Aboard the Blackjack
Celes pulled the jewelry off piece by piece, ignoring the mortified looks from her companions in the room, particularly Locke as she agreed to the terms of the deal. She remained in her dress for added leverage, as she knew men had a particular eye for cleavage and the dress provided plenty. She was willing to use any advantage should could in a poker game against the notorious gambler.
"First, a drink for the lady."
Setzer stood before an extensively stocked liquor cabinet that lined the wall. He selected a crystal decanter from the shelf and poured two small shot glasses to the brim.
"And a drink for me."
He spoke wryly, passing her her glass and raising his in a mock cheers.
Celes' nose wrinkled as she accepted it. She looked up at him from where she sat at the poker table. "I prefer wine."
A lock of hair slid over his shoulder. He looked like he had been very handsome once, before his face became disfigured with scars. They were old and well healed, but left pale discolored puckers on his flesh.
"We can drink that after. I start every poker game with a shot."
She could handle the hard liquor, but preferred not to indulge in it as it reminded her of the Imperial parties.
"Celes! Be careful!" Locke hissed through his teeth as she took the drink in one go, throwing her head back as she did so. Edgar and Sabin had made their way to a couch in the corner, speaking quietly in hushed voices that fell silent when Locke spoke. He had remained a mere few feet from her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed tensely.
"Uh oh." Setzer's eyes flitted from hers to his. "I'm allowing you to watch out of favor to the lady. If you can't handle what you see perhaps you should leave. And besides," He smirked coldly at the younger man, "This is going to be nothing compared to the things we'll do together on this table when she becomes my bride."
She could only see him at the corner of her eye but she recognized a familiar twitch in his hand reaching for the hilt of a knife.
"Locke, please." Celes spoke sharply turned her head to him.
The look he gave her made her feel heartbroken and pity him. She supposed she should be angry with him for how he shut her out after they'd slept together and use this opportunity as leverage for revenge. But the truth was, she understood. And they couldn't afford to have bickering in their ranks at the moment.
She had feelings for Locke, and she couldn't deny that she loved being the sole object of his attention and desire, even if it was only for an evening.
He relaxed his arm, drawing them both tightly to his chest. She could tell he was stressed by the visibility of his veins over his arms and neck, the vessels popped out blue from under his tanned skin.
"Perhaps you should leave." Setzer's eyes remained on Locke darkly as he passed Celes the deck to shuffle.
"He can stay." Celes spoke softly, accepting the deck from him.
As she dealt the cards, Locke pushed himself from the wall and walked over to join the other two men on the couch, casting a nervous glance her way.
As much admiration that Locke expressed toward her, she had to admit his lack of faith in her in this moment was a little jarring. He had to know that she wouldn't have accepted the terms if she weren't sure of the reward.
Setzer's eyes scanned the cards she dealt and his expression remained unchanged. He was apparently the master of the 'poker face', but so was she.
"What's wrong with him?"
"He fears you'll force yourself on me." She replied bluntly.
Setzer looked to her over his cards in hand with a new glint in his eyes.
"I would never. I like having willing participants."
Celes remained still, feeling him eye her peculiarly.
Somewhere in the back, Locke shuffled and brought his leg up on a table, tapping the air with it in a quick pace.
When Celes finally laid her cards on the table Setzer's eyes widened for a moment, then he threw head back and laughed.
The noise startled the men on the far side of the room and they stood as Celes did, standing triumphantly before her opponent and offering him her hand.
She meant it as a handshake but he leaned forward over the table, resting an elbow on it's surface and took her hand in his to kiss her knuckles, fingers lingering on the callouses that dwelled on her palm.
"You're quite experience with the sword, I see." He murmured against her skin, eyebrows furrowed as he sat back.
"I am." She replied, "I'm Celes Chere, former General of the Imperial army."
Locke, Edgar, and Sabin had walked to the table with a lonely chandelier providing light overhead, standing around the gambler as he sat, the only person in the room still currently doing so.
Setzer's eyes narrowed at her. "Ah, so a deal is a deal then."
"So you'll help us?"
Setzer shrugged, rising to tower over her once more and sliding his hands into his pockets.
"The Empire has made me a very rich man." He said, nodding his chin to the finery that was set in the room.
Celes' eyes narrowed. "Stop thinking of yourself."
His eyes flickered to her once more. He stepped to the side of the table and approached her slowly, pressing a soft hand to her cheek.
"I'm not the man you think I am," He said earnestly, "And you weren't who I thought you were."
"That's the point of poker, isn't it?" Celes replied smartly, though she understood him perfectly.
