The morning came swiftly, and the company departed at first light. Locke and Celes arrived at the stables just as the sun peeked its orange head over the peaks of the distant mountains. Terra was already inside the building, negotiating the price for a rental. She peeked her head outside and to Locke's early morning vision, she was a confused blur of emerald. "Perfect, they've only got two left," he heard her voice drift over.
Locke turned to Celes, and frowned. "I guess you can ride double with me," he told her as Terra disappeared back inside.
She grinned at him slyly. "You'd like that wouldn't you."
He rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention to the two large yellow birds Terra was escorting out of the stables. The party mounted their steeds and set off in the direction of the rising sun. The continent was long and thin and the landscape passed quickly and evenly under the scaled feet of their mounts. To Locke's left and right was the lavender sea, stained dark by Kefka's wrath. Below him was the unyielding rocky terrain, and above him was the brutally bruised, maroon sky.
Directly in front of him sat Celes, and his vision was largely obscured by her head of blond hair. It bounced and flowed in a way he had never seen before despite all the times they had ridden bareback on the birds across terrain much rougher than this.
He felt an unexplainable shiver run down his spine as realization washed over him. The omnipresent pink ribbon with which she had held back her hair was missing from its usual place on her crown. Now that he had placed the source of his discomfort, he was amazed he hadn't noticed it before. "Celes," he yelled. But despite the short distance between them, his words were snatched up by the roaring winds and blown away to some place beyond comprehension.
She turned slightly, enough to look at him with one eye. He could see her mouth the word, what?
He shook his head, and she turned back towards the horizon before them. The birds trod on tirelessly over the dead land.
:i:
They stopped for the night about three quarters of the distance to the port that they would be taking off from. The two chocobos were tethered at the local stables, and the party entered the crowded inn. Terra went to inquire about beds, and Locke and Celes sat at the only remaining empty table. Across the room, Terra held up two fingers, mouthing, "Two rooms left."
Celes sighed. "Looks like chocobos aren't the only thing we'll be sharing."
"I don't mind sharing a room with you-"
"I wasn't talking about a room."
Locke frowned, and the creases on his forehead jumped into existence. "I'm not sharing a bed with you, I'll be fine sleeping on the floor."
"Oh don't be such a prude," she teased, nudging him in the ribs, but if anything he looked even more resolved than before. "Locke," she said, "I was kidding, it's not a come on or anything."
But Locke stood by stubbornly and insisted she sleep alone in the bed. She gave up as she saw Terra striding across the room towards them. Locke waved towards a waiter, who brought over two steaming mugs and placed them in front of him and Terra. Locke frowned as he looked towards Celes and was on the verge of calling the man back, but Celes put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry about it, I didn't want one anyway."
There was an extended silence and the temperature in the room seemed to drop to a point where even the warm drinks failed to cure the lingering cold. Locke shivered and Terra noticed, her eyes filling up with concern.
"Locke," she asked slowly, broaching the subject with the care of one who knows the consequences of misspeaking in that context, "Are you alright?"
He nodded and took a sip from the drink in a vain attempt to dispel the cold that had set over him.
"Look, I know this must be harder for you than the rest of us. If you don't want to do this, all you have to do is let me know."
Locke suppressed another shiver and shook his head. "I've got to do it for her." Terra gazed at him with sad eyes and nodded. He stood up, bid them a hurried good night, and departed for the stairs. Celes rose in his wake and followed him. Alone at the table, Terra sat, staring into her mug, watching the steam rise and dissipate into the frigid air.
:i:
With the lights off, and under the blankets spread out on the floor, Locke barely noticed as Celes entered the room. He turned over in his makeshift bed as she shed her clothes and climbed underneath the thin cover. As he lay, shaking under the wool blanket that failed to block out the frigid cold, his mind reeled with strange dream-thoughts. At some point in the night, he was jolted awake from his half-sleep and sat up, staring into the cold darkness.
"Celes?" he whispered, not expecting a response.
He heard movement from above him, and a muffled voice: "What do you want?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
More movement, and the sound of rustling fabric. The night was stilled with tension, Locke could feel his words reverberating around through the saturated air, permeating his hyperactive mind like a thousand tiny needles.
"I sure hope you have something to say after waking me up in the middle of the damn night."
Locke opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to speak. He couldn't breathe. His chest was paralyzed with terror and he felt like some wretched beast had crawled on top of him and was seated over his chest.
"Why aren't you wearing your pink ribbon?"
The silence vibrated around him, enveloping him, crushing him under the weight of a thousand unsaid words. The moonlight outside was gone, even though just yesterday it had been a brilliant orb of pale silver light. The room was utterly and completely black.
"I'm fairly certain you know why."
Another rustle in the darkness, with a sense of finality about it. Locke released a pent up breath and opened clenched fists. The air seemed less saturated and he could draw a hesitant breath. He relaxed and his head fell against the ground, utterly spent. For a moment, the cold had abated.
:i:
...He dreamt of the night before the Fall.
They had been lying beneath the starlit sky as the airship passed over golden fields and emerald waves that glowed in the pale light. The stars were bright and glorious like a sky studded with a thousand brilliant gems.
