Prologue: Chance Encounter

There was that smell again, hanging thick in the air of the field which a lone swordsman now crossed. It was a smell he, as well as many of his so-called "comrades" had come to recognize as the scent left by a shattered crystalline copy they called mannequins. However unlike the many times before, this time the smell was heavy in the field around him, leaving him to believe it was fresh, and perhaps an enemy warrior was nearby, felling the mannequins that were roaming so annoyingly free across the land they were stuck upon. Not caring either way, the man wandered across an open stretch of plain to one the Chaos locked gates, hoping to make it back to the camp his fellow warriors had set up for themselves. He didn't think it'd be too big of a hassle, just walk over to the gate and make his way back, but any hope he had of that happening was dashed when he noticed a woman with rose colored hair standing over the shattered body of a mannequin. It was an enemy he had seen many times before, but never so closely, and in the flesh only a handful of times. She noticed him before she even looked up, he could tell by the way she adjusted her grip on her gunblade.

"You just keep showing up in the background, huh?"

"I could say the same to you." he watched her turn to look at him, an icy glare crossing her blue eyes. "You're a friend of Tifa's right? I've seen you with her before."

"How do you know Tifa? And why do you keep showing up where I am?"

"I have a few memories of her, and chance. I'm not following you if that's what you're implying." he started to walk for the gate again, but stopped when he saw her hand twitch on her weapon. "Look, I don't want to fight you, any of you. I'm just wandering around so the rest of Chaos's warriors will stop being such a bother."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I don't care if you do or don't, but if you don't let us part ways here, I'll have no choice but to fight you to save my own ass."

"Then you better draw that sword of yours!"

There he was again, that blond with the massive sword. He was trying to hurry out of her line of sight, no doubt having learned to stay away from her after having lost so many fights to her in during their recent encounters. True to his word the first time they had spoken, he had hardly tried to fight her, installing opting on defending himself until he either collapsed or had a chance to escape. She was about to go ahead and let him move on, but she noticed an oddly hard look on his usually bored or indifferent seeming face. For some reason it concerned her.

"Hey, blondie," she called out, half hoping he would keep walking. But he stopped, and fixed her in such a determined look she felt a tinge of fear, the thought of a fight wanting swordsman running her through with a broadsword wider than her waist flashing through her mind and making her give those suddenly daunting looking muscles he had a wary glance. "You okay? You don't seem to be quite so done with everything today."

"Because I'm not, and you shouldn't be here," the edge to his voice made her once again imagine her demise coming from the blade on his back. "You need to go find Tifa for me, and keep her safe."

"Why?" her curiosity got the better of her, and wasn't eased even slightly when he gave his surroundings a cautious look before moving closer to her.

"I'm getting tired of all this, and the more of my memories I seem to regain, the more I realize this isn't right." he was speaking low, making her realize his words were meant for her and her alone. "But Sephiroth keeps wiping my memories as fast as I get them back. He wants to keep me as his puppet, and try as I may I never remember enough to realize why. What he doesn't know, though, is I've been keeping track of other things in this world, things he wouldn't think to erase from my mind."

"Things like what?"

"Like where Chaos is," the man's voice had deepened in anger. "And once I figure out how to get there on my own, I'm going to get rid of him, or at least try."

"That's a fight you won't be able to win."

"I know, but even dying at his hands is a better alternative to being a sociopath's puppet."

"What about Tifa?"

"Keep her safe for me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Realizing suddenly she had walked into a situation she couldn't escape, the woman steeled her nerves. "You really want to get off Chaos's side?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll tell you, but not here. If you're really the double-agent you seem to be trying to be, meet me in the snowfields tonight, and I'll tell you everything I can."

"You mean, everything you think I should know, without throwing caution to the wind."

"You catch on fast."

The man nodded, and gave her a brief salute before beginning to walk off then. "Tonight then."

"Yeah."

"Blondie? Hey blondie? You here?" the woman snuck through the shadows cast by the jagged rocks of the snowfields, looking for the blond swordsman she had asked to meet her there. Not that she actually expected him to show up, but she had to at least try to be hopeful.

"Here," his voice came from a hidden alcove near the frozen sands of an iced over shoreline. "You alone?"

"Are you?" she approached cautiously, ready to either retreat or fight, but when he stepped into her view with a smirk on his face, she relaxed. "You are."

"How can you tell?"

"You're showing emotions."

"Whatever. So what was it you wanted to tell me that required us to be in the one area even the mannequins don't frequent?"

"Well it just so happens to involve the mannequins." she stepped into the shelter of the alcove and allowed herself to sit near one of its walls. He slowly did the same, and when he fixed her in a look full of expectation, she finally spoke again.

"What's your name?"

"Hm?"

"We've fought all this time, but I still don't know your name. If I'm going to tell you what I know, I want your name."

"…Cloud Strife," came the hesitant answer, and a soft blue gaze.

"Lightning Farron, but the others call me Light."

"How fitting. A name like that suits you well."

"I wish I could say the same to you." she scoffed.

"What do you know about the mannequins?"

"I know where they're coming from, and how to keep them from continuing to gather in this world. One of your so-called comrades let it slip to one of mine. Once we finish getting ready for the fight, we're going to go seal the portal that's letting them flood."

"That's a tall-order for anyone. Can you do it?"

"I don't know, but I'd kick myself if I didn't at least try."

"Like my fight with Chaos."

"Exactly."

"Then I think we'll both need a bit of luck." Lightning was surprised when he held out a hand to her. "What? I'm not going to do anything."

"Yet." she slowly slipped her hand into his, and was surprised at the warmth she felt radiating from it. "Cloud?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you always seem to end up where I was? If Tifa is the one you're so keen on keeping safe, why is it me that always sees you?"

"I don't know. At first I think it was just chance, but then I started becoming more interested in you, and I think the gates picked up on that and started throwing me out near where you were or had been."

"Interested in me? Why?"

He paused, thinking for a minute, and staring out into the snow. "I think… It was your strength, and resolve at first, and later your confidence, and maybe even you abilities and grace when using them."

Lightning couldn't stop the heat that seemed to rapidly spread through her, no doubt to her face as well. "I think you're speaking a bit too freely about something you should probably keep to yourself."

He looked at her again, and she saw something had come over his expression and made it unreadable. "You think so? I can't help it though. I can hardly hold my tongue around the rest of Chaos's pawns anymore, I've had to try and avoid your comrades altogether, and then the second you speak to me its like every fiber of my being, every inch of the facade I keep up at camp, it disappears."

"You're still speaking too freely."

"I don't know. After all, I'm about to go fight a God. Maybe these are things I need to get off my chest before I do."

"Before you fight your final fight?"

"A man who knows he's about to die is liable to spill everything without a second thought."

"Then don't die."

"I could say the same to you."

How many nights had they met in secret now? How many nights had they spilled the secrets of their comrades and their plans? How many nights had it taken before it came to this? This brushing of skin and grasping at straws? How long had it been since they had been enemies?

"We're setting out for the portal tomorrow," Lightning had broken the pleasant silence that had settled on the alcove they had claimed.

"I'm heading to Chaos's throne tomorrow," came Cloud's quiet reply.

They shared a moment together before grasping desperately at each other again, knowing it would likely be the last time they saw each other.

It would end being a bit of a half-truth, with Lightning returning to her world with her task complete, and Cloud returning after being brought into the war for another cycle, this time on the side of Cosmos. Neither of them would realize until later, that their encounters in this war of the gods would alter their fates later on.