Rush didn't understand. His head felt clouded as he walked through the street and slowly left Nagapur. The city was empty, which was strange. As he looked behind him and up in the air, he felt there was something missing. The Remnant, Gwayn, wasn't there. The rocks were gone too, a castle was in the distance. Which was definitely not something he had ever seen before. What is this? He turned away and kept going through the street, viewing the wall.

As he hurried out of the city, Rush kept moving quickly forward. He noticed in the distance the ruins of what seemed like a city, unknown to him this was Midgar from a different world. Shaking his head, he tried to remember what was meant to be out there. It didn't came to him, but instead of letting that bother him. He kept going forward until he reached a certain distance to turn and look at the wall and over it to see what was laying beyond. There was no Remnant, there were no rocks sticking up in the sky, there was instead some kind of castle or tower. He didn't really understand it whatsoever.

The question of 'Where am I?' was currently shouting in his head. But a worse feeling was keeping him occupied as he looked around himself. There was no one around him. Actually, didn't he have some companions? He couldn't recall whatsoever. Sister! He looked now horrified around himself, she wasn't there. Wait, wasn't I... looking for her? his mind felt like a fog, what is going on with me?! "Rrraaaaahh!" He clamped his head with both hands, a shout came from his mouth as he tried to recollect any memories he could find. Irina!

His legs spread, his face terrified, he had let go of his head and held his hands at the ready to pull his sword and take down anything that might appear. Yet, there didn't seem to be anything there. "What is going on? Where is this? Why..." he stopped, maybe he just hit his head, amnesia? At least he remembered the most important thing, his sister, Irina, he had to find her. Perhaps also others, but once he would remember... It'd be fine, right? This felt more like a boulder in his stomach than anything else.



Garland stepped forward as he came to the edge of the Shrine. Atop of the Shrine he had been beaten once... nay, more times than he would likely be able to count... he watched the outlying world. Another war, another battle. It never really ended, now did it? In his head, he recalled the words of the Warrior. However, he paid little heed to it. Perhaps some meaning was brought to it, but this war. It was different. "Now... My old friend... We will see what fate has to offer," he spoke, thinking of Chaos and his fate. He pondered on what warriors would appear before him, enemies or allies. The only path for him was forward after all.

"Which of them will return?" he spoke, stretching his hand out in grasping manner to the land, "and whom shall we crush?" Returning his hand by his body, he lifted his weapon and stepped away from the edge as he started to view his surroundings. He had the feeling he wasn't alone, but that didn't bother him. He felt he knew the presence, and it was definitely not one of Cosmos. Now with Materia and Spiritus in play, he felt uncomfortable figuring out how this war came to be. What brought this play in setting?

It felt strange when he didn't hold the answers. Garland wasn't accustomed to this, but the Warrior of Cosmos... the Warrior of Light... he had shown him there were more paths to walk. And he wasn't going to accept fate to splinter like that. He was certain others were with him on that. "Hmph," he recalled a certain jester and an armored tree that stood firm with their believes. He wondered if they were here as well. Especially after the previous plots they made.

As Fenrir kicked up the dust of the desert around Midgar as he drove away from Edge, Cloud tried to figure out just what was going on around them. Well, the night before had been pretty normal. There hadn't been a ruckus in the bar, business was good and the blond hadn't needed to kick anyone out for once. Tifa and Cloud had gone into their separate rooms after cleaning up the bar from the night before, making sure Denzel and Marlene had breakfast so they'd be ready to head out for the day while the two of them slept. When Cloud had woken up in the afternoon, he checked on Tifa and forehead before getting dressed and grabbing the list for the errands he needed to run in order for the bar to be stocked for the upcoming night.

When he'd gone outside to Fenrir however, the normalcy had vanished. There wasn't a sound coming from the city around them, not so much a child's cry or a motor's roar. Tucking the shopping list into his pocket the blond mounted his bike and quickly drove it around the city to look for any sign of life. Anxiety formed a ball in his stomach, his heart pounding as he tried to think of just where Denzel and Marlene were. Of course the people of the city mattered to, but those kids were his and Tifa's life. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax and clear his head. Panicking wasn't going to get him anywhere, he needed to look up and think. There was an answer to this somewhere, he just needed to find it.

