Freedom.
Whenever people asked me why I'd climb aboard a huge ball of wood and metal, sailing thousands of feet above the ground, where even a single loose bolt could mean plunging from the sky, that was the answer I gave. An airship was more than just a flying ball of wood and steel. It was more than a simple means of travelling from Mobliz to South Figaro in a tenth of the time. It was even more than a thrill seeking toy, although that tended to be my most favorite aspect of it at times. An airship was freedom. When you set foot on one, when you took that helm, you could simply lift off the Earth and leave all your troubles behind. You sailed through the skies, feeling the wind in your hair, controlling where you wanted life to take you with the turn of a wheel. An airship, plain and simple, was freedom.
But, as much as an airship can give, an airship can take away. The Falcon, the very ship I now captained, took Darill from me. I don't know if she necessarily felt as strongly for me as I did for her, but now, I'd never know. Now, I just hoped that when I eventually had to step aboard the ghost train and ride to the other side, she'd be waiting for me at that station. She'd probably tell me what a sappy idiot I was for making a huge underground mausoleum for her empty grave. God, how I wanted to hear her snarky love again...
I sighed, turning the wheel ever slightly to the left. Edgar had promised a huge dinner for all of us in celebration of Kefka's death, so now, we were flying to Figaro Castle.
I heard someone coming up the ladder behind me. I looked back, and saw Cyan, followed by Gogo. A smirk crossed my face. Cyan had never shown much respect for me after my little scheme of trying to blackmail Celes into marrying me. I explained to him and her several times that I was just testing to see if she'd do it and I'd never actually make her follow through with it, but apparently, 'only a lecherous, contemptible, ignominious miscreation would do something that despicable.' Ha. That was the classiest thing I'd ever been called.
"How much longer shall this take?" Cyan asked.
"We're half way there, Mr. Ignominious." I replied.
Cyan groaned. "When are you going to let that go?" He asked.
"Probably when somebody calls me something funnier, so, never." I said with a smirk.
"You are a whelp of low moral fiber." Cyan said flatly.
"I guess I'd better eat more moral bread, then." I replied.
Cyan rolled his eyes and climbed back down the ladder. Gogo took a step towards me, standing where Cyan spoke to me.
Gogo was so strange. S/he never said much, never really even moved much, and spent most of his or her time mimicking the people around him or her. It was pretty creepy.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
After a pause, Gogo replied "You are sad."
"...wanna bet?" I asked.
"I can see it in your eyes." Gogo replied, taking a step forward. "Tell me why."
"...I don't think that'll be happening." I said, leaning back against the helm. Gogo was being uncharacteristically pushy.
"If you tell me, I'll reveal what my gender is." Gogo said.
I could feel my eyes light up. I had bet everyone on the ship that Gogo was a man. This was my chance to hopefully collect.
"Okay, you really want to know?" I asked. "It's about a woman."
"Tell." Gogo replied simply.
"Well, nothing, just this airship pilot I had a thing for. There's not much to say." I said.
"I need more than that if you want my mask to come off." Gogo said. "Why does she make you sad?"
I groaned. This wasn't a memory I liked to throw around to everyone, but the one thing I liked more than not sharing my feelings was winning money.
"She's dead, that's why." I said. As I said it, I felt my heart sink, and I'm sure my face showed it.
"...how?" Gogo asked slowly.
"About three years ago, she was flying this airship." I said, motioning all around. "But it wasn't ready. She pushed it too hard during a race of ours, and she crashed on an island to the northeast."
"I see. And you buried her there?" Gogo asked.
I paused. This was a bit of an odd question.
"...no. I... never actually found her body..." I said.
I turned away from Gogo, trying to hide my face. To make it seem like I was doing something, I gently shifted the helm to the right. After a moment, back to the left, back on course. Hopefully Gogo didn't realize I just did nothing of any value.
"...tell me about her." Gogo said.
I groaned, and looked at him/her.
"You've yet to tell me your gender!" I protested smugly.
"Double or nothing. Tell me about her, and I'll actually tell you what I am." Gogo replied.
Another chance at money! I had bet everyone on the ship that Gogo wasn't human.
"Well... what? How we met? What she was like? Why I liked her?" I asked.
"Yes." Gogo replied simply.
"Yes to whi... ah, all of them." I said with a smirk. "Alright... we were both 23. I was checking in to the Inn in Mobliz, and she walked in. I just took the last bed, and she wanted one. So, since I'm such a gentleman, I let her flip for it. She lost."
"...be still her beating heart." Gogo said.
I laughed. "So, I took the bed. I woke up that morning on the floor beside my bed, with her in it. So I grabbed her and dragged her off the bed by her ankle. She woke up laughing at me. That's how we met."
Gogo chuckled.
