Noctis stood at the edge of the small village, his face unreadable, his glowing sky-blue eyes checking over a large group of trees and boulders, the boulders setup so that they constructed a massive barrier, and the trees turned into giant spear-like defences, at the entrance the Shinra troops would come from, to the North. The terrain to the south was too mountainous for a ground assault, as Shinra intended, and to the west was a sheer drop, hundreds of metres above the ocean, meaning that their only option there would be to use ships, which they believed to be a waste of resources for the destruction of one village filled with women and children. To the east was a series of tunnels, which his younger sister Die was using to evacuate the villagers before Shinra troops arrived to burn it all down. There was no way in hell that Shinra’s troops would be able to navigate the tunnels, seeing as not one person in this entire village had ever left to join the military. They hated Shinra with a passion for all that had they had done to the planet. Noctis sat down, satisfied with the defence preparations, and took a moment to recall the events which had led to this moment...

“What do you think we’re gonna find when we get there?”

“Probably a bunch of rebels and deserters, if the intel is solid. If not, we just say so, and head home. Don’t worry either way Noctis, nobody can beat two first class SOLDIERs.”

“You know I don’t get worried.”

“I know, you never get worried. It would be nice if you did though, once in a while...”

Noctis shook his head slowly while keeping his face expressionless. Die had just finished up a call with President Shinra about their mission, and they. Unusual, but the order had come directly from him to them, and they were only to speak to him about it. They had been told that there was a village filled with rebels who were threatening to destroy any and all mako reactors they could if Shinra didn’t shut them down. Their mission was to go in, neutralise the rebels, and get out. They were to call the president the moment the job was done for pickup. Sounded simple enough. If only it were.

Noctis and Die ran to get their equipment from their lockers. They grabbed their blades, and packed their materia into their backpacks in case they needed them. Once they were sure that everything was prepared, they checked on their secret equipment. They were the items that the two SOLDIERs never showed to anyone. The one secret they treasured more than anything...

They obtained the materia and their blades a year before they had joined SOLDIER, in the ruins near their home. They’d been searching through the forest nearby and, after several stumbles, falls and close calls with the local wildlife, they came upon the ruins by chance. Being curious kids, they went in, focused on seeing the ‘cool treasures’ they were sure to find in here, though they had some interest in the history behind the ruins as well. They had no idea that what they found was going to set them on a path that no one could have foreseen them being on.

The ruins were crumbling badly, and more than once, they had to climb over fallen debris, or backtrack to find another way around a blocked path. Despite their eagerness, the two took their time, both to make sure they didn’t go head first into a trap, and to admire the murals and paintings that survived. They were all of strange equines of various shapes, sizes and colours. Some had wings, some had horns. And at least two of them had both. They didn’t know what the ones without wings or horns were called, but they remembered the ones with wings were called Pegasi, and the ones with horns were called Unicorns, mostly from books on mythology they had read. They had no idea what the ones with both were called, but they were sure their parents had probably mentioned such creatures at one point or another.

See, most parents focused on academics, but Noctis and Die’s parents had been obsessed with creatures of legends and myths, convinced that they had existed at one time or another, and they had passed that obsession on to their children.

After about an hour of trekking through the ruined hallways and collapsed rooms, they came to some sort of treasury, except the only treasures that they could see were two strange orbs on a pedestal in the center of the room, the path to which was flanked by several statues of various equines like the ones from the murals. On either side of the pedestal were the same two creatures with wings and horns. The statues were wearing some sort of shoes and necklaces. But the two children were not paying attention to the statues. They were too busy staring at the orbs. Only one word came to mind. Materia...

They approached the pedestal cautiously, noting that each of the statues had some sort of orb at its feet, and each orb had a different symbol on it. What could they mean? the two thought. They spent a good hour trying to come up with any possible meanings for the individual symbols, but they had nothing. Fed up, they turned their attentions to the materia on the pedestal. They looked to each other, then to the materia, which were completely unlike anything they had ever seen before.

The one on the left was a dark blue, and within it, they could make out a symbol, a black crescent moon. The one on the right was red, and its symbol was a shining sun. They had never seen anything like them, but they somehow knew that they were neither support nor summoning materia, despite their coloration. They talked briefly about who would pick which one. Noctis chose the Lunar Materia, and Die chose the Solar Materia, seeing as they matched their names.. They reached out slowly, being on the lookout for any potential traps they may set off. It was only a few seconds, but to them it seemed like hours, until finally, they had plucked the materia from the pedestal. They turned to leave, but as they reached the end of the room they felt that something was calling to them, telling them to turn around, back to the pedestal, though they couldn’t explain it. They followed the call, and saw something they never expected to see. Floating above the pedestal, right where the materia had been, were two blades, with similar symbols to the materia they had taken.

