The Emperor felt Firion's presence the moment he set for in the bottom floors of Pandaemonium. He could also feel her presence.

He hated the manikins, and went to efforts to ensure they didn't creep through his palace walls, nor did he have the same monsters that used to prowl in Pandaemonium in its original form, so it wouldn't take them long to reach the top floor, where his throne was. They should have a direct enough path.

He sighed, remembering the times when he had monsters and armies to command. Whole droves of both that used to crawl around his lair for him to order around and, when necessary, push around. All he had now were those indifferent, infernal manikins. They just stared deadly back at him when he told them to do anything. Useless scum.

In his head he quickly went over how he anticipated the succeeding conversation would pan out.

Naturally, Firion and she would come charging in demanding answers, he mused. Kain and Cecil would follow out of her protection, followed by those just itching for a fight: Lightning, probably Squall, Tidus. She would give some cute speech about how wrong he was, and how he should 'make Cecil right again'.

He would, naturally. Or at least PRETEND to. Then he would shatter their entire view of the world. He would blow a hole SO WIDE in the warriors' whole ideas of themselves, their only answer would be retaliation. Against the 'tyrannical' goddess that brought them there in the first place. Cecil would lead the charge on Golbez's order . . . and then . . .

He delightfully tossed his head back and laughed, truly laughed, for the first time in a long time.

And then he would watch them burn.


"We're here," Firion said. "We've just gotta climb our way to the uppermost floor."

"Should be easy enough!" Laguna said brightly. He squinted and tried to peer into the recesses of the room, shielding his eyes. "There don't seem to be any manikins. And there're no REGULAR enemies here either, I don't think, so we're good! Right?"

Warrior nodded. "From what I can tell, that is correct. The only things we need to be wary of when we enter are traps. We should rest inside. We'll need to be on our highest alert to avoid them as best we can."

Rosa wanted to whine, to plead with him to keep going. But she knew her better judgement was being clouded by her concern and anxiety over Cecil, as mad as she was about admitting it. Warrior was right. It wouldn't do to charge in head-long. They needed to be alert, high-strung, even, for an indefinite amount of time to stay safe, and that was just as taxing as a physical battle.

Not to mention it would definitely add to the crankiness if they didn't rest, especially her own.

She looked to Warrior and nodded her consent, and she could see him calculating the exact same toll that she was. Fatigue mixed with mental strain was not the ideal situation, no matter how pressing an issue seemed.

"Cloud probably needs a break, too," Tifa added. "He's been carrying Cecil this whole time, and . . . well . . . sorry," she added lamely to Rosa.

Rosa let a small, sympathetic smile grace her visage to let Tifa know she didn't take offense. "Of course. Lay him here, and we'll work camp around him.

Not a single person spoke. Not even Bartz and Zidane. Normally the two of them would at least be whispering. But instead all went about their camping rituals in cold, uncomfortable silence. People shot glares left and right to each other when no one helped, and no one would help unless they had to. Rosa purposefully stayed away from then, and as close to Cecil as she possible could while still keeping to her tasks.

Before long, however, Rosa completed all of the jobs that didn't require straying too far from Cecil. Laying out the mats for the tents and other menial things. Despite the roof over their heads, Firion thought it would be safe to still pitch tents. So Rosa occupied herself that way, laing out the thick canvas coverings for the poles a little TOO crisply and pristinely, laying a fir perimeter out of miscellaneous pieces of rock and crystal a little TOO perfectly. She fathered a few extra pieces of crystal and noticed Kain leaning against the wall, away from all of them, frowning at her intently. She ignored his gaze pointedly. He didn't try to speak to her since she slapped him. "Good," she thought. She still didn't want to speak to him. She wanted him to know that.

She kept him in the corner of her gaze but kept about her business, mostly just ambling around and at least looking like she had a job. She wanted to stay by Cecil, and nobody contested that but she also wanted to feel . . . useful all of a sudden. Not even useful. Just occupied. Probably because of Kain. She wanted something mind-mnumbing to do for a bid. Maybe then she could rest her mind and body and frayed nerves. She need a distraction. Sh could feel a kind of mental fatigue over-taking her because of the recent stress. She needed to forget about Cecil and Kain for a moment and-

Out of the corner of her eye Kain stood from his leaning position on the wall and strode purposefully for her. Ooooh, no he wasn't. She was NOT in the mood. She straightened quickly, looking him full in the face and glaring at him with as much malice as she could gather. He hesitated. Success. She pun around and moved as far as she could from him while keeping both him and Cecil in her sights.

She saw Kain freeze up, deciding what to do. Follow her or let her be? She hoped he chose the latter. She couldn't guarantee that her knife WOULDN'T be in her hand the next time she slapped him- She stopped herself suddenly. She didn't mean that, really, she didn't. The strain was getting to her.

But he chose wisely, backing away from her and everyone and leaning back against the wall. She sighed in relief. She really wasn't looking for confrontation. She just wanted left alone with Cecil.

Rosa went back to the center of camp, where they laid Cecil. For once he was sleeping peacefully, not tossing and turning and fretting like he normally was. Probably because of her magic. Despite Cecil's desperate pleas that squeezed ice around her heart, she kept him asleep the whole time they traveled. How could he be mad? He had to understand that he was a liability, and a danger-

She didn't mean that, either. God, what was wrong with her? Take that back, take that back, take that back.

Her spell was probably going to wear off soon, at any rate. She should replace it.

As if on cue, he stirred and his eyes opened.

"R . . . Rosa?"

"How are you feeling?" she asked quickly, leaning over him.

"Fine . . . A bit odd . . . but fine."