I leaned back against the helm, reminiscing.
"Yeah, she was always a stubborn woman. That's what I loved about her." I continued. "Her never say die attitude... lemme tell you, I always thought the woman for me would be one of those, you know, like a foot shorter than you, who always clung to you and who you had to hold and protect, be the big strong man for. But her... she put me in my place, so to speak, and it just made me fall in love with her."
"...and how did she feel about you?" Gogo asked.
"I'm pretty sure she loved me." I replied. "After I built my old airship, we flew to the top of a mountain range that Kefka destroyed since then. As we were watching the sunset, she suddenly pointed to her side and asked 'what's that'. I looked that way, turning to her, and she got a kiss in on me." I couldn't help but smile at that.
"What was your favorite moment with her?" Gogo asked. This was a weird question, but I didn't even think about that.
"We had just finished the Falcon, and took it out on her maiden voyage." I said. "We reached the coast just as the sun was setting. It was a warm summer evening with no clouds and just enough wind to make her hair kind of... flow in the breeze. The sun just touched the horizon, and it absolutely lit the world up. The sky was all bright yellow, red and orange, and the ocean itself became a powerful orange, highlighting even the smallest waves. Nobody else in the world had ever seen something like that. Only us, in our airship, could be high enough to witness it. So then, she grabbed me, and said 'kiss me.' And, well, I did..."
I leaned back against the helm more, thinking about that moment, but had to stop myself when I put too much weight on one side of it and almost forced the Falcon into a u-turn.
"I'm sure she loved you." Gogo said.
"Yeah, I hope so..." I said. "Well... I answered everything. Gender and species, let's go."
Gogo paused, then turned his or her back to me. S/he raised a hand, removed the hood, and tossed it aside. S/he then removed the pants, and began to unwrap the robes. After a pause, Gogo finally shrugged the robes off and let them fall to the deck.
It was Darill.
She was still wearing the same red and black outfit I last saw her in, though it looked like it had taken quite a beating over the years.
Darill turned around to face me. She was as beautiful as ever.
"I can't believe you didn't figure out it was me under here." She said, smirking. "And by the way, get your paws off my helm!"
"...h-how..." I stuttered.
Darill smiled. "I crashed on a really rocky region of that island." She explained. "But when I decided to walk to the forest to make a raft, I got attacked by this... giant worm mouth thing. It sucked me up and inside that cave."
I couldn't even say an acknowledgement that I heard her. This seemed to please her.
"So I basically couldn't leave the island. I couldn't manage to get my hands on even one branch before that thing sucked me back in." She continued. "I've basically been living off rats and whatever animals that thing sucked up ever since."
"...w-what about the mimicking?" I asked.
"An Esper." Darill replied. "A few months ago, one of Kefka's monsters landed on the island, I guess to claim it as Kefka's. It got attacked by that sucking creature, and even though it was way stronger, eventually, it was just a matter of who could fight for a longer period of time. And when its dead body was finally sucked down, I found an Esper on it. It gave me the mimicking powers. But of course, magic's gone now, so I can't do that anymore."
I glanced at her robes. I always thought Gogo looked like it was wearing the found clothing from a dozen people, and apparently, I was right. Darill probably got all that from the various other unlucky people who never escaped the island. She probably wore them for warmth in that cave.
"...why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
"I dunno. I guess I wanted to see if you'd changed at all." Darill replied. "Maybe you'd turned into some bitter, jaded little worm who I wouldn't want to be around!" She smirked at me. "Any more questions, Setzy?"
I couldn't hold back anymore. I loved this woman so much, and after all this time of me thinking she was dead, here she was. Without a word, I placed my left hand behind her neck, and moved in to kiss her.
"Hey, woah, the hell do you think you're doing?" Darill asked, smacking my hand away and taking a step back.
"...I..." was the only reply I could muster.
Darill smirked, and pulled a coin out of her pocket.
"Tell you what." She said. "You're as big a gambler as always, right? Heads, you can kiss me."
"...deal." I said.
"Catch." Darill said, and flipped the coin at me.
I held my hand out, catching the coin in my open palm. It landed heads. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at the coin, then at Darill.
"...hm. Unlucky me." She said with a bright smile. She brushed my outstretched hand aside, wrapped her arms around me, and passionately kissed me. It took me a second to manage to move at all, but when I did, I wrapped my arms around her and returned it.
She eventually broke the kiss, but kept me close. "I guess you lose all those bets, don't you?" She asked, smirking.
"...I guess so." I replied. "But I've never been happier to lose."
Her smirk turned to a smile, and she yanked me in for another kiss.
I didn't want to spoil the moment by looking, but as I felt the coin in my hands, I immediately realized:
This was Edgars' double-headed coin.