He chuckled. "You're even more beautiful than Maria."
"So you'll take us to Vector?" Edgar interjected, apparently sensing the spasticity emanating from Locke.
"I'll take you wherever you wish to go." Setzer replied, eyes still settled on Celes, "I've got nothing to lose but my life, right?"
They had set their course on Vector, but with the backtracking to pick up the remaining members, they wouldn't arrive to the southern continent until at least late morning.
Setzer's ship was nothing short of a luxury machine built with the engine of a high speed military aircraft. Celes spent a good amount of time in the mirror of her cabin, frustrated as she fumbled to undo the dress and the ties in her corset. It was tied so tightly that she could barely gain the range of motion to reach behind and undo it by herself. She briefly considered cutting it with her sword when a knock rapped on her door.
"Come in." Though she was in her undergarments the was still technically covered from head to toe.
Locke opened the door slowly, jolting and backing out slightly when he saw her state of dress.
"No, please come in." Celes pleaded. "I need your help."
She turned so that he back was turned to him, the strings of her corset in their full, tightened display.
"Ah." Locke eased himself inside, "Those things are vicious, aren't they, not that I know from personal ex-."
"-It is vicious. Please help me" Celes interrupted him to plead. She clutched the front of it with both hands. She felt his fingers unravel the knot at the bottom and tug the garment apart in little strokes.
"Did you ah, want something?" She asked, suddenly considering why he might;ve come to her room in the first place.
"Yeah actually," Locke spoke humorously, "When I actually decided to see you this isn't what I had in mind.
She felt relief with every pull he gave her by the string, loosening the corset and allowing her to breath and and her abdominal muscles relax for the first time that day. She felt normal again.
He continued. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."
Her chin shot to her shoulder so that she could see him, though his eyes were downward in concentration at the task at hand.
"What for?"
He looked to her for a moment before looking back down. "You were brilliant today, Celes. I shouldn't have acted that way back there."
She felt the absence of his hands and heard in step back. She turned, clutching the fully loosened corset with both hands at her chest to keep it up.
"Thank you."
It was all the she could muster to say before he continued.
"You deserve to unwind and have your time alone. But the rest of us are having a good time downstairs if you want to join."
She wasn't sure why, but she took step toward him and he took a step back in response. A single gas lamp was lit in the room, casting a golden glow on his ashen blonde hair.
Locke took another step back and opened the door, turning over his shoulder at her. "You should come down with us when you're ready."
He left, closing the door behind him.
Celes let the corset fall to the floor, along with the remnants of her undergarments. She pulled the ribbon loose from her hair, letting it cascade down her back. She looked at her naked reflection in the mirror, all the bony prominences of her collarbone and the ribs over her chest revealed themselves with every inhale, pressing to the surface of her skin. Her hips curled around her skin crude curves,
She felt she should be proud of herself. No one could deny she was a good actor. Today she'd played Maria and Maria's opera part, she'd played the gambler and arguably even Locke.
Locke.
The thought of him made her shiver as she submerged herself in the steaming heat of the bathwater. She recalled the gentle way he cradled her head in Zozo and the purple bruise on her hip from where he'd gripped her too tightly out of passion. But he was far more devoted to another, even in death.
She submerged her body beneath the water, closing her eyes and leaving her nose above the surface for air. She felt her hair sway and move around her with every slight nudge of her head. She wondered if he'd miss her nearly as much if she submerged herself completely and never broke the surface again.
Downstairs, she heard the staggered plunking of keys on a piano that only distantly resembled a melody as she found a seat at a table with Cyan and Sabin as Edgar and Setzer spoke quietly by the bar.
"You must be exhausted," Cyan nudged her arm with his elbow and Sabin pragmatically poured her a glass from the decanter of wine. He slid it over to her and she accepted it gratefully. The small rush from the scotch from earlier had long worn off, and she felt the impending anxiety set in as they closed in on the southern continent.
"I am." She smiled weakly at Sabin in thanks. She took a sip and leaned her head on her hand, tangling in the strands of her hair still wet from the bath.
"I was wrong about you." Cyan leaned toward her, his dark eyes solemn and sincere. "You've done more for our cause than I could ever accomplish. I hope you accept my apologies."
"Not necessary," She replied, taking a larger sip of the drink in her glass, "I could, after all, be setting you up for an ambush now."
Sabin snorted, picking up on her dry wit faster than Cyan had, with the latter eyeing her skeptically before breaking into a smile.
"Elayne had that same wit, she never cared for the flimsy wisdom of the other women of Doma." Cyan told her earnestly, "She would've loved to have a friend like you."
