Do you ever get that feeling that whenever you've just seen an awesome blockbuster movie, you have the urge to just write some random story based on that film's plot? I had that exact feeling when I came up with this concept.

Ah well... I'm glad that I decided to put this out there before I lost interest.

Enjoy!

She thought that it was finally over, that finally she would be given a chance to live out an actual normal life without such threats looming in the heavens.

The same could be said of her older sister, her fiancé, her friends, and every single person who lived on Pulse right before the end of the world.

She had hoped that upon their arrival on the new world, she and her sister would start afresh with their lives. That they would be able to put the past behind them and move on. And maybe, just maybe, her sister would be much more tolerant around her fiancé when she meets him again.

But now... all hopes were dashed in an instant. And it came out of nowhere.

As Serah Farron along with the countless souls of her people journeyed past a large gas giant with large rings around it, they were intercepted by a humongous asteroid which pulled all of them to its rocky surface by an unknown force.

To the surprise of everyone including herself, upon contact with the asteroid they all suddenly regained their physical forms.

Some believed that this was the new world that was foretold, others had their skepticisms – herself included. How could this be the new world if it looks like an asteroid?

But just before they all could comprehend the gravity of their situation, he showed up. He, alongside his three servants swooped in and began a massive slaughtering.

Before her eyes, Serah watched with horror as countless of innocent people were cut down.

Every man, every woman, ever child, and every infant... many were left unspared by this horrific crusade. Even her friends Hope, Fang and Noel had attempted to fight back against these foes, but just like the rest they were left diced in pieces within seconds.

Sazh had attempted to shield his son from the onslaught, but ultimately both of them too were quickly disposed of.

As the body count shot upwards, Serah watched as the life essence seeped out of the dead and flowed through cracks upon the asteroid's surface. It was like the asteroid itself fed on the souls of the dead. No more than five minutes had passed, and as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. And soon, she was among the remaining few that remained alive.

Enraged and afraid, she was wondering over and over why. Why when all the others of her kind were quickly wiped out without a second thought?

But before she could ponder more Serah suddenly found herself forced down on her knees, forced even closer to the lifeless corpse of Fang, with her limbs sliced off and scattered somewhere else.

A moment of peace followed the chaos, but she was frightened because it made it all the more unsettling.

"Here me... and rejoice!" one of the servants exclaimed out as though he were a priest preaching a sermon. He donned a black leather clothing with gauntlets and a coat, which he kept zipped up. The image of a single wing was sewn on the back of his coat

He had shoulder-length silver hair that partially covers his face and green cat-like eyes. His weapon, a katana with two parallel blades bounced in a sheath against his lower back as he treaded across the countless dead bodies that littered the asteroid.

As he walked by Vanille who was attempting to recover from an injury sustained at her belly, he kicked her back down and continued with his words as though it never happened.

"You... All of you... have had the privilege of being saved by the great Angel!" he declared solemnly.

"Suffering... Judgement... Believe what you will. To us, it is your salvation! The universal scales tip toward balance each time because of your sacrifice!"

As he circled around Serah, he paused for a moment and cast down a callous smile. He reached over with a gloved hand and stroked her cheek.

"Why the long face, girl?" he said, and his eyes glistened ever more, "Smile... for even in death, you like your people, will become a child of Sephiroth!"

He let loose a sickening giggle which sent shivers down her spine. Given the chance she would gladly separate his head from his shoulders.

Soon he removed his hand and began walking away in stride. And then the servant from behind Serah gripped her pink hair and pulled it in such a way that she was forced to stare forth at tall, brooding figure who led the manslaughter in the first place.

At this moment his back was facing her, so she could only make out his long, black, leathery coat which bellowed out against an unfelt wind, and his insanely long, silver hair which reached his waist level.

A second later, and the man slowly glanced around to acknowledge her. Green cat-like eyes pierced through terrified dark-blue ones. There was an aura of foreboding lingering in his presence.

"I understand what it is like to be lost," Sephiroth proclaimed in a dark, monotone voice, "To feel so empty... left behind... to find your place within this indifferent universe..."

He then turned his attention to a person stirring right at his feet, and he bended down to pick him up.

She was shocked by just how he was able to pick the man up with just one arm, by the neck. And even more horrifying was the fact that the man he was holding... was her fiancé.

"... but no more..." Sephiroth finished as he slowly made his way over to Serah and his servants, dragging Snow across the rocky surface in the process.

As he got closer, Serah was able to get a better look at Snow's condition. He was battered, bruised, had cuts in multiple places, and he even had an index finger chopped off. It pained her even more to realize that she was helpless where she was, at the mercy of Sephiroth's servants.

Yet even with injuries, Snow was attempting to pry himself out of the man's tight grip on his throat. He was gasping out hard for air, and his arms were hopelessly pounding away at the hand of his captor. Serah was surprised that Sephiroth acted as though he never felt a thing.

"Once you were all alone in your corner of the universe," Sephiroth intoned he stopped just six feet away from Serah, "But now you are here. For you have found me..." He raised up his free hand and smirked maliciously at Serah, "And I have found you..."

