Dream Three: Haunted

"Your Highness, we should return to meet with our visitors," The Duke Consort said. Yang half-nodded as he stared down at Sheila and Ursula anxiously.

"Go on dear," Sheila gently shooed him away with her hand. "Ursula is hungry, and there is nothing you can help with in regard to that!"

Yang blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Er, I guess not…"

"Can I help with anything?" Rosa asked. "I can meet them downstairs in a few moments if you need another pair of hands."

"It would be nice if you could get some more water boiled," the midwife said. "There's still some clean-up yet to do."

Rosa nodded, and turned to Cecil.

"I'm going help up here, all right? I'll be down shortly."

"Sure," Cecil said, and nodded toward Yang. He knew it was the white mage in Rosa that made her always want to jump into the fray and help others – regardless of how run-down she was feeling herself. He figured she would be ok with a trained healer in the room with her. "Let's go." The Duke Consort, Yang and Cecil filed out of the room, and Cecil closed the door behind them. Rosa walked over to the range, adding more wood to the fire underneath before hoisting a metal pail full of water that was sitting in reserve nearby onto the burner.

"If that's too heavy dear, let me do it," the midwife called over from where she was starting to strip some of the bedding.

"It's OK!" Rosa said, leaning in over the pail to make sure the water was starting to bubble up. I must look like a weak mess if an elderly woman is offering to help me lift a bucket of water. Satisfied, she walked back over to Sheila, taking one last look at baby Ursula. There was a slight smile on Sheila's face as Ursula nursed away.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Sheila sighed. "I can't believe that when I woke up this morning, it was just me and Yang…and now all of a sudden, it's the three of us. It just goes to show, everything you know in life can change at a moment's notice."

I know that feeling too well, Rosa mused. "Ursula will lead a very joyous life with you two as her parents. She looks just like Yang with all that blonde hair, doesn't she?"

"I know!" Sheila laughed, shaking her head. "I do all the work, and this is how she turns out. But…it wouldn't matter what she looked like – it was love the first moment I realized she was with us."

"When did you know?"

"It sounds like a fairytale, but…I dreamt of her. I've always had amazing intuition. You have to, if you're married to someone like Yang – he's always running off somewhere and forgetting that he has a wife to be accountable to. One night, I had a dream that the castle was empty, and I was wandering, listening to a baby's cry and trying to find it. When I walked into the throne room, the crying had stopped, and I found a child's tiara sitting on Yang's throne. When I woke up, I knew she was here, and I immediately summoned Kaya." She nodded toward the midwife, who was piling the bedding and towels she had stripped away into a wicker basket. "Kaya used to be a medic for the Fabulian navy, and she's assisted in nearly every birth in the kingdom in the last forty years. She's undoubtedly the wisest woman in all of Fabul – and she confirmed what I already knew. Getting to tell Yang the news when he got home from training was the happiest day of my life."

"That is so wonderful," Rosa gently ran her fingertips over Ursula's mop of hair. It felt silky and new against her skin, and she wished it was something she could bottle, like a lotion. "I'm glad Cecil and I were able to be here for you today. Seeing the look on Cecil's face when you asked him to be Ursula's godfather…it's a side of him I have rarely seen, even in all of our years together. Cecil has never had a family of his own growing up…so I'm glad he's able to build one with his friends."

Sheila nodded, lifting Ursula over her shoulder and gently patting her back to burp her.

"I appreciate you and Cecil coming to check up on us. Just make sure you take care of yourself, Rosa – you don't look so great, if you don't mind me being forward."

"I would expect nothing less from you," Rosa laughed nervously. "I just haven't been feeling well…and a lot has been on my mind." Kain, mostly… "I wish I could talk to Cecil about it, but…it's a sensitive subject. A dear friend of ours has been missing since we returned…and Cecil and I both thought when we were done fighting, things would go back to how they used to be between the three of us. But, Kain left…and hasn't made any contact with us since. I've been thinking about when the right time is to move on – and it breaks Cecil's heart for me to even mention the possibility. I think he blames himself for Kain's disappearance."

"The dragoon that attacked you two in the crystal chamber when Golbez raided Fabul?" Sheila asked pointedly. Rosa looked down, and Ursula let out a quiet burp, drooling over Sheila's bare shoulder. Sheila patted Ursula's back again, as instinctually as if she had been rearing children all her life. "Oh honey, that battle was the gossip for weeks around here – ya'all think I didn't put two and two together when Cecil and the others came up here after fighting with a traitorous countryman, and their white mage had gone missing? Kain is lucky he never came back here – I would have given him a piece of my mind with my soup ladle and he wouldn't be walking right, let alone jumping ever again."

"He was under a spell, at the time," Rosa sighed. "Although we know now some of his feelings were rooted in…reality."

"Then that makes it your reality," Sheila said firmly. "If you…and Cecil, can't accept your new present, you're going to have a difficult future. Things are never going to go back to how they used to be – I can promise you that as one Queen to another. The world was changed by the war, and you and your friends have changed as well – by what you've seen, what you've experienced, and the people you've met. Yang has changed too, in some ways – I've accepted that I can't comprehend everything that has happened to him, but all that matters now is that he came back to me. I too sometimes wish I could go back to a simpler time – but I wouldn't give anything up I have now to strike that bargain." She hugged Ursula tightly against her, closing her eyes and pressing her lips against Ursula's ear.

"She is my…our future. And if I hadn't learned to accept the present, Ursula might have never been. You catchin' my drift?"

"Thanks, Sheila," Rosa smiled weakly. If only Cecil were with me to hear this… "I needed to hear an outside perspective. And you are right – I wouldn't give up what I have with Cecil to go back to how things used to be, and I wouldn't give up my friends either, like you and Yang. I'm confident Cecil wouldn't make the trade either. But how do I remind him of that?"

"It's part of being young dear, questioning everything around you and wishing for the best life possible," Sheila shook her head. "When you're my age, you'll wonder why you ever worried about the things you couldn't change – it all just comes with perspective. It doesn't help that at your age, you've already been through so much – you probably experienced a lifetime of emotions during the war, and spent many nights falling asleep wondering if it would be the last night on the planet. But you are right – Cecil wouldn't give you up for the world. I saw the way he looked after you went missing after the attack here in Fabul, and I saw the way he was watching you when you two burst in here. It was the same look in his eyes both times – he would be lost without you. Maybe he can't always articulate it, but everyone can see it."

"Oh…" Rosa blushed and looked away. "You can tell that just by a look?"

"It's other things, too," Sheila laughed. "Intuition, remember? But I do not jest – take care of yourself, dear – Your heart, and your body. If you're not at your best, you'll be no good to anyone. When you and Cecil go home tonight, tell him what you just told me. I'm sure you can get him to open up to you a little more."

