"Got any threes, Kefka?"
"Kekekeke, nope. Go fish."
Terra Branford sighed as she drew a card from the deck. Scanning the overlapping cards in her hand, she gave a slight frown as she slid the card into her crowded hand. This was the seventh game of Go Fish they had played today, and Kefka Palazzo was up by four games to Terra's three. This became the way, when Kefka was in a really lucid moment, which was rare, that he and his 'slave', Terra, passed the time when things in the Gesthalian Empire reached critical boredom.
"You're turn, Kef."
"Got any sixes, girl?"
A short string of cuss words left Terra's lips as she flung three sixes at his head.
"You're cheating, Kefka!" She shouted.
"I asked for sixes two turns ago!"
"Keh...I am not cheating, woman. I'm actually playing fair, for once. It's not my fault you suck at this game."
"I learned how to play from you, Master," Terra retorted.
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning if I truly am as horrible as you say I am at this game, then it's because of you," she said, smiling at him.
"Kekekekeke, I'm a genius. I can't be held responisble for your pea-brain being unable to grasp quality teaching."
"Quality teaching where?"
A long growl was the only answer Terra received, which seemed to satify her, for now.
"It's your turn, child," Kefka muttered, reminding the young half-esper of the game they were playing.
"What was the score again?"
"Four to three."
"Oh...right. Um...got any twos?"
Kefka remained silent as he slid two of the card in question to Terra, who laid down two of her own, making a book of four.
"Finally! Got any fours?"
Kefka's eye began to twitch as he slid three cards with the number four on them to Terra, she in turn, laid down her own four, another book.
"Got any eights, Kef?"
Anger started to build within the mage as he slung three cards with the number eight on them at Terra. She had herself another book. She could taste victory, and she was loving it.
"I'm beginning to think we should have played Old Maid," Kefka huffed.
"D'aww...are you turning into a sore loser?" Terra teased, poking Kefka's nose.
"Child, don't push it. I've already got a migraine no thanks to that buffoon Gesthal and his bumbling ass-kissing monkey, Leo. I don't need one from you."
"Welcome to my world. I get a headache knowing you're breathing," she scoffed.
"Kekekekeke, like I haven't heard that before. Really, Terra, you need new material."
They sat in silence for a while, both forgetting about the game of Go Fish they were playing. Terra propped her chin in her hand while Kefka retouched his lavish makeup as the silence grew more and more awkward. It was Terra who finally broke the long silence.
"Kefka?"
"Hmm?"
"Have...you ever been in love?"
The question nearly made Kefka fall out of his chair. He knew Terra had asked some odd questions in her day, but this just blew them all to kingdom come.
"Silly girl, don't ask me ridiculous questions like that! Why, that'd make me liable to -"
"Spare me the idle threats, ok? Just answer me,"
And again, Kefka gave Terra a look of shock. Not only was she asking him a strange question, but now she was ordering him around? That wasn't a wise move. But, luckily for Terra, Kefka, in the oddest of twists, wasn't in the mood to argue with her. Sighing heavily, the mage leaned back in his chair, feet now propped on the small card table as he stole a glance roof-ward.
"I was once...a very long time ago. Before the whole infused with Esper magic and gone psycho thing, back when I was training Leo to become a General like I was."
"You were a General?" Terra asked, enraptured by his recounting of events.
"Yeup. I was only a year into my position when I was called in for the confounded 'Magitek Project'. Keh, brilliant scientific minds and that's the best name they could come up with? Fools. Anyway, about a month after my promotion to General, we invaded this little village near Nebelheim, and took all the men as workers. Not many of the villagers would fight against an army of 5,000, but one girl did."
"Who was she? Was she pretty?"
"Yes, she was. Her name was Ambeline, and she was a picture. Hair as black as writing ink, eyes as brown as the finest chocolate, lips as pink as a fresh rose, and a temper more fierce than Gesthal's. She was a thing of beauty."
"What happened?"
"Gesthal was made aware of the uprising and demanded Ambeline brought before him. She was given a choice, serve the Empire, or be executed that night."
"And? And?"