They looked back to the materia, which had merged with them, embedding themselves in the arms of the two. They tried to remove them, but nothing they thought of worked. They gave up, and the materia suddenly became completely hidden, though Noctis and Die could still feel their presence.

“Well Die, guess they’re here to stay. So...should we take the blades too?”

“Yeah, let’s. Something tells me that we’re meant to have them, or something.”

The siblings took the blades in their hands, and immediately power surged through them. It was agonizing, and at the same time, euphoric. The two blacked out, unable to handle the immense power coursing through their veins, so they did not hear the voices of the two beings who had been watching them the whole time.

“Are you sure that letting these children take the artifacts is wise, sister?”

“I am sure. They are the ones who are meant to wield them.”

“But they are too young! They cannot handle su-”

“Little sister, do not think that just because they are young, they cannot control this power. When the time comes, they will be ready. After all, you were freed from your darkness by ones not much older than these two.”

The younger of the two sighed in defeat. “Fine, but you know they may not appreciate the responsibility we force upon them.”

“I know, but we have no choice. None from our world can wield these weapons, not even us. If they are the ones that the Celestial Orbs, the Eye of the Sun and the Eye of the Moon have chosen, then we must accept it, and trust that they can handle their task when the time comes.”

“I’d rather keep an eye on them, and make sure they stay out of trouble.”

“You know you can’t. The effects on your body and mind if you spent prolonged periods of time here would not be very, pleasant. Even as immortals, we cannot spend more than a few months at most in any world but our own without suffering some sort of damage to our minds.”

“I know, I know. But sister?”

“Yes?”

“You know that when their true power is unlocked they will beco-”

“I know. It is both a gift and a curse. Now come, we have preparations to make.”

And with that, the two figures left, returning to the world they had come from. Noctis and Die meanwhile, had woken up outside where the ruins had been, only to find that the ruins were gone, with nothing to suggest they had ever even existed. Nothing except for the materia in their arms, and their blades. The two returned home, explained their decision to their parents, and left to join SOLDIER...

Noctis was snapped out of his daydream by his sister, who had playfully punched him on the arm when they arrived at the helicopter. It could only take them as far as the forest leading up to the village. Any closer, and the anti-aircraft weapons that the village had apparently installed would obliterate them.

Noctis faced his sister as the chopper ascended. “Hey Die?”

“Yeah?” His face turned sombre.

“Why do you think those ruins disappeared after we found the orbs and the blades?”

“I dunno. Why are you thinking about it, anyway? It’s been five years.”

“I know, but I keep thinking about them, especially since it was only a few days before the incident.”

“Dammit Noctis, stop obsessing over it. Sephiroth was a traitor, and he took away our home, yeah, but he’s gone now.”

“Just like Zack.” Die fell silent at the mention of their fallen idol. The death of someone who always believed in honour, at the hands of his so-called comrades, had shaken their faith in what Shinra was doing. It was the reason that they had decided that this would be their last mission as SOLDIERs.

“Noctis...”

He turned to his sister, his face once again devoid of any emotion. “It’s fine, let’s just forget about it.”

Die just sighed and remained silent for the rest of the trip. She had always worried about her brother. Ever since their parents had died in the Nibelheim incident, he had become withdrawn, only ever being comfortable to let his emotions show around her, and only her. Not that she was ungrateful for his trust in her, but she wished she could help him to open up to others. Until then, she just had to be there for him, and hope he’d be able to make some friends and maybe he’d finally-

Die was interrupted from her thoughts by the pilot. “Hey, SOLDIERs, we’re here. Get out there and do what you gotta do.”

They nodded silently and exited the ‘copter. After giving the pilot a quick salute before he brought the ‘copter back up and headed back to HQ, the two SOLDIERs turned and sprinted through the thick forest. It only took a few minutes to traverse, thanks to the mako and JENOVA cells coursing through their bodies, as well as the Lunar and Solar materia, as they called them, enhancing their physical, mental and magical capabilities even further. They weren’t invincible, but they were pretty damn close.

Upon reaching the village, the two were surprised to find that there were no weapons of any kind, and it was filled with nothing but civilians. They looked around the village, staying unseen as long as possible considering President Shinra had said the village was filled with rebels, but they could find absolutely nothing to support the intel they had been given. All they could find were small houses, busy market stalls, children playing in the streets, farmers taking care of crops and livestock. All in all, it was just a normal village, nothing to even warrant a search for rebel forces. Definitely nothing that required two SOLDIERs to be sent in. Die decided to make a call to the president, seeing as they were to report directly to him, and only him. Noctis paid close attention to his sister during the conversation.

