Chapter 58

    "Most of you are aware, though some of you newer warriors may not be, of the nature of this war.  The veterans know, more than likely.  For you new ones, or for the unobservant, I will enlighten you.  But I'll have to start from the beginning of this world's time."

    Rosa saw a few warriors shift nervously out of the corner of her eye.  Warrior, Kain, Cecil- even Cecil knows something about this?  Their fidgeting and the glow of pride in the Emperor's eyes made a cold chill race down her spine and numb her to her fingertips and toes.  She was scared of whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

    "The reason for the memory loss when you were first called is because of the cyclic nature of this war.  Cosmos called you to combat Chaos.  She probably told you it was out of protection of this world.  That was a lie, too.  It was just a false call to arms to give you purpose to fight.  Why would you NOT have a purpose, you ask?  Because there is no such thing as destruction, OR peace in this world."  He paused for dramatic effect.

    "Wh . . . what does that mean?" Vivi's tiny voice called.

    "Aha!  THAT'S the question I was waiting for.  The truth is, is that-"

    "How does this have any effect on our situation?" Cecil interrupted, his eyes subconsciously flicking from the Emperor to Rosa.  Rosa opened her mouth but the Emperor voiced her though.

    "And WHY are you avoiding this?  Patience, Cecil.  I take it you haven't told your wife about this little predicament.  Didn't want her to lose hope, hm?"

    Cecil paled.  "Well . . . well, no, I-"

    "Well it's about time she knew.  She was bound to find out anyway, and how she hasn't yet is beyond me.  She's a smart woman."

    "Find out WHAT?" she asked irritably.

    "Nothing-" Cecil began.

    "Ooooh, I hardly think it's nothing.  In fact, it's the driving force of this whole war!  As warriors you should now that the point if this fight isn't good versus evil, Cosmos versus Chaos, like you believe it is.  It's not protection if Cosmos triumphs, and it's not destruction if Chaos is victorious.  In fact, Cosmos and Chaos don't EVER physically fight anymore, as they used to.  The point of this war is power, not supremacy.  And the REAL one IN power is the dragon, Shinryu.  Bartz, if your memories are in tact, I believe Shinryu originated from the Rift Exdeath created in your world.  A nasty opponent too, according to Exdeath.

    "Shinryu found a way to escape the confines of the Rift prison, vowing to never be detained again.  He CREATED an entire new universe: the universe we now stand in.  Some unimportant things happened," he explained with a dismissing wave of his hand, "which led to the creation of Cosmos and Chaos.  It was the perfect opportunity for Shinryu.  He struck a deal with Cid of the Lufaine, creator of the gods.  In exchange or an eternal source and flow of power, Cid would gain eternal life.

    "The source of power to Shinryu was the clash of Cosmos and Chaos.  The loser would have a bit of their power drained by Shinryu, then he would revive them so that it could begin again, and he could gain more power from the next loser."

    "Wait, WHAT?" yelled Zidane, shaking his golden hair and ponytail roughly.  "That's not right!"

    "That CAN'T be right!" Bartz said.  "COSMOS and CHAOS are the gods!  Cosmos RULES the good half, and-"

    The Emperor stood.  "That understanding of this world is so base and ridiculously idiotic it's no WONDER she manipulated you!  Now, LISTEN, and COMPREHEND what I'm telling you.  That's the point of me divulging this information!  As I was saying, the revival, however, could not be done without more sacrifice than a bit of power.  So as a result, the loser's memories were purged.  When they woke up, EVERYTHING was gone.  Everything but the singular task of fighting.  It was the only thing left to do for the gods."

    "What of the victor?" Rosa choked out, her dry, shaking voice betraying her shock.  She didn't want to hear the answer.  She knew it.

    "In the beginning, when it was just the two divine powers fighting, they survived.  Their memory and power intact, to await the revival of the loser.  THEN.  IT.  REPEATS," he enunciated slowly.

    "No," Rosa whispered.  It clicked.  Cosmos didn't want the eternal drain of her power.  That was why . . . to be her . . . her sacrifices.  Her heart took a nosedive into her stomach.  Her spine went cold.  Icy shock had grabbed it and wouldn't let go.  She turned her horrified gaze to Cecil.  His eyes flicked to hers then instantly looked down, ashamed.  She turned to look at the others.  Only a few looked as horrified as she did- Bartz, Onion, Zack, Garnet, Vivi.

    "Quickly, the gods realized their fate," the Emperor affirmed.  "They realized that they were being taken advantage of- forever pouring their surprisingly limited, and dwindling power into another being.  Fighting for no reason.  It was Chaos' idea, so he's told me, that they call people to fight FOR them.  Leave THEM to suffer the fate they were too cowardly to face.  From each of the worlds Shinryu smashed together to make this hellhole, one was called for each side.  I'm told the first for Chaos was Garland, who has survived and been next to Chaos ever since.  The first for Cosmos?  Who knows?  Their name, their face, their life, their history, washed away by time and losses.  However, you are a special warrior," he said, nodding down to Warrior and pointing to him with his staff.

    "Me?" he asked.

    The Emperor nodded.  "You actually embody the man who made the bet with Shinryu.  That's why, win or lose, your name refuses to come back to you.  As the cycles went on, the gods realized they STILL lost power, though not as much as before, as when they were directly Purified.  Their warriors were receiving the Purges, and the warriors gave the power to Shinryu while the gods just lost a bit of power to Shinryu."

    Ros felt the pieces fit together in her head.  The basic questions that had been danced around for the longest time: the WHY'S and the HOW'S.

    And she hated it.

    "What happened when a warrior has nothing left to give?"