"She spat in his face and told him to kiss her ass," Kefka said with a light chuckle. "So Gesthal sentenced her to death. She was sent to the underground prisons beneath the castle and I was told to keep an eye on her. I stayed down there all night talking with her..."
"Really? What about her execution?"
"I got Gesthal to push it up a week. I was his best General, he couldn't say no to me. Anyway, over time, Ambeline and I got to know each other and became close. We talked about everything from rebellion to alchemy. Turns out she knew a thing or two about the art of magic."
"Did y'all ever kiss?" Terra asked, her eyes going wide.
"Once. She said I was her first kiss, but all women say that. Who knows. So, after a few weeks of staving off executions and late nights talking trades..."
"What did she do?"
"She was a blacksmith. May I continue now?"
"Yes. Sorry."
"Uh-huh. So, after a few weeks of staving off executions and late night talks, I'd been summoned by Gestahl to march on Figaro for hiding rebels. I'd been gone almost three weeks, and when I came back, I'd been told that Ambeline had vanished without a trace."
"She'd been executed?"
"No. Nobody knows what happened to her. All they know is, the night before I was due to return, she was in her cell, the morning I arrived, she was gone. Just like that."
"Gone just like that?"
"Yeup. Dust in the wind."
"Oh, wow. I'm...sorry."
"Eh, don't be. It was the day she vanished that I learned I'd been signed up for the Magitek Program and became the mad genius you see and worship," he said with a toothy grin.
"Did you love her?"
His grin faded in an instant as he closed his eyes.
"I was getting there. I was going to tell her the day I got back."
"You mean...you were going to propose?"
"Huh? No, fool! I meant I was going to get her sentence reduced and take her out on a proper date. Idiot."
"Sorry! I got ahead of myself."
Kefka gave a harsh snort and rolled his eyes, floating over to the window that overlooked the garden.
"Every time I look at those roses, I'm reminded of her."
Terra was about to respond when she heard a strange noise coming from Kefka's direction. Looking his way, she noticed a tear slide down his cheek. Kefka...was crying. The unshakeable, cold-hearted mage... was crying. Terra couldn't believe her eyes. Getting to her feet, she inched her way slowly towards Kefka, not wanting to startle him. As she got closer, she soon discovered that Kefka wasn't crying at all. The bastard was cackling.
He's laughing at me! He lied to me! her mind screamed as she balled up her fist and punched him in the gut. He stopped laughing, wiping the tears from his eyes and shook his head, leaning against the window frame for support.
"Kiddo, you are too fucking gullible. I had you goin', " he snickered.
"You vile rat! You lowlife scum! You had me feeling sorry for you! You lied to me!"
"Shoulda expected it, Ter," Kefka said with a shrug.
Overcome by anger, Terra got right in Kefka's face and did the only thing her anger-addled mind could mandate. She screamed in his face, as loud as her lungs would allow. Oh, how she hated him.
"YOU LYING BASTARD!"
Finished with her tirade, Terra turned on her heel and stormed out of Kefka's room, heading for her own. Kefka watched in silence as his door slammed shut, and burst out in another round of hysterical laughter at his own antics.
"Ooooo-hooo-hoo! That was a good one."
Calming himself down, he turned back to the window and looked out at the garden. Memories of his life before the magic infusion flashed before his eyes as the manic smile faded away. Kefka hadn't lied to Terra, he just didn't like anyone knowing that he wasn't as 'insane' as they thought him to be. Visions of Abeline ran through his mind, and a genuine tear fell down his cheek as he relived their moments in his mind.
"If you're still out there, Abby," he whispered, "send a senile fool a sign, eh?"
He waited a few seconds and turned from the window. He started to float away when a chirping noise caught his attention. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed a bluebird with a rolled up letter next to it. He slid the bird a piece of bread and unrolled the note, his eyes scanning the words written on it, making him crack up in laughter. He laid the note down on the windowsill and floated over to the card table, packing away the cards and folding up the table.
With one last look back at the note, he gave a short laugh and left his room, reciting the only words written on the note that sent him into fits of hilarity.
"Go fish."
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A/N: Wooooooooo! My first FFVI fic! And not to shabbily done, I might add!
Let me know what you think, eh?