"Thank you," Rosa nodded, and bowed so deeply, her hair fell over her face like a curtain. "But on that note, I suppose I should go down and see why the Falcon is here. I would be lying if I said I was not a little concerned. And I'm sure you're exhausted."

"Go on, then," Sheila nodded. "Ursula is lucky she has such a strong Aunt to look up to. We'll catch up some more later."

Rosa blushed deeper, and made her exit. As the door slammed shut behind her, Kaya dragged the basket over to the range, and began to drop towels into the now-boiling water. She and Sheila exchanged knowing smiles, and Sheila settled back into the bed, patting Ursula's back again and whistling a lullaby.

"We'll have to find a playmate for you soon, little princess…we can't have Daddy taking you up to Mount Hobs with him every day. I pray that you'll find the kind of friendship and love your father and his friends have – it will be too soon before you learn that is all one ever really has in this world, even in peacetime."


Rosa slipped into the throne room moments before their visitors arrived. Cecil, Rosa and Yang could hear them before they had even appeared – it sounded like they were having an argument.

"It was a rough landing – don't be so hard on yourself, dear. The important part was that you didn't crash into the pier."

"But she almost did!"

"Mistakes are how we learn, Palom! You, of all people should know that."

"And she got us out of the ocean and back onto land. A commendable feat!"

Cid, Palom, Porom and Princess Luca burst through the throne room doors. Cecil ran up to Cid, who looked wind-tossed with his goggles askew and his blue jumpsuit stained with water.

"Cid! What are you doing here?!" Cecil asked.

"Looking for action, that's what!" Palom declared, twirling his electric-green Faerie Rod in his hand. "Luca, who may or may not be trying to kill us all, hunted us down in Damcyan."

Luca turned red, a commendable feat for a dwarf with the traditional midnight coloring of the underworld kingdom's residents. She had sprouted up a couple of inches in the past year, and was now nearly a head taller than Palom and Porom despite only being a year older than them. Her long, flaming-orange hair was pulled back into two pigtails, and her yellow eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and admiration in Palom's direction – she had been nursing a crush on him ever since they had met at Cecil's coronation last year. She had forgone her usual fancy pink dresses for a simple orange shift with leggings underneath, and leather flats. Sitting upon her head, she wore her own pair of goggles, similar to Cid's.

"Excuse me…" Luca growled, but Cid interrupted her.

"There's talk of monsters pouring out of the Sealed Cave, lad!" Cid exclaimed. Cecil frowned, and Rosa shook her head in disbelief.

"What!?"

"We dwarves can't beat them all on our own," Luca sighed. "We've got as many men as we can spare in the cave, and we scrapped many of our tanks when the war ended – the ones we have left can't cross the magma to reach the Sealed Cave. I could tell Father was worried, so I snuck up to the overworld to get help. I went straight to Baron to look for Cid, but the soldiers at the castle said he was in Damcyan. So I flew there, and well…here we are now."

"You flew up here all by yourself in the Falcon?" Rosa asked worriedly. "That could have been dangerous!"

"I was desperate," Luca frowned, looking down. "A few of my bodyguards tagged along with me. The Sealed Cave has never just opened on its own before. I've had the key with me the entire time." She lifted a pearl necklace that was tucked under the neck of her shift – Cecil recognized it as the key they had used to open the door last time. "The momentum of all of those monsters breaking out – it must have been overwhelming for the seal. It was meant to keep people and creatures out – not hold them in."

"The Elder told us to do whatever we could to help," Porom added.

So it's not over… Cecil crossed his arms. It wasn't my imagination…the crystals were trying to warn us. And now the crystal in the Sealed Cave might be in danger – I can't let them go alone. They have no idea about the dangers within…

"I will do the same," Cecil said, and Luca clasped her hands together.

"Do not forget about me!" Yang said, jumping up from his throne. Cecil shook his head and held out his palm.

"You should stay here with your family, Yang." Yang frowned, and drew his breath to protest, but Palom puffed out his chest.

"There's nothing to worry about, pops! We'll take care of everything!"

Yang looked at the young child so eager to prove himself. He knew the twins were more than capable of taking care of themselves – he had witnessed that numerous times. He didn't want to abandon his friends after everything they had done for him today, but…Cecil was right. Sheila and Ursula needed him there more. For the first time in his life, the siren call of the battlefield was drowned out.

"…Thank you, Palom," Yang nodded.

"Let's go, Rosa," Cecil said, turning to her, and Rosa looked down at the floor. Her mind had suddenly started to race, and just the thought of the oppressive heat and the rotting stench of the Sealed Cave made her want to heave. She closed her eyes, trying to center herself, but behind her closed lids, her memories played back their last moments in that awful place. They had just escaped the cavern's final trap, a terrifying haunted wall that had been sprung to crush them, and at the cave's entrance, the sway Golbez held over Kain's mind returned with a vengeance. Kain had gone berserk – attacking Cecil and stealing the Crystal of Darkness they had rescued, along with gifting Rosa a head wound. She could feel the very spot where she had been struck pulsing painfully with her racing blood right now.

Be strong…Cecil needs you! Who will protect him if you can't?

"Yes…of course…" Rosa trailed off, forcing herself to choke out the words over the feeling of the sickness rising in her throat.

"Rosa!" Cecil gasped. She was so pale that she was practically transparent, and her hands were visibly shaking.

"She's gone as white as sheet!" Cid muttered, but Rosa heard him, shaking her head.

"I-I'm fine. We need to go…"

Without warning, her legs gave out from under her, and Cecil dove forward to catch her before she hit the floor. A collective gasp rose from everyone in the room, and Rosa's head lolled into Cecil's chest. She opened her eyes half-way to meet his gaze as he stared down at her. Porom padded over to Rosa, gingerly reaching for her hand.

"Rosa, please stay here in Fabul and rest. I've been working on my white magic a lot since we last saw each other. I can take care of them."

Rosa closed her eyes again. Porom's soft, childish hand on hers felt like a splash of cold water on her burning skin. "B-but I must…"

Her face is on fire! Cecil could feel the heat of her skin burning through his chest plate. There's no way I ask her to go with us…if she gets dizzy and falls down one of the cliffs in the Sealed Cave, she'll plunge to her death. I've asked too much of her… He looked back toward Yang, who was paused in front of his throne, his face twisted in worry and his eyes wide, not sure what to do. He and Sheila had a different dynamic – she had never joined him in battle, and he had no qualms with leaving her behind when things got too intense. But he knew it was different with Cecil and Rosa – and he didn't want to force his humble opinions on anyone.