Serah watched as a surprisingly long-bladed katana appeared in his hand and in swift move, he sliced the blade along Snow's neck. Serah screamed out in horror as she witnessed the horrid display, watched her fiancé gasping out in agonising breaths. Sephiroth released his grip on Snow, and the man fell to the floor covering up the deep cut with his hand as he attempted to stop the flow of air from escaping his lungs, and the blood that continued to spill out profusely.

But within seconds, Snow's life was quickly sapped and with one final glance that he shared with Serah, he finally collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Sephiroth smiled with satisfaction as he willed away his sword and then he looked down upon Serah traumatised face. He was satisfied that he had struck a nerve.

And then he noticed her pink hair being gripped tightly by one of his Sons. He narrowed his eyes at him.

"Loz, what did I say about handling important guests?"

The short-haired bulk with a taser gauntlet on his left arm looked fearful for a moment, before he apologized.

"S-Sorry, Father."

Loz quickly released his grip, and Serah practically fell forward, her body exhausted from the trauma. As she laid sprawled on the ground catching her breath, she could hear those footsteps clipping and clopping against the rocky surface, as though the ground itself were made of metal.

And then she saw the pair of boots stopping right in front of her, and Serah slowly glanced her eyes up to meet with those terrifyingly piercing cat-like pupils that were tempting her to look away from.

For a moment, she observed that Sephiroth displayed no look of cruelty. Not a trace of sadism upon his strong features.

But as she soon found out, his appearance was not his strongest tool of intimidation.

"There is no need to fear me, my dear," he intoned curtly, "Compared to the rest of your comrades and your people, I have... other uses for you."

His voice was a mixture of calm, deep, cold and calculating, and it was sending shivers down her spine.

With restraint effort, Serah slowly pushed herself up, until she was on her knees before the man. She had a skeptical look in her eyes. Other uses? What could this psychopath possibly want her to do for him? He may as well as just kill her there and now.

But her inner conscious knew better than that. Sephiroth was offering her a potential olive branch. Might as well see what his bargain was.

With a deep intake of air, she questioned, "What's the deal?"

"During my conquests of planets, I always leave one person alive to tell the tale," Sephiroth stated, "I would send him or her to my next global target, to warn its people of my inevitable arrival."

"Warn them?" Serah parroted in confusion.

Sephiroth nodded his head, "I find no honor in victory if my opponents are not granted a chance to defend themselves. Although I would still make all of them a part of me in the end, they will still come to see me as a valiant figure, or at least I'll mould their thoughts that way when they are reborn upon the Promised Land."

And then as though he remembered something, he turned to the preacher servant and questioned, "How far away is the next world, Kadaj?"

The jerk who taunted her earlier bowed his head and responded, "About three star systems away. With solar winds currently blowing in that general direction, we should be able to reach there in probably three days."

With a short nod, Sephiroth turned his attention back to Serah and saw the death glare she was sending his way. He smirked at this.

"Hmph. Pitiful. You mortals are the same on every world. Defiant to the very end."

He reached down and thumbed her cheek, "But the harsh truth is... like sheep and cattle, you were born and raised to be shepherd by a higher power."

As he spoke he failed to notice Serah make glances behind him, and once he was finished she spoke out boldly, "And here's my harsh truth..."

She leaned closer to him, and narrowed her eyes.

"Never turn your back on a Farron."

Sephiroth frown questionably at this, but then he heard fast and furious stomps coming from behind him.

Before he could react, he was sent flying away by an unknown force. Seeing their Father go down, Kadaj, Loz and the third servant rushed forward to attack. Seconds later they founded themselves being knocked away by a flurry of swift kicks and punches.

As soon as all her opponents were down and out, a battered and bruised Lightning dusted off her gloves and ran over to her sister.

"Serah! Are you alright?" she asked worriedly as she slowly helped her sister up.

With a sigh of relief, Serah wrapped her arms around her and muttered softly, "I'm good, Claire."

Lightning smiled warmly as she returned the hug. After a few emotional moments, they released their hold over one another.

"I'm so relieved you're still alive," Serah said as she scanned her sister's injuries head-to-toe. Lightning nodded back, but then her smile slowly faltered.

"I... saw what happened to Snow..." she spoke out slowly and genuinely, "I'm sorry..." Serah's happy mood darkened, and then she took one last look back at the corpse which was her fiancé. Both could see the blood still pouring out of his neck.

Inside her mind, Serah was struggling to fight off all those memories that were seeping into her thoughts. All the good times and bad times that she had spent together with Snow. All the moments that he was with her when she was smiling, crying, angry or disheartened. Serah was so caught up in her emotional moment, that she barely felt a tear that was dripping down her cheek.

But then within seconds, realization hit Serah, and her sadness was quickly forgotten. There was little time for mourning. They had to leave now, or risk a similar fate. With someone like Sephiroth prowling around on this space rock that he commandeered, there was no telling how long he would be out of the picture.

Quickly turning to Lightning, Serah hurriedly said, "Sis, we have to find a way out of here! Now!"

Lightning acknowledged this with sharpened eyes that were darting around in all directions.

"Yeah, I'm working on it. In the meantime, go check if there's any other survivors."

Serah nodded her head obediently, knowing by her sister's serious tone that this was a dangerous situation where her instructions had to be taken without question.

As Lightning continued her surveillance of the asteroid, Serah slowly began walking around the dead corpses. As far as she could see, almost all of them had been sliced up like butter into many pieces.

