet it was hard to determine the kind of comfort he was offering. But his jaw was set and his posture rigid, and she took it to be a sign of determination. That he would do his best to retrieve Cecil for her.

"Stay calm," Rosa," Warrior told her, even though it was evident that he was close to unraveling himself. "Being visibly angry will not improve the situation, Firion. We are collecting Cecil. We are leaving. That is all. If there is a trap, then we fight our way out. I believe in our skills and abilities to do so."

"He'll never give Cecil up without a fight," Firion said. He was silent for a long while. Then he said through his teeth, "If he even . . . twitches out of turn, I will end him right then and there."

"Good luck," Cloud said, with a finality that perfectly conveyed that he wasn't doubting Firion, just warning him that it wouldn't be so easy. "Apparently he's working with some serious power."

"Well, so are we!" Vaan defended. "Come on. One guy can't withstand sixteen of us. Five? Okay, sure. But sixteen? Cosmos or not, I think we should have a little faith in ourselves." Vaan left it open-ended on purpose, hoping that someone would agree with him, and rally the troops before the battle. But no one answered, and Rosa knew it was because no one was sure of what would happen, or that they could handle it.

She wished Cecil was there. Out of danger, and there to offer insight on what to do. What would he do, if someone he cared about was in peril? What would he choose to do in the face of Cosmos's treachery? She knew what he would say, if he was there. She knew what he would advocate for.

"Cecil would say . . . " she began, the words of assumption coming easily to her from her now in-tact memory. Years of friendship and companionship allowed her to easily picture Cecil's opinion as though he was standing directly in front of her, speaking in real time. "Cecil would say that no matter our odds, we should still do what is right. We should always try and help a friend in need if we can. He wouldn't even worry about the Emperor's threat, only about the friend that needed help. He wouldn't even worry about what Cosmos had done to wrong him. If she needed help, and he had the power to help, he would help, every single time. He would decide to fight for what is right no matter what."

"He calls it the petal among thorns," Kain said, and the words sparked familiarity in her mind. She nodded, confirming that she remembered it the same. "He says that when he contemplates right and wrong, he thinks of rose bushes. Sometimes worlds are cruel, and the people within them - even gods - can be even more so. Even fate can work against you in ways that you cannot control. Those circumstances are the thorns on the rose bush. You can choose to grow jaded and bitter, and you can sharpen like the thorns and cut others who are trying to navigate the bushes. Or you can choose to be the rose petal among the thorns. Choose to be a beacon of light in the dark. Be someone's hope, and someone's leader. Share goodness and happiness. People make mistakes, for different reasons. But still we should fight for them if it's right. All we can do is choose to do the right thing."

"Be the petal among thorns," Rosa repeated. For Cecil, without question. She spent the rest of their travels trying to cast the Emperor from her mind. She knew that no matter what his threat level, she would still decide to save Cecil no matter what.

Chapter Text

The teleport stone took Rosa and her group to a strip of land sandwiched between two massive oceans on her left and right. She paused for a moment to look around, startled by the realization that the Melmond Fens had been the farthest that she had ever been from Sanctuary. She had pointed it out before, but finally being away from Sanctuary made it more poignant and noticeable to her. She had no idea where this strip of land sat in relationship to Sanctuary until she looked over her shoulder and found it looming over the flatlands of Cornelia, across the water. They were Northeast of the dome. Another landmass stretched to her Northwest - the Realm of Discord, she remembered - and she tried to make out any details that she could, but a range of large, jagged mountains surrounded it and obstructed her view. The path directly in front of her weaved back and forth over the water, and looked to curve to the left, leading to the rear of the Realm of Discord, behind the mountains.

It wasn't the Snowfields, or the Mirage Sandsea, or any other place that she heard mentioned that sounded beautiful and exciting, but it had its own serene charm that still tugged at Rosa's heart, making her lament and pity a dying world that wasn't even hers.

It was a battleground and nothing else, mashed with pieces of worlds not its own. All of the history and lore that Rosa heard about Cosmos's map outside of Gateways was tied to battle: the Chaos Civil War and Chaos's subsequent sweep across the world, the Emperor and all his manipulations, destroying pieces of the world to keep warriors hunkered down. This little strip of land between the oceans had no story and was doomed not to have one despite its tranquility. The dirt was soft and giving under her boots, and strips of yellow sand beach lined the area and offered a perfect opening to the sea. The sound of water lapping had the same soothing effect as Sanctuary's shallow lake, but it was louder, deeper, and crashed harder against the land. It was more powerful, more out of control, and more feral. Crashing with a ferocity that was outside of Cosmos's jurisdiction. Many feet out, the waves grew larger and larger, and pretended at a much larger world than it truly was. She wanted to pretend the ocean would stretch on and on for days then lead to new shores rather than wrap around to Melmond in a matter of hours.

"Let's go," Firion said dully, pointing up the path ahead. "We're almost there."

Up ahead were two stone pillars, identical to the ones she had seen so long ago, before her first encounter with the Emperor. The sigil in that Gateway had been white and pure, with clear markings to outline the glyph hanging in the center. This Gateway looked infected. Purple smoke rose off of every inch of the Gateway, even seeping through the cracks in the stone and rising off the ground in front in sticky, congealed globs of deep purple matter. The sigil inside was a sickly, pale red, and was frayed at the edges rather than crisp and distinct. Fire and more smoke trailed out from the sigil itself.

Without any kind of fanfare or ceremony, Firion led the group to the sigil. Rosa followed quickly, and the others queued up behind her. Firion touched the glyph and disappeared in a flash. Rosa mimicked him, and after a bright light and a brief feeling of weightlessness, she opened her eyes and was standing on a sort of elevated platform similar to the one she remembered from her last foray into a Gateway near Melmond.

"This is it," Firion said. "All we have to do is climb our way to the topmost floor."

"How many floors are there?" Rosa asked.

"There used to be just one," Firion said. "The Emperor has since . . . expanded. Now, I think, there are five."

"There are," Tifa said. "When we went to confront him, there were five."

"I sense no manikins here," Warrior said distantly. "Not even in any of the rooms, or floors above."

"Well! Should be easy enough!" Laguna said brightly. He squinted and tried to peer into the distance to the Signet of Chaos at the far end of the floor, shielding his eyes. "No manikins, and I doubt there'll be any real opponents, either!"

"I would hope not," Zidane said. "If I caught wind of what the Emperor was doing you wouldn't catch me within a thousand leagues of him for fun."

As Firion predicted, they breezed through floor after floor. Only a few manikins lurked in the deepest recesses of the rooms, but they were dispatched easily by different members of their party with minimal issue. It seemed to be an unspoken understanding that the Emperor was the more important battle. They needed to save their strength, and all of Rosa's newfound power, for what would be the hardest fight they would be involved in.

Floor after floor came and went, each room of Pandaemonium a different and more confusing layout than the last, and Rosa's nerves tangled tighter and tighter. Every thought of coming face-to-face with the Emperor caused an anxiety that consumed her entire body from head to toe. She tried to plan out what she would do when she spotted Cecil, but every time the Emperor made an appearance in her imagined scenarios, she found herself stuck between choosing to defend herself from him or choosing to ignore him in favor of healing Cecil, and she couldn't think past it. Perhaps she subconsciously knew they were overmatched. Her trembling knees almost prevented her from taking another step and she very nearly asked for a moment's rest before Firion stopped suddenly.

"Last chance. We don't have to do this." For all his earlier talk, it seemed his nerves were rattled, too. He was second-guessing all of this, as she was.

"Yes I do, Firion," Rosa said. "You know I do." Her heart started to pound, a cold sweat appearing on her skin.

"No, you don't," he insisted. "Maybe not this way." He looked to the others. "We can try and do this any other way." He was met with conflicted silence. Most probably agreed with him, she figured, but didn't want to speak up. To leave now was to leave Cecil to his own devices. "Once we enter, we're stuck. Are you sure you want to play his game?"

"We have to," Rosa insisted. "For Cecil's sake. I thank you all for volunteering to help," she said. "I understand if you do not want to continue. I would appreciate it if you did, but I will not force you."

Firion stared hard at her for another moment, and Rosa believed he was going to leave. Instead, he sighed and nodded. "I hope we're ready for this fight."

They touched the Signet of Chaos, and the group was transported to the top of Pandaemonium. The room was dark - a deep purple - and Rosa was struck by the night sky above them and how closely it blanketed the room. Oppressive and thick, it looked close enough that she could reach out and touch it if she stood on her toes. The floor beneath her was a translucent, deep purple crystal, almost black, and rather than reflect her form back to her she could look through it and see into the void below. Sharp, jagged crystal crops peppered the landscape, perfect for shattering and causing more damage if someone were to crash into them. At the far end was a throne, and the Emperor was seated there.

The pounding of her heart flooded through her ears, her stomach, her spine, even her vision. His power was too much to keep contained within, so it flared out around him and in his aura, constantly twisting and writhing in a multi-colored silhouette. He had his legs crossed, leaning to the side in his throne with his chin resting on his fist. His eyes were closed as well, making it look as though they were rousing him from a peaceful nap just to bother him.

She resisted the urge to shrink away from him and his overwhelming presence. She sent her staff away and called her bow instead, comforted by the touch of an offensive weapon. She quickened her pace to compensate for the fluttering in her chest, stopping about twenty feet from him with her bow in a low ready position.

" . . . Rosa," the Emperor purred. He opened his eyes and picked up his head, leveling a smug smile down at her. "It really is a pleasure to see you again after so long."

"Where is Cecil?" Rosa asked. She wanted it to sound cold and threatening, but it came out light and trembling in her throat, betraying her nerves.

"I see that you are restored to your full power," he said, ignoring her question. "And the Warrior, too," he said, appraising Warrior from head to toe. "You're looking well since last I saw you. From where did all this power come? It wasn't Cosmos, was it?"

"That is none of your concern," Warrior answered, unwavering as ever. If he was at all afraid, there wasn't a shred of his body language that showed it. He stood tall, staring at the Emperor with a calm but skeptical expression, hand loose at his side but ready to call his sword, breathing easily. "Answer the question - where is Cecil?"

The Emperor uncrossed his legs, leaning forward in his throne. Rosa's heart leapt in her throat, and she reached behind her, slipping an arrow from the quiver at her back. She stared the Emperor in the eyes while she set the arrow on her bow. She didn't yet draw it, but Kain still placed his hand on her arm.

"Wait," he said softly out of the corner of his mouth. "Wait."

The Emperor met Rosa's challenge unflinching. He didn't seem as though he was intimidated in the slightest, and they both knew he had no reason to be. The shiver that went down Rosa's spine almost caused her to drop the arrow. He paused, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a coy smile, the spark of an idea glinting in his eyes. He made a show of sweeping his gaze over Kain and the rest of the group. "Rarely am I graced with the presence of Cosmos's entire roster! Well, all except one."

All except Cecil. All of Rosa's anguish at the Emperor's hands surged and almost made her forget herself. She moved to draw her bow and shoot him down, but Kain threw his arm to the side and stopped her bow, blocking her again. "Stop it!" he hissed, pushing it down. "If you attack, he may never release Cecil!"

"Make no mistake. I have every intention of releasing him to you!" the Emperor said, tone light, shaking his head as though it was obvious. "However, there is something you have that I want. As a result, I propose an exchange: Cecil for your time."

"Our time?" Firion asked.

"Indeed. I have some very important information about dear Cosmos that I think you'll find very interesting. Especially so now, after a betrayal so cruel," he emphasized.

"Show me Cecil first," Rosa said. She wasn't sure how even the exchange would be yet, but she couldn't quite conceptualize saying no anyway. Not with Cecil so close.

The Emperor lifted his hand and called his staff. Rosa finally drew her bow, and all sixteen of Cosmos's warriors were alert in an instant, with weapons ready. The Emperor spread his arms, holding his staff out and away from his body.

"Oh, come now!" he said, standing slowly from the throne. "I am merely retrieving Cecil! Attack me, and this little meeting will regrettably be called off. You will never see him again."

"Lower your weapons!" Kain snapped to them. Rosa's stomach twisted at the thought of being caught off-guard, especially when the Emperor was armed. She heard the shuffle of the others begrudgingly obliging, but she couldn't bring herself to lower her bow. The Emperor locked eyes with her. "Rosa!" Kain said again, a plea in his voice.

After a moment she lowered the bow, but kept the arrow nocked. The Emperor let go of his staff and let it float freely in the air. His fingers curled and he rolled his wrist, and a pink sigil appeared on the floor in the space between them. He then clasped his hands together and drew them apart, and the sigil glowed bright. A black mass appeared in the middle, opening up, and the Emperor made one last tugging gesture. Cecil appeared and stumbled awkwardly out of the opening. His feet hit solid ground and he fell to a knee before all of the warriors.

"Cecil!" Rosa cried. Her eyes welled up in relief, an entire layer of tension lifting off of her shoulders. He didn't look any worse for wear, but as he stood up, confined in the Dreary Cell trap, Rosa saw his hands bound in front of him with coils of the Emperor's magic. He looked around, startled, then looked at Rosa, and he sighed. His body slumped and he visibly relaxed as well.

"See? Perfectly safe," the Emperor said, gesturing to him.

Rosa took a step towards him, but the Emperor called his staff to his hand and pointed it at her, scaring her out of another move. In response she raised her own bow, and there was another shuffling sound as the other warriors armed themselves again.

"Ah, ah!" he tutted. "We have not yet agreed to terms! The traps stay, and you stay there, until I have said my piece. And then Cecil is yours. Do we have a deal?"

"No," Firion said, turning to Rosa. "He doesn't have anything valuable to tell us. Only lies. He's trying to get us to stay so he can trap us here."

"If he wanted to trap us here, he's already done it," Rosa replied. She thought about deferring the choice to Warrior since the decision involved the operations of the whole group. But at the last second she took it upon herself to make the executive decision. "Throw your staff away first," she countered. She wasn't sure if it would matter in the end. He'd fina way to get them the information he had no matter what, but she thought to do it in the safest way possible.

His eyes flared and his lip curled in distaste, and he looked at it, thinking through his own pro and con list.

"Throw it away," Rosa said again, "or there is no deal, and we take Cecil by force."

He laughed loudly, nearly doubling over. "Do you believe that you can?" he asked, with a tone that suggested he knew the answer was already no. "Rosa," he scolded. "We both know that is folly. Though, I do suppose it is a small concession." He slowly and deliberately bent his knees and set his staff down on the ground so softly it didn't ring. He stared at her the entire time, smiling. It made Rosa feel like he knew something she didn't, and that he had already out-planned her. "I truly have no intentions of turning this into anything other than an even exchange."

Rosa doubled down. "Kick it away," she said evenly.

He tilted his head, leveling a wide-eyed, incredulous look at her. "That's hardly fair-"

"I hardly care," she deadpanned. "Kick it away."

The Emperor bristled, and Rosa thought he wouldn't do it. Beside her, Firion's hand clenched around his sword and he surged ahead with a small growl of frustration. Kain flicked his lance out and smacked Firion's blade down, the sharp clang! echoing through the whole room.

"Don't you dare!" he warned in a harsh whisper.

"Suit yourself," the Emperor shrugged. He clenched his fist and Cecil let out a choked cry. His head snapped back, loops of the Emperor's power wrapping around his throat and tugging him backwards. The void opened behind him.

"No!" Rosa screamed. "No!!"

The Emperor paused, and Cecil relaxed with a sigh as his magic dissipated.

"Speak!" Kain demanded. "You have our time. And you will return Cecil to us immediately following the conclusion of your rantings."

The Emperor's lips stretched into another menacing smile. "Very well!" He shifted to the side, moving back in front of the throne. He sat down, staff still on the ground where he left it. "Cosmos hides far more secrets than you all know. If you wish to continue following her blindly, and defending her without knowing for whom you stand, then these words are not for you. Run back to her, and let her smother you with her lies and deceit. For there will be more where this came from, I can promise you. This was simply the first lie in which she's been caught."

"Oh, sure! We're just gonna go ahead and trust everything that you tell us about her!" Vaan said sarcastically. "We're only hearing you out to get Cecil!"

"True," the Emperor agreed. "Then let me make this a little more engaging, to make you listen. I lack Kuja's penchant for theatrics, but allow me to tell you a story. A story about a dragon, an eternal war, and a lying goddess.

"A long, long time ago, there existed a Rift between dimensions, and within that Rift lurked an ancient dragon by the name Shinryu. The Dragon Lord, the Scourge of Dimensions, the Plane Gorger, he accumulated many names during his immortal, unholy existence. He was a monster of horrendous greed, and he was eternally hungry for power and supremacy. He consumed anything and everything powerful that he encountered-"

"We know Shinryu's legend," Kain interrupted.

"I know that you know!" the Emperor snarled, uncrossing his legs and leaning over the armrests of his throne. "Most likely all fifteen of you know the nature of the war, for how long you've been here!" He pointed to Rosa. "But does she? Have any of you told her?"

They all knew something that she didn't? They all knew something about the war and hadn't told her, even when faced with all of her questions? Rosa looked to Kain, whose mouth snapped shut. His lips twisted down into a frown and he wouldn't look at her, staring at the Emperor instead. She looked to Warrior and Firion next, and Warrior met her gaze with an intense, exhausted resignation in his eyes, rolling his shoulders in a way that suggested she should prepare herself. Firion physically took a step away from her and his cheeks turned red. Yuna's head tilted and she clutched her staff tight against her body as though already apologizing, and Zidane placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

"I thought not," the Emperor replied after a long silence. "And the heavens forbid that Cosmos informed her! You will have to indulge me, then, since it was part of our bargain. Do not worry. I will get to all of you. But your dues come after the story has been established." He leaned back, steepling his fingers. "One day, Rosa, the Dragon Lord accumulated enough power to tear his way out of the Rift." The Emperor said the words through his teeth, pulling his hands apart to emphasize the scope of the feat. "An event of extinctive proportions. He swept across the heavens of world after world, dimension after dimension, collecting more power and striking more fear in his wake. He only stopped when he arrived in this world, in which two gods, one of Harmony and one of Discord, fought each other. The origins of the gods' contention and the circumstances surrounding their escalation into battles are unknown to all but Cid of the Lufaine and Garland, but theirs was a clash so fierce, so brutal, so destructive," he said, shaking his head emphatically, "that Shinryu stayed in this dimension and delightfully gorged himself on them. He relished their confrontations, and knew he could feast and accumulate power for eternity, so long as the gods lived indefinitely and continued to war.

"Quickly Cosmos and Chaos realized their unfortunate circumstance. Though neither of the gods managed to kill the other, the Dragon Lord had still found them, and with each battle he was draining their powers away from them. If allowed to continue with impunity, he would drain them to nonexistence. Angered by the prospect of pouring their surprisingly limited and dwindling powers into another being, the gods came to their own agreement: they would each call warriors to fight for them. Call warriors from other dimensions to be the ones to clash and fight and die, and feed Shinryu on their behalf. And so, the first warriors for both Cosmos and Chaos arrived in this world to fight. And fight, they did. Fight, and die. With the gods' complicity, Shinryu was allowed to gorge himself on the vanquished, absorbing them and their powers until there was nothing left.

"Shinryu allowed their scheme - more combatants meant more power to absorb from infinitely more sources. But the Dragon Lord was even more cunning, and even more greedy than that," the Emperor said, squinting shrewdly and touching a clawed finger to his temple. "It wasn't enough to absorb the fallen warriors only once, and then force the gods to call another fresh batch. Instead, he could revive them. He could let the warriors themselves fight indefinitely and draw from them time and time again, until they were fully and completely drained and removed from all existence. And so, the cycle was born, with assistance from Cid of the Lufaine. When the battles were over, Shinryu revealed himself and consumed the powers of all of the defeated. And then he revived the fallen, to wake up and fight again, and again, and again!" He pounded the flat of his palm on the armrest of his throne with every repetition. "Even the gods agreed to these terms, as another failsafe in the event that they were defeated! The process of revival is not an easy one. It is an art that even the Dragon Lord himself did not endeavor to perfect. As a result, the fallens' memories were purged from them entirely, more for the better! For what warrior would continue to engage in the fight, knowing what was to come if they lost? The losers remember all eventually, and even regain memories of past cycles, but only after an extended period of time. And so, this clash repeated again and again, doomed to be repeated again and again for the rest of eternity!

"I truly hope you did not intend to end the war and return home, Rosa," the Emperor said. "This war is endless, and will continue no matter what you do! Cosmos told you that you're fighting for peace? To help her maintain this world from falling into Discord? There are no such concepts here! There is no returning home, there is only returning here, with no memories intact. You're fighting for Cosmos's continued existence as a god, and you're fighting for the preservation of her power, at your own peril! The point is not good against evil, Cosmos against Chaos. It is not the world's protection if Cosmos triumphs, and it is not destruction if Chaos is victorious. Because no matter who prevails, the entire world and all in it are revived to start anew! Everything that Cosmos told you, dear Rosa, about your help and about your role and about her powers, was a lie. You are just another pawn that she is using to appease Shinryu. And a powerful pawn, at that! Should you fail, even once, Shinryu would be delighted to have you!"

All of the pieces that Rosa was missing clicked into place. Her heart took a nosedive into her stomach and her spine went cold. "A cycle?" Revived, over and over, win or lose? "Then, how . . . " Her throat was suddenly dry. "How do we . . . get out?"

"Go home? You do not," the Emperor said. "You win indefinitely, or you die here and become food for the Plane Gorger. And then you will be revived and returned here again, with no memories, to fight anew. And the next time you fall, you will be brought back again until you have nothing left. Then you will disappear."

She didn't want to believe him. A small part of her chided herself for even listening. But she knew it to be true, in the deepest parts of her soul, and it hurt worse than any physical blow she could have been dealt by the Emperor and all of his stolen power. It suddenly made sense why Cosmos wouldn't answer any of her questions. She hadn't outright defeated Chaos because there was no defeating him. He would only be revived, making any and all genuine, large-scale efforts against him arbitrary. Cosmos had no concepts of her time fighting the war, or any long-term recollection of her warriors' efforts, because she would be there forever. Her warriors would be there forever, to perish in her stead. Cosmos hadn't called them to assist her, she called them to be sacrifices - to feed Shinryu so she wouldn't have to. She had let Rosa believe that she was solely responsible for her comrades' lives, and she had let Rosa burn herself out, simply because it was simpler than telling her the truth. And she hadn't been eager to help, not because she was too weak, but because she was too selfish to give up her own power. If Rosa would have known the truth, she would never have fought willingly for Cosmos.

She imagined Cosmos knew that.

Rosa was stuck here, in this world. She could never go home again. She could never go back to Baron with Cecil, and could never have any kind of life ever again. She'd never see her friends again, or any parts of the Overworld. She was trapped forever as a sacrifice to a goddess she never revered and a world she never loved, surrounded by unfamiliar warriors she was friendly with but not deeply attached to, doomed to fight warriors with whom she had no quarrel excluding the Emperor.

She was as good as dead in this world. They all were.

"And you knew?" Rosa asked, turning to Kain. "You all knew? All of you, that this is a cycle?! And you said nothing?!" She felt her heart break further. "Why?" She looked to Cecil and he shook his head. Heat rose in her cheeks and her vision blurred, hot tears welling up in her eyes. He had known, too. His betrayal hurt the worst, cutting into her heart and tearing it in half, a real physical pain punching through her chest. "You, too. You let me believe that I had something to contribute here. That we could go home together. You let me bear the burden of all of your lives, and you watched me burn myself out knowing all the while that if you perished you would be brought back! I wouldn't have wanted to watch you die either, but you and Cosmos both-"

"I'm sorry, Rose," Cecil said, his voice cracking. Tears were in his eyes, too. "I wished you knew."

"Why would you lie?"

"They did not lie," Warrior defended softly. "Cosmos forbid us from mentioning it to you-" He blinked, his face going white as he realized he implicated Cosmos further. "I- . . . It was not malicious. I assume we all forgot about it, in time," he offered, looking to the others to gain agreement, and she caught a few genuine nods.

"Cosmos," Rosa snorted. "It all seems to end with her, doesn't it? And you," she said to Warrior. "You evaded my questions and you defended her! When you knew all along that my questions were legitimate. You let her use me!"

"No," Warrior argued. "I swear to you, I had no idea of the true state of her powers-"

"But you knew about the true state of the war!" the Emperor shouted, finally speaking up again. "So you are to blame in part for Rosa's suffering! Now, the stage has been set. And as promised, I have more to tell you about your dear Cosmos, involving all of you!" He swept a finger across the entirety of their group, encompassing all of them. "Twelve times these cycles repeated, over and over," he said, rolling his finger through the air. "And during the course of those twelve cycles, all fifteen of you were forced here at some point or another. Other warriors phased in and out, perished and joined, but you fifteen managed to survive-"

"That is not true," Warrior insisted. "I have only experienced four cycles!"

"Four that you remember," the Emperor corrected, holding up a finger to halt him. "These cycles to which I refer happened far, far before these that we are experiencing now! You were here during the Chaos Civil War, yes? That is recorded as first cycle in this series, but it not the first cycle to ever transpire, by far! There were thirteen cycles before that one, and all of you were present for at least a portion of them. You simply do not remember.

"My story continues during the twelfth cycle of that first series. After the first eleven losses, Cosmos began to feel distraught and guilty. Cycles upon cycles of bloodshed began to weigh on her conscience, during a time when she still possessed a scruple or two. The goddess grew to know you, and like you, and even appreciate your sacrifice." His nose crinkled, the thought of any kind of morality appalling to him. "If 'appreciate' is the word you can use when a goddess develops affection for the pawns beneath her. And so she came up with a plan to try and extricate you from your doomed fates. Driven by I can't be sure what - some benevolent instinct, perhaps? Regardless of what it was, in the twelfth cycle she granted each and every of you a shard of her power. That power was meant to be awakened after defeating your nemesis on Chaos's side, and it was meant to manifest physically in the form of a crystal. That power was so strong that it gave you not only the power to defeat Chaos outright all on your own, but also the ability to break the cycle and Shinryu's hold on you, and return you home.

