So, yet another straight adaptation from me once again, huh?
I will admit, Final Fantasy VI is easily my favorite game in the series. Hope you enjoy!
Sabin wandered into the throne room in the middle of the night, looking around in reverent silence at the throne room, and by association, the life he had rejected a decade earlier. It wasn't his choice to return to Figaro Castle, but his brother had insisted that they find a place to rest before they began their search for Terra, noting that going to any territory that was controlled by the Gestahlian Empire was tantamount to suicide, and that Doma, one of the few remaining places that was resisting Gestahl's empire, was under siege by his forces (though as Sabin and Cyan knew, the water had been poisoned by Gestahl's loony lieutenant, Kefka Palazzo). Sitting down on one of the two thrones, Sabin mused to himself, "Hm... the palace hasn't changed much... yet it feels so different with Mom and Dad gone. But then again, nothing can really be the same, especially not after what happened ten years ago..."
Sabin then began to dwell on the events of that fateful day...
From the room where their father's deathbed was, Edgar and Sabin were listening to a conversation between the doctors and the officials of the castle. The Figaro twins only heard passing words, consisting of, "He might... tonight... worst he's been for the last month... there might be a chance that..."
Edgar and Sabin heard a quiet sigh come from the deathbed, and saw the high priestess of Figaro Castle solemnly close their father's eyes and begin a quiet prayer. A thoroughly shocked Sabin whispered, "No..." before letting out a cry of anguish and running out of the room.
Edgar noticed, and began running after his brother, calling out, "Sabin... SABIN!"
When he opened the door that led out of the throne room, Edgar found his brother sitting on the steps that were just outside, his scrawny shoulders quivering as he cried. Edgar overheard his brother mutter, "This can't be real..." before Sabin turned to him. All Sabin could do was hiccup, "E-Edgar..." before crying once again.
Edgar, shaken up by the fact that their father had just died (yet still handling it better than Sabin), could only state the obvious, flatly saying, "Dad... he didn't make it."
Just as Edgar took a seat next to Sabin, the Figaro twins were interrupted by the high priestess of the castle saying, "Ah, Edgar, Sabin, there you are!" Edgar put a hand on his brother's shoulder as he looked behind him, and the priestess continued, "Your father... his final words were that he entrusted Figaro to the two of you."
Something snapped inside Sabin as he heard those words be uttered, and he stood up and whirled around, shouting, "You all make me SICK! Everyone's been saying that the Empire had Dad poisoned and all that you people care about is who the next king will be! Not a single one of you is actually sad!" Through another bout of hiccups, Sabin sank to his knees and continued, "None of you cared when Mom passed away either..."
"That's not-"
Whirling around, Sabin lunged at the priestess, though Edgar had quickly grabbed his collar before he could reach her, and he snarled, "You're just as bad as the rest of them!"
Edgar carefully admonished, "Sabin..."
"Gestahl and his empire of murderers... they won't get away with what they've done!" At that, Sabin stormed away, heading up to the observation deck.
Edgar began to follow his brother, but not before turning to the priestess and saying, "This is a matter between brothers... please leave us be," before walking up the stairs to the observation deck.
Sabin heard his brother come up the steps and, without looking at him, said, "Let's leave this place! Let's forget that we ever lived in this war-sick, crazy kingdom and live a life of freedom instead!" Finally looking back at his brother, Sabin asked Edgar, "You said you never wanted the throne, didn't you?"
Edgar looked up at the night sky and wistfully said, "A life of freedom, you say...?" The prospect of a free life was seriously tempting for the more composed Figaro twin, but Edgar looked down at the floor, thinking to himself, "What would Dad say if we left this kingdom to the dogs?" Making his decision, Edgar then carefully said, "Sabin... what do you think would happen to Figaro if the two of us just suddenly got up and left? There'd be no one left that could take the throne, and Dad... Dad was counting on the both of us to take care of the kingdom."
As Sabin stared out into the distance, Edgar walked up and put a hand on his shoulder and began fishing through his pocket with the other so that he could find the coin that his father had given to him, saying, "Tell you what, Sabin... let's settle this with the flip of a coin. You know, the ones Dad gave us on our fifteenth birthday." Edgar took the coin out of his pocket and continued, "If it's heads, you win. Tails, I win. Whoever wins gets to choose the path they want, no hard feelings or regrets... okay?"
Sabin nodded, and Edgar flipped the coin. The two Figaro brothers watched as the coin landed back on Edgar's hand, with the side facing up being...
"Heads!" Edgar looked up at his brother, and asked, "Well?"
Sabin's initial burst of joy quickly became suppressed as he asked, "Wait, Edgar... you're staying behind?"
"Of course, someone has to watch over Figaro in Dad's stead." Pulling his brother in for a hug, Edgar whispered, "I'll see you off tomorrow, how about that?" Sabin broke the hug, his eyes beginning to water once again, and Edgar continued, "You'd better pack what you think is necessary by tomorrow afternoon, considering that I think you're going to go stir-crazy if you stay here any longer." Both brothers shared a laugh at Edgar's joke, and Edgar watched as Sabin headed down the stairs. Once he was sure that Sabin was gone, Edgar held the coin up and looked at both of its sides.
Both of them were heads.
Edgar put the coin back in his pocket and smiled, thinking to himself, "As long as you're happy, Sabin..." before walking down the stairs.
"And you opted for your freedom."
Sabin was brought back to the present day by the sound of his brother's voice, and Edgar came out from behind one of the curtains, teasing, "It's been a whole decade... the little shrimp that was my brother's now a whopping lobster!"
Sabin laughed and fired back, "And you're a king crab!"
After a short laugh between the two of them, Edgar sat in the throne next to Sabin and said, "I have something that I want to show you." Sabin looked to his left out of curiosity as Edgar began fishing through his pockets, and Edgar pulled something small, round, and silver out of them and passed it to Sabin, saying, "Look closely, Sabin."
Sabin did as his brother asked, and looked at both sides of the coin, scratching at his beard as he did so. Much to his astonishment, both sides were heads, and he slowly began to piece things together as he looked at his brother with a shocked expression. The only thing Sabin could do after his brother nodded to confirm the coin in his hand was the one he used in their fateful coin flip a decade back was ask, "Why?"
Edgar looked at his brother dead-on and said, "Because you're my brother, Sabin, and I want nothing more than to see you happy. I don't regret my decision at all." It was at that point where Edgar looked at the floor once again and asked, "Do you think that Dad would be proud of me?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I'm sure that where he is now, he's proud of you!"
The Figaro twins sat back in their thrones, but Edgar quickly got up and ran down to the lower levels to get something. Before too long, he came back with two goblets and a bottle of champagne and sat back down in the throne, passing one of the goblets to Sabin. Looking back at the door from which he had just come through, Edgar absently said, "Ten years..."
"Where has all that time gone?"
After a brief pause, Edgar poured the drink into his and Sabin's goblets, and said, "A toast! Here's to a couple of confused brothers!" After that, his voice became more serious as he said, "Here's to Dad!"
Sabin smiled, and finished, "To Mom! And... to Figaro."
The two brothers downed their goblets after the toast.
Edgar and Sabin's coin flip is among my favorite video game moments of all time, to be perfectly honest.
Hopefully you enjoyed!