Chapter 21 - Rune Knight
It wasn't going to be the same. Celes wasn't going to turn out like Kefka. He kept telling himself that over and over, trying to convince himself that everything was going to be alright. But it didn't stop his hands from shaking as he adjusted the IV bottle that hung from the stand beside the bed.
Kefka didn't know that Dr. Cid was in the process of creating another Magitek Knight. He didn't know about the changes that had been made in the infusion process, or that Celes would be the first ever Rune Knight. Dr. Cid decided to keep everything a secret, waiting until the time was right to tell him what he'd done. But how long could he keep it a secret? And what sort of reaction would Kefka have when he discovered that he wasn't the only magic infused warrior the empire had at its disposal? Kefka knew the Emperor had plans for creating more Magitek Knights, but for years he'd been the only one in all of existence. He was special, and he loved the attention he got from Gestahl, who continued to spoil him and give him everything he wanted.
But what if there was another? What if he wasn't the only one? And what if this newly created knight had access to spells and abilties that he couldn't use? All these questions and more swirled through Cid's head, his thoughts shifting from one question to the next. But now was not the time for that. He had to focus on the girl beside him, making sure her vitals were stable as he gradually increased the amount anesthetic flowing through the tube in her arm.
If his experience with Kefka had taught him anything, it was that infusion patients often experienced the worst side effects during the first twenty minutes following the infusion. And although the chances of her having serious side effects had been significantly reduced, he decided it was best to put her to sleep using a form of general anesthetic. This would allow her to sleep off the worst of it, and by the time she woke up it would all be over and she could begin the recovery process.
Knowing that she could sleep through the worst of it helped ease his mind. But there was still that nagging sensation in the back of his mind that told him this was wrong. He worried that she would become a heartless monster, which was exactly what Gestahl wanted her to be. The Emperor had made it very clear that he thought that Kefka was a success, and all because he wanted someone who had no regard for human life, someone who would gladly slay hundreds of innocent men, women and children. This made him wonder if Gestahl would reject Celes in favor of Kefka, and possibly see her as a failure due to her lack of interest in death and destruction.
Cid inhaled slowly, taking a deep breath as he willed himself to remain calm. He'd removed the binding agent from the Esper blood, separating the magic from the harmful agents that had caused Kefka's illness. Without the binding agent in the siltlike residue, he could skip the weekly injections and start by giving her blood transfusions, therefore cutting the process in half with less side effects than when he experimented on Kefka.
"Kefka isn't going to like this," he muttered, speaking more to himself than anyone in the room. "If he finds out that Celes had it easier than he did, he's going to throw one hell of a fit and end up killing everyone within a five hundred mile radius."
He sat down in a chair beside the bed, watching her, waiting to see what kind of reaction she would have when she woke up. She would be groggy and disoriented upon waking up from the anesthetic, but that was the least of his concerns. Because no matter how many times he told himself that she would be alright, no matter how many times he checked the readouts on the monitor, glanced at the clock then flipped through his notes time and time again, looking to make sure he hadn't made any mistakes, he was still worried about her. He worried because he cared about her, and seeing her go through this was like seeing his own child in the hospital.
.oOo.
She lay still for several minutes, her vision blurred and her mind adrift in a haze of pain and confusion. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't recognize the voice that was speaking to her when she opened her eyes. There was a mild burning sensation in her chest, her blood tingling with essence of magic she'd absorbed during the infusion.
She cried out, struggling against the person who was trying to hold her down. Her chest rose and fell with shallow, rapid breaths, her pulse accelerated as her body fought to contain the overwhelming power that surged through her blood. And just like that her vision cleared, and she suddenly remembered where she was.
It was Cid talking to her, his fingers closing around her wrists as he held her down in bed.
"Calm down, Celes. You're hyperventilating. Just take a few deep breaths and relax. It should all be over in a minute."
Celes took a deep breath and groaned. She was sick to her stomach, and it didn't help that the room was spinning like an out of control merry-go-round. The waves of nausea kept coming and going, each one stronger than the last. With it came an awful, stabbing pain in the pit of her stomach, but all of this was nothing compared to the horror Kefka experienced, and within a half hour or so the worst of it had passed, leaving her sweating and exhausted as though she had just experienced a severe bought of the flu.