"Unfortunately for you six," he said, sweeping his hand over them and pointing out Tifa, Laguna, Kain, Yuna, Vaan, and Lightning. "You perished before you were ever able to manifest your crystals. Fully perished," he added, "with nothing left to offer Shinryu. You faded away, and the rest of you were revived for the thirteenth. In the thirteenth, the ten of you remaining all managed to manifest your crystals. You defeated each and every warrior of Chaos, including me, and then you defeated Chaos himself! And true to their purpose, the crystals sent all ten of you home! Free of the confines of this world, and free of the confines of the cycles. Back to your lives, back to your families. You were free!"

"We went . . . home?" Terra asked. "We were here once already? And we went home once already?"

"Then why. . . " Cecil asked.

"Why are you here again?" the Emperor finished for him. "Think: you defeated Chaos, but you did not end the cycle. The gods were revived, as per their contract with Shinryu. And so the cycles continued. Chaos returned, and Cosmos faced fighting a war without any warriors, and without significant pieces of her power. Terribly frightening for her, considering she had used others for such a long time before. You had taken your crystals with you when you left! That simply would not do for Cosmos - she needed you. Or more likely, she needed her power back. She simply reached out to the essence she had given you." The Emperor reached a hand out towards them, fingers outstretched, "And she called you back!" He clenched his fist and drew his hand back quickly. "She returned you to the clutches of the cycle and the clutches of Shinryu, she stripped you of those shards that she bestowed, absorbing them back into herself, and she took your memories of the first thirteen cycles with them as the revival process demands! It was even strong enough to . . . reverse the damage done to you six in the twelfth! You've seen power of that magnitude for yourselves when she healed Warrior!" A few of the warriors startled, realizing he had witnessed the entire event, and probably even heard them plan to come and see him. "At the start of this new era, the first few of you woke up to what is the fourteenth cycle total, and, well, you know the rest."

"How . . . how could you possibly know all of this?" Warrior asked, in a near whisper. Rosa saw in his face that he felt the same way that she had - he had no proof, and the Emperor was a notorious manipulator. But it was something he simply knew to be true. Something deep and irrefutable that he didn't need any evidence to corroborate. It made all of the pieces in Warrior's puzzle fit together in the same way that hers had when the cycle was revealed to her. "You said that you were defeated in that thirteenth cycle. If that was truly the case, you wouldn't have retained any memories of the cycles once you were revived. Even the defeated regain cyclic memories eventually, but none of us have any memory of this first era! How could you?"

The Emperor uncrossed his legs and stood from his throne again, taking slow steps to Cecil in the trap. Cecil braced himself, standing as far away from the Emperor as possible. The Emperor spread his arms wide, softening his tone to a smooth purr. "Everything about this world is fabricated, Warrior. The world was created for the gods, the gods themselves were born and bred to fight, the very conflict in which we participate was orchestrated by Shinryu and Cid, and even you, Warrior of Light, were manufactured. Firion will recall that I am incredibly skilled in the development of advanced weaponry, and when I saw the crystals that Cosmos bestowed and the potential they provided to break the cycle, I took it upon myself to develop my own iteration. If the very existence of this world was crafted, then I could do the same with the power the gods possessed. A crystal of darkness. It regrettably could not prevent my demise at your hands in the thirteenth cycle, but it did allow me to retain my memories, Purified or not."

The Emperor suddenly reached in to the Dreary Cell trap, and Cecil tried to block his hand with his bound arms. The Emperor only swatted his arms to the side and grabbed a fistfull of his cape, spinning him around and shoving him into the crowd of Cosmos warriors. Rosa and Kain quickly stepped forward and steadied him, and he was already reassuring her. "I'm alright, I'm alright. He didn't hurt me," he babbled before she could question him. Rosa pulled the knife from her hip and sliced through the Emperor's magical bonds. Cecil summoned his spear and all together, the Cosmos warriors were back on the defensive, ready to react in case the Emperor tried to attack.

"Our deal is fulfilled!" he yelled. "Do with this information what you will! No doubt you're eager to have a discussion with Cosmos once you return to Sanctuary. I bid you all a very fruitful rest of the cycle, and I know we will meet again. If not in this one, then certainly in the next one!" He bowed low to them, sweeping his arm across his body. He raised his eyes and sent Rosa one last long, triumphant stare, then disappeared with that familiar whoosh sound.

Cecil relaxed, sending his spear away. "Thank you," he said. He stepped to Rosa and spread his arms, intending to wrap her in a hug. The moment she saw it she ducked away from him, backpedaling out of arm's reach. Cecil's face fell and he shot her a confused look, but Rosa dismissed it with a sharp shake of her head.

"You knew," she said.

His breath caught and he half-turned away from her. "Rosa," he started.

"No!" she cut him off. "You knew all of that about the cycle, and you said nothing! Why wouldn't you tell me?" A lump formed in her throat an her breath caught. She tried to blink back the hot tears, but they suddenly fell and she covered her face with her hands. An acute combination of misery, betrayal, despair, and profound loss punched into her heart and her stomach hardened. Thoughts of all that the Emperor said spun in her head, making her dizzy, and her suddenly weak limbs trembled as the sharp adrenaline from confronting the Emperor and confronting what he said abandoned her. "Why would you let me believe that we could go home together at all? How many thoughts have we shared about it?"

"I still had hope that it could happen," he defended. "Why would I resign myself to this at all, let alone after you've been called here? Why wouldn't I fight for the idea that we could leave here and live out the rest of our lives?"

"You could've told me the truth in the meantime!" Rosa insisted, voice tearing from the ferocity that she yelled it with. "Not let me walk around like a fool, oblivious to everything! Cosmos was able to manipulate me because I was unaware!"

" . . . Yes. And I'm sorry, Rose," he said. "I wish I would've told you."

It was too late. She had to learn about it from the Emperor, who could gloat in it all he wanted.

"There's no way that's all true," Tidus offered. "What all he said. About . . . going home, and all that. Right? No way that's true."

" . . . It's true," Firion sighed. "I could see it all over his face. How much . . . delight he took in revealing all of that to us. He's crafty, and he's arrogant, and he can lie well, but when there's something he knows that you don't, he revels in it. There was no faking that delivery. It's true."

"So what are we gonna do?" Lightning demanded. "Go confront Cosmos," she answered for herself, pointing to the Signet of Chaos that would take them back out of the Gateway. "Go force the truth out of her, which we should've done way earlier!"

"We will not!" Warrior snapped. "We will return to Sanctuary, yes. We will talk to Cosmos. We will do it calmly, and candidly. There will be no confrontation, only a discussion. And we will press until we receive all the answers we seek."

"What did he mean that you were fabricated, Warrior?" Terra asked, wringing her hands so tightly they were white.

" . . . I do not know. But we will find out from Cosmos. Let's go."

Chapter Text

"Wha-? 'Let's go?'" Cecil repeated, eyes blowing wide. "That's it? Warrior, what about the Emperor?" He pointed to the Emperor's throne and stepped towards him, leaning forward. " We need to - to chase him down and destroy him! We need to-"

"No!" Warrior boomed over him, slashing his hand through the air, and Cecil's mouth snapped shut. He blinked, jerking backwards from the ferocity of Warrior's shout. Warrior immediately relented, taking a deep breath and apologizing to Cecil with a shallow nod of his head. "No," he said again with a softer, but no less tense tone. "We need to . . . " His eyebrows furrowed and he winced, caught in a strange and rare indecision. He turned to Rosa, for once deferring to her, but she looked away.

There was no breeze in Pandaemonium. No moving air, and yet she felt a deep chill that raised the hair on her arms and neck and caused her entire body to tremble. She hugged her arms tight across her chest, but it did little to suppress the hollow ache inside of her. Her heart was sick over knowledge of the cycle, and her stomach churned fiercely every time she attempted to convince herself the Emperor was lying. Like Firion, she knew all that he said was true. The entire world was a false stage for a futile and endless conflict, and Cosmos had lied to her and taken advantage of her for her entire tenure in it.

Rosa rotated between betrayal, hurt, humiliation, and despair when she thought about her lost life and her lost future, and then she reverted to rage when faced with thoughts of confronting Cosmos. One moment her cheeks heated and tears threatened to spill from her eyes, the pit in her stomach growing deeper and deeper, and the next her balled fists shook and her jaw clenched so tightly her teeth ached, heart pounding hard in her throat.

Warrior took another sharp breath in and whirled around. "We need to talk to Cosmos," he said, finishing his thought from earlier and coming to a hesitant decision. "Cosmos and the answers we seek from her are more important than the Emperor at this time." He said it with too much force that did not match his normal confidence, trying to appear more confident than he actually was. Second-guessing himself again, Warrior glanced over his shoulder at the throne. He swallowed hard and his eyes drifted, staring through the empty chair rather than at it as he worked through more of his thoughts. Rosa anticipated another change of heart and a decision to chase the Emperor down, and before Cecil's rescue the choice would've made her fearful and upset. Not anymore. She could no longer conceptualize the dread she felt before at the thought or sight of him. The Emperor had delivered on every single threat he had made towards her, and a tough battle was to be expected now, but it was Cosmos who had wounded her more deeply in this instance and who earned her ire.

Whether to face Cosmos or to face the Emperor, she didn't care what they chose to do. She was ready for a confrontation, betrayed enough to demand an explanation and recompense from Cosmos, and enraged enough to demand retribution from the Emperor. Either of them would deserve the fullest extent of her restored might.

But Warrior doubled down on his original choice and shook his head. "The Emperor's time will come," he said. It sounded tight in his throat, fighting a slight tremble to the words. "We need answers first."  He turned around and faced the back of Pandaemonium and breezed past all of them. "I need answers first," he emphasize a moment later, saying it so quietly that it was more to himself. As he passed, Rosa caught a few flighty, unsure glances behind his back. Firion and Cecil met eyes, both long-time warriors in Cosmos's regime and both established to assume command in Warrior's stead. A look of unease passed between them, both trying to evaluate if they would need to step in on Warrior's behalf and if they would be able to against their own feelings towards Cosmos and the situation at hand. Vaan and Bartz both looked to Zidane and he shrugged one shoulder in return, attempting to seem casual by jamming both his hands in his pockets. The motions were jerky and unnatural, betraying his discomfort with the Emperor's news and Cosmos's hand in it. His tail was unnervingly still, dropped to the floor, and his eyes flicked around with a particular sharpness that implied he was thinking more deeply about it than he wanted to let on.

After a moment Firion beckoned for the others to follow Warrior to the Signet of Chaos. Cecil turned to her and reached out to her to touch her arm. "Thank you for coming to save me," he said. "The tables were turned this time, and I'm glad we both-" When his hand entered Rosa's field of vision she retreated from him and shook her head.

"I . . . Don't touch me," she said, but it couldn't come out any louder than a whisper. She couldn't look at him. it was too painful given the life they had meant to share. The sadness welled up again, filling her chest, and she desperately blinked back tears, turning fully away from him. She pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle any kind of sob but her heartache radiated through her, arcing through her and making her shoulders heavy.

Cecil took a deep, shuddering breath and cleared his throat, then followed Warrior to the Signet. Slowly all the warriors trickled to the back of Pandaemonium, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing through the room. When they touched the Signet, it transported them directly to the strip of land between the oceans where they had been before, rather than back through the floors of the Gateway as Rosa expected. In her shaken state she found it unsettling that even the world itself sensed the gravity of her situation and the urgency with which she wanted to get to Cosmos. It made her heart beat harder in her chest, bringing with it the sensation that she couldn't catch her breath, and it took every ounce of her willpower to breath deeply and calm herself.

Perhaps the Emperor had set it up that way, in order to cut them all loose on Cosmos more easily. It wasn't unreasonable to her to assume he had planned that far in advance. The more she recalled what had just happened and what he had just said, the more she realized that they had more than likely played straight into his hand. He likely kidnapped Cecil so they were forced to go confront him, which gave him the opportunity to reveal all that he knew. He had likely killed Warrior so they were forced to confront him without Cosmos. And now the Emperor purposefully let them in and out of his Gateway without issue so they were fully charged for whatever transpired with Cosmos.

She wasn't sure what she wanted to transpire with Cosmos, but her bitterness and resentment ignited again after they left Pandaemonium. Her pulse quickened and her breathing followed suit, mouth twisting into a frown. If Cosmos expected a delightful reunion then she was sorely mistaken, and Rosa found herself committing to making it as harsh and painful for Cosmos as possible. She couldn't quite imagine what she would say - the words that conveyed the depths of her rage and alleviated her feelings of being exploited didn't exist, but she would make it all known nonetheless. She hoped to relish in the look on Cosmos's face when she realized that Rosa wouldn't allow her to hide from or deflect from the harm she caused her. She wanted to watch Cosmos stumble and stammer over her explanation, all the while knowing that every word was a lie. And she wanted to refuse to be her pawn from then on and demand that Cosmos make it right.

She was ready to threaten her. If Cosmos did not acknowledge her mistake and promise to make it right, then she deserved any punishment that Rosa felt appropriate.

Warrior would never let that happen, no matter how angry she was.

If it came to any kind of physical attack, she would have to be faster than him. Simply talking would have to suffice her, at least for a little, but the thought was so unsatisfying to her that it only worked to stir the rage in her heart.

The Teleport Stone winked its golden light at Rosa, and for all of her tough thoughts a moment ago, her emotion shifted again into nervous anticipation. The pit in her stomach returned, and her heart took a nosedive into the depths of it. She had expected a harsh, gritty battle with the Emperor. She had expected to have to use all of the power she regained to heal all of her fellow warriors until she was drained all over again. The fact that she didn't have to do any of that made Cecil's rescue feel anti-climactic and unfinished. She wouldn't have asked for a fight but the lack of one prevented the closure she craved. She was about to demand it of Cosmos, and her hopes that it would go as she planned manifested itself in the form of her trembling hands and pounding heart.

Warrior walked up to the Stone and reached for it, but before he touched it he hesitated. He turned towards them and took a huge breath, the metal plates on his shoulders scraping together as they bunched. He let the air out slowly, reaching up and removing his helmet. He harshly scrubbed a gloved hand down one side of his face.

"Let me be the one to speak to Cosmos," he said, avoiding eye contact with all of them. "I know her the best, and she is most likely to speak to me."

"You mean she's most likely to speak the truth to you?" Kain sneered, the word snapping from his mouth.

" . . . Possibly," Warrior admitted, so disgusted by the acknowledgment that his nose crinkled, and Rosa swore she heard his heart break inside of his chest. She pitied him for a moment, understanding that Cosmos had injured him as well, and more severely than any of the rest of them due to their special relationship. But in Rosa's bitterness she immediately cast away any sympathy, blaming Warrior for his blind and unquestioning devotion to her. It recalled all of her resentment back to the forefront of her mind, and she cycled through another round of contempt, then anger and bitterness, then devastation, finally settling into a soul-crushing despair that caused a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes if she contemplated it for too long. She swallowed all of it down but remained apathetic to Warrior, a facilitator of Cosmos's deceit.

"So that you can 'interpret' for her?" Kain countered again. "Soften her meaning and shield her from blame again?"

"No," he mumbled, lacking any fire. He sounded defeated and tired, and his muted, dulled aura matched his tone. "So that I can press her properly for the truth, in a way that she will respond to. Our opinions and values no longer align, and she will be made to answer for herself. I speak for her no longer."

"That's great, and everything," Zidane said, scratching at the back of his head. He too avoided eye contact, like bringing up what he was about to say was painful for him. He lowered his hand and let it slap down against his body with a loud sigh. "Hold her accountable. I think we deserve as much. But I'm just thinking . . . why are we doing this? Going back to her at all? Getting her to confirm something we're already pretty sure about?"

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked. "We're getting an explanation for everything that she's done! Sending us home, bringing us back, the crystals . . . all of it!"

"Right, but what does that get us?" Zidane asked again. "What if she did lie about the cycle ending and bringing us back? What are we gonna do about it? Let’s think about the bigger picture here: are we gonna stop fighting for her? No, that’s just gonna be bad for us when Chaos warriors come knocking. Are we gonna . . . defect? To Chaos's side? Hah! Nope. And we're not gonna attack her. So really, what does It get us? Looks to me like we're just looking for a fight."

"What if we are?" Rosa challenged, voice echoing over Zidane before she even realized she spoke. "I find it entirely justified! Nothing will ever equate to the life that Cosmos stole from me. And I can never get it back, if what the Emperor says is true! That is worth a fight to me, and I am . . . enraged. I don't plan on attacking her," she said quickly before Warrior could interrupt. "But I do plan on demanding something of Cosmos. Some kind of . . . of recompense for everything that she's done to me, or I will be withdrawing from her service. I'd rather take my chances on nobody's side than continue to fight for her after she manipulated me and my time here." A lump formed in Rosa's throat and hot tears burned her eyes. She blinked them back, hating the quaver in her voice. "She has dealt me injury after injury, in some ways worse than the Emperor. She has taken everything from me - my home, my friends, and my entire future for a lie. And I will demand that she make it right somehow. Hasn't she taken the same from you all?" She received a few nods from those who seemed to be most angry. Tifa, Cloud, Tidus, Lightning. "And for what? Self-serving purposes. Even if nothing comes of it, I don't care."

"Your sentiments are . . . valid, Rosa," Warrior said, "and your anger justified. But I will not allow any harm to come to her, or to any of you. My intention is for this to be a discussion, and nothing more. The situation is delicate, and for the sake of getting our point across, let me be the one to make it."

"Is that our point, then?" Laguna asked. "Asking for . . . what, payback?"

"That is my point," Rosa replied, wiping away the few tears that fell. "You may support it, or address your own grievances." She met Warrior's eyes for the first time since leaving Pandaemonium, and she pursed her lips to keep them from trembling. She steeled herself, straightening her posture, and she hardened her eyes. "If it comes to it," she thought to herself, placing the thought there in her unforgiving gaze for Warrior to read, "then you had better be faster than me."

Warrior's eyes widened and he looked away sharply, dismissing her entirely. Without another word he spun around and touched the Teleport Stone. The group was whisked up to Sanctuary and they entered the barrier, a cold sweat breaking out over Rosa in a sudden and overpowering feeling of anxiousness. Cosmos was still laying on her throne where they left her, in an eerie replay of the same scene that Rosa had seen when she first met Cosmos, back when she had been freshly called to the cycle. Cosmos lay in the same position, with her back turned. When she heard their approach, she lifted herself up on shaky arms, in the same way that Rosa remembered. She had looked unsteady, weak. Rosa believed it then because she hadn't known any better. Now it looked fake, like an act. She turned to them, and her face lit up. Her joy twisted inside of Rosa, and she found her lip curling in disgust.

"Cecil!" Cosmos breathed. "I'm so glad you're alright! And all of you are alright as well-"

"Cosmos," Warrior interrupted. His feet shuffled, splashing lightly in Sanctuary's pond, and he looked behind him at the others, meeting some of their eyes. For reassurance, Rosa believed, and she waited for someone to nod or motion for him to continue. Some kind of motion that pressed him forward in their campaign. She didn't catch anyone offering him their sympathies, so she leaned forward and nodded herself in their place when he looked at her. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "There is something we must discuss."

Cosmos's head tilted, her joy deflating into cool concern. "What is it, Warrior?" she said. "You may speak freely. Your council is always welcome." It was an oddly specific choice of words that left a sour taste in Rosa's mouth. If she read carefully into it, she could see it as a hint that she was prepared to hear his council and nothing else. No dissent, or any demands. Rosa took a shaky breath in and let it out slowly, refusing to allow Cosmos to back out of this confrontation.

He opened his mouth. Hesitated. His eyes drifted back and forth as he gathered the best and most eloquent way to ask Cosmos about what the Emperor had told them. Cosmos immediately recognized his doubt. Her entire façade of calm and positive interaction fell, and her face paled at his reaction, eyes blowing wide. "Where is the Emperor?" she asked suddenly, tone immediately darkening. She leaned forward to stand from her throne, reaching towards him. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Warrior put his hands up, palms out in front of her, to ward her off. He even took a step back, wariness and suspicion thick in his eyes. Cosmos froze in kind. Her mouth dropped open in shock and she gasped lightly, no words forming. She relaxed back onto the throne and drew her arms in, clasping them over her chest to soothe the wound that Warrior's distrust caused. Her face tightened and she stared incredulously at Warrior.

"What's wrong?" she asked again, slowly. "Where is the Emperor?" He didn't immediately answer and Cosmos pressed again, "Warrior?"

"We have . . . another matter to discuss. The Emperor does not concern us at present-"

He was taking it too delicately for Rosa's impatience. It reached its end and she suddenly roared, "Explain yourself!" Cosmos recoiled, startled by her outburst.

"Explain what-?"

"Explain everything about the cycle! Explain how it started and your role in it, and I'll compare it to what we know. Then explain your decision to let warriors fight and die in your stead, to be your sacrifices to the Plane Gorger!" Her heart pounded inside her chest and her vision grew wavy, blood roaring in her ears. "Am I stuck here forever? Is this war really endless and unbreakable? Have you stolen my life and my power from me? Tell me the truth!" she demanded.

Cosmos leaned further and further away with each of Rosa's points and questions, arms raising higher and higher until they were almost shielding her face. She looked small and pitiful in the wake of her accusations, but Rosa reaffirmed to herself that it was only an act. None of that information should come as a surprise to Cosmos, only that Rosa knew it. Every second that Cosmos spent in her act fanned the flames of Rosa's rage. Her cheeks heated and her jaw clenched, teeth gnashing together, and more tears threatened to spill, blurring the image of Cosmos in front of her. Her grip tightened around her bow, and she couldn't remember summoning it, or at what point it ended up in her hands.

"W-well," Cosmos stammered, lowering her eyes to the water. "The cycle, it's-  . . . Who told you?" she suddenly demanded back, throwing her palms flat on the throne. "The Emperor? You know he cannot be trusted! He more than likely embellished every detail! Why?-"

"Look at me!" Rosa ordered. Cosmos's eyes snapped up. "It doesn't really matter who told me, does it? The root of the issue stands - that the cycle exists, and you lied to me about it! About everything! And you manipulated me into fighting for you, and you used me to heal your warriors to the point of exhaustion despite the fact that you had power to spare, and they would be returned to you anyway. So answer me - explain yourself, and tell me the truth!"

Cosmos remained frozen but her eyes shifted to the side, catching Warrior's eye. He offered her a reassuring nod, one that he received from Rosa a moment ago. "Answer her questions, please," Warrior said quietly, staring hard at Cosmos in anticipation of some pushback. "All we seek are answers at this time."

"I . . . Warrior?"

"You'd best answer me right now with the truth!" Rosa shouted, growing impatient again. "Answer me right now, Cosmos!" Her fingers twitched, itching to draw an arrow to shoot, if only to scare Cosmos into believing that her safety was on the line if she did not answer soon. She wanted Cosmos to know, if she didn't already, that she was ready to take it as far as she had to. "Or I swear to the Eidolons I will shoot you right now!"

"You will not!" Warrior immediately warned her, breaking away from the group. He placed himself between Cosmos and the others, facing all of them. "I won't allow for anything other than a discussion! We've discussed this already!"

"How can you still defend her?" Lightning yelled. "After everything she's done, you're still gonna try and shield her?"

"From attack, yes!" he insisted. "That is not why we decided to come back here! We made that decision before arriving! Please, Cosmos!" he begged, looking over his shoulder at her. Cosmos closed her eyes, lowering her chin to rest on her clasped hands. She went so suddenly calm and still, resigned to their accusations, that Rosa believed she was refusing to continue. Her fingers jerked backwards and touched the plumes of her arrows before Cosmos's light, sweet voice carried to her over Warrior's shoulder, so smooth that it was as though nothing was wrong.

" . . . It is true," she finally admitted, answering Rosa's questions over Warrior's shoulder. "The cycle is true. Chaos and I fight indefinitely. Shinryu lords over all of us, stealing power from the defeated and reviving them to fight anew at the cost of their memories. Even Chaos and I are subject to his appetite. But your assumption that I called you all as 'sacrifices' is incorrect and deeply hurtful. I am not so malicious as to consider you disposable. I called you for assistance, to keep this world from-"

"From falling to Discord!" Rosa interrupted, snarling the words she heard from Cosmos so long ago. "I remember. But that's not possible if Chaos can't win, either! The entire world gets renewed too, no matter who wins! And we seemed rather disposable to you when Terra was dying. You had power to spare, and you had it because I was willing to exhaust myself!"

"I promise you, I did not have it to spare! I've had to feed so much of my power to Shinryu due to my cyclic losses . . . I'm sorry, Rosa," Cosmos said, rather than address any of her other points with a rebuttal, or a denial. "I'm sorry that this is the way things are in this world, and I'm sorry it took you so long to find out-"

"Don't try to apologize!" Rosa yelled. "You lied to me, and you used that lie to manipulate me. You stole everything from me, for a lie, and I deserve far more from you than an apology!"

"But I . . . Please do not be angry with me," she said, tone flattening out. She looked down again, bowing her head against Rosa's ferocity, but she didn't look remorseful enough. Not to the depth of emotion Rosa knew her capable of reaching, that they saw when Cosmos faced Warrior's permanent death from the cycle. That seemed to hurt her more than her culpability. "It pains me deeply when I have to call a warrior. And I regret that your entire time here has been more plagued by pain and misfortune than normal, Rosa. I feel even more strongly for you-"

"Did it pain you to bring us back as well?" Firion snapped.

" . . . What?" Cosmos asked, looking up.

"The Emperor told us everything about that, too!" Lightning sneered, throwing her arm out. "About how this is the fifth cycle in this series, not the fifth to happen total!"

" . . . That is true as well."

"Yeah? How much? The part about how some of us died in the twelfth of the last series? And the part about how the rest of us went home after the thirteenth? How'd we end up back here, Cosmos? What did you do?"

"I didn't- . . . It was the crystals-"

"Yeah, he mentioned those, too," Tidus said. "The crystals. He said we took them with us, but it made you weak and you needed that power back. And so you called us back to start all over. So he was right, then!"

