Shards of Memory

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Terra: "You want answers, I can't agree with you more. All I'm saying is that, maybe we can help each other."

Shards of Memory is a Final Fantasy fanfiction written by Drake Clawfang. Set in the world of Dissidia Final Fantasy, the core of the story is that it follows Terra and Cloud on their quests for their Crystals. While they travel together and come to trust each other, the various Warriors of Chaos are still plotting against their respective heroic counterparts, Sephiroth and Kefka being those chosen to oppose Cloud and Terra. Thus Cloud deals with nightly Mind Rape courtesy of Sephiroth inflicting Laser-Guided Amnesia on him in his sleep to erase his memories of Aerith, with the ultimate intent of seizing control of Cloud's mind. Meanwhile Kefka uses his Crystal to play havoc with Terra's control over her powers. As a result the two are forced to confront their Dark And Troubled Pasts, which they keep hidden from the other. This only causes problems down the road as Sephiroth and Kefka try to turn them against each other.

Besides the titular protagonists and their rivals, the story also focuses heavily on Golbez, Jecht, and Emperor Mateus, the latter briefly usurping Garland as The Dragon at the height of his role. It's also a Pragmatic Adaptation--the timeline and events are redone, the backstories for the Crystals, Chaos, and the Warrior of Light are completely different, and several new concepts that have no basis for the actual canon are introduced. While it is intended as a shipping fic, there's not as much romance as good friendship between Cloud and Terra, though deeper feelings are hinted at and remarked on by other characters.

At over 275,000 words and 40 chapters with an epilogue, the story is completed and is currently the longest Dissidia fanfiction on Fanfiction.net. Can be read here.

Tropes used in Shards of Memory include:
  • Anti-Villain: Golbez and Jecht.
  • Arc Words: Every chapter begins with a historical quote relevant to the events about to unfold.
  • The Atoner: Golbez.
  • Batman Gambit: Golbez's betrayal of the villains? Mateus was counting on it.
  • Back from the Dead: All the villains were dead in their respective worlds before Chaos revived them prior to the story's events.
    • Later invoked by Sephiroth, Ultimecia and Kuja
    • And then by Cloud.
  • Battle Couple: Cloud and Terra, eventually.
  • Berserk Button: Kefka loses it when someone actually manages to hurt him.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Chapter 19.
  • Bigger Bad: Shinryu is foreshadowed as such. Turns out he's just so powerful, he lives by Blue and Orange Morality unconcerned about mortals -- the actual Bigger Bad is Omega.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Gradually subverted. Earlier battles use minimal blood, but the characters began getting more and more battered as time went on. The battles Sephiroth is involved in are particularly brutal for Cloud.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Golbez loses his powers in Chapter 25.
  • The Cameo: Numerous other characters appear in flashbacks or are mentioned in passing.
    • Lightning is mentioned as Hikari's predecessor as the leader of the heroes in Chapter 33.
    • Aerith appears to Terra in a vision in Chapter 30, though Terra doesn't know who it is.
    • Lightning and Ramza appear as former Champions of Light in Chapter 39, though unnamed.
  • Character Development
  • Character Rerailment: In-universe. In earlier chapters Mateus was loud and pompous, and was regarded as a joke by the other villains for trying to order them around. After English footage of him was released, he was tweaked to be more in-line with the Smug Snake personality seen in the game, and his earlier characterization was given a Hand Wave as an act to fool Golbez into thinking he was safe. Golbez's role and characterization also began to shift around the same point.
  • Chekhov's Gun: It's mentioned early on that Cloud has Fire, Cure and Lightning Materia. The latter two don't come into use until Chapter 21.
    • His Fire Materia, once Terra picks it up.
  • Chekhov's Skill: See under Combination Attack.
  • The Chessmaster: Golbez and Mateus. Eventually he Out Gambits Golbez, see above under Batman Gambit.
  • Combination Attack: Terra and Cloud combine their Holy Combo-Ultima and Omnislash Version 5 to defeat Gabranth. The same attack is later upgraded with Cloud's fusion swords to take down Safer Sephiroth.
  • Counterpart Comparison: In-universe. A major part in Cloud's character arc in the first part of the story is his confusion over recognizing Terra due to her similarities to Aerith.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: In Chapter 28 when he has Cloud at his mercy, the first thing Sephiroth does is get rid of the Buster Sword. The second thing is anticipate Terra's sneak attack and stop her.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Sephiroth slips into this on occasion when Kefka is the topic of discussion. Cloud and Terra get their turns too.
  • Dramatic Irony: It's revealed the reason Sephiroth's spirit can survive dissolution in death is because through the Sephiroth cells in Cloud, a part of his original body is still alive. After he kills Cloud, the same connection means a part of Cloud's body is still technically alive, so he's Only Mostly Dead.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: The fic opens with news of Exdeath's death, and Ultimecia is already dead. The deaths of the Cloud of Darkness and Kuja occur unseen and are announced to the other villains after the fact.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Subverted with The Emperor and the Warrior of Light, who are called Mateus and Hikari, though their official titles are still used frequently. Played straight with Onion Knight--Terra mentions he has a proper name, but he hasn't told anyone. Though this last case is eventually subverted as of chapter 36-OK reveals his real name is Luneth.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Sephiroth.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Sephiroth taunts Cloud with what he plans to do with him once he takes over their world -- erase his memories of all his friends and take over his mind to force him to kill them, after which Sephiroth will revive them so he can do it again, occasionally letting him regain his senses to watch Sephiroth kill them himself.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Cloud and Terra each get a turn, Cloud when Terra loses control of her powers, and Terra when Sephiroth takes control of Cloud's mind.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: Cloud's magical abilities after receiving Hikari's power.
  • Foe Yay/Ho Yay: Lampshaded by Kefka.