Suddenly, Celes gasped, pointing skyward. A streak of light flew by, carving a luminescent path across the heavens. Four eyes tracked its progress across the sky until it disappeared over the horizon. They turned to each other and the vision of the phenomena was still shining in their eyes. Spurred by the moment, Locke asked, "You know, circumstance brought us together, right. If everything could be undone up until now, good and evil, would it have been worth it if we never met?"
Celes looked out at the landscape around them. Absently, she took the pink ribbon out of her hair and wound it around her finger. "No, I'd let everything happen all over again exactly the way it did," she said softly, looking up at the stars. She grasped the ribbon between finger and thumb and began to braid it back into her hair; Locke laughed.
"What?" she asked defensively.
"Do you always keep that ribbon with you?" he asked, gesturing with his hand.
"Of course," she said with a devious grin, "Until the day that I die."
"You know," she began hesitantly, and Locke looked up, "I think that was a shooting star. Doesn't that mean we get to make a wish?"
Locke rolled his eyes, and she frowned at him. "Fine, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm going to make one." She closed her eyes defiantly and her lips moved, forming indecipherable words. After a brief moment, her eyes opened again.
Curious, Locke asked, "So what did you wish for?"
She smiled sweetly at him, "If I told then it wouldn't come true."
He shook his head and leaned back against the wooden deck. Together they lay there, admiring the stars above them. There were no more shooting stars, but the sky looked no less spectacular because of it. At some point, Celes' breathing steadied and her head fell to rest against his shoulder. Locke lay there, feeling her warmth for a long time. He wondered now whether she would still think it had been worth it, after the Fall and the destruction of everything green and good. In his last thoughts before sleep he reconciled himself.
I wish she never has to stop wearing that ribbon...
:i:
They left the inn in the morning and ventured down to the sea to inquire about a ferry to the island. Terra negotiated a price and the small boat rocked out to sea as they rode steadily towards to landmass on the horizon.
Back at the inn, the innkeeper was examining the rooms to prepare them for the next guest. To his surprise, the bed in the room of the man who had taken residence there yesterday was made already. It was certainly kind of him to make it on the way out, if not a little unusual; nobody respected good manners anymore. The blankets were tucked neatly into the bed, and the pillow lay against the headstand. If the innkeeper hadn't known better, he could have sworn no one had slept in the bed since he himself had last made it.
:i:
Locke, Terra, and Celes stepped out of the boat, leaving their shoes in the craft. Cold water swirled around their submerged feet, and tiny silver fish flitted about below them, caressing their bare skin. The party stepped out of the water and onto the rocky terrain that defined the island. Celes led the way, Locke followed behind her, and Terra brought up the rear.
They marched solemnly across the landscape until Celes came to a stop. Locke and Terra stood behind her and looked on at the dilapidated hut, worn down by elements in the absence of any upkeep. In some areas the foundations had rotted and worn thin, and walls were sagging and the roof seemed spotty. The structure was a simple establishment, and Locke knew that all he would find inside was an empty bed, little furniture, a secret passage that had led to the raft that had allowed her to escape this wretched place.
In front of the house, a marble headstone protruded from the uneven soil. And before of the stone, in contrast to the general decay and damaged landscape around it, a single white rose was in bloom.
There was something unnerving about the island but Terra couldn't quite figure out what it was. Then with a growing apprehension, she realized there were no birds chirping, wind whistling, or leaves rustling. The entire island was void of sound and masked in an eery silence. She was afraid to speak, feeling as though disturbing this perfect calm would break the spell that hung over the island. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Celes whispered softly, not turning to face her friend, "Locke, there's one more thing you need to do for me."
He looked up in surprise and his gaze lingered on the back of her head. Her long blonde hair fell down in waves from her crown; her ribbon was nowhere to be seen. "What is it, Celes?"
Still not looking at him, she said, "I need you to forgive yourself for everything that's happened."
Locke's gaze returned to the ground. He nodded, before realizing she couldn't see him, and said quietly, "I'll try."
Shoulders shaking slightly, Celes turned her gaze back to the headstone. Locke wanted to go to her, put his arm around her, do something at least to comfort her. But he felt awkward and afraid, so instead he waited. His breath was pent up in his throat, and the question that he was trying to ask came out as barely a whisper.
"Celes, what happened to your ribbon?"
But there was no response as she stood alone, looking at the marble headstone. Finally, Locke took a step forward so that he was shoulder to shoulder with her and put his hand over his heart. "May your grandpa Cid rest in peace."
The spell was broken with his spoken words and everything fell into place. Terra turned her head and looked into the unfocused eyes of her friend, laying her hand on his shoulder. "Locke," she said quietly, "where do you think we are."
Sometimes you need to cover things up in order for them to bloom in the most beautiful way they can.
Locke looked at her through blurring vision. As she watched, a single tear ran down his cheek and fell to the ground. The setting sun reflected off the drop in tiny golden pricks of light. It was the same sun that lit the sky in a deep blood red, and that illuminated, in brilliant golden rays, the words etched on the headstone in front of them:
CELES CHERE
Rest In Peace
"All Dreams are but another reality"
I'm sure a lot of people are super confused by now. If this applies to you, dear reader, I urge you to wait for the next installment and hopefully that will ease your confusion. Also hopefully, the majority of you won't be confused and will have picked up all of the clues I put out that led up to this.
By the way, extra credit points if anyone knows where the epitaph on Celes' gravestone is from.