"No, not entirely! I was weak after the thirteenth, but calling you back wasn't my intention-"

"I'm not sure if I believe you anymore," Vaan said. "Why would being 'weak' be a problem if the world and the losing god get revived? You're not even in real danger, here."

"She wasn't in danger," Squall intoned. "That's the thing. She's lying."

"You do not know that," Warrior said. "We need to let her explain her side, entirely!" He slashed his hand through the air. "Cosmos . . . " he said over his shoulder again, afraid to turn his back to the other warriors in case tensions snapped. "Please, start from the end of the thirteenth. We returned home, but we already know that was not the end. And once we have the truth, then we will discuss . . . "

"Restitution," Rosa said.

"Restitution?" Cosmos repeated, lowering her chin.

"Some of the warriors . . . " Warrior began, looking at Rosa. "Some of the warriors are requesting that this be set to rights. And I do not blame them. If this cycle was ended once already, then surely it can be ended a second time. Surely we can manufacture another ending, one that's agreeable to all, including you, and then we can all return home again. At the least, the cycle is endless, so we are no longer needed. And we no longer want to partake in fighting and dying over and over again for a world that does not require it. We could return to our homes - all of us."

"All of you, including you?" Cosmos asked, and for the first time since beginning the conversation Rosa sensed a shift in the dynamic away from them. Cosmos's head snapped up and she stared at Warrior warily, eyes narrowing in something akin to smugness. Her aura grew upset, and the gold power began to come to life around her, writhing with more energy. Her lips turned down into a frown and she stood from the throne. Rosa had seen Cosmos be angry, but not to this degree. This was something violent, and unpredictable, foreign on her and strange. "You have no home to return to, Warrior! So where will you go? How far from me can you stray if there is nowhere else for you to go?"

Warrior took one step back in retreat, turning to face her fully. "If I am released, perhaps I will make my way somewhere myself. But that is not for you to decide. Send us home, Cosmos. Release us from this world and from this conflict. You have no more need for us if the cycle is truly unwinnable. And we have certainly earned it, especially if we were sent home once already."

"Send you home . . . ? What are you saying, Warrior?" Cosmos's eyebrows furrowed in what looked like genuine distress, the first emotion that Rosa believed her to be feeling. Her eyes grew distant and she shook her head, sitting back on the throne hard. She lowered her head into her hands. "The Emperor has poisoned you against me," she moaned, sounding close to tears. "All of you. Even Warrior. And you can't," she whispered. "You can't- . . . no! I won't allow it!" Her voice rose to the same desperate pitch and strain that Rosa heard before Cosmos revived Warrior. Rosa shifted, planting her feet in case she needed to draw. Warrior whirled around at the sound of water splashing around her.

"Let her answer!-" he shouted, throwing his arm out to Rosa.

Cosmos's head snapped up. She grabbed Warrior's shoulder roughly, jerking him backwards.

All Rosa saw was a flash of light, too quick for her eyes to trail. All she heard was Warrior's startled, strangled cry. When she looked again, a jagged spear of light punched a hole straight through his armor so violently that his back arched. He was lifted up on his toes as the tip poked out the other side of his chest. All the air pushed out of his chest and he gasped more in, then let out another agonizing scream that tore itself from between his clenched teeth. It choked short when Cosmos adjusted her grip and jammed the bolt further into his heart. The light in Warrior's wide eyes and the aura around him faded quickly, mouth going slack as his form slumped.

Rosa's body went cold, every thought blown from her mind. The bow slipped from her grasp, fading out before it splashed into the water. Around her, gasps and wordless sounds of distress echoed across the water.

"Warrior!" Firion yelled, charging forward, but Cosmos raised her hand over Warrior's shoulder and shot a beam of scorching hot light in his direction. He turned to the side and it barely missed, brushing against his armor, but where it touched left a blackened section of charred metal that hissed. Firion froze where he was, and Cosmos shoved Warrior to the side, pulling the bolt from his chest. He collapsed heavily into the water, falling to the side like a toppled building.

Unmoving. Blood tainting the water, forming a thick, pink cloud around his still form.

Rosa couldn't move. Not right away. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Warrior's limp, discarded body. She tried to blink, or avert her gaze, but she couldn't. Finally, after a second that stretched into a painfully silent eternity, the emotion welled up inside of her. A hoarse, horrified cry escaped her throat and she made a break for where he lay.

"Stop!" Cosmos yelled, spinning in her direction. She spread her hands and the air around Rosa thinned, sucking the breath from her lungs and choking her before the Bind spell pressed into her muscles and immobilized her. Instinctually she gasped, and it squeezed tighter around her chest. Her heart began to thump powerfully in her ears against the strain to the point of pain, but all she could do was shallowly gasp for air.

Cosmos stepped out in front of her throne, standing against her remaining sixteen warriors. Sixteen warriors who, even in their bitterness, looked shocked, hurt, and betrayed. "I'm so sorry," she said, voice thick and tormented with what sounded like sorrow. She leveled the bolt of light at her chosen, rolling it across all of them. "My Warrior of Light has seen fit to turn against me. And if the rest of you will not help me, if you will not protect me or protect this world, then I must . . . bring in new warriors who will! I will have you all Purified myself, and create a new series if that's what it takes. I will bring in new warriors who will do their duties to me without question!"

The air inside Rosa's entrapment dried and charged with unmistakable electrical energy. The hair on her neck and arms rose up with the dropping pressure, drawing the breath further from her heaving chest. The only sound she could manage was a squeak of panic from her stiff vocal cords as the Thundaga charged around her. She shut her eyes, bracing for the shocks.

Before the searing pain and tensing of her muscles came she heard Cecil scream, "No!" Her eyes snapped open and he charged towards Cosmos, weapon raised. She startled and raised her hands towards him in alarm, abandoning Rosa to defend herself. Cecil stopped his advance when the Bind spell dissipated and Rosa sighed in relief.

She closed the short distance to Warrior, but she already knew she was too late, even with his back to her. He lay in a pool of pink, diluted blood that leaked from the hole in his armor. A single trickle of red from one corner of his mouth dripped down his cheek to the water, further polluting the once perfect pond. His eyes remained open in blank shock, pupils dull and glazed over, and he stared emptily into the horizon. He was probably gone before he hit the ground. The sound of his pathetic, off-guard scream echoed in her ears, the moment that Cosmos reacted replaying over and over in her mind. Already she was analyzing it, trying to see if there was something else that she could've done, but he was gone.

"Move away from him, Rosa!" Cosmos warned. "Make no attempts to heal him! He will return to me with the cycle."

"How could you . . . ?" Rosa whispered, but Lightning yelled over her.

"Well that was stupid! You've just killed the only one of us who was willing to defend you at all!" She pulled the gunblade from its pouch, sliding the blade free. She slashed it through the air and lowered herself into her battle stance. "We're done being your pawns, and you're done lying to us! We're taking you down, right now!"

There was another pause and Rosa watched the other warriors decide what to do. Firion dropped low, ready to grab the rope knives on his boots to attack, but his wide eyes flicked about nervously, rotating between Warrior's form, Rosa's face, and the others' gazes, as though to confirm all that he had seen. Cecil was ready to attack immediately and Kain followed suit, both without any traces of remorse or regret, while Cloud's hand rested on the hilt of the sword strapped to his back, not fully committed to a battle but ready. Most of the other warriors, Zidane and Tidus included, were still too stunned to draw their weapons, stuck in the same frozen state that she was in. Overwhelmed with sadness, Rosa heard a few sniffles from Terra and from Yuna, clutching her staff tight to her chest with white knuckles.

Rosa took a final moment to place a gentle hand on Warrior's still, damaged chest plate. She closed her eyes tightly, and her heart began to ache with the choice that was manifesting itself in front of her. If she healed Warrior and brought him back, she may not have the same energy she needed for a fight. She could let Warrior fall victim to Cosmos's plan and allow him to fade away with the cycle, only to be returned without memories. But consciously choosing that option felt so gut-twistingly cruel that she knew she would never find peace for the rest of her days.

But she knew what the more pressing issue was. And with a burning shame that forced tears to her eyes she summoned her bow and jumped up, fierce eyes challenging the flighty, crystalline blue of Cosmos's. She called on her shock, her pain, and her fear, and used it as a spark to ignite her anger, giving her the contempt she needed to face her down.

Cosmos looked at the threatening arc of warriors around her before looking up to the sky. Shutting her eyes, she half-turned from the both hands clasped over her heart. "I can't . . . " she breathed. "I can't let you abandon me. It's all falling apart, and I . . . Great Will, forgive me." Her arm tensed suddenly, fingers clenching into fists. She lashed out, Cosmos swept her arm from left to right, down the line of warriors.

White-hot shards of light sprayed behind her hand, almost in slow motion. The first few in the arc screamed through the air, far too fast for the first warriors in line to react. A barrage struck the head of the line and Laguna, the Onion Knight, and Vaan all dropped instantly, riddled with fragments of light. Zidane had just enough time to shove Terra behind him before he took several of Cosmos's deadly arrows to his chest. Tifa blocked her upper body and face, but a bolt ripped through her leg and she tumbled to the ground with a cry. More light shards grazed Lightning's side and one managed to pierce her right shoulder. Everyone beyond had time to block, including Rosa, who shielded herself, Cecil, and Kain with a blue hexagonal Protect barrier. She held it until she saw Cosmos lower her arm.

Cosmos cupped her hands then spread them apart, and a white energy glowed between her hands. She circled her hands around it, eyes glowing entirely gold with the use of her power. Immediately, Rosa felt her chest tighten again. It suddenly felt like all the pressure in Sanctuary had dropped to the floor, and a wave of dizziness crashed over Rosa before she could even attempt to orient herself. She gasped and collapsed to the ground, and her heart strained, suddenly beating hard and fast in her chest. Her vision darkened, and a heaviness pressed down upon her. She placed a hand to either side of her head to steady herself, and out of the corner of her eye she spotted the others in the same pain that she was in - some standing but doubled over, leaning on weapons and on each other, some on the ground as she was, brought down by Cosmos's magic. The forms of those who had fallen lifted several inches off the ground, limbs dangling and necks craned back, still lifeless but sickeningly reanimated by Cosmos's doings. Warrior's cape dangled into the water, billowing softly in Sanctuary's air.

White magic glowed around each of their silhouettes, and Rosa watched as it glowed brighter and brighter, then like a siphon trailed off of them in wisps and traveled straight to the growing power between Cosmos's hands. Rosa's head swam again, and she was forced to close her eyes as she felt Cosmos's influence reach deep into her core, into what felt like her soul. She shuddered, feeling invaded and disturbed, as that influence wrapped around her heart and pulled, uprooting and ripping out every ounce of power that Cosmos had bestowed upon her before from her essence.

The pressure suddenly released, and Rosa was free to move. All of the weakness she felt after the Emperor's attack was back. All of her healing power was mostly drained away again to nothing, and her heart sank in horror as she realized what Cosmos had done. She had removed all of her power from each of them. She had done what the Emperor had always planned to do, absorbing their power back into herself and ensuring that those who perished would never be returned. She struggled to her feet just as Cecil surged forward, hefting his spear behind him. He let out an enraged cry and stabbed harshly at her. Barely worming to the left, she furiously swatted his spear to the side and with her other hand summoned a pristine arc of pure light. He quickly threw himself backwards out of the path of her stroke, the force blowing his silky, white hair backwards. Where the blade traveled, a thin afterglow stayed in the air for another moment and steam puffed up into the air, heated by the power.

He landed nimbly and wisely ghosted backwards, just as Rosa and Kain ran in behind. They regrouped and slowly advanced together while Cosmos backed off her throne, away from them. She brandished her scythe-like blade, cutting arcs in the air and forcing them to pause. Residual slices like a sparkler in darkness illuminated an 'x' in the air, a tangible threat to whoever would challenge her. Cecil recovered with a low growl of irritation and followed after her, undaunted, ready for another strike. Both Rosa and Kain trailed behind despite her warning, but before any of them could reach Cosmos, Tidus and Firion shot past all three of them.

Firion tugged his staff from his belt and cast a Thunder to bear down on her right, as Tidus pulled back his sword to strike. He slashed at her middle, so she slid backwards out of the way of both attacks, and put Tidus right underneath Firion's spell. The magic drew to his water sword like a magnet, shooting straight up his arms into his whole body, twitching in every muscle. He screamed briefly from the sharp, quick pain, then stiffened up until he collapsed backwards, into the water. His body writhed for another few seconds before he lay dangerously still, smoke rising from his form.

"Tidus!" Yuna yelled. She ran across the battlefield to him, summoning Ixion to be her cover as she crossed in front of Cosmos's field of vision to bend over him. Cosmos suddenly turned her attention to Yuna, making her way toward her. Ixion snorted and challenged the goddess from half within his symbol, and Rosa drew several arrows, sending controlled, steady cover fire to distract her. Cosmos casually put up a barrier of translucent light to deflect her arrows and just as cooly engaged Lightning, who tried to flank her.

Lightning slashed at the barrier, gun blade clanging heavily against it. It shone brightly and her blade bounced roughly off it. Grunting in surprise, the shoulder that Cosmos had pierced before erupted in flames from the crippling vibrations that shot up and down her arm, and she nearly dropped her blade. She clumsily recovered, and she and Squall charged a second time. Together they attacked the repellant barrier.

Cosmos watched safely behind the shield as they struggled with the magic, each riposte like parrying a chop from a two-handed sword. After several useless strikes, Cosmos finally countered. Squall surged forward with a powerful Revolver Drive to try and drill through the barrier, the tip of his gunblade glowing bright red in color. He drove the arrow-shaped attack into the barrier but at the last second, Cosmos dropped it completely and danced to the side. Squall blindly shot past her while Lightning ran in, shooting bullet after bullet painfully off-target, grinding her teeth against the recoils that pained her shoulder. She closed the distance to Cosmos and when she was close enough Cosmos stabbed at her with the blade. Lightning rolled to the side to dodge and rose up, slashing upwards at her. Cosmos deflected with her blade, sparks hissing and flying off of the point of impact. They pressed into each other, strong at first, but Rosa could see Lightning's wound hindering her strength.

Rosa drew another arrow and pulled the string back to full draw, closing one eye to better pin-point her shot. She aimed at Cosmos's arm, the hand grabbing Lightning's sword. The two twisted and writhed in their struggle, so Rosa aimed carefully. She waited for the moment that she was confident Lightning wouldn't falter, then she let the string slip through her fingers, smiling slightly in relief at the arrow's perfectly straight path to its target.

At the last second Cosmos broke the block and raised her hand. The arrow the arrow connected with her palm, vaporizing with a flash of gold. Lightning quickly backpedaled away from her and began a Crushing Blow attack. Her gunblade split and transformed into two large, hooked blades that floated in the air beside her. She snatched them from the air and dashed forward towards Cosmos, slashing at her with a snarl of rage. Cosmos disappeared, teleporting safely out of the way only to reappear right behind her. Gasping in surprise, Lightning twisted in the air and waved her hand wildly, attempting Thunder spell, but Cosmos grabbed Lightning's injured, outstretched arm and ripped it harshly over her shoulder, tossing Lightning to the ground several feet away. She landed hard on her injured shoulder, bouncing and rolling a few times before coming to a stop on her side. Rosa could tell from the way she landed and the sound of her surprised, high-pitched scream that it was likely dislocated. She watched Lightning struggle to get back up, holding herself up on her other shaking arm, then crumple weakly in the water, clutching the shoulder.

Cosmos abandoned Lightning to turn back to Yuna, oblivious as she bent over Tidus, yet still under Ixion's protection. She barely moved an inch towards her before Squall and Cloud came to her defense. They ran forward together, Cloud taking the lead, with Firion, Squall, and Kain hot on his heels. When they drew close enough, Cosmos raised her palm and shot a ray of white-hot light at them. Squall flinched instinctually and blocked, and Firion and Kain dodged out of the way. But Cloud whipped the huge Buster Sword behind his back and charged it up, the blade glowing a vibrant blue. He hurled the blade around in a powerful overhead swing, slamming it into the water, and the Blade Beam arced seamlessly off the sword. The two attacks collided and exploded in a fireworks-like explosion, a few residual sparks strobing in the air. A cloud of smoke followed, swallowing the goddess.

There was a pause as they lost sight of her. Rosa stopped firing to watch Squall leap into the air, twirling his gunblade. It flashed with white energy and he grunted with the effort of pouring his power into it, crashing straight down to cut through the smoke. He disappeared as well, and Rosa heard Cosmos let out a wordless cry of alarm. Rosa triumphantly met eyes with Kain and Firion. Together they sprinted an arc around the clearing smoke for a better vantage point.

On the other side, Squall knelt, gunblade poised behind him from the follow-through, and Cosmos's hands were clasped around the flesh of her side, under her ribs. Her white dress was torn and a thick but fast-spreading flow of blood leaked between her fingers and down the immaculate white silk. Cosmos's guard lowered, Rosa sighted, drew, and fired a single arrow. The force of it embedding into Cosmos's shoulder sent her reeling around, straight into the path of Squall's swinging gunblade. It connected with her chest and he pulled the trigger, causing another explosion that threw her backwards. She gasped and landed on her back in the water, sliding back with another fresh cut across her chest.

Kain and Firion both charged her, but Cecil shoved through both of them to take a well-placed jab with his spear down at her. Cosmos wisely teleported away again to a safe distance from her warriors. She squared herself to them and summoned two small knife-like bolts of light to her hands to face off with them.

Recovering quickly, Squall shot a barrage of fire and ice spells at her. Cosmos dodged effortlessly, twirling elegantly aside. She sidestepped a hasty chop of Firion's ax, kicked him face-first into the water, parried Cecil's jab behind her back with the bolts of light without even turning, and pushed him back with a ray of light. Spinning back around, she flipped the knife up and snatched the blade, then launched it end over end at Squall.

He grunted in pain as it pierced his left shoulder and he staggered back, blade hissing and searing the skin around the wound. When he looked up, Cosmos was gone. He blinked hard and blearily against the pain, swallowing a groan, and when he looked up again Cosmos teleported right in front of him. She called a long, heavy spear of light and jammed it into his other shoulder. She slowly pushed him painfully backwards until his legs buckled and he slammed down on his back into the water.

She he held him down and called a small dagger to finish him off. The hot, white light bit into his skin where she held it against his throat, but he pursed his lips against it and resisted the urge to squirm. He glared defiantly up at her, matching the pitiful misery in her eyes with fury.

Cosmos stared him in the eyes to deliver the killing blow.

Suddenly a rogue wind spell from Kain flew at Cosmos, hitting her shoulder and knocking her off of Squall. She staggered to the side and recovered, spinning around as Firion ran at her again from the other side. He snatched up his rope knives from his boots and pitched them forward, and they snapped around her wrist and twirled around her arm so tight the skin bulged between the loops. Firion pulled as hard as he could and wrenched her arm backwards, spinning her around again. She stumbled awkwardly with a weak whine of pain, clutching at her wounds. She set her feet in the water and her nose flared, eyes sinking into a look of dangerous challenge . Pulling back against him, Firion grit his teeth and dug his heels into the water as best he could, muscles tensing and straining to maintain his hold on her. Rosa finally saw another chance in the standstill.

An instant of rationality ripped through the moment as she grabbed another arrow. She realized she had no idea how killing Cosmos would change the world around them, or change their time in the cycle. If they were all to be returned to the cycle, then their speculation about her death and their fading away wasn't true. There was still too much about the cycle she didn't know for her to normally take this chance.

She was too upset to care. Cosmos was to blame for all of it anyway. And she had another opportunity to make it right somehow.

Rosa buried that rationality deep underneath her anger and locked it up tight so it couldn't resurface. Rosa nocked the arrow and pulled it to full-draw, aimed, sighted her target, and aimed. Cooly and evenly, she channeled as much Holy Magic as she could into the tip until it gleamed, not nearly as white-hot as Cosmos's weapons in her weakness but strong enough that she knew it would do some damage.

The string slipped form her pinched fingers.

The arrow screamed through the air, power lighting up the grey clouds and glaring off the water. Firion didn't see it. In one more desperate and unlucky tug for purchase he hauled Cosmos forward out of the path of the arrow, and it sailed harmlessly past, hitting the water instead and sliding to a halt. Cosmos quickly regained her balance again, growling softly in annoyance. She grabbed the rope around her arm and started hauling Firion in, hand over hand until there was a bit of slack. Cloud approached again from behind, so Cosmos released the rope and Firion stumbled back. Cosmos called another bolt of light to her clenched fist, free-swinging with a ball at one hand that looked like a deadly chain flail than anything elegant. She hurled her free arm around on Cloud, twisting into her other arm in the process. The ball end connected with Cloud's side and tore through his sweater with squelching thunk. He collapsed, landing hard in a curled heap in the water. Rosa started, about to run over to him, but stopped in relief as Tifa limped heavily over to him to help.

Cosmos swung the weapon at Cecil next, and he dashed out of the way. The ball splashed in Sanctuary's water and they continued, Cecil matching her swing-for-swing, tangled as she was. They countered each other, parried attacks, blocked, and Rosa watched, waiting impatiently for her next opportunity to shoot at Cosmos without harming Cecil. She drew an arrow and held the string taut, and when she finally found an opening the shot embedded into Cosmos's stomach, making her scream out and double over. Cecil shot forward as though from a cannon. He switched to Paladin in a burst of light and loosed an attack that she remembered from their sparring match together. A small orb of light glowed in his palm and he releaed it. It drew straight to Cosmos and he dashed after it. He slashed at Cosmos's back and cut through the follow through, and she arched back. Before it could even bleed he twisted in the air and threw another orb of light at her. He dashed straight through her next block and cut cleanly across her arm and chest for the second strike.

As he flew above her for the final strike, she stood tall. She blindly reached out and clamped her hand around Cecil's ankle, halting all his momentum. He dangled there, disoriented and momentarily defenseless, and Cosmos switched weapons for tapered stiletto knife made of her gold power. She tugged on Firion's ropes again, creating a second of slack to stab at Cecil, and Rosa aimed as quickly as she could for the space between Cosmos's hand and the spot in his back where she intended to stab.

She guessed right. Her arrow caught Cosmos's palm when she thrust it forward. The knife was knocked from her hand and Cecil shifted to Dark Knight while still in her grip. He curled up with a grunt of exertion and tried to dislodge her hand but she couldn't pry her hands from their vice-like grip. He instead pulled his hands in, clenching his fists, and spread his arms, releasing his power. Black flames cloaked his body, wrapping around Cosmos's hands. It started to hiss, burning her skin and she gasped, dropping Cecil with a yelp.

She raised her singed hand to send a shot of light through Cecil's chest, but Firion still had his knives around her arm. he pulled again and her attack flew wide, clipping Cecil in the side. He cried out and collapsed, moaning as his hands clenched around the wound.

"Cecil!" Rosa screamed.

She took a few steps towards him, careful to keep behind Cosmos and Firion.

"I- I'm fine!" he said, pointing animatedly to Cosmos. "Just go help Firion!"

Rosa looked back and saw that Cosmos had cut the ropes on Firion's knives and was drilling away at him with her re-summoned flail-like weapon.. Firion managed to get his shield up in time as she swung. The ball screeched along Firion's armor, the force staggering him back a couple steps. Cosmos closed him in; a forcefield of light shot up in a square around them, protecting her from the others and preventing his escape. He tried an upward cut then a thrust with his sword, but Cosmos was too quick, dodging both. She swung back at him and he danced out of the terrifyingly fast arc and the residual traces left in the air, the breeze from each swing a desperate reminder of how badly it would hurt if he was struck.

Kain ran up on the barrier and reared his lance back to throw, even lifting one leg off the ground to get more power behind the throw. He released and his lance hit the shield, and the instant his attack struck Kain recoiled like he was physically hit and collapsed to a knee with a grunt of surprise.

Cosmos continued, unfazed, relentless in her attacks, and Firion weakened gradually. Each time the flail hit his defense it jarred his whole body. His reflexed grew slower and slower, his attacks grew clumsier. Rosa's nerves tangled and she drew an arrow despite knowing it wasn't going to work. She looked the arrow and it struck the barrier, and a pulse screeched in her head and in her ears so loud she had to drop her bow to cover them. She checked her palms to make sure her ears weren't bleeding, still ringing after the force of the attack. When she realized she was fine, she looked up, meeting eyes with Kain.

"Kain, we have to help him!" Rosa cried, pointing to Firion behind the forcefield. Kain recovered quickly and bolted for him, crouching before the barrier and leaping off the ground in a powerful Jump. Firion stabbed and Cosmos swung again, the chain flail tangling messily around the sword. They both pulled, struggling to disarm the other, until Kain descended upon them.

Cosmos sensed the attack coming. She leaned to the left and heaved Frion forward with all her might. He was yanked off his feet and collided with Kain with a smacking sound that made Rosa wince. They tangled together, Firion's sword accidentally stabbing several inches into Kain's thigh from his other attack, and the two of them tumbled back and landed in a heap in the water.

Cosmos spun frantically, expecting another attacker to be right on their heels. She looked around and took stock of them, narrowed eyes scanning the crowd. Her chest heaved, her mouth was locked open and she panted out her stress. After a moment she finally locked on Terra, hiding delicately behind a white barrier.

She teleported over to Terra, who gasped and raised her hands in a casting position, backing away from her.

Too late, Rosa screamed, "Terra!"

"Please, don't!" she begged Cosmos. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt! Stop this, please!"

Cosmos shook her head and walked towards Terra. She flicked her wrist and a hesitant fire spell exploded in front of the goddess. A single warning. Cosmos ignored it, still advancing on her. Cosmos fired a shard of light at her and Terra ducked underneath it, throwing a Blizzaga spell in retaliation. The ice crystals shot across the water, leaving a long trail of crystallized water in its path bur Cosmos deflected the spell with a wave of her hand. She ghosted across the water, forcing herself into Terra's space and leaning over her, but Terra planted a single spark of Thundaga straight into Cosmos's path. The bolt crashed down on Cosmos's head and she raised her arms to cover herself, but Terra launched eight other bolts that struck in a circle around her, drawing towards her and shocking her. Cosmos cried out and was thrown back, and Terra leapt after her.

