1.0
Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Damaged as it was, universe after universe was put into the safe mode known as the Time Loops in an attempt to fix everything. It was still slow-going though. The estimates kept getting pushed back and back, and no one could tell when it was going to end. Still, it didn't matter to a certain old man, who was typing away at his terminal.
This was Odin, the Allfather, and head of the Norse Pantheon. Now, you might think that since the tree is called Yggdrasil, he was in charge of it. Well, he wasn't, but he has a lot of clout because of his position of Norse Pantheon Head. And while he could have used it in a similar vein to certain other Admins (COUGH*ZEUS*COUGH), Odin was a responsible man. Why else would he have personally taken on the task of handling both of these rather large Loop branches? He had already gotten the first of the Digimon Loops going, and now he had turned his attention to his larger assignment. He was just lucky that Huginn and Muginn were busy pestering Thor. Something about wanting to give the Marvel Loop Anchor a crow theme his next Loop or something?
[BRANCH "FINAL FANTASY" PARTIALLY AVAILABLE FOR LOOPING STATUS]
[FOLLOWING SUB-BRANCHES AVAILABLE FOR LOOPING]
Odin frowned as he viewed the list of Loops within the branch that could Loop at this point in time. It was a rather large number of sub-branches, but less than he was expecting. Some of the ones that couldn't Loop right now had more problems than he had assumed, and the oldest sub-branch's data was fragmented. Luckily, another sub-branch led right into it, so he could stitch them together to reconstruct some of the lost data. But that sub-branch required data from twelve of the other sub-branches, all of which needed to be Looping. At this point, Odin just decided to start activating the ones he could, and then worry about stitching Loops together.
"Which one though?" he murmured to himself. There was still a large number to choose from, after all. He mulled over it for a bit before his eye fell on one in particular. Reviewing the data over, he nodded in satisfaction. Yes, this one would do. In a flurry of activity, he typed away at his terminal, setting the baseline.
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY IV"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: CECIL HARVEY]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
Odin nodded. It was time. He hit the Enter key.
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
And the first of the Final Fantasy Loops were active. But Odin couldn't stop there. He immediately started reviewing the data to choose the next one. He couldn't afford to let up.
1.1 (Gamer A)
The Red Wings, an airship fleet known as the greatest military force in the world and the Pride of Baron, was returning from a mission. But while they were successful, their pride had taken a severe hit.
Cecil knew it all by heart. The atrocity he led, his men left guilt-ridden and confused, and Biggs and Wedge voicing everyone's concerns aloud for him to hear. This had become a source of frustration for Cecil in his new lives: somehow, he was being sent back to shortly after his first large act of Evil, with no idea as to why. He would need to spend the rest of his days being the best knight, the best king, the best Man he could be to make up for it.
To start, he would no longer be an apologist for the Usurper's orders. "That's enough. You're right to be confused. There were too many casualties on both sides today for a cause we know too little about. However- ,"
Cecil caught himself. That was different - normally the Mysidian Mages were too inexperienced and slow to cause any harm to his troops. They were innocent villagers who knew nothing of war... usually. They were just as reluctant this time, but...
As the soldiers advanced, striking down those in their way, one shrouded man near the back seemed to tremble in fear... until he burst out shouting. "...Fira! You know nothing of the crystal's necessity to us!" He had been chanting a spell under his breath the entire time? As the surge of fire lashed out at the squad in front of Cecil, the dark knight had drawn on his pain to send a wave of darkness through the enemy, bringing a quick end to the skirmish before any of the others could repeat this performance. He quickly barked orders to a Sergeant to turn back and raid the shops - get some Phoenix Down before it was too late.
Back in the present, he continued, "In order to protect Baron's interests, the Red Wings must maintain cohesion. I will find the King's intentions and ensure that we need not doubt ourselves again. But now, look to your homes."
That seemed to have settled their spirits. He couldn't speak of mutiny now, when they were still resentful of their losses as much as their victory - and when there was no direct proof of Cagnazzo's presence yet. If he could lure the Archfiend into the open early on, then perhaps he could begin adjusting things for the better. On the other hand, if he overplayed his hand then the real enemy might change his plans to something he would be less able to counter...