She gasped, clutching his hand as she looked over at him. She was shivering, her entire body drenched in sweat from head to toe. Her hair was wet with perspiration, with long, blond strands sticking to her face and neck. It felt as though she had been doused with a bucket of ice water, her breath catching in her chest as she tried to overcome the shock from the sudden change in temperature.
"It's alright, Celes. I'm here. Everything is going to be fine." He held her hand in both of hers, and felt the cold radiating off her skin. The cold was so intense that it was stinging his hand, and when he released her he found that the palm of his hand was red and sore.
Celes gripped the railing on the side of the bed, her fingers leaving behind traces of frost on the metal railing as she tried using it to pull herself into a sitting position. But a sudden wave of dizziness made the room lurch sideways, and she fell back against the mound of pillows on the bed.
"Don't try moving around too much," Cid told her. "There's a lot of magic circulating through your bloodstream, and it's going to take time for your body to get used to the changes it will undergo as part of the infusion process. You need to take it easy, Celes. Rest, and don't try moving around too much unless you absolutely have to."
"You think I'm going anywhere like this?" she groaned, her words slurring together as though she'd had a bit too much to drink. Even if she felt like moving she couldn't have gotten very far, not while her whole body was shaking like a leaf and she could hardly tell up from down. All she wanted to go to sleep, but she was shivering so hard her body couldn't relax enough to fall asleep. It would be some time before the cold chill finally passed, allowing her to rest and recover from everything she'd been through.
.oOo.
Celes lost ten pounds during the next two weeks, due to the persistent nausea and a loss of appetite. She didn't suffer from migraines, seizures, tremors or black outs the way Kefka did, but was often plagued with cold chills and dizzy spells. Dr. Cid told her to keep everything a secret from Terra, at least for a couple of months during the early stages of the experiment. He needed time to study her and see what sort of reaction she would have, and he didn't need Kefka throwing a fit if he found out through Terra that there was another Magitek Knight in the palace.
"But how am I supposed to learn how to use magic if I don't have someone to teach me how it's done?" asked Celes. "I'm not about to walk up to Kefka and ask him how he does it. And Terra's the only other person who can use magic."
"You shouldn't worry about that right now," said Cid. "When Kefka was in the transition phase, he had his first bought of accidental magic after falling in a fountain. That took place approximately two and a half months after the infusions began, and its only been a month since your first infusion. You should let it happen naturally, Celes, and not try to force it to happen before you're ready to start using magic."
Celes huffed out an irritated sigh. She was getting tired of being told what to do. If she wanted to use magic and couldn't go to Terra or Kefka for lessons, then she would figure it out on her own. She didn't need their help anyway. All she had to do was remember what she'd seen them do during their training sessions, then try to copy what they did.
She made her way downstairs to the palace kitchens, opened the door and headed straight for the refrigerator. She filled a glass with ice water, then sat down at the kitchen table with the glass directly in front of her. She stared at it for several seconds, trying to see if she could make the water freeze, but nothing happened. Maybe she was supposed to speak some sort of incantation. Terra and Kefka were often shouting things like 'Fira' and 'Thunder' when they fought each other. But neither one of them were skilled at using ice magic, and if Kefka had ever spoken the incantation for conjuring ice, she didn't remember what it was.
Celes closed her eyes, folded her arms across the table, and rested her chin on her arm. She remembered the last time Terra and Kefka were sparring with each other in the training room. She started watching their training sessions not long after Terra had used Cure to heal the scrape on her knee. Terra told her everything, and when Kefka had recovered enough to resume training, Celes would follow them and wait in the wings, watching as bright flashes of fire and electricity illuminated the air around them, until it shimmered with dancing waves of colors and light.
There was no denying that Kefka was a master of fire. It was a truly terrifying sight, his eyes gleaming as his body was surrounded with a whirlwind of fire. What was even more terrifying was his laugh, that cold, cruel sound, completely devoid of any sort of joy or emotion. It was a terrible sound that lingered long after he'd stopped laughing. And that face, that hideous mask of evil clown makeup combined with the echoing screech that was his obnoxious voice, it was enough to give someone nightmares, and she shuddered at the thought of that wicked man and his horrendous laughter.
