Flaming Heart
Five years after the battle….
The sky over the Baronian kingdom began to flood with color, a beautiful conflagration of rosy hues and violet tints. In one of the many courtyards in the castle, a tall dragoon in dark armor wielded a spear, twirling it in complicated styles of attack, his head and face hidden by a dragon-shaped helm. He readied his lance and started calling out drills to his fleet.
A pale figure stepped from the shadows, shading her eyes from the blinding glare of the rising sun. Her white cloak rippled around her as she walked, her lapis lazuli eyes unerringly seeking out the dragoon. Catching her eye, the dragoon turned and shouted a few more indistinct commands then jogged over to the blonde woman.
"Your Majesty," he said respectfully, twisting his hand in a foreign salute.
Rosa grinned at her long-time friend. "None of that," she told him cheerfully. "I may be queen, but I'm not about to answer to titles."
Kain smirked. "I might as well make up for the two years during your reign that I missed."
The Baronian queen sighed. "I didn't miss your courtesies, but I sure missed your friendship. I don't know what I've done if you hadn't come back two months ago. Cecil is…" She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Is he more or less better since the last council meeting?"
"At least he didn't yell at them to get the hell out of his council room and throw a vase at them again," she remarked. "I really don't know what's come over him lately. It just reminds me too much of…"
"Odin," they said together. The two friends stood like that for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally Kain stirred.
"You don't think…that he's been possessed?"
"I wouldn't know," Rosa said heavily. "So far all that's different is his temper and demeanor. But I admit that I am a bit worried about the consequences should his… condition worsens. Which reminds me," the queen said, straightening with all the authority of a queen. "I need you to carry out some preparations, just in case. I remind you that you are forbidden to tell this to anyone, especially Cecil."
Kain raised a brow. Rosa wasn't one to push her authority like this, but she was his queen as well as his best friend. "What exactly has such importance that I'm not allowed to tell anybody?"
Rosa grimaced. "Actually, to the common bystander, you're only escorting Edge and Rydia to Baron."
"Why?"
"Since we've defeated Zeromus, we've had an ongoing tradition to celebrate his defeat, just the five of us. After our wedding, Cecil and I made another tradition to celebrate with everyone. But you weren't here, and we lost track of Rydia after a while. Though, from what my ambassador, Will, says, she's supposedly in the Feymarch as of this half of the year."
Kain failed to see the secrecy of this mission. "Why is this so secret?"
Rosa grinned at him. "We're taking advantage of this. You will head to the two people in Baron who will most likely be targeted and tell them to pack their bags. You will take Cid and my mother with you aboard the Enterprise to Eblan, where you patch things up with Edge and have him follow you to Agart in the Falcon. You will help Cid and Lady Farrell settle in with Alyss and her husband and leave the Falcon there. Take the Enterprise to the Feymarch and pick up Rydia. Head back here as soon as you can. Go."
Head reeling, Kain bowed and walked briskly out of the courtyard to find Cid. Good gods above… he thought darkly.
o.0.o.0.o
"Now, m'boy, don't go rushing around. That's bad for your health. I understand your urgency, but first I have to finish this work of art here. Ain't she beautiful? That's the Eclipse for you!"
Kain stifled the urge to roll his eyes. "Cid," he said with strained patience. "We don't have time. We need to leave as soon as possible."
Beside him, Lady Farrell tapped her wrist. "We need to get going, engineer. Your assistants will get all that tinkering done for you in no time. But my daughter's orders wait for no one. Hurry up!"
Cid sighed and wagged a wrench at the head white mage of Baron. "Don't rush me. Ya don't get things done by rushing. But I admit that I do want to see my daughter again. See if that lad Harrison treats my Alyss right."
An hour later, they were finally on their way to Eblan. Kain had to admit he was nervous. He and Edge might have fixed up a few things before he left, but they weren't exactly the best of friends. Walking into a kingdom full of highly trained ninjas with a ruler who probably hated him was not exactly at the top of his to-do list. But it was necessary.
Cid noticed his anxiety. "Hey, now. You'd trust Edge to look after your back, and I'm pretty sure he feels the same about you. You've nothing to worry about."
Kain disagreed strongly, although he didn't say so out loud. Edge had a temper as short as a pickle, and that was on one of his good days. The animosity between him and the ninja prince could only have worsened in the 5 years that Kain had been on Mount Ordeals. His rage would certainly be terrible to face. He had isolated himself from most emotions outside of Mount Ordeals, and was not terribly eager to revisit the emotion of hatred.
He followed the stout engineer and the willowy mage down the steps of the Enterprise. The ninjas beckoned to them, motioning forward into the darkened palace. The katanas strapped to their backs gleamed in the morning light, and he thought twice about escaping back to the airship.