While chasing her, Terra placed her next Flare spell behind Cosmos. She landed in the middle of it and it detonated, searing her back and knocking her down onto her stomach. All the air was forced out of Cosmos's chest and she let out a choked cough. She slowly clamored to her knees and straightened up, looking ragged and defensive and breathing heavily, glaring at Terra. She raised her own hands to cast a counter spell, but with alarming speed Terra glided forward. Her hands shot out and snatched Cosmos's wrists. Her palms glowed blue with power and Cosmos tried to pull away, but Terra squeezed her wrists tighter and her power surged. In a frosty blast Terra encased Cosmos's whole hands in two perfect blocks of ice.

She let go and retreated from Cosmos. She stared down at her hands and her hands lit up inside, trying to blast her way through. She stared in disbelief as the thick sheets held firm, her power unable to escape.

Terra drew her sword, but did not advance. "Please, stop this!" she begged again.

For a moment, the air was silent.

Cosmos's eyes flicked around, looking around at Rosa and Cecil, Kain and Firion who were detangling and struggling to their feet, Squall and Lightning, both wounded but standing, Cloud, who was down for the count, Yuna and Bartz, who had yet to join the fray at all. She also looked at those already fallen. Vaan, Zidane, the Onion Knight, Laguna, Cloud, and Warrior. Her eyes lingered there, visibly calculating her odds. She was becoming wounded. Growing tired despite the power she had stolen from them.

During the pause, Rosa inched across the water towards her. She was more than sure Cosmos knew she was there. Her eyes stayed on Warrior, even as Terra leveled one final plea.

"You don't have to do this to us!-"

Rosa rushed Cosmos then, reaching for her knife. She expected Cosmos to turn towards her and engage her, but instead she threw herself towards Terra again, shocking both of them and catching them both off-guard. Rosa quickly switched as well, snatching one of her last few arrows from the quiver. She aimed the arrow at Cosmos's leg to slow her down and hopefully give Terra a chance to defend herself. Cosmos simply took the shot to her leg without looking, without so much as a gasp of pain. She raised her arms and her form lifted out of the water, gliding to avoid aggravating the wound.

Terra staggered desperately back and tripped, landing in the water with an audible "Oof!"

The ice encasing Cosmos's hands shattered when she summoned a long, sharp, elegant rapier-like blade. Terra's scared eyes widened further and followed the tip of it as it aimed down at her, straight for her chest. Terra raised her hands into a 'v' shape and a powerful Tornado spell blew Cosmos's hair and the ends of her dress back, but she withstood the magic as though she didn't even feel it. She drifted over Terra and the girl shut her eyes tight, turning her head away with a small whimper.

"No!" Yuna cried. She stood tall and pointed her staff at the symbol where half of Ixion's body protruded from. A single bolt of lightning ejected from her staff and connected to the horn on Ixion's head, and then Yuna tugged on her staff, twirling around from the force of it. Ixion burst through the symbol with a wild neigh and sprinted forward, throwing himself between Terra and the point of the blade. it pierced into his side, cutting downwards into his belly, and he reared back, screaming out in pain. Terra's eyes snapped open and she gasped.

"Yuna!" she yelled, shoulders relaxing.

Cosmos frowned down the length of the weapon at Ixion, and with a horrible touch of finality, she extended the blade of light. It stabbed fully through Ixion and pierced Terra's chest. She held the blade there, even as Ixion's legs buckled and he fell to the water disappearing, and even as Terra lay there writhing without a sound. Seconds later Terra lay still.

The grief welled up in Rosa's heart, overwhelming her with agony and anguish that was so heavy it was crushing. She let out a wordless scream and her eyes welled up, and she grabbed her knife again to attack. She ran forward and Cosmos blocked, bracing her arms in front of her, but Rosa called on her Holy Magic. She cast it above Cosmos, who was caught unprepared. The orbs of magic glowed around Rosa, then soared up into the air and coalesced into a blistering-white ray that shot down from the clouds and slammed into Cosmos. She fell into Rosa and she stabbed the blade of her knife deep into Cosmos's side, jamming it up and under her ribs. The blade caught and Rosa shoved it forward further, and Cosmos's mouth dropped open and her eyes flew wide. She gasped and the sound was wet, and when she let out a next, short and forceful exhale, specks of crimson red painted her lips and spattered down her chin. Rosa leaned in to her.

"You took everything from me," she moaned into her face, tears streaming down both of their faces. "You never deserved our time, or our lives. Or Warrior's devotion," she added. Rosa backed away from her and pulled the knife free, then summoned her bow for a final strike. She called on the rest of the Holy magic she felt she had left and formed an arrow on her bow that glowed white. She concentrated until the arrow tip was massive, almost weighing down the attack. She loosed the arrow and it hit Cosmos, piercing straight through her front to back and throwing her down to the water.

Cosmos didn't immediately get up, and Rosa thought the battle was finished. All the adrenaline left her body and she could no longer stay standing. Her trembling knees gave out and she collapsed to the water, hand covering her mouth to stifle her sobs though she cried freely. After a few moments Cosmos let out a few stunted, shuddering breaths and lifted herself on shaky arms. Rosa immediately prepared for another attack, but Bartz roared past her, letting out a heart broken, gut-wrenching scream. Nothing but anger seemed to surround him, and Rosa took up her knife again and ran in after him to finish it.

Bartz's Brave Blade materialized in his clenched fist, but a scream that wasn't Bartz's came from hs mouth. he crouched low and cut upwards towards Cosmos's face while slashed at her chest. Cosmos clasped her hands over her chest and teleported away, but she only made it a few feet, her fatigue and injuries preventing her from going any further. Bartz was on her again in a second, Rosa trailing behind.

Cosmos gasped and tried a weak and sloppy block with her hands, so Bartz lined up a perfect copy of Cloud's Omnislash and shot through her with the first strike. As he reared up for the second he switched weapons to Tidus's aqua-blue water sword and spiraled down on her, digging the blade into her already injured shoulder. Bartz continued with the attack, passing Rosa when he shot around. Grabbing her outstretched hand and hoisting her from the ground, he followed through Cosmos using the Onion Knight's quick, uncatchable heated jabs all over her stained and torn dress. He soared straight up into the air and let go of Rosa's hand to continue his attack, letting Rosa free fall.

A brief moment of weightlessness, and she plummeted down, watching Bartz's orange and blue form blur around Cosmos below her. Climbing high for the final cut, he drew level with Rosa on the way down, grabbing her hand again to give her momentum.

The two of them lunged for Cosmos.

She felt the triumph ease some of her burden of grief. They would be avenged.

Rosa poured all of her physical strength into her dagger. It filled the blade and the tip glowed and resonated until there was almost a palpable ring to it. She could see Bartz doing the same, a terrible fury in his eyes that they all had been reduced to, even Cecil. He screamed with the exertion, and the two of them twisted and spiraled around each other.

Their final cut slashed her chest in an 'x'.

Cosmos was knocked back collapsed on top of the water, unmoving. Seemingly not breathing.

Bartz and Rosa landed, their breath heavy and exhausted. Rosa couldn't look at Cosmos's still form anymore. She quickly looked around for where she last remembered leaving Cecil and started making her way over to him.

Suddenly there was a gasp, and Rosa was immediately on her guard. Cosmos stay on the ground where she lay but lifted one bloody, shaky hand and flicked her wrist. Little shards of light surrounded the goddess on all sides, encasing her in a dome, inches apart.

Someone yelled, "Look out!"

Cosmos lowered her hand.

The darts shot out at them like machine gun spray. A few connected with Rosa's shoulder and the force spun her around to the ground. Ignoring the fire that exploded in her collarbone and down her arm, she looked again when the barrage was over.

Cosmos was gone.

Chapter Text

Rosa couldn't say for sure if she lost consciousness.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle with Cosmos, when the air was still again and the water's violent waves calmed to soft ripples in the absence of movement, she felt like she was waking up. She couldn't recall what came just before, couldn't remember the exact sequence of events that rendered her in the position she was in - on her stomach in the water. They had confronted Cosmos. There had been a battle. A short but intense battle, and yet the details were vague and blank, like a dream. Bits and pieces of sounds, cries, shrieks, the squeal of sliding metal, sparkling, and the wet smack of skin being punctured echoed in her ears, and images of hardened blue eyes, dulled grey eyes, the flash of an arrow and the moment she shot it in order to force Cecil's release flashed like a glare off the water behind her lids. The rest of what had transpired was slow, and insubstantial, and unreal.

The first thing she was aware of was a terrifyingly cold, soul-crushing hollowness in her heart, so acute that it was almost physically painful. The full weight of what Cosmos had done to them - taking back the power she had bestowed - weighed on her heart like something solid and poisonous, and the weakness that it left in her spread through her veins. And with it, Cosmos had taken their ability to be reincarnated in the twisted cycle she forced them into.

And then she had attacked them. And killed some of them.

She couldn't immediately grieve because the second thing she became aware of was the pain that registered across her body. A sting of a cut across her face, a throbbing ache in her shoulder, a sharp punching feeling in her side, scratching on her hip. As she mentally roused it grew stronger, the agonizing burn erupting across her right side. When movement occurred to her she rolled to her left to try and alleviate it, but the shift of weight only aggravated them further. She reached up and clamped her left hand down on her shoulder to steady it, and a wince twisted across her face. An involuntary whine escaped her, and she forced her mouth shut and held her breath to avoid any other displays of pain. Her side felt wet, and she slid her hand downwards, feeling the source - blood leaking from a hole in her clothes and the skin. She lay on her back and rested her head back against the water for a moment to brace herself, then she lifted her head and opened her eyes, spotting a tear from the fleshy part of her side straight through to her back, under her ribs. A clean wound, easy to heal. One of Cosmos's bolts stuck out of her hip, caught by the bone before it could do any real damage.

In her lack of immediate memories, not yet willing or able to process the emotional pain she knew would come, her mind occupied itself with what she had trained for years to do. She was already assessing herself, triaging each of the wounds. Leg first, because it would impede her movement, and there were others who were possibly hurt that she needed to maneuver to. Shoulder second because it hurt the worst, and the wound in her side last because it wasn't bleeding enough to warrant immediate care.

She sat up slowly. Her entire body tingled vaguely in the aftermath of whatever Cosmos had done when she tore the very power from within her. Her nerves and her battle senses were still alight, but she knew there was no threat in the area. She felt stiff and physically broken, and she pressed her elbow against her body to keep her shoulder as still as possible. When she situated herself in a sitting position she lifted her pauldron and checked for the wound, but realized that Cosmos's bolt had only hit her pauldron and hadn't pierced her. The force alone had still been enough to bruise, and probably deal unseen damage based on the amount of pain she was in. She twisted her neck to look around, and a shooting pinch tore down her entire right side again, ripping another cry from her. The Curaga spell was tumbling from her lips before she even knew what she was doing. She ignored her earlier assessment and concentrated the spell around her shoulder, nervous that there could be internal damage she may miss.The words were flowing with their usual practice, so familiar to her that they were mindless - like something inherent to her being rather than something she had to actively remember, allowing her a moment to sit with her desolation. The spell completed before she was ready, but the lingering pain in her shoulder called her attention to the fact that her hands hadn't so much as warmed up. Her chest felt hollow and empty, her soul still heavy and dead. Her reserves of White Magic were depleted again, and she had nothing left to use to help herself. Or help anyone else.

It was that thought that startled her to full awareness of her surroundings, and the only thing she witnessed were scenes of misery. Warriors - her friends - lay dead around her, littering the water randomly where they had been discarded. Others were alive, but barely. Tifa was dragging herself over to Cloud, whose chest jerked raggedly up and down, tugging at a jagged, unclean wound in his side, his clothes and skin thick with congealing blood. A loud, hoarse wail pierced the silence, and drew her eyes. She saw Bartz clutching at Zidane's vest, with his forehead resting on his chest, crying. Squall wasn't far away, legs curling and uncurling as he twisted, unable to lift himself up with his injuries. Lightning was up on her feet, stumbling, her dislocated arm dangled uselessly at her side. She was roving around, spinning in a way that looked directionless, and Rosa watched her perk up at the sight of something in the water. She reached for it and picked it up, and Rosa saw it was her gunblade. She heard a groan behind her and saw Cecil trying to stand, clutching at his scorched side from Cosmos's light ray, and Kain was already downing a Potion that he had on him to take care of the wound in his thigh.

Everyone else was still. Entirely still. Silent, and still, and dead.

Gone.

Heavy grief raised hot tears to her eyes, but her instincts had already laid out a path across the water to Cecil and Kain, the people she knew and cared for the most. There were others more seriously wounded, and a shred of guilt almost made her change her course as she staggered to her feet and half-limped, half-hopped in his direction, but a combination of the years of traveling together and a part of her still traumatized from the concept of almost losing them made her auto-piloting mind drag her in their direction.

Cecil raised his eyes and caught her gaze, and immediately waved her off, collapsing to his hand and knees.

"I'm fine. Help the others first."

"Are you sure-?" she heard herself ask, knowing he would ignore his own wounds for others's sake.

"Just tend to the others!" he screamed angrily at her, making her flinch. He pointed somewhere behind her. "Cloud needs help."

She turned and refocused her attentions on Cloud, visibly the most wounded and unconscious in the water. Somehow she maneuvered himself in his direction, the flashing white specks of pain that smattered her vision at the harm she was doing to her leg were dull enough to ignore. Every tensing of her shoulder set her teeth gnashing and forced the tears springing easily to her already-wet eyes fall easily, but still she forced herself to reach Cloud just as Tifa collapsed next to him, tucking her legs up underneath her.

"Rosa, please help," she said, her voice shaking. "He got hit bad." Rosa looked into her face and though her eyes were also wet with tears they were wide, empty, her mouth slack. Lacking any affect or inflection whatsoever, Tifa continued, "I couldn't - I got hit, and I couldn't . . . He dragged me away and left me so I'd be safe. I had to watch the whole thing. Cosmos, she . . . "

"She's gone," Rosa muttered, what she assumed Tifa would want to hear. Tifa's eyes seemed to clear for a moment, and she looked at Rosa. Looked at Rosa with such intense disbelief and anguish they shared that Rosa felt her own emotional defenses crack pathetically.

"I know," Tifa replied, and her face crumbled. She lowered her head into her hands and Rosa knew there would never be anything to say that would be enough. So she placed one hand on Tifa's arm and squeezed, letting her know that she was there. She left it there for a moment, but Cloud still needed her help.

Rosa touched Cloud's shoulder and rolled him over onto his back, then she peeled his sweater up under his arms to inspect his side. Even the light brush of the fabric made him tense, gritting his teeth. It was an ugly, messy wound. Rosa could easily recall the impact - the heavy thud of the weapon Cosmos used colliding with skin, the barbs that had pierced his skin, and the tears when Cosmos pulled away. Four deep, ragged scratches bled heavily and unevenly. Nearly every inch of pale skin that Rosa exposed was already a red and purple-blotched bruise, wrapping all the way around to his ribs and spine. Rosa peeled apart one of the scratches to see how deep they were, frowning as she realized that even if she had the reserves to heal it, White Magic alone probably wouldn't be enough. It would need time to heal naturally before they would no longer be a hinderance to him.

Time she felt they weren't afforded by the Emperor's next move, and time that she had no intentions of affording Cosmos. Aware that Tifa was probably watching, Rosa chanced a glance through her lashes, but Tifa had lifted her head again and her eyes were still staring past Cloud into the water, too distracted to notice Rosa's immediate lack of healing. Still, to give something of an illusion that she was contributing anything meaningful, Rosa took a small piece of her gold, embroidered cape and cut a square from the bottom with her knife. She began wiping away some of the blood, then pressed the wad of cloth to the wound, causing Cloud's back to arch in the water. Rosa pressed down harder with both hands, leaning down and ignoring his pitiful and half-conscious attempts to bat her hands away. She needed bandages.

"Tifa, just get me some bandages, and any Potions, or Items, or anything else you have. Okay? I'm putting you in charge of-"

She paused when she raised her eyes and saw the blood running down from the wound in Tifa's leg. Her body went cold as another piece of the puzzle that she had been blocking out filled itself in. An image of Cosmos half-turning away from them. Mumbling something to herself - an apology? Raising her arm and striking, spraying an array of bolts down the line of her warriors. Shards flying at her face and her body. Rosa flinched, jerking herself back to Cloud. Her pressure had eased while she was lost in the thought. She renewed her strength and leaned her weight on her one arm, and Cloud moaned softly.

"Never mind. You shouldn't run," she finished. She looked around, swallowing as she took inventory of her friends.

"Bartz!" she yelled, but he didn't look up from where he was draped over Zidane. Zidane, killed in that initial strike. A moment of senseless, heartless irritation bloomed in her heart as she continued to push down the enormity of what had just happened in favor or a familiarity of control that she mastered when she was a White Mage in Baron. "I need some help here!" she yelled to the open air, hoping anyone who had the energy to assist and the ability would volunteer.

"What do you need?" she heard Kain's voice yell. He had already taken care of his wounds with his own Items that he had and was standing. She sighed her relief. He had both watched her work, and been her work's recipient time and time again in all their travels. He would know how to follow her orders and help.

"I need as many Items - Potions, Elixirs, whatever we can spare," she said. "Tifa, what all do you have? Anything?" she urged quickly, hoping to jolt her into some kind of reactionary response.

Blinking slowly, Tifa moved mechanically and dug through her pockets, revealing some multi-colored orbs that looked like glass, and two measly potions. She dumped them loosely into the water next to them.

"Sorry," she mumbled, as though she had disappointed Rosa.

"It's fine," Rosa assured her. "Anything helps. Are any of these healing?" she asked, pointing to the orbs.

"Yeah. That green Materia is Cure."

Cure wasn't nearly as powerful as he needed. But combined with the two Potions, it would hopefully be enough to stabilize him. "I'll use the Potions, and you use the Materia on him. Does anyone have bandages?" she yelled again, out into the open. "I'm going to need them!"

"I think Laguna had some on him!" Cecil yelled to her.

"But Laguna's gone," Tifa whispered, her voice shaking. She lowered her head into her hands again. "I can't believe this is happening . . . " she moaned, her voice cracking.

"Just stay calm," Rosa huffed, uncorking one of Tifa's Potions. She placed her hand behind Cloud's neck and lifted, parting his lips enough to slip a small stream of the Potion through. To her relief the muscles in his throat flexed and he subconsciously swallowed a few sips. A green light began to glow in the wounds, and Rosa steadily poured more into his mouth until only a bit was left. Then she dumped the rest on the wound. Tifa hadn't even moved to help. Panic was beginning to take hold of her, and her breathing was getting faster and faster.

Rosa took up the next Potion, consciously trying to block out Tifa's reactions. She desperately wanted to keep her composure - she was the only one standing between a few of them and death. And yet she felt all the blood drain from her face and her eyes well up, blurring the figures of Cloud and Tifa in front of her. She took a breath, so quickly that it caught in her throat, and the lump in her throat grew so large that it was almost painful.

Firion's voice forced her composure. She heard him cry out, "Rosa! Vaan needs some help!" With a flash, she was hit with a vision of Firion holding Cosmos at bay by himself, with nothing but his strength. She saw his defenses weaken under her onslaught of blows and saw him collide with Kain, falling to the water with a tangle. Her hands were shaking. A chill wracked her and she shivered, and she couldn't bring herself to answer. If she did, she knew she would break down. Panic, and break down completely. There were several seconds of terrible, crushing silence and the weight of a life hanging in the air before Cecil answered for her.

"She can't leave Cloud yet!" He knew and trusted her talents enough to know that she would move on when she was able to. "Get the bandages off of Laguna and do your best until either Yuna or I can get there-"

"He can't wait!" Firion yelled, more forceful. With the ragged and rough parts of his voice that he used when he was exerting power.

"Neither can Cloud, or she'd be there! Wait for Kain to bring the Items!"

"Sq-Squall's hurt bad, too," she heard Bartz stammer. Cosmos had attacked Squall's previous injury that the Emperor had inflicted. She remembered Squall slashing across Cosmos, being one of the first to actually wound her.

Sanctuary was beginning to come alive around her. The sounds of more shuffling and splashing reached her ears and forced her to concentrate. She wiped more of the hot, angry tears from her face as a few more of the warriors who were able were peeling themselves off the floor and wandering around.

"Hurry, Kain!" she whispered. She looked around and saw him back and already occupied, administering whatever kind of aid he knew how to give with the items at their disposal to someone she couldn't see. Probably Vaan, since Firion had stopped yelling for her.

"This is crazy . . . " Tifa said.

Rosa looked at the wound again. Three scrapes were thick with scabbing, congealing blood, but the last was still deep, red and angry, and bleeding. Two Potions and that was all that they had accomplished. It was going too slow.

"Tifa, go get those bandages off of Laguna," she ordered, contradicting her earlier assessment of Tifa's injury. With a swallowed sound of pain Tifa climbed to her feet and crawled over to him, searching through each of his pockets.

"Kain! Hi-Potion!" she yelled, and he tossed one to her. "Ether!" It was in her hand. She poured the Potion directly into Cloud's wound, and though it caused the last scratch to close completely, from the looks of it any sort of movement would pull it open again. She drained the Ether for herself in one gulp, but rather than feel the energizing pulse of her magic replenishing, she felt nothing. Cosmos had rendered her completely helpless. Just like the Emperor had when he attacked her so brutally. She would need days to replenish naturally. She still attempted the Curaga spell, and just as before she was only reciting a combination of words. There was no magic that gathered, no warmth in her chest that she could spread. She wiped more of the blood away instead with the fabric she had cut from her cape.

She labored to her feet right as Tifa returned with the bandages. Rosa snatched the roll from her and unwound them skillfully, wrapping a whole yard around her hand before ripping it with ease. She handed the wad to Tifa. "This is for him." She unwound another length, smaller this time and tossed it to her as well. "And this is for your leg. Use as much of the Materia on him as you can. When you're done, bandage his side. Okay?" she nodded, but still the gesture was empty, a token response to being asked a question. "Tifa!" she snapped, startling her enough into blinking and making eye contact. "Wrap it all the way around, okay? Several times. If he wakes up, make sure he stays awake. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

Rosa took the rest of the bandage roll and turned, sprinting as well as she could across the field to where she remembered hearing Firion's voice. On her way she crossed Yuna, standing up from where she had been administering Items to Tidus. He leaned heavily on his sword to stand slowly, and Yuna turned away from him to kneel down next to where the Onion Knight lay. She was likely trying to see if there was anything more for him that could be done, but Rosa noticed she didn't attempt any spells of her own.

Perhaps Cosmos had taken all of her strength as well. A terrible thought crossed her mind that she was grateful she wasn't alone in her uselessness, but she would never make mention of it aloud. She didn't wish this on Yuna or Cecil or anyone.

Kain and Cecil had both wandered over to Firion, Kain carrying a combination of several Potions and Ethers for her. Firion was knelt down next to Vaan, partially blocking her view, but she could already see his pale, waxy, sweat-soaked pallor. As she moved in to view, Cosmos's darts splayed randomly across his chest at different depths, and they danced up and down with each weakening breath. He bled heavily from each of them and from his mouth, the pink stain pooling out from around him and oozing into Sanctuary. His whole body trembled violently, his eyes blinked heavily.

Rosa knelt next to him, heart sinking as she knew the Potions wouldn't be enough. If all of Kain's Items couldn't manage, then she in her weakened state would fare no better. None would, with how badly he was wounded. Kain offered her another Ether but she looked up at him and made eye contact, thinking the words and praying he would hear them.

"I can't." The acknowledgement hurt her even more. Her cheeks grew hot and her breath hitched. "I'm useless." Kain's frown deepened under his helmet. Not in disappointment with her, she knew, probably to disagree with her choice of words. But the motion made her stomach turn and her heart drop like a stone. He nodded, and simply put his hand on her shoulder.

"C-cradle his head," she told Firion. Her voice was growing so small and thick with the coming emotion that she stuttered. Cecil looked up, saw Kain's hand on her shoulder. Saw the look in her eyes and the clench of her jaw, and his bottom lip quivered as he nodded. Vaan was dying. There was nothing else they could do for him. He winced when Firion lifted his head to rest on his lap. She scooped some of Sanctuary's water on her hand and wiped some blood away from his mouth.

"Vaan?" Firion whispered. "Rosa's here."

"Oh," he managed, though it barely reached above a whisper. He turned in her direction but his eyes were quickly dulling. He swallowed thickly, speaking around a bit of blood in his throat. "H-hey, I th-think Zid-Zidane may need s-some help."

She pressed her lips together and nodded, unable to form any more words. He didn't even know what the outcome of the battle was. Zidane was already gone. She had watched him drop at the start of the battle.

"Okay," he said as though she had answered, and whatever acknowledgement he heard allowed him relax back into the water. His trembling eased a bit and his wet, labored breathing didn't seem so strenuous. He turned his head towards her a little more fully. His fingers uncurled, as though to reach out.

"Penelo?"

Rosa grabbed Vaan's hand, meeting Cecil's eye over him. Penelo was the girl Vaan had told her he left behind. He told her that when he, Bartz, and Zidane gave her the star earrings.

"Pen . . . Penelo?"

Rosa felt obligated to say something. Anything to him, to ease his mind. And Cecil, Kain, and Firion were all looking to her. She opened her mouth, but the lump in her throat was too large. She shook her head, tears falling freely, and squeezed his hand instead.

He blearily blinked up at her, weakly squeezing back. He sucked another breath in, hiccuping from his shaking. The rest of his breath left him in a whoosh. His hand relaxed around hers.

A sob left her throat, the only sound she could make to express any kind of response, but she forced herself to stand up and step away from her heartbreak. She didn't try to blink back the tears any longer, but still looked to whomever else was lying in the water. Her eyes locked on Lightning's blurry form, but it looked as though she had already helped herself, working on relocating her shoulder by pressing her body against one of the tall, standing crystals. Only Squall had yet to be assisted, but even he had managed to sit himself up. Rosa limped over to him.