"Cloud and Sephy need some alone time to work out their issues."

  • Foreshadowing: Chapter 27 is titled "Descend Heartless Angel", and the Arc Words are a translation of the Ominous Latin Chanting in Sephiroth's theme. You know, One-Winged Angel...
  • Heel Face Turn: Golbez and Jecht
  • He's Back: Cloud in Chapter 35.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Terra to Cloud when Sephiroth takes control of him.
  • Killed Off for Real: All the villains save for Sephiroth, Ultimecia and Kuja stay dead after being killed.
    • And then later, Sephiroth is stated to die for the final time, Cloud's Sephiroth cells being purified and his last link to the living gone.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Cloud and Terra both demonstrate some degree of Genre Savviness with regards to their quests and their archenemies. Cloud for example is completely unsurprised when Sephiroth comes back to life after their first battle.
  • Light'Em Up: Cloud after receiving Hikari's power.
  • Magic Knight: Terra prefers her magic but uses her sword on occasion. Cloud plays this straight as can be after he receives Hikari's power.
  • Mythology Gag: In the spirit of the source game, numerous Final Fantasy references are dropped, some more subtle than others. Many are to Dissidia itself, such as various attacks used in fight scenes being based on attacks in the game, there snippets of dialogue are taken from the rest of the series, and many locations, though not directly named, are based on some location from a Final Fantasy game. Various other franchises get nods too.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Sephiroth issues one to Cloud and Terra after going One-Winged Angel and becoming Safer Sephiroth.
  • Not So Different: Golbez says such about him and Terra. A major part of the earlier chapters is Terra and Cloud thinking the other has experienced similar hardships to theirs.
  • One-Winged Angel: It's Final Fantasy, after all.
    • Sephiroth sprouts his black wing before all his battles, then transforms into Safer Sephiroth in Chapter 27.
    • Kefka shifts into his God Form for the final moments of his battle with Terra.
    • Jecht for the battle with Mateus at the end of Chapter 31. Mateus invokes this for himself in the next chapter.
    • Kuja goes Trance for his battle with Zidane, Squall and Bartz at the Chaos Shrine.
    • Chaos invokes both of his One-Winged Angel forms in the final battle, growing to huge sizes as in Utter Chaos, but described as looking like Feral Chaos.
  • Out of the Inferno: Cloud invokes this trope in response to Safer Sephiroth's Super Nova.
  • Plot Tumor: Golbez wasn't intended to have such a large role in earlier chapters, which were written shortly after the Japanese release of the original game. Then English translations of the story began to come forward, and he became The Mole and Terra's mentor.
  • Power Floats: Terra begins to fly on a regular basis as she becomes more confident in her control of her powers.
  • Precision F-Strike: Kefka specializes in them.
  • Purple Prose: Kuja, though Mateus, Sephiroth and Golbez slip into it occasionally.

Sephiroth: "So that's it. You want me to be your attack dog to leash in a stray. I've other matters to concern myself with. Find another to be your hound."

  • Say My Name: Used profusely.
  • Scenery Gorn: The sight of Kefka's Tower and the area surrounding it are given a more detailed description of just how bad the World of Ruin really was compared to the World of Balance.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Omega.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Aside from the occasional one-liner, a lot of the comic relief in the story ended once Kefka got killed.
  • Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: Discussed, some characters believe in destiny, others don't.
  • Taking You with Me: Kefka tries to invoke this with Terra, but he doesn't have the strength.
  • Take Up My Sword: Hikari to Cloud, though not in the literal sense.
  • Title Drop: "Shards of memory" is used several times. Pulled double-time by Sephiroth in Chapter 21.

"Your delusions of victory will be shattered, and the shards of memory crumbling around you shall be the only fragments left of your final fantasy."

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