[Voice]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

[Vague apology is going to be vague, but that's how Kain does these things. He'll leave it public partially as an act of penance, partially because he's still readjusting to these devices and their filters. He isn't even sure that all of these people are here- he's been gone from Gaia for only a couple weeks, but to him it feels much, much longer. Don't worry Zidane, when he realizes you're not here, he'll bother you when you arrive.]

Cecil. Squall. Onion Knight. Bartz. Firion. Zidane. I apologize to all of you, especially.

I should also extend that apology to the other warriors of Cosmos as well.

I'm... sorry.

[He's still recovering, but he can't finish this without offering:]

...and if anyone has need for another fighter, I can be there at once.

Comments

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

I- I'm sorry, I don't intend to- I don't want to hurt her like that. [Any further than he unintentionally has, woe. It's just that Kain is still stuck in "must fight all the time" mode, not to mention that mindset he'd gone into in preparation for a suicide mission... and it's hard to shake. It makes him even worse with the reckless attitude.]

Right... Cecil, I didn't return home when I left Gaia. I was drawn into the conflict of the gods, Cosmos and Chaos. I fought for Cosmos, and... you were there as well. As was your brother. Several others as well, from other worlds, many of them here on Gaia.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

Take care of yourself and you'll take care of her. I don't profess to know much about the bonds between dragoons and dragons, but I know that much.

[As Kain begins to speak about the war, Cecil can't believe what he's hearing. Cecil's never mentioned the war of the gods to anyone from his homeworld before, yet for Kain to know so much about it, he had to have been there. Of course, Cecil would never think he'd lie, but...]

...Are you sure? You're right, my brother and I were there, and the others. But there were only ten warriors of Cosmos, just as there were ten warriors of Chaos. It may have been a very long time ago for me, but I would have remembered if you were there...

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

I can take care of myself fine. ...But... I'm sorry I left, for her sake. I didn't want that to happen, believe me. [In fact, talk of her is making him feel anxious to see her. There's some shuffling noises as he's getting up.]

...and I'm entirely sure. You don't remember, because that was a cycle previous to the one you know of. [He's gathered this much already, from what others are saying.] It was the nature of the war, for our memories to be erased before each cycle.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

[Cecil has to think hard about that. It was such a long time ago, so even the events he does remember are faded at best. To think he'd have forgotten something as important as his best friend being there is certainly shocking.]

The cycles... That's right. Garland did speak of that. He told us the conflict was eternal. I remembered nothing during that time... not you, not Rosa, not home, not any other battles in that world. The only memories I had left were of my brother.

...But, if you were there before, why didn't you join us for the last cycle?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

It was Golbez who told me the truth about the cycles in the first place...

[He hadn't known what to believe at first, but the more he'd thought about it... the more he'd realized that it was the truth. And he'll go with the answer he gave Zidane for that other part. For the moment.]

...I wasn't there, because... it was part of a plan to ensure our victory.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

[Golbez... So even in the previous cycles, he was helping them, even if only to provide information. The warriors of Cosmos owe him much.]

Of what plan do you speak? Cosmos and the crystals, or... something else?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

[He pauses a moment to gather his thoughts.]

A plan to ensure that enough of our warriors lasted to defeat those of Chaos. I'm sure you'd encountered some manikins?

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

Yes, I fought countless manikins throughout the conflict. What of them?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

Were you aware that defeat at their hands leads to a permanent death?

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[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

...No, I didn't know that.

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

Unsurprising, that you wouldn't know. But that was their nature. If you fell in battle to a regular warrior, you would be revived to fight again in the next cycle. There was no revival after defeat by manikins.

...And in the cycle I speak of, there was an infinite army of them.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

[Cecil's a lot more sharper than his younger self, so he has an idea of where this is going.]

And so you sought to stop them?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

I sought... to ensure that warriors of Cosmos were saved for the next cycle.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

In which you were successful. So... for what reason are you apologising?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

For what I had to do.

To ensure that you and the others lived to see the next cycle, I... attacked all of you. I betrayed your trust in me, and knocked you out to take you out of the fighting.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

You... knocked us out? I'm not sure I understand.

[It's something he'd never think to do himself, that's for certain, so as a plan it doesn't make much sense to him.]

You attacked us in order to protect us? Did that cycle really seem so hopeless to you?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

The manikins were emerging, an endless army, from that rift... Had I not ensured you were all knocked out and safe... everyone would have gone to fight them and inevitably fallen.

It was a desperate situation and a risky plan to take. But the chance that all of Cosmos' warriors would be obliterated... was too great.

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

Kain... What happened to you after that? You set out to stop the manikins?

[He assumes so, because after Cosmos perished and they all travelled to defeat Chaos, the manikin numbers were all but dying out.]

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

...Does it matter so much, what became of me? But yes... we set out to face the horde of manikins and close the rift. Despite knowing the inevitable outcome. It had to be done.

[And Kain knows every one of the others would have done the same, had he not ensured they were kept safe for the next cycle.]

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

[Of course it matters what became of him. Rosa and Cecil had been so worried... have been worried for him much, much longer than just two weeks of absence. Not that Kain would realise it, being as young as he is.]

...Who else went with you to stop them, if not us?

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

Lightning, Laguna, Tifa, Yuna, Vaan.

[And he's not heard a thing from any of them when he addressed the warriors of Cosmos in general, he only now realizes it's because none of them even remember.]

[voice | filtered]

[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

[There's only a couple of names he's really familiar with from Gaia. Yuna, who he knows through Tidus, and--]

Laguna? He aided us on the Lunatic Pandora, despite the dangers involved, and is fighting on the Mist Continent now. He's a courageous man; I'm not surprised he accompanied you.

[And yet, the idea that they fell at the hands of the manikins bothers Cecil greatly, far more than the idea of his best friend knocking him out for an entire cycle.]

...Why did you try to do so much on your own, Kain? I could have helped you. There might have been another way.

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

He is. They all are.

[Kain is glad to hear that about Laguna, he wouldn't expect anything different. He'll have to try and contact them all soon... now that he knows they don't yet remember...]

...There was no other way, Cecil. We needed to ensure that you and the others would make it through. If we hadn't, Cosmos wouldn't have had any warriors left.

I had intended for us all to join you, but... that rift had to be closed.

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[trinitycrusades.livejournal.com]

...

[Silence on Cecil's end as he considers that. So many people have risked or given their lives for him so that he could continue fighting, but it's still sinking in that Kain would do such a thing. They'd grown up together, they were best friends -- even when Kain vanished all those years ago, Cecil never imagined Kain could die. He's been a constant throughout his life, just like Rosa, or Cid.

Eventually he speaks, tone sombre.]

What you all did... was very noble.

[Even if Cecil doesn't necessarily agree with Kain's less-than-noble methods in getting the other Cosmos warriors out of harm's way, it was done with good intentions, and in the end it worked out for the best. The fact it was all such a long time ago to Cecil and he can't remember it makes it more easy to forgive, too.]

Rest easy knowing your fight was not in vain. We were victorious in the final conflict, and Chaos perished.

[voice | filtered]

[dragoon-rising.livejournal.com]

[The others with him were noble, Kain isn't so sure he deserves to be called that. But he won't argue.]

Thank you, Cecil.

[Kain knows that his methods were wrong, no matter his intentions. It had all weighed very heavily in his mind. Then there was the fact of that final battle... it's all really sinking in now that he's had time to think about it, after the shock of being here, alive again. He now lets out a long sigh of relief.]

...I'm glad... to have a chance to know that. I didn't think I ever would.

[...Or that he'd see any of them again, ever.]