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.

[color=fff79a]"Hohohoho, this is BRILLIANT!!"[/color] 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. [color=fff79a]"Finally I have returned, and this time I'm going to set things right!"[/color] Spinning to an upright position, Kefka spread his arms.[color=fff79a] "I'm going to destroy EVERYTHING!! Everybody and everything will cease their pointless, meaningless existence and it will be all done by me!!"[/color] he winked, [color=fff79a]"And my cronies of course, hohoho... Hahahaha... WHOA-OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!"[/color]

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.

[color=fff79a]"Ooooh, the Chaos Shrine, so it seems [i]he's[/i] 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!"[/color] 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-

[color=fff79a]"WHOA-OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!!"[/color] he laughed, the jester's voice echoing around the shrine as he skipped to Garland to fling an arm around his shoulders. [color=fff79a]"Why [i]hello[/i] my dear stalwart friend, having fun knocking people down? Mind if I join in? For old time's sake!"[/color] 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