How Locke met Celes
Locke, the self-proclaimed treasure-hunter (though some would call him little more than a thief) crept carefully through the secret passageway he had found.
It was late evening. Locke was a member of the Returners, a rebel group that were looking to counter the progress of the Empire of Vector, which was slowly making its way across the Northern Continent. It had taken him a lot to get here; he had been working hard in this, the town of South Figaro, to stymie the military efforts of the Empire, raising underground support, sabotaging equipment, and so on. Now he was attempting to affect his escape—and a very dangerous one it was too: He was currently in a secret passageway which he had found out about from a local that led out of the mansion the Imperial soldiers had taken over and were using as their base in the town.
Getting here had been hard enough in itself—he had had to clobber a patrolling cadet over the head, steal his clothes, and then blag his way into the mansion. The secret passageway itself was behind the obligatory bookshelf; a hidden route out of town that the wealthy owner of the mansion had built and himself made use of when the Empire invaded, according to Locke's informant. He had just got inside and was making his way along step by step in the semi-darkness. Thankfully it was lit by a few candles which cast their orange glow on the walls. He decided to take off his cadet uniform and change back into his normal clothes, as it would only slow him down.
As he was finishing getting changed he heard voices—the Empire must have found the passageway too! He had changed clothes too soon. He pressed his back up against a wall and reached for his sword, but then he realised where the voices were coming from. A little way along from where he was stood there was a door. He shuffled nearer it and the voices got louder. He could make one out.
"—what happens to traitors!" it said. An angry male voice, undoubtedly belonging to an Imperial soldier. Locke realised there was a small barred window in the door. He risked a look through, and nearly gasped. Inside was a stunning blonde woman, dressed in white armour and a white cape, chained to the wall by her hands and feet. She was being mocked by two soldiers. He could have sworn he had seen her somewhere before...
This was confirmed by the next thing the soldier said. "So the mighty Celes has fallen! This is what happens when you put a woman in charge!" The two soldiers laughed.
Celes...That's right, General Celes! She was one of the Emperor's infamous three Generals!
The woman's lip curled in a dignified look of defiance and she said "I've not fallen as far as those who would use their strength to oppress the weak."
"Quiet!" said the second soldier. "Did we give you permission to speak?"
"Don't you know?" The woman continued, undeterred. "Kefka's planning to poison every last man, woman and child in the kingdom of Doma. That's an atrocity."
"Shaddup!" The first soldier slapped the woman around the face. She made no noise. In fact her gaze only returned intensified. Locke thought he saw a flicker in her eyes where she might have noticed him looking in through the window, but if she had she did not show it. Maybe she did not want to alert the guards to his presence. That or she thought he was just another onlooking soldier.
"Run that mouth while you still can, General," said the first soldier. "Your execution's tomorrow." He nodded to his comrade. "Keep a close watch on her."
"Yessir!" said the second soldier, standing to attention. The first soldier turned, and Locke ducked away from the window just in time not to be seen by him. He held his breath and remained perfectly still as the door opened towards him, stopping inches away from his face, obscuring him from the soldier's view. Locke clutched the hilt of his blade at his side.
The door shut, and to his immense relief, the soldier went down the corridor in the other direction, away from him. Locke crouched down and followed him as quietly as he could, at a distance. At the end of the passageway was a door. Locke let the soldier go through it, then waited in silence for a few moments, before dashing through himself.
The room beyond was large and full of clutter-old tables and furniture and chests of drawers that had probably been moved into here to clear space in the rest of the mansion. It was just as poorly lit but, to Locke's relief, vacant of people. There was a set of stairs in the corner, which, according to his informant, would lead to another set of passageways and, eventually, the outside world. Locke started to mount them, then stopped. Something was tugging in his chest.
He looked an old grandfather clock that was stood amongst the mess that filled the room. It was ten o'clock. Locke thought for a moment. Then, he found a small gap between an old armchair and an overturned wardrobe, and lay down on the ground, making sure he was still in view of the grandfather clock.
He waited.
Locke looked up from his semi-slumber, clicked his tongue against the roof his mouth a few times, and then got to his feet. Three o'clock in the morning. He prized himself on his ability to wake himself up whenever he wanted. It came in useful in his profession. Treasure hunting.
Thankfully, no-one had come into the cluttered basement room so far during the night. He went back out by the door through which he had come in and crept back down the mansion's secret passageway. He put his face to the door window and smiled. Just as he thought.