Eblan's aura of mystery only intensified with the flickers of dancing shadows that could conceal a hidden warrior, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Kain felt increasingly antsy as the citizens of Eblan paused in their daily work to stare at the passing foreigners. Their faces were hard and expressionless. Kain briefly wondered how Edge had been ruling his kingdom. Or perhaps they were wary of the dragoon and his companions. Obviously they have heard rumors that I was a traitor, Kain thought sourly.
The sons of shadow led them through ornate archways and past rooms of sparring ninjas, books, scrolls, and venerable looking old men and women practicing calligraphy. The halls grew ever darker as they neared Eblan's throne room, and finally they paused before a large set of doors inlaid with runes and swirling designs. A pair of masked ninjas stood guard before them.
One of the ninjas turned and announced something in Eblanian through the heavy doors. An answering reply rang back in kind. The guards pushed open the doors, which swung inward to reveal a darkened room. If the palace was bathed in shadows, the throne room was practically seething with it. The shadows coiled and caressed the figures in the room, dancing and snapping like they were sentient beings. The air was heavy with magic and an ancient power that emanated from the silvery figure sitting on the ornate throne upon the raised platform.
His face was partially covered by a silver scarf, but the features visible were strong- proud and handsome. His emerald eyes shone with a driving force and were surprisingly unfamiliar to Kain, despite having looked at them for months. He was dressed in his usual battle attire, with a dark cape draped over a shoulder and held in place with the Eblanian insignia. Edward Geraldine was every bit the powerful, majestic ruler. But his face, normally alive with merriment and laughter, now looked as though it were carved of ice. Edge looked more serious and grave than Kain had ever seen him. An old man, bent over with age, stood by the throne. Kain recognized him as the Seneschal of Eblan. Though old, he had a dark dagger belted at his hip and Kain knew that he would defend his kingdom with just as much vigor and strength as one of the younger ninjas.
Their guard strode forward and bowed on a bent knee. Likewise, Kain, Cid, and Lady Farrell did the same. After all, Kain reminded himself, he is a king now.
"Rise," Edge said with a slight lilting accent. "You may return to your posts," he told his warriors. He lifted an eyebrow at the three foreigners out of place in the court of shadows.
"Kain Highwind," he sneered. "At last you've decided to grace us with your holier-than-thou presence."
His words irked Kain to no end- he'd almost forgotten how cutting the ninja's words could be- but still he swallowed a sharp retort and instead replied, "Edge, what put a thorn in your side? Spit it out and let it bother you no more."
Edge's eyes narrowed and seemed to grow icier. "You honestly don't know? Oh, I am wounded!" he said dramatically, placing his hand over his heart in mock hurt, though his eyes did not change from their hard appearance. He leaned forward on his throne, hands clenching the armrests, and glared at him. The tension in the room mounted.
"Where were you!" he finally exploded. "Where were you when we needed you? You left us at Mysidia without a word, not even a single goodbye! Have you even considered what you've put us through? You disappeared for five years! You didn't even show up at your best friends' wedding! Oh, one would have thought that you would at least show up to wish them happiness and support Cecil for the coronation, but oh no, not Kain the bastardly idiot. Where were you during the first International Congregation meeting? We ensured peace and prosperity for future generations without you! Do you even give a damn? Where were you when Edward was trapped in that freak sandstorm and almost died? Where were you when Rosa's dark half emerged and almost killed us all? Where were you when Rydia-"here Edge stumbled over her name- "disappeared? Where were you when I needed you? Where the hell were you!" The king of Eblan spat out the last few words, and Kain realized that he had hurt Edge as well as Cecil and Rosa during his self-exile.
"Know this," he said quietly when Edge looked as though he wanted to yell some more. "It was never my intention to hurt you or my other companions, but I could not continue my past life as though nothing had happened. I could not live with the knowledge of what I had done, and that I still had to pay for my sins. I have finally found my peace and redemption on Mount Ordeals and now return to embrace life once more. Can you not set aside our past differences and be happy that I have returned? Let us be friends once more." He paused, waiting for Edge to speak and was painfully aware of the other people's gazes on him, especially Cid and Lady Farrell.
"Humph. Oh, you're sorry," Edge said scathingly, though Kain could see that the skin around his eyes had softened. With a groan, Edge slumped back in his throne. "Alright, alright," he surrendered, waving an airy hand in the air. "I forgive you. I just missed you, Kain."
"I missed you too, Edge," Kain replied, smiling.
Edge raised an eyebrow. "So why are you here anyway? I can hardly expect you to crawl all the way here just to be yelled at." In his twinkling eyes, Kain saw that much of the old Edge had returned, but most of the unfamiliar coldness remained.