“Mr. President, we’ve arrived at the village, but it’s not what we thought.”

“...”

“No, there is no evidence of any rebels ever having been in the area, Mr. President.”

“...”

“What do you mean destroy it anyway? There are no rebels, they’re just civilians!”

“...”

“You know what, Shinra, take your orders and shove ‘em. We quit. And make sure the troops you send don’t mind dying, cause that’s all they’re gonna do.” She hung up the phone and slammed it on the ground, busting it into a million pieces. She then turned to Noctis.

“Noctis, gimme your phone. We’ve gotta destroy it.” He handed his phone to his sister, who promptly smashed it on the ground and stood on the surviving remains.

“Alright. So, I’m guessing that the ‘chat’ didn’t go well?” There was a hint of venom in his voice.

“No, it didn’t. You probably already know that he ordered us to burn down the village despite the fact that there are no rebels. When I pointed it out, he said if we didn’t complete the mission, he’d send enough Shinra troops to do it for us.”

“That bastard. Well, looks like we’re officially enemies of Shinra. Fine by me. We’d better evacuate the village and prepare a defence.”

Die nodded and the two proceeded into the village, drawing looks from everyone. The inhabitants were less than happy to see two SOLDIERs.

“Get out of our village, Shinra dogs!”

“We won’t tolerate your blatant abuse of the planet!”

“Leave now, before we put you down, like the monsters you a-”

“ENOUGH!”

The entire village fell silent, including Die. She had never heard Noctis yell before, not even when they found out what really happened at Nibelheim, and five years later, to Zack.

“Call us what you want, but the matter is simple. Shinra is sending an army to wipe this village off the map. We can help you, but only if you let us. You can hate us after we save this place.”

The villagers looked to each other, murmuring amongst themselves, until one of the children spoke up.

“Mr? Mommy always told me that Shinra was hurting the planet, and everyone who worked for them was evil. If you’re evil, why do you want to help us?”

Noctis kneeled down and looked the child in the eyes. “Because, I lost my home and my family a long time ago. What Shinra is trying to do here is no different. I refuse to let them do to this village, to your family and friends, what Sephiroth did to mine.”

The crowd looked at Noctis intently, trying to find lies in his words, but there were none. Die was just shocked that Noctis had actually talked about his past, and with a complete stranger, a child.

“So, does anyone else wanna question me? Or are you going to let us help you?”

The crowd was quiet for what seemed like hours, but an old man, the village elder, walked up to the front, and spoke.

“It is true, that we openly despise Shinra, for everything they have done has harmed the planet. We openly despise their use of the planet’s lifeblood to create their SOLDIERs, their forces of oppression. But you, something about you is different. You are willing to take on the very people who gave you the powers you wield. You are prepared to risk everything for us, despite the fact that it means betraying the ones you once worked for. For that reason, we shall accept your help.”

Noctis and Die nodded silently, and began the preparations. They gathered as many large boulders and trees as they could, and Noctis set to work creating a massive barricade around the village, leaving only a small opening to the west, which would force the Shinra troops towards the cliff. Meanwhile, Die had begun to take the villagers to the nearby tunnels, which would be used to escape into the plains beyond. From there, the villagers would find another place to live. But in order for that to happen at all, Noctis and Die would have to buy enough time for them to escape...

Noctis’ attention snapped to the forest, the sounds of twigs snapping just barely picked up. Shinra was coming. Noctis ran back towards the caves and tunnels, where Die was still helping the young and the injured to evacuate.

“Die, they’re here.”

“Alright, hold ‘em off as long as you can, I’ll join you when I’ve gotten the rest of the villagers together.”

Noctis nodded and ran back towards the barricade, taking note of the gunfire in the distance. He found signs that they had attempted to move them aside and, failing that, to destroy them outright. Noctis smiled inwardly when he noticed that the only marks on them were from the rifles of the regular troops. He saw the telltale lights of their helmets close to the small entrance they had set up near the cliff. The plan was to force them towards the cliff and, hopefully, force them to choose between jumping and being slaughtered. He ran towards the small opening and waited, his sword drawn. Time slowed to a crawl in his mind. His whole body tensed. The first troop walked through the narrow opening, his helmeted face scanning the area ahead, but failing to consider the possibility of an attack from the side. He never stood a chance. Noctis swung his blade at his opponent’s head, decapitating him. Blood spurted from his neck, and pooled at the spot his body and severed head landed. He quickly jumped out from the corner, taking a moment to analyze of troops.