Planning out his next moves, even as the regularly scheduled flock of Flying Eyeballs attacked, he allowed himself a sly smile beneath his helmet. If there were changes, however slight, to the history he knew then there might be some clue to be found there.
A knight's path never ends. Words I've lived by, even if they seem to be more literal than I thought.
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY VII"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: CLOUD STRIFE]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.2 (Joy22)
Cloud observed the person before him.
It was a beautiful silver-haired woman, with green Mako eyes and stripperiffic leather outfit and a 7-foot tall nodachi...Wait a minute.
"Hello, Cloud-kun...Puppet." Girl!Sephiroth winked her eyelashes.
'Fuck this,' Cloud grimaced, using the Master Summon Materia to summon every available Summon, from Choco & Mog to Knights of the Round.
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADVANCE"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: MARCHE RADIUJU]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.3 (Drakohahn)
When the blonde haired young man woke up that morning, he didn't really think anything was wrong. There wasn't anything really out of place: snow on the ground, his brother still in bed and his brother's wheelchair beside it. However, that all changed when he reached school. Those bullies were picking on Mewt again...but hadn't he dealt with them already? And why wasn't Mewt making them stop? He's done it before.
The memories in his head were confusing. They said Mewt had gained the confidence to stand up to those bullies...and Ritz was supposed to have stopped dying her natural white hair red. This didn't make any sense to the young man. Why were his friends acting like they hadn't changed from their experiences in the land of Ivalice? What in the world was going on? Did the Gran Grimoire have anything to do with this?
Marche did know about that book that Mewt discovered by sheer luck. The Gran Grimoire was said to allow whoever held it to shape the fabric of reality as they saw fit. Mewt had used it to run away from his problems, dragging Ritz, Marche and Marche's brother Doned along for the ride. However, while he liked joining a clan and experiencing the land of Ivalice, he knew that it was an escapist fantasy. He and his friends had to go home. Unfortunately, each of his friends had their own problems to come to terms with before he was able to convince them to return.
Ritz wanted to stay because she didn't have to dye her hair, which caused her mother to be sad because she wasn't happy. Doned had an illness that made it difficult for him to walk, thus he had to go around in a wheelchair. In Ivalice, he could walk without assistance and he didn't want to give that up, even turning against his brother so he could stay. Mewt used the Grimoire's power to make himself the Prince of Ivalice; with his father in charge of the Judges, the people responsible for upholding the rules of combat when the clans battle and the creature responsible for maintaining the changes Mewt made to reality replacing his dead mother and doing everything in her power to enforce his will.
Marche would admit that he wasn't immune to his problems, but he actually had the least of them compared to his friends and brother. When Ritz tried to point out that he was better in Ivalice too, the most she could think of was the fact that he wasn't called New Kid at school anymore. His problem wasn't able to be solved in Ivalice, since it was only him and Doned that were allowed to cross over. He actually used it to convince his brother to come back with him; by revealing that he was always pushed to the side by their mother because Doned had greater needs.
The blonde young man had struggled hard to get everyone home and they had all improved for the experience...so why had it all reverted?
School happened the same as he remembered. It was time for the class snowball fight. One of the bullies was about to end up on his team, but started complaining because Mewt was on his side and thus would cause them to lose. The bully's friends on the other side of the playground joined in on putting Mewt down, making Marche step forward to defend his friend, causing them to make fun of him for not talking all that often. This caused Ritz to step in and switch places with the bully on his side of the field.
Before the teacher blew the whistle to start the snowball fight, he asked Marche if he knew how. While the young man had learned how to fight in the Land of Ivalice, he still had just recently moved to this city from a place where it hadn't snowed. Deciding not to draw suspicion, Marche stated that this was his first snowball fight. So, the teacher had asked Ritz to show him the basics before the fight began. It seemed like, other than his own mind, everything else was the same. Even down to the words being spoken.
However, Marche remembered not being a very good snowball thrower when he first went through this. With the knowledge of actual battle from Ivalice, even though he didn't feel as strong as his memories told him he should be, his skill allowed him to hit with throws that hadn't before. Also, just as he remembered it, the Bullies ganged up on Mewt, since he was an easy target. With his remembered skills, Marche preempted them with his own snowballs, pelting them right in the face. By their expressions, they didn't think he would be that good for his first snowball fight.