Celes circled her glass with her finger, awaiting the familiar euphoria that wine gave her to set in. "I'm sorry for what happened to her." Her eyes flashed to his, "Leo and I didn't approve of it, and had I not been imprisoned at the time I'd like to believe I'd intervene if I'd known beforehand."
Cyan shrugged. "It was Kefka, Gestahl who enabled him. I know that now."
"To be fair, Kefka is capable of much worse." She hadn't directly though of her Magitek predecessor in a while, and the thought of seeing him again made her uneasy.
"What could be worse?" Sabin interjected, topping of her glass though it wasn't nearly empty.
"He delights in his own methods of torture that he finds inspiration for from his own abilities."
Cyan's eyes widened. "You've seen it?"
Distant memories of corpses and near-corpses in varying states of death and degradation consumed her. Children beside parents, husbands bound and forced to watch as their wives were taken.
"I was 'mentored' by him for a bit. I've seen some."
"Let's talk about something else." Sabin cut in again, his blue eyes noting her discomfort.
She shook her head as he topped off her wine again, feeling heat rush to her face as she heard the question: "What are your intentions with Locke?"
Celes rose an eyebrow. "Only if you tell me of your intentions with the barmaid in Jidoor."
"That's easy, purely carnal." He and Cyan both laughed, and she remained stone-faced, sipping her wine and shaking her head.
"Your turn, then." Sabin challenged her jovially.
Celes shrugged. "Purely carnal." Her drinking mates roared with laughter over hearing a woman say such a thing, but her eyes strayed to the far side of the room where Locke sat at the piano, and in a moment of clarity she realized that he was the producer of the bare bones of the melody that played in the room, however smoother it was now that he had warmed up.
"I'll leave you two to your childish speculation. Let me know what you come up with." She told Cyan and Sabin, rising from her seat as she grabbed her glass, declining Sabin's offer for yet another refill.
Perhaps it was the liquid courage that soothed her senses and anxiety, but she crossed the room and sat beside Locke on the bench, taking a swig from her glass as she set it on top of the instrument.
He stopped a scooted to the side to allow her more room.
"I didn't know you played." She observed, watching his hands as they started to pluck at the keys again.
"My father did," Locke replied, not looking up from the keys. His facial expression was focused and his shoulders were tense. "Whenever we came to a new town he would spend a while at the piano in whatever tavern was close by."
Celes had never picked up on it until now, but he had the slightest northern accent. It was something she was unaccustomed to being from Vector and even from her small amount of exposure to the world outside there.
"He taught you, then?"
"Not really." He made a blunder and out of frustration, terminated the piece altogether and started something different. It sound like a waltz, and the pinky finger of his left hand proceeded the remainder of the chord as it bounced from octave to octave, and his right hand began some melody from memory.
"He played without music. Said he learned that way."
Celes sat in silence. There was a whole world of things about Locke she'd never known, and why would she think that he would tell her it all in the short time they'd known one another?
"Here." He said, halting the music again and setting her fingers upon the keys so that every digit had its own space.
"This is an inverted C chord, it's easy to remember." He covered her hand with his, pressing her pinky finger downward followed by two beats from her middle finger and thumb. He showed her the octaves, and how to bounce back and forth between two of them.
She got it down as he took a swig from her glass and set it back down, reaching out his right hand to pick out the melody again.
They got though several triumphant stanzas before she muddled it, fingers spastically cramping from the unfamiliar activity.
"Ah, sorry." She laughed as he looked at her with a mockingly disappointed expression.
"Are you not an opera star?"
They were close now. She could practically feel the steady, slow heartbeat in his chest and the warmth of his limbs.
"I'm not, but I'm told I'd make a good imposter."
He laughed and winked at her and he helped her rise from the bench to join the poker game that was forming at the table where everyone else sat.
It was the perfect night, she decided. They only missed Terra, but she sat at the table playing her cards against the people who had helped her on her path and in conjunction with the alcohol she felt her anxiety fade, if only for an evening.
A/N: My longest chapter yet! I changed the Celes/Setzer 'coin toss' to a poker game because I thought that would be more fun and it felt like the game summed it up to a coin toss for simplicity's sake, but in reality poker would be a lot more interesting- though when writing it I realized that it had been forever since I last played poker, so it is what it is! Next chapter will cover the road to Vector or Vector itself from Locke's POV. Almost caught up the the beginning!
I have some friends visiting with my from out of town this week followed by work stuff so it may be at least another week before I update depending on how many shenanigans I get into, but it'll happen regardless! Thanks for reading so far!