She opened her mouth to try and tell him to hold still, but the words died in her throat and more tears escaped. Still, he understood, complying as she inspected both wounds. The throwing knife wound was surprisingly deep for such a small knife. But it was a clean wound, and the hot weapon actually cauterized it a tiny bit. An easy fix, she thought to herself. Kain had followed after her, with a pile of miscellaneous Items in his arms. She helped him juggle them while she pulled a Potion from the stack and tossed it wordlessly to Squall. He let it land on the ground, bottle making a small splash. Then he grit his teeth and took it in his hand. He lifted it just high enough to pull the cork with his teeth and closed his mouth around it, throwing his head back to swallow the contents in a few huge gulps. He spit the small bottle to the side as the wound smoothly knit closed. He held out his hand for another Potion and Kain obliged, and with his newly healed shoulder he easily lifted it to his lips to heal the other stab wound that Cosmos had inflicted.

She recalled the way she had held the knife to his throat, about to slide the blade across before she had been interrupted and Rosa forced the memories away. Squall tested his motion, shrugging both shoulders and rolling his arms.

"I'm fine," he finally said, though the wound didn't close completely.

So she nodded and lightly bandaged his lacerated shoulder. As soon as she could Rosa looked around, looking for the next person to sit beside and administer the kind of healing that they could administer to themselves. But no one else was dying, or in physical pain that she could see. No one else needed absolutely immediate, life-saving White Magic.

"No one else is alive," she whispered to herself before she could help herself. Except Cecil, she remembered suddenly. He still needed help. She spun, looking for him, remembering his scorched side from Cosmos's beam of light. He was lumbering towards the center of Sanctuary, near Cosmos's throne with Kain and Firion, and they had a limp figure stretched out between them. Cecil's face was turning a shade of white that looked almost ghostly compared to his normal pale complexion. His hair was plastered to his forehead in sweat and his face was twisted in pain. The heavy weight was clearly putting a strain on his wound, and when they lowered the body to the water he couldn't straighten all the way up. He instead clamped both hands to his side and took a moment to breathe.

Kain and Firion knelt over the bundle they had lowered to the water, and she realized they'd been dragging the murdered warriors to lay them next to Warrior. He lay where he fell at the front of the line, the gaping hole in his broken, bloody chest plate the only imperfection on his still form. Someone had closed his eyes, and laid his hands peacefully over his stomach.

He looked small, and defeated. No brilliant aura or calm presence. There were times when people looked peaceful in death, but Warrior in this state only called up feelings of violation and betrayal. His last words had been in defense of Cosmos, the only one still defending her in any capacity. And his last words to Rosa had been him asking to be the one to address their grievances to Cosmos. She couldn't look for very long before she felt the need to be sick, her stomach twisting violently.

They laid Vaan next to him, all the holes and bolts of light and blood a terrible contrast to Warrior. And Laguna was who they had been carrying before she took notice, the bolt's hole in his throat his only wound. She took a step in Cecil's direction and the flare of pain shot through her hip and down her leg. She collapsed with a cry, and it caused her to lose any semblance of emotional control that she had. She screamed, a terrible, harsh, ragged sound that strained in her throat. It wasn't enough to satiate her emotion, so she screamed again. And again, and again.

Suddenly, a presence was around her, surrounding her, and she crumbled into Cecil's embrace as he squeezed her into him so tightly, she felt as though she couldn't breathe until she realized that she was nearly hyperventilating. He rested his cheek against her hair and gently rocked her back and forth, mumbling any kind of consolation that she barely listened to.

She went numb, only able to watch and scream as Bartz carried Zidane over to the line, cradling him with soft reverence, still sobbing bitterly over him. Dead instantly, light snuffed out. As soon as he laid him down he knelt down and tore at his vest, crying harder into his chest. And Rosa cried harder as well, feeling the loss of one of the warriors she respected most in the cycle. A wise friend, a caring friend. A bright light of positivity that she didn't realize how much she appreciated until it was compared with the knowledge that it was gone forever.

Firion brought back the Onion Knight and placed him next to Terra, and Cecil allowed her to cry and scream into his chestplate until she was shaking and exhausted, and the tears refused to come any more. Both their injuries forgotten for the moment, he curled protectively around her, no doubt in pain of his own, but allowed her to stay in his arms until at some point he presented a Potion to her for her wounds. He helped her lift it to her lips, her hands shaking too badly to take it with any kind of dignity, and after sipping weakly at half of it and feeling enough of her wounds close to a degree she was comfortable with, she offered him the other half. He wordlessly attempted to refuse but she must have looked as pathetic as she felt, because he eventually took it and drank the other half.

She half-closed her eyes, weariness washing over her, a distinctly vague feeling washing over every inch of her body.

Chapter Text

" . . . do about the Emperor," Firion said, his dull, emotionless voice fading in to Rosa's ears as she awoke.

"The Emperor?" Cecil replied directly above, his voice thick with tears but still rumbling in his chest and vibrating against her temple and ear. Every breath rose and fell beneath her, giving her the gentle feeling of floating in shallow waves. "What about Cosmos?"

"No. Not Cosmos. The Emperor. The bigger threat."

Cecil was silent for a moment, then sucked in a breath. He hesitated, holding the air, second-guessing his response. Then he let it out quickly in the form of a sigh.

Firion immediately snapped, "Cecil. What can we do to her?"

"Nothing," he affirmed right back. "We can do nothing to Cosmos. She'll go unpunished."

Rosa thought she had expelled all of the emotion out of herself before she fell asleep. The lack of sorrow she felt in the time between when she woke up and when she remembered was a massive relief. But at Cecil's horribly realistic acceptance of defeat her heart sank again and the relief dissipated instantly. The anger and pain and disbelief that had festered in her chest before she slept came rushing back and her heart seemed to physically clench. Her breath hitched despite the fact that no more tears would spill. She had cried as much as her body would allow, but she still masked it by shifting in his grasp and turning into him, burying her face against his chest plate. She prayed they wouldn't know she was awake in case they changed how they discussed what they would do.

Cecil's hand brushed through her hair, drawing a few strands back from her face. He placed his hand between her shoulder blades, supporting her as she curled into him. "We can't do anything to the Emperor either," he said, so softly he could've been talking to himself.

"He's at least the more actionable threat, wouldn't you say?" Firion countered. "We can't even harm Cosmos without risk of harming ourselves."

"The Emperor is no better," Cecil argued. "How can you even say that? He is just as beyond our means as she is with how powerful he's become. We are stuck between the two, and look at us: we're wounded, we're tired. Rosa's exhausted, and all we have to care for ourselves is Items. Thank the gods Warrior made us stockpile as much as we did over the course of the cycles, but there's no way it will be enough for us to mount any sort of offensive or defensive strategy in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe you and I could, with some help, but not right now. We won't even be able to do anything about any other Chaos warrior who decides to come knocking. So . . . no. Neither of them is in reach. Not Cosmos, not the Emperor."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Firion asked, growing irritated. His voice dropped into the lower tones, the gravelly part of his voice. "We can't just sit back and wait for Cosmos to finish what she started. And we can't wait for the Emperor to show up, either."

"I propose nothing. I'm merely pointing out that neither Cosmos nor the Emperor are wise targets at this moment."

"Then you will defer to my judgment," Firion said, "if you've nothing else to offer. Warrior's mantle falls to me."

Rosa couldn't see Cecil's face, but something about his presence, warm and comforting around her, changed. It darkened and he grew cold, and his hand pressed harder into her as he tensed up. Sensing an argument, she lifted her head and stared up at him, placing her hand on the side of his face and angling it down towards her.

"Cecil," she rasped, surprised by how hoarse and airy her voice sounded from the abuse it took when she screamed out her pain. "We shouldn't fight. Not . . . not right now." She looked around and found them in the exact same position she had been in before she fell asleep. Her legs were curled to her side and she was draped across Cecil. He still had one arm across her back, supporting her, and the other clasped around her arm. Extended, like he had held her tight then gradually relaxed as she slept. He lifted her up and she sat next to him, scrubbing at her face. The dried tears left a hardened trail down her cheeks and her eyes still burned slightly.

Cecil wasn't ready to let it go. He turned to her and spoke, but his words addressed Firion. "When we first arrived here, Warrior asked me first if I would take command in his stead should anything happen to him-"

"An offer you refused-" Firion interrupted.

"That doesn't make my knowledge and experience and ability in strategy any less valid than yours."

"No, but it makes my decision the final one."

Rosa inserted herself into the pause created by the finality of Firion's statement. "I thought when you cleared that Gateway in the Realm of Discord was when you were offered second in command," she said, remembering the story that Zidane had told her after she had healed Squall.

"That's when Warrior announced it to the others," Firion defended. "By then, Cecil had already passed on the opportunity to-"

"That's fine. You may do whatever you think is right, Firion. I will respect your efforts to mitigate the damage done today as much as you can. But I will have you understand that it is foolish to think we are better off in one scenario over the other when our list of disadvantages is extensive. And if you act without considering that deeply then you are unfit for Warrior's mantle."

The remark was so bitter and insensitive that it caught Rosa off-guard. She spent a second comprehending his words and the weight behind them, shocked that he would even begin to draw a comparison between Firion and Warrior with the wounds so fresh. She opened her mouth to scold him, but Squall beat her to it.

"You guys are being stupid," he grumbled. That was all he said, but it was enough to force Cecil and Firion into uncomfortable silence. She imagined Sanctuary had been still while she slept, but it was the loud, roaring kind of silence that demanded to be filled. The weight of it bore down on her and for a moment it seemed too heavy and suppressing to bear, but breaking it with something trivial felt insensitive and unnecessary to her. She also lacked the energy to bring up anything important enough to warrant a response. The hollowness of her emotions ached but she endured it, working on massaging out her sore shoulder. It was the only kind of care she had strength enough to offer.

" . . . What's your input, then?" Firion finally asked Squall, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword and the other on his hip, squaring up for another confrontation.

Squall met his eyes and shrugged, then averted his gaze and shambled a few feet away, turning his back to the conversation. Firion sighed.

"I- . . . I just . . . I don't know what to do, alright?" Firion's soft voice broke. He raised his hands and covered his face, letting out a growl of frustration into his palms. When he pulled his hands away his eyes were rimmed with red and welled up with tears. The imitation of Warrior's cool and professional exterior crumbled, and Rosa saw underneath the passionate, excitable and hot-blooded fighter that Firion was. He lowered his head, shaking it softly. "Warrior tried to prepare me," he said. He pointed in the direction of where Warrior lay. "He tried to show me real strategy, instead of just issuing me orders and telling me why, and I . . . " Some of the words were lost, the lack of power behind his voice allowing only air to pass through his tense throat. "Who to choose for missions and why . . . Our strengths and weaknesses, and . . . how to organize around a few deaths, maybe three. Not . . . not a decimation."

Firion reached over his shoulder and slid the long spear from his back. He whirled around and launched it across Sanctuary with a wrenching cry of rage that tore his throat further. Then he fell to his knees where he was and curled forward, resting his elbows on his knees so he could bury his face behind his hands again and cry freely.

Like when Vaan was breathing his last, Rosa couldn't conjure up the words that she knew would do Firion's pain justice. She felt the same when all she could do was scream out her emotion. But Cecil was there and suddenly he was holding her and from what her hazy, shock-addled mind remembered it was distantly comforting to not grieve alone. She raised herself to her feet and took a few steps towards him to offer some kind of support but to her surprise Lightning appeared there. Always hovering on the edge of the conversation but ready for action if need be, she was there to place an awkward hand on his shoulder. Her lips flattened into a grim display of understanding and she raised her chin in Rosa's direction as though to say, 'I've got this.' She didn't look at Firion. She kept her gaze on the horizon instead, alert to any threats, and Rosa noticed the very beginnings of dark circles under her eyes, indicating she hadn't rested since the end of the battle.

"How do I even- . . . I don't know what else to do," he said again, curling tighter.

Rosa trailed forward and knelt down next to him. She still couldn't summon any tears, but she placed one hand on his back and the other on his shoulder, tugging on him until he was leaning in to her. By then the others in Sanctuary had also wandered over - the others who were left and were able. Rosa counted them off in her head, resting eyes on each of them as though to reaffirm their presence in her mind. Firion, Lightning, Cecil and Kain, Yuna, Bartz, Tidus, Tifa, Squall, and Cloud, still resting in the water. Six dead and one severely wounded. Eleven left out of seventeen, but only ten were standing. A few more minutes of battle, or one more warrior felled, and Cosmos would have cut down half of them.

" . . . What happens when a person dies in this world?" Rosa asked. She could see the forms of the fallen laid out near the throne in the corner of her eye, but she deliberately averted her gaze, too afraid that it would re-open her precariously-closed emotional wounds. "I . . . know now what happens. But has anyone seen it? Is it . . . painful? Having Shinryu take your memories?"

"No idea," Bartz mumbled. "I know it happened to me last cycle into this one, but . . . I can't remember a thing."

"Hm," she hummed. "Neither can I. All of my memories have returned from before this world, but I can't recall anything immediately before waking up here. Not that the cycle matters anymore. Before our battle with her, Cosmos drained from us the shards of her power she had bestowed. She took all of the power we would need to satiate Shinryu."

"Right," Lightning said, withdrawing her hand from Firion's shoulder so she could cross her arms. "We can forget the cycle. Before Cosmos revived Warrior, she was hysterical because she thought he was gone for good after the Emperor's Drain spells. And when the Onion Knight asked if he would be revived, she didn't answer."

The profound emptiness and the aching chill she felt after Cosmos had reached into her chest and ripped the power away from her very essence confirmed it. The fallen wouldn't be back. All along she had treated every single battle or encounter as though it would be her last, not knowing any different. She could tell from the extra layers of shock in each of their reactions that the sense of security they had garnered from the underlying knowledge it wouldn't necessarily be the end had been utterly shattered, and not only were they dealing with their grief but also the crushing fear that the safety net had been cut.

"Everyone find solace in the fact that we could never have predicted or prevented this betrayal," Kain added matter-of-factly. "There was nothing we could've done. There were no signs of her true intentions, and even if we'd have known, there was nothing we could've done. Do not deepen your grief with thoughts of regret."

There was a harsh hissing sound that ripped through Sanctuary's stillness then. A horrible but familiar sound of rushing air that cut through Rosa's entire body. Her spine stiffened and she whirled around to face where the sound came from on impulse, but in the exhaustion of her heart she didn't move to try and defend herself. She didn't try to call her bow, or the staff she knew was useless without any magic power. In the back of her mind she could only sigh, already understanding that they wouldn't withstand any kind of attack. Others around her were more reactive. Cecil and Kain drew their weapons and stepped between Rosa and the threat side-by-side, but when the incredibly deep, gravely voice echoed out over the still waves she leaned to the side and peered into the space between the two of them.

"Cosmos!" Golbez yelled. "Cosmos!" His helmet swiveled left to right, staring right over the top of the still-standing warriors as he looked for her. He ignored them completely, looking to speak directly to the goddess."The Emperor is moving!" Golbez floated quickly past them towards the throne, not even offering Cecil or Kain a greeting. "The Emperor is prowling the world right now and attacki-" Golbez's eyes locked on to the still forms lying in the water. On Warrior, hands resting on his stomach. On Zidane, Vaan, the Onion Knight, Laguna, and Terra.

He gasped, and his crossed arms dropped limp to his sides. He had been leaning forward, gliding with speed, but at the sight of them he recoiled, straightening up and even leaning back slightly. He slowed to a grinding halt, and in his shock he lost concentration on his magic. He dropped like a stone, feet slamming to the ground in his heavy armor. There was a loud clank and the ground shook, and he stumbled forward one step before he caught himself.

" . . . What is this?" he asked, finally turning back to face them.

Rosa opened her mouth to reply, then decided she didn't want to be the one to say it. She didn't want to be the one to fully quantify the damage that Cosmos had done to them. She instead looked up at Cecil, but he was facing Golbez, not looking at her. No one else spoke up either.

"What is this? What happened here?" Golbez asked again.

"What news do you have of the Emperor?" Firion asked instead of replying. He sniffled thickly, wiping at his red, puffy eyes. "Where is he?"

"Ah . . . " Golbez stammered. "The . . . Ah, The Emperor is . . . attacking fellow Chaos warriors now. He is . . . what did he do to you?" The silence continued, as though he asked it rhetorically. Rosa supposed he did. The evidence of their misery was laid out before him in the water. Nobody moved to correct his assumption, either. If only it had been the Emperor, Rosa thought miserably. She wouldn't still wish her fellow warriors dead but at least the sting of betrayal wouldn't be an added pain.

Golbez reached up slowly, grasping at the sides of his helmet underneath the horns. He tugged the helmet free, and the long, wild silver hair that had been tucked up inside spilled out around his shoulders. Rosa saw the resemblance to Cecil immediately, knowing that she had seen it before but still taken for a moment by how similar they were. They both had pale, almost silvery complexions, with high, sharp cheekbones. But she noticed that Golbez's brow bone was stronger and more pronounced. It gave him a more rugged, almost brutish hood to his eyes and a constant furrow to his brows. Both he and Cecil had the same contour to their sharp noses and the same down-turned shape of their lips, but while Cecil's slender face seemed to soften his features, the square shape of Golbez's jaw made him look brooding and unapproachable under normal circumstances.

Rosa noted the way his eyes widened, the flare of his nose under his shortening breath, the curve of the wrinkles on his forehead above a look of pity. His whole face, visible and working together to show a range of pain and emotion she'd rarely seen.

" . . . I'm so, so sorry," he sighed, shaking his head emphatically. "I had no idea he was coming here first. I would've warned you had I known. And what of Cosmos?" he asked, sullenly. "She fled, I presume?"

" . . . "

The silence pressed down on Rosa's shoulders, forcing her gaze to the water and forcing her to inch closer to Firion. Anything to avoid having to answer him but also anything to break the silence. Golbez looked from person to person, and even his furrowed look of pity dropped into something more fearful. Dreading the answer they were refusing to give. Rosa prayed he would either let it go or the realization would come to him soon.

"What is going on? Where is Cosmos?" he asked more forcefully, leaning forward as the edges of panic seeped into his body language.

Kain cleared his throat, tilting his head to the side for a moment, visibly preparing to deliver the news. "We've been betrayed. The Emperor didn't do this. She did."

A single, booming but emotionless chuckle forced its way from between Golbez's lips. "That's absurd."

"It's true," Cecil said. "Brother, it's true." He nodded slowly, pressing his sincerity upon Golbez.

Golbez paused, staring hard at Cecil and looking for any signs of deceit. His face slowly fell again into one of anger, as though indignant that Cecil would dare make up such a thing. He must have realized just as quickly that lying wasn't in Cecil's character, because his anger melted away. " . . . But why?" he hissed, shaking his head harder. "That's absurd!" he said again. "Why in the world would she do this? What could possibly drive her to treachery?"

"We may have . . . threatened her?" Cecil raised the end of the sentence into a question, turning glancing over his shoulder at the others for confirmation. Golbez's gaze flicked over Cecil's shoulder to the others.

"No!" Bartz snapped, almost growling it in a low part of his voice, lacking his normal pep. "She felt threatened. We didn't threaten her."

"I don't understand," Golbez said.

"Cosmos, Warrior, and Cecil all went after the Emperor. Y'know, after you warned her not to?" Bartz continued. "Good call. Shoulda listened. Anyway, he . . . killed Warrior, captured Cecil, and fled. He took him to Pandaemonium. So that was problem number one. Problem number two was that Cosmos refused to help Rosa and the others heal some of us on the grounds that she was too weak. Well, she suddenly had plenty of power and healed Warrior to full health. Restored his crystal shard and everything. You can understand why that made us a little mad. Not at Warrior, just . . . Mad. She obviously lied to us this whole time about losing her powers."

Golbez remained silent. Whether enthralled by the tale or too stunned to speak, his massive, armored shoulders heaved with his deep breaths.

"We all went and rescued Cecil - what else were we gonna do? And Cosmos gave us her blessing. A little weird considering she had just been bested by the warrior we were going to confront. Whatever, though, right? So we went to Pandaemonium. He released Cecil without a fight but before he did he told us some stuff about the cycles and about Cosmos that just-"

Bartz cut off abruptly. His hands clenched at his sides into fists and he let out a dry chuckle, the corners of his mouth pulling into a humorless smile as he shook his head.

"What did he tell you?"

"Oh, he just . . . said that this was the second whole series of cycles." Bartz kicked a bit of the water. "Turns out there were thirteen cycles before these last five."

"He lies-"

"Not this time, buddy. So there were actually thirteen cycles in the first series. Cosmos gave us pieces of her power in the 12th cycle, and we used them in the 13th. We used the crystals, beat Chaos and all his warriors - sorry - and the power was strong enough to send us home. You can also probably guess that the fact that we're back here didn't really sit well."

"What proof does he have of any of that?"

"Cosmos admitted it," Lightning said. "Don't think we took him for his word."

"She admitted," Golbez said slowly, turning his head to the side to eye them skeptically, "to there being more cycles before the last four?"

"She did," Cecil said. "Apparently the crystals broke . . . some kind of continuity if you can't remember the first series either, but it doesn't matter. Because she then admitted to bringing us back here to the cycles after sending us home."

"It was power enough to send you home, but not power enough to stop the cycles," Golbez interpreted, the understanding sinking into him. "There would've been no way for Cosmos to fight the next cycle on her own. And all of Chaos's warriors would've been Purified. So she brought you back by calling out to the crystals."

"Yeah," Bartz said. "So the Emperor gave Cecil back, and we decided to confront her and get answers. And like Lightning said, she confirmed everything: the old cycles, the crystals, everything. We were pretty upset. We were ready to attack her but Warrior stopped us. All he did was ask her why we were here, tell her that she really didn't need us, and since she didn't need us he asked her to send us home again. Including him. She didn't like that, and really didn't like Warrior mentioning the fact that he also wanted to go. And she struck him down first. She said that if we wouldn't fight for her then she would have us Purified, so she could restart."

Golbez turned and looked at Warrior's form, the water gently buffeting the ends of his hair around his head. "And so you fought."

"We did," Rosa said. "She struck many of us down, and then we fought until she fled. We have no idea where she is now."

" . . . I truly am sorry," Golbez said again. "I would never have expected this kind of deceit from her. Or this kind of reaction. That is . . . disturbing. And her actions atrocious. I mourn your friends with you." Golbez bowed his head, holding his helmet in one hand and pressing the other over his heart. "I wish them a swift recovery and a fast regaining of their memories when they return."

The realization crashed down on her, and her eyes welled up with he tears that she thought long dried.

"That's not possible anymore," Cecil said. "Cosmos took back the power that she originally bestowed-"

Golbez whirled around. "She did what?!"

"She took away our chances to return with the cycle if we fall," Cecil said quickly. "But you could help us!" he blurted out, desperate to move past Golbez's acknowledgment of how dire their situation was without the ability to return to the cycle. Golbez blinked in response, the whiplash of Cecil's new information and his plea causing him to hesitate. "Please," Cecil said, "We are defenseless right now. We have no power left, no strategy. We're weak and tired and wounded. I know the Emperor is probably on his way here now, but . . . if you could at least, I don't know, divert the other Chaos warriors away from Sanctuary for right now, it could help us."

Golbez let out a short sigh, shaking his head. "I doubt that any Chaos warriors are concerned with you at the moment, if it is any consolation. The intelligence I intended to present to- . . . that I intended to present," he corrected, not even able to say Cosmos's name as he worked through what it was he was feeling, "was that the Emperor is attacking my comrades. He has yet to fell anyone, but the Cloud of Darkness and Jecht were both targeted."

Tidus perked up at the mention of Jecht, but Golbez immediately addressed him. "Both were able to flee. I haven't a clue where Kefka, Exdeath, and Ultimecia are, but if their actions thus far are any clue, they are riding the Emperor's coattails. Sephiroth and Kuja have both made themselves scarce in their own ways, and Garland defends Chaos."

"Why doesn't Chaos just destroy him now?" Tidus asked. "I thought he didn't let you guys attack each other. That would be enough for me if I was the one who made the rule."

"It is Chaos's method, I suppose. He cares little for us, so he cares not whom the Emperor harms in the process. He will instead bide his time and let the Emperor come to him. Then he'll unleash the full extent of his might to overwhelm and destroy. I think he knows how strong the Emperor is, and plans to absorb whatever power the Emperor took unto himself."

"Chaos still believes that he can defeat the Emperor? Even with how strong the Emperor has grown?" Cecil asked.

"I can only speculate. But he must believe that."

"If he's attacking you, what will you do, then?" Cecil asked. "Cosmos is gone, and we can offer you no sanctuary this time." He had already abandoned his plea to Golbez for assistance. He was unwilling to burden Golbez with the added pressure of caring for them if he had his own struggles. Instead he was offering as much help as he could give despite their situation.

"I will take my chances," Golbez said, meeting his eyes. He sounded confident, and he straightened himself to full height. Rosa stared hard at his face, looking for any sign that he was as terrified of encountering the Emperor as they were, but she couldn't find any indicators that he was bluffing. "I am low on the Emperor's list if his priorities are straight, and I plan to make myself scarce as well after the meeting that Chaos recently called to discuss the Emperor and what I assume is our next orders."

"You're going to report this to him, aren't you?" Kain asked, crossing his arms. "Cosmos's betrayal, and that almost half of us are gone?"

" . . . Chaos is uniquely in tune with Cosmos. I would be surprised if he did not already know that something happened here. Perhaps not the details, but something nonetheless. I will tell you that I impart only what he asks of me, and nothing more. If he does not press for details, I do not volunteer them. And what will you do in the meantime?"

Despite their earlier argument, Cecil still deferred to the chain of command and turned to look at Firion, still kneeling on the ground. Firion took a deep breath and wiped at his eyes. " . . . Rest. Regroup, and prepare as much as we can to mount any kind of defense."

"Will you stay here? This would be the first place Cosmos would return to."

"If she's smart, she'll stay away," Lightning said darkly. "She can probably kick our ass, but we won't make it easy for her."

"It's the same for the Emperor, I suppose," Rosa said. "We will heal as much as we can in the meantime, and if he decides to come, I doubt there's anything we can do about it but fight our hardest and . . . "

Perish was the first word that she thought of, but she would never have said that out loud. Instead she let the sentence go where she left it, and nobody pressed her to complete it.

