1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

All I could hear was her voice. It seemed, to me, the most reasonable thing to hear. The divine beauty of her voice telling us to gather crystals. The voice belonged to the Goddess of Harmony - Cosmos. It hadn't been long since that request was given to me and the rest of her chosen warriors.

I smiled and tilted the brim of my bright red hat forward. I could feel the stares of my companions. They were probably curious to why I was smiling. I gave all three of them a separate look as we continued to walk down the aisle of what appeared to be a train.

"What's tickled you?" asked Ashe.

She wasn't a hard one to read, at least not for me and my vast intelligence. She gave off a strong sense of duty and determination, although she remained proud and independent.

"Why, the joy of a quest of course," I replied, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

The young woman looked to our other two companions in turn, as if asking if she should take my response sitting down. I saw the faint smile of our youngest companion - Brandt. Lightning, however, was scolding as always. I could tell the pink-haired warrior had something to say, but kept her mouth shut. If it didn't have anything to do with her, she didn't get involved - or so I assumed. Even for someone with brains like me, it was hard to tell how Lightning was feeling or what she was thinking.

"I merely jest," I finally told everyone. "I was simply thinking of how right it was for Cosmos to place her trust in us."

Brandt nodded. "I have to agree," he said with a smile.

Ever-optimistic, as always. Brandt was a gifted youth, although rough and juvenile at times.

"Yes," Ashe added to his statement. "I concur."

That brought my eyes to rest on Lightning, whom hadn't spoken more than a few words since we left sanctuary together.

"And you, my lady?" I asked her.

"Tch," was all the response I got out of her. As expected, of course. One cannot blame me for trying, though.

"Of course that would be your answer," I teased. I saw Ashe and Brandt trade glances, and Lightning stopped in her place. She was always one to take everything seriously, so I guess she found some sort of disrespect in my reply.

"Oh I'm sorry, Mr. Red Mage," she replied, with angry sarcasm. "Was my answer not good enough for you? It might just be me, but I don't find interest in dwelling on the useless and unimportant."

"You would say that the word of the Goddess is not important?" I shot back, also stopping in my tracks. Ashe and Brandt also stopped, it seemed that they didn't want to be caught in the middle of our argument, but they couldn't very well continue without us.

"No, I would say her trust is," Lightning said, taking a step forward. "Regardless of what she may think of us, what's going to happen will. The words of Goddess do not shape your future. You decide your own fate, I do anyways."

That put me at a loss for words, which is by no means a common occurrence for me. Which is why I was thankful for Brandt's interruption. "C'mon guys," he said to us. "The last thing we want to be doing is arguing."

Ashe nodded in agreement. "Especially in this world," she added. "We need our allies, and, just as importantly, to find our crystals."

Lightning continued to look me in the eye, and I looked her back. Another moment of tension passed before she turned around and continued to walk in the direction we had before stopping. I looked to my other two comrades. Brandt walked, and Ashe gave me a quite perplexing look. I shrugged it off before waving my red cape forward to indicate we should walk after them, which we did.

With Brandt and Lightning walking ahead of us, Ashe began to speak softly. "You know," she began. I could already see where this is going and felt the smile run across my face. "You really shouldn't mess with Lightning like that. If you hadn't noticed, she is quite… explosive. To say the least."

I chuckled. This girl had thought it had gotten past me. "You underestimate me," I told her. "I realize this, I really do. You see, I take interest in educating things. Lightning had to be educated in the way of her status."

Ashe threw me a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Then it was my turn to throw her a look of confusion. Surely she had noticed, or was she just that wrapped up, in herself and what she needs to do, to notice? "You can't be serious," I exclaimed. The look on her face told me she was, indeed, serious. "Have you not seen her on her high horse? I needed to educate her in the sense that she is not as far above everyone else as she may assume."

Ashe made a quick glance toward Lightning, then back to me. I too looked forward. It appeared young Brandt had engaged Lightning in a conversation – which she didn't seem quite too happy with. "I don't think that's the case," the sandy-blond haired girl finally said. "I think she just has her hands full with herself."