Some people speculated that he'd been turned into a monster, and that the infusions were making him devolve into some sort of primal, heartless beast. Even Terra had said that she felt he wasn't human anymore. Celes wondered how that was possible, and if it were true, what was he becoming? Would the same thing happen to her?
Celes opened her eyes, and saw that the glass of water still hadn't frozen. "What am doing wrong?" she muttered, frowning at the glass of water. "Stupid thing. I know I can do this. I just have to concentrate."
She could feel the cold radiating off the glass of ice water, and tried imagining the same kind of cold emanating from her skin. Little by little she began to feel a sort of pressure building in her chest. Her hands were getting colder, the temperature around her dropping by several degrees as the energy continued to build inside her. A faint bluish glow surrounded her fingertips, but the moment she realized what was happening she lost her focus, and the light faded in an instant. She'd gotten so excited that it broke her concentration, and she swore under her breath, cursing her lack of skill and concentration.
By now the air around her had gotten so cold that each exhalation of breath resulted in a small puff of steam. She could see her own breath steaming in the sunlight, just like it would on a cold December morning. Celes took a deep breath, and tried willing the energy she felt back into the palms of her hands. The temperature of the air continued to drop, the cold prickling her skin as ice crystals started forming beneath the surface of her skin. A smile spread across her face, and suddenly she found herself acting without conscious thought as an incantation formed on her lips. Flakes of snow materialized in the air, falling onto her hair and shoulders as condensation started forming on the sides of the glass.
Within a matter of seconds the water turned to slush, the glass cracking as the water continued to freeze and expand. The next thing she knew the glass had completely shattered, startling the blond teen as water and chunks of ice spilled across the table.
Celes yelped and nearly flew out of her seat. She hadn't thought about the glass breaking when she set out to test her abilities. Her heart was still racing from the excitement of what she'd done when she heard someone say her name, and looked up to see Cid standing in the doorway, staring at her in disbelief.
A moment of silence passed between them, the both of them staring at each other from across the room.
"Celes," he breathed. "You did it! My goodness, you actually did it!" A grin slowly spread across his face, and Celes smiled, laughing as she leapt out of the chair and ran towards him. "
"I know, right? Sorry about the mess, though."
"Not to worry." Cid brushed thesnowflakes off her shoulders. "Good heavens. You're completely covered in snow." He was beaming with pride, feeling very much like a proud father whose daughter had just spoken her first word or learned how to drive. "You did good, Celes. I'm proud of you. But you shouldn't do that where Kefka can see you. We have to keep this a secret for as long as possible. That means no using magic anywhere he might see you. Only use it in the lab or in the privacy of your room."
Celes frowned, her joy evaporating in an instant as he gave her his usual speech about keeping her magic a secret. "He's going to find out about it eventually. I'd rather face him now and be done with it then drag this out for months on end." A cold chill ran down her spine, and she shivered, rubbing her hands together in an effort to restore the circulation in her fingers. She looked at him and sighed. "I can't feel my fingers."
"Let me see your hands." It wasn't unusual for magic users to have accidents during the first few months they were learning how to cast spells. Cid still remembered the time Kefka burned his hands after the accident in the testing room, and it wouldn't surprise him if Celes experienced her fair share of accidents while she was in training.
A brief examination revealed signs of frostbite on her fingers. Her palms were red, and her fingertips were numb from the cold. He brought her over to the sink, filling it with lukewarm water and telling her to submerge her hands in the water.
Celes was quiet while they waited for her hands to warm up. After several minutes had passed in silence, Cid looked at her and said, "You know I'm only telling you this because I care about you. You've been like a daughter to me, and I don't want to see you get hurt. Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed with what you've done. But Kefka has been doing this longer than you have. His magic is greater than anything I ever could have imagined. Never underestimate him, Celes. I want you to remember that."
Her expression softened, and she lifted a hand out of the water, examining it closely as she flexed her fingers. "I won't, gramps. But I'm not going to hide from him like some scared little kid. I'll work on getting stronger, and I'll learn how to protect myself. Because the last thing I want is to be some damsel in distress that everyone has to rescue and protect. That's not me. That's not who I am. And if the time comes that I do have to fight him, I'm going to be ready."