"I'm sorry to ask you, Yang, but please take care of Rosa for me." Cecil begged. Rosa moaned in protest, but Cecil ignored her.

"I understand, Cecil," Yang nodded, walking over to them, his heart flooded in relief. In his mind, Cecil had made the right choice. Porom backed away, and Cecil hauled Rosa to her feet, draping her arm around Yang's shoulder for her. Yang wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her up, and Rosa looked up at Cecil, her eyes rimmed with tears.

"…I'll be fine. It's nothing you need to worry about. Just be safe out there, Cecil…"

"Leave the Lady Rosa in our hands. You all take care of yourselves," Yang said gently.

Cecil took one last look at Rosa, longing to say more, but his thoughts were tangled up in his mind, and he was patently aware of everyone staring at them. He hoped that his eyes could convey it for his failing words…that he was sorry for everything. Not just asking her to accompany him today, but…for last night too. She nodded slightly, and looked away as Yang began to haul her out of the throne room and toward the castle inn, the Duke Consort trailing behind them. Cecil turned to Cid, clenching his fist. He could make amends later, when they were back in Baron. First, he needed to save Luca's people from any further destruction.

"Cid, take us to the Sealed Cave."

"I'll go ahead and get the Falcon ready!" Luca said, anxious to flee the despair-filled chamber. She turned and ran, disappearing in a blur of orange hair. Cid, Palom and Porom stared up at Cecil.

"Cecil, what is the Sealed Cave like?" Porom asked timidly. It was just now hitting her what a tall order she had taken on by promising Rosa that she would be the one to protect everyone. She wasn't afraid, but…she wasn't exactly excited, either.

"It's a horrid place," Cecil said bluntly. "Take every undead creature on Mount Ordeals and multiply it by hundreds of more years of time to fester, and that's the Sealed Cave." Porom winced while Palom pumped his fist.

"Finally, a challenge for the Mysidian Prodigy Palom! Undead monsters mean I get to test out my newly-learned Firaga spell!"

"You'll follow my instructions," Cecil shook his head. "The cave is littered with traps, and we'll need to watch our every step and not attract any unneeded attention. Understood?"

"I thought this was going to be fun…" Palom pouted, and Cid patted his shoulder.

"Don't get down – Cecil just wants to make sure nothing happens to you two. You told the Elder you would listen to him, remember?"

"I said it with my fingers crossed!" Palom pouted, and Porom sighed.

"I'll meet you three at the Falcon," Cecil said, turning away. "There's just one thing I need to check on before we go."

"Alright Cecil…we'll see you outside," Cid said, and gently coaxed Palom and Porom to turn and go with him. "Come on, kiddos...let's go help Luca."

Palom and Porom both glanced over their shoulders as they watched Cecil approach the rear of the throne room, where there had been a discreet doorway etched behind the throne. Cecil pushed it open, and found himself in the Crystal of Wind's chamber. It was identical to Damcyan's in every way, and like the Fire Crystal, the Wind Crystal was shining from above, silently shedding its light.

Cecil waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. There were no flashes of light, and no odd behavior – the chamber was completely silent, save for the sound of Cecil's unsteady breathing. In the reflections of the mirrors all around him, Cecil could see the ghosts of the figures who had been in this room with him one year prior – He was sprawled on the floor in his Dark Knight armor, covered in blood, with Kain's lance pointed to his chest. Yang and Edward were slumped at the foot of the crystal dais, knocked out by Golbez's unique brand of dark energy. Rosa was in Golbez's clutches, screaming as she tried to escape. And little Rydia, just a child and not much older than Palom and Porom were now, was frozen in the doorway, the horror of the battle before her burned into her stare. For the first time, Cecil realized that day had been a turning point in his life – nothing had ever been the same between him, Rosa and Kain again from that point on.

What is the connection between my dream, the monsters and the crystals? Brother…Kain…I wish one of you could tell me what it is I am not seeing…


The intense heat of the northern Eblanese desert was beginning to relent ever so slightly with the sun's crawl toward the horizon. The doors to the completely-reconstructed castle were thrown open, and three men wandered out, all dressed similarly in layers of cloaks, leggings and leather breastplates. The leader, a tall man with silver hair that fell in his gray-blue eyes and a gray and purple cowl wrapped around his neck, stopped when he reached the bottom of the steps and turned to face the sun, shading a gloved hand over his forehead. The two men following him paused at the top of the steps, watching him warily.

They were two of the three ninja warriors that were the self-proclaimed Eblan Three, disciples of King Edge who had survived Rubicante's attack on Eblan in the war and were dedicated to not only preserving the ninja arts of Eblan, but also to Eblan's resurrection. The rebuilding of their home complete, they had begged King Edge to let them become his right-hand men and let them help support the Eblan of the future.

At first, their beloved ruler's transformation seemed too good to be true – King Edge, once an impatient, roguish prince, had made his first order of business as an orphan to slay Rubicante, the Elemental Archfiend who had destroyed their homes and murdered their families, including the King and Queen. Then he had partnered with Baron – their enemy (or so they thought at the time) – to fly to the moon itself and destroy the evil that had been controlling Rubicante and the fiends stealing the world's crystals. When Edge had returned home to them, he was in every essence, a king – demanding that the people of Eblan break free from their underground, watery prison and come together to rebuild all they had lost.

Although loyal, the Eblan Three quickly realized when the dust settled that their beloved king really had not changed much from their tempestuous Prince after all. He was still off-color, inappropriate and flighty, and that was on his better days. And even though he had now befriended all of the leading rulers of the world and had dragged secretive, isolated Eblan into the global community kicking and screaming – he still wasn't the best at diplomacy.

An example of which was playing out right before their very eyes.

"Your Highness," Zangetsu, a tall, lithe man who was old enough to be Edge's father with long, white hair slicked back in a low ponytail and tanned skin that was mostly hidden under skin-tight black tunics and leggings, crossed his arms over his chest. "We will gladly guard the castle in your stead. However…you are aware that the celebration in Damcyan ended hours ago, are you not?"

The silver-haired man barked out a laugh and looked away from the sky, placing his hands on his slender hips. His pearl earrings jingled as he shook his head.

"Well, might as well see that for myself!"

Zangetsu, and his fellow disciple, Gekkou, who was the de facto leader of the Eblan Three, looked at each other. Gekkou was good-natured and always had a smile on his face, but only would the most observant of people would notice that his eyes crinkled just a bit when he was confused or displeased with something – or someone. Gekkou was dressed in a black jumpsuit, with a long-sleeved gray tunic underneath and a flame-red scarf wrapped around his head and neck. His preference was to travel barefoot, believing that even the softest of shoes gave away a ninja's presence. His bushy brown muttonchops were his most recognizable trademark among all the other ninjas of Eblan.

