This will be another one of my multiperspectives- sorta HAS to be if I'm going to potray the characters properly. That's Cyhiraese for "BTW- this is a long chapter.". And thank you for not flame-broiling me for last chap! ^_^v!

The path to the temple was far from easy- though for once the perils didn't seem to include monsters lying in ambush. If there had been.....this might have been easier to handle. Easier than this dead, silent nothingness of ruin.....

When you are young- parents or friends like to scare you with tales of graveyards and eerie moans that come from them in the night winds....

They should just describe them as silent. Achingly silent, like this place. The smallest clatter of stone against stone makes us wince as we weave our way through the drifting islands...and their graveyards. It was not only buildings this place devoured it seems...

Hell is not a fiery pit in the heart of the world- it is this: walking through a place where you see your loved ones, your friends, and your country men- those who entrusted their very lives to you- scattered about, hands held out in eternal, silent beseechment, dead eyes open with a plea you cannot answer. It's seeing yourself a hundred times dead trying to defend these very people and meeting their end as well...

I want to scream. I want to defy everything I'm seeing, to shatter those frozen bodies and deny they exist...but I keep myself moving forward, refusing to look left or right after a time...simply straight ahead, to the heart of this damnable place. With every step my heart grows heavier however, and the world around us grows ever darker in a way I can't quite explain.

And the worst part of it is simply not knowing...I can know that the Rosas, Paloms, and Poroms I see are not the ones I know...but what of the many Cids? The Edges, Rydias, Kains, Yangs and even the rare FuSoYas? The Elders, Giotts, and the many many other people......how many of these frozen, desperate bodies came from MY world when this moon rose?

How many of them are the ones I failed?

So caught up am I in these thoughts- I don't hear Palom call to me until his hands, still grieviously wounded despite Porom's spells, catch my cloak to drag me to a halt. I shake my head and look up....when we had started this march, perhaps I would have been glad on some levels to have finally reached this place. Much as I had been when it had come time to confront Zemus. Now? Now the sheer immensity of it, the forbidding carvings worn down by time and simple darkness steal away any relief. Whatever waited inside had caused all of this. And it has killed ME so many times....the walk through the ruins had shown that.

How can I hope to succeed this time...? What did I think made me any better than those other me's who laid scattered in their final rest in this place....?

"....lets go, Palom...Porom..."

I place my hand against the heavy door and push- but it takes all three of us to open it. And beyond? Only darkness.....

It has been a long time since I went on anything even remotely resembling an adventure. In the back of my mind- I had thought back on the time of when Palom and myself had taken Cecil up the mountain...for all of it's danger, it had been exciting as well. A thrill a child had eagerly embraced.

Now I can see what a fool I was then- and that I was up till now. I had felt that same thrill at first...."We are going to the dark moon" had meant nothing more to me than "we are going to Mount Ordeals" had. It was another adventure- I was with Palom and Cecil, what could possibly go wrong? We'd save the world just like he had in the past. Everything would have been just fine.

How blind can I possibly be? Just trying to heal Cecil, myself and Palom after our harsh landing in this place had taxed me greatly. Using white magic here..it seemed so impossible. So...wrong to use a healing force in a place so filled with death. That had been my thought before we had begun our march.... and now- seeing what truly rested here....

Never had the words "filled with dead" been so true. I try to walk as Cecil does- strong, with my eyes only on our goal. He must be so incredably strong to face this without a wince, giving these bodies of people and worlds nothing more than a passing glance......

If only I were so strong. I know Palom is alive...but the first time I see a body of him, frozen to the ground- I cry. I stop and kneel beside it- my hands clenching against the ice even as it cuts into them, sobbing....

"No....Palom.....no.......it's.."

And then Palom is there beside me, pulling me away from this dead brother of mine, holding me and turning my face towards his as he murmurs vauge, gentle reassurances. He is alive, and he will remain so. We've always gotten through everything together and we will this time too.

I smile and nod in answer, forcing gratitude....how many of the Paloms here had said the same? And I see myself as well, never far from him....

Yes, we did go through everything together it seems......

We even went through death.....

I keep my eyes on Cecil's back as we walk from that point on...but even so, I still see it. And the feeling of Palom's torn, bloodied hand gripping mine feels steadily less real...We failed so many times. How........how could he and Cecil think we could win this time when it's plain we never did before.....?

I likely would have kept right on walking if Palom hadn't suddenly let go of my hand and grabbed Cecil's cloak, calling out to him. So lost in my reverie, I hadn't realized we'd finally arrived...