I thought about that for a moment. I hadn't considered that. Maybe Ashe was as dim as I had thought, maybe there was more to her. To make an observation like that she had have some kind of intelligence about her. I placed my pointer finger and thumb around my chin and closed my eyes. No, Lightning was much too free-minded to be anything but conceited. I opened my eyes and looked to Ashe, she could be right though. "I commend your scrutiny," I told her. "I hadn't contemplated that of her."

Ashe grew a smile that lasted but a fraction of a second. "But I hardly think it's our business to continue discussing," she said.

"Hm," I began. "Perhaps you are right."

Silence fell upon us from then on. The path through this wicked train had been much longer than it had appeared, yet we continued – our trek far from complete. It hadn't taken long for the Warriors of Chaos to catch on to us – which is why I don't understand why I was so surprised when they appeared.

I felt the blow to my side before I was sent through the air and high speeds. I hit the ground hard, but quickly got up, and just in time to throw my sword up and block an incoming attack.

"I'm sorry," are the words that came out of my adversary's mouth as his massive blade lay against mine. This perplexed me, a Warrior of Chaos apologizing as their first act in a battle. I didn't dwell on it too much – I had no time to. I struggled to push back the weapon of the man who had attacked me, and eventually gave in by rolling to the side to avoid instead. It was the smart thing to do, I realized as I heard the loud clang of his sword hit the ground. I looked at the man, and my mind began to read him. His spiky, blond hair was almost bizarre, but what really caught my attention were his eyes- so sky-blue and filled with despair. To me, this man seemed more sad than evil. Regardless, as a Warrior of Chaos, he had to be taken down.

"You apologize for taking up your sword to an enemy?" I asked him.

"….." was his response. I didn't understand, why ambush me and apologize for it? I looked back at the others – each locked in a battle of their own.

"I do not understand you, boy," I told him, as he stood there, waiting for me to make my move. Still no response. "But, all of Chaos's Warriors are equal I suppose."

I readied my rapier, and he finally spoke. "I don't need you to understand me," he told me before he charged into battle.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The wind shifted, blowing his white hair from his face only to reveal his look of disgust. In front of him were the two most unsocial people he had ever met - one quiet and irritating, the other loud and annoying.

Luneth was especially irritated because, even though the cold wind blowing snow in his face was enough to cover most voices, he still heard one. "Seifer!" he tried to yell. He wanted to tell him to shut up, but Luneth was too nice for his own good.

Seifer's smile faded and he stopped in his tracks, causing the other two to stop as well. "What was that, boy-wonder?" Seifer exclaimed. "You got a problem."

Luneth let out a sigh. "It would be nice to have some peace is all," he told Seifer in a shallow voice.

Seifer shrugged him off and continued to walk. "Not my problem."

"I don't know why we even came out here anyway," Luneth said. "You're the only one who wanted to do it. I said no and you didn't even ask Squall."

Seifer stopped and turned to the silent Squall. "Well what do you think Squall?" he asked.

At first there was no response, but the more the two gazed at Squall the more he felt he needed to respond. "I agree with Seifer," he finally said.

Seifer smiled. "Well there you have it folks," Seifer announced as he continued walking. "Now shut the hell up and follow along."

Luneth's anger bubbled, but he suppressed it. The boy let out another sigh and looked up at Squall, who was still standing there. "Are you really sure you're okay with this?" Squall shot him a puzzled look. Luneth proceeded to explain. "Look around," the freelancer continued. He threw his arm out for Squall to see the frozen tundra that they currently walked. "He lead us here and it's been snowing since we got here, aren't you cold?" Luneth asked. Squall didn't answer, just looked forward and followed behind Seifer. Luneth, yet again, let out a sigh. "Why did I have to get stuck with these two?"

The frustrated boy followed suit, and the walk continued the way it was going before; Seifer being loud and the other two being quiet. It was hard for Luneth to drown out the sound of his voice, even over the sound of wind and snow, but Squall didn't have the same problem – he seemed like he was somewhere else.

Seifer stopped in front of a gateway. Luneth looked at it and cocked his head to the side. He hadn't even noticed they were approaching a gateway, was the snow really that thick? Squall gave his usual blank look. "Here we are fellas!" Seifer shouted as he threw his arms up at the gateway. He turned back to the other two, and smiled a devious smile. "A crystal has to be in here."