"Very well, Your Highness. Be careful." Gekkou offered. When he did talk, which was not often, it was only in the kindest way he could manage depending on the situation.

"When am I ever not careful?" Edge demanded, and Gekkou laughed nervously.

"O-of course, Your Highness! I didn't mean to suggest…"

Edge laughed again and waved his hand. "That's more like it. I'll be back in a bit!" He pulled his cowl up over his face, and sprinted off toward the west.

"How did Izayoi get out of guard duty?" Zangetsu asked, speaking of the third warrior in their trio. It wasn't that he was displeased to serve Edge – but he thought it odd that they were even asked in the first place. It wasn't like Eblan had any neighboring kingdoms – in fact, they were completely isolated on their own continent, and the castle itself was surrounded by either mountains or the choppy, shoal-filled ocean, which made it impossible to reach except for by airship or via the Tower of Babil, which had been inactive since the war had ended. And the only two known entrances to the tower were either guarded by ninjitsu magic or underground – so the tower itself was nearly impenetrable.

Either Edge was up to something, or…

…No, Edge was always up to something.

"Izayoi is assisting her cousin," Gekkou replied. "Lady Chisaki has been ordered to bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. It seems that the babe is going to be raring to go when he finally arrives if he is already giving her trouble."

"Lady Chisaki still thinks it's going to be a boy, eh?" Zangetsu smiled. "Tsukinowa will be the name, right? He will be a child of great power, with a name like that. I'm looking forward to meeting him – it will be good for Eblan to welcome its first child since the war ended."


Edge glanced over his shoulder. Gekkou and Zangetsu were turned toward each other, talking, and weren't paying attention to him at all. He suspected that they hadn't believed he was really going to Damcyan – after all, how was he supposed to get there? But he appreciated that they respected him enough to not question his motives – he knew there was a reason why he had allowed them to become closer to him than anyone else in the kingdom.

As Edge approached the shoreline, he thought back to the nightmare he had last night. It had been so long since he had seen Rydia, his "daydream maiden" as Seneschal mockingly called her, but in his nightmare, he saw her face as clearly as if it had only been yesterday. She had been calling to him from the top of the Tower of Babil, the wind whipping through her hair and her cloak as it carried her voice to his room in Eblan Castle. When he leaned out his window, he could see the flash of her ruby hyacinth hairpin reflecting in the moonlight, and the tower began to glow red beneath her, pulsing like a heartbeat. Even though she was miles away, Edge could see the look of fear in her eyes as the red light swallowed her, making her fade away into the black of the night.

When he had awoken that morning, he knew he had to investigate the Tower of Babil for himself – and when he glanced out the window, he swore he saw the tower briefly flash with the same red light as his dream. He went through the motions of his morning duties at the castle, and had given the impression to his disciples that he had forgotten about the festivities in Damcyan. In truth, he did partially forget one important matter – to arrange transportation to actually get him there – but that had ended up benefiting him. Now he had one less loose end to tie up. After finding a way to busy Izayoi by slipping her the not-quite-a-lie that her bed-ridden cousin needed a list of supplies from the apothecary, and putting Gekkou and Zangetsu on guard duty, he was free to go as he pleased. He felt guilty about manipulating his disciples, whom he knew would have supported him no matter what, but he also knew they would insist on coming with him, and he couldn't bear to put them in any kind of danger. His dream could have meant nothing, but deep in his heart of hearts, he knew something was wrong – and that Rydia was somehow involved. After witnessing the horrors of the Tower of Babil himself too many times, he wanted to keep his people as far away as possible.

Lightly leaping over the shoals, and as he gained his footing, speeding up considerably, Edge dashed across the ocean toward the Cave of Eblan, where his people had been forced to flee and had been trapped like drowning rats after Rubicante burned their kingdom to the ground. The sea spraying his legs as he ran, he glanced up the tower looming above, feeling its cold shadow wash over him. He would have loved to get an aerial view to investigate for any suspicious activity, but Eblan had no airship or any means to fly.

Edge pouted as he thought back to a few months after Cecil's coronation – Cecil had flown to Eblan and had wanted to gift the Falcon to Edge as a final peace offering for all the damage Baron had, by association with Rubicante and Golbez, inflicted upon their kingdom. But Seneschal had thrown a (private) fit – questioning how the ninjas of Eblan could possibly be stealth with such a "vulgar" flying machine and that having a powerful weapon like an airship would only draw more attention upon them. It had been difficult enough for Edge to get their kingdom to accept even a meager amount of aid from the kingdoms of his new friends – Seneschal said that the airship would go over as well as a lead balloon. Reluctantly, Edge took his advice – not even his charm could mollify a kingdom of angry ninjas – and suggested to Cecil that the Falcon go to the dwarves instead, although it secretly broke his heart to do so. For the first time, he had a small taste of the sacrifice that one had to experience as the sole ruler of a kingdom.

Leaping back onto the shore, Edge paused in front of the cavern entrance. He hadn't been back since the final refugee had been rescued and taken home to Eblan castle, and he had returned in the dead of night to erect a grave marker for his parents in the shanty town the refugees had created while they struggled to wait out the war. Since his parents' bodies had been destroyed in the Tower of Babil after being turned into chimerae by Dr. Lugae, one of Rubicante's associates, all he had been able to bury were scorched robes from his father's days as a ninja that he had found in the remains of the fire, and a crushed, tarnished ring embellished with the emblem of Eblan that that one of the surviving children had miraculously found in the fields when they were scavenging for materials to rebuild the castle.

"Sorry it's been so long, Mom and Dad," Edge whispered into the darkened cavern entrance. "I can't stay long, but…I promise when I figure out what's going on, I'll be back to tell you all about it."


Hmmm…the ship's been tuned real well. That Luca has promise as a shipwright, Cid mused.

As they neared Agart, whose mountain ranges contained the massive sinkhole that acted as the entrance to the underworld, Cecil sat upon a crate, watching the sky above them pass and slowly, steadily, darkening with the hour. He wasn't sure what time it was anymore, but he had suddenly become aware of how much a domesticated creature of habit he had become – his stomach was growling, wondering where dinner was, and he was trying to come to terms with his body that he would not be retiring to his huge, comfy bed with Rosa next to him that night – most likely, if they were lucky, they would stumble upon the safe room deep within the Sealed Cave, and set up camp there, where he would fall asleep to Cid's snoring and the twins' bickering. His mind wandered back to Rosa, wondering what she was doing now – had she been able to share a meal with Yang and the others, or was she passed out in a feverish trance? He hadn't been a night without her since they had returned home from the moon – he felt like a part of his body had been left behind in Fabul.