Faces were halved. Arms were fillet. Legs were separated. And organs and eyeballs were lay splat across the ground like gruesome decorations.

Serah felt torn between puking out in disgust and crying out in mournful grief. There so many innocent people that had been left without a world to call home since Bhunivelze destroyed Pulse. So many that had followed them on the long voyage across the stars to the New World... only to have their lives ended by Sephiroth and his Sons.

She felt so sick to death by all of this needless deaths and she could tell that Lightning was feeling the same way deep inside. Even if she were still as uncaring as she was even before the whole I'Cie pandemonium, there would be no doubt that her sister would still feel so traumatised by this whole incident.

In their entire lives, both Farrons had never witnessed an atrocity as heart-wrenching as what Sephiroth had displayed. Does his cruelty know no bounds at all?

Just as she was about to give up and return to Lightning, she heard a faint groan coming from nearby. Serah quickly whirled around in the direction it was coming from, and then she saw a faint bit of movement up ahead. Without any hesitation, Serah started running briskly over to the person.

As she got closer, she recognised who it was. With a gasp of relief, Serah exclaimed out, "Vanille!"

Quickly picking up the pace, she raced over to the injured girl and knelt at her side.

Looking up at her friend with a weak and pained smile, Vanille muttered out, "W-What took you s-so..."

She felt a sting at her tummy and hissed out loud in agony. Serah's eyes darted to where Vanille was clutching her injury. Blood was flowing out profusely from a deep gash just above the navel.

"Oh my! Y-You're bleeding!" she gasped out as she moved closer to Vanille.

Vanille shook her head with a soft giggle, "Yeah... heck of a predicament, huh?"

With a deep breath, she slowly lowered her head onto the ground, and her eyes were staring out into the unknown void of space.

"Although I don't think I'm going to get out of this one..."

Serah shook her head in furious denial, "Don't say that, silly! We've been through worse scrapes than this!"

Carefully, she helped Vanille up into a sitting position. She took note of her effortful breathing, and then she coached gently, "Stay calm, and keep your eyes on me, okay? Lightning's going to get us out of here."

Vanille nodded her head slowly, and managed a wide smile, but a forced one at that as Serah noticed. But the eyes told a different story altogether. Deep down inside herself, Serah knew that her assurance was baseless. There was possibly no way of escaping an asteroid that was floating in space.

"Serah, did you find anyone?" the voice of her sister asked.

Serah turned around to acknowledge Lightning's presence from a short distance away, returning the stare. She slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah... it's one of our own..."

She angled her body just a bit, allowing Lightning to get a close look at the person she was talking about.

It took the former Savior no less than five seconds to figure out who she was, and when she did she had a worried look.

"Vanille!" she muttered out and took a step forward.

In a daze, Vanille made an attempt to salute her, but the loss of blood was making her actions woozier – she ended up smacking her forehead.

Lightning let loose a small smile of relief as this slight comedic gesture, but then she became serious again.

"I don't have any Potions with me, we'll have to settle with the old-fashioned way."

Serah nodded in understanding, and she produced a small cloth from her pocket. As she started going to work, Lightning added in from behind, "But be quick though, we don't how long before –"

Suddenly, she felt something sharp shot right through her at her back. The pain seared through her flesh, bones and organs like wildfire, and then it popped out through her stomach. Her voice was lost at the moment, and she allowed the shock to slowly seep into her conscious. She stared wide-eyed at the blade sticking out of her.

Hearing the slicing sound behind her, Serah looked around to see what was happening. Once her mind registered with the blade, she let out a stifled gasp of horror. Vanille too was observing what was happening, and she had a look of shock upon her bruised face.

As the tense seconds passed, Lightning heard the cold voice behind her utter out, "I find your pluck admirable. Regrettable however that it will do you no good here."

With little effort, Sephiroth spun around and sent Lightning flying off into the distance. Paying Serah and Vanille no heed, he levitated off the ground and shot off after her.

Lightning hurtled through the air like a spinning boomerang, and the sensation off not having actual air blowing against her form felt a little weird. She had no idea how long she was flying, but she knew that she was getting pretty far away from both Serah and Vanille.

Eventually, she began her harsh descent back onto terra firma, and she met it by the way a flat stone skipped across the river. To compensate her rough landing, Lightning did a quick flip backwards, which effectively saw her feet landing and skidding harshly against the rocky terrain as she came to a stop.

From her knelt-down position, Lightning looked to greet the silver-haired maniac who gently landed not too far away from her. From this distance, she could see that the length of his sword could almost make up the gap between them both.

With a smile, Sephiroth moved into an attack position.

With a deep sigh, Lightning casted a Cure spell on her wound which disappeared within a second, and then she shook her head.

"... I knew I should've stretched..."

She pulled out and pulled out her sword Ultima Weapon as Sephiroth made the first move towards her.

Back and forth, the two warriors clashed, and early on Sephiroth was proving to be a formidable opponent for Lightning. For every slash and hack she made, he countered it tenfold with more powerful strikes. And for every defence she made, Sephiroth's brute force and relentless stamina was pushing her backwards by a couple of metres.

