If I'm Crying in the Wind

by Lamia of the Dark

Oneshot. After the rescue of Rosa at the Tower of Zot, Kain rejoins Cecil's party... but his loyalty is brought into question almost immediately when he attempts to stop the others from fighting the wind fiend. Part 2 of the Windchaser series but can stand on its own.

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix.

~ If I'm Crying in the Wind ~

Just as the heroes thought they were going to make a clean getaway, Barbariccia slunk from the shadows and blocked their path.

With cries of "Oh no!" and "It's one of the Four Elemental Archfiends!", the heroes' party readied their weapons for the inevitable battle.

"Wait!" Kain shouted, moving to stand protectively in front of the beautiful monster.

"Kain?" Rosa called out to him in confusion.

"Is he back under Golbez's control already?" Cecil wondered aloud.

He wasn't. Kain's mind was his own. But of course none of them understood. Even as a puppet of darkness, he'd needed something to hang onto to keep him from falling entirely into despair, and Barbariccia was the only one who had shown him anything even remotely resembling kindness or caring during that time.

The wind fiend laid a hand on the dragoon's shoulder.

"Kain," she said softly. "You don't have to do anything. Just stand aside and let your friends kill me."

"But I don't want them to kill you," he replied, scowling.

"But they have to in order to escape from this place." She gave his shoulder a consolatory squeeze, and whispered as she pushed past him to confront the rest of the heroes, "I'm sorry about your luck..."

~end~