Princess Luca watched Cecil quietly, trying to screw up the courage to thank him once more for his willingness to come to their crystal's aid. Even though he was the same Cecil that had passed through her castle's halls many times to visit her father during the war, she was a little more intimidated by him now that he was a king. When she would sneak to Baron to help Cid with his airship maintenance, or run errands for his apprentices, she was always impressed with how seemingly everyone in the castle looked up to him and Queen Rosa. Cecil looked up at her, catching her stare, and she jumped a little.

"Um…Thank you for coming to help, Cecil!" She squealed. Cecil smiled a little, and patted the spot next to him on the crate.

"Come here, Luca. Sorry if I seem frustrated. I'm just worried about you guys – it was brave of you to come here to find help. You did the right thing."

"Really?" Luca smiled, and sat down next to him. She glanced over at Palom, wondering if he was paying attention – and to her delight, he was looking back at her even as he was talking to his sister. A little jealousy may not hurt anything, Luca thought, her lips curling. She pretended not to notice Palom, and looked back up at Cecil, as if he were telling the most fascinating story in the world. "I take care of the airship all by myself, you know. It's my main responsibility."

"You're going to be a great pilot someday, if you keep it up," Cecil said. "Have you thought about joining the Red Wings?"

"Can a princess really join?" Luca asked, her eyes wide. Cecil laughed.

"A princess can do anything a prince can do – you and Ursula will be living proof of that."

"Who's Ursula?" Palom suddenly piped up, having snuck over and popping up right next to Luca.

Ah-ha! Luca thought gleefully. She ignored the nagging thought that Palom had only come over because he heard a new girl's name fall from someone's lips.

"Oh, that's right!" Cecil stood up, so that his voice would carry to Cid and Porom, who were near the front of the ship. "While we were in Fabul…Queen Sheila gave birth to a baby girl – her name is Princess Ursula."

"What!?" Porom shrieked. "There was a baby!? I LOVE BABIES!"

"Aye, they sure managed to keep that cat in the bag!" Cid exclaimed. "And let me guess – you an' Rosa are the godparents, eh Cecil?"

"Yeah," Cecil blushed, and couldn't help but smile more. "They sprung it on us, but there was no way I could say no. I mean, whoever thought someone would ask me to be a godfather?"

"Definitely not I," Cid guffawed. "Although I can't say I foresaw even half of the stuff that's happened to you at this point."

"Do you think they'll let us see the baby when we get back?" Porom gasped. "What does she look like? How big is she? What color are her eyes? Is Yang going to carry her on his back while he trains? Ahhh…!"

"Calm down, spaz," Palom groaned. "It's just a baby. People have them every day."

"You'll understand when you're older, kid," Cid laughed. "Adults get excited about what you think are mundane things. Early bedtimes, falling in love, babies…it's not all kicking evil's rear and saving the world."

"I'm never going to be like that," Palom shrugged. "When I become a sage, I'm always going to be on a crazy adventure. I won't have time for any of that stuff – especially love." He made a retching sound, and Luca's face fell a little. She stared down at the polished wood floor of the ship, frowning at her blurry reflection.

Porom cut a glance at Luca, and frowned. Sometimes, her brother could crest a new level of idiocy. She decided to steer the conversation to a less polarizing subject.

"So…Rydia and Edge never made it to Damcyan…You don't think anything could've happened to them, do you?"

Cecil pressed his lips together. They had never shown? That was troubling…

"Um…" Luca looked back up. "That's weird. Because Rydia told me how excited she was about going. She was going to ride Bahamut to the surface and everything."

"Has anything else happened in the underworld lately that's been odd?" Cecil asked, and Luca shook her head.

"No, not at all…and I only just talked to her a few days ago. She wouldn't have changed her mind. My father's men estimated that the monsters started breaking out of the Sealed Cave early this morning. We had no trouble prior to that."

Cecil looked back up the sky as it became swallowed in the darkness of the underworld; the Falcon was beginning to make her descent. That's when I would have had my dream…

Once they had breached the underworld proper, Cid steered them south toward the Sealed Cave. Luca gazed out anxiously as they flew over her home, King Giott's castle – the few tanks they had left that had not been scrapped were rolling out, already blasting their cannons at monsters that had managed to breach the magma shore. She knew that her father's warriors would be fine defending the castle – but they would eventually tire and fall if they could not quell the source of the rampage. Palom and Porom were leaning over the railing over the Falcon, flabbergasted by the inverse world that was unrolling beneath them – there were no oceans, no blue sky, no green hills or purple mountains – everything was rust-red or black, and the blinding glow of the yellow magma that the dwarves called their sun made their eyes hurt. How a world like this could have existed beneath them this entire time they had been alive made Porom realize she knew far less about their planet than she thought she had.

When they landed, the dwarves who had accompanied Luca briefed Cecil, Cid and the twins on the situation.

"Several of King Giott's soldiers are down there already, securing what areas they can. More than anything, we just need to ensure the crystal is still safe. It shouldn't need to be removed from the dais if we can take out whatever the threat is that made the monsters go berserk in the first place."

"Understood," Cecil nodded. "Cid, Palom, Porom and I will head in. Luca, you stay here on the Falcon. If it gets bad, I want you to run away – do you understand? Don't come for us. Go straight back to the castle."

"Cecil…" Luca whimpered, but Palom turned to her and gave her a wink.

"Come on Luca, don't write us off already – it's gonna be fine. I need you to inscribe in your history books that it is the great Sage-in-Training Palom that saved Giott's kingdom – and the princess, of course. I'll need you to give me a tour of the underworld when this is all over."

Luca broke into a wide smile, nodding. "Right!"

Porom looked up at the dying rotors of the airship. Boy, her brother sure could turn on the charm when it benefited him. It was fascinating and horrifying all at the same time to witness.

"That's the spirit!" Cid slapped Palom on the back so hard that he nearly toppled over. "Cecil, you'll be our tour guide, eh? Let's get this over with so we can get back to partying!"

They descended the airship's ramp, Cecil leading the way through the cavern entrance. Sure enough, the marble doors he had remembered being sealed shut until they had draped Luca's necklace over the skeleton that had been guarding the door were both blown open, and it was clear based on the scratch marks etched deep on the interior side of the doors that a powerful force had torn through. The skeleton that had acted as the keyhole for Luca's necklace was trampled over, its head several feet away and crushed to pieces.

Porom tried not to scream as the light from the skull torches in the entryway made shadows jump all over, making it seem as if a monster were about to pounce on them. When she unconsciously reached for her brother's hand, she was shocked that he grasped it back, squeezing tightly.