On the horizon outside the cities the entire landscape had changed, which puzzled the Imaginary SOLDIER as he straightened his back to get a better look. Edge was still in the shadow of Midgar sure, but beyond the desert was another city with architecture that didn't match any he'd seen on this world before. Surely a city couldn't just appear overnight, what was this? In another direction just before the horizon was the shape of a castle which he found vaguely familiar, but he hadn't seen anything like that since...

A sudden chill overtook the blond and his heart felt like it stopped. Was this another cycle of the Dissidia War? It couldn't be, there'd been portals to specific replicas of parts of their worlds but it'd taken part on its own planet. This... This almost seemed like parts of worlds were just smashed together. Maybe this was something different, but still the fact he and Tifa remained while the citizens hadn't troubled him. Whatever this was needed warriors, and they were being dragged into something or other. He was all sorts of not interested in that idea, but there was nothing he could do now. He pulled out his phone to text Tifa that he was leaving the city to figure out what was going on, but no good. The signal was dead, making the blond grunt. Terrific. Oh well, an extra few minutes here before he left wasn't going to hurt anything. After riding back home, and leaving a note on the bar for Tifa to know what he was doing he took off out of the city on Fenrir.

Even thinking back over the events, Cloud couldn't think of anything else besides gods that could've caused this. Of course this time he didn't feel any sort of tug from Cosmos, so maybe that explained the difference in tactic here. If this was some sort of war though, why hadn't anyone contacted him about it? Better yet, where were the other warriors? This really didn't make sense from that point of view either, so maybe a war hadn't broken out just yet. Was this just some sort of interim period before things got started? Just staying in one place wasn't going to answer his questions, that's why he was riding out. Somewhere, someone would be able to tell him what was going on.

Maybe they could even send him and Tifa back.

@Rush
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To the surprise of the genocidal jester, he'd been pulled from the confines of hell and once again found himself among the living in the recovering World of Balance. He blinked a few times, even rubbing his eyes before he hovered and dusted himself off. Just what in the world was going on here? The last thing he remembered was battling that broken toy Terra in his now dissolved tower, that chocobo headed brat and the little knight had been there too. The nearly naked broad from the knight's world too if he recollected right. But the Dissidia War had ended, with the heroes succeeding in their disgusting peace right? His memories were intact so he wasn't summoned into another cycle of war, and he certainly didn't feel the influence of that meddling Chaos upon him. Perhaps this was something similar but not the same, another conflict of sorts with new gods and new rules to play by. Not that it mattered, Kefka wasn't going to waste this new lease on life.

"Hohohoho, this is BRILLIANT!!" Kefka cheered, leaping into the air before hovering on his side and scratching his butt. Resting his had on his left hand he grinned widely, a sparkle in his eye as he started to plot his next move. "Finally I have returned, and this time I'm going to set things right!" Spinning to an upright position, Kefka spread his arms. "I'm going to destroy EVERYTHING!! Everybody and everything will cease their pointless, meaningless existence and it will be all done by me!!" he winked, "And my cronies of course, hohoho... Hahahaha... WHOA-OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!"

Now then, were to start? Looking around him, there was certainly something different about this world. While the ruined around him were certainly of his beloved tower, it almost seemed like the world beyond it was a patchwork of different colors and settings. From a castle in the distance surrounded by lush green that certainly didn't belong in a desert like this, to that damn temple that Garland liked to... Kefka's eyes widened, as did his grin.

