Codename: LIGHTNING.
"So," I say, when the God has finished His story, "That's what The Scholar didn't know? That's where all of this began?"
"Yes," Bahamut replies, "Cid of the Lufaine, The Highest, Cid Prime, The Source, was more than just on Cosmos' side. He who is Almighty is Himself bound. Because Chaos, Garland, is His son."
"So," Cuore says, her silvery voice ringing in the room, "What's Cid's goal? Why does He perpetuate this Endless Cycle, if He can end it at any time?"
"I should think," Arazlam puts in, "That the Father cannot tell us that."
"What?" Benjamin cries, "You're all-knowing, aren't you? You're a God! You have to know EVERYTHING!"
Bahamut draws His cape about Himself, almost as though gathering His wings around. He rolls His head off to the side in an utterly draconic posture. He sighs, flames escaping His human lips. "Child. Would you know the truth? Would you hear another Dissidia? Another Endless Struggle?"
"What? Don't tell me you've got a fight with The High Cid. Records have you two as bosom buddies!"
"Yes, Child, I would say I consider Cid of the Lufaine my friend. All Gods will say just as much. But you have to see something. The struggle of He Who is Above All."
"And that would be?" I ask, not sure at all where this is going."
"What is Freedom?" Bahamut asks.
I'm not sure if He's musing, or if He has gone mental. I'm not sure if I want to find out. But I haven't got a lot of a choice, have I? "To be without bondage."
"Exactly. To have NO boundaries. This is Absolute Freedom. But Our Lord Cid is quite the opposite of this. He is bound. Indeed, it is His very binding that holds Heaven together. If He were not bound, He would have no power at all . . ."
"And what, pray tell, binds Him, ser?"
"Have I not already told you, Children? Cid of the Lufaine struck a deal."
"Yes, about this deal," Cuore says, "I'm not sure I get it. What sort of a deal was this?"
"He gave His body-"
"No, that much we understood." I interrupt, "What I DON'T get is the rest. Why did Shinryuu ask to take His original body? And why did Shinryuu consent to help Cid find Garland? And moreover, why does this contract still stand, if He's already been found?"
"Ah, again I cannot tell you this. This is the Endless Struggle of the Gods. Our Dissidia, as it were. We are bound by "Authority" and "Stewardship." These things are not my Stewardship, not mine to know, and thus, I haven't even the Authority to know them and act in them. But this I can tell," Bahamut points at me, and, more specifically, the weapon I'm carrying, "the answer is there. Right in your hands."
"Omega?"
"Children. You have heard all I can tell you. You have seen the major players on Heaven's stage. Cosmos, Goddess of Order. Her actions were called into question during Her thirteenth War against Chaos, by the one called The Scholar. Chaos, called Garland, the man and the monster; I wonder, after all this time, has He lost who He was? Then there's Cid, of the Lufaine, the man who began all of this, and the one who controls all things. God of the Gods of Gods. Do you hope, honestly, to challenge Him? You will have, also, to contend with this one called Shinryuu, the Holy Dragon. A being whose actions and origins I cannot comprehend. Your one hope appears to be Omega, a weapon forged in the Void itself, whose nature I cannot say. And there is, of course, a sixth player in all this . . ."
"The Scholar."
"If that is what you wish to believe."
"What does that mean?"
"It means, Children," Bahamut says, suddenly taking on His dragon form again, "We are out of time to discuss this."
At that moment the walls of the Lair of The Father come crashing down around us, and Angels appear in their place. Seraphim, I see. Strange that so many high ranking Angels would be sent to storm a place like Bahamut's lair. Their force is enough to break such walls, deep as they are, but I still find this strange. Ah, one of them's coming forward now. Wait, is that . . . ?
"Hallowed Father Bahamut, for harboring fugitives from the law, and divulging information belonging only to the Choir of the Elohim, and aiding and abetting enemies of Heaven, and treason against The Highest Himself, I, Kain Highwind, hereby try, judge, and sentence you to be stripped of your crown, and cast into the Void."
CHILD. DO AS YOU BELIEVE YOU MAY. EVER HAVE I AWAITED THIS MOMENT. FOR THIS HAVE I HELPED THEM. NOW THE HIGHEST'S HAND IS MADE CLEAR. TEARETH THOU MY CROWN FROM ME? WE SHALL SEE!
"Kain . . . ?"
The angels, already tense, turn themselves toward me. Bahamut, who has readied Himself for the fight, slides His eye upon me. And the man in white and blue armor also turns his eyes on me. Kain Highwind. The man . . . I once thought I loved . . .
RUN CHILD. RUN!
Kain's eyes freeze for a moment, colder than The Void, then he says, "Our orders are to bring these angels down as well. These are orders. They come from The Highest Himself. No relations, no beliefs may bind you, men. Do not lend yourselves to doubt. We must not stop until the last has fallen to the frozen flames!"
Cuore begins to laugh. Benjamin and Arazlam have already made their way near to her, likely for protection. She doesn't know what it means to feel, Cuore. She lived a normal life, but her afterlife has made her as weird as her sisters. Here she is, in the Lair of the God of her world, a being her sisters once controlled. She, created by a Rival God. And now she faces Kain, one who her sisters also controlled. One who, as far as the dockets say, was a friend to her in life.
"Kain Highwind. Ever the traitor, aren't you?" She says.
"We have our orders," Kain says, more to the angelic host behind him than to her, "fire at will."
The angels draw their weapons. How best to describe them I cannot say. Suffice that they are weapons, ranged, and lethal. They don't hesitate. They fire their volleys, and for a moment, I'm willing to believe that's the end. But then Bahamut fans His wings and shields us.
STUBBORN CHILDREN. RUN, WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
"Let us fight with you!" I shout, the blood suddenly pumping inside me, the fear, and doubt and hurt shoved back inside.
CHILD. GO. NOW.
At His insistence, I do. I turn, and run. Cuore and the others, seeing my flight, run as well. And we run. And run. We run from that reality to the next. And to the next. And we don't look back. I don't let myself think about what becomes of Bahamut. I don't let myself wonder why He helped us, and opposed Cid the Lufaine, if moments earlier He told us He considered Cid His friend. My head is buzzing with questions, and the occasional expletive, but all through it, I keep seeing him.
Damn him.
Kain Highwind . . .