"That's what I meant earlier," Firion said. "We need to do something, and I'd rather take action against him than against her."

"If you'd like," Golbez offered. "I can ask-" He cut off abruptly, eyes flickering over their heads as he thought through whatever it was he was about to mention. The spark of an idea flared in his dark eyes, and this time Rosa caught the smallest inklings that he wasn't going to tell them the entire truth of what he was thinking. "No. If you'd like, I can allow you some more time to save your strength. What supplies do you need? Items? Weapons? I can gather those things for you. If I'm not mistaken, many Moogles surround the Plains of Cornelia. I could eliminate your need to leave, so you could mount defenses around Sanctuary. It also keeps you out of the Emperor's way for now, until he decides to make his way into Cosmos's domain."

"We're set on Items," Cecil said. "And I believe everyone's weapons are still in tact. If there are any other defenses you can place outside of Sanctuary that would help immensely. Either to alert us to anyone's presence or to give us time."

"I will do what I can," Golbez said. He reached up and placed the helmet back on his head, then took one more look at the forms of the fallen. He took the edge of his cape in his hand and whirled it around, and with a metallic hissing sound, he was gone.

Chapter Text

At least it wasn't Cecil.

Or Rosa, or Kain.

A superficial sympathy weighed briefly on Golbez's heart for those who had fallen, but it refused to take any deeper root than that. It was cruel, insensitive, and entirely selfish, but his relief for Cecil, Rosa, and Kain overshadowed any kind of grief he could muster to mourn the others. He instead redirected his attention to assisting the survivors, as he said he would. It temporarily eased the growing mote of pessimism lingering in the back of his mind that told him even though they had survived Cosmos's attack for the time being, any other threat could just as easily waltz through Sanctuary and destroy them with minimal effort.

He dismissed those thoughts and left Sanctuary, first teleporting East of the pillar to Pravoca. Cosmos once told him that Pravoca was still within the edges of her power and immediate influence over her lands. Now, with her and her protections gone, it was only as far away from Sanctuary as he felt safe to be alone. He swept West across Cornelia to the Western Keep, surveying the land and making a genuine effort to come up with some kind of strategy. Some way that he could not only stay close enough to trigger his Binding Cold on a foe, but also remain at a safe distance. Unfortunately, it became clear very quickly that he could do little to directly help them. The layout of the land simply wasn't advantageous to his magic.

He instead returned to the Plains of Cornelia at the base of Sanctuary and called Barbariccia, tasking her with keeping a perimeter around the pillar. She did not appreciate her new post.

"Hhhh Awwww, whyyy," she whined with a pout, the breath of the wind whispering at the front edges of her voice, "You would reduce me to guard duty?-"

"You are under no obligation to obey me at any time, Barbariccia," he argued, hoping to cut off any further protests. "I refuse to imprison you in my employ. If you do not like the tasks that I set for you then you are free to leave me, as your brethren did." He gestured to the empty Cornelia plains around them, inviting her to simply walk away if she wanted to.

He knew Barbariccia would choose to stay at his side. She fancied him for one reason or another, and she had even stayed after the other Archfiends went their own ways. She took a huge breath in and let out a long, dramatic sigh, her disgust manifesting as a rogue breeze that picked up the ends his cape, but she didn't argue any further.

He acknowledged her choice with a grateful bow of his head. "Circle the pillar," he said, spinning around to point out her path that arced slightly behind them then around Melmond. He spun and traced out the Snowfields and Mount Gulg to the Southeast. "Go around and only as far East as the volcano, then turn North from there and come back," he continued, circling around to the path on their right. "Stay within visible range of Order's Sanctuary at all times. If you should encounter anyone outside of my brother and his companions, then you are to engage and destroy them."

"Yes, Master Golbez," she offered half-heartedly. "For how long? What am I to do if nobody comes? Am I to return to you?"

"You will perform this task until I retrieve you."

A low whine whispered in the breeze. She rolled her eyes so far back he saw the whites of them, and the ends of her wild hair brushed against the ground as her head rolled back as well. Without a word she turned and drifted slowly towards Melmond, head down and shoulders slumped. She looked back over her shoulder at him - once, twice - as though hoping he would change his mind, but he only waved her on. He watched her for a moment, just to ensure she would perform the task, then sent one last silent plea into the world to the other Archfiends.

"Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, and Rubicante - I pray that you hear me. If there are any traces of your loyalty to me left within you, I command that you act upon it now. Come to my aid, as you did so long ago, and offer me your service. If you would accept, seek out Barbariccia. She will inform you of my task."

He left it at that, more than certain they wouldn't hear him, let alone come to his aid.

Beyond that, Golbez knew that he couldn't directly help them.

It wasn't a matter of his skill. He considered himself an excellent Black Mage and was more than confident in his abilities. It was instead a matter of application of that skill. He found himself most useful in the middle of a battle, where the projectiles and explosions he created worked to both heavily damage and deter opponents. His skills did not lie in overhead battlefield manipulations. He had no traps or triggered magics like the Emperor, and all of his snares and attacks required both his concentration and a somewhat close range. He could provide neither while outrunning the Emperor.

He was terrified for Cosmos's surviving warriors, especially those most familiar to him. They were surrounded on all sides by different foes, and every step he could imagine them taking felt like the wrong one. He was more than sure they weren't a match for Cosmos if she returned, and even if they went after her it would only spell their own downfall. They were no match for the Emperor, and if they attacked the other Chaos warriors they would weaken the only being who could contend with the Emperor: Chaos.

Dread wormed its way into the forefront of Golbez's mind again, and it forced his chest to tighten. His heart dropped into his stomach and beat rapidly, hammering against the inside of his armor. They were in dire straits, and he could do nothing. Every second that he spent not assisting felt like a waste. Every chance he allowed other Chaos warriors to attack them was a direct contribution to their suffering. A combination of panic for their danger and the lamentation of his ineffectiveness boiled inside of him, making him feel sick to his stomach.

It reminded him of events in his childhood that he'd rather forget - events surrounding the death of his and Cecil's father. There in Sanctuary, in the midst of his shock, the horrid memories surged within him and he felt the urge to flee all over again. Flee just as he did when his father was wounded and dying in his arms and he lacked the White Magic to heal him. Golbez resisted the urge to teleport away from them and from the memories and from the responsibility of helping that he knew in his heart was right to take on.

But then he looked at Cecil.

Cecil and Rosa, and Kain. He saw the pain in their eyes. They looked so pathetic and defeated that he couldn't fathom breaking their spirits any further than they had already been broken. It twisted his soul inside of him and despite the reality of his skills and the knowledge they wouldn't help, he forced himself to offer his assistance. Despite the fact that he could think of only one thing that would assist them in a way that mattered, and it didn't involve him directly, he offered.

He could never have told them what he planned to do ahead of time. They would never have accepted it under any circumstances, even those as desperate as the set they found themselves in now. So he kept it to himself. Lying brought him no joy, but he never considered lying by omission to be the same offense as lying outright. It was less direct, less conscionable, less severe of a sin. It was how he skirted Chaos's punishments despite being a known traitor: provide only what was asked of him and nothing more. It feigned compliance, and when Cosmos's warriors didn't ask him to elaborate on his slip of the tongue, he was relieved.

As soon as he accepted that there was nothing else that he could do, he left for the Edge of Madness to take part in Chaos's meeting.

Stepping into the violence of the Realm of Discord after leaving Sanctuary's peace could be described as nothing more than an affront to the senses. The first and most ruthless aspect was the sweltering heat. As soon as he took physical form in the world Golbez's throat and eyes dried and burned, and he immediately began to sweat. He could feel it radiating into his black armor, self-insulating and unrelenting, growing more and more uncomfortable the longer he remained. The air was thick and smothering, choked with the remnants of volcanic ash that constantly spewed into the air. Drawing breath was slow and difficult, and the sulfurous smell made it no easier to bear. It irritated deep in the throat and lungs in a way that caused a cough if one were to linger long enough. The Realm of Discord roared with volcanic activity at all times, causing a perpetual din loud enough to make his ears ring when he left for quieter fronts. The ground shook and cracked, lava pooled and bubbled in different parts of he world, and the snapping of ever-crackling flames echoed over the rocks and jagged peaks.

The Edge of Madness itself, deep inside of a Gateway embedded in the side of another volcano, maintained both the heat and the loud, droning noises of the world outside. But as an added, unsettling detail, fiery rocks rained down from the infinite, boiling skies and the black clouds that covered it. The faint outline of giant, rusted, chipped blades stuck out of the ground at different angles, looking like discarded props rather than usable items. He himself had never seen Chaos use them, but Garland once told him that Chaos could grow into his true form and lift them as easily as if they were feathers.

Golbez was one of the last to arrive for Chaos's meeting. He teleported in and was instantly greeted by the scowling faces of some of his companions, but rather than indulge them he looked instead to the figure sitting on the ground off to the side. Jecht sat with his back resting against the invisible barrier that closed them in, teeth bared in a grimace as he nursed a few bruises and many deep cuts, some still bleeding. And, Golbez noted, a few patches of heavily burnt skin on his chest and exposed shoulder, marring the tattoo he proudly displayed. He looked as though he had attempted to battle the Emperor, but after taking a few hard and unexpected hits he fled.

"No worse for wear, I hope," Golbez said as he approached, and Jecht smirked.

"You should see the other guy," he grumbled weakly, but it lacked the fire he normally possessed. He was likely in worse pain than he wanted to show. "Nah, I'm fine. Figured I could take the Emperor no problem, but didn't expect 'im to hit so dang hard!"

"He is using power stolen from several of Cosmos's warriors."

"Is that what it is?" At Golbez's nod, he sighed and lay his head back against the barrier. "Bit of a cheap trick, ain't it - Wait," he interrupted himself and his eyes widened. He lifted his head and stared hard at Golbez. "Which warriors?"

"Your son has been spared thus far, and Lady Yuna," Golbez told him, and Jecht let out a deep breath. "Do you care to know about the others?"

"Not really, to be honest." Jecht lowered his head again and gingerly shifted his back against the barrier with a low groan. "Knew something was different. If it was just muscle alone, I would've come out on top, but . . . " He reached up, scratching at the back of his head and wincing when it pulled on some of the injured skin. "Gotta admit, he cleaned my clock."

Golbez retrieved a Potion from his armor and offered it to Jecht, who immediately tried to reject it. He shook his head and refused to take it from Golbez, even as he placed it on the ground next to him. "Come on, man. Don't do that. I'll be fine - I don't need your pity." He picked it up and tossed it back, and Golbez caught it with his magic.

"It is not pity," Golbez insisted. "If you do not take it, then another will." He bent over Jecht and held it out to him again, whispering, "And I do not want them to have it."

Jecht paused, failing to come up with a decent rebuttal. After a moment he grinned, then shrugged. "Well I'd hate to go against your wishes." He took it from Golbez, and he turned to the Cloud of Darkness, the other warrior that the Emperor targeted. She looked undamaged, floating easily above the ground with her normal stony expression, but her tendril-like snakes jerked and hissed in a way that revealed her agitation. Even her wispy hair that haloed around her head whipped with an unusual irritation. She regarded him coldly when he approached.

"And how do you fare?" he asked her.

In response, one of the snakes, the one with no eyes, snapped in his direction. "Pester us not with your misplaced concern, soft-hearted fool."

"Has your encounter with the Emperor not rattled you? You appeared shaken when last we spoke," he noted.

"Impossible. We are incapable of fear," she said simply. To drive the point home, she gently floated a few feet away from him and turned her back.

He sighed, content to leave it at that, but the sound of heavy footfalls clanked behind him and shook the ground. They drew closer and closer and stopped directly behind him. The presence loomed there, prickling at the back of his neck and casting a shadow over his back. Since there was only one other warrior who stood as tall as him, he knew immediately who it was. He hadn't come face to face with Exdeath since he fled with Rosa in his arms, strategically avoiding the punishment he knew was coming. Safe for the time being in Chaos's presence, Golbez turned around.

"If you thought you had escaped me, you thought wrong," Exdeath said, leaning forward into Golbez's space. Golbez resisted the urge to back away out of discomfort rather than fear.

"Not at all," Golbez refuted politely, hoping to get a few of his own jabs in. "One as simple-minded as you would never give up so easily."

"Feckless insults from a coward." A pair of clawed hands, one painted white and the other covered by a garishly yellow glove, slid on top of Exdeath's shoulders. The long fingers attached to the hands flexed, clamping down, and Kefka popped up behind Exdeath, eyes roving back and forth in a display that entirely ruined the effect of Exdeath's wrath. He spotted Golbez, and the crazed smile under his painted purple one spread across his cheeks, making it look grotesquely wide. He waved, arm shooting into Exdeath's periphery, and Exdeath growled. He swatted behind him and forced Kefka to duck back down, then tried to continue as though the clown wasn't bothering him.

"Continue to scuttle away like the insect that you are. Flee as long and as hard as you are able," Exdeath said. "Very soon, either the Emperor will finally crush you, or I will." Exdeath brought his hands together and squeezed, like he was already wringing Golbez's neck. "No matter which of us it is, you are not long for this world, and your demise will bring me satisfaction. . . . Hm," he grumbled. "I have half a mind to sic the Emperor on you and simply watch."

It was Exdeath's proud display of his own lack of foresight that made him so entertaining to watch. Golbez laughed, finally allowing him the opportunity to step back and put some distance between them. "Allow me to explain to you how halfwitted of an idea that is: your flagrant arrogance guarantees that you believe yourself more powerful than me. Regardless of if there's any truth to that assumption, you know the Emperor's plan - to steal others' powers for his own. So who, between the two of us, do you think he will target first? The one who claims to possess more power than the other, who willingly makes himself available for attack like a lamb to the slaughter? Or the one he has to chase down, for what is perceived to be a lesser reward?"

Exdeath didn't answer, but Golbez noted his fists clenching at his sides and he knew he scored another point in their game of verbal chess. Though he still had to bear the news of Cosmos's treachery to Chaos in their presence, it brought him the smallest comfort that the Emperor appeared to be the only true mastermind of their group, and the only true threat. "It is your shortsightedness in your pursuit of me that could very well be the end of you. Tread just as carefully as me, Exdeath, especially around the Emperor. Or you may suddenly find yourself not long for this world, either."

A loud, "HA!" cackled from behind him, and Exdeath took a breath with such rage behind it that it trembled. Golbez chose to take his win with dignity and turned away, intending to find better company. Unfortunately, he met eyes with Ultimecia first. She had moved off to the opposite side of the Edge of Madness as Jecht for a better view of his and Exdeath's exchange, and she stood with her arms loosely crossed, the corners of her lips upturned and one eyebrow raised.

"Don't mind me," she intoned softly with a smug roll of her shoulders. "I'm just enjoying the show."

"I apologize for disappointing you," he said, waving her off, "but I am by no means the best performer here. Look elsewhere for your entertainment."

That small, pessimistic streak that he tended to possess reared its head at that moment, and a thought flashed across his mind that she'd have more than enough entertainment in a moment after he revealed what he knew. The reminder was a punch to his gut, and his stomach turned inside of him. A wave of the oppressive heat washed over him, beads of sweat pouring down his face and down his neck, making him shudder at the sensation. He briefly considered removing his helmet to offer some relief, but he realized he didn't want anyone reading the panic on his face or the pity in his heart. He didn't want them guessing that he had anything shocking to share before he shared it in the way that he wanted.

He wanted some peace before he would be forced to talk to Chaos, so he sought out Sephiroth, intending to stand next to him in the silence. It was guaranteed that Sephiroth wouldn't speak to him, and Golbez desired the chance to muster his courage. He wanted to gather the proper verbiage he would need to both convey that Cosmos had gone rogue, as well as downplay the severity of Cosmos's warriors' situation. Sephiroth stood near the back of the Edge of Madness, to the side of the steps that climbed up to their platform. As Golbez crossed the floor again he chanced a glance out of the corner of the slit in his helmet to Chaos on the throne.

Garland was half-hunched over him, one arm braced against the armrest and the other clenching his heavy greatsword. He leaned down and whispered to Chaos, his head occasionally turning to survey the warriors around him, careful in case they drew too close. Chaos looked as though he couldn't have cared less what Garland said, and with a jolt to his nerves Golbez realized he was staring directly at him. The top pair of his hands were clasped, fingers interlaced, and his pointer fingers tapped together deep in thought, but his eyes were vibrant and piercing, cutting through Golbez's armor like a knife through flesh. He shuddered before he could help himself and averted his gaze. Chaos no doubt had witnessed everything that happened between him and Exdeath, though Golbez knew he couldn't have cared less. As long as they didn't come to blows, he would let them quarrel into eternity. The rest of Chaos's body was draped casually in the throne, with his long tail spilling over the arm rest. The bottom set of his arms were tapping their own rhythm on the stone.

Sephiroth made room for him when he approached, and Golbez placed himself there between him and Kuja. That left Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath on one side of the Edge of Madness, and Sephiroth, Kuja, Jecht and him on the other, staring across the divide. It was a near-perfect recreation of their ranks during the civil war that raged between them in the first cycle - no, he corrected, the first cycle of the series, if the Emperor was to be believed. The only combatants that were missing in their current set up was Garland, in the middle next to Chaos this time as opposed to standing across from his fellow warriors.

Kuja let Golbez settle in, then eventually he leaned in and half-whispered, "What of the others?"

"What?" he almost groaned, upset by the lack of silence that he craved.

"You told Jecht that the Emperor was stealing power from other warriors of Cosmos, but Jecht didn't ask who. I was wondering who the others were."

Kuja was attempting to ask about Zidane without coming right out with it. Zidane, who was felled not by the Emperor and his Drain spells, but by Cosmos herself. Was it worth giving Kuja relief over the Emperor's doings, only to possibly upset him later? His stomach twisted again and he winced inside his helmet, but he knew he could buy himself some time if he left some details out.

" . . . It . . . The Emperor did not damage Zidane," Golbez said, placing a heavy emphasis on the name.

Kuja's eyes narrowed and he tossed his thick, lavender-purple hair over his shoulder with a loud, "Hmph! I was not necessarily asking about Zidane." He said it with enough passion to sound convincing, but he still had missed Golbez's hint. He stuck his nose in the air and crossed his arms, feigning disinterest. "It matters not to me anyway! I was merely curious."

"Unfortunately," Golbez said, finally deciding to ease Kuja into the news considering they all would know shortly, "there is another tragedy affecting Cosmos's warriors that I bear news of."

That made Kuja's head turn back towards him. "'Tragedy'," he repeated, the beginnings of concern setting into his falling features. "Those were always my favorite to perform," he added, but the dramatic flair was gone and his voice flat. "What manner of tragedy?"

"I am about to share that information with Chaos. I'd prefer to only say it once."

Kuja took offense to being denied the information. "I'll find out shortly," he sneered.

"I am sorry," Golbez offered. On the surface it was an apology for withholding the information, but after he revealed what he knew Kuja could interpret it as sympathy. "The tidings I bear are not-"

"Golbez!" Chaos suddenly boomed, his voice echoing over the Edge of Madness. Immediately, all conversation halted and a dead silence filled the space between the boiling of lava and the crash of meteor rocks. He had desired it a moment ago. Now it loomed in front of him, threatening to crush him in it. "Step forward," Chaos said, pointing to the floor directly in front of himself.

A jolt shot down Golbez's spine and his legs moved before his mind caught up, stepping into the middle of the Edge of Madness to stand before Chaos, Garland, and the throne. He obediently dropped to one knee, thankful for the clank of his armor that filled the silence.

"What news?" Chaos asked.

"Lord Chaos. I bring devas- . . . " He had lost his chance to organize his thoughts or his words. He had been about to describe it as 'devastating'. But to whom? Surely not to Chaos, who could only enjoy the suffering of Cosmos's warriors at his most compassionate moment. Chaos waited patiently, like he already knew the answer but was waiting for Golbez's narrative embellishments. "I bring news of . . . an accident involving Cosmos's warriors." Chaos's form slumped even further if it was possible, and he turned his head to brace his knuckles against his forehead.

"How very unfortunate," he droned sarcastically. "I care not for them." He slammed his fist down on the armrest, so hard that the floor shook under Golbez's knee. He flinched against the sound. "What of the Emperor, whom I tasked you with watching?"

" . . . I never found him, Lord Chaos. Not even a trace of his essence. Either he knew I was following him and eluded me extremely well, or he has been covering his tracks in the event of anyone trailing him."

Chaos's lip curled and his head tilted to the side. Golbez swore the breath that Chaos let out was harder than normal, with the rumblings of his anger in its undertones. Chaos's nose flared and his piercing eyes, alight with his power, scrutinized Golbez from head to toe, likely deciding if the news displeased him or not. Golbez held his breath, afraid that if he moved too suddenly he would appear flighty and make up Chaos's for him. After a long, tense moment Chaos's eyes glowed red. His aura surged around him, rising off of him in near-visible tendrils. Chaos's power pressed in on his head, prickling into his skin and needling into his mind. Golbez hissed out his discomfort through his teeth, hyper-sensitive to that kind of magic after his experiences in his home world. A sensation of electricity spread through his mind, and the sound of static echoed in his ears. His skin crawled and his shoulders creeped up as he tensed, but he withstood it and allowed Chaos to probe for whatever comfort he was looking for. After a moment, the tickling sensation in his head subsided and Golbez relaxed with a deep shudder.

"Mmm," Chaos hummed, relaxing back into his throne, apparently satisfied that Golbez was telling the truth.

"I did as you asked," he insisted, hoping to regain control of his breathing by talking. He felt strengthened in his ability to plead his case after Chaos's invasion. "To the best of my ability. I did not simply issue a cursory glance and call off the search. As soon as you handed down your order I left and sought him out. I first went to his Gateway, above the Lufenia Teleport Stone, but he was not there. I then left for the furthest reaches of Onrac and swept across the Realm of Discord first, to no avail. I left for Cosmos's realm and began my search in Melmond, but by the time I reached Cornelia, he had already accosted Jecht and the Cloud of Darkness. I encountered her at that time, and she informed me that she was on her way back to you to inform you of what transpired. I assume she did so."

"She did."

"I went to Sanctuary after that," he said.

"An admission of guilt, Lord Chaos!" Exdeath called. "A known traitor, a double agent, feeding our information and our strategies to our enemies and feeding theirs to us. Grounds for punishment, is it not?"

"Enough, Exdeath," Chaos rasped irritatedly, lifting one hand palm out to Exdeath without looking at him. "There are other matters more important to me. You continuously act as though I know not of his affection for Cosmos or her warriors. I am well aware, and my defense of Golbez has always been simple: he does as he is commanded. A-and," Chaos chuckled, his shoulders heaving. He gestured down at Golbez with one left hand, and with the other he propped his elbow on the armrest and braced his fingers against his forehead as though embarrassed to admit what he was thinking next. "And, against all odds, I somewhat enjoy his company! Besides that, there is little he could tell Cosmos and her warriors that is damaging enough to me to warrant concern. Proceed," he invited, but the way the word rumbled deep in Chaos’s throat made it sound like a threat. Golbez swallowed, the dryness of the air suddenly feeling worse.

"When I arrived, there were-" His cracking throat seized. He couldn't say it. "There had been an attack, and C-" His weak courage crumbled and his cheeks heated as he realized how ridiculous it was to bring this to Chaos's attention. He wouldn't care. He wouldn't care, and he doubted he would do anything. He was only opening the door for the others. " . . . Several of the warriors had already- . . . "

"Get on with it!" Garland grumbled, the grip on his sword tightening with the implication that he would beat it out of Golbez if given the opportunity.

He swallowed again, but even the saliva clung to his parched throat and burned going down. "I was informed, by my brother and the survivors, that Cosmos had-"

He was interrupted by a flash of brilliant, gold light from behind him that reached the very corners of the Edge of Madness. He tensed on impulse, believing that Chaos’s patience had thinned and that he was attacking to spur Golbez on. When he heard the surprised sounds and irritated grunts of the other Chaos warriors he realized he was not the only one under attack. Even Chaos had shielded his eyes with a few of his hands and let out a nasty-sounding growl. Golbez turned and saw a familiar figure haloed in gold, the radiance of her aura emanating off of her with a soft twinkle.

Cosmos's presence would normally have brought him comfort. It used to, before her treachery. He owed much more to her than he could quantify, his debts accumulating from the moment he begged her for sanctuary in the midst of Chaos's civil war. She had the grace to look deeper than his affiliations at the time, and she had condescended to trust his true nature and the benevolence he aspired to ever since. And he believed she had made attempts to take care of his brother in the midst of the cycle's carnage. He had idolized her.

Knowing all that she had done to her warriors and to the survivors raised only the most heart-tearing disgust and wrath upon seeing her now. The state of her brought him some measure of satisfaction. Her white dress was torn in several places and stained a shocking red from fresh blood and an ugly reddish-brown with old blood. She sported one long, deep slash on her right side from under her ribs that trailed all the way down to her opposite hip. The cut itself was clean but raised and colored scarlet, still bleeding, dripping down to be absorbed into the material. Another smaller cut crossed her chest, but the skin around it was cauterized and singed, the edges of her dress black and cracking to suggest she sustained fire damage. There was a single deep puncture wound on her left side under her ribs and what looked like rope burn on her right arm. She also smaller, superficial slashes all over her.

Those wounds were the most serious but weren't the most shocking. The most shocking were the arrow wounds. One in her left shoulder, a gold shaft that had been snapped off poking out of the skin. Another shaft near the puncture wound, also broken. A narrow hole through another part of her chest - the arrow itself was gone, but the wound was glaring there, fatal to anyone less powerful than a god. And lastly, a shaft that hadn't yet been broken sticking straight out of her leg and a red stain circled around it, trailing down her leg to pool at her knee. They moved grotesquely with her body and her hitched, stuttering breath, tracing circles in the air as an extension of her. Oddly alive and quivering with their triumph.

The arrows belonged to only one warrior. Rosa had done her work.

