A/N 23/01/14: Rewrote/add-in some details to streamline the story.
Second Scroll - found beneath a stair leading to the underground passage between the mountains and the castle
My words to Tora came back to haunt me as I went by backways and switching passages toward the Tower.
There was no doubt in my mind that whatever manner of 'fiend' that took both of my parents would be unimaginably powerful, advantage of surprise or not. Even now my hands still remembered the hollow weight of the cat as he died, the ash of his fur on my arms, the balcony blasted black as tar...
A ringing of voices, straight ahead. I stepped softer still, and inched my way forward to peer around the bend. Two figures stood there, one freakishly taller than the other, wrapped in a great red cloak.
Somehow I knew, as if he had been pointed out to me, that the red demon was Rubicante.
Anger rushed to my head then. Rage redder than his cloak. All that destruction at his hands...the screaming agony as the north wing toppled, the torn walls, the broken bodies-
"So we meet at last Rubicante!" Before I was able to questioned the wisdom of direct confrontation, my feet had already led me there.
He turned slowly, and my anger grew in proportion to his nonchalance, "Should I know you from somewhere?"
While my entire will was bent on keeping a leash on my temper - Remember your training - with the back of my mind I noticed the other figure had already gone, "I am Prince Edge of Eblan!"
"Eblan? I am afraid I do not know the place of which you speak."
I couldn't breathe, my heart was hammering so hard it left me with just enough air in my lungs to shout "Then let me help you remember!", before I threw myself at him.
My kunais were parried easily, I fell back and prepared the Flame ninjutsu to throw it in his indifferent face. I put all of my resentment and fury into the cast, and watched in incredulous horror as the conjured pillar of fire ran over his cloak like, like happy puppies playing with its favorite master.
"Pitiful. Allow me to show you real flame!" He opened his cloaked arms and I watched in shock as a wave of crimson blaze appeared instantly. It was as if the heat was pouring out of his very being. I was unable to move as he casually waved in my direction.
A waterfall of what seemed like lava exploded over my head. Fear and preservation made me dodged, almost too late. It was all I could do to remember to put my arm guards up to take the brunt of the spell. My breath was ripped out as the flames passed, the blast of white heat alone burned me over the arms and neck. Black oblivion reached around the edges of my vision and I fell to my knees.
"You have strength worthy enough of pride, but it is not nearly enough to think of challenging me. Hone your skills. I'll look forward to facing you again when you have." The hateful fiend told me in a voice like a kind, albeit disappointed, teacher and disappeared in a cone of his thrice-cursed fire. I bit my lip from screaming in frustration and took stock of my wounds,
"Are you all right!?"
I started. The skirmish with Rubicante threw me off my senses and it was only when Cecil shouted that I noticed them running up to me for the first time.
I was...less than polite to the well-meaning paladin in that first meeting, "I lost, and he got away! Of course I'm not all right! Ugh," I grunted in pain as a woman, Rosa, took my arm in her hands, "Stay away!"
I almost pushed her, too, when a rustle of green knelt in front of me, "We came to find Rubicante as well, and the Crystals he holds. Please, let Rosa see to your wounds." Rydia said, eyes imploring me. Or demanding. One could never think straight when one's skin felt as if it had been stripped apart and roasted on a grill.
But Rubicante was foremost even through the throbbing burns, "He's mine! You stay out of my way. I will...will put an end to him with my own hands!"
"Your enemy is an elemental archfiend, Your Highness. You've seen his strength for yourself." In hindsight, I'm sure Kain was saying in an undertone, 'Of course you could have never defeated him alone.' and rolling his eyes under that helm.
Still, the fact was he didn't help matters, and even more unfortunately my 'Prince' ego surfaced in response to the dismissive tone of his voice, "Heh, don't mistake me for some pampered prince. The Eblanese royal family is heir to the ninjutsu arts of old. I don't need help from lesser men and strangers!"
I made to stand, succeeded only barely as I shook away helping hands from Rosa and Cecil. A step toward the exit-
"Enough!" Rydia was suddenly barring my way, and the surprise for me was twofold when I saw the tears in her eyes, "I can't watch another person go off to die. First Tellah and Yang-" her expression crumbled, "And then Cid, too...All of them...all of them-!"