There were almost two hundred troops standing there, unmoving, too shocked at how quickly their comrade had died. But only for a moment. Most of them quickly recovered and opened fire on the lone SOLDIER. The rest ran towards him with their standard issue blades held high above them. He ran towards them, dancing through the throng of ill-equipped and poorly trained opponents, using his blade to mow down the troops foolish enough to try and get into a close quarters battle, and to defend himself against the shots that would actually have hit him. He ploughed through the unprepared troops, leaving a pile of bloodstained corpses in his wake as he drove them towards the cliff. He was so focused on the troops, however, that he didn’t notice that they had air support. He barely managed to dodge the missile that passed through the space he had been only a moment before, hitting the ground and exploding a few feet away from him. It wasn’t enough to harm him, but the shock wave forced him back a few feet.

“Dammit, Die, hurry up!” He hissed in frustration, as the combined assault of the remaining hundred or so soldiers and the helicopter forced him to call upon the lunar materia’s power.

“Full Moon Shield!”

A small, transparent, midnight-blue barrier surrounded Noctis’ entire body, the fire from the shinra troops bouncing off harmlessly, allowing Noctis to focus on the helicopter. As he was about to destroy it however, he was interrupted.

“SOLAR BLAST!” The helicopter fell somewhere in the forest and was engulfed in flames after being struck by a bright yellow beam of energy. Noctis turned to see his sister Die standing on one of the boulders, the solar materia in her right arm glowing, and the Eye of the Sun in her left hand.

“Hey Noctis. Miss me?”

“Die, let’s just focus and get this done.”

She only smiled and ran straight towards the soldiers, dodging and blocking the incoming fire. It only took a few seconds before she was upon them, hacking and slashing with fury in her eyes. “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY-” A troop fell to the ground, his body severed into two bloody pieces. “NO WAY WE ARE LETTING SHINRA-” Another troop was knocked off the cliff. “DESTROY THIS VILLAGE!” A third troop fell to the ground clutching his throat, which was gushing blood. The remaining troops were still shooting at Die, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She was looking towards Noctis, a look of horror on her face.

“NOCTIS GET DOWN!”

Noctis instinctively dove out of the way, just as a rocket hit the ground where he had been standing only a second earlier, taking out its own troops instead of its intended targets. He turned to the direction it had come from, to see three more helicopters hovering above the barricade.

How the hell did they manage to sneak up on us like that!?

He looked back to Die, seeing she had taken the opportunity cause by the missile mishap to take out almost all the remaining ground troops, who were too shocked by what they had seen to react. That meant they only had to deal with the helicopters and around fifty more troops. Noctis focused on the closest helicopter.

“FULL MOON BLAST!” A beam of energy, the same color as his shield, struck the helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control and crash right into the next helicopter, bringing both down right into the ocean. The pilot of the remaining helicopter started to fall back, and the two thought that the battle was over. They were wrong. The pilot turned back towards them, and fired another missile at them, but this one was different.

“Noctis, that missile’s loaded with mako!”

“Dammit. It’ll blow everything to hell! We’ve gotta do something!”

“I have an idea, but it’s a longshot.”

“Well, let’s hear it.”

“What if we combine the energy from the solar and lunar materia...”

“Die, we have no idea what could happen. It could do more harm than good!”

“Well it’s better than getting blown to bits!”

“Fine...”

Noctis and Die focused on the materia, letting the energies build up. When they was at the highest level they could safely control, they merged them, and let the combined power loose towards the missile. The impact of the energy from their materia with the missile caused a massive explosion, completely engulfing everything, including the surviving troops, the helicopter and the village. Noctis and Die looked to each other once more, and did the only thing they could think of before the blast reached them. They shared one last embrace as siblings. Die looked to Noctis and noticed he was crying for the first time since they had been told that their hometown of Nibelheim had been burned down and their parents slaughtered. Their only thoughts before darkness took them were We couldn’t save the village, but at least we saved the people who lived there. Mom, dad, we’ll see you soon...

Princess Luna had just finished raising the moon when she felt it. A massive surge of magical energy pulsed furiously past Luna. This caught Luna by surprise as she was blown back a few meters before recovering.

“What is this disturbance that interrupts our raising of the moon?” she wondered as the moon successfully hung above the night sky undisturbed by the magical pulse. She rushed towards her sister who was in the archives to tell her the urgent news.

“Sister! Did you feel that burst of energy that had just occurred recently?”

“Yes I did. and I know all too well what that magical pulse of energy was.”

“Does that mean-”

“Yes my sister. They are here.”

For those who don’t know what materia are, see here. Also, do you think I should keep it in third person, or switch to 1st Person, and if so, should I keep it at only one POV, or should I switch it up every now and then?