Though Cosmos's stature was small in comparison to those in Chaos’s ranks, she stood tall, with her chin high as though she had any reason to be proud of herself. Her facial expression ruined her façade. Her mouth was pursed tightly in pain, blood smeared on her lips and off to the side indicating that she had attempted to wipe it off. Her eyebrows were furrowed above wild, flighty eyes that flicked back and forth to gaze at the Chaos warriors around her and assess their threat against her wounds. The edges of her hair were singed and black in some places, her tiara was askew and her veil torn to ribbons and burned.

While the Chaos warriors recovered a flash of an idea crossed behind her eyes and she straightened up further, eliminating any traces of her panic from her face and body language. She calmly stepped into the divide between them, which looked like a path had been cleared for her, and she walked forward. Her bare feet padded onto the stone under her dress, promenading with the grace and elegance of a long-reigning queen. If Golbez hadn't looked closer he may have missed the slight tremble to her knees that shook the very fabric of the dress, or the way she minimized the limp from Rosa's arrow in her leg using the speed of her gait.

Chaos recovered and his slumped eyebrows lifted in surprise, his eyes fading as he was shocked out of his power. His criss-crossed, gnarled fangs opened as his jaw dropped and he let out what Golbez would consider the equivalent of a gasp.

"Cosmos?"

She had no shields or shrouds that Golbez could see. The other warriors noticed as well. As soon as he recovered and lowered his arms, Exdeath's fingers immediately curled and the large sword that he carried floated through the air with such speed that it blurred. Exdeath maneuvered it in a slash towards Cosmos.

Chaos reacted quickly. He focused a nod in Exdeath's direction and Exdeath recoiled, hands flying to the sides of his helmet with a roar of pain. His magic connection to the sword died where it was and it clattered to the ground several feet from Cosmos, sliding into her path. Chaos then spread his hands over the Edge of Madness and said, "Desist."

Another powerful sensation forced its way into Golbez's mind, and one knee buckled against his will. He was forced down, his upper torso half-bent over in a twisted form of a bow. He tried to straighten up but it there was a force was pressing down on the spot between his shoulder blades keeping him down. He strained against it briefly but was unable to break Chaos's will. He could only lift his eyes and see that the others were suffering the same fate, brought to a submissive position to prevent them from attacking her. Even Garland had been brought down.

To his surprise, in her weakened state, Cosmos did not even flinch. She stepped over Exdeath's sword with a single, elongated stride then continued in her slow, haughty advance. This time her gaze slid cooly left to right, surveying his warriors in their involuntary compliance.

"My, my," Chaos whispered, the air catching and sounding more like a hiss. "What a surprise this is. How long has it been since you've deigned to grace me with your presence? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Cosmos remained silent and continued to step forward. She lay eyes on each and every warrior out of he corner of her eyes as she passed but did not turn her head, bearing Kefka's sneers and the clicks of Exdeath's armor as he strained against his invisible restraints and Ultimecia's smirks. Golbez was given the impression of a lamb walking through a crowd of growling, snarling wolves. She only stopped when she was a few feet from Golbez. He tried to raise his head enough to look her in the eyes, but he could only see as far as the gash on her stomach.

"Look at the state of you," Chaos said with a blood-curdling twitch of his lips, leaning in to his sarcasm.

" . . . I . . . I have been wounded," she acknowledged, her voice low and admittedly shaking, not matching the hardened energy with which she entered. "I was attacked."

"How unfortunate," Chaos said, shaking his head in mock pity. "We were just discussing something that Golbez overheard about your warriors, Cosmos. Perhaps that's your answer, Golbez," Chaos said. "You could not find the Emperor because he was wreaking havoc upon Cosmos and her warriors."

A wave of his hand and Golbez was free. He gasped and luckily managed to plant his hand against the stone so he did not drop face-first into it. He took a moment to catch his breath, then snapped, "I doubt that, Lord Chaos." The disgust he put in his voice came both from the strain on his body being forced into his hunched over position, as well as the ire he had for Cosmos and the suffering she wrought. He stood to full height and stared directly down at her, knowing that his helmet hid his facial expression and ruined much of the effect, but to his delight confusion flashed behind her eyes - confusion at what he knew and how he came to know it so quickly after the actual events. "it was not the Emperor," Golbez said, and Cosmos's eyes widened. She shook her head subtly, the ends of her flat, gold hair twitching across her shoulders. "Cosmos bears the wounds of-"

"You do not speak for me, Golbez," she said quickly. "Chaos, I would prefer if you and I were alone to discuss this."

"Not a chance!" Chaos boomed. "I told Golbez just a few moments ago that I wasn't interested in you or your dealings, but I was mistaken! Clearly something notable has happened, and I am sure that all of my warriors are burning to know what it is! Go on, Golbez! Share with us what you discovered in your travels, since Cosmos will not."

Cosmos's head snapped back in his direction, and the look she gave him was murderous - a depth of negative emotion he had rarely, if ever, seen her use. It caught him so off-guard that he considered retracting his comments, but the thought of Cecil, Rosa, Kain, and the faces of the other survivors flashed in his mind. The images of the Warrior of Light, Zidane, Vaan, and the others bolstered his resolve.

"Cosmos attacked her own warriors," he said.

"That is not the entire truth-!" she yelled.

Golbez raised his voice to shout over her, so they could still hear him. "These wounds are-"

"Golbez!"

"-are the results of that fight!"

"The Emperor turned them against me!" she protested, placing a bit of her power into her voice so it would also project. There was a moment in the aftermath of her assertion that seemed to stretch into forever. Golbez expected gasps, shouts, maybe even laughter at the announcement of Cosmos's treachery. Instead it was deadly quiet. Golbez felt exposed and in danger against her, with Chaos too apathetic to care if she hurt him and the other warriors too incapacitated to help. He resisted the urge to retreat inside of himself and leave it there.

"No," Golbez argued. "That is not true. Not according to Cecil."

"What is it that Cecil told you?" Chaos goaded again, both corners of his lips pulled taut in a twisted version of an amused grin. Golbez realized that in his anger he had broken his own rules about lying by omission. There was no way he could hide any information from Chaos now without appearing suspicious.

"A confrontation ensued over their right to leave this conflict - a right that they had previously been allowed. And rather than address her warriors' concerns, Cosmos took their innocent pleas as a threat. She attacked her own warriors and felled six!" He resisted the urge to turn and look at the other warriors behind him. He didn't want to see the sorrow on Kuja's face or the pity on Jecht's, or the delight on Kefka's.

"Six?!" Chaos repeated. "Is that all? I care not to know who, but I'm sure my other warriors would like to know-"

"They were fooled by the Emperor's lies! They attacked, and would not allow me the chance to explain myself. And so I did what I was forced to do in order to protect myself!"

"The Warrior or Light, Zidane, the Onion Knight, Terra, Laguna, and Vaan."

"They could be returned with the cycle-" she attempted to defend. Perhaps she didn't realize how arrogant of a thought that was. With that, Chaos leaned forward in his throne and doubled over, laughing loudly enough to strain his throat.

"Ah, what irony!" Chaos said, delighted by the story. "You and I are so similar, are we not?" he mused, still chuckling as he relaxed back.

Cosmos shook her head hard. "Absolutely not!"

"Oh, but we are! You deny it, and deny it, and deny it, but the similarities are glaring! I recall a time when the conflict required a little . . . intervention on my part. I'm sure you remember it as well! My warriors thought to war amongst themselves over their own petty squabbles, with no regard for me or my position in this conflict. So I set out and hunted down all those who partook in that civil war - each and every one! And just to make sure my point was duly noted, I also hunted down the rest of your warriors! If Purification was what it took to instill in each of you that I was not to be trifled with, so be it! Look at you now," he said, pointing down at her. "At the very first signs of dissent, you resort to my most ruthless methods and attack your own. Cosmos, please! You may maintain your innocence, if you prefer. But do not ignore the fact that you and I are cut from the very same cloth and possess the same conceit."

Chaos continued to laugh, slouching down into his throne further. Cosmos lowered her head, and Golbez thought he saw the sparkle of tears glisten at the corners of her eyes. False tears, selfish tears.

"And so here you come to me after the scuffle. I ask again: to what do I owe the pleasure? What would you ask of me, advice perhaps? A way to wash the blood from your hands, or reconcile with the fact that it belongs there?"

"I came to warn you! What the Emperor did to my warriors he will do to yours, if he has not begun already. If you have any regard whatsoever for-"

"Even with a fraction of my power I could crush him like the worm he is! You should know, after besting seventeen warriors, the scope of our powers as the gods of this realm. No, there is another reason you came here. What do you seek, Cosmos, asylum?" She didn't answer, but raised her chin in a way to suggest that it was exactly what she was seeking. "You jest!"

"You need me," Cosmos insisted. "You need me alive, Chaos. Our very world depends upon us having power to feed the Planes Gorger so it can be reborn. Shinryu's satisfaction depends upon you and I both - or are you interested in being the only one left for him to feed on after the Emperor destroys all of your warriors?"

Chaos paused, all traces of his levity gone entirely from him as Cosmos's words sank in. They appeared to have an understanding, Cosmos and Chaos. With a shock, Golbez realized that Cosmos had anticipated, maybe even assumed Chaos would respect her enough to keep her from harm. The implications of a deeper, more cordial relationship than that of destined, violent and perpetual enemies disturbed the remnants of Golbez's confidence in the gods. No matter what, they would always have a basic comprehension and mutual esteem for the other, an understanding of each others' position that meager warriors would never know. Cosmos and Chaos were in on this cyclic ploy, and he and Cosmos's survivors had no chance of advantage.

It would certainly suit Chaos's actions after the civil war, when he eliminated every single member of the battlefield regardless of affiliation.

Everyone but Cosmos.

Chaos brought his hands together and clasped them over his mouth, leaning forward again in true contemplation of Cosmos's words. Though, with his face perpetually pulled into a toothy frown, Golbez had no guess as to how he was considering it.

"I fail to see how-"

"Lord Chaos," Garland strained, still knelt to the side of the throne and struggling against his bonds. He whispered so that only those close enough would hear - Golbez, and Cosmos. "She speaks true. The Great Will allowed you to call warriors to be fed upon in your stead. If her warriors remove her they will fade, and if the Emperor removes us, then the only one left to satiate the Dragon Lord will be you. I respect your immense power, Lord Chaos, but Shinryu will make quick work of you every cycle with no others to occupy him."

A growl rumbled in the back of Chaos's throat and he leaned further over his hands. "That is assuming the Emperor will continue to accumulate his own power, and best all of you each and every cycle after this one. He will not. The Emperor will be brought under my control and eliminated in this cycle before he has any modicum of a chance against me," he hissed back. He raised his voice again so that the other warriors would hear. "You will be made to suffer every consequence of your actions, Cosmos! Accept and suffer whatever fate the remains of this cycle will bear. Perhaps one day you will learn that the ruthlessness you demonstrated will always be a preferable strategy to tender-heartedness when there is power on the line, and next time you may make this choice willingly, as I did so long ago." He leaned back and waved towards the back of the Edge of Madness, signaling her departure. " . . . You jest," he mused again. "You would ask that I shelter you? Does your shame know no bounds?"

Cosmos's energy shrank. She took a step back on her wounded leg, and it almost buckled underneath her. She let out a soft whimper, clutching at it, and when she looked back up at Chaos she had the nerve to look betrayed. She shook her head softly, on the verge of insulted tears. She opened her mouth, and Golbez believed she was dangerously close to begging Chaos. But after a long moment she half-turned to parade out of the Edge of Madness.

That was Golbez's chance to make good on his promise to assist Cecil, Rosa, Kain, and the other survivors. The sensation of a closing door clenched around his heart, and he knew if he did not ask now he would never be able to.

"If- . . . If I may, Lord Chaos," Golbez offered quietly. He didn't whisper as they did, but he used a careful tone, implying that he had considered it deeply before asking. "If not for Cosmos, then for her warriors. Would you be willing to offer them asylum for the time being-"

"That's enough, Golbez!" Cosmos snapped, whirling back around. "How dare you?!"

"Please, Chaos," he spoke quickly, hoping to place his request before she could interrupt again. "I would ask that you extend the same courtesy to her warriors that she extended to yours during the civil war."

" . . . Warrior warned me not to trust you," she said. "He warned me you would only betray us."

"'Betray?'" Golbez repeated incredulously. "I am intimately familiar with betrayal, Cosmos, and I can assure you this is nothing of the sort. And yet if pleading for the lives of my brother and those we hold dear has become an affront, then it is one I gladly endure. There is no 'us' among you any more. Not after what you've done. Chaos, what say you?" Chaos's eyes narrowed, and Golbez sent out his final plea. "If you and Cosmos are similar then you have the capacity to be honorable. I ask that you act upon it now."

"Preposterous!" Exdeath shouted, but Chaos quieted him with a sharp hiss.

"Silence!" He flicked his fingers in his direction and Exdeath was knocked backwards. His armor slammed off the ground several times as he tumbled head-over-heels before coming to a halt on his stomach. He grunted as he was held down again by Chaos's power. Chaos turned his head to Garland, leaning forward to accommodate the horns trailing from his head. He released Garland from his hold, and the man sighed gratefully, stretching out as he stood to full height. He clenched his sword tighter and stood it up to rest at his side, leaning against it.

"What say you?" Chaos asked.

" . . . There are merits, Lord Chaos. Once they are healed from their own wounds we can employ Cosmos's warriors in the fight against the Emperor. And they will be easy targets once all is said and done." He looked Cosmos in the eye as he said it, unashamed to blatantly use them for their benefit. Cosmos matched his gaze and her eyes flared in response, but her shoulders slumped as she understood that in the state she was in, she would not be able to mount any kind of defense.

"They are easy targets at this time regardless," Chaos countered. "No match for the Emperor and his obvious power, which is growing enough to warrant my attention, and no match for you. I think not. To the Dragon with you, and to the Dragon with your warriors, Cosmos. The Emperor is my concern at this time, not your sniveling warriors. I will put the Emperor down, and then this cycle will continue into perpetuity until I am victorious. Warriors will be mine alone to call to fight, to strengthen me, and to feed to the Plane Gorger. Bide your limited time, Cosmos. As soon as the Emperor is gone then you will once again be my target. Be gone from here!"

Before Chaos was even finished Cosmos disappeared in weak a flash of gold. Chaos released his spell entirely and the other warriors relaxed with sighs and gasps. As they climbed to their feet, Exdeath taking noticeably longer than the others, Chaos rolled his neck to stretch it out.

"Prepare yourselves," he said to them. "Do not stray far. Garland and I will soon launch a campaign against the Emperor. Cosmos's pawns are vulnerable but not our concern. If you encounter them, destroy them, but save most of your strength for the Emperor. Golbez, redouble your efforts and find him. I need to know his movements. This ends now."

Chapter Text

Chaos told them to stay close.

Golbez could have laughed, if there had been any levity left in his eroded soul. With Exdeath's target renewing its presence on his back, going anywhere before he was ordered was a luxury he could no longer entertain. The moment he set a single foot in the Realm of Discord, outside of Chaos's protections, Exdeath would hunt him down before Chaos could ever become involved.

Cosmos's domain was out of the question as well, after just making an enemy of her. The slow-creeping paranoia of isolation was finally taking root, leaving him weak and hollow as he replayed what had just transpired over and over in his mind. Though he didn't regret a single thing he said or did, he couldn't help but wonder if antagonizing her the way that he did was the wisest choice. He should've tried harder to walk the line between the gods that he normally tread with ease. He could've done anything else other than enter a shouting match with her in a room full of the most malicious people that existed across multiple worlds and dimensions.

He even could've left well enough alone, and simply let her weave her lies and spin her webs.

He wondered what would have happened if he had allowed that to transpire. After all, she hadn't known that he knew the truth before he revealed it. So more than likely, she would not have allowed him access to Cecil, Rosa, or Kain so they couldn't reveal the truth of what she had done. But in order to avoid suspicion perhaps she would have given him a task, or allowed him to continue his free movement in and out of her domain.

It was too late to try and salvage any parts of his relationship with her after their encounter. Since he had revealed what he knew, and since he had directly opposed her in its reveal, he could only anticipate an act of aggression if she saw him. He now had to assume she would attack on sight, just like she had done to her warriors.

His problems with Cosmos and Chaos's domains didn't even address the fact that the Emperor's location was unknown at the moment. For all Golbez knew, he was prowling about, looking for the next warrior to defeat and consume. It could be anyone wandering alone, especially him.

It could be Cecil, Rosa, or Kain.

Like Cosmos's survivors, he felt trapped and exposed, fending off a pack of vicious, snarling enemies on all sides. The moment he was distracted by one and let his guard down, another's jaws would snap around him. The longer that Chaos and Garland took to make a plan against the Emperor, the longer he was forced to sit with his thoughts and picture their circling: Exdeath's shoulders turned towards him, fingers clenching with the desire to crush him with his magic. Ultimecia's hungry eyes and upturned lips as she imagined doing to him and the others what the Emperor was doing - stealing power so she could compete. Cosmos's golden power flowing around her, razing everything in its path. The Emperor's self-satisfactory grin.

He audibly groaned under the weight of his stress, the sweltering heat of the Edge of Madness adding to his discomfort. He pulled the helmet from his head and ran a gloved hand across his forehead and down his face to wipe away the beads of sweat rolling freely down his skin, not bothering to keep the long claws of his glove from lightly scouring the flesh. Almost immediately the superficial scratches began to burn, but the dull, bearable pain was a welcome distraction from his wildly spiraling thoughts.

Still sitting against the barrier next to where Golbez had retreated after Cosmos left, Jecht craned his head at the sound of Golbez's distress and watched him struggle. He looked overheated and worn as well, eyes dull and shoulders slumped, skin shiny with sweat. "You alright, man?"

"No."

" . . . You gonna be alright?"

" . . . "

"Gotta say, you sure got guts. Asking Chaos to look after those kids like that? Shoo," he huffed, shaking his head. "If you were anyone else and asking him, I think he would've torn your head clean off."

"I don't . . . I don't know what I was thinking. As if bringing them into this pit of vipers is any better than their current situation."

Golbez returned the helmet to his head before the burning shame could be seen on his cheeks. He felt silly for even conceptualizing it, let alone asking Chaos for it - out loud, in a room full of their enemies. It was a ridiculous idea, born out of desperation and pity. Not only had it failed to guarantee Cecil, Rosa, or Kain asylum amongst Chaos and his ranks, but he spilled far more information in the process than he had ever spilled before. He had not provided any sort of retribution by confronting Cosmos, and he had not even guaranteed that the warriors would be left alone - only circumstantially endured. The whole thing left a sour taste in his mouth and a weight on his chest that he couldn't remove.

"Still, it was an . . . okay thought."

"It achieved nothing," Golbez snapped, and though it made Jecht withdraw from the conversation it felt better to release his bitterness.

He glanced over to Chaos and Garland, watching them speak back and forth. Chaos was far more engaged than Golbez could ever remember, sitting up straight in his throne and turning so that his shoulders faced Garland, to his right. Chaos's mouth didn't exactly move when he spoke, so it was impossible to attempt to read his lips, but he gestured to the Edge of Madness, drew invisible diagrams with his claws on the armrest of his throne, pointed to positions on Garland's invisible diagrams. He even nodded when he approved of Garland's changes or shook his head when he disagreed. Both of them seemed to know the lay of the land so well there was no need for a map, only vague directions and the names of places.

The other warriors sat in relative silence, reveling in their own boredom. Kuja stood pouting close by, with most of his thick hair gathered into one hand to lift off of his neck, and he slowly fanned himself with the other dainty hand. Sephiroth looked entirely unaffected, arms crossed and eyes closed, reclining easily against the barrier on Golbez's left and no doubt listening to every single thing that was said. The Cloud of Darkness, also unbothered by the heat, drifted aimlessly around on her side of the Edge of Madness, looking more like a ghost mindlessly haunting the place than a tangible entity, while Exdeath stood stock-still, faced in Golbez's direction. Not even his shoulders moved, indicating that he may not have needed to breathe behind the suit of armor.

The only one who looked any sort of happy was Kefka, roaming freely around the Edge of Madness, humming some random, rhythmless tune to himself. He pranced, twirled, and pirouetted in and out of the other warriors, passing Golbez once or twice before stopping several feet from Ultimecia. He cupped one hand around his mouth, feigning secrecy.

Psst!" he hissed in her direction. If she heard him, she ignored him, as did most of the others. In fact, some were probably hoping Kefka wasn't addressing them, and that he would go away eventually. "Pssssssssst!" he hissed at her again. Ultimecia rolled her eyes and braced her purple clawed fingers against her forehead, but Kefka missed it since her back was to him. Kefka's eyes narrowed, anticipating a challenge, and Golbez could practically see the decision Kefka made behind his crazed eyes to be as utterly un-ignorable as possible. He leaned over as far as he possibly could, almost bending in half at the waist, and cupped both his hands around his mouth again. Just to be entirely sure that she would hear him this time, he called his magic to lift his feet off the ground, and he floated several feet towards her until he was right next to her ear.

"PSST!"

"Gods!-" she dramatically exclaimed, flinching away from him.

Ultimecia's cry was loud enough to finally put those in the Edge of Madness on alert. Most of the warriors turned, and even Chaos and Garland both perked up at the sudden shout. "Kefka!" she growled, and when they realized who was responsible for the disturbance, most relaxed back into their silence and their planning.

To Golbez's surprise, Kefka's eyes alertly surveyed the room the entire time, flicking from person to person and noting who turned to look at him and who did not as he called as much attention to himself as possible. For good measure he brought his hands in, took as deep a breath as he could muster and used it to bellow out a shrill cackle, one that shook his slim frame and heaved his shoulders. He threw his head back and he as he laughed, glancing upside-down at the others situated behind him as well. Not a person in the room went unnoticed, even as they returned to ignoring him.

Intrigued by the shrewd display of awareness, Golbez continued to stare, hoping to catch whatever it was Kefka was trying to do. However, Kefka noted him as well. He tilted his upside-down head to the side and stared back, wide-eyed and unblinking at him to the point of awkwardness, until Golbez was forced to look away for his own comfort.

Sure enough, as soon as Kefka's spectacle was over, and as soon as the others had stopped bothering to look at him, he shimmied next to Ultimecia and placed his arm around her shoulders, floating forward to drag her away several steps so they were removed from listening ears. Ultimecia squirmed in his grip, extending her crow-like wings, throwing an elbow into him, outright pushing, but ultimately Kefka squeezed her closer to him and forced her to follow him. Golbez sighed, the sight filling him with more unease, bubbling on top of the abundance he already had. Already his stomach was turning, and he was dying to know what Kefka was about to say to her and what they were about to act upon. He needed to know if he should prepare and how intensely. And he needed to know if he should warn Cecil, Rosa, and Kain and possibly burden them with another threat.

He couldn't get closer without very obviously eavesdropping. He could do nothing except hope that Kefka wasn't planning an opportunistic attack Cecil, Rosa, or Kain in their vulnerable state, and dragging Ultimecia with him.

He could add them to the pack of enemies that were circling him.

Another wave of dread poured over him and it suddenly became unbearable to just stand there, doing nothing. He needed to occupy himself, or he was sure he would go mad. He started to pace, hoping it would slow the beating of his heart out of his chest. He reached across his connection to Barbariccia, sensing her presence still out and about in the world. She didn't feel taxed or agitated, so he assumed it had been quiet since he had left her. It was at least the smallest of consolations that so far, Cecil, Rosa, and Kain were most likely in tact.

To his surprise, another presence that he recognized suddenly inserted itself into his mental connection. It surged to the forefront of his awareness and manifested itself in front of him. A red circle appeared on the floor in front of Golbez at the very center of the Edge of Madness, and without warning a column of flame burst forth with a loud explosion, rising up and billowing into the air above them. It circled around and around, the dry warmth beating against Golbez's helmet before it dissipated almost as quickly. In its place was a humanoid figure with unnaturally red, leathery skin, wrapped in a billowing red cloak that bunched around his neck, hiding everything but the bridge of his nose, his glowing white eyes, and his sloping forehead. The sides of his temples and the back of his head sported several horn-like protrusions on either side, bunching in groups of three, and his head was adorned with blue and white coloration in a flame pattern.

His sudden arrival had all of the warriors suddenly on edge again. Chaos instantly raised his head, lifting his hand palm out towards the intruder, and Garland pulled his greatsword across his body in the form of a block, half-stepping in front of Chaos to partially shield him. Kefka craned his neck back again and regarded the disturbance upside down while Ultimecia peered around him, fingers tensed and ready to cast. Exdeath squared his shoulders and brought his sword up and to the ready with his magic, while Kuja called an orange ball of power to his open palm, ready to hurl it at whoever was coming back. Jecht managed to pull himself to a kneeling position while Sephiroth's grip tightened on the sword poised behind him. In response, the figure pulled his cloak tighter around his form, preparing some kind of spell underneath.

"Stop!" Golbez yelled. "Stop, he is here at my request!" He stepped forward next to the figure, throwing an arm across his chest to block any incoming spells or swings. After a moment, Chaos lowered his arm and waved for the others to do the same. Golbez nodded his appreciation, but Chaos didn't respond.

"Rubicante," Golbez greeted in a half-whisper, feeling every single eye on him. It would have made him nervous, but he could feel his heart lifting just from Rubicante's presence alone. He had heard Golbez's plea. He was still loyal, and he could assist. Golbez finally felt as though he had more support, and it was support he could trust.

"Master Golbez," Rubicante droned, his voice deep and almost croaky, as though he had a dry throat. He lowered himself into a quick and shallow bow. "I am at your command. What would you have me do?"

Before he could answer, a loud, gruff grumble came from near the throne as Garland relaxed his stance. "First Cosmos, and now this summoned fiend? These interruptions try my patience. Any others you plan on leading here that we should be concerned with, Golbez?"

Golbez wasn't sure how to answer, considering the other two Archfiends had yet to answer his call, if they were going to. "Cagnazzo and Scarmiglione?" he asked Rubicante.

