This story belongs to me and my creative mind. However most of the characters, names, and places mentioned all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! If it offends you in any manner, sorry, and if it doesn't, then don't complain. Remember, Italics represent a person's thoughts or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...

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Final Fantasy VI: Atrocity

The City of Maranda was a small, yet very lively city hidden within the rolling hills and picturesque forests of the southern peninsula of the South Continent. Its people lived their days happily, working in their shops or at their jobs to serve the mass amounts of visitors they received daily. Salesmen would line up their shops along the entrance to the city, a vast stone field that lead to a massive stairwell into the city itself. People of all classes would walk down those steps and feel like the center of attention, the entire city within their view. As they descended into the city, the sounds of people talking and bartering for goods became common background noise. Merchants selling fresh fish to the people or others selling rare goods and exotic items of wonder were common as well. And if someone came to the city who wasn't swayed by the sugary words of the merchants, the city itself was sight enough to keep them content. Maranda was, and always had been, a place where the soil was always fertile and any kind of plant was able to grow. Thusly, the populace imported every variety of tree, flower, and plant to make the city a living garden, constantly filled with their sweet perfume. The trees grew to touch the sky at places, and some were prunes to resemble shapes and figures, and some even to resemble famous people. Flowers lined the streets and gave the air a sweet taste, its flavors changing at every corner and colors changing with every step.

The buildings too were marvels of architecture and design, each home or shop a work of art that was unique throughout the city. Not a single structure was the same as another, they all were different. The largest of all the buildings was the Green Dream Inn, the place necessarily massive to accommodate the hordes of people who would stay for the night to enjoy the nightlife. Rooms were expensive in comparison to other cities, but the people would pay, and the Inn was always booked to capacity every day. Lining the small, stone-lined river was a street filled with first class restaurants and bars, serving the people the finest foods and spirits. Further down the river was a large open street, and every night people flooded it to celebrate and enjoy themselves with music and dance.

The local people were friendly to anyone visiting, being naturally social after three generations of prosperity and tourism. Priests in the city were more than happy to hold marriage ceremonies at the church, and a marriage occurred every day along with a party. The merchants of the shops and the street carts were always fair with their prices and offered only the best of their wares. Even the local mercenaries were of good disposition to the people, keeping their cloak and dagger occupation outside the city limits. The visitors were always astounded by the absolute positive atmosphere of the city, and that was what kept them coming.

The leading Magitek Knight with a legion of knights behind her looked at the proud and prosperous city of Maranda with regret. She knew of its reputation, and ordered her knights in with a heavy heart, knowing the city would never be the same again.

* * *

"People of Maranda!" General Celes shouted over her voice amplifier system within her Magitek Armor. "The great and powerful Empire has come to reclaim your city under its rule! Your people have been declared traitors to the Empire's rule by allowing members of the resistance to stake home and shelter within your boundaries! For these actions the Lord Gestahl has given me this order to carry out! For the act of treason against the nation of the Empire, the city of Maranda is hereby ordered to by burnt down and its people taken prisoner!"

General Celes looked at the masses of people standing in shock in the shops at the entrance to the city. They all stood still, the depth of her statement sinking into their minds. She turned around in her Armor to face her knights, and she paused a moment to reflect on her next words.

These words are going to mean the deaths of thousands of people today and the destruction of a beautiful city. My words are going to be immortalized within the minds of my knights and these people forever...

"Magitek Knights of the Empire, carry out the task given to you!" She shouted, hiding the pain in her heart as best she could.

May Shiva forgive me for what I must do...

The people remained shock still in the market even as the very ground they stood on began to shake with the rumble of hundreds of Magitek Armor marching into their city. It was only after the first few people were incinerated by a beam of fiery energy that they broke and fled into the city, screaming and wailing. The Magitek knights kept up their march, moving down the stairs into the city itself, the air alive with the burning beams of fire energy. The sounds of the city were replaced with the sound of death, the sound of fire burning homes and human flesh. Flowers instantly wilted and blackened as fire beams washed over them, trees exploded in flame as the Magitek energy scorched them black. General Celes lined her Magitek Armor to face the Green Dream Inn, and she let her finger hover over the button to fire her lethal Tek missile.

Please let the people be out of there!

General Celes mashed the button down, and two missiles shot out of the body of her Armor. They flew into the front of the Inn on smoke trails, then exploded with a deafening roar, demolishing the front of the building. General Celes then forced her Armor forwards to join the ranks of her knights in the city itself, already seeing the buildings begin to become consumed with fire. As soon as her Armor began descending the stairs, she gasped when she saw the horror her knights were causing to the city. People were running panicked through the streets, beams of fire knocking them down and disintegrating their bodies. Mothers and fathers herding their children to safety were cut down by gunfire from the knights themselves. Burnt bodies lie everywhere, their faces locked in horrid expression of pure fear and agony. General Celes felt her stomach twist at the sight of the dead, and her lungs choked when she smelt the scent of burning meat.

Dear gods, what was Lord Gestahl thinking when he ordered me to do this! No...What was I thinking when I ordered this! These people are all dying because of me!...