Passing through the marble doors, Cecil led the party to the edge of the precipice they were on that was seemingly floating in the darkness, pointing to the depths below. Dozens of rock formations could be gleaned below – all rising in different heights from the bubbling ocean of magma that was being fed by the gushing reserves running down the cavern walls around them.

"The crystal is near the bottom," Cecil explained, moving his finger southwest, where a large, but barely discernible drawbridge was draping across a large gap between another rocky platform and a solid wall. Cecil knew that within the wall, there had been trap doors that lead to the crystal chamber – and beyond that, oblivion. However, they had destroyed the trap upon during their original visit – Rydia obliterating it by summoning the god of the seas, Leviathan – so it was at least one thing they would not have to worry about this time around.

"And how are we supposed to get down there?" Palom huffed.

"With these," Cecil kneeled down and picked up a rope that had been tied around a stake driven into the rocks at their feet. "You'll find that most of the bridges we'll encounter are rotten, or destroyed – we'll be climbing for the majority of the night."

"The kids can ride on our backs as we climb," Cid offered, seeing the look of trepidation on Palom and Porom's faces. "It should go faster that way, too."

"HELP, LALI!" A strangled voice cried in the darkness.

Their eyes averted from the rope in Cecil's hand to the platform below them several yards to their left. A pair of dwarves, who were surrounded by the freshly-slain bodies of a Vampiress and her army of Blood Bats, had been taken by surprise by a tall, flat creature that was hopping toward them menacingly, made out of cracked and rotting wooden planks that had a variety of rusted weapons sticking out of it. Baring its crimson teeth that ran from end-to-end of its crooked slash of a mouth, Cecil realized it could have been only one thing – one of the monster trap doors that guarded all of the chambers within the Sealed Cave. Cecil and the others had not disabled them all in their first pass through – each encounter was so dangerous that it was a fool's errand to attempt, so they had only slain the ones they had to pass through to reach the crystal.

But the dwarves weren't anywhere near a doorway, so he suspected that all of the doors had broken free on their own volition, thanks to whatever had spooked the monsters in the first place.

"Hurry!" Cecil cried, kneeling down. Palom threw himself on Cecil's back, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and nearly smacking him in the head with his rod. Porom scrambled up Cid's back, and Cecil climbed down the rope first, with a little more recklessness than he would have normally liked. Palom twisted around while he was on Cecil's back and thrust his rod in the Trap Door's direction, muttering a Firaga spell. A pulsing globe of fire descended on the door, and the dwarves scrambled for cover as it exploded, drowning the monster in flames. But as the smoke cleared, the Trap Door was still standing, tufts of fire burning out as it re-focused its blood-red glare on the dwarves and began to glow with an eerie yellow aura.

"That should have finished it!" Palom hissed as Cecil finally reached the next level, dropping his feet on solid ground.

"It's casting a spell!" Porom gasped from Cid's back, who was right behind them, dangling on the rope. "Run away!"

But the dwarves were petrified, and there was nowhere else to go except over the edge. Porom's staff flashed, and a ribbon of rainbow light embraced the dwarves right as the Trap Door cast its spell. A ghostly blue flame tried to engulf them, but it was reflected away by her magic and thrown right back at the monster. The blue flames licked up the rotten wood, causing it to decompose before their eyes and instantly transform the Trap Door into a pile of smoking ashes.

"As I suspected," Porom said as Cid's feet hit the ground, and she dropped from his back, using her staff to steady herself. "A variation of the Death spell. For a monster to know arcane black magic such as that…we really are in a place of evil."

"That was fast thinking, Porom," Cecil said, and Palom pinched his shoulder. "Yeowch…! You did good too, Palom."

"Thanks!" Palom released Cecil and slid to the ground, and Cecil grimaced as he massaged his shoulder.

"Thanks so much, lali-ho!" One of the dwarves exclaimed, pulling himself up to his feet and reaching down to help his partner.

"We have men deeper in the cavern…we may have been the first to see anything like that, though!" The other dwarf frowned. "We had been careful to only go through the doors that were already open – that one was a surprise attack."

"We'll make sure everyone else is OK," Cecil said. "How's it going, otherwise?"

"We've been able to stop any more monsters from making it out of the cave – they have been slowing down. But there is definitely a powerful aura surrounding the crystal room. We…we're afraid to get any closer – we think there is another trap."

"Another trap?" Cecil blinked. "But there was only one trap guarding the crystal room that we destroyed when we were here, and it didn't even trigger until we had attempted to leave with the crystal."

"But couldn't that mean there is someone already in the crystal chamber then?" Cid asked warily, and Cecil pressed his lips in a straight line.

Damnation…of course that's what it means. And that someone is what set off this chain reaction – I am sure of it. If I were to stake my life on it, I'd also say they were the voice who visited me in my dreams last night.

"We're standing guard here – we won't let anyone – or anything – get past us with the crystal!" The dwarves declared. "King Cecil – will you still try to enter the chamber yourself?"

"Of course," Cecil frowned. "We'll report back as soon as possible." Who in the world could be waiting for them in the crystal chamber? He had a cold, twisting feeling in his stomach as he tried to recall his dream – all he remembered was green, like the scales of a dragon.

…Or like the armor of a Dragoon Knight who had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet?

"Now that we know how to kill the Trap Doors, they should no longer present a problem, either," Porom smiled. She suddenly felt a lot better – if it was just another Trap Door guarding the crystal, she would show it who was boss. She paid no mind to the concern that had settled into Cecil's features.

"You should be on healing duty," Palom pouted. "It's not fair. When am I going to be able to show off?"


As they delved deeper into the cave, they crossed paths with other dwarves who gave similar reports – the monsters were still coming at them, but not as aggressively – and that disturbing grinding noises and random falling debris in the chamber that led to the crystal made them believe something was awaiting them there. Luckily, they encountered no one who needed further assistance, like the first pair of dwarves – but plenty more rogue Trap Doors cut in the path, with Porom making quick work of them. When other monsters had the misfortune of coming upon them, Palom exterminated them with his magic before Cecil or Cid could lift their weapons.

The two adults, who were walking a few paces ahead of the twins when they weren't climbing down ropes, were mostly silent for the remainder of the hike. Cid had remembered hearing from the dwarves while he was laid up in their hospital that Cecil and Kain, Rosa, Rydia and Edge had braved the Sealed Cave to rescue the eighth and final crystal before Golbez could force his way in and take it for himself. But when they had returned to Giott's castle, they were empty-handed and injured, and Kain had disappeared. It was obvious what had happened, so Cid never actually asked Cecil about it. Even now, Cid could see that something was haunting Cecil's gaze – he had been staring straight ahead the entire time they had been walking, but Cid didn't think he was actually paying attention to their path – he was moving mechanically, by muscle memory.