Eventually, soreness was beginning to take an effect on her muscles and Lightning understood that she had no other alternative going head-on against Sephiroth; she needed some breathing room. Charging up an electrical blast of energy in her free hand, she blasted a barrage of bolts as her opponent.

Sephiroth swiftly repelled the bolts with his sword, and narrowed his pupil slits at the woman who was taking off across the asteroid.

With a great boost of energy, Lightning surged across the rocky terrain, back in the same direction where Serah and Vanille were.

"Hopefully they're still alright..." she thought to herself, "If the bastard's dogs did anything to them, I'll never forgive myself."

But then a thought came to her mind, and upon realization she mentally berated herself.

She could have simply just told Serah to cast a Cure spell on Vanille!

Before she could ponder why she had not thought of it before, Sephiroth suddenly appeared in front of her. Lightning gasped in shock and tried to halt in her tracks. But her speed was so fast, she ended up being caught by the silver-haired by her throat.

Immediately, her windpipe was being squeezed, effectively cutting off the air intake entering her lungs. As Lightning began to choke, Sephiroth lifted her high up, yet again with almost little effort. He spent a few moments looking deep into her eyes.

But he was not paying attention to the fear and anger radiating off of those blue eyes. He was clearly searching for something else, for he had observed how this woman was able to hold on her own, even if it was for a brief few minutes, similar to another warrior he knew.

"No signs of Mako..." he mused, paying little mind to fingernails scratching and clawing at his hand gripping at the throat, "... and yet you are still alive. How interesting..."

But because his sole focus was on Lightning's facial features, he failed to notice her hand pulling out a concealed dagger from her hip pocket.

"Yeah...? You'll find I'm full of surprises," Lightning retorted by defiantly, and she plunged the dagger into Sephiroth's stomach.

With a raised eyebrow, Sephiroth released his grip on Lightning, and she fell back onto the ground. As she quickly recovered, Lightning looked up to see the swordsman staring down at the hilt of her dagger sticking out of his stomach, right in-between his abs.

And yet to her surprise, he looked as though the injury was like a mosquito bite. He did not portray any features of pain and agony at all.

"What the hell?" she thought inwardly, "Who is this guy?"

Sephiroth looked up and smiled ever so cruelly.

"Who indeed..."

Lightning's eyes widened in surprise. He could read her thoughts?

Sephiroth reached for the dagger, and pulled it out slowly. All the while he maintained that calm, unaffected demeanor – a purposeful intention to send his opponent a clear message that he could not feel pain.

He studied the dagger for a moment.

"Intricate design, even by the standards of mortals. Where you come from, your world must be interesting."

Lightning slowly rose to her feet, and maintained her tense eye contact with her opponent.

"Oh you have no idea..."

The Dagger of God was a painful reminder of when she was appointed the Saviour of God. A reminder of the many things she had done right by Bhunivelze, but wrong by her own people, as well as her friends and those she loved. Considering the effective use of her sword during her mission, Lightning never used the dagger, only when necessary, especially since the damned thing acted just like a normal dagger.

"A life that you must have led," Sephiroth mused, "So much anger, despair, hate... In a way, we are both similar."

Lightning growled at him.

"You could never understand what I've went through."

Sephiroth smiled at her thinly.

"Oh, I think I do. I can see the pain written on your face – struggling to let go of that pain, that torture. And yet it still lingers on like a scar. I can sympathise on that point."

Lightning had had enough of his taunts.

"SHUT UP!"

She lunged at him with her gunblade. Reacting swiftly, Sephiroth dropped the knife and summoned his long sword. He raised it up to deflect a wild attack that was aimed at his face.

He never once drove back with his own offence, for he tactically knew from the woman's attacks that his words had gotten through to her, and now she was letting her emotions get the better of her. Her attacks were unfocused, her eyes undisciplined, and her stance unbalanced.

For certain it was only a matter of time before she tired out completely, and by then she would have unknowingly given him his inevitable victory. Too bad she did not know that, and Sephiroth was fully prepared to capitalise on her mistake.

Within minutes, Lightning's attacks had turned into a frenzy of hacking down at her opponent.

All the while, Sephiroth had maintained the defence stance he had positioned himself, and was letting the rest do the work for him. As much as his strength was unlimited, the same could not be said for his patience. Boredom was slowly creeping in, and he was longing for an opportunity for the twist, to make things interesting.

Eventually, Lightning's attacks began to slow, and just as she was about to give Sephiroth one final blow, she felt the sheer force of his blade pushing away her gunblade before once more feeling it being run through her chest. Through her flesh and ribs.

With a cry of agony, Lightning instinctively gripped onto Sephiroth's blade with her free hand, as he slowly lifted her up once more.

"Now this is something that I'm familiar with..." Sephiroth commented as he stared hard at Lightning writhing about at his mercy, "Only another soldier had felt the pain of this intensity."

Lightning gritted her teeth, and glared dagger eyes at the silver-haired swordsman.

"F... Fuck you..." she gritted out weakly, "I have faced down a god before... and I will prevail against you..."

Sephiroth scoffed lightly.

"Hmph... So it would seem. But unfortunately for you, Miss Farron... I am more than just a god."

Within seconds, there was an explosion of black feathers behind Sephiroth, and Lightning became astonished at the right wing that emerged from his back.