Rydia's tears spotted the ashy cave floor as everyone reacted awkwardly at her outburst, me most of all.
Rosa recovered first, went forward and took her shoulder gently, then suddenly fixed me with an accusing glare.
Was I ever flabbergasted and speechless before? All at the same time? Ever since I took on the 'Prince' face I always had a comeback or a word to say. No man or woman had ever managed to catch me so unaware until Rydia did in that cave through all the scalding Rubicante inflicted. Of course, she was just a strange woman to me then. A strange, beautiful vision in green...
I can see your grimace. Very well. No more poetics.
Cecil stepped up next to the women, to support Rosa, probably, as she was visibly relieved when he did so, "Rubicante is the strongest of four elemental archfiends. Whether we can even hope to defeat him, I can not say. But we have no choice. We must take back the Crystals he holds, or everything is lost. If you must defeat him for some cause, know that our task is of no less import. Please let us help you, Your Highness."
I held the question of the Crystals, and how they came to be after the precious things, for later. Just then there was a more pressing issue. I tried a smile on Rydia, hoping she won't mistake it for a sneer under my mask, "It doesn't look like I have much choice. I can't leave a pretty girl crying."
Rydia looked at me, caught off guard. I wondered about that, but at least she stopped the sobbing. One less thing on my conscience if I should die in the near future. I turned to Cecil and nodded to him, "Let's do this together then- just this once."
He inclined his head in response and looked to Rosa, "If you would-"
Rosa came forward and indicated for me to sit, I did so without further prompting. I couldn't feel my arms any more by that point.
Kain snorted behind me and muttered something about being arrogant. Said the one with the most ego in the room, but who cared? Because Rosa was the most beautiful person in the room - cave - just then, as she cast Cura on me.
White magic...we still need to get a hold of its secrets...how could ninjas survived this long without its conveniences confounded me, made me a little proud, but mostly sad and regretful. If there was time, I would have abducted her and carried her back to what was then Eblan-under-the-rocks, but there was never time enough in the world to save it from mad men. You chose the many over the few, but the weight of the few on your heart could crush it better than stones...
"Right then! Time to break into the Tower now that we're all fast friends!" I jumped up from my seat on the floor after she finished, good as new. Bumped into Kain in the process but it was an accident. Really.
Rydia, dried eyes still somewhat red, raised her brows and said "That was an awfully fast recovery." as Rosa smiled a little and dusted her hands.
"You shouldn't overdo it...Still, I've never met someone with no after-healing disorientation before. You must be the first, Your Highness."
"Please, call me Edge. 'Your Highness' is what stuffy old men call me." I admit that I turned on the charm around Rosa. She just had this...aura around her. Like everything will be well in the world if she was around to smile at you and let you know she's on your side. Rydia...Rydia was - is - a sweet mystery.
Alright, alright. This is the last of those kind of sentiments.
"Your Hi - I mean - Edge," Cecil corrected himself as we fell into steps and made introductions. Kain had already gone ahead to scout the area around the exit. I let him have his time to shine. The poor guy must have had trust issues. Or maybe it was because I called him stuffy.
Getting inside the Tower was simple for a ninja. You just have to feel for the hidden path in the wall - actually I shouldn't be telling you this. I don't want people haphazardly going into that deathtrap of a Tower. You least of all.
We discussed their world-saving circumstances in-between battles with stray monsters during the trek through the alien place. I was impressed at their efficiency in these fast skirmishes. You could tell they have travelled long and difficult roads together by the way Cecil and Kain uniformly attacked and defended, weaved between each other like a practiced dance, all the time keeping Rosa and Rydia in their sights as the women cast their white and black magics respectively. The first time Rydia summoned Dragon...well to say I was surprised is to put it mildly. I almost tripped and impaled myself. A ninja never loses his footing.
That said, I was caught unawares more than once during that time. They had more experience than me fighting in that Tower and they saved me from many miserable deaths. If I had insisted on going alone...I would not even be able to make it past the first floor. It was a tough lesson in humility.
Five floors and more than enough monster encounters later, I was able to adjust sufficiently to fighting with other people who were not ninjas. Which was just as well. Rubicante was close. I could feel phantom burns run up and down my arms. And all the time I was looking for a sign, any sign, of my parents.
I will leave that for the next scroll. It's still too difficult to recall them without some...fortification.