Cid worried about Cecil – the same way he did about Amelia, Rosa, and Kain, when he had been around. When Cecil had come home to Baron for good, but before he had been crowned King, they had spent an evening together at Cid's house, eating a homecoming dinner Amelia had cooked for them and reorganizing Cid's massive library of books late into the night. Long after Amelia had fallen asleep, Cecil had told Cid the painful truths he had learned on the moon – he was only half-human, his father being of a race called the Lunarians, people who had had their home planet destroyed and fled to the Blue Planet as refugees. Because the Lunarians been so much further evolved than the humans of the Blue Planet, they created what would become the Blue Planet's second moon and slept until the day their races could live together as equals.

However, Cecil's father, Kluya, had been a man of science and dreamt of the wonders of the Blue Planet, forgoing his sleep to sneak away and learn more about its people and to share his gifts with them – including magic and the research that would later lead to Cid himself inventing the world's first airship in Baron's name. It had given Cid chills to learn that he had potentially met Cecil's father at one point – but it had been so long ago, and he had no memory of what had to him just been a random encounter when he was visiting a nearby village as a young man to talk aviation.

Kluya had fallen in love with Cecilia, Cecil's human mother, but their union was ill-fated. Ten years after Cecilia had given birth to her and Kluya's first son, Theodor, she fell pregnant with Cecil, but died from heart failure spurred by witnessing Kluya's murder by jealous villagers, her condition exacerbated by Cecil's early labor. Theodor fled in fear, abandoning his hours-old infant brother at Baron Castle's doorstep with the intention of never seeing him again, blaming him for Cecilia's death.

Cecil hadn't known all of the details of his family when he and Cid first talked that night – he had known his parents names and had met Kluya's Lunarian brother, his Uncle Fusoya, on the moon. He had not known Theodor's true name – only the name Theodor had given himself when he had abandoned Cecil – Golbez. Golbez had risen in the shadows, quietly developing a powerful army and a clever plan that would allow him to acquire the world's crystals through extended warfare, using Baron as the catalyst, and open a pathway to their planet's destruction. When Cecil had explained to Cid that it had been his own blood brother that he had been fighting and hating all along, Cid saw, for the first time in his life, Cecil in a truly heartbroken state.

Cid vowed to help Cecil find what closure he could for his family's tortured history – he scoured Baron's archives for evidence that pointed Cecil in the direction of Kluya's village, long annexed by Baron and abandoned by its residents to live in Baron proper; Where Cecil had been born and where his older brother had been raised for ten years. It had been there that Cecil discovered his brother's name was Theodor, not Golbez, and where he had found his parents' final resting place.

It had seemed to Cid that Cecil had made peace with his past after that. The moon that Fusoya and Golbez, who had refused to return to the Blue Planet after awakening from Zemus's hateful trance, slept within had escaped the Blue Planet's orbit – taking along with it the constant reminder of all that Cecil had lost before he was even an hour old. When Cecil told Cid that he had asked Rosa to marry him, Cid had thought for sure that at last, his "son" was coming into the good fortune he had always deserved, and that he would finally know peace along with the rest of the planet.

But then Kain had disappeared…and Cid could see how his absence broke both Cecil and Rosa's hearts. At first, Cid had tried to do everything he could – he scoured the planet along with the Red Wings to search for Kain, following up on every ridiculous rumor he came across, but to no avail. He even had Amelia doing some spying for him while she was in Kaipo, and asked Luca to keep an eye out in the underworld in exchange for giving her flying lessons. As time went on and everyone's efforts dwindled, Cecil seemed to be healing…but then Cid would catch him in moments like this, where he knew Cecil was being overwhelmed by a powerful memory of the past, and he'd be at a loss of what to do.

"Do you want to take a break?" Cid asked. They had walked past a chamber that looked as if it were being used for camping – a few dwarves were gathered around a fire, and had waved to Cecil, but he had not seen them. Cecil shook his head.

"The crystal is not far from here. I…I have to see who is waiting for us."

"How do you know it is a "who" and not a "what"?" Cid cocked his head. "Is something on your mind, Cecil?"

Cecil frowned. "Do you remember how I told you I had a dream this morning, and that's why I was late? I think it's related to that."

Cid looked away. Ever since Cecil had also awoken to his true identity as a half-Lunarian, he had also confided to Cid that he had the unfortunate ability to dream of premonitions.

"Are you kids OK?" Cid called back to the twins. They were whispering to each other and getting along for once, and looked up, identical grins plastered on their faces.

"Never better," Palom smirked, and Cid noticed that he and Porom had quickly intertwined their hands together.

"What are you up to?" Cid asked suspiciously, and Porom waved her free hand.

"It's nothing, Master Cid. Just passing the time. This cave is not as troublesome as Cecil made it out to be. You were just trying to scare Palom straight, right Cecil?"

But Cecil didn't reply. They had reached the lengthy, ancient bridge he had first pointed out to them when they had entered the cave hours ago. They were closer than ever to the magma below, but it was still a far enough drop that you would plunge through darkness before reaching it. On the other side of the bridge, were the marble doors that led to the crystal chamber – closed tightly shut.

A large rock smashed into the wall to their left as it cascaded down from the now-faraway ceiling and went plummeting into the magma below. The grinding sound the dwarves had warned them about was reverberating all around them in the chamber, so Cecil couldn't quite tell where it was originating from.

"We must cross the bridge single-file," Cecil explained. "Palom, if any monsters come at us, I'm counting on you to pick them off before they get too close. It will be dangerous for Cid or me to use our weapons and shake the bridge too much."

"Yes sir!" Palom grinned. "Now we're talking."

Cecil took point, taking the bridge one step at a time and occasionally looking back to make sure Cid and the twins were holding up. Cid was sweating bullets, reaching up to push his steamed-up goggles on his forehead so he could see better. Palom and Porom were strolling leisurely as if they were on a promenade in the town square. It had never failed to amaze Cecil how resilient those two were.

Just when Cecil had nearly reached the end of the bridge, a heart-sinking lunging motion made him lose his footing and nearly trip forward, but he managed to catch himself just in time. Cid cried out behind him, and Palom and Porom let out identical squeals.

What the hell?! Cecil looked up, seeing that the crystal room door was suddenly a lot closer, and that dust and rocks were raining down from the ceiling above. Had the bridge gotten…shorter?

"What is that, Cecil!?" Porom cried. There was another violent jerking motion, and Cecil felt Cid's hand grasp his shoulder for balance, while the twins screamed. More rocks fell from above, and Cecil realized they were now close enough to be struck, chanting a Protect spell just in time for them to bounce off the party and into the magma below. Cecil quickly glanced back at the others, and saw that the bridge was still the same length as before.