But before she could even register it, Sephiroth launched her up into the air. With a flap of his wing, he took off after her. Levitated high up in the air, the only instinctive thing Lightning could do was cover the wound in her tummy. She could not do it for her bleeding back however, considering that her other hand was gripping her gunblade tightly.

If she could, she could sheath her weapon and try to cover the other injury behind. Maybe she could also have attempted to cast a Cure spell. But then she saw Sephiroth charging towards her at Mach speed, his wing stretched outwards to literally impose his large presence.

Out of desperation, Lightning sheathed Ultima Weapon and summoned her gunblade Overture. In gun mode she unleashed several shots at the fiend. Sephiroth with grace to his swings, deflected every bullet with his sword and in-turn, retaliated swiftly.

Quick and deadly were the slices and pierces of his sword as Sephiroth started stabbing Lightning with nimble speed without warning before she could even react. His stabs were strategic, targeting all major parts of Lightning's body. For a few agonizing seconds, Lightning could only let out a cry of intense agony, as the sharp blade penetrated her skin and left deep wounds in her organs, muscles, and even fractured some bones.

And then Sephiroth shot his sword right through the bottom of her foot, forcefully pushing the blade out the other side and all the way up Lightning's body length. The bloodied tip reached and scraped Lightning's cheek, and she winced tearfully.

Just like before, Sephiroth hurled his prey in a general direction with his sword, this time to the ground. He watched as she screamed bloody murder as she tumbled back down to the asteroid like a meteor, droplets of blood cascading off of her wounds into the air.

Almost a second later and her weakened body crash-landed hard into the rocky terrain. And then a rain of her own blood poured all over her a second later. It felt like an eternity for her to regain her bearings, to cope with the pain she was suffering.

As much as she hated to admit it, she slightly missed having the powers of both Etro's Champion and the Saviour. Not that she enjoyed having those unnatural abilities though. But seeing as she was going up against Sephiroth, a man who was probably a god himself and maybe even more powerful than both Bhunivelze and Caius combined, she probably would've needed both of them in this situation.

She took in labored breaths as she slowly got to her feet. The wounds all around her body stung as her skin and muscles contracted and expanded, but Lightning tried not to think about them. All that mattered was how the hell was she supposed to take down someone like Sephiroth.

Her eyes darted up to the man who casted a dark shadow upon her from the sky. Against the sun which the closest ring planet orbited, it gave off a false sense of wonderment that Sephiroth looked like an angel sent by God. Which was almost fitting, seeing as Bhunivelze was an asshole, and so was Sephiroth.

Come to think of it... maybe Sephiroth would have been a far better servant of Bhunivelze than Lightning could ever be.

If he had originated from her world, then he would have been a devoted worshipper. A radical fundamentalist. With an aura of cruelty and evil that would even have made Caius jealous.

Sephiroth let out a grin of satisfaction.

"Worry not, Miss Farron. Soon, your life essence shall become one with Lifestream, and take heart your friend will join you shortly after."

With his blade held aloft high, Sephiroth began a Mach dive down towards the weakened woman.

From not too far away, Serah had watched the chaos with a mortified face.

From a battle, the man had transitioned it to become an all-out slaughter. Same as how he did it too the rest of her people. Before her eyes, she was witnessing once more why Sephiroth was virtually unstoppable.

Her sister was unquestionably the strongest and the most powerful of fighters on their homeworld. Heck, she was the one who took down God!

And yet even at her best she was taken down a peg or two in no less than seven minutes. Lightning had given Sephiroth everything she had, but Sephiroth's best was clearly tenfold in comparison.

And now Serah was witnessing an execution taking place. Her heart felt painful and weakened. She realised that she may never get to spend peaceful times with her sister ever again. In her own mind, the final death knell was going in slow-motion, as a single, solitary tear went down her cheek.

Beside her, Vanille had finally managed to muster enough energy to get up to her knees. Despite the loss of blood, she was slowly recuperating thanks to Serah patching her up. Seeing as Lightning, the last line of defence against Sephiroth, was about to perish, she knew that there was one thing left that she could do now.

Closing her eyes, she muttered out a silent prayer, "By the light of Pulse, lend me your strength..."

From the farthest most reaches of the cosmos, she could sense the aura of Hallowed Pulse answering her call. She slowly opened her eyes to see that her hands were starting to glow in a yellowish hue.

Her eyes then darted to Serah, and she knew she had to act fast. The window of opportunity was closing fast, and it would only be a matter of time before Sephiroth turned his blade against them both. Taking in a deep breath, she casted a spell on Serah.

Serah in surprise, looked all around her to see that her body was starting to glow brightly. She then looked to Vanille, who had her palms directed at her. Before she could even acknowledge what was going on, Serah started to float upwards high into the air, letting out a squeak as she did so.

She looked back down to Vanille who had a remorseful look on her face and cried out, "W-What are you...?!"

Vanille bit back a sob and muttered out, "Forgive me... but it has to be this way... Go, warn the next world that Sephiroth's coming... You're their last hope, Serah..."

Before Serah could open her mouth to protest, Vanille sent the girl on her way.

Sephiroth was just about a few feet away of slicing Lightning in two, when both he and Lightning caught sight of a shooting star hurtling off and away into space. Immediately, the former halted in his stride, and narrowed his eyes at the streaking ball of light as it disappeared into the dark void.