General Celes was shocked out of her thoughts when something ricochet off the thick glass window of her Armor, leaving a dull gray mark. She looked down to see a small man holding a rifle, firing it uselessly at her while a younger woman was trying to pull him away.

"You would dare!" General Celes shouted to her attacker.

She raised up one foot of her Armor and swung it forwards, the massive weight of metal and gears slamming into the man and knocking him back many meters. The woman near him gasped and cried out, rushing to his side and trying to wake him up. General Celes jumped out of her Armor and landed smoothly on the broken stone street, standing up tall. She pushed her hair out of her face to lie against her white cape, the winds from the fires pushing it around as she strode calmly to her aggressor. The man stood up shakily, using his bent and ruined rifle as a crutch for his weak legs. General Celes grabbed the hilt of her gleaming blade, the mythril sword, and drew it out slowly and with intent to use it against her aggressor. She leapt forwards and plunged the blue tinted blade into the man's chest, drawing a sickening gasp from him and a scream from the woman. She pulled her sword out of his body, and the man fell backwards and hit the stone ground, blood slowly pooling out from his dead body. The woman was shocked still a moment, but she turned on General Celes and charged at her.

"How could you do this to my Benjamin!" The woman screeched.

She ran at General Celes with rage powering her movement, her hands clenched in fists and ready to strike at General Celes. However, the General's magic enhanced body was too strong to be taken, and she grabbed the woman's wrist with her free hand and held her still. General Celes threw the woman to the ground and pointed the tip of her mythril sword at the woman's throat.

"You would think to strike a General of the Empire?" General Celes spoke coldly.

The woman held still, her face again slick with fresh tears and her eyes seeking General Celes to try and get through to her. The General looked at the woman, seeing fear and sadness permeate every fiber of her body, her arms and face seemingly ready to be cut down. General Celes drew her arm back to impale the woman where she was, but something in her mind snapped and she stopped moving.

What are you doing!? This woman didn't do anything to you, and you're ready to kill her because of something as pointless as a scuffle!?

General Celes looked deep into the woman's eyes, seeing her emotions completely drained and her heart dying with grief and sorrow.

Celes, you just killed her boyfriend, her brother, her fiancée, her husband even! Are you so eager to cause pain like this to common people!? Are you going to just end the lives of anyone who crosses you and break apart even more lives and their love!? Have you lost your humanity! Are you just an animal that kills with no remorse!? Have you become as heartless as the magical beasts of the land, no emotions and no feelings!? Snap out of it, you are a HUMAN!

"Go..." Celes whispered after a long moment of thought.

"W-what?" The woman stuttered.

"I said leave! Go before I change my mind, and don't come back!" Celes shouted.

The woman scrabbled to her feet and took off running down the streets, leaving Celes to watch her go. Celes sheathed her mythril sword in her belt mounted scabbard, watching as the woman faded into the smoky haze that enveloped the city. She looked down at the man she just killed, seeing his face locked in an expression of anger, fear, and most of all, sadness. His sparkling blue eyes were open, staring emptily into the sky, brown hair gently wavering in the slight wind.

"What have I done?" Celes choked out, feeling tears rush to her eyes.

She felt her knees give out, and allowed herself to fall to the stone floor, holding herself upright with her hands. She picked up her right arm, the hand she used to wield her sword, and looked at the callused palm intently. There was blood speckled on her fingers and wrist, and she knew what it was from.

"I've killed many men before, but why does it hurt so much this time?" She whispered. "Why do I feel like I've committed such an atrocity? Why?"

Because now you've put a face to those you've killed. They aren't soldiers or resistance fighters any longer, but people, humans like you, and you killed them all...

"All this time I've been killing humans, killing people and innocents. Why didn't I ever see this? Was I so blinded to this reality back then, now? Why couldn't I see that those people were humans and not some faceless enemy?"

"General Celes!" A loud voice shouted from behind her.

Celes stood up, wiping the tears off her cheeks and saw a Magitek Armor standing close by hers, the knight shouting at her.

"Are you injured?" The man asked.

Celes shook her head no, bringing her voice under control. "I'm fine, just finishing some business with a foolish man here. How is the order coming along?"

"The city has been razed and most of its structures destroyed. The people who survived have managed to flee the city into the fields, but they are broken now and won't pose a problem."

"Alright," Celes began, her voice strong again. "Round up the surviving people in the city and get them moving to Vector. Tell the other knights to stop the attack and let the fires do the rest. We have to report back to Lord Gestahl within the day with news."

"I'll have the communications knight send up a carrier pigeon. What will the message be?"

Celes thought for a moment. "Tell him to write that the city has been purged of our enemy, and the people won't resist any longer."

"Affirmative, General." The knight spoke as his Magitek armor stomped off to the other knights in the city.

Celes walked back to her own armor and mounted it, commanding it to move once again to join the other knights as well and to lead the people out of the city. Celes looked around at the ruins of the city, the majority of the buildings gone and smoldering while a few were still burning actively. She then saw the people who survived the fires and Magitek assault huddled together in a group, Magitek armor with weapons ready surrounding them. Celes looked at the people with sorrow, but she knew that at least they could survive in prison rather than die in the wilderness.

I won't let another Maranda occur again. The people may not resist the Empire, but I won't sit idly either...