Luneth and Squall looked back at him with expressions that did not reflect his smile. Squall seemed as if he didn't care while Luneth wanted to protest. He began to, but realized the only reason he didn't want to go in was because Seifer wanted to. Luneth looked Seifer in the eye and figured it was best to go in the gateway and get away from this cold. "After you, fearless leader," Luneth joked at Seifer.

Seifer sent him a look of disgust, but turned back and sarcastically added "Don't mind if I do," before stepping in to the gateway.

Luneth must have had a pretty grim expression on his face, for even Squall had to say something to him. "Go easy on him," Squall told Luneth without making eye contact. "He's more damaged then he may seem," he finished before following Seifer.

Luneth let out a chuckle. "Well that's one way to put it," he said before entering behind his comrades.

Once inside, the group looked around: an empty airship that seemed more like a stage to them than anything else. Luneth was grateful for one thing and one thing alone: it was warm here. Seifer and Squall always seemed like they were examining everything before they were comfortable with it. The two pairs of eyes danced around the visible area before Seifer said anything ridiculous. "Isn't this just a nice pile of crap?" he asked Squall.

"Whatever," Squall responded.

Seifer's face turned red and he tried to come up with a smart-ass reply to that, but coming up shorthanded. Luneth laughed at this. Seifer turned to him, irritated, and said "What's so funny chicken-wuss?"

Luneth wanted to tell him it was funny how incompetent he was, but thought against. He used rational thought and decided that dispute among comrades was pointless and said, with a smile "Nothing."

"Damn right nothing," Seifer assured the boy before turning back toward the open space. "This is where we stay for the night."

Luneth began walking forward and said "Good."

Seifer looked to Squall, but Squall did not look back. Instead he too began moving forward. Seifer clenched his fist at the thought of being ignored, but quickly let it go, ready to turn in for the night.

Luneth awoke with a start. He was having a dream of… something. The boy wiped his forehead and let the thought go; no good would come from worrying about it. He glanced to his left and saw the big, bad Seifer sleeping like a baby. This brought a smile to Luneth's face, it was funny, and he had to admit it.

Then he glanced to his left, and, instead of sleeping, Squall was off sitting alone. "Typical," Luneth muttered to himself. Instead of laying back down, though, he got up and walked over to where his comrade sat.

Luneth stood there for a moment, waiting for Squall to acknowledge his presence, but that was like waiting for the sky to fall. The boy took a seat next to Squall, who immediately took on a look of discomfort. "What are you thinking about?" Luneth asked. There was, not surprisingly, no answer from the quiet man. Luneth was fed up with that. "Don't ignore me," Luneth urged Squall. "If you have something on your mind, don't be afraid to talk about it."

Squall sighed; he knew that Luneth was not leaving without an answer, so Squall decided to enlighten him with one. "My memories," he said.

Luneth smirked. That was the topic that seemed to be on everybody's mind. "How much do you remember from your home world?" Luneth asked.

Squall was quiet for a moment. "Not much," he paused again. "I remember two people."

Luneth waited for Squall to continue, but realized that he wasn't going to do that. "Who?" Luneth asked.

"Some girl in blue," Squall said. "I'm reminded of her whenever I see flowers or think of wings for some reason." Squall looked back to the sleeping Seifer. "And I remember him."

Luneth finally understood. "So you guys are from the same world?" he asked. "I take it you guys were friends?"

"Same world, yeah," Squall assured the boy. "Friends, I don't know; probably."

Luneth laughed. It was this sentimental attachment that kept clinging to Seifer – it's the only thing he knows. Luneth figured he'd be the same way if he saw a familiar face here.

The boy's laugh irritated Squall. "What's funny?"

"It just finally makes sense to me," Luneth told the man. "Why you always agree with him and why he's the only one you don't mind being around."

Squall looked off into the distance. "Whatever," he got up and walked off. "I'm going to sleep."