Before us the ruined temple looms....pressing down on my heart and soul like a lead weight. I want to run- or maybe just break down and cry, simply wither away to nothing on the steps...there was something about this place.......the other me's....they must have come here before as well.......and as it still stood and they did not...

"Lets go....Palom...Porom....."

We push the door open....into a darkness so deep we can't even see past the first set of pillars...

Something was very, very wrong....I was sure of that when I first woke up and found my hands torn nearly to pieces and Cecil almost dead- but as we walk, I'm becoming even more certain of it. Cecil and Porom are both trying to hide it- but something about this place is getting to them.

What it is though- I have no idea. No denying this place is twisted and creepy as all hell- but we've been in worse. Well alright we HAVEN'T, but at least the bodies were so thickly covered in ice you couldn't see anything really. They could be anyone....so why was Porom so certain that one was me? Her crying echoes so loudly in this place - and Cecil? He just keeps walking.

Like he didn't hear....or he didn't care. That is NOT the Cecil I know...

I eventually get Porom moving again- after she lies about feeling better when I reassure her. Didn't she know I knew her well enough that any lie she tried to tell me wouldn't go over any better than a lie I tried to tell HER? And then comes the fun of getting her to move fast enough to catch up with Cecil- didn't that paladin know how to wait for someone?

And it only gets worse as we go. Porom won't look away from Cecil, Cecil won't look back at us- I'm beginning to think he's not even looking AHEAD. Something that's all but confirmed when we begin our walk up the stairs to that temple. He doesn't acknowledge how many times he stumbles on a bit of rubble- even when a simple step to the side would have let him clear it- and once we arrive?

Once we arrive, the white tin-can of Light nearly walks right into the building- without opening the door.

"Hey! Cecil! It helps if you use the door- damn it-"

I let go of Porom's hand to grab his cloak and jerk him back into reality....which earns me a blank look until he looks up at the temple's high walls and door. Then he sighs- unenthusastic sound- and looks to the door....

"Lets go...Palom...Porom..."

We push the door open- but I'm wondering if maybe this is really such a good idea. Cecil and Porom.....with whatever's wrong with them....will they be able to fight if the heart of this mess is in here...? Right now...I don't know if they could fend off an angry house fly....

I watch them as they wend their way through the bodies of numerous realities...the Paladin and White Mage react much as I had expected them to. It had always been the same in the past, whenever he had come to face me. Light's Champion- not understanding that Light had given rise to this as much as Darkness had. Here, he has only his own strength to lean on...and it has never been enough.

The mage I recognize as well.....it is not the first time she has come against me. A user of the same magic as the Paladin, just to a greater degree..she was a logical choice. She weeps for her brother, whom she sees always near her own body. She has died on these paths before, kneeling beside the body of her twin from another reality- very rarely has she had the fortitude to make it here.

But the third member of the party........I had not expected.

A Black Mage? Bring brought to battle a stronger wizard of the same sort? I would almost call it rank suicide- and in the past, so would have the Paladin and his allies. But here it is now- and he seems quite unaffected by the walk through this graveyard. Something I had not expected in the least. He keeps the White Mage from meeting the same fate she had so many times before- and brings the Paladin's mind away from his inner musings.

So in the end, Fate throws in one final twist to attempt to derail Destiny. Ah, why not? It's tried everything else. This......this will be my last battle. I, and all those of myself before me, have fought again and again throughout existance for this. Now everything will end and begin anew...healed free of all scars of the past. The arrogance of the Lunarians will finally be undone and reality made one again.

In the room it all began in, I wait for them....the walls lined with various versions of myself, eyes closed and bodies silent. Some clad in armor, some in dark robes, others in simple, plain clothing... No matter how I lived my life, it always came down to this. I spare a longer glance for the one who had brought me here, who had awakened me and given me direction when I fell here.

He had given me memories- the memories of all those incarnations of me before this one. With this knowledge and these memories...I will finally see the cycle ended.

"Come, brother......it's high time this was settled...."

The doors open far at the end of the hall....barely a visible speck in the darkness. Cecil, Porom and Palom...though only the Black Mage seems ready to fight. Ah, well...Fate can use all the surprises it wants...It will all end as it always has.

For the last time.

(Continued in: Battle of Shadows)

Weee- almost done! So anyone care to guess why Palom wasn't bothered? ^_^ Anyone who emails me the correct answer (or close enough to) can ask for the fic of their choice (short of a lemon).