Cecil was walking on the watery surface of the endless plains where the Throne of Cosmos resided, towards the camp where he had left Tidus and Firion. Cecil felt how his body was incredibly tired after his fight with the mage. Soon he noticed that there was another camp right next to it. As he got near them he soon was greeted by Firion's gentle smile," Cecil, it's truly good to have you back, we have been waiting for you." Cecil just nodded his head and continued walking. "Cecil…Is that blood all over your armor?" Firion asked with a seriously worried tone in his voice," Did something happen between you and Golbez? Is he…" "Golbez is dead." Cecil replied in an empty tone and sat, looking for something to eat. Firion was surprised by the tone in the dark knight's voice and decided it would be best to talk about the matter later. "So…umm…We met Zidane, Bartz and Squall and decided to camp here, Bartz and Zidane said they had found a river nearby and are trying to catch us some fish for dinner and Squall and Tidus went to spar under that hill." Firion said while pointing to different directions. Cecil just nodded his head again. He looked at Firion. The man had laid his arsenal of weaponry next to him, along with some more uncomfortable pieces of armor. He had a great amount of concern in his eyes. Yet Cecil's heart didn't respond. It was silent for a long while, which clearly made the weapon master feel uncomfortable. Cecil thought he saw a glimpse of fear in the eyes of the other warrior, though his thoughts were quickly broken along with the silence as the yells of two young boys echoed to the camp; food had arrived. As they sat around a fire, eating, Cecil noticed concern that he had witnessed in Firion around the two who had just arrived. "Umm..." Zidane started with a tone that told clearly how uncertain he was about his own words. Before the thief had a chance to say anything Cecil rose and decided to walk towards the river. "I'll go wash the blood off" he said and continued walking. "Be sure to head back before it gets dark!" Firion yelled to the dark knights back.
As Cecil came to the river he sat and just stared at his own reflection and realized; the blood had already dried all over his armor and weapons. A loud sigh came out of the white haired mans lips. "Don't mope around that much". Cecil was surprised heavily, his reflection in the river had started to talk to him in a seriously familiar voice, and Cecil just couldn't get it into his head whose voice it was. "It is true that you lost your bother, but it probably was inevitable since he was a traitor among the troops of Chaos." the reflection continued his speech to Cecil in a more concerned tone. "You shouldn't blame yourself, more like you should blame Cosmos for bringing you into this fragmented world, yes, and maybe you should even blame this world." Cecil rose away from the reflection but the reflection didn't halt the flow of its words. "You took down Kuja easily by yourself; it is a clear proof of your strength. You are powerful, your comrades know that, and they are afraid of this power." The dark knight shouted to the reflection with anger "My comrades care about me; I could see the concern in their eyes!" Cecil watched at his smiling reflection with anger. Soon to the surface of the river, right next to the white haired face appeared a face that was made from a substance that was mostly like a crystal of some sorts, the face of a manikin. Cecil didn't hesitate to attack, and after just one fierce blow of his spear he witnessed how the manikin crumbled into shards and fragments.
As Cecil walked towards to the camp he could hear how the voice continued in his head "They are only concerned about their selves, in truth they fear and hate you, for you are one who is half dark, also you have great power, as you just proved in taking down that manikin easily. A part of you belongs to the side of Chaos and they know that. Now that they think you have killed your own brother they will fear you even more, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to get rid of you, maybe send someone who would fit as an assassin even. Those who walk the path of the light will always fear the shadows of dark." A lone tear came out from the dark knights' eyes as he started to doubt how trustworthy his comrades would actually be. Cecil's thoughts were halted has he heard a voice coming towards him.
"Cecil, can I have a word with you?" As Cecil looked at the approaching Zidane the words "someone who would fit as an assassin" echoed through his head. "Zidane, what do you want?" Cecil asked and readied himself to take out his arm if there would be any need. "I just wanted to tell you that" Zidane started with an uneasy expression on his face. After a heavy sigh Zidane continued "I'll have to fight my brother too someday in the future. " The expression on the thief's face turned a bit towards that of sorrow while the thief released another sigh. "Also, I think I actually care about him more then I would like to admit." Zidane sat to the ground with hints of embarrassment on his young face. Cecil started speaking with a tone that didn't lie about the anguish he felt. "I killed your brother. Zidane, this blood on my armor belonged to Kuja." ZIdane jumped up with his daggers ready in his hands and his eyes blazing with wrath. "You monster, first you take the life of your won kin, and now you take away my brother!" Zidane leaped towards Cecil, but his attack was easily dodged by the dark knight. "Listen to me Zidane!" Cecil yelled to the thief while fiercely blocking the tailed boy's fast attacks. "Shut up you traitor!" Zidane yelled at Cecil and managed to jump above Cecil, going for the opening that had been left there. Cecil felt how something sharp slashed too near his head. Zidane landed behind Cecil, noticing that his hit had been a miss. All around Cecil and Zidane there were beautiful white threads of hair lying on the ground, accompanied by blue pearls and and a former blue bandanna. Cecil noticed that he had a small cut on his head, nothing bad though; the thief had barely missed the attack. Cecil couldn't believe it; the thief had seriously tried to kill him. He felt like all threads of sanity and well being was being replaced with a sickening feeling of hate. His comrades whom he had trusted with his life were now trying to take the very same life away from him. "I won't die like my brother did!" The dark knight yelled and charged towards the astonished thief. "Cecil, what did you s…." Zidane's sentence was cut short by a black spear that pierced his spine. From the young boy's mouth flew a scream only a young boy could do. It was filled with terror and agony. The dark knight pulled his weapon out of Zidanes body which collapsed to the ground. The eyes of that wounded body were wide open with fear, salty tears flowing freely. Zidane tried to get back up, even if the sheer amount of pain wouldn't had done that impossible the thief soon noticed he couldn't move his legs. He felt he couldn't breathe; his mouth gasping in the air like a fish on dry land. While struggling against the boiling feeling in his insides he managed to roll over seeing dimly the dark figure of his murdered. Zidane tried to question the act that had been done to him but he couldn't do anything then just babble something that was nowhere near actual speech. As the boy lied in his own sticky blood he started to feel how the unbearable agony started to slowly fade, how it felt like he was slipping away from the world, to something comfortable. Soon Zidane fell asleep, never to wake up again.
Cecil stood silent with his back turned to his victim. He felt like the world had just collapsed around him, he didn't have anything left. As the tears in his eyes started to be replaced with anger towards this world, and towards the gods, he knew his days as a knight fighting for light were far over now. Cecil took the crystal he had received from his brother a while ago and dropped it to the ground that was filled with blood and hair. As he heard the worried yells of his former comrades closing in, he forced the sword of his abandoned half of light into his hand and shattered the crystal into pieces. As the lone warrior started to walk away from this sacred place he knew his former friends would try to stop him. He pulled the black sword out and slashed the ground in a swift movement, exploding it to a wall of dark fire, blocking the path of his former allies. As he heard the shouts of the warriors behind him Cecil walked away, disappearing to the shadows.