"Ooooh, the Chaos Shrine, so it seems he's here as well, why don't I go pay him a little visit to see what he knows hm? Surely he has an idea as to what exactly is going on around here!" With that he giggled and vanished in a violet cloud of darkness, an ability they'd gained during the war to travel from place to place. Almost immediately he appeared behind the knight, who if he hadn't sensed his presence certainly heard it now since-

"WHOA-OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!!" he laughed, the jester's voice echoing around the shrine as he skipped to Garland to fling an arm around his shoulders. "Why hello my dear stalwart friend, having fun knocking people down? Mind if I join in? For old time's sake!" wiggling his fingers, Kefka chuckled as he narrowed his eyes to try and peep inside that helmet. What was he thinking beneath that thing, what did he know? He'd find out soon~

@Garland

Looking at the ruins, Rush kept wondering if he had seen it before. It didn’t look familiar. Then a memory of Blocter giving him a map so he couldn't give an excuse of getting lost came to mind. I guess I was bad with these things, he thought on Blocter for a moment. There were… others… They were only faintly in his head. It troubled Rush, especially now he recalled a mention of his parents working on a project. They worked on all kinds of projects, so why was this one so clear in his mind?

Rush didn’t want to dwell further on it. It was better if he investigated the area first. Like the ruins were something unfamiliar. Perhaps someone was there? His legs started to go in motion. As he moved, his eyes scanned around himself as he tried to make sense of his memories. It wasn't like anyone was there to guide him on his way. He felt like he was missing some guidance from some people. At times faces passed by in his head as he searched for the names. However, even the faces were blurry at best. It bothered him quite a lot, but he tried to remain calm for now.

His sister, however, it made Rush feel worse just whenever her name floated in his head. Where was she? What was going on? If he was honest with himself, it bothered him more that he didn't know how Irina was doing than the fact he was lost in a place he could not recognize. A sigh escaped his lips as he moved more to the left as he noted a normal path there that led to the ruins. It seemed like some kind of sandy road at best. It didn't have much for foot-tracks, there were other more unfamiliar tracks, it reminded him more of wagon tracks, but different.

It didn't bother him nor did he pay it much heed as he continued the trail towards the ruins of some sort of city. Apart from the Ramparts and the mountains, was there any ruins? He scratched his head as he moved further and studied the ruins. As he got closer, he could hear a sound coming. It was unfamiliar to him, so his feet came to a halt as he tilted his head a bit. Looking over the wall and the damaged area's, he tried to figure out what it was and where it came from. He had gotten close enough to the ruins that it made it hard to keep track of all places. Going back seemed illogical, so instead he opted to wait for whatever was coming. If it was an enemy, he would simply cut it down. If it was anyone that could be of help, then he'd finally have found some directions.

@Cloud



Garland took notice of a certain presence. Actually, he didn't even need to focus on any presences or the like, the irritating laughter was enough to alert him quite well on who or what was there. Not like this very person even cared on stealth or surprising his opponents in obvious ways. However, the clown was an expert when it came to surprising his opponents in the most annoying manners. And Garland couldn't deny the jester was devious and incredible at the scheming role. He was certain that if he stood at the other end of the line, he'd have a great deal of trouble. However, thinking of opponents... he didn't mind challenges like that either.

As Kefka bounced in, Garland only turned slightly before having an arm flinged around him. He turned his head a little towards the jester, just so he looked back at the man. "Hmmm... Well, it does appear to be like old times," he responded in a calm manner, uncertain how to respond to the questions. He had felt Chaos' presence, but there were some things... off. "Honestly, I'm not entirely certain yet what people we may find... The war has started anew, yet the rules have changed... I've felt the Great Will's hand in this, but right now..." he halted there and turned his head back to face forward. A moment of silence from his part.

Then he raised his arm and shrugged off the jester. Garland stepped forward, "I will go see the meaning of this war, or at least discuss the current with the God of Discord," he said in a stern tone, "perhaps you'd best go see whom else is here. See what allies and enemies we may have. Perhaps Cosmos or another God is out there who has alerted others. The lack of an announcement or anything bothers me, we'd best be on our toes," thinking about that sentence, he felt it was a wrong one in the regard of the jester and skipping on his toes while making chaos. It mattered little anyway, "I'll get back to you when I know more, if that's agreeable with you." He hoped this would give him some time to discuss things with Chaos once he'd get to him... if that was possible. After that... what other presences were in this world? It was definitely not the same as usual. It was like many worlds were brought together, perhaps this place copied area's from worlds... What if I am a copy? Or we all are? Now that was an interesting thought.