He then turned his gaze towards the injured red-hair, who had her arms stretched in the direction of the ball of light. And he noticed that the other girl was gone.

It took him a second to realise what had happened, and although he was slightly happy that one of his victims did the sending part for him, it did not please him that the other had not been around long enough to watch both her sister and her friend die.

Leaving behind Lightning to cope with her injuries, Sephiroth landed back on the ground and started walking slowly towards Vanille. From nearby, Kadaj and his brothers had witnessed what had just taken place upon recovery, and the latter two were just as equally outraged.

"That was a mistake..." the third servant growled dangerously, and he slowly advanced towards Vanille. But a hand came up and blocked him at his chest.

He glanced to Kadaj with a questionable look, who in-turn told him curtly, "Let Father take care of this, Yazoo."

Both Yazoo and Loz frowned at his statement, and then followed his gaze towards their father, who was taking ominous steps towards the injured female.

With every step he took, Sephiroth closed the distance between himself and Vanille.

And all the while, both of them had locked eyes throughout the silent exchange.

Not too far away, Lightning who was barely alive, was helplessly witnessing Sephiroth's advance, and in her weakened state she struggled to fight off the agony, to cast a Cure spell on herself.

Sephiroth was soon towering right above Vanille, who was starting to falter in bravado under his intense gaze. Those piercing cat-like eyes were staring right into her soul, as though the man himself was concluding on his final judgement.

And then before she knew it, it was all over.

Without any warning, Sephiroth plunged his sword right into the helpless girl's chest, impaling directly in the centre of her heart. As the pain registered in her mind, Vanille let out a suffocated whimper, as she felt her life being sapped away from her form.

Horrified at what she was witnessing, Lightning let out a weak cry of "No...!"

For those few seconds of her life, everything seemed to have slowed down to a crawl. As she looked on helplessly, Vanille seemed to maintain her stiff position with the sword still deep in her chest. But then slowly, Vanille slowly went limp and her arms hung lifelessly at her side. Before long her body became like a lifeless puppet and just like that, she was dead.

With a light scoff of satisfaction, Sephiroth removed his sword from the corpse, blood was dripping from the business end of the blade.

He remained there for several moments, as if he had become a statue, but then he spoke out, "Truly a shame... my chosen messenger was sent out, without total despair sowed into her mind and soul... but the other will do for now."

Lightning was confused at first by what he said, but then she slowly realised who he was referring to seeing as Serah was conspicuously no longer at Vanille's side.

A small flicker of hope burned in her spirit and she thought to herself, "At least my sister's okay..."

As he continued staring out into the dark void, he called out sharply, "Kadaj!"

At his behest, Kadaj quickly brisked forth and got down to one knee before his Father.

"Yes Father?"

"Go on ahead to the next world, and test its heroes. Report back to me with your observation, and a specimen or two," Sephiroth ordered, "I wish to see what I am up against when I arrive."

With a maddening grin, Kadaj replied back, "At once, Father."

In a flash of green light, Kadaj disappeared from view, and a split second later Lightning felt a tremor rocket the asteroid. She heard a large crack coming from her right and she watched as a large chunk of the asteroid was separated from the rest.

It floated aimlessly away from the main asteroid for a brief moment before it suddenly shot off in a general direction, a trail of green mist being the only evidence of the departure. Once it was gone, Sephiroth turned his attention towards Lightning and glared her down dangerously.

"With that being said, we too must depart again," he muttered, "Truly you are a worthy opponent, Miss Farron. You will make for a fine disciple when I establish a brand new world."

Lightning raised an eyebrow of confusion. What did he mean by that?

Sephiroth raised a hand, and then suddenly the surface of the asteroid began to glow. He smiled down at the only remaining Farron, and she did not like the way he was expressing it.

"I'd advise you to hold still. Don't worry. You won't feel a thing."

Within seconds, the last thing Lightning ever saw was the eerie humming of Masamune and a bright flash which blinded her eyes and then... nothing.

Serah had no idea how long she had been flying across the stars.

Had it been days? Months? Years?

She could not really tell from the endless stars that flew by. But where space lacked in comprehension of time, it was made up for in abundance of marvels and beauty.

It was not possible for Serah to keep track of every single detail she had came across.

She flew past planets. She flew past nebulas. She flew past worlds that were seemingly habitable. It was something beyond what she could even imagine back home.

But there was only one detail she had kept notice of.

There were two suns that she had already flew by, and judging from what Kadaj had mentioned, Sephiroth's next target was three worlds away.

Three.

And taking into account he also said that the duration was about three days, it meant that each solar system she past was equivalent to one day.

With that being said, Serah founded the travel slightly boring, with her only activity being actual stargazing. While it was fun and all, she just wished that her feet could just touch solid ground again. She just wanted to be back on a world, any world, just as long as it was habitable.

Then out of the corner of her eye, as though her prayers were answered, Serah watched as another gas giant star raced past her vision, temporarily blinding her in the process.

She quickly blinked out those black spots in her vision, unknown that she was about to arrive at her destination.

The world of Eos from space appeared naturally peaceful. Its great many land masses and continents were teeming with life. Vast riches of animals, plants, fungi and microscopic organisms shared this world, similar to all other planets filled with life.