"I know not their whereabouts," the fiend answered with a shake of his head. He turned and regarded Garland from head to toe, the fully white color of his eyes nearly masking the small movement. "My apologies, honorable warrior," Rubicante said, with a respectful bow of his head. "I did not intend to interrupt. Continue, if you will. My business is with Master Golbez. You have a task for me," he said, facing Golbez again.

"Yes. I have received orders to find a particular warrior, but I am waiting for release. As soon as the plan is revealed-"

"And it is," Chaos said. "I need not concern myself with the intricacies any further, Garland. Deal out your orders, and I will prepare myself."

"Very well, Lord Chaos," Garland said. He stepped down from the raised platform elevating Chaos's throne, and subconsciously they inched forward, gathering around him. An excited sort of hush fell over the group, and Golbez knew why: rare was it that they joined together so completely for a strategy like this. Otherwise, they were left to their own devices, and most preferred it that way. Rubicante moved to the side to let Golbez pass, then stood respectfully behind him, awaiting his assignment.

"Our intention is to converge upon the Emperor and drive him towards a single point on the map in order to corner him. We will do this in waves, which will disallow him the chance to linger in one place for an extended period of time. It will prevent him from being able to mount any sort of powerful trap or defense, which is one of is strengths.

"We are to split into several groups: Golbez, Kuja, the wraith," he said, nodding to the Cloud of Darkness. "The three of you will set out first. Golbez is only to patrol the world and focus solely on finding him. You two are to begin in Cosmos's domain and destroy Gateways and Teleport Stones behind you so he cannot flee to her domain. If both of you are to spot him before Golbez, then one of you tail him while the other report. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Golbez answered, and he looked over his shoulder, nodding to Rubicante. "This Archfiend will assist, if you will allow it."

"Fine," Garland said immediately, implying he couldn't have cared less how Golbez got it done, as long as it was done. "The next group will be our first wave: Kefka, Ultimecia, and Jecht - two of our mages and one of our strongest physical fighters. The Emperor will most likely flee to his Gateway in Lufenia. As soon as he does, you will each choose a point that surrounds it and descend upon it to drive him back out into the open world. Our second wave will be Sephiroth, Exdeath, and myself, and we will begin in the Realm of Discord, close to the eastern edges of the Mirage Sandsea. He will be forced to flee in this direction since the Teleport stones in Cosmos's domain will be unusable. The three of us will wait there to surprise and overwhelm him, and chase him towards Chaos. Our goal is to lead him here, as close to the Edge of Madness as possible where Chaos's power is at its fullest, where he can come and finish him off. Golbez, Cloud of Darkness and Kuja will follow in his wake and continue to destroy Gateways, cutting off his exit points."

"Well I'm claiming the Mirage Sandsea as my starting point," Ultimecia said, "before anyone else claims it. My own Gateway resides there anyway."

"Cornelia is-" Golbez began, and Kefka jumped up and down, waving his hands and drowning him out.

"Oh! Oh! Me next! I've got Cornelia!"

"Cornelia is covered!" Golbez shouted over him. "Another one of my thralls is already patrolling Cornelia," he said, gesturing to Rubicante. "Why would you want it?" Golbez challenged him. "To take a trip to Sanctuary?" He didn't care if it sounded desperate.

"Hm. Maaaaaybe," Kefka said, and the terrible thing was Golbez couldn't tell if he was simply saying it to make him upset, or if he meant it. Kefka was too unpredictable to hazard a guess. "If the mood struck me, maybe."

"Deflect the mood's blows," Golbez said, wishing 'the mood' could ever be personified enough to physically strike Kefka. "Chaos has said that we are not to go out of our way to attack Cosmos's warriors. Choose another location."

Kefka smirked, his painted smile growing wide and he watched Golbez for his reaction, knowing he was digging right under his skin. He couldn't have Kefka or Exdeath anywhere near Cecil, Rosa, or Kain in their weakened state. Especially not when those two would go out of their way to harm him if they could.

"By the gods - just take Pravoca, Kefka," Ultimecia sneered, as though fed up with their bickering. "It's close enough to Order's Sanctuary you can make Golbez squirm," she said, staring him in the face while she said it, "and close enough to Pandaemonium you can be the first one there, as I'm sure you want to be."

Clever, Golbez thought, as her smugness twisted in his stomach. They had just finished planning amongst themselves, and they chose the two locations that happened to be closest to Pandaemonium. They were probably in league with the Emperor and were going to join him as soon as Chaos cut them loose. Golbez thought to point that out, to exploit Chaos's growing paranoia.

"The two of you, seen working together with the Emperor earlier this cycle to destroy Rosa, choosing the two locations closest to him for our plan? You should do better to hide your true allegiances." He looked to Chaos to see if there was any reaction whatsoever, but Chaos simply watched them. If he had anything to say about Kefka and Ultimecia's loyalties, he didn't indulge Golbez now. He silently cursed Chaos's apathy.

"I care not where you go," Chaos said, "If you have any sense of self-preservation, you dare not betray me now. Your punishment will be swift, and it will not be painless."

"I don't trust you two," Golbez said, unwilling to let it be. "Not in the slightest. Garland, I would ask that their group be re-allotted, in order to lessen any chance of collusion."

"No," Garland said. "We will not change the group, but I will choose your locations. Jecht, start in Pravoca," he ordered, and Jecht gave a halfhearted thumbs up. "Kefka, Mount Gulg, and Ultimecia the Sandsea."

Ultimecia and Kefka didn't look any more annoyed than usual with Garland's intervention, and Golbez wondered if perhaps he was being too overly paranoid. But either way, he was relieved that Jecht would be the one starting closest to Cosmos's warriors.

"When it is the second group's turn to embark, Sephiroth, start near Gaia, Exdeath will join you at the Bahamut Isles, and I will engage with you near Onrac. That is where we should be driving him - closer and closer to Chaos, and cutting off all his exits behind us. The first wave will also follow behind, until he is fully cornered between us and Chaos."

"I am satisfied with these arrangements," Chaos said. "Golbez, I have changed my mind regarding Cosmos's pawns. You may keep them abreast of our plans. Should they choose to assist, as I'm sure they will find it in their hearts to, it can only help our cause. Be forewarned: the moment the Emperor is finished, so are they."

Golbez wasn't sure how to answer. He wanted to thank Chaos for changing his mind, but didn't want to sound grateful for his next threat. He didn't want to simply acknowledge the change of heart, since it felt like accepting their demise at Chaos's hands. He figured tacit acceptance was the best kind, since it could later be stated he never did verbally accept Chaos's terms.

He turned to Rubicante instead. "I would ask that you assist me in my task. My enemy is swift-footed and extremely powerful. I respect your power and your assistance, Rubicante, and I would ask that you accompany me and defend me should we encounter him."

"This I can do, Master Golbez."

"Depart at once," Garland ordered. "The first part of our plan begins."

"What are the rest of us to do in the meantime?" Ultimecia asked. "Confined here, to slowly melt until we are called upon?"

"We need to pass information very quickly," Garland said. "Stay in the Onrac region, if you should leave. No further than the Bahamut Isles."

Golbez gestured for Rubicante to follow, and together they walked for the furthest part of the Edge of Madness, to the stairs that led to the Signet of Chaos and the exit. "While we travel, let me apprise you of the full situation." He leaned in and whispered, "And I order this of you now: if my situation becomes unfavorable-"

"I will defend you to the death, Master Golbez."

"Not this time. If my situation becomes unfavorable, I need you to go to Order's Sanctuary and find my brother. Do you remember my brother?"

"I do, Master Golbez."

"I want you to find my brother, and offer him your services in my stead. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"I pray it will not come to it, but the Emperor is only growing in strength. I dread the amount of time we have given him to accumulate more power. My only wish is that Cecil, Rosa, and Kain are safe."

Chapter Text

Golbez was a spineless weakling, and a fool.

Exdeath watched him leave the Edge of Madness, dreaming up some ineffective plan to keep Cosmos's pawns safe. Whispering to his groveling fiend about how if their situation became 'unfavorable' he was meant to leave, and head directly to Order's Sanctuary.

Exdeath's hands twitched with the urge to call his magic, send his sword over the stairs, and cleave Golbez straight in two before Chaos could even lift a finger, but his body was still somewhat reeling from Chaos's earlier attack. His mind felt torn, disconnected from his limbs from when Chaos manipulated him against his will. His muscles ached from being thrown around in his armor, and they strained with every effort it took to move. The burn of humiliation that he hadn't felt in centuries seared the deepest bark of the tree to which his soul was fused.

And all because of Chaos's arbitrary defense of Golbez, an unavailing traitor.

Golbez was finished. Exdeath would ensure once and for all that Golbez's situation became 'unfavorable', Chaos's threats against disobedience be damned. Chaos could destroy him straight after for all he minded. At worst, Chaos wouldn't entirely end him, and he would be deposited back to this dimension for the next iteration of the cycle. At best, he would be returned to the Nothingness, one with the Void and free to destroy as he pleased.

Either way, Golbez would be torn asunder, and that was reward enough.

There was no better time to accomplish it than now, while Chaos was distracted. Exdeath turned away from Golbez's open, defenseless back and looked instead to Chaos, slouching lazily in his throne. "Preparing" for the Emperor, as though Chaos could ever pretend at that kind of power. He was as he always had been. His eyes were closed and he breathed deeply. He could've been sleeping.

Golbez would be dead long before Exdeath broke a sweat, and long before Chaos could muster the concern to retaliate with the Emperor so close.

Exdeath gathered his faculties and counted the loud bangs of Golbez's armored feet against the stone steps after his tall form disappeared from view below the threshold. He couldn't follow too closely without tipping the others off - especially Ultimecia and Kefka. She had watched him showdown with Golbez earlier and knew of his grudge, and though Kefka was an imbecile he could sometimes be a perceptive imbecile. They would no doubt take notice if he left immediately following Golbez.

He wasn't worried about losing him, however. Despite his inability to directly track by aura the way the Emperor or Golbez could, he could still track people using his unique connections to the fabric of space. He could tell from where someone teleported, and to where they arrived by the entry and exit points that were opened and closed. He could know when a Teleport Stone was triggered, or a Gateway entered and exited. Each event created a shift of energy that he could immediately identify, hone in on, and exploit. It was why it was particularly vexing for him that the Emperor had all but disappeared off the map. Eluding Exdeath's spatial sense was a tremendous feat of amazing power. That, or the Emperor wasn't moving at all, which implied an arrogance so strong it instantly enraged him.

Golbez possessed no such power. Exdeath would know immediately wherever he intended to go.

Chaos told Ultimecia he wanted them to stay close. The closest Teleport Stone was still in Onrac, so if Chaos was even going to pay attention to Exdeath, he'd relax back into his complacency if he waited for Golbez there.

Golbez would be there soon. When he touched the Signet of Chaos at the bottom of the stairs and began his descent throught the floors of the Gateway, Exdeath sensed the pocket of space open up to allow Golbez through, and he felt the hole seal itself behind him.

Golbez was finished.

As though anticipating his exit, Exdeath's power surged before he even consciously called it. He raised his hand and drew it downwards, imagining the sharpened claws of his gloves were cutting through the very air. His power responded and warped the space in front of him, unfolding into the purple, swirling mass of Void energy that he knew.

"Where are you going?" Sure enough, Ultimecia had noticed. But whether or not she guessed his plans he couldn't discern. She materialized next to the portal that he had opened with her arms crossed, but she couldn't stop him if she tried.

"I do not answer to you."

"To me, then," Garland called across the space. "Stay in Onrac until you are called upon! I am sure I made myself clear."

Exdeath turned away, acknowledging Garland with a wave thrown at his side. He then swept his other hand to the side, motioning for Ultimecia to step away. She did, but leaned over to watch his exit point materialize on the other side before he stepped through. The red, ashy dust, the harsh rocky landscape and the yellow glow of lava satisfied her, and she smirked with a soft, "Hmph!" before diverting her attention.

He stepped through his portal, and the Onrac Teleport Stone welcomed him on the other side. He quickly closed the portal so they couldn't spy on him any further.

The Onrac Teleport Stone sat almost directly underneath the floating islands that led to Chaos's throne. If Golbez did as Exdeath assumed he would, then as soon as he exited the Gateway, he'd teleport using his own magic down to the Stone, and Exdeath could intercept him there.

And then vengeance.

Anticipation coiled tight in his body. His energy felt bottled up, insulated in his armor with nowhere to go. Movement in a conventional sense rarely occured to him, but his tree stump-like legs moved almost of their own accord, causing him to pace slowly back and forth before the Stone.

He was ready.

The space immediately outside of Chaos's volcano flickered instantly in his awareness, and the fabric of the world unfolded to accommodate both Golbez's body and the body of his fiend. He didn't stay there long. A different, rougher kind of sensation - a manufactured tear, indicating the use of Golbez's power - opened next. The space next to the Teleport Stone visibly quavered, and Exdeath focused his concentration on the area. He lifted his hands and cupped them around the disturbance, wrapping his influence around Golbez's arrival point and caging it inside his magic. He absorbed Golbez's energy until it was entirely within Exdeath's control, and he redirected the power, forcing Golbez's exit to appear in one of the iterations of the Rift in the Gateway of the Great Will on Shinryu's Island, on the entirely opposite end of the map from the Edge of Madness.

He followed after quickly and teleported to the Rift, but he didn't immediately assume physical form. Instead he relished in Golbez's armored feet stumbling, hitting the ground of the center platform hard before he was ready. Golbez's light gasp of surprise sent something of a jolt through him, and he had to contain his delight in order to not reveal himself. Golbez looked left to right, then spun around quickly, already in a panic. He ran as fast as he could move to the edge of the platform and leaned over, staring down into the open sky abyss below.

"What . . . ?" he asked. "How did . . . ?"

"Master Golbez?" his fiend asked, gently trailing after him.

Exdeath sensed Golbez gathering his power again in another attempt to Teleport. Exdeath once again exerted his influence over his power and commandeered it, steering him straight back to the same platform. Golbez appeared for the second time, and Exdeath ejected him with more force. He ran to catch his balance but fell to a knee instead, shaking the whole platform. His fiend was at his side instantly, touching a hand to his shoulder but squinting his empty white eyes into the horizon for the unseen threat bothering his master.

Golbez shook the fiend's hand from him and lifted himself to his feet with a grunt of effort. He placed his back to the fiend's and scanned the infinite emptiness of the Rift. Satisfied that Golbez was sufficiently confused, and sufficiently on guard to make the whole encounter that much more gratifying, Exdeath materialized in the world, off to the side of the two of them. Golbez's fiend noticed before he did. The figure in the red cloak quickly placed himself between Exdeath and Golbez, drawing his cloak tighter around him in the event of an attack. The fiend was tall, as tall as the both of them, and he created an impressive and imposing shield. Exdeath had never summoned his kind, preferring the greater power of the Eidolons to lesser beings, so he did not know what kinds of abilities this fiend possessed. But he was sure it would be of little consequence to their battle. He would die alongside Golbez, if he had to.

"Not your intended destination, Golbez?" Exdeath asked.

His spin stiffened with the satisfying scrape of metal. Exdeath imagined the violent chill he thought he saw run down Golbez's back, and a surge of pride broadened his chest inside his armor. Golbez didn't answer. He didn't even turn, or try to face him. True to his cowardice his arms shot out. He grabbed a handful of his fiend's cloak in one hand and a handful of his own cape in the other.

The fool was still trying to run.

Two spells were already working their way through Exdeath's energy. He expanded his power to surround the center platform where they stood and folded it easily into the familiar essence of the Rift. The tug of space, time, and gravity buffeted against his awareness and he welcomed the sensation, enveloping it and amplifying it to increase that tug. Teleporting against a magnified gravitational field would be impossible for the likes of Golbez, and just to ensure that he was staying for good, Exdeath manipulated the magnetic polarity of the dimension to confound his teleportation, even if he somehow managed to break through.

Exdeath locked the Gravity spell and the Reverse Polarity spell in place just in time. Golbez whirled his cape around him in his characteristic teleportation. He gasped as the normal, feather-light feeling transformed suddenly into the crushing pressure of the bottom of othe ocean. His magic faded and he was left still standing in the same spot, facing Exdeath. He quickly backpedaled on foot, putting distance between them. His fiend stayed where he was but took a step to the side and placed himself between him and Exdeath.

"Exdeath," he gasped, his words rushed and panicked, "there is a larger threat afoot now. Larger than our feud. You and I will have a chance to settle this once and for all after the Emperor is gone. But not right now. Leave me to my task."

"I think not."

"Please-"

"Spare me!" he roared, pointing at Golbez's chest. "I would see you, a weak, foolish, sniveling traitor, rent and broken right now if it costs me my existence. Cycle after cycle of being named Chaos's enforcer, watching you feed information directly to Cosmos herself, and yet being unable to bring you to heel. Constantly being belittled and humiliated by Chaos in his defense of you. He will have nothing to defend after I wipe every shred of you from the faces of the cycle forever!"

Before Golbez could even attempt to ready himself Exdeath gathered his power to his clenched fist and launched a wave of vaccuum energy in their direction. His fiend sprang into action, lunging across him and spreading his cloak to the side to deflect the spell. Caught off-balance, Exdeath opened a tear in the Rift behind them. Golbez tensed and he hunched forward, resisting its pull, but his fiend was drawn back, feet sliding in the grass. His cloak was ripped away from his form and he was forced backwards into the Black Hole, his giant frame swallowed up until he disappeared.

Exdeath felt the excruciating ache from within as the fiend's limbs and flesh and muscles were torn in every different direction, his strength draining into the Void. Before he could hold the spell for too long, he was yanked off his feet. Golbez managed to resist the Black Hole and raise his arm, lifting him up and suspending him with his magic. With his other hand Golbez cast a Blizzaga spell. The ice crystals spiraled down Golbez's arm toward him but Exdeath teleported a short distance away, breaking Golbez's hold on him as if it was no more than a child's grip.

The Black Hole spell fizzled away, revealing Golbez's fiend on one knee on the ground. Stunned, battered, but looking no worse for wear. But he wasn't Exdeath's target.

The moment after he broke Golbez's hold, he renewed his attack on him, intending to prevent him a single chance to defend himself. His next teleport brought him safely out of the range of a reactionary Firaga from the fiend, and Exdeath landed directly in front of Golbez, so close their chests clanged together. Golbez recoiled and lifted his arms to force him back but Exdeath snatched his wrists with his magic and forced them down. On impulse Golbez drew his cape across his body again - either to flee or simply put more space between them. As before, he didn't move. His mistake didn't occur to him until a second too late. Exdeath moved his sword up from underneath Golbez's ribs and slashed with all the momentum he could muster. The blade slammed into metal with a loud crash, and the extra force Exdeath placed in his magic forced it through with a snap. It buried into the flesh under his ribs, and Golbez's body jerked. All the air left his chest and he growled out a wordless sound of pain that tore his throat. His posture crumbled, folding over the wound, and Exdeath took his sword into his hands and wrenched it back towards him in order to feel the blade carve a deeper path into him. He lifted Golbez up the same way he attempted to lift Exdeath earlier, suspending him in the air even as he hunched over.

Golbez's legs dangled helplessly. His hands were free but he was forced to clasp them over the deep wound that Exdeath had inflicted. They couldn't cover the entire length of the cut, and Exdeath watched stark red blood pool between his fingers so fast it almost ran in rivulets from the split in his armor. His breath came in short, wet gasps and as his form moved he thought he saw the white flash of bone in between the edges of the wound.

"Master Golbez-"

Whatever the fiend attempted next, Exdeath paid no mind. He teleported one final time with Golbez still in his clutches and unable to break free. He materialized out in the open air, over the edge of the Rift, out over the lip of even the lowest stone levels of the castle ramparts. He left the fiend in the field of his Gravity spells, unable to follow, and he cast a spherical block that enveloped both him and Golbez so they would not be interrupted.

"This," Exdeath said, and he realized he was panting from the intensity of his efforts. "This is what becomes of those who flee my wrath. Send your fiend away. Send him to Cosmos's warriors so he can help them the same way he helped you now. It will be the last shred of my good will you will ever be afforded."

Golbez didn't answer, the space between each of his breaths growing larger and larger, the depth growing shorter and shorter. His body slumped further and further each second, listing to the side as his life force drained out of him.

"Leave, if you are going to!" Exdeath shouted to the fiend. Emboldened by his block he dropped the Gravity fields, freeing the fiend. "Run and go to Cosmos's pawns, as you were commanded! But before you go, stay and watch your master die."

Exdeath cupped his hands and called his Void magic, ripping another tear into Rift and allowing the swirling, crackling, black mass of Nothingness to trickle through. He wrangled it into a sphere around Golbez until he was out of sight, and with a final, satisfying crunch, crushed the power between his hands and crushed Golbez.

The spell faded, and Golbez's limp body dangled over the Rift. Armor dented, limbs twisted at impossible angles, Exdeath dissipated his power and let him fall, watching his descent until his dead weight slammed onto the lowest of the Rift's platforms. He teleported back to the center platform, but as he looked around the fiend was gone.

A weight had been removed from his soul. A source of rage and disgust had been thoroughly removed. He took an easy breath and calmed the excited shaking of his hands, his power still sparking and jumping to the ends of his fingers. He had to return to Onrac, and if Chaos even cared that Golbez was gone, he would face his own retribution willingly. He had done what he sought to do.

"You know you're as good as dead, right?" The smooth purr of Ultimecia's voice echoed through the open air if the Rift, and a second later she materialized a few feet away. "I can't say I'm not impressed. His body is so broken, it'll be amazing if Shinryu pieces him back together to bring him back." She walked past him to the edge and leaned over it. "There he goes," she said, and though he didn't watch, Exdeath assumed she meant he was fading.

"I have already resigned myself to my fate, if Chaos can even muster the gumption to be concerned at this time. You also defy his direct order by being here. Why?"

"Me? I never planned on staying in Onrac," she said, crossing her arms. "Wait until the Emperor shows up and catches us off-guard? I think not. Besides, Kefka clued me in to an idea of his that was . . . surprisingly well thought out. I found it well worth pursuing."

"What idea is that?"

"Ooooh, Ulty, don't ruin it! Let me tell! Let me!" Kefka shouted, his shrill voice solidifying as he did next to her. "Why not go after the Emperor ourselves? Me n' Ulty, taking out Chaos's competition for him! Aren't we so nice?"

"For what purpose? The day you voluntarily do Chaos a favor is the day the cycles collapse."

"What's the harm? Think about it: we lose? He'll eat us just like he'll eat everyone else. We win? Well! We eat him! Om nom nom nom!" Kefka mimed, chomping his teeth together. "Delicious!"

"And then you become the threat," Exdeath finished for them. "You appear before Chaos with enough power to compete with him."

Ultimecia didn't confirm his addition, but quirked an eyebrow and lowered her arms. Exdeath suddenly became aware that if they were intending on competing with the Emperor, then he was the obvious next target. His blind rage and desire to destroy Golbez had been satisfied, but he isolated himself in the process. He was more powerful than the two of them, but a battle would not be easy. Not nearly as easy as Golbez. Nor would it be as quiet. Ultimecia he would have considered his greatest competition, after the Emperor.

Kefka was too unpredictable to be taken lightly from a strategic standpoint.

She looked him up and down, and the icy look in her eye made him realize what was next. He called his power again, already forming a Shell and a Protect barrier around himself, and Ultimecia shook out her wings, spreading them to the side. Her hands clenched at her side, but before she could ready a spell, a form shifted directly in front of her. All Exdeath saw was a blur, and then a presence was there, like a blink.

The raw power emanating off of the presence slammed into the front of Exdeath's armor and he was forced back a few steps. When he recovered, he saw the Emperor standing there, back to him. He had Ultimecia by the throat, one thumb pressing into the soft flesh of her windpipe and holding her entire weight off the ground, feet and dress draping down over the ground of the Rift.

"Oh," he sighed amiably, and despite himself, it put an involuntary shudder through Exdeath. His voice echoed with the accumulated power he possessed, as though it had no where else to go within him. "What an excellent plan!" Ultimecia grabbed at his hand, mouth gaping, purple claws cutting into the purple leather of his gloves, but the Emperor didn't flinch. Whatever she tried to cast deflected away from him, a natural magical barrier formed by all the excess.

"Scatter!-" Kefka screamed, leaping in the air. The Emperor simply reached behind him and twirled his finger in the air, and loops and coils of white, stringy Binding magic sprang up from the ground, wrapping around Kefka's ankles. They dragged him towards the ground, and the lower he descended the further up they traveled until he was trussed up on the ground. He snarled and spit and clawed at the ground, digging into the dirt to no avail. At the same time, a Dreary Cell spark appeared under Exdeath's feet.

He knew the Emperor's affinity for traps. If he moved a muscle, the spell would erupt. He was just as trapped as if he was bound like Kefka.

"You could not have made this easier for me. All three of Chaos's most powerful mages, congregating in one place! Power ripe for the taking, defenseless."

Ultimecia tried to pry the fingers at her throat away. The Emperor's head snapped back in her direction. He unleashed a part of his power, aura surging several feet off of his form and evaporating into the Rift. It encased him and before Exdeath's eyes his form shifted. His hair shrank and changed, molding together and shifting to the top of his head in the form of purple and yellow snakes. With a shudder the snakes came alive, hissing and spitting. The horns on his head rippled on top of his hardened skin which darkened into a sickly grey color. His jaw elongated to make room for hundreds of tiny, sharp fangs that grew every which way out of his maw. His eyes glowed a deep, eerie yellow from the power, jutting grotesquely from his forehead around his short nose. His muscles grew and swelled, and he towered a foot or two above the struggling Ultimecia, who grew more frantic beneath him.

A light appeared in front of his chest and shot down his arm into Ultimecia in the form of black and purple lightning. It hit her, and her own power became visible as it reached deep and mixed with hers.

At first, it looked like she fought back. Little bursts of resistance like explosions popped in the air and on the Emperor's skin. He jerked against them, but gradually they became weaker and weaker until finally their power was one and the same. Her eyes squeezed shut in pain, and the Emperor withdrew, regaining his power and hers as they entered him again. He sucked her power dry, and she was swallowed up in a cloud of black, fading away until she was gone completely.

He turned to face Kefka and Exdeath.

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