Unfortunately for Marche, his memories of the fight didn't prevent one of the bullies from hitting Mewt in the forehead with a snowball that contained a rock in it. This lead to the bullies calling him weak again, while Ritz stepped up to stop them. This time, however, they turned on her and made fun of her hair. Before the young woman could run over there and beat the crap out of the bullies, the teacher stepped in. He declared the snowball fight to be over and sent the bullies inside.
Same as last time, Marche, Ritz and Mewt walked home together after school. However, while Ritz still stated how she detested bullies, the topic actually went to Marche's surprising skill for his first snowball fight.
"Are you sure you haven't had a snowball fight before?" Ritz asked the blonde boy beside her.
"It was my first snowball fight...However, I have gotten good at throwing other things. Perhaps that just transferred over to throwing snowballs." That was true enough. His time training as a Ninja class combatant taught him how to throw all sorts of weaponry. It wasn't that much of a stretch for him to apply that to snowballs.
Anyway, they passed by that same scene again; Mewt's dad apologizing to someone before that person walked away. Mewt talked about how his dad wasn't the same since his mom died. His dad spotted him as he got closer, and then talked with his son. After a reminder from Mewt, he walked off to get back to work. From there, the three of them went their separate ways after Mewt mentioned a book he was going to buy and they all agreed to meet at Marche's house.
If Marche's memory could be trusted, then that book Mewt was going to get would take them to Ivalice. He didn't know why he had been sent back to this point in time, but Marche wasn't going to let himself get down about it. Instead, he was going to see just how he could do it better this time around.
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY IX"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: ZIDANE TRIBAL]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.4 (Opus J)
Zidane was deeply confused. He had finally reunited with his beloved Princess Dagger, and had begun to truly aim for her hand in marriage, when he had awoken in his bed on the Prima Vista in the middle of the night. Needless to say, when Baku popped out wearing his mask once more, he had hit him a little harder than he should have. Then, moments later as the plan they had so long ago flubbed was planned out once more, Zidane began to wonder if HE was the one with the head injury.
On autopilot, he had gone along... and found everything was going the same as before. It was beyond odd. Still, maybe the bomb could be diffused this time.
Or not. As he looked over the wreck of the Prima Vista, he shook his head. The fight had gone differently, but not enough. But if time could be changed... if the future wasn't set in stone... Zidane nodded to himself. It was time to change the world.
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY V"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: BARTZ KLAUSER]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.5 (Bardic_Knowledge)
At first, Bartz wasn't too miffed about having to repeat his adventure against Exdeath. It had been fun becoming known as a wandering hero who just popped up in the nick of time to save the day that one time where he managed to keep half the crystals from breaking (Wind was unfortunately a lost cause, and Water was really hard to stop). But after having explored every version of the world, it had been starting to get somewhat monotonous. At the very least his trusted companion Boko was always with him, even though the Chocobo never acted like he knew what Bartz was saying.
And, after the first few times around, he had noticed that he could use the crystals' gifts despite not getting the shards most of the time. So he had started challenging himself by going through the adventure using a single Job.
He could barely remember the Berserker run. There was a reason he didn't usually touch that Job.
So, after who knew how long, Bartz once again awoke at his campfire, just a few minutes before Galuf's meteor was due to hit outside of Castle Tycoon. As had almost become habit, he put out the campfire and started for Tycoon with Boko. But what happened when he reached the meteor surprised him. Lenna (who sometimes introduced herself as "Reina," for some reason) wasn't unconscious and being carried off by goblins, but fighting them off with skills he recognized as being from the Monk Job.
Could it be?
"Lenna?" He called, dashing in to one-shot the goblin failing to sneak up on her.
"Bartz?" she gasped. "Please tell me I'm dreaming or something."
"If we're dreaming, then I've been sleeping a long time."
"Wait, you mean-"
"This isn't the first time. Heck, I don't think it's even my hundredth, but don't quote me on that." Bartz grinned widely. "Right now, I'm just glad I'm not alone."