And like most other worlds, Eos was also home to an intelligent species. A species that made use of what the planet had to offer to the fullest, and had populated the continents in vast pockets of civilization. Having occupied much of the world, meant that its people had begun branching out into different forms of society.

Different forms of governments, religion, societies. And even being subjected to different types of wonders. One frequent wonder would be the glamourous beauty of shooting stars as they streak across the night sky. Since they all fall at random in different locations, it meant that everyone was granted a wonderous spectacle.

But then there were meteors that also fall down from the heavens. Unlike shooting stars, they could arrive at any unexpecting moment. Be it night-time, or ever daytime.

But this one was different.

Compared to a regular meteor, this one rained through the atmosphere at a constant speed, rather than through increase.

And while meteors leave behind streaks of fire and smoke, this one left behind a trail of yellow-coloured dust. But it did not really matter, considering from those that witnessed it, it was tumbling down to the earth like a regular meteor.

And unbeknownst to the citizens of Accordo, their capital city of Altissia was the target of impact.

Neither was Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the throne of Lucis and the prophesised Chosen King, as he and his entourage of his close companions walked further from the estate that housed Accordo's first secretary Camelia Claustra. Currently he was quite pleased with how the negotiations went down.

"You handled the terms well, Noctis," Gladiolus commented knowingly, "I might even say you made an impression on her."

Noctis gave off a plain shrug.

"What can I say? As King, I aim to impress."

"A commendable effort to be sure," Ignis concurred with a nod of his noggin, "But might I suggest we refocus on the task at hand?"

"Task?" Prompto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He means Leviathan," Gladiolus clarified.

Noctis nodded, "The agreed terms dictate that when the big, strong, ugly serpent emerges from the waters, we'll have to be there to make sure the citizens make it out safely."

"But that would also mean coming to blows with the Empire," Ignis pointed out.

Noctis made a small frown at the mentioning of their enemy.

"Hmm. Exactly. While I'm willing to bet that they'll concentrate most of their forces on the Leviathan and me specifically, there's also a good chance they'll try to play out the hero part too."

"Yeah! Then it'll be like with Titan all over again!" Prompto chimed in, "Claiming they've slayed it heroically when instead, it was because of our combined team effort!"

"Don't forget our Crown Prince receiving his blessing too," Gladiolus added in.

"Yeah, that too!" Prompto quickly piped a split-second after Gladiolus said his piece.

Noctis rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Anyway... the top of the line is that tomorrow, Luna will be at centre stage to awaken the beast. In short, we don't have a lot of time to plan out a strategy."

"Plus, if Ardyn and Ravus are here, that'll mean we'll have to be extra cautious in going about this whole catastrophe." Gladiolus surmised.

"No, I don't think we'll have much to worry about those two for now," Noctis stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "Considering that they are the top higher-ups here, they'll probably be having their hands full with Luna and the Hydraean."

Stopping short of his pace, he turned around to face his friends.

"So this is how we could play it out," he proposed, "While the Empire concentrates their forces on the Hydraean and yours truly, whatever pockets of divisions they sent out into the city you'll take care of. But not to the point of making yourself look like killers."

"Since when have we made ourselves look like murderers, huh?" Gladiolus questioned with a sly grin, "I mean, most people know that the Niffs are basically assholes, right?"

Noctis couldn't help but dwell a little on the sentence. He did have a point.

Eventually, he raised his arms in admittance.

"Okay, I'll give you that. But still, when the attacks start, you guys have to make sure that innocents don't get caught in the middle of it. So please... please try to at least isolate your fights with the soldiers?"

The trio looked to each other as they silently decided on their answer. After a minute of two, Ignis turned back to Noctis and reply, "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Noctis nodded back with affirmation as he turned around and began heading off again.

As his friends followed after him, Gladiolus whispered to Ignis and Prompto, "Unless they decide to resort to human shields."

After another few minutes of walking through the bustling streets, Prompto commented, "Ah... sure nice to be living the peaceful life again after a long trip."

Gladiolus chuckled a little and elbowed Prompto's side.

"Fess up, you just miss playing around with Talcott back in Lestallum."

Prompto sighed in disappointment.

"Ah... I like that kid. He was headstrong, brave and really smart. I wish I was like that when I was his age."

"Most people do not start out their lives nice and peaceful," Ignis told him, "But as they grow up, they strive to not let what moulds them from birth, get in the way of what defines them in their prime."

"I agree," Noctis spoke up, "Take it from me, Prompto. When I was young, I had to watch as one of my attendants died protecting me when a daemon snake lady attacked. Even now I still have visions about what happened that night."

He closed his eyes tightly and let out a deep sigh of sadness. Even to this day he could still also feel the warm wetness of her blood that had trickled down his injured face.

"But even so, I still had to carry on with my destiny before me," he continued, "I tried not to let the pain of the past take command of my actions, and instead tried to take joy in the fact that my attendant's sacrifice allowed me to survive and live to see another day. Yet at the end of the day however, it is I myself who dictates how I live my life to the fullest."

He casted a glance back to Prompto, "So whatever problems you had in the past, it's history now. You can never let go of it, but you can try to learn from it and move on. Okay?"

Prompto, who was surprised by his moving speech, had his mouth gaping open for quite some time. Even Gladiolus and Ignis had the same reactions.