The second soldier sat slumped on a chair, snoring loudly. The woman was asleep too, her head bowed as she hung chained to the wall. It looked very uncomfortable.
Locke turned the doorknob as quietly as he could manage. He went stiff as metal when it the wood in the door creaked, but nobody woke.
He tiptoed over to the sleeping guard. He took out his sword with great care, then thumped the man on the back of the head with the hilt. The man fell to the floor and sank even further into unconsciousness.
The woman looked up with an intake of breath and opened her eyes.
"And you are...?" was the first thing she said to him. The curve of her cheeks were very distinctive. Locke felt them burning into his memory.
He found his voice. "I'm Locke," said Locke. "I'm with the Returners."
"You're a Returner?" the woman said immediately.
"Yes."
She looked back at the floor. "I'm...or at least I was...General Celes. Now I'm nothing but a traitor..."
As she was saying this, Locke retrieved the set of keys from the floored soldier's belt. He walked over to General Celes and started to remove her iron bindings, one by one.
"What are you doing?" she said.
"Well," said Locke, "we had better get going!"
"You'd take me with you?" said Celes, open mouthed, as Locke finished freeing her. She rubbed her wrists. "No..." She shook her head. "I appreciate it but...even if you got me out, you would never be able to protect me. I'm better off waiting here for the executioner. At least that way I'll keep my pride."
"I'll protect you," he said, without missing a beat. He didn't even need to think about saying it-it just came out.
Celes looked him in the eyes. Her eyes were very cold, but for some reason he didn't mind that.
"Trust me! You'll be fine." He put a hand on her arm. "Come on, let's go!"
He turned and made for the door.
She hesitated for a moment, then followed him out.
"Why are you helping me?" the woman said to Locke.
A memory flared in Locke's mind, then died away. "Let's just say you remind me of someone. What's it matter anyway? I'm helping you because I want to."
They passed through the cluttered room, up the stairs, and through the next door. Behind it were more corridors, now made of stone, darker and colder. Before long they came to a junction. Locke cursed under his breath. He couldn't remember the directions he had been given for this part of the escape. They had been replaced in his mind by...something.
"Left or right?" he said.
"I don't know!" said Celes. "What sort of rescuer are you?"
"Left," guessed Locke.
They made a few more guesses at the next set of turns, but Locke had no idea where he was going.
Just then a shout rang out from behind them. "Jailbreak! Sound the alarm!"
Locke's heart sank. The guard had woken up, or someone else had discovered what had happened. They started running full pelt, taking more turns at random. Lights appeared ahead of them. They heard more shouting.
"Here, take this," Locke said to Celes, handing her a dagger from his belt. He drew his sword.
And then the soldiers were upon them, intercepting them at a junction in the passageways. Five soldiers, including the oaf Locke had subdued earlier. He still had the Fireblade that Edgar had given him, and it lit up red with its own fierce light. He blocked the first soldier's blow high, then parried another. It was quite easy to hold them off in the narrow corridor, but he struggled to find an opening to counterattack. Just then he heard a cry from behind him.
"Locke! Get out of the way!"
Surprised, he sprang back and to one side just in time to avoid being hit by a blast of freezing cold air, snow and shards of ice. The blast smashed into the soldiers and threw them back along the corridor, knocking them to the floor, their weapons and bits of their armour frozen solid.
Locke's mouth fell open. "How did you...?"
"No time to dawdle!" yelled Celes. "Come on!" she grabbed his hand and started running back down the corridor.
"Hey, who's rescuing who here?" protested Locke.
"You're doing great," said Celes. "The soldiers came from over there, which means we should go this way..."
She took a few more turns, and before they knew it they were climbing a new set of stairs. At the top of these, they came to a trap door in the ceiling. Locke hit it with his scabbard. It opened and they felt the cool of the air outside. Locke clambered up, then helped Celes up too. The trap door shut behind them with a satisfying thud.
They sat down and caught their breath for a moment. They were in the grasslands just outside South Figaro.
After a while, Locke said "Celes, how did you do that thing to those soldiers back there?"
Celes smiled. "I'm a Magitek Knight," she said. "I was infused with magicite when I was a child. One of Emperor Gestahl's lead scientists, Cid, raised me as his own. I was trained as the Emperor's weapon all my life. As you saw, my own native magic is of the icy variety."
"Wow, so that was magic," marveled Locke. He whistled at the sky.
He looked at Celes. The sun was just beginning to dawn, and it illuminated her crystal-cut face and long, blonde hair with a golden aura. She was beautiful.