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY VI"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: TERRA BRANFORD]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.6
Terra Branford just didn't know what was going on anymore. It had all started when she had suddenly started repeating her life over and over again from when she woke up in Narshe to the defeat of Kefka. Nothing she did seemed to put an end to this. She had initially thought of it being some last laugh of Kefka's, but had discarded that theory for two reasons. First, Kefka wanted the destruction of everything, so he certainly wouldn't have made the whole world loop in time so that it could never be destroyed. She had witnessed that firsthand when she had slipped up during one of these loops and had gotten killed by the mad clown. The next instant, she was in Narshe again.
The second reason it couldn't have been Kefka was that Terra could use every one of the spells she had learned, even after a reset. Why would Kefka want her to get stronger and stronger? She'd already been able to maintain her Esper form for a few hours now, and who knew how long she'd be able to keep it up in the future.
But that didn't really matter right now. No, for some reason, she was 11 again. Or at least, she was pretty sure this was how she looked when she was 11. Her memories from before Kefka had plopped the Slave Crown on her head had always been fuzzy, but for whatever reason, they'd been fluctuating every time time reset.
And now her brain was playing tricks on her, insisting that she'd always lived in this small town known as Pallet. But she'd never heard of a town named Pallet before! It was a small town, with only a few houses and a lab run by a friendly professor. She was a bit uncomfortable with his granddaughter, who her memories claimed had been her rival ever since they were little. What made her uncomfortable was that said granddaughter was a dead ringer for an 11-year-old Celes, with a rather icy personality to boot.
And now the professor had called her to his lab to give her one of his three "Pokemon", creatures which ran all over the planet and could control the elements. She had never heard of these Pokemon before, or the technology used to capture them. She knew that the Empire would have delighted having control of them, so where did they come from? Wasn't magic supposed to be gone? Just what was going on?!
"Ah, Terra, there you are!" the Professor greeted as she walked in.
"H-Hello, Professor Oak," Terra greeted distractedly, trying to reconcile everything in her head. Oak frowned at the look on her face.
"Is everything alright?" he asked in concern.
"Yes, it's just...No, I'm not alright," Terra sighed in defeat. "I don't know what's going on anymore. Everything about this can't be real, but my mind keeps insisting it is. What am I supposed to believe?!"
A dawning look formed on Oak's face. "Terra, I think I know what's going on." At that, Terra turned to look at him with a pleading look on her face. Oak pressed forward. "Tell me, before you Awoke in Pallet, were you living the same life over and over again?" he asked.
Terra blinked in surprise. "Y-Yes! How did you-?"
"Because the same thing is happening to me too. I've been repeating my life over and over again for a while now," Oak confided.
"Then tell me! Just what is going on? Why am I reliving my life?!" Terra demanded. Unconsciously, a Fire spell crackled over her clenched fist. Professor Oak noted that, but pressed forward regardless.
"You see, a long time ago, something destabilized and damaged every single universe out there. The people who run the multiverse found that they could stabilize and start repairing the damage by causing each universe to loop in time. They started with seven, and have continued to activate Loops ever since then."
"So then, it wasn't anything that I did, or anyone else?" Terra wondered, digesting the information. The Fire spell over her fist quietly died down.
"No. Nobody knows what did it. In each universe, there is someone who serves as the Anchor, the person stabilizing their universe. They're the one who remembers every single Loop," Oak told her.
"I see. I suppose that makes me my universe's Anchor. Are you one as well, Professor?" Terra questioned. Oak shook his head.
"No, I'm just an ordinary Looper. Other people will start Looping as well, but you're the only one who's going to remember every Loop," he said.
"Oh. Then-?" Terra was interrupted from asking what she had wanted to when the door to the Lab was slammed open, causing both of them to jump.
"Gh...Terra, w-what's going on?" It was Celes, who had stumbled in clutching her head.
"Celes? What's wrong?" Terra wondered.
"Oh...my head. I feel like I'm caught between a dream and reality, and I can't tell which one is which. What happened to the Falcon? Where is everyone? And why are we 11?" Celes gasped out in pain.
Professor Oak blinked as something struck him. "Terra, do you remember what I said about other people joining you in the Loops?" he questioned.
"Yes. Why?" Terra wondered, torn between him and Celes.