So it hadn't been getting shorter – the wall in front of them containing the crystal chamber doors was getting closer.

There was a gleam of light, and a massive marble wall generated before them, blocking the entryway to the crystal chamber and filling the length and depth of the strip of land so that there was no way to dash from the bridge to get behind it. Embedded in the wall was a familiar, but unsettling sight – the same demon Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia and Edge had to fight once before, when they were fleeing with the crystal. The demon took the form of a half-human, half-lizard hybrid, with its rib cage thrusting out of the marble and its arms still sealed within, only lengthy claws the size of a grown man extending forward and swiping at the air. Its head, which was a skull that appeared to have thin layer of scales stretched over it, had slits for nostrils and wide, gaping empty sockets where its eyes once were. Two rows of razor, arrowhead teeth were gnashing with impatience, and its neck was sticking far enough out from the wall that it could swivel its head somewhat independently, spitting putrid black liquid as it howled.

As it clawed at the air, the wall began to drag ever closer, one inch at a time.

"Th-the wall is coming at us!?" Cid gasped.

"All right!" Palom exclaimed. "Looks like we'll finally have a foe worthy of the future sage Palom!"

Damn it! Cecil shook his head. The trap can reset itself? But how, when Rydia destroyed it…? Why do events from a year prior keep repeating?

"Stand back, everyone!" Porom cried. "We've got this!" She and Palom pushed ahead of Cecil and Cid, approaching the wall, and they both held out their hands in the air, closing their eyes.

"WAIT!" Cecil shouted. "Whatever you're going to do…don't do it!" His mind flashed back to the antechamber of Baron's throne room, where the Elemental Archfiend of Water, Cagnazzo, had lured Cecil, Yang, Tellah, Cid and the twins into a trap, cursing the walls of the room to close in on them and crush them to death with his dying breath. The twins had turned themselves to stone, stopping the walls and letting the others escape, unharmed. Cecil had thought the spell had destroyed them, but their Elder had been able to reverse the powerful spell and restore them. But this was an entirely different situation – there was no way the Elder would survive a trip to the Sealed Cave to revive the twins this time, and it would only be a matter of time before the bridge collapsed under their weight and plunged them into the magma below.

Palom and Porom ignored Cecil's command, Palom's left hand clasping Porom's right. Their bodies began to glow with an ominous red aura, and for the first time, Cecil noticed the golden bands wrapped around each of their ring fingers, each set with a simple gold star. Just as the Demon Wall had gotten close enough to swipe at the twins and knock them off the bridge, their eyes snapped open simultaneously, and the rings on their fingers flashed with a brilliant light that blinded Cecil and Cid.

"Twin Meteor!"

A thunderous "BOOM" ripped through the air above them, and the sound of thousands of meteors, sparkling like shooting stars, whistled from behind the party and started to shower upon the wall, knocking large chunks out of it and poking holes through its foundation like Swiss cheese. One meteor slammed into the Demon Wall's skull, sending a massive crack up through the middle of the wall and causing it to nearly split in half. The dust of the destroyed marble rose in the air and mingled with the smoke trailing from the flames of the meteors, forcing Cecil and Cid to take cover with their arms and cough through the onslaught.

When the last meteor had struck, and silence returned to the air, they saw that the wall had been decimated into hundreds of chunks of rubble before them, with more yet unseen that had fallen over the edge into the magma. Palom and Porom lowered their hands, struggling to catch their breath but both grinning wickedly. They turned to face Cecil and Cid.

"So, what do you think? Pretty cool spell, huh?" Palom winked.

"I've seen that spell before…" Cecil shook his head. "When Golbez and Fusoya…"

"Right! It's a Twincast spell!" Porom nodded. "But Palom doesn't know Meteor yet, and I cannot cast it as a white mage…so we had to improvise. We've been working on this project back home…" She pulled off her star ring and held it out. Cecil took it from her, turning it in his fingers. It was just a regular child's ring, so small that it would only fit on his pinky. It was warm to the touch.

"Porom and I have figured out how to bless objects with the very essence of magic itself," Palom explained. "And it turns out, you can bless them with magic spells you don't even know…it all relies on the Wisdom and Intelligence of the bearer. If you have high Wisdom, it's easier to cast white magic. If you have high Intelligence, it's easier to cast black magic. And if you have an abundance of both…well, you can pretty much do whatever you want. So we made identical objects and combined our powers."

"But it's kind of top secret, so don't tell anyone, OK?" Porom giggled. "This was our first test run."

"What?!" Cid bellowed. "You mean to tell me nothing might have happened and we'd all be eating magma right now!?"

"Don't think of it that way," Palom smirked. "Think of it as having a front-row seat to one of the most exciting magical discoveries of our time! It worked, and that's all the matters. No point in wallowing in "what-ifs"."

Cecil handed the ring back to Porom, shaking his head with a small smile on his lips. "Once again, Cid and I are in your debt. Thank you."

"Cecil!" Cid raised his fist. "Don't encourage such recklessness! As a godfather to an impressionable young lady now, you have to be a voice of reason!"

"And as a father, you should know that sometimes kids will be kids, even six-year old magical geniuses," Cecil gently tugged on Porom's ponytail, and she laughed. But the giddiness of managing to stay alive despite impossible odds was starting to wear off – they still needed to uncover what was waiting for them in the crystal chamber. And if it was Kain…well, Cecil hadn't figured out what he was going to do if that were the case.

Cecil started to climb over the rubble, his heart rate climbing up as he approached the crystal chamber doors. Pressing his palms into them, he gave a hard shove, and let out a gasp for air. They weren't budging – it was as if they hadn't been opened in a long time.

If the doors had not been opened – could someone really be inside?

Cid clambered over to help, muttering about his blood pressure as he shoved his shoulder into one door, with Cecil pushing back against the other using the strength of his legs. Finally, the doors creaked open, and the warm light of the Crystal of Darkness washed over them, pouring over the rubble of the Demon Wall and making it sparkle.

The crystal itself was perfectly safe – it was floating peacefully above its dais, oblivious to the chaos that had been occurring only feet away beyond the chamber's threshold.

It had been the still body beneath it that had caught Cecil's eye – it belonged to a young woman with green hair that was spilled out over the dais, with tattered clothes hanging from her frame, and a cracked red hyacinth jeweled hairpin catching the light of the crystal as it silently shed its light above her. Cecil's breath caught in his throat as he ran toward her, pulling her into his arms and pressing his fingers to her wrist.

"Rydia!?"