Luneth smiled one more time before following his comrade back to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The young man adjusted his weight to his other foot and crossed his arms. His foot tapped impatiently and his eyes darted from side to side, desperately looking for any form of entertainment. How long had he been waiting here? He thought it had been ages, when in reality, it had only been a few short hours since he began leaning against the brick structure. His head bobbed to the left and his eyes rested on a young woman in elegant robes. She sat on the edge of the floating platform of grass, her feet dangling over the side.

The girl looked back at him and smiled, but all that the boy could focus on were her eyes – one blue and one green. "Yes?" Yuna asked the blond man. This time it was her turn to peer – her eyes only focusing on the crystal-shaped mark on his right cheek. "What is it, Layle?"

Layle threw his hands into the pockets located on his heavy jacket and began to respond. "Nothing," he shrugged his shoulders. "Just bored."

Yuna let out a giggle. "You always are," she replied in a soft voice.

"Well," Layle began, starting a walk toward the girl. "What can I say? I love excitement," he finished, taking a seat next to Yuna. She giggled again and he looked at her. "So how much longer do you think prince charming and the boogeyman are gonna' take?"

Yuna's response wasn't immediate. She didn't quite care for it when Layle said hurtful things like that, and, to be honest with herself, she didn't care much for Layle. The young summoner disregarded these feelings, for she knew that without the nonchalant man that their group may not have made it this far. Not only was he an expert in the battlefield, but his powers were unique – almost unpredictable. Layle was her sword, and Golbez was her shield; of this, she was sure. "Hopefully not too long," Yuna finally added.

Layle let out a grunt and flopped onto his back. With his head on the ground, he watched as two pairs of feet approached. Immediately, he sat up and turned around. Approaching them was a large, white-haired man. His unusually pale and muscular body was lightly covered with black robes; something Layle found hilarious when the two first met. Next to him was another, smaller man. Layle always wondered how hard it was for him to move, considering all the weapons he carried on his person. "'Bout time," the boy said.

Yuna turned around and lit up – there was finally somebody else to keep from being alone with Layle any longer. "Firion!" she exclaimed. "Golbez! Are you two decided?"

"Yeah, what's the game plan?" Layle added, jokingly.

Firion let out a light, irritated noise before answering. "We're to retrace our steps and locate the crystals."

Everybody was waiting for him to continue, and when Golbez realized he wasn't going to, he went on with it. "We shall travel back east instead of going south, then go north into the Land of Discord."

Layle couldn't hold back the smile as it spread across his face. He started pacing forward, placing his hand on Golbez's shoulder. "Smart man," Layle said, excitement burning in his voice. "Take it straight in to their homeland – all out frontal assault."

Golbez was one of the few people able to stand Layle's laid back personality, and this was proved with the smallest of chuckles. "No," Golbez said to Layle, his deep voice booming. "We will go to the Mirage Sandsea and no further."

Yuna perked up to the news. "Does that mean we must traverse all those gateways once again?" she asked, worry in her voice. "I barely made it the first time."

"Hmm," Golbez pondered. "Hopefully not," and with that he turned to start walking. Firion caught this and followed behind.

"Don't worry Yuna," Layle assured the nervous girl. "If it comes down to it, I'll have your back." Layle's smile after that sentence made her think it couldn't have been Layle saying those words. She let the thought go and nodded toward the optimistic youth. "And maybe-"

Layle was cut off by the echo of an ear-piercing and maniacal laugh. The four warriors stopped in their tracks and looked up. Standing atop the brick structure, leering down at them with excitement, was strangely dressed man wearing a clown face. "Well, well," Kefka taunted, relaxing his body off of the ground. "What have we here?" Two more beings appeared from behind him, one silver-haired and one wearing a dark suit of armor.

Golbez gasped at the latter. "Cecil!" he shouted at the man.

Kefka rolled his laugh again. "It appears these two are acquainted," he said, insanity leaking from his body language. "What do you think of this, Kuji-Koo?" he finished, looking to the man with silver hair.

Kuja sighed and looked away. "Could you please not speak to me," he told the crazy clown. "I grow far too weary of your games."