"I think Celes might have started to join you. It looks like I'm going to have to explain things to both of you," Oak surmised.
"You know what's going on, Gramps?" Celes queried in pain. "Wait, no...why did I call you-?"
Samuel Oak sighed. "I'll try to explain, Celes. You see-"
Between Loops…
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY II"]
[BASELINE COMPILED]
[SETTING ANCHOR]
[ANCHOR SET]
[SUB-BRANCH ANCHOR: FIRION]
[SUB-BRANCH INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
[ACTIVATE SUB-BRANCH?]
[YES/NO]
[YES]
[SUB-BRANCH ACTIVATED]
[LOOP ITERATION START]
1.7 (Gamer A)
Firion was confused. He'd been piloting the airship on a patrol - not that he'd expected to find anything. Barring a few isolated cities like Salamand and Mysidia - and Fynn of course - every settlement on the planet had been wiped out by the the Emperor's Cyclone fortress.
Then suddenly, he was back on the fields outside Fynn, with Maria, Guy, and even Leon, attempting a fighting retreat against four Palemecian Black Knights. The same ones who had cut them all down and left them for dead on the day their hometown was overrun by the combined forces of the Emperor's army and his summoned demons. After everything he'd been through since then, Firion should have been able to turn the tables on them... except that all he had was a simple broadsword, worth nothing against the elite soldiers' armor. Even his body was sluggish and weak as it had been that day.
The thought crossed his mind - he was physically back to his old body, but what of his spells? He reached inward to coax out a black magic attack... And had the right side of his chest ripped through by the enemy horseman's spear before any magic could materialize.
Somehow, Firion, Maria, and Guy repeated their miraculous survival from Firion's memories. (Leon did as well, but they would not be seeing him again for some time.) While they settled into life in the Wild Rose Rebellion, Maria noticed that Firion seemed uncharacteristically distant. She decided to leave him be for the moment - they all had a lot to think about.
Firion especially. He'd quickly determined that the magic he'd picked up the first time had stayed with him. (Although it hadn't been his focus - he preferred physical combat. Still, there had been plenty of spellbooks to go around.) It had to have been real... But on the other hand, it had been a disaster. Seeing the rebel base in Altair bustling again like this reminded him of how much had been destroyed in their desperate struggle. He hadn't wanted to admit it at the time, but while the lands were still green and fertile despite months of monstrous occupation, humanity had been left a step away from extinction by the end of the war. There had to be a way to do it better...
Firion called upon his finely honed reflexes to deflect the spear with his tiny buckler and blast all four Black Knights with a wave of fire, much to Maria's shock (Guy and Leon having been run down already). Perhaps this time - but no, one spell wasn't enough, and the spear twirled around again to tear open his stomach. This should have been a lethal injury, but somehow Minwu's magic pulled him through again.
Firion tried to call on his magic to wipe out the Black knights with the ultimate form of his magic, honed over several lifetimes. Nothing happened - the cost of such an advanced spell was beyond what his civilian body could sustain. Well, back to basics, then...
This was becoming frustrating. He'd taught himself to use a bow and sniped the emperor during his Gladiatorial games, Showed Minwu that he had the power(lessness) of Ultima already, so there was no point killing himself unsealing it. Cut the Boulder that killed Josef in two... and yet no matter what he did, the Emperor still managed to wipe out most of civilization. Was there something he was missing?
1.8 (Bardic_Knowledge)
Odin's fingers tapped softly against his desk as he contemplated this curiosity. Almost all the "Final Fantasy" sub-branches were pseudo-intact, only one of them truly needing something extra to start up, but something strange had happened to the third one.
[SUB-BRANCH: "FINAL FANTASY III"]
[ANCHOR CANDIDATES: *ERROR*, ONION KNIGHT; *ERROR*, ONION KNIGHT; *ERROR*, ONION KNIGHT; *ERROR*, ONION KNIGHT]
The first sub-branch had a similar issue with lost names, true, but occasionally, the screen would present a different set of information:
[ANCHOR CANDIDATES: LUNETH, FREELANCER; ARC, FREELANCER; REFIA, FREELANCER; INGUS, FREELANCER]
It would then switch back to the Onion Knights, only to return to the Freelancers not long after. Looking at the baseline itself, there didn't seem to be that much difference between them, save that the Onion Knights had grown up together, while the Freelancers, save Luneth and Arc, barely knew each other near the start of the adventure. Everything past the first part of their journey was even remarkably similar.