@Kefka



Rhitahtyn stood before Cape Westwind, looking over the road as the hills and clouds shifted. Blankly staring at the sky and ground change form, the Galka blinked a few times underneath his helmet. ... Wait... He would rub his eyes if he didn't wear two massive shields on both arms and wore a large helmet on his head. He was certain, the area around Cape Westwind was altering itself. The mountains seemed to stretch out into a desert and a castle was seen far in the distance atop of the desert, the water on the side and the clear skies were removed and he could see a thundercloud coming his way while the ground rose and became hardened stone.

"What is this?" he said somewhat frustrated now. No response seemed to come and he turned to check on the soldiers, but saw nobody there. The outpost was still there, though. His mouth stayed hanging open as he looked all over the outpost in search for his men. Then he turned back to the desert. "Well... I don't even..." he said calm to himself and shrugged, "the Primals... they can shift the land, can they not?" he asked nobody in general and let out a sigh. The outpost was still there, that was all that mattered right now.

Rhitahtyn sas Arvina kept still for some time before turning around and walking to the outpost, if he was going to be there alone for some time, he could just as well figure out a place to rest. He couldn't just stay standing all day now, could he?



His hand held stretched out, an explosion had blown him apart. Yazoo was finally heading to Mother, wasn't he? The Remnant felt at peace as he felt his body drift. Then without warning, he felt the cold ground beneath him. His arm still stretched out as he felt the cold behind him and he looked calm forward, up into the sky. "M-Mother?" Nothing... The ground felt cold, his body felt no pain, but whether it was his heart or soul, a cry of pain was felt throughout his entire body. A few more minutes he held out his hand before clasping his hand shut and closed his eyes.

It took a while, but Yazoo started to realize, he was not there. Not with Mother. Opening his eyes again, he carefully turned his head first to his left then to his right. "L-Loz?" he asked carefully, but heard nothing. He knew already that his brother wasn't there. The crying was missing. Kadaj wasn't there either. He felt alone. Lowering his arm, the Remnant stayed still on the ground. If anything, he could cry right now, but he kept staring up at the sky. "Why Mother..." am I not good enough? Why am I still here? No more words came over his lips, his body lay still on the ground in the ruins where he had died. His body and clothes were all without damage. The clear sky was actually starting to annoy the man a little bit.

Closing his eyes, Yazoo just wanted to try and think of this all as a bad dream. That he would soon awaken from it and find himself with his brothers by Mother's side. It almost felt like a wish from his side. He didn't have much, he never had much, they had always wanted to find Mother, just to be by Her side. It was the only purpose they had, so why... why was he here?

With Edge gradually vanishing from view, becoming indistinguishable from the ruins of Midgar that dominated the landscape, Cloud continued driving Fenrir down the main road that traditionally led towards Kalm. Of course, in its place was that oddly designed city in the distance, with countless miles of wilderness having vanished, but a road was still a road. Not that the blond knew for certain that there even was monsters or wildlife to avoid, there had been a lack of them in the Dissidia conflict and without the citizens around it was safe to assume that only warriors were summoned to this war. Unless of course the deities wanted to have their fun and watch them struggle even against the fauna, but that wasn’t likely.

Slowly but surely, the form of a warrior appeared on the horizon and gradually drew closer. That was the assumption at least, given the situation. The only problem was there wasn’t any way for him to figure out which side the person was on, or even how he’d react to the whole situation at hand. It was best to be cautious, so with that in mind while he released the throttle with the press of a button Fenrir’s sides opened as it slowed to reveal the vast assortment of swords she held within her body. Veering from the road in an arc Cloud slowly brought the motorbike to a stop, grasping the largest of them and placed it within the custom sheath on his back. Rising from the bike, he turned it off as the sides closed and after pushing up the kickstand he made a few steps towards the strange man with one hand cautiously near the handle of his blade with the other resting loosely at his side. Cold Mako tainted eyes set upon the potential foe, though the blond hoped that his wouldn’t come to that.