"Yeah, we have business here. Or have you actually forgotten the date, ninja idiot?" Cid spoke up. Kain almost fell over from the shock of hearing his voice, as he had almost forgotten that there were other people in the room as well. His second reaction was to wince at the engineer's rudeness, as did many of the remaining ninjas in the room. But then he reminded himself that this was how Cid normally spoke to Edge. As it was, Edge seemed unperturbed at the disrespect and only turned to look at the airship fleet master.
"I see you haven't changed much, Cid. And what's with the crap of forgetting the date? Today is October…" Edge trailed off, eyes glinting in horror. "Shit! I forgot! Today's the anniversary of Zeromus's defeat!"
"Please watch your language, young man! I don't care if you are king; you still may not speak like that in my presence!" Lady Farrell scolded.
Kain was about to introduce the white mage when Edge took him by surprise. He bent his head meekly and replied, "Sorry, Lady Farrell."
"Well," the king said, "now all who's missing is R-Rydia." His eyes tightened with some dark emotion, and Kain wanted to ask what had transpired between him and the summoner, but he knew that this was not the time.
"The gal's in the Feymarch," Cid said brusquely. "She's resumed duty as High Summoner of Mist and ambassador of the Feymarch. That's where you and Kain are headed. Did neither your ambassador nor Seneschal tell you?"
Edge froze, green eyes glittering dangerously. He whirled in the direction of the Seneschal, who coughed self-consciously. "I felt it best that you did not spend too much time brooding on that daydream maiden of yours. Your country needed you," the old man said sheepishly as Edge's eyes hardened.
He slammed his fist down on the throne's armrest, and for a moment, Kain feared that it might crack. "Damn you!" he swore. "Why the hell didn't Kaneko tell me earlier? She could have saved me a lot of stress. No, don't answer for her," he added as the Seneschal made to speak. "I'll ask her myself. Is there anything else, Kain?"
"Yes. We need to stop at Agart and drop off Cid and Lady Farrell."
Edge snorted. "I see that you have much to tell me about." And that may have been the understatement of the year.
o.0.o.0.o
After another long hour, in which Kain, Cid, and Lady Farrell filled Edge in on the troubles brewing in Baron and of Rosa's mysterious orders, and in which Edge proceeded to stalk off to yell at the Eblanian ambassador, a female ninja named Kaneko, who was apparently a childhood friend of Edge's. Kain was pleasantly surprised at Kaneko's calm, logical personality, although it was shown that she also had sharp wits and a steel tongue when angered, as it was when Edge continued his stream of insults.
"You know, Kain," she had said furiously, glaring daggers at Edge, "I'm glad that you're with this arrogant hothead. If someone doesn't watch him, he'll surely make a fool of himself and leap into danger needlessly."
Edge had scowled and stalked off to his rooms to pack, and soon the four were on their way, with Cid and Lady Farrell aboard the Falcon and Kain and Edge piloting the Enterprise. As Cid had upgraded both airships during Kain's self-exile, Kain was pleased to see that the entire trip only took a few hours that ordinarily would have taken half the day. As it was, they were descending into the Underworld many hours ahead of schedule.
A comfortable silence had settled between the two old comrades-in-arms, and Kain was rather glad of the reassuring whoosh of rushing hot air. It was very similar to the sensation of Jumping, and it soon lulled him into a state of meditation of which he had perfected during his time on the scraggly peaks of Mount Ordeals. He thought of nothing, and allowed his mind to drift in emptiness and serenity, feeling nothing.
He stirred as soon as he felt the deck angle sharply downwards, and the old uneasiness of airships returned. He had never felt entirely comfortable on an airship, for he did not trust anything that had the ability of the air to safely transport him without the sureness of his own two feet to catch him when he landed.
He watched the island leading to the mysterious Feymarch draw ever closer with a sense of trepidation. Rydia was unknown territory, and he could not be sure of her reaction. He could not even be sure of Edge as support. He noticed that Edge looked increasingly anxious as they began their descent. He was not sure of what had occurred during his absence, but he had surmised as much that the ninja and the summoner were not on terribly good terms at the moment.
The dragoon stepped off the airship and bravely walked towards the dark, shadowy cave, where the walls glowed from the roiling magma underneath, the ninja king following closely behind.
A/N:I am really sorry for the delay, but it took some time and some awesome bursts on inspiration before I was able to continue. As it is, I wanted to address a few issues that my paranoid mind brought up. This is not a CecilxKain pairing. It simply means that they are the most important characters in this story, although you won't be viewing things from Cecil's perspective for some time yet for reasons that will be made clear in the next few chapters. I already have most of the plot mapped out. My problem (and the reason why you haven't been hearing from me in a long time) is finding inspiration and time to translate the plot map into detailed words. I think that this story will take approximately twenty chapters (more or less) to complete, given the pace I have set. Things will really start to pick up after this chapter. I will attempt to get out the next chapter as quickly as possible.
I hope I got Cid's character right… Well, thanks for reading!