It was puzzling, but there wasn't enough room for both sets to exist in the same baseline, or to run two baselines simultaneously on one sub-branch. And while the names had been lost, the Onion Knights were still people, so he couldn't just delete them and make way for the Freelancers.
There had to be some way to reconcile this, but he just couldn't see it yet.
And so Odin continued his brainstorming.
1.9 (Scorntex)
So, Cloud thought to himself, it had come to this, again. Another fight with Sephiroth, reborn in a new body and ready to try and kick his ass again. But this time around, Cloud had noticed, something was different. Not with himself, or Sephiroth, or physics, but with one tiny thing.
"You know, if you really want me to despair," he said, with all the practiced ease he could muster, "you could hurt a Chocobo."
Sephiroth stared blankly at him. "A chocobo?" he repeated.
Cloud resisted the urge to facepalm. "That," he nodded in the direction of the large, generally flightless bird casually minding its own business a short distance away. It looked up from whatever it was doing and gave the two warriors a casual look, before going back to what it was doing.
"Very well," Sephiroth eventually said, though not without a small amount of uncertainty. With one swing of his sword, the bird fell. Sephiroth turned, and found his nemesis had vanished.
Then he felt the ground shake. There was a ungodly noise in the air. Faint memories from his life, ones he'd ignored because he hadn't been able to hold on to them in the Lifestream, flared back into life with all the urgency of a fire.
He turned, to see the sky blotted out, as a great horde approached him. His enemies carried no weapon, wielded no magic, had no talents or skills.
All they had was the raw, savage fury of the Cucco, crying out for vengeance for their fallen sibling.
In seconds, all was a mass of feather and talon and beak and blood and furious clucking.
Cloud, meanwhile, just kept trying to get the best pictures he could of the melee.
1.10 (Bardic_Knowledge)
The Package. It was always the consequence of his return from Mysidia, to be sent to Mist with The Package alongside Kain. Somehow, he couldn't get rid of it, even attempting to deliberately lose it in battle. As much help as Rydia always was against his mind-controlled brother, The Package's contents, one Carnelian Signet, in some circles called the "Bomb Ring," would always turn Mist to ruin.
It might not have the time he tried to keep it sealed with his body and found himself back on the Airship, but he had no way of knowing.
This time, he was going to take a different approach.
Cecil waited until they entered the Mist Cave before putting his plan into action. "Kain."
"What is it, Cecil?"
"I'm sure you've noticed that the king is acting odd lately."
Kain chuckled darkly. "That's rather an understatement, wouldn't you say?"
Cecil smiled back. "I mean, first ordering us to take the Crystals by force, and now This Package? To a little village in the mountains?"
Kain frowned. "Where are you going with this?"
Cecil struggled for a moment to come up with something to say. "It's just... Why? And what could be in here that's so important?"
"You're not going to open it, are you? Against the king's orders?"
"We already agreed he was acting strange. He is not the man that raised me, that took you in when your father died. I need to be certain that whatever's in here isn't going to be something dangerous."
Kain was silent for a few seconds. "I understand."
Inwardly, Cecil sighed in relief. Sometimes Kain could be rather stubborn about completing a mission, like when he never even showed up at Cecil's own wedding and coronation because he was trying to atone for being mind controlled, with only the Mysidians seeing him for seventeen years. Cecil shook off his future reminiscing and reached an armoured finger towards the seals on The Package. Opening it, he faked a horrified gasp at the contents.
Kain immediately moved beside him and glanced inside The Package himself. "A ring? What's so terrible about that?"
"This isn't just any kind of ring. This is a Carnelian Signet. I overheard someone talking about it... I don't know how long ago. These things are beyond dangerous." Kain continued to look skeptical. "They're a magical ring with one purpose: when someone bearing one, worn or not, arrives at a particular destination, it releases the monsters sealed inside it, which leads to its other name: the Bomb Ring."