Kefka leaned back in disappointment. "C'mo-n," he exclaimed, his voice slowly changing from sarcastic to angry. "Can't you just go along with it!?" Kefka crossed his arms, gazed into the floor and began an angry mumble. "Callyourselfanactorandyoucan'tevenfollowthescript ,thenerveofthisguy,jeezearegoodpatheticpawnstohard tocomebyImeanreally,isitsomuchto-"

"Get on with it!" Layle shouted, growing impatient.

"Who do you think you're talking to like that!?" Kefka shouted.

Layle smiled and waved his arm upwards, using his power to lift Kefka from the ground. He finished by swinging his arm downward, slamming the started spell-caster into the ground. Firion was quick to follow his lead and grappled the structure with his rope knife, which he used to start running up the side. Kuja caught on fast, and intercepted the weapon's expert with multiple balls of energy.

As Kuja engaged Firion, Layle leaped far up with his gravity power, but was caught off guard by Cecil's dive. The two slammed into the ground and Layle threw the Dark Knight into the structure with kinetic force. The young man regained his posture but was stopped by a large pale arm blocking his path.

"Allow me," Golbez insisted on Layle.

"Don't worry about me," Layle assured the man. "I got this."

"I wasn't asking you," Golbez finished in a menacing voice.

Layle got the picture and looked to his left to see Yuna narrowly avoiding Kefka's black magic from afar. The coated man clenched his teeth and hopped into the air once again, intercepting the distracted Kefka with a punch backed by kinesis. Kefka was launched back to the ground with a loud slam; Layle smiled. Yuna followed his attack with a wave of her staff and Ifrit's clawed arm launched Kefka even farther.

Golbez stared hard as Cecil recovered, discontent building inside of his massive body. When Cecil finally looked back, the large man started speaking. "What faction do you belong, brother?" Golbez asked, already knowing the answer. Cecil didn't respond and Golbez feared he was right.

"Not yours!" Cecil shouted, spearing his lance into Golbez's direction.

The warlock rolled to the side and was met with Cecil's hard armor slamming into his sided. The blow was strong enough to send the two tumbling over the side of the platform and crashing down on the lower story. Golbez was the first to recover, bringing his arm back to strike his rising foe, but found himself stalling. He couldn't bring himself to strike Cecil – his brother. Being one Golbez's few memories, Cecil got lucky stabbed forward with his lance, striking his target.

Meanwhile Firion wasn't having the same problem, the last bolt of thunder bring his opponent to his knees.

"You're even weaker than you look," Firion taunted. Kuja slammed his fist to the ground in anger, but began laughing. "You laugh at your defeat?" the warrior of Cosmos asked.

"After what we have planned it will be you in the position for defeat," Kefka assured him before he started to fade.

"Wait!" Firion shouted, but it was too late – Kuja was gone. "What did he mean by that?" he pondered.

His thoughts were cut short by the sound of shouting, and Layle slamming you the top of the structure, next to Firion. The arms-master looked to his right as Kefka pelted Yuna with chunks of ice. He drew an arrow on his bow and launched it at Kefka, barely missing the Chaos warrior's head.

This caught the clown's attention, turning his head to see Firion and the recovering Layle. His eyes widened as he realized Kuja had been defeated. "Weakling!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, before disappearing and reappearing next to Cecil.

Cecil turned his attention from his fallen adversary and looked to Kefka. "What?" Cecil demanded.

"Don't get your armor in a bunch," Kefka snapped. "Say bye-bye to your play-date, 'cause we gotta' go." The bizarre man snapped his fingers and a dark portal appeared behind him and his comrade.

Golbez was just starting to recover when he looked up at the sight of Kefka and Cecil vanishing into the darkness. "Cecil!" Golbez shouted. "Wait!" but the Dark Knight was already gone. The pale man stood and punched the wall next to him out of anger. He had finally found his brother, the one he had been searching for this whole time, and he was on the opposite side as him. Golbez wasn't going to have this. "I will find you again, brother," he said to nothing, and started to walk after his brother.

He stopped, though, as he heard the voices of his comrades from behind him. Golbez stopped and looked back, his motives conflicted. He blinked and thought for a moment before turning back around and walking off on his own.


End file.