Odd didn't bode well. Immediately alarms rang in her ears and head, telling her to replace her spell and keep him subdued. But in his eyes was the bright familiar, lively spark. He was alert and lucid. It was almost like he was normal. She clutched at that normalcy, desperate to keep it that way for some kind of peaceful respite from the craziness.

The alarms screamed that that was childish, and that he would hurt someone. They screamed it in Kain's voice.

Her heart ached to just TALK to him. Have him laugh again. Make him smile. Keep the spark.

He was dangerous-

"Cecil!" Kain said. Rosa jumped and spun around quickly, straightening up and standing as a barrier between him and Cecil.

"Rosa, what are you doing?" he asked. The dragon on his helm bared down at her.

"Kain, what do you THINK I'm doing? I'm TALKING to him!"

Kain snorted indignantly, and her temper flared. "He's FINE!"

"So you say. You shouldn't let him awake for too long. He could attack you."

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "Kain," she said through her teeth, "leave us alone. He'll be fine."

"Rosa, I only care about your safety-"

"MY safety?! She cried incredulously. "Kain, WHO was it that cam ego my aid in the tower of Zot? It CERTAINLY wasn't you!" All the pent up emotions poured out in one concentrated effort, attacking Kain fiercely. "Who helped KIDNAP me in the first place?! WHO rescued me and saved my life from Kefka, Exdeath, and Ultimecia? Cecil and Golbez! Were you there? I don't believe so! WHO did the darkness attach to when we were holding Cecil down? WHO?! Oooh, yes, don't think we forgot about that!" she yelled, empowered by Kain's visible recoil.

All of a sudden she realized why Kain acted so coldly towards her earlier about Cecil. Why he wanted to keep Cecil subdued. Why he acted so coldly before, every time she brought up her memory. It stepped FROM her memory, she realized. WHY he kidnapped her, before, WHY Golbez was able to influence Kain so efficiently in the first place. "You're JEALOUS," she spat at him. He didn't even try to deny it. "You've ALWAYS been jealous of Cecil and I! Jealous that we're in love and happy, jealous of him for being a Paladin, jealous, embarrassed, of EVERYTHING! It's not about ME, it was NEVER about ME! I'm absolutely FED UP! You've frayed my VERY last nerve. And if you think I'm going to let you CHOMP AT THE BIT to keep Cecil out of the picture for as long as possible, you'reCRAZY on top of your MANY OTHER personality flaws!"

Kain looked a bit odd with his jaw hanging open, raw emotion completely uncharacteristic for the Dragoon. Rosa knew she scored a few hundred points. Before she allowed Kain to gather his wits, she fired, "You better not come within 15 feet of us for the rest of the night, or so help me . . . I'll make sure YOU don't wake up!"

He closed his mouth and stared at her. She glared straight back into the red eyes of the Dragon on his helmet. Neither moved for another few seconds. Rosa, finally fed up, pointed tot he edge of camp.

"LEAVE!" she shouted, so loudly and suddenly that he jumped. As soon as he was a safe enough distance away she rubbed her temples to try and rid herself of the splitting headache that snuck up on her.

"Rosa?" Onion began, but she held up a hand to stop him.

"Just . . . leave us be. Both of us. Please."

She sat next to Cecil, who had been silent during her whole outburst. He reached out and clasped her hand in his, gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly, but Cecil shook his head.

"I'm glad . . . someone finally stood up for me."

"But you and everyone else didn't have to hear that. He's our friend. I just really embarrassed him."

"True, Rose, true, but . . . someone had the courage to finally say something to him. We've ALL tiptoed and danced around it, including him. Sooner or later, the music and the dance had to stop. I regret the . . . harshness required for it, but he needed a firm hand. Your stress allowed you to finally give him that hand." He said more softly, "I had no idea of his true feelings- he hides them well behind that helm, even from me. I've never seen him respond that way. So shocked. So speechless. If I had to guess, I'd say you hit the nail on the head. How did you know?"

"I didn't, until I started yelling at him. I just put two and two together."

"Hm," he mumbled.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him again, changing the subject.

He nodded to her. "Fine! Perfectly fine." For once he sounded like he was, too. She sighed gratefully and tiredly.

"You've been awake for a while now, and you're ok. Maybe whatever this is . . . is-"

"No, I don't think so. I still feel . . . off. It's as though he knows we're close, so he's allowing me a respite, if that's at all possible. My heart is at peace, but my mind is still tense. I truly believe that. I'll be fine for now, thought," he finished quickly at her worried glance.

He sounded so sure, and she was so desperate for him to be sure that she believed him, pushing down that small, naggy doubt. He searched her face and allowed himself a small, almost shy smile. She met his gaze and smiled back. Almost normalcy.

"You should get some rest," he told her. "You look exhausted. I can't help but blame myself for it. If you weren't doting on me you wouldn't be so taxed."

She shrugged and shook her head, waving away his comment. "It's not your fault."

She moved from kneeling next to him to lying on her side. She flipped over, her back to him, and scooted back until she could feel the warmth of his body and then his chest pressed to her back.

"Wait," he said. She turned over her shoulder and met his stern gaze. "Are you sure you trust me? What if . . . "

She shook her head. "I think you're fine. I think you'll stay that way."

"But, Rosa, what if I-"

She turned away and scooted closer still. "I trust you. I'll always trust you." He froze up at first, unsure in himself. Then she felt him stir, his arm gently draping around her waist. She sighed contentedly. "This is how we're supposed to be," she thought, closing her eyes. "Normalcy."


The Emperor folded his hands in front of his mouth. "The calm before the storm."