Kain's expression matched his own for a few seconds before turning into a snarl. "And the king wanted us to deliver it to Mist? A peaceful village?" Kain tightened his grip on his lance. "You were right. That man is not the king we knew." Kain spun back to the cave's entrance, malice in his every step.
"Do you really think the two of us could possibly take him out on our own?" asked Cecil, bringing Kain up short. "Even if he's not the renowned warrior he once was, there's still the whole Baronian Army to think about."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"We gather allies. I pitch this Signet into the waters here and we warn the people of Mist about the king's plot, then we travel to every kingdom we can to raise arms against him."
Kain set himself stubbornly for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose you're right. Let's go."
However, things did not go as planned beyond that point. Even without The Package, Rydia's mother tried to stop them, and any peaceful attempt at getting past was doomed to failure. And when entering Mist, they found it already under attack by monsters, though none of them were Bombs. And despite saving as many people as possible, Rydia still recognized them as the killers of her mother's summon and called on Titan.
In the end, the future refused to change.
But Cecil refused to give up. He would find a way to save Mist one day. To keep Rydia from losing her mother. To keep Kain from being brainwashed by Golbez.
He swore it.
1.11 (Custodator Pacis, grammar-checked by Me)
Celes took a look at her long time friend, Terra, all the while trying to keep her face straight.
"...I take it that your father had some Moogle genes in him this Loop...and somehow they managed to resurface in your generation?" she said rhetorically.
"...Kupo," Terra replied.
And Celes finally lost it.
1.12
Caliburn sighed as he rested within the stone he was caught in this Loop. While he enjoyed his travels across the Multiverse, he did feel a bit homesick at times. "I do wonder when I will Loop into home again. It has been some time since I've seen Sonic," he mused to himself. Say what you would about the Blue Hedgehog, but there was never a dull moment around him.
Suddenly, a certain fellow in red and grey landed in front of him, sparking dread within the Looping Sword. "Oh no, not you again," he groaned.
The figure pointed a finger at him. "I've found you, Excalibur!" he cried.
Caliburn, better known in the Loops as the One True Excalibur, sighed. "Gilgamesh, we've gone over this. I'm Looping. You can't add me to your collection unless I will it, and I don't!"
Gilgamesh ignored this. "That's just what you want me to think! Now hold still!" he declared, his hand lancing out for Caliburn's hilt.
"Oh for the love of the Lady of the Lake!" Caliburn groaned, before teleporting, stone and all, away from Gilgamesh's grasp.
This of course caused Gilgamesh to fall over when he overextended himself. "Coward!" Gilgamesh roared as he got back to his feet. "Quit running!"
"Fool!" Caliburn's voice echoed throughout the forest they were in. "I'm a sword! How can I run?! it's physically impossible!" he derided.
"Hey, get back here!" Gilgamesh declared, running in a random direction.
1.13
Tsukino Usagi was never really one for deep thoughts, even after ruling Crystal Tokyo for who-knows-how-long. And this was before the Loops! Still, something about this one Loop was a bit strange. For one thing, she was in the role of Luna. That wasn't too bad, since it had happened before. But instead of things glitching up and there being an Unawake version of her (one of these days, they really needed to come up with a proper name for that), there was someone else, and she was freaking out.
"Wh-what?! What's going on?!" her replacement asked in shock. She looked rather shocked at both her location and at herself. There was also an odd look in her eyes. They looked older than she actually-.
'Ohhhhh. Awesome! I never get to give the Speech! Everyone usually ends up in Harry's Loop!' Usagi squeed to herself.
"I can explain everything," she attempted to say in a profoundly mysterious voice as she sauntered up in her for-this-Loop Mau body. Of course, this was hampered by the fact that it was still her voice, and the random cat sounds she added to it.
Her replacement immediately leaped backwards, and mimed pulling a sword with their right hand. When they came up short, her replacement stared at herself for a while, before saying, "Who are you?!"
"My name is Tsukino Usagi, and like I said, I can explain everything," Usagi mentioned.
"I see...to think that not just my own world, but countless others are suffering through these 'Loops'," her replacement mused.
"It's not really suffering," Usagi hastily corrected. "It's more that this is the only way everything's going to get fixed."
"Hmm...do you know how long that will take?" her replacement asked with piercing eyes.