But after a few moments of silence, Prompto exclaimed out, "OMG! Noctis?! Giving words of wisdom?! Now this I haven't seen before!"

"It is a first..." Ignis mumbled out, still finding it hard to believe that the Crown Prince was ever capable of such speeches.

Prompto obviously did not hear the bespectacled man as he continued.

"I think I feel better already! Gee thanks Noct! You sure know how to do peppy! I feel like we four could take on the Empire by ourselves!"

"Uh, Prompto..." Gladiolus spoke cautiously to him, noticing the annoyed glares of passerbys, "You might wanna –"

"You! Me! Ignis! Gladio! The Chocobros! Fighting together as one!" Prompto continued his happy rant, "You know what you guys? You know what? I dare even say we could even face down a million Titans! Ha ha ha! It's almost like a meteor of emboldened courage has just crash-landed on Eos!"

As the words left his mouth, all of a sudden the surrounding people were turning their attention away from Prompto into the sky. And then their annoyed expressions quickly turned sour and horrified.

Noticing this, Noctis and his entourage turned in the direction everyone else was facing. And then they saw it.

A bright streak of light hurtled out of the clouds and within seconds, it crashed landed somewhere not too far away from where they were standing.

The impact created a loud boom which sent tremors all across Altissia, which even caught the attention of the Oracle herself as she was tending to her things in the guest room at the Leville.

Recovering first, Noctis exclaimed to his friends, "C'mon! We'd better go check it out!"

As he raced off, Ignis quickly followed behind, and Gladiolus and Prompto brought up the rear, with the former slapping the back of the head of the latter.

"Meteor of emboldened courage, huh?" Gladiolus glowered at Prompto as the other nursed his stinging head.

"It was the first thing that came to me..." Prompto mumbled like a kindergartner who just got berated by his mother.

It took the four about 400 meters to reach the impact zone, and when they got there, they were greeted by a large crowd who had gathered around the crater.

Even though he was now technically King of Lucis, Noctis was still not well-known and respected.

Like a regular person he had to squeeze his way through the crowd, spewing out apologies along the way, and ignoring the chidings and angry stares that were directed at him.

His other three friends were not doing any better than he was, with Ignis having to help Prompto get his entangled leg out from in-between a couple. How he even managed to do that was beyond him.

Eventually, Noctis burst out through the front lines of the crowd, and then slowly but cautiously he made his way over to the crater. Stopping short of it, he was pleasantly surprised to find what was inside of it.

Without even acknowledging where his friends were, he called back behind him, "Guys... you'd better come see this!"

He maintained his position even as Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto eventually arrived at his side, and they too were as equally shocked as he was.

"Am I the only one seeing this, or do I need new prescription glasses?" Ignis muttered softly.

Prompto gasped out, "It's a girl!"

Gladiolus nodded his head grimly.

"And from the looks of things, she appears to be about twenty years of age."

"But that can't be right," Noctis stated, "She can't possibly be a human being."

Gladiolus turned to him.

"And what makes you think that, Your Highness?"

Noctis gave him a dumbfounded look.

"Came from the sky? Crash-landed like a freakin' meteor?"

Prompto gasped even louder as his deduction.

"It's an alien girl!"

Suddenly, all four of them heard gasps coming from the girl.

Noctis looked back and saw that her chest was moving up and down irregularly.

"But that means she's still... alive?" he thought to himself in wonderment.

"It's not possible..." Ignis voiced out his thoughts, "No one could survive a crash like that..."

Noctis took a few steps towards the girl.

"Yeah? Tell that to her."

He carefully bended down and slowly, he lifted her upper body up carefully and gently, as though she were a million-dollar piece of porcelain.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked her softly.

At first, there was no answer, but then he watched as the eyelids slowly opened up. Those blue eyes were darting around to take in her surroundings, and then finally they locked with his own.

"You okay?" he asked her again slowly, "You had a pretty nasty crash."

There was a look of confusion on her face, and for a moment he wondered if she could even speak his language at all.

But then there was a look of terror on her face, and then she cried out, "Sephiroth!"

That caught his full attention.

"Huh?" he muttered out.

The girl placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

"T-There's no time..." she cried out in his language (surprisingly), "He's c-coming... S-Sephiroth... is coming!"

With a look of absolute confusion, he glanced up and shared it with Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto, all of whom were also as confused as he was.

Looking back at her again, Noctis asked, "... Who?"

The Dagger of God is not an actual weapon from Lightning Returns (seriously, does anyone still play that piece-of-shit game?" It's more of an original creation of mine, taking into account that Bhunivelze gave Lightning a brand new set of weapons, but since there were no daggers I just thought it fun to throw one in. Also, you would note that even though Lightning is no longer Etro's Champion, she still retains her gunblade Overture.

And just for reassurance purposes, while this story is inspired by Infinity War, unlike that movie NOBODY will die in this story.

That's it for now I guess. For those of you who had played the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy games, if there are any continuity errors do feel free to bring them up in the reviews section (especially since I've never played Final Fantasy XIII, and I wish to make this story as canon-based as possible). Also, if you guys have any suggestions of how you would like this story to play out, again feel free to bring them up. Your thoughts are always gladly appreciated!