“Who are you?” he asked, electing to keep things short and sweet. Unlike the city behind him the guy didn’t seem too out of place for his world, sure some of the choices were a bit odd but nothing that Cloud hadn’t seen before. Could he be some unknown fighter from his own world? Honestly the blond doubted that, chances were given the fact the man was on foot and the world’s change happened within the last ten hours he was from that city in the distance. Whether he was a spy send on surveillance or a warrior like himself looking for answers was uncertain, but he’d figure that out soon enough. Though Cloud was stern in his expression and tone, by keeping his hand off his sword he was showing that though he was capable of retaliation that he’d much rather avoid conflict. He wanted to protect his home sure, but it was better to find allies before the enemies really started to pour in.

@Rush
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Like old times this was, with the hulking behemoth short on pleasantries and moving straight to the point in his discussion. Chuckling as he was peeled off of the armor with a shrug, those few short sentences were worth a monologue’s worth of information. The Great Will that orchestrated the Dissidia Conflict was about once more, except this time he was changing things up. Garland was not the type to be troubled by trivial things, so the pauses in his voice and choice of words were actually quite telling about the situation they were in. While they were once again summoned to conflict, it appeared that the hierarchy was being shaken up. Whether that meant they were still meant to be pawns of Chaos or some other force was yet to be determined, since Garland still sensed his other half, but that uncertainty explained why the jester didn’t feel the power of the deity flowing throughout himself and why his mind was untainted by the whim of the demonic god. Either Chaos was weaker this go around, or he had competition over just which warriors he was allowed to command.

“Yes yes, that would prove to be most beneficial to us both. Not that I minded working with you lot, but a little more autonomy would certainly breathe some fresh air into the dull conflicts of the past. I’d SO love to have more choices of who I get to destroy,” a giddy laugh escaped the jester as he clapped his hands and danced on his toes, before methodically touching his fingertips together as he thought about what devious schemes he could get away with this time around.

“I wonder if it’ll be our motley crew of misfits from before, or if we’re being gifted with new toys to play with. Oooohohohohohoooo!! Probably the latter, especially if there’s more gods at play this time…” his eyes squinted and Kefka grinned with excitement, bouncing from one foot’s toes to the other back and forth for a moment before he firmly planted his feet against the floor. Flinging his arms forward his hands opened wide and the jester chuckled. “It’d be so much work for just little old me to go about scouting this wretched place, so why don’t we have a little fun and bring back our good old friends from before?”

Instead of his summon immediately working, only sparks dances around them as the spell came back as a dud. Clearing his throat, Kefka rubbed his hands together and thrust his arms forward.

“I SAID… So why don’t we have a little fun and bring back our good old FRIENDS from BEFORE?!?!” Kefka screamed, agitated at the lack of obedience from their lovely manikins. He could sense that the summon was pulling at something, but either the jerks weren’t responding or… That’s right, when he pulled at them he could feel some sort of barrier blocking them. Were they all still stuck in the void? That was likely the case, the conflict had only just begun.

“We’re definitely going to need to make sure we find that sapling before long, or a suitable rift to break open and let them back in,” Kefka grumbled, clearing his throat again. Popping his neck to the left, then right, rolling back his shoulders to pop them, and finally wiggling his ankles to pop them, he resumed the position. This time his eyes were closed, face stern from concentration and a vein was even starting to swell on his forehead.

“Ooooohhhhhhnnnnnn….” He chanted, digging into his magical power. Kefka wasn’t going to be beaten by those manikins, no matter what! NO ONE made a fool of him!! This time it started to pay off, with tiny orbs starting to form with a few crystals around them. Just a bit longer…

@Garland