"Eh...last time I asked, it was about a billion years or so. I forget," Usagi shrugged.
"A billion?!" the other breathed out. "I've already had so many of these 'Loops'. They usually last about 18 years. How many times does 18 go into a billion?" they asked in shock.
"No clue. I'm horrible with math. Ami-chan probably knows though! Or whoever is replacing her this Loop," Usagi decided.
"Replacing?" the other asked in confusion.
"Well, you're in my spot right now, so it's a toss-up between whether you're the only one replacing someone, or if people you know are also replacing the people I know," Usagi explained, before something struck her. "Oh, that's right! I never asked for your name!" she realized.
"...Cecil Harvey," the other finally introduced themselves. Usagi was confused at that.
"Isn't that a guy's name though?" she asked in confusion.
Cecil frowned. "I...am a 'guy'," he pointed out. And that was when Usagi noticed his Adam's Apple...and immediately realized that because he had been replacing her, she had immediately assumed that he was a 'she'. His overall looks didn't help either...
"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!"
1.14 (crossoverpairinglover)
Wedge Antilles, legendary space pilot and hero of the rebellion's Rogue Squadron, eyed his latest challenge.
He had mastered the transportations of 47 different loops.
He had bested unawake versions of Kururugi Suzaku and Kozuki Kallen in Knightmare frames (Though the Looping ones were still better than he was), successfully captured all four of the Beastman Generals' personal Gunmen for his own use during his last three visits to the world of the Spirals (Then modified them all to combine into a giant mecha to bash the Anti-Spirals with), and had mastered the art of Kart Racing with Mario.
He no longer feared the Blue Shells from the Sky!
It was time to begin mastering his 48th, starting with this most dangerous vehicle...
He held out a bag of bird seed to the rather large yellow bird before him, who eyed it curiously.
He would tame and master this 'Chocobo', or he wouldn't master anything here at all!
One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.
There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.
The standard pattern for a loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.
To be Awake is to be aware of the time loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)
The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular loop.
Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.
Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)
Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy...although these days it doesn't really come up.
So yeah, we have Final Fantasy Loops now. I should really stress that the order you see snippets posted in is not necessarily the order events happened. And now for some comments.
1.0 - Not only was Odin saddled with Final Fantasy, he also got Digimon. Two very large Franchises being run by one guy. Ouch.
1.1 - Final Fantasy IV was the first of the FF Loops activated. Primarily because it was the first FF game to have a story and fleshed out characters...outside of Japan anyway.
1.2 - This was literally the very first thing posted in the Spacebattles thread after I made it. Ship Teasing Cloud and Sephiroth...it figures.
1.3 - That's one snowball fight I wouldn't want to be on the losing side of.
1.4 - Of the PS1-era FF protags, Zidane isn't one for brooding. Also, IX was activated after VI. I told you, Chronological Order just doesn't happen around here.
1.5 - Bartz failed to mention those occasions where he was named Butz.
1.6 - I guess instead of Red and Blue, it's Green and Yellow! ...Or Yellow and Yellow depending on what Terra's hair color is that Loop.
1.7 - II is the Black Sheep of the Franchise, but it was the one that first attempted for a deeper story, which was impressive for an NES game. Course, that gameplay...
1.8 - As for III...well, I wanted to set the DS game as baseline, but because of Onion Knight's appearance in Dissidia having a personality, people wanted him to Anchor. Until we can figure this out, Odin's going to be stuck with it.
1.9 - Oh god…Cuccobos. ...Wait, didn't Malon actually make those over in the Zelda Loops?
1.10 - Ouch. Looks like Cecil's run into some railroading.
1.11 - Terra loves Moogles, but I doubt she ever thought she'd become one!
1.12 - Gilgamesh's quest for Excalibur continues...miserably.
1.13 - Yeah, Usagi got hit by the "Dude Looks Like a Lady" Trope. Which Cecil conveniently falls under. Also, don't be fooled by its placement in the chapter. FFIV was the first Loop to go active in the FF Branch, so Cecil getting the speech happens before VII, the next Loop to go active, activated.
1.14 - With the number of Biggs and Wedge cameos in Final Fantasy, it was only a matter of time before the original Wedge Looped in.