    "Can you not figure it out?  They die," he told her cooly.  He smiled, his grin oozing arrogance and malice.  "That's it, take it in, Rosa," he said to her, sickly sweet.

    She lowered her gown and could do nothing but stare in shock, asking over and over, "What?  WHAT?? I can never go home?  Am I forced to fight til I die here?"

    "Speaking of dying," the Emperor said scanning Tifa, Yuna, Kain, Laguna, Vaan, and Lightning, "this is where you six come in.  The 12th cycle was a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE loss because of the manikin infestation fighting for Chaos.  You six sacrificed yourselves to stop the manikins and even the odds.  You succeeded, but at the cost of your lives.  The rest of you were Purified by your traitorous Dragon friend here."

    "WHAT?" yelled Onion.  "You BETRAYED us?!"

    "And Cosmos approved!" the Emperor shouted, turning their attention back to Cosmos.  "Your bodies perished, you were banished to the Rift.  She's the reason you six died for a war that wasn't yours, and she's the reason you're here now!  She brought you back to fight HERE in this war!  She interrupted your eternal slumber with the power of the crystals she loaned you."

    Rosa had missed all of that, still hung up on, "I can't go home?  I can't ever see Baron again?  My friends and family?"

    Suddenly Rosa flushed with anger.  She felt betrayed.  By Cosmos for calling her.  And by Cecil for keeping it from her.  "You KNEW all of this about the cycles?!" she said, turning towards Cecil and Kain.  "You BOTH knew this and NEITHER of you told me?!  Why?  WHY would you keep something like this from me?!"

    "I . . . I don't know, I . . . thought I was protecting you-" Cecil stammered.

    "From WHAT?  There's no PROTECTION from this!  The fact that I am HERE meant I couldn't leave from the start!"

    "I didn't want to upset you any more than you already were-"

    "How many cycles had you seen before I got there?  You knew almost everything about me right away!  you must have survived a lot of cycles to keep all your memories!  HOW many?!"

    " . . . Rose, that's not important-"

    "HOW MANY?!"

    "A lot," he finally relented.  "I hadn't been Purified since I first woke up here, a few cycles before you.  I don't know numbers."

    "And STILL you didn't tell me there was NO way for us to go home?  You just LET me walk around OBLIVIOUS?  Clinging to this false hope like a CHILD clinging to their parent?  WHY?"

    "Because I still had hope too, Rosa!  I was clinging to the hope that some day there'd be a WAY home!  I never meant to LIE to you!"

    "Oh, but there WAS a way home, around the 13th cycle!" the Emperor interjected.

    That got a start of surprise from ALL the warriors, and Cecil paled.  "What did you say?"

    "NONE of you would remember this, of course.  Cosmos gave each of you a shard of her power in the form of a crystal.  She felt guilty when the cycles upon cycles of bloodshed caught up to her.  She grew to know you, like you, appreciate you and your service.  It guilted her, what she did to people like you.  So she granted you the crystal on the condition that you WON.  Luckily for you, you did, and the crystals transported you home!"

    "We went . . . home?" Terra whispered.

    " . . . Back to our worlds?  Our HOMES?  Our friends and our families?!" Firion said.

    "Yes, yes, and yes," the Emperor checked off.  "You were, quite literally, home free!  Both gods were defeated, and you WENT HOME.  Get it?  Six of you were free of the cycle by death, the ten that remained disappeared!"

    "Th- . . . then how . . . " Cecil said.  Rosa could tell he was just as shocked as she was now.

    "How are you here?  Think: the cycle was revived.  Cosmos was revived.  Cosmos.  Called.  You.  Back.  Instead of calling new people a fresh group of brand new saps to destroy, she used her power on you 16.  Why?  The crystals.  The power she gave you that you took with you to your own worlds.  She was selfish enough to want it back.  And she got it.  The 14th cycle you all awoke.  No memories, no names, no anything.  Right back where you started.  That's what you remember, Cecil."

    For a long time no one spoke.  No one knew WHAT to say, or HOW to say it.  Rosa herself couldn't decide between focusing on her anger at Cosmos and the FIRE burning in her mind for DOING this to her, or on her remorse and pain and the lead in her heart and melancholy that came with thinking of her home and her friends.

    Cecil made the choice for them.  "I don't BELIEVE THIS!"  With a snarl of rage he spun around and ran for the back of the realm.

    "Where are you going?" Warrior asked, grabbing his arm.

    He ripped his arm from Warrior's grip.  "Get OFF of me!  I'm going AFTER her, dammit!" he yelled.  "I'm confronting her!"

    "Me too!" Firion growled. angrily, stepping next to Cecil.  "She's gone too far this time!"  Cloud and Squall stepped up next to Cecil too.  People were taking sides left and right after those two, but Rosa couldn't.  She was frozen.

    The Emperor smiled down at her.  "Can't make up your mind?  Don't know what to think?  Let me help you.  Your world: gone to you.  Your friends: gone to you.  Your kingdom: lost.  Your future, ANY kind of FUTURE you EVER WOULD HAVE HAD WIHT HIM: lost.  Let it build in you.  Grow in you.  Let it fester and boil."

    Against her attempts at resistance to his words, images began to flash in her mind.  Her castle, the moat, the town she left.  The time her and Cecil spent in the deepest corner of the town where the sluices were, letting water into the city.  The people of the kingdom.  The festivals, the throne, all of it.  Gone.  The Harvey line in Baron began and now ended with Cecil.

    She spun, a new anger surging and her legs moving of their own accord.  She snatched Cecil's hand and nearly wrenched his arm from the socket as she hauled him to the door.  "Let's go," she said.

    "Teleport Stone's open out there!" the Emperor called casually behind them.